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PHNOM PENH, June 29 -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen reiterated on Wednesday that the country would not support an arbitral tribunal's upcoming decision over the South China Sea issue.

In 2013, the Philippines unilaterally filed compulsory arbitration against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague with respect to the two sides' disputes in the South China Sea. The Chinese government has reiterated its non-acceptance and non-participation stance in the case.

"Cambodia does not support, and more so is against, any statement by ASEAN to support the court's decision," Hun Sen said in a speech during the 65th anniversary of founding the Department of Customs and Excise.

He said the issue is between the Philippines and China, not between ASEAN and China.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on June 8 that China has all along stood for peacefully settling territorial and maritime delimitation disputes through negotiations with states directly concerned on the basis of respecting historical facts and in accordance with the international law.

On issues concerning territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation, China never accepts any recourse to third party settlement, or any means of dispute settlement that is imposed on it, the statement said.
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CANBERRA, June 29 -- The operational search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been further delayed, after poor weather and injury to a Chinese crew member forced the return of one of the search vessels earlier this week, the Australian government confirmed on Wednesday.

In a statement released by the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC), it was revealed a crew member aboard Chinese search ship Dong Hai Jiu 101 sustained an injury while the vessel was returning to search waters in the southern Indian Ocean.

"Dong Hai Jiu 101 arrived in Fremantle on June 22 for scheduled resupply, and departed for the search area on June 26," the Australian government statement read.

"Two days into the voyage a crew member sustained an injury. Although not life-threatening, the decision has been made to return to port to ensure the best possible medical attention can be provided."

The search efforts were further delayed by poor winter weather in the region; the JACC now expects the search of a 120,000 square kilometer zone to be completed sometime in August.

As the end of the search draws nearer, the JACC also laid out plans should the missing Boeing 777 jetliner be found within the search zone.

"More than 110,000 square kilometers of the seafloor have been searched so far," the statement read.

"In the event the aircraft is found and accessible, Australia, Malaysia and the People's Republic of China have agreed to plans for recovery activities, including securing all the evidence necessary for the accident investigation."

"In the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, governments have agreed that there will be no further expansion of the search area."

MH370 was a scheduled passenger service bound to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 passengers and crew on board.
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Ambulance cars arrive at Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, following a blast, June 28, 2016. [Photo: Reuters]

At least 28 people were killed and 60 others injured in two explosions that hit the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday evening and involved three suicide bombers, forcing the suspension of all flights.

"We're evaluating the possibility of three suicide bombers," Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin told the press at the airport.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said earlier in Ankara that one terrorist opened fire with a Kalashnikov rifle at random and then blew himself up.

A Turkish official was quoted as saying on Twitter that the vast majority of casualties are Turkish citizens, with foreigners among the dead and wounded.

The police have closed the entrances and exits of the airport, and some inbound flights to the airport have been diverted in the aftermath of the attacks, press reports said.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has ordered the formation of a crisis desk and was coming to Istanbul overnight.

Kerem Kinik, the head of Turkish Red Crescent, has appealed for blood donation.

A Chinese national upstairs at the airport said he heard of gunfires and ran for cover. He then heard of one explosion inside, and saw smoke everywhere and the injured being carried away.

"It's really good to be alive," he added.

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated over the past year, with Istanbul, the national capital of Ankara and other cities having already been hit by a number of bombing attacks.

The latest attack that hit Istanbul occurred on June 7, in which a bomb-laden car targeted a riot police shuttle bus, killing 11 people, including six police officers.
The ANGAU Hospital in Lae Morobe Province has received a new portable cool room to meet the demand for meals to inpatients. The cool room will increase storage capacity for perishable foods at the hospital and will assist in meeting the increasing demand for fresh meals from the kitchen facility.





The hospital kitchen caters for over 450 inpatients per meal and the portable cool room is among a number of improvements identified in the ANGAU hospital redevelopment masterplan.

ANGAU Hospital Chief Executive Officer, Dr Kenyhercz, thanked Australia for the assistance given to ANGAU during the official hand over of the cool room.

We have seen so many improvements taking place at the hospital in recent months. Just in the last few weeks we have received a new forklift, bed frames for our staff units, a major electrical upgrade and now a new cool room for the kitchen.





Our staff and patients are really benefitting from Australias support, Dr Kenyhrcz said. Australian High Commission Minister Counsellor Benedict David said there would be further infrastructure upgrades to the hospital. In coming months, we expect new medical equipment, a portable

ward and surgery theatre, a new dental clinic and an extension to the Intensive Care Unit.

Australia is funding a program of works to upgrade essential infrastructure at ANGAU Hospital.
City Hall, 27thJune, 2016: I would like to make a statement about the situation in Unitech. It is getting out of hand. I would like to make a statement about the situation in Unitech. It is getting out of hand.

I call upon the Prime Minister to take immediate and decisive action to arrest the situation. I also call upon the Prime Minister to make some decision to reduce the stress in the nation.





I call upon the students to think beyond today and beyond just themselves. Take a step

back because tomorrow you will be able to take 5 steps forward. Think about the future generation who are also entitled to study at the University in the facilities you are destroying, it equally belongs to them. It's easy to destroy but harder to rebuild. Same goes to the students; destroying your future without regard of what you can influence later on, in your life.





I urge all the people behind this action to reconsider their strategy! It's not working and it will not work. The end does not justify the means. How you go about doing something is as important as what you end up doing. If you use illegal means to accomplish a legal and even desirable result, the good result does not make the bad means you used justifiable. So burning public properties, murder, harassment and torture, now a possible retaliation, disruption of classes and damaging a possible bright future does not justify the outcomes that the students are seeking for.





I also call upon the family who is seeking retaliation for the murder of their relative at Unitech to not take the law into their own hands. It will only exacerbate the situation. Let the police deal with the matter. Violence of any form does not solve disputes of any form.

In the capital city, at UPNG, we have managed to contain the situation so the public can be assured that we will not tolerate such barbaric acts in NCD. I urge all MP's mandated by their people to take action immediately so normalcy can return.





I urge the public to remain strong and continue to be positive and we will stand together to see our nation through these dark moments. God Bless Papua New Guinea.
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By Nelson ThomThe Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) churches in Kiunga, Western Province, have done a major clean up at the Kiunga Hospital as part of their community engagement and outreach.On a bright Sunday morning, Kiunga and Mepu churches came together, with congregation numbers reaching well over one hundred, bringing along bush knives, rakes, wheel barrows, brush cutters, forks and spades with one goal, and that was to clean the Hospital grounds.The church goers cleaned up by cutting grass, pruned and planted flowers, cleaned and dug blocked drains and also disposed of hospital rubbish.Kiunga SDA church elder, Mark Gena, who was in charge of the clean-up and also works at the hospital, said the churches decided to do something different for the hospital.We always help out the hospital by visiting the sick patients and assist in feeding them and giving them gifts as part of our community contribution. Gena said.He said the idea was suggested by Head Elder of the SDA Churches in North Fly District, Paiyo Bale, who said visiting the hospital was great but wanted the church to do more.Mr. Bale is a well-respected church elder and also a successful local businessman in the province and when he suggested the idea we all agreed as this was the least we could do as a church to the hospital. Gena explained.The hospital area, especially places like the outside and those areas people dont frequent needed cleaning and we as a church agreed that we would take the initiative to do that and we came in numbers for that. Gena added.Kiunga Hospital Administrator, Graeme Hill, was pleased with Mark and the churches kind gesture.The hospital ground looks different, it looks clean and the SDA churches have done a tremendous job, they had over a hundred people here to do the clean-up, thanks so much to every one of you. Hill said.The church said they would continue to do such activities in the future as part of giving something back to the hospital and Kiunga community.Kiunga Hospital is supported through the OTML financed North Fly Health Services Development Program and managed by OTDF: a model public private partnership between local health services and Abt JTA as the implementation partner.
Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia:

Hedge fund managers navigated intense volatility as the historic Brexit vote resulted in massive dislocations across global currency, equity, commodity and fixed income markets, with positioning across the British pound sterling, equities and gold mitigated losses, Hedge Fund Research said in its latest report.

The HFRX Absolute Return Hedge Fund Index posted a decline of -0.18% on Friday, while the HFRX Equal Weighted Index fell -0.76%. The HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index posted a decline of -1.06% on Friday, with gains in CTA strategies offset by declines in equity hedge strategies; macro and relative value arbitrage strategies experienced mixed performance on said day.

"Many hedge funds were defensively positioned coming into the Brexit vote, reflecting expectations for a close popular vote as well as the systemic risks associated with a surprise result, which was heightened by gains in sterling and equity markets leading into the vote," stated Kenneth J. Heinz, president of HFR.

Brexit caused massive dislocations

The report said the decision of the UK to leave the European Union caused massive dislocations most specifically in the sterling, which posted a steep decline against the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen. Hedge fund performance was mixed across strategies with wide dispersion and high turnover, as losses across directional beta strategies were ......................

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Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia:

The $53bn wealth fund Alaskas Permanent Fund Division on Tuesday said it would pull-out its entire $2bn portfolio in funds of hedge funds and instead manage the money in-house, reported Bloomberg.

Marcus Frampton, director of private markets at Alaska Permanent Fund Corp., said the wealth fund will exit all its investments in Crestline Investors, Mariner Investment Group and Lazard Asset Management. As an alternative, Alaska has created a five-person team to select hedge funds.

Frampton told Bloomberg, "Weve decided to move to a 100 percent direct program. We now have the depth of staff and this is an area we want to have some focus on and we are set up to do it directly."

The move of Alaska to exit all its funds of hedge funds investments was aimed at reducing the cost of fees it is paying managers amidst poor performances of such funds. Data from data provider Hedge Fund Research showed that the Fund of Funds Composite Index declined 0.3% in 2015 and is down 3% in the first quarter of this year.

However, Frampton said Alaskas funds did "a very good job" and "no worse than the industry." Crestline is down 1.6% in Q1, while Mariner and Lazard fell 1.4% and 1.2%, respectively.

......................

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Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia: Research company Preqin has examined the largest investors that are currently active in hedge funds  those with $1bn or more allocated to hedge fund investments ("$1bn Club"). Collectively, this pool of investors allocates vast sums of capital to the hedge fund sector; approximately one dollar in every four invested in hedge funds today comes from the coffers of an institution with $1bn or more invested in hedge funds. The following investor segments are all investing in hedge funds: Public Pension Funds, Private Sector Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Endowment Plans, Asset Managers, Insurance Companies, Foundations, Wealth Managers, Banks, Family Offices and Other Investment Trusts. No mass exit from hedge funds Combined, this group of investors are of great influence within the hedge fund industry. Their investments have come under scrutiny in recent years, particularly as a result of a handful of high-profile institutions, notably starting with CalPERS in September 2014 and latterly NYCERS in 2016, deciding to cut hedge funds from their portfolios entirely. With factors such as fees, performance and ultimately the value of hedge fund investments often cited as a deciding factor in cutting hedge funds from the holdings of some of these large investors, the question that is often asked is: "is this the start of a mass exit from hedge fund investment among the largest investors in hedge funds?" As this ...................... To view our full article Click here
Many of us have historically opposed the Republicans based on a fundamental antipathy to virtually all their policies. Their money in politics corroded their integrity, we said. And we thanked our lucky stars we were Democrats.

But beyond their positions this millennium, and far more egregious, was the Republicans utter lack of respect for democracy. Who, we asked ourselves, trashes voting rights, throws people off the voting rolls, and tampers with election outcomes? Who deprives young people of their votes? Who creates and exploits media that ignores the biggest issues, and scripts major events into narratives lacking perpetrators in order to promote popular ignorance and corporate-controlled candidates?

We now see that enemy. It is us: the Democratic Party.



Does Hillary look more threatened or threatening?

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Truth has a liberal bias, they say. Sanders sounded truth to power -- articulating the realities of our wars, health care, climate, infrastructure and many other issues, in the service of equity and justice. Backed by a consistent record, he spoke of the creation of jobs and the transformative impact of elevating human and environmental rights.

He resonated with voters, especially young ones. Like in Brexit, younger voters who chose openness and diversity (although the narrative is more complicated than that) were overwhelmed by older voters whose ballots often reflected fear and media distortion. Here young voters chose the Vermont Senator seven times more in some states, and landed him a majority of voters under 45 in virtually every state. His call for "real change," beautifully reiterated on Thursday, calls for a revolution to prioritize our bodies, prospects, community and planet over corporate profit.

How to deal with these truths and his popularity in a democracy? Clearly we'd have a contest of ideas and records. Instead, Clinton and her supporters decided to do everything possible to silence Sanders, trampling the institutions of party and democracy. I (and so many others) documented Clinton's utter disregard of an open society model with equal participation in our government and accountability to our people.

A month after the primaries started, I wrote "Dear Hillary, You're Losing My Vote," which outlined her attempts to exploit the media to misrepresent her own and Sanders' records. This escalated as I documented in early June's Hillary's Exploitation of Democratic Institutions (Including Superdelegates) Exposed. This subversion of democracy was not against those "terrible, evil, must-be-beaten-at-all-costs Republicans." Instead it was used against the candidate with the most integrity, solid record, bold vision, and youth support in recent Democratic history. At least, we reassured ourselves, it could not possibly get worse.

Then she and the mainstream media-- who have given millions to the Clinton Foundation -- pulled off a heist unheard of in Democratic history. With the Democratic primary slated to go the Convention as neither candidate would otherwise amass sufficient pledged delegates, MSNBC announced they would call the election while California was voting and more than six weeks before the Convention. This despite DNC spokesman Luis Miranda's statement that superdelegates should not be counted before the Convention. Of course this plan was widely condemned. But instead of backing down, they moved the announcement up. AP did a survey of superdelegates and the Associated Press, NBC, and the New York Times announced on the eve of the California primary that she had enough delegates to clinch the nomination without specifying which superdelegates. This was obviously an attempt to depress voter turnout and distract from the expected mass disenfranchisement in the most populous state. Note well: the hounding of delegates to make this announcement could only have been done with the knowledge (if not urging) of Clinton insiders, given the majority of superdelegates allegedly favor her.

The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald described this result: "The nomination is consecrated by a media organization, on a day when nobody voted, based on secret discussions with anonymous establishment insiders and donors whose identities the media organization -- incredibly -- conceals. " But for a party run by insiders and funded by corporate interests, it's only fitting that its nomination process ends with such an ignominious, awkward, and undemocratic sputter."

A day later Clinton vocally claimed the nomination in what appeared to be an attempt to redirect media and popular focus from an unprecedented electoral failure, even in a season of escalating electoral fraud. How big was it? Clinton was called the winner before 2.5 million votes-- about 1/3 of the total -- were counted. Many believe Sanders won California.

As shown in the illuminating and depressing documentary of the California primary -- "Uncounted" by Rogue Kite Productions and The Young Turks -- the election was a "shitshow." Of course this was predictable after major problems in more than 10 states and expert Greg Palast's prediction the No Party Preference (independent) voters who favored Bernie by about 40 points would be denied ballots unless they used very specific language. But the perspective of poll workers (and numerous articles) shows the full scope of the election catastrophe. Poll workers -- some who were picked off the street -- were inadequately or inaccurately trained with a "fire hose" of information and often unable to effectively run or supervise the elections. (The processes were designed by the office of Sec. of State Alex Padilla, who stumped for Clinton.) Voting machines were dropped off without checking IDs and opened by workers: machines that were "unreliable, vulnerable and can be hacked," according to Bob Fitrakis. Who could vote? It wasn't clear. There were massive voter purges such that one worker was "actually relieved when we found someone's name on the roster," many people were switched out of the Democratic party, voters were removed from the rolls or marked as vote by mail but not sent a ballot, voters who showed up were sometimes told they voted by mail and that ballot counted instead, first-time voters were instructed to show official voter IDs, an insufficient numbers of ballots were printed, broken machines occurred, supplementary rosters arrived late, and crossover ballots were not counted at the polls. The massive voter disenfranchisement was truly shocking.

"I have always believed elections were well run, I did not expect there to be a problem among Democrats," said civil rights attorney Dwana Bain in "Uncounted." "I believe that Democrats were suppressing the votes of Democrats and I would have not believed that if I was not closely involved in this election." A couple of other poll workers said, "It can all sound like a conspiracy theory til you see it yourself" and "Voter suppression is real and it is happening here."

Shockingly, two days after these massive electoral failures, things got worse. President Barack Obama endorsed Clinton. That same day Sen. Elizabeth Warren also endorsed Clinton to the disgust of many followers, who had previously viewed her as progressive willing to take on Wall Street. The endorsements were questionable for a variety of reasons, but the timing was truly unjustifiable.

Currently, about one million ballots appear to have been discarded(think the hanging chads in Florida many times over.) And while the Secretary of State's office reports about 600,000 ballots haven't been counted, the numbers don't appear to add up. Final election results are to be reported to the Secretary of State on July 8, a date Clinton and the media pretend has no significance. Yet huge failures of the voting system have led many to claim Sanders won California, an assertion bolstered by a number of counties that have flipped to Sanders, reportedly including both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Yup, the profoundly problematic Democratic primaries culminated in the smashing of the illusion of American democracy.

Yet this election is extremely significant. The political gap between Sanders and Clinton is far wider than it was between the Democratic frontrunners in 2008. So too are the issues more urgent. Critical decisions must be made on deteriorating climate, labor, environmental, and health care realities. Yet Sanders' priorities are being torpedoed by the platform committee right now, often by the narrowest of margins, under the assumption he's the loser.

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Change the culture for the sake of women and men.

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nce against women or children is a more insidious threat than any other form of violence. Nobody wants to be faced with violence in their home or by their family.In practice, risk of domestic violence may wreak against the victims. Then how to combat domestic violence? The actions taken by the governments, INGOs, NGOs appear to be not very successful.

I think it can be prevented.Women and children will acquire rights and will be a fighting who improves the respect, dignity and honor.Women have a tolerant attitude, always non-violent position, that they want to get rid of discrimination and violence against them. They have another strength that probably will always use, and likely to work for their efforts against violence.

If we think one of these women can use this method, nation, governments or the organizations must give help to those victims at some time.I hope that women have lots of respect for their life. They are coming together for their voices which gives them a right to work against violence.

If we like women's prosperity, we bring our voices together. No license is required for respect in the world. Women always seem to be doing fine in their jobs, home and with the family, but don't like discrimination and violence. If women are empowered then economic progress for the women is improved.

On the other hand, domestic violence against women has sharply increased, women are often beaten and raped.Women face arrest.

It is admitted that violence against women is a challenge, and is now being accompanied by the risk of HIV infection.We can not forget how young girls were having sex for food in Grenada, and stealing food in Haiti and raping women at shelters. The spread of HIV/AIDS among females and violence against women are becoming two sides of the same coin in some areas.A similar public health crisis could emerge in the war-torn region of Darfur in Sudan. The majority of women in Darfur have also undergone female genital mutilation, a factor putting them at increased risk of infection.In Colombia, Amnesty International has received testimonies about people from stigmatized groups, including those thought to have HIV/AIDS, who have "disappeared" or been persecuted or killed.

In Ethiopia, for example, some 80% of young married women have had no education and are unable to read. While international laws recognized rape and sexual violence as a crimes, prosecutions were not being brought against offenders.In 1986, the UN Economic and Social Council declared domestic violence a serious violation of women's rights.

Worldwide, 25% of women are sexually abused at some time in their lives. Close to 120 million women has suffered genital mutilation. Countless women, girls and whole families have been left devastated by rape during recent conflicts in Rwanda, Cambodia, Liberia, Peru, Somalia, Uganda and the former Yugoslavia. According Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Nicaragua in 1997, the daughters of battered women are three times more likely to require medical care. Millions of women and children are still being bought and sold. While domestic violence against women persisted in all countries, the international women's movement and human rights advocates are not doing enough to protect them. The absence of equal rights, gender-based discrimination and the denial of economic opportunities to women are factors that could lead to women's increased vulnerability to trafficking.
ISTANBUL, June 28, 2016 (Xinhua) -- File photo taken on Feb. 1, 2016 shows the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey. Two explosions hit the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday evening, with gunfire heard and injuries reported, CNNTurk said. (Xinhua/Cihan)

ISTANBUL, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Wednesday blamed the Islamic State for the bombing attacks that killed 36 people at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Tuesday night.

Addressing the press at the airport, the premier said the attacks were carried out by three suicide bombers and all of them blew themselves up.

36 people were killed and 60 others injured in two explosions that hit the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday evening and involved three suicide bombers, forcing the suspension of all flights.

"We're evaluating the possibility of three suicide bombers," Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin told the press at the airport.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said earlier in Ankara that one terrorist opened fire with a Kalashnikov rifle at random and then blew himself up.

A Turkish official was quoted as saying on Twitter that the vast majority of casualties are Turkish citizens, with foreigners among the dead and wounded.

The police have closed the entrances and exits of the airport, and some inbound flights to the airport have been diverted in the aftermath of the attacks, press reports said.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has ordered the formation of a crisis desk and was coming to Istanbul overnight.

Kerem Kinik, the head of Turkish Red Crescent, has appealed for blood donation.

A Chinese national upstairs at the airport said he heard of gunfires and ran for cover. He then heard of one explosion inside, and saw smoke everywhere and the injured being carried away.

"It's really good to be alive," he added.

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated over the past year, with Istanbul, the national capital of Ankara and other cities having already been hit by a number of bombing attacks.

The latest attack that hit Istanbul occurred on June 7, in which a bomb-laden car targeted a riot police shuttle bus, killing 11 people, including six police officers.
Last year, Shinzo Abe, the current prime minister of Japan, who happens to be Kishi's grandson, made his own speech to congress in a bid to shore-up support for amending Japan's U.S. written constitution that "forever renounce[s] war as a sovereign right of" the Japanese people.10, 11, 12 Although the move to allow the Japanese military to once again wage war is opposed by the majority of the Japanese population, the Obama administration has given Abe its full support. 13,14,15,16

Here lies the tragic irony of Obama's visit to Hiroshima. Upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, the President lamented, "The capacity of human beings to think up new ways to kill one another proved inexhaustible," and again in Hiroshima he opined, "Science allows us to communicate across the seas and fly above the clouds, to cure disease and understand the cosmos, but those same discoveries can be turned into ever more efficient killing machines." 17,18 Such statements made by a president who believes that "Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice (peace prize speech)," may lead one to ask, "How was justice served by placing a Class A war criminal head of state? 19 Where can one find justice in supporting his grandson's renunciation of Japan's "peace constitution?" Where is the justice in the recent authorization of U.S. weapon's sales to Vietnam? 20 Where lurks justice in a massive assassination campaign, replete with abundant "collateral damage," via drones? 21 Where can one read justice in the recently released UN report that 65.3 million people were displaced from their homes in 2015 by conflict or persecution, an all-time high?" 22 And most frightening and contradictory of all, "What direction is justice heading in the redesigning our own nuclear stockpile into 'more efficient killing machines?'" Meet bomb B16 Model 12, the first precision guided nuclear weapon with a "dial a yield" setting which allows for the adjustment of its "explosive power." 23General James E. Cartright, former head of the U.S. Strategic Command and a retired vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and former Defense Secretary William Perry have respectively stated that such weapons make their use "more thinkable" and raise "the possibilities of a 'limited nuclear war.'" 24

Standing with Shinzo Abe at Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Obama proclaimed:

[I]n the image of a mushroom cloud that rose into these skies, we are most starkly reminded of humanity's core contradiction. How the very spark that marks us as a species, our thoughts, our imagination, our language, our toolmaking, our ability to set ourselves apart from nature and bend it to our will -- those very things also give us the capacity for unmatched destruction. How often does material advancement or social innovation blind us to this truth? How easily we learn to justify violence in the name of some higher cause. 25

He would know.

Sources

1. America's Favorite War Criminal: Kishi Nobusuke and the Transformation of U.S.-Japan Relations: http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp11.html

2. Japanese protest security treaty with U.S. and unseat Prime Minister, 1959-1960: click here

4. America's Favorite War Criminal: Kishi Nobusuke and the Transformation of U.S.-Japan Relations: http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp11.html

5. Reporting from Shanghai since the 1930s: http://www.johngittings.com/id65.html

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Perpetuating endless war; that's America's growth industry.

At one time America produced things, good jobs, built highways, cars, had full employment. Not anymore. Our highways are crumbling, the cars are mostly built elsewhere and what full employment there is barely makes ends meet for most people.

But boy do we like war, endless war against endless enemies we need to fight against. Not to win of course. No. That's the last thing we want. Peace would mean no more enemies and no more war.

Then there wouldn't be a need for a bloated Defense (War) department or an arms industry building unnecessary weapons systems. We'd just be another country willing to cooperate and work with each other.

It's bizarre in a way. Russia-actually the USSR-and China were once absolute, authoritarian dictatorships. The Soviet Union under Communism after the 1917 revolution first under Lenin then Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, finally Gorbachev till its demise in 1991 and China under Mao with his "Great Leap Forward" that proved disastrous for its people. That's all history.

Now both Russia and China are promoting peaceful economic development for the world with the likes of the AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) with noteworthy members including Britain, Germany, France, Italy as well as South Korea, Australia, the Philippines (despite the objections of the US), EEU (Eurasian Economic Union), the BRICS Development Bank, OBOR, China's One Belt, One Road project. All economic development projects to benefit the people unlike World Bank and IMF projects that brings crushing debt and austerity measures placed on the backs of the people.

Meanwhile "official" Washington promotes TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) and TTIP (Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), two monstrous type trade agreements which if finalized will make corporations essentially immune from the laws of sovereign countries being able to sue governments if their laws impinge corporate profits and all done before corporate courts.

These agreements don't promote growth and development that benefits people. They're just gargantuan schemes for corporate hegemony, further enriching the 1% at the expense of everyone else.

The TPP and TTIP were all written in secret and not revealed to the public. They've just been promoted by the Obama administration, their lackeys in the EU and in Asia-Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan.

Both trade agreements have since been exposed by WikiLeaks with their contents currently under political fire, held in limbo with more people becoming aware of the potential pitfalls and resisting their passage. Last week's BREXIT vote was partially over the desire to reject the TTIP (obviously more than that) but neither it or the TPP are done deals at this point.

So what's it to be? Endless war or peaceful economic development?

America has no real enemies except the terrorist ones we created and they pose no imminent threat. Russia and China pose no real threat to America. They'd prefer cooperation and peaceful economic development. But they refuse to buckle under to US hegemony so they're depicted as enemies to the American people by the government and its compliant corporate MSM.

So again, what's it to be?

Current US actions in the world point to eventual war with nuclear armed Russia and China. That is certainly not inevitable, but the nuclear clock is ticking toward midnight.

The question is will the people rise up to prevent it from happening?

Maybe the BREXIT is the beginning. As Mike Whitney [1] recently put it, "Hat's off to the British voters who had the guts to reject EU corporate slavestate and cast their ballot for freedom. You're an inspiration to us all."
Only one country, China, stood at the NSG gate obstructing the entry of India into the 48-member elite nuclear-trading group when they met in Seoul. The Chinese stance did not come as a surprise though its recourse to high moral ground with insistence on NPT was neither here nor there more so as Beijing was the original sinner of nuclear proliferation first as an exporter to Pakistan and second as a partner in AQ Khan-led Nuclear Wal-Mart of serving and retired generals.



And both India and its principal bid-backer, the United States, were aware that the dragon could and probably would veto Delhi's bid. China with its battered and tottering economy has no desire to see India become strong economically and in the process impinge upon its influence and pose a threat to its goals over time.

Pakistan has come in handy in this Chinese game. Islamabad has its own vested interest, and has its own scores to settle with India. It is, therefore, a willing proxy to Chinese insistence to hyphenate Islamabad with New Delhi.



In a manner of speaking, China indulged in brinkmanship diplomacy secure in the knowledge that the NSG will remain a hostage to its consensus practices. Because China knows full well that Pakistan, given its poor record on nuclear proliferation, is not on the same page as India's and will not be granted membership of the group. Hence it tried to stall the very discussion at NSG meet, and when it was forced to allow the discussion, shifted focus to the NPT issue.

"Applicant countries must be signatories of the NPT. This is a pillar, not something that China set. It is universally recognised by the international community," the Wang Qun, the head of the arms control department in China's foreign ministry, told the media, conveniently ignoring the fact that India has voluntarily joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which is a far more powerful non-proliferation forum than NPT.

Well, this is a self-goal for President Xi Jinping, who has been walking the extra mile to deepen China's share of Indian market.



Indeed, this is the second strategic mistake he has made in recent months- the first being in the South China Sea.



As several observers have noted, by adopting an aggressive stance in claiming that South China Sea as part of its territory, China drove its neighbours including the Philippines and Vietnam closer to the US. Vietnam is also forging closer defence ties with India, with which it has already established mutuality of economic interests in the South China Sea. Phnom Penh has just welcome President Obama, a visit that was unthinkable some years ago. Like Phnom Penh, Manila has renewed its ties with Washington.



New Delhi has had its share of concerns vis-a-vis Beijing for over couple of years. These worries are not related to the border dispute, which remains unresolved, nor to periodical incursions the PLA soldiers make into what is undoubtedly Indian territory in the Ladakh region. Delhi upped the ante after Chinese nuclear submarines made their presence felt first in the Sri Lankan port and later on in Pakistani waters.

Now by its 'veto' at Seoul meet, China made India finds itself on the same page as its South China Sea neighbours, and furthers the process that has started to see China geographically contained.



In the short run, for India the biggest solace vis-a-vis its failed NSG bid is the support from P4 -- Russia, US, UK, and France -- all permanent members of the UN Security Council since their support matters in realizing its another dream--membership of the Security Council. And it is reason enough to make Pakistani diplomats to burn the proverbial midnight oil.
What NASA insisted for decades could not be--a spacecraft using solar energy rather than nuclear power going beyond the orbit of Mars--will be proven false next Monday, July 4th, Independence Day, when the solar-energized Juno space probe arrives at Jupiter.

NASA had maintained that to provide on-board power and heat on spacecraft in deep space, plutonium-powered systems were required--despite the disaster if there were an accident on launch or in a fall back to Earth and the plutonium was released. I broke the story 30 years ago about how the next mission of NASA's ill-fated Challenger shuttle was to involve lofting a plutonium-powered space probe and I have been reporting in articles, books and on television on the nuclear-in-space issue ever since.

If the Challenger accident did not happen in January 1986 but the shuttle exploded on its next scheduled mission, in May 1986, with the plutonium-powered space probe in its cargo bay, the impacts could have been enormous. Plutonium is the most lethal of all radioactive substances.

Still, when NASA re-scheduled the two plutonium-powered missions it had planned for 1986--one the Galileo mission to Jupiter--it not only publicly declared that plutonium systems to provide on-board power for space probes in deep space were necessary but swore to that in court.

Opponents of the Galileo mission brought suit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. in 1989 seeking to stop the nuclear-energized Galileo shot because of its public health danger in the event of an accident, and they pressed NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on the availability of a safe energy alternative. NASA and DOE officials swore that only nuclear power would do that far out in space, that solar energy could not be harvested beyond the orbit of Mars.

And now comes NASA's own Juno spacecraft energized by solar energy functioning in deep space. Indeed, NASA acknowledges, "This is the first time in history a spacecraft is using solar power so far out in space." http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/news/juno20110527.html

Says Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space: "All during out campaigns to oppose NASA plutonium launches during 1989, 1990 and 1997"--when NASA launched its Cassini space probe with the most plutonium NASA ever used in a power system on a spacecraft--"the space agency maintained in court and in the media that solar would not work as an on-board power source in deep space. Then, in part because of grassroots pressure from around the planet, NASA decided to use solar on the deep space Juno mission."

"To this day," Gagnon went on last week, "NASA still maintains that it must use deadly nuclear devices on some of its space missions--further evidence that the nuclear industry maintains a stranglehold on the space agency. The nuclear industry mistakenly views space as a new market for its toxic product that so many have rejected back here on Earth."

Gagnon added: "We will continue to organize to stop the nuclearization of space--and we will use NASA's own Juno mission as evidence that the bad seed of nuclear power is not essential for space exploration."

The Global Network--www.space4peace.org--established in 1992, is based in Maine.

Juno is not a minor space mission. As NASA states on its Juno mission web page--http://science.nasa.gov/missions/juno/-- "The primary scientific goal of the Juno mission is to significantly improve our understanding of the formation, evolution and structure of Jupiter. Concealed beneath a dense cover of clouds, Jupiter, the archetypical 'Giant Planet,' safeguards secrets to the fundamental processes underlying the early formation of our solar system. Present theories of the origin and early evolution of our solar system are currently at an impasse. Juno will provide answers to critical science questions about Jupiter, as well as key information that will dramatically enhance present theories about the early formation of our own solar system."

Juno will, as of Monday, have flown nearly 2 billion miles to reach Jupiter. It was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on August 5, 2011. It did a "slingshot maneuver" or "flyby" of Earth in October 2013 to increase its velocity. It has been flying at 60,000 miles per hour. It will orbit Jupiter more than 30 times doing scientific observations.

And although sunlight at Jupiter is just four percent of what it is on Earth, Juno's solar panels, manufactured by Spectrolab, a division of Boeing, will be able to continue to harvest solar energy. Its passes will include bringing it closer to Jupiter than any mission before.

On its current "Where is Juno?" page, NASA reports: "The Juno spacecraft is in excellent health and is operating nominally." www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/where

The solar energy on 66-foot wide Juno is being generated by three large solar panels. They convert sunlight to electricity at a 28 percent efficiency rate. That's a little over the 25 percent efficiency rate of the better photovoltaic rooftop panels now being widely used for electric power on Earth. The cost of the mission is $1.1 billion.

Says NASA on its website: "To answer our fundamental questions about origins we especially need to know Jupiter's internal structure and global water abundance. Juno will map the internal structure by studying its influence on the planet's gravitational field with unprecedented accuracy. The water abundance will be determined by microwave radiometers that will detect thermal radiation from deep atmospheric layers, a completely new approach. Water ice brought most of the heavy elements to Jupiter. Knowing the water abundance will tell us the original form of that ice and hence help define the conditions and processes in the original cloud of dust and gas that led to the origin of Jupiter. Those same conditions and processes were forming other planets too. Because this enormous planet contains most of the water in the solar system we can expect this investigation to help us understand the origin of the life-giving water on Earth."

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Reprinted from Robert Reich Blog

We hear a lot about patriotism, especially around the Fourth of July. But in 2016 we're hearing about two very different types of patriotism. One is an inclusive patriotism that binds us together. The other is an exclusive patriotism that keeps others out.

Through most of our history we've understood patriotism the first way. We've celebrated the values and ideals we share in common: democracy, equal opportunity, freedom, tolerance and generosity.

We've recognized these as aspirations to which we recommit ourselves on the Fourth of July.

This inclusive patriotism prides itself on giving hope and refuge to those around the world who are most desperate -- as memorialized in Emma Lazarus' famous lines engraved on the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

By contrast, we're now hearing a strident, exclusive patriotism. It asserts a unique and superior "Americanism" that's determined to exclude others beyond our borders.

Donald Trump famously wants to ban all Muslims from coming to America, and to build a wall along the Mexican border to keep out Mexicans.

Exclusive patriotism tells us to fear foreign terrorists in our midst -- even though almost every terrorist attack since 9/11 has been perpetrated by American citizens or holders of green cards living here for a decade or more.

Exclusive patriotism is not welcoming or generous. Since the war in Syria began in 2011, we've allowed in only 3,127 out of the more than 4 million refugees who have fled that nation.

Republicans in Congress reacted to the Orlando massacre with a proposal to ban all refugees to the United States indefinitely. Rep. Brian Babin of Texas wants to place "an immediate moratorium on all refugee resettlement programs ... to keep America safe and defend our national security."

With El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua convulsed in drug-related violence, thousands of unaccompanied children and nearly as many mothers and children have fled northward. But rather than welcome them, we've detained them at the border and told others contemplating the journey to stay home.

Another difference: Inclusive patriotism instructs us to join together for the common good.

We've understood this to require mutual sacrifice -- from frontier settlers who helped build one another's barns, to neighbors who volunteered for the local fire department, to towns and cities that sent off their boys to fight wars for the good of all.

Such patriotism requires taking on a fair share of the burdens of keeping America going -- including a willingness to pay taxes.

But the strident voices of exclusive patriotism tell us that no sacrifice should be required, especially by the well off.

Exclusive patriotism celebrates the acquisitive individual and lone entrepreneur. It tells us that taxes on the wealthy slow economic growth and deter innovation.


Todd Gitlin

(Image by Helena Hershel) Details DMCA



My guest today is Todd Gitlin, author, journalist and professor of journalism and communications at Columbia University.

Joan Brunwasser: Welcome back to OpEdNews, Todd. You just wrote The Donald Trump Story You're Not Hearing About[6.24.16]. With Trump virtually monopolizing the spotlight for the last year, it's hard to imagine that there are still things we don't know about him. Would you care to get us started?

Todd Gitlin: Some of our most persistent and talented investigative reporters know much, much more about Trump than mainstream media have exposed. Among them are Wayne Barrett and David Cay Johnston, both of whom I spoke to for my piece. The angle I pursued concerns Trump's extensive relationships with the mob. I won't go into the details here--they're in the piece you've linked to above. But I can sum up by saying that Trump, as a developer, had extensive involvements with the New York mob. The best that can be said about these relationships is that this sort of thing was ordinary practice for developers on the New York real estate scene. The mob could bring in capital from Russia, could discipline the workforce, and bring other benefits. Some of Trump's colleagues, especially the Russian Felix Sater, whom I wrote about in the piece, were quite close to him, though he denies it (and at one point walked out of a BBC interview probing that relationship). That this sort of thing was routine in New York real estate is not a huge recommendation. I don't think that, for a presidential candidate, business-as-usual-with-the-mob is anything to write home about.

JB: But that wasn't the only aspect of his past that has not been properly explored, is it? Tell us more. You'd expect the presumptive Republican nominee to be thoroughly vetted by his party, wouldn't you?

TG: Other Trump back-stories not sufficiently explored: His use of undocumented workers; his achievement of special privileges when he acquired a New Jersey a gambling license; his involvement in racist rental policies; his huge tax writeoffs for private developments. All these are easily found by Googling. But none have been the subject of major TV treatment. As for the Republicans, they had grandiose ideas of their own prospects; they share a lot of his views; they were afraid of estranging his crazy base, which they coveted for themselves; not least, they are not deeply principled.

JB: Before we jump into some of the many juicy back stories you just mentioned, what do you think about Trump's refusal to release his tax returns, any of them? What does it mean and can he get away with it?

TG: Trump can surely get away with it--it's his legal right not to release. Clinton supporters will, however, benefit from reports of his deceptions and secrecy. By the way, Adam Nagourney's NYT story today about Trump and Clinton assumes "everyone knows" about Trump's mob-connected past. It ain't so. Nagourney's piece is a perfect case of smugness, in which "everybody knows" is his translation of "my pals and I all know." The stories that become influential are the ones that repeat, like Clinton's e-mails and Benghazi.

JB: So, where do you want to jump in with all these inadequately covered stories to choose from, Todd?

TG: So, for openers: 1. David Cay Johnson, whom I've already referred to, offered these items for close scrutiny. 2. Here's one of the best of the print articles about his monkey business with NJ casinos. it's not that such items aren't "out there"; it's that the TV news organizations haven't done much to advance and connect them. The big exception on the Trump-mob connections, Brian Ross on ABC, did yeoman work on ONE specific connection, but the rest have gone untelevised. I refer to Ross's piece in my own. 3. Cynics and insiders (sometimes the same people) say all the bad stuff on Trump is already "out there." Cf. Adam Nagourney in the June 26 NYT, on which, at the risk of belaboring the point, I posted this comment: 'You ask, "Is there anything left to say about two candidates who are so well known and so polarizing?" In fact, while scattered articles have appeared here and there on the Web, only ABC News among the networks has touched on Trump's relationships with the mob--and this with respect to only a single one of his collaborations with organized crime. No one in major news organizations has connected the dots. No one has given adequate treatment to full-blown exposes by the reporters Wayne Barrett and David Cay Johnston, who have followed Trump's operations for decades. You mention the fraud of "Trump University" but not the criminal aspects of his business record. I have more details in this piece . You assume that because charges are "out there" that they they have wide circulation. Everything is "out there" somewhere, but that doesn't mean it receives its journalistic due. Your article is, on the whole, complacent.'

I want to make it clear: I'm not an investigative reporter. The items I've cited I've distilled from my personal effort to connect dots that are already "out there," supplemented by my interviews with journalists.

Those who agree with the points I'm making should tell the network TV moguls they're offended by their gross malpractice with respect to Trump's background. Everybody knows about Clinton's emails; how many know about Trump and the mob, the unpaid taxes, the unreleased returns, the political subsidies for his buildings, etc. etc.?

JB: There are those who think that the press silence is promoting Trump. But couldn't it merely be simply their fear of a lawsuit?

TG: I doubt it. I've explored this subject with a number of reporters and can't find any evidence that this fear is silencing them. Much more likely is that the cable networks in particular are reveling in the huge numbers of eyeballs that the fatuous Trump coverage brings them. Certainly the networks have very deep pockets. So do the Washington Post and the New York Times. The Post in particular is doing a lot of good work on Trump.

JB: Regarding Clinton's emails and the role of the press, many in the Sanders camp have felt that he's been shortchanged in media coverage. And that is actually borne out by recent news. Have you read about Guccifer 2.0's leak of material from the DNC website pointing to a collusion between corporate media and the DNC in promoting Hillary's candidacy? And if so, what do you think about it?

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North Koreans, who are forced to become part of political bodies controlled by the regime for their entire lives, are naturally accustomed to clapping when they gather to worship the supreme leader. They are brainwashed from early childhood to revere the leader, but such applause is rather sincere and enthusiastic. They think of the leader as their savior and are eager to express their admiration and gratitude for him.

In North Korea, public education and political events that are aimed at idolizing the leader are much more important than other efforts for economic development such as job creation. North Koreans would remain calm even if their relatives were executed on charges that they applauded the leader halfheartedly or behaved irreverently. The 20 million people in the reclusive country are fiercely competing to survive while keeping an eye on one another.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un received 'thunderous applause' from his loyal followers during the 7th congress of the ruling Workers' Party held about a month ago in Pyongyang, the first such event in 36 years. He intends to enjoy another feast of clapping in the 4th session of the 13th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) to convene on June 29.

His grandfather Kim Il-Sung, the first leader of the country, declared, during the 1st session of the 3rd SPA held in 1962, that "In 1964, all people will be well-off, living in tile-roofed houses, eating beef soups and white rice, and wearing silk clothes." In those days, most people made do with cheep multigrain rice or porridge, so his remark gave people a glimmer of hope.

But, his vision was cut short by his son Kim Jong-Il. If the second leader had not built thousands of statues dedicated to his father and numerous other political facilities nationwide for decades, the 'great vision' of his father would have been realized at least in part.

His son and the third leader Kim Jong-Un is not much different. During his first verbal speech in April 2012, he avowed that he will address the hunger of the people, saying "I will not let our people tighten their belts". Now, five years on, the people's lives have not much improved.

The current leader is more obsessed with nuclear tests than his father and grandfather was under his ruling policy of 'parallel development of economy and nuclear weapons'. He has poured enormous amounts of money into nuclear tests, which could have been used to feed the starving people for years.

Even in this situation, the North Korean regime plans to hold the 4th SPA session to lay administrative foundations through organizational reshuffle after the recent party congress.

During the party congress, Kim Jong-Un elevated his party title from the first secretary to the chairman. Some expect that in the upcoming meeting, his government post as the chairman of the National Defense Commission would be replaced as well. Besides, the participants would apparently discuss follow-up measures to the Five-Year Plan for economic development, which was suggested by the leader during the party congress.

In the planned meeting, Kim Jong-Un would try to mollify the people by adopting detailed actions for the Five-Year Plan, but the effect would only be temporary. The economic development strategy would end up in vain unless the regime admits the fallacy of the nuclear-economy parallel policy, with which it deceives the people into believing that their lives can be improved while all the money is dumped into nuclear development, and ultimately abandons its nuclear development.

It is also uncertain how long North Korea will be able to endure international sanctions and other pressure that have been enhanced after its 4th nuclear test.

Even in the face of the heightened sanctions, if Kim Jong-Un still cares only about changing his title to enjoy a long term in office, instead of bringing specific and feasible measures to improve the people's lives, he will face more and more discontent from the people, which will threaten the existence of his regime.

In the upcoming SPA session, Kim Jong-Un must come up with detailed and practical economic development measures to make people's lives better, instead of trying to make the event as part of the 'grand finale of his coronation' through only perfunctory organizational reshuffle.

LIM IL, writer and North Korean defector
Reprinted from Smirking Chimp

At this writing, securities markets and the international community are reeling at the news that British voters have opted to leave the European Union. The "Brexit" has provoked angry reactions from the pro-Remain camp, who accuse Leave voters of stupidity, shortsighted ignorance and, worse, thinly-disguised racism and nativism posing as nationalism.

Political analysts point out that British voters were divided geographically -- Scotland wanted to stay, England wanted to leave -- as well as demographically. One chart that managed to go semi-viral online displayed high support for the Brexit among older voters, opposition among the young, alongside the actuarial average years remaining that each age group would have to live with the consequences of the vote. The smartest of these pundits focus on the class divide between shiny expensive youth-oriented cities like London, where pro-European sentiments are strong, and England's version of the Rust Belt, abandoned hellholes where citizens barely subsist in a ruined landscape of shut down factories and widespread unemployment.

"If you've got money, you vote in," a voter in Manchester told The Guardian. "If you haven't got money, you vote out," she said.

Amid all the concern about a collapsing British pound and the possible dissolution of not only the European Union -- looks like France and the Netherlands may have a similar plebiscite in the near future -- but also the United Kingdom, everyone's out to cast blame. However, no one is pointing at those who are most responsible if (and it's far from certain) Brexit leads to an economic downturn and/or a political debacle: the West's incompetent political class, and its idiotic enablers in the corporate media.

The postwar order began to fray during the 1970s, when business leaders and their allies in government started to push aggressively for policies that encouraged the transfer of manufacturing industries to the developing world away from what was then called the First World in preparation for what we now call the information economy. Globalization is the shorthand term for deindustrialization -- some call it outsourcing, others prefer the simpler "shipping jobs overseas" -- and digitalization of culture and intellectual property.

This essay isn't about whether globalization is good or bad. It's about the way a trend that has been consistently declared irreversible has been poorly managed. That mismanagement led to the Brexit, and may elect Donald Trump.

Even during the 1970s, globalization's downward pressure on wages was easy to foresee. Capital was becoming increasingly fluid, crossing borders with incredible ease in search of places and people where the production of goods and services could be done as cheaply as possible. If you own a factory in Michigan, and you can figure out a way to transport your product to market at reasonable cost, doing the patriotic "made in USA" thing feels like leaving money on the table when you consider what your expenses would look like in Vietnam or Indonesia.

Workers, on the other hand, are confined by international borders, linguistic and cultural limitations, family ties, and just plain inertia, to the nations -- and often the regions within those countries -- where they were born. If the highest wages in the world are paid in the United Arab Emirates, you can't just hop on a plane and expect to find a job, much less a work permit. Workers are stuck; capital moves freely. This economic imbalance between labor and management is a significant contributing factor to the decline in real median wages in countries like Great Britain and the United States since the 1970s.

Now let's say that you're a high-ranking member of the ruling class: a Fortune 500 CEO, a head of state, a congressman, the publisher of a big-city newspaper. You don't need a major in history or political science in order to anticipate that subjecting tens of millions of people to long-term unemployment and underemployment is a recipe for social dysfunction and the kind of class resentment that can be exploited by a demagogue or radical populist movement.

You can do one of two things with that knowledge. You can ignore victims of economic dislocation. Or you can help them.

If you ignore them, if you greedily grab up every dollar and pound and euro you can while city after city slowly collapses into alcoholism, drug abuse and rising crime, you know you're setting yourself up for a future of political instability. It may take a long time, but the chickens will come home to roost. When things turn ugly, it could cost you a pile of cash you amassed during your orgy of greed.

That's what happened during the 1980s, when Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan dismantled the post-World War II social safety nets. Precisely at a time when the UK and the US needed more welfare, national healthcare and public education programs, they slashed them instead. Those austerity policies continued under Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, David Cameron, and -- against reason and common sense -- under Barack Obama after the 2008 economic meltdown.

The British and American political classes made a conscious decision over the last 40 to 50 years not to lift a finger to help those who lost their jobs to deindustrialization and globalization. Go back to college, they say. Get retrained. But most Americans can't afford college tuition -- the jobless least of all! We need(ed) a GI Bill for the dispossessed.

Even this week, many establishment types continue to criticize aging pensioners and unemployed workers over age 50, denigrating them as selfish, clueless, unwilling and unable to adapt themselves to the new -- brutal -- world in which we find ourselves.

No doubt: nativism and racism played a role in the Brexit vote. England is an island nation with an island mentality. Though only a few thousand Syrians entered the UK last year, with nary a passport check, images of refugees riding the roof of trains from France through the Chunnel felt like an invasion to some Britons. But bigotry shouldn't let us ignore the economic factor. When jobs are plentiful and salaries are rising, no one minds immigration. Xenophobia grows in the soil of scarcity.
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"Rob Kall has been in on the modern bottom-up revolution from the ground floor. While the last two years have put the dangers of social media and connectivity at the forefront of our national debate, Rob Kall knows as well as anybody the infinite positive potential of our new world."



Jesse Lee, former White House Director of Rapid Response and Social Media Director for Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi
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The ongoing investigation into the death of a 29-year-old Beijing man who was found dead in police custody has seen a new development. The legal representative of Lei Yangs family disclosed on Tuesday that a preliminary conclusion has been drawn from the autopsy performed on Leis body. But a further examination will still be needed.

According to its official Wechat account, the Peoples Procuratorate of Beijing Municipality has formed a forensic team of top-level forensic and pathology experts to authenticate the autopsy results on Monday.

The team concurred on the previous work of the forensic identification center authorized by the Procurateorate and advised supplementary tests. The Procuraterate will arrange for further examination.

On Tuesday, the municipal authority met with Leis family and legal counsel for their opinion.

Leis family accused the officers of intentional injury and consequential death, abuse of power and fabrication as well as concealing evidence when filing the case, said Chen Youxi, legal representative of Leis family.

According to Chen, the Beijing Procuratorate is now investigating the five police officers involved in the death of Lei for misconduct. The final charges will be determined after a thorough inspection and review of evidence.

The Procurateorate informed the family after it reexamined Leis preliminary autopsy report.

Chen added that the family requested for criminal detention for the five police officers. They also demanded that the five individuals in the foot parlor should be transferred under the Procuraterates custody as they are key witnesses in the case.

Chen said that so far he has no information regarding the penalty that the police hasve posed on the five message parlor employees.

Six lawyers from Beijing, Shanghai and other regions have called for equal protection for the rights of the foot parlor employees. They are also willing to offer legal assistance, Caixin.com reported.

The Lei Yang case took place on May 7. From May 9 to 12, Beijing Changping district police notified the public twice regarding the investigation process, which all mentioned the coercive measures to the five employees suspected of assisting prostitution.

The autopsy was started on May 13. In accordance with relevant regulations, the result must be announced within 60 working days. That means the autopsy report should be released no later than early August.
Point Of Care Diagnostics Market Growth Driven By Development Of Information Technology Pertaining To Health Care Systems Till 2024: Grand View Research, Inc.

http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/point-of-care-poc-diagnostics-industry

The global point of care (PoC) diagnostics market() is anticipated to reach USD 20.9 billion by 2024, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rise in the R&D funding and research activities amongst the market players in order to introduce novel POC tests and devices for ease of disease detection and monitoring is expected to fuel industrial progress through to 2024.Moreover, the introduction of favorable regulatory initiatives in order to promote the development and adoption of POC diagnostic tests is anticipated to propel growth in the coming years. Furthermore, advancement of diagnostic laboratories and adaptation of more integrated and automated lab systems are also factors expected to fuel demand for advanced workflow systems and drive the digital pathology and workflow segment through to 2024.Further key findings from the report suggest: Glucose testing accounted for the largest share in revenue in 2015 owing to the higher prevalence of diabetes. Presence of significant product portfolio pertaining to glucose testing in the market and the presence of a number of major players as wells as local manufacturers from different regions are factors attributive to contribute substantially to the revenue generated. Hb1Ac POC tests are more reliable for glucose testing and due to the vast patient base for diabetes management, this segment is second in terms of revenue generation in the POC market only to its counterpart. Owing to the presence of glucose testing segment as a potential market and growing cost effectiveness of Hb1Ac tests, it is expected that over the coming decade it will witness considerable growth in demand and usage POC tests for infectious disease testing, is another segment of prime activity in the point of care industry. This segment includes rapid diagnostic tests for a considerable number of diseases including HIV, HBV, RSV, HPV, Influenza, HCV, MRSA, TB/dr-TB & HSV among others. Owing to the growing incidence of a number of infectious diseases, initiatives taken by a number of governments to implement early diagnosis and screening, and development of rapid tests able to distinguish between a wide number of pathogens this segment has been observed to be at the demand receiving end in the industry for the better half of the last decade and is only expected to witness growth in demand. Hospitals are estimated to be the dominant end-users for POC diagnosis industry owing to higher penetration of products and comparatively higher usage rate for disease monitoring and diagnosis. North America dominated the market in 2015, with over 43% of total revenue. Presence of major entities with widespread distribution network coupled with significant number of research endeavors carried out in the U.S is supportive for the largest share of region. Moreover, point of care diagnostics is a relatively more advanced segment of in vitro diagnostics and owing to the presence of high R&D expenditure, availability of a technologically advanced healthcare infrastructure along with the presence of a number of ongoing government funded research projects are factors accounting for the regions large share. Asia Pacific is projected to witness lucrative growth in the coming years owing to the developments carried out in developing economies herein in order to develop the healthcare infrastructure and reduce the incidence of target diseases. Major participants of this market include Roche, Abbott Laboratories, Siemens Healthcare, Danaher Corporation, BioMerieux, Johnson & Johnson, Abaxis Inc., Alere Inc., Qiagen N.V., Spectral Diagnostics, Instrumentation Laboratory, Nova Biomedical, Nipro Diagnostics, Trinity Biotech, and Sekisui. Participants are involved in adopting competitive strategies in order to enhance the market presence. These companies are also involved in collaborations with hospitals in order to maintain the market share. For instance, in April 2015, Nipro diagnostics participated in an industry event named AMCP (Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy) in support of providing care to the patients with diabetes.Grand View Research has segmented point of care diagnostics market on the basis of application, end-use, and region:Global Point of Care Diagnostics Outlook, by Product (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) Glucose Testing Hb1Ac Testing Infectious Disease Testingo HIV POCo Clostridium difficile POCo HBV POCo Pneumonia or Streptococcus associated infectionso Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) POCo HPV POCo Influenza/Flu POCo HCV POCo MRSA POCo TB and drug-resistant TB POCo HSV POCo Other Infectious Diseases Coagulation Fertility Cardiac markers Primary care systems Hematology Decentralized Clinical Chemistry Feces Blood Gas/Electrolytes Ambulatory Chemistry Urinalysis Drug Abuse TestingGlobal Point of Care Diagnostics Outlook, by End-use (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) Clinics Hospitals Assisted Living Healthcare Facilities Laboratory OthersPoint of Care Diagnostics Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) North Americao U.S.o Canada Europeo Germanyo UKo Spaino Franceo Italy Asia Pacifico Chinao Japano Indiao Singaporeo Koreao Australia Latin Americao Brazilo Mexicoo Argentinao Chile MEAo South Africao Nigeriao Kenya UAEo Saudi Arabiao Qataro ZimbabweAbout Grand View ResearchGrand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.Press ContactSherry James- Corporate Relations Specialist28 2nd Street, Suite 3036San Francisco, CA 94105United StatesPhone: 1-415-349-0058Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com
Rising Concern Regarding Gut Health Coupled With Increasing Dairy Industry Is Expected To Augment Product Demand In Dairy Applications Till 2022

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Global human milk oligosaccharides market(is expected to reach USD 134.7 million by 2022, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The human milk oligosaccharides industry is expected to witness significant demand owing to increasing need from infant formula and functional food & beverage applications.Numerous players have been investing for development of new technologies for commercial scale product manufacturing, thus augmenting growth. For instance, Inbiose N.V. uses fermentation process for commercial scale production of human milk oligosaccharides.Rising concern regarding gut health coupled with increasing dairy industry is expected to augment product demand in dairy and pharmaceutical applications. Changing consumer lifestyles and shift towards nutritious food is expected to boost product need over the forecast period. In addition, issues related to infant malnutrition and mortality throughout the world is expected to augment product over the next seven years.Further key findings from the report suggest: Infant Formula was the largest application, accounting for over 70% of global volume in 2014. High infant mortality rate coupled with increased need of the product for infants deprived of mothers milk is expected to propel demand. Functional food & beverages are expected to witness rise on account of growing awareness towards gut health. In addition, rapidly growing need for better healthcare services and nutritional food products in Asia Pacific and Latin America is expected to fuel growth over the next seven years. The segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.9% from 2015 to 2022. Europe was the dominant region in terms of volume, accounting for over 35.0% of the total share in 2014 primarily due to growing demand for prebiotic products. Europe human milk oligosaccharides demand is expected to grow at a significant rate owing to regulations promoting use of 2FL and LNnT in infant formulas. The global market is consolidated with limited players dominating the industry. Key companies present include Inbiose, Elicityl SA, Jennewein Biotechnologie, Glycom, Medolac Laboratories, ZuChem, and Glycosyn. These companies are extensively involved in R&D activities for the product. Moreover, some of the players including Glycom A/S are integrated across the value chain, where they produce the raw materials used in manufacturing of HMOs.Grand View Research has segmented the global human milk oligosaccharides market on the basis of application and region:Global Human Milk Oligosaccharides Application Outlook (Volume, Grams; Revenue, USD Thousand, 2012 - 2022) Infant Formula Function food & Beverages Food Supplements OthersGlobal Human Milk Oligosaccharides Regional Outlook (Volume, Grams; Revenue, USD Thousand, 2012 - 2022) North Americao U.S. Europeo U.K.o Germany Asia Pacifico Chinao Japan Latin Americao Brazil MEAAbout Grand View ResearchGrand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.Press ContactSherry James- Corporate Relations Specialist28 2nd Street, Suite 3036San Francisco, CA 94105United StatesPhone: 1-415-349-0058Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com
Rising Demand For Accuracy And Reproducibility Required During Medical Procedures Is High Impact Rendering Driver For Medical Automation Market Till 2024

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The global medical automation market() is expected to reach USD 79.4 billion by 2024, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The increasing demand for accuracy and reproducibility required during medical procedures is the high impact rendering driver for the medical automation market.The rising adoption of these devices is attributed to the advantages associated with automated systems. For example, the automation of tedious tasks such as sampling, monitoring of quality, quantity, packaging and labeling, and scanning of medicines and devices, have reduced human efforts and increased speed and accuracy, which has led to increased dependency on these automated systems.Moreover, the growing global prevalence of chronic conditions such as diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is further pushing the demand for therapeutic, laboratory and pharmacy automated medication systems, which are faster and more productive. As per the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is the leading cause of mortality around the globe; in addition, an exponential rise has been witnessed in the diabetes cases from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. The aforementioned factors are responsible for creating the need for automated medical equipments over the forecast period.Furthermore, with the advent of technologically advanced defibrillators and ablation therapies, this market is expected to gain swift growth in its market share in the near future. For instance, automation in the following pharmacy-based functions, medication dispensing, storage, and retrieval enables traceability and tracking, which in turn improves patient safety and reduces errors. Furthermore, there is an increased focus on incorporating automation in hospitals due to the associated benefits, such as reduction of errors and operational costs; these factors altogether are expected to present this market with high growth opportunities in the near future.Further key findings from the study suggest: The therapeutic segment was observed to dominate in terms of revenue share in 2015owing to the high usage rate of automated devices in the non-surgical procedures, such as external defibrillators, an implantable cardioverter, and wearable/ implantable drug pumps On the other hand, the medical logistics and training segment is expected to grow at a lucrative CAGR of over 10.0%. The rising adoption of advanced systems, such as Pneumatic Tube Systems (PTS) used in material transportation and Real Time Location System (RTLS) in location-tracking, contributes towards the overall medical automation market growth during the forecast period. The research laboratories and institutes segment is also identified as a lucrative segment due to, the rising demand for automated research laboratories that are helpful in the detection and the treatment of chronic diseases. These laboratory automated systems help in reducing demand and supply gaps by mechanization, which yields rapid results and increases overall productivity. This is expected to further enhance its usage over the forecast period. With an aim to address the increasing demand for advanced molecular diagnostic techniques in cancer, the Leiden University Medical Center have recently succeeded in isolating DNA and RNA from small tissue samples using a high-throughput, fully automated solution by Siemens. Innovations like these are expected to present the market with significant growth opportunities. Some key players in this industry include Accuray, Inc., Tecan Group Ltd., Medtronic Plc., Swisslog Holding AG, GE Healthcare, Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Stryker Corporation, Siemens AG, Koninklijke Philips N.V., and Danaher Corporation. These industry players are adopting strategies such as technological innovation, new product launches, and strategic collaborations including mergers and acquisitions to capitalize untapped opportunities. For instance, in July 2015, Medtronic Plc. acquired RF Surgical Systems, Inc., for further expansion of its business and with the aim of capturing a huge market share of the medical automation market in the coming years.Grand View Research has segmented the medical automation market on the basis of application, end-use, and region:Global Medical Automation Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2024) Diagnostic & Monitoring Automationo Automated imaging & analysiso Point-of-care testing Therapeutic Automationo Surgical Automationo Non-surgical Automation Lab and Pharmacy Automationo Laboratory Automationo Pharmacy Automation Medical Logistics and TrainingGlobal Medical Automation End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2024) Hospitals & Diagnostic Centers Research Laboratories & Institutes Pharmacies Home & Ambulatory CareMedical Automation Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2024) North Americao U.S.o Canada Europeo UKo Germany Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao India Latin Americao Mexicoo Brazil MEAo South AfricaAbout Grand View ResearchGrand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.Sherry James- Corporate Relations Specialist28 2nd Street, Suite 3036San Francisco, CA 94105United StatesPhone: 1-415-349-0058Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com
Business success results in office expansion for Systech Illinois, China.

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Systech Illinois relocate to new larger offices in China.Due to the continued success in promoting and supplying gas analysis instruments to the Asian market, Systech Illinois China are relocating to larger offices in Shanghai. Managing Director Bryan Cummings says, It is wonderful that Frank Liu, General Manager and the rest of the staff at Systech Illinois, China have been so successful that they have outgrown the office space for the second time in 7 years!Systech Illinois has manufacturing facilities in the UK and U.S., sales and support facilities in China and Thailand and over 100 representatives worldwide. The facility in China has seen real growth requiring not only a larger office space, but also an area to showcase its leading range of gas analysis equipment: oxygen and water vapour permeation analysers, headspace gas analysers, process oxygen analysers and moisture analysers.In order to offer a complete service to customers in the process, food and pharmaceutical and packaging industries, a test and repair area has been set up for servicing gas analysis instruments.Please come and visit us at our new offices where we will be more than happy to demonstrate our gas analyser instruments and to discuss your application requirements.Systech Illinois, ChinaRoom 1107-1108 Forte buildingNo.910 Quyang Road,Hongkou District,Shanghai, 200437ChinaTel: +86-21-65533022Fax: +86-21-65539651As a global company Systech Illinois specialises in online, portable and laboratory water vapour permeation analysis equipment. With 30 years as one of the leading experts in gas and moisture measurement, Systech Illinois' application and technology knowledge provides efficient gas analysis solutions in many industry sectors worldwide.For the process industry, Systech offer a wide range of analysis solutions including measurement of water vapour, oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and many other gases. In addition, Systech manufacture intrinsically safe units for use in hazardous areas.Systech Illinois is a multinational company with offices and gas analysis equipment manufacturing facilities in the UK and the U.S. Systech is very proud of its well developed and well trained workforce, which enables it to offer customers a continuing high level of service, and become known globally as a leading supplier of gas analysis instrumentation.For more information on the Systech product range please visitSystech IllinoisBeth FaulknerPhone: +44 1844 216838 (EMEA)+1 815 344 6212 (N. & S. America and Canada).Web:Systech Illinois17 Thame Park Business CentreWenman RoadThameOxfordshire
2016 Deep Research "Global Viral Clearance Industry - United States" Analysis, Market Forecast 2022, Trend Review, Growth

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Description-The United States Viral Clearance Industry 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Viral Clearance industry.The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Viral Clearance market analysis is provided for the United States markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and Bill of Materials cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.To Browse a Report Detail with TOC @The report focuses on United States major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Viral Clearance industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered.With 149 tables and figures the report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.To Free Sample Report With TOC @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview1.1 Definition and Specifications of Viral Clearance1.1.1 Definition of Viral Clearance1.1.2 Specifications of Viral Clearance1.2 Classification of Viral Clearance1.3 Applications of Viral Clearance1.3.1 Stem Cell1.3.2 Blood1.3.3 Gene Therapy1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Viral Clearance1.5 Industry Overview of Viral Clearance1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Viral Clearance1.7 Industry News Analysis of Viral Clearance2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Viral Clearance2.1 Bill of Materials (BOM) of Viral Clearance2.2 BOM Price Analysis of Viral Clearance2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Viral Clearance2.4 Depreciation Cost Analysis of Viral Clearance2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Viral Clearance2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Viral Clearance2.7 United States Price, Cost and Gross of Viral Clearance 2011-20163 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of United States Key Manufacturers in 20153.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of United States Key Viral Clearance Manufacturers in 20153.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of United States Viral Clearance Key Manufacturers in 20153.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of United States Viral Clearance Key Manufacturers in 20154 Production Analysis of Viral Clearance by Regions, Type, and Applications4.1 United States Production of Viral Clearance by Regions 2011-20164.2 United States Production of Viral Clearance by Type 2011-20164.3 United States Sales of Viral Clearance by Applications 2011-20164.4 Price Analysis of United States Viral Clearance Key Manufacturers in 20154.5 United States Capacity, Production, Import, Export, Sales, Price, Cost and Revenue of Viral Clearance 2011-20165 Consumption Volume and Consumption Value Analysis of Viral Clearance by Regions5.1 United States Consumption Volume of Viral Clearance by Regions 2011-20165.2 United States Consumption Value of Viral Clearance by Regions 2011-20165.3 United States Consumption Price Analysis of Viral Clearance by Regions 2011-20166 Analysis of Viral Clearance Production, Supply, Sales and Market Status 2011-20166.1 Capacity, Production, Sales, and Revenue of Viral Clearance 2011-20166.2 Production Market Share and Sales Market Share Analysis of Viral Clearance 2014-20156.3 Sales Overview of Viral Clearance 2011-20166.4 Supply, Consumption and Gap of Viral Clearance 2011-20166.5 Import, Export and Consumption of Viral Clearance 2011-20166.6 Cost, Price, Revenue and Gross Margin of Viral Clearance 2011-2016To Enquire Regarding This Report @ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Pvt. Ltd.,90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074
Hydropower in Mexico, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 | Latest Research Report

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Hydropower in Mexico, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles" to its huge collection of research reports."Hydropower in Mexico, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles is the latest report from GlobalData, the industry analysis specialists that offer comprehensive information and understanding of the hydropower market in Mexico.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report provides in depth analysis on global renewable power market and global hydropower market with forecasts up to 2030. The report analyzes the power market scenario in Mexico (includes conventional thermal, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) and provides future outlook with forecasts up to 2030. The research details renewable power market outlook in the country (includes hydro, small hydro, biopower and solar PV) and provides forecasts up to 2030. The report highlights installed capacity and power generation trends from 2006 to 2030 in Mexico hydropower market. A detailed coverage of renewable energy policy framework governing the market with specific policies pertaining to hydropower is provided in the report. The research also provides company snapshots of some of the major market participants.The report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research and in-house analysis by GlobalDatas team of industry experts.Browse Detail Report With TOC @ScopeThe report analyses global renewable power market, global hydropower market, Mexico power market, Mexico renewable power market and Mexico hydropower market. The scope of the research includes -- A brief introduction on global carbon emissions and global primary energy consumption.- An overview on global renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends, generation trends and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources. The information is covered for the historical period 2006-2015 (unless specified) and forecast period 2015-2030.- Renewable power sources include wind (both onshore and offshore), solar photovoltaic (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), small hydropower (SHP), biomass, biogas and geothermal.- Detailed overview of the global hydropower market with installed capacity and generation trends, installed capacity split by major hydropower countries in 2015 and key owners information of various regions.- Power market scenario in Mexico and provides detailed market overview, installed capacity and power generation trends by various fuel types (includes thermal conventional, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) with forecasts up to 2030.- An overview on Mexico renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends (2006-2030), generation trends(2006-2030) and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources in 2015.- Detailed overview of Mexico hydropower market with installed capacity and generation trends and major active and upcoming hydro projects.- Deal analysis of Mexico hydropower market. Deals are analyzed on the basis of mergers, acquisitions, partnership, asset finance, debt offering, equity offering, private equity (PE) and venture capitalists (VC).- Key policies and regulatory framework supporting the development of renewable power sources in general and hydropower in particular.- Company snapshots of some of the major market participants in the country.Reasons to buy- The report will enhance your decision making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner.- Identify key growth and investment opportunities in Mexico hydropower market.- Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data for hydropower market.- Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industrys growth potential.- Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events.- Identify key partners and business development avenues.- Understand and respond to your competitors business structure, strategy and prospects.Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: [url=mailto:sales@researchmoz.us]sales@researchmoz.us[/url]Follow us on LinkedIn @ [url=http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG]
Geothermal Power in Mexico, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 | Latest Research Survey

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Geothermal Power in Mexico, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles" to its huge collection of research reports."Geothermal Power in Mexico, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles is the latest report from GlobalData, the industry analysis specialists that offer comprehensive information and understanding of the wind power market in Mexico.The report provides in depth analysis on global renewable power market and global geothermal power market with forecasts up to 2030. The report analyzes the power market scenario in Mexico (includes conventional thermal, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) and provides future outlook with forecasts up to 2030. The research details renewable power market outlook in the country (includes wind, small hydro, biopower and solar PV) and provides forecasts up to 2030. The report highlights installed capacity and power generation trends from 2006 to 2030 in Mexico geothermal power market. A detailed coverage of renewable energy policy framework governing the market with specific policies pertaining to geothermal power is provided in the report. The research also provides company snapshots of some of the major market participants.The report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research and in-house analysis by GlobalDatas team of industry experts.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @ScopeThe report analyses global renewable power market, global geothermal power market, Mexico power market, Mexico renewable power market and Mexico geothermal market. The scope of the research includes -- A brief introduction on global carbon emissions and global primary energy consumption.- An overview on global renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends, generation trends and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources. The information is covered for the historical period 2006-2015 (unless specified) and forecast period 2015-2030.- Renewable power sources include geothermal, solar photovoltaic (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), small hydropower (SHP), biomass, biogas and wind.- Detailed overview of the global geothermal power market with installed capacity and generation trends, installed capacity split by major geothermal power countries in 2015.- Power market scenario in Mexico and provides detailed market overview, installed capacity and power generation trends by various fuel types (includes thermal conventional, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) with forecasts up to 2030.- An overview on Mexico renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends (2006-2030), generation trends(2006-2030) and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources in 2015.- Detailed overview of Mexico geothermal power market with installed capacity and generation trends and major active and upcoming geothermal projects.- Deal analysis of Mexico geothermal power market. Deals are analyzed on the basis of mergers, acquisitions, partnership, asset finance, debt offering, equity offering, private equity (PE) and venture capitalists (VC).- Key policies and regulatory framework supporting the development of renewable power sources in general and geothermal power in particular.- Company snapshots of some of the major market participants in the country.Browse Detail Report With TOC @Reasons to buy- The report will enhance your decision making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner.- Identify key growth and investment opportunities in Mexico geothermal power market.- Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data for geothermal power market.- Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industrys growth potential.- Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events.- Identify key partners and business development avenues.- Understand and respond to your competitors business structure, strategy and prospects.Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Automatic Passenger Counting and Information System Market Government regulations supporting widespread installation of the APC systems in North America

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Automatic passenger counting systems are electronic machines for counting the number of passenger that board and leave at every stop. These systems have replaced schedule checkers that were previously used to manually collect ridership information. Unlike schedule checkers, automatic passenger counting and information systems collect ridership for every single trip operated. Automatic passenger counting and information systems are cost effective as it costs less to collect ridership information via APC units than it does to hire employees for manual collection. Passenger information system is an electronic information system which provides real time passengers information. This includes the predictions about arrival and departure times of transport means.Automatic passenger counting and information systems market can be segmented on the basis of type, devices & components, mode of transport and geography. Based on types, the market for automatic passenger counting and information systems can be segmented into passenger information display systems, passenger information announcement systems, emergency communication systems, infotainment systems, and passenger information mobile applications. On the basis of components, the automatic passenger counting and information system market can be categorized as multimedia displays, networking and communication devices, and sensors. Based on the mode of transport, the market for automatic passenger counting and geography can be segmented into roadways, railways, waterways, and airways. Furthermore, based on geography the automatic passenger counting and information system market is also segmented into four major regions, namely North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (Latin America, Middle East, and Africa).Increasing need to achieve fleet optimization and demand for smart telematic solutions are collectively driving the automatic passenger counting and information systems market. In addition, technological advancements in the field of passenger information systems and growing urbanization are also supporting the market growth. Government regulations supporting widespread installation of the APC systems in North America have fueled the growth of automatic passenger counting market in the region. The dynamic pricing of tickets and augmentation to existing real-time passenger information systems are the key opportunity areas for the APC market.More Information :Automatic passenger counting provides more accurate information than the conventional manual counting method as sensors are used to provide gross level of ridership. Although high initial cost is the major challenge inhibiting the market growth, especially in the price sensitive emerging economies, relatively quick return on investment is expected to subdue the impact of this challenge in the coming years. The installation of automated counting system is one of the major priorities in the developed economies like North America and Europe owing to its capabilities that enhance transit time efficacy and helps to resolve passengers complaints quickly.Some of the major players in the automatic passenger counting systems market include Eurotech SpA (Italy), iris-GmbH (Germany), Urban Transportation Associates, Inc. (U.S.), DILAX Intelcom GmbH (Germany), and HELLA Aglaia Mobile Vision GmbH (Germany), among others. Major players in passenger information system includes Alstom (France), Cisco Systems, Inc. (U.S.), GE Transportation (U.S.), Hitachi, Ltd. (Japan), Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (China), and Siemens AG (Germany).About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactMr. Sudip. S90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Antistatic Packaging Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024

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Antistatic packaging is used for shipping products, which are prone to damage caused by electrostatic discharge. These bags are usually made from Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), and have a distinctive color (silvery for metalized film, pink or black in case of polyethylene) depending on their properties. Hence, an antistatic bag is a shipping bag which cannot be affected by electrostatic discharge. Electrically, antistatic bag provides lubricity within the bag, thereby inhibiting static charge build up. These bags are typically coated with topical antistatic agents that help reduce the generation of static imbalance resulting from triboelectric generation or contact and separation. Some antistatic bags are made with an antistatic built into the film layers and tend to be more reliable and cleaner then the topically treated ones. A good bag has antistatic properties on both, the inner and outer part of the bag film construction.Major growth drivers for the antistatic packaging market include increasing shipments of electronic devices across the world. Antistatic packaging is mainly used for packaging of electronic devices. This increase in usage of electronic devices is being witnessed all over the world and in almost all end use sectors, such as medical and household.Antistatic packaging market can be classified on the basis of product type into: bubble bags, polybags, foam, polytubing, peanuts, antistatic tape, and antistatic stretch wrap. The antistatic bubble bag is made up of low density polyethylene, and is available in the usual packaging form. In addition to their antistatic properties, these bags facilitate the necessary separation of parts during transportation and storage.Get Free Sample Report Copy :Meanwhile, antistatic foam protects the product components from shock vibration and other impacts. Antistatic pink bubble roll wraps are bulky items, used for transport, and lining shipping cartons and envelopes.In terms of region, Korea, Singapore and China are the major manufacturers of electronic devices and components and, hence, Asia Pacific is anticipated to account for a major chunk of revenue generated in the antistatic packaging market. The Asia Pacific market is anticipated to be respectively followed by Europe and North America (majorly, the U.S.). Meanwhile, the top electronic components and integrated circuit exporters are located in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, European countries and the U.S..Key players in the antistatic packaging market include Edco Supply Corporation (U.S.), Miller packaging (U.S.), Desco Industries Inc. (U.K.), Dou Yee (China), Dakla Pack (Netherlands), Polyplus Packaging (U.K.), Pall Corporation (U.S.), TIP Corporation (Malaysia), Kao Chia (Taiwan), MK Master, and Advance Packaging (U.S.).About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact TMRMr.Sudip S90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
A senior named Duan Haijun from Chongqing Normal University recently became an Internet sensation thanks to his photo-like drawings painted using ballpoint pens, Chongqing Economic Times reported on Monday. Duan's amazing drawings astonished many netizens.

According to Duan, shocked by a vivid blue rose drawn by ballpoint pen, he started his artistic creation efforts during the last year of high school. However, having zero experience with such drawings, he had to devote a large amount of time practicing. A 10-hour practice was usual back then.

Duan has a callus on the middle finger of his right hand. It was formed during his practice. His works, including those portraits, landscape painting or paintings of animals, are all vivid and detailed.

By now he has finished more than 50 pieces of works. Duan would spend at least 10 hours on one piece of work. One of his works even took him a month.

During his three years of college life, some offered to buy his drawings. But Duan refused all of them, saying his works are a demonstration of his growth. Sometimes he gave his drawings to his friends as gifts, but never sold them.

Duan's teacher Professor Xiang Huiling also praised his student, saying that they greatly encourage those who innovate within their artistic creations.
Billboard and Outdoor Advertising Market: Major opportunity for the market lies in large area display technologies

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A billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure generally found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads or highways. It presents huge advertisements to passing drivers and pedestrians. Billboards are highly visible in the top designated market areas showing large distinctive visuals with ostensibly witty slogans. These advertisements are designed to catch a persons attention very quickly and create a memorable impression in the readers mind. These advertisements usually consist of few words, in large print, and an arresting or humorous image in a brilliant color so that they can be read easily by the people driving at a high speed on highways.Billboard and outdoor advertising market is segmented on the basis of its types, applications and geography. Based on its type, the market is segmented into painted billboards, digital; billboards, mobile billboards, multi-purpose billboards and other types of billboards. In painted billboards, the image is projected on the series of paper panels. Digital billboards are created from computer programs and software. They are designed to display moving text, different displays from the same company. The continuously running text ensures wide exposure and maximum impact to target audiences. Mobile billboards can be placed wherever there is heavy foot traffic due to an event such as railway stations, airports, sport arenas and convention centers among others. Multi-purpose billboards can integrate its advertising purpose with its public lighting and telecommunications antenna support.Other types of billboards include the billboard bicycle attached to the back of a mobile billboard or bicycle or a special advertising trailer to lift huge banners. Mechanical billboards and 3-D billboards are also included in the category with some extra nice features. Based on its applications, the market is segmented into highways, railway stations, big name advertising and tobacco advertising. They are also used for non-commercial purpose which includes the government agencies and non-profit organizations to communicate with the public. Geographically, North America is expected to lead the market due to growing digitization in the existing technologies during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is expected to have a steady growth in the market during the forecast period due to rising infrastructure development and advertisement trends.More Information :The major factors driving the global billboard and outdoor advertising market include rising urbanization, digital outdoor advertising and global economic development. In addition, additional factors such as low-cost advertising medium, improved audience measurement and commuting trends, are further bolstering the global market. However, the market growth is limited by various regulatory norms and standards enforced by governments worldwide. Furthermore, digital displays are not a suitable choice for most outdoor billboards advertisings and thus it hinders market growth. In addition, stringent government restriction on LCD advertising screens pertaining to limiting light/color intensity to ensure drivers safety or reduce annoyance for residential homes at night is restricting market growth.The major opportunity for the market lies in large area display technologies which can be an effective substitute for the existing screen printed electroluminescent (EL) displays. Some of the major players in the global billboard and outdoor advertising market include Capitol Outdoor, LLC, Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Inc., Formetco Incorporated, Daktronics Dr., and Watchfire Signs., among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactMr. Sudip. S90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Laser Coders Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024

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Innovation in coding technology continues to become more computerized and integrated into the production line. Laser coding is mostly used to differentiate products and mark them accordingly. Laser coding functions by removal of surface coating from the packaging or product; this results in permanent changes in the surface of the product. Laser coding is a non-contact printing method and ensures quality marking. In laser technology, the galvanometer enables laser coding and making mark on moving or static products. Laser coding can be done on various materials such as glass, paper, foils, plastic, cardboard, coated metals, etc. Laser coding does not contain any inks or chemicals; it is cost-efficient and a low maintenance and eco-friendly method for marking the product. The laser coder software allows users to do barcoding, change and delete text easily, add graphics, etc. The substitutes for laser coders are continuous inkjets and thermal inkjets. In packaging, laser coding is usually used for marking serial or batch number, expiry dates, etc. Laser coding is done in the end after the production process. The laser coder is used for marking various materials in the packaging industry, such as paper, cardboard, and polymers.The major laser coding types are CO2 lasers, fiber lasers, and vanadate lasers. CO2 lasers include carbon dioxide gas mixture, and are mostly applied on non-metallic materials and on most plastics. They are suited for wood, glass, textiles, foils & films, stone, acrylic, paper, plastics and leather. Fiber lasers are solid state lasers; they are used for contrasting plastic marking and metal marking. They are suited for coated metals, metals, and plastics. Vanadate lasers (Crystal laser) can emit 3 different wavelengths and are suited for ceramics (to some extent), metals, plastics, and coated metals. Domino Laser GmbH is the largest international producer of laser coders; the company has presence in the U.S., Europe, North America, and China.Get Free Sample Report Copy :The global laser coders market is segmented based on product type, application, and geography. By product type, the global laser coder market is segmented into CO2 lasers, fiber lasers, Nd:YAG flash lamp (solid state), Nd:YAG diode pumped, and vanadate lasers. By end user, the global laser coder market is segmented into food and beverages, cosmetics, personal and home care, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, tobacco, automotive and aerospace, building materials, chemicals, commercial printing and addressing, electrical components and electronics, and wire, cable and pipe.The growth opportunities for players in the laser coders market growth lie in bringing innovation in terms of the faster execution of coding and that too on a wider range of products, and in producing products that are cost effective and occupy less space. There is an increasing need for high quality marking with improved traceability being witnessed across the globe, which in turn is expected to drive growth of the laser coder market over the forecast period. However, advances in coding and marking applications are still limited and the capital cost incurred on the same is high, in turn acting as restraints for the market growth. Consumables and maintenance costs are low in case of laser coders, which are among the major factors expected to further drive growth of the laser coder market over the forecast period. Meanwhile, the FDA is increasingly demanding permanent identifying mark solutions from the manufacturers in view of improving the product traceability, thereby creating further growth opportunity for the players operating in the market.By geography, the global laser coder market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), the Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. There have been significant new developments being witnessed in the global laser coders market over the last few years in view of the increasing demand for high speed and reliability. Currently, China dominates the global laser coders market due to the presence of an innovative, cost efficient, environment friendly, and high efficient supply chain in the country. Most of the key market players are based out of China. The laser coder market in North America and Europe is also expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period due to increasing demand for laser coders in packaging industries in these regions.Some of the key players in the global laser coding market are Domino Printing Sciences PLC, Linx Printing Technologies, Telesis Technologies, Inc, Matthews Marking Systems, MACSA ID S.A., Markem-Imaje - a Dover Company, Videojet Technologies, Inc., Trotec Laser, Inc., and Liquid Packaging Solutions, Inc.About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact TMRMr.Sudip S90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Inkjet Coders Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024

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The inkjet technology is a reliable and cost-effective method used to mark and code a whole range of products. Inkjet coders are most commonly used in the packaging industry to differentiate products. These are a non-contact printing coders that can generate dates and batch numbers, and time any information to a variety of packaging products including containers, cartons labels, etc. Inkjet coders are used in industries, such as food and beverages, automotive, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, and electronics, for marking purpose. The inkjet coders cost less but have higher maintenance cost, whereas laser coders have high cost and low maintenance cost. Inkjet coders are cost effective and are recommended for economical color printing. The substitute for inkjet coder is laser coder. Inkjet coders comprise different chambers containing different colors of ink. Recently, Videojet Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of coding, marking, and printing products, launched six new inks for larger inkjet printers. Making an innovation in coding solution, Hitachi America, Ltd. recently developed its latest generation of continuous ink jet printers, the UX Series.Drop on Demand (DOD), Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) and Thermal Inkjet (TIJ) are the three types of ink-jet technologies used in the packaging industry for coding applications. The drop on demand technology uses aqueous or UV curable inks to print on a wide range of products; it has a number of chambers which contains ink. Continuous ink jet is a non-contact coding and durable method. The small characters of CIJ coders generate expiry dates, lot codes, graphics, and bar codes on a variety of primary packaging and the large character of CIJ coders generate same for secondary packaging, i.e. for cartons, etc. Thermal ink jet coders make use of print cartridges. They contain a series of small electrically heated chambers, which can be controlled by a flex-circuit, and involve high speed coding for serialized data. (TIJ) technology is usually for generating high-quality graphics and high-grade two-dimensional symbologies such as DataMatrix codes. Generally, industries such as pharmaceuticals, tobacco, health, and beauty make use of TIJ coders.Get Free Sample Report Copy :The global inkjet coder market is segmented based on product technology, end user, and geography. By product technology, the global inkjet coder market is segmented into Drop on Demand (DOD), Continuous Inkjet (CIJ), and Thermal Inkjet (TIJ). By end user, the global inkjet coder market is categorized on the basis of different industries, including food and beverages, cosmetics, personal and home care, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, tobacco, automotive and aerospace, building materials, chemicals, commercial printing and addressing, electrical components and electronics, and wire, cable and pipeTechnological developments in inkjet coders, such as advancement in software that controls and monitors ink viscosity and automatic flush systems that help save time by stopping and cleaning daily print head, are anticipated to create excellent growth opportunities for the inkjet coder market. Rise in demand for minimization of solvent evaporation and reducing mixing of air with ink are the major factors expected to drive growth of the inkjet coders market over the forecast period. However, factors such as high running cost and low quality of marks that result in non-permanent mark are expected to hinder the market growth. Also, inkjet coders spill some tiny droplets of ink while printing; therefore, their resolution is lower than the laser printers. Significant factors that influence the demand for ink jet coders are reduced downtime, which helps customers expand the visual and functional coding capabilities. Currently, increasing number of manufacturers are seeking high performance printing and coding equipment, thereby creating significant growth and investment opportunities for players in the inkjet coders market.By geography, the global inkjet coder market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), the Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. Currently, North America and Europe dominate the market, accounting for the highest share of the global inkjet coders market in terms of volume. However, most of the major manufacturers in the market are from China, in view of the low capital cost required in the country, advancements in technology, and changing trends and requirements of players in the market. The global commercial and industrial markets play an important role in the development of the overall ink jet coder market.Some of the key players in the global inkjet coding market are Videojet Technologies, Inc., FoxJet, an ITW Company, Hitachi America, Ltd., ID Technology, LLC., KGK Jet India., Linx Printing Technologies, Domino Printing Sciences plc, Shanghai Rottweil Handyware Printing Technology Co., Ltd, Media Data Systems Pte Ltd, Elmark Packaging, Koenig & Bauer AG, Squid Ink Manufacturing, Inc., Markem-Imaje, a Dover Company, and Xaar plc.About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact TMRMr.Sudip S90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Parking Reservation System Market - Global Industry Forecast 2016 - 2024

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Parking Reservation System Market: OverviewGrowing economy in many developing countries have fostered high disposable income among population which has given rise to increase in number of vehicle purchase. This has led to sharp increase in the number of vehicles on road in recent years. Passenger and goods carrier vehicles contribute to the most of the numbers of vehicles compared to as compared other types. Increase in number of vehicles have given rise to huge traffic congestion thereby leading to serious parking issues in many countries.Most of these problems are associated with urban areas where parking problems arise due to space constraint. Vehicle drivers waste substantial amount of their time finding proper parking space thereby creating traffic congestion for other vehicles. Lack of proper on-street parking lots and slow development of new parking complexes is expected to further increase the traffic congestion in coming years.Further, the current absence of parking slots in residential and commercial complexes creates serious concerns for employers and residential societies. Thus, the need for parking reservation or convenience parking is increasing owing to the time wasted in finding a proper parking slot. Parking complex providers are also facing problems in maintaining daily records related to parked vehicles thereby leading to inability to ensure round the clock security. Thus, the demand for parking reservation system is expected to witness trong growth owing to the above factors in coming years.Parking reservation system provides information of parking availability for both drivers and parking complexes providers in a certain area through continuous monitoring. Parking reservation system comprises software and equipment such as parking meters, cameras, sensors and automatic gates which help maintaining the smooth flow of traffic. Additionally, parking reservation system also enhances the aspect of security in parking lots.Parking Reservation System Market: SegmentationParking reservation system can be classified as on-street and off-street parking system. Off-street parking system consists a single point of interaction between parking areas and access points. Thus, the application of off-road parking system is expected to see more adoption among parking complex and garage providers in coming years. On-street parking system provides information of parking slot on real-time basis through web, mobile and voice based solution. Thus, the demand for on-street parking system is expected to increase owing to the increase in rise in smart cities projects across various region.Get More Information:Parking Reservation System Market: Region-wise OutlookFurther, the demand for parking reservation system is expected to increase in transportation sector due to the traffic congestion caused in truck terminals. Developed countries such as the U.S. and Germany are investing heavily in implementing parking reservation system for trucks. The market can also be segmented on the basis of end-use sector such as retail, government, hospitality, transportation and logistics, airports and commercial and corporate parks.The market for parking reservation system is expected to get a boost with the adoption of smart parking system in developed countries. India and China is expected to be a potential market for parking reservation system market in coming years. However, a slower adoption rate of parking reservation system in developing countries is expected to pose a challenge for this market in coming years.Parking Reservation System Market: Key PlayersSome of the key parking reservation system providers in the market are VINCI Park S.A., Streetline, Inc., National Car Parks Ltd., APCOA Parking AG, Ace Parking Management, Inc., ParkMe, Inc., Siemens AG, 3M Company and Xerox Corporation.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Operating Room Equipment Market to Expand at Fastest Growth Rate

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An operating room, also known as an operating suite or operation theatre, is a facility wherein all kinds of surgical procedures take place on patients for the treatment of different pathological or physiological conditions within a sterile environment. The operating room, comprising technically advanced equipment, enables better operational efficiency and enhanced patient care by empowering healthcare professionals and surgeons with the ease of handling surgeries and greater flexibility. Technological advancements have brought in a lot of improvements in surgical procedures.Industry Research Brochure:According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research Operating Room Equipment Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2015 - 2023, the global operating room equipment market was valued at US$ 23.9 Bn in 2014 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 6.9% from 2015 to 2023 to reach US$ 42.9 Bn in 2023.The rising number of ambulatory centers and increasing product innovations owing to technological advancements are amongst the top factors stimulating the growth of the market for operating room equipment. In addition the increasing count of surgical procedures globally and the rising aging population also propel the development of the market. Furthermore, the growing occurrence of a number of chronic diseases also impacts the market positively. The increased affordability of C-arms further aids the markets growth. On the other hand, the soaring cost of operating room equipment is a key factor impeding the growth of the market.Significant advantages associated with operating room equipment and financial incentives by governments of various countries are the major factors driving the growth of the operating room equipment market globally. Benefits of proper operating room equipment encompasses accurate and up-to-date patient handling, enhanced patient safety, and time and long-term cost savings. These advantages encourage health care providers to equip themselves with technically advanced operating room equipment, and in turn drive the market.Regional PR:Key players profiled in the operating room equipment market report include Allen Medical (Hill ROM), GE Healthcare, KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG, Mizuho OSI, Maquet Holding B.V. & Co. KG (Getinge AB), Olympus Corporation, Philips Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare, Skytron, LLC, Steris Corporation, Stryker Corporation, and TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG.About UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.ContactMr. Sudip. S90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Soy-Based Chemicals Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2016  2024

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Global Soy-Based Chemicals Market: OverviewFossil fuel production and consumption has grown significantly recently, leading to several problems, both industrial and environmental. The impact on the environment is especially severe, as growing carbon emission levels are disrupting the ecosystem and causing health complications for humans and animals. This has led to a movement to consolidate the research and production rates of renewable energy sources, with bio-based fuels being one of the top sources.The use of bio-based chemicals is being made increasingly important in the face of growing pollution levels. The global soy-based chemicals market is one of the constituents of this bio-based fuels setup and is expected to show an accelerated growth rate in the coming years. Soybean chemicals are regarded as a stable and positive alternative to the conventional chemicals derived from crude oil or petroleum. Therefore, the growth of the global soy-based chemicals market is expected to help reduce the carbon footprint of regions in which it is stronger.Interpret a Competitive Outlook Analysis Report With FREE PDF Brochure :Soy milk and soy oil are the two most common derivatives of soybean. The former is used widely in the food industry while the latter holds massive potential in the derivation of chemicals, including different types of waxes, isoflavones, and polyols. These derivatives find major uses in the production of soaps, biodegradable plastics, biodiesel, and others. Apart from the food and beverage industry and the plastics and polymers industry, products from the global soy-based chemicals market can be used in industries such as cosmetics.Highly descriptive details are provided on the global soy-based chemicals market, based on intensive market research, historical data and its analysis, and market projections through the use of trends analysis and proven industry measurement tools. The global soy-based chemicals market is analyzed primarily through a segmented format for the sake of simplicity as well as a categorical perspective, across segments spanning through applications, end users, product types, and major regions.Global Soy-Based Chemicals Market: Key Trends and OpportunitiesThe biggest driver for the global soy-based chemicals market has to be the increasing awareness rates of consumers and industries about the effects of the overconsumption of fossil fuels and how bio-based fuels can be used as efficient alternatives. The same can be said regarding the consumption of plastics. Consumers are increasingly demanding biodegradable plastics, which can be produced from soy-based derivatives.Other factors promoting the growth of the global soy-based chemicals market are the products advantages in quality over conventionally derived products. However, the global soy-based chemicals market is expected to receive stiff competition from the food and beverages industry, which is simultaneously witnessing an increasing demand for soy-based food and drinks. The health benefits of consuming soy-based food products is creating a higher demand for it in what is the primary industry that uses soybean. This is, therefore, expected to be a major complication for the global soy-based chemicals market.The global soy-based chemicals market can be divided on the basis of type into isoflavones, polyols, fatty acids, soy-oil, waxes, and others. The major end users of soy-based chemicals are the industries of polymers, cosmetics, food and beverages, paper, and bio-diesel. Each end-user industry is expected to steadily ramp up its demand for soy-based products and chemicals in the near future.Global Soy-Based Chemicals Market: Region-wise OutlookGeographically speaking, the global soy-based chemicals market has consistently been led by North America in the recent past. North America holds a major share in this market, owing to higher demand for bio-based products and chemicals and an advanced agriculture industry. This regions progress rate is followed closely by that of Asia Pacific, owing to the presence of deeply agriculture-based economies and a high demand for this market.Asia Pacific nations such as China, Singapore, and South Korea have already made large investments in the renewable chemicals fields, revealing a major scope of growth in similar markets. The same can be said about the Latin America soy-based chemicals market. Both regions are showing major potential for growth in the global soy-based chemicals market for the coming years.The global soy-based chemicals market is also expected to gain a steady boost from developments in the regions of the Middle East and Africa, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactMr. Sudip. STransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit :
Spirodiclofen Market to Exhibit 6% CAGR from 2014 to 2020 Due to Productivity Benefits

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A new market research report has been recently published by Transparency Market Research, a U.S.-based market research and intelligence firm. The research report provides an in-depth analysis of the global spirodiclofen market for fruits and other crops. It also provides the past and current performance of the market, along with the existing trends and growth prospects. The research report is titled Spirodiclofen Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2014 - 2020.According to the research report, the global spirodiclofen market stood at US$119.9 million in 2013 and is projected to touch US$172.1 million by the end of 2020, growing significantly at a 6% CAGR between 2014 and 2020Spirodiclofen helps keep crops healthy and away from diseases, which increases the productivity. The demand for spirodiclofen is expected to rise in the forecast period, owing to the increasing production of walnuts, almonds, tangerines, etc. Moreover, the increased production of tomato to cope with rising food demand is expected to propel the demand for spirodiclofen through the forecast period.Get FREE Sample Of This Report :The research report has segmented the global spirodiclofen market on the basis of crop type into fruits and other crops (such as ornamental plants and tomato). In 2013, the fruit segment dominated the global spirodiclofen market. Spirodiclofen is commonly used in numeorus fruit crops such as almond, pear, avocado, apple, lime, grapes, and lemon. In 2013, almond plantations held more than 50% of the spirodiclofen market on the basis of demand. The research report states that the spirodiclofen market is quite expansive and has excellent growth prospects due to its impending usage in many other types of crops, including decorative plants and fruiting vegetable crops, in the forecast period.The research report has geographically segmented the global spirodiclofen market in four regions: Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World. In 2013, Europe dominated the global spirodiclofen market, accounting for 25% of the market. The dominance of Europe can be attributed to the tremendous use of chemicals in crops such as almonds and walnuts. Asia Pacific held the second position in the same year. In Latin America and North America, spirodiclofen is used as a 240 SC spray formulation named Envidor and produced by Bayer CropScience. As per the research report, Asia Pacific is expected to witness a high rate of development in the global spirodiclofen market through the forecast period.Furthermore, the research report has provided a detailed analysis of the prominent companies operating in the global spirodiclofen market. The two leading companies mentioned in the research report are Hangzhou Tianlong Biotechnology Co. Ltd. and Bayer CropScience.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactMr. Sudip. STransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit :
Global Robotic Surgery Market Trends, Size, Growth, Shares And Forecast Research Report 2016

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Robotic Surgery Market Report: 2016 Edition" to its huge collection of research reports.Medical robotics is an advanced discipline within the field of robotics which involves the development of robots that can perform various medical tasks. It has the potential to relieve strain on many health care systems by automating tasks, freeing up health care workers. Medical robots can also be stand-ins for doctors and nurses for certain types of health care, such as triage in an emergency room. The application of robotic systems for surgery is a part of computer-integrated surgery systems, wherein the robot represents a single element of a larger system designed to assist a surgeon in carrying out a surgical procedure.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The key factors driving the growth of the robotic surgery market are growing ageing population, rising healthcare expenditure, rising incidence ofchronic and infectious diseases, increasing demand for laparoscopic surgery and economic development. Some of the noteworthy trends and developments of this industry are introducing image guided laparoscope control, introduction of rehabilitation robotics, next generation devices, systems and instruments, new entrants to open up surgical robotics market, expanding use of robot in general surgery and rising demand for information technology. However, the expansion of global robotic surgery market is hindered by soft-tissue challenges, challenges of laparoscope control posed by surgeon-controlled surgical robots, regulatory risk and risks of robotic assisted surgery.The report Global Robotic Surgery Market provides an in-depth analysis of the global robotics market, global market for medical robotics along with a focus on application of da Vinci system worldwide. The major trends, growth drivers as well as issues being faced by the industry are being presented in this report. The major players in the industry are also being profiled.Browse Detail Report With TOC @By combining SPSS Inc.s data integration and analysis capabilities with our relevant findings, we have predicted the future growth of the industry. We employed various significant variables that have an impact on this industry and created regression models with SPSS Base to determine the future direction of the industry. Before deploying the regression model, the relationship between several independent or predictor variables and the dependent variable was analyzed using standard SPSS output, including charts, tables and tests.Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Major Utility On Blu-ray Player Research  China with Market Effect, Analysis, forecast 2025, Demand 2016

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Description-This report studies Blu-ray Player in Global and China market, focuses on price, sales, revenue of each type in global China. This report also focuses on the sales (consumption), production, import and export of Blu-ray Player in USA, Japan, Europe, Others, Southeast Asia and China, forecast to 2020, from 2015.On basis of segments by Types, this report focuses on price, sales, revenue and growth rate of each type, as well as the types and each type price of key manufacturers, through interviewing key manufacturers.Split by product types, coveringBlu-ray 3D playerBlu-ray HD playerTo Browse a Report Detail with TOC @On basis of segments by manufacturers, this report focuses on the sales, price of each type, average price of Blu-ray Player, revenue and market share, for key manufacturers.Top players, coveringSonySumsungPansonicPioneerLGPhilipsToshibaHUALUGIECSeastarQiShengOPPOBaruBevixViewlabOn basis of segments by regions, this report focuses on the sales (consumption), production, import and export of Blu-ray Player in USA, Japan, Europe, Others, and China.Split by Regions, coveringUSAEuropeJapanChinaOthersOn basis of segments by applications, this report focuses on consumption and growth rate of Blu-ray Player in major applications.With 136 pages, 168 charts and eight chapters, to display the market present situation and future, clearly and deeply.To Free Sample Report With TOC @Table of ContentsGlobal and China Blu-ray Player Research Report to 20201 Blu-ray Player Overview and Each Type1.1 Product Overview of Blu-ray Player1.1.1 Definition and Product Scope of Blu-ray Player1.1.2 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Blu-ray Player 2015-20201.13 China Market Size (Value and Volume) of Blu-ray Player 2015-20201.2 Product Segments and Price of Each Type1.2.1 Product Type of Key Manufacturers1.2.2 Price List and of Each Blu-ray HD player015 to 20161.2.3 Market Share and Growth Rate of Each Type1.2.4 Blu-ray 3D player and Specification1.2.5 Blu-ray HD player and Specification1.2.6 Type 3 and Specification1.3 Price List (Interviewed) of Each Type for Key Manufacturers in 2015 and 20161.3.1 Price List (Interviewed) of Blu-ray 3D player by Key Manufacturers1.3.2 Price List (Interviewed) of Blu-ray HD player by Key Manufacturers1.3.3 Price List (Interviewed) of Type 3 by Key Manufacturers2 Competition Analysis by Manufacturers in Global and China2.1 Global Market Blu-ray Player Sales and Share List of Key Manufacturers 2015 to 20162.2 Global Market Blu-ray Player Revenue and Share List of Key Manufacturers 2015 to 20162.3 Global Blu-ray Player Average Price List of Key Manufacturers 2015 to 20162.4 China Market Blu-ray Player Sales and Share List of Key Manufacturers 2015 to 20162.5 China Market Blu-ray Player Revenue and Share List of Key Manufacturers 2015 to 20162.6 China Blu-ray Player Average Price List of Key Manufacturers 2015 to 20164 Market Segments and Forecast of Blu-ray Player by Regions4.1 Sales (Consumption) and Forecast of Blu-ray Player by Regions 2015-20204.1.1 Sales and Forecast of Blu-ray Player by Regions 2015-20204.1.2 Sales Growth Rate Forecast of Blu-ray Player by Regions 2015 to 20204.2 Production and Forecast of Blu-ray Player by Regions 2015 to 20204.2.1 Production and Forecast of Blu-ray Player by Regions 2015 to 20204.2.2 Production Growth Rate Forecast of Blu-ray Player by Regions 2015 to 20204.3 USA Market Forecast to 2020To Enquire Regarding This Report @ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Pvt. Ltd.,90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074
CraftBeer Equipment  China Market Forecast 2016-25 : Trend, Size, Share, Analysis, Growth, New Projects

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Description-This report studies CraftBeer Equipment in Global and China market, focuses on price, sales, revenue of each type in global China. This report also focuses on the sales (consumption), production, import and export of CraftBeer Equipment in North America, Japan, Europe, India, Southeast Asia and China, forecast to 2020, from 2015.Split by product types, with sales, revenue, market share and price of each type, as well as the types and each type price of key manufacturers, through interviewing key manufacturers, in 2015 and 2016, coveringStainless SteelRed CopperCustomizedTo Browse a Report Detail with TOC @Split by manufacturers, this report focuses on the sales, price of each type, average price of CraftBeer Equipment, revenue and market share, for each manufacturer in 2015 and 2016. Top players, coveringKronesSALMPKWLeihuiABECzechJvnwKinnekCrawfordXIMOMETOGDEYoLongRolecHande EquuipmentZhongde CompanyHGM HugangGoldhansensSplit by regions, this report focuses on the sales (consumption), production, import and export of CraftBeer Equipment in North America, Japan, Europe, India, Southeast Asia and China, from 2011 to 2020 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaWith 136 pages, 168 charts and eight chapters, to display the market present situation and future, clearly and deeply.To Free Sample Report With TOC @Table of ContentsGlobal and China CraftBeer Equipment Research Report to 20201 CraftBeer Equipment Overview and Each Type1.1 Product Overview of CraftBeer Equipment1.1.1 Definition and Product Scope of CraftBeer Equipment1.1.2 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of CraftBeer Equipment 2015-20201.1.3 China Market Size (Value and Volume) of CraftBeer Equipment 2015-20201.2 Product Segments and Price of Each Type1.2.1 Product Type of Key Manufacturers1.2.2 Price List of Each Type in 2015 to 20151.2.3 Market Share and Growth Rate of Each Type1.2.4 Stainless Steel CraftBeer Equipment Specification and Price in 2015 and 20151.2.5 Red Copper CraftBeer Equipment Specification and Price in 2015 and 20151.2.5 Customized CraftBeer Equipment Specification and Price in 2015 and 20151.3 Price List (Interviewed) of Each Type for Key Manufacturers in 2015 and 20151.3.1 Price List (Interviewed) of Stainless Steel CraftBeer Equipment by Key Manufacturers1.3.2 Price List (Interviewed) of Red Copper CraftBeer Equipment by Key Manufacturers1.3.3 Price List (Interviewed) of Customized CraftBeer Equipment by Key Manufacturers2 Competition Analysis by Manufacturers in Global and China2.1 Global Market CraftBeer Equipment Sales and Share List of Key Manufacturers 2015 to 20152.2 Global Market CraftBeer Equipment Revenue and Share List of Key Manufacturers 2015 to 20152.3 Global CraftBeer Equipment Average Price List of Key Manufacturers 2015 to 20152.4 China Market CraftBeer Equipment Sales and Share List of Key Manufacturers 2015 to 20152.5 China Market CraftBeer Equipment Revenue and Share List of Key Manufacturers 2015 to 20152.5 China CraftBeer Equipment Average Price List of Key Manufacturers 2015 to 20153 Sales and Revenue Segments of Each Type 2015 to 20153.1 Global Sales and Revenue Segments of Each Type 2015 to 20153.1.1 Global Sales and Market Share of Each Type 2015 to 20153.1.2 Global Revenue and Market Share of Each Type 2015 to 20153.2 Stainless Steel CraftBeer Equipment Sales and Growth Rate 2015 to 20203.3 Red Copper CraftBeer Equipment Sales and Growth Rate 2015 to 20203.4 Customized CraftBeer Equipment Sales and Growth Rate 2015 to 20204 Market Segments and Forecast of CraftBeer Equipment by Regions4.1 Sales (Consumption) and Forecast of CraftBeer Equipment by Regions 2015-20204.1.1 Sales and Forecast of CraftBeer Equipment by Regions 2015-20204.1.2 Sales Growth Rate Forecast of CraftBeer Equipment by Regions 2015 to 20204.2 Production and Forecast of CraftBeer Equipment by Regions 2015 to 2020To Enquire Regarding This Report @ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Pvt. Ltd.,90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074
A young woman from Xining, the capital of northwestern China's Qinghai province, committed suicide and broadcasted it on Weibo, a microblogging website, on June 25. Now the woman is out of danger after being sent to the hospital.

The woman was rescued by the police after netizens reported the case. According to investigation, she committed suicide because she had quarreled with her boyfriend over trivial matters.
AIVION, as the world wide first company, offers a series of Interfaces for the new Tamron block camera MP1010M-VC

Interface Solutions for the Tamron block camera MP1010M-VC

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 The TL765X series supports the video outputs HD-SDI, HDMI as well as the unique combi board with HD-SDI & HMDI The TL6635, a USB 3.0 interface, rounds off the interface seriesMunich (Germany), 29. June 2016 - AIVION, leading provider of video processing hardware, today announced the world wide first interfaces for the new Tamron Ultra-Compact Camera Module MP1010M-VC. AIVIONs new interfaces supports the HD-SDI, HDMI and USB 3.0 standard. These modules expand AIVIONs portfolio of interface boards for Sony FCB block cameras to an additional camera manufacturer.TL765X Interface SeriesThe TL765x interface series supports 1080p (30Hz,25Hz), 720p (60Hz,59Hz) and 1080i (60Hz, 50Hz). The camera control (VISCA protocol based software) can be managed via RS485 or RS232.The TL7651 has two HD-SDI outputs while the TL7652 provides a HDMI output. The unique combi board, the TL7650 combines both video outputs HD-SDI and HMDI.TL6635 | USB 3.0 InterfaceThe TL6635, the USB 3.0 interface board, streams uncompressed Full HD video (1080p) at 30 frames per second t a computer. The power supply voltage is generated onboard. The block camera is fully USB 3.0 powered, no additional power supply is required. The TL6635 is USB Video Class (UVC) compliant, which allows direct plug and play without installing drivers.Tamron MP1010M-VC with Optical Vibration-Compensation FeatureTamron is a famous optics manufacturer and leader in the security/surveillance equipment industry. In January 2016 the first block camera MP1010M-VC was announced. A powerful Omnivision sensor is built in. The camera assures high-quality image stabilization when images are captured in a vibrating environment. The realized physical size and weight of the compact module are not only optimum for security and surveillance applications but also advantageous for an extensive range of customization.Tamron's Full HD Block Camera is a very compact imaging solution with excellent optical performance and optical Vibration-Compensation. The camera module opens up new potential applications in various markets like industrial, medical, inspection, ROV and Security. Our HD-SDI, HDMI and USB 3.0 interfaces supports Tamron's offering and provides an easy, cost effective and safe solution. said Werner Schoeppner, Sales Director of AIVION.Pricing and AvailabilityPricing and availability info via email: sales@aivion.comAIVION is a cooperation and a registered trademark of Visual Communication Systems GmbH and eVision Systems GmbH.Visual Communication has an outstanding knowledge in the field of video & broadcast and an extensive engineering know how in System, PCB, FPGA and DSP design, while eVision Systems brings a strong FPGA and methodology background and decades of sales and marketing expertise into the cooperation.The mission of the cooperation is to develop and market advanced interfaces, cameras and video based components mainly for OEM clients.Today, Aivion offers the broadest range of interfaces for block cameras and has developed advanced products like the optical fiber, USB 3.0 interfaces and the USB3.0 Plug and Play camera. Dozens of customizations for different applications and markets round off the customer driven approach.To assure best quality all products are manufactured in Germany.Further information is available on the Internet ateVision SystemsJahnstr. 12Germany  85661 Forstinning/MunichJosef OstermeierTel : 08121-220825jostermeier@evision-systems.de
Quadsimia Hires New Assistant Project Manager

Quadsimia, LLC

Quadsimia LLC is pleased to announce that Nick Souza recently accepted the position of Assistant Project Manager.Nick will be assisting with project management, organization, and building and maintaining a strong relationship between Quadsimia and its clients. He will help provide the team of designers and developers with the resources they need throughout projects.Nick's previous experience includes internships at several local advertising agencies, including MPW Marketing, Boldacity Communications, and the Community Foundation. Nick was heavily involved in Utica Colleges news source The Tangerine, where he helped rebrand the paper, relaunch the website, and expand their social media presence. He recently attended NABEFs Media Sales Institute at Arizona State Universitys Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Nick studied Public Relations and Journalism at Utica College where he received his Bachelor's degree. He is pursuing his Masters degree in Communications with a concentration in Advertising from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He currently resides in Mohawk, NY.Quadsimia's operations are headquartered in scenic Central New York, but we apply the latest technologies to reach beyond our geographic location to clients around the globe. We have more than 120 years combined experience in engineering, software development, computer science, system analysis and integration, graphic design and multimedia, business acquisition and valuation. Quadsimia also leads the way in introducing businesses to the newest technologies related to the web.Contact:Kandi Humpf315-768-4974587 Main StreetSuite 200New York Mills, NY 13417
Global Market study on Automotive Lighting By 2020, PMR New Report

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Automotive lighting is the used for illumination purpose in automobile vehicles. The lighting system of automobile vehicle consists of various lighting and signaling devices, which is integrated with various parts of a motor vehicle. Automobile lighting is used in the front, back, sides and top portion of the vehicle. Automotive lighting indicates vehicle's presence, size, position, direction of travel, and the driver's intentions regarding direction and speed of travel. Various components of automotive lighting includes auxiliary lights, headlights, taillights, sidelights, interior light, compact lights, off road lights, fog lights, dome light, key light, instrument displays light and other light accessories. These lights are used for many purposes in vehicles such as to drive the vehicle safely in dark, enhance the visibility and act as the warning signals.View Sample Report:Automobile manufacturers have significantly minimized the energy consumption by using LED and adaptive lighting technologies. There are mainly three types of technologies used in automotive lighting such as xenon, halogen and LED. Among these, halogen is most widely used automotive lighting.Some factors that drive the automotive lighting market are growing concern of road safety, increasing use of higher efficiency of LED automotive lighting technology and lighting legislations by governments. Increase in purchasing power of individual helps to increase the demand for sophisticated and advance technologies such as advance front lighting system (AFS) and daylight running lights (DRLs). Growing total number of vehicle in the BRIC nations further creates large opportunity for the growth of automotive lighting market in the coming years.Asia Pacific is the largest automotive lighting market across the world. India, China, Japan and South Korea are some of the prominent countries, which accounts majority of the vehicle production thus offering growth opportunity for automotive lighting market. Asia Pacific is followed by Europe and North America. High vehicle production volume, growing economy, rising population and changing consumer lifestyles are some of the reason which drive the automotive lighting market.Request TOC (table of content), Figures and Tables of the Report:Some of the major companies operating in global automotive lighting market are includes, General Electric (GE), Hella Kgaa Hueck & Co., Hyundai Mobis, Ichikoh Industries Ltd, Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Magneti Marelli S.P.A, Osram GMBH, Royal Philips Electronics, Stanley Electric Co. Ltd, Valeo S.A and Zizala Lichtsysteme GMBH (ZKW).About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Market study on Food Preservative By 2020, PMR New Report

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Food preservatives are substances that are added to food to keep it safe and fresh for longer duration of time. The food preservatives are used across beverages, dairy bakery, snacks, meat and sea food during processing and packing to prevent them any bacterial effects. The growth in demand of these food items is expected to be major driver for the food preservative market. Global nature of food sourcing and increasing complexities in the food supply chain have resulted in increasing demand for products and techniques required to prolong the shelf-life of the food product, thus increasing the demand for food preservatives.View Sample Report:There are two types of food preservative: natural and artificial. Also, the food preservatives are used for different functions such as antimicrobials, antioxidants, chelating agents and enzyme attackers. Salt, sugar, alcohol, vinegar are some of natural preservatives use in making jams, juices and pickles. Sulphites, Nitrites and Benzoates are three classes of artificial preservatives commonly used in food. Sulphites are used to prevent the growth of bacteria in wine, dried fruits and vegetables in vinegar or brine. Sorbic acid is used in preservation of potato and cheese product. Nitrites are used in meat products such as sausages and hams to protect against the bacterium that can causes botulism. Benzoic acid is more effective against yeasts than against molds and bacteria. It is used as antifungal and antibacterial in low sugar jams, jellies, and condiments.North America is the largest market for food preservative, followed by Asia-Pacific and Europe. The Asia-Pacific market is expected to have a higher growth rate during the forecasted period. India is the worlds second largest food producer after China, which shows the potential market for food preservative in Asian country.Preservation techniques for preventing food spoilage have been practiced since ages. Changing lifestyle and increasing trade of food products across the globe have led to the increasing demand for food preservatives. Various government bodies and private industries keep proper regulation to maintain the high standards food quality containing preservatives. Increasing consumer awareness and changing food consumption habit along with increasing population is driving the demand of various segments of food and beverage industry, which in turn, is driving the food preservative market. This growth is also driven by increasing demand for natural food preservatives in developed markets and continued demand for processed food in emerging markets. Sensing the increasing reference of consumers towards the natural food products, certain global companies have started replacing artificial food preservatives with the natural preservatives in their food products. They are further using this to project their product as all-natural food product thus attracting larger consumer interest. Convenience food products and personal care products have further increased the application area for the food preservatives.Request TOC (table of content), Figures and Tables of the Report:Some of the major players operating in the market are ABF Ingredients Ltd., Ajinomoto Co. Inc, Archer Daniels Midland Company, Albemarle Corporation, Brenntag Inc., Cargill, Incorporated, Celanese Corporation, Edlong Flavors, Jungbunzlauer Ag, Kerry Group, Purac Biochem B.V, Royal Dsm N.V. and Dupont De Nemours & Company.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Market study on Food Enzymes By 2020, PMR New Report

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Food enzymes are biocatalysts, sourced from plants, animals or micro-organisms used to alter the speed of biochemical reactions in foods and beverages. Food enzymes are generally used as food additives to enhance digestibility, texture and shelf life of food and beverages. It has wide application in meat processing, dairy industries, alcoholic beverages, and manufacturing of pre-digested foods. Food enzymes are also used as natural fermentation agent (breaking of large sized molecule of carbohydrates fats and proteins) in various amino-acids and specialty foods.View Sample Report:On the basis of chemical properties, the food enzymes are broadly categorized under four categories namely, carbohydrase (such as amylase, cellulose, pectinase, and lactase), protease, lipase and others. On the basis of end user application, food enzymes market can be broadly classified as, meat, beverages, dairy, bakery and others. Furthermore, on the basis of sources, the market can be categorized under micro-organisms, plants and animals.North America is the largest market for food enzymes closely followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. Food enzymes market in Asia Pacific has been witnessing healthy growth rate from past few years and is expected to grow even at higher rate in upcoming years. Westernization and globalization in developing countries of Asia Pacific are leading to change in food habit among consumers, such as preference towards bakery, confectionaries, specialty food and process food which in turn is helping the food enzymes market in this region. Increasing demand of processed food products and consumers preference regarding exotic and novel flavors in the developed countries of North America and Europe is keeping a steady growth in the food enzymes market in these regions. The increased demand of process food, confectionary and bakery in developing countries such as South Africa and Brazil is showing promising growth for food enzymes market in rest of the world (RoW) region.Ever-increasing population and demand for processed foods coupled with growing awareness about healthy food and beverages products is propelling growth in food industry, which in-turns driving the growth of the global food enzymes market. Moreover, technical innovations in enzymatic food processing and rising application of food enzymes in variety of new food products are also driving the overall market.The health related side effect associated with certain enzymes is acting as a major challenge for the overall growth of the food enzymes market. The European Union recently imposed a regulation regarding health risks associated enzymes in food industry and considered a need of defined set of guidelines to regulate the market.Request TOC (table of content), Figures and Tables of the Report:The major companies operating in global food enzymes market include AB Enzymes GMBH, Advanced Enzymes Technologies Limited, AUM Enzymes, Dyadic International Inc., E.I. DUPONT DE Nemours & Company, Jiangsu Boli Bioproducts Co. Ltd, Novozymes A/S, Sunson Industry Group Company Limited, Nagase Chemtex Corporation, and Puratos Group NV.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Indonesian label converter reports on impact of new UV system from GEW

GEW UV system with chiller at PT Aneka Rupa Tera

PT Aneka Rupa Tera in Indonesia has equipped its Comco label press with GEW UV curing for increased production efficiency and improved reliability.PT Aneka Rupa Tera (ART) was originally founded in Surabaya, Indonesias second largest city, in 1985 and moved to larger production facility in Sidoarjo, East Java in 2006. Today the company is one of the major label converters in the country and operates some 20 printing presses on a 9000m2 site.ART specialises in self-adhesive labels and package printing. To deliver quality and product choice to its local and international customer base the company upgraded its 13-inch wide Comco Proglide flexo label press with GEW E2C UV curing systems complete with chill rollers and RHINO electronic power supplies on all nine print stations.Tomy Suhartojo, Assistant Director, explains: We wanted the latest UV technology with the possibility of running 30-micron unsupported film material. We already had good experience with GEW UV systems on two Mark Andy XP5000 presses. Only GEW was able to offer us the capability of handling film with far less power than the older system and the reliability supported by local service and technical support in Indonesia.During his recent visit to ART, Marcus Greenbrook, International Sales Manager at GEW, confirmed: We have a successful cooperation with Press Systems in Thailand to cover South-East Asia, with technical support, spare parts warehouse and repair centre for both mechanical and electronic components which means they are able to offer a fast and professional service to our customers in the region. Headed by Jane Tan, Press Systems comprises a qualified team of sales and technical personnel who have excellent experience of GEWs equipment and the UV printing process.With the GEW E2C system ART achieve better temperature control, dependable performance and are able to satisfy the stringent quality requirements of their clients. Tomy Suhartojo concludes: We are able to run extremely thin film on the Comco press without any issues on the material. The GEW UV system helps us avoid bottlenecks and wasteful downtime.Marcus Greenbrook adds: Label converters appreciate the serenity of GEWs Embedded Service package and the peace of mind of a 5-year warranty that comes with the RHINO UV systems.The RHINO power supply is supplied, as standard, with GEWs Embedded Service which allows remote monitoring of the systems running condition, allowing the manufacturers service engineers to detect and correct out of tolerance parameters. This type of remote preventive maintenance ensures the entire UV system operates at peak performance at all times thus avoiding unplanned machine stoppages.GEW (EC) Limited is a world-leading manufacturer of robust, energy-efficient UV curing systems for printing and coating applications. GEW UV systems are engineered for operation in the most challenging conditions and come with a 5-year warranty unique in its industry. The company is headquartered in England with subsidiaries in the US, Germany and India and operates a network of international distributors worldwide.Press contact:Martin KuglerGEW (EC) LimitedCrompton WayCrawley RH10 9QRGreat BritainTel. +44 - 1737 - 824 500e-mail mkugler@gewuv.com
A departure ceremony is held in a training base for the outstanding soldiers who will leave for the "Cooperation-2016" joint anti-terrorist training on June 28. (Photo from WeChat)

Two Chinese anti-terrorist forces, the Falcon Commando Unit and the Snow Leopard Commando Unit, set off to Russia for the "Cooperation-2016" joint anti-terrorist training on June 28. A departure ceremony was held in a training base for the outstanding soldiers who will leave for the event.

This is the first time that China's two state-level anti-terrorist forces have gone to Russia together for the anti-terrorist training. Following the "Cooperation-2007" China-Russia joint military exercise and "Cooperation-2013" China-Russia joint anti-terrorist training, the joint training this year will further enhance the communication and mutual-trust of the two armies.

The subjects of the China-Russia anti-terrorist training of this time will include weapons and equipment operation, team assault tactics, shooting, fistfight, climbing, rope descending, physical training and an integrated tactical drill with a fictitious scenario in which they need to exterminate a terrorist group in forest.

Since June 8, the two commandos have gone through a 20-day intensive training as preparation for the trip to Russia. Zhou Kun, a member of the Falcon Commando Unit, said, "We will take the opportunity to strengthen the technique and tactics cooperation with the Russian team and exchange anti-terrorist experience with them. With real combat training, our anti-terrorist ability will be improved."
lagunitas brewing opening community space

Lagunitas Brewing says it hopes to give back to the communities that helped it become a better brewery.

(Dave Killen/Staff)

Popular California beer-maker Lagunitas Brewing Co., best known for its IPA, Pils and Little Sumpin' Sumpin' beers, hopes to become known for something else: Helping Portland's nonprofits and community groups.



The company announced Wednesday that it will open a community room in Northeast Portland for nonprofits to use in their fundraising efforts beginning in August.

Karen Hamilton, director of communications for the company based in Petaluma, California, said the space will be "completely donated to any bona fide nonprofit organization so that they can focus on raising the funds they need to carry out their respective missions."



"We believe that beer is the original social media and we know that the best way to connect with beer lovers is face to face, over a beer," Hamilton said.



The company, which is calling the space A Purely Non-Profit Fund Raising Community Room, said it plans to reach out to nonprofits and offer them use of the community room. It will provide support staff to "ensure turnkey execution of the event and most importantly that all of their guests have a great time."



Hamilton said the company is motivated to help communities that have "helped us learn and grown as brewers." The company on Tuesday also announced it is opening a similar room in San Diego, and it said it bought stakes in three breweries: in Santa Rosa, California; Charleston, South Carolina; and Austin, Texas -- and will begin collaborative brewery/community ventures at those.

The company selected Portland for its sense of community and for another, lesser-known fact: Lagunitas founder Tony Magee came up with the idea to start the brewery while on a trip to Portland.

Hamilton said Magee came to Portland about 25 years ago to visit his brother, who was working at McMenamins Oak Hill Brewpub. Magee was so impressed with what he saw that he decided to start home brewing, spent eight months honing his craft, then opened Lagunitas Brewing.

By 2015, it had grown to become the nation's sixth-largest craft brewer, and last year Magee sold a 50 percent stake in the company to Heineken International, the third-largest brewery holding company in the world, in a deal estimated at $500 million.



Lagunitas joins others beer-related companies in Portland whose mission includes community outreach. Those include Ex Novo Brewing in North Portland, a nonprofit brewery, and Northeast Portland's Oregon Public House, which hosts nonprofit groups and contributes profits to social service groups.



Hamilton said the community room, at 237 N.E. Broadway, will be available seven days a week. The company will supply space free to the nonprofits and will supply beer through its Portland distributor, Columbia. This program, which it will run similarly to ones at its Petaluma and Chicago TapRooms, will charge for beers then donate that money back to the nonprofit.

The room for nonprofits opens a new chapter for the building Lagunitas takes over. Formerly, the Fontaine Bleu nightclub, it was the scene of a shooting in November 2013 that claimed the life of Durieul Joseph Harris, 30. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission suspended Fontaine Bleu's license over a history of "serious and persistent problems," and the club eventually closed.



Hamilton said any 501c3 organizations interested in more information, or interested in booking a fundraiser, can visit the program's website.

-- Andre Meunier
lightbar

When deputies arrived to the Sunnyside Motel, 12200 N.E. Hwy. 99 in the Salmon Creek area north of Vancouver, they learned Kyle Stephen Holder, 32, of Georgia repeatedly threw the girl onto cement and hit the child on the head, according to court records. Doctors told Barbara Keller, mother of 2-year-old Trinity, they worked on alleviating pressure in the head, she said.

(The Oregonian/OregonLive/file)

A toddler who police say was beaten nearly to death by her father Tuesday night remains in a Clark County hospital in critical condition, but her mom says she expects her to survive.

When deputies arrived to the Sunnyside Motel, 12200 N.E. Hwy. 99 in the Salmon Creek area north of Vancouver, they learned Kyle Stephen Holder, 32, of Georgia repeatedly threw the girl onto concrete and hit the child on the head, according to court records. Doctors told Barbara Keller, mother of 2-year-old Trinity, they worked on alleviating pressure in the head, she said.

"I know for a fact that she's going to make it," Keller said. "She's my baby, and she's going to be strong enough to make it. If I have to give my last breath and my blood, I will."

Officials haven't released any other details about the child's condition except to say she is critical.

Holder was arrested on an attempted murder accusation and appeared in court Wednesday morning. He was given a $1 million bail by a Clark County Superior Court judge, according to The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver.

Keller said she went to sleep early Tuesday night and remembered Holder was outside their motel room. According to a probable cause affidavit, Holder walked into the hotel room, picked up the toddler and walked over to a window. He then "proceeded to throw her out the window onto the cement walkway."

Court records indicate witnesses told police the man had repeatedly thrown the child outside the room and on a parking lot with grass. A witness staying in another room also told police he saw Holder "stomping on her head with his foot," according to the affidavit.

Sgt. Fred Neiman, a sheriff's office spokesman, said in a news release the witness tried to intervene by hitting the suspect with a bat.

Holder "was out of control," Neiman wrote in the release, and deputies fired a Taser to control him and take him into custody.

Holder was taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries that weren't life threatening and later booked into the Clark County Jail, Neiman said.

As he was treated, Holder told hospital staff, "I had to hold my daughter and crush her head so she could go up to the sky," according to the affidavit. He made other similar statements during the incident, according to the court record.

Holder told deputies he arrived to Washington three weeks ago from Douglasville, Georgia, a small city west of Atlanta, according to the affidavit. Keller said they came to the area to visit her mother, and the couple, who have been together for five years, had begun working to save money for their return trip back to the south.

Both operated newspaper routes in Battle Ground for The Columbian, Keller said. Holder was also working at a local Walmart.

She said Holder had never been violent with her or their baby. He had taken care of Trinity since she was a newborn.

"The person I saw (Tuesday night) was not him," Keller said. "Someone must have given him drugs."

Keller said she plans to stay through Trinity's hospital recovery but isn't sure about what to do after. She trusted him, but now she won't talk to him, she said.

"I'm not going to know what to tell (Trinity) when she gets older," Keller said.

-- Tony Hernandez

thernandez@oregonian.com

503-294-5928

@tonyhreports
The first of two parts

By David Ignatius

WASHINGTON -- The tensions festering in the Saudi royal family became clear in September, when Joseph Westphal, the U.S. ambassador to Riyadh, flew to Jeddah to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, nominally the heir to the throne. But when he arrived, he was told that the deputy crown prince, a brash 30-year-old named Mohammed bin Salman, wanted to see him urgently.

The ambassador was redirected. The United States and the crown prince swallowed their embarrassment.

Palace intrigue is a staple of monarchies, but it is impossible to overstate how out of character such a generational power play was for the desert kingdom. Robert Lacey, in his classic 1981 book, "The Kingdom," described the tradition of deference that has held the Saudi royal family together through feast and famine: "Deference to elders is one of the Al-Saud's inviolable ground rules, the best corset they know to discipline the outward thrust of so many assembled appetites."

Not anymore: Starting in January 2015 with the accession of King Salman, Saudi Arabia has been shaken by the bold reform campaign of his son, known at home and abroad by his initials, "MBS." By outmaneuvering and sometimes defying his elders, the young deputy crown prince has turned the politics of this conservative, sometimes sclerotic monarchy upside down.

MBS is the kind of prince that Machiavelli might conjure. He's a big, fast-talking young man who dominates a room with the raw, instinctive energy of a natural leader. But his hardball tactics have offended some Saudis -- especially his rebuffs of Mohammed bin Nayef, his elder at 56 and his nominal superior.

If "Game of Thrones" were set in the Arabian desert, it might have a plot like what has developed in Saudi Arabia over the past 18 months. Anonymous letters have circulated; whispering campaigns have swirled around the deputy crown prince and his rivals. President Obama has advised his aides to avoid any appearance of taking sides. But the president's White House meeting on June 17 with MBS, treating him almost like a head of state, may have cast an implicit vote of support for the reformer's agenda.

How did this Saudi political battle begin? Less than a week after the death of King Abdullah on Jan. 23, 2015, the new King Salman issued decrees that altered the balance of power in the kingdom. He removed two of Abdullah's sons as governors of Riyadh and Mecca, respectively. Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the wily former ambassador to Washington, was ousted as national security adviser.

Salman's lightning decrees also installed Mohammed bin Nayef as deputy crown prince behind then-Crown Prince Muqrin. And perhaps more important, Salman's son was named defense minister and chairman of a new Council of Economic and Development Affairs. MBS had his hands on both the military and economic levers of power.

"All this was planned like clockwork," says one Saudi who watched the maneuvers from Riyadh. "It was a bloodless coup."

MBS took a giant step up the ladder in April 2015. A royal decree dumped Muqrin as crown prince; Mohammed bin Nayef moved up to the No. 2 spot; and MBS was installed as No. 3. This change in the official succession plan upset some members of the royal family. Although Muqrin was widely seen as an unsuitable potential king, Saudis worried about the precedent, and the possibility the succession plan might be rejiggered again to install MBS.

A decisive blow came in early September when Salman, at his son's urging, fired Saad al-Jabri, who for years had been Mohammed bin Nayef's closest adviser. A U.S. source explains what happened: Jabri was coming to America on a personal visit, and he decided to see his old friend John Brennan, the CIA director. He didn't report this meeting to Salman, and when the king learned what had happened, Jabri was removed.

Can the fragile balance last, with the crown prince and deputy coexisting under an elderly, ailing king? If Salman should leave the scene, would the crown prince succeed him, as the current succession plan provides? Or would MBS try to jump the queue, with acquiescence from a pliant Allegiance Council, which ratifies succession? Saudis don't know the answers.

The Obama administration, while careful not to take sides in the palace intrigue, seems to agree that the MBS reform agenda offers a chance for the breakthrough that Saudi Arabia needs. But U.S. officials hope the impulsive and sometimes arrogant young prince doesn't run so fast that he falls over -- and takes the kingdom's political stability down with him.

David Ignatius' email address is davidignatiuswashpost.com.

(c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group
By E.J. Dionne

WASHINGTON -- Nick Salvatore, the biographer of Eugene V. Debs, wrote that the popularity of the great American Socialist leader in the early decades of the 20th century "rested upon his ability to articulate and symbolize something of the severe dislocation experienced by all Americans in the transformation to industrial capitalism."

Bernie Sanders' appeal bears a striking similarity to his political hero's. Debs gave voice to the unease and unhappiness bred by the disruptions of the industrial period. Sanders speaks forcefully for those dismayed by the inequalities and injustices in this era of deindustrialization.

Like Debs, Sanders failed to achieve victory in a presidential contest. Nonetheless, both democratic socialists spoke for many who neither shared their ideology nor voted for them. Just as Debsian socialism had a powerful impact in preparing the way for the New Deal, so will Sanders have an influence on where American politics moves next.

The free-spirited Brooklyn native from Vermont, however, confronts very different political choices than those faced by Debs, who consciously and proudly worked outside the framework of the two-party system. By contrast, Sanders has a long and complicated relationship with the Democratic Party.

Until this election, Sanders ran independently of the party, but he often enjoyed its tacit support. He caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate and exercises a measure of power as a result. He still keeps the party at a critical distance even as he seeks its presidential nomination.

Sanders stands in a tradition of leaders and activists on the American left who, since the days of Franklin Roosevelt, have seen the Democratic Party as a vehicle for egalitarian purposes and have sought to build a strong progressive bloc inside the party.

Now that he has lost to Hillary Clinton, Sanders' task is to maximize his side's influence down the road. Given the threat posed by Donald Trump to so many of his own values, Sanders also has a moral obligation to help Clinton win this election.

So far, Sanders has been effective in influencing the writing of the Democrats' 2016 platform, and Clinton's forces, by past standards in these matters, have been remarkably accommodating to his wishes.

One of Sanders' key voices on the platform committee, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., supported a draft that took major steps toward Sanders' views. It backed a $15 minimum wage in principle, a more moderate approach to his desire to break up large banks, and a new version of the Glass-Steagall law that had separated commercial from investment banking. The draft would also put the party on record opposing the death penalty.

Sanders did not get everything he wanted. There was no call for a ban on fracking, no endorsement of a Medicare-for-all health care system, no backing for a carbon tax. The drafters also declined to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but its silence represented deference to President Obama, whose administration negotiated the trade deal.

Still, Ellison praised the document for "significant accomplishments that move our party firmly toward justice, fairness and inclusion." It is certainly one of the most progressive platforms in the party's history.

Sanders, however, is not satisfied. He has yet to endorse Clinton (though he did say he'd vote for her over Trump) and has said he would fight for further platform victories on the Democratic convention floor. He has taken to lecturing Clinton on the steps she needs to take. On CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, he urged her campaign to "stand up, be bolder."

In the eyes of his staunchest supporters, this is Bernie being Bernie, keeping the pressure on to the very end. But is his fight-to-the-last approach the best way to maximize his leverage on behalf of progressive policies should Clinton defeat Trump?

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the other leading politician revered by the Democratic left, has made a different choice: She's embracing Clinton fully. Warren campaigned on her behalf this week with enthusiasm, even glee, and seems to have a special gift for getting under Trump's skin.

Clinton, a friend of hers said, has a history of going out of her way on behalf of those who stand with her. Warren has joined this magic circle.

Sanders is staying on its outskirts, maintaining the Debs-style pressure. The risk is that he will lose his moment since some Clinton partisans already see a more centrist campaign as the best way to win over millions of middle-of-the-road voters who find Trump abhorrent. Sanders has to decide if accelerating his plans to endorse Clinton is now the best way to maximize progressive influence.

E.J. Dionne's email address is ejdionnewashpost.com. Twitter: EJDionne.

(c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group
Harney County Judge Steve Grasty on Tuesday beat a recall aimed at politically punishing him for standing up to occupation leader Ammon Bundy.

Unofficial final returns from Harney County Clerk Derrin "Dag" Robinson Tuesday night showed the recall failed 70 percent to 30 percent.

It was the second time in two months Harney County voters stood by elected officials who criticized Bundy's takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in January. County commissioner Pete Runnels was elected from a field of four to succeed Grasty.

Grasty, a former auto parts store owner, has been county judge since 1999. He chairs the three-person county commission and performs limited judicial duties in a nonpartisan role. His third term ends in January.

"I have to believe this wasn't just about Steve Grasty," the judge said after results were announced in Burns. He said the vote reflected circumstances of dealing with the refuge occupation.

"I think it's an affirmation that we did a lot of things right, and I mean the community when I say 'we,' " Grasty said.

He said the vote showed the community wasn't as deeply divided as some suggested. He said his job going forward will be to find ways to bring the community even closer.

Kim Rollins, a Burns general contractor who was the chief petitioner for the recall, declined comment.

The petition forcing Tuesday's election was triggered by Grasty's decision to bar Bundy, an Idaho businessman and son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, from using a county fairgrounds building for a meeting. The petition said Grasty violated citizens' right to assembly and freedom of speech.

Grasty blocked the fairgrounds use after armed militia appeared with Bundy at other community meetings in Burns.

At those meetings and in public statements, Grasty had been blunt in telling Bundy to abandon the refuge and go home.

Bundy and his crew took over refuge headquarters buildings situated about 30 miles southeast of Burns on Jan. 2. The buildings were empty because of the holiday and the precautionary evacuation of employees.

The occupation began to unravel Jan. 26 when Bundy and others were stopped while they were on their way to John Day for a community meeting. Robert "LaVoy" Finicum of Arizona was shot and killed by Oregon State Police troopers as he attempted to evade a road block.

The last of four holdouts surrendered about two weeks later, bringing an end to the 41-day occupation.

Voters in Harney County are likely to again face the ghost of the occupation in the general election. Sheriff David Ward, who was appointed to replace the retiring sheriff in January 2015, is seeking his first election to the spot. He has been declared a hero by some for his handling of the occupation, but he also has received death threats and sharp criticism.

He is being challenged by Alan Johnson, a retired state trooper from Burns. Johnson said Tuesday it "may happen" that the election is a referendum on Ward's performance during the occupation.

He said he decided two years ago to seek the office and that he wasn't targeting Ward. He also said published reports were wrong that he is being supported by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. Its founder, Richard Mack, a former Arizona sheriff, has been a Bundy supporter.

"I don't want his endorsement," Johnson said.

He also said he voted against Grasty's recall.

Up the road in Grant County, voters may soon face a recall election partly tied to the occupation. Petitioners Monday submitted signatures to force a recall of Boyd Britton, a John Day welding company owner and part-time commissioner.

The recall petition accuses Britton of "deliberately misrepresenting" his intentions of attending the Jan. 26 community meeting where Bundy was headed when arrested. The petition also accuses Britton of violating a county road ordinance and opposing a county investigation into a wildfire last summer near John Day that destroyed 43 homes.

One of the petition promoters is local real estate agent Jim Sproul. He was among a handful of citizens who met in John Day with occupation leaders 10 days after they took over the refuge.

Grant County Clerk Brenda Percy said petitioners submitted 567 signatures. They needed 490 to make the ballot. If she certifies enough valid signatures, Britton will have five days to resign or submit a response for the ballot. Percy said a recall vote would happen by Aug. 16.

-- Les Zaitz

@leszaitz
Construction photo of the Chinese made aircraft carrier. (Photo from internet)

When receiving an interview at a program of China's CCTV, military expert Cao Weidong said that based on the construction progress reported by the media, China's second aircraft carrier may enter the water at the end of this year or early next year.

According to a report made by CCTV, recently, many construction photos of China's second aircraft carrier were disclosed on the internet. The photos show that the hoisting of a section of the bow was finished recently. And based on the photos disclosed previously, the flight deck of the aircraft carrier has completed installation, and the construction of the ship has entered the final stage.

Based on the published construction photos and satellite photos, this aircraft carrier under construction is almost the same size as the other aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.

Speaking of when this aircraft carrier will enter the water and be deployed to the troops, Cao Weidong said that the construction of a ship usually has three stages: construction, entering the water and being in service.

Construction means the building-up of the ship body. Entering the water means the ship floats on the sea but cannot leave its pier, during which stage relevant equipment will be installed in the ship; this stage is also called the fitting-out. After this stage, the ship will go through sea trails to examine its speed and the precision of the weapons. If the ship passes the sea trails with all the indicators reaching the standard, then the ship will be deployed, namely, being in service.

According to Cao Weidong, after the flight deck is completed, it takes about a half year or nine months for the ship to enter the water for the fitting-out. So, based on the media reports on the construction progress, the second aircraft carrier will enter the water at the end of this year or early next year.
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The government of Nanshan District, Shenzhen, declared its plan to invest 6 billion yuan in the next five years to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship during a ceremony delivering the government's intention to recruit talents from the world held in Shenzhen Bay Technology and Ecology Park on Monday. The ceremony attracted nearly 200 domestic and overseas elites in high-tech industries.

Further optimizing the environment for entrepreneurship and innovation, the Nanshan government hopes to attract more talents from the high-tech industries.

According to the plan of the government, more than 6 billion yuan will be invested within the next five years to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. The government will provide substantial subsidies to talented individuals, outstanding business teams, innovation platforms and talent service agencies.

For instance, the talents who have participated in major national projects or gained provincial-level awards will receive subsidies ranging from one to three million yuan. The government will subsidize the famous human resource organizations with a maximum award of three million yuan.

In addition, housing allowances will also be provided for the talented professionals in the districts where high housing prices used to be an obstacle for them. The government will also build apartments for the elites in every street of the district.

During the ceremony, the local property management office and Shenzhen Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau respectively signed cooperation framework agreements with the Shenzhen Investment and Holding Company and some human resource organizations. It marks the official launch of the human resource service industrial park in the Shenzhen Bay Technology and Ecology Park.

Hailing the role played by the talents in the development of Nanshan, Jiang Jianjun, The Party secretary of the Nanshan District signaled the message of recruitment to the talented professionals around the world. With the implementation of the plans, the Nanshan district will establish a follow-on support system for high-level innovative personnel and teams, and lead cutting-edge technologies and future development.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Armenian armed forces have nine times violated the ceasefire with Azerbaijan on the line of contact over the past 24 hours, said Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry June 29.

Azerbaijani positions underwent fire from the positions located near Kuropatkino village of the Khojavand district, Qorqan, Horadiz, Ashagi Seyidahmadli and Qarakhanbayli villages of the Fizuli district.

Azerbaijani positions also underwent fire from the nameless heights of the Goranboy 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.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has the potential to escalate, RIA Novosti quoted the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier as saying June 29.

Steinmeier will visit Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, starting from June 29.

He will pay the visits as part of Germanys OSCE Chairmanship, and the visits are aimed at facilitating the Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts settlement as well, said German Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

During Germanys OSCE Chairmanship we bear responsibility for reducing this danger as much as possible by strengthening the ceasefire, by taking confidence-building measures and by ensuring the imminent start of the negotiations, Steinmeier told reporters in Berlin on the eve of his visit to South Caucasus.

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 figures have been running through the heads of many mid-Michigan residents since Tuesday morning, when The Dow Chemical Co. announced it was cutting 700 jobs in the region, but many are still wondering what lies ahead in the future for both employees and the surrounding communities.

Along with that announcement, Dow also said it is working in partnership with several organizations to minimize the impact of those job losses on the Great Lakes Bay Region. According to Dow, the job impact will only affect employees and not contractors.

Dow and Dow Corning employed more than 8,600 people in the region after June 1 when Dow Corning became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dow. Including contract labor, both companies employ 12,000 people.

About 8 percent of the combined workforce in the region will be affected by the layoffs. Howard Ungerleider, chief financial officer of Dow and chairman of Dow Corning, said the companys goal is to have all employees know their job status by the end of September.

BUILDING OPPORTUNITIES

Whether employees learn their jobs are safe from elimination, or if they have weeks or months left on the job, the news is still not easy to take. Thats what Steve Arwood, director of the Department of Talent and Economic Development, said about the announcement.

Arwoods organization is working with Dow and Dow Corning to build strategies for displaced workers and find them new opportunities throughout the region and the state of Michigan. Those strategies include an online job portal, careers fairs and an Entrepreneurial Fair later this year.

We have been heartened in these conversations in the last couple of weeks with Dow that they are truly committed to making sure we are doing everything we can collectively, not just the Department of Talent and Economic Development, to keep this great talent in the region and in the state, Arwood said.

That includes connecting employees to new employers, providing information on how to start a business and helping them learn about other careers throughout the state. Arwood pointed to the state of the economy, and to the talent of those displaced, when asked how likely it was they would stay in Michigan.

There are many jobs and opportunities in this state, especially in the economy we are in now, Arwood said, adding the goal is to keep the talent in-state. Were ready to go to work and we will do our job, and make sure we do everything we feasibly can to make sure everyone has an opportunity at the end.

The Midland Area Chamber of Commerce, Midland Tomorrow, Saginaw Future and Bay Future have also been working with Dow and will continue to do so.

Bill Allen is the president and CEO of the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce and Midland Tomorrow and said his organizations have been identifying new opportunities for those affected by the job cuts.

Weve been helping with the job portal and with the idea that we would like to give the impacted employees an opportunity to stay here in the region, Allen said.

While he has experienced layoffs himself, Allen said every situation is different and that Dow is trying to do the best job possible to work with those affected on an individual basis.

CONNECTING EMPLOYERS

Another part of this ongoing conversation is the businesses and companies that will now be seeking the talents of those workers, said Ed Obrski, chief executive officer of Great Lakes Bay Michigan Works!.

His organization has been getting inquiries for some time about the possible job cuts, and is ready to do whatever it can to keep workers in the region.

Our entire focus is to provide as ready access as possible for our employer customers to have access to the talent pool being released, Oberski said. Well let the job market play out as it will, then employers can compete for that talent.

There are many employers who have job openings and are in need of talented professionals, Oberski said, and have already indicated plenty of interest. It helps that the job market is in a healthy condition, he pointed out, unlike in 2007.

During the recession, there were 10 unemployed job seekers for every opening, Oberski said, and now there is a more favorable one-to-one ratio. According to Pure Michigan Talent Connect, there are 99,388 jobs available throughout the state.

It really puts a crimp on the employers and businesses to find the talent they need. Theyre going to be in the market big time, Oberski said.

While he anticipates not many former employees will visit the five Michigan Works! offices scattered throughout the region, Oberski said his organization is ready to help anyone who may be seeking new training or resume help.

Assistance TIMELINE

How soon will employees start to receive help? Arwood said he is waiting for the go-ahead from Dow, but the online job portal is ready to start connecting workers to jobs. The department is working with other companies to finalize dates for career fairs.

Some of that is in a bit of flux, but it will happen. It will happen and it will happen repeatedly, Arwood said.

He added that he hopes to have some good news for those displaced about job opportunities in the near future.

Will these layoffs impact business for Dow and Dow Corning? According to Mauro Gregorio, the newly appointed chief executive officer of Dow Corning, the job cuts should create a minimal disruption but be better for business in the long run.

If we do our jobs properly, and treat people with the dignity and respect that they deserve throughout this process, we will be able to implement our integration plan while creating minimal disruption to our customers, which, in turn, will protect our innovation engine, our new product development and of course our revenue and profitability, too, Gregorio said in an emailed statement to the Daily News.

I have said on many occasions the only change I want our customers to experience are things that delight them in new and exciting ways, he added.

When asked if there is future restructuring anticipated with the DuPont Co. merger, the company said it is too early to discuss these actions in further details outside of what we have already communicated publicly about the pending merger with DuPont.
The hospital usually isnt on any kids destination list. Even most adults would prefer to stay away.

Starting this summer, though, a kid can be more of a kid while at MidMichigan Medical Center-Midlands pediatric unit. The Midland Woodworkers Association has created lily pads, wooden seats with kid-friendly designs that attach to the base of an IV pole to shuttle kids around while in the hospital.

The aim is simple.

Put a smile on their faces, said Susan Gunn, the hospitals maternal child health manager.

When children are down here and theyre stuck in their rooms and come out and do a little walking, this will give them some more fun. They could utilize those 24/7. Its just a change of scenery instead of being upset about being in the hospital.

Lee Walkowski, the Woodworkers Association member who oversaw the project, got the idea when he saw a news report about a Seattle-area 5-year-old boy on a similar lily pad. The boy is no longer a kid battling diabetes. He becomes his favorite super hero, the Seattle-area KING 5 news station reported on July 16, 2015. James lily pad was painted to show Captain Americas shield.

It was just like, I can do that. We can do that, Walkowski said of the lily pad project in Midland.

So, he got the dimensions needed and a few members cut out templates from materials donated from Lowes. Students of Bullock Creek teacher Dana Murray lent artistic hands and eyes to render the lily pads, which are adorned with friendly faces like Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse and characters from Finding Dory. The Woodworkers Association donated four lily pads to the hospital on Monday.

Gunn said she sees kids from newborn to 16 years old the in the pediatric unit. They are generally admitted for respiratory issues, like asthma or pneumonia, or tonsillectomies, broken limbs and orthopedic reasons, she said.

All was quiet in the pediatric unit on Monday. Kendra Brown twirled her 2-year-old daughter, Kennedy, on a lily pad inside a room. Kennedy picked the Finding Dory design, wrapped her legs around the pole and with pink-socked toes touching, she smiled shyly at peering eyes.

She was the only pede up here (in the unit at the time), Chris Brown said of his daughters 30-hour stay.

Her dad carried her and I pushed the pole, Kendra Brown told hospital staff.

Kendra, 28, is an emergency room nurse in Alma and Chris, 38, an Alma art teacher.

Its a privilege, Kendra Brown said. Its so nice for parents to see their kids smile when they dont feel well.

Gunn said the Midland pediatric unit is one big circle, affording the kids lots of wiggle room on their lily pads.

You have to be creative with children. Every age is different; every child is different. You have to find what will work for them, Gunn said. I think this will help a lot. It might even help them get better (and) help their healing process.

Chuck Roth, a Woodworkers Association member, smiled while watching Kennedy react to the lily pad.

It makes us feel good to do something good for the community.  To see the look on her face, Roth said.

Walkowski said there is enough plywood and materials to make several more lily pads. He said hed like to involve another hospital and school. Association members also donated a batch of wooden toys and trinkets for visiting children.
Today will go down as one of the more difficult days in the history of Midland and the Great Lakes Bay Region.

This morning, The Dow Chemical Co. announced it is cutting 4 percent of its global workforce, and 700 of those jobs will come from the Great Lakes Bay Region as the company transitions into full ownership of Dow Corning and tackles an impending merger with DuPont Co.

Howard Ungerleider, Dow chief financial officer and the newly appointed chairman of Dow Corning, told the Daily News that the first goal for company officials is to let employees know of their job status as soon as possible.

At the end of September, the goal is to have everyone who is working for Dow and Dow Corning in the Great Lakes Bay Region to know their status, Ungerleider said. The tough reality is when youre dealing with two companies that have acted standalone as many years as theyve had  you just dont need two of everything from a back-office perspective.

Tough reality, indeed.

Everyone in Midland and the region knew this day was coming, but that doesnt make it any easier. Very few residents will not be impacted in some way, as the region loses hundreds of good people  neighbors, friends, co-workers, family members  who have been part of the successful operation of these companies in the past. Our hearts go out to all those who will be impacted and we hope they are able to find new opportunities for employment in the future, even though those jobs might not be in the mid-Michigan area. Dow is working with a number of agencies and its hiring managers from Gulf Coast operations to assist displaced workers in finding new employment.

A few bright spots did come from todays announcement: Philanthropic contributions from the Dow Corning Foundation will continue, as Dow said it has no intentions of dismantling the foundation. Also, there are no plans to close any Dow or Dow Corning facilities in operations that are located in the surrounding area. And Ungerleider said construction will continue on Dows new corporate headquarters on its main campus off Patrick and Abbott roads in Midland. He said that should tell local residents Dow is committed to the city where it was first created.

It tells you, what we are trying hard to do is communicate and emphasize that we are committed to the region, Ungerleider said. It doesnt mean for today, for Dow and Dow Corning, but also the materials sciences company we are building.

So while today is a sad day, there is hope for a brighter future in Midland. As a community, and region, the pain being felt today and in the days ahead will hopefully lead to a stronger and more viable DowDuPont.
To the editor:

Once again the long arm of the NRA struck a blow against justice when Congress voted down discussions on four common sense gun proposals at their behest. This misuse of power occurred the week of June 22. What we have today is the dawning of a new era: the rise of modern day mafia in the form of the NRA. Like their counterpart from the Roaring 20s, they exact tribute by way of threats and intimidation.

In the 1920s, if threats and intimidation did not work, the mafia would resort to murder.

By getting their way with Congress, the NRA is creating conditions for future mass murders; no, they are virtually guaranteeing them by not letting any common sense gun laws be debated, let alone enacted. They are making sure that more and more mass murders take place. This does not include murders of less than four. (Mass murders are considered four or more.)

Like their counterpart, the 1920s mafia, the end goal is profit. Todays NRA-style mafia is tied to the gun industry. The more horrendous our lives become, the more profit gun manufactures make and conversely so does the NRA. The gun industry gives millions of dollars to the NRA to prevent Congress from enacting anything close to common sense gun laws.

Congress has become the sacrificial goat on the altar of death.

DOUGLAS D. SOLOSKY

Midland
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend:

The threat of separatism seems to be one of the most important challenges for all the countries. The EU countries are no exception. For instance, one of the most terrible consequences of the UKs Brexit referendum has been the rise of separatist sentiments in Europe, which greatly bothers Brussels.

Perhaps nowadays the best time has come to explain to the West the whole horrors of cases of separatist impunity, one of the striking examples being the occupation of Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region.

On June 29, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini presented the Global Strategy for the EUs Foreign and Security Policy.

The document reads that sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of states, the inviolability of borders and the peaceful settlement of disputes are key elements of the European security order.

These principles apply to all states, both within and beyond the EUs borders, said the document.

Sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity stand at the foundations of the modern world order, but in relation to Azerbaijan their importance has been as if ignored by international community for many years.

Instead of putting pressure on Armenia and ensuring the forced withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijani lands, the international actors with their silence have encouraged the separatist activities of Armenian authorities.

The silence and indifference have led to many casualties in the military confrontation in the Azerbaijani territories.

It is absurd to insist on fruitless negotiations, when the facts speak for themselves  Armenia has occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijans territories and created a puppet separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh. Unfortunately, the EU didnt care about that.

However, everything has recently changed. Today, not only the EU itself, but also its member countries are facing a threat of collapse. Brexits results are dramatically changing the geopolitical situation in the EU, and the revival of separatist sentiments in Europe and the growing popularity of anti-EU right-wing parties, which support those sentiments, are only parts of a big problem to be faced by the West.

It is already obvious that Europe will be agitated for more than a year. Gibraltar wants to stay in the EU. It has already started negotiations with Scotland, which also voted to remain in the EU.

Northern Ireland will also likely join those negotiations eventually. The citizens of these three parts of the UK voted for the preservation of the country's EU membership.

The separation of the UKs parts will encourage the Basques in Spain, Belgian right-wing Flemish party members, Faroese people in Denmark and many others to aspire to separate from their countries and become independent by all means.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region, which has been occupied by Armenia for more than 20 years, is one of the precedents of such separation. If the West does not toughly react to this outrage today, Europe can tomorrow turn into an area consisting of ever-warring small countries.

---

Elmira Tariverdiyeva is the head of Trend Agency's Russian news service
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

It is impossible to maintain the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for long, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier said while on a visit in Yerevan on June 29, arka.am reported.

Steinmeier said that two months have passed since the eruption of hostilities in this region.

"I think that it became clear, not only to the parties of the conflict, but also to those in the OSCE, that this way, it is impossible to maintain the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for long," Steinmeier added.

According to him, it is necessary to make efforts to find a lasting solution to the conflict.

He reminded that the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia have recently met twice - in Vienna (May 16) and in St. Petersburg (June 20).

"If to sum up these meetings, the steps taken by OSCE Minsk Group, we can say that all this has calmed down the situation on the contact line. We must say that we're on the right track and should use all opportunities to keep this situation and try to make the negotiating process more visible," he said.

Steinmeier said that in order to achieve this, efforts from both the OSCE MG co-chairs and the willingness of sides to compromise are necessary. He expressed hope that the complete negotiations will begin this year.

"I can only say that what happened cannot happen again. We must try to find ways to provide security and look for possibilities for continuing the negotiations. By doing so, we can stabilize the ceasefire regime. We will also try to expand the office of the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman Andrzej Kasprzyk," said Steinmeier.

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.
NORMAL  U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis thinks terrorism and a failure of law enforcement  not insufficient gun control laws  are to blame for the mass shooting in Orlando.

Speaking on a variety of topics during a visit to Bloomington-Normal, the Taylorville Republican called the June 12 shooting that claimed the lives of 49 people at a gay nightclub a complete failure of law enforcement to enforce the laws we already have. He noted that the shooter, Omar Mateen, had been put on the terrorist watch list, questioned by the FBI, and then removed from the list.

He does not think the public mood in the country is changing in favor of more gun control.

Davis said the shooting could not have been stopped by gun control laws because it was inspired by radical Islamic terrorism.

We have to stop them before they're recruited, he said.

Commenting on the atmosphere in politics today, Davis said, We do need more civility in politics.

The lack of civility has had an effect on good people running for office and good people staying in office, Davis said. I think it's a travesty.

The increased role of social media in this election year has led to more of a reality show, if you'll pardon the expression, than a presidential race, said Davis. The insults from both sides are demeaning to the presidential race and the presidency itself.

Asked whether he would support businessman Donald Trump for president, Davis  who initially backed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio  said he would support whomever the Republican nominee is.

Hillary Clinton is not qualified to be president, said Davis of the former secretary of state who is expected to win the Democratic nomination next month.

Other issues

Clinton nuclear plant: Davis said he is working with state officials to help keep the plant open after a state proposal to let nuclear power share in low-carbon energy subsidies stalled in the General Assembly. It is scheduled to close next year.

Illinois budget stalemate: I don't want to see Illinois lose out on construction funds, said Davis, expressing hope that a stopgap budget can be passed that, among other things, would keep road construction projects on track after July 1. Gov. Bruce Rauner came at a time when this state needs a change in leadership.

Brexit: The British vote last week to exit the European Union surprised Davis but he said, This gives us a chance to have a better bilateral relationship with the U.K. He thinks other countries in the EU should review whether the multinational organization has become what it was intended to be.
BLOOMINGTON  U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood will soon have an office in the Twin Cities.

The Dunlap Republican will open an office this summer at 3004 General Electric Road, Suite 1B, in Bloomington  a step his predecessor, three-term Republican Congressman Aaron Schock of Peoria, never took.

"You can do a lot of good in this job just helping people in the district," LaHood said in a meeting Tuesday with The Pantagraph's editorial board. "I'll be sharing (the office) with state Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington). It will be a nice office space in a great location."

LaHood, who has represented the 18th Congressional District since a special election in September after Schock's resignation, previously opened offices in Peoria, Jacksonville and Springfield.

He also spoke about presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, polarized politics and Illinois' budget impasse.

LaHood, who co-chaired the Illinois section of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's presidential campaign, confirmed he'll vote for Trump if the controversial businessman is the Republican candidate for president this fall.

"The country has swung left over the last 7 years. ... I think the country wants things to swing back," said LaHood. "I don't agree with (Trump) on everything, but I think he brings that perspective."

LaHood does not plan to attend the Republican National Convention from July 18 to 21 in Cleveland, where Trump is set to be nominated.

Despite winning most of this spring's Republican presidential primaries, Trump has struggled to win support from party leaders because of his controversial policies and comments.

LaHood said polarized politics led to Trump's candidacy and to last week's sit-in by House Democrats, who sought to force the issue on gun control legislation in the wake of the June 12 shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that killed 49 patrons.

"They wanted a fight. They wanted police to be dragging (Democratic Georgia Congressman) John Lewis out of the House floor in handcuffs and fisticuffs," he said. "To go to the House floor and cause anarchy, I don't think that's the proper way to do it."

LaHood added tragedy is one of the few things that still brings politicians together. He said that could be part of the solution to the state's failure to pass a budget, which will hit a year on Friday.

"We need a tragedy or some pressure point to happen to cause people to come together," he said. "We continue to hemorrhage jobs and people and opportunity out of the state."
BLOOMINGTON  More human services professionals will lose their jobs and more people with disabilities will experience delays in services if the General Assembly and governor fail to pass budgets for the fiscal year that ends Thursday and for the fiscal year that begins Friday.

"I'm disgusted by what's going on in my state," said Dolores Hirst, a retired teacher who is legally blind because of macular degeneration.

Hirst, 86, of Normal was among people who attended a news conference Tuesday at LIFE Center for Independent Living. There, representatives of three Central Illinois centers for independent living  which help people with disabilities to be independent  described cuts they have made because the lack of a state budget has left the state owing the agencies money for services performed under contract.

"The current situation is unconscionable," LIFE CIL Executive Director Gail Kear told The Pantagraph. "This is breach of contract."

LIFE CIL  which assists 2,100 people in McLean, DeWitt, Livingston and Ford counties  is owed $108,000 by the state. That's about one-seventh of the agency's operating budget.

If a budget for the next fiscal year isn't passed, the agency also will lose its state funding and federal matching money that passes through the state.

LIFE CIL has laid off two employees, closed its Bloomington and Pontiac offices one day a week, reduced Kear's salary and enacted furlough days for remaining employees. People with the greatest needs are served and others are put on a waiting list.

Advocates for Access  which provides services in Tazewell, Woodford, Peoria and Fulton counties  is owed $210,980 and has not filled three vacant positions, said Director of Operations Jodi Scott.

PACE Inc.  which helps in five counties, including Piatt  is owed $162,000 and has laid off two employees, with others going to part-time schedules or having furlough days, said Executive Director Nancy McClellan-Hickey.

"The news will continue to get worse," said LIFE-CIL's Rickielee Benecke.

"What's going on is an epic failure," Kear said. "The governor and General Assembly sought out these jobs. They took an oath to carry out their constitutional duties, and their constitutional duty is to adopt a budget that addresses the needs of their constituents."

Michael Stanton, 66, of Bloomington, who is retired, uses a cane and has weakness because of post-polio syndrome.

"Even though I don't like a tax increase, if a tax increase would be used to pay off our debt and pay for programs, that's what I want," Stanton said. "Promises need to be kept. There's no appetite to cut social services."

Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, released a statement calling on Democrats in the General Assembly to pass a stopgap funding measure to at least carry the state through December.

Hirst said, "I don't know what the answer is but if you're working on a budget and you don't get it done, you don't go home. They've got to learn to play nice and get the job done."
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 30

Trend:

Any status of Nagorno-Karabakh out of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity is not a topic of discussion, Hikmet Hajiyev, spokesman for Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry, told Trend June 30.

He was commenting on the statement by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian that the status of Nagorno-Karabakh is not a topic of discussion.

"International community recognized and supported the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders," said Hajiyev. "The UN Security Council's resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 indicate that Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan and it is unacceptable to use force to occupy territories."

"To resolve the conflict, the Armenian armed forces should be fully and unconditionally withdrawn from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan," he added.

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 IKEA Malm furniture recall is currently underway in North America after reports of a third child killed recently surfaced, however overseas IKEA stores in Australia and the UK are still free to sell them. One UK mom has come forward to campaign against the continued selling of the Malm chest drawers, the Mirror UK reported.

This time, 25-year-old Kelli Curtis, a UK mother of two, was left in momentary shock after finding daughter Evie-Mai in her bedroom with a huge cut on her forehead, with the Malm chest drawers on top of her. The toddler had to stay overnight at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Center and received up to 20 stitches, which could leave her "scarred for life".

Ms. Curtis also said that she knew what could've happened after she heard a loud bang in the child's bedroom. "When I came in, the drawers were on top of her and I just saw the blood on the side of her face," Kellie added.

She had been attending to her other child, Mason, in their living room when she heard the commotion. The Malm chest drawer had not been secured to a wall.

Kellie has since stated not wanting to shop at IKEA anymore. However, she warns other parents of the potential danger if the Malm chest drawer is not properly fixed to the wall.

In a related Sydney Morning Herald post, the Swedish furniture company announced that while there are still unsecured products in buyers' homes, it believes taking a further course of action is the next best option to do. An IKEA Australia spokesperson has also confirmed that the Malm chest drawers sold in their stores are not part of the recall.

"We spread awareness of the importance of securing furniture on our products and product instructions, on the website and in-store", she said. The company also provides wall anchoring instructions as well as anti-tip restraints in all its Malm chest drawers.
Malala Yousafzai is making such a mark in the world as a teenager. At 18 years old, she became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner who championed the cause of Pakistani education among women. The human rights advocate released her memoir, which highlights how she stood up to the Taliban to fight for her beliefs. She has been reaping millions from this book deal, which has in turn been used to fund her cause for young girls worldwide.

The Sun reports that Malala Yousafzai has received over 2.3 million (or about $3 million) for the success of her book, "I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban," which was originally published in 2013. Her memoire has emerged as a bestseller in the Indie Best Seller list, per Ad Week.

From this million-dollar deal, Malala Yousafzai is also getting paid for her lectures and appearances, and her earnings go to the Malala Fund. This is the foundation she set up to help the underprivileged go to school. A firm, Salarzai Limited, is taking charge of what she earns with Malala Yousafzai's father overseeing its management.

Malala Yousafzai's life story became of interest around the world because, a few years ago, she unexpectedly challenged the Taliban in her hometown of Pakistan. She fought for her right to receive proper education and was shot by Taliban for it.

When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.



-Malala Yousafzai #mondaymotivation pic.twitter.com/OqLkdQaTsi  Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) June 27, 2016

Malala Yousafzai's story inspired even Michelle Obama and Beyonce. The 18-year-old worked together with these famous women to push for education and women's rights. She is also working with the United Nations, per Time.

In 2014, Nobel Peace Prize recognized her efforts in uplifting the lives of women and children in her home country and other war-torn countries. She joins the likes of Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela in this prestigious honor.

She subsequently became a lecturer for the peacekeeping organization, per Nobel Prize Org. Despite her commitment with different groups, Malala Yousafzai still manages to attend the Edgbaston High School in Birmingham in England, where she currently resides.
The 2017's "Transformers: The Last Knight" is bringing back a few familiar faces from the 2007's first Transformers installment. Josh Duhamel will return as Lieutenant Colonel William Lennox, and Tyrese Gibson will also return in the movie as fellow soldier Robert Epps.

Gibson himself confirmed that he'll be appearing in "Transformers: The Last Knight" next year during the recent BET Awards. He had previously expressed his interest to be part of the fifth Transformers movie, and now it is official, according to Cinema Blend.

Robert Epps and William Lennox were one of the many major characters introduced in Transformers who joined forces with the Autobots to defeat Decepticons. Both characters earned promotions and joined NEST (Non-biological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty) in "Revenge of the Fallen". The two went on separate ways as Epps retired from being a soldier of NEST and took a position working on the spaceship Xantium at a NASA launch site using his military skills, while Lennox stayed with NEST as a Colonel in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" installment.

2014's "Transformers: Age of Extinction" had many robots in returning in a lot of disguises while new characters evolved in the said film. "Transformers: The Last Knight" cast include Mark Wahlberg, Isabela Moner, who will play the film's female lead, Izabella; Jerrod Carmichael, Mitch Pileggi, Laura Haddock, Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and Anthony Hopkins whose role is still under wraps but rumored to be Merlin, as per Comingsoon.net.

2017's "Transformers: The Last Knight" producers have no plans to repeat that creative choice completely but has just opted to bring back a few familiar faces. The 2017 movie already shot some scenes in Cuba and is now in the middle of principal photography in Detroit and London. Tyrese posted a shot on his Instagram with Director Micheal Bay. The plot for the upcoming movie is still within keeps.

The Transformers franchise started in 2007, followed by "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" in 2009, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" in 2011, and "Transformers: Age of Extinction" in 2014. Plans for the franchise includes a Bumblebee spin-off film set on June 8, 2018, and the sixth Transformers movie will debut on June 28, 2019. Transformers' fifth movie, "The Last Knight", will hit the theaters on June 23, 2017.
There are a lot of summer camps for children for their parents to choose from, with specific areas of focus such as music, arts and technology. These three summer camps in Canada and the United States are specially organized for refugee children.

Proactive Education for All Children's Enrichment, or PEACE will be running a summer camp in Ottawa, Canada. This summer camp is open to poor children, but CBC reported that most of the 60 summer camp spots have been taken by children who are Syrian refugees.

Summer camp participants will get to visit parks and go on trips to take part in free activities around Ottawa. As the refugee children take part in the camp, their parents could continue taking their English classes.

Syrian refugee children flock to newly-launched summer camp https://t.co/GA1zecc7ER  ONTSpecialNeeds (@ONTSpecialNeeds) June 29, 2016

Child Refugees In Their First Summer Camp

Meanwhile, in Louisville, Kentucky in the United States, the Kentucky Refugee Ministries program is offering five weeks of summer camp learning for refugee children coming from Burma, Iraq and Somalia. Kentucky.com reported that more than 40 kindergartners to seventh-graders are learning English, science, math and art.

Just like the Syrian refugee children in Ottawa, Louisville's refugee children will also be going on trips and activities. Last year, there were reportedly around 600 refugee children in Louisville. The five-week summer camp is the first for these refugee children.

Summer Literacy Program For Child Refugees

Still in the United States, West Michigan is also one of the places that has a summer camp geared towards refugee children. West Michigan Refugee Educational and Cultural Center, a non-profit organization that works with refugee families, is having its Summer Literacy Program.

The summer camp is for over 65 refugee children in the state of Michigan. The Rapidian reported that the seven-week program will teach the refugee children English conversation, reading and skills.

Do you know of other summer camps and programs for refugee children? Write your comments below.
An old drug called methylene blue is said to improve the brain activity of patients with cognitive impairment. A new study found that methylene blue, also known as methylthioninium chloride, can improve patients' short-term memory and attention.

Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center used a single dose of methylene blue or a placebo (an inactive treatment) on 13 healthy adults in a small clinical trial, according to the U.S. News & World Report. The participants were found to have better memory test performances after receiving methylene blue.

Methylene Blue's Potentials

According to the research team led by Dr. Timothy Duong, the participants of the study saw an increase in brain activity during their mental tasks after taking methylene blue. After administering methylene blue to the participants, the researchers saw a 7 percent surge in correct answers when it comes to retrieving memories. The study noted that methylene blue does this by regulating specific brain networks associated with emotional responses, memory and the ability to comprehend sensory and visual information.

Duong said methylene blue should still be tested further on individuals with memory problems and cognitive impairment. He also said that methylene blue doesn't carry plenty of repercussions, though some safety issues could surface if the drug gets used widely.

Duong pointed out that the drug is cheap and is being used safely to cure cyanide and carbon-monoxide poisoning in hospitals. Methylene blue is also used to treat chronic methemoglobinemia, a disorder that causes a patient's skin and blood to change colors.

Methylene Blue As Memory-Enhancer; Cure For Progeria?

Past studies conducted on animals in the 1970s have found that methylene blue is capable of improving long-term contextual memory, Wired reported. The drug is also connected with enhancing the "extinction" memory, a process that helps people recall something through song or smell.

Aside from brain activity, methylene blue is showing promising results in reversing progeria symptoms. Progeria is a rare genetic disease that speeds up the body's aging process, with majority of the patients unable to survive their teenage years and reach adulthood. Symptoms of the disease include hair loss, thin and wrinkled skin and fragile bones and joints even at a young age.

Researchers from the University of Maryland found that methylene blue can rescue progeria-affected structures within the cell, Tech Times reported. The drug can repair the age-related damages affecting both of the cell's mitochondria and nucleus.
Patients suffering any form of hepatitis C can now get treated with a government-approved drug. For the first time ever, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a pill that can treat all major subtypes of hepatitis C.

According to CBS News, FDA has approved five other hepatitis drugs before but this is the first all-oral medication that can address all concerns of hepatitis C patients in every stage of the disease. The pill is manufactured by Gilead Sciences and is called Epclusa.

CBS News reports that Epclusa is easier to use than the other five FDA-approved hepatitis drugs. As per San Francisco Business Times, it is the only all-oral pill available to treat hepatitis C that won't require patients to take ribavirin injections or other drugs.

For a 12-week treatment, Epclusa costs $74,760 which means a pill is priced at $890 (via CBS News). According to San Francisco Business Times, this is a breakthrough in drug pricing when other drugs for hepatitis C patients such as Sovaldi costs $1,000 in 2013.

"The approval of Epclusa represents an important step forward in the global effort to control and potentially eliminate HCV as it provides a safe, simple and effective cure for the majority of HCV-infected patients, regardless of genotype. Building on the established backbone of sofosbuvir, Epclusa demonstrated consistently high cure rate across all genotypes, including among patients with genotype 2 and 3, who traditionally have required ribavirin or other multi-pill regimens," Ira Jacobson, MD, Chairman of the Department of Medicine said at a press release from Gilead Sciences.

According to CBS News, people rarely know that they have hepatitis C until their skin becomes yellowish, their urine becomes darker, and they increasingly feel tired. The liver disease has led to the deaths of 19,000 people in 2014.

Epclusa is an effective pill for patients with Hepatitis C but do you think that it's reasonably priced or can it still be sold at a lower cost? Sound off your thoughts on the Comments section below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates.
Sony PlayStation Customer Service offered to restore the account of Saudi user Jihad, whose account had been banned on PSN over supposed breach of Terms Of Service. Jihad, whose name Sony PlayStation Customer Service reportedly declared offensive, will have his PSN account and purchases restored once the Saudi user changes his name.

Jihad Al Mofadda was initially asked to change his PSN account name by the Sony PlayStation Customer Service from iJihad on June 7. A few days after, however, another Sony PlayStation Customer Service representative made the decision to place a full ban on the account for iJihad altogether.

Kotaku reports that Jihad Al Mofadda has been using the account name iJihad on the Sony PlayStation Network since 2008 (or 2009). Since then, Jihad Al Mofadda has made numerous digital purchases, earned trophies and developed stats on the PlayStation Network for his iJihad account.

These became inaccessible to Jihad Al Mofadda both online and offline on the Sony PlayStation Network after the June 7 ban. Jihad Al Mofadda questioned the fairness of citing breach of the Sony PlayStation Terms Of Service on his name.

According to Eurogamer Jihad Al Mofadda sent Sony PlayStation Customer Service a copy of his passport page to prove his name. Jihad also explained that he was named not for any religious or ideological reason but because in Arabic, his name literally means to struggle for a noble purpose.

"As stated in our previous email, we have to consider the network as a whole and we need to take every ones feelings into account," a Sony PlayStation Customer Service representative wrote in response. "I can appreciate that your name has many meanings but it has one meaning that a lot of users find offensive and there for, when a report was submitted the decision to ban your account was taken."

Jihad Al Mofadda's dispute with Sony PlayStation was also picked up by various media outlet, most conspicuously on Reddit. Presumably resulting from the attention given to Jihad Al Mofadda's story the company offered to allow his Sony PlayStation purchases to be restored but only if he changes his account name from iJihad to a different one.

Jihad Al Mofadda told Kotaku that he wished Sony and the PlayStation Customer Service offered a better solution. Jihad Al Mofadda posted a social media message thanking all who supported him in this discrimination issue with Sony and the PlayStation Network.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Azerbaijan strongly condemns the bloody terrorist attacks committed at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport June 28, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said in a message June 29.

"We express our deepest condolences to the families and relatives of the victims, the fraternal Turkish people, the message said. We wish speedy recovery to those injured in the terrorist attack."

"As a country suffering from terrorism, Azerbaijan firmly condemns all the forms of terrorism, and expresses solidarity with fraternal Turkey in the fight against terrorism, the message said.

A terrorist attack occurred at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport June 28 as a result of which 36 people were killed and 147 injured.
Thousands of fans are now stoked for the upcoming release of "The Winds of Winter" book. Now, new reports are claiming that George RR Martin might delay the publishing of the much-anticipated again after "Game of Thrones" Season 6 Episode 10 has revealed too much information about the plot.

'Pissed Off' George RR Martin not publishing 'The Winds of Winter' in 2017

Rumor mill is spreading George RR Martin got pissed after the "Game of Thrones" Season 6 Episode 10 has featured a lot of details about "The Winds of Winter" novel. According to The Bitbag, "The Winds of Winter" got "diluted" after the explosive scenes in the "GoT" Season 6 finale on Sunday.

Reports have it that readers will not be having something to look forward to in "The Winds of Winter" with the much-detailed adaptation of the plot. This then sparked reports that George RR Martin might move the publication of "The Winds of Winter" and schedule it later than January 2017.

Though nothing is confirmed as of yet, a lot of viewers have said most of the hugest scenes on "The Winds of Winter" have already been featured in "Game of Thrones" Season 6 Episode 10. However, up until now, George RR Martin has remained tight-lipped regarding these reports.

George RR Martin set to release 'The Winds of Winter' in January 2017

GamenGuide has previously reported George RR Martin is now ready to publish "The Winds of Winter" book in January 2017. Sources have it that the New Mexican author is now finishing the last few chapters of the sixth installment of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series.

In the coming weeks, George RR Martin is expected to submit "The Winds of Winter" draft to his editors. If everything goes well, the proofreading stage will follow. Meanwhile, other reports stated "The Winds of Winter" will also be released in other languages so non-English readers could also enjoy reading the book.

Though everything could happen anytime, it is important to note that these latest "The Winds of Winter" reports are not yet confirmed. Hence, everything should be taken with a grain of salt.

"The Winds of Winter" is expected to hit shelves in January 2017. Stay tuned to Parent Herald for more "The Winds of Winter" spoilers, rumors, news and updates!
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Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has expressed condolences to Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the terrorist attack at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport.

We were deeply saddened by the news of a ruthless terrorist attack that killed and injured people at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, said President Aliyev in his letter of condolences.

We are extremely outraged by this horrible tragedy and consider it important and necessary to mobilize forces and carry out a joint and resolute fight against terrorism which has grown into global evil, the presidents message said.

On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my deep condolences to you, the bereaved families, the loved ones of those who died and the brotherly people of Turkey, and wish the injured the swiftest possible recovery, according to the presidents message. May Allah rest the souls of the dead in peace!
I wrote a piece arguing against the use of real-life stories as something opposed to principles. In reality, our lives are lived according to principles  any moral argument that depends on narratives for its substance simply sneaks in principles through the back door. Heres what I forgot to mention:

When personal narrative takes precedence over moral principles, the morally-justified man becomes the one with the greatest battery of relevant life-stories.

This is hardly a novel concept. By now weve all experienced the transformation of the gay couple into a hot commodity  the tenderhearted, liberal degradation of minority races into bullets for the Culture Wars. We shuffle and play our hand of friends like a perverse game of Pokemon: Well I know a trans man, and let me tell you, hes never had a problem with the bathroom setup. If you havent actually met someone whos had an abortion, you should just shut up. If you dont know a Catholic priest, youve got no right to criticize the institution of celibacy.

We pat ourselves on the back for this newly-developed allergy towards speaking of people as types, but treating them as trump cards is a dubious promotion. In both cases, our argument relies on the violent assumption that certain human beings cannot change. In the case of types, real people assume the characteristics of an abstract ideal  the fixed, unchanging Homeless Person, Prostitute, or Conservative. In the case of weaponized narratives, real people become grenades hurled against the half-held convictions of a wishy-washy public. Just as a grenade that loses its killing power is only fit to be cast out, so a Happy Gay Family will be dropped from the narrative arsenal the moment they become a Messed Up Gay Family. And so it goes.

The problem with narrative is that eventually we have to admit that individual narratives are judged by universal principles. This becomes obvious in the following, all-too-familiar discussion:

Person A: I have a gay friend who went through that Pray the Gay Away sh*t. It scarred him for life.

Person B: I have a same-sex attracted friend who went through genuine therapy and is now happily married to a woman. They have three kids.

Our interlocutors could realize the limits of anecdotal evidence, and begin to discuss the validity or invalidity of the universal principles by which these people understand and order their sexuality  the true or false propositions they make concerning the nature of attraction, the educability/uneducability of the passions, and so forth. In all likelihood, however, they will stay within the dogmatic bonds of narrative. They might, for instance, doubt the truth of the others narrative:

Person A: Well, your gay friend is probably unhappy.

Person B: Well, your gay friend is probably repressed.

But this is a limit to the powers of storytelling. You cant argue for or against some secret underbelly that may or may not sag under an otherwise peppy narrative. One could no more bring in possible repression or probable unhappiness in a war of mutually opposed narratives then one could bring in possible data in an argument of medical research. Of course, it is useful to note that our suspicion that something crucial has been left out of the narrative (e.g. the tacit assumption that the no-longer-queer are hideously repressed, or the typical insinuation that happily queer arent really happy at all) indicates that we were operating on normative principles all along  no narrative was ever going to change our minds. Why not admit it: We instantly doubt the veracity of the narrative that goes against our basic belief that the behavior in question is a-OK or not a-OK.

But even if we do not assume this dark side, we might doubt the validity of the entire narrative, as in:

Person A: Do you really have any gay friends?

Person B: Do you? It seems like everyone suddenly has an intimate relationship with a Standardized, Media-Typical, Gay Man the moment it becomes convenient for them.

Its an odd world when interlocutors make moral arguments by lying about the existence of their friends. The myth that weaponized narratives respect the real people behind the politics and gives a face to the controversy is undone by this pressure to lie  to handcraft the winning argument by making up a personal narrative. It shows that the other, far from being loved in their otherness, is being used as a tool. It shows that the human person, precisely when they are being held up as respected, need not exist.

Donald Trump is a master of this method. Whenever he is criticized for any principle he makes up a personal relation. When it is argued that he is being racist, he says: Mexicans love me. When it is argued that his views are misogynistic, he says: I love women. I employ women. Ready-made narratives get him out of everything. And this arrives at the point: The turn to narrative does not indicate a cultural shift towards a personalistic ethics, but a demonic shift towards an ethics of power.

Universal principles are open to everyone. They do not require a special status to be comprehended, nor a privileged position to be applied. If an act is wrong, it is wrong for everyone. If adultery is wrong on principle then it is wrong for the rich as well as the poor. The shift towards a narrative-driven public discourse undoes the democracy of the moral law and exchanges it for a moral law of the privileged. One cannot know whether abortion is right or wrong on principle; one must have the good luck, privilege, or social grace to know someone whos had an abortion. Right and wrong is neither written on the human heart, nor available to Jew and Greek alike. It becomes a law revealed only to those purified by the right kind of personal knowledge. Ethics suffers a brutal transformation into gnosticism, and our relationships become initiations into an otherwise unavailable power  that of being morally justified. If we take this shift seriously  that one must know person/people X before one can believe moral principle Y  then the people of Portland must have a quantitatively better or worse insight into the moral law then the people of Savannah, simply because they are exposed to better or worse narratives. When a Miss America defends a gendered definition of marriage, it is on the basis of being raised to believe in it  her exposure to a certain life story justifies her belief. This is only a mask of personalism. Privilege and power rankle underneath.

If I get any donation, no matter how small, I will regard it as a challenge, and post again within the next 33 hours. Follow my Facebook page to see if someone has already challenged me to post!
News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism.
Iran will never invade another country, will defend itself decisively: President Rouhani

06/29/16

Source: Press TV

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the Islamic Republic will never use its military might to invade another country but will decisively defend itself against any potential aggression.



Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addresses the commanders and high-ranking officials of the Iranian Armed Forces in the Iranian capital, Tehran, June 28, 2016.

(Photo by

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addresses the commanders and high-ranking officials of the Iranian Armed Forces in the Iranian capital, Tehran, June 28, 2016.(Photo by Islamic Republic News Agency

"The Armed Forces of the Islamic Iran have never thought of and will never think of violating others' rights but are determined to defend [the country] decisively," President Rouhani said at an Iftar ceremony with commanders and high-ranking officials of the Iranian Armed Forces on Tuesday night.

"The Islamic Republic's Armed Forces are firmly standing against the enemies, and will always maintain their readiness," he said.

The Iranian president emphasized that his administration will do its best to help enhance Iran's defensive power.

He said the Iranian people appreciate the fact that the state of security in Iran - located in the middle of a highly insecure region - is beholden to the readiness of the Armed Forces.





Iranian President Hassan Rouhani(Front-3rd-R) attends a ceremony with the commanders and high-ranking officials of the Iranian Armed Forces in the Iranian capital, Tehran, June 28, 2016.

(Photo by

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani(Front-3rd-R) attends a ceremony with the commanders and high-ranking officials of the Iranian Armed Forces in the Iranian capital, Tehran, June 28, 2016.(Photo by Islamic Republic News Agency

Referring to insecurity in the neighboring countries, President Rouhani said Iran fights those groups that are after disrupting the security of the region, emphasizing, however, that the Islamic Republic has no intention to meddle in the affairs of other countries.

The security of regional countries is intertwined, the Iranian president said, adding that Iran deems it its duty to help other countries achieve and maintain security.

Iran has been offering advisory military assistance to Iraq and Syria, both of which are battling terrorist campaigns by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group, among other terror outfits.

"What we wish for all [our] neighbors is what the people of those countries wish," he said, adding, "In each country, democracy and the rule of the people should prevail."

Prior to the speech by the Iranian president, Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan, Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, and Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s Navy briefed participants on the plans and performance of the Iranian Armed Forces.
A Talk by Aydin Aghdashloo about Contemporary Iranian Visual Arts

06/29/16

Organized by: Samuel Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture

Date and Time: July 9, 2016 - 4:00 PM

Location: Humanities Gateway (HG) 1030, University of California, Irvine

Event Details

Please join us on Saturday, July 9, 4-6 pm in UC Irvine's Humanities Gateway 1030 for a talk by the renowned Iranian artist, Aydin Aghdashloo titled "Audience, Marketplace and Economy: Iranian Visual Arts 1951-2016".

Aydin Aghdashloo (born October 30, 1940) is an Iranian painter, author, art critic, art historian and graphic designer. He currently lives in Tehran, Iran, and lectures in different Iranian Universities.

Biography:

Like any other professional painter, I started painting in my youth. Those were years of hardship and perseverance, years of ambitious hopes, which seemed far out of reach but which, having enriched my understanding, had already fulfilled their prom ise Anything more than that would have been beyond my just desserts.

I learned to paint on my own, but when I detected a trace of skill and expertise somewhere or in someone, I would humbly take leave to learn more: I studied oil painting with Tigran Basil, and watercolor and gouache with Biuk Ahmary - to whom, in recognition of this debt, I dedicated my exhibition years later.

Gradually, over the years, I learned the tricks and the fundamentals of gilding calligraphy, miniature and painting flowers-and-birds. Through mending old, damaged calligraphies that I would buy inexpensively, restoring them through hours of precise work to their days of intact glory, I became a gilder and a miniaturist.

In those youthful days, I would study the reproductions of European masters' work in wonder, and try to paint as well as them. The further the quality of my work seemed from theirs, the greater became my desire to rank alongside them. And so I became a skillful copyist, and at the age of fourteen sold my first commissioned work... (read more)



This talk is in PERSIAN.

This event is free and open to the public.

Seating is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis.

This event is sponsored by Farhang Foundation and UC Irvine's Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture.

Samuel Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture

University of California, Irvine

1st Floor Humanities Gateway

Irvine, CA 92697-3370

(949) 824-3638
The best 2-in-1 laptop 2022: our picks of the best convertible laptops

These are the best 2-in-1 laptops you can buy right now
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Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

According to the preliminary data, there are no Azerbaijani citizens among the victims and injured in the terrorist attack at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport June 28, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for the Azerbaijani foreign ministry, told Trend June 29.

Hajiyev said earlier that Azerbaijan's Consulate General in Istanbul is reviewing whether there are any Azerbaijani citizens among those injured and killed in the terrorist attack committed at the Ataturk Airport June 28.

A terrorist attack occurred at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport June 28 as a result of which 36 people were killed and 147 injured.
Robots are no strangers to the legal profession thanks to tools like LawGeex, but one has emerged recently that appears to be a Robin Hood of the modern world.

DoNotPay is the brainchild of 19-year-old Stanford University student Joshua Browder, and it has already successfully contested some 160,000 parking tickets across London and New York. Its free to use and has reportedly saved its users some $4 million in less than two years.

DoNotPay has launched the UKs first robot lawyer as an experiment, the site explains. It can talk to you, generate documents and answer questions. It is just like a real lawyer, but is completely free and doesnt charge any commission.

Joshua Browder

On Tuesday, the bot was acknowledged on Twitter by the commissioner of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

DoNotPays artificially intelligent software uses a chat-like interface to interact with its users. It can also be used to help passengers on delayed airplane flights obtain compensation. Reportedly, Browder plans to extend the service to Seattle next. Meanwhile, hes also working on helping HIV-positive people understand their rights and on a service for Syrian refugees.

All in all, Browder sees a bigger future for AI than the mundane tasks it typically handles today. As he said in a recent tweet, the value in bots is not to order pizzas.
The Windows 10 free upgrade ends July 29. Weve known that for a long time, but now the deadline is looming. You have just two days from today to do the deed.

Or not. In the past month, Microsofts strategies for getting people to upgrade have swung from deceptive to friendly, making it hard to know what the company will pull next as the pressure mounts. Microsoft wanted Windows 10 on 1 billion devices by 2018. The company just admitted its not going to make it in time, but it mushes onward. Most recently, it offered to give you a free PC if Microsoft Store employees couldnt install Windows 10 successfully on your eligible computer. (Note the word eligible: Dont think you can drag in your old beater PC from 2001 and get a free PC. It has to be a PC that meets the system requirements for the Windows 10 upgrade. We spell those out below.)

Well be with you for Windows 10

Windows 10 is worth the upgrade for most people. But even if you cant or wont upgrade, dont endanger your PC by turning off updates. Microsoft has its own FAQ and advice pages for the upgrade, and weve been regularly posting stories about managing the process and troubleshooting problems.

Look for our Windows 10 banner to find all of our stories about the upgrade, the Anniversary Update (coming August 2!), and more.

1. Confirm your system is ready for Windows 10

Like any operating system, Windows 10 has system requirements. Microsoft has a helpful page on this topic, but heres the gist:

CPU: 1GHz

Graphics: Must support DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver

Display resolution: 800600

RAM: 1GB for 32-bit systems, 2GB for 64-bit

Free storage: 16GB for 32-bit systems, 20GB for 64-bit

While its possible your older system could run Windows 10, it may not be pretty. Microsoft even has special error codes to signal when your system falls short of the requirements.

For most people, however, the upgrade should go smoothly. Use these preparation tips to maximize your chances for success.

2. Brace yourself for error codes

Nothing ever goes wrong in an upgrade, right? Right. Microsoft has an entire page devoted to upgrade issues, and weve covered steps for dealing with some of the more common problems.

One problem that might crop up immediately is a botched downloadcorrupted or missing files. Weve looked into that and have some workarounds for you.

Another unpleasant surprise would be running out of storage space for the installation process. We have some guidance for squeezing more capacity out of your drive.

Windows 10 also analyzes your installed components and peripherals to make sure they, too, are ready for Windows 10. If Windows cries driver problems, heres what to do.

3. Upgrade done? Heres whats next

Welcome to Windows 10. Start off right by focusing on the most important things you can do in the first 30 minutes with your new operating system. Weve even collected some of our favorite features that youll definitely want to try.

Dont worry if you get cold feet. You have 31 days after upgrading to roll back to your old operating system, and we can tell you exactly how that works.

The free Windows 10 upgrade, and the Anniversary Update to follow, are big events for Windows users. Well keep you updated here with more news as these dates near. Tell us how the Windows 10 upgrade is going for you, or not, in the comments.
Googles core business is in advertising and it insists on showing you as many ads as it can. A new tool introduced by the company gives users a modicum of choice by letting them personalize across devices what ads they see on Google and third-party sites, which may also be a bounty for advertisers who could get some more accurate targeting.

The opt-in tool the company is rolling out allows users, who are logged into their account, to choose their areas of interest from a list provided, as well as add new topics not included in the list.

The topics are derived from the users activity on Google sites, such as videos watched on YouTube, but does not include Gmail topics, which are used only for ads within the email service, Google explained on the new tool. For now, the topics shown only apply to YouTube, according to Google. Information on gender and age group will also be used to deliver relevant ads to the users.

Users can also turn off the delivery of personalized ads. This will mean that they will continue to see advertisements but Google points out that users will not get the benefits of opting in, as they will still see ads but will no longer be able to edit their interests and the ads could be less relevant as they will be based on the users general location and will not be based on data Google has associated with their Google Account.

Users can also control the ads they see on over 2 million websites other than Google sites, which partner with the company for ads. If the control is turned on, users will see ads based on their interests and previous sites they may have visited.

If Ads Personalisation is on, users can tick the box below it to also use Google Account activity and information to improve ads on the websites and apps that partner with Google to show ads, according to Google. The company will also include browsing data from many websites and apps that partner with Google, which will be stored in the users Google account.

The user will also be able to mute some of the ads that they dont want to see on the websites and apps that partner with Google on ads. If youre signed in to your Google Account and you have Ads Personalisation on, we will try to apply any muting across all of your signed-in devices when we recognise you as being signed in, according to Google.

A Google spokeswoman said the new Ads Personalisation control will roll out gradually for users in the coming weeks. Another feature, called My Activity, which lets users review from a single location their activity on Google sites and even delete some entries like search requests and videos viewed, is live for everyone from Tuesday, but will have more detail when the new control is turned on, she added.
Facebook can resume tracking Belgians online even if they dont have an account with the social network, an appeals court has ruled.

The Brussels Court of First Instance had previously ordered Facebook to stop placing its datr cookie in Internet users browsers unless they were Facebook members. It ordered the company to pay a fine of 250,000 per day until it complied with this interim ruling.

But on Wednesday the appeals court overturned the cookie ban and the fine on the grounds that such interim orders can only be made in urgent cases. In this case, Belgiums privacy commission waited until 2015 to forbid something Facebook began doing in 2012, suggesting it hadnt acted with urgency.

The appeals court also ruled that Facebook Ireland and its U.S. parent are outside the jurisdiction of Belgian courts, and that only Facebook Belgium was answerable to Belgian privacy law. Facebook Ireland manages Facebooks relationships with all its users outside North America.

The Commission is considering whether to appeal Wednesdays rulings by referring them to the Court of Cassation, Belgiums court of final appeal.

This is not the first time Belgian courts have failed to recognize that they have jurisdiction over foreign Internet companies, said Commission chairman Willem Debeuckelaere.

In an affair involving Yahoo, the Court of Cassation twice overturned decisions by the appeals court that it had no jurisdiction, he said, so naturally the Commission is considering whether to lodge an appeal.

Todays decision signifies that Belgian courts cant protect the private lives of citizens protection from foreign actors. Thus, the citizen is exposed to massive violations of their right to privacy, he said.

The Facebook case began a year ago, but so far, the courts have heard only preliminary motions. The Commission expects the Brussels Court of First Instance to begin tackling the substantive issues of its original complaint next year, it said Wednesday.

A Facebook spokeswoman said the company was pleased with the courts decision, although it had not yet received a copy of it. We look forward to bringing all our services back online for people in Belgium, she said.

Rather than allow unfettered access to its site and services without use of the datr cookie, the company had chosen to block non-account-holders from viewing public pages on its site. With the return of the cookie, those pages will once again become visible to Belgians.
A database described by some as a terrorism blacklist has fallen into the hands of a white-hat hacker who may decide to make it accessible to the public online.

The database, called World-Check, belongs to Thomson Reuters and is used by banks, governments and intelligence agencies to screen people for criminal ties and links to terrorism.

Security researcher Chris Vickery claims to have obtained a 2014 copy of the database. He announced the details on Tuesday in a post on Reddit.

No hacking was involved in my acquisition of this data, he wrote. I would call it more of a leak than anything, although not directly from Thomson Reuters.

Vickery declined to share how he obtained the data, but hes already contacted Thomson Reuters about securing the source of the leak.

In an email, Thomson Reuters said on Wednesday that it was grateful to Vickery for the alert. The third-party that leaked the database has taken it down, the company added.

Vickery has previously exposed database leaks related to Mexican voters, a Hello Kitty online fan community and medical records.

His copy of the World-Check database contains the names of over 2.2 million people and organizations declared heightened risks. Only a small part of the data features a terrorism category. Additional categories include individuals with ties to money laundering, organized crime, corruption and others.

He is asking Reddit users whether he should leak the database to the public. His concern is that innocent people with no criminal ties may have been placed on the list.

The information isnt really secret either. Users can buy access to the database from Thomson Reuters.

Leaking the database, however, could create risks and tip off actual bad guys that theyve been placed on the list, Vickery said.

Thomson Reuters declined to say how it might respond if Vickery decides to publicize the information. The World-Check database is sourced from the companys analysts, industry sources and government records.
Rita Gutierrez will retire from her post as the first commander of the Riverside County Department of Animal Services on Friday, July 1.

The County Board of Supervisors recognized her 10 years of service in that position, and an additional eight years with the county, with a proclamation at a recent ceremony.

She is not just another bureaucrat retiring, said John Welsh, public information officer for the animal services division. She was the first person to fill the role of commander and has been an outspoken, knowledgeable and amazing human being in that role.

Among Gutierrezs major accomplishments were lobbying in Sacramento for the right to help the wild burros that live in Reche Canyon near Moreno Valley and Grand Terrace and taking a team to New Orleans to aid animals after Hurricane Katrina, according to Welsh.

I was happy that at the ceremony they mentioned the things I am most proud of, Gutierrez said, referring to those two activities.

Before her efforts in Sacramento, the department was limited in what its officers could do for the burros that roamed the hills of rural Reche Canyon.

We helped change the rules so that any law enforcement agency can now assist the burros, she said.

The new legislation allows members of her department to tend to injured or sick burros they encounter in the canyon.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Gutierrez led a team of animal services personnel and veterinarians to help care for stranded or injured animals.

It was similar to our regular animal control work, where we helped animals in their homes or picked them up elsewhere and checked on them, but with constant emergency calls, she said. I was hesitant about going at first but am so glad we went, she said of her 10 days in the beleaguered city.

Gutierrez put her stamp on the department in its day-to-day operations as well, according to Welsh.

Commander was not just a title, but it brought a level of police-department-like respect to a division that needed a strong leader such as Rita, he wrote in a news release.

The animal services division investigates calls of animal neglect or abuse, picks up dead animals from roadways, performs rabies control and oversees county animal shelters, among other responsibilities. Educating the public to become responsible pet owners is of paramount importance as well, Gutierrez said.

In my position I was able to re-organize and make sure of the continuity of training among all the offices in the county, she said. Currently, they all do the same work and treat constituents with the same respect.

At age 56 and a breast cancer survivor, Gutierrez is retiring to spend more time with her husband in the Tucson, Ariz., area, where they will soon be moving from Riverside.

There comes a point when you have given all you can and a newer, fresher look is needed, she said.

She leaves her team and department with a higher level of professionalism than when she started, she said.

Rita has been a leader and innovator in the department and an absolute mentor and mother figure in my life, said Chris Mayer, who will take over her job after 15 years of working under Gutierrez.

He describes her as small in physical size but large in her impact on the department.

She has trained me to take on her role but hers will be the smallest biggest shoes I have ever had to fill, he said.

Contact the writer: community@pressenterprise.com
Economists and politicians are still trying to figure out the meaning of Brexit.

Not the meaning of the word. Most people have figured out by now that what sounds like a breakfast cereal is slang for the British exit from the European Union, approved on June 23 by a majority of United Kingdom voters, to the apparent shock of that nations elites.

The debate is about the implications of Britains withdrawal from the economic alliance with its European neighbors: what it portends for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and for the EUs 27 remaining member nations. And whether it reflects an anti-establishment mood on the part of voters; and whether that would carry over to the U.S. election.

Our Question of the Week for readers is: Does Brexit mean more upheaval is ahead?

After Britons voted 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent to leave the EU, the first thought for many Americans was what it said about Donald Trumps chances of overcoming Hillary Clintons lead in the polls and winning the November election.

What are the lessons of Brexit for President Obama and other U.S. leaders?

Email your thoughts to letters@pressenterprise.com. Please include your full name and city or community of residence. If you prefer, share your views in the comments section that accompanies this article online.
The tone at Mondays ceremony to transfer authority from the San Bernardino city Fire Department to the county was careful and diplomatic.

Putting county fire in charge of fire and emergency medical responses was a good move for residents and employees, the officials holding the ceremony believe, but they were well aware of the delicateness of dissolving the 138-year-old city department.

Theres a lot of excitement, but theres a lot of apprehension as well, county Fire Chief Mark Hartwig told a room of officials before they went on stage. We want to make them comfortable. They have a home and they have a family.

RELATED: End of an era as county prepares to take over fire services

Mayor Carey Davis had a similar message in his two-minute statement to the employees.

Our citys been well-served by our Fire Department, and this tugs at my heart to have to make the decision, Davis said. Our council, our Board of Supervisors, recognize that in order to strengthen our community we needed to make that change. As difficult as it is.  Im truly looking forward to the time when we might enjoy a better delivery of service for our community and also better working conditions for our firefighters.

The management of the city department and the union representing city firefighters approved the transfer, which officially goes into effect Friday.

Two-thirds of the citys firefighters will transfer to other jobs in the county, according to City Fire Chief Tom Hannemann. An equal number of county employees will transfer to the city, where they will join the one-third of firefighters remaining in San Bernardino.

RELATED: City to pay difference in fire execs salaries

Residents shouldnt notice any change, said county Supervisor Josie Gonzales, whose district includes the city.

When someone calls 911 and they need help, it is important that they feel no difference, Gonzales said.

In fact, officials expect service levels to increase, in addition to the city saving an estimated $7 million to $8 million per year  part of that coming through a parcel tax of $148 per year.

After city and county officials spoke and gave commendations to city fire officials, firefighters lined up for barbecue provided by the county fire union.

Above them, two fire trucks  one with City of San Bernardino labels, the other labeled San Bernardino County Fire  had their ladders extended, working together to support a giant American flag.

Then the new engines, bearing both city and county branding, were unveiled.

Contact the writer: ryan.hagen@langnews.com; @rmhagen

RELATED: County takeover helps balance San Bernardino budget
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev has made a phone call to Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan June 29.

Azerbaijans president has offered deepest condolences to Turkeys president, the family members of those killed and Turkish people over the heavy losses as a result of the heinous terrorist attack at Istanbul Ataturk International Airport.

President Aliyev strongly condemned the dirty deeds of terrorists and pointed out that as always, Azerbaijan stands by Turkey in these hard times.

Turkeys president, for his part, expressed gratitude for the attention and condolences.
Karma Automotive, an electric automaker with roots in the failed Fisker Automotive, will unveil its first car, the Revero, this summer.

The luxury plug-in sedan is being produced at the companys Moreno Valley facility. No specific date or price point was provided by the company, and Karma did not respond to requests for photos of the Revero.

The Costa Mesa-based company also is expanding its supply chain, engineering and program management in Michigan.

We have a very aggressive growth plan, and we want to ensure we have the best available people in the industry. Detroit is the home of some of the top technical resources and leading suppliers in the world, Darren Post, vice president of engineering, said in a statement.

Karma is expanding its resources at its Costa Mesa headquarters.

The company hired Dennis Dougherty as the companys president and chief operations officer Tuesday.

Dennis brings with him extensive operations experience in the U.S., China and Mexico which will be invaluable as we launch the Revero and expand our global footprint, said Tom Corcoran, chief executive.

Fisker, which was founded in 2007, was funded in part with $528 million in U.S. Department of Energy loans. It sold 1,800 Karmas in the U.S. and Europe before battery problems, recalls and the bankruptcy of its battery supplier led to its bankruptcy in 2013.

Original production plans called for the sale of 10,000 Karmas annually  a target that was never met, despite high-profile sales to celebrities such as Justin Bieber and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The company was acquired by Chinese auto part company Wanxiang Group Corp. for roughly $150 million in 2014.

The new Karma has more than 600 people working in its Costa Mesa headquarters, Moreno Valley facility and Troy, Mich., location.

Whats still to be seen is how car buyers will welcome a luxury plug-in hybrid while gas prices remain low. U.S. sales of green cars in May plunged 32 percent from a year earlier to about 36,600 vehicles, according to AutoBlog.

Contact the writer: hmadans@ocregister.com or Twitter: @HannahMadans
I am so tired of this gun control fraud. It has all been tried before. Congress passed an assault weapons ban in 1994. It stayed in place for 10 years and Congress let it lapse because it did nothing to lower crime. It did nothing because, statistically, they are hardly ever used in crime. Check the FBI statistics  handguns kill 19 times as many people as all rifles put together.

It will not end with assault rifles. Next on the agenda will be registration of ammo. Well, that was tried too. From 1968 until Congress let it lapse a decade later, untold millions of rounds of ammunition were tracked and registered at great expense to the seller who had to store all the paperwork, without solving a single crime. Worthless and expensive.

As the liberals try to bring in millions of unvetted Muslims, they are doing their best to disarm Americans.

If we let them, we will end up like Europe, with mass murder, rape and robbery a daily part of our lives. Our only defense is the Second Amendment. Dont throw away your God-given right to self-defense for the liberal illusion of security.

Michael A. Pacer

Pomona

Diversity is our weakness

Re: A time for unity, not division [News, June 25]: Loretta Sanchezs column was absolutely pathetic. The Democratic Party under Obama has been not only the most divisive in history, it has completely divided our nation. Diversity is not our strength, its our weakness. What do these politicians think Brexit was all about? Most probably dont know. It was simply about trade and immigration. What a coincidence, that appears to be the main theme in this upcoming presidential election.

Twenty-first century Democrats are not the Democrats of John F. Kennedy. JFKs inaugural statement, Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country, has been replaced with Give me free stuff, and Ill vote for you.

Edward T. Healey

Riverside
Esri founder Jack Dangermond held up his map technology companys partnership with the city of Los Angeles as a path to the future Monday in the opening session of the Esri User Conference in San Diego.

Esri is an innovator in geographic information systems, which combine geographic data with other statistics for the purposes of analysis. More than 350,000 organizations worldwide use its products.

Its partnership with Los Angeles is called GeoHub.

GeoHub makes Los Angeles an open city with open data, said guest speaker Lilian Coral, L.A.s chief data officer.

In the partnership, announced in January, the city put its data sets on an open platform, allowing citizens to become fact gatherers to deal with such problems as illegal dumping and potholes.

Coral announced that the project is being expanded to include mayor Eric Garcettis Vision Zero initiative to end traffic deaths.

GeoHub is an essential part of the foundation that will make Los Angeles stronger and more responsive for the next century, Garcetti said in a video message.

Addressing thousands of people from 130 countries, Dangermond said that mining big data in real time with the help of social media can put more eyes on problems than ever before.

GIS is increasingly understood as a platform for public engagement, Dangermond said.

His 90-minute introduction to the conference included presenting an award to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, accepted by administrator Craig Fugate.

Fugate said GIS is being used in FEMAs response to flooding in West Virginia.

Dangermond outlined a number of new products intended to bring speed and drag-and-drop simplicity to mining big data.

He said technological innovation creates enormous possibilities for collaboration between government, business, nonprofits and people around the globe.

The world is being wired up with everything, he said. What do we do with all this data?

Contact the writer: fbuck@pressenterprise.com or 951-368-9551
Jurupa Valley city officials are urging residents to voice their opposition to a proposed power line project as a state agency starts an environmental review.

As the city gears up for the next round in the long-running battle over the project, the City Council held a town hall meeting Tuesday night, June 28 to update residents.

City Manager Gary Thompson said its important for residents to get involved by writing letters and attending future hearings. The California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates utilities, will host a hearing to determine what issues will be studied in the environmental report.

We need everybody to show up and express your opposition, Thompson said.

The Riverside Transmission Reliability Project is a venture of Riverside Public Utilities and Southern California Edison to build a 10-mile, 230-kilovolt transmission line plus substations, transmission towers and poles.

The project has been a point of contention between Jurupa Valley  and, before cityhood, the Jurupa area  and Riverside for about a decade.

Riverside officials have said the project would help avoid blackouts at peak times or during a disaster.

Jurupa Valley officials have countered that the project would do irreparable harm. Its path includes an area planned for major retail and commercial development, but those projects have been delayed due to uncertainty, Thompson said. If those projects arent built, the city could lose out on $2 million to $4 million a year in tax revenues, he said.

Please know were beyond frustrated with Edison and the city of Riverside, Jurupa Valley Mayor Laura Roughton said Tuesday. This should not be happening. Its hamstringing our residents and our property owners.

Riverside spokesman Phil Pitchford said the Riverside believes were acting appropriately in answering questions as expeditiously as possible.

Thompson also announced that the city filed a motion Tuesday with the commission seeking to have the application dismissed. The motion accused Edison of failing to respond to requests for information from the commission and described the application as incomplete and thus grounds for dismissal.

In a statement, the utility said the citys actions appear to be an attempt to undermine talks between the parties.

The citys motion is ill-conceived, contains inaccuracies, and unfortunately, runs counterproductive to the progress parities have made in these discussions to date, the statement read.

Steven Anderson, one of about 50 residents who attended the meeting at Jurupa Valley High School, asked the city to continue fighting the project.

I would ask the city to please protect our property and please protect the beautiful areas we still have, he said.
When clients seek research from the University of Redlands Master of Science in GIS program, they need to make a good pitch.

The one-year program typically has half a dozen students who choose one project to pursue with the approval of their professors.

Recent clients have included The Huntington in Pasadena and the energy drink company Red Bull, which wanted data on its drivers.

Many of this years candidates presented their projects at this past weeks Esri User Conference in San Diego.

Among them is Brittany Miller, who got a bachelors degree in history from the university and decided to go back for more.

Although a Redlands resident, Miller said that before the program she had a lot to learn about geographic information systems, the process of combining maps with other kinds of data for the purpose of analysis.

I had no clue! she said at the University of Redlands booth in the conferences exhibition hall. When I first started I had no idea of Esri or GIS.

Millers project was to map and model Hopi archaeology sites in Arizona based on the work of Wesley Bernardini, associate professor of sociology and anthropology.

Once I created this product I was so excited about it I realized that maybe history and the humanities can use GIS, Miller said.

After graduating in August, Miller will start an internship at Riverside Art Museum.

The university is making spatial one of its key emphases, said Douglas M. Flewelling, director of the GIS master program.

It has offered a minor in GIS on the undergraduate level for the last couple of years, he said. It combines science and the humanities.

In order to get that degree they have to do GIS, both the technical stuff that our department teaches and also take classes in sciences, so we have faculty in biology and chemistry who use GIS quite a bit. They also have to take some of the humanities. So we have a religious studies professor who is quite active in it. Our historians are using GIS. So they get a very broad view of it on the undergraduate level.

Esri partners with the university on its GIS programs, and the university helps Esri with side projects and prototyping. It also provides a place where Esri staff can continue their educations.

When the program was first created, Esri was very interested in being involved, Flewelling said. They wanted a local university for their employees to be able to go to and get advanced degrees. But they also were interested in creating a world that had lots of masters level folks who could help them implement it. Their consultants needed workers and federal agencies needed workers.

So it wasnt just focused on the Inland Empire, but rather the United States and internationally.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9551 or fbuck@pressenterprise.com
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly named Faith Lindseys dog. It is Butterscotch.

Every morning, the first thing Faith Lindsey does is clean up after her pit bull, Butterscotch.

Then she takes a plastic bag and a pair of latex gloves and circles the yard, looking for garbage to pick up.

Its only a temporary home for Lindsey, 29, but she knows it reflects on the neighborhood and wants it to look good. Shes one of a handful of clients at Riversides emergency homeless shelter who have been tidying up their cul-de-sac in exchange for bus passes and gift cards to buy groceries, clothes and other items.

Its a small start, but Riverside officials are working on something bigger: a pilot program to pair housing help with hands-on job training, interviews and  officials hope  permanent jobs.

Our ultimate goal is to help these individuals get off the streets, Riversides Housing Project Manager Michelle Davis said. If theres businesses out there that are willing to at least give somebody the opportunity to get their foot in the door with an interview, we would love to hear from them.

Experts say job programs arent a universal solution to homelessness, because its a complex issue thats only sometimes caused by lack of employment, and not everyone who is homeless can work. But for those who are able, a job can be critical to helping them find or stay in a home.

A small percentage of homeless, such as veterans and the disabled , may qualify for ongoing subsidies that pay for housing, said Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Most people are going to need a job, she said.

HOUSING: New funding for homeless veterans

HELP WANTED

Its unclear how many homeless or recently housed people are working or looking for work, because federal agencies that deal with jobs and the homeless dont have comprehensive statistics.

While there arent solid numbers on employment programs serving the homeless, Its not nearly enough to meet the demand for such programs, said Chris Warland of the Heartland Alliance, a Chicago-based organization that provides services aimed at ending poverty.

In the Inland area, Temecula nonprofit Project Touch provides clients with a list of businesses that are hiring and helps them get to job interviews, founder Anne Unmacht said. It also employs clients to run its winter shelter.

Valley Restart, which runs an emergency shelter in Hemet, requires clients to look for jobs daily but relies on other agencies, such as Riverside County Workforce Development, to help people with online applications and other assistance, Executive Director Linda Rogers said.

San Bernardino City Councilwoman Virginia Marquez said Riversides program sounds innovative and like something she might like her city to try. Next month shell propose that San Bernardino hire a homeless services specialist who could work on such ideas.

NEW PROGRAM

At the Riverside Access Center on Hulen Place, a city-run hub for homeless services, officials wanted to help more directly.

The center is next door to the emergency shelter, and people who couldnt get a bed or didnt want to follow the shelter rules were camping on the street and leaving a mess. So Monica Sapien, the citys homeless services coordinator, started offering McDonalds gift cards and bus passes to people to tidy up.

Churches and charities hand out food on the weekends, and some people simply leave their trash on the ground, Lindsey said as she picked plastic food wrappers and a crushed milk carton out of the bushes on a recent day.

Before the cleanups started, It looked like skid row, she said. People judge off that.

The program helped clients of the shelter and access center feel invested in the neighborhood, and it encouraged the city to create a program that would offer participants more than a few gift cards, said Davis, the housing manager.

Officials hope to launch it this fall. The program will start by hiring about five homeless people to do landscaping and clean up around the Hulen Place campus. Others will get hands-on training and, in some cases, jobs through partnerships with Goodwill and local businesses. The city will also help them get housing, learn life skills and get other needed services.

When Riverside businessman John Plocher held a meeting in May to drum up interest in the citys new program, people from about 35 local companies came and all were interested in helping somehow, he said.

Most of us feel helpless because we dont know what to do, Plocher said. We can give $5 on the street, but thats really only putting a band-aid on a serious problem.

JOBS MATTER

Experts say programs like the one Riverside is developing have succeeded, though they also stress that housing should be part of the picture.

Riverside and many other communities have or are moving toward a housing first philosophy, which means advocates work to get people off the street or out of a shelter before focusing on other issues, such as drug abuse treatment.

But it can be a catch-22  its hard to get a job without housing and hard to get housing without a job, said Roman of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

The two really fit together and the more successful programs are addressing both.

Lindsey, who grew up in group homes in Moreno Valley and Colton and has been homeless for 10 years, hopes to get into a duplex with her boyfriend and their dogs. She also would love a permanent job, she said, maybe at Riversides access center or working with animals at the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center in the city.

Every homeless persons not alcoholics or drug addicts, she said. Theres some that want to do something with their life. I do.

RELATED

RIVERSIDE: Homeless veterans get new lives

RIVERSIDE: City wants to house all homeless veterans

BY THE NUMBERS

2,165

Homeless people in Riverside County

1,887

Homeless people in San Bernardino County

814

In Riverside County shelters

696

In San Bernardino County shelters

1,351

Living on Riverside County streets

1,191

Living on San Bernardino County streets

100

Homeless veterans in Riverside County

92

Homeless veterans in San Bernardino County

SOURCE: County surveys done in January

Contact the writer: 951-368-9461 or arobinson@pressenterprise.com

RELATED

Southern California News Group sites raise awareness of homelessness

HOMELESS: Inland groups, governments fighting the problem

EDITORIAL: Helping homeless
Menifee Mayor Scott Mann is heading back to school.

Mann issued a statement saying he has been accepted into a three-week session for state and local government leaders at the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government this summer.

Im excited about capturing new skills to challenge assumptions and conventional wisdom, to develop new frameworks for addressing policy, and engage the public in more meaningful ways, Mann said in the statement.

Mann is also the chairman of the Republican Party of Riverside County.

The Kennedy School of Government is a public policy and public administration school at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. The session runs from July 11-29.

According to the program brochure it operates as an interactive classroom where participants learn from each other and work together with the faculty on real-life case studies. The classroom serves as a forum for raising difficult issues and practicing the skill of creating and maintaining conversations that lead to change.

The fee is $12,400, according to the Kennedy School website. Mann said the program is for personal and professional development and is not being funded by the city.
A Wildomar pair who help youths whose parents are in prison were recently recognized for their work.

Bob and Mona Davies, who founded Community Outreach Ministry, were given the Child and Family Advocate of the Year Award on June 3 from HOPE Collaborative, Riverside Countys child abuse council.

Riverside County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries nominated the organization.

This population often goes undetected in the child welfare and education systems, putting them further at risk, Jeffries said in a news release from the ministry. The resources Bob and Mona provide help to prevent these youth from entering the juvenile criminal justice system by breaking the cycle of crime.

The ministry, which the Davieses founded in 2001, works to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and juvenile delinquency by providing educational opportunities, guidance, and resources to help children grow and achieve their goals.

Mona Davies believes that by providing a network for at-risk youth, they can learn how to prevent mistakes and learn right from wrong.

They need to be around other children like themselves to share their stories in a safe environment, she said. Through camping and mentoring, children are able to reflect, tell their stories and it helps them heal, grow and to be resilient.

Bob Davies  who grew up in Chicago and whose friends used alcohol and drugs  founded the ministry because he didnt want todays kids making the same mistakes his friends had.

To help improve the lives of the communitys most vulnerable youth, the ministry offers a variety of programs including mentoring, camping, holiday parties, scholarships, tutoring services, and providing connections to service providers. Some students who have benefited from the ministry have already returned to mentor the next generation.

Marina Preciado spent 11 years in the foster system and struggled academically and emotionally.

Then in 2008, the then-20 year old was sent to a summer camp on a scholarship by Community Outreach Ministry and there she learned that she was loved and accepted.

Now, as a college graduate, Marina has returned as a tutor.

Maggie Destinee Sanchez was also a foster child and began volunteering with the ministry as a high school student. She is now studying to earn her bachelors degree and hopes to work with Doctors Without Borders as a trauma surgeon.

Maggie currently volunteers at the ministrys Night Out in Murrieta and Angel Tree Christmas Party, during which the ministry provides new clothes and gifts to over 100 children whose parents are incarcerated and another 100 needy children.

On top of the all of the advocate work, Mona Davies recently had her doctoral dissertation, Breaking the Cycle of Incarceration: Stories of My Work as a Missionary to Children of Incarcerated Parents published.

The dissertation was endorsed by Frank Lofaro, CEO of Washington, D.C.-based Prison Fellowship International, a global association that promotes rehabilitation of offenders.

Davies hopes that the book will raise awareness of the underserved and underrepresented vulnerable population. She hopes that the ministry can collaborate with government agencies, schools, churches, and other nonprofit organizations to continue their work.

In the meantime, the ministry is looking for professional volunteers to act as mentors and donations to help fund the summer camps, which will be at the end of July. The ministry is also seeking sponsors from individuals, groups and businesses to adopt children and give gifts for the annual Christmas party.

Information: communityoutreachministry.org or 951-698-7650.

Contact the writer: community@pressenterprise.com
A 26-year-old Moreno Valley woman landed in jail after two of her children  ages 4 and 6  were rescued from a locked car on a hot day, sheriffs officials say.

Guadalupe Galaviz was arrested at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, June 25, along John F. Kennedy Drive and booked for investigation of felony child endangerment, jail records show. She was released the next day on $35,000 bail.

The two youngsters were left in car for more than 30 minutes before deputies and firefighters rescued them, sheriffs officials said in a written statement. The temperature inside the vehicle was estimated to be in the upper 90s.

Deputies canvassed the area and found Galaviz and a 3-year-old child, according to the statement. All three children were taken to a hospital where two of them were treated for heat exposure. All were placed in the custody of child protection authorities.
Riverside Police Department detectives are working to find the person who called Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center on Sunday, June 26, saying a bomb was in the emergency room.

Police searched the hospital Sunday, after staff and patients self-evacuated, and found no bombs.

Investigators are looking into the caller and the phone number it came in from, Riverside Police officer Ryan Railsback said Tuesday via email.

Police were told that a suspicious person and vehicle were seen around the hospital weeks prior to the bomb threat, Railsback said. Investigators havent determined if that report is related to the bomb threat.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

Security measures in Azerbaijans public places, including airports and railway stations have been strengthened in connection with the terrorist attack committed June 28 at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport.

Head of the press service of Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC (AZAL) Pasha Kesamanski told Trend June 29 that according to internal procedure, all the airports of Azerbaijan have introduced enhanced security mode.

Enhanced screening at the entrance to the airports terminals, inspection of facilities and planes have been organized, said Kesamanski.

Azerbaijan Railways CJSC has also strengthened security measures, the companys spokesman Nadir Azmammadov told Trend. The companys management has decided to strengthen patrols and inspections in the territory of railway stations, platforms, as well as checking of trains and railway bridges in Azerbaijan.

A terrorist attack occurred at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport, as a result of which 36 people were killed and 147 injured, according to recent information.

The Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group stands behind the attack, according to preliminary information.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
A man who police say was intoxicated at a Hemet apartment complex pool on Tuesday night was arrested for pulling out a gun in front of tenants and children.

The man was reported to police about 8:05 p.m. at the Devonshire Apartments located at 2770 West Devonshire Avenue, according to a news release from Hemet Police.

Officers arrived to find that Martrell Coleman, a 23-year-old resident there, was armed with a revolver. The gun was not loaded.

Officers also found nine kids hiding from Coleman in the poolside restroom, the release said.

He was arrested on suspicion of 12 counts of brandishing a firearm and nine counts of misdemeanor child abuse, the release said.
Its official: Come Nov. 8, Californians will be voting on whether to legalize recreational marijuana.

An initiative that would allow adults to consume cannabis became eligible for the ballot Tuesday, after election officials verified it had received more than the required 365,880 valid signatures.

If its approved by voters, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act will allow Californians 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, up to 8 grams of concentrated cannabis and up to six plants.

The citizen-driven initiative builds on the states new medical marijuana regulations, with provisions for licensing, testing, labeling and advertising.

The campaign has raised more than $3.5 million so far. That includes funds from Silicon Valley billionaire Sean Parker and Irvine-based Weedmaps, plus other legalization supporters.

A key opponent, the Coalition for Responsible Drug Policies, has raised $116,000 from law enforcement and some hospital groups. And some members of the states entrenched medical marijuana community are also torn over whether to offer support.

However, polls have shown that 60 percent of Californias likely voters in the November presidential contest favor legalization.

So what would California look like if recreational pot is legalized? Here are answers to some common questions.

Q: Will people be walking down the street smoking joints?

A: Not legally. The 62-page initiative says it would still be illegal for Californians to consume marijuana in public unless its in a space licensed for use. The act also specifically bans smoking marijuana any place where tobacco is prohibited and within 1,000 feet of a school or youth center while children are present.

Q: So where will people be able to use it?

A: In their homes and yards plus other private property, with two caveats: the property owner must be OK with it and smoke cant be detectable at any nearby schools or childcare facilities.

The California initiative also says cities or counties can allow adults to consume marijuana in shops where its sold, so long as access is restricted to people 21 and over, its not publicly visible and no alcohol or tobacco is sold there. So far, out of the four states that have legalized recreational marijuana, only Alaska has agreed to develop regulations to allow for cannabis cafes.

Q: Will pot shops open in every city?

A: Local governments would still have full authority to regulate or ban marijuana-related businesses in their borders, just as they do now for medical marijuana.

The initiative would create a detailed licensing program for all marijuana businesses, with requirements for background checks, inspections, reporting and more.

In order to get a state license, though, owners would first have to get the OK from their local government.

The only thing cities and counties couldnt block under the law is personal use of marijuana on private property.

Q: Wont more people start using marijuana if its legal? Especially teens?

A: Based on whats happened in Colorado, more adults will likely consume marijuana if its legal, with around a 5 percent increase since the state legalized recreational use.

But the latest survey from the states Health Department shows no increase in teen use, with Colorado teens using marijuana at about the same rate as the national average of 21 percent and at lower rates than they did in 2009.

Q; What would be the penalty for violating the new laws?

A: The California initiative lays out a range of penalties for violating the proposed marijuana laws, from community service up to possible jail time.

If someone under 18 is nabbed with marijuana, for example, theyd be required to attend drug counseling and complete community service hours. Adults caught smoking in public would face a $100 fine. And anyone over 18 whos caught with more than 1 ounce of marijuana can be fined $500, go to jail for up to six months or both.

Q: Wont there be more car crashes by stoned drivers?

A: The jury is still out on this one.

A survey of accident data from France showed drivers with cannabis in their system were twice as likely to be involved in a crash as sober ones. The same study found drivers whod drank alcohol were nine times more likely to crash, and drivers with both alcohol and cannabis in their system were 14 times more likely to be in an accident.

However, a 2015 study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that after controlling for factors such as age and alcohol consumption, the data did not show a significant increase in levels of crash risk for drivers with cannabis alone in their systems. The agency even notes that many motorists whove consumed marijuana actually overcompensate, driving more slowly and cautiously than sober drivers.

Colorado didnt start tracking marijuana-related citations until it allowed recreational pot sales in 2014, making it impossible to compare before and after numbers.

Fatal crashes involving drivers who recently used marijuana doubled in Washington after the state legalized the drug in 2012, according to research released in May by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. And Colorado has seen a similar spike in this statistic.

California is partnering with Dr. Igor Grant at UC San Diegos Center for Medical Cannabis Research Center to study how pot impacts motor skills. And an Assembly bill introduced in February would establish a legal driving limit for marijuana users at 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood  the same as controversial limits imposed in Colorado and Washington.

Q: What about work? Will workers be able to get in trouble for having marijuana in their system even if its legal?

A: They might. The initiative states that both public and private employers would still have a right to maintain a drug and alcohol free workplace. That means businesses would still be able to make hiring and firing decisions based on marijuana use, just as they can now.

Q: Will we see pot shop billboards and commercials on TV?

A: Possibly, but with a number of restrictions.

The initiative states that all advertising  on TV, radio, print and online communications  could only be displayed where at least 71.6 percent of the audience is reasonably expected to be 21 years of age or older, as determined by reliable, up-to-date audience composition data. That means there might be commercials during late-night TV shows, but not during Saturday morning cartoons.

Q: Wont this generate a lot of new tax revenues? Where will that money go?

A: The measure would tax marijuana sales at 15 percent and cultivation at $9.25 per ounce for dry flowers or $2.75 per ounce for leaves. The Legislative Analysts Office anticipates revenue from those taxes could top $1 billion annually.

Cities or counties could also opt to add their own taxes on top of the state taxes.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7963 or bstaggs@ocregister.com
After 23 years behind bars, penniless, alone and filled with emotion, Bill Richards emerged from the Victorville Courthouse Tuesday a free man.

San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Lisa Rogan officially dismissed murder charges against Richards, who was convicted in the August 1993 death of his wife, Pamela, 40, at their Hesperia home. He had been sentenced to 25 years to life.

Richards new lease on life, though, wont be without obstacles. Prosecutors vowed to continue investigating the death of his wife and said they reserve the right to refile a case against Richards at any time.

Lawyers from the nonprofit California Innocence Project have fought for Richards release since shortly after its founding in 1999. Richards was released from custody last week at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga and has since indulged in a life outside of prison walls, all with his legal team at his side.

Ive eaten a double-double (from In n Out), had barbecue at Lucilles and enjoyed a pizza, he said with a grin on his face.

Bill Richards near future is very clear in his mind. He vowed to not let this nightmare happen to anyone else.

I plan on working for the California Innocence Project to do my part in freeing those unjustly incarcerated, he said outside the Victorville courthouse Tuesday. I have no more family, theyre all gone, so I am driven to not let this happen to any more innocent people.

It took prosecutors three trials to convict Richards, two of which ended in a hung jury. According California Innocence Project Director Justin Brooks, questionable evidence used by experts sealed the wrongful conviction.

For example, in the third trial, a prosecution expert testified that Richards teeth matched a bite mark on Pamelas hand. It served as the key factor in convicting Richards, Brooks said.

Later, that expert admitted he was wrong, and in 2009 a San Bernardino Superior Court judge ruled Richards conviction be reversed. But that ruling was reversed by the California Court of Appeal, a decision upheld in 2013 by the California Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision.

A change in California law, allowing expert witnesses to recant their testimony, which could then count as false evidence, eventually allowed Richards to go free.

After the bill was signed into law, the Project petitioned to have Richards conviction reversed, and on May 26, the California Supreme Court did just that in a 7-0 decision.

For now, Richards lives in a loft in the Riverside County home of an attorney associated with the Project. His defense team is helping him rejoin society, helping him get new identification and Social Security cards, as well as medical care for his advanced prostate cancer, a condition Richards said was insufficiently treated in prison.

Helping Richards move on is crucial, Project co-director Alex Simpson said, because those who are exonerated, unlike parolees, are not entitled to transitional living or work assistance.

The law is slow to catch up and acknowledge this issue, he said. We hope we can do whatever we can to try to ease that transition.

Before he was locked up in prison, Richards, an engineer, was living in a newly built home, with cars, a savings and a loving family. Now hes broke, his family is gone and he is going to need to assimilate into a society that is clearly different from the one he left 23 years ago.

But even with those challenges ahead of him clearly he now has one thing that many people may take for granted  his freedom.

I just need to live my life one day at a time and look forward to a brighter future, he said.

Contact the writer: doug.saunders@langnews.com or @crimeshutterbug on Twitter
A little bit of sleep can be a dangerous thing.

If arrested or interrupted shut-eye becomes habitual, the consequences can leave you more than feeling fatigued and grumpy while youre stifling serial yawns. As a practice, cheating yourself out of a good night of Zs can wreak havoc mentally and physically.

That was the message of two graduate student researchers in UC Riversides Sleep and Cognition Lab. Lauren Whitehurst, 27, and colleague Negin Sattari, 31, are working toward earning doctorates in psychology, studying the relationship among sleep, memory and cognition.

They recently spoke at Cal Baptist University about how sleep deprivation can affect health and learning; why getting enough sleep is so vital; stages of the 90-minute sleep cycle; and ways to sleep longer and better.

Because it lowers blood pressure, slumbering is akin to a cardiovascular holiday, Whitehurst said. She also talked about snoozing as beneficial to metabolism, immune health, digestion and controlling insulin levels.

Memories need sleep, said Sattari. Sleep helps you consolidate and retrieve long-term memories.

And dont disparage napping, because a 90-minute reboot can improve performance and memories like a good night of deep sleep, she noted.

Studies of the effects of female hormones on memory and cognition have linked insufficient sleep to obesity, depression and cardiovascular problems, Sattari said.

Whitehurst admits that although she struggles with getting enough rest, she makes it a priority, aiming for seven hours a night.

Good sleep makes me more productive, she said.

To make it easier to fall into the arms of Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams, Whitehurst banishes electronic devices from the bedroom and keeps the television off.

Contact the writer: llucas@pressenterprise.com, 951-358-9559
Highland undergraduates shared the spotlight with acclaimed scholars Monday afternoon on opening day of the Esri User Conference.

Three San Andreas High School students presented geographic information systems projects they did in a program set up a year and a half ago by the Redlands tech company as part of a White House education initiative.

Vernell Horsley looked at rates of teen alcoholism in neighborhoods with liquor stores.

Richard Hale did a survey of neighborhood blight looking at such factors as Highland streets without sidewalks.

Nicholas Morales studied presidential primary election results.

Adviser Alissa Blackburn told an audience of several thousand that because San Andreas is a continuation school, the students had to master GIS concepts at an accelerated rate.

The students presentation occurred near the end of a two-hour-plus session during which several naturalists presented concepts for preserving the worlds green zones. It began with historian Andrea Wulf outlining the works of Alexander Von Humboldt, the subject of her book The Investion of Nature.

Contact the writer: fbuck@pressenterprise.com; 951-368-9551
A system of addresses for every place in the world, a glowing globe that changes its skin, and a way to make traffic cameras transmit data are among this years startups at the Esri User Conference this week in San Diego.

The Redlands tech companys startup program helps out up-and-coming companies that incorporate geographic information systems into their product. This year, more than 30 were invited to set up booths in the Startup Zone in the conferences 300,000-square-foot exhibition hall.

Here are three of them.

What3words

What3words is a London-based startup that has divided the world into 57 trillion 3-by-3 meter squares  thats slightly less than 10-by-10 feet per square.

Each square has been randomly assigned an address of three English words, based on the assumption that a location is easier to find with three words than by writing down GPS coordinates.

Call up Riversides Mission Inn on the What3words map and the address is evaded.driveway.evening.

Short, simple words are used for populated areas, and long words are used for the oceans.

Seventy-five percent of the world has poor or no addressing systems, spokeswoman Clare Jones told an Esri audience, and often what passes for an address is where the tree used to be before the earthquake.

What3words is available in 10 languages.

There is a market for this concept. Jones said Mongolia has adopted What3words as its postal address system. And on Wednesday, the startup announced that it had received $8.5 million funding from global logistics company Aramex and prior investors such as Intel Capital.

The Aramex deal could transform logistics in the Middle East, Jones said.

But What3words is also useful in the United States, strategy director Steven Ramage said.

You dont have addresses at the beach. You dont have addresses in the forest. You dont have addresses in the mountains. So many, many areas where it really helps business efficiency and general communication.

Information: http://what3words.com/

Pufferfish

Pufferfish Inc. is a United Kingdom-based company that makes digital display systems, specifically PufferSphere acrylic globes with images projected inside to create a 360-degree viewing area.

Users can change the maps or call up data by swiping or touching the globe, which causes ripples to appear at the point of contact with fingertips.

PufferSphere attracts a diverse market, said spokesman Keven Lockwood.

We do small companies that do a lot of mapping. We do big companies that have nothing to do with mapping. They just want to use a cool tool in their shows to grab peoples attention.

Information: http://www.pufferfishdisplays.co.uk

MetroTech

Atlanta-based MetroTech turns existing traffic cameras into sensors that can collect and send information about driving conditions.

The system has been successfully deployed by Santa Clara County, which used the data to adjust its traffic signal times, according to spokesman Blake Culberson.

They lowered their stops, emissions, the whole nine yards.  That was our first success story. Now were working with the city of Atlanta and Miami-Dade County.

Information: http://metrotech-net.com

Contact the writer: fbuck@pressenterprise.com or 951-368-9551
Former Vice President of Uganda, Dr. Speciosa Wandira-Kazibwe, has warned that Africa would find itself in perpetual poverty and under development if it fails to invest in science research and education.



According to her, the outcome of science research programs spearheaded by universities has always been the foundation for development for most advanced countries in the world, stressing that the time has come for African leaders to prioritize investment in science research and education.



This, she noted, would win the war against abject poverty on the continent.



Lack of budgetary allocation to finance science, research and technology education in the universities, she noted, is the major contributory factor of the enormous challenges confronting the continent.



"The sub-Sahara Africa governments have not been investing in the universities education research programs but when there is a problem they would quickly ran to the universities for final solutions noted Dr. Wandira-Kazibwe who is aspiring to become Chairperson of the Africa Union (AU).



She was speaking at a public lecture on Sustainable Development and Economic Growth in Africa at the University of Ghana (UG) on Monday.



The public lecture organized by Millennium Promise in collaboration with the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) was to bring development experts worldwide to brainstorm on a wide-range of issues that would stimulate socio-economic growth and development in Africa.



Areas discussed include education, agriculture and food security, water, environment and human health, energy, electronic and communication technology, entrepreneurship and the built environment.



Former President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor, Head Pastor of Lifeway Community Baptist Church, East Legon, Rev. Dr. Osei Bonsu, and Director of Earth Institute of Columbia University and Special Advisor to the UN General Secretary, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs were among the key discussants at the event.



Dr. Wandira-Kazibwe commenting further bemoaned the situation where university authorities in recent times have resorted to the practice of copy and paste of knowledge and innovative ideas of others.



Such situation, the female politician noted, is killing educational transformation in Africa and warned that such practice must be stopped.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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A bizarre new Swiss cafe will allow customers to order oral sex with their cup of coffee. The 42 deal will be offered at the shop in Geneva which is due to open at the end of the year. They will be able to order a coffee and then select a prostitute using an iPad, said the firm that plans to set up the cafe, Facegirl.



It said it was copying similar popular cafes in Thailand. Bradley Chavet, from Facegirl, told Swiss newspaper Le Matin that men will be able to order a drink and then make themselves comfortable at the cafe's bar.



He added: "In five or ten minutes, it's all over."



The full service will make the coffee one of the most expensive in the city - and probably Europe - at an eye-watering 60 Swiss francs, about 42. And there will also be an additional five franc surplus for the drink.



However, critics have blasted the proposals, claiming only those setting up the business would benefit from it. While prostitution is legal in Switzerland, sex workers must hold permits.

Source: mirror.co.uk









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.

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Lawyer Nana Obiri Boahen of the NPP has described remarks by a senior law lecturer, Dr Rawmond Akongburo Atuguba as on the possible outcome of a suit filed by Abu Ramadan and Evans Nimako on expunging names of NHIS holders from the Voters Register as unreasonable and dangerous.



The law lecturer has predicted a Supreme Court ruling that could favour the stance espoused by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Abu Ramadan/Evans Nimako Vrs EC case.



The former Executive Secretary at the Presidency opines that given the party that appointed them and the way they have voted on political issues, the judges will favour the plaintiffs, whose stance is strongly supported by the NPP.



On issues of pure politics, and going by which party appointed them; the way they have historically voted on political issues; and their posture and voting pattern during the Election Petition Case of 2012; and in the case of a non-unanimous decision,



the majority of the current panel of the Supreme Court will likely rule in favour of the stance preferred by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in this case and the minority for the stance of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Atuguba wrote in an expository piece on Monday, June 27.



But commenting on the issue on NeatFM's Ghana Montie show, Deputy General Secretary of the NPP described his learned colleague's remarks as dangerous and a recipe for chaos.



What is he trying to say? Even a first year student lawyer will not draw that conclusion. Sometimes you dont understand what is wrong with these people, he said.









Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Washman007









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.

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The 2016 general elections will not descend into chaos, the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has guaranteed.



The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of GAF, Air Marshall Michael Samson-Oje, gave the assurance when he paid a courtesy call on the executives of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).



I can assure you it [the election] will not descend into any chaos, he told journalists on Tuesday adding that the army shall apply the right antidote to coil disturbances if they arise.



He, however, cautioned the media to play their role without taking sides to help maintain the peace.



I believe sincerely that if the media plays its role effectively, efficiently, devoid of any political leanings, there will be peace in this country, Mr Samson-Oje noted.



GJA President Affail Monney reiterated the importance of the role of the media in maintaining peace before, during, and after the elections. He advised the media to avoid reportage that could spark chaos during the polls.



In his quest to maintain the peace, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), John Kudalor, has also tasked his men to disband all vigilante groups associated with political parties.



Ghanaians will later in the year go to the polls to elect a president and Members of Parliament for the next four years.

Source: Classfmonline









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.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

Azerbaijani gymnast Oleg Stepko won the gold medal in parallel bars event at the FIG World Challenge Cup in Artistic Gymnastics, held in Portugal June 23-26.

He scored 15.800 points in parallel bars event.

Stepko, advancing to the floor exercises and rings finals, ranked the seventh in both events.

Azerbaijani gymnast Petro Pakhnyuk, who also advanced to the parallel bars finals, ranked the fifth.

Stepko will represent Azerbaijan in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in August.
The Peoples National Convention (PNC) has urged the Electoral Commissioner, Charlotte Osei to institute legal action against the Member of Parliament for the Assin North Constituency over the claim that she exchanged sex for the position.



National Chairman of PNC, Bernard Mornah, said the comment of the controversial New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP does not only amount to a demonisation of the Commission but also cast a slur on the reputation of the Chairperson.



If there are legal issues, I will advise Madam Charlotte Osei to go to court so that Kennedy Agyapong will be able to prove the case she possibly exchanged sex for her position and who she exchanged that with, he said.



Kennedy Agyapong is widely quoted as making a disparaging comment about the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei. According to the claim, the NPP MP, who is known for his not-budging stance on issues, told supporters of the party at Asokwa, a suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region that the EC boss offered sex in exchange for the EC job.



This outburst of Mr Agyapong has triggered wide criticisms from right movementsand some opposition political parties who have expressed their disappointment in the MP.



PNC condemned the attack on the EC chair describing it as needless especially from a member of Ghanas legislator. Bernard Mornah said the PNC believes in the efficacy of women in the country to be deserving of whatever position they occupy.



We are a party that believes that women have what it takes to lead their respective portfolios and we do not think women will necessarily have to offer themselves in exchange for positions, he said. He averred on her own merit, the EC boss is qualified to be the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission.



Substantiating his position, the PNC National Chairperson said: For those of us who have attended IPAC I am not sure that we have had difficulties with the way she has chaired operations at IPAC. Chairman of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), Dr Nii Allotey Brew-Hammond, has called on Ghanaians not to treat the issue as trivial.



We should not be disregarding statements like that coming from Member of our legislature, he said, noting, Parliament ought to ensure that its representatives whether in Parliament or outside comport themselves in the manner that will befit Ghanas legislature. I dont believe that this particular comment has inured to the goodwill of the people of Ghana and for that matter, Parliament should look and discipline its own, he added.

Source: myjoyonline.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.

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Ivor Greenstreet says his administration will utilize the winds to improve the country's energy sector.



Speaking at the IEA 2016 Evening Encounter Series held at the Alisa Hotel in Accra on Tuesday, the Presidential candidate of the Convention People's Party (CPP) Ivor Greenstreet questioned the creative skills of the government in addressing the country's crises.



According to him, the energy situation in the country has worsened because the government has failed to find alternatives.



Therefore outlining his vision to Ghanaians, the CPP Presidential candidate noted that he will install wind turbines in the nation to utilize the wind energy.



Ivor Greenstreet elaborated on his plans, saying "it is common knowledge that the Volta River lies between two parallel Mountain ranges. The river lies within a wind corridor that is a trough. The unique topography of that area generates this wind corridor as a result of the globe turning on its axis at a 1040 miles an hour and orbiting the sun at 67000 miles an hour.



Installing wind turbines in this corridor will utilize the wind energy. Standard wind turbines at an average height of 120 meters with the diameter of 85 meters would generate 3 megawatts of energy per unit. The wind corridor stretching from Ada to the North is over 1000 kilometers as studies indicate that it is the biggest and most reliable corridor in the whole of Africa.



He believed the wind turbines will improve the energy situation and help provide electricity to consumers.



Are we not a creative country? Do we not have a creative leadership? Why do we always have to think that the only ways of providing employment are for white-collar jobs? Kwame Nkrumah was creative. In his time, even prisoners were put to work. Not like today where theyre packed in human conditions like sardines, he wondered.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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NDCs Deputy General Secretary, Koku Anyidoho says wife of the NPPs flagbearer, Rebecca Akufo-Addo should forget the first ladys position if she cant advise her husband to caution his party members against attacking women in high government positions.



Comments that Mrs Charlotte Osei offered sex in return for her appointment as chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) has triggered Koku to conclude that the wife of the leader of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is not fit for the position he follows her husband to campaign for.



He has thus challenged Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo to condemn a distasteful statement made by Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP), Kennedy Agyapong that the EC boss traded sex for her position.



Addressing some supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Kumasi on Saturday June 25, 2016, the NPP outspoken lawmaker alleged that some highly-placed persons in government advised Mrs Osei, then chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), who took over from Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan as EC boss  to bring your derriere in exchange for the EC Chair position.



However, Koku Anyidoho was emphatic that  the attack on Charlotte Osei will be a first class ticket for Nana Addo to remain in opposition forever.



He opined that, Nana Addos bad leadership as the flagbearer of the NPP has led to the stereotype against women in his party - he also described him as "arrogant".



This he said must be condemned by his wife, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo and all his 4 daughters if indeed they are against feminism attacks.



Rebecca Akufo-Addo is also a woman and wants the position of a first lady. My counsel to her is that, she should advise her husband to publicly condemn what Kennedy Agyapong said or she will never be a first lady in this country, he said in an interview with on NEAT FMs 'Ghana Montie' programme.









Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Washman007









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Remarks by Assin Central Member of Parliament Kennedy Agyapong to the effect that Mrs Charlotte Osei was appointed to the position of chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) after offering sex, prove the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawmaker is a longstanding misogynist, alleges former Central Regional Minister Ama Benyiwa-Doe.



Mr Agyapong on Saturday June 25, during the campaign launch for Asokwa MP Patricia Appeagyei in Kumasi, said Mrs Osei  then chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), who was appointed in June 2015 to replace long-serving EC chairman, Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan  had been advised by some highly-placed persons in government to bring your derriere in exchange for the EC Chair position.



The MP has been criticised by several persons including the Media Foundation for West Africas Suleiman Braimah and some parliamentarians for the comments.



Airing her views on the matter on Accra100.5FMs breakfast show, Ghana Yensom on Wednesday June 29, Ms Benyiwa-Doe described the comments as very unfortunate given that women continue to contribute significantly to national activities. She specifically referred to the fact that the head of Ghanas judiciary, the Chief Justice, was a woman appointed by former President John Kufuor, saying there was the need to be careful when making such comments, as there were many educated and high-ranking women in the country. She added that women, by their nature, were more careful with their actions, often steering clear of conduct that would sully their reputation, for which reason making such allegations against the EC boss needed to be taken seriously.



I believe Kennedys statement is unfortunate because Kennedy has never respected women, the Council of state member told host Chief Jerry Forson.



She revealed that Mr Agyapong, back in 2004, had hired goons to ambush her on a highway when she was MP for Gomoa West, adding: He has sworn to himself not to respect women. But I want to remind him that his mother is also a woman. At least, he has sisters and a wife, so why does he also wish to treat women with disdain.



According to her, Mrs Charlotte Osei was very learned and has worked hard enough to make a name for herself, even before this government honoured her [with her current position].



So why is it that Kennedy Agyapong, alone, is dissatisfied with it [her appointment]? she asked. What I want to ask iscan the NPP leadership not call him to order? ...They should call him to order because his comments are disturbing. So why does he continually attack women in positions of power? It is bad, it is not pleasant. So, I believe we all have to tell him his actions are bad. NPP executives should calm Kennedy Agyapong so we all enjoy some peace in this country.



Mr Agyapong was in the media for similar reasons in February 2016 when he was involved in foul exchanges with popular radio presenter Valentina Agyeiwaa, also known as Afia Schwarzenegger. Some women groups condemned the vitriol saying it was politically incorrect of a legislator and demeaned not only the woman but also womanhood.

Source: Classfmonline









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.

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The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) have vowed to use all antidotes available to them to deal with any person or group of persons who dare make any funny attempt to endanger the peaceful atmosphere of the country, before, during and after the upcoming general elections.



According to the Armed Forces, they are adequately prepared and on standby to collaborate with the other security services to crack down on trouble makers that seek to undermine and destabilize the country democratic process as the general elections draw closer.



This is our country; we have nowhere else to go. Let me assure you that the Ghana Armed Forces and other security agencies and services are ready to hold the country together at all cost-that is what we are paid for, they warned.



The Chief of Defense Staff, Air Vice-Marshal Samson Oje, made the statement at a press conference after he had met with leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in Accra yesterday.



The meeting was to seek support from the media in disseminating information and to also admonish them to be circumspect in their reportage before, during and after the national elections.



Addressing the media after a closed door meeting with GJA executives, the Chief of Defense Staff said the Ghana Armed Forces will do whatever it takes to keep the peace in Ghana before, during and after the November elections.



He said, his outfit was not happy with the rising political tension in the country and charged the media to be professional in their reportage.



The campaign is about starting. we are not too comfortable, he said, but assured the Armed Forces is ready and prepared to do what it takes to keep this country together.



I can assure you it will not descend into any chaos. If it does, we shall apply the right antidote, he added.



The Armed Forces, he stated, would be on the sidelines monitoring events and would react appropriately at the right time.



Air Vice-Marshal Samson Oje assured that the Armed Forces will continued to play a neutral and no-partisan role, ahead of the upcoming elections, but warned, anyone who seeks to use the upcoming elections to undermine the peace, stability and integrity of the country, will have the security agencies to contend with.







Source: The Enquirer









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A mere thirty-four days ago, Melbourne made an attempt at vanquishing the ferocious beast that threatened to swallow all who dared venture near it.

The bloodthirsty, insatiable Montague Street Bridge had devoured the souls of over a hundred trucks; mercilessly slicing their heads off with frightening efficiency.

Back on May 27th, in an attempt to warn all away from the grips of the bridges siren song, Daniel Andrews and the Victorian Government erected safety gantries, altering passing drivers to the bridges murderous presence.

At the time, we worried aloud that a proximity alert alone would not be enough to silence a beast of such unfathomable might:

Today, we do not take any pleasure in telling the Victorian Government that we told you so.

JUST IN: A truck is wedged under the Montague Street Bridge. Picture by @samcos73 pic.twitter.com/vY3KtnPnvf  7 News Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) June 29, 2016

But we did bloody tell you.

THERE ARE PADDLES, FOR THE LOVE OF DOG. HITTING THE PADDLES DOES NOT MEAN GIVE IT A CRACK IT MEANS YOU ARE ABOUT TO DRIVE INTO THE MAW OF CTHULHU.

The bridge does not sleep for long. And now it has awoken once again

Source: Twitter.

Photo: samcos73/Twitter.
Its sure not easy to be openly gay in Australia, but its way, way harder to be openly gay and Islamic, let alone to be openly gay and an Imam. The Project spoke to Melbourne man Nur Warsame, who is exactly that: not only an openly gay Imam, but Australias first.

Warsame had spent most of his life keeping his sexuality a secret  to the point that he has been married before  both from fear of the consequences of coming out and also in part because he couldnt accept it about himself:

For me as a person who had a spiritual background, you know cant even accept yourself, because you have this encoded belief system, that you have been told how to be from a young age. You cant verbalise it, you cant tell it to your family, because you are in an environment that is hostile to such discussions, [it adds] to that conflict within you.

Waleed Aly asks Warsame about what its like to have to deal with both homophobia and islamophobia, apparently its pretty shithouse:

Its disgusting, because you suffer from islamophobia, from both the mainstream non-Muslim community and some in the LGBT community, and homophobia.

Its pretty eye opening, have a watch:

Australias first openly gay Imam Nur Warsame is determined to break down century old beliefs #TheProjectTVhttps://t.co/3M9ECn6zok  #TheProjectTV (@theprojecttv) June 29, 2016

Photo: Twitter.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

EY Azerbaijan held a business breakfast on Operational Efficiency Improvement organized by the Advisory department in the Four Seasons Hotel, Baku on June 28.

EY Country Managing Partner Ilgar Veliyev opened the event by welcoming the participants.

Guest speaker Suleyman Gasimov, Vice-President on Economic Affairs, SOCAR, shared SOCARs experience of implementing an operational efficiency project in cooperation with EY.

The seminar was delivered by EY professionals from the Baku, Moscow and Almaty offices. Speakers discussed current trends in the Azerbaijan economy, the prerequisites for carrying out operational efficiency projects, and operational efficiency improvement business cases in the CIS.

Ksenia Babushkina, EYPartner, Head of Advisory Practice, Middle Asia and the Caucasus, shared her thoughts: Every crisis represents not just challenges but also opportunities. We can help make them reality.

The event was successful, as actual issues were examined and a productive discussion was held to help our clients address the challenges of the current business environment, said Advisory Services Manager Fikrat Adigozalov.

Tariyel Mirzayev, Head of the department of strategic development and investment projects, Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company: Taking into account current economic volatility, improving operational efficiency, achieving an optimized cost structure and ensuring efficient control over capital are high priorities for companies of all sizes. Todays seminar is an excellent platform for sharing knowledge and experience in this sphere.

"I think it was very interesting and useful for all participants. Mr. Gasimovs speech was particularly impressive," said Ekaterina Ponkratova, Operational Efficiency Improvement Manager, Business Advisory Department.

EY was delighted to see all the participants at the seminar and thanks each of them for their enthusiastic participation!

About EY

EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and economies around the world. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In doing so, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities. EY works together with companies across the CIS and assists them in realizing their business goals. 4,500 professionals work at 20 CIS offices (in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Togliatti, Vladivostok, Almaty, Astana, Bishkek, Baku, Kyiv, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Minsk, and other locations). EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

EY in Azerbaijan

EY made a major commitment to the development of Azerbaijan and the region by opening the office in Baku 22 years ago. Today, in addition to being the leading audit and consulting firm in Azerbaijan, we are the leading firm in the region. As a result of our experience and competence, we have been able to assist both domestic and international companies as well as state-owned entities to develop and manage the challenges of the international economy.

There are currently 170 people working in our Baku office that serve our clients in Azerbaijan. EY's strength in the Caspian Region and the firm's commitment of resources are important to the entities operating in the region. It means that as we grow, EY will continue to demonstrate a tradition of hiring and training local professionals to be leaders in our practice.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Ilhama Isabalayeva  Trend:

Azerbaijan is a reliable partner of the United Nations (UN), said Mogens Lykketoft, president of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly.

He made the remarks during a meeting with Azerbaijans Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfas Garayev in New York, the ministrys press service said June 29.

The cooperation between Azerbaijan and the UN, in particular, with the UN General Assembly was discussed during the meeting.

Azerbaijani minister informed Lykketoft about the high level of relations between the country and the UN.

Garayev said that the 7th Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations was held April 25-27 in Baku at the highest level; more than 3,000 representatives from 147 countries took part in the forum. Topics discussed during the forum focused on issues disturbing the world, in particular, the UN.

The minister also informed Lykketoft about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and its consequences, about the living conditions of IDPs and refugees, driven away from their lands, and noted that the non-fulfillment of four resolutions, adopted by the UN Security Council on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, raises serious concern.

Garayev invited Lykketoft to take part in the 4th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, which will be held in Azerbaijans capital in 2017.

The Azerbaijani ministers visit to New York started on June 28 and will end on July 1.
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The Multi-stakeholder Group (MSG) meeting on implementation of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Azerbaijan was held on June 29, 2016 at the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ).

During the meeting, the participants discussed the next Validation process and 2015 EITI Progress Report.

The meeting participants also discussed the results of the request for proposals on selection of the independent administrator (auditor) company for EITI reports covering the years 2015, 2016, 2017 (20, 21, 22nd EITI report). The Multi-Stakeholder Group decided that Moore Stephens will carry out the administration (gathering the information from mining companies and reconciling the figures) of reports for next 3 years.

During the MSG meeting Baker and McKenzie was selected to provide legal and counselling services on the preparation of a Road Map for the disclosure of information on Beneficial Ownership in extractive sector.

EITI is a special multilateral and voluntary initiative, supported by a coalition of companies, governments, investors and civil society organizations and global standard for improved transparency in the oil, gas and mining sector. Azerbaijan joined EITI in 2003. Azerbaijan was awarded the "2009 EITI Award" for its commitment to EITI principles and criteria and achievements in EITI Implementation.
FILE - In this June 23, 2016 file photo, a mural depicting Freddie Gray is seen past blighted row homes in Baltimore, Thursday, June 23, 2016, at the intersection where Gray was arrested. Gray later died in police custody. An Associated Press review of court records nationwide shows that the attorneys who represent cities are sometimes weak links in the systems meant to hold police accountable for wrongdoing. The review found that lawyers deliberately hid important facts, delayed their disclosure or otherwise sought to subvert evidence in civil cases. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Anakhanum Idayatova  Trend:

The next meeting on Azerbaijans accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), to be held July 19-23 in Geneva, is of great interest for the organizations member states, Chiedu Osakwe, director of the WTO Accessions Division, said in an exclusive interview with Trend June 29.

Azerbaijan is an important country in the region with the largest economy, which is very attractive for the WTO member states, he said.

Osakwe noted that the Geneva talks will focus on the changes in Azerbaijans economy, the reforms carried out by the country in various spheres, especially, in the sphere of agriculture.

It is planned to hold meetings with representatives of WTO member states, he said, adding that the Azerbaijani side will answer the questions that were presented during the previous meeting in 2015.

Osakwe pointed out that the meeting participants will inquire about how Azerbaijan upholds its economy with low oil prices and whether Baku has a strategic plan for the economic development in such a situation.

Commenting on the possible time of Azerbaijans accession to the WTO, he noted that the process is very unique and much depends on the countrys government.

It is difficult to say how much time will be needed for Azerbaijans accession to WTO, he said, adding that the talks started in 2004.

For instance, the talks on Kazakhstans WTO membership took 19 years, China became the organizations member after 15 years, while Russias WTO accession process took 18 years, said Osakwe.

Earlier, Azerbaijans Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev told Trend that it is planned to hold meetings with the WTO working group, as well as hold multilateral talks on agriculture and bilateral talks with the organizations member states in July.

To date, Norway, Russia and Saudi Arabia have expressed intention to hold bilateral talks with Azerbaijan on the issue, but it is not ruled out that the number of such countries will increase, said the deputy foreign minister.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Gaylord faces Mount Pleasant, St. Mary's hosts Central Lake

Gaylord is in the MHSAA Playoffs for the first time since 2018, while St. Mary's makes it's fourth apppearance in four years at the 8-man level.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

The International Finance Corporation (IFC, a member of the World Bank Group) is interested in supporting the development of Azerbaijans agricultural sector, Leah Soroka, manager of the IFC project Development of funding of the agricultural sector in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, told Trend.

Soroka said one of the ways would be increasing the access to loans, as well as increasing the number of financial institutions that can take risks in the sector.

The IFC can provide technical support to Azerbaijan in the creation of a strong system of agricultural insurance, she added.

The corporations main help can consist in coordinating the work of government, insurance companies, farmers and banks, for agricultural insurance to work and bring positive results, noted Soroka, adding that each country has a variety of opportunities and challenges, and the IFC has experience in this sphere.

The IFC initiative has been welcomed by the government and insurance sector of Azerbaijan, she added.

It should be noted that the countrys government and insurance companies are interested in our support, said Soroka. Experts of the IFC visited Azerbaijan in November-December 2015, and conducted trainings for employees of insurance companies and the Azerbaijan Insurers Association.

During the trainings, we demonstrated how the agricultural insurance works, she said. We also held many different meetings at the state structures, where we discussed the prospects of development of the agricultural insurance in Azerbaijan.

Earlier, Trend was told that proposals on the agricultural insurance had already been given to Azerbaijans Financial Market Supervisory Body.

Azerbaijan cooperates with the IFC since 1995. The corporations portfolio for Azerbaijan exceeds $400 million and these funds were allocated for implementation of more than 70 projects.
Nuclear industry capacity grew to record last year-IEA

Power



Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, spoke at the opening session of the 2016 World Nuclear Exhibition at Le Bourget, outside Paris, on June 28.

PARIS

Petroleumworld.com 06 29 2016

Nuclear power capacity grew fast last year, mainly in China, but challenges such as ageing plants and low electricity prices could hobble the sector, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

Global addition to capacity in 2015 hit 10.2 gigawatts, the highest growth in 25 years, the IEA's Executive Director Fatih Birol told a nuclear conference in Paris.

"We have never seen such an increase in nuclear capacity addition, mainly driven by China, and also South Korea and Russia," he said, also noting growth in India.

"It shows that with the right policies, nuclear capacity can increase," Birol added.

However, Birol said the sector was still facing some tough challenges which governments must tackle in order to meet the United Nations target of curbing global warming following the Paris climate agreement.

Nearly 200 nations reached the landmark accord last December in Paris, to cut carbon dioxide emissions and limit global warming below 2 degrees Centigrade.

Electricity generation mostly from fuel and coal-fired plants are responsible for about 40 percent of emissions, he said.

To meet the 2 degrees target, the share of nuclear power, which, although opposed by environmental groups for its contamination risks, is clean in CO2 emissions terms, needs to increase substantially from 11 percent today to close to 20 percent by 2040, Birol said.

"This is something governments must take into consideration. It will also give investors visibility," he added.

Birol said about 60 percent of the existing nuclear power fleet is between 30 - 40 years old and it was important that governments realise what they needed to do in terms of extension.

"This is a major challenge for electricity security and climate change. The bulk of this retirement is from OECD countries mainly Europe and United States," he added.

Birol said the current low coal prices and inexistent or low prices on carbon emissions was not providing the right signals to investors.






U.S. Supreme Court to hear Helmerich & Payne vs Venezuela/PDVSA oil rig dispute



Oklahoma-based Helmerich & Payne International Drilling disassembled its rigs in 2009 after PDVSA had failed to pay $100 million in bills. In response, Venezuela's government seized the properties, which were still in the country.

WASHINGTON

Petroleumworld.com 06 29 2016

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to weigh Venezuela's bid to block a lawsuit filed by an American oil drilling company that claims the South American country unlawfully seized 11 drilling rigs six years ago.

The high court will review a May 2015 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that allowed one of the claims made by Oklahoma-based Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Company to move forward.

The company sued both the Venezuelan government and state-owned oil companies under a U.S. law called the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, saying among other things that the property seizure violated international law.

Helmerich had long provided drilling services for the Venezuelan government. The company disassembled its rigs in 2009 after Venezuela had failed to pay $100 million in bills. In response, Venezuela's government seized the properties, which were still in the country. Then-President Hugo Chavez ordered the seizure, saying the rigs could be used by the government-owned companies.

The appeals court blocked the company's breach of contract claim, which was not at issue in the appeal. In court papers, Venezuela questioned whether the company could sue in U.S. courts in part because the property in question was owned by a Venezuela-based subsidiary.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments and issue a ruling in its next term, which starts in October and ends in June 2017.






Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

The official opening ceremony for the implementation of the Memorandum signed on Graduate Program in Management and Transportation of Oil and Gas between the Technological Educational Institute of Western Macedonia, Greece and Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC) has taken place.

The delegation headed by the representative of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Samir Veliyev and UNEC Rector, Professor Adalat Muradov participated in the ceremony arranged at the TEIWM.

Rector of the TEIWM, Professor Asimopoulos Nikolaos said that the organization and implementation of the program is of essential importance for strengthening educational, cultural and social ties between the two countries along with the expansion of the academic and scientific cooperation between our universities within the ceremony.

Deputy Minister of Education of the Republic of Greece Theodosis Pelegrinis said that the human resources potential in Azerbaijan which is the leading country of the Southern Caucasus would contribute not only to the development of education institution, but also to taking advantage for both countries.

Talking about the reforms held in education system of Azerbaijan in the last two years, the representative of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Samir Veliyev said the process of the formation of human capital causing to the fundamental changes in the development of education and science were accelerated as a result of the care and attention paid by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to this field.

Thus, the creation of new environment involving young Professors and teaching staff educated in fundamental social and humanitarian fields were achieved and the qualification programs that meet the highest intellectual requirements has been launched in a number of educational institutions of the republic.

In addition, the SABAH Groups initiated by the Ministry of Education are performing in different higher education institutions. The Graduate Program organized between the TEIWM of the Republic of Greece and UNEC is the indicator of this development.

Rector, Professor Adalat Muradov noted in his speech that the academic staff of the university is realizing personnel training in Graduate Program of Management and Transportation of Oil and Gas in Greece which is the European Union member for the first time in the history of Azerbaijan education system and UNEC.

Rector said Azerbaijan State University of Economics established in 1930 is one of the biggest higher education institutions of Southern Caucasus.

10 Faculties are carrying out their activities at UNEC, more than 18 thousand undergraduates and graduates are majoring in 21 specialties. The Undergraduate, Graduate and Doctoral Studies of UNEC are conducted in Azerbaijani, English, Russian and Turkish. About 1000 academic staff members, including over 80 Doctors of Sciences, Professors, about 600 Candidates and PhDs working at the University. More than 850 students and from 12 countries of the globe are studying at UNEC.

A.Muradov noted that UNEC is ranked among the best 200 universities of the region, being the 4th university of the Developing European and Central Asian Universities for the first time among the 500 universities of 30 countries of the region in the rating list of QS Ranking for June 14 2016.

For the first time, UNEC has got the status of equivalent of the Greek higher education universities by the Organization on Recognition of Academic Titles and Information of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Greece which is the European Union member. Thus, UNEC graduates will have the same status as graduates of Greece during their academic and labor activities.

UNEC is the brand of Azerbaijan State University of Economics. The brand of UNEC has been registered and patented by the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patent on January 21 2016.

In brand approval 41st class of special classification on- educating, ensuring teaching process, organization of entertaining, sport and cultural-educational events and 42nd class on- scientific and technological services and the related researches, industrial analysis and services on scientific researches, technical and program provision of computers and their improvement have been based on by the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patent.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend: An agreement between Turkey and Israel on normalization of relations signed on June 28 creates preconditions for Israeli gas supplies to Turkey, Dr. Michael Tanchum, an expert on energy and geopolitics told Trend by email.

The restoration of Turkey-Israel relations is one of the two preconditions for building a natural gas pipeline from Israels Leviathan field to Turkey, Tanchum said who is also an author of forthcoming work to be published by the Atlantic Council on Turkeys changing role in the Eurasian energy architecture.

The other precondition is a resolution of the Cyprus issue to allow the pipeline to cross Cyprus economic exclusion zone, according to the expert.

Meeting this first precondition creates great incentive for meeting the second, Tanchum said.

The expert noted that all the regional stakeholders are now aligned in finding a solution to the Cyprus issue. Additionally, the leaders of the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriots have each suggested that revenues from natural gas sales could be used to help provide financial compensation for lost property as part of the terms for the settlement of the Cyprus issue, the expert said.

Speaking about possible routes for Israeli gas supplies to Turkey, Tanchum noted that Israel and Cyprus do not currently possess enough natural gas to warrant the construction of an LNG facility.

Current estimates say Israeli gas reserves amount to 950 bcm.

However, if more exploration is conducted and new discoveries of sufficiently large deposits are made, then we may see the creation of a liquefaction facility either on Cyprus or offshore, the expert said.

But the first route for supplying Israeli natural gas to Turkey likely will be via an undersea pipeline delivering 8-10 bcm annually, which would cost $2-$2.5 billion and extend 450-500 km, depending on the exact route, Tanchum believes.

Overall, the restoration of full diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel creates greater stability in the Eastern Mediterranean that will promote more regional cooperation, the expert said.

He noted that Turkey-Israel economic relations have continued to grow despite the rupture in diplomatic relations in 2010 - in 2014, the volume of Turkey-Israel bilateral trade stood $5.62 billion, more than doubling their 2009 trade volume of $2.6 billion.

Investor confidence will be boosted by the restoration of full diplomatic relations and both countries will experience the economic benefit of greater trade and investment, Tanchum said.

In addition, the expert noted that Turkeys concurrent outreach to Russia is also significant for Turkeys economic and energy interests, particularly as Ankara tries to maintain a balance in negotiating with the European Union.

On June 27 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to his Russian counterpart in which he expressed deep regret for the incident with downed Russian air bomber in November 2015, which led to crisis in relations between two countries and expressed profound condolences to the family of the Russian pilot who was killed in the accident. In his letter Erdogan also noted that Russia is Turkeys friend and strategic partner, and the Turkish authorities do not want to ruin relations between the two countries. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin assessed this letter as an important step towards the normalization of relations with Turkey.

In this light Tanchum reminded that in 2013, Turkey-Russia bilateral trade stood at $32 billion, with Russia constituting Turkeys 2nd largest trading partner, second only to Germany, and Turkey and Russia had already agreed to visa free travel while a visa-free travel agreement between Turkey and the EU remains a contentious issue.

M. Tanchum is an author of A New Equilibrium: The Republic of Cyprus, Israel, And Turkey In The Eastern Mediterranean Strategic Architecture report published by PRIO Cyprus Centre.

Edited by SI
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

Turkey now has an appropriate moment to diversify its gas sources, senior fellow in Energy Policy at the Center for Eastern Studies in Warsaw, Agata Loskot-Strachota believes.

Currently it is quite a good moment to look for new suppliers as global gas prices are low, there is abundance of gas and more and more LNG on the market and so increased amount of gas has increased gas competition, Loskot-Strachota told Trend by email.

Yet in order to profit on that Turkey would need to be quick and effective in developing new infrastructure: LNG terminals, pipelines and storage facilities, the expert noted.

And I am not sure if it is succeeding with the primary important step to increase its security of supply - expansion of storage capacities, she said.

Moreover, Loskot-Strachota said that Turkey seems to have still rather limited LNG import capacities which makes it difficult to profit from new volumes of LNG available from US and Australia on the global level to Qatar on the regional level.

According to BP statistical review, gas consumption in Turkey hit 43.6 bcm in 2015, including 26.6 bcm imported from Russia. Moreover Turkey imported 7.8 bcm from Iran, 5.3 bcm from Azerbaijan, and 7.5 bcm LNG from other sources in 2015. Earlier, Turkish officials have repeatedly talked about the need to reduce dependence on Russian gas.

Loskot-Strachota noted that there was several alternative gas sources which may allow Turkey to reduce its dependence on Russian gas in future, but a number of issues should be solved to meet this goal.

In particular the expert believes an agreement on normalization of relations with Israel signed on June 28 might well serve enabling once Israeli gas exports to Turkey but it is not quite clear yet when and on what conditions it is feasible.

Moreover, there is option of some increase in Azerbaijani gas supplies to Turkey, she said, but then Turkey would be competing here with EU consumers.

Loskot-Strachota also noted that there of course is - although much more distant - option of Turkmen gas supplies - yet it needs sorting out several problems related to constructing optimal route for those gas reaching Turkish market via Caspian Sea or Iran.

In addition the expert believes that the new opening of the West relations with Iran creates longer term chances of increasing Iranian gas supplies to Turkey. But it would require though sorting out rather complicated Turkish-Iranian relations and huge investments in Iran itself, she noted.

Loskot-Strachota also said that to make any diversification of gas supplies in Turkey more effective a reform and liberalization of Turkish gas market would help - as it would enable genuine competition between different suppliers already and potentially reaching Turkish market.

However, the expert noted that there are signals of renewed interest of Turkey in cooperation with Russia and suggestions that Turkish Stream gas pipeline project could be revived - which in consequence rise question if Turkey indeed wants to diminish its dependency on Russian gas, or bets on increased interdependency in gas.

On June 27 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to his Russian counterpart in which he expressed deep regret for the incident with downed Russian air bomber in November 2015, which led to crisis in relations between two countries, and expressed profound condolences to the family of the Russian pilot who was killed in the accident. In his letter Erdogan also noted that Russia is Turkeys friend and strategic partner, and the Turkish authorities do not want to ruin relations between the two countries.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin assessed this letter as an important step towards the normalization of relations with Turkey. On June 29 the presidents of two countries held a phone talk and agreed on a private meeting.

Edited By SI

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 29

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

French company CIFAL confirmed its intention to actively take part in implementation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, the Turkmen government said in a message June 29.

During a meeting in Ashgabat with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, CIFAL Chairman and CEO Gilles Remy made concrete proposals on the issue.

The sides also exchanged views on the cooperation prospects.

Turkmen president noted the contributions of CIFAL, which has proved itself as Turkmenistans reliable partner in implementation of national programs.

Gilles Remy drew attention to the ever-increasing interest towards the modern Turkmenistan by major global and, in particular, European businesses, adding that this is due to the enormous economic potential of the rapidly developing country.

CIFAL is the oldest and largest French business and service firm dedicated to Russia and the Central Asian/Caspian region.

The groundbreaking ceremony for TAPI's Turkmen section was held in mid-December 2015.

The estimated cost of the project will exceed $10 billion. The annual capacity of TAPI will reach 33 billion cubic meters.

It is planned that the TAPI pipelines total length will be 1,814 kilometers.

The project is expected to be completed in late 2019.
Tehran, Iran, June 29



By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:



The Customs Administration of Iran has announced that the countrys foreign trade for the past quarter Iranian year (started on March 20), has continued to stand on the positive side.



During the first three months of the Iranian New Year (March 20), Iran exported 27.78 million tons of goods worth $10.472 billion, the customs Administration reported on June 26.



The numbers show an increase of $3.61 billion in value compared to the same period last year. This is while the exported goods grew by 9.660 million tons in weight since then.



In the meantime, Iran imported 7.263 million tons of goods worth $9.1 billion.



The most valuable exported goods in the mentioned period were: worth $1.69 billion of liquefied natural gas, worth $434 million of other forms of gas, worth $354 million of non-alloyed iron and steel rolls, worth $343 million of liquefied propane, worth $291 million of light oils and products (except for gasoline).



China, the UAE, Iraq, South Korea, and India were Irans top customers in the said period.



The top imported goods were worth $272 million of livestock corn, worth $221 of soybean, worth $215 million of soybean press cake, worth $197 of rice, worth $160 million of auto parts in the form of CKD.



These were mostly imported from China, the UAE, South Korea, Turkey, and Russia.


Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29



By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:



Irans Money and Credit Council (MCC) has cut banking interest rates on loans made to borrowers, which will decrease from the current 22 percent to 18 percent as of July 6, IRNA news agency reported.



The Money and Credit Council has also approved an earlier decision by the countrys bankers to lower the deposit interest rates from 18 percent to 15 percent.



The decision on lowering the interest rates follows a shrinking economic inflation in the country.



When President Hassan Rouhani took office in 2013 the inflation rate was somewhere above 40 percent. The Central Bank of Iran has recently announced that the inflation rate dropped to 9.7 percent in the 12-month period leading to the Iranian calendar month of Khordad (June 20).
Tehran, Iran, June 29

By Mehdi Sepahvand  Trend:

The Iranian government has apologized from the people for not being able to tackle the problem of dust storms that have been sweeping the western parts of the country over the past several years.

Tackling the dust may not fall within the tenure of the incumbent government, Deputy Director of Environment Department Said Motesaddi told Fars news agency June 29.

Twenty three provinces of Iran are currently affected by the hazardous waves of dust that enter the country especially from Iraq. However, there are also local spots inside Iran that send dust particles into the air, which is then carried over to residence zones.

The official said the government has gone as far as to identify the sources of the dust inside the country.

I am sorry, however, that much of the dust comes from abroad and we cannot do much about it, he said.

Dust coming from Iraq and Syria deserts disturb daily life in western and southwestern parts of Iran cancelling flights at Abadan's international airport, IRNA reported June 17.

Airport authorities in Abadan in southwestern Iran had to cancel flights for the day due to the poor visibility caused by increased dust in the air.

On very dusty days health officials warn residents with heart and respiratory problems to stay at home.
The test was originally scheduled to begin at 8:05 a.m. local time (11:05 a.m. EDT, 15:05 UTC). But after a last-minute problem with a ground sequence computer responsible for synchronizing test activities and data collection, the firing was pushed back one hour. Officials said the problem was not related to the booster itself.

"We had to change a hard drive with another version of the software on it to make sure we could proceed with the test," said Charlie Precourt, the vice president and general manager of Orbital ATK's propulsion systems division in Promontory. "The team did a really good job of working their way through that."

A new firing time was set for 9:05 a.m. local time, and on the second try, the test proceeded without a hitch.

As the countdown clock hit zero, a blinding flash of light came from the solid rocket motor's nozzle. There were a few seconds of silence at a viewing site 2 kilometers away, before the sudden snap of a roar that drew cheers from a crowd of NASA and Orbital ATK officials, invited guests, and reporters.

The test was declared a success. "As long as you see flame for 2 minutes and 6 seconds, we've done the vast majority of the work," Precourt said.

After the booster's propellant was exhausted, an automated carbon dioxide extinguisher system swung into the booster to douse any remaining flames. Engineers preserve the booster's interior as much as possible for further data analysis.

Reporters and guests were led to the test site for a closer look. Vegetation on the nearby hillside had been blasted clean, leaving behind the occasional sparkle of glass created by intense heat from the booster exhaust interacting with chunks of sand. A caustic, fireworks-like smell lingered in the air, as workers stood next to the blackened rear nozzle clearing cooling water from around the booster. The plastic wrapper on a few nearby sandbags melted due to the heat.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Another tragic terrorist attack in Turkey, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini wrote in Twitter June 28.

"The EU stands by the Turkish people. Our heart is with them all", Mogherini wrote.

At least 28 people were killed and another 60 wounded in two explosions at the main airport in Istanbul, Hurriyet reports.

Three suspects blew themselves up at Istanbul Ataturk Airport after police fired on them, government officials said.
Victory over terrorism in the Middle East is impossible without cooperation with Russia, Head of the Turkish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) Ramazan Can told reporters on the sidelines of the 47th PABSEC General Assembly June 29, RIA Novosti reported.

Can also said that the words "Islam" and "terrorism" should not be put together.

Personally, I am against of linking Islam with terrorism, Islam is a religion of mercy: if one kills a person, he or she commits a gross violation and there is no place for terrorism in Islam, he noted. Turkey is against that Islam be associated with terrorism.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

The attack at Istanbuls Ataturk International Airport confirmed the need for a common fight against terror, RIA Novosti quoted Russian presidents spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying June 29.

President [Vladimir] Putin expressed his condolences to the Turkish people for the heinous act of terrorism. The Kremlin also considers this a terrorist attack on peaceful Istanbul. Such an event, of course, once again emphasized the urgency of consolidated efforts to combat the common threat of terrorism, Peskov told reporters.

Istanbuls Ataturk Airport came under a terrorist attack June 28.

Forty-one people were killed as a result of the terrorist attack, and currently, 239 injured are receiving treatment in Turkish hospitals.

The Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group stands behind the attack, according to preliminary reports.
How Your Own Poker Style Can Skew Your Reads of Others

June 29, 2016 Martin Harris

If you're on Twitter and use it the way most people do, you probably follow a few hundred people, maybe more. But when you scroll through your timeline, you tend to pay more attention to a certain subset of that group  maybe just a handful of those you follow  and skim or ignore the rest.

That is to say, you likely read more carefully tweets sent by people you've come to find more interesting or funny or engaging than others in your timeline, having grown accustomed to slowing down whenever their avatars pop up over there on the left side of your screen.

This happened to me earlier in the week when I lingered a bit over a short exchange on my feed between Andrew Brokos and Nate Meyvis, co-hosts of the Thinking Poker Podcast and occasional contributors here in the Strategy section of PokerNews. If you've read their articles or listened to their podcast, you know they both often have interesting things to say  about poker and about other things, too.

It was Brokos (@thinkingpoker) who'd started it.

"If you image search 'professional poker players from Louisiana,' one of the first hits is a young man being restrained by security guards," Brokos wrote. I thought briefly about trying to replicate the search myself, but Meyvis beat me to it.

"FWIW this isn't true for me (and Google results are highly individualized)" he replied (from @NateMeyvis). "Interesting," Brokos responded, and the conversation continued a bit more, with both jokingly reflecting on their own search histories.

I also found it interesting, and perhaps because the pair often get me "thinking poker," I couldn't help but relate it to a similar type of highly subjective bias that often occurs at the poker table.

The "Personalized Search" and Narrowing of Experience

If you're not familiar, the Google search engine has a feature called Google Personalized Search. Searches performed on the same browser contribute to something called a "browser cookie record" that is used to filter results from subsequent searches. When you type in a word or phrase, the results that come back are based both on the relevance of the web page and on the websites you've previously visited.

The result is a relatively "personalized search" that is intended to produce more hits that are useful to the individual doing the searching, although one side effect is to bias search results in favor of what the user has already found before. In other words, Google Personalized Search decreases the likelihood of finding new items or information  perhaps only by a little, depending on both what you're searching for and your previous history on that browser.

In fact, a lot of online sites that involve heavy interaction like Google have introduced similar methods of creating "personalized" experiences via a user's previous history. You've noticed this, no doubt, when visiting (for example) Amazon and seeing all those recommendations based on your previous searches and purchases. Or on Facebook with its many "Custom Audience" targeting features and filters that if chosen can profoundly influence what appears in your feed and on your page.

Even Twitter rolled out an "algorithmic timeline" earlier this year which gives users the option to tic a box and "Show me the best Tweets first" so that "Tweets you are likely to care about most will show up first in your timeline." In other words, it's possible to automate that process of selection I was describing at the start when talking about picking out certain tweets to focus on when scrolling through Twitter, if desired.

One of the more frequently expressed concerns about personalized searches has to do with the way they skew a person's online experience heavily in favor of filtering out anything new or different.

Eli Pariser of MoveOn.org wrote a book about the phenomenon a few years ago titled The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding From You. Pariser highlights some of the potentially negative consequences of personalized searches, including the way it creates a safe-seeming "bubble" around users that filters out different views while consistently confirming an individual's own biases.

Playing Hands on the "Filter Bubble"

Setting aside the online world for a moment, how might all of this relate to the way we process information at the poker table? For starters, there we also have certain biases based heavily on previous experience  both generally speaking, and with particular players.

For example, say you've just begun with no-limit hold'em and for the first several weeks of playing find yourself almost always calling preflop raises when playing from the blinds. Eventually you realize this is often a losing play, and that a lot of the money you're winning when playing hands from later positions you're giving back when stubbornly defending too often from the blinds. At some point you adjust and start being more judicious about which hands you choose to defend against raises from the SB and BB.

You could compare this process to having performed a lot of unhelpful internet searches, then eventually figuring out better keywords to get you closer and closer to more desired results. Unfortunately, the "personalized search" function might have initially caused you to make even more unsuccessful searches early on  kind of like developing a bad habit in poker (such as playing too many hands from out of position) and finding it hard to work your way out of it. But eventually you discovered a better approach that produced better results.

This tendency can be even more pronounced with regard to your "read" of a certain opponent's style and/or tendencies, including the way we often will take a very small sample size  even just a hand or two  and use that information to skew our thinking regarding that player for the next several dozen hands.

A player who is new to the table raises from early position, fires multiple postflop barrels, then shows at showdown. For the next several hours others assume he's one of those "any two cards" loose-aggressive maniacs. He wins a few more hands without going to showdown, and each player's "filter bubble" causes everyone to assume he was betting and raising with garbage then, too. But was he?

Perform Better Searches: Don't Read Others' Styles Through Your Own

Such points are easy enough to understand  indeed, perhaps I've mostly just been confirming your own poker-related biases that you've developed yourself over time. Or whatever you typed in Google that brought you to this article produced a search that was destined to recommend it to you as similar to things you've read before.

Let me add one last point, though, something that against all odds might well be slightly different or new to you.

Most of us understand intuitively how to use our experience at the poker table to improve as players. I'm referring to the trial-and-error we all go through that helps us learn what works and what doesn't. One of the most important stages of that learning process, though, doesn't concern how well we learn to read other players. It has to do with coming to an honest understanding of our own style and tendencies, and recognizing how our own play can affect our understanding of what other players are doing.

We can't know what kind of player we are when first starting out in poker. In fact, it may take many months or longer to realize what our own strategic preferences really are. Then comes the next, crucial step  figuring out how our own preferences might be distorting our perception of others' play.

If you never permit yourself to open-raise with from early position, that is likely going to affect how you perceive another player doing so. The same goes for any other play you notice someone else making that appears to conflict with your own idea of what is "good" or "bad" in a given spot.

Don't automatically "filter" out others' choices as nonsensical or flat-out wrong on the basis that you yourself would never try those plays. You might be right  it might be a bad play. But try if you can to perform a more thorough, unbiased search of the evidence before leaping to that conclusion.

Conclusion

Many don't realize it, but it's possible to turn off Google Personalized Search. You have to sign out of your Google account, then go to the Search Customization settings page where you can turn the setting off.

It's not so easy to "turn off" the bias created by our own preferred style of play when evaluating others' styles and strategic decisions. But it's worth the effort if you can.

Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
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*The following is an opinion column by R Muse*

There has been much written about the undisputed leader of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis. In particular, he is reputed to be a progressive Pope simply because he has embraced, and parroted, the teachings of the Churchs ideological champion and namesake, Jesus Christ. However, for many religious observers and commentators, the Popes words, although welcomed and refreshing, are not always in line with official Church dogmata or its actions. One expected that the Pope, if sincere, would follow his lofty speech with actions but that has not been the case; maybe speech is a prelude to change.

This Pope has made verbal overtures to the LGBT community in the past and on a return flight to Rome from a visit to Armenia he answered a reporters question that once again implied a shift in the Churchs stance on homosexuality. Reporters asked the Pontiff directly if he agreed with the comments of German Cardinal Reinhard Marx who, in the aftermath of the Orlando massacre by a homophobic American man with easy access to an assault weapon, that the gay community deserved an apology from the Catholic Church. Pope Francis reply was as direct and pointed as the reporters question. He said:

I believe that the church not only should apologize to the person who is gay whom it has offended, but has to apologize to the poor, to exploited women, to children exploited for labor; it has to ask forgiveness for having blessed many weapons.

Cardinal Marx is a trusted adviser to the Pope and had recently told a conference in Dublin that the church must apologize for having consistently marginalized gay people in the course of its history. The Catholic News Service reported that at the mere mention of the Orlando shooting, the Holy Father did what every decent human being does when reminded of the hate-inspired massacre; the pope closed his eyes as if in pain. Then he expanded on Cardinal Marxs comments. Pope Francis said:

The church must say it is sorry for not having behaved as it should many times, many times  when I say the church, I mean we Christians, because the church is holy; we are the sinners. We Christians must say we are sorry.

The Pope then reiterated something he first uttered three years ago in what was a truly stunning shifting away from his predecessor, Pope Benedicts stance on the matter of Catholic adherents that are members of the LGBT community.

The question is, if a person who has that condition, who has good will, and who looks for God, who are we to judge? Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, was quick to clarify that when the Pope referred to that condition, he meant a person in that situation; not that being gay was some kind of medical condition, according to a report by Reuters.

Pope Francis also said that ultimately, We Christians have much to apologize for  and those apologies need not be confined to just one area. Ask forgiveness, and not just say were sorry. Forgive us, Lord. The Pope should ask for forgiveness from the LGBT community, the recipients of no small amount of hate, violence, and vitriol from many in the Christian communityespecially the American Christian community.

Contrast the Popes reaction to the Orlando massacre with the hate-filled response from many Christian leaders in this sad, barbaric nation. For example, at the Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento California, Pastor Roger Jimenez stood at the pulpit and preached to his Christian congregants that:

They shouldnt be mourning the death of 50 sodomites. People say, like: Well, arent you sad that 50 sodomites died? Heres the problem with that. Its like the equivalent of asking me  what if you asked me: Hey, are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today? Um, no, I think thats great. I think that helps society. You know, I think Orlando Florida is a little safer tonight. The tragedy is that more of them didnt die. The tragedy is  Im kind of upset that he didnt finish the job!

At another Christian church, this one in Tennessee, Pastor Jesse price put up a sign in front of the Beech Cliff Pentecostal Holiness Church in Johnson City directly after the Orlando massacre that read; Gods wrath may be getting started to fall on the gays. For dogs sake, even the Orlando shooters father, a Muslim adherent, parroted gods word in the Christian bible that the Old Testament deity would punish sinners in the proverbial afterlife; it is not the duty of the adherents of any Abrahamic faith.

Now, of course, the difference in the Christianity of Pope Francis, like his reaction to the Orlando massacre, is the polar opposite of the kind of faith practiced by many American Christians; particularly those on the radical Christian right. And, it is true that no matter the encouraging speech coming from the Pontiff about the Catholic Churchs stance on homosexuality, he has yet to make any concrete actions to welcome the LGBT community. But at least he is not celebrating the senseless deaths of 49 human beings at the hands of an avowed homophobe.

What Pope Francis can do to back up his Christ-like words, and admission that Christians as a faith and not just the Catholic Church, of remorse and contrition about the treatment of gays is take action to back up his speech. Thus far there has been little more than words and, although encouraging words have to translate into some kind of action. Apologies are nice, but part and parcel of being sorry and asking for forgiveness is according to the Christian bible, being repentant; it means not continuing in the same course of action.

There is one thing the Holy Father can do and although it will have no effect on the Catholic Church, it will establish a precedent in America. Pope Francis should condemn, in the strongest language possible, the continued hate-mongering against the LGBT community by American Christians and take particular aim at those so-called Christians ensconced in the Republican Party. It would admittedly have little effect on the purveyors of evangelical hate, but it would serve to identify so-called Christians who are at least attempting to be followers of Christ and the growing number of Americanized Christians who embrace hate; something their champion Jesus Christ never, not even once, preached was a requirement to be one of his disciples.
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While right-wing politicians like to devote their attention to denigrating the Muslim community after terror attacks, it is some conservative Christians who deserve our real outrage.

According to a New York Times report out on Monday, extreme Christian pastors across the country have been disgustingly celebrating the deaths of 49 Americans who were killed at a gay nightclub in Orlando earlier this month.

The tragedy is that more of them didnt die, Sacramento preacher Roger Jimenez told his congregants on the very day of the assault, the Times reported. The tragedy is  Im kind of upset that he didnt finish the job! Because these people are predators! They are abusers!

Video:

Pastor Donnie Romero from a church in Fort Worth also told his audience that gay people are pedophiles and prayed that those injured in the Orlando attack wouldnt survive so that they dont get any more opportunity to go out and hurt little children.

Romero added that he would pray to God that God will finish the job that [Omar Mateen] started.

These people all should have been killed, said another religious leader, Steven Anderson, who heads the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona. But they should have been killed through the proper channels, as in they should have been executed by a righteous government.

There is a proper channel when it comes to murdering innocent Americans?

While Muslim leaders in the United States regularly condemn these attacks immediately after they take place, it is right-wing Christian conservatives who are publicly praising them. Where is the right-wing outrage?

There is none.

Perhaps Republican politicians  see Donald Trump  who like to demonize the Muslim community in the wake of these attacks should channel their outrage to these gentlemen who preach hate, even after fellow Americans are gunned down in a nightclub.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is urging all Democrats to go on the attack against Donald Trump because now is the time to go after the Republican nominee.

Video:

During an interview on The View, Sen. Warren (D-MA) said, You know, the way I see it is the Republicans waited way too late to go on the attack after Donald Trump, and they waited until he had basically seized the nomination and then a bunch of them are saying: Oh my God, that man is not ready to be president of the United States. That man is dangerous. That man holds a bunch of views that are really horrible views, but it was too late for the Republicans. Well, my view on that is, Im not waiting. I waded in on Donald Trump. Nows the time to go after him. You bet.

Warren is correct. Democrats have learned from the mistakes of the Republican Party. They arent falling for Trumps tabloid style tactics. They arent kidding themselves that Trump is a fad, or that he will go away. Democrats are taking Donald Trump seriously, which is why they are coming after him early and often.

The worst mistake that Democrats could make would be to be complacent with Trump. Most Republicans thought Trump could never win, and now he is their presidential nominee. Democrats need to hit Trump early and often. Most importantly, they cant let up until the job is done.

Donald Trump isnt a joke. He is the Republican nominee for president. Sen. Warren has it figured out. Trump is dangerous, which is exactly why Democrats should be relentless on him though Election Day.
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Since Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, there has been an ongoing effort by him and his campaign to pretend his insane primary-season proposals never happened.

This is particularly true of one proposal that has given him grief from leaders of both major political parties and is pretty unpopular with the general public: the Muslim ban.

After calling for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States last December, Trump later said banning Muslims from the country hasnt been called for.

Nobodys done it, Trump said, forgetting that he himself has done it.

In a CNN interview on Monday, Trump campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson continued to walk back the insane idea and said that Trumps position has never been a ban on all Muslims.

Video:

Pierson said:

I know the news media has been reporting that the initial ban was against all Muslims and that simply was not the case. It was simply for Muslim immigration. And Mr. Trump is simply adding specifics to clarify what his position is, as opposed to what the media has been reporting what it is. Theres been no change to this.

If Pierson thinks the ban doesnt apply to all Muslims, it may be helpful for her to do some quick research on the meaning of the phrase, complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

She can start with this video of Trump announcing the ban, where the alleged billionaire clearly states his support for barring all Muslims from entering the country:

This is just the latest example of the Trump campaigns total disregard for the truth. Everything Trump says is subject to change. Each phrase is meant to simply keep him in the news for a day or two.

If something comes back to haunt him down the road, as his ridiculous policy proposals often do, he just claims he never said it and blames the media for calling him out on it.
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UK lawmakers are getting increasingly annoyed as Donald Trump continues to send them spam emails asking for money. It is gotten to the point where the lawmakers are asking Parliament to block Trumps email address.

The Wall Street Journal reported:

Several members of the U.K. Parliament in recent days have publicly complained about emailed solicitations from the campaign of presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, who has in recent weeks escalated his fundraising efforts.

Conservative lawmaker Roger Gale on Tuesday asked the Speaker of the House of Commons to take action to block Mr. Trumps emails. Members of Parliament are being bombarded with electronic communications from Team Trump on behalf of somebody called Donald Trump, he said. I am all in favor of free speech, but I do not see why colleagues on either side of the House should be subjected to intemperate spam. Efforts to have them deleted have failed. Would you be kind enough to intercede with the Parliamentary Digital Service to see if they might be blocked?



It is not surprising that Trump who is facing multiple civil lawsuits for fraud in the United States has taken to sending out spam emails begging for money. There is little difference between the Nigerian prince who claims that you will get $3 million if you send him a $1,000 processing fee, and Donald Trump who claims that he will indict Hillary Clinton if you send him five bucks.

The fact that the UK lawmakers are asking for Trumps email address to be blocked shows the level of exasperation that the elected leaders have reached with Spammer Dons inept digital fundraising operation.

If the UK wont ban Trump, it looks they may have to ban his email address to make the spam stop.

Now, if they could only do something about his Twitter account.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is holding a meeting with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault, RIA Novosti reports.

Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region, crises in Ukraine and Middle East, as well as the consequences of the referendum in the UK over its exit from the EU are on the meetings agenda.

Russian Foreign Ministrys spokesperson Maria Zakharova said earlier that during the upcoming talks the foreign ministers will continue detailed talks about the cooperation on anti-terrorist track.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had instructed the countrys cabinet of ministers to lift administrative restrictions on tourism regarding Turkey, RIA Novosti reported.

"Although this announcement is being made amid growing terror threat, we [Russia] will lift the administrative restrictions in this sphere [tourism], and I am asking the government of the Russian Federation to begin the process of normalizing trade and economic relations with Turkey," Putin said at a government meeting.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan assured that Turkey will do everything to ensure the safety of Russian citizens in the country, Putin said to the cabinet of ministers.

Turkey has recently experienced a major terror attack.

Istanbuls Ataturk Airport came under a terrorist attack June 28. Forty-one people were killed as a result of the terrorist attack and currently, 239 injured are receiving treatment in Turkish hospitals.

The relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after the Su-24 bomber incident. Following the incident, Russia's President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on taking measures for ensuring the country's national security and special economic measures against Turkey.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter of condolences to Russias President Vladimir Putin June 27 over the death of Russian Su-24 pilot and expressed regret over the incident.

Erdogan said Turkey "shares the pain of the downed Su-24 pilot's death with his family" and "sees it as Turkey's pain".
On June 12, I awoke to a frantic phone call from my friend.

"Maddie, have you seen the news? Do you have your phone?"

"What?" I mumbled, still half asleep.

"Maddie check your phone. Turn on the TV. Fifty people were shot last night at a gay club in Orlando."

I was shocked.

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That morning, social media was flooded with prayers, updated information on what had happened, and calls for stricter gun legislation. I read through the posts in a daze. It didn't feel real.

As morning turned into afternoon, names were released. Pictures. Ages. Stories. My heart ached.

Mid-afternoon, I received word that there would be a vigil held on the Peace Plaza that night. Although I was exhausted and emotionally drained, I decided to go with a group of friends. When we arrived at the plaza, candles were being passed out. We worked hard to keep the wind from blowing out the flames. I was comforted by the diverse group of faces I saw in the crowd. There were several police officers, faith leaders, government officials, and people of all ages and backgrounds. I felt supported by my community.

We all scrunched into a circle, as one of the organizers spoke out about injustice and about how we must not let ourselves be pitted against the Muslim community in the wake of this tragedy. After about a dozen people had spoken, sharing their thoughts and feelings surrounding the event, Rep. Tina Liebling began to sing, her voice a sweet soprano. "We shall overcome, we shall overcome" The crowd around her joined in, "We shall overcome some day."

It's at this moment that the words of this historic civil rights song started to feel applicable to the LGBTQ rights movement for me. As the group of more than 50 people sang, I realized the magnitude of the mountain of discrimination, injustice, and hatred we had yet to dispel.

But what felt most beautiful is that although the LGBTQ movement began over 50 years ago, we refused to give up. We pushed for progress. Every time the wind blew out our candles, we relit them. Each light emitting from the crowd represented a person who was willing to fight, who was willing to educate, to endure, to advocate, to keep lighting their candle  to overcome.

As the verse ended, the crowd fell silent, until someone stepped into the middle of our circle to share their story. They spoke about coming out, about how difficult it had been and how difficult it can still be for people. As they drew to the end of their speech, their voice grew louder, more powerful, and more confident, "Now more than ever, we must live our lives out loud. For ourselves and for those who are unable to come out right now, we must refuse to back down. Do not live in fear. Live out loud."

The group snapped their fingers in agreement, and Liebling's voice rose once more in song: "We are not afraid." This time, the group joined in more quickly. "We are not afraid. We are not afraid today."

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I'll admit, I was afraid. I was terrified, actually. It had occurred to me that just a few days ago I had graduated into a world where I could be shot for existing. That's pretty scary.

I think all of us were afraid, but still we sang. Each of our voices, though terrified alone, formed a chorus that was strong. We sang because we knew that together, LGBTQ and allies, we felt safe. We felt connected. By refusing to succumb to fear and by continuing to oppose Islamophobia, we show the world that we refuse to break. That we are strong and that we shall overcome.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Russias President Vladimir Putin has informed the Cabinet of Ministers that a decision to start the process of normalization of relations with Ankara has been made after the letter of Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, RIA Novosti reported June 29.

Id like to inform you that a decision to start the process of normalization of relations with our Turkish partners has been made after the letter addressed to us by Turkeys president, said Putin.

Today a phone conversation with the president of Turkey has been held, he noted. At the beginning of the conversation, of course, I expressed condolences to the countrys president, the Turkish people in connection with the terrorist attack, which occurred in Istanbul.

It was earlier reported that Turkish and Russian presidents held a phone conversation on June 29.
A Rochester man was arrested, and probably has a bad headache, after breaking into a southwest Rochester duplex Tuesday afternoon.

Rochester Police Capt. John Sherwin said a neighbor of the duplex in the 1300 block of Fourth Avenue Southwest called police at 2:40 p.m. after seeing two men crawl over a fence and try to break into one of the duplex units. One of the men was allegedly Joshua Aaron Reilly, 42, of Rochester.

When police arrived, they found a man inside the duplex who was able to identify Reilly. He told police that he had heard the door being broken into and armed himself with a heavy chain. He recognized Reilly as someone who had made threats against him, apparently over a money matter.

The man inside hit Reilly a few times, at least once in the head, and Reilly was knocked down. He was able to crawl out, and he and the other man went over the fence.

About an hour later, police got a call about a man acting strangely in the 700 block of Fourth St. SE. It was Reilly. He locked himself in a room but was talked into coming out. When he did, he resisted arrest.

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Reilly was taken to Mayo Clinic Hospital - Saint Marys Campus where he was treated and released. He could face charges of first-degree burglary, making terroristic threats, obstructing law enforcement and others.
Prosecutor in police shooting to enter alcohol program

MINNEAPOLIS  The prosecutor whose office won a recent conviction in the high-profile case of a Minneapolis police officer who killed an unarmed woman says he will be entering a treatment program for alcohol issues.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman issued a statement Friday saying he was evaluated for alcohol issues and agrees he needs treatment. Hell be entering a program Monday.

Freeman announced last week that he was taking a medical leave, but didnt say why.

His Friday statement says he has also worked to stabilize his "unacceptably high blood pressure." He says hes determined to reclaim his health and hopes to be back to work in mid-June.

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Last month, a jury convicted Mohamed Noor of murder in the 2017 fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia who called 911 to report a possible crime.

Minnesota seeks to add Purdue Pharma owners to opioid suit

ST. PAUL  Minnesotas attorney general is asking a state court for permission to add the owners of drugmaker Purdue Pharma to a lawsuit that seeks to hold the company responsible for the opioid addiction crisis.

Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma makes OxyContin and has been the subject of legal action in nearly every state.

Attorney General Keith Ellison wants to add eight members of the Sackler family to Minnesotas lawsuit. He says the Sacklers, who own and operate Purdue, were involved in deceptive marketing tactics and strategies to sell more opioids, despite knowing the risks.

If a judge approves, Minnesota would become at least the 11th state to take legal action against one or more members of the Sackler family.

A family spokeswoman issued a statement denying the allegations, calling the lawsuit a misguided attempt to place blame where it doesnt belong.

Man holed up in hotel surrenders to police

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BROOKLYN PARK  Authorities say a standoff at a Brooklyn Park hotel ended after more than six hours when a man suspected of assaulting his girlfriend surrendered to police.

SWAT officers and crisis negotiators were called to the La Quinta Inn early Friday after a woman reported she was being assaulted by her boyfriend and threatened with a gun. Police say the standoff began at 3:30 a.m. and ended when the man was arrested at about 9:50 a.m.

Authorities say the woman was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. Police say the 31-year-old suspect was not carry9ing a gun but it was unclear if there were any weapons in the room.

The suspect, who has not been formally charged, has previous convictions for drug possession, motor vehicle theft, aggravated robbery, making terroristic threats, drunken driving and burglary.

Jail inmate accused of running prostitution ring

MORA  An inmate at the Kanabec County Jail is charged with running a prostitution ring from his cell.

Thirty-eight-year-old Daniel Ellington is charged in Washington County District Court with two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of promotion of prostitution.

Prosecutors say Ellington communicated with a prostitute by text and "promoted and profited" from her activities in Woodbury last month.

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East Metro Sex Trafficking Task Force director Imran Ali says Ellington was 100 miles away and incarcerated, yet was promoting prostitution and profiting from it. The task force began investigating after a Woodbury detective found an online ad entitled "Blonde Bombshell."

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports Kanabec County Sheriff Brian Smith says Ellington used a jail-issued iPod to text and paid a certain price for each message.

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SAUK RAPIDS  Doctors are calling the recovery of a 16-year-old Sauk Rapids boy nothing short of a miracle.

Just 12 days ago, Danny Fleigle was unconscious and stopped breathing. Seeking adventure with friends, he'd been climbing the top of a closed street bridge in Sartel when he lost his balance and grabbed a live electrical wire.

The voltage from the line shocked him, and he fell 30 feet onto the bridge deck.

"I never thought it'd happen to me," Danny told reporters Monday from Hennepin County Medical Center. "I kind of thought I was invincible."

When he woke up in a hospital bed, his mom explained what happened. His tale of recovery has stunned even his physicians.

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Patients who've experienced even a single incident of electric shock, a 30-foot fall or a seriously traumatic brain injury often don't survive, said Dr. Andrew Kiragu, medical director of HCMC's pediatric intensive care unit.

"To have had all of them and still be here talking with us is a miracle in itself," Kiragu said. "His heart stopped beating. I mean, he died. And then he was brought back to life."

It's not clear how long Danny's brain went without oxygen, but Kiragu thinks it was less than five minutes. After the fall, two friends, Abby Trelfa and Madison DeMarais, called 911. A dispatcher walked the girls through how to perform CPR on Danny until paramedics arrived and took over.

He had suffered a concussion, a broken rib and vertebra, a pierced airway to his lungs and contusion to his heart  not just from the fall but from the electric shocks he received to restart his heart.

Kiragu said had it not been for the two girls who had the presence of mind to help, Danny might not have survived.

But Trelfa said as she administered two breaths and 60 chest compressions, "nothing" was going through her mind.

"It was all like a blur, like we need to save this kid's life," she recalled.

Kiragu said Danny was unresponsive when he came in with critical injuries. Doctors first cooled him to protect his brain and put him in a medically induced coma. They slowly brought his temperature back to normal and gave him medication to prevent seizures. He was taken off the ventilator last Tuesday.

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"I got my Danny back," said his mom, Shelly Fleigle. "I was so scared. He's my only boy, my only child, and he means so much to me. I'm so grateful."

Danny still is on the mend. He can't remember simple activities that took place just days ago  from arm-wrestling his grandpa to feeling the fresh air on his face after being wheeled out of the hospital for the first time. He'll continue to receive therapy and could be released within the next week. Doctors still need to remove the staples from his scalp.

What would he advise other young thrill-seekers?

"If you like it, do it," he said, cracking a smile. "But don't do it crazy. Be careful. Get permission."

His doctor, Kiragu, interjected: "I think what Danny's trying to say is, 'Don't do it! Safety first.'"

Here's hoping Danny follows his doctor's orders.
LAKE CITY  Margaret Rabe likes to go to bed earlier than her husband, Clifford Rabe, but he has medical problems and sleeps in a recliner where he likes to have his feet put up high on cushions.

To get his feet up, he needs help. Margaret stays up late and puts up his feet. "I do it because I love him enough to keep him healthy," she said. "I don't mind."

Clifford said he likes to help out around the house. "I do the vacuuming and mopping and sweeping the floors and wash windows and wipe dishes," he said. He also will mow the lawn. If she needs help stirring batter for cookies, he will stir the batter. Cookies are important.

That give and take, helping out with the little things, has served them well in their marriage. They will celebrate 75 years together July 10 at their Lake City home with family and friends.

While sitting at their table in their Lake City home this week, the couple, both 93, tried to find a major revelation, a deep insight into what has made that marriage work for so long, outside of having good genes. Mostly, they talked about the practical things.

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"We married the right person," Margaret said.

"It takes a lot of respect and forgiveness," Clifford said.

"Respect, love one another and be kind," she said. They've had their ups and downs, but "there was nothing we couldn't go to bed and sleep on."

'We just got along'

The two grew up south of Lake City, centering around Oak Center and the Lincoln Trinity Lutheran Church. There once was a school there, and the two  she was Margaret Wiebusch at the time  attended seventh and eighth grade together in a class of eight. "The families were friends before we even looked at each other," he said.

They became friends, talked and met at dances. Then Clifford's mom died, and he and his brother were living in Zumbro Falls. "We didn't have any cook, and I got her to come and cook for us," he said.

It was at that time that "when we first thought that we were right for one another, that was when I was working for them, keeping house," Margaret said.

"We just got along," Clifford said.

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"I guess I just never got interested in anyone else," she said.

They were 18 when they were married at the Lincoln church in a small ceremony. People thought it wouldn't last -- too young, they were told. "I'd like to have some of them people come and see me (now)," she said.

They farmed together and then moved to their Lake City home more than 50 years ago. He did carpentry work in the area; she worked as a clerk at local businesses.

They have two daughters  Judy Becklund and Janet Hein, both of Millville. They now also have two grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and 15 great-great-grandchildren. Her mother, Lucy Wiebusch, was alive when her first great-great-grandchild was born, so they have a picture of six generations living at one time.

They hope all those people will have learned the basic lessons about respect and listening. But outside of that, they couldn't find any of those revelations or insights.

Life's lessons

When their daughter, Becklund, their granddaughter, Kathie Erickson, and grandson, Gary Becklund, all of Millville, joined them at the table, however, they had something to say. They did learn from them, they said. But it's hard to put those lessons in words.

Margaret and Clifford were not the kind that told them how to live or gave lectures, but showed their how to live through their lives. "As they learned, they taught us  what to do, what not to do," Judy said.

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"Hard work," Gary said. "Ever since I can remember, he's been calm, never got excited over anything. He would think before he said anything." In his marriage, "I try to be a lot more like Grandpa."

"That you can have spats and disagreements and still be together," Kathie said.

"He taught us how to fish but would never teach us how to catch fish," Judy said. His daughters would sit on either side of him but only their dad caught fish.

"He did that with his grandkids, too," she said.

"I caught a great big carp once with Grandpa," Kathie said.

In the end, Kathie said what she thinks she and her children and others in family can take away from Margaret and Clifford is the respect and commitment they showed. It's "something to really look up to, those two as far as commitment to marriage and just being the kind of person that people look up to."

Oh yes, one more thing Gary thinks people should know about his grandparents: Whenever they left that home in Lake City, they never left without ice cream and a homemade cookie.

"We bake cookies all the time here," Margaret said. Her family's two favorites are chocolate chip and molasses. "I always have cookies on hand," she said.
As we look ahead to the Fourth of July weekend, here's a reminder that the Post-Bulletin won't publish on Monday, July 4. As of Memorial Day, we no longer publish on major holidays, which allows most of our employees and carriers to celebrate the day with family and friends.

We'll have coverage on Postbulletin.com through the holiday weekend, and the website will be open to all users for unlimited viewing on Monday.

P-B offices will be closed, but our news staff never sleeps. If you have news, call the newsroom anytime at 507-285-7700, or send email to news@postbulletin.com . Death notices and obituaries received by noon Monday will be posted that day.

Saturday's Weekend edition will have special features, including a roundup of July 4 parades and fireworks around the area.

Enjoy the holiday weekend, and we encourage you to take time Monday to remember what the parades and fireworks are all about  a celebration of our independence and the founding of our nation.

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If you have questions or comments, don't hesitate to call me at 507-285-7742.

Jay Furst

Post-Bulletin managing editor
The going is slow for Mark Clement.

Clement, who was injured in an accident on June 16, has been hospitalized at Mayo Clinic Hospital - Saint Marys Campus since his motorcycle collided with a truck in the 2000 block of Second Street Southwest, leaving him unresponsive at the scene and riddled with multiple broken bones.

"He was in the ICU for over a week," said Ashli Clement, his daughter. "My mom and sister have taken off work. I've taken off work to be with him."

Clement has needed that family support. Broken bones in his face, jaw, femur and more have all required surgery, his daughter said. The brain trauma and bleeding on his brain were big reasons behind his time in the intensive care unit. "He's been moved to general trauma," she said.

While support from his family has been important, the family is facing financial trauma thanks to the medical bills and other costs that come with a loved one's extended stay in the hospital. Ashli Clement said her family has started a GoFundMe page to help defray some of the medical costs that will impact the family.

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The goal is to raise $20,000, according to the page titled " Give Back to the Giver - Mark's Story " where the family updates Mark's condition. So far, more than $13,000 has been raised.
Dear Answer Man, there was a yellow and blue helicopter hovering over downtown Rochester this afternoon (Tuesday), and I'll assume it was landing on Methodist Hospital, though I couldn't see it down. Maybe it landed in the parking lot by old Lourdes High School? In any case, I didn't know that Methodist has a helipad. How frequently is it used? Seriously, I work downtown and don't recall ever seeing a helicopter land there before.

Seconds after receiving this email, I dropped everything and took a stroll around the Methodist area. Lo and behold, I caught a glimpse of the gaily-colored chopper  not one of Mayo's fleet  just barely visible atop the Charlton Building in the Methodist complex . Yes, they have a helipad up there , but I'm quite confident it's not as well-used as the one at Saint Marys, for obvious reasons  they have to dodge the Gonda Building, for one thing.

I'm checking with Mayo communications for more details, but timeliness is next to godliness, so I won't wait.

FYI, I'll add a link online to a 2009 document that outlined how helicopter pilots were to contact Mayo if they wanted to land on one of the hospitals. I'll assume there's a more current chopper protocol, but it's still interesting.

Dear Answer Man, please gaze into your crystal ball and let us know what the parade route will be in Stewartville now that the usual route is under construction.  J. Engel

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I gazed, and I discerned the route of the Fourth of July parade.

It starts at 6:30 p.m. on Sixth Avenue Southwest, just north of the high school, and goes east on Second Street Northwest past the cemetery, up and along Lakeshore Drive, north on U.S. Highway 63, east on Sixth Street Northeast, south on Second Avenue Northeast, west on Minnesota Highway 30, then goes south on U.S. 63 and hits the homestretch on Third Street Southwest.

I'll link to a map on the City of Stewartville's Facebook page.

Not cowed by livestock

Among the thousands of Answer Man readers who were amused by my item the other day about cow-tanking was Paul Schouweiler, of Kasson, who sent this with pics:

"Dear Answer Man, thank you for your recent article enlightening us loyal readers of the thrill of cow-tanking. I am sharing a few photos (from 1944, if the notation on the back is accurate) of my older brothers and sisters experiencing this semi-ancient sport. They did have to share the pond with the cows and a few ducks. I'm not sure if the swimming was voluntary."
Tourist flow from Russia to Turkey may be restored this summer, member of Russian Federation Councils International Affairs Committee Igor Morozov said, RIA Novosti reported.

It is possible to get permission for organized tourist trips within 10-14 days, Morozov said. Turkey will be already able to receive tourists from Russia this summer.

He added that everything now depends only on tour operators and charter companies, which organize flights to Turkish resorts.

Putin and Erdogan held phone talks June 29. The last time the two leaders spoke was November 2015 at the G-20 summit in Antalya, Turkey.

The relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after the Su-24 bomber incident. Following the incident, Russia's President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on taking measures for ensuring the country's national security and special economic measures against Turkey.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter of condolences to Russias President Vladimir Putin June 27 over the death of Russian Su-24 pilot and expressed regret over the incident.

Erdogan said Turkey "shares the pain of the downed Su-24 pilot's death with his family" and "sees it as Turkey's pain".
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Russias Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believes that Russia and Turkey will resume the cooperation in finding the ways of resolving the Syrian crisis, RIA Novosti reported June 29.

Lavrov made the remarks during a press conference following the talks with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault.

Until recently, we had very close contacts with Turkey on resolving the Syrian crisis. But those contacts were cut off due to the known reasons, he said.

Given that Turkeys president sent a letter to his Russian counterpart June 27 and the two presidents discussed the possibilities of normalizing the relations during the phone conversation June 29, the two countries are likely to resume the cooperation on finding the ways of resolving the Syrian crisis, according to Lavrov.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter of condolences to Russias President Vladimir Putin June 27 over the death of Russian Su-24 pilot and expressed regret over the incident.

Erdogan said Turkey "shares the pain of the downed Su-24 pilot's death with his family" and "sees it as Turkey's pain".

The relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after the Su-24 bomber incident. Following the incident, Russia's President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on taking measures for ensuring the country's national security and special economic measures against Turkey.
At least 28 people were killed and 60 others injured in a terror attack on Istanbuls Ataturk International Airport, Governor Vasip Sahin said early Wednesday, Anadolu reported.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said a terrorist opened fire using an AK-47 assault rifle at the international terminal before detonating a suicide bomb.

Police and medical teams are at the scene and access to and from the airport has been blocked.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim was briefed by Interior Minister Efkan Ala and Sahin and has ordered the formation of a crisis desk.

Huseyin Tombul, who witnessed that attack, said the explosion occurred while he was waiting at the airports arrivals Gate A.

He said after the explosion they were sheltered at the garage. "A second explosion happened at the Gate B. My four friends lost their lives. There are lots of wounded," he added.
When Joel Hanson began telling friends he was elected to be a delegate at the Republican National Convention, few of them realized the honor came with a hefty price tag.

"Most people that I talked to when I got elected said, 'Oh boy, you get a free trip to Cleveland!' And I was like, 'No. Not even close,'" the Winona Republican said.

Delegates to national conventions must pay their own way. In the case of Hanson, he's expecting to shell out between $3,000 to $5,000 for the trip. It's a price the self-described "political junkie" is happy to pay for the chance to help shape the national Republican Party's future.

"Candidates come and go in the Republican party, and so for me what is most important is trying to get the Republican Party on the ideological track with conservatism, rather than an alternative ideology," he said.

Republican and Democratic delegates from southeast Minnesota are busy preparing for next month's conventions where each party will formally select its nominee for president of the United States. Republicans will gather in Cleveland on July 18 and and Democrats will meet July 25 in Philadelphia. The presumptive nominees are Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

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Minnesota Democrats will be sending 77 elected delegates, along with 16 "superdelegates" made up of party leaders to the national convention. The state's Republicans elected 38 delegates. Minnesota Democrats voted overwhelmingly in favor of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who won the state's Feb. 1 DFL caucuses by a vote of 62 percent. Republicans picked Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has since dropped out of the presidential race.

Delegates turn to online fundraising

Local delegates are getting creative when it comes to paying for the trips. Byron Democrat Keith McLain set up an online GoFundMe account to pick up part of the estimated $4,500 tab. So far, he's raised $1,784 of his $2,300 goal.

McLain turned to fundraising so that he could afford to make the trip. The 36-year-old has cystic fibrosis  an inherited disease that causes severe damage to the lungs and digestive system. The average life expectancy for people with cystic fibrosis is 37, according to the National Institutes of Health. McLain has been unable to work full time the past 10 years and relies on Social Security Disability benefits.

"One of the founding principles (of the DFL party) is that they are inclusive. They want their delegation to represent all people  not just people who can afford a $4,500 trip out there," he said.

Thanks to some new medication, McLain said his health has improved substantially this year. It enabled him to work as a field organizer for Sanders' campaign in Rochester. As a Sanders supporter, McLain said he is slowly coming to terms with the idea that Clinton will likely be the party's nominee this fall. But he said he is eager to go to the convention and thank the politicians and party leaders who stood up for Sanders. He also wants to provide a voice for people with disabilities.

"It's an opportunity for someone like me to be able to talk with national leaders and at the constituency caucuses to let them know what the concerns are of disabled people in America and what we're out here fighting for and the help that they need," McLain said.

A family road trip

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Democratic delegate Zachary Peterson is also looking for fundraising help online. He set up a GoFundMe account and has so far raised $355 of his $2,000 goal. He's also hoping to do an open house before his trip to collect more donations. The 2015 Kasson-Mantorville High School graduate is looking for ways to trim costs. The trip has turned into a family vacation, with Peterson and his parents planning to drive the 1,127 miles to Philadelphia. He also plans to split the cost of a hotel room with a fellow delegate.

Peterson was elected as a delegate for Clinton. This is the first presidential election he will have a chance to cast a ballot in. The McNally Smith College student said as a young, Hispanic voter, he wanted to make sure his voice was being heard.

"I wanted to really get involved in this, know the system as much as I can as soon as possible," he said.

So what is he most excited about when it comes to the national convention?

"Getting to meet a lot of other very passionate people like myself, talk to them and see where they go from this, too," he said.

'Trying to save a nickel '

Similar to Peterson, Hanson is also trying to be frugal. The 26-year-old Winona Republican said he has been working hard to save as much money as possible for the trip. He also plans to carpool with two alternate delegates to Cleveland. The group plans to split the hotel costs three ways.

Hanson was elected to be a delegate for former Republican President candidate Ted Cruz. He faces added costs because he was elected to serve on the convention's credentialing committee, meaning he'll need to arrive up to four days early.

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"I guess it's just the old fashion way of trying to save a nickel and a dime where you can," said Hanson, who works as a legislative assistant for GOP Sen. Torrey Westrom.

'One of the most important elections'

Also heading to Cleveland next month is First District Republican Party Chairman Aaron Miller. The Byron Republican was elected to be a delegate for Trump at the First District Republican convention. Miller said simply getting elected a delegate wasn't cheap. He spent $800 on fliers encouraging delegates to back his bid for the national slot.

"Normally, it's not this competitive. Normally, you've got to find somebody that wants to go (to the convention)," Miller said.

But this election has proven to be anything but normal with Trump defying expectations to become the party's presumptive nominee. The former congressional candidate said he's excited for the trip.

"This could arguable be one of the most important elections that we've had in my lifetime, and I think there is a risk that it could be a very divisive and contentious convention," Miller said. "As a party and as a country, we benefit from having logical minded folks on the floor, and I wanted to be part of the process."
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim will leave Ankara for Istanbul after terror attack at Ataturk International airport, Turkish newspaper Haber 7 reported.

At least 28 people were killed and another 60 wounded in two explosions at the main airport in Istanbul, Hurriyet reports.

Three suspects blew themselves up at Istanbul Ataturk Airport after police fired on them, government officials said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's president, has held an emergency meeting with the country's prime minister Binali Yildirim and top military official Hulusi Akar.

At least 28 people were killed and another 60 wounded in two explosions at the main airport in Istanbul, Hurriyet reports.

Three suspects blew themselves up at Istanbul Ataturk Airport after police fired on them, government officials said.
As a former emergency medicine physician, I've seen my share of patients suffering due to opioid addiction and overdoses. After all, more than 1,000 people per day are treated in emergency departments for misusing prescription opioids, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Americans can't keep using opioids, such as oxycodone, morphine, and hydromorphone, the way we have been, because they are highly habit forming and deadly. In 2014, the CDC reported that almost 2 million Americans abused or were dependent on prescription opioids. From 1999 to 2014, more than 165,000 people died in the U.S. from overdoses related to prescription opioids.

We must develop safer alternatives to opioids, and one of the more hopeful adjuncts is medical cannabis.

Less than two years ago, I would not have said that. At that time, I was unconvinced that cannabis could be an effective alternative for treating chronic pain. But after visiting with patients who had found relief using legal medical cannabis in California and Colorado, I was curious to learn more.

After doing more reading, I became more encouraged by the possibilities. A June 2015 article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association conducted a meta-analysis and concluded that "use of marijuana for chronic pain, neuropathic pain, and spasticity due to multiple sclerosis is supported by high-quality evidence."

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In addition, an October 2014 JAMA article found that from 1999 to 2010, states with medical cannabis laws had a 24.8 percent lower mean annual opioid overdose mortality rate compared to states without medical cannabis laws.

Given that cannabis is significantly less addictive and lethal than widely prescribed opioids, this early research cries out for more investigation.

In the first nine months since we started providing cannabis-based medicines to Minnesotans suffering from qualifying medical conditions, we have seen many patients who also experience pain as part of their qualifying condition. Many have reported that their pain has been significantly relieved, and they have been able reduce opioid use, thus lessening the risk of opioid overdoses.

Furthering the learning process

Seeing the relief that our patients have experienced inspired the physician team at Vireo Health to help us to develop a first-of-its-kind protocol to offer a potential path for physicians to help patients replace, as much as possible, opioids with medical cannabis. As we gather observational data every step of the way, we will continue to refine the protocol to better inform physicians' decision-making.

A protocol like this is really only possible in states like Minnesota and New York, which I like to call "real dose states." Real dose state laws require that cannabis-based medicine be delivered via precisely dosed capsules, oils and liquids. In contrast, in "random dose states" such as Colorado or California, patients smoke undefined types and amounts of raw plant material where the dose is random and variable.

The process of refining a protocol isn't possible in random dose states, because the medication dose varies so greatly for each patient, circumstance and plant strain. But because doses are precise and consistent in Minnesota and New York, we will be able to learn more about what doses of medical cannabis work best for patients.

Our understanding will advance this summer, when additional Minnesota patients will for the first time be able to use medical cannabis if they suffer from intractable pain, which is pain that can't be relieved via conventional methods. Patients working with their physicians can begin the registry process beginning on July 1, 2016.

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Our observational data collection is far less rigorous than a formal clinical trial. However, the defined and methodical approach we are using in Minnesota and New York will produce much better information over time than haphazard approaches that have long been used in random dose states.

We look forward to working with area physicians to keep the learning process moving forward, and helping as many pain-ravaged patients as possible.

Kyle Kingsley, a board certified emergency medicine physician, is the CEO of Minnesota Medical Solutions, one of two companies licensed to provide cannabis-based medicines to qualifying Minnesota patients.
I crave the nostalgia. I believe I have been cheated.

By the way, so have you. So says I.

Why my downer mood this morning as I ponder the weekend ahead?

Perhaps my meds haven't kicked in. Perhaps all my biorhythms have slipped into a deep trough. Whatever the reason, here's what's preying upon my typically mellow morning mood:

Where has fled the joyous spirit of national pride and patriotism I have felt since childhood about Independence Day? Have I reached an age when the trials and tribulations of politics and protests outweigh the patriotic fervor I could embrace for at least one day a year?

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For me, commemorating the Fourth of July divides into two sorts. The favored side of the Liberty coin has been celebratory  sanctified as patriot John Adams predicted in 1776, "with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other."

Recently, however, I have been disposed to think July 4 is an occasion for a tug of war between commemorations designed to affirm the common identity of Americans, which is opposed with violent push back and vicious protests from Americans who feel not at all equal to their brothers and sisters.

Truly, we cannot claim to be a nation of one, nor should we. From our national beginnings, we as a people never have been homogenous. That remarkable diversity is a credit rather than a deficit to the USA.

Looking ahead to the upcoming holiday weekend, I have some measure of dread, expecting what has become too familiar  reports in the national media likely to show the uglier side of Independence Day observances: protests and tension-filled gatherings that often lead to clashes and violence against brother and sister Americans.

History of protest

Please do not take the airing of my holiday anxiety awry. I do not disdain assertive, rational protest.

What is abhorrent to me is viciousness in word and deed in the pretext of protest.

Among my college studies was a focus on American history up to 1865. If I recall anything useful from long-ago at Illinois State University, I remember this: Our nation was founded upon well-reasoned protest. Moreover, our national identity has been ever-secured by rational dissent.

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Independence from England 240 years ago stemmed from hard fought and bloody protest. In less than a century as a nation, the unity of our country was tested in profound civil protest, as Abraham Lincoln acknowledged in his famous address in Gettysburg.

Among my personal library of favorites, I pulled from the shelf a large book with several Post-it notes sticking out. Inside the volume titled "Greatest American Speeches," I found what I was looking for, a July 4 oration of protest that accelerated change.

In an address to the citizens of Rochester, N.Y., on Independence Day, 1852, the distinguished 19th-century orator and civil rights leader Frederick Douglass laid it truthfully on the line. The former slave  now become a newspaper publisher  was audacious in his candor. He declared in part:

"Fellow citizens, pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called to speak here today? Do you mean, fellow citizens, to mock me by asking me to speak today?

"What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.

"To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymn, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy  a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.

"There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and more bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour."

Douglass' significant contribution to the history of protest was well-chosen words harshly spoken in truth.

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Remember the legacy

I like the Fourth of July as much anyone. Family, friends and neighbors gather in parks and back yards throughout the nation, sharing food and beverage in a festive atmosphere accented by sputtering sparklers and sky-high fireworks. What's not to like?

What cannot be lost in gratuitous holiday revelry is the reason. The memory of tremendous sacrifice and service is a legacy to build upon as we honor of this country's most patriotic day.

We as a people are welcome to criticize America for not living up to its promise. We as a society have more work ahead in rational protest in order to achieve equality for all.

Let us readily grasp the task, and as we do, adopt the wisdom of writer William Faulkner: "Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world ... would do this, it would change the earth."

Randy Chapman is publisher of the Post-Bulletin. He welcomes feedback to his column at rchapman@postbulletin.com
We have reached many milestones and witnessed plenty of success stories at the Guam Department of Labor during my current tenure, but I will b Read moreGDOL wants to be a part of your employment solutions
Now that Ben Rhodes has confessed that the Obama administrations narrative about an Iran in which moderates wield significant influence was largely manufactured for the purpose of selling the nuclear, you might think that the mainstream media media would stop peddling this narrative. You might think that at least the New York Times, which broke the story of Rhodes confession, would stop doing so.

You would be wrong. Cliff Smith of PJ Media describes how the Times continues to insist on the centrality of this fictional moderates/hard-liners dynamic in understanding Irans behavior.

For example, following the re-election of Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani, the Times reported that his landslide victory was a mild surprise since reformists had done so well in February elections. This development might be surprising if one swallows the moderate/hard-liner narrative.

But if you recognize that the narrative is, as Rhodes told the Times, largely manufactured it makes perfect sense that the so-called reformists elected earlier in the year would overwhelmingly elect the hard-liner Larijani. As Smith says when moderates win in Iran, they either arent actually moderates or are not allowed to hold power.

Smith concludes:

The point is not that there are no moderate voices or genuine would-be reformers in Iran. The Iranian peoples spontaneous organization during the green revolution and the ongoing saga of the frequently imprisoned but irrepressible filmmaker Jafar Panahi are just two examples that demonstrate moderate, reformist sentiments do exist there. But the idea that a moderate/hardliner conflict affects how the current Iranian regime behaves toward the U.S. is false. Further, the Times knows it is false based on its own reporting. However, it just keeps reporting it as fact. . . .

Shocking, but not surprising.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the terrorist attack at the airport in Istanbul, Anadolu Agency reported.

He said that this attack on innocent civilians by terrorist organizations once again showed their dark side.

The attack, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorists have nothing sacred, including religion, Turkish President said.

"Turkey will continue to fight against terrorism, despite the price it pays for it", Erdogan said.
You no doubt have heard about the ABC News/Washington Post poll that came out on Sunday. It showed Hillary Clinton pulling out to a 12-point lead over Donald Trump among registered voters, and therefore got a lot of play in the press. The poll is an outlier, and in any event, it is way too early to be losing sleep over presidential polls.

One thing is worth pointing out, however: even in this outlier poll, Trump holds a ten-point lead among white voters, 50%-40% (down from 57%-33% in May!). It is remarkable that even at his low ebb, Trump wins by a near landslide margin among white voters, a majority of the electorate. Not many years ago, that would have assured him of victory.

This is why Democrats are so anxious to fundamentally transform the United States through mass immigration from Third World countries. Only by building up the minority population do they have a chance to stay competitive. But that still wouldnt be enough, even if the Democrats got most of the votes cast by minorities, if minorities voted in anything like a normal pattern. In order to win, the Democrats need to roll up ridiculous margins, like the 90%-8% lead that Clinton holds with blacks in the ABC/WaPo poll.

This is why the Democrats seek every opportunity to stir up racial conflict. They need to keep minority voters constantly riled up and fearful of a phantom racism. The Democrats strategy, founded on a cynical exploitation of identity politics, explains the sharp decline in race relations now taking place in the U.S. Racial conflict suits the Democrats. In fact, they need it to have a chance of remaining competitive. This is the sad truth that, more than anything else, has brought our contemporary politics to such a low level.
Today Donald Trump delivered a major speech on the economy in Pennsylvania, titled Declaring Americas Economic Independence. You can read the speech, as prepared for delivery, here. These are my thoughts on it:

1) The fact that it is a prepared speech at all is good. Trumps speeches during the primary season were generally stream of consciousness riffs, and he often has gotten into trouble while ad libbing. He needs the discipline of a prepared text to keep him on message and avoid foolish distractions.

2) The speech previews themes which I think will be highly effective. Those themes arent new, of course, but Trump is now honing them and bringing them to a wider audience. Speeches like the one he delivered today will drive the Democrats crazy. They will denounce Trump as a demagogue and xenophobe, which means they are afraid voters will find him persuasive. Trumps speech tells a storya personal, populist story, with Hillary Clinton as one of the villains:

We are thirty miles from Steel City. Pittsburgh played a central role in building our nation. The legacy of Pennsylvania steelworkers lives in the bridges, railways and skyscrapers that make up our great American landscape. But our workers loyalty was repaid with betrayal. Our politicians have aggressively pursued a policy of globalization  moving our jobs, our wealth and our factories to Mexico and overseas. Globalization has made the financial elite who donate to politicians very wealthy. But it has left millions of our workers with nothing but poverty and heartache.

3) The speech was mostly about trade. Trump sounds very much like Dick Gephardt, circa 1988. He links the decline in American manufacturing jobs to currency devaluations and cheating by our trade partners, under the benign eye of the globalist financial elite represented by Hillary Clinton. I think Trumps diagnosis is mostly wrong. The number of manufacturing jobs has declined due to constantly improving productivity, even as the value of goods manufactured in the U.S. is at an all-time high. Trump talks about dealing with cheating by trade partners and denounces specific deals (NAFTA and TPP) as bad for the U.S., but to the extent that manufacturing has grown more rapidly in some other countries, like China and Mexico, it is because of cheaper labor and less costly regulation. Trump implies, but doesnt quite say, that he wants to impose high tariffs on manufactured goods. This would be a highly destructive policy, I think.

4) Still, Trumps narrative contains a considerable kernel of truth. There is a globalist elite that doesnt much care about the United States, and Hillary Clinton is its foremost representative in American politics (or will be when Barack Obama steps down). I think it is true that the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a bad deal for America, and, in general, that we would be better served by tough negotiators who care about American interests. Most voters sense this, which is why Trumps approach could be political dynamite:

[I]f were going to deliver real change, were going to have to reject the campaign of fear and intimidation being pushed by powerful corporations, media elites, and political dynasties. The people who rigged the system for their benefit will do anything  and say anything  to keep things exactly as they are. The people who rigged the system are supporting Hillary Clinton because they know as long as she is in charge nothing will ever change. The inner cities will remain poor. The factories will remain closed. The borders will remain open. The special interests will remain firmly in control. Hillary Clinton and her friends in global finance want to scare America into thinking small  and they want to scare the American people out of voting for a better future. My campaign has the opposite message. I want you to imagine how much better your life can be if we start believing in America again.

At times, Trump is downright Reaganesque.

5) Once he gets away from trade, pretty much everything Trump says is sound, if vague:

We will make America the best place in the world to start a business, hire workers, and open a factory. This includes massive tax reform to lift the crushing burdens on American workers and businesses. We will also get rid of wasteful rules and regulations which are destroying our job creation capacity. Many people think that these regulations are an even greater impediment than the fact that we are one of the highest taxed nations in the world. We are also going to fully capture Americas tremendous energy capacity. This will create vast profits for our workers and begin reducing our deficit. Hillary Clinton wants to shut down energy production and shut down the mines.

Altogether, it is a powerful message. I would like to see less emphasis on trade and more on regulation, but from a political standpoint, Trumps formula will be effective.
The Supreme Courts 4-4 decision in the executive amnesty case means that the lower courts ruling invalidating that amnesty is affirmed. Executive amnesty will not be granted while Obama is president.

What happens after that? If Donald Trump is elected, presumably there will be no mass amnesty. Trump is unpredictable, but probably not unpredictable enough to do amnesty.

In the more likely event that Hillary Clinton is elected, matters will be very different. As Ilya Somin suggests, she would likely be able to bring the executive amnesty issue before a Supreme Court populated by five liberal judges. Such a Court would almost certainly uphold the amnesty Obama tried to effectuate or one very much like it.

But theres a different way  smarter and faith to the Constitution (if that matters to Clinton)  in which she could proceed. She could try for a much broader amnesty along the lines of the Rubio-Schumer legislation.

If Hillary is elected president, the Senate very likely will have a Democratic majority. It will then be quite possible to pass sweeping amnesty legislation. After all, such legislation passed a Republican controlled Senate a few years ago.

Perhaps there will be more Republican resistance next time. However, I imagine that the Dems could find the eight or so Republican votes necessary to reach 60. Its also possible that a Democrat controlled Senate would do away with the filibuster.

The House blocked the Rubio-Schumer amnesty, but that was under the leadership of Speaker Boehner. Speaker Ryan strongly favors amnesty. So even if the Republicans hold the House, that body probably wont be a barrier to a future amnesty.

In order to become Speaker, Ryan agreed not to bring amnesty up for a vote. However, the promise, as I understand it, was for a limited period. I doubt that it would bind Ryan during a Clinton presidency.

In sum, it is highly likely that a President Hillary Clinton would be able to sign immigration reform legislation offering amnesty to the vast majority of illegal immigrants presently in the country  not just the 40 to 50 percent thought to be encompassed by Obamas amnesty. And remember, Obamas excuse for his executive amnesty was that Congress wouldnt act. That excuse probably wont be available in a Clinton presidency.

Even so, Clinton will be tempted to do both amnesties  an immediate executive amnesty for millions and a general legislatively-enacted amnesty for millions more that kicks in over an extended period of time (as Rubio-Schumer provided for). Clinton, I imagine, will want to proceed this way. The Latino portion of her base will demand it. For all we know, Clinton may already have promised it.

This is where, one hopes, Paul Ryan would put his foot down. One hopes he would make it clear to Clinton that he will not allow a big immigration reform bill to come to a vote in the House if Clinton flouts Article I with an executive amnesty.

Would Ryan take such a stance? I have my doubts.

The House will select a Speaker next January. If the Republicans hold the House, there is very little chance the Speaker will be anyone other than Paul Ryan. Still, one hopes that a large number of Republican members will demand some assurances from Ryan about amnesty before electing him.

Will they do so? I have my doubts.
The Chinese Cultural Research Centre of Nigeria was Tuesday, commissioned at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, by the cultural attache of the Chinese Embassy in Abuja, Yan Xiang Dong.

The research centre is the first in Nigeria.

The vice chancellor of the school, Prof. J. E. Ahaneku, said the university was delighted to the host the centre.

Nnamdi Azikiwe University is able to rise to the challenge of this responsibility which has placed the entirety of Nigeria under the purview of the university, he said.

He urged the Chinese government to see the centre as an avenue for strengthening its relationship with Nigeria.

He said the Chinese government should encourage the centre by employing its graduates in its embassies and companies.

He said the already The Confucius Institute at the university, established in January 2007 through a Memorandum of Understanding between the university, Chinese Language Council International and Xiamen University, was aimed at the teaching of Chinese Language and Culture to the universitys students and the general public, promoting research on China and scholarly exchanges between Nigeria and China, and conducting Chinese Language Proficiency Tests (HSK).

The vice chancellor said the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding has progressed smoothly as Chinese Language and Culture are taught at both Diploma and Degree levels in the university.

Prof. Ahaneku also said that Chinese classes have been established in some tertiary institutions and that many students of the university are studying in various Chinese universities in different disciplines with Chinese government scholarships, and that there is subsisting staff exchange between the university and Xiamen University.

He said that arrangements were underway to deploy staff of the university to teach Igbo Language and Culture in Xiamen University to make the universitys relationship with it truly reciprocal.

In his address, the Cultural attache of the Chinese Embassy in Abuja Mr. Yan Xiang Dong, commended the university for finding it wise to strengthen the Nigerian-Chinese relationship.

According to him, the Confucius Institute at the university has trained many in Chinese Language and will serve as a boost to the relationship between Nigeria and China.

He said the Chinese government had invested a lot in Nigeria and would continue to do so because Nigeria and China have many things in common.

He further said the Chinese government would always do its best to encourage and strengthen the centre and develop it to a higher level.

In her address, the centres national director, Prof. Caroline Umeobi, expressed her joy over the historic event and assured the Chinese government and the general public that the centre wont let them down.

Other highlights of the event include the presentation of a symbolic key of the centre to the Chinese government, tree planting jointly done by the vice chancellor and Mr. Xiang, unveiling and commissioning of the centre by Mr. Xiang, and cultural display by students of Confucius Institute at the university.
The United States and France supported Hissene Habre, the former Chadian dictator who was convicted of atrocity crimes on May 30, 2016, throughout his rule, Human Rights Watch said in two reports released Tuesday.

The 64-page report, Enabling a Dictator: The United States and Chads Hissene Habre 1982-1990s, and the 142-page report, Hissene Habre: Supported by France, Convicted by Africa, describe how France, and especially the United States, were pivotal in bringing Habre to power, although signs of his brutality were already evident.

The two countries saw Habre as a bulwark against the expansionist designs of Libyas Muammar Gaddafi, whose forces were occupying northern Chad. Human Rights Watch details how both the United States and France continued to provide Habres government with critical support, even as it committed widespread and systematic human rights violations.

The United States and France were well aware of Habres brutal record, and yet continued to support him throughout his rule, said Reed Brody, counsel at Human Rights Watch who has worked with Hissene Habres victims since 1999. Both countries should examine how and why they supported a man convicted of crimes against humanity.

Habre was convicted of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture, including sexual violence and rape, by the Extraordinary African Chambers in the Senegalese court system and sentenced to life in prison. The verdict came after his victims worked for more than two decades to see him put on trial.

Both the US and France should establish official inquiries to determine what officials knew about the commission of international crimes and whether any steps were taken to mitigate them, Human Rights Watch said.

In praising Habres landmark conviction, US Secretary of State John Kerry said it was an opportunity for the United States to reflect on, and learn from, our own connection with past events in Chad.

Habres one-party rule was marked by widespread atrocities, including waves of ethnic cleansing. Files of Habres political police, the Direction de la Documentation et de la Securite (DDS), which Human Rights Watchrecovered in 2001, reveal the names of 1,208 people who were killed or died in detention, and 12,321 victims of human rights violations.

Under President Ronald Reagan, the U.S. provided covert assistance in 1981 and 1982 to Habres rebel forces to help him unseat president Goukouni Oueddei, who was seen as pro-Libyan, and then gave Habres governmentmillions of dollars in military and security assistance.

While there is no evidence of direct U.S. involvement in or active support for international crimes in Chad, the former director of the DDS, speaking at his torture trial in Chad in November 2014, said that he was constantly assisted by a CIA agent who provided me with advice.

Recovered DDS documents show that a U.S. embassy official whom the Chadians considered to be the liaison with the DDS visited the DDS headquarters  which included a torture chamber, and Habres undergroundPiscine prison  at the height of the repression against the Zaghawa ethnic group.

The United States also used a secret base in Chad to create and train a small army of anti-Gaddafi Libyan contras from among the ranks of captured Libyan troops. The leader of the Contra force was KhalifaHaftar. He now leads the Libyan National Army, which controls much of eastern Libya.

Despite the abduction of the French anthropologist Francoise Claustre by Habres forces in 1974 and the murder of Captain Pierre Galopin, who went to Chad to negotiate her release in 1975, France also supported Habre.

France provided him with arms, logistical support and information, and carried out large military operations to help Chad push back Libyan forces.

Each department of the Chadian military had a French adviser. The French intelligence service (DGSE) and the French Army also trained DDS and army officers, in some cases in France itself, including the current president, Idriss Deby Itno, who ousted Habre in a 1990 coup, and the former DDS director, Guihini Korei, who is now at large.

In one incident in mid-1983, France sent about 30 mercenaries to support Habre as he fought to stay in power against Libya and Libyan-backed Chadian factions. The mercenaries fought alongside Habres Chadian army troops at the battle of Faya-Largeau, where the army committed grave abuses. Shortly thereafter, France began Operation Manta, its largest deployment since the Algerian war. French airplanes were sometimes used to transport the governments prisoners.

The Obama administration has strongly supported the victims in their campaign for justice.

In a June 2013 meeting in Dakar with Senegals president, Macky Sall, President Barack Obama hailed Senegals efforts to prosecute Habre.

In April 2016, after the trial but before the verdict, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, met in Chad with the victims and their lawyers, and praised their pioneering efforts.

The US government contributed US$1 million, and France contributed 300,000 to the courts budget of approximately US$11 million.
An Abuja High Court has declared as null and void the process that produced a former Borno State governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, as chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The judge, Valentine Ashi, faulted the amended PDP Constitution in 2014, which led to the emergence of Mr. Sheriff as the partys chairman, after the resignation of former Bauchi State governor, Adamu Muazu.

The amendment had zoned the office of the national chairman of the party to the North-East.

In his ruling on Wednesday, Mr. Ashi said the amendment was a violation of the Electoral Act and described the actions of the PDP leaders who partook in the amendment as illegal.

Mr. Sheriff has been locked in a battle with Ahmed Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna State, for the chairmanship position of the party.

Mr. Makarfi was appointed chairman of a caretaker committee, backed by state governors and national lawmakers.

Mr. Sheriff had won more support in recent days, and had rejected Edo State governorship election primaries conducted by the Makarfi-faction.
Albanian prime minister was landing at Istanbul's Ataturk airport when the attack occurred.

According to the private Dogan news agency, a plane carrying Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was landing at Istanbul's Ataturk airport when the attack occurred.

He was arriving on an official visit. The prime minister and his entourage were safely taken to an official residence.

The group was to travel later on Wednesday to Turkey's capital, Ankara.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has advised the senate president, Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, to leave National Assembly out of their court trials.

Mr. Lawal, in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja, faulted statements credited to the two leaders of the Senate after their arraignment, which according to him, gave the erroneous impression that the entire Senate was on trial.

The statement said Mr. Saraki had insinuated that a cabal was currently running the government and that President Muhammadu Buhari was not in control of his administration.

It said Mr. Ekweremadu had insisted that Mr. Buhari was exhibiting dictatorial tendencies that could derail the nations democracy.

It is important to emphasise that this case involved only the four accused persons and should not be presented to the unsuspecting public as involving the entire Senate.

The complaint leading to the forgery investigation was reported to the Police by some aggrieved Senators, who specifically accused certain persons.

It is not the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that is involved and definitely not the House of Representatives, the statement said.

According to the statement, bringing the National Assembly as a body into this court case is totally unwarranted and can only be for other purposes and reasons outside the investigation and legal proceedings.

A case of forgery is usually preferred against individuals as was the case with a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, who was accused of certificate forgery.

What he did was to resign, honourably, the statement added.

The statement said the countrys democracy was still evolving and being deepened, adding that the rule of law was supreme to the present administration.

The statement came two days after President Buharis spokesperson, Femi Adesina, lashed at Mr. Sarakis comments that the Buhari government had been hijacked.

Messrs. Saraki and Ekweremadu were on Monday arraigned before a Federal High Court over allegation of forgery of Senate Rules.

The trial continues.

(NAN)
The Association of Vice-Chancellors of State-Owned Universities has asked the federal government to allow the senates of their institutions prescribe the modalities for admission.

The Secretary General of the association, Michael Faborede, stated this at the 4th Biennial Conference on the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-Owned Universities in Nigeria held at the Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.



The theme of the conference is Current Challenges Facing State Universities in Nigeria and the Way Forward.



The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, recently announced the scrapping of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UMTE).



Mr. Faborede argued that since education was on the concurrent list in the 1999 Constitution, the federal government should be careful in making pronouncements on educational matters that would affect the states and private universities.



The issue of post UTME is also very hot now. We have emphasised to the minister, the right of each university senate to prescribe the modality for admissions and also that education matters that will affect the state and private universities, he said.



The secretary-general called on pro-chancellors to support vice-chancellors in this effort in the interest of a credible university system.



Mr. Faborede said the association would in October hold a higher education summit to enable it chart a way forward for the nations higher education system.



He said the outcome of the biennial conference would be important in the effort to bring all view points on board.



Mr. Faborede called on all state governors to use the Nigeria Governors Forum to ensure the maintenance of standard of state universities and how the could benefit maximally from the Tertiary Education Tax Fund.



We believe that the Governors Forum is very crucial to ensuring the maintenance of standard of state universities, and how they benefit maximally from the Tertiary Education Tax Fund, he said.



Earlier in his welcome address, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Tai Solarin University of Education, Olufemi Bamiro, said a cursory examination of the goings-on in the tertiary education system of this country attests to the crying need for a conference of this nature to articulate the challenges facing the system and move to the solution domain by coming up with evidence-based policies and programmes to move the system forward.



He added, The present situation in the country dictates that we go beyond political correctness into imbibing the traditional academic culture of telling it as it is. It cannot be otherwise if this conference is to be worth the effort of all gathered here.
Justice M.A Onyetenu of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has convicted and sentenced a former banker, Ikechukwu Chukwuma, to six months imprisonment for defrauding his bank, Diamond Bank, of N28 million.

The judge also ordered the convict to pay N15 million to the bank.

The sentence is to run from the day he was convicted, March 15.

Also, an oil bunkerer, Basil Anoliefo, was convicted and sentenced to one year prison.

Mr. Chukwuma, a Resident Internal Control Auditor in charge of Ikwerre Road and Oyigbo Branches (both in Port Harcourt, Rivers State) and Yenagoa Branch (Bayelsa State) of Diamond Bank Plc, used his position and influence to fraudulently transfer N28 million into his account.

He was first arraigned on July 2, where he pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Justice Onyetenu found him guilty of the three charges against him, and sentenced him accordingly.

Also, Justice Onyetenu convicted and sentenced Mr. Anoliefo to 12 months imprisonment with hard labour for illegal dealing in petroleum products.

The judge found the convict guilty of two charges of conspiracy and illegal dealing in petroleum products brought against him by the EFCC.

The sentence is to run from the day he was convicted, May 9.

Mr. Anoliefo was arrested by Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, and handed over to the EFCC on April 15.

He was first arraigned on March 15.
The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) fighting Boko Haram, said it intercepted 24 fleeing insurgents along the Cameroonian borders.

The spokesman for the task force, Muhammed Dole, said the insurgents were among those trying to escape the combined onslaught of Nigerian troops and the MNJTF within and around Sambisa forest.

Mr. Dole said several arms cache were recovered in the operation that led to the clearance of six major enclaves of the outlawed group.

His statement reads:

Clearing operation to flush out the fleeing Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT) from the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) Area of Responsibility (AOR) continues to yield positive results. The troop of Sector 1 with its relocated Tactical Headquarters in Makary, Northern Cameroun intensifies clearance operations along the borders between Nigeria and Cameroun to block the fleeing terrorists. Recently, the terrorists in attempt to escape the firepower of MNJTF troops were migrating to some villages adjacent to the Sector 1 AOR.

Acting on credible information, the troops successfully cleared the six villages occupied by the terrorists, seized some logistic equipment and apprehended Twenty Four suspected Boko Haram accomplices.

The cleared villages are SAGUI, KIRTA-WOULGO, GORE MAHAMAT, GORE BLANGAFE, CHAUGRY and DAMBOURE. The recovered equipment are 20 x Outboat Engines, 2 x Motorcycles, 9 x Generating sets, 1 x Solar panel, 1 x Grinding machine, 1 x Handset, Flags and some Islamic religious books. However, one soldier was killed by Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and another fatally wounded and lost his one of his lower limbs during the operation.

Addressing the troops during his operational assessment tour in Makary, the Commander, MNJTF, Major General Lamidi Adeosun commended their display of exceptional bravery and charged them to keep up the good work, while encouraging the traditional authorities in the area to set up vigilante groups to compliment the effort of the security forces.

Equally, on a similar visit to Sector 2 troops (Chad) at their temporary Harbour Area in Littri, the Commander expressed delight for their initial operational exploits, which despite difficult terrains and other operational challenges were able to clear terrorists from some villages on the Lake Chad Islands. He couraged them to maintain their high fighting spirit and keep up the momentum of the operation despite the challenges of the slow go terrains.
Nigerian civil society activists have called on the federal government to overturn the permits it granted for field trials of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the country.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, the activists called for the repeal of Nigerias Biosafety Law.

Clearly, NBMA (National Biosafety Management Agency) as conceived and constructed is incapable of objectively managing biosafety regulation in Nigeria, the statement read.

We cannot repose any confidence in an agency that never mentioned or let it slip that they had opened the doors to an influx of GMOs by issuing permits to Monsanto until we announced to the general public.

The statement was signed by Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF); Mariann Bassey-Orovwuje, Food Sovereignty Manager/Coordinator, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria; and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, Convener Nigerians Against GMO.

The statement came amidst claims and counter-claims between the activists and Nigerian government officials over the status of GMOs in the country.

Last month, the NBMA issued two permits for the Commercial Release and Placing on Market of genetically modified cotton and the confined field trial of maize to Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Limited.

The two permits include: Permit for Commercial Release/Placing on Market of Cotton (MON15985) genetically modified for leptidopteran insect pest resistance with Permit No: NBMA/CM/IM/001 and Permit for Confined Field Trial (CFT) of Maize (NK603 and MON89034  NK603) genetically modified for insect resistance and herbicide tolerance with Permit No: NBMA/CFT/001.

Despite claims by anti-GMO activists, Amina Mohammed, the Minister for Environment, said no GMO was officially being grown in the country.

All the GMOs in Nigeria officially approved are under experimental fields, the insect resistant cotton for commercial release will still be subjected to further processes for the next two years, Ms. Mohammed said in a statement last week.

GMOs officially approved in Nigeria

In their statement on Tuesday, the activists said said government officials possibly had a vague understanding of the permit document.

Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Ltd did not apply for field trials of GMO cotton, the statement continued.

They applied for a commercial release and placement in the environment. This means commercial planting of GMO cotton in Nigeria.

Section 4 of the permit states and we quote After a thorough analysis of the application dossier, Risk Assessment and Risk Management plan prepared in connection with the assessment of the application for the permit, it is unlikely that the proposed release will cause adverse impact on the environment and on human health. A permit is therefore granted to the Monsanto Agriculture Nigeria Ltd as applied for.

This was signed by the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of NBMA on Sunday 1st May 2016.

The statement added that the permit did not leave room for further trials.

The requirement of the applicant is merely to make reports on their experience in their farms, it said.

This is very different from confined field trials as is the case with the permit for GMO maize  which, in any case, we equally object to.

Ms. Mohammed had also said the Federal Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with the NBMA, would organise an experts meeting involving civil society groups, national agencies, and international organisations to clarify Nigerias position on the use of GMOs.

The activists queried why the NBMA failed to consider the robust objections made by five million Nigerians before granting the permit to Monsanto.

NBMA by its letter of 28th April, 2016, acknowledging receipt of objection from Health of Mother Earth Foundation and other civil society groups, stated: Your observations have been noted by the Agency That the National Biosafety Management Agency would review the application holistically and take the best interest of Nigeria, to avoid risks to human health, biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The socio- economic impacts would also be well considered before taking the final decision on the application.

We consider it intriguing and suspicious that a mere one working day after this letter, the DG of NBMA issued permits to Monsanto, the activists stated.

This smacks of utter disdain for opinions and positions of concerned citizens who are conscious of the devastating socio-economic and environmental impacts of the failure of these crops, especially GMO cotton in neighbouring Burkina Faso as well as in India, Pakistan and elsewhere.

We are concerned that NBMA and NABDA keep going around hyping myths sold by the biotech industry to an unsuspecting public, while being careful not to reveal to citizens that they had rushed to issue permits a mere two months after the applications were advertised.

The permit issued by NBMA to Monsanto states amongst other things that the The purpose of the dealings is commercial production of the GM cotton in all areas of Nigeria where cotton is cultivated and for products of the GMO to enter general commerce.

If the Agency insists that commercial release is the same things as filed trials, the Minister of Environment would do well to ask NBMA to issue a glossary of Nigerian GMO terminology, said the activists.

The activists further noted that Monsantos BT Cotton application in Nigeria was adopted almost verbatim from the Malawian application the GMO company had sent in 2014 to Malawi.

We also objected to Monsantos applications in Nigeria on many grounds, said the activists.

It is also worthy of note that it took about six months for the Regulatory body in Malawi to come to a decision and recommend to the Minister that Monsantos application should be nullified.

It took NBMA just a month after 22 days window period given to the Nigerian public to submit comments on the applications submitted by Monsanto to issue two Permits to Monsanto to deploy GMOs in Nigeria.
The trial of Azibaola Robert, a cousin to former President Goodluck Jonathan, began Tuesday, with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, presenting its first witness, Ibrahim Mahe, who narrated how he transferred $40 million to One Plus Holdings Nigeria Limited, a company allegedly owned by Mr. Robert.

Mr. Robert and his wife, Stella, are standing trial on a seven-count charge before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja. They are accused of money laundering, criminal breach of trust and corruption.

Mr. Mahe, a retired permanent secretary, special services in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, while being led in evidence by counsel to EFCC, Sylvanus Tahir, told the court that, he did not know the first and second defendants (Robert and Stella), but got to know the third defendant, One Plus Company, through a transaction.

Narrating how he got to know the company, Mr. Mahe said that, on August 20, 2014, the National Security Adviser endorsed a memo to me which originated from the Office of the Director of Finance and Administration of the ONSA detailing the bank details of one company called One Plus and the purpose for which the company was to be paid a sum of $40million (forty million US dollars).

The NSA instructed me to prepare payment and I prepared the payment mandate for the $40million in favour of One Plus for the signature of the NSA. I sent it to the NSA, he signed and sent it to back to me and subsequent action was for me to counter-sign the mandate and then send it to the Central Bank of Nigeria for Payment, Mr. Mahe said.

The witness had earlier told the court that his responsibilities involved matters that had to do with the office of the NSA.

He said the Special Services Offices responsibilities in relation with the Office of the NSA had to do with matters relating to finances of the entire Intelligence Community which included the Department of State Service, National Intelligence Agency and ONSA.

According to him, permanent secretary, Special Security Office was responsible for co-ordination of the annual budget of the members of the Intelligence Community.

After formulating the budget, the accountant general releases the funds of the Intelligence Community through an account that is domiciled with the Special Security Office from where it is distributed to the various end users, Mr. Mahe further stated.

He told the court that his office served as a warehouse for funds of the Intelligence Community.

When funds get into the account, the NSA is informed of the arrival of the funds and proposal on the distribution to the various agencies is made to him. When he approves, the monies are sent to the end users, said Mr. Mahe.

The case was adjourned to July 4 and 5.
A Federal Capital Territory High Court has dismissed an application filed by a former aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, seeking the enforcement of his fundamental human rights.

Mr. Fani-Kayode is facing a 17-count charge of money laundering alongside a former finance minister, Nenadi Usman, and Danjuma Yusuf.

He had approached the court on June 2, to complain about his continued detention by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

But the judge, Adeboyega Adeniyi, in his ruling Wednesday, said the EFCC was constitutionally right to have detained Mr. Fani-Kayode since May.

Mr. Adeniyi said the detention of Mr. Fani-Kayode was in line with the EFCC act, adding that the remand order obtained from a Lagos Magistrate Court was within the provisions of chapter 4 of Nigerias 1999 Constitution.

Mr. Adeniyi further said the decision of the EFCC to obtain a second remand order, before the expiration of the first, was right decision.

The former Aviation Minister was detained on May 6 on the allegation that N840 million had been paid into his account on the eve of the 2015 general elections.

The money is suspected to be part of the $2.1billion allegedly misappropriated by a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
Police have cordoned off the entrance to stadium road by Akenzua junction with vehicles, and the gates to the stadium locked.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium is the scheduled venue for the planned governorship primary of Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benin.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that Mathew Iduoriyekemwen and Johnson Agbonayinma are the two aspirants for the governorship ticket.

Commissioner of Police in the State, Chris Eziken said, I am not INEC. It is too early to find out if the primary will hold or not. You can call me back in the afternoon to find out.

Asked if INEC would witness the exercise, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Sam Olumekun, said only the national headquarters could comment on the matter.

A member of the Caretaker Committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the primary would be held as scheduled but that they were looking for another venue.

The Ahmed Markafi-led PDP faction held its primary on June 20 at the same venue which produced Osagie Ize-Iyamu as its candidate.

Mr. Ize-Iyamu defeated Mr. Iduoriyekemwen and Solomon Edebiri at the primary, but Mr. Iduoriyekemwen later joined the Modu Sheriff faction after he faulted the process of the primary.

(NAN)
MTN Nigeria has won the frequency spectrum license for the 2.6GHz band as the sole bidder in the auction exercise by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

MTN said the 10-year license will guarantee superior performance for wireless networks, especially 4G LTE services, including the roll-out of broadband internet services across the country, starting in the major cities of Lagos and Abuja.

Although Nigeria is one of 28 African countries currently offering 4G LTE services, the rate of penetration has been restricted to a few major cities.

But, with the acquisition of the license at about N18.96 billion, MTN said in a statement on Wednesday that its success was a big boost to its plan to deliver global mobile broadband and LTE 4G services to over 60 million customers in Nigeria.

The company said it was also planning to deploy FDD networks in addition to its existing WIMAX over TDD networks, to ensure for greater consistency with existing 2G and 3G deployments.

MTN Nigeria CEO, Ferdi Moolman, said with the 2.6 GHz band, the company will roll out immediately to provide the full range of LTE services to Nigerians, empowering Nigeria with the latest mobile broadband technology.

The NCC has described the spectrum as a significant trigger for a broadband revolution that would ensure greater coverage, access, affordability and innovation for the customers.

We are very pleased with this development (award of the license) at this time, which is a further step in the right direction for Nigeria, Mr. Moolman said. Indeed, MTN is fully aligned and supports the NCCs objective to deliver broadband services to present and future generations of subscribers, in line with the National Broadband Plan of 2013.

This license acquisition further demonstrates MTNs abiding faith in the future of Nigeria and the resilience of the Nigerian economy. MTN continues to believe in Nigeria and we have expressed this belief in the level of our investment, which currently stands at approximately USD 15 billion and counting.

He said MTN strongly believed there was need for significant levels of investment in broadband infrastructure and services to truly launch Nigeria into the information age.

In addition to aggressive investment, he said MTN has also built the most extensive private fibre optics superhighway in Africa and the Middle East, covering approximately 16,000 kilometres.

Our subscribers, especially those in clustered areas such as the major cities, can expect distinct improvements in browsing speed, quality and experience, including fast access to high definition video streaming, as well as conferencing and calling, lag-free music streaming, and improved data uploads and downloads, Mr. Moolman said.
Some chairmen of state chapters of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have denied reports that they met with, and endorsed the Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee.

The FCT chapter chairman, Yunusa Suleiman, had on Monday led some state chairmen to a meeting with Mr. Makarfi at Protea Hotel, in Apo district Abuja, where he told the gathering that all the state chapters were expressing support for the former Kaduna governor.

However, the Ogun state PDP chairman, Adebayo Dayo, on Wednesday issued a statement saying the position expressed by Mr. Suleiman was false and a complete misrepresentation of their position as regards the challenges within the party.

He said the state chairmen had at no time endorsed the Makarfi caretaker committee.

What happened was that some State Chairmen were in Abuja for a routine meeting on Monday, June 27, 2016 to brainstorm ways of finding a lasting solution for the challenges in our party.

At the meeting, it was resolved that a discussion should be brokered among the critical stakeholders.

However, as we were leaving after the meeting, the Senator Makarfi group was coming in for their own meeting at the same venue and had brief discussion with some of us, he said.

He also said that at no time in that discussion did the chairmen endorse the Caretaker Committee.

Support for Sheriff

When contacted Wednesday for confirmation, the Ogun PDP Chairman express his support for the factional chairman, Ali Sheriff.

He also referred this newspaper to his earlier press statement, saying, the chairmen of the state chapters are aware that there is no provision for a National Caretaker Committee in the PDP Constitution and as such, they could not have endorsed it.

We are aware that the May 21, 2016 scheduled National Convention of our great party did not hold following the pronouncement of the court, leading to the suspension of the National Convention by the National Working Committee (NWC).

As leaders of the party, we pledge our loyalty to the provisions of the constitution of our party and the ruling of the court, which have continued to recognize Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the National Chairman of the PDP.

As at today, Senator Sheriff holds office as the National Chairman of the PDP and any claim by the said Caretaker Committee remains to the extent of our constitution, a complete nullity, he said.

Mr. Dayo, however, said there should be a family settlement of the disagreements within the ambit of the constitution of the PDP.

We therefore humbly appeal to Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led group to let go and allow for peace since there is no provision for a caretaker committee in the constitution our party.

Finally, we urge all our leaders and stakeholders to drop all personal interests for the overall interest of our party. Let us bury our differences and support our National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to conclude the National Convention since that is what the law allows at this time, he said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

The US strongly condemns the terrorist attack at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport committed June 28, the US Department of State said in a press statement.

We extend our condolences to the families of the victims and our hopes for a quick recovery for the wounded, the statement said. We will remain in close touch with Turkish authorities throughout the investigation.

We stand in solidarity with our NATO Ally Turkey in combating the threat of terrorism, the US Department of State noted. Sadly, this murderous attack is only the latest in a series of attacks aimed at killing and maiming innocent civilians. Such attacks will only reinforce our determination to work with the government of Turkey to counter the scourge of terrorism and support all those across the region who are working to promote peace and reconciliation.

A terrorist attack occurred at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport, as a result of which 36 people were killed and 147 injured, according to recent information.
The University of Nigeria, Nsukka was on Tuesday thrown into confusion after a triggerhappy policeman killed a motorcyclist at the beach junction of Nsukka while trying to shoot into the air.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the policeman, whose identity was not released to the media, is attached to the Nsukka Building Material Taskforce set up by the Nsukka Local Government Transitional Committee Chairman, Rose Onah.

A witness said the taskforce numbering eight with four policemen were trying to compel a cement dealer to pay a fine for refusing to move to the building material permanent site.

The pleading by the cement dealer attracted sympathy from people in the area who joined in begging the taskforce members to leave the man alone but they refused, the witness said.

According to him, when the policemen saw the number of people closing up on them, they began to shoot into the air to scare people away.

One of the policemen, while trying to raise his riffle up lost control and shot a motorcyclist who was just coming out from a nearby restaurant after eating.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the killing sparked a demonstration, with the people of the area pouncing on the policeman that shot the man.

The operative was beaten to coma before a team of policemen from Nsukka police station arrived the scene. The team scared off the crowd, evacuated the dead motorcyclist and the wounded policeman.

As of the time filing this report, police patrol team were seen patrolling around beach junction to avert fresh trouble or breach of peace.

When contacted, the chairman of Nsukka LGA, Rose Onah, said she had heard what happened but was yet to be fully briefed on the incident.
The second day of the convention at the Intercontinental Hotel in Budapest started with a one-on-one session with Peter Kolosi, of RTL Hungary, describing the evolution of television in that market.

When moderator Steward Clarke asked about the current programming environment, Kolosi stated that the U.S. product is now being shown at second-level channels, with local drama being attractive yet risky, because audiences expect high-end drama to come from HBO; so, "big shows" such as talent contests are preferred; 'procedural shows also work well'; action and product from other European countries are exhibited according to its values; audience is highly fragmented and local "dramedy" (combination of drama and comedy) is an interesting option: 'It can be produced in Hungary'.

RTL has channels in other European counties but they are programmed according to local needs; exchange of programming is more of an exception 'than a rule'. In Hungary, RTL works 'with five to seven independent production companies, it's a business decision; it's a good practice to give chances to more companies'. He added that 'Hungary is a ten-million people market with strong competition'. TV advertising is smaller than years ago and budgets are concentrated on prime time; there is some kind of coordination with the cable channels managed by the broadcasters'. Kolosi does not expect Netflix to affect the market strongly, because 'it's not localized or focused on local audiences; it can be a nice niche service for people liking its kind of shows, but what they produce is not what we want or try to get'.

The next session, moderated by Nico Franks, was focused on Aranylet (Golden Life), a crime drama miniseries produced by HBO in Hungary, as a case study of local production quality. Panelists Gabor Krigler (HBO Hungary), Judith Stalter (Laokoon) and Anna Zavorsky (HBO), who commented that HBO has started original production in 2011, in this case changing strongly the script on which it was originally based in order to give it more local nature. The second season of the series is already under production.

Zavorsky stressed that HBO is looking in Hungary for partners with experience in movie production, because 'there's little experience on making television'. The production company has been working in this field for more than eleven years, Stalter highlighted the collaboration between both companies. The budget was "substantially higher" than what an "average show" commands in Hungary, Krigler added. Regarding procedural shows, he said 'they have not been very popular en Hungary, but there is demand for local drama'. Stalter thinks 'distribution has to be improved, not only in Hungary but in all Europe; Internet has changed many things'.

Regarding Netflix, Krigler said 'it's more of a marketing issue, a matter we don't touch. Our goal is to shoot for the Hungarian audience, but we believe in achieving stories of universal appeal; it has to be socially relevant'. A new show, titled "Backwater", is now under production: 'We try to keep some seven titles in development; that's good in case one of the projects fails'.

In the afternoon, Mediaset (Italy) offered a press conference starred by Rocco Siffredi, ex-porno actor that has recently produced two reality shows, one based on his family life (The Siffredi Family) and Siffredi Hard Academy, based on the academy that Siffredi runs in Budapest teaching how to act in porno movies. The latter is being distributed in several markets by Comarex and has been described by the actor as 'a very light but completely real version for the average family'.

Tuesday has been the first day of operation for the trading part of the convention, with four options for the sellers: booths, suites, "viewing boxes" and meeting tables. Buyers appear to be enthusiastic and active, though unevenly interested in the various options being offered at the exhibition floor and the suites, located at the next floor. The fact that, with the exception of the suites, the other three options are available at close distance appears to be helpful. And the suites are a short elevator ride away...

Today is the day when buyers and sellers will be able to gauge their degree of success at this show. For the time being, it is remains a guessing game. The official opening party at the end of yesterday's activity offered some clues to this all important question.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Some 387 flights were cancelled following the terrorist attack at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport June 28, Turkish TRT Haber TV channel reported June 29.

TRT Haber TV channel reported that the international flights were also among those cancelled.

According to the recent information, the terrorist attack occurred at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport June 28, as a result of which 36 people were killed and 147 injured. Turkish and Saudi Arabian citizens are mainly among those killed in the terrorist attack.

Some 27 victims have been already identified, according to the information.

The Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group stands behind the attack, according to the preliminary information.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Sergey Naryshkin, chairman of Russian State Duma, expressed condolences to the families and relatives of those killed in the June 28 terrorist attack at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport, TASS news agency reported June 29.

Naryshkin, who is also the chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), added that the terrorist attack in Istanbul testifies to the need for the entire world to combine efforts to fight against terrorism.

Dozens of civilians were killed and injured in the terrorist attack, he said. On my own behalf, I extend my deep condolences to the bereaved families, the loved ones of those who died in the attack.

Istanbuls Ataturk Airport came under a terrorist attack June 28.

Forty-one people were killed as a result of the terrorist attack, and currently, 239 injured are receiving treatment in Turkish hospitals.

The Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group stands behind the attack, according to preliminary reports.
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.




Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The suicide-bombers, who committed the terrorist attack at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport June 28, were not Turkish citizens, Turkish Haber7 newspaper reported June 29 citing the sources in the law enforcement agencies.

According to the recent information, the terrorist attack occurred at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport June 28, as a result of which 36 people were killed and 147 injured. Turkish and Saudi Arabian citizens are mainly among those killed in the terrorist attack.

Some 27 victims have been already identified, according to the information.

The Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group stands behind the attack, according to the preliminary information.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt expressed solidarity with the Turkish people in connection with the terrorist attack at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport, RIA Novosti reported June 29.

Id like to express solidarity with the Turkish people, the countrys leadership over the recent terrorist attack at the airport, said Agramunt at a meeting with Chairman of Russias State Duma Sergey Naryshkin in Moscow.

Istanbuls Ataturk Airport came under a terrorist attack June 28.

Forty-one people were killed as a result of the terrorist attack, and currently, 239 injured are receiving treatment in Turkish hospitals.

The Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group stands behind the attack, according to preliminary reports.
WASHINGTON, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The 11th Annual CGAP Photo Contest is now open for entries; the deadline for submissions is September 7, 2016. Amateur and professional photographers are invited to share original and powerful images that capture the importance of access to basic financial services for people around the world.

Experience the interactive Multimedia News Release here: http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7554953-cgap-annual-photo-contest/

Digital innovations, including the growing use of smartphones, and new financial products that better meet the needs of customers are making it easier for poor and rural customers to manage their daily finances, grow a business and respond to an emergency. However, 2 billion people still lack access to basic financial services such as savings accounts and credit. Closing this gap can help to reduce extreme poverty and increase prosperity.

Against this background, this year's Photo Contest calls for photographs that reflect the following four themes:

Mobile money and innovations in digital finance

Women's economic empowerment

Resilience

Small businesses

Submissions may represent a range of products, institutions and approaches within these themes and touch on a broad variety of social, economic, developmental and technological issues. Entries are welcome from all regions, in both rural and urban settings.

Photographers of the winning images will receive prizes and recognition of their entries in several categories including regional, people's choice and special mentions in the four thematic areas. The 2015 contest received more than 3,300 entries from photographers in 77 countries. Winners were showcased by top global media outlets and viewed tens of thousands of times online.

Submit your photos >>

View the winners of the 2015 CGAP Photo Contest here.

CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) is a global partnership of 34 leading organizations that seek to advance financial inclusion. CGAP develops innovative solutions through practical research and active engagement with financial service providers, policy makers, and funders to enable approaches at scale. Housed at the World Bank, CGAP combines a pragmatic approach to responsible market development with an evidence-based advocacy platform to increase access to the financial services the poor need to improve their lives. More at www.cgap.org.

Related Links

http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7554953-cgap-annual-photo-contest/



SOURCE CGAP (The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor)
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Presidents of Turkey and Russia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin have agreed on a private meeting, said the statement made by Turkeys presidential administration following the phone conversation between the two presidents June 29.

During the phone conversation, Erdogan and Putin emphasized the importance of normalizing the relations between Russia and Turkey.

The relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after the Su-24 bomber incident. Following the incident, Russia's President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on taking measures for ensuring the country's national security and special economic measures against Turkey.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter of condolences to Russias President Vladimir Putin June 27 over the death of Russian Su-24 pilot and expressed regret over the incident.

Erdogan said Turkey "shares the pain of the downed Su-24 pilot's death with his family" and "sees it as Turkey's pain".

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Development of an effective CX strategy is key to keeping pace with customers and meeting your brand promise, says Frost & Sullivan's Customer Experience Management team

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Business leaders in today's competitive environment recognize that the market has become a level playing field, as all companies have their people, processes and products in place. Furthermore, few actions can differentiate a product or price to stop customers from switching to competitors. Thus, business leaders must understand the importance of customer experience. In the next five years, customer experience will drive loyalty and become the key to deciding a business's fate.

Frost & Sullivan tackles this dilemma with its latest program, Customer Experience Management. The program aims to address business challenges by identifying growth roadmaps, while also supporting businesses to stay focused and aligned to customers and ever changing market dynamics.

For more information on Frost & Sullivan's Customer Experience Management program, please visit: http://frost.ly/j0

As customer experience becomes a major growth driver, companies can truly depend on it to drive customer loyalty and surpass competition. Consumers prefer to do business with a customer-centric company, eventually becoming brand ambassadors. However, customers also maintain a readiness to switch companies as a result of poor customer experience, thus showcasing the impact of rising customer satisfaction and its significance on bottom-line improvement and top-line growth.

"Customer experience plays a pivotal role in business sustenance in a competitive world, as it can address three key business objectives; acquiring new customers, retaining existing customer and regaining lost customers," said Frost & Sullivan Principal Consultant Bijuraj Sarangi. "The more differentiated your customer experience is, the more you are going to gain on these three objectives."

Although customer experience holds an immense amount of weight, digital innovation and Mega Trends in the space are currently altering the customer engagement equation like never before. Other challenges include:

Revenue growth

Operational excellence

Customer experience culture

Differentiation through innovation

Providing consistent customer engagement

"Transforming customer experience is not an easy task. Taking customer relationship to the next level and driving superior customer experience requires sound understanding of the external drivers shaping customer preferences, innovation and differentiation in customer engagement, as well as internal capabilities to meet customer demands," stated Sarangi. "A CX strategy linking both external market understanding and internal capability enablement can help businesses address strategic as well as operational challenges and enable right experience for the end customers."

Learn more about Frost & Sullivan's Customer Experience Management offerings here (http://ww2.frost.com/consulting/customer-experience/customer-experience-management/).

Survive and Thrive in an Unpredictable Future! Schedule a Growth Strategy Dialog to discuss your strategic growth development and discover growth opportunities impacting your business, here: http://frost.ly/pr

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.

The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation.

provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation. The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?

Contact:

Jaylon Brinkley

Corporate Communications  North America

P: 210.247.2481

F: 210.348.1003

E: jaylon.brinkley@frost.com

http://www.frost.com

Related Links

http://www.frost.com



SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
JAKARTA, Indonesia, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Eddy Logam was appointed chairman of Indonesia's Shipbuilding & Offshore Association (Iperindo) five months before Joko "Jokowi" Widodo officially took the country's highest office in October 2014.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121014/HK92339LOGO-d

The coincidence proved to be extremely valuable as Iperindo's Chairman is fully in line with President Jokowi's mission of building Indonesia into a maritime power.

A quarter billion people living across some 17,000 islands indeed make Indonesia the world's most densely populated archipelagic nation, while shipbuilding in the country dates back to the 1600s.

In fact President Jokowi knew he would face a steep path when he detailed his maritime vision during his October 2014 inauguration speech. But the president had found a perfect ally in Eddy Logam who, in May 2014, declared in an interview with The Business Times his mission as Iperindo's then incoming chairman: "God created Indonesia as an archipelago and it is God's will that Indonesia will develop into a maritime nation."

Almost two years on, Indonesia is on the right path to fulfill that vision. In a recent move in this direction, Iperindo has officially declared its full support to Marintec Indonesia - held in Jakarta during 23-25 November 2016 - the leading business event and learning platform for the Maritime Industry in Indonesia. Organized by UBM Indonesia, Marintec will gather over 150 local and international companies which will share technology, insight and create real growth opportunities for Indonesia and the region.

ABOUT the organizer

Owned by UBM plc listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organiser in Asia and the largest commercial organizer in China, India and Malaysia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the US, UBM Asia has a strong global network of 31 offices and 1,300 staff in 24 major cities. We operate in 20 market sectors with 230 exhibitions and conferences, 21 trade publications, 18 online products for over 2,000,000 quality exhibitors, visitors, conference delegates, advertisers and subscribers from all over the world. www.ubmasia.com

For more information contact:

Abdi Fajrin

+62-21-2930-5959

Abdi.Fajrin@ubm.com

Related Links

http://www.ubmasia.com



SOURCE UBM Asia
LONDON and VIENNA, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Muntons PLC, a leading award-winning global player in the food and drinks industry and Janus Worldwide, the trusted Translation, Localization & QA Services company, have teamed up to take the Muntons brand and extensive range of beer, wine and cider making kits to a global audience.

Muntons' passion for malt and fine beers, wines and ciders knows no boundaries, exporting more than 50% of its production. When it comes to selling globally Muntons put their trust in Janus Worldwide to provide them with localized global content to boost sales across Europe and Asia.

"Our goal when working with clients is to provide an unrivalled level of service, through client engagement, innovation and quality. We engaged with Muntons via the Janus Partnership Program, allowing Muntons to benefit by driving down the cost of translation and reducing time to market" Said Steve Higgins, Director of Business Development at Janus.

"It is imperative that the Muntons brand is communicated perfectly, our customers have high expectations, we need to connect with them in the right context, with the right message" said Joanna Perry, Marketing & Creative Manager at Muntons PLC. "The Janus Translation Management System, Subject Matter Experts and automated QA allow us to deliver on those expectations around the world."

About Janus Worldwide

Janus have a 20 year history in the translation & localization services market, founded back in 1996 we have 10 global office locations employing 200+ employees. Janus is amongst the top language service providers in the world and recognized as been Top 35 largest LSP's in Western Europe by the Common Sense Advisory. We are proud to be ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 17100:2015 certified and our clients are supported by our operations centre in the UK and Czech Republic. Let Janus take your company to a global audience. Visit Janus Worldwide or click to contact us.

About Muntons PLC

Muntons are a leading global player in the supply of malts, malt extracts, flours and flakes and many other malted ingredients relevant to the food and drinks industry exporting around half of its production. In addition Muntons also manufacture an extensive range of beer, wine and cider making kits, which are also sold globally. Use our website to discover more about our extensive range of malts/malted ingredients and the benefits that Muntons products can bring.

Steve Higgins

Director, Business Development

UK Mobile: +44-(0)7914-925246

Email: s.higgins@janusww.com

Web: http://www.janusww.com



SOURCE Muntons PLC and Janus Worldwide
NEW YORK, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Omnicom Health Group today announced that it is creating DDB Health. The new network combines several US and European professional healthcare agencies to form a dedicated, integrated healthcare network. Building on the group's global depth of medical and healthcare experiencecombined with DDB's creative heritageDDB Health is being founded to help clients use creativity as a force for good health.

According to Ed Wise, CEO of Omnicom Health Group, "DDB's creative heritage is world class. Align this with proven healthcare talenttalent that's helping clients innovate and grow through creativity and technologyand we have something powerful."

The newly formed DDB Health unites AgencyRx and Flashpoint Medica, two award-winning professional Omnicom Health Group agencies, into a US-based unit with offices in New York and San Francisco. In addition, DDB Health brings global scale, marrying the talents of DDB Health Germany, DDB Health Paris, and Synergy, a global medical education offering with offices in London and Philadelphia. DDB Health will also partner with other DDB offerings and agencies worldwide.

Josh Prince has been named CEO.

"Bill Bernbach, one of the founders of DDB, said you have to stand for something. DDB Health will stand for using creative as a force for good health," said Prince. "We have incredible, inventive healthcare people in the agencies we're bringing together. We have a real digital-first outlook, and the work to show for it. We have brave clients that are innovators in their own right, making important, life-changing therapies. Together, we can solve complex problems for doctors, patients, and brands."

Chuck Brymer, CEO of DDB Worldwide, pointed to consumer health as a key area for collaboration. "People everywhere are having their say on health. And we've helped influence that with work like our groundbreaking campaign for HPV vaccination. We're looking forward to partnering with Josh and his team to leverage DDB's consumer expertise across our entire global network."

Prince has tapped Jennie Fischette as President of DDB Health in the US. "Jennie is a proven leader and a great steward of client business and trust," said Prince. "I know this firsthand from working with her several years ago within the Omnicom network." Michael Schreiber will serve as DDB Health's US Executive Creative Director, and Nicole Johnson will serve as Managing Director for DDB Health's San Francisco office. Rounding out this new leadership team will be the talents of CEO Stefanie Durnberger who will lead DDB Health Germany, and Pascal Douek, Managing Director to head DDB Health Paris as President. Gareth Evans will serve as CEO of Synergy UK, and Barbara Mische as President, Synergy US.

"We have a superb and diverse leadership team," noted Prince, "and I love how it aligns with DDB's 'Talent Has No Gender' mission. Jennie and Ialong with our other global leadersare determined to make this a priority at DDB Health."

In addition to his role as CEO of DDB Health, Prince will also serve as Chief Marketing Officer of Omnicom Health Group. Prince was formerly President of the CDM Group (Cannes Lions Health 2015 Healthcare Network of the Year), where he shaped culture, direction and work for twenty-nine years. He also co-founded HealthWork, an award-winning DTC joint venture between BBDO and CDM. In 2015, Prince was named Industry Person of the Year by Med Ad News, and served as the 2016 Jury President, Health & Wellness, for Cannes Lions Health.

About DDB Health

DDB Health (www.ddbhealth.com), part of the Omnicom Health Group, is a global network of healthcare communications companies dedicated to helping clients use creativityand creative technologyas a force for good health. Through deep insight into customers, channels, and behavior, DDB Health creates meaningful change on behalf of important healthcare brands.

About Omnicom Health Group

Omnicom Health Group (www.omnicomhealthgroup.com) is a global collective of communications companies with more than 3,200 dedicated healthcare communications specialists. It provides marketing services to the health and life-science industries through a combination of specialized agencies, customized client solutions, and collaborations with other Omnicom network agencies. Organized around four customer groupshealthcare professionals, patients, payers, and medical, evidence and regulatory stakeholdersOmnicom Health Group serves more than 100 clients in over 55 offices worldwide.

About Omnicom Group Inc.

Omnicom Group (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries. Follow us on Twitter for the latest news.

Related Links

http://www.omnicomgroup.com



SOURCE Omnicom Group
LONDON, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

- T-Systems wraps five London double-decker buses

- Giant IP address 'teaser' to attract IT executives along the routes



T-Systems Limited, Deutsche Telekom's business customer arm, has launched its first ever London bus advertising campaign.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160628/384211 )



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160628/384212 )



The first of five London buses, which have been wrapped with a giant IP address, started circulating on the number 21 bus route on Friday 10th June. The other four buses started circulating throughout the week of 13th June. The advertising campaign will last for six weeks.

The advertising features a giant IP address and is a "teaser campaign" aimed at intriguing IT executives that live and work along the routes to investigate by entering the IP address into their smart phones. The address leads to a T-Systems micro-site: https://www.de-risked.com/mor/, which offers visitors information about taking the risk out of digital transformation.

T-Systems' head of marketing, Ed English, said: "A giant IP address won't mean much the majority of Londoners, but it will stand out for IT execs. It is an unusual strategy, but we hope it will cut through the confusion of advertising messages out there and speak directly to our target market."

The first T-Systems wrapped London bus on the number 21 bus route on Friday 10th June, 2016.

About T-Systems

T-Systems offers small, medium-sized and multinational companies ICT solutions for an increasingly complex digital world. In addition to services from the cloud, the range of services is centered around M2M and security solutions, complementary mobile communications and fixed network products, and solutions for virtual collaboration and IT platforms, all of which forms the basis for our customers' digital business models.

With approximately 47,800 employees worldwide, T-Systems generated revenue of around EUR 8,6 billion in the 2014 financial year.

For further information please contact Kelso Consulting (http://www.kelsopr.com ) at maio@kelsopr.com and on +44(0)20-7242-2286.

SOURCE T-Systems Ltd
NEW YORK, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Rising Sales of Consumer Electronics, Increasing Smart City Projects and Growing Focus on Smart Building Concept to Drive Sensors Market in the United States Through 2021

According to TechSci Research report, "United States Sensors Market By Type, By Application, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021', the sensors market in the United States is projected to grow at a CAGR of more than 7% during 2016-2021, due to increasing number of users of smart devices, growing adoption of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) based micro-machine sensors, rising market acceptance of smart pressure sensors, and growing adoption of sensors in diverse applications. Growing smart vehicles market and rising adoption of sensors by automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) is also propelling demand for sensors from the automotive sector in the United States. Rising demand for sensors from the automotive segment in the country is also being supported by implementation of regulations that mandate used of specific sensors in vehicles.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140117/663730 )



United States Vehicle Sales, By Volume, 2010-2015 (Million Units)

Sales (in Million Year Units) 2010 11.77 2011 13.04 2012 14.79 2013 15.88 2014 16.52 2015 17.47

Source: Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles (OICA)

Browse 52 market data Tables and 45 Figures spread through 180 Pages and an in-depth TOC on

"United States Sensors Market"

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/united-states-sensor-market-by-type-touch-sensors-image-sensors-pressure-sensors-motion-sensors-etc-and-by-application-consumer-electronics-healthcare-automotive-etc-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/711.html

Touch sensors dominated the United States sensors market in 2015, followed by image sensors, temperature sensors and position sensors. Growing adoption of sensors by smart device manufactures coupled with increasing demand for high quality images is driving the demand for sensors across different application segments including consumer electronics, automotive, defense, healthcare, etc. Few of the major players operating in the United States sensors market include InvenSense Inc., ST Microelectronics, Microchip Technology, and ALPS Electronic. Western region was the largest regional market for sensors in the United States, followed by Southern and North East regions. Cities such as Washington, New Mexico, California, and Hawaii, are the major demand generators for sensors in the Western region.

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"United States has the second highest number of smartphone and tablet users across the globe. In 2015, the country had around 190.50 million and 158.80 million smartphone and tablet users, respectively. Rising use of touch sensors and image sensors in smart handheld devices is witnessing a continuing upsurge. Moreover, increasing adoption of different types of sensors in consumer electronics, growing smart building concept, rising investment on research and development, coupled with technology advancements is expected to boost demand for sensors in the US over the next five years.", said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.

"United States Sensors Market By Type, By Application, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021" has evaluated the future growth potential of the United States sensors market and provides statistics and information on market size, consumer behaviour and trends. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes emerging trends along with essential drivers, challenges and opportunities in the United States sensors market.

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http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/india-sensors-market-forecast-and-opportunities-2020/402.html

United States Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020

http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/united-states-augmented-reality-and-virtual-reality-market-forecast-and-opportunities-2020/452.html

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SAN FRANCISCO, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- At the beginning of the 20th century, the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein proposed a landmark physics theory  the theory of relativity. More than 100 years, the theory of relativity not only opened up a new era in physics research, but also is important in many fields especially in astrophysical applications. In the 21st century, the theory of relativity is still an active research topic in the fundamental physics. However, the debate of the theory of relativity has never stopped for the past 100 years.

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Tsao Chang is a Chinese American born in 1942. In 1980, thanks to Chinese Reform, Chang had the fortune to have the help from Yaobang Hu, the General Secretary of the Communist Party. Because of his personal endorsement, Chang visited the United States as a visiting scholar for advanced study for nearly two years. A few years later after Chang came back to China, he was invited by two universities as visiting professor in the United States, and then engaged in space physics research at the University of Alabama. In 2013, Chang was invited by as a foreign visiting professor.

In China and in the United States, Professor Chang has taught classes such as Electrodynamics and Modern Physics, and he has published more than 30 research papers. Chang is an expert in Superluminal research. His first paper in this area was "A New Approach to Study the Superluminal Motion," which is published in 1979. In the paper, he introduced a type of time that is generalized Galilean Transformation. When using this definition of time, the arrow of time is always positive when observing a superluminal particle in any inertial system. Thus, it overcomes the difficulty of backward in time in the Superluminal theory. In an international academic conference in 1985, Chang predicted that the neutrinos are Superluminal particles. In 2000, he collaborated with a senior Professor G-J.Ni of Fudan University to conduct research in a quantum equation of Superluminal neutrinos.

After decades of research, Chang's research on superluminal motion has got a significant experimental breakthrough. In February 2015, Chang published a paper: "Measurement of Time Delay of Alternating Electric Field in Wires" on an open access journal Modern Physics with graduate student K. Liao and Dr. Jing Fan. They published three more papers later. The latest research paper was published in November 2015, which has a title: "The Speed of Alternating Electricity Can Be 20 Times Faster than the Speed of Light."

According to the result of the experiment, Chang pointed out that AC power generates the electromotive force, and then produces the alternating potential difference as well as the longitudinal electric field in the circuit. The alternating electric field leads the movement of electrons in metal wires, and it also generates the electricity and electric power. The speed of alternating electricity is not constant; which is associated with circuit parameters. In most cases, the speed of alternating electricity is slower than the speed of light. However, under the condition of specific circuit parameters, the speed of alternating electricity can exceed the speed of light more than 20 times. That is to say, alternating electricity may transmit signals and electric power faster than light in wires, and the speed of light is not the limit of all motion of matter.

Chang's conclusion is obtained by experiments. In regards to the method of experiment, he said, "this experiment is very simple, and easy to repeat. The advantage of the experiment is that the result is stable." At the same time, he pointed out that this experiment has some specific conditions as follows:

First of all, the total length of the single copper wire is less than 10 meters; Secondly, the length between wires of the circuit loop is less than 3 meters, and the circuit's distributed capacitance can be ignored; third, the operating frequency of alternating electrics signals is selected less than 3MHz. The lower the operating frequency, the better the results. Forth, the circuit adopts a large resistance and micro current. The resistance is 1M, thus the impedance of the circuit is mismatching.

Chang said: "It is in the particular conditions above, our experiments found that the electric signal is 20 times faster than the speed of light in the wire." Although people use all kinds of electrical circuits every day, it is lack in the study of the speed of electric signals in the above conditions. Chang believes that longitudinal alternating electric field could transmit signal and energy wires with a speed faster than light, and it has been neglected for a long time in the physics. In electric circuits, alternating electric signals is neither an electromagnetic transverse wave, nor longitudinal wave. The alternating electric field signal and the electricity is the "longitudinal synchronous vibration," which is electric field in wires drives the electron to have vibration.

For this experiment, some scholars have raised another question: what is the substance in this superluminal experiment? Chang answered: there are two forms of the substance in nature. One is corporeal substance with rest mass, such as electrons, atoms, molecular and so on; the other one is invisible substance without rest mass  ether (namely physical vacuum, characterized by physical fields). Modern physics has admitted that the vacuum is not empty, so rather than admit that "physical vacuum" is "medium" we may admit that ether is an invisible substance. "For this experiment, the substance is the mainly electric field inside wires (electric field is potential difference of unit length; electric potential difference is also known as voltage), the speed of an alternating electricity is determined by the electric field within the wire. The electric field drives the electron in the wire, and generated the power."

Chang also pointed out that the starting point of the experiment is the voltage equation for resistance-inductance (RL) AC circuit, in which contains the Ohm's law. Ohm's law is independent from Maxwell equations, so that it doesn't obey the Lorentz Transformation. Chang believes that Special Relativity is not suitable for electric circuit. Only few people noticed that Ohm's law doesn't obey Lorentz Transformation in the circuit, and it is not mentioned in textbooks. However, this is indeed an important issue because we are using electric equipment every day. If the theory of relativity is not applicable to the circuit, then the scope of relativity is very limited. Therefore, under certain conditions, it is reasonable that the alternating electrical signals have superluminal phenomenon.

Dr. Jing Fan repeated the experiment conducted by Chang and Liao in the laboratory of Nanyang Institute of Technology. He commented that: First we need to make sure the correct measurement of the experiment, and then discuss the correctness of the theory. We cannot confuse two discussions. According to the repeated measurement by Jing Fan, he pointed out that there is no doubt with the experiment measurement. Nowadays, the oscilloscope's time resolution can be easily reached 0.5 ns. Some people think that a difference of tens of nanoseconds is the concept of the last century. Fan pointed out that the experimental results and the circuit theory are fully consistent, and there's nothing to be surprised. Circuit theory can be clearly calculate the inductance and capacitance of the phase shift, and the phase shift in our experiment is due to the alternating electrical signal caused by inductance of the wire with a certain length. In other words, the measurement of the time difference in the experiment is caused by the inductance of the wire. Circuit theory has been verified over hundred years, and it can be seen as an absolute truth. However, some people tried to cover circuit theory with theory of transmission lines, and that is not correct.

For the circuit experiment in the laboratory, the circuit experts often use the lumped element model. This circuit model does not calculate the wire length. Chang pointed out that actually it implied an assumption that the lumped element model does not consider wire length. Then the speed of alternating electrical signals in the wire is assumed infinite. Thus, Chang's experimental results show that the speed of alternating electrical signals in the wire is faster than 20 times of light under certain conditions. The result is not only reasonable, but also improves the lumped element model.

Chang acknowledges that Einstein is a great scientist. On the other side, any physics theory has its scope of application. Any theory should not be seen as a truth without limits. Chang said: "It is important to emphasize that the theoretical formula we used in our experiment is a basic formula of circuit theory, and it is independent from Maxwell's equations. Therefore, the speed of alternating electric field in wires is not relevant to the speed of electromagnetic wave. The speed of near field electromagnetic induction can be superluminal. For a length of 6 meters wire, the light transmission time is 20 nanoseconds. We have measured 1 nanosecond time difference in the experiment, and we thank to the modern oscilloscope technology in 21st century."

This superluminal experiment has been repeated in more than 5 laboratories worldwide.

From human's daily activities, we know that time is uni-directional, it represents the order of all movement in the universe. It is an axiom that time is un-idirectional, and it has nothing to do with human activity.

From the perspective of quantification of physics, time is a more basic physical quantity than the speed of light. The definition of time in relativity is not the only definition in physics.

Since this is an original experiment, and it has great scientific significance, Chang and his partners hope to work with circuit experts and electromagnetism experts furthermore. They are also calling to China's scientific community, asking the qualified labs to do more tests, and paying more attention on this original experiment.

This article is translated from a report of "The Newspaper of Chinese Science and Technology":

http://www.zgkjxww.com/kjxw/1461723158.html

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SOURCE China Physics News
COLUMBUS, Ga., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac, the leading provider of voluntary insurance sales at the worksite in the United States, today announced results from the 2016 Aflac WorkForces Report, revealing how millennials are more likely to embrace a nontraditional approach to pay their medical expenses compared to older generations. They also are more likely than non-millennial generations to regularly underestimate the total cost of health care issues.

The online study, conducted by Lightspeed GMI on behalf of Aflac between January and February 2016, surveyed 1,500 benefits decision-makers and 5,000 employees at small, medium and large companies from across the United States.

"Employer-sponsored health care coverage is essential for employees," Aflac Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Matthew Owenby said. "But as costs continue to rise, the younger generations appear more likely to tackle health care-related financial issues by means that older generations would not consider, including crowdfunding."

Millennials willing to consider options for covering medical costs

In the midst of rising health care expenses, the Aflac study revealed that millennials (ages 18 to 36) are more likely than non-millennial generations to regularly underestimate the total cost of an injury or illness, including medical, household and out-of-pocket costs (66 percent vs. 45 percent). And 65 percent say if they had an unexpected out-of-pocket expense, they could afford less than $1,000. They are also more inclined than older generations to try unconventional means such as borrowing from friends or family and crowdsourcing to pay for out-of-pocket health care expenses.

"Millennials' resourcefulness in trying alternate means to cover health care costs illustrates their deep concern for financial safety in the event of an unexpected injury or illness." Owenby said. "But the bottom line is that they tend to be both financially strapped and less aware of the potential costs of an accident or illness. We need to do a better job in educating them about how voluntary insurance can provide solutions for those who are looking to avoid a crippling debt."

Voluntary insurance helps boost employee satisfaction

Although health care reform may have helped expand access to affordable health care, out-of-pocket costs can still be substantial. For example, the out-of-pocket limits for 2017 are $7,150 for individual coverage and $14,300 for family coverage, making added insurance protection like voluntary insurance increasingly relevant to help pay out-of-pocket costs.

Voluntary insurance includes coverage such as accident, disability, critical illness, hospital and much more. Unlike major medical insurance, voluntary insurance policies pay cash directly to the policyholder, unless otherwise assigned, when they are sick or injured to help cover unexpected out-of-pocket costs. Nearly 4 in 5 employees (79 percent) see a growing need for voluntary insurance today compared to last year. And of those, 60 percent say it's driven by the rising cost of medical services.

Employees who were offered voluntary benefits options at work reported higher levels of satisfaction with their jobs and their benefits. Compared to employees who aren't offered these benefits, employees whose worksite offered voluntary benefits are more likely to say:

They are prepared 1 to pay for out-of-pocket expenses not covered by major medical/health insurance related to an unexpected serious illness or accident (73 percent vs. 56 percent).

to pay for out-of-pocket expenses not covered by major medical/health insurance related to an unexpected serious illness or accident (73 percent vs. 56 percent). They are extremely or very satisfied with their jobs (73 percent vs. 57 percent).

"Whether employees are creating a crowdfunding page or saddling themselves with credit card debt, one thing is clear: No one group, whether millennials or older generations, is adequately prepared for a potential health care crisis," Owenby said. "A robust benefits package that includes major medical and voluntary insurance is more important than ever to ensure workers are financially secure. It will not only help provide peace of mind, but also will help workers continue to serve as significant contributors in the workplace."

About the Aflac WorkForces Report

The 2016 Aflac WorkForces Report is the sixth annual Aflac study examining benefits trends and attitudes. The study, conducted by Lightspeed GMI, captures responses from 1,500 benefits decision-makers and 5,000 employees across the U.S. in various industries. To learn more, visit AflacWorkForcesReport.com.

Methodology

Conducted by Lightspeed GMI on behalf of Aflac, the research contained two components  employer research and employee research. The Employer Survey was conducted online within the United States between Jan. 11, 2016, and Feb. 11, 2016, among 1,500 benefits decision-makers at companies with at least three employees. Results were weighted to enable year-over-year trending. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology is available.

The Employee Survey was conducted online within the United States between Jan. 20, 2016, and Feb. 3, 2016, among 5,000 adults ages 18 and older who are employed full or part time at a company with three or more employees and are not retired. Results were weighted to match U.S. demographics. No theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology is available.

About Lightspeed GMI

Lightspeed GMI is an award-winning global digital data collection enterprise. Founded in 1996, its innovative technology and proven sampling methodologies deliver operational excellence throughout the online research process. With more than 5.5 million online research respondents in 45 countries, Lightspeed GMI's proprietary panels deliver unparalleled quality, capacity and targeting. Headquartered in Warren, New Jersey, Lightspeed GMI is part of the Kantar, the data investment management arm of WPP, the world leader in marketing communication services. For more information, visit www.lightspeedgmi.com.

About Aflac

When a policyholder gets sick or hurt, Aflac pays cash benefits fast. For six decades, Aflac insurance policies have given policyholders the opportunity to focus on recovery, not financial stress. In the United States, Aflac is the leading provider of voluntary insurance at the worksite. Through its trailblazing One Day PaySM initiative, Aflac U.S. can receive, process, approve and disburse payment for eligible claims in one business day. In Japan, Aflac is the leading provider of medical and cancer insurance and insures 1 in 4 households. Aflac individual and group insurance products help provide protection to more than 50 million people worldwide. For 10 consecutive years, Aflac has been recognized by Ethisphere as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies. In 2016, Fortune magazine recognized Aflac as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for the 18th consecutive year and included Aflac on its list of Most Admired Companies for the 15th time, ranking the company No. 1 in innovation for the insurance, life and health category for the second consecutive year. In 2015, Aflac's contact centers were recognized by J.D. Power by providing "An Outstanding Customer Service Experience" for the Live Phone Channel. Aflac Incorporated is a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFL. To find out more about Aflac and One Day PaySM, visit aflac.com or espanol.aflac.com.

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Media contact  Jon Sullivan, 706.763.4813 or [email protected]

Analyst and investor contact  Robin Y. Wilkey, 706.596.3264 or 800.235.2667, FAX: 706.324.6330, or [email protected]

1 Respondents who indicated they are somewhat, very, or extremely prepared.

SOURCE Aflac

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DOHA, Qatar, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Al Jazeera's Washington, D.C. bureau chief, Abderrahim Foukara, conducted an interview with Ben Rhodes, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting in President Obama's Administration, during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit ("GES") in Silicon Valley, which concluded on Friday. Al Jazeera was the international broadcasting partner to GES. Highlights of the interview, focused on the war in Syria, appear below.

The 14-minute interview will air in full on the Al Jazeera Arabic program "Min Washington" on Tuesday, July 5th at 15:05 GMT and will be re-broadcast on Wednesday July 6th at 07:05 GMT and Thursday July 7th at 22:05 GMT. Additionally, excerpts are currently running on Al Jazeera's news programs in both English and Arabic, and included on AJ+, the Network's widely viewed online news platform. It will also air in full on Al Jazeera English.

On President Obama becoming increasingly resolved, after five years of war in Syria, that he will not take military action, Rhodes said:

"If we felt like there was a military option that could succeed, if we felt like there was a force, a military option that had a strong domestic and international legal basis that had a clear plan for how we were going to see it through, that could address the underlying political questions that have fueled the Syrian civil war, we would be open to that. The President has used military force in many different countries including North Africa and Libya. The fact of the matter is, it's not simply because we are concerned about the enormous resource allocations that go with that type of military action. It's because the President has not seen a plan that he believes successfully can bring an end to the conflict, and we believe ultimately that's going to need a political framework."

On calls from the region and even US diplomats who want the Obama Administration to take a more robust position regarding President Assad, Rhodes said:

"I think when you look at the specific question of how do we deal with Bashar Al Assad, it's been our long standing position that he should leave power, that any political transition has to include him departing power, that we have supported groups inside of Syria who oppose Bashar Al Assad. At the same time, we very much welcome the views expressed in that dissent cable. We have had open debates as a government for many years. The problem that we see is, we don't believe that there is a US imposed military solution that can resolve the situation in Syria."

On relations with Iran getting closer and criticism that the Obama Administration is allowing Iran to continue its influence in Syria, Rhodes commented:

"With respect to Iran, we have been very clear here that we reached an agreement that we saw as very positive but focused on one issue; the nuclear issue, and that is not a symbol of a broader rapprochement. We are actually acting in opposition to Iranian policies in many parts of the region. We do believe that the nuclear deal was worth it. And I think that even if you assign the worst intentions to the Iranians, you would want them to not have a nuclear weapon, because if you take everything that they are doing in the region today that is troubling and you put a nuclear umbrella essentially over that, that would be much more destabilizing and dangerous even in the very difficult circumstances we have today."

Highlights of Al Jazeera's Coverage at the GES

Al Jazeera was the international broadcasting partner to GES, which included, among other global future-oriented events, President Obama hosting a roundtable for entrepreneurs from around the world, including Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Al Jazeera covered these events, as part of its in-depth reporting over the course of this critical three-day, knowledge-sharing event.

Included in this reporting as well, Foukara interviewed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and AJ+ hosted its first-ever Facebook Live interview with Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel.

The interview with Secretary Kerry will air in full on "Min Washington" on Tuesday July 5th at 11:05 PM ET and will be re-broadcast on Wednesday and Thursday of that week. Additionally, excerpts are currently running on Al Jazeera's news programs in both English and Arabic, and being included on AJ+. It will also air in full on Al Jazeera English.

About Al Jazeera's "Min Washington"

Al Jazeera's "Min Washington" is a weekly roundtable show on American political and cultural affairs that offers viewers in-depth and well-informed analysis of US matters and their impact on North Africa and the Middle East. During Abderrahim Foukara's eight years as host of "Min Washington," he has interviewed a wide range of prominent U.S. politicians and public figures, including U.S. Presidential Candidate and previous Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

As previously announced, Al Jazeera intends to expand its existing international digital services to broaden its digital presence into the U.S. later this year.

ABOUT AL JAZEERA

Al Jazeera Media strives to deliver content that captivates, informs, inspires and entertains. Launched in 1996, Al Jazeera was the first independent news channel in the Arab world dedicated to providing comprehensive news and live debate. It challenged established narratives and gave a global audience an alternative voice - one that put the human being back at the centre of the news agenda - quickly making it one of the world's most influential news networks. Since then the network has added new channels and services, with more than 70 bureaus around the world and a reach into 305 million homes worldwide.

CONTACT:

Molly Morse/Anntal Silver/Elizabeth Van Every

Kekst

+1-212-521-4800

[email protected]

SOURCE Al Jazeera
SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Just in time for the Fourth of July, Edmunds.com, the leading car information and shopping network, announced its list of most patriotic cities: those with the highest share of domestic vehicles sold in the last 1,776 days. Alpena, Mich., topped the list with domestic brands accounting for 91.8 percent, while the Flint/Saginaw, Mich. area came in second at 88.4 percent. The top five is rounded out by two additional Michigan designated market areas (DMAs) -- Detroit and Traverse City -- and Glendive, Mont. Edmunds defined "domestic vehicles" as products made by the legacy Big Three Detroit-based manufacturers (Ford, General Motors, FCA) as well as Tesla.

Edmunds.com's analysis found that, even after expanding the list of most patriotic cities, Michigan DMAs occupied six of the top ten spots, reaffirming the state's position as the domestic automotive hub of the United States.

"The automotive industry has been a mainstay of the American economy and a part of the country's identity throughout history," said Edmunds.com Director of Industry Analysis Jessica Caldwell. "Identifying these cities as the 'most patriotic' based on American nameplates is our light-hearted way to recognize the legacy of these brands."

Most Patriotic Cities by Share of Domestic Vehicle Registrations

DMA Domestic Retail Share* ALPENA (Mich.) 91.8% FLINT-SAGINAW-BAY CITY (Mich.) 88.4% GLENDIVE (Mont.) 85.3% DETROIT (Mich.) 84.3% TRAVERSE CITY-CADILLAC (Mich.) 77.7% MARQUETTE (Mich.) 74.3% LANSING (Mich.) 73.2% MINOT-BISMARCKDICKINSON (N.D.) 73.0% GREAT FALLS (Mont.) 72.6% SIOUX CITY (Iowa) 71.3%

*Based on an Edmunds.com analysis of Polk registration data from July 2011  April 2016

To keep in the theme of the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, Edmunds also looked at the vehicle sales in the original 13 colonies from January to April of 2016. Delaware, the first colony to become a state, is also the most auto-patriotic, with 42.9 percent domestic vehicle share. Pennsylvania, the second colony to become a state, is also the second most auto-patriotic with 41.4 percent. Georgia came in third with 40.7 percent, and South Carolina and New Hampshire round out the top five with 39.8 percent and 39.2 percent, respectively.

More insight into how all automakers are performing can be found in our Data Center at: http://www.edmunds.com/industry-center/data/.

About Edmunds.com, Inc.

Car shopping destination Edmunds.com serves nearly 20 million visitors each month. With Edmunds.com Price Promise, shoppers can buy smarter with instant, upfront prices for cars and trucks currently for sale at 10,000 dealer franchises across the U.S. Shoppers can browse not only dealer inventory, but also vehicle reviews, shopping tips, photos, videos and feature stories on both Edmunds' wired site and on its acclaimed mobile apps. Regarded as one of the best places to work in Southern California, Edmunds.com was also named one of "The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2015 in Automotive" by Fast Company. Edmunds welcomes all car-shopping questions on its free Live Help Line at 1-855-782-4711 and [email protected], via text at ED411 and on Twitter and Facebook. The company is based in Santa Monica, Calif. and has a satellite office in downtown Detroit, Mich., but you can find Edmunds from anywhere on YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+ and Flipboard.

Contact:

Allie Zamaria

Edmunds.com Corporate Communications

www.Edmunds.com

Media Hotline: 310-309-4900

[email protected]

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SOURCE Edmunds.com

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Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

Trend:

Russias President Vladimir Putin told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that his letter created preconditions for resumption of joint work, Sputnik International reported citing the Kremlin press service.

Vladimir Putin underlined that the letter from the Turkish president created preconditions to turn the crisis page in the bilateral relations and start the process of restoring joint work on international and regional problems, as well as on the development of the entire complex of Russian-Turkish relations, said Kremlin.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter of condolences to Russias President Vladimir Putin June 27 over the death of Russian Su-24 pilot and expressed regret over the incident.

Erdogan said Turkey "shares the pain of the downed Su-24 pilot's death with his family" and "sees it as Turkey's pain".

The relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after the Su-24 bomber incident. Following the incident, Russia's President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on taking measures for ensuring the country's national security and special economic measures against Turkey.
TROY, Mich., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Now in its fourth year, the Altair Enlighten Award has received 21 global nominations for the 2016 award, with seven OEM full vehicle and fourteen supplier module submissions in all. The award which recognizes and celebrates achievements in vehicle lightweighting will be presented in collaboration with the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) at the 2016 CAR Management Briefing Seminars taking place in Traverse City, Mich. from August 1st-4th.

This year's award program added new categories to help highlight the innovative lightweighting strategies being implemented for both full vehicles and modules such as components, systems and enabling technologies to acknowledge achievements in vehicle lightweighting. Comprised of worldwide automotive experts, the awards judging committee  chaired by Dr. Jay Baron, President and CEO of CAR and Director of CAR's Coalition for Automotive Lightweighting Material (CALM)  will assess each nomination and select the overall winner.

"It is impressive to see such significant effort by the supplier community with terrific enabling technologies making a difference in advanced lightweighting," said Jay Baron, "and the competition for full vehicle nominations demonstrates just how far vehicle manufacturers have succeeded in applying new solutions throughout the vehicle to reduce weight while maintaining safety and performance."

The 2016 Enlighten Award nominees for full vehicle are:

BMW: 2016 7 Series

CSR Bus: 2016 TEG 6129 BEV

Ford Motor Company: 2017 Ford F-350 Super Duty

General Motors: 2016 Cadillac CT6

General Motors: 2017 Cadillac XT5

ISUZU: 2015 SML Bus

Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicle Ltd: Heavy Duty Truck

The 2016 Enlighten Award nominees for modules are:

Alcoa: Micromill

American Axle: Power Take Off Unit Housing

ContiTech: Rear Suspension Polymide Cross Member for Mercedes S Class

Dicastal: Honda Civic Wheel Structure Optimization

Faurecia: DecoDisplay  Smart HMI Surface

FTE: EP20 Low Pressure Oil Pump Assembly

Magna Cosma International: Jaguar Land Rover Rear Rail

Novelis: Aluminum Sheet for Ford F-Series

Pittsburgh Glass Works: Lightweight Glazing

Pranav Vikas: AC System Components

Sika Automotive: SikaPower Crash Resistance Technology

Tata Technologies: Lightweight Tipper Body

Volvo-Eicher Commercial Vehicle Ltd: Commercial Chassis

Wanfeng Meridian: 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Magnesium Inner Liftgate

"The increase in submissions coming from the OEMs for full-vehicle lightweighting will make for an exciting competition this year. I expect as we draw closer to the 2025 CAFE standards we will continue to see more dramatic weight reduction tactics implemented by OEMs," said Richard Yen, Senior Vice President of Automotive at Altair. It's also been exciting seeing the huge variety of nominations coming from suppliers who are tackling the challenge of vehicle lightweighting in such varied ways. I think 2016 will be the most competitive year in the award's history."

The Altair Enlighten Award is intended to honor the greatest achievements in weight savings each year; to inspire interest from industry, engineering, policymakers, educators, students and the public; to create further competition for new ideas in the industry; and to provide an incentive to share technological advances.

The award aligns with the goals of CAR's CALM initiative to support the cost-effective integration of mixed materials to achieve significant reductions in vehicle mass through the collaborative efforts of the material sectors and auto manufacturers.

About Altair

Altair is focused on the development and broad application of simulation technology to synthesize and optimize designs, processes and decisions for improved business performance. Privately held with more than 2,600 employees, Altair is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA and operates more than 45 offices throughout 22 countries. Today, Altair serves more than 5,000 corporate clients across broad industry segments. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com.

Media Contacts

Altair Corporate

Biba A. Bedi

+1.757.224.0548 x 406

[email protected]

Altair Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Evelyn Gebhardt

+49 6421 9684351

[email protected]

SOURCE Altair

Related Links

http://www.altair.com


PRINCETON, N.J., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ameri Holdings, Inc. ("Ameri100" or the "Company") (OTCQB: AMRH), an SAP strategy consulting firm that brings synergies of classic technology consulting and product-based technology consulting services to its customer base, today announced that it has signed a definitive share purchase agreement for the acquisition of Bigtech Software Private Limited ("Bigtech Software"), a pure-play end-to-end SAP consulting company specializing in SAP application management services and SAP project implementations.

Bigtech Software, based in Bangalore, India, further strengthens Ameri100's SAP services capabilities, offshore delivery and global presence in the Asian and Middle-Eastern markets. "This partnership is an important milestone for our company and our clients," said Giri Devanur, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ameri100. Mr. Devanur further added that, "Bigtech Software is a specialist firm in SAP services with more than 16 years of SAP expertise and has successfully executed over 250 SAP projects. By combining Bigtech's SAP implementation and SAP application management services skills with Ameri100's cloud solutions and digital SAP services, Ameri100 will be well positioned to deliver next generation solutions across all SAP services, globally."

Gopal Phadnis, co-founder of Bigtech Software, commented that, "The proven capabilities and expertise of Ameri100 will allow us to provide a broader offering to our customers in India and the Middle-East as well as expand our footprint in the U.S." Mr. Phadnis further added, "The global exposure that comes with this acquisition will help our employees enrich their capabilities and expertise." With this latest acquisition of Bigtech Software, Ameri100 continues to demonstrate the Company's commitment to strengthening its global leadership in SAP services and consulting services. The closing of this deal is subject to further legal conditions and approvals, which are expected to be completed in 90 days.

About Ameri Holdings, Inc.

Ameri Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: AMRH) is a SAP-based strategy consulting firm that brings synergies of classic consulting and product-based consulting services to its customer base. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, with offices in New York, Atlanta, Dallas, and Toronto, as well as offshore centers in Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai India, the Company is a global leader in consulting and technology solutions. The Company leverages a global partner ecosystem with deep knowledge and skills to implement great ideas that drive client progress and enhance their businesses. For further information, visit www.ameri100.com.

About Bigtech Software Private Limited

Bigtech Software Private Limited is a pure-play SAP services company providing a complete range of SAP services including turnkey implementations, application management, training and basis ABAP support. Bigtech Software has been in operation since 2000. Based in Bangalore, India, Bigtech Software offers SAP services to bring effectiveness in business operations to companies of all sizes and verticals. For further information, visit www.bigtechsoft.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements that relate to the business and expected future events or future performance of Ameri100 and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause its actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Words such as, but not limited to, "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "targets," "likely," "will," "would," "could," and similar expressions or phrases identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about Ameri100's financial and growth projections as well as statements concerning our plans, predictions, estimates, strategies, intentions, beliefs and other information concerning our business and the markets in which we operate.

Press Contact

Carlos Fernandez

100 Canal Pointe Blvd, Suite 108

Princeton, NJ 08540

Phone: (732) 243-9250

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151120/289748LOGO

SOURCE Ameri Holdings, Inc.
KANSAS CITY, Mo., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Angel investors  accredited individuals who collectively support the American startup industry with some $24 billion of capital per year  maintain diversified portfolios that represent roughly 5 percent of total held assets, with median investments of $25,000 per deal. Today, the Angel Capital Association (ACA) and Wharton Entrepreneurship at the University of Pennsylvania released these and other early insights from the ongoing "The American Angel" survey, which is designed to provide the deepest research to date into the characteristics of angel investors. The survey is open for more angels to participate.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160629/384702LOGO

Additional preliminary research findings to date:

Angels invest in nearly 16 companies over their portfolio lifetime.

Angels typically make additional (follow-on) investments in companies, with a median of three follow-on deals over time.

Angels financed a median of two companies each in 2015.

The longer angels invest, the more checks they write and the larger their portfolios. Angels who started investing in the 1970s and 1980s have written on average 45.6 checks, compared to 4.4 checks written by individuals who started angel investing in 2014 or later.

Angel investors remain positive on the early-stage market: 27 percent indicate they will increase angel investments this year, 53 percent expect to maintain their level of investment, and only 20 percent expect to decrease.

While the majority of angel investors are men more than 20 percent of respondents to date are women.

The confidential survey is open and seeking participants. It is funded by Rev1 Ventures' John Huston Fund for Angel Professionalism and is administered by Wharton Entrepreneurship, one of the world's most influential centers of entrepreneurship. The survey closes in fall 2016.

The American Angel Campaign is the first comprehensive study of U.S. angel investor demographics, including their path to investment, mindset and approach  and seeks to demystify this generally private type of investing. Most angel s funding startups are exempt from securities registration, and detailed information on investors is often not publicly available. To date, the campaign has garnered about 1,000 participants.

"The information that is emerging gives an exciting preliminary picture of how angel investors operate and support a diversified portfolio of companies," said Marianne Hudson, executive director of ACA. "We hope to attract many more participants, so that we can further solidify facts about angels and how critical they are to the job-creating universe of early-stage companies."

ACA believes these insights will be essential to strengthening and growing the startup ecosystem, and will assist the association in its efforts to address issues impacting startups and investors with regulators, legislators and economic development entities. All active, accredited angels are encouraged to take this short, confidential survey which will also help dispel or confirm many long-held assumptions about angel investing.

Laura Huang, assistant professor of management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, is leading the research effort and administration of the survey. "What we are seeing is real data never before available at such depth that identifies angels as skilled, tenacious and diversified investors who bring significant professional experience and business expertise to their investment approach," said Huang. "We hope to obtain thousands of additional respondents over the next few months to ensure this data continues to provide illumination into the mindset of this investor."

Angels who take the survey will gain early access to the complete results and report and also be eligible for drawings. For more information and to take the survey, visit TheAmericanAngel.org.

About the Angel Capital Association (ACA)

As the voice of the angel investors, ACA offers professional development, public policy advocacy and significant benefits and resources to its membership of more than 13,000 accredited investors, who invest individually or through its 240 angel groups accredited platforms and family office members. Since its founding in 2005, ACA has built the world's largest collective of angels across North America, and aligns like-minded angels to build their early-stage investment skills and share innovative ideas and practices. More information is available at: ACA events and Forbes and Inc. columns, and at www.angelcapitalassociation.org @ACAAngelCapital; #TheAmericanAngel.

About the Wharton School and Wharton Entrepreneurship

Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. With a broad global community and one of the most published business school faculties, Wharton creates economic and social value around the world. The School has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 9,000 participants in executive education programs annually and a powerful alumni network of 94,000 graduates.

Wharton Entrepreneurship is widely considered one the most influential Centers of entrepreneurship in the world. The Wharton School was the first to develop a fully integrated curriculum of entrepreneurial studies in 1973. Today the Goergen Entrepreneurial Management Program, named in honor of Wharton alumnus and benefactor, Robert Goergen WG'62, is one of the largest entrepreneurial teaching programs available, offering more than 20 courses to some 2,000 students and entrepreneurs. The faculty of over 20 professors and practitioners teach courses for undergraduate and graduate students and guide initiatives for entrepreneurs. http://entrepreneurship.wharton.upenn.edu/.

About Rev1 Ventures and the John Huston Fund for Angel Professionalism

The John Huston Fund for Angel Professionalism was created in recognition of John Huston, founder and former leader of Ohio TechAngel Funds (OTAF) in Columbus, Ohio. This fund supports research and educational activities to promote angel investing best practices in partnership with the Angel Capital Association (ACA). John and OTAF were founding members of ACA. Rev1 Ventures is a seed-stage venture development organization that combines investment capital and strategic services to help entrepreneurs build products people want and companies that succeed. www.rev1ventures.com.

Contacts:

Cheryl Isen, Media Relations for Angel Capital Association

425-222-0779 or Email

Peter Winicov, Director, Media Relations for the Wharton School

215-746-6471 or Email

SOURCE Angel Capital Association

Related Links

http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org


LOS ANGELES, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Belkin and Hudson Group today announced Belkin's first foray into a brick and mortar retail space in the highly trafficked and newly renovated Terminal 6 at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The store will feature a charging station and the Belkin line of must-have tablet and smartphone accessories like chargers and cables, screen protectors and more, to ensure that no one has to board a flight without a fully charged and protected device.

Belkin And Hudson Group Introduce The First-Ever Belkin Retail Store At LAX Airport In Newly Renovated Terminal 6

As the first brick-and-mortar store for Belkin in an International airport, the store opening marks a milestone for the company that has been a part of the Los Angeles business community for more than 30 years. The Belkin store at LAX opened in May 2016 and is already serving busy commuters with all their travel needs.

"With the opening of our first retail store at LAX, we are excited to introduce the world to the latest Belkin products in one place," said Erik Burgers, director of sales, Belkin. "LAX is a major international travel hub, which made it the ideal destination for a Belkin store. As we continue to innovate in the accessories market, this outpost will be a great place for consumers to stock up on the latest chargers and other travel must-haves to power and protect all of their mobile devices."

Just this year, Terminal 6 at LAX underwent a renovation, adding restaurants Blu2o, Osteria by Fabio Viviani, Starbucks Evenings, The Habit Burger Grill, The Marketplace by Wolfgang Puck, and Wahoo's Fish Taco. The Belkin store is located next to Mac Cosmetics and open from 6 a.m.  12 a.m. daily.

"Hudson Group has increased the amount of in-store space for electronics consistently each year for the past four years," said John Bradley, merchandising, Hudson Group. "Consumer electronics accessories are a big seller across the board  especially charging and device protection products. With airport officials predicting a record of 24.5 million passengers passing through the airport this summer, it's the perfect time to collaborate with Belkin to open a stand-alone storefront in one of the busiest terminals at LAX. We look forward to helping customers and being the traveler's best friend."

About Belkin

Belkin makes people-inspired products that harness the power of technology to connect people and the experiences they love. The Belkin award-winning product lines include Valet Charge Dock for Apple Watch + iPhone, QODE keyboards, and a broad range of cable and power products. The Company's product offerings are designed to create a personal, efficient and enjoyable experience for people to use technology, whether they are at home, school, work or on the go. A privately held company founded in 1983, Belkin has more than 1,500 employees in more than 30 countries around the world.

To learn more about Belkin visit http://www.belkin.com/aboutus/. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/belkin, and follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/belkin.

About Hudson Group

Hudson Group, the largest travel retailer in North America, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of international travel retailer Dufry AG (DUFN) of Basel, Switzerland. Hudson Group operates over 950 Hudson, Hudson News, Hudson Booksellers, cafes, specialty retail and duty free shops in 83 airports and transportation terminals in the United States and Canada, and operates in 24 of the top 25 airports nationally. Dufry operates over 2,200 stores in more than 60 countries and 370 locations, including airports and transportation terminals around the world.

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SOURCE Belkin

Related Links

http://www.belkin.com


HAMILTON, Bermuda, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

On 16 June 2016, I made a statement to the people of Bermuda, following the unjust and unwarranted arrest of Dr Mahesh Reddy, Chief Medical Officer at my healthcare company Bermuda Healthcare Services.

This good and honourable man, who has provided many years of devoted service to the Bermudian people, has been unfairly dragged into a five year investigation by the Police aimed at discrediting me. This investigation has cost millions of dollars of Bermudian taxpayers' money. This is disgraceful behaviour on the part of the Police.

Dr Reddy's lawyers are challenging both the unlawful arrest and the raid on his home by the Police and are seeking monetary compensation and an apology.

The Police now concede that this long investigation, based on nothing more than an unchallenged court statement in 2011 from the convicted Mr. David Bolden, has uncovered nothing.

Dr Reddy has told me that he has suffered attempts by law enforcement directly and openly to intimidate him into implicating me criminally by detaining him and saying that he would be released if he "gives me up".

It is only reasonable that after five years, the Governor or the Police should be able to say whether Mr. Bolden's statements were ever substantiated or if they will lead to any charges against me. Why has the Minister allegedly involved not been named or charged?

Now they have sought to prolong this investigation by making false allegations against my medical practice and harassing my associates.

I call upon the Governor and the Bermudian prosecutors to tell me on what grounds this desperate investigation can be allowed to continue after so many years of fruitless inaction and when the Police have tried to illegally harass a colleague in order to get to me.

It is time for them to stop this damaging and unwarranted campaign of harassment.

SOURCE Bermuda Healthcare Services
KIRKLAND, Wash., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BitTitan, the leader in cloud services enablement, today announced its platinum sponsorship of the 2016 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) July 10-14 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada. At the event, BitTitan will demo its comprehensive MSP cloud services enablement platform, MSPComplete, and lead a number of sessions to educate partners on how to open the door to new and recurring cloud revenues as modern managed service providers (MSPs).

Throughout the show, BitTitan will be offering live demos at its booth (#1501), displaying the tools and resources offered by MSPComplete, which empowers IT service providers to sell more cloud services, onboard more cloud workloads, and maximize customer lifetime value. To request a time to chat with a BitTitan expert, register here.

A series of fun and philanthropic activities will also take place. In lieu of tchotchkes that usually get trashed after a show, BitTitan will be donating $10 to the Doctors Without Borders charity per each booth attendee, along with conducting thrice daily drawings for a cash raffle up to $1,000. Additionally, any attendee or follower who tweets their story on becoming a modern MSP using the hashtag #ModernMSP to @BitTitan will be entered to win Bose QuietControl 25 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones.

Participation at WPC 2016

BitTitan also announced company executives will be presenting on an array of topics to educate partners on how to differentiate their cloud service offerings and maintain a competitive edge. Sessions include:

Destination: Automation  Revolutionary New Product from BitTitan

Day/Time: Daily at 12:15pm ET

Location: BitTitan Booth #1501

Speaker: Geeman Yip, founder and CEO, at BitTitan

Description: BitTitan is disrupting cloud services management and giving providers unparalleled efficiency with automation. This ain't your granddad's IT service business  learn the how and why.

What Would Jethro Migrate?

Day/Time: Daily at 2:05pm ET

Location: BitTitan Booth #1501

Speaker: Jethro Seghers, MVP, program manager

Description: Join a Microsoft MVP to answer the real question everybody's asking: what wouldn't Jethro migrate? After all, he's using the MSPComplete platform from BitTitan.

Bundle Like a Boss: Office 365 + Managed Services

Day/Time: Daily at 3:35pm ET

Location: BitTitan Booth #1501

Speaker: Frank Johnson-Suglia, 'MSP-in-Residence'

Description: What's the secret to skyrocketing success when bundling products and services to differentiate your business and create stickiness? You'll have to see the session to find out!

Jumpstart Your Azure Business

Day/Time: Daily at 5:05pm ET

Location: BitTitan Booth #1501

Speaker: Darrell Webster, MVP, partner technical specialist

Description: Want to sell more Azure? BitTitan's MVP will tell you how you can take advantage of exciting Azure opportunities and cash in on low-hanging fruit  without deep expertise.

BitTitan is also participating in a WPC partner presentation in the Partner Theater on the WPC expo floor:

How Three Microsoft Partners Used Automation to Become Modern MSPs

Day/Time: Tuesday, July 12 at 12:30pm ET

Location: WPC Partner Theater

Speaker: Rocco Seyboth, VP product and marketing

Description: Do you have what it takes to become a Microsoft Modern Partner? Learn how IT service providers can use automation to transform their business.

Conference attendees are also invited to BitTitan's third annual WPC party, Game of Clouds, co-sponsored by Ingram Micro and Dropbox. This Game of Thrones-themed event will take place Sunday, July 10 at 7:00pm ET at Malaparte, located at 350 King St. SW in Toronto, ON M5V 3X5, Canada. At 9:00pm ET, the company will distribute its Partners of the Year Awards, which recognizes BitTitan's global partners who have successfully leveraged MSPComplete to assist customers on their cloud journeys. Guests can RSVP for the party here.

To learn more about becoming a partner and modern MSP, check out BitTitan's partner program. To keep up with the latest news and information coming out of the show, like and follow BitTitan on these social media channels:

Twitter: @BitTitan

Facebook: www.facebook.com/BitTitan

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/BitTitan

About BitTitan

BitTitan revolutionizes cloud services enablement and managed services automation, empowering IT service providers to sell more cloud services, onboard more cloud workloads, and maximize customer lifetime value. Bolstered by MSPComplete, a comprehensive MSP enablement platform featuring BitTitan's globally renowned MigrationWiz technology, the company modernizes cloud services delivery, pioneering a new category of MSPs  the modern MSP. Founded in 2007, BitTitan has helped over 4 million users from more than 100,000 companies spanning 125 countries adopt the cloud. BitTitan supports many leading cloud ecosystems including Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Dropbox. To learn how BitTitan gets it done and has fun doing it, visit www.BitTitan.com.

Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries

Press Contact

Aerin Meyers

[email protected]

206.428.6030

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SOURCE BitTitan

Related Links

http://www.bittitan.com


SAN FRANCISCO, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Blue Shield of California's Narcotic Safety Initiative, the health plan's three-year program to help its plan participants avoid opioid abuse and addiction, is seeing significant results in its first year.

In the program's first year, there has already been an 11 percent reduction in Blue Shield of California members using the very highest doses of opioids and a 5 percent reduction in those using moderately high doses of opioids. Additionally, Blue Shield has reduced the proportion of new opioid utilizers progressing to chronic use by 25 percent, and has seen an overall reduction in all opioid consumption.

These results are part of a new white paper released this week by the California Healthcare Foundation that looks at how health plans in California are helping to reduce opioid over-prescribing and ensure people have access to recovery services.

The study titled "Changing Course: The Role of Health Plans in Curbing the Opioid Epidemic" surveyed 30 California health plans on their efforts, and provides case studies of three health plans including Blue Shield of California.

"Health plans can help our communities  providers, patients and policymakers  return to a more rational level of opioid prescribing, while ensuring patients get the care they need," said Kelly Pfeifer, Director of High Value Care for the California Health Care Foundation in the news release that accompanied the paper.

Blue Shield's Narcotic Safety Initiative was launched in 2015 and its goal is to reduce inappropriate prescribing and overuse of opioid narcotic medications for members by at least 50 percent by the end of 2018.

"The focus of Blue Shield's program is twofold. We want to reduce unnecessary initial use of opioids for acute and chronic pain so that members are not unnecessarily exposed to the potential for chronic opioid dependence or addiction, and also promote safer opioid doses for those already on chronic opioid therapy," said Marcus Thygeson, M.D., M.P.H., Blue Shield of California's Chief Health Officer. "The opioid epidemic in the United States is a serious public health crisis, and we've made it a priority to work together with the rest of the healthcare delivery system to reduce opioid overuse."

Over the past 15 years, opioid prescriptions have quadrupled, leading to a cascade of interrelated health, social and economic problems. In addition, accidental deaths from drug overdoses exceed those caused by motor vehicle accidents and firearms, and more of these deaths are caused by prescription opioids (primarily hydrocodone and oxycodone) than heroin and cocaine combined. Hospital admissions for opioid addiction treatment have increased five-fold and five times as many babies now need treatment for opioid exposure than year 2000.

Another study recently released showed that about 1 in 550 people who started opioids died as a result of their ongoing opioid use after an average of two and a half years.

"There is still plenty of work to be done in overcoming the opioid epidemic and health plans are in a unique position to influence the behavior of both prescribers and patients," Thygeson said. "Together with the help of our community partners and providers, we can reduce the number of people getting started on chronic opioid treatment, continue to transition those already on chronic treatment to lower and safer doses of opioids, and put a stop to this dangerous public health crisis."

Background on Blue Shield of California

Blue Shield of California, an independent member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, is a nonprofit health plan with 4 million members, 6,800 employees and more than $14 billion in annual revenue. Founded in 1939 and headquartered in San Francisco, Blue Shield of California and its affiliates provide health, dental, vision, Medicaid and Medicare health care service plans in California. The company's mission is to ensure all Californians have access to high-quality care at an affordable price. Blue Shield has contributed more than $325 million over the past ten years to the Blue Shield of California Foundation. Contact your local agent or broker about Blue Shield of California products and services, or visit www.blueshieldca.com.

CONTACT: Molly Weedn

Corporate Communications

(415) 229-5359

[email protected]

SOURCE Blue Shield of California

Related Links

https://www.blueshieldca.com


SAN FRANCISCO, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BluWrap, the technology company that naturally extends the shelf life of fresh proteins, today announced its first-ever shipment of fresh pork traveling from Ringsted, Denmark to Melbourne, Australia. Using its patented oxygen management techniques to create and maintain an all-natural controlled atmosphere environment, the pork was in transit 56 days, and arrived in Australia without the need for freezing, or vacuum packaging.

This first ocean shipment of pork builds on BluWrap's on-going research and development with pork and follows earlier land tests in Chile and the Netherlands. BluWrap worked with Europe's largest pork producer, Danish Crown, to ship the pork directly from the processor to the end customer in Australia.

"This first pork shipment opens significant new market opportunities for BluWrap," said Mark Barnekow, chief executive officer of BluWrap. "Until now, our efforts have been focused on shipping seafood using ocean containers so that producers and suppliers can use a more environmentally-friendly way to bring their product to market. With this successful shipment, we expect to thoughtfully extend our technology to include pork and look forward to working with other high volume proteins like chicken, beef, and lamb."

"The pork shipped using the BluWrap packaging technology looked identical on the day of opening as it was the day we packed it, despite being 56 days in transit without any ice or freezing," said Tom Petersen, senior manager of quality production, Danish Crown who attended the opening in Australia. "Our Australian customer was extremely pleased with the color, texture and yields on the product throughout the entire process. This truly looks like a technology that will gain traction in the pork industry."

BluWrap began working with pork after customers in China and Japan requested shipments of fresh pork from their foreign suppliers to satisfy local markets and preferences for fresh product rather than frozen.

In addition to high quality fresh pork delivered by the BluWrap system, the company also expects its technology to reduce drip loss and increase yields usually associated with traditional vacuum packed chilled shipments of product equating to more profits for processors. In addition, BluWrap expects pork transported using its technology to deliver savings on packaging materials and reduce environmental impact.

About BluWrap

Based in San Francisco, California with operations in Talcahuano, Chile, BluWrap provides naturally extended shelf-life technology that has revolutionized fresh protein supply chains worldwide. The company's technology uses its patented oxygen management techniques to create and maintain an all-natural controlled atmosphere environment that extends the shelf life of perishable proteins. BluWrap's breakthrough technology allows suppliers of fresh protein products to ship in an environmentally responsible manner utilizing ocean freight rather than airfreight, while still delivering a fresh, high quality product to customers. For more information, visit www.bluwrap.com.

SOURCE BluWrap

Related Links

http://www.bluwrap.com


NEW ORLEANS, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Braeburn Pharmaceuticals announces that healthcare provider training and certification for Probuphine will take place on July 8, 9 and 10 in New Orleans. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 26, 2016, Probuphine is the first implant for the maintenance treatment of opioid dependence in patients who have sustained clinical stability on low-to-moderate doses of buprenorphine, specifically 8 mg or less per day.

Healthcare providers in the New Orleans area can register for Probuphine training here or by calling 1-866-397-8939.

Master Trainer Dr. Matt Torrington of the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs works closely with qualified healthcare providers to teach them best practices for insertion and removal of the Probuphine implant, a new treatment option for opioid dependence.

Opioid use disorder is a chronic brain disease and one of the fastest growing public health epidemics in America. Last year in Louisiana, 777 people died from an opioid overdose. Research has shown that opioid use disorder is best treated with a combination of medication and psychosocial support. The majority of individuals with opioid use disorder cannot sustain recovery without long-term outpatient medical treatment.

"Braeburn is committed to making Probuphine available to patients in the New Orleans area and across the country as soon as possible, which is why we're conducting training sessions so quickly after receiving FDA approval for Probuphine," said President and CEO Behshad Sheldon, Braeburn Pharmaceuticals. "We look forward to educating qualified healthcare providers in New Orleans on July 8, 9 and 10 on best practices for insertion and removal of Probuphine, the only treatment for opioid dependence that delivers medicine for up to six months. In the first four weekends, we certified 1,388 healthcare providers to provide the treatment to their patients."

Probuphine will not be distributed by pharmacies; patients can only receive the treatment from certified healthcare providers who have been specially trained to insert the implants just under the skin of the inside of the upper arm through an in-office procedure.

Next weekend's training sessions for Probuphine in New Orleans are part of a series of 262 that Braeburn is conducting across 55 cities this summer. Braeburn has received requests for information on Probuphine training from more than 5,000 healthcare providers and expects to train at least 2,000 healthcare providers by the end of July 2016 and more than 4,000 healthcare providers by the end of 2016.

About Probuphine

Probuphine is the only six-month treatment for opioid dependence and was developed using ProNeura, Titan Pharmaceuticals' continuous drug delivery system that consists of a small, solid implant made from a mixture of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and a drug substance. The resulting construct is a solid matrix that is placed subdermally, normally in the upper arm in an outpatient office procedure, and removed in a similar manner at the end of the treatment period. Probuphine implants are 26 millimeters long and 2.5 millimeters in diameter, or about the size of a matchstick. Each implant contains the equivalent of 80 mg of buprenorphine and is placed under the skin in the inner side of the upper arm.

WARNING: IMPLANT MIGRATION, PROTRUSION, EXPULSION and NERVE DAMAGE ASSOCIATED WITH INSERTION and REMOVAL

Risk Associated with Insertion and Removal

Insertion and removal of PROBUPHINE are associated with the risk of implant migration, protrusion, expulsion resulting from the procedure. Rare but serious complications including nerve damage and migration resulting in embolism and death may result from improper insertion of drug implants inserted in the upper arm. Additional complications may include local migration, protrusion and expulsion. Incomplete insertions or infections may lead to protrusion or expulsion.

Because of the risks associated with insertion and removal, PROBUPHINE is available only through a restricted program called the PROBUPHINE REMS Program. All Healthcare Providers must successfully complete a live training program on the insertion and removal procedures and become certified, prior to performing insertions or prescribing PROBUPHINE implants. Patients must be monitored to ensure that PROBUPHINE is removed by a healthcare provider certified to perform insertions.

Please see additional Important Safety Information in the Package Insert that can be found at probuphine.com or by following this link http://probuphinerems.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/final-approved-pi.pdf.

About Opioid Use Disorder and Buprenorphine

Opioid use disorder is a chronic brain disease and one of the fastest growing public health epidemics in America. In the U.S., 2.5 million people struggle with opioid addiction and, according to the Centers for Disease Control, 78 people die each day from the disease. There is a growing body of evidence that opioid addiction is not a choice or a moral failing, but the result of genetic predisposition combined with environmental factors. Nonetheless, individuals struggling with this disease continue to be stigmatized. Research has also shown that opioid use disorder is best treated with a combination of medication and psychosocial support. The majority of individuals with opioid addiction cannot sustain recovery without long-term outpatient medical treatment.

Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist, which may help individuals to stop opioid use without experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Before FDA approval of Probuphine, buprenorphine was only available in oral form which must be taken daily.

About Braeburn Pharmaceuticals

Braeburn Pharmaceuticals, an Apple Tree Partners company, is a pill-free pharmaceutical company delivering precision medicine in neuroscience. Long-acting therapeutic treatment options can be essential to improving patient outcomes and facilitating recovery in neurological and psychiatric disorders, which are often complicated by stigma and present significant public health challenges. Probuphine, Braeburn's long -acting buprenorphine implant, was approved by the FDA in May 2016. Braeburn's investigational product pipeline consists of long-acting implantable and injectable therapies for serious neurological and psychiatric disorders, including opioid addiction, pain, and schizophrenia. Braeburn's pipeline products are at various stages of clinical development and include CAM2038, weekly and monthly subcutaneous injection depot formulations of buprenorphine, being investigated in opioid addiction and pain; a risperidone six-month implant being investigated in schizophrenia; and a novel molecule, ATI-9242, for treatment of schizophrenia. More information on Braeburn, can be found at www.braeburnpharmaceuticals.com.

Media Contacts:

MSLGROUP

Sherry Feldberg or Rachel Gross

781-684-0770

[email protected]

Coltrin & Associates, Inc.

Caleb Cluff

212-221-1616

[email protected]

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SOURCE Braeburn Pharmaceuticals
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Business leaders in today's competitive environment recognize that the market has become a level playing field, as all companies have their people, processes and products in place. Furthermore, few actions can differentiate a product or price to stop customers from switching to competitors. Thus, business leaders must understand the importance of customer experience. In the next five years, customer experience will drive loyalty and become the key to deciding a business's fate.

Frost & Sullivan tackles this dilemma with its latest program, Customer Experience Management. The program aims to address business challenges by identifying growth roadmaps, while also supporting businesses to stay focused and aligned to customers and ever changing market dynamics.

For more information on Frost & Sullivan's Customer Experience Management program, please visit: http://frost.ly/j0

As customer experience becomes a major growth driver, companies can truly depend on it to drive customer loyalty and surpass competition. Consumers prefer to do business with a customer-centric company, eventually becoming brand ambassadors. However, customers also maintain a readiness to switch companies as a result of poor customer experience, thus showcasing the impact of rising customer satisfaction and its significance on bottom-line improvement and top-line growth.

"Customer experience plays a pivotal role in business sustenance in a competitive world, as it can address three key business objectives; acquiring new customers, retaining existing customer and regaining lost customers," said Frost & Sullivan Principal Consultant Bijuraj Sarangi. "The more differentiated your customer experience is, the more you are going to gain on these three objectives."

Although customer experience holds an immense amount of weight, digital innovation and Mega Trends in the space are currently altering the customer engagement equation like never before. Other challenges include:

Revenue growth

Operational excellence

Customer experience culture

Differentiation through innovation

Providing consistent customer engagement

"Transforming customer experience is not an easy task. Taking customer relationship to the next level and driving superior customer experience requires sound understanding of the external drivers shaping customer preferences, innovation and differentiation in customer engagement, as well as internal capabilities to meet customer demands," stated Sarangi. "A CX strategy linking both external market understanding and internal capability enablement can help businesses address strategic as well as operational challenges and enable right experience for the end customers."

Learn more about Frost & Sullivan's Customer Experience Management offerings here (http://ww2.frost.com/consulting/customer-experience/customer-experience-management/).

Survive and Thrive in an Unpredictable Future! Schedule a Growth Strategy Dialog to discuss your strategic growth development and discover growth opportunities impacting your business, here: http://frost.ly/pr

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.

The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation.

provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation. The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?

Contact:

Jaylon Brinkley

Corporate Communications  North America

P: 210.247.2481

F: 210.348.1003

E: [email protected]

http://www.frost.com

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan

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Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Russian and Turkish presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold a meeting during the G20 summit to be held Sept.4-5 in China, the Haberturk newspaper reported June 29.

According to the newspaper, it is not ruled out that the presidents meeting can be held before the G20 summit.

Erdogan and Putin had a phone conversation June 29 and agreed to hold a private meeting. The last meeting between them was held during the G20 summit in Antalya in autumn of 2015.

The relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after the Su-24 bomber incident. Following the incident, Russia's President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on taking measures for ensuring the country's national security and special economic measures against Turkey.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter of condolences to Russias President Vladimir Putin June 27 over the death of Russian Su-24 pilot and expressed regret over the incident. Erdogan said Turkey "shares the pain of the downed Su-24 pilot's death with his family" and "sees it as Turkey's pain".

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
LITTLE FALLS, N.J., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CANTEL MEDICAL CORP. (NYSE: CMN) is pleased to announce that Chief Executive Officer Andrew Krakauer received the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2016 New Jersey Award in the Life Sciences category. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program. The award is given to entrepreneurs who demonstrate exceptional success in areas such as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities and were selected by an independent panel of judges. Mr. Krakauer and other regional winners were unveiled at a special gala on June 23, 2016 and are now eligible for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards to be presented in November.

Andrew Krakauer, CEO stated, "I am honored to be included in this group of outstanding business leaders. I applaud the judges and EY for recognizing that entrepreneurship is a critical skill needed in successful and growing mid-size public companies such as Cantel. I share this award with our senior management team and nearly 2,000 employees whose work and dedication are the root of our success."

About Cantel Medical

Cantel Medical is a leading global company dedicated to delivering innovative infection prevention products and services for patients, caregivers, and other healthcare providers which improve outcomes, enhance safety and help save lives. Our products include specialized medical device reprocessing systems for endoscopy and renal dialysis, advanced water purification equipment, sterilants, disinfectants and cleaners, sterility assurance monitoring products for hospitals and dental clinics, disposable infection control products primarily for dental and GI endoscopy markets, dialysate concentrates, hollow fiber membrane filtration and separation products. Additionally, we provide technical service for our products. For further information, visit the Cantel website at www.cantelmedical.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the risks detailed in Cantel's filings and reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such forward-looking statements are only predictions, and actual events or results may differ materially from those projected or anticipated.

SOURCE Cantel Medical Corp.

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VOORHEES, N.J., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced that it has selected Comprehensive Cancer and Hematology Specialists, P.C as one of nearly 200 physician group practices and 17 health insurance companies to participate in a care delivery model that supports and encourages higher quality, more coordinated cancer care. The Medicare arm of the Oncology Care Model includes more than 3,200 oncologists and will cover approximately 155,000 Medicare beneficiaries nationwide.

Comprehensive Cancer & Hematology Specialists, P.C. is committed to provide high quality delivery of comprehensive state-of-the-art, personalized healthcare to each patient and their family in the Greater Philadelphia and South Jersey marketplace. We offer expertise, experience, and the highest standards needed for the successful treatment of Oncologic (cancer) and Hematologic (blood) disorders.

Cancer is one of the most common and devastating diseases in the United States: more than 1.6 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed and cancer will kill an estimated 600,000 Americans in 2016. According to the National Institutes of Health, based on growth and aging of the U.S. population, medical expenditures for cancer in the year 2020 are projected to reach at least $158 billion (in 2010 dollars)  an increase of 27 percent over 2010. A significant proportion of those diagnosed are over 65 years old and Medicare beneficiaries.

"The Oncology Care Model encourages greater collaboration, information sharing, and care coordination, so that patients get the care they need, when they need it," said Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell. "This patient-centered care model fits within the Administration's dual missions for delivery system reform and the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force  to improve patient access to and the quality of health care while spending dollars more wisely."

The Oncology Care Model encourages practices to improve care and lower costs through episode- and performance-based payments that reward high-quality patient care. The Oncology Care Model is one of the first CMS physician-led specialty care models and builds on lessons learned from other innovative programs and private-sector models. As part of this model, physician practices may receive performance-based payments for episodes of care surrounding chemotherapy administration to Medicare patients with cancer, as well as a monthly care management payment for each beneficiary. The two-sided risk track of this model would be an Advanced Alternative Payment Model under the newly proposed Quality Payment Program, which would implement provisions from the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015.

Practices participating in the five-year Oncology Care Model will provide treatment following nationally recognized clinical guidelines for beneficiaries undergoing chemotherapy, with an emphasis on person-centered care. They will provide enhanced services to beneficiaries who are in the Oncology Care Model to help them receive timely, coordinated treatment. These services may include:

Coordinating appointments with providers within and outside the oncology practice to ensure timely delivery of diagnostic and treatment services;

Providing 24/7 access to care when needed;

Arranging for diagnostic scans and follow up with other members of the medical team such as surgeons, radiation oncologists, and other specialists that support the beneficiary through their cancer treatment;

Making sure that data from scans, blood test results, and other tests are received in advance of patient appointments so that patients do not need to schedule additional visits; and

Providing access to additional patient resources such as emotional support groups, pain management services, and clinical trials.

"CMS is thrilled with how many physician groups chose to be a part of the Oncology Care Model," said Patrick Conway, M.D., CMS principal deputy administrator and chief medical officer. "We have nearly doubled the number of participants that we anticipated. It's clear that oncology physicians recognize the importance of this new performance-based, episode-based payment approach to cancer care. As a practicing physician and son of a Medicare beneficiary who died from cancer, I know the importance of well-coordinated care focused on the patient's needs."

The names of those practices and payers participating in the Oncology Care Model, and more information about the model, can be found on the model's website: http://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/Oncology-Care/. The Oncology Care Model begins on July 1, 2016 and runs through June 30, 2021.

As part of the Administration's "better care, smarter spending, healthier people" approach to improving health delivery, the Oncology Care Model is one of many innovative payment and care delivery models developed by the CMS Innovation Center and advanced by the Affordable Care Act. The Innovation Center is committed to transforming the Medicare, Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs and is expected to help deliver better care for individuals, better health for populations, and lower growth in expenditures for Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries.

Get CMS news at cms.gov/newsroom, sign up for CMS news via email and follow CMS on Twitter @CMSgov

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Comprehensive Cancer and Hematology Specialists, P.C.
TORONTO, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Conavi Medical Inc, a Toronto-based medical device company that provides image guidance technologies for minimally invasive medical procedures, announced today that Murray Maynard has been appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the company, effective July 4th, 2016. Mr. Maynard has extensive experience in the cardiovascular device field, including sales, marketing, distribution, manufacturing, finance and board-level roles with several devices companies. He was most recently the President and CEO of Lifemed Group Inc., a leading Canadian distributor of specialty cardiovascular devices. Prior to Lifemed, he was involved in the executive management of several medical device companies in Europe, Canada, the USA and the Middle East.

(LOGO: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160629/384803LOGO)

"On behalf of the Board of Directors, we are delighted to have Murray join our team," stated Dr. Brian Courtney. "Conavi has been successful at developing several platform technologies that address large markets for which there are an abundance of opportunities for clinical impact. Physicians use intravascular and intracardiac imaging catheters over 750,000 times per year around the world to support several common and emerging minimally invasive procedures. Murray's skillset and profound familiarity with these markets will be invaluable in leading the company through a period of significant growth."

"Conavi's product pipeline includes some transformational technology that can address sizeable gaps in the current imaging market. The Conavi portfolio of imaging modalities will provide physicians with significantly enhanced visual guidance to drive better clinical outcomes. Brian has established a world class team at Conavi and I look forward to working with them in establishing Conavi's technology in all major markets across the globe," stated Mr. Maynard.

Dr. Brian Courtney will remain actively involved as Executive Chairman, while continuing his clinical and research work at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Sunnybrook Research Institute.

About Conavi Medical Inc.: Conavi Medical Inc. (formerly Colibri Technologies Inc), is a privately-held Canadian medical device company developing minimally invasive image guidance products, with an initial focus on cardiovascular procedures. It spun out of research conducted originally at Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto, Canada. The company's first product platform, the ForesightTM Intracardiac Echocardiography System, received FDA 510k clearance in the United States in December 2015. Conavi previously announced an exclusive distribution agreement in Japan for the Foresight ICE System with Japan Lifeline. For more information, please visit us at www.conavi.com

SOURCE Conavi Medical Inc.

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NEW YORK, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pensions & Investments ("P&I"), the global media brand for institutional investors, hosted the third annual Global Future of Retirement conference that addressed the changes that must be made to retirement systems, investment options and funding strategies to ensure individuals can retire with dignity and security. More than 200 of the world's largest asset owners and asset managers attended the conference June 12-14 in Washington DC.

Among the keynote speakers were Hamilton "Tony" E. James, President and Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone who shared his vision for a Guaranteed Retirement Account for all Americans that mandates a minimum contribution by both employee and employer. Thomas R. Harkin, United States Senator (retired) and Senior Advisor, Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement - Drake University, spoke about the future of retirement, including proposals to make the public and private systems more inclusive and robust.

"It was truly an inspiring two days, hearing proposals and solutions from around the world on how investment innovation and plan design can help drive better outcomes universally," said Chris J. Battaglia, Vice President and Group Publisher. "We have created a forum where prominent leaders and great thinkers at the forefront of the global retirement industry gather annually for an insightful debate on how best to address the looming retirement crisis."

Additional speakers included Keith Ambachtsheer (Canada), KPA Advisory Services Ltd.; Sen. Kent Conrad, Bipartisan Policy Center (U.S.); Elsa Fornero, University of Turin and Former Minister of Labor and Welfare (Italy); James B. Lockhart II, Bipartisan Policy Center (U.S.); Annamaria Lusardi, George Washington University (U.S.); Ronald P. O'Hanley, State Street Global Advisors (U.S.); and Darren Philp, Director of Policy, The People's Pension (U.K.). Aon and State Street Corporation were the lead sponsors.

Highlights videos and conference coverage can be found at www.pionline.com/gfor16.



About Pensions & Investments

With unmatched integrity and professionalism, Pensions & Investments consistently delivers news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market. Since its founding in 1973, this continues to be the mission of Pensions & Investments, the international newspaper of money management. Written for pension, portfolio and investment management executives at the hub of this market, Pensions & Investments provides its audience with timely and incisive coverage of events affecting the money management business. With a worldwide network of reporters and correspondents, Pensions & Investments' coverage includes business and financial news, legislative reports, global investments, product development, technology, investment performance, executive changes, corporate governance and other topics crucial to the people who drive the world of professional money.

SOURCE Pensions & Investments

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SANTA FE, N.M., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- When it comes to the skyrocketing prices of dental care for Americans, Beyond Borders Dental LLC (www.beyondbordersdental.com) is challenging the status-quo. This New Mexico based company has created a unique model for providing clients with an alternativeaffordable, high-quality dental care in Mexico. As the nation's first Dental Concierge Service, they've packaged dental treatment, lodging, and roundtrip transportation from Santa Fe and Albuquerque to Palomas, Mexico.

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On average, patients save 50-80% by going to Mexico for care  literally thousands of dollars. Tens of thousands of Americans travel each year seeking a low-cost alternative to the rising cost of care in the US. Beyond Borders concierge service make an important contribution by making that process both safe and easy.

"When my husband and I saved $5000 on dental work in Palomas, I wanted to make this available to everyone. So many people delay getting the dental work they need because they can't afford it," said Beyond Borders' President and Founder Terri Heeter. With common dental procedures like crowns and root canals starting at under $300, clients can expect to save big and still receive high quality care.

Beyond Borders' goal is to take all of the worry out of getting dental services in Mexico and makes every effort to ensure that each client has the best experience possible. Clients who choose Beyond Borders can expect to have every detail taken care of. All clinics are vetted by a four-step quality evaluation process. Not only are their dentists highly trained and credentialed, but they also guarantee clients will be fully satisfied with their treatment if a client is unhappy, the dentists will modify, adjust, or redo their work as necessary.

"We are not just a dental referral service," said Beyond Borders' CEO Ralph Grosswald. "We evaluate our clinics very carefully with regular site visits, and know the dentists and their staffs well. We also continuously monitor the satisfaction of our clients. It's safe and affordable, and it couldn't be easier. We handle every detail--scheduling the appointments with our approved clinics, making lodging arrangements, and all transportation to and from the border."

Yoichi K. needed four root canals, which would have cost over $4000 in the US. With Beyond Borders his treatment was less than $1000. "I knew about people getting dental work in Mexico, but I was afraid to go down there for treatment," said Yoichi. "I was really surprised at how smooth it went. Crossing the border into Mexico is easy. I felt really comfortable. Beyond Borders escorts you through the whole process, they are right there with you."



Those who are interested in seeking additional information about Beyond Borders Dental LLC and their services can be found at www.beyondbordersdental.com.

CONTACT:

Ralph Grosswald, CEO

Beyond Borders Dental, LLC

Phone: (505) 570-2220

Email

Website: www.beyondbordersdental.com

SOURCE Beyond Borders Dental

Related Links

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CHONGQING, China, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE: DQ) ("Daqo New Energy" or the "Company"), a leading manufacturer of high-purity polysilicon for the solar PV industry, today announced that its subsidiary, Xinjiang Daqo New Energy Stock Co., Ltd. ("Xinjiang Daqo"), (ticker: 837316) has been successfully listed on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, an emerging over-the-counter market in China (the "New Third Board"). Xinjiang Daqo operates the polysilicon production facilities of the Company located in Shihezi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. As previously announced, Xinjiang Daqo received approval to list its shares on the New Third Board in April 2016.

Daqo New Energy currently holds 99% of the outstanding equity interest of Xinjiang Daqo, while the remaining 1% is held by Xinjiang Daqo Investment Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daqo Group Co., Ltd., an affiliate of the Company.

"The successful listing of Xinjiang Daqo's shares on New Third Board marks a new phase of our development and is expected to expand our access to potential capital sources to support our healthy growth," commented Dr. Gongda Yao, Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

The New Third Board is a national over-the-counter stock exchange that supplements trading activities on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The New Third Board offers a new channel for enterprises in China to access the capital markets and to gain greater exposure to the investment community.

About Daqo New Energy Corp.

Founded in 2008, Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE: DQ) is a leading manufacturer of high-purity polysilicon for the global solar PV industry. As one of the world's lowest cost producers of high-purity polysilicon and solar wafers, the Company primarily sells its products to solar cell and solar module manufacturers. The Company has built a manufacturing facility that is technically advanced and highly efficient with a nameplate capacity of 12,150 metric tons in Xinjiang, China. The Company also operates a solar wafer manufacturing facility in Chongqing, China.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the quotations from management in this announcement, as well as Daqo New Energy's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: the demand for photovoltaic products and the development of photovoltaic technologies; global supply and demand for polysilicon; alternative technologies in cell manufacturing; the Company's ability to significantly expand its polysilicon production capacity and output; the reduction in or elimination of government subsidies and economic incentives for solar energy applications; and the Company's ability to lower its production costs. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the reports or documents the Company has filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. Daqo New Energy does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and Daqo New Energy undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For further information, please contact:





Daqo New Energy Corp.

Kevin He, Investor Relations

Phone: +86-187-1658-5553

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Daqo New Energy Corp.
DENVER, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Denver Mattress Company, one of four specialty stores at Furniture Row, is pleased to announce the grand opening of a new store in Madison, WI. Located at 4722 E. Washington Ave. Madison, WI 53704 the new store represents the 108th in the U.S. http://denvermattress.furniturerow.com/dmc/location/MattressStoresInMadisonWIDenverMattress/100104/1400002

Discussing the new store, district manager Reuben Carranza explained, "Denver Mattress is looking forward to offering quality, service, selection and value thus enabling more people in Madison to get the perfect mattress at a very reasonable price."

By using the same high-quality materials as other leading brand-name manufacturers, but as the manufacturer, retailer, and distributor, Denver Mattress is able to eliminate the middleman and pass the savings on. In many instances, Denver Mattress prices can be up to 50% less than the competition.

Denver Mattress carries the best selection of the best mattress brands including their own extremely popular Doctor's Choice line. In addition, Denver Mattress has the distinction of being a Tempur-Pedic ELITE Retailer. For years Denver Mattress has been ranked as one of the very best mattress stores in the nation for quality, service, selection, and value by the country's leading consumer magazine.

During the grand opening celebration July 1st thru August 25th, shoppers can get 2 free Grand Vitae pillows with any bed purchase of $500 or more.

About Denver Mattress Company

Denver Mattress manufactures its mattresses in its Denver-based factory and distributes them to its own retail stores. Denver Mattress employs the latest in manufacturing concepts, eliminates middle men and passes the savings on. The extremely cost-efficient production of American-made, high-quality mattresses translates into real value for its customers. A Better Tomorrow Starts Tonight. Visit http://www.DenverMattress.com

About Furniture Row Companies

The specialty stores of Furniture Row include Denver Mattress, Sofa Mart, Oak Express, and Bedroom Expressions. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Furniture Row operates more than 330 stores in 30 states making it one of America's largest, family-owned and operated specialty home furnishings and bedding retailers. Visit http://www.FurnitureRow.com

Furniture Row also owns and sponsors the #78 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota driven by Martin Truex Jr. Visit http://www.FurnitureRowRacing.com

Contact: John Knippenberg / Furniture Row Marketing

[email protected]

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SOURCE Denver Mattress Company

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GUADALAJARA, Mexico, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Alejandro Lopez Ortega, MD, a board certified surgeon specializing in bariatric, weight loss surgery at Mexico Bariatrics in Guadalajara, Mexico, is recognized as one of "Mexico's Top Bariatric Surgeons" by The Mexican Association of Endoscopic Surgery. He was also voted one of the "Top 10 Bariatric Surgeons in Mexico" by The Mexican College of Obesity Surgery and Metabolic Diseases. In addition, he was awarded by his participation to the International Congress of Endoscopic Surgery, organized by the Mexican College of endoscopic Surgery and Mexican Association of Endoscopic Surgery.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160629/384909

Dr. Lopez specializes in minimally-invasive surgical weight loss procedures including Gastric Banding (Lap Band), Gastric Bypass, as well as Sleeve Gastrectomy, Duodenal Switch, and the revision of failed weight loss surgery. A University of Guadalajara School of Medicine alumni, Dr. Lopez completed a residency in Laparoscopic and Robotic Surgery at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Ill., followed by a fellowship in Basic Endoscopic Surgery at the Western Medical National Center, IMSS. Dr. Lopez underwent further training in Laparoscopic positioning of Gastric Band at Alo Bariatrics Center in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Using his specialized training, Dr. Lopez, brings his advanced laparoscopic skills to bariatric surgery. Dr. Lopez is passionate about helping his patients overcome the disease of morbid obesity. His commitment to helping patients transform their lives extends across the spectrum of their treatment, from being involved in pre-operative education to follow-up care and support programs after surgery, as well as performing a wide range of surgeries, with a special interest in the procedures concerning the abdomen and related organs and structures.

About Mexico Bariatrics

Mexico Bariatrics, founded by Dr. Alejandro Lopez Ortega, offers a variety of bariatric surgery procedures, as well as minimally-invasive weight loss surgery. Mexico Bariatrics is on the web at www.mexico-bariatrics.com, www.alobariatrics.com; and on Facebook at Mexico Bariatric Surgery.

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Mexico Bariatrics

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CARSON, Calif., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, DSA Phototech is pleased to announce Brad Lunning has been added to its sales team and will serve as a new VP of Business Development. Lunning brings years of proven hands-on experience to the position and will be responsible for expanding DSA's presence in the retail, architecture and design and signage markets.

Brad Lunning, new VP of Business Development at DSA Phototech

A proven sales leader with extensive knowledge of all aspects of the commercial display industry, Lunning brings 20+ years of successful experience to DSA Phototech. Throughout his career, Lunning has worked closely with global retailers and brand marketers to deliver high impact visual display solutions. Now, he will be putting his considerable experience to work for DSA.

Lunning is a graduate of Minnesota State University where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management. He began his career with Streater Store Fixtures where he was quickly promoted to an executive role. He then worked in sales, development and management for fourteen years. More recently, Lunning served as business development manager at Stylmark with a focus on developing new strategic markets for the company and worked in a business development role at Excel Plastics where he focused on developing their luxury and beauty division.

In regards to his new position, Lunning commented, "I am quite excited to be joining a company with a track record and future like that of DSA Phototech. DSA has exceptional visual display products for retail, architecture and design and signage needs, and I look forward to helping DSA's customers learn more about those products."

On the addition of Brad Lunning to the DSA team, President/CEO Bob Riley added, "We are very pleased to welcome Brad to DSA Phototech. His consistent history of success in strategic development and building relationships speaks for itself. Brad is a stellar fit for our company."

To learn more about DSA Phototech please visit www.lightboxes.com.

About DSA Phototech

In business for over 35 years, DSA Phototech is a leading manufacturer of visual presentation solutions offering the most extensive selection of edge lit and backlit illuminated LED light boxes, fluorescent light boxes, and digital signage on the market today. DSA also produces custom products including large format sizes, light panels, and other creative graphic solutions for both indoor and outdoor use. Light boxes are available in a wide variety of styles, sizes, and finishes including recessed, menu board, directory, and kiosk-ready models. A dedication to manufacturing excellence ensures high quality for every product. More information is available at www.lightboxes.com.

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SOURCE DSA Phototech

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WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Eisai Inc., the U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary of Eisai Co., Ltd., today held a Scientific Day to present its approach to global R&D and introduce the company's robust neurology and oncology pipeline, featuring innovative investigational assets being developed to address unmet medical needs. The meeting included presentations from members of Eisai's leadership, heads of research and development, and other key scientific leaders.

"We aspire to introduce novel therapies that will be preemptive and curative, as well as ones that will improve patient quality of life, in line with our deep commitment to our human health care mission," said Mr. Haruo Naito, Representative Corporate Officer & CEO, Eisai. "We aim to become a front-runner in both neurology and oncology, with a unique roster of scientific platforms and an end-to-end business model that efficiently integrates discovery, clinical and commercial functions."

The Eisai Scientific Day focused on the company's therapeutics pipeline within the framework of its "Ricchi" philosophy. In Japanese, "Ricchi" is a place where the landscape is clear, a place far away from the crowds, where one would build a home. Eisai's "Ricchi" involves understanding the unmet needs of patients with some of the hardest-to-treat medical conditions, challenging the innovation boundaries of new medicines toward preventive and curative therapies, and finding new treatment solutions.

The Eisai Scientific Day highlighted the following themes:

The investigation of agents with different mechanisms of actions to address the unmet medical needs for patients with Alzheimer's disease and dementia;

The utilization of world class, small molecule science as well as the focus on cancer microenvironment and "oncogenomics" with the aim of curing cancer.

The first session, presented by leaders in the Neurology Business Group, provided an overview of Eisai's pioneering therapeutic innovation and research partnerships in a number of disease areas including Alzheimer's disease and dementia. The presentations highlighted the following research areas:

Eisai's AiM (Andover Innovative Medicines) Institute ( Andover, Mass. ) is creating an immuno-dementia platform to realize precision medicines for dementia and a new paradigm of human genetic-driven drug discovery;

) is creating an immuno-dementia platform to realize precision medicines for dementia and a new paradigm of human genetic-driven drug discovery; KAN Research Institute ( Japan ) is leveraging the multi-disciplinary study of neurobiology and immunology to discover novel targets and innovative therapies;

) is leveraging the multi-disciplinary study of neurobiology and immunology to discover novel targets and innovative therapies; The Tsukuba Research Laboratories ( Japan ) strategy to leverage proteinopathy, synapse microenvironment, and novel neurotransmission platforms to realize "Total Care" for Alzheimer's disease and dementia patients; and

) strategy to leverage proteinopathy, synapse microenvironment, and novel neurotransmission platforms to realize "Total Care" for Alzheimer's disease and dementia patients; and The company's clinical-stage pipeline in the Alzheimer's disease and dementia fields, including a summary of Eisai's clinical-stage assets.

The second session was dedicated to Eisai's Oncology franchise, and highlighted the company's research focus on cancer genomics and the cancer microenvironment with drug discovery programs based on the human cancer genome for personalized medicine. Members of Eisai's Oncology Business Group discussed:

How H3 Biomedicine ( Cambridge, Mass. ) is translating cancer patient data into powerful precision therapeutics, and targeting driver gene mutations and aberrant splicing in cancer cells;

) is translating cancer patient data into powerful precision therapeutics, and targeting driver gene mutations and aberrant splicing in cancer cells; Eisai AiM Institute's ( Andover, Mass. ) mission to deliver next-generation targeted immunotherapies with myeloid lineage targeting therapeutics to address unmet needs in immuno-oncology, including the integration of large-scale multi-omic and imaging data; and

) mission to deliver next-generation targeted immunotherapies with myeloid lineage targeting therapeutics to address unmet needs in immuno-oncology, including the integration of large-scale multi-omic and imaging data; and Tsukuba Research Laboratories ( Japan ) innovation program in small molecule science to target the cancer microenvironment, and its discovery of next-generation compounds targeting drug-resistant cell mutations.

A webcast of the 2016 Eisai Scientific Day is available on the Eisai website at www.eisai.com, archived in the "Investors" section under "Presentations". A replay of the presentation will be available until October 31, 2016.

About Eisai Inc.

At Eisai Inc., human health care (hhc) is our goal. We give our first thoughts to patients and their families, and helping to increase the benefits health care provides. As the U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary of Tokyo-based Eisai Co., Ltd., we have a passionate commitment to patient care that is the driving force behind our efforts to discover and develop innovative therapies to help address unmet medical needs.

Eisai is a fully integrated pharmaceutical business that operates in two global business groups: oncology and neurology (dementia-related diseases and neurodegenerative diseases). Each group functions as an end-to-end global business with discovery, development, and marketing capabilities. Our U.S. headquarters, commercial and clinical development organizations are located in New Jersey; our discovery labs are in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania; and our global demand chain organization resides in Maryland and North Carolina. To learn more about Eisai Inc., please visit us at http://us.eisai.com/.

About Eisai Co. Ltd.

Eisai Co., Ltd. is a leading global research and development-based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan. We define our corporate mission as "giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides," which we call our human health care (hhc) philosophy. With approximately over 10,000 employees working across our global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to realize our hhc philosophy by delivering innovative products in various therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs, including oncology and neurology. For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit www.eisai.com.

Media Inquiries Investor Inquiries Patricia Councill Ivor Macleod Eisai Inc. Eisai Inc. 201-746-2139 201-746-2660

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SOURCE Eisai Inc.

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The Istanbul assailants could not pass the security checks at the entrance of the airport, the Turkish prime minister said on Wednesday, Anadolu reported.

On Tuesday, Istanbul Ataturk Airport was the scene of a major terror attack, in which 41 people were killed and 239 were wounded by three assailants armed with automatic assault rifles and explosive vests.

The assailants opened fire on security personnel at the entrance after they could not pass the checks, Binali Yildirim told reporters in the capital Ankara.

One of them blew himself up outside, while the other two took advantage of the panic during gunfire to enter, and blew themselves up inside, Yildirim said.

The prime minister added that the attack has shown officials the need to enhance security at airports, especially against potential armed attacks.

Meanwhile, Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala, also in Ankara, said that all information and evidence collected shows that the Daesh terrorist organization was responsible for the attack.

But, the case has yet to be finalized, Ala added.
YOKOHAMA, Japan, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Elechs Kyokuto, a leading solar services provider, and Ampt LLC, a leader in power conversion technology for solar power plant optimization, today announced a strategic partnership to introduce Ampt's String Optimizer solution to Japan's photovoltaic (PV) market. This collaboration enables Elechs' engineering, procurement and construction (EPCs) customers to use Ampt's String Optimizer solution to lower the cost and increase the performance of mega solar PV systems. Elechs' customers also receive best-in-class customer support from local Elechs and Ampt experts.

Elechs Kyokuto

Ampt String Optimizers are DC-to-DC converters that put dual maximum power point trackers (MPPTs) on each string to improve the system's lifetime performance and use Ampt's patented technology to double the number of modules per string  which removes 50 percent of the electrical balance-of-system (BOS) components from the system. Ampt also enables inverters to have a higher rated power and lower cost per watt.

"After seeing the value that Ampt String Optimizers provide, we wanted to make this technology available to our customers," said Masatsugu Miyake, CEO at Elechs Kyokuto. "Our partnership with Ampt is founded on a shared commitment to the environment, our customers and each other."

Elechs and Ampt recently deployed a 1.7 MW solar plant in the Akita Prefecture with another 1.1 MW installation under construction.

"Elechs is recognized for its leadership in advancing the PV industry by bringing the best solutions to customers," said Shigeki Kondo, Ampt Japan country manager. "We are honored that Elechs has chosen Ampt, and we look forward to working together to serve their customers."

Ampt has released three DC string optimizer product lines dedicated to Japan's solar market. They are V1000-JP, V750-JP and V600-JP, and correspond with common maximum system voltages. As an optional feature, customers can also deploy wireless communications for string-level data for enhanced operations and maintenance (O&M) capabilities. Ampt products use its patented technologies that enable optimal boundaries for voltage and current on the output of each optimizer  this uniquely allows Ampt optimizers to reduce BOS costs. Ampt is granted these patents in Japan as well as other PV markets.

Elechs' comprehensive O&M capabilities are an increasing value to its customers due to the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry's (METI) anticipated focus on feed-in-tariff (FIT) performance requirements.

"Japan has a key role in the global success of the PV industry," said Levent Gun, CEO of Ampt. "Our partnership with Elechs is part of Ampt's long-term commitment to advancing renewable energy in Japan."

Additionally, Elechs has joined Ampt in the HDPV Alliance. HDPV, or High Definition PV, is an industry-wide organization that uses defined standards, tested compatibility and shared best practices to enhance PV systems using DC power optimization.

Elechs will be at PVJapan2016 to exhibit their PV solutions  including Ampt String Optimizers. Please visit booth #P-1412 to meet Elechs and Ampt representatives, and to see Ampt's product lines on display. More information can also be found at www.kyokuto.biz and www.ampt.com.

About Elechs Kyokuto

For more than 50 years, Elechs Kyokuto has been providing reliable maintenance services for high voltage electrical equipment. The company also specializes in the PV solar industry where it provides full service engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services, as well as solar power plant operations and maintenance (O&M).

About Ampt

Ampt delivers innovative power conversion technology and communications capabilities that improve the way PV systems are designed. The company, along with strategic partners in the HDPV Alliance, is lowering system cost, improving ROI, increasing energy generation and broadening the PV solar market.





Contacts:









Elechs Kyokuto Ampt

Commercial Eiji Gotouda Elechs Kyokuto CO.LTD. [email protected] Commercial Kondo Shigeki or Mark Kanjorski Ampt LLC [email protected] Media Heather Craft or Kirsten Swenson MSLGROUP [email protected]







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SOURCE Ampt

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ATLANTA, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) will release its financial results for the second quarter ending June 30, 2016, in a press release to be issued after the New York Stock Exchange closes on Wednesday, July 27, 2016. The press release will also be available at www.equifax.com.

Equifax will host a conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, July 28, 2016 in which senior management will discuss financial and business results for the quarter. Please dial the appropriate number 5-10 minutes prior to the start of the call to complete registration. Name and affiliation/company are required to join the call.

Conference call numbers: U.S. and Canada: (877) 681-3378; International: (719) 325-4768.

Replay: A replay of the conference call will be available beginning July 28, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. ET and ends at 11:30 a.m. ET August 11, 2016. To access the replay: U.S.: (888) 203-1112; International: (719) 457-0820. Access code is 1627461.

About Equifax

Equifax powers the financial future of individuals and organizations around the world. Using the combined strength of unique trusted data, technology and innovative analytics, Equifax has grown from a consumer credit company into a leading provider of insights and knowledge that helps its customers make informed decisions. The company organizes, assimilates and analyzes data on more than 800 million consumers and more than 88 million businesses worldwide, and its databases include employee data contributed from more than 5,000 employers.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. It is a member of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index, and its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol EFX. Equifax employs approximately 9,200 employees worldwide.

Some noteworthy achievements for the company include: Ranked 13 on the American Banker FinTech Forward list (2015); named a Top Technology Provider on the FinTech 100 list (2004-2015); named an InformationWeek Elite 100 Winner (2014-2015); named a Top Workplace by Atlanta Journal Constitution (2013-2015); named one of Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies (2011-2015); named one of Forbes' World's 100 Most Innovative Companies (2015). For more information, visit www.equifax.com.

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SOURCE Equifax Inc.

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HOUSTON, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Evolution Petroleum Corporation (NYSE MKT: EPM) today announced that it entered into a settlement agreement regarding its litigation with Denbury Onshore, LLC, a subsidiary of Denbury Resources Inc. The settlement resolves all outstanding disputes between the parties and provides a new foundation for continuing the successful development of the Delhi Field. The parties have agreed to this settlement to avoid the costs and uncertainty of continuing litigation with no admission of fault or liability by either party with regard to any of the claims or counterclaims. Each party dismissed with prejudice all of its claims and counterclaims in the litigation.

Pursuant to the settlement agreement, Evolution will receive a cash payment of $27.5 million on or prior to June 30, 2016, along with other mutual consideration between the parties. Among such other consideration, Denbury conveyed to Evolution a working interest in the Mengel Upper Glen Rose Sand interval (the "Mengel") within the Delhi Unit, proportionate to Evolution's 23.9% working interest in the primary Holt-Bryant zones in the Delhi Unit.

The Mengel, similar in reservoir characteristics to the rest of the Delhi Field, was originally part of the Delhi Unit. However, it was separated in title and ownership prior to Evolution's purchase of the Delhi Unit and, therefore, not included in the original transaction between Evolution and Denbury in 2006. Denbury acquired the Mengel working interest in late 2014. The Mengel has produced approximately 1.4 million barrels of oil and 5 billion cubic feet of natural gas to date from primary and secondary production. It currently does not produce significant amounts of oil or gas, but is believed to be prospective for CO 2 enhanced oil recovery. It lies about 200-300' below the primary productive zones in the Delhi Unit and its areal extent is estimated to be 1,400 acres, or approximately 10% of the total area of the Delhi Unit. It is located within the boundaries of the current active CO 2 flood. Its existing well bores and close proximity to the CO 2 flood facilities should allow efficient incorporation within the Delhi CO 2 flood at a reasonable capital cost and with attractive economics, subject to oil prices. The timing of joint development of the Mengel by the parties will be dependent on crude oil prices and other economic and technical aspects of the project. We do not expect to immediately record proved reserves for the Mengel.

In the settlement, the parties also reached agreements on other contractual issues related to Evolution's proportionate ownership of the CO 2 recycle facility and associated real estate and terms related to long-term CO 2 pipeline transportation costs following the late 2019 expiration of the current fixed price arrangement. In addition, Evolution will convey to Denbury approximately 0.2% of its overriding royalty interest effective as of July 1, 2016. Following this conveyance, Evolution's combined mineral and overriding royalty interests will be reduced from approximately 7.4% to 7.2%, while its working interest will remain unchanged at 23.9% with a net revenue interest of 19.0%, for a combined net revenue interest of 26.2%. The settlement further provides Evolution access to certain geological, geophysical and technical information regarding the Delhi Field for its internal analysis and reserves report.

Bob Herlin, Executive Chairman of Evolution, said: "This settlement closes a long-running contract dispute and better defines and aligns the rights and obligations of both parties. It removes the uncertainty related to this litigation and clarifies the previously undefined CO 2 transportation costs beginning in 2020. We believe our shareholders are well-served by this agreement."

Randy Keys, President and Chief Executive Officer, added: "We look forward to a new and positive chapter in our relationship with the operator of the Delhi Field. This asset has continued to perform above the Company's expectations in this period of challenging industry economics, with increasing production and lower operating costs. We are very optimistic about the potential of the Delhi Field and believe that it will continue to perform well going forward. With the NGL plant nearing completion, we expect to see a significant increase in our production around the end of this calendar year. The future development of the remaining areas of the field, including the Mengel, over the next five years should contribute substantially to our performance."

Expected Income Tax Effects

Based on our preliminary calculation of income taxes for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016, the substantial majority of the cash settlement proceeds are expected to be offset by existing net operating loss and percentage depletion carryforwards. Accordingly, the incremental cash income taxes related to the settlement are expected to be substantially below the statutory income tax rate. Further, with the additional income from the settlement, we believe that all dividends paid on both our common and preferred stock for the current fiscal year will be treated as qualified dividends for tax purposes and none of such dividends will be treated as return of capital.

About Evolution Petroleum

Evolution Petroleum Corporation develops petroleum reserves and shareholder value by applying conventional and specialized technology to known oil and gas resources, onshore in the United States. Our principal asset is our interest in an oil producing CO 2 -EOR project in Louisiana's Delhi Field. Additional information, including the Company's annual report on Form 10-K and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, is available on its website at www.EvolutionPetroleum.com

Cautionary Statement

All statements contained in this press release regarding potential results and future plans and objectives of the Company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations include, but are not limited to, those factors that are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our documents filed from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities. Statements regarding our ability to complete transactions, successfully apply technology applications in the re-development of oil and gas fields, realize future production volumes, realize success in our drilling and development activity and forecasts of legal claims, prices, future revenues, income, expense reductions, cash flows, dividends and other statements that are not historical facts contain predictions, estimates and other forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its goals will be achieved and these statements will prove to be accurate. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements.

Company Contact:

Randy Keys, President and CEO

(713) 935-0122

[email protected]



SOURCE Evolution Petroleum Corporation

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CHICAGO, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- During his time with Quick Leonard Kieffer, Jake has executed numerous senior-level search assignments, assisting healthcare systems recruit chief executive officers as well as operational, financial, and clinical leaders. Jake is skilled at delving deeply into the organizations with which he works in order to gain an understanding of their challenges, opportunities, and cultures, and his clients appreciate the transparency and forthrightness he brings to the search process.

Jake's career in executive search began in 2009 with a firm in the Chicago suburbs, where he specialized in medical device, pharmaceutical, and healthcare assignments. He then joined Quick Leonard Kieffer with a focus on conducting research and assisting partners and principals with search assignments. His contributions to the firm and his talent for search were quickly recognized, and he has continued to take on increasing responsibilities during his tenure.

Jake holds a bachelor's degree from The University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa.

ABOUT QUICK LEONARD KIEFFER

Founded in 1999, Quick Leonard Kieffer is one of the country's leading retained executive search firms. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Quick Leonard Kieffer is a privately-held firm that specializes in the placement of leaders in the healthcare, academic, association, and non-profit industries, providing quality solutions customized to each client's recruiting needs. Led by CEO Roger Quick and Chairman Michael Kieffer, QLK's team of talented managing partners and principals truly views its clients as partners in search . . . for exceptional leaders. For more information, please contact Christian Canas, [email protected] and visit http://www.qlksearch.com.

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SOURCE Quick Leonard Kieffer

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ALLEN, Texas, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fairview Microwave Inc., a supplier of on-demand microwave and RF components, releases an all new product line of voltage controlled oscillators covering select bands from 10 MHz to 11 GHz. A comprehensive and growing portfolio of VCOs from Fairview includes over 60 different models in true surface mount and coaxial packaged versions available off-the-shelf from stock.

Fairview's brand new lines of voltage controlled oscillators offer tuning voltages ranging from 0 to 20 volts, output power ranges from 0 to +12.5 dBm, and all models have an operational temperature range covering -40C to +85C. They also offer exceptional phase noise performance as low as -125 dBc/Hz at 10 KHz offset. SMT packages have gold plated mounting surfaces for ease of soldering. Designs are highly reliable and designed to meet MIL-STD-202 environmental test conditions for shock, vibration, and temperature cycle. Some models have added features which include hermetically sealed SMT packages, integrated buffer amplifiers and input modulation ports for increased design flexibility.

VCOs are a type of oscillator where the frequency of the output signal can be varied by adjusting the amplitude of the input tuning voltage. Unlike traditional oscillators with a single fixed frequency, VCOs have a range of frequencies making them desirable with designers. The line of voltage controlled oscillators offered by Fairview is most commonly deployed in applications such as phase locked loops, frequency synthesizers, electronic jamming equipment, and function generators.

"Fairview's new portfolio of in-stock VCOs offers system designers a reliable source of popular oscillator styles, performance characteristics and functionality covering frequency bands from 10 MHz to 11 GHz," says Brian McCutcheon, Vice President and General Manager at Fairview.

Fairview's new voltage controlled oscillators are in-stock and ready to ship today. You can view the new VCOs by visiting https://www.fairviewmicrowave.com/rf-products/voltage-controlled-oscillators.html directly. Fairview Microwave can be contacted at +1-972-649-6678.

About Fairview Microwave

A leading supplier of on-demand RF and microwave products since 1992, Fairview Microwave offers immediate delivery of RF components including attenuators, adapters, coaxial cable assemblies, connectors, terminations and much more. All products are shipped same-day from the company's ISO 9001:2008 certified production facilities in Allen, Texas.

Press Contact:

Brian McCutcheon

Fairview Microwave

1130 Junction Drive #100

Allen, Texas 75013

(972) 649-6678

SOURCE Fairview Microwave

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"This extraordinary 240-year-old newspaper shows the Declaration of Independence as Americans first saw it  as front page news," said Cathy Trost, senior vice president of exhibits and programs at the Newseum. "The words and images of America's revolution come alive in this exhibit in dramatic graphic novel form to tell the story of how the Colonial press fanned the flames and spread the news of the fight for freedom."

All four pages of The Pennsylvania Evening Post will be displayed. Other pages of the newspaper offer a glimpse into the everyday life of Philadelphians in the 18th century. Among the items listed for sale in advertisements are sugar, spirits and very fine hay "of this year's growth." Another listing offers a $2 reward for the safe return of a 5-year-old brown horse that had strayed from its owner's pasture.

Interactive kiosks in the exhibit allow visitors to zoom in and explore the newspaper in high definition. Illustrated panels around the gallery use the format of a graphic novel to tell the story of how and why delegates from the 13 American Colonies gathered in Philadelphia to break the bonds of British rule and forge a new nation. A Newseum-produced video, presented as a documentary graphic novel, will feature original animated illustrations and interviews with journalist Sebastian Junger, political commentator S.E. Cupp and "The Daily Show" contributor Lewis Black.

On July 7, the Newseum will host a members-only reception and program featuring Rubenstein and Newseum president and CEO Jeffrey Herbst, who will discuss how the news of freedom spread through the world and played a crucial role in uniting American colonists behind the cause of independence.

"1776  Breaking News: Independence" was made possible with generous support from David M. Rubenstein.

About the Newseum

The Newseum is dedicated to free expression and the five freedoms of the First Amendment: religion, speech, press, assembly and petition. Headquartered on historic Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., the Newseum's compelling, dynamic and engaging exhibits, programs and education initiatives help ensure that these fundamental freedoms remain strong and protected both today and for future generations. The Newseum Institute promotes the study, exploration and education of the challenges confronting freedom through its First Amendment Center and the Religious Freedom Center. The Newseum is a 501(c)(3) public charity funded by generous individuals, corporations and foundations, including the Freedom Forum. For more information, visit newseum.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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RACINE, Wis., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, SC Johnson Chairman and CEO Fisk Johnson met with members of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to discuss the company's efforts to combat Zika. Johnson was one of five witnesses, including the Principal Deputy Director of the CDC, to speak at the Committee's Roundtable on "Preparing for and Protecting the Nation from Zika."

"I was honored to have the opportunity to discuss our Zika efforts with the Senators," said Johnson. "The people of SC Johnson are committed to continuing to help protect families from the mosquitoes that may carry Zika. We have provided donations, educational materials and stepped up our global production to meet this threat in the U.S., Latin America and wherever it may continue to pose a challenge."

"I really want to say how much we appreciate how helpful your company has been to get insect repellent to the people who need it," said Committee Chairman Ron Johnson.

Senator Tom Carper, Committee Ranking Member, said to Fisk Johnson, "I want to say how impressed I was about the generosity of your company, thank you for your leadership there."

"I do want to publicly thank SC Johnson for the extraordinary generosity of their collaborations, both collaborations in terms of donations of product and resources, and also of expertise. We really appreciate the public-private partnerships that are establishing, formally and informally. This is a point for the American public where we really need to be working together. Everybody has a role to play," said Rear Admiral Anne Schuchat, Principal Deputy Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SC Johnson has mobilized its manufacturing capacity to respond to Zika. As demand spiked in Brazil due to the initial reports of links to microcephaly, the company began running production lines 24/7 to face the crisis in Brazil.

The company has taken this same focus in the United States. Factories supplying OFF! for the U.S. market began running 24/7 in February, and an additional line of OFF! production was added at the company's largest factory in Wisconsin. Suppliers, especially those that produce DEET, also greatly increased production to meet production demands. As a result, SC Johnson has produced 50% more cans of OFF! aerosol compared to last year.

SC Johnson has committed to providing up to $15 million in resources globally to help protect against mosquitoes, including aid to numerous countries that are experiencing outbreaks of Zika and dengue fever. In coordination with the CDC Foundation, SCJ supported the Zika Action Plan Summit held by the White House and the CDC on April 1, and also donated to the CDC's Zika Prevention Kits. Additional donations have been made to the American Red Cross, the International Federation of the Red Cross in support of 12 countries, AmeriCares, the Rio de Janeiro-based Children's Health Association and the County of Hawaii Civil Defense Agency.

A website has been developed with educational resources, tips and videos on how people can protect themselves from mosquito bites. It has been translated it into 13 languages and reached more than 69 million people across the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean. The videos on the site have been viewed nearly 25 million times.

SC Johnson is the world's largest manufacturer of insect repellents and household insecticides, including OFF!, Autan, Raid and Baygon. For nearly 60 years, SC Johnson entomologists have studied insects at the Entomology Research Center in Racine, the largest private, urban entomology research center in the world.

For more information, please go to www.scjohnson.com/mosquitoes. For downloadable materials and educational assets, please visit our media microsite.

About SC Johnson

SC Johnson is a family company dedicated to innovative, high-quality products, excellence in the workplace and a long-term commitment to the environment and the communities in which it operates. Based in the USA, the company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household cleaning products and products for home storage, air care, pest control and shoe care, as well as professional products. It markets such well-known brands as GLADE, KIWI, OFF!, PLEDGE, RAID, SCRUBBING BUBBLES, SHOUT, WINDEX and ZIPLOC in the U.S. and beyond, with brands marketed outside the U.S. including AUTAN, TANA, BAMA, BAYGON, BRISE, KABIKILLER, KLEAR, MR MUSCLE and RIDSECT. The 130-year-old company, which generates $10 billion in sales, employs approximately 13,000 people globally and sells products in virtually every country around the world. www.scjohnson.com

SOURCE SC Johnson

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MARLBOROUGH, Mass., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Concentric Energy Advisors, Inc. ("Concentric") is pleased to announce the appointment of Frederick M. Lowther as a Director of the Corporation, as of July 1, 2016.

Mr. Lowther is currently a partner with Blank Rome LLP's energy practice in Washington, D.C. and has devoted his career to the development of large energy and natural resource projects in the United States and abroad. His role as project counsel involves all aspects of project structuring, regulatory approvals, administrative and judicial litigation, financing, and general counseling.

Prior to joining Blank Rome LLP, Mr. Lowther was managing partner of Dickstein Shapiro and chairman of the management committee. He has served as a member of the board of directors of Energy Solutions International, a privately held company based in Houston, Texas, serving the U.S. and international oil and gas industries; RSH Energy, a Houston-based privately held company serving the U.S. oil and gas pipeline industries; Poseidon Water LLC, a privately held water project development company based in Boston; and Northeast Gas Markets, Inc., a gas supply management company based in Boston.

"Mr. Lowther's decades of experience and proven leadership in the energy industry will add a valuable perspective to our Board of Directors," said John J. Reed, Chairman and CEO. "We appreciate his willingness to serve as a director and look forward to benefitting from his judgment and counsel."

About Concentric

Concentric (www.ceadvisors.com) is an employee-owned management consulting and financial advisory firm focused exclusively on the North American energy industry. We offer a broad range of advisory and support services that span the following practice areas: energy markets, utility regulation, finance and M&A, management and operations support, as well as litigation and dispute resolution.

For more information, please contact Maggie Connolly:

508.263.6236

[email protected]

SOURCE Concentric Energy Advisors, Inc.

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LAS VEGAS, June 28, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Teamsters' 29th International Convention opened its second day with a focus on global solidarity and building worker power through organizing in key industries.

Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Britain's largest union, Unite, and Tony Sheldon, National Secretary of Australia's Transport Workers Union, delivered a message of unity to the thousands of Teamsters attending the convention.

"The Teamsters is the most iconic trade union on our planet and you should be proud," McCluskey said.

McCluskey referenced successful partnerships with the Teamsters, including the fight to drive up standards for school bus and transit workers at multinational corporations.

"The Teamsters are one of the strongest, most successful forces for economic justice," Sheldon said. "The Teamsters stood with us through fierce battles that we will never forget, and we stand with the Teamsters in the fight against global greed."

In addition to the United Kingdom and Australia, unions from Belgium, Ireland, Italy, France, South Africa and Israel sent greetings to the Teamsters' International Convention.

Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall reported that the union is able to do the work of representing members and take on key fights thanks to the union's solid financial standing.

"I'm proud to report that our union's finances are stronger than ever. Because of our union's strong resources, we are able to win battles at Sysco, US Foods, XPO/Con-Way, FedEx Freight, the ports, at tech companies and at school bus companies," Hall said.

Delegates on the second day of the convention covered a number of priorities for workers, including organizing campaigns in freight, warehousing, the ports, Silicon Valley and more.

"We never could take on these companies without the brave rank-and-file workers who took on the union busters," said Steve Vairma, International Vice President and Director of the Warehouse Division, on efforts to organize and represent workers at Sysco and US Foods.

"With the Teamsters we are fighting back against misclassification and winning back millions from employer wage theft," said Daniel Uaina, a port driver.

"Organizing at FedEx can be done. We've proved that," said Bill Hamilton, International Vice President, referencing bargaining taking place with FedEx Freight in Philadelphia and Charlotte.

Leslie Marshall, host of The Leslie Marshall Show, a syndicated radio program featuring labor topics, gave a rousing address to the crowd.

"Corporations and billionaires want to divide and conquer, but no one can divide a union as strong as the Teamsters," Marshall said. "If you stand strong for the long haul, they will cave. Workers need to rise up."

Other guests included musicians The Swon Brothers, who are sons of Teamsters Local 516 Secretary-Treasurer Kelly Swon, and UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic.

Delegates passed resolutions today on executive pay/Capital Strategies; freight organizing; warehouse organizing; and port organizing.

Nominations took place for At Large Vice Presidents and Trustees.

The International Convention, held every five years, is the supreme policymaking body of the union with the power and authority to modify the Constitution, establish programs, address fiscal issues and set priorities.

This week, delegates will consider a number of constitutional measures and resolutions. Delegates will also nominate candidates for the International offices of General President, General Secretary-Treasurer, Vice Presidents and Trustees.

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.

Contact:

Kara Deniz, (202) 497-6610

[email protected]

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SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Related Links

http://www.teamster.org


HANOVER, Germany, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a recent study by the next generation cruise search engine CruiseWatch, it is actually cheaper to cruise continuously for an entire year than to pay rent and live in the US. That is, at least, if you live in these cities or regions.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160628/384153

CruiseWatch, which offers price drop alerts for cruise sailings departing from cities around the world to destinations around the globe, is raising awareness of this to highlight the affordability of cruising - especially when access to up-to-the-second cruise price information is available, as it is through their service.

The company didn't pull this information out of thin air. Rather, it tapped into the vast amount of data that it has accumulated through the years, which includes five years worth of cruise price information and other types of big data, to gain a historical perspective of how cruise prices fluctuate throughout the year. CruiseWatch.com also relied on data from the 2012 U.S. Census to accurately calculate current cost of living information for several major metropolitan areas in the United States. "Our team dug deep to collect as much timely, accurate information as possible for this project," said Nina Stumpe, co founder of the site.

To arrive at this conclusion, CruiseWatch.com first calculated how much an average person would spend for things like housing, transportation, utilities and other everyday living expenses. For an average household size of 2.5 people in New York City, this averaged around $637 per week. "Currently, the best available prices for the cheapest cruises in our database average around $313.25 per week, which represents a significant saving of $323.75 per week," said the company rep. The cruise prices were accurate as of June 16, 2016.

According to the data, citizens of Honolulu would save a theoretical $7,518 per person and year if they went on continuous cruises in 2017. People in San Francisco would save $7,154, Los Angeles $2,058 and Stamford $3,878. New Yorkers top it all. They would save $10,430 for travelling the world.

"To go on non stop cruises and save some money is an impressive proposition. It demonstrates the value you get out of a cruise compared to the relatively high cost of living at home," Britta Bernhard, the other co founder, added. "And not to forget that going on a cruise means to enjoy amazing ports and different countries. And all you have to do is to wake up at morning and look out of the window."

A look at the calendar shows that these savings are mainly coming from winter whereas in summer the cost of cruises is actually higher than the cost of living in the US. In the good weeks of winter, savings of up to $324 per person and week are possible. You will need to reinvest some of these savings to make it through the summer where you will see surcharges of up to $298 per week in late June.

A full overview about all 132 analyzed cities is shown on the cruisewatch.com website.

The company was quick to mention that the above price typically represents an interior, two-person cabin. Suite cabins and cabins with ocean views usually cost more, so the savings would likely be lower under such circumstances. Cruise prices include ocean transportation, accommodations and full food service but don't include taxes, surcharges or other fees. And, of course, there is a cost getting to the departure ports. "Even so," said Britta Bernhard, "it's easy to see that going on a cruise is a lot less expensive than most people think." The trick, of course, is having easy access to up-to-the-second cruise prices. "CruiseWatch.com has you covered for that," she added.

A next generation search engine for current cruise pricing information, CruiseWatch.com uses cutting-edge technologies and big data to deliver accurate, timely information about current prices for cruises that span the globe. The company's most popular feature, the price drop alert, is an especially convenient option for those who are planning cruises and want the most affordable options. Users who set up free cruise price drop alerts automatically receive emails whenever prices go down for cruises that they are monitoring. "It's convenient, easy, free and accurate," said the co-founder, who encourages aspiring cruise travelers to visit the website for more information.

Background Information:

https://www.cruisewatch.com/analytics/going-cruise-cheaper-staying-home/

Media contact:

Markus Stumpe

00491788585127

SOURCE CruiseWatch

Related Links

http://www.cruisewatch.com


Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that steps taken toward the normalization of relations with Russia and Israel were based on a win-win principle, Anadolu reported.

We never thought of a one-sided step, Erdogan said Wednesday evening speaking at an iftar fast-breaking dinner in Ankara.

All taken steps were based on the win-win principle, he said. In other words, both Turkey and Russia must win, both Turkey and Israel must win.

Early on Wednesday, Erdogan had a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, emphasizing the importance of normalizing relations between the two countries, more than seven months after Turkey downed a Russian jet which crossed from Syrian into Turkish airspace despite several warnings.

Diplomatic relations between Turkey and Russia soured following the downing of the Russian warplane that violated Turkish airspace last November. This prompted the Kremlin to order sanctions on Turkish food products, an end to visa-free travel and a ban on Russian tourists taking package holidays in Turkey.

In addition, Turkey announced this week that it had signed an agreement with Israel to normalize relations between two countries more than six years after Israeli troops stormed a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in international waters, killing 10 Turkish citizens.
ROCKVILLE, Md., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Goodwill Industries International has received a $4 million TechHire grant from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration to train and place people in technology careers in three states. Goodwill Industries of Central Texas (Austin), Goodwill Columbus (OH) and Goodwill Industries of the Valleys (Roanoke, VA), through new and existing partnerships, will award certifications such as CompTIA A+, Security+, and Network+ certifications. They will also provide computer programmer training certifications for Microsoft Technology Associate and Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer as well as computer language-specific certifications. Additionally, the grant will enable these Goodwill organizations to provide paid internships and registered apprenticeships.

As of April 2016, the United States has 5.8 million open jobs, and more than 100,000 are in the information industry, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"The TechHire grant is a solution to economic development issues in our local communities, helping companies fill critical jobs, and preparing and training people to get the jobs that will help America's competitiveness," said Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. "Through this investment, Goodwill will collaborate with employers, training providers, and workforce and economic development organizations to empower people to get the fast-track training they need to launch careers in the technology field."

The grant will serve 702 individuals through the Goodwill Careers in Technology (CiT) program, which includes education and training partners like the Creating IT Futures Foundation (CompTIA's philanthropic arm), online training provider MedCerts, and local workforce investment boards. The Goodwill CiT program will train individuals for career pathways in the information technology industry in two high-growth H-1B occupations: computer user support specialist and computer programmer.

Goodwill organizations are collaborating with 19 employer partners. In Central Texas, partners are Contigo, EIX Systems, Higher State Technology, Loop1 Systems, Pro-Sphere Tek, DataMax Group and Total Site Solutions. In Central Ohio, partners are ATC Healthcare, Improving, Giant Eagle, Proserve Hospitality Staffing, J.C. Penney, Raisin' Cane's and Nationwide Children's Hospital. Partners in Roanoke, Lynchburg and rural Virginia are Carilion Clinic, Ethos Technologies, Sharptop Co., Cyberline Computers and City of Roanoke Economic Development.

This funding is a part of the Obama Administration's efforts to work with communities to get more Americans trained for well-paying technology jobs through the TechHire initiative, which launched in March 2015. TechHire is a multi-sector effort and call to action for local communities to collaborate in helping employers fill critical local IT job gaps. To do so, a diverse array of Americans are empowered to rapidly gain technology skills by accessing nontraditional training options like "coding boot camps" and high-quality online courses.

About Goodwill Industries International

Goodwill Industries International is a network of 164 community-based organizations in the United States and Canada with a presence in 13 other countries. Goodwill is the #1 brand doing the most good in the world (Brand World Value Index, 2016) and is one of America's top 20 most inspiring companies (Forbes, 2014). Goodwill organizations are innovative and sustainable social enterprises that fund job training programs, employment placement services and other community-based programs by selling donated clothing and household items in more than 3,100 stores and online at shopgoodwill.com. Local Goodwill organizations also build revenue and create jobs by contracting with businesses and government to provide a wide range of commercial services, including packaging and assembly, food services preparation, and document imaging and shredding. Last year, Goodwill placed 312,000 people in employment in the United States and Canada. Nearly two million people worked to build their career and financial assets by engaging with Goodwill team members. In addition, more than 35 million people used computers and mobile devices to access Goodwill education, training, mentoring and online learning services to strengthen their skills. To learn more, visit goodwill.org.

For more information or to find a Goodwill location near you, use the online locator at Goodwill.org or call (800) GOODWILL. Follow us on Twitter: @GoodwillIntl and @GoodwillCapHill, and find us on Facebook: GoodwillIntl.

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SOURCE Goodwill Industries International

Related Links

http://www.goodwill.org


CLEVELAND, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hireology has announced it will be a sponsor at The Secret Service Summit (http://www.secretservicesummit.com), America's #1 Customer Service conference. Hireology will be a part of helping leaders learn and implement their own customer service revolutions.

Hireology

Adam Robinson, CEO of Hireology, will join the lineup of customer service experts, motivational speakers and brand executives to showcase "Your Team: The Only Sustainable Competitive Advantage." Summit attendees will learn that their ability to create a sustainable competitive advantage is dependent on the ability to find, hire and retain the right team members. They will also learn the four factors that predict success in service-based roles, and will leave with effective tools.

Join Robinson and other expert speakers at the premier #cx #custserv event of 2016: www.secretservicesummit.com/register

"Hireology is excited to be a part of the 2016 Secret Service Summit. As a company whose mission is to help businesses build their best possible team, partnering with the DiJulius Group made perfect sense. You can't deliver world class service without having the right people working for you, but the combination of a scalable talent engine and the Secret Service framework can make a company truly unstoppable," said Robinson.

"Having a company like Hireology be part of the Secret Service Summit is a critical piece to our goal of making the Secret Service Summit the best educational event our attendees have ever attended," says John DiJulius, President of The DiJulius Group. "Many of our own consulting clients already use Hireology and rave about their work and the difference they have made in organization. Hireology provides two major benefits to Summit attendees: 1) A subject matter expert providing breakout sessions during the Summit on how to attract, hire, and retain the right talent that will allow your company to provide a World-Class Customer Experience organization internally and externally; and 2) A resource for our clients to utilize post-Summit to tap into Hireology's expertise and tools to make sure their organization's culture is significantly different six, twelve and eighteen months from now."

About Hireology

Based in Chicago, Hireology was founded on a simple but powerful concept: by analyzing the behaviors of top-performing employees, organizations can create highly accurate systems for identifying the best candidate for the job. Hireology helps business owners build successful companies by assembling better teams. Hireology's Intelligent Hiring Framework and industry expertise help businesses streamline and improve their hiring process, resulting in smarter hiring and stronger company performance. Over 2,500 businesses trust Hireology to make better hiring decisions, lower turnover, and increase productivity and profitability. For more information, visit www.hireology.com or follow the brand on Twitter at @Hireology.

About The DiJulius Group

The DiJulius Group (http://www.thedijuliusgroup.com), headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is the leading authority on world-class customer experience. The DiJulius Group's relentless mission is to help your organization change the world by creating a customer service revolution.

To learn more about The DiJulius Group or the Secret Service Summit, contact David Wagner, [email protected], or call 440-443-0022.

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SOURCE The DiJulius Group

Related Links

http://www.secretservicesummit.com


COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hondros College of Business President Tina Lapp has been installed as 2016-2017 President of the Real Estate Educators Association (REEA). Lapp was inaugurated at the 2016 REEA Conference in Denver on June 10, 2016. REEA provides resources and opportunities for professional development to individuals and organizations involved in Real Estate education, and is dedicated to delivery of high-quality sales associates to the nation's real estate brokers, regulators, and, ultimately, to consumers.

Tina has been a leader in Real Estate education for over two decades, and knows the value of high standards that drive quality education and its importance to the real estate industry. In her more than 22-year career at the Hondros College of Business, she has helped to provide pre-license education to over 300,000 real estate agents. Lapp's industry experience and her dedication to quality education also has led her, and Hondros, to continue to question proposed changes to Ohio's pre-license education statutes.

"Real estate professionals play a critical role in assisting their clients with navigating what arguably is the largest financial transaction of their lives," said Tina Lapp. "Consequences for consumers harmed by licensee negligence can be life changing and financially devastating. That's why we need to strengthen Ohio's pre-license education requirements."

According to Lapp, the most important part of her job as REEA president will be maintaining the organization's focus on producing high-quality sales associates that can successfully serve the nation's real estate brokers, regulators, and, ultimately, consumers.

"I'm proud to be serving this organization and I look forward to working on a team of professionals that is passionate about education and facing the challenges of the rapidly changing real estate environment."

About Hondros College of Business

Hondros College of Business, based in Columbus, Ohio, educates individuals who want to improve their lives by entering new careers that offer stability, flexibility, independence and financial rewards. Hondros College of Business, with six Ohio campuses and with course offerings in many states nationwide, offers a variety of professional certificates and continuing education programs, as well as an Associate Degree in Business Management. Professional programs include real estate, appraisal, home inspection, mortgage, insurance, securities, personal training, online marketing and oil and gas safety. For more information, visit http://www.hondros.com.

SOURCE Hondros College of Business

Related Links

http://www.hondros.com


For the cost of $120 and as low as $5 month, HouseSetter continuously monitors your home's temperature, humidity level and power status. HouseSetter's built-in wireless capability operates on the Verizon Wireless Network, eliminating the need for home Wi-Fi or phone lines. HouseSetter also has a built-in camera and an integrated back-up battery to ensure continued monitoring in case of a power loss.

All this technology is housed in a small device fashioned in the image of a dog. And unlike other home monitoring systems, HouseSetter is completely portable and easy to use: just plug it in.

"We want to provide people with the simplest, lowest cost way to keep an eye on their house when they are away," said Walt Dorfstatter, CEO of HouseSetter. "And while it takes a lot of advanced technology to make that work, our primary focus is to deliver our service in a way that makes all that complexity invisible so we're providing peace of mind instead of unwanted science lessons."

"HouseSetter is a great example of a Michigan-based company using our superior network to drive important innovations in home monitoring," said Aimee Novak, director of business sales for Verizon. "Our network is built to help businesses -- from start-ups to major corporations -- improve the way they operate and create new consumer solutions."

"HouseSetter is a trustworthy companion for your unoccupied home," Dorfstatter said. "With its sophisticated technologies and friendly and easy-to-use design, we believe we've created the ideal solution for owners to keep an eye on their vacation homes, seasonal homes and primary homes during extended travel."

Verizon's Innovation Program, which includes solution showcase centers and labs in San Francisco and in Waltham, Mass., helps individuals and organizations accelerate the development of machine-to-machine and wireless technology innovations using Verizon's knowledge-base, expertise and connections. This will help fuel the growth of the Internet of Things, which is projected to involve over 5.4 billion connected devices by 2020.

About HouseSetter

HouseSetter is a Michigan-based company established by several former founding members of OnStar. With their deep background in wireless networks and connectivity, they decided to create a simple, low-cost solution to help homeowners keep an eye on their homes when they are away. Given their mutual affection for "man's best friend," the HouseSetter device naturally took the shape of a dog. For the latest updates on HouseSetter, visit www.housesetter.com or follow us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/housesetter.

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SOURCE HouseSetter LLC

Related Links

http://housesetter.com


WASHINGTON, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Students in Elgin, Illinois, will have the opportunity to speak with a NASA astronaut living and working aboard the International Space Station at 12:35 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 30. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams will answer questions from second through sixth students about his experiences as an astronaut and life aboard the world's only orbital laboratory. The event, hosted at the Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin, will include students from Channing Memorial, Fox Meadow, Harriet Gifford, Highland, Hilltop, Huff, Lords Park, Lowrie, McKinley, Otter Creek, Ronald D. O'Neal, Timber Trails, Washington and Willard Elementary Schools.

Media interested in covering the event should contact Denise Raleigh at [email protected]. Gail Borden Public Library is at 270 North Grove Avenue.

Williams launched to the space station on March 18, where currently he's conducting and participating in numerous critical science experiments until his scheduled departure in September.

This in-flight education downlink is an integral component of the NASA Office of Education's efforts to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning in the United States. Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station through the Office of Education's STEM on Station activity provides authentic, live experiences in space exploration and study, and the scientific components of space travel, while introducing the possibilities of life in space.

Watch NASA TV streaming video, and get schedule and downlink information, at:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

Get videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station at:

http://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

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SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


HARTFORD, Conn. and NEW YORK, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Insurity, Inc., a provider of core insurance processing software and data integration and analytics solutions, announced today that General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, has made a strategic growth investment in the company. General Atlantic joins TA Associates and Genstar Capital as an investor.

Insurity is a leading insurance technology company that provides a suite of innovative software and analytics solutions spanning policy administration, claims, billing, reinsurance, and data integration to property and casualty insurers. The company is in production with over 175 insurers, including many of the largest carriers in the U.S.

"We are delighted to have General Atlantic as an investor and partner," said Jeffrey Glazer, Chief Executive Officer of Insurity. "General Atlantic's deep sector expertise and experience partnering with high growth companies will enable us to further strengthen our leadership position in the insurance software market."

"Insurity has become a leading solutions provider as carriers seek to replace obsolete or disjointed legacy systems with integrated, scalable end-to-end solutions," said Paul Stamas, Principal at General Atlantic, who will join Insurity's board of directors. "We are excited to partner with them to continue to drive growth and create value for their clients."

Insurity has expanded its product offering in recent years through strategic acquisitions that complement the company's core products and services. In June 2016, the company acquired Tropics Software Technologies, an insurance software firm that focuses on the workers' compensation market for carriers, state and self-insured funds as well as other specialty workers' compensation organizations; and in May 2015, Insurity acquired Oceanwide, a cloud-based solution provider that delivers core processing solutions that support commercial and specialty insurance line carriers and MGAs via a SaaS model.

In the company's next phase of growth, Insurity plans to expand its reach as a result of these acquisitions and to capitalize on recent internal product developments. In particular, the company has made significant investments in its core processing suite and has continued to develop and roll out Insurance Enterprise View (IEV), the market's most comprehensive enterprise data solution.

"Insurity has seen considerable success expanding its products and services to address the broad needs of its customer base through both key acquisitions and internal investment," said Harry Taylor, a Managing Director at TA Associates. "We are pleased to continue to support Insurity, in partnership with General Atlantic and Genstar, as it builds upon its leadership position in the property and casualty insurance market."

Ryan Clark, a Managing Director and President of Genstar Capital added that "We are proud of the progress of Jeffrey and the Insurity team who have executed so well since our original investment. We see even a brighter future ahead for Insurity and welcome the addition of General Atlantic to the team."

About Insurity

Insurity, Inc. enables property & casualty insurers to modernize their enterprise and achieve their business goals. Insurity's core processing applications and data integration and analytics solutions are backed by rich insurance expertise and are in production with over 100 insurers, processing billions of dollars of premium each month. Insurity's solutions address the needs of all carriers  from the Top 20 insurers to small or regional commercial, personal, or specialty lines writers, as well as MGAs. For more information about Insurity, call 860-616-7721 or visit www.insurity.com. Connect with Insurity on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

About General Atlantic

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. Established in 1980, General Atlantic combines a collaborative global approach, sector-specific expertise, long-term investment horizon, and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great management and build exceptional businesses worldwide. General Atlantic has more than 100 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Greenwich, Hong Kong, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, Sao Paulo, and Singapore. www.generalatlantic.com

About TA Associates

TA Associates is one of the largest and most experienced global growth private equity firms. The firm has invested in more than 460 companies around the world and has raised $24 billion in capital. With offices in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong, TA Associates leads buyouts and minority recapitalizations of profitable growth companies in the business services, consumer, financial services, healthcare and technology industries. More information about TA Associates can be found at www.ta.com.

About Genstar Capital

Genstar Capital (www.gencap.com) is a leading private equity firm that has been actively investing in high quality companies for more than 20 years. Based in San Francisco, Genstar works in partnership with its management teams and its network of operating executives and strategic advisors to transform its portfolio companies into industry-leading businesses. Genstar manages funds with total capital commitments of over $5 billion and targets investments focused on selected sectors within the software, industrial technology, financial services, and healthcare industries.

Media Contacts

Erica Carlson

Insurity

+1-860-616-7695

[email protected]

Jenny Farrelly

General Atlantic

+1-212-715-4080

[email protected]

Marcia O'Carroll

TA Associates

+1-617-574-6796

[email protected]

Chris Tofalli

Genstar Capital

+1-914-834-4334

[email protected]

SOURCE Insurity, Inc.

Related Links

http://insurity.com


PHILADELPHIA, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Iroko Pharmaceuticals, LLC, a global specialty pharmaceutical company dedicated to advancing the science of analgesia, announced today that the company has entered into a $140 million debt facility agreement with CRG LP to retire an existing debt facility and provide additional working capital for the company.

"We are very pleased to enter into this agreement with CRG, an investment partner known for its strategic investments in healthcare," said Osagie Imasogie, Executive Chairman and CEO of Iroko. "This financing will assist us in fulfilling our mission of making available Iroko's low-dose SoluMatrix NSAIDs to the many patients around the world who seek pain medications that have been shown to provide effective pain relief. We provide these medications specifically to align with FDA and other regulatory and professional medical organization recommendations to use NSAIDs at the lowest effective dosage for the shortest duration consistent with patient treatment goals."

"We believe that Iroko's portfolio of low-dose SoluMatrix NSAIDs provide important treatment options for analgesia while potentially minimizing the dose-related risks of serious adverse events associated with NSAIDs," said Nate Hukill, President, of CRG. "We are excited to partner with Iroko whose innovative products offer important treatment options to patients suffering from acute or chronic (osteoarthritis) pain."

Cantor Fitzgerald acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Iroko in this transaction.

About CRG

Founded in 2003, CRG (previously known as Capital Royalty L.P.) is a healthcare-focused investment firm with over $2 billion of assets under management that provides capital to healthcare companies primarily through structured debt and senior secured loans. CRG works across the spectrum of life science products and technologies and targets investment sizes ranging between $20 million and $300 million. The firm partners with commercial-stage healthcare companies to provide flexible financing solutions so they can achieve their growth objectives. CRG is headquartered in Houston, Texas with offices in Boulder, Colorado and New York City. For additional information, please visit www.crglp.com

About Iroko Pharmaceuticals, LLC

Iroko is a global specialty pharmaceutical company, based in Philadelphia, dedicated to advancing the science of analgesia. The company develops and globally commercializes pharmaceutical products. Iroko is at the forefront of the development of SoluMatrix NSAIDs  new low-dose drug products based on existing NSAIDs  using iCeutica Inc.'s proprietary SoluMatrix Fine Particle Technology exclusively licensed to Iroko for NSAIDs. For more information, visit www.iroko.com.

Contacts:

Caitlin Finnegan for Iroko Pharmaceuticals, LLC, 212-303-2321

Meg Kramer, Iroko Pharmaceuticals, LLC, 267-546-1656

Kate de Santis, Iroko Pharmaceuticals, LLC, 267-546-1682

SoluMatrix Fine Particle Technology is a trademark of iCeutica Inc., and the technology is licensed to Iroko for exclusive use in NSAIDs.

SoluMatrix is a trademark of iCeutica Pty Ltd and is licensed to Iroko.

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SOURCE Iroko Pharmaceuticals, LLC

Related Links

http://www.iroko.com


FREIBURG, Germany, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Jedox AG, a leading vendor of enterprise planning and business intelligence software, announced today that it has been positioned as both an "Overall Experience" and "Credibility" leader, placing in both top right quadrants that were featured in the 2016 Wisdom of Crowds Enterprise Planning Market Study. In almost all categories, Jedox scored above the overall sample and received a perfect "Recommend" score from customer respondents.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160629/384741

Even though it is the first time that Jedox was included in the annual Wisdom of Crowds Enterprise Planning Market study, the planning specialist was immediately able to score top marks in several categories. According to the report by Dresner Advisory Services, "Jedox is best in class for sales understanding business/needs, flexibility/accommodation, overall value, product completeness of functionality, overall usability, and ease of administration. It has a perfect recommend score." Moreover, Jedox was voted into the upper-right quadrants of Dresner's "Customer Experience Model" and "Vendor Credibility Model"  outpacing many other industry vendors.

"We're honored to be leading the Enterprise Planning pack for the overall value of our software offering, but we're even more thrilled to be among the highest-scoring vendors in customer experience and vendor credibility" said Dr. Rolf Gegenmantel, Chief Marketing Officer at Jedox. "This report validates the progress we've made in providing a unified planning, analytics, and reporting platform that helps organizations leverage data insights and simplify their planning, budgeting, and forecasting. Through our rapid deployment approach, customers can see immediate productivity of their Jedox application and scale within the organization  starting from the Office of Finance, to Sales, HR, Marketing, or Procurement. That we are ranked as a credibility leader proves once again that organizations worldwide, across all industries and company sizes, place their trust in Jedox."

As an objective source of industry research, customers can use the Wisdom of Crowds Enterprise Planning Market Study to understand how their peers leverage and invest in planning and related technologies. Using a trademark 33-criteria vendor performance measurement system, users glean key insights into planning software supplier performance, enabling them to compare current vendor performance to industry norms, as well as identify and select new vendors.

"We congratulate Jedox on their strong placement in this year's Enterprise Planning report" said Howard Dresner, founder and chief research officer at Dresner Advisory Services.

The 2016 Wisdom of Crowds Enterprise Planning Market Study can be accessed here: http://info.jedox.com/dresner-wisdom-of-crowds-enterprise-planning-market-study-2016-jedox

About Jedox:

Jedox simplifies planning, analysis, and reporting with one unified and cloud-based software suite. Jedox empowers decision makers and business users across all departments and helps them work smarter, streamline business collaboration, and make insight-based decisions with confidence. Already 1,900 organizations in 127 countries are using Jedox for real-time planning on the web, the cloud, and on any device. Jedox is a leading Business Intelligence and Corporate Performance Management solutions provider, available worldwide with offices in four continents and over 180 certified business partners. Simplify planning with Jedox and start your free trial today: www.jedox.com (Visit Jedox on LinkedIn or follow Jedox on Twitter)

About Dresner Advisory Services:

Dresner Advisory Services was formed by Howard Dresner, an independent analyst, author, lecturer, and business adviser. Dresner Advisory Services, LLC focuses on creating and sharing thought leadership for Business Intelligence (BI) and related areas.

Contact

Diana Kuch

Head of PR

[email protected]

+(49) 761 15147 0

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Jedox

Related Links

http://www.jedox.com


SAN DIEGO, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Author Jimmy Vallee, a leading American energy M&A lawyer and commentator, is scheduled to address Mensa's Annual Gathering 2016 in San Diego on July 1st, 2016.

Conference attendees, all fitting membership requirements of a top 2% IQ, will attend Vallee's presentation Giant Shifts: Energy Trends Reshaping America's Future based on his upcoming similarly titled book wherein he looks at:

A Silicon Valley inspired technological revolution transforming the U.S. oil and gas industry at a lightning pace;

The redrawn global oil map destabilizing the supply and demand economics (and politics) that formerly propped up OPEC's cartel;

How smart venture money and oil majors are quietly making strategic energy investments; and

How changing demographics will soon leave a disastrous gap in the oil and gas industry workforce absent quick action.

Jimmy Vallee assumes an energy futurist role as he looks at history, data, and new trends to distill several possible energy driven futures; and suggests which will happen depending on policy decisions our leaders make today.

"Mensa members are a fine audience to consider the tectonic shifts occurring in the oil & gas industry," said Jimmy Vallee. "By definition they're high-potential people with the analytical skills to help us drive an informed national conversation on critical energy policies as well as consider energy's new business landscape."

The Mensa national conference marks the start of Vallee's Giant Shifts lecture tour.

Media: [email protected] 360.909.0527

About Mensa: Mensa is an international society with the membership qualification standardized testing results in the population's top 2%. The nonprofit's purpose is to conduct research in psychology and social science, identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity and serve as a means for stimulating intellectual and social contacts among its membership.

About Jimmy Vallee: Jimmy leads a high profile legal team for the Paul Hastings LLP law firm and is among the United States' most prolific energy dealmakers. With roots in the Texas oil fields he developed the energy street sense that he now brings as an advisor to global energy firms, tech companies, and strategic investors. Jimmy provides expert commentary for media outlets including USA Today, US News & World Report and industry publications. He authored Giant Shifts, set for 2016 release Sutton Hart Press.

SOURCE Sutton Hart Press

Related Links

http://www.suttonhart.com


ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Teen sculptor Rodman Edwards has created a statue of Johnny Depp and his dogs in the midst of the actor's divorce proceedings with wife Amber Heard, portraying the actor as winning custody of their dogs. The sculpture, shown with saddened dogs, is being unveiled by Cory Allen Contemporary Art in St. Petersburg, Florida in August.

The statue, titled "Depp Wins Custody of Pistol and Boo," depicts a likeness of Johnny Depp under a doghouse archway, sporting his current Dillinger-inspired hairstyle, while modeling Pirate-like 'Yorky' skull and crossbones tattoos of his dogs Pistol and Boo, which are also represented in statues, tearful, cowering and holding pieces of a broken heart.

After filing for divorce from Depp, claiming domestic abuse, Heard is asking for Pistol, while Depp is battling to keep both dogs from being divided. Last year, Heard neglected claiming their two Yorkshire terriers with customs. The Australian government viewed the incident as attempting smuggling, threatening to euthanize the dogs.

"After a whole year worrying about Pistol and Boo's fate, concern for their well-being isn't over. The latest Johnny Depp divorce complicates a safe custody of Pistol and Boo," said artist Rodman Edwards. "They deserve an owner who can make them feel safe and happy."

"People in troubled marriages are able to speak to defend themselves, but animals - beloved pets like Pistol and Boo  have no such recourse," said the artist's spokesman Cory Allen.

Rodman Edwards, featured in Complex Magazine's list of "20 Best Artists Under 20 Right Now," is previously known for his portrait of Bill Cosby in "Fat Albert Cries for Dr. Huxtable." Edwards, a junior in high school, has shown his work at Monsterpalooza in Pasadena, Mask Fest in Indianapolis, and Copro Gallery in Santa Monica. His large mask of Hillary Clinton was displayed during an anti-Keystone pipeline demonstration at a democratic fundraiser attended by Clinton in San Francisco.

"Depp Wins Custody of Pistol and Boo" opens to the public at NOVA 535, Saint Pete's #1 Unique Event Space, located at 535 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St N. Saint Petersburg, Florida in August. Contact Cory Allen at 323-393-3115 or visit www.cacanet.com

*PHOTO (SFW): Send2Press.com/mediaboom/16-0629-re-depp-300dpi.jpg

*Caption: "Depp Wins Custody of Pistol and Boo," by Rodman Edwards.

This release was issued through Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope. For more information, visit Send2Press Newswire at https://www.Send2Press.com

SOURCE Rodman Edwards

Related Links

http://www.cacanet.com


Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is the rumored follow up phablet to Galaxy Note 5. (Photo : YouTube/Design Concepts)

The upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will reportedly get only one variant with a curved screen. The new variant will be called the Galaxy Note 7 Edge, which is expected to release in August.



The South-Korean company is already testing prototypes for the Galaxy Note 6, which is also called the Galaxy Note 7. As per claims made by a reliable source, the tech giant has designed two versions of the Note 6, only one of which will be launched, according to GSM Arena.



Advertisement

Also, the company has no plans to launch a successor to the Galaxy S6 Edge+, which indicates that the purported Note 6 will be a follow-up to the S6 Edge+.



The Note 7 is likely to share many similar features like the Galaxy S7. The specifications include a 5.8-inch screen enhanced in clarity by 2K resolutions at 2,560 x 1,440. Packed with Exynos processor, the device is likely to come with 6GB of native space.



The grapevine is rife with rumors that the Note 7 will reportedly come with a 12MP camera, which will be designed with dual-pixel technology. The camera may be slightly tweaked in its Edge version. Extra features on the phone are expected to be an S- Pen, heart-rate scanner, a fingerprint scanner and an iris scanner.



Speculations are going on that the Note 7 will come with two processors - Qualcomm Snapdragon 823 and Exynos 8890. The Exynox 8890 variant is expected to arrive in the UK soon. It still remains to be seen if the Note 7 will come with an expandable storage option. If not, then the device is likely to come in three storage options, 32GB,64GB and128GB.



While the Galaxy S7 was amazingly fast, the Note 7 Edge will faster and smoother with an enhanced RAM and processor, BGR reported. This video shows the difference in performance of the OnePlus 3 and Galaxy S7 Edge based upon RAM and processor speed. As for the battery, the Note 7 Edge is likely to come with a 4,000mAh battery.



There are more news that the unlocked Note 7 will launch in Netherlands in the middle of August, this year. As for the price, it is expected to be tagged at 799 (approx. US$887).



In the following video, readers can find a lucid demonstration of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 design concept in details:






CLEVELAND, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Koinonia Homes, a leading provider of individualized residential services for adults with developmental disabilities, was awarded a $150,000 grant from Medical Mutual of Ohio to fund essential nursing services in community-based homes. The grant will be distributed in $50,000 increments over a three-year period.

Recent studies indicate that people with developmental disabilities are particularly susceptible to disparities in health care, including access to care providers, specialized treatment, long-term care and disease prevention.

Because Koinonia homes are residential and not institutional, they require specialized nursing coordination that includes managing health-care providers, doctors' appointments, treatments, transportation and passing medications  all within unique home settings.

More than 450 individuals rely on Koinonia for health-care services and care coordination among 60 residential locations in Northeast Ohio. This grant will immediately support the care coordination not covered by government assistance for 130 people.

"Medical Mutual of Ohio quickly recognized that enhancing nursing services for individuals in community-based homes is the most effective way to ensure continuity of care among all of our residents," said Koinonia President and CEO Diane Beastrom. "Their generous support has enriched the lives of many people in need."

This summer, Koinonia will seek an additional $100,000 per year to fund care coordination and address other critical needs among its residents. The organization has long been distinguished for its community-based homes and individualized care, as well as day, vocational, and employment services.

"We have long recognized our responsibility and role in making Ohio a better place to live," said Jared Chaney, Medical Mutual executive vice president and chief communications officer. "Koinonia is one of many outstanding organizations we actively support in helping to provide quality care and well-being for Ohioans."

"This issue really is about quality of life," Beastrom said. "We feel very strongly that our residents have the right to live in residential settings within their communities, while still maintaining high standards of health care."

About Koinonia Homes

Koinonia (coin-o-nee-yah) is a leading provider of individualized and residential services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The organization serves more than 450 people with a staff of approximately 500 professionals in 21 licensed group homes, 50 supported living arrangements and two facilities that provide day activities and vocational and career services. Funding for Koinonia is supported largely through government agencies including Medicaid and the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities; private pay clients and donations from individuals and corporations.

Media Contact: Joe Mosbrook

216.375.2141

[email protected]

www.koinoniahomes.org

Photos available upon request

SOURCE Koinonia Homes

Related Links

http://www.koinoniahomes.org


LOS ANGELES, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced today the launch of a new multimedia platform on Friday, July 1, Angelus News, following Pope Francis' example of utilizing the vast communications vehicles to authentically reach human hearts. Angelus News includes a new weekly magazine  the only weekly Catholic magazine in the West  and full daily digital edition.

The Archdiocese is launching Angelus News on July 1 in honor of the first feast day of St. Junipero Serra  the first evangelizer in California and founder of the missions. St. Junipero Serra was canonized by Pope Francis last September in Washington, D.C., making him the first saint canonized on American soil.

"Following on the footsteps of St. Junipero Serra, a man of heroic virtue and holiness who had only one burning ambition  to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the peoples of the New World, we now need to send missionaries to proclaim the Gospel in this new digital era," said Archbishop Jose H. Gomez. "The message of the Gospel never changes no matter where it is preached or what media we use to deliver it. But we need to always be looking for the 'language' that best communicates our Lord's saving truths."

Angelus News will reach Catholics and non-Catholics alike about the good works in the parishes, schools and ministries not only in the Archdiocese, but around the world. Angelus News will feature:

A weekly newsmagazine, Angelus. The name was chosen because it is the prayer between the patroness of the Archdioceses, our Blessed Mother Mary, Queen of the Angels, and St. Gabriel the Archangel - the namesake of the first mission built in the Archdiocese.

The name was chosen because it is the prayer between the patroness of the Archdioceses, our Blessed Mother Mary, Queen of the Angels, and St. Gabriel the Archangel - the namesake of the first mission built in the Archdiocese. A complete daily digital edition (AngelusNews.com) including video, audio, photo galleries and slideshows, which will be updated often throughout each day.

(AngelusNews.com) including video, audio, photo galleries and slideshows, which will be updated often throughout each day. Social media channels (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

(Facebook, Twitter and Instagram). Daily digital newsletter from Angelus called "Always Forward" after the motto of the Angelus News patron, St. Junipero Serra, beginning July 18 th.

"Angelus News came about because of the hard work of dozens of committed Catholics in the Church in Los Angeles," said John David (JD) Long-Garcia, the editor-in-chief of Angelus News. "The team came together to find a way to update our news and reporting platforms to better serve contemporary Catholics."

The new Angelus magazine will be the weekly print "home" for renowned Vatican reporter, John Allen and his colleague, Ines San Martin, one of the top writers on the Church in Latin America.

Other top nationally known Catholic journalists and essayist will also make regular contributions, including: Ruben Navarrette (USA Today, CNN, NPR); Kathryn Lopez (National Review, The Wall Street Journal), Grazie Pozo Christie (CNN, Miami Herald, The New York Times, USA Today), Mike Aquilina (national speaker and author of more than 50 books on Catholic themes). Best-selling Catholic author, Dr. Scott Hahn, will write a weekly Scripture column.

Angelus News will retain contributors already loved by its readership, including Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of the Santa Barbara Pastoral Region, Father Ronald Rolheiser and Heather King.

Angelus News is committed to continuing the longstanding and award-winning tradition of The Tidings newspaper, which served as the Archdiocesan newspaper for over a century. Utilizing new media platforms, Angelus News will tell the stories of the Archdiocese's diverse faith communities from 287 parishes and 270 schools in the Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Angelus News will also provide international Catholic news coverage through a partnership with Catholic News Agency (CNA). It adds to the already growing digital media offerings of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, currently reaching three to seven million people online per week.

SOURCE Archdiocese of Los Angeles
"While we work with amazing celebrity makeup artists around the world, we're thrilled to expand our relationship with Luis Casco as he becomes the Mary Kay Global Beauty Ambassador," said Sheryl Adkins-Green, Chief Marketing Officer for Mary Kay Inc. "Like Mary Kay, Luis is incredibly relatable, knowledgeable about global beauty and knows it's all about letting women's true beauty shine. We are dramatically expanding our beauty education and the customized content our 3.5 million Independent Beauty Consultants share with their customers around the world. In his new role, Luis will impact our color product development, contribute to trend forecasts and of course, orchestrate beauty looks and tips that help women feel confidently beautiful."

Having an opportunity to meet thousands of women around the world throughout his career, Casco says he has answered every beauty and makeup-related question imaginable. Though he loves fashion and beauty, it is his relationship with women that is a significant driving force in his life. Casco says his job is to inspire women, but he finds himself, in turn, to be inspired by them.

"Whether I've been in Hong Kong or Argentina, beauty is one language we all speak  makeup and feeling good and being positive," Casco explains. "In my travels around the world, I've seen how Mary Kay gives women an opportunity to better themselves on their own terms and I love how Mary Kay helps women's dreams come true. I believe my experience and tips will resonate with women because my philosophy is makeup is a creative way to show your personality."

Originally trained as a fashion design student, Casco segued into makeup shortly afterward. A call from Mary Kay in 1996 sparked a two-decade-long relationship that has included appearances for the brand on The Daytime Emmy Awards, Mexico's Next Top Model, The Tyra Banks Show and The View. Most recently, Casco has been the Project Runway Lead Makeup Artist. With 42,500 Instagram followers, Casco's social media impressions include 1.4 million for his Project Runway participation alone. Celebrities he has worked with include Cameron Diaz, Charlize Theron, Miranda Kerr, Heidi Klum, Blanca Soto, Garcelle Beauvais, Tina Fey and more.

About Mary Kay

Irresistible products. Positive community impact. Rewarding opportunity. For more than 50 years, Mary Kay has offered it all. With 3.5 million Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultants and $4 billion in global annual sales, Mary Kay is a top beauty brand and direct seller in more than 35 markets around the world. Discover what there is to love about Mary Kay by connecting with a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant at marykay.com.

Mary Kay Inc. Corporate Communications

marykay.com/newsroom

972.687.5332 or [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160629/384980

SOURCE Mary Kay Inc.

Related Links

http://www.marykay.com


NEW YORK, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Madison Realty Capital (MRC), an institutionally-backed real estate investment firm focused on real estate equity and debt investments in the middle markets, provided a $44.0 million first mortgage loan to recapitalize a student housing development located at 350 East 10th Street in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. The project will address the growing demand for student housing which continues to be supply constrained.

The 110,000 SF landmarked property, located on a mid-block lot that extends from East 9th Street to East 10th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C, was originally constructed in 1906 and operated as elementary school PS 64 until its closure in the mid 1970s. The borrower first acquired the vacant asset in 1999 and has since been pursuing the entitlement and redevelopment of the property. The financing provided by MRC will retire the existing indebtedness and provide capital for pre-development.

Josh Zegen, Managing Principal for MRC, made the announcement.

"There is a shortage of quality student housing options in Manhattan," notes Mr. Zegen. "Our financing of this project will help the borrower tap into that demand and turn a vacant building into a thriving housing option for students residing in New York City. This new development will provide a brand new student living facility with contemporary amenities, right in the heart of the East Village, one of the most artistic and diverse communities in the city."

Upon completion, the new student housing property will provide a first class housing option in the East Village. The five-story building will have various amenities (health center, fitness room, etc.) as well as collaborative outdoor spaces. The property will offer a variety of suite layouts that will address the growing demand in the marketplace.

While primarily a residential neighborhood, the East Village has been known for decades as the center of the counterculture community in New York City. The area offers residents an abundance of restaurants, shops, and nightlife choices as well as ample transportation options.

About Madison Realty Capital (MRC)

MRC is a New York-based real estate investment firm that pursues real estate equity and debt investments in the middle market. Founded in 2004, MRC has invested in approximately $4.5 billion of transactions in the multifamily, retail, office, industrial and hotel sectors.

Media inquiries, contact

Great Ink Communications: (212) 741-2977

Tom Nolan  Email

Eric Waters  Email

SOURCE Madison Realty Capital
NEW YORK, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Madison Realty Capital (MRC), an institutionally-backed real estate investment firm focused on real estate equity and debt investments in the middle markets, announced the sale of 265-267 South 2nd Street, a multifamily rental property in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for $22.4 million. MRC acquired the 6-floor, 35-unit, 22,800 square foot building for $9.7 million in April 2013 and embarked on a renovation and repositioning plan aimed at adding significant value.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160629/384937

Josh Zegen, Managing Principal for MRC, made the announcement.

"We're pleased to announce this successful exit from one of MRC's equity investments," Zegen said. "When we acquired it, this property needed modernization to improve its position in the competitive Williamsburg rental market. Our construction and asset management teams were successful in creating a modernized multifamily product that was appealing to investors. There was significant interest in the property from a variety of potential purchasers, and we were able to achieve a strong result."

Following the initial acquisition, MRC undertook significant renovations, including new kitchens with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, and updated bathrooms with new tile and fixtures. MRC also added recessed lighting, hardwood floors, and crown moldings in the living space, and in some instances reconfigured units to maximize space usage. Open-air terraces and ground floor outdoor spaces were created for select units.

Williamsburg continues to thrive as Brooklyn's leading live-work-play neighborhood. Given this dynamic, investors and developers increasingly view Williamsburg as a stable long-term play.

About Madison Realty Capital (MRC)

MRC is a New York-based real estate investment firm that pursues real estate equity and debt investments in the middle market. Founded in 2004, MRC has invested in approximately $4.5 billion of transactions in the multifamily, retail, office, industrial and hotel sectors.

Media inquiries, contact

Great Ink Communications: (212) 741-2977

Tom Nolan  Email

Eric Waters  Email

SOURCE Madison Realty Capital
HOUSTON, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE: MAIN) ("Main Street") is pleased to announce that it recently led a new portfolio investment to facilitate the leveraged buyout of Gamber-Johnson, LLC ("Gamber" or the "Company"), a market leading provider of ruggedized mounting systems for law enforcement, public safety, telecommunications, utility and military end markets. Main Street, along with a co-investor, partnered with the Company's management team to facilitate the transaction, with Main Street funding $32.1 million in a combination of first-lien, senior secured term debt and a direct equity investment. In addition, Main Street and its co-investor are providing Gamber an undrawn credit facility to support its future growth initiatives and working capital needs.

Headquartered in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, with business origins dating back to 1954, Gamber (www.gamberjohnson.com) is a leading manufacturer of ruggedized computer mounting systems that are designed to safely secure and stabilize electronics in professional vehicles for various end markets. Over its history, the Company has developed a strong brand and a reputation for high quality, reliable products. Main Street and its co-investor purchased Gamber from Leggett & Platt, Inc. Gamber was a standalone operating division of Leggett & Platt's Commercial Vehicle Products Group.

ABOUT MAIN STREET CAPITAL CORPORATION

Main Street (www.mainstcapital.com) is a principal investment firm that provides long-term debt and equity capital to lower middle market companies and debt capital to middle market companies. Main Street's portfolio investments are typically made to support management buyouts, recapitalizations, growth financings, refinancings and acquisitions of companies that operate in diverse industry sectors. Main Street seeks to partner with entrepreneurs, business owners and management teams and generally provides "one stop" financing alternatives within its lower middle market portfolio. Main Street's lower middle market companies generally have annual revenues between $10 million and $150 million. Main Street's middle market debt investments are made in businesses that are generally larger in size than its lower middle market portfolio companies.

Main Street's common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") under the symbol "MAIN." In addition, Main Street has outstanding 6.125% Notes due 2023, which trade on the NYSE under the symbol "MSCA."

Contacts:

Main Street Capital Corporation

Dwayne L. Hyzak, President & COO, [email protected]

Brent D. Smith, CFO, [email protected]

713-350-6000

Dennard - Lascar Associates

Ken Dennard | [email protected]

Jenny Zhou | [email protected]

713-529-6600

SOURCE Main Street Capital Corporation

Related Links

http://www.mainstcapital.com


SAN FRANCISCO, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The global maleic anhydride market is anticipated to reach USD 4.11 billion by 2024, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rising UPR demand in various end-use industries including construction and automotive is expected to drive growth over the next eight years.

Grand View Research Logo (PRNewsFoto/Grand View Research_ Inc_)

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150105/723757 )



Growing maleic anhydride demand for additives manufacturing for fuel oils and lubricants is expected to drive market growth in near future. N-butane is the preferred raw material in MAN manufacturing owing to low cost, high productivity, less complex production process, and environment-friendly nature.

The majority of product produced globally is utilized for the production of UPR. The application segment accounted for 50.5% of the total demand in 2015. Growing construction, automotive and marine industry, especially in BRICS economies is expected to drive demand over the next eight years.

BDO is anticipated to witness the fastest growth over the next eight years owing to wide acceptance of the product in manufacturing synthetic chemicals such as polyurethane and tetrahydrofuran. The segment is anticipated to reach a net revenue of USD 435.9 million in China market by 2024, growing at an estimated CAGR of 8.7% from 2016 to 2024.

Browse full research report with TOC on "Maleic Anhydride Market Analysis By Application (Unsaturated Polyester Resins (UPR), 1,4-Butanediol (BDO), Additives, Copolymers) And Segment Forecasts To 2024" at: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/maleic-anhydride-market

Further key findings from the report suggest:

The global maleic anhydride market demand was 1,845.0 kilo tons in 2015 and is expected to reach 2,987.2 kilo tons by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 5.5% from 2016 to 2024

Asia Pacific was the leading regional market with demand share estimated at 57.6% in 2015. In addition, the region is expected to grow at fastest rates over the next eight years owing to increasing UPR consumption in construction and automotive industries particularly in China , India , and Indonesia .

was the leading regional market with demand share estimated at 57.6% in 2015. In addition, the region is expected to grow at fastest rates over the next eight years owing to increasing UPR consumption in construction and automotive industries particularly in , , and . North America maleic anhydride demand accounted for 14.7% of the global volume in 2015.The U.S. MAN market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4.7% to reach a total demand of 327.4 kilo tons by 2024.

maleic anhydride demand accounted for 14.7% of the global volume in 2015.The U.S. MAN market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4.7% to reach a total demand of 327.4 kilo tons by 2024. Central & South America MAN demand in lubricant and oil additives is anticipated to reach a net worth of USD 22.6 million by 2024. Significant developments in lubricant and fuel oil industries coupled with technological advancements are expected to steer demand in the sector.

by 2024. Significant developments in lubricant and fuel oil industries coupled with technological advancements are expected to steer demand in the sector. Major players operating in the industry include Huntsman, DSM NV, Lanxess AG, Yabang Jiangsu, Nippon Shokubai Co Ltd, Polynt SpA, Ashland Chemical Co, and Flint Hills Resources.

Request for sample of this research report: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/maleic-anhydride-market/request

Grand View Research has segmented the global maleic anhydride market on the basis of application and region.

Global Maleic Anhydride Application Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2024) Unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) 1,4- butanediol (BDO) Additives Copolymers Others

Global Maleic Anhydride Regional Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2024) North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany UK Asia Pacific China Japan Middle East & Africa Central & South America



Browse related reports by Grand View Research:

Propylene Oxide Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/propylene-oxide-market



Automotive Composites Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/automotive-composites-market



Silicone Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/silicone-market



Thermoformed Plastics Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/thermoformed-plastics-market

About Grand View Research:

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.

Read Our Blogs - ni2014.org , grandviewresearch.com/blogs/bulk-chemicals

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: [email protected]

Web: http://www.grandviewresearch.com



SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
WASHINGTON and NEW YORK and LONDON, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MarketResearch.com is pleased to announce the addition of four new or updated Freedonia Focus Reports forecasting various aspects of the US healthcare services market.

Focus Reports provide market insights such as historical market size and industry output, segmentation by products and/or markets, market drivers and constraints, segment-by-segment outlooks in five-year forecasts, and profiles of leading companies. These four reports focus on US healthcare, medical services, healthcare insurance, and deathcare services.

According to Healthcare: United States, US national healthcare expenditures are forecast to total $4.1 trillion in 2019. Providers are expected to benefit from growth in consumer incomes and a projected rise in the number of acute and chronic conditions in the aging population. To learn more about the US healthcare market, visit the report page: http://www.marketresearch.com/Freedonia-Focus-v3334/Healthcare-United-States-9513084/?progid=88762

US demand for medical services is forecast to total $2.9 trillion in 2019, representing 5.9% annual growth from $2.2 trillion in 2014, according to the report Medical Services: United States. This market is also expected to benefit from growth in consumer incomes and a projected rise in the number of acute and chronic conditions. To learn more, visit the report page: http://www.marketresearch.com/Freedonia-Focus-v3334/Medical-Services-United-States-9513114/?progid=88762

According to the Focus Report Healthcare Insurance: United States, the US insured population is projected to total 300.5 million persons in 2019, representing gains of 1.7% annually from 276.5 million persons in 2014. The uninsured rate in 2019 is thus forecast to fall to 8.1%, from 12% in 2014. Key factors contributing to the rise in insurance coverage include provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act such as Medicaid expansion, subsidies to purchase private insurance available through the Health Insurance Marketplace, and tax penalties for uninsured individuals.

To find out more about healthcare insurance, visit our report page: http://www.marketresearch.com/Freedonia-Focus-v3334/Healthcare-Insurance-United-States-8983284/?progid=88762

In Deathcare: United States, analysts forecast US deathcare service revenues to total $19.1 billion in 2020, representing 1.5% annual growth from $17.7 billion in 2015. Advances will be driven by expansion in the number of deaths in the US as the large population of baby boomers age into typical end-of-life cohorts. To learn more, visit the report page: http://www.marketresearch.com/Freedonia-Focus-v3334/Deathcare-United-States-9864039/?progid=88762

These Freedonia Focus Reports are also available on www.profound.com, where subscribers are able to purchase the individual sections, chapters, tables, or charts of a report they need without having to pay for the pieces they don't.

About MarketResearch.com

MarketResearch.com is the leading provider of global market intelligence products and services. With research reports from more than 720 top consulting and advisory firms, MarketResearch.com offers instant online access to the world's most extensive database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends. Moreover, MarketResearch.com's Research Specialists have in-depth knowledge of the publishers and the various types of reports in their respective industries and are ready to provide research assistance.

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About The Freedonia Group

The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com, is a leading international industrial market research company that publishes more than 400 research studies annually and offers custom research solutions. Since 1985, they have provided research to customers ranging in size from global conglomerates to one-person consulting firms. More than 90% of the industrial companies in the Fortune 500 use Freedonia Group research to help with their strategic planning. Reports can be purchased at www.freedoniagroup.com and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.

Press Contact:

Caitlin Stewart

+1.240.747.3086

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150819/259741LOGO

SOURCE MarketResearch.com

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HANGZHOU, China, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mars Incorporated, one of the world's largest food manufacturers, today announced an innovative global strategic business partnership with Alibaba Group, the world's largest online and mobile commerce company. Leveraging Alibaba's ecosystem, Mars will establish an integrated online and offline business model to more effectively serve its hundreds of millions of consumers in China. All of Mars' brands in China, including six brands worth over 1 billion US dollars each  Dove, Snickers, M&M's, Extra, Pedigree and Royal Canin  will be available on all Alibaba platforms including Tmall.com and Rural Taobao. Mars and Alibaba are also partnering to create an e-commerce food safety program that benefits consumers and the broader consumer goods industry, through a collaboration with Mars' Global Food Safety Center (GFSC) in China.

(from left to right): Raphael Grillion, E-Commerce Director of Royal Canin China; Cecilia Li, Vice President and Managing Director of Wrigley China; Jet Jing, Vice President of Alibaba Group; David Manzini, General Manager of Mars Chocolate China; Carl Su, General Manager of Mars Petcare China

A "One-Stop" Shopping Experience

Under the partnership, consumers will be able to enjoy a more convenient and international "one-stop" shopping experience. For the first time, all of Mars' brands in China will be available online to consumers in its various Tmall flagship stores and to rural consumers through Rural Taobao. Mars will leverage Alibaba's marketing services, media properties, mobile reach, big data and consumer insights to directly engage with its consumers. Alibaba's supply chain management and logistics network will also help expand Mars' efficiency and reach.

Prior to forging this official strategic partnership, many Mars brands have already been very successful on Tmall. In April this year, Snickers and TFBoys, a popular boy band in China, cooperated on a marketing campaign. In just three days, it achieved almost the whole year's sales of 2015. Based on targeted advertising with Alibaba's big data analysis, the campaign enabled Mars to achieve an ROI which outpaced the average of other brand campaigns in the snack category on Tmall. Royal Canin's flagship Tmall store has sold more than 1,800 tons of cat and dog food since opening, serving more than 50,000 pets across China.

Mars is committed to continue leading China's food retail market with its focus on quality and innovation. Moving forward, Mars and its brands will strengthen collaboration with e-commerce platforms around the world like Alibaba to embed internet thinking into product research and development, sales, marketing and other relevant functions.

Delivering Mutual Benefits through Food Safety

In addition to improving the consumer shopping experience, Mars and Alibaba will also put a focus on food safety through collaborating with the Mars GFSC. The Mars GFSC will work with Alibaba to enhance food safety management, promote consumer education and share the latest scientific research findings with industry stakeholders. The Center is known for its world class scientific research and has supported food safety education for children in China. Through this partnership, it will bring the world's leading food safety management research resources to bear for consumers on Alibaba's platforms.

"Mars is an invaluable addition to our ecosystem, and this collaboration is a significant milestone for Alibaba as we now have established close partnerships with three of the world's top food and beverage companies," said Jet Jing, Vice President of Alibaba Group. "We will continue to enable the digital transformation of our partners to help them leverage our ecosystem of marketplaces and infrastructure of support for brand building, customer management, channel expansion and product innovation. Alibaba and Mars share a common commitment to improving safety standards, quality monitoring, and consumer awareness in China. With our combined strengths and resources, we are confident that we can elevate China's consumption model in the era of big data, and deliver greater economic and social benefits to all stakeholders."

"China's younger generation is the new driving force of consumption. They rely on e-commerce, and place great value on the trustworthiness of the companies behind their brands and products. Besides our well-known brands, Mars meet their expectations by prioritizing our product quality, and also through our efforts to elevate industry standards," said Cecilia Li, Vice President and Managing Director of Wrigley China, a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated. "Alibaba is a significant strategic partnership for Mars, as this relationship demonstrates Mars' principles of 'Quality' and 'Mutuality'."

About Mars Inc. & Mars China

In 1911, Frank C. Mars made the first Mars candies in his Tacoma, Washington kitchen and established Mars' first roots as a confectionery company. In the 1920s, Forrest E. Mars, Sr. joined his father in business and together they launched the MILKY WAY bar. In 1932, Forrest, Sr. moved to the United Kingdom with a dream of building a business based on the objective of creating a "mutuality of benefits for all stakeholders" -- this objective serves as the foundation of Mars, Incorporated today.

Based in McLean, Virginia, Mars has net sales of more than $33 billion and six business segments including Petcare, Chocolate, Wrigley, Food, Drinks, Symbioscience, and more than 75,000 Associates worldwide that are putting its Principles into action to make a difference for people and the planet through its performance.

Currently, Mars has 4 business segments in China, namely Wrigley, Chocolate, Petcare and Drinks, and owns 7 production facilities, 4 R&D centers and 47 branch offices with over 13,000 associates (including contractors). Mars brands in China include: Wrigley - Doublemint chewing gum and mints, Extra sugar-free gum, 5 sugar-free chewing gum, Ta Ta bubble gum, Pim Pom lollipops, Sugus chewy candy and Skittles hard coated chewy candy; Chocolate - Dove, SNICKERS, Crispy and M&M's; Petcare - WHISKAS, PEDIGREE and etc. and ROYAL CANIN precise nutrition for dogs and cats; Drinks - FLAVIA,, ALTERRATM, BRISKTM and Dove.

For more information, please visit www.mars.com and www.mars.com/china

About Mars Global Food Safety Center

As one of the world's leading food manufacturers, Mars has driven a new approach to quality and food safety within the business and invested broadly in research, ability and expertise networks to meet the global food safety challenges affecting the food industry.

Mars has now built up the Global Food Safety Center to help support the knowledge expansion and understanding of effective global food safety management.

The first of its kind for Mars and one of the first facilities of its kind for the region and the industry, the Mars Global Food Safety Center will conduct pre-competitive food safety research and training. Through knowledge capture, knowledge generation and knowledge sharing, the center will raise the bar of food safety management across the industry.

We believe that food safety is fundamental to food security throughout the supply chain. And the focus on food safety will help reach our ultimate goal of driving better access, better availability, better nutrition, less waste and will save lives.

About Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA)

Alibaba Group's mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. The company is the largest online and mobile commerce company in the world in terms of gross merchandise volume. Founded in 1999, the company provides the fundamental technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help businesses leverage the power of the Internet to establish an online presence and conduct commerce with hundreds of millions of consumers and other businesses.

Media Contacts

Mars Inc.

Jonathan Mudd

+1 973 691 3536

[email protected]

Alibaba Group

Candice Huang

1-202-716-7447

[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160629/384697

SOURCE Mars, Incorporated

Related Links

http://www.mars.com


NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Good AC Guy, an Internet startup that connects consumers to quality heating and cooling contractors for free, announced today the launch of its Good Life Blog and coalition of contributors called Good Life Gals.

Good AC Guy is a safe, smart and sexy site to find on-demand HVAC pros The Good Life Gals are six fabulous women entrepreneurs who contribute to the Good AC Guy's Good Life Blog. They travel the globe and share the experiences they incur along the way, helping others to "live their lives to the fullest". Air conditioning and heating pros who have passed the screening process receive this Good AC Guy seal.

"In an industry that has a less than stellar reputation, Good AC Guy is helping improve the customer service experience and redefine the 'grudge' purchase of air conditioning," says Cindy Metzler, President of Good AC Guy." At Good AC Guy, we showcase reviews, conduct background checks, train contractors, and are committed to creating an online experience that provides visitors helpful solutions from contributors like Dawn Gallagher, best-selling author, lifestyle expert, and QVC host."

These contributors have stories to tell and success to share. The Good Life Blog content goes beyond home comfort solutions---it's a resource for on-demand advice and inspiration from best-selling authors, entrepreneurs---even cancer survivors---whose stories are meant to inspire and enlighten.

In an age when giants like Amazon entered the home improvement space, Good AC Guy has a niche. It focuses exclusively on HVAC pros and provides them with valuable webinars and online training to help elevate their business. And with the Good Life Blog, it's giving consumers a more engaging experience while creating a new and valuable spot in home improvement.

"Air conditioning is one of the most expensive investments a consumer will make in their home," says Dawn Gallagher, lifestyle expert and blog contributor. "The Good Life Blog provides an exciting and educational experience that not only helps consumers make smart decisions for their home, but actually helps them live their lives to the fullest."

The Good Life Blog lifestyle categories include: Home, Travel, Health, Culture, DIY, Outdoor, Fitness, Reviews, and more. Good Life Gals include Cindy Metzler, Dawn Gallagher, Amy Biederwolf, Nancy Donahue, Dale Noelle, and Brittany Harris.

Good AC Guy was launched in 2016 at AHR Expo, the world's largest HVAC/R marketplace, after two years of R&D. Contractors who meet the Good AC Guy standard of excellence receive a seal and a detailed profile page, which showcases their reviews, current jobs, certifications, pricing methods, diagnostic fees, and more. This transparency gives consumers a competitive advantage, and arms them with valuable information.

About Good AC Guy

Good AC Guy is an Internet startup that connects consumers to quality HVAC pros for free. It's an online community for on-demand answers, advice and analysis. The site and its Good Life Blog provide a place for sharing, storytelling, and support---a virtual community of neighbors serving neighbors. Good AC Guy brings consumers and quality contractors together through an online experience that helps consumers live their lives to the fullest.

For more information, visit www.goodacguy.com, Email or contact Cindy Metzler 561-271-1389

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcWHqR8P2ag

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160628/384619

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160628/384618

SOURCE Good AC Guy

Related Links

http://www.goodacguy.com


China issues new Internet rules on advertising after probe on search engine firm Baidu Inc. (Photo : Getty Images)

Baidu Inc. is likely to have a more difficult time in China as more companies in the West such as Bing and Yahoo may benefit from the current crackdown on the Chinese search engine.



According to an analysis from Forbes contributor Doug Young, Baidu's woes appear to be getting bigger by the minute as China's Internet regulator rolls out stricter rules in operation and some competitors from the United States may be gearing to take advantage of the situation.



Advertisement

Stricter Rules



Beginning Aug. 1, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) will be implementing stricter rules for search engines and the companies that own them.



This news comes after the country's biggest search engine company Baidu was subjected to investigations following the death of a college student who suffered from a rare case of cancer and sought treatment from a military hospital featured in a sponsored ad from the Chinese search engine.



According to Young, this new set of rules from the CAC "look even more aggressive than earlier ones," referring to the mandate that requires all search engines to report all banned content to the regulatory body and verify advertisements before posting them.



The CAC also wants all sponsored search results to be thoroughly distinguished from the regular, unpaid ones so as not to mislead users.



Who Benefits



Google has been repeatedly being banned or blocked from being accessed in the country but is still working hard in getting accessed following the high-profile case in 2010 covered by the Telegraph UK.



Unfortunately, there appears to be no progress in this endeavor which is why Young deemed Google as the company that is least likely to benefit from Baidu's woes.



However, other players like Bing and Yahoo might enter the picture, with the tech giant out of the way and China's homegrown search engine company suffering from scrutiny in its own backyard.



"Bing looks like the best positioned to benefit, though it's currently a non-player in China and doesn't seem very marketing savvy," Young wrote, referring to the search engine that is currently offering a Chinese-language platform in Hong Kong.



Young also believes that Yahoo has a big chance at getting the best out of the situation considering that the company already has access and support from the inside thanks to Chinese billionaire Jack Ma's Alibaba.



"The pair actually formed a search partnership centered on Yahoo's original China site more than a decade ago," Young said. "But Alibaba wasn't able to revive the site's falling fortunes, and now visits to yahoo.cn simply re-direct users to Yahoo's Singapore site."






BEAVERTON, Ore., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the National Rural Accountable Care Consortium (NRACC) announced that Rural Health Clinics (RHCs), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), rural hospitals with less than 100 beds and independent practices may be eligible for free participation in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP).

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160628/384462LOGO

NRACC anticipates many primary care providers will be moving into the new Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) program this fall. This movement will allow other providers, not participating in the CPC+ program, to move into ACO Investment Model (AIM)-funded ACOs, where practices can receive all of the benefits of the Medicare Shared Savings Program at no cost.

Interested applicants must submit a non-binding application no later than July 15, 2016. If approved by the ACO Boards of Directors, successful applicants will be notified in October and have five business days to either confirm or withdraw their application.

"Accountable Care Organizations are a great way to get the data we need to help our patients," says Dr. Mark Hamed, Medical Director of the Greater Michigan Rural ACO, an NRACC member. "The changes we have made in our practice workflows improve care for our patients and make it easier to practice medicine the way we have always wanted."

McKenzie Health System CEO Steve Barnett agrees, "Patient-centered care under the ACO model has been great for our community and great for the bottom line of our rural health system. Patients leave the community for care less frequently, increase their preventive care compliance and stay healthier as a result."

CPC+ is a new primary care payment initiative from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). According to NRACC Executive Director Monica Bourgeau, "CPC+ and the MSSP are two ways providers can participate in Advanced Payment Models. The MSSP greatly improves their results under MACRA. CPC+ is a Qualified Advanced Payment Model that exempts providers from MACRA and automatically earns a 5% Part B bonus. Either way providers and patients are better off."

CONTACT:

Monica Bourgeau, MS

Executive Director

National Rural Accountable Care Consortium

www.NationalRuralACO.com

Email

916.500.4777 (o)

SOURCE National Rural Accountable Care Consortium

Related Links

http://www.NationalRuralACO.com


WASHINGTON, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Small Business Association (NSBA) today released the 2016 Politics of Small Business Survey which provides detailed insight on the political opinions and activity of America's small-business owners. Among the key findings: no party "owns" the small-business vote, the overwhelming majority of small-business owners do not vote a straight party ticket.

"In addition to being pragmatic voters, small-business owners are extremely engaged," stated NSBA President and CEO Todd McCracken. "Our data shows that two-thirds of small-business owners have contacted their lawmakers, and 65 percent have contributed money to a candidate's campaign."

Small-business owners expressed a growing level of frustration with politicians. When asked which party best represents them as an individual, more small-business owners responded with "neither party," than with Republican or Democratic. Additionally, when asked to rate which party was more supportive on a particular issue, "Neither party" was the highest rated response on more issues than not.

"Small-business owners overwhelmingly rank economic and fiscal issues as the top factor in determining how they vote,"stated NSBA Chair Cookie Driscoll, owner of C. Cookie Driscoll Inc. of Fairfield, Pennsylvania. "Unfortunately, small-business owners broadly agree that Members of Congress and their staff don't really understand small business."

Discontent among small-business owners with the U.S. political machine remains high: 82 percent believe that politics have become more partisan in the last 10 years, and 65 percent believe that the current political system does not serve their business well.

NSBA is releasing the Politics Survey in conjunction with the 70 Million Strong campaign focused on get-out-the vote initiatives, featuring resources for employers including how to talk about elections with their employees.

Click here to download the survey.

Celebrating more than 75 years in operation, NSBA is a staunchly nonpartisan organization advocating on behalf of America's entrepreneurs. NSBA's 65,000 members represent every state and every industry in the U.S. Please visit www.nsba.biz or follow us at @NSBAAdvocate.

SOURCE National Small Business Association
SHANGHAI, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Noah Holdings Limited ("Noah" or the "Company") (NYSE: NOAH), a leading wealth and asset management service provider with a focus on global services for high net worth individuals and enterprises in China, today announced that its board of directors has approved a share repurchase program ("Share Repurchase Program"), effective July 8, 2016, which authorizes the Company to repurchase up to US$50 million worth of its issued and outstanding American Depositary Shares over the course of one year. The Share Repurchase Program extends the Company's previous share repurchase program that was effective for 12 months from July 8, 2015. "Given the continued volatility of the market, we believe the Share Repurchase Program helps us protect shareholders' value. We see continued strengths in our business and continue to believe that our shares are undervalued," commented Kenny Lam, Noah's Group President.

The proposed share repurchases may be made on the open market at prevailing market prices pursuant to Rule 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, in privately negotiated transactions, in block trades or otherwise from time to time depending on market conditions and in accordance with applicable rules and regulations. Noah's board of directors will review the Share Repurchase Program periodically, and may authorize adjustment of its terms and size at its discretion.

ABOUT NOAH HOLDINGS LIMITED

Founded in 2005, Noah Holdings Limited (NYSE: NOAH) is a leading wealth and asset management services provider with a focus on global services for high net worth individuals and enterprises in China. In the first quarter of 2016, Noah distributed over RMB24.8 billion (US$3.8 billion) of wealth management products. As of March 31, 2016, Noah had assets under management of RMB94.6 billion (US$14.7 billion).

Noah distributes a wide array of wealth management products, including fixed income products, private equity fund products, mutual fund products and insurance products. Noah also develops and manages financial products denominated in both domestic (RMB) and foreign currencies, covering real estate funds and funds of funds, including private equity funds, real estate funds, hedge funds and fixed income funds through Gopher Asset Management. In addition, in 2014, the Company launched a proprietary internet finance platform to provide financial products and services to aspiring high net worth individuals and enterprise clients in China. Noah delivers customized financial solutions to clients through a network of 1,137 relationship managers across 166 branches and sub-branches in 68 cities in China, and serves the international investment needs of its clients through a wholly owned subsidiary in Hong Kong. The Company's wealth management business had 105,557 registered clients as of March 31, 2016.

For more information please visit Noah at ir.noahwm.com.

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENTS

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Among other things, the proposed implementation of the Share Repurchase Program and quotations from management about the Share Repurchase Plan in this announcement, as well as Noah's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. Noah may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Noah's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: its goals and strategies; its future business development, financial condition and results of operations; the expected growth of the wealth management market in China and internationally; its expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of the products it distributes; its expectations regarding keeping and strengthening its relationships with key clients; relevant government policies and regulations relating to its industry; its ability to attract and retain quality employees; its ability to stay abreast of market trends and technological advances; its plans to invest in research and development to enhance its product choices and service offerings; competition in its industry in China and internationally; general economic and business conditions in China; and its ability to effectively protect its intellectual property rights and not infringe on the intellectual property rights of others. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Noah's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual reports on Form 20-F. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and Noah does not undertake any obligation to update any such information, including forward-looking statements, as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law.

Contacts:

Noah Holdings Limited

Steve Zeng

Noah Holdings Limited

Tel: +86-21-8035-9221

[email protected]

SOURCE Noah Holdings Limited

Related Links

http://ir.noahwm.com


Extended Stay America hosted 10 families for a celebration showing that life after a cancer diagnosis can be full and rewarding. The American Cancer Society and ESA went for the gold, providing families a fun-filled two days in the Big Apple. Event highlights included a special keynote presentation by Shannon Miller -- the most decorated gymnast in American history, successful businesswoman and cancer survivor. During the event, Shannon motivated and inspired guests with her powerful testimony, including how she tapped into the gold medal mindset to beat cancer.

"As a hospitality provider, we believe it's our mission to help take care of people who are building a better life for themselves and their family. Hotel Keys of HopeSM allows us to extend what we do best to people who really need our help batting cancer," said Tom Seddon, chief marketing officer at Extended Stay America. Upon learning that the cost of lodging is among the greatest barriers keeping cancer patients from receiving potentially lifesaving treatment, Extended Stay America joined the fight against cancer. "We want to do our part to support efforts like the Moonshot initiative, to bring about a renewed surge against the disease. For Extended Stay America this is about more than a donation, it is about providing families affected by cancer peace of mind so that they may focus on getting well and embracing life rather than worrying about mounting expenses. Through celebrations like this, we honor those who have fought the battle, rejoice in their success and recognize the ongoing need for a program like Hotel Keys of Hope."

This celebration of survivorship comes at an exceptionally relevant time, as the inaugural Moonshot Summit, an initiative to eradicate cancer, led by Vice President Joe Biden, begins this week in Washington, D.C.

"While this incredible initiative brings a future promise of eradicating cancer as a major health problem, those who face a present-day cancer diagnosis are finding it easier to travel to their potentially lifesaving treatment thanks to the generosity of Extended Stay America and its Hotel Keys of HopeSM program," said Gary Reedy, chief executive officer, American Cancer Society. "On behalf of those who reach out to us with a lodging need, the American Cancer Society is grateful for the outstanding hospitality provided by Extended Stay America and its kind and helpful associates."

Extended Stay America's philanthropic efforts to elevate corporate giving with a program for those battling a cancer diagnosis began with its front linethe brand's more than 8,500 employees. In response to a company survey to uncover sentiment toward a philanthropic foundation, the American Cancer Society rose ahead of all other causes, as cancer unfortunately touches the lives of millions.

Gary Crowell, a general manager from Scarborough, ME, reflects on his emotional past with cancer. He said, "I have personally suffered the loss of three siblings and one parent to cancer. During our family's battle with this illness, there were many nights that we wished we had known of such a program to ease the financial burden associated with getting treatments. Not having to think about where they would stay and how they would pay for it would have been an answer to a prayer. It is a small way that ESA can help and I am fortunate to be on the front lines of helping make our home their home away from home."

Extended Stay America provides the comforts and conveniences of home complete with kitchens in each hotel room for patients to store and cook the foods they enjoy, on-site laundry centers and flat-screen TVs with premium channels to unwind with favorite shows. In-room free Wi-Fi access allows patients to stay connected with loved ones while away from home, daily Grab and Go Breakfast provides a quick and healthy way to start the day and pet-friendly accommodations allow beloved pets to provide healing comfort.

To join Extended Stay America and the American Cancer Society in the fight against cancer, visit ExtendedStayAmerica.com or call 800-804-3724. For information about American Cancer Society programs and services, including the lodging program, please visit cancer.org or call 1-800-227-2345.

About Extended Stay America

Extended Stay America, Inc., the largest owner/operator of company-branded hotels in North America, owns and operates 629 hotels in the U.S. and Canada comprising approximately 69,400 rooms and employs over 8,500 employees at its hotel properties and headquarters. The Company's core brand, Extended Stay America, serves the mid-priced extended stay segment. Visit www.extendedstay.com for more information about the Company and its services.

About the American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society is a global grassroots force of 2 million volunteers saving lives in every community. As the largest voluntary health organization, the Society's efforts have contributed to a 26 percent decline in cancer death rates in the U.S. since 1991, and a 50 percent drop in smoking rates. We're finding cures as the nation's largest private, not-for-profit investor in cancer research, ensuring people facing cancer have the help they need and continuing the fight for access to quality health care, lifesaving screenings and more. For more information, to get help, or to join the fight, call us anytime, day or night, at (800) 227-2345 or visit cancer.org.

Media Contacts:

THE ZIMMERMAN AGENCY

(850) 668-2222 - [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160629/384822

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160629/384823LOGO

SOURCE Extended Stay America

Related Links

http://www.extendedstayamerica.com


CALGARY, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Oncolytics Biotech Inc. ("Oncolytics" or the "Company") (TSX: ONC) (OTCQX: ONCYF) (FRA: ONY) today announced that, following submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") for review, the Investigational New Drug Application containing the protocol titled "Phase 2 study of REOLYSIN (pelareorep) in combination with FOLFOX6, bevacizumab and pembrolizumab in female patients with KRAS-mutant colorectal cancer metastatic to the liver" is now active.

"This study is intended to confirm the encouraging objective overall and liver metastases response rates in female patients that we saw in a sponsored randomized Phase II study conducted in Canada," said Dr. Brad Thompson, President and CEO of Oncolytics. "We are adding a checkpoint inhibitor to the treatment regimen based on our evolving understanding of how REOLYSIN upregulates immune responses and how the combination may make cancer cells more susceptible to attack by the immune system."

This is a multicenter, single arm safety and efficacy study of REOLYSIN in combination with chemotherapy (FOLFOX6), bevacizumab (Avastin) and pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA) in female patients with KRAS-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) in the liver. The primary objective is to evaluate the overall response rate (ORR) according to Immune-related Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors ("irRECIST"). Secondary objectives include evaluating disease response in liver metastases and overall survival. The Company also intends to examine the effect of study treatment on immune-related cells and biomarkers associated with immune response; and genetic biomarkers associated with positive response to study treatment. Study enrollment will be approximately 30 patients.

Oncolytics recently announced data from a sponsored Phase 2 study of REOLYSIN, in combination with FOLFOX6 and bevacizumab in patients with advanced or metastatic CRC (IND 210). In that study, the overall test arm had an objective response rate of 52.9% (n=51) versus 34.6% (n=52) in the control arm (p=0.06). The Company conducted a pre-planned analysis of patient responses by gender, as specified in the study protocol. The female patients in the test arm had an objective response rate of 63.2% (n=19) versus 23.8% (n=21) in the control arm (p=0.0054), and in the test arm had a median overall survival of 19.3 months (n=19) versus 14.5 months (n=21) in the control arm. The overall survival was an interim analysis, as 62 of 103 patients overall were alive at the time of data cut off. The male patients in the test arm had an objective response rate of 46.9% (n=32) versus 41.9% (n=31) in the control arm (p=0.6747). For patients (both male and female) who had metastases to the liver, those treated with REOLYSIN had objective tumour response rates of 55% (n=40), versus 28.6% (n=42) for those who did not receive REOLYSIN (p=0.0077).

About Colorectal Cancer

The American Cancer Society estimates that 134,490 Americans (63,670 women) will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer and an estimated 49,190 Americans (23,170 women) will die from the disease in 2016. The five- and ten-year survival rates are 65% and 58%, respectively, however five-year survival drops to 13% in cases where the cancer spreads to other parts of the body, away from the primary tumour.

About Oncolytics Biotech Inc.

Oncolytics is a Calgary-based biotechnology company focused on the development of oncolytic viruses as potential cancer therapeutics. Oncolytics' clinical program includes a variety of later-stage, randomized human trials in various indications using REOLYSIN, its proprietary formulation of the human reovirus. For further information about Oncolytics, please visit: www.oncolyticsbiotech.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that Oncolytics expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including such things as, the Company's expectations related to the phase 2 study in female patients with colorectal cancer metastatic to the liver, the Company's belief as to the potential of REOLYSIN as a cancer therapeutic, and other such matters are forward-looking statements and forward-looking information and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks related to the statistical sufficiency of patient enrollment numbers in separate patient groups, the availability of funds and resources to pursue research and development projects, the efficacy of REOLYSIN as a cancer treatment, the tolerability of REOLYSIN outside a controlled test, the success and timely completion of clinical studies and trials, the Company's ability to successfully commercialize REOLYSIN, uncertainties related to the research and development of pharmaceuticals and uncertainties related to the regulatory process. Investors should consult the Company's quarterly and annual filings with the Canadian and U.S. securities commissions for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to the forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Investors are cautioned against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements and forward-looking information, except as required by applicable laws.



SOURCE Oncolytics Biotech Inc.
NASHVILLE, Tenn., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- OnlineSchoolsCenter.com has recently released their list of the Top 15 Online Schools for Bachelor's of Health Informatics Degree Programs, a detailed catalogue concerning the finest available undergraduate distance education programs in the country.

You may view the list, along with a description of the benefits of each institution and course flexibility by clicking the link below:

http://www.onlineschoolscenter.com/top-15-online-schools-for-bachelors-of-health-informatics-degree-programs/

The need for these professionals in the medical industry is enormous. There has been a recent federal legislation mandating the conversion to electronic medical records from hard copy. Once this legislation occurred, the demand for educated individuals who understand technology, business, medical, and financial platforms rose steeply. This level of record keeping allows the industry to work at much faster rate of efficiency, giving patients today an unparalleled degree of healthcare. Health informatics professionals are a crucial asset and perform an invaluable service to hospitals, clinics, and other medical industries across the country and throughout the world.

These fifteen extraordinary schools give students exciting opportunities to gain refined experience in challenging coursework and projects. Many of these institutions also give students real-world exposure and highly beneficial networking connections; others allow students to focus their degree in specific concentration areas depending on what their interests are; yet all fifteen institutions on this list provide students with dedicated faculty and advisory members, state-of-the-art technologies, and advantageous resources. Students learn from accomplished faculty members, many of whom are working professionals that can supply students with pivotal, up-to-date information.

According to lead researcher and writer, Rowan Jones, "Health informatics is an incredibly prudent career path for individuals who are technologically savvy, who have a keen understanding of finances and business, and who want to provide a valuable service to society. This is a perfect time to earn a health informatics degree."

Below we have listed the schools that have made the listing:

* Western Governors University - Salt Lake City, UT

* St. John's University - Jamaica, NY

* Regis University - Denver, CO

* DeVry University - Phoenix, AZ

* University of Wisconsin System - Madison, WI

* Oregon Institute of Technology - Klamath Falls, OR

* Capella University - Minneapolis, MN

* University of Illinois - Chicago, IL

* University of Mississippi - University, MS

* Colorado Technical University - Colorado Springs, CO

* Rasmussen College - Lake Elmo, MN

* Southern New Hampshire University - Manchester, NH

* University of New York - New York City, NY

* University of Cincinnati - Cincinnati, OH

* Georgia Regents University - Augusta, GA

These programs were chosen for several factors that put them ahead of other online graduate programs, due to the: nature of the coursework, degree of thoroughness and complexity of the curriculum, 100% online availability, sufficient financial aid availability, and an education that give students more than just classroom experience.

OnlineSchoolsCenter.com is an online web publication that is committed to enhancing the information available to students when choosing an academic institution. The editors collect the most important and relevant data about colleges, universities, and campus facilities from various highly respected sources and offer them in a simple format that is easy to understand. In developing this list, we chose not to list the schools in an ordered way, but instead highlighted twenty of the very best programs, all of which have their own unique strengths.

Contact:

Rowan Jones

Researcher/Writer

OnlineSchoolsCenter.com

Email

Cell: (931) 636-4286

SOURCE Online Schools Center
NEW YORK, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 10,000 U.S. and global securities, today announced FTE Networks, Inc. (OTCQX: FTNW), which provides wireline and wireless telecommunications service providers with technology solutions and infrastructure services, has qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market. FTE Networks upgraded to OTCQX from the OTCQB Venture Market.

FTE Networks begins trading today on OTCQX under the symbol "FTNW." U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.

"We are excited to congratulate FTE Networks on their graduation to our OTCQX Best Market. Upgrading to OTCQX will help the company increase its visibility with investors and distinguish itself among the most established, investor-focused U.S. and international companies trading on our markets," said Jason Paltrowitz, Executive Vice President of Corporate Services at OTC Markets Group.

Michael Palleschi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FTE, commented, "We are very pleased to be approved for quotation on OTCQX. FTE is experiencing rapid growth as we add new fortune 500 customers and enter new markets. As a result, we see our quotation on the OTCQX as an important step towards increasing shareholder awareness and liquidity for our stock."

K&L Gates LLP serves as FTE Networks' OTCQX Advisor, and provides professional guidance on OTCQX requirements and U.S. securities laws.

FTE Networks, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides wireline and wireless telecommunications service providers with technology solutions and infrastructure services. It specializes in the design, engineering, installation, and maintenance of all aspects of telecommunications infrastructure across the entire OSI stack. FTE technicians provide support through both stand by and emergency response contracts. Inside and Outside Plant services include the installation, testing and maintenance of infrastructure, power systems, electronics/optronics and associated cabling ranging from structured data all the way up to large count fiber placed aerially or underground. The company's wireless solutions include equipment installation, fiber backhaul, antennae mounting and testing, small cell and FTTX deployments. In addition, it offers staff augmentation services primarily for the telecommunications, technology, and construction services industries. Its customer base is Fortune 500 customers in the telecommunications and cable service industries, as well as equipment manufacturers, technology integrators and state and local governments. The company is based in Naples, Florida and has offices around the United States and Europe.

Contacts:

FTE Networks, Inc.

Kirstin Gooldy

Chief Compliance Officer/Investor Relations

999 Vanderbilt Beach Rd., Suite 601

Naples, FL 23108

(877) 850-4308

[email protected]

About OTC Markets Group Inc.

OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market, and the Pink Open Market for 10,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS, we connect a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. We enable investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empower companies to improve the quality of information available for investors.

To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com

OTC Link ATS is operated by OTC Link LLC, member FINRA/SIPC and SEC regulated ATS.

Subscribe to the OTC Markets RSS Feed

Media Contact:

OTC Markets Group Inc., +1 (212) 896-4428, [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110118/MM31963LOGO

SOURCE OTC Markets Group Inc.

Related Links

http://www.otcmarkets.com


LEE VISTA, Fla., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Outback Steakhouse debuted its newest restaurant in Lee Vista on Monday, June 27 at 11 a.m. To show its support of the local community, a portion of the restaurant's opening day sales benefitted Santiago and Friends, which provides culturally responsive, family centered interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorders through the services of early intervention and behavior analysis. The restaurant is the newest addition to the Lee Vista Promenade and features an updated "Modern Australia" design both inside and out.

To mark the official grand opening, the restaurant held a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce.

"We're thrilled to be the newest neighbor here in Lee Vista," said Rick Ortega, Local Proprietor, Outback Steakhouse. "We enjoyed welcoming our friends and neighbors on grand opening day with delicious food and being able to give back to a great organization."

The restaurant features a "Modern Australia" design with decor that mirrors the indigenous flora and fauna, adventure, geography and leisure of modern day Australia. Guests can also enjoy a spacious, energetic bar area that includes a community table  a great place to meet up with friends and enjoy specialty beer, wine and hand-crafted cocktails. The bar also features customized seating and furnishings and is connected directly to the outdoor dining patio.

The new Outback is located at 6845 S. Semoran Blvd. and is open from 11 a.m.  10 p.m. Sunday  Thursday and 11 a.m.  11 p.m. Friday  Saturday. To join the wait list before you even arrive, receive exclusive offers, and choose how and when you want to pay the bill, download Outback's new mobile app for free at www.outback.com/app.

For more information about Outback Steakhouse, please visit www.outback.com, www.facebook.com/outback or follow us on Twitter @Outback.

About Outback Steakhouse

Outback Steakhouse starts fresh every day to create the flavors that our mates crave. Best known for grilled steaks, chicken and seafood, Outback also offers a wide variety of crisp salads and freshly made soups and sides. New creations and grilled classics are made from scratch daily using only the highest quality ingredients sourced from around the world. For more information, please visit www.outback.com or http://www.facebook.com/outback.

About Santiago and Friends

Santiago & Friends | Family Center for Autism addresses the welfare of Central Florida children and education advancement priorities for Latino Leadership. Through Santiago & Friends Latino Leadership works to address a gap in service for families touched by autism in a linguistically- and culturally-sensitive manner. Focusing primarily on ABA Therapies, Santiago & Friends empowers parents to be the voice for their child and be a major component of their therapy program. For more information, please visit www.santiagoandfriends.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090608/FL29306LOGO

SOURCE Outback Steakhouse

Related Links

https://www.outback.com


NEW YORK, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area. You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network  it's easy and free! Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/alertswire.

EXPERT ALERTS

Brexit the Result of Failed Political Leadership

Paul Ryan's Obamacare Replacement Announcement

Obamacare Replacement Announcement Turkish-Israeli Reconciliation Deal

U.S. International Security Policy

EXPERT ROUNDUP: Political Conventions (42 experts)

MEDIA JOBS

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ProfNet Success Story: Michelle Dutro , The Game Changer Podcast

EXPERT ALERTS:

Brexit the Result of Failed Political Leadership

Raj Bhala

Associate Dean for International and Comparative Law and Rice Distinguished Professor

University of Kansas School of Law

"Brexit puts the UK back on standard WTO most-favored nation terms relative to the 27 EU members and the rest of the world, including the United States, and also major emerging markets like India and Iran. Brexit was the nearly inevitable result of failed political leadership, failed in the sense of making the case -- and the case exists -- that EU membership benefits the UK beyond financial elites in the city of London."

Bhala can discuss Brexit, the UK voting to leave the EU, economic ramifications for all concerned nations, as well as the effects on American markets. He is the author of "Modern GATT Law," "International Trade Law: An Interdisciplinary, Non-Western Textbook" and dozens of journal articles on international trade law.

Contact: Mike Krings, [email protected]

Paul Ryan's Obamacare Replacement Announcement

Kosali Simon, Ph.D.

Professor, Health Economist

Indiana University, School of Public and Environmental Affairs

"Most would agree special interests had influence over shaping of the ACA, and that lobbying continues; however, it's likely that any replacement plan would face similar political realities. What makes me wonder is what political experts would think of the chance that a replacement plan would be immune to such criticism."

Bio: https://spea.indiana.edu/faculty-research/directory/profiles/faculty/full-time/simon-kosali.html

Website: https://www.iu.edu

Contact: Agata Porter, [email protected]

Turkish-Israeli Reconciliation Deal

Howard Eissenstat

Associate Professor of History

St. Lawrence University

"Regarding the Turkish-Israeli reconciliation deal on June 27: Both Turkey and Israel benefit from the deal. Both have desire to limit regional isolation. For Turkey, this has been particularly acute. The agreement was a bitter pill for Erdogan, who feels strong personal sympathy for Palestinians. The failure to lift Gaza blockade significant. The deal points to fact that Erdogan, who is often framed as an ideologue, is capable of realism. It also points to his absolute control over local press, which is framing the deal as a Turkish victory."

Eissenstat is an expert in Turkish affairs. He speaks regularly to government officials, the press, and community groups regarding issues related to Turkey and the Middle East. He has also served as a country specialist on Turkey for Amnesty International-USA since 2006. He earned a Ph.D. in Near Eastern History from UCLA in 2007 and has been quoted in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and Vox, as well as other domestic and international news outlets. He is based in Canton, N.Y.; and Ottawa, Canada, and is fluent in Turkish.

Website: www.stlawu.edu

Contact: Ryan Deuel, [email protected]

U.S. International Security Policy

Nicholas Rostow

Charles Evans Hughes Visiting Chair of Government and Jurisprudence

Colgate University

"Apart from treaties regulating U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals and delivery systems, the Limited Test-Ban Treaty of 1963, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty of 1968, and the creation of nuclear weapons-free zones in various regions, there is little positive international law directly and intentionally covering nuclear weapons."

Professor Rostow specializes in international and national security law and affairs and U.S. government and international decision-making in foreign and national security policy. He has extensive experience in international security issues, having served as: general counsel and senior policy adviser to the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations; former Charles H. Stockton Chair in International Law at the U.S. Naval War College; staff director, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 1999-2000; counsel and deputy staff director to the House Select Committee on Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China, 1998-99; special assistant to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush for National Security Affairs; legal adviser to the National Security Council under Colin Powell and Brent Scowcroft, 1987-93; and special assistant to the legal adviser, U.S. Department of State, 1985-1987. He is based in Hamilton, N.Y.

Bio: https://www.colgate.edu/facultysearch/FacultyDirectory/nicholas-rostow

Website: www.colgate.edu

Contact: Daniel DeVries, [email protected]

EXPERT ROUNDUP: Political Conventions (42 experts)

Following are experts from the ProfNet community who are available to discuss various topics regarding the Democratic and Republican national conventions:

William B. Lacy

Director, Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics

University of Kansas

"This is shaping up as the most unique presidential election of my lifetime. I have seen them as a high-level advisor and as an observer, and this one is crazy and completely unpredictable."

Lacy has been director of the Dole Institute for Politics since 2004 and has played a major role in seven presidential campaigns, including senior roles in Bob Dole's 1988 and 1996 campaigns, Ronald Reagan's 1980 and 1984 bids, and George H.W. Bush's 1988 and 1992 campaigns. He was also President Reagan's White House political director. In 2007m he took a leave of absence from the Institute to manage the presidential campaign of former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn). During his tenure as director, Lacy has established the Dole Institute as a highly respected venue for bipartisan, philosophically balanced political programming. He can discuss the upcoming conventions, the nomination process, the possibility of brokered conventions, the importance of the conventions and the general election following both parties' conventions.

Contact: Mike Krings, [email protected]

Robert Boatright

Professor, Political Science

Clark University (Massachusetts)

"Regarding the conventions, I'll be looking at whether Republican elites -- donors, leaders of Super PACs, etc. -- find a compelling reason to stick with Trump. My expectation is that if Trump is still down in the polls once the conventions have concluded, most in the party will cut him loose and focus on minimizing party losses in the House and Senate. Things like this have happened before, but they've never happened as suddenly as was the case this year."

Boatright studies political interest groups, campaign finance, American political behavior, political participation and political theory.

Website: http://www.clarku.edu

Contact: Jane Salerno, [email protected]

Seth Masket

Associate Professor and Chair of Political Science

University of Denver

"Modern party conventions have become pretty straightforward events that just ratify decisions that party voters made months earlier. This year could be different, particularly on the Republican side. There's a significant chance we'll see some delegates rebel against the party's presumptive nominee and attempt to choose someone else. We could see some real drama on the floor in Cleveland."

Masket is the author of "The Inevitable Party: Why Attempts to Kill the Party System Fail and How They Weaken Democracy" (Oxford University Press, 2016). A frequent writer and commentator, he can talk about American politics, political parties, campaigns and elections, polarization, social networks and political reform movements.

Website: http://www.du.edu/ahss/polisci/facultystaff/masket_seth.html

Contact: Laura Snyder, [email protected]

Patrick Miller

Assistant Professor of Political Science

University of Kansas

"What is the consequence of today's polarized politics? What's motivating partisans to vote in this climate? For too many of them, it's not high-minded, good-government, issue-based goals. It's, 'I hate the other party. I'm going to go out, and we're going to beat them.' That's troubling."

Miller monitors national polling related to the presidential campaign that is made available and tweets analysis at Twitter.com/pmiller1693. His broad research interests include national politics and attitudes of partisanship. He is available to discuss political conventions, political partisanship, polling and elections.

Contact: George Diepenbrock, [email protected]

Michael V. Haselswerdt, Ph.D.

Professor of Political Science

Canisius College

"Those in the national parties usually want their presidential candidates to win, but knowing that a sitting president defines the party, this may not be as true for significant portions of both parties this year."

Dr. Haselswerdt has more than four decades of experience in political science. He teaches courses in American political behavior, the U.S. Congress and research methods. He has been involved in several local political campaigns and is frequently asked by the media to comment on local, state and national issues. Dr. Haselswerdt teaches a popular course on Presidential Campaign Advance every four years and, as a result, several former students have worked on presidential campaigns. He served on the campaign staff for Michael Dukakis staff at the 1988 convention in Atlanta. He can speak to the different interests of the candidates and the national party at these gatherings, as well as to interests that are congruent. He would also be able to discuss the history of conventions and the chances of a contested convention.

Bio: http://www.canisius.edu/person/michael-v-haselswerdt-phd

Contact: Kristin Etu, [email protected]

Vincent Hutchings

Professor of Political Science

University of Michigan

Hutchings says the conventions now seek to galvanize the party base: "It's not like it was several decades ago where the conventions helped to decide who the nominees would be -- so it's not going to be as influential as it could be. But it will still be important, because now conventions mostly serve the role to help generate support and enthusiasm for the nominee."

Bio: https://www.isr.umich.edu/cps/people_faculty_vincenth.html

Contact: Jared Wadley, [email protected]

Carrie Keating

Professor of Psychology

Colgate University

Keating studies the power of gestures and is available to discuss their impact within the context of political conventions: "Politicians are mindful of how they say something. I don't think you can get to the top level, the top rung in politics anymore, without being a pretty fair actor."

Bio: http://www.colgate.edu/facultysearch/facultydirectory/ckeating

Video: http://tinyurl.com/zd9zssh

Contact: Daniel DeVries, [email protected]

Jack Hunter

Editor

Rare Politics

Hunter is a former adviser to Ron Paul's presidential campaign, and co-author of "The Tea Party Goes to Washington" by Sen. Rand Paul. He was a recent guest on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqqeRL8qS-4), and has appeared on various regional and national radio/TV programs.

An operative for Ron Paul during the previous Republican National Convention, Hunter can discuss a variety of topics, including, but not limited to: Trump's reputation among women and members of the Republican party; Convention rules and party platform; the impact of Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson, who, if polling above 15%, will be on the presidential debate stage; the role anti-Trump forces will play among conservatives and moderates in the Republican Party; vice presidential candidates and cabinet members each nominee should consider; strong opinions on hot-button topics within each party's political platforms, such as criminal justice reform, gun control, race in America and the role of the U.S. military.

Clips: Glenn Beck (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLSo5o4lql4); CNN's In This Hour (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbWQzBdfByA); Freedom Watch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saWTkjc1xyY); Rare Politics (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgngE4kJ4vY).

Website: http://rare.us/category/rare-politics/

Contact: Andrew Agan, [email protected]

Stephen J. Kerrigan

CEO

2012 Democratic National Convention, Charlotte

Kerrigan was picked by President Obama to serve as CEO of the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, the most successful political convention in history. He currently serves as the president of the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund, a private non-profit organization dedicated to providing support, programs and services to the families of military service personnel from Massachusetts who have fallen in service to the United States since Sept. 11, 2001.

Kerrigan has been a leader in government and charities for nearly two decades. He has served as an appointed and elected leader in his hometown of Lancaster; a loyal and spirited public servant to U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Attorney General Tom Reilly; and, through two campaigns, served in senior roles for President Barack Obama. Kerrigan was co-chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, a post President Obama asked him to fill after a two-year stint as CEO for the 2012 Democratic National Convention Committee  leading the most successful presidential nominating convention ever. As chief of staff to Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, Kerrigan helped set the agenda for the largest public law office in New England. He served as a top adviser to Reilly on all issues and with oversight of more than 440 employees and a $30 million budget. Prior to that, he was chief of staff and senior advisor to Boston 2004, Inc., where he worked closely with Mayor Menino, federal and state officials, private corporations and community groups to put on the 2004 Democratic National Convention. For more than a decade, Kerrigan was a trusted advisor and aide to Senator Ted Kennedy. In various roles as his political director, Massachusetts policy director and director of scheduling and advance, he advised the senator on most all federal, state and political matters. He has also been a Selectmen in Lancaster, a member of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund Board of Directors, a community advisor to the Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps, and currently serves on the Board of Visitors for New England Baptist Hospital and as co-chair of the New Frontier Network at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Contact: David Guarino, [email protected]

Sean D. Foreman

Associate Professor of Political Science

Barry University, Miami

Dr. Foreman is the co-author of four books, including "The Roads to Congress 2014," about the midterm elections, and the chapter "Florida: The Purple Swing State" in the book "Presidential Swing States: Why Only Ten Matter." He has written about Marco Rubio's rise in the U.S. Senate and is a frequent commentator on national elections. He was president of the Florida Political Science Association (http://www.fpsanet.org) in 2012 and serves as secretary of FPSA for the 2015-17 term. His article "Top 10 Reasons Why Barack Obama Won the Presidency in 2008 and What it Means in the 2012 Election" (http://www.fpsanet.org/2012-presidential-election-edition.html) was published in the Florida Political Chronicle. Dr. Foreman is co-chair of the Campus Democracy Project at Barry University and also serves on several community boards. He is available to discuss: convention rules, convention history, chances of contested convention, about the candidates, the campaign dynamics, and the key states to follow.

Twitter: @drseanforeman

Contact: [email protected] or [email protected]

Leslie Belcher

Managing Director, Government Affairs & Public Policy Group

Steptoe & Johnson LLP

Belcher served as chief of staff to both Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) and Rep. Wes Watkins (D-OK), and as legislative director to Rep. Bill Brewster (D-OK). She is a close confidante of House Speaker Ryan and his wife Janna, and was a bridesmaid at their wedding. She will be attending the GOP convention.

Bio: http://www.steptoe.com/professionals-Leslie_Belcher.html

Contact: Kathy King, [email protected]

Luis Fortuno

Partner

Steptoe & Johnson LLP

Fortuno, who served as governor of Puerto Rico from 2009 to 2013, will be attending the GOP convention as a delegate from the island territory. He attended his first convention in 1996 in San Diego. He has spoken at the last three conventions in New York, Minneapolis and Tampa. At the last convention, his wife, Luce Vela, introduced Ann Romney. She will also be a delegate at this year's convention.

Under Fortuno's leadership as governor, Puerto Rico right-sized its government and reined in deficit spending. While governor, he served as president of the Council of State Governments (2011-2012) and as chairman of the Southern Governors Association (2011-2012). He also served on the board of directors of the Center for Best Practices of the National Governors Association (2010-2012) and was appointed by President Obama to be one of 10 governors serving in the Council of Governors (2010-2012). Prior to his election as governor, he served four years in Congress as the sole elected delegate from Puerto Rico. During that time, he served as vice-chair, and then chair of the Congressional Hispanic Conference. He also was co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Spain, part of the Hispanic Conference Caucus.

Bio: http://www.steptoe.com/professionals-Luis_Fortuno.html

Contact: Kathy King, [email protected]

Mark Caleb Smith, Ph.D.

Director of the Center for Political Studies and Chair of the Department of History and Government

Cedarville University (Ohio)

Dr. Smith will be attending the Republican National Convention. He has media credentials and is available to any media outlet. Among the topics he can discuss: 1) Selecting the "best" vice presidential candidate is more critical to a Donald Trump presidency than to any former GOP presidential candidate; 2) What the selection of the vice presidential candidate says about a Donald Trump presidency and how he will lead; 3) With many factions within the Republican party, can Donald Trump unify the Republican party? How will evangelical Christian voters, libertarians, Tea Party voters respond to Donald Trump? 4) Who will speak at the Republican convention? The selection of speakers will indicate the direction of the Republican party and a potential Donald Trump presidency; 5) How the rhetoric and tone of Ohio Governor John Kasich will impact the Republican convention; 6) Will the Republican leaders change the rules to allow the delegates the freedom to "vote their conscience"? 7) Will the Republican Party take a hard stance on immigration? 8) How prepared is the City of Cleveland for the GOP Convention?

Dr. Smith teaches courses in American politics, constitutional law, and research/data analysis. He has authored numerous journal articles, book chapters, and other publications. His primary research interest is in the field of religion and American politics. Before joining the faculty at Cedarville University, Dr. Smith was a member of the faculty at Tulane University and Calvin College (Michigan). During the current academic year, Dr. Smith granted more than 150 interviews on political topics with print, radio, and television media in Dayton, Columbus, and Cleveland, Ohio; Atlanta; Tulsa, Okla.; and Chicago. He has written more than 10 op-eds on various political topics and is typically the "go-to person" for Dayton media on all political topics.

Interview clips: Dr. Smith on #NeverTrump on WYLL Chicago (http://tinyurl.com/z7fw6lx); Dr. Smith on funding presidential conventions on WHIO TV - CBS (http://tinyurl.com/zasr7ub); Dr. Smith on Kasich suspending presidential campaign on WDTN TV  NBC (http://tinyurl.com/zxy5m2j); Dr. Smith on religious liberties on WCRF Cleveland (http://tinyurl.com/hoaqp5o).

Contact: Mark Weinstein, [email protected]

Matt Kerbel

Professor and Chair, Political Science Department

Villanova University

Kerbel is credentialed for the DNC in Philadelphia and available for interviews on-site at the Wells Fargo Center. He is an expert in politics and the media, U.S. government and elections. Villanova University also has TV studios on campus (VYVX uplink) that are free of charge to use for any live or taped interview requests.

Prior to Secretary Clinton clinching the nomination, Kerbel spoke about what she needs to do to win the general election: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBHGue1hkRU. He also commented on 2016 being marked as the "anti-establishment year": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSt_n2dKd7s

Contact: Zachary Chizar, [email protected]

David McLennan

Visiting Professor of Political Science

Meredith College

McLennan's research expertise includes the impact of negative advertising on political attitudes, image restoration for politicians in trouble, and barriers to women's electoral success. He has appeared on numerous broadcast outlets for election night coverage and other political stories as they break, and has published op-eds in several national outlets, including The Hill, Fortune, Washington Times, and U.S. News & World Report. He will be traveling (with students) to both the RNC and DNC conventions and can be available for interviews before, during or after the fact.

Bio: http://www.meredith.edu/directory/david-mclennan

Contact: Jeff Canning, [email protected]

Brooks Simpson

Professor of History

Arizona State University

Simpson, also an honors faculty member at Barrett, the Honors College at ASU, specializes in the history of the U.S. presidency and politics. He can speak about the U.S. presidency from a historical perspective, the causes and effects of contested conventions, what can be expected to happen at the upcoming Republican and Democratic conventions, the social movements of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump and their impact on American politics, the significance of Hillary Clinton as the first woman presidential candidate from a major political party, reticence among Republicans to support Donald Trump, and other political topics.

Simpson has weighed in on the 2016 presidential race in several arenas, including writing an op-ed piece for the Arizona Republic (http://tinyurl.com/h9ms85a), in a podcast with the Australian Broadcasting Company (http://tinyurl.com/hy7ev5o), and in an interview with Arizona Horizon (http://tinyurl.com/z5ec4c2). He comments on brokered conventions in this article: http://tinyurl.com/z4veuhh.

Bio: http://barretthonors.asu.edu/2012/08/dr-brooks-simpson/

Contact: Nicole Greason, [email protected]

Anita McBride

Executive in Residence, Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies

School of Public Affairs, American University

With service spanning more than 30 years as a White House advisor, chief of staff, diplomacy advisor and human rights advocate, McBride is a top-level authority and advisor on White House operations, presidential transitions, global policy on women's and human rights and education, first ladies' impact and legacies. She is able to discuss various convention-related topics, including: how the candidate and his/her top surrogates are deployed to win over delegates and how they work with their delegations; what is planned for the spouse and how they factor into telling/selling the story of the candidate; when/how first ladies have been deployed at conventions; what happens when a VP nominee is named and how that is traditionally rolled out; and more.

McBride served as an assistant to President George W. Bush, as well as chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush. She directed the first lady's travel to 67 countries in four years to support U.S. foreign policy objectives in human rights, women's empowerment, global health and education, and human freedom, including historic visits to Afghanistan, the Middle East and the Thai-Burma border. She co-founded the RAND African First Ladies Initiative and Fellowship program, partnering with African first ladies to support their efforts as champions of change in their countries, as well as train their staff and advisors in strategies for managing an effective first lady's office. She is an advisor to the Laura W. Bush Women's Initiative at the George W. Bush Institute and a consultant to several other global non-profit institutions. She also is a member of the US-Afghan Women's Council, the International Republican Institute's Women's Democracy Network, the National Italian American Foundation, and is a Founding Advisor of RightNow Women PAC. She began her political career as a campaign volunteer for Reagan for President in 1980 and went on to work as a finance field representative for Senate and House campaigns, as well as the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1984. She is a consultant to HBO's Emmy-award winning series "Veep," and is a frequent speaker, print source, contributor, and news commentator on the operations and history of the White House and its occupants.

Contact: Dani Mackey, [email protected]

Karen Beckwith

Political Science Chair

Case Western Reserve University

Beckwith studies female politicians and gender in politics, including Hillary Clinton. She has expertise in U.S. political parties and elections, Ohio elections, social movements and protest, and has commented for NPR, the AP, New York Magazine and many more. Beckwith will be in Cleveland during the Republican convention and will be available for on-the-ground commentary.

Contact: Daniel Scott Robison, [email protected]

Justin Buchler

Professor of Political Science

Case Western Reserve University

Buchler has expertise on elections, parties, Congress and political journalism. He's a great interview, is media-savvy and uses data to make strong arguments. Buchler will be in Cleveland during the Republican convention and will be available for on-the-ground commentary.

Contact: Daniel Scott Robison, [email protected]

Joe White

Professor of Political Science

Case Western Reserve University

White studies public policy; federal budgeting policy and politics; health care finance in the United States and other rich democracies, especially health care cost control; Social Security and Medicare; Congress. White will be in Cleveland during the Republican convention and will be available for on-the-ground commentary.

Contact: Daniel Scott Robison, [email protected]

Dr. Bart Rossi

Political Psychologist

Dr. Rossi can speak a great deal, from a psychological perspective, on the presidential campaign and offer an in-depth look at the presumptive nominees, gauging their personalities and how they can affect their campaigns. As an expert on the study of body language and persona, Dr. Rossi can provide a very interesting and unique outlook that most may not otherwise consider. He can speak to ideas such as the anger factor -- as it has been a staple throughout this campaign thus far -- as well as matters of trustworthiness and the psyche of the American voter.

Dr. Rossi is an Emmy Award-winning commentator and go-to source in the media on a plethora of similar issues.

Website: http://brossi.us

Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/primarilyrossi/episode-16

Contact: Kyra Harris, [email protected]

Christopher Devine

Assistant Professor, Political Science

University of Dayton

Devine is co-author of "The VP Advantage: How Running Mates Influence Home State Voting in Presidential Elections." Watch him discuss Election 2016 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frcvCyz1Nb8. He can be available for media interviews in Cleveland during the Republican National Convention.

Bio: go.udayton.edu/ElectionExperts

Contact: Meagan Pant, [email protected]

Dan Birdsong

Lecturer, Political Science

University of Dayton

"The 2016 election will be fascinating to watch as unlimited Super PACs bring more money into the race than before, and candidates harness social media tools to reach voters and influence the news media. Ohio will be at the heart of it all as a critical battleground state for the general election. No Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio, and since 1960 no Democrat has won the presidency without winning Ohio."

Birdsong teaches courses on American politics, the presidency, campaigns and elections, media and politics, and public opinion and political behavior. He has a background in polling and policy research. He also has tracked presidential candidates' use of Twitter. He can be available for media interviews in Cleveland during the Republican National Convention.

Bio: go.udayton.edu/ElectionExperts

Contact: Meagan Pant, [email protected]

Randy Sparks

Professor, Marketing

University of Dayton

Sparks is less interested in what candidates say than in how they say it. With a background in radio broadcasting and research in the art of persuasion, Sparks is highly attuned to how convincing candidates are in speeches and debates. Sparks analyzed candidate speeches during the 2008 presidential campaign and is available for morning-after comments on speeches and debates. Watch a video of him discussing Election 2016 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cebOQps8eNU.

Bio: go.udayton.edu/ElectionExperts

Contact: Meagan Pant, [email protected]

Mike Baize, MBA, CSP

Manager of HR Services

Insperity

Baize has more than 25 years of leadership experience in human resources and safety. He can advise managers and employees alike on avoiding unnecessary political tensions in the office and has commented on this topic in the past. He can also discuss the challenges posed by political discussions in the workplace spurred by the party conventions, and whether it is a good idea for companies to "tune in" to political convention coverage on office TVs and/or on break room TVs.

Contact: Jim Newman, [email protected]

Keith Smith, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Political Science

University of the Pacific

Smith holds a Ph.D. in political science from UC Berkeley and has been teaching and writing about elections, the presidency, Congress, and California politics for more than a decade. He can discuss voting behavior, institutions, and electoral reform. He is at work on a book about the top-two system, recently adopted by California and Washington states, which changed how voters pick their candidates. Smith's early research work looked at how the U.S. Congress attempts to monitor and influence the behavior of federal administrative agencies. His more recent work has been on elections administration, studying the impact of electoral reforms at the state and local levels.

Contact: Claudia Morain, [email protected]

Dan Palazzolo

Chair and Professor of Political Science

University of Richmond (Virginia)

Palazzolo is frequently quoted in the media about campaigns and election issues. His expertise includes: campaign reaction; voting behavior (national and Virginia), including Virginia's transition to a blue state; election issues vs. party lines; political methodology; budget policy and politics.

Bio: http://directory.richmond.edu/bios/dpalazzo/

Contact: Cynthia Price, [email protected]

David O'Connell, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Political Science

Dickinson College

O'Connell is available to discuss the following convention-related topics: the role of religion in politics, especially Evangelicals' impact on the GOP convention; the role of campaign rhetoric -- how Trump's departure from the norm could affect convention; and presidential history, including convention history and outcomes. He is the author of "God Wills It: Presidents and the Political Use of Religion." His research focuses on religious politics, campaign rhetoric and presidential campaigns. He is also a presidential historian. He is currently collecting data on how Catholic members of Congress explain their positions on abortion.

Videos: Will Republican Voters Come Home to Donald Trump? (https://youtu.be/qh9jZ_xNCPc); How Trump Is Realigning America's Political Parties (https://youtu.be/pWHTITLqaWg); How Is Trump Winning Over Evangelical Christians? (https://youtu.be/7ymx4SROmlM)

Websites: http://www.davidjoconnell.com and www.dickinson.edu

Contact: Craig Layne, [email protected]

Sarah Niebler, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Political Science

Dickinson College

Niebler is available to discuss the following convention-related topics: voter behavior -- how the conventions could upset voters by going against their will; mass media and politics -- the influence of mass media and coverage of the conventions; polling -- what the polls have gotten wrong and right and how they impact the political conversation; Pennsylvania politics -- could help understand the world outside the Democratic convention in Philly. Her areas of study include polling, voter behavior and the influence of mass media on politics. She has worked on a variety of academic projects related to campaigns and elections, including the analysis of political advertising. A native of Pennsylvania, she has a deep understanding of the swing state's electorate.

Video: Pennsylvania Primary Preview: Trump, Clinton and PA Voting Trends (https://youtu.be/DuUDrrjIR0g)

Websites: https://sarahniebler.com and www.dickinson.edu

Contact: Craig Layne, [email protected]

Kathleen Marchetti, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Political Science

Dickinson College

Marchetti can discuss the following convention-related topics: identity politics' (gender and race) influence on the convention delegations; interest groups' influence on the conventions; and sexism in campaigns. Her areas of expertise include a focus on gender and politics, race and politics, interest groups, intersectional identity and political representation. She can speak to sexism in campaigns and the media and examine the political conditions that affect female candidates.

Websites: http://www.kathleenmarchetti.com and www.dickinson.edu

Contact: Craig Layne, [email protected]

Joe Solmonese

Managing Director, Founding Partner

Gavin/Solmonese

Solmonese is currently the managing director and founding partner of Gavin/Solmonese, advising corporations on organizational effectiveness strategies and policy development and implementation. He currently sits on the board of Priorities USA (Hillary Clinton's Super PAC). He sits on the national boards for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Athlete Ally, an organization that engages with professional and amateur athletes to speak out against bullying. He served for seven years as the president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender advocacy organization. Under his leadership, HRC was instrumental in passing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA), the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT), and marriage equality victories in seven states. In 2012, Joe served as one of 35 national co-chairs of the Obama 2012 campaign. As someone who has been involved in politics for most of his adult life, Solmonese has attended every Democratic National Convention since 1988 (that's seven conventions).

Solmonese is available to discuss: 1) What really happens at conventions  who are the movers and shakers, what are the key moments, what the delegates do all day, what their responsibilities are while at the convention; 2) Women in leadership -- as former CEO of EMILY's List, Solmonese can speak to the need for women leadership in government; 3) Diversity -- workplace, government, strategy, policies, LGBT issues; 4) the use of anger in political campaigns  he has written a book that will be released in August ("The Gift of Anger  Use Passion to Build, Not Destroy") that discusses anger in depth, drawing on his own experiences at HRC and during the Obama campaign. He is an experienced resource for both broadcast and print interviews, based in Washington, D.C., and easily accessible.

Contact: Carol Lunger, [email protected]

Roger L. Beckett

Executive Director

Ashbrook Center at Ashland University

Beckett is available to discuss platform issues: education, lowering the voting age, civil rights (focused on the history of them) and government reform; and the relationship of the convention to Cleveland.

Beckett has led the effort to expand the non-profit Ashbrook into a national leader in offering history and civic education programs for students and teachers. Beckett has been quoted in articles about history and civics education in the Washington Post, Bloomberg News, National Review Online, Chicago Tribune, and many other newspapers across the country (see article links here: http://tinyurl.com/jjsy3rz). He most recently had recurring interviews regarding the upcoming RNC convention and the political debates by WOIO Cleveland 19 News (http://tinyurl.com/jtbysrx). He has also conducted dozens of radio interviews nationwide. His fields of expertise include history and civics education, political parties, conventions and more. In 2012, he was appointed by the Ohio Legislature to be a member of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission, where he serves as the Chair of the Public Education and Information Committee. Beckett is a graduate of Ashland University and the Ashbrook Scholar program. He received an MA in Social Studies Education from The Ohio State University. He was also a Publius Fellow at the Claremont Institute.

Website: http://www.ashbrook.org

Contact: Christine Gorey, [email protected]

Dr. Jason Stevens

Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science

Ashbrook Center at Ashland University

Stevens is available to speak on the history of the conventions, the impact of the convention outcomes over the years, and the general current and historical party platforms.

Stevens teaches political thought and history courses with fields of expertise in the American founding, the presidency, political parties and conventions, and political philosophy. He received his B.A. from Ashland University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in politics from the University of Dallas, Institute of Philosophic Studies.

Website: http://www.ashbrook.org

Contact: Christine Gorey, [email protected]

Steve Wuhs

Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science

University of Redlands

Wuhs received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and B.A. in Sociology and Spanish at Macalester College. As a Fellow of the AVH Foundation, he researched how political parties organize themselves differently across a country's territory, taking his earlier research interests in party organization and decision-making and placing them in a spatial context.

Contact: Jennifer M. Dobbs, [email protected]

Renee Van Vechten

Professor

University of Redlands

Van Vechten earned her Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of California, Irvine; her M.A. in Political Science at the University of California, Irvine; and her B.A. in Political Science, Cum Laude, at the Honors University of San Diego. She teaches research methods in the study of politics, parties and elections, the American presidency and California politics.

Contact: Jennifer M. Dobbs, [email protected]

Jeffrey Berry

Professor of Political Science

Tufts University

Berry is available to discuss convention process and history, delegate obligations, presidential history, interest groups, and the role of media in elections.

Bio: http://as.tufts.edu/politicalscience/people/faculty/berry

Contact: Patrick Collins, [email protected]; or Kalimah Knight, [email protected]

Daniel Drezner

Professor of International Politics

Tufts University

Drezner, a Brookings Institution nonresident senior fellow and Washington Post contributing editor, is available to discuss the foreign policy impacts of convention results, and how other countries view the convention system.

Bio: http://tinyurl.com/j8fn35a

Contact: Juli Hanscom, [email protected]

Jim Glaser

Professor of Political Science

Tufts University

Glaser is available to discuss convention process and history, delegate obligations, national politics, and Southern politics.

Bio: http://as.tufts.edu/about/deansoffice/dean.htm

Contact: Patrick Collins, [email protected]; or Kalimah Knight, [email protected]

Alan Solomont

Dean, Tisch College of Civic Engagement

Tufts University

Solomont, a former U.S. ambassador and former Democratic Party National Finance chair, is available to discuss Democratic politics and civic engagement of youth.

Bio: http://tinyurl.com/gq5dw8f

Contact: Patrick Collins, [email protected]; or Kalimah Knight, [email protected]

Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg

Director

Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE)

Tufts University

Kawashima-Ginsberg is director for Circle, a nonpartisan, independent, academic research center studying young people in politics and the youth vote in each of the 50 states. She is available to discuss the issues that young delegates to the convention will have in mind based on whom they choose to support and how enthusiastically they support them. Other areas of expertise include youth voter behaviors, each candidate's appeal to youth voters, and political engagement among young Americans.

Bio: http://tinyurl.com/hcbngzz

Website: http://civicyouth.org

Contact: Patrick Collins, [email protected]; or Kalimah Knight, [email protected]

Peter Levine

Associate Dean for Research; Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship & Public Affairs

Tufts University

Levine is available to discuss the issues that young delegates to the convention will have in mind based on whom they choose to support and how enthusiastically they support them. Other areas of expertise include youth voter behaviors, each candidate's appeal to youth voters, and political engagement among young Americans.

Bio: http://peterlevine.ws/?page_id=2

Website: http://civicyouth.org

Contact: Patrick Collins, [email protected]; or Kalimah Knight, [email protected]

Deborah Schildkraut

Dean, Political Science Department

Tufts University

Schildkraut is available to discuss delegate reaction to Trump's call for a ban on Muslim immigration. Other areas of expertise include identity politics, white voters' loss of majority status, public reaction to profiling (particularly profiling of Arabs and Muslims), immigration, and demographic groups in the electorate.

Bio: http://as.tufts.edu/politicalscience/people/faculty/schildkraut

Contact: Patrick Collins, [email protected]; or Kalimah Knight, [email protected]

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PITCHING BUSINESS MEDIA. The Publicity Club of New York recently held a panel luncheon featuring some of the leading journalists covering business: Jonathan Clark of WCBS Newsradio 880, Tara Lynn Wagner of NY1 News, Aaron Task of Fortune, Adrienne Toscano of Bloomberg TV, James Ledbetter of Inc. magazine, and Julie Zeveloff of Business Insider. You can read some of the highlights here: http://prn.to/295pdFR

recently held a panel luncheon featuring some of the leading journalists covering business: of WCBS Newsradio 880, of NY1 News, Aaron Task of Fortune, of Bloomberg TV, of Inc. magazine, and of Business Insider. You can read some of the highlights here: http://prn.to/295pdFR PR NEWSWIRE MEDIA MOVES. Updating your media contact lists? Here's who's in and who's out at Associated Press, Sports Illustrated, Men's Health, Bloomberg News, Allure, Newsday, New York Post, Vice, StyleCaster, Education Week, IGN Entertainment, Oxford Eagle, The Daily Camera and more: http://prn.to/28XGiOO

PROFNET SUCCESS STORY: MICHELLE DUTRO , THE GAME CHANGER PODCAST. For this month's featured success story, we caught up with Michelle Dutro , host of The Game Changer Podcast (www.thegamechangerpodcast.com). Dutro tells us she has had a lot of success using ProfNet to find guests, so we asked her to share her insight on how she uses ProfNet to find sources, and how other podcasters and journalists can take advantage of the network of experts: http://prn.to/michelledutro

PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire.

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SOURCE ProfNet

Related Links

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Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting in Xian, Shaanxi Province, in May last year. (Photo : Reuters)

India has expressed its displeasure on Sunday, June 26, and blamed China for allegedly obstructing its membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 48-nation group that has access to sensitive nuclear technology, according to a report by The Washington Post.



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India's External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters he was "certain only one country was creating the procedural hurdles."



Last week, India's membership application was denied during the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting in Seoul, South Korea.



The group controls access of countries to technology useful in making atomic weapons, as well as limiting the production of nuclear arms.



On Thursday, June 23, ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked for China's support during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan. A top official of India's Foreign Ministry who visited Beijing also stressed India's track record in efforts to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons.



The report said that India's membership application may have been linked by China to Pakistan's application, which the group has not yet also approved.



Normally, countries that have ratified the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons are qualified for membership. India has not signed the treaty yet, although it has entered into a nuclear cooperation pact with the United States, with a commitment to restrict its nuclear program.



During Modi's visit to Washington recently, U.S. President Barack Obama expressed his support of Indian membership. Other nations, such as Mexico and Switzerland, also showed their support to India.



Swarup said on Sunday, June 26, that India had already discussed the issue on multiple levels with China.



"We are going to continue discussing this with China," Swarup added. "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."


SAN FRANCISCO and LIVERMORE, Calif., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mary Alexander announced that her firm, Mary Alexander and Associates of San Francisco, has filed a second lawsuit against Livermore Valley Charter School, a K-8 public school in Livermore, California, for the alleged sexual abuse of a minor female student by campus security guard, Jason Quero. In the filing, Alexander stated that a minor, "Jane Doe 2", was groomed by Quero for sexual molestation and abuse "over a period of years" beginning in the first grade and gradually escalated to sexual abuse in the eighth grade, according to the complaint. Quero was subsequently arrested in July 2014 for the abuse of Jane Doe 2, and a second female victim known as Jane Doe, who already has a pending lawsuit against the school on similar grounds. Quero is currently serving a six-year sentence in state prison.

Jason Quero worked as a campus security guard and was permitted by the school to use the campus as a place to teach karate classes to students. He was reportedly often seen with young girls on the school campus and showed his affection through flirting and gifts, according to the Alexander filing. "The school gave Jason Quero unfettered access to vulnerable young girls when it should have been asking itself, Was it suspicious that a male employee is spending so much time with female students, sexting with them on social media, and giving them candy," said Mary Alexander Plaintiffs' attorney. Alexander represents both Jane Doe and Jane Doe 2 in the lawsuits against Defendant Tri-Valley Learning Corporation, the entity that owns and operates Livermore Valley Charter School. The lawsuits were recently consolidated in Alameda County Superior Court.

According to the complaint, Jason Quero forced Jane Doe 2 to carry out sexual fantasies, play sexual games, and watch pornographic videos with him. The sexual molestation and abuse happened on and off campus. The pattern of sexual abuse was strikingly similar to the complaints made by Jane Doe. Both victims seek unspecific damages for their abuse.

Alexander, who resides in Atherton with her office in San Francisco, is former National President of the American Association for Justice, formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

For more information:

Mary Alexander

Mary Alexander & Associates

44 Montgomery St., suite 1303

San Francisco, CA 94104

415-433-4440

Media wishing more information or to speak with Ms Alexander may contact: Bob Weiner 301-283-0821, cell 202-306-1200; [email protected]

Contact: Bob Weiner 301-283-0821 / 202-306-1200 [email protected]

SOURCE Robert Weiner Associates and Mary Alexander and Associates
The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award program recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. North was selected by an independent panel of judges, and the award was presented at a June 23 gala event at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee.

North has led Sedgwick's evolution from a boutique, regional third-party claims administrator to the premier global provider of innovative business solutions in the areas of workers' compensation, disability, absence management, property loss adjusting and more. Sedgwick has more than 13,000 colleagues in 275 offices in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Ireland who take care of people and organizations by delivering cost-effective claims, productivity, managed care, risk consulting and other services.

"This year's dynamic leaders have turned their vision into reality, making impressive contributions to their communities and impacting those around them," said Brad Duncan, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program principal. "We are excited to be celebrating 30 years of Entrepreneur Of The Year awards with the 2016 recipients."

Since 1986, EY has honored entrepreneurs whose ingenuity, spirit of innovation and discipline have propelled their companies' success, invigorated their industries, and benefited their communities. The program has honored the inspirational leadership of such entrepreneurs as Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company, Robert Unanue of Goya Foods and Mindy Grossman of HSN. Recent U.S. national winners include Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn; Hamdi Ulukaya, founder of Chobani; and 2015 winners Andreas Bechtolsheim and Jayshree Ullal of Arista Networks.

As a Southeast award winner, North is eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2016 national program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced at a Nov. 19, 2016, gala in Palm Springs, California, at the Strategic Growth ForumTM, a prestigious gathering of market-leading companies. The U.S. Entrepreneur Of The Year Overall Award winner moves on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in Monaco in June 2017.

About Sedgwick

Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc., is a leading global provider of technology-enabled risk and benefits solutions. At Sedgwick, caring countsSM; the company takes care of people and organizations by delivering cost-effective claims, productivity, managed care, risk consulting and other services through the dedication and expertise of more than 13,000 colleagues in some 275 offices located in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Ireland. Sedgwick facilitates financial and personal health and helps customers and consumers navigate complexity by designing and implementing customized programs based on proven practices and advanced technology that exceed expectations. Sedgwick's majority shareholder is KKR; Stone Point Capital LLC and other management investors are minority shareholders. For more, see www.sedgwick.com.

About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year

EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries.

About EY

EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services they deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. EY develops outstanding leaders who partner to deliver on promises to all stakeholders. In so doing, they play a critical role in building a better working world for their people, their clients and their communities.

EY refers to the global organization and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information, visit ey.com.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140425/78959

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SOURCE Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.sedgwick.com


CHICAGO, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ServerCentral partners with Nimble Storage [NYSE: NMBL] to expand its dedicated and shared managed storage offering. All storage options are fully redundant and managed by ServerCentral, which brings more than 16 years of storage and IT infrastructure experience to customers worldwide.

"We are constantly evolving our storage options based on our customers' requirements. We wanted a strategic partner to help us build a comprehensive offering," said Tom Kiblin, ServerCentral VP of Managed Services. "After evaluating numerous vendors and extensive technology testing, we chose the Nimble Predictive Flash platform for its enterprise-grade features that are cost-effective and scalable as well as its market-leading analytics that provide significant visibility into the entire IT stack."

ServerCentral offers dedicated and shared storage arrays, all of which are fully redundant, highly available and completely managed by ServerCentral's experts. SmartSecure Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) certified software-based encryption allows ServerCentral to better serve highly regulated industries such as finance and healthcare.

"ServerCentral's approach is building the right solution for each customer, which is the type of partner enterprises depend on when navigating today's complex IT infrastructures," said Leonard Iventosch, vice president of worldwide channels at Nimble Storage. "ServerCentral's expertise is a great fit for customers who are looking for a strategic partner to help them make intelligent infrastructure decisions. With the Nimble Storage Unified Flash Fabric, partners like ServerCentral are able to provide their customers with flash for all enterprise applications by unifying All Flash and Adaptive Flash arrays into a single consolidation architecture with common data services."

Nimble recently launched its Predictive All Flash Arrays that combine fast flash performance with InfoSight Predictive Analytics to deliver increased data velocity. The Nimble AF-Series All Flash arrays deliver absolute performance, superior scalability and non-stop availability, at a total cost of ownership (TCO) that is 33 to 66 percent lower than competitive arrays.

"Nimble's Predictive All Flash arrays are an innovative addition to its offering and will be a fit for many of our customers," said Kiblin. "Nimble has an impressive roadmap, and they deliver on their target release dates."

In addition to Managed Storage, ServerCentral's Managed Service portfolio includes Backup as a Service, Disaster Recovery as a Service, and managed network and data center migration.

To learn more, please visit http://www.servercentral.com/services or call +1 (312) 829-1111.

About ServerCentral

ServerCentral provides managed IT infrastructure solutions for leading technology, finance, healthcare, and e-commerce companies including Basecamp, ABN AMRO, CDW and Shopify. Since 2000 the company has architected, deployed, managed and scaled mission critical solutions across our global data center footprint - including North America, Europe, and Asia. Whether its custom designed and managed infrastructure, private clouds, enterprise clouds, DDoS mitigation, DRaaS, backup as a service, managed network stacks, custom managed networks, real-time remote hands, or simply colocation in the most advanced data centers on the planet, ServerCentral designs the optimal solution for each client. Learn more at http://www.servercentral.com or contact +1 (312) 829-1111 and [email protected].

Media Contact:

Carli Coleman

[email protected]

312-268-9205

SOURCE ServerCentral

Related Links

http://www.servercentral.com


WOOSTER, Ohio, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Shelter-Rite Architectural Fabrics, a division of Seaman Corporation, is pleased to announce the launch of its new website, http://www.architecturalfabrics.com/.

The website has been redesigned with a several business objectives in mind, primarily focusing on giving visitors a better onsite experience. The new website is also mobile responsive, allowing customers and visitors to easily locate information no matter where they are.

"Shelter-Rite Architectural Fabrics is focused on the needs of our customers first and foremost. As a result, we conducted a website overhaul that allows customers to access needed information on their own time," said Felon Wilson, Business Director for Seaman Corporation's Industrial Fabrics Divisions. "We wanted to provide our customers with a tool that would make their lives easier and enable them to gather information in a way that best fit their ways of life."

"We focused on creating a digital presence for Shelter-Rite Architectural Fabrics that mirrors the brand's offline reputation while also creating a space that caters to the needs of our customers," said Michelle Miller, Marketing Manager at Seaman Corporation. "Our prospects are embracing the digital space more and more, whether it is researching a solution or reaching out to schedule a meeting, so it was imperative that we developed a website that would meet their needs."

In order to achieve its goals, Seaman Corporation partnered with SyncShow, located in Cleveland, Ohio, for the redesign and launch in early 2015. Since then, the partners have launched three new websites in addition to the Shelter-Rite Architectural Fabrics' site: www.seamancorp.com, www.fibertite.com, and www.xrgeomembranes.com.

Headquartered in Wooster, Ohio, with additional manufacturing in Bristol, Tennessee, Seaman Corporation is known worldwide for the production of high value, high-performance fabrics including Shelter-Rite Architectural Fabrics, as well as products for roofing systems, military applications, geomembranes, truck tarps, inflatable boats and other products. Visit www.seamancorp.com.

For more information, contact Seaman Corporation at 330-262-1111 or toll-free 800-927-8578 or visit www.seamancorp.com

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160628/384175LOGO

SOURCE Shelter-Rite Architectural Fabrics
IRVINE, California, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The ShiftPixy Solution Allows Employers Who Choose To Reduce Employee Work Hours As Their Default Option To Avoid Mandated Regulatory Costs And Related Burdens; Gives Them The Ability To Maintain Workforce Levels While Providing Employees Opportunity To Receive "Full Time" Wages And Healthcare Coverage.

ShiftPixy Management explains why they believe that the Company has the potential to significantly increase revenues in the future.

ShiftPixy Has Filed A Regulation A+ Offering Circular with the SEC; Will Use A New SEC Regulatory Framework That Allows Non-Accredited Investors The Opportunity To Invest in SEC Registered A+ IPO Offerings.

ShiftPixy, Inc. ("ShiftPixy or the "Company") a disruptive Next Gen GIG Economy provider of unique insurance products, regulatory compliance services, proprietary human administration tools and variable labor force provider, announced the initial roll-out of its business model in Southern California. Building upon this success, the Company plans to release a new application in early September 2016, that will enable unemployed, under-employed or part-time and/or full-time individuals in the nation's restaurant and hospitality industry workforce, and ultimately in all business' workforce, to apply for variable shift work from businesses in their local market. Appropriately, this proprietary app is planned for release on Labor Day 2016.



The Company saw that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), while solving problems also inadvertently opened up a whole new market for labor services and the Company also saw that the shortcomings in the much hyped new class of the service industry, the "GIG Economy," was not the way to tap into this vast new market.

The GIG Economy is a service industry where workers are expected to operate like mini-businesses. The influence of these kinds of service industry companies is growing. According to an analysis by Greylock Partners, the value of transactions over platforms such as car services Lyft and Uber, grocery delivery service Instacart and courier service Postmates could grow as large as $10 billion this year."

Scott W. Absher, ShiftPixy Founder & CEO said: "As technology has advanced over the past decade, new internet-based employment platforms emerged which are often referred to collectively as the 'Gig Economy'." Many of these platforms, such as Uber (transportation) and Instacart (grocery delivery) regularly engage 'contract workers' rather than 'employees' for jobs (gigs). Among other reasons, this classification allows companies like Uber to operate with 20% to 30% less in labor costs than the competition,leading to eye-popping numbers like Uber's $40 billion valuation or Instacart's latest $220 million round of funding. Many fear the loss of the gig workforce structure, either by a wave of class-action lawsuits, intervention by regulators, or through the collective action of disgruntled workers, and the gig economy may be in serious jeopardy.

(http://www.fastcompany.com/3042248/the-gig-economy-wont-last-because-its-being-sued-to-death)

ShiftPixy's evolution of the classic GIG model, totally eliminates this key weakness in the standard model of treating workers as independent contractors.

ShiftPixy has embraced the next Gen structure for the GIG economy by making their workers (ShiftPixy calls them "Shifters") employees of ShiftPixy and lending them out to third party employers in need of additional workers.

The employers get the benefit of having a workforce without the compliance and regulatory burdens that normally accompany their hiring of a regular workforce, particularly ones that exist in industries with many part-time/shift workers such as the restaurant and hospitality industries, ShiftPixy's initial target market. ShiftPixy and NOT the operating business is the entity that employs these Shifters and handles ACA and other administrative and regulatory compliance matters that accompany the hiring of employees. ShiftPixy totally removes that burden from its operating business clients.

The need for the services the Company offers is an unintended result of and has been amplified by the compliance burdens placed upon employers of GIG Economy workers under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). ShiftPixy recognized this need early on and saw it as an opportunity.

As shown by the studies below, the ACA's new compulsory insurance requirements for US business owners has caused companies to reduce the number of hours worked by employees as their default solution. However, that left them with a need for additional workers to fill the void.

As a result, employers require a greater number of employees who are each working fewer hours than before and shift workers now need more opportunities to work for different companies in order to maintain their income level.

Absher added: "The Affordable Care Act is affecting personnel decisions. A survey of more than 600 small business owners by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 20% of companies surveyed reported they have cut the number of workers they employ. Employers are not required to offer coverage for employees who work less than 30 hours per week. A related study found that 12% of employers nationwide plan to reduce workers' hours as a result of ACA[1]."

1 http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st356

One direct casualty of ACA has been the shift worker, with full time employment with one employer becoming a thing of the past as employers dropped hours and shifts to bring their business into ACA compliance by having less than 50 full time employees. Full time employees not only include traditional full time workers working more than 30 hours per week but also requires employers to make complex calculations involving all part time workers to make sure they don't have part time workers constituting equivalent full time employees.

"There are approximately 26 million part time workers in the United State," said Absher.. "Of these, more than 6 million people are classified as 'involuntary part-time workers', meaning that they would have preferred full-time employment, but were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job[2].

2 http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_08072015.pdf

On the other side of the table, due to ACA, in order not to be subject to ACA insurance mandates job providers now had to have more people working fewer hours. The Company has seen that race to meet the new demands and covering new gaps are stressing small business as never before in the US. The new demands have made delivery and cash flows challenging for small employers who provide most of the US employment.

Scott W. Absher, Co-Founder & CEO added: "We have seen that the race to meet the new demands and covering new regulatory requirement gaps are stressing small business as never before. The new demands have made compliance, staffing, and cash flows more challenging for small employers who provide most of the US employment. To address these widespread pain points, ShiftPixy has established a unique and what we believe are a highly desirable suite of services that merge insurance coverage access, operational, compliance and financial support, along with intermediation of shift workers and available shifts at participating businesses."

One valuable aspect of ShiftPixy's services to employers is access to a large pool of qualified shift workers that are part of the Company's proprietary ecosystem. Many of these shifters will come into the ecosystem through their current employers who become ShiftPixy clients thus making ShiftPixy the employer of record for their workers. The Company intends to add to the ShiftPixy ecosystem others seeking employment (but not working for ShiftPixy employers) from Company marketing initiatives focused on continuously expanding the pool of available shift workers, initially from the new mobile app the Company will offer in September 2016. These activities will give employers a greater incentive to become ShiftPixy clients by making available to them a greater number of qualified, local shift workers to fill available shifts through marketing to potential shifters outside the ecosystem will occur simultaneously with onboarding additional shifters via new employer enrollment with ShiftPixy.

ShiftPixy will initially target the restaurant and hotel industries, a market comprised of 13 million workers. Management has also identified several additional markets such as New York, Chicago, Dallas and Orlando where ShiftPixy may in the future target for marketing through what it will promote as bringing the same high value type services to these industries as it is now bringing to the restaurant and hospitality industries.

ShiftPixy is already generating significant revenue, and has the realistic potential to achieve what few startups can in a short period of time - generate significant annual revenues.

Asher added: "Management has leveraged its expertise and long standing market alliances within the property and casualty producer community to assemble a large backlog of potential Provider Clients for what we believe to be the Company's unique platform and programs. ShiftPixy now is in the position of being able to select rather than inviting Provider Clients into its proprietary program which we believe will enable ShiftPixy to grow more rapidly and select clients that may add more profitably to our operations."

Absher added: "We call a prospective employee a 'Shifter'. We have designed our ShiftPixy mobile app to be the primary entrance into the ShiftPixy ecosystem for a Shifter who was not an employee of an company that became a ShiftPixy client. The user experience on this app is being designed to provide a simple mobile access and opportunity management tool for Shifters to select and manage their shift opportunities. ShiftPixy intends to collect nominal monthly user fees from Shifter participation in the ShiftPixy ecosystem via this app. The ShiftPixy app will also serve as a gateway for Shifters to access perks and benefits an employee of a large company would enjoy. These perks may include health dental and vision coverages, 401(k) or IRA access, and a variety of discounts."

Media expenditures are planned to support the launch of the mobile Shifter access application. Additionally, the Company's electronic marketing plan focuses on generating message buzz around the ACA enforcement actions we expect in 2016 will show up in the form of penalties in 2016 for the unprepared employers of 2015. These penalties are steep, potentially in the hundreds of thousands of dollars or more and we expect will gain a great deal of national attention. When this happens, the Company intends to produce a significant volume of publicity around the ShiftPixy compliance solution within the trade and financial media to attempt to attract additional clients.

ShiftPixy's planned B2B digital message program will track hot subject matter surrounding ACA enforcement and compliance and produce additional content we will use to elevate ShiftPixy as an innovative employer solution to these ACA problems

The Company also reported that it has filed with the SEC an Offering Circular on Form 1-A under new Regulation A+. This new SEC regulation allows not only just wealthy accredited or institutional investors but also non-accredited investors everyday people the opportunity to invest in A+ IPO's. For more information go to: https://wrhambrecht.com/ipos/shiftpixy-inc-regulation-a-ipo/

About ShiftPixy, Inc.

ShiftPixy was formed to take advantage of weaknesses in compulsory insurance markets and new compliance requirements for U.S. businesses where statutory requirements for business owners collide with extremely limited access to the required insurance coverage, particularly health care insurance coverage, and related regulatory compliance issues. ShiftPixy management has leveraged over 20 years of experience in developing and marketing alternative risk programs to address unique business insurance needs into the delivery of a unique and what we believe to be a highly desirable suite of services to merge coverage access with operational compliance and financial support.

ShiftPixy's management team discovered that recent new demands due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were forcing a new compliance layer into the marketplace for our existing and potential Provider Clients which we were forced to aid in addressing for them. Due to the compliance and risk areas of expertise that were core to our client delivery, mastery of an effective solution such as the one we have developed has become essential.

In the work to master and incorporate a means to effectively address the new ACA compliance

demands as part of our core service platform we observed that shift work was now very vulnerable. The direct casualty of ACA was the shift worker who is now seeing full time employment with one employer becoming a thing of the past as small employers dropped hours and shifts to bring their business into ACA compliance. The shift worker has now become part of the under-employed and forgotten millions in the US economy.

One the other side of the ACA impact were the job providers who now had to have more people

working fewer hours. The race to meet the new demands and covering new gaps are stressing small business as never before in the US. The new demands have made delivery and cash flows challenging for small employers who provide most of the US employment.

ShiftPixy management realized that they were in the prefect position to intermediate a better

solution to meet the needs on both the provider and shift worker sides of the new Next Gen labor reality in the US. ShiftPixy has developed proprietary technology and client engagement processes that enable the Company create high value on both the employer and the employee sides of the U.S. shift work chasm.

When launched in September, the ShiftPixy mobile app allows available and qualified shift workers to connect with immediately available shifts from participating ShiftPixy Provider Clients through a simple mobile application. Shift workers or "Shifters" can find shift opportunities within their skill set and geographic range and pick up available shifts when they need the work. ShiftPixy processes the entire workflow on the provider side from offering open shifts, approving a Shifter based on their rich profile, to processing all of the payroll, insurance and regulatory demands for each shift hour worked.

The ShiftPixy provider platform secures and monetizes long-term Provider Client relationships under annual agreements which are not passive or transactional but active and vital to our client's success. Our product suite is designed to meet critical operational and financial needs and are specifically focused to exploit what we see as the current market weakness, with our goal of placing our value proposition very high with the Provider Clients we target. The ShiftPixy Shifter platform secures and monetizes individuals seeking shift work based on need and availability matched to their specific skills and within their geographic range on a monthly fee basis for access.

ShiftPixy management has leveraged not only its expertise but also its long-standing market alliances within the property and casualty producer community to assemble a very large backlog of Provider Clients anxious for the planned launch of our unique platform and programs. The Company has the unique position of allowing rather than inviting Provider Clients into its proprietary program which allows ShiftPixy to grow rapidly and select Provider Clients profitably.

Our goal for our small business Provider Client business owners is to liberate them to do what they do best, provide high quality service to their customers. Our dedication and mastery of the "dailies" for our Provider Clients and ability to guide through small course corrections keep our Provider Clients on a path free of surprises or risks from failure to attend to and cure small issues before they take root and grow to expensive obstacles to the growth of the business. The resultant freedom our Provider Clients find now allows them to dedicate their focus to the growth of their business. These are truly liberating tools for small business owners on many significant business and personal levels.

ShiftPixy's primary Client Provider service engagement is contractual and allows Client Providers coverage access, operational and processing bandwidth from which we extract regular residual fee income monthly. Management is developing other high value touch points designed to strengthen and further monetize these Provider client engagements. Shifter user engagements will be monetized by charging for the services but keep the charges at low levels intended to drive mobile app utilization and community growth through not only shift access and opportunity management but personal access to perks an employee of a large corporation might enjoy due to the ShiftPixy economy of scale.

For more information on ShiftPixy, please visit the Company's website at http://www.ShiftPixy.com.

ShiftPixy has filed an Offering Circular for the offering of its securities on Form 1-A with the Securities and Exchange Commission but the Offering Circular has not yet become qualified. You may obtain a copy of the most recent version of the Preliminary Offering Circular with the following link: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1675634/000147793216010647/shiftpixy_1a.htm

No money or consideration is being solicited by the information in this or any other communication or information on our website, and, if sent, money will not be accepted and will be promptly returned. No offer by a potential investor to buy our securities can be accepted and, if made, any such offer can be withdrawn before qualification of this offering by the SEC. A potential investor's indication of interest does not create a commitment to purchase the securities we are offering. Any such indication of interest may be withdrawn or revoked, without obligation or commitment of any kind, at any time before notice of its acceptance is given and all other requirements to accept an investment from a potential investor are met after the offering qualification date.

The offering is being made only by means of the Offering Circular. The securities in our offering may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time our Offering Circular is qualified by the SEC. Any information in this or any other communication or on our website shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to qualification for sale as provided in Regulation A+ in any such state or jurisdiction.

http://www.shiftpixy.com

SOURCE ShiftPixy, Inc.
The BPU's decision represents the final regulatory approval needed to close the previously announced merger, which was unanimously approved by state regulators in each of the six required jurisdictions in just 10 months. Subject to the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, Southern Company and AGL Resources intend to close the transaction on or around July 1.

When completed, the combination of Southern Company and AGL Resources is expected to create the second-largest utility company in the U.S. by customer base, bringing together:

Eleven regulated electric and natural gas distribution companies providing service to approximately 9 million customers;

Operations of nearly 200,000 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines;

More than 80,000 miles of gas pipelines; and

Approximately 44,000 megawatts of electricity generating capacity.

For more information about the proposed merger, visit www.doingenergybetter.com.

About Southern Company

With more than 4.5 million customers and approximately 44,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast through its subsidiaries. A leading U.S. producer of clean, safe, reliable and affordable electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and affordable prices that are below the national average. Through an industry-leading commitment to innovation, Southern Company and its subsidiaries are inventing America's energy future by developing the full portfolio of energy resources, including nuclear, 21st century coal, natural gas, renewables and energy efficiency, and creating new products and services for the benefit of customers. Southern Company has been named by the U.S. Department of Defense and G.I. Jobs magazine as a top military employer, listed by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the 40 Best Companies for Diversity and designated a 2014 Top Employer for Hispanics by Hispanic Network. The company earned the 2014 National Award of Nuclear Science and History from the National Atomic Museum Foundation for its leadership and commitment to nuclear development, and is consistently ranked among the top utilities in Fortune's annual World's Most Admired Electric and Gas Utility rankings. Visit our website at www.southerncompany.com.

About AGL Resources

AGL Resources (NYSE: GAS) is an Atlanta-based energy services holding company which owns and operates natural gas utilities, as well as retail energy and services, wholesale services and midstream businesses. AGL Resources serves approximately 4.5 million utility customers through its regulated distribution subsidiaries in seven states. The company also serves more than one million retail customers through its SouthStar Energy Services joint venture and Pivotal Home Solutions, which market natural gas and related home services. Other non-utility businesses include asset management for natural gas wholesale customers through Sequent Energy Management and ownership and operation of natural gas storage facilities. AGL Resources is a member of the S&P 500 Index. For more information, visit www.aglresources.com.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements, among other things, concerning the expected timing of the completion of the proposed merger and the expected benefits thereof. These forward-looking statements are often characterized by the use of words such as "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "believe," "may," "should," "will," "could," "continue" and the negative or plural of these words and other comparable terminology. Although Southern Company and AGL Resources believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, factors and assumptions regarding the items outlined above. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these expectations include, among other things, the following: the risk that a condition to closing of the merger may not be satisfied; the possibility that the anticipated benefits from the transaction cannot be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected; the possibility that costs related to the integration of Southern Company and AGL Resources will be greater than expected; the credit ratings of the combined company or its subsidiaries may be different from what the parties expect; the ability to retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with customers, suppliers or other business partners; the diversion of management time on transaction-related issues; the impact of legislative, regulatory and competitive changes; and other risk factors relating to the energy industry, as detailed from time to time in each of Southern Company's and AGL Resources' reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There can be no assurance that the transaction will in fact be consummated.

Additional information about these factors and about the material factors or assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements may be found in the body of this release, as well as under Item 1.A in each of Southern Company's and AGL Resources' Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 and subsequent filings. Southern Company and AGL Resources caution that the foregoing list of important factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive. When relying on forward-looking statements to make decisions with respect to Southern Company and AGL Resources, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning the transaction or other matters attributable to Southern Company or AGL Resources or any other person acting on their behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements referenced above. The forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this release. Neither Southern Company nor AGL Resources undertakes any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, except as may be required by law.

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SOURCE Southern Company

Related Links

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WASHINGTON, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Representing the St. Baldrick's Foundation today at Vice President Biden's Cancer Moonshot Summit is Danielle Leach, St. Baldrick's director of government relations and advocacy. The Summit is being held at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and will bring to together advocates, patients, survivors, doctors and researchers to discuss ways to accelerate cancer research and turn ideas into action.

"Named to the Pediatric Cancer Working Group of the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative Blue Ribbon panel, the St. Baldrick's Foundation is committed to making sure childhood cancer research makes it to the forefront of discussion and is included as a national priority," said Leach. "We come to this Moonshot Summit in honor, and in defense of all children with cancer. We will continue to bring children's voices to the discussion table as we talk about the need for action and progress in childhood cancer. As a mom whose son died from brain cancer, I am happy see so many willing to create change together."

As the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants, St. Baldrick's is committed to funding the most promising research. St. Baldrick's supports collaborative research through consortium grants and an annual multi-million dollar grant to the Children's Oncology Group. Through Fellow and Scholar awards, St. Baldrick's supports young investigators which provide the resources needed to develop their research and later apply for government funding.

St. Baldrick's is working hard to make sure the pediatric medical community is also heard. The Foundation surveyed all St. Baldrick's funded researchers, both past and present, resulting in 275 responses on recommendations for the Moonshot Initiative. Leach will be armed with these results, as well as her personal experience of losing her son, Mason, to childhood cancer in 2007, as she joins the Cancer Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel.

Join the St. Baldrick's advocacy network, Speak Up for Kids' Cancer, and find out how you can help create change for kids with cancer.

About St. Baldrick's Foundation

As the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants, the St. Baldrick's Foundation believes that kids are special and deserve to be treated that way. St. Baldrick's funds are granted to some of the most brilliant childhood cancer research experts who are working to find cures and better treatments for all childhood cancers. Kids need treatments as unique as they are  and that starts with funding research just for them. Join us at StBaldricks.org to help support the best cancer treatments for kids.

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SOURCE St. Baldricks Foundation

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PUNE, India, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The report "Surfactant EOR Market by Origin (Surfactants, Biosurfactants), by Type (Anionic Surfactants, Other Surfactants), by Technique (ASP Flooding, SP Flooding), by Application (Onshore, Offshore), and by Region - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, The market is projected to reach USD 70.9 Million, by 2021, and grow at a CAGR of 3.20%, during the forecast period.

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Browse 65 market data Tables and 56 Figures spread through 153 Slides and in-depth TOC on "Surfactant EOR Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/surfactant-eor-market-115310924.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

As the oil reserves are depleting, the need for increased deeper and horizontal drilling activities in difficult terrains rises. This is expected to influence the market players to undertake EOR techniques, resulting in increased demand for surfactants.

Anionic surfactants: The largest material type in the Surfactant EOR market

Anionic surfactants are negatively charged and are used on a large scale in the market. They display good surfactant properties, such as strong interfacial tension reducing capacity, creation of self-assembled structures, relative stability, low adsorption on reservoir rock, and low-cost manufacturing process. Others include cationic surfactants, which are positively charged head group that dissociate in water to form a halide. The cost of cationic surfactants is high as their synthesis is cost intensive.

Onshore: The largest application market of surfactant EOR market.

The common EOR recovery processes include injection of thermal fluids, including steam, to reduce the viscosity of heavy oils in the reservoirs and injection of water-soluble chemicals such as polymer, surfactant, and alkali to improve the recovery factor in the medium and light oil reservoirs. Two major applications of surfactants are onshore and offshore oilfields.

Onshore application refers to extraction activities carried out on oil reserves located on land. Oil has been mainly explored from onshore reserves due to which it is depleting. As a result, surfactants are widely used to recover large quantity of oil from onshore reserves in comparison to offshore reserves.

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North America: The largest region of Surfactant EOR market

North America is the largest Surfactant EOR Market and Canada is the most dominant country in the region. It is projected to witness a low growth rate, as the market is saturated and there are not many EOR projects in the U.S. The exploratory projects in the region have reduced due to the falling oil prices. Canada is known for its heavy oil production and recovery processes. Thus, Canadian companies have been adopting the chemical EOR techniques to increase recovery in these types of reservoirs.

Major players such as BASF SE (Germany), Shell Chemicals (The Netherlands), Halliburton (U.S.) have adopted development strategies such as expansions, agreements & collaborations, and new product development to achieve growth in the Surfactant EOR market.

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Browse Related Reports:

Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR / IOR) Market by Origin (Petro-based, & Bio-based), by Type (Surfactants, Water soluble polymers, Polymer gels, Biopolymers, Alkaline chemicals), by Technique (Polymer flooding, Surfactant-polymer flooding, Alkaline surfactant polymer flooding), by Application (Onshore, & Offshore) - Regional Trend & Forecast to 2020

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/chemical-enhanced-oil-recovery-market-218191584.html

Agricultural Surfactants Market by Type (Anionic, Nonionic, Cationic, and Amphoteric), Applications (Herbicides, Insecticides, Fungicides, and Others), Substrate Type (Synthetic and Bio-based), and by Region - Global Forecasts to 2020

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/agricultural-surfactants-market-52947416.html

About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets is the world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.

M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.

We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
BALTIMORE, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 300 Transamerica employees will help build or repair homes in eight cities across the United States this year in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. This is the company's fifth consecutive year of partnering with Habitat, a global nonprofit that helps families build strength, stability and self-reliance through shelter.

Transamerica employees volunteer with Habitat for Humanity to help build or repair homes.

Participating Transamerica employees will volunteer at their respective Habitat build sites for a full day or more, helping either to transform existing properties or to build new, affordable homes. Their efforts will help revitalize neighborhoods in or near eight cities:

Baltimore, Maryland

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Denver, Colorado

Little Rock, Arkansas Los Angeles, California

Memphis, Tennessee

Plano, Texas

St. Petersburg, Florida

At the 2016 Carter Work Project in Memphis, Transamerica employees will work alongside former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn. The Carters generously donate their time and voices annually to build homes and raise awareness of the critical need for affordable housing. In all cities, each completed home will be sold to qualifying Habitat families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. Habitat homeowners are selected though an application process based on level of need and a willingness to partner by investing time and effort, spending hundreds of hours building their home and houses for others.

"Transamerica's core purpose is to help individuals and families achieve a lifetime of financial security," said Mark Mullin, president and CEO of Transamerica. "Our employees have donated more than 12,000 hours over the past four years to help Habitat families achieve the American dream of home ownership. We're honored to again partner with Habitat in transforming the prospects for families and creating the stability which home ownership makes possible."

To learn more about Habitat for Humanity, visit www.habitat.org.To learn more about Transamerica, visit www.transamerica.com.

About Transamerica

With a history that dates back more than 100 years, the Transamerica companies are recognized as leading providers of life insurance, savings, retirement and investment solutions, serving millions of customers throughout the United States. Transamerica works to Transform Tomorrow for those who entrust its dedicated professionals with their financial needs, helping them take the necessary steps to achieve their long-term goals and aspirations. Transamerica's 10,000 employees serve nearly every customer segment, providing a broad range of quality life insurance and savings products, individual and group pension plans, as well as asset management services. In 2015, Transamerica fulfilled its promises to customers, paying more than $6.9 billion in insurance and annuity benefits, including return of annuity premiums paid by the customer. Transamerica's corporate headquarters is located in Baltimore, Maryland, with other major operations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Transamerica is part of the Aegon group of companies. Aegon is one of the world's largest providers of life insurance, pension solutions and asset management products, operating in more than 20 markets worldwide. For the full year of 2015, Aegon managed $768 billion in revenue generating investments. For more information, please visit www.transamerica.com.

About Habitat for Humanity International

Driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity has grown from a grassroots effort that began on a community farm in southern Georgia in 1976 to a global nonprofit housing organization in nearly 1,400 communities across the U.S. and in over 70 countries. People partner with Habitat for Humanity to build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Through financial support, volunteering or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. Through shelter, we empower. To learn more, visit habitat.org.

Media inquiries:

Gregory Tucker

443-475-3017

[email protected]

Julie Quinlan

213-742-5134

[email protected]

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SOURCE Transamerica

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WESTLAKE, Ohio, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- For six weeks this summer travel season, customers are encouraged to visit TravelCenters of America LLC (TravelCenters TA and Petro Stopping Centers) to support military heroes. Again this year, TravelCenters is honoring the sacrifice of active military personnel and veterans by encouraging restaurant guests to order a meal in support of the National Military Family Association (NMFA), a nonprofit that works to strengthen and protect military families.

From June 28 to August 5, participating Country Pride and Iron Skillet locations will donate $1.00 to the NMFA for each entree ordered from a select group of menu items. "Nearly one in three truck drivers is a military veteran," noted Tom O'Brien, president and CEO of TravelCenters. "These brave individuals served our nation in the armed forces and continue to serve by safely delivering goods across our country." In addition, on July 4, active and retired service members will receive a free meal chosen from a menu of signature favorites.

"As a veteran myself, I am proud our company honors those who have served our country," said Paul Weaver, GM of the Iron Skillet at the Petro Atlanta location and a veteran of the United States Navy, having served 20 years. "This observance allows diners to enjoy a meal and offer a thanks for the sacrifices made to secure our freedom."

About TravelCenters of America LLC

TravelCenters of America LLC (TravelCenters), headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, conducts business in 43 states and Canada, principally under the TA and Petro Stopping Centers travel center brands and the Minit Mart convenience store brand. For more information on TravelCenters, TA, and Petro Stopping Centers, please visit www.ta-petro.com. For more information on Minit Mart, please visit www.minitmart.com.

About National Military Family Association

The National Military Family Association is the leading nonprofit dedicated to serving the families who stand behind the uniform. Since 1969, NMFA has worked to strengthen and protect millions of families through its advocacy and programs. They provide spouse scholarships, camps for military kids, and retreats for families reconnecting after deployment and for the families of the wounded, ill, or injured. NMFA serves the families of the currently serving, retired, wounded or fallen members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Commissioned Corps of the USPHS and NOAA. To get involved or to learn more, visit www.MilitaryFamily.org. For more information about NMFA history, visit NMFA Historical Timeline 1969 to Present.

SOURCE TravelCenters of America LLC

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http://www.ta-petro.com


China's Internet industry is developing at a rapid pace, even boosting the fortune of many companies due to the super-fast Internet connectivity in the country. (Photo : Getty Images)

China is one of the worlds fastest growing economies and a major contributor to science and technology, but it appears as though the countrys progress is also its hindrance in being globally connected.



Bloomberg columnist Justin Fox believes so too in an article featuring his recent visit to the country and first-hand experience in Web access in China.



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Accessing the Web in China



Fox recently went to China to attend the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions held at the Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin.



At the time, he lauded the amazing modern advancements he witnessed, including the building itself which he described as "a sleek aircraft-hangar of a building."



He also noticed the sophisticated feel of having been able to stream the event he was supposed to attend in a cafe via WiFi access.



But that is where the praise ends because then he begins to note that while the connection is fast, it is very limited especially when connecting to the rest of the world.



"I could search on Bing, but not Google," he noted, listing down some of the websites that can and cannot be accessed from China. "Sometimes my Bloomberg email functioned okay, but Gmail never did. Evernote worked, Dropbox didn't. And if I wanted to check Facebook or Twitter, or read something on a Western news site, or--God forbid--watch a show on Netflix, I was completely out of luck."



According to Fox, China's stern Great Firewall is to blame for all of this, noting that the "free-for-all" Internet in the country remains within the bounds of the government's comfort.



President Xi Jinping on Internet Access



It is no secret that under its ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), the Asian giant has become secluded from the world, Internet-wise.



According to China.org, this is because cybersecurity became one of the biggest priorities in the Chinese government, so much so that President Xi Jinping called for an extensive crackdown on potential risks in accessing the World Wide Web.



Xi explained that he believes that the "correct outlook on cybersecurity" is to establish a comprehensive system to prevent sensitive information from going in or out of the country



However, when asked about the management of China's internal Internet, Xi said that the country does not aim to "shut her door to the world" and even emphasized the importance of public opinion that is usually presented via social media.






NEW YORK, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- John Martin, chairman and chief executive officer, Turner, has been named honorary co-chair for the 30th Annual NAMIC Conference. Presented by the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC), the 30th Annual NAMIC Conference is scheduled for September 20-21, 2016 at the New York Marriott Marquis in New York City. Held as part of the cable industry's Diversity Week, the theme for this year's conference is Diversity 3.0Innovation through Inclusion.

"John is among cable's most distinguished business leaders and we are honored to have him on-board this year," said Eglon E. Simons, NAMIC's president and CEO. "With 2016 marking the 30th anniversary of the NAMIC conference, we are extremely pleased to have the continued support of Turner, an esteemed diversity champion and innovator, and a company that shares our goal of advancing inclusion in all aspects of our business."

In his role as Turner's chairman and chief executive officer, Martin oversees a portfolio of some of the world's most recognizable media networks, brands and businesses including: CNN, TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies (TCN), truTV, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Bleacher Report and Turner Sports. Prior to joining Turner, Martin spent 12 years at Time Warner in various executive management roles including senior vice president of Investor Relations until being named executive vice president and chief financial officer in August of 2005; and Time Warner's chief financial officer in 2008.

A member of the board of trustees of Columbia University's business school, where he received an MBA, Martin also serves on the boards of the United Negro College Fund and the Paley Center for Media.

Martin commented: "Diversity, inclusion and mutual respect are integral to our culture at Turner, and I believe essential to our success and the future of our business. We are proud to partner with NAMIC on their 30th annual conference, which provides a unique opportunity for our industry to place a spotlight on diversity and inclusion as a necessity for growth and innovation."



The 30th Annual NAMIC Conference will be highlighted by an impressive roster of the industry's notable business leaders and subject-matter experts. This year's agenda will focus on three learning tracks: Business Solutions, Content & Imagery and Leading & Learning. Commencing with the Breakfast Recognizing the Cablefax 2016 Most Influential Minorities in Cable, the conference will also be highlighted by the L. Patrick Mellon Mentorship Program Luncheon, informative General Sessions, the Excellence in Multicultural Marketing Awards, evening receptions and other networking opportunities.

For more information or to access online registration for the 30th Annual NAMIC Conference namic.com/events or contact Sandra Girado, vice president of Events and Partner Relations, NAMIC, at 212-594-5985 or via email at [email protected] Group registration discounts are available for multiple attendees from the same company.

ABOUT NAMIC

NAMIC (National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications) is the premier organization focusing on multi-ethnic diversity in the communications industry. Founded in 1980 as a non-profit trade association, today NAMIC comprises 2,800 professionals belonging to a network of 16 chapters nationwide. Through initiatives that focus on education, advocacy and empowerment, NAMIC champions equity and inclusion in the workforce, with special attention given to ensuring that the leadership cadres of our nation's communications industry giants reflect the multi-ethnic richness of the populations they serve. Comcast | NBCUniversal, Time Warner Cable and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. are NAMIC's Platinum Annual Corporate Sponsors. For more information, please visit www.namic.com and stay connected to NAMIC on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

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SOURCE NAMIC

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MERIDEN, Conn. and PEARL RIVER, N.Y., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- USA and Japan -- Protein Sciences Corporation, manufacturer of Flublok influenza vaccine, and UMN Pharma Inc. (Akita, Akita prefecture, Japan) announced today that UMN has signed on as the latest partner of the international Zika vaccine consortium initiated by Protein Sciences. The consortium, which also includes partners Sinergium Biotech (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Mundo Sano, a private foundation with activities in Argentina, Spain and Africa, is developing a vaccine to combat the Zika virus based on Protein Sciences' proprietary technology. The partners are pooling resources to drive advancement of their vaccine candidate into the clinic as quickly as possible, which is anticipated for later this year. Under the terms of the agreement, UMN will pay an upfront fee to fund the development and manufacture of the vaccine being produced at Protein Sciences. In return, UMN will receive manufacturing and commercial rights to the vaccine in Japan and other counties to be determined.

Protein Sciences Corporation is saving lives and improving health through the creation of innovative vaccines and biopharmaceuticals (PRNewsFoto/Protein Sciences Corporation)

Dan Adams, Protein Sciences Executive Chairman and Global Head of Business Development said, "Our consortium is gaining traction because people realize that only by using a proven platform technology such as ours will it be possible to get a Zika vaccine approved by authorities and distributed to where it is needed quickly." He added, "We are making a Zika vaccine using the same platform technology that we use to make Flublok, which has been proven to be safe and effective in tens of thousands of healthy adults."

UMN is no stranger to Protein Sciences' technology. The Company holds a license for Flublok in Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. UNIGEN, a joint venture of UMN and IHI Corporation, will manufacture Flublok and Astellas will market it in Japan.

Tatsuyoshi Hirano, Chairman and CEO at UMN Pharma said, "We are pleased to join the Zika vaccine consortium. As a world class biopharmaceutical and vaccine supplier, we would like to contribute the use of our 21,000L bioreactors to provide Zika vaccine to emerging countries in addition to providing influenza vaccine to the Japan and US markets."

About Protein Sciences and Flublok

Protein Sciences specializes in vaccine development and protein production. Our mission is our inspiration: to save lives and improve health through the creation of innovative vaccines and biopharmaceuticals.

Flublok, the world's first recombinant protein-based vaccine for the prevention of seasonal influenza disease, was approved by FDA in January 2013. Flublok is the only flu vaccine made in a 100% egg-free system using modern cell culture technology, making it unnecessary to use an infectious influenza virus or antibiotics in manufacturing. Flublok is highly purified and does not contain any preservatives (e.g., thimerosal, a mercury derivative), egg proteins, gelatin or latex. In addition, Flublok contains three times more antigen than traditional flu vaccines (3x45mcg hemagglutinin protein versus 3x15mcg hemagglutinin protein)*. Flublok is a perfect copy of the virus coat and is not subject to the egg-adapted mutations associated with low vaccine effectiveness (see Skowronski et al. (2014) PLOS ONE 9(3), e92153).

Learn more at www.proteinsciences.com and www.flublok.com.

About UMN Pharma

UMN Pharma is a bio-venture established in 2004 and is headquartered at Akita, Akita prefecture in Japan. The company received a license from Protein Sciences for dealership and exclusive development and manufacture of the recombinant influenza HA vaccine in Japan in August 2006 and for other regions in Asia (China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore) in October 2010. In Japan, the company concluded a cooperation agreement for joint development and exclusive sales of the recombinant influenza HA vaccine with Astellas Pharma in September 2010. The companies have submitted an application for approval of manufacture and sale of the recombinant seasonal influenza HA vaccine UMN-0502 (Astellas Pharma development code: ASP7374) to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, based on its results and efficacy on May 30, 2014.

Flublok Safety Information

Flublok is approved for people 18 and older to prevent influenza disease. The most common side effect from Flublok is pain at the site of injection. Headache, fatigue or muscle ache may occur. Tell the doctor if you have ever experienced Guillain-Barre syndrome (severe muscle weakness) or have had a severe allergic reaction to any component of Flublok vaccine. Vaccination with Flublok may not protect all individuals. Clinical effectiveness in adults 50 and older is based on the immune response elicited by Flublok and not on demonstration of decreased influenza disease. Please see the complete Package Insert available at www.flublok.com or call 203-686-0800 for more information.

*Flublok demonstrated a higher antibody response to the A strains during 2 clinical trials in adults 50 years old. The B strain antibody response was comparable to traditional trivalent vaccines.

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SOURCE Protein Sciences Corporation

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BEAVERTON, Ore., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Urban Solar is proud to announce its agreement with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO) to supply solar powered LED lighting in San Francisco, California.

Urban Solar started working closely with SFMTA officials in 2009 to create a unique bus stop amenity that reflects the agency's commitment to transit services, the city's culture, and passion for renewable energy. SFMTA had also started a bus stop improvement program with CCO that includes new poles, signage, and solar lighting.

Urban Solar is now supplying solar powered LED lighting at bus stops in San Francisco.

SFMTA started deploying the first 500 of an estimated 3,300 planned bus stop upgrades using Urban Solar's PV-Lantern, which is an autonomous stand-alone solar powered LED bus stop light. It reduces the need for disruptive and expensive trenching of utility poles to each bus stop.

"We are very pleased that SFMTA and Clear Channel Outdoor chose us for this green initiative," says Urban Solar President Jeff Peters. "SFMTA and the City of San Francisco are great partners and an excellent location to showcase our technology. San Francisco's west coast weather can be challenging for solar systems in an urban setting. Our powerful controller and experienced design ensure it will have lit bus stops year round."

About the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency

SFMTA oversees transit, streets and taxis for the city of San Francisco. Its fleet includes buses, light rail vehicles, historic streetcars and iconic cable cars.

About Clear Channel Outdoor

Clear Channel Outdoor reaches more than half a billion people each month in more than 40 countries, making it one of the world's largest outdoor advertising companies. CCO's more than 675,000 displays are seen in urban, transit, roadside, and airport environments.

About Urban Solar

Urban Solar manufactures solar power systems and LED lighting solutions for applications including transit, transportation, parking lots, pathway and general illumination applications. With more than 50 years of design and manufacturing experience, Urban Solar delivers the highest level of solar powered LED illumination in an integrated, reliable and customer focused design.

CONTACT

Email: [email protected] Phone: 778-430-5516 Victoria, BC Canada Web: urbansolarcorp.com Phone: 503-356-5516 Beaverton, OR USA

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SOURCE Urban Solar

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http://www.urbansolarcorp.com


NEW YORK, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With chief executives in the United States dealing with a time of unprecedented change, 65 percent acknowledge that the next three years will be more critical for their industries than the past 50. CEOs are responding by stepping up their customer focus and transforming into significantly different entities with many pursuing a growth strategy that calls for increased partnerships and alliances, according to a study released today by KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax, and advisory firm.

U.S. CEOs are concerned about customer loyalty and their businesses' ability to meet customers' needs and expectations, according to the KPMG U.S. CEO Outlook 2016 report.

"Today's top business leaders understand that long-term success in this era of fast-paced technological change and global economic shifts requires a new way of thinking and operating," said Lynne Doughtie, Chairman and CEO, KPMG LLP. "In fact, the corporate playbook is being rewritten and replaced by one that takes business agility to a level we have never seen before."

The 400 U.S. CEOs surveyed in the KPMG U.S. CEO Outlook 2016 report expressed a high degree of confidence over the longer term. In fact, 83 percent are confident about growth prospects for their companies in the next three years. Yet, underlying that optimism, are many risks and concerns. Cyber security was designated the top risk, while 91 percent expressed concern about the impact of global economic forces on their businesses. Customer loyalty and keeping current with new technologies also are major concerns.

"CEOs see new entrants disrupting their business models and acknowledge that they are not in a position to be a disruptor themselves," said Doughtie. "One major issue is that the majority of CEOs acknowledge that they haven't adopted a strategic innovation approach and a safe-to-fail environment."

Customer Focus and Investment Increases

A stronger client focus was identified as the CEOs' top strategic priority. Eighty-six percent are concerned about how to keep up with the differing wants and needs of millennials.

In the next three years, CEOs will be devoting significant investment and resources towards customers, focusing on new product development, increasing data analysis capabilities, cognitive computing and artificial intelligence, and taking aim at the measurement and analysis of the customer experience. Sixty-two percent of the CEOs said they are using disruptive technologies to improve their product and service offerings.

Pursuing Collaborative Growth

To drive shareholder value in the next three years, 65 percent of the CEOs said they will be pursuing a collaborative growth strategy that includes external partnerships and alliances, a higher percentage than organic growth (61 percent) and inorganic growth (58 percent). "These leaders recognize that the opportunities and the pressures they face to grow are greater than what they can achieve internally," said Doughtie.

Yet, low percentages of CEOs feel that their organizations are highly capable of connecting in a beneficial way with startups (32 percent) as well as universities and other research institutes (30 percent).

Transformations on the Rise

Thirty-nine percent of CEOs indicated that they are transforming their companies into significantly different entities in the next three years. "Most transformational changes are outside of the core competencies of the average organization," Doughtie said. "CEOs find themselves managing and monitoring incredibly complex ecosystems that extend far beyond the walls of their businesses."

Confidence on U.S. Growth, Jobs

The majority of CEOs were confident about the economy and job growth over the next three years. Twenty-three percent are "very confident" about growth for the U.S. economy and 59 percent are "confident." When asked to assess countries offering the greatest potential for new growth, the CEOs selected India, followed by the United States and China.

As to adding jobs, 54 percent anticipate hiring in the 6-10 percent range in the next three years, and 21 percent predict increases of more than 11 percent.

For more information, please visit: http://www.kpmg.com/US/CEOoutlook.

About KPMG LLP

KPMG is one of the world's leading professional services firms, providing innovative business solutions and audit, tax, and advisory services to many of the world's largest and most prestigious organizations.

KPMG is the fastest-growing Big Four professional services firm in the United States and is widely recognized for being a great place to work and build a career.

Our people share a sense of purpose in the work we do, and a strong commitment to community service, diversity and inclusion, and eradicating childhood illiteracy.

Learn more at www.kpmg.com/us.

KPMG LLP is the U.S. member firm of KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International").

KPMG International's member firms have 174,000 professionals, including more than 9,000 partners, in 155 countries.

Contact: Ichiro Kawasaki

KPMG LLP

551-486-9310

[email protected]

Twitter: @ichiroakawasaki

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SOURCE KPMG LLP

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BETHESDA, Md., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE: WD) announced today that it has secured $672 million of financing for the previously announced acquisition of University Housing Communities Group, Inc. (UHC) by a subsidiary of a joint venture formed by The Scion Group LLC ("Scion"), GIC and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ("CPPIB"). UHC represents one of the highest quality and largest Class A national student housing portfolios in the United States. The Walker & Dunlop team, led by Managing Directors Brendan Coleman and Will Baker, arranged the financing through Fannie Mae's Credit Facility execution, an efficient loan structure available for large transactions backed by a number of real estate assets.

Mr. Coleman commented, "We were honored to work with Scion, one of the most experienced and respected student housing owners and operators in the United States, GIC and CPPIB on this financing. It is a true testament to Walker & Dunlop's scale and strong partnership with Fannie Mae that we were able to provide our client with their preferred financing structure for this acquisition." Mr. Baker added, "Our experienced student housing team was successful in meeting the joint venture's needs on this complex transaction by negotiating a flexible solution with Fannie Mae."

"The acquisition of University Housing Communities is strategic for Scion and the first investment by the joint venture. We were impressed by the commitment and professionalism of the broader Walker & Dunlop and Fannie Mae teams in delivering highly attractive financing terms for this important transaction," said Scion's Chief Investment Officer, Avi Lewittes.

Senior Vice President of Multifamily at Fannie Mae, Hilary Provinse, stated, "Walker & Dunlop has consistently been one of our top DUS Lenders, especially in the student housing sector, and it was a pleasure working with them on this portfolio. Walker & Dunlop's in-depth knowledge of Fannie Mae's many product offerings resulted in the optimal financing structure to fit the borrower's specific needs."

About Scion

With advisory experience on over 170 college and university campuses, The Scion Group LLC is the 2nd largest owner/operator of student housing communities in the United States and currently owns and operates over 38,175 beds in 42 major university markets across 21 states. The overall owned portfolio has achieved 147 percent growth in the past two years. Scion has over 900 employees located nationwide.

About Walker & Dunlop

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD), headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, is one of the largest commercial real estate finance companies in the United States providing financing and investment sales to owners of multifamily and commercial properties. Walker & Dunlop, which is included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index, has over 500 professionals in 26 offices across the nation with an unyielding commitment to client satisfaction.

SOURCE Walker & Dunlop, Inc.

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BURBANK, Calif., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The talents of three of the world's greatest storytellers  Roald Dahl, Walt Disney and Steven Spielberg  finally unite to bring Dahl's beloved classic "The BFG" to life. "The BFG" tells the imaginative story of a young girl and the Giant who introduces her to the wonders and perils of Giant Country. The score was composed and conducted by Oscar-winning composer John Williams. The BFG soundtrack from Walt Disney Records will be available at physical and digital retailers, plus streaming services on July 1, 2016. "The BFG" opens in U.S. theaters on July 1, 2016, the year that marks the 100th anniversary of Dahl's birth.

Directed by three-time Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Melissa Mathison based on the best-selling book by Roald Dahl, "The BFG" stars three-time Tony Award, two-time Olivier Award and Oscar winner Mark Rylance, newcomer Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement, Rebecca Hall, Rafe Spall and Bill Hader. The film is produced by Spielberg, Frank Marshall and Sam Mercer, with Kathleen Kennedy, John Madden, Kristie Macosko Krieger and Michael Siegel serving as executive producers.

John Williams, whose career spans over five decades, has won five Academy Awards and he has scored some of the most popular and critically acclaimed films of all time, including all seven "Star Wars" films, the first three "Harry Potter" films, and countless others. His 42-year artistic partnership with director Steven Spielberg has resulted in many of Hollywood's most acclaimed and successful films, including "Schindler's List," "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," "Jaws," "Jurassic Park," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," the "Indiana Jones" films, "Munich," "Saving Private Ryan," "War Horse" and "Lincoln."

About The BFG:

The BFG (Mark Rylance), while a giant himself, is a Big Friendly Giant and nothing like the other inhabitants of Giant Country. Standing 24-feet tall with enormous ears and a keen sense of smell, he is endearingly dim-witted and keeps to himself for the most part. Giants like Bloodbottler (Bill Hader) and Fleshlumpeater (Jemaine Clement) on the other hand, are twice as big and at least twice as scary and have been known to eat humans, while the BFG prefers Snozzcumber and Frobscottle. Upon her arrival in Giant Country, Sophie, a precocious 10-year-old girl from London, is initially frightened of the mysterious giant who has brought her to his cave, but soon comes to realize that the BFG is actually quite gentle and charming, and, having never met a giant before, has many questions. The BFG brings Sophie to Dream Country where he collects dreams and sends them to children, teaching her all about the magic and mystery of dreams. Having both been on their own in the world up until now, their affection for one another quickly grows, but Sophie's presence in Giant Country has attracted the unwanted attention of the other giants, who have become increasingly more bothersome. Sophie and the BFG soon depart for London to see the Queen (Penelope Wilton) and warn her of the precarious giant situation, but they must first convince the Queen and her maid, Mary (Rebecca Hall), that giants do indeed exist. Together, they come up with a plan to get rid of the giants once and for all.

The BFG soundtrack will be available wherever music is sold on July 1, 2016. The album can be pre-ordered at Amazon (http://smarturl.it/bfgama2). For more information on Walt Disney Records' releases, like us on Facebook.com/disneymusic or follow us at Twitter.com/disneymusic.

SOURCE Walt Disney Records
TAMPA, Fla., June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) today announced that it will release its financial results for the second quarter 2016 on Tuesday, August 2, 2016, at approximately 6:30 a.m. EDT. The company will also host a conference call at 9:30 a.m. EDT that morning to discuss its financial results.

The conference call will be webcast live from the company's website and be accessible in the "Events and Presentations" section at ir.wellcare.com. A replay of the webcast will be available approximately one hour following the conclusion of the conference call.

The conference call can also be accessed by pre-registering using the following link: http://dpregister.com/10088137. Callers who pre-register will be given dial-in instructions and a unique PIN to gain immediate access to the call. Participants may pre-register now, or at any time prior to the call, and will receive simple instructions via email.

For those parties who do not have internet access or are unable to pre-register, the conference call may be accessed by calling:

Domestic participant dial in (toll free): 1-844-492-3724

International participant dial in: 1-412-542-4185

A telephonic replay will be available until midnight EDT on Tuesday, August 9, 2016. This replay may be accessed by dialing either of the numbers below and entering the replay access code 10088137:

Domestic replay (toll free): 1-877-344-7529

International replay: 1-412-317-0088

About WellCare Health Plans, Inc.

Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) focuses exclusively on providing government-sponsored managed care services, primarily through Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, to families, children, seniors and individuals with complex medical needs. The company served approximately 3.7 million members nationwide as of March 31, 2016. For more information about WellCare, please visit the company's website at www.wellcare.com .

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SOURCE WellCare Health Plans, Inc.

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NEW YORK, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WOW air, the low-cost transatlantic airline from Iceland, continues to expand its global horizon by offering direct flights from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Iceland for as low as $99* per flight, including taxes. Tickets go on sale today at wowair.com with flights from EWR to Iceland beginning in November 2016.

Additionally for only $149*, travelers can continue their trip with a short one hour stopover in Iceland, to WOW air's 23 European destinations which include London, Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Dublin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Stockholm.

"We are very excited to announce WOW air's extension into New York," Skuli Mogensen, founder and CEO of WOW air, said. "Within a mere five years we have been able to connect twenty-nine destinations across Europe, the US and Canada with low-cost fares. The addition of New York, which is part of the country's largest airport system, is another step into providing more affordable access to transatlantic travel for travelers in North America."

WOW air's continued development across the United States follows the successful launch of transatlantic services from 23 European destinations to Boston, Baltimore/Washington, D.C. in early 2015 and the start of service this month from San Francisco and Los Angeles, with fares as low as $99 including taxes. The existing U.S. services now operate year-round and maintains consistent carrier loads of 90% plus.

Launched in November 2011, WOW air now connects twenty-nine destinations across the U.S. and Europe with the Icelandic capital. WOW air's annual passenger capacity will more than double in 2016 to over 1.8 million, up from approximately 840,000 in 2015.

Service from EWR to and from Iceland will be available seven days a week with connecting flights onwards to other European destinations available. It will be serviced by the Airbus A321-300 aircrafts, the first wide-body planes in the WOW air fleet, which will each carry 350 passengers in a single-class configuration. Seat pitch will vary from 30 inches as standard to 34 inches at an additional charge.

For more information on flights to Iceland and North America please visit www.wow.us.

Notes to editors:

Skuli Mogensen is available for over the phone interviews from June 29 to July 1. Please contact Anna Romano with any inquiries.

About WOW air

WOW air is Iceland's only low-cost airline and the most punctual, with 92% of flights arriving on time in 2014. WOW air offers the lowest fares, a modern fleet with the lowest emissions and the biggest smile; this is the WOW air promise to its valuable customers. As of spring 2016, the airline will services 27 destinations across Europe and North America including Dublin, London, Paris, Berlin, and Copenhagen. Created in November 2011 by Icelandic entrepreneur Skuli Mogensen, the purple airline flies three Airbus A320 aircraft across Europe along with three Airbus A330 aircraft and four Airbus A321 aircraft that service its transatlantic routes. WOW air was ranked as the 7th best low-cost airline in Europe at the 2013, 2014 and 2015 Skytrax World Airline Awards and was the youngest airline in the top ten. For additional information and bookings please visit www.wowair.com.

Contact:

Anna Romano

[email protected]

310 854 8296

WOW air corporate

Svana Fridriksdottir

VP Communications

[email protected]

354 695 9359

New York to Iceland:

*Based on lowest one-way fare from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Iceland, including taxes and charges, booked on www.wowair.com. Available for travel from the U.S. on Wednesdays from November 30, 2016 through December 7, 2016 and on Wednesdays from January 10, 2017 through March 22, 2017. Restrictions and baggage fees may apply.

New York to Europe:

*Based on lowest one-way fare from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris, Frankfurt and Berlin including taxes and charges, booked on www.wowair.com. Available for travel from the U.S. on Wednesdays from November 30, 2016 through December 7, 2016 and on Wednesdays from January 10, 2017 through March 22, 2017. Restrictions and baggage fees may apply.

*Based on lowest one-way fare from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Bristol, Dublin and London including taxes and charges, booked on www.wowair.com. Available for travel from the U.S. on Sundays from November 27, 2016 through December 11, 2016 and on Sundays from January 8, 2017 through March 19, 2017. Restrictions and baggage fees may apply.

SOURCE WOW air

Related Links

http://wowair.us


Reports said that Brexit will be both good and bad for China, but for online shopper's at least, the "leave" verdict only means great news. (Photo : Getty Images)

Varying opinions are now plaguing the social media and online news websites on whether or not the United Kingdoms decision to leave the European Union (EU) through Brexit is good for China.



On one side, Bloomberg explains that Brexit is basically the depiction of what the Chinese Communist Party fears about a democratic government.



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While the U.K. is hardly a democratic country, its acceptance of the referendum which was taken into vote on June 23 is clearly an acceptance of the notion of democracy, the outlet explained.



Pointing out another negative for China is an article from Fortune, which explains that the U.K.'s departure is terrible news for the reforming economy of the Asian country.



"Economically, Brexit is terrible news for China," the outlet said. "Even though the U.K., which had $78.5 billion in bilateral trade with China in 2015, is not among China's top trading partners, Brexit could have an outsize impact on China's future export performance."



Furthermore, Fortune believes that the single emanating message Brexit is giving the world is "the end of globalization as we know it."



However, the same article noted that though economically bad for the country, Brexit is far from being a geopolitical threat to China.



In fact, it believes that Brexit's "aftershocks" are definitely beneficial for the Asian giant in terms of its so-called rethought European strategy.



"A united and strong Europe is no longer in China's interest because of the risk that the United States and Europe could form a strategic alliance to gang up on Beijing in the same way they contained the Soviet Union," Fortune explained.



With the EU divided, China becomes more powerful since the EU nor the U.K. can no longer be a significant strategic partner for the United States, in what seems to be a war between the East and the West.


Brazil Faces New Health Epidemic As Mosquito-Borne Zika Virus Spreads Rapidly (Photo : Getty Images)

Abandoned suitcases are often found to contain chopped up bodies of various crimes such as murder or rape.



Peoples Daily reported that a male passerby noticed an abandoned suitcase on Monday in Hunan Provinces central park. When he approached it, he heard a muffled cry.



The man opened the suitcase and found a naked woman inside who claimed she was raped and stuffed inside the luggage which the alleged rapist left on the park, reported Mirror. Prior to the passerby finding the suitcase, another man was spotted carrying the suitcase throughout the park, but the woman began to shout for help.



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The alleged rapist left the suitcase immediately and jumped into a nearby lake to escape from authorities. Upon seeing the naked woman, another passerby took off his shirt and gave it to the woman to cover herself.



Other female bystanders helped the victim get out of the suitcase and then they called emergency services. The victim was brought to a hospital where she is in a stable condition. The suspect, the victims roommate, was eventually captured by the police and is now being investigated.



Latest statistics from the U.S. Department of State reported more than 31,000 rape cases in China in 2007. But there is no official data from the Chinese government.






A member of China's Communist Party waves a flag during a gathering in Kunming, Yunnan Province. (Photo : Reuters)

As part of traditions, grand celebrations were held recently to commemorate the 95th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China.



About 600 people attended the event in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, on June 25, Saturday, the Global Times reported.



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One of the event's highlights was a 9-minute video presentation by state-owned news agency Xinhua.



Among those who participated in the celebrations were veterans and relatives of wartime heroes. Li Na, the daughter of former CPC chairman Mao Zedong, was also at the gathering.



The event was jointly organized by the China Mao Zedong Thoughts Association, a Hong Kong-based NGO that studies Mao's teachings, and the Guangdong Provincial Committee for the Well-being of the Youth.



"This year's celebration started on June 23 and lasted for two days," village committee head Ye Longfeng was quoted as saying in a report by the Global Times.



More than 20 sites and museums have also been opened to the public to encourage visitors to remember the history of the Party, the news website wrote. Entrance to the museums is free.



"These kinds of celebrations are necessary, as they can help us draw some experience from the Party's 95 years of history and help us plan for the future," Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Zhi Zhenfeng told the Global Times.



"As there are some debates over ideology in our society, the celebrations can also deliver a message that socialism still serves as the backbone," Zhi said.



An art exhibition is also ongoing at the National Museum of China. The show aims to highlight some of the notable events in the CPC's history.



The exhibition will showcase mixed-media art installations, sculptures, paintings, caricatures and lithographs, reported China Central Television.



Some of the artworks on display come from the museum's own collection, while others have been created by various Chinese artists specifically for the occasion.



The exhibition will be open until July 1, which marks the CPC's anniversary.


If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
Chandigarh, June 27 : A young woman who was gang-raped by 10 men in Haryana has sent a legal notice to actor Salman Khan asking him to apologize over his rape remark. She has sought Rs 10 crore in damages from Salman for belittling rape victims.

The gang-rape victim, from Hisar district, sent the notice to the Bollywood superstar at his Galaxy Apartments address in Mumbai's upscale Bandra area on Saturday. The notice was sent through her counsel.

The victim pointed out that Salman Khan had tried to joke about the plight of rape victims by comparing a tough action sequence to the status of a gang-raped woman.

The victim was kidnapped by 10 people and gang-raped in Hisar four years ago. The court sentenced the assaulters to life imprisonment. The victim is seeking death penalty for the accused.

The father of the rape victim committed suicide following the incident.

Asked how he felt doing the strenuous shooting of "Sultan", where he plays a wrestler, Salman responded that he "felt like a raped woman... he could barely stand straight after the shoot".

The statement invited sharp rebuke on social media. His father and writer Salim Khan apologized on behalf of his son and admitted the statement was in bad taste.

A case was registered in Kanpur and Lucknow courts on Thursday against the actor.
Washington, June 28 : US space agency NASA is set to test-fire a booster for the world's most powerful rocket Space Launch System (SLS) which will power astronauts on the journey to Mars and on other deeper space missions The booster will be fired up at Orbital ATK Propulsion Systems' test facilities in Promontory, Utah, at 7.05 p.m. (Indian standard time) on Tuesday.

The test will provide NASA with critical data to support booster qualification for flight.

This is the last time the booster will be fired in a test environment before the first test flight of SLS with NASA's Orion spacecraft, known as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), in 2018.

The first, full-scale booster qualification test was successfully completed in March 2015.

The SLS that will launch an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to a stable orbit beyond the Moon in 2018 will also carry 13 tiny satellites to test innovative ideas.

These small satellite secondary payloads or "CubeSats" will carry science and technology investigations to help pave the way for future human exploration in deep space, including the journey to Mars.

SLS' first flight, referred to as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), provides the rare opportunity for these small experiments to reach deep space destinations, as most launch opportunities for CubeSats are limited to low-Earth orbit.

"The 13 CubeSats that will fly to deep space as secondary payloads aboard SLS on EM-1 showcase the intersection of science and technology, and advance our journey to Mars," said NASA deputy Administrator Dava Newman in an earlier statement.

On this first flight, the SLS will launch the Orion spacecraft to a stable orbit beyond the moon to demonstrate the integrated system performance of Orion and the SLS rocket prior to the first crewed flight.

The CubeSats will be deployed following Orion separation from the upper stage and once Orion is a safe distance away.
Kolkata, June 28 : State-run United Bank of India on Tuesday said it will focus on lending to MSMEs and on retail loans and will avoid capital-guzzling sectors.

The bank is planning to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore ($145 million) in one or more tranches through a public issue or qualified institutional placement (QIP) or rights issue for which it sought shareholders' approval at its Annual General Meeting here.

"In 2016-17, the bank's focus areas for lending would be the MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) and retail segments," Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer P. Srinivas told the bank's shareholders.

The bank will strive to achieve all its targets under Mudra Scheme, Standup India scheme and strengthen its retail channels, particularly housing, education and vehicle loan segments, he said.

The bank set a target of growing by 30 per cent in retail loan segment.

"We want to grow by about 30 per cent this year in retail segment. We grew by about 20 per cent in this segment last year," said Executive Director Sanjay Arya.

The bank will increase retail segment's share in its loan portfolio of which 35-40 per cent is currently accounted for by corporate lending, Arya said.

"While making advances, the bank will endeavour to avoid sectors which are capital guzzlers and concentrate on government guarantee schemes. The bank will also augment its resources to ensure wealth generation for the future," Srinivas said.

He said the bank is looking at 10-12 percent business growth this financial year.

Srinivas said capital is scarce and so costly. The bank will try to conserve and strengthen capital position in the current financial year.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio under Basel III stood at 10.08 per cent with Tier I capital at 7.93 per cent as on March 31, 2016.

"We have obtained Rs 480 crore capital from government last year. The government plans to infuse Rs 25,000 crore in the banking system. We expect to get some share of it," Arya said.

Srinivas said the bank posted a net loss Rs 282 crore in 2015-16 as against a profit of Rs 256 crore in the previous year.

The loss was primarily due to rising non-performing assets (NPAs) on the back of Asset Quality Review (AQR) conducted by the RBI and slippages of some bigger corporate accounts, having its cascading effects on all other operating and financial parameters, he added.
Washington, June 28 : A majority of Republican voters - 52 per cent - said they would have preferred someone else other than Donald Trump as their party's presidential nominee, a new poll has revealed.

Less than half - 45 percent - of Republican voters said they were satisfied with Trump, according to the latest results from an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll released Monday.

On the Democratic side, the numbers are reversed with 52 per cent backing Hillary Clinton, Politico reported citing the poll as saying.

Among conservative Republicans, 53 per cent said they would have preferred a candidate other than Trump, while 45 per cent of that group said they were fine with the Manhattan real-estate mogul as the nominee.

Moderate Republicans split at 49 per cent each, while 58 per cent of Republicans who have a high-school education or less said they were satisfied. Sixty per cent with a college degree said they would like someone else.

On the issues, a majority of voters said Trump would be better than Clinton at "changing business as usual in Washington" (53 per cent to 23 per cent).

Trump also led on economic issues (47 per cent to 37 per cent), "standing up for America" (45 per cent to 37 per cent), terrorism and homeland security (44 per cent to 39 per cent), guns (43 per cent to 35 per cent), "being effective at getting things done" (42 per cent to 39 per cent) and "being honest and straight forward" (41 per cent to 25 per cent).

Clinton, meanwhile, led on "having the ability to handle a crisis" (48 per cent to 34 per cent), "having the ability to unite the country" (40 per cent to 26 per cent), "handling foreign policy" (54 per cent to 30 per cent) and "being a good commander in chief" (44 per cent to 32 per cent).

The poll was conducted from June 19-23, surveying 1,000 registered voters by landlines and cellphones, with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
The PCB of the GTX 1080, not the GTX 1050, is shown (Photo : YouTube / Actually Hardcore Overclocking)

NVIDIA's upcoming GTX 1060 has been spotted in a leaked photo that seems to be originating from the Capital Computer Centre in Hong Kong and it shows the many compromises including the plastic foundation.



The NVIDIA GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 may have taken the high-end market for video cards but the company still has no contender for the low to mid-range as AMD prepares to launch their Radeon RX 480, RX 470 and RX 460. Their answer could be the GTX 1060 which is expected to bring about the same performance of a GTX 980 but with a significantly cheaper price that is speculated at around $250.



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No official confirmation has been revealed by NVIDIA yet but the GP106 chip has been spotted in shipping manifests according to the earlier reports. One of the rumored specs of the GTX 1060 is the 192-bit memory bus which is seen as one of the many compromises for a cheaper GPU, Videocardz has learned.



It seems peculiar that the leaked photo of the budget card, which was posted on Reddit, from the green company surfaces a day before AMD releases their reference RX 480 cards which will cost $199 for the 4GB and $229 for the 8GB model. Some are even saying that the image is photoshopped and was just posted to join in on the hype train for the Polaris 10 card launch.



Capital Computer Centre's response to the alleged GTX 1060 leaked photo is just a laughing emoji on their Facebook page, Digital Trends reported. They even posted an article with a caption that only says "lol."



The GP106 GPU is expected to have 6GB GDDR5 memory which is an odd choice considering that the RX 480 will have an 8GB model. Benchlife also reports that there will also be a 3GB variant of the card which is also weird considering that most of the cards today start at 4GB for the VRAM.



If the GTX 1060 leaked photo is indeed true, consumers could be looking at a plastic cooler without a heatsink window. It still has the same curvy design that the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 has but it does not look shiny at all. NVIDIA will have to reveal the official price which is expected to be in the range of the RX 480 8GB model's $229.






London, June 29 : Thousands of people staged a protest outside the Houses of Parliament against the result of the referendum of Britain's membership of the European Union, the media reported.

The protest on Tuesday appeared to be spontaneous and without apparent leadership, and groups of demonstrators were singing songs and chanting slogans, many of which were aimed at the leaders of the Leave campaign, according to Sky News.

The crowds gathered near the Houses of Parliament, holding placards which read "Reunited kingdom", "Everyone is welcome here" and "let's hug it out", according to a report posted on the Daily Express website, Xinhua reported.
Canberra, June 29 : The Australian government on Wednesday condemned the deadly bomb attacks at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Tuesday night that has left at least 36 people dead.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop extended Australia's sympathies to Turkey following the attack which ripped through the busy airport, and said the government was desperately trying to determine if any Australians were in the area at the time of the bombings, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The Australian government condemns what appears to be a coordinated terror attack on the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey on June 28. Our thoughts and sympathies are with the people of Turkey," Bishop said in a statement on Wednesday.

"I understand the Turkish authorities have secured the area of the attack and have advised that Ataturk Airport will be closed for up to 48 hours."

Turkey is a popular holiday spot for Australians seeking to escape the winter chill down under, and Bishop said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) was "urgently" trying to locate any Australians who might have been caught up in the bombings.

The foreign minister has urged Australians to reconsider their need for travel to Turkey, while she instructed Australians in Turkey to be alert in any crowded area.
The Hague, June 29 : The Dutch House of Representatives has rejected by majority a motion by opposition leader Geert Wilders for a referendum on the country's European Union (EU) membership.

"I say this to everyone: the Dutch deserve a referendum as well," Wilders stated while advocating his motion in parliament in The Hague on Tuesday.

"The Dutch should also be able to rule in favour or against the departure of the Netherlands from the European Union and the restoration of our national sovereignty and independence," Geert, leader of Party for Freedom (PVV) said.

Only 14 of the total of 150 MP's supported the motion for a 'Nexit' referendum, the 12 members of Wilders anti-EU Party of Freedom PVV and two MP's who had separated themselves from the PVV.

A Dutch EU referendum would be possible with the backing of a majority of parliament or if the prime minister would issue a referendum. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has already stated that he is against a referendum in general and also against the Netherlands leaving the EU.

"That would have major consequences for the Netherlands, our stability and the recovery of our prosperity," Rutte reacted on the outcome of Britain's vote to leave the EU.

"I am absolutely against it. It would not be in the Dutch interest."

According to a poll by Dutch news show EenVandaag on June 25, 54 per cent of the Dutch people would like to have a referendum on whether the Netherlands should stay part of the EU. The same survey showed there would be no majority for a Nexit, with 48 per cent voting to leave the EU.

According to Dutch law, citizens of the Netherlands can only apply for an advisory referendum and such a referendum can only deal with laws or treaties already adopted but not entered into force yet. This was the case in April when a majority of the Dutch voted against the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement.

Wilders won't give up on his Nexit message.

"My proposal for a Nexit referendum was rejected today," he said, adding "But the Dutch get a second chance on March 15, 2017, the day of our next general elections."
New Delhi : British Prime Minister David Cameron's exit speech, with his quivering lower lip, won praise from some in the social media. Very quickly, however, sentiments changed with the recognition that it was his disastrous decision, coupled with bad timing and strategic misreading of sentiment, that plunged global markets into turmoil and uncertainty. Across the globe, the reaction quickly moved from shock and horror to ridicule and contempt.

Through the years that the UK has been part of the EU, it has, at best, done so in a half-hearted and hesitant manner. In Churchill's admission to General de Gaulle, the UK preferred the open sea to Europe if it was forced to make a choice. That sentiment has never wavered. Indeed, even though the European Coal and Steel Community [ECSC] was set up in 1951, through the Treaty of Paris, after World War II to unify a devastated Europe, it was only in 1961 that Britain applied to join the European Economic Community that the ECSC had evolved into. It took over a decade, thereafter, for Britain to join the EEC.

Even at that time, the British were not convinced of the gains of joining and it was only through a referendum, in 1975, that Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson renegotiated and won Britain's membership. Cameron hoped to emulate his illustrious predecessor but failed to read the innumerable warning signs.

Indeed, in October last year, The Economist magazine, in an article titled "The Reluctant European", predicted that thanks to Europe's migration crisis and the euro mess, there was a realistic possibility of a majority of Britons wanting out if a referendum was held.

The real reasons behind the exit vote are yet to be fully analyzed and understood, though three things are clear: first, 58 percent of those who wanted to leave were 65 years old and more; second, Northern Ireland and Scotland want to stay in the EU; and third, London voted against Brexit.

Those who wanted out, as per statements published in social media, are reported to have blamed the influx of migrants, especially from Islamic countries and the on-going Syrian crisis; the volatile euro; the deepening financial crisis in several European countries such as Greece and Portugal; the aggressive Brussels bureaucracy and the loss of sovereignty.

The full implications of Brexit are yet to be fully understood and would, in large part, need to be negotiated between London and the EU member states. However, in the aftermath of the vote, the immediate consequence is one of significant uncertainty and hence confusion.

Northern Ireland and Scotland have already voiced views about breaking away from the UK. Bizarrely, lobbying has started within the UK for London to remain a part of the EU! To confound confusion, there is talk of a second referendum!

Ultra-rightest lobbies are likely to capitalize on the vote and given how emotive the migration issue is, there is genuine fear that disintegrative forces would be unleashed. A gloating Marine Le Pen of France has already said that the UK has started a movement that will not stop. There is credible anxiety of the contagion spreading and threatening the very idea of European integration and unity.

The exit vote, as per Article 50 of EU Law, requires that within two years, a new relationship between the EU and the UK has to be negotiated. This is not as simple as it sounds. Will a post-Brexit Britain be excluded from the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership? Does the UK go it alone in the WTO? What happens to EU nationals working in the UK and vice versa? These are only some of the multiple questions that have been thrown up.

The annoyance at the vote is considerable and though Cameron has said that he will step down only later in the year, when the party elects a new Prime Minister, there is pressure to commence the negotiations immediately and begin the process of clarity.

German Chancellor Angela Merket, known for her sagacity and far-sightedness, clearly anticipated this and, immediately after the vote, convened a meeting of the six founding states -- Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands -- to gauge the sentiment on next steps. She cautioned against a quick divorce and said that while there needs to be clear roadmap, rushing into an exit was unwarranted. This was in sharp contrast to the position taken by the EU president, who wanted the UK out and fast.

These are difficult times and once again, all eyes will turn to Merkel's cool head to steer the dangerously damaged EU ship. What an extraordinary development that it is Germany, post-World War II, that has emerged as the ultimate European!

Perhaps the most remarkable tragedy is not that Britain is isolated or that the global economy is in turmoil but rather that when the majority of persons who voted for out were senior citizens, it is the young in the UK who would be denied the opportunity of taking advantage of the opportunities that EU offers. They would be the biggest losers. Perhaps the British Prime Minister ought to have gauged the implications with greater sobriety.

Cameron might have hoped to go down in history. He will, most certainly, do so but it is least likely that the biographies would be kind. As democracies, we are aware of the importance of respecting the will of the people. But democratic governance is also responsible governance. If anything, the timing of the referendum was an irresponsible and strategic blunder. Cameron didn't just let down the UK, he let Europe and the global community floundering. This surely was not the mark of statesmanship.

(29.06.2016 - Amit Dasgupta, a former Indian diplomat, served in Brussels and Berlin. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at amit.dasgupta2013@yahoo.com )
United Nations, June 29 : In a boost to battered European unity, Italy and the Netherlands agreed to share the two-year Security Council term for a non-permanent West European seat Tuesday after five rounds of balloting failed to break a deadlock in the General Assembly.

When the fifth round leveled out the Netherlands' slight lead to an even 95-95 split, the two countries agreed to split the term, with Italy taking the first turn next year.

Coming soon after Brexit, the momentous British referendum verdict to leave the European Union, the foreign ministers of both the countries hailed their agreement as a show of unity.

Calling the diplomatic deal a "signal of European cooperation", Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said it was a "show of unity for a complex time for Europe".

Asked by reporters about its symbolism, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said it was "not anti-Brexit, but pro-unity".

He added that it was a way for two European countries to show unity saying: "We have much in common."

Of the two West European seats that were at play, the other was taken in the first round ballot by Sweden with 134 votes to exceed the needed two-thirds majority.

For the Asia-Pacific slot, neither Thailand nor Kazakhstan got the two-thirds majority in the first round but the Central Asian nation raced ahead with 138 votes in the second ballot to become the first former Soviet country in Asia to serve on the Council.

Ethiopia was unanimously proposed by the African group and Bolivia by the Latin American-Caribbean bloc and were elected in the fist round.

Half of the 10 non-permanent seats with two-year terms come up for election every year.

The elections used to be held in October but the General Assembly moved them to June starting this year to give the new members more preparation time before they take their seats on the Council on New Year's Day.

The winds of change blowing across the UN parting in its wake the veils of secrecy led to the candidates for the contested seats participating in campaign debates held for the first time at the UN.

It was sponsored by the World Federation of UN Associations (WFUNA).

The two-thirds requirement for election to the non-permanent Security Council seats can lead to almost interminable rounds of voting when there isn't a consensus in the regional groups.

The last time two countries formally agreed to split their terms was during the cold war in 1960 when Poland and Turkey agreed to split the 1960-61 term after 52 rounds.

Also in 1956, after 36 rounds between Yugoslavia and the Philippines, Manila agreed to withdraw on the understanding that Yugoslavia would step down after the first year and the Philippines would run uncontested for the remainder of the term.

The longest deadlock was a 155-round standoff between Cuba and Colombia in 1979. The exhausted adversaries gave up and Mexico was elected in a compromise.

Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft, who helped broker the Italy-Netherlands deal, announced that the 193-member body would take up formal approval of the arrangement after West Europe and Others Group approved it.
Los Angeles, June 29 : Scottish DJ Calvin Harris has blamed a paparazzo because of whom he met with an accident.

The 32-year-old looked annoyed when he saw a paparazzo waiting for him as he was leaving a gym on Monday, aceshowbiz.com.

Ignoring the person's question, Harris got into his car but didn't notice that the back door was still open. He drove in reverse and the door slammed into a cement wall. The door closed on its own when Harris moved the car forward, but judging from the sound it seemed that the door got damaged. The accident was captured in a video.

Harris later took to Twitter to talk about the incident.

"I got mad as hell at a paparazzi today, I'm sorry, you did make me back into a wall but I know you're just doing your job and I apologise," he tweeted.
Mumbai, June 29 : A Mumbai Special Court on Wednesday ordered Vijay Mallya, head of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines, to appear before it on July 29 regarding money laundering cases filed against him.

Special Judge P.R. Bhavake told Mallya, now in Britain, to appear before him at 11 a.m. on July 29.

In the Proclamation Order published in Mumbai newspapers, Judge Bhavake said Mallya had committed an offence punishable under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

Attempts to serve an arrest warrant on Mallya failed as he "cannot be found" at a care of address of Kingfisher Airlines office in south Mumbai.

The Special Court was satisfied that Mallya had "absconded and is concealing himself to avoid the service of the (arrest) warrant" as per the order.

Earlier this month, the court declared him a proclaimed offender.

Mallya, 60, owes over Rs 9,000 crore to various banks. He left India on a March 2 using a diplomatic passport and is currently in the UK.

The Enforcement Directorate is also seeking to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to extradite Mallya.
Hyderabad, June 29 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has busted an alleged terror plot in Hyderabad with the arrest of 11 suspects in different parts of the city on Wednesday.

The suspects were picked up from six localities in the old city of Hyderabad during a joint operation by NIA and Andhra Pradesh Police.

The suspects, said to be sympathizers of the terrorist group Islamic State (IS), were plotting attacks on shopping malls and crowded places in the city.

Two airguns and a pistol, explosives, electronic devices and Rs 15 lakh cash were recovered during the searches conducted simultaneously.

Informed sources said they were planning bomb attacks and indiscriminate firing at malls and other crowded places.

Some of the arrested youth were practicing with airguns in Bandlaguda and Chandrayangutta areas.

Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani and his brother Mohammed Ilyas Yazadni were identified as the main suspects. Both are said to be software professionals.

Ibrahim, through his Facebook accounts, was trying to recruit youths for the IS.

NIA officials were questioning the accused at an undisclosed location to unravel the entire plot.

The parents of the arrested youth reached the NIA office in Begumpet. Claiming that their children were innocent, they demanded they be allowed to meet them.
New Delhi, June 29 : The National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) on Tuesday issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government over reports that 16 patients, 12 of them women, lost their sight during a botched up cataract surgery at the Government Hospital in Salem district.

The commission, which took cognizance of the issue after media reports, said that the issue raises the issue of serious violation of human rights of the patients due to the apathetic attitude of the medical staff of the Government Hospital.

The surgeries were done on June 14-16 at the Government Hospital of Mettur in Salem District.

The commission has learnt that after the surgery when the patients went home and put eye drops, they were not able to see. They were rushed to the Government Hospital at Mettur again but transferred from there to a private hospital.

The vision of eight patients is reportedly badly affected, while remaining eight have suffered minor loss of sight.

Following the reports, the commission has issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government and demanded that action is taken against the accused within two weeks.
Islamabad, June 29 : Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Wednesday accused India of "avoiding" a dialogue with Pakistan as it would mean having to negotiate issues like Kashmir.

Contradicting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent statement in which he placed the onus of the stalled bilateral talks on Pakistan, Aziz asserted that Pakistan was not refraining from talks with its neighbour.

He said Pakistan had plans for extensive talks with India on issues such as Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, economic cooperation, trade, visas and the detaining of fishermen, among others.

According to a Radio Pakistan report, Aziz went on to say that the Indian Army had rejected an earlier agreement regarding Siachen between the two governments, as they had "stakes" in the glacier.

The adviser had earlier said he was doubtful of progress towards normalisation of ties, and suggested that the situation be managed to prevent tensions.

In a recent TV interview, Modi had said that due to his diplomatic efforts, the world had seen that India was not reluctant to engage with Pakistan.

"Our approach has created difficulties for Pakistan, and they find it hard to respond on the matter in the international community," said Modi.

Modi claimed there are "different types of forces operating in Pakistan", and asked rhetorically if one has to draw a line or set conditions for dialogue, will it be "with the elected government or other actors?"

After Modi's surprise visit to Pakistan in December last year, the Pakistani and Indian foreign secretaries were scheduled to meet to discuss modalities regarding the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue.

The dialogue was to take on matters related to peace and security, Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, Wullar Barrage, Tulbul Navigation Project, economic and commercial cooperation, counter-terrorism, narcotics control and humanitarian issues, people to people exchanges and religious tourism.

However, an attack on the Pathankot air force base in India on January 2 by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohamed terrorists, in which seven Indian security personnel were killed, has led to the talks seeing virtually no progress.

The two Foreign Secretaries met in New Delhi in April on the sidelines of a Heart of Asia senior officials meet, but nothing tangible came out of it.
Enantiornithes wing and skin sections encased in amber, nicknamed "Rose". (Photo : Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM/ R.C. McKellar)/University of Bristol)

Another incredible amber discovery was unearthed, as two bird wings were preserved inside this precious tree resin, providing important clues about how birds that lived among dinosaurs. These new discoveries where uncovered in Myanmar from baby birds that became unfortunately trapped in this tropical tree resin some 99 million years ago.



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Scientists also reveal the amazing details and pristine condition that preserved the feathers that included original colorations and even spots and stripes from avian plumage. The ancient wings also possessed some sharp, tiny claws, indicating that these baby birds can climb up trees.



The fossilized remains inside the amber only measure around two to three centimeters in length, that can provide a better understanding about the evolutionary history of birds from their dinosaur ancestry. These amber specimens originate from northeastern Myanmar or Burma, where famous amber deposit sites are located.



According to co-author of the study, Mike Benton from the University of Bristol, these individual feathers also show every filament and whisker, both from flight and down feathers and most importantly, traces of color and even spots and stripes.



These wings reveal that they belonged to enantiornithine birds which is a major bird group during the Cretaceous Period, but these creatures disappeared at the same time as dinosaurs some 66 million years ago.



The team of scientists also utilized advanced X-ray scanning techniques upon examining the bone structure and feather arrangement of the wings. The amber also possessed claw marks which could suggest that the juvenile birds were still alive when they were swallowed by the sticky tree resin.



According to the lead author of the study, Xing Lida from the China University of Geosciences, these birds are already advanced since they can already climb up trees. Lida also adds that these birds are not the type to stay inside the nest, waiting to be fed but they set out to look for food and unfortunately died probably due to their diminutive size and lack of experience.



This new study is published in the journal Nature Communications.


New Delhi, June 29 : The Congress on Wednesday demanded that the Narendra Modi government should sack the National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief whose role in the investigation into the Malegaon blasts has been questioned by a Mumbai special court.

"NIA has been misused to give clean chit to the BJP and RSS people who were involved in the terrorism cases. The Special Court in Mumbai too has come down heavily on NIA for not investigating the role of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case," senior Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza said at a press briefing at the party headquarters here.

"Scathing remarks of the court established the dubious role of NIA and we demand that the chief of NIA should be immediately removed from his position," Oza added.

She also said, "Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh should explain to the country that who is the manipulative hand in their government that is allowing the miscarriage of the justice in this case."

Oza said the NIA in its chargesheet had said that there was no case against Pragya Thakur, and insisted, "There were reasonable grounds to believe that charges against her were prima facie true".

Thakur was denied a bail by the Special Court in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Oza also demanded re-installation of Rohini Salian as public prosecutor. She had to leave the case amidst alleged pressure from the NIA to go soft on the Malegaon accused.
Thiruvananthapuram, June 29 : In a bid to step up enforcement of helmet wearing, Transport Commissioner Tomin J Thachankery has issued a directive to petrol bunk owners to turn away helmetless motorcycle riders.

The new rule, which will come into effect from August 1, would be introduced on an experimental basis in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Kozhikode.

The Transport Commissioner told the media on Wednesday directions had been issued to oil companies and petrol bunk owners to implement the directive from August 1.

If the measure yields the desired results, it would be extended to all districts in the State.

Initially, the Transport Commissioner had envisaged introducing the rule from July 1 but deferred it to August 1 at the request of the petrol dealers, with whom the Commissioner had held deliberations.

Mr. Thachankery told the media that boards announcing the new rule would be installed at all petrol bunks in the three cities where the rule is being implemented.

Saying that the rule is being implemented to check fatalities in road accidents, he added that death toll in road accidents involving two wheelers have come down significantly following the introduction of the rule mandating wearing of helmets.

Members of the RTO enforcement squad would be deployed at the petrol bunks to ensure the enforcement of the rule, Thachankery said.

Minister for Transport A K Saseendran told news channels that the government would review the Transport Commissioners directive if any practical difficulties were to arise in implementing it.
Bengaluru, June 29 : India's leading e-tailer Flipkart has sought better infrastructure and ease of doing business to invest more in Karnataka for expanding its operations, Industries Minister R.V. Deshpande said on Wednesday.

"They (Flipkart) did talk about fresh investments in the state and are looking for our support, especially better infrastructure and favourable regulatory framework for e-commerce segment," Deshpande told reporters after an informal meeting with Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal at his home office here.

Admitting inadequate infrastructure was a cause for concern to all stakeholders, especially in the e-commerce space where supply chain and logistics were critical for e-tailing operations, Deshpande told the Bansals that the state government was addressing the issue to overcome its bottlenecks.

"On infrastructure, we understand that nothing can be done immediately, as it takes time due to constraints in early execution, as many agencies are involved in the projects" the minister asserted.

Advising the Bansals to interact more with his counterparts in the e-commerce segment and revert, the minister said the government was investing in building elevated corridors, Bengaluru Metro Second Phase and other amenities to expand infrastructure, speed-up vehicular movement and decongest the city roads.

"We are addressing the issues (roads, flyovers, ring roads) to ensure people do not get delayed and doing our best to meet the expectation of the e-commerce sector," Deshpande asserted.

Noting that without investments, no state could grow, the senior minister said the state government was doing everything to create conducive atmosphere for leveraging the city's best eco-system for the sunrise e-commerce industry.

Though registered in Singapore, Flipkart is headquartered in this tech hub since 2007.

Asserting that Flipkart was seeing very good growth across categories, Sachin said the company was exploring different revenue streams, as e-commerce in India was still at two percent of shopping across the country.

"For instance, mobile phone has gone beyond other categories from penetration viewpoint. We are exploring opportunities to improve our operations and focus on execution than worry about mark downs, as Flipkart is not the only company to be marked down in the e-commerce space," Sachin told reporters on the occasion.

The co-founders are also looking at mentoring leaders and developing partnership for the company to overcome headwinds, especially financial cycles.

"The Internet sector is going through down cycle, which doesn't last forever," Sachin added.

Clarifying that the company was not looking to raise funds, Sachin said efforts were underway to improve efficiency and growth.
London, June 29 : Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday met trade union backers amid reports of a likely challenge to his leadership.

Corbyn on Tuesday lost a confidence vote in parliament in which 172 Labour lawmakers voted against his leadership and only 40 backed him, Efe news reported.

After the vote, Corbyn made clear he has no intention of resigning, citing wide support within the Labour movement in Britain.

"I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60 per cent of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning," he said in a statement.

According to party sources, a contest by one or two Labour members of parliament for leadership is imminent, although Corbyn said he would stand in another election if voted out by members of parliament.

Almost 40 members of his shadow cabinet -- the opposition lawmakers who monitor or "shadow" the government policy -- have resigned in protest since Sunday.

They cited disagreement with Corbyn's "lackluster" campaign for Britain to remain in the EU in the June 23 referendum, which resulted in a narrow "Brexit" win.

Corbyn was elected in September with the support of the party's base and trade unions -- which have slowly withdrawn their endorsement in the days following the referendum -- despite being openly scorned by some fellow Labour members of parliament.

Cobyn met backers from the Trade Union Confederation (TUC) on Wednesday.
Bhubaneswar, June 29 : The ruling Biju Janata Dal on Wednesday staged a demonstration over "central neglect", while the Odisha unit of the BJP held rival rallies over an attack on two Union ministers last week.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held demonstrations in all blocks protesting the attack on the Union ministers in Bargarh, the leaders of the BJD including ministers staged a dharna in front of Raj Bhavan demanding a hike in the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy.

"With rising cost of inputs like fertilisers, labour and pesticides, the farmers in the state have been losing out in getting their due with respect to their produce. However, the Centre has increased the MSP of paddy by Rs 60 only despite repeated demands to increase it further," said Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy.

He said while the Odisha government had recommended MSP at Rs 2,500 per quintal of paddy for the Kharif marketing season 2016-17, the Centre has fixed at Rs 1,470 per quintal for the common variety of paddy.

The ruling party submitted a memorandum to Governor S.C. Jamir addressed to the President of India over the "central neglect".

Meanwhile, the BJP intensified its agitation against the state government for not acting on the attack on the Union ministers on June 24, in which BJD workers were allegedly involved.

"The BJD leaders attacked the convoy of two Union ministers and pelted stones smashing the windowpanes of their vehicle. It happened in the presence of police. But the government did not take any visible action against the culprits," said state BJP president Basant Panda.

BJP national secretary Suresh Pujari said that while the government slapped Section 307 of the IPC for throwing eggs at the Chief Minster's car, it hesitated to take action against the BJD leaders for the "murderous" attack on the Union ministers.

The BJP has decided to hold demonstrations in the state capital on July 4 over the issue.

Some BJD leaders allegedly attacked the cavalcade of Union Ministers Santosh Gangwar and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti when they were on their way to attend the BJP's Bikas Ustav in Bargarh on June 24.

Following the attack, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh asked the Chief Minister to take action against the culprits. However, the government ordered a Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) probe and asked it to submit the report within 60 days.
Brussels, June 29 : Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday met European Parliament President Martin Schulz here to discuss Scotland's future in the EU amid Britain's decision to leave the bloc.

"I've set out very clearly Scotland's desire to protect our relationship with the EU but I don't underestimate the challenges that lie ahead," said Sturgeon.

For the first time in 43 years, the summit was not attended by a representative of the United Kingdom, Efe news reported.

Sturgeon said it was too early in the process "to know Scotland's future".

As many as 62 percent in Scotland opted to remain in the EU in last week's referendum.

Across the UK, however, 52 per cent voted to leave, meaning England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are all due to leave the 48-nation bloc.

This sparked calls for a new referendum on Scottish independence, an option that Sturgeon has said was "on the table".

Scotland had voted "no" to leaving the UK in an historic independence referendum in September 2014.

Sturgeon said these preliminary meetings with the EU leaders were to make "people understand that Scotland, unlike other parts of the UK, doesn't want to leave the EU".

Schulz said he "listened carefully and learned a lot". He did not make a statement on his opinion on Scotland's future in the EU.
New Delhi/Mumbai, June 29 : Bollywood actor Salman Khan's reply to notices by women's panels over his "raped woman" comment has not gone down well with either the National Commission for Women (NCW) or the Maharashtra State Women's Commission (MSWC).

While the NCW on Wednesday said it was mulling further action against Salman Khan as the commission was not satisfied with his reply, the state women's panel has summoned him in person on July 7.

"Salman Khan has replied to our notice. We are not going to reveal the contents of the letter; it would suffice to say that the letter does not sound apologetic," NCW Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam told IANS.

"We are seeking legal advice for further action as we are not satisfied with his reply. We hope to finalise it by tomorrow," she added.

According to sources, the NCW did not like the tone and tenor of Salman's letter.

The Maharashtra commission rejected Salman's contention -- submitted through his lawyer -- that since the matter is already before the national panel, it should not be pursued by the MSWC to avoid duplication.

"We have concurrent powers just the way the NCW has. This matter can be heard at the state level too. Therefore, his version is invalid," MSWC Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar said.

She said the actor has been summoned on July 7 at the MSWC office along with his lawyers.

"We have asked him to put forth his views in an affidavit," Rahatkar added.

During a media interaction last week, Salman said he "felt like a raped woman" after shooting for a gruelling wrestling sequence for his upcoming film 'Sultan'. He plays a wrestler in the film.

When Salman was asked how difficult it was to shoot wrestling scenes for the movie, he said: "While shooting during those six hours, there was so much of lifting and thrusting that it was unbelievable. If I was lifting a 120 kg person and dropping him down, I had to do it 10 times."

"(I did it) 10 times from five different angles. So, six-and-half or seven hours. Either, I was picking him and throwing (him) or else, he was picking me up and throwing me... so it was like the most difficult thing."

"When I used to walk out of the ring, I used to feel actually like a raped woman walking out... I couldn't take steps," he added.

Women's groups protested the remark and demanded an apology. The actor's father, Salim Khan, has apologised on behalf of his son.
Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh), June 29 : A temporary state secretariat of Andhra Pradesh was on Wednesday formally inaugurated at the upcoming state capital Amaravati, two years after the state's bifurcation and the carving of separate Telengana.

The departments of Panchayati Raj, rural development, housing, and labour and employment have been moved to the ground floor of the building, completed in 131 days.

A festive atmosphere prevailed at Velagapudi village as the first block of the building was inaugurated at the Andhra Pradesh government's transitional headquarters by state ministers amid religious rituals.

The employees of the four departments were accorded a warm welcome as a bus carrying them from Hyderabad reached the village.

Amaravati is located on the southern banks of the Krishna river in Guntur district, within the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region, 12 km south-west of Vijayawada and 24 km north of Guntur.

More departments will be moved to the new secretariat on July 6 and 16 when more space will be ready on the ground floor.

State Chief Secretary S.P. Tucker said once the first floor gets ready on July 21, many more departments were expected to start operating from the new location.

He said it may take 40 to 50 days for the entire state administration, including the Chief Minister's Office, to start operating from the new headquarters.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and some of his cabinet colleagues have been operating from Vijayawada since last year but the administrative machinery remained in Hyderabad, the joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu has set a June 12 deadline for relocating all departments but the same has been delayed as the first building at the transitional headquarters was not ready.

Naidu, currently visiting China, expressed happiness over the inauguration of the first building and termed it a historic day for the state.
Gaza, June 29 : The Islamic Hamas movement, ruling the Gaza Strip since 2007, was apparently unhappy after Israel and Turkey reached a reconciliation agreement earlier this week that would not completely lift an Israeli blockade.

According to the agreement, Israel promised Turkey that it would relax the Gaza blockade, but will keep it imposed on the ground and sea in order to prevent Hamas from smuggling more arms from abroad.

Turkey would build a power station, water desalination station and a hospital in Gaza, said the agreement.

Relations between Israel and Turkey soured following a deadly 2010 raid by an Israeli naval ship against a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Mavi Marmara was part of a flotilla headed to the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip demanding the lifting of the Israeli blockade. Nine Turkish nationals were killed in the incident.

According to the agreement, Israel will fund $20 million in compensation for the victims' families. The agreement will also enable Turkey to undertake infrastructure projects in Gaza.

As for Turkey, it relinquished its demand to remove the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, and will bar judicial prosecution against Israeli soldiers and officers.

Turkey also committed to ban the Islamic militant Hamas movement from carrying out or planning attacks against Israel from its territory.

Turkey wuld not cut off ties with Hamas, but it will limit the activities of Hamas leaders present in Ankara.

However, observers and analysts said Hamas would not be happy because the Israeli blockade would not be fully lifted, but at the same time Hamas would consider easing the blockade an achievement.

After the agreement was announced and in order to keep good ties with Turkey, Hamas kept silent for several hours.

Then it issued an official leaflet emailed to the media saying it highly appreciates the Turkish efforts to ease an Israeli blockade that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for ten years.

Officials close to Hamas in Gaza said relaxing the Israeli blockade "is a good sign to improve the daily hard living situation of the Gaza Strip populations and it could be a good step forward to increase the Turkish efforts and pressure on Israel to completely end the Israeli blockade later on."

Meanwhile observers said Hamas leaders were disappointed when Turkey announced that it had given up its demand of totally lifting the blockade, adding the Turkish decision "was a setback to the aspirations of Hamas movement".

Mustafa Sawaf, a Gaza-based political analyst, said "even if the Israeli blockade is not fully lifted, Hamas movement would grab the opportunity and would wait for more steps that lead at the end to a full lifting of the Israeli blockade."

"The steps that would lead to relaxing the siege imposed on Gaza can't be considered as political achievement for Hamas, but it would be a fruit of its good ties with Turkey and its endless attempt to improve the hard living condition in the impoverished Gaza Strip," said Sawaf.

He said Hamas highly trusts Turkey, adding "this confidence would not be affected even if the Turkish deal with Israel doesn't include a full ending of the siege imposed on Gaza, and the Turkish attempts to convince Israel to fully end the siege would continue and there is no blame on Hamas."

Senior Hamas delegation headed by chief Khaled Meshaal visited Turkey earlier this week and held talks with the Turkish leaders to understand more details related to the agreement reached with Israel.

Hamas on Saturday said its delegation reiterated to the Turkish leaders that the main goal for the Palestinians is to end the Israeli siege.

Mustafa Ibrahim, another Gaza-based political analyst, blamed Turkey for giving up its demand of a complete lifting of the blockade, adding "Turkey is only concerned about its interests and it needs Israel for its economy and security interests."

"It seems that the agreement gives Turkey a distinctive role in aiding Gaza, similar to the role of the UN organisations," said Ibrahim, adding "the agreement deals with Gaza as an area that needs humanitarian aid and has no political implications."

He said the Israeli blockade apparently will continue forever and it won't be completely lifted, adding "the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip is a political collective punishment to around two million Palestinians, but most of them are not involved in the whole plot."

Abdul Majid Sweilem, a political analyst based in the West Bank, said the Turkish-Israeli agreement would boost Hamas rule of the Gaza Strip and would deepen the internal Palestinian division, adding that the prices of the Turkish-Israeli reconciliation are more than just providing Humanitarian aid.

"Turkey searches for its economy and security interests and had replaced the aspirations of Hamas to completely end the blockade," said Sweilem, adding "Hamas has no choice but to accept any Turkish achievement because Hamas hardly got support from Egypt and Saudi Arabia."
Chennai, June 29 : Several advocates in Tamil Nadu were arrested on Wednesday when they prevented movement of trains and obstructed road traffic, protesting against the amendments to the Advocates Act.

The advocates have been demanding the withdrawal of the amendments under which disciplinary action can be taken against them on specific grounds.

The advocates said they will continue their protest till their demands are met.

Meanwhile, a five-member committee has been set up to look into the demands of the lawyers and also suggest changes to the recently-amended rules in the Act.

The Madras High Court had recently notified amendment of the rules under the Advocates Act, prescribing disciplinary action against unruly lawyers so as to ensure court proceedings are conducted in a peaceful manner.

The Registrar General of the court issued the notification on the amendments.

Under the Advocates Act courts have the power to debar advocates indulging in activities like attempting to influence a judge or participating in procession inside the court campus or hold placards and the like.

Advocates indulging in such actions shall not be allowed to appear before the high or subordinate court permanently or for such period as the court thinks fit.

The Registrar General shall report the matter to the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu.

If an advocate misconducts himself as specified under Rule 14-A before the high court, the court shall have the power to take action against him/her. The court can also debar the advocate from appearing before it and all subordinate courts.

In case of misconduct before the court of principal district judge, the erring advocate can be deabrred from appearing before any court within such district.

If an advocate commits the act of misconduct before any subordinate court, the court concerned shall report the matter to principal district court within whose jurisdiction it falls.

On receipt of the report, the principal district judge shall have the power to initiate action against the advocate.
Traces of opal were found from a meteorite that made impact on Antarctica, hinting at the origin of water on Earth. (Photo : Wikimedia)

Scientists have recovered remnants of opal from a meteorite known as EET 83309 in Antarctica, hinting at the origin of water on Earth. Opal is a precious crystal that contains water, which suggests that this discovery may hint at how an asteroid brought water into our solar system, billions of years ago.



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According to lead author of the study, Hilary Downes from the Birkbeck College London, these pieces of opal can be described as broken fragments where evidence reveals that opal formed when this meteorite made impact on the surface of the planet, originating from a parent asteroid in deep space, and eventually landing on Earth in Antarctica.



This crystal has never been detected on any asteroid surface before however, small traces of opal were once seen from a meteorite originating from Mars.



Scientists suggest that this particular meteorite was exposed to solar radiation first before it was broken apart from the asteroid. This type of radiation from the sun is also known as solar wind, as asteroids are always exposed to solar wind, as these bodies hurtle through deep space.



Results of this new analysis also show that EET 83309 apparently contains other kinds of meteorites which suggests that its parent asteroid suffered numerous impacts from other cosmic bodies throughout space. These impacts delivered water ice that helped in the formation of opal.



After intensive analysis, researchers concluded that this precious stone is alien in origin, and did not form after impact when the meteorite entered the Earth's atmosphere and landed on Antarctica.



Using a special scientific instrument known as NanoSims at the Open University in the U.K., this instrument detected how opal remnants from the meteorite reacted with the small amount of water found in the Antarctic. Since the isotopes of opal also come in different forms of the same element, these are found to be also similar to the other minerals in the meteorite, confirming that this precious stone is already present within the meteorite.



These results were presented during the National Astronomy Meeting in Nottingham, this week.


Rio De Janeiro, June 29 : Street artist Thiago Furtado, better known as Valdi Valdi, created five colourful graffiti murals on walls here to express his support for Brazil's Olympic athletes.

The murals, located at different sites and titled "Burning Spirit Series," depict five Brazilian athletes who will compete in the Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games in August and September, respectively, in a realistic style.

The goal is to reflect "how the Olympic flame burns in their spirit," Valdi Valdi told Efe.

For his series, Valdi Valdi chose Olympic athletes Arthur Zanetti, who will compete in artistic gymnastics; wrestler Joice Silva and Fabiana Murer, who will compete in the pole vault; as well as Paralympic athletes Fernando Fernandes, who will participate in the paracanoe competition, and runner Alan Fonteles.

The artist said he chose spaces of roughly 20 sq. meters (215 sq. feet), using bright colours ranging from cyan to orange to represent the athletes in moments of concentration, conveying "the strength and dedication of each one of them."

Valdi Valdi said he researched each of the athletes to find them "at a decisive moment" and did a number of montages to depict them "in the most dramatic position possible."

Once he finished the sketches, Valdi Valdi worked an average of two and a half days to complete each graffiti mural on the previously selected walls.

The artist said he worked on short deadlines, adding to the challenge of toiling in "very hot conditions" during the Rio summer.

The effort was rewarding, with Valdi Valdi receiving messages from the athletes, who were surprised to see their faces on Rio walls.

Furtado, a street artist born in the southern city of Florianopolis, has achieved national recognition since he started showing his work in 2006.

IANS

tri/bg
Kabul, June 29 : At least 37 Taliban militants were killed in Afghanistan's Kandahar province over the past two days, an official said on Wednesday.

"Security forces launched operations against Taliban in Milwand district on Tuesday and so far 37 rebels have been killed and several others injured," Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying.

About seven vehicles, 20 motorbikes and a number of arms and ammunition have also been destroyed, the official added.
Islamabad, June 29 : The United Nations refugee agency on Wednesday said it would increase assistance package for registered Afghan refugees who were opting to return to Afghanistan under the UNHCR facilitated voluntary return programme.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi made the announcement as he concluded his first tri-nation visit to Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, Xinhua news ageny reported.

"As an immediate step, he announced to double the existing individual assistance package for returnees from an average of $200 to $400 per person," the official said.

Grandi assured Pakistan of the UNHCR's continued support in assisting the 1.5 million Afghan refugees currently residing in the country.

The Proof of Registration Cards or PoRs, that allow registered Afghan refugees to stay in Pakistan will expire on June 30 and the government has not yet extended its period.

Afghan officials said they have requested Pakistan to extend the PoR cards for two more years so they are able to make arrangements to accommodate the returnees.

Besides the registered ones, Pakistan also hosts about one million un-registered Afghan refugees. Islamabad and Kabul have agreed on a plan to document the unregistered Afghans.

There is now a concerted push from the Pakistani government to repatriate a large number of the almost one million refugees living in Peshawar. UNHCR has set aside funds for 60,000 returnees. But so far this year just over 6,000 have actually crossed the border permanently, according to the UN agency.

The high commissioner also called on the international community to redouble their engagement in Afghanistan and support Afghan government's efforts at this critical juncture of its nation building and reconciliation processes.

Commending Pakistan's generosity for hosting one of the world's largest protracted refugee populations, the high commissioner said the international community needs to support solutions in Afghanistan through robust development investments.

"Traditional approaches to solving protracted refugee situations were not enough and therefore there is a need for innovative solutions," Grandi said.
New Delhi, June 29 : A 59-year-old Madagascar diplomat posted in India was found dead at his rented flat here on Tuesday evening, police said.

Rabenja Oliva was found dead on his bed at Chattarpur in south Delhi, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Nupur Prasad told IANS.

When Oliva, who claimed to be ill on Monday, didn't turn up for work on Tuesday, his staff went to his house. When he did not respond to their knocks, the police were alerted.

"There were no injury marks on his body. No suspicious substance was found from his room," Prasad said.
Jerusalem, June 29 : Israel's security cabinet on Wednesday approved the rapprochement agreement with Turkey, despite objections from top ministers and public criticism.

The agreement, officially signed on Tuesday, normalises ties between the former allies after a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla in 2010 strained their relations, Xinhua news agency reported.

The security cabinet, Israel's top decision-making forum on security issues, approved the deal with three out of its 10 ministers voting against it.

The newly appointed Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu ("Israel is Our Home"), Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, both from the ultra-nationalist Jewish Home, voted against the deal.

Families of missing Israeli civilians, who were killed in Gaza during Israel's 2014 offensive against the enclave, told the media they were "disappointed" with the decision. They demanded the return of the bodies of their loved ones be part of the deal.

The agreement will soon go to the Turkish Parliament for a vote, where it is expected to pass.

With the deal approved, the two countries will exchange ambassadors in the upcoming months. They also plan to begin talks over gas exports from Israel to Turkey.

Israel and Turkey, once close allies, suspended diplomatic ties and cooperation after Israeli commandos killed ten Turkish activists who sailed to the Gaza Strip to protest the Israeli-imposed blockade in May 2010.

Under the agreement, Israel will pay $20 million in damages, and allow Turkey to carry out humanitarian projects in Gaza.

Turkey would pass a bill that would not allow citizens to sue Israeli soldiers who took part in the raid, and relinquished its demand for Israel to remove its naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement since 2007.
New Delhi, June 29 : The US is committed to India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and one country cannot stop international consensus on this, a senior Barack Obama administration official said here on Wednesday.

"We are committed to having India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group," Thomas Shannon, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, said in an interaction with diplomats and officer trainees of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) here.

"India's recent entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) highlights that India is a responsible and important player in non-proliferation," he said.

His comments came after China, at the NSG plenary in Seoul earlier this month, stymied international consensus to include India in the 48-member group on the ground that a country needed to be a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) for this.

India formally applied for membership in the NSG earlier on May 12.

"We regret that in Seoul, we were unable to open the space necessary to have India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group at this moment," Shannon said.

"We understand that in a consensus-based organisation, one country cannot stop international consensus."

Earlier in his address to the gathering, Shannon said that civil nuclear cooperation was a "very important symbol" of the India-US relationship.

"Where the nuclear question once divided us, today it brings us together," he said.

"Just a few weeks ago, President Obama and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi welcomed the start of preparatory work on a site in Andhra Pradesh for six AP 1000 reactors to be built by an American company.

"This is expected to provide jobs in both countries and bring clean, reliable electricity that will help meet India's growing energy needs while reducing reliance on fossil fuels."

Shannon also referred to US Secretary of State John Kerry's remark that the US might not have another partnership that was so wide-ranging as the one with India.

"A key factor has certainly been the connection between our two peoples," he said.

"The three million Indian Americans are some of the most successful people in the United States. They have started 15 percent of Silicon Valley companies, become governors and Members of Congress, and won the Miss America pageant."

The US official also pointed out that 130,000 Indians were studying in his country and more than a million Americans visited India last year.

As for bilateral trade ties, Shannon said that "US and Indian business leaders and young entrepreneurs have shown their own ambitions to work together".

"Annual trade between our countries is now over $107 billion a year, five times what it was a decade ago," he said.

He also said that US-India defence cooperation was much broader, as both countries now looked to each other as "priority partners" in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean region.

"In fact, we see India as an anchor of stability in this dynamic region, and were pleased to finalise the text of a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Understanding (Lemoa) this month," Shannon said.

He said both the US and India stood united against terrorism and violent extremism.

"We work together bilaterally and multilaterally to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorism anywhere in the world, and dismantle infrastructure that supports them," he stated, adding that both sides recently finalised a new arrangement to share terrorist screening information.

Apart from terrorism, the other global threat the two countries were addressing together was climate change, the US official said.

"Climate change is a key challenge our leaders have committed to, including through the historic Paris Agreement," he said.

"Our leaders pledged to work towards full implementation of the Agreement and to seeing it enter into force as early as possible."

Shannon also said the US-India partnership was "indispensable" for peace and prosperity in Asia.

"That is why President Obama and Prime Minister Modi signed a Joint Strategic Vision Statement for the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean Region last January," he said.

"We affirmed the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea," he added.

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Gaza, June 29 : The Egyptian authorities on Wednesday reopened the Rafah border crossing with Gaza Strip for four days, officials said.

The Hamas-run interior ministry of Gaza said reopening the crossing point, which was for the second time in June and the fourth time this year, was not permanent and it was only to let patients and students to cross from Gaza to Egypt, Xinhua newsd agency reported.

It said the crossing was reopened to the Palestinians from Gaza stranded at different airports in various Arab and foreign countries.

On Wednesday morning, hundreds of Palestinians gathered at the outside gate of the crossing in the town of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip, waiting for their turn to get into buses and travel to Egypt.

Hamas security and police officers were deployed to organise the people into the buses, which then cross through the Egyptian gate of the crossing.

Egypt reopened Rafah crossing point in the first week of June for four days, and it was also temporarily reopened in February and May this year.

According to the interior ministry, some 25,000 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip need to travel either to Egypt or to the world through Egypt.
London, June 29 : Britain could remain in the EU for the foreseeable future, with 10, Downing Street appearing not to know how to negotiate the divorce, US Secretary of State John Kerry said.

In order to leave the EU, Britain will have to implement Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which would kickstart a process that could last months, if not years before an exit was formalized.

This would involve a series of renegotiations of treaties and other headaches for Britain.

"This is a very complicated divorce", Kerry said in Colorado at the Aspen Ideas Festival, days after Cameron announced he was stepping down.

The British Prime Minister feels "powerless" to negotiate the country's exit, which he had campaigned against, RT.com reported. Kerry spoke a day after speaking to Cameron.

Kerry said even the high-profile 'Leave' campaigners such as former London Mayor Boris Johnson were also in no hurry to leave.

Whether this means that Brexit could be reversed remained unclear, Kerry said. "I think there are a number of ways" to go about mitigating the damage, he said.
Surat, June 29 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal won't visit Gujarat on July 9-10, the Aam Aadmi Party said on Wednesday, accusing the state's BJP government of forcing a Surat university to cancel the booking of a hall where he was to attend an event.

The Aam Aadmi Party said this forced Kejriwal to axe his two-day visit to Gujarat during which he was also scheduled to visit Somnath in Saurashtra region.

AAP leader and Delhi legislator Gulab Yadav and state party president Kanu Kalsaria said the Gujarat Chief Minister's Office directed the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University in Surat to cancel the booking of the hall on the campus.

Alleging "this is nothing but political vendetta", Yadav told the media that Kejriwal was to be the chief guest at the July 19 event, which was not an AAP function.

The AAP said Kejriwal was invited by some leading businessmen in Surat to attend a function of traders from across the state.

"It also shows how much they fear Arvind Kejriwal," Gulab Yadav said. He added this was "cheap political tactics" and it would not deter Kejriwal from visiting Gujarat any time during the next two months.

Confirming the development, Surat Vividh Vepari Mahamandal (Federation of Various Trader Bodies) President Jay Lal told IANS: "Yes, we had invited Kejriwal to be the chief guest at an all-Gujarat traders meet here on July 10 but now the event has been postponed and not cancelled."

Jay Lal said: "We were not adequately prepared for the meet and so we had to put off the function. The university authorities have been intimated in writing about it and asked to refund the deposit for the hall."

Asked why there was such a tearing hurry to cancel the booking, as was evident from the way the letter to the university was written, he said: "I know what you are driving at. I will not make any comment on politics. Our even was non-political."

Lal said local rules barred goods trucks older than 15 years from entering Delhi because of air pollution.

"So I took up the matter with Kejriwal who agreed to meet us and promised to personally come to Gujarat to meet us. He was very cooperative. So,m we organised the traders meet."

Meanwhile, state BJP President Vijay Rupani ridiculed the AAP's claims that the ruling party had got the programme cancelled.

"The fact is they are trying to rustle up something here but soon realized this is Gujarat when they didn't get any support," he said. "This is nothing but a stunt for which AAP and its leader are known for."
Istanbul, June 29 : Turkey has seen nearly 300 lives lost in the past year due to terror attacks, including the latest one on Ataturk airport that left 41 people dead, which also is the fourth time the city was hit in the last few months.

Over 260 people have been killed in the country in eight attacks since October 2015, most of them claimed by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) or blamed on the Islamic State militant group.

Many of the attacks appear to have targeted tourists, who are a major contributor to Turkey's economy.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility after Tuesday's blasts, but Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said they appeared to have been carried out by the IS.

On June 7, 11 people were killed and 36 wounded when a car packed with explosives was detonated by remote control as a police bus passed by in the Vezneciler district of Istanbul.

Earlier, on March 31, a car bomb killed seven police officers and wounded about dozens other in Diyarbakir, the biggest city in the largely Kurdish southeast, a day before then-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was scheduled to visit.

On March 20, a suicide bomber killed himself and four foreign tourists. Turkey's Interior Minister identified him as a militant with links to IS. The victims were two American-Israelis, an Israeli and an Iranian.

On March 13, a car bomb killed at least 37 people and injured 75 others in Ankara, the capital.

On February 17, 27 soldiers and a civilian were killed when a vehicle was detonated as military buses passed by in Ankara.

On January 12, an attack that Turkish authorities blamed on IS killed a dozen German tourists visiting Istanbul's historic sites.

On December 23, 2015, one person was killed when an explosion hit Istanbul's second-busiest airport, Sabiha Gokcen, on the Asian side of the city. A Kurdish militant group claimed responsibility.

And on October 10, the deadliest attack in modern Turkish history killed at least 102 people and injured 248 others when two suicide bombers detonated explosives in their vests outside a train station during a pro-Kurdish rally in Ankara. US intelligence officials said the attack was directed by IS.

Turkey is part of the US-led coalition fighting the IS, but it has also been clashing with the outlawed PKK since a two-year ceasefire collapsed in July.

PKK, which says it is fighting for autonomy for Turkey's large ethnic Kurdish minority, is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU.

It has been targeting police and military personnel with bombs since the peace process collapsed last year, while Turkey has been staging regular airstrikes against PKK positions in mountainous northern Iraq, where it has camps near the Turkish border.

The decades-long conflict has killed more than 40,000 people.
New Android N, Android Marshmallow release news for Sony Xperia X, Xperia Z2, Z3 Compact, Z3, Z4, Z5 (Photo : YouTube/ Sony Xperia)

Here is the new Android N and Android Marshmallow release news for Sony Xperia X, Xperia Z2, Xperia Z3 Compact, Xperia Z3, Xperia Z4 and Xperia Z5.



Reports indicate that the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, the Z5 Compact and the Z5 have got the Android Marshmallow update. The tech company Sony has started the Android 6.0 M rollout on the Xperia Z3 and the Xperia Z2 series, according to Xperia Blog.



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At present, the Android Marshmallow update is live for the Xperia Z3 Compact (D5803), Xperia Z3 (D6603) and Xperia Z2 (D6503). The firmware has build number 23.5.A.0.570.



According to reports, Sony had seeded the Android Marshmallow beta with a new feature known as soft charging to the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z2. A firmware update will come to these Sony Xperia devices pretty soon.



The new feature will extend battery life. The update, which comes with the Xperia Home launcher, has a build number 23.5.A.1.238.



Users of particular Sony Xperia devices will have to wait for sometime before they get the Android N update for their tablets and smartphones.



There are speculations that the Android N update will be released in the third quarter of 2016, According to some reports, particular Sony Xperia users will have to hold out till 2017 to see what the operating system has to offer.



It is said that the Xperia X devices will be the first to get the Android N update. Reports also suggest that the Z3, Z4 Tablet and Z5-branded units will also get the latest update.



It is expected that additional security enhancements and new accessibility features will be included in the newest operating system update.



Several reports indicate that Android N will be available in September this year and will come directly to 2016 Nexus devices. Rumors are doing the rounds that the Android N update will roll out onto Samsung devices at the first quarter of next year.



Also, the Samsung Galaxy Edge Plus, Galaxy S6 Edge and Galaxy S6 have received the Android Marshmallow update, The Verge reported. However, devices such as Samsung Galaxy S3 and Samsung Galaxy S4 will not get the Android M update.


Panaji, June 29 : Amid falling prices of commodities, Vedanta Ltd generated a free cash flow of over Rs 11,000 crore in the last fiscal, which reduced the company's net debt by over Rs 6,000 crore, a top company official said on Wednesday.

"The year was challenging for the sector with falling commodity prices. During FY2016, driven by opex and capex optimisation, the company generated free cash flow of over Rs 11,000 crore, which is around three times higher than last year. This helped us reduce our net debt by over Rs 6,000 crore," said Company Chairman Naveen Agarwal.

"The liquidity for the group remains strong with over Rs 52,000 crore in cash and cash equivalents," he said while addressing the shareholders at the company's 51st Annual General Meeting.

Agarwal said cost discipline and improved productivity led to robust results in a volatile market. The company contributed Rs 20,600 crore to the exchequer in the last fiscal.

"In line with our focus on simplifying our corporate structure, the completion of the Vedanta Limited and Cairn India merger remains a strategic priority," he said.

For Cairn India, the enhanced oil recovery project at Mangala oil-field has been very successful, Agarwal said.

"We see significant potential to increase gas production from the upcoming Raageshwari deep gas project," the company chairman said.

During the last fiscal, the company started ramp-up of its aluminium smelting capacity at Jharsuguda and Balco.

"We also continue to work towards a phased ramp-up of the alumina refining capacity at the Lanjigarh refinery," he said.

The company's subsidiary Hindustan Zinc made progress towards the transition of Rampura Agucha mine from open pit to underground, which is the world's largest zinc mine.

The company continues to work on its next phase of growth, enhancing capacity of Zinc-Lead to 1.2 million tonnes per annum and silver capacity to 500 tonnes, he said.

Referring to Gamsberg Zinc project in South Africa, one of the world's largest undeveloped zinc deposit, he said: "Given the strong fundamentals for Zinc and our ramp-up plan, we expect the first ore production in 2018, at an optimized capex of $400 million."

With the resumption of iron ore mining last year in Goa after the lifting of the ban by the state government, the company expects iron ore business will contribute more.
New Delhi, June 29 : A delegation of Afghan Sikh Association called on Union Food Processing Industry Minister Badal here on Wednesday and discussed issues confronting Sikhs in that country.

"Met with a delegation of Afghan Sikh Association to discuss their issues. We will try to resolve them at the earliest," Harsimrat Kaur said in a tweet.

There have been reports about attacks on Hindus and Sikhs living in Afghanistan. Many families have also moved out of their homes in Afghanistan due to attacks and discrimination.

Sikhs in Afghanistan generally reside in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Ghazni, and Kabul.
New Delhi, June 29 : The Delhi government on Wednesday sought a complete roadmap with a timeline from BSES power distribution firm to improve the power situation in the national capital.

The decision came in a meeting of Delhi Power Minister Satyendra Jain with officials of two power distribution companies in the city -- BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna.

"We told BSES authorities in detail about our concerns regarding power outages in the city. We have asked them to submit us a complete roadmap to improve the power situation in the city. We also demanded them to give us a timeline to streamline the power problems in the capital," a Delhi government official said.

BSES Chairman Lalit Jalan along with other officials of the power distribution company attended the meeting.

The official said that BSES authorities have assured the government to submit a concrete plan along with a timeline before the next meeting in the second week of July.

"BSES officials briefed us that power outages were occurring only in some pockets of the city. They assured us to identify all the areas where improvement is required and rectify the problem," the official said.

Earlier this month, Jain had asked industrialist Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Group, to come up with a concrete plan on behalf his two power distribution companies (BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna) in the city to address electricity outages.

In the letter, Jain had said the power situation in the city, where BSES is responsible for two-thirds of electricity supply -- through BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna -- has been seeing unprecedented outages despite the availability of adequate power, and repeated meetings with senior officials, and even warnings.

The peak power demand in Delhi in the month of June was 6,188 Mega Watts whereas normal electricity demand in the city during summers is 5,700-5,800 MW.
Chandigarh, June 29 : With the Justice S.N. Dhingra Commission enquiry report into controversial land deals in Haryana likely to be submitted soon, former state Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday raised objections to the panel's constitution saying it was "contrary to law".

In a communication to Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki, Hooda said the Dhingra commission had been set up "contrary to established rules and norms, without due cabinet approval and prompted by malice and political considerations".

Hooda urged the governor "to revoke the constitution of the Commission of Enquiry".

The one-man Dhingra commission, set up by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Haryana in May last year, has been asked to probe controversial land deals in Haryana, including the land deals of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said recently that the report would be submitted by June.

In his letter, Hooda sought to draw the governor's attention "to abuse of power by the present BJP Haryana Government for achieving a mala-fide purpose". "It has unjustly invoked the provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act,1952 (the "Act") to set up the Commissions of Enquiry, Haryana headed by Hon'ble Mr. Justice S.N. Dhingra (Rtd.) (the "Commissiona)," Hooda said in his letter.

"It is pertinent to mention here that even before the present BJP Haryana government came into power, there were numerous statements made by their Ministers and members of BJP before the media that action would be taken against family members of the leaders of the Congress Party," Hooda pointed out.

The Congress leader said that the BJP government had deliberately set up the enquiry commission to probe grant of licences to "some entities only in one sector, i.e., Sector-83, Gurgaon".

"The BJP Haryana government has no material or evidence whatsoever to form an opinion about the existence of any definite matter of public importance for appointment of the Commission in terms of Section 3 of the Act and thus the appointment of the Commission is contrary to settled law," Hooda said. He maintained that the terms of reference of the commission were with a view "to harass and malign me and other members of the Congress leadership as well as ministers who served in my cabinet and certain government officers who served in my government and for no other purpose".

He pointed out that the constitution of the panel did not have prior cabinet approval and "the terms of reference of the enquiry were also changed midway and that too at the suggestion of the Commission itself".

He said if the BJP government wanted a thorough probe into land deals, all licences granted in Haryana till date should have been enquired into.

Vadra had termed the inquiry commission as a "political witch-hunt" launched against him by the BJP government in Haryana.

The Khattar government had appointed retired Delhi High Court judge, Justice S.N. Dhingra, to head the one-man commission to probe the grant of licences to Vadra's company and other firms for developing commercial properties in Gurgaon's Sector 83 and some other prime areas.

The commission is mandated to probe their subsequent transfer or disposal, allegations of private enrichment, ineligibility of beneficiaries under the rules, and other connected matters.

The scope of the Dhingra commission was expanded in August last year and it was asked to probe grant of all licences to colonisers and individuals in four villages of Gurgaon by the previous Hooda government.

Vadra and others were allegedly granted favours by the Hooda regime in issuing licences to develop commercial properties in Gurgaon's Sector 83.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had pointed out that Vadra's firm, Skylight Hospitality, had not submitted documents on financial adequacy. Despite that, the firm was granted a licence.
New Delhi, June 29 : Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday announced a school education reform programme titled -- "Chunauti 2018" -- to enable students studying in government schools, especially Class 9, to overcome the adverse effects of the "no detention policy".

"The idea behind 'Chunauti 2018' is that by the year 2018, all students enrolled in Class 9th in the academic year 2016-2017, regardless of their learning levels at this point, will be trained and mentored to successfully appear for Class 10 examinations in 2018," Sisodia said adding, "No child will be left behind."

"Due to 'no detention policy' the percentage of student failing in Class 9 has increased in the last few years. In the academic year 2013-14 as many as 44 per cent students failed in Class 9 while in 2014-15 the figure became 48 per cent. In the academic year 2015-16 nearly 49 per cent students failed in Class 9 exam," Sisodia said.

He added that it was the result of "no detention policy" in which teachers were not allowed to fail students between Classes 6 and 8 even when they were not fit to be passed to the next class.

"This policy is weakening the foundation of the students in Classes 6, 7, and 8," he said.

Sisodia said that through this programme, the government aims to build a strong foundation among all students in reading, writing, arithmetic, bridging the gap between current learning levels and the academic demands of their class.

In order to achieve this, the government has decided to regroup all students from classes 6 to 9 based on a base line assessment, which will be conducted in the second week of July, he said.

Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, said students who have failed twice or more in Class 9 would be provided the option of appearing for Class 10 exams through the Modified Patrachar Scheme of Examinations (MPSE).

The MPSE is especially proposed to ensure retention of children and to minimise the possibility of dropout. On clearing Class 10 exam through Patrachar Vidyalaya (correspondence school), the children will be re-enrolled in regular Class 11 in the same parent government school, Sisodia said.
Patna, June 29 : The SIT investigating the infamous Bihar toppers scam on Wednesday requested banks concerned to freeze the bank accounts of all the arrested accused, including kingpin Bachcha Rai, police said on Wednesday.

The other arrested in the case are former Bihar Education Board Chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad and his wife and former Janata Dal-United legislator Usha Sinha. Former board Secretary Harharnath Jha, Visheshwar Prasad and others are also allegedly involved in the case.

A police official said the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had written to the regional managers of the banks concerned on the matter.

The SIT had moved a local court for issuance of arrest warrants against Bihar's Class 12 Arts 'topper' Rubi Rai, who was arrested on Saturday after failing a re-test at the board's office.

Ruby told police during preliminary questioning that it was 'Bachcha chacha' and her father who helped her to top the exam. On the basis of her statement, the SIT will now arrest her father, police said.

So far, over 20 persons have been arrested in the case, police said.

The scam surfaced after Aaj Tak TV channel showed a sting in which two Class 12 toppers could not answer even elementary questions about the subjects they 'topped' in.
Mumbai, June 29 : Actress Kangana Ranaut lavished praise on actress Sonam Kapoor and her sister Rhea, stating they are doing well in the world of glamour and style, keeping us engaged and inspired.

"There are many people who incessantly work on actors' style and glamour, but they are unsung heroes. There are so many stylists who really work very hard like Ami Patel or Anaita Shroff but I feel these days everyone is stylish because of these unsung heroes," Kangana said when asked about her style icon from the industry at the launch of Grazia magazine cover featuring her.

"I would like to give these ladies credit for our style, and apart from that, Rhea and Sonam are doing really well in the world of style and glamour. So they keep all of us very engaged and extremely inspired with their style."

Both Kangana and Sonam are considered fashionistas, among the most fashionable actresses in the industry.

About her definition of style, she said: "Style is a lot about your own interpretation of your own world; like how you perceive the world. And that is fashion. It's an extension of yourself. It's something where you put yourself out there for the world to know who you are, as an individual... more than your body, your voice, your skin, there is a lot more to you; that is where the fashion comes in."

Kangana recently won the National Award for best actress for her performance in the film 'Tanu Weds Manu Returns'.
Kolkata, June 29 : Researchers from New Zealand and India will jointly investigate the possibilities of adverse effects of electromagnetic radiation on human health caused by the next generation of telecommunication networks called 5G, a New Zealand researcher said in a statement on Wednesday.

Massey University will collaborate with India's Birla Institute of Technology and Auckland University of Technology on the project 'Analysing Harmful Electromagnetic Exposure due to Future Millimeter Wave Transmissions' over 2016-2017.

"If the future wireless signals are found to be harmless to the human health, this project would build consumer confidence in the future telecommunication services. However, if this project shows that the 5G network leads to, or potentially may lead to adverse health impacts, the industry would be required to modify the underlying wireless technology to ensure the human well being," principal investigator Faraz Hasan, School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Massey University, said in the statement.

This project seeks to develop new techniques that allow the assessment of 5G wireless signals and their electromagnetic exposure to human beings. The findings will be compared against the existing thresholds that have been set aside by a number of regulatory bodies.

"With some industry giants predicting 50 billion connected devices by 2020 and with the employment of much higher transmission frequencies proposed for the 5G rollout, it is essential to determine how the future of telecommunications will affect the health of its user," Hasan said.

This research is one of the externally funded projects currently being carried out by the Telecommunication and Network Engineering research group under the Electronics Cluster at Massey University.
Los Angeles, June 30 : "Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp says that he became an actor by "accident".

Depp gave his first public interview since his acrimonious divorce from estranged wife Amber Heard on a radio talk show on June 26, but made no mention of his legal battle or allegations made against him.

The 53-year-old appeared on the Jonesy's Jukebox radio talk show alongside his band members from the Hollywood Vampires -- Matt Sorum, Robert DeLeo and Bruce Witkin.

During the interview, Depp revealed that he stumbled into acting while trying to pursue music as a teenager, reports people.com.

"I've (been a musician) since I was little. I have played since I was 12. I started playing clubs when I was like 13 in Miami," Depp said.

"I needed to pay rent. Somebody said, 'Why don't you go meet an agent. My agent is with Nick Cage,' so she sent me on an audition for something and I got it," he added.

Depp said it wasn't until his band broke up that he considered acting full-time.

"It seemed like a good way to pay the rent for a minute," he said.

Even as his divorce battle with Heard continues, Depp plans to take the stage with his band during their US tour, which commences from July 1 in Pennsylvania.

A Los Angeles court hearing has been scheduled for August 15 and 16 on Heard's request for a permanent restraining order against Depp amid allegations that he abused her throughout their relationship. A temporary restraining order has been reissued in the interim.
Egypts foreign ministry expressed its condolences to the Turkish people and families of the victims

Egypt's foreign ministry condemned the terrorist attack that took place on Tuesday night at Turkeys Istanbul Ataturk Airport leaving 36 people dead and at least 150 injured.

"We express our condolences to the Turkish people and the families of the victims," foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said in a statement late on Tuesday.

"Egypt expresses its solidarity with its Turkish counterpart in these hard moments," Abu Zeid added.

This is not the first time that Egypt has condemned terrorist attacks in Turkey, which have happened frequently over the past two years.

However, the relationship between the two countries is frosty as the Ankara government is a vocal opponent of the Egyptian regime that took control following the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi in the summer of 2013.

On Tuesday evening, three suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up at the main international airport in Turkey's capital of Istanbul. It is the third busiest airport in Europe.

Police fired shots to try to stop two of the attackers just before they reached a security checkpoint at the arrivals hall at Ataturk airport but they detonated their explosives.

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Hunter McCarty, COO of RJ Young, receiving the award for Lexmark South Region Top Dealer in 2015. Pictured from left to right: Mike Johnson, VP North America; Greg Chavers, Director; Hunter McCarty. The support and innovation from top global brandssuch as Lexmarkhelps us achieve success for our customers and we are proud to be recognized for those efforts.

RJ Young leadership and employees celebrated the official presentation of the 2015 South Region Dealer of the Year Award yesterday at the Nashville headquarters and also in all branches located throughout the Southeast. The award recognizes the dealers leadership in selling Lexmark products in the region.

We strive to find the best products to help our customers be more productive and successful in reaching their business goals, said Hunter McCarty, Chief Operating Officer of RJ Young. The support and innovation from top global brandssuch as Lexmarkhelps us achieve success for our customers and we are proud to be recognized for those efforts.

McCarty first accepted the award on May 11 at the Lexmark Dealer Meeting held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The award was presented by Mike Johnson, Vice President, North America; Greg Chavers, Director, US Copier Channel Sales; Ron Binkauskas, Vice President & General Manager ISS North America; and Brock Saladin, Vice President & General Manager Global Channel Sales and Marketing.

RJ Young is an excellent partner for bringing innovative technology to their customers, helping them be successful, said Mike Johnson, Lexmark Vice President, North America. Our products are made to increase productivity by providing cost-efficient solutions that adapt to the ever-changing business landscape.

RJ Young celebrated with an official award presentation, which was streamed live into branch offices across the Southeast where satellite teams also gathered to host local celebrations of the award.

About RJ Young

RJ Young is one of the largest independent office equipment dealers in the country, specializing in document management solutions, managed print services, IT services, office imaging and 3D printing equipment. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, RJ Young has been in business for 60 years and has over 500 employees in over 20 sales and service locations across seven states. Under the corporate tagline Your productivity is our mission, RJ Young helps modern professionals become more successful in their businesses with solutions to securely manage paper and digital information, maintain vital information technology systems and empower businesses with leading printing technologies. For further information, please visit http://www.rjyoung.com.
In honor of Native American art and fashion being welcomed in 2016, TurquoiseJewelry.com proudly pays tribute to some of the best Native American clothing designers

2016 has seen a revival period for Native Americans in both civil rights and the art industry. According to an article published by the PortlandTribune, more and more Native American fashion designers are coming out of the woodwork and receiving recognition from the popular brands they have worked with in 2016. Their pieces are reminiscent of a traditional Native American style but brought to the modern world.

TurquoiseJewelry.com has also represented a few Native American jewelry designers and knows the importance of representing their artists with respect and honoring their work the right way. A spokesman for the company stated, Im so proud to see Native culture growing and thriving in 2016. Weve been fortunate enough to work with many inspirational artists and represent their work on our site. Im happy to see that the fashion industry is finally doing the same.

Recognition of Native American fashion designers, such as Lloyd Kiva (contributed to Neiman Marcus in the 1940s) and Marcus Amerman (featured in Elle Magazine for Beaded portrait artwork) is vital to the culture. The fashion and art world are embracing contemporary Native American artists in a way thats never been seen before.

In honor of Native American art and fashion being welcomed in 2016, TurquoiseJewelry.com proudly pays tribute to some of the best Native American clothing designers and offers suggestions for great jewelry pieces to pair with them.

Top 3 Native American Fashion Designers of 2016 and Jewelry to Wear with Their Pieces

Patricia Michaels', known best as a contestant on Project Runway, line of clothes features beautiful scarves with hand-painted and dyed designs, inspired by her Native American culture. Pieces that go nicely with her style are turquoise bracelets, as she prominently uses Earth tones to convey a natural energy.

Jamie Okuma was born into the world of art, design, and fashion, having a mother that worked as a graphic artist at MCA records. Her mother has even designed album covers for Cher and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Okuma continues this legacy of art by creating beautiful beaded shoes, jackets, and handbags that bridge the gap between traditional and modern Native American fashion. Pieces that complement her work are multi-stone necklaces, to flow with the vibrant colors of Okumas beadwork.

Dorothy Grant takes a different approach by making her Native American Designs simpler. She is known for making pieces that feature a draping design with contrasting Native patterns, usually red on black or black on red. The striking figures and symbols woven into each piece embody the spirit of her culture. Some pieces that go well with her work are turquoise and coral rings to gently slow down the flow of red in the outfit.

TurquoiseJewelry.com invites anyone to come celebrate Native American fashion by browsing their impressive selection.
NT450 Fingerprint Time Clock I like that it is consistentit is all centralized in one location, and I can easily make edits! NOVAtimes time clock can seamlessly calculate an employee who moves from teaching in the toddlers section to the primary classes.

NOVAtime Technology, Inc. (http://www.novatime.com), a leading provider of Workforce Management solutions for enterprise organizations, announced that Montessori Academy of Colorado has benefited from NOVAtimes easy-to-use secure data collection workforce management solution. It has efficiently automated and managed its time and attendance process for their 60 employees located in an academic setting.

Montessori Academy of Colorado (http://www.montessoriacademyofcolorado.org/) has been educating the communitys children for 13 years. The Montessori school was founded on the philosophy of Dr. Maria Montessori. The school was established on the belief that children should develop independence, organization, and problem solving through exploration. The range of students taught at Montessori Academy of Colorado starts at 8 weeks of age to elementary-aged.

Kristen Hume, Business Manager, explains how NOVAtime Solutions are a great fit for the academy because of the PUSH technology. During the ten years of operation prior to using NOVAtime, Montessori Academy of Colorado used paper time sheets. Upon using NOVAtime for the last three years, Hume states that she appreciates how everything is now electronic. I like that it is consistentit is all centralized in one location, and I can easily make edits. While Kristen Hume was not present during the implementation of NOVAtime, she has heard nothing but great feedback from her fellow staff members who were present.

Montessori Academy of Colorado is using NOVAtimes Fingerprint time clock which allows each employee to be uniquely identified. The NOVAtime solution is also set up to handle departmental transfers to track the hours of employees working in multiple sections. Ms. Hume adds, NOVAtimes time clock can seamlessly calculate an employee who moves from teaching in the toddlers section to the primary classes. We can easily track our labor hours and costs by department. Montessori Academy of Colorado has paired with Wells Fargo for their payroll process.

About NOVAtime

NOVAtime is headquartered in Diamond Bar, California, and has become the leader in integrating Time and Attendance Management with Human Resource and Payroll systems. Known for its scalable and leading-edge software and hardware technology, NOVAtime has been selected as the preferred Time and Attendance / Workforce Management solution provider by many of the best-managed companies in the world. For more information on NOVAtime, please visit http://www.novatime.com or call 877.486.6682.
Working in a collaborative team atmosphere garnered over eighty-one percent (81%) of job seekers votes.

Recruiting professionals at FPC, a national executive search firm with more than 65 offices nationwide, ask job candidates visiting the site their opinions about workplace trends and the job seeker experience. When differentiating one leading employer from another, outside of major factors like competitive compensation and growth opportunities, aspects surrounding company culture played a significant role in the job seeker thought process. FPC surveyed over 3200 professionals to determine what elements were most important to them when evaluating company climate and culture.

Working in a collaborative team atmosphere garnered over eighty-one percent (81%) of job seekers votes. A collaborative working environment fosters an innovative, creative workspace, leading to enhanced productivity and growth. It takes the idea of working in an isolated silo to participating in a large team, while focusing on organizational and technical items. One persons weakness may be another persons strength which fosters unity, as no one wants the team to fail. A collaborative environment also supports e-employees in their individual and cooperative work. In 2015, Hubspot, created an informative infographic that detailed Understanding the benefits of a workplace that focuses less on competition and more on collaboration .

Other items we surveyed candidates on were benefits and time off. Twelve percent (12%) of job seekers surveyed felt the level of company contributions to employee benefits made a difference in evaluating company culture. Gone are the days of needing a PHD to navigate a companys healthcare offerings. Employees have clearly benefited in the post Affordable Care Act era. With employers required to offer a minimum contribution to a bronze tiered health plan, employees per paycheck deductions have decreased. Also, candidates no longer need to juggle offers while they wait for the HR Director to send them a copy of the benefits plan.

Only a combined six percent (6%) of job seekers felt taking time off and options to telecommute were important. While some employers think most employees dream of working from home, most mainstream companies have incorporated telecommuting into their business model. Most employees and managers view telecommuting as an effective business strategy instead of a perk. According to Forbes.com companies like Xerox, Aetna and Dell, allow anywhere from 11%-43% of their total employees to telecommute. Telecommuting is no longer a hope and a prayer away; its an expected business practice. Additionally, most collaborative work environments incorporate the idea of using earned time off to telecommute.

When weighing virtually equal job offers, it is critical for a job seeker to identify what aspects are most important to them. An environment that focuses on cultivating employee talent and blending different types of employees proves to be effective for employees and helps to increase overall productivity for the company. Company culture, though sometimes overlooked, can also be a big competitive advantage when vying for top talent.

FPC is an executive search firm comprised of over 65 offices nationwide that specialize in placing middle and executive management professionals. FPC National surveys professionals to gain better insights on workplace and job hunting trends.
Discover, bookmark, review, and share the best rooftop bars and restaurants in NYC.

An independent web development company, Webb Interactive LLC, has launched BestRooftopsNYC.com, an online directory that helps users find the most popular rooftop bars and restaurants in New York City based on user reviews and ratings.

BestRooftopsNYC.com features almost 100 NYC rooftop bars and restaurants listed throughout the city and works with geolocation technology to enable users to easily find the nearest rooftops for those famous skyline and sunset views. Users also have the option to search by borough, neighborhood, or keyword. Each listing includes a photo gallery, a brief summary, opening hours, and user reviews as well as address and contact information.

BestRooftopsNYC.com allows users to bookmark their favorite rooftops by creating a new account or by signing in with their existing Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram accounts. Users can also rate, review, and share listings via social media.

BestRooftopsNYC.com is the brainchild of husband and wife team, Nikolai and Amy Webb. This is a true passion project. Amy explains. We have been enjoying New York City rooftops for over 10 years but when we searched for the best new rooftops each spring/summer, we found that the only thing available were top 10 or top 20 lists so we thought why not consolidate all of these in one place?

"New York City is one of the premier destinations for rooftop bars and restaurants." Nikolai said. "We hope the website will become a useful guide and help New Yorkers as well as visitors discover a new rooftop every week."

Since it launched two months ago, the website has gained almost 10,000 views and is continuing to grow. BestRooftopsNYC.com also has a presence on Facebook and Twitter, which will keep followers up to date with the latest listings, reviews, and upcoming events around the city.
The 2016 Revenue Integrity Symposium brings together training on Medicare billing and compliance, case management, revenue integrity, coding, CDI, and patient status, helping attendees ensure compliance and accurate billing and reimbursement across the revenue cycle. Covering all areas of revenue cycle professionals expanding roles, the 2016 conference has something for everyone.

Our expert speakers will cover critical, timely topics such as the 2-midnight rule, IPPS and OPPS updates, chargemaster maintenance, denials management, payer audits, ICD-10 code updates for 2017, clinical documentation, value-based purchasing, and utilization review. New this year, they will also be covering principles and outcomes of a revenue integrity program; strategies for developing a workflow for the NOTICE Act and MOON notice; and guidance on injections and infusions coding, including billing for multiple drugs and concurrent infusions. Additionally, the symposium will feature special sessions for attendees from CAHs, RHCs, and provider-based departments.

The 2016 Revenue Integrity Symposium is a great opportunity to network with colleagues facing similar challenges and learn from an amazing lineup of speakers, says Kimberly Anderwood Hoy Baker, JD, CPC, director of Medicare and compliance for HCPro. Were so excited to bring together so many of HCPros regulatory experts along with others in the industry to present information and strategies to handle regulatory changes, Medicare compliance risk areas, and hot topics that span the entire revenue cycle.

At the end of this event, attendees will be able to:



Return to their facility armed with the tools to enhance revenue integrity and develop strategies for accurately documenting, coding, and billing patient encounters and stays

Gauge the financial and operational impact of the 2017 IPPS final rule and OPPS proposed rule

Develop strategies for strengthening a utilization review committee, correctly applying condition codes 44 and W2, and understanding concurrent and retrospective reviews

Gain insight into billing and coding hot topics that may impact a facilitys financial performance, including C-APCs and injections and infusions

Create a plan for analyzing and reducing denials

The 2016 Revenue Integrity Symposium is designed for a wide range of healthcare professionals, including revenue integrity professionals, revenue cycle directors and staff, compliance officers, C-suite, case managers, HIM directors and managers, UR/UM coordinators, committee members, physician advisors and professionals, recovery audit coordinators, reimbursement managers, chargemaster coordinators, patient financial services managers, clinical documentation improvement specialists, and coders and coding managers.

For more information about the event, please go to http://hcmarketplace.com/revenue-integrity-symposium.

For over 30 years, HCPro, a division of BLR, has been the leading provider of information, educational, and advisory products, services, and solutions in the vital areas of compliance, regulation, and management to the U.S. healthcare industry. The company helps the healthcare industry make better decisions about regulation, compliance, and management through authoritative analysis, trusted interpretation, and best-in-class education and training. HCPro provides practical strategies and solutions that serve customers' organizations, their patients, and their communities. The companys market-leading brands include HCPro and HealthLeaders Media. Additional information can be found at http://www.hcpro.com.
Indiepay, the fastest-growing provider of payroll, financial and tax credits services to the film and TV industry, announced today that it has expanded and relocated their LA office. Indiepay is now located at 11835 West Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90064. The new phone number at this office is (310) 789-2001.



Indiepays continued growth and demand for our solutions have enabled us to expand our operations. This will provide our California clients with better access to the personalized service we are known for, said Dave Reynolds, President of Indiepay. While most of New York knows us, we have still have work to do in California. There is a misperception that we only do small independent films; in reality we are much bigger than that.



Joining the LA team, Cheryl Esser, VP, Application Sales & Support, will be relocating to the LA office from NY.

Cheryl leads the client support teams and works with top studios and network accountants to realize the advantages of Indiepay's technology. A former accountant and tech entrepreneur, Cheryl is Indiepays most sought-after product expert. We enjoy building products that truly make the job of production accounting easier and smarter. If we can turn our clients 12 or 14-hour day into 10thats a big deal! I know; Ive been there, said Cheryl.



Complementing its sales efforts, Indiepay has also added Sean Gearin, VP, Business Development, to the team. He will serve as the West Coast sales lead under Paul Cosentino, SVP of Sales.



Paul Cosentino added, We aim to provide film and TV executives with exactly what they need: the best service, software solutions and complete transparency, so they can run their business better. At Indiepay, thats what we do. We are highly consultative and when there is money to be saved, we help our clients understand their options and customize our solutions to meet their needs. Im excited to have Cheryl and Sean in LA to help clients take advantage of our offerings. They round out a very impressive roster of talent.



About Indiepay

Indiepay is the fastest-growing provider of payroll, financial and tax credit services to the film and TV industry. Indiepay serves a wide range of feature films and scripted television programs, with television clients such as Gurney Productions (Duck Dynasty), Left/Right (Mob Wives), Eastern TV (Love & Hip Hop), and Jax Media (Inside Amy Schumer), and a feature film portfolio including Carol, While Were Young, Top Five and more.



Indieware, Indiepays proprietary software, was designed by an expert team of production accountants to meet the unique needs of film and television cost accounting. Indieware provides an intuitive, easy-to-use solution for production accounting.

Indiepay was established in 2005 and has offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Orleans and Delhi, NY. Paul Cosentino is SVP of Sales and Business Development and can be reached at Paul(at)indiepayroll(dot)com.
The flights have been cancelled after suicide bombers killed 36 people at Istanbul airport on Tuesday night

EgyptAir, the country's national carrier, said it had cancelled flights to Istanbul scheduled for Wednesday after multiple suicide bombers killed 36 people at Istanbul's main international airport late on Tuesday.

Flights number MS 737 and MS 735 that were scheduled from Cairo to Istanbul at 9:50 and 14:20 Cairo local time have been cancelled, the flag carrier said in a statement late Tuesday.

Turkish Airlines suspended its flights until 8 am (0500 GMT) on Wednesday and said bookings on flights to or from Istanbul Ataturk airport between 28 June and 5 July 2016 would be changed or refunded without any cost.

Egypt's foreign ministry condemned in the strongest terms" the terrorist" assault at Istanbul airport, while calling for a joint international fight against terrorism.

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Rave Mobile Safety (Rave), creator of innovative data and communication software that public safety agencies trust to help them save lives, announced today that the Carle Foundation Hospital has deployed the Rave Alert Emergency Notification System to quickly and easily disseminate critical messages and notifications to more than 6,500 faculty and staff members. A complimentary case study is available: https://www.ravemobilesafety.com/carle-selects-rave-alert/.

Like all hospitals, Carle Foundation Hospital operates on a 24/7 schedule. The critical staffing requirements of the diverse professional and non-professional workforce posed a challenge to its day-to-day operations. Coordinating work schedules, vacations and sick time with employees is a very complex task, even more so when severe weather or other events affect the region, increasing demand for emergency care.

The Carle Foundation Hospitals previous notification system was difficult to use, slow and required extensive manual database maintenance. The Hospital vetted Rave Alert based on a referral from the University of Illinois, a long-time user. Administrators said Rave Alert was selected and deployed because of its ease-of-use, scalability and accessibility.

Our staff found the existing notification system difficult to use and manage, said Anita Guffey, emergency management director at the Carle Foundation. Our colleagues at the University of Illinois suggested we check out their alert system by Rave. The ease-of-use and speed-of-deployment made selecting Rave Alert a very easy decision. In three quick steps, we can alert our entire medical center of an incident in less than a minute.

Founded in 1931, Carle Foundation Hospital is an award-winning, 393-bed, tertiary hospital located in Urbana, Illinois and is operated by the not-for-profit Carle Foundation. Among its numerous awards and recognitions for offering outstanding healthcare, Carle Foundation Hospital has been named a Best Hospital by U.S. News & World Report, a 50 Great Hospital by Healthgrades and has received the Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence six years in a row.

Rave Alert could not be easier or faster in sending notifications to our entire workforce, said Steve Peters, emergency manager at the Carle Foundation. We can access it from any workstation or mobile device and quickly send emergency notifications to everyone. Its so simple, more than 35 departments already rely on Alert to share critical staffing announcements. It has been so effective, weve even expanded its use to other internal communications, which has been very well received by employees.

Rave Alert, by Rave Mobile Safety, provides best-in-class, highly-available emergency communications for enterprises, school districts, institutions and municipalities. Notifications can be easily segmented by department or other sort-able criteria and distributed in just three clicks. In 2015, more than a quarter billion alerts were sent by Rave users nationwide, notifying personnel and citizens about items such as severe weather, road closures, cancellations and crisis situations, including active shooters and other critical emergencies.

More information about Rave Alert may be found here: https://www.ravemobilesafety.com/rave-alert/

The Carle Foundation Hospital case study may be found here: https://www.ravemobilesafety.com/carle-selects-rave-alert/

About Rave Mobile Safety

Rave Mobile Safety is the most trusted safety software partner, providing innovative communication software for better emergency preparedness and faster response. Used by leading education institutes, enterprises and state and local public safety agencies, the award-winning portfolio of Rave Alert, Rave Guardian, Eyewitness, Rave Panic Button, Smart911 and SmartPrepare protects millions of individuals. Rave Mobile Safety is headquartered in Framingham, MA. For more information, please visit http://www.ravemobilesafety.com.
Innovative big data player Latize has kicked off their international expansion with the opening of a Sydney office and appointing local regional head Stephen Walker as General Manager, Asia Pacific.

Headquartered in Singapore, Latizes linked data software platform, Ulysses, has achieved successful deployments across various Singapore government agencies and commercial organisations. The software is highly disruptive in that it changes the model under which data is managed and surfaced. Focusing on business users rather than data analysts, Ulysses is able to provide much more meaningful and actionable insights to help drive core business.

The big data realm seems to be a high priority for business and IT but no-one is really sure how to approach it, to best release and monetize the value in the organisations data. Many business intelligence tools focus on how to slice, dice and present data but very few interrogate and transform the data to extract meaningful relationships within the data as Ulysses does, Walker said.

Discussions with potential partners in Sydney and Melbourne have been productive with acknowledgments that the Ulysses value proposition is distinctly different and compelling. Latize is keen to pursue local partnerships with organisations who have skills and experience in the big data and data visualisation areas.

Vikram Mengi, CEO of Latize, regards Ulysses approach to linked data and semantic processing as the new wave in big data. The terms disruptive and innovative have been thrown around a lot these last few years but Ive rarely seen solutions which are genuinely disruptive and innovative in the manner Ulysses is, Mengi commented.

Well prepared to invest in international expansion and success upon securing venture capital funding in 2015, Latize has been a somewhat unheralded success after being certified by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore in early 2015. This will soon change as stories of their success and the exceptional outcomes delivered for their customers are conveyed loudly and widely across Asia Pacific.

The plan is for Latize to expand to other states, beyond North Sydney, as the business and team here in Australia grows, said Walker.
Hudson store rendering We are pleased to grow our retail program at Phoenix to transform the look, feel, and overall retail experience with new diverse concepts, said Joe DiDomizio, Hudson Group President & CEO.

Hudson Group, the largest travel retailer in North America offering best-in-class services to traveling customers, was awarded three new specialty retail and travel essentials stores at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) in Terminal 4. The winning bid, a joint venture comprised of Hudson Group and Cambios y Servicios, includes: Hudson (travel essentials), Bunky Boutique (clothing and accessories), and Fire CZ (affordable contemporary jewelry).

We are pleased to grow our retail program at Phoenix to transform the look, feel, and overall retail experience with new diverse concepts, said Joe DiDomizio, Hudson Group President & CEO. We believe The Travelers Best Friend service is the perfect choice for our partners at PHXAmericas Friendliest Airport. Our diverse retail offerings will deliver high-quality service and complement the airports inviting atmosphere.

The new stores proposed represent a winning balance of vendors and brands that reflect a local sense of place with a cosmopolitan feel:



Bunky Boutique, a local brand established in September 2007, has a vibe and shopping experience that is both inviting and unique. Located in downtown Phoenix, the brand helps to shape local fashion trends and culture. Bunky Boutique is a must-stop for PHX passengers, selling clothing and accessories.

Fire CZ adds luster and excitement to the PHX airport concessions program. The wide-open, customer-friendly design of the shop attracts the eye with its sparkling counters replete with irresistible rings, pendants, bracelets, earrings, and collectibles. Great for any traveler looking for affordable, contemporary jewelry.

Hudson, Hudson Groups re-branded, modern concept to Hudson News, is a travel essential store that offers an upscale, high tech market theme with a native feel. Hudson prides itself on being The Travelers Best Friend, offering items to appeal to the wants and needs of traveling consumers, including electronic accessories, popular magazines and newspapers, beverages, snacks, health, beauty, and more. This will be the airports first Hudson location.

Hudson Group currently operates Hudson News, Valley of the Sun, Hudson Booksellers, and Sweet Indulgences in Terminal 4 at PHX.

About Hudson Group:

Hudson Group, the largest travel retailer in North America, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of international travel retailer Dufry AG (DUFN) of Basel, Switzerland. Hudson Group operates over 950 Hudson, Hudson News, Hudson Booksellers, cafes, specialty retail and duty free shops in 83 airports and transportation terminals in the United States and Canada, and operates in 24 of the top 25 airports nationally. Dufry operates over 2,200 stores in more than 60 countries and 370 locations, including airports and transportation terminals around the world.
tekVizionVerified Logo The tekVizionVerified program is the first of its kind in the industry, guaranteeing technologies that are validated for interoperability will work within the environment tested.

Since launching its tekVizionVerified program in March, tekVizion has now guaranteed results of its interoperability testing for Microsoft solutions with more than 100 popular business communications technologies. This includes interoperability of Skype for Business and earlier versions of Microsoft Lync with tested SIP trunking services among others. For a complete list of what has been tested, see http://www.tekvizionverified.com/MarketPlace/SearchByCompany/Microsoft .

In addition to being a Gold Communications partner, tekVizions historical expertise with Microsofts business communications products goes back nine years. With tekVizionVerified, we leverage that by adding a test guarantee that will help Microsoft customers make decisions with even more confidence, said Darlene Smith, senior director of partner alliances for tekVizion.

The tekVizionVerified program is the first of its kind in the industry, guaranteeing technologies that are validated for interoperability will work within the environment tested. A growing number of vendors and service providers are getting their solutions tekVizionVerified to confirm their solution capabilities and value.

The guarantee applies only to the exact configuration tested and is not valid for deployments that deviate from the verification test. Earlier or later versions of the product tested or any other condition that does not match the test configuration are not covered. For more information or to check a solution, go to http://www.tekVizionVerified.com

About tekVizion

tekVizion helps service providers, vendors and enterprise customers accelerate time to value, improve reliability and reduce the costs of deploying multi-vendor communication networks. tekVizion offers a range of services including interoperability testing, on-demand access to virtual lab environments, integration services and custom application development.

Founded in 2002, tekVizion hosts the first interoperability lab of its kind. The companys extensive lab resources include over 250 network elements and a team of dedicated specialists, certifying over 400 applications per year. tekVizion is headquartered in Plano, Texas, with offices in Chennai, India, and London. Contact us at +1.214.242.5900, info(at)tekVizion(dot)com, or visit http://www.tekVizion.com.

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Thijs Manders "This partnership was born out of a shared confidence that this talent pool could accelerate YaDo-VR product vision.

YaDo-VR B.V. secures investment for 3D mapping and VR innovations

True 3D modeling company YaDo-VR B.V., has attracted an undisclosed investment that will fuel its 3D creation of maps, objects and models and virtual reality (VR) innovations.

YaDo-VR B.V. creates true 3D models, maps and objects based on processing LIDAR(light detection and range) data, also known as point cloud mapping. Using open source point cloud mapping technology, Yado-VR has enhanced the platform by various groundbreaking patented add-on's which allows for unprecedented processing speed of data, increased accuracy of the created visuals and a higher level of detail then commonly seen.

The investment has been led by Netherlands-based investment company TMI Investments, led by serial entrepreneur Mr. Thijs Manders.

YaDo-VR has been initiated by very experienced point cloud mapping experts, having many years of experience in the creation of LIDAR based maps and models. Having only officially launched this year, the Dutch tech firm have already provided services to various renowned companies, cities and organizations with its interior and exterior 3D mapping technology.

The company has also developed virtual reality interfaces which allows customers to dynamically experience the maps, models and object processed by YaDo-VR.

Commenting on the investment by TMI Investments, Anjo De Heus, Executive Director and investor from day one of YaDo-VR said: Our two companies share similar values of building great companies by being driven, passionate and committed to making a difference. TMI, and especially Mr. Thijs Manders, Founder of TMI, is a welcome addition to the company, having great experience as an entrepreneur, investor and CEO of a listed company. Partnering with TMI Investments allows us to execute on our growth objectives to becoming a global leader in 3D mapping technologies.

Mr. Thijs Manders on YaDo-VR,:"This partnership was born out of a shared confidence that this talent pool could accelerate YaDo-VR product vision. We look forward to working with YaDo-VR as they continue to grow their business.

About YaDo-VR B.V.

YADO-VR is about developing, marketing and selling amazing products based on LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) data modeling resulting in DYNAMIC TRUE 3D MAPS OBJECTS & MODELS and giving customers Virtual Reality capabilities to experience real life scenarios using cutting edge technology. Our patented (pending) add- on solutions give unprecedented processing speed, great accuracy (5-10 cm) and enormous detail for various objects such as trees, roofs and various other objects.

About TMI Investments

TMI invests in people who truly live their entrepreneurship, who are driven by their passions  entrepreneurs with endless reserves of enthusiasm, energy and persistence, who are fully committed to making a difference. TMI Investments participates in entrepreneurial start- & scale-ups in Technology, Marketing, ICT, Social Media, HR Technology and Talent Management. All of TMIs strategic partners work on trendsetting, innovative concepts. Game changers  every single one of them. TMI Investments was founded in April 2012. The investment company is owned by Thijs Manders, original founder and acting CEO of the TMC Group.

For more info on YaDo-VR B.V. please contact at INFO(at)YADOVR(dot)COM or http://www.yadovr.com

For more info on TMI Investments, please contact at info(at)tmi-investments(dot)nl or http://www.tmi-investments.nl

YaDo-VR B.V.

High Tech Campus 9

5600AE Eindhoven

The Netherlands
Novo Nordisk Foundation, who award grants for research, education and innovation within biomedicine, biotechnology, general practice and family medicine, nursing and art history, have launched their first Research Impact Report to highlight the outputs and impact of the research they fund.

The report includes the outputs and outcomes generated from 2006 to 2015 from funding allocated over the last 15 years, from data captured in Researchfish, the worlds leading platform for the reporting of outcomes and impacts of research.

Novo Nordisk Foundation and Researchfish are aligned in their goals of reducing the reporting burden on researchers and enabling research funders to collaborate and benchmark more effectively and using the Researchfish service enables this to happen.

The Foundations grant recipients systematically report on activities and findings generated based on their grants. Since 2015, the Foundation, which was established in 1922 and has awarded more than 11,000 grants, has used the online system, researchfish that has made it possible to produce and publish the Foundations first impact report, says Thomas Alslev Christensen, Head of Operations at the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

There were many key findings from this data including published scientific works authored by recipients of grants from the Foundation, dissemination activities and the researchers patterns of collaboration with other organisations and researchers.

Before we started to systematically collect output and outcome data from grant recipients we didnt know that our grant recipients produce 18 per cent of the scientific publications within health science in Denmark. The grant recipients reported 1914 scientific publications published in 2015. We also didnt know that the production is now seven times higher than in 2006. Next year, we will use data from researchfish to evaluate the Novo Nordisk Foundations strategy and strategic goals.

To enable accountability, many funders are adopting Researchfish, a service which connects the research community and provides a structured, consistent and accurate platform to report research outcomes to enable better research impact assessment.

We are delighted with the findings of this report, and it emphasises how valuable the Researchfish service is. We believe in changing the way that research impact is assessed and Researchfish enables funders to not only captures the outputs, but to also produce reports to evidence accountability, comments Beverley Sherbon, Impact and Evaluation Advisor for Researchfish.

-Ends-

Novo Nordisk Foundation is a Danish commercial foundation with two purposes; to provide a stable basis for the commercial and research activities conducted by the companies in the Novo Group, and to support scientific, humanitarian and social purposes. Novo Nordisk Foundation's vision is to make a significant contribution to research and development that improves people's health and welfare. The full report can be viewed at http://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/content/impact_assessment_reports

Researchfish, the national standard in the UK, currently has over 63,000 researchers reporting from around 145 countries and have reported over 1.7 million outputs to date. Researchfish tracks over 40 billion of research funding across over 100,000 awards, and has members internationally including Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, Department for International Development and Research Councils UK. Researchfish has a LinkedIn group and can be found on Twitter @Researchfish http://www.researchfish.com
We wanted our new location to be an extension of the BLR corporate culture,

BLRBusiness & Legal Resources has relocated their offices from 75 Sylvan Street in Danvers, Massachusetts to The Ferncroft Corporate Center, on 35 Village Road, Middleton, Massachusetts. This former Verizon building offers 110,000 square feet of recently-renovated, Class A office space and easy access to Route 95 in Middleton.

BLR has revealed its new home inside the Ferncroft Corporate Center in an effort to support the needs of its employees. Partnering with Mulrooney architecture + design, the office environment encourages collaboration, creativity and energy, by featuring bright colors, spacious break-out areas, soft light fixtures, and stand-up desks with a push of a button.

Here at BLR we wanted to invest in our employees happiness and well-being, says Matt Sharpe, Senior Manager of Production of BLR. We took advantage of all the natural light coming through the windows. During the day, if there is enough sunlight in certain areas, the lights will turn off automatically and come back on when needed to conserve energy.

We wanted our new location to be an extension of the BLR corporate culture, says Elizabeth Peterson, Executive Vice President of BLR. We needed a space that facilitated collaboration, and one that would inspire and create energy. Were thrilled with how everything came together and are proud to call Middleton home.

BLRs subsidiaries, HealthLeaders Media and HCPro, the industry leaders in the business needs of healthcare professionals, also share their new collaborative office space in Middleton.

For more information, contact Dennis OBrien, Vice President of Marketing, at (978) 624-4568 or dobrien(at)hcpro(dot)com.

About BLRBusiness & Legal Resources

BLRBusiness & Legal Resources helps U.S. businesses simplify compliance with state and federal legal requirements, and we help them become more successful. We do this by offering authoritative content and practical, easy-to-use tools. Through our expert in-house editors and exclusive attorney network, we provide the most comprehensive, reliable state-specific information availableand we do it in all 50 states. Our award-winning information productsincluding training programs, events, web portals, reports and subscription servicesgive businesses of all sizes and industries the best tools available at affordable prices.

About HealthLeaders Media

HealthLeaders Media, a division of BLR, is a leading multi-platform media company dedicated to meeting the business information needs of healthcare executives and professionals. As an integrated media company, HealthLeaders Media includes HealthLeaders magazine, HealthLeadersMedia.com, the HealthLeaders Media Intelligence Unit, HealthLeaders Media LIVE events, and California HealthFax. All these platforms may be found online at http://www.healthleadersmedia.com.

About HCPro

HCPro, a division of BLR, is a leading provider of integrated information, education, training, and consulting products and services in the vital areas of healthcare regulation and compliance. HCPro is a pioneer in the delivery of Web-based information, resources and content on "The Business of Healthcare" to managers in the healthcare industry. HCPro developed a series of unique Internet-based solutions, including Web sites, online information centers, electronic product distribution, electronic site licenses, and strategic distribution alliances. See http://www.hcpro.com for more information.
The Monica Novii Wireless Patch System Novii is an effective and innovative solution for monitoring high BMI patients during L&D. It is a real celebration and privilege for Premier Inc. to showcase the Monica Novii System as one of the best innovations of 2016. Dr Terence Martin CMO MHC Ltd

Monicas Novii System is one of the medical innovations that was showcased in front of thousands of healthcare providers at Premier Inc.s 2016 Breakthroughs Conference and Exhibition on June 21.

Monicas Novii System was featured during the conferences annual Innovation Celebration. The event recognizes advances in healthcare while highlighting industry suppliers committed to innovation and improving patient outcomes.

Monica Healthcare shares Premiers commitment to providing valuable products to our alliance members that are safe, high-quality and cost-effective, said Durral R. Gilbert, president of supply chain services, Premier. We believe these innovations can benefit providers as they work to transform healthcare.

Clinicians and other health system members of Premier selected the Novii Wireless Patch System to be showcased at the Innovation Celebration due to its uniqueness, ability to have an impact on unmet clinical needs and potential to improve patient care.

The Monica Novii Wireless Patch System (Novii) provides the opportunity to enhance current Labor and Delivery monitoring. It works with the GEHC Corometrics 259cx series maternal/fetal monitors. Novii has three constituent parts, the Novii Patch, Novii Pod, and Novii Interface.

The Novii Patch is a single-use, peel-and-stick disposable part, which attaches to the womans abdomen using the comfortable adhesive foam pads. The patch incorporates ECG electrode areas which pick up ECG and EMG signals from the skin surface and then transfer them to the Novii Pod.

The Novii Pod is a reusable part which magnetically connects to the Novii Patch to pick up the fetal and maternal ECG and EMG signals and then filters, digitizes and processes them in real time to extract the FHR, MHR & UA data. The Pod transmits this data via Bluetooth to the Novii Interface.

The Novii Interface is also a reusable part that translates Bluetooth data transmitted by the Novii Pod into signals of the correct format to the maternal/fetal monitor. The Novii Interface is connected to the monitor via physical cables which attach to the transducer inputs of the monitor. The Novii Interface has a touch screen that supports the user to get the most from the system and has two bays incorporated into its base for inductive charging and the automatic pairing of the Novii Pods.

Any supplier, regardless of whether the company is contracted with Premier, can be considered for participation in the Innovation Celebration. Premier contracts with more than 1,100 suppliers.

For more detailed information, including a video of the Novii Wireless Patch System, visit the Premier Inc. 2016 innovation celebration winners web site.

About Premier, Inc.

Premier Inc. is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of approximately 3,600 U.S. hospitals and 120,000 other providers to transform healthcare. With integrated data and analytics, collaboratives, supply chain solutions, and advisory and other services, Premier enables better care and outcomes at a lower cost. Premier, a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient, plays a critical role in the rapidly evolving healthcare industry, collaborating with members to co-develop long-term innovations that reinvent and improve the way care is delivered to patients nationwide. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier is passionate about transforming American healthcare. Please visit Premiers news and investor sites on http://www.premierinc.com; as well as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Foursquare and Premiers blog for more information about the company.

About Monica Healthcare Ltd

Monica Healthcare is developing a series of innovative wearable devices that uses wireless technologies to facilitate globally accessible obstetric services in the home and hospital. Monica Healthcare Ltd was formed in May 2005 and was the culmination of 15 years of research at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and the School of Human Development at The University of Nottingham, UK. The patented technology is based on the acquisition of electrophysiological signals that can be passively detected by electrodes positioned on the maternal abdomen. Monica Healthcare is working with GE Healthcare to distribute and deliver professional solutions meeting the needs of modern obstetric care, risk management and patient satisfaction. In the USA the Novii Wireless Patch System is sold exclusively for use with the Corometrics 259cx series fetal/maternal Monitor by GE Healthcare. For more information on the companys products visit http://www.monicahealthcare.com

Corometrics is a trademark of GE Healthcare

Novii and Monica are trademarks of Monica Healthcare Ltd.
ProMIS Neurosciences (ProMIS or the Company), a company focused on the discovery and development of precision treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, today announced that two presentations will be made on its recent therapeutic developments at the Alzheimers Association International Conference being held from July 24th to 28th, 2016 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

"These presentations detail the scientific work conducted to identify the five novel targets and multiple associated therapeutic candidates for Alzheimers disease (AD) that ProMIS recently announced," said Dr. Neil Cashman, ProMIS Chief Science Officer. "This work enabled ProMIS to progress multiple successfully screened monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to the ongoing validation stage. We are now evaluating binding profiles in cadaveric brain tissue from AD patients to identify the product candidates to progress to drug development.

The first presentation, entitled A Computational Method to Predict Disease-Specific Epitopes in A, and Its Application to Oligomer-Selective Antibodies for Alzheimers Immunotherapy, is a poster authored by Dr. Steven Plotkin (et al.), the Companys Chief Physics Officer. The authors describe one of the Companys unique, proprietary discovery platforms, Collective Coordinates, to predict novel therapeutic targets on prion-like strains of Amyloid beta (A), implicated in the development and progression of AD. The data demonstrate that the novel targets identified by Collective Coordinates can be used to raise multiple mAbs that specifically target the neurotoxic, prion-like strains of A.

The second presentation entitled Novel Amyloid- Oligomer-Specific Epitopes: A Hypothesis Driven Approach to Alzheimer's Immunotherapeutics, is a poster authored by University of British Columbias Dr. Judith Silverman (et al.), whose work was conducted in the lab of Dr. Neil Cashman, the Companys Chief Science Officer and Co-founder. The authors describe the screening process for initial identification of mAb therapeutic candidates that specifically and selectively bind to the previously mentioned five novel AD targets with little or no measurable off-target binding. The authors then describe the process for validation of the successfully screened product candidates, particularly, the evaluation of binding profiles in cadaveric brain tissue from AD patients, to identify the lead products to progress to drug development.

About ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc.

The mission of ProMIS Neurosciences is to discover and develop precision medicine therapeutics for effective treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimers disease and ALS.

ProMIS Neurosciences proprietary target discovery engine is based on the use of two, complementary techniques. The Company applies its thermodynamic, computational discovery platformsProMIS and Collective Coordinates  to predict novel targets known as Disease Specific Epitopes (DSEs) on the molecular surface of misfolded proteins. Using this unique "precision medicine" approach, ProMIS Neurosciences is developing novel antibody therapeutics and specific companion diagnostics for Alzheimers disease and ALS. The company has also developed two proprietary technologies to specifically identify very low levels of misfolded proteins in a biological sample. In addition, ProMIS Neurosciences owns a portfolio of therapeutic and diagnostic patents relating to misfolded SOD1 in ALS, and currently has three preclinical monoclonal antibody therapeutics against this target.

The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The information in this release may contain certain forward-looking information. Such information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by statements herein, and therefore these statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. All forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to it as well as other factors. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified by the Company in its public securities filings, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For further information please consult the Company's website at:

http://www.promisneurosciences.com

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Michael Moore: mmoore(at)national(dot)ca

Abby Garfunkel: agarfunkel(at)national(dot)ca

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Dr. Elliot Goldstein

President and Chief Executive Officer, ProMIS Neurosciences Inc.

Tel. 415 341-5783

Elliot.goldstein(at)promisneurosciences(dot)com
Monday at ISTE 2016, Delta Education, part of the School Specialty family of brands, unveiled its Full Option Science System (FOSS) Next Generation Middle School curriculum. A continuation of the award-winning and renowned FOSS Next Generation K-5, the leading active-learning science program in the United States, FOSS Next Generation Middle School combines rigorous science content with real-world applications, providing students with rich and engaging learning experiences.

FOSS Next Generation Middle School focuses on students in grades 6-8 and features 12 total courses across the life, earth and physical science core science disciplines. Six full-length courses encompass a timeframe of 10 to 12 weeks, while six half-length courses span five to six weeks of course instruction. With new and updated investigations, along with revised and redesigned FOSS Science Resources student books, engaging online activities and teaching slides that educators can tailor to their classrooms, FOSS Next Generation Middle School provides students and educators with a powerful and dynamic science curriculum for 21st century classrooms.

With comprehensive alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and supporting Common Core standards for literacy in science and technical subjects, FOSS Next Generation Middle School lays a robust foundation for course work in STEM fields as well as preparing students for college and career readiness.

The early response to FOSS Next Generation Middle School has been phenomenal, and we are excited to expand the focus of our popular science curriculum to middle school and continue providing active science learning to students across the country, said Bodie Marx, senior vice president of School Specialty Curriculum. As career opportunities in STEM continue to soar, it is more important than ever to provide educators with innovative curriculum tools to prepare students for a successful future.

Developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley, FOSS Next Generation is an active learning science program for grades K-8, with modules and courses featuring comprehensive teacher support materials, informative student books, class access to online multimedia (via http://www.FOSSweb.com), and durable student equipment. The full program consists of 18 K-5 modules and 12 middle school courses, all aligned to the NGSS, focused on life, earth and physical science, including many opportunities for integrating engineering. The FOSS program seamlessly blends engaging, hands-on science investigations with developmentally appropriate science writing, language development strategies, reading in informational texts, online technology, real-world experiences and connections, and research-based assessment strategies. This multi-modal combination promotes the construction of increasingly complex understanding of science concepts over time.

The first three FOSS Next Generation Middle School courses  human systems interactions, heredity and adaptation and waves  will be available in time for the start of the 2016-2017 school year. Six FOSS Middle School, Second Edition full-length courses are available now and include an automatic digital upgrade to the Next Generation edition when published.

About School Specialty, Inc.

School Specialty (OTCQB: SCOO) is a leading distributor of innovative and proprietary products, programs and services to the education marketplace. The Company designs, develops, and provides educators with the latest and very best school supplies, furniture and both curriculum and supplemental learning resources. Working in collaboration with educators, School Specialty reaches beyond the scope of textbooks to help teachers, guidance counselors and school administrators ensure that every student reaches his or her full potential. Through its SSI Guardian subsidiary, the Company is also committed to school, healthcare and corporate workplace safety by offering the highest quality curriculum, training and safety and security products. Through its recently launched SOAR Life Products brand, the Company offers thousands of products that sharpen cognitive skills and build physical and mental strength in fun and creative ways. From childhood through adulthood, they help individuals live life to the fullest  engaged, happy and well. SOAR Life Products is a customized offering for hospitals, long-term care, therapeutic facilities, home care, surgery centers, day care centers, physician offices, and clinics. For more information about School Specialty, visit http://www.schoolspecialty.com.

Delta Education, part of School Specialtys family of brands, delivers the best of hands-on, inquiry-based science education to K-8 students. Trusted products from Delta Education include FOSS, Delta Science Modules (DSM) and engaging informational texts including Delta Science Content Readers. For more information about Delta Education, visit http://www.deltaeducation.com.
EgyptAir resumed its flights to Istanbul on Wednesday after air traffic in the city was shut down for less than one day following the bombing that killed 36 people and injured 150 at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

On Tuesday, Egypt's national carrier said that it had cancelled flights MS 737 and MS 735 that were scheduled to fly from Cairo to Istanbul at 9:50am and 2:20pm Cairo local time.

Flight MS 735 took off at 2:30pm with a larger capacity of seats so as to accommodate passengers scheduled to board the canceled flight MS 737.

Turkish Airlines suspended its flights until 8am (0500 GMT) on Wednesday and said bookings on flights to or from Ataturk Airport between 28 June and 5 July would be rescheduled or refunded.

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Ambs Call Center accepting the 2016 ATSI Award of Excellence in Tampa, FL Winning the ATSI award for a 6th consecutive year demonstrates the true commitment to excellence that AMBS has. I'm proud of the entire staff for our continued dedication to providing the highest level of service to our clients. -Cedric Roney

Ambs Call Center a leading provider of live telephone answering service and call center services has been honored with the exclusive 2016 ATSI Award of Excellence. This marks the 6th consecutive year they have earned the award. The Award is presented annually by the Association of TeleServices International (ATSI). ATSI is the call center industrys Trade Association for call centers across North America and the United Kingdom.

The award of excellence is a secret shopper program for call centers. Independent ATSI judges evaluate telephone answering services and call centers over a six-month period. The scoring criteria includes courtesy, response time, accuracy and service to their clients. If the company scores 80% or better in all categories, they are presented with the coveted Award of Excellence. The program is now in its 26th year.

The ATSI Award of Excellence is a bench marking program designed and proven to enhance customer service for the Call Center and Telephone Answering Service Industry across North America and throughout the world." says ATSI President, Jeff Zindel. The ATSI award of Excellence Program ensures that consistent professional customer service levels are not only met but exceeded. Since the inception of this Awards Program, the level of customer service provided by member participants has improved significantly. I congratulate Ambs Call Center for their achievements."

About Ambs Call Center

Ambs Call Center was established in 1934 and has grown to become a provider of the latest telecommunications technologies to a wide range of industries throughout the nation. With locations in Jackson, MI Grand Rapids, MI, and Tampa, FL, Ambs Call Center helps businesses become more efficient and profitable with its 24-hour call center services.
For over a decade, Christopher Walton, founder of Walton Law, APC, has practiced in San Diego and throughout Southern California. He dedicates his practice to representing victims of nursing home neglect, and advocating on behalf of those who have suffered catastrophic injuries due to the negligent or intentional acts of others.

As the result, Walton was recently recognized by the San Diego Business Journal for his successful advocacy in securing legal victories for elders and their families, by being named to the San Diego Business Journals 2016 Best of the Bar list. The issue in which Walton was included introduced the winners by quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson (American essayist, lecturer and poet) who said, The good lawyer is not the man who has an eye to every side and angle of contingency, and qualifies all his qualifications, but who throws himself on your part so heartily, that he can get you out of a scrape.

Those included in the Best of the Bar list throughout the greater San Diego region were nominated by colleagues inside and outside of their respective firms. However, no attorney made the list based solely on votes from others at the same firm, according to the San Diego Business Journal.

This is the second honor Walton has received this year. Earlier in 2016, his dedication, devotion and victories for clients earned him the honor of being named a 2016 San Diego Super Lawyer for the third consecutive year. Only five percent of the lawyers in each state are included amongst this elite list.

Attorneys are selected as Super Lawyers for their outstanding representation of their clients, and a high-degree of peer recognition. This prestigious rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas are selected due to their professional development, independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.

Walton said of the honors, I maintain a small caseload, which affords me the ability to custom tailor a strategy to fit the individualized needs of my clients. My sole aim and objective is to exceed my clients expectations by actively listening, presenting them with the most viable options for recourse, and most importantly, providing each client and their family with the best possible representation to ensure that they receive the justice they deserve as a victim.

Continuing Walton said, I am flattered to have been recognized for the third year as a Super Lawyer, and Im honored to be acknowledged in my local community by my peers for doing something I love to do.

About Walton Law APC:

Walton Law, A.P.C. is a San Diego boutique law firm dedicated exclusively to representing injured parties in the areas of personal injury, with a focus on elder abuse cases including financial abuse, nursing home abuse and neglect. Founded by Principal Christopher C. Walton, the San Diego based law firm has recovered millions of dollars for elderly and injured clients and their families. For more information, visit http://www.waltonlawapc.com or call 619-233-0011.
Aimetis We see Aimetis Symphony not only as a security tool, but also a customer service tool. We believe it can take our customer experience to the next level.

Aimetis Corp., a global leader in intelligent video management software, today announced that the Rydell Automotive Group is using Aimetis Symphony to manage its security and provide valuable information to improve its customer service.

The Rydell Auto Center is comprised of a multi-site campus with various departments, including sales centers, body shops, and a carwash. With a failing analog security system, Rydell was in need of a new solution. The most important factors for Rydells new system were scalability, reliability, and a smooth user interface to monitor its many sites.

Rydell was drawn to Aimetis Symphony as a way to increase the flexibility of its security system. By installing Symphony, the entire Rydell campus can be centrally managed from one location. Additionally, Symphonys unhindered scalability assures Rydell that the security system will grow as the company expands.

The Mobile Bridge feature also appealed to the Rydell team. The ability to access Aimetis Symphony through our handheld devices has really increased the flexibility and mobility of our security team, said Steve Symons, IT Manager at Rydell Auto Center.

In addition to improving its security, Rydell is also looking to Aimetis Symphony to enhance its customer experience. Going forward, Rydell plans to use Aimetis Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) to identify customers as they enter the Rydell property and alert the customer service team with the necessary information to provide excellent service, such as the customers name, reason for their appointment, and appointment history.

Aimetis Analytics were designed to be more than just a security tool, said Justin Schorn, VP of Product Management at Aimetis. It is great to see an innovative organization thinking outside the box to use Aimetis products to enhance their customer service.

The full case study can be read here.

About Aimetis

Aimetis, a Senstar company, simplifies the management of network video for security surveillance by offering smart solutions with the lowest total cost of ownership for our connected world. Combining an industry leading video management system with integrated analytics and centralized management in the cloud, Aimetis delivers the most scalable and easiest to use video management platform on the market. Founded in 2003, Aimetis has established itself as a global leader in intelligent video management from its headquarters in Waterloo, Canada. Aimetis has distributors and certified partners in over 100 countries and serves a variety of industries, including retail, transportation, and others.
With the heads-up display, any time I change my posture during a long surgery, am handed an instrument or communicate with my operating room staff my attention is on the high-resolution display of the surgical field.

A surgical milestone was reached today in California when neurointerventional surgeon George Rappard, MD performed the first spine surgery case in the United States using a unique high resolution heads-up-display. Dr. Rappard performed a form of minimally invasive surgery called an endoscopic discectomy. In endoscopic surgery, the surgeon inserts a small tube slightly less than one third of an inch into the spine. A device called an endoscope, with a high resolution camera attached to it, is inserted through the small tube. Micro-surgical instruments are passed through the endoscope and used to perform surgery. The entire surgery is seen on a high resolution monitor, usually located several feet away from the surgeon. For the first time, the use of a high resolution heads up display allows the surgical image to be placed inches from the surgeons eyes, even when the surgeon turns his head slightly during surgery.

Heads-up-displays were developed predominantly for intense military applications, like fighter jet and attack helicopter pilots. These individuals require constant situational awareness, even when there gaze was shifted to attend to crucial aircraft functions. Similarly, surgeons engaged in image-guided microsurgery can benefit from the same constant attention to the displayed surgical image. With the heads-up display, any time I change my posture during a long surgery, am handed an instrument or communicate with my operating room staff my attention is on the high-resolution display of the surgical field. The potential benefits to the surgery are obvious; the surgeons gaze never leaves the surgical image leading to constant awareness during all aspects of surgery. The display makes it easier for the surgeon to detect changes during surgery since he is looking at an image inches away, instead of several feet away. The display even allows an image-on-image capability. If the surgeon requires an x-ray to check position the x-ray can be projected on the heads-up-display, along with the view of surgery. Therefore, the surgeon does not have to shift between multiple monitors. Ergonomically, the viewing helmet is designed so that the surgical image is projected at a 45 degree angle from the surgeons eye, thus reproducing a natural viewing angle. The image is projected on each of 2 separate panels, one for each eye. The panels are adjusted to provide natural binocular vision. Lastly, the heads up display allows the surgeon to shift his posture during surgery while maintaining his view. This is key as it reduces surgeon fatigue and maintains the surgeons focus. Dr. Rappard noted a surprisingly new level of comfort using the heads-up display despite a 3 hour surgery.

The advent of a high resolution heads-up display is just the latest in a series of surgical innovations that allow surgeons like Rappard to treat patients in ways never before imagined. Together with high resolution cameras, modern endoscopes and precisely engineered micro-instruments, these displays allow modern surgeons to bring new technologies to bear in order to provide new procedures that make surgery easier for patients than ever before. Many of these procedures have been developed by innovative and creative surgeons that Rappard credits as his mentors. Rappard pays homage to these innovative neurointerventional and endoscopic surgeons by quoting a reporter named Mary OKeefe: The key to medical advancement is not only the invention and discovery of new methods but also the skilled physician who is willing to learn and enter the latest frontiers of medicine.

The Los Angeles Minimally Invasive Spine Institute was founded in 2012. The mission of the Institute is to provide the most comprehensive quality minimally invasive spine care available, to use knowledge and experience to teach spine health care providers, to further spinal scientific research and to advocate for patients on the national and international arenas. Rappard is the director and founder of the Los Angeles Minimally Invasive Spine Institute, the director of the Brain and Spine Research Institute, an Adjunct Professor of the Southern California University of Health Sciences and a member of multiple scientific and medical committees of national and international spine health organizations.
This acquisition, coming on the heels of our acquisition of The MAX, demonstrates our determination to be the number one provider of data in the healthcare market.

Definitive Healthcare announced that it has acquired Billians HealthDATA, a provider of data and analytics on U.S. healthcare organizations. The strategic acquisition will expand Definitives extensive data on healthcare providers and facilities and will further establish the company as a leading solution in the rapidly growing, multi-billion dollar healthcare data and analytics market. Combined, the companies provide data to over 1,500 clients ranging from the leading integrated delivery networks, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies to growing technology, medical device and staffing firms.

In the era of information, quality data on healthcare providers and physicians is mission critical to the success of our client base, said Jason Krantz, CEO of Definitive Healthcare. Integrating Billians data into our product will bring our customers a higher value solution with more facilities, executive contacts, RFPs, technology data, and more. There is no other provider in the market with the breadth and depth of data that we have.

Billians HealthDATA provides intelligence on hospitals and other healthcare facilities, physician groups, accountable care organizations (ACOs), and group purchasing organizations (GPOs). Included in the data are well over a million key decision makers and a million physician contacts. For many years healthcare service providers and suppliers have leveraged Billians data to maximize the effectiveness of their sales force as they sell into this highly complex and interrelated market.

The acquisition comes just eight months after Definitives acquisition of U.S. Lifeline and its database of healthcare providers, The MAX. Through that prior acquisition, Definitive added significant depth to its supply chain data, particularly with IDN and GPO relationships, addressing an important market need. The Billians data will be similarly integrated into Definitives robust platform, providing customers from both companies with a best of breed solution and the most integrated healthcare facility data available on any platform.

This acquisition, coming on the heels of our acquisition of The MAX, demonstrates our determination to be the number one provider of data in the healthcare market, Krantz added. We will continue to invest in the best people, technology and companies to ensure that we achieve this goal.

The deal closed on June 22, 2016 and the companies have already begun to integrate the organizations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

About Definitive Healthcare

Definitive Healthcare is the leading provider of data and intelligence on hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers. Their product suite provides the most comprehensive and highest quality data available anywhere on over 8,700 hospitals and IDNs, 8,000 ambulatory surgery centers, 11,000 imaging centers, 40,000 long-term care facilities, 23,000 clinics, 1,500 ACOs and HIEs, 187,000 physician groups, 1.4 million physicians, and 900 Canadian hospitals. The Companys data provides clients with the analytics and insight needed to effectively segment and research the healthcare provider market. Definitive Healthcare is backed by Spectrum Equity. For more information or to trial the service, visit http://www.definitivehc.com.
Ceres Midline Cervical Plate The Ceres Midline has a minimal terminal distance along the vertebrae to avoid impingement on the adjacent levels. It will be less likely to have to remove the hardware if the adjacent level has to be fused in the future says Dr Todd Smith

Amendia (http://www.amendia.com), a leading provider of innovative spinal technologies, is pleased to announce the commercial launch of its Ceres- Midline Cervical Plate.

The Ceres Midline Cervical Plate System is intended for anterior screw fixation of the cervical spine (C2-C7) as an adjunct to fusion. It is indicated for degenerative disc disease, spondylolisthesis, trauma, spinal stenosis, deformity, tumor, pseudarthrosis or failed previous fusion.

The combination of the Ceres Midline with our standard anterior cervical plates demonstrates our commitment to provide surgeons with multiple options in the operating room, says Lawrence Boyd PhD, Executive Vice President of Research and Development. He adds, The Ceres Midlines streamlined instrumentation is also compatible with our Ceres -C Standalone Cervical Interbody, making our cervical technologies the solution of choice for surgeons looking for unmatched flexibility and usability.

With a width of 10.5mm and low profile 2.3mm, the Ceres Midline Cervical Plate is designed for one and two-level surgeries and is available in 18 different length sizes.

The Ceres Midline has a minimal terminal distance along the vertebrae to avoid impingement on the adjacent levels. It will be less likely to have to remove the hardware if the adjacent level has to be fused in the future says Dr Todd Smith, Orthopedic Spine Surgeon from Birmingham, Alabama.

The Ceres Midline is Amendias latest innovation for cervical fusions. The system highlights Amendias commitment to responding to surgeon needs, and improving the clinical outcomes for patients.

About Amendia

Headquartered in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Marietta, GA, Amendia is a leading designer, developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices used in spinal surgical procedures. Amendias mission is to exceed surgeon and patient expectations by creating balanced solutions with disruptive technologies for medical devices paired with biologics and instrumentation. Amendias vertically-integrated strategy focuses on improving surgical outcomes and the lives of patients with spinal disorders. For more information, please visit http://www.amendia.com.
The management team involved in the buyout has dedicated their careers in this industry and they are thrilled to return to their roots as an Independent company.

Five Star Airport Alliance Inc. (FSAA), a leading provider of Baggage Handling Systems (BHS) to Airports and Airlines across North America, announced today the successful management buyout from a Connecticut based private equity firm that has owned the Company since 2001. The new independent Company will retain the name Five Star Airport Alliance and continue to manufacture Horsley Company, G&T Conveyor, BAE and Star Systems Baggage Handling Products and Systems from its headquarters in Salt Lake City, UT.

With over 100 years combined BHS experience, members of the Management team behind this buyout are Shawna Wichtoski, Tim Berndt, Scott Hashimoto, Kelly Cox, Justin Lowder, and Lynn Arnett. According to Paul Shaffer, who will continue to serve as President and CEO, The management team involved in the buyout has dedicated their careers in this industry and they are thrilled to return to their roots as an Independent company. He continues, This will give FSAA the ability to continue serving our clients and employees with high quality, and best value Baggage Handling Systems for smaller to intermediate sized projects.

100% American owned and operated, FSAA has performed more than 300 projects totaling over $600 million of BHS related work over the past 15 years. The Company is one of only two Safety Act Certified (by the Department of Homeland Security) BHS companies and is recognized as receiving the highest safety recognition by the State of Utah Labor Commission through the OSHA SHARP program. This buyout will enable FSAA to retain the best core values and focus its sales efforts toward customers that desire flexibility, quality and value. For a complete listing of all products and services visit their website at http://www.fivestaraa.com.

About Five Star Airport Alliance

Five Star Airport Alliance is the exclusive manufacturer of The Horsley Company and G&T Conveyor Product lines. The Horsley Company was formed in 1928 and has earned a solid reputation throughout the baggage handling industry. G&T Conveyor was incorporated in 1987 and has over 25 years experience. In order to gain efficiencies, and to better serve their customers, The Horsley Company and G&T Conveyor merged into a single company on December 31, 2012. This merger combined the strengths, experience, personnel and products of both companies into one organization based in Salt Lake City, Utah, their World Headquarters. On January 1, 2013, after the merger between The Horsley Company and G&T, the Company changed its name to Five Star Airport Alliance.
Bobby has an incredible story, too. Im sure his performance and book will be enjoyable to people of all ages.

He had 34 Top 40 hits during his recording career and placed in the Top 5 Artists from his era in the 1950s and 1960s. And this week, popular teen idol and music star, Bobby Rydell, returns to the stage at the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club.

This Thursday, June 27, Rydell will sing some of his hit songs and also sign his much acclaimed autobiography, TEEN IDOL ON THE ROCKS: A Tale of Second Chances. His autobiography describes his childhood in South Philadelphia to his teen idol reign in that era and finally to his alcoholism and double-transplant surgery.

"We are thrilled to have a mega-star from that era perform on our stage, says Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club owner Rick Brown. Bobby has an incredible story, too. Im sure his performance and book will be enjoyable to people of all ages.

Bobby will be joined by the Dave Damiani & No Vacancy Orchestra whose album, "Watch What Happens" has been receiving world-wide air play.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m. on June 30th and the show begins at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $35. For tickets and more information visit our website at http://www.bethesdabluesjazz.com. The Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club is located at 7719 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland.

About Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club

The Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club, once The Bethesda Theater, was built in 1938 and opened as one of the era's Art Deco cinema palaces. With an $8 million renovation, the National Historic Register Property has been restored and is now the region's leading live music supper club. Since its opening in 2013, the club has hosted more than 500 artists, 200,000 customers, and 150 private events.

The Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club is located at 7719 Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda, Maryland. For more information, visit http://www.bethesdabluesjazz.com or call 240-330-4500.
Daniel Matusiak, a Realtor of Action Realty of Sarasota in the Sarasota, Florida, market, has rejoined the prestigious Haute Residence Real Estate Network along with other exclusive partners, such as Jeff Hyland, Joyce Rey, and The Altman Brothers.

The Haute Residence Real Estate Network (Hauteresidence.com), affiliated with luxury lifestyle publication Haute Living, is proud to continue its partnership with Daniel Matusiak, recognizing TK as a prominent and award-winning real estate professional.

Designed as a partnership-driven luxury real estate portal, Haute Residence connects its affluent readers with top real estate professionals, while offering the latest in real estate news, showcasing the worlds most extraordinary residences on the market and sharing expert advice from its knowledgeable and experienced real estate partners.

The invitation-only luxury real estate network, which partners with just one agent in every market, unites a distinguished collective of leading real estate agents and brokers and highlights the most extravagant properties in leading markets around the globe for affluent buyers, sellers, and real estate enthusiasts.

HauteResidence.com has grown to be the number one news source for million-dollar listings, high-end residential developments, celebrity real estate, and more.

Access all of this information and more by visiting: http://www.hauteresidence.com

About Daniel Matusiak:

The most important name in the sale of luxury homes in Sarasota is Daniel Matusiak. With over 30 years of experience in the most elite tier of high-end real estate, Matusiak has built a reputation on his innate ability to represent buyers and sellers of some of the most lavish homes along Floridas Gulf Coast. In 2014, he was selected for membership in the Haute Residence Real Estate Network, an exclusive and highly coveted network of Realtors that is offered to a single broker from each of the top United States and international markets. Matusiak also received an esteemed designation as a Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist, which requires an extensive portfolio of sales, knowledge, experience, and success within the industry. The highest honor within the organization is inclusion in the "Million Dollar Guild," of which Daniel is a proud member. With a sharp focus on the luxury market of Sarasota, Longboat Key, Lido Beach, Siesta Key, Bird Key, and Casey Key, he is a full-service real estate resource with an expansive network of industry-related service professionals to ensure every detail exceeds expectations.

Reaching nearly 2,000 property sales doesnt happen without equal parts of talent, hard work, and forward thinking. Recognized for his creative marketing strategies, Matusiak makes every effort to showcase properties through an innovative approachincluding a portfolio called Million Dollar Listing Sarasota, which is marketed in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. Matusiak is also a pioneer in hosting special events at multimillion-dollar homes, ranging from epicurean exploits, to rare automobile expositions. Aligning interests of luxury homebuyers at gorgeous properties, Matusiak is able to maximize the exposure of homes to affluent prospects. Partnering with the likes of fine jewelers, elite caterers, and musical talent, prospective buyers are able to see the home in a completely different light than at a traditional open house. At these elite gatherings, Matusiak takes the opportunity to support local charities through these and other creative real estate marketing events.

To give real service, you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity, he says. Paired with creative marketing and keeping clients first, theres no better way to do business.

To learn more, visit Daniel Matusiaks Haute Residence profile http://www.hauteresidence.com/member/daniel-matusiak/
Wat Tahm Rai Saw-Battambang, Cambodia Retirees looking to stretch their Social Security benefits will find safe, culturally rich Battambang, Cambodia an excellent-value option.

Battambang, in northwest Cambodia, is a safe, welcoming, slow-paced place. According to a new report from InternationalLiving.com, expats there report that a popular pastime is simply sitting down to enjoy a cool drink and meet new people.

Cambodias second-largest city (home to around 250,000 people) doesnt feel at all like the bustling capital, Phnom Penh. While most of Southeast Asia is developing at breakneck speed, Battambang gives the impression that its quite content to have settled into an earlier, simpler time.

In keeping with Cambodia as a whole, the cost of living in Battambang is low. Renting a house is particularly inexpensive. Houses with modern, Western-style conveniences range from around $205 to $409 a month. Small, two-room furnished apartments, with a swimming pool, housekeeping, and most utilities included, will cost less than $285 a month.

Pat Music, a native of Kansas and a long-time traveler, has lived in Battambang for the past four years. She lives comfortably on her small Social Security income and teaches English for a few hours every week. My monthly bills come to about $255 to $309, and thats including rent, water, electricity, and internet. I buy my food at the market and I usually cook at home. Going out to lunch is my biggest expense, though that usually comes out to just around $5 or so. I walk everywhere. My average monthly budget is less than $509.

There is scarcely a business in town that stays open past 9 p.m., and this suits Pat and many of the other expats in Battambang just fine. I dont need the nightlife and the parties, Pat says, so it works out perfectly for me.

However, expats in Battambang dont lack for culture. The city is home to a large art university, which has attracted artisans and craftsmen from all over Cambodia. As a result, Battambang is experiencing a cultural revival, with several galleries showcasing work from Cambodias best artists. Galleries will often double as coffee shops, and businesses throughout town display art, murals, and fine local handicrafts.

Still, its possible to walk from one end of the town center to the other in about 30 minutes, following the paved walkways that line both sides of the Sangker River, which runs through the middle of town. Well-maintained parks along the river banks are a draw for the townsfolk, who come to play with their children at the playgrounds, meet their friends and sweethearts, enjoy the shady benches, and work out on the exercise equipment. On either side, Buddhist wats (temples) provide a tranquil refuge for inspiration, rest, and reflection.

Pat prefers to walk whenever possible. If I do choose to have public transport, I can take either a motorbike taxi for 50 cents or a tuk-tuk for $1. Tuk-tuks are everywhere and rarely charge more than $1 per person for any destination within a mile of the town center. Owning a bicycle (as many expats do) eliminates even that low expense.

Although there is a medical clinic in Battambang with an English-speaking doctor, most expats generally expect to go to Bangkok in Thailand for anything serious. Most people have medical evacuation contingencies in their health insurance.

Many other expats report extremely low living expenses and a high quality of life in Battambang. Their stories can be found in a new International Living report at: A Comfortable Lifestyle for $509 a Month in Cambodia's Second Largest City.

Editors Note: Members of the media have permission to reproduce the article linked above once credit is given to InternationalLiving.com.

For information about InternationalLiving.com content republishing, source material or to book an interview with one of our experts, contact Associate Editor Carol Barron, 772-678-0287 (US), CBarron(at)InternationalLiving(dot)com or visit the Media Center.

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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi urged Arab and Muslim countries to unite in the face of terrorism and called for purging religious discourse of extremism.

"The Muslim world is going through a dangerous turning point and is facing unprecedented challenges targeting its existence and people, [and facing this] requires concerted efforts from all of us while putting all differences aside," El-Sisi said during a speech Wednesday.

El-Sisi warned against those exploiting sectarian or ethnic differences to cause division in the Muslim world.

The president made his remarks during a nationally televised address commemorating the anniversary of Laylat Al-Kadr (Night of Destiny), when Muslims believe the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the Prophet Mohammed.

The president also urged scholars from Egypt's Al-Azhar, the highest seat of Sunni Muslim learning, to rethink religious discourse and "purge it of flaws" that negatively affect Islam.

El-Sisi has more than once blamed outdated "religious discourse" for holding back Egypt and called for "a religious revolution" in Islam, saying that radicalized thinking has become a source of destruction for the rest of the world.

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Healthcare companies in Toledo are struggling to recruit educated STNAs to join their companies to meet the needs of a growing market - it's refreshing to find a partner that shares a common vision

myCNAjobs is proud to announce a partnership with 'care4you2' of Toledo, Ohio. 'care4you2' is extending five scholarships each month via the myCNAjobs Scholarship Fund to help caregivers who aspire to join the workforce as a State Tested Nursing Assistant (STNA).

Those compelled by their hearts calling to become a nurse aide should not be hindered due to temporary financial constraints," says Diane Yates, School Director at 'care4you2'. "We like to give back to the community by offering nurse aide training and competency evaluation program scholarships to people of integrity, driven by a passion to serve others who cannot care for themselves.

'care4you2' is a high quality STNA school, offering many programs throughout the year. With over ten training tracks, 'care4you2' is one of the leading programs in Ohio that promotes cultivation of integrity and health care excellence. By having hands-on and quality class experience, 'care4you2' prepares its students to provide quality care within the healthcare field including jobs in home care, assisted living, nursing homes, and other long term care type settings.

As an approved state testing school, students are able to complete the STNA exam onsite. "Local companies hire STNAs from 'care4you2' due to the high quality of education we're able to provide," adds Yates.

"We're thrilled to partner with a local Toledo STNA school," comments Brandi Kurtyka, CEO of myCNAjobs. "Healthcare companies in Toledo are struggling to recruit educated STNAs to join their companies to meet the needs of a growing market - it's refreshing to find a partner that shares a common vision."

About myCNAjobs

myCNAjobs is innovating the way healthcare companies hire and caregivers find work. Home care agencies, nursing homes, and assisted living communities recruit qualified aides efficiently through a suite of digital and career fair tools. Caregivers, CNAs, and Home Health Aides easily connect with local jobs, career fairs, scholarships, and resources to build a schedule to fit their needs with a tech-powered platform.
Curious minds in Philadelphia wont need to take the summer off, thanks to a new lineup of summer STEM education programs at the University City Science Center. Starting in July, the Science Centers FirstHand initiative will offer Taste Test, a new program that introduces youth to molecular gastronomy and culinary innovations. FirstHand will also pilot a new professional development program targeting Philadelphia-based middle school teachers. The FirstHand Institute for Educators first class will debut in August.

Taste Test will focus on the science of gastronomy and challenge middle school students perceptions of taste through active experimentation. Participants will step into the world of molecular gastronomy and see how genetics, texture, phases of matter, and presentation of foods affect the taste experience. Visits to Science Center-based labs will inspire the students own creative culinary innovations. Taste Test will accommodate two groups of 15 youth from Sunrise of Philadelphia. Taste Test is generously supported by grants from The Lenfest Foundation and TD Bank Charitable Foundation.

Also piloting this summer is the FirstHand Institute for Educators, which will target middle school science teachers from four Philadelphia schools. Building on FirstHand's focus on teamwork and investigative skills, teachers will explore the integration of the classroom and the workplace as part of this summer professional development series. By meeting and interacting with different aspects of the STEM ecosystem at the Science Center, teachers will see how a 21st-century workplace is powered. Visits to working labs within the Science Center's Port business incubator, combined with use of the FirstHand Lab, will inspire creative innovations in lessons and unit plans and improve student learning. The FirstHand Institute for Educators is generously supported by a grant from the William Penn Foundation.

Serving Philadelphia youth from under-resourced schools and the teachers, professionals and families from their communities, FirstHand aims to spark an interest in the STEAM disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math that students can explore and cultivate throughout their lives. By giving students the opportunity to explore, ask more questions, and create new solutions, FirstHand is opening the doors for the minds of tomorrow.

Other supporters of FirstHand include Cognizant Making the Future, The Dow Chemical Company, OHAUS, Rainin Instruments LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Troemner, LLC.

About the Science Center

Located in the heart of uCity Square, the University City Science Center is a dynamic hub for innovation, and entrepreneurship and technology development in the Greater Philadelphia region. Founded in 1963 as the nations first urban research park, it provides business incubation, programming, lab and office facilities, and support services for entrepreneurs, start-ups, and growing and established companies. Graduate firms and current residents of the Science Centers business incubator support one out of every 100 jobs in Greater Philadelphia and drive $12.9 billion in economic activity in the region annually. For more information about the Science Center, go to http://www.sciencecenter.org.
Improve Your Vision and Quality of Life! Our goal is to enhance the patient's quality of life by providing improved vision for daily activities

Low Vision in Alexandria, Virginia:

This new low vision center allows LVS to expand its collaboration with local optometrists, ophthalmologists, and renowned retina specialists who seek referrals for patients with challenging low vision conditions. Patients in Alexandria who have exhausted traditional low vision treatments will now be able to easily access the highly advanced care and state-of-the-art options available at LVS.

Low Vision Specialists of MD & VA is known as a leading ophthalmic authority within the specialty category of low vision and a leader in quality patient care and service. The specialists at LVS provide vital expertise for patients who may have been told there is nothing more that can be done to improve their eyesight. These patients suffer with decreased vision from significant eye diseases such as Macular Degeneration (wet and dry), Stargardts Disease, Diabetic Retinopathy, Retinitis Pigmentosa, and other severe vision limiting conditions. Our goal is to enhance the patient's quality of life by providing improved vision for daily activities, said Dr. Thomas Azman. We continually seek innovative low vision options so that we can provide our patients with the best and most effective solution for their specific vision impairment.

LVS offers individualized referral programs to meet the specific needs of each physician practice and their patients, including convenient evaluations at the office of the referring physician or at LVS locations. LVS is proud to offer House-Calls for those individuals who are home-bound. The new Alexandria low vision center is now scheduling patients and accepting patient referrals for low vision services beginning July 19th, 2016. Appointments can be scheduled by calling (703) 372-9733 or e-mailing Alexandria(at)LowVisionMD.org. BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

About Low Vision Specialists of MD & VA

Low Vision Specialists of Maryland and Virginia (LVS) specializes in maximizing patient vision and customizing optical systems for adult and geriatric patients suffering with vision loss caused by aging and/or ophthalmic disease, as well as children suffering with Stargardts disease. LVS improves the quality of life for patients whose vision loss makes daily activities difficult or impossible. Founded in 1975, the practice has a 98% success rate in improving patient vision. LVS is a member of The International Academy of Low Vision Specialists (IALVS), and has multiple locations in Maryland and Virginia.
It is a sincere honor to be recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year in the Emerging Business Leader category.

EY today announced that President Gabriela Isturiz of Bellefield Systems, LLC, the leader in mobile and anywhere time entry solutions for firms of all sizes, received the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2016 Award in the Emerging Business Leader category in the Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia program. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award program. The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Gabriela Isturiz was selected by an independent panel of judges, and the award was presented at a special gala event at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA on June 24, 2016.

It is a sincere honor to be recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year in the Emerging Business Leader category. I am deeply proud of the success that the Bellefield team has accomplished since the companys founding, and am grateful for the opportunity to build a company in the Pittsburgh region, which boasts world-class talent and an engaging and magnetic entrepreneurial community, said Isturiz.

Since 1986, EY has honored entrepreneurs whose ingenuity, spirit of innovation and discipline have propelled their companies success, invigorated their industries, and benefited their communities. Now in its 30th year, the program has honored the inspirational leadership of such entrepreneurs as Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company, Robert Unanue of Goya Foods, and Mindy Grossman of HSN. Recent US national winners include Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn; Hamdi Ulukaya, founder of Chobani; and 2015 winners Andreas Bechtolsheim and Jayshree Ullal of Arista Networks.

As a Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia award winner, Gabriela Isturiz is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2016 national program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced at the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards gala in Palm Springs, California, on November 19, 2016. The awards are the culminating event of the Strategic Growth ForumTM, the nations most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies. The US Entrepreneur Of The Year Overall Award winner then moves on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in Monaco, June 2017.

Sponsors

Founded and produced by EY, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are sponsored nationally by SAP America, Merrill Corporation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

In Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, sponsors also include PNC; Colliers International; The Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence at the University of Pittsburgh; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP; and Chemistry Communications.

About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year

EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the worlds most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries.

About EYs Strategic Growth Markets practice

EYs Strategic Growth Markets (SGM) practice guides leading high-growth companies. Our multidisciplinary teams of elite professionals provide perspective and advice to help our clients accelerate market leadership. SGM delivers assurance, tax, transactions and advisory services to thousands of companies spanning all industries. EY is the undisputed leader in taking companies public, advising key government agencies on the issues impacting high-growth companies and convening the experts who shape the business climate. For more information, please visit us at ey.com/us/strategicgrowthmarkets, or follow news on Twitter @EY_Growth.

About EY

EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.
Arts & Crabs Fest Logo

Arts & Crabs Fest, a culinary event unique to Southwest Louisiana, brings regional cuisine, culture, and art to the forefront each August celebrating the ties between seafood and culture. This year, the festival will be held Saturday, Aug. 20, 5  8 p.m. at Burton Coliseum, 7001 Gulf Hwy, Lake Charles, La. 70607.

Festival goers take part in an extensive crab and beer tasting which features local chefs and area restaurants each offering a crab dish representative of their cuisines styles and personalities. Past dishes have included crab ceviche, crabmeat beignets, crab sushi rolls, and crab gazpacho. Dishes are then paired with Louisiana craft beer. Chefs will compete for festivalgoers votes in the annual Best Crab Dish Award determined by the amount of tips each chef receives.

Tickets, available for both a 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. serving, go on sale on Friday, July 8. Ticket holders must be 21 years of age or older.

Local art displays and demonstrations, interactive cultural activities and live music will also accompany the festivities. For the fourth year in a row, Arts & Crabs Fest was awarded the coveted designation of "Top 20 Event in the Southeast" by the Southeast Tourism Society. Through its seven years, Arts & Crabs Fest has become a destination event for Southwest Louisiana and is consistently sold out.

Funds raised at Arts & Crabs Fest are reinvested back into the community through the Arts Council of Southwest Louisianas year-round services and programs. Event sponsorship packages are also available for local businesses.

Arts & Crabs Fest is sponsored by the Arts Council of SWLA, Lake Charles/SWLA Convention & Visitors Bureau, Union Pacific, L'Auberge Casino Resort, Automotive Alignment & Brake Service, Deep South Productions, First Federal Bank of Louisiana, Healthy Image Marketing Agency, IBERIABANK, Knight Media Printing, KVHP FOX 29/The CW, Louisiana Lottery, Parker Brand Creative Services, Southwest Beverage and the Louisiana Division of the Arts.

For details and ticket information, call the Arts Council of SWLA at 439-2787 or visit http://www.artsandhumanitiesswla.org
David Antar Shows Off IPVideo Corporation's Global Fusion Center David Antar and his team at IPVideo provide full-spectrum knowledge on the security industry's needs.

IPVideo Corporation, manufacturer of IP-based video surveillance and command center solutions, today announced its role as a founding technology sponsor of the Robolliance Program. Robolliance, and its associated online forum (http://www.robolliance.com), is a gateway for technology partners and industry experts in robotics, surveillance and security, to advance the understanding and awareness of the growing opportunity for Autonomous Robotics within the security marketplace. As an innovator in IP-based video-centric security technologies, IPVideo Corporation sees clear benefits to the future integration of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), equipped with cameras and other sensors, with surveillance and physical security management platforms, such as its own SentryVMS, Mosaic and C3fusion solutions.

A 2015 report from The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) indicates sales of industrial robots increased by 29% in 2014, more than double the rate of the previous year. While the main drivers of growth have, until now, been within the manufacturing sector, applications for their use continue to expand. The Robolliance forum is an opportunity for thought leaders, like IPVideo Corporations President, David Antar, to contribute to public education and insights on these trends.

As this quarters Sponsor Spotlight featured on Robolliance.com, Mr. Antar explains, In todays world, in which security is constantly top-of-mind, the marriage of physical security with robotic technologies holds tremendous potential to improve public safety on many levels, but to be truly successful, it is imperative that the public understand and embrace this new paradigm rather than fear it. As a sponsor of the Robolliance and member of the security industry, IPVideo Corporation is proud to be part of a program that we hope will become the premier online resource and thought leadership forum for ideas and information related to the beneficial role robotics will play in all of our lives. The full interview can be read here: http://www.robolliance.com/en/Sponsors/SponsorSpotlight.aspx

David Antar and his team at IPVideo provide full-spectrum knowledge on the security industrys needs, said Alice DiSanto, Director of Marketing for Sharp Robotics Business Development. Within Robolliance, they (IPVideo) hold the unique distinction of providing insights into the three areas of technology, sales channel and industry expertise. Visitors to the Robolliance site can use these insights to inform their high-tech, security and surveillance decisions when looking to help safeguard infrastructure, assets and people.

About IPVideo Corporation

An industry pioneer since its introduction of one of the first network-based surveillance recording solutions in 1996, IPVideo Corporation is now at the forefront of developing unique, innovative solutions that harness the power of IP video technology. Today, the Companys systems are trusted by Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and municipalities, utilities, healthcare facilities, school districts and leading universities to mitigate risk while protecting people and property. A commitment to an open-standards philosophy and delivering best-in-class performance and value underlies all offeringsfrom physical security solutions that bridge to the Internet of Things, to purpose-built HD audio/video recording solutions for education, law enforcement, healthcare, and beyond. The companys worldwide client base is served by a network of certified distributors, dealers and system integrators, who benefit from ongoing corporate support and training. IPVideo Corporation is headquartered in Bay Shore, NY. For more information, visit http://www.ipvideocorp.com.
MaidPro Home Office Team Enjoying where you work goes far beyond the physical office. We are a family who are all proud of what we do and who we work with. Were passionate, were quirky and most of all we are treated with love and respect. - Madeleine Park

Boston Business Journal celebrated its 14th annual Best Places to Work event Thursday, June 23 at Symphony Hall in Boston. With 80 companies in attendance, all separated by size, MaidPro landed #8 in the small category (50-99 employees). This is the 8th year MaidPro has been honored by the Boston Business Journal for creating and maintaining outstanding work environments for their employees. Of their 57 Home Office employees MaidPro was proud to say that 53 were in attendance at the ceremony. Madeleine Park, Franchise Marketing Coordinator, stated, Enjoying where you work goes far beyond the physical office. We are a family who are all proud of what we do and who we work with. Were passionate, were quirky and most of all we are treated with love and respect. MaidPro was also named as one of Bostons Healthiest Employers by the Boston Business Journal earlier this year.

To get a free estimate for housecleaning services from MaidPro please visit http://www.maidpro.com.

ABOUT MAIDPRO

MaidPro is a Boston-based franchisor of house cleaning services with over 200 locations in 38 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. The company, which began franchising in 1997, takes pride in its strong owner community, cutting-edge technology and creative marketing. It has been honored with the Franchise Business Reviews Four-Star Rating and Franchise 50 awards every year from 2006 to 2016 for owner satisfaction. MaidPro was named one of the Top 50 Franchises for Minorities by USA Todays Franchising Today. MaidPro is also a proud member of the International Franchise Association and the New England Franchise Association. The company can be found online at http://www.maidprofranchise.com.
This session of the elmspring accelerator will launch our new approach to mentoring startups in the industry.

The premiere real estate accelerator program, elmspring, is pleased to announce the participants for elmspring 2016. The session will begin on July 25, 2016, and will welcome ten new startup companies.

The elmspring accelerator, founded by real estate entrepreneurs Thomas Bretz and Adam Freeman, is a four-month intensive program that aims to support disruptive technology in real estate and related industries. Each startup receives seed capital, access to elmsprings impressive network of advisors and mentors, office space at Chicagos tech hub 1871 and a host of professional services and resources. The program includes a Demo Day slated for October of this year where startups demonstrate their products for serious investors.

This session of the elmspring accelerator will launch our new approach to mentoring startups in the industry. We will be working with more companies for a longer period of time. We have added a month of post-Demo Day support, which we hope will have a greater impact on the growth trajectory of each business, says Bretz.

Below is a brief introduction to the first five participating companies. More information will be released regarding the final five participants.

MarketSquare: MarketSquare is an end-to-end marketplace for furniture and home decor, bringing digital innovation to the traditional furniture consignment business model. MarketSquare's online-first approach provides both buyers and sellers increased transparency, efficiency and overall value. Focused on the Chicago market, MarketSquare serves customers within 50 miles of the city.

Enodo Score: Endo Score is a predictive analytics platform for the commercial multifamily real estate industry that objectively measures the investment grade of multifamily properties. Analyzing real-time data from public and private sources, Enodo Scores machine learning algorithm untangles each of the factors that drive returns in multifamily investmentshelping users determine how aspects like renovations, competing developments, proximity to public transportation, the addition of a pool or job growth rates will affect investment returns in every market across the U.S.

Kahoots: Kahoots is the creator of the Kahoots App, a digital assistant for the modern realtor. The app saves realtors time by qualifying leads and smartly routing them to significantly decrease follow-up time from hours to less than five minutes. It integrates with existing CRM and lead systems and provides brokerages with analytics on new lead follow-up and ensuring existing clients get personal check-ins from agents.

Capital Construction Solutions: Capital Construction Solutions (CCS) is a knowledge sharing platform to mitigate risks in construction. CCS has created a safety mobile application (CCS Safety) that reviews a list of 7,000+ best practice safety questions depending on the category of work (180+ categories) being performed. In addition, the command center website allows companies to tie together all Apple and Android devices into a single safety enterprise reporting tool. Their goal is to ensure a safe workplace and provide a quantitative and intuitive tool for all employees. CCS will be developing 17 more applications to eliminate friction points in the construction industry by the end of 2018.

Blue Crates: Blue Crates provides an on demand storage and moving solution. With a technology enabled platform that allows users to catalog and recall their items from the comfort of their homes, Blue Crates allows users to store and move their things on demand without lifting a finger. Blue Crates provides affordable convenience and helps customers extend their closets and reclaim their space without the hassle of having to use a traditional self-storage unit.

For more information about the elmspring accelerator, email info(at)elmspringaccelerator(dot)com.
Lisa Van Hoose Lisa presents pertinent, evidence-based information in an informal, comfortable environment that is conducive to learning and sharing. Her breadth of knowledge and experience is vast.

The course, Evidence Based Cancer Rehabilitation and Its Role in Cancer Survivorship, is recommended for physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists, occupational therapist assistants, oncology nurses, oncologists, and other professionals contemplating or currently providing oncology rehabilitation services.

Research shows that most cancer survivors will have at least one physical side effect of cancer treatment, which may include fatigue, neuropathy, muscle weakness, and/or balance deficits. There is strong evidence to support the management of these side effects through physical therapy and occupational therapy. This interactive course will provide the latest evidence-based tools and strategies for the care of patients with diverse cancer types across the cancer continuum. It will also address functional outcome measures and reimbursement concerns. Participants will learn to develop an evidence-based rehabilitation plan, while addressing current reimbursement requirements from Medicare and private insurance companies. Participants may earn up to eighteen continuing education hours while growing their skills.

Lisa VanHoose, PhD, MPH, PT, CLT-LANA, CKTP has practiced oncologic physical therapy since 1996. She serves as an Assistant Professor in the Physical Therapy Department at University of Central Arkansas. As a NIH and industry funded researcher, Dr. VanHoose investigates the effectiveness of various physical therapy interventions and physiology of lymphedema. Dr. VanHoose currently serves as the President of the Oncology Section of the American Physical Therapy Association.

Education Resources Inc. is pleased to partner with Saddleback Memorial Medical Center, Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, MetroWest Medical Center, and Memorial Regional Hospital to bring this course to healthcare professionals on the following dates:

o August 26-27, 2016: Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, California

o September 23-24, 2016: Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains, New York

o October 28-29, 2016: MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, Massachusetts

o November 18-19, 2016: Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida

Education Resources Inc. is a leading provider of evidence-based continuing education for physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, assistants, other health care professionals, and educators. For over 25 years, Education Resources Inc. and its esteemed faculty have educated therapists around the world on the latest topics applicable to clinicians practicing across the entire continuum of healthcare as well as those practicing in the schools. Education Resources Inc. is co-owned by two physical therapists and based in Massachusetts.
You shouldnt have to work at a Fortune 500 company in order to have a viable retirement savings plan, said Shin Inoue, CEO and cofounder at ForUsAll.

Today, new 401(k)-focused startup ForUsAll announced $9.5 million in Series A funding led by Foundation Capital with general partner Steve Vassallo joining the board. Additionally, Lawrence H. Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury for President Clinton, has joined as Senior Advisor.

American retirement is underfunded by a whopping $6 trillion*. Due to lack of resources, complexity, and cost, many small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) dont even offer retirement plans. As a result, 54% of Americans dont have access to retirement plans at work. For those SMBs that do offer retirement options, employee participation is low because of lack of engagement and overly complex onboarding process. When employees do participate, they are often not saving enough and, compounding the issue even further, they are subjected to exorbitant fees and wasting $17 billion** every year.

You shouldnt have to work at a Fortune 500 company in order to have a viable retirement savings plan, said Shin Inoue, CEO and cofounder at ForUsAll. So, we rebuilt the 401(k) from the ground up and tackled the SMBs access problem, participation problem, savings problem, and fees problem.

Now, the ForUsAll 401(k) is changing the SMB paradigm. To date, the company has seen an average participation rate of 88 percent, with savings rates of 7.4 percent on average. Thats almost twice as much money flowing into ForUsAlls 401(k) when compared to the typical SMB 401(k). ForUsAll also eliminates major hassle factors for SMBs by assuming administrative and fiduciary responsibilities and keeping fees close to 0.5 percent compared to the industry average of 1.3 percent.

ForUsAll was founded by Shin Inoue, David Ramirez, and Dave Boudreau from Financial Engines where they served the Fortune 500s. Now, they have brought their technology and design expertise down to the small end to help close the $6 trillion dollar gap in retirement savings.

"ForUsAll is one of the few FinTech companies leading with design, said Steve Vassallo, General Partner at Foundation Capital. With a beautifully simple product, they are making it possible for everyone to save for retirement.

Our collective technology and design expertise is transforming the underserved and overcharged SMB 401(k) and will ultimately close the $6 trillion retirement gap in America. said Inoue.

About ForUsAll

ForUsAll is a next-generation provider of 401(k)s for small businesses. ForUsAll was founded to help bridge the current retirement gap facing the United States by radically simplifying the 401(k) so that its easy, hassle-free, and inexpensive for any small company and its employees. ForUsAll has a very simple goal: to make sure that every American has a fair shot at retirement success, no matter how small the company they work for or own. To learn more please go to http://www.ForUsAll.com.

About Foundation Capital

Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm dedicated to the proposition that one entrepreneur's idea, with the right support, can become a business that changes the world. The company is made up of former entrepreneurs who set out to create the firm they wanted as founders. This forward-thinking team of VCs has helped companies like Lending Club change the way money is lent and borrowed, Sunrun reinvent the residential clean energy market, and Netflix revolutionize media distribution and consumption, among many others.

Foundation Capital is currently invested in more than 60 high-growth ventures in the areas of consumer, information technology, software, digital energy, financial technology and marketing technology. These investments include AdRoll, Beepi, Bolt Threads, DogVacay, Kik, ForgeRock, Lending Home, Localytics and Visier. The firm's twenty-six IPOs include Netflix OnDeck, Chegg, Sunrun, MobileIron, Control4, TubeMogul, Envestnet, Financial Engines, Lending Club, NetZero, Responsys and Silver Spring Networks. Read more at http://www.foundationcapital.com.

*http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2013/06/20/retirement-shortfall-may-top-14-trillion

**https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/04/06/fact-sheet-middle-class-economics-strengthening-retirement-security
Students say that some among them have been arrested while police forces used tear gas Monday to disperse student protesters

Dozens of Thanaweya Amma high school students continued to protest Wednesday in several parts of the country against a recent government decision to cancel and postpone a number of their end-of-year exams.

The controversial decision came after several incidents of exam questions and answers were leaked online, which sparked an outcry among students and parents who have staged demonstrations over the past two days.

Around 300 students protested Wednesday in front of the press syndicate headquarters in Downtown Cairo, chanting slogans against the education ministry and calling for the minister to resign.

"How would a minister who has failed to protect an exam paper carry the responsibility of the ministry?" student Ahmed Salman asked, as quoted by Al-Ahram Arabic news website.

Ahmed Shawky, another student, said that a number of his colleagues had been arrested during protests Monday, claiming that they are still detained and did not attend Wednesday's exams.

Egypt's protest law stipulates that demonstrations have to be approved by the police in advance, otherwise violators could face jail terms.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, security forces dispersed student protests in front of the headquarters of the education ministry in central Cairo. Eyewitnesses told Al-Ahram Arabic news website that tens of students have been rounded up.

Dozens of students staged protests in other parts of the country, including in the Nile Delta governorate of Gharbiya and the port governorate of Damietta.

A popular Facebook page that published leaked school exam papers allegedly posted Wednesday's religion exam question paper an hour before the exam started.

There was no official confirmation from the ministry about the leaked paper, but the ministry denied in a statement that other leaked papers of exams scheduled to take place next week are authentic.

Hundreds of high school students protested Monday following the government's decision to cancel and reschedule part of their exams. Police used tear gas to disperse the protesting students.

Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail vowed on earlier this month that tough legal measures would be taken against those who leak the exams, and several administrators of Facebook pages have been arrested over involvement in leak incidents.

The results of the Thanaweya Amma exams, taken in the final year of high school, determine students' college destinations and subject choices.

More than 500,000 students are sitting this year's tests.

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Start Something Challenge logo We want to give entrepreneurs the opportunity to participate in, and benefit from the competition, and we want to make sure that they are able to get their entries in comfortably.

New Jerseys entrepreneurs and small business owners still have the opportunity to enter the 2016 Start Something Challenge (SSC), as the competitions deadline has been extended to 11:59 PM on Thursday June 30, 2016.

Hosted by Rising Tide Capital, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs to start and grow successful small businesses, the SSC is a business pitch competition with more than $25,000 in cash and prizes for New Jerseys entrepreneurs, including a $10,000 first prize.

We had so many calls from people who were asking us if it was too late to enter the competition, that we decided to go ahead and extend the deadline, said Esther Fraser, Director of Communications at Rising Tide Capital. We want to give entrepreneurs the opportunity to participate in, and benefit from the competition, and we want to make sure that they are able to get their entries in comfortably.

To enter the SSC, entrepreneurs must create a 30-second video about their business or business idea using the online tool ANIMOTO. Next, they need to write a 150-word business description and upload both the video and description to the Start Something Challenge website and YouTube.

As soon as they enter the competition, they may begin promoting their videos. The six entrepreneurs with the most video views in each of the 5 sectors by noon on July 6, will move on in the competition. After another round of viewing and voting, 10 entrepreneurs, 2 from each sector will pitch their businesses before a group of judges on July 28.

Entrepreneurs interested in learning more about the competition should visit the website http://www.StartSomethingChallenge.org or email SSC(at)RisingTideCapital(dot)org.

The Start Something Challenge (SSC) is a statewide pitch competition and business strengthening opportunity for New Jersey entrepreneurs. The Challenge is funded by visionary supporters and organized by Rising Tide Capital, a non-profit organization that helps entrepreneurs start and grow successful businesses. Since 2012, the Start Something Challenge has empowered 345 New Jersey entrepreneurs across 5 different business sectors, to collectively generate 120 million media impressions.

To learn more, visit http://www.StartSomethingChallenge.org.

Headquartered in Jersey City, Rising Tide Capital, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded with the mission to empower entrepreneurs to create and grow small businesses which transform lives and communities. The organizations vision is to build a replicable model for high-quality entrepreneurial development services that can be adopted locally in other low-income communities.

Learn more at http://www.RisingTideCapital.org
NAHREP Top 250 Latino Mortgage Originators being awarded in 2015 NAHREP is proud to recognize these mortgage professionals whose cultural competencies in working with Latino consumers helps them to more effectively guide their clients through the most significant financial transaction of their lives. Joseph Nery

Today the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) released its second annual Top 250 Latino Mortgage Originator Report acknowledging the most successful mortgage professionals with the highest number of closed mortgages and greatest sales volume. For the second year in a row Wells Fargo led the way as the company with the most honorees, followed by New American Funding and Quicken Loans. More than 700 individuals from 261 cities submitted their results for consideration. The final list represents over $8.1 billion in sales volume, an increase of more than $3 billion over last years results. The report, which is sponsored by Radian Guaranty, is available for download at http://www.nahrep.org/top250/originator.

Hispanics were responsible for 69 percent of the homeownership growth in the country in 2015, said Joseph Nery, NAHREP 2016 President. NAHREP is proud to recognize these mortgage professionals whose cultural competencies in working with Latino consumers helps them to more effectively guide their clients through the most significant financial transaction of their lives.

The Top 250 Latino Mortgage Originators Report was compiled through a self-nomination process reflective of total transactions closed during the 2015 calendar year then verified by NAHREP and nominees respective companies. Membership in NAHREP is not a requirement. This year's Top 10 Latino Mortgage Originators in the U.S. are:

1. Carlos Larrazaball, WashingtonFirst Mortgage, Fairfax, VA

2. Manuel Corral, Golden Empire Mortgage, Inc., Pomona, CA

3. Sergio Corona, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Des Moines, IA

4. Alex Varela, PrimeLending, Bedford, TX

5. Rodrigo Ballon, Crosscountry Mortgage, San Diego, CA

6. Donald Ambrose King, IV, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Des Moines, IA

7. Maria Salas, Texas Bank Mortgage, Fort Worth, TX

8. Robert Decontreras, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Burlingame, CA

9. Jorge Montoya, Guild Mortgage, Reno, NV

10. Tom Ramirez, New American Funding, Downey, CA

The report features data points, snapshots and photos of the honorees who will be recognized at the 2016 NAHREP National Convention and Latin Music Festival. Also highlighted in the report are the top cities represented: Los Angeles, CA, Orange County, CA and Phoenix, AZ.

This years list also includes an additional featured element, recognizing the Top 100 Latino Mortgage Originators from among the non-depository lenders in the report, highlighting the 39 companies in this space whose top originators are serving Latino communities across America. New American Funding led the non-depositories represented on the list, followed by Quicken Loans and Alterra Home Loans.

About NAHREP

The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, a nonprofit 501(c) 6 trade association, is dedicated to advancing sustainable homeownership among Latinos by educating and empowering the real estate professionals who serve them. NAHREP is the premier trade organization for Hispanics and has more than 24,000 members in 48 states and 41 affiliate chapters.
Im quite pleased to announce the addition of the following individuals to our sales team, each of whom has experience developing relationships with either the leadership at our partner firms or the financial advisor community."

Fred Alger & Company, Incorporated (Alger) today announced five new additions to its external sales team calling on financial advisors and the home offices of Algers largest wealth manager relationships. These hires reinforce and exemplify Algers long term and sustained commitment to the financial advisor community.

Im quite pleased to announce the addition of the following individuals to our sales team, each of whom has experience developing relationships with either the leadership at our partner firms or the financial advisor community within their respective regions, said Elizabeth Clapp-Carey, CIMA, Senior Vice President, Head of Retail Sales.

Alger is pleased to introduce May Poon as Senior Vice President, Director of National Accounts, who joins Alger with responsibility for managing the relationships for Algers largest accounts. May has more than 10 years of industry experience and was previously National Accounts Director, Active Strategies-All Channels at Van Eck. Prior to that, May served as a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley. May holds a B.A. from Case Western Reserve University and holds Series 3, 7, 31 and 66 securities registrations.

Alger additionally welcomes four new Regional Marketing Managers to its team calling on financial advisors. They are:



Patrice Franco, Vice President, Regional Marketing Manager, for the New York Metro market, including New York City, Westchester and Long Island. Patrice has 27 years of industry and asset management experience and previously held the position of Vice President, Investment Management Consultant at BlackRock. Prior to that, Patrice was a Vice President, Asset Management Advisor at Merrill Lynch Investment Management in the New York Metro area. She graduated with a B.S. from Penn State University and holds Series 7, 9, 10 and 66 securities registrations.

Bradley Grulke, Vice President, Regional Marketing Manager, covering Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina. Brad, who has 16 years of experience, was Regional Sales Director at WBI before joining Alger. Prior to that, he held sales roles at ING Individual Retirement. Brad earned a B.A. from Brown University.

Jeremy Jackson, Vice President, Regional Marketing Manager, for the Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri markets. Jeremy brings over 14 years of investment industry experience. Previous to joining Alger, Jeremy served as Regional Vice President at Transamerica Capital, Inc. in Minneapolis. He earned a B.S. from Truman State University and holds Series 7 and 66 securities registrations.

William (Bill) Kennedy, Vice President, Regional Marketing Manager, covering Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. Bill has 19 years of experience in the industry. Prior to Alger, Bill served as Wealth Management Client Advisor at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Bill earned a B.S. from Wagner College and holds Series 7 and 63 securities registrations.

The addition of these new team members significantly strengthens Algers existing experienced national accounts and sales teams, said Jim Tambone, Chief Distribution Officer. Each individual has a long track record of providing superior service to clients and a proven record of delivering sales results. They are seasoned professionals dedicated to helping us build an even stronger Alger for the future.

About Fred Alger & Company, Incorporated

Fred Alger & Company, Incorporated, a broker-dealer, is the principal underwriter for the Alger family of mutual funds. Alger provides financial advisors and investors with access to a suite of growth equity mutual funds, as well as institutional funds for defined benefit and defined contribution plans. Available mutual funds include market-cap specific, focused, alternatives, international, emerging markets, and sector-specific. For more information, please visit http://www.alger.com.
TUKAcad and TUKA3D systems have done wonders for the apparel industry globally. I'm excited to see what they can do for companies in Italy and throughout Europe.

Tukatech, Inc. announces the appointment of Marta Maiandi as Director of Tukatech Europe. The 24-year-old is an accomplished engineer with a degree in Information and Industrial Systems from the Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy. Based in Curno (BG), Italy, she will be responsible for engineering, sales and support for the Tukatech users throughout Europe.

Marta has been trained on Tukatech's software solutions at the World Headquarter office in Los Angeles, CA, USA. Our USA team will be working closely with Marta to help Tukatech users in Europe to engineer their processes.

Since Tukatech was founded in 1995, we have been known for disrupting the product development processes in the apparel industry. The new generation has proved to have a thorough understanding of the importance of technology in the apparel industry. Marta is a perfect addition to show traditionalists how to get more productivity with fewer people, commented Mr. Ram Sareen, Founder and CEO, Tukatech, Inc.

I grew up in a family that developed technology and equipment for the apparel industry; we all have a passion for creating the most innovative solutions.

TUKAcad and TUKA3D systems have done wonders for the apparel industry globally. Im excited to see what they can do for companies in Italy and throughout Europe, says Marta Maiandi. I am very excited to be with the Tukateam and I am looking forward to leading our team of engineers in Italy to help the customers to improve the performance of their processes with our consulting and systems, she added.

About Tukatech, Inc. - Tukatech is the garment and apparel industry's leading provider of fashion technology solutions. Founded in 1995 by garment-industry veteran Ram Sareen, Tukatech offers award-winning 2D pattern making, grading, and marker making software, automated marker making software, 3D sample making/virtual prototyping software, as well as garment plotters, and automatic spreaders and cutters for production. All systems include unlimited training, consulting, process engineering, and implementation of our technologies. The capability of Tukatechs technology remains unparalleled in the fashion industry.
BestColleges.com has released its 2016 rankings of the best four-year, two-year and online higher learning institutions in Georgia. The rankings methodology is based upon data curated by the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES). Factors include affordability, enrollment and graduation rates, and additional measures of positive student outcomes. With these guides, BestColleges.com strives to provide a comprehensive resource for college-bound men and women exploring academic options within the Peach State.

Georgia's universities are best known for polytechnic, agriculture and business-oriented programs. The state also boasts a relatively large number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Additionally, all public colleges and universities in Georgia are at least partially supported by the state legislature, and all high school students who maintain a 3.0 GPA at graduation automatically qualify for a HOPE Scholarship.

BestCollege's four-year ranking list is topped by the University of Georgia. With an enrollment of more than 35,000 students and more than 140 degree programs, the Athens institution is a popular academic destination for students across the Southeast. The second slot goes to Emory University, a school noted for its diversity -- 22% of students are Asian/Pacific Islander, 10% identify as black and 14% are international students. Georgia Southern University, Wesleyan University and Georgia State University respectively finished off the top five.

Southeastern Technical College landed in first place on the ranking of the state's two-year schools. This Vidalia school offers lower in-state and out-of-state tuition rates than any other institution in the top 25 list. Notably, all but one of the top 10 two-year schools is categorized as a 'technical college'; these make up part of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), a conglomeration of 23 different institutions. The TCSG has worked closely with the University System of Georgia (USG) to create Georgia's Higher Education Completion Plan, an initiative designed to improve college accessibility to prospective students and increase the number of degree and professional certificate-holders throughout the state.

Listed below are the top 10 schools in each category:

Best Four-Year Colleges in Georgia

1 University of Georgia - Athens, GA

2 Emory University - Atlanta, GA

3 Georgia College & State University - Milledgeville, GA

4 Georgia Southern University - Statesboro, GA

5 Wesleyan College - Macon, GA

6 Georgia State University - Atlanta, GA

7 Agnes Scott College - Decatur, GA

8 Spelman College - Atlanta, GA

9 Berry College - Mount Berry, GA

10 University of West Georgia - Newnan, GA

Best Two-Year Colleges in Georgia

1 Southeastern Technical College - Vidalia, GA

2 Southwest Georgia Technical College - Thomasville, GA

3 Oconee Fall Line Technical College - Sandersville, GA

4 Lanier Technical College - Oakwood, GA

5 Moultrie Technical College - Moultrie, GA

6 College of Coastal Georgia - Brunswick, GA

7 North Georgia Technical College - Clarkesville, GA

8 Ogeechee Technical College - Statesboro, GA

9 Albany Technical College - Albany, GA

10 Wiregrass Georgia Technical College - Valdosta, GA

Best Online Colleges in Georgia

1 Georgia Southern University - Statesboro, GA

2 University of Georgia - Athens, GA

3 Toccoa Falls College - Toccoa, GA

4 University of West Georgia - Newnan, GA

5 Georgia College & State University - Milledgeville, GA

6 Clayton State University - Morrow, GA

7 Columbus State University - Columbus, GA

8 Kennesaw State University - Kennesaw, GA

9 Brenau University - Gainesville, GA

10 Albany State University - Albany
In the United States, more than 40 million people suffer from hair loss and seek effective, fast hair loss solutions... Luckily, top trichology experts have authentic hair loss solutions.

In the United States, more than 40 million people suffer from hair loss and seek effective, fast hair loss solutions. Despite the high number of those affected, many feel isolated by scalp and hair problems. By age 35, 2/3 of men experience hair loss. Women make up 40% of all those suffering from hair loss, wondering how to stop hair falling out. By age 50, about half of women experience hair loss. This happens due to conditions such as male pattern baldness, female pattern baldness, alopecia, results of chemo treatments and more. Luckily, seasoned expert Melinda Galloway has opened a new salon in San Diego, California, with an initial open house in April 2016, to offer hair loss solutions.

Finding a hair loss solution often becomes top of mind after someone has experienced negative side effects of hair loss. Since Galloway began trichology services in 1996, she has seen many people who have suffered from a decrease in self esteem, depression, anxiety or other emotional issues due to hair loss. This is often because lush hair, for both men and women, is closely tied to feelings of beauty, youth, health and, especially for males, virility.

Despite these widespread emotional effects and need for effective hair loss treatments, authentic solutions are not discussed often enough. Many people who suffer from hair loss imagine that wigs or unnatural-looking extensions are their only options. However, Galloway is able to offer highly effective hair loss prevention and hair regrowth services, which create the look and feel of real, lush hair, at her new salon, Advanced Hair Aesthetics.

Melinda Galloway HPT, a practitioner based in San Diego, California, helps with hair loss for women and hair loss for men. Galloway works with clients who have had everything from Alopecia Areata and hair loss due to pregnancy's hormonal changes to standard male and female pattern baldness. Galloway says this is very common and that:

Countless times clients told me they felt embarrassed, alone and unsure who to turn to for help. I wanted to bridge that gap between medical and cosmetic in a partnership that will equate health and beauty for all those in need.

Clients can experience a remarkably improved difference through Galloway's hair loss treatments, which can include Hair Replacement & Cranial Prosthesis, Scalp Micro Pigmentation, Laser Hair Therapy (LHT), Health Scalp Therapies and more.

She opened her new salon, Advanced Hair Aesthetics, in February 2016 and is fully open for business in the Sorrento Valley neighborhood of San Diego, California and all surrounding areas, including Temecula and Orange County. Learn more about hair loss, whether the normal progression of thinning hair or a more extreme condition such as alopecia, and authentic hair growth solutions from certified expert Melinda Galloway HPT at http://www.sandiegohairlossspecialist.com.
Video Surveillance in the CLOUD By leveraging ControlByNets i-flashback software, we can instantly add cloud video surveillance to our current offerings for our small business customers, said Jean Crescenzi, chief technology officer at Colosseum Online Inc.

ControlByNet, a leader in cloud-based hosted video security surveillance solutions, announced today that they have joined forces with Colosseum Online Inc., a Toronto-based internet and data center service provider, to offer Colosseums customers a cloud-based video surveillance solution.

By leveraging ControlByNets i-flashback software, we can instantly add cloud video surveillance to our current offerings for our small business customers, said Jean Crescenzi, chief technology officer at Colosseum Online Inc. We are also utilizing ControlByNets guard station software, ip-LookOUT, to provide a video verification service to our small business clients as an added feature.

ControlByNets video surveillance software provides another recurring revenue stream option for Colosseum Online Inc. Moving into cloud video is very simple with our software and any size organization can do it, said Ryan Strange, president of ControlByNet LLC. Even if cloud video isnt your key business, hosting a few clients can provide additional recurring revenue and offering it to current customers adds a nice addition to your bottom line.

About Colosseum Online Inc. (Colosseum.com)

Colosseum Online Inc. is a Toronto Canada full service Internet provider. It offers customers primary services such as online backups, colocation, web hosting, dedicated high speed Internet access and additional cloud services. Colosseum Online Inc. has been in business since 1994 and has grown exponentially over the years serving both retail and corporate clients around the globe. For more information, visit Colosseum.com

About ControlByNet (ControlByNet.com)

ControlByNet provides the most flexible Cloud and managed IP-based surveillance solution on the market. ControlByNet works with integrators and resellers to create recurring revenue for them and provide the innovative Cloud Plus security surveillance software to their customers. By leveraging Software as a Service (SaaS), CBN's solution integrates seamlessly across its products creating limitless installation scenarios. The hierarchal nature of the software allows a single log-in across multiple accounts hosted on multiple servers  anywhere on the Internet. While the i-flashback interface is as simple to use as a nanny cam, both versions of the software are sophisticated enough to manage thousands of remote cameras from a single browser interface. Cloud Plus is fully html 5.0 browser-compliant, meaning the web interface operates on all current browsers including all mobile devices (iPad, iPhone, Android, Chrome, Firefox and Safari). For more information, visit ControlByNet.com.
Alvin Toffler, renowned business futurist, died Monday at age 87. He is shown here at a 2010 event celebrating the 40th anniversary of his book, Future Shock. Its difficult to find an aspect of modern life not touched by his work.

Alvin Toffler, one of the most respected futurists of the modern era and known around the world for ideas that influenced government and business leaders alike, died at age 87 late Monday, June 27. He is survived by his wife of more than 60 years and longtime business partner, Heidi Toffler.

Alvins wide life experience infused his work as a keen observer and predictor of global trends. After graduating from New York University, Alvin and Heidi married and moved to the Midwest. For five years, Alvin worked as a welder to study assembly lines and industrial mass production up close. His experience led to a stint as a newspaperman and editor, writing first about labor before shifting his focus to business and management and then to technology.

By the mid-1960s, he began work on Future Shock, the global bestseller that led to the couples subsequent career as authors and global lecturers.

It was an exhilarating ride and we were an amazing team, Heidi said. I will cherish always the special personal and professional partnership we shared, as well as the incredible openness with which heads of state and presidents of companies welcomed our insights about the future.

Alvin authored several books with Heidi. The most notable comprise the acclaimed Toffler trilogy of Future Shock, The Third Wave and Powershift, all international bestsellers widely read by contemporary business and political leaders.

Future Shock, which vividly described an emerging global civilization, was published in more than 50 countries and introduced a phrase into our language that is still used today. The Third Wave offered a portrait of a new civilization emerging around the globe and revealed the hidden connections among changes in business, family life, technology and politics. Powershift examined the roles conflict, wealth and knowledge play in our lives as it charted new paths to power opened by a world in upheaval.

In their writing, the Tofflers forecast many of the realities of contemporary society and politics, including the acceleration of daily life, the decline of the nuclear family, cloning, virtual reality, information overload, the threat of terrorism and many other features of contemporary society and politics. Many of these predictions have come to bear and the central thesis of their work has proven truethat a knowledge-based new economy would replace the Industrial Age.

Alvin Tofflers ideas resonated with political and business leaders around the globe:

In Russia, Alvin was part of a small group gathered in 1986 by then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to create the first non-governmental, non-Communist party organization in the U.S.S.R. since the 1917 Communist revolution. Today there are more than 400,000 NGOs in Russia.

In China, then-Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang used The Third Wave in his speeches to help launch the reform program that led to Chinas amazing economic rise. Today, many Chinese still refer to it as the book that changed China.

In South Korea, then-President Kim Dae Jung sought guidance from the Tofflers as he lay the foundations for a peaceful reunification of the two Korean states.

In Mexico, business magnate Carlos Slim, who was ranked as the richest person in the world from 2010 to 2013, acknowledged the critical role that the Tofflers work had in helping him anticipate and identify business opportunities throughout the world.

In 1996, Alvin, Heidi and business consultant Tom Johnson co-founded their namesake advisory firm, Toffler Associates, to expand their ability to guide governments and businesses working to transform their organizations for the future. Alvins work remains especially relevant today, as the firm celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and still employs many of the concepts and methodologies introduced by its founder in the work it does for organizations around the world.

As one of the first associates hired by Alvin and as the current leader of the firm charged with advancing his work, Im grateful to him for his future-focused vision and passion for understanding the hidden connections in our lives, said Deborah Westphal, CEO of Toffler Associates. Its difficult to find an aspect of modern life not touched by his work. We are ever mindful of his influence as we navigate a world marked by widening artificial intelligence, globally connected societies and a quickening pace of change.

A private burial will be held in Los Angeles. Plans for a public memorial service will be announced at a later date.

About Toffler Associates

Clients turn to Toffler Associates to capitalize on opportunities and mitigate the challenges of an uncertain future. We are a consulting and advisory firm that delivers strategic advantage to organizations around the globe with an unwavering commitment to being the catalyst for change. Both the public and private sectors rely on Toffler Associates unique perspective, disciplined approach and orthogonal thinking to architect better futures.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Toffler Associates is announcing Alvin Tofflers passing at the request of Heidi Toffler, his widow.
There is an energy here that you dont feel when you go somewhere else. Our residents run the clubs and committees here, which gives them ownership of what they do and how they do it.

Monarch Landing is on the cusp of a momentous occasion as next month marks the retirement communitys 10th anniversary. While Monarch Landing has become a home to hundreds of wonderful residents, it is also a home-away-from home for many of its staff. Finding an environment that is vibrant, caring, meaningful and supportive, many staff members through all departments have remained at Monarch Landing since it first opened. Now, on Monarch Landings tenth anniversary, we are proud to share some of the original staffs favorite observations and memories.

DINING SERVICES

Julie Roberts served up the first meal at Monarch Landing ten years ago. She began her career at Monarch Landings welcome center in 2006, as restaurant manager. The very next year she was promoted to director of dining services.

Julie recalled that on the day that Monarch Landing opened, there were six residents in a dining room with a capacity of more than 200. Acknowledging that the dining staff greatly outnumbered the residents being served that first night, Julie said, We wanted so badly to make a first good impression, but may have intimidated a few with the director, restaurant manager, service manager, wait staff and other kitchen personnel asking after each course, how everything was! Ten years later, the staff is still eager to please and constantly working to provide the best dining experience possible.

Julie said, I always expected to enjoy what I do, but have been surprised by the relationships and true community-feel we have. The comfort, care and compassion at all levels is truly remarkable. She added, We are a strong, resilient and vibrant community that is always evolving, growing and changing.

TECHNOLOGY

Jason Hedman started at Monarch Landing as the IT site manager, working a desk in an unfinished office building on a corner of the property. His role, he recalled, was to support the early staff on the property as well as to assist with the rollout and installation of the IT equipment as the construction of the buildings was being completed. Jason now serves as the regional director of I.T. for five Life Plan communities managed by Life Care Service, planning for and maintaining all the infrastructure and IT systems. Jason recalled move-in day, saying it was neat to see everyone fit into the roles that they were hired for, and to finally see all of the pieces of the puzzle fit together. 

With the completion of The Springs at Monarch Landing, Jason said that the community surpasses my expectations. He added, Having the opportunity to guide and develop the IT infrastructure over the past five years or so vs. just supporting it has been extremely fulfilling.

Jason concluded, ...the people and culture here are as caring and vibrant as that very first day the community opened.

MARKETING

Michele Hilger began working for Monarch Landing in 2004, operating as sales event associate in the off-site welcome center. I planned all prospect events and the ground breaking event, and co-planned the grand opening event for Monarch Landing, she said.

Recalling the day that Monarch Landing opened, Michele said, I remember the excitement and the buzz in the air of the first residents arriving with their movers, and the staff making sure that everything was perfect.

Michele has moved through the ranks, serving as marketing coordinator, sales associate/move-in coordinator and now, sale counselor/community outreach coordinator. My favorite memories are of residents coming to the sales office and thanking us for helping them with the decision to move. There is nothing more rewarding than to see someone who was hesitant about a move, enjoying his or her new life at Monarch Landing.

While there have been changes in ownership and management since it first opened, what has remained constant at Monarch Landing is the quality of care that is provided to the residents, said Michele. Monarch Landing has gotten better over time. We still provide the same service, but have gotten better at it.

LIFESTYLES

Sherry DeFillippo, lifestyle manager, started working for Monarch Landing two months before the community opened. Stationed at the temporary welcome center, Sherry recalled planning events for the pioneer residents, so that everyone would get to meet their new neighbors.

On the day that Monarch Landing opened, Sherry recalled the first residents, Jan and Bob Garland, moving in. It was so much fun. We all welcomed them into the lobby. Its amazing that they moved into their apartment, sight-unseen, she said.

Sherry said that working with a senior population was new to her ten years ago. I started thinking...if my mother were living here, how would I like an employee to talk to her? How would I like an employee to treat her? That made it easy for me and that is how I approach each day and each resident here.

Describing Monarch Landing, Sherry said, There is an energy here that you dont feel when you go somewhere else. Our residents run the clubs and committees here, which gives them ownership of what they do and how they do it. They are engaged and happy to be part of this great community that theyve built. Everyone really looks out for the other person. Its really a lovely thing to watch. 

Monarch Landing is a Life Plan Community located on a scenic campus in Naperville, Illinois-named one of Americas best places to live and retire by Modern Maturity, and the best city for early retirement by Kiplinger. Monarch Landing offers independent living, promoting a vibrant life style for active seniors. The Springs at Monarch Landing offers assisted living memory support, rehabilitation and skilled nursing services, thus providing complete continuing care for seniors. Monarch Landing is owned by Senior Care Development and managed by Life Care Services. For additional information visit http://www.WelcomeToMonarchLanding.com or http://www.TheSpringsatMonarchLanding.com.
Figshares mission is to open up scientific data to the world, supporting the EUs call to make all publicly funded scientific articles freely accessible by 2020.

Figshare, an online digital repository for academic research, today announced that The University of Amsterdam (UvA) and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) are the latest institutions to sign up for their Figshare for Institutions offering. Figshare for Institutions helps academic institutions manage, disseminate and measure the public impact of all their research outputs, while easing the route to compliance with open data mandates.

Following the meeting of the Competitiveness Council (a gathering of EU ministers of science, innovation, trade, and industry) in Brussels on 27th May, all scientific publicly funded articles in Europe must be freely accessible and the data must be reusable, unless there are well-founded reasons for not doing so* as of 2020. Under the presidency of Sander Dekker, the Netherlands State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science, EU ministers all decided unanimously to support this mandate. In line with this move, UvA and HvA will go one step further and utilise Figshare for Institutions to provide an intuitive interface to enable the deposit and management of active research data, along with efficient mechanisms for open sharing, collaboration and discoverability.

The pioneering platform is already established at institutions across the U.K., Europe, Australasia, and the USA, supporting needs for better storage, preservation, accessibility and publication of the outputs produced by their researchers.

Mark Hahnel, CEO Figshare says:

Figshares mission is to open up scientific data to the world, supporting the EUs call to make all publicly funded scientific articles freely accessible by 2020. The University of Amsterdam is also committed to providing sound data management infrastructure, complying with these new mandates, so Figshare for Institutions was a natural solution for them. On top of this, they wanted a platform that would enable their researchers to conduct work more efficiently, offer greater opportunities for sharing and reuse of their research data, and a solution that allows for better management of research resources. We are pleased to offer them all of this functionality with Figshare for Institutions.

Maria Heijne, Director of UvA/HvA Library says:

As a Library, together with ICT Services and Academic Affairs, we support our researchers in managing, sharing and (re)using their research data. We give advice and training on handling data management, but also provide practical support in the actual work. By choosing Figshare, the Library offers researchers an environment in which they can manage and share their data in a way which agrees optimally with their way of working.

Key aspects of the Figshare for Institutions platform includes:

 Portals that showcase research of an institution or department

 Ability to group content into collections and collaborative project spaces

 Data curation and administrative workflows

 Institutional storage and file uploads up to 5tb

 Enhanced content discoverability through a advanced search, categorisation and metadata

To learn more about Figshare for Institutions see here: https://figshare.com/services/institutions

About Figshare

Figshare is a web-based platform to help academic institutions manage, disseminate and measure the public attention of all their research outputs. The light-touch and user-friendly approach focuses on four key areas: research data management, reporting and statistics, research data dissemination and administrative control. Figshare works with institutions in North America and internationally to help them meet key funder recommendations and to provide world-leading tools to support an open culture of data sharing and collaboration. For more information, visit http://figshare.com and follow @figshare on Twitter. Figshare is a Digital Science portfolio company: https://www.digital-science.com/

About Digital Science

Digital Science is a technology company serving the needs of scientific and research communities, at the laboratory bench or in a research setting. It invests in and incubates scientific software companies that simplify the research cycle, making more time for discovery. Its portfolio companies include a host of leading and admired brands including Altmetric, BioRAFT, Figshare, Labguru, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic and UberResearch. It is operated by global media company, the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. Visit http://www.digital-science.com and follow @digitalsci on Twitter.
The man was sentenced after his neighbours claimed that he stood on his balcony naked and began to sexually harass them

Related Egyptian man sentenced to 6 months in prison for regularly appearing naked on balcony

A Cairo misdemeanor appeals court upheld on Wednesday a six-month jail sentence handed to a Cairene man after he "appeared naked on the balcony of his house."

Earlier in June, the man in his twenties was sentenced to an enforced hard labour and six months imprisonment for "committing an indecent act."

He argued in front of prosecution that he sometimes stood on his balcony dressed in shorts and an undershirt because of the intense Cairo heat, and because he was in his own home, but denied that he ever appeared naked.

However, the defendant's neighbors, who filed the complaint against him, refuted the man's story.

The plaintiffs reported that they complained to the accused mans family more than once, and despite the familys apology the man kept appearing naked on the balcony. He later started to sexually harass his neighbors, they claimed.

The young man denied that he harassed his neighbours.

The man was arrested shortly after his neighbours filed a complaint with the police.

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Kathi Horton, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Mary Ursul Our Flint children deserve every opportunity to be healthy and successful. The creation of the Flint Kids Fund will further ensure that our children are afforded the resources and interventions to overcome this population-wide exposure to lead..."

The long-term effects of lead exposure to children under the age of six can be devastating. While the children of Flint, Michigan, were experiencing the lead in water crisis, the Community Foundation of Greater Flint recognized this and sprang into action. The Flint Foundation identified the long-term health and development needs of Flint children exposed to lead and thus the Flint Child Health & Development Fund was established.

The Flint Child Health & Development Fund has raised over $8 million to aid Flint children with interventions that support positive health outcomes, including:



Crisis response

Optimal child health & development

Early childhood education

Continuous access to a pediatric medical home

Access to infant and child behavioral health services

Nutrition education

Healthy food access

Safe & healthy home environments

Integrated social services

Research

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha of Hurley Medical Center, founding donor of the Flint Child Health & Development Fund; and Kathi Horton, president of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, recently accepted a donation from the Coverys Community Healthcare Foundation, Inc. to support their efforts.

If there was ever a time to invest in our children, it is now, said Dr. Mona. Our Flint children deserve every opportunity to be healthy and successful. The creation of the Flint Kids Fund will further ensure that our children are afforded the resources and interventions to overcome this population-wide exposure to lead. The $100,000 grant from the Coverys Community Healthcare Foundation will help achieve this long-term goal.

The Community of Greater Flint is grateful to the Coverys Community Healthcare Foundation for their generous gift, said Kathi Horton, President of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint. We appreciate Coverys commitment to invest in communities and provide resources for healthy, educational, and safe living environments.

If the grant can help alleviate the pain experienced in the aftermath of the Flint water crisis in just one child, we consider it a successful donation, said Dr. Norris, board member and chair of the Coverys Charitable Giving Committee. The Foundation supports nonprofit organizations determined to better the healthcare community and we are happy to help the Flint Kids Fund reach those objectives.

Donating to the Flint Child Health & Development Fund is the single-most important action you can take to ensure long-term change for the better in response to our water crisis. We know the needs of Flint children exposed to lead, particularly those most vulnerable, children ages 0-6, are ongoing and long-term. When you make a donation to the Flint Child Health & Development Fund, you can be assured that your gift will be used for the long term health and development needs of Flint children exposed to lead.

About The Community Foundation of Greater Flint

The Community Foundation of Greater Flint serves the common good in Genesee Countybuilding a strong community by engaging people in philanthropy and developing the communitys permanent endowmentnow and for generations to come. CFGF helps donors support the causes they care about, today or through their estates. Since 1988 the Community Foundation has granted more than $100 million to nonprofit organizations to build a thriving community. CFGF serves Flint and all of Genesee County including its community funds in Clio, Davison, Fenton, Flushing and Grand Blanc. It also stewards the Flint Child Health and Development Fund in response to the Flint Water Crisis.

About Coverys

Coverys is a leading medical professional liability insurance provider dedicated to protecting the livelihood of physicians, hospitals, dentists, podiatrists and advanced practice providers. Coverys uses data intelligence to help policyholders anticipate, identify and manage risk in order to reduce errors, eliminate inefficiency and improve outcomes.

Headquartered in Boston, MA, Coverys has regional offices in East Lansing, MI, Morristown, NJ, Columbus, OH, Maple Valley, WA and Omaha, NE. For more information, visit http://www.coverys.com.

About Coverys Community Healthcare Foundation

Through funding, the Coverys Community Healthcare Foundation positively reinforces charitable organizations and innovative programs that improve patient care and safety, promote healthy lifestyles, address obesity and support individuals and organizations that provide healthcare services, including causes in which Coverys employees are involved. The development of the Foundation exemplifies Coverys dedication to being an affirmative and active corporate citizen in the healthcare community and the communities in which it operates.

Media Contact

PAN Communications for Coverys

Lauren Winer, 617-502-4396

lwiner(at)pancomm(dot)com
The development of the Single-Family Rental Association is a critical next step in standardizing a rapidly booming marketplace that is projected to double in the next five years.

Renters Warehouse is proud to announce that its CEO Kevin Ortner has joined the Advisory Council for the Texas-based Single-Family Rental Association (SFRA), an organization committed to responding to business opportunity and industry betterment in the evolving real estate landscape across the U.S.

Renters Warehouse manages more than 15,000 homes across the country and almost $3 billion worth of residential real estate.

"I'm thrilled to be a part of this important new think tank leading the single-family rental industry, says Kevin. The development of the SFRA is a critical next step in standardizing a rapidly booming marketplace that is projected to double in the next five years. Sharing best practices with industry leaders will drive credibility, financing and new growth opportunities, and all boats will rise because of it."

SFRA is a membership group under the Five Star Institute umbrella that fosters growth across the single-family market through leadership, networking, education and training. The mission of the SFRA is to provide its members tools to advocate for best practices and a forum to exchange new ideas, strategic direction, and market advancement across the single-family rental industry.

"We are delighted to have a professional of Kevin's caliber join the Single Family Rental Association Advisory Council," said Five Star Institute President and CEO Ed Delgado. "His knowledge and experience in the burgeoning single family asset class will benefit the association as it formulates best practices and standards for the industry moving forward."

Find out more about SFRA by visiting SingleFamilyAssociation.com.

Renters Warehouse exists to help homeowners to discover wealth and financial freedom through Rent Estate. To learn more about Renters Warehouse or to find out how much your home will rent for, visit http://www.renterswarehouse.com today!

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About Renters Warehouse

Renters Warehouse, founded by Brenton Hayden in 2007, is one of the fastest-growing and highest-reviewed property management companies in America, and the largest in Minnesota. Managing over 15,000 properties nationwide, the Renters Warehouse team of Professional Landlords is dedicated to helping everyday homeowners lease and manage their residential real estate with confidence. In 2015, the company officially trademarked the term Rent Estate to redefine the entire industry as real estate gives way to this new lucrative asset. They currently boast 33 offices in over 17 states and growing. Not only has Renters Warehouse received the prestigious honor of being included on the Inc. 500 | 5000 list of fastest-growing privately held companies in America six consecutive years in a row, this Great Rated company was also named one of the Best Places to Work by the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016, and by the Phoenix Business Journal in 2013 and 2014, and was honored as one of America's "Best Places to Work" in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016 by Outside Magazine. Recognized as leaders in real estate, business management and innovation, they have been honored with 18 Business Stevie Awards both internationally and stateside.
Saturday is going to be a great day to be on the lake supporting a great cause!

Paddelboarders and water enthusiasts in WNC have an opportunity to show off their paddleboarding skills, explore a variety of watercraft options, and raise money to support the Autism Society of North Carolina July 22-23 at WNCs inaugural Stand Up for Autism on Lake Julian, just outside of Asheville.

The two day event includes a Friday evening Yacht Rock Party at Wild Wing Cafe with live music, local brews, food, and prizes. The Saturday Stand Up for Autism race on a 3-mile course around scenic Lake Julian is open to experienced and amateur racers. At Saturdays Paddlefest, attendees will have opportunities to try different types of watercraft. Fees apply for all events and discounted advance tickets are available online.

Stand Up for Autism is a great opportunity for the community to come out and support the Autism Society of North Carolina, said Dave McFarland, owner of Wild Wing Cafe. Friday night, we will have a huge brew and cue Yacht Club Party with music. Saturday is going to be a great day to be on the lake supporting a great cause!

Stand Up for Autism will support programs provided by the Autism Society of North Carolina through its Asheville office. The office provides education and training for parent and professionals, as well as skill building, employment supports, residential supports, and respite care for individuals with autism.

We are excited to partner with Asheville businesses to bring this great event to the area, said Tracey Sheriff, CEO of the Autism Society of North Carolina. Its wonderful to see the community come together to support the work we do in such a meaningful way. Particular thanks go to Diamond Brand, Buncombe County Parks and Rec, Prestige Subaru, and Wild Wing Cafe for their leadership in making this event happen. I look forward to seeing everyone at Lake Julian on July 23!

The Friday evening kickoff party is 5-9 p.m. at Wild Wing Cafe. On Saturday morning, activities begin at 10 a.m. Entrants can pick up their information or register Friday night or Saturday morning. Paddlefest opens at 11 a.m. and the paddleboard race begins at 11:30.

To learn more about sponsoring or participating, please contact Mary Catherine Ward at mcward(at)autismsociety-nc(dot)org. To purchase tickets for any of the events, visit the event site.

About the Autism Society of North Carolina:


Everyone would like their donations to go where they can do the most good

With nearly two dozen dead and more than 1,200 homes destroyed, the floods in West Virginia are among the most deadly ever to hit the United States. As always with a natural disaster, generous individuals are looking for ways to help the injured and those who have lost their homes. BBB Wise Giving Alliance, however, advises donors to be wary of questionable solicitations and to avoid donating to poorly managed relief efforts.

Many people want to help in any way they can, said Frank Cilona, president and CEO of BBB Serving Canton Region and Greater West Virginia. Unfortunately, scam artists also strike during these tragedies. Please check with BBB before donating to causes that claim they are helping the victims of West Virginia.

Everyone would like their donations to go where they can do the most good, said H. Art Taylor, president and CEO of BBB Wise Giving Alliance (BBB WGA). To make sure your gifts go to those who need them most, donors need to follow some key rules about supporting disaster relief.

BBB WGA suggests that before you choose a charity to give to, read its Disaster Relief Donations tips (below) and remember to check out the charity on Give.org. BBB WGA has a list of nationally soliciting charities that have been accredited by BBB WGA (i.e., meet all 20 BBB Standard for Charity Accountability), and indicate that they are collecting contributions to assist West Virginia relief efforts. The list, which will be updated as more charities join the efforts, is available at bbb.org/WVfloods. BBB Wise Giving Alliance offers donors these tips for disaster relief giving:

-Be cautious when giving online. Be cautious about spam messages and emails that claim to link to a relief organization. If you want to give to a charity involved in relief efforts, go directly to the charitys website.

-Understand crowdfunding. Keep in mind that some crowdfunding sites do very little vetting of individuals who decide to post for assistance after a disaster, and it is often difficult for donors to verify trustworthiness of crowdfunding requests for support. In contrast, some of the crowdfunding sites run by charitable organizations, such as GlobalGiving.org, have a defined verification procedure.

-Rely on expert opinion when it comes to evaluating a charity. Be cautious when relying on third-party recommendations such as bloggers or other websites, as they may not have fully researched the relief organizations they list. The public can go to Give.org to research relief organizations and other charities to verify that they are accredited by the BBB which means they meet the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability.

-Be wary of claims that 100 percent of donations will assist relief victims. Despite what an organization might claim, charities have fund raising and administrative costs. Even a credit card donation will involve, at a minimum, a processing fee. If a charity claims 100 percent of collected funds will be assisting disaster victims, the truth is that the organization is still probably incurring fund raising and administrative expenses. It may use some of its other funds to pay these costs, but the expenses will still be incurred.

-Find out if the charity has an on-the-ground presence in the impacted areas. Unless the charity already has staff in the affected areas, it may be difficult to bring in new aid workers to provide assistance quickly. See if the charitys website clearly describes what the charity can do to address immediate needs.

-Find out if the charity is providing direct aid or raising money for other groups. Some charities may be raising money to pass along to relief organizations. If so, you may want to consider avoiding the middleman and giving directly to those that have a presence in the region. Or, at a minimum, check out the ultimate recipients of these donations to see whether they are equipped to provide aid effectively.

-Gifts of clothing, food or other in-kind donations. In-kind drives for food and clothing, while well intentioned, may not necessarily be the quickest way to help those in need  unless the organization has the staff and infrastructure to distribute such aid properly. Ask the charity about its transportation and distribution plans. Be wary of those who are not experienced in disaster relief assistance.

West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie E. Tennant has issued a similar warning about emergency giving and asks anyone who comes across a potentially fraudulent charity to contact the Investigations Office at 304-558-6000.

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ABOUT BBB WGA:

BBB Wise Giving Alliance (BBB WGA) is a standards-based charity evaluator that seeks to verify the trustworthiness of nationally-soliciting charities by completing rigorous evaluations based on 20 holistic standards that address charity governance, results reporting, finances, fundraising, appeal accuracy and other issues. National charity reports are produced by the BBB WGA and local charity reports are produced by local Better Business Bureaus  all reports are available at Give.org.

ABOUT BBB: For more than 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2015, people turned to BBB more than 172 million times for BBB Business Reviews on more than 5.3 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at bbb.org. The Council of Better Business Bureaus is the umbrella organization for the local, independent BBBs in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as home to its national and international programs on dispute resolution, advertising review, and industry self-regulation.

MEDIA CONTACTS: For more information, journalists should contact Katherine Hutt at 703-247-9345 or khutt(at)council(dot)bbb(dot)org or Jasmine Turner at 703-247-9376 or jturner(at)council(dot)bbb(dot)org
Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP has added Dr. Melissa Hunter-Ensor as a shareholder in the firms Intellectual Property (IP) Group in the Boston office. She is joined by registered patent agent, Elbert C. Chiang, Ph.D. Both Dr. Hunter-Ensor and Dr. Chiang were previously at Saul Ewing LLP in Boston.

Dr. Hunter-Ensor is a registered patent attorney who focuses her practice on the intellectual property (IP) and commercial needs of clients in the life science industry, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, agricultural, diagnostics, and medical device companies. She has experience representing clients throughout the business cycle, from start-ups and universities to global pharmaceutical companies, with patent portfolio management and strategic alliances, as well as litigation and pre-litigation strategy. She also assists venture capital firms and other investors in assessing the IP risks of target investments and conducts IP patent and licensing due diligence in connection with life science technology transactions.

Before becoming a lawyer, Dr. Hunter-Ensor earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania and her thesis research resulted in a first author paper in Cell. She followed this accomplishment with a four-year post-doctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology laboratory of Nobel laureate H. Robert Horvitz where she was a Jane Coffin Childs fellow.

Dr. Chiang is a registered patent agent who focuses on patent preparation and prosecution, particularly for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in the United States and abroad. He also has experience drafting and assisting on legal opinions related to patentability, freedom to operate, invalidity, and infringement. He has a Ph.D. from Princeton University and a bachelors degree from Vanderbilt University, both in molecular biology.

Terence P. McCourt, managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurigs Boston office, said, Dr. Hunter-Ensor is a well-known and accomplished IP lawyer, and we are delighted that she is joining our firm. We look forward to the depth and sophistication of skill and experience that she will bring to our Boston office and the Greenberg Traurig practice worldwide. We welcome her and Dr. Chiang to the team.

Greenberg Traurig is a great fit for my practice, said Dr. Hunter-Ensor. The global firm is well-known for its collaborative culture and entrepreneurial approach, and the IP Group is recognized for its work in life sciences and medical technologies. I look forward to being part of this growing team.

Dr. Hunter-Ensor brings high level expertise to Greenberg Traurigs Global Life Sciences & Medical Technology Group and the Boston office, said David J. Dykeman, co-chair of Greenberg Traurig, LLPs global Life Sciences & Medical Technology Group, and co-chair of the firms Intellectual Property Group in Boston. Dr. Hunter-Ensor and Dr. Chiang bolster Greenberg Traurigs IP practice in the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology which are important sectors in todays innovation economy.

About Greenberg Traurigs Life Sciences & Medical Technology Group

Greenberg Traurigs Life Sciences & Medical Technology Group advises clients ranging from startups to large multinational public companies to leading research institutions. The groups attorneys work closely with clients, providing innovative legal counsel to help them achieve their objectives  from discovery through commercialization and product marketing.

About Greenberg Traurigs Boston Office

Established in 1999, Greenberg Traurigs Boston office is home to more than 65 attorneys practicing in the areas of corporate, emerging technology, governmental affairs, intellectual property, labor and employment, life sciences and medical technology, litigation, public finance, and real estate. An important contributor to the firm's international platform, the Boston office includes a team of nationally recognized attorneys with both public and private sector experience. The team offers clients the value of decades of legal experience and hands-on knowledge of the local business community, supported by the firm's vast network of global resources.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, multi-practice law firm with approximately 1,900 attorneys serving clients from 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm is No. 1 on the 2015 Law360 Most Charitable Firms list, second largest in the U.S. on the 2016 Law360 400, Top 20 on the 2015 Am Law Global 100, and among the 2015 BTI Brand Elite. More information at: http://www.gtlaw.com.
This week, nearly 20,000 registered attendees and industry representatives from 72 countries around the world traveled to Denver for ISTE 2016, the worlds most comprehensive ed tech event. Social media activity from the conference hit new highs. As of noon on Wednesday, there were more than 221,000 tweets with the #ISTE2016, nearly 4,000 #ISTE2016 photos uploaded to Instagram, and all social media content using the conference hashtag reached more than 58 million people around the world.

Special guests at this years keynotes included actor and education advocate, LeVar Burton; founder of Code.org Hadi Partovi, vice president of Worldwide Education, Microsoft, Anthony Salcito; U.S. Representative Jared Polis, Second District, Colorado; and Star Wars character, R2-D2.

Among the news highlights at the conference was the unveiling of the new ISTE Standards for Students, designed to guide learners who live, work and play in a technology-infused world. ISTE also announced a collaboration with Microsoft to combine and expand a host of their world-class initiatives to ensure educators and school leaders around the world have access to school planning and professional development resources.

On Tuesday, two start-ups were winners in the ISTE 2016 Ed Tech Start-Up Pitch Fest. Earning the award for Most Innovative was Books That Grow, a new model of adaptive learning that provides differentiated reading content based on students needs. Taking home honors as Most Likely to Succeed in the fourth annual competition was Cogent Education. Its products feature a series of interactive biology lessons using video game technologies to engage students and enable them to practice critical thinking and solve real-world problems.

In other ISTE 2016 news, seven educators were honored with Making It Happen Awards for their commitment to transforming education through innovative technology integration. Since this award began in 1995, more than 500 educators from around the world have received this recognition.

The 2016 Making IT Happen award recipients are:



Ali Alkarni, Ph.D., is director general of the Arab Bureau for Education in the Gulf States (ABEGS). A well-respected and sought-after visionary, speaker and adviser, under his leadership, the organization has translated the ISTE Standards and a number of ISTE books into Arabic, and has been a key player in the development and pilot of the ABEGS/ISTE Standards for Coaching Program. Alkarni is a strong advocate for ISTE, promoting the organization to ministries in the region, as well as in the press and at regional conferences.

Cathy Cavanaugh is director of teaching and learning, worldwide education at Microsoft. Her previous roles include academic leadership in higher education in the Middle East during a national mobile learning program, and work as a professor of educational technology in U.S. universities. In addition, Cavanaugh was a Fulbright Senior Scholar advancing e-learning in Nepal and developed successful and innovative professional development programs for educators and blended learning programs for K-12 students. In addition to the Making It Happen honor, her work has been recognized for its impact with international awards.

Randy Hansen is associate professor and program chair, instructional technology, at University of Maryland University College. His career has taken him down many paths including serving as a K-12 classroom teacher, an online educator, and a university program director. Hansen has also devoted many hours to volunteering in the ISTE community, as president of the ISTE Teacher Education Network, producing webinars, editing ISTE journals, presenting at conferences and serving on the program committee. In addition to the Making It Happen award, Hansen was also recently honored as a 2015 Top 30 Technologist, Transformers, and Trailblazers from the Center for Digital Education.

Jamie Kasper is associate director of the Arts Education Collaborative, a nonprofit organization in Pittsburgh. She has contributed greatly to the ISTE community, including as an active member of the Young Educators Network, and the long-time leader of the Arts and Technology Network. Her impact extends to the ISTE conference as well, having organized several playgrounds and served on the program committee.

Shannon McClintock Miller began her career as a teacher librarian in a one-building K-12 school, but quickly grew to become a consultant, speaker and role model for educators around the world. She has been a leader in the ISTE Librarians Network, presented at ISTE and many affiliate conferences, and has been a contributing author for many ISTE publications. In addition to the Making It Happen award, Millers list of awards includes Library Journal - Movers & Shakers, 100+ Influential Learning Professionals To Follow from Edudemic, Faces of Innovation from Broadband for America, and Bammy Award Finalist In School Librarian Category.

Kim McMonagle is the director of educational technology at Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colorado. McMonagle is involved in the ed tech community in Colorado, the United States and around the world. As a board member of ISTEs Colorado affiliate, InnEdCO, she has guided its partnerships with ISTE, including serving as regional program chair for the 2016 conference in Denver as well as being instrumental in connecting the Colorado Association of Leaders in Educational Technology, InnEdCO and ISTE in joint advocacy efforts. McMonagle is also an ISTE instructional faculty member, providing professional development nationally and internationally.

Andrew Wheelock is the technology coordinator for the Western New York Regional Information Center. A 20-year veteran educator, he was an originator in Second Life education;, Virtual Pioneers, which started in 2008 and is still active today,; Islands of Enlightenment, an Open Sim virtual world; and a co-founder of ISTEs Virtual Environment Network. Hes also served on the ISTE conference committee, hosted multiple playgrounds, and contributes as part of the ISTE Standards refresh team. In addition to this honor, he recently won the THINKER-ER AWARD from Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education.

ISTE 2017 is slated for June 25-28 in San Antonio.

About ISTE

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is the premier nonprofit membership organization serving educators and education leaders committed to empowering connected learners in a connected world. ISTE serves more than 100,000 education stakeholders throughout the world.

Innovative offerings include the widely adopted ISTE Standards for learning, teaching and leading in the digital age as well as the ISTE Conference & Expothe worlds most comprehensive ed tech event. The organizations robust suite of professional learning resources feature online courses, consulting services for schools and districts, books, and peer-reviewed journals and publications. For more information, visit iste.org. Connect with ISTE via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
San Francisco Dental Implant Center Weve updated our Oakland information page to provide customers with the easiest route and parking information

San Francisco Dental Implant Center, a top-rated dental implant center in the San Francisco Bay Area, has issued an important update to the Oakland, California directions page for residents. Customers traveling to the Center from Oakland and the East Bay now have an updated page for travel issues.

Although the drive isnt far from Oakland or other cities of the East Bay, such as Pleasanton or Walnut Creek, our customers may be late due to traffic and bad turns, explained Dr. Alex Rabinovich, chief oral surgeon of SF Dental Implants. Weve updated our Oakland information page to provide customers with the easiest route and parking information, including directions for public transportation. Now the trip from Oakland to our Center is as simple as the tooth replacement!

To view the updated page for directions from Oakland / East Bay to Sf Dental Implants go to http://www.sfdentalimplants.com/oakland-california/. There, in addition to driving directions and directions for public transportation, information about dental implants, tooth replacement and oral surgery for Oakland and other East Bay residents is available on the page.

Oakland and East Bay Locals Discover How Easy it is to Cross the Bay for the Best in Dental Implant Choices

The reality of the San Francisco Bay Area is that the more sophisticated service offerings are often located in the city of San Francisco. Dental implants and related technology are no exception. The San Francisco Dental Implant Center has become known as the 'go to' place to receive quality dental implants at an affordable price. Indeed, many residents come to the center from the East Bay communities of Oakland, Walnut Creek, Danville, Livermore, and others that lie to the east of San Francisco.

However, the traffic and congestion can be a barrier to these potential clients. In addition, using the BART system can be confusing. For this reason, the San Francisco Dental Implant Center has updated its travel directions for the Oakland area. The goal is to make it very easy for clients to come to San Francisco to experience the absolute best quality in dental implants. Indeed, interested parties are reminded that they can receive a no obligation consultation by reaching out to the center either via the website or by calling on the telephone.

About San Francisco Dental Implant Center

San Francisco Dental Implant Center, under the direction of Dr. Alex Rabinovich, focuses on the placement and restoration of dental implants, making it among the top-rated dental implant clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Rabinovich is a Board Certified Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon specializing in the field of dental implants. This additional training, along with his years of experience, sets Alex Rabinovich MD DDS apart from the growing number of general dentists offering dental implant treatments. San Francisco Dental Implant Center serves the San Francisco Bay Area including Palo Alto, San Mateo, Redwood City and Mountain View.

Contact:

San Francisco Dental Implant Center, Media Relations

Web: http://www.sfdentalimplants.com/

Email: visage(dot)sanfran(at)gmail(dot)com

Tel. 415-817-9991
In response to the passage of Ohio House Bill 523, Dickinson Wright PLLC will sponsor and host the inaugural Ohio Cannabis Industry Conference on Thursday, July 7, 2016 at the Renaissance Hotel in Columbus. The conference will educate business people interested in learning about this industry and understanding the implications of House Bill 523.

Dickinson Wright has been at the forefront of this emerging industry working with entrepreneurs, businesses and policy makers to help them navigate the legal issues surrounding the medicinal marijuana industry, said Scot Crow, Practice Department Manager for the firms Corporate Practice Groups. We are excited that Senator Bill Coley will be joining us to discuss House Bill 523 and its implications for the state of Ohio and its citizens. We anticipate that this event will be the start of a series of seminars addressing House Bill 523 with a lively and informative discussion for our participants.

Giving the keynote address at the Ohio Cannabis Industry Conference will be Ohio State Senator Bill Coley. Also speaking will be Peter Kadens, Ohio native, and CEO and co-founder of GTI Investments; Andy Joseph, president of Apeks Supercritical; and Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association. Topics that will be discussed during the conference include a legal primer on cannabis law and an industry panel focusing on the business perspective of the cannabis industry. Below are the event details:

Ohio Cannabis Industry Conference

Date: Thursday, July 7, 2016

Time: 8:30 a.m.  11:30 a.m.

Location: The Renaissance Hotel, 50 N. 3rd Street, Columbus, OH 43215

To learn more about this free conference or to register, please click here.

If you are interested in learning more about House Bill 523 and what it means for Ohio, please click here to read an informative article by Dickinson Wright.

About Dickinson Wright PLLC

Dickinson Wright PLLC is a general practice business law firm with more than 400 attorneys among more than 40 practice areas. Headquartered in Detroit and founded in 1878, the firm has sixteen offices, including six in Michigan (Detroit, Troy, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Saginaw) and nine other domestic offices in Columbus, Ohio; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Lexington, Ky.; Nashville, Tenn. (2); Las Vegas, Nev.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Reno, Nev.; and Washington, D.C. The firms Canada office is located in Toronto.

As one of the few law firms with ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification, the firm offers clients a distinctive combination of superb client service and exceptional quality. Dickinson Wright lawyers are known for delivering commercially-oriented advice on sophisticated transactions and have a remarkable record of wins in high-stakes litigation. Dickinson Wright lawyers are regularly cited by Chambers, Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers and other leading independent law firm evaluating organizations.
The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), in partnership with the University of California and California Forward, has announced a project to update Californias venerable Political Reform Act (PRA). The project will include two rounds of public participation over the course of several months, to ensure what the FPPC plans to be an inclusive and transparent process.

The Political Reform Act was passed in 1974 as a result of the Watergate scandal. It was hailed as a landmark law that cemented California as a national leader in regulating campaign finance and government ethics. It has been amended and expanded many times in the years since.

While we have some of the toughest rules in the country for public officials and elected officials, the unintended consequence of those changes is a body of law that can be considered overly complex, cumbersome and, sometimes, inconsistent, said Jodi Remke, FPPC Chair. This process is designed to simplify and streamline the act without weakening it or losing any accountability.

A webinar is scheduled for Thursday July 14 at 10 a.m. with Chair Remke and California Forward President & CEO Jim Mayer to discuss the work. Public comment will begin in mid-July. Individuals interested in participating or learning more about the project can sign-up at http://www.cafwd.org/PRAtalk.

The FPPC, which was created when the Political Reform Act was passed, administers and enforces the ethics law  consisting of ethics, campaign finance and lobbying reporting  as well as assisting public officials, employees and candidates to comply with its provisions. It plans to use the significant public input it receives to prepare revisions to the law, submitting it for consideration by the Legislature in early 2017.

Modernizing the act in plain English will mean therell be fewer technical violations and we can focus our efforts on the more substantive violations, said Galena West, Chief of Enforcement for the FPPC. It will be a great benefit and will let us focus our resources where they need to be.

The issue of technical violations is a big one. The FPPC estimates that it gets from 15,000-to-20,000 requests every year for technical and legal advice from candidates, elected officials and public officials regarding complying with the law.

We are hoping for extensive contribution from those affected by the law, including filing officers, political attorneys, public officials and candidates and other good government groups interested in this issue, Remke added.

Law students from the University of California (Berkeley and Davis) have completed a review of the law and documented issues, options and recommendations which the FPPC staff will include as it evolves the revisions. California Forward will lead a targeted and strategic communications campaign to encourage participation in two rounds of public comment in the coming months.

We think through this process we will end up with a cleaner law that is easier to comply with and to enforce, said Mayer. We will all benefit from an ethics law that is smart, modern and understandable.

The Political Reform Act Revision Project is supported by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation.

About the Fair Political Practices Commission

The Fair Political Practices Commission is a five-member independent, non-partisan commission that has primary responsibility for the impartial and effective administration of the Political Reform Act. The Act regulates campaign financing, conflicts of interest, lobbying, and governmental ethics. The Commissions objectives are to ensure that public officials act in a fair and unbiased manner in the governmental decision-making process, to promote transparency in government, and to foster public trust in the political system.

About CA Fwd

California Forward (CA Fwd) is a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization, devoted to improving the performance of government in California. It believes that increased emphasis on accountability and transparency will create government that Californians deserve and expect. CA Fwd strongly advocates for confidence and trust in elected officials as being an essential ingredient to good government.
Robert Wheeler, US Air Force Major General (retired), has been appointed chief strategy executive responsible for developing, communicating and sustaining Global Velocitys strategic initiatives and product direction. Prior to Global Velocity, he was the deputy chief information officer in the U.S. Department of Defense for command, control and communications. He led cybersecurity modernization and standardization in critical national security systems while managing many of the nations most sensitive communications programs.

Wheelers experience encompasses cyber, electronic warfare, nuclear operations, command and control, communications, international negotiations and combat flying operations. He has broad leadership and budgeting experience at the Secretary of Defense staff level, on an interagency basis, with Congress and the White House, as well as with international partners.

Jack Reinelt has joined Global Velocity as chief growth executive. In this role he is responsible for overall sales, marketing, channel management and business development. Reinelt has over 30 years of management and executive responsibility in the technology industry, including software, database, e-commerce and services companies.

Most recently, Reinelt was CEO of GoIndustry Dovebid, a publicly held UK e-commerce and software provider. Previously, he was managing director and COO for the largest division of digital map pioneer Tele Atlas NV, where his European business unit exceeded $300 million in revenue. He began his career in sales and management positions at IBM and SunGard, and was president of automotive software developer Software Services Corporation.

Global Velocity CEO Greg Sullivan commented, We are extremely pleased that Bob and Jack have joined our executive team at such an exciting time. With industry and government now recognizing that protecting sensitive data must be the heart of any effective cybersecurity solution, our enterprise and cloud-based Securio platform provides true Information-Centric Security for data at rest, in motion and in the cloud. Their vast experience will help us deliver our best-in-class solutions to clients and partners.

Global Velocity provides fast, accurate, affordable and easy-to-use data security solutions via its Securio platform, helping organizations protect their most valuable digital assets from loss or misuse, while assisting them in fulfilling compliance, audit, data integrity and security requirements. This proven next generation cybersecurity software is highly scalable and extendable for deployment in enterprise, government and cloud computing environments. Learn more at http://www.globalvelocity.com.
The Palestinian cause will always remain a priority in the Egyptian foreign policy, Egypt's Sameh Shoukry told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during his visit to the de facto Palestinian capital of Ramallah.

In statements to Egypt's state-owned MENA news agency, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said that Shoukry delivered to the Palestinians a message of solidarity and support from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

Shoukry assured Abbas of Egypt's commitment to supporting the right of Palestinians to establish an independent state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

According to Abu Zeid, Shoukry was keen on sharingEgypt's perspective on the outcome of the ministerial gathering in the French peace initiative held earlier in June pushing for a Palestinian-Israeli peace plan.

He also briefed Abbas on the talks that Egypt conducted with international and regional partners on methods of encouraging both sides to resume negotiations.

The Paris conference, where neither Israelis nor Palestinians were invited, aimed to lay the groundwork for a full-fledged peace conference to be held by the end of the year, though many question whether the initiative will make genuine progress.

Palestinians have welcomed the French initiative but Israeli officials have said an international conference would not work, and that only direct talks between the foes can bring peace.

From his side, Abbas informed the Egyptian foreign minister of the results of the latest round of negotiations related to reconciliation between Palestinian factions and the reasons behind their failure.

The Palestinian president praised Egypt's efforts in chairing of an anti-occupation committee in the Arab league and its current membership in the United Nations Security Council.

Shoukry also met with his Palestinian counterpart Riyadh Al-Malki, where both sides agreed on the methods of promoting cooperation and coordination between the two sides to guarantee the accomplishing of mutual interests and provide the necessary support for the Palestinian people in gaining their legitimate rights.

Discussions related to the Palestinian issue have been on the rise since the Egyptian president's call in a May speech to Palestinian and Israeli leaders that peace, prosperity and cooperation will only take place if both parties are able to reach a two-state solution.

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Reading comprehension depends on an understanding of the meaning of the written words. That is exactly why an inventor from Fort Worth, Texas conceived of a content management device that would function as a reading assistant and a text-language translator.

She developed SMART READER to provide the definition and correct pronunciation of a given word quickly and easily. Not only does it deliver this information by sight and sound, but it also stores the data for later recall. Therefore, this device serves as a learning tool for both children and adults. At the same time, it accommodates a variety of languages and is lightweight, compact, portable and easy to use. Additional benefits include convenience, effectiveness and affordable pricing.

The inventors personal experience inspired the idea. I was doing a lot of reading where I frequently encountered unfamiliar words, she said. I needed a handy resource to get the pronunciation and definition of these words.

The original design was submitted to the Dallas office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 15-DLL-3090, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com - https://www.youtube.com/user/inventhelp

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Safe Harbor CPAs - San Francisco CPA Firm Many people facing an IRS audit turn to attorneys

Safe Harbor LLP, a top San Francisco accounting firm with a vibrant practice in IRS Defense, is proud to announce the launch of an exciting advertising campaign to help people facing an IRS audit, whether as individuals or as businesses. The ad campaign will target San Francisco Bay Area residents, and ties into increased informational assets on the firm's website.

Many people facing an IRS audit turn to attorneys, explained Chun Wong, Managing Partner at Safe Harbor LLP. While attorneys can certainly be useful, our advertising campaign showcases our own expertise vis-a-vis IRS audit defense for San Francisco Bay Area individuals and businesses.

To view the ads directly, go to Google or Bing and enter 'IRS Audit Defense.' Those persons in San Francisco will see the Safe Harbor ads prominently displayed on each search results page or SERP.

IRS Audit Defense Issues: From Ads to Information Assets

Many people facing an IRS audit turn first to Internet search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. The firm's new advertising campaign means that Bay Area residents will see informative yet short ads on the topic placed strategically on the search engines. The ads then go to specific landing pages, where the persons can reach out for a consultation. In addition to advertising, interested persons can browse the website and find both an informational page on IRS audit defense issues at http://www.safeharborcpa.com/irs-audit-defense-2/ as well as read the firm's lively blog, with many posts on the issue. In this way, both the firm's content and its advertising efforts for Summer, 2016, will heighten awareness of IRS audit defense services.

Persons who are not ready to engage in a consultation can also sign up for the firm's 'tax tips' newsletter at http://www.safeharborcpa.com/san-francisco-tax-tips/. This no cost newsletter is sent out monthly by email and educates both individuals and businesses about tax issues. The best way to avoid an IRS audit, after all, is to work with a diligent tax preparation service to have one's books, deductions, and tax strategies in order.

About Safe Harbor LLP  a Professional CPA Firm in San Francisco

Safe Harbor LLP is a CPA firm that specializes in accounting and tax services for individuals and businesses throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and greater California. Safe Harbor CPAs helps both individuals and businesses with tax preparation, IRS audit defense, and audited financial statements. The firm prides itself on friendly yet professional service and utilizes state-of-the-art Internet technology to provide quality customer service.

Safe Harbor CPA

http://www.safeharborcpa.com

Tel. 415.742.4249
(L to R): Kimberly Lea, KU West Palm Beach Campus President; Jennifer Brugger, scholarship winner; Belinda Keiser, KU Vice Chancellor of Community Relations and Student Advancement The strength of organizations like the Womens Chamber of Palm Beach County is their dedication in guiding, supporting, and recognizing women in the community as leaders in the local and global economies. Past News Releases RSS Keiser University Recognizes...

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Keiser University (KU) was a proud participant at the 13th Annual Linking Women to Learning Scholarship Luncheon hosted by the Womens Chamber of Palm Beach County. Mrs. Belinda Keiser made opening remarks to the attendees where she discussed the importance of believing in yourself, never letting go of your dreams, embracing change, and overcoming adversity.

The strength of organizations like the Womens Chamber of Palm Beach County is their dedication in guiding, supporting, and recognizing women in the community as leaders in the local and global economies, stated Mrs. Belinda Keiser, Vice Chancellor of Community Relations and Student Advancement. The Womens Chamber will continue to be a strong source for our future leaders because of their ongoing service and their commitment to mentoring each of the scholarship recipients.

At the luncheon 12 scholarships were awarded, with two of the winners currently earning degrees at Keiser University, Melissa Napolitano for Entrepreneurship and Jennifer Brugger for Masters in Psychology.

Melissa Napolitano, who grew up in Bastrop Texas is earning her degree in Entrepreneurship in an accelerated program and is maintaining a 3.7GPA. While working toward this effort, she balanced 19 credit hours per semester, two part-time jobs, participation on the universitys Cross Country team, and an internship with the Womens Chamber of Commerce, all while maintaining status on the Deans List. Also an active member of Keiser Universitys Entrepreneurship Society, a participant in its 2016 Annual Pitch Competition, the Treasurer for its International Club, and a Student Ambassador, Melissa was recently invited to participate in the Disney College Program in Orlando, Florida. Therefore, she will complete her fall semester online. Melissa eventually hopes to start her own business in either Florida or Texas.

Jennifer Brugger is a 35 year old mother of two, a wife and a full-time undergraduate student of psychology. After graduating with her bachelors degree, she will be continuing on with Keiser University to earn her Masters degree. Her goal is to work at the Veterans Administration as they are overcrowded and underfunded. Men and women face life and death situations both foreign and domestics with soldiers coming back from high stress situations and are unable to successfully integrate back in to their home lives or even adjusting to civilian life. As the mother of two children under the age of 10, should either of them choose to join our military forces when they are able, she wants to know they will be taken care of in every sense of the word when they return from the front lines. It is not easy being a mom, a full-time student, a part-time worker, a wife and homeschooling one of our children. However, she knows that when she enters the workforce, she can make a difference by bridging the gap and bringing in more psychologists to the Veterans Administration.

The students who received these scholarships are strongly encouraged to pursue their dreams, embrace change, conquer adversity by welcoming the detour as a new and exciting path, listening to their inner core, and ultimately serving and celebrating their achievements, Keiser stated.

About Keiser University:

Keiser University, co-founded by Dr. Arthur Keiser, Chancellor in 1977, is a private, not-for-profit University serving nearly 20,000 students offering 100 degrees at the doctoral through associate level on 18 Florida campuses, online and internationally, employing 3,800 staff and faculty. Keiser University and the Keiser Mills Foundation provide nearly $44 million annually in need-based and academic scholarships.

Keiser University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award certificates and degrees at the associate, baccalaureate, masters, specialist, and doctoral levels. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Keiser University.

For additional information regarding Keiser University, go to http://www.keiseruniversity.edu
S/V Flyer - Newport-Bermuda Winner Class 3 and Second Overall The system was spectacular! It did everything I wanted it to do.

Global Marine Networks (GMN) helped the crew of the S/V Flyer, captained by Doug Abbott, win first in class and second overall in the NewPort Bermuda race. Flyer used hardware and services provided by GMN, including XGate satellite data services, Expedition for navigation and ocean current data, and PredictWind Offshore for downloading weather via RedPort hardware and Globalstar satellite service.

Eric Crawford, the navigator for Flyer, used multiple weather sources during the race. GMN provided Hycom ocean current data via Expedition that made a strategic difference for the win in the final hours. Crawford simultaneously used the XGate-integrated PredictWind Offshore app for weather data. XGate requested and compressed the necessary data, and Globalstar satellite data service completed downloads in less than a minute.

Said Crawford, The system was spectacular! It did everything I wanted it to do.

The heart of the winning system is XGate, the suite of satellite data services. XGate encompasses all the services a sailor needs including optimized email, web compression, social media, pinpoint weather forecasts, GRIB file handling via PredictWind Offshore, and a robust ecosystem of compatible apps including: Expedition and SailGRIB for navigation; WeatherTrack; Weather 4D; iNavX; and Xaxero GribPlot for weather. More about XGate can be found at http://www.globalmarinenet.com/product/xgate/

Before, sailors cobbled together different apps that were challenging to make into a coherent system, said Dr. Luis Soltero, CTO of Global Marine Networks. Now, XGates seamless integration with the worlds leading racing and weather apps makes it simple to download critical data from many apps all within the highly optimized XGate system. This greatly eases frustration and adds significant airtime savings. This racing victory shows the success of XGate and its partners apps working together.

XGate services include:



Accelerated Email  Email service offers up to 20 times acceleration versus uncompressed speeds, saving up to 85% on satellite airtime. Works with a dedicated email address or third-party services such as Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo! Mail or your corporate mail address.

GRIB Weather  XGate includes the PredictWind Offshore app with GRIB weather file requestor and viewer. XGate also works with a wide range of other weather and navigation applications from leading providers.

Accelerated Web Browsing  Compression uses a web proxy service to provide users with 3-5 times average web acceleration, while also blocking ads, checking for malicious sites and compressing images.

Text-based Mobile Weather Forecasts  XGate mobile weather forecasts deliver up to 7 days of text-based weather forecasts for iOS and Android users.

Social media  Users can post text and photos to Facebook and Twitter over satellite and cellular narrowband devices.

Blogging  Users get free access to a Sailblogs Premium Basic account to help them share their adventures while travelling with their satphone.

XGate Compatible Operating Systems:



Microsoft Windows

Apple macOS

Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch)

Google Android smartphones and tablets

About Global Marine Networks, LLC

Global Marine Networks (GMN), the leaders in advancing satellite data speeds and services, helps Fixed and Mobile Satellite Services providers and their customers by offering the industrys fastest, most reliable and easy-to-use email, web, and other hardware and software services to maritime, oil and gas, first responder and business continuity users, as well as devices for the Internet of Things (IoT). The companys products include XGate high-speed satellite email, satellite terminals, and vessel tracking systems.

Ship to shore network management solutions are sold by GMN under the RedPort Global brand name at http://www.redportglobal.com and as white-label solutions for the worlds premier satellite data service providers.

GMN has numerous awards and certifications for technical innovation. For more information on how GMN is Making Airtime Count  whether ship to shore, or in remote or emergency communications environments visit http://www.globalmarinenet.com.

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Stetson University's famous Palm Court on the DeLand campus. Earning a degree can make a significant difference in career advancement.

With nine million unemployed workers nationwide in 2010, there were still more than seven million jobs unfilled in the United States, and that number is projected to increase to 21 million by 2020, according to the Council of Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL). Closer to home, less than 32 percent of Florida workers have an associates degree or higher but more than 60 percent of positions in Florida will require a post-secondary education, as evidenced by U.S. Census Public Use Microdata Sample information.

From these statistics it is apparent that workers with a bachelors degree are highly competitive in this job market. In January 2017, Stetson University will offer a new Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership, a new adult degree completion program, in its Boundless Learning division. Designed especially for adults with an associates degree or equivalent college experience, this program helps those who -- for whatever reason -- never finished a four-year degree.

There are many accomplished individuals who, for one reason or another, never finished their bachelors degree, said Joy McGuirl-Hadley, Ed.D., associate vice president of Boundless Learning. For some, earning that credential could make a significant difference in their career advancement. For others it is an important milestone of personal growth.

An interdisciplinary program, the organizational leadership curriculum prepares students to succeed in a global society by promoting critical thinking, writing, creativity, ethical decision making, social justice and emotional intelligence.

Many adult students have years of learning outside of the formal classroom, said Shawnrece Campbell, Ph.D., program director and chair, and they may be able to turn experiential learning into valuable college credits. According to program information, up to 16 credits are available for prior experience for this degree.

To accommodate the busy lives and professional commitments of most adult students, all courses are offered with a blend of online and in-person work. Cohorts of 15-25 students will enter the program and take courses together through the completion of the program, meeting nights and weekends. The cohort format allows students to forge a supportive educational foundation while accomplishing their goals.

In addition to a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership, Stetson will offer five industry specific focus areas:



Healthcare/public health

Financial services

Hospitality and entertainment

Information technology

Nonprofit and government

Whatever your educational experience has been  and for whatever reason it was interrupted  if youre serious about finishing what you started, were serious about helping you reach your goal, said McGuirl-Hadley.

For more information, call 386-822-7500, email organizationalleadershipdegree(at)stetson(dot)edu or visit Stetson.edu/boundless-learning.

About Stetson University

Founded in 1883, Stetson University is the oldest private university in Florida, providing a transforming education in the liberal arts tradition. Stetson stresses academic excellence and community-engaged learning, and consistently earns high marks in national rankings. Stetson encourages its students to go beyond success to significance in their lives, the lives of others and their communities.
Over 50 people were killed in the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. This recent tragic event, as author Charlotte Williams thinks about it, is a product of both discrimination and uncontrollable anger. Williams had also experienced being a victim of misplaced anger. In 2015, Williams penned her harrowing experiences in autobiography book Unbreakable Spirit (published by Xlibris), which has a new book marketing campaign.

The author describes Unbreakable Spirit as a shocking, unimaginable, unthinkable and unforgivable true story of her life as a victim of domestic and gun violence. Three years ago, she was shot twice by surprise with a .357 Magnum revolver by a man that had been physically and verbally abusing her for years. It doesnt matter how long you think you know a person, you still dont know them until they reveal their true colors.

Williams is positive that her tell-all memoir will inspire readers about her life story. She lets readers feel that they are not alone, especially those who face situations similar to the authors experiences. I am a standing testimony of strength and willpower. I want us all to be heard as being survivors.

An excerpt from the book:

This amazing spirit that has been dragged from the peak of heaven to one of the darkest pit of hell and back again, remains unbroken. Theres always a light at the end of the tunnel.

Unbreakable Spirit

By Charlotte Williams

Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 112 pages | ISBN 9781503588400

Softcover | 6 x 9in | 112 pages | ISBN 9781503588417

E-Book | 112 pages | ISBN 9781503588424

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Charlotte Williams, author of the best-selling novel Unbreakable Spirit, was born in Lynchburg, Virginia. She lived in Virginia throughout her childhood, and then she moved to California as a young adult. On March 2015, she retired from National Oilwell Varco in California after 26 years as a quality engineer. She currently lives in Orange County, where Williams spend a lot of time to focus on healing. She has a son, daughter and six grandchildren, whom she loves them all dearly. For more information about the author, readers may check her official website: http://www.charlottewilliamsspirit.com.

Xlibris Publishing, an Author Solutions, LLC imprint, is a self-publishing services provider created in 1997 by authors, for authors. By focusing on the needs of creative writers and artists and adopting the latest print-on-demand publishing technology and strategies, we provide expert publishing services with direct and personal access to quality publication in hardcover, trade paperback, custom leather-bound and full-color formats. To date, Xlibris has helped to publish more than 60,000 titles. For more information, visit xlibris.com or call 1-888-795-4274 to receive a free publishing guide. Follow us @XlibrisPub on Twitter for the latest news.
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Egypt's cabinet approved in a Wednesday meeting the extension of a 2014 presidential law allowing the Armed Forces to assist police in securing "vital" governmental and public facilities for two years starting 28 October 2016.

The extension of the law is yet to be approved by the parliament.

First issued in October 2014, Article 1 of the law states that members of the Armed Forces would collaborate and fully coordinate with police in securing facilities including electric power stations and pylons, gas pipelines, oil fields, railway stations, road networks and bridges.

The facilities would be treated as military installations while they are secured by military forces.

The law also stipulates that those who "attack" these government facilities will be referred to military prosecutors and tried by a military court.

The law was issued a few days following a North Sinai attack on an army checkpoint that left 31 army soldiers dead and 30 injured in 2014.

Egypt's security forces have been battling a decade-long Islamist insurgency in parts of North Sinai, which spiked in 2013.

The military has launched an intensified third phase of a comprehensive military campaign to purge the restive governorate of militants through "pre-emptive strikes against terrorist elements."

Over 100 militants have been killed since the third phase was launched at the end of May, according to official statements by the army spokesman.

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EgyptAir flight MS 804 that crashed in May saw smoke on board shortly before its crash, the investigation committee looking into the incident confirmed on Wednesday after examining the plane's recovered data recorders.

"Recorded data is showing consistency with [distress signals sent from the flight indicating there was] smoke from the lavatory and avionics area," the committee said in a statement.

The committee added that the front section from the wreckage of the plane, whose crash into the Mediterranean Sea killed all 66 people on board, showed "signs of high temperature damage and soot."

Aviation Herald, a prominent Austria-based website specialising in air accidents, said in May that the airliner sent seven alarm messages indicating smoke on board minutes before disappearing.

The investigation committee said analysis will take place to identify the cause of the smoke.

The committee added that "the entire flight is recorded on the black box from the time it took off at Charles de Gaulle airport," and that recording "stopped at an altitude of 37,000 feet" at the point of the crash.

Wednesday's announcement comes after the black boxes arrived on Tuesday for inspection after undergoing repairs in France.

According to the committee, the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) is still undergoing repairs at the French aircraft accident investigation bureau.

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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Wednesday that the leaks of Thanaweya Amma high school exams this year would not be repeated, and that the state respects court decision, in reference to the recent verdict voiding the Egyptian-Saudi island deal.

During a speech at the Egyptian Family iftar celebration, El-Sisi stressed that Egypt is currently reconsidering the system of high school exams.

He said that the advisory council for education is currently preparing a new strategy for Thanaweya Amma, to be presented in September, that follows international standards.

The president's statement comes hours after high school students held protests in several parts of the country against a government decision to cancel or postpone a number of year-end exams after several test questions and answers were leaked online.

El-Sisi also said that the state respects court rulings, in reference to the recent verdict voiding the Saudi-Egyptian maritime demarcation agreement that put the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir under Saudi control.

He said that no court ruling would be questioned, adding that Egypt was a "state of institutions."

"No one can force something on the Egyptian people that they do not want," El-Sisi said.

However, he did call on the cabinet to provide the public with the information supporting the Saudi claim over the islands.

"The state has nothing to hide, and the people made us responsible for Egypt and we are honouring this responsibility," El-Sisi said.

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Iran's supreme leader has accused Bahrain's Sunni-led government of "blatant foolishness and insanity" for stripping a prominent Shia 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 Shia-majority Iran. The move sparked demonstrations by his supporters and outrage among Shias across the region.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's website on Saturday quoted him as saying that the "persevering and knowledgeable" Qassim was a moderate who would have worked to "prevent extremist tactics." Khamenei says "now, no obstacle can prevent these young enthusiasts from rising up."

Bahrain crushed Arab Spring-inspired protests backed by majority Shias against the Sunni monarchy in 2011, and has seen low-level unrest since then.

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News

From Bulgaria

Bulgaria Reaffirms Interest in Energy Projects with Russia, by EU Rules

Bulgarian PM is expecting to see support from the EC and the EU on dealing with the cancelled Belene NPP project

AUTHOR: publics.bg



 Press Office of the Bulgarian Council of Ministers



Bulgaria is still ready to work on large energy projects in partnership with Russia, as long as EU rules are observed, Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov said today during a press conference following his meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk. Borisov stressed that Bulgaria has been a loyal member-state and will be relying on solidarity from the EU.

We have always stated, that Bulgaria can work on large-scale energy projects in partnership with Russia, but following the European rules. You have witnessed the experience of previous [Bulgarian] governments that have been heavily sanctioned. We cannot allow having an [infringement] procedure for [gas] pipelines and compressor stations. I would like to see solidarity from the European Commission and the European Union, given what Bulgaria has done so far as a loyal member, Borisov said.

The Bulgarian PM alluded that financial support should come from the EU for Bulgaria, following the tribunal judging on the cancelled Belene NPP project, which calls for Sofia to pay EUR 550 m to Russias Atomstroyexport for the nuclear reactors produced for the planned power plant.

Would they pay the money and allow us to build or sell reactors? Would they allow us to build South Stream as a private project? Would Greece and Turkey, as part of the Turkish Stream be scrutinized the same way Bulgaria has been, in order not to bypass Ukraine?, Borisov asked rhetorically, vowing to produce a written statement in order to stop speculations.
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The United States on Tuesday condemned what it called the "heinous" bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport that left at least 36 people dead, pledging "steadfast" support for Turkey.

"Ataturk International Airport, like Brussels Airport which was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind us together," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement.

"We remain steadfast in our support for Turkey, our NATO ally and partner, along with all of our friends and allies around the world, as we continue to confront the threat of terrorism."

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the attack was "only the latest in a series of attacks aimed at killing and maiming innocent civilians."

"Such attacks will only reinforce our determination to work with the government of Turkey to counter the scourge of terrorism and support all those across the region who are working to promote peace and reconciliation," he said in a statement.

Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said in a statement that "all Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence."

"Today's attack in Istanbul only strengthens our resolve to defeat the forces of terrorism and radical jihadism around the world," she added. "And it reminds us that the United States cannot retreat."

Her rival Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, said the threat of terrorism "has never been greater."

"We must take steps now to protect America from terrorists, and do everything in our power to improve our security to keep America safe," he said in a statement.

The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded all flights between the United States and Istanbul, US media reported.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey -- which oversees transportation infrastructure for the two states -- said it has added high-visibility patrols equipped with tactical weapons and equipment at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports.

"The agency continues to monitor the situation in Turkey and is collaborating with federal, state and local law enforcement partners to include the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force," the agency said in a statement.

The triple-suicide bombing and gun attack was the fourth deadly bombing in Istanbul this year. The government has blamed previous attacks on both Kurdish rebels and the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

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Champaign County Circuit Judge Michael Jones ruled Tuesday the lawsuit filed by Matt Rush against Police Chief Anthony Cobb and Patricia Avery did not stand for multiple reasons, including legally insufficient allegations and not being filed within the statute of limitations.

The lawsuit alleged Cobb engaged in a conspiracy with Avery to deprive Rush "of the employment that he earned." It alleged Avery's comment that she wanted Rush's "head on a platter, led Cobb to take several disciplinary steps, including three separate internal investigations that eventually led to Rush's firing in August 2014.

While an arbitrator overruled Cobb's decision, Rush was fired last year for an off-duty incident during which he allegedly was "highly intoxicated."
Press release submitted by RaeAnn Tucker-Marshall

The Stark County Citizens' Mental Health Task Force, Petersen Health Care, and the Stark County Health Department announce they are once again sponsoring a special Senior Living Series. The Senior Living Series is a schedule of informational programs aimed to give the latest, up-to-date information, to our area senior population.

The July program will be "One Room Schools of Henry and Stark County by Steve Morrison, Local Educator/Historian/Author; and "School Days-Stimulating Brain Activity through Memories" by Beth Smith, of the Henry and Stark County Health Department. This informative program will be held Wednesday, July 13th at 2 p.m. at the Bradford Courtyard Estates.

Steve Morrisons program will focus on One Room Schoolhouses in Henry and Stark County from 1902-1950. In 1902 the rural school numbering system was changed so that each school in the county had a unique number. Stark County one room schools at this time numbered about 69. In 1931/1931 about 56 one room schools were in Stark County. Morrisons program will also cover the qualifications, duties and expectations of the teachers, students and school directors at this time period.

Morrison notes, My research of local schoolhouses could not have been completed without the help of newspapers and records of the Henry County Regional Superintendents Office. In addition, I spoke with students who attended these rural schools and also to a few teachers, both who have interesting tales to tell. Thanks, of course, must also go to my wife Barbara for making many trips to libraries and other places to help gather information.

Following Morrisons program, Beth Smith, of the Henry and Stark County Health Department will encourage attendees to share their own School Day Memories. As the Senior Living Series encourages anyone attending the July program to bring photos and mementos and share stories of their own school days. According to Beth Smith, Reminiscences and memories are an important activity to encourage; and actually help to stimulate brain activity and function. So please come to share pleasant times, wonderful stories and exercise your mind at the same time.

Remember, refreshments will be served and a door prize will be given out at each Senior Living Series session.

For more information about the upcoming Stark County Senior Living Series you may contact Beth Smith at the Stark County Health Department at (309) 852-0197 or visit our website at www.henrystarkhealth.com or find us on Facebook at Henry and Stark County Health Departments of Follow Us On Twitter.
Press release submitted by Blackhawk Bank & Trust

Community Banks merge. Port Byron State Bank becomes Blackhawk Bank & Trust

Jim Huiskamp, President of Blackhawk Bank & Trust, and Dennis Eckhardt, President of Port Byron State Bank, jointly announce that the merger of Port Byron State Bank with and into Blackhawk Bank & Trust is now complete. Final merger papers were signed today and the merger is effective at the opening of business Thursday morning.

Blackhawk Bank is a locally owned Community Bank with sixteen offices in the Quad City Metropolitan Area, with thirteen offices in Illinois and three in Iowa. Port Byron State Bank has its main office in Port Byron and offices in Colona and Coal Valley. The combined bank will have assets of $1,300,000,000.

Jim Huiskamp, President of Blackhawk & Trust, said that Blackhawk Bank was pleased to be able to spread its footprint into the Port Byron Market. "Port Byron is the type of community where Blackhawk has built its reputation....strong community service with direct community involvement." Dennis Eckhardt stated that Blackhawk's strong capital position, together with its wide branch network in the Quad Cities, made Port Byron's decision to merge with Blackhawk very simple.

Mr. Huiskamp said that the three existing Port Byron sites will open tomorrow as branches of Blackhawk Bank & Trust. Later this summer, the Colona and Coal Valley sites will be consolidated with Blackhawk sites in those communities while the Port Byron location will continue to serve the Port Byron area.
(Editor's note: Ra Joy, executive director of CHANGE Illinois, submitted the following on behalf of the undersigned organizations as the Independent Map Amendment braces for a key court hearing in Cook County on Thursday.)

When our state redrafted its constitution in 1970, citizens were given the opportunity to propose amendments to the basic structure and operation of the state legislature.

According to the record of proceedings of the Constitutional Convention, giving citizens the ability to propose amendments would allow voters to overcome a reluctance on the part of the General Assembly to change its own domain. (7 Record of Proceedings, Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention 2677-78)

In laymans terms, voters were granted the power to fix problems that state legislators had no incentive or motivation to address.

The Independent Map Amendment was drafted to solve one of those problems: the conflict of interest created when legislators draw boundary lines for their own legislative districts.

Hundreds of thousands of valid Illinois citizen signatures supporting the Independent Map Amendment were gathered and submitted to the Illinois State Board of Elections, which officially declared that enough valid voter signatures have been submitted to place this proposal on the November ballot.

This impressive demonstration of voter support offers solid evidence that bringing an end to political map drawing by the politicians is the will of the people.

It is not, however, the will of the entrenched political interests. A group called the "Peoples Map" has now filed a lawsuit asking a judge to deny the voters of Illinois this chance to amend their own constitution.

Our elected officials have regrettably failed to pass several proposals that would end our partisan system of political map-making, and now that reluctance can only be The Independent Map Amendment will create a fair, impartial, transparent, and politically balanced commission to draw legislative maps, and for the first time, also adds important protections for minority voting rights to the Illinois Constitution.

It's time to fix Illinois' broken political system. Politicians have failed us on this issue.

Now it's a matter that the will of Illinois voters should resolve.

AARP Illinois

Better Government Association

BPI (Business and Professional

People for the Public Interest)

CHANGE Illinois

Common Cause Illinois

Illinois Campaign for Political Reform

Illinois PIRG

League of Women Voters

Small Business Advocacy Council
Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain. Iowas state motto is powerful and succinct. This motto has seemingly been Iowas guiding star since our founding. Iowa eliminated a ban on interracial marriage in 1851. Iowa granted its Black citizens the right to vote years before the federal government. Iowa fought for liberty during the Civil War, sending more troops per capita than any other state to end the scourge of slavery, and played a role in the Underground Railroad. Iowa was among the earliest signers of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. Iowa became the first state to desegregate our schools, was one of the earliest states to recognize marriage equality and until recently was ranked among the most accessible states for voting access.
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The leaders of Turkey and Russia agreed on Wednesday to meet in person, during their first telephone conversation since a crisis erupted over the downing of a Russian plane last year, the Turkish presidency said.

"Reiterating their commitment to reinvigorate bilateral relations and fight terrorism together, the two leaders agreed to remain in contact and meet in person," it said in a statement said after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin spoke by phone in a conversation that followed Ankara's expression of regret over the downing of the warplane on the Syrian border by Turkish jets in November.

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G'day! It's Murray here. I've put together a little quiz to test your musical knowledge. Think you can score top marks in Murray's Magic Music Quiz? Give it a go now!
Algerian security services foiled an attempt by Islamic State group-linked militants to attack a shopping mall in the eastern city of Setif, a government newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Park Mall in Setif, 300 kilometres (190 miles) southwest of the capital Algiers, attracts some 40,000 visitors a year, El Massa said.

The attack was planned by a group that lost eight members who were killed in a May 31 firefight with the army near Guelta Zerka, 60 kilometres (25 miles) east of Setif, the paper said.

It quoted security sources as saying the group was linked to IS cells active in neighbouring Libya.

El Massa said the group had planned spectacular attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which started on June 6.

A civil war during the 1990s that pitted Islamist militants against the Algerian government left 200,000 people dead.

The militants often intensified their attacks in Ramadan, considering it an auspicious time for jihad.

Despite a peace and reconciliation charter signed in 2005 and intended to turn the page on the conflict, militants still frequently target security forces.

Since the start of March, more than 70 jihadists have been killed in military operations in the east and south of the country, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources.

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The locomotive, which is designated class 1187 under the Austrian numbering system, has a nominal output of 5.6MW in electric mode and is equipped with a diesel engine and batteries for operation on non-electrified sidings.

LTE opted for the last mile version of the Traxx after successfully testing one of the locomotives on the Semmering line last year.

Established in 2000, LTE has steadily expanded its international operations in recent years and now holds operating licenses in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, and the Netherlands. The company operates 32 locomotives and a sizeable wagon fleet.

Last year Graz-Koflach Railway (GKB) agreed to sell a 50% stake in LTE to Rhenus Logistics, Germany.
In an interview with French newspaper Les Echos on June 28, Transdev France CEO Mr Laurence Broseta confirmed that the company has informed Trenitalia of its intention to withdraw from the partnership. "Revenues have not grown as much as we had hoped," Broseta says. 'We experienced operational difficulties due to work on the network and increased customs controls because of the migrant crisis, which has caused delays. Our partner understands our reasons (for leaving) and we remain on good terms. The decision will be effective within 2-3 months."

Transdev holds a 30% stake in Thello, which was launched in December 2011 and operates overnight Paris - Venice trains as well as daytime Milan - Nice - Marseille services.
Brightline announced June 28 that it is celebrating another milestone in the building of its trainsets as it installed the Cummins prime-mover into its first diesel-electric Charger locomotive at the Siemens manufacturing facility in Sacramento, Calif. where the trainsets are being built.

The EPA Tier 4-compliant Cummins QSK95 engine weighs 30.5 tons. Installation took approximately six hours, during which the engine was lowered into the locomotive by an overhead crane.

The fuel-efficient Cummins diesel engine, built in the heart of Indiana, will power the locomotive with 16 cylinders pumping up to 4,000 horsepower for optimum reliability and consistency, Brightline said. The lightweight engine is certified to meet the ultra-low emissions required by EPA Tier 4 standards, with additional benefits including reduced noise and the lowest fuel consumption.

Built as integrated trainsets, Brightlines trains are comprised of two locomotives and four stainless steel passenger cars. The trains can be extended to include up to 10 passenger cars as the system and ridership grows. The integration improves ride quality and makes for a quieter ride, Brightline said. There will be a locomotive on each end for high reliability. The locomotives will also feature an ergonomic cab design for the trains engineers.

The 60-acre Siemens rail manufacturing plant is home to nearly 1,000 highly-skilled employees and sources up to 80% of its energy from two megawatts of solar energy, Siemsns noted. The plant recently completed a 125,000 square-foot expansion to help accommodate its growing production needs, including the manufacturing of Brightlines trains. Siemens has also developed a robust and diverse base of U.S. rail suppliers to support the next-generation of rail manufacturing for Brightline, including components from more than 40 suppliers across 20-plus states with additional suppliers still being added. The company will also be performing maintenance on the Brightline trainsets, supporting full-time employment for 36 Siemens employees alongside 40 Brightline employees at Brightlines maintenance facility in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The first completed trainset is expected to be delivered to Brightline later this year. Vertical construction is well under way on Brightlines train stations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, with service scheduled to begin in mid-2017. Brightline service will be operated by Florida East Coast Industries subsidiary All Aboard Florida, using Florida East Coast Railway right-of-way upgraded to accommodate higher-speed passenger trains.
A Bahraini court jailed six Shias for life and two for 15 years on Wednesday after convicting them of "spying" for Iran, a judicial source said.

The criminal court also stripped all eight of their citizenship, the source added.

The court also found them guilty of "joining a terrorist group, possessing arms, ammunition and explosives," and training in their use, the source said.

In recent weeks, Bahrain's Sunni rulers have carried out an intensifying crackdown against leading figures from the kingdom's Shia majority that has drawn criticism from the United Nations and the United States.

Manama has repeatedly accused Shia Iran of fanning persistent unrest among the the majority community since security forces crushed Shia-led protests for a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister in 2011.

Scores of Shias have been jailed on charges of involvement in the unrest.

Authorities have stripped at least 261 Bahrainis of their citizenship since 2012, according to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.

They include the kingdom's Shia spiritual leader, Sheikh Isa Qassim.

Activists have said that those left stateless are usually given a one-year passport and a travel ticket to a foreign country.

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The public telco of Colombias capital city Bogota continues moving towards privatisation with the announcement of a fresh round of firing as it faces worker and union protests.





According to the company, the payroll is unaffordable having grown by 24% during 2015, thus affecting ETBs competitiveness. Despite having already fired 12% of executives and 1.4% of the workforce since the beginning of the year, the telcos new director said that still wasnt enough.We have to make tough decisions according to the professional criteria of efficiency, as workforce numbers have been growing uncontrollably, stated the company, which delivers telecom services, including cable TV and IPTV.But the reasons given dont satisfy the workers and the unions, which see layoffs as one more move to prepare the telco for an eventual privatisation. After 20 years of working, many public workers are being dismissed without reason, said Alejandra Wilches, president of the Atelca, union of ETBs technicians Some of the workers who have already been fired have decided to initiate legal complaints against the company, while it has reiterated that these measures are necessary. ETBs administration board has asked both the Ministry of Labour and the ombudsman to intercede in the conflict.Since the beginning of 2016, ETB management has been trying to improve its financial situation. Privatisation seems the most probable solution in the short term, with some private operators already having shown interest in buying the company.
Spanish production house Medina Media is to premiere a cooking series, which was recorded in Ultra HD, on Canal Sur.





El Chef del Mar (The Chef of the Seas) is a 13-episode series which reveals the secrets of Spanish seafood, with Michelin-Starred chef Angel Leon.The Medina Media series has been recorded with drone cameras and Ultra HD units, thanks to the collaboration of Sony, Panasonic and GoPro. In fact, Sony has selected El Chef del Mar to showcase at the next edition of MIPTV. According to the company, the format has already drawn the attention of several TV networks in the Americas and Europe.In Spain, for the moment, it will only air on the HD channel of the Andalusian regional network
The administrator of a pirate website has been convicted of illegally uploading torrents and facilitating illegal streaming of copyrighted TV series and movies by the Abu Dhabi Court.





The culprit was sentenced to six months in jail followed by deportation to his home country and ordered to pay AED 50,000 to Middle East pay-TV operator OSN for the misuse of its intellectual property rights.Sophie Moloney, general counsel, OSN , said: The authorities have adopted extreme vigilance to all forms of television piracy, which has resulted in websites streaming illegal content being blocked in the UAE. Stealing movies or television series is an offence, whether it is online or as DVDs from a shop, and the authorities recognise that the financial impact on the legitimate copyright owners will be the same.Our efforts against Dish TV India for piracy have led to positive results on ground led by the raids and prompt action by the proactive efforts on the authorities. We have also made significant advances in fighting IPTV piracy. The action against illegal operators will serve as a stern warning against TV piracy. The public can contribute to fighting it by voluntarily staying away from accessing illegal content on any platforms. TV piracy  be it via illegal set-top boxes, unauthorised VPN subscriptions, or torrent downloads  costs the Middle East and Africas content creation and consumer product industries over US$750 million in losses each year, the International Data Corporation estimates.
The global subsidiary of Mad Men creator AMC has reached what it regards as a landmark content deal with Netherlands incumbent telco KPN.





The deal means that from 1 July the internationally acclaimed network, offering programmes such as Fear the Walking Dead and Into the Badlands, will be available in 7.5 million pay-TV homes. AMC will be carried in KPNs PlusPakket giving the channel a total coverage of 95% of the Dutch market.We are delighted to have finalised this key distribution deal with KPN. Under this milestone agreement, we will be able to bring AMCs critically acclaimed and hugely successful content to a wider audience. We look forward to bringing fans in the Netherlands the unique and compelling world brought to life by our original programming, said Ed Palluth, EVP of global distribution for AMC Networks International.The news came just as AMC president and CEO Josh Sapan told Cable Congress 2016 the industry has to take advantage of the changes that were occurring in the industry. He noted Change is a great constant in our business. But we need to focus on what people actually want. Cable video subscriptions are going up, and that aggregate video consumption is increasing because people love stories and TV is the predominant place for stories that people love. Its all about content. People will vote with their chequebooks for experiences that are great for them.In terms of what else they may be investing in, Sapan regaled that AMC was investigating virtual reality content. This is intriguing, with all sorts of opportunities, he added.
Russian Supreme Court dismisses Greenpeace appeal in its suit vs Environment Ministry

MOSCOW, June 29 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova)  Russias Supreme Court had dismissed an appeal petition lodged by Greenpeace in the framework of the NGOs suit against the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment requesting to disable certain provisions of the regulations on the Sochi natural reserve permitting to build tourist facilities in its territory, Mikhail Kreyndlin, a project director at Greenpeace Russia, told RAPSI on Tuesday.

A provision of the regulations prohibits construction of motorways, pipelines, overhead power supply lines and other communications, as well as utility and housing facilities with the exception of tourist ones, museums, information centers and facilities relating to the natural reserve functioning.

According to Kreyndlin, the construction of tourist facilities could seriously affect the nature of the reserve. This provision is unlawful. The natural reserves territory is of great importance for the natural world, in particular, animal migrations. Construction in the territory of the natural reserve may be fatal for its nature,  the ecology expert said.

The Federal Sochi State Natural Reserve was established in 1993. Its territory borders the Caucasian State Nature Biosphere Reserve and the Sochi National Park. The Reserve was created to maintain, restore, reproduce and regulate game animals valuable for economy, science and culture, as well as rare and endangered species listed in the Russian Red Book.
Russian regional lawmakers propose ban on energy drinks advertising

MOSCOW, June 29 (RAPSI) - Lawmakers from the State Assembly of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) have submitted a bill prohibiting advertisement of non-alcoholic energy drinks to the State Duma, according to the database of the parliaments lower house.

Regional legislators claim that energy drinks contain high dose of biologically active substances that can cause side harmful effects including insomnia, activation, anxiety, tachycardia, increase in arterial pressure, arrhythmia.

Nevertheless, outspread advertisement of such drinks is presented in media for pickup in sales and expansion of consumption, according to lawmakers.

Interestingly, retail sales of non-alcoholic energy drinks have been restricted by law in more than 30 Russias regions including Yakutia, Chehnya, Krasnodar Territory, Astrakhan, Vologda, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Rostov and Tula regions. However, these restrictions do not achieve the intended effect because of tonic power drinks advertising, the bills authors believe.




Gandalf Ian McKellen accused of smoking at Russian airport

MOSCOW, June 29 (RAPSI)  A lawyer from Yekaterinburg, a Russian Ural city, appealed to the police demanding to bring administrative action against British actor Ian McKellen for smoking at the doors of the local city airport, Dmitry Rozhin, the applicant, told RIA Novosti news agency on Tuesday.

McKellen, 77, who is best known globally for his Gandalf role in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Hobbit, as well as several X-Men movies, visited Yekaterinburg on June 23 . The actor was a participant in the opening ceremony of a Shakespeare Lives event In Midsummer Nights held in Yekaterinburg. At some time a video showing McKellen smoking at the airport doors was made public.

Rozhin complained that in spite of the obvious fact that the local police officers were around, nobody dared to correct the actor telling him that it was prohibited to smoke in this area. The regional Interior Ministry Directorate promised to clarify the matter later.
Russian upper house approves bill on support of socially beneficial NGOs

Context State Duma passes bill on support of socially beneficial NGOs

MOSCOW, June 29 (RAPSI)  The Federation Courncil, Russias upper house of parliament, on Wednesday approved a bill on support of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide socially beneficial services.

Earlier, during the speech to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that those NGOs, which built a reputation as loyal partners of government, should receive a number of privileges, up to 10% of regional and municipal social programs funds.

In March, a group of MPs and senators filed a bill introducing a new term of socially beneficial NGOs with the lower house of parliament. Such status may be received by a socially-oriented NGO that provide quality socially beneficial services for at least a year, does not have a foreign agent status and does not have tax or other debts to the government. Such NGOs will receive prioritized support from the government. Support measures will be designed by Russian government.

The draft law is expected to take effect on January 1, 2017.
President Putin lifts ban on tourist trips to Turkey

MOSCOW, June 29 (RAPSI)  Russian President Vladimir Putin during the meeting with the government on Wednesday ordered removal of administrative restrictions from tourist trips to Turkey.

Putin also instructed the Cabinet to begin the process of normalizing trade and economic contacts with Turkey as a whole.

Relations between Russia and Turkey became troubled after the Turkish Air Force downed Russias Su-24 jet in Syria on November 24, 2015. Two pilots managed to eject from the plane. Lieutenant-colonel Oleg Peshkov was killed by ground fire from militants when parachuting, his navigator survived. Another serviceman, marine Alexander Pozynich, was killed during the rescue mission.

Putin described the murder of Russian pilot as a stab in the back delivered by accomplices of the terrorists, imposed economic restrictions on Turkey and demanded an apology. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented apologies for the incident this week.

On Wednesday, Putin and Erdogan in a telephone conversation which lasted for 40 minutes agreed on normalization of relations between Russia and Turkey.
As we see a surge in inflation globally, it is now critical that everyone is aware of the implications this will have along every step of the insurance and reinsurance value chain.
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday lifted Moscow's travel restrictions to Turkey and ordered trade ties normalised after his first phone call with counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan since Ankara downed a Russian jet last year.

In the wake of the November incident Moscow slapped a range of sanctions on Ankara, including an embargo on some Turkish food products, as well as a ban on charter flights and sales of package tours to the country and the reintroduction of visas for Turkish visitors.

"I want to start with the question of tourism... we are lifting the administrative restrictions in this area," Putin told government ministers in televised comments.

"I ask that the Russian government begins the process of normalising general trade and economic ties with Turkey," he said.

The breakthrough phone call by Putin to Erdogan came after the Turkish strongman on Monday sent a letter to the Kremlin leader that Moscow said contained an apology.

In a statement, the Kremlin said that Putin expressed "profound condolences" over the Monday bombing and shooting attack at Istanbul's main airport that killed at least 41 people and was pinned by Ankara on Islamic State group.

The Turkish presidency said in a statement that Erdogan and Putin "highlighted the importance of the normalisation of bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia."

Erdogan is expected to meet with Putin in September on the sidelines of the forthcoming G20 summit in China for their first face-to-face talks since the start of the diplomatic row, a Turkish official told AFP on Wednesday speaking on condition of anonymity.

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Drafts of a thoroughgoing reform of Dodd-Frank, prepared by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, are now circulating in Washington and drawing the predictable attacks from the anti-reform caucus-otherwise known as the Progressives.

The bill, called the Choice Act, is a massive piece of work-about 500 pages-to be expected if it is to make significant changes in the 2300 page Dodd-Frank legislation. Fortunately, it repeals a lot of the harmful elements of Dodd-Frank and modifies or replaces others.

All this can't be covered here, but two of the most significant provisions are these: the act offers the banking industry a trade; in exchange for increasing capital, banks can attain some relief from the stifling regulation that has thus far stunted the economic recovery.

The trade is particularly interesting because Mr. Hensarling is offering reduced regulation for banks that abandon the Basel risk-based capital rules-in effect in various forms since the late 1980s-and adopt a simple 10 percent tangible assets-to-equity leverage ratio.

This is good for two reasons. First, it will provide the regulatory relief that community banks desperately need; they can stop hiring compliance officers and start hiring lending officers again. Second, the insanely complex Basel rules have proved to be a boon for the largest banks, which can manipulate them so their capital positions look healthy. The market has long recognized this phenomenon and doesn't believe what the banks or their regulators say about their financial strength. The biggest banks, backed by the anti-reform caucus, will protest this change, but it will finally produce a credible regulatory capital system for banks, and eliminate the capital allocation inherent in the Basel rules.

Another of the major reforms is the repeal-yes, repeal-of Title II, the so-called Orderly Liquidation Authority, which gives the FDIC the authority to take over nonbank financial firms if their failure would cause instability in the US financial system. Repealing this provision is good because it is both a source of unnecessary confusion and fails to deal with the real problem of too-big-to-fail.

Title II was supposed to be a backstop when bankruptcy was insufficient to deal with the failure of a large nonbank financial firm. It arose out of the incorrect idea that the bankruptcy of a large financial firm would be as disruptive as Lehman's failure. Certainly chaos occurred after Lehman suddenly filed for bankruptcy, but that was because the government unexpectedly and illogically reversed the big-firm rescue policy the market thought it had established in rescuing Bear Stearns six months earlier. Rescuing Bear was a massive error, compounded destructively by allowing a much larger firm-Lehman-to fail without warning. The result was a turbulent period that we all recall as the financial crisis.

But although Lehman's failure was a shock, no other large firm failed because it was interconnected with Lehman, and it was the false idea that all these large firms are interconnected that gave rise to the notion that they should be subject to special regulation as systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) and subject to a special resolution system administered by the FDIC.

This is another prescription for chaos, since no one will know, as a large firm begins to weaken, whether it will be resolved in bankruptcy or taken over by the FDIC. Firms in that situation will be unable to save themselves by raising new equity or liquidity, because investors and creditors will not know how their financial assistance will be treated. Bankruptcy provides a roadmap; the FDIC, on the other hand, is a black box.

Perhaps more important, Title II is the basis for the false claim-regularly made by the Obama administration and bruited about by the Progressives-that Dodd-Frank eliminated too-big-to-fail. As I noted, Title II applies to nonbank financial firms, and specifically states that it does not apply to banks. The FDIC had neatly protected its turf with this language, but that means if one of the four giant trillion dollar US banks (and several others almost that large) should fail, it is the FDIC that must resolve it under the banking laws.

The FDIC, however, has earned its reputation in one way, by selling failing banks to healthy ones. It has even done that with large failing banks, selling Washington Mutual to JPMorgan Chase and Wachovia to Wells Fargo in 2008. But that game is now over. The largest banks are already too-big-to-fail, and selling one trillion dollar bank to another will simply make the problem worse.

The only other alternative to prevent the chaos that would accompany the failure of a trillion dollar bank would be to keep the bank open, supplying liquidity while it is gradually either returned to health or sold off in pieces. The FDIC does not have anything close to the financial resources to do that, but we have a name for it: it's called a bailout.

And do you know who will be paying those costs? You guessed it: the taxpayers. And that's either something the Progressives don't know or don't want you to know.
The Islamic State group (IS) pushed back an offensive by US-trained Syrian rebels on a key route linking militants territory in eastern Syria to Iraq, a monitor said Wednesday.

The New Syrian Army, backed by US-led coalition strikes, had advanced overnight on IS territory near the Albu Kamal border crossing and adjacent town.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the NSA had seized the small Al-Hamdan airbase nearby, but IS had recaptured it by Wednesday afternoon.

"The attack failed. They lost control of the airport," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

He said NSA units were still inside the oil-rich Deir Ezzor province where Albu Kamal lies, but had been forced to retreat.

NSA spokesman Muzahem al-Sallum confirmed that his group was no longer in control of the airport, but said it was preparing "the next phase" of their offensive.

"We retreated towards the desert around Albu Kamal," he told AFP.

NSA fighters had announced the operation on Tuesday and said it was aimed at severing IS's access route between eastern Syria and Iraq's western Anbar province.

The rebels said the operation was coordinated with Iraqi forces who were advancing on the crossing from the other side of the border.

The US-led coalition announced it had carried out eight air strikes near Albu Kamal and five near Al-Qaim, on the Iraqi side, on Tuesday.

IS group seized the Albu Kamal crossing in mid-2014, when it overran swathes of territory on both sides of the border and declared a self-styled "caliphate".

NSA fighters were trained in Jordan by US and British troops.

They already captured the Al-Tanaf border crossing between Syria and Iraq earlier this year.

IS is facing growing pressure from US-backed offensives in both Syria and Iraq.

In northern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters has edged into the IS stronghold of Manbij with coalition air support.

In Iraq, authorities declared at the weekend that they were in full control of the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, long an emblematic bastion for IS group.

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Last week was historic for Colombians: After three years, government negotiators struck a deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on disarmament terms and conditions for a final cease-fire. While the country is closer than ever to ending a war that has produced millions of victims, a final accord is yet to be signed. Critically, this final agreement must then be ratified by the Colombian people with a plebiscite. As Colombians consider where they stand, the world community should not make the mistake of keeping to the sidelines. It must step clearly into the peace camp.

The announcement is the first critical step toward ending Latin Americas longest-running armed conflict and starts the clock on the political battle to consolidate peace. It will be an explosive political fight. President Juan Manuel Santos has been adamant about the need to subject the peace agreement to a popular vote, allowing the Colombian people to decide rather than leaving this big decision up to political elites. Many people have recommended a different course. The example of British Prime Minister David Cameron is a very lively reminder that promises of popular votes can endanger ones political career.

Indeed, Santos relentless commitment is admirable, but not without risks. Many Colombians are very skeptical about FARCs intention to lay down arms and transform into a political actor. After years of violence, many wonder whether the country should make peace with a group that has committed such constant and serious atrocities over many decades. Colombians have valid concerns over whether negotiators conceded too much, such as granting former guerrillas political participation and allowing them to avoid jail time if they confess to war crimes.

Opposition to the peace process in Havana has been led by former president Alvaro Uribe, whose presidency led the most successful military strategy against the Colombian rebels. President Uribe is unwaveringly opposed to any concessions to the guerrilla group, which he believes could be militarily defeated. His message has been popular with a significant portion of Colombias citizenry.

Still, Uribe has lost almost every recent political battle. His party lost the previous presidential election, and his candidates did very poorly in October 2015 local elections. His party has only 18 percent of Senate seats. While many Colombians express doubts about the peace process, most Colombians support taking a chance for peace. There are many victims groups that support the negotiations in the hope that the next generation will be able to live in peace.

The campaigning for or against the plebiscite has already begun. On the one hand, Uribe has mobilized his party, the Centro Democratico, to collect signatures as part of its civil resistance campaign. On the other hand, President Santos has taken advantage of his presidential bully pulpit to talk about the benefits of peace. Civil society -- always lively in Colombia -- has engaged in the fight, a clear sign of Colombias vibrant democracy.

However, Colombia is polarizing over the peace issue. This is always worrisome in a country with a history of internal schism and violence.

President Santos must articulate how this deal will increase the countrys future economic prosperity and security. Colombia has made enormous social and economic progress over the past decade and a half, but the war with FARC has left entire swaths of the country without economic benefit.

The governments campaign for yes must emphasize that this peace project belongs to all of Colombia, and not just to the president. Conflict areas that have lived without electricity will suddenly know the life-changing economic, health, and social benefits of electrical power. Regions that have never seen a state school will understand the concept of public education. Public health officials will be able to travel to the far reaches of the country. The countrys economic development agenda and its peace agenda have always been separate objectives. This campaign is a chance to unify the causes.

President Barack Obama -- vowing to support Peace Colombia -- has already pledged to increase aid to the country to $450 million in the first year. The United States and others can do even more. The Vaticans first-ever Latin American Pope has taken the lead, announcing plans to visit Colombia in early 2017 once the country has voted for peace.

International financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank should make clear plans for accelerated disbursements of monies for infrastructure, health, and education. The European Union should boost its assistance programs in support of peace. Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) nations could show their support with a joint declaration that Colombia should be one of the first members to join once the pact is ratified by the initial signatory nations. Colombia already has free trade agreements with five of the 11 current TPP members and is currently conducting negotiations with Japan. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development can announce that Colombias successful accession negotiations are nearly finished and that the peace effort will be a welcome last step prior to entering the prestigious institution.

I have personally conducted polls in the country since 1987 and there has always been a desire for peace. Even at the height of violence with FARC in the early 2000s, a longing for peace was latent. No peace is perfect, but Colombians would be wise to take advantage of a once in a lifetime, and a once in a century, opportunity.
The British establishment began eating is own this week, while at the same heaping scorn on those who had the temerity to have their own views. Prime Minister David Cameron is finished but not gone. The head of the loyal opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, was given a vote of no confidence by Labourites in Parliament, but he refused to step down immediately after the June 28 motion. The global stock markets rose, and we were assured by leading experts that this means nothing since the world is ending. And the best and brightest looked for ways to annul the will of the people, since the people were being very silly indeed. Yet the sun rose in Her Majestys realm, the children went to school (assuming their teachers werent on strike) and the financial wizards of the City continued to make money, but not always for their clients, which is as it should be, I suppose. The British survived the Battle of Britain, and they will surely survive this.

The ones who didnt survive the Battle of Britain were the Germans. And their ability to survive this is much more uncertain than that of the British. The reasons are fairly obvious, but since everyone in the media is focused on the end of Great Britain, it is a story they havent noticed.

Lets begin with a seemingly innocent statement made by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier: Lets keep our heads up! [We have] every reason to be proud of EU integration and to continue itLets be honest. We need a more flexible EU. Youre not a bad European if you want to advance at a slower pace. On the surface, this is a reasonable and conciliatory statement.

There are of course any number of countries engaged in fairly bitter disputes with the EU. Britain is far from the only one. For example, the EU is condemning the Polish government for what it calls tampering with the judiciary. Similarly, the EU has been hostile to Hungary for interfering with the media. There was serious tension with Italy when the EU said that in a banking crisis, depositors should consider their money forfeit, and the Italians struggled with the notion of facing strict limits to aiding ailing banks. During the height of the refugee crisis the Austrians threatened to close the Brenner Pass to block refugee movement, while a number of other countries refused to follow EU dictates on the subject. The Greeks are still bitter about the devastation of EU-mandated austerity. And so on.

The image of the EU as a happy place busy fixing the minor problems that have cropped up isnt quite true. Apart from the substantial growth of anti-EU political parties, on the left and the right, there are many EU member governments in serious disputes, many of which were initiated by the EU with regulations and mandates that the members feel they cant live with.

Steinmeier, a powerful German politician, has conceded the need for a more flexible system. He adds that you are not a bad European if you want to advance at a slower pace. I assume that you are a bad European if you want to have nothing to do with the EU, as Britain just voted, and I suspect that was one of the messages Steinmeier wanted to deliver.

But he was also telling the other members of the EU that their membership can be flexible. He hasnt explained how that would work, but he has basically said to the rest of Europe, Hold on. No need to leave. We will customize membership to your needs. What sounds like a reasonable proposal hides a desperate ploy.

The one thing that is fundamental to EU membership is free trade. The European free trade zone was the foundation upon which the EU was built. It preceded the EU and the EU is meaningless without it. The EU without the free trade zone would be like the Organization of American States, a forum for discussion and occasional condemnation of one country or another, but with no mission beyond that.

Steinmeier is not thinking about giving up the free trade zone. Other things may become optional. The euro is. Compliance with the regulation of the EU on various matters may be. Interference in the internal affairs of countries might be. The primacy of the European legal system might be. The free trade zone is not.

For Germany, the free trade zone is indispensable. The fundamental reality of Europe is that Germany derives nearly half of its GDP from exports. Europe has declined in importance as a destination for German goods, and the U.K. and U.S. have become significantly more important, but continental Europe remains an indispensable source of revenue for Germany. If the free trade zone were modified, the German economy would face an enormous crisis. A 5 percent decline in exports would mean a 2.25 percent decline in Germanys GDP.

Germany will do anything to retain the free trade zone. It would give up the euro, which was meant to create a level playing field in the free trade zone and wound up maximizing German interests. It would give up regulations from Brussels that make entrepreneurial activity in Europe too risky to undertake. IBM was staggered by Microsoft. Google redefined the behavior of the largest corporations in the world. But Siemens has not had to face a European Google or Microsoft. Its tough to start a business in your garage in Europe.

All of these things benefited Germany. The euro gave it an advantage on a seemingly level playing field. The regulations protected Germanys 1950s-style corporations from 21st century challenges. And European anti-trust regulations put Google and Microsoft on the defensive. All of these were outstanding.

But with the European Union tearing itself apart over Brussels regulations on all things important, including immigration and Central Europes media and judiciary, all things become vulnerable. One of the major questions never raised is whether the free trade zone benefits the members. It is not subject to discussion, like a sacred principle. Yet Germany developed its industry in the 1950s while protecting its markets from competition. It is doubtful whether Germany would have developed as it did if it had tried to industrialize in the face of American competition.

It might have been better off. During its second industrialization after World War II, Germany needed to generate capital. This meant that German industry vastly outstripped its domestic consumption to the point where today the entire German economy depends on exports. The only way Germany could have increased the share of exports in its GDP in the face of the global slowdown (in 2008 exports were about 40 percent of GDP) was to cut prices and profit margins. That and overwhelm the rest of Europe with German goods, priced in such a way that competition could not evolve.

In a market where one country is overwhelmingly powerful and highly dependent on exports, that large exporter is necessarily predatory, looking for new market niches so it can maintain cash flow. It is very difficult under these circumstances for smaller economies to develop. We have a generational crisis in southern Europe too casually ascribed to the lazy shiftlessness of Mediterranean cultures. Culture may play a role, but Germanys tariff-free access to these markets makes recovery impossible.

The Germans primordial fear is the loss of the European free trade zone. This is an existential issue for them. This is why, for all the German posturing, in the end the Germans made deals with the Greeks that they knew the Greeks could never comply with. The Germans put on a good show, but they never would have pushed the Greeks out of the EU. Had this happened and the Greek economy improved, it would have set the most dangerous precedent possible for the Germans.

This is the case with the U.K. Exports to Britain are critical to Germany, and the Germans may posture, but they would be cutting off their nose to spite their face by breaking trade relations with Britain. The German fear is that the British decision to leave will spread to other countries and that this might start a reconsideration of the free trade zone. Thus Steinmeiers statement is perfectly pitched. The EU is great. We understand there is unhappiness. Everyone can proceed at their own speed. But the core assumption is that everyone is in the free trade zone, and then they can add other things. Or not. Germany will sacrifice everything to protect the free trade zone.

Germany is not a monster. Like Japan and China, it has a massive overdependence on exports because it developed in an environment where capital formation depended on that. It never suffered the setback of Japan, and now China, and therefore did not need to adjust its export dependency. When the global exports crisis hit, it had to do everything it could to maintain their exports. It cannot back off without a crisis that would require a massive shift in its economic life, with the political consequences of that inevitable and massive pain.

The Germans will put that off forever if they can. The cornerstone of their economy is unlimited access to the European free trade zone. The U.K. has not raised this issue, but it might, and so might others. Germany must retreat if it is to save what it must have. Steinmeier is being reasonable, but defending fundamental German interests. Stay in the free trade zone. Everything else is negotiable.
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By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 06/29/2016



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

star Michelle Tam -- who left the show in last week's episode to reunite with her former love -- has revealed she unfortunately failed to find her happily ever after.Although Tuesday night's episode featured the single women gushing about how they hope to find a fairytale love like Tam did with her ex-boyfriend Eran -- who surprised her on the island during filming just as she was quitting the show to go home and reunite with him -- Tam is back in the dating pool.Tam, a 28-year-old interior decorator from New York, NY, has announced she has split from Eran, who is also the father of her young son."We aren't a #coupled today but we R grateful 4 the second chance on love, a fairytale moment that will live forever!" Tam tweeted recently.In last week's episode, Tam dumped Ben Rosenfield , a 36-year-old tech entrepreneur from Chicago IL, because she thought he was too flirtatious.As she was preparing herself to return to the Bungalows and start the dating process all over again, she realized how much she still loved her ex back home.Tam genuinely missed Eran and acknowledged how they didn't work out due to insignificant issues. It sounded like she let go of a good guy in fear of committing to him long-term.Tam therefore decided to leave the show and get back together with her old flame, who apparently wanted to be with her all along. But once she was ready to depart Anguilla, Eran and their child arrived on a boat to surprise her.It was truly a heartwarming reunion that made mostly everyone in the cast cry. Although Tam was sad to leave her new friends in Mexico, she was excited to take care of unfinished business.
The final report of the Benghazi Select Committee was released yesterday. It's far too early to opine intelligently about all the contents, down to the miscellany  after all, there are over 800 pages of it, and the Jordan-Pompeo supplemental report is another 51. The essentials are easier to assess, however, and some things assumed to be true from the beginning have been confirmed, particularly accusations of obfuscation and misdirection. Other issues have been brought to light that were not immediately clear  faulty intelligence reports from the CIA, accusations of failure on the part of the DoD to deploy military assets like Marine FAST* elements and the regional CIF** in a timely fashion not least among them. One thing is perfectly clear  allegations of wrongdoing by Secretary Clinton and her staff can no longer be dismissed as discredited conspiracy theories (although this being a campaign season, the contents of the report will either be dismissed or decried as part of the political narrative on both sides).

*USMC Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team **Commander's In-extremis Force, a US Army Special Forces unit in this case belonging to Special Operations Command Europe, not AFRICOM

What's interesting is the wide variety of response the mainstream media has given the report. The New York Times says, No New Evidence of Wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton; Fox News says House Benghazi Report Slams Administration. Other sources align with these 2 basic attitudes, albeit with varying degrees of vitriol.

The problem here is that all interested parties are conflating multiple issues that should each separately require exoneration or condemnation. Because Secretary Clinton is running for President, her involvement in the events of 9/11/12 and its aftermath taken in toto has evolved to become the crux of the whole matter. This despite the apparent focus of the report on a chronology of events and information gathered from interviews, e-mails and documents.

There are multiple questions that need answered, but distilled down, the 2 biggest and most important ones are,

1. Did the administration (including but not limited to Secretary Clinton) knowingly attempt to mislead the American public about the events and/or dissemble for any unjustifiable reason (e.g., did they lie about something for any reason other than national security)? 2. How and why did the attack on the consulate go unanswered (beyond the local level) for so long? Why were US or allied military forces not directed immediately to respond to Libya, and could they have responded in time if they had been?

For today we'll focus on the first question while stipulating that DoD assets were directed to assist. (The first formal orders to deploy came at 20h39L/8:39pm local time from the National Military Command Center, as ordered by Secretary of Defense Panetta following verbal notification to prepare for deployment given at some point between 18h00 nad 20h00L; see G-17 Timeline of Department of Defense Actions September 11-12, 2012).

From the Benghazi Select Committee Report

So, did Obama administration and Department of State under Secretary Hillary Clinton knowingly attempt to mislead the public?

Yes. Secretary Clinton did, as did President Obama's Press Secretary. Those fact are incontrovertible.

There was clearly an effort on the part of the administration to label the attack on the consulate as an escalation of a protest, similar to other protests like one in Egypt, and not a direct attack. One must keep this in context  an incumbent POTUS running for reelection, just weeks before an election in which his diplomatic success during the Arab Spring was a key point. That certainly provides motive, though it does not preclude other reasons (including Hanlon's Razor).

Consider the following:

On the night of the 11 September, Secretary Clinton's statement read in part, Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the internet.

In her remarks the morning of 12 September, she said,

We are working to determine the precise motivations and methods of those who carried out this assault. Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior, along with the protest that took place at our Embassy in Cairo yesterday, as a response to inflammatory material posted on the internet.

Later that day, in an e-mail to the embassy in Kabul, Clinton adviser Jacob Sullivan wrote,

There was not really violence in Egypt [and] we are not saying that the violence in Libya erupted over inflammatory videos'.

Still later that day, Secretary Clinton statements to Prime Minister Hisham Kandil of Egypt,

We know that the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack  not a protest. . . . Based on the information we saw today we believe the group that claimed responsibility for this was affiliated with al Qaeda. (emphasis added)

On 13 September, in Secretary Clinton's Morocco remarks,

I also wantto address the video circulating on the internet that has led to these protests in a number of countriesAs long as there are those who are willing to shed blood and take innocent life in the name of God, the world will never know a true and lasting peace. It is especially wrong for violence to be directed against diplomatic missions. . . . (emphasis added)

That was on the 13th. Compare that to the evening before, on the 12th, when during a congressional staff briefing, Under Secretary of State Patrick Kennedy answered a question asking if the attack on the consulate was coordinated with the Cairo protests. [The] attack in Cairo was a demonstration. There were no weapons shown or used. A few cans of spray paint. He described the attack on the American consulate as a direct breaching attack.

Fast forward now to Sept. 14th: White House Spokesman Jay Carney during a press conference.

We have no information to suggest that it was a preplanned attack. The unrest we've seen around the region has been in reaction to a video that Muslims, many Muslims find offensive. And while the violence is reprehensible and unjustified, it is not a reaction to the 9/11 anniversary that we know of, or to U.S. policy.

On 9/16, at least 3 days now after the administration was clearly aware this had nothing to do with a protest and was in fact a terrorist attack that caught us flat-footed (the reasons for which also need addressed), Ambassador Susan Rice tells Chris Wallace on Fox News, we don't see at this point this was a coordinated plan, premeditated attack. That of course directly refutes what the Secretary of State and administration staffers are saying in private.

On 9/19 there is an e-mail exchange between two Department of State Diplomatic Security Service offers. One asks if there was any rioting in Benghazi reported prior the attack? Another responds, Zip, nothing, nada. Numerous other witness interviewed (you can see that list here) reported the same thing. Yet that very day a message drafted by Deputy Chief of Staff Jacob Sullivan and sent by Secretary Clinton to all United States Embassies worldwide read, in part, The proximate cause of the violence was the release by individuals in the United States of the video trailer for a film that many Muslims find offensive.

Not only are they at this point lying to the public, they are giving false intelligence to other US diplomatic outposts, many of which are located in semi- or non-permissive environments, thus further putting them further at risk.

While the meaning and significance of these statements can be debated by clever pundits or marginalized by crafty politicians, they cannot be refuted. These aren't alleged' statements, and despite what many will claim in order to mitigate the damage, there existence is not partisan. These are matters of historical fact and record. Do they show a conspiracy on the part of anyone in our government to murder Americans in Benghazi, or to actively working to prevent anyone from going to their aid? Certainly not, at least not so far as I can tell. There is a common public they fiddled while Benghazi burned perception, but that appears to be inaccurate. Quite the opposite infact  it appears that military assets were directed to intervene, and failed to arrive in time to do any good. (Note: this is not an indictment of responding military combatant commands. There may have been gross errors made. It might have been impossible from the beginning to adequately respond within such a constrained timeline.)

These facts do, however, clearly and irrefutably show a Secretary of State, a President and a White House staff actively working in a coordinated fashion to lie about what occurred for what appear to be political reasons.

That former Secretary of State, who just yesterday told us, It's pretty clear it's time to move on, might now be our next President. There will be some who read this article as tacit support for presidential candidate Donald Trump, or a partisan hit piece. It is not. Any opinions of Secretary Clinton's political affiliation or her opponent(s), good or bad, however well founded or reasoned, do not change the simple fact that a serving United States ambassador and 3 other Americans were murdered on her watch  that's the diplomatic equivalent of having a nuclear aircraft carrier attacked and sunk at sea  then out of political expediency she, and the people working for her boss, blatantly lied about how and why it happened.

Unfortunately the question is not so much, Will anyone be held accountable? as it is, Does it get tiring, tilting at windmills like that?

The administration's truth  on this matter  has never been true at all, and truthfully too many people don't seem to care.
Yemen's warring parties are taking a two-week break in peace talks, the UN special envoy said on Wednesday, after more than two months of negotiations that made little headway.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said the delegations would return to Kuwait on July 15 to "embark on a new phase" in the talks.

The break follows a flare-up in violence across Yemen on Tuesday that killed 80 people, nearly half of them civilians.

It also coincides with Eid Al-Fitr, the feast that comes after the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"After convening extensive discussions with the participants, we have established the main principles that will guide the next phase of Yemen talks," Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a statement.

"The two delegations will use the coming two weeks to meet their respective leaderships," he said.

They will then return "with practical recommendations on how to implement the necessary mechanisms that will enable them to sign a peace accord."

The UN-backed talks between Shiite Huthi rebels, who have seized control of large parts of the Arabian Peninsula country, and President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government began in Kuwait on April 21.

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.

He has put forward a peace roadmap that would see the formation of a unity government and the withdrawal and disarmament of the rebels.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday met the two delegations in Kuwait City and urged them to accept the roadmap.

Despite a Saudi-led military intervention launched last year in support of Hadi's government, the rebels and their allies remain in control of swathes of territory including the capital Sanaa.

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FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's office shows Chad Camp, who is accused of groping a 13-year-old girl on a flight from Dallas to Portland, Ore. The arrests in June 2016 of two men on charges of groping young girls on planes has raised questions about the safety of minors who fly alone. There are no federal regulations, so the airlines set their own rules. Most limit the youngest kids to nonstop flights to avoid the added confusion and risk of connecting to another plane. Some limit the number of solo children on any one flight. (Multnomah County Sheriff's Office via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT

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By DAVID KOENIG, AP Airlines Writer

DALLAS (AP)  The arrests this month of two men on charges of groping young girls on planes has raised questions about the safety of minors who fly alone.

Experts say that before putting children on a plane alone, parents should teach them to immediately get help if another person makes them uncomfortable. Parents should also understand that flight attendants aren't baby sitters.

There are no federal regulations, so the airlines set their own rules for minors flying alone. Most limit the youngest kids to nonstop flights to avoid the added confusion and risk of connecting to another plane. Some limit the number of solo children on any one flight.

Most U.S. airlines offer to take unaccompanied children as young as 5 for an extra fee of up to $300 per round trip. The carriers promise to help kids get on and off the plane. Flight attendants know when there is an unaccompanied minor on board, but airlines don't add an extra attendant to watch children. Flight attendants still have to attend to other passengers and serve drinks and snacks during flights.

Parents put children on planes by themselves for many reasons including traveling to visit a divorced parent, to see grandparents, or to attend a summer camp.

"They don't realize how little is done for unaccompanied minors for that $300," says Summer Hull, who writes about family travel on her Mommy Points blog. "It's not like they have a nanny on board."

Last week, 26-year-old Chad Cameron Camp of Gresham, Oregon, was arrested and charged with abusive sexual contact after an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Portland, Oregon. According to an FBI agent's statement, Camp sat in a middle seat next to a 13-year-old girl even though there were empty seats nearby including the aisle seat in the same row. He declined a flight attendant's offer to move.

When a flight attendant returned later to serve snacks to passengers, she saw Camp's hand on the girl's crotch, according to the arrest complaint. The girl was crying.

Hull said the man's insistence on sitting next to the girl "was a huge red flag."

In a statement, American said it is committed to providing a safe experience for young travelers and was cooperating with law enforcement officials who are investigating the incident.

This week, Jesse Salas, 23, of Redondo Beach, California, was charged with misdemeanor assault in Seattle after allegedly groping and kissing a 16-year-old girl who had fallen asleep shortly after the Alaska Airlines plane took off from Portland. The girl was flying alone but not as a special unaccompanied-minor traveler, according to the airline.

Reports of children and teens being molested or lost when traveling alone aren't common but get lots of news coverage.

Last year, a 57-year-old man was arrested after an unaccompanied girl said the man touched her and used his foot to rub her crotch during an American Airlines flight from New York to Chicago. The man had moved to an empty seat next to the girl during the flight. A federal judge acquitted him, saying prosecutors failed to prove their case. The girl's family is suing American.

Last summer, an 11-year-old boy was lost at the airport in Newark, New Jersey, for about 30 minutes until his grandfather found him. United said that a flight attendant had asked the boy to stay on the plane after it landed and didn't notice when he left with other passengers.

Neither the government nor the airline industry track the number of unaccompanied minors, so figures are hard to find. A proposal to require the government to collect and make public the number of sexual assaults on airplanes died in Congress.

There are signs that parents are getting more nervous about letting their children fly alone.

British Airways, which flies to the U.S., stopped taking bookings for unaccompanied children in February. Spokeswoman Caroline Titmuss said demand for the service had fallen by two-thirds over the past decade and 21 percent in 2015 alone. She said she didn't know the cause of the decline, but added that only 2 percent of passengers between 5 and 11 were flying alone.

Most U.S. airlines allow children under 15 fly alone, although discount carrier Allegiant Air does not. Age restrictions and fees vary. Usually an adult must accompany the minor to the departure gate and another adult must meet the minor at the arrival gate  both adults will need photo identification and passes to go beyond security checkpoints.

Experts offer tips for parents who book children for solo travel. Hull, who is contemplating a solo flight this summer for her 6-year-old daughter to visit her grandmother, suggests that children take an aisle seat near the front of the plane to be more visible to flight attendants.

Travel writer Amy Graff says parents need to talk to their kids about what to do when somebody touches them or does anything that makes them uncomfortable.

"You have the right to scream," says the mother of three, whose two oldest, now 13 and 11, have flown by themselves.

Other suggestions:

 Even with older children who are allowed to take connecting flights, book a nonstop if available.

 Pick flights early in the day. Delays tend to build during the day, so flying in the morning will reduce the risk of the child being stranded overnight.

 When you take your child to the gate, ask who will accompany them on and off the plane and whether another passenger will sit next to them.

 Don't leave the airport until the plane takes off.

___

The U.S. Department of Transportation has a guide for children flying alone: http://1.usa.gov/28SFUDk
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Criminal charges have been filed in the death of a teenager after an adult provided alcohol at a house party in Bella Vista last year.

Reece Kinnie, 19, of Odessa, Texas is facing criminal charges after he provided the alcohol at a house party where teenagers were drinking.

Kinnie is responsible for the death of Kodi Hunt, 17, who was under the influence when her car rolled over on Highway 299, said John Carr with the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

An arrest warrant has been issued by the Shasta County District Attorneys Office for Kinnies arrest. He faces one year in jail, a $1,000 fine or both.

California Highway Patrol officers found Hunts car rolled over on Highway 299 east of Kern Road, said Carr.

The CHP and the District Attorney's Office worked with agents during their investigation.

The investigation is part of a Target Responsibility for Alcohol-Connected Emergencies. That program is funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration.
A traffic stop early Tuesday morning led to the seizure of 180 3-foot tall marijuana plants in Tehama County.

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Highway traffic stop leads to pot plants

A traffic stop led officers to a van and trailer filled with 180 3-foot tall marijuana plants.

The trailer was being pulled by a U-Haul van and the driver was stopped for unsafe driving, said Lt. DeWayne Little with the Department of Fish and Wildlife's Watershed Enforcement Team.

The trailer was traveling west on Highway 36 near Bowman Road in Tehama County at 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The plants were discovered by a law enforcement K-9 and all the marijuana was seized as evidence, said Little.

The identity of the driver was not released. The case will be filed with the District Attorney's Office for investigation of unlawful transportation and cultivation of marijuana for sale.

Man faces charges in fatal DUI crash

Criminal charges have been filed in the death of a teenager after an adult provided alcohol at a house party in Bella Vista last year.

Reece Kinnie, 19, of Odessa, Texas, is facing criminal charges after he provided alcohol at a house party where teenagers were drinking.

Kinnie is responsible for the death of Kodi Hunt, 17, who was under the influence when her car rolled over on Highway 299, said John Carr with the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

An arrest warrant was issued by the Shasta County District Attorney's Office for Kinnie's arrest. He faces one year in jail, a $1,000 fine or both.

California Highway Patrol officers found Hunt's car rolled over on Highway 299 east of Kern Road, said Carr.

The CHP and the District Attorney's Office worked with agents during their investigation.

The investigation is part of a Target Responsibility for Alcohol-Connected Emergencies. That program is funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration.

Man sought in carjack attempt

Redding police are asking for the public's help in finding a man involved in a carjacking attempt Tuesday afternoon at the Walgreens parking lot at 115 Lake Blvd.

The incident was reported about 1 p.m. when officers were dispatched to the drugstore parking lot.

Amelia Nelle told officers that as she arrived at the store, she noticed a man in the parking lot talking on a cellphone. Nelle went into the store and returned to her vehicle when she was shoved from behind, knocking her into the side of her car. Nelle turned around and saw it was the same man she saw when she arrived at the store, Redding police officer Rob Peterson said.

Nelle said the man was armed with a semi-automatic pistol that he pointed at her. The man told Nelle to "get in the car or he would kill her," Peterson said. Nelle shoved the man away from her, and he walked away heading east.

The suspect was described as white, in his late 30s with short, balding hair and unshaven. He wore a white-and-blue-striped polo shirt, baggy bluejeans and sunglasses.

Police searched for the man with help from a California Highway Patrol helicopter, but they couldn't find him.

Anyone with information that would help solve this crime is asked to call the Redding Police Department's Investigations Division at 225-4200.

Judge appointed to Superior Court

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday appointed Tamara Wood as a judge for the Shasta County Superior Court.

Wood, 46, of Palo Cedro, has served as a commissioner for the Shasta County Superior Court since 2014. She was a partner at the Redding law firm Reiner, Simpson, Slaughter and Wood from 2011 to 2013. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Cal Northern School of Law and is an alumna of Chico State University.

Wood fills a vacancy left by Judge Bradley Boeckman who retired last year.

Collision injures teen skateboarder

An Anderson teenager was injured Monday night after being struck by a vehicle at the intersection of Highway 273 and South Street.

Police said the teen, who suffered minor to moderate injuries, was at fault for the collision, which happened around 9:30 p.m.

Police did not identify the teen nor the Cottonwood driver.

According to police, the driver was going north on Highway 273 when the teen rode a skateboard east through the crosswalk. Police said the teen, who was taken to a hospital for treatment, was crossing against a "Don't Walk" signal.

Alcohol or drugs were not a factor in the collision, police said.

Police: Man held in sexual assault

Police said they arrested a 51-year-old Red Bluff man Tuesday on suspicion of oral copulation involving an unconscious person.

A woman told Red Bluff police Tuesday morning that she was sleeping inside a trailer Monday afternoon when she woke up to a man sexually assaulting her, officers said. She told police she confronted the man, who she knows, and he immediately left the residence located on Gilmore Road.

Police contacted the suspect, who they identified as James Gregory Abold. Abold was arrested and booked into Tehama County Jail.
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By Amber Sandhu of the Redding Record Searchlight

The Department of Justice filed a suit against Shasta Regional Medical Centers parent company, alleging Medicare fraud as the company reaped millions of dollars from the federal program by admitting patients for unnecessary hospital stays.

The suit, filed last week, alleges Prime Healthcare Chief Executive Officer Dr. Prem Reddy ordered the hospitals, including Shasta Regional, to admit 20 percent to 30 percent of their emergency departments patients into inpatient services to get a higher reimbursement rate from Medicare, even when those services were deemed medically unnecessary. The suit also alleges that Reddy ordered that patient forms be altered to remove mention of outpatient treatment options.

Prime Healthcare spokeswoman Elizabeth Nikels denied the allegations brought by the Department of Justice and said hospital officials remain committed to providing quality care that patients need and deserve.

The suit will not interrupt patient care, Nikels said, and they are confident they will be found in compliance with the federal regulations.

We have confidence in the decision-making of our physicians and the care they have deemed necessary in the best interests of patients and their safety. The federal government routinely audits hospitals. Over 7,000 Prime Healthcare cases have been reviewed and all have been deemed appropriate and necessary based upon the medical judgment of the admitting physician. Based on this precedent, we expect a similar result in the current investigation, Nikels wrote.

We believe it will be evident that medical documentation reflects the clinical decision-making of physicians acting in the best interests of their patients, and consistent with Prime Healthcares commitment to providing the highest quality of care to every patient, Nikels said.

In May, the Department of Justice intervened in a False Claims Act Lawsuit filed against Prime Healthcare on behalf of Karin Berntsen, a registered nurse who worked at Primes Alvarado Hospital as director of performance improvement.

When Berntsen worked as a case manager at Alvarado, she reviewed medical records to deem whether services provided to patients were appropriate. After Berntsen raised concerns to management about the decreased use of observation and outpatient services, Prime executives told her that she and her case managers would no longer be allowed to review patient charts regarding Medicare admissions.

Many of the patients admitted to Prime Hospitals emergency rooms could have been treated on an outpatient basis or kept overnight for observation, and Medicare would have paid the same amount of money for both treatments, according to the court records. But court records state that Reddy aggressively pushed to have emergency room patients transferred to inpatient settings, for which the hospital received three to four times the reimbursement amount.

The court document also alleges that Reddy personally reviewed the daily emergency room census logs and confronted physicians if they missed admissions of Medicare patients who could have been admitted as inpatients. He would circle patients names that could have been admitted and then tasked the emergency room directors to track down the physician to justify why a patient wasnt admitted.

At Shasta Regional Medical Center, in 2008, Reddy told emergency room physicians that their inpatient admission rate of 17 to 18 percent was not good enough and needed to be increased to 25 to 30 percent. When the criteria wasnt met, Reddy singled out physicians for termination because they sent too many Medicare and Medi-Cal patients home, according to court records.

The records document 14 unnecessary admissions at various Prime Hospitals, including the plight of an 80-year-old patient admitted to Shasta Regional Medical Center in 2010 for complaints of flushing, nausea, sweating, shortness of breath and dizziness. Records showed she was not in distress, had no fever, but had a mildly elevated blood pressure. She was given an anti-anxiety medication, but it didnt require an inpatient admission. But the hospital billed Medicare for about $5,000 and collected about $3,900 for the stay. The court records state that the claims were fraudulent because the billing should have corresponded to observational stay and not unnecessary inpatient admission.

Prime Healthcare is known for rescuing financially distressed hospitals and is the largest for-profit operator of hospitals in California, according to their website.

Weve been concerned about Prime Healthcare for years, said David Miller, research director at Service Employees International Union  United Healthcare Workers. Its dangerous to cheat the government, he said.

SEIU-UHW is not a party to the litigation, but is involved in a labor dispute against Prime Healthcare.

The Department of Justice filed a suit against Shasta Regional Medical Centers parent company, alleging Medicare fraud as the company reaped millions of dollars from the federal program by admitting patients for unnecessary hospital stays. The suit, filed last week, alleges Prime Healthcare Chief Executive Officer Dr. Prem Reddy ordered the hospitals, including Shasta Regional, to admit 20 percent to 30 percent of their emergency departments patients into inpatient services to get a higher reimbursement rate from Medicare, even when those services were deemed medically unnecessary. The suit also alleges that Reddy ordered that patient forms be altered to remove mention of outpatient treatment options. Prime Healthcare spokeswoman Elizabeth Nikels denied the allegations brought by the Department of Justice and said hospital officials remain committed to providing quality care that patients need and deserve. The suit will not interrupt patient care, Nikels said, and they are confident that they will be found in compliance with the federal regulations. We have confidence in the decision-making of our physicians and the care they have deemed necessary in the best interests of patients and their safety. The federal government routinely audits hospitals. Over 7,000 Prime Healthcare cases have been reviewed and all have been deemed appropriate and necessary based upon the medical judgment of the admitting physician. Based on this precedent, we expect a similar result in the current investigation, Nikels wrote. We believe it will be evident that medical documentation reflects the clinical decision-making of physicians acting in the best interests of their patients, and consistent with Prime Healthcares commitment to providing the highest quality of care to every patient, Nikels said. In May, the Department of Justice intervened in a False Claims Act Lawsuit filed against Prime Healthcare on behalf of Karin Berntsen, a registered nurse who worked at Primes Alvarado Hospital as director of performance improvement. When Berntsen worked as a case manager at Alvarado, she reviewed medical records to deem whether services provided to patients were appropriate. After Berntsen raised concerns to management about the decreased use of observation and outpatient services, Prime executives told her that she and her case managers would no longer be allowed to review patient charts regarding Medicare admissions. Many of the patients admitted to Prime Hospitals emergency rooms could have been treated on an outpatient basis or kept overnight for observation, and Medicare would have paid the same amount of money for both treatments, according to the court records. But court records state that Reddy aggressively pushed to have emergency room patients transferred to inpatient settings, for which the hospital received three to four times the reimbursement amount. The court document also alleges that Reddy personally reviewed the daily emergency room census logs and confronted physicians if they missed admissions of Medicare patients who could have been admitted as inpatients. He would circle patients names that could have been admitted and then tasked the emergency room directors to track down the physician to justify why a patient wasnt admitted. At Shasta Regional Medical Center, in 2008, Reddy told emergency room physicians that their inpatient admission rate of 17 to 18 percent was not good enough and needed to be increased to 25 to 30 percent. When the criteria wasnt met, Reddy singled out physicians for termination because they sent too many Medicare and Medi-Cal patients home, according to court records. The records document 14 unnecessary admissions at various Prime Hospitals, including the plight of an 80-year-old patient admitted to Shasta Regional Medical Center in 2010 for complaints of flushing, nausea, sweating, shortness of breath and dizziness. Records showed she was not in distress, had no fever, but had a mildly elevated blood pressure. She was given an anti-anxiety medication, but it didnt require an inpatient admission. But the hospital billed Medicare for about $5,000 and collected about $3,900 for the stay. The court records state that the claims were fraudulent because the billing should have corresponded to observational stay and not unnecessary inpatient admission. Prime Healthcare is known for rescuing financially distressed hospitals and is the largest for-profit operator of hospitals in California, according to their website. Weve been concerned about Prime Healthcare for years, said David Miller, research director at Service Employees International Union  United Healthcare Workers. Its dangerous to cheat the government, he said. SEIU-UHW is not a party to the litigation, but is involved in a labor dispute against Prime Healthcare.
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By Nathan Solis of the Redding Record Searchlight

Shasta County supervisors disagree with a number of points made in a pair of grand jury reports and took the opportunity to explain their reasoning at Tuesday's regular meeting.

One report reviewed the county's mental health services and recommends Shasta County's Health and Human Services launch a campaign to let the general public know about its programs and services.

Supervisor Leonard Moty said this recommendation is an unfair swipe at that department.

"I'm sure (the families) are not aware. Until it affects you why would you be? It's just like you don't care about the trash until the day they don't pick it up," said Moty.

The board did agree with a few recommendations. A mobile crisis response team made up of law enforcement officers and mental health professionals is something the county will look into. Expanding hours for the county's mental health clinic also makes sense and is already something the county has been working on. County Executive Officer Larry Lees emphasized it's been in the works for several months.

"We actually created the opportunity to start talking about the resource center in November," said Lees.

"It would have been just as appropriate to say we've already done this."

Indeed, the county is working on creating a second walk-in facility that would serve patients evenings and weekends. In the meantime the grand jury said the county should look into expanding the hours for its current mental health clinic.

Mental Health Services Adult Services Director Dean True explained the lack of psychiatric bed space for children in the county, but did not expand on the response from the county.

Supervisor David Kehoe said it would make sense to include the Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board on the findings and recommendations made in the grand report. That board is made up of various citizen, industry and county representatives.

Meanwhile, the negotiation process for a county auditing service was the subject of the second report and the Board of Supervisors disagreed with most of the points.

Moty said the grand jury could not be faulted for not being familiar with a complex process like hiring a third-party auditing service that works with both the county and the grand jury.

The grand jury said it was not involved in the process and the county overstepped when it renewed that contract.

Moty said he was present at that meeting and the grand jury representative who was there did not voice any protest.

"They did speak up during the process and provided their input. They were there during that discussion. If memory serves me correctly if they didn't support it they didn't oppose it," said Moty.

Kehoe bluntly asked, "Why is there so much of a gap do you think between the work of the grand jury and the reality of the situation?"

Also, the board learned of a new computer program that will speed up the permitting process in the Department of Resource Management. The new program will replace one that was installed in 1994 and is no longer serviced by the manufacturer. This upgrade will allow contractors to receive automatic updates to their mobile phones and give them access to documents and parcel maps from the internet.

While the program will cost the county $467,595, Director of Resource Management Richard Simon said the upgrade will help everyone in the long run.

Historic documents on parcel maps will also get an update as they are digitized and uploaded to the county's new system. The move from analog to digital will save time for everyone and Simon said he expects the program going live in a little more than a year.

The Board of Supervisors will take two weeks off and is scheduled to return July 19.
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By Bartholomew Sullivan, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON  In what is at least a temporary victory for teachers' unions, the Supreme Court refused to reconsider a challenge by nine non-union California teachers of mandatory dues payments for their representation.

In a six-word ruling, the divided court  which tied 4-4 and could not agree on a ruling in April, after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia  said it would not rehear the case. The April ruling effectively affirmed the ruling of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and upheld the mandatory payments.

The non-union teachers, led by Rebecca Friedrichs, an Orange County public school teacher, contested the payment of "agency fees" on First Amendment grounds, arguing non-members were being required to subsidize political speech with which they disagreed.

"We are greatly disappointed in today's decision denying our petition for rehearing in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association," Terry Pell, president of the Center for Individual Rights, which represented the teachers, said in a statement.

Pell said the center would look for "opportunities to challenge compulsory union dues laws in other cases and continue our efforts to stand up for the rights of teachers and public sector workers across the country."

Opponents of the effort to end the required payments called the case an undisguised attempt to weaken and marginalize public sector unions by cutting off their funding. They say it is part of a larger campaign of promoting charter schools and vouchers at the expense of public education and limiting teacher tenure.

The Friedrichs case had huge implications for public employees in at least 25 states where mandatory dues payments are used to underwrite union activity. Scalia was still living at the time of the oral argument and was expected to be a fifth deciding vote on the side of non-union teachers.

California Teacher Association President Eric C. Heins, whose union represents 325,000 California teachers, welcomed the ruling "because, for one, it puts another political attack to rest finally. It's good news for working families and for union members all over the country because it was clear they were using the court process to attack us."

"It was never about fairness," he added. "It was about weakening unions and American workers' voices."

He said the same agenda has been attempted by California ballot initiative and in the state Legislature and it has been rejected.

"Excellent," was how Conejo Valley teachers union president Colleen Briner-Schmidt put it when she heard the news. "By refusing to rehear it, it's upholding our original argument."

Briner-Schmidt, who was in Washington Tuesday for a teachers' conference, said her union represents all teachers by making sure all have proper working conditions and all students have the best "learning conditions." The California Teachers Association has been pivotal in enacting class size reductions that have helped all teachers, she said, and the union evaluates pending education-related legislation. It wouldn't be able to do as effective a job if dues payments dried up because they weren't mandatory for all employees, she said.

"There's a fairness factor," she added.

In practice, unions determine the annual dues and the portion that will be devoted to collective bargaining expenses. California law allows the amount that might be used for other union activity, like lobbying or political advocacy, to be refunded if a non-member requests a refund each year.

The agency fee is typically about 2 percent of a teacher's salary of $50,000, or about $1,000. The refund to those who object to underwriting the non-bargaining expenses is typically about $350 to $400 a year. At the time of the January oral argument in the case, 29 of the roughly 1,000 Conejo Valley School District's teachers opted out of paying the non-bargaining expenses.

The ruling will also affect the 225,000 groundskeepers, food service and custodial workers represented in the 740 chapters of the California School Employees Association.
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Maybe it was those college courses on the history of Europe that soured me on the idea of a united continent. How could a conglomeration of nation states noted for invading each other, pillaging and warring against each other form a union? How could a continent with different languages, cultures and money become a united states of Europe modeled after the USA?

Unity is not union. As the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher observed: "European unity has been tried before, and the outcome was far from happy."

The euro, which I also mocked at the time it was introduced on January 1, 1999, replaced the French franc (the Swiss wisely kept their franc), the German mark, the Dutch guilder and most other circulating currencies. Thatcher again: "The European single currency is bound to fail, economically, politically and indeed socially ..." How prescient she was.

A majority of British voters literally want their country back. That sentiment was repeated in interviews with average blokes on the BBC and Sky. They are tired of being dictated to by an unelected and unaccountable elite in Brussels. They are tired of the wave of immigrants who do not assimilate and seem uninterested in becoming fully British. And they are tired of being called names for wishing to preserve what was handed down to them by previous generations who fought and died so their descendants might continue to enjoy the British way of life.

Even Queen Elizabeth II, who normally remains outwardly neutral on most political issues, appeared to step in on this one. According to Breitbart London reporter Liam Deacon, there are reports that the Queen "thinks European courts that protect Islamist hate preachers 'denigrate' Britain and has demanded that her dinner guests 'Give me three good reasons' to remain inside the European Union."

Already people are comparing former London Mayor Boris Johnson, who led the exit campaign and wants to succeed departing Prime Minister David Cameron, to Donald Trump. Trump had the good fortune and perfect timing to be in Scotland when the voting results were announced. His news conference was carried live throughout Europe and on U.S. cable news networks.

Like so many of the British, Trump supporters are sick of the elites dictating to them. They, too, want their country back and are also weary of the names they are called for wishing to preserve what was handed down to them at the price of blood, sweat and tears (to borrow from Winston Churchill).

Scottish separatists vow to hold another vote because their leader, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, wants to remain in the EU. But the die has been cast. I suspect the EU will eventually fall apart and the nations that currently comprise it could return to their previous borders and currencies, but it is to be hoped not their previous feuds. A status quo ante would be good news for Vladimir Putin, who has viewed a united Europe as an impediment to his plan to restore "greater Russia."

The main lesson for Britain and the U.S. is that the people, properly informed and engaged, don't have to put up with elitist big government whose leaders think they can run people's lives and who callously "import" immigrants from nations that do not have a democratic history, much less practice religious pluralism.

We can take back our countries and make them what the founders intended them to be. Britain is on the way to doing so, though the left will not give up easily, if at all. The other shoe may be about to drop in the U.S. this November.

Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.
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Actual online advertisement reads: Kingdom in the Classroom

"Calling all teachers and leaders in education: The presence of God operating in your classroom is not illegal! While the 'separation of church and state' prohibits or restricts the mention of Jesus' name in many arenas, He desires to be involved everywhere He is made welcome  and that includes your classroom.

"Regardless where you teach  public or private, religious or secular  God wants to come to your school with His presence, His peace and His strategies. Connect with like-minded educators, stir your spirit to go after more and arm yourself with testimonies that increase your awareness of what is possible. Through a combination of worship, inspirational speakers, discussion with others, and practical breakout sessions, you will leave with fresh momentum and tools for the future.

"If you're an educator hungry to see more of the manifest Kingdom of God in your environment, this event is for you."

As a retired California teacher, this local megachurch seminar description set off all sorts of alarm bells for me. Let me first clarify that I have no problem with a teacher in a private, religion-based school using the techniques to be shared to bring their higher power into the school. But this advertisement specifically says that public school educators will be shown ways to "sneak" their religion/God into their classroom.

During a typical summer, as a teacher, I often did continuing education activities to reinvigorate myself. California Science Project and advanced scientific instruction at Chico State, locally held seminars hosted by Shasta County Office of Education, Reading and Writing Workshops for North State Teachers and networking with other educators during CTA retreats. I would encourage all classroom teachers to do such activities.

But the one described in this advertisement sends a chill through my old bones. School administrators, teachers and public school employees are prohibited from encouraging (or discouraging) student religious activity. Teachers may not engage in religious activities in their classrooms with their students. Students may be taught about religion but public schools may not teach religion. For instance, when teaching the history of the United States, Pilgrims came here with a religious vision and purpose. The religious historical aspects of the Crusades can be taught. That is teaching about religion, not teaching a religion.

When public school employees are with students, they represent the government and need to remain neutral toward religion, neither boosting nor disparaging it. They also should refrain from using their position at a public school to promote their own outside religious beliefs and activities. The stated goals of the workshop being held by Bethel Church seemingly want to teach educators how to bypass the laws of the country and rules of the California Education Code that apply to public school educators. By encouraging or teaching public school employees to usurp these rules, Bethel puts their careers at risk and our children in the harmful position of being taught religion not in their own homes or religious institutions of their parent's choice.

Anita Brady lives in Redding.
The shortage of skilled workers in India is one of the countrys biggest challenges if the goal of reviving the manufacturing sector has to be achieved, says A K Bhattacharya.

The youngest ministry in the Union government is that of skill development and entrepreneurship.



But its early journey was a bit slow, even though the mandate of the new ministry was truly grand and central to the success of the governments Make in India programme.



The ministrys main objectives were to ensure that the countrys youth acquired job-oriented skills and low-income employees could reskill themselves to explore fresh growth opportunities and improve their productivity.



Consider the slow pace at which the government machinery responded to the idea of the new ministry.



The official notification announcing the formation of the ministry and allocating its business was issued on July 31, 2014, but the new ministry could find a secretary to head it only after about a month.



Two more months passed by before it could have a minister of state with independent charge in Rajiv Pratap Rudy.



A month later, the ministry secured for itself an office in New Delhi.

The shortage of skilled workers in India is one of the countrys biggest challenges if the goal of reviving the manufacturing sector has to be achieved.



As Mr Rudy points out, every Indian wants to be educated, but very few would like to be skilled. Indeed, the share of skilled workforce in developed countries ranges between 60 and 90 per cent of the total workforce.



In India, that share is only five per cent. Worse, an ecosystem for developing skills to meet the needs of industry is yet to be created.



The need for a policy push to promote the idea of skilling the Indian workforce, therefore, cannot be overstated.



Even more disconcerting are data on how the different arms of the government are trying to promote skills development.



More than 20 ministries and departments run over 70 different schemes for skill development. But, according to the governments own assessment, there are huge gaps in the capacity and quality of training infrastructure. There is also inadequate focus on the need for certification and common standards for skills development.



The new ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship was created to plug the many gaps in such areas.

Last July, the new ministry had launched a National Skill Development Mission with the idea of skilling 400 million people in the next seven years and setting national quality standards with uniformity across the ecosystem.



The goals are ambitious, but some progress has been achieved in the last one year.



Total skill training across different ministries of the Union government has been provided to 10 million people, an increase of 37 per cent over that in 2014-15. Apprenticeship too has seen a 15 per cent increase in its coverage in this period.

In the space of training in the private sector, the number of seats in industrial training institutes has gone up by over 22 per cent to 1.86 million by the end of May 2016, compared to 1.52 million in the same month of 2015.



Similarly, the number of industrial training institutes has gone up by 22 per cent and that of skill training centres is up by 375 per cent in the same period.

The ministry has planned many other new initiatives - some of which are under implementation and some are still under discussion.



For instance, a new law is to be framed to put in place a national skills qualification framework to bring about uniformity in industrial training curricula across the country.



Public sector undertakings are being asked to accept skilled apprentices and interns in larger numbers and special recognition is sought to be granted to industrial training institutes so that their students can upgrade their skills through higher education at a later date.

All this seems to be promising. But two questions should be seriously bothering the new ministry.



One, why is it that it has got only Rs 1,804 crore (Rs 18.04 billion) by way of financial allocation from the government for 2016-17?



Compared to what it got in 2015-16, the amount for the current year represents a huge jump. But if you consider the ambitious goals it has set for itself in the coming years, the new ministry needs greater access to financial resources to implement the many schemes and projects it hopes to launch in the coming months.

The ministry at present has the leanest manpower strength among all departments of the Union government.



According to the governments own staff strength estimates, it had 49 employees on its rolls at the end of March 2016, significantly up from 31 a year prior to that.



But it hopes to raise the manpower strength to over 2,000 by the end of March 2017.



Even though the ministry might need more resources to spend on skills development, questions are bound to raised about the need to hire so many more people and the appropriateness of this strategy.

The second question is even more important. The Union government collects over Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) by way of education cess levied on various direct and indirect taxes.



The Union ministry of human resources development has an annual outlay of over Rs 43,000 crore (Rs 430 billion), of which over Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) comes by way of education cess that is collected on various taxes.



If skills development is as important a goal for the government as education, it is perhaps necessary that a part of the education cess is allocated to the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship.



But will Mr Rudy speak up and demand his share of the education cess?
Related EU meets without Britain for first time since Brexit vote

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Wednesday on a short-notice visit to Brussels that Scotland was intent on remaining in the European Union, despite last week's British vote to quit the bloc.

After meeting European Parliament President Martin Schulz, the pro-independence leader told reporters: "Scotland is determined to stay in the EU."

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Colgate, Nestle, Dabur, Emami, HUL are all reworking their strategies and expanding their product portfolios to meet Baba Ramdev's home-grown challenge

The mood at the India office of Colgate has turned upbeat.

After months of losing sales to Patanjali Ayurveds Dant Kanti, the American oral care giant seems to have found its feet.

It has been pushing aggressively in the market its Colgate Neem Active Salt, which contains traditional Indian teeth cleansers neem and salt, to take on Dant Kanti.

The results have been encouraging.

The toothpaste, which Colgate had launched a year ago, now has a market share of 1.1 per cent.

While it may still be short of Dant Kantis share of nearly 7 per cent of the Rs 7,000-crore (Rs 70-billion) toothpaste market, at least Colgate has a product that can halt the Patanjali juggernaut.

In an interaction with analysts from Edelweiss recently, Colgate India Managing Director Issam Bachaalani said that its Active Salt portfolio, which includes three variants including Neem Active Salt, was now a significant contributor to overall toothpaste revenues and market share of the company.

The ranges contribution, he noted, would grow in the future as the firms overall herbal portfolio was seeing high double-digit growth.

For a company that was viewed only a few quarters ago as one that was significantly impacted by Patanjali, the comeback has been significant.

Two things are abundantly clear: one, the established players are now taking Ayurveda seriously, choosing to take on Baba Ramdevs FMCG enterprise head-on; and two, multinational corporations, which normally liked to keep their portfolio as international as possible, have realised that may not be the right strategy: to beat Baba Ramdev, you have to be like him.

Thats why Colgate chose neem and salt to take on Dant Kanti. Ayurveda and herbal have strong brand equity in India -- this is what Patanjali has shown.

This is a platform an FMCG company can no longer afford to ignore.

The race gets intense

Like Colgate, others too have decided to take the battle to the enemy camp.

Last week, Nestle, another FMCG company that found itself in Patanjalis line of fire after a ban was imposed on its flagship Maggi instant noodles last year, signalled it would fend off competition with as many as 25 launches in the coming weeks.

This, say analysts, is its largest programme of launches in recent years and comes at a time when Patanjali has upped the ante in foods: not only has it launched instant noodles but followed it up with biscuits, namkeens, juices et al.

In an interaction with Business Standard earlier, Nestle Chairman & Managing Director Suresh Narayanan had said that the company would devote 2016 to increasing its share in the existing categories.

Ill have to run faster than the competition not only in noodles, but in every other category I operate in.

"That is the mandate I would like to work towards this year.

Nestle claims that Maggi now has a 55.5 per cent market share of the Rs 1,500-2,000 (Rs 15-20-billion) crore domestic instant noodle market, ahead of rivals such as ITC (Yippee) and Patanjali. Maggi was relaunched in November 2015. Market shares of Yippee and Patanjali Atta Noodles were not immediately available.

The plethora of launches from Nestle will include seven variants of Maggi noodles, Greek yogurt brand Grekyo and protein growth brand Pro-Gro in the dairy segment, besides multiple products in the chocolate and confectionery category, as also new offerings in coffee and tea.

Nestles onslaught, say analysts, is expected to heighten competition in packaged foods and distract consumers, whove been bombarded by launches and ads by Patanjali.

Launching counter-attacks

In a press conference to announce Patanjalis 2015-16 annual results in April, Baba Ramdev said that the company would double its turnover to Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in 2016-17 (from Rs 5,000 crore or Rs 50 billion in 2015-16) on the back of its aggressive push into categories such as healthcare, foods, beverages, personal care and branded commodities such as edible oil, rice and pulses.

Patanjalis aggression in edible oil, in fact, recently prompted a sharp reaction from the Solvent Extractors Association, which comprises the countrys top branded edible oil makers such as Adani Wilmar, Cargill and Ruchi Soya. The association claimed that Patanjali was making false and misleading claims in the ads for its edible oil, which was damaging the reputation of rivals. It had written to the countrys food and advertising regulators on the issue.

While the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has showcaused Patanjali on the matter, the Ayurveda firms frenetic pace of activity continues unabated.

This has prompted most, including companies such as Dabur and Hindustan Unilever, to shift gears.

Dabur last week launched a range of honey-based fruit spreads to expand its honey portfolio, where it has been fighting Patanjali tooth and nail.

It has also fortified its hair oil portfolio in recent quarters, where Patanjali has been biting at its heels.

And it is aggressively pushing its healthcare products into pharmacies, besides talking to doctors directly.

These initiatives (excluding the honey-based fruit spread launch) appear to be paying off. In the March 2016 quarter, Dabur saw 7 per cent volume growth, ahead of the 3-5 per cent range that the Street had expected.

In its just-released annual report for 2015-16, Dabur said it had launched 44 products during the year, a significant number.

Daburs 2014-15 annual report does not specify the number of launches that year.

Peer Emami has not been far behind: it has re-launched virtually every key brand in its portfolio from Zandu to Navratna and Fair & Handsome in recent months in a bid to ring-fence itself from competitors. While Navratna is Emamis largest brand, valued at over Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion), Zandu is the second-largest at Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion).

Fair & Handsome is around Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.5 billion) in size, according to industry estimates.

HUL, the countrys largest consumer goods company, on the other hand, has begun aggressively promoting Indulekha, the Ayurveda hair oil brand it acquired from the Kerala-based Monsons Group in December 2015.

In its just-released 2015-16 annual report, HUL said that the naturals segment was fast-evolving and that the company was making relevant investments there.

We have revived the Lever Ayush brand, which is available on e-commerce. Indulekha gives us a presence in the premium Ayurveda hair oil space.

"We are committed to investing behind both brands to strengthen our position in the naturals segment, the annual report said.
This loss is preliminary on account of increase in project cost because of delay in receipt of unencumbered Right of Way/Land by Government & Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

Reliance Infrastructure-owned Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd, which on June 8 completed two years of operations of the 11.4 km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar metro line, faces a major financial crunch because of a pending high court order on fare revision and lack of any commitment from the Maharashtra government for assistance.

This is despite a 10 per cent rise in the average weekday ridership to 3,08,000 in June 2016 from 2,79,000 in June 2015.

'MMOPL is incurring annual loss over Rs 300 crore and cash loss of about Rs 175 crore (Rs 1.75 billion) per annum.

This loss is preliminary on account of increase in project cost because of delay in receipt of unencumbered Right of Way/Land by Government & Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

Further, 100 per cent unencumbered RoW/Land was to be given to us by September 2007 as per the Concession Agreement, but was finally handed over to us in February 2014, a month before we applied for CMRS (commissioner of metro railway safety) certification,'' MMOPL spokesperson told Business Standard.

The project cost surged to Rs 4,026 crore (Rs 40.26 billion) from Rs 2,847 crore (Rs 28.47 billion).

MMOPL on July 9 last year in its communication to the state government had sought the one time grant of Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion), monthly subsidy of Rs 21.75 crore (Rs 217.5 million) and the commercial exploitation of real estate along 12 metro railway stations.

However, the spokesperson said, "We have time and again approached officials of MMRDA and the Maharashtra government with the proposal and any other amicable solution for the long term self-sustainability of the project in the larger public interest.

"But in the absence of any response from MMRDA and the state government, no progress has been made and the cash losses are being supported by the Group."

As far as the fare revision is concerned, the spokesperson said it has followed in letter and spirit the provisions of Metro Act. Subsequently, the government appointed Fare Fixation Committee to look into all aspects in totality and recommends the fare.

Subsequently, FFC recommended a price band of Rs 10 to Rs 110 instead of the existing price band of Rs 10 to Rs 40. The company wanted to increase fares from December 1 last year.

However, the Bombay high court in an interim order, had stayed both the proposals advocating the hike in fares.

The stay is extended up to July 12. However, the spokesperson opined that as per Metro Act, the recommendations of the first FFC are applicable and binding on it.

Notwithstanding the present financial crisis, the spokesperson said that MMOPL has no plans to exit Metro business.

"Rather, we want to leverage the deep organizational strength we have developed while building and running Mumbai Metro One with such great success.

"We are looking for more opportunities in EPC, O&M and consultancy services in upcoming Metros, across the country," he added.

Image: Mumbai Metro I. Photograph: Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com
At present, State Bank of India collects PF dues on behalf of EPFO.

An advisory body of EPFO has rejected a proposal to engage private banks -- ICICI, Axis and HDFC Bank -- for collection of provident fund contribution from employers.

"The proposal to engage private banks -- ICICI, Axis and HDFC Bank -- was rejected by the Finance, Audit and Investment Committee (FAIC)," EPFO trustee and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh Maharashtra General Secretary P J Banasure told PTI.

At present, SBI collects PF dues on behalf of EPFO. The work on authorising other nationalised banks to collect PF dues is in progress.

The FAIC has recommended that these three banks should not be allowed to collect PF contribution on behalf of the retirement fund body.

Its recommendations will be placed before EPFO's apex decision making body Central Board of Trustees headed by the Labour Minister in its meeting on July 7, 2016.

As per a general practise, FAIC's recommendations are accepted by the CBT.

The proposal stated that such a step would cut down the float available with the payment aggregators by two to three days and lead to an earning of Rs 15 crore every year for the EPFO.

EPFO receives nearly 25 per cent of the payments through Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.

Besides, the FAIC has recommended that its ETF investments will be managed by SBI Mutual Fund and UTI after evaluation of financial bids for job from seven firms.

ICICI Prudential, Reliance Capital, HDFC, LIC and Kotak Mahindra were in the race to manage EPFO's ETF investment.

EPFO had started investing in ETFs last August through SBI Mutual Fund. The term of the SBI Mutual fund was to end on June 30.

As per latest estimates, the body has invested Rs 7,068 crore in ETFs till May 31, 2016 and earned an average yield of over five per cent on these investments.

The CBT is likely to consider a proposal to increase investments in ETFs during the current fiscal in its July 7 meeting. It had decided to invest 5 per cent of its investible deposits in ETFs for fiscal 2016.
According to the company, 200,000 handsets have already been shipped in the country for the first phase of delivery.

IMAGE: Mohit Goel, Director of Ringing Bells, with CEO Dhaarna Goel.

Photograph: Manvender Vashist/PTI

After almost two months, Freedom251 is again creating a stir.



The smartphones, however, are still some time away as delivery of handsets may begin after June-end.

This is not the first time Ringing Bells, the company offering the Rs 251 smartphones, has altered plans.

The story of Freedom251 has been full of twists and turns. The latest being the delivery date of the devices.

Mohit Goel, chief executive officer and one of the promoters of Ringing Bells, told a news agency last week the company was ready to deliver 200,000 handsets. We will start delivery from June 30, Goel had said.

When contacted by Business Standard, Goel on Tuesday said, We will showcase Freedom251 handsets to the press within a week. Delivery will begin afterwards.

The company had earlier said it would begin delivering the devices from mid-April.

Doubts have been raised by analysts on various aspects of Freedom251 from its origin and manufacturing locations to viability of the project.

Goel said the smartphones were being manufactured in two plants in Mumbai and Haridwar.

We have imported components from Taiwan and are producing the phones in the two plants, he added. The handsets would be fully made in India, he said.

Days after announcing Freedom251, Goel along with Ashok Chadha, president of Ringing Bells, had said the devices would be imported from Taiwan.

A fortnight later, the company said the handsets were being produced by third-party manufacturers in plants in Noida and Delhi.

The Noida police have booked three persons behind Freedom251, Mohit Kumar Goel, Dharna Garg and Ashok Kumar Chadha, based on a first information report filed by M P Kirit Somaiya, accusing Goel and Ringing Bells of cheating.

The Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department have issued notices asking the three not to leave the country.

The initial 200,000 handsets, according to a report, will be sold to customers by lottery in various states.

How the company plans to cater to the rest of the 2.3 million customers who had booked phones during the initial registration is not clear.
China's actions at the NSG will certainly taint India-China relations and enhance suspicion of China's intentions, says former senior RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade.

As anticipated China did not yield ground in its sustained opposition to India's admission to the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group and has successfully had the matter deferred by at least a year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's request during a 50-minute personal meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Tashkent also predictably failed to make a dent in China's position.

Worth noting is that on this occasion Beijing's opposition has been direct and overt unlike in the past where it preferred to avoid being the sole country opposing India. Its stance, however, did shift often.

From insisting that there should be no exception for India, to advocating parity in treatment for India and Pakistan, to asserting that India is ineligible since it has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, it finally suggested that India and Pakistan must both comply with the pre-condition of signing the NPT.

Beijing stayed consistent in its opposition to India's entry though it sought to retain a gossamer-thin facade of acting 'on a matter of principle'. Other countries later joined China in opposing India's entry.

The main factors motivating Beijing's action are:

1. Its ambition to remain the only nation in Asia with unrivalled international influence and membership of elite groupings like the United Nations Security Council and NSG;

2. Signalling to the US that its writ is no longer unquestioned across the world and can be successfully challenged by China -- which Beijing hopes will bolster its effort to get the US to acquiesce to its proposal of a 'new type of big power relations.'

3. Prevent India from elevating its global stature by entering the NSG, thus reinforcing its bid to enter the UNSC;

4. Trying to keep India's growth restrained by Pakistan and treating the two as on par;

5. Demonstrating to Pakistan -- and other countries that it has designated as 'friends' after the closed-door Conference on Peripheral Diplomacy held in Beijing in October 2013 -- the benefits that accrue from allying with China.

China's enhanced relationship with Pakistan has been a definite additional factor. A series of indicators over past months showed that Beijing will not waver in its diplomatic and other support to Pakistan.

In the case of the NSG, therefore, it has not so much been a case of Pakistan lobbying China as China using Pakistan to keep the pressure on India while cementing its bonds with Islamabad.

The first public demonstration of Beijing's hardened attitude towards India was when in April 2015, Xi Jinping announced the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The decision to build numerous infrastructure projects in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan effectively meant China had dispelled its decades-long ambiguity on the Kashmir issue and sided with Pakistan.

Xi thus ignored India's sovereignty and territorial claims. Since then China began describing Pakistan as its 'only friend and ally.' High-ranking Chinese interlocutors also clearly conveyed in May 2015, that 'India must ease tensions with Pakistan and resolve the Kashmir dispute' for India-China ties to improve.

China additionally quite obviously put settlement of the Sino-Indian border dispute on the back-burner.

There have been other indicators and of particular interest was the meeting scheduled between Xi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on March 31-April 1. While Sharif finally could not travel to Washington, there was a credible report that Xi and he were to discuss 'extending diplomatic or other substantive support' to Pakistan to counter US insistence that Pakistan goes slow on development of its tactical nuclear weapons.

This implied not only that Beijing was gearing to take on the US, but that the two would collude to prevent India's entry to the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

China placing a hold at the UN Sanctions Committee on the case of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar was another indicator. It came after Modi had earlier personally raised with Xi the case of China blocking India's request asking Pakistan how Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Zaki-ur Rahman Lakhvi had posted bail and its courts had set him free.

These actions came after China had earlier blocked India's requests to list Syed Salahuddin of the United Jihad Council and investigation of the source of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Muhammad Saeed's funds despite financial sanctions. China's actions demonstrated that China's selective attitude towards counter-terrorism and support to Pakistan had not changed.

The visit by a Chinese navy nuclear submarine to Karachi -- the first to a port in South Asia -- late this May similarly publicised the very close military ties forged between China and Pakistan. It additionally exhibits China's ambitions in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea and Pakistan's readiness to cooperate.

While China and Pakistan worked together to prevent India's entry to the NSG -- as they are colluding to block India's admission to the UN Security Council -- if India is denied its rightful membership of the NSG it would mean that the NSG has also chosen to ignore the continuing brazen violations of international missile and nuclear non-proliferation norms by Pakistan and China.

China's actions will certainly taint India-China bilateral relations and enhance suspicion of China's intentions.

A fresh clear-eyed and objective evaluation of the India-China relationship is necessary, especially as India tries to correct adversely balanced bilateral economic ties and the two countries engage over the long term.

Jayadeva Ranade, former additional secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, is president of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy.
We've shown were in a position to work with global agencies, for bringing in solutions that are relevant to global activities.

There has been a lot of misinformation on that (Geospatial Bill) and we have also commented on it.

Indian Space Research Organisation has shown noteworthy results in launching rockets and satellites to space on a shoestring budget. A S Kiran Kumar, the ISRO chairman, image, below, talks of whats on and what lies ahead in an interview to Alnoor Peermohamed and Raghu Krishnan.

Where is the 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. 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, 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 the 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 -- today for example if you look at the cost of access to space, there are a lot of private entities that are getting into this space, whether it is in America or Europe. When they start operating, they will be looking at how the cost can be brought down. So now, these are also challenges to agencies like ours. Now they have to look at how they can survive in this environment, if you come and tell I will do in $2 million (Rs 13 crore) what theyre doing in $10 million (Rs 67 crore), after a couple of times, the government will ask why should I do it from your side? So all the government agencies also have to start looking at these scenarios which are happening.

A large number of smaller satellites are coming out, and they also require launch opportunities which others have not been able to provide and we have been able to provide. So you need to leverage that. But then you also need to make sure that you continue to improve your ability to provide solutions at a contemporary and competitive price. So that is where the reusable launch vehicle type of things come into the picture where you need to ensure that the cost of access to space comes down, so that you are able to be competitive in the coming days.

In addition to this, we also have our own science missions. You need to do these activities from another point of view as well -- you need to make sure of the capacity you are building in the country, unless you keep challenging them to do more and more difficult activities, their ability to visualise and find solutions to even our regular activities also gets continued.

You must have heard that you need to keep running to remain at the same place also, which means you have challenging assignments also.

Is this helping the ISRO get more collaborations?

As you keep improving your capabilities, others in the play want to come and join or leverage the international relationship so that cost of doing things for the global community also comes down. See, after we did our radar imaging satellite, Mars mission, the Chandrayaan mission, even the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is ready to work with us for a mission.

So, were doing a NISAR mission in 2021. A few years before, they would not be willing to even consider any mission discussion with us. We've shown were in a position to work with global agencies, for bringing in solutions that are relevant to global activities. We have to ensure we are able to continuously build capacity, in the required numbers.

Where are we compared to SpaceX and all these companies?

There still is a shortage in capacity globally. It need not continue that way. This is where if cost of access is brought down significantly, they will also end up with a situation where if theyre able to meet all the demands, scale it up accordingly, they will capture that market.

If you are able to build on top of what weve built, PSLV commercialisation and all that, make it more and more attractive, there is a possibility that Indian industry can also gain in this global opportunity. Thats where were now trying to formulate -- were looking at the possibility of 2020, whether that Indian industry plus ISRO, whether they can launch the first (space) vehicle in 2020. Beyond that, they can not only provide satellite launches for us; they can also market outside.

This collaboration with the private sector -- the consortium will be a separate entity?

Those details we are trying to work out. Should it be a private company with a joint venture, say 51:49 or 50:50, like the BrahMos model, and other things.



Finally, we want in-the-country capacity, which can also help that entity market outside. Again, these are certain areas we still have to go through, whether there are any regulatory mechanisms because of launcher has multiple uses, what kind of protection has to be built. We have Godrej, we have L&T (Larsen and Tubro), we have HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited)...many of the companies are already doing (work) for us. Now, they also want to know what kind of numbers are there. We're saying this is what is there; if you have the ability to market more, you can get more.



We already have Google talking about satellite-based internet services. Where are we as a country in providing such services?

Right now, OneWeb and all these guys are talking about building 900 satellites and launching it in the next three-four years to bring such a thing. This is a global service, you can say, which they will provide and we dont have to compete with them.

We are still prioritising our capabilities for major requirements, whether for weather monitoring or earth observation. We also have a large number of applications which are growing massively. We have this programme called a space-based information system for decentralised planning, where the idea is to reach out to individual village panchayats and enabling them to plan activities and making them aware.



For example, were working on how to use Indias postmen to build a database. Like, if these postmen can monitor crops in the region and feed it into the database. Today, you have a national crop forecasting centre in Delhi and that provides a forecast before harvesting that utilises satellite imagery. We have identified 6-8,000 locations to do in situ observation. There are 150,000 post offices in India; even if one postman provides for a single location, that itself becomes a large number.



So were able to bring in communication, navigation, earth observation and then bring in ground-based crowd sourcing and linkages to do a huge number of applications.



Youve spoken a lot about crowd sourcing, but there has been a lot of outrage about the Geospatial Bill.

There has been a lot of misinformation on that and we have also commented on it. What should be happening is, you should not be restricting the use of data for generating information. There are certain kinds of restrictions which you want to put. Talk about that and even there, put those data which you have to supply in a certain form, which will go through a vetting process. Otherwise what restriction you want to put, you cannot put it generally. If you take a picture and that becomes a restriction, you cannot do that.



In peoples minds, Google Maps are more well-known than Bhuvan (ISROs geo-portal). Why is that?

That is going to be there. If you see the number of people Google will be employing and the kind of activities they will be doing, it is very different from what were doing. Finally, it is a commercial entity; their interest is going to be to keep you hooked, it is a business. And, the number of people they will get to use will be huge, so the things they can do are different. But, with the information weve been able to collect over many years and the number of layers weve been able to build with Bhuvan, its use for specific activities is much more.

Obviously, the dissemination and making it known has its own timeline but now, with the kind of emphasis the governments are putting on usage, they are also realising that if they put something on Google, what is their security?
'Babur has been facing gross historical injustice for the last two centuries, when he had no role either in the demolition of any temple or in the construction of the so-called Babri mosque at Ayodhya.'

Kishore Kunal, a former Indian Police Service officer, was involved in discussions on the Ayodhya dispute in the early 1990s.

In his book, Ayodhya Revisited, Kunal states that the temple at Lord Ram's birthplace in Ayodhya was not demolished by Babur, the founder of the Mughal empire in 1528, but by Fidai Khan, the governor of Ayodhya in 1660 during Aurangzeb's reign.

Ayodhya Revisited appears at a time when some Sangh Parivar and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders are again raising the controversial dispute ahead of next year's Uttar Pradesh assembly election.



After voluntary retirement from the IPS in early 2000, Kunal took up social work full time. He heads the Patna-based Mahavir Mandir Trust that runs the largest cancer hospital in Bihar.

The trust plans to construct the world's largest Hindu temple near Kesaria in Bihar's East Champaran district.



At his Patna home, which has about 8,000 books, Kunal spoke to M I Khan about the Ayodhya dispute, history and much more.

IMAGE: The Babri Masjid before it was demolished on December 6, 1992.

Why have you named the book Ayodhya Revisited?



My association with the Ayodhya dispute started officially in 1990 when I was made officer on special duty to then minister of state for home affairs Subodh Kant Sahay in the government led by Prime Minister V P Singh. I was retained in the same post by Prime Minister Chandrasekhar.

During the tenure of the two prime ministers, several rounds of negotiations were held between representative organisations of the two communities.

Naturally, I had hesitation as a person who was officially instrumental for negotiations on Ayodhya between Hindu and Muslim religious leaders in the early 1990s, so I stayed away from the historical debate.



Senior advocate and convener of the Babri Masjid Action Committee Zafaryab Jilani presented his case in the right direction. On the other hand, Nirmohi Akhara lawyer Ranjit Lal Verma failed to present his case in the proper way. In fact, most of the lawyers of their side have not appeared before the court.



So I thought I should present the facts that I had gathered after doing years of research.

This book is the result of 25 years of my deep research on Ayodhya and took seven years for me write.

I am trying to resuscitate the real history of Ayodhya which is almost dead to the poisonous misinterpretation of facts.



I am sorry to say that the reliance of VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) historians on a fictitious book -- Sahifar-i-Chihal-Nasaih Bahadur Shahi -- is misplaced.

The VHP has cited this book as strong positive evidence in favour of the demolition of the original temple and construction of a mosque.



You are not a historian, so how can you justify a new thesis on the dispute?



I was a student of history and Sanskrit. Even during my hectic days as an IPS officer, I was in constant touch with Indian history, philosophy and Sanskrit.

I used to devote three, four hours daily to read books; it became my habit and continues to be so.



Historians of all hues have been harping upon the theme that Ayodhya was an abandoned city for long, whereas the historical fact remains that Ayodhya has always been an eternal and blissful city.



I strongly feel that since historians of both shades -- 'established' historians including secular, Marxist, progressive and liberal and 'enthusiastic' historians including right-wing and Sangh Parivar leaning -- have done injustice to the writing on the dispute, I had to expose them.



After my book, the Sangh Parivar -- including the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and even the BJP would be able to shout loud on this issue.

IMAGE: Kunal Kishore, the former IPS officer with his book. Photograph: M I Khan

You have challenged an established notion and popular historical story.



Look, I have collected solid evidence to say this on the basis of several original sources, including writings in Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian, and by European travellers during, before and after Babur's reign.



It is ironic that Babur has been facing gross historical injustice for the last two centuries, when in fact he had no role either in the demolition of any temple, or in the construction of the so-called Babri mosque at Ayodhya.

He has been facing fire and ire for the last 200 years for the commission of an act with which he was not associated at all!

Babur was not a religious fanatic. Two Maithili scholars-cum-priests have actually praised Babur. That he visited temples in Gwalior is a testimony to his liberal look. I have concluded it on the basis of undeniable historical facts.



Babur was a liberal, with cordial relations with yogis.

I have made a serious effort on the basis of historical documents to clear him from the crime of converting a temple into a mosque.



Many will be amused to learn that the so-called Babri mosque does not figure in any text for more than 240 years after its supposed construction in 1528, until the travel account of Jesuit priest Tiefenthaler in 1768.

Neither in Babur's memoir Baburnama or in Humayun's memoir Humayunama or in Abul Fazal's Ain-i-Akbari and Tuzuk-e-Jahangiri is anything mentioned that Babur constructed a mosque in Ayodhya after a temple's demolition.



The inscriptions inside the mosque, often quoted in books on Ayodhya or Babur, were fake in nature. They were fixed in the mosque 280 years after its supposed construction in 1528.



Contrary to the common belief, Babur never visited Ayodhya. In fact, he had no occasion to visit it. Similarly, Mir Baqi was never the governor of Ayodhya.



Mir Baqi is mentioned many times in the Baburnama. After June 20, 1529, he was never heard of after being dismissed by Babur.



How can you attribute the construction of a mosque to Fedai Khan during Aurangzeb's rule?



It may be amazing for many to learn that all three major temples in Ayodhya remained by and large intact during the Sultanate period and a major part of Mughal rule.



But things changed after Aurangzeb came to power. There is evidence to prove that the Sarvagadhavara temple in Ayodhya was demolished in 1760 by Aurangzeb when Fedai Khan was posted as governor there.



The demolition of the temple and the construction of the mosque on the janamasthan (birthplace) site during the reign of Aurangzeb was known to the public until 1813-1814 when Francis Buchanan conducted a survey of Ayodhya during that period, and was misled by a claimed inscription which was not properly examined by him.



Even during his (Buchanan's) visit to Ayodhya the people's perception was that Aurangzeb destroyed the Ram Mandir. But he was beguiled by a fictitious inscription to believe and decree that it was built by Babur.



After his report on Ayodhya was published in Robert Montgomery Martin's book -- History, Antiquities, Topography and Statistics of Eastern India in 1838, scholars started attributing the construction of the mosque to Babur.

Buchanan is the real defaulter responsible for this confusion.



It is a fact that Tiefenthaler based his book on geography on his visit to Ayodhya in 1770. He has given the strongest evidence that the mosque was built by Aurangzeb after demolishing a temple.



Fedai Khan also demolished temples in other places. He was interested in the demolition of temples in the country.



Contrary to the views of some eminent historians, you have repeatedly mentioned in the book that there was proof of the existence of the Ram temple at the disputed site where the mosque was built and demolished in 1992.



I have established in this book that there existed a temple at the disputed site.

I have based this on original evidence, including shlokas of the Ayodhya Mahatmya of the Rudrayamala Yamala Uttara Tantra.



I agree that the VHP failed to produce any document beyond the Ayodhya Mahatmya of the Skanda Purana. But I have given four texts of the standing of several centuries which contain the Rama Janamsthan Mahatmya -- the religious merit of the birthplace of Lord Rama.



I have produced clinching evidence which conclusively proves that there was a temple at the birth place of Lord Rama and there was an idol inside it as it is described in the Ayodhya Mahatmya.



I have also presented accounts of travelogues of foreign visitors such as Thomas Herbert (1634) and Joannes De Leat (1631) on Ayodhya for the first time. Both mentioned a temple of Rama there and people visiting the place.



Both Hindus and Muslims used to perform namaz and puja respectively inside the mosque until 1858 when the British arbitrarily annexed Awadh and ousted the Hindus from the inner circle of the mosque.



Will your book help resolve the decades-old dispute?



I have written this book with a communal harmony perspective with historical facts. I am a strong believer of sarwadharm swabhav (love for all religions), and hope it will help in a big way.



You talk of a second volume in the preface.



I will publish a second volume that will answer all questions raised over the new thesis. I will expose all if any one says anything wrong about the dispute this time.



There is a perception that you are close to the Sangh Parivar as you have been seen attending its functions?



I am not at all associated with them (the Sangh Parivar), but I am a religious person, no doubt.

I was a Marxist for a few years during my college days at Patna University. I also headed the society for the study of Marxism at Patna University for three years.



I am committed to communal harmony and social harmony.
A mosque in Western Australias Perth city was attacked late on Tuesday in what is being described as an anti-Muslim act of hate.

Police in Perth confirmed that four cars were set ablaze outside the mosque, one of which exploded, while the mosque's imam said he suspected an accelerant perhaps a petrol bomb had been used.

Yahya Adel Ibrahim, the imam, said young children had been praying inside the mosque at the time of the attack, which he called an "act of hate."

The attackers also defaced the building with spray paint. The incident occurred after suicide bombers struck an Istanbul airport, killing at least 36 people, though it is not clear if the attackers were motivated by that tragedy.

Vandals also scrawled expletives remarks about Islam on a wall outside the mosque in Thornlie, Perth, which is adjacent to the Australian Islamic College. Hundreds of local Muslims had gathered there for evening prayers.

No one was injured in the attack.

Thornlie Mosque Imam Yahya Adel Ibrahim told CNN that worshipers had run outside when they heard one of the cars explode.

"Most people were in dismay and alarm, (asking), 'why us really? Don't they know that there are children inside?' This is a place of prayer," he said.

"The fear and apprehension -- the neighborhood is quite traumatized by it. This is a residential area, there are homes ten feet across the road."

Writing about the attack on his Facebook page, in a post which has been shared hundreds of times, Ibrahim said the attack was the act of a few individuals, not a whole society.

"This, undoubtedly, is a criminal act of hate," he wrote.

IMAGE: A screengrab of a video showcasing the car that was set alight. Photograph: YouTube
A SIT has begun process to freeze bank accounts of arrested accused in the Bihar toppers scam. M I Khan/Rediff.com reports from Patna.

A special investigation team probing the Bihar toppers scam on Wednesday requested banks to freeze the accounts of arrested accused including kingpin Bachcha Rai.

"The SIT has written a letter to regional managers of all banks requesting them to freeze the accounts of arrested accused including Bachcha Rai, former Chairman of Bihar School Examination Board Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, his wife and former Janata Dal-United legislator Usha Sinha, former board secretary Harharnath Jha, Visheshwar Prasad and others," a police official said.

Meanwhile, the SIT has requested a local court to issue advertisement against other three absconding toppers.

On Saturday, Ruby Rai, the 'Arts topper' of the Bihar Class 12 exams this year, was arrested after failing a re-test at the Boards office. Later she was sent to judicial custody till July 8.

Ruby had told the police during preliminary interrogation that her dream was merely to clear the exam with a second division.

However, she told the police that it was Bachcha Chacha and her father who helped her to top the exam.

The reference seems to be to Bachcha Rai, former director and principal of V R College in Bihars Vaishali district who was arrested earlier this month and is currently lodged in jail in Patna in connection with the scam.

Ruby famously described political science as prodigal science and calling it the science of cooking before TV cameras. The board cancelled her test results after she failed in the re-test.
Britain's outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday asked opposition Labour party's embattled leader Jeremy Corbyn to step down in the national interest, saying "for heaven's sake man, go".

Criticising Corbyn's role in the European Union referendum campaign, Cameron during a regular weekly exchange in Parliament said, "It might be in my party's interest for him to sit there, it's not in the national interest and I would say, for heaven's sake man, go."

A challenge to Corbyn's Labour leadership is expected following a no-confidence vote by MPs and the two possible candidates for the post including the party's deputy leader, Tom Watson, and former shadow business secretary Angela Eagle.

Labour MPs voted against Corbyn in the no-confidence motion by 172 to 40 after dozens of members of his frontbench team stepped down in recent days.

Despite most of his shadow Cabinet resigning and the no-confidence vote, the Labour leader has refused to step down, saying quitting would betray all the members that back him.

The UK's vote to leave the European Union last week led Labour party MPs to question Corbyn's leadership as they felt he did not do enough to campaign for a Remain vote in line with the party's view.

In Parliament, Cameron ceased upon this and said Corbyn should "reflect on" his role in the campaign, adding: "He said he put his back into it, I would hate to see him when he wasn't trying."

Corbyn's predecessor Ed Miliband and former deputy leader Harriet Harman have also urged Corbyn to step down.

The former Indian-origin shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Seema Malhotra, who had also resigned from the shadow cabinet earlier, said: "The Labour Party is bigger than any one individual. My decision is about the future of the party and how we best focus on achieving our purpose.

"I believe we now need to move forward under a new leader to rebuild confidence in Labour and start to look like a government in waiting."

Corbyn, however, has pointed to his backing among the party's grassroots, insisting that the vote by MPs had "no constitutional legitimacy".

"I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60 per cent of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning," he said.

On Monday, he had announced a reshaped shadow cabinet to replace those that had walked out but several positions in his top team remain to be filled after the mass resignations.

The shadow cabinet walkouts -- in a bid to oust Corbyn -- came after the sacking at the weekend of shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, who told Corbyn he had lost confidence in his leadership.

Image: Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron (R) and opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn return to the House of Commons after the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster in London, Britain May 18, 2016. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters


Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday extended to the end of 2017 Moscow's embargo on food items from the West imposed in retaliation for sanctions over Ukraine.

A decree posted in the official government database states that the existing embargo on produce, dairy, meat, and most other foods will be extended to December 31, 2017.



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Three suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing at least 41 people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said.

IMAGE: Passengers who survived from the suicide bomb attack cry as they leave the Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk. Photograph: Gokhan Tan/Getty Images

The bombing left 41 people dead, 13 of them foreign nationals, and 239 wounded, the city governor said in a statement.

The governor's office said 109 of the 239 wounded were discharged from hospital.

It said 13 of the dead were foreigners.

IMAGE: Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey's largest airport, after a suicide bomb attack. Photograph: Defne Karadeniz/Getty Images

A Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said five of the dead were from Saudi Arabia, two were from Iraq, and one from Tunisia, Uzbekistan, China, Iran, Ukraine and Jordan.

No one has claimed Wednesday's attack yet but Turkish authorities said they suspect Islamic State jihadists.

IMAGE: A relative of the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack victim waits outside Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital as she cries. Photograph: Defne Karadeniz/Getty Images

The senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, at first said close to 50 people had already died, but later said that the figure was expected to rise to close to 50.

Yildirim said three suicide bombers were responsible for the attack and all initial indications suggest the Islamic State group was behind it.

IMAGE: A policeman gestures in front of an ambulance at Istanbul Ataturk airport, Turkey, following a blast. Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters



He said the attackers arrived at the airport in a taxi and blew themselves up after opening fire. Asked whether a fourth attacker might have escaped, he said authorities have no such assessment but are considering every possibility.

The victims included some foreigners, he said, adding that many of the wounded have minor injuries but others are more badly hurt.

IMAGE: Paramedics help a man in a wheelchair at Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey. Photograph: Osman Orsal/Reuters

Another Turkish official said two of the attackers detonated explosives at the entrance of the international arrivals terminal after police fired at them, while the third blew himself up in the parking lot.

The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol and cited interior ministry information, said none of the attackers managed to get past security checks at the terminal's entrance.

IMAGE: Officials walk inside Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey. Photograph: Osman Orsal/Reuters

Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.

Roads around the airport were sealed off for regular traffic after the attack and several ambulances could be seen driving back and forth. Hundreds of passengers were flooding out of the airport and others were sitting on the grass. Hevin Zini, 12, had just arrived from Duesseldorf, Germany, with her family and was in tears from the shock.

IMAGE: Paramedics push a stretcher at Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey. Photograph: Osman Orsal/Reuters

"There was blood on the ground," she told The Associated Press. "Everything was blown up to bits... if we had arrived two minutes earlier, it could have been us."

South African Judy Favish, who spent two days in Istanbul as a layover on her way home from Dublin, had just checked in when she heard an explosion followed by gunfire and a loud bang.

IMAGE: Armed security walks at Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey. Photograph: Osman Orsal/Reuters

She says she hid under the counter for some time.

Favish says passengers were ushered to a cafeteria at the basement level where they were kept for more than an hour before being allowed outside.

The private DHA news agency said the wounded, among them police officers, were being transferred to BakirkoyStateHospital.

Turkey remains on high security alert after a series of attacks on its soil blamed not only on the IS group but also Kurdish militants.

IS has never claimed an attack in Turkey. But authorities have blamed the grouo for several attacks, including a blast in Ankara in October 2015 that left over 100 people dead and an attack on Istanbul's busy tourist district Istiklal Street which killed three Israelis and an Iranian.
Its not for the faint of heart.

A glass slide nearly 1,000 feet above on the outside of the 70th floor of Los Angeles tallest building welcomes the brave.

IMAGE: She must be wishing she took the stairs right about now. Photograph: Mark Davis/Getty Images

The Skyslide, on the 73-floor of the US Bank Tower -- the tallest building on the west coast -- opened to the public on Saturday and allow thrill seekers to slide 45 feet out across the city and down to an outdoor platform on the 69th floor.

According to the buildings owner, Singapore-based OUE Ltd., the glass on the fully enclosed slide is only 1 1/4 inches (3.2 cm) thick, but can withstand hurricane-force winds and even a powerful earthquake.

IMAGE: The slide takes four seconds to complete and is pretty much a straight drop down. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

The slide itself takes just four seconds to complete, however riders describe it as both terrifying and exhilarating.

The ride costs $8 (Rs 543) but is an experience like no other.

IMAGE: The slide opened to the public on Saturday. Photograph: Mark Davis/Getty Images

The riders climb onto a mat and an attendant helps them inch forward to the mouth of slide. The view? Helipads atop some of the citys tallest skyscrapers, the mountains of San GabrielValley and taxi cabs barely visible on the street below.

IMAGE: The 45-foot-long slide will carry visitors from floors 70 to 69 as they peer down through 1 -inch-thick glass. Photograph: Mark Davis/Getty Images

So, if you think you are a daredevil and can laugh in the face of fear, this slide is the ultimate test.

IMAGE: Don't look down is the only advice we can give you for the slide.
Iraq recaptured the city of Fallujah from Islamic State fighters after a month of fighting recently. Iraqi forces raised the national flag over the government compound in Fallujah, declaring they had the control of the city.

The devastation caused by the IS forces is extensive. There are bombed out buildings, crushed cars and missiles that were being lined up to be used inside a school.

Take a look:

Iraqi counter-terrorism forces gather in Falluja. Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani

Bullet casings from clashes are seen on the ground in Falluja. Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani

A member of the Iraqi security forces looks at explosives abandoned by Islamic State militants at a school in Falluja. Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani

Members of the Iraqi security forces gather in a building on the outskirts of Falluja. Photograph: Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters

Members of the Shi'ite Badr Organisation inspect a factory abandoned by Islamic State militants, in Falluja. Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters

Explosives left behind by Islamic State militants are seen at a school, following clashes in Falluja. Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters

Destroyed buildings from clashes are seen on the outskirt of Falluja, Iraq, June 20, 2016. Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters

Destroyed vehicles are seen in Falluja. Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters

A member of the Iraqi counterterrorism forces stands by an Islamic State militants weapons factory in Falluja. Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters

A member of the Shi'ite Badr Organisation inspects weapons in Falluja. Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters

A member of the Iraqi security forces holds an IslamistState flag, after pulling it down from a building, in Falluja. Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters

Iraqi counterterrorism forces pose for a picture in Falluja, Iraq. Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters

A fighter from the Iraqi Shi'ite Badr Organisation holds his rifle in an underground tunnel built by Islamic State fighters on the outskirts of Falluja. Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani

A member of Iraqi counterterrorism forces drives in a military vehicle in Falluja. Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani
Hours after three suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbuls Ataturk airport, killing at least 36 people and wounding many others, Rediff.com brings you some of the deadliest attacks at airports, which have left several dead and hundreds injured.



1) Zaventem airport, Brussels

On March 22 2016, three coordinated bombings occurred in Belgium: two at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, and one at Maalbeek metro station in Brussels.

Thirty-two victims and three perpetrators were killed, and over 300 people were injured. Another bomb was found during a search of the airport. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for what is now known as the deadliest act of terrorism in Belgiums history.

2) Jinnah International Airport, Pakistan

Heavily armed militants attacked Pakistans busiest airport in Karachi in June 2014, in which at least 28 persons, including 12 terrorists, were killed even as the military mounted another operation amid reports of fresh firing.

Explosions and gunfire rang out as the attackers wearing military uniforms and suicide vests, and armed with grenades and rocket launchers attacked the JinnahInternationalAirport in Karachi. Twelve hours after the attack began, security forces announced they had cleared the airport of the militants.

3) Domodedovo Airport, Moscow

A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people at Russias busiest airport, Domodedovo airport, on January 24, 2011. The bombing killed at least 37 people and injured some 180. The blast occurred at the international arrivals section of Domodedovo Airport.

The attack was the act of a suicide bomber who stuffed a homemade bomb with small metal objects to make it more deadly.

4) PNS Mehran air base

The Pakistani Taliban attacked a naval airbase in the city of Karachi on May 22 2011 sparking an hour-long battle in which several people were killed and at least two naval aircraft were destroyed.

Fifteen members of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan stormed the three hangars housing aircraft at the Mehran naval aviation base. They used rocket-propelled grenades to damage and destroy several warplanes. In the course of the event, 15 attackers killed 18 military personnel and wounded 16 in a sophisticated terrorist attack.

5) Glasgow Airport

On Saturday, June 30, 2007, the Glasgow International Airport witnessed a terror attack when two men rammed a petrol-filled, four-wheel-drive vehicle into the airport. It was the first terror attack to take place in Scotland since the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. The cars driver was severely injured in the ensuing fire and five members of the public were also injured, although none were seriously harmed.

6) Madrid-Barajas Airport

On December 30 2006, a van bomb exploded in the Terminal 4 parking area at the Madrid-Barajas Airport in Spain, killing two and injuring 52. Later, the Basque nationalist and separatist organisation Euskadi Ta Askatasuna claimed responsibility for the attack.

7) Los Angeles Airport

A lone terrorist gunman approached the El Al ticket counter at the Los Angeles International Airport in 2002, pulled out two pistols and started shooting at the 90 passengers standing in the line. Three people died in the attack.

8) Bandaranaike Airport, Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan rebels launched one of their boldest and most damaging attacks in July 2001 when 14 members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Black Tiger suicide squad infiltrated Katunayake air base and using suicide bombers, mortars, guns and explosives, destroyed eight military and five passenger aircraft. Eight Tigers and three air force officers died in the battle at the air base.

The six remaining LTTE members then crossed the runway to nearby Bandaranaike Airport. Using their weapons, they began blowing up civilian aircraft, which were all empty.

9) Rome and Vienna airports

Terrorists hurling hand grenades and firing Soviet-made assault rifles turned Christmas-decorated airports in Vienna and Rome into scenes of carnage leaving 16 people dead and 117 wounded on December 27, 1985. Gunmen opened fire on passengers queuing to check-in luggage at departure desks for Israel's national airline, El Al.

10) Heathrow Airport

On 20 April 1984, a bomb exploded in the baggage area of Terminal 2 at London Heathrow Airport. The bomb exploded, as 60 people were inside the baggage area. The blast injured 22, one seriously.

11) Esenboga International Airport, Turkey

On August 7, 1982 members of the Pierre Gulumian commando group from the Armenian militant organisation ASALA launched an attack at the Esenboga International Airport in Ankara, Turkey. The attack killed nine people and injured 72 others. The attack was carried out by Zohrab Sarkissian and Levon Ekmekjian (Ekmekdjian, Ekmekciyan), who exploded a bomb in the middle of the crowded check-in area at Ankaras Esenboga Airport, and then opened fire with sub-machine guns on passport-control officers and passengers.

12) Entebbe Airport, Uganda

Operation Entebbe was a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by commandos of the Israel Defense Forces at EntebbeAirport in Uganda on July 4 1976.

A week earlier, the an Air France plane carrying with 248 passengers was hijacked, by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the German Revolutionary Cells, and flown to Entebbe. They then demanded that Israel release 53 convicted terrorists. In an operation to release the hostages, 100 commandos stormed the airport and released 102 hostages.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy, who had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modis disapproval for his craving for publicity, on Wednesday suggested that it is publicity which relentlessly seeks him as he wrote about hordes of media persons waiting outside his residence.

He also said that he stands by Modi as he admires his spine but took a dig at journalists planting deliberately false stories to provoke him.

New problem: when publicity relentlessly seeks a politician. 30 OVs outside the house, 200 missed calls from channels and paparazzis? he tweeted.

Presstitutes are daily planting deliberately false stories hoping I will be provoked to reply. Ha! They have a hope! he said in another tweet.

I have said before and saying now: Come hell or high water I stand by Modi. I admire his spine. No foreign power can buckle him, he added.

The Rajya Sabha member, who consistently attacked Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan and then took potshots at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has been lying low after the BJP leadership indicated its unhappiness and Modi voiced disapproval of his conduct.
In the wake of attack Istanbul airport attack that killed 41 people Russia and Israel on Wednesday have ordered to normalise their tense relations with Turkey, with Russian President Vladimir Putin making the first phone call to Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan since Ankara downed a Russian jet last year.

Putin lifted Moscows travel restrictions to Turkey and ordered trade ties normalized.

In Jerusalem, Israeli cabinet ministers also approved a deal reached with Turkey at the weekend on normalising relations after years of acrimony over a deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

The security cabinet approved the deal seven to three after four and a half hours of debate, giving it final Israeli government approval, a spokesman said.

In November last year, Turkey had downed a Russian warplane in Syria after which Moscow slapped a range of sanctions on Ankara, including an embargo on some Turkish food products, as well as a ban on charter flights and sales of package tours to the country and the reintroduction of visas for Turkish visitors.

The breakthrough phone call by Putin to Erdogan came after the Turkish strongman on Monday sent a letter to the Kremlin leader that Moscow said contained an apology.

In a statement, the Kremlin said that Putin expressed profound condolences over the bombing and shooting attack at Istanbuls main airport that killed at least 41 people and was pinned by Ankara on Islamic State group.

The Turkish presidency said in a statement that Erdogan and Putin highlighted the importance of the normalisation of bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia.

The downing of the Russian warplane in Syria slammed the brakes on burgeoning relations between Russia and Turkey and sparked a bitter war of words between the leaders.

Turkey has argued that the Russian plane strayed into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings, but Russia insisted it did not cross the border and accused Turkey of a planned provocation.

Putin called it a stab in the back and demanded an apology from Erdogan, who he also accused of being involved in the illegal oil trade with the Islamic State group.

On the other hand, close relations between Israel and Turkey were downgraded significantly 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 the Gaza Strip.

Nine activists aboard the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara ferry were killed, with a 10th person later dying of his wounds.
Hindu Mahasabha chief Swami Chakrapani, who was recently in news for burning a car that purportedly belonged to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, has been provided Z-category security after four people were arrested for planning an attack on him.

Chakrapani had earlier written to the Union Home Ministry in which he mentioned about receiving fresh threats from 'D-Company'.

Chakrapani, who won the car at an open auction in Mumbai on December 9, had publicly burnt the vehicle in Ghaziabad.

According to reports, the Hindu Mahasabha chief had earlier refused the security cover.

IMAGE: Saami Chakrapani claims he received threats after having burnt down the car that previously belonged to Dawood Ibrahim. Photograph: PTI
She has been losing her partys core voters since the 2007 assembly polls, whereas the Samajwadi Party has managed to keep its flock together. The BJP believes she is a soft target.

Sahil Makkar and Mayank Mishra report.

IMAGE: A supporter of BSP chief holds a cutout of Mayawati during a rally. Photograph: Pawan Kumar/Reuters

Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shahs decision to take a holy dip and break bread with Dalits appears part of a considered strategy in the run-up to next years Uttar Pradesh elections.

A section in the BJP believes if they continue to get support from estranged ex-supporters of the Bahujan Samaj Party, and if the newly appointed state unit president, Keshav Prasad Maurya, manages to draw support from his backward community, they have a fair chance in 2017.

Their confidence stems from, for instance, poll data from the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. This suggests the BSPs loss among Dalits was the BJPs gain in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the state. It says nearly 18 per cent of the Jatavs, considered the core BSP voters, and an impressive 45 per cent of other Dalits, had voted for the BJP or its allies.

This resulted in the BSP suffering massive erosion in its core vote banks for the first time since the party was formed in 1984. The BSP lost eight percentage points from its vote share of the 2009 general elections, whereas the BJP recorded a huge jump of 25 percentage points (including 11 per cent from the Congress and three per cent from the Rashtriya Lok Dal). However, the Samajwadi Partys vote share remained almost the same.

Currently, the SP is ruling the UP assembly and the BSP is principal opposition party. The BJP, which is third, wants to break the hegemony of both parties, ruling the state between themselves with an absolute majority for the past decade.

In the past, the BJP had formed a government twice with the BSP. The BJP only got a full majority at the height of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in 1991 but its government was dismissed with the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.

The BJP now wants to again ride the pro-Hindutva wave that swept the state in the 2014 general elections, winning 71 of the states 80 seats. The party is depending on its core voters (upper caste), estranged voters (Dalit) of Mayawati and those who voted for the Congress in the past. It is likely the BJP will retain its core voter and those who defected to it from the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections. Since the SP voters (Yadav and other backward classes) are unlikely to change their loyalties, the BJPs best bet would be to target the BSPs eroding vote bank.



The BSPs Jatav vote bank had come down to 62 per cent, from 86 per cent in the 2012 assembly election. Worse, a majority of Valmikis, another influential Dalit group in UP, voted for non-BSP parties in the 2012 elections, as opposed to 71 per cent of them voting for the BSP five years earlier. As a result of the massive slide in its Dalit base, the BSP could win only 15 seats out of 85 reserved for scheduled castes in 2012. The SP, on the other hand, did exceedingly well by winning 58 of these.



In fact, the SPs vote share in reserved seats was more than its average vote share in the state. It is quite a change from the situation in 2007. The BSP had then won 61 reserved seats and the SP a mere 13 of these.

Experts say there is a reason why the BJP is downplaying the importance of the BSP by saying it has a direct fight with the SP in Uttar Pradesh. If the perception gains ground, there is likely to be depletion of the BSPs support among Dalits, who might vote for the BJP. The others, including Kurmis, Lodhs and Mauryas are also expected to vote for the BJP in the given situation.

A bi-polar contest suits the BJP, which is why it is saying that it has a direct fight with the SP. The BJP used to have a small core base in UP, not more than 14-15 per cent. It is not enough to decisively impact elections. It is working on expanding its core by targeting Dalits, observes Lucknow-based political analyst Sudhir Panwar. Traditionally, parties getting 30 per cent of the votes have formed a government with full majority in the state. The SP in 2012 and the BSP in 2007 got 30 per cent of all votes.



The BJPs incessant attempts to woo Dalits have been noticed among the top BSP echelons. At a closed-door meeting last week, Mayawati is learnt to have told her lieutenants to campaign intensively among their core vote bank. As a counter-strategy, though, she has apparently decided to nominate nearly 100 Brahmin candidates. Panwar said it she had employed the same tactics in the past and this did not go down well with the core constituency of Dalits.



The BSP has been consistently fielding one-fourth Brahmin candidates, which might have alienated a section of Dalits, he said.



And, now, the exit of the BSPs backward caste face, Swami Prasad Maurya, is likely to impact its prospects more.
A week after India failed to get entry into Nuclear Suppliers Group due to China-led opposition, the United States on Wednesday said one country can break consensus in the atomic trading bloc and insisted that such member should be held accountable.

US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Tom Shannon asserted that the US is committed to ensuring India's entry into the NSG while expressing "regret" that Washington was unsuccessful in making India a member of the bloc in its pleanary in Seoul last week.

"We understand that in a consensus-based organisation, one country can break consensus. But in order to do so it must be (held) accountable not isolated.

"I think what we need to do going forward is, for both of us India and the US, sit down and take a call what happened in the Seoul, take a close look at the diplomatic process which is significant and see what more we can do and how we can ensure that next time we are successful," he said during an interactive session at the Foreign Service Institute.

Calling India an "anchor of stability" in the Asia Pacifc region, US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Tom Shannon also said what China was doing in South China Sea is "madness" and it wants New Delhi to play a major role in the Indian Ocean.

Shannon said managing the rise of China was a major challenge and that the US wants to work with India to have a strong and comprehensive presence in the Indian Ocean.

Describing India a responsible and important player in the sphere of nuclear non-proliferation, Shannon said, "We are committed to having India join the Nuclear Suppliers Group. We believe that through the kind of work we have done, the civil nuclear agreement, the way India conducted itself, it is worthy of this."

On India's NSG bid, he said the US would continue to work for India's inclusion in the group.

Shannon, who met Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar earlier in the day, said India's recent entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime highlighted that the country is a "responsible and important player in the road to non-proliferation."

"We regret, in Seoul we and India, were unable to open space necessary to allow India to move into the NSG at this moment," he said.

When asked whether he thinks India will ratify the Paris climate deal before Obama administration's tenure got over and, at the same time, it will become a member of the NSG, he said "I hope so".

He said India has given a commitment to ratify the climate deal.

Shannon said that Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation was a very important symbol of friendship between the two countries.

"Just a few weeks ago, President Obama and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi welcomed the start of preparatory work on a site in Andhra Pradesh for six AP 1000 reactors to be built by an American company.

"This is expected to provide jobs in both countries and bring clean, reliable electricity that will help meet Indias growing energy needs while reducing reliance on fossil fuels," he said.
The government on Wednesday asserted it has enough support for passage of the Goods and Services Tax Bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament that will commence from July 18 till August 12.

After a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh that recommended the schedule for the session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters that the session could also be extended or curtailed by two-three days depending on requirement.

The session will have 20 working days for now.

Emphasizing that the GST bill is in the larger interest of the country, Naidu said, We have a wider support and we have enough numbers for GST but we would like to have all parties on board because it will have an effect on states.

He said that the government wants to get the bill passed by consensus and is making efforts in that direction but asserted that even if consensus is not there, we must get it approved in this session.

He said that voting on the bill will be the last option, suggesting that the government would like to avoid any trial of strength on this issue and will strive to take all parties along.

However, since it is a Constitutional Amendment Bill, voting will have to take place.

Replying to questions on whether the government will step up efforts to bring Congress on board, which has been opposing the bill on some conditions, he said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is ready to hold further discussions with all parties including Congress.

Naidu also referred to the recent interview of the prime minister in which he sought the cooperation of Opposition parties for passing GST.

In the meeting, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told Naidu that she was ready for a discussion on the recent foreign visits of the prime minister in view of issues like Indias membership to Nuclear Suppliers Group, if members want it.

Rajnath Singh, who chaired the meet, pushed for early passage of Lokpal and Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill while Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said there was a need for an early passage of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill. Both are pending in Parliament.

Naidu said besides GST, the government will push for passage of three bills replacing ordinances on Combined Entrance Exam for medical and dental colleges as well as the one seeking amendments to the Enemy Property Act.

Naidu said while 56 bills are pending --11 in Lok Sabha and 45 in Rajya Sabha, he has also asked ministries to come up with at least 25 new bills.

The ministries will have to give notice for bringing the new bills by July 3.

Naidu said once Parliament passes GST, the Indian economy will grow further.

Keeping that in mind I appeal to all political parties to cooperate in passage of the bill. We have spent enough time. We have done enough study. There have been detailed discussions with state finance ministers... Concerns have been addressed, he said.

Claiming that the government has been continuously engaging with all parties including Congress on the issue, the parliamentary affairs minister said, We will continue to have a dialogue with them also and try to convince them that House should be in order, which is a must to pass a constitutional amendment bill.

He said political parties, while formulating their stand, will keep the ground realities in mind. That is my hope as parliamentary affairs minister... I hope it should get approved in the next session of Parliament, he said.

The contentious Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-second Amendment) Bill, 2014, known as the GST Bill was moved in the Upper House in August last year after being passed by Lok Sabha.

The government is hopeful of the passage of the GST bill in this session amid indications that a number of regional parties have broken ranks with Congress on the issue and are willing to extend their support to this crucial economic reform measure.

After the CCPA, Naidu also held a separate meeting with Union ministers during which he asked them to submit their bill proposals by July 3, a fortnight before the session begins.

The session comes at a time when the ruling BJPs morale is high after its maiden victory in Assam assembly polls and its performance in Kerala and West Bengal elections.

Another key bill is the Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015, which was moved in December last year but the discussion on it had remained inconclusive.

In the Budget session this year, this bill could not be taken up.

In Lok Sabha, important bills pending include the Consumer Protection Bill 2015 and the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015.

The last few sessions of Parliament have seen sparring between the government and the opposition even though the second part of the Budget session recorded a relative improvement as far the completion of government business was concerned.
Egypt's benchmark index, EGX30, edged up 0.15 percent to 6,942 on the last day of trade this week ahead of a banking holiday on Thursday to celebrate the 30 June uprising.

Daily stock turnover continued to be low and registered at EGP 377.4 million.

Egyptian investors were net buyers to the tune of EGP 19 million while non-Arab foreigners were net sellers to the tune of EGP 24.5 million.

Blue chip, Commercial International Bank (CIB), inched down 0.4 percent to EGP 39.5 per share.

Global Telecom Holding gained 0.63 percent to EGP 3.14 a share and Pioneers holding increased 1.67 percent to EGP 9.6 per share.

Edita Food Industries also increased by 1.21 percent to EGP 15 per share.

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Singling out the Congress as the only opponent to the GST, the government hopes to pass the bill after the altered numbers in the Upper House, reports Archis Mohan.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said that the Cabinet Committee of Parliamentary Affairs chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh has recommended holding the monsoon session from July 18 to August 12. The session will see the government to make a renewed push for the passage of the goods and services tax Constitution amendment bill in the Rajya Sabha.

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed hope that the "arithmetic" of the Rajya Sabha, after the recent biennial elections, could favour the passage of the GST bill. He singled out the Congress as the only opponent to the GST. He termed those against the key tax reform as "anti-poor".

According to the government arithmetic (see chart), the GST bill should get the requisite two-thirds majority after the altered numbers in the Upper House. The government has been emboldened by the Bharatiya Janata Party's recent electoral performance and losses the Congress suffered -- both in assembly polls as well as in the Rajya Sabha elections.

Modi also indicated that he was willing to go to Congress President Sonia Gandhi's house to convince her to support the GST bill. The Congress will take a final decision once its vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, returns from his overseas sojourn. But the party, as some in the Congress said, shouldn't be seen as the only obstacle when all other parties were likely to support the bill.

Significantly, Modi didn't place the J Jayalalithaa-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam among the opponents of the bill -- suggesting a rapprochement on the issue. He named opposition chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh (Akhilesh Yadav), West Bengal (Mamata Banerjee, Bihar (Nitish Kumar) and Odisha (Naveen Patnaik) as supporters of the tax reform. Modi also said that it wasn't correct to categorise several of the non-BJP and non-National Democratic Alliance parties as "opposition" as these have supported the government legislation.
President El-Sisi will head the Higher Council for Tourism, comprising ministers from across the government

Egypt's cabinet reshuffled Wednesday the board of the Higher Council for Tourism in preparation to set a new strategy to boost the country's ailing tourism sector, according to official news agency MENA.

The board of the Higher Council for Tourism will be chaired by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and include the ministers of defence, interior, military production, planning, foreign affairs, local development, international cooperation, culture, tourism, aviation, investment, finance, youth, communications, and antiquities.

The board will convene twice a year to set tourism policies, regulations and the general plan for touristic areas, as well as evaluate the sector's performance.

Egypt's tourism sector, which relies heavily on tourists from Russia, suffered a severe blow with the ban of passenger flights to Egypt following the downing of a Russian airliner over the Sinai Peninsula in October 2015 that raised concerns about security at Egypt's airports.

Tourism revenue totalled $500 million in the first quarter of 2016, compared to $1.5 billion a year earlier, a tourism ministry adviser told Reuters in April.

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Secretary-General condemns deadly terrorist attack at international airport in Istanbul

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 28 June 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Secretary-General condemns deadly terrorist attack at international airport in Istanbul, 28 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5773721440c.html [accessed 27 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

28 June 2016 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned today's terrorist attack at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport, according to his spokesperson.

"He expresses his deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government and people of Turkey. He wishes a speedy recovery to those injured," Mr. Ban's spokesperson added in a statement. "The Secretary-General hopes that the perpetrators of this crime will be identified and brought to justice."

According to initial media reports, at least 28 people were killed in the attack and at least another were 60 wounded.

The spokesperson added that the UN chief stands firmly by Turkey as it confronts the threat of terrorism and stresses the need to intensify regional and international efforts to combat terrorism and violent extremism.

The attack also drew condemnation and condolences from other parts of the UN system.

In a statement, the High Representative for the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the attack, describing it as "a heinous and despicable crime."

He reiterated his solidarity with the Government and people of Turkey in their efforts to combat all forms of terrorism and violent extremism, and re-affirmed the commitment of the UNAOC to promote tolerance, understanding and peaceful dialogue.

In another statement, the head of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) also spoke out on the attack.

"On behalf of the entire international tourism community, UNWTO conveys its heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims and expresses its full solidarity with the people and the Government of Turkey," said UNWTO's Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.

Mr. Rifai also noted that safety and security is a priority for the tourism sector and that the sector is being targeted as a pillar of the economy and livelihoods in many countries.
Senior UN relief official warns of demographic challenges and growing humanitarian needs in the Sahel

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 28 June 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Senior UN relief official warns of demographic challenges and growing humanitarian needs in the Sahel, 28 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5773723140c.html [accessed 27 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

28 June 2016 - More than 9.2 million people in the Lake Chad Basin are in need of humanitarian assistance and more than 4.4 million face severe food insecurity, a senior United Nations relief official said today, appealing for greater efforts from the international community and development partners to meet the region's growing needs.

"This means that they are really on the verge of a life-threatening situation, and we must do more, better, and faster," the UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, Toby Lanzer, told a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York.

"I fear that it's going to take an awful lot more than humanitarian aid - it's going to take much greater engagement by the development partners," he added.

The Humanitarian Coordinator said that in the area around the Lake Chad Basin - which borders Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria - about 2.2 million people are displaced from their homes because of the "horrific" actions of Boko Haram as well as government counter-insurgencies.

He also expressed concern over the fact that in 20 years' time, the population of the Sahel region will double to 300 million from 150 million.

"Unless the countries of the Sahel tackle this demographic challenge which faces them, the countries will get poorer, communities will suffer more, enrolment rates will go down, not up, fewer women will have access to health care, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - just to mention one hot topic - will not be met," Mr. Lanzer said.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), across the entire Sahel region, more than 23.5 million people face food insecurity, 5.9 million children are malnourished, and at least 4.5 million are displaced by the effects of conflicts. The people in the region are among the world's poorest and are struggling with food insecurity, environmental degradation and violent extremism at the hands of Boko Haram insurgents, the Humanitarian Coordinator emphasized.

"I believe the time is ripe and it's absolutely vital that there be a greater, broader, deeper international engagement across the Sahel, whether it's on questions of stability, trade, development, such as infrastructure, or, indeed, tackling the humanitarian issues, because if we do not, there's no question in my mind, that a tempest with incalculable proportions awaits us in the future," Mr. Lanzer said.

In response to a journalist's question on the threats posed by Boko Haram, the Humanitarian Coordinator emphasized that more awareness and a "deeper appreciation" are needed regarding the issue within the four governments of the region, as well as across the membership of the African Union (AU).

Africa's Sahel region covers parts of northern Senegal, southern Mauritania, central Mali, northern Burkina Faso, the extreme south of Algeria, Niger, the extreme north of Nigeria, central Chad, central and southern Sudan, the extreme north of South Sudan, Eritrea and the extreme north of Ethiopia.
Iraq: UN envoy condemns bombing of mosque as showing 'total disdain for Islam'

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 28 June 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Iraq: UN envoy condemns bombing of mosque as showing 'total disdain for Islam', 28 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5773724740c.html [accessed 27 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

28 June 2016 - The United Nations envoy for Iraq has strongly condemned the suicide bombing yesterday that killed or wounded a number of civilians at a mosque in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, noting that the attack showed the terrorists' total disdain for Islam.

"This cowardly attack, happening during the holy month of Ramadan and as worshippers were gathered for evening prayers, shows the terrorists' total disdain for Islam and rejection of its values," said Jan Kubis, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Iraq, and head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), in a statement issued today.

Also in the statement, he expressed his condolences to the families of those killed and wishes the injured a speedy recovery.
Recalling recent Lesbos visit, Ban urges European leaders to act with 'compassion and foresight' on refugee issue

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 28 June 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Recalling recent Lesbos visit, Ban urges European leaders to act with 'compassion and foresight' on refugee issue, 28 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5773726b40d.html [accessed 27 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

28 June 2016 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged European leaders meeting in Brussels today to act with "compassion and foresight," and find humane solutions for refugees that not only uphold international law and protect human rights, but also save lives.

"We need to help human beings caught up in horrendous circumstances, which they had no role in creating and have no power to change," the Secretary-General noted in an opinion piece published today in Belgian French-language newspaper, Le Soir, and other media outlets in Europe.

In the opinion piece, the Secretary-General looked back to his recent visit to the Greek island of Lesbos, which is where many refugees and migrants first arrive when entering Europe and where he saw and heard first-hand their plight at the island's Kara Tepe and Moria locations.

"The waters were calm the day I visited. But not so long ago, the horizon was filled with flimsy, overcrowded boats making their way across cold and choppy waters. People arrived by the thousands, some still with shrapnel wounds from the fighting they had fled just days earlier," he wrote.

"I spoke with Syrians, Iraqis, Pakistanis and others. I sensed immense gratitude for their temporary haven," he added. "But I also saw simmering frustration at their uncertain futures, causing tensions within and beyond the facilities. As one person said, 'it is the waiting that is killing everyone inside.'"

Mr. Ban highlighted that the people of Greece and Lesbos had responded "admirably" to the influx of so many people in need, adding that, "If tiny Lesbos can do so much, surely others can do more."

In that vein, the UN chief urged world leaders to uphold their political, moral and legal obligations by taking the following five steps: relocate more people, protect people, provide more resettlement as well as humanitarian and complementary pathways for admission, fight xenophobia and hatred, and address the root causes of forced displacement.

"The situation is complex, yet simple, in its fundamentals: we need to help human beings caught up in horrendous circumstances, which they had no role in creating and have no power to change," he wrote. "Large movements of people have occurred before and we have coped. With the world now richer than ever and more knowledgeable than ever, we should be able to cope better than ever, and do right for today's and future generations."

The Secretary-General also urged all world leaders to attend the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants taking place at UN Headquarters in New York in September, and for which the goal is a new global compact on responsibility-sharing for refugees and another one for safe, orderly and regular migration.
UN expert calls for context-specific strategies to counter xenophobia in migration crisis

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 28 June 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN expert calls for context-specific strategies to counter xenophobia in migration crisis, 28 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/577372b940b.html [accessed 27 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

28 June 2016 - A United Nations expert today urged the world body's Human Rights Council to address xenophobia and its conceptualization, trends and manifestations in the context of an acute migration crisis, and with an action plan "carefully adapted to domestic realities."

"In the current era of increased mobility, widespread forms of overt physical violence, hate speech and discrimination are rooted in xenophobia," the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Mutuma Ruteere, told a news conference at the UN premises in Geneva.

He recommended that governments and stakeholders give due attention to a set of key elements in designing and implementing strategies with improved effectiveness. These elements include locally diagnosing the situation, implementing preventive actions, identifying an appropriate intervention scale, and reviewing and assessing the strategy.

"Strategies for countering xenophobic discrimination must be context-specific and carefully adapted to domestic realities," Mr. Ruteere said. "Addressing xenophobia necessitates shifting the institutional, political and economic incentives that support, continue or heighten xenophobic practices."

"The role of local actors, including local government, is paramount in designing and implementing tailored, local administrative and other measures to overcome local barriers to integration and peaceful cohabitation," he added.

The independent expert also spoke about combatting the glorification of Nazism and neo-Nazism. Referring to reports of violence perpetrated against Roma, Muslims, Jews and other minorities and vulnerable groups, Mr. Ruteere strongly condemned the denial of the Holocaust and expressed concerns about cyber-racism and hate propaganda through social media platforms, as well as about the proliferation of extremist groups in sports.

"I call upon States to provide for heavier sanctions regarding offences with racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic or homophobic motivations and to collect disaggregated data and statistics on racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic crimes," the Special Rapporteur said, adding that education remained the most effective means of countering the negative influence of extremist movements.

Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
UN chief and Security Council strongly condemn terrorist attacks in Lebanon

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 28 June 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN chief and Security Council strongly condemn terrorist attacks in Lebanon, 28 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/577372d940b.html [accessed 27 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

28 June 2016 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council have condemned the series of terrorist attacks that occurred yesterday in the northern Lebanese town of El-Qaa, which resulted in a number of civilian deaths and injuries.

"Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of its motivation," Council members said in a statement issued on Monday night. "[It] should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group."

According to media reports, suicide bombers killed at least five people and wounded another 28 in the town located in the Bekaa Valley, near the border with Syria.

In their statement, the Council members also stressed the need to suppress and prevent the financing of terrorism, terrorist organizations and individual terrorists, and underlined the need to bring the perpetrators of attack to justice.

In a separate statement issued today, the Secretary-General's spokesperson said that in addition to strongly condemning the attacks, Mr. Ban also praised the important role played by the Lebanese security forces and encouraged continuous and coordinated international support to their efforts to protect and reinforce the country's security and stability.

The Secretary-General and Council members also expressed their deep sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the people and Government of Lebanon, and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
Egypt has ordered banks to stop clients from using their Egyptian pound account debit cards abroad, a central bank official said on Wednesday, a move to combat the country's acute foreign currency shortage.

"We sent a letter to bank chiefs today to stop the use of debit cards outside the country. As for credit cards it is business as usual and each bank sets their own limit for their clients," the official told Reuters by telephone.

Egypt depends on imports for everything from food to fuel and has suffered from a deficit of dollars in the formal banking system since a 2011 uprising drove away tourists and foreign investors - crucial sources of hard currency.

Many import businesses now rely on a black market where they can procure hard currency for a higher price. The pound's rate on the black market has weakened since the central bank devalued the Egyptian currency in March, at which time it was roughly in line with the official rate.

"Please ensure that debit cards, including pre-paid cards, issued in local currency by Egyptian banks are only used within the country," the letter, viewed by Reuters, said.

Debit cards for accounts in foreign currency can still be used abroad up to a limit of $100,000 as per a 2014 directive, the letter added.

"We have started implementing the central bank's directive as of today," one state-owned bank chief told Reuters.

Heads of several other state-owned as well as private banks said they had asked the central bank for a few days to implement the directive, however.

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Morocco: Journalists risk imprisonment for running smartphone app training

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 28 June 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Morocco: Journalists risk imprisonment for running smartphone app training, 28 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/577373984.html [accessed 27 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Tomorrow's trial of seven journalists and activists in Morocco for training citizen journalists could set a dangerous precedent for restricting freedom of expression, Amnesty International said.

Seven defendants face trial in Rabat after running a citizen journalism training programme using smartphones.

"The trial of these journalists is a worrying test case for press freedom in Morocco. The accusations that journalists and citizens reporting freely in their country are compromising state security, and the risk that they may be imprisoned, are deeply alarming," said Magdalena Mughrabi, Interim Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

Five of the defendants, including historian Maati Monjib, are accused of "threatening the internal security of the state" through "propaganda" that may threaten "the loyalty that citizens owe to the State and institutions of the Moroccan people" under Article 206 of the Penal Code, according to official court papers. They could be imprisoned for up to five years if found guilty.

Maati Monjib also faces a second charge of "fraud". The remaining two defendants, journalists Maria Moukrim and Rachid Tarik are being tried for "receiving foreign funding without notifying the General Secretariat of the government."

Amnesty International is calling on the authorities to drop the charges against the seven defendants.

In recent months the Moroccan government has trumpeted high-profile judicial reforms including an overhaul of the Penal Code. The draft law to amend the Penal Code, approved by the government on 9 June, includes some positive proposals for human rights but leaves unchanged Article 206, which is used to violate freedom of expression, highlighting that deep flaws in the code persist.

"Morocco's authorities should drop these shocking charges against these seven journalists and activists immediately. They should repeal or amend Article 206, so that it can no longer be used to arbitrarily restrict freedom of expression," said Magdalena Mughrabi.

StoryMaker is a secure storytelling app developed by Free Press Unlimited (FPU), the Guardian Project and Small World News, which enables citizen journalists to publish content anonymously if they wish to. FPU recently reported that its request to meet the Moroccan authorities to explain its work and the StoryMaker app was left unanswered. FPU is calling on Moroccan authorities to drop charges against the seven defendants and not put freedom of expression on trial.

Background

The defendants in the trial are:

Maati Monjib, 54 historian and founder of the Ibn Rochd Center for Studies and Communication, president of the NGO Freedom Now (which he set up jointly with Ali Anouzla) and a member of the Moroccan Association for Investigative Journalism (AMJI). A regular commentator on Moroccan politics in international media, think tanks and academic forums, he is thought to be a key figure targeted in this prosecution.

Abdessamad Ait Aicha (known as Samad Iach), 31, journalist and former employee at the Ibn Rochd Center for Studies and Communication, and AMJI member.

Hicham Mansouri, 35, journalist and former AMJI employee, recently released from prison after serving a 10-month sentence in what Amnesty International fears was a politically-motivated conviction.

Hicham Khreibchi (known as Hicham Al-Miraat), 39, medical doctor, founder and former president of the Digital Rights Association (ADN), as well as former advocacy director for Global Voices.

Mohamed Sber, 44, president of the Moroccan Association for the Education of Youth (AMEJ).

Maria Moukrim, 39, journalist, former AMJI president.

Rachid Tarik, 62, journalist (retired), AMJI president.

Several defendants are also former supporters or members of the 20 February Movement, Morocco's peaceful pro-democracy and anti-corruption protest movement that emerged in 2011 in the context of popular uprisings in the region.

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Zambia: Detained newspaper owner and staff must be immediately and unconditionally released

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 28 June 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Zambia: Detained newspaper owner and staff must be immediately and unconditionally released, 28 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/577373db4.html [accessed 27 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Authorities must immediately and unconditionally release the owner of The Post newspaper, Fred M'membe, his wife Mutinta M'membe and the newspaper's Deputy Managing Editor, Joseph Mwenda, Amnesty International said today.

The three of them were arrested in the early hours of 28 June and are currently being held at the Lusaka Central Police Station without any charges.

"The continued persecution of Fred M'membe, his newspaper and staff is a disturbing attack on independent media and contrary to the rights to freedom of expression and association," said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for Southern Africa.

"Fred M'membe and his newspaper are victims of an attempt by the state to silence critical media and those who speak truth to power. It is unacceptable and must be brought to an end."

The arrests followed their return to the newspaper's premises after a court ruled against the Zambia Revenue Authority to allow the newspaper to continue publishing. The newspaper was shut down last week by the authorities, alleging it owed taxes.

Zambian online newspaper, Zambia Reports, has reported that Police engaged in a "physical confrontation" with Fred M'membe before they were taken away.

"The Post and other independent media organizations must be allowed to freely operate particularly in the context of the coming elections. Police conduct against the media organizations brings to question Zambia's human rights record," said Deprose Muchena.

"Journalists and media houses should be supported to do their work freely and without fear, instead of being victimised for reporting what authorities don't like."

Background

Zambian authorities ordered the closure of the publishing company, Post Newspapers Limited, on 21 June 2016, demanding US$6.1 million tax in arrears.

The newspaper is alleging selective application of the law by authorities to target the critical news organization.

On 15 July 2015, police arrested Fred M'membe and journalist Mukosha Funga for an article they published in March 2015. The article discussed the investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of a presidential aide soliciting a bribe from a Chinese businessman to arrange an appointment with the President.

The Post had published a letter from the ACC to the President notifying the President about its investigation. In May 2015, the presidential aide reported the leak to the police, who questioned the journalists before releasing them.

However, on 15 July they were arrested and spent a night in custody before appearing in court, charged with publishing classified information. The journalists were released on bail, which was set at over US$3,000 each.

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Italy: Children Stuck in Unsafe Migrant Hotspot

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 23 June 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Italy: Children Stuck in Unsafe Migrant Hotspot, 23 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/577374d74.html [accessed 27 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Children as young as 12 and traveling without family members are kept for weeks in overcrowded and unsafe conditions in the Pozzallo migrant registration center in Sicily, Human Rights Watch said today. Some asylum-seeking and other migrant children stay for over one month with unrelated adults in the center, designed for short-term stays, due to lack of space in shelters for children, putting them at risk of sexual abuse and violence from adults.

Members of a parliamentary commission of inquiry on reception and detention facilities is conducting a long-planned visit to the Pozzallo center on June 23, 2016. As of June 21, all but 60 people had been transferred out of the center.

"Pozzallo is no place for a child, much less for extended periods of time," said Judith Sunderland, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "It is unacceptable that young, vulnerable children without family members remain there for weeks, while adults are normally transferred within three days."

On June 9, the day of Human Rights Watch's visit, the Pozzallo center held 365 people, over double its capacity, of whom 185 were unaccompanied children, according to police. A significant number of the unaccompanied children had been at the center for two weeks. As of June 17, around 100 unaccompanied children were in the center, including some who had been there since May 28.

The center, a European Union-designated "hotspot" for screening asylum seekers who arrive in Italy by sea, has one large main room and a smaller room in the back, which is intended for families and unaccompanied children. Due to chronic overcrowding, however, children are forced to sleep in bunk beds or on mattresses on the floor in both rooms near unrelated adult men. There are separate, adjacent bathrooms and washrooms for males and females, but no separate facilities for children. Toilet stalls are separated by shower curtains, not lockable doors.

Registered adults and children over 15 are allowed to leave the guarded center between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., but unaccompanied younger children have to stay inside the building or in the adjacent courtyard.

Four Eritrean girls, aged 16 and 17, said that adult men constantly harassed them. Bilen, 17, said men "come when we sleep, they tell us they need to have sex. They follow us when we go to take a shower. All night they wait for us They [the police, the staff] know about this, everybody knows the problem, but they do nothing." Sesuna, 16, said she had thrown herself on her bunk bed when she first arrived, on May 28, because she was so exhausted. "A man came near my bed, but countrymen [Eritreans] stopped him," she said.

The Pozzallo center is ill-equipped to properly treat traumatized children. Children at the center and at other migrant and asylum-seeker facilities in Italy told Human Rights Watch that they had experienced or witnessed brutality, including sexual violence, on the land route through northern Africa and shipwrecks at sea. Mehret, a 16-year-old Eritrean girl, explained in a halting, soft voice that she had been raped near the Shagarab refugee camp in Sudan. She had been staying at Pozzallo for two weeks, but had not spoken with a doctor or anyone else about her trauma, and no one had inquired as to whether she had experienced violence or abuse on her journey. "If they don't ask me, what am I going to say?" she asked.

A doctor at the center told Human Rights Watch that reports of sexual violence by female migrants and asylum seekers were common, and women or girls who request help are sent outside the center for medical care.

Two of those interviewed at Pozzallo said they had witnessed a shipwreck in late May. Robel, a 12-year-old Eritrean traveling on his own, said he was on the deck of a wooden fishing boat that was pulling another overcrowded boat in the attempt to reach Italy from Libya. "Our journey was good but we saw the others die," he said. "The other boat we were pulling sank and we had to cut the rope."

Human Rights Watch interviewed two other witnesses to this tragedy in other centers in Sicily. "I haven't talked to anyone about it," Robel said. Prior to our interview, he said that no one had asked him about the experience.

Terres des Hommes, a nongovernmental organization, has run a mental health project for children and pregnant women in the Pozzallo center since June 2015. The psychologist said she works there three days a week, but the organization lacks a private space for consultations. One-on-one conversations often take place in the corridor or courtyard.

The psychologist said many women and girls are sexually abused on the journey and described a variety of mental health problems among the children, including depression, psychosomatic symptoms, nightmares, and paranoia.

A dozen children who had arrived at the end of May 2016 told Human Rights Watch they had not been able to contact their parents or other relatives to tell them that they had survived the journey. The center gives all new arrivals a phone card with 5 euro of credit, but on June 9, the only phone in the center was broken. The phone had been broken for about two weeks, staff at the center said. The phone was fixed only on June 22, the day before the parliamentary committee's visit.

The 2010 EU Action Plan on Unaccompanied Children states that it is "paramount to separate minors from adults to prevent (re)victimization," adding that minors should be provided with appropriate accommodation; detention should only be used in exceptional cases.

Delays in transferring children appear primarily due to the chronic lack of capacity in dedicated shelters for unaccompanied children. Four short-term first-arrival centers specifically for children operate in Sicily, but none of them are close to Pozzallo, one of the main disembarkation points for rescued boats. The number of free places for unaccompanied children at longer-term centers is unknown because Italy does not have a national database. Save the Children and other humanitarian organizations have long called for the Italian government to create such a database to facilitate transfers. Mario Morcone, head of the Interior Ministry's immigration department, recently proposed a more efficient and equitable distribution of responsibility for unaccompanied children throughout the country.

According to UNICEF, of the roughly 55,000 people who have reached Italy by sea this year, over 7,000 are unaccompanied children. In 2015, just under 12,000 unaccompanied children were registered in Italy.

The number of lone children applying for asylum in Italy has increased steadily in recent years. In 2013, children submitted 805 applications, while almost 3,800 did so in 2015.

The Pozzallo center has been a first arrival center for years, but is now one of Italy's four fully-functioning hotspots set up at the behest of the EU. Officials from Frontex, the EU's external borders agency, work in the centers to assist Italian police with the initial registration, nationality screening interviews, and fingerprinting. European Asylum Support Office officials are also present to identify individuals eligible for relocation under the EU program to transfer asylum seekers from Italy to other EU countries. Italian nongovernmental organizations have expressed concerns about access to information about rights and the asylum procedure in Italian hotspots, including Pozzallo.

Doctors Without Borders ended its health project in the Pozzallo center in December 2015, to protest the authorities' failure to address overcrowding and lack of protection for vulnerable people, including children traveling on their own.

Local and national authorities should take immediate measures to ensure that children traveling on their own are placed as quickly as possible in suitable facilities where they can access the care and support they need and to which they are entitled under national and international law, Human Rights Watch said.

Italy should establish a first-arrival center specifically for unaccompanied children near all ports experiencing significant arrivals, including Pozzallo, and ensure sufficient places in longer-term facilities. The creation of a national database and a clear system for distributing children in need would facilitate swift transfers.

The European Commission should ensure that unaccompanied children are not held in EU-sponsored hotspots for longer than what is strictly necessary and that the operation of these hotspots is consistent with the EU Action Plan and international human rights law. Staff and authorities at Pozzallo should immediately ensure that unaccompanied children are able to call their families upon arrival, and that they are provided access to psychosocial support in a timely manner.

"Italy is saving hundreds of lives in the Mediterranean; now it needs to ensure the safety of migrants and asylum seekers once on land," Sunderland said. "Children who have survived these harrowing journeys on their own are in special need, and should never be left to languish in overcrowded, unsafe places."

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Russia: Government against Rights Groups

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 27 June 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Russia: Government against Rights Groups, 27 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/577375e74.html [accessed 27 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Since June 5, 2014, the Ministry of Justice has designated 133 groups as "foreign agents". By June 24, 2016, at least 21 groups have shut down. Also, the Ministry has removed its "foreign agent" tag from 11 groups, acknowledging that they had stopped accepting foreign funding. Accordingly, on June 10, 2016, the official list of active "foreign agents" comprised 101 groups.

(Moscow)  In 2012 Russia's parliament adopted a law that required nongovernmental organizations (NGO)s to register as "foreign agents" with the Ministry of Justice if they engage in "political activity" and receive foreign funding. The definition of "political activity" under the law is so broad and vague that it can extend to all aspects of advocacy and human rights work.

Initially, the law required all respective NGOs to request the Ministry to have them registered and implied legal consequences for failure to do so. Because in Russia "foreign agent" can be interpreted only as "spy" or "traitor," there is little doubt that the law aims to demonize and marginalize independent advocacy groups. Russia's vibrant human rights groups resolutely boycotted the law, calling it "unjust" and "slanderous."

In early March 2013 the Russian government launched a nationwide campaign of intrusive inspections of hundreds of NGOs to identify advocacy groups the government deems "foreign agents" and force them to register as such.

Since the law entered into force, numerous rights groups challenged the prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Justice in courts; most lost their cases. As a result, by February 2015 at least 13 groups chose to shut down rather than wear the shameful "foreign agent" label, including Association of NGOs in Defense of Voters' Rights "Golos", JURIX (Lawyers for Constitutional Rights and Freedoms), the Moscow School of Civic Education (Moscow), Kostroma Center for Civic Initiatives Support, Anti-Discrimination Center (ADC) Memorial, Side by Side LGBT Film Festival, Coming Out, "Freedom of Information" Foundation, the League of Women Voters and Human Rights Resource Center (Saint-Petersburg), Center for Social Policy and Gender Studies and Association "Partnership for Development" (Saratov), Interregional Non-Governmental Organization "The Committee Against Torture" (Nizhniy Novgorod).

In August 2013, Russia's then-federal ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, acting on behalf of four organizations and their leaders who were affected by the law, challenged the law in Russia's Constitutional Court. On April 8, 2014 Russia's Constitutional Court upheld the law, ruling that there were no legal or constitutional grounds for contending that the term "foreign agent" had negative connotations from the Soviet era and that, therefore, its use was "not intended to persecute or discredit" NGOs. The Constitutional Court also found that the "foreign agent" designation was in line with the public interest and the interest of state sovereignty.

On May 23, 2014 parliament amended the "foreign agents" law, this time authorizing the Ministry of Justice to register independent groups as "foreign agents" without their consent, if the ministry regards the organizations as engaged in "political activity" and if the organization is receiving foreign funding. On June 4, 2014 the amendments were signed into law.

On June 5, 2014 the Ministry of Justice promptly registered five groups as "foreign agents," and since then has registered a total of 130, including prominent civil society groups that vigorously protested this action.

I. By June 2, 2016 the registry of "foreign agents" maintained by the Ministry of Justice included the following groups:

Association of NGOs in Defense of Voters' Rights "Golos" (Moscow)  June 5, 2014 Regional Public Association in Defense of Democratic Rights and Freedoms "Golos" (Moscow)  June 5, 2014 Center for Social Policy and Gender Studies (Saratov)  June 5, 2014 (the organization was shut down  May 22, 2015) Women of Don (Rostov region)  June 5, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  February 29, 2016) Kostroma Center for Support of Public Initiatives (Kostroma)  June 5, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  June 19, 2015) Interregional Human Rights Association "Agora" (Kazan)  July 21, 2014 Regional public organization "Ecozaschita!  Womens' Council" (Kaliningrad)  July 21, 2014 Public Verdict Foundation (Moscow)  July 21, 2014 Human Rights Center "Memorial" (Moscow)  July 21, 2014 Lawyers for Constitutional Rights and Freedoms / JURIX (Moscow)  July 21, 2014 (the organization was shut down  May 26, 2015) Soldiers' Mothers (Saint Petersburg)  August 28, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  October 23, 2015) Freedom of Information Foundation / Institute for Information Freedom Development  August 28, 2014 PIR Center  September 3, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  February 24, 2016) Association "Partnership for Development" (Saratov)  October 2, 2014 (the organization was shut down  November 6, 2015) "News Agency MEMO.RU" (Moscow)  November 20, 2014 Regional Press Institute (St. Petersburg)  November 20, 2014 Moscow School of Civic Education  December 9, 2014 Rakurs, Arkhangelsk regional non-governmental LGBT organization  December 15, 2014 All-Russian movement "For Human Rights"  December 22, 2014 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  December 30, 2015) Human Rights Center (Kaliningrad)  December 25, 2014 Krasnodar Regional Social Organization of University Alumni  December 25, 2014 Regional social organization "Public Commission for Academic Sakharov's Heritage Preservation"  December 25, 2014 Resource Human Rights Center (St. Petersburg)  December 30, 2014 (the organization was shut down  November 3, 2015) Regional Public Organization "Man and the Law" (Republic of Mari El)  December 30, 2014 Center for Social Development "Vozrozhdeniye" (Pskov)  December 30, 2014 Public Human Rights Organization "Civil Control" (St. Petersburg)  December 30, 2014 The League of Women Voters (St. Petersburg)  December 30, 2014 (the organization was shut down  May 22, 2015) Free Press Support Foundation  December 30, 2014 Interregional Non-Governmental Organization "The Committee Against Torture"  January 16, 2015 Educational Center "Memorial" (Sverdlov region)  January 16, 2015 Autonomous non-profit human rights organization "Youth Center for Consulting and Training"  January 20, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  July 22, 2015) "Information Bureau of the Nordic Council of Ministers in St. Petersburg"  January 20, 2015 Jewish regional branch of the Russian public organization "Municipal Academy" January 26, 2015 (the organization was shut down  May 22, 2015) The noncommercial partnership "Press Development Institute - Siberia"  January 30, 2015 Center for social, psychological and legal help to victims of discrimination and homophobia "Maximum" (Murmansk)  February 4, 2015 (the organization was shut down  October 28, 2015) Interregional public fund for civil society development "Golos-Povolzhye" (Samara)  February 6, 2015 Interregional charity organization "Siberian Environmental Center" (Novosibirsk)  February 12, 2015 Center for Civic Analysis and Independent Research / GRANI (Perm)  February 13, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  June 19, 2015) Municipal public organization "Samara Center for Gender Studies" (Samara)  February 16, 2015 Regional Fund "Center for Defense of Mass Media Rights" (Voronezh)  February 26, 2015 Regional Charitable Social Foundation "For nature" (Chelyabinsk)  March 6, 2015 Regional Ecological Social Movement "For nature" (Chelyabinsk)  March 6, 2015 Humanist Youth Movement (Murmansk)  March 13, 2015 (the organization was shut down  August 25, 2015) Regional Social Organization for Contribution to Harmonization of Interethnic Relations "Azerbaijan"  March 13, 2015 Regional Social Environmental Organization "Bellona-Murmansk"  March 19, 2015 (the organization was shut down  October 16, 2015) "Educational Center for Environment and Security" (Samara)  March 20, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  October 8, 2015) Foundation "Migration XXI Century"  March 27, 2015 Eco-logika (Rostov)  April 3, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  March 30, 2016) Transparency International Russia - April 7, 2015 Social Environmental Organization "Planeta Nadezhd"  April 15, 2015 Foundation for Consumers' Rights Defense (Novosibirsk)  April 17, 2015 (the organization was shut down  May 12, 2016) Civil Assistance Committee  April 20, 2015 Foundation 19/29 - Foundation for Support of Investigative Journalism  April 24, 2015 Commemorative Centre of History of Political Repressions "Perm - 36"  April 29, 2015 Women's League (Kaliningrad )  April 29, 2015 (the organization was shut down  December 16, 2015) Legal Expert Partnership "Soyuz "  May 7, 2015 (the organization was shut down  25 August 2015) Center for Development of Non-Commerical Organizations  May 13, 2015 Club of Accountants and Auditors of Non-Commercial Organizations  May 13, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  March 30, 2016) Informational Bureau of the Council of Ministers of Northern Countries (Kaliningrad)  May 13, 2015 Sutyajnik (Yekaterinburg)  May 15, 2015 Human Rights Academy (Yekaterinburg)  May 15, 2015 Ecological Center "Dront" (Nizhny Novgorod)  May 22, 2015 The non-profit organization "Liberal Mission" Scientific Foundation of Theoretical and Applied Research  May 25, 2015 ("foreign agent" status was suspended  September 11, 2015) The non-profit Dynasty Foundation  May 25, 2015 Union of Employers (Tula region)  May 28, 2015 Youth organization "Nuori Karjala/Young Karelia"  June 19, 2015 (the organization was shut down  March 25, 2016) Siberian Center for Support of Social Initiatives  June 19, 2015 Interregional Social Foundation for Peace in the South and in the Northern Caucasus  June 19, 2015 Informational Center "Free Inform"  June 22, 2015 (the organization was shut down  June 21, 2016) Center for Independent Sociological Studies (St. Petersburg)  June 22, 2015 Regional Organization for Population and Development  June 23, 2015 Geblerov Ecological Societ (Barnaul)  June 23, 2015 Association "Legal Basis" (Yekaterinburg)  July 3, 2015 Interregional Non-governmental Organization "Northern Environmental Coalition" (Petrozavodsk)  July 8, 2015 (the organization was shut down  December 1, 2015) Komi Human Rights Commission "Memorial" (Syktyvkar)  July 21, 2015 Altai Regional Public Fund for 21st Century Altai (Barnaul)  July 22, 2015 (the organization was shut down  March 28, 2016) Interregional Public Foundation for Civil Society Development "GOLOS-Ural" (Chelyabinsk region)  July 22, 2015 SREDA Foundation  July 28, 2015 Non-governmental environmental organization "Green World" (Nizhny Novgorod)  July 29, 2015 Civic Action Foundation (Perm)  August 5, 2015 Alliance of Funds of Local Communities of the Perm territory  August 11, 2015 Kabardino-Balkaria Human Rights Center  regional branch of the "For Human Rights" All-Russian movement (Nalchik)  August 18, 2015 (the organization was shut down  November 6, 2015) The Human Rights Center of the Chechen Republic (Grozny)  August 21, 2015 Interregional Social Ecological Foundation "ISAR-Siberia" (Novosibirsk)  August 26, 2015 Perm Regional Human Rights Center (Perm)  September 3, 2015 Siberia's lifeline (Novosibirsk)  September 3, 2015 Golos Foundation in Support of Democracy  September 4, 2015 (the organization was shut down  June 21, 2016) Jewish Cultural Center "Hesed-Teshuva" (Ryazan)  September 4, 2015 Sakhalin Environment Watch (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk)  September 18, 2015 Yasavey Manzara Information and Research Center (Naryan-Mar)  September 23, 2015 (the organization was shut down  June 15, 2016) Consumer Rights and Environment Protection Association "Princip" (Moscow region)  October 5, 2015 Far East Center for the Development of Civil Initiatives and Social Partnership (Vladivostok) October 13, 2015 Russian Research Center for Human Rights  October 20, 2015 Women of the Don (Rostov region)  October 27, 2015 Friends of the Siberian Forests (Krasnoyarsk)  October 28, 2015 Photography Club "Sobytiye" (Omsk)  October 28, 2015 (the organization was shut down  December 16, 2015) Research and Information Center "Memorial" (St. Petersburg)  November 6, 2015 Baikal Environmental Wave (Irkutsk)  November 10, 2015 Glasnost Defense Foundation  November 19, 2015 Human Rights Institute  November 20, 2015 Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North  November 27, 2015 Green World (Leningrad region)  December 2, 2015 Mashr (Republic of Ingushetia)  December 8, 2015 Woman's World (Kaliningrad)  December 11, 2015 Panorama Information and Research Center (Moscow)  December 18, 2015 Dauria Ecological Center (Chita)  December 30, 2015 Yekaterinburg Memorial Society (Yekaterinburg)  December 30, 2015 Bureau of Public Investigations (Nizhny Novgorod)  January 14, 2016 Committee for the Prevention of Torture (Orenburg)  January 14, 2016 Institute of Forecasting and Resolving of Political Conflicts (Nizhny Novgorod)  January 22, 2016 Ryazan Historical, Educational and Human Rights Center "Memorial" (Ryazan)  February 1, 2016 Society of Assistance to Social Protection of Citizens "Peterburgskaya EGIDA" (Saint Petersburg)  February 2, 2016 (the organization was shut down  April 26, 2016) Center for Health and Social Support "SIBALT" (Omsk)  February 15, 2016 Chelyabinsk Regional Organ of Public Independent Action "Ural Human Rights Group" (Chelyabinsk)  February 15, 2016 Women of Eurasia (Chelyabinsk)  February 15, 2016 Ural Democratic Foundation (Chelyabinsk)  February 15, 2016 Legal and Social Support Charitable Foundation "Sphere" (Saint Petersburg)  March 1, 2016 Centre for Civic Education and Human Rights (Perm)  March 3, 2016 The International Development Fund for Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation "Batani" (Moscow)  March 11, 2016 Center for Social and Labor Rights (Moscow)  March 21, 2016 Arkhar (Gorno-Altaysk)  April 5, 2016 Publishing House "Valentin Manuylov"  April 15, 2016 Tengri School of Soul ecology (Altay) - May 17, 2016 Hanse Buero / Information Bureau of Schleswig-Holstein in Kaliningrad (Kaliningrad) - May 24, 2016 Krasnoyarsk Regional Public Organization Agency of public initiatives (Krasnoyarsk) - May 27, 2016 Saratov Regional Public Organization "Socium" (Engels) - May 30, 2016 Perm regional non-governmental organization "Perm Civil Chamber" (Perm) - June 9, 2016 Regional non-governmental organization Integration center "Migration and Law" (Moscow) - June 16, 2016 Non-Profit Partnership "ESVERO" (Moscow) - June 22, 2016

And the four NGOs which registered voluntarily:

Non-commercial Partnership "Supporting Competition in the CIS Countries"  June 27, 2013 "The Union of Young Political Scientists", KarachayCherkess Republican Youth Social Organization  December 15, 2014 Regional Social Movement "Novgorod Women's Parliament" (Veliky Novgorod)  March 6, 2015 Center of Independent Researchers of the Altai Republic  June 10, 2015

II. Administrative Court Cases  at least 58 NGOs

Groups that a court has found responsible for failing to register as a "foreign agent" may be fined up to 500,000 rubles (over US$16,000), and their leaders personally  up to 300,000 rubles (approximately $10,000). They are:

Association of NGOs in Defense of Voters' Rights "Golos" (Moscow)  NGO lost the suit Kostroma Center for Support of Public Initiatives (Kostroma)  NGO lost the suit Anti-Discrimination Center "Memorial" (St. Petersburg)  NGO won two administrative cases, but later lost a similar civil suit to the prosecutor's office and chose to shut down Coming Out (St. Petersburg)  NGO won the administrative case but later lost a similar civil suit to the prosecutor's office Side by Side LGBT Film Festival (St. Petersburg)  NGO won the suit Regional Public Association in Defense of Democratic Rights and Freedoms "Golos" (Moscow) - NGO lost the suit Center for Civic Analysis and Independent Research / GRANI (Perm)  NGO won the suit Perm Civic Chamber (Perm)  NGO won the suit Perm Regional Human Rights Center (Perm)  NGO won the suit Women of Don (Rostov region)  NGO lost the suit Ecozachita!  Zhensovet (Kaliningrad)  NGO lost the suit Association "Partnership for Development" (Saratov)  NGO lost the suit News Agency "MEMO.RU" (Moscow)  NGO lost the suit Regional Press Institute (St. Petersburg)  NGO lost the suit Moscow School of Civic Education  NGO lost the suit All-Russian movement "For Human Rights"  NGO lost the suit Regional Public Organization "Man and the Law" (Republic of Mari El)  NGO lost the suit Human Rights Center (Kaliningrad)  NGO won the suit Krasnodar Regional Social Organization of University Alumni  the proceedings was discontinued Regional social organization "Public Commission for Academic Sakharov's Heritage Preservation"  NGO lost the suit Autonomous non-profit human rights organization "Youth Center for Consulting and Training" (Volgograd)  NGO lost the suit Rakurs, Arkhangelsk regional non-governmental LGBT organization  NGO lost the suit Center for social, psychological and legal help to victims of discrimination and homophobia "Maximum" (Murmansk)  NGO lost the suit Educational Center "Memorial" (Sverdlov region)  NGO lost the suit, court of appeal decreased the amount of fine Interregional public fund for civil society development "Golos-Povolzhye" (Samara)  NGO lost the suit Citizens' Watch (St. Petersburg)  NGO lost the suit The noncommercial partnership "Press Development Institute - Siberia"  NGO won the suit Regional Fund "Center for Defense of Mass Media Rights"  NGO lost the suit Regional Social Organization for Contribution to Harmonization of Interethnic Relations "Azerbaijan"  NGO lost the suit Regional Charitable Social Foundation "For nature" (Chelyabinsk)  NGO lost the suit Regional Ecological Social Movement "For nature" (Chelyabinsk)  NGO won the suit Eco-logika (Rostov)  NGO lost the suit Regional Social Environmental Organization "Bellona-Murmansk"  NGO lost the suit Foundation "Migration XXI Century"  NGO lost the suit Interregional charity organization "Siberian Environmental Center" (Novosibirsk)  NGO lost the suit, court of appeal decreased the amount of fine The non-profit organization "Liberal Mission" Scientific Foundation of Theoretical and Applied Research  NGO lost the suit Center for Development of Non-Commerical Organizations  NGO lost the suit The non-profit Dynasty Foundation  NGO lost the suit Foundation 19/29 - Foundation for Support of Investigative Journalism  NGO lost the suit Association "Legal Basis" (Yekaterinburg)  NGO lost the suit Ecological Center "Dront" (Nizhny Novgorod)  NGO lost the suit Regional Organization for Population and Development  NGO lost the suit Center for Independent Sociological Studies (St. Petersburg)  NGO lost the suit Human Rights Center "Memorial"  NGO lost the suit Transparency International Russia  NGO lost the suit Interregional Non-Governmental Organization "Committee Against Torture"  NGO lost the suit Geblerov Ecological Societ (Barnaul)  NGO won the suit Civic Action Foundation (Perm)  NGO lost the suit Interregional Social Ecological Foundation "ISAR-Siberia" (Novosibirsk)  NGO lost the suit Sakhalin Environment Watch (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk)  NGO lost the suit and is appealing the ruling Club of Accountants and Auditors of Non-Commercial Organizations  NGO lost the suit Women's League (Kaliningrad)  NGO won the suit Russian Research Center for Human Rights  NGO lost the suit Interregional Public Foundation for Civil Society Development "GOLOS-Ural" (Chelyabinsk region)  NGO lost the suit Human Rights Institute  NGO lost the suit Interregional Human Rights Association "Agora"  NGO lost the suit Glasnost Defense Foundation  suit pending Baikal Environmental Wave (Irkutsk)  suit pending

III. The leaders of at least 8 NGOs faced administrative charges personally:
Russia: Rights Activist Facing Charges

Publisher UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Publication Date 27 June 2016 Cite as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Russia: Rights Activist Facing Charges, 27 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/577376844.html [accessed 27 October 2022]

A Russian human rights activist is facing criminal charges for allegedly failing to comply with the "foreign agents" law, Human Rights Watch said today. On June 27, 2016, Russian authorities notified Valentina Cherevatenko, a prominent rights activist in the South of Russia, that they were bringing criminal proceedings against her for "malicious evasion" of legal requirements set out in the "foreign agents" law. Investigators alleged that as chair of the Women of the Don Foundation for Civil Society Development, Cherevatenko had violated article 330.1  "malicious evasion of the duty to file the documents required for inclusion in the register of nonprofit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent."

"The case against Valentina Cherevatenko is the first time a criminal proceeding for noncompliance with the 'foreign agents' law has been brought against a human rights defender," said Hugh Williamson , Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Russian authorities should immediately dismiss the case against Cherevatenko and repeal the law that threatens the work of human rights groups in Russia."

The investigation committee for the Rostov region determined that Cherevatenko, as chair of the coordination board of "Women of the Don Union," knew about the requirement to register a nongovernmental organization that receives foreign funding for political activity in the Russian Federation as a "foreign agent." The investigation committee asserted that Cherevatenko created but did not register "out of malice" an organization with a similar name, "Women of the Don Foundation for Civil Society Development," which received foreign funding to support public initiatives and leaders in the Northern Caucasus.

If found guilty, Cherevatenko faces up to two years in prison.

On June 24, Novocherkassk officials searched the office of Women of the Don Union in connection with the criminal case, confiscating documents allegedly related to the Northern Caucasus project.
Egypt: Travel Ban on Women's Rights Leader

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 28 June 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Egypt: Travel Ban on Women's Rights Leader, 28 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/577378594.html [accessed 27 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

"A travel ban on a women's rights leader heading for a conference only makes it more likely that the world will hear about Egypt's persecution of activists," said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director. "Egypt's allies around the world should make it clear that harassment and other abuses against human rights defenders will significantly harm relations and should cease."

Airport officers told Hassan that the prosecutor general had issued an order banning her from travel at the request of an investigating judge, she told Human Rights Watch. They did not provide further details or show Hassan the order. The officers sent Hassan to colleagues from the ministry's National Security Agency, which has taken the lead on the investigation of nongovernmental groups, for further questioning. Hassan invoked her right to have a lawyer present, and the interrogation did not go forward. After about an hour, the authorities returned Hassan's passport and released her from the airport.

One of the judges handling the investigation of nongovernmental groups, which was first opened in 2011 and restarted in late 2014, had summoned Hassan for interrogation on March 29, 2016, but postponed the session indefinitely when she arrived with lawyers, telling them that he would set a date for them to review the case file.

Hassan's travel ban followed soon after a similar incident on June 21, when Cairo airport authorities told Hoda Abd al-Wahab, the executive director of the Arab Center for Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession, that she had been banned from travel by order of the prosecutor general.

The prosecutor general has also issued travel bans to leaders of at least two other groups, Gamal Eid of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and Hossam al-Din Ali of the Egyptian Democratic Academy, in addition to scores of other people. According to a documented count maintained by the independent group Daftar Ahwal, at least 175 activists, journalists, religious figures, politicians, and human rights workers have been banned from leaving Egypt since the military removed former President Mohamed Morsy in July 2013.

The investigating judges have also requested asset freezes against a number of current and former workers for nongovernmental groups, including Eid; Abd al-Hafiz Tayel, the director of the Egyptian Center for the Right to Education; Mustafa al-Hassan, the director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center; Bahey al-Din Hassan, the director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies; and Hossam Bahgat, an investigative journalist who founded the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. A court will continue proceedings related to those requests on July 17, 2016. On June 15, a court approved, in just one session, an asset freeze against Ahmed Samih, the director of the Andalus Center for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies.

On February 17, Health Ministry officials issued an order to close the Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, Egypt's leading center for such treatment, on the basis that it was performing unlicensed work. The center has continued to operate as it tries to negotiate the shutdown order.

The investigation into the foreign funding of nongovernmental groups, known as Case 173, began after Egypt's uprising in 2011, when the government, accusing foreign groups of helping foment revolution, appointed two judges to look into the matter. It resulted in the conviction of 43 employees, including 16 United States citizens, and the closure of five foreign organizations.

The government reopened the case in late 2014, after the Social Solidarity Ministry gave local groups a November deadline to officially register under Egypt's onerous 2007 law on associations.

Under Egyptian law, prosecutors could charge leading human rights defenders for working without official registration or accepting foreign funding without government authorization. An amendment to the penal code, passed in September 2014 by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, provides for a sentence of up to life in prison  25 years in Egypt  for the latter charge.

Article 62 of the Egyptian constitution guarantees freedom of movement and states that "no citizen may be prevented from leaving the state territoryexcept by a reasoned judicial order for a specified period of time and in the cases defined by the law." Article 54 states that anyone "whose freedom is restricted  shall have the right to file grievance before the court against this action." Egypt has no laws that specifically regulate travel bans, but various decisions by the interior minister, some of which have been ruled unconstitutional, give unchecked powers to security agencies to stop citizens from traveling.

Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Egypt is a party, states that "everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own." Restrictions to this right must be provided by law and be "necessary to protect national security, public order, public health or morals or the rights and freedoms of others."

The United Nations Human Rights Committee, the body tasked with overseeing the ICCPR, stated in a general comment that such restrictions "must not nullify the principle of liberty of movement, and are governed by the requirement of necessity  and by the need for consistency with the other rights recognized in the Covenant." In 2011, the committee stated that restricting the movement of journalists and others within or outside their country, especially for the purpose of attending human-rights-related meetings, undermines the freedom of expression that is essential to protect human rights.

Both the National Security Agency and the General Intelligence Service, Egypt's external spy agency, have for a number of years been gathering information on local groups' activities, Human Rights Watch said. Their findings were contained in a September 2011 fact-finding report, parts of which were leaked to the media, that named 37 groups under investigation, including all of those affected by the recent summonses and travel bans.

"After restricting their ability to operate inside Egypt, the authorities are trying to punish high-profile activists with travel bans to prevent them from carrying their voices and message abroad," Houry said.

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Disclaimer

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
UN Human Rights Council: Interactive Dialogue with the Independent Expert on Central African Republic

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 28 June 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, UN Human Rights Council: Interactive Dialogue with the Independent Expert on Central African Republic, 28 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5773796c4.html [accessed 27 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Fighting in the northwest of the Central African Republic and in and around the Muslim enclave in Bangui, known as PK5, continues. Scores of civilians have been killed

This recent violence has been unfolding as armed groups prey on civilians in the eastern part of the country.

Across the country armed groups have targeted woman and girls. We have spoken with survivors who explained how one side had raped them as punishment for allegedly buying and selling to the other.

The interactive dialogue to assess human rights challenges on the ground with a particular focus on transitional justice is timely as impunity is a principal driver of this violence. Between 2009 and today, only one session of the criminal court (the equivalent of a jury court, which prosecutes crimes, in the Central African Republic) has taken place in the country, in Bangui in 2015, with the support of international partners. This sends a chilling message to would be war lords. They know they can kill, rape and destroy villages and get away with it.

Investigating and prosecuting those responsible for grave international crimes is not an easy task for a national justice system marked by a lack of qualified personnel, inadequate resources, and no means to ensure the security of either magistrates or victims and witnesses.

In order to tackle these challenges and strengthen the national justice system, the interim president signed in June 2015 a law establishing a Special Criminal Court, comprised of both national and international judges and prosecutors, to investigate and prosecute grave human rights violations committed in the country since 2003. The Special Criminal Court will work alongside the International Criminal Court on the one hand, and ordinary courts, on the other hand, which retain jurisdiction for cases that the Special Criminal Court will not select.

One year after the promulgation of the law, there have been some steps forward in setting up this court, but progress has been too slow. We are pleased that the Independent Expert used her recent visit in Bangui to encourage the national authorities to accelerate the process. We encourage the Independent Expert to use her upcoming report to present her evaluation of challenges encountered in setting up the Special Criminal Court and to make recommendations to overcome these. Principal amongst these recommendations, we believe that the national authorities should show increased leadership and urgently adopt, together with the United Nations, a roadmap, with clear deadlines, that will lead to the Special Criminal Court becoming operational.

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Uzbekistan: Three-year imprisonment for religious literature?

Publisher Forum 18 Author Mushfig Bayram Publication Date 28 June 2016 Cite as Forum 18, Uzbekistan: Three-year imprisonment for religious literature?, 28 June 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57737d864.html [accessed 27 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Stanislav Kim could be jailed for up to three years if convicted of having "illegal" religious literature in his home in Urgench. In Bukhara, two Jehovah's Witnesses were jailed for ten days and, with 28 others, fined for "illegal" literature and worship meeting.
The choir was founded in 2000 by Egyptian maestro Nayer Nagui and consists of over 100 members

The Cairo Celebration Choir (CCC) will represent Egypt at the 9th World Choir Games, which will take place between 6 and 16 July in Sochi, Russia.

The CCC will be the only choir representing Egypt and will compete in the Folkloric category with a compilation of folkloric songs from one of their iconic repertoire elements, Aghani Bel Arabi.

The choir will perform songs by late Egyptian composer Sayed Darwish arranged by maestro Nayer Nagui, who is also the choirs founder. The songs include Telaat Ya Mahla Nourha, Ya Balah Zaghloul, El Helwa Dih/Zourouni medley and Ya ward Ala Foll we Yasmin.

The CCC will also be performing the aforementioned songs in the "friendship concerts" that take place all over Sochi, in addition to an array of other songs, including Atshan ya Sabaya by Awatef Abdel-Kerim and Marmar Zamani by Gamal Abdel-Rehim.

The choir will also participate in the festivals closing ceremony where they will be performing alongside 23,000 participants from 73 countries.

According to the events website, the World Choir Games were founded in 2000 as an international choir festival taking place every two years on different continents.

The event is based on the Olympic ideals, which aim to peacefully unify people and nations connected by song in a fair competition. Unrelated to artistic levels, this approach challenges personality and team spirit alike.

The festival is organised by Interkultur and invites all amateur choirs of the world to head for a 11-day journey through the whole world of choral music at the World Choir Games 2016 and to perform in the competitions, in Friendship Concerts and to perform together on stage for huge singing projects.

Egypt is one of three Arab countries participating in this years edition of the World Choir Games, the other two being Jordan and Lebanon.

Speaking to Ati Metwaly earlier this month, Nagui underlined that, for the Cairo Celebration Choir, this will be the first 35-member journey, travelling in such a big group having been made possible with support from Egypts Ministry of Culture, Naguib Sawiris, Media-Arts for Development (MADEV) as well as BTM, who offered costumes for the choir.

Founded in 2000, the Cairo Celebration Choir consists of over 100 members.

The choir has performed works representing several music schools: French repertoire with Gabriel Faure's Requiem, Italian with Rossini's La Petite Messe Solennelle, German as represented by Schubert's Stabat Mater, Latin/Spanish with works by Guastavino, and explored English style with Handel's Ode for St Cecilia's Day.

The choir has a few international appearances under their belt, in Morocco and France, among other tour events.

In 2012, the choir participated in the Czech Republic's Prague Voices 2012 Festival, winning the Silver Level Diploma.

Apart of Western classical works, their repertoire also includes compositions by Arab composers, arranged by Nagui. The choir regularly joins the Christmas performances staged annually at the Cairo Opera House.

Most recently, on 16 June, CCC gave Egypts premiere of Ludwig van Beethovens Mass for soloists, chorus and orchestra in C major, Op. 86 at the All Saints Cathedral. The event which, included yet another Egypt premiere Zur Namensfeier overture in C major, Op. 115  was repeated in Basilique Cathedrale on 17 June.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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(Beijing)  The Shanghai branch of China's foreign exchange regulator has tightened its oversight for conversion of Chinese yuan to foreign currencies, aiming to slow capital outflows that have pushed the yuan to multi-year lows over concerns of a major economic slowdown, sources close to the regulator said.

The Shanghai bureau of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has told some local commercial banks to closely review applications when firms apply to convert yuan into foreign currencies for overseas investments, according to the sources.

The requirement is aimed at stopping individuals from buying more foreign currency than the law allows and transferring the funds out of the country, they added.

The banks received the instruction in the form of "window guidance," a commonly used practice where regulators tell financial institutions what to do and expect them to comply, even though such requirements are not mandatory.

The order comes after the bureau found banks had been lax in their checks, permitting the overseas transfer of individual wealth disguised as investments made by limited partnerships, according to the sources.

Under current regulations, individuals can convert up to US$ 50,000 worth of yuan into foreign currencies every year. For any amount beyond that, they need to prove that the conversion is needed for a specific business transaction. The government does not allow individuals to buy forex for overseas investments.

SAFE's move comes as Beijing tries to ease downward pressure on the yuan caused by too many people and companies trying to move money offshore. That kind of movement has accelerated this year due to concerns over China's slowing economy, prompting the central government to spend billions of dollars from its foreign exchange reserves to support the currency.

The yuan's value has continued its decline recently, partly due to the impact of Brexit on global capital markets. Its daily reference rate weakened to 6.6528, its lowest level in more than five years, against the U.S. dollar on June 28. It recovered a little to 6.6324 the next day.

The latest data from the central bank show the country's foreign exchange reserves fell again in May by US$28 billion to US$3.19 trillion, the lowest level since late 2011.

Banks are responsible for examining the purpose and source of funds when limited partnerships ask for currency conversions. But in practice they sometimes let suspicious requests pass, a manager from a bank's forex department said.

"The loophole would not have existed at all if banks were strict about verifying the (request's) background," the manager said.

The bureau released a notice on June 28 denying previous media reports saying it was "calling an end to individual purchases of foreign exchange for investment purposes." "The policy on individual purchase of foreign exchange has not changed at all," it said, adding that the government has never allowed individuals to buy forex for investment overseas.

If the trend continues, SAFE may lower the current US$ 50 million threshold, above which companies must directly provide explanation in face-to-face interviews for every cross-border investment that requires currency conversion, the person close to the SAFE said.
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.
(Beijing)  A leading Chinese security software maker aiming to privatize from New York and relist its shares in China said the group leading its buyout will miss a deadline to close what could become the largest deal in a wave of U.S.-listed Chinese firms seeking higher valuations at home.

The group attempting to privatize Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. informed the company that it now expects to close the privatization by mid-August, according to a press release on June 28.

Qihoo announced it received a management-led privatization offer in December at US$ 77 per American depositary share, valuing the company at US$ 9.3 billion. At the time the buyout group, led by Qihoo chairman and CEO Zhou Hongyi, said it expected the deal to close in the first half of this year.

Other consortium members include Citic Guoan Information Industry Co., Sequoia Capital China, and Golden Brick Capital Management Ltd.

The group is now transferring funds offshore in batches, a person close to Qihoo senior executives said. But depreciation of China's currency, the yuan, has slowed down the process. As a result, the company now needs to find more funds to offset losses in the value of the yuan, since the buyout is denominated in U.S. dollars.

Another source close to the company's management said the buyout group plans to finish converting yuan to dollars by the end of July because it needs time to transfer money into the accounts of shareholders, who have already approved the deal.

"Only when all the funds are put into shareholders' accounts can the privatization be completed," the source said. "Qihoo is on a tight schedule."

Since the beginning of 2015, dozens of Chinese companies listed in the U.S. have launched privatization bids, many with an ultimate aim of relisting on domestic markets where they believe they can get higher valuations. Due to difficulties in relisting through traditional IPOs, many were eying backdoor listings using existing shell companies already traded on domestic exchanges.

Concerned about the trend, the China Securities Regulatory Commission in May decided to "conduct an in-depth analysis and research" of the backdoor listing process, casting doubt on many companies' homecoming plans.

A Qihoo document obtained by Caixin in May estimated that after a mainland listing, Qihoo could be worth 380 billion yuan (US$ 58 billion), many times its current levels on Wall Street.

(Rewritten by Chen Na)
Maliyah dramatically pressed her hand against her chest, emphasizing the words of Jesus.

'Let the children come to ME,' she said, reciting Scripture.

Morris shaded his eyes and gazed into the distance, re-enacting the father looking for his son in the story of the prodigal son.

Davion, tiny himself, leaned over and held his hand a few feet off the floor to show just how small David was when he was called upon to challenge Goliath.

The event was a storytelling competition for children accompanying their parents to a joint meeting of two historically black Baptist conferences. The meeting, being held at the Abilene Civic Center, is filled with classes, worship and special events each day through Friday.

Tuesday's storytelling competition easily could have been dubbed 'the cutest kid contest,' except it would be impossible to name a winner. It will be hard enough for the four adult judges to choose winners in the storytelling competition.

'Thank you, young people, for participating and sharing your stories,' said Tasha Bell, drill coordinator for one of the groups meeting this week.

About 200 people from as far away as Amarillo, Grand Prairie and El Paso are convening for the 112th annual session of the Original West Texas Baptist District Association and the 102nd Congress of Christian Education.

Bell, a member of Eastside Baptist Church in Wichita Falls, is in her first year as coordinator for youth Bible drill and storytelling events for the Congress of Christian Education. Winners of the storytelling competition will be announced once the four judges tally the points, based on such criteria as expression, decorum, sequence and memory.

A few of the children struggled with memory, but they all passed the 'expression' and 'decorum' tests beautifully. Even 6-year-old Davion Ewing, who told the story of David and Goliath while dressed in a crimson robe and headpiece.

'David was a shepherd boy,' Davion said with confidence. 'They said he was too small to fight Goliath.'

The storytelling contest was divided into two age groups: 5-7 and 8-10. Davion, Maliyah Brown and Demotis Alex Sherman competed in the category for younger children. Contestants in the older group included Morris Bland, Anyia Pizarro and Jaile Pizarro.

Bell said that all children whose parents attend the conference are eligible to participate. They start working on their stories and props weeks ahead of the annual joint conference.

On Wednesday, children ages 11-17 will compete in drills to see who has the best memory when it comes to Bible verses.

Also on Wednesday, two special addresses will be given.

During the morning session, Andrew R. White of Sunset Baptist Church in Grand Prairie will deliver the 'Dean's Annual Address and 2016 Directives.' During the evening session, which begins at 7:30, Larry Lewis, pastor of Eastside Baptist Church in Wichita Falls, will give the 'Congress Address.' Lewis is president of the Congress of Education.

As Tuesday's storytelling competition ended, Bell was all smiles. The children had performed admirably.

'I thought they did an excellent job,' Bell said.
Incident reports released Tuesday by the Abilene Police Department:

Criminal mischief, 3300 block of Gays Way, Monday

A woman reported that someone egged her vehicle, poured oil and black paint on the car, and put candy and bologna on it. Both driver's side tires were slashed. Damage was estimated at $1,000.

Theft, 400 block of Overland Trail, Monday

Heavy-equipment batteries and fuel were reported stolen from a construction company. The items collectively were valued at $670.

Criminal mischief, 1200 block of Musken Road, Monday

Someone reportedly broke out the back windshield of a vehicle Damage was estimated at $400.

Assault, 3600 block of Rolling Green Drive, Monday

A woman reported that after she was driven home by two unknown women, one of the women attacked her.

Theft, 4100 block of Ridgemont Drive, Thursday

Someone reportedly shoplifted merchandise, then returned the items for a purchasing card for the value of the merchandise.

Credit card abuse, 200 block of North Willis Street, Friday

A man reported that someone used his debit card for numerous unauthorized transactions.

Burglary, 100 block of Maxwell Drive, Monday

A man reported that several items were taken from the living room of his home. The home has an external camera, which showed the suspect to be a white or Hispanic man wearing a Texas Longhorn logo T-shirt.
In Cisco, you can have your pie and eat it, too. Or three. Or more ...

Greg Jaklewicz
The head of the Taylor County Historical Commission isn't sure how many consecutive years the organization has been honored with a Distinguished Service Award from the state.

But, she's pretty sure the record is impressive.

'I do not remember when we didn't get (one),' said Anita Lane-McBride, who chairs the local commission.

Lane-McBride recently was notified by the Texas Historical Commission that the local commission was one of the winners of the annual award. It will be formally presented during the Taylor County Commissioners Court meeting at 10 a.m. July 12.

Downing Bolls, Taylor County judge and member of the local historical commission, said he was pleased with the recognition for the entire commission and especially for Lane-McBride.

'She is great and has done a superb job of leading the county historical commission,' Bolls wrote in an email. 'She is always interested in every aspect of our county's history and always encourages people to pursue their search for facts in the interest of our history.'

Bolls noted that the Taylor County Historical Commission is made up of volunteers who donate their time to help preserve local history.

'We, as a community and a county, owe the county historical commission a great deal of thanks,' Bolls wrote, 'for their love and commitment to history  and especially our history.'

The award is given to county historical commissions based on volunteer hours and projects in the community. The local commissions are responsible for facilitating the process of getting historical markers approved.

The latest local marker, which is being cast, will be in front of Dyess Elementary School. A replica of the marker was put in place during a ceremony in February denoting Dyess Elementary as the first school to be integrated in the Abilene Independent School District. That occurred Jan. 21, 1963, when 38 black children joined their white friends at the school.

A news release from the Texas Historical Commission touted the importance of county commissions in preserving and telling the history of the state.

'County historical commissions are the backbone of historic preservation and education in communities across Texas,' said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the state commission, in the news release.
(Beijing)  An online question-and-answer service, which attracted over 10 million users in just over one month, raised US$ 25 million in its first round of fundraising, the company's founder and CEO said.

Fenda, a service similar to Quora but with an added twist  allowing users to make money by asking or answering questions  is valued at over US$ 100 million after the capital injection, said Ji Xiaohua, head of Guokr.com, an online science and technology community, that started the new service on May 15.

The fundraiser was led by Hangzhou-based private equity fund firm Vision Plus Capital and American venture capital firm Sequoia Capital's Chinese division, said Ji, who is better known by his pen name Ji Shisan, at a press conference on June 27.

Users of Fenda with information to share can demand 1 to several thousand yuan for answering a question. For example, Wang Sicong, son of China's richest man Wang Jianlin  chairman of property developer Dalian Wanda Group  charged 4,999 yuan for a candid response to how he could tell whether his girlfriend was a gold-digger. The person who posed the question has to pay this fee.

The answers are delivered in voice messages shorter than 60 seconds. Over 23,000 users on Fenda paid 1 yuan each to "eavesdrop" on Wang's answer, which went: "I don't careif a person loves you or your money because being rich is just like being tall or handsome, it is just a part of who you are." Wang and the person who asked the question then split the sum paid by listeners.

As of June 28, Wang had earned more than 261,000 yuan by answering 32 queries. Wang's private equity fund company Prometheus Capital also pitched in for the fundraiser, Ji said.

Fenda's service was first accessible through WeChat, a messaging app developed by Tencent Holdings Ltd. An independent mobile application was made available on June 26, Ji said.

Ji says the success of Fenda indicates that Internet users, well adapted to a sharing economy, were willing to pay for high quality online content.

But some users criticized the service, saying it relied on celebrities, who charged hefty sums for mere gossip, to create a buzz. An average user can only earn 1 to 100 yuan for an answer, while verified celebrities can charge thousands for a short reply.

It is also difficult to differentiate useful answers from poor quality ones. The service has verified the credentials of only 400 responders, Ji said. But over 5,000 people have answered health-related questions and 4,000 have replied to queries linked to education so far, he said.

Ji downplayed the criticism, saying inviting influential users supported Fenda's business model of trying to cash in on knowledge. It is designed not only to educate users, but also to provide an "individualized" service, he said.

Intellectuals should realize that their words "could be used to generate more value only when a person has fans," Ji said.

(Rewritten by Chen Na)
Rejecting Texas' latest effort to do away with abortion rights, the Supreme Court served the anti-abortion movement some very bad news Monday. The justices didn't believe Texas was just trying to help its poor, hapless women out. Instead, according to Justice Stephen Breyer's majority opinion: 'In the face of no threat to women's health, Texas seeks to force women to travel long distances to get abortions in crammed-to-capacity superfacilities.'

From now on, the court warned, it would no longer, as the White Queen said in 'Through the Looking Glass,' believe 'as many as six impossible things before breakfast.' Not even about abortion. Not even, the court emphasized, when the impossible suggestions, like looking after women's health, come from the legislative branch. You want to help women out, Breyer wrote? You gotta prove it to us.

The link between helping women and restricting their access to abortion, never very convincing, grew more and more attenuated as conservative state legislatures took Kennedy's majority opinion in Gonzales to mean open season on abortion. As long as they found for themselves that they were helping women, they thought, they were protected from the Constitution. A bunch of legislatures passed such laws. The Texas law requiring surgical standards and admitting privileges with a hospital, which the court struck down Monday, is just one extreme example of the anti-choice strategy. But Breyer's opinion and, implicitly, Kennedy's vote with the majority indicate that Texas did not help its cause by pushing the envelope. Defending its law, Texas' lawyers contended that more rigorous standards for doctors who perform abortions and for abortion facilities were needed to help women. However, 'when directly asked at oral argument whether Texas knew of a single instance in which the new requirement [requiring admitting privileges] would have helped even one woman obtain better treatment, Texas admitted that there was no evidence in the record of such a case,' Breyer wrote.

Needing Kennedy's vote in the Texas decision, Breyer emphasized that even Gonzales didn't say the court always had to defer to the Legislature on factual matters. Breyer wrote: 'Gonzales went on to point out that the 'Court retains an independent constitutional duty to review factual findings where constitutional rights are at stake.''

This portion of Breyer's opinion looks like a clean sweep for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the dissenters in the prior case. But here's the rub: Breyer's distinction is a fragile one, given the language and outcome in Gonzales, so he buttressed it by noting that the Texas Legislature hadn't even made any findings in the current law. Uh oh. A bunch more laws like Texas' law are waiting in the wings in lower courts. And Alabama's law, for example, includes a long recitation of legislative findings.

And that's where Ginsburg weighed in with one of her signature futuristic concurring opinions. When the news broke that RBG was concurring, the initial reaction was puzzlement. Why would Ginsburg need to write separately from a pro-choice opinion by her liberal colleague Breyer? Looking at her concurrence, however, the explanation is clear.

The concurrence is less than two pages. She dismisses Texas' argument about its interest in protecting 'the health of women who experience complications from abortions,' by countering that 'complications from an abortion are both rare and rarely dangerous.' She recites a laundry list of studies of how safe abortion is, and then she delivers the message: 'So long as this Court adheres to Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113 (1973), and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U. S. 833 (1992), Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers laws likeH. B. 2 that 'do little or nothing for health, but rather strew impediments to abortion,' Planned Parenthood of Wis., 806 F. 3d, at 921, cannot survive judicial inspection.' [Emphasis added.]

She is writing into law the factual finding that abortion is safe, full stop. When the court turns to the Alabama law, with its 'finding' that women need abortion to be restricted, she wants that future court to be able to cite to her opinion that they do not.

Linda Hirshman is the author of 'Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World.'
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(Beijing)  China's plan to export bullet trains has hit a wall with the abrupt termination of a Chinese-American partnership that was supposed to build a high-speed rail line between a Los Angeles suburb and Las Vegas.

Railway developer XpressWest, which is controlled by the Las Vegas property developer Marnell Cos., said June 9 it had cut ties with China Railway International (U.S.) Group Ltd. (CRI), the U.S. representative of a consortium led by state rail system operator China Railway Corp. (CRC), nine months after they unveiled plans for the 298-kilometer, US$ 12.5 billion railroad.

In a statement, XpressWest said the decision was based "primarily upon difficulties associated with timely performance and CRI's challenges in obtaining required authority to proceed with required development activities." The company said it would pursue other partnerships and options along with the rail project.

In addition, XpressWest chief executive Tony Marnell criticized a U.S. government rule that says the nation's high-speed trains must be manufactured in the United States. He called the requirement "inflexible," Reuters said.

The next day, in a written reply to a Caixin query, CRC criticized XpressWest, calling its former partner "irresponsible," and arguing that it should not have released a public statement about the termination while the two companies were negotiating. It also claimed XpressWest violated their agreement by announcing the breakup unilaterally.

In a follow-up June 21, CRI Chairman Yang Zhongmin told Caixin his company is still negotiating with XpressWest because the "buy American" requirement for bullet trains would not apply to the proposed project, as no U.S. government funds would be needed.

Separately, a CRI source who declined to be named told Caixin that the project's financial terms were at the heart of a dispute between the Chinese company and XpressWest.

XpressWest, meanwhile, declined Caixin's requests for comment.

Contract Campaign

The proposal to whisk passengers between Los Angeles and Las Vegas aboard Chinese bullet trains complemented a years-long, national campaign by Beijing authorities to project China's high-speed rail technology worldwide.

At home, China already operates the world's largest network of high-speed railways. But the campaign to expand abroad has met with mixed success.

A major success story unfolded in January, when Chinese companies started building a high-speed line between Indonesia's capital Jakarta and the country's third-largest city, Bandung. The 142-kilometer, US$ 5.1 billion line is expected to be completed in 2018.

Another successful contract for Chinese companies was one in Russia, where a 770-kilometer line is planned to be built between Moscow and Kazan.

But a 2013 agreement between China and Thailand for high-speed lines was derailed after nearly two years of protracted negotiations partly linked to shifting political winds in that southeast Asia country.

And the Mexican government frustrated rail builder China Railway Construction Corp. (CRCC) by awarding in 2014 but later rescinding a US$ 4.3 billion contract for a 210-kilometer line between the capital Mexico City and the city of Queretaro. The deal was scrapped after rival railroad bidders complained they didn't have enough time to prepare offers. A proposed second round of bidding was later canceled, and CRCC gave up.

Chinese companies are currently bidding to build a 330-kilometer, high-speed rail line linking Singapore and Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, that would cut what's now a six-hour train ride to 90 minutes. A Japanese consortium led by East Japan Railway Co. is also interested.

A contract award for the project, which could cost between US$ 10 billion and US$ 15 billion, is expected next year. Construction is to be completed by 2022.

A CRC source said the company has been eyeing the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur project (http://english.caixin.com/2016-05-23/100946667.html) for three years as a potential hallmark for the go-abroad campaign. In May, a team of rail and bank executives led by CRC General Manager Sheng Guangzu met with Malaysian government officials in Kuala Lumpur to lobby for the project.

Even if Chinese companies win the contract, though, the project may face financial hurdles due to competition for riders from budget airlines. Moreover, the cities are linked by highways.

Malaysia's transportation authority estimated a high-speed railroad would carry about 23.7 million passengers every year. But the nation's central bank said that estimate may be too optimistic.

Even successful projects for China's bullet train builders have faced unexpected challenges.

For example, according to a source from China Railway Group Ltd., a state-backed railway builder, the Indonesia rail project will be less lucrative than hoped. The original contract was a US$ 5.5 billion deal, but some US$ 370 million was shaved from the final agreement after "the Indonesian side apparently pushed the price down," the source said.

The Chinese side agreed to the lower price because it "was eager to clinch the deal," the source said. As a result, the Chinese companies now working in Indonesia can only expect to break even.

Revamping Strategy

The string of setbacks culminating in the XpressWest announcement triggered calls among some industry experts for China's bullet train builders to re-examine their overseas strategy.

The German consultancy SCI Verkehr estimated the global market for railroads under operation was worth 162 billion euros and is likely to increase to 190 billion euros by 2018. But the firm said the high-speed portion of the market  marked by 4,883 kilometers under construction globally as of late 2013  is worth only 18.5 billion euros.

And profit margins are thin for the builders, train suppliers and operators of high-speed railways, said Zhao Jian, an economics professor at Beijing Jiaotong University's School of Economics and Management.

Because it's hard to make a profit, he said, government subsidies were used to build and are now being tapped to cover operating costs for most of the world's existing, high-speed rail lines.

A high-speed railroad's costs are more than double those for a traditional railway, Zhao said, since the former requires dedicated track that cannot be used for freight trains.

For example, a high-speed train linking Beijing and Shanghai started turning a profit only in 2015, four years after its launch, thanks to enormous passenger volume growth. The trains now carry more than 100 million passengers a year.

But the Beijing-Shanghai line is an exception. Zhao said most of China's bullet trains, which link cities nationwide on what's now a 19,000-kilometer network of tracks, are losing money.

Many countries that considered new bullet train construction projects in recent years later backed off due to huge building and operating costs, said a CRC source who asked not to be named.

"Although many countries are interested in building high-speed railway lines, many are still at the concept stage," said the source. These countries "will not carry out the projects in the short term."

Some experts say Chinese rail companies should adjust their business strategies in order to achieve overseas expansion goals. But others caution that they should not let politics trump business.

Yao Shujie, who heads the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham in Britain, said Chinese rail companies looking for overseas projects should not compromise economic targets in pursuit of political gain.

Zhao said Chinese companies should take a more cautious approach to lending and operating railroads abroad. He also questioned a traditional strategy through which consortiums of Chinese companies offer railroad packages including construction, equipment, financing and operation services, saying the practice may be too risky.

In the past, domestic rail service operator CRC has often led consortiums that bid for overseas project. But Zhao said train equipment manufacturer China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. (CRRC) and the railroad construction firm CRCC are in a better position to lead overseas bidding efforts.

"As a railway operator with government background, CRC's leading role in overseas railway projects is likely to face more commercial and political risks," said Zhao.

When XpressWest officials shook hands with CRC's subsidiary, CRI, last September, they made a deal with a consortium that included CRI, China Railway Group Ltd., and CRRC's subsidiary CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co. Ltd.

The Los Angeles-Las Vegas railway agreement was closed just ahead of a U.S. visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. CRI had pledged US$ 100 million in initial project funding and planned to break ground as soon as this fall.

(Rewritten by Han Wei)
Without directly mentioning his name, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen warned opposition leader Kem Sokha that the government can arrest him at any time.

It is just not the [right] time yet, Hun Sen said during a speech at the Cambodian customs department on Wednesday. You said that Hun Sen is afraid of losing the election, but you are in jail forever. No way out. I am telling you, the prisoner, do not be too insolent!

Hun Sen was reacting to a recent interview Kem Sokha gave to Reuters, in which he said the prime minister was afraid of defeat in Cambodias upcoming elections.

I read the Reuters interview saying that Hun Sen is afraid. Of what!? the prime minister said. The guy who is now [hiding] behind four-square walls? Come out.

Kem Sokha has been holed up in the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) headquarters since heavily-armed police attempted to arrest him in May after he refused to testify in a pair of defamation cases related to his alleged affair with a young hairdresser.

The CNRP and its supporters claim the charges are a trumped-up attempt to damage the party ahead of elections slated for 2017 and 2018.

While Hun Sen and the Cambodian Peoples Party have ruled the country for more than three decades, Cambodias ruling party suffered a dramatic drop in support during the countrys last election in 2013.

"What he is scared of most is defeat in the election," Sokha told Reuters. "His strategy is to remove the opposition party leadership, so now he is targeting me."

Let it be on you

Hun Sen also warned donor countries that grant funds to Cambodias National Election Committee (NEC) against pressuring the government regarding the election process

Cambodia dares to pay. Cambodia dares to play, he said. Let me inform those donor countries for the elections registration, do not threaten that this issue will affect the registration process.

He added: If you do not help, let it be on you!

Hun Sens warnings come as the CNRP lawmakers met with the party chief Sam Rainsy in Manila. Ou Chanrith, a senior party official, told RFA that the party still believes a peaceful solution to the showdown that has paralyzed Cambodian politics for all of 2016 so far can be worked out

We will find a solution, he said. We will be able to sit down and talk to solve the national issue. The CNRP strongly believes that there will be a political solution.

Land and jobs

While that may be possible, veteran CNRP lawmaker Son Chhay said Hun Sen is missing the point with his rants.

As we all know, the prime minister talked a lot concerning CNRP, but we understand that this is just his occasional rage, he said. We want to hear the prime ministers ideas concerning the issues of unemployment and land conflicts.

CNRP President Sam Rainsy has been staying in France or traveling since an arrest warrant was issued for him in November over a 2008 defamation case and he was removed from his office and stripped of his parliamentary immunity. After Sam Rainsy left the country, the CNRP named Kem Sokha its acting president.

The conflict with Kem Sokha is just one of several legal cases the government or the ruling CPP have brought against opposition party members.

A National Election Committee member and four staffers with the rights group ADHOC, along with a U.N. worker, are facing bribery or accessory charges after being accused of attempting to pay the hairdresser to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Kem Sokha.

Human rights workers say the scandal is being used by the ruling party to crack down on its political opponents and silence critics ahead of the elections. Hun Sen has ruled the country for 31 years.

CNRP lawmaker Um Sam An is currently in jail over his accusations that the CPP failed to stop land encroachment by Vietnam and used improper maps to demarcate the border between the two former colonies of France.

Reported by Zakariya Tin for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Yanny Hin. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
Myanmars military commander-in-chief has vowed that the countrys powerful military will cooperate with government negotiators and armed ethnic organizations to ensure the success of Aung San Suu Kyis 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference in August.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing made the comment during a meeting Wednesday in the capital Naypyidaw with the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST)leaders from the eight armed ethnic groups that signed a nationwide cease-fire agreement (NCA) with the government last Octobersaid Arakan Liberation Party leader Saw Mra Razar Lin, who was among the attendees.

The army has full responsibility with regard to the democracy process being in place and will fully cooperate and help, Saw Mya Raza Lin told RFAs Myanmar Service.

The army side also expressed that it will do its utmost and fully cooperate so that the 21st Century Panglong Conference can take place, she said.

Min Aung Hlaing also welcomed armed ethnic groups that did not sign the NCA to participate in the conference, she said. These ethnic armies had previously been excluded from talks.

The conference, which was originally expected to be held in late July, is State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyis ambitious plan to end multiple armed conflicts in Myanmar and bring peace to the Southeast Asian nation.

However, the Presidents Office told media on Tuesday that armed ethnic groups and the government decided to hold the conferencealso called the Union Peace Conferenceno later than the final week of August.

Towards a democratic federal union

Myanmars armed ethnic groups will hold a summit in Mai Ja Yang, northern Myanmars Kachin state, in July to discuss their participation in the Panglong Peace Conference. All such groups will be invited to the summit.

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmars de factor national leader, wants to end civil wars in Myanmar and establish lasting peace and a democratic federal democratic union that guarantees the freedom of all ethnic nationalities.

She has invited members of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance of armed ethnic organizations that did not sign the NCA, to participate in the peace conference.

The government, however, has yet to announce plans to meet with the three rebel groups currently engaged in hostilities with the Myanmar armythe Arakan Army (AA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA).

Aung San Suu Kyis father, General Aung San, arranged the first Panglong Conference in 1947 to grant autonomy to the Shan, Kachin, and Chin ethnic minorities when he was head of an interim government as Myanmar prepared to gain its independence from colonial rule by Britain.

But his assassination in July 1947 prevented the agreements made during the conference from reaching fruition, and many ethnic groups then took up arms against the central government in wars that ground on for decades.

Reported by Kyaw Thu for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Nyein Shwe. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
An award-winning Tibetan filmmaker is receiving treatment in a hospital in the western Chinese city of Xining after "suffering serious injury" while in police detention, an industry association said on .



Pema Tseden, who directed the films "Tharlo" and "Old Dog," was sent to hospital after being detained at a local airport in what police said was a dispute over baggage, the Film Directors' Guild of China said via social media.



"He was badly hurt in the course of his detention," it said.



"We call on the relevant authorities to quickly respond to the association's concern, and make public the whole story of this incident, including the reason for police taking forceful measures," the guild said.



Beijing-based documentary filmmaker Hao Jian said Pema Tseden remains in police custody, and hit out at police for "overreacting."



"The police overreacted, and of course we can't rule out the possibility that Pema Tseden also overreacted," Hao said. "But I don't think that is likely, because I know him very well."



"I suspect that the police were on high alert because he is Tibetan, and they are over-sensitive and over-suspicious [where Tibetans are concerned]," he said.



Hao said Pema Tseden is a former student of his at the Beijing Film Institute, and remains a close friend.



"He was detained after he went back to try to get his luggage, which he had forgotten," Hao said. "He remains in police custody, under detention, even though he is receiving treatment in hospital."



He said Pema Tseden would likely face detention of five days, possibly referring to a short-term administrative sentence for perceived "troublemakers" which can be handed down by police without a trial.



Xining's municipal police department said in a statement on its official microblog account that the filmmaker had gotten into a dispute with security guards after trying to return to the luggage reclaim hall, having forgotten an item.



"He was then detained, but as he refused to cooperate he ended up with bruises from the handcuffs," the statement said.



Pema Tseden was taken to hospital on morning after complaining of dizziness and tightness in his chest, and was briefly hospitalized for high blood pressure and blood sugar levels, it said.



"His rights were protected at all times," the police statement said.

Propensity to abuse Tibetans



Pema Tseden's detention comes after a public outcry over the death in custody of environmentalist Lei Yang, following his detention by police in Changping, a suburb of Beijing in May.



Beijing's state prosecutor has indicted five police officers for "dereliction of duty" in connection with Lei's death, Chinese media reported on .



Meanwhile, the London-based campaign group Free Tibet said Pema Tseden's relative celebrity may not protect him.



"Pema Tseden ... is just as vulnerable as every other Tibetan to police brutality and being treated as a second class citizen in his own country," director Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren said in a statement on. "The police know that they can beat, abuse and detain Tibetans at will and with almost total impunity."



"Whats happened to Pema Tseden can and does happen anywhere and any time to Tibetans in Tibet," she said, calling on the authorities to ensure that Pema Tseden receives the medical treatment he needs, and to pursue those responsible for his abuse.



"Abuse and discrimination against Tibetans is embedded in the culture of Chinas security forces and this deplorable incident will only have further fueled Tibetan anger against Chinese rule," Byrne-Rosengren said.

Sources inside Tibet told RFA's Tibetan Service there was anger because "Chinese authorities did not report on the incident until June 29, when they announced that he was detained for violation of airport rules and will be detained for five days and then will be released."

"The social media in Tibet is overwhelmed with concern about the detention of Pema Tseden, a second source in the region told RFA.

Pema Tseden is the first director to make films entirely in the Tibetan language, but his award-winning work is generally not critical of Chinese rule in the region.



China, which took control of Tibet in 1950, is accused by rights groups and exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of trying to stamp out religious freedom and culture in the Himalayan region, which remains under tight military and police control after a string of popular uprisings and more than 140 self-immolation protests by Tibetans in recent years.



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service and Lhuboom for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Luisetta Mudie and Karma Dorje. Written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Vietnamese living in Taiwan display placards and images of dead fish during a protest against Taiwan's Formosa group on which they blame a mass fish kill in Vietnam, June 18, 2017.

Vietnamese activists and bloggers have expressed doubts that the government will be fully transparent about the results of its investigation of mass fish deaths that began three months ago along the countrys central coastal provinces, when officials publicly disclose their findings on Thursday.

Government experts have claimed that a red tide, or a release of dangerous chemicals by humans, caused at least 100 tons of dead fish to begin washing ashore in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien-Hue provinces in early April.

But ordinary folks believe that wastewater runoff from a huge steel plant run by Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation, a subsidiary of Formosa Plastics Corporation of Taiwan, poisoned the fish.

Though the company has denied responsibility, the incident sparked rare protests in Vietnam, as well as in Taiwan, over lost livelihoods and environmental damage.

Nguyen Hue Chi, a scholar who runs a website devoted to bauxite production and mining, told RFAs Vietnamese Service that the airing of a documentary about the incident on Taiwanese television has raised many questions about Formosas role in the environmental disaster.

Though the Vietnamese government has been tight-lipped on the matter, he said it is impossible to keep hiding the truth from the public.

I hope the announcement will be very close to the truth, he said, referring to the governments revelation of the results of its investigation. That is what people want to seethe governments transparency.

"They only lie'

Another well-known blogger, Huynh Cong Thuan from Ho Chi Minh City, is doubtful that the government will be forthcoming about the catastrophes true cause.

We all know them [government leaders] so well. They only lie, he told RFA. They would have announced the cause a long time ago if they could have. Why do they have to wait until now when three months have passed?

They know the cause, he continued. But because of something going on internally they dont want to tell people. They have been pressured to do so, but they are not worried. This wait is meaningless.

A teacher in Tuy Hoa province, who declined to give his name, said he didnt expect much by way of the governments announcement.

Maybe we wont get any useful information from their announcement, he said.

I have no hope because I have seen a lot of incidents like this before, he said.

Vietnamese blogger Nguoi Buon Gio, who is based in Germany and writes under the name Wind Trader, echoed Hoas sentiment.

I think we cant expect anything, he told RFA. This is just another arrangement to make the government look good.

If the government had acted fairly in the matter, then it would have announced the cause of the catastrophe three days after it occurred, he said.

The [ruling Communist] Party waited for quite some time to make calculations for the government, he said. When they do that, the people are left with nothing.

Le Khoi, a Vietnamese worker in Taiwan, told RFA some that some nongovernmental organizations operating in that country have gotten involved in programs publicizing the disaster, while some workers have protested against the Vietnamese governments handling of the disaster.

The Taiwanese government had offered to assist Vietnam in its probe of the cause of the mass fish kill, but Vietnamese officials declined.

Hostile and reactionary forces

Rare protests in Vietnam, where public displays of disagreement with the government are quickly suppressed, prompted To Lam, the countrys deputy minister of public security, on Tuesday to demand that police stop activities meant to stir up protesters.

He told participants at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City to review police performance for the past six months that hostile and reactionary forces had taken advantage of political events, and environment and security issues, to increase their activities, according to a report by Thanh Nien Daily newspaper.

In early June, police in the capital Hanoi broke up a peaceful protest by dozens of young people who were trying to highlight what they said was a slow, irresponsible government response to the mass kill-off of fish.

Officers hauled off about 30 people who had gathered in the central part of the city to a police station, where they were held for several hours but later released without charge.

Authorities also had blocked a planned protest in Ho Chi Minh City.

Independent journalist Pham Chi Dung said To Lams remark about hostile forces was not fair to those who joined protests against the mass fish kill because police had detained and beat hundreds of people in Ho Chi Minh City in early May.

That is the fact, and international human rights groups as well as foreign governments condemned the Vietnamese police for their actions, he said, adding that authorities could not prove that a hostile element existed among the protesters.

The police are very worried about protests, he said. So what do they need to do now? They need to be truthful.

The more they repress, the stronger the fight becomes, he said. Fighting stems from oppression. The fighting will continue until injustice and oppression are resolved.

Protester Thu Nguyet told RFA that no matter how much authorities repressed peoples right to demand environmental protection, he was still willing to join others in protest.

We will try our best to show them that what they are doing [repression] is wrong, he said. We cant win, but we have to do it so young people know that their laws are totally wrong. We fight for our people not for ourselves. If we dont stand up, our people will slowly die from this pollution.

Reported by Kinh Hoa and Gia Minh for RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English.
Remember the party of swindlers and thieves? Of course you do.

About five years ago, opposition leader Aleksei Navalny branded the ruling United Russia party with that moniker in the run-up to the 2011 State Duma elections.

And now, Spanish law enforcement is showing us that the label is probably even more appropriate than anybody suspected.

In fact, it could even be updated to the party of swindlers, thieves, and wise guys.

Police in the Spanish port city of Tarragona have detained at least six Russian citizens believed to be connected to the infamous Tambovskaya Gruppirovka -- the Tambov organized crime group -- on suspicion of money laundering.

They are also suspected of establishing contacts with Colombian drug cartels.

And according to Spanish media reports, the suspected gangsters are believed to have held meetings with leading members of United Russia.

It's just another in a long series of data points linking Russia's rulers to the mob.

It was just a couple of months ago, after all, that Spanish Judge Jose de la Mata issued international arrest warrants for a dozen reputed Russian organized crime figures and several current and former government officials.

Among these were a senior Interior Ministry official, the deputy head of the State Duma's Finance Committee, and a former deputy prime minister.

Putin's Kremlin has long had a devil's bargain with Russia's nationalized mafias.

The regime tolerates them, and even enables them, as long as they're ready to do the dirty deeds the Kremlin wants to keep its fingerprints off -- be it arms smuggling, assassinations, raising funds for black ops, or stirring up trouble in the former Soviet space.

Just something to keep in mind amid all the calls for a return to business as usual.

Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page.
European Union leaders have issued increasingly stern warnings that Britain cannot have unfettered access to the single market after withdrawing from the EU without accepting the bloc's rules on free movement.

"There will be no single market a la carte," European Council President Donald Tusk said in Brussels on June 29 after a meeting of the 27 EU leaders without British Prime Minister David Cameron.

"Leaders made it crystal-clear today that access to the single market requires acceptance of all four freedoms, including freedom of movement," Tusk said of the trading bloc that currently eliminates borders and other regulatory obstacles among more than 500 million people.

The German and French leaders have said the same.

Tusk reiterated that negotiations on Britain's future relationship with the EU cannot start until the Lisbon Treaty's Article 50 exit procedure is formally triggered by the British government -- a step that Cameron and other British politicians have shown a reluctance to take despite the 52 percent-48 percent victory for the "leave" side in the country's June 23 referendum.

The former Polish prime minister also said there would be another meeting on September 16 in Bratislava, Slovakia, of EU leaders, excluding Britain, to discuss the implications of Britain's exit from the bloc.

The British vote dealt a heavy blow to fellow EU members and supporters of the decades-long effort to tie the political and economic fates of Europe together, and comes with a migration crisis tugging at the continent's seams.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe faced "a very serious situation" with Britain wanting to leave, but she added, "We think that we 27 can deal with this situation."

Merkel said that the lesson from the U.K. referendum isn't necessarily either deeper integration or returning more powers to national governments.

"This is not about more or less Europe as a principle, but about achieving results better," she said.

On June 28, Cameron attended what was expected to be his final EU summit, after he conceded defeat in the so-called "Brexit" referendum and announced his intention to stand down by October.

Cameron said there was "universal respect" for Britain's decision to leave despite a "tone of sadness and regret."

He said the British voters' decision couldn't be reversed despite street protests by thousands of pro-EU demonstrators in London and moves by the opposition Labour Party to force a second referendum.

Cameron also stressed that his country will not turn its back on Europe, saying trade and security cooperation would be vital whatever the future brings.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other EU leaders renewed their call for Britain to set out plans as soon as possible for leaving and insisted that there can be no negotiations before London has formally invoked the Lisbon Treaty's Article 50 exit procedures, which set a two-year deadline for agreeing the trade and other terms of an exit.

The leaders also said they would give Britain some time to put new leadership in place and start the process of carrying out the withdrawal, while making clear that they would take a strict stand in negotiations with London over post-Brexit relations.

Britain "has collapsed, politically, monetarily, constitutionally, and economically," Rutte said. "It would be unreasonable to insist. Let them get their political house in order."

"Europe is ready to start the divorce process, even today," EU Council President Tusk said, adding that he understood that time was needed "for the dust to settle" in Britain before the next steps can be taken.



But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned that Britain did not have "months to meditate," saying London could activate Article 50 shortly after Cameron's successor takes office.

Over dinner with the other EU leaders, Cameron urged them to consider reforming the EU's rules on freedom of movement, a central tenet of the economic bloc, saying he believed that free movement was "one of the driving factors in people voting to leave."



French President Francois Hollande rejected that suggestion, saying continued access to the EU's prized single market was dependent on accepting the freedoms of movement of goods, capital, workers, and services.



"If they don't want free movement, they won't have access to the single market," he said.

"Whoever leaves the family can't expect the same privileges as it had before without also having the obligations," according to Merkel.

Later on June 29, Juncker will meet in Brussels with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has announced plans to defend U.K. member Scotland's place in the EU and was given a formal mandate by the Scottish parliament for direct talks with EU institutions.

Sturgeon held talks earlier in the day with European Parliament President Martin Schulz, after which she declared, "Scotland is determined to stay in the EU."

Schulz said he had "listened and learned."

Scotland is to draw up legislation for an independence referendum to ensure it could be held during any negotiations for Britain to leave the bloc.

Cameron has rejected the initiative, saying Scottish voters already rejected independence in a 2014 referendum.

Fellow U.K. member Northern Ireland also voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, dpa, and AFP
Georgian Defense Minister Tinatin Khidasheli has incurred criticism from representatives of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition for announcing without prior warning at a press conference on June 27 that conscription of young men to serve in the armed forces has been suspended as of 2017.

While the process of phasing out conscription in favor of a professional volunteer army has been under way for several years, both Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and President Giorgi Margvelashvili responded with statements deploring the fact that Khidasheli jumped the gun in announcing a measure that, according to Kvirikashvili, should have been discussed beforehand by both the cabinet and the National Security Council.

The suspension of conscription will only apply, Khidasheli explained, to the induction of young men into the armed forces, but not to those who serve their 15 months' compulsory service in the State Protection Service, the State Security Service, the penitentiary system, or other agencies. Draftees currently account for just 10 percent of the total 37,000 manpower of the armed forces. They perform only logistical and support functions; they are not trained in, and do not engage in, combat.

The aim of switching to a wholly professional army by 2017 was announced in August 2014 by then-Defense Minister Irakli Alasania, who said that the 2014 fall draft would be reduced accordingly by 2,000 men.

Khidasheli likewise served warning in April that conscription into the army would cease as of 2017. Her stated rationale for ending conscription was twofold: first, that the armed forces do not need personnel who serve solely because they are obliged to do so, given that service is regarded as "prestigious" and there is no shortage of men who wish to serve on a contract basis; and second, that the abolition of conscription would serve the overall objective of bringing the Georgian Army closer to NATO standards.

The Jamestown Foundation quoted Irakli Aludashvili, editor of the military-analytical journal Arsenali, as warning that the transition to all-volunteer forces would necessitate additional expenditure.

But Armed Forces Chief of General Staff Major General Vakhtang Kapanadze says that in the long term, maintaining a professional army is less costly than the conscription model. Kapanadze positively assessed the end of conscription into the armed forces, stressing that the decision was discussed over a period of time and not "plucked out of thin air."

On signing the decree, Khidasheli did not rule out the possibility that a future defense minister could rescind it, while Irakli Sesiashvili (Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia), who heads the parliament's Committee on Defense and Security, said Prime Minister Kvirikashvili is empowered to do so. On June 28, however, Khidasheli claimed it was impossible to annul the ruling, given that it was discussed by parliament and endorsed by the president.

Sesiashvili further attributed Khidasheli's announcement to "narrow party interests," meaning a bid in the run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 8 to boost the rating of the Republican Party of which she is a member. That party announced in late March that it will participate in the ballot independently, rather than as part of a broader Georgian Dream election bloc. A recent opinion poll showed popular support for the Republicans at under 1 percent.
(Beijing) - The vice mayor of Shanghai, Tu Guangshao, has taken on the reins of China's sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation (CIC), after its president Li Keping retired.

The appointment was announced during a CIC meeting on June 28, a person who was present at the session said.

Tu, 57, had previously served in several government bodies overseeing the financial sector including the central bank and the stock market regulator, China Securities Regulatory Commission.

He was appointed as the vice mayor of Shanghai in December 2007. During his stint, he helped groom Shanghai into an international financial hub and establish the city's free trade zone in September 2013, which served as a test bed for economic reform, the source said.

He has been credited for a pilot program to make the yuan fully convertible inside the Shanghai free trade area, according to the source.

The outgoing Chairman, Li, has headed the sovereign fund from January 2014 and had pushed for the aggressive overseas expansion of the CIC to help cushion a slowdown in the Chinese economy.

The state-owned company launched a new subsidiary, CIC Capital Corp. in July 2015, to invest in infrastructure, agriculture, forestry and fisheries projects aboard.

(Rewritten by Li Rongde)
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
Ukrainians have increasingly woken up to the sound of suicide drones as Russia turns to Iranian-made imports to destroy civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Now they may have another deadly Iranian weapon to worry about -- ballistic missiles.

Cheap but effective, Shahed-136 and Shahed-131 "kamikaze" drones have already made a deadly impact in Ukraine.



If U.S. intelligence assessments pan out, Russia will soon be able to supplement its use of Iranian suicide drones and its own cruise and ballistic missiles with powerful short-range Iranian Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar ballistic missiles.



Coming as the Kremlin is reportedly struggling to maintain its depleted stockpile of aerial weapons as it ramps up strikes, the missiles would potentially boost Russia's ability to continue its costly air campaign.



Jeremy Binnie, a Middle East defense specialist at the global intelligence company Janes, said having more missiles gives Russia the ability to sustain the bombardment against Ukraine."



Going Ballistic



The Fateh-110, which was unveiled in 2001 and has a stated range of 300 to 500 kilometers, was developed from a heavy artillery rocket dating from the 1980s. To increase the weapon's accuracy, the Fateh-110 was given a guidance system and movable fins that allow it to be steered as it approaches its target.



The Zolfaghar, which debuted in 2016 and also has guidance capabilities, comes from the same family as the Fateh-110 but boasts a much longer range due to its use of a lighter carbon-fiber airframe and a smaller warhead.



Binnie said the Zolfaghar's use against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in eastern Syria confirmed that the missile was capable of reaching at least 650 kilometers, which he said is "a statement of how much the Iranian tactical missile program has really advanced over the years."



Iran's claim that the Zolfaghar can travel even farther -- up to 700 kilometers -- would put the western Ukrainian city of Lviv within range of strikes launched from Russian territory, while the more powerful Fateh-110 could potentially hit the city from Belarus, which has served as a staging ground for Russian attacks.



While there has been no indication that Russia plans to purchase launching systems from Iran, Binnie suggests that the Russian military could pair the missiles with existing equipment because the Iranian launchers were adapted from a Soviet-era system.



"It might be possible for the Russians to quickly adapt some old equipment they have lying around into launch systems," Binnie said.



The Iranian military, he added, fitted the Soviet system to trucks, allowing for mobility and concealment.



"Those civilian trucks can be covered over to make it hard to spot that they're actually missile launchers," Binnie said.



'Lawnmowers' And 'Mopeds'



Iranian military drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have been homing in on targets across Ukraine since late August, according to the United States.



The buzzing sound of the Iranian Shahed-136 and Shahed-131 drones, built with off-the-shelf components, have earned them derisive monikers such as "lawnmowers" and "mopeds." But the slow-moving, low-flying drones, which are maneuvered to crash into their target, have proven themselves capable of hitting their mark both in terms of military effectiveness and cost.

It is capable of extracting or delivering attrition and damage when launched, but it costs little compared to other UAVs that Russia has in its own arsenal," said Samuel Bendett of the Virginia-based Center for Naval Analyses (CNA).

Ukraine alleges Russia has ordered 2,400 of the Iranian suicide drones, and its military has claimed to have shot them down in great numbers, often using conventional anti-aircraft guns or even small-arms fire. But their ability to be launched in bunches of five -- often from the cover of civilian trucks -- improves their chances of reaching their target.



"The Ukrainians are stopping most of these, but the whole point of these drones is that they fly in a large mass," Bendett said. "The air defense does not always catch all of them. All it takes is for several or even one to make it through."

The estimated range of the Shahed-136 varies, but Iran says it is capable of traveling 2,500 kilometers. The slightly smaller and older Shahed-131, which has been used by Huthi rebels in Yemen to attack Saudi targets in the Arabian Peninsula, has been estimated to have a range of 900 kilometers, according to tests conducted by the Ukrainian military.



Ukraine's Defense Ministry has published multiple images of downed Shahed-136 drones in recent weeks, and the Ukrainian National Guard on October 19 claimed to have shot down a Shahed-131.



Ukraine has also claimed to have shot down a more advanced Iranian combat UAV, the Mojer-6 drone capable of carrying out both reconnaissance missions and aerial strikes within a range of 200 kilometers. There have also been reports of Russian interest in obtaining Irans Shahed-129 and Shahed-191 combat drones.



"When launched from any territory that Russia controls or is allied with -- anywhere from the south, from the Donbas, from Belarus -- they're able to strike a lot of Ukrainian targets," Bendett said.

In addition to the U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia will soon boost its arsenal with Iranian ballistic missiles, as first reported by The Washington Post on October 16, the White House on October 20 said that Iranians are now "directly engaged on the ground" in Moscows war against Ukraine after sending "a relatively small number" of personnel from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to assist Russian forces in using the Iranian drones.

Iran has denied sending combat drones to Russia, and Moscow has rejected claims that it is using Iranian UAVs.

Images of downed Iranian drones appear to show that they have been rebranded to look Russian-made, experts say, with the markings in Cyrillic naming them as the Geran-1 (the Shahed-131) and Geran-2 (the Shahed-136).

Observers are widely skeptical of Russia's denials, noting that the drones are essentially identical right down to the font of the serial numbers. Even Russian Defense Ministry experts have unwittingly admitted that the suicide drones are Iranian.



But the rebranding of the drones to make them appear to be Russian has opened the possibility that Moscow could, if it is not already doing so, seek to manufacture or assemble the Iranian drones on its own territory.



Sustaining A Campaign



The new aerial weaponry fits well with the Russian military's renewed focus on striking military and civilian targets far from the front lines in southern and eastern Ukraine. The air assault has ratcheted up following the October 8 appointment of Colonel General Sergei Surovikin, a former Aerospace Forces commander, to lead the Russian war effort.



Just days after Surovikin's appointment, Russia launched the biggest air strikes since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine in February. Moscow said the drone and missile strikes, which targeted civilian areas and infrastructure in cities throughout Ukraine, were in response to a bomb blast that damaged a key bridge linking Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

While the Kremlin has accused Ukraine's intelligence services of carrying out the "terrorist" attack on the Crimea Bridge, Ukraine has denied responsibility.



Since the initial air assault in response to the bridge blast, Russia has continued to pound Ukrainian infrastructure, often targeting power plants in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said is a deliberate effort to wear down the Ukrainian people by denying them heat and electricity as winter approaches.



"Civilian infrastructure is obviously the new layer in this war. The Ukrainian economy is now the target, the Ukrainian population is now the target," Bendett said.



Hard To Stop



The hypersonic speed and high trajectory of Iran's Fateh-110s and Zolfaghars, should they arrive, would be extremely difficult for Kyiv to counter without a network of high-tech and costly antimissile batteries it currently does not possess.



Ukraine has repeatedly requested more advanced missile-defense systems from the West, and in the face of the threat of the delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles reportedly sent an official request to Israel this week for components of its "Iron Dome" system.



While the United States has said that it is seeking to expedite the process of sending two U.S. air defense systems known as NASAMS, Washington has appeared reluctant to provide more advanced Patriot missile systems.



Janes' defense expert Binnie is skeptical that the delivery of the Patriot system, which has proven to be successful in shooting down ballistic missiles, is realistic for Ukraine.

"It's eye wateringly expensive and it's probably not really practical because each [missile] battery only covers one city," he said. "You would never get enough batteries to get the coverage you would want. You just wouldn't be able to find them, produce them, and train enough Ukrainians."
From Fallujah to Mosul, Paris to Brussels, the terrorist organization that calls itself Islamic State (IS) murders, maims, and enslaves with wanton abandon, if not exactly impunity. By now the world has woken up to the serious threat that the group poses, not just in the Middle East but also in Europe and the United States.

Islamic State's crimes are horrific enough with its present capabilities, but a question increasingly asked among politicians and military officials is: What if IS were to acquire the unthinkable -- a weapon of mass destruction (WMD)?

Earlier this month I attended the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe in Amsterdam, an NGO set up to tackle exactly this type of problem. And what emerged is that the danger of IS acquiring its most fearsome weapon yet is now a significant one.

According to an expert who participated in the forum, the danger is twofold. The gravest threat would come if IS were able to get its hands on nuclear materials. These would mean, for example, the type of enriched uranium Iran uses in its nuclear program -- from which IS could theoretically make a small nuclear bomb with further enrichment -- or existing weapons-grade plutonium, from which it could do the same.

But the probability of IS being able to do this is slim. The requisite materials are located in only 24 countries and are in highly guarded facilities. Set against this fact, however, have been several lapses in security. In 2012 an 82-year-old nun and peace activist, Megan Rice, broke into the Oakridge nuclear reservation in Tennessee. Rice never got near any nuclear material but a lot of systems had to fail for her to get as close as she did. Likewise, according to a British Ministry of Defense report, guards at one of the U.K.'s nuclear facilities were caught sleeping on the job. And then there is the problem of poor levels of security at a host of nuclear research centers in the former Soviet Union.

The probability of IS taking advantage of these lapses in security is low, but not insignificant. The greatest danger comes from the most unstable countries with the largest amounts of documented radical activity: Pakistan, Russia, and India -- with Pakistan at the top of the list.

Moreover, as retired Major General Vladimir Dvorkin, a chief researcher at the Center for International Security at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of World Economy and International Relations, told me: "there is a lot of illegal activity, trafficking in illegal natural material...so [IS] could either pull off a purchase for a significant amount of money or intercept illegal trafficking. Plus, they seem to have enough money to recruit scientists to build a rudimentary nuclear device. Not a nuclear warhead, but an explosive nuclear device; it may, in fact, only weigh a few tons but it's still something you could assemble close to an urban area, or on a vessel that could then be brought to U.S. or European shores."

Many Ways To Dirty Bomb

Another problem would be a conventional weapons attack on a nuclear facility, which could conceivably cause a Chernobyl-like disaster or worse. It remains nearly impossible to attack a nuclear power plant, as they have substantial protection, but attacking nuclear-research facilities that have reactors filled with nuclear materials is far easier, and a lot of cities have these. According to Dvorkin even bombing a nuclear-storage facility with a relatively small bomb would mean the destruction of buildings within a 3-4-kilometer radius and fallout covering a much larger area and creating a lasting effect.

The second and far more immediate threat is that of attack with a radiological device. The materials for this are located in over a 100 countries and, critically found not just in specialized facilitates but in hospitals and research centers used, for example, in treating cancer -- places that, unlike major nuclear facilities, don't have gates, guards, and guns. The expert who attended the forum warned me that IS has many such facilities within the land it already controls and that is where the "dirty bomb" (a radiological as opposed to nuclear bomb) threat is now unequivocally real.

One can easily use conventional resources to make a dirty bomb, use agents to plant it in a major urban center, then simply watch it ignite and cause billions of dollars of damage. The loss of life would likely be modest -- only those in its immediate vicinity would die. But the psychological element would be huge; as a nuclear specialist told me, the public hears "radiological" and immediately panics. Then there would be the cost of demolishing and rebuilding the buildings that had been contaminated in a far wider area.

While nothing is certain when dealing with what is clearly a fanatical organization, it is clear that IS is organized and thinks strategically. As Dvorkin points out, the chances of IS using even a rudimentary nuclear device are accordingly slim. First, it would risk alienating even Sunni Muslim communities across the Middle East that might presently have some sympathy with its aims. Second, what is now a fractious coalition fighting against IS would almost certainly unite and bring its combined weight to utterly annihilate the organization.

Nonetheless, as The New York Times reported in February, a man linked to the November 13 Paris attackers was found in possession of surveillance footage of a high-ranking Belgian nuclear official. With IS any horror is possible, even if it is not probable.

The question more realistically facing us is not whether IS can employ a dirty bomb -- most likely in Europe or the United States -- but will it? And experts fear the worst. According to Dr. Moshe Kantor, president of the Luxembourg Forum, "the threat of a terrorist group, such as Islamic State, staging a nuclear bomb attack on a major European city, such as London, is 'high.'"

Given that IS has already carried out numerous chemical-weapons attacks in Syria, its willingness to use a WMD of some kind is clearly present. As Kantor continued "the threat of a so-called 'dirty bomb' attack is at its highest level since the end of the Cold War."

The world should be worried.

David Patrikarakos is a contributing editor at the Daily Beast and the author of Nuclear Iran: The Birth Of An Atomic State. He is working on a book on social media and war
Police in Pakistan says gunmen have killed four officers in twin attacks minutes apart in the southwest of the country.

Police said the shootings took place late on June 28 in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan Province.

The gunmen managed to escape, and no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Baluchistan is Pakistan's largest province and the site of a low-scale insurgency for the past several years.

Small separatist groups in the region often attack police and security forces to pressure the government to get more wealth from resources like natural gas and oil extracted from the province.

Based on reporting by AP
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault says Russia has agreed to hold a Russia-NATO Council meeting after the alliance holds its July Warsaw summit.

Ayrault said after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Paris on June 29 that Russia wanted to meet after the NATO summit so that Moscow could evaluate "the decision taken there."

NATO members are expected to approve new plans at the July 8-9 summit aimed at dealing with a more assertive Russia since Moscow seized and annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

Ayrault said he wanted transparency with Russia about the summit, which he said he didn't want to be "confrontational."

The United States, Britain, and Germany have said they will deploy more troops to Poland and the Baltic states to ease fears among NATO's easternmost members of an aggressive Russia.

Lavrov and Ayrault also discussed relations between Russia and the European Union and the possible consequences of the United Kingdom leaving the EU.

Ayrault and other French leaders have recently expressed the hope of improving French-Russian relations.

The French National Assembly also recently approved a nonbinding resolution calling for a lessening of EU sanctions on Russia.

Based on reporting by TASS
WASHINGTON -- A U.S. official has told RFE/RL that a U.S. diplomat was tackled and injured by a Russian security service guard outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow earlier this month in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack.

The June 6 incident came amid an increasing number of tense encounters between U.S. diplomats and Russian security officials in Moscow and elsewhere, something that U.S. officials have complained openly about in recent days.

In the incident, which was first reported by The Washington Post, the diplomat had just shown his embassy badge to the guard, one of several that help monitor the perimeter of the massive U.S. Embassy complex and who work for the Federal Security Service (FSB), the country's main security agency.

The guard then tackled the diplomat, leaving him with a broken shoulder. The diplomat was able to walk into the embassy compound under his own power and he later left the country for medical treatment, according to the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

"It was definitely intentional," the official told RFE/RL.

Diplomats in Moscow and Washington have met with their Russian counterparts to complain about the incident and others that come as U.S.-Russian relations sink to their lowest point since the Cold War, following sanctions imposed against Russia for its actions in Ukraine and increased NATO and Russian military presences on each side of Russia's western border.

U.S. diplomats in Moscow have reported being pulled over by Moscow traffic police about five dozen times over the past month, an unusual number in a city where diplomats are usually afforded leeway for things like minor traffic violations.

The embassy spokesman this week reported returning home to find cigarettes in his apartment; another official reportedly returned home to find the water taps turned on.

Comments by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested deeper ongoing problems when she blamed the United States for the current tensions.

"Diplomacy is based on reciprocity. The more the U.S. damages relations, the harder it will be for U.S. diplomats to work in Russia," she told a briefing in Moscow on June 28.
ON MY MIND

Don't look now, but Vladimir Putin has just created the basis for a morality police. Putin has signed a bill into law that allows the Interior Ministry to monitor and collect data on "antisocial behavior" -- which is so broadly defined (violating "the generally accepted norms of conduct and morality") that it could mean literally anything. It could mean public intoxication. It could mean wearing a tattoo or having pink hair.

The provision, part of a law on "basic crime prevention," had largely slipped under the radar until recently. But rights activists, bloggers, and opposition journalists are raising the alarm that, like legislation prohibiting "extremism," it opens the door to the harassment of broad categories of citizens the authorities find distasteful.

IN THE NEWS

Following months of tension between Moscow and Ankara, the Kremlin has announced that Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone. According to media reports, the conversation lasted 40 minutes.

The Federation Council has passed legislation establishing Russia's National Guard.

Russian Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov will hold talks with his French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault, in Paris today, with Ukraine, Syria, and Russia-EU relations on the agenda.

Russia has complained that a U.S. naval ship passed too close to one of its ships in the Mediterranean Sea. But Pentagon officials blamed the incident on the Russian warship, which they said carried out "unsafe and unprofessional" operations near two U.S. Navy ships.

The Federation Council is scheduled to vote today on controversial "antiterrorism" legislation.

Tatarstan's legislature, meanwhile, has come out in opposition to the legislation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that Putin is aware of the objections to the law and will make his own decision about whether to sign it.

Putin, meanwhile, has signed a law allowing the police to monitor and collect data on "antisocial behavior," which is undefined in the legislation.

A new poll by the Kremlin-connected VTsIOM shows that 42 percent of Russians saying their financial situation has deteriorated and 38 percent say they are struggling to cover basic expenses like utility bills.

Former RBK editor Roman Bodanin has been named editor in chief of Dozhd-TV.

WHAT I'M READING

Today's Must-Read Piece: Agnia Grigas On Frozen Conflicts

If you read nothing else today, be sure to check out an excellent new report titled: Frozen Conflicts: A Tool Kit For U.S. Policymakers by Agnia Grigas, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and author of the book Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire.

"Since the 1990s, a number of separatist movements and conflicts have challenged the borders of the states of the former Soviet Union and created quasi-independent territories under Russian influence and control," Grigas writes.

"An examination of the development of frozen conflicts and Russias continued creation of separatist territories suggests that the past policy responses of the U.S. government to these conflicts have been largely insufficient to deter further aggression."

More Brexit Views

Writing in Vox, Mark Galeotti, a senior research fellow at the Czech Institute of International Relations, explains why Russia may soon regret cheering on Brexit.

"Putin may still have reasons to regret what he wished for," Galeotti writes.

"His ideal is an EU that is distracted, divided, and weakened, but not mortally so. He may, however, find that he has traded a cozy and polite neighbor for an uncertain, volatile, and sometimes aggressive one."

Aleksandr Baunov of the Moscow Carnegie Center has a piece explaining why Russia really likes Brexit.

"For a long time, ever since the era of 'Color Revolutions' in Georgia and Ukraine, the successes of the West have been seen in Russia to be Russias failures and vice versa," Baunov writes.

"Now the EU has apparently done Russia a favor by punishing itself. There may be in part a psychological reaction here: When our Soviet Union broke up, you celebrated; now your own union is breaking up, and we will not be sorry."

Does Russia Own Syria?

Beirut-based military analyst San Heller has a lengthy post in the War On The Rocks blog claiming that Russia has taken control of both the battlefield and the negotiating table in the Syria conflict.

"The Kremlin has successfully made itself the most powerful party to this war. The best the White House can do now is to make them own it," Heller writes.

"Russia has used its intervention in Syria to reshape the military and political contest for control of Syria and to deliberately constrict the space for countervailing American action. The idea that America can menace Russias regime partner in Syria unilaterally and without consequences is an unreal one. And unless America is willing to risk a dangerous and unpredictable confrontation with Russia, the course of Syrias war hinges on what Russia does next."

Friends Forever?

Stephen Sestanovich, a professor at Columbia University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, has a piece in The Wall Street Journal, Friends Without Benefits, that looks at the asymmetrical Sino-Russian relationship.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has just concluded a visit to Beijing, where, after announcing a few big-sounding energy deals, he said that Russia and China were 'friends forever.' These days everyone wants a good relationship with China, but Mr. Putin does so from a disadvantageous position. Russia is one of the few countries in the world with few friends besides China," Sestanovich writes.

"With the ruble having lost more than half its value, China can buy what it wants for less! But no need to rub that in. If, with no other buyers on the horizon, Russia is now ready to sell off parts of its oil and gas sector, then China is ready to pick up a few bargains. That was the real news of this summit. Its what being 'friends forever' actually means."

Online Crackdown

A new report by the Sova Center shows the degree to which penalties for expressing anti-Kremlin views online have increased, as well as the likelihood of prosecution.

The Turkish 'Apology'

Meduza has a piece parsing what we know -- and don't know -- about Turkey's "apology" for shooting down a Russian S-24 warplane in November.
The Capital Region Airport Commission on Tuesday voted down a request to transfer a lease for the airport property that houses the Virginia Aviation Museum to a new operator.

Despite numerous meetings over the past eight months, airport officials were unable to come to terms with the nonprofit Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society, which was attempting to take over the lease from the Science Museum of Virginia. The Science Museum had operated the aviation museum and its collection of vintage aircraft at 5701 Huntsman Road since 1990 but plans to close it Thursday.

The president and CEO, on the one hand, and the proposed assignee, on the other hand, have been unable to reach an agreement upon mutually beneficial terms of a proposed assignment and assumption of the lease, states a resolution rejecting the request to shift the lease to the society. The resolution was unanimously adopted Tuesday.

Doug Blum, the airports chief financial officer, said the airport offered two options, both of which envisioned a five-year lease but included various benchmarks for planning and fundraising.

The commission had offered two alternatives, and neither one was accepted, Blum said. That means the Science Museum of Virginia will terminate the lease and return the property to the airport commission.

Tim McSwain, chairman of the board of the historical society, said the five-year term and the uncertainty over whether it would be renewed made it difficult to secure the commitment and funding necessary to rebrand, renovate and relaunch the aviation museum.

We just didnt feel like we could take the risk or ask other people to take the risk that the airport commission wouldnt renew the lease, McSwain said.

He added that historical society built the facility in the 1980s when it was bequeathed a collection of historic aircraft but transferred the operation to the Science Museum in 1990. The museum houses about 38 vintage aircraft, including some that are privately owned and on loan to the museum.

Were very disappointed. We think we had a good opportunity here. Im hopeful that we can preserve something from all of this, McSwain said. There are a lot of moving parts right now. ... Were hopeful that we can preserve that piece of history for Virginia.

Though the airport and Science Museum officials have characterized the building that houses the museum as nearing the end of its useful life, McSwain said thats inaccurate.

Theres nothing wrong with the building, he said, except some very minor leaks in the roof.

Chrissy Caldwell, spokeswoman for the Science Museum of Virginia, says the aviation museum will close as scheduled on Thursday. Until then, however, admission is free.

The collection of aircraft currently housed in the aviation museum will be relocated, Caldwell said. This process will take approximately two years to work with other venues and institutions to relocate the aircraft. As we are in the beginning stages of this process, we do not have a definitive home for this collection.

The resolution directs airport officials to provide such assistance and accommodation as is reasonable to facilitate the Science Museum of Virginias winding down and closing of the operations of the aviation museum and returning the leasehold estate and all buildings and improvements thereon to the commission in accordance with the terms of the lease.

***

Passenger traffic at Richmond International Airport increased 1.4 percent in May over the same month a year ago. Total passenger traffic for the month was 319,562, the second-busiest May ever recorded, airport officials said.

For the first 11 months of the fiscal year that started in July, total passenger traffic was up 3 percent over the same period a year ago.

In other news, JetBlue added a second daily Orlando flight on May 4.
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A Petersburg drug dealer was sentenced Tuesday to more than two decades behind bars for killing a former Chesterfield County firefighter who fell prey to drug abuse and was shot dead at a motel during a dispute over crack cocaine.

After a sentencing hearing in Petersburg Circuit Court, Judge Dennis M. Martin sentenced Dominic Greenwood, 31, of Petersburg to 40 years in prison with 21 years and one month suspended in the March 14, 2014, slaying of Edward Jones, 51, whose death initially was believed to have been a suicide. Greenwood received an additional mandatory three-year sentence for using a firearm in the killing.

Greenwoods plea agreement called for the court to sentence Greenwood to between the midpoint and high end of discretionary state sentencing guidelines, which ranged from 17 years and 6 months to 21 years and 11 months. The judge opted for the high end, giving the defendant an active prison term of 21 years and 11 months, said Petersburg Senior Assistant Commonwealths Attorney T. Leslie Lindsey.

The victims family on Tuesday testified about the devastating impact the killing has had on their lives, and Jones father asked the judge in a letter submitted to the court to sentence Greenwood to the maximum range of state sentencing guidelines.

According to evidence, Greenwood shot Jones in the head as he was walking out of a Knights Inn motel room in Petersburg after a disagreement arose over a transaction for crack cocaine. Greenwood and a co-defendant, Gerald Massenburg, were providing the drugs to Jones, and he apparently wasnt giving them the money they wanted fast enough, Lindsey said.

After Jones fell just outside the door onto the motel breezeway, a surveillance video captured Greenwood and Massenburg stepping over Jones body nonchalantly like they were going up to Walmart or 7-Eleven for a Slurpee  it was no big deal, Lindsey said.

Jones was among the first African-Americans promoted to lieutenant in the Chesterfield Fire & EMS Department and worked for the agency from August 1984 to June 1993; he later served about a year and a half in the Navy Medical Corps.

Lindsey said Jones life spiraled downward from drug use but he tried repeatedly over the years to shake the habit. And then this is what happens, the prosecutor said of Jones slaying.

Jones was killed about 8:30 a.m. The men had been up all night and Greenwood initially told police that he shot Jones after he awoke to find Jones trying to have sex with him, according to a summary of evidence.

But evidence showed Jones was shot from about 8 to 10 feet away as he was walking out the door, and Greenwood later changed his story about how the killing occurred  identifying Massenburg as the shooter.

Massenburg was indicted on a murder count, but authorities didnt have enough evidence to proceed and the charge was eventually withdrawn.

Late in the investigation, the prosecutions case against Greenwood received a boost when Lamar Jackson, a good friend of the victim, went to visit Greenwood in jail and asked why he killed Jones.

Jackson, described as a religious man, prayed with Greenwood, and the encounter prompted the defendant to confess and apologize for the slaying. Without any prompting, Greenwood told Jackson that he wanted to write a letter for Jackson to mail to Jones family that basically apologized to them, Lindsey said.

Greenwood didnt testify on Tuesday and offered no apology to the victims family until Lindsey noted Greenwoods apparent lack of remorse or sorrow for his actions. Finally, when the judge asked Greenwood if he had anything to tell the court before he was sentenced, Greenwood told Jones family he was sorry.
Two adults were injured in a single vehicle wreck on the Downtown Expressway this morning, according to Richmond police.

Police were called to the crash in the eastbound lanes of the expressway near Second Street around 11:54 a.m. after a car hit a light pole and flipped several times.

One victim was ejected from vehicle and was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. A second person was not seriously injured, but taken to the hospital for treatment as well, police said.

As of 2:44 p.m., all lanes are now reopen, according to Virginia Department of Transportation.
It could be months or even next year before former Gov. Bob McDonnell learns whether he can or will be tried again in light of Mondays U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning his corruption convictions.

Or if the government throws in the towel, he could find out much sooner.

The justices sent the case back to the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals  which upheld the convictions last year  with instructions to determine whether the evidence could sustain a guilty verdict under the high courts narrower definition of official action.

If the court so finds, it would be up to the U.S. Attorneys Office to decide whether to prosecute again.

McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, were convicted of performing official acts in exchange for $177,000 in gifts and loans from Jonnie R. Williams Sr., then CEO of Star Scientific.

The unanimous Supreme Court found that setting up a meeting, talking to another official or organizing an event, or agreeing to do so  without more  does not fit that definition of official act.

In his opinion for the court, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the McDonnell jury was given instructions on what constitutes an official act that were too broad and that the jury might have convicted the former governor for conduct that is not illegal.

Henry L. Chambers Jr., a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said that the question the 4th Circuit must now answer is: could a reasonable jury have convicted McDonnell based on the evidence presented at the first trial, given the Supreme Courts definition of official act?

Several possibilities

The high courts order to the 4th Circuit opens up a number of possibilities and timelines. Henry W. Asbill, one of Bob McDonnells lawyers, and the U.S. Attorneys Office declined to comment Tuesday.

Barry Pollack, a white-collar criminal defense lawyer in Washington, said that as a formality the clerks office at the high court sends the lower court a certified copy of the order 25 days after the issuance of a judgment.

But the 4th Circuit need not wait, he said, and it is likely the same three judges who unanimously upheld McDonnells convictions in July 2015 will handle the matter.

The 4th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over the lower federal courts in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina, will not be hearing cases again until September. However, Carl Tobias, another law professor at the University of Richmond, said, I think the court will move expeditiously and get it done this summer.

Tobias, an expert on the court, and Pollack, chair of the white-collar and internal investigations practice at the firm of Miller & Chevalier, said the appeals court could order both sides to submit briefs on the question.

If they do, I would expect them to set a schedule soon and opening briefs would likely be due in 40 days, Pollack said.

Jeffrey Bellin, a professor at the College of William & Mary law school, said preparing and arguing the briefs will take time  even if the same three judges on the 4th Circuit get the case  because the Supreme Court has presented a new question.

Pollack and Bellin said the appeals court also could send the case back to U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer, the trial judge, to decide whether sufficient evidence was presented at the 2014 trial to sustain a conviction under the high courts definition of an official act.

In that case, Judge Spencer would set the schedule, Pollack said. Spencers decision could then be appealed to the 4th Circuit, he said.

If the 4th Circuit panel  not Spencer  decides the question of whether there is sufficient evidence to support a conviction under the Supreme Courts narrowed definition, the party that loses may appeal the decision.

But Tobias said the full appeals court or the U.S. Supreme Court would be unlikely to entertain any appeal of the panels decision.

The prosecutions call

Pollack said that if the appeals court panel decides the case can be re-tried, it would be sent back to Spencer. The district court judge would likely set a deadline for the U.S. Attorneys Office to decide whether or not it wishes to re-try the case.

Tobias believes the U.S. Attorneys Office would make any such decision in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington.

Pollack said there is a possibility things could go more quickly.

I could see the government, after having had time to digest the Supreme Courts opinion, deciding that even if it could win the legal battle to gain the right to re-try the case, its likelihood of conviction is low, and it does not want to expend further resources trying.

If the government concludes it would just be chasing good money after bad, it may announce that it is voluntarily dismissing the case, Pollack said.

Andrew G. McBride, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, said Monday that he does not think the government has the evidence to meet the Supreme Courts new standard and that he thinks a retrial is very unlikely.

But Bellin with William & Mary said Tuesday that he thinks there is a possibility of a second trial.

What the government was alleging at the original trial seems to fit inside what the Supreme Court says they need to prove, he said.

Maureen McDonnells case

Bob and Maureen McDonnell were convicted following a six-week trial in 2014. Bob McDonnell was convicted on 11 counts and Maureen McDonnell on nine. Spencer, the trial judge, later threw out one of Maureen McDonnells convictions.

Spencer sentenced Bob McDonnell to two years and Maureen McDonnell to one year and one day. Each has remained free on bond.

Maureen McDonnells appeal was on hold in the appeals court while her husbands case was before the U.S. Supreme Court. Her case also remains unresolved.

William Burck, Maureen McDonnells lawyer, said Monday that the Supreme Courts decision in Bob McDonnells case means that her convictions also should be tossed out. Burck could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Tobias said Maureen McDonnells lawyers are likely to file a motion asking the appeals court to dismiss her convictions outright, given that they were derivative of what (Bob McDonnell) was convicted of.
The father and stepmother of a 13-year-old Blacksburg girl killed in January were ordered to refrain from alcohol and maintain good behavior during a sentencing Tuesday in Wythe County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, according to the court clerk.

David Lovell, 38, and Terri Lovell, 33, were arrested in April after a domestic violence incident in Wytheville. Both were charged with unlawful wounding, a felony. Police declined to release additional details.

The father and stepmother of the late Nicole Lovell were arrested in Wytheville last week after a domestic violence incident, according to town Police Chief Rick Arnold.

Court Clerk Karen Akers said Judge Bradley Dalton reduced both charges to misdemeanors. David Lovell was given 12 months with 11 months suspended. Terri Lovell was given 12 months, with 11 months and 20 days suspended. Both were given credit for time served.
A federal judge sentenced a Vinton man to 13 years in prison for forcing a runaway teenage girl to engage in prostitution.

The case against Terrell Raschard Banker, who was sentenced on Tuesday, coupled with the earlier sentencing of Laura Ann Cook of Roanoke County in the same case, highlighted an instance of child sex trafficking in the Roanoke Valley.

Court papers and a news release from the U.S. attorneys office describe the ordeal of one Roanoke Valley girl groomed by Cook and Banker for the sex trade when the girl was 17.

In February 2015, the girl and Cook, then 24, began socializing. Taking advantage of what she knew to be the girl's "very difficult home situation," Cook persuaded the girl to stay at Cooks home and take illegal drugs with Cook. Cook introduced the girl to Banker, then 25, through Facebook. Face-to-face encounters followed. Although Banker wasnt charged with or convicted of a drug crime, prosecutors said he supplied Cook with marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine.

Banker on one occasion gave the girl and Cook some meth and then "took payment in the form of sex" with the girl, according to summary of evidence signed by Cook.

The following month, the girl ran away from home and went to live with Cook. Cook and Banker decided to prostitute the girl to earn money. Court papers describe a single act of prostitution involving the girl and a Ferrum man in a truck parked outside an Orange Avenue motel. Because the girl was hungry and had no money or way to support herself, she reluctantly engaged in the encounter with the man, prosecutors said. Banker took the mans $200 payment.

Police intervened a short time later based on a tip from a motel employee. The girl, who later tested positive for cocaine and marijuana, was taken to safety by authorities. The man at the motel, who was 21 at the time, pleaded no contest to solicitation of prostitution and was fined $250.

Banker was arrested about a week later and Cook was arrested about two weeks after that.

A jury convicted Banker, 26, of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor, sex trafficking of a minor and enticement of a minor. Cook, 26, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge. She was sentenced in April to four years and 10 months.

Law enforcement officers including those at the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday called the sentencing of Banker a win for law enforcement.
The Hillary Clinton campaign on Wednesday deployed a wealthy Democrat who made his fortune in business  Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., to take on Republican mogul Donald Trump on his own turf.

Warner, a co-founder of Nextel and a former governor, who is serving his second term in the Senate, said its hard to separate the facts vs. puffery when it comes to Trumps business success claims, because he refuses to release his tax returns.

We dont really know how successful he really is, said Warner, whose net worth in 2014 was estimated at nearly $243 million by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Instead, the senator, who serves on the Senate Banking and Budget committees, said the facts that are available show that Trump has bankrupted four businesses, outsourced many of his projects to foreign labor and has a history of slow pay or no pay to small and midsize companies to whom his entities owe money.

He created a university that left many persons in debt, and the only person who got rich was Donald Trump himself, said Warner.

The Clinton campaigns deployment of Warner is its latest effort to cast doubt on what may be the brash billionaires strongest claim in the 2016 race  that he, not the former secretary of state, has a track record of shrewd negotiating and business success that will protect American jobs and economic interests.

Virginia is one of roughly a half dozen swing states that are key to presidential hopes of both parties. Warner has developed expertise on global trade and Americas evolving workforce in the gig economy.

Warner supports the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement  which Trump opposes  but said more must be done to address communities in Virginia and elsewhere that have been dislocated by U.S. trade policy.

During the press call set up by the Clinton campaign, Warner also attacked Trumps tone and what he termed Trumps reckless comments when handling international issues such as the recent Brexit vote, in which Great Britain voted to separate from the European Union.

Supportive of the vote, the billionaire businessman, who was in Scotland visiting a golf course he owns after the vote, made a point of saying that the upheaval would be good for his own business interests.

I cannot imagine a national leader making those kind of comments on foreign soil, said Warner, calling Trumps position remarkable, beyond the pale, for a responsible political leader and a responsible business leader.

The rules of making real estate deals are not the same rules that need to be followed in guiding the national economy or understanding the world economy, said Warner, who said Trump has demonstrated no willingness to learn the facts.

Republicans did not address the criticisms of Trump, but instead took aim at the Democratic candidate, suggesting recent revelations about the use of her private email server during her time as secretary of state, demonstrate that Clinton has more to hide and cannot be trusted.

Its a shame that Senator Warner has so willingly fallen in line behind a candidate who has such a strained relationship with the truth, said Garren Shipley, Virginia communications director for the Republican National Committee.

Through her use of a secret email server, Hillary Clinton damaged our national security just to keep her own shady dealings out of the headlines, and has since lied about it repeatedly, he added.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe plans to bypass state legislators to address climate change by reducing carbon emissions from Virginia power plants.

McAuliffe signed an executive order Tuesday directing state agencies to deliver concrete recommendations for the carbon reductions by next spring.

The move puts him at odds with state lawmakers, who in the state budget specifically prohibited any spending related to the federal Clean Power Plan for reducing power plant carbon emissions while it is being challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Now, some of our legislators have trouble keeping up with the times on this topic. They dont believe the overwhelming science supporting climate change, and they have attempted, as you know, to limit any action by our commonwealth to address this tremendous threat, McAuliffe said before signing the order. It would be irresponsible for us to throw up our hands and do nothing.

Republican leaders said the move is the governors latest attempt to overstep his authority by using executive orders that defy the General Assembly. In the past two years, McAuliffe has rankled Republicans with executive actions aimed at expanding Medicaid, banning firearms in state buildings, and restoring ex-felons voting rights.

This order is another deliberate attempt to circumvent the legislature and the will of Virginia voters, House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, said Tuesday after the signing ceremony. The governor is developing a troubling tendency to prefer Washington-style executive action instead of the dialogue and collaboration that Virginians expect and deserve.

McAuliffe frames climate change and rising sea levels as more than an environmental issue that could swallow Tangier Island in coming decades and that already causes extreme flooding around Norfolk. Its a national security issue because of the states large naval installations, he often says.

And by turning to cleaner energy sources, McAuliffe sees a way to lure new business, especially manufacturers of such technology as solar panels. He previously directed state agencies to derive at least 8 percent of all their electricity from solar power, another move to try to boost an industry that has thrived in neighboring states but has barely taken hold in Virginia.

Cheap, reliable, environmentally friendly electricity can and will be the lifeblood of our new Virginia economy, McAuliffe said.

Between 2005 and 2014, Virginia reduced its carbon emissions from power plants by 21 percent. But power plants are still responsible for about a third of the carbon dioxide pollution in the state.

The governors order drew praise from several environmental groups, yet some worried that it does not go far enough.

Governor McAuliffes smart move keeps climate action on the front burner  exactly where it belongs  because clean energy cant wait. Climate change already threatens to flood the Tidewater area, worsen Virginias air quality and jeopardize our health and economy, said Walton C. Shepherd, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council who focuses on energy issues including the Clean Power Plan. Now the governor has a tremendous opportunity: Nothing stands in the way of Virginia drafting plans to reduce dangerous carbon pollution and expand renewable energy.

Kate Addleson, director of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, said she was generally encouraged by the announcement but would have preferred a more concrete commitment such as reducing the states carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030.

Addleson and other environmental groups that oppose natural gas fracking and the proposed natural gas pipeline through Virginia worry that the states reliance on natural gas could continue to grow as carbon limits push coal-fired plants closer to extinction.

A joint statement from the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and Virginia Organizing blasted the order as a minor environmental policy that is dwarfed by the potential harm that could come from natural gas and pipelines.
Let me be the first to wish my fellow Virginia residents a happy Independence Day on this, the 240th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. I recognize that the Johnny-come-latelies in other states must wait a full five days before they celebrate their holiday, but why should we wait for them? Virginia came first, with our own Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson and the never-too-much-to-be-praised George Mason, for whom my school is named.

If Mason is remembered, its generally as the Framer who walked out of the 1787 Philadelphia Convention without signing the Constitution. If we adopt it, he said, well end up with an all-powerful president in a country dominated by the national government. He was right, of course. It just took us a couple of hundred years to get there, which shows you just how far-seeing Mason was.

The Philadelphia Convention can be seen as the tragedy of George Mason. He was a patriot, one of the greatest of patriots  and though he knew he could not sign the Constitution, he nevertheless stuck around to the end, trying to make it better. Of the 55 delegates, none spoke more often than he did, with the exception of Gouverneur Morris and James Madison. But Mason was on the losing side, and lost his friendship with George Washington over their differences.

Truth is, Mason was not the most clubbable of men. Choleric, impatient, and argumentative are words that come to mind, were one asked to describe him. And yet there was something more. Mason was a Hegelian world-historical figure, a person who represented a new principle in the advance of the human spirit  with the difference that Masons Virginia was more advanced still than the bureaucratic Prussian state that Hegel thought represented the end point of history.

What Hegel had missed, and Mason had grasped, is that freedom is fragile without the bulwark of strong legal institutions, of the kind Mason would provide. And that is what makes Mason one of the half-dozen most important Founders, one of the greatest figures in world history. For it is to Mason that we owe the enactment of the first comprehensive bill of rights, in the Virginia Declaration of Rights; the first modern written constitution; and, with Jefferson, the first declaration of independence from Great Britain.

Mason began with his Declaration of Rights, which offered an intellectual defense for independence. Heres what it said:

Government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community;  And that, when any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community has an indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it.

Mason drafted this in the third week of May 1776, and fellow delegate Thomas Lee sent a copy of it to his brother, Masons close friend, Richard Henry Lee at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. On June 7 Richard Lee rose in Congress and moved that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. That led to the Declaration of Independence on July 4, and it began with Masons Declaration of Rights.

For supplying the justification for the Declaration of Independence, Mason ought to be recognized, with Jefferson and Adams, as one of the greatest of those who created the United States. But there is one thing more. Though little recognized, Virginia actually declared independence from Great Britain before July 4, 1776. On June 29, 1776, Virginia adopted Masons draft of the first state constitution.

But what was Virginia doing in adopting a new Constitution, without a royal governor, unless it were already independent? So Jefferson then appended a preamble, which stated that the government of this country, as formerly exercised under the crown of Great Britain, is totally dissolved. All of that was implicit in Masons constitution, however.

Even without the preamble, it was a declaration of independence. Mason was thus the co-author of the countrys first declaration of independence, and Virginians should celebrate June 29 as the anniversary of our independence from Great Britain.

Just about everything of interest in American history happened in Virginia, of course. Or if it didnt, its because some Virginia boys came a-visiting.
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Nearly $600,000 from the federal government has been released for construction of the Lynchburg Regional Airports new control tower, slated to be finished by the end of the year.

Built in 1963, the existing tower is in need of replacement. According to Lynchburg Regional Airport Director Mark Courtney, the tower has outlived its usefulness.

With the combination of airline service, flight training and business jets coming in and out, the modern tower is essential to our mission and safety, Courtney said. Its really critical that we maintain our air traffic control service.

As part of the Federal Aviation Administrations air traffic control tower program, the money is the second part of appropriated federal dollars for the construction of the new tower. The FAA entitlement funds support movement of federally mandated communication systems from the old structure to the new one.

The existing air traffic control tower at Lynchburg Regional Airport is more than 50 years old and has been slated to be replaced for many years, Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine said in a joint news release Tuesday. We are pleased that the City of Lynchburg will receive federal funds to help support construction of the new tower. These investments are critical to upgrading our nations air traffic control system, which is in dire need of modernization.

Courtney also praised U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, as "a real leader in garnering bipartisan support for the FAA entitlement grants" so the airport can remain open.

The cab of the old tower will be sold at public auction, with Liberty Universitys School of Aeronautics and at least one other party interested in purchasing it . Construction on the new structure began in April, directly next to the location of the current tower. The entire project is expected to cost $4.69 million, which combines all of the preparation as well as construction costs.

This has been a long time coming, Courtney said. Its been about four years from doing an FAA site study, engineering and design, selecting the bid and finding a total cost be [that would be] something that we could have sufficient funding for.

In addition to the $600,000 released from the FAA entitlement funds both this year and last, the state is contributing another $1.8 million to the project. The airport is paying for the last section with about $1 million from airport traveler revenue, Courtney said.

The new tower also will service Liberty University, whose aeronautics students fly out of the airport.

In 2015, there were 101,870 takeoffs and landings at Lynchburg Regional Airport, according to the release.
Given the variables, it could be months or even next year before former Gov. Bob McDonnell learns whether he can or will be tried again in light of Mondays U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning his corruption convictions.

Or if the government throws in the towel he could find out much sooner.

The justices sent the case back to the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals  which upheld the convictions last year  with instructions to determine whether the evidence could sustain a guilty verdict under the high courts narrower definition of official action.

If the court so finds, it would be up to the U.S. Attorneys Office to decide whether to prosecute again.

McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, were convicted of performing official acts in exchange for $177,000 in gifts and loans from Jonnie Williams, then CEO of Star Scientific.

The unanimous Supreme Court found that setting up a meeting, talking to another official or organizing an event, or agreeing to do so  without more  does not fit that definition of official act. In his opinion for the court, Chief Justice John Roberts said the McDonnell jury was given instructions on what constitutes an official act that were too broad and that the jury might have convicted the former governor for conduct that is not illegal.

Henry Chambers, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said the question the 4th Circuit must now answer is: Could a reasonable jury have convicted McDonnell based on the evidence presented at the first trial, given the Supreme Courts definition of official act?

Possibilities

The high courts order to the 4th Circuit opens up a number of possibilities and timelines.

Henry Asbill, one of Bob McDonnells lawyers, and the U.S. Attorneys Office declined to comment Tuesday.

Barry Pollack, a white collar criminal defense lawyer in Washington, said that as a formality the clerks office at the high court sends the lower court a certified copy of the order 25 days after the issuance of a judgment.

But the 4th Circuit need not wait, he said, and it is likely the same three judges who unanimously upheld McDonnells convictions in July 2015 will handle the matter.

The 4th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over the lower federal courts in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina, will not be hearing cases again until September. However, Carl Tobias, another professor at the University of Richmond, said, I think the court will move expeditiously and get it done this summer.

Tobias, an expert on the court, and Pollack, chairman of the white collar and internal investigations practice at the firm of Miller & Chevalier, said the appeals court could order both sides to submit briefs on the question.

If they do, I would expect them to set a schedule soon and opening briefs would likely be due in 40 days, Pollack said.

Jeffrey Bellin, a professor at William and Mary Law School, said preparing and arguing the briefs will take time  even if the same three judges on the 4th Circuit get the case  because the Supreme Court has presented a new question.

Pollack and Bellin said the appeals court also could send the case back to Judge James Spencer, the trial judge, to decide whether sufficient evidence was presented at the 2014 trial to sustain a conviction under the high courts new definition of an official act.
TAXI drivers have reported they are being waved goodbye by people in the street in the wake of the EU referendum.



The information was passed on to Chief Insp Richard Butterworth, South Yorkshire district lead for hate crime, at his routine meeting with the representatives from taxi associations this week.



Mr Butterworth said some taxi drivers had reported that individuals on the streets had gestured a waving motion at them as though they were leaving the country.



He added: Its obvious the people dont understand what the EU referendum is all about and are just using it as an excuse to exhibit more unsavoury or racist behaviour.



Mr Butterworth added that perpetrators were associating peoples skin colour with where they believed they were from, when in fact they were born in the UK and were UK citizens.



Aside from this, Mr Butterwoth said there had been no major hate crime incidents or tensions reported since last Fridays Brexit vote.



But he said if people did have concerns or anything to report, they should contact the dedicated hate crime team on

operation.solar@southyorks.pnn.police.uk or via the operations community advocates, like REMA, Rotherham United and Victim Support.



Mr Butterworth added that a significant amount of hate crime in the town was already directed towards taxi drivers and Operation Solar would soon be launching new initiatives to support drivers, particularly over the weekend.
PJSC ALROSA, the world leader in diamond mining, has announced that it was authorized to establish a departmental security service to protect the Companys production facilities.

Based on the amendments to Article 8 of the Federal Law of April 14, 1999, No. 77-FZ On Departmental Security Service approved today by the Council of the Federation, ALROSAs relevant subdivisions will protect diamond mining facilities fully owned by the said strategic joint-stock company and its affiliates.

The previous version of Article 8 of the Federal Law On Departmental Security Service provided not for organizations entitled to create a departmental security service but for protected facilities. Therefore, the federal law must provide for the right to create its own security service by PJSC ALROSA.

ALROSA is on the list of strategic enterprises under the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, and the new version of the Law provides for the Companys right to establish a departmental security service (by analogy with such companies as Rosneft, Transneft, Gazprom, and others). The draft law was approved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (General Administration for Private Security) and Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (as the Companys supervisory authority).

Adoption of amendments will allow increasing safety of the Companys production facilities located in remote and hard-to-reach regions of our country, and the state will be able to save up to RUB 200 million a year, says Rinat Gizatulin, ALROSA Vice President.

In the current version of the Law, departmental security is the total of governing bodies, material and human resources aimed at the protection from security incidents, provision of pass and access regimes, as well as prevention and suppression of crime and administrative offences at protected facilities.




Brexit-beaten Canadian stocks roared back to life Tuesday, with significant strength emerging in the heavyweight energy and financial sectors.

Calm was restored to global after a two-day tantrum brought on by the UK's vote to leave the European Union.

Traders are waiting to see whether the break-up actually takes place. The British parliament can nullify the results of the referendum, or the UK could negotiate some associate status.

Encouraging economic data from the US helped cushion the Brexit blow.

Economic activity in the U.S. increased faster than previously estimated in the first quarter of 2016.

The Commerce Department said the pace of growth in gross domestic product was upwardly revised to 1.1 percent from the previous estimate of 0.8 percent.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index was up 152.90 points, or 1.12 percent, to 13,842.69.

Financials rose 1.4 percent, while energy stocks added 2.4 percent.

WTI crude oil rose $1.52, or 3.3 percent, to settle at $47.85/bbl on Nymex.

Saputo (SAP.TO) apologized to customers for shrinking its milk bags to 3 liters from four.

Bombardier Inc. (BBD_B.TO) revealed an agreement with Air Canada (AC.A.TO) for purchase of Landmark C series for up to 75 aircraft.

Canexus Corporation (CUS.TO) said the Canadian Competition Bureau approved the proposed acquisition of Canexus by Superior Plus Corp. The US FTC is still challenging the merger.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
Switzerland's UBS consumption indicator for May is due to be released in the pre-European session on Wednesday at 2:00 am ET.

Ahead of the data, the Swiss franc showed mixed trading against its major rivals. While the franc rose against the pound, it fell against the yen. Against the U.S. dollar and the Swiss franc, the franc held steady.



As of 1:55 am ET, the Swiss franc was trading at 1.0849 against the euro, 1.3051 against the pound, 0.9810 against the U.S. dollar and 104.18 against the yen.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Forex News
Dixons Carphone Plc. (DC.L), a specialist electrical and telecommunications retailer, reported Wednesday that its fiscal 2015 profit before tax declined to 263 million pounds from last year's 287 million pounds. Earnings per share fell to 15.1 pence from 21.2 pence a year ago.

Headline profit before tax was 447 million pounds, compared to 381 million pounds last year. Headline basic earnings per share were 29.3 pence, compared to 25.5 pence last year.

Revenues increased to 9.74 billion pounds from 8.26 billion pounds last year.

Group Headline revenue was up 3% on a local currency basis but broadly flat in Sterling terms. Like-for-like revenue growth was 5% reflecting strong growth in UK & Ireland, Nordic and Greek businesses.

Further, the company proposed final dividend of 6.50 pence, higher than last year's 6.00 pence, taking total dividends for the year to 9.75p, up 15% year-on-year.

The company also said Sprint joint venture in the US is expected to contribute $40 million to $50 million of annual EBIT to the Group by 2019/20.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Kellogg's is entering into restaurant with the opening of a new cafe in New York City, exclusively for cereals that may cost around $8 per bowl, reports said.

In the new venture, Kellogg's follows fast food chains like McDonald's (MCD), who had rolled out its all-day breakfast menu last fall.

The cafe, to be known as Kellogg's NYC, will be launched officially on July 4 in the heart of Times Square. The menu reportedly features around 10 items, priced between $6 and $8, made from cereals like Raisin Bran, Special K and Froot Loops.

The person behind the variety menu ideas is Chef Christina Tosi, founder and owner of Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC.

The unexpected items in the cereal menu include Rice Krispies with green tea powder and ice cream topped with Cracklin' Oat Bran, dried cranberries, white chocolate, and toasted coconut.

Life in Color includes a bowl of Froot Loops with lime zest, marshmallows and passion fruit jam, while Honey Buzz is Honey Smacks with honey, toasted pecans and banana chips.

Tosi had collaborated with Kellogg's initially in 2014, when she created cereal recipes for a temporary pop-up shop in NYC.

Kellogg is funding the venture, while Journee, a community for restaurant professionals, is responsible for its operations and creative direction.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
The U.S. Department of State has warned U.S. citizens against all travel to Yemen because of the high security threat level posed by ongoing conflict and terrorist activities n the country.

In a Travel Warning issued on Tuesday, it urged U.S. citizens currently living in or visiting Yemen to depart.

On February 11, 2015 due to the deteriorating security situation in Sanaa, the Department of State suspended embassy operations and U.S. Embassy Sanaa American staff have been relocated out of the country. All consular services, routine and/or emergency, have been suspended until further notice.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
PrivateBancorp Inc. (PVTB) announced Wednesday morning that it has agreed to be acquired by CIBC (CM.TO) for US$18.80 in cash and 0.3657 of a CIBC common share for each share of PrivateBancorp common stock.

PrivateBancorp has gapped open sharply higher this morning and is now up 7.89 at $43.82 on above average volume. The stock has jumped to nearly a 3-week high and has re-crossed its 50 and 200-day moving averages.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
A new musical inspired by the 20th Century Fox film "Anastasia" is reportedly headed to Broadway. It is currently slated to open at the Broadhurst Theater in New York on April 24, 2017 and will tell the story of the youngest daughter of a Russian czar.

"After finishing a record breaking run in Hartford, we look forward to bringing the magic of Anastasia to Broadway audiences next spring," producers Bill Taylor and Tom Kirdahy said. "In Hartford, we saw people ages 8-100 travel from all over the world to enjoy Anastasia's enduring story. We are thrilled to have Christy, Derek, John and Caroline leading our company again for the Broadway premiere."

The show is directed by Tony winner Darko Tresnjak (A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder) as well as a book from Terrence McHally (Master Class). Songs from the film will be included as well as an original score.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Entertainment News
In a bizarre case that has taken Delhi police by surprise, a bike thief has reportedly blamed his girlfriend for his crimes

Usually, bike thefts are the handiwork of organized gangs, whose primary motivation is money. But in this case, the accused has confessed that it was the never-ending tirade of his girlfriend that prompted him to steal bikes.

Named Lalit, the accused told the cops that his girlfriend would often tease him for not owning a bike. Lalit did not like it at all, but somehow he chose to ignore it for quite some time. However, the situation reached its tipping point when Lalits girlfriend reminded him again about not having a bike on Valentines Day. Fed up with his girlfriends constant rant, Lalit decided to do something that will shut up his girlfriend forever.

It is likely that Lalit must have brainstormed various ideas that would allow him to please his girlfriend. The right approach would have been to simply buy a bike and surprise his girlfriend. If funds were not available, Lalit could have requested family or friends to lend him some money. He could also have bought a bike on EMIs. But somehow Lalit did not choose any of these options. Instead, he made a more radical plan, that of stealing bikes.

Lalit approached his friend Saheed and together the duo put their plan to action. After stealing their first bike, they continued with the crime and stole more bikes and scooters. While Lalits girlfriend would probably have been happy with just one bike, Lalit thought about the more the merrier concept. The plan was to collect the stolen bikes and present them all to his girlfriend. However, Lalits ambitious plans to delight his girlfriend failed miserably, as the police caught him red handed.

The bike thefts had continued uninterrupted for around three weeks, but Lalits luck ran out on March 6. Cops were informed that some people were moving around in a suspicious manner in Dwarka area and were probably trying to steal a motorcycle. The cops laid a trap and arrested the duo who was riding a premium motorcycle without a number plate. After investigations, it was revealed that the bike was stolen on February 21.

After being grilled by the cops, Lalit confessed to his crimes and even revealed the location of other stolen two-wheelers. A total of four bikes and five scooters were recovered by the cops. Now instead of spending quality time with his girlfriend, Lalit will probably be cooling his heels in the prison for quite some time.

Source
New generation Honda Accord has made a come back to the Indian auto industry. The car was launched today, and is now available across India.

Honda Accord will only be offered with a hybrid powertrain. This is in the form of a i-VTEC 4-cylinder 2.0-liter and electric motor powered by an 1.3 kWh Li-Ion battery pack. The peak combined power output stands at 215 PS which is sent to the wheels via E-CVT. A total of three driving modes are on offer  EV Drive, Hybrid Drive and Engine Drive. Price of the car starts from INR 37 lakh, ex-sh Delhi.

Exterior features include LED headlights, LED taillights, LED foglights, LED DRLs, four colour options (Lunar Silver Metallic, White Orchid Pearl, Crystal Black Pearl and Modern Steel Metallic), electric sunroof, 18 inch alloys.

Interior features on offer are two hi-resolution colour screens on central dashboard, one is a 7-inch Advance touch-screen display audio with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto; while the second is a 7.7-inch intelligent Multi-Information Display (i-MID). It also gets electrically adjustable front seats with memory function for driver seat, Ivory colour leather seats, rain sensing wipers, auto high-beam headlights, keyless entry, Cruise control, i-Dual Zone Automatic Climate Control with Plasma Cluster, Auto-dimming mirror, Remote engine start, ANC  Active Noise Cancellation.

Below are some fun facts about the new Honda Accord Hybrid



1) You can start your Honda Accord Hybrid with a remote, to pre-cool the car in summer and pre-heat in winter

2) Honda Accord Hybrid has a 2 motor hybrid system  215 PS peak power, yet 23.1 kmpl

3) Accord Hybrids AC automatically adjusts temp, blower speed where sunlight enters the cabin!

4) Honda Accord Hybrid can run on Hybrid mode, pure electric or engine only. It has a sport mode for very quick acceleration.

5) Honda Accord Hybrid has sound proofing & Active Noise Cancellation so all that youll hear from outside is absolute nothing!

6) Honda Accord Hybrid has LaneWatch  A camera on rear view mirror to show extended view of other lanes, on screen.

7) Safety features on offer are  6 airbags, Parking sensors, ISOFIX mounting points, Honda LaneWatch, Reverse camera, ABS, BA, VSA, HSA, etc.

News Release

Honda Accord Hybrid  Photos

Honda Accord Hybrid Launch Presentation
Porsche 911 Carrera S and Carrera S Cabriolet have been launched in India today at the Buddh International Circuit. It is offered in two variants, Porsche 911 Carrera S and Carrera S Cabriolet available at a price of Rs 1.82 crore and Rs 1.99 crore respectively, and deliveries are set to commence from mid 2019 onwards.

This is the 8th generation Porsche 911 and was showcased at the LA Auto Show. It sports new exterior and interior updates and is positioned on a new platform that uses a lot of aluminum in its makeup contributing to improved weight distribution. It sits on new 20 wheels in the front and 21 wheels at the rear, gets wider wheel arches and the overall body is now 45mm wider offering better interior space. Design elements to the rear include a distinctive spoiler and a light strip that runs along the width of the Porsche 911.

Interiors also get revamped with a brand new cabin design while the dashboard follows the same design as seen on the 1970 models. The dials have been replaced by digital displays and it also sees a new rev counter in the middle. The 2019 Porsche 911 sports a new multi function steering wheel, a 10.9 touchscreen monitor and plenty of connectivity functions such as navigation with swarm based data.

Under the hood is a 3.0 litre, flat six, turbo petrol engine with power capacity at 444 bhp at 6,500 rpm and 530 Nm torque from 2,300-5,000rpm. Acceleration from 0 to 100 kmph is achieved in under 4 seconds with the Carrera S reaching 0 to 100 kmph in 3.7 seconds and the Carrera 4S in 3.6 seconds.

Top speed at 308 kmph on the Carrera S and at 306 kmph on the Carrera 4S. This engine is mated to a new 8 speed Porsche dual clutch transmission with new assistance system such as Porsche Wet Mode for enhanced traction on less frictional surfaces along with Night Vision Assist along with a thermal imaging camera. The engine is mated to a 7 speed or 8 speed dual clutch transmission and is reworked with new intakes and exhaust system. The engine also comes in fitted with a particulate filter to cut emissions.

The new Porsche 911 take on the Audi R8, the Nissan GT-R and Mercedes-AMG GT in terms of competition in India.
According to a person who has been briefed on VWs dieselgate settlement deal in the US, the company has proposed a plan which would set it back by USD 14.7 billions (around INR 99,445 crore).

This deal which is set to be made public soon will involve repairing and buying back the affected diesel cars in the US (there are 475,000 of them), compensating the owners and take care of other such expenses.

According to the proposed settlement, VW would repair or buy back the affected cars in the US.

The company is reportedly ready to compensate the owners of dieselgate cars in the US to the tune of USD 5,100 to 10,000. While the method of repairing the cars and making them compliant with existing emission norms are yet to be detailed, customers who are choosing to opt for the buy-back plan can do so by availing the pre-dieselgate trade-in value for their cars (dieselgate reduced the average trade-in value of a VW by 19% in the US).

The cost to repair or buy back the cars is estimated at USD 10 billion. The German car maker also has to spend USD 2.7 billion towards environmental mitigation and USD 2 billion towards research on zero-emission technology.

Dieselgate not only costs VW huge money but it also dented the prospects of new-gen VW Group cars in the US.

Also read  VW to discontinue 40 cars and replace them with EVs

Its worth noting that the dieselgate settlement deal still requires approval from the Judge. VW Group could face more fines, penalties, and criminal charges. The affected owners can choose to forgo the settlement deal and file their own independent lawsuit against the company.

New Audi A4  Photos

Via  TimesofIndia.Indiatimes.com
AI, HRW call for suspending Saudi Arabia from UN Human Rights Council







NEW YORK, June 30 (Saba)  The Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have called on the United Nations General Assembly to immediately suspend the membership rights of Saudi Arabia in the UN Human Rights Council.



The two organizations accused Saudi Arabia of exploiting the body to obstruct justice in regard to committing possible war crimes in Yemen.



In a joint statement issued Wednesday, they urged in the United Nations General Assembly to take this decision because of the regularly flagrant violations of human rights by the Saudi regime.



The statement confirmed that the two organizations will practice pressure on the General Assembly for a vote in this aspect.



"Several months ago, Saudi Arabia exceeded the borders and it is no longer worthy to remain in the Council," assistant director of Human Rights Watch Philippe Bolopion said at a press conference.



The Amnesty International accused the Saudi regime of leading an oppression crackdown, which it described as brutal, against opponents and applying the death penalty in crimes do not deserve it in accordance with international laws.



" Since 2013, all activists of human rights in Saudi Arabia have been jailed, threaten or forced to go into exile," said Richard Bennett, the AIs official at the United Nations.



He stressed that the possible war crimes of the Arab coalition in Yemen should be investigated by the Human Rights Council. "Instead of that, Saudi Arabia used the Council to prevent a decision for an international investigation."



The organizations demanded that the expulsion of Saudi Arabia should be effective until the termination of unlawful attacks of the coalition forces in Yemen and conducting to a credible investigation.



The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein announced in last March, the responsibility of the Saudi-led coalition for most of the civilian casualties in Yemen.



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[30/June/2016]
Two, possibly three suicide bombers killed at least 28 people and wounded scores of others late Tuesday at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Turkish authorities said.

State television said one explosion occurred at a control point at an entry to the international arrival terminal. Witnesses said police fired on the suspects after one attacker initially opened fire with what was later described as a Kalashnikov rifle. Video later showed one such weapon lying unattended on the ground at the facility.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Television showed scenes of chaos at the huge facility, Turkey's largest airport and one of the busiest in the world. As police sought to secure the terminal, the death toll began to climb, after initial reports of 10 dead.

One witness described the scene to VOA's Turkish service: "There were two small explosions and then a large one. People scattered everywhere. They didn't know where to go. We were waiting for my sister, but couldn't find her. We're [still] waiting."
Korea and Japan will resume naval cooperation for the first time in four years next month. Naval patrol aircraft from the two countries will practice searching for and tracking North Korean submarines and conduct their first friendship flight.

The drill will be held at Atsugi air base in Japan from July 4 to 7, a Navy spokesman here said Tuesday.

The two countries are boosting military cooperation amid mounting threats of North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles.

The drills, which started in 2010, took place only three times before they were suspended as relations between the two allies soured.

But in May last year Seoul and Tokyo agreed to restore cooperation and seek ways to respond jointly to nuclear and missile threats from the North.

For the friendship flight, a P-3C airplane each country will fly together over the air base for two to three hours.

The P-3C aircraft play a key role in searching for and tracking North Korean submarines. The South Korean Navy has 16 and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force 69, the biggest fleet after the U.S.
Here's what we know about the Mooseheads after 10 games

There are a few things we know now that the Halifax Mooseheads have hit the 10-game mark this season. The first is that sophomore goalie Mathis Rousseau looks every bit like the team's No. 1. Rousseau has started all but two of Halifax's games so far ...
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Travis Kalanick was indicted in December 2014 for operating an illegal taxi service here.

The American CEO of Uber has said he will appear before the Seoul Central District Court this week.

Uber was launched in Korea in 2013, only to face fierce resistance from local taxi operators, who accused the app-based ride-sharing service of operating an illegal racket.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government put up a W1 million reward for people who report Uber drivers and ask prosecutors to indict the company (US$1=W1,174).

The business model is so new that it has run into trouble in several countries because they have no laws covering the Internet-borne sharing economy and often overreact.

The Seoul court sought the cooperation of U.S. authorities to deliver Kalanick's summons, but they refused because Uber is legal in the U.S.


Time for US to step aside and let the Philippines give peace a chance

A press statement by the Pilgrims for Peace

June 7, 2016

As peace advocates, the last month has been encouraging. Incoming President Duterte continued to underscore his intention to pursue peace in our nation, most immediately by resuming Peace Talks with the National Democratic Front-Philippines (NDFP). In fact, Dutertes negotiating panel chair Secretary Silvestre Bello III, peace adviser Secretary Jesus Dureza and panel member Hernani Braganza are being sent to Oslo, Norway to engage in preliminary talks on June 16, 2016, even before our new presidents inauguration to office.

Given these positive efforts, we must protest the June 2016 US terrorist listing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New Peoples Army (NPA). As reported, such listings are based on US interests in our country  we are tired of US interests been peddled as priority over the interests of our people, most especially when we are gearing up for reinvigorated peace negotiations.

This so-called terrorist listing is nothing new and we must not let it influence our openness to the pursuit of a just and enduring peace in the Philippines. As has been done for generations, United States intelligence groups regularly label and tag those who do not capitulate to their agenda and primacy in the world; after the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City, the US launched an intensified campaign of foreign domination under the guise of a War on Terror. Sadly, such campaigns are often successful in bending Philippine policies and priorities to the benefit of US interests in our nation.

Incoming President Duterte seeks to address historical injustices and to address the roots of armed conflicts through peace negotiations; thus, his plan to establish independent, foreign-relations strategies is essential. The United States is undoubtedly concerned about their interests. After more than a century as colonial and neo-colonial subjects of US Imperialism, the Philippines still struggles to break free from US interests and express our right to self-determination as a people. Duterte is sending a message that instead of pandering to the directives and dictates of the United States, the Philippines will be going our own way in prioritizing Peace Talks with the NDFP. Both Duterte and the NDFP express a daring desire to work for peace based on justice that promotes the interests of the Filipino people and values the sovereignty of the Philippines.

If the United States cares, even an iota, for the peace of our nation and people, they will remove their terrorist tagging. Such can impede travel and make it dangerous for Professor Jose Maria Sison, founding chair of the CPP, to attend any activity related to the talks in the Philippines, as requested by our incoming president.

But even more than this, the United States should have the decency to let the Philippines tread our own course in the pursuit of the peace we want. If they desire to be our ally, they should see that Filipinos long to develop a more inclusive, democratic, and economically vibrant nation. Dr. Jose Rizals plea Noli Me Tangere still echoes across the archipelago to insist that the United States step aside, so that our nation can give peace a chance, even as Andres Bonifacio spurs us forward, Panahon na ngayong dapat na lumitaw ang liwanag ng katotohanan; panahon ng dapat nating ipakilala na tayoy may sariling pagdaramdam, may puri, may hiya, at may pagdadamayan.
Greenpeace calls on Duterte to champion RE for jobs, sustainable national development

By Greenpeace Southeast Asia

June 7, 2016

MANDALUYONG CITY  Responding to REN21s Renewables 2016 Global Status Report, which showed a record-breaking past year for the renewable energy sector in terms of new installations, policy targets, investments and jobs, Greenpeace urged the incoming administration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to fast-track the shift from fossil fuels in order to ensure sustainable national development for the Philippines.

The Philippines should take advantage of renewable energy (RE), which is outpacing dirty oil, coal, and gas in terms of growth worldwide. President-elect Duterte should champion the countrys shift from fossil fuels to renewables, which would give his administration the higher moral ground when it negotiates lower carbon emissions from developed countries. Doing so would not only lower the main source of climate change, but also take advantage of the growing opportunities for jobs and investments, as shown in the REN21 report, said Reuben Muni, Philippine Climate and Energy Campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

The report comes at an opportune time for the Philippines, just over a week after the Climate Change Commission issued Resolution 2016-001, calling for a comprehensive review of the countrys energy policy in order to reduce our dependence on coal and urging relevant government agencies such as the Department of Energy, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the National Economic Development Authority, to come up with a national framework for a just transition to renewable energy. This will open the country to a low-carbon economic pathway. Any national development would not be sustainable if our power sector is still hinged on fossil fuels, Muni added.

The report showed that developing countries put in USD 156 billion in investments globally in renewable energy in 2015. This is a reported 19% increase compared to 2014 and higher than all the investments for 2015 of developed countries combined. Greenpeace is optimistic that the results of the proposed policy review will open more doors for investments in the Philippines and provide more green jobs in the renewables sector in the country.

Greenpeace says that the renewable energy sector showed very clear growth despite the hold of fossil fuel companies on the energy industry.

Although the deck remains stacked against renewables  with fossil fuel subsidies, low fuel prices, problems accessing the grid, vested interests and government inertia - they are still breaking through. If renewables can add 147 GW of power in 2015 with this economic picture, imagine what they could achieve if the cards were even, said Emily Rochon, Global Energy Strategist of Greenpeace International.
Korea's newest no-frills carrier Air Seoul conducted a trial flight between Seoul's Gimpo and Jeju on Tuesday ahead of its official launch next month. Air Seoul is the budget arm of Asiana Airlines and plans to fly regularly between Gimpo and Jeju from around July 11.

The launch raises the number of budget carriers in Korea to six. Low-cost carriers began operating here in 2006 focusing on short-haul routes. But now many are expanding to mid and long-haul routes.

Their burgeoning business is bad news for overpriced flag carriers Korean Air and Asiana, which posted net losses in the first quarter due to competition from budget carriers and foreign-exchange losses.

"As low-cost carriers expand their flights into mid- and long-range routes, the status quo is collapsing," says Huh Hee-young at Korea Aerospace University said. "We will see intensifying competition between budget and flag carriers over routes, services and prices."

Jin Air, started flights to Honolulu, Hawaii in December last year and will start flying to Cairns, Australia this December. And Jeju Air is starting flights to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia on July 20. Eastar Jet already flies to mid-haul destinations in Southeast Asia such as Siem Reap, Cambodia and Kota Kinabalu.

Some budget carriers have even joined international alliances to secure long-range fliers. Last month, Jeju Air formed the "Value Alliance" with seven other low-cost carriers based in Australia and Singapore.
Heres a thought. All this talk about justice and the call from Prime Minister Tuilaepa for an Inquiry into the Land and Titles Court Judges instantly reminds us of events in the not too distant past. We want to talk about these events because to move forward, lessons and mistakes of the past cannot be ignored.

Now a few years ago, we said that if the pursuit for the truth and nothing but the truth is measured by the lengthy investigation over claims of corruption at Tafaigata and the then Police Commissioner, the late Lilomaiava Fou Taialo, we have got to hand it to this government.

Not only did it appear that they had gone full throttle in their quest for justice, they also did not hold back in spending thousands of hard-earned taxpayers money in the pursuit of the so-called truth.

What with two Commissions of Inquiry, the suspension of the Commissioner on full pay and benefits for nearly a year, and his eventual sacking, it sure set a precedent. And lets not forget there was also an Assistant Commissioner who had been suspended with full benefits until he decided to resign.

Whatever the cost, the government at the time did not mind. We said then that it sure determined to find the truth, get to the bottom of the mess and clean it up.

It was an admirable development. One we thought would have been the beginning of better things to come.

After all, dont we believe that only the truth can set us free?

But there was a snag ladies and gentlemen, a point where the mind boggled and still does. If the government then spared no expense in the pursuit of the truth over the actions of one man, why didnt it adopt the same attitude and fervor towards similar claims of corruption, mismanagement and collusion elsewhere?

Over the past years, the issues of corruption, abuse of power and mismanagement among others have constantly surfaced on the pages of this newspaper. They are stories of austere corruption that have been permeating unstoppably throughout the public service which have yet to be addressed appropriately with the thought of reducing it, if not stopping it altogether.

Take for instance the issues raised by the Controller and Chief Auditor, Fuimaono Camillo Afele, in his report to Parliament for the periods ended 30 June 2010 and 30 June 2011. Fuimaonos report revealed allegations of unbridled corruption that had apparently been perpetrated within certain government corporations over a number of years.

The report was referred to the Officers of Parliament Committee (O.P.C.), chaired by then Associate Minister Papalii Niko Lee Hang to investigate. In the end, they backed and proven a number of allegations raised by Chief Auditor Fuimaono.

For instance, Papalii pointed to example of collusion to defraud public funds involving a certain contractor and how payments were made.

I have the contract here. The payments clearly violated some of the procedures, for example, the withholding tax, Papalii explained at the time.

Papalii said the 10 per cent retention, which should have been withheld until 12 months had lapsed, was ignored.

(The idea is that) if there are any defects in the building, that money will be used for those but (in this case) the retention was released, signed by the Minister before the work was completed and (by doing so it) violated the agreement that retention should be held for 12 months.

Papalii explained that the damaging thing was the approval for the release of the retention was done using a fake insurance as a security for the funds released.

That is in our report and we have the documents, he said. The Minister signed the letter to the C.E.O, acknowledging the companys request, with their submission of a fake insurance. Its a bid security bond insurance but in the contract, it should be a performance insurance which they never paid.

And the contract always says that the performance security bond, if not executed and delivered to the principal before the scheduled date, then the principal is entitled to terminate the contract.

Papalii said the contract should have been terminated.

What Im saying regarding the retention is that not only that they violated the (terms) by releasing the retention fund, 10 per cent of the total contract price, before the building was completed, they also used a fake insurance to secure the funds that had been released.

Papalii pointed to two issues there. Firstly, he said there was a violation of the agreement, which says you have to hold on to the retention until 12 months after completion of works then the 10 per cent retention should be released.

And given that the contractor provided a fake insurance... in providing a bid security insurance is just fraud because they never paid any premiums on it.

It was just for the sake of releasing the retention, they provided that security which Im sure the Minister and C.E.O clearly understand that it wasnt genuine insurance.

Now the building has been completed, theres an inoperative elevator, which is the subject of another issue that was not properly handled because in the original contract, the bidder included in his bid price a lift (for) $180,000.

That was why the work was given to this contractor regardless. There was another contractor who bid less by 200K.

But since this contractor had offered an elevator as well and bid $200,000 more, so the Minister directly submitted a submission to Cabinet.

I was the Chairman of the Tenders Board, and I know very well.

In hindsight, now I understand why he prompted that bidding of the headquarters because of the timeframe... near election time.

And then in hindsight, I can understand now why he brought his submission as an urgent matter so Cabinet had to endorse it so the works will be done immediately.

But all the works done were not within provisions or conditions of the agreement. I would say, its all corrupt. Thats why Im saying they colluded  the Minister, C.E.O and the contractor to defraud public funds.

Papalii said he and the O.P.C have evidence to back up their claims.

I have the things here signed by the Minister all ready for Court if required, he said. I can safely say that collusion to defraud public funds has been done.

Which follows then that who is investigated and who is ignored? Whos claims of corrupt practises warrant a suspension, lengthy inquiries and eventually a sacking and whos corruption is rewarded and protected?

Let me remind here that the former Police Commissioner is no longer with us.

The poor man was humiliated, torn to pieces and he eventually passed away while a case he brought against the government for unfair dismissal was pending. It is likely that we will never hear the truth about what really happened.

Today, we have the government accusing the Judges of the Land and Titles Court with the call for an Inquiry. Fine. Do what you have to do.

But where is consistency when it comes to this governments pursuit of justice? Which public servants are subjected to investigations, scrutiny and eventually sacked and which ones are allowed to get away with breaking the law and rewarded? Isnt everyone supposed to be the same under the law? Or are there people who are above the law in Samoa?
Dear Editor,

Ive been following the public outrage and the personal attacks thrown back and forth as a result of the Samoa Observers coverage of the Jeanine Tuvaiki case.

The one thing that stood out so glaringly for me from the above case and the ensuing aftermath, was how the media turned on itself to vilify their own.

I dont know if any other profession would have done this but wow the harshest critics were from the media itself especially the local media, including some unemployed, self-promoting, so-called journalists at that.

Most of these people that aired their views never even wrote anything remotely world changing but the way they responded to this article, you would think they were award-winning journalists. Ua matua iloa ai lava le tou vaavaa. E le iloa ai se tou popoto poo se tou totoa, ae ua nao le aliali ai o le tou vaivai.

And special mention goes to the N.U.S Journalism lecturer who was oh so vocal and made that journalism program out to be something that it is not. The reality is, apart from a few bright sparks who have come out of that programme, the rest are just hopeless. You just have to listen to them on radio and TV, and read what they write. Its pathetic.

And you have the nerve to say that what the Observer has done has derailed your efforts to raise the standard. What standard? You should stop and listen to yourself. Even your students grammar leaves a lot to be desired. And thats just the basics.

What this case has done is expose the pettiness and jealousy within the media industry.

Your industry is so divided and so feainai. So how do you expect people to take you seriously when at the first hint of trouble within your own industry, you all turn on each other and become overnight experts on media ethics, when you yourselves have breached so many of these over the years? Hypocrites.

The difference is that when you do it, nobody cares because lets face it, nobody really reads or watches any of your stuff and takes it seriously.

The Samoa Observer should take heart at the peoples reaction because it obviously means that people expect so much more from the paper as they are used to a certain standard of journalism, a standard that no one expects from the other media outlets.

As for whats coming out of the Government Press Secretariat, arent they intelligent? That woman there deserves far more money than she is being paid by Tuilaepa. Hopefully it will help her see things clearly. Ua matua ova le papau o le tofa ma le faautautaga.

The P.S.C should also really deal with all these ACEOs and senior level public servants who seem to be on social media 24/7. And the language used, wow. No manners, no respect.

Yes, you may be posting as an individual, but you also do hold a public position, paid for by all taxpayers, and that should make you mindful of the mindless, verbal diarrhea you let out online. And some are just downright abusive. Again that word that everyone seems to be an expert on nowadays  Ethics.

My last advice to all you media people, especially the very vocal ones who seem to have an opinion on social media about everything under the sun, look in the mirror the next time you accuse others of breaching ethics. The same word that most of you are trampling on in your bid to get to where you are now. Ask yourself. Please examine yourself and then be honest not with us, but with yourself.

The only sensible take from the media on this debacle was from Newsline.

But thats not surprising given that that paper, just like the Observer, has kept on going despite all the obstacles that it has faced over the years.

And I know both will continue on, even long after some of these so-called journalists short-lived wannabe media careers.

Tiana N.

Tufu, Savaii




Two locally-owned banks have signed guarantee and loan agreements with the Asian Development Banks (A.D.B) Trade Finance Program (T.F.P).

Held at the Tanoa Tusitala Conference fale yesterday, the signing is a first for the Pacific markets.

The signing means the National Bank of Samoa and the Samoa Commercial Bank get $12millon from T.F.P. annually to support their trade activities.

A.D.Bs head of Trade and Finance, Steven Beck inked the partnership with S.C.B. General Manager, Lemalu Ray Ah Liki, N.B.S. Chief Executive Officer, Tuuu Amaramo Sialaoa.

The Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti, was also present.

Mr. Beck pointed out that in Asia trade led growth has created a lot of jobs and lifted millions of people out of poverty.

But without sufficient finance, guarantee and loans to support trade the full potential of trade to support growth and jobs is not going to be realised, he said.

In its own modest way that is what this agreement today is aboutworking in partnership with S.C.B. and N.B.S. to provide financial resources to small and other companies in Samoa to create more growth and jobs.

The N.B.S. C.E.O. is equally excited about the scheme. Tuuu said the programme will make it easier for business and individuals to conduct international trades.

It will benefit and assist importers and exporters where it saves cost, obtain assurance that goods and services are delivered on time. It will also help with management of cash flow which means that much needed funds need not to be tied up with processes of export and import but instead the funds are made available for business.

The C.E.O. pinpointed that the total value in export and import in Samoa is approaching the $7million mark and it continues to grow.

However, he said disappointingly is the usage of formal trade finance products remain very low and we hope to change that.

For the bank this is an opportunity for us to be able to trade around the globe as we believe that with the partnership it opens up opportunity for us to increase our network in corresponding with banks out there.

S.C.B. Managing Director was also optimistic. Looking forward to delivering the benefits of the programme, Lemalu said Samoa is an open economy that relies heavily on trade.

He also pointed out that S.C.B. and N.B.S. are not known internationally and the partnership will help them facilitate consignment with other countries.

Minister of Finance, Sili added that the challenge would be moving forward and using the facility to respond to the needs of the people.
The family of a man stabbed several times on the head at Aele last week fears permanent memory loss and long-term brain damage as a result of the incident.

The 30-year old father-of-three, Tasi Tanielu, is still in the hospital.

But his uncle, Tautea Koyo, relayed the bad news to the Samoa Observer yesterday.

The hospital reported back to us after his surgery that hes in a critical state, he said. The blows to his head has led to memory loss and he is suffering from serious brain injuries.

Tautea said the news is devastating as Mr. Tanielu might never be the same again.

He can barely walk on his own now I don't know if he can fully understand anything, he said.

Hes forgotten a lot of people, family names and thats a real worry for us, his wife and his young children.

Mr. Tanielu works at one of the companies in town.

Hes a breadwinner to our family. The centre of his life are his children and that kept him going (to work) everyday.

The alleged attack happened when Mr. Tanielu went with another family member to a shop when another man from their village attacked him. The reason for the attack is not known.

My nephew was stabbed from the back, he said. There are two deep cuts on his head, he was rushed to the hospital where he remains in a critical condition as of today.

Police Media Officer, Maotaoalii Kaioneta Kitiona, confirmed that the accused man faces an attempted murder charge.
The Police Commissioners official vehicle was attacked while he was escorting Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi last week.

Commissioner Fuiava Egon Keil and his driver were not hurt but the cars window was smashed. The attack happened at night.

The attack has resulted in an investigation, which is continuing, according to the Ministry of Polices spokesperson, Maotaoalii Kaioneta Kitiona.

The escort for the Prime Minister is a routine one, said Maotaoalii. It is the Police duty to escort senior government officials on some occasions and on this night, some threw rocks at the Commissioners vehicle.

Neither the Commissioner nor his driver were hurt from the incident.

Maotaoalii said they have not arrested anyone yet in relation to the attack.

According to reports, the Police Commissioner has sought help from the mayors of Fasitoo tai and Vailu'utai villages to find who threw stones at his vehicle.

Commissioner Fuiavailili could not be contacted for a comment.

Sources in the Police told Radio New Zealand that a drug raid in Fasitoo-tai last week could be the reason behind the incident.
An outstanding warrant of arrest against the Minister of Justice and Courts Administration, Faaolesa Katopau Ainuu, has been struck out.

The decision was made in the American Samoa Court yesterday.

This was confirmed in an email from Faaolesas lawyer in the territory, Marcellus Talaimalo Uiagalelei.

The lawyer said a motion to quash the warrant was filed and successful.

The decision means the Minister can now travel freely between the two countries.

The matter was scheduled for hearing today (yesterday) on the governments motion to dismiss (the warrant), the lawyer wrote.

The government also moved to dismiss (the warrant) due to the lack of witnesses and the spouse didnt want to pursue it.

The Court granted the motion to dismiss by the government and the defense motion to quash was rendered moot.

Uiagalelei added that the matter has been resolved and that the Minister was not required to appear in Court yesterday.

Obviously, Faaolesa is pleased with the outcome today. However, his office will be issuing a statement at the proper time.

Attempts to get a comment from the Minister yesterday were unsuccessful.

He did not answer his cell phone.
The governments plan to construct a multi-million-tala 15-storey building where the Savalalo market recently stood is being reconsidered.

In fact, according to the Minister of Public Enterprises, Lautafi Fio Purcell, the plan might not be viable at all.

At the time it was a good idea, or it may have seemed a good idea, he said in response to questions from the Samoa Observer.

Now in hindsight (and) looking at the plans, maybe not as good.

But the Minister did not completely rule out the possibility of the plan being revisited at some stage.

There could be an opportunity to revisit the idea, he said, adding that for now, the market will remain as it is.

The plan for 15-storey complex surfaced in 2012 during the time of former Cabinet Minister, Faumuina Tiatia Liuga.

The idea was revealed during the discussion of a Financial Trade Center, which included the Minister going on a fact finding mission to Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and other major cities in China to familiarize ourselves with the step-by-step set up of such a center.

At the time, Faumuina said the immediate benefits for Samoa included huge foreign investment, job creation, corporate tourism and infrastructure development.

There will immediately be a proliferation of white collar employment opportunity for our young people, spinoffs to the tourism sector, he said at the time.

Our G.D.P forecast for next year is slated at $1,7 billion. In five years  with the financial center in full operation  the GDP should jump to well over $2 billion. Faumuina said the construction was to be funded by investors from overseas.

At the beginning of the year, a fire demolished the iconic Savalalo Market.

Today, vendors are using tents to sell their goods.

Asked for an update about the market development, Lautafi said the plan would have to fit in with the larger plans of construction at the waterfront.

There are approaches that the government is planning for the whole waterfront, around that area, he said. Well have to make sure [the rebuilding] is aligned with those big projects.

The Minister added that although the work is underway with the help of New Zealand for the Apia Waterfront Development, it could be a while before building starts.

Its going to be there for the next 1800 years so youve got to be absolutely sure thats what you want. We also have to consider how thats going to help the development of Samoa in the bigger picture.

In the meantime, vendors have been selling their goods from tents set up in the space, and are still dealing with the aftermath of the fire in January.

Vendor Elda E. Taala said her stall has been struggling since the fire. She said the money she received from the government has not covered the money she lost in the fire nor the money she spent to restart her business. My stall was burnt down in the fire including everything, said Taala.

Some of our products that cost more than thousands of tala, and to be honest, the government has not covered what we lost.

Taala also says the tents are bad for business when the weather is bad.

When it rains, the water comes into the stalls and when its windy their products are blown away.

Its really hard to earn money when it rains all throughout the week, said Taala. I am not happy with the place we are using right now. I know it is only temporary but I am still unhappy with it, our sales dropped and we hardly have any customers nowadays.

Taala hopes the old market structure will be rebuilt and her business wont have to move if the government decides to go ahead with the 15-storey building. I hope we find a place in this building to sell our products, she said.

We are used to this area and most of our customers are familiar with this place, also this is the centre of town where everyone comes for shopping, especially tourists.

She worries if they are forced to move the business elsewhere it will not attract, as many visitors, and she will struggle to support her family.

*Julie Iles is a Journalism student from Massey University, New Zealand, who is in Samoa for work experience.




Islamic State militants on Wednesday pushed back U.S.-trained Syrian rebels from the outskirts of a town on the Iraqi border, in a setback to a budding offensive that aims to sever the militants' transit link between the two countries, a rebel spokesman said.

The Islamic State-linked Aamaq news agency said IS militants repelled the New Syrian Army from an air base which the rebels had briefly captured earlier in the day. IS said it seized 15 hostages and ammunition, and was still advancing against the rebels.

Earlier Wednesday, the Pentagon-trained force entered the Hamdan air base  northwest of the border town of Boukamal  following intense clashes, rebel spokesman Mozahem al-Saloum said.

He said airborne fighters were dropped from coalition helicopters on Boukamal's southern edge, helping the rebels advance. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on local activists, confirmed the account.

The Observatory's chief, Rami Abdurrahman, said foreign airborne fighters were also dropped to the north, enabling the takeover of the base. The rebels were heavily backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and were coordinating their fight with Iraqi tribesmen and forces on the other side of the border, al-Saloum said.

The U.S.-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against IS in Iraq and Syria since 2014 and 300 U.S. Special Forces are embedded with a Kurdish-led militia in northern Syria. It was not immediately clear whether U.S. forces were involved in the Boukamal offensive or what other nations might be taking part in it. The U.S. Central Command said coalition jets carried out several airstrikes on IS targets in the Boukamal area.

Col. Chris Garver, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Baghdad, said the U.S has provided advice and assistance to the New Syrian Army as well as airstrikes in both Syria and Iraq in support of the operation.

He told The Associated Press there was a "very tough fight" around Boukamal and that the New Syrian Army suffered a "setback." He denied that fighters had been brought in by helicopter.

The Observatory said several hundred rebels from different factions were involved in the offensive, which began on Tuesday. It said IS fighters have dug trenches and planted land mines south of the town.

Al-Saloum acknowledged that the New Syrian Army forces were unable to keep the base and other outposts to the south, near the Qaim border crossing with Iraq, but said the offensive would continue.

Wednesday's setback was another blow to the rebel group. Two weeks ago, Washington accused Russian aircraft of bombing the rebels near the Iraqi border. Russia has been carrying out airstrikes in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces since September.

IS seized much of the Iraq-Syria border in its 2014 blitz, along with large swaths of territory in both countries, declaring an Islamic caliphate. But IS has in recent weeks been losing ground, both in Iraq and in Syria.

The U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led forces have besieged Manbij, an IS stronghold in northern Syria, while Iraqi forces have taken Fallujah, in Iraq's western Anbar province, from the Sunni extremist group.

Meanwhile, aid was delivered to the besieged Syrian towns of Zamalka and Irbin for the first time since 2012, when the two rebel-held areas east of Damascus were besieged by government forces. The 37-truck convoy organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the U.N. and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent carried enough food and medical aid for 20,000 people.

Further north, another joint convoy carrying food and medicine was delivered to the besieged suburb of west Harasta, which has a population of about 12,500, according to ICRC spokeswoman Ingy Sedky.

-AP
This was not the first time candidates agreed to split a term. In 1960, after 52 rounds of voting, Poland and Turkey agreed to split a two-year term.

The ministers proposed that Italy would serve in 2017 and the Netherlands in 2018. This also would give each country an opportunity to preside over the council, because its presidency rotates monthly on an alphabetical basis.

"We took the opportunity of this perfect parity -- 95 to 95 -- to decide a proposal that also gives this message of unity between two European countries," said Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

"I think it's a signal of the importance we attach to the work of the United Nations in a time when we need more unity, more conflict resolution, more work on development, and at the same time a show of unity in a complex period for Europe," Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders told reporters.

After discussions, the two European Union members offered to split the seat allocated to the "Western Europe and Others Group" for one year each.

After five rounds of voting, the countries were tied with 95 votes each. Neither was able to reach the two-thirds majority needed to secure a seat.

The Netherlands and Italy took the rare step Tuesday of agreeing to share a two-year seat on the UN Security Council, after a contest that ended in a dead heat.

 Successful Candidates

Also securing seats Tuesday were Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Sweden.

Bolivia and Ethiopia ran unopposed -- their regional groups already had decided among themselves whom to put up as their candidates -- but the others competed for their seats.

"The new EU members of the Security Council now have especially sensitive tasks, as the U.K. is going to be distracted at the U.N. by the fallout from Brexit at home," said Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, using the shorthand for the U.K.'s referendum on leaving the European Union. "There is an extra burden for the other Europeans to stand up for EU interests."

"We have to send a signal about unity  keeping the European Union together, not to speculate too much, not to do all kinds of desperate things, but rather just make sure that we deliver," Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom told reporters as she marked her country's election to the Security Council. She said Sweden would focus its council work on conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, as well as security issues and climate change.

Bolivia's UN Ambassador Sacha Llorenti said the issue of Palestine would be a priority for his country, as well as implementing the newly signed deal between Colombia and FARC rebels. Under terms of the deal, the UN will be part of a monitoring-and-verification mission in Colombia reporting on the cease-fire and receiving the FARCs weapons.

Kazakhstan will be the first Central Asian country to sit on the council. "We will try to do our best to bring our perspective and expertise to contribute to the work of Security Council and the United Nations for the cause of peace and development," Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov told reporters. He said his government would focus on global security, nuclear disarmament and development.

Ethiopia is a major contributor to UN peacekeeping and plays an important regional role as the host of the African Union's headquarters.

"The really big change to the Security Council won't involve any of the temporary members, but the arrival of a new American team after November's elections," analyst Gowan speculated. "If it is a [Hillary] Clinton administration, there will be a fair bit of continuity. If there is a [Donald] Trump administration, the U.N. is going to get really, really lively."

 Campaigning

Typically, countries announce their intention to run for council seats years in advance. Sweden, for example, announced its intention more than 10 years ago and campaigned for a year and a half.

Candidates try to woo member states right up until the last minute. Last week, Italy tried to sweeten voters' moods, passing out free gelato at the UN, and on Monday night, Kazakhstan threw a lavish party at the famous Plaza hotel to celebrate its candidacy. On Tuesday, "goodie bags" with souvenirs from Sweden, the Netherlands and Thailand blanketed the tables inside the General Assembly hall.

The newly elected council members will replace Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela, which complete their terms December 31.

The new council members will begin their terms January 1. They will join the five permanent council members -- China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States -- and five current nonpermanent members -- Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay.
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, 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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
Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/28/2016 -- The global cryocooler market is expected to reach USD 2.94 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 7.29% between 2016 and 2022. The growth of this market is majorly driven by the growing medical & healthcare services in developing economies and rapid shortage of helium gas. In addition, factors such as growing demand for cryocoolers in space applications and development of cryocoolers for microsatellite military applications provide significant growth opportunities for the market. The report aims at estimating the size and future growth potential of the cryocooler market. The base year considered for the study is 2015 and the market size has been forecast between 2016 and 2022. In addition, the market has been segmented on the basis of type, application, heat exchanger type, hardware & services, and geography.



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The military application in the cryocooler market held the largest share in 2015



The cryocooler market is application driven. This market has been segmented on the basis of application into military, medical, commercial, environmental, energy, transport, research & development, space, agriculture & biology, and others. The cryocooler market for the military application accounted for the largest share in 2015. This market is expected to grow at a significant rate between 2016 and 2022, driven by growing adoption of various cryocoolers to provide cryogenic temperatures for IR sensors in missile guidance, night vison based systems, and satellite based surveillance.



The market for GM cryocoolers is expected to grow rapidly during the forecast period



The cryocooler market based on type is segmented into GM, PT, Stirling, JT, and Brayton cryocoolers. Among these cryocoolers, the market for GM cryocoolers is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period. The major reasons for the growth of this market include wide adoption of GM cryocoolers for cooling IR sensors in medical MRI systems, cryosurgeries, and cryopumps in semiconductor applications. Also, the increasing number of GM cryocooler product launches catering to diverse industry segments is further contributing to the growth of this market.



The cryocooler market in North America is expected to hold the largest share of the global cryocooler market by 2022



The cryocooler market in North America held the largest share of the global cryocooler market in 2015, followed by the markets in Europe and APAC. The market in North America is expected to grow at the highest rate between 2016 and 2022. This growth can be attributed to the shortage of helium gas and growing importance for cryocoolers in proton therapy to treat cancer and high adoption of cryocoolers in missile guidance and satellite monitoring in military application.



The major players in the cryocooler market are Advanced Research Systems, Inc. (U.S.), Brooks Automation, Inc. (U.S.), Chart Industries, Inc. (U.S.), Cryomech, Inc. (U.S.), DH Industries BV (The Netherlands), Janis Research Company, LLC (U.S.), RICOR  Cryogenic & Vacuum Systems (Israel), Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. (Japan), Sunpower, Inc. (U.S.), and Superconductor Technologies, Inc. (U.S.) among others.



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The scope of the report covers detailed information regarding the major factors influencing the growth of the cryocooler market such as drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities. A detailed analysis of the key industry players has been done to provide insights into their business overview, products and services, key strategies, new product launches, mergers & acquisitions, partnerships, agreements, collaborations, and recent developments associated with the markets.



About MarketsandMarkets

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M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.



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Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/29/2016 -- The industrial 3D printing market is expected to reach USD 4.75 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 29.2% between 2016 and 2022. In this report, the market has been segmented on the basis of process, technology, software, service, application, end-user industry, and geography. The direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) technology enables the creation of high-quality metal parts as it facilitates the construction of complex geometrics of metals which makes it ideal for manufacturing industry. DMLS is used to develop complex structures in industries such as aerospace, automotive, and healthcare for tooling, machinery parts, and so on. Detailed resolution, cost-efficient production, and quick & easy handling are the major drivers for the growth of DMLS technology in the industrial 3D printing market. The base year considered for this report is 2015 and the forecast period is from 2016 to 2022.



Browse 80 market data Tables and 77 Figures spread through 203 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Industrial 3D Printing Market - Global Forecast to 2022"



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The market for the electrical & electronics end-user industry expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period



The demand for industrial 3D printing in the electrical & electronics industry is expected to increase considering its growing usage for producing tools and for printing power connectors, buttons, and circuits embedded into their plastic models and robotics. Rise in the adoption of industrial robotics in the electrical and electronics industry because of the miniaturization of electrical and electronics equipment and complexity in manufacturing processes is expected to drive the market.



Laser metal deposition expected to be the fastest-growing technology in the industrial 3D printing market during the forecast period



The laser metal deposition technology is used for repairing, cladding, and producing parts. Some of the common applications of this technology include repair of mold tool surfaces and repair and production of machinery parts and robotics. The benefits of laser metal deposition printing technology include reduction of material wastage, reduced tooling costs, repair of parts that are costly to replace, decreased lead time, and customization of parts according to customers' requirements.



North America expected to dominate the industrial 3D printing market during the forecast period



North America is expected to hold the largest share of the industrial 3D printing market during the forecast period, with the U.S. being the major driver for the growth of this market. Major industries such as aerospace & defense and automotive are increasingly using industrial 3D printing technology for tooling, producing robotics parts such as arms and grippers, and manufacturing machinery parts to maximize functional integration and consistency while minimizing costs.



Report Details : http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/industrial-3d-printing-market-160028620.html



The industrial 3D printing market has been segmented on the basis of process (material extrusion, material jetting, binder jetting, sheet lamination, vat photopolymerization, powder bed fusion, and directed energy deposition), technology (stereolithography, fuse deposition modelling, selective laser sintering, direct metal laser sintering, polyjet printing, inkjet printing, electron beam melting, laser metal deposition, direct light projection, laminated object manufacturing, and others), application (tooling, heavy equipment & machinery, and robotics), end-user industry (automotive, aerospace & defense, healthcare, electrical/electronics, foundry & forging, jewelry, food & beverage, and others), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, and RoW).



Apart from the market segmentation, the report also covers the Porter's five forces analysis, the market's value chain with a detailed process flow diagram, and market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges in the overall industrial 3D printing market.



The major players in the 3D printing market include 3D Systems Corporation (U.S.), Stratasys Ltd. (U.S. & Israel), the ExOne Company(U.S.), Voxeljet AG (Germany), Arcam Group (Sweden), SLM Solutions Group AG (Germany), EOS GmbH (Germany), EnvisionTEC GmbH (Germany), Materialise NV (Belgium), Sciaky Inc. (U.S.), Concept Laser GmbH (Germany), Hoganas AB (Sweden), and Renishaw PLC. (U.K.).



About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets is the world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.



M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.



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San Diego, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/29/2016 -- An investigation on behalf of investors in Community High School District Number 210 Will and Cook Counties Illinois (Lincoln-Way) Refunding School Bonds, Series 2013A and Capital Appreciation Refunding School Bonds, Series 2013B was announced over potential breaches of fiduciary duties.



Investors who purchased Community High School District Number 210 Will and Cook Counties Illinois (Lincoln-Way) Refunding School Bonds, Series 2013A and Capital Appreciation Refunding School Bonds, Series 2013B have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail@shareholdersfoundation.com or call 858-779-1554.



The investigation by a law firm concerns whether certain officers and directors breached their fiduciary duties owed to investors of Community High School District Number 210 Will and Cook Counties Illinois (Lincoln-Way) Refunding School Bonds, Series 2013A ("Series 2013A Bonds") and Capital Appreciation Refunding School Bonds, Series 2013B ("Series 2013B Bonds").



On April 29, 2016, Moody's Investor Service downgraded Lincoln-Way District 210's debt to Baa3 from A1. The downgrade reflected, among other things, the recent discovery of misappropriation of bond proceeds and restricted funds. On June 6, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a subpoena to Lincoln-Way District 210 to investigate its bonds, budgets and annual financial reports.



Those who purchased Community High School District Number 210 Will and Cook Counties Illinois (Lincoln-Way) Refunding School Bonds, Series 2013A and Capital Appreciation Refunding School Bonds, Series 2013B have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation.



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/29/2016 -- The IoT technology helps connect any device to the internet. Devices such as smartphones, household appliances, and wearable devices can be part of the IoT ecosystem and can be controlled through the internet. The IoT works as the core of modern concepts such as smart homes, smart shopping, smart transportation, and smart healthcare.



The IoT market in China to grow at a CAGR of 18.99% during the period 2016-2020. The IoT has started to scale and deliver real changes across the Chinese economy. The nation is becoming a global leader in adopting the IoT and is firmly establishing itself as the manufacturing hub of the world with the help of the technology. Chinese manufacturers are rapidly adopting new technologies such as 3-D printing, robotics, and artificial intelligence and enabling local players from China to strengthen their economic and global footprints



The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the IoT market in China for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of IoT components, which include connected devices equipped with radio frequency identification (RFID) and near-field communication, sensors, gateways, networking components, supervisory control and data acquisition, and complex event processing.



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Technavio's report, IoT Market in China 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.



Key vendors

- Huawei

- Datang

- ZTE

- Putian

- Lenovo

- Founder

- Haier

- Tsinghua Tongfang

- Foxconn

- Tech-Com

- Xiaomi



Other prominent vendors

- Broadlink

- Gizwits

- Ayla Network China

- Lifesmart

- Yeelink

- Landing Technology

- Orvibo

- MXchip

- Phantom



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- What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?

- What are the key market trends?

- What is driving this market?

- What are the challenges to market growth?

- Who are the key vendors in this market space?

- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?

- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/29/2016 -- Pyramid Research estimates that total telecom services revenue in Iraq will be $4.4bn in 2015. Over the next five years, we expect Iraqs total market revenue to grow at a CAGR of 3.1% to reach $5.1bn in 2020. The Iraqi market is smaller than other regional markets such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt, primarily due to ongoing civil unrest restricting development. Service revenue growth over the next five years will be driven primarily by mobile services, which will be buoyed by the launch of 3G services in 2015. However, growth will be hampered by security issues and a volatile domestic situation



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Key Findings



Pyramid Research expects total telecom revenue to grow at a CAGR of 3.1% during 20152020 to reach $5.1bn in 2020. Although growth will be hampered in the short term by the ongoing civil unrest in Iraq, the launch of 3G services will drive growth over the forecast period as demand for mobile data increases and operators invest in upgrading their network infrastructure.



The top two operators, Zain and Asiacell, which provide mobile voice and data services, will account for 67.5% of total telecom service revenue in 2015. Despite the civil unrest, mobile operators are launching new tariffs and bundled offers to attract subscribers to their recently launched 3G services.



Over the next five years, operators should seize opportunities related to rising demand for mobile data services by offering localized mobile content such as applications, music and videos. Network vendors should position themselves to support operators network upgrades and expansions. Smartphone vendors also have an opportunity to tap into a growing mobile subscriber base. However, investors should be wary of the risks to their investments due to the ongoing civil unrest in Iraq.



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Synopsis



Iraq: 3G Rollout to Drive Telecom Market provides an executive-level overview of the telecommunications market in Iraq today, with detailed forecasts of key indicators up to 2020. It delivers deep quantitative and qualitative insight into the telecom market of Iraq, analyzing key trends, evaluating near-term opportunities and assessing risk factors, based on proprietary data from Pyramid Researchs databases.



It provides in-depth analysis of the following:



Iraq in a regional context: a comparative review of market size and trends with that of other countries in the region.



Economic, demographic and political context in Iraq.



The regulatory environment and trends: a review of the regulatory setting and agenda for the next 18-24 months as well as relevant developments pertaining to spectrum licensing, national broadband plans and more.



A demand profile: analysis, forecasts and historical figures of service revenue from fixed telephony, broadband, and mobile services.



Service evolution: a look at the change in the breakdown of overall revenue by fixed and mobile sectors and by voice and data in the current year as well as the end of the forecast period.



An in-depth sector analysis of fixed telephony and broadband services, and mobile services: a quantitative analysis of service adoption trends and service revenue through the end of the forecast period.



Main opportunities: this section details the near-term opportunities for operators, vendors and investors in the telecommunications market in Iraq.



ReasonsToBuy



Provides an overview of the Iraqi telecoms market through a combination of quantitative and qualitative insights. The graphical information consists of more than 20 charts and tables derived from Pyramid Researchs forecast products.



Build profitable growth strategies by leveraging the analysis, which includes an examination of current player strategies and the future trends of the Iraqi telecommunications market.



Understand the factors behind ongoing and upcoming trends in Iraq's mobile communications, fixed telephony and broadband markets, including the evolution of service provider mobile market shares, to align product offerings and strategies to meet customer demand.



Gain insights on key telecom players in the market and their strategies to grow market share.



Explore novel opportunities to align your product strategies and offerings to meet customer requirements and succeed in the challenging telecommunications market in Iraq.



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/29/2016 -- The telecom market in Morocco will grow at a CAGR of 5.0% over the period 2015-2020 reaching $4.3bn by 2020. Moroccos telecom services will generate total revenue of $3.4bn in 2015. Morocco will record one of the highest mobile penetration rates in the North African region of 132.6% in 2015. Broadband is set to be the standout segment, spurring Moroccos telecom service revenue growth and the launch of 4G will further facilitate the enhancement of revenue streams for operators in the country .



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Key Findings



Pyramid Research expects total telecom service revenue in Morocco to grow at a CAGR of 5.0% reaching $4.3bn by 2020, from an expected $3.4bn in 2015.



The mobile voice segment is still a major revenue generator, accounting for 55.1% of total market revenue in 2015, while mobile data will produce $752m, or 22.4% of the total, in 2015.



The fixed/mobile revenue split will remain relatively unchanged over the forecast period, with the share of fixed services down by 1.3 percentage points from 2015 to 2020.



To accelerate revenue growth, operators are investing in their network infrastructure and enhancing their voice and data services.



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Synopsis



Morocco: Broadband Services via 3G, 4G, ADSL and Fiber Will Drive Telecom Market Growth provides an executive-level overview of the telecommunications market in Morocco today, with detailed forecasts of key indicators up to 2020. It delivers deep quantitative and qualitative insight into the telecom market of Morocco, analyzing key trends, evaluating near-term opportunities and assessing risk factors, based on proprietary data from Pyramid Researchs databases.



It provides in-depth analysis of the following:



Morocco in a regional context; a comparative review of market size and trends with that of other countries in the region.



Economic, demographic and political context in Morocco.



The regulatory environment and trends; a review of the regulatory setting and agenda for the next 18-24 months as well as relevant developments pertaining to spectrum licensing, national broadband plans and more.



A demand profile; analysis as well as forecasts and historical figures of service revenue from fixed telephony, broadband, mobile voice, and data markets.



Service evolution; a look at the change in the breakdown of overall revenue by fixed and mobile sectors and by voice and data in the current year as well as the end of the forecast period.



An in-depth sector analysis of fixed telephony and broadband services, mobile voice, and data services; a quantitative analysis of service adoption trends by technology/platform as well as operator, average revenue per line/subscription and service revenue through the end of the forecast period.



Main opportunities; this section details the near-term opportunities for operators, vendors and investors in the telecommunications market in Morocco.



Reasons To Buy



Provides an overview of the Moroccan telecom market through a combination of quantitative and qualitative insights. The graphical information consists of more than 20 charts and tables derived from Pyramid Researchs forecast products.



Build profitable growth strategies by leveraging the analysis, which includes an examination of current player strategies and the future trends of the Moroccan telecommunications market.



Understand the factors behind ongoing and upcoming trends in Morocco's mobile communications, fixed telephony, and broadband markets, including the evolution of service provider market shares, to align product offerings and strategies to meet customer demand.



Gain insights on key telecom players in the market and their strategies to grow market share.



Explore novel opportunities to align your product strategies and offerings to meet customer requirements and succeed in the challenging telecommunications market in Morocco.



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Philadelphia, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/29/2016 -- Pennsylvania 6 Philly, a restaurant and bar located in Midtown Village, Philadelphia, is pleased to announce that they are now accepting post-wedding brunch reservations this summer. Couples who are having their weddings anytime this July, August, or September, can enjoy one final meal or drink with guests before they hit the road. Individuals who would like to plan a brunch the morning after a wedding can email info@pennsylvania6philly.com, dial 267-639-5606, or visit the venue's website, http://www.pennsylvania6philly.com, and fill out a contact form.



Aside from announcing that they are now booking post-wedding brunches, Pennsylvania 6 Philly would also like to let everyone know that Zagat recognized them as having one of the "10 Must-Try New Sandwiches in Philly." Their Lobster Roll, which comes with celery, green onion, mayonnaise, a buttered roll, and duck fat fries, had the honor of being named to the list. Other sandwiches available on their menu also include the Penn6 Burger that comes with a platinum burger grind, bibb lettuce, sharp cheddar, tomato, garlic aioli, and duck fat fries; and their Mushroom Toasty, that comes with kennett square mushrooms, a fried egg, parmesan cream, and hearty greens.



Pennsylvania 6 Philly not only plays host to post-wedding brunches, but special events of any kind that include, but are not limited to, graduation parties, birthday parties, rehearsal dinners, and bachelor/bachelorette parties. The venue takes pride in having a friendly staff that will help to make any private affair a success, and pledges that the food will prove to be unforgettable.



When looking for a restaurant or bar in Midtown Village that offers the best brunch in Philadelphia, or the ultimate private dining experience in Philadelphia, look no further than Pennsylvania 6 Philly. To learn more about the venue, or any events Pennsylvania 6 Philly might be hosting this summer, please visit their website, or follow them on Facebook.



About Pennsylvania 6 Philly

Located just a few short blocks south of Market East Station, Pennsylvania 6 Philly is a contemporary American restaurant that features an extensive craft beer & wine list, along with a raw bar. Owned by Gary Cardi, Pennsylvania 6 is named after the oldest working phone number in NYC, which is the number of the Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan. The bar comes complete with white Carrera marble-topped tables, white subway tiles, dark wooden accents and large-scale photos of 1940's-era entertainers. Pennsylvania 6 Philly serves dinner, lunch and weekend brunch.



For more information, please visit http://www.pennsylvania6philly.com/.
American Fork, UT -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/29/2016 -- Clayton R. Johnson, Founder and CEO of Pyromaniacs Pizza, the premier provider of on-site wood-fired, hand-thrown pizza and desserts, announced its selection to offer artisan pizza to 60,000 Stadium of Fire attendees. This year's event, starring Tim McGraw, is Saturday, July 2, at BYU's Lavell Edwards Stadium.



Pyromaniacs Pizza is a family-owned and operated business, now in its fifth year of serving hot, delicious pizza, salads, and desserts throughout Utah's Wasatch Front. They're a food truck and catering company that provides fresh, hot pizzas by combining bold, new flavors with classic old-world techniques to create artisan wood-fired pizzas, specialty foods, and desserts.



Founded five years ago by Clayton and Kimbrey Johnson, they developed and tested pizza and brownie recipes by feeding friends each weekend. Once the recipes were perfected and ready to go, Johnson set out to design a process to deliver 100 fresh-cooked pizzas per hour. And the company was born! Now they are on target to cater more than 1200 events in 2016.



"There are no gas or electrical connections on our ovens," Clayton Johnson said. "We cook our entire menu with wood which provides the outstanding flavor and texture. The oven floor reaches 700o allowing us to cook pizzas in just 90 seconds. A customized pizza goes from order to the customer's hands in less than 5 minutes." Pyromaniacs Pizza serves the usual pizzas  pepperoni, cheese, vegetarian, etc.  as well as specialty pizzas such as Thai Peanut Chicken Pizza and Raspberry Chicken Chipotle, all made fresh when ordered. They also have vegan and gluten-free menus.



Pyromaniacs Pizza invites all their friends to join them at the celebration of U.S. Independence at one of their 3 kitchens centrally located through the stadium at Stadium of Fire on July 2nd. Gates to Lavell Edwards Stadium open at 5:30 p.m. with the show starting at 8:00 p.m.



Media Contact: For additional information, contact Clayton R. Johnson at clayton@PyromanicsPizza.com or call 801-PYRO (7976).



Contact Clayton R. Johnson, CEO American Fork, Utah 84003 clayton@PyromaniacsPizza.com www.PyromaniacsPizza.com
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/29/2016 -- The Singapore telecom market is among the most saturated and mature markets in Asia-Pacific and is estimated to generate telecom service revenue of $5.5bn by 2020. Mobile data will contribute nearly 37% of the total revenue, driven by proliferation of data-intensive apps, such as OTT and video. Operator investment in advanced technologies to boost indoor and outdoor LTE coverage will also be a major catalyst for growth of mobile data services in Singapore. The renewal of LTE licenses due for 2015 and 2017 will further extend the LTE coverage and enable operators to launch innovative offers. The corporate segment will be a key focus area for all three MNOs, and operators will launch services catering to business users needs, such as content delivery, cloud, managed services, cybersecurity and mobility management. Further, converged offerings will help operators to attract more customers in the coming years. Pay-TV operators will remain focused on expanding their content libraries by collaborating with content providers. Moreover, handset vendors will benefit from Singaporean operators device-bundle strategies and will leverage increasing data usage to drive up revenue.



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Key Findings



With one of the most mature and saturated telecom markets, Singapores telecom revenue will reach $4.8bn, or 1.6% of nominal GDP, by year-end 2015.



Pyramid Research expects telecom service revenue to reach $5.5bn in 2020 (CAGR of 2.6% over 2015-2020) driven by operator investment in LTE network enhancement and fiber rollouts.



The revenue mix will continue to be dominated by mobile services, due to ongoing deployment of HetNet networks to improve mobile coverage and pervasive demand for data. Fixed and mobile data penetration will increase subsequently and will account for 54.3% of total revenue in 2020, up from 46.4% in 2015.



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Synopsis



Singapore: Operators Invest in LTE Improvements and Multiplay Offers as Regulator Set to Increase Competition provides an executive-level overview of the telecommunications market in Singapore today, with detailed forecasts of key indicators up to 2020. It delivers deep quantitative and qualitative insight into Singapores telecom market, analyzing key trends, evaluating near-term opportunities and assessing risk factors, based on proprietary data from Pyramid Researchs databases.



The Country Intelligence Report provides in-depth analysis of the following:



An in-depth sector analysis of fixed telephony and broadband services, mobile voice and data services; a quantitative analysis of service adoption trends by technology/platform as well as operator, average revenue per line/subscription and service revenue through the end of the forecast period.



Main opportunities: this section details the near-term opportunities for operators, vendors and investors in Singapores telecommunications markets.



Reasons To Buy



Gain in-depth analysis of current strategies and future trends of Singapores telecommunications market, service providers and key opportunities in a concise format, to build proactive and profitable growth strategies.



Understand the factors behind ongoing and upcoming trends in Singapores mobile communications, fixed telephony and broadband markets, including the evolution of service provider market shares, to align product offerings and strategies to meet customers demand.



Leverage the graphical information (more than 20 charts and tables in the report based on the Pyramid Research forecast products), to gain an overview of the Singapore telecom market.



Analysis of key telecom players in the markets and major business strategies being adopted by them, to identify the opportunities to improve the market share.



Explore novel opportunities to align your product strategies and offerings to meet the requirements and succeed in the challenging telecommunications market in Singapore.



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[ACCRA] Ghana is now in the process of rolling out telemedicine  a remote method of diagnosis and treatment of patients using telecommunications technology  to expand healthcare delivery, especially to women and children, a meeting has heard.



The move follows the successful piloting in the Ashanti region of the country, says Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, director-general of Ghana Health Services (GHS).



The GHS wants all the regional hospitals to be linked to hospitals and community health workers in the periphery through telemedicine.

We have done well in using telemedicine in educating health workers, diagnosis and offering care and tackling of communicable diseases. Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, Ghana Health Services

Telemedicine can help us in achieving that and we hope to make remarkable progress in the next five years, said Appiah-Denkyira, during a forum in Ghana on digital health at scale in low- and middle-income countries early this month (3 June).



The forum was convened by the GHS and Novartis Foundation that has been involved in the pilot projects.



Telemedicine is something that we actually need. It has been piloted but but we now want to scale it up to a programme covering the entire country, explained Appiah-Denkyira, says, adding that in remote locations where pilot projects have been done, 25 per cent of pregnant women have not been to referral hospitals.



We have done well in using telemedicine in educating health workers, diagnosis and offering care and tackling of communicable diseases, he says. But we also expect to use it in management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).



According to Ann Aerts, head of Novartis Foundation, four out of every five deaths from NCDs occur in low-income countries because their health systems are insufficiently prepared.



She says telemedicine could help African countries leverage healthcare delivery and the Ghanaian successful pilot projects could be replicated in other parts of the continent.



There is a need to change the way healthcare is being provided currently for universal coverageTelemedicine is one of those innovative ways that can improve the knowledge of most health workers for quality and timely healthcare delivery [in Sub-Saharan Africa], Aerts tells SciDev.Net.



But for this to work, she adds, there has to be political will from the government and the Ghanaian trials have demonstrated that with government involvement, telemedicine surely works.



Alexis Nang-Beifubah, Ashanti region regional director of health services, says that access to healthcare is still a major challenge because of lack of equitable distribution of healthcare facilities.



Moving knowledge across distances by the physicians using technology other than being there physically to avail health knowledge and skills is crucial in achieving greater health coverage, he says.

He explains that in Ashanti region, there are tele-consultation centres (TCCs) managed by qualified nurses who interact with community health workers in remote locations through mobile phones. The nurses advise the community health workers on how to deal with the diseases reported or act as bridges between them and doctors in complicated cases.When the nurses have complicated cases they will call the doctors for advice or recommend referrals to hospitals. Because of this, the number of referrals have gone down drastically in the region, he says.Novartis Foundation, he notes, has been instrumental in supporting them to set up the TCCs and this has translated into improving knowledge, skills and competence of community health workers.This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.
CRISPR and its recent approval of human trial using the gene-editing technique in the United States target to accurately provide full cancer treatments. The breakthrough is aimed at making the treatment process cheaper and more accurate.

Dr. Carl June, a researcher, revealed to use T cells, the body's natural defense system component that repels viruses and other invaders, as a main component in attacking tumors and cancer cells.

To make the T cells effective against these cancers, researchers plan to snip out pieces of three genes using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Reportedly, the cells are isolated from the patient's blood before the edit is performed on the T cells, which should be injected back into the patient.

Cancer diagnosis through early screenings are more likely to result to positive treatment response. According to National Cancer Institute (NCI), although there has been progress in cancer treatment, diagnosis, and prevention over the past several decades, addressing cancer health disparities like higher cancer death rates, less frequent use of proven screening tests, and staggering rates of advanced cancer diagnoses, confidence in accurate cancer treatment has not been improved in decades, still.

The CRISPR/Cas9 technology, however, will be the most awaited revolutionary treatment of cancer emphasizing on full recovery, Singularity Hub reported. The technology is also aiming to address the economic aspect of the entire journey into a more affordable ordeal.

"I do believe that the promise of this technology is really amazing. It can be done quickly and it doesn't cost a lot of money," Udo Schuklenk, Professor and Ontario Research Chair in Bioethics at Queens University told to CBC News.

Cancer has been a chronic disease that has put every patient's life in tremendous danger. People has perceived cancer as a toxic disease, where patients go through states of depression and pain. While numerous testimonials about full recovery from the illness have circulated the world with the purpose of inspiring other patients, the degree by which people rely on the treatment modalities have remained low still.
NASA's Mars journey will initiate its qualification test on the world's most powerful rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), on June 28. This has been the ultimate purpose of NASA's expeditions for years, dedicating its time on space through rovers and spacecrafts.

During the NASA Space Launch System qualification test, the booster's motor will be heated for two minutes at Orbital ATK's test facilities in the desert of Promontory, Utah. The booster will be cooled to approximately 40 degrees Fahrenheit and be placed, constrained horizontally while Orbital ATK technicians inspect the effects of temperature on the performance of how the propellant burns.

Two of the NASA Space Launch System boosters will be attached onto either side of the rocket's main body during lift off and will sustain the huge combustion emitted for the first two minutes of flight, The Verge reported. Each booster burns about 5.5 tons of propellant per second and records about 3.6 million pounds of maximum thrust.

In March 2015, NASA successfully performed a ground test on one of the NASA Space Launch System boosters. The propellant was heated to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest temperature the propellant can reach with the inner engines still properly stable and functioning. This time the propellant was put into the coldest environment the booster's motor can handle in order to see how they can sustain extreme temperatures in the space mission.

"Propellant temperature shouldn't be mistaken for the temperature of the booster when it's fired," said Mat Bevill, deputy chief engineer in the SLS Boosters Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama on Clarksville Online.

Bevill added that the NASA Space Launch System booster may be conditioned to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. However, once it fires, it records about 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit that is why sensors inside and outside the booster are placed in order to measure the propellant temperature.

The NASA Space Launch System boosters, according to Orbital ATK technicians, will be seen again during the first test flight of the SLS. Called Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), the mission is set to take place in late 2018, which will launch an uncrewed version of the Orion crew capsule that NASA has been working on for the past decade.
If you have always been curious about the smell of celestial objects, well here is one for you. Astronomers have recently created a perfume that mimics Rosetta comet's smell, and you are better off not smelling it! According to reports, the whiff of Rosetta is unpleasant, pungent and foul.

Perfumers have reportedly created a scent which captures the notes of the Rosetta comet, officially known as the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The comet, which looks like a rubber duck in shape, was the subject of the Rosetta mission. Interestingly, the perfume was commissioned by the Rosetta team astronomers to interpret the numerous smelly compounds the mission detected in the micro-atmosphere of the comet. It was found out that Rosetta's smell had hints of bitter almonds, rotten eggs and cat pee.

The Rosetta mission first detected the smell of the comet in 2014 when its sensors flew through the trailing atmosphere of the comet. The instruments of the missions recorded a variety of pungent volatile compounds which included hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia and methane, as well as odorless compounds like monoxide, carbon dioxide and water vapor.

A UK company in Oxfordshire, called The Aroma Company, was commissioned by Rosetta mission scientist, Dr Colin Snodgrass, to create the perfume of the comet based on the compounds discovered on it. However, since some of the compounds found on 67P are toxic, the perfumery replaced them with similar smells instead of using the real deal, such as hydrogen cyanide. This is also the reason the perfume itself doesn't not smell as bad as the comet, as it is a toned down version; however it is still far from being delightful.

According to a reporter who got a whiff of the perfume, the smell was not as foul as believed to be and a few floral notes could apparently be detected. The general public can also smell the perfume at London's Summer Science Exhibition held by the Royal Society in London next month. Now you know where to head in case you want to experience an out of world scent literally.
The story of this jewel rainbow-colored corn, which is dubbed as "Glass Gems", begins with one man named Carl Barnes, who set out to search his Native American roots.

Carl Barnes of Oklahoma is now in his 80s. He is half-Cherokee and a half Scotch-Irish ancestry. He is now living with his son, A.V. Barnes, on their homestead in the panhandle of the state, a few miles south of Liberal, Kan.

Barnes started to explore his Cherokee roots when he was in his youth. He was searching the knowledge of his ancestors and of Native American traditions through his grandfather. His pursuit was centered on harvesting, planting and honoring seeds.

Then, he earned a degree in Agricultural Education. He worked on the farm, together with his wife Karen and they both raised a family. He started planting older corn varieties during his adult years to reconnect with his heritage, according to Science Alert.

Barnes then noticed ancestral types of corn re-appearing in his crops. He isolated these and he discovered many of the variations to match up with the traditional corns that had been lost to many of the Native tribes. These referred to those people who had been relocated in the 1800s to what is now Oklahoma. He re-introduced certain corn types to the elders of these tribes and this has helped their people in regaining their cultural identities. For them, the corn is literally the same as their bloodline, their language and their sense of who they are.

Wow. This Rainbow-Colored Corn Is Totally Real And Natural, Heres How You Can Grow It - https://t.co/Zi0SkZvts5  Little Black Cat (@LBCatG) May 6, 2016

He exchanged the ancient corn seed with people he had met and befriended some people all over the country. Barnes is known by his friends by his spiritual name, White Eagle. He stimulated to the most mysterious nature of the corn and its spiritual relationship to human beings. This has led to many profound insights, which he shared inspiring numerous people through the years. This way, the Sacred Seed was accomplishing its work, as reported by Mother Earth News.

Barnes continued displaying his rainbow-colored corn. Then, he met Greg Schoen, a fellow farmer in a gathering in Oklahoma in 1994. Schoen was amazed at the rainbow-colored corn. Barnes gave him the rainbow seeds. Schoen planted the seeds and in 2005, he began growing larger plots with other traditional varieties near Santa Fe.

The rainbow corn mixed with the traditional varieties produced new strains. Every year the corn has more vibrant colors and vivid patterns. Schoen then named the various rainbow-colored corns. In 2007, he named the blue-green and pink-purple corn, "Glass Gems."

In 2009, Schoen gave several varieties of the rainbow corn seeds to Bill McDorman, who owned the Seed Trust based in Arizona. McDorman is also the Executive Director of the Native Seeds/SEARCH, a non-profit conservation organization. He is now producing the Glass Gem Seeds and these can now be purchased online.

So, what is the taste of the rainbow-colored corn?

The rainbow colored corn isn't generally eaten off the cob. People grind the Glass Gem into cornmeal. They also use it in tortillas or grits because it is very starchy or stuffy. The rainbow-colored corn can also be used to make popcorns. On the other hand, it doesn't come out colored. Besides having a nutritious meal with the Glass Gem, it is also great and perfect for ornamental purposes with its attractive colors.
YInMn accidental blue shade pigment, which was discovered by scientists 7 years ago, has been recently disclosed with facts about its miraculous properties.

As it has been licensed for commercial use and is already taken in the hands of some artists, this near-perfect pigment exhibits a more durable, fairly easy to produce and safe characteristics, Mas Subramanian told in a statement released by Oregon State University (OSU).

The YInMn accidental blue shade pigment, which is a combination of Yttrium, Indium, and Manganese, is a product of a series of experiments done by Subramanian and his colleagues on the elements' electrical properties, Teen Vogue reported.

And after black manganese oxide were mixed with other chemicals, these were heated to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. An unexpected vivid blue shade was then born. The group of scientists furthered their study on the blue pigment until they have found how the resulting compound kept the color from fading, even when exposed to oil or water.

The YInMn accidental blue shade pigment simulates a distinctive attribute that separates it from other pigments. It is inherently free of toxic ingredients, unlike other blue pigments such as Prussian and Cobalt that release cyanide, a carcinogenic compound. This blue pigment would be a new alternative on roofing since the product's infrared reflectivity, according to OSU, is about 40 percent, which could keep buildings cooler inside.

"This new blue pigment is a sign that there are new pigments to be discovered in the inorganic pigments family," Geoffrey T. Peake, research and development manager of the Shepherd Color Company, told Artnet News. Subramanian also sees a bright future ahead of the YInMn accidental blue shade pigment as he started pinching ideas from artists, designers, art restorers, and other creative people.

YInMn accidental blue shade pigment, as of today, is still undergoing testing about new properties that could still contain its makeup before it is made more widely available.
Technology, if used properly, could be the thing that can help not only humans, but animals, have better lives. One such use of technology is for animals to become mobile again after having their limbs cut off.

An Asian elephant named Mosha lost her right foreleg from a landmine explosion at two and a half years old. She lost her right foreleg, which was cut just below her knees. It was around the time that she was spotted by Therdchai Jivacate, a surgeon who designs prosthetic legs for humans and animals through the Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation in Thailand.

Science Alert said that Mosha was the first elephant in the world to have been blessed with a prosthetic leg. Jivacate said about the elephant, "When I saw Mosha, I noticed that she had to keep raising her trunk into the air in order to walk properly."

This led him to take on the challenge of making a prosthetic leg for the elephant. Despite the problems that came along the way, he was able to make a 15-kilogram leg made of thermoplastic, steel, and elastomer to fit his gigantic mammalian friend.

Mosha has gone through nine prosthetic forelegs in the past six years - she had to be taken in from time to time to fit for a leg that could cope with her increasing weight and size. So far, Jivacate is still in the pursuit of a perfect prosthetic for her, with materials that are more durable and more resistant to wear, fitting of a growing elephant.

If it's true what they say about elephants, though, Digital Trends think that Mosha will never forget Jivacate. In fact, he shared with Motherboard, "I think she knows that I make her prosthetic legs as each time I come to the elephant hospital she makes a little salute by raising her trunk in the air."
Helium is popularly known as the gas used in filling party balloons. It is also has uses in the medical field like in MRI scans and for nuclear power. For years, many have feared that the amount of helium reserved in times of shortage may not be enough. However, British researchers have recently discovered a large reserve of the valuable gas in Tanzania which will offer hope for the future.

According to gizmodo.com, a group of researchers from Oxford and Durham universities along with the Norwegian helium exploration company Helium One, have found what they think is a large supply of the element in the most unexpected place.

Researchers said that the discovery was a result of a new approach in searching for helium that is a combination of exploration methods from the oil industry with scientific research. "We sampled helium gas (and nitrogen) just bubbling out of the ground in the Tanzanian East African Rift valley," Chris Ballentine, a geochemist in the Department of Earth Sciences at Oxford University, said in a statement.

The newly discovered gas field in Tanzania is believed to hold enough helium "to fill over 1.2 million medical MRI scanners," he said: "This is a game changer for the future security of society's helium needs, and similar finds in the future may not be far away."

One of the project leaders, geologist Jon Gluyas of Durham University, told Live Science that although the Tanzania gas field is large, it's only a small part of what the entire Rift Valley area may contain. "So it could be substantially larger," Gluyas said. "We will still have a lot of data to collect to be really confident, but yes, this is a globally significant discovery."

Dr. Gluyas said that one major factor to the development of the technique is to understand how helium gas is released from the rock where it forms. Most helium stays within the rock's crystal lattice. "You need a heating event to kick it out," he said. Volcanoes or other regions of magma in the earth can be enough to release the gas, he said.

As soon as helium is released, it has to be trapped by underground formations, which is generally the same kind of formation used to trap natural gas, The New York Times reported. It can also be found using the same kind of seismic studies done for oil and gas exploration. Since helium is mixed with other gases, it can be retrieved the same way natural gas is, by drilling a well.

Dr. Gluyas also said that the helium gas discovered in Tanzania may total to as much as 10 percent helium, which is a huge proportion compared to other sources. Researchers also believe that the source may have at least 54 billion cubic feet of the gas more than twice the amount currently in the Federal Helium Reserve, near Amarillo, Tex., which supplies about 40 percent of the helium used in the United States and is being drawn down.
Physicist Stephen Hawking was known to be very vocal about his opinions, and his latest comment is that pollution, greed, and stupidity are among the greatest threats to earth.

The Washington Post noted that in an interview with Larry King Now on June 26, the famous scientist said that he's worried of overcrowding. He shared, "We certainly have not become less greedy or less stupid. Six years ago I was worrying about pollution and overcrowding. They have gotten worse since then."

He also said that the problem of pollution has only grown in the last five years, and more than 80 percent of those in urban areas have been exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution. With climate change being what he believed is the biggest problem in the world is today, Hawking also told King that he wondered whether or not humans have come past the point of no return.

According to The Huffington Post, Hawking was interviewed from the Canary Islands, where he was honored at the Starmus Festival. During his conversation with Larry King, however, they were also able to touch on the topic of artificial intelligence, which he believed could be an actual threat to mankind.

He said that he doesn't think that these advances could be benign. For instance, if machines could reach a critical stage where they can evolve themselves, there is no way of knowing whether or not their goals will be the same as those of humans.

In other Stephen King news, Tech Times noted that the famed scientist is set to announce his new project: mapping the entire known universe in 3D with the help of a supercomputer named Cosmos, which is located at Cambridge University. The project will be discussed in detail by the physicist himself during the Starmus Science Conference, which started on June 27.
A collection of newly discovered galaxies are reportedly showing astronomers how the primordial universe broke free from its dark ages. The group of galaxies could have played an important part in shifting the universe from a time when it was opaque to its transparent era.

"Stars and black holes in the earliest, brightest galaxies must have pumped out so much ultraviolet light that they quickly broke up hydrogen atoms in the surrounding universe," said David Sobral, scientist at UK's Lancaster University. "The fainter galaxies seem to have stayed shrouded for a lot longer. Even when they eventually become visible, they show evidence of plenty of opaque material still in place around them".

Sobral led an international team of researchers in 2015 to detect many of these early galaxies using Chile's Very Large Telescope and Hawaii's Subaru and Keck telescopes. The scientists found that the first two members of the detected galaxies could have the first generation of stars. Called MASOSA and CR7, the two galaxies along with a previously discovered third galaxy known as Himiko, gave a hint that a huge population of similar celestial objects may still exist.

Around 150 million years after the Big Bang gave birth to the universe 13.8 billion years ago neutral hydrogen blocked the path of certain wavelengths of light. Subsequently, light began to gradually pass through the surroundings when the earliest stars split hydrogen apart and radiation began to prevail. The astronomers discovered that each of the newfound galaxies, they were researching about, contained a large bubble of charged gas around it. The occurrence suggests that the galaxies had still not broken free from the dark ages completely.

However, though such galaxies are numerous in number, they are hard to spot because they cannot build their own local bubbles as fast as bright galaxies can due to the blocking effect of the neutral hydrogen gas. The astronomers are now banking upon the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be up and running in the future, to know more about the intriguing objects. Meanwhile, you can see the images of the new found galaxies captured here.
Scientists found 2,700 cubic km usable ground water, three times more water than previously thought, underneath the drought-stricken California's Central Valley.

Residents are excited and surprised with the discovery of the underground water reservoir as California's mega drought is now in its fifth year. There is about 60 percent of the state that was in a severe drought. They hope for rain and El Nino to end. It seems grim yet the new discovery of the underground water reservoir brings expectation for them.

The study was printed in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on the week of June 27. It was led by researchers from Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, according to Science Daily.

Robert Jackson, the co-author of the study said that it's not often that you find a 'water windfall,' but they just did. He added that there's far more fresh water and usable water than they expected.

Meanwhile, Mary Kang, another co-author of the study and a postdoctoral associate at Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences said that their findings are relevant to a lot of other places where there are shortages of water. These include Australia, China and Texas.

According to Smithsonian, the researchers estimate the reservoir, which holds about 2,700 cubic kilometers of water or about 713 trillion liquid gallons. This is more than the Lake Ontario and Lake Erie when combined. They also examined the data from 938 oils and gas pool and over 35,000 oil and gas wells to differentiate the shallow and deep groundwater sources in eight California counties.

The researchers stated that this is good news for California. On the other hand, there are some complications to consider. This includes more expenses for pumping as the water is about 1,000 to 3,000 feet underground. Another thing is that some of the deep aquifer water is brinier, which has higher salt concentration. This requires desalination or other treatment so that it can be used for drinking or agriculture.

One more concern is that the oil and gas activities are occurring directly into as much as 30 percent of the sites where the deep groundwater resources are located. The researchers said that just because a company has hydraulically fractured or used some chemical treatment near an aquifer, this does not mean that the water is ruined. Kang explained that they need to use this water for a decade, so it's definitely worth protecting.
An 'Ocean Cleanup' system that is 100-meter-long prototype was installed last week in the North Sea, which is more than 14 miles off the Dutch coast, aims to catch the trash in the waters. This is the first ocean cleanup system ever tested at sea.

The prototype will be there for one year. This is to determine how it would handle the extreme weather at sea wherein it is a condition it will face when implemented in the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch." It uses long floating barriers that would passively catch ocean debris. Its system is empowered by the ocean's natural currents, according to PC Mag.

In one year test, the system may catch trash. On the other hand, it is not its goal to collect plastic at this time. Its sensors will track the prototype's every move and the loads to which it is subjected. The engineers will use the data to harden the system to make it resistant to the severe weather condition it will face in the cleanup of the trash vortex in the central North Pacific Ocean.

Meanwhile, Boyan Slat, the Ocean Cleanup CEO and Founder stated that there is a 30 percent chance that the system will break, but either way, it will be a good test. He further said that a successful outcome of this test should put them on track to implement the first operational pilot system in late 2017.

Sharon Dijksma, the Dutch Environment Minister said that the Ocean Cleanup is an inspiring example of how they can tackle the growing problem of ocean pollution. She hopes that with the help of the Dutch government, Boyan's prototype will turn out to be the successful solution for cleaning up the mid-ocean gyres. She further said that this is crucial to prevent permanent damage to the environment and marine life, due to the dilapidation and fragmentation of plastic waste materials.
FLORENCE, S.C. -- Farmers from the Pee Dee will soon have the chance to apply for S.C. Farm Aid.

In late May, the legislature voted to override Gov. Nikki Haleys veto of a $40 million aid package.

Beginning Friday, the state Department of Agriculture will take applications from farmers who had a 40 percent loss of agricultural commodities as a result of last falls historic flooding. The application period will run until Aug. 15.

The department and agricultural extension agents will hold a series of meetings to help farmers seeking aid.

According to the bill, South Carolina has over 25,000 farms spanning five million acres that generate billions of dollars each year as a vital component of a healthy economy. Total crop loss is estimated at nearly $400 million, and the estimated crop insurance payments will only cover about one-third of that loss.

Federal crop insurance is an inadequate method of indemnification compared to traditional forms of insurance and is not sufficient to aid farmers due to catastrophic events, the bill says.

Extension agent Tony Melton said Tuesday that he hopes to see a lot of farmers at the upcoming meetings, which are designed to help guide them through the application process.

Farmers really need it, said Melton, Clemson Universitys senior extension agent in Florence who covers horticultural responsibilities for the Pee Dee region. And small towns need it  these small towns in South Carolina really depend on farms for their economy. It gets really tough out there.

According to the bill, farmers are eligible for grants up to $100,000, not exceeding 20 percent of a verifiable loss.

Melton said hes amazed how the folks in Columbia dont understand the mechanisms of farm insurance.

Farmers only have a part of their crop covered. I know farmers that lost millions, he said. Some farmers are already out of business  they couldnt come back this year. If we dont give them some good news this year theres gonna be a lot of farmers that wont be there next year.

Those who plan on attending the upcoming meetings need to take as much documentation as they can get their hands on, Melton said, as getting aid is a multi-layered process. Extension agents from Clemson, S.C. State and representative from the S.C. Department of Agriculture will be on hand to answer questions and help farmers understand the program.

The first meeting will be held in Kingstree from 10 a.m. to noon Friday at Browns Bar-B-Q, 809 N. Williamsburg Highway, also known as U.S. 52. A meal will be provided but registration is required and participants are asked to contact Clemson extension agent Jacob Stokes at 803-460-3971.

The schedule for the remaining meetings is as follows:

Tuesday, July 5, 10 a.m. to noon at J.J. Mitcheom Community Center, 2221 Hemingway Highway (S.C. 261), Hemingway. Light refreshments/snacks provided. No registration required.

Questions? Contact: Tony Melton at 843-601-3464.

Tuesday, July 5, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Tommy Lees Farm Shed, 13797 Plowden Mill Road, Alcolu. Meal provided. Registration required by Friday.Contact: Clarendon County Extension Office at 803-435-8429.

Wednesday, July 6, 10 a.m. to noon at The Bean Market, 111 Henry St., Lake City. Light refreshments/snacks provided. No registration required. Contact: Tony Melton 843-601-3464 or Jacob Stokes 803-460-3971.

Wednesday, July 6, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Pee Dee Electric Cooperative, 1355 East McIver Road, Darlington. Light refreshments/snacks provided. No registration required. Contact: Tony Melton, 843-601-3464, or Jacob Stokes, 803-460-3971, or Trish DeHond, 843-858-0754.

Wednesday, July 6, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Dorchester FSA Office, 5809 W. Jim Bilton Blvd., St. George. Drop-in only  no formal program/meal. Contact: Rebecca
CMA CGM launched a SGD1.30 per share takeover bid for NOL on 6 June and as of end of 28 June owned 91.28% of the Singapore-headquartered shipping line.

This sees it crossing the 91.05% threshold under which CMA CGM can compulsorily acquire all the shares in NOL that it does not own after the offer closes on 16 July, which it said it plans to do.

Crossing the 91.05% threshold came one day after the French Line increased ownership to over 90% allowing it to delist NOL from the Singapore Exchange.

As part of the acquisition CMA CGM has made a number of commitments to Singapore, shifting its Asian regional headquarters from Hong Kong to Singapore and entering into a four mega-ship berth joint venture terminal with PSA Singapore Terminals.

The French line plans to maintain NOLs iconic APL brand, which added to its own operations will make it the largest carrier on the transpacific trade.
Sharks sightings increase by the day, as summer kicks in, and on the Jersery shore, it's no different, as beachgoers there are beginning to encounter the finned fish regularly.

But, reports, News12 New Jersey, the sharks on scene thus far are dogfish sharks, according to a local expert. They're small, relative to some other shark species -- ranging anywhere from about 2.5 to 5.5 feet long.

RELATED: Shark on NYC Subway: Identified

"This is their home and you're in it. If you leave them alone, they're not going to bother you," aquarium scientist Connor Gibbons told the station.

However, dogfish are anything but ordinary in one area. Their dorsal spines are coated with a venom that can be toxic (mildly so) to people who touch them. Indeed, "it's strictly a defensive mechanism," Gibbons said, and it only comes into play when and if people try to handle them.

WATCH VIDEO: "3 Cool Materials That Mimic Shark Skin"
If you're a scientist and want to study the interaction of volcanic lava and water, you could go to the site of an active volcano. But that could be inconvenient, not to mention dangerous.

State University of New York at Buffalo scientists researchers have come up with what might be a better idea. They've developed a method for making their own artificial lava, so they can study it whenever they want.

RELATED: Two Mexican Volcanoes Are Erupting

The work is going on at a facility operated by UB's Center for GeoHazards Studies, which is located in Ashford, N.Y., about 40 miles south of Buffalo.

According to a university news release, the lava recipe involves four steps:

1. Dump 10 gallons of basaltic rock into a high-powered induction furnace.

2. Let it heat up for 3 or 4 hours.

3. Stir occasionally with a steel rod.

4. Once the mixture is red hot and bubbling at 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, pour it out.

Here's a video demonstration.
As many as 60 percent of existing Adelie penguin colonies in Antarctica undergo decline by 2099 as a result of climate change, according to a new study.

Penguins are commonly associated with the coldest places on Earth, but the Adelie is one of only two species that live and breed on the mainland of Antarctica and its fringing pack ice. The other is the emperor penguin, famed and beloved for starring in the Morgan Freeman-narrated documentary; several other species occupy the Antarctic Peninsula region and sub-Antarctic islands, while others live as far afield as New Zealand, South Africa and the Galapagos.

In a paper published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, a team of scientists led by Megan Cimino of the University of Delaware anticipates that changing climate will reduce available breeding habitat: the latest twist in an intertwined story of penguins, climatic changes and human impacts that at various times and in various parts of the continent has been to the species' benefit as well as its detriment.

RELATED: Penguin Empire from Space Seen as Double the Size



For example, the geologic record shows that at times in the past, a degree of warming has benefited Adelies: as glaciers expanded and covered the species' breeding habitats with ice, colonies were abandoned; when the glaciers melted during warming periods, the penguins were able to return to their rocky breeding grounds.

A 2014 study, using satellite imagery, found a total of 251 Adelie penguin colonies and estimated that the population numbered about 3.79 million -- an increase of 53 percent over the previous survey, conducted 20 years previously. But the increase was not uniform: Generally, the population was growing along a segment of coast from Terre Adelie -- named, like the penguin after Adele Dumont d'Urville, wife of a French explorer -- to Victoria Land, and especially in the Ross Sea, an area that lies approximately south of New Zealand; on the western Antarctic Peninsula (south of South America), however, the population was declining, with eight colonies considered to have gone extinct.

The population growth in the Ross Sea region is likely due to a combination of factors, including declines in Patagonian toothfish, which compete with them for prey, and an expansion in sea ice; the decreases in the Peninsula, however, are notable, and the reason for them seems clear.

RELATED: 'Dead' Antarctica Penguins Are Probably Fine



"I have worked extensively at Palmer Station and we know that penguin colonies near there have declined by at least 80 percent since the 1970s," said Cimino in a press release. "Within this region we saw the most novel climate years compared to the rest of the continent. This means the most years with warmer than normal sea surface temperature. These two things seem to be happening in the Western Antarctic Peninsula at a higher rate than in other areas during the same time period."

Cimino and colleagues used satellite observations from 1981-2010 of sea surface temperature, sea ice and bare rock locations, as well as of the presence or absence of penguin populations; in particular, they examined the number of years during that period with novel or unusual climate during the Adelie penguin chick-rearing season. They then used an ensemble of global climate models to make predictions about Adelie penguin habitat suitability from 2011-2099.

They found a strong negative correlation between warm sea surface temperatures and Adelie breeding success -- a particular cause for concern in the Antarctic Peninsula region, which is among the fastest-warming places on Earth. It is in this area in particular that Cimino and colleagues predict the most severe colony declines.

The news is not entirely grim, however; whereas the Peninsula is predicted to continue experiencing extreme temperature increases, other parts of Antarctica are expected to warm to a lesser extent -- and these include some of those areas where Adelies have been doing comparatively well.

RELATED: New Penguin Flu Found in Antarctica

"The Cape Adare region of the Ross Sea is home to the earliest known penguin occupation and has the largest known Adelie penguin rookery in the world," said Cimino. "Though the climate there is expected to warm a bit, it looks like it could be a (refuge( in the future." In such areas, where habitat is likely to be suitable past the end of the century, she added, "the penguins should be fine."

WATCH: Why Can't Some Birds Fly?
Related on TestTube:

Who Was the First Scientist?

Are Viruses Alive?

The topic of this this week's series of TestTube Plus is the history of science: how did science as we know it evolve to the discipline it is today? What has it given humanity, and what has it taken away? Today, Trace discusses times that science has done the opposite of good for humanity.

Generally speaking, the role of science is to advance humanity. But there have been many timea where it's done anything but. DDT was the first widespread pesticide--and probably the best known...not because of its effectiveness but because of the damage it has caused, much of which is still being felt today. Misinformation is another big hurdle that science has to overcome. Misunderstanding of a study on vaccines and autism caused a recent surge in parents refusing to vaccinate their children, even though vaccinations has been proven safe.

There have been plenty of scientific experiments that posed worthy questions, but sought answers through means that were very questionably ethical. Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University, wanted to study under what circumstances ordinary people are willing to follow orders, even when it involved inflicting harm on others. Milgram hoped this could help explain why presumably decent German people were willing to carry out the atrocities under the Nazi regime. Milgram had subjects give "shocks" to people they could not see, if they answered a question wrong. The people receiving the shocks were just actors and no physical harm was done, but the ethics remain quite shaky here--why impose potential trauma on the people doing the shocking?

Russian scientists and organ transplant "pioneer" Vladimir Petrovich Demikhov who worked in the 1930s-50s famously transplanted a dog's head onto another dog for no apparent reason other than to create a two-headed dog. American neuroscientist Dr. Robert White best known for performing head transplants on living monkeys. The only thing he succeeded in was creating quadriplegic monkeys.

TestTube Plus is built for enthusiastic science fans seeking out comprehensive conversations on the geeky topics they love. Each week host Trace Dominguez probes deep to unearth the details, latest developments, and opinions on topics like viruses, gender, aliens, genetics, and many more. TestTube Plus is also available as a podcast--click here to subscribe!

Learn More:

Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science (The Atlantic)

"Much of what medical researchers conclude in their studies is misleading, exaggerated, or flat-out wrong. So why are doctors-to a striking extent-still drawing upon misinformation in their everyday practice? Dr. John Ioannidis has spent his career challenging his peers by exposing their bad science."

Hall Of Shame (Depleted Cranium)

"Think bad science is only an academic problem? Think again! Here are just a few examples of how bad science and misinformation can cause real harm in real life."

25 of the Scariest Science Experiments Ever Conducted (io9)

"While science has the power to improve our lives and cure disease, it can also be used to torture, murder, and brainwash. Here are 25 scary experiments that destroyed lives, or have the potential to unleash doomsday."
China Exclusive: Uber eyes smaller cities, investment to take on rival: CEO

2016-06-29 09:56

TIANJIN, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Ride-hailing firm Uber is lookingto expand further into China's lower-tier cities, where businesshas been growing faster than in top-tier cities, CEO TravisKalanick has said.

"We are seeing [second- and third-tier cities] grow far fasterthan the first-tier cities, so we are really excited aboutexpanding there," said Kalanick in an exclusive interview withXinhua during a meeting of the World Economic Forum, which is beingheld through Thursday in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.

Uber has announced plans to expand its ride-hailing service to100 Chinese cities this year. It now operates in nearly 60 cities,including many lower-tier cities also targeted by domestic rivalDidi.

Uber has secured over 6 billion U.S. dollars in its latestfunding round. Liu Zhen, Uber China's head of strategy, said thismonth that most of the money raised will be used to fund Uber'soperations in China.

While the company has generated over 1 billion dollars inprofits from its top 30 cities, Kalanick said it has not yet mademoney in any Chinese cities where the company operates, even thoughit provides more trips in China than any other country.

The strong demand for better transportation in lower-tierChinese cities also gives Uber more breathing room than in biggercities, where Didi dominates.

"I lose half an hour of sleep every night because of competitionfor China," Kalanick said.

A growing number of automakers are placing bets on ride-hailingfirms. Toyota has invested in Uber, while Volkswagen has bought astake in Gett in Europe and General Motors has backed Lyft in theUnited States.

To keep up with rival Didi, Kalanick said it must continueinvestment in China.

"We have to invest right now because we have a competitor that'salso investing," he said.

Earlier this month, Didi announced 4.5 billion dollars in equityfinancing, including 1 billion dollars from Apple.

However, Kalanick would love to see the funding race endsooner.

"We all have to be sustainable at some point, and I can't waittill that happens. But for the time being, we are going to keepinvesting." Enditem
Canadian province mulls stiffer punishment for misconduct of real estate agents

2016-06-29 12:40

VANCOUVER, June 28 (Xinhua) -- With surging housing prices in major Canadian cities, a panel investigating misconduct by real estate agents in British Columbia is calling for stiffer punitive fines to individuals and brokerages of misconduct.

The fines will be levied to a maximum of 250,000 Canadian dollars (192,000 U.S. dollars) for individuals, from the current 10,000 Canadian dollars (7,677 U.S. dollars); and to half a million Canadian dollars for brokerages, from the current 20,000 Canadian dollars.

The panel said in a report released on Tuesday that agents should no longer be allowed to engage in dual agency, also known as "double ending," in which a single real estate agent represents both the seller and the buyer.

"The current regime was set for transactions of homes, not investments," panel leader Carolyn Rogers, also the province's superintendent of real estate, told a press briefing. "Houses are no longer just homes. They are investments and this has put pressure on a regime that has not changed."

The panel calls for the "disgorging" of any ill-gotten gains obtained by an agent via fraudulent ways to be returned to a client in a process that will involve the courts. A total of 28 recommendations to strengthen investigations are detailed in the report.

Rogers said the recommendations would help the province adjust to the "gold rush" environment of the frothy housing market.
A Pacific Gas and Electric Co. engineer testified Wednesday that the company relied on records that it knew were faulty when it spiked pressure on its gas pipelines, including the line that later exploded in San Bruno.

It was commonly known amongst the organization that it wasnt a perfect database, Todd Arnett told a federal court jury in San Francisco that is considering 13 criminal charges against PG&E  12 counts of failing to identify risks to pipelines, failing to conduct needed inspections and knowingly keeping inaccurate records, and one count of obstructing a federal investigation of the deadly September 2010 San Bruno explosion.

A March 2009 email from another PG&E engineer to Arnett and other managers, displayed to the jury, said there were a ton of errors in PG&Es record-keeping system for three Peninsula pipelines, including the line that ran through San Bruno. Jurors also heard that the San Bruno pipeline section  identified only by number in court testimony, in keeping with the judges instructions  described the pipe as seamless, which wasnt true.

Investigators found that a ruptured pipe seam at an incomplete weld caused the explosion and fire that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. PG&E, Californias largest utility company, has been fined $1.6 billion by the state Public Utilities Commission for the explosion and could be fined as much as $562 million if convicted of the criminal charges. The state fine and any criminal penalties would be paid by shareholders, not ratepayers.

Much of the evidence centers on PG&Es longtime practice of raising pressure levels in its older gas pipelines once every five years so that it could maintain high volumes without having to conduct expensive safety tests.

Federal law sets maximum pressure levels for pipelines, based on their strength, and requires testing when they exceed those levels. But the law allows operators of pipes built before 1970 to raise pressure to the maximum level reached between 1965 and 1970  and to renew that five-year cycle when new homes are built near a previously isolated pre-1970 pipeline.

PG&E relied on that law to order pressure spikes every five years on several Bay Area pipelines, including the one that ran through San Bruno, an action that allowed the utility to raise pressures to those levels for the next five-year period. PG&E has said it did not have to notify state or federal regulators of the spikes. The state PUC disagreed, concluding in its San Bruno investigation that a 2008 pressure spiking required the company to check for damage to the pipeline, which might have spotted the defective weld.

Arnett, a PG&E engineer since 1991, supervised the December 2008 increases that raised gas pressures in the San Bruno pipeline from 375 to 400 pounds per square inch for about two hours. He said the company considered the operation essential, quoting a planning engineers message to him that we need to do whatever it takes to keep the maximum authorized pressure at 400 pounds.

Another engineer told him before the pressure increase that some sections of the pipeline had suspected manufacturing threats, or defects, Arnett said. He also said company records for one segment, separate from San Bruno, had no information on pipeline seams, joints or previous tests.

He said he expressed concerns about missing information to his supervisors over the course of time but didnt consider it an obstacle to the pressure increases. Arnett said he knew where to find more information and sought it when I thought it was appropriate.

Another witness, former PG&E engineer Chris Warner, said he and his co-workers had concluded that federal laws allowed pipelines to be operated at up to 10 percent above the maximum pressure levels designated in the regulations. Such variations are bound to arise in operating the system to meet the demands, he said.

But Warner, who left the utility in 2008 and now works for a PG&E consulting company, acknowledged that a federal auditor, during a meeting in the mid-2000s, had advised utilities seeking leeway in pipeline rules that if a regulation tells you to stand on your head, you should stand on your head.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@egelko
Sitting in his office at the Museum of the African Diaspora, where hes served as deputy director since September, Michael Warr holds a copy of the just-out Norton Anthology Of Poetry and Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin, which he edited with Phil Cushway.

This makes me think of when I first graduated from high school in San Francisco, going to my first job and being at a bus stop and seeing a police officer with a .375 Magnum pointed in this teenagers face, Warr says. His hand was just kind of shaking like this, and I actually intervened. I mean, I was like 18 or something like that, and that has stuck with me to this very very day.

He also recalls being among a group of students who would go from classroom to classroom every Friday, reading their poetry. This goes way back for me, Warr says, this engagement in poetry, and this view of poetry as something that can actually help transform.

The book features poems by more than 40 prominent living African American poets, paired with personal statements and intimate photographic portraits shot by Victoria Smith. Each poet is presented so that their words and lives are inseparable: the story of each inherently a lifelong fight against oppression, the words a protest against that oppression. Archival materials from the Civil War are scattered throughout the book, leading up to what Warr calls the new civil war. The result is both harrowing and heartening.

For instance, early in the book is a full-page spread: The left side is an old copy of a 1964-65 partial list of racial murders, each of which contains a brief description followed by no conviction, while on the right side is a version of this same list from 2012-15.

Despite the weight of this horrifyingly obvious continuity, there exists on page after page a personal brand of resistance.

Emotionally, its a very difficult subject to have to deal with, despite the fact that its been with me my entire life, Warr says. But I think having a range of writing on it that gets at this issue in different ways  its not just about murder, its about survival; its not just about ugliness, its about beauty  there are all these different ways of showing that this is a part of our lives.

I mean, I am deeply touched and deeply impacted by police brutality and police violence when its unjustified, but I continue to live my life as someone trying to transform the society around me. You cant just get sucked into the negativism; you have to bring whats positive. So the book tries to capture not just the impact of murder, but the impact of the efforts for change.

Warr adds he sees Of Poetry and Protest as one tool of many to hammer away at this. Its not just an issue; it is a part of American life and it needs to be stopped. It needs to be changed.

C.S. Giscombe, devorah major and Al Young, who are profiled in the book, join Warr for the kickoff to a national tour.

Of Poetry and Protest: 7 p.m. Thursday, June 30. Free. City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Ave., S.F. (415) 362-8193. www.citylights.com/info/?fa=event&event_id=2679

Evan Karp is the creator of Quiet Lightning and Litseen.com. Twitter: @Litseen

Other book events

James J. Siegels Literary Speakeasy celebrates its one-year anniversary with readings by Peter Bullen, Ginger Murray, Jim Provenzano and Anna Pulley, and music by Jeff Desira (7 p.m. Thursday, June 30, Martunis, 4 Valencia St., S.F., free). www.facebook.com/events/1183245538355399

The second year of the Hundy, a 15-day poetry and performance festival, continues with a double-header at E.M. Wolfman: Ronaldo Wilson, Suzanne Stein, the Third Thing and Anne Lesley Selcer at 7 p.m., followed by Grace Ambrose, E.R. Conner, Liz Kinnamon, Tessa Micaela and Connie Yu at 9 p.m. (Friday, July 1, 410 13th St., Oakland, free). www.facebook.com/events/488265344713184

Ishmael Reed, Halifu Osumare, Marvin X, Cecil Brown, Jesse Allen-Taylor and Justin Desmangles discuss their contributions to Black Hollywood Unchained, followed by a Q&A (1:30 p.m. Sunday, July 3, San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin St., S.F., free). http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=1024346402
For years, Facebook has courted publishers of all sizes, asking them to depend more and more on the social media giant to expand their audiences. Now, Facebook has a new message for publishers: Tamp down your expectations.

Facebook said Wednesday that it plans to make a series of changes to its news feed algorithm so that it will more favorably promote content posted by the friends and family of users.

The side effect of those changes, the company said, is that content posted by publishers will show up less prominently in news feeds, resulting in significantly less traffic to the hundreds of news media sites that have come to rely on Facebook.

The move underscores the never-ending algorithm-tweaking that Facebook does to maintain interest in its news feed, the companys marquee feature that is seen by more than 1.65 billion users per month.

It is also a reminder that while Facebook is vastly important to the long-term growth of news media companies  from older outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post to upstarts like BuzzFeed, Vice and Vox Media  publishers rank lower on Facebooks list of priorities.

There is now an expectation, in general, on the part of publishers that platforms will change, and that they wont necessarily be informed how they will change, said Emily Bell, director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. This completely highlights how ownership of the user is a central tension between news producers and platforms.

All types of content

The changes will affect all types of content posted by publishers, including links, videos, live videos and photos. Facebook said it expects a drop in reach and referral traffic for publishers whose audience comes primarily to content posted by the publishers official Facebook page. Just how much is difficult to say.

It will have less of an effect, however, if most of a publishers traffic comes from individual users sharing and commenting on their stories and videos. As has long been the case, publisher content that your friends interact with will frequently appear higher in the feed than posts shared directly by a publisher.

Over the last few years, publishers struggling to attract readers and draw online advertising dollars have come to view Facebook and its users as a good way to gain new audiences and revenue. That has resulted in closer partnerships between Facebook and publishers experimenting with new media products tailored specifically for the social media site.

Last year, for example, Facebook introduced Instant Articles, a product that allowed publishers to post articles directly to the social media site. Both Facebook and publishers described the move as a better, faster reading experience for users. Facebook is also paying a number of publishers to create broadcasts for Facebook Live, the companys new live-streaming video product.

Those features will also be affected by the algorithm change.

Publishers have little choice but to deal with the changes that Facebook makes, given the dependent relationship news media companies have with the social network. Some 44 percent of adults in the United States regularly read news content on the site, according to a 2016 study by the Pew Research Center. And more than 40 percent of referral traffic to news sites comes from Facebook, according to data from Parsely, a digital publishing research firm.

Referral traffic

Publishers value the referral traffic they get from Facebook, but they worry that readers will remain on the social media site for news content rather than visit the publishers own properties. There is also concern that some of Facebooks products allow it to control not just the user experience but also own much of the revenue and user data.

At a time when the relationship between publishers and Facebook is already tense, any change that de-emphasizes news content is likely to deepen concern. And Facebooks move will be just another reminder that publishers do not have direct access to their online audiences on social platforms.

Facebook also has a history of unilaterally changing how material from its partners is posted on its service.

Zynga downturn

Zynga, a once powerful online game developer and former close partner of Facebook, saw a sharp downturn after Facebook made changes in how tits content appeared. Zynga was also hurt by other shifts in computing, as users moved from desktop computers to mobile devices.

Last year, Facebook adjusted the news feed in response to users who were worried about missing important updates from the friends they care about  a change that some publishers believed resulted in decreased readership.

This time, in a set of values the company made public in a post on Wednesday, Facebook made clear that showcasing content posted by friends and family was its top priority.
A new spin on tweets

Can you fit 360-degree videos within 140 characters? Twitter is about to find out. The company has hired former Apple interactive designer Alessandro Sabatelli as its director of augmented reality and virtual reality, according to his LinkedIn profile. Sabatelli previously worked on the animations in Apples iOS 7 operating system. Twitter has to catch up with Google and Facebook, whose VR efforts are far more advanced.

Chew your food

When youre really hungry in Japan, who you gonna call? J.S. Burgers Cafe, apparently. Mashable reports that the cafes new menu, which starts Friday, has several items based on the Ghostbusters movie, including a black burger, which gets its color from a black-olive-and-anchovy-paste, and includes beef, tomato and purple cabbage. Mashable also reports that a smoothie is colored to look like Slimer, the ghost from the film.

Rumor has it

A fake Twitter account posing as publisher Alfred A. Knopf claimed that author Cormac McCarthy had died of a stroke. USA Today and other news organizations jumped on the apparent scoop before Penguin Random House, Knopfs owner, reported McCarthy was still alive. Oddly enough, before the @AKnopfNews account went offline, it claimed the tweet was sent by Italian journalist Tommasso (sic) Debenedetti. Tommaso Debenedetti is a well-known Twitter hoaxer who previously broadcast fake news about Fidel Castros death, but youd think hed know how to spell his own name.

The Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techbriefing
WASHINGTON  Federal health officials on Tuesday approved the first pill to treat all major forms of hepatitis C, the latest in a series of drug approvals that have reshaped treatment of the liver-destroying virus.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the combination pill, Epclusa, from Gilead Sciences for patients with and without liver damage. The new drugs broad indication could make it easier to use than five other hepatitis drugs recently approved by the FDA, which are each tailored to different viral strains or stages of liver disease.

Gileads previous two hepatitis drugs have raked in billions of dollars by replacing an older, less effective treatment that involved a grueling pill-and-injection cocktail. But the companys aggressive approach to pricing has drawn scorn from patient groups, insurers and politicians worldwide.

The company said Epclusa will cost $74,760 for a 12-week course of treatment, or roughly $890 per pill. Thats less than the initial price for the companys previous drug, Harvoni, which cost $1,125 per pill. Gileads first hepatitis C drug, Sovaldi, cost roughly $1,000 per pill, touching off a national debate about escalating drug costs.

Since 2014, the FDA has approved rival medications from AbbVie Inc., Merck & Co., and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. that have helped curb prices.

Hepatitis C affects at least 2.7 million people in U.S. and caused more than 19,000 deaths in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus develops slowly over decades, and many people dont realize they are infected until signs of liver damage emerge, including yellowish skin, dark urine and fatigue. Some develop liver cancer or cirrhosis and require a liver transplant, but many die before a match is available. Baby Boomers are five times more likely to have the virus than people in other age groups.

Gileads new pill combines Sovaldi with a new drug that attacks the virus using a different mechanism. The daily pill can treat all six genetic subtypes of the virus and cures 95 percent of patients in three months, according to clinical trial data reviewed by the FDA. The drug is designed to be used in combination with ribavirin, an older antiviral drug.

The most common side effects with Epclusa included headache and fatigue, according to the FDA.

Although professional medical societies recommend Gilead drugs as first-line treatments for anyone with hepatitis C, a Senate investigation last year found that high costs resulted in less than 3 percent of the potentially eligible Medicaid beneficiaries getting treatment in 2014. Medicaid is the federal-state health program for low-income people.

In 2015, Harvoni was the top-selling prescription drug in the world with over $18 billion in global sales, according to IMS Health. Sovaldi ranked eighth, pulling in $6.6 billion in sales.

Shares of Gilead Sciences Inc., which is based in Foster City, rose $4.06, or 5 percent, to close at $82.31 Tuesday.
Three people  including two teenagers were arrested in connection with the gang-related slaying of a 28-year-old man outside a party thrown last month at a San Leandro senior center to celebrate a newborn baby, police said Tuesday.

Norberto Daniel Villarreal, 25, was arrested on suspicion of murder, along with two alleged accomplices, ages 14 and 16, whose identities were not released because they are minors.

The victim, Dariel Arreola, identified by police as a Norteno street gang member, was shot from behind in an execution-style killing, said Lt. Robert McManus, a San Leandro police spokesman. He said the suspects are from a rival faction within the Norteno gang.

On May 15, a family rented a senior center on East 14th Street in San Leandro for a private party celebrating the birth of a baby that started around 5 p.m. Arreola was among 40 to 50 people invited to the party, along with members from rival gang factions, McManus said.

We were very surprised that this homicide occurred here, he said. But once again, when you bring four rival street gangs together in the same location youre asking for something very bad to happen.

Two hours after the party started, Arreola was standing near a flag pole outside the center when two suspects came from behind and shot him, McManus said.

The shooters sped off in a minivan that was reported stolen the night before in Union City and later crashed into another car at the intersection of East 14th Street and 139th Avenue near San Leandro High School, he said.

Witnesses reported that the suspects, at least one holding a handgun, fled from the crash before police arrived, McManus said.

Detectives used a combination of surveillance video of the shooting, forensic evidence, and witness statements to identify the three suspects.

Police executed four search warrants  three in Union City and one in San Jose  that resulted in the arrests of all three suspects Monday, McManus said.

More than 125 law enforcement officers from several East Bay cities, including SWAT teams and hostage negotiators, joined to facilitate the arrests. Villarreal was arrested outside a San Jose apartment in the 400 block of South Willard Avenue, and a loaded handgun was seized from his car, McManus said.

The 14-year-old was found and arrested at the intersection of Silva Avenue and Jackson Street in Hayward. The 16-year-old suspects family cooperated with police and brought him to the San Leandro Police station to surrender, McManus said.

Police would not say who the shooter was, or if there were multiple shooters, but explained that every suspect was instrumental in the killing.

The slaying marked the second homicide of the year in San Leandro.

Kimberly Veklerov and Jenna Lyons are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com, jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KVeklerov @JennaJourno
Spencer Platt / Getty Image/Getty Image

One person was killed and another was injured in a shooting Tuesday afternoon a block away from San Jose State University, police said.

Officers went to the area of South 11th and East San Antonio streets about 2:15 p.m. after people reported a person had been shot, said Sgt. Enrique Garcia, a police spokesman. At the scene, northeast of the college campus, they found two male victims suffering from gunshot wounds.
Armenia, China vow to deepen security, anti-terror cooperation

2016-06-29 12:19

YEREVAN, May 22, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan (R) meets with Meng Jianzhu, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, in Yerevan, Armenia, May 21, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Ming)

YEREVAN, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and China's top security official Meng Jianzhu on Saturday discussed how to promote bilateral ties and cooperation in the field of law enforcement and security.

Meng, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and a special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, said since the two countries established their diplomatic relations, their ties have seen a stable and robust development.

Meng noted that during his visit to China in 2015, Sargsyan reached important consensus with Xi on deepening bilateral pragmatic cooperation, giving a vigorous impetus to bilateral relations.

Meng said China is glad to see the consensus is now being translated into tangible results.

Given the complicated and rapidly changing situation both in the region and in the world, China and Armenia should cooperate more closely so as to deal with the challenges they are facing, Meng said, adding that China stands ready to strengthen anti-terror as well as law enforcement and security cooperation with Armenia.

Sargsyan said China is an important political and trading partner and that Armenia-China ties are a priority of his country's foreign policy.

He said the frequent exchanges of high-level visits between the two sides have played a key role in promoting bilateral ties, adding that Armenia is willing to deepen law enforcement and counter-terrorism cooperation with China.

During his two-day stay, Meng also met with top security officials of Armenia.

Related:

Foreign ministers of China, Armenia meet on cooperation

BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan in Beijing on Friday, said a press release issued by the ministry on Saturday.

The two ministers exchanged views on promoting China-Armenia relations, enhancing high-level exchange, jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt, carrying out cooperation on industry capacity as well as international and regional affairs, said the release. Full story
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A recent study that found that there is more water beneath California than previously thought would seem like great news for a drought-stricken state.

Using that freshwater, however, is not the fix that most would hope for. Instead, the discovery lends itself to more questions about the complications of extracting that water and, ultimately, its immediate usefulness.

The Stanford University study, released Monday, trumpeted the discovery of an underground "water windfall" that contains 2,700 cubic kilometers of water  nearly triple previous estimates.

Stanford professor and study co-author Robert Jackson said that the last estimate of groundwater by the state was done in 1991, and included water only to depths of 1,000 feet or less. Jackson and his study co-author, Mary Kang, instead looked deeper beneath the surface, finding water between 1,000 and 3,000 feet underground, using data from oil and gas fields in eight California counties.

"We're lucky to have some extra water," Jackson said by phone to SFGATE. "Now we need to consider how best to use or save it."

Scientists outside of the study, however, are not entirely convinced that the water is usable for what the state needs. Jay Famiglietti, a senior water scientist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, called the water "non-potable," saying via email that the discovery is merely "press-release hype."

"We don't have any more water after the release of the study than we did before," Famiglietti said. "It is no surprise to hydrogeologists that there are large volumes of non-potable water at depths beyond a mile into the subsurface.

"They are just not worth extracting, and perhaps never will be," Famiglietti wrote.

Jackson, however, disagreed.

"One criticism has been that the water is of poor quality and too deep to use  I don't think that's true," Jackson said.

"Most of the water identified is freshwater quality," Jackson later said, "and most of it is between 1,000 and 3,000 feet deep. It's not miles underground."

Famiglietti went on to say that extracting the water could have "environmental consequences." Among those "consequences" is subsidence, where areas of the ground could sink due to the extraction of groundwater.

Areas of the Central Valley have already dropped tens of feet in places from shallow aquifers, according to Jackson, who acknowledged this as a potential problem. Yet another hurdle to using the water is the possibility that desalination or other treatment will be needed to make the water usable.

For Jackson, given the issues the state would face in order to use the water, he said he hoped that the study would lead to both groundwater data transparency from the state and protection of the water from oil and gas companies. Current drilling practices proved to be a potential risk to groundwater quality, according to the study.

"California has deep freshwater, and some of the shallowest oil and gas activities in the country," Jackson said. "We found that especially in counties like Kern County, 1 in 5 of oil and gas activities were happening right in freshwater layers. There's no special permitting or oversight in those cases, and I would like to see a discussion about whether that's the best use of our freshwater."

To that point, Famiglietti agreed with Jackson, stating that the paper highlighted the need to protect groundwater for potential future use.

The authors point to "the need to begin thinking about protecting the lower quality, deeper groundwaters," Famiglietti wrote, "as someday it may be economically and technologically feasible to extract them."
The Giants have learned something important about Hunter Pence in the past year: He has a knack for healing quickly and returning from injuries sooner than expected.

The Giants are not ready to concede that he will need eight weeks to recover from hamstring surgery and thus do not plan to place him on the 60-day disabled list to clear any spots on the 40-man roster. They will need a spot soon to activate Sergio Romo.

The Giants instead must find a player on the 40-man to trade or designate for assignment.

If Pence were moved to the 60-day DL, retroactive to June 2, he would not be eligible to play again until Aug. 1. The Giants want to maintain the possibility they can activate him in late July if he is ready.

That could be an important week, general manager Bobby Evans said.

The Giants sent Romo to Class A San Jose for another rehab appearance Tuesday. He pitched two scoreless, hitless innings against Bakersfield.

Romo has not pitched in the majors since April 10 and the team wants to ensure that he not only is ready to face big-league hitters, but also can get outs in the later innings.

Meanwhile, the Giants have a road map for Matt Cains return from a second stint on the DL. Manager Bruce Bochy said Cain will pitch in an Arizona Rookie League game Friday, with a second minor-league rehab assignment next week.

If the Giants then deem Cain ready to return from his hamstring injury, Bochy can slot him into his rotation immediately after the All-Star break.

Duffys progress: Matt Duffy, out since June 20 with an Achilles strain, began hitting off a tee Monday, but he is not on a fast track to return. Bochy said Duffy still needs to wear a boot for five days. Duffy said the boot makes it difficult to swing.

Duffy just had fixed an issue with his swing and begun to hit when he got hurt. He called it a simple weight shift that he hopes he can reproduce when he returns, but he cannot practice it effectively now.

The hard part about that is, when youre talking about swing mechanics, it starts from the ground up, he said. When your foot or heel is the problem, its hard to take meaningful dry swings.

Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

On deck

Wednesday

at As

7:05 p.m. CSNBA

Peavy (4-6) vs.

Manaea (0-2)

Thursday

at As

7:05 p.m. CSNBA

Bumgarner (8-4) vs. Overton (1-0)

Friday

at Diamondbacks

6:40 p.m. CSNBA

Cueto (11-1) vs.

Miller (2-7)

Leading off

Still 49ers: Had the Giants won Monday, they would have been the the first team in the majors to reach 50 wins. The Giants have not done that in San Francisco and last did it in New York in 1938.

 Henry Schulman
This story originally appeared on KQED News

As part of our series Bay Curious, we answer questions from KQED listeners and readers. For our week of homelessness coverage, we asked you to submit your questions on homelessness. We received over 1,200 submissions. The following are some of the questions that were asked more frequently.

What are the most common causes of homelessness?

Homelessness mostly arises from poverty and a lack of affordable housing. In the Bay Area, the cost of housing is outpacing what people making minimum wage can afford. When they lose their jobs or their housing, they are at risk for becoming homeless.

In San Francisco during the 2015 Homeless Count, 25 percent of the respondents reported job loss as the primary cause for their homelessness. Loss of housing contributed to another 18 percent of homelessness (13 percent cited eviction, 3 percent said their landlord raised their rent and 2 percent reported foreclosure).

Other people were forced out of their homes due to interpersonal tensions: domestic violence (5 percent), arguments with family (12 percent), and breakups and divorce (11 percent). These things alone do not cause homelessness. It's a systemic issue involving poverty, inadequate safety nets, lack of opportunity and an increasingly expensive housing market.

The second most self-reported cause of homelessness was alcohol or substance abuse (18 percent).

It's important to note that two-thirds of the respondents cited one or more health conditions. These include physical illness, physical disabilities, chronic substance abuse and severe mental health conditions. "We know that having mental health problems increases your risk of homelessness and that homelessness worsens mental health problems," says Dr. Margot Kushel, a professor at UCSF who specializes in homeless issues.

"The most common mental health problem among people who are homeless is severe depression, followed by bipolar disease, followed by schizophrenia. People have this view that everyone has a thought disorder and that's just not true," says Kushel.

Kushel also wants to point out that some of the people you see on the street acting erratically are actually housed and in treatment programs. "People who are housed may still be out on the street engaging in behaviors that might look like they are homeless. ... In fact, many of the people who don't have housing in this city are invisible to the general public. You'd never guess that they don't have a home," says Kushel.

What do I do if I think someone needs help?

Most cities have a 311 number. In San Francisco, there are multiple outreach groups that aid the homeless, such as the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team (415-734-4233) or the San Francisco Mobile Crisis Treatment Team (415-970-4000)

For more information, KQED published a story on this two years ago or you can check out the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness' 10 Things To Do When You See Homeless People.

Are other cities sending their homeless to San Francisco with one-way bus tickets?

Yes, people are being sent here, but San Francisco is putting people on buses, too. The Homeward Bound program gives people without homes a bus ticket to reunite with family, friends and stable living situations. Before leaving San Francisco, city officials try to confirm that the traveler has a place to stay at the other end of the ride. Since 2004, over 9,000 people have gotten bus tickets through the Homeward Bound program.

Cities and counties across the country use similar bus ticket programs. Yet, while reuniting people with friends and families can be a good thing, homeless advocates worry that the bus ticket programs are abused and don't help people but simply export people and their problems elsewhere. Some participants in the program are not even going home but simply to other areas that might have an open bed. Critics claim that these programs don't do enough to ensure that people's needs will be met at their destination.

But cities have an economic incentive to keep the program running. San Francisco's Homeward Bound program spends an average of $185 per ticket, whereas housing and caring for people without shelter can cost thousands of dollars.

That said, there have been examples of bus tickets being used illegally. A few years ago, a Las Vegas hospital was found to be systematically putting mentally ill patients on Greyhound buses out of town. It was estimated that about 500 patients had destinations in California. Last year, San Francisco won a $400,000 settlement from the state of Nevada to cover the medical costs of some 24 patients who arrived in the city with one-way tickets.

Do any of the homeless choose life on the street?

"When people who are homeless are offered a safe and decent place to call home, we find they always say yes," says Jennifer Friedenbach, the director of San Francisco's Coalition on Homelessness.

"People often mistake turning down one night in a shelter as choosing to be homeless. They don't understand that you have to lose all your belongings, separate from your pet, separate from your partner and wait in line for hours on end, only to get five hours of sleep and get kicked out in the next day without your property and survival gear," says Friedenbach.

Other reasons people cite for opting out of shelters include violence, racism, homophobia and transphobia. There are others who decide to sleep on the streets because they want to avoid the bureaucracy and restrictions that come with living in supportive housing. "After going through the merry-go-round of social services ... people might not be interested in a sheltered treatment-type program for long periods of time. They want to be more independent and off on their own," says Eduardo Vega, director of the Mental Health Association of San Francisco.

In regard to long-term housing, the director of Hospitality House, told the San Francisco Chronicle that there's more to a person's refusal of housing, "A lot of times people have been traumatized and re-traumatized and they don't think [their lives will change]. They might need a little bit more work in order to be able to make that leap."

What happens to all the money that San Francisco spends on the homeless?

San Francisco has allocated over $241 million on homelessness for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.

The city doesn't have more details on how exactly the money is spent but Supervisor London Breed has asked for a full report. For more information, you can read the Chronicle story.

Why are there so many homeless people in San Francisco, and why they are so visible?

"It's because of the high housing costs. San Francisco has a huge homeless population because it's one of the most expensive cities," says Kushel, the UCSF professor who specializes in homeless issues. "There is a myth that homeless people are drawn to San Francisco because it's such a great place to be homeless. But research doesn't hold that up."

"The draw of a milder climate only has a marginal effect," says Eduardo Vega, director of the Mental Health Association of San Francisco.

According to the 2015 San Francisco Homeless Count, of the 7,539 people counted, 71 percent lived in the city before they lost housing. Only 10 percent came from outside the state and the remaining 19 percent came from elsewhere in California.

"We do know that across the country, when people become homeless, they tend to migrate to a city. That's because it's hard to experience homelessness in a suburban area. You might have to walk 4, 10, or 20 miles to the nearest service agency. So, people tend to move to cities, but there's nothing about San Francisco in particular," says Kushel.

According to Vega, the ratio of housed to unhoused people in San Francisco is unremarkable for a city of its size.

"Because we have a small dense metropolitan area and a lot of people are crowded into the same 4 square miles downtown, there is a perception that the problem is somehow much worse in San Francisco," says Vega.

In the 2015 report by U.S. Housing and Urban Development, San Francisco's homeless population, in sheer numbers, is smaller than New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego, Las Vegas, D.C. and Chicago.

"The problem is that homelessness is a big problem across the country. But here people are seeing lots of homelessness and getting sensitized to it, which is good," says Vega.

Why are there so many more young homeless people in San Francisco than other places?

"More and more, we are seeing Bay Area youth becoming homeless," says Mary Howe, director of the Homeless Youth Alliance. The organization provides a safe space for homeless youth in the Haight neighborhood and focuses on providing harm reduction services.

Many young people become homeless after aging out of the foster care system. Some were homeless with their families but left because they don't want to be a burden. Some leave abusive, traumatic or neglectful homes. Others are kicked out after coming out as LGBTQ. In San Francisco, 48 percent of the young respondents in the homeless count identified as LGBTQ.

Similar to the adults, many of the homeless youth lived here before becoming homeless. According to the Homeless Youth Count, 56 percent of the homeless youth population was living in San Francisco prior to becoming homeless. Another 25 percent came from another county in California and 19 percent came from out of state. Many of the newcomers head to the Haight.

"I do think the Haight in particular is an international destination for young people. It will always draw people in, as it did in the '60s. People still view it as something better than what they are leaving," says Howe. "I also want to point out that many of the people paying rent in San Francisco are actually not from here either."

Are there any plans for adopting a "Housing First" program similar to that in Salt Lake City?

For the uninitiated: Salt Lake City has nearly eradicated homelessness. The city accomplished this through an aggressive "Housing First" program, which quickly puts people into permanent housing. There are no requirements for eligibility, such as sobriety, treatment or service participation. Over 2,000 people who were formerly chronically homeless are housed in what is described as "showpieces of modern architecture."

So why can't San Francisco do this? Well, the city actually does have a Housing First program. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, it includes about 5,000 units of supportive housing in the Tenderloin neighborhood. But why hasn't the program seen the same success as Salt Lake City?

According to Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan, Salt Lake City has more data on its homeless population, enabling the program to target the most at-risk people on the street. These are the people who use emergency services most. By identifying these folks, government and nonprofit agencies can quickly house and begin supportive services catered to the individual's needs.

San Francisco has no single information network that tracks homeless people and the services they use. This hinders the city's ability to help people who need it most.

Fagan says that another reason San Francisco's program isn't as successful is because it's harder to cultivate a culture of self-improvement in the Tenderloin. Residents with substance abuse issues have a difficult time breaking old habits. Counselors in the Tenderloin are spread too thin and can have up to 100 clients each. By comparison, the Salt Lake City program has one counselor for every 15 residents.

"We provide a fair number of [Housing First units], but we need a lot more," says Vega, the director of the Mental Health Association of San Francisco.

Today, San Francisco still has 1,745 chronically homeless individuals and 18 chronically homeless families. To provide more supportive housing similar to the Salt Lake City model, the main obstacle will be the cost. Building housing in the country's most expensive real estate market costs heaps more than in Utah.

Furthermore, the high prices both cause homelessness and create barriers to finding a home outside of government support. In Salt Lake City, the program has a 15 percent turnover each year as people are able to transition out and support themselves. In San Francisco, less than 5 percent of the residents leave the program each year. They stay longer because they cannot afford to leave.

How can building tiny houses help homeless people in the Bay Area?

Sonoma is currently working on creating a tiny house community, and similar plans are being discussed in Richmond. Oakland has a few tiny homes scattered throughout the city, but the police treat them like tents. Some government officials are considering a more long-term solution with tiny homes, but not much leeway is being made.

Tiny homes cost much less than building traditional housing and can be placed in empty city lots. They've been found to be especially effective when paired with supportive services. Across the country, cities are beginning to house people in clusters of tiny homes.

In Eugene, Oregon, the 29 homes in "Opportunity Village" come equipped with electricity and Wi-Fi, and a central building houses cooking, showering and laundry facilities. With the help of volunteers, the initial building costs of Opportunity Village were only $212,000. Monthly operations cost around $1,800.

However, a tiny house community may not be well suited to San Francisco or other densely populated Bay Area cities. In this expensive real estate market, there is a need for multi-unit housing. Tiny homes are better suited for cities with large unused lots.

"You need to remember, many of the people experiencing severe housing burdens are families. And they are already living in overcrowded spaces. What we need to do is build housing that is affordable for multiple people," says Kushel, the UCSF professor who specializes in homeless issues.



This story originally appeared on KQED News


My 13-year-old daughter recently told me that she never eats her Sun Chips, even though they're the favorite thing in her lunch, and passes them out to a homeless person on her walk from school to Muni.

My daughter also dedicated a class project to designing a prototype for a wooden hut that would be placed on city sidewalks and stocked with everything from tooth brushes and tampons to socks and blankets that anyone in need could freely use.

My kids are continuously surprising me with the remarkable empathy they have for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. Again and again, they say things and do small acts of kindness that make me see things from a different perspective.

Earlier this year, when I approached a family asking for money in front of the Noe Valley Whole Foods to find out if they had shelter (and, let's be honest, a story I could write up for SFGate), my 11-year-old son pulled a $20 bill from his pocket and handed it to the mother. It was the money his grandmother had given to him for Valentine's Day and he'd planned to spend on a comic book.

While adults often ignore the homeless, kids' curiosity leads them to look at people and see them. An inebriated man in a door stoop isn't invisible to a child as he might be to an adult who's fed up with the people sleeping on the streets. Kids care, like really care, and when they see a person in need, alarm bells go off in their heads and a feeling of compassion fills their hearts, and they want to do something.

And it's not only my kids who've led me to realize this.

San Francisco resident Sylvia Fu said she saw this happen outside a movie theater: "There was a homeless woman asking for money and a kid  probably around 12 years old, walked by and heard her, then turned around immediately, reached into his pocket and took out some money and gave it to her  without even thinking twice about it . . . He was with his friends on a field trip, I believe."

San Francisco mom Andrea Hartsough told me her eldest child asked for people to bring her checks to Glide Church instead of gifts to her 11th birthday party.

"She's sensitive to the plight of homelessness," Hartsough shared in an email. "On our daily commute to school, we take the Duboce/Mission exit. Whenever she can, she will take food from her lunch and pass it out the window to the homeless person working the ramp IF their sign asks for food or 'anything will help.'"

And Cornelia Sullivan of S.F. told me this story: "We were baking cookies one evening and my triplets said, 'Can we give some to the homeless man by our school?' We gave it to him the next morning. The man was so grateful and touched that he reached into his pocket and pulled out a dollar. They said, 'Keep it. We wanted to do this to make you smile.' I cried!"

Finally, another anecdote. S.F. Mom Cherlynne Rogers told me that she and her 7-year-old daughter purchased a bag of groceries from a man selling the Street Sheet at the Good Life Grocery on Tuesday night.

"He peered inside and said 'Wow!'" Rogers wrote in an email. "When I said 'Look close and there is a $20 too,' he said 'It is like my birthday! Thank you! Can I give you a hug?' I said yes."

I recently spoke with a group of middle schoolers in the city about this issue and they all couldn't understand why housing isn't just provided for everyone. "Just a small home a place to sleep and cook. It makes someone feel a lot better about themselves," a 14-year-old named Henry profoundly said to me.

In fact, schools all over the city have stories of students who've raised money and volunteered hours to help the city's neediest. A 12-year-old named Ethan Klosseck told me he and a classmate designed a model for a tiny house on wheels that could provide an efficient, mobile, low-cost housing option. "I think all people should have equality for basic needs. It's a life standard," said Ethan, who plans to bring his vision to life with a full-scale version of the house this summer.

***

These kids' instincts to treat each and every person with dignity is refreshing and inspiring. Over the years, many S.F. locals, including myself, have become jaded, hardened, frustrated by the people living on the streets, dirtying the sidewalks, bothering the tourists. We march right past people who are clearly in need, and avoid looking because it makes us feel awful. Sometimes we even cross to the other side of the street out of fear.

A couple months ago, my son was playing a violin gig for a party in the outer Mission District benefitting an arts program for San Francisco youth.

We ended up staying late, and as we walked through a dimly lit, empty street to our car, I was nervous because I remembered parking the car next to a homeless encampment.

As we approached the vehicle, and I saw the glow of lighters coming from a group of people sitting in a circle of beach chairs, I expressed my anxiety about our personal safety to my son, urging him to walk fast and enter the car through the door farthest from the cluster of tents on the sidewalk.

"How do you think that makes them feel Mom?" my son asked as we drove off. "I bet it feels bad to know everyone is afraid of you."

Kids seem to have this ability to imagine themselves in the shoes of someone in dire straits and what it's like to have no home, to be sleep-deprived and hungry, and have hundreds of people walk by you each day and act as if you're not even there.

This compels them to want to helpand it drives my children to urge me to hand out money whenever anyone approaches us for it.

When I first moved to the city in my early 20s, I remember feeling that emotional tug-of-war when someone on the street asked for money and I usually opted to reach into my wallet for a few dollars.

But in the past few years, I find myself dismissing my kids' requests for cash to give to the woman on the street who clearly could use a new pair of shoes or the man whose dog looks hungry. I tell them we shouldn't give money to someone we can't trust will spend it wisely.

Instead of engaging directly with people living on the street, I enlisted my family to help by volunteering at Glide Memorial Church on the weekends to make sandwiches included in free bag lunches. We donated canned food and toys at the holidays. These charitable acts felt appropriate because we were giving our time and goods to organizations with reputable track records.

But my children are making me think twice and leading me to realize that while the volunteering is important, we also need to see homeless people, break down the wall of cynicism, go with our instincts and practice random acts of kindness that have positive repercussions in the life of an individual and in the overall community.

A couple weeks back when my son asked for a dollar to give to someone, I delivered my usual line, "They'll just use the money to buy drugs."

"But, Mom, maybe they'll know you care," he said back to me.
Some big ideas are also bad ideas, and theres a big, bad one at the heart of The Legend of Tarzan. The idea was to take some of the true history of Congo, and its exploitation by the Belgians in the 19th century, and throw it together with the story of Tarzan. It makes for an awkward mix, for a movie that is both confusing and weirdly inert.

Congo at this time was under the control of King Leopold of Belgium, and one of his agents in charge was a fellow named Leon Rom, who was such a horrible human being that Christoph Waltz plays him here. At least, he plays a version of him, because the movie doesnt quite adhere to the facts. In The Legend of Tarzan, he is wiping out elephants for the ivory and impressing the native people into slavery. At the same time, he is fastidious and polite and never raises his voice.

By now, its clear: Christoph Waltz is incapable of being boring, even in a soporific movie. He creates a character whos not merely evil but twisted, operating from a philosophy and an unknowable past history. Theres a turn of mind here thats arresting and expressed in an odd ways, as when he reaches across a table and corrects an imprecision in the cutlery. Killing people doesnt bother him, but a fork in the wrong place really gets under his skin.

Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) enters the picture because ... well, its hard to say. At the start of the film, he and Jane (Margot Robbie) are living in an enormous castle, their jungle years behind them. He is persuaded to return to Africa by an African American politician, George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson), a real-life figure who really did travel to Congo to explore the treatment of the Congolese. In this fictionalized version, Williams feels that he needs Tarzan to help publicize his findings.

As presented here, Tarzan is a large, dull fellow, lacking in conversation or humor, so unless hes doing something particularly interesting  such as nuzzling with jungle cats or communing with elephants  he is pretty much a washout onscreen. Skarsgard is physically impressive, however, tall enough to make Jackson seem short, and he clearly spent hundreds of hours in the gym in preparation for taking off his shirt. If only the screenwriters had put as much time into figuring out what to do with Tarzan once they placed him in Africa.

Tarzans mission is a jumble. He is there to discover bad things and perhaps to stop them. But for most of the movie he is simply trying to rescue Jane (she insisted on coming) from the clutches of the evil Rom. And though the movie makes an attempt to justify it, Roms motive for kidnapping Jane makes little sense. Hes trying to do something nefarious in Congo, so he kidnaps the wife of the most gifted and savvy man on the continent. Hes inviting a conflict with the only person who can beat him.

The Legend of Tarzan is not without stray moments of cinematic charm. Every time Waltz is in conversation with Robbie, who is as radiant and straightforward here as Waltz is dark and skewed, the movie wakes up. And the close-ups of lions, apes and elephants have the appeal of a trip to the zoo, without the accompanying sad feeling of seeing animals imprisoned.

But there is something strangely dead about most of the film, which is mostly just a succession of scenes lacking energy, suspense or interest. In the last third, an attempt is made to enliven things, but the action feels appended and, at least in one case (an invasion by apes), the CGI is disastrously fake-looking.

In the end, what we have here is a Tarzan movie made by people who dont understand the appeal of Tarzan. Hes about joy and abandon and the fantasy of living in harmony with creation. Hes not about the struggle in Congo. Thats a worthy subject, but for a different kind of movie.

Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle

The Legend

of Tarzan

Starring Alexander Skarsgard, Christoph Waltz, Margot Robbie and Samuel L. Jackson. Directed by David Yates. (PG-123. 109 minutes.)

To see a trailer for The Legend of Tarzan, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj7ty6sViiU
Everything in The Purge: Election Year is explained in the simplest terms, as if the filmmaking team assumes that you sneaked a six-pack of Miller High Life into the theater and are finishing one approximately every 12 minutes.

The action scenes are frequently incoherent, involving a bunch of guys pulling guns on each other and the director shaking the camera vigorously for 15 or 20 seconds, before revealing a few bodies lying on the ground covered in blood. People in the movie spend a fortune to fortify their homes, but no one thinks to buy a $400 plane ticket to non-purging Canada.

Theres not a lot of nuance or sense in the third Purge movie. But it still manages to coast on a combination of self-awareness, crowd-pleasing carnage and a plot that ties perfectly into current events. You might think that real-life political leaders got in a room with the United Kingdoms officials and conspired to make this ridiculous movie seem relevant.

The first Purge, released just three years ago, was an intimate affair. Half the films $3 million budget, one assumes, went to co-stars Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey. Most of the film took place in a single house, and in our imaginations, as we discovered a world where murder is legal one night every year.

Since then, writer-director James DeMonacos vision and the real worlds dysfunction have grown in equal measure. The Purge: Election Year features a pair of presidential candidates whose ideals match those of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, with a getting-less-inconceivable-every-day law that allows their Internet trolls to follow through on their deepest urges.

Our hero is Sgt. Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo), who is sent to protect anti-Purge candidate Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell). When things go awry, they join forces with three goodhearted liquor store workers.

Grillo and Mitchells characters are humorless and prone to bad decisions and have an odd chemistry, possibly trying for a Humphrey Bogart/Katharine Hepburn The African Queen vibe but never quite getting there because masked maniacs keep interrupting their quiet time. Mykelti Williamson is much better as the store owner, bringing humanity to the film, and much-needed comedy. (Its Purge night! the character says to a friend he almost guns down. You dont sneak up on black people!)

Even though the movie takes place in 2025, theres zero thought put into the look of the future. According to the filmmakers, 10 years from now equals a few more bad mustaches. Attempts to dumb down the movie are comical at times. (Note how presidential hopeful Roan favors the exact same eyeglasses frames that she wore as a 14-year-old Purge victim, so no one in the audience will get confused.)

Worst of all, the film has developed a broader rooting interest, which starts to kill the guilty pleasure/exploitation qualities of the series. Its less like Death Race 2000 and more like The Hunger Games now, with warring factions and a possible positive result beyond survival. And yet if the anti-Purge good guys win, the audience loses. There will be no more Purge movies. (Or theyll just look like an episode of The West Wing.)

Thankfully, DeMonaco keeps things moving too quickly to dwell on any shortcomings. Hes a below-average director of action scenes, but he has some very good ideas. Theres a playful, subversive streak to DeMonacos style thats reminiscent of Dawn of the Dead director George Romeros zombie movie work, and James Wans efforts with the first Saw films.

Mobs have set up a guillotine in an alleyway. A caught shoplifter returns for her candy bar with a bedazzled AK-47 and a car covered in Christmas tree lights. Millennials from Europe travel to America for Purge tourism. And pleasingly, the worst of the worst almost always meet the films most brutal and graphic ends.

The movie is part of a greater metaphor about a fracturing country, a weapons lobby run amok and a dangerous divide between the rich and the poor  although its hard to tell how much of that metaphor is intentional. After the third or fourth theater beer, is anyone watching The Purge: Election Year really going to care?

Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicles pop culture critic. Email: phartlaub@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @PeterHartlaub

The Purge:

Election Year

Horror action. Starring Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell and Mykelti Williamson. Directed by James DeMonaco. (R. 103 minutes.)

To see a trailer: https://youtu.be/RXMp9fBomJw
LOS ANGELES  The people handling security for the nations busiest malls and amusement parks are no longer retired cops. They are a 24-year veteran of the FBI, a former CIA operative and the onetime chief of counterterrorism for Scotland Yard.

The theme-park industrys annual security bill, already roughly $250 million a year, is expected to grow by more than $100 million over the next few years, according to one consultant.
1 Unsafe toys: Toy guns, kiddie pools, hover boards and backyard trampolines are among the playthings that made a consumer watchdogs annual list of hazardous summer toys. World Against Toys Causing Harm of Massachusetts presented its annual report Tuesday in Boston. The nonprofit group notes that some toy guns shoot projectiles with enough force to cause eye injuries while toy helicopters, boomerangs and other flying objects have rigid or sharp edges that can cause facial injuries.

2 West Virginia floods: Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has added seven counties to his request for a federal disaster declaration for flood-ravaged West Virginia. That would bring the number of counties in the request to 51 out of 55 in the state. Flash flooding last week damaged thousands of homes and businesses and killed 23 people.
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MONESSEN, Pa.  Donald Trump called for a new era of economic Americanism Tuesday, promising to restore millions of lost factory jobs by backing away from decades of U.S. policy that encouraged trade with other nations  a move that could undermine the countrys place as the dominant player in the global economy.

The speech marked a significant break from years of Republican Party advocacy for unencumbered trade between nations, and drew immediate condemnation from GOP business leaders.

In his 35-minute speech, Trump blamed former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton, for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs.

He threatened to exit the more than 2-decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement and vowed to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations that has yet to take effect.

He pointed to China as a source of many of Americas economic woes, promising to label that country a currency manipulator and slap tariffs on Americas leading source of imports, a decision with the potential to dramatically increase the cost of consumer goods.

This wave of globalization has wiped out totally, totally our middle class, Trump said, standing in front of pallets of recycled aluminum cans on a factory floor.

Delivered in a hard-hit Pennsylvania steel town, the speech underscored the central message of Trumps campaign: that policies aimed at boosting international trade  and Americas intervention in wars and disputes abroad  have weakened the country.

Its an argument that found support among Republican primary voters, especially white, working-class Americans whose wages have stagnated in recent years. Trump hopes it will yield similar success among the wider electorate that will decide the general election.

But he drew a quick and scathing response from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a traditional GOP ally.

Under Trumps trade plans, we would see higher prices, fewer jobs, a weaker economy, the Chamber said on its Twitter feed, directing readers to a blog post that said Trumps policies would lead to millions of job losses and a recession.
WASHINGTON  Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump boils down his foreign policy agenda to two words: America First.

For students of U.S. history, that slogan harkens back to the tumultuous presidential election of 1940, when hundreds of thousands of Americans joined the antiwar America First Committee. That isolationist groups primary goal was to keep the United States from joining Britain in the fight against Nazi Germany, which by then had overrun nearly all of Europe. But the committee is also remembered for the unvarnished anti-Semitism of some of its most prominent members and praise for the economic policies of Adolf Hitler.

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, sent Trump a letter two months ago urging him to refrain from using America First. The group also took $56,000 that Trump and his family foundation had donated to it over the years and redirected the money to new antibias and antibullying education programs.

The America First Committee was founded in spring 1940 at Yale University by students that included future U.S. President Gerald Ford and future Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart.

As the committee grew, it attracted celebrities, politicians and business leaders opposed to President Franklin Roosevelts lend-lease aid to the British. Among them was aviator Charles Lindbergh, who was the first man to fly nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean more than a decade earlier.

Lindbergh spoke favorably of the Nazis and said that the German military conquest of Europe was inevitable and that America should stay out of the war.

During his first major foreign policy speech in April, Trump said America First will be the major and overriding theme of my administration.

Historians say there are some ideological parallels between Trumps rhetoric and the positions taken by the American First Committee. Then as now, an economic downturn fanned popular resentment toward immigration.

Building a wall is about the illusion that there can be a physical safeguard to prevent intrusion from alien forces, said Bruce Miroff, a professor of American politics at the State University of New York at Albany. America First was tapping into suspicion of an ominous other who threatened the American way of life. At that time, it was about Jews. With Trump, its Muslims and fear of terrorism.
Israeli writer wins top honor from Chinese college students

From:chinadaily.com.cn | 2016-06-29 12:15

Israeli author Amos Oz shares with Chinese readers his views on writing and global issues. He was in Beijing last week to receive an award from Chinese university students. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Israeli author Amos Oz has long been a favored Nobel Prize contender and has received dozens of literary prizes around the worldincluding the 21 University Students International Literary Award, which he received in Beijing last week.

A jury of 21 students from Renmin University's liberal arts school, ranging from undergraduates to doctoral students, selected the 77-year-old to receive the honor.

"I have received in my life maybe 40 or 50 literary prizes. All of them are from juries of professors and scholars. This is the first time I've received a prize from students," Oz tells China Daily after the ceremony.

"This is very special for me."

He jokes: "And I can assure you, if they never give me the Nobel Prize, I am not going to die an unhappy man."

Creative writing student and juror Zhang Chu quotes the citation: "With poetic language full of allusions and imagination, Mr Amos Oz pursues the hidden pains of the individual, family and the nation through his writing, depicting the intertwined fate of the state and the individual, and thereby expressing concerns for the reality of all human beings."

Oz was born in Jerusalem in 1939, nine years before Israel became a state.

His mother committed suicide when he was 12.

Two years later, he moved to a kibbutza community of collective farmerswhere he started writing.

Oz's most famous work is his autobiographical novel, A Tale of Love and Darkness, published in 2002.

He examines the trials of his youth, and interweaves his family's tragedies and kibbutz life with Israel's establishment.

The book has been translated into more than 20 languages. Its Chinese edition was published in 2007.

In 2015, it was adapted into a film directed by and starring Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman. Its Asian premiere sold out in less than a minute during April's Beijing International Film Festival.

The students asked Oz how he felt about the film. He called Portman's efforts "wholehearted".

"I am very impressed by how much of herself she put into the film," says Oz.

Israeli author Amos Oz shares with Chinese readers his views on writing and global issues. He was in Beijing last week to receive an award from Chinese university students. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Oz answered audience's questions about the relationship between his political and literary works at the award ceremony.

"Politics is very often full of exclamation marks. Literature is full of question marks," he says.

"Each time when I find myself agreeing with myself 100 percent, I'd write the political essay. I went to television. And I tell my government what I think they should do.

"Each time I find I don't completely agree with myself, and I hear inside myself two or three different voices about the same issue, then it's not time for political articles. It's the time when I discover that I am bearing a new story or a new novel."

Asked about Syria, he expresses concerns that people have forgotten the lessons of World War II, oppression and occupation.

"I have the impression that there is a rise of fanaticism in many parts of the world," Oz says.

His solution is humor.

"If I could put a sense of humor into capsules and make the whole world swallow my capsules of humor, thus creating an immunity to fanaticism and fundamentalism, I could deserve a Nobel Prize not in literature but in medicine," he says, jokingly.

Zhong Zhiqing, the translator of many of Oz's works, says many Chinese writers are his loyal readers, including Chinese Nobel Laureate for Literature, Mo Yan.

Zhong's translation of Oz's Scenes from Village Life was released on Friday.

Zhong accompanied Oz when he first visited China in 2007, when Oz met Mo.

She posted a transcript of their discussion on her blog. Topics meander from each other's works to their common experiences of serving the military, to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"I admire you, Amos Oz, for not writing (A Tale of Love and Darkness) from a Jewish nationalist point of view but as a conscious artist standing at the level of the whole body of mankind, depicting the relationship between the Jews and the Arabs from an inclusive point of view," Mo says.

"I think politicians all over the world should read the book."
A 350-acre wildfire burning in the Sierra foothills is threatening roughly 400 structures, forcing some residents to evacuate Wednesday as smoke billowed toward the communities around Lake Tahoe, officials said.

The Trailhead Fire started around 2 p.m. Tuesday along the Middle Fork of the American River in steep and hard-to-reach terrain near Todd Valley, between Interstate 80 and Highway 50 in El Dorado and Placer counties.
A surging As offense received a major addition Tuesday when right fielder Josh Reddick was reinstated from the 15-day disabled list.

Reddick, who was placed May 20 on the DL with a thumb injury, extended his stay with Triple-A Nashville two extra days because he wasnt yet comfortable at the plate. After opening his rehab stint 1-for-16 with six strikeouts, he went 2-for-4 with a double and a home run Sunday. His 0-for-5 showing Monday against Omaha belied how well he felt he was seeing the ball.

The last two days have been a lot better than the first few, said Reddick, who hit .120 in six games with the Sounds. The first few were horrendous to be a part of. I felt it was best to get a few more at-bats. If I had come up then, I wouldnt have been very helpful.

Reddick, 29, was Oaklands best all-around player before fracturing his left thumb sliding into second base May 19. The former Gold Glove winner was batting .322, including .468 over his previous 14 games, with five home runs and 18 RBIs.

Reddick, who will bat in the three hole Tuesday night at San Francisco, joins an As lineup that is beginning to find its rhythm. Oakland has scored six or more runs in each of its past four games, which matches the clubs longest such streak over the past three years. The As have also homered in a season-high six consecutive games.

Rookie left-hander Sean Manaea (forearm) is set to come off the DL for Wednesdays start against the Giants. Left-hander Rich Hill, who went 8-3 with a 2.25 ERA before heading to the DL with a groin injury, is set to return Saturday against Pittsburgh. He allowed one earned run in three innings during a rehab start Monday with High-A Stockton.

Theyre still grinding, Reddick said of an As team that has won four of its past five games. Theyre not going to lay down just because we had a tough start to the year. Looking around, there are a lot more names in here than we thought wouldve been here this early.  Weve got Manaea coming off the DL soon and Rich will be back, so itll be a team at full force hopefully.

To free up Reddicks spot, Oakland optioned infielder/outfielder Max Muncy to Nashville. Muncy has hit .257 with two RBIs in 14 games over two stints with the As. After getting recalled June 10, he went 7-for-30 (.233) in 12 games.

As lineup: CF Crisp, 2B Lowrie, RF Reddick, 3B Valencia, LF Davis, C Vogt, SS Semien, 1B Alonso, RHP Graveman.

Giants lineup: CF Span, 2B Panik, 1B Belt, C Posey, SS Crawford, LF Pagan, RF Williamson, 3B Pena, RHP Suarez.

Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @Con_Chron
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Angered by a relatively light sentence given to a former Stanford swimmer who sexually assaulted a drunk and unconscious woman, activists, including survivors of rape, delivered thousands of signed petitions Wednesday to the state judicial discipline agency demanding it remove the judge in the case from the bench.

The case exploded into the national spotlight in June after Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky sentenced 20-year-old Brock Allen Turner to six months in county jail for sexually assaulting the woman outside a campus fraternity party in January 2015.

Prosecutors had asked for Turner to be sentenced to six years in state prison.

Victims rights advocates called the punishment a slap on the wrist and have mounted a growing effort to have Persky removed from the bench. Persky is legally barred from commenting on the case.

On Wednesday, members of UltraViolet, a national womens rights group, said they delivered roughly 200,000 signatures to the California Commission on Judicial Performance, the state agency that investigates complaints of judicial misconduct, adding to nearly 1 million that had already been dropped off.

Im upset about this case because its normalizing rape. People arent understanding that this is a problem, Rachael Graff, flanked by fellow sex-assault survivors, said outside the commissions headquarters in downtown San Francisco.

For Graff and others delivering signatures Wednesday, the issue of sex assault is deeply personal. She emotionally recounted being sexually assaulted by a stranger who had been having sex with her friend in their shared hotel room.

The two friends had returned to the United States from a trip to China and went out for a night of drinking when they met the man, who Graff said tried to rape her while she was unconscious.

Ive always been a happy person but when that train came to pick me up at the airport, I seriously considered jumping, she said.

The worst part of the ordeal she said was telling my father and having him beg me that this was a joke, but it wasnt.

Victims stories

The sexual-assault victims who delivered the petitions were from all walks of life. One young man named Chris told his story of being raped by two men, while Jacqueline Patterson, a disabled woman who stutters, told a horrific story of being raped and almost killed by a former boyfriend.

The Turner case has resonated with all of them, along with millions of others around the globe after details emerged, many of which were included in a powerful 7,244-word impact statement written by the 23-year-old victim of the attack and read at Turners sentencing on June 2.

Frat party

She recounted waking up at a hospital after losing consciousness while drinking at the Stanford fraternity party on Jan. 18, 2015, that she was attending with her sister.

The unnamed victim later learned that two Swedish students had come across Turner sexually assaulting her on the ground among trash bins outside the party.

Turner ran, but the students tackled him and called police. He later pleaded not guilty and attributed the episode to an overconsumption of alcohol.

After a lengthy trial in which the victim testified, Turner was found guilty of three sex-assault charges. Persky said he weighed Turners lack of criminal history, his character and the low likelihood he would reoffend when handing down the sentence.

Its not just this generation. Its not the next generation. Rape has been happening and its going to continue to happen if we dont take a stand, Graff said Wednesday. Judge Persky has a responsibility to the people to say that rape is wrong.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
Confucius Institute in Sofia celebrates its 10th anniversary

From:chinadaily.com.cn | 2016-06-29 14:16

The 10th anniversary of the establishment of Confucius Institute in Sofia was celebrated on Tuesday evening.

Xu Lin, head of Confucius Institute Headquarters,or Hanban, said in a congratulatory speech that since the founding of the Confucius Institute in Sofia, the number of students studying Chinese has grown steadily, and the quality of teaching has been constantly increasing, while cultural events were becoming more diverse.

The Confucius Institute in Sofia was recognized as one of the first model Confucius Institutes worldwide for its active contribution to promoting exchanges and cooperation between China and Bulgaria in education and culture, and strengthening friendly relations between the two countries, Xu said in the speech, read by Prof. Ge Zhiqiang, Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute in Sofia.

Prof. Alexander Fedotov, who in 2006 signed the agreement for the establishment of the Confucius Institute Sofia on behalf of the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", said the past 10 years have been rough but successful.

In turn, Prof. Anastas Gerdjikov, the current rector of the Sofia University, said in turn that he is proud of the Confucius Institute in Sofia.

He hopes that the coming years will be even more successful for the development of the institute, and the interest of Bulgarian public to the Chinese language will increase, Gerdjikov said during the event, which was attended by Borislav Velikov, former speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament.

Chen Ying, First Secretary of the Chinese embassy in Bulgaria and head of its education section, noted that Confucius Institute in Sofia has already become a bridge for cooperation and exchange of ideas and projects in all areas of bilateral relations between China and the Balkan country.

The Confucius Institute in Sofia was established with the support of Hanban as a partner organization between the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" and the Beijing Foreign Studies University, and it is part of the global network of over 400 Chinese educational institutions worldwide.
This article originally appeared on KQED News

Private chef Marc Vogel cooks for wealthy clients around the world, and he just returned home from a very long trip to Mali and Turkey. But despite his jet lag, he's dropping off a bag of old clothes at a San Francisco neighborhood homeless resource center called North Beach Citizens.

"I have my assistant go through the house, and I take it over because everybody here can use it," Vogel says. He also occasionally cooks at the center's annual fundraiser, an Italian-style dinner hosted by the center's famous founder, film director Francis Ford Coppola. (Until recently, Coppola cooked the meatballs himself.)

"Say what you want about Coppola," gushes Vogel. "At least he's making it happen!"

As San Francisco struggles for solutions to homelessness, North Beach Citizens is viewed by many homeless advocates as a success story, and one that could be replicated in other communities.

"They do really good work. I think they're a beautiful part of that community," says Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness. "We certainly have a lot of money in San Francisco and a lot of private donors that could invest in (replicating) this."

Coppola founded the center about 15 years ago to help the homeless people he encountered on his daily walks through the neighborhood. It is currently housed in a former porn theater on a busy stretch of Kearny Street that includes pizza restaurants, strip clubs, residents and tourists.

"It's a community," says Kristie Fairchild, a former ceramics artist who Coppola tapped to be the center's executive director. During morning drop-in hours, clients chat quietly as they sip coffee and eat pizza focaccia donated from a local bakery.

"It's a really sweet atmosphere  a gentle, enjoyable kind of coffee shop environment," Fairchild says.

Against this backdrop, North Beach Citizens offers intensive case management to anyone ready to do what it takes to get off the street. The solutions are as individual as the people themselves.

Take Michael Kelly, 46, who's been homeless for about 15 years. Kelly wants to reconnect with his family. One of Fairchild's community partners, a group called Miracle Messages, is helping him do that.

"They got me in contact with my mom after 10 years on Mother's Day. She freaked out!" says Kelly. "Now I have my sister's number. I haven't talked to her in 15 years."

For others, North Beach Citizens is family. Larry Prescott, 75, comes here almost every week to check in with Fairchild and other caseworkers. A few years ago, he was evicted from his apartment and wound up homeless, sleeping on the streets.

"Because of my age, Kristie took really good care of me. And she put me up in a hotel," Prescott says.

Now he lives in a single-room-occupancy hotel in the Mission District, and he says caseworkers are helping him navigate public housing waiting lists.

"It's a great program," Prescott says. "A lot of these people you see here, any other program would tell them, 'Take a hike.' So, I'm a lucky guy.' "

There are currently about 75 people enrolled in North Beach Citizens' core program. Twenty are homeless, and the rest are in some type of temporary or permanent housing. Fairchild says that since 2005, her staff has helped more than 300 people out of homelessness.

She concedes the resource center is one of a kind in some ways. Having a celebrity benefactor like Coppola certainly helped. And while many nonprofits in San Francisco are losing their facilities because of the city's hot real estate market, North Beach Citizens' building was purchased for them by an anonymous donor.

But Fairchild says that with a little creativity, other neighborhoods could adopt the model even without these advantages.

"He doesn't give us a dime anymore," Fairchild says. Coppola always believed that once North Beach Citizens was up and running, it would need to "sink or swim" on its own. "It's my board of directors that engages the community to support us," she says.

Fairchild says key ingredients needed to replicate the program include a caring staff that knows the neighborhood, a welcoming physical space where clients can engage with caseworkers and one another, and  perhaps most importantly  community buy-in.

"We're not doing this in a vacuum," she says. "In North Beach, I think people understand what we're doing here benefits the community because we're getting people off the streets."

"It's a solid thing," says David Hlopak, a tech executive who lives in the neighborhood. "I mean, of all the charities that I've seen out there, it's like the rubber hits the road and the money and the resources you donate to it get used."

Sam Dodge, who directs the mayor's Office of HOPE (Housing Opportunity, Partnerships & Engagement), agrees that a program like this "takes some funds. It's a lot to maintain. It's hard to find places. But it's not that hard. There are places in every neighborhood that can welcome this."

Fairchild says she can't help everyone who lands on her doorstep. The program has strict rules, and some people aren't ready or able to follow them.

But she doesn't get discouraged. She only wishes more San Francisco communities would leverage their wealth and talent to make ending homelessness a neighborhood priority.

This article originally appeared on KQED News
Firefighters are on scene of a one-alarm fire at a business in San Francisco this morning.



According to a firefighter the fire was reported shortly after midnight at the Macy's Union Square located at 170 O'Farrell St.



Further information about the fire has not yet been released.
















Four characteristics enhance Knight Franks strength

By:Ding Yulan | From:english.eastday.com | 2016-06-29 14:30

Alistair Elliott, Senior Partner & Group Chairman, Knight Frank

One day before the EU referendum, Eastday reporter conducted an exclusive interview with Alistair Elliott, Senior Partner & Group Chairman, Knight Frank, on the companys global strategy.

Going back to the 1980sin the early years of Canary Wharf development, I acquired two headquarters: one for Texaco - an oil company and shortly after that, for the Readers Digest. Alistair Elliott, the visiting Senior Partner & Group Chairman of Knight Frank, remembered his early experiences as a 30-year veteran in commercial real estate market, when talking to Eastday reporter in Shanghai.

In todays market specialist property is increasingly favoured by investors. Investors around the world are increasingly looking for diversification. They require more and more diversities. Some people set their target to residential sector. Other people explore commercial sector. When they enter commercial sector, they focus on offices, retail or industrial properties, said Alistair Elliott, We have noticed in the last few years, many investors have taken a strategic decision to extend their scope by buying specialist sectors. Specialist sectors in the world of real estate mean health care, student property, hotels, automotive, etc.

Knight Frank, which has been established for 120 years, now has expanded to 58 countries, with over 400 offices and 13,000 people. It is exploring new opportunities all the time. Knight Frank as a leading independent global real estate consultancy has four unique characteristics: independent, no external shareholders, international and commercial and residential properties. These four things as a collective enhanced our competitive power, said Alistair Elliott.


Premier Li Keqiang promised wider market access for foreign investment and intensified efforts to tackle financial risks when he addressed a roomful of corporate executives in Tianjin on June 28.

The participation of foreign firms is needed in Chinas efforts to push economic transformation and upgrading through reform and innovation, and to realize healthy and sustainable growth, Premier Li said.

He was taking part in a question-and-answer session on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos.

Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, a California-based company, asked Premier Li about the biggest challenges facing the Chinese economy.

The Premier said these included impeding the countys reform and transition, where foreign businesses can play a role.

He said foreign technology and managerial expertise will help Chinese companies and the countrys industrial upgrading.

Premier Li said the country will further ease market access for foreign investment and it is committed to building an environment for fair competition.

He did not specify the areas for more relaxed access, but at the opening of the Summer Davos on June 27, Premier Li said the country would open the service and general manufacturing sectors wider and treat Chinese and foreign companies equally.

China has the biggest potential for investment and should become the worlds most appealing destination for investment, he said.

Premier Li added that despite difficulties or even friction that foreign investors may experience when doing business in China, the vast majority of these companies could earn a high return on investment.

Vast majority means possibly 99 percent (of them), Premier Li said.

He thanked KPMG for its support and expertise in improving Chinas accounting system.

KPMG Internationals Global Chairman John B. Veihmeyer asked the Premier how the country will strengthen its capital markets and financial system.

Premier Li said, Like the Chinese economy, it is hard to avoid short-term volatility in Chinas capital markets, but we wont allow skyrocketing rises or precipitous falls in these markets.

The country will take measures to stabilize its financial market and avoid huge fluctuations, he said.

Replying to a question from Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of CloudFlare, an Internet performance and security company, Premier Li said China is committed to transforming its manufacturing sector by using the latest technology to meet diverse demands.

For its manufacturing industry to become smarter, it must count on the Internet, cloud computing and big data, and the sector must adapt to changes in market demand, he said.

Premier Li suggested that CloudFlare cooperate with more cloud computing startups in China, in addition to partnering with Chinese giants such as Baidu.
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Christy Sheats intentions were clear when she pulled out the gun in the midst of a hurriedly called family meeting.

She wanted her husband to suffer for the rest of his life.

And he will.

The 45-year-old father told investigators his wife gunned down his two beloved daughters in front of him last week amid tensions that their rocky marriage was headed for divorce.

It was her choice, Jason Sheats said, that he survived the carnage last Friday.

He felt Christy wanted him to suffer, Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls said Wednesday, after speaking with the distraught father. Mr. Sheats stated Christy knew how much he loved Taylor and Madison and how much they loved him.

READ MORE: 911 calls captured scene around Fort Bend County shooting

The fathers statements to the sheriff and other investigators may have provided the final answers in the brutal case that has horrified Texas and the nation. A private funeral was set to be held Thursday in Katy for Taylor, 22, and Madison, 17, and their mother is expected to be buried in Alabama.

Only Jason Sheats remains.

He did state that she accomplished what she set out to do  and that is to make him suffer, said sheriffs Detective Scott Heinemeyer, who is conducting the investigation.

Its just important that your thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Sheats  He will have to live the rest of his life with this horrible memory.

READ MORE: Shooting that left three dead started with 'family meeting'

Christy Sheats had a history of mental health problems, and had been hospitalized three times after trying to kill herself, the sheriff said.

She had been treated for depression, was taking medication and had been seeing a therapist.

Her symptoms emerged in 2012 after the death of a grandfather she idolized - and from whom she inherited the five-shot, .38-caliber handgun used to kill her children. Her mother died two months later.

Christy Sheats lost her job the same year and had been drinking heavily, though officials say they arent sure if she was drinking the day of the shooting.

Calls for help from the home were not uncommon.

Of more than a dozen calls to 911 from the home in the past four years, three sought help for suicide attempts, one for a possible suicide attempt and one for a verbal altercation, Nehls said.

None of the calls, however, offered any insight that Christy Sheats would be at risk of harming anyone but herself.

The marriage began to deteriorate about the same time, however, the husband said. The grandfather had been a role model to her and practically raised her, and his death hit her very hard.

[Jason and Christy] were married for 20-plus years, Heinemeyer said. After her grandfather passed away in 2012, [Jason] referred to their marriage as more or less a downward spiral.

The couple had been separated multiple times, and there were talks of divorce, Nehls said.

On Friday, however, the family was all living together in the home near Fulshear in the Katy area of northern Fort Bend County.

When Christy Sheats called the family meeting Friday, her husband assumed she was going to tell their children about the impending divorce.

He and the daughters met her in the living room, and she pulled the gun almost immediately.

Two 911 calls placed by Madison and Taylor captured the escalating family crisis, with screams and shouts as Jason Sheats and his daughters begged Christy Sheats not to pull the trigger.

Please. Please, dont shoot my family, he shouted. Im sorry... Im sorry.

Christy Sheats fired a bullet at each of the girls, but Jason Sheats told investigators he managed to make his way around the couch unharmed and help his daughters get out of the house. Madison collapsed outside the home, and Jason Sheats made it to the end of the cul de sac.

Christy Sheats shot Taylor one more time, leaving both daughters laying wounded on the concrete of their suburban neighborhood.

READ MORE: Police say family argument caused mother to shoot, kill daughters

Witnesses said Jason appeared to try encouraging his daughters to escape their mother, as neighbors guided him to safety, officials told reporters at Wednesdays press conference.

Jason Sheats told investigators that his wife had ample time to kill him if she wanted to, but she instead prolonged the event and went after their daughters.

She wanted to make him witness the brutal deaths of his children, Nehls said.

At one point, she stood over the girls and tried to shoot with an empty gun. Then she went inside, reloaded, and came outside to shoot Taylor one more time.

She was shot and killed by a Fulshear police officer, who arrived as she was firing the final shot. Officials said she was told to put down her gun and refused, and seemed to be advancing toward the officers.

Madison and her mother died at the scene. Taylor died later at a local hospital.

Jason Sheats was not injured in the shooting, and he told the sheriff it wasnt clear if she even tried to shoot him.

She apparently had fired three more times into the family home, however. Three bullet holes remain in the walls, Nehls said.

Tensions had also been building between Taylor and her mother, investigators said. Christy Sheats had a verbal argument with Taylor on Friday, and, as a result of the fight, threatened to ground her from seeing her boyfriend.

The young couple had planned to marry on Monday in a small service, with a larger celebration to be held when she finished college, Jason Sheats mother said on Facebook.

Jason Sheats told investigators that he disagreed with Christy Sheats plans to ground her daughter, since Taylor was an adult.

The sheriffs office wouldnt disclose the nature of the relationship between mother and daughters, but officials said based on social media alone, it seemed loving.

Taylor was a student at Lone Star College-CyFair and was an accomplished artist who wanted to be a teacher.

Christy Sheats was a public supporter of the Second Amendment, and had posted several memes on Facebook expressing anger at politicians who push for gun control. She said she needed a gun to protect her family.

Jason Sheats told investigators that his wife had previously applied for a license to carry a concealed weapon, but the application was denied. Officials are looking into whether the rejection was based on her history with mental illness.

But it wasnt the only gun in the home; Nehls said there were multiple handguns.

As friends and family grieve, meanwhile, the investigation is continuing.

The sheriffs office is conducting forensic analysis on technological devices in the home to see if Christy Sheats had planned the shooting beforehand.
Chuck Burton/Associated Press

The New York Times headline said it all: House Benghazi Report Finds No New Evidence of Wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton. The headline doesnt say there was no wrongdoing, just no new evidence of wrongdoing. Both Hillary and Bill Clinton have a genius for convincing the media that their miscues and coverups dont matter because they are old news.

For the record, I dont blame President Obama or his secretary of state for the death of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. America cannot insert itself into another nations civil war without risk. Critics can hit the administration for ignoring attacks that led the Red Cross and Brits to withdraw personnel from Benghazi. Stevens was aware of those alarms, but he courageously chose to stay. If he miscalculated, then it was from a generous impulse to help Libya evolve into a country that serves its people. He paid the ultimate price.
At the end of his climactic monologue in Master Harold... and the Boys at Aurora Theatre Company, Sam (L. Peter Callender) loosens his tie. Hes spent. Theres no use maintaining certain formalities anymore, even as his speech sets in stone another, more insidious formality: He will no longer use a familiar nickname for Hally (Andrew Humann), the adolescent boy in the white family he and fellow servant Willie (Adrian Roberts) work for in apartheid-era South Africa. Henceforth, Hally shall be Master Harold.

The tie-loosening gesture might look trite or overwrought coming from another actor. But Callender is the type of performer who, as he calls out Hallys cowardice and hypocrisy at the same time he refers to the boy as Master Harold, can channel an earlier era in acting, when we looked to the stars of our stages to deliver withering indictments of injustice and heeded their cris de coeur sans irony.

Callender might roll his rs not too differently from the way a caricatured tragedian does, but he earns the right to. So urgent and sorrowful is his buildup to that speech that theres no other way to perform it.

Its not an easy moment to make credible. Written by South African playwright Athol Fugard in 1982 and directed by Timothy Near for Aurora, Master Harold ... and the Boys requires its performers to transform from status quo to irreversible upheaval in less than an afternoon and without intermission, scene change or any kind of interruption in the action.

Sam and Willie take a break from their chores in St. Georges Park Tea Room, which Hallys mother manages, so Sam can help Willie practice for his ballroom dancing competition. When Hally arrives from school, the pair dont stand at attention; if anything, they ham up their antics for his benefit. The mood is playful and affectionate, if immediately undercut by the uncomfortable sight of a young white boy wearing a blazer with a school crest and two older black men in livery. (Victoria Livingston-Hall did the canny costumes.)

Humanns role could easily be thankless. Hally spouts sanctimonious verbiage about social progress while simultaneously ignoring the privilege of his race and class, the naivete of his youth. He condescends to waste time sharing his days lessons with Sam; Willie he deems too simple to be worth the effort. When his boorish and crippled father imposes on him, he claims no one can understand the indignity he suffers emptying a chamber pot  this as his two servants cater to his every bodily need.

But Humann makes Hally more complex than that, which means hes a worthier foe for Sam later on. He needs Sam and Willie to serve as extensions of his own consciousness, to help him work out the ideas hes interested in; his intellectual pursuits are a bulwark against becoming like his father, who reads only comic books.

Master Harold ... and the Boys is semiautobiographical for Fugard, whose own mother ran a St. Georges Park Tea Room staffed by black employees, and whose own father was often sick. The script is sincere in its effort to come to terms with that youth, with the complicity of simply being a white person in South Africa during apartheid.

But as a show for Berkeley audiences in 2016, Master Harold ... and the Boys feels a little too safe a choice for the Aurora, as did its Trouble in Mind in 2010, which was also a superlative production of a script that was very important in its time. In each, a black protagonist takes to task a white oppressor who is so obviously in the wrong that punishing him before contemporary eyes risks allowing audiences to congratulate themselves for their enlightenment. The real reason to produce plays about race today is that congratulations  any congratulations  are still woefully premature.

Lily Janiak is The San Francisco Chronicles theater critic. Email: ljaniak@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LilyJaniak

Master Harold ... and the Boys: By Athol Fugard. Directed by Timothy Near. Through July 17. $32-$50. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

To view a video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl1e3fDShQA
Marin Shakespeares Lesley Currier got a letter some years back from Michael Willis, whod played Puck in a San Quentin State Prison production of A Midsummer Nights Dream. He was writing from his new cell at High Desert State Prison in Susanville (Lassen County) to say how rotten it was at that remote maximum-security facility with no theater program, and urging Currier to bring the Bard to that desolate place.

He told me he missed Shakespeare, says Currier, Marin Shakespeares managing director, who began working with inmates at San Quentin in 2003.

By law, she was not allowed to write Willis back. But she put High Desert high on her list of prisons ripe for the companys Shakespeare for Social Justice program, which grew to include Vacavilles Solano State Prison in 2014 when the state began funding its decades-dormant prison arts program.

Now, thanks to new grants from Arts-in-Corrections (a partnership of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the California Arts Council), Currier and colleagues will also be teaching Shakespeare this year with men imprisoned at High Desert and women at Folsom Prison in Sacramento County.

I was thinking Taming of the Shrew might be a great play to look at with the women, said Currier, whose company is getting about $110,000 for its in-prison program.

She and drama therapist Suraya Keating, director of Shakespeare for Social Justice, began teaching theater games and exercises at Folsom earlier this month. Its their first project with incarcerated women.

Weve had a very strong positive response from the men. Theater can be life-changing for them, Currier says. They tell us it allows them to be friends with people of other races for the first time, to feel like I can be myself. They can see an alternative to the politics of the prison yard.

The work Marin Shakespeare and other arts groups have done in the prisons with scant support helped persuade the state to put money into Arts-in-Corrections, which got a big bump in funding to $6 million in the 2016-17 budget awaiting Gov. Jerry Browns signature.

Evidence shows that inmates who participate in arts programs have lower rates of recidivism, get in trouble less and feel better about themselves, says Currier, whose team heads up to High Desert Prison later this year. Alas, Willis, the man who inspired her to bring Shakespeare there, was transferred to another prison some time ago.

Because of the distance to Susanville, theyre doing a series of intensive weekend workshops rather than weekly classes building to a full-play performance. The workshops focus on themes like forgiveness and mercy or imprisonment, which the men will explore by reading relevant scenes from The Tempest or Hamlet and writing poems and songs.

For the first time in its 37-year history, Marin Shakespeare has cast a graduate of its prison program on its professional main stage  and in a starring role to boot. That would be Dameion Brown, as Othello in September.

Dameion Brown, who was released from prison last year after serving 23 years for committing violent acts against his children, now works for an East Bay nonprofit counseling in-trouble and at-risk youth. He shone as Macduff in Macbeth at Solano State Prison last year, and after seeing Marin Shakespeares Richard II in San Rafael last summer, told artistic director Robert Currier he wanted to play the Moor.

Currier, Lesleys husband, believed in Dameion Brown, gave him the gig and will direct him in Othello on the starlit Forest Meadows stage.

I think Dameions outsider status and life experiences will allow him to bring a lot to the role, Lesley Currier says.

It feels pretty amazing, she adds, to see a Shakespearean from the companys San Quentin class now playing the lead in a professional show at a time when California is leading the country in terms of what rehabilitation can look like.

For more information, go to www.marinshakespeare.org.

Stride right

The far-ranging piano master Dick Hyman and his fellow stride specialist Mike Lipskin return to Piedmont Piano on Wednesday, July 6, playing duets and solos in two shows filled with music by Fats Waller, Art Tatum and Duke Ellington.

Hyman, still grooving at 89 years old, served as composer, arranger, conductor and piano player for a dozen Woody Allen films, composed the Moonstruck score, played with Charlie Parker and Benny Goodman, and made prime recordings of the piano music of Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton and others.

He goes way back with Lipskin, a 73-year-old San Franciscan tutored in the two-fisted Harlem stride style by one of the original giants, Willie The Lion Smith.

For more information, www.piedmontpiano.com.

Jesse Hamlin is a Bay Area journalist and former San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
Highly paid tech workers are often blamed for the citys housing crisis. Now, three supervisors want to levy a tax on technology companies in an effort to make them pay for the citys two biggest woes: the high cost of housing and homelessness.

Dubbed the tech tax, the proposed November ballot measure would impose a 1.5 percent payroll tax on technology companies. That would be a big shift. In 2012, 71 percent of San Francisco voters supported a measure to eliminate the citys payroll tax and replace it with a gross receipts tax.

The proposed measure has a lot of ifs, including whether it will even make the ballot. It has three co-sponsors  Supervisors Eric Mar, Aaron Peskin and David Campos  but needs the support of at least six to qualify.

That will be an uphill battle. None of the five moderate supervisors is likely to support it, and one of the six progressives, Jane Kim, may be unwilling to take on tech companies while she is running for state Senate.

Should the measure make it to the ballot and pass, the city controllers office estimates it would generate about $115 million annually. The measure doesnt specify how the revenue would be divided between homeless services and affordable housing. That will be worked out during the committee process. As currently drafted, the measure excludes businesses that have gross receipts of less than $1 million.

Another unknown is what companies are deemed tech. Companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter would ostensibly qualify, but dozens more potentially straddle the line, like Amazon.

The measure identifies tech companies by the type of tax code they use under the Internal Revenue Services North American Industry Classification System. Companies classify themselves. They may face penalties if a government audit finds they are misidentifying themselves.

Where do you draw the line?

Tax expert Leo Martinez, a professor at UC Hastings College of the Law, said identifying tech companies would raise numerous challenges.

Clearly, that is going to be an area that is fraught. Whatever reference they use, there are always these line-drawing problems. I imagine the question of what is and what isnt a tech company is going to be a hugely knotty problem to try and deal with, Martinez said.

But just on principle, the proposal has already generated strong reactions.

As a representative of an industry that has played a meaningful role in ensuring San Francisco has the lowest unemployment rate of any city in the country, I am appalled at the political vindictiveness of this proposed measure, said Alex Tourk, a spokesman for San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation, a coalition of tech companies.

Supervisor Mark Farrell called it the worst idea Ive heard in months.

Deirdre Hussey, spokeswoman for Mayor Ed Lee, called it a job-killing measure.

She added that the measure upends the grand bargain made between business and labor that ultimately led voters to eliminate the payroll tax in 2012.

Changing circumstances

Mar, who conceived of the tax, said Tuesday that circumstances had changed so drastically since 2012 that it merited revisiting the issue.

Its worked out great for the tech companies, and it hasnt worked great for other San Franciscans, he said. Its five years after this rapid tech boom with tens of thousands of new employees that make basically double the salary of the average San Franciscan employee. The measure is addressing this issue by requiring these big tech companies to pay their fair share.

Perhaps the biggest surprise Tuesday was that Peskin is one of the measures sponsors. Just last week, he indicated he didnt want to put it on the ballot. But on Tuesday he called it good public policy.

The impacts that are caused by various activities in our society should be borne by the impactors, he said. This is the beginning of the public conversation that may or may not go forward in November but I think should be part of the public discourse.

As for what changed between last week and this week, Peskin had one answer: Good polling data.

Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: egreen@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @emilytgreen
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SACRAMENTO  Californians will vote in November on whether to legalize marijuana for recreational use, after the secretary of states office certified Tuesday that a proposed initiative had qualified for the ballot.

The Adult Use of Marijuana Act would authorize the state to license, regulate and tax marijuana. Backed in part by venture capitalist Sean Parker, the initiative will be the second in recent years to go before California voters asking if they want to legalize recreational use of the drug for people 21 and older. A similar measure was defeated in 2010.

Proponents for six other ballot measures are waiting for word on whether their initiatives will make the already crowded November ballot as the deadline approaches.

The pending initiatives include a $2-per-pack cigarette tax increase, prison sentencing reforms, expedited executions for death row inmates, extending an income tax, capping pay for hospital executives, and reserving any funds raised by the sale of retail and grocery bags for environmental spending.

State law requires county election offices to verify signatures turned in by ballot measure proponents through a random sample, with Thursday marking the deadline for initiatives to qualify for the November election. Besides the marijuana initiative, seven other ballot measures have qualified for the November ballot.

If the measure on speeding up executions qualifies, it would become the second initiative on the ballot related to the states use of the death penalty. A ballot measure to abolish the death penalty and instead sentence those inmates to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole has already qualified to appear on the November ballot.

The measure applies retroactively to inmates already sentenced to death and requires them to work while incarcerated, with 60 percent of their wages going to victim restitution, if ordered.

San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos said the states death penalty has been broken for years, and now voters can decide which reform is best.

People can talk about their opposition to the death penalty and well never be able to change that, and I respect their opinion, Ramos told lawmakers at a hearing where he testified in support of the initiative to speed up executions.

So now we have an opportunity with two initiatives to let the voters decide. And thats really what we want to do at the end of the day.

Proponents of a ballot measure that would extend the temporary personal income tax under Prop. 30 for another 12 years are also waiting to hear whether the proposal will make the ballot.

Most of the large counties in the state have completed their signature verifications, although Alameda, San Diego, Riverside and Orange counties were still working through some or all of the remaining seven ballot initiatives as of Monday.

We had a good 20 staff working on those petitions, said Jill LaVine, registrar of voters for Sacramento County, whose office has completed its signature verifications for all ballot measures. We worked Saturdays to get this done.

If the sampling is not completed in time, the initiative would move to the 2018 ballot if its signatures check out. The random sample has to project 110 percent of the required signatures are valid or the state requires all signatures to be verified, a process that at this point would keep an initiative from this Novembers ballot.

So far, 26 ballot measures have failed to qualify, although many of those are duplicates, including several for legalizing marijuana. A ballot measure to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021 was pulled from the ballot last week as expected after Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that raises the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022.

On Monday, the secretary of states office announced a seventh initiative qualified for the November ballot. That initiative requires lawmakers to wait 72 hours from the time a bill is in print before voting on it and for the Legislature to record and post videos of legislative hearings.

Over 1 million voters signed petitions to bring this measure to the ballot, and we are delighted the public will now have the opportunity to take direct action this November, said Sam Blakeslee, a former Republican state senator from San Luis Obispo, who helped carry the measure.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez

Measures waiting to make ballot

Hospital executive compensation  Caps the amount hospitals can pay their executives at $450,000 and requires annual disclosures of executive compensation and severance packages above that amount.

Tax extension  Extends the temporary personal income tax under Prop. 30 for another 12 years. The tax is paid by individuals earning more than $250,000 and couples making more than $500,000.

Death penalty  Speeds up executions on Death Row by providing new deadlines and limiting appeals for inmates. Also requires Death Row inmates to work and pay victim restitution.

Bag ban tax  If Californias ban on plastic bags holds, this initiative would require that the money charged by grocery and retail stores for paper bags to be sent to a special fund administered by the Wildlife Conservation Board for environmental projects.

Cigarette tax  Increases the tobacco tax by $2 per pack , with the same tax added to other tobacco products and e-cigarettes that contain nicotine.

Sentencing reform  Allows prisoners convicted of nonviolent felonies to be considered for early parole and requires judges, not prosecutors, to decide whether to charge a juvenile as an adult.
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Those who love to shoot photos and video will not love Apple's new iPhone patent: The tech company has found a way to disable its phones from recording in prohibited areas, such as concerts.

Talk about a buzzkill.

The patent details how the technology works for iPhone owners. Using infrared data transmission, venues can emit a signal that would be picked up by the phone, preventing the user from recording a music performance, for instance, or a new film at the theater.

That infrared signal would then prevent iPhone users from recording in a certain direction  such as the stage  but would still allow users to take photos with friends, Tech Insider pointed out.

This technology is infinitely useful for concert promoters who've tried to dissuade the crowds from recording portions of the show, as cell phone cameras have become commonplace.

More for you How Augmented Reality Startups Can Change Our Work Reality

On another level, however, it does pose some issues as to who would be allowed to use the technology to limit cell phone videos.

A spokesman for the Electronic Frontier Foundation told KPIX that if cell phone recording can be disabled at concerts, it could be used to keep iPhone users from recording, for example, police activity.

"It's very disturbing when someone proposes technology that would take the power out of the owner or user and hand it to a third party," Danny O'Brien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation told the news station.

Ultimately, the ability to stop phones from recording is out there, but it's also not necessarily an upcoming feature. Apple files numerous patents that it doesn't use, as Tech Insider reported, and this could be one of those patents.

The patent does outline other uses for the technology: The patent detailed a plan to potentially use infrared to transmit useful information. The example used in the filing was for using iPhones to learn details about museum objects.
MARRAKECH, Morocco  First lady Michelle Obama met with teenage Moroccan girls on Tuesday to promote education in the North African kingdom, where only 36 percent of girls continue school beyond the primary level.

Actresses Meryl Streep and Indian star Freida Pinto also took part in Obamas encounter with a group of two dozen young women to discuss the challenges facing girls in getting educated. Like the first lady, both women are advocates for girls education.

The first ladys daughters, Sasha and Malia, joined their mother in Marrakech but did not take part in the event.

The Let Girls Learn initiative, launched in March 2015 by President Obama and the first lady, is to be extended to Morocco, the White House said Tuesday. It said the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. government foreign aid agency working in partnership with the Moroccan government, is investing nearly $100 million to transform secondary education in the country. USAID is also giving $400,000 to create five girls dormitories that will improve educational opportunities for girls from rural areas.

Im looking forward to adding more voices to this conversation, the first lady said to the group of young women.

We need every one of our citizens, boys and girls, to be empowered, Obama said.

She said that 62 million girls worldwide do not have access to education for an array of reasons, from lack of resources to cultural norms.

The group met in the courtyard of Dar Diafa, a historic palace converted into a restaurant.

One young woman taking part, who identified herself only as Karima from Ouarzazate, in south-central Morocco, said her parents ensured she had a primary school education but discouraged her from focusing her secondary education on a field dominated by men, and science technology.

Every single persons story is different, said Streep, who told the young women she was the first in her family with a university education.
1 Yemen conflict: An air strike early on Tuesday by a Saudi-led coalition targeting Shiite rebels in Yemens southern province of Taiz killed 25 people  15 fighters and 10 civilians, security officials said. The air strike also wounded eight civilians, the officials said. Most of the victims were shoppers or storekeepers in the area that was hit, a commercial road that lies between two villages. Yemens conflict pits rebels known as Houthis and their allies against the internationally recognized government, backed by the Saudi-led coalition of mainly Arab states. The conflict has killed an estimated 9,000 people and pushed the Arab worlds poorest country to the brink of famine.

2 Same-sex adoption: The Czech Constitutional Court has overturned a law that banned individual gays and lesbians living in a registered partnership from adopting children. In its ruling on Tuesday, the countrys highest legal authority said that such a ban is discriminatory because individual gays and lesbians who dont live in the official partnership were allowed to do so. However, the ruling still does not allow lesbian and gay pairs to adopt children as a couple. In 2006, Parliament approved a law allowing same-sex partners to live in an officially registered partnership and have rights to inheritance and health care similar to those enjoyed by heterosexual married couples. The law, however, does not allow same-sex partners to marry.
ISTANBUL Multiple explosions and gunfire rocked Turkeys largest airport Tuesday night, killing at least 36 people and injuring more than 140 others, the latest in a string of potent attacks to hit the country.

Istanbul Gov. Vasip Sahin said three suicide bombers carried out the attack, while Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said at least one attacker opened fire with a Kalashnikov rifle before blowing himself up at the entrance to the airports international terminal.

Blasts were heard at the entrance to the international terminal, the domestic terminal and the parking lot, according to the Turkish newspaper, Daily Sabah, and witnesses described a scene of pandemonium and carnage.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Turkey has been the target of recent attacks from Kurdish militants and the extremist group Islamic State, based in nearby Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on governments around the world to take a firm stand against terrorism.

The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world, Erdogan said in a statement. Make no mistake: For terrorist organizations, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago or Antalya and Rome.

The attack bore striking similarities to the deadly assault on Brussels Airport in March. Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at @istanbulairport, the Brussels Airport posted on its Twitter account. We wish them, their relatives & all airport staff strength & courage.

In the aftermath of the bombings, hundreds of passengers flooded out of the airport. Every few minutes, an ambulance pulled out, sirens blaring.

A woman from Saudi Arabia was waiting for news of three missing family members. They were separated in the chaos.

There were bodies lying everywhere, she said, distraught. She declined to give her name.

Mohammed Habib, a Moroccan businessman who has lived in Turkey for three years, said he had just checked in for his flight when he saw people running and heard police yelling at them to get out. They stopped the attacker at the entrance. This shows how good the Turkish security is, he said. If they had gotten inside, God knows what they could have done.

A Turkish Twitter user posted video of what appeared to be one of the explosions, apparently launched after police shot and felled one of the bombers, who then set off his explosives. It showed passengers milling normally, then the apparent bomber running through the terminal and falling, and finally a sharp flash of light followed by flames.

The Islamic State has increasingly been targeting tourist spots in Turkey. Suicide bombers have hit the Sultanahmet district in Istanbul, a quarter popular with tourists, as well as the citys Istiklal Avenue, the busiest thoroughfare in Europe.
OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images

ISTANBUL  One man worked as a Turkish translator and was escorting tourists back to the airport. One woman, an airport worker, was looking forward to her wedding in 10 days. There were taxi drivers and a customs officer. And there was a Turkish couple who worked together, and died together, in the suicide attack Tuesday night at Istanbul Ataturk Airport that killed dozens of people and wounded more than 200.

As officials said Wednesday that the death toll from the attack had risen to 42, details about the victims began trickling out. At least 23 of them were from Turkey, according to a Turkish official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the attack.
Last September, Silvio Lopez left his house off of West Alameda to go on a long ride, taking the 45-mile Galisteo Loop, via Hwy. 14. Lopez, a 42-year-old systems administrator and avid triathlete, often spends 15 hours a week in the pool, on the bike, running, or lifting weights. He was happy to get out and enjoy the gorgeous weather, if also a bit disappointed. The eighth annual Santa Fe Triathlon scheduled to take place that day had been cancelled. Employees at the City Parks and Recreation Department cited difficulties with redirecting traffic for the road portions of the race, but rumors circulated that there was simply a lack of interest.

This seemed hard to believe. Though the city has most of the elements of a triathlete's paradisehigh altitudes, miles of near-empty roads and trails, as well as three impeccably run public poolsthe tri scene in Santa Fe can sometimes feel like the hip-hop scene in Kuala Lumpur: robust, but a little lonely. Santa Fe has no dedicated tri club, and so most multisport athletes do their structured interval runs or tempo workouts with groups like Santa Fe Striders or the New Mexico Spokettes. Otherwise, they train alone.

"In 15 minutes, I'm at La Tierra. In 25 minutes, I'm at Dale Ball," Lopez says. "I regularly go on amazing rides and runs, right from my doorstep, but it would be nice to have our own tri club here, and to have a community that's organized and active."



Michael Dunn promotes the Toughman NM at Cochiti Lake as an in-state option. (Curtis Guillen)

At the same time that Santa Fe triathletes have felt the pang of loneliness, the sport has been enjoying an astonishing period of development and growth on the national level. Membership for USA Triathlon, the sport's governing body, has more than doubled in the past 10 years, and the Southwest region is particularly well-known for some of triathlon's biggest annual events, including the Ironman triathlons in Tempe, Arizona, and Boulder, Colorado. In-state races, however, are few and far between. In 2014 (the latest year for which these numbers are available), Arizona hosted 50, Colorado had 87 and Texas 223, while New Mexico clocked in with just 18.

Lopez sometimes works out with Black Dog Triathlon club in Albuquerque. Though the club has grown by about 20 percent in the past five years, Black Dog vice president Michael Dunn says his group faces similar problems.

"We've got the best trails, the best roads, the best weather, but at events, the turnout is just not as much as it should be," says Dunn, a 36-year-old real estate agent who also promotes the annual Toughman NM triathlons at Cochiti Lake. "I see a lot of people that will travel to Colorado, Arizona or Texas to go do these Ironman-branded events. I think the sport is definitely growing in our state, but I don't know if it's growing as fast as I would like."

There are reasons to be optimistic, however.

At the moment, no one is more eager to see Santa Fe's homegrown triathlon scene grow than city Councilor Joseph Maestas. A multisport athlete for the past 30 years, Maestas took part in the Las Campanas Compadres and Socorro Chile Harvest triathlons last year, and placed third in the 50-54 age group at the Santa Fe Triathlon in 2014.

"I love it," says Maestas. "I love the training aspect of it, the competitive nature of it, the tapping into the true potential of your body. It's also got great economic potential. The city government can do a lot more to frame the city's marketing strategy around outdoor amenities. We're not just a great site for a triathlon, but a great locale for high-altitude training."

Maestas adds that he's eager to take part in local races again this year, including the Santa Fe Triathlon, which is set to take place on Aug. 13.

"I just bought a time trial bike," he says. "I'm anxious to get it out there."



Where to Race

Summer is the high season for triathlons in New Mexico. Here are a few events to watch out for:



Socorro Chile Harvest Triathlon

Socorro

Saturday, July 30

chileharvesttri.com/races/adultrace

XTERRA TRI the Torture

Glorieta

Saturday, Aug. 6

core-crew.com/xterra

Toughman NM

Cochiti Lake

Sunday, Aug. 21

toughmannm.com

Las Campanas Compadres Triathlon

Santa Fe

Monday, Sept. 5

lascampanascompadres.org

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong date for the City of Santa Fe triathlon.





Santa Fe Reporter
Heinrich Raises Privacy Concerns

Matthew Reichbach reports that US Sen. Martin Heinrich

over what his office calls a massive expansion of government surveillance.

Inmate Lawsuit Settlements Revealed

The firm that had been managing health care services for the New Mexico Corrections Department paid out more than

since 2007.

Former APS Superintendent Found Not Guilty

Yesterday, a jury in Denver found Jason Martinez, a controversial former Albuquerque Public Schools deputy superintendent,

. Martinez resigned after it was discovered he never underwent a background check at APS and left Colorado in violation of his release conditions.

Santa Fe County Budget Approved

Justin Horwath reports, Santa Fe County commissioners unanimously approved

for the upcoming fiscal year at a meeting Tuesday.

Opera Has Rich History

Santa Fe Opera hits a big milestone. SFR's John Stege reports

.

Swim, Run, Bike and Fish. Go Outside with SFR

If youre into the outdoors, youll want to check out

this week. Check out some cool place to go play over the 4th of July weekend.

Bear Attack Victim Wants Law Changed

Speaking of the outdoors, a woman runner mauled by a black bear in the Valles Calderas a couple of weeks ago wants to help

people in some situations.

Groups Want Trapping Expansion Haulted

Meanwhile, Deborah Baker reports, Animal protection groups are suing the state in federal court, trying to block

they say would also illegally snag endangered Mexican wolves and jaguars.

Santa Fe Reporter
Z Energy still expects to cut annual costs by between $25 million and $30 million from its acquisition of Chevron New Zealand, and has started the process to sell 19 service stations which was a condition of the tie-up.

The newly-acquired Caltex business budgeted $16.5 million for offshore services from its Manilla, Philippines service hub, which Z will merge into the Wellington-based company's domestic operations, lowering financial operations, IT, and call centre costs, it said in a statement. Z also anticipates annual savings of $1.6 million moving Caltex's refined fuel procurement to its existing supplier.

The service station operator forecasts net savings of $1 million in the current financial year, rising to $10.3 million in 2017 and $13.8 million the following year. Z also affirmed the expected cost of achieving those savings to be $24 million of operating expenditure in 2017 and $9 million of capital expenditure.

Z bought Chevron's Caltex and Challenge! brands for $785 million, making it the country's biggest petrol retailer. As part of the deal, Z had to divest 19 service stations and one truck stop to get Commerce Commission approval.

The company today said it expects the sales to be wrapped up before the end of the 2017 financial year, hiring PwC to manage the process. Z has been in talks with a number of retailers this month and issued an information memorandum for certain sites to potential buyers.

"The level of interest in the process from current and potential market participants continues to be strong," Z said.

Z shares last traded at $8.06 and have gained 19 percent so far this year.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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After protracted negotiations, the government has ditched the construction consortium it picked to build Christchurch's replacement convention centre, which it now anticipates delivering at least two years behind the original schedule.

In August 2014, Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Gerry Brownlee and Prime Minister John Key announced the government had chosen a consortium made up of Plenary Group, Ngai Tahu Property and Carter Group to build the convention centre, to which it committed $284 million. Construction was then expected to begin in 2015, with the centre open for business in 2017. Christchurch's recently built convention centre was demolished after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

Brownlee said in a statement today that the consortium, Plenary Conventions New Zealand, had done the early design and master planning for the centre, but the parties had mutually agreed PCNZ would not continue to work on the project. The government will start looking for other contractors to finalise the design and construct the facility in early August, he said.

The government has been in negotiations with PCNZ since announcing the consortium as its preferred developer. In its Major Projects Performance Report for the three months to October 2015, Treasury said Cabinet had recently approved a funding envelope so negotiations could proceed, and Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority thought a go/no-go decision would be made by December that year.

In May this year, Prime Minister Key told Christchurch's daily newspaper The Press that the government would not be "bullied into signing off on a deal" and described the negotiations with PCNZ as "intensive" and "tense".

Brownlee released an updated timeline today, showing the government anticipates contractor procurement will be finished by mid-2017, foundation excavation done by the end of next year, and main construction finished by the end of 2019.

"The government remains absolutely committed to a precinct that is world-class, and offers quality accommodation, hospitality and retail to support the convention facilities," Brownlee said. "Having certainty around this project is important for the city's forward planning, and I thank everyone for their patience as we took the necessary time to make this decision on the path ahead."

Preparation work such as telecommunication re-routing will begin immediately, Brownlee said, and a section of Gloucester Street from Colombo Street to Oxford Terrace will close by the end of July. Substantial earthworks will begin in October, he said.

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HYDERABAD: An international industrial park will come up in Andhra Pradesh, which is expected to attract investment of $6.4 billion.

An MoU in this regard was signed by the state government on Monday with China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and China Small and Medium Investment Group Limited, Beijing during the current visit by 13-member delegation led by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to China.

The project to come at Donakonda in Prakasam district will comprise a Building Materials Industrial Park and Modern Building Materials Logistics Park.

The industrial park, the first of its kind in India, will give a major boost to make in Andhra Pradesh, said a statement from the chief minister's office.

The Building Material Industrial park will come up in an area of 20 square km with an investment of $0.9 billion and will manufacture all categories of building materials and low- carbon energy-saving new materials.

This park will provide direct employment to 10,000 people.

The Modern Building Materials Logistics Park will also be set up in 20 square km with an investment of $5.5 billion and will take care of the distribution and be a logistics centre of all categories of building materials. As many as 35,000 people will be directly employed.

The proposed total investment is $6.4 billion and the facility will be completed in three phases.

The park will attract manufacturing industries and logistics companies from China and other countries to invest and set up units. The products manufactured will be supplied to local markets, other areas of India and the export market.

The park will manufacture structured materials like wood, bamboos, stones, cement, concrete, metals, bricks, tiles, ceramics, glass, engineering plastics and composite materials etc.

Decoration materials like coatings, paint, cladding materials, veneering, ceramic tiles in all colors and glass with special effects etc will also be manufactured.

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The 100th day will perhaps witness the largest gathering of agitating fisherfolk on land and sea at two points along the Thiruvananthapuram coast; at Vizhinjam and Muthalapozhi, both 40 kilometres apart.
BENGALURU: Narendra Modi-led BJP party had promised to launch high-speed rails in its election manifesto. After winning the election, the party has stuck to its commitment by starting a Diamond Quadrilateral project, to connect the cities of Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai via high-speed railway networks. The government of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japan Government to examine the Ahmadabad and Mumbai route so as to introduce the first ever bullet train in the country.

Indias first bullet train service is expected to kick-start from 2023 on the Ahmadabad to Mumbai route. It will cover 508 km distance in just two hours with a maximum speed of 320 Kmph. The second bullet train of the country is expected to run between New Delhi to Varanasi route in which it will cover the 782 km distance in just 2 hours and 40 minutes. Indian Railways are the fourth largest rail network in the world with the increasing frequency of its train since the time of its commencement. Here is the list prepared by The Indian Express Website, talking about the fastest trains in India, before High-speed rail program will take over.

Gatimaan Express

It is the fastest train running currently in India that was inaugurated by Railway minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu on April 5, 2016. It runs between Hazrat Nizamuddin (New Delhi) to Agra Cantonment, covering a distance of about 188 km within 100 minutes. This semi-bullet train has a top speed of 160 Kmph with an average speed of 100 Kmph.

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NEW DELHI: The union cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, a move which will boost consumption by putting extra disposable income in the hands of the central governments 4.7 million employees.

The Seventh Pay Commission (7th CPC) had recommended a 23.5 per cent increase in pay, pension and allowances under a business as usual scenario. It had envisaged an increase in pay of Rs 39,100 crore, increase in allowances of Rs 29,300 crore and increase in pension of Rs 33,700 crore, taking the total financial impact for 2016-17 to Rs 1.02 lakh crore.

The pay panel revisions are in force retrospectively from January 1, 2016.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said before the budget that he would provide Rs 1.1 lakh crore and the budget documents showed that Rs 1.06 lakh crore has been provided for.

The centre is likely to provide additional details later in the day at a post-cabinet media briefing. It is not yet known if the government has cleared 7th CPC recommendations in-toto or if there are some changes.

As per the initial reports, the minimum pay has been set at Rs 18,000 per month while the maximum pay has been capped at Rs 2.5 lakh per month.

Jaitley is facing massive spending commitments this year not only due to the 7th CPC payout but also in infrastructure and agricultural sectors.

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MUMBAI: Nasscom 10,000 StartUps along with IvyCamp, an initiative of IvyCap Ventures, has forged an alliance to bolster the Internet of Things (IoT) movement in the Indian startup ecosystem.

The initiative will connect startups, investors, mentors and industry bodies to converge and explore ways of working together, a statement from Nasscom said.

IvyCamp platform will connect the industry participants to entrepreneurs for providing guidance on formulating and driving the IoT business. Activities through the year will focus on seeking out, supporting and growing IoT innovations and ventures, it said.

"The potential scope of disruptive technologies in India is vast, as they can have a massive economic impact. IoT is one such sector which is gradually gaining popularity. With this collaboration with IvyCamp, we aim to promote an IoT ecosystem, which is vibrant and innovative, which will help our country attain a leadership role in this field," Rajat Tandon, Vice President, Nasscom 10,000 StartUps said.

One of the key activities under this partnership will be to host an annual event R-IOT, Rendezvous for the IoT ecosystem, the statement said.

The first event will be held in Mumbai on July 1, at the Nasscom 10,000 StartUp Warehouse, Navi Mumbai to bring together innovators, mentors, investors and corporates in the IoT space to educate the community on the latest innovations and challenges in IoT.

IvyCamp will also be hosting an investor education programme on financing IoT startups, it said.

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By SHANE DiMAIO

and IRENE SPEZZAMONTE

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The "Outerbridge Cowboy" won't be riding off into the sunset as smoothly as planned.

Tod L. Mishler, the 80-year-old known as "Doc" who caused a stir when he rode across the Outerbridge Crossing on horseback on Monday, is fighting Wednesday morning to get his horses back.

Officials from the NYPD and the office of District Attorney Michael E. McMahon who wanted to check on the animals' wellbeing met with Mishler Tuesday evening, and he agreed to sign a consent for treatment allowing the horses to be examined by a veterinarian, a D.A. spokesman said.

Officials from the city Parks Department have temporarily taken in the animals at the Ocean Breeze Indoor Horse Riding Arena, and an ASPCA spokeswoman said the agency is providing veterinary assistance as part of the investigation.

Once the horses are deemed healthy, they will be returned to Mishler, a spokesman for McMahon said.

Mishler, of Ulster Park, N.Y., told the Advance authorities came to him Tuesday evening at the West Shore Motel in Charleston, where he had been staying since his ride, to investigate whether they had been properly cared for.

"I'm in the room and I'm resting up and I get a knock on the door and one of the tenants says 'they're taking your horses!' Mishler said.

"I said, 'what do you mean they're taking my horses?'" he continued. "I put my pants on and run out there, I got my boots on, didn't even have my socks on!"

As of Wednesday afternoon, Mishler said the horses had not been returned to his care.

He arrived at the Ocean Breeze facility Wednesday with about a dozen supporters -- many of whom were wearing cowboys hats -- demanding the return of his animals.

Officials from the NYPD and city Parks Police showed up shortly thereafter.

Mishler caused a stir on Monday when he brought traffic to a crawl on the Outerbridge Crossing when he rode across on horseback, leading a second horse behind him.

He was given two criminal court summonses for the ride, a Port Authority spokesman said.

He had been staying at the West Shore motel since, and said he was in the process of arranging to have his horses transported over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge via trailer on Thursday.

Mishler says he rides across country on horseback to raise awareness of child hunger in the country.

He's garnered many supporters for his endeavors.

But he's also had his critics as well.

In 2011, he was arrested in Madison, Wis., amid allegations his horses appeared dehydrated and underfed, according to a report by the Wisconsin State Journal. Those charges were dropped and he was reunited with his horses, the publication reported.

On Sunday night, a Facebook group called "Stop Doc Mishler" was created by animal advocates concerned about the horses' wellbeing.



By Wednesday, there were 203 people in the group.
NWS AMAZON.JPG

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. The retail e-commerce giant is launching a new service for teachers and educators, called Amazon Inspire. (Staten Island Advance)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The classroom door is barely shut on the current school year, but Amazon.com is already looking ahead to September.

The e-commerce retail giant has announced it will begin offering a separate online service with free lesson plans, worksheets and other instructional materials available for teachers.

Called Amazon Inspire, the free digital resource service will allow teachers to share lesson plans and materials suitable for students from pre-K to high school. Teachers who register will receive an access code to use.

In addition to teacher-generated materials, publishers and other content developers are contributing digital educational resources to the service. The U.S. Department of Education is also providing resources to Amazon Inspire from College Scorecard, its collection of critical information for making smart choices about which college to attend.

"Teachers tell us that they spend upwards of 12 hours a week searching for and curating resources for classroom instruction, placing a high degree of trust in resources shared by their peers," said Rohit Agarwal, general manager of Amazon's K-12 Education division.

"With Amazon Inspire, we aim to quickly and easily put the best and most trusted digital resources at teachers' fingertips, saving them valuable time that can be devoted to what they do best and enjoy most--teaching."

Amazon Inspire is expected to be up and running by late August.

Earlier in the year. the city's Department of Education awarded Amazon a three-year contract, worth an estimated $30 million, to provide e-books to more than 1 million students in the public schools.
NWS NJGAS.JPG

Gas prices are seen at gas stations in downtown Newark Tuesday. In an early morning vote Tuesday, New Jersey's Democrat-led Assembly, with Republican Gov. Chris Christie' support, passed sweeping legislation to raise New Jersey's gasoline tax by 23 cents per gallon. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A whopping gas tax hike in New Jersey may mean no more bargains at the pump for Staten Island drivers.

The New Jersey state Assembly hastily approved a plan after midnight Tuesday to raise the gas tax by 23 cents a gallon, NJ.com reported.

In exchange for the gas tax hike, the plan would reduce the state's sales tax from 7 to 6 percent, amounting to a penny saved on every purchase.

The measure now goes to the state Senate in Trenton for a vote.

The gas tax hike could put an end to to the ritual for Staten Island drivers who habitually cross into Jersey in search of bargain gas prices at the pumps there.

Prices at the pump in New Jersey could go up as early as Friday -- just in time for the July 4th weekend, when many Island drivers travel to the Jersey Shore.

New Jersey Gov.Chris Christie reportedly lobbied heavily for the gas tax hike. Cash generated through the increase is supposed to go toward the state's transportation fund, which will run out of money on June 30th.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Upstate New York man dubbed the "Outerbridge Cowboy," might not be riding off into the sunset anytime soon.

Tod (Doc) Mishler, 80, told reporters outside the Ocean Breeze Indoor Horse Riding Arena at about 5 p.m. Wednesday that it was still unclear what would happen to his horses, but that he hoped to be reunited by Thursday morning.

"It's real confusing what happened," Mishler said. "We came here to see what happened with the horses, and we were told several different things."

Mishler said an official eventually came to him and explained that the horses would be released once they were cleared by a veterinarian.

He said he knew the horses were in good health, but even if the animals are cleared today, he would not able to take them until tomorrow morning, because of planning that needs be done for the horses' safety.

Mishler, of Ulster Park, N.Y., told the Advance that authorities came to him Tuesday evening at the West Shore Motel in Charleston, where he had been staying since his ride, to investigate whether they had been properly cared for.

"I'm in the room and I'm resting up and I get a knock on the door and one of the tenants says 'they're taking your horses!' Mishler said.

"I said, 'what do you mean they're taking my horses?'" he continued. "I put my pants on and run out there, I got my boots on, didn't even have my socks on!"

He signed the consent form and the horses were taken.

Mishler caused a stir on Monday when he brought traffic to a crawl on the Outerbridge Crossing when he rode across the span on horseback, leading a second horse behind him.

He was given two criminal court summonses for the ride, a Port Authority spokesman said.

He had been staying at the West Shore motel since, and said he was in the process of arranging to have his horses transported over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge via trailer on Thursday.

He seemed to be in relatively good spirits late Wednesday afternoon, but lamented how people with horses are treated in other parts of the country.

"In Montana, they hang horse thieves," Mishler quipped.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police identified the Staten Island man who jumped from the upper-level of the Staten Island Mall in New Springville.

Francesco Colina, 84, apparently committed suicide in the incident that occurred on Tuesday morning, according to a spokesman for the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. Public records indicate that Colina lived in Great Kills.

Neighbors expressed shock and surprise about the manner in which Colina died. They said he was married and a nice person.

No one who lived near Colina's well-maintained brick house was willing to have his or her their name published in the Advance. No one answered the bell at the Colina residence.

Video surveillance revealed that Colina stood on chair and jumped over the railing, according to a source with knowledge of the police investigation.

Multiple witnesses claimed they saw the senior citizen push a chair to the second-floor railing at the mall, jump and land in front of the Gap.

An off-duty firefighter who was shopping in the mall immediately ran over to the man, who was lying face down and bleeding heavily, a source at the scene said.

Police and firefighters rushed to the New Springville shopping complex after the 11:19 a.m. incident.

Colina was rushed him to Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze in critical condition. He was pronounced dead a short time later.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The nation is still reeling from the recent terrorist attack in Florida.

And we've had a new attack in Turkey.

Omar Mateen, who had sworn allegiance to ISIS, the Islamic State, killed 49 people when he shot up a gay nightclub in Orlando. The attack came just months after other terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, Paris and Brussels.

We've been on edge for a while now, it seems. We never know when or where the next attack will take place, what seemingly benign place, be it a nightclub or an airport or a subway, will be the next target.

The carnage in Orlando has fueled a new debate about gun control in America. It has struck fear into the heart of the LGBT community.

It has also brought the United States face-to-face with its greatest external threat: Radical Islamist terrorism, a threat that first came home to us when Al Qaida attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

Mateen was a follower of a twisted version of Islam that ISIS propagates in order to serve its own political, military and theocratic ends.

It preaches hate, not love. It preaches killing, not peace. It separates the world into believers and infidels.

It is not the same version of Islam that the vast majority of Muslims around the world follow.

But some people here have difficulty remembering that. They lump all Muslims together: They are all terrorists. They are all bent on wiping out the American way of life.

Last week, a pipe-wielding man was arrested after he made threats at the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center in Tompkinsville.

The man, Angel Mercado, 38, also of Tompkinsville, appeared after evening prayers on Thursday and threatened to kill people because "Muslim people are here to conquer us," according to borough prosecutors.

Mercado allegedly pointed the pipe at Imam Tahir Kukiqi and threatened to cut his genitals off.

"I am going to kill you," Mercado allegedly ranted. "The Muslim people are here to conquer us. You [expletive] Muslims, I am going to kill you. This is not the end. You're going to hear about me."

Thankfully, there was no damage or injury inflicted, and the suspect was captured by police shortly afterward.

As the imam said, the motive was simply hate.

But hate is not answer to terrorism. Hating all Muslims is not only wrong and unjust, it won't destroy the threat from ISIS. If anything, it will give fuel to the jihadists.

Which is not to say that there aren't members of Islam who want to spread their faith across the world, who want to see it reign supreme over other religions. Who want to compel everybody to follow the same faith-inspired laws of Sharia.

But that's not the majority of people who follow Islam. It's not our friends, our neighbors, our children's classmates, the people who own local businesses.

It is certainly not Imam Kukiqi and members of his Tompkinsville mosque, who have played a leading role in building bridges between the faiths here for years.

Even more disturbing, the threat to the mosque was just the latest in a string of attacks on houses of worship here. Two North Shore churches were recently firebombed by a suspect or suspects who remain at large.

It has become a frightening time in America. There is a lot of division out there. Our presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump underlines that all day long, every time you turn on the television or log onto social media.

People are angry. They are fearful. Apprehensive about their economic futures. Some are giving vent to their worst instincts.

But we can't give in to hatred. Then the terrorists really will win.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Eighth graders -- 117 of them -- from New World Preparatory Charter School celebrated their prom Tuesday night at the Staaten in West Brighton.

As the students arrived, their parents treated them like celebrities, crowding around them and snapping photos -- all of which which went along with the evening's "Hollywood" theme.

As DJ Sulli (aka school security guard Frank Sculli) cranked out the tunes, students began to dance in the corners of the room. Eventually, however, a few of them gained the confidence to venture out onto the dance floor.

Check out our photo gallery and video from the night's festivities!

JOIN OUR COVERAGE

As part of our coverage, we invite you to join in on the fun by tagging all prom photos #SILive. Not going to the prom, or just curious as to how much fun everyone is having? You can follow along as we provide live coverage on Instagram and Twitter.

Want to buy a photo print? You can do so by clicking the "Purchase Photo" button in the gallery above.

2016 STATEN ISLAND PROM SCHEDULE

May 6

St. Peter's Boys High School



May 12

Moore Catholic High School



May 18

Monsignor Farrell High School

G.R.A.C.E. Foundation, Eden II and On Your Mark



May 21

Staten Island Academy



May 26

Notre Dame Academy

St. John Villa Academy



May 27

New Dorp High School

Petrides High School

Curtis High School



June 3

Port Richmond High School

June 6

St. Joseph by-the-Sea

June 8

St. Joseph Hill Academy

Gaynor McCown Expeditionary Learning School

Great Kills High School

The Hungerford School

June 9

College of Staten Island High School for International Studies

Bishop Patrick V. Ahern High School



June 10

Susan Wagner High School



June 11

Tottenville High School

June 17

Staten Island Technical High School



June 28

New World Preparatory Charter School

Did we leave your school out? Let us know in the comments.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Eric Bellucci had mental problems, but he still knew the difference between right and wrong when he slayed his parents six years ago, a psychiatrist testified Tuesday.

"It's my opinion that, although he's mentally ill, he did not lack the substantial capacity to know that what he was doing was wrong, that it was not something his parents would want him to have done or that he could get in trouble for it," Dr. Lawrence Siegel, a forensic psychiatrist for the prosecution testified at Bellucci's murder trial in state Supreme Court, St. George.

Dr. Siegel said he based his opinion on his review of the defendant's medical records, letters Belliucci wrote to family while in custody, his observations of the defendant's testimony during the trial on Monday and at a pretrial hearing in December, other doctors' reports and the victims' autopsy report.

Dr. Siegel said he did not speak to Bellucci himself - he tried to interview the defendant two weeks ago at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan, but Bellucci refused.

In particular, Dr. Siegel said he factored in phone conversations the defendant had with his uncle hours before the killings, as well as his actions afterward.

An angered Bellucci alleged to his uncle his parents had stolen the family home health care business from him, while after the slayings, he cleaned himself up and "absconded" to Israel, said Dr. Siegel.

When asked by airport security about a cut on his finger, Bellucci apparently lied, saying he had received it while woodworking, and claimed he was going to Israel to live, the doctor said.

After his ultimate capture in that country and return to the United States, Bellucci gave authorities several different stories about the slayings, said Dr. Siegel. He initially said he was not involved and the mob had killed his parents, then claimed his father had attacked his mother with a knife and then went after him.

More recently, on Monday, Bellucci testified his father had attacked him and he killed his father in self-defense and accidentally killed his mother, Dr. Siegel said.

Such actions lead him to believe Bellucci "has much more than surface knowledge that killing is against morality, that it's against the law," said Dr. Siegel.

Dr. Siegel was the final witness to testify as both sides rested.

Prosecutors allege Bellucci savagely slayed Arthur Bellucci, 61, and Marian Bellucci, 56, overnight on Oct. 12 into Oct. 13, 2010, in their home on Poillon Avenue, Annadale.

He then jetted to Israel in an escape bid later on Oct. 13, but was arrested in that country and returned to the United States, allege prosecutors.

In her opening statement on June 16, Assistant District Attorney Ann Thompson said fury had triggered Bellucci's rampage.

The defendant, 36, became enraged because his parents had discussed getting him mental treatment and had previously removed several guns he owned from the home.

He was also upset over the family home health care business, created and run by his mother, which Bellucci believed they were "cutting out from beneath him," said Thompson, who is prosecuting the case along with Assistant District Attorney Wanda DeOliveira.

Defense lawyer Mario F. Gallucci is presenting an insanity defense.

Bellucci, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, was so psychologically tormented, "he was not in control of his actions" when he slayed his parents, Gallucci previously told jurors during opening statement.

Dr. Siegel's testimony ran counter to the testimony earlier Tuesday of Dr. Elizabeth Owen, a forensic psychology expert for the defense.

Based on her review of Bellucci's medical records, her own brief evaluations of him and her observations of the defendant's testimony on Monday, Dr. Owen said she believed Bellucci didn't know what he was doing when he fatally stabbed his parents to death.

"I think he did not, at that time, understand the nature and consequences of his act," said Dr. Owen. "The likelihood of him not being delusional during the short time it took to commit the act is highly unlikely."

She said Bellucci's history of mental illness began manifesting itself several years before his parents' death. His condition has intensified over the years, she said.

Dr. Siegel disagreed with the latter assessment, saying there was no evidence to suggest his delusions had escalated over time.

In fact, he said, his review of the records indicated to him Bellucci was self-centered and manipulative.

Dr. Owen said Bellucci was involuntarily hospitalized on Aug. 8, 2009, after acting aggressively toward his parents and turning on all the stove gas burners in the house. According to the patient history, Bellucci had stopped eating at his parents' home because he believed the food was poisoned, she said.

Bellucci was verbally and physically abusive to staff while hospitalized and deemed a danger to himself, she said. He was diagnosed as being acutely psychotic with extreme paranoia, Dr. Owen said.

His condition was marked by delusions, sometimes on a grand scale, and ideas not rooted in reality, said Dr. Owen.

After his release from the hospital in late September, 2009, Bellucci's behavior initially improved, thanks to the medicine, said Dr. Owen. However, he did not get follow-up treatment or medicine and his condition worsened, she said.

She evaluated him in March, 2012, as being paranoid schizophrenic and delusional.

Dr. Owen said Bellucci also had a bi-polar disorder.

His delusions of grandeur manifested in believing himself to be the savior, or claiming to be a Special Forces member with special security clearance, she said.

"I'm the savior," a weeping Bellucci told staff, Dr. Owens testified, reading from the defendant's Aug. 11, 2009, Staten Island University Hospital medical record. "I can't save lives in here."

Under cross examination, Dr. Owen said a person with mental illness and delusions can be held criminally responsible under the law.

But she reiterated she did not believe Bellucci thought it immoral when he slayed his parents.

"While he may have known that his parents were in peril, he did not have an appreciation for the consequences of his act," said Dr. Owen. "He had no appreciation of the gravity of the situation."

TOP QUOTE: "He has formed thoughts, thoughts that may be delusional, but there's nothing to indicate that he wouldn't understand that killing someone without justification is against the law," said Dr. Siegel, the prosecution expert.

INTERESTING MOMENT: Bellucci, who wanted to present a self-defense defense, chose to listen to only part of Dr. Owen's testimony, but returned to the courtroom when Dr. Siegel took the stand.

WHAT'S NEXT: Summations are scheduled for Wednesday in state Supreme Court, St. George.
Page Content

The Minister of VROMI, The Honorable Angel Meyers, Ms. Chantale Groeneveldt, Executive Assistant for the Cabinet of the Minister VROMI, Claire Hooft Graafland, Senior Policy Advisor Nature and Environment VROM/Energy Expert and Olivia Lake, Policy Advisor Donor Coordination BAK/Representative of the Regional Authorizing Officer formed the St. Maarten delegation who attended the 2nd Summit of the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) Energy Ministers and side events in Brussels which took place from 14-15 June, 2016. On June 16, an Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting of the Overseas Countries and Territories Association, OCTA, took place where Carol Voges, Head Economic Affairs and Finance of the Ministry Plenipotentiary/EU Representative based in the Netherlands/Treasurer OCTA joined the delegation for the day.





The 1st Summit of OCT Energy Ministers served as a platform to finalize and sign party to the current targets in the Sustainable Energy Roadmap, drafted by the OCTs. Furthermore, the summit was used as a platform to identify and establish the priorities for the 11th EDF Thematic Program ( 18M) which concerns all global OCTs. During the summit, the concept of the joint OCT-EU Energy declaration was also initiated to further declare the commitment of the OCTs towards the reduction of the use of fossil fuels in the OCTs. During the 14th OCT-EU Forum held in Brussels in February, 2016, the Chair of OCTA signed the joined OCT-EU Energy Declaration on behalf of all OCTs, including St Maarten.





The 2nd Summit of Energy Ministers, served to increase understanding of the added value the OCTs - all islands - represent to the EU in terms of open laboratories, but also grid stability, energy storage and stand-alone systems. Furthermore, OCT Energy Ministers were provided with a menu for designing actions in support of the transition towards a sustainable energy future and discuss the elements for the advancement of the programming of the resources available under the 11th European Development Fund.





The 1st day of the OCT Energy Summit took place at the European Parliament. There were two sessions in which OCTs exchanged on the progress of the sustainable energy transition, as well as a dedicated high level panel discussion during the Policy Conference of the EU Sustainable Energy Week. The Climate Change Quick Scan of the OCTs carried out by the International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA, was also presented during day 1. The 2nd day of the Summit included sessions on the promotion of policy frameworks for investment, as well as the opportunities to leverage additional resources. During day two, presentations were given by representatives from the European Investment Bank, the Carbon War Room and the European Commission. During the summit, a session was held to endorse the Summary Sheet for the Thematic Program which pertains to the OCT program on Climate Change with a focus on Disaster Risk reduction and Sustainable Energy and concerns an envelope of 18 million. During the extraordinary Ministerial Meeting of OCTA, a unanimous vote could not be met and as such the vote amendment of the OCTA budget for technical support could not be carried. The matters will be further discussed during the Ministerial Meeting in Aruba in February 2017.





The St. Maarten delegation also had the opportunity to attend a pre-event for the Green Aruba VII Conference which will be held in November of this year.









Photo caption  The Minister of VROMI, The Honorable Angel Meyers, Ms. Chantale Groeneveldt, Executive Assistant for the Cabinet of the Minister VROMI, Claire Hooft Graafland, Senior Policy Advisor Nature and Environment VROM/Energy Expert and Olivia Lake, Policy Advisor Donor Coordination BAK/Representative of the Regional Authorizing Officer




After 6 years of working on climate at Harvard, I implore it to show the courage to divest

Posted on 29 June 2016 by Guest Author

One morning in the summer of 2014, I found myself in the city of Tacloban in the Philippines. The city and surrounding area had been devastated less than a year earlier by Super Typhoon Yolanda. Thousands had been killed; bodies were found for months afterwards.

As part of an international research collaboration, I was interviewing government officials and others throughout the Philippines to assess how to improve preparedness for and response to climate-related disasters. I had already interviewed survivors in cities and villages across the country about the impacts of extreme weather. (And, incidentally, a few weeks later, I would contract dengue and chikungunyatwo mosquito-borne diseases aided by climate changein their ongoing spread.) With my prior experience, I thought I was prepared for what I would hear that morning, but I wasnt.

As I prepared for the days interviews, I spoke with a man of about fifty who was helping us to navigate. He described the impact of the storm, the thousands of bodies lying about, his attempts to somehow help despite the overwhelming magnitude of the destruction and death. His own son had gone missing, but there was no time to search; the need for attention to those around him was too immediate and great. The destructions scale made the attempted cleanup a kind of futile, obligatory madnessbut one that seemed necessary by the standards of human decency.

The madness, the decency, the inhuman work of cleaning a mountain of death and sadness continued for weeks, until someone informed him that they had found his son. He was miles away, his body in a mangrove patch, decomposing. The father collected his sons remains, like so many others did, and then returned to the never-ending work. There was too much to do.

And as the father spoke to me, some half a year later, there was still too much to do. The coastline had been reoccupied with shanties. Another typhoon season was coming. The father looked at me, and I could see his eyes. I cannot forget what I saw: trauma, grief, fearall unprocessed, all repressed and pushed aside for months because there was no time to grieve, no time to come to peace, because there was too much to do; too much to do just to survive, just to live.

A theatre of the absurd

The next spring, I was in Massachusetts, on Harvards campus. People were awakening to the dangers of climate change. Massive demonstrations were occurring on campus to protest Harvards considerable investments in the fossil fuel sector (which constituted one-third of Harvards disclosed investments at the end of 2014). Student and alumni protestors had set up camp around the central administrative building. To avoid the protestors, the administration had moved operations to Loeb House, a small mansion on campus, which was surrounded by barricades and police to prevent protestors from approaching.

The former Harvard professor Cornel West whipped up the crowd with a characteristically fiery speech and led a march to Loeb House to deliver a letter to the administration. Hundreds, including myself, participated. As we approached, I could see administrative staff peering out at us past the velvet curtains.

When we got to the barricades, the police informed us that no one was in the building. Despite the human-looking figures inside poking their heads above the corners of windows to sneak a peak at the rabble outside, the police insisted the building was empty. I remember feeling confusedto be lied to blatantly is more disorienting than to be lied to subtlyand the crowd began to chant, calling for someone to come outside.

As hundreds stayed and chanted for ten, then twenty minutescalling to the individuals they could see through the windowsindividuals who were looking right back while the police insisted that no one was insideI thought of the father in the Philippines. He did not choose to be surrounded by death; he did not choose to be tasked with the retrieval of his own sons remains. He was not afforded even the basic privilege of time and space to grieve. He was afforded no choice but to repress his trauma and continue. And I thought of his son, who did not choose death. And yet in that moment I saw those who did have the luxury of choice, those who live lives of comfort, looking down from the windows of a mansion at a crowd whose request was to deliver a letter for the sake of human decency.

And yet, for the people in that house, to come outside to accept such a letter was below themwhile hiding from their own students, and lying boldly to them, was not.

Finallyafter it was clear that the protestors would not be leavingsomeone did emerge from the empty house, accepting the contentious piece of paper and taking it inside. The protestors wanted Harvard to stand up to powerful interests by moving away from its fossil fuel stakes, yet its management was unwilling to accept a simple piece of paperan arguably much easier taskwithout a theatre of the absurd.

It was in that moment that I realized that if our children look back to how we failed them, it will not have been for lack of scientific understanding or even technological prowess; it will have been due, fundamentally, to cowardice. A profound cowardice among those who actually do have a choice in this matter, a cowardice that confuses arrogance with intelligence, pettiness with importance, and, most fatally, comfort with necessity.

Divestments controversy

Essentially all of the climate change controversy at Harvard has revolved around divestment. The idea of reducing investments in fossil fuels as a matter of policy began as an audacious suggestion designed to shock people into seeing the contradiction between our words and our actions on climate. After institutions began adopting the idea, it became a method to call attention to theobstructionism and denial propagated by fossil fuel companies. Institutions that were afraid of making enemies in industrylike Harvard and MITwere, rather predictably, reluctant to take a public stand. But since the Paris climate agreement in 2015, the idea of divestment has evolved into something much more fundamental and unignorable.

In polite societyat least the kind that self-identifies with sciencethe Paris agreement is applauded, in essence, universally. Yet the implications of the agreement for investments are beginning to be reckoned with, and they are stark: by the IPCCs most recent estimate, $100 billion per year needs to be disinvested from the fossil fuel extraction industry for the next twenty years. And when it comes to infrastructure, a recent study has found that no new fossil-fuel-using power plants can be built after next year (unless they are decommissioned prematurelymaking them a bad investment). In other words, if we are serious about the Paris agreement, then there needs to be a deliberate shift of investments out of fossil fuels and into clean replacements at this moment. This is, technically speaking, the definition of divestment.

The catch, though, is that this is something that Harvards administration has vowed never to do. To analyze why is an exercise in theorizingit may be due to the logic of economic Darwinism that underlies Harvards culture and wealth, a psychology of indignant authoritarianism among Harvards governing board, pervasive conflicts of interest (Harvard trustee Ted Wells is currently legal counsel for Exxon Mobil, for example), or nothing more than simple bureaucratic group-thinkbut regardless of the reason, the fact that the richest private university in the world openly defies the Paris agreement with its investment policieswhile praising the agreement with wordsis troubling.

And this brings us to an uncomfortable but unavoidable question: does Harvard actually wantto fix climate change, or does it merely want to look like it wants to fix it? And perhaps more troublingly: do we actually want to fix climate change, or are we just going through the motions to save face, to avoid admitting to ourselves that, deep down, we arent who we thought we were, that we actually dont care that much what happens to our childrenor what happens to the world?

Fake it til you make it

What does it look like to pretend to care? Harvard has announced that green is the new crimson and, to much fanfare, spends a special $1 million per year on climate research. But in the face of a civilizational crisisand for an institution whose research spending is on the order of a billion dollars per year alreadywhat is the intended purpose of this much-publicized $1 million? Harvard spends the same to pay its president (more than the president of the US)and fifty times more just to pay half a dozen of its money managers. Meanwhile, Harvard likely has hundreds of millionsor moreinvested in fossil fuels. If we look past the fanfare and see the worlds richest private university spending $1 million per year to address a civilizational crisis, congratulating itself while investing hundreds of times more in the root cause of that crisis, are we supposed to feel reassured? Or can this only be interpreted as the most illuminating kind of satire of allthat is, the kind that is real?

It might be suggested that universities are places of discourse, not action. Yet when confronted with its stake in and connections to the fossil fuel industry, the discourse at Harvard rapidly morphs into non-sequiturs and censorship. Harvards president suggested to me that if we were to move investments out of fossil fuels, then we might have to do the same for sugar, because sugar is harmful, too. Is this real? For those dying around the world, for those living in cities or societies that face destruction from climate change, how is this anything other than a modern-day let them eat cake?

When faced with calls for divestment, another Harvard trustee suggested that we should instead be thanking oil companies like BP for investing in renewable energywhich is awkward, because theres not a lot of that going on. At what point does daddy knows best become I think daddy might be losing touch with reality? Have we arrived?

In court, Harvard has formally argued that students desire for reduced investments in fossil fuels is as trivial and arbitrary as the desire for a new academic calendar or different housing options. Again, does Harvard truly believe that the existence of species, the stability of societies, and the lives of the vulnerable around the world are choices on the same level as whether to start classes on a Wednesday or a Thursday? When we play dumb, are we being clever and bluffingor are we fools telling the truth? Which is more terrifying to the future of human society?

Harvard staff members have told me they are prohibited from discussing the issue of fossil fuel divestment at alleven outside of work. Imagine if staff were prohibited from talking about greenhouse gas reductions. When the future depends on our actions today, why is a university suppressing discussion?

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Benjamin Franta has a PhD in applied physics from Harvard University and from 20142016 was a research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Staged in front of a new interdisciplinary exhibition at the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, A More Perfect Union, Associate Professor of Political Science Ron Seyb was the first to take the stage in what will become a space for public discourse, debates, performances, and more. The 50 flags, part of artist Mel Zeiglers Flag Exchange, hang from the ceiling of the Wachenheim Gallery. Zeigler traveled to all 50 states collecting worn, privately owned American flags and exchanging them for new ones. Seyb provides context on the upcoming exhibition and how he plans to incorporate it in his upcoming fall 2016 lectures on the podcast This Is Skidmore.

Although the Brexit (British exit) from the European Union may not be considered an American issue, Seyb sheds light during a live discussion on how this decision effects American politics and economics. Along with an explanation of Brexit and its consequences, Seyb answered questions from viewers during the broadcast.

Associate Professor Ron Seyb is the Joseph C. Palamountain Jr. Chair in Political Science. He received his B.A. in 1982 from the University of California at Irvine and his Ph.D. in 1988 from Yale University. He teaches courses on the American presidency, the U.S. Congress, political psychology, and media and politics. His research interests include presidential management of the executive branch, political oratory, and media history. He has published articles in Journalism History, American Journalism, Media History Monographs, Presidential Studies Quarterly, The Journal of Policy History, and California Politics and Policy.
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More than 220 people a day are visiting the Canberra Hospital as new figures reveal emergency department visits have surged 10 per cent in the past four months.

ACT government data released on Wednesday reveal an average of 222 people were seen at the Canberra Hospital each day between March and June, up from 203 last year.

Doctors performed a record number of surgeries in 2015-16, while more than 220 people are visiting the Canberra Hospital emergency department every day. Credit:Gabriele Charotte

Despite the hospital being busier, the government claims waiting times have improved and the average wait fell from 66 minutes to 57 minutes.

The average treatment time dropped more than half an hour, from two hours 55 minutes to two hours 21 minutes, figures show.
The Greens have promised $400 million in federal funding for stage two of the ACT light rail on Wednesday.

ACT Greens Senate candidate Christina Hobbs said she hoped south Canberra residents would benefit from the planned funding, after launching a scathing attack on Liberal senator Zed Seselja, who she said had no long-term vision for Canberra.

ACT Greens Senate candidate Christina Hobbs has announced $400 million for stage two of the light rail.

As it is highly unlikely that Greens will form government in the federal election, Ms Hobbs said she would "push strongly for renewable energy funding for Canberra's transport industry regardless of who is in government", especially from Malcolm Turnbull, who she said has expressed support for light rail in Canberra.

When asked if the Greens were conflating a local issue with a federal one as the Liberals were accused of doing this week, Ms Hobbs attempted to turned the focus to Mr Seselja, stressing again that cancelling the light rail would cost $260 million.
The value of science and technology was on display in Canberra on Wednesday, when four indigenous schoolchildren from South Australia had the chance to explore key institutions in the capital.

The students, from Playford International College and Woodville High School in Adelaide, visited Questacon, the Deep Space Communication Complex in Tidbinbilla and the Mount Stromlo Observatory with their teachers.

Students Kiara Tilmouth Presley (left), Piper Harvey, Tyson Evans and Ashley Tong, of South Australia, with Dr Naomi Mathers, industry liaison engineer at the ANU's Mt Stromlo Observatory. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

The trip has been part of a scholarship program that will also have the students and teachers travel to the United States Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama.

The "Space Camp" will take place in July, and they'll be joined by 125 other students and teachers from the United States and Britain.
Alexander Miziner says he has not eaten or drunk anything for seven days as he stages a "dry" hunger strike in front of Parliament House, calling on Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to review a decision to knock back a prospective marriage visa for his Chinese fiancee .

With the minister unmoved and Mr Miziner's local member, Labor's Tanya Plibersek, also declining to write a letter of support, the 55-year-old Sydneysider says he will be voting Greens at the federal election on Saturday, should he be strong enough to get to a polling booth.

Alexander Miziner, outside Parliament House on Wednesday, day seven of a hunger strike which he plans to continue until his fiance's visa application is reviewed. Credit:Karleen Minney

Mr Miziner intends to not eat or drink "until I get justice".

"I don't believe it is right for me to be ignored and I don't believe I am wrong," he said.
Rodney Adler meeting Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. Penn is being a bit more cautious in his latest mea culpa: "All network operators around the world face the risk of disruptions whether they be the consequence of weather, accidental damage, hardware or other failures. What I am committed to though is continuing to invest in building the durability and capability of our network." But Penn is obviously a long way from the aspirational goal he mentioned in his May speech on 'Transforming the Customer Experience': "Who has tried Uber's or Facebook's call centre? They do not really have one. They are offering an experience in such a way that it is intuitive, it makes sense, so you do not actually need to connect with them or follow up." Former HIH director Rodney Adler leaving St Helliers minimum security prison in Muswellbrook. Credit:anthony johnson Dream on Andy.

Copy that Speaking of tech outages, Fuji Xerox Australia has found a company veteran to replace Neil Whittaker, who abruptly departed last month  barely a year after heading across the ditch from New Zealand to show us Aussies a thing or two. Fuji Xerox said at the time of Whittaker's departure that it wished him well "in his future endeavours" but added "we are not able to comment further on his departure." Reports suggest Whittaker was the ultimate loser of a 'win at all costs' culture he tried to implement. The new boss, Sunil Gupta, said he is "focused on getting back to basics and creating a company that is easy for our valued customers to do business with".

CBD will leave it to Fuji Xerox customers to decode that one. Adler house CBD spies have been active in recent weeks, reporting that something is going on with disgraced businessman, Rodney Adler. There he was  the former FAI Insurance boss, who went to prison over his role in the HIH collapse  grabbing a coffee with a swarthy gentleman in the shadow of the ASX building on Bridge Street. And there he was again last week grabbing a bowl of pasta with colleagues at Fratelli Fresh on Bridge Street.

Adler still has a few years to run on his 20-year ban from acting as a company director, so what is he up to? Well, it looks like nothing more sinister than a move of office that has obviously brought him a little closer to the action in Sydney's CBD. "Dear all, I hope this email finds you well," begins the email from CBD's favourite former jail bird on Wednesday announcing that he has moved office to Kyle House, Macquarie Place. Adler was obviously a lot less conspicuous at his old address on Macquarie St, just up from the Opera House. He signed off the email as "Rodney Adler, advisor".
"I spent 20 minutes walking up and down the street looking for my car in the dark [and] cold while crying on the phone to my sister," she said.

Cinthia Elias thought she was going crazy when she could not find her car after finishing a Pilates class last Tuesday. It was 7.20pm when she emerged from the studio in Alexandria to find that her white Audi TT was no longer where she had parked.

"I called the police ... only to get a call back from Mascot police station advising that the car had in fact been repossessed by Volkswagen Financial Services  [which] seemed very strange as our car finance was done through ANZ financing, not Volkswagen."

Cinthia Elias waited more than a week for her Audi TT to be returned. Credit:James Brickwood

Audi is owned by the Volkswagen Group.

Mrs Elias and her husband Roly had purchased the car last year through the now-suspended and liquidated Gasoline Machine Pty Ltd, the Alexandria-based automotive business being investigated for failing to deliver at least $600,000 to customers in consignment deals.

The company was the subject of a public warning from NSW Fair Trading not to deal with the director of Gasoline Machine, Matthew Hale, or the sole director of Gasoline Australia (NSW) Pty Ltd, Jason Leppa. Both companies had been trading as Gasoline Motor Co.



Previous reports about the business have highlighted the losses of consumers yet to receive payment for the sale of their car, including television personality Larry Emdur, whose car was sold without his knowledge or permission.
Woolworths' high-profile former chief Roger Corbett has refused to back the boss of Australia's biggest supermarket chain and lashed the retailer for not competing on price or quality with German discount giant Aldi on his way out the door.

Outgoing adviser Mr Corbett refused to comment on talk of a souring in the relationship between him and chief executive Brad Banducci or whether he was the right man to lead the transformation of Woolworths.

"I wouldn't refute or confirm that, I just wouldn't comment on it," he said.

Woolworths' chairman Gordon Cairns brought Mr Corbett back into the Woolworths fold in November as an adviser to the board and mentor to senior management but the appointment preceded Mr Banducci's promotion to chief executive in February.
The crackdown on worker exploitation by all sides of politics follows a series of exposes showing workers, including interns, foreign students and other workers on visas, being ripped off, most notably at the convenience store giant 7-Eleven .

On Thursday the Australian Labor Party will outline a suite of measures designed to go further than the Coalition's if it wins office.

A crackdown on worker exploitation, including tough new laws and stiffer penalties for companies that underpay staff, is inevitable regardless of the election outcome on July 2.

Labor's new policies would allow workers to go after the $170 billion franchise industry, notably the franchisor, in cases of underpayment of wages. The laws would be changed to allow head office to then chase franchisees to recoup any amount it had to pay out to exploited workers.

All sides of politics have committed to cracking down on exploitation in light of scandals at companies like 7-Eleven. Credit:Jesse Marlow

Franchisors can currently only be pursued as accessories to workplace law breaches if it can be proved they were "knowingly concerned in or party to the contravention".

Labor says it will reverses that burden and make franchise head offices prove they could not have reasonably known workers were being ripped off.

The plan also increases fines for serious underpayment tenfold to $108,000 for an individual, or three times whatever amount the worker was underpaid, if that is higher. The fine for corporations would increase tenfold to $540,000.
The NSW government has reported the average processing time for people with insurance claims for dust diseases has fallen from 136 to 66 days since it made changes to the scheme last year.

Minister for Finance, Services and Property Dominic Perrottet said the reforms to Dust Diseases Care, which is part of Insurance & Care NSW, was saving time for victims and their families.

The government has confirmed it has used people on 457 visas to fill 32 full-time jobs following its decision to outsource ServiceFirst. Minister for Finance, Services and Property, Dominic Perrottet said 32 workers will continue in the role. Credit:Gene Ramirez

Mr Perrottet said the workers compensation scheme had also met the government's new two-day target for considering and approving processed claims.

"If you are diagnosed with a dust disease, you need certainty, and you need fast, efficient access to care and assistance  there is no excuse for bureaucratic delays at such a difficult time," Mr Perrottet said.
Both the Ataturk and Brussels Airport bombings appear to have been two-stage attacks. The first stages of both were designed to cause injuries but also to cause chaos and draw in first responders at which point the second stage of the attack was commenced.

Following this second phase police and emergency responses to casualties is then slowed down for fear of additional bombs and attacks, increasing the likelihood of fatalities. With the crowds of people in arrival and departure halls, large numbers of wounded and confused were ensured. After these two attacks there will be a temptation to immediately adopt new security measures. After the Brussels attack there were discussions of pushing security checks to the kerb of the airport, prior to check in. But in reality this simply concentrates people in a different location.

A relative of an Ataturk Airport attack victim waits outside Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital in Istanbul. Credit:Getty Images

After September 11, there was a rush of new air travel security measures that drastically changed air travel experience. New regulations regarding travelling with liquids, identity checks, body scanners and so on have all become part of the contemporary travel experience. It's now time to revisit whether the situation in arrival and departure halls now needs to experience a revolutionary change. The aim of security responses need to focus on reducing the concentrations of people prior to security checks. Similarly, in arrival halls the aim must be reducing the concentrations of uncleared people and goods.

The measures developed to achieve this kind of outcome may once again involve a significant change in the travel experience. The number of loved ones that can be in the arrivals hall may need to be reduced or perhaps how long before a flight they can arrive needs to be established. Potential changes may also impact on those that have commercial interests in arrival halls. Drivers, touts and transfer agents may no longer be able to operate in arrivals halls.
Just a few days out from the election, the biggest question in the minds of the nation's weary, disillusioned and dispirited voters is this: what was that all about?

The trigger for this unseemly rush to a double-dissolution poll, you may dimly recall, was the Senate's rejection of a bill to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission. And yet, far from being the centrepiece of the Coalition's campaign, it has barely rated a mention. The Prime Minister has repeatedly referred to the need to get rid of an obstructive Senate, but since it was obvious from the outset that this election would deliver an even more fragmented  and potentially more hostile  upper house, that can hardly have been the real reason.

The election campaign has featured a lot of carefully controlled wheel-spinning. Credit:Getty Images

Was it simply that, in the face of an extraordinary slide from the heights of popularity he enjoyed in the weeks after he toppled Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull panicked? Was it that, having let slip the opportunity to go quickly to the polls to capitalise on the electorate's emotional over-investment in him, he realised the longer he waited, the more dismal the trend-lines would become? Whatever the motivation  a blend, no doubt, of personal ambition and political opportunism  the electoral atmosphere created by such cynical manipulation of constitutional and political factors was bound to be fractious.

And so, from the start, this was set to be one more sloganistic slugfest between two tiresomely conventional politicians  one who has disappointed us by his performance in the top job, and the other who has surprised us by doing better than we thought he could. For eight long weeks we have watched a lot of carefully controlled wheel-spinning. Campaign strategists have trivialised the entire process by treating it as if it were a mere brand-marketing exercise, rather than an opportunity for some serious reflection on the kind of society we are becoming. We have waited in vain for that magic moment when we would be engaged  perhaps even inspired. We have searched fruitlessly for a coherent, visionary narrative from either side at a time when our society is being challenged not simply by the demands of an economy in transition, but by the stresses (especially in our big cities) of population growth, social fragmentation, poverty and homelessness.
For public hospitals, funding was only part of the story. The loss of activity-based funding  a system which aimed to improve public hospital efficiency  then its reinstatement two years later demonstrated the policy-blind approach taken to health. Former AMA president Brian Owler. Credit:Don Arnold In previous roles I have reviewed public hospital performance and as part of a COAG expert panel I helped to shape policy to improve waiting times for emergency department treatment and elective surgery. The government has abandoned these policies and essentially federal responsibility for public hospital policies. While the government has wanted to push policy and funding responsibility back to the states, I fear the consequences for patients, particularly in smaller states and territories. Surely, if there is a role for the federal government it is to ensure that no matter where you live, you will have access to comparable healthcare; that your postcode won't determine whether you live or die. The fact that patient Medicare rebates have been frozen for two years and will be frozen for another four years at least should be a major concern for voters on Saturday. That is your rebate after all.

The more sinister aspect of the freeze is that it erodes the value of our Medicare system; like a frog in the boiling pot, the realisation of impending doom is too late. While bulk billing rates have not yet gone down, we need to remember that GPs are only two years into the freeze. If anything this is testament to the commitment of doctors to their patients. But there is a financial cost to practice viability that will see bulk billing rates fall soon. Labor has committed to lift the Medicare freeze and it is to be commended for it  something that every major medical or patient group has done. The contempt for pathologists and radiologists has been obvious through both the co-payment debates and the loss of the bulk-billing incentives. These problems are far from solved. While prevention is held out as the panacea for the health system by some, the lack of commitment to it by this government has never been more obvious. The National Health Prevention Agency was one of the first casualties of the 2014 budget. I could continue with a long list of agencies and government bodies responsible for health policies that have disappeared, supposedly absorbed into the department with their roles preserved, only to be never heard of again in name or deed.

There has been a lost opportunity for the government to enhance our healthcare system. Health policy was instead handed to the Commission of Audit, who clearly had no comprehension of how our healthcare system worked. My term as AMA president has ended and I am back to being a neurosurgeon. I am not running for any political party  that should be abundantly clear by now. My reason for commenting is fear. Fear from our health system and our patients. But it is also from hope, born from a confidence in our world class health system and the importance of standing up to protect it. Improving our health system is what doctors do, it is why we give our time and why we comment on issues. It remains a very worthy goal. Whatever the verdict this weekend, we cannot afford a government that mistakes fiscal shortcuts for health policy. There are real-life consequences for patients and their health. It can cost lives. Whether you call it a scare campaign will depend on your political bias, but as patients now or in the future, we should all fear for our health system, Medicare and the future health of the nation.
Squadron Leader Keith Lawrence, who has died aged 96, was the last surviving New Zealand-born Battle of Britain fighter pilot; he later flew in the fierce air battles of the Battle of Malta.

Lawrence was flying a Spitfire of No. 234 Squadron when he damaged a German bomber on July 8, 1940, the squadron's first success. He went on to damage three more enemy aircraft. On September 7 the Luftwaffe made its first heavy daylight raid on London. Lawrence was scrambled and, after attacking a bomber, he chased a Messerschmitt Bf 109 to the coast and shot it down south of Folkestone.

Squadron Leader Keith Lawrence climbing from a Spitfire in 1940.

In November he was attacked by a Bf 109. One wing of his Spitfire was blown off. He managed to deploy his parachute and landed in the sea. Picked up by a minesweeper he was admitted to hospital with a broken leg and dislocated arm.

Keith Ashley Lawrence was born at Waitara, New Zealand, on November 25, 1919 and attended Southland Boys' High School in Invercargill. He left for Britain in January 1939.
At election time more than any other we see our democracy on display. We look to our politicians to represent our interests in the contest of ideas so that we can vote for what we believe in instead of fighting each other in the streets. Yet on corruption, which sabotages the system that serves us, our federal MPs are letting us down.

Some of the dimensions of that failure came into view this week, with the conviction of former NSW Labor MP Eddie Obeid for misconduct, and a Fairfax Media/ABC 7.30 investigation into alleged corruption in the Australian Border Force, the federal agency formed in 2015 to guard our nation's borders.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said allegations of criminality would be pursued relentlessly.  Credit:Andrew Meares

On the evidence, crime syndicates and people smugglers are rorting Australia's visa system to set up prostitution rackets, drug importation networks and criminal financial enterprises. It is asserted that thousands of people have bought visas with fraudulent applications for a going rate of $50,000 in cash. It appears every link in the visa supply chain is infected  migration agents, employers who sponsor workers, education providers and immigration officials.

The head of the immigration department's investigations office between 2007 and 2013 Joseph Petyanszki said investigators had uncovered thousands of cases of fraudulent visa applications but in most cases no charges had been brought. He claims that the singular focus of both major parties on stopping asylum seeker boats has enabled endemic visa fraud among those arriving by plane. If that is so, then we have all been duped.
The same-sex marriage plebiscite, scheduled in the weeks after Malcolm Turnbull's likely victory on Saturday, will upstage any of the nastiness we've seen in recent politics.

It's a recipe for disaster and that's why you'll have to wait until after you lodge your vote to find out how it might really work.

This is an issue where leadership should prevail. Where those in same-sex unions should not need the permission of voters across Australia to grow old together. Where parents shouldn't have to worry that their children, by being themselves, are shunned by others. Credit:Getty Images

It is already driving an almighty chasm through Coalition ranks: between MPs in its two parties, between the conservative and moderate ranks, and between MPs, who might want a change, and their conservative electorates, who shun same-sex unions.

You've seen snippets of that in recent days, with the secret push to allow Coalition MPs to reflect the views of their electorates or states, instead of the national result.
Any generation can suffer the conceit of believing they live through momentous times. But mindful of the great challenges humanity has overcome in the past, there is good reason for alarm at the present and unmistakable tension evident within democratic countries around the world, and the significant global uncertainty this has fostered.

Trust in the established political practice is in steep decline, yet at the same time, technology has enabled people to rally and organise around a cause in creative fashion. New communications tools, be it via social media, crowdfunding, or data analysis, offer a tremendous opportunity to expand community participation.

Britain's EU referendum was a stunning example of the way in which people have rebelled against conventional wisdom. Credit:Bloomberg

None of this amounts to a development to fear. But it must also be recognised there is a danger in surrendering the qualities of leadership. A survey published this week by the University of Canberra Institute for Governance and Public Analysis found Australians' faith in government and politicians to be at its lowest level in more than two decades. This may reflect, as the survey authors contend, a disenchantment with the political "blood sports" witnessed in the past six years. Such despondency may also be born of deeper challenges to confront.

People have long held a healthy scepticism about politicians and self-interest, but corrosive cynicism can be dangerous. Other surveys have shown younger Australians especially are less likely to have faith in democracy as an effective form of government. When large segments of any community feel disengaged, it weakens the great strength of a democracy as a legitimate representation of public will.
It's been 12 years since we last saw Bridget Jones but it appears life for the British singleton is just as messy as before.

In the new third instalment, Jones (Renee Zellweger) has a great job as a news producer. Things soon go awry  as they always seem do for Jones  when she falls pregnant, with no idea who the father is.

Enter American millionaire Jack Qwant, played by Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey, and the ever-reliable and dashing  albeit slightly greyer  Mark Darcy, played by Colin Firth.
Feted at Cannes last year, Lindon went on to win best actor for this role, as a battler who tries to save his self-respect after his retrenchment. On the day the film premiered at Cannes, another director published an account on the internet charging that the story was plagiarised from his own work. The French media soon reported Patrice Deboosere's claim that the film was a rip-off of his 2010 short film, Lundi CDI.

The measure of a man, according to Plato, is what he does with power. That quote may come to haunt director Stephane Brize and his star Vincent Lindon  even if it is not the original French title.

Deboosere said Lindon had contacted him after seeing the short, with the idea of working together on a feature-length version. "I allowed him [Lindon] to show it to different people to consider it more concretely, reminding him of my desire to work with him," Deboosere wrote. "Months later, I learned by chance that Stephane Brize was working on the project."

Brize, for his part, has said the story came from his own computer notes, where he keeps lots of ideas.

If so, it is puzzling that he credited Deboosere in the acknowledgements (before it screened at Cannes). Whatever the truth, it's a grubby story for a movie that aims to champion the rights of workers.

Lindon, a major star in France, has a strong reputation for his social conscience. Here he plays Thierry, 15 months into a stretch of unemployment in a northern French town.

He keeps retraining at the suggestion of his employment counsellor, only to be told that he is too old to be employed as a forklift driver or crane operator.
AGL has announced its energy price increases. Credit:Rob Homer (See chart below based on government data showing, in kilotonnes, how much RET landfill emissions savings from 2000 onwards.) 'Stunning result' Environment Minister Greg Hunt has hailed the $2.55 billion ERF as the centrepiece of the Abbott-Turnbull government's climate policies as "outstanding" and a model for the United Nations.

"This is a stunning result for Australia, a stunning result for the government and a stunning result for the environment," Mr Hunt said in April 2015 after the first round paid out $660 million. The fund still has $816 million to allocate after three auction rounds. Fairfax Media sought comment from Mr Hunt about whether the landfill gas industry had "double dipped" by getting payments for emissions abatement that they would have done without the ERF. "The independent Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee ensures that all ERF methods, with which all projects must comply, deliver additionality," a spokesman for Mr Hunt said. "The landfill gas methods were first made under the [Carbon Farming Initiative] - under Labor." Mr Hunt "is the only person" who thinks Direct Action is a success, Mark Butler, Labor's environment spokesman, said. "This is the only tool that he's got in the toolbox and it's not working." "Nobody who's had a look thinks the plan is doing anything to constrain or reduce emissions," Mr Butler said, adding that carbon emission are on course to rise 6 per cent between 2015 and 2020 despite "hundreds of millions" being paid to polluters.

Larissa Waters, Greens deputy leader, said "big polluting companies are getting paid millions of dollars in a total waste of taxpayer money for work that was already going ahead anyway". "Before, we had a carbon pricing scheme where AGL, the owner of the most polluting power station in the country, had to pay for its pollution; and now, under the Coalition, it's getting paid taxpayers' money to operate its landfill facilities." 'Windfall' In that first round, LMS successfully bid 28 of its projects  with seven of them not yet accredited under the RET  and stood to make a $117 million "windfall", Adelaide media reported at the time. LMS, half-owned by Sims Metal Management, will collect $111.73 million for the 21 RET-accredited projects that won funding. Energy Developments, formerly ASX listed but now owned by DUET Group, will collect $45.57 million for eight projects, and AGL will get $14.15 million for six projects, the calculations provided show.

LMS and AGL defended their access to the ERF, saying they had invested in the projects as part of previous programs, such as the CFI. "Our projects would never have been built had these schemes [ERF and RET] and their predecessors not been introduced," LMS chief financial officer Brett Maple said. The projects had been "built in good faith" and would have had nowhere else to sell the Australian Carbon Credit Units generated under the CFI if the Abbott government had scrapped the program along with the carbon price, Mr Maple said. The former landfill employee, though, said "it is abatement that happens any way and so therefore is not  or shouldn't be  eligible to create offsets in the form of ACCUs". AGL, too, said the landfill gas operations "were predominantly set up in the early 2000s under the [NSW] Greenhouse Gas reduction (GGAS) and Greenhouse Friendly schemes, which set out funding timeframes to 2020".

"We reject the use of the pejorative term 'double dipping'," an AGL spokesman said. A spokesperson for the Environment Department said there had been "no breach of legislation". "Emissions reductions cannot be counted twice and are not," the spokesperson said. "There are savings from the renewable energy which displaces coal or gas...There is also additional abatement through the avoidance of landfill methane emissions." The former landfill company employee, however, said ERF payments should only go for methane that would otherwise have been emitted to the atmosphere - which is not the case for the bulk of the landfill gas. Additionality

However, Iain MacGill, an associate professor at the University of NSW, said companies had been beneficiaries of the original flawed design of the GGAS program and were "transitioned" into ERF eligibility. As one of the first of its kind in the world, it did not perfect the methods to prove abatement activities were additional to what companies would otherwise have done  a problem still not mastered, he said. "It's actually very hard to prove that [the scheme's] working," Professor MacGill said. "Are we getting value for money  is it driving actual additionality or is it a freebie?" Andrew Macintosh, an associate professor at the ANU and also chair of the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee advising Mr Hunt, said the Abbott government had no choice but to allow projects approved for the CFI to be eligible to apply for ERF funds. To block them would have created a "sovereign risk problem" of changing the rules midway. Imagine if a new government came in and said to all the ERF recipients: "There are no more projects, no more money," Professor Macintosh said.
"We're not immune from that  I don't think we're as far down the track." Bill Shorten does up his tie as he departs his home for a visit to a radio studio in the Melbourne CBD. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen He grouped Mr Trump's populist movement and the UK Independence Party with the One Nation party created by Pauline Hanson. Ms Hanson is running for a seat in the Senate representing Queensland at this election. It is part of Mr Shorten's wider theme portraying himself at the moderate centre of Australian politics. Bill Shorten during an early morning run in the rain in Melbourne. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Turnbull says that his party offers a plan for growth as the best way to keep Australia as "a high-wage, generous social safety net country and the most successful multicultural society in the world". But as election day approaches on Saturday, Mr Shorten dismissed his rival for the prime ministership as insubstantial: "I think in this election he's emerged as a hollower figure than people thought." Chloe Shorten has been travelling with her husband. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen What he sees as his great strength we see as his great weakness He said he'd expected more of Mr Turnbull: "When he took over the job, I thought, 'Oh wow, the Liberal Party's going to move back to the centre'.

"My concern about Malcolm Turnbull's policies is that he seems to have given up on the centre ground. I thought he'd move there but he hasn't. When you're freezing GP rebates, when you're increasing price of prescription medicine, when you're taking away bulk billing incentives, when you're not funding schools according to need in the battling suburbs and the regions, you're creating the preconditions for disadvantage and inequality." Mr Shorten has confessed to being a fan of Napoleon Bonaparte, and one of the "Little General's" maxims was to "concentrate all your forces on the enemy's weakest point". Asked to nominate Mr Turnbull's weakest point, the Labor leader said: "His case for re-election is 'I'll give large corporations a big tax cut'. What he sees as his great strength we see as his great weakness." There is evidence that the government has recognised the potency of the Labor attack on its staggered 10-year plan to cut company tax  the Coalition now emphasises the early years of the plan, where only small businesses benefit, and has quietly dropped reference to the last years, when the tax cut is extended to billion-dollar firms. Looking at Labor's campaign ads, however, suggests that the party really thinks the Coalition's greatest weakness is the suspicion that it plans to privatise Medicare.

Mr Turnbull has repeatedly denied any such intention and his deputy, Julie Bishop, has accused Mr Shorten of "trying to sneak into office on the back of a lie". Labor's hammering of its Medicare scare campaign has not, however, made any impact whatsoever on the published opinion polls, which have not budged from 50:50, on an average across all major pollsters, in the seven and a half weeks of the election campaign, including the last few weeks of Labor's Medi-scare. Does Mr Shorten not worry that, by overegging his Medi-scare, that he will damage his own credibility? "We didn't invent the taskforce" that the government set up to examine options for privatising the back-office payment system for Medicare, Mr Shorten replies. "Has everyone just conveniently forgotten $5 million of taxpayer money" that the government allocated for the taskforce. The government, of course, has since announced that the taskforce is now defunct and has ruled out the privatisation of any part of Medicare.

"They've made a temporary retreat, absolutely, I'll acknowledge that," he says. But "I don't trust the Liberals on Medicare," is his fallback. This is akin to the dunking of suspected witches  on the Shorten test, there is no way that Mr Turnbull can prove his innocence. Doesn't Mr Shorten acknowledge that any attempt by a government to privatise Medicare would be political suicide? That even that committed ideologue John Howard, who gambled his government on WorkChoices and lost, gave up on his early efforts to abolish Medicare and instead claimed to be its best friend? "That doesn't mean they won't try," Mr Shorten replies. "Do you really think the healthcare system can afford having GPs having their fees frozen for six years?" There no evidence so far that the freeze is damaging bulk billing, which is now at a record high rate of 85 per cent. "We haven't seen a six-year freeze yet," says Mr Shorten. That's true - the freeze, introduced by the Gillard Labor government, is in its fourth year. Napoleon had another maxim  that "a leader is a dealer in hope". How is Mr Shorten's scare-based politics dealing in hope?

"I'm giving Australians hope that Medicare won't be wrecked. I'm giving them hope that Medicare will be defended. I'm giving them hope that there's one guy running for PM who's interested in healthcare for all Australians. Hope that their kids will get a quality education. I'm giving parents hope their kids can afford to go to uni. I'm giving Australians hope that they can afford to buy their first home, and giving future generations hope we can take real action on climate change." And was the Prime Minister respecting the first Napoleonic maxim, by concentrating on Labor's economic credentials and union links, concentrating on Mr Shorten's weakest point? "He's not concentrating on anything. He's just offering platitudes and slogans. By contrast, we're concentrating on Medicare, education, jobs  he basically isn't really contesting us there at all." He rejects the government accusation that he'd govern in the interests of the union movement, where he spent his career before Parliament: "Let me be clear  I'm not anyone's cat's paw. I'm not a cat's paw for banks, the unions, I'm interested in governing for all."

The Australian newspaper this week published correspondence showing that Mr Shorten agreed to a request from the CFMEU, the construction union at the centre of accusations of workplace thuggery, to block any effort to reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission. "I was already on the record" before the CFMEU request, he says. "I've been on record for a number of years" opposing the return of the ABCC to clean up the construction industry, Mr Shorten says. "The Australian has managed to discover something which had been on the public record for five years at least." As evidence that he is prepared to act against a union interest, Mr Shorten nominates two actions he took as industrial relations minister in the Gillard government - "I put administrators into the troubled HSU, the first minister of a conservative or Labor government ever to put administrators into a union, and I tripled the penalties for breaches of industrial relations regulations." Mr Shorten was much underestimated. When Mr Turnbull took the prime ministership, the election was widely forecast to be a Coalition walkover. But Mr Turnbull disappointed so many people's hopes that Mr Shorten won the opportunity to compete for attention and votes, and he proved to be an energetic competitor who made the election a contest.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce accepted five free flights on the private jet and helicopter of one of Australia's largest cattle-grazing and beef-processing companies, Stanbroke Pastoral.

The meatworkers' union claims the flights could explain Mr Joyce's "staunch support for live exports" because Stanbroke, owned by the Nationals leader's friend Brendan Menegazzo, derives a portion of its revenue from the live export trade.

Stanbroke, which was once one of Australia's largest live exporters, owns 1.6 million hectares of prime grazing country in northern Queensland but has diversified into processing the bulk of its beef in an abattoir in the Lockyer Valley.
Critics of Australia's election advertising blackout, which offers social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook an advantage in the final days of the campaign, are calling for an overhaul of the rules.

Described as a "20th century relic", the blackout bans political advertising on television and radio from midnight on the Wednesday before an election until polls close on Saturday night.

Designed to reduce last-minute flooding of the airways and to provide voters with a "cooling-off period", the blackout has been increasingly challenged by social media uptake and record early voting.
With Turkey recently reaching out diplomatically to the Islamic State's sworn enemies Russia and Israel, the jihadist group appears to be trying to punish the country by hitting its already beleaguered tourism industry hard, experts say.

And Turkey, long regarded as a bastion of security and stability on the edge of the Middle East as well as a key tourist destination for Australians visiting Gallipoli, is likely to come under increasing pressure from the militant group, analysts say.

The deadly Istanbul terrorist attack shows that busy international airport terminals are now a "soft target" of choice for the so-called Islamic State, a leading terrorism expert says.

Greg Barton from Deakin University told Fairfax Media that the March attack at Brussels airport had been a "proof of concept" for the group that had been replicated in Turkey overnight.

Passengers leave Istanbul's Ataturk airport after a suicide bomb attack. Turkey is likely to come under increasing pressure from the militant group. Credit:Defne Karadeniz

"Brussels was hurried and messy  but it was still very effective as a kind of proof of concept to ISIL  You just go in the front door and you have made it. Airports are set up to deal with an enormous number of people. You've got globalised, international travellers at a high profile location and which is a soft target."

In the early period of the Syrian civil war, Turkey had prioritised the defeat of the regime of Bashar al-Assad and taken a tolerant view of so-called "foreign fighters" passing through its territory into Syria to join rebel groups.

But with Turkey having opened its air bases to US forces  under pressure from its NATO ally Washington  and more recently seeking to improve relations with Russia, which is strongly supporting the Assad regime, Islamic State had stepped up attacks on Turkey in an apparent bid to impose a cost on the country, said Rodger Shanahan, a former Army officer now with the Lowy Institute.
The entire edition is devoted to articles penned by Latin American and Mexican journalists, academics and artists imploring her to save the world from the presumptive Republican nominee.

"I'd like to ask you, from the bottom of my heart, if supporting your dad's strategy is the best thing for you, as a woman or the best for your country and, consequently, mine," editor-in-chief Daniela Von Wobeser's opening letter reads.

"Do you think your father would be the leader America deserves? Do you think the values he promotes are the ones you want your three children to inherit? My mind is full of questions as I read and see things that unfortunately he has done and said, and...it is hard for me to think that you, a privileged and educated woman, tolerates this dangerous ideas, especially as an immigrant's daughter yourself.

"I understand no one chooses their parents, but sooner or later we have to understand that being a father does not exclude you from human degradation and, therefore, it's [up to] us, their children, to [break] from them when [they] voluntarily choose that path, or be doomed to live the same destiny."

While the mother of three, who is an entrepeneur like her father, has not waded into the politics of the presidential campaign she has been a strong presence on the Trump trail.
Embattled bridal gown designer Johanna Johnson is holding a fire sale of evening dresses at bargain prices in an attempt to pay some of her creditors.

The sale, on popular auction site Grays Online, features evening dresses that would have sold for thousands of dollars priced from just $100, as well as "bundle lots" of wedding gowns and other clothing.

Johanna Johnson dresses are being sold at reduced prices after the designer's company was made insolvent earlier this year. Credit:Getty

Johnson, whose designs were red carpet favourites of Hollywood starlets and Australia's own Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, had her business placed into liquidation in April after running up debts of more than $1 million.

Creditors include the Australian Tax Office and former employees, who are owed entitlements and superannuation.
Sexual predators can move freely between youth organisations by exploiting nationally inconsistent child protection laws and loopholes in background checks, a royal commission has heard.

Giving evidence on the seventh day of a public inquiry into the Australian Defence Force, retired Air Commodore Dennis Green agreed the situation created risks for youngsters.

Commodore Green is a former director general of the Australian Air Force Cadets, where the commission has heard a number of teenagers suffered sexual abuse.

"The legislation across the states and territories relating to child abuse is not consistent," he said.
Voters in Malcolm Turnbull's electorate have one of the lowest death rates in Australia, reveals a new analysis mapping deaths across the political divide.

Premature deaths in the Prime Minister's eastern Sydney seat of Wentworth sat well below (26 per cent) the national average, found the analysis of Australian Electoral Commission and mortality data.

Down in Bill Shorten's Melbourne electorate of Maribyrnong, the premature death rate (any death under the age of 75) scraped in just five percentage points below the national average, the research by the University of Melbourne and Torrens University Public Health experts showed.
Opposition finance spokesman Tony Burke complained to PM&C secretary Martin Parkinson about alleged political interference by a public servant during an election campaign. Parkinson, in turn, replied that the article, in his department's view, " was not consistent with the established practices associated with the caretaker conventions ". He went on to say that the conventions, as set out in the department's document, Guidance on Caretaker Conventions , do not have any legal force, leaving responsibility for enforcement with the heads of relevant bodies.

The immediate trigger for PM&C's intervention was an opinion column in Fairfax newspapers in late May by the business's chairman, Ziggy Switkowski . In this article, published in the middle of the caretaker period, Switkowski justified NBN's decision to ask the Australian Federal Police to investigate alleged leaks of confidential company information to the media and the opposition. The AFP had raided the office of Labor senator Stephen Conroy and the house of a party official in the election campaign's opening week, leading to widespread public criticism of the police and the government. In defence, Switkowski's article attacked the leaks as serving to fuel "political rumourtrage", which he defined as "the circulation of misinformation to diminish an enterprise for political gain". He also vigorously defended the general performance of the national broadband network against partisan criticism.

The caretaker conventions had a good public airing in the recent election campaign when the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet applied them to NBN Co. At the same time, the incident shone a spotlight on the ambiguous status of a government business enterprise like NBN.

Parkinson also revealed that the Communications Department had been shown a draft of Switkowski's article before it was published. After consulting PM&C, the department had indicated to NBN that the conventions applied to it  including its chairman, chief executive and the company as a whole  and that the article would be in breach of them. Parkinson did not indicate what parts of the article were contrary to the conventions, but presumably it was the embargo on official statements that could interpreted as promoting a government policy or attacking the opposition.

AFP agents raid a Labor staffer's house in Melbourne on May 19. Credit:Nick Toscano

Switkowski went ahead and published the article in defiance of PM&C's advice. When the issue became public through the media's publication of Parkinson's reply to Burke, NBN issued a statement saying Switkowski's remarks were consistent with the conventions as they apply to government companies and were justified by the need to restore the trust of staff, which had been severely damaged by false allegations against its management. In the inevitable political barney that followed, Bill Shorten attacked Switkowski for a "shameful breach" of the caretaker conventions, while Malcolm Turnbull backed him (and implicitly contradicted the head of his own department), saying Switkowski had "felt he had to set the facts of the matter straight".

Most media commentary sided with Shorten and Labor, accepting that Switkowski was in clear breach of the conventions as Parkinson had said. However, the issue is not cut and dried. The NBN is not in same position as a normal government department or executive agency. It is one of the few remaining government business enterprises, along with Australia Post, Defence Housing Australia and ASC (formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation). As such, it is a trading company, wholly owned by the government through two shareholders: the minsters of finance and communication. Its management is the responsibility of a board and chief executive, operating at arm's length from shareholding ministers while pursuing objectives set by the government. Its chief officers, including the chairman and chief executive, have a degree of independence not available to heads of government departments or executive agencies.

In recognition of this degree of independence, the caretaker conventions do allow greater discretion for government companies, as the NBN said. The official Guidance on Caretaker Conventions (paragraph 1.6) notes that the conventions were developed primarily in the context of the relationship between, ministers and their departments (and by extension executive agencies). The relationship between ministers and other bodies, such as statutory authorities and government departments, varies. However, these bodies should "observe conventions and practices [emphasis added]".
As Michelle Leng lay on her bed, with her hands bound behind her back and black duct tape across her mouth, her accused murderer captured the fear on her face.

It was not the first time her uncle Derek Barrett had allegedly recorded his naked niece at their Campsie home in Sydney's south-west.

He had previously allegedly hidden a camera in the bathroom and snuck into Ms Leng's room at night to film himself masturbating over her while she slept.

But April 2016 would be the final time Ms Leng would appear in a photograph on her uncle's phone.
Five members of the Lin family were fast asleep in their beds when someone lurking outside cut the electricity to their North Epping home on a cold, winter's night.

That person then let themselves in to the two-storey house and crept up the stairs, holding a hammer-like object and a rope.

Accused: Robert Xie arrives at the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday. Credit:Daniel Munoz

The NSW Supreme Court has heard the man allegedly clenching the object was a relative of the Lin family  Robert Xie.

In a retrial that began on Wednesday, Mr Xie, 52, appeared before a jury charged with murdering five people including his brother-in-law Min "Norman" Lin, 45, Mr Lin's wife Yun Li "Lily" Lin, 43, her sister Yun Bin "Irene", 39, and the Lins' two young boys Henry, 12, and Terry, 9 in July 2009.
University graduate Michelle Leng was stripped naked, bound and gagged before her uncle allegedly stabbed her and dumped her body in a blowhole on the NSW Central Coast.

The horrific details of Ms Leng's final hours have been revealed after detectives laid further charges against her uncle Derek Barrett on Wednesday.

Ms Leng's body was found floating face-down in the Snapper Point blowhole in the Lake Munmorah national park on Sunday, April 24.

At the end of April, homicide detectives charged Mr Barrett, 27, who lived with Ms Leng, 25, in Campsie, with murder.
The Queensland opposition has condemned the government over "six sneaky taxes" contained in the business case for Cross River Rail, although the deputy premier rejects the claim that motorists will be slugged with levies.

A "car park levy" and a public transport "levy" on commuters were among the proposed taxes in the business case sent to the federal government, which also shows the project could cost $9.5 billion when ongoing running costs are included.

None of the proposed "secret taxes" being investigated have been adopted.

They show:
A Gold Coast teenager has been charged with a string of sexual assaults on women over the past six months.

The 17-year-old Molendinar man was accused of sexually assaulting five different women in their 30s in incidents stretching the length of the glitter strip.

Police have charged a man with five counts of sexual assault. Credit:Tom Threadingham

He allegedly indecently touched random women in Southport, Mermaid Beach, Burleigh Heads and Broadbeach, leading to the man's eventual arrest as part of a protracted investigation.

Investigations were continuing, with the man to face Southport Magistrates Court on Thursday.
A man who stole almost $2.7 million from a Queensland farmer by fraudulently promising to invest it overseas has been jailed for eight years.

Trevor Pettett, 73, took the money from Wilfred Duhs on the promise he'd invest it in a high-interest account in the United States.

A man has been jailed for defrauding a farmer who could barely read or write. Credit:Tanya Lake

Instead, Pettett squandered the millions for his own personal benefit over five years, leaving Mr Duhs with just $1400 when the fraudulent behaviour was finally exposed in 2007.

Brisbane District Court on Wednesday heard Mr Duhs was made to sign "unintelligible" documents that acted as a "smoke screen" to Pettett's wrongdoings.
Melbourne's Town Hall building, its refurbished City Baths and the iconic Princes Bridge over the Yarra all risk being left in structurally unsound condition by planned rail tunnelling works, the Melbourne City Council warns.

The celebrated view of St Paul's Cathedral, framed between the eastern and western "shards" of Federation Square, would also be ruined by a proposed new railway station entrance and should not be built, the council argues.

The council has detailed a long list of concerns about the impact the planned $10.9 billion Melbourne Metro rail tunnel will have on the city environment, in its submission to the project's Environment Effects Statement.

These include the unknown and "not acceptable" effect on traffic from planned road closures, permanent damage to public parklands along St Kilda Road and the avoidable acquisition of people's homes and business premises in Kensington.
A former patient of "fake gynaecologist" Raffaele Di Paolo has told how she and her husband were desperate for a family when they went to see the alleged charlatan.

Another former patient of Mr Di Paolo told the court she had been referred to him by chiropractor Simon Floreani, after Mr Floreani had failed to help her fall pregnant by performing chiropractic "adjustments" on her.

'Fake' IVF specialist Raffaele Di Paolo has been charged with rape and dishonestly providing treatment. Credit:Eddie Jim

Mr Floreani, a past president of the Chiropractors Association of Australia, has courted controversy for promoting anti-vaccination material to patients.

Mr Di Paolo, of Kew, is accused of passing himself off as a properly registered and qualified doctor, gynaecologist and IVF specialist.
Two people have been arrested in connection to a shooting at a police facility in Melbourne's north.

It comes after a drive-by shooting at a police impound lot on Tuesday night, which may be connected to the seizure of a car belonging to an associate of the Hells Angels bikie gang.

On Wednesday, detectives from the Echo anti-bikie taskforce and Darebin raided two properties and seized two stolen cars, and another to search for forensic evidence.

More to come
Two people have been arrested in connection to a shooting at a police facility in Melbourne's north.

It comes after a drive-by shooting at a police impound lot on Tuesday night, which may be connected to the seizure of a car belonging to an associate of the Hells Angels bikie gang.

On Wednesday, detectives from the Echo anti-bikie taskforce and Darebin raided two properties and seized two stolen cars, and another to search for forensic evidence.

Seven shots were fired into the building in Preston at 11.50pm on Tuesday while two unarmed and unsworn employees were inside.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker greets Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon upon her arrival at his office at EU headquarters. Credit:AP "We are very early in this process," she told reporters, stressing that her priority was to have Scotland's voice heard. "I have been heartened today to hear a willingness to listen." A spokesman for Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU Commission chief who irked some European diplomats by meeting Ms Sturgeon at such a critical time in EU relations with London, stressed that he had listened but would not interfere in British domestic politics. Europe v London The 27 EU leaders sent a firm message to London that there would be "no negotiations of any kind" on future trade relations until Britain officially triggers the EU treaty's exit clause.

"This should be done as quickly as possible," they said in a joint statement. In a clear warning to Britain's Leave campaigners, added at the last minute, the 27 also said that access to Europe's prized single market "requires acceptance of all four freedoms" of movement for goods, capital, persons and services. Leave campaigners such as former London mayor Boris Johnson, a favourite to succeed Mr Cameron as Conservative Party leader and prime minister, have said they want free access to the EU's common market, but would retain the right to control migration. Mr Cameron, who campaigned to stay in the EU and announced he would step down by October after he lost last week's referendum, said on Tuesday that Britain's future relations with the bloc could hinge on its willingness to rethink free movement of workers, which he blamed for the referendum result. Sympathy for Scotland

There has been a surge in sympathy in many parts of Europe for the 5.5 million Scots, whose strong vote to stay in the EU was overridden by the English, who outnumber them 10 to one. Britain as a whole voted 52 to 48 per cent to leave. But countries like Spain that have dealt with regional separatism are strongly opposed to any direct EU talks with Scotland. Back in London, Mr Cameron told Parliament negotiations had to be carried out by the United Kingdom as a whole. European Council president Donald Tusk, the chairman of the summit of EU leaders, pointedly declined Ms Sturgeon's request for a meeting. Some EU countries called Mr Juncker's decision to meet Ms Sturgeon a provocation designed to raise pressure on London to give formal notice to quit. He rejected such suggestions. "Scotland has won the right to be heard in Brussels," Mr Juncker told a news conference. A spokesman said after the two met that he had listened to Ms Sturgeon but stressed the issue must be dealt with in the context of UK constitutional affairs. Officials briefed on talks Ms Sturgeon held with senior figures in the European Parliament said she discussed whether there was any legal way that a breakaway Scotland might somehow remain in the EU once the United Kingdom completed its so-called Brexit.

EU officials stressed, as they did before Scots voted against independence in a 2014 referendum, that Scotland could not apply to join the union until it was a sovereign state. Senior officials dismissed the notion that Scotland could take over the empty British chair at the European Council table. Ms Sturgeon has raised the prospect of the Scottish Parliament trying to block Brexit legislation to keep the entire United Kingdom in the EU, but has also said she believes a new referendum on Scottish independence is now highly likely. A major complication With the EU facing years of uncertainty in negotiating the withdrawal of its second-biggest economy, the Scottish factor is a complication most governments would rather avoid. "This is a way of putting pressure on London to trigger the exit clause," a senior official in one EU government said of EU efforts to bounce London to the negotiating table, while Mr Cameron has insisted only his successor will set the clock ticking on a two-year deadline to withdrawal.

The leaders launched a period of political reflection, with their next informal meeting set for September in Bratislava, culminating in a set of reform proposals to get a better grip on migration, bolstering security and creating jobs and growth. "Europeans expect us to do better when it comes to providing security, prosperity as well as hope for a better future. We need to deliver on this, in a way that unites us, not least in the interest of the young," a joint statement of the 27 said. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called the British vote a wake-up call for Europe and said: "It's important to have this meeting of 27 because it will show the unity of the 27." But officials said that facade of unity was punctured in the meeting by calls from Poland and the Czech Republic for the EU to do less and return more powers to national capitals. Both countries' foreign ministers have called for Mr Juncker to step aside after the Brexit vote - a suggestion he brushed aside. Mr Juncker earlier challenged Mr Cameron's explanation of the referendum defeat, saying successive British leaders had engaged in "Brussels bashing" and should not be surprised if their citizens had believed them.
At about 3.30am Tuesday morning, Aaron Hon Wing Ng, 34, and Wei Xiong Li, 45, were driving along Interstate 5, north of Los Angeles, in a minivan with their wives and each couple's two children. A vacation waited at the other end of the trip for the two families from Northern California.

A fiery minivan wreck killed two mothers and their four children on a highway in northern Los Angeles County. Credit:KABC-7 via AP

They could do nothing to save them.

California: The two men watched in horror as their wives and children burned to death.

The minivan burned on the side of the road. Credit:KABC-7 via AP

They had reached the Tejon Pass, a mountain pass between the Tehachapi and the San Emigdio mountains, about 100 kilometres outside of Los Angeles on I-5, which is traversed by some 19,000 big rigs each day. There, at the edge of the Los Padres National Forest near a town named Gorman, they got in a minor wreck with a BMW.

Likely frustrated, they pulled over to the dark shoulder of the road to inspect the damage, but part of the unwieldy van stuck out into the highway.

Before anyone could get out, a semi-truck barrelling down the road at 88 km/h slammed into the back of the minivan, propelling it completely off the road. It tumbled down a steep embankment with all eight passengers inside, finally coming to rest at the bottom of a grassy ravine.

The two men jumped out of the two front doors and began attempting to pry open the back doors and pull their families out. The doors wouldn't open.
PHILIPSBURG:---, Sint Maarten  The Central Committee will meet in a session on June 29, 2016.

The Central Committee meeting has been set for Wednesday at 11.00 am in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is Advice concerning appointment of 2nd Acting Secretary General of Parliament.

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.

The parliamentary session will be carried live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 120, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the Internet www.pearlfmradio.com and via www.sxmparliament.org.
PHILIPSBURG:--- IMA generously donates funds to 5 school counselors (Jina Mamtani-Mahbubani, Nina Espacia-Joseph, Amy Arrindell, Jessica Richardson & Judith Edouard) who will be attending the (American School Counselor Association) ASCA Conference this July in New Orleans.

In order to continue helping our children to the best of our ability it is important to continue getting personal and professional development in the counseling and therapy field. There are many new methods and materials that come out each year which are displayed and taught at the American School Counselor Association conference.

It is imperative that these counselors attend this conference in order to get the much needed and updated information to help our children and other counselors so that they can bring about change with the youth on our island.

As parents or educators we want for our young people in life, to know how to treat each others with respect, to be good cooperate citizens, to be strong and self-aware, find positive role models and learn to follow their dreams.

We want our schools to teach these big life lessons, but in the midst of pressure to raise test scores and control behavior, many schools arent sure how to effectively to do this. The Counselors will learn how to effectively do this by attending the ASCA Conference and participating in the different sessions. Inherently we know that what matters most are our young people their life lessons, the skills and values, the stories and experiences that will unlock each childs hunger to discover their own passions and be brave enough to pursue them. We believe it takes a village to raise and take care of a child, therefore we are doing our part to help our youth with their social, emotional, academic and career needs therefore helping students to strive in today's and tomorrow's society.

IMA Press Release.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The St. Maarten Nature Foundation visited primary and secondary schools to educate students about the importance of sharks. Jillian Morris and Duncan Brake from Sharks4kids provided interesting presentations to many students of St. Maarten schools. The students learned about different shark species, the importance of sharks for our reefs and tourism, depletion of sharks and why they need our help. The school visits were part of the DCNA Save our Shark project funded by the Dutch National Postcode Lottery.

During St Maarten Shark Week we visited six schools and we spoke with roughly 700 students about sharks. We successfully visited the following schools; MPC, Charlotte Brookson Academy, Hillside Christian School Asha Stevens Campus, St Maarten Academy, St Dominic High School and St Dominic Primary School, says Melanie from the Nature Foundation.

When seeing a shark you shouldnt be afraid, sharks are in no way dangerous for humans. A lot of students think that sharks do eat people. This is a misunderstanding, we are not on the menu for sharks, sharks do not eat people. Occasionally shark bites do happen, on average five people per year die of an injury caused by a shark bite, it is more likely that you get killed by a coconut falling on your head than by a shark, says Jillian Morris from Shark4Kids. Tadzio Bervoets from the Nature Foundation continues with, In St Maarten waters no unprovoked shark bite was ever recorded, it is safe to snorkel, dive and swim with sharks.

Humans kill about 100 million sharks every year, if we continue many shark species will go extinct. Oceans without sharks will have unpredictable and presumably negative impacts for marine life, fisheries and islands, as we depend on our oceans. We need to educate the future generation about sharks and their importance for the health of our marine life. Besides, we need to make them aware that we as an island nation depend a lot on our healthy reefs and clear waters. Tourists come to St. Maarten for our sharks and this generates income for everybody living on this island. Therefore a shark is far more worth alive ($250,000) than dead ($50) over its life time, says Melanie.

St Maarten is taking action to make sure Nature is our future, during the Shark Conservation Symposium on the 15th of June, the St. Maarten Government announced a shark sanctuary in their exclusive economic zones (EEZs). This means that sharks are now long-term protected on St. Maarten, which is a great step forward in nature conservation and eco-tourism. The Nature Foundation will continue to educate the public about the importance of sharks and will organize the school visits for Shark Week again next year.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The House of Parliament will sit in a plenary public session on June 30, 2016.

The plenary public meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 10.00 am in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda points are:

1. Incoming documents

2. Advice concerning appointment of 2nd Acting Secretary General of Parliament

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.

The parliamentary session will be carried live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 120, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the Internet www.pearlfmradio.com and via www.sxmparliament.org.
Oranjestad:--- The Board of financial supervision Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (Cft) met on June 27th on Sint Eustatius with the Executive Council and the Island Council. The Board also spoke with the process managers about the plan of action. During the visit the discussions were mainly about the strengthening of the Finance unit and the support that is thereby required. According to Chairman Age Bakker: The willingness to push through is clearly noticeable on Sint Eustatius. However, it is important now to get down to it in practice, in order to achieve the necessary qualitative reinforcement of the Finance unit.

Financial situation

For some time now the information about the budget execution and the financial situation of Sint Eustatius has been seriously lacking. During 2015 not all reporting obligations were fully complied with. The secretariat has started to offer the public entity concrete support. Based on the first execution report the Cft had to conclude that the public finances of Sint Eustatius were not up to par and are developing in a way that is too limited. This was also confirmed by the Executive Council. The filling of critical key positions within the government shall strengthen the administrative and financial capacity of Sint Eustatius. This, along with sufficient financial means, is necessary also in order to enable the further execution of the plan of action and the financial management improvement plan.

The acknowledgement of the issue is a first step in the process to actual take the necessary measures to improve the situation. Sint Eustatius is not alone in this process and the Cft shall offer support and advice in the most effective way. It is of utmost importance now to join each other and work together so as to make sure that before long the first improvements will become visible. The public entity has appointed a new Head of Finance as per June 1st, 2016. During its meeting with the Executive Council and the Island Council the Cft indicated that the challenge Sint Eustatius is facing may be considerable, but not impossible.

Short term priority

The Cft has emphasized that the priority should be to vigorously reinforce the capacity of the Finance unit, thereby possibly making use of BZKs offer to employ technical assistance. Furthermore it is important to meet the reporting obligations as soon as possible and eliminate the backlog in the financial administration in a short term. In any event the drafting of a solid 2017 budget, that will ensure the desired provision level for Sint Eustatius, need to start in the near-term.
Recreational Marijuana Initiative qualifies for the California's November Ballot. Will it be pre-empted by action of the DEA?

Drug Enforcement Agents from the DEA conducting a raid in Los Angeles. The Federal Government will make Marijuana a Schedule Two drug on August 1, 2016, effectively legalizing weed throughout the US.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will reclassify marijuana as a "Schedule Two" drug on August 1, 2016, essentially legalizing medicinal cannabis in all 50 states with a doctor's prescription, said a DEA lawyer with knowledge of the matter.

Update 6/28: The Recreational Marijuana Initiative qualifies for the California's November Ballot. Will it be pre-empted by action of the DEA?

http://www.smobserved.com/story/2016/07/04/news/dea-source-confirms-schedule-ii-medical-marijuana-is-in-the-works/1562.html

The DEA Lawyer had told the lawyer representing a DEA informant of the DEA's plan to legalize medicinal cannibis nationwide on August 1, 2016. When questioned by our reporter, the DEA lawyer felt compelled to admit the truth to him as well.

"Whatever the law may be in California, Arizona or Utah or any other State, because of Federal preemption this will have the effect of making THC products legal with a prescription, in all 50 states," the DEA attorney told the Observer. Federal Preemption is a legal doctrine that where the US Government regulates a particular field, State and local laws are overridden and of no effect.

He explained that "there are five DEA schedules. Nothing on Schedule One is ever legal, and that is where Cannabis is today. Schedule Two drugs are available with a prescription."

On Schedule Two, marijuana will join drugs like Percocet, Aderall, Oxycontin, Hydrocodone and other drugs that are legal, even common, with a prescription. There are also other drugs that are not on any schedules but that are illegal on a federal level, he said. Drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen are available over-the-counter.

He opined that the 135 medicinal cannabis clinic owners in Los Angeles will no doubt oppose this move by the Federal government, because the rule change will eliminate any reason for people to visit medical marijuana clinics. But they needn't worry. "In my opinion, CVS pharmacy, Rite-Aid and Walgreens will sell Schedule Two THC products similar to what users call "edibles," but will not sell smokable weed because of the health risk smoking anything entails," said the DEA lawyer.

The Los Angeles based DEA Attorney who spoke to us, asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the press about the matter. He speculated that this action will be taken in the closing days of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, so as to motivate the Democratic base to turn out and vote for Hillary Clinton, and other down ballot candidates. She will certainly not reverse this policy decision taken in the waning days of the Barack Obama administration, he said. But Donald Trump might.

"Marijuana enforcement is a big drain on DEA resources," he said was another reason for the change, noting that 75% of the American public favor the legalization of marijuana for medical use.

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson is in favor of legalizing marijuana and in fact owns a business which peddles pot in New Mexico.

California will vote on November 7th, 2016, whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Because of Federal preemption, the DEA's reclassification of cannabis as a Schedule Two drug, will have the legal effect of requiring a prescription in California--i.e., it will continue the status quo.

Since the Golden State legalized medical marijuana almost 20 years ago, Federal authorities have occasionally raided medical marijuana clinics here. They have forced major banks, like Bank of America, to close clinic bank accounts. The Feds have even seized real estate belonging to landlords who rent space to pot clinics. The Federal war on medicinal marijuana will abruptly end on August 1, 2016.

UPDATE 6/19 9 a.m. PDT: The Denver Post is now reporting that the DEA could reclassify Marijuana as a Schedule II drug, as early as July 1, 2016. https://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/17/how-the-dea-should-classify-marijuana/

UPDATE 6/22: The DEA wants to remove the barriers to cannabis research, a spokesman told aNewDomain in a lengthy interview. http://anewdomain.net/2016/06/21/on-cannabis-rescheduling-questions-the-dea-responds-exclusive/

8/01 is the new 4/20!

Medical cannabis, or medical marijuana, can refer to the use of cannabis and its cannabinoids to treat disease or improve symptoms; However, there is no single agreed upon definition, says Wikipedia. The use of cannabis as a medicine has not been rigorously scientifically tested, often due to production restrictions and other governmental regulations. There is limited evidence suggesting cannabis can be used to reduce nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy, to improve appetite in people with HIV/AIDS, and to treat chronic pain and muscle spasms. Its use for other medical applications, however, is insufficient for conclusions about safety or effects.

In California, there are "weed doctors" who will write a prescription for cannabis to anyone claiming to suffer from anxiety, which means they passout prescriptions for pot like chocolate bars at a Halloween party. As with so many other trends that started in California, expect to see medicinal marijuana sold in your town soon!

Medical cannabis can be administered using a variety of methods, including liquid tinctures, vaporizing or smoking dried buds, eating cannabis edibles, taking capsules, using lozenges, dermal patches or oral/dermal sprays. Synthetic cannabinoids are available as prescription drugs in some countries; examples include: dronabinol and nabilone.

Recreational use of cannabis is illegal in most parts of the world, but the medical use of cannabis is legal in certain countries, including Austria, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands (where it is also legal recreationally), Portugal and Spain.

In the United States, federal law outlaws all cannabis use, while 25 states and the District of Columbia no longer prosecute individuals for the possession or sale of medical marijuana, as long as the individuals are in compliance with the state's medical marijuana sale regulations.

The DEA lawyer gave us his legal opinion that if you happen to live where recreational marijuana is now legal, i.e. Colorado or Washington State; after August 1, you will need a prescription, as you would need throughout the U.S.

However, an appeals court ruled in January 2014 that a 2007 Ninth Circuit ruling remains binding in relation to the ongoing illegality, in federal legislative terms, of Californian cannabis dispensaries, reaffirming the impact of the federal Controlled Substances Act.

The Federal Government will make Marijuana a Schedule Two drug on August 1, 2016, effectively legalizing weed throughout the US. You may be able to buy pot at Rite Aid in Santa Monica by the end of the year.

As explained above, moving marijuana from Schedule One to Schedule Two, would have the effect of legalizing medicinal marijuana, throughout all 50 States, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. This action may be taken by the DEA unilaterally--i.e., without specific Congressional authorization -- because Congress has previously granted the DEA rule-making authority over what drugs are on which schedules.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States. Not only is the DEA the lead agency for domestic enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act, sharing concurrent jurisdiction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), it also has sole responsibility for coordinating and pursuing U.S. drug investigations abroad.

Update: DEA Source Confirms Story, 7/04/2016. http://www.smobserved.com/story/2016/07/04/news/dea-source-confirms-that-schedule-ii-marijuana-is-in-the-works/1562.html
As Mickey take a Peyote Trip, Ray Tries to Reconcile with his Family

Tonight's Ray Donovan wakes up in a hospital, after having been shot and collapsing in a church last season. "How I got here?" his brother asks him, at an AA meeting apparently taking place at his gym.

I guess I got here the same as all of you. Meeting father O'Merriil, asking him for forgiveness. Turn from evil and do good, and you will live in the land forever.

A native American priest is reading from a braille bible as a helicopter lands.

Ray has a vision of himself being operated on by a priest, who removes the bullet and shows it to Father O'Merrell. "Ray? Ray," he wakes up again in this world.

I want you to meet Hector Campos. He's going to take care of you. Terry Survived, he's in the hospital. I got to see my family. If you go back out there with a bullet wound, you'll end up in jail," says Campos. Ray's apparent new best friend. Trust me, I got your back

Flash forward to the AA meeting at the gym. "It's hard for me to get close to people. I tried, got married and had kids. I love my family. I guess if you love people, you're supposed to let them in." he says. summer turns into winter.

Do you know this story? My daddy reads stories to everyone, says Campos's little girl.

He is with Campos, who tells him a story of crying with his priest, who presumably also abused him since he needed forgiveness.

In his dream, Ray walks into a room where as a boy he is holding hands with a priest. His daughter Bridget looks at him

At an AAA meeting with Father O'Merell, he testifies that he hasn't had a drink in 6 months, he is "doing the work and getting second chances. That's it, that's all I got," he says in typical stoic Ray Donovan fashion.

As he leaves rehab, he is told that Detective Muncie wants to talk to him. "I saw Hector Campos walking out of his brother's gym.

"I've got your father's DNA from the crime scene, it's only a matter of time before I get a subpoena for you. You fucked up, you left Bellicova out there to do this," he says to the black female detective. "My father's gone" he says, refusing to tell her where Micky is. Ray may not even know

Cut screen to Primm, Nevada, the last town in Nevada before the California frontier

Mickey in a cowboy suit gestures to a gas station attendant. We see the latter sabotage a car.

Mickey is apparently running a new scam. He has a gas station attendant sabotage cars of wealthy gentlemen. They get sent into the Star of the Desert casino, where Mickey has a job running tables.

Throughout the episode, Ray assures everyone that he is a different man now. He falls off the wagon though with a cop who answers a domestic dispute call between Campos and his girlfriend. But first he travels a journey that parallels his father Mickey's journey in Primm.

Ray finds his daughter strumming a guitar with another woman, atop that green hill at the west end of Windward Avenue on Venice Beach. He assures her that he has changed, and invites Bridget to dinner.

The same attorney named Waller who happened to be at the Police station when Ray went to meet Det. Muncie, presents Ray with $10,000 to meet a woman named Koretsky who runs a gallery. "My client was intending to donate 10 de silva paintings to a charity. He was hoping to avoid taxation.

Ray said she smuggled them in and they were seized at this port. She asks Ray to speak to Det. Sheila Muncie on his behal.

Ray gives her back his check. As Koretsky explains the subject of the Girl with a Guitar painting was De Silva's daughter.

We think the title is a reference to him, but the Girl with Guitar is the name of a painting at a new client's art gallery. She pays ray $10,000 just to meet with her, to discuss ten paintings of hers that were seized at LA Harbor for lack of documentation.

Mickey's scam falls apart when it is reported to the casino manager. He is banned from the casino for life, and leaves to take Peyote with a couple of Native American men.

Paula Malcomson as Abby Donovan, Ray's wife. will fight breast cancer this season

His daughter comes to their Calabasas home, and Ray is late to diner, having crashed the LAPD officer's car, after getting him completely drunk. Ray has fallen off the wagon deliberately, but it's work. And he crashed the patrol car into a wall deliberately too, after promising the cop $100,000 in six months for keeping his mouth shut.

Ray attempts to reconnect with his family; Abby's medical diagnosis threatens to upend the family.

Abby confides in a stranger on a park bench, that "they wanna lop my tits off" because she has stage zero breast cancer. She has to be strong for her family. She wants to tell Ray when he calls her, but cannot because he explains that Bridget is coming to dinner.

In the end Abby is in Ray's lap, and Mickey wakes up in a hospital with Detective Muncie looking over him. No doubt, the worst bad trip in Mickey's life.
Haitian woman came to Florida to give birth

Florida officials reported the state's first case of a Zika-linked birth defect in a baby born to a Haitian woman infected in Haiti. The woman came to the United States to give birth, because she thought it would be better for the baby.

The newborn has microcephaly, the most notorious defect caused by Zika, the Florida Department of Health said. Microcephaly is a smaller-than-normal head caused when the brain doesn't develop properly. There's no cure for it.

"The mother, a citizen of Haiti, came to Florida to deliver her baby," the health department said in a statement.

"The department is working with the family to connect the child to services through our Early Steps program."

Zika has been spreading across Latin America and the Caribbean for months, leaving a swath of affected babies in its wake.

The virus is mostly harmless to adults, causing a bad rash and aching muscles in most people who notice symptoms. But it can be devastating to developing babies if a woman is infected during pregnancy.

Haitian woman came to the US to give birth to Microcephalic baby

The virus is carried by mosquitoes and spread sexually. Health officials do not expect an epidemic in the U.S. but predict outbreaks as people return from heavily-affected areas and get bitten by local mosquitoes.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is studying 265 women infected with Zika during pregnancy in the U.S. - all of them travel-related so far. Another 216 are affected in territories such as Puerto Rico, where there are local epidemics of Zika.

So far, the CDC has reported four babies born with Zika-related birth defects and another four pregnancies lost to miscarriage or aborted because of birth defects.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is a vector for transmitting the Zika virus. The Brazilian government announced it will direct funds to a biomedical research center to help develop a vaccine against the Zika virus linked to brain damage in babies.
No evidence of Jaguar Breeding Populations in New Mexico or Arizona, after the Pleistocene Era

The myth that jaguars populated the USA prior to 1900 was started with a paper written by a political activistt, and unfortunately accepted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service without due scientific diligence.

I am writing to inform you that your recent article, "Amazon jaguar shot dead after Olympic torch ceremony" contains statements of "fact" that are totally inaccurate.

The myth that jaguars populated the USA prior to 1900 was started with a paper written by a political activist, and unfortunately accepted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service without due scientific diligence.

There is no documented evidence of any naturally occurring female jaguar in New Mexico since the Pleistocene.

The article is here: http://www.smobserved.com/story/2016/06/22/news/amazon-jaguar-shot-dead-after-olympic-torch-ceremony/1507.html

Errors are confronted below:

Error 1. "Apart from a known and possibly breeding population in Arizona (southeast of Tucson) and the bootheel of New Mexico, the cat has largely been extirpated from the United States since the early 20th century."

Correction: No "breeding population of jaguars" exists in Arizona or New Mexico-or ever did. (Your article contains perhaps the tallest tale ever printed on this subject.) There is no verifiable evidence there ever was a post-Pleistocene, naturally occurring population of jaguars in either state. (There are only speculative claims that there were, but three stories about female jaguars killed with cubs in Arizona are entirely unverifiable and therefore nothing more than unscientific urban legends. This is confirmed in the comments the Arizona Game and Fish Department submitted to the US Fish and Wildlife Service during the public comment period on the critical habitat designation. (See p. 4 here-- http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/es/documents/130808.FWS.Jag.Critical.Habitat.Ltr.pdf ) Moreover, there is no documented evidence of any naturally occurring female jaguar in New Mexico since the Pleistocene--so it would be impossible for a breeding population of jaguars to have occurred in New Mexico in recorded history.

The myth that jaguars populated the USA prior to 1900 was started with a paper written by a political activist, and unfortunately accepted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service without due scientific diligence. The writer plotted a histogram of the numbers of jaguars killed in Arizona and New Mexico since 1900. He did not present the actual data he plotted.) What the writer did not document is the fact that jaguars were observed no more frequently in Arizona or New Mexico prior to the exact year 1900 than they are seen today. Rather than showing an abrupt spike from zero to about 20 in jaguar numbers exactly in the year In 1900, the activist's histogram deceptively excludes records prior to 1900--which would show a spike from zero to 20+ records exactly in 1900. Exactly beginning in 1900, suddenly and dramatically, jaguars appeared in Arizona in significant numbers. Their numbers tapered off after trucking began to replace railroads for shipping cattle. Scientists prior to 1900 documented that scientists believed at that time that jaguars were either rare or absent from Arizona. The influx of jaguars occurred very suddenly, and shortly following establishment of a rail system with cattle pens and watering facilities at every depot from Phoenix all the way south to Guadalajara.

 Elliot Coues (1867) wrote in an article, "The Quadrupeds of Arizona,"

"Two other species of true long-tailed cats may possibly exist, particularly in the south- eastern portions. These are the Ocelot (F. pardalis Linn.), and the Jaguar (F. onzaliinn.). Within the limits of the United States, however, they have as yet only been found in the valley of the Rio Grande of Texas."

 John Duncan Quackenbos et al. (1887 Smithsonian team of biologists)wrote,

"It is true that the Jaguar, the largest of American Cats, has been taken along our southern border, but it can be regarded only as a very rare straggler from the tropics."

 An article in the July 18, 1901 issue of the Arizona Silver Belt, p.2 states,

"The jaguar is a beautifully spotted black and yellow creature and is exceedingly rare in Arizona, though quite plentiful in some portions of Mexico."

 C.M. Barber (1902) in recording his findings on the presence of jaguars in New Mexico stated:

"The present paper is intended to record certain species of mammals not previously known to occur in New Mexico."

 Vernon Bailey (1931) wrote,

"Distribution and habitat. - A few large spotted cats (pl. 16, A) have been found over southern New Mexico, where they seem to be native, although generally supposed to be wanderers from over the Mexican border."

Sources:

E. Coues, "The Quadripeds of Arizona" P. 285-286, The American Naturalist, Volume 1. University of Chicago Press, 1867

Quackenbos, J.D., Newberry, J.S., Hitchcock, C.H., Stevens, W. Le Conte, Gannett, H., Dall, W., Merriam, C.H., Britton, N.L., Kunz, G.F., Stoney, Lt. G.M .; Physical Geography Prepared on a New and Original Plan, Appleton's American Standard Geographies Based on the Principles of the Science of Education. D. Appleton and Co., NY. 1887

Barber, C.M. 1902. Notes on little-known New Mexican mammals and species apparently not recorded from the territory. Biological Society of Washington Proceedings. 15:191-193.

Bailey V, 1931. Mammals of New Mexico. North American Fauna 53:283-285.

Error 2.

" The USFWS was ultimately ordered by the court to develop a jaguar recovery plan and designate critical habitat for the cats."

This error on your part is understandable, because unfortunately this utter falsehood has been published by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and is repeated often by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, even though they know it is utterly false. The court actually stated the following:

there is no documented evidence of any naturally occurring female jaguar in New Mexico since the Pleistocene--so it would be impossible for a breeding population of jaguars to have occurred in New Mexico in recorded history. A young jaguar in a zoo in Belize.

"IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiffs' Motions for Summary Judgment (Doc. Nos. 44& 45) are GRANTED in PART and DENIED in PART. The FWS determinations to not designate critical habitat or prepare a recovery plan are set aside, and this case is remanded to the FWS so that it may, consistent with this opinion, consider whether to designate critical habitat and prepare a recovery plan for the jaguar. The FWS shall make a determination as to critical habitat and recovery planning by January 8, 2010.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Federal Defendants' Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 53) is DENIED.

15 The Court expresses no opinion or conclusion in this matter regarding the construction of vehicle or pedestrian impediments along the international border."

Source: http://elr.info/litigation/39/20073/center-biological-diversity-v-kempthorne

Best regards,

Cindy Coping
A common bit of serpentlore is cast as a warning to snake owners who are dangerously unaware that their pets are calmly sizing them up as the main courses of their next meals:

Id be the first to admit that this sounds like one of those internet horror storys that always happen to a friend of a friend of a friend of The person that told me says it was her sister. The sister has a pet python which stopped eating. After a while she got concerned and took it to the vet who could find nothing wrong. He wasnt worried and explained that snakes like this can go quite some time without eating and suggested she take it back home, keep a close eye on it and if it still wasnt eating in a week or two to bring it back in again. So Tuesday of this week she goes back to the vet who can still find nothing wrong and asks if there has been any unusual behavour. She says no. The only thing odd was that a couple of night ago she woke up to find the snake on the bed beside her. She just picked him up and put him back in his tank. Wondering if the snake was seeking warmth he asks if it was curled up on the bed. The girl says No, thats what was odd. He was lying straight, up and down the bed. Oh. says the vet. Im afraid hell have to be put down. Why? Whats wrong with him? my friends sister asks. Theres nothing wrong with him. The vet says. Hes just starving himself in preparation for a big meal. Its perfectly normal. Confused she asks why he has to be put down. That night, on the bed. Yes? He was measuring you! My brother told me a story the other week about his girlfriends friends sisters boyfriends friends friend (you see why I am skeptical). Apparently this guy had a python for a pet, and it would often escape from its tank. This didnt bother anyone so no one thought much of it. It hadnt been eating lately, and no one knew why. One night the guy had his girlfriend over and she woke up to find the python on the pillow above her head. Naturally she was terrified. For the three nights following every time the girl woke up the snake was over her head. Since it still wouldnt eat, the guy took it to the vet. The vet checked it out and said there was nothing wrong with its health, had it been behaving oddly? Yes, every time my girlfriend wakes up its over her head. The vets reaction was to put the snake down immediately. Why? Because it had been measuring this guys girlfriend to see if it could eat her, and the reason it hadnt been eating was because it was planning to.

Although such stories are interesting, they should be classified with other fictional tales of snake scarelore on the following bases:



Pythons dont measure their prey before going after their meals: They grab, they squeeze, they eat. Theres little fretting in their nature about relative sizes of intended edibles, nor does all that much go into their thinking process.



To look at it another way, if pythons were in the habit of measuring before striking, theyd likely starve. Most of their prey wouldnt willingly wait for them to finish mimicking tape measures before consenting to be eaten; they would hop away to safety as soon as they noticed large snakes stretching out alongside them.

To look at it another way, if pythons were in the habit of measuring before striking, theyd likely starve. Most of their prey wouldnt willingly wait for them to finish mimicking tape measures before consenting to be eaten; they would hop away to safety as soon as they noticed large snakes stretching out alongside them. For a snake to slurp up large prey whole, it would not only have to be at least as long as its prospective dinner, but it would also have to be capable of ingesting the width of that prey  simply measuring length wouldnt be a sufficiently reliable guide to what a snake could ingest. And while a really big snake could indeed swallow a persons arm, its quite unlikely that the kinds of snakes typically kept as pets in homes could get their jaws open wide enough to take in an adult humans head and shoulders.

of that prey  simply measuring length wouldnt be a sufficiently reliable guide to what a snake could ingest. And while a really big snake could indeed swallow a persons arm, its quite unlikely that the kinds of snakes typically kept as pets in homes could get their jaws open wide enough to take in an adult humans head and shoulders. Those who keep fairly large snakes as pets generally know that its perfectly normal for their pets to go without food for fairly long periods of time and thus scoff at the notion that a snakes not eating would be cause to rush it to a vet.

No reasonably informed vet would counsel having a snake put down because it hadnt eaten of late and thus must be planning to make a meal of its owner. (There are other methods for dealing with non-eating snakes, including, in extreme circumstances, force-feeding.)



Some elements of the legend were reflected in a February 2008 news story out of Australia involving the swallowing of a family dog by a snake. According to news accounts of the incident, the Peric family (husband, wife, and two children) watched in horror as their chihuahua was gobbled up by a 16 ft. scrub python on the veranda of their home in tropical Kuranda, Queensland. Although the snake wasnt a pet (it lived in the wild), Mr. Daniel Peric maintained that prior to the fatal attack the python had stalked the familys dog for days. (Four days before the pooch became the snakes dinner, the python had reportedly been seen in the dogs bed on the veranda.) This family had trouble with snakes before: The body of the Perics cat had been found in the preceding weeks, looking as if something had tried to swallow it, and a week prior to the dogs demise a smaller python ate their pet guinea pig.

Regardless of the realities of serpentine behavior, the legend about a snake-measured girl is popular because it gives voice to a widespread fear of that which slithers. Herpetologists aside, many people view snakes as dangerous and unwholesome, perhaps even evil, and therefore feel uncomfortable and somewhat threatened in their presence. Stories like this one serve to confirm such assessments as not only is the pet in the tale planning to eat a person, but is stealthily and sneakily working out when to make its move, all under the guise of being affectionate towards the people caring for it. (Interestingly, the fear people seem to be expressing in repeating this story is not of being killed by a snake, but rather of being eaten by one.)

The veterinarian who reveals the true state of things is a stock figure who appears in other urban legends, such as the Choking Doberman (burglars fingers found in the throat of a guard dog reveal danger lurking in a closet at home) and the Mexican Pet (languishing dog adopted in a foreign land exposed as giant rat). Such an expert is needed to fill in the blanks in these narratives  in this case, without the vets helpful explanation to clue us in, we wouldnt have known the ill-intentioned snake was measuring the girl, or what its purpose was for doing so.
Slyce Inc. Reports Q2, 2016 Financial Results

CALGARY, ALBERTA  (Marketwired)  06/28/16  Leading visual search and image recognition company Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SLC) (FRANKFURT: 06O1) (Slyce or the Company) today announced its financial results for the second quarter ended April 30, 2016.

The interim financial statements and Management Discussion and Analysis for the quarter ended April 30, 2016 are available at .

Business Highlights

Key customer announcements during the six-month period ended April 30, 2016 include the following:

 On November 25, 2015, Slyce announced a new contract with ToysRus, which is expected to significantly increase revenue over the contract term for the provision of several of Slyces visual search and digital coupon services.

 On the same date, Slyce also announced its new and proprietary retail technology solution, Slyce Link, a purpose-built platform that has been in development for over a year and is currently in beta testing with its first major retail customer. The Slyce Link solution enables retailers to show visually similar products to their customers at highly strategic points in their online purchasing journeys in order to increase sales and reduce cart abandonment.

 On December 8, 2015, Slyce announced a signed contract with leading specialty fashion retailer, Nordstrom, to power visual search for mobile commerce. Founded in 1901, Nordstrom is a Fortune 500 retailer with more than 323 stores in 39 US states and Canada.

 On December 18, 2015, Slyce announced that it had integrated fully automated, 3D search technology that is now live with online shoe-and-clothing retailer, Zappos.com, to power visual search for mobile commerce. Zappos.com is a subsidiary of Amazon.com.

 On March 22, 2016, Slyce announced that it has officially launched visual search technology with leading US footwear and accessories retailer, Shoe Carnival. The integrated, fully automated 3D visual search technology enables mobile visitors to ShoeCarnival.com to snap a picture of any footwear, either in the real-world, or alternatively, from sources such as magazine pages, and, with no time latency, be presented with all direct or closest matching products from the extensive Shoe Carnival product line. These items can then be purchased with just a few taps.

 On May 16, 2016, Best Buy expanded its relationship with Slyce to introduce 3D search capabilities, alongside barcode and catalog scanning, into its iOS and Android apps. The visual search functions were moved to the primary search bar of the app, accessible when a user taps on the camera icon.

 On June 22, 2016, Slyce announced that leading apparel retailer Express had signed a contract to integrate and utilize Slyces universal scanner  including barcode scanning, catalog scanning, and 3D visual search. Express currently operates more than 600 retail and outlet stores, and is based in Columbus, Ohio.

 On June 28, 2016, Slyce announced that American Eagle Outfitters had contracted to use Slyces visual search technology in the retailers app. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, American Eagle Outfitters operates more than 1,000 stores, and ships to 81 countries worldwide.

Financing Update

On June 23, 2016, the Company closed $750,000 as part of a $1 Million convertible debenture (CD) offering. CDs pay 10% annual interest, payable in kind with Common Shares issued at a price per share equal to the volume weighted average trading price for the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the TSXV) for the 20 consecutive trading days ending five trading days prior to the date on which the Corporation submits an application to the TSXV for issuance of Common Shares as payment of the principal and interest under the CD. The CD matures on December 31, 2017. Interest shall be payable on June 30th and December 31st in each year commencing on December 31, 2016. The outstanding amount of each CD, including all interest accrued thereon will be convertible, for no additional consideration, at a conversion price of $0.10 per security or such other price as approved by the TSX Venture once the conversion terms of the CD are met.

Technology Update

Slyce brought aboard a new Chief Technology Officer, Adam Turkelson, who succeeded Dan Grigsby. Adam has a wealth of experience in computer vision and machine learning. He was one of the principal architects of the Neat Companys innovative document scanning software, which utilizes several image-recognition techniques to scan anything from receipts to business cards. Prior to joining Slyce, he was CTO Angus Analytics, a business intelligence company in the energy space. Adam works alongside me in our Philadelphia office.

Slyce has three development teams-1 in Philadelphia, 1 in Minneapolis, and 1 in Tel Aviv. Previously these teams operated somewhat independently, and without a great deal of collaboration. This has all changed under Adams leadership. We now have 1 unified sprint cycle, 1 project management tool, and a shared product roadmap. Adam has worked very closely with our VP Product, Kyle Martin, to build out this roadmap, and identify opportunities for new automated systems and modules that will improve our solution and/or open new market opportunities for Slyce.

Operations Update

Erika Racicot, Slyces cofounder, is the companys Chief Operating Officer, and has worked hard to implement an onboarding process to reduce the time needed to take a client from signed contract to having Slyce live on their app or website. We have also made some difficult cuts in our New Waterford office, where we identified an opportunity to reduce the number of data specialists on our team by 10 people. We are also happy to report that we were able to transition two of these employees to our sales team, to provide much needed support there.

Part of our Operations teams mandate isnt just to get retailers live with Slyce, but to deliver the best possible implementation. We judge our solutions based on overall search volume, but also based on the speed and accuracy of the solution. On search volume, weve seen the average retailer search volume rise to 28,000 searches per month, growing 18%, month over month. Our current accuracy with 3D detection is rated at 9.2, on a scale of 1-10. This score has been independently verified by customers such as Neiman Marcus. This accuracy is head and shoulders above any of our competitors in the visual search space.

Our 1D and 2D scanning returns results in sub-second response time, due in part to the fact that we can do most of this processing device side. With 3D scanning, we currently average 12 sec, across all retailers, and are aiming to get this below 10 seconds by the next quarter-thanks to more device-side processing and automation. However, we will never trade accuracy for speed, as we have found that even lightning-fast results, if incorrect, do not yield repeat usage.

Consumer Apps Group Update

Following Ted Manns move to running the overall Slyce business, Nicole Harris was promoted to General Manager of the Slyce Consumer Apps Group, made up of SnipSnap, Pounce, and Craves. Nicole oversees development, sales, and client management. Under her leadership, the SnipSnap app continues to be one of the strongest revenue drivers at Slyce, generating $80,000 CAD per month, on average. We recently signed our 80th SnipSnap retailer, Road Runner Sports, which joins other new retailers who pay to feature and target their coupons on SnipSnap. Among the others signed in Q2: Childrens Place, Pep Boys, Calvin Klein, Reebok, and Ruby Tuesday.

We continue to invest in our consumer apps. SnipSnap is currently preparing version 4.0 of the iconic coupon app, which features all new branding and scanning user experience. Pounce has seen a spike in usage in the Middle East, where we are discovering that many people see visual search and image recognition as a kind of translation tool-a way for an Arabic speaker to search English-language retailers. And finally, Craves, our fashion-discovery app, which has been particularly popular for those looking to find out what celebrities wore, is about to launch version 2.0. This is remarkable update with all new functionality and curated content built for those interested in finding celebrity fashion. It will launch in July.

Financial Highlights for the Quarter and Six Months Ended April 30, 2016

Conference Call

On June 29, 2016 at 4:00 PM EST, the company will be hosting a live video conference to discuss this news, featuring a live Q&A session and demos of our most recent deployments. Access to the live conference call will be available via the following . Shareholders will be able to login to the live video and audio conference through the link provided. Shareholders can also access the conference call by a number available through the same link. The conference call is open to any investor or stakeholder, including shareholders, broker-dealers and other securities professionals. The call will be recorded and available for review at . Slyce will be hosting and moderating a Q&A period on the call which will be conducted via the in-program chat function, moderated by the Slyce team. Participants will be able to enter a moderated queue to ask a question live on the call, or to submit a question via email. To submit one or more questions to the CEO, please email your question to with the words Investor Question for Conference Call in the subject line. Slyce management will endeavour to address as many questions as possible in the hour allocated to the call.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy the securities in the United States, in any province or territory of Canada or in any other jurisdiction. The securities offered have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act) or any U.S. state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. There shall be no sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy or sale would be unlawful.

About .

Slyce, based in Calgary, Alberta, delivers sophisticated visual search technologies and is currently focused on enabling a powerful sales channel for major retailers and their customers. Consumers, wherever they are, can conveniently engage with retailers by taking pictures of desired products using their mobile devices, thereby initiating the visual search service with near-instant product recognition capability. The Company delivers its technology both as a white-label visual search platform and as a suite of consumer mobile apps. Slyces technology is used by large retail brands such as Neiman Marcus, Tillys, Urban Outfitters, JCPenney and Home Depot.

Slyces business model features multiple revenue streams arising from its visual search platform, consumer apps and corresponding data services. The revenue streams include fees for software licensing, integration, purchase transactions, program promotions and data analytics.

Slyce is also listed on the Frankfurt exchange trading under (FRANKFURT: 06O1)

For image download and further company information, please click for the

READER ADVISORY

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Statements in this press release contain forward-looking information. The words will, anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, intent, may, project, should, and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are founded on the basis of expectations and assumptions made by Slyce.

Readers are cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of such information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Slyce.

Slyce does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements except as expressly required by applicable securities laws.

None of the information contained on, or connected to, Slyces website is incorporated by reference herein.

Contacts:

Slyce

Ted Mann

President

Slyce

Roy Roman

T. (647) 464-6200
PowWow Mobile Builds Strong Customer Momentum

SAN FRANCISCO, CA  (Marketwired)  06/29/16  , the leader in enterprise app mobility, today announced strong customer growth on its SmartUX Platform. , and join PowWows expanding ecosystem of customers across all industries. Customers are expanding deployments of PowWow Mobiles SmartUX Platform to mobilize all their enterprise applications.

Companies are using mobile technologies to transform their industry. Organizations are universally challenged delivering modern experiences for the digital workplace due to long timelines and high delivery costs, said Kia Behnia, CEO, PowWow Mobile. Our SmartUX platform allows any organization to transform any existing desktop or web application into a native, mobile app in a matter of days or weeks, rather than months or years.

With PowWow Mobiles SmartUX Platform, organizations can transform any Windows or web application into a native mobile app:

Rather than re-coding apps or re-integrating data, the SmartUX Platform allows enterprises to create mobile apps with little to no code, all in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost.

Employees can seamlessly transition from working on a project on their mobile device, resume the task on their desktop and finalize it on their tablet.

PowWow Mobile enables enterprises to easily transition existing business functions to user-friendly digital experiences.

Tracker Corp., a technology company, whose customers include the nations largest retailers, fast casual restaurant chains, grocers, transportation companies, federal contractors, staffing companies and more uses SmartUX Platform to power mobile versions of its core I-9 and E-Verify software. Trackers customers have as many as 10,000 field managers smoothly processing over 1.75 million flawless I-9s for new hires every year. Tracker needed a mobile version of its software to bring HR to employees, rather than employees going to HR.

In todays modern workforce, HR teams need to be able to complete critical employment forms at the employees worksite  whether at a retail store or on a movie production set, said Fred Colman, President, Tracker. By using PowWow Mobiles SmartUX Platform, weve been able to meet our customers needs for mobile versions of our software, five times faster and less expensively than in-house development. Now HR managers can complete I-9 and E-Verify processes in or out of the office.

REDI Global Technologies, provider of an advanced, end-to-end trade management platform, joined forces with PowWow Mobile to . Using PowWows SmartUX Platform, REDI has enabled its clients to enter, update and monitor orders from their iPad.

Traders and portfolio managers increasingly require access to their trading platforms outside of the traditional desktop environment, said Mark Etherington, CTO, REDI Global Technologies. By partnering with PowWow, we were able to quickly introduce a real value-added enhancement for our users while our engineering team continued to work on the more strategic development projects.

The PowWow Mobile is now generally available. Visit for more details.

PowWow Mobile allows enterprises to transform business applications into modern, mobile app experiences. PowWow Mobile eliminates business-IT friction as enterprises seek competitive advantage and increased productivity through mobile for todays digital workplace. SmartUX Platform accelerates enterprise application transformation by creating new, native mobile apps from any web or Windows app, quickly without sacrificing quality, and at a lower cost than custom solutions or other tools. PowWow Mobile works with customers across industries, including financial services, healthcare, telecom, software, consulting and public sector. PowWow Mobile is based in San Francisco. Learn more at .

Angela Allison

LEWIS for PowWow Mobile

415-432-2416
iJET International Launches Powered By iJET Business Unit

ANNAPOLIS, MD  (Marketwired)  06/29/16  iJET International, Inc. (iJET), a leading integrated risk management solutions provider, announced today the full solution suite of Powered by iJET, a new business unit that will enable B2B2B organizations to deliver a differentiated value proposition in their product or service. Intelligence and data syndication with options for enhanced security services are the core elements that power organizations in this model.

Enabling, augmenting and enhancing solutions with partners has become the norm, not the exception, said Theresa Thomas, Senior Vice President, Powered by iJET. The days and ego of owning the full end-to-end solution for organizations are gone. Our partners want to bring together the best in class capabilities across category providers to deliver the richest and most valuable experience for their customers. iJET has a long history of listening and responding to the changing needs of our partners and the market. The Powered by iJET business unit is the most recent proof point of this positive evolution, and I could not be more proud or excited to be leading this effort.

Powered by iJET will support existing and new partnership models across multiple industry verticals.

: powering partners new and existing products and services through:

Licensing and distribution of iJETs industry leading global intelligence including real-time global alerts, country/city health, safety and security profiles, and widely acclaimed database of Travel Intelligence.

Integration of mobile application and mass communication capabilities supporting a wide-range of building block services such as personnel locator, risk exposure, and travel/assignment management.

24/7/365 response hotline, 24/7 access to analysts, medical/security assistance, and bespoke security/intel assessments.

Powering partners by supporting their client needs for end-to-end, fulsome risk management solutions and services via direct relationship with iJET.

Powering partners to allow them to directly sell and deliver iJETs Worldcue Risk Management solutions to their customers.

Powered by iJET has become the partner of choice for virtually all of the major travel management companies in supporting their travel risk management solutions, as well as a significant number of the global financial services, insurance and assistance companies, remarked Bruce McIndoe, CEO. Being a strong partner after the deal is done is part of our DNA and what sets us apart from other providers in the market.

For more information, visit .

iJET International (iJET) provides intelligence-driven, integrated risk management solutions that enable multinational organizations to operate globally with confidence. iJETs end-to-end, tailored solutions integrate world-class operational threat intelligence, innovative technology, and response services to help organizations avoid threats, mitigate risk and protect their people, assets, and reputation. Founded in 1999, iJET is a privately held company headquartered in Annapolis, U.S. with regional offices in London and Singapore and country offices in Japan, India and Germany. For more information, please visit .

iJET International

Amy Mininger

+1.410.573.3860

DBC PR+Social Media

Ryan Vaughan

+1.202.292.4575
Palerra Is the First and Only CASB to Enable Centralized Security Management of Workloads in Multiple Clouds With the Announcement of Palerra LORIC for Rackspace

SANTA CLARA, CA  (Marketwired)  06/29/16  Palerra, a leading Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), today announced it is the first and only CASB to enable centralized security management of workloads in multiple clouds with the availability of Palerra LORIC for Rackspace. This release furthers Palerras commitment to delivering security for the full Cloud stack, including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). Palerra originally launched support for IaaS via AWS in November 2014, and offers the most complete CASB solution for AWS on the market.

A year ago, CASBs lacked widespread adoption and recognition in the security solutions market. Within one year, they are now seen as a mandatory control for any enterprise that is leveraging the cloud, said Adina Simu, VP of Products for Palerra. From the beginning, Palerra understood the need for organizations to eliminate silos and implement a single pane of glass for monitoring SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS. That understanding formed a strategic imperative at the core of LORIC. With todays announcement, Palerra is extending that imperative to enable security management across workloads in multiple clouds.

The market for public cloud services is continuing to demonstrate high rates of growth, particularly in IaaS, said Rohit Gupta, CEO for Palerra. Enterprises quickly understand the importance of protecting SaaS applications because they hold critical business information. But they often overlook protecting cloud infrastructure, especially when using multiple IaaS providers, because that is viewed as the cloud service providers job. It is not a question of whether they should choose between protecting information or infrastructure . . . the answer is both. With LORIC, Palerra delivers on our vision to provide enterprises with complete Cloud Security by protecting users, data, and workloads in the Cloud. 

The Palerra LORIC platform provides complete visibility and ensures compliance of an organizations entire cloud footprint by combining shadow IT discovery, threat detection, predictive analytics, security configuration management, and automated incident response into a single solution. Palerra LORIC monitors enterprise cloud applications from industry-leading companies, such as Rackspace, and promotes the security of these services through a single pane of glass.

Palerra LORIC for Rackspace Key Features include:

Instant insight into Rackspace adoption and usage.

Customizable reporting capabilities along with a rich set of early warning indicators and predefined reports on potentially risky activities.

Continuous monitoring and enforcement of security configurations within Rackspace to ensure compliance.

Machine learning capabilities used to study activities such as logins and environment administration to create baseline activity profiles, with the ability to flag deviations in behavior exposing insiders and hackers.

Ability to build custom policies as well as a library of predefined policies for real-time notifications about activities that may introduce risks.

Automatic incident logging and execution of remedial actions within Rackspace to immediately close windows of opportunity.

Integration with LDAP, identity and access management, ticketing, and incident management systems as well as SIEM solutions to leverage existing investments.

To learn more about Palerra LORIC:

Visit us online at

See Palera LORIC for Rackspace details at

Join the conversation on Twitter at

See how Palerra LORIC can help you monitor your Cloud Applications. Request a Free Trial at

Palerra helps organizations protect their business-critical Cloud infrastructure and data with Palerra LORIC, the industry-leading solution for Cloud security automation. Palerra is the only Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) that provides visibility and security across the entire security lifecycle from infrastructure to applications, enabling organizations to realize the full promise of the Cloud. Leading enterprises including BMC Software, Jefferies, and VMware leverage LORIC for continuous monitoring and security of their Cloud applications. Palerra is a privately held company funded by Norwest Venture Partners, Wing Venture Capital, and August Capital, and is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. For more information, visit .

Kristina Lanpheir

Kulesa Faul for Palerra

831-251-9120
Purple to present at Cisco Live, July 10-14, Las Vegas

June 29, 2016: Purple, the intelligent spaces company, today announced its speaker slot at Cisco Live, Las Vegas, July 10-14.

Purples Kerry Wright, Director of Alliances for Purple, will be addressing Cisco Live on July 12 with a presentation to U.S. ISV Solution partners, highlighting how Purple maps to the new Cisco Mobile Advisor solution. Purple is one of only four Cisco partners invited to address the conference during the Partner Appreciation event at the impressive House of Blues, Mandelay Bay Hotel.

Purple will also be present on stand 1446 during the Cisco Live event. The Purple team will be available to provide deeper insight into its Intelligent Spaces approach, which enables businesses to see the value of their existing wireless network, monetize their wireless infrastructure and provide marketing tools to generate ROI.

Purple does this by helping brands to learn more about their customer base, and enables them to take action. Purple provides real-time analytics and marketing for venues and businesses that want to engage with visitors and understand the use of physical spaces.

Mike Greig, VP Americas at Purple, comments: This is our fourth year at Cisco Live, one of the highlights of the conference calendar for us. We are excited about the opportunity to present to the influential Cisco Live partner community and look forward to meeting and sharing ideas with partners and customers from all over the Americas.

Cisco Live delivers the training, education and connections needed to thrive in the innovative world of digital business.

It also boasts a thriving community made up of thousands of technology professionals from around the world who come to Cisco Live to share ideas, sharpen their expertise and get inspired.

Cisco Live Las Vegas is complimented by additional events in Cancun, New Mexico, Berlin Germany and Melbourne, Australia.

To arrange a meeting at the Cisco Live event in Las Vegas, please email: mike.greig@purple.ai and kerry.wright@purple.ai
Huawei Releases GigaRadio Whitepaper

SHANGHAI, CHINA  (Marketwired)  06/29/16  Huawei released their GigaRadio whitepaper on the eve of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai 2016. The key message of this whitepaper is that GigaRadio will empower future-oriented wireless network evolution and help operators notch up new business successes as a new generation solution. This whitepaper describes the innovation course and key technologies of GigaRadio, and expresses that GigaRadio can enable Gbps-level user experience everywhere as well as 5G-oriented smooth network architecture evolution.

GigaRadio was proposed by Huawei at the MWC 2016, as a new standard of network construction with a focus on future network evolution. It is another landmark of innovation for this company, following its innovations in distributed base stations, SingleRAN and Blade Site.

In the next five years, various video applications will become popular. VR/AR, 4K live broadcasting, UAV, the ultimate selfie and driverless vehicles will become widely used in daily life. Videos are expected to contribute to more than 80% of the traffic volume granted by mobile service packages by 2020.

At the same time, people are more and more interested in the ultimate network experience, including a higher peak rate, consistent experience anytime anywhere and indoor-outdoor seamless experience. The whitepaper covers a series of 4.5G-empowering solutions that can satisfy the requirements of single-user Gbps peak rate, single-module Gbps throughput, single-site xGbps capability and indoor-outdoor consistent Gbps-level user experience.

Operators are now confronted with increasing network capacity pressure and ever-growing experience improvement demands. How can they substantially improve the capacity of a single site with minimal network investments to meet the requirements of doubling yearly capacity while ensuring better experience? With scarce and expensive spectrums, how can network capacity be doubled to maximize the value of the current spectrums available to operators? How can the operators continuously and effectively reduce capex and opex to improve their profitability? How should multi-RAT and multi-technology networks be deployed to provide consistent user experience while retaining continuous evolution capabilities?

The GigaRadio whitepaper provides adequate and convincing answers to these problems by introducing next-generation base station products and a series of advanced solutions.

GigaRadio provides Gbps capacity and experience. Compared with 4G technologies, GigaRadio enables six-fold system capacity, eightfold peak rate and ten-fold cell edge rate.

The GigaRadio innovative spectrum solution doubles the spectral efficiency.

The GigaRadio innovative performance solution improves overall network performance by 30%.

GigaRadio increases the integration degree by 200% and cuts down power consumption by 30%, reducing the opex by 20%.

For more information, please download the GigaRadio whitepaper, which can be accessed here: .

MWC Shanghai 2016 will be held in Shanghai New International Expo Center, (SNIEC), China, from June 29 to July 1. Huawei will showcase its latest products and solutions at the main booth in Hall N1 A40 and Innovation City booth in Hall N3 A40. For more details, please visit: .

Huawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider. Our aim is to enrich life and improve efficiency through a better-connected world, acting as a responsible corporate citizen, innovative enabler for the information society and collaborative contributor to the industry. Driven by customer-centric innovation and open partnerships, Huawei has established an end-to-end ICT solutions portfolio that gives customers competitive advantages in telecom and enterprise networks, devices and cloud computing. Huaweis 170,000 employees worldwide are committed to creating maximum value for telecom operators, enterprises and consumers. Our innovative ICT solutions, products and services are used in more than 170 countries and regions, serving over one third of the worlds population. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.

For more information, please visit Huawei online at or follow us on:

Huawei Technologies

Miranda Liu
Druva Announces Sixth Straight Year of 100 Percent Growth; Continues Product Innovation Alongside Global Expansion

SUNNYVALE, CA  (Marketwired)  06/29/16  , the leader in converged data protection, today reported continued company-wide growth, citing 100 percent growth of its subscription business and marking its sixth consecutive year of triple-digit growth. Druvas global customer count now exceeds 4,000 organizations. With the conclusion of its 2016 fiscal year ending on March 31, the company continues to gain momentum with the addition of new strategic partnerships, a global MSP program and the establishment of subsidiaries in both Germany and Japan. Druva also continues to expand its solution offerings with new cloud application support that includes Box, Google Apps for Work and Office 365, a strategic alliance with Microsoft Azure, and a new pay-only-for-what-you-use consumption pricing model for its cloud-based server backup, archival and DR solution.

Druva is building the next great data protection company in the cloud, said Jaspreet Singh, CEO, Druva. Among a new generation of software companies who have embraced the scale, security and cost efficiency of the public cloud, Druva is offering our customers better ways to protect and govern all their data  both end-user and server. Not only can organizations protect and preserve their business critical information wherever it resides, but help discover it for legal, regulatory and compliance needs. This approach continues to win adherents and fuel our business.

Druvas customer base continues to grow. In the last year, the company added hundreds of global brands, including AIG, Bloomberg, Chipotle, LiveNation, Monster Energy, Hulu, Merz, Marriott, National Institutes of Health (NIH), NBC Universal, ServiceNow, Shutterfly, Western Digital, Stanford University, University of Melbourne and Verifone. In addition, Druva customers are adding additional data protection capabilities and solutions from the company. In fact, Druva customers typically purchase 30 percent more than they did the year prior, every year  a testament to the solutions value and capabilities.

Druva continued to expand its international presence with the launch of subsidiaries in Japan and Germany. In both regions, the company continues to expand and grow its partner base with the addition of NetOne, AP-Communications, CLCP, Serverworks and SO-NET Business Associates in Japan and Backup Solutions GmbH, Beck et. al Services GmbH and Florestan GmbH in Germany.

In the last year, Druva continued to grow and expand its cloud-based data protection solutions for end-user and server data. New solution capabilities include:

Druva inSync now additionally . This allows inSync to aggregate business critical information, whether it resides on a laptop, mobile device or in cloud applications, providing a single place to protect and govern end users data.

Druva now offers customers choice to , increasing the cloud choice for global storage to more than 30.

 Druva helps government agencies and contractors that must to meet federal standards for the public cloud.

Druva Phoenix now includes and a , allowing enterprises to pay only for the actual storage they consume.

Druva also significantly expanded its partner ecosystem with the following:

Druva now offers its dedicated with access to co-branded Druva technology, specialized administrative consoles and more.

 Druva established new resell relationships with SHI and SoftwareOne in North America.

Druva garnered multiple industry accolades for product innovation, growth and customer service. These awards include:

 Gold Award winner for Innovation in Customer Service  Computer Industries and Customer Service Department of the Year  Computer Software

 Gold Winner for Compliance Software

 Scott Siragusa, Vice President of Channel and Business Development, named a CRN Channel Chief; Cathleen Ventura, Druva Director of Channel Sales, named a CRN Woman of the Channel.

 Best Storage

 Druva received the highest product scores in all use cases  Overall, Cloud Deployment and On-Premises Deployment*

 Best Cloud Storage and Backup.

Learn more about Druva data protection solutions at .

Druva is the leader in converged data protection, bringing data-center class availability and governance to the mobile and distributed enterprise. With a single dashboard for backup, availability and governance, Druvas award-winning solutions minimize network impact and are transparent to users. As the industrys fastest growing data protection provider, Druva is trusted by over 4,000 global organizations on over 4 million devices. Learn more at and join the conversation at twitter.com/druvainc.

[*] Gartner, Inc., Critical Capabilities for Enterprise Endpoint Backup, by Pushan Rinnen and Robert Rhame, November 12, 2015.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartners research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Media Contact:

Stacey Collins Burbach

Phone: +1.415.310.9767

Email:
By Jagdeesh Mann,

Special to The Post

One of the most celebrated veterans in Canada, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Pritam Singh Jauhal, passed away peacefully this past week with his family by his side.

He was 95 years old.

Lt. Col. Singh served in the British Indian military and lived through the 20th century's era of tremendous social and technological change. When witnessing the emergence of his native India's independence as a youth, he could not have envisioned that one day he himself would become an agent of change in post-colonial Commonwealth.

His courage in battle would serve him well, guiding his rise from humble origins to serving honourably as an officer in several wars including World War II.

In 1993 at the age of 73, Singh inadvertently found himself in the middle of media storm when he, along with four other Sikhs, were barred from entering the Royal Canadian Legion in Newton, Surrey. The club's members opposed the men's entry on the grounds they were 'wearing hats', thus turning away the war veterans.

As a Sikh, Singh politely declined the club's demand he remove his turban, which is an indelible part of his religious identity. It was also a sanctioned part of his military uniform which he wore when fighting against Nazi Germany on behalf of the Allies.

Singh's grace through the Legion incident sharply contrasted with the ugly threats of violence that took a heavy toll on his household. Sadly, his wife passed away at that time from a cardiac arrest.

Today Canada's Defense Minister and head of our Armed Forces wears a turban. Its inclusion as part of the Canadian military uniform is now taken as self-evident - as is its place in Royal Legion Halls across Canada.

Lt. Col. Singh's dignified stand over two decades ago is one of the many quiet but indispensable victories that has made Canada a beacon for tolerance and plurality. His grace under fire would lead him to being invited for tea with Queen Elizabeth II who took it upon herself to ask Singh about the incident. Ever an officer and a gentleman, Singh stated that was sorry to have troubled her with the matter.

In 2013, Singh published his memoir, A Soldier Remembers, in collaboration with the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley. The funeral will be held at Valley View Funeral Home & Cemetary -14644 72 Ave, Surrey, on Sunday, July 3, 2016 at 2PM. It will be followed by a prayer ceremony at :30PM at Canadian Singh Sabha Gurdwara, 8115 132 St, Surrey BC.

Jagdeesh Mann is a writer and media professional based in Vancouver. Follow on twitter @jagdeeshmann.
Plagued by drought, a fragmented food system and unprecedented growth, India is looking for allies to feed its masses.

And thats good news for Canadian food companies reports countryguide.ca.

Market opportunities range from five million tonnes per year of pulses to shipments of maple syrup, says Canadian counselor Parthi Muthukumarasamy.

Canola oil could carve itself an incredible market share in India, said Muthukumarasamy, a specialist in agriculture and agri-food at the High Commission of Canada.

The Indians are crazy for red lentils potential sales are incredible, says Lance Walker, head of Lazer Enterprises Inc. in Borden, Sask.

Walker was working in a trade show booth as he told me this, one of the representatives of the 23 Canadian businesses that were participating at the 31st Aahar Food Hospitality Trade Fair held in New Delhi recently.

According to the World Bank, Indias GDP growth is expected to end up at 7.9 per cent this year, enough to make it the fastest growing economy on the planet, even outpacing the Chinese dragon with its 7.0 per cent.

Although India is the worlds largest pulse producer, El Nino weather patterns helped set off consecutive droughts in 2014 and 2015 that have put the country into a serious deficit for this vital staple food.

India produces around 18 million tonnes of pulses but they need 22 to 23 million tonnes every year

As a result, India needs 5.5 million tonnes of pulses, and it needs them more or less now.

In 2015, Canada sourced 40 per cent of Indias pulse imports, mainly in red lentils and yellow peas. From $900 million in 2014, our pulse exports to India jumped to $1.5 billion in 2015, marking a 60 per cent increase.

India imports US$14 billion in vegetable oil per year which makes the country the worlds largest importer. Currently it mainly buys palm oil (65 per cent market share) from Indonesia, soy oil from Argentina (25 per cent) and sunflower oil from Ukraine (15 per cent).

India is one of the countries that has the highest incidence of diabetes and cholesterol, says Muthukumarasamy, who is working closely with the Canola Council of Canada, based in Winnipeg. If we promote its health benefits, canola oil could carve itself an incredible market share in India.

Although Indias society is generally strongly opposed to GMOs, canola oil has been approved because, unlike the plant, the oil itself does not contain GM proteins.

Antoine Pfister told marketguida.ca that he has a dream. Imagine if every gulab jamun would be served with maple syrup, he says.

Pfister was hired three years ago to develop the Indian market on behalf of the Quebec co-operative, Citadelle, the worlds largest maple syrup producer and exporter.

Quebec co-op Citadelle sees a world class market for maple syrup and much more.

Gulab jamun is a small, fried doughnut served with syrup, and Indians crave them. There isnt a neighbourhood in New Delhi that doesnt have its sweet shop. The Indian tiger has a sweet tooth!

We are looking at the high-end markets in the megacities such as Dehli, Mumbai and Bangalore, explains Pfister, who is as passionate about maple syrup as Walker is about his lentils and canola oil. To Pfister, maple syrup is a super-food full of health-building natural antioxidants.

Indias economic boom has fostered the growth of a new, youthful middle class that travels and that is much more health conscious than their parents. Current surveys put this group at 350 million consumers, which is larger than the U.S. population.

Muthukumarasamy sees opportunities for a number of Canadian products in India such as malting barley, rapeseed mustard, red kidney beans and even seafood such as fresh salmon, which is entering now from Norway and Scotland. But, he warns, Canadian companies have to understand and commit themselves to India.

India is a price-sensitive market, he points out, but success also hinges on developing personal relationships.

Another company that has made inroads into Indias food supply system is

McCain Foods.

McCain has been established in India since 1990. The company has been growing its own potato varieties in India and processing them in its plant located in the state of Gujarat.

Jacques Pomerleau, president of Canada Pork International, said his group is seeking a free trade agreement with India that would allow Canadian pork to enter India, mainly by eliminating non-tariff barriers.

A Canada Pork International mission is scheduled next fall with the help of Canadas agriculture counsellor, Parthi Muthukumarasamy, to promote Canadian pork in high-end hotel chains in major cities.

Meanwhile, a new report says India's food system is largely unorganised and highly fragmented, underlining that the country must reform government procurement, tariff and tax policies affecting urban food delivery to feed its growing cities.

The prestigious Chicago Council on Global Affairs in its report said that substantial public investments are needed to expand and increase the quality of storage, handling and transportation infrastructure.

It said that India's food system is largely unorganised and highly fragmented, inhibiting large-scale procurement, distribution, and retail sales.

Authored by Andrea Durkin, the report 'Investing to Nourish India's Cities' recommended that India should reform government procurement, tariff and tax policies affecting urban food delivery.

To counter the food security threat, Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making food processing a national priority.

He is improving railways, roadways, and air navigation, and he is inviting local and foreign companies to invest in 42 mega food parks that will incorporate processing facilities and modern cold storage.

Ahead of Modis visit to a number of African countries in the first week of July, a delegation of senior government officials will visit to look at ways to improve the scope of contract farming, and the importing of pulses.

Modi is scheduled to visit four African nations - Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique.

The government is also working on both short-term and long-term strategies to control the rising prices of food grains, including pulses.

Exploring the option of contract farming with countries like Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi is a long-term strategy.
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.
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This mosaic, created from images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its closest flyby of Saturn's moon Mimas on Feb. 13, 2010, looks straight at the moon's Herschel crater and reveals new insights about the moon's surface. Herschel crater gives Mimas its "Death Star" appearance. It is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) wide.

With a giant crater covering a significant fraction of its surface, Saturn's gray moon Mimas resembles a real-life Death Star from the "Star Wars" movies. Along with its Pac-Man-shaped thermal imaging, the icy satellite provides some fascinating images.

The moon also has a strange interior that can't quite be explained yet from observations from the Cassini spacecraft. A 2014 study found that the libration (wobbling) of Mimas  caused by interactions between its rotation and its orbit around Saturn  was more pronounced in one particular spot. This suggests that the interior is not uniform in some way; perhaps there are different materials or densities, or perhaps its core is oval-shaped.

An ocean is a less distinct possibility because any heat generated would likely escape through the icy surface, freezing what is inside, the study added. This would make Mimas different from other icy moons in the Saturn system that likely have oceans, most particularly Enceladus (famous for its dozens of spewing geysers).

Discovery

Using his 40-foot reflector telescope, English astronomer Sir William Herschel discovered his second moon of Saturn on Sept. 17, 1789, the seventh known satellite at the time. Herschel had spotted Enceladus less than a month before.

At the time, the icy bodies were named based on their distance from the ringed planet. As Mimas had the closest orbit  in fact, it is the closest of Saturn's major moons  it was termed Saturn I. It wasn't until 1847 that Herschel's son, John, suggested the satellites around the gas giant be named after the Titans, the mythological siblings of the Greek god Cronus, known to the Romans as Saturn.

In Greek mythology, Mimas was slain during the war between the Titans and the Olympians. Varying accounts have the Titan slain by Hercules, by Ares, or by Zeus. According to legend, Mimas' serpent legs continued to hiss after his death, seeking vengeance on his killer. The island of Prochyte, which lies near Sicily, is said to rest on his body.

A real-life Death Star

Mimas has one of the most heavily cratered surfaces in the solar system. The overlapping depressions cover the surface, with several reaching sizes of 25 miles (40 kilometers) in diameter. Many of these overlap. In the south pole, however, craters are smaller than 12.4 miles (20 km) across, indicating the region underwent some form of resurfacing later in its history. [Photos of Mimas: Saturn's Death Star Moon]

The most noticeable sign of impact is the gaping Herschel crater, which spreads across an enormous portion of the satellite. At 88 miles (140 km) across, the crater covers nearly a third of the moon's 246 mile (396 km) diameter. A similarly sized crater on Earth would be 2,500 miles (4,000 km) in diameter. Scientists think that the impact nearly demolished the tiny moon; shock waves from the crash appear on the far side of the satellite.

This figure illustrates the unexpected and bizarre Pac-Man like pattern of daytime temperatures found on Saturn's small inner moon Mimas. The heat map was compiled from data recorded by the Cassini spacecraft during a Feb. 13, 2010 flyby of Mimas. (Image credit: NASA/JPL/GSFC/SWRI/SSI)

The giant bulls-eye gives the crater a similar appearance to the Death Star. The resemblance is coincidental, however; Mimas is so small that features on it weren't seen until the Voyager space probe spotted it in 1980, three years after the blockbuster "Star Wars" premiered.

A temperature map created by data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft also reveals a Pac-Man shaped figure, seemingly prepared to gobble up the massive crater. Temperatures around the crater are cooler than more distant regions of the moon, with a warm spot showing up at the crater itself. A similar shape shows up on another of Saturn's moons, Tethys. The iconic configuration could occur as high-energy electrons bombard the leading edge of the satellites in their orbits, turning it into hard-packed ice that shifts its temperature more slowly than other parts of the moons.

Although the moon is the smallest of Saturn's major satellites, it apparently cleared sufficient material to create the 2,980-mile (4,800-km) wide gap between the two largest rings. Known as the Cassini Division, the large break sits between Saturn's A and B rings.

Saturn and its north polar hexagon dwarf Mimas as the moon peeks over the planet's limb. Saturn's A ring also makes an appearance on the far right. Image released March 18, 2013. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

An icy puzzle

Traveling only 115,280 miles (185,520 km) from Saturn, Mimas is the closest major moon orbiting the planet. It journeys around the giant once every 22 hours and 37 minutes, keeping one face perpetually turned toward its primary.

The density of the moon is only 1.17 times that of liquid water, leading scientists to conclude that it is composed primarily of water ice, with only a small sample of rock. At temperatures of minus 209 degrees C (minus 344 degrees F), the frozen surface behaves much like rock.

Mimas has a slightly elliptical orbit, which should cause more tidal heating in its interior. It lies closer than its fellow moon, Enceladus. But, the active geysers that are plentiful at the south pole of Enceladus lie in stark contrast to the heavily cratered, unchanging surface of Mimas. The disparity has led to the creation of the "Mimas test," which requires any theory explaining the plumes of Enceladus to also account for the entirely frozen surface of Mimas.

A 2016 presentation at the American Astronomical Society suggests that Mimas (as well as other moons of Saturn) has craters that could have been caused by debris from a previous generation of moons.

Quick facts about Mimas

Semi-major axis of orbit: 115,289 miles (185,539 km)

Closest approach: 113,029 miles (181,902 km)

Farthest approach: 117,549 miles (189,176 km)

Orbit eccentricity: 0.0196

Mean radius: 123 miles (198 km)

Equatorial circumference: 774 miles (1,245 km)

Surface area: 190,599 square miles (493,648 square km)

Escape velocity: 0.099 mph (0.159 kph)

Additional reporting by contributor Elizabeth Howell.
Active vents from Earth's Lost City hydrothermal vents could be similar to features found in the ocean of Enceladus.

Saturn's intriguing moon Enceladus could resemble Earth's "Lost City," a network of hydrothermal vents in the Atlantic Ocean where life survives despite cold and darkness.

Earth is the only planet in the solar system with liquid water on its surface, but many of the solar system's moons and dwarf planets seem to hide their oceans beneath their crust. Saturn's moon Enceladus, on the other hand, isn't content to keep things underground; large gashes at the moon' south pole spurt liquid from the interior into space. The access provided by these vents makes it a tempting spot for scientists hoping to search for signs of life outside of Earth.

"We want to use chemistry as our guide to looking for signs of life," said Christopher Glein, a research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Texas. Glein discussed the history of human understanding of Enceladus last month at the 228th American Astronomical Society meeting in San Diego, California. There, he compared that moon's undersea environment to the Lost City hydrothermal field in the Atlantic Ocean, where hot water bursts from the ocean floor and life thrives in the otherwise desolate depths. [Saturn's Geyser Moon Enceladus Amazes in Final Flyby Photos]

"Is there life beyond Earth?" Glein asked. "Our generation is now poised to begin to tackle and search for some answers."

A species of deep-sea coral thrives in the depths near Earth's Lost City vents. Similar vents on Saturn's moon Enceladus could also create homes for life to evolve and survive. (Image credit: Institute for Exploration, University of Rhode Island Institute for Archaeological Oceanography, University of Washington, Lost City science party and NOAA)

"Candy to life"

When NASA's Voyager 2 mission flew by Enceladus in 1981, it revealed terrains far smoother than the rocky satellites seen before. The polished landscape suggested that something unusual was happening on Enceladus. But it wasn't until NASA's Cassini mission caught a glimpse of plumes spurting from the southern pole that scientists realized just how unusual the moon is. Today, scientists have identified 101 individual jets shooting out from the large "tiger stripe" fissures at the southern pole, which average 80 miles (130 kilometers) long (a significant stretch of the moon's surface).

At first, scientists thought the water feeding the tiger stripes came from a small sea beneath them. In 2015, Cassini's gravitational data revealed that the tiny moon instead housed a global ocean under its entire surface. The bright plumes carried tiny particles of water-ice mixed with water vapor from beneath the surface, Glein said. But the real mystery was what else the stripes might carry.

No one expected Enceladus to spurt samples into space, so Cassini didn't carry any instruments designed to sample the plumes. But the team found a way to use the instruments they did have to study some of the material, and so they guided the spacecraft to dive through the plumes and taste their chemistry.

"What we found was truly remarkable," Glein said.

Cassini discovered salts, which couldn't have come from a slowly melting ice source.

"A liquid ocean that rapidly flash freezes  that does the job," Glein said.

Cassini also revealed that the plumes had a pH of 11.12, making them more basic than acidic. In comparison, Earth's rainwater ranks at 5.6 and seawater around 8. Glein put the plumes' pH in the domain of cleaning agents like Windex.

"It's not quite to drain cleaner, but it's getting there," he said.

One way to raise the pH, and heat the plumes in the process, is the process of serpentinization, which occurs when liquid water reacts with magnesium- and iron-rich minerals. The changed rocks, often green, are loaded with bases, and can lead to a rise in pH, Glein said. Although such rocks are rare on the surface, they can be found tucked away in the mantle or in collections of rocks and minerals on the seafloor.

One of the most famous sites of serpentinization is Earth's Lost City, a collection of hydrothermal vents near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. First identified in 2000, the vents are heated primarily by the changing rocks rather than by mantle beneath the surface. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, serpentinization can raise temperatures as high as 260 degrees Celsius (550 degrees Fahrenheit), and drives the hydrothermal system of the Lost City.

In addition to providing heat, the Lost City's vents spout methane- and hydrogen-rich fluids to the surface, and are thriving environments for life.

"Hydrogen is like candy to microorganisms," Glein said. And the vents are "just packed with minerals," he added the combination of chemical, biological and geological processes makes spots like the Lost City vents prime sites for life to have evolved. If Enceladus boasts similar vents powered by a process like serpentinization, life could originate there, as well, Glein said.

The best evidence for vents on the tiny moon comes from farther away, in Saturn's E ring, which is where material ejected from Enceladus can end up. Material from the plumes easily escapes the moon's gravity, which is only 1 percent of Earth's, and falls around the ringed planet. Samples of the ring material revealed silicate particles that scientists traced back to the moon. According to Glein, vents in a subsurface ocean could produce similar silicates.

That doesn't quite cinch the case, though. "We have evidence of hydrothermal vents, but we haven't found the hydrogen yet," Glein said.

The results of Cassini's final deep dive through the plumes are still being analyzed, but Glein said he anticipates submitting the research in the next few months. [NASA Reveals Best-Ever Maps of Saturn's Icy Moons (Photos)]

The dramatic fractures on the surface of Enceladus known as tiger stripes provide direct access to the ocean beneath. (Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

"One of the great mysteries"

Before Cassini arrived at Saturn, scientists thought Enceladus was too small to maintain water in a liquid state, so the plumes came as a surprise. Exactly how the moon keeps its water liquid remains uncertain.

"There's a serious energy crisis on Enceladus," Glein said, referring to the energy required to keep that water liquid. "It's one of the great mysteries of planetary science moving forward."

Since Cassini first identified the geysers on the small moon, scientists have tried to identify how water remains liquid instead of freezing to ice. One possibility is that the interior of the moon is heated as Saturn tugs and releases it. Another option is that the ocean contains some form of antifreeze, rather than pure water. Chemical reactions between the ocean and the rock, like the serpentinization described above, could also produce the necessary heat.

Enceladus is a tiny moon. With an average radius of 156 miles (252 km), it's only about one-seventh the size of Earth's largest satellite. According to Glein, that makes the moon the smallest geologically active body in the solar system, and the only one to boast water-based cryovolcanism, where icy liquid instead of hot lava oozes from the crust. Coming from such a small world, the eruptions are enormous.

"We don't have volcanic eruptions on Earth that span over an entire Earth diameter," Glein said.

Saturn's satellite is far less dense than the moon or Earth, with roughly half its material consisting of water. Enceledus' icy exterior makes it incredibly reflective.

"If it was our moon, it would be blindingly bright in the sky," Glein said.

The southern hemisphere may not be the only place to ever house plumes, Glein said Geological mapping of the moon's northern latitudes suggests relics of gashes similar to the tiger stripes in the south, he said. As the liquid water freezes, it could close off one set of stripes and open others.

Referring to a famous geyser at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, he said, "I think Old Faithful has finally met its match in Cold Faithful."

Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTRedd or Google+. Follow us at @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
This photo shows NASA's Mars rover Curiosity at a location called "Windjana," where the rover found rocks containing manganese-oxide minerals, which require abundant water and strongly oxidizing conditions to form

Ancient Mars was even more Earth-like than scientists had thought, a new study suggests.

NASA's Curiosity rover has detected high concentrations of manganese oxide minerals in Red Planet rocks, suggesting that the Martian atmosphere contained more oxygen billions of years ago than it does today, researchers said.

"The only ways on Earth that we know how to make these manganese materials involve atmospheric oxygen or microbes," study lead author Nina Lanza, a planetary scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, said in a statement. "Now we're seeing manganese oxides on Mars, and we're wondering how the heck these could have formed." [Latest Mars Photos by NASA's Curiosity Rover]

Since there's no evidence that life has ever existed on Mars, Lanza and her colleagues are leaning toward the atmospheric-oxygen explanation.

The Martian manganese oxides could have formed via the interaction of rock with liquid water in oxidizing conditions, Lanza said. Observations by Curiosity and other Mars spacecraft have shown that liquid water was abundant on Mars, at least in some places, billions of years ago.

But where did the atmospheric oxygen come from? Lanza and her colleagues speculate that the gas began building up shortly after Mars' global magnetic field shut down around 4.2 billion years ago.

The loss of the magnetic field led to the stripping of Mars' atmosphere (which was once quite dense but is now just 1 percent as thick as that of Earth at sea level) by the solar wind. Additionally, without this magnetic field, high-energy ionizing radiation could reach the Martian surface, researchers said.

This radiation then split many of the water molecules on the surface into their constituent hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The extremely light hydrogen zoomed off into space, but Mars' gravity held onto the heavier oxygen, which accumulated.

Then, over the past few billion years, the oxygen levels declined significantly, the idea goes. (Oxygen currently makes up just 0.1 percent of Mars' air, which is more than 95 percent carbon dioxide.)

"It's hard to confirm whether this scenario for Martian atmospheric oxygen actually occurred," Lanza said. "But it's important to note that this idea represents a departure in our understanding for how planetary atmospheres might become oxygenated."

In particular, the idea suggests that atmospheric oxygen is not a rock-solid "biosignature," or indicator of life, since high concentrations of the stuff can apparently accumulate via abiotic processes.

Curiosity landed inside Mars' 96-mile-wide (154 kilometers) Gale Crater in August 2012. The car-size rover detected the manganese oxides using its ChemCam instrument, which fires a laser at rocks and then analyzes the resulting vaporized bits.

The new study has been accepted for publication in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
Measuring about 65 feet across, NASA's Juno probe has three solar arrays extending from its hexagonal body. Remarkably, all of the spacecraft's systems are powered by about the same amount of energy needed to run a common household blender. This artist's rendition show the probe near Jupiter.

NASA's Juno probe has traveled nearly 1.8 billion miles (2.8 billion kilometers) through space to reach Jupiter and study the planet's history, yet this impressive probe needs only about the same amount of power as a blender, according to NASA.

After a five-year journey, Juno is scheduled to reach the Jupiter system on July 4. The probe is expected to get closer to the Jovian giant than any other mission in history. In addition, Juno is now the worlds "most distant solar-powered spacecraft," NASA said.

Jupiter is located about five times farther from the sun than Earth and receives about 25 times less sunlight. But because of Juno's extremely low power consumption, the probe can stay alive by collecting sunlight using three large solar arrays that extend from the spacecraft's hexagonal body. [Photos: NASA's Juno Mission to Jupiter]

In a web series, called "Crazy Engineering," produced by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Mike Meacham, a mechanical engineer at JPL, discussed Juno's low power needs and the science behind the probe's solar arrays.

This graphic helps explain how the NASA Juno probe operates using solar power, even though its solar panels receives about 25 times less sunlight at Jupiter than they would on Earth. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

In order to generate enough power to properly operate Juno at such a great distance from the sun, NASA engineers designed solar arrays with incredibly vast surface areas. Each of Juno's three solar arms is about 29 feet (8.8 meters) wide. On Earth, they would be able to generate about 14 kilowatts of power all together, the video said. But out at Jupiter, they generate only about 500 watts of power.

With its three solar arrays extended, Juno measures about 65 feet (20 meters) across. In order to fit inside the nose cone of the launch vehicle, the three solar arrays are broken into four segments, connected by hinges that allow for easy folding prior to launch.

With the spacecraft packed up into the launch vehicle, the cells of the solar arrays were hidden from the sun  Juno's power source. This made deploying the spacecraft particularly interesting for the NASA team, as the solar arrays needed to extend properly after launch, in order to absorb enough energy from the sun. Since then, the solar panels have remained in sunlight, and will continue to do so through the end of the mission, in February 2018.

Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Strange Ceres: New work suggests that surprising carbonate salts put the shine in the bright spots on the dwarf planet's Occator crater. Researchers also found that Ceres' topography, pictured here, is only consistent with a subsurface less than 30-40 percent ice by volume.

It's a case of mistaken identity: The mysterious bright spots on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres were thought to be composed of hydrated magnesium sulfate (similar to the magnesium sulfate sold as Epsom salt), but new work reveals a different chemical signature in these bright dots, cooked up in watery conditions beneath its crust.

And the revelations don't end there: Another research paper, also published today (June 29), suggests that Ceres' deep craters and jagged mountain mean the crust is mostly rock, rather than mostly ice as previously proposed.

The dwarf planet, orbiting in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, seems to bridge the gap between smaller asteroids, rocky planets like Earth and Mars, and the big icy bodies farther out, like the moons of Saturn  its shell is more rocky than icy, but it hosts unexpected chemistry that bears a resemblance to the reactions that develop on Earth, and salts that form in the ultracold conditions of the far solar system. It also hosts the most concentrated surface deposit of the substance sodium carbonate ever seen beyond Earth. [Photos: Dwarf Planet Ceres, the Solar System's Largest Asteroid]

Ceres resides in the asteroid belt, but it dwarfs the other asteroids there at 590 miles (950 kilometers) wide and is an even sphere; it even takes up an estimated third of all the asteroid belt's mass, researchers said. Reserachers believe it could be a planetary embryo  a protoplanet that would have eventually turned into a planet like Earth or Mars under different circumstances. It is the only dwarf planet found closer in than the Kuiper belt, on the solar system's outer edges with Pluto.

The bottom of Ceres' Occator crater shines with bright, reflective patches  the brightest region among those that puzzled and intrigued scientists as the Dawn spacecraft first approached Ceres and then entered orbit in 2015 (after orbiting another asteroid, Vesta, in 2011 and 2012). Eventually 130 bright patches were found on the dwarf planet's dark surface, mostly associated with craters. While researchers first suspected the bright spots might be ice, a closer look revealed they weren't quite that reflective and that they could be composed of salts instead. But the particular salt revealed in this study, published in Nature, by Dawn's Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer would have formed in a process involving liquid water.

"That was something we had not expected," Chris Russell, Dawn's principal investigator and planetary scientist at University of California, Los Angeles, told Space.com. "The carbonates are a very strong indication of the processes now that we believe took place in the interior, that makes it more Earthlike, when it can alter the chemistry inside."

"It's not something that's just lying around out there in space," he added.

Craters like Occator gave the lead author of the Nature Geoscience paper, Michael Bland, something to ponder as well. He calculated that if Ceres' subsurface was more than a certain percentage of ice, it would have a much more "relaxed" appearance, created as the ice warmed over time, instead of the harsh topography actually seen. Rather than a thick layer that's mostly made of ice, the researchers found, the dwarf planet's subsurface must be only 30-40 percent ice, mixed in with rock and a lower-density material, maybe hydrated salts.

Measurements from Dawn are superimposed on a view of Ceres' Occator crater. The red indicates a high abundance of carbonates in the bright spots found there. (Image credit: INAF/ASI/NASA/DLR/MPS)

An active world

The composition of the salts found in the crater's bright spots suggests that they formed with the help of liquid water, which would freeze in its pure form but could persist when mixed with salts, which slightly lowers its freezing point. (Water mixed with a different salt is proposed to flow on the surface of Mars.) On Ceres, that water would have emerged from deeper within the dwarf planet, where it could be warmer, or melted at the site of the impact that produced the Occator crater.

"The composition that we found implied that liquid water was present sometime in the recent past of Ceres in the subsurface," Maria Cristina De Sanctis, lead author on the Nature paper and researcher at the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology at the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome, told Space.com. And the particular salt formed is sodium carbonate, a salt formed from carbon that, on Earth, usually forms as water evaporates from a body of water like a lake or in hot springs. The compounds have been detected off of Earth only in the plumes of material that burst out of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus (they also found ammonia-bearing salts in the mix, also found on Enceladus).

"In the case of Ceres, we have a lot of carbonates  really a huge amount," De Sanctis said. "We did not expect to have such a huge amount of carbonates."

By analyzing the composition of the salts that spot the dwarf planet's surface, De Sanctis said, researchers can learn more about the conditions inside the planet. And a big question is whether liquid water persists below the planet's thick, rocky surface, or whether it was merely present or generated when the crater formed, around 80 million years ago. (Even though the surface layers are not mostly icy, they would have had enough to let the reaction work.)

Strange Ceres

Moving outward in the solar system, objects become colder and wetter, made more of ice than of rock. Ceres is rocky, but the composition of the salts, including ammonia-bearing salts which require super cold conditions to form, has more in common with those outer solar system bodies.

That's a "strange connection" with the outer solar system, Mikhail Zolotov, a researcher at Arizona State University and author of a News & Views article on the new works, which appears in Nature Geoscience, told Space.com.

"The chemistry is unusual, and it's key to understand how the body was formed and how it was evolved," he said.

It raises the question, Zolotov and Russell both said, of whether the material that eventually formed Ceres might have migrated inward from the outer solar system at some point, or whether Ceres formed where it currently orbits.

The story of Ceres' water is far from complete, as well  Russell mentioned that other papers from the Dawn team are in the works that describe how researchers can investigate water on the dwarf planet's surface. "Expect the water story to continue for some period of time, because there's a lot of different ways we can explore water."

Going forward, the researchers said, they will have to check the composition of other bright spots on Ceres to see if the chemical process they've observed is restricted to certain regions or if it's more global. But regardless, the asteroid belt outcast continues to prove a complex, active world.

"The IAU [International Astronomical Union] has defined what a planet is in a particular way," Russell said, "but I think of a planet more as a body which, when it's big enough and has enough activity  is now making things, producing things in its interior that are not just sitting there for the eons but in fact that the body evolves with time inside."

The work in Nature about the bright spots' composition can be found here (opens in new tab), and the work in Nature Geoscience about the subsurface composition can be found here (opens in new tab).

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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STAMFORD  The citys Board of Education chose Tuesday not to take action on a request to keep Interim Superintendent James Connelly for up to 10 more days  leaving the decision to the new schools chief.

The panel was asked to approve Connellys consulting services at a per diem rate of $960 for no more than 10 days in July and/or August.
A s the sun came up on Friday, billionaire tycoon Crispin Odey was in ebullient mood.

I feel fantastic. Its a fantastic decision by the electorate, he said after learning that Britain had voted to exit Europe.

Odey, a vocal backer of the Leave campaign, had days earlier described himself as a lonely Brexiteer in London. Now it was time to celebrate.

The Mayfair grandee had placed a big-stakes bet on the outcome of the referendum, which paid off handsomely as markets went into a tailspin.

His major shorts, including intu Properties and Berkeley Group, fell 11% and 27% respectively on the day, helping reap profits of 220 million for Odey  and halving a 30% decline in his fund leading up to the vote.

His strategy was clear; he sank about 65% of his fund into gold, which rallied after the vote as investors fled to safer investments, and piled the remainder into shorting sterling and Japanese bonds.

I had a lot of clients who were angry with me but they wont be quite so angry this morning

The eccentric investor, who once lodged plans for a 150,000 chicken coop at his sprawling Eastbach Court estate in Gloucestershire, added: This is a good day for me. I was brave. I had a lot of clients who were angry with me but they wont be quite so angry this morning. Life is not about being un-brave at the right time. We in the City have certain skills.

Indeed. From London to New York and across to Asia, Brexit was a golden opportunity for hedge funds  which use sophisticated methods to beat other investors to the punch  to use these skills.

We were awake all night watching the results, said Ryan Tolkin, chief investment officer at New York-based Schonfeld Strategic Advisors. Anyone investing capital would have done that. We started to get the first results at about 7pm our time and knew by about midnight what the outcome was. Tolkin, who stayed alert with the help of copious coffee, helps look after the fortune of billionaire prop trader Steven Schonfeld, a well-known figure on Wall Street who built a global trading empire after setting up his business at the age of 29.

Tolkin decided not to bet on things like the pound and instead take advantage of the choppy markets afterwards by arbitraging the roller-coaster ride in prices of equities, bonds and currencies.

The odds got thrown so far into the Remain side due to the polls that when the vote came in, it took the market by complete shock. It was an ugly day, he said from his Park Avenue office. People are selling now and asking questions later.

We were awake all night watching the results

Dozens of other little-known funds in Connecticut also scored big profits, with companies like AQR Capital, Quadratic Capital, NuWave and New York-based Atlantic Investment Management prospering after markets went haywire. These funds did not bet on Brexit per se but bought and sold stocks, bonds and forex around the world, based on their historical trading patterns. These black-box computer programs nipped in to buy when prices dipped and then sold when they returned to their historical levels.

Big-name investors such as George Soros and Alan Howard used similar tactics but relied on their guts rather than computers to tell them what to do. Soros, who made 1 billion betting against sterling in 1992, dodged a repeat punt against the currency but went long gold with an investment in Barrick Gold and shorted European banks such as Deutsche Bank. Howards Brevan Howard fund also traded in non-sterling-related bets in markets such as Asia, which had failed to comprehend fully the Brexit risk.

In the UK, and in Londons Mayfair especially, the windfalls had a more ironic, political dimension. The capitals tight-knit community of hedge-fund kingpins had been prominent backers of both the Leave and Remain campaigns  but each side won out financially from the chaos that engulfed markets after the vote when other investors were losing millions on paper.

David Harding, the Cambridge-educated physicist and billionaire hedge-fund boss, donated 3.5 million to Lord (Stuart) Roses Britain Stronger In campaign but was one of the big winners on the day. Winton may have lost the vote but consoled himself with a big windfall at his Hammersmith-based trading firm Winton Capital Management. One of its largest products, the Diversified fund, gained 3.1% on Friday while flagship fund Winton Futures surged by 2%.

Another quant trader, former Goldman Sachs executive Ewan Kirk, who today sold his company to Swiss firm Gam, also backed the In campaign but reaped the benefits of its failure by clinching a $75 million (56 million) gain for his $2.5 billion Cantab Capital Quantitative fund in the Cambridge hi-tech hub.

Meanwhile, Systematica, a $10 billion Swiss-based company, led by top investor Leda Braga, added 1.35% to its BlueTrend fund after following a similar quant strategy.

On the other side, Lib-Dem-supporting billionaire Sir Paul Marshall, made at least $10 million for his Global Opportunities fund at Marshall Wace after shorting stocks such as Odey favourite Berkeley, easyJet and Carillion, which all fell by double digits after the vote.

Peter Laurelli, a hedge-fund analyst at eVestment who runs a database of confidential performance data, said only a handful of large UK-based hedge funds were betting on a fall in sterling. The three macro funds among the 10 largest that appeared to be positioned to benefit from sterling depreciation all have their primary base of operations in the UK, he added.

According to data provider HFRX, the best-performing funds were computer-driven ones such as those of Harding and Kirk, which try to spot price trends and second-guess what will happen next. One example of this strategy was Tokyo whiz-kid 33-year-old Kyo Yamamoto, who used a computer algorithm that he coded to take advantage of a fall in the pound.

As dusk fell in London and the pound slid to a 31-year low, his $40 million fund GCI Systematic Macro Fund spiked 10.5%, nearly doubling his return for the year.

With huge price shocks setting in across markets, there were fears some smaller hedge funds that had taken big bets on a Remain vote would blow up. But many say that, given the highly-regulated nature of the banks assisting these funds, it is unlikely many would have leveraged up and bet the house on red.

Other hedge funds simply sat out the Brexit trade, fearing it was too risky. Anthony Lawler, who picks hedges for well-heeled investors at Swiss manager GAM, said: We saw very few actually betting one way or the other. Brexit was not a popular trade at all.

People didnt know which way it would go, so they hedged or reduced their risk. Most people made their positions smaller going in. All the numbers Ive seen have been very calm. There was evidence of contingency planning. Brexit was not a good-quality bet  it was too unpredictable.

Most hedge funds tell their investors about gains or losses weekly or monthly, so some are still to report. But whichever way the wind blows, its likely Brexit will prove a chance to score a windfall for some time.
D ixons Carphone is plotting to profit from potential Brexit upheaval and win market share from smaller rivals.

Boss Seb James said the groups strong balance sheet meant it had the ability to plough on while others cannot, creating an opportunity to cement its place as market leader.

In a highly competitive market place, last year it took a further 1% share in electricals and another 2% in mobiles, partly due to the demise of Phones4U. James expects the company, which also operates in the Nordics, Greece and Spain, to carry on in that trajectory.

James, a Remain supporter, said some post-Brexit volatility was inevitable but the firm would continue its UK roll-out of 3-in-1 stores that combine its PC World, Currys and Carphone Warehouse brands and invest in its joint venture with US telecoms giant Sprint.

His confidence comes on the back of a 17% rise in full-year pre-tax profits to 447 million and a 5% jump in sales to 9.7 billion.

The dividend rises by 15% to 9.75p a share.
T he most senior British director of Goldman Sachs was forced to apologise to MPs today after forgetting to tell them about a 40 million loan which the investment bank had been asked to guarantee in the takeover of collapsed BHS.

Michael Sherwood, vice-chairman of Goldman, said the 40 million loan would have been guaranteed by the bank and backed by Sir Philip Greens Arcadia group as part of the 1 takeover by Retail Acquisitions, led by serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell.

But he forgot about it when he first went through his notes and papers and only delivered it to the MPs on Monday.

I apologise for providing it late, said Sherwood during a one-hour hearing in which he appeared uncomfortable, according to one MP. Unfortunately I was looking through some material and a colleague reminded me of it.

When asked whether clients of the bank should trust him when he failed to remember a 40 million transaction, Sherwood said: It was a request that went away almost as soon as it arrived.

Sherwood denied the bank had made any mistake in the advice it gave Green about Chappell.

I absolutely do not accept blame, he said. He did not pass our sniff test and I did not tell Sir Philip that he had passed the sniff test.

Sherwood told MPs that since his bank acted for Green in his potential takeover of Marks & Spencer in 2004 he did not think it had done anything else for him.

He also said Goldman had advised Green on BHSs 571 million pension fund deficit for some years. He said: I was aware of the difficulties in the pension scheme, adding that Goldmans advice had been on derisking the fund.

Asked why Goldman had given Green advice about BHS and yet not charged him fees, Sherwood said: We cover large corporates, high-net-worth individuals and governments who may do nothing for a long time but when they do, we want to be close to them.
T he saddest side-effect of Brexit is the risk that London is seen internationally as having turned from being the worlds city to an unwelcoming, parochial one.

One banker today talked of how clients, particularly in far-flung regions such as Asia and the Middle East, were in shock: They didnt think London was like this. They thought we were proud of being the worlds most global city.

He, and others at the top of firms fret that, though European investors understand the reasons for the vote were more complex than UK racism, those in big investing countries further afield  such as Malaysia, India or China  are less aware of such details.

The foreign media is full of images of angry English nationalists and columns, such as the one today in the South China Morning Post, on how hate advances across the globe from Britain. Hardly how we want to be seen.

Our ability to attract business is about more than tariffs, visas and regulations. Its about culture, too.

The Chinese tycoon who raises money through London does so not just because we have global markets and expertise, but because he loves visiting this welcoming, world city. Thats why they buy apartments here rather than Paris or New York, and choose London for their international operations. We may not like what that does to property prices, but we do enjoy the jobs and tax revenues it brings. Will Londons lustre be so bright now?

Somehow, fast, we must stop the negative image of ourselves percolating before it does serious damage. Inward investment is easy to lose. Its much harder to win back.
T HE UKs housing shortage should ward off a price collapse even if the Brexit vote hits demand, lender Nationwide said today. but the outlook for London is more uncertain.

Nationwides chief economist Robert Gardner said it was too early to assess the impact of the historic vote on the economy.

However, he added: The lack of homes on the market, with estate agents continuing to report a record low number of properties on their books, will provide underlying support for prices even if demand softens.

The lenders latest index showed average UK prices up 0.2% in June, lifting the annual rate of growth to 5.1%.

London prices stand at 472,384, 12 times average earnings and more than 50% above the 2007 peak, but the capitals market faces referendum risks on top of stamp duty hikes, despite the boost from a cheaper pound, he added.

He said: The outlook for London is even more difficult to assess, because landlords and overseas buyers play a larger role in the market, and the outlook for demand from these sources is particularly uncertain.
T he attack on Istanbuls Ataturk airport, which has exacted such a dreadful toll in human life, will give all of us a frisson of unease as well as a strong feeling of solidarity and sympathy with the city. Busy airports are inherently vulnerable. Every day, travellers make a trade-off between absolute security and the need every global airport has to be open for business. Of course there was security at Ataturk airport for those entering it, though the same precautions were not taken in dealing with cars  the attackers came by taxi. But unless we go the same way as Israeli airports which have draconian security precautions, we must accept that there can be no guaranteed security; modern life has an element of risk.

What we can do is ensure that we are as safe as good intelligence can possibly make us, inside the EU or outside it  and Islamic State, the most likely culprit here, is indifferent to the distinction. We must give priority to the intelligence services attempt to keep us safe by sharing information and surveillance work with our allies and integrating the operations of the police and security services across borders. The Brussels attack showed extraordinary flaws in co-operation between Belgian and French police, and indeed within Belgium.

If this attack can happen in one of the busiest airports in the world, in one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, in a country already on high alert following previous terrorist attacks, then we must all take stock of our precautions. Last night in Brussels talks with his EU counterparts, the Prime Minister emphasised that Brexit should not mean any diminution in commitment to shared European security  and he is right. The first step in the divorce process must be to ensure that the mechanisms for sharing information to prevent terrorism are kept in place. As Robert Fox points out in this paper today, IS, under attack in its territory, is seeking to renew its credibility through attacks on civilian targets elsewhere. We are all vulnerable, and must be vigilant and resilient.

Brexit cue for reflection

During last nights talks with his EU counterparts, the Prime Minister made the point  in a reflective spirit  that the referendum result should give EU leaders pause for thought. In particular he suggested that had the EU been more conciliatory on the issue of free movement when he had been seeking pre-referendum concessions, the vote may have gone differently. Yet there seems little sign of soul-searching as the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, insists that access to the free market by Britain must mean free movement for all the EU population. Other EU chiefs made the same point: Europe is a set-price menu.

But why? Britain has proved the point already that the EU model is not monolithic, having opted out of both the eurozone and the Schengen agreement. Why must every new candidate for EU membership accept both? Its understandable that the EU does not wish to encourage others to follow the UKs lead, but it is in danger of reinforcing the faults that led to Brexit in the first place.

London is still tolerant

London is an inclusive and compassionate city, which thrives on diversity. In the immediate aftermath of the referendum vote, incidents of xenophobic abuse have risen  and we must not tolerate them. Legitimate concerns about immigration should not be confused with racism, nor used to justify it. Ultimately, London is no less European, no less culturally diverse, than it was last week. We must prove that by remaining open, kind and determined in our commitment to oppose discrimination.
T he Labour Party has set itself on the march toward political oblivion. If it does not think very, very carefully about its next few steps, the party will soon find that voters are only too willing to aid it along its way in an autumn general election. I believe there are three steps that need to be taken in order to maintain Labours hopes of forming a government anytime soon.

The partys first step should be to accept that the first responsibility of an MP is to the voters, and not to the political activists who shout the loudest. A political programme that might meet with approval from political activists, as well as the far-Left groups who now associate themselves with the Labour leadership, is likely to divorce Labour from the hopes and fears of ordinary voters across the country. The electoral consequences of this could be dire.

We gained our first idea of how this divorce might play out at the EU referendum. The official pro-EU line adopted by Labour was opposed by 71 per cent of voters in Mansfield, 69 per cent in Hartlepool and Stoke, and 62 per cent in Barking and Dagenham. Who is to say that these voters, largely working-class men and women who our party was founded to represent, will not be tempted to desert Labour the next time we ask for their votes?

Heres where we need to take a second step back towards electability. At this weeks meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, MPs were quick to blame Jeremy Corbyn for the outcome of the EU referendum. I believe they were wrong to do so.

Large numbers of working-class voters, whose votes were key to deciding the outcome of the referendum, will have backed Leave in response to the winds of globalisation that have swept their communities over the past decade. These winds were made to feel even more ferocious once Tony Blair and Gordon Brown opened up our countrys borders to Eastern Europe in 2004.

Jeremy Corbyn totally understands the need to protect those groups whose lives have been battered by these winds. Both he and I share a desire to reshape Western economies so that they deliver fairer outcomes for those groups.

But working-class voters have made it clear that they will only take Labour seriously again if the party owns up to its role in encouraging the unprecedented changes we have seen in the size and composition of our population, and then pledges to do something about it. A first demand here is to insist on full control of our borders, so that we can begin implementing a more balanced immigration policy that works not just for the middle classes but for all of us.

A third step requires Jeremy to stand up to the political activists setting upon MPs and their staff outside their constituency offices. Following the tragic death of Jo Cox MP, Jeremy needs to make it clear that he will not tolerate such behaviour.

But Jeremy cant change, and he wont change. I therefore voted yesterday for a new leader, as did an overwhelming majority of Labour MPs. If the party decides against electing a new leader, the Parliamentary Labour Party might move swiftly to elect its own leader here in the House of Commons, with Jeremy leading the party in the country.

Frank Field is the Labour MP for Birkenhead and chair of the Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee.
I f youre an adult in London its totally cool to spend your weekend in a ball pool or at a sing-a-long screening of your favourite Disney movie. We love regressing to take our minds off our daily stresses, and drinks have finally caught up with this trend.

Sometimes a good fizzy pop is what you need to hit the spot, but London has more sophisticated offerings. Coin Laundrys brand of homely nostalgia in Exmouth Market is not just limited to the chicken kiev and asparagus quiche on the menu. It also has a Sodastream. For a soft drink theres a mix of pear, clove, calamondin lemonade (calamondin is a type of citrus fruit, beloved of soda stalwarts) and pomegranate, and theres also an alcoholic Sodastream cocktail of lime, pear and clove with a choice of gin, rum or scotch.

In Soho, Londons star Sri Lankan spot Hoppers now has durian cream soda on the menu. The South-East Asian fruit is used to flavour Hopper cream soda made in-house and served with a fresh- whipped pineapple float. Durian has a reputation as the smelliest fruit in the world  its odour has been described as turpentine and onions garnished with sock  but it works here.

James Stevenson, group bar manager, says: The thick yellow freshness can elevate many desserts and ice creams with something thats reminiscent of a rich tropical custard. To make the soda at Hoppers I take a durian paste (using fresh may clear out the restaurant) and blend that with some fresh vanilla. I then add an acidifier, which is the tart flavour in a lot of commercial sodas that gives it that old-school cream soda feel. Then we add filtered water and carbonate the drink to a high pressure to ensure its super-fizzy.

The 12 drinks of summer 1 /16 The 12 drinks of summer Sauvelle on the Beach EDITION, 10 Berners Street, W1, editionhotels.com

If anyone can reinvent the Sex on the Beach cocktail and make it cool, its Vogue. At the magazines 100th birthday afterparty at members club Tramp guests were treated to Sauvelle on the Beach  made with luxury French vodka brand Sauvelle, which has vanilla and caramel notes. If mere mortals want in, Punch Room at The London EDITION is serving a Vogue100 cocktail made with Tanqueray 10, bergamot juice, champagne and lipstick foam. Sparkling Summer Dup punch tart-london.com

Super-hot caterers Jemima Jones and Lucy Carr-Ellison from Tart London say bowls of rum punch are perfect for sitting around on balmy summer evenings with friends. Jones, who is married to financier Ben Goldsmith, is friends with Tom Stoppard and caters for Stella McCartney, will be drinking Sparkling Summer Dup Punch at her birthday party in a few weeks. Its made with Duppy Share rum, which she says is cool and authentically West Indian, cloudy apple juice and elderflower cordial. Dragon Milk Som Saa, 43A Commercial Street, E1, somsaa.com

If you thought that pina coladas only came in Del Boy-style glasses with a slice of pineapple and an umbrella, try Som Saas minimalist version. Its Dragon Milk is sticky rice rum, kahlua, coconut cream, condensed milk, salt and sesame and served in a modest teak cup. Tropical accents are sneaking in all over the place: Hawksmoor Spitalfields has a potent Sunset Sazerac made with strawberry cognac, coconut bourbon, pineapple bitters and absinthe, while Pamela on Kingsland Road has Des Barres, made with coconut ice cubes. Nae-Grain-I Black Rock, 9 Christopher Street, blackrock.bar

If youve been knocking back negronis since before Christmas its time to shake things up a bit. At new whisky bar Black Rock in Shoreditch, theyve come up with an alternative called the Nae-Grain-I (Scottish accent obligatory) which replaces gin with Haig Club whisky and Campari with Suze, a bitter French aperitif. Its finished with Cocchi, an Italian aperitif wine and lemon oil. Grab & Go Rum punch rarefood.com

Kate Denston, founder of Rare Food, who has catered for the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Donatella Versace and Kate Moss, says that the easiest way to host is to make up your cocktail beforehand and pour it into cool bottles (theirs are pineapple-shaped). She uses coconut water, pressed caramelised pineapple juice, angostura bitters, fresh lime juice and Brugal Especial extra-dry rum. Hven Summer Blossom punch royalacademy.org.uk

At the Summer Party on 7 June Royal Academicians like Grayson Perry and Tracey Emin will be supping Hven Organic Aquavit and Organic Summer Spirit shaken with fresh citrus, a hint of Cartron Peche de Vigne, a peach liqueur, and Lillet Rose, a blend of red and white Bordeaux wines. Aperol flights Sartoria, 20 Saville Row, W1, sartoria-restaurant.co.uk

An Aperol Spritz is now as much a part of London summers as avoiding the Tube once the mercury hits 20 degrees. But why have one when you can have three? At Sartorias new Capri-inspired terrace you can order a flight of aperitivo including a classic Spritz (prosecco, Aperol, soda water), a Spring Cup (Aperol, elderflower cordial, prosecco) and a Summer Cup (Aperol, grapefruit juice, prosecco). Strawberry & Green Grass Bellini Grain Store, Granary Square, N1C, grainstore.com

There are only two ways to handle the crushed dreams that come with Wimbledon: a stiff upper lip and copious drinking. Try the Grain Stores new bellini after watching the action on the big screen at Granary Square. Designed by Tony Conigliaro and his team at The Drinks Factory, its made from fresh pureed strawberries, green grass essence and topped with prosecco. Ace. Buckfast Spring Cup Alcoholic Architecture, 1 Cathedral Street, SE1, alcoholicarchitecture.com

Pimms Summer Cup is entry level, so up the ante with a Buckfast Spring Cup from Bompass & Parr. Yes, thats Buckfast  made by monks and drunk by hardcore Scots. Its a bestseller at Alcoholic Architecture where you can also experience the worlds first breathable cocktail, a Gin and Tonic Cloud, and combines Buckfast tonic wine, lemon and sugar served long with cucumber, orange, lime and ginger ale. Love & Money Dandelyan, Mondrian Hotel, SE1, openairtheatre.com

Theres veggie inspiration at Dandelyan, where hotshot Ryan Chetiyawardana has refreshed a classic sour with fennel-infused Ketel One vodka, parsley root wine and grape and carrot powder called a Love & Money. Find more savoury flavours at Barts in Chelsea where their Happiness cocktail of cherry tomatoes, basil leaves and Russian Standard vodka claims to boost serotonin levels. Reverse cocktails Sidworth Street, E8, Purple Lady Mr Foggs Tavern, 58 St Martins Lane, WC2, mr-foggs.com

London is never going to stop drinking gin and tonics when the sun is shining, but we are mixing them up. At Mr Foggs, they infuse gin with butterfly blue pea flowers and mix with elderflower liqueur and egg white for a shocking bright violet drink.

Coffee connoisseurs are producing their own riffs on grown-up pop. Mast Brothers use chocolate to make a fizzy soda that has a dry taste and a sweet kick at the end. And at the London Coffee Festival in April, Climpson & Sons created Indian Sunset cascara soda, pictured  its now produced regularly.

Cascara is the husk of the coffee cherry, which is produced in huge quantities when ripe coffee cherries are pulped before the beans are washed and dried. Its often seen as waste and used as fertiliser but drying out the husks and brewing them like tea makes a refreshing drink.

Nicole Ferris, at Climpsons, says re-using the husks is sustainable and delicious: When brewed the flavour is intensified to create a concentrated, syrupy sweetness. Our soda, paired with blood orange and bergamot, is the perfect combination to enhance the juicy sweetness. For a refreshing summer drink I add ice and gin  perhaps the new Pimms of the coffee industry.

Hackney is fast becoming a soda capital. Square Root, which started there, is ever-expanding and you can see it popping up at KERB events through the summer. It introduces a new flavour every month  Julys will be raspberry lemonade, and its rumoured to be cherry in August. Its popping.

@littlewondering

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S upermarket giant Tesco will launch a pop-up wine bar in Soho this summer, with the aim being to show off the quality of its wine range.

The bar will run on Wardour Street for 11 days in early August, and will offer the supermarkets entire list of 70-plus Tesco Finest wines for tasting, as well as serving a series of discovery wine flights.

Entry to the pop-up will be free and no bookings will be necessary, meaning you could call by for some tasters on passing, or use it as an opportunity to browse whats on offer before making a purchase from a nearby shop.

The venture comes after Aldi hosted a pop-up wine shop in Shoreditchs Boxpark to coincide with London Wine Week recently.

Tesco senior brand manager Elisabetta Farroni said: Showcasing the range through a pop-up wine bar is the perfect way to demonstrate the high quality of our wines directly to the public.

The Finest bar will run at 147 Wardour Street from August 2-13.

London's best wine bars 1 /17 London's best wine bars The Laughing Heart The Laughing Heart is well-equipped for lingerers  it is very much a place for gathering and cracking open as many bottles as is sensible. The personal touch of its convivial nature is echoed in a wine list that champions artisan growers, in turn showcasing the entire portfolio of a chosen small producer. Its by-the-glass list is short but precise, while its bottle menu is sprawling  youll have time to explore more than one, considering the place stays open until 2am, with a kitchen open until 1am from Monday to Saturday. The late-night food isnt just your average stomach-lining grub either: chef Tom Angleseas innovative cooking melds British produce with Asian flavours  his signature dessert is a creme brulee with sparky Sichuan peppercorns. P. Franco East Londons natural wine scene just keeps getting better  and a lot of that is down to the team behind P. Franco. This unassuming Clapton wine bar was set up in 2014 in a former Chinese takeaway by Liam Kelleher and James Noble, of the Noble Fine Liquor shops. In the years since, it's garnered runaway praise for mixing an innovative wine selection with an eclectic, very contemporary food menu in utilitarian surroundings. It's so relaxed that they don't even have a wine list, technically  the daily changing selection is delivered verbally. Bright and latterly Peg have followed in its suit  all are wonderful places to take wining and dining back to basics. Benjamin McMahon Terroirs Just off Trafalgar Square, Terroirs is always busy. Evenings start at a hum and end on with a roar as reams of Londoners bravely battle their way through glorious bottle after glorious bottle. The list is long enough to offer lots of choice and good enough that youll struggle to make a bad one. Food is excellent and there is barely a better spot in town to quaff down a bottle than up against the bar. Theyre big on natural wine here: if youre unsure about organic and biodynamic wine, try it here. A slight price premium comes attached, but its good fun. Wine is categorised by region and includes lesser-spotted wines from the likes of Greece, Slovenia and Georgia. Humble Grape This wine-merchant mini-chain prides itself on its organic, sustainable producers and how well it knows them. The bars get their wines directly from artisan, often family-run producers  this means they skip out the expensive distributors and both you and the winemakers save a little. Humble Grape is also so keen to stay in-the-know with its sources, the bar even gets producers in to train the staff. You can currently find the bars in Battersea, Fleet Street, Islington and Liverpool Street, with one more opening in Canary Wharf this summer. Compagnie Des Vins Surnaturels This Covent Garden outpost of a popular Parisian spot offers a catalogue of wine options that focuses on lesser-known styles and varieties  hence its popularity with those in the industry. French wine takes top billing, naturally, but there are bottles from around the world and the team are on hand to enthuse over what to try. Theres an impressive range by glass  including an extensive selection of Madeira  to facilitate more trying, while a fun touch is the inclusion of a mystery wine on the list. This regularly-changing offering costs 9 a glass and could be any wine from the list that costs between 35 and 95 a bottle. If you guess which one it is, you get a bottle free. Noble Rot Earlier this year, the World Restaurant Awards named Noble Rot the best Red-Wine Serving Restaurant on the planet. Yes, the vast majority of restaurants in the world serve red wine, but Noble Rot does do it particularly well. More than 60 per cent of its 700-bottle strong list is red, and wine leapfrogs food to the top of the agenda. The whole set up is rebellious in nature: the menu lambasts lazy misconceptions by proclaiming chardonnay to be the the worlds greatest white wine and its shop sells both its own magazine and tote bags emblazoned with Sex & Drugs & Pinot Noir. The food is not to be forgotten in the fracas: Stephen Harris of the Sportsman in Kent has a consulting role, making it easy to fill up both glasses and plates. Sager + Wilde This modern spot set up by wine experts Michael Sager and Charlotte Wilde is easy enough not to notice on the Hackney Road  and the blinds on the windows do nothing to suggest they want people in. But to take it that way would be a mistake: inside, all marble, dark wood and glass bricks, is an unpretentious take on a wine bar, modern London and old Paris all at once. They serve up some unusual offerings, perfect for anyone wanting to explore and, happily, the small plates of food they serve arent very small at all. The more restaurant-leaning Paradise Row edition in Bethnal Green is also excellent, while the new Fare Bar and Canteen is natural wine hotspot. Gordon's Enough has been written about Gordons to sell the place a thousand times over. There isnt anything left to say, really: its an institution thats far more about the atmosphere than the wine served (though they do that pretty decently, too). Its family run, has been since 1890 and has become a London institution in its own lifetime. Some prefer it in the summer time, when the outside tables fill up, but the cave-like indoors are a wonderful place to get lost in. Just remember to get there early: Gordon's gets full to bursting extremely early.



Info: 47 Villiers St, WC2N 6NE

gordonswinebar.com Comptoir Xavier Rousset can be found at the helm of many an acclaimed, wine-centric hotspot in London. Formerly head sommelier at Raymond Blancs Le Manoir aux QuatSaisons, Rousset went on to set up the 28-50 wine bars alongside restaurants Blandford Comptoir, Cabotte and Michelin-starred Texture. His most recent opening, Mayfairs Comptoir, showcases his love for a glass or two in more informal settings  a cafe and wine shop during the day, a wine bar by night. Around 30 wines are available by the glass  but more than 1800 are available by the bottle. Andrew Edmunds There are few better things to do in Soho than take your time over a bottle of wine. Where better to do such a thing than in one of the last bastions of Old Soho? Andrew Edmunds is small in size, but big in character, history and wine list. Wines by the glass at this restaurant start at a startling 4 something, and dont climb too much. A gloriously wide-ranging repertoire will take you up to the heady heights of a 475 1996 Abreu, but its possible to stay mercifully down to earth with enough bottles for less than 30. 10 Cases This small bistrot is a little like the French place you always wished you could find: somewhere for home-cooking and jugs of plonk. The only difference is that they dont serve any plonk  they do, however, have a very respectable selection under 10. Wines can be bought by the glass, carafe or bottle, with bottles available to take-away or drink in with 12 corkage. Youll also never be tempted (nor able) to settle into ordering your favourite wine over and over again: wines are only ever purchased in 10 case orders, and once theyre gone, theyre gone  in all its years of trading, the venue has never listed the same wine twice. 68 and Boston Bottles

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Y esterday in the European Parliament Ukip leader Nigel Farage gave the speech that he has been dreaming of for years. With an expression of barefaced glee he took aim at his politician opponents, saying they had never done a proper job in their lives. They booed, but that only encouraged him.

Two seats down from Farage, London MEP Syed Kamall looked on impassively. Nigel enjoyed it, says Kamall, aged 49, a Conservative who voted for Britain to leave the EU. That was his moment, he wanted to say I told you so. He loves to be provocative. Will his behaviour affect our future relationship with the EU? I wouldnt use that style. I want to be constructive.

The mood in Brussels is of shock, surprise and emotion, reacting to a result that no one expected. Most MEPs believed the polls and thought Remain would win. There isnt any consensus at EU level about what they should be asking Britain for.

He continues: As we filed out of the room lots of MEPs from Spain and Poland came up to me and said its important that we stay good friends. I dont think we need to relive the referendum, which became nasty on both sides; we need to accept the democratic will of the people and think about negotiations. The doom and gloom merchants have to accept the result and move on.

Kamalls views are not in line with the majority of Londoners  just five of the 33 boroughs voted Leave and Mayor Sadiq Khan has demanded more autonomy for the capital  but he insists that Brexit will be good for the city. Forty per cent of Londoners wanted to leave. I think this will be good for London and open it up.

Although Khan is from a different party, Kamall loves the message he sends. When I didnt get the nomination for Conservative mayoral candidate he commiserated with me.

Nigel Farage makes insulting speech to EU Parliament

Like Khan, Kamall is the Muslim son of a London bus driver. His parents are from Guyana and he grew up in Edmonton, although has now defected south of the river to Surbiton, where he lives with his wife, a former Montessori school teacher, and two children.

His non-EU background influenced how he voted and he thinks we will become more outward-looking. I want a fair immigration policy, where we welcome people not just from the EU but from all around the world. Britain needs builders from Poland and elsewhere. London is not just a European city, we are a global city.

How does he square this with the reported spike in hate crimes after the referendum? These people would be racist anyway, regardless of the referendum. Politicians need to remind people that Britain has for centuries been an open and tolerant country.

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

He has asked Polish MEPs what he can do for Londons Poles and is on good terms with Latvia  hes in a rock band with the countrys former finance minister and two other MEPs.

Kamall calmly reassures me that despite the crashing markets we will be all right. He is a former City consultant with a degree in economics and a PhD in organisational change so he speaks with authority. Financial services work on emotion. When the polls are wrong you get jitters but you will see the pound go up.

He thinks a UK/EU trade agreement is likely to happen fairly quickly. There might be more reluctance over financial services  well have to see what we can give them in return. Weve already had Australia and New Zealand talking about wanting to sign trade agreements with the UK and officials from the US have asked if we can have a trade agreement with them.

Is this pay-off worth having voted himself out of a job for? I will be an MEP for as long as Britain stays in the EU, which will be for up to two years. Now I want to focus on doing the right thing for my country and not rushing it.

He thinks David Cameron has done the honourable thing and is going to wait to speak to all the leadership candidates before he decides who to back: Boris stands a chance but lets see who enters the field.

Meanwhile, the turmoil in the Labour Party has him in two minds. Its important for democracy to have a strong opposition. We dont.

What would he say to the protestors in Trafalgar Square shouting Brex-shit last night and the homeowners panicking about the value of their property plummeting? Keep calm and carry on. I hope the EU and UK come up with a situation where we are no longer reluctant tenants but good neighbours.

Follow Susannah Butter: @susannahbutter
A man who carried out a violent robbery at a bookmakers while he was on bail for another gunpoint robbery has been jailed for six years.

Karlos Junior Bailey, 26, of Fairmead Crescent, Edgware, Barnet, carried out the first attack at Coral Racing Ltd in Kingsbury Road,Colindale, on November 19 last year.

Bailey walked into the shop just before 9.30pm and went straight up to the front counter brandishing what appeared to be a semi-automatic handgun.

He demanded money and told two male staff members to open the safe, but the men managed to get away and Bailey left without any cash.

Bailey was arrested after he returned to the shop December 8, when staff identified him and called police.

He was charged with attempted robbery and possession of a firearm while committing a schedule one offence, and he was later granted bail from Kingston Crown Court.

Bailey struck again on Monday, April 11 at Ladbrokes Bookmakers in Station Parade, Whitchurch Lane, Edgware.

He went into the shop at about 7.30pm and grabbed the arm of a female staff member, before getting into a struggle with her.

The woman fell backwards, fracturing her arm and Bailey stole 364.59 from the open till.

Flying Squad officers launched an investigation and identified Bailey on the shop's CCTV, and recognising him as the same person who had committed the attempted robbery at Coral bookmakers in Kingsbury in November.

He was arrested three days later at his home address in Fairmead Crescent, Edgware, and admitted to the robbery.

Bailey, who had previously pleaded guilty to one count robbery, one count of attempted robbery and possession of a firearm in relation to the earlier incident, also pleaded guilty to the second robbery.

He and was sentenced on Friday at Kingston Crown Court to six years in prison.

Detective Sergeant Ben Kennedy, from the Met's Flying Squad, said: "I am pleased with the sentence that has been handed down by the court. As a result of this investigation a violent robber has been convicted and sentenced to a substantial period in custody.

"The Flying Squad will continue to work with local police officers and our commercial partners to prevent such offences from taking place.
A man has been arrested by police investigating "extreme" right-wing, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic postings on social media.

The 41-year-old was held in London this morning on suspicion of inciting racial hatred.

Scotland Yard said the man, who is from London, was arrested at approximately 6.30am as part of a pre-planned operation in north London by officers from the Crime Disruption Unit within the the force's Counter Terrorism Command.

They were supported by colleagues from the Territorial Support Group.

A Met Police spokesman said: "Detectives executed search warrants at two addresses, both in north London, as part of this investigation, which relates to social media postings of an extreme right wing, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic nature.

Rise in racist and homophobic incidents reported following Brexit result

"Searches at one of the addresses are ongoing. A number of digital items have been seized at one of the properties."

The arrested man has been taken to a north London police station where he remains in custody.
P olice are hunting a sex attacker believed to have indecently assaulted a woman in a north London park.

Detectives believe the victim was sexually assaulted in Arnos Park in Enfield around 7.30am on June 14.

The attack is believed to have happened on a bridge over Pymmes Brook, which runs through the park.

The suspect is described as a black man in his late 40s or early 50s, around 6ft 3ins tall, with braided black hair.

He was wearing dark black sunglasses, a baggy light grey or green t-shirt and beige or green trousers.

Anyone with information should call Edmonton police station on 101, quoting reference 5213156/16 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A n award-winning wine expert at Gordon Ramsays Mayfair restaurant assaulted a colleague by repeatedly biting her arms during a champagne-fuelled romp, a court heard.

Arnaud Bardary, 32, invited the woman back to his Putney flat after a leaving party to mark his departure as head sommelier from the TV chefs Maze restaurant.

She had bared her breasts at him and promised to destroy him during the party at the City of Quebec in Marble Arch, Westminster magistrates heard.

Prosecutor Edward Aydin said the pair drank champagne and then had consensual sex in the early hours of May 1, but Bardary turned violent while they were in bed together. The master sommelier, who is among the worlds leading wine experts, ignored her pleas to stop biting during rough and tumble sex.

She had been kissing him at the bar and once at his address they had consensual sex, said the prosecutor.

It lasted for about an hour and during that time, in the early hours of the morning, he began to bite the victim and the sex was quite rough.

She asked him to stop because it was hurting her, but he continued to bite her. He bit her five times.

This amorous liaison ended up not as an amorous liaison but a rough and tumble, as if the victim there went into a tumble dryer.

Afterwards they finished the champagne and the woman took a taxi home but later she decided to go to police.

In interview, Bardary admitted they had rough sex and told officers he had banged her hard, the court heard.

Bardary, who now lives in Olonne-Sur-Mer in western France, was fined 250 and told to pay 150 compensation to the victim yesterday, after pleading guilty to one count of assault by beating.

Anne McCarthy, defending, said Bardary is in a state of shock and did not intend to assault his colleague.

At the leaving party, to put it colloquially, [she] came on very strong to him, she said.

She was baring her breasts at him and using language that she would destroy him.

Bardary, who became a master sommelier in August last year and was once named among the best young wine experts in the world, is planning to continue his career in Australia after his departure from Maze.

Bardary, of Chemin de la Gillerie, Olonne-Sur-Mer, western France, must also pay 85 court costs and a 30 victim surcharge.
T he family of a teenage boy who died in a moped crash during a police pursuit today hailed an inquest verdict as the first big step to justice.

Carpenter Henry Hicks, 18, was trying to flee from police in two unmarked cars at speeds of up to 50mph when his moped collided with parked cars in Islington, an inquest jury found.

In a narrative verdict, the jury at St Pancras coroners court yesterday rejected claims by the officers involved that Mr Hicks was not aware he was being followed on December 19, 2014.

Afterwards, the Independent Police Complaints Commission directed Scotland Yard to launch proceedings against the two police drivers and two radio operators, who were passengers.

Mr Hickss sister Claudia described the decision as the first big step towards getting Henry the justice he deserves. In a post to the Facebook group Justice for Henry Hicks, she said: Its broken my heart [the police] have tried to tarnish Henrys name but as long as everyone that knows my family and knew Henry, knows the kind of person he was knows the truth. Thats all I care about. We are over the moon with the outcome.

The four constables, based at Islington, will face gross misconduct hearings in relation to the death. The police watchdog said the officers were not authorised to carry out the pursuit and did not consider the risks to the moped driver or whether he was a juvenile.

The family are also understood to be considering private prosecutions against the officers involved.

Mr Hickss father David, 54, today said his fight for justice had been inspired by the Hillsborough tragedy. He told the Standard: Its incredible, it took 27 years to get justice for the Liverpool fans and its taken me 18 months to get the truth. I have had to fight for it, I cant believe some of the things I have done and the people I have spoken to keep the pressure on. Ive got justice, not full justice yet, but weve finally found out the Metropolitan police have told lies about my son.

Mr Hicks, who had been stopped and searched 89 times in three years, was found to be carrying seven bags of skunk cannabis and multiple phones. Toxicology tests found he had not taken drugs. Islington borough commander Catherine Roper said the Met would review its pursuit policy.
L eading politicians from three of the UK's main political parties have taken time out to visit the west London Polish community centre that was targeted by xenophobic vandals.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his deputy Tom Watson, as well as two Conservative peers; Communities Minister Baroness Williams and Minister for Countering Extremism Lord Ahmad, visited the Polish Social and Cultural Association (POSK) in Hammersmith today in a show of solidarity following the attack on Sunday morning when offensive graffiti was daubed on its front door.

Tomorrow leading Liberal Democrats Tim Farron and Caroline Pidgeon will also pay a visit to the POSK.

The politicians were joined on their visits by Polish Ambassador to the UK Witold Sobkow, who spoke to reassure the local community, while urging people to be vigilant and report any future incidents to police.

Speeches: Baroness Williams, Lord Ahmad, POSKs Chair Joanna Mudzinska, and Ambassador Witold Sobkow / Marcin Mazur

Both Prime Minister David Cameron and Mr Corbyn had previously condemned the acts of xenophobic abuse directed at the Polish community and other UK residents of migrant heritage in their statements on the result of the EU referendum in the House of Commons on Monday.

They were joined in the condemnation of the anti-migrant rhetoric by other leading political figures including Europe Minister David Lidington, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and Hammersmith's Labour MP Andy Slaughter.

Rise in racist and homophobic incidents reported following Brexit result

During today's visit, Mr Corbyn, who is facing a calls to resign after Labour MPs yesterday passed a motion of no confidence against him, said: "We have come here to show solidarity with Poles living in the UK. Hate crime is not acceptable. We as a society will prosecute those who commit it."

Well-wishes: The POSK has received supportive messages from people up and down the country (Polish Embassy) / Marcin Mazur

During her visit to the POSK Baroness Williams stressed the contribution Poles have made to British society, saying: "The Polish community have lived in this country not just for decades, but for centuries. Both the government and the country are intolerant of the sort of intolerance we have seen this week."

While Lord Ahmad, who declared to stamp out any discrimination based on racial or ethnic background, added: "This Polish centre reflects what modern Britain is about. We are enriched by the diversity of our social DNA  different communities, cultures, faiths coming together as one nation.

"The message from the government to those who disrupt the kind of society we have is: we will stand in unity against you and we will defeat you."

POSKs Chair Joanna Mudzinska also today expressed her gratitude after the centre received hundreds of cards, emails, and bunches of flowers bearing supportive messages from people up and down the country in the wake of the attack.

She said: "We received flowers, gifts, hundreds of emails. We want to focus on this wonderful spontaneous response of the local community."
T ens of thousands of Londoners plan to attend a second anti-Brexit march after a rally in Trafalgar Square went ahead last night  despite organisers saying it was cancelled.

Some 32,000 people have already expressed an intention to attend the new rally outside Parliament on Saturday to protest against the UKs vote to leave the EU.

Organisers axed last nights gathering in Trafalgar Square at short notice over safety fears but huge crowds of people turned up anyway, including Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron.

Protesters flooded the area clutching pro-EU placards and singing chants as they sheltered from the rain beneath umbrellas.

Protest: It has been claimed around 1,500 turned up to the 'cancelled' event / @n_s_martin

More than 50,000 had accepted an invitation to attend but organisers scrapped the event saying they could not ensure the safety of so many people turning up to the square.

A message on the Facebook page for the new rally titled Anti Brexit March said it was organised to replace the deleted event.

It reads: We can prevent Brexit by refusing to accept the referendum as the final say and take our finger off the self-destruct button.

It is the responsibility of parliament to consider our democracy more carefully and call for a vote before they all accept the UK's decline.

Let's not leave the next generation adrift. We can provide the ammunition parliament needs to reason their way through this mess and reconsider Brexit, if we make a stand!

The power is still with the people and we can change things if we are organised and passionate in our response. Let's unite the remain voters and those who regret their vote to leave. Lets turn this on its head.

Dump work, cancel your shopping trip, bring your afternoon get togethers to the streets!

Lets march, lets protest, and lets stop Brexit!

Pro-EU rally held in London

The new event has sparked a mixed reaction from Facebook users.

While some congratulated organisers for arranging a new protest, others have suggested it is time to move on following the decision to leave the EU.

One man posted: The decision has been made by the majority of people that don't want to be part of the EU... I'm one of them. Just because you've not got the vote you wanted, organising a March isn't going to solve it.

Another man posted: The majority spoke. Youre wasting your time and money.
A vicar who confronted a burglar stealing his late wifes jewellery today said he hoped the culprit could turn over a new leaf as he began a jail sentence.

The Reverend Simon Harvey, whose wife Jennifer, 52, died in March, came face to face with James Casey when he broke into his vicarage.

He took Caseys picture as he fled and posted the image on Twitter. The thief was arrested and charged within five days of the May 25 raid on St Marys Church in Islington.

This week, Casey, of no fixed address, admitted burglary at Blackfriars crown court and was jailed for three years. He will be due for release on licence after serving one and a half.

Today, Mr Harvey said: I really want to thank the police who found the burglar so quickly and all those members of the public who helped them.

"I hope that as he begins his sentence he will have an opportunity to make some changes in his life.

I believe people can find a new direction.

Mr Harvey reiterated a plea for the return of his wifes engagement and wedding bands, an eternity ring marking their 25th anniversary and a ring he gave her when she was 18.

Casey, 39, has refused to speak to police. After the theft, Mr Harvey told the Standard: He needs to know how hurtful it is to lose these precious things I thought Id keep for ever.
S adiq Khan today finally announced his deputy mayor for business to champion Londons financial interests amid the fall-out of the EU referendum.

In a sign of the urgency gripping City Hall post Brexit, Rajesh Agrawals first task will be to calm the nerves of the jittery City, safeguard jobs and protect growth while EU negotiations are taking place.

The self-made multi-millionaire grew up in poverty in India before moving to the UK and making his fortune.

Mr Agrawal was Mr Khans business adviser during his mayoral campaign. He helped his new boss woo the City when he promised to be the most pro-business mayor yet  and becomes the latest of his top team at City Hall.

Mr Khan will hope Mr Agrawals appointment will end grumbling within the business community that he had not yet filled the key role despite nearly eight weeks as Mayor.

Sadiq Khan discusses London's part in EU negotiations

The new deputy mayor set up foreign exchange giant Rational FX, which had a turnover of more than 1.3 billion last year, and also Xendpay, an international money transfer service. The global businessman was featured in the Sunday Times rich list with a 90 million fortune.

Mr Agrawal, a Labour member, was among the first businessmen to defend the party against accusations it was anti-business at the last election.

However, his closeness to Labour will open up Mr Khan to criticism that he may have appointed a political crony when he had promised not to pack senior roles with party supporters.

The Mayor has called for Britain to remain part of the single market post-Brexit and for the capital to be granted more powers  including over skills, infrastructure and planning  in order to safeguard its business interests.

He said: Having arrived in London equipped with the ambition to succeed, Rajesh has created a multi-million-pound businesses from scratch and knows first-hand the challenges that our business leaders face, and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. I know that Rajesh is the best person for the job of protecting jobs and growth in London as we deal with the fallout of the referendum.

Mr Agrawal added: I stepped on a plane for the first time 15 years ago to make the journey to London, and found a city that welcomed me with open arms and didnt make me feel like a stranger.

This openness to talent and enterprise must not change as a result of the referendum. I share Sadiqs belief that a thriving economy is critical to ensure that all Londoners can share in our great citys future success.

The Mayor and I are determined to build a coalition that ensures the needs of business and financial services are at the fore over the coming months of negotiations with the EU. My first priority will be to listen and engage with businesses, to hear their concerns and deliver reassurance.

Mr Agrawal, who will step down from running his businesses, chair the Oxfam Enterprise Development Programme, is a trustee of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and a patron of the Princes Trust.
L abour hopefuls are gearing up to challenge Jeremy Corbyn in a leadership contest as the chaos engulfing the party continues.

A race against incumbent leader Mr Corbyn is expected to be run by either deputy leader Tom Watson or former shadow business secretary Angela Eagle.

In a show of unprecedented defiance in the face of internal opposition, Mr Corbyn yesterday refused to quit despite three-quarters of his MPs backing a motion of no confidence in him.

He has also vowed to stand again in the event of a leadership contest, despite calls from party grandees and MPs to step down.

Under pressure: Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in Islington / Getty

Here are the two people most likely to take Mr Corbyn on:

Tom Watson

Leadership contender: Tom Watson / Jonathan Brady/PA

Quietly spoken Watson is a political fixer not afraid of taking on big beasts.

Five years ago, he played a major role in the parliamentary grilling of Rupert Murdoch over the phone hacking scandal.

The 49-year-old, a former trade union official who once shared a flat with Unite leader Len McCluskey, was also instrumental in Tony Blairs departure from No10.

He quit as a defence minister in 2006, urging Mr Blair to step down in the interest of the Labour Party and the country.

Jeremy Corbyn dodges reporters

The MP for West Bromwich, who entered Parliament in 2001, was accused of plotting against Mr Blair with Gordon Brown after it emerged he had visited the then Chancellors constituency home in Scotland shortly before leaving his post, though both men deny this.

He was also at the centre of controversy in 2013 over claims that Unite tried to stitch up the candidate selection for the Falkirk by-election.

He co-wrote a book on the hacking scandal, Dial M for Murdoch, and has campaigned on uncovering historic child sexual abuse.

Ed Miliband appointed him a campaigns chief to oversee a General Election win but he has a mixed record, with some successes but Labour also lost Bradford West to Respects George Galloway in 2012.

Angela Eagle

Battle-hardened: Angela Eagle / Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images

Having served under four Labour leaders, Merseyside MP Angela Eagle is a battle-hardened parliamentarian of 24 years.

Her most famous Commons clash was when she was slapped down by David Cameron, saying, Calm down, dear after she goaded him at Prime Ministers Questions.

As he was being accused of sexism, she was relishing having got under his skin.

A staunch trade unionist, her standing has risen in recent years and in one of her best Commons performances she tore into George Osborne over his Budget in March.

The Wallasey MP, aged 55, studied PPE at Oxford, was first elected in 1992, and was the first woman MP to reveal that she is gay.

She was a junior Home Office and social security minister under Tony Blair, went to the Treasury after Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, was shadow Commons Leader in Ed Milibands team and then Mr Corbyns shadow business secretary.

Her twin sister, Maria, also resigned from the Labour frontbench this week.
O ne of Londons leading economists has predicted that the City will continue to thrive after Britain quits the European Union and has instead escaped the ticking timebomb that continued membership would have inflicted.

Dr Gerard Lyons, the chief economic adviser to Netwealth, said that the City and other British service sector businesses were in an incredibly strong position and that London would remain the major financial centre of Europe following Brexit.

He admitted that some near-term issues, including the future passporting of Londons financial services into the EU and the Citys role as the centre for Euro clearing, were posing an immediate challenge.

But he insisted that these would have affected the City if the country had stayed in the EU and that many future problems would have laid ahead for Londons financial services under continued membership.

The UK service sector is in an incredibly strong position, particularly the City of London, Dr Lyons told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

The City of London has the skills, the knowledge, experience, and more particularly the infrastructure in place to ensure that London remains the major financial centre of Europe.

Dr Gerard Lyons said that the City and other British service sector businesses were in an incredibly strong position

"Its vital to stress that if we had stayed in the EU there was a slow ticking timebomb underneath the City, many future problems about to hit it.

Dr Lyons, who previously worked at City Hall as adviser to Boris Johnson, said that the future of passporting rights, under which banks, law firms and others can sell services into the European Union, was an immediate issue that needed to be overcome.

He said, however, that new regulations, known as MiFID2, would provide a safety valve that would allow the City to sell services into the EU from 2018.

He said other EU countries, which currently passported services into Britain, would also need to strike a deal and added: Passporting is not only a negotiable issue but is a two way issue.

"Other countries in the EEA area need to passport their services into London and London is the capital market that the EU needs. We should be quite pragmatic on the issue of passporting.

Dr Lyons said the two year delay between Britain triggering Article 50 and its departure from the EU would give time for the City to reposition and said that opportunities beyond Europe would also be open to London.

Boris Johnson speech on Brexit

He added: The so-called single market, it never worked properly in services anyway, in financial services, so we can still continue effectively on that, but in terms of services what we need to recognise is that we need first to free ourselves of the constraints that would have been in place within the EU and then we need to start positioning ourselves, not just in terms of Western Europe where London and the City remains very important, but also in terms of the global opportunities.

Renminbi business, Islamic finance, and also some of the changing environment.

"Rest assured, services, like manufacturing, despite the near-term uncertainty, will be well placed in the future.
T he number of Britons looking for work abroad doubled in the aftermath of the UKs Brexit vote, a survey has found.

UK-based jobseekers flooded online search tools to hunt for opportunities in European cities such as Berlin and Dublin in the first 48 hours after it emerged the Leave camp had won the EU referendum.

Job site Indeed said it saw a two-fold increase in UK browsers looking for employment in European countries in the time-frame.

Economist Mariano Mamertino said: Last week the majority of British citizens voted to exit the European Union, but quickly thereafter many UK-based job seekers started a vote of their own: they jumped online to look for work elsewhere.

"Using Indeed data, we see the share of job seekers looking for opportunities outside of the UK in European countries doubling in the 48 hours that followed the announcement of a Brexit.

Most jobseekers looked to the very countries of the European Union that Britain will be leaving, with Ireland attracting the most searches.

Yesterday Irish foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan urged Britons to stop applying for Irish passports because the service couldnt cope with a spike in demand triggered by the 52-48 vote for Brexit.

Rise in racist and homophobic incidents reported following Brexit result

Mr Flanagan stressed it would take time for the UK to actually leave the EU as the two-year divorce proceedings are yet to have started.
D avid Cameron demanded that EU leaders allow measures to curb migration in order to secure trade deals with Britain in future.

The Prime Minister admitted that the public's attitudes towards immigration cost him his job and was the main reason for a Brexit vote last week.

A clearly emotional Mr Cameron said there was "sadness and regret" among the 28 leaders around the table at the European Council that the UK was leaving the EU after 43 years.

It came as EU leaders were today set to meet in Brussels to discuss Brexit without the PM in stark illustration of Britain's future relationship with the bloc.

Mr Cameron offered his assessment of the reasons Britain voted to leave the EU by 52%-48% over a dinner of poached veal and strawberries before flying home last night.

David Cameron- We mustn't turn our back on Europe

He said: "I think people recognised the strength of the economic case for staying, but there was a very great concern about the movement of people and immigration, and I think that is coupled with a concern about the issues of sovereignty and the absence of control there has been."

Mr Cameron added: "I think we need to think about that, Europe need to think about that and I think that is going to be one of the major tests for the next prime minister.

"It's a difficult challenge because the European Union sees the single market as one of goods, services, capital and people. These things go together, where in Britain we see them as separate options."

Asked if he now regretted calling the historic referendum, a sombre-faced Mr Cameron said: "It's a sad night for me - I didn't want to be in this position. I wanted Britain to stay in a reformed European Union.

"At the end of the day I'm a democrat. I fought very hard for what I believed in. I didn't stand back. I threw myself in head, heart and soul to keep Britain in the European Union and I didn't succeed."

A government source said Mr Cameron's message to EU leaders was that if they wanted a close economic relationship with the UK after Brexit, they cannot "shy away" from the migration issue.

The PM told the House of Commons on Monday that there was "a very strong case" for trying to remain in the single market after Brexit. And Chancellor George Osborne backed his position, telling a business conference in London that Britain should seek "the closest possible ties" with its former EU partners on trade.
N icola Sturgeon is to hold talks with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels today as she attempts to keep Scotland in the European Union.

The Scottish First Minister is also expected to meet European Parliament president Martin Schulz and Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister and leader of the Liberal group at the European Parliament.

It is understood European Council president Donald Tusk has no plans to meet Ms Sturgeon because he does not consider it to be the right time.

The meeting with Mr Schulz is expected to be the most high profile of the First Minster's meetings but Margaritis Schinas, chief spokesman for Mr Juncker, tweeted on Wednesday morning: "President @JunckerEU will meet the First Minister of Scotland @NicolaSturgeon today at 17.00h in the @EU-Commission."

The First Minister's visit comes after MSPs voted to give her a "mandate" to hold discussions with EU institutions, as well as the UK Government and other devolved nations.

Meetings: Jean-Claude Juncker is set to meet Nicola Sturgeon / EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

On Tuesday she revealed that she has held talks with London Mayor Sadiq Khan over their shared interest in maintaining relations with the EU.

Ms Sturgeon has previously said that "everything must be on the table to protect Scotland's place in Europe" after the UK voted to leave the EU, while the majority of Scots voted to stay.

Sturgeon on Scotland

Speaking ahead of the Brussels visit, she said: "My objective at this very early stage is firstly to raise awareness of the fact that Scotland voted differently in this referendum to the UK as a whole and that there is an aspiration and desire in Scotland, cross-party, to protect Scotland's relationship with the European Union and our place in the European Union.

"And secondly, to begin the process of mapping out and exploring what the options for Scotland might be.

"I'm very aware that this is a long process ahead of us, it's likely to be a difficult and challenging process, but I'm determined that we take every possible step to protect Scotland's interests at every stage of it."

The First Minister's diplomatic mission comes as the European Council summit, chaired by Mr Tusk, continues.

The heads of state or government are meeting informally to discuss the political and practical implications of the referendum results after David Cameron outlined the UK's position on Tuesday.
F ormer defence secretary Liam Fox has become the second person to confirm he is going for the Tory leadership.

Dr Fox revealed his intent to make a second pitch for the top job hours after Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb launched his own "underdog" campaign.

Would-be leaders have until midday on Thursday to put their names forward and bookies' favourites Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Theresa May are expected to be among those stepping forward.

The timetable for the contest - which will end with a new prime minister being named on September 9 - was approved by the backbench 1922 Committee.

A series of run-offs will begin on Tuesday as MPs whittle down the hopefuls to two who will tussle for the support of grassroots members in a one-member-one-vote run-off.

Dr Fox resigned in 2011 after being found guilty of breaching the ministerial code over his links with self-styled adviser Adam Werritty, whom he met 40 times in the Ministry of Defence and on trips abroad.

David Cameron - a career in pictures 1 /50 David Cameron - a career in pictures JULY 2016: David Cameron speaking to the media outside 10 Downing Street, London, after Theresa May secured her place as the UK's second female prime minister through the surprise withdrawal of her only rival in the battle to succeed him Philip Toscano/PA JULY 2016: Britain's outgoing Prime Minister, David Cameron, accompanied by his wife Samantha, daughters Nancy and Florence and son Arthur, prepare to pose for photographs in front of number 10 Downing Street, on his last day in office as Prime Minister Stefan Wermuth/Reuters JUNE 2016: Prime Minister David Cameron walking out of 10 Downing Street, London, with wife Samantha where he announced his resignation after Britain voted to leave the European Union Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA JUNE 2016: Prime Minister David Cameron (C) and Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn (R) arrive to pay their respects at the scene of the murder of Jo Cox, 41, Labour MP for Batley and Spen, who was shot and stabbed yesterday at her constituency surgery in Birstall, United Kingdom Christopher Furlong/Getty Images JUNE 2016: British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha Cameron leave after voting in the EU Referendum at Central Methodist Hall, Wesminster Dan Kitwood/Getty Images APRIL 2016: Prime Minister David Cameron joins students at the launch of the 'Brighter Future In' campaign bus at Exeter University Dan Kitwood - WPA Pool /Getty Images DEC 2015: Prime Minister David Cameron meets soldiers working on flood relief in York city centre after the river Ouse burst its banks, on December in York Darren Staples - WPA Pool /Getty Images NOV 2015: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and British Prime Minister David Cameron attend the annual Remembrance Sunday Service at the Cenotaph on Whitehall Carl Court/Getty Images NOV 2015: Prime Minister David Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photograph during their bilateral meeting on day two of the G20 Turkey Leaders Summit in Antalya, Turkey Chris McGrath/Getty Images OCT 2015: Prime Minister David Cameron talks with Home Secretary Theresa May after greeting China's President, Xi Jinping, at an honour guard in London Carl Court/Getty Images SEPT 2015: Prime Minister David Cameron meets Syrian refugee families at a tented settlement camp in the Bekaa Valley, on the Syrian border with Lebanon Stefan Rousseau - WPA Pool /Getty Images AUG 2015: Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha relax on holiday in Alvor, Portugal Steve Parsons-Pool/Getty Images MAY 2015: David Cameron hosting a cabinet meeting in Downing Street, London Dan Kitwood/PA MAY 2015: Prime Minister David Cameron poses for a photo with the newly elected Conservative Party MPs in Palace Yard Stefan Rousseau - WPA Pool/Getty Images MAY 2015: Prime Minister David Cameron speaks after winning his constituency declaration in Witney Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images APRIL 2015: Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron feeds orphaned lambs on Dean Lane farm near the village of Chadlington Leon Neal - WPA Pool/Getty Images APRIL 2015: Prime Minister David Cameron speaks with Lilli Docherty and her daughter Dakota, as he has lunch with people who have benefited from tax and pension changes that come into force, in a garden near Poole Kirsty Wigglesworth - WPA Pool/Getty Images APRIL 2015: Prime Minister David Cameron helping with a reading lesson at the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School in Westhoughton near Bolton where he met pupils, Lucy Howarth, six, and Will Spibey, five Stefan Rousseau/PA JAN 2015: Prime Minister David Cameron, British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband attend a Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony at Central Hall Westminster Chris Jackson/WPA Pool/Getty Images JANUARY 2015: World leaders and dignitaries, including (L-R) Taoiseach of Ireland Enda Kenny, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and British Prime Minister David Cameron attend a mass unity rally following the Paris terrorist attacks Dan Kitwood/Getty Images MAY 2014: Boris Johnson and Prime Minister David Cameron Stefan Rousseau/PA JULY 2013: British Prime Minister David Cameron and First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond celebrate during the Gentlemen's Singles Final match between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon Getty Images FEBRUARY 2013: British Prime Minister David Cameron arrives to pay his respects at a memorial for police and uniformed personnel who lost their lives in the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai AFP/Getty Images NOVEMBER 2012: Prime Minister David Cameron talking to US President Barack Obama on the telephone from his office in Downing Street Peter Macdiarmid/PA AUG 2012: Prime Minister David Cameron stands with London Mayor Boris Johnson as the Olympic cauldron is lit for the Paralympic Games in Trafalgar Square Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images MARCH 2012: U.S. President Barack Obama (L) and British Prime Minister David Cameron (R) eat a hot dog as they watch the first half at UD Arena as the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers take on the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils in the first round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament Gregory Shamus/Getty Images MAY 2011: U.S. President Barack Obama (L) and Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron play table tennis at Globe Academy in London Paul Hackett - WPA Pool/Getty Images MAY 2010: Prime Minister David Cameron (right) with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg Christopher Furlong/PA MAY 2010: Prime Minister David Cameron (middle left), leading his first cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London Andrew Winning/PA MAY 2010: The Queen greeting David Cameron at Buckingham Palace for an audience to invite him to be the next Prime Minister John Stillwell/PA MAY 2010: David Cameron and his wife Samantha meet Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell in the Cabinet Room of 10 Downing Street, London Stefan Rousseau/PA DECEMBER 2009: Leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron takes part in the Great Brook Charity in Chadlington, Oxfordshire. Andrew Parsons/Conservative Party via Getty Images APRIL 2008: Mayoral Conservative Party candidate Boris Johnson canvasses with Conservative Party leader David Cameron at a Conservative Party call centre Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images February 2007: 'Hoodie' Ryan Florence gestures a pretend 'click-bang' shooting at Tory leader David Cameron as he tours the Benchill Estate in Manchester, England. NOVEMBER 2006: Prime Minister Tony Blair talks to the leader of the Opposition David Cameron, prior to the traditional reading the State Opening of Parliament in London Alistair Grant/AFP/Getty Images APRIL 2006: David Cameron driving a dog-sled on his way to the Scott-Turner glacier on the island of Svalbard Andrew Parsons/PA FEBRUARY 2006: David Cameron and his wife, Samantha, standing outside their home in Notting Hill, west London, with their new born son, Arthur Elwen Andrew Parsons/PA OCTOBER 2005: Conservative Leadership challenger David Cameron celebrates with supporters at his constituency office in Witney, Oxfordshire Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

The Leave supporter will hope to draw support from the right of the party in the race to replace the Prime Minister, who announced his intention to quit in the wake of the EU referendum defeat.

Asked what he could do as leader that Mr Johnson could not, he told LBC Radio: "It's a question of experience, it's a question of background in all of this - which of course matters in politics - I think it's a matter of setting out a very clear stall.

"I think that we can't allow the Conservative leadership campaign to be totally dominated by the issues in the referendum.

"There are many other issues that I care very passionately about - as a doctor I care a great deal about what happens to our healthcare in this country, as a former defence secretary I care what happens to our armed forces."

Mr Crabb also sought to make a virtue of his non-privileged background.

He vowed to make curbing immigration a "red line" in Brexit negotiations if he takes the keys to Number 10 as he set out a vision to unite the deeply divided party and country following the vote to leave the EU.

The Work and Pensions Secretary, whose running mate is Business Secretary Sajid Javid, acknowledged he was the "underdog" but said the contest should not be a "two-horse race" between the "Boris/Stop Boris" candidates.

The pair positioned themselves as the "blue collar" alternatives to Old Etonian Mr Johnson.

Senior backbencher David Davis, another former leadership contender, threw his weight behind Mr Johnson.

"The biggest issue in front of us for the next several years is going to be managing Brexit, bringing about the improvement in our trade position, the control of our borders - all of those things," he told the BBC's Daily Politics.

"That needs vision, optimism, energy, drive - Boris has got them."

Mr Davis said Mr Johnson would enjoy the support of large numbers of Tory MPs: "I would be amazed if he is not already passing 100."

Additional reporting by the Press Association.
T ony Blair misrepresented Iraqs chemical weapons threat, former UN inspector Hans Blix has claimed.

In a BBC documentary to be aired tonight, it is claimed the former prime minister did not represent the reality ahead of the 2003 invasion.

Iraq: The Final Judgement interviewed former weapons inspector Mr Blix and former Labour minister Claire Short - who stepped down as international development secretary in protest at the war in 2003.

The programme comes a week before the Chilcot Inquiry into the war, and the lead up to it, is due to release its findings.

Mr Blix did not suggest the former PM acted in bad faith, adding: Many people bring themselves to believe something that they want to believe."

The Swedish diplomat and politician added: "I think Blair had a feeling that this was an evil regime and that it was a moral thing to do away with it.

"And I don't think that's an evil thought, but I think it was a presumptuous thought that the UK and the US alone should do that."

Sir John Chilcot's inquiry was set up in 2009 by then prime minister Gordon Brown after the withdrawal of the main body of British troops earlier that year.

The British presence in Iraq, named Operation Telic, resulted in the deaths of 179 service personnel.

The inquiry examined the lead up to the 2003 invasion, and the years up to the 2009 withdrawal.

The report's long-awaited publication follows 130 sessions of oral evidence, and the testimony of more than 150 witnesses.

The inquiry has analysed more than 150,000 government documents, as well as other material related to the invasion.

Giving evidence in 2010, Mr Blair said he was convinced by the intelligence reports he was receiving that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein did have weapons of mass destruction.

He acknowledged some of the reports he was given warned some of the intelligence was "sporadic and patchy", but said throughout the build-up to the invasion, advice from the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) - the UK's most senior intelligence body - was that Saddam was continuing his WMD programmes.

"It is hard to come to any other conclusion than that this person is continuing WMD programmes," he said at the time.

"When you are the prime minister and the Joint Intelligence Committee is giving you this information, you have got to rely on the people doing it, with the experience and with the commitment and integrity as they do.

"Of course now, with the benefit of hindsight, we look back on the situation differently.

He also strongly defended his claim in the Government's Iraq dossier, published in September 2002, that the intelligence had established "beyond doubt" that Iraq had WMD.

Ms Short, Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 to 2010, told Panorama that the invasion would be Mr Blair's "legacy".

She told the programme "what was known, which was very little indeed, was then exaggerated way beyond to give this imminent threat", adding; "I mean that's just dishonest. There's no question about it."

She went on: "I think he'd [Tony Blair] made up his mind to be with [George] Bush. And we were massaged and deceived to get us there when it was a manipulation of us - that is us, the parliament, the cabinet, British public opinion, American public opinion by people who were determined to take military action from the beginning."
T heresa May today vowed there would be no deals with Boris Johnson as she won heavyweight new backers for her bid to become Tory leader.

The Home Secretarys spokesman said she would rather lose the battle to succeed David Cameron than compromise by striking a bargain with her chief rival.

In a boost to Mrs May, Cabinet minister Justine Greening - one of Boriss closest friends in the battle to stop a third runway - swung behind her, hailing her professionalism and steel.

And in another coup, Justice Minister Mike Penning - a former top aide to Iain Duncan Smith and committed Brexiteer - said he would back her over Boris because she was tough and experienced.

Mrs May and Mr Johnson are set to formally declare their candidacies tomorrow shortly before nominations close.

PM resigns after Brexit

Mr Johnson looks set to have at least 100 backers - and was cheered by over 100 Leave campaign MPs at a private meeting held in Westminster.

Justine Greening praised Theresa May's professionalism and steel

It emerged that an attempt to bring the two together on a joint ticket failed when Mr Johnson was kept waiting for 20 minutes by the Home Secretary who announced she was not coming.

Mrs Mays spokeswomen declared after the incident was revealed: Theresa is in it to win it. She does not want any deals.

She would rather lose than do a deal.

Mrs May and Mr Johnson, the frontrunners, are set to declare formally tomorrow, shortly before nominations close.

Ms Greening the International Development Secretary, told the Evening Standard exclusively that although both were strong candidates, the Home Secretarys mettle in negotiations in Brussels gave her the edge.

She has the professionalism and steeliness required to look those bureaucrats in the eye and get the deal we need, she said.

Everyone knows the competence and experience she has shown as the longest serving Home Secretary in over 100 years.

It is the toughest job in government after that of Prime Minister and she has dealt with its challenges with immense professionalism.

Ms Greening said Mrs May had also opened the doors for a generation of women Tory MPs as party chairman.

As a role model she is inspirational for many people coming into politics, she said. And she had the guts to tell the Tory Party it needed to modernise. Thats real leadership.

Mr Penning, who played key roles in past leadership campaigns for right wingers IDS and John Redwood, worked with Mrs May as a minister and said: I have seen her in action and she is steadfast and tough.

The former fireman backed the Brexit campaign but said what mattered was the next PMs skill at delivering the referendum verdict. I think she has the skill and experience to do it, she said. She is tough negotiating with the Treasury and always fights her corner.

In Brussels they know her and respect her.

Environment Secretary Liz Truss, who supported the Remain campaign, came out for Mr Johnson, saying only a Leave supporter could effectively do the job.

This leadership must now come from someone who believes in, and campaigned for, leaving the EU, she said.

I do not think anyone who campaigned for us to stay in the EU would be able to secure that trust in the same way.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan appeared to be running out of time to gather enough supporters for a bid.

She told BBC radio: The essence of my campaign is that, of course we have to deal with the result from last week and the exit negotiations from the EU to get the possible deal for the British people, but we cannot have the next three and a half years until 2020 defined by just Europe.

She said there is a positive case to be made for immigration that is not often heard.

In Brussels this morning, leaders of the other 27 member states held an informal summit without Britain being allowed a chair.

David Cameron flew home early and they were expected to issue a statement demanding that Britain exit quickly.

A draft called for the UK withdrawal to be done in an orderly fashion, said any future deal must balance rights and obligations - code for no single market without cash payments and free movement.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said Europe must start listening to its citizens on issues like immigration and economic growth. We all need to wake up and smell the coffee, she said.
L ondon MP Rushanara Ali today urged Jeremy Corbyn to do the decent thing and quit as Labour leader.

The MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, who nominated Mr Corbyn for the top job last year, today called on him to step aside.

If he is the decent man I know him to be, he will do the decent thing and put our communities, our country and our party first, she said.

Ms Ali said she had backed the vote of no confidence in the embattled Labour leader. With the country in turmoil after the Brexit vote, she added: The Labour party needs strong leadership to see us through the period ahead, to hold the Government to account and to fight a possible early general election.

It is vital we repair the deep divisions in our country and help unite the many different communities, and especially those who feel particularly anxious about their future.

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However, Labours London politicians are deeply divided over Mr Corbyns fate.

Barking MP Dame Margaret Hodge was one of the two MPs who tabled the motion of no confidence.

But Islington South and Finsbury MP Emily Thornberry  the new shadow foreign secretary following more than 50 resignations from the frontbench and Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott  promoted to shadow health secretary  are among the 40 MPs still defending Mr Corbyn.

TODO: define component type apester

Left-winger Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith, has called on him to go after consulting his party activists, but Brent North MP Barry Gardiner is opposing the huge parliamentary revolt. He was made shadow energy and climate change secretary yesterday.
A leaked email to Michael Gove from his wife reveals her worries about whether Boris Johnson has enough support to be Conservative leader.

The email, obtained by Sky News, shows Sarah Vine urging her husband to get undisclosed assurances from Mr Johnson before offering any support for a leadership bid.

It said: "One simple message: You MUST have SPECIFIC from Boris OTHERWISE you cannot guarantee your support.

"The details can be worked out later on, but without that you have no leverage."

She goes on to raise worries about Mr Johnson's popularity with party members, and a "dislike" of him by Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre and publisher Rupert Murdoch.

Ms Vine wrote: "Crucially, the membership will not have the necessary reassurance to back Boris, neither will Dacre/Murdoch, who instinctively dislike Boris but trust your ability enough to support a Boris Gove ticket.

"Do not concede any ground. Be your stubborn best."

The email was sent yesterday morning and accidentally copied in to a member of the public, the channel reported.

Angry crowd shouts at Boris Johnson as he leaves his London home

A spokesman for Mr Gove told Sky News: We dont comment on private email exchanges or conversations.

Earlier today, Theresa May, seen as Mr Johnson's main rival in the race to succeed David Cameron, ruled out doing any deal with the ex-Mayor of London.
T he Chief Minister of Gibraltar has revealed he is in talks with Sadiq Khan and Nicola Sturgeon to draw up plans for protection against Brexit.

Gibraltar, Scotland and London voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU and have all raised concerns about the possible economic fall-out of leaving.

Speaking to the Gibraltar Parliament today, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo raised the prospect that the three political leaders could form a powerful alliance on the EU.

He said: "Ms Sturgeon and I have agreed that we have a common purpose in exploring possibilities which could achieve our common objectives."

Mr Picardo later added: "We have also been in close contact with the team of the Mayor of London who is seeking also to ensure that he acts to protect the interests of the City of London and all Londoners who also voted to remain in the European Union.

"I expect that we shall be doing come considerable work in the future also with the mayor's team going forward."

His comments come after Scotland's First Minister revealed she had spoken to Mr Khan about their "shared interest" in maintaining relations with the EU.

Mr Khan has also called on London to be given more powers to cope with the uncertainty of Brexit.

Sadiq Khan discusses London's part in EU negotiations

The Chief Minister earlier revealed he believes it may be possible for Gibraltar to negotiate an opt-out of Brexit.

He told the Parliament he does not want to "thwart the will of the British people", but only to ensure the needs of Gibraltarians are also asserted and that they continue to have access to the single market and the free movement of people.

And he revealed the British Government has promised Gibraltar will be fully involved in the EU renegotiations.

Mr Picardo said: "We are also perhaps most importantly able to report to the House today that Gibraltar will not just be consulted in the process of a potential negotiation to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union.

"We will actually be fully involved in the same way as the political leaders of the home nations of the United Kingdom."

The small peninsular was ceded by Spain to Britain more than 300 years ago and territorial rights to "the Rock" have been disputed.

Within hours of the EU vote being declared Spanish minsters once again tried to lay claim to the territory.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.
T ory leadership contender Stephen Crabb today took aim at Eton-educated Boris Johnson, arguing for a society where it does not matter what kind of school you went to.

The cabinet minister took a further veiled swipe at Mr Johnson, saying Welsh rugby taught him to take hold of the ball instead of waiting for it to pop out from the scrum.

The comment parodied leadership favourite Mr Johnsons previous claim he might like to be Prime Minister if the ball came loose from the scrum.

Work and Pensions Secretary Mr Crabb, who backed Remain in the referendum, also committed himself to Brexit. But he promised to set up an advisory council with the London Mayor and First Ministers of devolved assemblies to guide the process.

Mr Crabb, state-educated and raised on a council estate, said: I believe in a society where it should not matter where you were born, what kind of school you went to, what street you grew up on, or what your mum or dad did for a living.

A society that provides a fairer set of opportunities for all.

Some Tory MPs are concerned over how having another leader who went to Eton would sit with voters.

Speaking at the Royal Society of Arts, Mr Crabb positioned himself as the champion of blue-collar Conservatism by saying he is blessed to have had the upbringing he did.

He added: I was brought up to believe that I was better than no one, and no one was better than me.

PM resigns after Brexit

I was brought up to believe that no one is a self-made man or woman. We are all shaped and formed by our families and communities.

And I was brought up to understand that nothing gets handed to you on a plate.

His biggest dig at Mr Johnson centred on the ex-Mayors comment about his Downing Street ambitions. Asked in 2013 if he wanted to be PM, Mr Johnson said: Obviously, if the ball came loose from the back of a scrum, which it wont, it would be a great, great thing to have a crack at.

Delivering a stinging response, Mr Crabb said: On the rainy rugby fields of West Wales I learned that its not a question of just waiting for the ball to pop out from the back of the scrum. You go in there and you do what it takes to get hold of it.

Mr Crabbs supporters say he has the backing of 25-plus MPs so far including ministers Sajid Javid and Jeremy Wright and MPs Alun Cairns, Chloe Smith and Johnny Mercer. He has already signalled that if he wins the contest then Business Secretary Javid will be the new Chancellor.

Speaking on BBC Radio this morning, Mr Javid also sought to allay Tory grassroot concern about his backing for Remain. He said: There is no distinction any more between whether someone was a Brexiteer or a Remainer. In some ways we are all Brexiteers now.
J eremy Corbyn was today urged to resign as Labour leader rather than tear the party apart.

The emotional plea came from Labour grandee Dame Margaret Beckett as his allies prepared for a leadership battle which could see the party split in two.

Struggling to hold back tears, the ex-foreign secretary told BBC radio: When you assume leadership you have to understand that the interests of those you lead come before your own and in those interests Im afraid he should stand aside.

Dame Margaret, the former acting party leader who entered Parliament in 1974, said that never in my wildest dreams had she envisaged voting for a motion of no confidence in a Labour leader until yesterday.

As Mr Corbyn faced having to go to Prime Ministers Questions having lost the support of the vast majority of the Parliamentary Labour Party, MPs were expecting Angela Eagle or deputy leader Tom Watson to put their names forward to challenge for the leadership.

Ms Eagle, who resigned as shadow business secretary, was reported to already have the backing of 50 MPs.

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Mr Corbyn, MP for Islington North, suffered a devastating blow after MPs voted by 172 to 40 yesterday in favour of a motion of no confidence in him.

As he is unable to fill his frontbench, the Scottish National Party has asked the Speaker to declare it the official Opposition at Westminster.

But the Labour leader was expected to try to rally his supporters later today to cling onto power through popular backing among party activists, despite his isolation at Westminster.

His righthand man, shadow chancellor John McDonnell, said MPs had to play by the rules and respect the decisions of our members.

Under pressure: Jeremy Corbyn / Lucy Young

It looks as though we will have a leadership election, he said. We are all saddened that we are going through this because it is completely unnecessary and there has been some nastiness.

But there were signs that even members of Mr Corbyns inner circle may be starting to peel away from him. Labour MP Jamie Reed tweeted: Corbyn staff telling anyone whod listen yesterday that its over, they know its over and they want out. Poor Jeremy being forced to stay.

However, Dame Margaret accused some of Mr Corbyns inner circle of being so determined to keep him in place that they were prepared to see the Labour Party split.

She said: That is anathema to everybody who thinks that we need to get rid of this Government and the damage that they are doing and the further damage that an even more Right-wing Tory government would do.

After Dame Margarets appeal, Lucy Powell MP, who quit as shadow education secretary, tweeted: Heartbreaking to hear Margaret Beckett almost crying.

TODO: define component type apester

Dame Margaret, 73, who has described herself as a moron for nominating Mr Corbyn for last years Labour leadership contest, sits on the partys national executive committee.

The body could have to decide whether Mr Corbyn is automatically on the ballot paper in a new leadership contest or has to get the backing of 50 MPs to be on it. There is conflicting legal advice on this and the NEC was said to be split 50/50.
B ritains vote to leave the EU sent shockwaves across Europe and sparked a contest to replace David Cameron as Prime Minister.

His humiliating defeat led to an emotional resignation speech on the steps of Number 10 which fired the starting gun in the race for next Tory leader earlier than expected.

Britain now faces the prospect of a new Prime Minister as soon as September 9 after a contest between Conservative big-hitters.

Nominations officially open on Wednesday evening, before the party selects two candidates to vie for the support of party members in a vote.

Here are the frontrunners as it stands:

On the offensive: Theresa May speaking at the Tory party spring forum in central London on Saturday / PA

Theresa May

Home Secretary

Aged 59, the clergymans daughter went to state grammar school and Oxford, and worked at the Bank of England. As a young MP she caught the eye of diarist Alan Clark who told chums she might just be the new Maggie. Like Angela Merkel, she is tough in negotiations but weak at chit-chat.

Backers: Justine Greening, Damian Green, Mike Penning, Gavin Williamson

Leadership race: Boris Johnson is the Tory frontrunner / Lucy Young

Boris Johnson

Former Mayor of London

At 52, the Uxbridge and Ruislip South MP has become one of Britains most popular politicians wihout ever seving as a minister. Educated at Eton and Oxford, he is a successful journalist and writer, won two terms as mayor and was colourful figurehead of the Vote Leave camapign.

Backers: Liz Truss, Michael Gove, Sir Nicholas Soames, Ben Wallace, Jake Berry, James Berry

New role: Stephen Crabb / Hannah McKay/PA

Stephen Crabb

Work and Pensions Secretary

The Work and Pensions Secretary was not privately educated and grew up on a council estate. He will campaign as a champion for blue-collar conservatism.

He was Welsh Secretary, before being promoted to his current job after Iain Duncan Smiths resignation. A remainer.

Backers: Sajid Javid, Jeremy Wright, Johnny Mercer, Chloe Smith
B order officials would still not automatically stop a convicted killer entering the UK even if their criminal record was picked up, an inquest into the murder of London teenager Alice Gross heard today.

Latvian Arnis Zalkalns, who is believed to have murdered the schoolgirl, walked into Britain unchecked in 2007 despite being convicted of killing and burying his wife in Latvia.

In August 2014, Zalkalns killed Alice and dumped her in the river Brent in Hanwell, weighed down with bricks and logs.

The 14-year-olds body was discovered on September 30. She had died from compression asphyxia.

Zalkalns, 41, was found hanged nearby in Boston Manor Park on October 4.

Police said he would have been charged with Alices murder had he been alive.

Home Office official David Cheesman told the inquest at the Royal Courts of Justice today that unless someone was on a watch list or there was specific intelligence information flagging them up they could gain entry to the UK without a criminal records check.

Even if their record was picked up they would not be guaranteed to be deported or refused entry, he admitted.

The family's lawyer Rajeev Thacker asked Mr Cheesman under cross examination: "If you don't get the information from the EU country the only check you make is when he murders someone else?"

Mr Cheesman replied: "That sometimes happens."

On the current situation he said: Someone with a murder conviction would be considered for deportation... I could not guarantee that just because you had a murder conviction you would be deported or refused entry (to the UK).

The official said there was not such a robust process in 2007 and that the likelihood would be that Zalkalns past criminal record would have caught up with him if he had come to the UK in 2016.

He said: We work with proactive information, its information we put on the warnings index. We encourage police to work with immigration officers.

Mr Cheesman said that 95 per cent of EU nationals were subject to a criminal records check if they were arrested on suspicion of committing an offence in the UK.

Zalkalns was convicted of murdering his wife and burying her body and had served a prison term in Lativia.

He was arrested in 2009 in west London for an alleged sexual assault but was not checked for an international criminal record because then it was not, unlike now, required of police. He was not charged.

Mr Cheesman said that systems of monitoring EU citizens had improved and he hoped that Britains exit from the EU would not affect that.

He said: I hope we can still work closely with our neighbours.

The inquest heard that of the millions of people entering the UK from the EU, hundreds had been subject to proactive criminal records checks.

In 2006 there were 23 criminal records checks requested by UK officials on Latvian nationals. In 2015 the number was 2,807, Mr Cheesman told the inquest.

Alices mother Rosalind Hodgkiss has demanded to know why Zalkalns was allowed into the UK unmonitored.

The inquest continues.
A n air hostess has claimed she was made to feel like a prostitute when she was asked to wear high heels and make-up at work.

Ruth Campion claimed at an MPs' inquiry into dress codes at work that she was required by British Airways to look sexy during her two year stint with the airline.

She said at the hearing yesterday: For an employer to tell me that I need to do that in order for the business to have a certain image, it made me akin to being prostituted.

Miss Campion said she felt dehumanised and humiliated... to be made to specifically wear items of uniform that sexualised my appearance or enhanced my sexuality.

The inquiry was set up after agency worker Nicola Thorp, 27, arrived for work at the office of a City accountancy firm in flat shoes and was sent home when she refused to wear stilettos.

Her petition calling for a legal ban on forcing women to wear high heels at work attracted more than 10,000 signatures.
S panish prime minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed to oppose any attempts by Scotland to stay in the EU as the rest of Britain leaves, insisting that Brussels must negotiate only with the UK Government.

Mr Rajoy made his comments as Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited Brussels on a mission to set out Scotland's position following last week's referendum, in which voters north of the border overwhelmingly backed continued EU membership.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, who is meeting Ms Sturgeon, said that Scotland had "won a right to be heard" in Brussels.

However, he poured cold water on Scottish hopes of separate negotiations, saying that neither he nor European Council president Donald Tusk would interfere in internal British politics.

Jean-Claude Juncker: 'Scotland won the right to be heard in Brussels'

"I will listen carefully to what the First Minister will tell me, but we don't have the intention - neither Donald nor myself - to interfere in the British process," said the Commission president. "That is not our duty and not our job."

Madrid has been a vocal opponent of Scottish independence because of the pressure it is facing from separatists in Catalonia.

And Mr Rajoy made clear that he would seek to block any special treatment for Scotland, telling a press conference at the conclusion of this week's European Council summit: "If the United Kingdom leaves, so does Scotland.

"Scotland has no competences to negotiate with the EU. The Spanish government rejects any negotiation with anyone other than the United Kingdom."

The First Minister's visit comes after MSPs voted to give her a "mandate" to hold discussions with EU institutions as well as the UK Government and other devolved nations.

Brussels meeting: Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon / AFP/Getty

Ms Sturgeon has said that "everything must be on the table to protect Scotland's place in Europe" after the UK voted to leave the EU while a large majority of Scots voted to stay.

Following talks with European Parliament president Martin Schulz, she made clear plans remain at a "very early stage" and that her visit was primarily intended to ensure Brussels is aware of Scotland's position in the wake of last Thursday's UK-wide vote for Brexit.

Sturgeon: Scotland like London voted to Remain

"We are at a very early stage of this process. I've set out very clearly Scotland's desire to protect our relationship with the European Union," said Ms Sturgeon.

"I don't underestimate the challenges that lie ahead for us in seeking to find a path and this is very much an initial meeting and series of meetings in Brussels today so that people understand that Scotland, unlike other parts of the UK, doesn't want to leave the EU.

"It was very much an introductory meeting and I was grateful to the president for agreeing to see me this morning."

In the House of Commons in London, the PM brushed off a demand from the SNP's leader in Westminster, Angus Robertson, to assist Scotland in its efforts to remain a part of the EU.

Mr Cameron said that "the membership of the UK is a UK membership and that's where we should take our negotiating stance".

It was in Scotland's best interest, as well as the interest of the UK as a whole, to negotiate "the closest possible relationship" with the remaining EU following withdrawal, he said.
B ritons caught up in the suspected Islamic State suicide attacks at Istanbuls international airport told of scenes of carnage today.

Terrorists armed with bombs and assault rifles arrived in a taxi at Ataturk airport before opening fire and detonating explosives, leaving at least 36 dead and 147 injured.

The Foreign Office said it was urgently seeking further information about possible British casualties.

Briton Laurence Cameron, who entered the airport moments after one explosion, said it was like something out of a disaster movie.

Turkeys prime minister Binali Yildirim said there were foreigners among the victims and called for global co-operation in tackling terrorism.

He blamed IS fanatics for the attacks and said 36 people were dead as well as the three suicide bombers. However, a government official said the figure could rise to nearly 50.

Footage appears to show the moment one of the three bombs was detonated at Istanbul's Ataturk airport

Extraordinary footage emerged today of the moment the terrorists detonated their suicide vests as they tried to enter the crowded airport terminals.

In one scene, a gunman runs through the international arrivals terminal holding an assault rifle before apparently being shot by a police officer.

The officer then approaches the stricken gunman before seeing his suicide vest. He runs for his life moments before the terrorist detonates his bomb.

Another airport surveillance video posted on social media showed the moment of one blast, a huge ball of fire, and passengers fleeing in terror.

Police on patrol at the scene where dozens of people died / Osman Orsal/Reuters

Today Britons described the shocking scenes at the airport, Europes third busiest. Laurence Cameron told Good Morning Britain: It was just a sea of people, screaming, running towards me. I initially thought it was a hoax or something. It became apparent quite quickly that something was wrong.

All the passport desks had been abandoned, police were everywhere, guns drawn... it was chaos.

Heather Nelson, from Bolton, who flew in from Manchester soon after the attack, said they were on a bus to the terminal when it was stopped and passengers were returned to their plane.

She said : No-one knew what had happened. Someone said there had been a minor attack and everyone got sent back to their planes.

She said eventually passengers were allowed into the airport. It was quite intense. There was glass smashed everywhere and when you got to where the bomb happened you could see the ceiling had come in, it was a very, very strong bomb.

As we were walking through the airport you could see there was blood on the floor. They were cleaning up blood everywhere, it as shocking to see. It was like a movie.

CCTV appears to show the moment one of the attackers was shot by police before detonating his suicide vest

She described how here plane was delayed for half an hour on the flight from Manchester. God forbid if we had been in the airport half an hour before. I am just grateful that it was late.

Turkish officials said two of the attackers detonated explosives at the entrance of the terminal after police fired at them, while the third blew himself up in the car park.

The official claimed none of the attackers managed to get past security checks at the terminals entrance.

One report said the terrorists were trying to pass through X-ray machines at 9.50pm local time last night when they were stopped by Turkish security officials. When they began shooting with AK-47 rifles, the officers returned fire.

Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions.

We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off, Mr Roos said. There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a handgun.

One Ukrainian and one Iranian citizen were among those killed while Saudi media reported that among those hurt were seven Saudis, who were in good condition.

Istanbul airport attack 1 /13 Istanbul airport attack Passengers embrace each other at the entrance to Istanbul's Ataturk airport Emrah Gurel/AP People assist a mother who lost a relative, outside a forensic medicine building close to Istanbul's airport Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images Turkish security officers and ambulances gather outside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, after it was hit by a suicide bomb attack Mehmet Ali Poyraz/Getty Images Police officers patrol at Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, following a suicide bomb blast Osman Orsal/Reuters Passengers sleep outside of Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk after the suicide bomb attack Mehmet Ali Poyraz/Getty Images People react as they wait for the victims' bodies at the forensic morgue in Istanbul Deniz Toprak/EPA A Turkish police officer secures the entrance of the Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk after the suicide bomb attack Gokhan Tan/Getty Images People react as they wait for the victims' bodies at the forensic morgue in Istanbul Deniz Toprak/EPA Members of a flight crew leave Istanbul's Ataturk airport Emrah Gurel/AP Paramedics help casualties outside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following a blast Reuters

Officials and senior police officers in the UK were holding urgent talks today to review security at British airports.

Turkeys prime minister said the attackers arrived at the airport in a taxi and blew themselves up after opening fire. Asked whether a fourth attacker might have escaped, he said authorities had no such assessment but were considering every possibility.

The attacks are the latest of several bombings by Islamic State and Kurdish rebels to strike Turkey in recent months. The incidents have increased in scale and frequency, scaring off tourists and hurting the Turkish economy, which relies heavily on tourism.

As many as 2.5 million Britons travel to Turkey each year, although the number of tourists is thought to have declined in recent months following the apate of attacks.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond described himself as shocked by the incident and said we stand ready to help while David Cameron described the attacks as hideous.

All flights beween the United States and Istanbul were grounded for several hours last night but the airport had re-opened by early today and all air traffic had resumed.

Mr Yildirim said initial indications suggested Islamic State was behind the attack.

Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.
D rug lord Joaquin Guzmans extradition from Mexico to the US has been suspended by a judge after his lawyer lodged appeals.

One of the appeals, which were filed in Mexico City, claims the statute of limitations has run out on some crimes of which El Chapo is accused in the US, said his lawyer Jose Rodriguez,

His defence also argues that some of the accusations against him were based on hearsay, not direct evidence.

Mr Rodriguez predicted it could take as long as three years to resolve the appeals. Mexico ruled in May that the extradition could go forward after the US guaranteed Guzman would not face the death penalty.

Mexico has abolished capital punishment and does not extradite its citizens if they face possible execution. Guzman was arrested in January after almost six months on the run following his escape from a top-security prison via a mile-long tunnel from his shower.

He had also escaped in 2001 and re- mained one of the worlds most wanted fugitives till being recaptured in 2014.

Guzman faces drug trafficking and other charges from seven US federal prosecutors. In Texas he is wanted for drug offences, money-laundering, arms possession and murder.
T hree suicide bombers stormed an airport in Turkey and sprayed gunfire into crowds of terrified passengers before blowing themselves up, killing scores of people.

Officials fear up to 50 people died in the attack at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport shortly before 8pm UK time on Tuesday. Thirty-six are confirmed to have died so far, with 147 people injured.

The UK Foreign Office said it was urgently seeking further information about possible British casualties as footage emerged appearing to show the moment a hero police officer shot dead one of the suspected Islamic State radicals in the attack

It shows holidaymakers running for their lives as the marauding attacker moves around the Turkish airport, before falling to the ground after being shot.

CCTV appears to show the moment one of the attackers was shot by police before detonating his suicide vest

The officer approaches the injured gunman as he writhes on the ground of the international arrivals terminal.

Emergency services pack the scene of the terror strike as forensic work begins / AFP/Getty

Moments later he is seen running for his life before the attacker appears to detonate a suicide vest and the screen goes blank.

Turkey's prime minister Binali Yildirim said it was a "heinous planned attack" and claimed foreigners were among the victims.

A wounded woman outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport / AP

A total of three bombs were detonated in the attack at the major airport terminal.

Mr Yildirim added it appeared IS (also known as Daesh) was behind the terror strike.

He said: "The findings of our security forces point at the Daesh organisation as the perpetrators of this terror attack.

A discarded weapon lies on the floor inside the airport after the attack / Reuters

Eyewitness Will Carter who was inside the terminal, said he heard explosions as the attack was carried out. Speaking to Radio 5Live he said: "I saw a fireball and some of the ceiling came down - just before there was panic and people running."

Ali Tekin, who was at the arrivals hall waiting for a guest, described the roof coming down after an "extremely loud" explosion.

"Inside the airport it is terrible, you can't recognise it, the damage is big," Tekin said.

A woman named Duygu, who was at passport control after arriving from Germany, said she threw herself to the floor after the explosion.

She said: "Everyone started running away. Everywhere was covered with blood and body parts. I saw bullet holes on the doors.

Relatives of victims wait outside a nearby hospital for news about their loved ones / Getty

Paul Roos, 77, said he saw one of the attackers "randomly shooting" in the departures hall from about 50 metres away.

"He was wearing all black. His face was not masked," said Roos, a South African on his way home after a holiday in southern Turkey.

A man photographs broken glass at the airport / Reuters

"We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Roos told Reuters.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron described the terrorist attack as "hideous".

Mr Cameron, in Brussels for what is likely to be his final EU summit meeting with fellow leaders, said the UK would continue to work with the other countries after Brexit on "keeping our countries safe, keeping our people safe - and it's particularly important to say that tonight again when there has been another hideous terrorist attack in Turkey".

Scenes of carnage at the entrance to the international airport / Reuters

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are in close contact with authorities in Istanbul and urgently seeking further information following an incident at Ataturk Airport.

"Our staff in Istanbul and London stand ready to support any British nationals affected."

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack, which took place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, "shows that terrorism strikes with no regard to faith and values".

Flights in and out of the airport, which is one of the busiest in the world, were suspended after the attack but Mr Yildirim said air traffic had now resumed.

Turkey has suffered several deadly attacks in recent months which have been blamed on Kurdish separatists or IS.

Several of the bombings targeted areas popular with tourists while another attack on a military barracks in Ankara killed 28 people.

The latest attack comes just months after Brussels was hit by suicide bombings at the airport and on the Metro.

IS claimed responsibility for the attacks on March 22, which killed 32 and wounded another 270.
T he leader of Belgium has posted an emotional message of solidarity with Istanbul after the city was rocked by a Brussels-style terror attack on its airport.

Up to 50 people were killed and 147 injured when three suicide bombers stormed the capital citys Ataturk airport on Tuesday evening and sprayed gunfire into crowds of terrified passengers before blowing themselves up.

Turkeys prime minister said authorities suspected Islamic State radicals were behind the terror strike, which comes three months after a similar attack on Brussels airport and Metro network in which 32 people were killed by a series of blasts.

Today Belgiums prime minister Charles Michel paid tribute to the victims of Europes latest apparent terror attack.

He posted on Twitter: Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul's airport. We condemn these atrocious acts of violence #Istanbul.

After Brussels was targeted on March 22 by IS militants, Mr Michel told the press: What we feared has happened.

Our country and citizens have been hit by a terrorist attack, in a violent and cowardly way.

I would like to stress that in this tragic and dark moment for our country, I call for calm and solidarity.
I n just over two weeks, the first episode of The Grand Tour is set to shoot in Johannesburg  and ticket applications are now open.

A live Facebook broadcast saw Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond invite fans to apply for a space, with just 250 available.

Clarkson joked about requirements to join them in South Africa, saying no to Peugeot drivers, morons, and people who breathe through their mouths.

Wed love to see you there, we really would, enthused Hammond, as Clarkson chipped in: Unless youve got a Peugeot [] or if youre a moron.

Arguing with Hammond, Clarkson reasoned: Weve only got space for 250 people in that tent, and we dont want any of them to be morons.

While Hammond invited the riff-raff to please come along, Clarkson said: If you breathe through your mouth, dont come.

Top Gear: Clarkson's last episode - in pictures 1 /9 Top Gear: Clarkson's last episode - in pictures Clarkson, Hammond and May bbc James May and Richard Hammond present their final episode Ellis O'Brien/BBC/PA Wire The trio of presenters star in footage shot before Clarkson's departure Ellis O'Brien/BBC/PA Wire What would a Top Gear special be without caravans? Ellis O'Brien/BBC/PA Wire Hammond, Clarkson and May BBC Hammond, May and Clarkson Ellis O'Brien/BBC/PA Wire Car trouble BBC

The first show will shoot on July 17, and will be the first of 12 locations where the former Top Gear trios filming tent will be heading.

Applications for tickets are open now at applausestore.com

The series is due to arrive on Amazon Prime this Autumn.
T he 24 franchise was set to rumble on without Jack Bauer in new spin-off series 24: Legacy.

However, it seems the iconic character could be back in the forthcoming show.

Legacy will feature Straight Outta Compton star Corey Hawkins as new lead character Eric Carter, in a 12-episode series.

However, it sounds like Kiefer Sutherland could be making a return as Jack Bauer after all.

Speaking to Empire Magazine, producer Howard Gordon said: Our intention is definitely to bring some of the old people into this story, up to and including Kiefer, once this show gets its legs.

Sutherland is a producer on the new series, and it seems like he could be set to appear in guest slots on the show once it gets going.

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

A synopsis for the spin-off promises another anti-terrorist plot in the same vein as the classic action series: 24: LEGACY chronicles an adrenaline-fueled race against the clock to stop a devastating terrorist attack on United States soil  in the same real-time format that has propelled this genre-defining series.

Sutherland last appeared as Jack Bauer in 24: Live Another Day, a 12-hour miniseries which saw the character thwart a terrorist attack in London.

24: Legacy is due to debut in the US on February 5, 2017. A UK airdate has not yet been announced.
Michelle Obama Promotes Learning to Empower Moroccan Girls

Contact: K.Drawi, 240-994-2476ROCKVILLE, Md., June 28, 2016 / Standard Newswire / -- U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama arrived in Morocco on Monday night as part of a tour to promote "Let Girls Learn," a US initiative aimed at helping adolescent girls around the world get the education they may otherwise be denied.Upon arrival in Marrakesh, Mrs. Obama, who was accompanied by her daughters Malia and Sasha and her mother, Marian Robinson was greeted by Princess Lalla Salma, spouse of King Mohammed VI.On Tuesday, Michelle Obama participated, in Marrakech, in an exchange with adolescents on the issue of education and girls schooling.This meeting was also attended by famous American actress Meryl Streep, very active for the access of girls to education, and Indian actress Freida Pinto, who advocates for girls' right to education in the world."I'm looking forward to adding more voices to this conversation," the First Lady said to the group of young women."We need every one of our citizens, boys and girls, to be empowered," Michelle pointed out.She added that 62 million girls worldwide do not have access to education for an array of reasons, from lack of resources to cultural norms.The First Lady's travel to Morocco highlights the commitments made by the Government of the United States through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the Kingdom of Morocco to help adolescents in Morocco to continue their studies and not to leave school.The "Let Girls Learn" initiative, launched in March 2015 by President Barack Obama and his spouse, is to be extended to Morocco, the White House announced Tuesday.The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) also announced during Mrs. Obama's trip to Morocco the allocation of $100 million to be spent on 100,000 Moroccan students, half of whom will be teenage girls. The funds come from $450 million given by the MCC last year to boost education and employability in Morocco.
Last week, a posting on the Star-Herald Facebook page gathered 101 comments, 297 shares and reached more than 34,000 people. In a nice turn of events, the post wasnt about a local court case, accident or other horrific event.

People were paying homage to Scottys Drive-In, leaving their favorite memories as the local business celebrates 53 years.

There are lots of stories of visits to Scottys being a favorite stopping point on trips to town. High school and college kids who liked to hang out at the restaurant and liked the cheap prices (79 cents for a fish sandwich in 1967-1969, one poster says.)

A celebration was planned for Tuesday night at the business by Allen Haun, the third owner of the business, which continues to be a local favorite for many people.

I grew up in Kimball, so I have memories of our own local haunts. Whenever driving through Kimball, I have to stop at the local Dairy Queen to get a Hickory Burger, a sloppy joe-like burger that I like with cheese. Its a little like Scottys Tastee Tavern, which I just recently tried.

As a young kid, my siblings and I would ride our bikes down to the Dairy Queen, where wed get a soft serve cone with jimmies (some people call them sprinkles, but they were jimmies at DQ). Sometimes, the trips werent parent-sanctioned, but wed have compiled every little bit of change wed collected from random places to be able to buy a cone. As a teenager, my group of friends would regularly stop for an order of fries and a float while cruising. As an adult, Id take my little one and wed enjoy a Hickory Burger and a Dilly Bar. The store was one of the last that I went to where they actually made the Dilly Bars. Now, you go into a Dairy Queen and they are pre-packaged. Its not the same, though I understand the convenience.

An effort is also underway to revive the local movie theater in Kimball, The Goodhand Theatre. I viewed many a movie there and noticed from pictures that it looks different, but Im glad that others will also enjoy making memories there.

This summer, Im hoping to recapture some old memories. My husband and I are planning a trip to a Wyoming tourist destination I remember fondly as a kid. I recently saw a posting from a friend about a Fort Collins, Colorado, drive-in and that sounds like a fun activity for a summer evening. I havent been to a drive-in movie since I was a young kid, able to hide under the blanket in the back of the station wagon.

Summertime is the perfect time to add to some summer memories, reacquainting with old ones and trying out some new ones.
The Brexit vote has been a topic of conversation in my home for several months. While my husband, Paul, who is from England, always thought the vote would be close, he never thought the United Kingdom (UK) would vote to leave the European Union (EU).

Brexit, or British exit, was put to a vote in a referendum on June 23. Voters chose to Leave or Remain, but too many were uninformed about what leaving actually meant.

Two days after the vote, more than three million people signed a petition demanding a re-vote. Only 100,000 were needed to trigger a debate on the issue in Parliament.

People regretted their decision and wanted to take their vote back. Many voted Leave as a protest. They assumed most votes would go to Remain. They didnt understand what leaving meant. In the day after the vote, Google recorded the two most common searches in the UK were What is the EU? and What happens if we leave the EU? Those searches should have been done before the vote, not after when buyers remorse set in.

Theyre stupid, arent they? They should have thought through the consequences of their vote, Paul said. Thats what everyone is starting to realize  theres consequences to their vote.

Scotland voted to remain, but they could be pulled out of the EU against their will. Nicola Sturgeon, leader of Scotlands government, said its democratically unacceptable. She wants to find a way for Scotland to remain. Thats never been done before.

You cant have half the country in and half out, Paul said.

Members of the Labour party have talked about ignoring the vote. The Liberal Democrats said they might fight in the next general election to keep the UK in the EU.

In Northern Ireland, who also voted Remain, Sinn Fein asked for a referendum for the reunification of Ireland. Treaties between North Ireland and the Republic of Ireland also require border checkpoints to be instituted if the UK leaves. No one knows if that will actually happen.

Thousands of people in Northern Ireland plan to apply for Republic of Ireland passports. British retirees in the EU dont know if they can stay. Immigrants in the UK, who moved due to the free movement of labor, dont know if theyll be kicked out.

Pro-EU protests are happening every day in London and Scotland. Some say London should declare independence and join the EU.

Ive never seen disarray like this in British politics, Paul said.

The UK will need to negotiate new trade deals. They havent employed trade negotiators for 40 years because the EU did it. The EU has been working on a single trade deal with China for the last 10 years, involving 500 civil servants across several countries. Thats one trade deal.

If the British insist on going ahead on this stupidity and need trade negotiators, I am, of course, available, Paul said.

Members of the Leave campaign have admitted facts they used werent accurate. They purposely fed people lies. Those people chose to not fact-check that information and believed whatever the politicians told them. At a contentious meeting of the EU Parliament on Tuesday, the UK was accused of using Nazi propaganda and lies to sway voters.

Cornwall, which voted to Leave, receives 60 million ($80 million) a year from the EU. Within a day of the vote, the Cornish council asked the UK government if they could still get their money.

Its absolute hypocrisy, Paul said. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

Journalists warn there needs to be 25-30 pieces of new legislation each year to untangle the UK from EU laws and regulations. The government would need to decide what regulations they want to keep or modify. It would have to enact swathes of new law, which would take at least 10 years.

These Brexiters had no clue what they were doing, Paul said.

France, who has been doing all the work at Calais to keep illegal immigrants out of the tunnel between France and the UK, have indicated they may stop trying and let the UK deal with the problem.

Article 50, the legal mechanism in the Lisbon Treaty to trigger a member state to leave the EU, takes two years to complete. EU members want it invoked it as soon as possible, in part because of leadership changes in 2019 and they dont want to be dealing with both at the same time.

During a special broadcast of the BBCs Newsnight, the hosts spoke to people who voted Leave. They wanted to regain sovereignty, control their borders and control immigration. One man interviewed said, Its not a racist thing. Were full.

Yeah, its a racist thing.

America should take heed to whats happening in the UK. Actions have consequences. Voting is a responsibility. Its your job to know all sides of an issue before you cast your vote.

Ive never been ashamed to call myself British before now, Paul said. Remember that when you choose a candidate this November.
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President Yoon Suk-yeol said Thursday that the justice ministry's decision to lower the age of by one year to 13 was intended to reflect the global trend. The ministry announced...
Wednesday, 29 June 2016 16:58:12 (GMT+3) | Istanbul

Australian iron ore miner Atlas Iron has stated that it welcomes the announcement on the extension of reduced port charges by the West Australian government. The reduced port charges announced by the government in 2015 have now been extended for another 12 months until June 30, 2017.

Accordingly, junior iron ore miners, including Atlas , exporting through the Utah Point port facility at Port Hedland, will continue to receive a $2.50/mt discount from Stockyard 1 and a $1.73/mt discount from Stockyard 2 until June 30, 2017.
Tuesday, 28 June 2016 23:56:22 (GMT+3) |

Automotive supplier Edscha, which is part of the Spanish Gestamp Group since 2010, has laid the cornerstone of its new Mexican plant in the city of San Luis Potosi , the company said.





Edschas first location in Mexico is expected to start-up production by December this year. The first machines are expected to be installed by September this year. The plant is Gestamp Groups sixth plant in the country.





According to Edscha, the Mexican plant will manufacture the companys entire product range for numerous international automakers.





Edscha said the first products will be door hinges, door checks, liftgate hinges and hood hinges, with and without pedestrian protection systems.





Later on, the local production of Powered Systems for automatic opening and closing of rear lids and liftgates is also planned, it said.





The automotive supplier said that as a next step machinery will include machines and equipment for processing rolled parts and forged parts, and later on for the assembly of plastic parts.





The Mexican plant will occupy 3,800 square meters and employ some 60 workers. Edscha should the expand the facility as much as 10,000 square meters and add some more 300 employees during the coming years.








Tuesday, 28 June 2016 23:53:51 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo

Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN), a competitor and also a minor shareholder at flats steelmaker Usiminas , has questioned the companys capital increase as well as some other companys decisions in an open letter published at a major Brazilian newspaper this week.





According to CSN, the recently approved BRL 1 billion capital increase, seen by investors as needed to aid the struggling flats steelmaker, has a potential to diminish the power of minor shareholders. In addition to the claim, CSN said MUSA, Usiminas  mining arm, had enough money to aid Usiminas , which was running out of cash by the time it sought the capital injection.





CSN said MUSA avoided distributing its revenues among Usiminas  shareholders, a claim from CSN and other shareholders, and has then kept the money for itself. Usiminas is said to be negotiating with Sumitomo, which has a 30 percent stake in MUSA, for access to the money.





In the open letter, CSN has also criticized the contracts Usiminas has signed with its co-related companies, such as Nippon Steel, a major shareholder in Usiminas . CSN said the contracts reach up to BRL 20 billion, however, Usiminas  document filings at the nations securities exchange commission, CVM, show a lower amount.





CSN said Terniums participation in Usiminas in 2010 has been one of the major affronts to the rights of the minor shareholders committed so far in the Brazilian capital market.





CSN also questioned the shutdown of Usiminas  Cubatao mill, in the city of same name in the state of Sao Paulo as well as the dismissal of 2,000 workers from the mill.





CSN noted that it doesnt make sense that Cubatao doesnt fit for Usiminas , but it fits Ternium, which is said to be interested in the asset in a potential split of Usiminas  assets.





CSN also questioned the fact that Ternium and Nippon Steel fight in Brazil but are holding hands in other countries, such as Mexico, where they co-own Tenigal.





This capital increase will make it easier [for the shareholders] to split Usiminas , the CSN letter argued, while the minority shareholders watch stupefied the companys degradation.








Gujarat, India -based steelmaker Essar Steel has announced that in the financial year 2015-16 ended March 31, the sales volume at its Pune facility in Maharashtra increased by 71 percent to 462,000 mt, while its revenues rose by 45 percent to INR 20.7 billion ($306.55 million), both compared to the previous year.
Wednesday, 29 June 2016 10:33:21 (GMT+3) | Shanghai

As of June 27, inventory of iron ore at 33 major Chinese ports amounted to 93.85 million mt, up 820,000 mt or 0.88 percent compared to the inventory level recorded on June 20, as announced by China 's Xinhua News Agency.





In the given week, imported iron ore prices in China indicated an overall slight upward movement. In the first part of the given week, imported iron ore prices moved on a rising trend due to increases in iron ore futures prices and overall transaction activity was better than in the previous week. However, towards the latter part of the week, traders mostly maintained a cautious stance towards the iron ore market against the background of the UK's vote to leave the European Union and so transaction activities slackened a little.




Indian steel giant Tata Steel is planning to invest hundreds of millions of euro to the modernization of its IJmuiden steelworks in the Netherlands , according to Dutch media sources. The company is also considering other possible efficiency measures.
Although US import rebar prices to the US from Turkey are stable this week, sources say the neutral trend doesnt necessarily represent a price bottom. A more realistic description of the market is that Turkish rebar is currently caught between two diverging trends: slight rises in Chinese billet prices combined with low domestic activity. Traders tell SteelOrbis that Turkish mills will likely push for higher prices once the market resumes from the end-of-Ramadan holidays, but for now they are stuck.
By MARK EVANS mevans@stegenherald.com Bloomsdale will probably host a major fireworks display. The pyrotechnics will not take place until 2024, however. During the Oct. 12 board of aldermen meeting, Kevin Wehner and city officials again discussed the possibility of a July 4 fireworks display at the youth soccer fields on land leased by the city
Six counties have asked the Government for aid to the tune of nearly 100 million lei to clear after the recent floods, Government Spokesman Liviu Iolu said Wednesday at the Government House.

"There are six counties having so far submitted full applications for nearly 100-million-leu worth of aid - Buzau, Caras-Severin, Prahova, Sibiu, Valcea and Vrancea. There are also four counties having submitted incomplete or faulty applications - Alba, Constanta, Suceava and Vaslui. The county of Caras-Severin has informed it will update its initial application to include severe calamities of June 28," said Iolu.

He added that Deputy PM Vasile Dincu on Wednesday called on the local administrations to file in due course the applications requested for aid to retrieve flood damage. Iolu said the applications submitted to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration have to comprise only the amounts needed for the recovery of flood-stricken infrastructure components. "Applications for the recovery of river banks have been submitted to the Ministry of the Environment, Waters and Forestry, the Romanian National Waters Administration, and the Environment Ministry has already made a damage assessment," said Iolu.

He added that the local administrations have requested the Interior Ministry to make available construction materials from the Government's reserves. He said on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, more than 3,000 firefighters, gendarmes and police officers joined local authorities in protecting the people.

Agerpres
The state-funded Missouri Technology Corp. has announced investments totaling $1.2 million in six early-stage companies with a presence in the St. Louis area.

The six, all of which also raised money from private investors, are among 12 firms that got state funding Wednesday. The others are in Columbia, Kansas City, Joplin and Springfield.

The St. Louis area investments are:

$300,000 in FinLocker, a financial technology company in Clayton that aims to automate the processing of loan applications.

a financial technology company in Clayton that aims to automate the processing of loan applications. $275,000 in Sparo Labs, a St. Louis maker of a device to help asthma patients monitor their lung function.

a St. Louis maker of a device to help asthma patients monitor their lung function. $250,000 in Holganix, an organic fertilizer company. It was founded in Pennsylvania and established an office in Creve Coeur after joining the Yield Lab accelerator program last year.

an organic fertilizer company. It was founded in Pennsylvania and established an office in Creve Coeur after joining the accelerator program last year. $200,000 in BodiTrak Sports, maker of a pressure-sensitive mat designed to help golfers and other athletes with their mechanics. BodiTrak moved its headquarters to St. Louis in February from the Canadian city of Winnipeg.

maker of a pressure-sensitive mat designed to help golfers and other athletes with their mechanics. BodiTrak moved its headquarters to St. Louis in February from the Canadian city of Winnipeg. $100,000 in Janus Choice, which helps patients and their families choose skilled nursing facilities.

which helps patients and their families choose skilled nursing facilities. $75,000 in SanusEO, creator of text-messaging programs that help patients manage chronic diseases.

MTC has invested in 91 Missouri companies since 2011. The Legislature has increased its funding from $2.1 million in 2011 to $18 million this year.

The state budget for fiscal 2017, which starts Friday, allocates $22.9 million to MTC. That includes $10 million for direct investments in companies, along with funding for research and for entrepreneurial support programs such as Arch Grants and the Information Technology Entrepreneur Network.
Updated at 5:30 p.m.

NEW YORK  The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined Mississippi-based BancorpSouth $10.6 million, alleging the bank deliberately discriminated against minorities in its lending practices.

BancorpSouth, a medium-sized regional bank with $13.9 billion in assets and 239 branches including one in Clayton, deliberately avoided building branches in minority neighborhoods in Memphis, Tenn., from at least 2011 to 2013.

The bank also denied more loans to African-Americans and other minorities when compared to neighborhoods with smaller minority populations, the Justice Department and CFPB said Wednesday, and minorities who were approved for loans were given higher interest rates when compared to non-minorities.

While BancorpSouth is based in Tupelo, Miss., the case deals with BancorpSouths presence in Memphis and stems from a 2014 investigation into BancorpSouth by the Justice Department and CFPB.

The bank had 22 branches in the Memphis area between 2011 and 2013, all of which were located outside neighborhoods with large minority populations.

Maps provided by the regulators also showed nearly all BancorpSouths loans originated outside minority neighborhoods of Memphis as well.

BancorpSouths discrimination throughout the mortgage lending process harmed the people who were overcharged or denied their dream of homeownership based on their race, and it harmed the Memphis minority neighborhoods that were redlined and denied equal access to affordable credit, said CFPB Director Richard Cordray in prepared remarks.

BancorpSouth during this period required its employees to treat applications based upon a potential borrowers race, color and national origin. Minority applicants were to be denied loans more quickly than white applicants, and minority applicants who were considered borderline for approval were denied based on race.

In a stark example of the discriminatory culture at BancorpSouth at the time, bank employees were audio-taped using racial epithets, followed by laughter, when discussing the possibility of hiring of an African-American employee, according to the documents released by Justice Department and CFPB.

The U.S. banking industry has such a long documented history of discriminating against minorities who want to borrow to the point theres a term to describe it: redlining.

The terms stems from a time when banks would outline minority neighborhoods in red marker as places where loans were to be denied. The practice cut off entire neighborhoods to capital, and many housing experts blame redlining for why large minority neighborhoods decayed and slipped into poverty in the second half of the 20th Century.

Even decades after the Civil Rights Movement, banks are still regularly caught in redlining cases. The most recent example came in September 2015, when Hudson City Savings Bank agreed to pay $27 million to settle redlining allegations stemming from its operations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Three months before Hudson City Savings, Wisconsin-based Associated Bank agreed to finance $200 million in mortgages to minority populations to settle its redlining allegations.

If approved by the court, BancorpSouth Inc. will provide $4 million in direct loan subsidies in minority neighborhoods in Memphis, spend at least $800,000 on community programs and minority outreach, $2.78 million to African American customers who were overcharged or denied loans as well as a $3 million penalty.

In a statement, BancorpSouth said it has agreed to settle all claims against the bank and that the bank had already addressed the discriminatory practices and recently hired an executive to do outreach in minority and other neighborhoods.

BancorpSouth is dedicated to a culture of respect, diversity and inclusion in both our workplace and communities, said BancorpSouth Chairman and CEO James Rollins, in a statement. We have a longstanding commitment to equal treatment and any form of discrimination will not be tolerated.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.  A federal appeals court has ruled that a 2011 discrimination lawsuit against Springfield-based Bass Pro Shops can proceed.

The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Texas by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2011, accuses the outdoor retailer of discriminating against black and Hispanic job applicants, The Springfield News-Leader reported .

The EEOC said that in 2010, 4.3 percent of the 8,839 employees across 52 Bass Pro locations were black. Comparing that to the representation rate of black employees in the counties where the stores were located prompted the EEOC to conclude that Bass Pro "had a net shortfall of 629 Black employees in 2010."

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, on June 17, agreed with procedural decisions by the federal court in Texas, allowing the case to proceed.

Kimberly Smith-Brown, an EEOC spokeswoman, said the agency was pleased with the decision and the agency looks "forward to having the merits of this important race and national origin hiring case heard in district court."

Bass Pro, which has about 100 stores in the U.S. and Canada, including one in St. Charles, has long denied the allegations and criticized the appeals panel's decision, saying it lacks guidance for the district court on how to try the EEOC's claims without violating Bass Pro's rights.

"In response to this 'figure it out as we go along' approach, the company is considering a number of potential actions," Bass Pro's statement said.

The company also said the lawsuit "is particularly important to us because respect and fairness are essential values in our company and key components of our success. We are very proud of the fact that in an independent review conducted by Forbes, Bass Pro Shops has been voted 'One of America's Best Employers.' We emphatically deny the allegations in the litigation and are determined to see this case through to a successful resolution."
Amidst the backdrop of flattening global trade growth, Brexit and U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trumps threats to scrap international trade deals, area leaders on Tuesday unveiled a new plan to grow the St. Louis regions exports.

Yes, things have looked better for global trade. But its precisely the uncertain outlook that makes it more important for St. Louis to have its own blueprint for getting products and services abroad, said World Trade Center St. Louis Executive Director Tim Nowak.

Its not the time to put the head in the sand, Nowak said following the announcement of the new plan at Washington University on Tuesday afternoon. Its time to see the reality of the global economy and pursue it.

Coordinating the St. Louis regions organizations and companies to better take advantage of global markets will be a new entity  the St. Louis Trade Commission  housed in the World Trade Center St. Louis. The St. Louis Economic Development Partnership is on board and the St. Louis Regional Chamber has agreed to help fund the initiative over the next three years.

Much of the commissions work will focus on coordination and organization, giving entities a go-to spot for export information and data on in-demand regional products and commodities and promising foreign markets.

But the plan also calls for engaging smaller businesses in the region that may be hesitant or unaware of opportunities abroad. Specifically, the St. Louis regions startup community is a prime target, and the areas network of incubators and accelerators offer a good entryway to inform those communities about resources and organizations that can help them find customers globally.

World trade organizations used to look for domestic success before helping companies look abroad, Nowak said. But competition isnt coming from only within the U.S. anymore, and local industries shouldnt over-rely on the domestic market without looking for opportunities beyond it.

Companies now are born global, he said.

To help capture some of the startup communitys energy and put it toward exports, the plan calls for the creation of a St. Louis Export Challenge competition modeled after the Accelerate St. Louis Challenge competition. That contest gives winning startups cash prizes and access to area resources.

The export competition was seeded with a $125,000 gift from JPMorgan Chase that will fund cash prizes for small and midsize area companies. Applicants can submit business export plans through July 27 on the Accelerate St. Louis website.

The new export plan was borne out of a program facilitated by the Brookings Institutions Global Cities Initiative. St. Louis won a spot in the program last year and has spent much of the ensuing time developing the plan. Next, as part of the program, area leaders will work on a plan to attract foreign direct investment.
BRUSSELS  Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon pleaded her case in Brussels on Wednesday for Scots to stay in the EU, showing how Britain's vote to leave the bloc could splinter the United Kingdom.

But she drew a rebuff from Spain and a mixed response from European officials.

EU leaders met for the first time without Britain. Outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron flew home after briefing his 27 peers on Tuesday evening on last week's referendum defeat.

Sturgeon has said that Scotland, where voters backed staying in the EU by a near 2-1 majority, must not be dragged out of the EU against its will. She wants to negotiate directly with Brussels to protect the membership rights of Scots.

But Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, struggling to prevent the autonomous region of Catalonia from breaking away, said Madrid would oppose any EU negotiation with Scotland.

"If the United Kingdom leaves, Scotland leaves," he said after the first meeting of the 27 EU partners without a British representative.

The 27 EU leaders sent a firm message to London that there would be "no negotiations of any kind" on future trade relations until the UK officially triggers the EU treaty's exit clause.

"This should be done as quickly as possible," they said in a joint statement.

In a clear warning to Britain's Leave campaigners, added at the last minute, the 27 also said that access to Europe's prized single market "requires acceptance of all four freedoms" of movement for goods, capital, persons and services.

Leave campaigners such as former London Mayor Boris Johnson, a favorite to succeed Cameron as Conservative Party leader and prime minister, have said they want free access to the EU common market, but would retain the right to control migration.

Cameron, who campaigned to stay in the EU and announced he would step down by October after he lost last week's referendum, said on Tuesday that Britain's future relations with the bloc could hinge on its willingness to rethink free movement of workers, which he blamed for the referendum result.

SYMPATHY FOR SCOTLAND

There has been a surge in sympathy in many parts of Europe for the 5.5 million Scots, whose strong vote to stay in the EU was overridden by the English, who outnumber them 10 to one. Britain as a whole voted 52-48 percent to leave.

But countries like Spain that have dealt with regional separatism are strongly opposed to any direct EU talks with Scotland. Back in London, Cameron told Parliament negotiations had to be carried out by the United Kingdom as a whole.

European Council President Donald Tusk, the chairman of the summit of EU leaders, pointedly declined Sturgeon's request for a meeting. But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the bloc's executive, did agree to meet her.

Some EU countries called Juncker's decision to meet Sturgeon a provocation designed to raise pressure on London to give formal notice to quit. He rejected such suggestions.

"Scotland has won the right to be heard in Brussels, so I will listen carefully to what the first minister will tell me," Juncker told a news conference.

The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, met Sturgeon earlier on Wednesday. She sounded a cautious note.

"This is very much an initial meeting, a series of meetings in Brussels today, so that people understand that Scotland, unlike other parts, of the United Kingdom does not want to leave the European Union," Sturgeon said.

Officials briefed on the meeting said Sturgeon had discussed whether there was any legal way that a breakaway Scotland might somehow remain in the EU once the United Kingdom completed its so-called Brexit.

"I don't want to underestimate the challenges that lie ahead," she said. Schulz said he had "listened and learned."

EU officials stressed, as they did before Scots voted against independence in a 2014 referendum, that Scotland could not apply to join the Union until it was a sovereign state. Senior officials dismissed the notion that Scotland could take over the empty British chair at the European Council table.

Sturgeon has raised the prospect of the Scottish parliament trying to block Brexit legislation to keep the entire United Kingdom in the EU, but has also said she believes a new referendum on Scottish independence is now highly likely.

COMPLICATION

With the EU facing years of uncertainty in negotiating the withdrawal of its second-biggest economy, the Scottish factor is a complication most governments would rather avoid.

One senior EU official played down Juncker's invitation to Sturgeon, noting drily that "the president likes the regions of Europe," comparing Scotland to federal states in Germany. But some diplomats saw Juncker's move as deliberate ploy to add pressure on Cameron and his successors to speed divorce talks.

"This is a way of putting pressure on London to trigger the exit clause," a senior official in one EU government said of EU efforts to bounce London to the negotiating table, while Cameron has insisted only his successor will set the clock ticking on a two-year deadline to withdrawal.

The leaders launched a period of political reflection, with their next informal meeting set for September in Bratislava, culminating in a set of reform proposals to get a better grip on migration, bolstering security and creating jobs and growth.

Calling the EU a historic achievement of peace, prosperity and security, the 27 leaders acknowledged that "many people express dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, be it at the European or national level.

"Europeans expect us to do better when it comes to providing security, prosperity as well as hope for a better future. We need to deliver on this, in a way that unites us, not least in the interest of the young," the statement said.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called the British vote a wake-up call for Europe and said: "It's important to have this meeting of 27 because it will show the unity of the 27."

But officials said that facade of unity was punctured in the meeting by calls from Poland and the Czech Republic for the EU to do less and return more powers to national capitals. Both countries' foreign ministers have called for Juncker to step aside after the Brexit vote - a suggestion he brushed aside at his news conference.

Juncker earlier challenged Cameron's explanation of the referendum defeat, saying successive British leaders had engaged in "Brussels bashing" and should not be surprised if their citizens had believed them.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel doused any hopes that Britain might yet reverse its decision, warning after the dinner with Cameron against "wishful thinking."

While she persuaded fellow leaders to give London more time to hand in its formal notice to quit, Merkel said Britain could not drag out the process endlessly. She made clear that a new government would not be allowed to "cherry-pick" the parts of EU membership benefits that it liked.
Here are some things you need to help celebrate the Fourth of July: American flags, insect repellent and lawn chairs to watch your favorite fireworks display.

And dont forget the grenadine, cream and blue curacao.

As they always say, its not the Fourth without a fifth. And if you plan to celebrate Americas independence, there are few ways to do it better than with a cocktail (or three) that allows you to fly your favorite colors: red, white and blue.

Red? Red is easy. You can make red drinks with grenadine, cranberry juice, pomegranate juice, creme de cassis, Campari, strained strawberries, cherry juice or red wine.

White? Well, theres cream, of course. And white creme de cacao, Irish cream liqueur, other cream liqueurs such as Amarula (its made from the fruit of the marula tree), milk and even yogurt liqueur.

But blue? Well, blues a problem. There is blue curacao. And then there is Windex, which I wouldnt recommend drinking but at least the spills clean up nicely.

So I asked an expert, Chris Sanders, the bar manager at Sanctuaria Wild Tapas, to come up with some drinks to put a firecracker in your Fourth. He mixed and added, shook and strained, added a dash of this and three dashes of that and produced six summertime cocktails that were cool and refreshing and worthy of Old Glory.

Lets start with the reds. Planters Punch has been around at least since 1878, when a whimsical, rhyming recipe for it was printed in Fun magazine. Its still so popular that its one of the drinks made in competition by the International Bartenders Association.

Sanctuarias version begins with dark rum and adds to it fresh lemon juice, fresh orange juice and canned pineapple juice (it tastes good, its not too sweet and its quality is consistent, Sanders said). Grenadine and Angostura bitters add both flavor and the desired red color, with sweetness provided by homemade oleo sacchurum.

Sanders told me how to make oleo sacchurum. You might want to use orgeat, an almond syrup, instead.

The Planters Punch he made was fruity and refreshing, like Hawaiian Punch with a kick. It would be great for the Fourth or any sizzling summer day.

The other red drink Sanders poured is called a Sanctuaria Smash. It begins with a hefty pour of strong whiskey tempered by lemon juice, strawberries, basil leaves and a hit of cinnamon simple syrup. Then it is all muddled together, shaken and strained into an ice-filled glass.

Its so popular we cant even keep it in stock, Sanders said, and I can understand why. It is a beautifully balanced drink, with a bit of sweetness playing off a hint of tartness from the strawberries and a soft undertone of cinnamon beneath it all. It was my favorite of the six drinks he made.

White drinks are next, including the famous Ramos Gin Fizz, one of the more storied concoctions from New Orleans.

It is one of the most annoying drinks a bartender can make. Bartenders hate making this, Sanders said, explaining that it requires a lot of time and effort.

The drink begins with gin, fresh lemon and lime juices, simple syrup and orange flower water. An ounce of cream makes it white, and then comes the special ingredient, an egg white.

This is the part the bartenders dont like: You have to give this mixture a double shake. The first time, you shake it vigorously and at some length to make the egg white all nice and frothy. The second time, you add ice to make it cold  again, you shake it with vigor for some time.

Then you slowly pour it into a slug or two of soda water in the bottom of a glass. If done right, and if it works right, a half-inch or so of the froth will rise above the lip of the glass like a souffle.

It doesnt just look good, it tastes good: smooth, fruity and creamy. But having to go to all that trouble for a drink that could fail to rise correctly (also like a souffle) is why Sanders calls it a pressure drink.

The other white drink he made is called At the Gate, because it was first created for this years Kentucky Derby.

Its a Derby drink so it has mint, of course, in the form of mint simple syrup. This is mixed with cucumber-infused vodka, lime juice and St. Germain, the elderflower liqueur that was at the forefront of the craft-cocktail revolution.

This is more of a thirst-quencher. A little sweet, a little tart, it is just right for sipping on a porch on a hot day.

And finally, we come to the blue drinks.

The Leatherneck is a classic cocktail that I will admit I had never heard of before. Invented in the 1950s by a former Marine (hence the name, an affectionate nickname for Marines), it combines blue curacao, lime juice and whiskey  Sanctuaria uses Pendleton Canadian whiskey.

Leatherneck Yield: 1 serving

Because curacao is a liqueur from the laraha fruit, which is related to the orange, the Leatherneck has a nice citrus flavor. It also boasts a lovely color that is irresistibly blue.

The other blue cocktail is the amusingly named Tequila Mockingjay (we were trying to figure out how many cross references we can get in one drink, Sanders said).

Its tequila, lime juice, blueberry simple syrup and a couple of dashes of jalapeno tincture for a subtle kick. Basically, Sanders said, it is a blueberry margarita.

Its simple, its easy, it tastes good, he said. All of which are true. But its not quite blue. Even with the blueberry simple syrup, the color is more purple than blue  and on the red side of purple.
As they always say, it's not the Fourth without a fifth. And if you plan to celebrate America's independence, there are few ways to do it better than with a cocktail (or three) that allows you to fly your favorite colors: red, white and blue.
The court documents will say that Brian and Michelle Koon won their medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Henry D. Walden and St. Louis University.

But the trial before Circuit Court Judge Michael Noble that ended late Tuesday afternoon was about something much bigger than one doctor making a mistake, or the health care system he works for failing to monitor the drugs he delivered to his patients.

For seven days, the nations opioid-abuse epidemic was on trial.

Opioids lost.

After hearing evidence that Brian Koon, a city parks employee, had been prescribed more than 37,000 pain pills between 2008 and 2012 at levels far above those recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other experts, a jury of eight women and four men awarded $1.4 million to Koon and an additional $1.2 million for his wife.

Send a message from coast to coast that this is not going to happen anymore, pleaded attorney Tim Cronin, before the jury deliberated on punitive damages. Cronin and John Simon of the Simon Law Firm represented the Koons in the lawsuit filed two years ago.

By that time, Brian Koon had already left Waldens care. The 45-year-old mechanical maintenance worker had gone to see Walden, his primary care doctor at SLU Care, for back pain. Almost immediately, Koon found himself on an ever increasing dose of opioids, highly addictive pain medications that some experts have blamed for the rise in heroin use across the nation.

At one time, he was taking three different kinds of the narcotics prescribed by Walden: Oxycontin, Vicodin and oxycodone. He became addicted and eventually ended up in a drug rehab center. In the two years since the lawsuit was filed, Koon has tried to repair his relationship with his wife and daughter, which had been severely damaged by depression and other side effects brought on by his massive drug regimen.

The couple are in the process of a divorce. The estrangement during the time that Koon was in a zombie-like state, as one relative testified, was too much to take.

Conduct like this is what destroys families, Cronin argued.

The jury agreed.

It awarded $15 million in punitive damages against Walden and his employer.

Michelle Koon, standing next to her husband in the back row of the courtroom in the Carnahan Courthouse, wept as the verdict was read. She embraced one of the attorneys helping in the case and grasped Brians hand.

The couple declined to comment after the verdict.

Simon said he hopes the message has been sent.

Opioids, which have been dangerously overprescribed in the U.S. medical system for more than a decade, should be monitored more carefully by doctors, particularly primary care doctors who are prescribing the pills for simple maladies such as back pain.

I would hope that the verdict brings attention to this problem, Simon said.

Its a problem that wasnt in dispute in the trial. Everybody agrees theres an opioid epidemic, including Waldens attorney, Paul Venker, and all of the expert witnesses who testified in the trial.

More than one of them noted that opioid prescriptions are harder to track in Missouri, as it is the only state in the nation without a prescription drug monitoring database.

But when it comes time to assign blame for what happened to the Koons, and who caused the nations epidemic, the fingers pointed in multiple directions.

Dr. Walden is nothing like the pill-pushing doctors who define the opioid epidemic, Venker argued to the jury. Thats somewhere else.

The numbers, though, told a different story.

From 2008 to 2012, Koons average daily dose of morphine-equivalent milligrams of opioid medication rose from 49 a day to 1,555 a day. The most recently released CDC guidelines, produced as a result of an epidemic claiming more than 50 lives a day, call for no more than an average daily dose of 100 milligrams of morphine-equivalent opioid.

An expert witness for the Koons, Dr. Paul Genecin, director of Yale Health, called the doses colossal and reckless.

Those numbers werent in dispute in the trial. For the most part, neither was the fact that anything over 100 milligrams per day gets into dangerous territory.

A key piece of evidence in the case was a letter written to the Federal Drug Administration in 2012 by the Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. The letter was signed by Dr. Erik Gunderson, one of the expert witnesses for the defense.

Unfortunately, many clinicians are under the false impression that chronic opioid therapy is an evidence-based treatment for chronic non-cancer pain and that dose-related toxicities can be avoided by slow upward titration. These misperceptions lead to over-prescribing and high dose prescribing, the letter read.

The arguments in the letter could have come directly out of Cronins opening and closing arguments.

Our country is in the middle of an opioid addiction epidemic, the attorney said in his opening statements. He spouted off the numbers that are becoming well-known to anybody who has received a large bottle of powerful pain pills or noticed changes in a spouse after taking opioids for a period of time:

 More than 165,000 deaths since 1999.

 19,000 deaths a year from opioid overdoses.

 1 in 32 people prescribed more than a daily average of 200 morphine-equivalent milligrams will die.

This is a doctor problem, Cronin said. The problem starts with the doctor, and we have to do something to end it.
ST. LOUIS  A Post-Dispatch employee was carjacked on the newspaper's parking lot Tuesday night, police said.

The man, 57, was not injured.

He was getting in his car on a parking lot at North Tucker Boulevard and Martin Luther King Drive about 11 p.m. when two men approached, police said. One of the robbers said he had a weapon and told the victim to get out of his car, a 2011 Hyundai Accent.

The first robber ordered the man to get on the ground, police said. The two robbers then took the victim's wallet and drove off in his car, heading north on North Tucker Boulevard.

The car was found in East St. Louis Wednesday morning. It had been burned, police said.

The first robber was described as a black man between 20-23, about 6 feet 1 and 175 pounds, according to police. He was wearing a dark hoodie and other dark-colored clothing. Police did not have a detailed description of the second robber.
The gunman was identified as Orlando Harris, 19, a recent graduate of the school. One survivor heard him say he was 'tired of everybody' in the school and that his gun jammed at one point.
ST. LOUIS  A man whose porn problem led him to use nearly $480,000 of his Maryland Heights-based employers money to woo strippers was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison.

John David Berrett started small, his lawyer said, visiting strippers on a website that sold tokens that could be used for tips or private performances. Soon, lawyer John Dosdall said, Berrett was spending hundreds of dollars per visit.

His indictment claims he went on to spend more than $100,000 on online tokens alone. Once he found out that the website took half the womens money, he switched to PayPal, FBI Special Agent Eric Mills testified in court, spending a total of $87,000. In all he tipped the women more than 2,200 times, Mills said.

Berrett also bought a sex toy, a trampoline, new tires, clothing, an electronic piano, flowers, shoes and chocolates and paid $26,000 in college tuition, according to Mills and court documents. Berrett also flew strippers to meet him  one from Scranton, Pa., to Atlanta for breakfast and another from the Czech Republic to meet him in Europe, Mills said.

Berrett created fake invoices in 2013 and 2014 to hide his theft of the money, including invoices from fake companies that hed created, Mills said.

He also submitted his expense reports at or near deadlines, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Tihen said in court filings, forcing his manager to give them only a cursory look.

Berrett was a senior engineer and national solutions architect for World Wide Technology at the time, and had worked for the company for about 10 years. He was working from his home in Gilbert, Ariz., helping the company prepare a bid for a $427 million Department of Defense contract. He exploited the autonomy he was given to work on the bid, and his ability to schedule his own travel and training and buy training materials such as books, manuals and tutorials, prosecutors said.

But when some of Berretts expenses came in after the bid was submitted, and one was for a bribe, company executives became concerned.

They found the stripper expenses, and confronted Berrett in a conference call, WWT President Joseph Koenig testified Wednesday. Berrett initially lied, before finally admitting, Joe, I have a porn problem, Koenig testified.

The bribe turned out to be a subscription to a wine club for a Milwaukee-area woman.

Tihen asked for a sentence within the recommended guidelines of 27 to 33 months for the five felony counts of wire fraud to which Berrett pleaded guilty in March. Dosdall asked for home confinement, saying Berrett could continue to support his family and repay the money that way.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry opted for 30 months, saying that it made no sense to her that Berrett threw his life away.

Berrett must also repay the money  $100,000 to his former employer and the rest to insurance companies.
UNIVERSITY CITY  A man was in critical condition Tuesday after three armed intruders assaulted him during a robbery, police here said.

Two suspects in the armed robbery were later captured and the third was being sought, University City Police said in a press release.

The injured man was at an apartment near Briscoe Place and Olive Boulevard about 2 a.m. Tuesday visiting a woman who lives there and her boyfriend when three robbers came in through the unlocked front door, police said.

The robbers, who were armed with handguns, assaulted the man and demanded money from him, police said. The robbers took several purses and cell phones. As they fled through a rear door, a gun that one of them was holding fired. A round struck the kitchen floor.

One suspect was immediately stopped by an officer, police said, and another was caught hiding in some bushes about 5:45 a.m. with the help of a K-9 unit. A third suspect is still being sought.

The injured victim is 33 and from St. Louis, police said. He is being treated for head trauma and his condition is critical but stable.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call the University City Police Department at 314-725-2211, Ext. 8010 or Crime Stoppers at 866-371-8477.
JEFFERSON CITY  Against the backdrop of an already heated election season, another type of campaign got underway in Missouri this week.

Republicans who used their overwhelming majorities in the Legislature to push through a sweeping rewrite of state gun laws in May will be working to keep their members on board in the face of a veto message issued by Gov. Jay Nixon on June 27.

In contrast, Nixon says he will be picking his spots when it comes to trying to educate lawmakers and voters on why he thinks the proposal that would loosen gun laws needs to be killed when lawmakers reconvene on Sept. 14.

He told reporters this week he isnt planning on barnstorming the state to try and sway the Legislature to support his veto, but he likely will highlight opposition to the plan by law enforcement officials.

I dont think of it as campaigning, Nixon said.

Under Senate Bill 656, people would be able to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. Nixon argues that will make the state less safe.

To get a permit to carry a concealed firearm in Missouri, a person must complete a gun safety training class and pass a criminal background check. With a clean record and no history of mental illness, a permit must be issued by a local sheriff.

The package also included provisions for a stand your ground law in Missouri, giving people the legal right to defend themselves if they feel threatened. It added a lifetime concealed carry permit and expanded the so-called castle doctrine to allow others to defend themselves in peoples homes.

GOP leaders in the Senate and the House argued the measure is vital to protecting the lives of all Missourians.

This issue was a priority with our caucus and passed the Senate by an overwhelming vote, said Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City. I fully expect that we will override the governors veto in September when we reconvene for our annual veto session.

The sponsor of the legislation said the proposed law seeks to make life safer for Missourians.

No place is safe from the threat of terror and there are not enough law enforcement officers to be everywhere at once. We must allow law-abiding citizens to protect themselves, said Sen. Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown.

Nixon scoffed at that assertion.

People are talking about crime now as a political issue. Having guns out there without any training? How does that help? It doesnt, Nixon said. Weve got a system thats working now.

Nixons gameplan for blocking an override could include using surrogates to spread the word.

Already, Kansas City Mayor Sly James and his police chief, Darryl Forte, have gone on the record opposing the changes.

Joplin Police Chief Matt Stewart told KZRG radio that he, too, has concerns.

Whenever we get a drivers license, there are some training and things that we should have to make us better drivers. If people are going to carry a concealed weapon, I think there should be some training involved in that, just to make sure theyre safe, Stewart said.

Look for the National Rifle Association to provide a counterpoint.

In the hours after the veto was announced, the NRA signaled it was closely watching Missouri and was prepared to help the override effort.

"With this veto, Governor Nixon proves he is more concerned about scoring political points with out-of-state gun control groups than securing the safety of law-abiding Missourians, wrote Lacey Biles, director of NRA State and Local Affairs.

In comments to reporters, Nixon said his decision to veto the legislation was not a political one because he is leaving office in January at the end of his second term.

I think I have a unique and strong position because I dont stand to gain or lose anything politically or electoral-wise, Nixon said. People know me. They know Im a hunter. I own guns. I use guns. Im very comfortable around them. I never have looked at this as some sort of political game.
ALTON  Theresa Collins joined a Meals on Wheels volunteer and an Illinois state representative on a delivery in Belleville the day after Easter. Collins, associate executive director of Senior Services Plus in Alton, had a potted plant in tow, a church donation from an Easter display.

At their first stop, an 81-year-old woman burst into tears when she opened the door.

You dont know how much this means to have another living thing in my home with me, she said upon seeing the plant.

Easter was the first holiday she could remember spending alone. Her daughter had been too ill to make the 30-mile drive.

The three dropped off five frozen meals. Senior Services Plus cant afford to make more than one delivery a week.

It was like a punch in the stomach, Collins said. It really brought back to reality the importance of that program. Its more than a meal.

Illinois social service agencies have leaned on $4.8 billion in federal pass-through money to survive the states budgetless fiscal year.

But as the state enters fiscal 2017 on Friday, that funding will expire. Senior service agencies such as Senior Services Plus will be forced to rely on a combination of donations, dwindling credit and a smattering of court-decreed funding.

Come Friday, four Metro East area senior centers will close their doors, halting services to 500 seniors, according to a survey by AgeSmart Community Resources, southwest Illinois area agency on aging. If the budget impasse continues, the Metro East is expected to lose 11 senior centers by October, affecting nearly 5,000 older adults.

Seniors paid taxes for these services, and now, theres nothing for them, said Jonathan Becker, executive director of Senior Services Plus.

Consequence

of politics

The yearlong budget stalemate could potentially be solved this week, with the Legislature set to reconvene Wednesday.

But as lawmakers squabbled over concessions in Springfield, agency directors spent the past 18 months making difficult decisions about what services they can afford to offer, Becker said.

The Meals on Wheels program at Senior Services Plus, and many senior centers, has slowly dwindled. Once serving 650 seniors a daily hot meal, the program opted for frozen meals as funding became tighter. By April 2015, the agency scaled back to deliver meals to just 350 seniors; 140 ended up on a waiting list.

Nine seniors died while on the waiting list.

We have no way of knowing whether or not that would have happened with or without that meal, Collins said. But from my experience, I know that that meal could have made a difference.

Now, about 400 seniors are receiving a weekly batch of frozen meals from the agency.

One of them is William Bono, 78, who lives alone in Alton and has no reliable transportation to buy groceries. To him, Meals on Wheels is survival food.

Searching

for alternatives

Senior centers receive about one-third of their funding from the federal government, as part of the Older Americans Act. But federal money requires a state match. Without the state dollars, the centers lose about two-thirds of their normal funding.

Were just flat broke, said Derek Dickey, a member of Christian Homecare Services oversight board. This has been an emotional roller coaster for our senior citizens who have been counting on us.

For the past 18 months, the nonprofit organization in Lebanon has relied on fundraising and credit. In May, the board of directors voted to begin dissolving. The budget impasse has pushed the organization past the point of resurrection, Dickey said.

Employees received their final paychecks June 24, and the 22-year-old organization will end services on Friday, cutting off seniors from home care and transportation services, typically used to get to medical appointments, such as dialysis or cancer treatments.

Similar services that keep seniors living independently in their homes have been disappearing for the past year.

Senior Services Plus suspended its transportation program a month ago.

The Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House in East St. Louis temporarily ended its home care service in April and adult day care program in May. Seniors can still access the food pantry, but caretakers no longer have a place to take loved ones during the workday, said Christopher Coleman, executive director of the agency.

A lack of daily care services sometimes forces seniors into nursing homes, a more expensive option.

Coleman said the Neighborhood House has only managed to stay open with the help of United Way and United Methodist Women donations. They have already laid off nearly 150 employees, he said.

Senior Services Plus strives to rely as little as possible on state money. The agency is able to make money through services like daily meals at the center, and paid gym membership and personal training classes at the center. It also has plans to break ground on a new wellness center to accommodate the growing number of seniors in the area, which will also bring revenue to the agency.

But alternative revenue can only go so far.

Most agencies have only received about 50 percent of necessary funding this fiscal year, and 82 social service agencies went so far as to sue the state for unpaid services.

We have a contract with the state of Illinois, Collins said. They expect us to uphold our end, and they should too. Their end is that if we provide a quality service that we have been contracted to provide, then we will be paid.

Working through uncertainty

Legislators plan to submit a bill Wednesday that would provide $650 million to human services, state Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton, said. A bipartisan group wrote the bill, and Illinois Republicans have said the governor will sign the bill, Haine said.

Senior center directors are hopeful. But even if the state were to pass a budget tomorrow, revenue is significantly lower than in 2015, limiting state funding agencies can receive.

But a budget or stopgap appropriation would at least allow human service agencies to form concrete plans, Collins said.

It is impossible to project ahead a budget for the next fiscal year when the state that youre operating in doesnt have a budget, Collins said. To see the infrastructure of the whole social service network crumbling like it is, its really devastating.
WASHINGTON  The possibility of the historic Delta Queen again cruising the Mississippi River and its tributaries took one step closer to reality when the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday approved a plan to allow that.

The measure now goes to the Senate for full approval and would need House of Representatives concurrence and a presidential signature to become law.

Introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio and supported by Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the bill would reinstate a decades-long exemption to allow the boat to operate from its new home port of Kimmswick, in Jefferson County.

It's not a foregone conclusion. Brown and others previously tried unsuccessfully to exempt the 88-room privately owned steamboat from the 1966 safety laws barring wooden vessels from carrying more than 50 passengers overnight. Opponents of the exemption worry that the Delta Queen and other older wooden boats are potential firetraps that could put passengers at risk.

McCaskill and Blunt said the 1920s-era wooden steamboat would operate cruises out of about 80 ports. According to a joint statement by McCaskill and Blunt, the St. Louis region would get 170 new jobs and more than $36 million in annual economic impact if the plan goes through.

The Delta Queen carried three U.S. Presidents, various other dignitaries, and thousands of other passengers through the tributaries of the Mississippi River for a good part of the last century. It also served as a naval ship during World War II, and has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

The Delta Queen was exempted from federal regulations of passenger ships carrying 50 or more passengers overnight on domestic U.S. waters, but that exemption expired in 2008. The new bill would restore the exemption but also require at least 10 percent of the wooden parts of the ship to annually be modified to adhere to federal safety standards.

Blunt called the Delta Queen a national treasure and McCaskill said the potential economic benefits would allow the Delta Queen to serve as far more than an historic landmark and tourist attraction.
WASHINGTON  The Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday came out against legislation by Sen. Claire McCaskill that would shift the burden of proof from World War II veterans who claimed they were exposed to mustard gas, to the government.

The Arla Harrell Act is named after Missouri veteran who claims he was twice exposed to mustard gas at Camp Crowder in southwestern Missouri near the end of World War II.

Harrell, who cannot speak and is now confined to nursing home two hours northwest of St. Louis, is one of about 4,000 World War II veterans who were allegedly subjected to full-body exposure to mustard gas or other blistering agents, McCaskill, D-Mo., told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

She said a total of 60,000 may have been exposed, most of them in less invasive tests. Mustard was widely used in World War I, and the U.S. military ostensibly tested it in the 1940s in anticipation of it being used again.

Only about 400 World War II veterans who claim full-body exposure are still alive, McCaskill said. The VA has found proof enough to confirm benefits for just 40, she said.

McCaskill said her bill would not open up new claims, only force the VA to review rejected claims and put a new onus on the government to disprove them.

David McLenachen, the VAs deputy undersecretary for disability assistance, told senators that the VA could not support a bill that would create a presumption of full-body exposure.

Nonetheless these claims remain a high priority to VA, and we will continue to fully and sympathetically develop and adjudicate every mustard gas claim that we receive, he said.

Harrells family is continuing to appeal his rejections.

McCaskill has criticized the VA for not reaching out enough to potentially exposed veterans. She also has urged the VA and the Department of Defense to do more to determine who actually was exposed.

The VA has denied repeated Harrell claims over the last two decades that lung, skin and other health problems he says he has experienced throughout his life were related to being exposed at Camp Crowder in 1945.

The Post-Dispatch reported that McCaskills staff uncovered evidence of mustard gas vials and photos of gas chambers in Army Corps of Engineers documents about Camp Crowder.

The Post-Dispatch also uncovered other corps documents describing another soldiers eyewitness accounts of full-body mustard gas experiments similar to Harrells.

Medical records supplied by the Harrell family show that Arla Harrell had pustules on his arm and on his face  possible symptoms of mustard gas exposure  while hospitalized at Camp Crowder right after he says he was exposed. The Post-Dispatch also shared those records with the VA.

The VA again this week said it did not have proof of either Harrells exposure or even that experiments ever took place at Camp Crowder.

Camp Crowder is not among the many installations on the Department of Defenses list of former mustard gas testing sites, and DOD has confirmed that it has no record of the use of mustard gas in full-body exposure testing at that location, James Hutton, director of media relations for the VA, said in a statement to the Post-Dispatch.

There is no other evidence in the record corroborating Mr. Harrells assertion that he was exposed to mustard gas at Camp Crowder.

McCaskill said her investigators discovered that some of Harrells military records were among up to 18 million burned in a massive 1973 fire at a St. Louis archives.

The VA established a burden of proof that is insurmountable to many impacted veterans, McCaskill told the Veterans Affairs Committee, pointing out that those exposed were threatened with jail if they talked, and records of the secret tests were scant or destroyed.

Hutton said that Harrell, whose wife has drawn down most of the couples savings to keep him in a nursing home in Macon, Mo., receives VA benefits unrelated to his mustard gas claim.

But Harrells children say theyre most interested in their father receiving acknowledgement that, after 70 years, his government believes him. Thats not likely soon.

Veterans and taxpayers alike depend on VA to make fair and consistent decisions under the law, Hutton said in the statement.

While it might be expedient for VA to simply accept Mr. Harrells claim of full body exposure to mustard gas, such a decision would defy the DOD evidentiary record, and the requirements of law.
Kevin McDermott Kevin McDermott is a member of the Post-Dispatch Editorial Board. Follow Kevin McDermott 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

Missouri gubernatorial candidate Eric Greitens, a former Navy SEAL who has been running the most military-themed state-level political campaign in modern memory here, is issuing "ISIS Hunting Permits" to emphasize his toughness toward the terrorist organization.

The campaign revealed the hand-sized stickers at an event this week and is now promoting them on Twitter and in fundraising emails. It reads: "ISIS Hunting Permit; Expires: When we defeat this evil." Along the sides are printed, "No bagging limit. No tagging limit." Greitens' gubernatorial campaign logo is prominently featured.

ISIS is one of several names used to describe the terrorist organization Islamic State, a top threat in the Middle East today. And, no, it hasn't been a topic of debate in the Missouri Republican gubernatorial primary contest before now.

"Eric Greitens served in a terrorist targeting cell in Fallujah during his time in Iraq. It's just part of who he is," Campaign Manager Austin Chambers said in a written statement to the Post-Dispatch, when asked what ISIS has to do with the Missouri governor's race. He said the stickers "provided a unique way to highlight [Greitens'] experience and service."

"Clearly it worked," Chambers wrote, "because it caught your attention."

That, it did. As did the buzz-generating commercial his campaign aired earlier this month showing Greitens firing a semi-automatic rifle across a field to spark an explosion  again, apropos of nothing involving Missouri executive powers or policy-making, but it sure looked cool.

Greitens is competing for the GOP gubernatorial nomination with businessman John Brunner, former Missouri House Speaker Catherine Hanaway and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.

Though two of the candidates have military backgrounds (Brunner is an ex-Marine), Greitens is the only one playing it up  not only with the commercial and the new stickers, but with imagery all over his campaign materials showing him on duty in Iraq and offering testimonials from other soldiers.

So why all the testosterone?

It might not sound relevant to a state-level executive post, but, politically, it may actually make some sense.

First, catching the media's attention, as Greitens' campaign manager put it, is crucial for any campaign  and maybe especially so for Greitens, the only candidate in a crowded field who has never before run for public office.

Also, as a somewhat recently converted Democrat, Greitens arguably has more work to do than the other three Republicans to prove his red-meat conservative cred to GOP primary voters. The battlefield metaphors and camouflage imagery and the rest might be just the thing to pull the pin on that problem (not that we wish to give him any ideas).

The winner of the Aug. 2 Republican primary will most likely face Democratic Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster in the Nov. 8 general election.
The wife of a conservative mega-donor will join a now fully-appointed panel tasked with taking a closer look at the University of Missouri, after racial justice protests last year led lawmakers to threaten funding cuts.

House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, announced his picks for the commission Wednesday, including former Mizzou president Gary Forsee, Pamela Washington, a professor at Maryville University in St. Louis, Robert Duncan, who oversaw Mizzous research facilities in his former role as Vice Chancellor for Research, and Jeanne Sinquefield, who serves on the universitys Steering Committee and is married to multimillionaire Rex Sinquefield.

Rex Sinquefield,a St. Louis financier, has spent unprecedented millions on state-level GOP candidates and causes in Missouri, where there's no limit to campaign contributions.

The panel was proposed by Sen. Kurt Schaefer, a Columbia Republican and candidate for Attorney General, after the unrest at Mizzou last year eventually led to the resignations of two top administrators and the firing of Melissa Click, a communications professor involved in a dispute with police and reporters covering the protests.

Jeanne Sinquefield and others will round out the eight-member commission after Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, appointed four members last week: David Spence, the 2012 Republican candidate for governor, farmer Neal Bredehoeft of the Missouri Soybean Association, conservative radio host Renee Hulshof and Kansas City attorney Michael Williams.

The committee has $750,000 to review the schools structure and operations, including its diversity programs, and will submit a report to the legislature in December. The universitys response to its recommendations could be considered in higher education budget discussions next year as a way to avoid slashes to the schools state funding.

In a statement Wednesday, Richardson said he hoped the new members would provide unbiased, objective feedback on how to improve Mizzou.

Others questioned the panel's ability to be unbiased, with House Minority Leader Jake Hummel arguing the membership was selected to advance Republicans' political agenda.

The commissioners, who were solely chosen by Republican legislative leaders, include one failed GOP gubernatorial candidate, a right-wing radio talk show host who is the spouse of another failed GOP gubernatorial candidate and a person whose family essentially owns the Missouri Republican Party due to the tens of millions of dollars they have given in support of its candidates and agenda," said Hummel, a St. Louis Democrat, in a statement.

This commission is a product (of) the ongoing Republican temper tantrum over the UM System that likely wont do anything but waste $750,000 in taxpayer money.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill.  Using blunt headlines such as "Enough" and "Do Your Job," about a dozen Illinois newspapers on Wednesday ran front-page opinion pieces demanding that the state's political leaders end the year-old budget stalemate.

The (Springfield) Journal Register, the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers published the editorials as lawmakers returned to the state capitol for a one-day session before the state enters a second fiscal year Friday without a spending plan. About 50 more newspapers ran similar pieces on their opinion pages.

Newspapers seldom, if ever, coordinate stances by their opinion editors, or use their front pages for opinion pieces. But Rosanne Cheeseman, interim publisher of the Journal-Register, which coordinated the effort, said the editors hoped that speaking in unison would have a greater impact on political leaders.

"That voice becomes very, very powerful when we join together," said Cheeseman, who joined with Journal-Register Executive Editor Angie Muhs in coming up with the idea. "We've heard from others that they don't feel our governor and legislators are listening anymore."

"We don't know if our outcry will produce sanity or simply more of what we've all become accustomed to  brash, self-righteous finger pointing in a never-ending game of assigning political blame and collecting political credit. But it's a start," Jim Slusher, who is an assistant managing editor at the Daily Herald in Arlington Heights, added in a note to readers urging them to contact their state representatives and senators.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democrats who control the General Assembly have been at odds over the budget for more than a year. Rauner, a venture capitalist elected in 2014, is holding out for business-friendly reforms he says will help the economy before agreeing to a budget that would close a spending deficit partly by raising taxes. Democratic leaders say his proposals would hurt middle-class families.

Lawmakers were negotiating Wednesday on a short-term budget deal to, among other things, keep public schools open this fall.

But a year without a budget has already hurt the state.

The Sun-Times in its editorial wrote : "As a result, to cite just a few examples of the damage done, drug addicts are not getting counseling, old people with dementia are not being cared for, rape victims are not getting help. State museums have been closed."

"The political war between Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan has been confounding and unconscionable," the State Journal-Register's editorial said. The newspaper used the whole front page for the editorial.
Family members said a St. Louis man who was swept under by a rip current off the coast of a beach on Long Island last week had by Tuesday night lost his fight to survive the near drowning.

First-year West Point Academy cadet Tom Surdyke, 19, was on vacation Friday in Southampton, N.Y., with another cadet when he attempted to save a person from drowning.

The family had hopes for a recovery until Tuesday night, when they posted on Facebook that Surdyke "has passed."

"Continuing to serve others in death as in life, Tom chose to donate his organs, thus requiring him to be on a ventilator for the next 48 hours," a post shared by several members said. "However, his soul is with the Lord."

Surdyke is the son of Tim Surdyke, owner of Missouri-based Surdyke Motorsports.

Earlier Tuesday, Tom Surdyke's grandfather, Gary Surdyke, said the young man was showing "positive signs," such as starting to breathe on his own, despite being in critical condition at Stony Brook University Hospital in New York.

"We're hopeful and praying. We need him," Gary Surdyke said.

Michael Horsey, a member of the West Point Parents Club of St. Louis along with Tom Surdyke's parents, started a hashtag in light of the incident, #PrayForCadetTomSurdyke. He says he wants the hashtag to help bring awareness to Tom's story.

"The more attention and prayer we can get, it doesn't hurt," he said.

The identity and condition of the person Tom Surdyke was trying to save are still unknown. Southampton police did not immediately respond to questions.

In a public Facebook comment Horsey called Surdyke a hero who, "demonstrated the highest level of Duty, Honor, Country that all Army officers, all military members, are called to uphold."

"He basically sacrificed himself. He could have panicked, but he tried to save the other person," said Horsey.
Can we be assured that the plant will not pollute our land or water supply so that we are not discovering something decades later like so many areas in Missouri?
LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Investors see end of hefty rate hikes on horizon

Wednesday, October 26, 2022 - 17:29

Stocks in London closed solidly higher on Wednesday as investors took heart from a smaller-than-expected rate hike from the Bank of Canada.

The FTSE 100 index closed 42.59 points, or 0.6% at 7,056.07 on Wednesday. The FTSE 250 ended up 274.26 points, or 1.5%, at 18,105.89. The AIM All-Share closed up 10.23 points, or 1.3%, at 809.67.

The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.5% at 704.52, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 1.8% at 15,499.59, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.7% at 12,342.94.

Markets are hopeful that the BoC's decision to lift rates by 50 basis points instead of the expected three-quarter point lift is a signal that central banks are ready to take their foot off the monetary policy tightening accelerator.

The optimism comes ahead of a busy few days of central bank action. The European Central Bank announces an interest decision at 1315 BST on Thursday, before the Federal Reserve next week Wednesday and the Bank of England a day after its US counterpart.

The ECB raised interest rates in July for the first time in 11 years, by half a percentage point. Analysts are all but convinced the central bank will up rates by another 0.75% on Thursday, but some say there is room for a full percentage point raise - 100 basis points.

Sterling continued to gain ground on Wednesday, keeping poise despite a two-week delay to the UK government's fiscal plan.

The medium term fiscal plan will now be published on November 17 as an autumn statement  alongside a new set of economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

The pound was quoted at $1.1612 at the London equities close Wednesday, up sharply from $1.1464 at the close on Tuesday.

Helping to boost the pound was dollar weakness, amid expectations of a less hawkish Fed.

In the FTSE 100, Standard Chartered was the worst performer. The stock closed down 5.1% despite recording a substantial increase in profit as it benefitted from rising interest rates across the world.

In the three months that ended September 30, the Asian-focused bank reported a 40% increase in pretax profit to $1.39 billion from $996 million a year before.

Chief Executive Bill Winters called the results "strong" and said the bank remains confident in the delivery of its 2024 financial targets, adding it has made "significant progress" against the five strategic actions outlined in February.

Reckitt Benckiser closed down 3.7%. The consumer goods firm posted strong quarterly revenue growth as prices and mix improved, despite a decline in volumes.

In the third quarter, total revenue grew 14% year-on-year to 3.74 billion, or 7.4% on a like-for-like basis. Meanwhile, price and mix improvements of 12% helped to offset a volume decline of 4.6%.

With a strong performance in the year so far, Reckitt reiterated its annual targets. However, for like-for-like revenue growth, it tweaked the range upwards to between 6% and 8%, compared to 5% and 8% previously.

Fresnillo climbed 3.8% as it posted solid quarterly production figures and backed annual its annual guidance.

The Mexico City-based silver and gold miner said volumes at Fresnillo and Saucito continued to improve, but this was partially offset by lower ore throughput and grade variability at San Julian.

Despite the challenges, Fresnillo said it remains on track to meet annual guidance of 50.5 to 56.5 million ounces of attributable silver and silverstream, and 600 to 650,000 ounces of attributable gold.

In the FTSE 250, Bytes Technology dropped 14% despite posting double-digit top-line growth.

The computer software firm posted revenue of 93.5 million in the six months to August 31, up 28% from 73.1 million. Pretax profit grew 18% to 27.0 million from 22.9 million.

Bytes Technology said it has also made a decent start to its second half.

Elsewhere in London, IGas Energy plunged 27% after UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reintroduced the moratorium on fracking in England.

The Lincoln, England-based oil and gas producer had previously supported the UK government's support of fracking under Liz Truss.

Truss had lifted the ban as she argued it would strengthen the country's energy supply.

In European equities on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.4%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended up 1.1%.

The euro stood at $1.0064 at the European equities close Wednesday, higher against $0.9963 at the same time on Tuesday.

Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP146.50 late Wednesday, lower compared to JP147.77 late Tuesday.

Stocks in New York were mixed at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.9%, the S&P 500 index up 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.3%.

Brent oil was quoted at $93.93 a barrel at the London equities close Wednesday, up from $91.91 late Tuesday.

Gold was quoted at $1,665.70 an ounce at the London equities close Wednesday, higher against $1,655.96 at the close on Tuesday.

On Thursday's UK corporate calendar, there are third quarter results from Shell and Unilever, as well as trading statements from Lloyds Banking and Anglo American.

In the economic calendar, the ECB announces its interest rate decision at 1315 BST before a US GDP reading at 1330 BST.

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
After growing tobacco in Virginia since the end of the Civil War, the Bailey family operation has moved into premium cigars.

The inaugural Cornelius cigar has a light brown Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, a binder thats also from Ecuador, and a Nicaraguan Jalapa filler. The cigars are rolled at El Titan de Bronze in Miamis Little Havana.

The Toro is a 6-inch, 50-ring gauge stick with a $15 MSRP. Two other vitolas fill out the line: Robusto (5 x 52, $13.50) and Corona Gorda (5.5 x 46, $12). All are sold in boxes of 20. The companys website is still under construction.

The Cornelius name honors an ancestor of Steven Bailey, who turned the company into a small-brand cigarette juggernaut in the 1990s. That most interesting story was well told by the Los Angeles Times a few years ago.

Theres no doubt Cornelius & Anthony is making a serious move into cigars. The company hired Courtney Smith, a former executive at La Palina. And, as a separate division of the company, Cornelius & Anthony will have its own individual booth at this years IPCPR Trade Show. (Smith supplied the samples I smoked for this review.)

The Cornelius makes a fine first impression, with a smooth wrapper that has an almost minty pre-light aroma. When lit, the opening is a classic cigar flavor: tobacco sweetness. That soon includes a bit of spice with some wood and light nutty notes.

While the flavors amp up and down a little along the way, there isnt a lot of change throughout. The burn is razor-sharp, though the ash is a bit loose. The draw is excellent.

Id classify the strength as pretty much in the middle of medium. Its a strength and flavor profile that should appeal to many smokers. The price is reasonable, especially for a cigar of this size that is rolled in the U.S.

If this sounds like a cigar youd enjoy, give Cornelius a try. I rate it three and a half stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys
Keanu Reeves pictured during his visit to the Houses of Parliament yesterday (Tuesday)

HOLLYWOOD A lister actor Keanu Reeves was welcomed to the British Parliament by Stratford-on-Avon MP Nadhim Zahawi on Tuesday. According to Sky News and other national media outlets Mr Zahawi took time out from his constituency duties to invite the Bill & Ted star to Westminster.

Micheal Deacon tweeted a photo of Mr Zahawi with Keanu Reeves during his visit

Less than a week after the UK voted to leave the EU Keanu Reeves was pictured with Mr Zahawi at Portcullis House in Westminster in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere.

Keanu Reeves is understood to be currently in the UK filming Bill & Ted 3, a follow up to the two cult movies he made in the late 1980s and early '90s with co-star Alex Winter.
Novartis (NYSE: NVS) announced today that The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published data for PKC412 (midostaurin) demonstrating an overall response rate, defined as a major or partial response, of 60% (95% confidence interval [CI], 49-70%; P<0.001) in patients with advanced systemic mastocytosis (SM). The median duration of response for all responders in the primary efficacy population was 24.1 months (95% CI, 10.8-not estimated [NE])[1].

Advanced SM is a rare disease characterized by the accumulation of abnormal mast cells, a type of white blood cell, in the bone marrow, liver, spleen and other organs, leading to organ damage. It is also characterized by frequent activating mutations of the KIT gene[5]. Patients with advanced SM have a poor prognosis, with overall survival varying between less than 6 months to 3.5 years, depending on subtype[2],[3], and currently there is no approved treatment for the majority of patients[4],[5].

The pivotal Phase II study, CPKC412D2201, was the largest and longest-running prospective trial ever conducted in this rare disorder. Jason Gotlib, MD, of Stanford University School of Medicine and Stanford Cancer Institute, served as lead author of the study, which enrolled 116 people with advanced SM. Eligibility and responses were reviewed by a Study Steering Committee and 89 patients were eligible for inclusion in the primary efficacy population. Patients received single-agent, oral PKC412 (midostaurin) until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Results demonstrated a median overall survival (OS) of 28.7 months (95% CI, 18.1-NE). Improvements in both bone marrow mast cell burden and serum tryptase levels - a marker for mast cell burden - were seen in 78% of patients, and were associated with disease regression[1].

"These data show clear disease and symptom improvement with oral midostaurin treatment across a range of study participants who were reflective of the heterogeneity of this disease," said Professor Andreas Reiter, Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Mannheim of the University of Heidelberg, Germany and senior author of the study. "If approved, midostaurin will offer patients a much needed treatment option."

The most frequent side effects were gastrointestinal. With the exception of nausea and vomiting, all 32 symptoms self-reported with the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale significantly decreased with treatment (P<0.001). Quality of life, assessed by the 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), was also significantly increased with PKC412 (midostaurin) treatment, compared to baseline values: improvement was shown by a 26% (P<0.001) increase in mental health scores and a 29% (P<0.001) increase in physical health scores[1].

"Patients with advanced SM are part of a very small, highly underserved community that has suffered from a lack of medical innovation for many years," said Alessandro Riva, MD, Global Head, Novartis Oncology Development and Medical Affairs. "Novartis is proud to have developed a treatment that shows benefit for these patients, and is now working with regulatory authorities to make midostaurin available as quickly as possible."

The Phase II study results are also reinforced in a letter published in the same issue of NEJM by the French Reference Centre of Mastocytosis (CEREMAST) regarding a compassionate use program for PKC412 (midostaurin) in advanced SM[6]. After a median follow-up time of 18.5 (3-36) months, the overall response rate to treatment was 71%. After a similar follow-up time, the overall survival (OS) rate was 42.7%, compared with 14.9% in a matched historic control group (P=0.03). A more than twofold higher risk of death was also observed in the control group (HR 2.2; P=0.02)[6]. The most frequent side effects were nausea/vomiting in 89% of patients (leading to failure/discontinuation in 18%), lymphocytopenia in 61% without opportunistic infection and photosensitivity in 25%. The authors concluded that PKC412 (midostaurin) is effective in advanced SM[6].

PKC412 (midostaurin) is an investigational, oral, multi-targeted kinase inhibitor that was recently granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for adults with newly-diagnosed FLT3-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). PKC412 (midostaurin) additionally has orphan drug status in the EU and US for both AML and mastocytosis.

Since PKC412 (midostaurin) is investigational at this time, Novartis opened a Global Individual Patient Program (compassionate use program) to enable PKC412 (midostaurin) access to pediatric and adult patients presenting with aggressive systemic mastocytosis (ASM), mast cell leukemia (MCL) or mast cell sarcoma (MCS). Physicians who wish to request PKC412 (midostaurin) for eligible patients should contact a Novartis medical representative in their respective countries. In the US, patients can call 1-888-NOW-NOVA (1-888-669-6682) for more information.

Additional information about the Phase II study

The Phase II, single arm, open-label study of adults (18 years and older) included the following subtypes of advanced SM in the primary efficacy population: aggressive systemic mastocytosis (ASM, N=16), mast cell leukemia (MCL, N=16) and SM with an associated hematologic neoplasm (SM-AHN, N=57)[1].

A key secondary endpoint of the study was OS, which varied between subtypes: 20.7 months (95% CI, 16.0-44.4) in patients with SM-AHN and 9.4 months (95% CI, 7.5-NE) in patients with MCL. Median overall survival in patients with ASM was not reached at the time of analysis (95% CI, 28.7 months-NE). Median progression-free survival (PFS) was longer in those with ASM (28.7 months, 95% CI, 24.8-NE) than in those with SM-AHN (11.0 months, 95% CI, 7.4-17.0) and MCL (11.3 months, 95% CI, 2.8-NE)[1].

The most frequent non-hematologic adverse events (>=50%) were nausea (79%), vomiting (66%) and diarrhea (54%). The most frequent Grade 3/4 non-hematologic adverse events (>=8%) were fatigue (9%) and diarrhea (8%). Dose reduction for toxicity occurred in 56% of patients[1].

For more information on the trial, visit clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00782067).

References

[1] Gotlib J, Kluin-Nelemans HC, George TI, et al. Efficacy and Safety of Midostaurin in Advanced Systemic Mastocytosis. N Engl J Med. 2016;374(26):2530-2541.

[2] Lim KH, Tefferi A, Lasho, et al. Systemic mastocytosis in 342 consecutive adults: survival studies and prognostic factors. Blood. 2009;113:5727-5736.

[3] Georgin-Lavialle S, Lhermitte L, Dubreuil P, et al. Mast cell leukemia. Blood. 2013;121(8):1285-1295.

[4] Arock M, Akin C, Hermine O. Current treatment options in patients with mastocytosis: status in 2015 and future. European Journal of Haematolgy. 2015;94(6):474-90.

[5] Verstovsek S. Advanced systemic mastocytosis: the impact of KIT mutations in diagnosis, treatment, and progression. Eur J Haematol. 2013;90(2):89-98.

[6] Chandesris MO, Damaj G, Hermine O, et al. Midostaurin in advanced systemic mastocytosis. N Engl J Med. 2016;374(26):2605-2606.

[7] Orpha.net. Systemic Mastocytosis. http://www.orpha.net/consor/cgi-bin/OC_Exp.php?Expert=2467 (link is external). Accessed March 2016.

[8] Garcia-Montero AC, Jara-Acevedo M, Teodosi C, et al. KIT mutation in mast cells and other bone marrow hematopoietic cell lineages in systemic mast cell disorders: a prospective study of the Spanish Network on Mastocytosis (REMA) in a series of 113 patients. Blood. 2006;108(7):2366-2372.

[9] Kristensen T, Vestergaard H, Mller MB. Improved detection of the KIT D816V mutation in patients with systemic mastocytosis using a quantitative and highly sensitive real-time qPCR assay. J Mol Diagn. 2011;13(2):180-8.
Southern Company (NYSE: SO) and AGL Resources (NYSE: GAS) have received unanimous regulatory approval of the companies' proposed merger from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), which settles all issues in the proceeding.

AGL Resources is the parent company of Elizabethtown Gas, a regulated utility providing natural gas distribution services to customers in New Jersey.

The BPU's decision represents the final regulatory approval needed to close the previously announced merger, which was unanimously approved by state regulators in each of the six required jurisdictions in just 10 months. Subject to the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, Southern Company and AGL Resources intend to close the transaction on or around July 1.

When completed, the combination of Southern Company and AGL Resources is expected to create the second-largest utility company in the U.S. by customer base, bringing together:

Eleven regulated electric and natural gas distribution companies providing service to approximately 9 million customers;

Operations of nearly 200,000 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines;

More than 80,000 miles of gas pipelines; and

Approximately 44,000 megawatts of electricity generating capacity.

For more information about the proposed merger, visit www.doingenergybetter.com.
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced that the Federal Reserve Board has not objected to the Companys 2016 Capital Plan under the recently concluded Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) of the nations largest banks.

We are pleased to receive the Federal Reserve Boards non-objection to our capital plan and look forward to continuing to provide strong capital returns to our shareholders, said Chairman and CEO John Stumpf. Our ability to consistently provide industry-leading capital returns and maintain strong capital levels, while also being mindful of evolving regulatory capital expectations, reflects the benefit of our diversified business model and sound risk management discipline.

On April 26, 2016, under the prior years CCAR submission, the Company increased its quarterly common stock dividend to $0.38 per share. As previously stated at its recent Investor Day, Wells Fargo expects to continue to provide returns within its target net payout ratio1 range of 55-75%. Any future dividend actions are subject to consideration and approval by the Companys Board of Directors.
Shopping carts are seen outside a new Wal-Mart Express store in Chicago July 26, 2011. REUTERS/John Gress/Files

(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Wednesday launched a free 30-day trial of ShippingPass, its two-day shipping program for shoppers in the United States, as the world's largest retailer looks to take on Amazon.com Inc's Prime subscription service.

Wal-Mart said that existing ShippingPass subscribers will get one month free. (http://bit.ly/292sPcG)

While Amazon Prime also offers two-day delivery on certain items, subscription to the service costs $99 a year. Wal-Mart's two-day service costs $49 a year.

As with Prime, Wal-Mart's service has no minimum order but it is valid only on items that are flagged with the ShippingPass logo. Wal-Mart does not offer same-day delivery, unlike Amazon which offers that option on a minimum order of $35.

Wal-Mart has announced a number of programs for its online business this year, including a partnership with ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft for grocery deliveries.

The innovations come at a time when Wal-Mart's online sales growth is slowing. Sales through the company's website and mobile app increased 7 percent in the latest quarter compared with 17 percent a year earlier.

(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Ted Kerr)
By Ayla Jean Yackley and Humeyra Pamuk

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey pointed the finger at Islamic State on Wednesday for a triple suicide bombing and gun attack that killed 42 people at Istanbul's main airport, and President Tayyip Erdogan called it a turning point in the global fight against terrorism.

In the deadliest of a series of suicide bombings this year in Turkey, the attackers struck the busy airport, a symbol of Istanbul's role as the Muslim world's most open and cosmopolitan city, a crossroads between Europe and Asia.

Three bombers opened fire to create panic outside the airport on Tuesday night, before two of them got inside and blew themselves up. Two hundred and thirty-nine people were wounded, officials said, giving a full account of the bloodshed.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the attackers shot at random to overcome security checks at the international terminal of Ataturk airport. One blew himself up in the departures hall, a second in arrivals, and the third outside.

Authorities said on Wednesday 41 were killed. The figure is now believed to be 42 after Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported an injured woman had died.

"Our thoughts on those responsible for the attack lean toward Islamic State," Yildirim told a news conference in the capital Ankara, adding that investigations should be completed in the coming days and the identities of the bombers revealed.

John Brennan, head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, also said the attack bore the hallmarks of Islamic State "depravity."

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity on Wednesday, said U.S. intelligence agencies do not have sufficient evidence to conclude definitively that Islamic State was responsible for the attack.

But the official added that Turkish authorities taking the lead in the investigation may have evidence the United States has not seen.

Turkey is part of a U.S.-led military coalition against Islamic State and home to around 3 million refugees from the five-year civil war in neighboring Syria.

Islamic State has established a self-declared caliphate on swathes of both Syria and Iraq and declared war on all non-Muslims and all Muslims who do not accept its ultra-hardline vision of Sunni Islam. It has claimed responsibility for similar bombing and gun attacks in Belgium and France in the past year.

Erdogan, whose government has taken steps this week to improve relations with Israel and Russia in part to strengthen its hand in fighting against militants, said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global battle against terrorism, which he said had "no regard for faith or values".

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the attack in separate phone calls with Erdogan, his office said.

Obama, at a North American summit in Ottawa, Canada, said the United States has offered all assistance available to Turkey and pledged to work with Ankara to fight terrorism.

"We're still learning all the facts, but we know this is part of our broader shared fight against terrorist networks," he told a news conference.

EXPLOSIONS

A day after the attack, broken ceiling panels littered the kerb outside the arrivals section of the international terminal. Plates of glass had shattered, exposing the inside of the building, and electric cables dangled from the ceiling.

Cleanup crews swept up debris and armed police patrolled as flights resumed.

"There were little babies crying, people shouting, broken glass and blood all over the floor. It was very crowded, there was chaos. It was traumatic," said Diana Eltner, 29, a Swiss psychologist who was traveling from Zurich to Vietnam but had been diverted to Istanbul after she missed a connection.

Paul Roos, 77, a South African tourist on his way home, said he saw one of the attackers "randomly shooting" in the departures hall from about 50 meters (55 yards) away.

"He was wearing all black. His face was not masked ... We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Roos told Reuters.

"He turned around and started coming toward us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over."

Thirteen foreigners were killed, including five Saudis, two Iraqis and citizens from China, Jordan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Iran and Ukraine.

One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover and trying to flee, witnesses said. Two other explosions hit the arrivals floor below, one of them just outside the building.

Video footage showed one attacker inside the terminal being shot, apparently by a police officer, before falling to the ground as people scattered. The attacker then blew himself up about 20 seconds later.

"It's a jigsaw puzzle ... The authorities are going through CCTV footage, witness statements," a Turkish official said of the investigation.

The Dogan news agency said autopsies on the three bombers, whose torsos were ripped apart, had been completed and that they may have been foreign nationals. It did not cite its sources.

No group had claimed responsibility, more than a day after the attack, which began around 9:50 p.m. (2:50 p.m. EDT) on Tuesday.

AIM TO MAXIMIZE FEAR

Istanbul's position bridging Europe and Asia has made Ataturk airport, Turkey's largest, a major transit hub for passengers across the world. The Istanbul governor's office said 109 of the 239 people hospitalized had since been discharged, but the health minister said 41 were still in intensive care.

Delayed travelers were sleeping on floors at the airport, a Reuters witness said, as some passengers and airport staff cried and hugged each other. Police in kevlar vests with automatic weapons prowled the kerbside as a handful of travelers and Turkish Airlines crew trickled in.

The national carrier said it had canceled 340 flights although its departures resumed after 8:00 a.m.

The attack bore similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March that killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital.

Islamic State militants also claimed responsibility for gun and bomb attacks that killed 129 people in Paris last November.

"In Istanbul they used a combination of the methods employed in Paris and Brussels. They planned a murder that would maximize fear and loss of life," said Suleyman Ozeren, a terrorism expert at the Ankara-based Global Policy and Strategy Institute.

Turkey needs to work harder on "preventative intelligence" to stop militants being radicalized in the first place, he said.

The European airports association ACI Europe said airport security had been stepped up across the continent after the Brussels attacks, but said many of the fatalities in Istanbul came as people queued for security checks at the entrance.

"We must face the reality that when dealing with a terror threat based on suicide bombing, no security measures can ensure 100 percent protection," it said.

The two U.S. officials said the Istanbul bombing was more typical of Islamic State than of Kurdish militant groups which have also carried out recent attacks in Turkey, but usually strike at official government targets.

Yildirim said it was significant that the attack took place when Turkey was having successes in fighting terrorist groups and mending ties with some of its international partners.

Turkey announced the restoration of diplomatic ties with Israel on Monday after a six-year rupture and has been trying to restore relations with Russia, a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"While some see it as a possible knee-jerk reaction to the rapprochement with Israel and Russia, given the preparation involved I think it is part of a general response to Turkey's intensification of security measures along the Turkey-Syria border," said Ege Seckin, political analyst at IHS Country Risk in London.

(Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Can Sezer, Humeyra Pamuk and David Dolan in Istanbul, Ercan Gurses in Ankara, John Walcott, Ismail Kushkush and Jonathan Landay in Washington, Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason in Ottawa, Pavel Polityuk in Kiev, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Sami Aboudi in Dubai, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Warren Strobel and Bill Rigby)
General Electric (NYSE: GE) up 1.5% after receiving approval of its request to the Financial Stability Oversight Council for rescission of GE Capital's designation as a nonbank Systemically Important Financial Institution. July 30.5 calls are active on total call volume 8K contracts (2K puts). July weekly call option implied volatility is at 19, July and August is at 18; compared to its 52-week range of 13 to 36.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Africo Resources Ltd. ("Africo") (TSX: ARL) announces that its previously announced plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement") between Camrose Resources Limited ("Camrose") and Africo has been approved by the shareholders of Africo at its annual and special meeting held today ("Meeting").

At the Meeting, over 99.99% of the votes cast by all Africo shareholders, and 99.99% of votes cast by Africo shareholders other than Camrose, whose votes were required to be excluded for the purposes of "minority approval" under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions, were voted in favour of the Arrangement.

Subject to completion of certain closing conditions, including a final order of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List), Africo expects the Arrangement to be completed on or about July 5, 2016.

Under the Arrangement, Camrose will acquire all of the Common Shares that Camrose does not already own for cash consideration of $1.00 per share. Holders of Africo's Common Shares and Options may also receive an additional aggregate amount of USD $7.5 million if certain transactions, in respect of the Africo's main Kalukundi project, a development stage copper-cobalt deposit located in the Katanga Copperbelt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are completed within 14 months following the closing of the Plan of Arrangement with Camrose. The terms and conditions of this contingent payment are set out in an information circular of Africo dated May 31, 2016. The additional amount, if paid, would be equal to approximately USD $0.27 per share. However, there can be no assurance that the additional payment will be made because this is contingent.

At the Meeting the five nominees listed in Africo's management proxy circular were also elected as directors.

Forward-looking statements:

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws that are intended to be covered by the safe harbours created by those laws, including statements that use forward-looking terminology such as "anticipated", "may", "will", "expect", "could", "should", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "potential", or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements regarding the completion of the proposed transaction and other statements that are not historical facts. While such forward-looking statements are expressed by Africo, as stated in this release, in good faith and believed by Africo to have a reasonable basis, they are subject to important risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, approval of applicable governmental authorities, required Africo security holder approval and necessary Court approvals, the satisfaction or waiver of certain other conditions contemplated by the Arrangement Agreement, and changes in applicable laws or regulations, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected or implied by the forward-looking statements. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the proposed transaction could be modified, restructured or not be completed, and the results or events predicted in these forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results or events. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, given that they involve risks and uncertainties. Africo is not affirming or adopting any statements made by any other person in respect of the proposed transaction and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except in accordance with applicable securities laws, or to comment on expectations of, or statements made by any other person in respect of the proposed transaction. Investors should not assume that any lack of update to a previously issued forward-looking statement constitutes a reaffirmation of that statement. Reliance on forward-looking statements is at investors' own risk.

The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts: Africo Resources Ltd. Chris Theodoropoulos Chairman +1 (604) 646-3225 Africo Resources Ltd. Larry Okada Chief Financial Officer +1 (604) 646-3225

Source: Africo Resources Ltd.
LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Diamond Resorts International is one of the world's leading global resort network of vacation ownership properties with destinations in over 35 countries, including more than four dozen in Mexico, Central and South America. One of the great joys in traveling is discovering the cultural differences of a new place. To help vacationers from North America prepare and understand some of the ways they may be surprised by cultural norms in Central and South America, Diamond Resorts timeshare experts have put together a top-line look at our neighbors to the south.

Perhaps most obvious to new visitors in Latin America is the different perception of time, sometimes popularly referred to as "manana" ("tomorrow") which has jokingly been defined as "anytime between tomorrow and never." In anthropological terms, the cultural difference is called "monochronic" vs. "polychronic," a description coined by famed American anthropologist Edward T. Hall in 1959. Essentially, monochronic societies such as Europe and the United States, perceive time as fixed and unchanging, where people tend to complete tasks sequentially, while the polychronic societies of Latin America and Asia see time as fluid with the people more easily adaptable to changing circumstances and new information which frequently leads to due dates being readily pushed back. (Although certain European nations, most notably Italy, Spain and Greece, famously lean towards polychronic themselves). Diamond Resorts International timeshare specialists want to emphasize that for many people, especially business people attuned to deadlines and the pressures of time, this can create some confusion and frustration at first but it should not be considered an affront and the traveler should do their best to adapt to their environment.

Another major characteristic of Latin America versus North America is the use of greater physical contact and closer interpersonal space. While a businessman from the United States might value a solid handshake as a sign of respect and friendliness, a Latin businessman may offer a gentler handshake along with a hug or kiss on the cheek to an acquaintance of the same gender, particularly in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. A conversational partner may stand close, look directly in the eyes as well as hold an elbow while talking or even walk down the street arm-in-arm.

In the United States, we tend to think of weight as a taboo subject, with a preference for not talking about it, outside of conversations with doctors or personal trainers. But Latin Americans are much more open and even less judgmental about an individual's weight. A common expression of affection is the term "gordo/gordito" which technically translates as "fat." It is also quite acceptable to comment more directly on someone's weight, whether to say that they look thinner or fatter -- remember that it is always said with respect and as a compliment to mention that someone looks well-fed and healthy.

About Diamond Resorts International

Diamond Resorts International, with its network of more than 420 vacation destinations located in 35 countries throughout the continental United States, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, South America, Central America, Europe, Asia, Australasia and Africa, provides guests with choice and flexibility to let them create their dream vacation, whether they are traveling an hour away or around the world. Our relaxing vacations have the power to give guests an increased sense of happiness and satisfaction in their lives, while feeling healthier and more fulfilled in their relationships, by enjoying memorable and meaningful experiences that let them Stay Vacationed.

Diamond Resorts International manages vacation ownership resorts and sells vacation ownership points that provide members and owners with Vacations for Life at over 420 managed and affiliated properties and cruise itineraries.

Diamond Resorts -- Vacations for Life -- Stay Vacationed: http://www.diamondresortsnews.com

Diamond Resorts International -- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiamondResortsInternational

Diamond Resorts (@diamondresorts) -- Twitter: https://twitter.com/diamondresorts

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/6/29/11G104735/Images/mw1amd9d2r0p99153j1344i0c1h322-4e89755fddbb8a42a97caf2af0870eff.jpg

Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuBW2aWUO5s

Contact InformationLiz FeldmanHillman CommunicationsTel: [email protected]

Source: DiamondResorts.com
LAS VEGAS, June 28, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Teamsters' 29th International Convention opened its second day with a focus on global solidarity and building worker power through organizing in key industries.

Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Britain's largest union, Unite, and Tony Sheldon, National Secretary of Australia's Transport Workers Union, delivered a message of unity to the thousands of Teamsters attending the convention.

"The Teamsters is the most iconic trade union on our planet and you should be proud," McCluskey said.

McCluskey referenced successful partnerships with the Teamsters, including the fight to drive up standards for school bus and transit workers at multinational corporations.

"The Teamsters are one of the strongest, most successful forces for economic justice," Sheldon said. "The Teamsters stood with us through fierce battles that we will never forget, and we stand with the Teamsters in the fight against global greed."

In addition to the United Kingdom and Australia, unions from Belgium, Ireland, Italy, France, South Africa and Israel sent greetings to the Teamsters' International Convention.

Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall reported that the union is able to do the work of representing members and take on key fights thanks to the union's solid financial standing.

"I'm proud to report that our union's finances are stronger than ever. Because of our union's strong resources, we are able to win battles at Sysco, US Foods, XPO/Con-Way, FedEx Freight, the ports, at tech companies and at school bus companies," Hall said.

Delegates on the second day of the convention covered a number of priorities for workers, including organizing campaigns in freight, warehousing, the ports, Silicon Valley and more.

"We never could take on these companies without the brave rank-and-file workers who took on the union busters," said Steve Vairma, International Vice President and Director of the Warehouse Division, on efforts to organize and represent workers at Sysco and US Foods.

"With the Teamsters we are fighting back against misclassification and winning back millions from employer wage theft," said Daniel Uaina, a port driver.

"Organizing at FedEx can be done. We've proved that," said Bill Hamilton, International Vice President, referencing bargaining taking place with FedEx Freight in Philadelphia and Charlotte.

Leslie Marshall, host of The Leslie Marshall Show, a syndicated radio program featuring labor topics, gave a rousing address to the crowd.

"Corporations and billionaires want to divide and conquer, but no one can divide a union as strong as the Teamsters," Marshall said. "If you stand strong for the long haul, they will cave. Workers need to rise up."

Other guests included musicians The Swon Brothers, who are sons of Teamsters Local 516 Secretary-Treasurer Kelly Swon, and UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic.

Delegates passed resolutions today on executive pay/Capital Strategies; freight organizing; warehouse organizing; and port organizing.

Nominations took place for At Large Vice Presidents and Trustees.

The International Convention, held every five years, is the supreme policymaking body of the union with the power and authority to modify the Constitution, establish programs, address fiscal issues and set priorities.

This week, delegates will consider a number of constitutional measures and resolutions. Delegates will also nominate candidates for the International offices of General President, General Secretary-Treasurer, Vice Presidents and Trustees.

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.

Contact: Kara Deniz, (202) 497-6610 [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100127/IBTLOGO

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-solidarity-dominates-at-29th-teamsters-international-convention-300291794.html

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters
BOSTON, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MT Services LLC, a Lawsuit Settlement News Reporting Company which operates lawsuitsettlementnews.com, reported today that plaintiffs still have time to file their GranuFlo claims if they believe they have a case against Fresenius Medical Care. While there is still time to file a claim, MTS is advising victims or their loved ones to contact a lawyer immediately as time is running out. If you believe you have a claim, and do not yet have an attorney, MTS can assist you with finding a nationally recognized GranuFlo attorney in their network.

Fresenius Medical Care reached a $250 million agreement in principle to settle claims over their GranuFlo and NaturaLyte dialysis drugs. The settlement amount will be $250 million as long as 97% of plaintiffs agree to the terms of the deal by July of 2016. The GranuFlo and NaturaLyte lawsuits have been consolidated into multidistrict litigation (MDL) U.S. District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock in the District of Massachusetts (In re: Fresenius GranuFlo/NaturaLyte Dialysate Litigation, MDL No. 2428).

GranuFlo and NaturaLyte are dialysates used in thousands of dialysis centers to treat patients with kidney disease or failure. However, the lawsuits against Fresenius Medical Care include patients who have suffered injury or even death as a result of using GranuFlo and/or NaturaLyte products during hemodialysis.

Potential injuries and complications from GranuFlo and NaturaLyte products include:

Heart Attack

Cardiopulmonary Arrest

Stroke

Death

Chris Janish, CEO of MTS, commented, "We encourage anyone with a potential GranuFlo claim to contact a lawyer immediately. If you need assistance with finding a GranuFlo law firm or lawyer, we are here to help you and can answer any questions you may have."

MTS is ready to assist those who need lawsuit help with finding a qualified GranuFlo law firm or GranuFlo lawyer to provide a free evaluation on their specific case to see if there is eligibility for a potential large lawsuit award.

To learn more about MTS' services involving the GranuFlo litigation or other bad drug litigations, including Actos, Pradaxa, Xarelto, and others not listed here, please visit the bad drug case link on the website. For specific information on GranuFlo news, please visit: http://www.lawsuitsettlementnews.com/granuflo-and-naturalyte-dialysis-products

If you already have an attorney and have filed a GranuFlo lawsuit and need a law cash advance, not to be confused with a lawsuit loan or pre-settlement loan, Lawsuit Settlement News can assist you with these services. Injured parties from GranuFlo complications can apply for up to $30K in pre-settlement or settlement lawsuit funding. For a full list of the services that the company provides for patients suffering complications from bad drugs or defective products, visit: http://www.lawsuitsettlementnews.com/about-our-products-and-services

If you, or a loved one, have dealt with complications or injuries from GranuFlo and/or NaturaLyte products and need lawsuit money or lawsuit help, including finding a GranuFlo lawyer or GranuFlo law firm, call MTS to speak with a live agent, at: 877.571.0405.

You may also fill out a quick application online at: www.lawsuitsettlementnews.com and an agent will contact you shortly.

Disclaimer: MT Services LLC, operator of Lawsuitsettlementnews.com, is not a law firm and cannot provide legal advice on your case; however, MTS works with lawyers involved in mass tort litigations who are willing to provide a free legal consultation at the consumer's request. For a list of full disclosures, please visit the company's website disclosure page at: http://www.lawsuitsettlementnews.com/terms-of-service

Contact: Chris Janish, CEO Ph. 877.571.0405

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lawsuitsettlementnewscom-says-plaintiffs-still-have-time-to-file-granuflo-claims-300291818.html

SOURCE MT Services LLC
Enabling Safe, Simple and Secure Online Payments, Simplify Commerce by MasterCard is Now Integrated with Microsoft Dynamics AX in 13 Markets

PURCHASE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- MasterCard announced today it will collaborate with Microsoft to bring simple and secure e-commerce payments to Microsoft Dynamics users.

Simplify Commerce, a uniquely versatile, highly secure and incredibly simple cloud-based payments platform, helps businesses grow by maximizing online and mobile sales. Through this collaboration, Microsoft Dynamics customers will have one system that connects their end-to-end planning and sales. This provides users with a number of key benefits:

Easy Integration: Businesses can easily add payments to Dynamics AX to begin accepting and managing online and call center payments within their existing operation.

Seamless Updates: Customers will stay up to date on the latest developments in the payments industryfrom cutting-edge security to regulatory protocolswithout lifting a finger. Through the integration, users will automatically take advantage of coordinated updates from MasterCard and Microsoft.

Customers will stay up to date on the latest developments in the payments industryfrom cutting-edge security to regulatory protocolswithout lifting a finger. Through the integration, users will automatically take advantage of coordinated updates from MasterCard and Microsoft. Expansive Global Footprint: Simplify Commerce provides connectivity to acquirers worldwide through a single connection point. Businesses can expand geographically without hitting payments hurdles.

Simplify Commerce will be available in the coming weeks through Microsoft Dynamics AX in 13 countries: U.S., Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, The Netherlands and the UK. Additional market availability is planned over time.

Businesses need to be able to sell to their customers wherever they are without headache or hassle, says Deborah Barta, Simplify Commerce global lead, MasterCard. We want to make life easier for businesses as they grow, and we look forward to working with Microsoft to bring safe, simple and secure electronic payments to more businesses around the world.

Todays retailers require modern, integrated, secure and scalable payments solutions that grow with their business, says Daniel Brown, Microsoft general manager, Dynamics AX R&D. Simplify Commerce is a world-class, global offering that is highly secure and makes it easy for retailers to adopt quickly to drive seamless commerce and to develop deeper engagement with their customers.

Simplify Commerce is just one of the ways MasterCard works to help businesses grow. Around the globe, MasterCard helps businesses manage cash flow and grow sales through a suite of solutions and advice designed to address the day-to-day demands of running a business  operating efficiently, getting paid quickly, simply and securely and easily paying for goods and services.

For Microsoft partners implementing Dynamics AX solutions, Simplify Commerce makes it easy for retailers to be PCI compliant and can be adopted quickly due to deep, out-of-the-box integration with Dynamics AX Retail processes. This includes mobile commerce, e-commerce and call center channels. More information will be available at the MasterCard booth (#1129) at the 2016 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, July 10-14 in Toronto, or by visiting www.simplify.com/microsoft.

About MasterCard

MasterCard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the worlds fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities  such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances  easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160628006692/en/

MasterCard

Julia Monti

Office: 914-249-6135

Mobile: 914-217-9533

[email protected]

or

Microsoft

Brian Eskridge

Office: 425-706-7646

Mobile: 206-604-5444

[email protected]

Source: MasterCard Incorporated
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Velan Inc. (TSX: VLN) today announced that on Tuesday, July 12, 2016, it will release 1st Quarter results ended May 31, 2016.

The company will hold an analyst call on Tuesday, July 12, 2016, at 4:30 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) to discuss the results. The call may be accessed by dialing 888-273-1350, and quoting the reservation number 21814078. There will be a PostView available for 7 days following this conference call. The numbers are as follows: 416-626-4100 or 800-558-5253 Enter Reservation number 21814078 then follow system prompts.

For further information contact John D. Ball, CFO at 514-748-7743, ext. 5537.

T.C. Velan

CEO

Contacts: VELAN Inc. Tom Velan CEO (514) 748-7743 (514) 748-8635 (FAX) VELAN Inc. John D. Ball Chief Financial Officer (514) 748-7743 (514) 748-8635 (FAX) www.velan.com

Source: VELAN Inc.
By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada is pressing Beijing over media reports that Chinese authorities are no longer allowing some Canadian citizens born in Hong Kong to visit China on 10-year visas, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

Chinese-language media say that since early June, first-generation Hong Kong-born Canadians are being told they can only apply to travel to China as Chinese nationals. Previously, they could choose to travel either as Canadian or as Chinese citizens.

If true, the changes could be seen as an encroachment on Hong Kong's autonomy. Hong Kong has been governed as a special administrative region since its return to China from British rule in 1997, a policy known as "one country, two systems."

"Canada is aware of recent reports of challenges for Canadian-Chinese dual citizens in obtaining visas to visit China from Hong Kong. We are looking into the issue and are following up with the Chinese authorities," said Felix Corriveau, a spokesman for Immigration Minister John McCallum.

The issue is sensitive in Canada, where a population of 36 million includes more than a million people of Chinese descent. Many Hong Kong residents emigrated to Canada and took up citizenship both before and after the city's return to China.

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa has not received any notification of changes to the visa policy, a spokesman said in an emailed statement.

Canadian Member of Parliament Jenny Kwan, who was born in Hong Kong, told reporters on Tuesday she wrote to Foreign Minister Stephane Dion urging him to look into the visa situation. Kwan is a member of the opposition New Democrats.

"The change in practice should be of grave concern to Canadians, after all, a Canadian is a Canadian. As such, should all Canadians not be treated the same?" she said.

Corriveau said that under a 2015 agreement, China had the ability to issue long-term multiple-entry visas to visiting Canadians.

"The arrangement however is non-binding," he added.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, due to visit China for a week in late August to boost trade ties, has previously said Beijing must do more to protect human rights.

Earlier this month, Canada complained to China about the behavior of Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who publicly berated a Canadian journalist in Ottawa. [nL1N18V100]

(Additional reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Editing by Bernard Orr)
The Bank of America building is shown in Los Angeles, California October 29, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has publicly censured two units of Bank of America for breaches of the city's takeover codes in two deals last year, the regulator said on Wednesday.

The SFC said the censures were linked to the role of the units in a partial offer for China Resources Beer (CRB) and the privatization of Power Assets Holdings Ltd.

The regulator said the Bank of America units failed to disclose their dealings in equity swaps in both the CRB partial offer and the Power Assets privatization, despite taking the role of adviser on both transactions.

A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment.

The city's takeover codes require parties to an offer and their associates to disclose dealings in relevant securities, whether for themselves or clients, during an equity swap period, the SFC said in a statement.

"BofAML Group should have taken reasonable care to establish and maintain procedures and systems to guard against non-compliance with the Takeovers Code," it added.

Bank of America accepted the "oversight of the disclosure obligations" in both transactions, the regulator said, and had investigated the issue and taken remedial measures.

In February, the SFC censured Goldman Sachs for infringing parts of the takeover code while acting as financial adviser to Wing Hang Bank Ltd in a $5-billion offer for the Hong Kong lender in 2014.

(Reporting by Denny Thomas and Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
A general view shows a meeting of the United Nations Security Council at the U.N. headquarters in New York April 16, 2010. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Italy and The Netherlands proposed on Tuesday splitting a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council after the U.N. General Assembly was deadlocked on which to choose following five rounds of voting for the final 2017/18 seat.

The 193-member General Assembly elected Sweden, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia and Bolivia on Tuesday to replace Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela on the council from Jan. 1, 2017. The Netherlands and Italy were tied with 95 votes each.

Countries need more than two-thirds of the vote to win a seat. Italy and The Netherlands are competing for a seat belonging to the "Western European and Others" regional group, which is due to meet on Wednesday to approve splitting the term.

The General Assembly would then need to vote in favor of the action.

Just days after Britain voted to leave the European Union, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Italy and The Netherlands believed their Security Council deal could "send a message of unity between two European countries."

"It will be an honor for Italy to serve in the Security Council in 2017 and to cooperate with The Netherlands serving in 2018," Gentiloni told the General Assembly.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said it was important to show unity during a complex time for Europe.

According to Security Council Report, a New York-based research group, it was common in the 1950s and 1960s for countries to split terms on the Security Council.

The General Assembly elected Sweden with 134 votes in favor, Ethiopia with 185 and Bolivia with 183 in the first round of voting. Kazakhstan beat Thailand with 138 votes in favor in the second round of voting.

The council is made up of 10 elected members - five voted on each year and five permanent veto-powers that include the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia. The council is the only U.N. body that can make legally binding decisions.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Toni Reinhold)
By Nate Raymond

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Six members of the Honduran National Police were indicted on Wednesday on U.S. charges they participated in drug trafficking activities and conspired with a son of former Honduras President Porfirio Lobo to import cocaine into the United States.

The indictment, filed in federal court in Manhattan, said the officers agreed to take bribes to help two informants posing as drug traffickers transport a multi-ton load of cocaine through Honduras so it could be sent to the United States.

The two informants, who worked on behalf of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, were introduced in 2014 to the six officers by Fabio Lobo, a son of the former Honduran president, the indictment said.

Lobo, who prosecutors said agreed to provide the informants with security and logistical support in the purported drug deal, was arrested in 2015 in Haiti and pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to import cocaine into the United States.

The case comes amid efforts in Honduras to clean up the country's 12,000-strong police force, which has long been accused of working with criminal gangs in the poor Central American country.

Omar Rivera, a member of a special Honduran commission with authority to investigate corruption and dismiss or suspend members of the national police, welcomed the indictments.

"Police who dedicate themselves to protecting drug traffickers, who dedicate themselves to the drug trade, aren't police but criminals and they should be treated as such," he said in an interview, adding that U.S. law enforcement collaboration is "fundamental" to resolving these cases.

According to U.S. prosecutors, certain members of the Honduran National Police from 2004 to 2014 received bribes from drug traffickers for access to information about ongoing probes and military and law enforcement checkpoints.

Prosecutors noted that the Honduran government had recently established the special commission, which has already sanctioned several police.

The six officers indicted were Ludwig Criss Zelaya Romero, 39, Mario Guillermo Mejia Vargas, 46, Juan Manuel Avila Meza, 45, Carlos Jose Zavala Velasquez, 44, Victor Oswaldo Lopez Flores, 43, and Jorge Alfredo Cruz Chavez, 39.

Rivera said that Mejia Vargas has already been suspended from the police and is being investigated in Honduras for possible involvement in the 2009 murder case of a top anti-drug official, while Zavala Velasquez has been removed from the force.

Lopez Flores has been suspended pending an investigation, while the fates of the other three men are expected to be resolved shortly, along with some 150 other officers under evaluation, added Rivera.

All six defendants remain at large and were charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and related firearms offenses. They could not be reached immediately for comment.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Additional reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa; Editing by Andrew Hay and Leslie Adler)
UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)

OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): June 29, 2016 (June 29, 2016)

ALCOA INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Pennsylvania 1-3610 25-0317820 (State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation) (Commission File Number) (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) 390 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10022-4608 (Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)

Office of Investor Relations 212-836-2674

Office of the Secretary 212-836-2732

(Registrants telephone number, including area code)

(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the Registrant under any of the following provisions:

 Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

 Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure.

On June 29, 2016, Alcoa Inc. ( Alcoa ) issued a press release announcing that Alcoa Upstream Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alcoa, filed an initial Registration Statement on Form 10 (the  Form 10 ) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the  SEC ) in connection with Alcoas previously announced plan to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies. A copy of the press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated herein by reference. Also on June 29, 2016, Alcoa will hold a conference call, which will be broadcast live by webcast, and will make available certain information regarding the business of Arconic Inc. (to which Alcoa plans to change its name in connection with the separation) assuming completion of the separation (the  Arconic Overview ). A copy of the slides to be presented on the call and the Arconic Overview are attached hereto as Exhibits 99.2 and 99.3, respectively, and are incorporated herein by reference.

The information in Item 7.01 of this Current Report on Form 8-K and in Exhibits 99.1, 99.2 and 99.3 is being furnished, not filed, in accordance with the provisions of General Instruction B.2 of Form 8-K. Accordingly, the information in Item 7.01 of Form 8-K and in Exhibits 99.1, 99.2 and 99.3 will not be incorporated by reference into any registration statement filed by Alcoa under the Securities Act of 1933 unless specifically identified therein as being incorporated therein by reference.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains statements that relate to future events and expectations and as such constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include those containing such words as anticipates, believes, could, estimates, expects, forecasts, intends, may, outlook, plans, projects, seeks, sees, should, targets, will, would, or other words of similar meaning. All statements that reflect Alcoas expectations, assumptions or projections about the future, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the separation transaction. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Although Alcoa believes that the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that these expectations will be attained and it is possible that actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: (a) uncertainties as to the timing of the separation and whether it will be completed; (b) the possibility that various closing conditions for the separation may not be satisfied; (c) the outcome of contingencies, including legal proceedings; (d) the impact of the separation on the businesses of Alcoa; (e) the risk that the businesses will not be separated successfully or such separation may be more difficult, time-consuming or costly than expected, which could result in additional demands on Alcoas resources, systems, procedures and controls, disruption of its ongoing business and diversion of managements attention from other business concerns; and (f) the other risk factors discussed in Alcoas Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, and other reports filed with the SEC. Alcoa disclaims any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether in response to new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

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Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(d) Exhibits.

The following are furnished as exhibits to this Current Report on Form 8-K:

Exhibit

No. Description 99.1 Alcoa Inc. press release, dated June 29, 2016. 99.2 Slides to be presented during Alcoa Inc. conference call, dated June 29, 2016. 99.3 Arconic Overview, dated June 29, 2016.

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

ALCOA INC. By: /s/ PETER HONG Name: Peter Hong Title: Vice President and Treasurer

Date: June 29, 2016

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EXHIBIT INDEX

Exhibit

No. Description 99.1 Alcoa Inc. press release, dated June 29, 2016. 99.2 Slides to be presented during Alcoa Inc. conference call, dated June 29, 2016. 99.3 Arconic Overview, dated June 29, 2016.

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EXHIBIT 99.1

[Alcoa Logo]

ALCOA INC. ANNOUNCES FILING OF INITIAL FORM 10 REGISTRATION STATEMENT FOR SEPARATION OF UPSTREAM BUSINESS, ALCOA CORPORATION

Separation will create a globally cost-competitive Upstream company and an innovation and technology-driven Value-Add company

Separation on track to be completed in the second half of 2016

Alcoa to host conference call today at 8:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time to discuss Form 10

New York, June 29, 2016  Lightweight metals leader Alcoa (NYSE: AA) today announced a major milestone in connection with its pending separation into two strong standalone, publicly-traded companies. Alcoa Upstream Corporation (to be renamed Alcoa Corporation prior to separation) has filed an initial Registration Statement on Form 10 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Alcoa Corporation will hold the Upstream and North American packaging businesses. The Value-Add businesses will remain in the existing company, which will be named Arconic Inc. The separation is on track to be completed in the second half of 2016.

The filing of the Form 10 is an important milestone as we prepare to launch two businesses that are well-positioned for success, said Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Alcoa Corporation has a low-cost base that will enable resilience and value-creation at all stages of the commodity cycle. Arconic is a technology-driven company producing performance materials and highly engineered products for growth markets, poised to deliver consistent profitable growth. Through our multi-year transformation, we have substantially re-positioned each business and laid the foundation for future long-term success. The separation will allow each new company to pursue its own distinct corporate strategy and unlock the full value of each business.

Alcoa Corporation will be a globally competitive Upstream company. Its businesses will include Bauxite, Alumina, Aluminum, Cast Products and Energy and rolling mill operations that will serve the North American packaging market. Arconic will be a global leader in precision engineering and advanced manufacturing, providing a wide range of multi-material solutions to growth markets including aerospace structures, jet engines, automotive and commercial transportation. Its businesses will include the Engineered Products and Solutions, Global Rolled Products, and Transportation and Construction Solutions segments.

The initial Form 10 includes preliminary detailed information about Alcoa Corporation as a standalone company, such as historical financial information, as well as a description of Alcoa Corporations business and strategy and other legal and financial disclosures. The initial Form 10 is subject to change prior to completion of the separation.

The separation remains subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including obtaining final approval from the Alcoa Board of Directors, receipt of a favorable IRS ruling and opinions of Alcoas tax advisors regarding certain U.S. federal income tax matters and the effectiveness of the Form 10.

A copy of the initial Form 10 is available on the SEC website at www.sec.gov and can also be viewed on www.Alcoa.com/form_10_presentation. Supplemental information about Arconic can also be viewed on Alcoas website.

Conference Call

Alcoa will host a conference call at 8:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time to review the initial Form 10 and answer questions. The meeting will be webcast via alcoa.com. Call information and related details are available at www.Alcoa.com/form_10_presentation.

Dissemination of Company Information

Alcoa intends to make future announcements regarding Company developments and financial performance through its website at www.alcoa.com.

About Alcoa

A global leader in lightweight metals technology, engineering and manufacturing, Alcoa innovates multi-material solutions that advance our world. Our technologies enhance transportation, from automotive and commercial transport to air and space travel, and improve industrial and consumer electronics products. We enable smart buildings, sustainable food and beverage packaging, high performance defense vehicles across air, land and sea, deeper oil and gas drilling and more efficient power generation. We pioneered the aluminum industry over 125 years ago, and today, our approximately 58,000 people in 30 countries deliver value-add products made of titanium, nickel and aluminum, and produce best-in-class bauxite, alumina and primary aluminum products. For more information, visit www.alcoa.com, follow @Alcoa on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Alcoa and follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Alcoa.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains statements that relate to future events and expectations and as such constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include those containing such words as anticipates, believes, could, estimates, expects, forecasts, intends, may, outlook, plans, projects, seeks, sees, should, targets, will, would, or other words of similar meaning. All statements that reflect the Companys expectations, assumptions or projections about the future, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements, including, without

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limitation, statements regarding the separation transaction. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that these expectations will be attained and it is possible that actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: (a) uncertainties as to the timing of the separation and whether it will be completed; (b) the possibility that various closing conditions for the separation may not be satisfied; (c) the outcome of contingencies, including legal proceedings; (d) the impact of the separation on the businesses of Alcoa; (e) the risk that the businesses will not be separated successfully or such separation may be more difficult, time-consuming or costly than expected, which could result in additional demands on Alcoas resources, systems, procedures and controls, disruption of its ongoing business and diversion of managements attention from other business concerns; and (f) the other risk factors discussed in the Companys Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, and other reports filed with the SEC. The Company disclaims any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether in response to new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

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Update on Alcoas Separation: Filing of Initial Form 10 June 29, 2016 1 Exhibit 99.2

Important Information 2 ForwardLooking Statements This presentation contains statements that relate to future events and expectations and as such constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include those containing such words as anticipates, believes, could, estimates, expects, forecasts, goal, intends, may, outlook, plans, projects, seeks, sees, should, targets, will, would, or other words of similar meaning. All statements that reflect Alcoas expectations, assumptions or projections about the future, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, forecasts concerning global demand growth for aluminum and bauxite and statements regarding the separation transaction. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Although Alcoa believes that the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that these expectations will be attained and it is possible that actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: (a) uncertainties as to the timing of the separation and whether it will be completed; (b) the possibility that various closing conditions for the separation may not be satisfied; (c) the outcome of contingencies, including legal proceedings; (d) the impact of the separation on the businesses of Alcoa; (e) the risk that the businesses will not be separated successfully or such separation may be more difficult, time-consuming or costly than expected, which could result in additional demands on Alcoas resources, systems, procedures and controls, disruption of its ongoing business and diversion of managements attention from other business concerns; (f) material adverse changes in aluminum industry conditions, including global supply and demand conditions and fluctuations in London Metal Exchange-based prices and premiums, as applicable, for primary aluminum, alumina, and other products, and fluctuations in indexed-based and spot prices for alumina; (g) deterioration in global economic and financial market conditions generally; and (h) the other risk factors discussed in Alcoas Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, and other reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Alcoa disclaims any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether in response to new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Market projections are subject to the risks discussed above and other risks in the market.

Topics for Todays Discussion 3 What We Will Cover Today and What We Will Cover in the 2Q 2016 Earnings Call What we will cover today Timeline for the separation An overview of the initial Form 10 filed What we will cover in the 2Q earnings call Quarterly results 3Q16 outlook Overview of longer term market trends and performance

Current Form 10 Focuses on Carve-Out Financials; Pro-Forma Details to Follow 4 Form 10 Content: Current and Future Financial information included in the current filing Carve-out financials for Alcoa Corporation May not reflect Alcoa Corporations combined results of operations, financial position and cash flows had it been a standalone company during the periods presented Include general corporate expenses of Alcoa Inc. that were not historically charged to Upstream business Expenses allocated based on direct usage (where possible) and relative segment revenue Pension / OPEB pro-forma adjustments presented Additional adjustments will be included in later filings What we will include in subsequent amendments Additional pro - forma adjustments Statement of Combined Operations Balance Sheet Capital structure Alcoa Corporations board of directors

Klaus Kleinfeld Chairman and Chief Executive Officer 5 June 29, 2016

Executing Separation  Achieving a Key Milestone with Initial Form 10 Filing 6 Separation Approximate Timeline and Path to Completion 4Q 2015 1 st Half 2016 2 nd Half 2016 Launched New Value - Add Name and Brand and Refreshed Alcoa Brand Initial Form 10 Filing - e.g.,  3-Year Carve-Out Financials  Form of Separation and Legal Structure  Intended Debt Structure  Allocation of Assets and Liabilities  Governance Elements Separate Supplier/Partner Contracts Form 10 Effectiveness and Final Board Approval Complete Separation of IT Systems and Infrastructure Complete Financing Begin Trading as Two Companies Launched the Separation Program Office Announced the Executive Management Teams Confirmed U.S. Domicile for Both Companies Launched New Business Improvement Programs for 2016  Arconic to Deliver $650M  Alcoa Corporation to Deliver $600M  Above Includes Overhead Reductions Across Alcoa ($100M in 2016, $225M over two years) 1) $50M of $100M to be realized in 2016 comes from Arconic, remaining $50M from Alcoa Corporation. 1

Alcoa Inc.s debt remains with Arconic 1 (Remain Co); Alcoa Corp. to raise approx. $1 billion Estimated Pro Forma Pension/OPEB obligation 2 : Alcoa Corporation $2.6B, Arconic $3.0B Alcoa Corporation (New Co) will be listed on the NYSE through a tax-free spinoff to shareholders 7 In light of volatile commodity and debt markets, Arconic to retain up to 19.9% of Alcoa Corporation Executing Separation  Form 10 Highlights Separation on track for 2nd half 2016 1) Except for BNDES loans; refer to the Form 10 for additional details 2) As of March 31, 2016

Arconic: Premier Provider of Innovative Solutions to Growing Markets 8 Aerospace and Automotive Products Brazing, Commercial Transportation and Industrial Micromill  Products and Services Power and Propulsion Fastening Systems and Rings Forgings and Extrusions Titanium and Engineered Products Building and Construction Systems Wheel and Transportation Products Key Attributes Premier supplier of high-performance advanced multi-material products and solutions Positioned to strengthen in growth markets with significant customer synergies e.g., aerospace and automotive Expanded multi-material, technology and process expertise Innovation leader with full pipeline of products and solutions Successfully shifting product mix to higher value - add Robust margins and investment opportunities above cost of capital Arconic Business Operations and Key Attributes GRP EPS TCS

Alcoa Corporation: Cost Competitive Industry Leader 9 1) CRU analysis 2) Mined in 2015, including equity interests 3) CRU and Alcoa analysis 4) Includes Saudi Arabia Joint Venture BDMT = Bone Dry Metric Ton Alcoa Corporation Business Operations and Key Attributes Key Attributes Robust projected aluminum demand growth of 5% in 2016, doubling between 2010 and 2020 ; 3 rd Party bauxite demand projected to double by 2025 Attractive Portfolio: Worlds largest, low cost bauxite miner at the 1 st quartile 1 on the cost curve (45M BDMT 2 ) Worlds largest, most attractive alumina business in the 1 st quartile 3 of the cost curve (17.3 MMT total capacity) Substantial energy assets with operational flexibility (Power production capacity of 1,685 MW) Optimized smelting capacity (3.1 MMT) continuing to improve its 2 nd quartile 3 cost curve position 18 casthouses 4 and 2 rolling mills providing value-add products Diverse sites  close proximity to major markets Committed to disciplined capital allocation and prudent return of capital to shareholders Cast Products Worlds largest bauxite miner 1 1 st quartile 3 cost curve refiner Flexibility to profit from market cycles Strategic global footprint Value-add products in key markets Rolled Products Aluminum Energy Alumina Bauxite Can sheet leader in N.A.

10 Separation Process Overview Will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker AA New Co. Will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ARNC Remain Co. Alcoa Corporation to be Created as a New Company Guiding Principles Create optimal capital structures for both entities Pension / OPEB Debt restrictions Optimize opportunities for financing Minimize separation costs Debt breakage Financing Tax Minimize execution risks

Intended Capital Structure Creates Strong Balance Sheets for Both Co.s 11 Intended Capital Structure Overview Guiding principles for new capital structures Create the strongest balance sheets possible for both entities to optimize financing opportunities Minimize debt breakage and other financing costs e.g., refinancing of legacy parent entity Arconic (Remain Co.) Alcoa Inc.s debt remains with Arconic 1 Arconic uses cash received from Alcoa Corporation to pay down a portion of the debt retained from Alcoa Inc. Arconic not expected to issue debt Alcoa Corporation (New Co.) Conducts a capital raise of approximately $1B in funded debt Proceeds , net of fees, will be used to pay Arconic Obtains up to ~$1.5B of liquidity facilities through a senior secured revolving credit facility Intended capital structure 1) Except for BNDES loans; refer to the Form 10 for additional details

80/20 Structure Description Retained Interest: Both Companies Positioned for Success 12 ...Arconic to retain up to 19.9% of Alcoa Corporation In light of recent volatile commodity markets and conditions in the high-yield debt market... Provides Arconic a liquid security that can be monetized to strengthen the balance sheet Reduces reliance on Alcoa Corporation to raise debt Enables Alcoa Corporation to be separated with lower leverage Filed for IRS private letter ruling Alcoa Corporation Shares Outstanding Ownership Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield Average OAS 1 (% pts.) (6/20/11-6-16/16) 1) OAS = Option-Adjusted Spread Source: Bloomberg All-in Aluminum (LME Cash + Midwest Premium) ($/MT) (6/20/11-6/16/16) Recent historic lows 1,500 1,700 1,900 2,100 2,300 2,500 2,700 2,900 06/11 12/11 06/12 12/12 06/13 12/13 06/14 12/14 06/15 12/15 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 80.1% 19.9% Free float Arconic Alcoa Inc. conducts a pro rata distribution of at least 80.1% of the outstanding shares We continue to monitor market conditions in the commodity and high-yield debt market and to assess the impact of that situation on how to structure the transaction 06/11 12/11 06/12 12/12 06/13 12/13 06/14 12/14 06/15 12/15

13 Liability Allocation Overview Remain Co. Liabilities Allocated to Each Entity According to Several Guiding Principles Legal Environmental Pension / OPEB Liabilities New Co. Guiding Principles Legal and Environmental Allocated generally to originating business e.g., Grasse River to Arconic and Fusina to Alcoa Corporation Pension / OPEB 1 Allocated to employees last business affiliation Closed / divested / HQ allocated to balance funding level and contribution requirements 1) Estimated Pro Forma Pension/OPEB obligation as of March 31, 2016: Alcoa Corporation $2.6B, Arconic $3.0B

Executing Separation  On Course for Second Half of 2016 14 Separation Approximate Timeline and Path to Completion 1) $50M of $100M to be realized in 2016 comes from Arconic, remaining $50M from Alcoa Corporation. 4Q 2015 1 st Half 2016 2 nd Half 2016 Launched New Value - Add Name and Brand and Refreshed Alcoa Brand Initial Form 10 Filing - e.g.,  3-Year Carve-Out Financials  Form of Separation and Legal Structure  Intended Debt Structure  Allocation of Assets and Liabilities  Governance Elements Separate Supplier/Partner Contracts Form 10 Effectiveness and Final Board Approval Complete Separation of IT Systems and Infrastructure Complete Financing Begin Trading as Two Companies Launched the Separation Program Office Announced the Executive Management Teams Confirmed U.S. Domicile for Both Companies Launched New Business Improvement Programs for 2016  Arconic to Deliver $650M  Alcoa Corporation to Deliver $600M  Above Includes Overhead Reductions Across Alcoa ($100M in 2016, $225M over two years) 1

Get Ready for The Launch of Two Strong, New Companies 15 Arconic and Alcoa Corporation Branding

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EXHIBIT 99.3

Arconic Inc. Overview

June 29, 2016

The following summary describes Arconics business assuming the completion of Alcoa Inc.s (Alcoa) plan to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies: a globally cost-competitive upstream company that will be named Alcoa Corporation, and a technology-driven, value-add company that will be named Arconic Inc. The separation is on track to be completed in the second half of 2016 but remains subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including obtaining final approval from the Alcoa Board of Directors, receipt of a favorable IRS ruling and opinions of Alcoas tax advisors regarding certain U.S. federal income tax matters and the effectiveness of the Form 10. Additional information about the separation has been provided in the registration statement on Form 10 that Alcoa Upstream Corporation has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Form 10 is subject to change prior to completion of the separation and includes preliminary detailed information about Alcoa Corporation as a standalone company, including historical financial information, risks related to the separation, and a description of Alcoa Corporations business and strategy and other legal and financial disclosures.

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Arconic will be a premier innovator of high performance multi-material products and solutions and a global leader in precision engineering and advanced manufacturing. The company is positioned to profitably grow in growth markets, with deep technological capabilities and significant customer synergies. It will be a Fortune 500 company with large scale and globally diverse operations.

Includes Engineered Products and Solutions (EPS); Global Rolled Products (GRP); and Transportation and Construction Solutions (TCS) segments

Positioned to grow profitablyinnovation leader with full pipeline of products and solutions

Pursue investment opportunities that provide a return above the cost of capital

41% of 2015 revenues tied to high-growth aerospace industry

Competitors include: Precision Castparts, Allegheny Technologies, Barnes Group, Carpenter Technology, Constellium, Kaiser Aluminum, Moog, Parker-Hannifin, TransDigm, and Woodward

 80% of revenue in five key businesses from #1 or #2 positions  Aerospace, Automotive, Commercial Transportation, Industrial Gas Turbines (IGT), Building and Construction (B&C)

EPS: Differentiated supplier to high-growth aerospace industry with leading positions on every major aircraft and jet engine platform, underpinned by market leadership in jet engine and industrial gas turbine airfoils, aerofasteners

GRP: at the forefront of lightweighting the automotive industry

TCS:

n Building & Construction Systems: North American leader in commercial architectural systems

n Wheel and Transportation Products: Global leader in forged aluminum commercial vehicle wheels

Aligned with Global Megatrends

Globalization: worldwide expansion in air travel

Urbanization: commercial building & construction Growth

 Energy Efficiency: lightweighting of transportation, both aerospace and automotive Market Leadership

Leading technology partner with multi-material capabilities

Produces >90% of all aerospace structures and rotating components

Broad aerospace product array, meeting large OEM, and multi-platform requirements

 Automotive Leader  lightweighting expertise, bonding technology, Micromill

Shareholder Benefits

Best-in-class, multi-material, scaled business

Disciplined cash flow reinvestment into highest return initiatives

 Top line growth driven by exposure to sustainable growth markets

Market Positions

Arconic Company Profile

Creating a Multi-Material Innovation Powerhouse Serving High-Growth Markets

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EPS develops and manufactures high-performance, engineered products and solutions for the aerospace, industrial gas turbine, commercial transportation and oil and gas markets. With 2015 revenues of $5.3 billion and 24,000 employees in 15 countries, EPS has four global business units. Competitive strengths:

Leadership positions in high-growth aerospace and industrial markets; 83% of revenues from #1 or #2 market positions

- Aerospace engines: airfoils, rings and performance coatings

- Aerospace structures: fasteners, extrusions, and conventional forging and isothermal forging

- Aerospace products: titanium aluminide, fine grain sheet

- Industrial gas turbines

 Highly differentiated competitive position

- Unique customer one-stop shop benefits: alloy development, new product design and development, process technology development and manufacturing excellence

- Unparalleled capabilities in advanced, high-quality, multi-alloy powder production and enhanced 3-D printing

 Strategic global footprint

- Key innovation and R&D centers positioned adjacent to customer clusters in North America and Europe

- Low-cost manufacturing footprint, including key operational bases in Mexico, China, Hungary and Morocco. Arconic is one of a few suppliers qualified to produce jet engine rings, investment castings and aerospace and industrial fasteners in many of those regions.

 Strong base for future growth

- Over the past 18 months, Arconic has signed at least $10 billion in new contracts with important aerospace customers, including Boeing, Airbus, Embraer and GE.

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GRP manufactures a broad range of differentiated aluminum sheet and plate products for the automotive, aerospace, commercial transportation, brazing and industrial markets. With revenues of $5.3 billion and approximately 11,000 employees in seven countries, GRP has three business units. Within GRP, 61 percent of revenues come from #1 or #2 market positions.

 With a plate and sheet portfolio focused on innovation, Arconic has broad-based technological expertise and diversification across a wide range of markets: aerospace, automotive, commercial transportation, industrial and brazing.

 The North American automotive market is in the midst of an historic shift to lightweight materials. Arconic is at the forefront of capturing growing demand for aluminum sheet. Arconic invented the bonding process that has been the key enabler of the mass-market shift from steel to aluminum. Arconic estimates that it will grow its automotive sheet revenue approximately six-fold, from $229 million in 2013 to $1.3 billion in 2018.

Arconic Micromill technology produces aluminum sheet that is 30 percent stronger than incumbent automotive aluminum, and 30 percent lighter and with twice the formability of high strength steel. The process technology is also breakthrough, reducing manufacturing time from 20 days to 20 minutes.

This technology is allowing our customers to redefine the boundaries of vehicle design, supporting the creation of lighter, more fuel efficient, safer and more stylish vehicles for the future. Micromill material debuted on the 2016 Ford F-150 and Arconic has a Joint Development Agreement with Ford to collaborate on next-generation aluminum alloys for automotive parts using Micromill technology. Additionally, 13 customers on the three major continents are trialing Micromill material.

 Arconic is the only rolling company with a global approach to serving aerospace customers by consolidating offerings from both GRP and EPS across aerospace structures and jet engines, through strong key account management. A single leader is assigned for each end market and is supported by a Center of Excellence (CoE) that drives standards globally.

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TCS designs and manufactures forged aluminum wheels for the commercial transportation market and architectural products and solutions for the non-residential building and construction market. Arconic is the acknowledged global leader in the market for forged aluminum truck wheels, and a leader in the North America architectural systems market. The Group had 2015 revenues of $1.9 billion and has 6,000 employees. Within TCS, 79% of revenues come from #1 or #2 market positions.

Arconics differentiation in commercial transportation and building and construction is built on lightweight materials innovation, surface design expertise and engineering capability.

- Innovation growth driver: more than 30 percent of revenue from products introduced in past three years

- Forged aluminum wheels reduce vehicle weight, which maximizes payload and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions

- The popular Dura-Bright EVO is 10 times more corrosion-resistant than the previous generation, significantly reducing the cost of overall maintenance

- Regulations and customer demand to make buildings more energy efficient is increasing the demand for innovative, green building solutions.

Arconics global and regional presence is a major differentiator that offers the commercial transportation and building and construction businesses a cost-effective footprint in sales and operations, as well as robust supply chain options.

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Arconic Markets

Arconics largest and fastest growing market is aerospace, where Alcoa has had a major presence since the Wright brothers first flight. Fueled by an expanding middle class and increasing air travel, global aircraft demand has led to the largest order book in aviation history, with a nine-year backlog for both commercial jets and engines. Arconic is well-positioned to benefit from that growth with a range of high performance multi-materials and highly engineered products and solutions for engines and structures on virtually every aircraft platform.

Arconic is a leader in delivering a wide range of structural components such as fasteners, sheet and plate, forgings, extrusions and castings. Aircraft are reducing weight and improving aerodynamics to improve efficiency. Arconics unmatched capabilities, proprietary alloys and technologies deliver the structural solutions needed to help create the worlds most efficient aircraft.

Arconic produces approximately ninety percent of jet engine components, from the worlds most advanced blades and vanes to rings and discs. The jet engine is the main lever to improve the efficiency of an aircraft, and significant improvements are being targeted by major OEMs to meet customer demands to decrease fuel burn by 15 percent, emissions of NOx by 50 percent and noise levels by 15 decibels. Arconics advanced airfoil and engine component capabilities help deliver these reductions and a 30 percent improvement in the maintenance cycle.

Inexpensive, clean natural gas is increasing the use of gas-fired power generation in the United States, now making up one third of all electricity produced in the country. Additionally, growth comes from emerging countries focused on quickly and cost-effectively building out their energy supply, in response to population growth and the rise of the middle class. Arconic is strongly positioned to capture that increased demand as, in response, utilities move towards more efficient turbines that run on cleaner, more cost-effective natural gas. As the leader in advanced airfoils and other components for industrial gas turbines, Arconic produces high-quality parts intelligently designed to withstand the extreme operating temperatures often higher than the melting point of the metal itself. Today, approximately 75 percent of gas turbines worldwide use airfoils produced by Arconic.

North America is Arconics most important automotive market. In North America, new stringent federal fuel economy regulations, coupled with increasing consumer demand for more fuel efficient vehicles, is leading automakers to rethink vehicle design and push ahead with alternate powertrains, new technologies and advanced materials. Aluminum offers automakers the fastest, safest, most environmentally-friendly and cost-effective way to get the job done. Low-density aluminum is a game-changer and automakers are taking full advantage of all the consumer benefits it provides.

This move to aluminum-intensive vehicles further benefits Arconic and we have been aggressively capturing increased demand for automotive aluminum sheet, with demand expected to increase tenfold between 2012 and 2025. Arconics Micromill technology is providing us a further competitive edge in both cost efficiency and innovation, enabling us to attack steel components. Outside of North America, automotive production also remains strong in Europe and China  driven by stable consumer sentiment, availability of affordable credit and low fuel-prices.

6

As governments move to greater enforcement of emissions and fuel efficiency regulation, the trajectory of lightweighting solutions for the commercial transportation market remains strong. In China, the worlds largest commercial transportation market, the majority of trucks and buses still run on heavy steel wheels, providing tremendous growth opportunity for lightweight, low-maintenance aluminum wheels as well as lightweighting opportunities in mass transportation from high speed rail to metrocars. In Europe, market forces are accelerating a shift from steel to aluminum wheels. Due to the ability to increase payload and fuel efficiency while decreasing cost of ownership, North America has the worlds highest aluminum wheel adoption rates. As the acknowledged global leader in forged aluminum heavy duty truck wheels, Arconic is the company best positioned to benefit from those positive market opportunities.

The North American building and constrcution market, where Arconics Kawneer systems are the acknowledged leader, remains strong. Globally, the non-residential building and construction market continues to be driven by key megatrends including growth of the middle class, urbanization, growing demand for energy efficient structures able to withstand security and climate threats; and an increasing appreciation of design and aesthetics. Arconic is well positioned around the world to capture the growth driven by these trends. Europe continues its gradual-but-steady recovery, the market in China is expected to return to higher growth rates over the next three years and the Indian market will continue to grow at a high rate.

Arconics brazing applications are benefitting from the increasing need for thermal efficiency to improve efficiency, durability and emissions in automotive powertrain and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems. Given Arconics leadership in providing multilayer brazing sheet solutions for the most challenging heat exchanger applications, it is ideally positioned to deliver the necessary combination of strength, thermal conductivity and corrosion resistance for advanced heat exchangers in the automotive and HVAC markets.

Serving a range of markets, Arconic leverages the unique characteristics of aluminum to help fabricate better-performing industrial products. We make strong, lightweight, corrosion-resistant materials used in applications that range from building and construction, machinery and circuitry to cookware and appliances. We are also increasing penetration into growing markets such as wind turbines, solar power and liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tanks.

Arconic provides products to meet the unique needs of our regional customers in China, Russia and South America. For example, in Brazil we recently expanded our capability to produce aseptic foil, a type of high-growth, differentiated packaging.

Arconic Advantages

Arconic provides its businesses with a unique array of levers, called Arconic Advantages, that provide a sharper competitive edge and enable powerful value creation for shareholders, customers and employees.

Technology Advantage

The Arconic Technical Center (ATC), the worlds largest lightweight multi-material technology center, provides a comprehensive range of technological competencies that are unmatched by any Arconic competitor.

Recent examples of commercial success:

Advanced aluminum-lithium for the aerospace industry. Arconic operates the worlds largest aluminum-lithium cast house, in Lafayette, Indiana, and the worlds widest rolling mill, in Davenport, Iowa, to produce the largest single-piece aircraft parts possible. The first ever aluminum-lithium forging for a jet engine front fan blade was developed by Arconic. The forging is lighter and more cost effective than traditionally-used titanium and carbon fiber, helping Pratt & Whitney meet performance targets for its next-generation engines.

Applying aerospace expertise to defense applications. Leveraging expertise from

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producing the A380 inner rear wing spar  the largest aerospace forging in the world  Arconic has delivered weight- and cost-saving components for defense applications, like the Joint Strike Fighter bulkhead and the largest single-piece forged aluminum hull for combat vehicles.

Advanced alloy development and additive manufacturing. Arconic is building on its long history of leadership in advanced alloy development to create a leadership edge in the emerging space of additive manufacturing. We recently completed construction of a new powder production facility for Nickel, Titanium and Aluminum that will support Arconics growing 3D printing base  the smart ink of the future. Additionally, Arconics proprietary hybrid Ampliforge process combines additive and traditional manufacturing methods to uniquely enhance the strength of 3D printed parts. Airbus recently awarded Arconic a contract to supply 3D printed titanium fuselage and engine parts to be used in commercial aircraft.

Customer Intimacy Advantage

More than 65 percent of Arconics revenue from its top 10 customers in key markets is shared among our three groups. Through a key account management approach, Arconic strengthens relationships across its customer organizations, allowing us to understand the applications of our products to meet the precise needs of our customers. Our technological skills, paired with our delivery system, provide our customers with products and solutions to make them more competitive and help them win.

Arconic is the only company that can deliver to customers the full combination of materials science, development, engineering and manufacturing solutions. Through a joint go-to-market approach, Arconic reduces complexity and mitigates assembly and supply chain risk for customers. Being involved throughout the entire development process enables Arconic to produce materials and solutions to the customers form, fit and function.

Procurement Advantage

Arconic leverages its purchasing power of $7 billion in spending with vendors and suppliers to maximize savings, while forming important partnerships with key suppliers to enhance our innovation and customer delivery.

Arconic utilizes the latest in procurement tools in key areas such as risk management, sourcing strategies, supply chain optimization, specification management, demand management and supplier consolidation.

Talent Advantage

Talent is a significant competitive advantage at Arconic. Our management team has a strong track record of performance and execution. The management team is composed of a group of talented, entrepreneurial-minded business and functional leaders. Klaus Kleinfeld, Arconics Chairman and CEO, who joined Alcoa in 2007, has a background of leadership successes in multiple industries, including business restructuring as well as innovation-led growth with a strong international orientation. With this approach, he led the Companys turnaround through the economic recession and the collapse of the aluminum market, restructuring the upstream businesses while building up the value add businesses. Ken Giacobbe, who will be Arconics chief financial officer (CFO), is currently the CFO of EPS and has extensive experience with the value-add businesses. The leaders of the three business groups have significant leadership experience with major global industrial companies.

To attract the best and brightest talent, Arconic has a robust recruiting program within the top engineering and business schools and partners with technical and community colleges to support our local plants. Arconic takes a systematic approach to talent development, providing employees with stimulating assignments and clear career pathing. We have a robust leadership training curriculum to develop a solid pipeline of leaders and managers ready to move up to the next level.

Following the principle of pay-for-performance, we provide annual cash and equity incentives to our employees that motivate achievement of aggressive financial targets. To maintain a focus on long-term profitable growth and alignment with shareholder interests, leaders have a significant portion of their compensation in the form of performance equity shares.

Operating Systems Advantage

Our businesses have the benefit of a lean, efficient right sourced value chain and an agile, operating system that was stress-tested during the worst downturn in the history of aluminum industry. Central to our daily management is a robust operating system called Degrees of Implementation (DI). The DI system engages all employees to participate in growth, productivity and asset optimization. The tool gives management full transparency to track execution of employee improvement initiatives from ideas to

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cash. Since the beginning of 2016, 24,000 employees generated 13,000 ideas for substantial cost savings, cash generation and revenue growth and are engaged in converting those to achieve a $650 million target.

Additionally, Arconic utilizes a full toolbox to optimize customer engagement, product quality and operational efficiency. Key tools include:

Arconic Commercial Advantage (ACA) establishes best practices for Arconics entire sales cycle, including account management, customer value proposition, pricing, negotiations, risk management, order management.

Quality Management Systems (QMS) establishes standards, process management methodologies and technical networks to deliver zero defects and zero quality excursions, thereby reducing cost of poor quality and improving customer satisfaction.

Arconic Business Management System (ABS) is a company-wide methodology to increase efficiency of production systems and achieve business targets. The ABS system has enabled us to double our automotive flow path output at our Davenport facility with minimal capital costs.

In summary, with leadership in growing markets, unparalleled innovation, customer intimacy, and advantages in talent, procurement, and operating systems, we are ambitious about Arconics ability to create value.

Forward-Looking Statements
UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): June 29, 2016

ARGOS THERAPEUTICS, INC.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)

Delaware 001-35443 56-2110007 (State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation) (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer Identification No.)

4233 Technology Drive Durham, North Carolina 27704 (Address of Principal Executive Offices)

Registrants telephone number, including area code: (919) 287-6300

None

(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

 Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

 Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Item 8.01 Other Events

On June 29, 2016, Argos Therapeutics, Inc. (the Company) completed the closing of the second tranche of its private placement financing under the Companys previously announced March 2016 securities purchase agreement. In the closing of the second tranche, the Company sold, for a total purchase price of $29,824,520, a total of 5,478,672 shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase a total of 4,109,005 shares of its common stock (0.75 shares of common stock for each share of common stock purchased), based on a purchase price per share of common stock and accompanying warrant equal to $5.44375.

The closing of the second tranche was triggered by the previously announced recommendation from the Companys independent data monitoring committee (IDMC) that the Company continue its pivotal Phase 3 ADAPT clinical trial of AGS-003 for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma based on results of the IDMC's scheduled interim data review.

SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
Prime Minister John Key joined Downtown Cinemas board chair Bill Wallace and Otaki MP Nathan Guy to check progress during the cinema revamp in 2011.

Downtown Cinemas in Coastlands mall has been sold to Australian company Event Hospitality and Entertainment.

The complex would continue operating "seamlessly" once Event took over in about a month's time, Downtown Cinemas board chair Bill Wallace said.

Shareholders in Downtown were at a retirement age and were looking to "realise the asset", he said.

There was "absolutely" a future for the cinema experience in Kapiti and the rest of the country, Wallace said.

READ MORE:* Cinema drops ticket prices

"It's a very good asset because it's got market share not just in Paraparaumu, but Palmerston North and Hawke's Bay."

Cinemas had endured decades of being consigned to the rubbish heap, with the advent of everything from drive-ins to video cassettes, but they had survived, he said.

Event Cinemas would take over by the end of July. .

It would likely be business as usual, but Wallace not know what Event might do with ticket prices  $17 an adult  compared to the likes of Reading Cinemas in Courtenay Place which had dropped from $16 to $10 in May.

The ticket price in Kapiti was "absolutely not" a problem for the company, Wallace said.

"In retail you experiment with discount strategies and we've done that with Downtown from time to time, but it simply isn't part of our strategy. It simply isn't profitable."

Any vouchers and pre-ordered tickets would be honoured by Event Cinemas.

Reading Cinemas pulled out of the Kapiti complex abruptly in May 2010, leaving a message on cinema doors that it would redeem vouchers at its other cinemas in the region.

The departure left Kapiti without a major cinema for 12 months, until work started on revamping the facility in Coastlands mall.

Event Cinemas operates the Embassy in Wellington, and a multiplex in Queensgate in Lower Hutt. The company's head office is in Sydney, and it runs cinemas, hotels and resorts across Australasia, and Europe.

Event had not responded to questions by time of publication.

The nearest multiplex run by a major cinema company is Reading Porirua.
Jay Slikas had no hesitations in tackling a thief and holding him down until police arrived.

Determination fuelled Jay Slikas to spear-tackle a knife-wielding thief, pin him down and zip tie his hands until police arrived at a Coromandel ferry pier.

The Cooks Beach local tracked the jandal wearing robber after he pulled a knife and threatened to kill Slikas' friend who was manning the local store on Saturday afternoon.

Police were now considering Slikas for a commendation, describing his actions as "outstanding".

"I'm just stoked we found him. There's nothing worse than that happening to a girl and him getting away with it," Slikas said.



READ MORE:

* Bystander thwarts thief with a shoulder tackle

* Hamilton cat burglar nabs neighbours undies in the night

* Worker wrestles with gun-wielding man in Hamilton robbery



Jeanie Mabey was working at the store on Captain Cook Rd alone when the "odd looking" man in jandals entered about 1.15pm.

"He looked scary...he gave you that uneasy feeling," she said.

After a few minutes of loitering he approached the counter.

"He came up with packs of meat, chops and bacon, and pulled his knife out."

The slim-built 24-year-old then ordered her to "empty the till".

Wielding an estimated 8-inch flick knife, he also demanded she empty the cigarette cabinet.

"His knife kept getting close to me, I kept backing away. I emptied the cigarettes but he kept yelling at me because he wanted a particular kind."

He threatened to come back and kill her if she told anyone of the theft.

"I waited until I couldn't see him down the street anymore because I was scared he would see me get help."



"We followed him down Riverview Rd on the phone to police, but then we lost sight of them."

Waikato police Senior Sergeant Pete Simpson said the thief had broken into a bach owned by extended family and stashed the stolen meat in the freezer before hitchhiking to a nearby ferry.

In the meantime, Slikas, who was working in the liquor store, realised Maybe was missing and phoned to check on her.

She described the offender, who Slikas recognised as a "

big slothy character" he'd seen earlier.

So Slikas and another customer jumped in a car and went in search of the culprit.

They found him about 7km away at Ferry Landing, attempting to sell cigarettes to a group of six or seven teens.

"I had a talk to him, he got a bit aggressive so I fooled him into thinking the police were behind.

"When he wasn't looking I grabbed him, lifted him into the air and spear tackled him into the ground."

Using his 110kg weight, Slikas knelt on his head in the rain, while his friend grabbed the zip ties and 'handcuffed' him until police arrived about 20 minutes later.

"He was pretty upset and trying to break free, telling me he was going to come back and kill me."

"Apart from getting stabbed, no I wasn't concerned, I did have a look at the risk and thought if I take him out hard he's not going to hurt me."

Having caught snakes with his hands in Australia, this slithering thief was no problem, he said.

Police arrested the Hamilton man, of no fixed abode, and charged him with one count of aggravated robbery. He would appear in court at a later date.

"I am so thankful, Jay was straight onto it," Maybe said.
Police are appealing for information about the whereabouts of Cain Douglas-Tera.

Douglas-Tera is wanted by police after removing his electronic monitoring bracelet in late May in Ngaruawahia.
Jamal Khan, the New Zealander freed after being kidnapped in Nigeria last week, is believed to be a Bay of Plenty man.

Media sources have confirmed Jamal, who was part of a convoy in which the driver was killed in an ambush in Calabar, south-east Nigeria, was not yet well enough to return to New Zealand. He is a member of a widely-respected Ngongotaha family.
Yes, we need to keep it under control

No, we need to learn to live with it
Superyacht Chasseur is the 40th Christensen hull to be launched, deployed into the water via a revolutionary new Luken Launcher system designed and built by the yard itself. This rapid succession of two yacht launches reflects a new era for the yard, according to President of Christensen, Jim Gilbert.

These are excitingin fact, historictimes for Christensen, explains Gilbert. After the upheaval of the last few years, the yard is both pushing out an extraordinary volume of work, and reinventing itself in myriad ways.

Available for sale through each owner, both Silver Lining and Chasseur will be undergoing river and sea trials in the coming weeks with delivery scheduled for this summer. The yachts will depart the Pacific Northwest in early September for a long voyage down, through the Panama Canal and then arriving at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show for a double debut.
Students and teachers celebrating Dia del Espanol. :: SUR

Malaga University (UMA) recently celebrated Dia del Espanol at the Centro Internacional de Espanol (CIE). The event was aimed at students and foreign residents learning Spanish on the Costa del Sol, and involved a number of activities to help celebrate the importance of learning Spanish language and culture.

The ceremony was full of energy as the students collected their diplomas and certificates, each one of them smiling and feeling a great sense of achievement. Giovanni Cappara, the president of the Centro Internacional de Espanol, highlighted this prevailing sense of enthusiasm and hope that he has seen in the current group of students, whose nationalities ranged from American to South Korean, from Australian to Finnish.

Some of the students initially came to the classes with no understanding of Spanish apart from Hola and Una cerveza, por favor. Others had a far more in-depth understanding of Spanish, but wished to come and improve purely with personal goals in mind. Despite their differences, the students all got on extremely well, each one of them professing a common goal to continuing learning Spanish and to experience life in Malaga to the fullest.

Throughout the day the centre had a number of activities for the students, teachers and visitors, such as poetry readings, a book fair, performances from the universitys tuna (a group of students who play traditional instruments and sing serenades in university dress), and musical renderings of songs from several Spanish-countries.

The music figured as a motif, as it infused the event with a liveliness and profoundly emotive sense of pride for the Spanish language. Daniel Mora, guitarist and teacher at the CIE-UMA, played a number of songs that originated in South America, such as a guajira, milonga, and colombiana, but were aflamenquadas for the purpose of demonstrating the influence of Spanish language and culture throughout the world. Perhaps some of the students did not quite grasp or understand every word that was sung nor every note that was played, but they were still enthralled by the meaning that the music communicated.

The activities were the ultimate celebration of Spanish, along with its historical, cultural and social influences, as everyone got involved by watching, listening and eating. Dia del Espanol fulfilled its aim to help celebrate and promote Spanish language and culture, as this group of students will soon leave Malaga with their diplomas in hand, smiles on their faces, and their love for Spanish remaining strong and everlasting.
Syracuse, N.Y.  The American Institute of Architects Central New York chapter is seeking designs for an "interactive" outdoor art installation, the first of what it hopes will be many such works in the city.

Anthony Rojas, director of education for the chapter, said the organization will be hosting a design competition for the initial site, a little-used city minipark at the southeast corner of East Genesee and South Townsend streets, starting Aug. 4. Proposals must be made by Sept. 9.

Rojas said the chapter hopes to see the first installation constructed by the fall of 2017. It has received assistance from 40 Below, an organization of young professionals who promote Syracuse's revitalization, in identifying spaces for the exhibits.

An interactive art exhibit  Rojas prefers to call them "architectural installations"  is a structure that allows observers to walk in, on or around it, or in some other way interact with the exhibit.

One well-known example is Crown Fountain in Chicago's Millennium Park. It consists of two 50-foot glass block towers in a shallow reflecting pool.

The towers project video images of the faces of a cross-section of Chicago citizens in a sort of tech version of the traditional use of gargoyles in fountains, where faces of mythological beings were sculpted with open mouths to allow water, a symbol of life, to flow out.

Rojas said the goal of the Syracuse program is to beautify and "reactivate" underutilized public plazas. Local artists and Syracuse University's School of Architecture have already expressed an interest in the design competition, but anyone can submit proposals, he said.

The initial site was chosen because it serves as a gateway to downtown Syracuse from the east, he said.

Rojas said Syracuse University will provide up to $80,000 to build the first exhibit, which will be part of the Connective Corridor, a university-driven program to enhance the urban streetscape between its campus and downtown Syracuse. The Connective Corridor program is leveraging more than $46 million from national, state, local and foundation sources, as well as private donors, to rebuild streets and sidewalks, and install new lighting, street furniture and public art.

More information about the design competition will be posted on the project's website, www.reimagineplace.com, Rojas said.

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148
512890822

A state judge in Sullivan County has ordered a farmer to stop using eggshells as fertilizer after neighbors sued.

(alicjane)

When farmer Peter Hofstee's supply of liquid duck manure ran dry last summer, he switched to another poultry product to enrich his hayfield: crushed eggshells.

Hofstee, of Bethel, spread the shells as fertilizer. But the ensuing stench and flies drove neighbors and customers to complain and, ultimately, sue in court, according to the Times Herald-Record.

So last week, a state Supreme Court judge ordered Hofstee to temporarily stop using the shells as fertilizer. (Apparently, the farmer didn't understand the order and continued his egg-shell-spreading ways over the weekend.)

What's more, the people of Sullivan County learned in court, eggshells do little to fertilize the soil, according to an expert who in the past was affiliated with Cornell Cooperative Extension. Eggshells do two main things: change the pH balance of the soil and provide an irresistible breeding ground for flies.

Those flies, not to mention the eggy shell smell, drove customers from the nearby Dancing Cat Saloon and Catskill Distilling Company on Route 17B, according to the newspaper. Those owners, and others, filed a lawsuit in December.

Hofstee has admitted he left a pile of eggshells unattended for more than nine months, the paper reported.

On Tuesday, the judge ordered the farmer to get rid of the piles of eggshells and fly larvae. Hofstee's sister called out "This is so unreasonable," in court. The farmer said the decision would ruin him.

"I am out of business," Hofstee said, according to the newspaper. "This is crippling me."
2016-02-10-dn-sentencing.JPG

Steven Szatanek makes a statement just before Judge James McCarthy sentences him to 25 years to life for the murder of Anna-Rose Shove in 2014 at Brennan Beach.

(Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com)

Anna-Rose Shove

Baldwinsville, NY -- A Baldwinsville man is accusing a doctor-for-hire of ripping him off for key testimony during his son's murder trial.

Frank Szatanek paid $21,362 to Dr. Daniel Spitz for his expert opinion during Steven Szatanek's murder trial last year in the death of Anna-Rose Shove, 17, at Brennan Beach along Lake Ontario.

Steven Szatanek, 33, was convicted by jury of murdering Shove. He is serving 25 years to life in prison.

His father now says Spitz overcharged him and did not provide a detailed breakdown of services, said lawyer James Meggesto.

Spitz has already returned $3,000, according to court paperwork. But the elder Szatanek is seeking more.

Spitz testified during trial that Shove's drowning death was not caused by another person, according to media reports. He attributed scrapes on her face to her "moving across the bottom" of the lake, as well as fish activity.

After trial, Spitz's invoice included the hours he worked on the case, but did not say what he did during those hours, Meggesto said.

It's not clear how much more the elder Szatanek wants back. Meggesto said he's waiting to get a copy of Spitz's rate card.

Dr. Daniel Spitz

In criminal trials, an expert isn't paid based on win or lose, but for time, effort and costs of traveling to trial.

Szatanek's trial wasn't Spitz's first stop in town recently. Spitz, who is a coroner for a county in suburban Detroit, was a star witness for Robert Neulander during his murder trial in March 2015.

Spitz made headlines during that trial after Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told him not to be a "smart ass."

Spitz is notorious for missing a bullet wound during a 2010 autopsy of a bank executive found in a lake. He also changed his opinion in the famous Drew Peterson murder case after being hired by Peterson as an expert during the former Illinois police officer's murder trial.

Spitz's father is world-renowned medical examiner Dr. Werner Spitz, who literally wrote the book on medical procedures during death investigations.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- According to a recent poll, Central New Yorkers say their favorite local concert venue is Chevy Court at the New York State Fairgrounds.

This summer, Chevy Court will host 23 concerts, free with NYS Fair admission, featuring superstar performers like Kesha, Chicago, Dashboard Confessional, Flo Rida and Brian Wilson. Last year, Chevy Court hosted artists like Rick Springfield, Nas, Salt-n-Pepa, Melissa Etheridge and Jason Derulo.

Research & Marketing Strategies, Inc. (RMS), a local market research firm, conducted the survey of 501 Central New Yorkers in May and June this year. The survey asked about favorite music genres, listening habits, preferences, venues, and concert spending behaviors. All respondents reside within Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga or Oswego County.

The Lakeview Amphitheater, in its debut summer season, was voted by respondents as the second favorite venue, followed by Turning Stone Resort and Casino as the third.

According to the survey, 83 percent of the respondents plan to go to a concert this summer. The average respondent plans to spend $76 to $100 per concert and will travel 21 to 50 miles to attend a concert this year.

The Dave Matthews Band concert at the Lakeview Amphitheater was the most anticipated by the respondents, followed by Keith Urban, Zac Brown Band, Journey and Hall & Oates.

According to the survey, 30 percent of respondents plan to attend at least two concerts this summer, 21 percent will go to three and nine percent plan to attend eight or more concerts this year.

When it comes to a favorite music genre, classic rock stole the show with 76 percent. Rock followed at 67 percent, pop at 64 percent, country at 48 percent, R&B/soul at 36 percent, and hip hop/rap at 32 percent.

When asked if they could see anyone in concert, respondents' top choice was Adele. Beyonce came in second, followed by Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and Garth Brooks.

The RMS ViewPoint poll was conducted from May 25, 2016 to June 5, 2016. A total of 501 surveys were completed by both RMS ViewPoint Research Panel members and general community members.

Katrina Tulloch writes music and culture stories for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact her: Email | Twitter | Facebook
Syracuse, N.Y. -- When Lauren Kochian heard about a grassroots project to turn Syracuse's ugliest spots into art, there was no moment of pause before encouraging the MOST to hop in line.

"We're absolutely thrilled. Those are ugly walls," Kochian said, referring to the massive wall that runs behind the science museum in Armory Square, where she is the chief development officer.

She's hoping the walls will be the first to get turned into art by a project that started with one man posting pictures of Syracuse's ugliest places on Facebook and asking a simple question: why can't we turn them into art? Chris Fowler, of SyracuseFirst, held a meeting to organize artists and interested community members, and named the movement "Syracuse Artivism".

"In a way - they are screaming for it. They are a canvas," Kochian said of the blank, gray walls behind the museum. CSX, the railroad company, owns the wall, and is onboard with art that wouldn't damage the wall structurally, Kochian said.

The next step is to find artists and supplies to get the job done, Kochian said. Her hope is that the walls will get painted this summer.

"We're hoping it's soon," she said. "Summer is short and fall is not that much longer. We don't want to lose momentum."

Marnie Eisenstadt writes about people, life and culture in Central New York. Contact her anytime: email | twitter | 315-470-2246.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A raucous crowd cheered Colleen Deacon Tuesday night at a downtown Syracuse tavern after she declared victory in her 24th Congressional District primary race against two other Democrats.

"I've been told I don't look like a typical congressman," Deacon said. "John Katko is more of the same. We need to get him out of office."

About 75 supporters at Wolff's Biergarten, across from Syracuse City Hall, cheered Tuesday night each time the election results showed Deacon with a big lead over Democrats Eric Kingson and Steve Williams.



"I think she has a really good chance because Hillary (Clinton) is at the top of the ticket," said Melissa Marrone, a supporter at the Deacon victory party.

Marrone was an executive assistant for the last Democrat to represent Syracuse in Congress, Dan Maffei. Now she's in a "political ladies' book club" with Deacon, who lives near her on Syracuse's east side.

Marrone said she plans to help Deacon in her campaign to unseat Katko, a Republican from Onondaga Hill who beat Maffei in 2014.

Larry Bousquet, a Syracuse attorney, was another Deacon supporter at the party who said the presidential race will have a big impact on the outcome of the 24th Congressional race in the Nov. 8 general election.

"I think Katko is a decent human being," Bousquet said. "I think he's going to have a tough time with Donald Trump on the top of the ticket."

"Hillary Clinton was a tremendous U.S. senator and has a lot of connections to Central New York," Bousquet said. "That will help Colleen."

He said he supported Deacon over the other two Democratic candidates because she grew up in Syracuse, attended Syracuse schools, and worked her way up in the political arena, working for former Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand before running for office this year for the first time.

Deacon showed up at 10:29 p.m. and spoke to her supporters for about 10 minutes.

"Tonight we are celebrating a victory. But we must put our head down and get ready for the real challenge ahead," Deacon said.



Contact Mike McAndrew anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-3016
A Central New York meteorologist is getting a lot of support after she shut down a body shamer's rude wardrobe advice with a perfect response.

CNY Central's Molly Matott shared a photo of herself during a weather report on Twitter last weekend. She joked that the camera had caught her making a funny face.

One rude viewer who "didn't want to be mean" took that as an invitation to criticize Matott's outfit and her whole appearance, Today reported.

"I don't know, of course, who dresses Molly and I'm not trying to b (sic) mean or unkind but the way she is dressed today looks very much like she came directly from a night on the town to work!" the viewer wrote via email. "Good grief, have a little decorum and be more understated and conservative in your attire. There are so many things going on here and none of them are good, the range is from underarm boob fat, garish jewelry, clashes in color, AND makeup....I just turned on my television set and was shaken to the core (almost) at the sight of all of that going on this early on a Saturday morning!"

Matott shared the unsolicited response on her Instagram profile, which has since been made private. But WUSA9 took a screenshot showing her response.

"My job is to give the best and most accurate forecast in an understandable manner. ... I'm sorry you chose to focus on my appearance and 'underarm boob fat' instead. Perhaps next time you wish to pen such an unnecessarily nasty email to a television professional, you too remember that less is more," Matott wrote in the caption on the screenshot.

"I was feeling WAY TOO GOOD about myself today to NOT reply to this nasty email (top left). If anyone else has any comments on my 'underarm boob fat,' I'll take them now," she added.

She later added an update saying, "this person wrote back and could not understand my reaction to their 'constructive criticism.' Girl bye."

Matott's response got some love on social media, where supporters cheered her empowering attitude.

@MollyTott this is HOW you shut down the haters! Bravo to you, let's empower women not tear them down #womenleaders https://t.co/pmcbvHFHRs  Carlos Clemenz (@CarlosClemenz) June 27, 2016

You rock! You're an awesome meteorologist w/accurate forecasts. Shame on the horrible troll who spit up that mean-spirited email.  WNHastings (@WNHastings) June 26, 2016

Matott isn't the first meteorologist to make headlines for unwelcome criticism about her appearance this year. In May, California's KTLA-TV came under fire after a male anchor told the female meteorologist to cover up by handing her a jacket on live TV. He said "we're getting a lot of emails" from viewers who apparently thought her dress was too revealing.

Watch the KUSA9 video report on Matott below.
Tumino

A man holds a sign asking motorists for money in downtown Syracuse in a 2013 file photo. The Syracuse Housing Authority has forfeited $5 million in unspent grant money intended to house homeless people who need help with mental illness, addiction or other disabilities.

(Brett Carlsen)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Syracuse Housing Authority failed to spend $5 million in federal grants that could have provided housing for up to 200 homeless people with mental illnesses, addictions or other disabilities.

The housing authority returned $5.1 million in unspent grants from 2010 to 2015 - about $1 million per year -- to the consternation of city officials and homelessness prevention advocates.

Old chairs sit at a homeless encampment off of McBride Street in Syracuse in a 2012 file photo.

The lost money would be enough to move 200 people out of shelters and into permanent housing, according to data from the Housing and Homeless Coalition of Central New York. That would cut the local homeless population nearly in half.

Syracuse Housing Authority officials say their ability to use the so-called Shelter Plus Care grants has been hampered because homeless shelters don't refer enough people to the program. Others say the housing authority is ill-equipped to work with homeless clients who need support services in addition to housing.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner and leaders from the homeless coalition have urged the housing authority to make better use of the grants.

Paul Driscoll, the city's commissioner of neighborhood and business development, said he does not blame the housing authority for struggling to administer the program, which requires coordination with outside service agencies. But Driscoll said the problems must get fixed.

"It is inexcusable to send money back to HUD when the need exists in this town," Driscoll said.

There will be less money at stake in the future. Last month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development slashed the housing authority's annual Shelter Plus Care funding from $2.6 million to $687,000.

Now local and federal housing officials are trying to figure out what happens next. HUD officials will meet today with housing authority leaders and other homelessness prevention advocates to talk about the future of the program.

There are about 300 households currently supported by the Shelter Plus Care grants. Melissa Marrone, coordinator of the Housing and Homeless Coalition, said she wants to work with HUD officials and the housing authority to ensure that current participants are not placed at risk of returning to homelessness.

Marrone said the coalition and its technical consultants have tried for nearly two years to help the Syracuse Housing Authority (SHA) make better use of the grants.

"We worked really hard to get SHA to manage their grants more effectively,'' she said in an email. "We did this with HUD technical assistants and with the help of city and county government. After almost two years of working on this problem, HUD cut most of their funding.''

The Syracuse Housing Authority has participated in Shelter Plus Care since HUD launched the program in 1994. The program provides housing subsidies for individuals who are homeless and who have mental illness, substance abuse problems or other chronic disabilities that require support services.

Shelter Plus Care is a small part of the operation of the housing authority, which owns 15 apartment complexes with more than 2,500 units and distributes housing vouchers to more than 3,300 other households.

The housing authority does a good job managing housing-only voucher programs such as Section 8, Driscoll said. But the authority has struggled with Shelter Plus Care because of the requirement to coordinate with outside service agencies who provide the "care'' element, he said.

Mental illness and substance abuse, the most common disabilities targeted by Shelter Plus Care, are common factors in chronic homelessness, experts say.

Gary Mann, left, of the Rescue Mission, and Melissa Marrone, center, Housing and Homeless Coalition coordinator, explain possible alternative living situations to a man in a January 2015 file photo.

Driscoll and others have urged the housing authority to hire staff or a consultant to provide case management for participants in Shelter Plus Care, who might need services ranging from job training to drug counseling.

The inability to coordinate support services internally has limited the housing authority's capacity to approve people for Shelter Plus Care vouchers.

"I don't think they're equipped to do it with the staff they have now,'' Driscoll said.

Miner and Driscoll held a meeting in April with Bill Simmons, the executive director of SHA, and another staff member, Driscoll said. While not faulting the housing authority, the mayor made it clear that the program needed improvement, Driscoll said.

"She wanted to see this fixed, obviously,'' Driscoll said.

Simmons, who took over as SHA director in 2007, said the housing authority has struggled to spend its full Shelter Plus Care allocation for as long as he can remember. The main reason, he said, is that the housing authority does not get enough referrals to the program from homeless shelters or service agencies.

"I can't spend the money down if I don't get the referrals from the agencies,'' Simmons said. "Nobody wants to give the money back. But by the same token, there's no sense in wasting taxpayer dollars either.''

Simmons said he's not sure why the program gets so few referrals. Marrone said shelter operators have learned to refer people to other agencies first because there are fewer delays getting housing and services set up.

The under-utilization of Shelter Plus Care surfaced as an issue roughly two years ago, after the Housing and Homeless Coalition began to coordinate funding applications to HUD. Marrone, as coordinator of the coalition, prioritizes the programs run by participating agencies when submitting the annual grant request to the feds.

Based in part on its low utilization rate, Shelter Plus Care ranked low, opening the door for HUD to cut its funding.

The decrease in Shelter Plus Care funding was partially offset by increases to other Central New York programs that are part of the housing coalition, Marrone said. But overall federal funding to the coalition next year will decrease from $8.7 million to $8.2 million.

Despite the problems with Shelter Plus Care, the housing coalition has made progress in reducing homelessness. The number of people staying in shelters fell 8 percent between 2014 and 2015, for example, according to the housing coalition. On a typical night, about 400 people go to emergency shelters, Marrone said.

Contact Tim Knauss anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-3023
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Johnstone Supply owner Ken Livingston was given three minutes Tuesday night to comment at a public hearing about New York's plan to use eminent domain to acquire the site where his business is located to make way for a new Interstate 690 bridge.

The state Department of Transportation plans to knock down three buildings and obtain easements on 20 other properties as part of the highway bridge replacement project on Syracuse's east side.

Livingston only got halfway through his prepared comments before his allotted time ran out at DOT's public hearing at Henninger High School.

The crowd of 170 didn't get to hear him say most of the more critical lines in his speech.

Like this:

"There is an irony in turning on your television and seeing national television ads imploring people to move their businesses to New York state and knowing that the same state is implementing policies which will cause businesses who have been here for years, and invested in this state, to take financial losses."

Ken Livingston, owner of Johnstone Supply, speaks at a public hearing on the Interstate 690 bridge replacement project on June 28, 2016 at Henninger High School in Syracuse, N.Y. Stephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.com

Livingston said his business purchased its Syracuse building for $350,000 five years ago. It has invested $1.1 million in the property. Although New York will not make a formal offer of compensation to Johnstone Supply until August, Livingston said he expects the offer will cause his company to suffer a loss, and he's worried about its survival.

Johnstone Supply has six employees at its Syracuse location.

Livingston also said the state is not giving his company enough time to find a new site to relocate his business.

Under the eminent domain proceedings, property owners will have at least 90 days to vacate their properties after they are given a formal offer of compensation, DOT property acquisition specialist Eileen Moore said.

Here's the rest of Livingston's remarks:

Ken Livingston Comment at I-690 Hearing by Michael McAndrew

Contact Mike McAndrew anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-3016
FitzPatrick plant

Entergy Corp., owners of the FitzPatrick nuclear plant in Scriba, will close the plant in 2017. FitzPatrick is one of many nuclear plants with closure plans in the near future.

(Stephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.com)

To the Editor:

Physicist Amory Lovins began his commentary for Forbes with: "A widespread claim -- that dozens of nuclear plants, too costly to run profitably, now merit new subsidies to protect the earth's climate -- just collided with market reality." His observation couldn't be more timely for New York state. Under Gov. Cuomo's direction, the Public Service Commission is racing to insert an ill-advised tier of nuclear subsidies into its Clean Energy Standard in a last ditch effort to prop up financially failing Upstate reactors.

Across the country, nuclear reactors are toppling like dominoes: 2013 saw shutdowns of Crystal River 3 in Florida, San Onofre 2 and 3 in California and Kewanee in Wisconsin. Vermont Yankee closed in 2014. Closure announcements have been submitted for Fitzpatrick in Oswego for 2017; Clinton, Illinois, 2017; Quad Cities, Illinois, 2018; Pilgrim, Massachusetts, 2019 and Oyster Creek, New Jersey, 2019. More are pending.

Earlier this month, Exelon announced it will make a decision by September regarding Nine Mile Point 1 near Oswego, and its Ginna reactor near Rochester is benefiting from a subsidy that expires in March 2017 when Rochester Gas & Electric expects to replace its energy with a transmission upgrade.

Lovins' remarks came in response to a landmark announcement last week by energy giant Pacific Gas & Electric renouncing plans to renew operating licenses for its two Diablo Canyon reactors in California, which expire in 2024 and 2025. This decision is the result of an historic agreement between PG&E, Friends of the Earth and other environmental and labor groups to replace Diablo Canyon with renewable energy, efficiency and storage.

The Diablo Canyon decision includes economic support for impacted communities and workers (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245 and Coalition of California Utility Employees partnered in crafting the final agreement) and a realistic, cost-effective plan that protects ratepayers and maintains grid reliability. Natural Resources Defense Council estimates the savings at $1 billion.

Contrast that to New York's approach to possible reactor closures. Under the governor's direction, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has proposed a plan that will benefit just one company. With Entergy's Fitzpatrick reactor already set to close, Exelon will be the only remaining Upstate nuclear operator. Ratepayers would be forced to subsidize Exelon's reactors to the tune of more than $3 billion with no exit strategy. The PSC proposes nuclear subsidies while asking nothing in return, giving away any leverage to negotiate a responsible decommissioning process, to mitigate impacts on workers and communities or to secure definitive closure dates.

We would be foolish to keep these reactors limping along instead of developing a plan similar to California's. Contrary to arguments by many New York policymakers that it's impossible to replace nuclear energy with renewables in a timely way (see Tim Knauss' news story), the Diablo Canyon agreement will do just that, making California nuclear free within eight years.

A key factor that facilitated the Diablo Canyon decision was a comprehensive technical report commissioned by Friends of the Earth, "Plan B," which provides a clear roadmap for the transition. The DPS has provided no such roadmap, but it's not too late. Cuomo should seize this opportunity to negotiate a similar comprehensive transition plan that protects consumers from unnecessary bailouts, sets responsible closure dates for any reactors that do receive public support, provides transition funds for impacted communities and workers, requires a responsible decommissioning process, and ensures grid reliability and clean energy growth to compensate for nuclear closures.

Don't sell New York short -- if California can do it, so can we.

Jessica Maxwell

Syracuse

The writer is on the Steering Committee of Alliance for a Green Economy, a statewide coalition.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Colleen Deacon's victory Tuesday in the Democratic primary for the 24th Congressional District seat sets up a showdown with U.S. Rep. John Katko, R-Camillus, in a race already attracting national attention.

Katko will try to hold onto the No. 1 swing seat in the nation and become the first incumbent re-elected to the Syracuse-area seat in Congress in 10 years.

Deacon will try to recapture a seat for Democrats that has bounced between the two major parties in the past four consecutive elections.

As the race begins, here's what to expect over the next four months:

National attention

Both national political parties have identified the four-county 24th District as one of their top priorities in the November election, and a key to winning or keeping control of the House of Representative.

Most political analysts have rated race as a tossup, which means millions of dollars from the national political parties and outside independent groups, including super PACS, will flow into the campaign.

In the 2012 election between former Reps. Dan Maffei and Ann Marie Buerkle - a bitter rematch of their 2010 contest - the candidates and their supporters spent nearly $10 million on the race. It was the most ever spent on a congressional campaign in Central New York.

Democrats especially see this year's race as a must-win in order to make a dent in the 30-seat majority now held by House Republicans.

An appeal to voters

Katko will run on his record, touting himself as a bipartisan, independent member of Congress. The former federal prosecutor will emphasize his focus on national security and education. He'll also campaign on local issues such as the heroin epidemic and replacement of Interstate 81, which he advocated for in a federal highway bill.

Deacon will appeal to the middle class, touting her support for raising the federal minimum wage and addressing pay inequity. She will focus on her differences with Katko on women's issues, such as abortion rights and funding for Planned Parenthood.



Deacon will emphasize her credentials as someone with political experience (working for U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand) who can relate to the struggles of the average Central New Yorker. Deacon will talk about the challenges she faced as a single mother, who worked as a waitress and turned to Medicaid and food stamps to survive.

The Clinton-Trump influence



The national presidential election will undoubtedly play a role in the Katko-Deacon race.

President Barack Obama easily won the Syracuse-based congressional district in the past two presidential elections. And no Republican has won the local seat for Congress in a presidential election year since former Rep. James Walsh in 2004.

Look for Hillary Clinton to campaign with Deacon and take advantage of the base she built in Central New York during two terms as New York's U.S. senator.

Donald Trump, a Queens native and Manhattan resident, insists he will put New York into play in the presidential election. But will he help or hurt Katko? Katko, for now, is keeping his distance. He says he's concerned about Trump's tone and message, and that GOP's presumptive nominee will have to earn his vote.

Top political leaders will visit



Prepare for a steady parade of national political leaders who will stop in Central New York to campaign for Katko and Deacon.

In the 2014 election, then House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy visited Central New York to campaign for Katko.

Vice President Joe Biden and former president Bill Clinton were among top Democrats who campaigned for Maffei.

Look for more visits this year from top party leaders and surrogates, especially if New York becomes a contested state in the presidential election.

Voter fatigue

If there's one thing you can count on, it will be overflowing mail boxes and daily TV commercials with ads for and against Katko and Deacon.

The campaigns and national groups from outside Central New York will flood the zone with millions of dollars in advertising in an attempt to persuade undecided voters in the election.

In the 2014 campaign, Maffei spent more than $1 million on TV air time for ads that ran every day from Sept. 9 through Election Day in November.

The competing ads contributed to a negative tone in a campaign that turned off some voters who tired of the flood of competing messages.



Contact Mark Weiner anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
2016-02-29-BA-Congress Mashup.jpg

State Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney defeated Republican rivals Steve Wells, of Cazenovia, left, and George Phillips, of Endwell, right, to win the GOP primary in the 22nd Congressional District.

SYRACUSE, NY. -- State Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney has won Tuesday's three-person Republican primary for the 22nd Congressional District seat in Upstate New York, according to unofficial returns compiled by the state Board of Elections.

Tenney captured 41 percent of the vote, beating back a challenge from Cazenovia businessman Steve Wells (33 percent) and Broome County history teacher George Phillips (25 percent) with 100 percent of districts reporting.

Only about 14 percent (21,478) of the congressional district's 155,782 active Republican voters showed up at the polls Tuesday, according to the state Board of Elections.

Tenney, R-New Hartford, pulled out the victory despite being heavily outspent by Wells and a super PAC affiliated with the Oneida Indian Nation that supported her two opponents. She accused the super PAC of running a well-funded smear campaign.

Tenney will now take on Democrat Kim Myers in the November election. Myers, the daughter of the founder of Dick's Clothing and Sporting Goods, is a Broome County legislator from Vestal.

In declaring victory, Tenney said she will campaign as someone willing to stand up to establishment Democrats and Republicans.

"Like I have always done in Albany, I will tell the truth, fight for regular people and provide independent, conservative leadership in this campaign and in Congress," Tenney said.

"We need leaders in Washington who will advocate for policies to revitalize manufacturing, protect family farms and stand up to leaders in both parties," she said. "For families and small business owners, it's not Republican versus Democrat -- it's elites in both parties in Washington against the rest of us. In Congress, I'll work with anyone in good faith, but I will provide independent leadership."

Tenney had been endorsed by conservative groups and media personalities, including radio talk show host Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity.

The GOP ballot line opened up after three-term incumbent Rep. Richard Hanna, R-Barneveld, decided to retire when his term expires at the end of the year. Hanna had endorsed Wells in the closing week of the campaign.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of House Republicans, had helped both of Tenney's opponents, but immediately lined up behind her Tuesday night.

Tenney, known for her conservative views that have attracted Tea Party support in the past, lost a 2014 primary to Hanna.

"Claudia knows that a smaller, less intrusive government will revitalize our economy and that's what she will fight for in Congress," NRCC Chairman Greg Walden said Tuesday night. "I look forward to working with Claudia after she is elected this November."

Tenney and Myers may have company on the November ballot. Businessman Martin Babinec of Little Falls has launched an effort to appear on a ballot line with a new party he has established, the Upstate Jobs Party.

The 22nd District covers all of Madison, Oneida, Cortland and Chenango counties and part of Oswego, Broome, Herkimer, and Tioga counties.

Tenney won in Onedia, Herkimer, Madison and Oswego counties, carrying the Syracuse-Utica corridor. Wells carried Cortland and Chenango counties. Phillips won in his home county of Broome and neighboring Tioga County.

Contact Mark Weiner anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
SYRACUSE, NY. -- Colleen Deacon cruised to victory Tuesday in a three-person Democratic primary for the Syracuse-based 24th Congressional District seat, beating two rivals who could not match the support she received from party leaders.

Deacon will take on freshman U.S. Rep. John Katko, R-Camillus, in the November election. Katko will appear on the Republican, Conservative and Independence Party lines on the ballot.

"It is clear we are going to be the winner tonight," Deacon told supporters at Wolff's Biergarten in Syracuse, where she spoke at about 10:30 p.m. "I am standing here tonight because of hard work, but also because of people like you."

Deacon, 39, of Syracuse, finished with 48 percent of the vote, easily defeating Syracuse University professor Eric Kingson, 70, of Manlius and Syracuse lawyer and Navy veteran Steve Williams, 53, of Baldwinsville, according to unofficial returns compiled by the state Board of Elections.

Kingson won 32 percent of the vote, and Williams finished a distant third with 19 percent, according to returns from 323 of 324 election districts.

Williams immediately endorsed Deacon and pledged to help her beat Katko in November.

"I'm incredibly proud of the race we've run, and I can't say thank you enough to those that supported me," Williams said. "It has been a spirited primary, and I've learned a lot from both of my opponents. Though the outcome wasn't what I would have preferred, I know that Colleen will make a great congresswoman, and I look forward to helping her in any way I can."

The election almost set a record for low voter turnout, with the primary falling at the end of June when schools begin summer break and families start vacations ahead of the July 4 weekend.

Only 11,878 of the 24th District's 140,065 active Democratic voters -- about 8.5 percent -- showed up at the polls on Tuesday, according to preliminary election returns. A 2012 Republican Senate primary attracted only about 5 percent of active GOP voters in the district.

In addition to the timing with summer vacations, election officials say the majority of voters may have overlooked the primary after voting in New York's presidential primaries on April 19.

All told, Onondaga County spent about $187,000 to open 180 polling places for the primary, according to Dustin Czarny, the county's Democratic elections commissioner.

Deacon, the former Central New York district director for U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, had received the support of national and local Democrats in the race, including U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner.

But Kingson on Tuesday outperformed a poll from only two weeks earlier, which showed him finishing a distant third to Deacon with 8 percent of the vote.

After the poll, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders agreed to visit Syracuse and lead a campaign rally for Kingson on Friday. It was the first time Sanders campaigned for a congressional candidate since taking the mantle as a national progressive leader.

The Syracuse area primary was viewed as an important test of whether Sanders could rally down-ballot support for like-minded candidates.

The 24th Congressional District covers all of Onondaga, Cayuga and Wayne counties, and the western half of Oswego County, including the cities of Fulton and Oswego.

Deacon easily won three of the counties, but Kingson emerged victorious in Wayne County where only about 500 of more than 13,000 Democrats voted in the primary election.

Kingson had 181 votes in Wayne County, topping Williams (172) and Deacon (138), with all but one district reporting by midnight.

Contact Mark Weiner anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
Walt Dixie school board

Walt Dixie (seated in the back row, left) attends the Syracuse City School Board of Education meeting during which the board approved a one-year extension for Superintendent Sharon Contreras. December 29, 2015. A large crowd showed up for the meeting. Dixie was there in support of the superintendent. He advocated for the board to extend her contract by three years.

(Stephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.com)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Walt Dixie, community activist and ally to Syracuse Superintendent Sharon Contreras, attributed her departure in part to a lack of support among school board members.

Contreras was appointed to lead Guilford County Schools in North Carolina Tuesday evening at a board meeting. The board there voted unanimously to hire her.

Dixie, founder and former president of the Syracuse chapter of the National Action Network, said he was not surprised to hear that Contreras had found a post leading a district three times Syracuse's size. He praised her tenure in Syracuse, saying it made her qualified for her new role.

Dixie would not say whether he was informed of the superintendent's plans to accept a job in North Carolina prior to the announcement, but he suggested that she had been looking for a new position since the school board voted to extend her contract by just one year in December.

Contreras could not be reached for comment. Seven Syracuse board members either could not be reached or declined to comment.

"I'm not certain this community is aware of the loss that it has just suffered," Board of Education President Derrick Dorsey said in a statement. "She is truly going to be missed."

Dixie said a part of her decision to leave was that she "absolutely" felt forced out by the board of education.

"If you're busting your ass, and you are fighting for kids ... and you're continuing to antagonize her, any human being -- it wears on you."

The new board, with three first-year members, did not give her confidence or support her enough, he said.

"The last year, with her contract and this new body of commissioners, they still haven't been professional enough, constantly attacking her," Dixie said. Asked to identify specific issues the board had disagreed with Contreras on, Dixie said it was a lot of little things that created a culture of negativity and divisiveness.

"If she wanted to hire a custodian, they want to fight with her," he said.

Dixie said tensions arising from -- and more specifically, resistance to -- the district's shift in disciplinary procedures also created a negative environment for the superintendent to lead.

The National Action Network helped initiate the investigations into the district's disciplinary practices, which led the state attorney general to mandate changes.

Dixie was critical of "the new board," saying there are a few he supports, but he declined to name anyone specifically. He said that many people who are critical of Contreras are "small-minded."

This board, he said, was too concerned about defending teachers.

"Their job is to defend the kids," he said. "It's not their job to do the politics on behalf of the union. Who loses? The kids."

Reporter Julie McMahon covers Syracuse University and Syracuse city schools. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992
Derrick Dorsey

Syracuse City School District Board of Education President Derrick Dorsey delivered last year's keynote address during Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection graduation at the Landmark Theater, Syracuse, N.Y., Thursday, May 14, 2015. Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com

(Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse school board President Derrick Dorsey said Wednesday he was still in shock over Superintendent Sharon Contreras' departure from the district.

Contreras was hired as superintendent for Guilford County Schools in North Carolina Tuesday evening at a board meeting there. Dorsey said the Syracuse board was "just as surprised as anyone else," and was working on a plan to move forward.

This weekend, Dorsey and other board members were reveling in the excitement of graduation. The district continues to celebrate rising graduation rates across the district, he said.

So it came as a surprise when Contreras, who he credits as the architect behind the rising rates, announced she would be taking another job.

Some school board members are on vacation and not in the city, Dorsey said. The board is trying to make arrangements for a meeting to decide what steps it will take next, he said.

It's important to Dorsey, he said, that he tries to bring all seven members together in person before they make any decisions about what happens next.

Contreras has not yet commented on her departure except in a brief statement. She was in North Carolina Tuesday and Wednesday morning for interviews and meetings with the public.

Dorsey said he had an emotional conversation with Contreras, but has not discussed the specifics of when she would be resigning and leaving Syracuse.

Contreras' contract was extended through June 2017 by a 4-3 vote in December. While her departure was unexpected, Dorsey said the contract extension was contentious and at times "a little ugly."

Dorsey voted in favor of the extension and has been a vocal supporter of the superintendent. He said he saw the year's extension as an appropriate amount of time for the new board to get to know Contreras.

After the vote, Contreras gave no indication that she would be looking for another job, he said.

"At that time the superintendent didn't indicate to me or the body she would look for another opportunity for her career path," Dorsey said.

He said the board did not ask her to leave.

He said he hoped and expected Contreras would assist in the transition before she is slated to take her post in North Carolina by Sept. 1. He said he has not yet discussed specifics with her.

Dorsey emphasized that no decisions would be made until the board has convened and consulted its lawyers. He spoke broadly about what he expects to happen next, based on his discussions with board members.

The board wants the selection of a new superintendent to be a transparent process, respectful of all the people affected, he said. It would be willing to consider a long-term or short-term interim superintendent.

Dorsey said he personally would prefer to wait and take time to find the right candidate.

"I think it would probably not be our best decision to try to rush and get someone into the position," he said. "That's my own personal perspective right now."

He listed the following criteria as some of the things he and the board would look for in a new superintendent:

Dorsey acknowledged there will be some hurdles in the process of finding and selecting a new superintendent but said he preferred to look at it as an opportunity.

"We are going to do everything in our power to find the right candidate to help the district in our mission," he said. "You can rest assured we are going to do that. We all took an oath."

Reporter Julie McMahon covers Syracuse University and Syracuse city schools. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992
A 12-year-old girl from Upstate New York chopped away the competition on a Food Network show, winning $10,000.

Cassidy Tryon of Horseheads appeared on an episode of "Chopped Junior" that aired Tuesday night. Tryon's episode was filmed in February, the Star-Gazette reports. Family and friends gathered at Wegmans in Corning to watch the episode, 18 News reports.

Similar to adult version "Chopped," four young contestants are given a basket of mystery ingredients and must turn them into meals in 30 minutes. There are three rounds--appetizers, entrees and desserts--with one contestant eliminated after each round.

During the entree round, Tryon made pan-seared pork with vegetable fries and mango pico de gallo. Judge Marcus Samuelsson said Tryon was "killing it," according to the Star-Gazette.

With the $10,000 in prize money, Tryon told 18 News that she wants to save some money for college and make a donation to a local food bank right Downtown Elmira.

Tryon and her family had to keep the results of the episode secret for months. "It feels great to tell everyone now," she told 18 News.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- After a pleasant Independence Day weekend, some real heat could return to Central New York week.

Temperatures could be in the 90s beginning next Wednesday, and it's too early to know how long they'll last.

"Once we get beyond a week, it's hard to say," said Joanne LaBounty, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

Temperatures for the three-day weekend will be in the high 70s and low 80s. After that, the heat will start to build.

The entire contiguous United States will likely be warmer than normal in early July.

Syracuse has already hit 90 degrees twice this month, on June 20 and Monday. LaBounty said that hot-and-cool pattern will likely be with us for awhile.

"There's been a persistent area of high pressure that's mostly been sitting out in the Western US and into the Midwest," she said. "Every now and then it kind of makes its way eastward, and we get a touch of that for a couple of days or so before a cold front comes through."

Another wave of warm air could move into Upstate New York in the middle of July, she said.

"It looks like it might be a pretty hot period in the middle of next month," she said.

The Climate Prediction Center says all of the contiguous United States is likely to be warmer than normal in the early part of July.

Contact Glenn Coin: Email | Twitter | Google + | (315) 470-3251
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SHARE Christi and Steve Wade, of Christis Fitness, were winners in 2014 of the commercial building renovation 20,000 square feet and above category at the Indian River Chamber of Commerce Industry Appreciation Awards. (PROVIDED FILE PHOTO)

By News Release

VERO BEACH  Nominations for the Indian River Chamber of Commerce 2016 Industry Appreciation Awards program are due by 5 p.m. July 29.

Nomination forms and the awards criteria are available at www.indianriverchamber.com and the Chamber building.

Categories are: new commercial, industrial, and residential construction; commercial redevelopment projects and building renovations, including historic renovations; and "green" construction. Construction projects are recognized for their architectural aesthetics as well as ease of access and the benefit to the immediate area. Commercial and industrial projects must be substantially completed between Aug. 1, 2015, and July 29, 2016.

The chamber will also honor Entrepreneur of the Year, Manufacturer of the Year, Latin Business of the Year, and Company of the Year.

For more information, call Helene Caseltine, Economic Development Director, at 772-567-3491, ext. 121.
For Diwali, try some of the best Indian restaurants on Treasure Coast
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Heather Harris, 28, 4100 block of 16th Street, Vero Beach; possession of a controlled substance (Opana, amphetamine, dextroamphetamine, Adderall, tizanidine, tramadol).

Patricia Silver, 63, 400 block of 12th Street, Vero Beach; warrant for keeping gambling house.

Alejandro Silva, 18, Okeechobee; out-of-county warrant, Miami-Dade County, battery.

Katie Kimbrough, 35, 2600 block of 11th Court, Vero Beach; warrant for violation of probation, battery on an officer, use or possession of drug paraphernalia, giving false information to a pawnbroker.

David Smith, 48, 1100 block of 20th Avenue, Vero Beach; warrant for violation of probation, grand theft, battery on a detained person, giving false name to a secondhand dealer.

Marianne Feely, 70, 1200 block of Normandie Way, Vero Beach; warrant for keeping gambling house.

Richard Feely, 69, 1200 block of Normandie Way, Vero Beach; warrant for keeping gambling house.

Dennis Silver, 67, 400 block of 12th Street, Vero Beach; warrant for keeping gambling house.

Giuseppe Giambanco, 36, 300 block of Farleys Court, Vero Beach; warrant for battery, prior conviction. Arrested in St. Lucie County.
SHARE Karson Poole David Fitzgerald

By Nicholas Samuel of TCPalm

STUART  Police arrested two men on drug charges on Sunday during a traffic stop, according to a Martin County Sheriff's Office arrest report.

Karson Poole, 29, of the 4300 block of Southwest Calah Circle, Port St. Lucie, and David Fitzgerald, 32, of the 900 block of Southeast Bahama Avenue, Stuart, are being held at the Martin County Jail.

Officers pulled over both men in the 400 block of South Colorado Avenue, for an expired tag on a 2007 Chevy about 3:38 p.m., arrest reports stated.

Officers discovered Poole, who was driving, had fugitive from justice warrant out of Georgia and took him into custody. Fitzgerald then handed officers a bag containing a .40-caliber firearm and plastic bags with marijuana and cocaine, the arrest report said.

Both men were arrested and face charges of possession of marijuana more than 20 grams, possession of cocaine, possession of cannabis with intent to sell, possession of cocaine with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia, said Deputy Nick Neswick.

Poole also faces a fugitive from justice warrant, and Fitzgerald also faces a possession of a firearm by a convicted felon charge.

Fitzgerald is being held on a $41,000 bail, and Poole has no bail, Neswick said.
Fort Pierce Police Chief Diane Hobley-Burney speaks to protestors on Tuesday, April 26 in front of the Fort Pierce Police Department. The protest was in response to the fatal shooting of Demarcus Semer, 21, by a Fort Pierce police officer on Saturday, April 23 in Fort Pierce. (JEREMIAH WILSON/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

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By Nicole Rodriguez of TCPalm

FORT PIERCE  Police Chief Diane Hobley-Burney has enlisted the help of the U.S. Department of Justice to reform her agency, which is long known for internal turmoil and a strained relationship with citizens of the northwest part of the city.

Two DOJ representatives were in Fort Pierce on Tuesday, at the chiefs request, to meet with her and other city officials to evaluate the Police Department and determine whether it qualifies for the federal Collaborative Reform Initiative for Technical Assistance for agencies with significant law enforcement-related issues.

According to citizens, the Police Department needs an overhaul, and seeking out the DOJ is Hobley-Burneys way of delivering on promises to improve the department and build trust with the community, she said Tuesday.

I heard the voice of the people. They want to enhance the relationship that we have and I want to do everything possible to do that, Hobley-Burney said after meeting with DOJ officials. She started as police chief just more than a year ago.

Fresh on peoples minds is the officer-involved fatal shooting of Demarcus Semer on North 19th Street on April 23. During a traffic stop, two Fort Pierce police officers tried to stop Semer as he attempted to flee in his vehicle, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriffs Office. Semer was shot outside his vehicle and died. The Sheriffs Office was asked to investigate the shooting by Fort Pierce police.

The shooting caused outrage in the community, with some demanding an outside investigation by the Department of Justice. Mayor Linda Hudson last month wrote to the federal agency that the City Commission had unanimously voted to ask the DOJ to start its own investigation into the fatal shooting.

But the DOJ was not in town to investigate the case, Hobley-Burney said.

We have not discussed it at any given point because that is an investigation that is ongoing, she said.

Still, the DOJ is keeping a close eye on the case, said Noble Wray, chief of Policing Practices and Accountability Initiative, who was visiting Tuesday.

Wray said it could have an impact on the Justice Departments recommendations for the Fort Pierce Police Department, if it assists Fort Pierce, he said.

In any community that we come in when were doing an assessment, if there is a high-profile incident, we will understand that, Wray said. That may inform some of our findings and recommendations, but from the (Community Oriented Policing Services) office, we dont actually come in and do an investigation.

The DOJ is expected to make a decision within a few weeks whether to assist Fort Pierce, and if it does, could begin work in the city immediately after, Wray said.

There would be no cost to Fort Pierce, he said.

The purpose of the program is to improve trust between agencies and the communities they serve. Its a long-term strategy that identifies problems and then offers recommendations on how to resolve them. Contractors overseen by a DOJ official will work with the Police Department for approximately two years, Wray said.

The process itself is a very inclusive process. We get into the community. There will be listening sessions and focus groups, Wray said. We do the same internally, talking to rank-and-file officers and union chiefs. We do a serious analysis of the department  policies, procedures, recruitment, hiring.

While in town, Wray and his partner also met with Fort Pierce City Manager Nick Mimms and about 22 citizens at City Hall, he said.
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Katherine Maley, 24, 4200 block of Burnt Forest Court, Fort Pierce; warrant for violation of probation, DUI  impairment.

Isaiah Cambridge, 21, West Palm Beach; out-of-county warrant, Palm Beach County, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of marijuana in excess of 20 grams.

Heather Zachman, 27, Loxahatchee; out-of-county warrant, Palm Beach County, violation of supervised own recognizance, possession of heroin, failure to appear, possession of heroin, possession of paraphernalia.

Terrance Johnson, 40, Pahokee; warrant for failure to appear, grand theft of a firearm, possession of a firearm or ammunition by a convicted felony, burglary of a conveyance while armed.

Timothy Morant, 31, no street address, Fort Pierce; battery by a person detained in prison or in a jail facility.

David Leshore, 21, Kendallville, Indiana; warrant for grand theft.

Lela Williams, 31, 2500 block of Avenue R, Fort Pierce; child neglect without great bodily harm.

Antonio Papa George, 28, 2200 block of Avenue G, Fort Pierce; warrants for fleeing or eluding with lights and siren active, resisting arrest without violence.

Mark Andrews, 26, 200 block of Northwest Ferris Drive, Port St. Lucie; possession of a controlled substance (alprazolam) without a prescription; possession of a controlled substance (oxycodone) without a prescription.

Micky Mazzacone, 22, 2000 block of Southeast Hillmoor Drive, Port St. Lucie; possession of marijuana with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver; possession of marijuana over 20 grams; use of a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony.

Joseph Wolchko, 27, 2000 block of Southeast Hillmoor Drive, Port St. Lucie; possession of marijuana with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver; possession of marijuana over 20 grams.

Enrique Fernandez, 43, 700 block of North Indian River Drive, Fort Pierce; warrants for grand theft, retail theft, organized fraud, dealing in stolen property.

Derik West, 33, 2500 block of Southeast Jason Place, Port St. Lucie; warrants for sale or delivery or heroin, use of a two-way communications device.

Michael Altieri, 38, West Palm Beach; warrant for violation of probation, retail theft in concert with others.

Jose Otero, 44, 300 block of Southwest Eastport Circle, Port St. Lucie; warrants for grand theft, giving false information to a pawnbroker, dealing in stolen property.

Juston Pope, 29, 8500 block of Okeechobee Road, Fort Pierce; warrant for court order to revoke bond, robbery.

Brian Peguero, 20, 400 block of Southwest Saginaw Avenue, Port St. Lucie; warrants for lewd and lascivious behavior, lewd and lascivious molestation, lewd and lascivious conduct.

Giuseppe Giambanco, 36, 300 block of Farleys Court, Vero Beach; warrant for battery, prior conviction.

John Holgerson, 46, no street address, Port St. Lucie; failure of a sex offender to secure driver's license or identification card.

Matthew Cronin, 18, 5000 block of Northwest Wisk Fern Circle, Port St. Lucie; possession of marijuana with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver; possession of a synthetic narcotic (synthetic marijuana) with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver.

Patrick Long, 43, 1200 block of Georgia Avenue, Fort Pierce; readmit, possession of cocaine.

Ernesto Carbonell, 64, 200 block of Prima Vista Boulevard, Port St. Lucie; resisting an officer without violence.
Members of Citizens for Clean Water and locals spelled out "Save Our River" in August 2013. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO FROM MARTIN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE)

By Ed Killer of TCPalm

Saturday morning, on the ever-shifting sands of Stuart Beach, change will be in the air.

If everything goes according to Evan Miller's plan, several thousand concerned residents of the Treasure Coast will come to help make a collective statement that resonates all the way to the capitals of this state and this country.

Buy the land.

Simply put, that is Miller's message.

For three years, those three words have been the cry shouted across Facebook pages and other social media posts as the ultimate goal for ending the destructive discharges from Lake Okeechobee.

In 2013, during the most recent spate of devastation heaped onto the shoulders of the beleaguered St. Lucie River, Miller founded Citizens for Clean Water. It is easily recognizable by its logos and stickers, C4CW.

The clean water activist group invites everyone to come to the beach by 10 a.m. Saturday to be part of a large scale photo opportunity. Miller and other group members will use stakes and flagging tape to mark off words to spell out "Buy the Land" across the sand. At 11 a.m., Stuart oral surgeon Ed Lippisch and Scott Kuhns will fly over the beach to take aerial photos of the human-spelled message to state and federal legislators.

This will be the second time C4CW has attempted this as a plea for help. The first time, in August of 2013, took place a week after an estimated 5,000 angry residents attended a protest he organized at Phipps Park adjacent to the St. Lucie Lock and Dam in Tropical Farms.

"It all started when I made a rant on Facebook and that helped start the protest at the locks," said Miller, 32. "My goal was to create an organization and keep the momentum from those two rallies to keep this issue present and in the public eye, and keep educating and bring awareness."

Miller said his group has faced the same challenges as all the groups that came before: dry years, or years with normal amounts of Central Florida rainfall, that lead to healthy waters in Stuart and Fort Myers.

"The problems get swept under the rug when we have a good year," he said, "but people forget the issue is with Florida's plumbing  the way the water flows. Even if it's a dry year, it's only a matter of time before the rain comes again."

In 2013, Miller and the C4CW crew created a lasting image when thousands of area residents turned out on the beaches of Hutchinson Island for Hands Across the Sand. At Stuart Beach, angry residents faced with dirty water in the Indian River Lagoon they love to fish and boat in, spelled out "Save Our River."

The effort drew the attention of state and federal lawmakers. But Miller, like many, is frustrated with the lack of any substantive change measured where it matters most  in the water.

"It's shocking to me that politics has been failing to fix this problem for so long," he said. "I can't believe the lack of political will to actually fix this. All those people have children, too, and many live on the water. We're all here on planet earth together and we don't have forever to make it work."

Miller said he is tired of hearing the excuses that "there's no magic bullet" to keep excess runoff from coming to the coastal estuaries from Lake Okeechobee.

"This is a man-made mistake," he said, "but what men can do, men can undo. We can all come together peacefully and restore the natural flow of water the way nature intended it."

I share Miller's philosophy. I'll be there Saturday, along with Treasure Coast Newspapers opinion page and engagement editor Eve Samples, to collect letters from you to send to Gov. Rick Scott. The top half of Saturday's newspaper will feature a letter pleading with the governor to take action and get the discharges stopped. Readers can simply clip it, sign it and either mail it to us or give it to us at the rally. We'll have extra copies at the rally, too. It is our hope the governor will respond with real action.

So after Saturday, what is Miller's vision for a best case scenario?

"We hope the elected officials will carry out the will of the people," he said. "We're not out for personal gains like they are. We just want to see our river cleaned up and stop this tragedy. I don't know how the river recovers from a toxic event such as this one, but our overall goal is to get something moving immediately."

"We'd love for someone to say, 'All right, Florida, it's time to buy the land.' "

Hands Across the Sand

When: 10 a.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. photo flyover

Where: Stuart Beach, 889 N.E. Ocean Blvd., Hutchinson Island

Organized by: Citizens for Clean Water (C4CW)

Tips: Arrive early, parking will be a challenge; bring water and sun protection

Information: Facebook.com/citizens4cleanwater
By Tyler Treadway of TCPalm

Thursday morning lakes north of Lake Okeechobee will start holding back a total of about 20 billion gallons of water that otherwise would flow into Lake O and could have ended up feeding algae blooms in the St. Lucie River.

The action is part of Gov. Rick Scott's declaration Wednesday of a state of emergency in Martin and St. Lucie counties because of the expansive algae blooms in the St. Lucie River.

Scott's executive order calls on state agencies to take actions to address the blooms that are ruining the river's ecology, devastating water-related businesses and potentially could cause health problems for people who come in contact with the water.

Scott's directions include:

South Florida Water Management District:

Store more water north of Lake Okeechobee in the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes

Find ways to increase water flowing south from Lake O

Store more water through dispersed water storage projects

Florida Department of Environmental Protection:

Deploy teams of additional staff to more rapidly survey and sample areas impacted by algal blooms

Buy testing kits that give on-site results for toxins in the algae, allowing preliminary health advisories to be issued quickly

Launch a hotline for citizens to call to report algal blooms so staff can quickly respond to areas with suspected blooms. Sightings now are reported by calling the DEP office in Orlando at 407-897-4177.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission:

Continue surveying and sampling suspected blooms offshore. So far, no offshore blooms have been confirmed.

The water management district will "start holding back water north of the lake first thing in the morning," Executive Director Peter Antonacci said Wednesday night.

The Army Corps of Engineers, which controls when and how much water is released from Lake O, is expected to announce its plans for the next week of discharges Thursday.

Right now, the river is getting about 1 billion gallons of Lake O water a day; so the 20 billion gallons to be held north of Lake O represents the equivalency of almost three weeks worth of discharges.

Much of the algae in the river originated with a massive bloom in Lake O. Freshwater from the lake also lowers salinity in the river, which as an estuary should be a mix of salty water and freshwater. A type of toxic blue-green algae found in the river thrives in freshwater but dies in salty water.

Also, the Lake O discharges dump tons of nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, that feed algae blooms in the river.

"The only thing that's really going to help the St. Lucie River is shutting the gates at the St. Lucie Lock and Dam, at least for a while," said Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society.

Increasing algae sampling and speeding up test results could be "the most immediately beneficial part of the governor's declaration," Perry said.

Crews from the DEP office in Fort Pierce have been sampling algae since mid-May. The samples have to be sent to a DEP lab in Tallahassee for testing, and getting results can take from a couple of days to over a week.

"People have questions  'Is it safe to go to the beaches?' 'Is the water near my house safe?'  that the state needs to answer and hasn't been," Perry said. "Testing has been too sporadic and results have taken too long to get to the people. Maybe that will change now."

Antonacci said the district "will get with people Thursday morning to see how quickly we can ramp up some of these dispersed water management projects."

At the top of the list is expediting the plan to add 2,500 acres to the Caulkins Citrus Co. water farm, which takes water out of the C-44 Canal connecting Lake O and the St. Lucie River.

The district also will start "throwing up some temporary berms" to hold water on land bought for a reservoir on the C-23 Canal. That canal along the Martin-St. Lucie county line dumps water from farmland and suburbs into the St. Lucie River.

"Building the reservoir is several years away," Antonacci said, "but we can get the land ready to hold back water within 60 days."

Other projects probably couldn't be finished before the end of the current rainy season to help with the current algae crisis, Antonacci said.

Earlier Wednesday, Martin County and Stuart declared a state of emergency allowing officials to speed up processes to deal with toxic blue-green algae in local waterways.

But the county doesn't have any plans "up our sleeve" for using the additional powers, said County Engineer Don Donaldson.

"We are glad that our community was heard and that it will bring needed resources and additional water testing," county spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro said about Scott's declaration Wednesday night.

The algae problem also is garnering lawmakers' attention. U.S. Rep. Patrick E. Murphy made a visit Wednesday to see the algae. U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio announced Wednesday they will visit the Treasure Coast this week.

Six Republican state lawmakers, including state Reps. Gayle Harrell of Stuart and MaryLynn Magar of Tequesta and Sen. Joe Negron of Stuart, penned a letter Wednesday asking the Corps to temporarily halt Lake O discharges and allow more water in the lake because of repairs in the dike surrounding it.

Despite repairs in parts of the dike, raising the lake level could create the risk of a breach in others, said Army Corps spokesman John H. Campbell.

Staff writers Lucas Daprile and Isadora Rangel contributed to this report.
Images of blue-green algae at Leighton Park on Friday, June 24, 2016, in Palm City. Florida Department of Environmental Protection tests at sites throughout Martin County found the algae to be toxic. (XAVIER MASCARENAS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

By News Release

TALLAHASSEE  Gov. Rick Scott issued Executive Order 16-155 on Wednesday declaring a state of emergency in Martin and St. Lucie Counties following the presence of algal blooms in local waterways.

The Executive Order will allow state and local governmental agencies to take swift action to mitigate the spread of algal blooms in the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries by redirecting the flow of water in and out of Lake Okeechobee.

Governor Scott is also directing the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to take specific actions to address the issues caused by blooms.

Governor Rick Scott said, "Today, I am declaring a state of emergency in Martin and St. Lucie Counties to expedite water storage projects to alleviate the proliferation of algal blooms. The order also allows the South Florida Water Management District to reduce the flow of water into Lake Okeechobee through additional water storage projects. In addition to our Executive Order, I am calling on the federal government to speedily approve permits for our dispersed water management programs. I am also asking DEP and FWC to take actions to address the issues caused by algal blooms in South Florida waterways, including developing a hotline for residents to report algal blooms and deploying teams of additional staff to more rapidly survey and sample areas impacted by blooms.

"Florida's waterways, wildlife and families have been severely impacted by the inaction and negligence of the federal government not making the needed repairs to the Herbert Hoover Dike and Florida can no longer afford to wait. Because the Obama Administration has failed to act on this issue, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to discharge millions of gallons of water into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries resulting in the growth of blue-green algae which is now entering residential waterways in South Florida. Although the President has failed to do what is needed to address this growing issue, the State of Florida will devote every available resource to find solutions for the families and businesses in this area."

Gov. Scott is directing DEP to take the following actions:

Deploy teams of additional staff to more rapidly survey and sample areas impacted by algal blooms.

Purchase On-Site Microsystin Testing Kits which allow field staff to perform faster, preliminary tests for toxins on site. These kits will provide information about the sampled algae more quickly and allow preliminary health advisories to be issued.

Launch a Bloom Reporting Hotline. DEP will be establishishing a hotline for citizens to call to report algal blooms, allowing staff to quickly respond to areas with a suspected bloom.

Gov. Scott is directing FWC to take the following action:

Continue deploying FWC Research Institute staff to survey and sample any suspected blooms offshore. At this time, no offshore blooms have been confirmed.

Gov. Scott is directing the South Florida Water Management District take the following actions:

Store additional water north of Lake Okeechobee in the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes.

Work with state and community partners to explore every opportunity to increase water flowing south from Lake Okeechobee.

Store additional water through dispersed water storage projects.

Florida has invested more than $688 million in Everglades restoration over the past five years and will continue to invest up to $200 million a year under the Legacy Florida bill which Governor Scott signed into law this year. The State of Florida has invested nearly $2 billion in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) and $1.8 billion in providing clean water to the Everglades. To date, the federal government is $880 million behind in its share of CERP funding.

Senate President Andy Gardiner said, "We want to make sure our coastal communities know we are doing everything possible to help mitigate the environmental and resulting economic impacts of this algae. I applaud the Governor's leadership and am grateful for his dedication to our environment."

Speaker of the House Steve Crisafulli said, "I applaud Governor Scott for cutting through red tape in order to expedite the construction of crucial water storage projects in Martin County and St. Lucie County that the Legislature funded this Session. We know that storing water north, east, and west of Lake Okeechobee is the key to reducing damaging discharges. I am confident that the South Florida Water Management District will be able to bring these projects to fruition. It will take time, but thanks to Governor Scott and the District, we will not have to needlessly wait for relief."

Senate President-Designate Joe Negron said, "I want to thank Governor Scott for recognizing the catastrophic impact this blue-green algae is having on our community. Our beaches and water are polluted and our way of life has been dramatically impacted. The Governor's quick action today reflects his commitment to making certain our community has the resources we need to address this disaster as quickly as possible."
By Isadora Rangel of TCPalm

As Gov. Rick Scott attended a meeting in West Palm Beach on Tuesday morning, about 40 miles up the coast some 300 residents filed up Martin County Commission chambers for an emergency meeting on the recent algae blooms in area waters.

They were angry, demanding a response  or a visit  from the Republican governor and local lawmakers, and asking why nothing has changed since the Treasure Coast got slammed three years ago with Lake Okeechobee discharges that wreaked havoc in the Indian River Lagoon.

"If you don't start acting, we will take things into our own hands," said Stuart resident Jenny Pawlowsky.

Scott hasn't paid any public visits to the Treasure Coast since discharges started flowing again into the St. Lucie River in January. He declared state of emergency in February and signed a law in April that creates a dedicated fund for Everglades restoration, with priority to projects that reduce lake releases. His office has received 189 phone calls and emails in the past week regarding the algae blooms, his spokeswoman said Monday.

Here's how Scott and state lawmakers have responded to the crisis:

Scott, as he has done several times before, blamed the federal government during his West Palm Beach trip for releasing lake water into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.

State legislators are drafting a letter asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to revisit a formula it uses to decide when to release discharges, to reflect repairs to the Herbert Hoover Dike around the lake.

Incoming Florida Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said he has been talking with Scott's office and the Department of Environmental Protection to find short-term storage north and south of Lake O to reduce the need for discharges. He also said he's preparing a proposal to present to the Legislature next year to move water south permanently into the Everglades.

The Martin County Board of County Commissioners voted Tuesday to ask the Corps to stop discharges immediately; asked for a state and federal state of emergency; and invited President Barack Obama to visit the area. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio followed with a statement in support of the county and said he's pushing for authorization of restoration projects.

U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to help the state test water in Lake O, the St. Lucie River and the Indian River Lagoon.

Despite dike repairs, holding more water would be dangerous because there would still be a risk of a breach in other parts of the dike and the lake level already is 1 foot higher than it was at the peak of discharges in the summer of 2013, Army Corps spokesman John H. Campbell said. The agency plans to revisit the release formula once dike repairs advance in six or seven years, he said.

Past Inaction

The issue isn't what politicians have or haven't done in the past week, when algae blooms started to spread dramatically in the river and lagoon, even reaching Martin and St. Lucie county beaches, said environmentalist Maggy Hurchalla. The issue is decisions made in past few years, she said.

She cited as examples the Legislature's reluctance to buy land south of the lake to move its water into the Everglades instead of releasing it into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries, and water legislation Scott signed this year that critics say relaxes pollution regulations. She also blasted Scott and lawmakers for allowing about one-third of dollars available through Amendment 1 to pay for routine expenses. Voters approved the measure in 2014 to set aside money to buy, restore and manage land and water resources, and many environmentalists say the money should go into buying more conservation land, in particular to move Lake O water south.

"The governor has walked as widely (around) as possible on any discussion to buy land," said Hurchalla, a former Martin County commissioner.

Solution in the Pipeline

The state has made progress since Scott's election in 2011, with $230 million approved in 2014 for lagoon-related projects and the new Everglades law, which will tap into Amendment 1 dollars to provide a long-term money source to send water south, Negron said. He sponsored the law along with state Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart.

Negron has been meeting with scientists, environmentalists and the agriculture industry to find the best land to create a pathway to move lake water into the Everglades. He expects to have a proposal by late summer or early fall, and as Senate president in 2017-18 he will have clout to push it when he shows it to the Legislature.

"I think the state is working to address the situation," Negron said. "I understand the frustration and I Share it. I'm doing everything I can to make sure this environmental emergency stays front and center."

Learn more about the health of your waterways:
China's local consumer brands gain more market share Updated: 2016-06-29 07:57 By Wang Zhuoqiong(China Daily)

Workers pack dog food at a factory in Qingdao, Shandong province. The growth rate in the value of fast-moving consumer goods in China was 3.5 percent in 2015. [Yu Fangping/For China Daily]

The growth rate in the value of fast-moving consumer goods in China reached a five-year low of 3.5 percent in 2015, according to an industry report.

The fifth annual China Shopper Report, issued by Bain & Company and Kantar Worldpanel, suggests that the rise of the service sector in China and its higher paying jobs has helped boost growth among brands in premium categories, such as yogurt and pet food. It also says that foreign brands are continuing to lose battles to local brands in this sector.

Brands in categories that traditionally cater to blue-collar workers are suffering as many manufacturing jobs move to lower-cost countries. For example, in 2015, sales of instant noodles declined by 12.5 percent and beer by 3.6 percent.

Last year, local companies' sales grew by nearly 8 percent and continue to gain share over their foreign rivals. Their biggest advance occurred in skin care, baby diapers, hair conditioners, toothpaste and shampoo.

Foreign companies generated their greatest share increase in fabric softener, infant formula, instant noodles and beer. However, foreign brands overall declined by 1.4 percent in 2015.

"Local companies have wider distribution networks particularly in lower-tier cities where growth is higher. They can make faster decisions and are more adaptable in the digital environment than their foreign peers, achieving a higher growth rate," said Jason Yu, general manager of Kantar Worldpanel China.

For example, Shanghai Jahwa uses its knowledge of Chinese herbal beauty therapy to win over consumers.

The country's retail landscape has also evolved with smaller formats continuing to gain momentum. Notably, convenience stores generated 13.2 percent growth in value last year, catering to cash-rich and time-poor urban consumers.

Online shopping continues to define the modern retail environment in China. Over the last four years, e-commerce in China has grown at an annual rate of about 37 percent and generated revenue of nearly 4 trillion yuan. The report has found that baby-related categories and skin care continue to dominate the e-commerce market.
Christopher Duncan Jr. (PROVIDED/FLORIDA TODAY)

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By Dave Berman, FLORIDA TODAY | USA TODAY NETWORK

Two signatures have cost Democratic Florida Senate candidate Christopher Duncan Jr. a spot on the ballot  one piece of paper he signed and one he didn't sign.

The candidate qualifying period ended noon Friday. Just before noon that day, Duncan submitted his paperwork in person at the Florida Division of Elections in Tallahassee to run as a Democrat for Florida Senate in District 17, which includes central and south Brevard County and all of Indian River County.

Late Friday, the Division of Elections changed Duncan's status on its website from "active" to "did not qualify."

On Monday, Duncan found out why: Division of Elections representatives told him a check for Duncan's qualification fee was endorsed improperly, plus Duncan neglected to sign another piece of required his paperwork  a "Form 6" disclosure of financial interests.

Duncan contends the $1,781.82 check from the "Christopher L. Duncan Campaign" account was signed the way his bank required: with his signature on it. The Division of Elections told him it should have been signed by his campaign treasurer, Vanessa Scott, who also is Duncan's wife.

"It is like a Catch-22," Duncan said. "It doesn't seem right to me what occurred."

Duncan said he also submitted two copies of the Form 6 paperwork in question: one that was signed and one that was not signed. He said the Division of Election was unable to find the signed copy, which he said he submitted in advance of Friday's deadline.

Duncan said he could file a challenge to the Division of Elections determination, but that could take months to resolve.

So Duncan decided he would not challenge the ruling, since it would leave him little time to run a campaign in advance of what would have been an Aug. 30 Democratic primary against Amy Tidd of Rockledge.

"It is just the way the cookie crumbles," Duncan said.

Duncan said he will remain active in Democratic politics this year, as vice president of the Brevard County Young Democrats organization.

"I'm going to stand strong to support Democrats running in the races," Duncan said. "I'm going to be active, just not as a candidate."

In Florida Senate District 17, Tidd will face the winner of a Republican primary involving Debbie Mayfield of Vero Beach, Mike Thomas of Melbourne and Ritch Workman of Melbourne. Mayfield and Workman are Florida House members who cannot seek re-election because of term limits. Thomas is a Republican committeeman. A write-in candidate  Ronald Thomas of Cocoa Beach  also is in the race.

Tidd, a Navy veteran and community advocate, said she felt strongly that voters should have a choice in the election, so she decided to run for the Florida Senate seat when the filing deadline was approaching and Duncan had not yet filed his paperwork.

Tidd served seven years on the Port St. John Advisory Board, and ran twice for the Florida House.

The District 17 Senate seat is now held by Thad Altman, who cannot seek re-election due to term limits, and instead is running for a Florida House seat in District 52.

Duncan ran an as a write-in candidate for Congress in Florida District 8 in 2014 against incumbent U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, who won re-election that year, and Democrat Gabriel Rothblatt.

Duncan in August 2015 announced that he would run in the 2016 election as a Democrat against Posey in District 8. But, in May, Duncan said he instead would run for Florida Senate in District 17.

Corry Westbrook of Vero Beach will run as a Democrat and Bill Stinson of north Melbourne will run as a "no party affiliation" candidate against Posey, a Republican from Rockledge.

Florida's 8th Congressional District includes all of Brevard and Indian River counties. The district also includes a section of east Orange County encompassing all or part of Avalon Park, Bithlo, Christmas and Wedgefield.

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or dberman@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @ByDaveBerman and on Facebook at facebook.com/dave.berman.54
By Dave Berman, Florida Today | USA TODAY NETWORK

Two signatures have cost Democratic state Senate candidate Christopher Duncan Jr. a spot on the ballot  on a piece of paper he signed and on a piece he didn't.

Just before candidate qualifying ended at noon Friday, Duncan submitted his paperwork at the Florida Division of Elections in Tallahassee to run as a Democrat in District 17, which encompasses all of Indian River County and central and south Brevard County.

Late Friday, the Division of Elections disqualified him.

On Monday, Duncan found out why: Division of Elections representatives told him a check for his qualification fee was endorsed improperly and that he neglected to sign Form 6, the required disclosure of financial interests.

Duncan contends the $1,781.82 check from his campaign account was signed the way his bank required: with his signature. The Division of Elections told him it should have been signed by his campaign treasurer, Vanessa Scott, who also is Duncan's wife.

"It is like a Catch-22," Duncan said.

Duncan said he submitted two copies of Form 6, one signed and one unsigned. He said the Division of Elections lost the signed copy he said he submitted in advance of Friday's deadline.

Duncan said he would not challenge the ruling, since a resolution could take months, leaving him little time to campaign for what would have been an Aug. 30 primary against Amy Tidd of Rockledge.

"It is just the way the cookie crumbles," Duncan said.

Duncan said he will remain active in Democratic politics this year as vice president of the Brevard County Young Democrats organization.

"I'm going to stand strong to support Democrats running in the races," Duncan said. "I'm going to be active, just not as a candidate."

Now, Tidd will face the winner of the Republican primary, either Debbie Mayfield of Vero Beach and Ritch Workman of Melbourne, both term-limited state representatives; or Republican committeeman Mike Thomas of Melbourne.

A write-in candidate, Ronald Thomas of Cocoa Beach, also is in the race.

Tidd, a Navy veteran and community advocate, said she felt strongly that voters should have a choice in the election, so she decided to run when the filing deadline was approaching and Duncan had not yet filed his paperwork.

Tidd served seven years on the Port St. John Citizen Advisory Board, and ran twice for the state House.

District 17 incumbent state Sen. Thad Altman  who also is term-limited  is running for the state House District 52 seat.

In 2014, Duncan ran as a write-in candidate against incumbent U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, and Democrat Gabriel Rothblatt. Posey was re-elected.

Duncan in August 2015 announced he would again challenge Posey in 2016, this time as a Democrat. But in May, he said he would run for state Senate.

Corry Westbrook of Vero Beach will challenge Posey as a Democrat and Bill Stinson of north Melbourne will run as a "no party affiliation" candidate.

Florida's 8th Congressional District includes all of Brevard and Indian River counties and a section of east Orange County.
Lee Olsen, Waldo's General Manager

SHARE The pool deck at Waldo's is a venue for fundraising (and just plain fun) overlooking Vero's beach. Waldo's iconic driftwood entrance

It's hard to imagine a world without philanthropy. Through the generous giving of time, talent and treasure, lives are changed and many receive second chances due to the power of compassion.

At Waldo's Restaurant, the legacy of community left by Waldo Sexton has been passed down from generation to generation.

Built in 1935, the restaurant is part of the Driftwood Inn  one of Sexton's historic landmarks visited by thousands of residents and tourists each year.

Under the leadership of Lee Olsen, Waldo's is known for good food and drink, great views of the Atlantic Ocean and loads of fun.

What may not be quite as well known is the effort put forth by Olsen and his team behind the scenes, providing support to local nonprofits and schools, selflessly making the world a better place.

"Vero Beach was built on a foundation of giving. We should all do our part and help somebody," says Olsen, reflecting on the recent vigil at Riverside Park in honor of the Orlando nightclub shooting victims.

Olsen spearheaded the memorial with Karen Franke of Treasure and Space Coast Radio. The event drew about 500 people.

"I'm absolutely amazed  Vero really cares," says Vero Beach Mayor Jay Kramer, checking out the crowd that heard about the vigil through social media and word of mouth.

"You just have to follow your heart and do what is right," says Olsen, who credits his father for being an inspiration.

"Before Christmas we would take all of our old toys and clothes, pack them into our station wagon, and as a family, drive to our church's mission in West Virginia and donate all of our stuff. Some of those kids lived in houses with dirt floors," Olsen recalls

After his father retired, he spent years doing missionary work. "And that's how it all began."

Olsen's hard work spurs everyone who sees him into action. The list of groups he has supported personally and through Waldo's Restaurant includes: Youth Guidance, The Source, Camp Haven, The Love Doctors Charities, Marine Corps Toys for Tots, Lauren's Way, Healthy Start Coalition, and the Vero Beach Lifeguard Association.

Olsen's strong sense of duty and determination to reach out to those in need over the past 10 years has affected the way many Indian River County residents perceive charity.

When organizing events, Olsen's approach is unique: he targets the entire community with a goal of uniting people to help others.

Case in point, the upcoming Barefoot Beach Ball  a "fun and wacky" family-friendly event that is now in its second year as Waldo's sizzling off-season fundraiser on July 9, 4 - 8 p.m.

"We are changing things a bit, replacing Christmas in July with the Barefoot Beach Ball as our big summer bash," says Olsen.

The Barefoot Beach Ball benefits the Vero Beach Lifeguard Association.

"Lee understands the relationship between beach safety and local businesses and has been supportive of our cause since its inception," said Vero Beach Lifeguard Association President Erik Toomsoo.

"Back in 2011, a proposal was brought to the City Council for consideration to leave some of our beaches unguarded. We knew we needed to educate the public and form an organization supporting safer beaches. Lee was the first person we went to for help. The first word out of his mouth was, 'Yes!'"

The Vero Beach Lifeguard Association is currently raising money to build a lifeguard tower and headquarters at Humiston Park.

Proceeds from the Barefoot Beach Ball will help fund this project.

"We are very grateful, to be right next to Humiston Park, where there's a lifeguard stand protecting our beaches. I'm glad to support them in any way I can," says Olsen.

In honor of his continued support to the people of Indian River County, the Vero Beach Lifeguard Association is nominating Lee Olsen for National Philanthropy Day's Unsung Hero Award.

This category recognizes an individual who demonstrates exceptional leadership skills for major fundraising projects and motivating groups for the benefit of a cause.

Waldo's Restaurant is located at 3150 Ocean Dr. For more information, visit WaldosVero.com or call 772-231-7091.

To learn more about the Barefoot Beach Ball or support the Vero Beach Lifeguard Association, please go to VBLA.org.
SHARE Photo by Stephanie LaBaff CASTLE Executive Director Theresa Garbarino May Photo Provided Theresa Garbarino May at CASTLE's 20th anniversary celebration in 2001.

By Stephanie Labaff

The Newsweekly

For 30 years CASTLE's Executive Director Theresa Garbarino May has been on a mission to create happy families.

She found the first hints of that calling while she was attending college in New York. She was barely 18-years-old, herself, when she began working with minors in medium- and high-security prisons. Some of them had committed murder and many would be there for life.

This made an enormous impact on May, and she couldn't help but wonder what had brought these young people to this place in their life.

"You know something tragic happened to them," she says. "The more I worked with them, the more inclined I was to want to do something different."

The seed had been planted. May earned her bachelor's degree in social work and criminal justice.

Then after visiting her father in Florida, she decided to leave behind the dreary, cold days of the North and embrace the Florida sunshine.

Same conclusion

While going through the arduous job testing process that was required by the State of Florida, May began working for New Horizons.

"I ran their therapeutic foster care program, working with emotionally traumatized children and I thought, 'I need to get ahead of this and find a place where I feel like I'm making a difference for these poor kids,'" she recalls.

With each iteration of her work with children, she kept coming to that same conclusion.

It all finally clicked into place with a big question from a little girl.

May was walking the 7-year-old foster child through the courthouse to a hearing that would sever her biological mother's and father's parental rights.

That's when the girl asked her, "Didn't you teach my foster parents how to be parents? Then why can't you show my mom, too?"

So when someone from CASTLE asked May to join their team, it seemed she had finally found what she had been searching for: a place to "get ahead" of the problem.

"I was told the Center was for the prevention of child abuse. We were going to teach good parenting and keep those children from having to be removed from their home environment. That was very intriguing to me at that point in my life," she said.

"I was 25 years old, had graduated from graduate school with a master's in administration and nonprofits, and felt like I could take on the world."

Devoted

May was still single and had all the time in the world to work with a growing organization that had only four employees, back then: the director, two parent educators and a secretary.

"There was so much potential here for the organization that it was exciting to me. I was able to start working with families, ahead of the point in time where the children had been removed," said May.

"I found myself wanting to rescue all these children and take them home with me. That's not a reality. The next best thing was to teach parents how to protect their children."

For the past 30 years, May has traveled from Vero Beach to Okeechobee and everywhere in between to reach clients. CASTLE serves Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and Okeechobee counties. Some clients lived in rural areas and she had to drive a long way to find them.

"I realized many of our families had multiple problems or issues they needed to overcome before they could even dream of talking about parenting: transportation, livable wages, health care, feeding and clothing their children, and so much more."

Big steps

Since that time, CASTLE has nurtured relationships with other programs to help fill the needs of their clients so they can more effectively address the root causes of abuse and neglect.

May has spent more than half her life working for CASTLE. The organization now has almost 50 employees working from five offices in the four-county area. They've helped more than 65,000 families on the Treasure Coast.

Along the way, May helped to develop and hone programs that have become national models: Positive Parenting and Safe Families. Both were started in Fort Pierce.

Looking back over the years and remembering all the children she's helped, May says, "To this day, it still gives me a chill when I see the kids I've worked with as adults with their own families."

Moving forward

May's devotion to those children has been unwavering throughout the challenges faced in the nonprofit world.

"I have been involved with CASTLE for twenty years," said CASTLE Foundation board member Michael Dillman. "Having served on a number of nonprofit boards during that time, I have seen a great deal of ups and downs created by economic conditions, funding changes, etc.

"Many of these changes are beyond the control of any organization. Theresa always kept the board and the staff moving forward, during both good times and bad. In my opinion, CASTLE would not be where it is today without Theresa."

May says there is a simple  but powerful  formula behind these successes.

"You can solve just about any problem 99 percent of the time with positive communication skills. That's the motto here at CASTLE. Communicate  and be thankful for everything you have in life."

To learn more about, visit CastleTC.org.
The Elk's Flag Day Celebration is a tradition that goes back even further than the national holiday.

In 1911, the Grand Lodge Session at Atlantic City made the observance of Flag Day mandatory for subordinate lodges.

Vero Beach Elks Lodge B.P.O.E. #1774 upheld this patriotic duty on June 14 with a ceremony celebrating our nation's symbol.

'Members and guests, the purpose of this service is to honor our country's flag,' Exalted Leader Dennis Ryan told the gathered crowd. 'We have this ceremony to celebrate the anniversary of its birth and to recall the achievements attained beneath its folds. It is quite appropriate that such a service should be held by the Order of the Elks.'

The Elks have a long history of promoting the principles of charity, justice, brotherly love and fidelity.

Their mission also entails dedication to promoting the welfare and happiness of mankind, to upholding America and its laws, and promoting patriotism.

All of those attributes were clear and present, as dozens of members stood and saluted the flag, pledged their allegiance and sang God Bless America. Speakers took turns reading proclamations regarding the history of the American flag, including Charlie Wilson  a third generation Elk.

In his tribute to the flag, Wilson said, 'Upon its folds is written the story of America, the epic of the mightiest and noblest of all history.'

Members and their guests listened closely as the current and past exalted rulers and officers spoke of the history that eventually led to the national Flag Day holiday. It was officially designated in 1949, when it was signed into law that June 14 would become a national holiday.

The ritual for the occasion is an elaborate one, and it is designed to be informative as well as inspirational.

Vero Beach Elks made it a stirring pageant that paid tribute to the banner's colors, history, traditions and songs.

For more information about the Vero Beach Elks #1774, visit www.veroelks.com or call 772-569-1774.
SHARE Press-Journal, July 3, 1936 Vero Beach Business Barometer Press-Journal, June 28, 1946 The map shows routes of various airlines which bypass Florida. Eastern Airlines was granted permission to extend its service to Puerto Rico--a new service for Vero Beach.

Compiled By Cindy Schwarz

90 YEARS AGO: 1926

Women's dormitory

VERO BEACHPlans to convert a cafeteria building and frame classroom at the Vero Beach school into a dormitory for women teachers were approved by the Board of Public Instruction. Sleeping rooms, a kitchen and a reception area with a roomy fireplace will be built. The remodeled structures will then accommodate 16 teachers. A nominal rental fee will be charged for the rooms.

80 YEARS AGO: 1936

Needlecraft club

VERO BEACHThe Needlecraft Club of Woodmen Circle Grange 215 met at Mrs. M. S. Holmes' home. The afternoon was spent sewing and refreshments were served. Attendees included: Mrs. G. Hoard, Mrs. W. H. Duncan, Miss Lattie Anthony, Mrs. Bart Wood and daughter, Stella Mae, Mrs. J. C. DuBois, and Mrs. R. H. Chesnutt.

70 YEARS AGO: 1946

'The Rambler'

INDIAN RIVER COUNTYMr. and Mrs. Tom Q. Smith spent the weekend at the Driftwood Inn. Indian River County has the finest stretch of oceanfront along the Southeast Florida coast; a beautiful site for homes, was Mr. Smith's opinion. Smith is a Miami resident and a radio commentator. His program, "The Rambler," is broadcast on WIOD daily at 6:45 p.m.

60 YEARS AGO: 1956

Stop sign arrests

VERO BEACHFor the second successive week, no arrests for stop sign violations were on Monday morning's Municipal Court docket. The city has a Stop Sign Ordinance in place and the signs are installed for protection of the driving public, as well as cyclists and pedestrians.

50 YEARS AGO: 1966

Narcotics stolen

VERO BEACHPrice's Pharmacy, 42 Royal Palm Blvd., was burglarized over the weekend and a large quantity of narcotics stolen, according to a report filed at Police Headquarters. The theft took place sometime between Saturday night and Monday morning when Douglas Ossenfort discovered that a hole, 18 inches by 22 inches, was cut in the roof over the storage room. The culprit exited through the north door of the room. Missing drugs identified were: Dilantin, Darvon compound, Librium, Phenobarbital and Dexedrine. Also taken were ampules of morphine, codeine, Demerol and Nembutal.

30 YEARS AGO: 1986

Shelters' soundness

INDIAN RIVER COUNTYIndian River County seems to have an adequate supply of public fallout shelters.

However, the durability of many structures in the case of a nuclear attack is questionable. According to the county's 1970 population, the shelter list includes expected structures such as schools, government buildings and churches, as well as many assorted and bizarre locations such as grocery stores, ice cream parlors and motels.

10 YEARS AGO: 2006

Blogfest2

INDIAN RIVER COUNTYLog on to TC Palm and locate the home page link in order to vote in Blogfest2. Click on the finalist's photograph to read his or her blogs.

Every IP address is permitted one vote per hour so visit often. Local bloggers include: Mike Carlson, age 32, Vero Beach, Week Two votes: 525, Week Two rank: fourth; and Robert A. Guterma, age 54, Vero Beach, Week Two votes: 500, Week Two rank: fifth. Going into Week Three, there are eight bloggers remaining of the original 10 after Week One's vote-off of Kenia Brown of Jensen Beach, and Week Two's vote-off of Heather Lo Galbo of Jensen Beach.
Photo by L.L. Angell VBWFF board member Kelly Kite with 'Between Sea & Land' star Manolo Cruz.

SHARE Wine connoisseur Bob Stanley was a happy volunteer. Dr. Ron Taylor whose story is told in the film 'Ron Taylor: Dr. Baseball' & film festival volunteer Rosmery Hernandez. Volunteer Elaine Goodell customized her VBWFF T-shirt. Photo by Lyle Michos A delighted Jerusha Stewart, VBWFF's founder, enjoying the festival.

By L.L. Angell, The Newsweekly

Jerusha Stewart's phone was ringing madly on the morning after the Vero Beach Wine + Film Festival closed on June 12  and it hasn't stopped.

"Filmmakers are asking if they can send me their film for next year's festival," says Stewart, the festival's founder.

"We just got a call from a national publication company and an internationally known, consumer lifestyle product, too. Both want to partner with the festival in 2017."

The VBWFF made its debut June 9 through 12 and was a new experience for many.

Rosmery Hernandez never expected to translate for Columbian actor Manolo Cruz, but there she was on stage with him at the Vero Beach Museum of Art screening of his film, "Between Sea and Land." Facing a full house and a lot of questions from audience members, Hernandez appeared perfectly at ease.

"It was easy to get on the same wavelength with Manolo. He's so personable. I wanted to convey his emotions when I translated," Hernandez says.

Hernandez and her family came to Miami from Cuba when she was 8. While thoroughly bilingual, she'd never acted as someone's translator before.

She met Cruz at the opening night party at Coste d'Este, June 10.

"I congratulated him and we talked," Hernandez says. "Later that night, he asked Jerusha if I could be his translator," so he could take questions from the audience  an important component of the festival experience.

Big debuts

Not only does Cruz play the lead in "Between Sea and Land"  he also wrote the script. It's his writing debut, yet the film won Sundance Festival 2016 Grand Jury Award, Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize for Best Performance by an Actor.

Cruz portrays a poor young man who has muscular dystrophy. He lives on a swamp in Columbia with his mother and wants to see the ocean.

Apart from translating for Cruz, Hernandez worked like all the other volunteers, taking tickets, serving food and drinks  helping in a hundred different ways.

"I enjoyed it immensely. The positive response we got from practically everyone was overwhelming, exceeding all our expectations. It's hard to please everyone on a grand scale. We learned a lot this first year," Hernandez says. "I'll volunteer at next year's festival, too.

That's the universal theme here: the turnout and positive response exceeded expectations and they're on board for 2017.

Elaine Goodell seems to speaks for all the VBWFF volunteers when she says, "We took a leap of faith and made it work."

Overcoming

Goodell, like Hernandez, was one of the 110 energetic volunteers who worked round the clock to make the inaugural VBWFF surprisingly successful.

Stewart estimates that approximately 1000 people showed up on each day of the festival  numbers that far exceeded her expectations.

What the organizers did expect were some glitches and a bit of confusion, as there are at any new multi-venue event.

Take the incident of the Italian wine shipped in to accompany the chic mystery film, "Rewined."

Filmmaker Ferdinando Vicentini Orgnani belongs to a family of vintners and three crates of their wine had been sent to be sipped during the viewing.

When the crates arrived, two contained shattered bottles. Stewart says the two replacement crates Orgnani sent are still circling the globe.

"When something didn't go as planned, we figured it out. Marie Healey was especially wonderful at jumping in," Goodell says.

Expert advice

Healy was the event's producer. A master of managing multiple details, she is a location scout and manager for major Hollywood movies who's now living in Vero Beach and caring for her parents.

Stewart enlisted helpers of Healy's caliber wherever she could, including local realtor and equity fund manager Kelly Kite. He became a member of the VBWFF board more than a year ago.

As it happens, Kite had considered starting a film festival here, four or five years ago.

"I played around with the idea, talked with venues and had numerous meetings with hotels, Riverside Theatre and the Cultural Council," Kite says. "Then I realized I didn't have enough time to pursue it along with my businesses.

"When Jerusha heard of my interest, she contacted me. I was happy to sponsor her and help out."

Satisfaction

In fact, Kite was so busy arranging lodgings and accommodations for visiting filmmakers and vintners that he didn't see many films.

Though he did attend the opening night celebration at Coste d'Este.

"It was fabulous. Sold out, with delicious food and wine, and so much enthusiasm from the winemakers and chefs. Looking out and seeing everyone smiling made me very happy," says Kite.

He admits to being pleasantly surprised at how many offered their support.

"Many of the volunteers are new to Vero and saw this as a great way to meet people. The sponsors kept coming forward, too. None of the community's really big names wanted to get involved  they had doubts about the event's success. I think they'll change their mind now," Kite says.

Kite created a finance committee and reconciled the books.

"Typically with first-time festivals like this, you sell 80 percent of your tickets a week before the event. I relaxed once I knew we were covering our expenses. Then we far exceeded that," Kite says. "It's wonderful that we could benefit Suncoast Mental Health Center."

Good works

Art Ciasca, executive director at Suncoast, calls VBWFF, "a phenomenal event for Indian River County."

"I met fascinating filmmakers and vintners," says Ciasca. "I saw wonderful films and drank fabulous wine. The theme of the event, 'A life worth living,' was so in line with our work at Suncoast."

Many of the films were chosen for their subject matter as well as their excellence. Ciasca introduced "No Letting Go" at Riverside Theatre, Friday. The film tells the story of a teenager's battle with mental illness as his mother risks everything to help him.

"The festival provided us with a wonderful way to get our message out to the community  mental illness is a true medical condition, like cancer or heart disease, and help is available," Ciasca says.

One volunteer, Mary Brown, hopes there will be three times as many volunteers next year. She and her husband moved here from West Virginia in February. Stewart recruited her at church. Brown was a member of the film selection committee.

"There are so many excellent films that look at facing a challenge," Brown said, (whether) it's learning how to read or overcoming a disability, or how to become the best sommelier or barista."
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Hackers late Sunday broke into CEO Sundar Pichais Quora account and through it accessed his Twitter followers, according to reports.

The group taking credit for the breach, OurMine Security, previously hit other prominent high-tech figures, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Spotify CEO Daniel Elk, Amazon CTO Werner Vogels and former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo.

OurMines goal is to improve the security of social media accounts around the world, the group has claimed.

As well intentioned as they may be, OurMine is not making friends with their efforts, while theyre gaining a lot of publicity, noted Craig Kensek, a security expert at Lastline.

Still, the damage done so far has been more of an embarrassment, he told TechNewsWorld. A deep-pocketed celebrity may ultimately go after OurMine or other hackers for invasion of privacy.

OurMines Agenda

OurMine reportedly is a group of three people, believed to be teenagers. They initially removed private data and stored information from the sites they hacked, but lately have attempted to rebrand themselves as a security group, hacking into accounts as a way of advertising their services.

OurMine has claimed that it exploits vulnerabilities in the services its victims use.

For example, OurMine hacked the Bitly accounts of Channing Tatum and journalist Matthew Yglesias.

However, Bitly has denied the groups claim, and said the hacks were possible because the victims used their passwords on multiple sites.

OurMine also asserted the presence of a vulnerability in Quora, which Quora subsequently denied.

OurMine claimed to have launched exploits that let it access passwords victims had saved in their browsers  apparently the method used to hack Channing Tatums YouTube and Twitter accounts.

Sowing Dragons Teeth

OurMines actions have drawn widespread rebuke.

A Change.Org petition calls for shutting OurMine down and urges Twitter and YouTube to take action. The petition had more than 5,400 supporters at press time.

Twitter has suspended OurMines account.

Hacker AlexPro earlier this year published information that supposedly outed the group on Dramaalert.com. He listed the groups IP and Skype addresses, and suggested they were Arab as they were using the SaudiNet ISP, and geolocation information placed them in Saudi Arabias Makkah province, close to the city of Jeddah. Keep in mind these guys had a (sic) Arabic twitter, AlexPro wrote.

However, AlexPros conclusions are questionable.

This group has Polish roots, maintained Andrew Komarov, chief intelligence officer at InfoArmor.

They actively use XSS (cross-site scripting) attacks against social media account owners, he told TechNewsWorld.

The Silver Lining

Still, its not all bad, because anything that causes no real harm, which can serve as a reminder to everyday folks that security matters for everyone, is likely a positive, suggested Jonathan Sander, vice president of product strategy at Lieberman Software.

OurMine isnt telling us anything that hasnt already been said, he told TechNewsWorld. Of course theres a problem with the security of social media. Passwords are fundamentally flawed; people reusing passwords is even worse.

It will be interesting to see what, if any, legal ramifications this interesting marketing campaign may have for the group in the short term, Sander mused, though it seems like most of the people being targeted would rather have the incidents forgotten.

Protect Yourself

Weve seen time and time again with breaches that many users avoid password changes and fail to use unique passwords across services, noted Craig Young, a security researcher at Tripwire.

This will probably never change, he told TechNewsWorld, which is why its so critical that services continue to push users onto multifactor authentication systems and eliminate this single point of failure.
Yum's mainland stake sale 'postponed' Updated: 2016-06-29 08:08 (Agencies)

A boy plays at a KFC restaurant in Nantong, Jiangsu province. Yum Brands Inc, owner of KFC and Pizza Hut chains, gets more than half of its revenue from China. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The sale process for a stake in Yum! Brands Inc's Chinese mainland business, which operates KFC and Pizza Hut eateries in the country, has been delayed, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Potential bidders including Singapore's state investment company Temasek Holdings Pte and Chinese private equity firm Primavera Capital Ltd missed a deadline earlier this month to submit offers for a minority stake in the business, the people said. The suitors held off submitting bids after Yum sought to impose new terms on the investments, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

The investors also indicated they disagree with Yum's proposed valuation of $10 billion for the China unit, the people said. The sale process has been delayed by at least several weeks, according to one person.

Yum last year bowed to activist pressure and agreed to separate its Chinese mainland business from the rest of the company, in part to focus on reviving its US operations.

Under the stricter terms, Yum wouldn't be obliged to pay royalties to the mainland business to use any new products developed in the country, according to one of the people. Yum also said it wouldn't share the burden for some of the Chinese unit's ad spending, the person said.

Yum informed the investors of the new conditions just days before the bid deadline, the person said. The company had aimed to grant exclusive negotiating rights to one bidder after examining the offers, according to the person.
Microsoft has entered a partnership with Kind Financial to create an entity that will obtain government contracts to track seed-to-sale compliance in the legalized marijuana business, Kind announced last week.

The new entity, Kind Government Solutions, will provide state, county and local municipalities with tracking information on marijuana sales to keep them in compliance with government regulations, said Kind Financial CEO David Dinenberg.

Microsoft selected Kind to be a part of its newly created Microsoft Health and Human Services Pod for Managed Service Providers.

We support government customers and partners to help them meet their missions, Microsoft said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Brooke Randell. Kind Financial is building solutions on our government cloud to help these agencies regulate and monitor controlled substances and items, and manage compliance with jurisdictional laws and regulations.

Cannabis Compliance

Kinds main compliance product is Agrisoft Seed to Sale, a software program designed to help government agencies ensure compliance with cannabis sale regulations.

No one can predict the future of cannabis legalization, Dinenberg said. However, it is clear that legalized cannabis will always be subject to strict oversight and regulations similar to alcohol and tobacco.

Matt Cook, former senior leader of Colorados Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division and the author of the states medical marijuana regulations, will act as a special advisor to the partnership on government matters.

Microsoft is taking advantage of a huge market opportunity, while perhaps taking a substantial risk. Due to the uncertain nature of state-by-state marijuana legalization, there are few companies willing to invest millions of dollars into a long-term commitment.

Untapped Potential

Regulation and compliance from one state to the next is still a huge challenge, noted Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association.

There is very little in the way of consistency or reciprocity between states regulatory programs, so a company that wants to operate in more than one state really does have to approach each one almost from scratch, she told the E-Commerce Times.

Twenty-five states have legalized marijuana either for full or medicinal use, West said.

The legal marijuana industry is estimated at about US$5.4 billion, according to a report from ArcView Market Research and New Frontier.

I think Microsoft sees a unique opportunity to grow this market, and realizes that by supporting at the ground floor, they will be in an incredibly powerful position once the market fully matures to be a dominant solution provider for it, observed Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

A number of technology industry figures are finding a home in the legalized marijuana business because the industry has a large amount of available money to spend  yet there is still a problem getting into traditional banking relationships, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Cash Crop

Indeed, the legalized marijuana industry still faces a large number of hurdles to operate like a traditional business, in part because federal law still prohibits the sale of marijuana. The Senate Appropriations Committee last week voted 16-14 to approve a measure that would allow banks to provide services to marijuana businesses.

The federal government should not be forcing Oregons legal marijuana business to carry gym bags full of cash to pay their taxes, employees and bills, said Sen. Jeff Merkely, D-Ore., who coauthored the amendment. This is an invitation to robberies, money laundering and organized crime.

Marijuana would bring in about half a billion dollars in the first 14 months of legal sales  just in the state of Oregon  he pointed out.

Think about the marijuana business in now-legal states, suggested Paul Teich, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

It has been an underground business where no one wanted any record of transactions, he told the E-Commerce Times. Entrepreneurs just starting up in the business are starting with a good knowledge of their domain  growing weed  but no real knowledge of modern business practices and legal supply chain economics.
A controversial global database used by numerous banks, governments, and intelligence agencies to identify suspected terrorists and criminals has reportedly leaked online.

The mid-2014 version of the World-Check Risk Screening database contains details of individuals and organizations suspected of having some involvement with terrorism, organized crime, money laundering, and many other offenses. The 2.2 million records are used by 49 of the world's 50 largest banks, along with governments and various agencies, for screening purposes.

While database creator Thomson Reuters aggregates the information using information available to the public, European privacy laws mean access is restricted to vetted clients. The service is said to have over 6000 customers in 170 countries.

"We monitor over 530 sanction, watch and regulatory law and enforcement lists, and hundreds of thousands of information sources, often identifying heightened-risk entities months or years before they are listed. In fact, in 2012 alone we identified more than 180 entities before they appeared on the US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list based on reputable sources identifying relevant risks," states the Thomson Reuters website.

The discovery was made by security researcher Chris Vickery, who has uncovered a number of other online leaks including the Hello Kitty breach, both the Mexican and US voter database dumps, and the beautifulpeople.com dating site leak.

"There was no protection at all. No username or password required to see the records," Vickery told the BBC. "I want to be clear that this unprotected database was not directly hosted by Thomson Reuters itself."

World-Check has courted controversy for including individuals and groups on its database that have no connection to crime. Vice News found it has been known to list charities, activists, and religious institutions as terrorists.

"The worst possible situation that could arise is that someone who may be innocent, but accused of criminal activity in the database, could be permanently branded on a global scale if this database were to be spread publicly," added Vickery.

A spokesperson said an unnamed third-party was responsible for leaking the "out of date" information, and the company was working to secure the data.
Google's Project Zero team set out in 2014 to help make the Internet a safer place by searching for vulnerabilities in third-party software that could be used to conduct a cyber attack. The division recently struck gold, if you will, as it discovered multiple critical vulnerabilities affecting Symantec's entire product line.

Security researcher Tavis Ormandy outlined the issues in a recent post on the Project Zero blog, describing the vulnerabilities as being as bad as it gets. That's because they don't require any user interaction, affect the default configuration and the software runs at the highest privilege levels possible.

In certain scenarios on Windows, vulnerable code is even loaded into the kernel which Ormandy said results in remote kernel memory corruption.

Ormandy notes that since Symantec uses the same core engine across its entire line, all Symantec and Norton branded antivirus products are affected including:

Norton Security, Norton 360, and other legacy Norton products (All Platforms)

Symantec Endpoint Protection (All Versions, All Platforms)

Symantec Email Security (All Platforms)

Symantec Protection Engine (All Platforms)

Symantec Protection for SharePoint Servers

And so on.

The researcher described a few of the many vulnerabilities they found. He took Symantec to task for its poor vulnerability management, noting that a quick look at the decomposer library showed they were using code derived from open source libraries that hadn't been updated in at least seven years.

Ormandy did praise Symantec for its help in resolving the bugs so quickly. Google gives companies 90 days from the time of private disclosure before going public with vulnerabilities it finds.

That said, if you're running any Symantec or Norton product, you'll want to update it ASAP.

Image courtesy Tony Avelar, Getty Images
New details regarding the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 have leaked out of China. The phablet will reportedly launch with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor or Samsung Exynos 8893 chip depending on region.

Smartphone fans will soon have a new, highly anticipated flagship device to consider and all signs are pointing to an Aug. 2 launch for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Unlike last year, which saw the release of the Galaxy Note 5 alongside the Galaxy S6 edge+, Samsung is only expected to unveil a single device featuring its much-loved curved display.

In June, we got our first look at what the Galaxy Note 7 is believed to look like based off of leaked dimensions of the device. While that report focused on the outside of the device, a new report claims the Galaxy Note 7 will use either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor or a Samsung Exynos 8893 chipset.

SamMobile reported that depending on the region, the Galaxy Note 7 will either sport a 2.3 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 SoC or a 2.6-2.7 GHz octa-core Exynos 8893 processor. The site believes that the Snapdragon-based Galaxy Note 7 will be headed to regions like the U.S. and the Exynos variant will make its way to developing markets.

Here's a rundown of the specs of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 based off of recent reports. It will reportedly include a 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED dual-curved edge display and run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with a new version of Samsung's TouchWiz, which has been codenamed "Grace UX." It will be powered by either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor or Samsung's own Exynos 8893 chip (depending on region) and a hefty 6 GB of RAM.

The Note 7 will be offered in 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB internal storage capacities, in addition to a microSD expansion slot, which was left out of last year's model. The smartphone will also be the first Samsung device to ship with an advanced iris scanner and its micro USB port has been replaced by a USB Type-C port.

As expected, the Note 7 will feature a top of the line rear camera that is said to be a 12-megapixel Dual Pixel phase detection rear camera with the ability to capture 4K video, and a 5-megapixel front-facing shooter.

Samsung is also rumored to introduce a new S Pen stylus, which will set the stage for more advanced S Note software features included in the Grace UX. The company is also expected to offer its own take on BlackBerry Hub, called Samsung Focus, which will provide a central location for users to access email, text messages, social media, calendar, contacts, and memos. The Note 7 is also said to include a large 4,000 mAh non-removable battery with fast-charging support.

This surely won't be the last Samsung Galaxy Note 7 leak leading up to its launch and we'll be sure to keep you posted on any new details on the device as they emerge.

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Google could be wading into troubled waters again for antitrust over AdWords, as the European Union (EU) is reportedly considering taking action against the company.

The EU watchdogs are apparently unhappy with Google's advertising services  including AdWords  claiming that it is in violation of competition rules.

The news comes courtesy of a Bloomberg report, which cites people who supposedly are in the know.

"The European Union is taking steps that could lead to a third antitrust complaint against Google, this time over its lucrative advertising services, according to three people familiar with the EU investigation," revealed the publication.

Reportedly, officials from the EU have asked for the critics' permission, so that the evidence can be shared with Google. The publication's sources, however, choose to remain anonymous as the matter is a private one. One of the sources, however, disclosed that one such permission request for evidence sharing with Google was sent as recently as last week.

EU's request for evidence sharing is usually a forerunner of a formal complaint or statement of objection, which catalogs how a company may have potentially violated antitrust laws in the EU.

While the sources did not reveal by when the EU would be leveling the charges against Google, in May, Margrethe Vestager, the competition commissioner, expressed optimism that her office would be able to come to a resolution on the AdWords issue, but "within a reasonable timeframe."

In the event the EU does take action against Google, this would be the third antitrust complaint against the Alphabet-owned company.

Google is currently embroiled in two more antitrust investigations with the EU, which were escalated post Vestager's appointment as the antitrust chief in 2014.

In 2015, Google came under the scanner for promoting its services over that of its rivals in an unfair manner in the context of search services for shopping. In April, it was charged with an official complaint pertaining to its Android OS, which it is required to answer by summer.

In the previous two antitrust cases, the commission has been swift in sending across the statement of objections post sending out requests to share evidence regarding the case. In the two older antitrust cases, Google has maintained that it is innocent.

The current complaint could adversely affect Google's revenue stream when compared to the older lawsuits, especially considering that AdWords is pivotal in boosting the company's advertising sales.

Both the Commission and Google are staying mum on the matter and have declined to comment.

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A hacker claims to have access to millions of health records of American patients. The hacker has also advertised the sale of the data on the Dark Web.

The hacker going by the name "thedarkoverlord" listed the sale of the health record on TheRealDeal, a black market on the Dark Web.

The hacker has also sent images of the purported leaked data to DeepDotWeb. If the report is to be believed then the hacker has access to data of millions of Americans, including names, date of birth, address and Social Security number, which are enough to commit identity theft.

DeepDotWeb reports that the hacker has database of several health care organizations in the U.S. and the health records are sold for between 151 bitcoins and 607 bitcoins ($100,000 and $395,000).

One of the databases is from Farmington, Missouri, which contains records of 48,000 patients. The second database originates from Central/Midwest U.S. and it contains records of about 210,000 patients. Another database includes information of 397,000 patients from Georgia. In total, the hacker claims to have access to about 10 million health records.

DeepDotWeb claims to have spoken to the hacker through an encrypted conversation, where the hacker revealed that the health records were leaked with an exploit for Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), which can give unauthorized access to remote devices.

The authenticity of the health data remains unclear. However, Motherboard has managed to obtain a sample of 30 patient records from the Georgia database. Motherboard validated the data and found that the name, address and other data of individuals from the database were correct.

Reports also suggest that the hacker has already sold more than $100,000 worth of health records from the Georgia database.

Hackers are increasingly targeting the health care industry to steal personal and confidential data. In February a hospital based in Los Angeles paid about $17,000 worth of bitcoin to hackers who disabled the hospital's computer network.

Gadi Evron, the co-founder and CEO of network security company Cymmetria, says that hackers are keen on targeting the health care industry and selling patients data on the Dark Web. Evron suggests that the industry is working hard to tackle the situation, but with the potential gain associated with health care records, hackers are attacking them more than before.

The health care industry will have to deploy strict security measures to their computer systems to avoid any data leak.

The hacker did not reveal any details on the health care organizations from which the data have been compromised.

Photo: Dani Latorre | Flickr

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Inspiration in technology often comes in various forms, ranging from awe-inspiring to downright bizarre. This is especially true with video game controllers, where you can get anything, ranging from Sony's DualShock controllers to all those that are rumored to make an appearance on the Nintendo NX.

For every controller that is mass-produced, there are plenty of others that don't make it past an initial drawing phase. This inability to go the distance can be attributed to any number of reasons, such as practicality or design flaws, but many of them share one thing in common: they all look downright weird.

A prime example of this can be seen with the Xbox's prototype controllers, whose designs were recently shared on Twitter by Seamus Blackley, one of the designers behind the original Xbox proposal in the late '90s through to the console's release in 2001.

Some original Xbox controller designs from November 1999. Enjoy! pic.twitter.com/cTReQCJ96s  Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) June 26, 2016

As you can see from the illustrations, those prototypes are a far cry from the original Xbox controller that Microsoft actually released. The most notable aspect about these controllers (other than the shape) is that they all feature housing units for what appears to be a VMU, i.e. the memory card with its own LCD interface that SEGA used for its Dreamcast controllers.

At first glance, the decision to include those seems odd, but it is actually historically sound. Though many are likely to forget  or ignore  at the time when these designs were created, SEGA and the Dreamcast were at the top of the proverbial food chain within the gaming industry.

Even more importantly, SEGA and Microsoft already had close ties at the time due to the latter developing a special version of Windows CE for the Dreamcast, while the former repaid that debt by providing support for the original Xbox with the announcement of an 11-game deal for the console at the Tokyo Game Show in 2001.

Of course, even without SEGA's influence, Microsoft is no stranger to coming up with crazy concepts for its controllers in the name innovation. In fact, it wasn't all too long ago that Microsoft developed controllers for the Xbox One that included smell and projector devices. Sony and Nintendo are no different, with the former at one point having a boomerang-shaped controller to accompany the PS3 and the latter having a star-shaped controller that preceded the launch of the Wii in 2006.

Then, of course, there were all of these.

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It's almost July, which means gamers who subscribe to Xbox Live or PlayStation Plus (or both) can expect a fresh collection of new free games to download and play next week. As usual, Microsoft is announcing its lineup of titles first, and it contains a number of games that are definitely worth checking out.

Leading the charge on Xbox One is The Banner Saga 2, which will be free for the entire month of July. This beautiful story-driven, turn-based strategy game boasts an impressive 83 on MetaCritic, and one look at the title in motion should give you an idea of its quality. Though it certainly helps if you've played the first game in the series, new players can dive into the sequel with no problem and appreciate the captivating gameplay, gorgeous aesthetic and masterful score.

Joining The Banner Saga 2 on Xbox One is Tumblestone, a new competitive indie puzzle game in the vein of classics like Tetris. Tumblestone will go free starting July 16 and remain that way until Aug. 15.

Xbox 360 players certainly aren't getting left behind, as Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will be free from July 1 to July 15. Ubisoft's shooter boasts both a campaign, co-op campaign, co-op terrorist hunts and some seriously addicting multiplayer, which should make it a great free game for the Xbox crowd to enjoy. Players can also fully customize their own character, ranging from camo patterns, armor, weapons and more.

If battling terrorists on the Las Vegas strip doesn't sound like a good time, players can instead take a trip to the Grid in Tron Evolution, the second free game for Xbox 360 owners. Tron: Evolution takes place before the events of the 2010 film Tron: Legacy, as players take on the role of Anon, a new system monitor. Tron: Evolution will be free starting July 16.

As has been the case for more than a year now, Xbox One owners will be able to play July's free Xbox 360 games thanks to the console's backwards compatibility function. Currently, more than 200 Xbox 360 games are playable on Xbox One, with more titles added every month. Players can expect Xbox 360 JRPG exclusives Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey to be added soon.

Overall, it's a solid lineup of titles for Xbox owners in July, featuring not only several critically-acclaimed games but some great variety as well. Expect Sony to reveal its lineup of free PS Plus games later this week.

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Welcome to summer, which features the hottest and longest days of the year. With temperatures in many parts of the U.S. well above the triple digits, there's often nothing more enjoyable than staying inside with the air conditioning blasting cold air while sitting on the couch and watching a little television.

There's just one problem with that, though: there just isn't anything on TV in the summer. Summer is when most networks switch to reruns and really bad reality TV. Sure, certain networks, like AMC and Syfy, put up some good programming this time of year, but it's not enough to give viewers enough to watch during the course of an entire week.

Even the premium channels take a break in the summer and leave viewers in the dark: there aren't even any new episodes of Game of Thrones to which to look forward.

So, what's a television viewer to do? Sure, one could go outside and sweat it out at barbecue parties, but the internet provides a great opportunity to keep watching, even when there's nothing on.

Here is a list of shows you can stream now this summer:

The Path

Streaming On: Hulu

Although Hulu premiered The Path earlier this year, it only released a single episode every week. Now, viewers can go to the site and watch every episode available from the show's first season without having to wait. The series stars Aaron Paul as a member of a cult-like fictional religion struggling with his faith and how that affects his friends and family. However, it also throws in some mystery, romance and even supernatural elements.

"There's a lot to like about The Path, from the strong visual sense of place that director Mike Cahill established in the first two episodes to its theoretical take on faith, and of course the exquisite acting and deft writing," the Hollywood Reporter wrote in its review.

Hulu made a mistake in releasing one episode a week of this show, because this is the kind of thing that is perfect for binge-watching the summer away. Now is a great time to catch up, especially with a second season confirmed by the subscription service.

Heartless

Streaming On: Netflix

For fans of supernatural dramas, the Danish import Heartless is a perfect fit for hot summer evenings. The show follows two siblings, Sofie and Sebastian, who have a dark secret: they're vampire-like monsters who must feed on humans to survive. Although they do not need to kill when they feed, they often have trouble controlling their hungers, and their victims often die anyway.

Sofie and Sebastian enter a private school to learn more about their mother and the curse that haunts them while dealing with the things that many teenagers must face, such as dating and bullying.

However, the school has dark secrets of its own: the headmaster's own family also has supernatural powers that begin manifesting themselves. Where does this darkness come from? How is a mysterious death that occurred at the school in the past involved?

The series does move slowly at times as Sofie and Sebastian begin to uncover details about the school, its history and their own pasts, but it's compelling to watch nonetheless.

Amazon Pilot Season

Streaming On: Amazon Prime

Why watch just one television show when you can watch many? Amazon Pilot Season is now on, and that means that the streaming subscription service that also gives you free shipping on items bought via Amazon offers a series of pilot episodes for shows that cover just about every genre. This year brings The Last Tycoon, based on the last book ever written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a period piece about 1930s Hollywood.

There's also The Interestings, which stars Six Feet Under's Lauren Ambrose. Also based on a novel, this show is about a group of teenagers who meet at an art camp in 1974. The show will chronicle their lives and relationships over the next 30 years.

Looking for something to please the kids? Amazon offers several pilots perfect for the young ones, including the highly-anticipated reboot of Sid & Marty Krofft's Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. There's also a show called Curious Kitty and Friends for cat lovers, as well as a show called Little Big Awesome about two friends who always land themselves in adventures.

There is no time like summer to pick the next few series greenlit by Amazon that you can watch in full in the fall and winter.

The Returned

Streaming On: Netflix

Although there's an American version of this series out there, the original French The Returned (Les Revenants) is about as creepy as it gets. A sleepy French town suddenly gets the wake-up call of the century when people who have died there start to come back to life, just reappearing one day as if nothing happened.

Although most of these "returned" individuals are as normal as their alive counterparts, season two introduces a group that seem marred by their resurrections: something is definitely not right with them. There's also the matter of the town getting flooded when a dam breaks, as well as a history about that dam that could hold the secret as to what's going on.

The Returned follows several characters and their families as they deal with losing and regaining loved ones. Two seasons are currently available on Netflix, so there's plenty of content to keep viewers busy during the long summer months.

Daria

Streaming On: Hulu

Welcome back to the 1990s, where sarcasm and wit is held in high regard. Hulu penned a special deal with MTV to bring this classic animated series back, reintroducing the world to Daria Morgendorffer and her struggles in the fictional suburban town of Lawndale. This series is a good satire of high school life and includes a lot of great references to the pop culture of its time.

Daria made her first appearance on Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-head, but spun off into her own series that ran from 1997 to 2002. It went on to become one of the highest-rated shows on MTV, with people still worshipping the wisdom of Daria today.

Now, Daria is back and better than ever, with every episode available on Hulu.

"The people of Lawndale just don't get Daria Morgendorffer," the official show description reads. "See, Daria was born alienated, and now she's just trying to make it through high school with as little human contact as possible. Daria lacks enthusiasm, but she makes up for it with sarcasm."

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China's P2P lending sector faces risk control challenges Updated: 2016-06-29 10:00 By Cai Xiao and Zhang Min(China Daily)

Information technologies and innovation are not only reshaping the landscape of manufacturing but changing the roadmap of the virtual financial sector.

By adopting big-data technologies, Chinese internet financing companies, better known as P2P (peer-to-peer) lenders, offer much-needed liquidity to small and medium-sized enterprises, although risk control remains a challenge.

Big data can be deployed and analyzed for insights that better connect liquidity-starved firms to prospective lenders, therefore enabling better decision-making in business strategies.

"As traditional financial institutions can not cover a large amount of clients (micro and small enterprises), internet financial companies adopting new technologies such as big data can play an important role in offering them the much-needed financial services," said Ba Shusong, chief economist at the China Banking Association.

China has 19 million micro and small enterprises, 78 percent of which are facing difficulties receiving bank loans, according to a report released by Harvard Business Review and CreditEase Corp, a Chinese P2P lending and wealth management company.

"We believe everyone has certain credit and his creditworthiness can be valued. So we are developing big-data technology to help evaluate individuals' creditworthiness," said Tang Ning, CEO of CreditEase.

Joyce Zhang, head of CreditEase's big data innovation center, said that the company collects data from borrowers, cooperative partners, CreditEase's own database and the internet.

Each person's data have to go through risk control assessment. Afterwards, the data "will be analyzed by a financial cloud platform of CreditEase to prompt quicker and more individualized lending decisions", Zhang said.

Li Wenjuan, owner of a brick factory in Gansu province, said her company nearly went bankrupt, and a quick loan from CreditEase helped free her from trouble.

"Now, my business has been good, and because of my good credit records, I can apply for more loans from CreditEase."

Zhejiang Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group Co, a division of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd once known as Alipay, also aims to build an open platform based on data, technology and trading to serve micro and small enterprises, as well as individuals.

While internet lending firms have become more important, their risk control capabilities remain a challenge.

"We find some internet lending companies set up risk-control models for their clients when the economy is growing fast, so their databases are not mature and may have potential risks," said Ba.

There may be nearly 2,000 Chinese P2P lending companies that may have such potential problems in the near term, according to statistics of P2P Eye, a web portal that tracks the industry.
Over the past few years, live-streaming has become a huge part of the video game industry. The success of services like Twitch and YouTube Gaming have kickstarted a new era of online interactivity  it's not just about watching someone play video games anymore, but playing along and interacting with them live.

Then again, as with any new service, there are bound to be some casualties. There just isn't room for more than a few different brands, and most would say that YouTube Gaming and Twitch have all the major bases covered. True, there are a few specialized platforms, but they're nowhere near as successful.

One service that fell by the wayside was Ustream: while the service was one of the initial frontrunners, the ease of use granted by Twitch eventually left Ustream without much of a user base. The introduction of YouTube Gaming, which built off of an already-successful platform, certainly didn't help  these days, Ustream is known more for NSFW broadcasts than anything else.

All things considered, it's not all that surprising that Sony is officially dropping all Ustream support later this summer. Players will still be able to live-stream from their consoles at no extra charge, but as far as Ustream goes, Sony is cutting the cord.

As of this writing, Sony has yet to give an official reason for why Ustream won't be supported after the console's August update. There doesn't seem to be any sort of bad blood between the companies, and any sort of legal situation would have likely made more noise.

Instead, the split is likely due to something far simpler: player engagement. If people aren't using Ustream (and they aren't), it doesn't make sense for Sony to pay for any sort of licensing agreement. At the end of the day, it's easy to assume that Ustream is getting dropped from the PlayStation 4 simply because Sony doesn't feel like paying for something that no one's using.

If you're worried about the future of streaming on the PS4 in general, don't be: Sony has stated that all of the other available services (including YouTube Gaming, Twitch and Dailymotion) should continue to function normally. Really, the only change that players will notice is that there's one less icon waiting for them on the Share screen.

Users should get their last few broadcasts in before the service is off Sony's machine for good: Ustream is set to leave the PlayStation 4 on Aug. 1.

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Ocean Cleanup is a prototype marine barrier designed to corral and collect pollution from the surface of the largest bodies of water on Earth. When completed, this 6.6-foot-tall floating fence could stretch 62 miles in length.

The unique barrier moves through the ocean, powered by natural currents. The device uses a minimum amount of moving parts, providing near-autonomous operations over the long term. Ocean Cleanup, powered by waves, will act as an artificial coastline, collecting waste material as it travels over the marine environment. The same design could also be applied to smaller versions, created to clean smaller patches of water.

Set to be deployed in the North Sea off the coast of the Netherlands, this is the first time such a mechanism has been tested in the rough conditions of the sea. The waters there are often rough, providing perfect testing grounds for the device, due to carry out its main mission at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

"This is a historic day on the path toward clean oceans. A successful outcome of this test should put us on track to deploy the first operational pilot system in late 2017. I estimate there is a 30% chance the system will break, but either way it will be a good test," said Boyan Slat, CEO and founder of Ocean Cleanup.

Designers believe their device is likely to collect some garbage during the North Sea test, but the main purpose of testing is to determine if the mechanism can withstand the rigors of extreme storms. The prototype barrier due to be deployed off the coast of the Netherlands will stretch 328 feet in length. Sensors set along the floating fence will record the total forces to which the barrier is subjected. This data will be analyzed and utilized in designing the next generation of the device, including the one destined to take on the massive waste floating on Earth's largest ocean.

The Dutch government is the primary public financial sponsor of the $1.66 million project, sponsoring the test with $553,000 in funding. Marine contractor Boskalis paid one-third of the design costs, allowing the prototype to be set out to sea.

"By 2020, The Ocean Cleanup aims to deploy a 100 km-long structure between Hawaii and California. Analysis suggests this array will be able to clean up about half the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in ten years' time," Ocean Cleanup reported on their Website.

The prototype device was unveiled to the press on June 22 at Scheveningen harbor  The Hague.

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Scientists occasionally find parts of animals trapped in solidified tree saps called amber, but when a group of researchers found a pair of bird-like wings encased inside an amber mined in Myanmar, they knew that they found something special.

Canada's Royal Saskatchewan Museum curator of invertebrate paleontology Ryan McKellar explained that one of the biggest challenges researchers face with feathers in amber is that they are often small fragments or isolated feathers.

Feathers do not always survive the fossilization process, and most of the information that scientists learn about prehistoric feathers were from amber fossils that often contain only single feathers, which do not provide much information about the creature they belonged to.

The newly found wings, however, were different. At about 99 million years old, they are among the most pristine fossilized feathers to be found. Researchers said that this pair of tiny wings are the first Cretaceous plumage samples to be analyzed that are not isolated feathers.

McKellar explained that the fossilized remains is the next best thing to holding the animal in the hand. The amber preserved every detail of the tiny wings, which makes it possible to see the traces of feathers, hair and bones and how these were arranged. The color of the feathers also survived and can still be seen.

With these wings, McKellar and colleagues were able to reconstruct what the bird may have looked like when it roamed the Earth alongside dinosaurs during the Cretaceous Period.

The wings belonged to members of a now-extinct group of hummingbird-size creatures known as Enantiornithes. Based on results of X-ray micro-CT analysis, the samples belong to juveniles as hinted by the bone size.

"The extremely small size and osteological development of the wings, combined with their digit proportions, strongly suggests that the remains represent precocial hatchlings of enantiornithine birds," the researchers wrote in their study, which was published in the journal Nature Communications on June 28.

These ancient birds have teeth and clawed wings, but they look similar to their modern-day relatives. Unlike most modern bird hatchlings, however, these ancient birds were born almost fully developed.

Study researcher Xing Lida, from China University of Geosciences in Beijing, said that the fact that the birds were clambering about in the trees show they had advanced development at their age, which means that they were already ready for action when they were hatched.

"These birds did not hang about in the nest waiting to be fed, but set off looking for food, and sadly died perhaps because of their small size and lack of experience," Xing Lida said. "Isolated feathers in other amber samples show that adult birds might have avoided the sticky sap, or pulled themselves free."

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A month from now, Microsoft's offer of a free upgrade to Windows 10 will expire.

While 300 million users have made the switch  to what is deemed "the most secure version of Windows"  the software company continues to get a bad rap because of its automatic updates.

Users of Windows 7 and 8.1 have complained for months about the sneaky Windows 10 free upgrade prompt. The notifications suddenly pop up, urging users to install the latest OS, even if they have never heard of, or are not interested in, Windows 10. And, at times, the upgrade initializes automatically.

Microsoft Loses $10,000 Lawsuit Over Unauthorized Windows 10 Upgrade

One recent example, as Tech Times reported, is travel agent Teri Goldstein whose business lost $17,000 after an unauthorized Windows 10 upgrade crippled her computer. She was later awarded $10,000 in a small claims court in California.

Industry observers such as Paul Thurrott have criticized Microsoft for its "deception." When a dialog box appears, he claims, the red "X" button that is designed to "close" the prompt misleads users into agreeing to the update.

Clearer Wordings In Upcoming Update

All this bad press lately may have compelled Microsoft to rethink the wording in its new notification. The three options in the upcoming update will now be clearer: "Upgrade now," "Choose time" or "Decline free offer."

"This week, we'll launch a new upgrade experience for millions of PCs around the world," says Terry Myerson, Microsoft's EVP for Windows and Devices. "If the red X is selected on this new dialog, it will dismiss the dialog box and we will notify the device again in a few days."

The system will, however, keep prompting users to install the latest OS in the future.

Microsoft brands the Windows 10 upgrade as a "Recommended Update," and there is good reason for the company to push this iteration of the software to 1 billion users. Windows 10 adds extra layers of protection against identity theft, phishing, viruses and other malware.

Making The Switch To Windows 10

"Windows 10 is one of the smartest, most consistent and well-thought-out Windows updates in a decade," writes Lance Ulanoff of Mashable, "and it pains me to see people rejecting an operating system that would likely improve their digital lives."

"But there's also a thing called free will and people have a right to just say no," he adds.

Amid the flood of complaints, however, Windows 10 does offer some nifty features, from the return of the Start Menu and introduction of Continuum, thereby improving interface, to the addition of the personal digital assistant Cortana to the desktop.

The free upgrade to Windows 10 expires on July 29.

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The Mediterranean Sea is growing warmer by the second, consequently luring in predatory and invasive species that may threaten its ecology, including the deadly lionfish.

Scientists were unsure that this species would survive in the region, but new research suggests that populations of lionfish have moved in and colonized the coastline of Cyprus in the past year.

In a new report, researchers confirmed that the population of lionfish has already gotten bigger and in a span of a year, taken over nearly the entire southeastern coast of Cyprus.

This massive lionfish invasion is the result of the deepening and the widening of the Suez Canal, accelerated by warmer waters in the Mediterranean, the report says.

What You Need To Know

Predatory lionfish are generalist carnivores that can feed on a wide range of crustaceans and fish, with the larger ones almost exclusively preying on fish.

These marine species spawn every four days, and are capable of bringing into life about 2 million eggs per year. The eggs ride ocean currents for about a month before finding a permanent home.

In recent years, lionfish have already taken over parts of the Western Atlantic. Fishermen and scientists alike have tried to prevent or slow the damage that these species can inflict on reefs and other sea life.

Now, for the first time, groups of lionfish displaying mating behavior have been seen in the Mediterranean, says Professor Jason Hall-Spencer of Plymouth University.

Hall-Spencer and other scientists from the university gathered data on encounters with divers, fishermen and spearfishers who reported seeing the lionfish in the coastal waters of Cyprus. They also analyzed lionfish specimens caught in nets by local fishermen.

As a result of the quick invasion, mating and domination of other species, lionfish have colonized roughly an 80-mile stretch of the southeastern coastline of Cyprus, from Limassol to Protaras.

Furthermore, at least 23 new sightings of 19 lionfish individuals have been recorded, with three pairs sighted from the southeastern side of Cyprus: one off Larnaca; one at Protaras; and one at Zinovia wreck.

Scientists say that one of the pairs has since established its own group, becoming a group of five, all living together at Cyclops Caves.

Why The Findings Of The Study Are Important

Hall-Spencer says publishing the findings can help stakeholders plan actions to mitigate the problem.

One possible solution is by offering incentives to fishermen to remove lionfish through programs, which is something that has worked well in the Caribbean.

Fishermen can also restore populations of possible predators of the lionfish, including the dusky grouper.

"Measures will need to be put in place to help prevent further invasion," adds Hall-Spencer.

Details of the study are published in the journal Marine Biodiversity Records.

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Stephen Hawking may be a theoretical physicist by profession but he has gained such a significant cult following over the years that he can comment on just about anything and people would actually listen.

Hawking's popularity was well on display during his recent interview with Larry King on the talk show Larry King Now on Saturday, June 25.

The director of Cambridge University's Theoretical Cosmology Center expressed his concern about the greediness and stupidity of man when it comes to how he has been treating the environment over time. He pointed out that human stupidity and pollution continues to be two of the biggest threats to humanity.

Hawking told King that he was already thinking about overcrowding and pollution six years ago, and that those two concerns of his have only become worse over the years.

He said that the population of the world has grown by as much as half a billion more since his last interview with King, and there doesn't seem to be any indication that it's going to stop anytime soon. At the rate the world is going, Hawking said there would be 11 billion people living on the planet by 2100.

The renowned scientist also drew attention to the current level of air pollution on Earth, which has increased by as much as 8 percent in the last five years. This means that more than 80 percent of people living in urban areas are breathing in dangerous levels of pollution in the air.

During the interview, Hawking was also asked about what he thinks is the biggest problem that humanity has to face. He said that climate change remains a particular concern that people have to resolve.

He told King that he was worried about the possibility that humanity has already reached the point of no return.

"Will we be too late to avoid dangerous levels of global warming?" the famed theoretical physicist asked.

Hawking and King also talked about the state of artificial intelligence development and how governments of the world appear to be engaged in a so-called "AI arms race," where beneficial technologies, such as better medical screening, seem to take a back seat to the creation of intelligent weapons.

The theoretical physicist warned that creating AI could be difficult to stop, especially if it went rogue on its creators. He explained that developers should make sure that they follow ethical standards when they create AI programs and to have safeguards in place in case anything goes wrong.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Google has launched a My Activity website that shows users their activity on the internet.

A user gets ads displayed on their computer based on their previous searches, YouTube videos watched and other Google-related history. My Activity is an expansion of Google's tracking system but customers can choose to opt-in.

The latest My Activity tool displays a timeline of previously watched YouTube videos, voice searches, visited websites and more. Google will send a notification to users directing them to check their security settings.

"My Activity is a central place to view and manage activity like searches you've done, websites you've visited, and videos you've watched," says Google. "Your activity is listed as individual items, starting with the most recent. These items might be part of bundles, which group similar activity together."

Google will also ask users if they want personalized ads related to a specific age or gender. By opting in, Google users will be allowed to edit as well as block ads across devices that are logged in with a Google account.

The latest move from Google is very significant as many ad networks that are run by other companies need users to opt out of personalization.

Ads are a major source of online revenue for many websites; however, many internet users do not like ads popping up while browsing the web. Ad-blocking tools have witnessed a tremendous growth and Google's My Activity is another way of ad-blocking. Making the feature opt-in makes the company safe against criticism over privacy practices.

"This setting gives Google permission to use your Google Account activity and information on Google services (ex: Search, YouTube) as well as you browsing data from websites and apps that partner with Google," says the Google notification. "You can turn this option off by unchecking the box after Ads Personalization is turned on."

My Activity can be helpful to users who want particular details of their previously visited websites and viewed YouTube videos. Google users also have the option of deleting specific entries from their My Activity timeline.

The opt-in feature is also being praised by many internet users.

"The fact that it's an option, and that the user has to think through some of the account, and ad, and other implications of it, is really the best thing about it," says Brenda Leong, of the Future of Privacy Forum.

Google users can visit Google Support page to get more information on My Activity.

Photo: Ben Nuttall | Flickr

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NASA successfully fired up a booster designed to support the most powerful rocket in the world during its second qualification test in Utah on Tuesday, June 28, pushing the space agency one small step closer to Mars.

The test, which was held at the Orbital ATK facilities in Promontory, also marked the final full-scale hurdle before the rocket is launched to space on NASA's Orion spacecraft in its first uncrewed flight in late 2018.

A Testament To Science

Known as the Space Launch System (SLS), the rocket is intended for deep space missions and will be used for the first manned journey to Mars in 2030.

Tuesday's test involved seeing, feeling and experiencing approximately 3.6 million pounds of thrust, says William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.

Gerstenmaier says the test is important, as it will help scientists appreciate the progress they are making to advance human space exploration and see how far we have gone in opening new frontiers for science and technology missions in deep space.

John Honeycutt, program manager at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, says Tuesday's test is the "pinnacle" of years of hard work by NASA engineers.

Booster Test

The first full-scale qualification test was conducted in March 2015, displaying an acceptable performance of the booster at 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists say testing at the thermal extremes is crucial in understanding the effect of temperature on the way the propellant burns.

The second full-duration qualification tested the booster at a cold motor conditioning target of 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The test lasted for two minutes but provided NASA with critical data on 82 objectives that will support the certification of the booster for space flight.

When ignited, the temperature inside the rocket booster will increase up to nearly 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Engineers will assess the data, which were captured by more than 530 instrumentation channels on the SLS booster.

As soon as it is completed, four RS-25 main engines and two five-segment boosters will power SLS during deep space missions.

The solid rocket boosters were built by Orbital ATK, NASA's contractor, and were designed to work in parallel with the main engines of SLS during the first two minutes of the flight.

The boosters will give at least 75 percent of the thrust required for the Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket to veer away from the gravitational pull of the planet.

Honeycutt says SLS hardware is currently being produced for every part of the rocket. He says the space agency is also making progress on the Orion spacecraft. The ground systems will support a launch from the Kennedy Space Center.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A 40 anos de Malvinas

"Revisar el pasado es pensar el futuro". La frase de la presidenta de Telam, Bernarda Llorente, resume el espiritu del documental coproducido entre la agencia de noticias y el canal publico de TV sobre la cobertura que los medios de comunicacion hicieron del conflicto, plagada de censura y mentiras. Una autocritica necesaria para mirar hacia adelante en un (ya viejo) contexto de fake news y negocio informativo.
Novo Nordisk eyes technology tie-ups Updated: 2016-06-29 10:00 By Zhao Yanrong and Zhang Min(China Daily)

A Novo Nordisk logo is seen in this photo taken on Aug 17, 2013. [Photo/icpress.cn]

The world's top insulin producer by sales is confident that China's focus on innovation will spur it toward new partnerships with local entrepreneurs for technology solutions to complement modern treatments for diabetics, said Jakob Riis, executive vice-president of China and Pacific & marketing, Novo Nordisk A/S.

The Copenhagen-based company has been operating in China for 22 years and is the market leader, Riis told China Daily on the sidelines of the Summer Davos in Tianjin on Monday.

Novo Nordisk boasts the largest share of 30 percent in China's 21.3-billion-yuan ($3.2-billion) diabetes-related drugs market.

Riis said the company is keen on tie-ups in China for the development of tech solutions that could add depth to diabetic care in the country and beyond.

For, the incidence of diabetes and healthcare costs of diabetics in China are expected to double by 2040. Some 85 percent to 90 percent of such costs are related to complications arising due to diabetes.

Riis said China, given its current emphasis on innovation, could be a partner of Novo Nordisk. Local technological nous could help Novo Nordisk make its new treatments available to a larger number of diabetics.

"External technological support is fast becoming a norm in the drugs industry. In this context, Chinese entrepreneurs are eminently placed to take advantage of the trend. We hope to develop new diabetes-related technology solutions in China, and may take them to a bigger market," he said.

Camilla Sylvest, general manager of Novo Nordisk's China operations, said she is impressed by the country's stress on innovation not only in medical industries but in the way people work with technology.

"Within Novo Nordisk, our Chinese operation is in the frontline of using technologies in communication and in providing educational materials. The whole digital platform is very well developed in China, and we see a lot of possibilities to reach more patients and stakeholders," she said.

Novo Nordisk executives' remarks come two weeks after the company launched a smartphone application called "Diabetes Care App" in Tianjin, in association with the Tianjin Medical Association, Tianjin First Central Hospital and the Tianjin Diabetes Prevention and Control Association.

The app is part of Novo Nordisk's "Cities Changing Diabetes" program.

The app offers comprehensive information, including symptoms of the disease, and diabetics' attitude toward it.

Zhang Fuxia, deputy director-general of the Tianjin Health and Family Planning Commission, said: "We can borrow from European countries' experience in fighting chronic diseases such as diabetes. Our collaboration with Novo Nordisk is geared toward that end."
In the state of Miranda, the municipalities of Zamora and Sucre have been affected by the rains, said the authorities. | Read More
China's central bank remains world's top public investor Updated: 2016-06-29 13:26 (chinadaily.com.cn)

The headquarters of the People's Bank of China in Beijing. [Photo by Shi Yan / China Daily]

The People's Bank of China, China's central bank, has remained the world's biggest sovereign asset holder, despite suffering a 12 percent slump in the value of its assets in 2015, Reuters reports.

In 2015, the total assets managed by the world's top 500 public investors fell by $855 billion, or 2.9 percent, to $28.99 trillion, the news agency said, quoting a report compiled by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF).

The annual report looks at asset management performance by public investors such as central banks, sovereign funds and public pension funds.

Among them, central banks saw their assets shrink by 6.1 percent, which is attributed to low oil and gold prices and rising capital outflow from emerging economies.

Meanwhile, public pension funds saw assets fall by 0.6 percent, while those of sovereign funds grew by 0.04 percent, marking the slowest pace in at least a decade.

The report said the list of the world's 10 biggest public investors experienced little change from last year, with Asian institutions continuing to dominate the ranking.

Within the top 10, the biggest climber was the China Investment Corp, China's sovereign wealth fund, which rose to number five after its assets under management increased by 14.4 percent.

The move displaced the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) - the kingdom's central bank - which registered a more than 15 percent fall in its assets under management, the greatest loss in the top 10.

Agencies contributed to this story.
Economic growth in Vietnam was little changed in the second quarter as a crippling drought hurt farming output and demand for exports weakened.

Gross domestic product rose 5.6 percent from a year earlier after expanding 5.5 percent in the previous three months, the General Statistics Office said in a statement in Hanoi on Tuesday. The economy expanded 5.52 percent in the first half of the year, lower than the 5.8 percent median estimate of four economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

As the worlds biggest producer of robusta coffee and a major exporter of rice, the worst drought in three decades is weighing on Vietnams economy this year. The longer-term outlook remains good though as the nation benefits from a manufacturing industry thats grown in importance over the years after companies such as Samsung Electronics Co. set up plants there to export smartphones.

We are still optimistic, said Long Ngo, a research manager at Viet Capital Securities JSC in Ho Chi Minh City. Given all the challenges that we are facing now, like the sell-off in the emerging-markets, export markets are slowing down and the zero growth in agricultural production, Vietnam is still doing quite well. We are still outperforming other countries in the region.

Agriculture output dropped 0.8 percent in the first six months of the year compared with the same period in 2015, the statistics office said. That was offset by a 10 percent jump in manufacturing and strong growth in construction and services.

We expect growth to be buoyed in the second half on higher manufacturing output as the government is trying to help companies with more lending and steps to boost demand, Nguyen Bich Lam, head of the statistics office, told reporters in Hanoi. The economy needs to expand 7.6 percent in the second half in order to meet the governments target of 6.7 percent expansion this year, he said.

The central bank last month delayed tightening its lending rules to help spur investment in the economy. The International Monetary Fund is forecasting growth of about 6 percent this year reflecting the adverse agriculture shock, lower external demand and spillovers of tighter global financial conditions, it said in a statement on Monday.

Growth in exports slowed to 3.3 percent in June from 4.9 percent in the previous month, official data shows. Rice shipments in the worlds third-largest exporter of the grain is down 6.8 percent in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2015, according to the statistics office.

Despite the slowdown, growth of 5.5 percent still makes Vietnam one of the top-performing economies in the region, Gareth Leather, senior Asia economist at London-based Capital Economics Ltd., said in an e-mailed note to clients. We think the prospects remain bright. Once weather patterns return to normal, agricultural output should start to recover.
Vietnam can send workers for construction and fishing jobs in Thailand from September this year, heard a conference held in Bangkok on Monday.

Officials from the Thai Ministry of Labor said at the meeting that Vietnam can start sending the workers after Thai agencies discuss in detail next month labor demand, benefits for workers, labor export fee and working regulations.

Vietnamese workers would receive the same protection as locals, they said at the meeting, co-organized by the Thailand's Department of Employment and the International Organization for Migration

Vietnamese labor officials have also demanded that their workers should get the same payment as locals of around US$500 a month in remote areas, $1,000 in developed areas, and more in big cities.

The labor pact, expected to be effective until the end of 2020, has been discussed since early last year, when figures from Thailand showed that 50,000 to 100,000 Vietnamese, most of them from the impoverished central region, were already working in Thailand illegally.

. Head of Thailands Department of Employment Arug Phrommanee talks with reporters on the sideline of a meeting in Bangkok on June 27, 2016. Photo: Lam Yen/Thanh Nien They paid agents to help them enter the country as tourists but then get jobs, mostly in construction, fishing and households.

The Thai government encouraged illegal workers to register with the authorities to get a one-year work permit.

With the signing of the agreement, Thailand is expected to be tougher with illegal workers.
A Vinamilk farm in central Vietnam. Forbes Vietnam has named the dairy giant the most valuable brand in the country. Photo: Quoc Thach

A new list of Vietnams most valuable brands released by Forbes Vietnam magazine has many big state-owned names like Vinamilk, Viettel, Sabeco and Vietnam Airlines.

Vinamilk, the dairy giant with a 45 percent government stake, comes first in the top 40 with a brand value of US$1.52 billion. The entire list, which only assesses homegrown brands, is worth around $5 billion.

Valued at $752 million, military-run telecom firm Viettel, which owns more than half of the domestic telecommunications market, ranks second, followed by conglomerate Vingroup and top brewer Sabeco.

Hanoi-based tech giant FPT and top lenders Vietinbank, Vietcombank, BIDV are also among the top brands, together with food giant Masan and national carrier Vietnam Airlines.

Commodity brands account for 70 percent of the list, while the rest are banking, finance, pharmaceuticals, airlines and technology.

Most of the brands were established within the past 20 years.
Vietnamese students from local high schools meet with a US college representative during the first US Higher Education Fair in Hanoi on January 30, 2015. Photo: AFP

Duong Bao Ngoc spends some US$35,000 every year on her daughters study at a college in the United States. She considers it a major investment that will certainly pay off.

If you want your children to thrive and succeed in the future, you should send them to schools abroad, she said. "A degree from overseas will help them compete better against their peers."

For many parents, overseas education gives their children more than just a prestigious degree but also practical knowledge, foreign language proficiency and social skills.

This belief is growing strong, particularly among the country's upper-middle class who think the local education system is too rigid and riddled with problems and scandals. M any better-off parents have jumped on the bandwagon of sending children to international-style private schools, and later, to colleges and universities overseas.

Many education experts said the Vietnamese educational system is widely regarded as being in crisis at all levels. Teaching methods remain too passive, with students having little chance to interact with their teacher, discuss issues, or ask questions.

Vietnamese universities have been churning out a degree-holding workforce that falls short of its economic and societal demand. Foreign companies have lamented that the poor quality of universities will hinder Vietnam's economic growth, claiming that they still find it difficult to recruit graduates in finance, management and information technology.

Economic prosperity

Another parent, Nguyen Thanh Trung, has decided to give years of savings to his two children's education. His daughter left for Australia last week.

"It will cost my family dearly, but I think it is worth it. She cannot study here in Vietnam," he said.

His other child, 15, is being prepped for a school overseas as well.

The trend of studying abroad moves in tandem with Vietnam's economic growth, which has lifted many out of poverty and created an increasing large high-income fraction. T he annual income per capita has risen to more than $2,100  for the nouveaux riches that amount may only be equal to the stipend for their children overseas.

More than 110,000 Vietnamese students are reportedly studying in 47 countries around the world, spending an estimated US$3 billion a year.

Vietnam ranks sixth, after China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Canada, among all sending countries at US institutions, mostly colleges and universities but also boarding and day schools, according to a new report in The Value of Education series from HSBC.

Australia and Canada are also the favorite countries for Vietnamese students. English-speaking environment is one of the main reasons.

Parents put their childs education at top of their financial priorities and most worry about cost when sending their child to study abroad.

Kris Werner, Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management, HSBC Vietnam, said: The financial sacrifices that parents are willing to make to fund their childrens education are proof of the unquestioning support they will give to help them achieve their ambitions. Many would also consider topping up a domestic university education with a study abroad program to increase their childs chances of succeeding in their future careers.

Return on investment

But many now warn that a shiny new degree from overseas may not always translate to good employment prospects.

Despite spending a lot of money on their programs, many graduates have still struggled to find their dream jobs in Vietnam after returning home. Some demand high salaries while others lack the experience needed.

Phan Truong Son, director of an electronics trader in Hanoi, said many graduates from overseas universities often think that they have better qualifications than those from local ones, so they ask for higher pay.

Many overseas graduates expect starting salary of $1,000 at least. This is just too high for entry level positions, Son said.

Son said employers are willing to pay more for strong candidates. But no employers would offer high salaries only because you graduated abroad.

Amid high demand for international education, some experts said the government should encourage more foreign investors to set up quality schools here in Vietnam.

They said the government should ease restrictions for foreign investors in the sector. Currently, to open an education institution, investors have to apply for three different licenses and they have to repeat the similar procedures when they want to open a new branch of their existing institutions.

During their operation, investors are also obliged to repeatedly acquire assessments and certifications from different agencies, which costs a lot of money and time, they said.

At the moment, Vietnam only has a few international universities, including RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) Vietnam and the British University of Vietnam.

Foreign investors pledged a total of US$732 million for education and training projects in Vietnam in the first half of this year, down from $822.31 million in the same period last year, according to figures released by the Foreign Investment Agency.
Nguyen Thi Cat holds the rusty bullet that has been removed from her body. Cats husband said the bullet hit her chest one day in 1971 during the war when she was cleaning the backyard at her home in Kien Giang Province. Photo: Dinh Tuyen/Thanh Nien

Doctors in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho have removed a bullet lodged in a 61-year-old woman's body since 1971.

Nguyen Thi Cat, 67, was admitted to Can Tho General Hospital last week with severe abdominal pain.

Surgeons removed a rusty bullet of four centimeters long and one centimeters in diameter after a three-hour procedure on Tuesday.

Cats husband said the bullet hit her chest one day in 1971 during the war when she was cleaning the backyard at her home in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.

She was rushed to a hospital unconscious and was pronounced dead.

But she woke up when her family was bringing her home for funeral. They rushed her back to the hospital.

Once again, doctors confirmed she had died.

The family brought her body home, and somehow she started breathing again.

A doctor at Can Tho General Hospital shows the bullet that has been in 67-year-old Nguyen Thi Cat's body for 45 years. Photo: Dinh Tuyen/Thanh Nien Since then, she has been healthy, the husband said.

Her family said everybody in the family has almost forgotten about the bullet. Cat said she told some doctors about the bullet, but they all believed it would be very risky to remove it.

But earlier this month, Cat began to have severe abdominal pain and could no longer walk.

The family took her to the hospital in Can Tho just in time, doctors said. She has recovered from the surgery.
A Chinese tour guide is leading a group of tourists in the central city of Da Nang. Photo credit: VnExpress

Da Nang authorities are verifying accusations that many Chinese tour guides are operating illegally in the central city and providing incorrect information about Vietnams history to tourists.

Tran Chi Cuong, deputy director of the Da Nang Tourism Department, said many local guides have complained and provided photos and videos to his agency as proof.

Cuong told reporters that the evidence showed many Chinese tour guides operating illegally and using yuan to buy stuff.

One of them, Xue Chun Zhe, took a group of Chinese tourists to the Linh Ung Pagoda and said Vietnam used to be part of China 14 centuries ago before gaining independence, but currently still depends on China.

According to local tour guides, some 60 Chinese nationals work illegally as tour guides.

One guide, who asked to remain unnamed, said many of the Chinese even introduce Da Nangs beach as part of Chinas sea.

[They] often tell tourists not to listen to Vietnamese tour guides because Vietnamese hate China, he said.

According to the local tour guides, many Chinese operate tour companies with a local director acting as a front.

Most of the illegal guides work for these companies, they said.
China helps diversify sources of investment in Africa: think tank Updated: 2016-06-29 13:28 (Xinhua)

NAIROBI - The emergence of China as an economic giant has boosted Africa's economies by enabling the continent to diversify its sources of investments, a think tank said here on Tuesday.

"China's investment is expanding Africa's horizon and this is good for Africa as its total stock of investments are increasing," Kenya's Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) CEO Kwame Owino said during the China-Africa round table, a trade forum.

The day-long event brought together participants to review the role of China in Africa's economies.

Owino said that there is a positive relationship between China's capital inflows into Africa and the growth of incomes in the continent.

He noted that Africa has an investment deficit which is complicating the region's ability to create jobs.

China accession into the World Trade Organization in 2001 is widely seen as the beginning of its integration to the global economy.

IEA said that one of the biggest beneficiaries of China's economic expansion has been the African continent.

"In fact, the increasing trade and investment between China and Africa has made China to become one of the continent's biggest trading partners," Owino said.

Kenya government data indicates that Sino-Kenya trade has grown by an average of 27 percent annually between 2011 and 2015.

Chinese exports to Kenya constitute about 35 percent of Kenya's total imports.

Owino said that previously most of the machinery and equipment imports in Kenya was from the UK, but the African nation now sources them from China.
Police in the southern province of Ca Mau said Tuesday they are set to charge a man with kidnapping a boy, who however managed to escape by biting the rope he was tied with.

They arrested Duong Van Toan, 21, last Monday, hours after he allegedly kidnapped Vu Van Nguyen, 10, from near his house in Thoi Binh District.

Toan told Nguyen to go with him to buy some snacks for all of the children playing there. He then took the boy on his motorbike to Dam Doi District, around 40 kilometers away.

He tied him to a large tree in a deserted field, tortured the victim and forced him to call his father.

Toan demanded a ransom of VND500 million (around US$22,000).

Duong Van Toan, 21, at a police station in Ca Mau Province. Photo provided by the police The kidnapper than left the boy there to visit his girlfriend living nearby.

Nguyen bit off the rope, which was made of vines, and went into a nearby house to ask for help.

The police arrived soon and took the boy home.

His father then called Toan and asked to speak with his son.

Toan went to spot where he had left the boy and was caught by waiting officers.
Many Vietnamese workers have been caught overstaying overseas as they say they cannot find jobs at home. Photo: Mai Phuong

Police in Thailand on Tuesday arrested 14 Vietnamese who they said might have been working in the country without any permit.

The Vietnamese, between 14 and 50 years of age, were taken into custody after police received a report that a group of passengers was making noise on a train that was about to leave Udon Thani Province in the northeast of Thailand.

They tried to mix into Thai passengers or hide in the toilets when officers checked the train.

Initial investigation found none of them carried a legal work permit.

Nguyen Van Long, 40, from the central province of Ha Tinh, said they came to Thailand in July last year to look for jobs at restaurants in Bangkok and nearby areas.

They were coming home for the Tet Lunar New Year festival, which peaks February 8 this year.

Long said they planned to take the train to Nong Khai Province bordering Laos and then take a bus from Laos to Vietnam.

A visa waiver policy allows people in Southeast Asia to move from one country to another freely and stay there for up to 30 days, with just a valid passport.

Figures from Thailand showed that between 50,000 and 100,000 Vietnamese, most of them from Vietnams impoverished central region, are working in Thailand illegally.

The two countries have been discussing a labor pact that allows Vietnam to officially send workers to Thailand soon.
Mai Thi Be Thuy (L), Tat Cam Linh (C) and Luu Tuan Khanh stand the trial in Can Tho City on June 28, 2016. Photo credit: Zing News

A Can Tho City court Tuesday handed down jail terms to three people for duping seven women into going to Malaysia to work as sex workers.

Tat Cam Linh, 34, got 13 years, Mai Thi Be Thuy, 39, got 10 years and Luu Tuan Khanh, 29, got five years, all for human trafficking.

According to the indictment, Linh married a Malaysian man in 2009 and migrated to his country, where she met an unidentified Malaysian man and a Vietnamese woman who own a bar and a massage parlor.

The couple offered Linh up to VND6 million (US$270) for bringing Vietnamese women to Malaysia to work as sex workers.

Linh then asked Thuy and Khanh to join her and they managed to send seven Vietnamese women to Malaysia by offering to get them high-paying jobs in coffee shops and others.

It all began to unravel last August when Thuy took a Can Tho woman, identified only as T, to a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City before flying to Malaysia.

T phoned home and told her family to report to the police after overhearing one of the trio speaking on the phone.
Vietnamese can start working in Thailand in the next few months under a new labor pact being discussed by the two countries, which have struggled to find a good solution for illegal workers.

Nguyen Thanh Hoa, Vietnams deputy labor minister, said officials are discussing related matters including labor protection and wages.

"Vietnam is demanding that its workers receive as much as local workers, or around US$500 a month in remote areas, $1,000 in developed areas, and higher in big cities."

He said Thailand has a high labor demand in construction and fishery and employers can hire Vietnamese workers under two to three-year contracts.

Figures from the Association of Southeas Asian Nations (ASEAN) co-member state showed that between 50,000 and 100,000 Vietnamese, most of them from Vietnam's impoverished central region, are already working in Thailand illegally.

They paid unofficial brokers to help them enter Thailand as tourists and then find jobs there.

For the official channel to work, Hoa promised that there would be no red tape and workers would only have to pay a small fee.

Also, Thailand will be tightening their surveillance from now on and illegal Vietnamese workers will face heavy punishments if caught, he warned.

Hoa said officials are expecting to wrap up negotiations this month so that the labor export agreement can be signed in May or June during a Vietnamese prime minister's visit to Thailand.

Thailand's government in February issued a labor instruction for Vietnamese, encouraging those working illegally in construction, fishery and household services to register with the authorities to receive a one-year work permit.
The Tokyo police are looking for a Vietnamese national suspected of stealing high-end bicycles in the past few months.

Nippon News Network reported Tuesday that the police have released videos that show Nguyen Huy Tinh, 23, allegedly stealing racing bikes.

They believe Tinh had stolen 47 bikes worth around US$52,500 totally between January and May, including at least one from a parking area last month.

They are asking for the publics help in finding the suspect, according to the report.

A TV Asahi report said Tinh is part of a gang that steals bicycles.
Vietnams visa waiver program has continued to pay off, giving the country an impressive surge in foreign arrivals during the first six months, but industry insiders are now waiting anxiously to find out what policymakers will do next.

The General Statistics Office said more than 4.7 million foreigners visited Vietnam, up 21.3 percent from the same period last year.

China remained the top market, followed by South Korea and Japan.

Japanese and South Korean visitors can visit Vietnam for up to 15 days without a visa. Arrivals from South Korean rose 34 percent from a year ago and Japan more than 12 percent.

Other markets that benefit from the same policy  Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the UK  saw increases of up to 30 percent.

Tourism revenues rose 22 percent year-on-year to more than VND200 trillion (US$9 billion). Officials are confident that the country can achieve the targets of 8.5 million foreign visitors this year and $370 trillion in revenues.

Uncertainty

Despite the positive results, uncertainty lurks in the industry.

Representatives of many travel firms have expressed frustration while waiting for the government to make a decision on visa exemptions.

While the waiver rule will stay on through 2019 for certain markets, the visa-free policy for visitors from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK will expire on June 30.

Officials have been expected to extend the policy, but without a confirmation travel companies do not want to take risks.

Luu Duc Ke, director of a company in Hanoi, said the number of clients from the five European markets has increased 18 percent since the policy came into effect a year ago.

He told news website VnExpress that he could not make business plans for upcoming months.

The big problem would be to explain to his partners about the change of policy, he said.

Ke said the policy should continue as it does not only save tourists time and money, but also makes them feel welcome.

Taking the visa-free policy will disappoint many tourists, he said.

The tourism ministry in April proposed that the government extend the policy for five years and allow tourists to stay for 30 days.
'Bacha bazi', the subculture of keeping boys for personal servitude and sexual pleasure, is a centuries-old practice in Afghanistan

The Afghan government says it will punish police officers involved in the institutionalised sexual abuse of children after an AFP report found the Taliban are exploiting the practice of paedophilic "bacha bazi" -- literally "boy play" -- to launch insider attacks.

Militants in Uruzgan province have killed hundreds of police after turning their child sex slaves against them, exploiting a centuries-old practice in Afghanistan that observers call one of the most egregious violations of human rights in the country.

Here are some some key answers about bacha bazi.

What is it?

Powerful warlords, commanders, politicians and other members of the elite often keep "bachas" as a symbol of authority and affluence.

Bachas, dressed as women, are widely used by these men as dancers at private parties and are sexually exploited.

Bacha bazi is not widely seen as homosexual behaviour -- popularly demonised as a deviant sexual act, prohibited in Islam -- and is largely accepted as a cultural practice.

How common is it?

"Women are for child-rearing, boys are for pleasure" is a common saying across many parts of Afghanistan.

Afghan police commander Seddiqullah, 30, (L) sits with his subordinates as he speaks to AFP about the use of child sex slaves by the Taliban to attack police in Tarin Kot, Uruzgan.

The ancient custom, banned under the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule, has seen a resurgence in recent years. It is said to be widespread across southern and eastern Afghanistan's rural Pashtun heartland, and with ethnic Tajiks across the northern countryside.

How has it been allowed to flourish?

Tight gender segregation in Afghan society and lack of contact with women have contributed to the spread of bacha bazi, rights groups say.

Several other factors such as an absence of the rule of law, corruption, limited access to justice, illiteracy, poverty, insecurity, and the existence of armed groups have also resulted in the spread of bacha bazi, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said in a report in 2014.

AIHRC points out that Afghanistan's criminal law prohibits rape and pederasty, but there are no clear provisions on bacha bazi.

"There is a gap and ambiguity in the laws of Afghanistan regarding bacha bazi and the existing laws do not address the problem sufficiently," the report said.

"Many of the perpetrators have connections with the security organs and by using power and giving bribes they get exempted from punishment."

Where do the boys come from? And what happens to them afterwards?

Bachas are typically aged between 10 and 18. Sometimes they are kidnapped, says AIHRC, but often desperate poverty drives their families to sell them to abusers.

"The victims of bacha bazi suffer from serious psychological trauma as they often get raped," AIHRC's report said.

"Such victims suffer from stress and a sort of distrust, hopelessness and pessimistic feeling. Bacha bazi results in fear among the children and a feeling of revenge and hostility develop in their mind."

In turn, many adolescent victims are said to grow up to have boy lovers of their own, repeating the cycle of abuse.

Najeebullah, 18, who survived a Taliban insider attack carried out by a bacha or child sex slave, smokes a shisha in Tarin Kot.

"In the absence of any services to recover or rehabilitate boys who are caught in this horrendous abuse, it's hard to know what happens to these children," said Charu Lata Hogg, a director at London-based charity Child Soldiers International.

"We have heard anecdotal reports that many grow up to keep their own bachas, perpetuating the revolving door of abuse."

How is bacha bazi impacting Afghanistan's security situation?

Bacha bazi is having a detrimental bearing on the perpetual state of conflict in Afghanistan, helping the Taliban to infiltrate security ranks in provinces such as Uruzgan, officials say.

The abusive practice in security ranks also undermines support for NATO-trained Afghan forces.

"To date, the US has provided over $60 billion in assistance to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), including nearly $500 million to the Afghan Local Police," the US Congress said in December.

"Predatory sexual behaviour by Afghan soldiers and police could undermine US and Afghan public support for the ANDSF, and put our enormous investment at risk."

The practice also continues to embolden the Taliban's desire to reassert sharia law in Afghanistan and is fuelling their insurgency.

"Such wild abuses of the predatory mujahideen forces in the early 1990s drove the popularity of the austere Taliban, helping them sweep to power across most of the country. Similar behaviour of the government forces after 2001 is also helping to inspire the insurgency," a Western official in Kabul told AFP.
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron arrives for an EU summit meeting on June 28, 2016 at EU headquarters in Brussels

Impatient European leaders pressed a humiliated Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday to speed up Britain's divorce from the EU, warning that the UK cannot expect special treatment outside the bloc.

Five days after Britons shocked the world by voting to leave the 28-nation EU, British domestic political chaos spiralled with the leader of the opposition Labour party losing a no-confidence vote but refusing to resign.

US President Barack Obama warned however against "hysteria" as stock markets and the pound staged a tentative recovery after days of losses that saw sterling slump to a 31-year low.

Cameron, at probably his last EU summit in Brussels before stepping down over the referendum result, is refusing to bow to pressure quickly to initiate proceedings to exit the EU.

Instead he is leaving it to up to his successor -- to be named on September 9 -- to trigger Article 50, the EU treaty clause that starts a two-year countdown until Britain's departure.

As he arrived for what is likely to be an awkward dinner with his counterparts, Cameron said the split should be "as constructive as possible" and that he wanted the "closest possible relationship" with Europe afterwards.

Merkel warning

But European powers are loath to give Britain an easy ride, insisting that negotiations on the future relationship cannot begin until it starts the divorce proceedings.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Cameron could not "cherry-pick" in the exit negotiations -- and there would be a price for Britain to pay.

"It is important that we will negotiate only if the UK declares Article 50. There will be no informal or formal negotiations before," she said as she arrived in Brussels.

French President Francois Hollande warned that "the whole world has its eyes on Europe" as he pushed Britain to react so the union could move forward.

In a stern warning, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said that he had banned Commission officials from having any "secret" talks with Britain before Article 50 was triggered.

And European Parliament President Martin Schulz said Cameron was "taking the destiny of our entire continent hostage purely for internal political reasons".

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte however showed some sympathy for Britain's predicament

"England right now is in the midst of a political, monetary, constitutional and economic crisis so it's not reasonable at the present time for them to trigger Article 50," Rutte said.

EU after Brexit

Britain's decision has also put the remaining 27 members of the EU under pressure to come up with an adequate response to prevent other countries following suit.

Germany, France and Italy have urged steps among the rest of the EU jointly to boost cooperation on security as well as programmes to boost economic growth and youth employment.

The 27 will meet without Cameron on Wednesday and EU President Donald Tusk proposed holding another summit in September.

The referendum result has caused an earthquake in British politics, claiming not only Cameron's scalp but also leaving opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn fighting for his political life.

On Tuesday, Corbyn lost a no-confidence vote among Labour MPs by 172 to 40, but remained defiant despite around 20 members of his shadow cabinet resigning.

"I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60 percent of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning," Corbyn said in a statement.

Jockeying has also begun within the Conservatives to replace Cameron, with key Brexit proponent Boris Johnson and interior minister Theresa May considered front-runners.

The winner may call a general election later this year.

Stock markets and the pound recovered on Tuesday from heavy losses, but investors remain spooked by the prospect of one of the EU's biggest economies leaving the bloc.

"None of the chaos induced by last Friday is anywhere near going away," Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell told AFP.

British entrepreneur Richard Branson on Tuesday said his Virgin Group had pulled out of a deal involving 3,000 jobs after Britain voted to leave the EU.

"When Brexiteers told the public that people were exaggerating that there would be a financial meltdown I think that it's been proven that they were not exaggerating," Branson said.

But European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi told the EU summit that the growth in the eurozone economy would only take a mild hit of around 0.3 to 0.5 percent over three years.

Scotland goes to Brussels

Late Monday, Standard & Poor's and Fitch both cut their credit ratings for Britain as a result of the referendum.

Both cited a possible second referendum on Scottish independence as a significant risk. Britain as a whole voted by 52 percent to leave the EU but 62 percent of Scots voted to stay.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would travel to Brussels for talks on Wednesday, saying she was "utterly determined to preserve Scotland's relationship and place within the EU".

One happy man though was Nigel Farage, head of the UK Independence Party, telling a jeering European Parliament -- after a hug with old sparring partner Juncker -- that he has had the last laugh.

"When I came here 17 years ago and I said I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the EU, you all laughed at me," he said. "But you are not laughing now."

"The United Kingdom will not be the last member state to leave the European Union!"
Members of Iraqi police forces celebrate on a street on June 27, 2016 in western Fallujah, 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Iraqi capital Baghdad, after Iraqi forces retook the embattled city from the Islamic State group

Iraqi Shiite militiamen fought alongside interior ministry forces inside Fallujah to recapture it from the Islamic State group, commanders say, despite earlier assurances they would not enter the Sunni city.

Shiite militiamen are widely feared by Iraqi Sunnis, who worry they will carry out reprisal attacks as the country's forces battle to retake areas seized by IS, which overran swathes of territory in 2014.

Their presence inside Fallujah -- which Iraq announced Sunday was fully under government control -- was opposed by some Sunni politicians.

But while abuses including summary executions by militiamen -- who fall under an umbrella organisation known as the Hashed al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation forces -- have been reported in areas near Fallujah, similar accounts have not emerged from inside the city itself.

And with Baghdad eyeing Mosul, the next target in its anti-IS campaign, the close cooperation between some militiamen and security forces in Fallujah may help them push for a similar role in the battle for Iraq's last jihadist-held city.

"We participated in liberating the city," Hadi al-Ameri, the commander of the powerful Iran-backed Badr militia, said in Fallujah.

He said the participation was not major, with around 1,500 militiamen fighting "side by side" with federal police and the interior ministry's rapid response forces, which along with the country's elite counter-terrorism service played the main role in the battle inside Fallujah.

Abu Hanan al-Kinaani, the commander of Badr's 4th Brigade, also said the group's fighters battled alongside interior ministry forces in various areas of Fallujah.

The involvement of the paramilitaries inside Fallujah contradicted earlier assurances that they would remain outside the city.

Ameri himself had previously said that "we will not enter Fallujah" and that their mission was to surround it.

Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, the spokesman for Iraq's Joint Operations Command, denied having information about the presence of Hashed fighters in the city and said that plan was for them to remain outside it.

"The mission of the Hashed al-Shaabi was to support the police and army units, and tighten the noose around Fallujah," he said.

Graffiti, flags

Asked about Hashed forces in Fallujah and whether Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the commander-in-chief of Iraq's armed forces, had requested their involvement, his spokesman Saad al-Hadithi declined to comment.

Ameri insisted that there had been no prohibition on the militiamen entering Fallujah, and said that those who were against it were protecting IS.

"I will send them black clothes" to mourn the government's recapture of Fallujah, he joked.

Ameri said that Hashed forces had voluntarily waited to enter the city until after civilians had departed out of concern for their safety.

While the involvement of Hashed forces in the city during the operation was relatively discreet, their presence is now far more open.

The names of Badr units are spray-painted on walls and buildings in Fallujah, and the group's flags fly at various points.

"This neighbourhood was liberated by the heroes of Badr," a message on one wall says.

A number of vehicles in the city, including an American armoured personnel carrier and a Humvee, are marked as belonging to Badr, and some bear Ameri's picture.

Badr's presence is the most conspicuous, but other Hashed groups were also said to have taken part in fighting inside the city.

Interior ministry and Badr commanders both said that Hashed al-Shaabi fighters worked closely with the federal police and rapid response forces during the Fallujah battle -- an arrangement that would mean they were more directly under government control than in some earlier anti-IS operations.

Such cooperation is likely aided by the fact that Interior Minister Mohammed Ghabban is himself a Badr leader, and could give the group's forces a leg up in navigating the process of what will happen to the Hashed after the war against IS.

Hashed fighters worked with other Iraqi forces "as one team, and we (achieved) this great victory," Ameri said.
The sexual abuse of children by police in Afghanistan has been exploited by the Taliban to mount a series of Trojan Horse attacks over two years that have killed hundreds of officers

Afghanistan's president has ordered a "thorough investigation" into institutionalised sexual abuse of children by police, after AFP revealed the Taliban are using child sex slaves to launch deadly insider attacks.

There has been international condemnation of paedophilic "bacha bazi" -- literally "boy play" -- which AFP found has been exploited by the Taliban to mount a series of Trojan Horse attacks over two years that have killed hundreds of policemen in the remote southern province of Uruzgan.

"The president has ordered a thorough investigation (in Uruzgan) and immediate action based on findings of the investigation," the presidential palace said of Ashraf Ghani in a statement.

"Anyone, regardless of rank within the forces, found guilty will be prosecuted and punished in accordance and in full compliance of the Afghan laws and our international obligations," the English language statement said.

The ancient custom of bacha bazi, one of the country's worst human rights violations, sees young boys -- sometimes dressed as women -- recruited to police outposts for sexual companionship and to bear arms.

It is deeply entrenched in Uruzgan, where police commanders, judges, government officials and survivors of such attacks told AFP that the Taliban are recruiting bacha bazi victims to attack their abusers.

The claims -- strongly denied by the Taliban -- expose child abuse by both parties in Afghanistan's worsening conflict.

The presidential statement said there was "no place" in the Afghan establishment for abusers, adding it will do "whatever it takes" to punish them.

'Horrific'

The announcement follows a flurry of international reaction to AFP's report.

"We strongly condemn any abuses of the horrific nature described in the article," the US embassy in Kabul said.

"We urge the Afghan government... to protect and support victims and their families, while also strongly encouraging justice and accountability under Afghan law for offenders."

In a letter last week to US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, Congressman Duncan Hunter demanded a proactive American role to end bacha bazi in Afghan forces.

"I remain concerned... that the Taliban is increasing its use of children to access security positions and mount insider attacks against... Afghan police," Hunter said in the letter seen by AFP.

"It is my belief that we can begin taking immediate steps to stop child rape from occurring in the presence of US forces and reduce any risk of coinciding insider attacks. This includes imposing a zero-tolerance policy."

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said bacha bazi is of "high concern" for the international community.

"UNAMA continues to receive anecdotal reports of bachi bazi, including within Afghan security forces, and continues its engagement with government to ensure the criminalisation and prevention of all forms of exploitation and abuse of children," Mark Bowden, the UN deputy special representative for Afghanistan, told AFP.

The Afghan government announcement, which did not specify a timeframe for the investigation, comes ahead of two crucial donor conferences on Afghanistan in Warsaw and Brussels this year.

The war-battered country remains heavily dependent on international financial and military assistance, which helps sustain security forces -- including police.

'Morally reprehensible'

Any perception of apathy about bacha bazi risks jeopardising that assistance, said Michael Kugelman, an analyst at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.

"No donor in good conscience can justify funding police forces that engage in such reprehensible practices," Kugelman told AFP.

"There's already much talk of donor fatigue, but as donors hear more about bacha bazi, there's bound to be donor fear as well  fear of bankrolling institutions that do morally reprehensible things."

The Afghan interior ministry has said it is committed to institutional reforms, while acknowledging that bacha bazi within police ranks is a "serious crime".

The government last year launched a probe into sexual abuse and the illegal recruitment of child conscripts around Afghanistan.

But the country has yet to pass legislation criminalising bacha bazi and no initiatives have been publicly announced to rescue any children enslaved by police.

"The absence of any initiatives to release and recover children from their abusers is a serious failure on the part of Afghan authorities," Charu Lata Hogg, an associate fellow at London-based Chatham House think tank, told AFP, adding that donors must pressure Kabul for change.

"Abuse of children cannot be passed off as cultural practice."
ZTE to build bridge to 5G Updated: 2016-06-29 16:17 By Liu Zheng in Shanghai(chinadaily.com.cn)

Visitors walk in front of the ZTE stand at the Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona, Spain, Feb 22, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Given the capacity and performance bottlenecks of the existing 4G networks and 5G's commercial use still four years away, ZTE unveiled a solution that aims to eliminate the frustration.

As the first vendor to propose Pre5G technology concepts and series solutions, the company released a white paper named "Pre5G: Building the Bridge to 5G" on Wednesday at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Shanghai.

According to Xiang Jiying, ZTE's chief scientist, as the bridge from 4G to 5G, Pre5G focuses on the following three fields: enhanced mobile bandwidth, IoT and cloud networks.

Compared to 4G, Pre5G achieves a six-fold increase in system capacity, a five-fold increase in average bandwidth and 100 times the number of connections per unit area.

"Pre5G networks will begin with IaaS (virtual-network-based function), gradually developed to PaaS (open and programmable network), and finally achieve XaaS (fully open network capability) to support end-to-end 5G sliced networks and service innovation," Xiang said.

According to the company, ZTE Pre5G involves not only the application of key 5G technologies with commercial capabilities (for example, Massive MIMO) on 4G networks to provide 5G user experiences on existing commercial 4G terminals, but also the enhancement of LTE-A Pro technologies in 3GPP architecture.

As a transition technology to be utilized before the mass popularization of 5G, Pre5G Massive MIMO has been deployed to many telecom operators in China, the Asia-Pacific region and Europe, including China Mobile, SoftBank, KT, Umobile and Hutchison Drei Austria.

"Ten commercial networks from global perspective will use ZTE's Pre5G service in the future," the company said.

"5G is a promising sunrise industry that will effectively present in many ways, and we've talked to enterprises from a verity of sectors for further implementing, such as BMW and domestic Internet company Baidu," Xiang said.

The company is introducing new technology, such as Multi-User Shared Access (MUSA), to overcome the limited performance of Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT), caused by what is known as Long Term Evolution (LTE).

Earlier this week, the company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of 5G with Spanish mobile operator Telefonica.

On June 21, ZTE announced it had completed the prototype verification and performance testing of high-frequency communication -- one of the key 5G technologies-- with help from China Mobile's Shanghai research institute.

The joint test result completely fulfills the theoretical expectation, achieving a single user peak rate of more than 3.7 Gbps.

The company has achieved nearly one thousand patents associated with 5G technologies and is keen to develop the next generation Internet of Things prototype. It will be based on 5G, utilizing 5G experiments and established networks dominated by the government.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely (DDG 107) is pictured underway during the multinational UNITAS Atlantic 53-2012 exercise conducted in the western Caribbean Sea in this September 25, 2012 handout photo. Photo: Reuters/ Lt. Cmdr. Corey Barker/U.S. Navy/Handout

Russia and the United States gave contradictory accounts on Tuesday of an incident involving the two countries' navies in the Mediterranean Sea on June 17, each blaming the other for what they said were unsafe maneuvers.

The Russian Defense Ministry said a U.S. destroyer had approached dangerously close to a Russian warship, and protested at what it said was a flagrant U.S. violation of rules to avoid collisions at sea.

However, a U.S. Defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Russian warship had carried out "unsafe and unprofessional" operations near two U.S. Navy ships. Recent months have seen a number of similar Cold War-style incidents at sea and in the air, with each country's military accusing the other of dangerous approaches in international waters and airspace.

In one such case, the U.S. military said in April that Russian SU-24 bombers had simulated attack passes near the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea, with one official describing them as one of the most aggressive interactions in recent memory.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at the time that the behavior of the Russian pilots was provocative and dangerous, adding that "under the rules of engagement that could have been a shoot-down".

Russia's Defense Ministry, uneasy about increased NATO activity close to Russia's borders, said the latest incident "shows that it is U.S. sailors who allow themselves to forget the basic principles of safe seafaring and not to think about the eventual consequences of this dangerous maneuvering in regions with intense navigation".

The incident involved the USS Gravely and the Russian Navy frigate Yaroslav Mudry, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. The Gravely approached the Russian vessel at a distance of 60-70 meters (65-75 yards) from the port side and crossed in front of it, it said.

At the time of the incident, the Russian ship was in international waters in the eastern Mediterranean, cruising steadily and without making any dangerous maneuvers, the Russian statement said.

But the U.S. Defense official said the Russian frigate had "repeatedly crossed the stern of USS Gravely at close proximity" and had "repeatedly asked Gravely to maintain a safe distance, yet continued to maneuver in close proximity to Gravely."

The Russian ship came within 315 yards (290 meters) of Gravely and five nautical miles of the USS Harry S. Truman, the U.S. official said.

"These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries and could result in a miscalculation or accident that results in serious injury or death," the official said.

The Defense official added that the Truman and Gravely were conducting routine operations in support of the campaign against the Islamic State militant group.

The Pentagon was following up on the incident with Russia through military channels, U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Michelle Baldanza, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in a statement.
Three suicide bombers opened fire then blew themselves up in Istanbul's main international airport on Tuesday, killing 36 people and wounding close to 150 in what Turkey's prime minister said appeared to have been an attack by Islamic State militants.

One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover and trying to flee, before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below, witnesses and officials said.

The attack on Europe's third-busiest airport is one of the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in Turkey, which is struggling to contain the spillover from neighboring Syria's civil war and battling an insurgency by Kurdish militants in its southeast.

Police fired shots to try to stop two of the attackers just before they reached a security checkpoint at the arrivals hall, but they detonated their explosives, a Turkish official said.

"It became clear with this incident again that terrorism is a global threat. This attack, targeting innocent people is a vile, planned terrorist act," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters at the airport.

"There is initial evidence that each of the three suicide bombers blew themselves up after opening fire," he said, adding that they had come to the airport by taxi and that preliminary findings pointed to Islamic State responsibility.

The vast majority of those killed were Turkish nationals but foreigners were also among the dead, the official said.

"There was a huge explosion, extremely loud. The roof came down. Inside the airport it is terrible, you can't recognize it, the damage is big," said Ali Tekin, who was at the arrivals hall waiting for a guest when the attack took place.

A woman named Duygu, who was at passport control having just arrived from Germany, said she threw herself onto the floor with the sound of the explosion. Several witnesses also reported hearing gunfire shortly before the attacks.

"Everyone started running away. Everywhere was covered with blood and body parts. I saw bullet holes on the doors," she said outside the airport.

Almost seven hours after the attack, which started around 9:50 p.m., no group had claimed responsibility.

The attack bore similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March which killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital.

"Firing at anyone"

Paul Roos, 77, described seeing one of the attackers "randomly shooting" in the departures hall.

"He was just firing at anyone coming in front of him. He was wearing all black. His face was not masked. I was 50 meters (55 yards) away from him," said Roos, a South African returning to Cape Town with his wife after a holiday in southern Turkey.

"We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Roos told Reuters.

A view of the entrance of the Ataturk international airport after two suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up at the entrance, in Istanbul, Turkey June 28, 2016. Courtesy of 140journo/via Reuters.

"He turned around and started coming toward us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over."

President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against militant groups.

"The attack, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorism strikes with no regard for faith and values," he said in a statement.

"The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world," he said, urging all governments to join forces against terrorism.

The United States said it stood in solidarity with Turkey, its NATO ally, and that such attacks would only reinforce their joint determination. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the need to intensify global efforts to combat extremism.

Flights resume

Ataturk is Turkey's largest airport and a major transport hub for travelers from around the world. Pictures posted on social media from the site showed wounded people lying on the ground inside and outside the international terminal.

A helicopter buzzed overhead as police evacuated the building. Dozens of passengers walked back down access roads with their luggage, trying to hail cabs. The U.S. embassy urged U.S citizens to avoid the area.

Authorities halted the takeoff of scheduled flights from the airport and passengers were transferred to hotels, a Turkish Airlines official said. Earlier an airport official said some flights to the airport had been diverted, although Yildirim said air traffic had later resumed.

In the United States, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reacted to the explosions by putting armed, high-visibility patrols at the three main airports in the New York metropolitan region.

A weapon is seen on the floor at Ataturk airport after suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up at the entrance, in Istanbul, Turkey June 28, 2016. Courtesy of 140journo/via Reuters . Turkey has suffered a spate of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State, and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group.

In the most recent attack, a car bomb ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul during the morning rush hour, killing 11 people and wounding 36 near the main tourist district, a major university and the mayor's office.

Turkey, which is part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, is also fighting Kurdish militants in its largely Kurdish southeast.

One person was killed on Dec. 23, 2015, when an explosion hit Istanbul's second airport, Sabiha Gokcen, located on the Asian side of the city. That attack was claimed by a Kurdish militant group.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo stands on the deck of the Indonesian Navy ship KRI Imam Bonjol

Indonesian lawmakers on Tuesday approved higher defense spending this year to fund, among other things, major upgrades to military facilities in the Natuna Islands, whose nearby waters Beijing says are subject to "over-lapping claims".

Parliament's approval came just days after President Joko Widodo visited the remote island chain to assert sovereignty over the area, in what Indonesian officials described as the strongest message that has been given to China.

China's increasingly assertive actions in the South China Sea, which are worrying Southeast Asian countries, are fuelling an increase in security spending in the region.

"(Natuna) needs to be guarded and to do that the military needs to have proper facilities, they need additional funds," said Johnny Plate, a member of parliament's budget committee.

Parliament approved an increase to the defense ministry's budget this year to 108.7 trillion rupiah ($8.25 billion), up nearly 10 percent from the initial 2016 budget.

Some of the new funds will be used to upgrade the airbase and build a new port in the Natuna Islands to allow for more warships and fighter jets to be based there, Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu told reporters.

Indonesia's navy has stepped up patrols around the islands after a series of face-offs between Indonesian naval vessels and Chinese fishing boats in the area.

Jakarta objects to Beijing's inclusion of waters around the Natuna Islands within China's "nine-dash line", a demarcation line used by Beijing to show its claims.

Beijing last week said that those waters were subject to overlapping claims on "maritime rights and interests" between China and Indonesia. Jakarta has rejected China's stance, saying the waters are in Indonesia's territory.

Despite the objections, Indonesia is not part of a broader regional dispute over China's reclamation activities in the South China Sea.

China claims almost the entire waters, where about $5 trillion worth of trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.
Canberra's top cop has refused to back down on his push for tougher measures to curb bikie gang activity and taken aim at "flawed" arguments against controversial consorting laws for the ACT.

Chief Police Officer Rudi Lammers said the recent emergence of a Nomads chapter in the capital and persistent concerns the territory had become a safe haven for outlaw motorcycle groups showed a strong need for anti-consorting legislation.

ACT Chief Police Officer Rudi Lammers has vowed controversial measures against bikies would be a priority in his final six months in office. Credit:Graham Tidy

The ACT government has proposed laws that would seek to dismantle and disrupt bikie gangs by banning certain individuals from meeting or communicating together, regardless of whether they have criminal convictions.

The planned legislation has sparked strong criticism from the ACT's Human Rights Commissioner, Law Society, and Bar Association, which have all raised significant concerns the laws could impinge on human rights and be misused by police.
No matter your age, does the childlike wonder of bubbles ever really wear off?

If the Gazillion Bubble Show is anything to go by, the answer is a resounding no.

Melody Yang in the Gazillion Bubble Show, which is coming to Canberra Theatre Centre.

A mainstay on Broadway for a decade, the show is visiting Australia for the first time.

Bubble master Melody Yang has been performing bubble tricks since she was four, and despite doing hundreds of shows a year, it's something she never tires of.
Eight women's league fixture submissions to be lodged with the AFL on Thursday stand to shape scheduling and locations for the men's pre-season series next year.

Adelaide, Brisbane, Carlton, Collingwood, Fremantle, Greater Western Sydney, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs will also declare whether they approve of the six rounds-two-weeks-of-finals competition model proposed for the female league, or want to push for an alternative.

Star Demon Daisy Pearce in action for Melbourne against the Western Bulldogs. Credit:Getty Images

The AFL's proposed format for an eight-week women's season is highly unusual given it does not see every side meet at least once before finals. This could change, however, if participating clubs feel strongly enough and table alternative competition structure. They will also tell the AFL where they most want to play. Commercial chiefs from the eight clubs that won inaugural women's team licences were briefed by the AFL last Friday.

While the presidents of Collingwood and Carlton have already mooted an old-foes clash for what will be an historic season launch match, the February kick-off might be a double header involving the AFL club women's footy pioneers and other Victorian based sides Melbourne and the Bulldogs.
Trevor Ashley was performing at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival when he first heard about the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

The news hit hard, he says, as it did the entire LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning and intersex) community. "I felt like I'd lost family. When something like this happens to our community, it shocks everybody."

Musical theatre stars Simon Burke, Mark Trevorrow (Bob Downe), Paul Capsis, Virginia Gay and Trevor Ashley. They are doing a benefit show for Orlando at Sydney Town Hall. Credit:Edwina Pickles

Ashley, a music theatre star, attended a candlelit vigil in Adelaide the next day. "I said to a friend I think we should be doing a concert. I felt we needed to do something not only to help raise money but also something that brings the community together. We needed a moment to all be together and feel some solidarity."
The television spin-off to the hit Wolf Creek horror franchise has been sold to the UK.

The series, which starred John Jarratt, Lucy Fry and Dustin Clare, was commissioned by the streaming platform Stan and premiered in Australia earlier this year.

The deal puts the series on the Fox UK channel, and will air in a programming block which also includes hit cable series such as American Horror Story, Outcast and The Walking Dead.

For the series, Jarratt reprised the role of Mick Taylor from the Wolf Creek film series.
When Tony Abbott suddenly declared the push for marriage equality to be "an important issue" last year - breaking with the political right's belittling of it as a boutique preoccupation of inner-city "luvvies" - it was tempting to imagine the Coalition had undergone an epiphany.

At the very least it seemed, there had been a pragmatic recognition that continued resistance was becoming pointless or even counter-productive.

Yet Abbott's subsequent manoeuvrings showed the language change was nothing more than that - a language change, cynically designed to manage that political pressure and to give the impression of progress while ensuring there was none.
His new inclusive message comes as questions intensify over the potential for post-election government disunity associated with his yet to be detailed same-sex marriage plebiscite.

He will also call for a new era of more civil politics, saying voters want "our Parliament to offload the ideology, to end the juvenile theatrics and 'gotcha' moments, to drop the personality politics".

Malcolm Turnbull will appeal to Australian voters on Thursday to stick together, stick to what they know and stick with the Coalition for another term of government.

As confidence grows in conservative circles that the Turnbull campaign has done enough to secure another term against a resurgent Labor opposition, the Prime Minister reveals he still wants to have the plebiscite completed this year, and intends to have Parliament sit in August to pass enabling legislation, and to progress blocked "trigger" bills that justified the double-dissolution election.

Malcolm Turnbull deserves the mandate to overcome the zealots in the Coalition and deliver stability. Credit:Andrew Meares

With two days to go before polling day, Mr Turnbull will use his last major televised speech, to Canberra's National Press Club, to draw together his campaign themes of jobs, growth and cautious economic management.

After eight weeks of what many voters regard as the most boring and formulaic campaign in living memory, Mr Turnbull believes tremors in the global economy after Britain's shock vote for "Brexit" from Europe, and other troubles on the horizon, mean that now is neither the time for policy adventurism, nor for the deeper deficits proposed by Labor to fund greater spending on hospitals and schools.

Extracts form his speech obtained by Fairfax Media reveal Mr Turnbull will reinforce the need for continuity, and for sober, growth-focused economic management. He will argue this is the message he has gleaned from voters as he has travelled the country.
Susan Sarandon has been photographed in a stunning portrait for Marc Jacob's Fall 2016 collection.

The 69-year-old actress, who is known for her roles in Thelma & Louise and Dead Man Walking, was captured by photographer David Sims in a picture published to the brand's and the designer's personal Instagram accounts on Tuesday.

Jacobs wrote alongside the image that he "fell in love" with Sarandon's portrayal of Janet in the 1975 cult classic film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

"[The film] became an invitation (or excuse) to dress up and express oneself fearlessly," he wrote, adding that the film "made it cool for boys to wear sequins, satin and fishnets".
Fast broadband has reared its head as an election issue, with Australia's global ranking for internet speed dropping in the past few years. We're promised that eventually the National Broadband Network (NBN) will make fast broadband available to all Australians, but right now only one in four households have access to it. If you're thinking of signing up for a broadband plan, follow these tips to make sure you get the best deal.

Firstly, establish what's available at your address. For most households in Sydney and Melbourne, the main option will be ADSL2 or ADSL, delivered over the copper telephone network. The further you live from an exchange, the slower your effective connection will be. There's nothing you can do in practice to improve the available speed short of moving house, unfortunately.

You need more data if you plan to stream TV such as Netflix original series Orange is the New Black. Credit:JoJo Whilden

If you can get a pay TV service via cable, you can opt for cable broadband. That cable network will eventually become part of the NBN but that switch hasn't happened yet.

If you live in a suburb where the NBN has been enabled, you can sign up for NBN plans. These are offered at a range of speeds; if you want a faster connection, you'll pay a premium. To date, most NBN services have been high-speed fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP), but newer NBN connections will be fibre-to-the-node (FTTN), which still relies on the existing copper phone network for the final stage of connection, meaning they're slower. Annoyingly, FTTN NBN plans generally cost the same as their faster FTTP counterparts.
With a rapidly increasing population, Sydney and its satellite cities are proving to be a big drawcard for Australian and overseas investors eager to become involved in major rail projects. Under the group's plans, half of the 26-kilometre line from Central to Westmead would be tunnel. Credit:Nick Moir The proposals are in addition to the mammoth government projects under way such as Sydney's $20 billion-plus metro railway, and new CBD and Parramatta light rail lines. Critics say many of the private-sector proposals are pushed by property developers whose primary aim is to unlock housing development and enrich themselves, rather than build public transport where it is needed most. Most of the private-sector projects for rail are predicated on paying for them by placing levies on new homes and businesses. Credit:Holger Mette

But Professor Peter Newman, of Curtin University in Western Australia and a former board member of federal advisory body Infrastructure Australia, said it was an inevitability that the private sector would play a bigger role in public transport projects. "It is absolutely critical to have consortia now. We have been through the era of Stalinist transport planning and it doesn't work  there is no money for it," he said. Centurion and partners China Development Bank and China Railway Engineering Corporation want to complete the so-called missing link in the Illawarra between Maldon and Dombarton, and connect to Port Kembla. Under the consortium's proposal, the dual freight and passenger line would link to a new 12-kilometre section of "high-speed track" between Picton and Campbelltown. It would allow services between Redfern and Wollongong to travel at speeds of up to 250km/h on sections of the line, meaning an express train could complete the journey in about 35 minutes.

At present, a limited-stop service between Wollongong and Redfern takes about an hour and 20 minutes. The consortium says Baird government ministers have told it that the plan for the new rail links in the Illawarra will trigger the "Macarthur Plan", opening the way for the release of land for construction of about 100,000 homes. Using so-called value capture, the group wants to fund the proposed rail link by imposing a levy on new houses in the area of $250 a square metre. The consortium also has longer-term proposals to build a high-speed rail link between Canberra and Newcastle via Sydney's CBD. Under those highly ambitious plans, a 45-kilometre tunnel would run under Sydney, and connect Hornsby, Circular Quay, Central and Western Sydney Airport to Campbelltown and the Hume corridor.

Centurion has been pushing its plans for high-speed line between Newcastle, Sydney and Canberra for a number of years. Its call early this year for the government to enlarge the planned tunnels under Sydney Harbour for the new metro line to make them suitable for bigger trains fell on deaf ears. Another group backed by engineering group BG&E and design company Conybeare Morrison plans to submit an unsolicited proposal to the state government within the next two months for a link between central Sydney and Parramatta. The two-stage project known as the Sydney West Metro Link is aimed at complementing the NSW government's $20 billion-plus metro rail project, which is under construction. The first stage of the private-sector proposal is for a 26-kilometre line from Central Station, Darling Harbour, Bays Precinct, Canada Bay, Strathfield and Flemington, and on to Olympic Park, Camellia, Parramatta and Westmead.

The consortium says it has the support of a "significant number" of large property owners in a development corridor between Olympic Park and Parramatta. One option for later stages is to extend the line west to the new airport at Badgerys Creek. Another is to extend the line east from Central to Kingsford, Maroubra, and La Perouse, where the government has said it is keen to sell Long Bay Jail. The consortium is also open to eventually extending the line to Leppington, where it would connect to the South West Rail Link. In western Sydney, several councils and large property developers such as Roy Medich and Tony Perich are also pushing plans for a north-south rail line linking Sydney's north-west and Campbelltown via St Marys, Bringelly and Leppington. Western Sydney Rail Alliance convener Christopher Brown said the plans for a north-south line would provide a much-needed missing link in Sydney's rail network. "It would unlock Sydney in a blink. It stops western Sydney having to be exclusively car dependent," he said.

Fairfax Media is also aware of other private-sector proposals in early stages of development. Sydney Business Chamber's western Sydney director, David Borger, said extending the South West Rail Link from Leppington to the new airport at Badgerys Creek was the best plan to pursue in the short term. "As the first step, that makes eminent sense because the cost of doing it is by far the cheaper option," he said. "Once we have done that, we need to pause and think about the next step." The political climate is conducive to private transport proposals. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has declared his enthusiasm for "City Deals" that could include developers. Bill Shorten has also said a Labor government would set up a $10 billion finance facility to be accessed through "innovative" infrastructure finance schemes. Grattan Institute transport director Marion Terrill said rail lines were better suited than roads for applying value capture as a means of funding projects.
Ratepayers in south-east Queensland will pay some form of "public transport infrastructure levy" to help pay for Brisbane's Cross River Rail, it appears.

And the success of the Gold Coast's light rail project to generate rising land values close to the light rail route is being studied as a model for Cross River Rail.

What that "public transport infrastructure levy" looks like, its dollar value, or how it will be applied, will be worked out by the new Cross River Rail delivery authority that received $50 million in the last state budget.

The state opposition on Wednesday morning revealed "six secret taxes"  including a public transport infrastructure levy  being considered to help pay for the underground rail project.
A Queensland family is in mourning after the death of a 12-year-old girl in hospital, two days after she was burnt in a house fire.

Alexis Dean fought her critical injuries for two days before succumbing in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The rest of the Gympie family called for privacy to grieve in peace as they announced the 12-year-old's death would help save the lives of other young people.

"We would like to thank the community for the support we have received during this very difficult time," Alexis' family said, in a statement.
More effort needs to be put into tracking the mortality rates of prisoners post-release from incarceration according to one Griffith University researcher.

Professor Stuart Kinner said monitoring of the number of people who die shortly after being released from prison was an important issue to consider.

High rates of post-release mortality in prisoners need to be monitored according to a Griffith University researcher. Credit:Andrew Meares

"There's not a great deal of public sympathy for people moving through the prison system," he said.

"We aren't talking about a separate species of people, we are talking about people in our community. Their health is the health of our community."
Board president Andrea Lester found Mr Purton repeatedly dismissed or demoted officers because he failed to understand principles of procedural fairness and natural justice, scathing criticisms that call into question every hearing he has conducted since his appointment in February 2014, the group of experienced former police said.

Former police called for an urgent independent review of 144 internal police disciplinary hearings, in the wake of the Police Registration and Services Board making five findings in six months that indicated serious concerns about the judgments of Terry Purton, Victoria Police's dedicated hearing officer.

Victoria Police officers accused of sexually harassing colleagues, having relationships with bikie gang members, taking illicit drugs and crashing their car while drink driving have been reinstated after it was found that biased and unjust disciplinary hearings led to their dismissals.

Four officers have been reinstated since December because Mr Purton was found by Ms Lester to have dismissed them unfairly, for reasons including that he failed to allow expert evidence, ignored failures in drug testing protocol that should have seen test results deemed invalid, and found, with little reason to do so, that an officer had "no remorse".

Officers reinstated in the past six months include a sergeant accused of slapping and pinching the bottoms of two female colleagues. Credit:Scott Barbour

At least one of the reinstated officers was entitled to significant compensation after the board found she had "reasonably and rationally" developed "distrust" of Victoria Police and did not wish to return to the job.

The senior constable was dismissed and fined for recording a positive test for methamphetamine, but in such low levels that it was almost certain she had not consumed the drug, and for not declaring a relationship with a Comanchero, despite a lack of proof she knew the man was a member of the bikie gang.

"The board is firmly of the view that the applicant's dismissal represents a significant injustice to her and that she deserves to have her career and her reputation fully restored to her," Ms Lester found.
Homicide Squad detectives are hunting for a man after a baby boy died on the weekend.

The detectives are asking the public to help find Dwayne Lindsey, 33, following the death of a six-month-old boy in Glenroy on Sunday.

Emergency services were called to an apartment block on Isla Avenue about 8.40am because of an unresponsive child.



The baby, reportedly called Chase, was taken to hospital with visible injuries to his body, where he later died.

An identified neighbour told Channel 7 they rang police after hearing a baby crying for several hours and then suddenly going quiet.
Chooks housed at a fire station in the southern suburbs of Perth could be heading for the chopping block after firefighters were ordered by their bosses to remove them by Friday.

A pet-lover emailed Radio 6PR's Rumour File on Monday to say the fireys at the Canning Vale Fire and Rescue Station, have been told by the bigwigs at the Department of Fire and Emergency Services the ten chooks who live behind the station would have to fly the coop by July 1.

Firefighters at the Canning Vale Fire and Rescue station have been banned from having chooks (file pic). Credit:Tamara Dean

The chickens have called the Catalano Road fire station home since 2013.

"The chooks are housed in a purpose-built hen house behind the rear shed so they are well protected from view and danger," the source said.
WA Police have released CCTV footage of two separate anti-Islamic attacks in Perth's south east as fears grow the incidents are linked.

On Tuesday night a car parked outside a Thornlie mosque was set on fire, as worshippers prayed inside, and 'f--k Islam' was graffitied on a nearby wall.

Now police have confirmed the attack follows a separate incident at a Southern River mosque on Saturday, in which a pig's head was left near the main entrance along with similar graffiti.

During a media conference, in which police released CCTV footage of three men wearing hoodies in the Thornlie area, Inspector Tony Jeavons said investigations were focused on determining if the attacks were linked.
A team of archaeologists and mapmakers say they have uncovered a forgotten tunnel that 80 Jews dug largely by hand as they tried to escape from a Nazi extermination site in Lithuania about 70 years ago.

The Lithuanian site, Ponar, holds mass burial pits and graves where up to 100,000 people were killed and their bodies dumped or burned during the Holocaust.

Jewish forced laborers dug a tunnel from this holding pit near Vilnius, Lithuania, into the surrounding forest. Credit:Ezra Wolfinger

Using radar and radio waves to scan beneath the ground, the researchers found the tunnel, a 100-foot passageway between 5 and 9 feet below the surface, the team announced on Wednesday.

A previous attempt made by a different team in 2004 to find the underground structure had only located its mouth, which was subsequently left unmarked. The new finding traces the tunnel from entrance to exit and provides evidence to support survivor accounts of the harrowing effort to escape the holding pit.
Chicago: Mice given a single shot of one of two experimental Zika vaccines were completely protected when exposed to the virus one to two months later, a promising sign that similar vaccines under development for humans will protect against Zika, according to US researchers.

"This is an encouraging first step in Zika vaccine design and pre-clinical testing," said Professor Adrian Hill, director of Oxford University's Jenner Institute, which did not conduct the mouse study but is also developing Zika vaccines.

Separately, US scientists said they have developed a model of the Zika virus in monkeys, a close proxy for human disease.
STOCKHOLM June 29, 2016; Autoliv, Inc. , the worldwide leader in automotive safety systems, is cooperating with Toyota in their voluntary recall of approximately 1.4 million vehicles of the Toyota Prius and Lexus CT200h.

Seven incidents involving the Toyota Prius have been reported where a side curtain airbag has partially inflated without a deployment signal being given by the airbag controller. In each of those incidents, the vehicles were parked and unoccupied, and there have been no reported injuries.

The root cause analysis of this issue is continuing. No incidents have been reported in any vehicles produced by the four other OEMs who used the same inflator, pointing to vehicle specific characteristics contributing to the issue in addition to a manufacturing issue. The inflator manufacturing process suspected of contributing to the issue was changed in January 2012 and the vehicles now recalled by Toyota represent approximately half of all such inflators manufactured until January 2012.

For Autoliv, safety and quality are our priorities and we are fully committed to support Toyotas action in resolving this issue, and will support Toyota in the implementation of solution to the issue, said Jan Carlson, Chairman, President and CEO, Autoliv.

Toyota, in conjunction with NHTSA and the MLIT in Japan, have concluded that an additional retention bracket will address this issue.

It is too early to determine the final cost to Autoliv, but it is currently expect it to be at the lower end of a range of 10 to 40 million USD, net of expected insurance recoveries, as published in Autolivs 10Q statement on April 29.

About Autoliv

Autoliv, Inc. is the worldwide leader in automotive safety systems, and through its subsidiaries develops and manufactures automotive safety systems for all major automotive manufacturers in the world. Together with its joint ventures, Autoliv has more than 80 facilities with around 66,000 employees in 27 countries. In addition, the Company has 22 technical centers in nine countries around the world, with 20 test tracks, more than any other automotive safety supplier. Sales in 2015 amounted to about US $9.2 billion. The Company's shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and its Swedish Depository Receipts on the OMX Nordic Exchange in Stockholm (ALIV sdb). For more information about Autoliv, please visit our company website at www.autoliv.com.
SEE ALSO: City by City Cost Details

HANOVER, Germany, June 29, 2016 -- According to a recent study by the next generation cruise search engine CruiseWatch, it is actually cheaper to cruise continuously for an entire year than to pay rent and live in the US. That is, at least, if you live in these cities or regions.

CruiseWatch, which offers price drop alerts for cruise sailings departing from cities around the world to destinations around the globe, is raising awareness of this to highlight the affordability of cruising - especially when access to up-to-the-second cruise price information is available, as it is through their service.

The company didn't pull this information out of thin air. Rather, it tapped into the vast amount of data that it has accumulated through the years, which includes five years worth of cruise price information and other types of big data, to gain a historical perspective of how cruise prices fluctuate throughout the year. CruiseWatch.com also relied on data from the 2012 U.S. Census to accurately calculate current cost of living information for several major metropolitan areas in the United States. "Our team dug deep to collect as much timely, accurate information as possible for this project," said Nina Stumpe, co founder of the site.

To arrive at this conclusion, CruiseWatch.com first calculated how much an average person would spend for things like housing, transportation, utilities and other everyday living expenses. For an average household size of 2.5 people in New York City, this averaged around $637 per week. "Currently, the best available prices for the cheapest cruises in our database average around $313.25 per week, which represents a significant saving of $323.75 per week," said the company rep. The cruise prices were accurate as of June 16, 2016.

According to the data, citizens of Honolulu would save a theoretical $7,518 per person and year if they went on continuous cruises in 2017. People in San Francisco would save $7,154, Los Angeles $2,058 and Stamford $3,878. New Yorkers top it all. They would save $10,430 for travelling the world.

"To go on non stop cruises and save some money is an impressive proposition. It demonstrates the value you get out of a cruise compared to the relatively high cost of living at home," Britta Bernhard, the other co founder, added. "And not to forget that going on a cruise means to enjoy amazing ports and different countries. And all you have to do is to wake up at morning and look out of the window."

A look at the calendar shows that these savings are mainly coming from winter whereas in summer the cost of cruises is actually higher than the cost of living in the US. In the good weeks of winter, savings of up to $324 per person and week are possible. You will need to reinvest some of these savings to make it through the summer where you will see surcharges of up to $298 per week in late June.

A full overview about all 132 analyzed cities is shown on the cruisewatch.com website.

The company was quick to mention that the above price typically represents an interior, two-person cabin. Suite cabins and cabins with ocean views usually cost more, so the savings would likely be lower under such circumstances. Cruise prices include ocean transportation, accommodations and full food service but don't include taxes, surcharges or other fees. And, of course, there is a cost getting to the departure ports. "Even so," said Britta Bernhard, "it's easy to see that going on a cruise is a lot less expensive than most people think." The trick, of course, is having easy access to up-to-the-second cruise prices. "CruiseWatch.com has you covered for that," she added.

A next generation search engine for current cruise pricing information, CruiseWatch.com uses cutting-edge technologies and big data to deliver accurate, timely information about current prices for cruises that span the globe. The company's most popular feature, the price drop alert, is an especially convenient option for those who are planning cruises and want the most affordable options. Users who set up free cruise price drop alerts automatically receive emails whenever prices go down for cruises that they are monitoring. "It's convenient, easy, free and accurate," said the co-founder, who encourages aspiring cruise travelers to visit the website for more information.

Background Information:

https://www.cruisewatch.com/analytics/going-cruise-cheaper-staying-home/
DUBLINResearch and Markets has announced the addition of the "Denmark Tire Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2021" report to their offering.

The tire market in Denmark is projected to surpass $ 435 million by 2021, on the back of increasing automobile sales, expanding automobile fleet, growing motorization rate and implementation of favorable government policies.

Denmark is an import driven automobile market with lack of automobile or tire manufacturing in the country. On account of rising income levels, growing passenger as well as commercial vehicle sales and expanding passenger car fleet size the demand for tires is steadily growing.

On the back of growing supply chain and logistics sector in the country, expansion of commercial vehicle fleet is also anticipated to grow over the next five years, which is expected to create demand for commercial vehicle tires during 2016-2021. In addition to various Chinese tire brands, few of the major international tire brands operating in the country include Continental, Michelin, Bridgestone and Yokohama.

Why You Should Buy This Report?

To gain an in-depth understanding of tire market in Denmark

To identify the on-going trends and segment wise anticipated growth in the coming years

To help industry consultants, tire companies, distributors and other stakeholders align their market-centric strategies

To obtain research based business decision and add weight to presentations and marketing material

To gain competitive knowledge of leading players

To avail 10% customization in the report without any extra charges and get the research data or trends added in the report as per the buyer's specific needs

Companies Mentioned:

Bridgestone Danmark A/S

Continental Daek Danmark A/S

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company

Hankook Tire Company Ltd.

Michelin Gummi Compagni A/S

Pirelli Deutschland GmbH

The Goodyear Dunlop Tires Danmark A/S

Toyo Tire Europe GmbH

Vredestein Nordic AB

Yokohama Danmark A/S



Key Topics Covered:

1. Product Overview

2. Research Methodology

3. Analyst View

4. Denmark Tire Market Outlook

5. Denmark Passenger Car (PC) Tire Market Outlook

6. Denmark Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) Tire Market Outlook

7. Denmark Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicle (M&HCV) Tire Market Outlook

8. Denmark Two-Wheeler Tire Market Outlook

9. Denmark Off-the-Road (OTR) Tire Market Outlook

10. Import-Export Analysis

11. Market Dynamics

12. Market Trends & Developments

13. Policy & Regulatory Landscape

14. Denmark Economic Profile

15. Competitive Landscape

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/6s9ggp/denmark_tire

Contacts

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Sector: Automotive Tires
Mercedes-Benz Announces Pricing On All-new smart fortwo Cabrio

TACH BONUS CONTENT: smart Research and Buyers Guide

Mercedes-Benz offering most affordable convertible on the market

Atlanta. June 29, 2016; Mercedes-Benz USA today announced pricing for the 2017 smart fortwo cabrio. Arriving in U.S. dealers this fall, the smart fortwo cabrio will start at just $18,900, launching as the most affordable convertible on the market. A twinamic dual-clutch automatic transmission-equipped smart fortwo cabrio starts at $19,890.*

The introduction of the all-new smart fortwo cabrio represents the most expressive variant of the new model series. Last offered as a 2015 model, the new smart fortwo cabrio is the only convertible priced under $20,000 available in the United States. Customers can now park virtually anywhere and navigate narrow or city streets and highways effortlessly, all while enjoying the cabriolet lifestyle at an affordable cost.

The open-top two-seater is three cars in one: at the touch of a button the new smart cabrio is transformed from a closed two-seater into a car with a large sliding canvas sunroof, or a full-fledged cabriolet with the soft top completely open. This enables the fresh air driving experience to be adapted to the weather or the driver's mood. This flexibility offered by the "tritop" folding soft top and the removable roof bars is a special class-leading feature. At the same time, the new smart cabrio remains the only true cabriolet in its vehicle class.

Offered in passion, prime and proxy trims, the new cabrio will offer convertible soft-tops in black and dark red at no extra cost. Quick and convenient to operate, the new power soft top operates at any speed and retracts in 12 seconds. The roof bars store easily in the tailgate for a true top-down driving experiencea class-exclusive feature.

The new smart fortwo cabrio also offers unprecedented levels of customization. In addition to the introduction of three new tridion cell and two soft top colors, tridion cell and grille colors are also no longer linked to further allow customers to express and personalize their vehicleand enjoy the cabrio lifestyleat an affordable cost.

The new smart cabrio stands out for its innovation, intelligent design and safety features and best-in-class fuel efficiency. The cabrio is poised to continue this pioneering role in its segment and will be available in U.S. dealerships this fall.

*Prices excludes $750 destination and delivery charge

About smart

smart, a part of the Mercedes-Benz USA portfolio, is headquartered in Atlanta. The smart model line consists of eight fortwo models in both gasoline and electric. All smart models sold in the U.S. are covered by a four-year, 50,000-mile new vehicle limited warranty.

Classified as ultra-low emissions vehicles by the State of California Air Resources Board, smart models are 8.8 feet long and just over 5 feet tall by 5 feet wide. Despite their microcar exterior dimensions, smart vehicles are surprisingly roomy inside and have a full array of technological and safety features including the patented tridion safety cell, and eight airbags in the coupe and six airbags in the cabriolet, which is designed to protect occupants in the event of a collision. All smart vehicles, designed to be 85% recyclable and over 95% reclaimable, are produced in the environmentally oriented "smartville" factory in Hambach, France.
ISTANBUL  Suicide bombers wielding AK-47 assault rifles fired at travelers then blew themselves up at Istanbuls main airport Tuesday night, killing at least 41, and wounding more than 230.

The attack, which the government said was probably the work of Islamic State extremists, took place in different locations at Ataturk airport shortly after 9 p.m. local time, suggesting a well-planned operationsimilar to the assault on Brussels airport and metro station that left 32 dead in March.

Two U.S. officials told The Daily Beast that they suspected that ISIS was behind the attack. But they cautioned that they had no specific intelligence identifying the perpetrators of the bombings. And even if ISIS does turn out to be the culprit, its unclear whatif anythingTurkey can do to hit back.

Another leading suspect is the Kurdistan Workers Party, a militant anti-Turkish government group seeking independence for Kurds in Turkey. The party is best known by its Turkish initials PKK. But the PKK has historically not conducted these kinds of indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Roughly 20 percent of Turkeys population is Kurdish, and such an indiscriminate attack would likely kill Kurds, as well.

Regardless of who is responsible, U.S. officials said, the attack was another reminder that even at the worlds best secured airportslike Ataturkthere are vulnerabilities.

Ataturk airport is one of the worlds best-defended and busiest, serving more than 50 million passengers last year. Its terminals require passengers to proceed through a screening before even entering the main doors. Then they face a second screening before getting to the departures area.

And Turkish police maintain extensive files in Islamic extremists and have deported many upon arrival, including one of the Brussels suicide bombers, who was subsequently freed when he arrived in the Netherlands.

But that security setup is located inside the terminals. Two of the attacks occurred outside the lower level international arrivals, and a third at the domestic flights terminal, according to initials reports.

One of the attackers blew himself up after firing his AK-47 assault rifle at passengers, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said. Police fired at another of the attackers, who felled, then detonated his explosive vest. Four taxi drivers and two police are among the dead, according to local police.

The airport was shut down immediately, and dozens of ambulances were sent to pick up the wounded. There were chaotic scenes at local hospitals as relatives gathered to find out if their loved ones had survived. But hospital officials, inundated by the arrival of the wounded, had no names.

President Recip Tayyip Erdogan called for a joint fight by the international community. The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in the world, he said. The White House denounced the bombing in the strongest possible terms.

The attack at the airport named for the founder of modern Turkey is certain to have cause a serious fright to any tourists planning to visit Turkey this year. Turkeys vibrant tourism sector has been severely hit by a Russian tourist boycott, which President Vladimir Putin ordered after Turkey shot down a Russian plane last November.

But a number of previous terror attacks, attributed either to the Islamic State or to Kurdish extremists, have already dented the image that Turkey is a safe place to visit. The airport is usually packed at this time of year, but in recent weeks it has often it seems deserted, frequent travelers say. Merchants and hoteliers in Istanbul have also complained of the severe downturn in business this year.

Still, the country, which has an extensive police and security apparatus, appears determined to carry on. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, who flew to Istanbul after the attack, announced early Wednesday that the airport had reopened after 2 a.m.

The terror attacks come as Turkey finds itself in a series of major security challenges. One involves the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, which is trying to set up autonomous Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey, and the self-proclaimed Islamic State, which controls several towns in Syria along the Turkish border. Turkey is also in a confrontation with Syria. It backs Syrian rebels seeking the overthrow of President Bashar al Assad but also supports their logistics and resupply here. And its hosting U.S. fighter aircraft at the giant Incirlik base, which attack ISIS targets inside Syria. Thanks in part to those airstrikes, ISIS has lost 40 percent of its territory in Iraq and 25 percent in Syria, according to Pentagon statistics.

But Turkey and ISIS have a complicated relationship with each other. Turkey might have been the first country to declare ISIS a terrorist organization. But it also turned a blind eye to ISIS oiland humansmuggling into the country.

Turkey this week attempted to end its contentious relations with Israel and Russia. It restored diplomatic relations with Israel after a six-year break over Turkeys support for an attempt to break the Israeli blockade around Gaza. And Erdogan expressed regret for shooting down the Russian warplane, which Turkey said had flown into Turkish airspace from Syria.

The opponents Turkey is facing with conventional means are responding to some degree with terror, and it isnt only the so-called Islamic State. In one instance, Dec. 23, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, a militant offshoot of the took responsibility for firing mortar rounds at Istanbuls second airport, Sabiha Gokcen, killing an airplane cleaner.

This was the fourth attack attributed to ISIS extremists in Istanbul this year. On Jan. 12, a suicide bomber attacked a crowd of tourists near the historic Blue Mosque, killing at least 10, nine of them German tourists. On March 19, a suicide bomber blew himself up on the main shopping street in Istanbuls Beyoglu business district, killing four and wounding 39. And on June 7, a car bomb exploded near a police bus in Istanbuls Sultanahmet tourist district, killing 11 and wounding 36. The very worst attack attributed to ISIS occurred in Ankara last October, a car bombing at the main railway station which killed more than 100.

Assuming that ISIS turns out to have staged the airport attack, Turkey doesnt have a lot of security options available, because ISIS forces operate from what amounts to a sanctuary inside Syria. One major ISIS position is in the Syrian border town of Jarablus, southeast of the Turkish city of Gaziantep, which Turkish forces could quickly eliminate. But sending ground troops is ruled out for fear of triggering a response by Russia, which is playing a lead role on behalf of the Assad regime in its struggle against rebels seeking its overthrow. The same applies to Raqqa, the self-declared ISIS capital, just 60 miles south or the Turkish border, which Turkish forces could take in a matter of days, except for the fact it would amount to an invasion of Syria.

What Turkey can do is continue shelling ISIS targets across the border at opportune moments and to step up military aid to Sunni Arab rebel forces opposing the Assad regime, to encourage them to attack Islamic State targets. Turkey will no doubt continue providing wary backing to a U.S.-supported operations against ISIS in Manbij and other areas of northern Syria. But the problem for Turkey is that the U.S. is leaning on the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units or YPG as the spearhead of its main ground force. But Turkey and nearly everyone else in the region views the YPG as the Syrian affiliate of the PKK, which Turkey is confronting throughout southeastern Turkey.

Turkey has consistently declared ISIS a national enemy, but in practice, the elimination of ISIS has been a secondary goal to Turkeys decades-long struggle to vanquish the PKK. In autumn 2014, Turkey refused to provide direct support for the YPG when it was under ISIS threat in Kobani, and Erdogan openly protested the U.S. delivery of arms and ammunition to the YPG.

Perhaps Turkeys biggest boost to the rise of ISIS was to look the other way when jihadists arrived from Europe, North Africa, and the Arab world as volunteers for the internal struggle against the Assad regime and moved freely across the Turkish-Syrian border. Turkey said it had kept its borders open for humanitarian reasonsso that normal Syrians could come and go as they neededuntil spring of last year, when under intense U.S. pressure, Turkey closed it borders, both for Islamic extremists and for average Syrians alike.

with additional reporting by Nancy A. Youssef in Washington, D.C., and Duygu Guvenc in Ankara.

Updated: June 29, 2016, 6:45 a.m.
It was a car crash of all things that gave him away.

In September 2015, Michigan abortion doctor Michael Arthur Roth asked the West Bloomfield police to retrieve some items from his car, which had been impounded after an accident. But when police looked inside the vehicle, they found painkillers and containers of human tissue stashed in the trunk and glove box.

The medical examiner later determined that the containers held products of conceptiona medical term for tissue left over after an abortion, birth, or miscarriage.

Now, nine months after the discovery, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is charging the 74-year-old doctor with possession with intent to deliver the narcotic fentanyl, six counts of identity theft, and three counts of larceny. Roth may also have his license suspended for violating the Michigan public health code.

Dr. Roths actions jeopardized the safety of Michigans healthcare system, said Schuette in a press release accompanying the charges, filed last Thursday. His attempt to break the law at the expense of his patients safety is not only illegal, but goes against the code he took upon becoming a doctor.

The attorney generals investigation uncovered evidence that suggests Roth may have been illegally performing abortions outside of a clinic.

In the case background, the attorney generals office noted that fentanyl is commonly used as a sedative during [pregnancy] termination procedures, and that a medical assistant in a clinic Roth worked out of allegedly stole medications used in abortions from the clinic for Roth including misoprostol, a pill used in medical, or non-surgical, abortion.

The operator of that Eastpointe, Michigan, clinic, Dr. Angel Ojeda, said that he never gave Roth permission to take the medications.

After searching Roths home and his office, investigators also say they found a large amount of cash, separated into bundles.

This currency was divided and bundled with a paperclip, a West Bloomfield detective wrote in a supporting affidavit reviewed by The Daily Beast. On the bundle would be a small yellow sticky paper which had the last name of a person, and information that is believed to be the length of a persons pregnancy (i.e. 18 [weeks]) with an amount also listed (i.e. 250).

Investigators also discovered syringes, disposable scalpels, and empty containers matching the full ones found in his car. On top of that, they found more vials of fentanyl, which were allegedly stolen from Ojedas clinic. One employee had allegedly spotted Roth leaving the clinic with a syringe in his pocket, prompting her to yell Dr. Roth gotta fentanyl, according to the affidavit.

In Roths car, police allegedly found six prescriptions for an antibiotic commonly used during abortions. The women for whom those six prescriptions were written were patients of Ojedas who told police that they did not even know Roth. This led to the six charges of identity theft against the doctor.

The attorney generals investigators also claimed that they spoke with a woman for whom Roth performed two at-home abortions in the late 90s.

This is not the first time Roth has found himself in hot water for alleged medical malpractice.

As The Daily Beast previously reported, the Michigan Department of Community Health warned Roth in April 2004 to never perform a pregnancy termination procedure outside of an approved clinic/hospital/office setting, fined him $15,0000, and put him on probation.

That discipline came shortly after an October 2003 administrative complaint from the Department of Consumer and Industry Services, which contains further details about the two at-home abortions Roth allegedly performed in the 90s.

According to that complaint, a 41-year-old woman allegedly asked Roth to perform an abortion in her home in December 1998 because she was agoraphobic, or afraid of open spaces. In reality, she was a bartender, not an agoraphobe, and Roth never saw her before performing the procedure, according to the complaint.

The following October, he allegedly performed another abortion for her in her home, once again because of her alleged agoraphobia.

In December 2012, Roth was fined $2,000 for alleged practices that evidenced negligence, incompetence, and lack of good moral character.

All of the charges the doctor now faces are felony charges carrying lengthy prison sentences or hefty fines. The most serious, possession of fentanyl, carries a 20-year sentence and/or a $25,000 fine.

Roth himself could not be reached for comment as the phone number associated with his last known address had been disconnected. One of the last times the doctor spoke publicly to the press was when WJBK confronted him as he left the police station last year.

He hid his face in his jacket and said, Just go away.
Three months after attacking Brussels airport, terrorists have shown in the attack on Istanbuls international airport an alarming ability to stay one move ahead of the defenses put in place to stop theman agility in planning that could present a new and serious threat to airports in the U.S.

Most experts agree that the Istanbul atrocity has the hallmarks of ISIS. Even then, the sophistication of how the attack was carried out has surprised them.

It was carried out in a way that suggests the kind of advance intelligence, careful study of a target, and cool execution that would normally be practised by Western special forces.

There were three phases. It began with an attack in a car park adjacent to the international arrivals terminal. The purpose was to draw security staff away from the terminal.

The attackers obviously knew that security at the terminal itself had recently been hardened, as a response to the Brussels attack, where the bombers had exploited the fact that, as in many airports, there was no security threshold before the check-in desks.

In Istanbul anyone entering the arrivals terminal faced screening and checks at the doors. The car park diversion achieved its aim of drawing police and security staff from the buildings first line of defenseand left vulnerable scores of people at the taxi and drop-off area waiting to go through security.

This was where the second attack was carried out, causing most of the casualties: 41 dead, more than 200 injured. The blast effect of this attack breached the doors and security cordon, allowing a third attacker to get inside the building. As seen in a chilling video from a security camera this attacker, wearing a suicide belt, was tackled by a guard who forced him to the floor. From the video it seems that the guard died while trying to prevent the attacker from detonating the suicide beltan act of supreme bravery.

Even though the Turks moved the security perimeter outward to reinforce what is called landside defenses (as opposed to airside, where the gates and airplanes are), the body advising European airports, Airports Council International (ACI) Europe, was amazingly complacent after the Brussels attack.

They said, The possible adoption of additional security measures such as checks on persons and goods entering airport landside spaces could be disruptive and actually create new security vulnerabilities. They added that it would amount to moving the target rather than securing it. They also saidrevealing their deepest concernthat such changes would cost money.

In Europe (excepting Germany) the airport authorities have to fund their own security. In the U.S., of course, the Transport Security Administration (TSA) is responsible for all airport security as part of Homeland Security.

And it is here, in the U.S., where there must be renewed concerns about the vulnerability of the arrivals and departure areas of airports. Although there are invisible protections like closely monitored surveillance cameras and some random visible protections like armed security guards and sniffer dogs, the first line of defense remains beyond the check-in counters, not ahead of them.

Airside security at U.S. airports has also been found wanting. For years there have been worrying breaches including a notorious case where guns were smuggled from Atlanta to New York by a criminal ring and where the screening of personnel with access to baggage and airplanes has been found to be lax.

And hardening the perimeter on the landside raises the question of how far outward it can go. If attackers are to be intercepted successfully before reaching the terminal buildings that means new checkpoints and screening on access roads that would, in turn, create the kind of bottlenecks that make tempting targets.

It may always be true that once terrorists get to an airport it is already too late to stop an attack, even if it can be disrupted. The most effective last line of defense is intelligence that identifies and thwarts an attack before it can be executed.

Commercial aviation remains the most effective target for ISIS. This year it seems that their attention has turned more and more to attacking airports as an easier option than airplanes. This produces huge short-term results in publicity and terror and serious long-term economic damage to tourism and to freedom of movement. Istanbul shows that whatever the defeats of ISIS on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria it remains devoted to finding soft targets in the West wherever they are detected.
The U.S. Marine Corps is around six years away from putting a laser cannon on its trucks, according to one top general.

The goal: to outfit ground forces with a weapon that can shoot down enemy aircraft faster and more preciselyand at lower costthan todays guns and surface-to-air missiles.

The Marines need the laser cannon to defend themselves against increasingly sophisticated Russian and Chinese forces in the event of a full-scale war, Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, one of the Marines deputy commandants, said at an arms-industry conference in Washington, D.C., on June 23.

When we see near-peer competitors, the development thats going on in Russia and China, it is really waking us up to what were going to have to do in the future, Walsh said, according to USNI News, a trade publication.

Walsh said the Marines current air-defense weaponsprimarily old Humvee trucks fitted with a .50-caliber machine gun and Stinger short-range surface-to-air missilesarent up to the difficult job of shooting down fast-moving Russian and Chinese planes, particularly small, stealthy drones.

These missile- and gun-armed Humvees, dubbed Avengers, date back to the early 1990s. The trucks are slow, and their missiles and guns take too long to aim. In the early years of the Iraq War, the Army stripped the missiles from its own Avengers and deployed them as machine gun-hauling convoy escorts, protecting cargo trucks from insurgent ambushers.

So we look at our air-defense capability as certainly a weak area that we have not upgraded in a long time because we havent had to deal with that in the operating environment weve been in, Walsh said.

The Marines could outfit their new Joint Light Tactical Vehiclea high-tech armored truck thats in development to replace the Humveewith the laser sometime after 2022, the year the Office of Naval Research is scheduled to finish developing the Marines main laser gun.

Known by the somewhat unwieldy official name Ground-Based Air Defense Directed Energy On-the-Move, or GBAD OTM, the 30-kilowatt-hour laser system includes a beam directorthe cannon part of the weaponcooling hardware and lithium-ion batteries for power-storage, altogether small and light enough to conform to the size, weight and power constraints of using a tactical vehicle platform, according to a Navy fact sheet.

The Navy envisions the laser truck traveling with two other trucksone to carry a radar and another to haul the computerized control system that links the radar to the laser. The three trucks and their crews would detect, track, and destroy targets as a team.

In theory, a computer-aimed laser is potentially much cheaper, more responsive, and more accurate than an old-school surface-to-air missile. An Avenger can fire no more than eight Stingers and 200 machine gun rounds before needing to re-arm. And those eight Stingers cost around $40,000 apiece.

By contrast, a laser cannon can fire potentially hundreds of times out to a distance of a few miles, each blast lasting a few secondslong enough to burn and explode a small drone. Each shot of a tactical laser such as the GBAD OTM costs a dollar or so, the cost of the fuel needed to generate the electricity used in the shot, Ronald ORourke, a weapons expert with the Congressional Research Service, explained in a recent report.

The Navy, which oversees most of the Marines big technology programs, began tinkering with the GBAD OTM in 2015 and expects to conduct a realistic test of the laser cannonshooting down a target drone while on the movein 2022. Walsh said the Marines should hurry to buy the laser truck after that test, assuming its successful.

Early on, the laser trucks would patrol side-by-side with old Avengers, Walsh said. Eventually, if you could transition away from the missiles to go directed energy-only, we would do that, he added. But the Marines would probably need a much more powerful laser in order to fully replace traditional missiles.

But theres reason to be optimistic. The military has been working on laser weapons for decades. And after several high-profile setbacks with expensive, volatile, chemically fueled laser guns, Pentagon scientists have settled on chemical-free, solid-state lasers.

The three that show the most promise, according to the House Armed Services Committee, are the Navys ship-mounted defensive laser, currently undergoing sea trials in the Persian Gulf; the Armys truck-mounted anti-artillery laser; and the Marines own, smaller truck laser.

Each of these programs demonstrated the increased power output and power on target necessary to develop a militarily useful directed-energy weapon, the committee reported.

Walsh said the Marines also would like to eventually fit a laser cannon similar to the GBAD OTM to its aircraft, tooespecially its Harvest Hawk gunships, which are lumbering C-130 transports fitted with missiles and sophisticated sensors.

If the laser cannons development stays on track, it might not be long before the Marines are capable of firing lasers from the ground and the air, blasting enemy drones at the speed of light.
The neo-Nazis who organized the pro-Donald Trump rally in Sacramento, California, that turned bloody over the weekend have a new destination: The Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Were essentially just going to show up and make sure that the Donald Trump supporters are defended from the leftist thugs, Matt Parrott, spokesman for the white-nationalist Traditionalist Worker Party, told McClatchy, claiming that roughly 30 members of the party would head to Ohio in July.

The Traditionalist Worker Party is yet another white-nationalist group of race realists that has wormed its way into relevance through the ascendancy of Trumpism. The partywhich fights for a lily-white America free from economic exploitation, federal tyranny, and anti-Christian degeneracyis led by its chairman Matthew Heimbach, who gained national media attention in 2013 as the 22-year-old founder of the Towson White Student Union. In 2014, the Southern Poverty Law Center dubbed him the Little Fuhrer who had plunged into full-fledged neo-Nazism.

In March 2013, Heimbach crashed a Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) event on racial tolerance where he arrived, wearing a Confederate flag, representing all the disenfranchised white citizens. Earlier this year, he again went viral for getting caught on video shoving a Black Lives Matter protester at a Trump rally, and yelling at her for being leftist scum.

On Sunday, his group, in conjunction with the Golden State Skinheads, held a pro-white/pro-Trump rally in Sacramento where at least five people were stabbed and several others wounded. Heimbach himself was not at the chaotic, violent event; he and his followers blamed the anti-fascist counter-protesters for the mayhem. The stabbing victims were on both sides of the fight, police told reporters.

They attacked each other without hesitation, 50-year-old counter-protester Chandra Zafra told the Los Angeles Times. It was a war zone.

And the Traditionalists declared their victory.

We will not be intimidated, Parrott wrote online in a fundraising pitch, following the incident. We will not stand down. Our event was a victory by all metrics. We won the physical fight. We provoked the leftists into showing their true colors.

For its part, the Sacramento County GOP firmly denounced the white-nationalist Trump fans, with spokesman Carl Burton telling The Daily Beast that the organization was completely disowned by all of us, and that the Traditionalist Worker Party is nothing but a hate group.

Members of the Traditionalist Worker Party did not respond to The Daily Beasts multiple requests for comment regarding their convention plans. But the anti-Trump groups (or leftist thugs, as some would say) planning on protesting the Republican convention are preparing accordingly.

Were peaceful protesters and advocating for a peaceful world, so hopefully everyone who can attendwhether theyre a violent neo-Nazi or otherwisewill respect our First Amendment rights, Alli McCracken, national coordinator for the anti-war Code Pink, told The Daily Beast, commenting on what she called the scary news of the upcoming white-nationalist presence.

Their presence is indicative of the broader problem of Trumps xenophobia, she continued. Im not surprised theyll be there defending their candidate.

Mick Kelly, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Trump and March on the RNC, says that the coalition remains unfazed by Heimbachs crew.

We are marching on the Republican National Convention to send a message against Islamophobia, race discrimination, and anti-immigrant sentiments, he said. We are not concerned about a small group of neo-Nazis. We are very capable of taking care of ourselves.

Frank Chapman, a field organizer for the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, essentially rolled his eyes at the bluster of the self-identified Trad-Workers.

Were going there to protest the racist platform Trump is trying to impose on this nation, Chapman said. Were not worried about violent neo-Nazis, we have not been preoccupied with fighting Nazis. They dont have any political power. They are not our problem. Trump is our problem [The Nazis] should be a concern for the police forces in Cleveland.

Long before Heimbachs group announced its intention to crash the GOP convention, the city was starting to stock up on riot gear in anticipation of a potentially disorderly and violent Republican convention.

Cleveland police did not respond to The Daily Beasts request for comment. But when asked about the possibility of a pro-Trump, neo-Nazi contingent committed to defending fellow Trump supporters, a GOP convention official would only say that their law enforcement partners are aware of those who will be in Cleveland during the event and continue to prepare for the thousands of delegates, attendees, and residents of the city who will be here during the Convention.

This year, those attendees might very well include this small army of street-fighting white supremacists.

[White families] are under siege from third world rapists and murderers being foisted into their communities and public schools, Heimbach wrote earlier this month. The elites destroy working and middle class neighborhoods, while they themselves live in exclusive gated communities, while their children attend public schools.
Fear was spreading well ahead of the disease.

Despite assurances from public health officials that the chances of an American contacting Ebola were beyond remote, elected officials preyed on the publics fear. In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie quarantined a nurse traveling home from Ebola-ravaged West Africa. In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal threatened to confine medical experts coming from Ebola-infected countries to an international conference on tropical diseases to their hotel rooms. In Wisconsin, Scott Walker called for a commercial travel ban. Candidates on the campaign trail and members of Congress called for the Department of Homeland Security to seal the nations borders to guard against the threat.

The calls almost exclusively came from Republicans, who were using the potential threat of a deadly outbreak to call into question Barack Obamas competence and the security of our borders in an election seasonnever mind critics who said that such calls smacked of a subtle form of racism, raising painful memories of immigration restrictions from a previous era (calls and fears that have been echoed and amplified by the Donald Trump campaign.)

But there was one Democrat who joined in the fray: Alan Grayson, the ultra-liberal Democratic Congressman from Florida.

It was an unusual position for Grayson to be in. Grayson voted with the Democratic majority more than 93 percent of the time in 2013 and 2014, according to Ballotpedia. When Grayson, who is now locked in a tight primary battle for a U.S. Senate seat in Florida, has diverged from the party-line, it was often because he was attacking his party from the left, such as when he voted in favor of auditing the Federal Reserve or deauthorizing the Export-Import bank.

On Ebola however, Grayson was one of only eight Democratsand almost the only one not facing a tight general election challengeto come out in favor of a travel ban.

In July of 2014, he wrote a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and Department of Homeland Security head Jeh Johnson requesting a travel ban of any citizen of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to the United States. He wrote op-eds in national newspapers in defense of the idea, arguing that unless something was done the American population would turn into lab rats for the diseases spread.

What was not known at the time was that Graysonwho was in the midst of ending his marriage to his wife of 25 yearshad begun a relationship with Dena Minning, a biopharmaceutical lobbyist who in 2013 and 2014 earned $40,000 lobbying on behalf of BioCryst, a North Carolina-based pharmaceutical company that had been developing a potential Ebola cure. Minning had ceased lobbying for BioCryst by the time Grayson took up the charge, but she continued to consult for the company (PDF), earning more than $5,000 in 2015 and 2016 from the company, and, according to a financial disclosure Minning filed when she declared her candidacy, she owned between $250,000 and $500,000 in BioCryst stock options in 2015. In the heat of the attention garnered by the Ebola scare, the stock price rose from $10.92 in early June of 2014 to a peak of $13.96 in August of 2015.

Minnings LinkedIn page boasted that as a lobbyist she played a central role in successfully procuring a $25+ million contract from the US Government, awarded to one of her clients for the development of a broad-spectrum antiviral drug, according to a Politico article. She is now running for Congress and that biographical tidbit has been removed from her bio.

Grayson and Minning began dating in December of 2013, the same month that Grayson officially separated from his wife of 24 years, Lolita. Lolita Grayson asked for a divorce and later accused her husband of physically assaulting her. The charge was later dropped. More recently his ex-wife accused Grayson, a former trial lawyer whose $31 million net worth marks him as one of the richest members of Congress, of withholding child support, forcing her and their five children to go on food stamps. Grayson has countered that he sends $10,000 a month in child support, and that two of the couples children are now living with him. Grayson has accused his ex-wife of bigamy since she was not divorced from her previous husband at the time of their marriage; complained to the media that she was a gold-digger; and called the police on her for using his credit card to pay for groceries gas and car repair.

Asked for comment, David Damron, a spokesman for Grayson, pointed out that although Graysons call for a travel ban was held by only eight other Democrats, five other members of Republican members of Congress from Florida also called for a ban, as did both of the states senators, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio.

A travel ban actually would have alleviated concerns in the U.S. about the disease, not sow(n) them, wrote Damron in an email. As Congressman Grayson pointed out then, such a ban would have reduced the likelihood of disease in the U.S., and in fact (in retrospect) it clearly would have avoided the one fatality that did occur. That was his sole intention in advocating the travel restrictions.

Grayson meanwhile announced in July of 2015 that he was giving up his safe congressional seat to run for the Senate, even as most Democrats in Florida and Washington have lined up behind Patrick Murphy, his primary opponent. That month, Minning announced that she would run to replace him.

The two were married this past May, and she took Graysons last name. The primary is August 30, and she will be on the ballot as Dena Minning Grayson.
The Washington Post reports on the horrific bombing in Turkey that killed at least 41 and injured more than 200:

"There has been no claim of responsibility. But Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the government believed the Islamic State was behind the assault at the international arrivals terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

"Analysts also said the attack bore the hallmarks of an Islamic State operation, including the use of multiple suicide bombers and an attack on a major transportation hub serving international passengers."

This follows attacks in Turkey last October (killing 106) and July (killing 33). Former ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman explains that the Turkish government is pointing the finger at the Islamic State although Kurdish extremists cannot be ruled out. "If it does turn out to be ISIL then Turkey's policy since 2011 of assisting Jabhat al Nusra and other Islamists while largely turning a blind eye to ISIL will be seen by many Turks as a significant factor leading to the bombings," he says. "In the past year the AK government has begun to move more aggressively against ISIL but I am afraid they are slamming the barn door after the horse is gone since there are reportedly ISIL cells all over the country."

Turkey, like France, is a NATO country, and yet the Obama administration seems no more inclined to reassess our strategy now than it did after the Paris attack. Edelman recommends a shift in approach. "I have long advocated that a more honest dialogue with Turkey is necessary -- one that recognizes their interest in seeing the Assad regime go and protecting refugees in Syria before they cross into Turkey, which is carrying a very heavy refugee burden, but that then allows us to frankly address the government's blindspots on Islamist terrorism and the consequences of its increasing domestic authoritarianism -- namely that it is bringing about the very developments in Kurdish nationalism that it professes to fear."

Turkey is a difficult problem to address, one that would challenge any president. But the thought of Donald Trump as President Obama's successor is petrifying.

His new communications hire Jason Miller (one of the few on Sen. Ted Cruz's team to sell his soul to Trump, but not before deleting his blistering tweets criticizing Trump during the campaign) put out a vapid statement on the attack: "The terrorist threat has never been greater. Our enemies are brutal and ruthless and will do anything to murder those who do not bend to their will. We must take steps now to protect America from terrorists, and do everything in our power to improve our security to keep America safe." What might those steps be? Of course, Trump offers nothing.

Without a teleprompter, Trump sounded even worse, like an overwhelmed fifth-grader. "Many many people killed, many many people injured," Trump said at a stop in Ohio. "Folks, there is something going on that is really really bad. It's bad, and we had better get smart, and we better get tough, or we are not going to have much of a country left. It's bad." This man wants to be commander in chief. Feel safer? Me neither.

Apparently Trump still has no adviser who can make him sound remotely informed on topics of grave consequence. He has not bothered to learn much of anything since starting his campaign more than a year ago. His next interviewer should press him on his "views" on Turkey. What should be our relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan? Should we be concerned about the Turkey-Russia relationship?

Moreover, the attack perfectly illustrates the monstrous stupidity of Trump's Muslim ban (or partial Muslim ban, or whatever he wants to call it). His ban would apply to Turkey's entire government, its business leaders, its military officials -- everyone. At a time that Turkey is pleading for a unified response from the West, Trump is saying, in effect, "You're all a threat. Stay out of America." This is a dream come true for the Islamist terrorists who want to paint the West as hostile to all Muslims and to convince non-jihadist Muslims that they've been abandoned by the West. It's also a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who would be thrilled to tell Turkey it has been abandoned by the West and has no choice but to look to Moscow for "protection" (like the mob offers "protection" to business owners).

In no universe is Trump a fit commander in chief or preferable to Hillary Clinton on matters on national security. He's a menace to the United States and a fool who would play into the hands of our enemies.
It's been a couple of days since the shocking referendum result, and it feels no better than it did on the night.

In fact, if anything, it feels worse. Many of the worst fears of Remain activists seem to be coming true.

Reports of racism and xenophobia are soaring in the aftermath of the biggest victory for British xenophobia since the 1930s. Polish people are being targeted with xenophobic graffiti and having abuse posted through their letterboxes.

People of colour are reporting a rise in racist behaviour. Ethnic minority children are being bullied by their classmates with chants of "out, out, out!" And the far-right are on the march, wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Yes we won! Now send them back!"

While Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen celebrate, migrants across the country are terrified for their futures. Even many British people from minority backgrounds feel uneasy. In this context, it is hard to shake the feeling that we have set the already embattled cause of migrant rights back a generation.

The real problem is structural inequality - not migrants

Many of our campaigns at Global Justice Now were fought at the EU level. We now face the depressing prospect of defending these wins against a 'Brexit government' led by the far-right of the Conservative party.

And we cannot pretend that this was somehow primarily a 'vote against austerity' or the Tories. It is clear that immigration was key to the victory of Leave. To say otherwise is delusion. However, it is also true that poverty and inequality fuelled this result. That is the disease that has utterly divided this country and brought it to the brink of collapse. The tragedy is that the medicine being demanded - blaming migrants - is doomed to make the situation worse not better.

As progressive activists, we must shoulder some of the blame for failing to argue a more positive solution to the real problems people in this country face. We need to right that wrong now. We do this by persuading people that it is the system, not migrants, that are the real cause of our woes.

Let's argue for a new kind of economy that would actually strengthen some of the communities that have voted for Brexit.

The situation is grim. But we cannot give up to these forces of fear and division. Brexit only won the referendum on the back of utterly shameless lies and deceit. Soon, as it become more apparent that they were conned, moderate Leave voters may start to make their anger felt.

Indeed many of them will be angry that their vote is being used by the far-right to promote xenophobia, while others will be aghast at the lies told about more funding for the NHS.

Standing up for free movement and workers' rights

Nevertheless, though weak and based on lies, the Leave side have won a mandate to try and secure a Brexit deal. But we do not have to surrender to the prospect of trying to make the best of living in Little England (most likely shorn of Scotland and perhaps Northern Ireland). There are things we can do to fight the worst of the Brexit agenda.
The shock waves felt round the world at the UK's decision in a referendum to leave the European Union will have unexpected consequences for some major projects linked to climate change.

Plans for four giant nuclear reactors to be built in England by the French are almost certain to be scrapped because opposition among trade unions in France has hardened since last week's vote.

A second major project - a third runway at Heathrow, London's busiest airport - was due to be given the go-ahead on 7 July, but that decision is almost certain to be postponed. Boris Johnson, a leading contender to succeed David Cameron as Conservative prime minister, is vehemently opposed to the proposed runway.

The decision by 51.9% of UK voters to reject continued EU membership was partly about immigration, but also a revolt against regulations from Brussels, which some saw as oppressive.

These regulations include targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to improve air quality. And although none of these was actively discussed during the referendum campaign, the UK now has an opportunity to write its own rules on climate change and will not be bound by the EU targets on renewables, energy efficiency and emissions reduction.

Freed from EU climate and energy targets?



With the rightwing politicians firmly in charge in the Conservative party after the Brexit vote, it is unlikely that halting global warming or cleaning up car emissions will be among their priorities.

The EU has three key climate targets: a 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from their 1990 levels by 2020; 20% of energy to come from renewables by the same date; and a 20% improvement in energy efficiency.

All 28 member states were involved in agreeing the targets, but the UK - along with Germany - played a greater role than some other states because its industrial base is shrinking and it has vast potential for offshore wind power and other renewables.

These longer-term problems for the UK are not currently on the agenda because they are dwarfed by the immediate political crisis. The two major parties, Conservative and Labour, are in the midst of leadership battles, and until these are decided there is a policy vacuum.

When they will be resolved is anyone's guess, but time is rolling by and Electricite de France (EDF) is due to make a 'final investment decision' in September to build two 1,650 MW nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in southwest England. They were expected to be followed by two more to the east of London.
National Disability Voter Registration Week is July 11-15, and the staff at Disability Rights and Resource Center in Rocky Mount is encouraging the disabled population to register to vote in the November election.

With the 2016 election ahead of us, it is critical to reach anyone wishing to take a stand and vote this year, said Barb Magill, communications director for DRRC. Sadly, many with disabilities do not know how they can register so their vote can be counted.

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) has started the REV Up (register, educate, vote and use your power) campaign to get more people with disabilities and their supporters registered and voting.

Virginians with disabilities can greatly influence the outcome of the Nov. 8 Virginia General Election, according to the AAPD. There are 57 million Americans with disabilities and issues important to people with disabilities must be part of the platform for any candidate running for office.

Vote as if your life depends on it  because it does! said Justin Dart Jr., the father of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).

The AAPD states that this may be one of the most important elections in over a decade.

The disability community including people with disabilities, family members, attendants, providers, professionals, advocates and supporters, has a major stake in the outcome of this election, it said. Their vote on issues like adequate funding and coverage for Medicaid acute and long term services and supports; waiting lists for home and community services; consolidation and closure of public institutions; integrated employment at no less than minimum wage; accessible, affordable, integrated housing; adequate funding for quality public and higher education, can make a difference.

Of the 56,360 people that make up the Franklin County population, 7,964 have disabilities and are of legal voting age. Thats over 14 percent of Franklin Countys population. For Rocky Mount alone, that is 5 percent of the population  or one out of every five votes.

Anyone at least 18 years old on Election Day can register to vote, as long as they are not in jail or on parole for a felony conviction or have not had their right to vote removed by a judge in a guardianship hearing.

Persons with disabilities have the right to vote by themselves and make their own choices. They have the right to get help from a person of their choice or an election worker. They have the right to a physically accessible polling place and the use of an accessible voting machine. They also have the right to vote if they have a guardian unless a court determines otherwise.

Disabled persons also have the right to election accommodations on Election Day by requesting to move to the front of the line. They are able to bring assistance, use headphones to hear their ballot, have sample ballots in alternative format, have accessible parking, have temporary ramps, use a communication board, access voting machines for voters in wheelchairs and use different colored voting screens.

Registration forms can be found locally at DRRC, Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Franklin County Registrars office, Franklin County Library, at the Armed Forces recruitment office at many post offices, high schools and social services offices.

Registration forms can be picked up and mailed in. Offices providing the registration forms must also help disabled persons complete the forms unless they refuse assistance.

There is no fee to register to vote.

Those eligible can also register online at Virginia Department of Elections at vote.elections.virginia.gov/VoterInformation or elections.virginia.gov. Registrants will receive a voter registration card in the mail within 30 days of registering.

In addition to voting in person on Election Day, voters can also choose to vote by completing an Annual Application for ballot by mail (disabled voters receive a mail ballot for all elections held during a calendar year) or a regular application for ballot by mail (disabled voters submit an application beginning January 1 but not later than 5 p.m. on the Tuesday prior to the election).

This can be accomplished by calling the Virginia Department of Elections at (804) 864-8901 or completing the application at elections.virginia.gov.

Disabled persons also have the option of early voting (within 45 days prior to the election) or curbside voting. With curbside voting, those 65 or older or any person with a physical disability may ask an election official to bring their ballot to their vehicle or to the entrance of the polling place. The voter will be afforded every opportunity to vote in a private and independent fashion. All voting equipment must remain in the view of the election officers. Those choosing this option may vote curbside during early voting or on Election Day.

A form of identification is needed in order to vote. The ID can include a valid Virginia Drivers License or ID card, a valid Virginia DMV-issued Veterans ID card, a valid U.S. Passport or other government-issued photo ID card, a tribal enrollment or other tribal ID issued by one of the 11 tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia, a valid college or university student photo ID card (must be from an institution of higher education located in Virginia), a valid student ID issued by a public school or private school in Virginia displaying a photo, an employee identification card containing a photo of the voter and issued by an employer of the voter in the ordinary course of the employers business, or a voter Photo ID card issued by the Virginia Department of Elections.

The last day to register to vote in the general election is Oct. 17.

Early voting begins on Sept. 23 and ends on Nov. 5 at 5 p.m.

The last day to apply for a ballot by mail is Nov. 1.

The last day to submit a ballot by mail is Nov. 8 by 7 p.m.

The DRRC urges all residents to register and to make their votes count in the 2016 election.

For assistance or for other questions, contact the DRRC at (540) 482-0752.
MARTINSVILLE - For more than 60 years, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers have entertained crowds of all-ages. On July 4, they will bring the show to Martinsville Speedway, as the headline band for Celebration 2016.

Best known for their hits All the Gold in California, Houston (Means One Day Closer To You) and Broken Lady, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers have played the Grand Ole Opry, The Worlds Fair and The White House.

Im excited to have The Gatlin Brothers as a part of Celebration, said Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell. Were celebrating America, and it doesnt get much more American than The Gatlin Brothers.

The show will be the first time the trio has performed at the speedway.

The Gatlin Brothers -- Larry, Steve and Rudy -- sure are looking forward to performing at Celebration 2016 at the Martinsville Speedway on July 4, Rudy Gatlin said. We would like to thank those brave

men and women who have served and those now serving in our military to ensure our Freedom. We honor you. Thanks for making this day possible. God bless you and God bless America!"

The Rogues will be the open the night.

Celebration 2016 is free and open to the public. The music begins at 6:30 p.m., with The Gatlin Brothers taking the stage around 8:30 p.m. Celebration 2016 kicks off at 3 p.m. when the carnival rides open. The night will culminate with the fireworks display at the conclusion of The Gatlin Brothers concert.

Celebration 2016 marks the 18th year Martinsville Speedway has hosted the event.
Kentucky Governor-elect Matt Bevin answers a question during a press conference in the Kentucky State Capitol Rotunda, Friday, Nov. 6, 2015, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

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By Adam Beam, Associated Press

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.  Bobby Paisley's health insurance covers his vision and dental care. He knows, because he and his wife pay for it.

"I don't have to do community service, I don't have to earn points and I don't have to wait," he said.

But that's exactly what some 400,000 Kentuckians would have to do if they need an eye exam or a tooth pulled under Gov. Matt Bevin's proposal to overhaul the state's Medicaid program. Bevin's plan, announced last week, would eliminate dental and vision coverage for able-bodied Medicaid beneficiaries, but they could earn those benefits back by getting a job, volunteering for a charity or taking a class at a community college.

Bevin calls it "community engagement," saying it is key to inspiring Kentucky's Medicaid beneficiaries to take control of their health and save the state money. But for Paisely and about 150 advocates and consumers who showed up in Bowling Green on Tuesday for the administration's first public hearing on the plan, Bevin's proposal would do more harm than good.

"I find it to be a little discriminatory," Paisley said. "I feel like we are alienating a sector of the market because they are impoverished and don't have the ability to pay for health coverage."

Kentucky was one of 32 states that expanded its Medicaid program under President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. As a result, about 400,000 people got health insurance in Kentucky, dropping the state's uninsured rate to 7.5 percent from 20 percent, among the largest drops in the country.

Kentucky taxpayers will begin paying for a portion of that expansion beginning in January. It's expected to cost $257 million over the next two years. Bevin, a Republican who took office in December, says the state can't afford it, noting the state's Medicaid program is already running at a $700 million loss. He plans to ask the federal government for permission to change the state's Medicaid program, with the goal of moving people off government assistance and into the private insurance market.

Bevin will submit the plan to the federal government, which must approve any Medicaid changes, by Aug. 1.

So far, federal officials have been unwilling to approve work requirements as a condition for receiving benefits, most recently in Indiana, which Bevin cited as a model for his plan. Last week, Bevin said he is willing to negotiate with the federal government, but that if his plan is not ultimately approved he will repeal the expanded Medicaid program completely.

Health care advocates and providers worry Bevin's proposal will take away health insurance from the people who need it the most. Of the 22 people who spoke Tuesday on the campus of Western Kentucky University_mostly providers and advocates_none supported it. Many criticized Bevin for wanting to eliminate dental coverage. Right now, Medicaid pays for things like fillings and tooth extractions. Those would be eliminated for able-bodied adults under Bevin's plan, offered only as an incentive for completing various community engagement tasks. Other perks for completing certain tasks include gym memberships.

"It is comical to place dental care on the same level as a gym membership," said Brandon Taylor, a dentist who said Medicaid patients make up 92 percent of his nonprofit clinic in Owensboro. He said he Medicaid lets him charge $40 to pull a tooth, while a visit to the emergency room would cost more than $750.

Vickie Yates Brown Glisson, Bevin's secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said she did not consider the hearing to be "a backlash" against the proposal. She called the comments "legitimate questions" and said hopes to address them. She emphasized the proposal would not affect beneficiaries who are disabled or participate in a Medicaid waiver. And she defended the work or volunteer requirements for able-bodied adults.

"We want to encourage individuals to be able to take charge of their own health care as much as possible," she said.
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By Laura Acchiardo, laura.acchiardo@thegleaner.com

An area of the county known as the Finley Addition may soon be annexed by the city.

The Water and Sewer Commission and City Commission passed a resolution Tuesday night to allow properties in the Finley Addition, located near U.S. 41-Alternate just outside the city, to use city wastewater services. City code requires approval by both bodies before hooking up any properties to the wastewater system.

Properties in the Finley Addition currently use city water but pay outside city rates at approximately $30 a month, according to Tom Williams, general manager of Henderson Water Utility.

About seven years ago, the county received state grant funds to install sewer systems in the area and construction is almost complete. If the area pays outside city rates, residents would put forward any extra $70 for sewer on top of the $30 for water. Property owners have requested annexation to receive city rates, which would come to about $30 for both water and sewer.

The annexation would also give the properties access to city services such as fire and police protection, while paying city taxes. According to Williams, residents will save money on homeowners' insurance because of the improved fire protection.

For annexation to go forward, residents must sign consent to annexation forms and agree not to oppose it. So far 27 properties have consented with additional consenting properties not yet included on the list.

"The consent to annexation forms don't say that we're going to necessarily annex their property, and what we have right now in these consents is not completely contiguous," said Williams. "There will be some other properties that will have to sign up before we're able to initiate an annexation."

There are three or four properties that have yet to agree to the annexation and HWU needs consent of only one for the area to be connected. Commissioner Jan Hite asked if those property owners were resistant to the annexation.

"There are a few people who just don't want to be in a city," said Williams. "Some of those are the ones we need to hook up to be contiguous. But there is a very good chance that we could make it contiguous by talking to some of the other property owners."

Three of the properties are commercially owned. If none of the remaining property owners agree to the annexation, there could be a non-consensual annexation, which would leave property owners with the possibility to file a petition to request a vote on annexation.

"Three of the pieces of property that haven't signed are commercial properties, so nobody lives on those properties," said Williams. "If the city initiated an annexation, I'm not sure there's any way for the people that own the property to vote in an election that would vote annexation down. We're trying to work around where it's all consensual."

In other business:

Commissioners passed the first reading of an amendment to the ordinance regulating alcoholic beverages that brings it in line with Senate Bill 11 recently passed by the Kentucky General Assembly. The ordinance allows for two classes of rectifier licenses, allows a special temporary alcohol auction license and sets the expiration date of a city license to coincide with state ABC license.

Commissioners approved a second reading amending zoning regulations to an indoor shooting range on conditional use.

Commissioners approved a second reading of the Property Maintenance Code, clarifying that the height of grass must be 10 inches before the City has the power to cut the grass at the expense of the property owner.
SHARE Robert Morphett

By Beth Smith of The Gleaner

A Henderson man convicted of injuring two men, one critically, after attacking them with a hatchet in 2014 faces more than a decade in prison.

A jury in Henderson Circuit Court recently found Robert Morphett, 36, 1200 block of Burris Street, guilty of second-degree assault and first-degree assault.

The jury recommended 12 years in prison.

Morphett was arrested in October 2014 after fighting three people and using a hatchet to attack two of them.

City police said the assaults occurred after Morphett tried to start a fight with two other Henderson residents  Jesse Hardsock, then 21, and Jeffrey Hardsock, then 24  while all three were patrons at Algonquins Bar on U.S. 41-South.

The altercation continued when Morphett followed the brothers home to their residence in the 700 block of Sixth Street, authorities said.

Morphett started fighting with Jesse Hardsock at which time Morphett retrieved a hatchet from his vehicle. At some point, the father of the Hardsock brothers, Scott Hardsock, got involved, officials said.

Morphett struck Scott Hardsock in the head with the hatchet, resulting in serious injuries, city police said.

Jeffrey Hardsock was hit in the stomach with the hatchet and suffered cuts, officials said. He was treated and released from Methodist Hospital.

Jesse Hardsock suffered minor injuries while fighting with Morphett before the hatchet was used.

Once the fight ended, the hatchet was discarded by Michael S. Yates and Crystal Rodway, who had accompanied Morphett from the bar to Sixth Street, according to police.

Yates, then 24, 6100 block of Kentucky 1299, and Rodway, then 28, 1200 block of Burris Street, were both charged with tampering with physical evidence.

Michael Yates pleaded guilty in 2015 to tampering with physical evidence and was sentenced to two years.

Crystal L. Rodway, also pleaded guilty in 2015 to tampering with physical evidence and being a second-degree persistent felony offender. She was sentenced to six years.

Formal sentencing in Morphett's case is scheduled for Aug. 8.
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.
Alexander Soule / Alexander Soule

STAMFORD  Cable-provider Charter Communications will relocate some of its employees now based in Manhattan to its Stamford headquarters by the end of the year, as it aims to consolidate operations in Connecticut.

Its a small number of the total number of Charter employees located in New York City who had worked for Time Warner Cable, Charter spokeswoman Maureen Huff said Wednesday.
Digital PR and link-building is an evolving industry, so what worked a few years back may not necessarily work today. Last year, I wrote a piece, "7 Creative Link-Building Techniques To Improve Your Website SEO" where I detailed techniques such as building helpful tools for your industry, targeting journalists through Facebook ads and turning copyright violations into linking opportunities.

Related: 5 Strategies for Better 'Link Building' and Improving Your SEO

Although many of these techniques remain applicable today, I recently queried entrepreneurs about the other strategies they've been using to build high-authority links to their websites. Here are their takeaways -- and several updates to my previous post on this topic:

1. Employ the 'scholarship' effect.

One of the most popular trends in recent times has been scholarships. This is a variation of the "local sponsorships" strategy I mentioned in my earlier piece -- only much more effective. The scholarship angle basically works like this: Each year, your business announces an amount ranging between $500 and $1,000 in scholarship funding for students in your local community.

This announcement gets posted on the "External Scholarship Opportunities" pages of all your local university websites; and, as a result, you earn valuable .edu links to your website. Brian Stumbaugh from the Startup Garage says that his company routinely secures as many as 40-to-50 links to each of its client websites through this technique.

2. Do journalists' legwork for them.

This is one of the most legitimate ways to earn coverage from high-authority websites. The technique involves studying the types of "interesting" stories that get covered by specific media outlets and then creating your own unique studies and research work that journalists from these outlets find interesting.

Marcus Roberts, owner of Mirador Wealth, a financial advisor firm, recounts a recent study his team members worked on where they asked 100 random people from each of the 50 American states how they would spend $1 million. The results from the study were interesting enough to earn media coverage from the likes of Huffington Post, Investopedia and MarketWatch.

3. Correct any misinformation.

As a bootstrapped entrepreneur, you may not have sufficient resources to get quoted on large media outlets. But you could, however, use your expertise to correct misinformation on those publications and win credit for it. Eric Brantner from CutCableToday told me he recently discovered a few discrepancies in a GeekWire post and wrote a blog post with the corrected information. He subsequently shared that blog with the writer at GeekWire.

This promptly earned him a link from the original article that pointed to his article on the same topic. To standardize this process, Brantner recommends creating a Google Alert for all your standard industry terms so that you'll be notified of the latest industry articles. This way, each time you come across an article that contains incorrect information, you can write a blog post with the correct information on your website. Next: Notify the original authors about the errors on their page.

Related: How to Promote a Website Through Link Building in 10 Easy Ways

4. Target the 'media mentions' page.

A number of product startups have a press or "media mentions" page, where they proudly share links to all the rave reviews that their product has received from different users. According to digital marketing strategist Kevin O' Brien, a great way to build links is to review such products on your website and notify the target company of the new review. O'Brien points out to a review of Quuu, a social-media enhancement tool, which earned his company a mention on the Quuu Press page.

5. Don't forget HARO.

Unlike the other ideas mentioned above, the Help a Reporter Out service to earn links is a pretty widely known strategy. But how effective is HARO? Last year, Kari DePhillips, the owner of The Content Factory, ran an experiment where she "went hard at HARO"; the result was that out of 21 pitches, she was able to get quoted and linked 11 times in all (not to mention the link from this very article that happened after she responded to my HARO query).

Related: 5 Reasons You Aren't Earning Enough Links

DePhillips points out that while it is difficult to put a dollar value on the effort, the 100-plus links she has acquired through HARO over six years has significantly contributed to the success of her company's online content strategy.

Related:



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
NORWALK  On paper, Jahmane West is the stereotypical suburban resident. He owns his house where he lives with his wife, to whom hes happily married, and children. He likes long walks in the park and gives back to his community as much as possible.

All thats missing is a dog. Oh, and the typical 9-to-5 job.

In reality, West was hip before hipster was cool, constantly ahead of mainstream trends by sheer coincidence rather than concerted effort, and, true to form, was the real-life epitome of started from the bottom before Drake was even a blip on pop cultures radar.

Now one of Norwalks best known artists, West got his start in graffiti. Growing up in what he described as the projects at Roodner Court, he was the son of a hard working, single, black mother during the very beginnings of the hip hop and grunge culture.

I remember going into the city and seeing the graffiti at the time and thats really how I got introduced to it," West said of New York.

At the time, street art was still hindered by the stigma of illegality. Artists like Banksy had yet to make a name for themselves and bring a new perception to the value of street art. West was on the forefront of changing that perception, and rather than give up his art when he reached an age at which many people are forced down one path or another, West forged his own.

He studied fine art by visiting museums in the city, which would influence his artistic style, and developed his own branded clothing line  the primitive version of what would be the Kultjah brand  while still in high school. His first official venture into profiting off the art he developed was at the SoNo Art Festival, which he participated in with his friends and sold painted T-shirts.

We did it as a ragtag group not expecting much and we sold out of our T-shirts on the first day, West said.

West moved to Virginia after his sophomore year of high school, but his connections to the art world remained in the New York City-Fairfield County area. He spent his senior year of high school traveling back and forth between Virginia and New York City, participating in trade shows and promoting his art. After briefly attending Norfolk State University in Virginia, West returned to Norwalk in the mid-1990s.

Still doing a lot of graffiti, West and his cohort of fellow street artists decided to diversify and open their first retail store, Kultjah Outpost. The shop opened at a time when SoNos Washington Street was more retail oriented than todays restaurant corridor.

That was a big, groundbreaking thing, West said. That was the first time a group of kids from the projects opened a store that was part of the official hip hop culture, and we were really successful at it.

Though the business is exclusively online now, the Kultjah brand is alive and well. After moving locations, West maintained brick-and-mortar stores through 2008 when the economic crisis hit and people stopped shopping as much, all the while incorporating a simultaneous thread of art and clothing in his business.

As usual, West was ahead of the trends, staying true to his roots as the counterculture of graffiti and skating became the mainstream. When the hard-to-find, collectible sneaker trend became a part of popular culture, West had already been selling such products in his store and was working on a collaboration sneaker with Reebok.

That was sort of a benchmark, West said. At that point we kind of realized we made it. We were independent designers and they were like, We want to rock with you.

Once his last retail store closed  where he also maintained his studio  West moved into Firing Circuits as one of the collectives original artists. Wests studio hasnt moved since, instead collecting bits and pieces of his work and artistic journey.

Hes moved on from his days as a street artist, but maintains a diverse and artistic lifestyle so as to avoid the need for a real job. From teaching art classes to veterans to helping establish supportive artists collectives in Westport and throughout Fairfield County, West has found a way to keep art a primary aspect of his life.

West is thoughtful and introspective, never trying to be something hes not. These traits, he said, along with his ability to compartmentalize and do many things without spreading himself too thin, are whats allowed him to maintain his creative integrity as a lifelong artist.

I was lucky to come up at a time when there was a lot of energy surrounding graffiti, West said. The boldness, the illegality set the stage for street art, and to me its being part of that evolution of a culture thats been so rewarding.

KKrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-354-1021; @kaitlynkrasselt
With the help of local police departments, we've compiled a list of southwestern Connecticut's most wanted individuals, who are currently at large for a variety of charges ranging from murder to failures to register addresses.

Authorities warn residents that if you see any of these individuals, not to approach them and to call the corresponding police department.
NORWALK  Though they were far from the earshot of Washington, local politicians, volunteers and cancer researchers applauded from the confines of the Nowalk American Cancer Society building as Vice President Joe Biden concluded his passionate opening remarks at the CancerMoonshot Summit in Washington, D.C.

The group gathered Wednesday morning at the only American Cancer Society-sponsored watch party in Connecticut, held at the state-of-the-art ACA facility in Norwalk, to watch the summit and discuss progress and local efforts toward finding a cure.

State senators and representatives including Bob Duff, Toni Boucher, Tony Hwang and Gail Lavielle joined dozens of volunteers and staff of the American Cancer Society in Connecticut to watch the speech regarding the federal governments enhanced commitment to funding cancer research.

Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling said the event was a great representation of the increasing global commitment to cancer research and finding a cure.

This is a comprehensive and bipartisan effort to increase funding for cancer research, Rilling said. Virtually everyone I know has been touched by cancer whether its a relative, friend, themselves ... there is a cure out there but we need to double, triple, quadruple our efforts.

As the mayor of a town home to groundbreaking cancer research from multiple organizations including Norwalk Hospital and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, Rilling said hes proud of the work being done here.

We have so many people here who give up time and money to work toward a cure, Rilling said. We are a leader not only in Fairfield County and in the state when it comes to cancer research.

Just this week, the American Cancer Society  the largest nonprofit dedicated to cancer research  announced it plans to double it funding for cancer research by 2020.

Bryte Johnson, director of government relations for the American Cancer Society-Cancer Action Network, said the Moonshot Summit, though held in Washington, D.C., was a national event, is especially relevant at the state and local level where research is actively being completed.

There are about 12 researchers here in Connecticut that are making groundbreaking progress in this realm, Johnson said. This could be the start of something huge ... the cancer death rate is already down 20 to 25 percent since 1991, and this will put us that much closer to finding a cure.

KKrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-354-1021; @kaitlynkrasselt
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The sounds of soul, funk, R&B, and Motown, with some Sinatra thrown into the mix, heat up Wilton Librarys 16th annual Summer Music & More Concert Series.

Kicking off July 7, the free, weekly series takes place from 5-6:30 p.m., rain or shine  thanks to the librarys Brubeck Rook  on four consecutive Thursday nights in July.

Pocket Full of Soul opens things up on July 7, followed on July 14, by Tim Curries Motown Review Band, led by Norwalks Tim Currie, who is bringing in a 15-piece group. July 21 features funk and blues sounds with Creamery Station. And, returning for the fourth year, Echoes of Sinatra with Steve Kazlauskas closes out the series on July 28.

Each year, I try to bring in a mix of sounds, styles, and decades so we have the `40s through the `70s covered this year from our Old Blue Eyes contender to the big horn sounds of the `70s, said Janet Crystal, Wilton Librarys marketing communications manager. I consider this the librarys take on Throwback Thursdays.

With next weeks headliner, Pocket Full of Soul, expect to hear a sound heavily influenced by Tower of Power, particularly in the brass section.

Our music is all horn driven music, primarily from the `60s and `70s, said drummer Gene Zwicharowski, who founded and manages the band. This was a historic era in music that we grew up on. Many local bands play some of the same music and songs as Pocketful of Soul. Most of them replicate the horn parts through keyboards and other electronic instruments. As you will find, nothing replaces a real horn section. We work hard to replicate the music we play to a high standard of authenticity.

Other band members include Norwalk resident Michael "Iron Mike" Ornato, who owns MHO Movers, on bass, J.J. Martin on lead vocals, Frank Barrese on guitar, William Grodzki on trumpet, Anthony Masi on baritone, tenor, and alto sax, Bob DeLagrange on trumpet, Charley Marenghi on trombone, and Wille Bradford on Hammond organ and keyboards.

Zwicharowski, a Stratford-based construction superintendent who does underground utility work by day, played drums in hard rock bands in the late `70s early `80s.

I gave up playing for twenty-plus years to pursue my career and raise a family, he said. In 2000, a close friend took me to my first Tower of Power show at Mohegan Sun. I was mesmerized, as I observed ten musicians play such tightly integrated music and still maintain a dancing groove. Wow, I said. I had to get back into playing. So I did, but in a 360 degree change in music from my earlier days.

The bands name derives for a Tower of Power song, and their set list of course includes some Tower of Power material as well as Earth, Wind & Fire, Chicago, the Average White Band, Blood Sweat & Tears, and more.

Pocketful of Soul has a busy summer, according to the drummer, with dates at Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk, plus summer series in Milford and New Britain, and some local nightclubs.

We are gradually transitioning into more of a concert and special events band, said Zwicharowski.  We plan on adding a bunch of new songs this winter and expanding our song list into some different horn bands from the same era.

Wilton Library is located at 137 Old Ridgefield Road in the heart of Wilton Center. The series is made possible with sponsorship from The Village Market. Free refreshments are provided by the library, with wine donated by Michael Crystal. There is no registration for the concerts, which are open to everyone. For information and directions, visit wiltonlibrary.org, or call (203) 762-6334.

In other music happenings, Vinyl Frontier explores the birth and history of the Power Trio Era from 7-8:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 7 as part of the Hello Summer free concert series at the Norwalk Public Library. The music takes place on the Main Librarys front lawn, or indoors in case of rain. The library is located at 1 Belden Ave. in Norwalk.

Natural Wonder, The Ultimate Stevie Wonder Experience, performs before and after the fireworks at Calf Pasture Beach on Sunday, July 3. Later that week, the Susan King Duo performs Broadway and classic tunes from 7-9:30 p.m. on Friday, July 8, at "Cabaret Night" at the Calfe Mus Tiki Lounge at Calf Pasture Beach, which is located at 99 Calf Pasture Beach Road in Norwalk. Its all free, but theres a parking fee for those without a Norwalk beach pass. For cancellation info, call (203) 854-7938.

Freeze Park, on the corner of Wall and Main streets in Norwalk, hosts its weekly Open Mike Night from 7-9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 5. A house band can provide back up with keyboard and percussion instruments, if needed. Interested in performing? Sign up early; spots fill up quickly. Cancellation info: (203) 854-7938.

On Sunday, July 3, drummer John Cutrone presents pianist Hiroshi Yamazaki, whose credits include Ron Carter and Lewis Nash, along with bassist Henry Lugo, as part of his long-running Jazz at The Sono Seaport Seafood Restaurant series at 100 Water St. in South Norwalk. It happens from 3-5 p.m. Call (203) 854-9483.

Got music news? Send it to news2mh@gmail.com.
Doug H. Juett, 62, of Grand Island died Sunday, June 26, 2016, at CHI Health St. Francis.

To honor Dougs wishes, cremation was chosen.

Celebration of Life services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at All Faiths Funeral Home. Dan Naranjo will officiate. Military honors will be rendered by Grand Island Veterans Honor Guard and U.S. Army.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.

Doug was born on July 14, 1953, in Grand Island, youngest son of Alvin and Gladys (Facknitz) Juett. After attending Grand Island High School, Doug enlisted in the U.S. Army serving from July 7, 1972 to Aug. 6, 1976, serving in Vietnam.

While at a square dance, Doug met Sherry Good. The couple was later married and blessed with two daughters. Doug was a hard worker and employed by Sta-Rite Industries in Grand Island.

Doug was always a laidback kind of guy; he enjoyed his coffee and liked to play KENO at Balz. He loved to travel, whether it would be camping with his family at Sherman Lake or trips to Worlds of Fun and Mt. Rushmore. Doug loved the outdoors and just walking around the campground meeting new people. In his spare time, he would watch military movies, follow the news or cheer on his favorite team, the New Orleans Saints. Doug was a great cook, spaghetti being a specialty.

Doug is survived by his daughters, Brandi (Ralph) Negrete of Ohio and Tiffany Juett of Grand Island; brother, Dave Juett of Grand Island; grandchildren, Isabella, Kaden, Olivia and Brooklyn; along with numerous extended family and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Ron Juett; sisters, Marge Smalley and Diane Dalland.

Memorials are suggested to the family to be designated at a later date.

Words of caring and comfort may be left for the family at www.giallfaiths.com.
GODFREY - A total of 128 students earned their General Equivalency Diplomas (GED) through Lewis and Clark Community Colleges Adult Education department and the Regional Office of Education #40 Adult Learning Centers in 2016.

Of those, 48 students walked across the stage of the Ann Whitney Olin Theatre inside L&Cs Hatheway Cultural Center during the 40th annual GED Graduation held June 9.

Keynote Speaker State Senator Andy Manar, who serves Illinois in the 48th Legislative District, stressed the significance of the students achievements, while congratulating them.

Today is an important step in your personal and professional journey-a journey that matters, Manar said. This celebration and recognition you are receiving tonight-without a shred of doubt-is a meaningful event, an event in your life, a part of your journey that will never be replicated The value of Lewis and Clark Community College is immeasurable to our community, to our local economy and to our quality of life, and tonights graduation is proof of that.

L&Cs Associate Dean of Adult Education Val Harris encouraged the graduates to continue their education and become lifelong learners.

The theme of the night was resilience, Harris said. More and more, our students are overcoming obstacles to not only earn their GEDs but also transition into college. I am really proud of our staff and our students. Both work hard, and they never give up.

Student Guest Speaker Misty Zerance embodies perseverance. She dropped out of high school, married at a young age, and tried attending a few GED classes at L&C in 1995.

I decided it wasnt for me, and I left, Zerance said. In the years that followed, my marriage failed. I was a single mother raising three kids on my own and feeling like a failure. I worked long hard hours at several jobs, but I never had the career I had dreamed of.

Dont get me wrong it wasnt all bad I watched my kids grow into young adults, making their own dreams, and I always stressed the importance of an education, even though I didnt have one. I also met my current husband, 10 years ago. He is my best friend, my strongest supporter, loudest cheerleader and would be here tonight in the front row if he could.

With encouragement and support from her husband, Zerance came back to L&C to earn her GED, 17 years after her first attempt, in 2012. She didnt stop there. She went on to enroll in the Bridge to Health Science program at Lewis and Clark and will graduate with an Associate of Science degree in spring of 2017. She has already been accepted into the nursing program at Pensacola State in Florida.

For some of you, this may be only the first steps of your learning journey, but whether the classroom or the work place is your next stop, always remind yourself, there is not a set time or age limit to further your education, Zerance said. The doors are always open, and everyone here at the college is ready to welcome you back Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside of you that is greater than any obstacle you may encounter.

Lewis and Clarks GED program helps students strengthen their reading, writing and math skills, while preparing them for the GED tests.

Individuals 16 years old and older can enroll in the free basic skills classes, which are offered at various times and locations throughout the district.

L&Cs Adult Education division also offers opportunities for those who do not have a high school diploma or GED through Bridge programs, which allow students to earn college credit while obtaining their GEDs.

Those wanting more information can call (618) 468-4141 or visit www.lc.edu/adulted.
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Linkedin Asmin Fransiska (The Jakarta Post) Giessen  Wed, June 29, 2016

The World Health Organization defines addiction or dependency as a complex health condition that often requires long-term treatment and care. Sadly, that is the case with Indonesias policy on drug crimes.



To address the global problem of drugs, world leaders and activists gathered on April 19-21 at the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs in New York. Most countries represented moved from criminalization to decriminalization for personal possession or use. Some opted to regulate drug markets for certain types of drugs, mostly marijuana. Almost all delegates from the EU, Latin America, UN organizations and the special rapporteurs against torture and the right to health agreed to abolish the death penalty for drug offenders.



However, Indonesia was steadfast in preserving the death penalty as an effective measure to deal with drug problems. This stance marks not only a setback in Indonesias commitment to human rights, but also a flawed reasoning to protect the country from drug trafficking.



Indonesian academics are among those appealing for evidence-based policymaking and the priority for public health in addressing drug problems, as they wrote in the Lancet medical journal last year. However, the current government has decided to start a new wave of executions of death row convicts, mostly drug traffickers.



The state indeed needs strong efforts in law enforcement and public health to reduce the negative consequences of drug trafficking. However, claiming that waging a war on drugs through executions is a powerful strategy to eliminate drug trafficking is even more dangerous. The excessive use of executions only demonstrates the countrys failure to control drug problems.



National Narcotics Agency (BNN) chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso admitted the failure, saying that despite the executions, the number of drug use cases increased from 4.2 million in June 2015 to 5.9 million in November 2015.



The UN has called for the abolition of the death penalty for drug offenses due to the lack of a threshold to fulfill the serious crime category, based on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.



From 1979 to 2008 Indonesia executed at least 60 convicts, mostly convicted murderers and terrorists. Since 2014, executions were performed on drug convicts based on the drug emergency narrative. Death sentences have been on the rise without a guarantee of when and how this policy will be evaluated objectively and stopped if the policy goes wrong.



The war on drugs is an abstract reason for a state to deal with real problems in society where corruption, poverty, racism and marginalization of its own people are rampant. Drug trafficking may not disappear, but the crimes should be governed in an orderly way.



The disproportionate use of the death penalty requires scrutiny. In previous death sentences such as for Mary Jane Veloso of the Philippines, Rodrigo Gularte of Brazil and Indonesian Zainal Abidin, there was substantive evidence to show that capital punishment undermines the rule of law. Drug mules are at the highest risk under Indonesias death penalty policy, rather than the drug kingpins.



Human rights outline principles, standards and guidelines to create a clear measure for a state to be able to fulfill its objectives. However, human rights are absent in Indonesias drug policy framework. We have lost the capability to assess the real situation concerning drug abuse and thus have reacted irresponsibly.



Having assessed the characteristics of dependency, we could assume that Indonesia has faced the serious problem of failing to tackle drug offenses. The death penalty is seen as a quick fix and we have become addicted to it.



A better way to address addiction is proper and appropriate treatment. We can begin the treatment by setting sufficient guidelines and patiently educating ourselves to become aware of our own problems. We need to reform our drug policies and laws and transform them into scientific-based and proper evidence-based ones. In so doing we can capture the real underlying problems of drug offenses.



The treatment needs to be tested, assessed and renewed regularly in order to adequately represent reality.



Above all, respecting human rights is the key to achieving good results. Whatever drug policy approach we choose, human rights should be the mirror for us to set standards and principles.



Hopefully, we can stop the addiction to the death penalty in the long run.

***

The writer is a senior lecturer in human rights at Atma Jaya Catholic Universitys School of Law in Jakarta and a PhD researcher at Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany.

---------------

We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Winarno Zain (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

Brexit, or Britains exit from the European Union, might be a distant affair for many Indonesians. But it may be hard to remain oblivious to it because its impact could reverberate into the Indonesian economy.



In a referendum held on Friday last week, the people of the United Kingdom voted for Britain to leave the EU, after more than 40 years of being part of this giant political and economic bloc.



The result of the UK referendum is unprecedented, because no country has ever left the now 28-nation EU. The vote could have enormous economic consequences, not only in Europe but also further afield.



With an exit from the EU, the UKs economy would be in turmoil, and many have even predicted that it could head into recession.



Many large corporations use the UK as their base for managing their business in Europe, and with a Brexit, many would relocate their offices and factories in the UK to other EU areas.



The UKs trade and investment would also receive different treatment to what the EU receives. Unemployment would rise and economic activity would slow down.



Already, stocks around the world have plunged, and the British pound has plummeted to close to US$1.33, its lowest level in more than 30 years.



As the global capital market slips into more volatility, capital and investment flows would be disrupted, weakening global growth further.



And as investors and businesses are pondering the economic consequences of the Brexit, it is likely they will hold out on investment decisions.



A Brexit would not directly affect the Indonesian economy, but the global uncertainty it would create would sooner or later exacerbate external risk facing Indonesia.



The first thing to look at when assessing the impact Brexit might have on the Indonesian economy is exports to the UK, from which we can conclude that the impact is limited. This is correct as far as exports are concerned. Last year our exports to the UK amounted to $1.5 billion, only 1 percent of our total exports of $150 billion.



Our total trade with the UK only amounted to $2.3 billion. Compare this with our $31 billion in trade with Japan, or $24 billion with the US.



But what is worrying about Brexit is its impact on Indonesias trading partners. The UKs economy is the fifth largest in the world, and it is the largest trading partner of the EU.



Its trade with the US and Japan, and even China, is also significant. With its investment flow and trade disrupted by Brexit, and with its unemployment rising, the UK economy could slip into recession.



The EU economy, already suffering from anemic growth, high unemployment, high levels of debt and mass immigration from the Middle East and Africa, would be hurt further by the Brexit.



Indonesian non-oil exports to the EU up to May this year were worth $5.8 billion, or 11 percent of our total non-oil exports, the second-largest destination after the US. If the EUs economy stalls after Brexit, our exports to the EU, which are mostly commodities, would also be affected.



The further weakening of global growth would make the prospect of commodity prices recovering more distant.



The oil price fell 5 percent on the day of the Brexit vote, and this could be a sign of what would happen to the price of other commodities.



This would put further pressure on Indonesian exports, which still very much depend on commodities.



The impact of Brexit will reverberate through Indonesias capital market.



The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) slipped by 0.82 percent, a modest decline compared with its peers in the region.



The shares of the big banks were badly hit, as happened in other countries, as the risk of declining global liquidity mounts.



But with volatility continuing in the global market, it would be hard for the JCI to resist the downward pressure.



A sell-off on the same scale as in 2015 could not be ruled out, as investors try to avoid risk, and capital flees to safe-haven countries.



The moderating influence on this negative trend perhaps would come from the attractiveness of Indonesian sovereign bonds, because their yield is higher compared with bond yields in other countries.



At this point it is not clear whether the economic impact of Brexit would just be a normal crisis, or would rival the closure of Lehman Brothers in 2008 that plunged the world economy into the worst recession in history.



Whatever the outcome it is important for Bank Indonesia (BI), the central bank, to continue in its accommodative mode in terms of monetary policies.



It is important for the Financial System Stability Committee (KKSK) to be given more clear functions and responsibilities, so that it can supervise the banking system more effectively, should another banking crisis arise from the Brexit.



And as the House is finalizing its deliberation on the revised 2016 state budget, it is important for them to note the impact of the market turmoil caused by the Brexit on the Indonesian economy.



This is to make sure that the assumptions used in the budget regarding GDP growth, exchange rates and oil prices are not out of line with the new realities.



The market turmoil from Brexit has thrown the global economy into uncertainty, as investors around the world assess its impact.



British Prime Minister David Cameron has resigned, and it will take three months to find his successor before which Britain cannot formally negotiate its exit with the EU.



Then it would take two years until Brexit was formally finalized. Until the outcome of negotiations is clear, it will be difficult for investors to make decisions.



We know that uncertainty is the biggest enemy of investment and growth.



The government has to assess how much this situation will affect investment in Indonesia. President Joko Jokowi Widodos administration has gone a long way in issuing its economic packages and deregulation measures, and in building infrastructure, but it has yet to attract investors.



Now with the market turmoil from the Brexit, the task of attracting investors will be more daunting.

***

The writer is a commissioner at a publicly listed oil and gas service company. The views expressed are his own.

---------------

We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Lailatul Fitriyah (The Jakarta Post) Rome  Wed, June 29, 2016

This is a disclaimer. If you are looking to find any justification to equate the calls to end Perda Ramadhan, the regional bylaw enforced to maintain solemnity during the fasting month, to an Islamophobic act, you can stop reading now.



Far from associating the calls to end Perda Ramadhan as Islamophobia, I argue that the so-called Perda Ramadhan shares the same ideological platform with several Islamophobic socio-political discourses in Europe and the US.



Furthermore, I also argue that such double standards and hypocrisy showed by some elements of Indonesias Muslim community regarding the Perda Ramadhan issue is rooted in a toxic victimology that justifies inflicting pain on others in order to alleviate a perceived pain being suffered.



I was not surprised to read that the blind support for Perda Ramadhan was coming from certain Muslim elements in the country. What surprised me was the rhetoric used by important officials like the Indonesian Ulema Council head Maruf Amin and Serang Mayor Tubagus Haerul Jaman to defend practices of food-seller raids during the Islamic fasting month.



They said Perda Ramadhan was a manifestation of local aspirations and social norms that demands people, regardless of their religious beliefs and professions, to not sell food and beverages in the daytime during Ramadhan.



Thus, more than just a local bylaw, Perda Ramadhan is perceived as an arbitrary standard of good citizenship in one locality. In other words, to not sell any food and beverages during the daytime of Ramadhan is not only a legal obligation but also a moral one.



The framing of intrusive laws as a reflection of social norms specific to certain communities can also be found in cases in Western countries, such as the ruling that obliges students in northern Switzerland to shake their teachers hands after two Muslim students refused to shake their teachers hands because of their religious belief.



The same principle of communal particularism is also behind the anti-immigrant discourse advocated by the right wing Alternative for Germany Party (AfD), who describes Islam as being incompatible with the German constitution.



Last but not least, the infamous Donald Trump has been using the same rhetoric of right-wing populism to justify his Islamophobic, xenophobic and homophobic stances.



Funnily enough, in order to advocate for our Muslim brothers and sisters in Europe and America, we in Indonesia would use the argument of religious and cultural pluralism while consistently insisting on the compatibility of Islamic values and democracy.



In case you have not seen the parallel: Maruf Amins and Haerul Jamans rhetoric of Serang as a special region in which piety is equaled with not opening your food stalls during the daytime of Ramadhan, regardless if it affects your ability to provide for your family is essentially the same rhetoric used by European and American extreme right-wing groups and personas when they say Europe or America is a special region in which integration is equaled with throwing out your religio-cultural identity to readily internalize a set of foreign religio-cultural conventions regardless of the consequences.



In short, Maruf Amins and Haerul Jamans rhetoric is exactly the same word-play used by Islamophobes in Europe and America.



It is a rhetoric that is being drawn to differentiate us versus them in order to strengthen the identity of the former by demonizing the latter.



The second important message from such rhetoric is that it comes out of a deep sense of victimization that places us as victims of never-ending threats from them (read: others).



In the context of Perda Ramadhan in Indonesia, the victims are those devout Muslims whose fasting needs to be protected from the unruly Muslims and non-Muslims who dare to sell or buy food and

beverages during the daytime of Ramadhan.



The fact is, with a population over 200 million, Indonesian Muslims are practically facing threats from no one. Take that number coupled with the strong political lobby from several Islamic parties and groups and it will be easy to see that Indonesian Muslims are dominating the socio-political and cultural dimensions of the country.



The danger of victimology is that it does not get you anywhere. It stagnates self-reflection, closes dialogue and drags you into an endless conflictual dynamic where you are busy blaming others for your own mistakes.



Widespread acceptance of conspiracy theories, such as the Illuminati or the Jewish conspiracy behind almost every single crisis in the country is testimony of the low-reflective capacity of some elements in Indonesias Muslim community.



Drawing a line between us and them and subscribing to narratives about ones pure self is indeed temporally reassuring. But it is also just that, temporal.



There is no particularity that is not affected by other particularities. We all are unique in the sense that each of us is a diversity-accumulating entity driven toward our ever-changing selves.



Neither an Ulema Council head nor a mayor of a city can essentialize the meaning of being a good Muslim for the society of Serang  not to mention politicize the meaning, decode it into an intrusive law and use it to classify society into categories of good Muslim versus bad Muslim.



In addition, to play the victim all our life is to practically kill ourselves. We can shout all we want that the problem is not in the ways we understand piety and express our faith in daily life, but that will not make anything better. Problems persist unless we start to take responsibility.



Broadening and deepening our understanding of Ramadhan is imperative, and once we do that we will see just how obsolete Perda Ramadhan is.

***

The writer is a Nostra Aetate fellow 2016 at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome.

---------------

We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Asmara Wreksono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

An all-day breakfast menu at a restaurant typically features sausages, eggs, pancakes and waffles. Cereal is usually not the star item, but for cereal fans who happen to be in New York City, the Kelloggs NYC cafe might be interesting.

The famous cereal brand will open its first permanent restaurant in Times Square, New York, on July 1 and will feature an all-cereal menu for its customers. The menu, which consists of 10 different items, was composed with the help of chef Christina Tosi, who is also the owner and founder of Momofuku Milk Bar. This is not her first collaboration with Kelloggs, as the chef helped the brand to create recipes for a temporary pop-up shop back in 2014.

(Read also: Cool coffee shops in Jakarta you might not know existed)

Noel Geoffroy, Kelloggs senior vice president of marketing and innovation, told CNN.com on Tuesday that People were so wowed by her [Tosis] recipes that we felt we were onto something. We wanted to continue this partnership with her.

Kelloggs NYC menu features catchy names and items are priced between US$6 (Rp 70,000) to $8. Each features a different Kelloggs product, such as Special K, Froot Loops and Raisin Bran.

The cafe is the result of a partnership between Kelloggs and Journee, a collaborative space for restaurateurs in New York. Anthony Rudolf, founder of Journee, said: Kellogg and Journee are co-owners of the cafe, but our approach is to run it like a small business.
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Linkedin Michael Liedtke (Associated Press) San Francisco, United States  Wed, June 29, 2016

Google is trying to make it easier for you to manage the vast pool of information that it collects about your online activities across phones, computers and other devices.

Among other things, a new privacy tool will enable the more than 1 billion people who use Google's search engine and other services to block certain ads from appearing on every device that they log into, instead of having to make a special request on each individual machine.

Some users of Google's search engine, Gmail and Chrome browser will start receiving notices about the new option beginning Tuesday, but it will take several more weeks before it's available to everyone.

Google also is introducing a "My Activity" feature that will enable users to delete records of their online search requests and videos watched on YouTube in a single location instead of having to visit different websites or apps.

Google's business has been built on its longtime practice of monitoring its users' online behavior in an effort to learn about their interests so it can show ads most likely to appeal to them.

Those customized ads shown alongside Google's search results and the content on millions of other websites have turned Google's corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., into one of the world's most profitable companies.

(Read also: Google to release own handset by year-end)

In an effort to minimize complaints about invading people's privacy, Google has long allowed its users to impose limits on how much data is accumulated about them and how many customized ads they see.

Last year, Google also opened a "My Account" hub to serve as a one-stop shop for setting privacy and security controls.

If they choose, users will now be able to authorize Google to store their web browsing histories in the "My Account" center.

Until now, Google had been keeping personal information in different digital dossiers that sometimes require users to take multiple steps to manage specific pieces of data.

For instance, someone annoyed by a Google-generated ad on their personal computer can prevent it from appearing again by clicking on an "X'' in the corner. Taking that step currently won't block the same ad from appearing on the targeted person's smartphone a few hours later.

Google says that will no longer happen if users allow it to stockpile web browsing histories in the "My Account" center.

Click here to read other articles related to Google.
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Linkedin Masajeng Rahmiasri (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

When we talk about a piano performance, we usually think about it being held in an auditorium or a grand, classical concert hall. However, Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi broke this routine recently by performing atop a melting glacier.

At Svalbard in Norway, the renowned pianist and composer played an original piece titled Elegy for the Arctic on a grand piano on a floating platform in the Arctic Ocean. Amid the freezing wind and the Wahlenbergbreen glacier, his less than three-minute performance was filled with minor notes intended to portray sadness. As he performed, viewers could see the glaciers collapsing in the distance.

(Read also: Nicholas Saputra stars in EU documentary on elephant conservation )

As quoted by designboom.com , Einaudi said, I could see the purity and fragility of this area with my own eyes and interpret a song I wrote to be played upon the best stage in the world. It is important that we understand the importance of the arctic, stop the process of destruction and protect it.

The performance was part of a collaboration between Einaudi and Greenpeace coinciding with the start of the OSPAR Commissions meeting in Tenerife, Spain, last week. What the pianist and the environmental organization seek from the meeting is the realization of the creation of a protected area in the Arctic Ocean. (kes)
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Linkedin Asmara Wreksono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

Parents around the world still cannot get over the dressing gown worn by Prince George when he stayed up past his bedtime to meet US President Barack Obama earlier this year.

The personalized robe from UK brand My 1st Years made headlines after a photo of the prince was published and it has been one of the most coveted luxury toddler items since.

(Read also: Prince William featured on cover of gay magazine)

Luxury online marketplace Gifts Less Ordinary, which has been making its mark in Hong Kong and Singapore, announced the launch of its operations in Japan on Tuesday. The marketplace carefully curates its brands and enlists My 1st Years as one of the brands available for Asian customers.

Aside from My 1st Years, the online marketplace also featured Merci Maman on its list of brands in the Japan launch. Merci Maman is a UK brand with French roots, with items including a personalized Duchess Necklace, which the Duchess of Cambridge wears engraved with Prince Georges name.

(Read also: Prince Harry to visit Nepal, tour quake-hit areas)

Another brand available in the marketplace is Halcyon Days, an established UK brand that has been a longtime player in the gifts business and is highly favored by the royals. Halcyon Days is one of only 14 companies in the world to hold all three Royal Warrants.

Founder of the marketplace, Amy Read, said in a statement: Weve seen such great success in Singapore and Hong Kong, that it's only natural to take things further and launch these amazing brands in Japan.
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Linkedin (Associated Press) London  Wed, June 29, 2016

Prince Harry is set to follow his mother's example and use part of his time in the fight against AIDS.

Harry plans to speak at an international AIDS conference in South Africa next month and to meet with doctors and nurses who are caring for HIV-positive patients in London.

(Read also: Empire strikes back: William, Harry visit 'Star Wars' set)

His mother Princess Diana helped publicize the plight of AIDS victims in the late 1980s and also carried out many private visits.

Several charities welcomed Harry's involvement. He is involved with many charities and has worked to help wounded veterans of military service.
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Linkedin Masajeng Rahmiasri (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

After its recent discovery, a sketchbook by legendary Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh will soon be published in November.

French publisher Seuil told AFP that copies of the sketchbook were scheduled to be released in France, the US, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Japan prior to other parts of the world. Detailed information regarding the book has not yet been shared, including the price. But the company has stated that it will hold a global press conference in Paris.

The publisher's spokesperson Bernard Comment reportedly said: This sketchbook was only known to the owners, myself and the publisher. Describing the discovery as stunning and dazzling, Comment said he had learned of the existence of the book a little over a year ago, adding that it contained 10 drawings, the authenticity of which had been confirmed by experts.

(Read also: Artist invited to help paint film about Van Gogh)

Comment revealed that the book would be named Vincent Van Gogh, Le Brouillard dArles (The Fog of Arles). The painter lived in Arles, South Provence, France, in 1888 and 1889. Not long after, on July 1890, the Dutch post-impressionist artist committed suicide. He was recorded as suffering from mental illness at the time.

Presently, at least 1,000 drawings by Van Gogh have been recorded. His paintings sell for tens of millions of dollars at auctions. (kes)
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Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 28 2016

The government is gearing up to take some of the alleged perpetrators of last years massive forest fires to court for the first time. However, an environmental organization has lamented the limited scope of the action in comparison to the profound damage caused by the fires.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry is in the final stage of filing civil lawsuits against five palm oil companies allegedly responsible for some of the 2015 forest fires, a tragedy that has been called a crime against humanity as it killed 19 people, mostly children, and caused more than US$16 billion in economic losses.

Amid public pressure, the government decided to hand down administrative sanctions to 23 companies suspected of being behind the land and forest fires last year. These companies had their land-clearing licenses either revoked or frozen for their failure to act to prevent the fires, which led to the worst pollution in the region for almost two decades.

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Linkedin Corry Elyda (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 28 2016

Following the discovery of a counterfeit vaccine production and distribution ring in the city, the Jakarta administration is deploying personnel to raid private hospitals and clinics to ensure that none of them use fake medications.

Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama said at City Hall on Monday that he had ordered the Health Agency to ensure the city was free from counterfeit vaccines.

Ahok said he had received reports that at least four hospitals were regular purchasers of counterfeit vaccines. I have ordered the agency to take stern measures against hospitals that sold fake vaccines, he said.

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Linkedin Arisyi Raz (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 28 2016

Bank Indonesia lowered its benchmark BI rate by another 25 basis points (bps) from 6.75 percent to 6.50 percent recently, the fourth cut this year from 7.50 percent at the beginning of 2016, despite the threat of a possible increase in the US Federal Reserve rate.

In addition, since April 2016 the central bank has been preparing to reformulate its policy rate through the introduction of the BI 7-Day (reverse) repo rate that will take effect in August.

This policy rate rebranding is expected to smoothen the transmission of policy rates to the real sector.

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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

City Council member Gembong Warsono has slammed Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama for his failure to prevent alleged the corruption surrounding the purchase of land for low-cost apartments planned for West Cengkareng.

Gembong said Ahok should have carefully monitored all land acquisition carried out by the Jakarta city administration, as doing so was one of his responsibilities. He also highlighted the fact that the fake land purchase demonstrated poor asset documentation by the administration.

Ahok cant just blame his subordinates in this case, for he is responsible for monitoring all projects in the city. This incident also shows that the city inspectorate was not active in carrying out its internal monitoring, he told thejakartapost.com on Wednesday in Jakarta.

The city administration purchased a 4.6 hectare plot of land for Rp 648 billion (US$48 million) through its housing and government buildings agency last year. Later, the purchased land was found to have already been owned by the Jakarta administration, through its fisheries and maritime agency.

Gembong said the administration failed to prepare for the purchase properly, specifically by not setting out the precise address of the land, including the neighborhood units (RT) and community units (RW) it contained.

The City Council is hoping the police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) can uncover the facts of the alleged case of graft. We hope this case can be solved, as a large amount of public money is involved, he said. (ags)
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Linkedin Ririn Sefsani and Patrick Ziegenhain Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur  Wed, June 29, 2016

On June 23, a majority of the British people decided to leave the EU in a referendum, and on June 30 Rodrigo Duterte will be inaugurated as the new president of the Philippines. At first glance, there seems to be no direct connection between these two events, but with a closer look one discovers that both decisions were highlighting the power of nationalist and populist sentiment among ordinary voters.

Fear about their individual futures was one of the decisive push factors for many voters decisions. This anxiety was responded to with nostalgic and nationalistic policy options provided by populist politicians and movements.

In the Philippines, voters wanted a strong man as leader who would get tough with fighting crimes. Duterte has already announced he will strengthen the powers of the military and the police, in a move that might be beneficial for crime reduction but detrimental for democracy and human rights.

The high number of votes for retired general Prabowo Subianto in the 2014 presidential elections in Indonesia showed that a large number of Indonesians think in a similar way. In the UK, anxiety about immigration was one of the main driving factors for the Leave vote. This has nothing directly to do with the current refugee crisis in Europe, but immigration from other EU member states.

In times of globalization, the British voted for a self-imposed isolation. The British referendum may serve as proof that campaigns of fear and scaremongering can be successful if a majority of voters follow the statements of nationalist and populist groups.

Nearly all world leaders and international economic organizations had warned that a vote to leave the EU would most probably lead to considerable damage to the British economy, but the feeling of nationalism and cultural exceptionalism was more attractive for many voters.

The EU is built on liberal values and pooled sovereignty. This achievement is increasingly threatened by nationalist right-wing populism that denies the equality of humans and demands privileges for members of the ethnic and religious majority group. Similar developments can be seen in many other European countries such as France or the Netherlands, where far-right figures such as Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders are possible government leaders in the coming years.

This phenomenon is also on the rise in Indonesia where the number of violent attacks against ethnic, religious and other minority groups has increased in recent years.

Populism was also a major feature of the Philippine elections and the British referendum because anti-movements do not have real solutions to offer. It is always easier to get a huge and diverse crowd against something, but far more difficult to get things done better. Philippine president Duterte will soon see his limits.

However, here lies the danger since he will probably not admit that he has promised too much, but rather blame his political adversaries in the other political institutions and demand more presidential powers, which could turn the country toward authoritarianism.

In the British case, Brexit supporters promised both a flourishing economy and control over immigration. Many voters were not only influenced by populists promises but also by nostalgia. Tellingly, the older voters in the UK were far more willing to believe in the thought that closing the doors would bring back those good old times. People aged over 50 years felt voted overwhelmingly with Leave whereas the younger generations who grew up in a united Europe felt much less national pride and voted with Remain. According to voter statistics, 64 percent of those aged under 24 years wanted to stay in the EU.

In Southeast Asia, there is also widespread nostalgia, even for the authoritarian rules of dictators such as Soeharto or Ferdinand Marcos. The latters only son, Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. nearly won the vice-presidential post in the Philippines. In Indonesia, many still have a feeling of longing for Soeharto, who provided political stability and economic growth, and some of his family members have already returned to politics.

In a democracy, voters are the sovereign and they are entitled to vote for whatever they wish. Even if the election campaigns are influenced by fear, nationalism and populism, everybody has to accept the voters decision. The British have voted for economic recession plus international isolation and have to suffer the pain thereof in the years to come. The Philippines have voted for Duterte and so nobody should be surprised about a sharp rise in extra-judicial killings, police and military violence, disappearing civil liberties and authoritarian tendencies.

Whether we like it or not, we are living in a globalized world, which makes people and countries increasingly interconnected. The EU and the ASEAN Economic Community are examples of regional communities bringing people and markets closer together.

However, it seems that people in many parts of the world do not embrace the new opportunities and chances for international cooperation, but instead vote for backward-oriented nationalism and anti-foreigner resentment.

____________________________________

Ririn Sefsani is program manager for Kemitraan (Partnership for Governance Reform) in Jakarta. Patrick Ziegenhain is visiting professor at the Asia-Europe Institute, the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama has referred to several civil servants implicated in a corruption case surrounding the purchase of land in West Cengkareng as pretentious and liars.

Toeti Noezlar Soekarno, a woman claiming to own the land is in the process of suing the administration as the housing agency has reportedly yet to make an Rp 200 billion payment for the land it purchased for the construction of low-cost apartments (rusunawa).

Ahok said some employees in the agency must have enjoyed kickbacks.

The payment for the land purchase must be wrong. Ive ordered that all transactions be conducted through transfer, cashless payment. The worst part is that some civil servants pretended to not know the procedure, Ahok said at City Hall on Wednesday.

In the Jakarta administration, he further said that there were many actors in the Jakarta administration worthy of an Oscar award. However, he expressed optimism that the civil servants and other perpetrators who allegedly accepted bribes would be apprehended soon.

Ahok has handed over the case to the police and Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) will further trace the money. (ags)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29 2016

Jakarta: Private lender Bank DBS Indonesia, a subsidiary of Singapore-based DBS Group Holdings, is seeking up to 38 percent growth in its consumer business revenue this year, primarily driven by the banks move to expand its wealth management services.

DBS Indonesias consumer banking group director Wawan Salum said on Monday that wealth management had contributed 48 percent to the banks consumer banking revenue.

Indonesia, China and India are top priority markets for DBS, he said in Jakarta.

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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry estimates that the countrys fight against illegal fishing will recover Rp 209.1 billion (US$16 million) of tax revenue from 187 taxpayers in the first half of the year.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said potential tax revenue had long been lost due to excessive poaching in Indonesian waters, as 97 percent of borders with 12 neighboring countries are in the ocean.

"Until now, the process of recovering the country's losses is still ongoing with the Tax Office [] In July, Task Force 115 will sink 30 foreign-flagged vessels for which the legal process has been resolved," Susi said on Wednesday in Jakarta.

As of June, the task force, with personnel from the Indonesian Navy, the National Police, the Attorney Generals Office, the Maritime Security Board (Bakamla) and the ministry, has handled 11 criminal cases related to illegal fishing in Natuna, Ambon and Timika waters.

The task force has also sunk 162 foreign-flagged vessels caught fishing illegally in Indonesian waters, 63 of which were were from Vietnam, along with 43 vessels from the Philippines, 30 from Malaysia, 21 from Thailand and 14 local vessels.

The ministry has identified operating regions based on the level of vulnerability to illegal fishing, namely Aceh, Natuna, Arafura, Sulawesi and Maluku waters, as well as Indonesias border with Timor Leste. (ags)
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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

The government aims to speed up the development of fisheries and the oil and gas business in Natuna waters, Riau Islands, in a bid to exploit the provinces economic potential.

Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Rizal Ramli said Indonesia had tapped only 9 percent of the fisheries potential in Natuna.

The government was set to accelerate the issuance of fishing permits, he said, by giving permits to fishermen from the Java Sea to go fishing in Natuna waters.

"The Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Ministry will give them permission to go fishing within a range of 120 miles into Natuna waters," Rizal said.

He said the government would also ask the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry to help local fishing companies get capital from national banks to expand their capacity and enable them to go fishing in Natuna waters.

"So we will reaffirm our strategy. We will not return to the old regime, which allowed foreign-flagged vessels in Natuna. The fishing opportunities in Natuna will be given to local fishermen through loan and investment assistance, so that their fishing capacity [] can be improved," Rizal Ramli said at the State Palace on Wednesday.

Aside from the fisheries sector, the minister said, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had instructed the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry to accelerate the production of oil and gas in Natuna. Currently, there are 16 oil and gas blocks in Natuna, but only five of them are in production. (ebf)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Bogor  Wed, June 29 2016

At least one person was injured after a house in Bogor, West Java, suddenly collapsed on Sunday night without any strong winds or earthquakes being recorded.

The person injured was identified as Linda, 15, one of 10 people living in the house, said Budi Hendrawan, head of logistics and disaster mitigation at the Bogor Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD).

Linda is being treated in a nearby hospital, Budy said Tuesday as quoted by wartakotalive.com.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

The Indonesia-flagged boat that had seven of its 13 crewmen abducted by armed militants in the waters of southern Philippines did not adhere to the government's ban on sailing through the Sulu Sea, which is rife with pirates, a minister has said.

"There actually had been a ban in place. They were just being defiant," Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

Ryamizard said he did not know why the shipping company dismissed the government-issued ban to traverse through the waters in the southern Philippines despite the numerous kidnappings in the area in the past few months. The tugboat Charles and its barge Robby were sailing back to Samarinda, East Kalimantan, from Tagoloan, Philippines when it was attacked twice in less than two hours.

The minister said he, along with Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan, would summons in the near future the owners of the boats that ignored the ban. Ryamizard said he would give a strong warning and direct them to take safer routes.

"Because it would be pointless if they continued to ignore it. We have instructed to go through safe lanes, yet they still chose unsafe ones, so it happened again," he said in reference to the kidnappings, which have occurred in the same area three previous times. (liz)
(Adds comment from economist, details on growth)

By Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein

BUENOS AIRES, June 29 (Reuters) - Argentina's economy eeked out 0.5 percent growth in the first quarter compared with the year-earlier period, the government said on Wednesday, releasing its first 2016 growth data under President Mauricio Macri.

The number, published by the freshly revamped Indec statistics agency, surpassed analysts' expectations of a 1.3 percent contraction for the January through March period, according to a Reuters poll.

Indec revised its 2015 growth figure to 2.37 percent from the 2.1 percent expansion that Macri's government had initially reported for last year.

The slight rise in first quarter in gross domestic product was also helped by a 7.5 percent expansion in Argentina's fishing sector and growth of 4.2 percent in transport.

Construction and agriculture, crucial because the country is a grains-exporting powerhouse, both fell by more than 5 percent, Indec said.

Since Macri took office in December, he has tried to boost Latin America's No. 3 economy with free-market measures. He eliminated currency controls and grains export taxes, lowered utility subsidies, and settled a long-standing lawsuit with bond-holders that had kept the country in default.

Argentina's finance minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said last week the economy needs investment and is at risk of declining due to a recession in Brazil.

Statistics agency Indec had long been accused of reporting inaccurate economic data under former President Cristina Fernandez.

Macri's team overhauled the Indec to come up with accurate figures and reestablish confidence in its data.

Andres Borenstein, BTG Pactual's chief economist for Argentina, said he did not question the credibility of the figures released Wednesday.

"I don't have any reason to suspect any problem with this set of data," he said.

(Reporting by Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein; Additional reporting by Walter Bianchi; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Diane Craft)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Bambang Waskito predicts the flow of home-bound travelers during the Idul Fitri festive period to the provinces, a journey locally known as mudik, will peak on Saturday.

We expect the exodus will peak from Saturday through to Sunday, Bambang said as quoted by tempo.co on Tuesday.

He also said most repair work on road infrastructure and supporting facilities along routes the exodus would take place had been completed.

A week before Idul Fitri, everything should have been completed, Bambang added.

Police will deploy a full force starting Thursday to safeguard the travelers.

The traffic police chief of West Java, Sr. Comr. Sugihardi, said it was estimated the number of holiday revelers would increase this year, with most travelers opting to ride motorcycles.

"We predict the number of home-bound travelers using motor vehicles to increase by 7 percent nationwide, said Sugihardi. (dmr)
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Linkedin Jusuf Wanandi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29 2016

I was attending a conference on Chinas initiative on the One Belt and One Road in Warsaw in the second half of June when I heard news about Ambassador Wu Jianmins fatal car crash in Wuhan. I was very sad indeed to lose a good friend of more than a decade, and a soul mate who had been trying to convince Chinas leaders of what our senior colleague and close friend, Zheng Bijian, called the peaceful rise of China.

While the strategic environment in East Asia has changed, and China has also changed by becoming stronger, Ambassador Wu and I thought of Chinas need to speak softly and to achieve its interests by a friendlier and cooperative attitude and action because China is huge, especially for the East Asian region.

All the countries in the region including Japan depend at least in part on China. Japan alone has US$350 billion trade with China, and despite the emotional part of the history that has never been solved by Japan, the economic relations between them remain important for both.

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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

Indonesia will close illegal ports countrywide next month in a bid to curb smuggling, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung has said, adding that many ports were unaware they were operating without legal permits.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has instructed the Transportation Minister to tidy up the port business by warning the owners of illegal ports to begin permit processes to avoid termination. After Idul Fitri, ports will be closed by the government, Pramono asserted.

He said the President had also ordered an auction of smuggled goods in a bid to provide more benefits to the community, rather than destroying such goods, which provides no benefit to the people. The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) will be given the chance to take part in the auction and utilize the goods.

"Some of them will not be destroyed, but will go to auction. If possible, we will give Bulog an opportunity. For example, seven containers of beef seized by the customs agency are going to be auctioned or used by Bulog for market operations," Pramono said.

Earlier, Jokowi reaffirmed that Indonesia would not tolerate the backing of smugglers. He called to limit smugglers movements by enhancing prevention, control and enforcement measures.

The President also called on all relevant authorities to synergize patrol efforts in border areas. (ags)
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

Jakarta will wait for the new Philippine government to finalize the details on an agreement that will allow Indonesia to join security operations with the Philippines should another hostage-taking incident occur in the future.

Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the government was still in the process of deliberating the measures within the agreement that would be followed up on as the new Philippine administration under President Rodrigo Duterte was inaugurated only last week.

"We cannot give details yet since we are waiting for the plans to progress pending the new [Philippine] administration taking office," Luhut told journalists on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Ryamizard assured reporters that the new government under Duterte would not change the Philippines' current stance that had agreed to allow Indonesia enter its territory should in future Filipino militant groups again kidnap Indonesian sailors.

Ryamizard said the successor of Philippine Defense Minister Voltaire Gazmin had also attended the coordination meeting with Indonesia, adding that discussions between both countries had been conveyed to Duterte himself. The decision to allow Indonesian forces to enter Philippine territory and join security operations in the case of another abduction of Indonesian nationals by militant groups came up in a meeting between Ryamizard and Gazmin on Sunday, on the heels of Indonesia's efforts to secure the release of seven Indonesian sailors abducted by the Abu Sayyaf militant group in the waters off southern Philippines on June 20. (dmr)
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Linkedin Erika Anindita Dewi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is set to give details on a lawmaker caught red-handed in a graft operation in a press conference at the anticorruption bodys headquarters in Jakarta on Wednesday.

KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo confirmed circulating reports on the arrest of a House of Representatives member but he refused to give details either on the identity of the arrested lawmaker or on the alleged crime committed.

Yes, its true. Please wait for the press conference we will hold, he said as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Wednesday.

It was reported that the arrested lawmaker was from House Commission III overseeing legal affairs, human rights and security. The lawmaker was reportedly arrested simultaneously with three other people at three different locations on Tuesday.

KPK spokeswoman Yuyuk Andriati refused to confirm whether the arrested lawmaker was from Commission III.

Yes, we performed an operation [during which the House member was caught red-handed]. We will explain the details of the arrest later, she told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The KPK has 24 hours to decide either to name the lawmaker as a corruption suspect or to release the lawmaker after he or she is interrogated. (ebf)
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Linkedin Erika Anindita Dewi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

The chairman of the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs, human rights and security, Bambang Soesatyo, said the Commission had nothing to do with a Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) operation on Tuesday, in which it purportedly caught red-handed a Commission III member.

In the operation, KPK investigators caught red-handed a lawmaker but it has nothing to do with the Commission III. The lawmaker is a Commission III member but it [their crime] is not related with the Commission, Bambang said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Apart from the lawmaker, three other people reportedly were nabbed in the KPKs operation.

Bambang said among the three people arrested on Tuesday, none of them were staff members of the commission's secretariat. They were the lawmaker's secretary and personal staff members, he added.

The KPK arrested a lawmaker in an operation early on Tuesday but it has not yet given details on the arrested lawmaker. The antigraft body will reportedly give a press conference on the arrest Wednesday afternoon.

Yes, we conducted an operation [in which a lawmaker was arrested]. We will give details about it later, KPK spokeswoman Yuyuk Andriati told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. She did not confirm when asked whether the arrested lawmaker was a Commission III member. The KPK has 24 hours either to decide to name the lawmaker as a corruption suspect or to release the lawmaker after being questioned.

This is not a first for the KPK to have a House lawmaker arrested. Earlier this year, the antigraft body nabbed Damayanti Wisnu Putranti of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction in an alleged gratification case for a construction project. The KPK named Damayanti, who previously sat in House Commission V overseeing infrastructure and transportation, a suspect in the case, on Jan.14.

Damayanti is currently undergoing her trial. Her colleagues from Commission V, Budi Supriyanto of the Golkar Party faction and Andi Taufan Tiro of the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction, were also named suspects in the same case. (ebf)
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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

The government's efforts to eradicate illegal fishing in the countrys territorial waters must be followed by modernization in the sector, particularly in the processing industry, to create more added value, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has said.

During a national coordination meeting of the illegal fishing task force, the President said the fight against illegal fishing had resulted in rising fish stocks in Indonesian waters, as 176 foreign poacher ships have been captured and sunk.

"We must step up efforts by establishing a more modern fishing industry, such as processing and canning industries to provide greater added value for our country, particularly in terms of employment," Jokowi said at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Thus, ministries must ensure the availability of supporting infrastructure, from roads, ports, electricity and land for the processing industry. He also urged local administrations to prepare land for the processing industry.

"I believe the investment will soon come, whether purely private partnerships or between private entities with state-owned enterprises, to develop this sector due to potential export demand. This is an opportunity that must be taken," Jokowi added.

Jokowi also applauded the task force's efforts in fighting illegal fishing and maintaining ocean resources. "There is very good cooperation in the field between forces and inter-institutional agencies [] and I think this should be kept up," Jokowi said. (ags)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29 2016

Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said on Tuesday the Malaysian authorities had apologized to Indonesia for an intrusion by one of its military aircraft into airspace over Natuna waters in Riau Islands at the weekend.

Two Indonesian Air Force F-16 jet fighters from Ranai Airbase in Natuna on Saturday intercepted a Malaysian C-130 aircraft over Natuna, forcing the troop transport plane to move to the north of the island.

The Indonesian jets tried to make contact with the Malaysian plane through the international frequency but received no response. It then shifted its course and headed to the north.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Bandung  Wed, June 29 2016

Padjadjaran University (Unpad) is apparently the most desired university in the country, with 93,046 high school graduates having applied through the Joint Written University Entrance Test (SBMPTN) to the West Java university this year.

It has been recorded that 47,119 high school graduates applied for the universitys science and technology studies and another 45,927 applied for social and humanities studies.

Of those figures, only 1,847 high school graduates, about 3.92 percent of those who applied, will be accepted for science and technology studies, while 1,709, about 3.72 percent, will be accepted for social and humanities studies. In total, Unpad will accept 3,552 high school graduates, Unpad spokesman Soni Nurhakim told a media conference in Bandung, West Java, on Tuesday.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29 2016

Indonesian companies are moving fast to grab some of the growing business opportunities in Iran, particularly in the upstream oil and gas sector, following the lifting of many sanctions on trade with Iran in January.



State oil and gas giant Pertamina is confident it will quickly wrap up an agreement with Iran that will see it import crude oil from two sites in the Middle Eastern country.



Pertamina plans to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC)  operated by the Iranian government  after the Idul Fitri holidays in July.



Pertamina spokesperson Wianda Pusponegoro said in Jakarta on Tuesday that Pertamina and NIOC were currently holding discussions to explore potential deals. Talks between the companies were preceded by an agreement between the Indonesian and Iranian governments.



We have to assess the agreement [between Pertamina and NIOC] further before signing it. We have to be thorough in optimizing opportunities because Iran only gives this chance to a few countries, Wianda added.



Once the companies secure a deal, Pertamina will be able to import crude oil from two undisclosed sites in Iran for processing at its refineries, such as the one in Cilacap in Central Java.



The oil from Iran will be processed at fuel oil complex 1 in Cilacap, Pertamina processing director Rachmat Hardadi said.



Studies of Irans oil quality reveal that it has the same quality as oil produced by Saudi Aramco, a Pertamina partner in Saudi Arabia.



Pertamina upstream director Syamsu Alam said the two sites in Iran could produce hundreds of thousands of barrels per day. But they have not produced that much oil yet. The sites are not yet mature, Alam said, as quoted by Reuters.



A recent report by the International Energy Agency shows that Irans oil production rose to 3.56 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) after international sanctions against the country were lifted in January, in exchange for the disabling of much of its nuclear infrastructure.



The last time Iran achieved such crude-oil production was in November 2011. The new figure has indicated that the worlds sixth-largest oil producer  coming in after Saudi Arabia, Russia, the US, China and Canada  is ready to move on from production stagnancy after being crippled by the sanctions for years.



Meanwhile, the deal will be Indonesias first investment in Irans upstream oil sector. Separately, last month, Pertamina agreed to purchase 600,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from NIOC.



Pertamina estimates that LPG consumption in Indonesia will reach 7.5 million tons in 2016, up 13.6 percent on last year. (adt)

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Linkedin Haeril Halim and Anggi M. Lubis (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29 2016

The government is prepared to deploy personnel to the Philippines following the latters move to grant future access to the Indonesian Military (TNI) for operations in its waters and possibly on land to release any Indonesian hostages held in Philippine territory.



The agreement, made on Sunday, will initially see the deployment of armed forces from both countries to closely escort Indonesian vessels in their respective sovereign waters.



The move is an attempt to prevent terrorist group Abu Sayyaf kidnapping Indonesian crew members as has occurred three times in the past three months. Twenty-one Indonesian crewmen have been kidnapped by the group in separate incidents.



If such a deterrent fails then the TNI, on its own initiative, has the right to launch military operations to release hostages being held in Philippine waters or on land.



Jakarta, through diplomatic lobbying and intensive negotiations with Manila, secured the release of 14 crewmen in May, only for Abu Sayyaf to kidnap another seven on June 20 in the waters off Jolo Island.



However, the TNI is unable to send its forces to the Philippines to release these seven hostages because Sundays agreement, which renewed a 1975 border patrol agreement between Indonesia and the Philippines, cannot be implemented retrospectively.



Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said prevention was the top priority of the agreement, but a military operation by the TNI to release hostages would be unavoidable in a state of emergency in the future.



The minister said the Philippines military had deployed 10,000 personnel to the southern parts of the country to besiege Abu Sayyaf and to release the seven sailors and dozens of foreign nationals the group had abducted.



I have instructed the operational assistant to the TNI chief to discuss operational technicalities with his counterpart in the Philippines, Ryamizard said on Tuesday.



The Philippines will have a new government on June 30 and the agreement has also received backing from the leadership of president-elect Rodrigo Duterte, said Ryamizard.



Around 96 percent of Philippine coal imports are from Indonesia, and Jakarta has imposed a moratorium on the transfer of coal to the country due to the recurring abduction of Indonesian tugboat crews.



Under the new agreement all Indonesian boats carrying coal to the Philippines will sail on designated routes that have been secured and are protected by the two countries navies. The Indonesian Navy is responsible for ensuring the safety of Indonesian boats in Indonesian waters, while the Philippines Navy is obliged to do so in that countrys sovereign waters.



In order to ensure the success of any military operation conducted by the TNI in Philippine territory in the future, the armed forces of the two countries will soon hold regular joint exercises.



At first we will try diplomatic and negotiation channels to release hostages in the future. If we have to take military action then we will, but it will cost lives for sure, especially of hostages. Thats something that we will consider before taking the last resort, Ryamizard said.



Jakarta emphasized that it would not pay the 20 million pesos (US$ 425,000) ransom demanded by Abu Sayyaf to release the seven hostages.



TNI chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo refused to comment on the possible deployment of forces to the Philippines in the future. Ask the defense minister about it, Gatot said.



President of the Indonesian Institute for Maritime Studies Connie Bakrie Rahakundini said both Indonesia and the Philippines must make use of current technology such as drones to conduct surveillance of the two countries waters in order to help personnel providing security in the region.



Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said she would soon travel to the Philippines to meet her counterpart in the new government to discuss the release of the seven hostages.



From the information we have gathered so far, the hostages are in good condition. They were abducted by two different groups but are now being kept together on Jolo Island, she said.



Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines armed forces were finalizing their standard operating procedures to jointly safeguard the economically strategic waters.



Among the elements to be discussed are joint patrols in the waters and the rapid response by naval ships from any of the three nations whenever a ship passing through the waters sends a distress signal, thus enabling cross-border action.

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Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar  Wed, June 29 2016

The Denpasar Police said on Tuesday they had arrested two vendors of juice made from psilocybin mushrooms, more popularly known as magic mushrooms, marking the first arrests since the mushrooms were classified as a type 1 narcotic in 2014.

NS, 40, and KW, 35, were arrested at two different stalls on Jl. Kuta Theater on Thursday night. From the two suspects, police seized a total of 6.3 kilograms of magic mushrooms, as well as blenders used to make the mushrooms into a drink.

Deputy Denpasar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. I Nyoman Artana told a press conference on Tuesday that KW and NS had run separate mushroom-selling businesses. KW runs a warung, while NS run a mobile-phone shop, and when police conducted raids on the warung and shop, they found the magic mushrooms stored in plastic boxes and bags inside refrigerators.

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Linkedin Bernardus Djonoputro (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29 2016

The scale and significance of the infrastructure challenge in Indonesia cannot be underestimated. Creating new growth centers around the country and developing the needed infrastructure are the main building blocks of Indonesias economic growth that are critical.

Set in complex economic and political circumstances of being the fourth most populous country and third largest democracy in the world, provision of infrastructure requires a focused strategy in

which both private investors and governments need to play significant roles.

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Linkedin Erika Anindita Dewi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

Democratic Party chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has gathered the partys senior officials to discuss internal matters following the arrest of party member I Putu Sudiartana in a bribery case.

Party spokesperson Imelda Sari said her side had yet to issue an official statement on the case as it was still waiting for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to make a statement.

"We do not know whether this [bribery] case is an individual act, or something that is related to his position as a member of House of Representatives Commission III, or because of his role as the party's vice chief treasurer," she said on Wednesday.

Imelda called on all parties to not make any judgments on the lawmaker because the KPK had yet to make a statement on the arrest.

The spokesperson said the meeting held at Yudhoyonos house in Cikeas, Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday, was in response to a KPK operation on Tuesday, during which the commissions investigators allegedly caught red-handed the lawmaker, who currently serves on Commission III overseeing legal affairs, human rights and security.

As of Wednesday afternoon, it remains unknown whether the KPKs operation is connected to Putus role as a Commission III lawmaker or the partys vice chief treasurer.

The KPK sealed Putu's office on the ninth floor of the Nusantara I building at the House complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Three other people were reportedly arrested in separate locations in the operation.

Putu attended a breaking of the fast gathering with KPK leaders and several lawmakers from Commission III before the arrest occurred.

Earlier this year, the antigraft body arrested Damayanti Wisnu Putranti of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction in a graft case related to a construction project. The KPK named Damayanti, who served on the House's Commission V overseeing infrastructure and transportation, a suspect in the case on Jan.14.

Damayanti is currently standing trial. Her colleagues on Commission V, namely Budi Supriyanto of the Golkar Party faction and Andi Taufan Tiro of the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction, have also been named suspects in the case. (ebf)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

Sinarmas Groups Smartfren Telecom has allocated US$100 million in capital expenditure (capex) this year, aiming to cover the blank spots in its service coverage.

The publicly listed company will proceed with the undisbursed lending facilities from China Development Bank worth $180 million of the total loan commitment secured in September 2015 worth $300 million.

"We will use $100 million this year, and the remainder $80 million can be allocated for 2017," Smartfren Telecom finance director Antony Susilo told thejakartapost.com on Wednesday in Jakarta.

He acknowledged that the capex allocation was relatively flat compared to last years as the company was not ambitious about expansion. The firm converted Rp 7.5 trillion ($568.2 million) debt into shares, lowering its debt-to-equity ratio from 3 times in 2014 to 2.05 times in 2015.

Last year, Smartfren upgraded 6,000 base trans-receiver stations (BTS) into 4G LTE (long-term evolution) network and cleaned up its 1900 Mhz CDMA (code division multiple access) network.

"Now we have 9,025 BTS in total. It is enough, and currently we are surveying the area where blank spots still appear," Smartfren Telecom president director Merza Fachys said. (ags)
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

The Wahid Foundation will collaborate with the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) in carrying out deradicalization programs in numerous areas across the country, especially in ex-conflict regions.

The foundation's director Yenny Wahid said they were scheduled to perform road shows in Ambon, Maluku, and Poso, Central Sulawesi, in which the latter would happen in September during the commemoration of World's Peace Day.

"We're planning to gather local figures to synchronize our perceptions and understandings on a strategy to curb radicalism in Indonesia," she said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The series of deradicalization programs varied depending on the targets, Yenny said. For example, former terrorists would share their repentance with mosque congregations, celebrities would be the deradicalization ambassadors to the youth and an economic approach would be taken at the grassroots level.

The involvement of former terrorists is a key to a successful deradicalization program especially in directing people not to go astray in interpreting Islamic teachings. "They can give testimonies and convince people not to take and get trapped in wrong choices," Yenny said.

Involving former big fish terrorists also will make it more likely for former allies, who studied about radical teachings from Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, to join and open themselves up, and to repent from radicalism. (ags)
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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

President Jokowi "Jokowi" Widodo has expressed his condolences to victims of a bomb blast at Turkish airport on Tuesday that claimed dozens of lives and wounded more than 140 people.

"Humanity is wounded. Deep condolences to victims of suicide bombing in Ataturk International Airport in Turkey. The world unites against terrorism - Jkw," wrote Jokowi via his personal Twitter account on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said the ministry had maintained continuous communication with the Indonesian Embassy in Ankara and Consulate General in Istanbul. Based on the information, of the total 728 Indonesian are currently residing in Turkey, no Indonesian victims had been reported so far. Yet, the ministry would intensively monitor news regarding the attacks and coordinate with local authorities to ensure the safety of Indonesian nationals there.

"The government also reminds all Indonesian citizens currently in Istanbul to stay vigilant and to ensure their own safety by avoiding public places. We remind all Indonesian citizens to follow the directives of local authorities," she said at the State Palace complex.

The Indonesian Embassy has opened a hotline on +905319831534 for those who need assistance or further information, while it also has another hotline for family members in Indonesia of those in Turkey on +6281290070027.
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Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

Canada is committed to intensifying collaboration with ASEAN countries in fighting climate change by providing development assistance for small and medium enterprises to be more environmentally friendly as well as cooperation in disaster risk management, a diplomat has said.

"Climate change has a huge impact and huge potential for damage to this region, so one of the biggest issues is actually preventing things before they happen," Canadian Ambassador to ASEAN Marie-Louise Hannan said during celebrations for Canada Day in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The event in the Indonesian capital, where the Canadian mission to ASEAN is located, took on the theme of "Green Canada" to convey the message of the North American country's commitment to combating the effects of climate change, according to the ambassador.

In the near future, Hannan went on, Canada would also focus on development assistance in the way of encouraging companies in the Southeast Asian region, of which many were small, medium and even micro enterprises, to use better environmental techniques and technologies in their businesses.

One of the biggest concerns ASEAN countries face in terms of environmental issues was closely linked to disaster risk management, she said. Canada had long focused on risk mitigation efforts and would continue to do so, especially in relation to the fact that many countries in the region had large coastal areas and were at high risk of natural disasters, Hannan added.

Canada and ASEAN celebrated their 39th year of dialogue partnership in February. Hannan is the first dedicated Canadian ambassador to ASEAN and presented her credentials in March.
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Linkedin (The Star/ANN) Petaling Jaya  Wed, June 29, 2016

Police are currently questioning former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad at his office in Putrajaya.

Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla confirmed that Mahathir was being questioned by police at his office at the Perdana Leadership Foundation.

Its still ongoing. My team are there in the session. I was having a trial so I am on my way there now, Mohamed Haniff told The Star Online.

As he was not yet present at the session, he could not share what exactly Mahathir was being questioned about.

This is the second time this month that the former premier has been questioned by the authorities.

Earlier in June, Mahathir was questioned at Yayasan Albukhary over his statement that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Malay Rulers had been placed under house arrest.
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Linkedin M. Veera Pandiyan (The Star/ANN)  Wed, June 29, 2016

He may be facing the biggest fight of his life but the charismatic leader of the worlds youngest democracy certainly didnt show it.

Jose Alexandre Xanana Gusmao dispensed with protocol and reached out to total strangers as he went on spontaneous walkabouts after arriving in Malacca for a conference, three days earlier.

While eating at stalls at the Portuguese Settlement, he hugged those who came up to see him and pose for photos, patted their backs and even helped to clear the dishes of fellow diners at his table.

The 67-year-old former president and prime minister of Timor Leste was clearly on a charm offensive, something which he does wherever he goes.

But it is no secret that the hero of the fledgling nation, whose two nicknames are Maun Boot (Big Brother) and Katuas (Old Man), is in the midst of a David-and-Goliath fight against a powerful neighbor  Australia.

After voluntarily stepping down as prime minister on Feb 6 last year, two years before his term was due to expire, the former rebel has remained as Minister for Planning and Strategic Investment.

And since then he has been focusing on negotiating a maritime boundary with Australia in the Timor Sea and along with it, the rights to the oil in its seabed.

Timor Leste signed the Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea with Australia 10 years ago.

Under the deal, Timor Leste gets 90 percent of the output of a Joint Petroleum Development Area with a proposed 50-50 split of Australian oil giant Woodside Petroleum Limiteds Greater Sunrise gas field.

The Greater Sunrise field, located about 100km from Timor Lestes coastline, is expected to generate about US$40 billion in revenues.

If the line is established in accordance with international law, it would entirely be within Timor Lestes Exclusive Economic Zone.

Australias boundary with the tiny nation, though, remains undefined.

Last month, Gusmao told a gathering in Sydney that while Australia had settled its maritime boundaries with its other five maritime neighbors bilaterally, it has refused to talk to Timor Leste about the remaining 1.8 percent of its boundary in the Timor Sea.

Highlighting that Timor Leste was clearly taken advantage of when it was at its weakest, he said: We were a young nation and a people with little or no experience in governance.

We were activists, freedom fighters and guerrillas.

We were babes in the woods when it came to negotiations and the world of petroleum resources.

We lacked knowledge in complex issues and experience in critical areas of state building. We knew nothing about that. That is why we accepted to transition for two years, he said.

Although Timor Lestes vulnerability was taken advantage of when the deals on how to divide resources in the Timor Sea were signed, he said they were not agreements marking maritime boundaries, stressing that there must be certainty on where the countrys sovereign rights began and ended.

In an affront to our dignity, Australia continues to maintain that it is generous in providing us with 90 percent of the revenue that has flowed from petroleum fields, which under international law, belong to us. So generous, so generous! he added.

The issue was first raised when Julia Gillard was prime minister of Australia but she insisted that no wrong had been done.

In 2013, Timor Leste filed secret proceedings in the Permanent Court of Arbitration, claiming that the treaties dividing petroleum revenue were null and void because Australia had bugged government offices in Timor Leste in 2004 when it undertook renovation works as part of an aid program.

The Australian governments response to the revelations was to send intelligence agency officers to raid the office of a Canberra lawyer who had been acting for Timor Leste and the home of a former spy, identified only as Witness K, and slap them with criminal charges.

Timor Leste, however, agreed to Australias request to put the case on hold in 2014, believing that it would lead to negotiations on the maritime border.

Australia did not admit to any violation of Timor Lestes sovereignty but returned the seized information last year.

Timor Leste is in a quandary as it cannot file a case against Australia in the International Court of Justice under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea because Australia is not a party to a clause allowing compulsory dispute resolution since 2002.

In March 10,000 people protested against the unfair maritime boundary, outside the Australian Embassy in Dili.

In April, the Australian Labour Partys shadow cabinet minister Tanya Plibersek addressed the glaring hypocrisy.

Among other things she said: Australias unwillingness to commit to maritime border negotiations with Timor Leste has raised valid questions about our commitment to a rules-based international system and to being a good global citizen.

This must change.

We are seeking to end more than 40 years of uncertainty over a maritime border, and committing to international norms that we expect others to follow.

At the same time as were saying that China and other nations that have claims in the South China Sea should submit themselves to arbitration and should abide by the outcome of that arbitration, particularly under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, its a bit rich if were not prepared to do it ourselves.

During dinner on Monday, I asked Gusmao about the latest developments on the boundary issue which his colleagues have described as his last big battle.

You can write about it later, after what is being said here. Write about the good things going on. You know, I am the ambassador of Malacca, he said, in relation to the 1st Asian Portuguese Community Conference aimed at re-establishing the language and cultural links among former Portuguese colonies and territories in Asia, which concluded this week.
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Linkedin Grace Leong (The Straits Times/ANN)  Wed, June 29, 2016

Britain is only No. 22 on the list of Singapore's trading partners, which means the United Kingdom's shock vote to leave the European Union (EU) - the world's largest trading bloc - may have only a marginal impact in the immediate term.

Singapore could emerge from this relatively unscathed, economists say, as its non-oil domestic exports to Britain account for less than 1 percent of total shipments, while imports from Britain constitute about 2 percent of Singapore's total imports.

The value of Singapore-British trade for the first five months of this year came to $4.94 billion (US$3,65 billion) up from $4.69 billion in the same period last year.

Brexit isn't bad news for everyone in Singapore. Companies like Hart Technologies, a Singapore-based dealer of fire protection equipment, will benefit from the pound's sharp drop against the Singdollar, as its imports from the UK are now cheaper, which helps boost its profit margin.

UOB economist Francis Tan said: "Singapore firms with manufacturing operations in the UK will benefit from the depreciating pound, as this will likely lead to an increase in exports. Similarly, expanding to the UK will be cheaper in Singdollar terms because of the weakened sterling."

But the pound's volatility cuts both ways. In the near term, sterling's free fall against most currencies is expected to hurt Asian exporters with strong exposure to UK markets, or with earnings denominated in pounds. But that is broadly manageable unless Brexit drags down demand across the EU as well, which would result in Asian exporters feeling a bigger squeeze, said Frederic Neumann, HSBC co-head of Asian Economic Research.

Economists are also concerned that Singapore's overall economy will be affected if British companies here start to pull back on investment in manufacturing due to the weaker pound against the Singdollar.

"In the near term, UK firms will need to evaluate their businesses overseas in light of the depreciating pound. UK companies here may scale back or hold back on investing in plants, equipment purchases or expansion in manufacturing because their labor costs, in sterling terms, are now much higher. That's scary because our manufacturing sector isn't doing well now," Tan said.

That in turn, could have a knock-on effect on local support services. "For instance, advertising, business and professional services, financial services may not get as much business if that happens," he warned.

An even bigger uncertainty in the long term is whether more European countries will follow Britain and leave the EU, which is Singapore's second-largest trading partner after China.

Polls suggest that countries such as the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and France may hold their own referendums on membership before long, and a negative outcome could put the integrity of the EU at risk. That would be a messy affair and its impact on the global economy, including Singapore's, will be severe, as trade, investment and labor mobility within Europe would be affected, DBS economist Irvin Seah said. That, in turn, would be detrimental to the global economy, which is already struggling with the structural slowdown in China.

This uncertainty over whether other member states will leave raises further questions about the chances of the EU-Singapore free trade agreement (FTA) bearing fruit, economists say.

The EU is also an important source of foreign direct investment for Singapore, accounting for some 31 percent of total FDI inflows in 2014. Last year, total EU imports from Singapore reached 18.9 billion (S$28.3 billion), while the EU exported 29.7 billion worth of goods here.

While the EU-Singapore FTA was concluded in 2012, it is pending ratification. The Ministry of Trade and Industry has said Britain will need to negotiate new agreements with its trading partners, including Singapore, as it will no longer be covered by existing EU agreements.

Negotiation of a new trade deal with Britain could take some time, perhaps even a few years, Tan said. In the interim, businesses may have to grapple with a lack of information, which may lead to higher operational costs.

Hart Technologies managing director Gn Chiang Yam is keeping a close watch on developments because his firm also imports products from the EU, and fears potential fallout if more members exit the bloc. But its volume of trade to the EU is not very big, so it doesn't expect "major repercussions", Gn said.

The impact of Brexit meanwhile may be less dramatic than feared.

The vote to leave does not mean Britain leaves the 28-member bloc immediately and its trading arrangements with the rest of the bloc will likely be unchanged for two years and possibly longer.

Furthermore, Britain is not expected to immediately invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty - which gives the departing country two years to agree on terms before its membership lapses - so it gets very welcome breathing space.

As Brexit is unlikely to occur until October 2018 at the earliest, Britain is still bound by certain EU rules on tax, such as aspects of value-added tax and customs duties.

"It's not obvious that there will be any material tax changes for Singapore companies importing from or exporting to Britain, whether before or after Brexit," said Philip Jeyaretnam, senior counsel, global vice-chair at law firm Dentons. "The most significant tax issue is likely to be the level of duties under a future UK-Singapore trade agreement. These could be the same, higher or lower than under the existing EU-Singapore agreement, or there could be no agreement for some time."

Singapore companies that planned to invest in Britain as the gateway to Europe will have to re-evaluate the pros and cons of that choice, added Jeyaretnam.

He said: "How important EU access is to business differs from industry sector to sector. Nonetheless, a number of factors favoring Britain, such as its language, its excellent legal system and its flexible labor market, will not change."

Replacing the EU's free trade deal with Asia will not be easy for Britain, ANZ Research warned.

"Once Britain is out of the EU, it will not enjoy similar trading privileges with Asia. Negotiating bilateral deals will not be easy. If no new FTAs with Asia are in place when Britain leaves the EU, they will be subject to prevailing World Trade Organization tariffs," it said.

Much will depend on the terms of Britain's exit from the EU, said Chris Humphrey, executive director of the EU-ASEAN Business Council.

"If Britain ends up remaining within the European single market, there might not be much change. If, however, Britain ends up completely outside of that market, Britain will have to consider priorities for negotiating its own trade agreements with its partners around the world," he added.

While London has established itself as the financial capital of Europe with a much larger market capitalization than the second-tier financial capitals such as Paris and Frankfurt, this could change.

Paris and Frankfurt with harmonized financial and services standards are likely to rise in prominence as Europe's financial capitals, ANZ said.

Paris is already a major hub for London-based HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, and Frankfurt is Europe's second-largest financial center. Other contenders include Amsterdam, Luxembourg and Dublin, which has a similar legal system as the UK.

Meanwhile, some economists are raising concerns over bank loans to Singapore exporters to Britain.

"If these companies are exporting less because of the strength of the Singdollar against the pound, that could hit their revenues and affect whether they can pay their loans," UOB's Tan said.

"And if they export less, companies that typically get foreign exchange services, or treasuries services through banks, may not need as much of those services, which could in turn affect banks' fees and revenues."

Despite uncertainty over how things may unfold in the ongoing Brexit drama, there will likely be enough time and space for Singapore companies doing business in Britain and Europe to adjust to the new reality.

In the interim, they could consider diversifying exports to other non-EU countries as part of a longer-term strategy.
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Linkedin Justin Zack (The Star/ANN) Petaling Jaya, Malaysia  Wed, June 29, 2016

The incident involving two Indonesian fighter jets visually identifying a Malaysian C-130 aircraft near the Natuna Islands will not strain the relations between Malaysia and Indonesia.

Defense Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein told the media that he had spoken with his Indonesian counterpart after breaking fast with the troops at Kem Banding in Perak on Monday.

According to a Defense Ministry official, the Indonesian Defende Minister Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu told Hishammuddin that there were no issues, including military matters, that could not be settled amicably due to the close ties between them.

The official added that Ryamizard had given his assurance that he would look into the matter seriously and take action if needed.

Both parties also agreed that the incident would not affect bilateral relations between the two countries.

On the recent Cabinet reshuffle, Hishammuddin said that it was a necessary move.

The posts were filled by people we know and have been tried and tested, he said, adding that the ministry would work hand in hand with the rest of the Cabinet to pursue the national agenda.

On Monday, Hishammuddin and Army Chief Jen Tan Sri Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor visited the Marker November army base in Perak to meet soldiers on duty, before joining the other army personnel at Kem Banding.

At Marker November, representatives of the nearby orang asli communities also spoke to the minister during a meeting before receiving essential items like rice.

Speaking to reporters after his visit to the forward army base, Hishammuddin called for the public to appreciate the sacrifices of the armed forces, especially during the festive seasons as they have to be away from their loved ones.

He added that there were about 6,000 soldiers guarding the countrys borders during the festive period.
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Linkedin Rob Gillies (Associated Press) Ottawa  Wed, June 29, 2016

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that Canada will lift visa requirements for Mexican visitors as of December 2016, removing a major irritant in relations between the two countries.

Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto made the announcement in Ottawa ahead of Wednesday's North American leaders' summit with U.S. President Barack Obama.

Pena Nieto also announced Mexico has agreed to open its markets to Canadian beef.

"We are here to renew the relationship," Pena Nieto said. "There were some rocks on the way and one was the visa."

Canada's previous Conservative government imposed the visa requirement in 2009, claiming it was needed to stop thousands of asylum claims being made by Mexican citizens. The requirement caught the Mexican government off guard, and it marred relations.

The Liberal Party promised during last year's election campaign that the visa requirement would be lifted, but the process has been fraught with delays.

(Read also: Lombok airport becomes free-visa entry point)

"This move will make it easier for Mexicans friends to visit Canada while growing our local economy," Trudeau said. Trudeau also said the opening of Mexico to Canadian beef will help Canadian farmers.

Pena Nieto will attend a state dinner in his honor on Tuesday night.

Trudeau also hosted a banquet for the Mexican president Monday in Toronto, where the prime minister said the two leaders would continue discussions touching on the flow of people and goods between their countries.

A White House adviser said Monday that Wednesday's summit will focus on a North American-wide commitment to cut methane emissions and release what the adviser said will be a comprehensive North American climate, clean energy and environment partnership.

A North American leaders' summit was scheduled to be held last year but was cancelled amid the Canada-U.S. dispute over the Keystone XL oil pipeline and the dispute over the visa requirement.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

In a bid to attract more tourists from neighboring countries, the Tourism Ministry is set to held crossborder festivals in border areas.

The ministry's festival division head for the Asia-Pacific market, Adella Raung, said 54 festivals would be held countrywide including in Atambua in East Nusa Tenggara. "For the crossborder festival in Atambua, the event will be held every month from May to December," Adella said as quoted by kompas.com on Tuesday.

(Read also: Fifty art groups to perform at 15th Lima Gunung Festival)

With a line-up featuring a music concert, bazaar, horse race and motor cross, the ministry reportedly collaborated with the Indonesian Embassy in Timor Leste and the neighboring country's Tourism Ministry for the Atambua festival. "Around 37,000 people or maybe more are set to attend the festival in Atambua. We are targeting to attract at least 2,000 Timor Leste tourists each month," said Adella.

Jayapura in Papua is also slated to hold eight events between June and November, comprising music performances, a bazaar and a culinary festival in a bid to lure 4,500 tourists from Papua New Guinea each month.

The ministry is targeting to attract 12 million foreign tourists by the end of the year. By April, the number of foreign arrivals in the country had reportedly reached 3,518,726. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

Private carrier Sriwijaya Air is slated to offer regular flights to China starting the end of this year.

Sriwijaya Air Group senior manager corporate communications Agus Soedjono said the carrier planned to expand its market by offering flights to four cities in China including Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan and Changsa. Set to offer one daily flight for each destination, all the new routes will depart from Denpasar in Bali using Boeing 737-800NG airplanes that can accommodate 185 passengers.

(Read also: Garuda Indonesia unveils new Business Class)

"The [new routes] are part of our support in increasing the number of foreign tourist arrival to Indonesia," said Agus as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday.

The carrier previously only offered chartered flights to several cities in China such as Chengdu, Nanning, Wuhan, Meixian, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guangzhou; all departing from Denpasar as well. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 29, 2016

With Chinas gaokao (national college entrance exams) over, high school graduates are indulging in an interim period of leisure activities. Among the favorite endeavors is plastic surgery, with Chinese parents seeing it as an investment as they believe appearances play a part in career opportunities.

Li Weiwei, director of the cosmetic center at Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, told the Beijing Morning Post that she had had a full schedule recently. My clients have gotten younger in recent years, she said, referring to the influx of 17- to 18-year-old patients.

Double eyelid surgery accounts for the majority of plastic surgery appointments booked by Lis patients, with 70 percent. With bigger eyes, patients believe they look more energetic, and hence will have greater chances in the job market  and, for girls, in the boyfriend market as well. The remaining 30 percent seek nose reshaping and implant surgeries.

Li said college students, in contrast, were more cautious about getting on the surgery table, preferring micro plastic surgery (such as face-thinning injections, skin whitening and hyaluronic acid nose fillers) to regular plastic surgery.

(Read also: High-tech steps to curb cheating in college entrance exam)

Owing to the lower costs in China compared to other countries, overseas Chinese students also return to their homeland for cosmetic treatment.

Last year, Wang Yongqian, deputy director of the Orthopedic Department at the Plastic Surgery Hospital affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, reported that the hospital conducted several thousand plastic surgery operations during the summer holidays.

There are students who take celebrities photos and ask for similar faces. One girl wanted her eyes to look like Park Chan Yeols, one of the boys in the Korean idol group, EXO. I persuaded her to give up that idea, Wang said, according to Beijing Today.

Boys are not exempt from such pressures. Often visiting in groups, Li said boys typically chose someone to be a guinea pig before the remaining group members underwent procedures. (sab/kes)
Monday nights Rent Guidelines Board meeting in Cooper Unions Great Hall opened with chants of Fight, fight, fight  Housing is a right! and El Pueblo unido jamas sera vencido!

Each year the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB), which consists of two tenant-members, two owner-members, four public-members and a chair, decides how much landlords can raise the rent of over a million stabilized apartments in New York City.

The owner-members proposal  to increase one year leases by 3% and two year leases by 5%  was booed by the audience of tenant activists and ultimately shot down by a 7-2 vote.

The tenant-members, Sheila Garcia and Harvey Epstein, proposed a rent rollback of 4% on one year leases and a 2% rollback on two year leases.

Were here about landlords being overcompensated for years and decades, Garcia said amid cheers from the crowd.

This is not a free market. We have the rent stabilized housing stock for a reason. We have the Rent Guidelines Board for a reason, Epstein added. Tenants are struggling.

Despite roars of approval from the audience, Garcia and Epsteins proposed rollback was also defeated by a 7-2 vote.

In the end, the board voted in favor of a rent freeze for one year leases and an increase of 2% for two year leases.

While many were disappointed that the proposed rollback failed, the rent freeze offered some reassurance.

Elizabeth Ortiz has lived in rent stabilized housing on the Lower East Side her whole life. I felt a little bit relieved, she said of the RGBs final vote. It couldve definitely been far worse.

Noranda Bracero is also a lifetime LES resident and works as a housing counselor at GOLES. This affects all of our clients, our community, she said. Its drastic what we have to do to protect our homes.
After decades of preserving and managing the collection of William Heath Robinsons work, the William Heath Robinson Trust are on the cusp of completing the first new bespoke museum in London since 1976 in Harrow, Pinner.

The Trust was awarded the go ahead in 2012 by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and having raised 1.5 million from the council and other sources the project is underway - but there is a shortfall of 140,000 needed to complete the Museum for its expected opening in May 2017, which has been extended.

The project will see The West House in Pinner, which is already a cultural centre and war memorial, extended to make space for a museum.

Heath Robinson moved to Pinner in 1908 where he spent much of his life. Donations are being requested through the Trusts website.

The Heath Robinson Trust, established in 1992 by the artists daughter, Joan Brinsmead, holds the largest collection in the world of his works. The collection, which includes images he did for The Complete Works of Shakespeare between 1921 and 1922 that were never published, is currently held at Harrow Museum Store, waiting eagerly for its new home where it can be gazed upon by fans and spectators.

We are lodgers there under sufferance, Geoffrey Beare, a Trustee of the WHRT and leading expert on the artist, told the Independent two years ago. "They will be relieved when we can move out into our own space."

Heath Robinson has indisputably earned his name into the vernacular. There are few who haven't heard the name, but just for those few who have been living under a rock...

William Heath Robinson, born in 1872, was an English cartoonist and illustrator best known for his drawings of complicated machines and contraptions. He studied at the Islington Art school and the Royal Academy and began his career with ambitions to become a landscape painter, but instead started illustrating books and plays including William Shakespeares Twelth Night (1908) and A Midsummer Nights Dream (1914).

It was his cartoons of complicated contraptions that achieved simple results that raised his profile. Satirising the self-importance of those caught up in the age of technology made him famous. In 1912 the phrase Heath Robinson contraption entered the dictionary. He died in 1944.

Fans might just describe their pursuit of setting their eyes upon his art as a Heath Robinson. Although, it may seem like a easy job to simply hang a picture on a wall for the public to see, the Heath Robinson Trust have worked tirelessly to create a permanent home for its collection of the art, as well as create opportunities for the public and local community to explore the diverse output of one of this countrys best loved artists.

"Your absurd, beautiful drawings... give me a peculiar pleasure of the mind like nothing else in the world."

- H.G. Wells in a letter to Heath Robinson in 1914

The publics hunger to feast their eyes on William Heath Robinsons works is well documented. In 2003, a major exhibition from the Trusts collection was shown at Dulwich Picture Gallery and received over 500 visitors per day, attracting large national media attention. The BBC and Channel 4 are known to have carried stories on Heath Robinson, with the BBC even making a documentary to celebrate his life and work.

After Dulwich, the exhibition travelled to the Holbourne Museum in Bath, the Walker Gallery in Liverpool and The Laing in Newcastle where is saw over a remarkable 87,000 visitors in a 15-week period.

In February the WHRT appointed museum manager Sophie Smith, a former assistant curator at the Farnham Museum and graduate in archaeology and ancient history from Newcastle, and a Masters in cultural heritage management at the University of York. Smith told Harrow Times: I am very excited to be part of the Heath Robinson Museum.

The West House has so far sold 4,900 copies of its Heath Robinson book, but will soon be able to display his actual pictures and designs.

Residents of Pinner can expect the town to be a wash with visitors as people are expected to come from all around the country to visit the highly anticipated collection of the artist that is so widely revered.

Whilst there are still many decisions to be made like the display of the collection, opening hours, pricing policies and events, for the local community and Heath Robinson fans, there is a lot to get excited about.
Nearly thirty years since the British Governments Dont Die of Ignorance campaign to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS, the virus seems to have largely disappeared from public attention.

However there have never been more people living with HIV in the UK than there are now. At the end of 2014, Public Health England discovered that around 1 in every 6 of the estimated 103,700 HIV positive people living in Britain were undiagnosed. There seems to be a worrying lack of awareness in society that needs to be addressed.

We no longer need to be afraid of HIV in the UK; there may not be a cure, but there is available treatment to help people with HIV to live long and healthy lives. Despite this, there seems to be a general reluctance to acknowledge and discuss the issue openly.

Sat in a bustling cafe in Brixton, I met with fashion designer Jacob Alexander and filmmaker Danny Germain to discuss the ways in which they are each tackling the issue. Both Alexander and Germain are drawing upon their personal experiences to create projects aimed at encouraging a more informed and open discourse about HIV.

Alexander was diagnosed as HIV positive on the morning of his 22nd birthday. At a time when he particularly needed the support of those around him, he received an unkind and insensitive reaction from his best friend. He reflected it was really hard losing people my best friend was completely different with me and that really hurt. It highlighted an unnecessary discomfort with HIV that many people seem to share.

After being diagnosed with HIV, Alexander became frustrated by the approach medical staff took regarding his treatment. For the most part, he felt that they failed to provide him with sufficient emotional support, having a consistent focus on reducing the risk of him passing the virus on to others. He believes that there is room for improvement for the wellbeing and care for people with HIV, definitely.

Alexander launched The Positive Project on 25th May 2016 to coincide with the broadcast of a TEDx talk that he had delivered. The project runs alongside his menswear collection JACOB ALXNDR, which debuted at a show followed by a talk by Alexander on 9th June 2016. Utilising the power of technology and the selfie trend to reach global audiences, The Positive Project aims to educate others on HIV, break down the stigma and unite supporters of the cause worldwide.

The Positive Projects app allows users to post selfies of themselves wearing a Positive Project T-Shirt on the apps Selfie Map. Within the app, there is detailed information on HIV, advice on the protection against transmission of the virus, as well as details about HIV clinics and how to contact them. Alexanders personal voice runs throughout the app, resulting in a powerful relatability to him and his story.

Alexander found inspiration from the 2005 film The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants to use fashion to reach international audiences. He was reminded of the film in January when he walked past a showing of it in Camden. Jacob said he thought How can I get something around the world?  I was in bed and it just came to me, I thought I know, Ill make an app with selfies and T-shirts. And it was actually a really good idea!

Born as HIV positive, Germain felt a pressure to keep his HIV a secret from the majority of his friends and family until he was 22. He grew up hiding his HIV, but struggled to see why this was something that I couldnt tell everyone else.

Two years in the making, Germains documentary follows his journey of publicly revealing his HIV. The documentary includes footage of him announcing to a large audience of friends and family that he is HIV positive at an event poignantly dated on the anniversary of his mothers tragic death from AIDS.

Having wished to openly reveal his HIV prior to the making of his film but without knowing how to do so, Germain struggled to relate to the limited accounts of other HIV positive people that he found. Some clips that he had watched silhouetted speakers to protect their identity, and any examples of people talking openly were usually filmed a significant period of time after the speakers had first revealed their HIV. As a young person, Germain found it difficult to relate to either of these types of examples: I never really saw a point at which that person must have gone from one day living with it secretly, to one day living with it openly, and I wanted to find out all about their mind-set and how they did that. What did they think about it?

By making this documentary, Germain hopes that his experiences can support other people living with HIV to become more comfortable talking about it. He was fortunate to have received nothing but love and support when he publicly revealed his HIV. The fear of a negative reaction was nonetheless there beforehand, as he was aware of the stigma that has significantly affected Alexander and many others. Germains documentary holds an important message about recognising the progression in our society and looking past the judgemental views of some regarding HIV, to see the supportiveness and acceptance amongst others.

Since beginning work on the documentary and openly revealing his HIV, Germain has noticed others around him become more comfortable in talking with him about it. He considered, if [somebody knows] someone with it, and theyre okay, I feel like they are far more likely to engage with it as a friend theyre interested in you to make sure youre okay.

Having been HIV positive his whole life, Germain said: Ive not known a life without it I dont feel any different, this is just how it is, and thats fine.

As Alexanders voice runs throughout his app, Germains documentary is also incredibly personal, and the two are providing insights into the realities of living with HIV. Their work encourages people to engage with the topic and recognise that HIV is not something to fear or avoid talking about.

If we avoid discussing HIV, we avoid learning about it. Education is vital for breaking down misconceptions surrounding the virus.

Alexander advised that if you use the wrong kind of lube and the wrong kind of condom it will split, and it can also cause friction burns... friction burns are torn tissue, and torn tissue is a breeding ground for bacteria and HIV.

It was stressed by both Alexander and Germain that it is hugely important for more people to familiarise themselves with the facts on HIV and to get tested for it.

Jacob Alexander and Danny Germain are incredibly inspirational young people. They are both dedicated to disproving and destroying the negative stigma attached to HIV, encouraging more awareness and understanding of it in society.

To find out more about HIV and Jacob Alexander and Danny Germains work, download The Positive Project app for free from the app store and keep a look out for Germains documentary which is coming soon.
Nicola Sturgeon is to hold talks with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels today as she attempts to keep Scotland in the European Union.

The First Minister is also expected to meet European Parliament president Martin Schulz and Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister and leader of the Liberal group at the European Parliament.

(Andrew Milligan/PA)

It is understood European Council president Donald Tusk has no plans to meet Sturgeon because he does not consider it to be the right time.

The meeting with Schulz is expected to be the most high profile of the First Minsters meetings but Margaritis Schinas, chief spokesman for Mr Juncker, tweeted on Wednesday morning:

The First Ministers visit comes after MSPs voted to give her a mandate to hold discussions with EU institutions, as well as the UK Government and other devolved nations.

Sturgeon has said that everything must be on the table to protect Scotlands place in Europe after the UK voted to leave the EU, while the majority of Scots voted to stay.

Speaking ahead of the Brussels visit, she said: My objective at this very early stage is firstly to raise awareness of the fact that Scotland voted differently in this referendum to the UK as a whole and that there is an aspiration and desire in Scotland, cross-party, to protect Scotlands relationship with the European Union and our place in the European Union.

(Andrew Milligan/PA)

And secondly, to begin the process of mapping out and exploring what the options for Scotland might be.

Im very aware that this is a long process ahead of us, its likely to be a difficult and challenging process, but Im determined that we take every possible step to protect Scotlands interests at every stage of it.

The First Ministers diplomatic mission comes as the European Council summit, chaired by Tusk, continues.

The heads of state or government are meeting informally to discuss the political and practical implications of the referendum results after David Cameron outlined the UKs position on Tuesday.
After the final result of the referendum was revealed Friday morning, ethnic minority groups have been the recipients of various types of verbal assaults  from being told to go home to vicious racial slurs.

The number of hate crimes reported to the police has risen by 57%. There were 54 reported incidents between Thursday and Sunday four weeks earlier, compared to the 85 incidents reported last week during the same four days. The only difference being that the latter data was collected following the Leave result of the referendum.

A police source told The Guardian: Its no coincidence this has come off the back of the EU vote.

A major feature of the Leave campaign was focused on immigration, so a lot of people with strong feelings regarding the subject have been feeling especially encouraged to speak their minds due to the outcome.

And this sudden surge in outward distaste for anyone deemed different is nothing to take lightly.

Many have spoken out and shared their stories, like Kimberly Roberts, a nanny in London who was called a Chink on the Tube over the week and was told she would have to go back home soon.

Polish student Agata Brzezniak was confronted by a woman who told him to be scared and to be prepared to have to get a visa to be able to stay in her country.

In response to incidents like these, a Facebook group has been created called Worrying Signs that already has over 11,000 followers. It is dubbed a space where you can share information, post pictures, add screen grabs (etc.) of any worrying signs or incidents of racism/xenophobia youve come across since the UK EU referendum results.

Post Ref Racism on both Twitter and Facebook is similar in its conception, giving people the opportunity to feel equipped to shut down the racism they witness/experience. The organisers behind this page wrote: We must not stand by and tolerate the normalisation and mainstreaming of racism. Just because weve voted to leave the European Union DOES NOT mean there is a democratic mandate for racist harassment, aggression, intimidation or hate speech.

The need for media forums and outlets such as these is concerning regarding race relations in the UK, especially considering that it has only been a few days into this post-decision era and there is already an increase in racial abuse.

The chief executive for Stop Hate UK, Rose Simkins, said: Hate crime is generally very underreported but what we are seeing in the last few days is the result of more people being targeted and more people coming forward to report because of fear for their safety.
Turkeys prime minister has called a suicide blast at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul a heinous planned attack as the Foreign Office said it was urgently seeking further information about possible British casualties.

More than 36 people have been killed and a further 147 wounded in the attack and reports have suggested those figures are set to rise. Heres what we know so far.

How was the attack carried out?

(Emrah Gurel/AP/PA)

Three suicide bombers arrived at the entrance of Ataturk Airport in Istanbul in a taxi and detonated explosives after they had opened fire.

IS suspected to have carried out the attack

(Emrah Gurel/AP/PA)

Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim has said: The findings of our security forces point at the Daesh organisation as the perpetrators of this terror attack, he said. Even though the indications suggest Daesh, our investigations are continuing.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack, which took place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorism strikes with no regard to faith and values.

Calling on the international community to take a firm stand against terrorism, he said: Turkey has the power, determination and capacity to continue the fight against terrorism until the end.

IS has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

Foreign nationals among the victims

(Emrah Gurel/AP/PA)

Yildirim has said there are foreigners are among the victims and called for global co-operation in tackling terrorism.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond described himself as shocked by the incident and said we stand ready to help.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: We are in close contact with authorities in Istanbul and urgently seeking further information following an incident at Ataturk Airport. Our staff in Istanbul and London stand ready to support any British nationals affected.

Prime Minister David Camerons reaction from Brussels

(Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP/PA)

David Cameron described the terrorist attack as hideous.

Cameron, in Brussels for what is likely to be his final EU summit meeting with fellow leaders, said the UK would continue to work with the other countries after Brexit on keeping our countries safe, keeping our people safe  and its particularly important to say that tonight again when there has been another hideous terrorist attack in Turkey.

Eyewitness accounts

(Emrah Gurel/AP/PA)

Eyewitness Will Carter who was inside the terminal, said he heard explosions. Speaking to Radio 5Live he said: I saw a fireball and some of the ceiling came down  just before there was panic and people running.

BBC correspondent Mark Lowen was grounded on the runway after landing at the airport and said he was held on the tarmac for around four hours before being allowed off the aircraft and into the terminal.

Reporting from the scene he said: You can see how chaotic the situation is here. Huge crowds of people are trying to get into the terminal building.

Flights have resumed at Ataturk airport

(Emrah Gurel/AP/PA)

Flights in and out of the airport, which is one of the busiest in the world, were suspended after the attack but Yildirim said air traffic had now resumed.

Turkey has been targeted by terrorists in recent months

(Emrah Gurel/AP/PA)

Turkey has suffered several deadly attacks in recent months which have been blamed on Kurdish separatists or IS. Several of the bombings targeted areas popular with tourists while another attack on a military barracks in Ankara killed 28 people.

The latest attack comes just months after Brussels was hit by suicide bombings at the airport and on the Metro. IS claimed responsibility for the attacks on March 22, which killed 32 and wounded another 270.
Stephen Crabb has announced his bid for the Tory leadership under the slogan a plan for unity and opportunity.

But some people are questioning his credentials on unity, saying his views on homosexuality mean he shouldnt be the next Tory leader and Prime Minister.

#stephencrabb voted against gay marriage legislation in 2013 - I hope he is not counting on support from the #lgbt community now  Alan Murrin (@AlanMurrin) June 29, 2016



Q for Stephen Crabb: As PM would you congratulate @JustineGreening for coming out? #ToryLeaderQs #ToryLeadership  Alex Matthews (@alex_jmatthews) June 29, 2016



stephen crabb has consistently voted against disability benefits, gay marriage, and trade union activity. stephen crabb can get in the bin.  emma garland (@emmaggarland) June 29, 2016



In 2013 Crabb voted against gay marriage, and in 2007 he voted against the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations which outlawed discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Crabb defended his decision to vote against gay marriage at the time, saying he voted in line with his Christian faith.

(theyworkforyou.com)

The Guardian says Crabb was a parliamentary intern for the Christian group Care, and has since taken interns from the organisation to work with him. The organisation is opposed to same-sex marriage.

Crabb said his views were not relevant to the leadership campaign.

Crabb says the issue of gay marriage is now settled, consigned to history, and he stands for equality for all, including sexuality  Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) June 29, 2016



He said: We had that debate in the last Parliament about gay marriage. I voted the way I did but Im very happy with the outcome that issue is now settled, we move on from it.
As it currently stands, the Labour Party appears to be in freefall.

Yesterday 172 Labour MPs voted no confidence in (still pretty much newbie) leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Party frontbenchers are continuing to hand in their notice. More than 20 members of his shadow cabinet have gone and pretty much the same amount of junior ministers have also thrown in the towel. A minimal 40 MPs are stilling showing support for their leader. Yet he is refusing to resign. Yesterday 172 Labour MPs voted no confidence in (still pretty much newbie) leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Party frontbenchers are continuing to hand in their notice.A minimal 40 MPs are stilling showing support for their leader. Yet he is refusing to resign.

The Labour MP chairing the no confidence motion is Dame Margaret Hodge, who described the recent Parliament Labour Party meeting as "extraordinary".

Hodge said, "I couldn't believe the strength of feeling, the overwhelming rejection of Jeremy as our leader, and the pleading with him that he should consider his position and go with dignity.

So where has all this come from? Basically, Labour MPs think hes a pretty shoddy leader  something that has come out clearly since the referendum result on Friday.

Traditional Labour areas voted pro-Brexit, calling into question the strength of Labours muted Remain campaign. Whilst Labour took a stance as the party to campaign for Remain, they didnt exactlty make the campaigning slam-dunk that they were expected to.

Rumours have now been emerging that Corbyn himself was unsure about remaining in the EU. He described himself as being 7/10 when it came to remaining, in contrast to David Cameron, who campaigned until he was blue in the face.

It has been suggested that the Labour campaign was actively sabotaged. Leaked emails have suggested that Labour, including Communications Chief Seumas Milne, tried to damage the Remain campaign. Its said that Milne, when editing a Corbyn speech, said "If he can't kill it, he will water it down so much to hope nobody notices it."

Corbyn famously refused to join in a cross-party rally to campaign for remaining in Europe as he didnt want to appear with David Cameron. He failed to recognise that this wasnt a campaign about Labour vs. Conservatives or Corbyn vs. Cameron, but a campaign for the direction of the country.

Not only that, but it meant Corbyn was missed among other party leaders and yet again showed he had little interest in contributing to the biggest democratic vote in recent times.

The rumour mill kept spinning when one of the Cabinet ministers who resigned, Chris Bryant, said that he had asked Corbyn how he had voted and he wouldnt respond. Bryant told BBC News "I suspect Jeremy may have voted to leave.

Not only does this cast doubt on where Jeremy Corbyn stands, it also suggests that he doesnt take his own mantra of Straight talking, honest politics seriously.

Maybe Jeremy refused to answer as he felt he didnt need to and it was stupid for Bryant to suggest he would have voted for Brexit. But theres no doubt this would have raised red flags.

After a landslide victory for party leader in 2015, Labour party members did express their initial dismay at Jeremy Corbyns win. So, maybe this was the perfect opportunity to get him to stand down? He has maintained throughout that he will stand strong and not resign.

There may well, however, be another leadership election - voted on by party members - in which he will stand. If Corbyn does win, could this mean we will see an entirely new Labour party? This might not be a disaster, but the start of dramatic change.

Though he isnt popular among his MPs, he has been extremely popular with the party members. A Labour spokesman said: The people who elect the leader of the Labour party are the members of the Labour Party and Jeremy has made that crystal clear. Hes not going to concede to a corridor coup or backroom deal which tries to flush him out.

He was elected by an overwhelming majority of the Labour party. He is not going to betray those people and stand down because of pressure.

Jeremy Corbyn was very much the peoples choice. He was the every-man that every other politician seemed to aspire to be, but the referendum was probably his first real opportunity to prove himself as a viable leader. He has failed this challenge.

Whether you think Corbyn is a good leader or not the fact still stands: Labour are falling apart. This chaos is not what the second biggest political party need when another general election could be imminent. Whether you believe in Jeremy Corbyn or not, the real question is whether Labour is able to lead a country - or even an effective opposition - in its current disbanded state. The answer that you'll probably reach is not a positive one.
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For the past century, the Panama Canal has served as a bridge between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but changes needed to be made to adapt for the next century. On June 26th, a newly-expanded canal opened up, boasting a now doubled capacity for freight traffic and size.

With larger freight ships, the issue became that the canal was both too narrow and too shallow, issues that the expansion is meant to tackle. It will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a current expectation of 35 to 40 ships passing through every day, as per the Guardian.

The canal allows for expedited transport of commercial goods, ranging from automobiles to grain. Before, if a company on the West Coast in the U.S. wanted to ship to the East Coast, the ship would have circumnavigated the entirety of South America and sailed back up North to its destination.

Although boosted capacity certainly has positive implications for Panama, a dampened reputation due to the Mossak Fonseca Panama Papers leak along with a need for more water in the channel are a few of many potential difficulties. Lets take a look at why the expansion matters, and how we can expect it to impact the rail/shipping industry.

How Was the Canal Improved?

Canals use locks, a system meant to raise or lower watercraft between areas of water that may not necessarily be even. This is integral to canals, as their sole purpose is to allow for the quick and safe transit of watercraft.

The Panama Canal previously had a capacity of up to 5,000 TEUs, with the TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit) serving as the unit of capacity on a container ship. According to the official website for the Panama Canal, the post-expansion capacity is up to between 13,000 and 14,000 TEUs.

Each lock complex has three levels, and creates a new lane with a lock on each side. The website states that this provides a capacity to handle vessels up to 49 meters (160 feet) wide, 366 meters (1,200 feet) long and 15 meters (50 feet) deep.

Story continues

The expansion is also meant to make the Panama Canal more competitive with Egypts Suez Canal, which has the capacity to handle mega-ships with a capacity of 14,501 TEU and higher. The Suez Canal is longer, has no locks and costs less than the Panama Canal, however both handle similar levels of traffic.

Benefits to Trade and Industry

As our team points out, the Panama Canal expansion is significant for investors interested in the railroad industry. Normally, Asian exports are transported by ship to the West Coast, after which they are transported by train to the East Coast by such firms as BNSF, a subsection of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. BRK.B and Union Pacific Corp UNP.

Because the Panama Canal now has an expanded capacity, many of these larger ships will simply make use of the canal instead of railways to transport their goods, which stands to negatively impact the aforementioned firms that have heavy presence in the West Coast.

Although the canal negatively impacts some companies, this doesnt mean that the entire industry will be hurt by it. Companies such as Norfolk Southern Corp. NSC and CSX Corp. CSX that move cargo to the Gulf Coast are in position to benefit from increased volume in the Panama Canal.

Expansion of the Panama Canal reduces the cost of imported goods while also creating increased access to Asian markets for U.S. exporters. Because freight ships have significantly more capacity than trains, increased use of the canal will decrease shipping costs for many companies, being that ships are a slightly slower but cost effective method for transport.

Outlook Isnt Picture Perfect

As the New York Times points out, there are many concerns about the Panama Canal. One such concern involves the concrete that lines the walls of the locks. There have been past situations in which water broke through the concrete. The budget for concrete in the expansion was comparatively small, 71% smaller than the next lowest bidder for the contract.

Another concern comes from tugboat captains, who say that the canal locks have too small a margin of error and could make navigation more challenging. This coupled with concerns about the depth of the waterway creates doubt about the reliability of the canal. Officials are hopeful that three-water saving basins, which will reuse 60 percent of water in each transit, will help to reduce this strain.

Panama itself could potentially serve as somewhat of a liability, concerning it is a nation still shaking off the aftereffects of the Panama Papers scandal, which has decreased traffic in the region. Furthermore, its large earthquake risk could pose a threat down the road. The canal waterway also serves as tap water for the people of Panama, who will have to be aware of their usage so as not to overly diminish reserves.

Macroeconomic headwinds will also play a direct role in the utilization of the canal. A slower Chinese economy coupled with aftershocks of Brexit could potentially reduce export volumes. Competition with the Suez Canal, for which further expansion is also planned, also serves as a potential threat.

Bottom Line

The Panama Canal has served as a vital trade route for over a century now, but as the case with any longstanding structure, it has to keep up with the times. Its recent expansion is a direct response to increasing demand, and does have a lot of potential. However, as is the case with anything, it is not without its dangers and difficulties.

The challenges are only beginning, and whether or not the expansion will pay off is something that investors will have to watch as time goes on. The Panama Canal has a lot of economic firepower, but theres no way of knowing yet if it will have to surrender that in the near future.

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El Chapo Guzman pinata image

Lawyers for jailed Mexican kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman filed two appeals against his extradition late Monday night in Mexico City, according to the Associated Press.

Jose Refugio Rodriguez, one of Guzman's attorneys, told the AP that the appeals argue that the statute of limitations on some of the charges leveled against Guzman have expired and that some of the accusations against him are based on hearsay, rather than direct evidence.

Guzman's appeals come a little more than a month after the Mexican government approved the drug lord's extradition to courts in Texas and California.

Despite the extradition's approval, Guzman's legal team can still file injunctions against his transfer, and Rodriguez said on Tuesday that the process could take three years.

In California, Guzman has been accused of conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine, and he has been accused of criminal association, weapons possession, homicide, and money laundering in Texas.

The Mexican government's approval of Guzman's transfer north was conditioned in part on the US waiving the death penalty. Rodriguez argued there are insufficient guarantees that will happen, saying that the US embassy in Mexico doesn't have the power to ensure it.

"Who is the ambassador to promise this?" Rodriguez said, according to the AP. "He is the United States representative for diplomatic relations and lacks the authority to say that the death penalty will not be applied."

chapo for woody

While his extradition has only been approved to two US jurisdictions, charges are pending against Guzman in five federal-district courts, including Chicago, Miami, and Brooklyn, New York. While the US government has not committed to a venue for his trial, should he be transferred to the US, many see Brooklyn as a strong candidate.

Story continues

Guzman is currently detained outside of Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas. He was suddenly transferred there from Altiplano federal prison in central Mexico in early May, reportedly because of fears he was plotting another breakout.

While Guzman is secure in jail  for the time being, at least  reports indicate that his home turf may be veering into chaos.

Earlier this month, scores of armed men raided the town where the kingpin was born, leaving several people dead. The attackers were reportedly backed by elements of the Beltran Leyva Organization, a once powerful cartel that has warred with Guzman's Sinaloa cartel since 2008.

NOW WATCH: This is how Mexican drug cartels make billions selling drugs





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36 killed in Istanbul airport bombings as PM blames IS

TURKEY: A triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbuls Ataturk airport has killed at least 36 people, including foreigners, with Turkeys prime minister saying early signs pointed to an assault by the Islamic State group.

deathcrimeviolence

By AFP

Wednesday 29 June 2016, 09:15AM

Forensic police work the explosion site at Ataturk airport in Istanbul after three explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkeys biggest airport, killing dozens. Photo: Ozan Kose/AFP

The attackers began spraying bullets at the international terminal entrance before blowing themselves up at around 10:00 pm (2am Thai time) yesterday (June 28), Turkish authorities said.

It is the deadliest of four attacks to rock Turkeys biggest city this year, with two others blamed on IS and another claimed by a militant Kurdish group.

Though there was no immediate claim of responsibility for yesterday's carnage, the evidence points to Daesh, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told journalists at the scene, using another name for the jihadists.

He said the dead included foreigners, but gave no further details. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag put the number of wounded at 147. The attack prompted the suspension of all flights at the airport  one of Europes busiest hubs.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an international joint fight against terror, as Western allies including the United States condemned the heinous attack.

Yildirim said the suicide bombers had arrived in a taxi and opened fire on passengers with automatic rifles before blowing themselves up.

Security camera footage widely circulated on social media appeared to capture two of the blasts. In one clip a huge ball of flame erupts at an entrance to the terminal building, scattering terrified passengers.

Another video shows a black-clad attacker running inside the building before collapsing to the ground  apparently felled by a police bullet  and blowing himself up.

Yesterday's attack follows coordinated IS suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a city metro station in March that left 32 people dead.

An AFP photographer saw bodies covered with sheets at the terminal, which bore heavy damage from the blasts.

Bullet holes peppered the windows and shattered glass lay on the floor, while abandoned luggage was scattered everywhere.

Hundreds of police and firefighters including forensic officers were at the scene.

Somebody came and shot at us and then my sister was running, Otfah Mohamed Abdullah told AFP.

I dont know which way she was running and after that I was falling down. I was on the ground till he finished... I cant find my sister.

There was panic at the nearest hospital in Istanbuls Bakirkoy district, which was inundated with relatives desperate for news of loved ones.

Brussels airport, itself the scene of suicide bombings just months ago, tweeted condolences, saying: Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at @istanbulairport.

Security expert Abdullah Agar told CNN Turk the attack bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group.

It really bears a resemblance to their methods, he said in reference to the Brussels bombings, which were claimed by IS.

The US and French consulates warned people to stay away from the area.

Erdogan met with his prime minister and military chief after news of the carnage broke.

We urge the world, especially Western countries, to take a firm stand against terrorism, Erdogan said in a statement.

Despite paying a heavy price, Turkey has the power, determination and capacity to continue the fight against terrorism until the end.

Istanbul, a major tourism hub that is home to some 15 million people, has suffered a series of attacks in recent months, including a bombing in the heart of the tourist district that killed a dozen German visitors and was blamed on IS.

Two months later, three Israelis and an Iranian were killed in a bombing on the citys main Istiklal shopping street, also blamed on IS.

A blast on the tarmac at Istanbuls other international airport, Sabiha Gokcen, killed a cleaner in December.

Turkey has been hit by at least five attacks blamed on IS jihadists, including a blast in Ankara in October 2015 that left over 100 dead, though the group has never formally claimed responsibility for an attack in Turkey.

Ankara has meanwhile launched a sustained offensive against the outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) following the collapse of a ceasefire last year.

Hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces have since been killed in PKK attacks.
Body of Korean woman washes up on Patong Beach, rescue teams search for missing boyfriend

PHUKET: The naked body of 27-year-old South Korean woman was found washed ashore at Patong Beach this morning (June 29), while her boyfriend remains missing.

deathmarinetourismpolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Wednesday 29 June 2016, 10:28AM

Police were notified at 5am that the woman's body had been found near the northern end of Patong Beach. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Police suspect the couple* went into the water late last night and were swept away by waves. Search-and-rescue teams are now looking for her 28-year-old male companion.

Maj Patapee Srichay of the Patong Police received a call at 5am, notifying him that a womans body had been discovered near the northern end of the beach.

Police arrived with Kusoldharm rescue workers to find the woman face down on the sand. She was naked except for her bra, which was loose, hanging around her neck.

There were no signs of assault or injury on the body, and we did not find any items of clothing or personal belongings on the beach, Maj Patapee said.

The body was taken to Patong Hospital for doctor to confirm the time and cause of death, he added.

Police later learned that the woman was a tourist staying at a hotel on Patong Beach with her boyfriend.

At this stage we believe that the man is still alive. He may have left the area before the woman was swept out to sea, or he may have been swept out to the sea with her, Maj Patapee said.

We are now searching for him and hope to find him alive and question him about what happened.

* The names of the couple are being withheld until it has been confirmed their families have been notified of the incident.
Challenging young artists at KIS

Annual art exhibition inspires students and adults alike

charity

By Steven Layne

Wednesday 29 June 2016, 03:58PM

On June 17, Kajonkiet International School held its annual student art exhibition, where students exhibited sculptures, drawings, paintings and more to the delight of peers, parents and teachers.

The Phuket News took a walk around, and sat down with a few of the teachers and some of the students to find out more.

Ms Ledwick of the KIS Art Department explained that the exhibition featured selected works from some secondary students  Keystage 3 and 4  in addition to sculptures from all the schools primary students.

I personally selected and kept the best secondary students art throughout the year for the exhibition, to complement the primary students sculptures, she noted.

Keystage 2 Phase leader Ms Carter says that it was a good decision to integrate art from the whole school.

It gave students a chance to see and compare art from their peers and you could really see the development the older you get, she said.

Next we spoke with some students about their reflections.

Helene, a Year Four student, explained that her class had focused on three types of sculpting medium for the past six weeks: papier mache, steel wire and plaster of Paris.

It was the first time Helene learned about sculpting with steel wire and plaster of Paris, but not papier mache.

Making the moulds for plaster of Paris was rather difficult and took lots of patience, she said, adding that her class used playdough to make the moulds.

Asked which medium she was most fond of, she replied papier mache, showing me her latest work, Sisi.

I made this for my dog, who passed away recently. He was very old and got cancer, she revealed.

Indeed, sculpting proved to be an effective and positive way for Helene to channel her pain and grief.

Year Six Dylan agreed that patience is needed to do superb art.

Art is not as easy as I thought it would be. It never goes the way you think it will in your mind, he said, showing me his replicated computer.

I was inspired to make this because Ive had so much fun and learned so much on the computer this year, especially on this program called Scratch, he explained.

Inside the computer monitor box is a scene from the programming application for which Dylan is so enthusiastic about. Indeed, not only is art effective at channeling emotion, but a great way to express inspiration as well.

Another unique feature of his project was the use of recycled materials. His exhibit included two cereal boxes, a bit of cardboard and two big ice cream sticks.

Year Five students Claudia, Valeria, Chaoying and Lily showed me their gigantic papier mache models of fruit, including a banana, pineapple, durian and grapes.

These fruits are going to be used as props in the school play, The Jungle Book, on June 25, explained Claudia and Lily in sync.

Valeria echoed her peers on the value of patience in the process. Not only patience, but carefulness too. If things dont go how you meant, you just got to go with it and carry on, she stated.

Now that they have got some experience in art, the girls look forward to creating more sculptures in the future. Valeria and Chaoying want to make a dog, Lily a tree, and Claudia a dolphin.
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By Michael Holden and Elizabeth Piper LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European leaders told Britain on Tuesday to act quickly to resolve the political and economic confusion unleashed by its vote to leave the European Union last week, after the IMF said the uncertainty could put pressure on global economic growth. Sterling and world stock markets recovered slightly on Tuesday but investor confidence remains fragile despite policymakers saying they will take all necessary measures to protect their economies. Last week's referendum wiped a record $3 trillion (2.25 trillion pounds) off the value of global shares and sterling fell to its lowest level in 31 years against the U.S. dollar. Chancellor George Osborne, whose attempt to calm markets on Monday went unheard, said on Tuesday the government would have to cut spending and raise taxes to stabilise the economy after credit rating agency Fitch became the third agency to downgrade UK debt. Businesses have announced hiring freezes and possible job cuts, despite voters' hopes the economy would thrive outside the EU. Germany's financial market regulator delivered a double blow to the City of London, saying it could not host the headquarters of a planned European stock exchange after Britain leaves the EU and could not remain a centre for trading in euros. European countries are concerned about the impact of the political and regulatory uncertainty on the economies of the other 27 other EU members while the UK government works out how and when to begin withdrawal negotiations under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Tuesday that central banks around the world should aim to align monetary policies to mitigate "destabilising spillovers" between economies. Draghi had added that he agreed with private economists who predict euro zone growth will be reduced by up to 0.5 percent cumulatively over the next three years due to the "Brexit" vote. UK WARNED EU ACCESS DEPENDS ON FOUR FREEDOMS At a summit meeting of the leaders of the EU in Brussels on Tuesday, Cameron said he hoped the UK would maintain as tight an economic and political relationship as possible with the EU. "Britain will be leaving the European Union but we will not be turning our back on Europe," he told a news conference after a dinner at which he said many European partners expressed regret and voiced friendship for Britain. Cameron said he told the EU summit that, "People recognised the economic case for staying, but there was a very great concern about movement of people and that was coupled with concern about issues of sovereignty. I think we need to think about that, Europe needs to think about that." In a veiled rebuke to UK "Leave" campaign leaders such as Boris Johnson, who is vying to succeed him, Cameron said Britons would have to understand they could not keep all the benefits of EU membership without the costs. Driving home that message, French President Francois Hollande said continued access to the EU's prized single market was dependent on accepting the so-called four freedoms of movement of goods, capital, workers and services. "If they don't want free movement, they won't have access to the single market," he said, adding that the City of London would no longer be able to act as a clearing house in euros. The European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution on Tuesday demanding that London activate the EU treaty's voluntary exit clause as fast as possible and launch negotiations on withdrawal terms with a two-year countdown to departure. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said London should be allowed time to recover its balance after the political shockwave before formally notifying its partners of its plans. The other 27 EU leaders will hold their own meeting on Wednesday to discuss how to deal with Britain on its way out of the bloc it joined in 1973, and how to take the Union forward without it. Policymakers and companies around the world are scrambling to assess the impact Brexit will have. Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell said the decision had shifted global risks "to the downside", while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged the Bank of Japan to provide ample funds to the market to keep the wheels of economy turning. "A sense of uncertainty and worry about risks remain in the markets," Abe said. Asian stock <.MIAPJ0000PUS> rallied 1 percent on Wednesday while bond prices also rose, reflecting expectations of fresh stimulus from global central banks. UK POLITICS IN UPHEAVAL Back in London, Conservative Party officials said on Tuesday that Cameron's successor as prime minister would be appointed at the earliest on Sept. 9. Cameron, who called the referendum and tendered his resignation as prime minister when it became clear he had failed to persuade Britain to stay in the EU, says he will let his successor declare the country's exit formally. Meanwhile, UK Labour Party lawmakers passed a vote of no-confidence in leader Jeremy Corbyn on Tuesday, accusing him of failing to win over traditional supporters during the referendum campaign. The lawmakers fear a similar failure at the next general election, due in 2020, will lead to Labour suffering a major loss of seats in parliament. However, the Labour confidence vote does not automatically trigger a leadership election and Corbyn refused to quit. "I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60 percent of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning," he said. Underlining the political upheaval that the Brexit vote set in motion, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is to visit Brussels on Wednesday for talks with the president of the European Parliament and European Commission officials. Sturgeon has said Scotland, where nearly two in three voters backed staying in the EU, does not want to leave the bloc and may hold a new referendum on independence. (Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald, Paul Taylor, Gabriela Baczynska, Phil Blenkinsop and Jan-Robert Bartunek in BRUSSELS, Sudip Kar-Gupta and Guy Faulconbridge in LONDON and Alistair Scrutton in STOCKHOLM; editing by Anna Willard, Timothy Heritage, Clive McKeef and Lincoln Feast)
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.
(New throughout, adds that plant will remain shut, Bonnell market share figures)

June 29 (Reuters) - The casting area of aluminum extruder Bonnell Aluminum's Newnan, Georgia, extrusion plant will remain shut until an investigation into the cause of a Wednesday morning explosion is complete, the company said in a statement.

The blast injured five people and prompted the company to temporarily halt operations at the plant. The rest of the plant besides the casting area will resume operations on Thursday morning, the company said.

One injured employee was airlifted to a hospital in Atlanta, two were taken to a local hospital and two were treated at the scene.

Bonnell, a subsidiary of Tredegar Corp, said it was working with local authorities and state regulators to determine the cause of the 9:15 a.m. EDT (1315 GMT) explosion, adding that a structural engineering firm determined that the rest of the plant was safe to operate following an inspection.

Extrusion is the process of shaping material, such as aluminum, by forcing it to flow through an opening in a die. Bonnell makes extrusions for the building and construction and automotive markets as well as for specialty applications like refrigerators and air conditioners.

Bonnell sold around 77,000 tonnes of aluminum extrusions in 2015, according to Tredegar's full-year results report, released in February. That represented 4.7 percent of total aluminum extrusions shipments in the United States and Canada of about 1.6 million tonnes, according to the Aluminum Association.

A prolonged outage at the plant could reduce the amount of primary and scrap aluminum consumed by the company. This could exacerbate a global glut that has sent prices tumbling about 30 percent from their 2014 peak.

Three-month aluminum on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.7 percent to $1,636.00 per tonne on Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for the Newnan police said it was not a situation involving hazardous materials.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - France's 10-year bond yield touched a fresh record low early on Wednesday amid expectations for further monetary stimulus to offset the negative impact of last week's Brexit vote on the euro zone economy.

The French 10-year bond yield fell to as low as 0.235 percent.

Southern European bond yields tumbled 4-5 basis points, with Spain's 10-year bond yield falling to 1.273 percent - its lowest level since April last year.

(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwired - Jun 29, 2016) - GeoVax Labs, Inc. (OTCQB: GOVX), a biotechnology company specializing in the development of human vaccines, announced today it has received a Notice of Award from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant in support of its clade C HIV vaccine development program for Africa. The grant award of $294,038 is for the second year of a two-year project period which began July 1, 2015, with a two-year project budget of $593,623.

The grant, entitled "Directed Lineage Immunizations for Eliciting Broadly Neutralizing Antibody," is supporting the preclinical testing in non-human primates of a vaccine designed for the clade C subtype of HIV prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa. This project is using GeoVax's Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) Virus-Like Particle (VLP) vaccine technology, and builds on the GeoVax clade B HIV vaccine, GOVX-B11, which is designed for the epidemic in the Americas and Western Europe. GOVX-B11 has shown outstanding safety and reproducible immunogenicity in clinical trials involving 500 people in North and South America and the Company anticipates that the clade C vaccine will show similar promise. The grant was awarded to Dr. Arban Domi, GeoVax's Director of Vector Development, who continues to oversee its implementation.

Robert McNally, Ph.D., GeoVax's President and CEO, commented, "As our clade B HIV vaccine for North America and Western Europe continues progressing through human clinical trials sponsored by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), we are also pleased to have NIH/NIAID's support to advance the version of our vaccine for the clade C HIV subtype. We are confident that the animal trials funded by this grant will further demonstrate the promise of our MVA-VLP vaccine to address the HIV pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa where two-thirds, or 23 million, of the world's HIV cases reside."

About GeoVax

GeoVax Labs, Inc., is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing human vaccines against infectious diseases using its MVA-VLP vaccine platform. The Company's development programs are focused on vaccines against Zika Virus, HIV, and hemorrhagic fever viruses (Ebola, Sudan, Marburg, Lassa). GeoVax also recently began programs to evaluate the use of its MVA-VLP platform in cancer immunotherapy and for therapeutic use in chronic Hepatitis B infections. GeoVax's vaccine platform supports in vivo production of non-infectious VLPs from the cells of the very person receiving the vaccine. The production of VLPs in the person being vaccinated mimics a natural infection. This stimulates the humoral and cellular arms of the immune system to recognize, prevent, and control the target infection. For more information, visit www.geovax.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this document are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors, including whether: GeoVax can develop and manufacture its vaccines with the desired characteristics in a timely manner, GeoVax's vaccines will be safe for human use, GeoVax's vaccines will effectively prevent targeted infections in humans, GeoVax's vaccines will receive regulatory approvals necessary to be licensed and marketed, GeoVax raises required capital to complete vaccine development, there is development of competitive products that may be more effective or easier to use than GeoVax's products, GeoVax will be able to enter into favorable manufacturing and distribution agreements, and other factors, over which GeoVax has no control. GeoVax assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, and does not intend to do so. More information about these factors is contained in GeoVax's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including those set forth at "Risk Factors" in GeoVax's Form 10-K.
It's our annual Labour Weekend tradition ...The Sound 'Hall Of Fame' Countdown... Where we honor the greatest 500 songs of all time as voted by you.
TipRanks

The stock market had a good day today. The S&P has gained 1.63% and moderated its year-to-date losses to 19%. That rally has pushed the index up just out of bear territory. Despite these gains, at least one major bear believes that the index hasnt bottomed out yet. Mike Wilson, Morgan Stanleys chief US equity strategist, sees more room for the index to fall, and predicts that the S&P will hit its low point somewhere between 3,000 and 3,200  a drop that would mean another 20% loss for stocks.
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(Adds context, quotes)

By Wilda Asmarini

JAKARTA, June 29 (Reuters) - Indonesia's Pertamina has selected Shell to process a million barrels per month of Iraqi crude at a Singapore refinery, a senior official at the state-owned company said on Wednesday.

The quest for oil-processing capacity abroad is partly spurred by a lack of investor interest in building domestic refineries because of unfavourable investment conditions set by the government.

"We've selected Shell because they are the most competitive," said Daniel Purba, senior vice president of Pertamina's Integrated Supply Chain unit.

Purba added that the Shell deal is expected to be formalised in the coming weeks and will initially run for the six months from July to December.

An estimated 900,000 barrels a month of gasoline for import will be produced from the Singapore refinery.

"After that we'll see how it goes; if it runs smoothly and what market conditions are like," Purba said, adding that the arrangement is a far better solution than importing products directly.

Pertamina's monthly Iraqi oil shipments to the Singapore refinery are likely to consist of 290,000 barrels from a stake in the West Qurna block and a further 700,000 barrels from other Iraqi fields.

Pertamina has about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of domestic refining capacity, which meets only about two thirds of Indonesia's daily oil consumption.

Separately, Purba said that Pertamina is close to finalising a deal to import 1 million barrels of Iranian light crude for delivery in the third quarter from Iran's national oil company.

Purba said Pertamina would initially buy one cargo to test its performance at the Cilacap refinery.

"If it's good, this could be an alternative (source for) crude," he said.

(Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Louise Heavens and David Goodman)
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Hailing from Quebec City, Dominique Jacques and his partner were attracted to Montreal by its cosmopolitan quality.
(l to r) Reverend Mary Pickup, Deacon; Archdeacon (ret.) Gordon Guy; Borough councillor Maja Vodanovic; Reverend Shirley Smith, Priest-in-Charge; and Mayor Claude Dauphin were on hand to celebrate Lachines St. Stephens Anglican Churchs 185 years of serving the community.
British Prime Minister David Cameron addresses the media during an EU summit in Brussels on Tuesday, June 28, 2016. EU heads of state and government meet Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels for the first time since Britain voted to leave the European Union, throwing British and European politics into disarray. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
President Barack Obama walks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Neito at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Canada, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Obama traveled to Ottawa for the North America Leaders' Summit. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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ISIS Islamic State

ISIS's "caliphate" has survived for two years.

The terrorist group has been able to hold on to some of the territory in Iraq and Syria that it first seized in 2014, when its rampage across the Middle East shocked the world.

But since then, ISIS's self-declared caliphate  the increasingly fractured swath of territory it controls and rules as an Islamic emirate  has shrunk. The group  aka the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh  has attracted thousands of fighters, local and foreign, with its message of "remaining and expanding," but it hasn't been able to make good on its promise of world domination.

Days before ISIS's two-year anniversary of the declaration of its caliphate, the group suffered another blow. It officially lost control of the first major city it seized: Fallujah, Iraq.

ISIS maintains control over its major bases in Syria and Iraq  Raqqa and Mosul, respectively  but local forces backed by a US-led coalition are preparing to launch offensives on those cities as well.

"This is definitely the death knell of ISIS's territoriality as it was once known," Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a counterterrorism analyst and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Business Insider. "The caliphate as it was is gone. They're not going to be able to hold anything like the territory they did before."

ISIS is now looking to project power in other ways.

The group's propaganda previously urged foreigners to travel to the caliphate and join ISIS's state-building project, but recently, ISIS leaders have issued public statements saying supporters can be more useful at home.

"The smallest action you do in their heartland is better and more enduring to us than what you would if you were with us," ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani said in an audio message released last month. "If one of you hoped to reach the Islamic State, we wish we were in your place to punish the Crusaders day and night."

Story continues

These calls to action have inspired "lone wolf" attacks in Western countries carried out by ISIS supporters who plan their own attacks without any coordination with the group itself.

Switching from state-building to more traditional terrorism is one way for ISIS to survive and stay relevant, Gartenstein-Ross said.

defund isis protest

Lone-wolf terrorism is also more difficult to prevent, making it likely that even as ISIS continues to lose territory, the group will continue to exert its influence by inspiring terrorist attacks on Western targets.

CIA director John Brennan said at a Council on Foreign Relations event on Wednesday:

"The FBI has a real challenge because there are individuals who could be in their home or have no interaction with other people but will be on the internet and will be shaped and influenced by what they're seeing in terms of this narrative.

"[They] will decide on their own, maybe with a spouse or maybe with others or maybe alone, to carry out an attack. And if they get their hands on a weapon or the explosive material, they can do great damage before the signatures that are traditionally associated with traditional terrorist groups are seen."

It doesn't appear that ISIS has given up its territorial aspirations just yet, though. The group has been looking for other opportunities for territorial expansion and has established presences in some far-flung countries, including Bangladesh, Albania, the Philippines, Kosovo, and Indonesia.

It's unclear whether ISIS has a plan to seize territory in these countries the way it has in the Middle East. So far, ISIS's attempts to build out its caliphate have run into trouble.

ISIS saw some initial success in Libya, where it was able to gain control of the coastal city of Sirte. The group has established several thousand fighters in the country and begun to build out the infrastructure of a state in Sirte, implementing its harsh version of Islamic Sharia law and establishing "media points" to distribute its propaganda.

Sirte was said to be ISIS's "back-up capital," a place where ISIS could base its operations if it lost Raqqa or Mosul.

But those plans have mostly fallen apart. Libyan pro-government forces have retaken parts of Sirte, and the US has been aiding in the fight by carrying out airstrikes in the country.

ISIS map

The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point noted in a report earlier this year that ISIS has struggled to expand into parts of Libya that are contested by other militias.

Still, the decline of the caliphate doesn't necessarily spell the end of ISIS.

Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, noted in his recent book, "Islamic Exceptionalism," that while ISIS's territorial rule likely isn't sustainable in the long run, the group's legacy will remain with us long after the caliphate crumbles.

He wrote: "Even if it were destroyed tomorrow morning, the Islamic State would still stand as one of the most successful and distinctly 'Islamist' state-building projects of recent decades."

ISIS's project also transcends state-building. Amid upheaval in the Middle East, especially in Syria, where the civil war still rages and seems far from resolution, there lies fertile ground for extremist ideology to fester. Part of ISIS's success is based in the group's marketing itself as a protector of disenfranchised Sunnis, who are endangered by Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces in Syria and government-backed Shiite militias in Iraq and, to a lesser extent, Syria.

"As the Shia militias have been advancing, they've engaged in sectarian depopulation," Gartenstein-Ross said. "The Sunni grievances are not going away."

Cole Bunzel, a PhD candidate in Near Eastern studies at Princeton University who previously worked for the US Department of Defense and now writes about extremist groups, noted earlier this month that ISIS believes the "cycle of Islamic State decline and revival" could "simply recur" as long as the ideology lives on.

"America's victory will once again prove illusory," Bunzel wrote, paraphrasing a recent statement in an ISIS newsletter. "If America seeks to claim real victory, it will have to eliminate an 'entire generation' of caliphate supporters the world over."

NOW WATCH: Female soldiers have created a 30-woman unit to fight ISIS in Iraq





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Trick or Treat: Why do we do it? According to the National Retail Federation, Halloween is the countrys second largest commercial holiday, boasting an estimated $3.1 billion in candy sales. The roots of the holiday stem from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain in which people gathered during the Middle Ages, dressed and performed as ghosts and demons...

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KICK OFF EVENT The BCHF welcomes Tim Tebow on Thursday, November 10. The Heisman trophy winner will speak at the Burke County High School J.D. Smith Auditorium at 6:30 p.m. Tickets sales benefit the foundation and its mission to serve our communitys underprivileged. For tickets, call 706-55-3456.

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The Union Cabinet is likely to take up the Seventh Pay Commission committee's report during its meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

The recommendations submitted by the Empowered Committee of Secretaries, which was formed to look into recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, will result in a hike in salaries of over one crore government employees and pensioners.

The Centre had earlier in earlier in January set up a panel headed by Cabinet Secretary P. K. Sinha to process the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, which is expected to change the remuneration of 47 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners.

The Seventh Pay Commission, in its report to the government, had recommended an overall 23.6 per cent increase in salaries and pension of all central government employees.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in his Budget for 2016-17 provisioned Rs. 70,000 crore towards the Seventh Pay Commission, which is around 60 per cent of the incremental expenditure on salaries.

The Pay Commission's recommendations are due from January 1, 2016. The implementation of new pay scales recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission is estimated to put an additional burden of Rs 1.02 lakh crore on the exchequer annually.

The Commission was set up by the former UPA government in February 2014 to revise remuneration of the central government employees.
While walking to Vulture's Peak on Gridhakuta hill, legendary artist Nandalal Bose asked K.G. Subramanyan: Does it not excite you that you are walking the same ground that the Buddha walked upon a long time ago? Legend has it that the enlightened Buddha gave discourses to his disciples here in Rajgir, Bihar. Subramanyan told Bose that he was excited, of course. Bose and his students were on a field trip from Santiniketan.

Subramanyan would later say that his attraction to Santiniketan was on similar lines: To walk on the same ground that Rabindranath, that multi-faceted creative man, walked at one time. In time, Subramanyan would chart new artistic paths and walk them confidently. And, many artists happily, proudly walk those paths today.

Subramanyan, 92, died on Wednesday at Vadodra, Gujarat. He was recovering from a surgery. Among colleagues and in the art fraternity, he was popularly known as KGS or Mani da.

Many an obituarist is struggling to slot Subramanyan, so am I. Painter. Sculptor. Muralist. Weaver. Art historian. Theoretician. Writer and illustrator of fables for children. Glass-painter. Toy-maker. And, that's not the half of it.

Born on the day after Valentine's Day 1924 in Kuthuparamba in north Kerala, Subramanyan studied in neighbouring Mahe, one of the four districts of the Union Territory of Pondicherry. He then joined a BA (Honours) programme in economics at Presidency College, Chennai (then Madras). For participating in the civil disobedience movement of 1942, Subramanyan was jailed and debarred from government colleges.

Fortunately for him and Indian art, the winds took him to Kala Bhavan at Visva Bharati in Santiniketan in 1944. He studied there till 1948, under the likes of Bose, Benode Behari Mukherjee and Ramkinkar Baij. In 1951, he joined the Faculty of Fine Arts in Baroda as a lecturer of painting. In 1980, he retired as dean of the faculty and moved to Santiniketan to teach painting. In 1989, he was appointed professor emeritus at Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati.

He was British Council Fellow at the Slade School of Art, London (1955-1956), J.D. Rockefeller III Fellow in New York (1966-1967) and Christensen Fellow at St. Catherine's College, Oxford (1987-1988). He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour, in 2012.

A lifelong teacher, he remained forward-looking. In 2014, the Kochi Biennale Foundation had organised an exhibition to mark his 90th birthday. At the event, Subramanyan made a strong case for futuristic curriculum. Education should not be focused on something in the past or that has gone by, he said. It must be based on situations that are yet to come, probably in the next 10 years.

It is a tribute to his genius that he left academia in between and joined the All India Handloom Board as deputy director (design) from 1959 to 1961. He continued to be its design consultant till 1966.

In a 1976 letter to the president of the World Crafts Council, Subramanyan spelt out his vision for the council: ...to discover authentic pockets of craft practice all over the world, to study their structure, to document products and expertise, to bring together craftsmen from different parts of the world into a kind of fraternity, to help in the training of a new generation of craftsmen (and) to elucidate the necessity of craft practice in an industrialised society.

That statement alone should testify that Subramanyan was more, much more, than a painter and teacher of painting. And, that he had more, much more, on his mind than reserve prices and playing to the galleries.
The Maharashtra State Women's Commission (MSWC) on Wednesday rejected a reply by Bollywood actor Salman Khan on his recent rape comments and summoned him in person on July 7, a top official said here.

In his letter dated June 28submitted through his lawyerKhan said that since the matter is before the National Commission for Women, it should not be continued with MSWC to avoid duplication.

"We have concurrent powers just the way the NCW has. This matter can be heard at the state level too. Therefore, his version is invalid," said MSWC Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar.

She said the actor has been summoned on July 7 at the MSWC office along with his lawyers.

"We have asked him to put forth his views in an affidavit," Rahatkar added.

Salman Khan was issued a notice for his raped woman remark.

During a group media interaction last week, Salman Khan said that he felt like a raped woman after shooting for a gruelling wrestling sequence for his upcoming film, Sultan. He plays a wrestler in the film.

It is like the most difficult thing...When I used to walk out of that ring, it used to be actually like a raped woman, he was reported as saying.
Inching closer to send world's most powerful rocket to Mars, US space agency NASA on Tuesday successfully fire-tested a booster for the Space Launch System (SLS) at Orbital ATK's test facilities in Promontory, Utah.

This was the last full-scale test for the booster before SLS is ready in 2018 for the first uncrewed test flight with NASA's Orion spacecraft, marking a key milestone on the agency's Journey to Red Planet.

"This final qualification test of the booster system shows real progress in the development of the Space Launch System," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC.

"Seeing this test today, and experiencing the sound and feel of approximately 3.6 million pounds of thrust, helps us appreciate the progress we're making to advance human exploration and open new frontiers for science and technology missions in deep space," he added in a statement.

The two-minute, full-duration ground qualification test provided NASA with critical data on 82 qualification objectives that will support certification of the booster for flight.

Engineers now will evaluate test data captured by more than 530 instrumentation channels on the booster.

When completed, two five-segment boosters and four RS-25 main engines will power SLS on deep space missions.

The solid rocket boosters, built by NASA contractor Orbital ATK, operate in parallel with SLS's main engines for the first two minutes of flight.

They will provide more than 75 per cent of the thrust needed for the rocket and Orion spacecraft to escape Earth's gravitational pull.

"Today's test is the pinnacle of years of hard work by the NASA team, Orbital ATK and commercial partners across the country," added John Honeycutt, SLS programme manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama.

"SLS hardware is currently in production for every part of the rocket. NASA also is making progress every day on Orion and the ground systems to support a launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. We're on track to launch SLS on its first flight test with Orion and pave the way for a human presence in deep space."

The first full-scale booster qualification ground test was successfully completed in March 2015.
Once again, the Korean electronics king has managed to launch its most amazing product. Yes, we are talking about Samsung Gear 360 VR. It has been launched for people. Read this out for more details.

Charges of Samsung Gear 360 VR :

According to the sources, it is said that Samsung Gear 360 VR will be offered in a very reasonable value. You can buy it in 349. 99 dollars. This price is specific for the customers of United States.

It is said that this Samsung Gear 360 VR camera is available in a limited quantity.

Specifications of Samsung Gear 360 VR :

Samsung has done a great job in the production of Samsung Gear 360 VR camera. It has mind-blowing features. This camera has some mind-blowing specifications. We are here to unveil all specifications of Samsung gear 360 VR. It was first unveiled by the company at the MWC event of 2016. The Samsung Gear 360 VR camera ha two excellent fish eyed lenses. These two lenses are of 15 Mega Pixels.

This camera is capable of making amazing videos. This is because of the reason that it can make videos with 180 degree angle as well as full 360 degree angle. You can say that this is the main attraction for people who loves to save each and every memory of theirs.

Along with these exceptional features, Samsung gear 360 VR as a dedicated mobile application. This is so amazing to have a smart phone application of such a smart device. It can be downloaded through Google play store. You can also install this application on your smart phones by using Galaxy application store.

On the other hand, as we have mentioned above that this camera is available in a limited quantity. So, the company is planning to release its full production later in this year. Then, it will be available on a large-scale to a large number of people.

It seems like 360 degree cameras are in trend now. This is because of the reason that Facebook has also launched its gear VR headset with a capability of 360 degree responses.

Social media is also taking part on such activities. This is for a good cause because it will increase the users experience. Hence, Samsung Gear 360 VR is going to make a remarkable progress in the market with its mind-blowing features as well as specifications.

Conclusion :

Samsung Gear 360 VR camera has everything you need to capture the best moments of your life. You can use this gadget easily. This is because it is user-friendly device with a lot of amazing options. Now, get your gear 360 as it is limited.
The response by some members of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel Council to the urgent letter sent by Kosel Rav Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz has been less than favorable. According to A Kikar Shabbos report, quoting some rabbonim on the council anonymously, they are furious over his call to convene the council in urgent session to address Reform Movement gains at the Kosel.

In fact, the anonymous responses blame Rabbi Rabinowitz for the current situation, stating his actions along the way have led to the current situation.

One would expect at present he would permit other adults to address the matter wisely and repair the damage created. No one need his advice that has brought us to this point a senior Chief Rabbinate source is quoted saying.

Kikar turned to Rabbi Rabinowitz for a response, but he stated he does not plan to respond to comments from anonymous sources who constantly fling sludge at the rabbi who struggled alone for the sanctity of the Kosel, using anonymous messages and absolute inaction.

Officials in Rabbi Rabinowitzs office are quoted adding that unfortunately, using anonymous messages acting as they do simply leads to a further decline in the situation and demands a higher price regarding the sanctity of the Kosel.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A number of Jewish communities in the Shomron are in the midst of a sevre water crisis, as was reported by YWN-ISRAEL.

The same situation exists in some PA (Palestinian Authority) areas in the Shomron as well, which residents insist is more serious since it coincides with sweltering heat and the holy month of Ramadan.

The PA however blames Israel for the shortage, insisting its communities are harder hit and it is the fault of the nearby yishuvim.

Yossi Dagan, who heads the Shomron Regional Council reported the reason for the shortage is the governments inaction over the years and today, the existing infrastructure is not sufficient to feed the demands of the areas residents, now numbering far more than there were when the infrastructure was set into place.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A Supreme Court opinion setting aside the bribery conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell will make it harder for Justice Department prosecutors to bring similar cases in the future and is welcome news to other elected officials investigated for or charged with corruption, legal experts say.

The court unanimously held Monday that the actions McDonnell took to benefit a businessman who gave him luxury gifts may have been distasteful but did not cross the line into illegal conduct.

The decision clarifying the boundaries between illegal conduct and whats merely unseemly will almost certainly be used by other elected officials to argue that they have broader leeway in whats permissible. And it means that prosecutors will have to think twice before charging elected officials simply for arranging access for a friendly benefactor.

There is no question that this decision will result in a review of the theories that the Justice Department is using in open prosecutions as well as ongoing investigations, said Jacob Frenkel, a white-collar defense lawyer in Washington and former prosecutor. He predicted that in ongoing prosecutions, defense lawyers will seek to get charges dismissed because of Mondays decision.

At issue in the case is a federal bribery law that makes it illegal for a public official to agree to take official action in exchange for money, gifts and other things of value. The Justice Department has adopted an expansive view of what constitutes an official act, and in this case prosecutors accused McDonnell of hosting a governors-mansion event for businessman Jonnie Williams and of setting up a meeting for Williams with the state health secretary  all in exchange for than $165,000 in gifts and loans.

But the Supreme Court reined in what it called the governments boundless interpretation, saying routine political courtesies such as hosting events for constituents or arranging meetings are explicitly not illegal.

This decision just made prosecution of elected officials exponentially more difficult, said Washington defense attorney Mark Schamel.

Each prosecution involves different facts and allegations, making it impossible to say how broad the impact will be. But the opinion had been eagerly anticipated by prosecutors, judges and defendants, and its potential ripple effects have already been acknowledged in courts.

Federal judges in New York last month told two legislative leaders convicted of corruption, Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos, that they could wait until after the McDonnell case had been decided to report to prison. Prosecutors there said they were reviewing the opinion but remained confident that their cases wont be affected.

Among other defendants likely to seize on the opinion is Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who is awaiting trial on charges that he accepted bribes from a wealthy Florida eye doctor, Salomon Melgen, in exchange for legislative favors. A critical element of the indictment is a meeting between Menendez and Kathleen Sebelius, then the secretary of Health and Human Services, at which prosecutors say the senator advocated for Melgens interests.

The McDonnell opinion may bolster Menendezs argument that the meeting was precisely the type of advocacy that the public expects of its leaders, and may help his assertion that as a legislator, he had no direct ability to influence an executive branch decision.

The Supreme Court has again restricted the Justice Department from its ever-expansive theories of prosecuting public officials because it recognizes that we are in a system in which public officials take a lot of day-to-day actions on behalf of people, ideas and causes, Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Menendez, said.

The opinion may also factor into the appeal of former Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., who resigned from Congress last week after being convicted in a Philadelphia racketeering case that centered on his misuse of federal grants and nonprofit funds to repay an illegal $1 million campaign loan from his 2007 run for mayor. One of his attorneys said Monday that he would be taking a close look at the opinion.

Though the opinion may hamstring the Justice Departments anti-corruption efforts, a narrower interpretation of official acts leaves ample room for prosecuting corruption, while comporting with the text of the statute and the precedent of this Court, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion.

One public official who uses his office to pressure another into taking an official act can still run afoul of the law, and setting up a meeting may not be an innocent act if intended to exert undue influence on a pending matter or question, the court said.

The Justice Department has not said whether it would seek to retry McDonnell.

Not everyone was convinced that the opinion will have a dramatic impact.

Barak Cohen, a former Justice Department public corruption prosecutor, said the court simply reaffirmed what it had been saying in recent years  that official acts must reflect a formal exercise of government power. The McDonnell prosecution was notably weak in that regard, he said, calling it a real outlier.

Regardless, he added, The governments going to be very careful about how it charges official acts in the future. I dont think youre going to see any super aggressive cases like this one for a while.

(AP)
Israel Police Southern District Commander David Bitan has ordered an investigation into the conduct of police during the search for Mrs. Esti Weinstein AH. Mrs. Weinstein was the subject of a major search last week. Unfortunately, her lifeless body was found in her vehicle in Ashdod on 20 Sivan.

It is now reported that police received reports of a suspicious vehicle that matched the description of Mrs. Weinsteins vehicle while the search was ongoing, parked near the Ashdod beach. A cruiser responded but did not find the body.

The probe was ordered to determine if the responding police even bothered to get out of their car to inspect the suspicious vehicle as they should have. Only a day later, following additional calls, did a unit respond and get out and they found the body in the vehicle.

The levaya took place on Tuesday 22 Sivan in the Yarkon Cemetery in Petach Tikvah.

Police add that based on the pathological findings, had the body been detected a day earlier it would not have changed the outcome. Nonetheless police are probing possible negligent behavior by the unit that responded to the first call about the vehicle.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The House Benghazi Committee, in a politically charged report, faulted the military on Tuesday for responding too slowly to send help to Benghazi, Libya, during the deadly 2012 attacks despite clear orders from President Barack Obama and the Pentagon.

Republicans have repeatedly criticized the response as a serious failure by the Obama administration and by Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time and now is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

The panels chairman, Rep. Gowdy, R-S.C., said the report was not aimed at Clinton, though Democrats have accused the panels Republican majority of targeting her throughout.

Republicans on the panel released the 800-page report on the attacks that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Nothing was en route to Libya at the time the last two Americans were killed almost eight hours after the attacks began, Gowdy said at a news conference. . The report documents that the U.S. was slow to send help to the Americans because of an obsession with hurting the Libyans feelings, he said. The report also portrays a series of heroic acts by Americans under attack.

Military leaders have testified repeatedly that they didnt have intelligence information on what was happening or the resources on alert to respond in time to the two attacks, hours apart.

The Libya attacks became immediate political fodder, given their timing in the weeks before Obamas re-election, and that has not abated despite seven previous investigations. There has been finger-pointing on both sides over security at the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi and whether the White House initially tried to portray the assault as a protest over an offensive, anti-Muslim video, instead of a calculated terrorist attack.

The GOP report offers no major revelations, but that wont quiet the criticism of Clinton from conservatives, likely Republican rival Donald Trump and other detractors.

In response to the report, Clintons campaign said it had not found anything to contradict the conclusions of the multiple, earlier investigations.

Committee Democrats released their own report Monday saying that while the State Departments security measures in Benghazi the night of Sept. 11, 2012, were woefully inadequate, Clinton never personally turned down a request for additional security. Democrats said the military could not have done anything differently that night to save the lives of the Americans.

On Tuesday, the panels Democrats denounced the Republicans report as a conspiracy theory on steroids  bringing back long-debunked allegations with no credible evidence whatsoever. The statement added: Republicans promised a process and report that was fair and bipartisan, but this is exactly the opposite.

The State Department also issued a statement Tuesday, saying that the essential facts of the attacks have been known for some time, and have been the subject of numerous reviews, including one by an independent review board.

Spokesman Mark Toner said the department had implemented most of the recommendations of the independent review board and was continuing to expand security at its facilities and improve its threat assessment.

We have made great progress toward making our posts safer since 2012, Toner said in a statement. Our priority continues to be carrying out our national security mission while mitigating the risks to our employees.

Toner said the department cooperated extensively with the House panel, providing more than 50 current and former employees for interviews and over 100,000 pages of documents.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who helped write the Republican report, told CNN that too little effort was made to protect Stevens and the others. We didnt move heaven and earth to get help to the people who were fighting for their lives, he said.

(AP)
Yeshiva University announced New York State Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder will lead its government relations efforts beginning this fall. Goldfeder will work to strengthen and develop relationships between the University and federal, state and local governments, and monitor legislation and policies that could have an impact on YU and its programs. Goldfeder represents the 23rd District in the New York State Assembly, which includes Ozone Park, Howard Beach, Broad Channel and Rockaway, and has announced that he is not seeking reelection.

YU has developed several public-private partnerships over the past few years, which are resulting in academic and facility improvements, said President Richard M. Joel. When we began exploring how we could take our successes with government relations to the next level, it was clear that Phil was uniquely qualified for this role.

Andrew (Avi) Lauer, Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel at YU, added: I have had the privilege of knowing and working with Phil for many years from the time he worked in the Mayors Office, through his work with Senator Schumer and most recently as a New York State legislator. I look forward to working closely with him and have every confidence that he will represent YU with the same passion, professionalism and vigor as he has his constituents for so many years.

Goldfeder expressed that he is excited his public service will continue but in a new way. He said, I have dedicated my life in public service to ensuring a better future for all our families. This begins by providing our children with a world-class education that will enable them to be successful and contribute to the community. Im excited to utilize my diverse experience to advance the mission and goals of the University.

Goldfeders career in public service began as a community liaison for the New York City Council. His passion for community service, along with his unique ability to understand the needs in the neighborhoods of Queens, earned him a position as the Queens Director for the Mayors Community Affairs Unit under Michael Bloomberg. His capacity to bring people together caught the attention of New York Senator Charles E. Schumer, who hired him as the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. In September of 2011, Goldfeder was elected in a special election to serve in the New York State Assembly where he focused on education, transportation and Sandy recovery.

Senator Schumer praised Goldfeder for being a hard worker and a fighter, and with a deep passion for public service and people. In the Assembly he knew how to work with residents, leaders and businesses to get real results that improve peoples lives.

Speaker Carl Heastie, New York State Assembly, offered Goldfeder his congratulations and said, It has been a real pleasure to serve alongside Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder. Phils departure, while a tremendous loss for the Assembly, will be a great gain for Yeshiva University. His leadership, energy and enthusiasm have been an invaluable contribution to the Assembly and to the state of New York. I wish him all the best in this new role.

(YWN Desk  NYC)
Ikea is recalling 29 million chests and dressers that can easily tip over and trap children underneath. Six children have been killed and three dozen others injured, and federal safety officials on Tuesday urged consumers to take immediate action.

The Swedish retailer announced the recall Tuesday, saying the furniture can pose a tip-over and entrapment hazard that can result in death or injuries to children if it is not properly anchored to a wall.

Consumers need to act immediately because its a very present hazard, especially if you have kids in your home, Elliot Kaye, chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said in an interview.

The CPSC underscored the risk at a news conference Tuesday that included live demonstrations of chests tipping over.

Kaye said consumers need to either get their anchor kit from Ikea for free and install it on their furniture, take it back to the store for a full refund or have Ikea come and pick it up from their homes for free.

The recall, which only applies to customers in the U.S. and Canada, is for several types of Ikea chests and dressers, including the Malm line. Ikea said the units under the recall are childrens chests and drawers taller than 23.5 inches and adult chests and dressers taller than 29.5 inches.

The recalled units were sold at Ikea stores at various times through June 2016, the company said.

All of the children killed were 3 years old or younger, the CPSC said. One of the children was killed about 27 years ago. The other deaths were more recent, between 2002 and 2016. The CPSC said it received 36 reports of children who were injured.

Ikea said that anyone who owns one of those chests and dressers and has not attached them to a wall should remove it out of reach from children. Ikea is offering free kits to attach the chests and dressers to a wall.

Customers who dont want to keep the recalled furniture can ask for a refund. Ikea said it will give a full refund to owners of recalled chests and dressers made between 2002 and 2016. For recalled units made before 2002, customers can receive a store credit for half the original price.

Ikea USA president Lars Petersson said in a statement that the chests and dressers were sold with instructions saying that they had to be mounted to walls. Last year, the company offered free wall-mounting kits to owners of its Malm chests and dressers after reports of childrens deaths.

Kaye said IKEA is now working with CPSC to bring safer designs to the markets so that furniture is more stable.

I expect the rest of the furniture industry to do the same, said Kaye.

(AP)
Several suicide bombers have hit Istanbuls Ataturk airport, killing at least 28 people and wounding some 60 others, Istanbuls governor and other officials said Tuesday.

Turkeys NTV television quoted Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin as saying three suicide bombers carried out the attack.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag earlier said that according to preliminary information, a terrorist at the international terminal entrance first opened fire with a Kalashnikov and then blew himself up.

Another official said attackers detonated explosives at the entrance of the international terminal after police fired at them.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, said the attackers blew themselves up before entering the x-ray security check at the airport entrance.

Turkish airports have security checks at both at the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates. Roads around the airport were sealed off for regular traffic after the attack and several ambulances could be seen driving back and forth.

Hundreds of passengers were spilling out of the airport with their suitcases in hand or stacked onto trolleys. Others were sitting on the grass, their bodies lit by the flashing lights of ambulances and police cars.

Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions and were shaken by what they witnessed.

We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off, Paul Roos said. There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a hand gun.

The private DHA news agency said the wounded, among them police officers, were being transferred to Bakirkoy State Hospital.

Turkey has suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or Islamic State group militants.

The bombings include two in Istanbul targeting tourists  which the authorities have blamed on the Islamic State group.

The attacks have increased in scale and frequency, scaring off tourists and hurting the economy, which relies heavily on tourism revenues.

Istanbuls Ataturk Airport was the 11th busiest airport in the world last year, with 61.8 million passengers, according to Airports Council International. It is also one of the fastest-growing airports in the world, seeing 9.2 percent more passengers last year than in 2014.

The largest carrier at the airport is Turkish Airlines, which operates a major hub there. Low-cost Turkish carrier Onur Air is the second-largest airline there.

(AP)
On Monday night, the Associated Press published a piece noting the release of an additional 165 pages of emails Hillary Clinton sent from her private email address while serving as secretary of state. These were emails that had never been previously released and only were made public because of a court order in response to a request from a conservative group.

And yet again, the emails poke holes in Clintons initial explanation for why she decided to exclusively use a private email server for her electronic correspondence while serving as the nations top diplomat.

Lets start with this from the AP story: The emails were not among the 55,000 pages of work-related messages that Clinton turned over to the agency in response to public records lawsuits seeking copies of her official correspondence.

Remember that Clinton and a small group of people working for her reviewed all of the emails she sent from her private server and made the decision about what was solely personal and what was work-related. She handed over the work-related email and permanently deleted those that she and her team decided were purely personal. She wound up deleting more emails than she turned over to State.

The latest batch of emails suggest that Clintons filter to decide between the personal and the professional was far from foolproof. That these emails never saw the light of day before Monday  or before a conservative legal advocacy group petitioned for their release  opens up the possibility that there are plenty more like them that Clinton chose to delete but shouldnt have. And it provides more fodder for the Republican argument that Clinton appointing herself as judge, jury and executioner for her emails was, at best, a very, very bad decision and, at worst, something more nefarious than just bad judgment.

Then theres this quote from a newly released March 2009 email between Clinton and her top aide Huma Abedin about the email setup: I have just realized I have no idea how my papers are treated at State. Who manages both my personal and official files? . . . I think we need to get on this asap to be sure we know and design the system we want.

Hmmm.

Remember that Clinton said that her main/only reason for using a private email server while at State was convenience. She didnt want to carry around multiple devices for email, she explained.

But this email to Abedin  which came at the start of her four-year term in office  suggests a bit more active agency than Clinton has previously let on. I think we need to get on this asap to be sure we know and design the system we want, doesnt strike me as Clinton simply wanting convenience and following the instructions of her IT people on how to make that happen. It reads to me as though Clinton is both far more aware of the email setup and far more engaged in how it should look than she generally lets on publicly.

Theres nothing in these emails that changes the basic political dynamic of the email controversy as Clinton seeks to win the White House this fall. Everything still depends on whether the Justice Department decides to indict Clinton or those close to her for purposely keeping information that the public had a right to know away from them. Weve been waiting on the results of that FBI investigation for months now and, in truth, no one really knows when they will finally come.

But revelations like Mondays  a chunk of previously undisclosed emails that are clearly professional in nature  lend further doubt to the story Clinton had told about why she set up a private server and how she handled it after leaving office. For a candidate already struggling to convince voters she is honest and trustworthy enough to be president, stories like this one are deeply problematic.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Chris Cillizza
NASA on Tuesday tested one of the solid rocket boosters that would power its new rocket, the Space Launch System, which the agency hopes will one day fly to Mars. Shortly after 11 a.m. ET, NASA fired the engine, sending a torrent of fire gushing from the nozzle and a volcano-like plume of smoke that could be seen for miles.

After an hour delay because of a glitch with the ground computer system, the booster fired horizontally for just over two minutes at a test site in Utah, burning through 5.5 tons of propellant per second, shooting flames out at three times the speed of sound, with temperatures that were expected to reach 3,700 degrees. The booster test comes ahead of the rockets first mission, planned for 2018, when it would launch the unmanned Orion spacecraft on a three-week journey that would take it around the moon.

After the test, officials at NASA and Orbital ATK, the Dulles, Va.-based contractor that built the booster, said it was a success.

Seeing this test today, and experiencing the sound and feel of approximately 3.6 million pounds of thrust, helps us appreciate the progress were making to advance human exploration and open new frontiers for science and technology missions in deep space, William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA, said in a statement.

That rumble that you get is awesome, Charlie Precourt,vice president and general manager of Orbital ATKs Propulsion Systems Division, said on NASA TV. We made it through exactly what we were looking for.

Combined, a two-minute test firing of the rockets boosters, the largest and most powerful ever designed, would generate enough energy to power 92,000 homes for a day, NASA said.

The test follows a successful launch in 2014 of the Orion spacecraft, which flew further than any vehicle designed for humans had gone in more than 40 years. Ultimately, NASA plans to use the SLS to launch to Mars, but there have been some in Congress who are pushing the agency to return to the moon instead.

This morning was a really super day, said Alex Priskos, manager of NASAs SLS Boosters Office. It was a fantastic test. He said the problems with the ground computers that led to the delay had nothing to do with the motor.



(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Christian Davenport
Police are investigating a disturbing incident in Flatbush in what is possibly a hate crime.

Sources tell YWN that at around 5:15PM on Tuesday afternoon, two black teens yelled anti-semitic slurs at a vehicle driven by an Orthodox Jewish woman at the intersection of Nostrand Avenue and Avenue J.

The two suspects then threw a rock and smashed a window of her minivan. The rock missed her 6-year-old child sitting in the back seat by inches. The child was child covered in shards of glass, but thankfully not injured.

The two teens took off running down Nostrand Avenue towards Avenue K.

Police, Hatzolah and Flatbush Shomrim were called.

Officers from the NYPDs 63 Precinct are reviewing security camera footage of the incident.

Two nice EMTs from FDNY were seen assisting the woman in temporarily sealing-up the broken window.

Detectives are on the scene investigating.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPDs Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

All calls are strictly confidential.

(Chaim Shapiro  YWN)
Two dozen men charged with supporting the Islamic State group squeezed into a cage in Jordans state security court. After brief questioning from a judge, they filed back out, and guards ushered in the next group of accused militants.

The courts heavy load is part of a widening domestic crackdown on the extremist group.

Hundreds have been sentenced to prison, are awaiting trial or are being held for questioning about links to IS. Under toughened anti-terror laws, even liking or sharing the groups propaganda on social media can land someone a prison sentence.

Some say the crowded court rooms  along with recent attacks  signal that the pro-Western kingdom has a more serious problem with home-grown extremism than it has acknowledged in public.

We have an extending of the network of IS in Jordan, not just among the poor, but also the middle class, said Mohammed Abu Rumman, an expert on extremists. It is a minority but it is very dangerous.

The extremists underscored their reach last week when they launched a suicide attack from Syria, detonating a car bomb near a Jordanian border post and killing seven soldiers in the deadliest attack in the kingdom in years.

The Islamic State groups 2014 capture of large parts of neighboring Syria and Iraq sent jitters through Jordan. The U.S. spent millions of dollars to help the kingdom fortify its borders, and Jordan joined the U.S.-led anti-IS military coalition.

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani said that extremism is a global problem and that Jordan is at a level just like any other societies in the world. The challenge is to reach and prosecute extremists and make sure we have enough awareness in the society against these elements, he said.

For the West, any sign of instability in Jordan, a key ally, would be of great concern. This would include rising support for jihadi Salafism, the violent version of Sunni Islam that underpins IS and its precursor, al-Qaida.

U.S.-based analyst David Schenker said that while its difficult to measure jihadi activity, the recent uptick points to a threat that is not insignificant.

Abu Rumman estimated that there are more than 10,000 jihadi Salafists in Jordan, most loyal to IS, and that about 2,000 of them are fighting in the ranks of IS and al-Qaida in Syria and Iraq.

Jordans domestic jihadi Salafi movement goes back almost three decades when Jordanians returning from Afghanistan spread the extremist message at home. Jordans movement produced a spiritual leader of al-Qaida, Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi, and the networks first chief in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed by the U.S. in 2006.

Over the years, jihadi recruitment has been fueled by high unemployment, restrictions on political expression and the perception that the world stands by as Sunnis are being slaughtered in Syrias civil war and the Sunni-Shiite conflict in Iraq.

In Jordan, militant strongholds include poor urban areas, remote tribal towns and decades-old Palestinian refugee camps, where some feel like lesser citizens.

The support was on display recently in one stronghold, Zarqa. Hundreds attended the funeral of Nasser Idreis, a resident convicted of IS support who died in prison from complications of a liver infection.

Clean-shaven intelligence agents mingled with the mourners, and didnt try to blend in. One even introduced himself to a journalist as mukhabarat  intelligence  and asked why she was taking photos.

Some mourners wore Salafi attire  short robes or pants that stop above the ankle  though that didnt necessarily mean they belong to the jihadi strain of Salafis that supports violence. Bearded men hugged each other outside a mosque, among them a leading local jihadi Salafi known as Abu Bandar.

Abu Bandar said the government has stepped up pressure in recent months, including with preventive arrests, because they are concerned that something might happen.

Idreis family denies he had ties to IS.

In 2011, dozens of Zarqa residents were arrested after clashes between local Salafis and security forces  including Abu Bandar, who was one of the last of the group to be released, about six months ago. Dozens of those have since left and joined the IS caliphate in Iraq and Syria, said Moussa Abdallat, a lawyer who represented many of them.

In response to the rise of IS, Jordan toughened anti-terror laws, criminalizing social media support for the group. Sharing IS material on social media can bring one to five years in prison, and involvement in an actual plot far more.

The Jordanian intelligence agency closely monitors social media with an electronic army, said Abu Rumman. Anyone they find sympathizing with IS, they send him to court, he said.

Abdallat said about 300 Jordanians have been sentenced or are on trial, most for social media support. About 300 more are being held for questioning, though the number changes frequently, he said. Most are in their late teens and early 20s.

There is a notable increase in the number of detainees, he said.

Court officials would not provide statistics.

During a recent session, a judge presided over a courtroom crowded with defense lawyers and family of the accused.

In the defendants cage, the men stood tightly packed. Some hugged new arrivals. Among them were five young men accused of being part of a cell plotting attacks on security installations, a charge their lawyer denied.

In recent months, other reports of such alleged plots have emerged, along with actual attacks.

In November, a police captain opened fire in an international police training facility, killing two Americans and three others. In June, a gunman killed five Jordanians in an attack on an intelligence agency branch in the Palestinian refugee camp of Baqaa.

The government has portrayed the police captain as troubled and clamped a news blackout on the June attack. Abu Rumman said he believes both attackers were inspired by IS.

In March, Jordanian commandos and suspected IS supporters exchanged fire during an arrest raid, leaving seven militants and a member of the security forces dead. The IS cell had allegedly plotted to carry out attacks in Jordan. More than a dozen suspects arrested after the gun battle were charged in the security court this week, Abdallat said.

Jordan defends its anti-IS strategy, saying it is part of a broader counter-radicalization program involving 13 government agencies. Critics say the focus on jailing IS sympathizers is counter-productive.

Prison creates more bonds among jihadis, while a security-centric approach risks neglecting other causes of radicalization, said Schenker, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

A survey among Jordanians, published last week by the U.S.-based International Republican Institute, found a sharp rise in discontent with Jordans economy and political institutions. The poll also showed that 89 percent of Jordanians consider IS a terrorist organization, while 4 percent disagree and 7 percent are not sure  the same as in 2015.

As jihadi Salafism continues to spread in the region, Jordan will have to adapt, Schenker said.

Ultimately, you are going to have more Salafists, and the king cant lock them all up, he said.

(AP)
Rep. Jerrold Nadler won the Democratic primary Tuesday for a New York City congressional seat hes held for nearly a quarter-century, defeating his opponent in the first Democratic primary challenge hes faced in two decades.

Nadlers win came after a contentious primary battle that brought his support of President Barack Obamas Iran nuclear deal to the forefront of the campaign in a congressional district heavily comprised of Jewish voters.

Its a great night, Nadler campaign spokesman Danny Schwarz said. Tonight, in a pretty emphatic fashion, we heard from the voters.

Nadler, who was first elected to Congress in 1992, was the only Jewish Democratic U.S. House member to support the Iran deal. His opponent, Oliver Rosenberg, had pushed Nadlers support of that measure to the center of the campaign in New Yorks 10th Congressional District, which covers a large portion of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, including the Borough Park neighborhood, which is largely comprised of Orthodox Jewish families.

Schwarz said Nadler never took anything for granted and debated Rosenberg publicly because its important that voters hear from their elected leaders.

Rosenberg, a former investment banker, had said during a debate on public radio station WNYC that Nadler supported a disastrous bill. But Nadler argued that he supported a measure aimed at ensuring Iran wouldnt have access to nuclear weapons for several years, saying the nation would be far less dangerous an enemy without nuclear bombs.

(AP)
* LatAm primary moves into high-gear amid risk-on bid

* Argentina YPF to tap foreign appetite for local debt

* Chile's Transelec joins growing pipeline

By Mike Gambale and Paul Kilby

NEW YORK, June 29 (IFR) - Below is a recap of primary issuance activity in the LatAm market on Wednesday:

Number of deals priced: 4

Total issuance: US$1.4bn

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

The Dominican Republic announced a US$500m will-not-grow tap of its 6.875% 2026 bond. With this tap, the oustanding size grows to US$1.5bn. Leads were Citigroup and JP Morgan. ratings are B1/BB-/B+.

IPTs 5.875% area

GUIDANCE: Tap of 6.875% 2026 at 5.60%-5.65%

LAUNCH: US$500m tap of 6.875% 2026 at 5.60%

PRICED: US$500m tap of 6.875% 2050026: 109.335; 5.60%Y - Final maturity January 29 2026. Settlement on July 7 2016.

MARFRIG

Brazilian beef name Marfrig announced a tap of its 8% 2023 bonds. Proceeds are going to repay debt, including its 2016s and 2017s. The senior unsecured notes are being sold under a 144A/RegS format and are rated B2/B+/B+. BB Securities, Bradesco, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Santander are acting as leads.

IPTs 7.875% area

GUIDANCE: Marfrig US$250m tap of 8% 2023 at 7.75% area

LAUNCH: US$250m at 7.625%

PRICED: US$250m tap of 8% 2023: 101.505; 7.625%YTW

ARCOR

Argentine confectionery company Arcor announced 7NC4. Proceeds are being used to refinance debt including its 7.25% 2017s. The senior unsecured 144A/RegS bonds will be listed in Luxembourg and governed by New York law. Itau, JP Morgan and Santander are acting as leads. Ratings are B1/B+ by Moody's and Fitch.

IPTs mid 6%

GUIDANCE: 7NC4 at 6.25% (+/-12.5bp)

LAUNCH: US$350m 7NC4 at 6.00%

PRICED: US$350m 7NC4: par; 6%

PROVINCE OF SALTA

Argentina's Province of Salta announced an up to US$350m 2024 bond. The bond has a seven-year average life and amortizes equally in 2022, 2023 and 2024. The senior unsecured bond is expected to be rated B-/B. Citigroup and Deutsche Bank are acting as leads.

IPTs 9.25% area

GUIDANCE: Up to US$350m 2024 at 9.125% area

Story continues

LAUNCH: US$300m 2024 bond at 9.125%

PRICED: US$300m 2024 bond at 9.125% at par. S/D 7/7/16.

BOOK: around US$800m.

PIPELINE:

Argentina infrastructure company CLISA is set to kick off roadshows this week ahead of bond offering and liability management exercise.

The company will visit accounts in Chile, Switzerland, London, Boston, New York and Los Angeles between July 1 and July 13.

The bond is being done in conjunction with a cash tender for US$87.106m of outstanding 11.50% notes due 2019.

Holders are being offered a price of 110.00 if they tender by the early bird date of July 13. Thereafter but before the expiration date of July 28, the price drops to 106.50.

BCP and Santander are acting as dealer managers on the tender and leads on the bond sale.

Chile's Transelec, rated Baa1/BBB/BBB, will start roadshows this week as it looks to market a potential 144A/RegS bond.

The borrower will meet investors in Santiago on Thursday and next week will head to London on Monday, Los Angeles on Tuesday and Boston and New York on Wednesday. Transelec is Chile's largest power transmission company by kilometers of lines. Citigroup, JP Morgan, Santander and Scotiabank are acting as leads.

Argentine oil company YPF has announced a peso-linked, USD-denominated 2020 bond, with initial price thoughts set at Badlar plus 400bp.

The senior unsecured notes are being marketed under a 144A/Reg S format with no registration rights. It will be listed in Luxembourg and governed by New York law. Expected pricing is on Thursday. Expected ratings are B3/B by Moody's and Fitch. BBVA and Santander are acting as leads.

Petrobras Argentina is preparing an up to US$500m bond sale to fund a tender for all of its US$300m of outstanding 5.875% 2017s, according to a filing with local regulators. The borrower is seeking to raise 10-year money and has mandated Citigroup and Deutsche on the deal. The announcement comes after Pampa Energia agreed earlier this year to purchase a 67.2% stake in Petrobras Argentina for US$892m.

Argentine power company Pampa Energia will also hire four banks to lead a new international bond sale that will refinance debt taken out to fund its acquisition of Petrobras's Argentine assets. The company plans to hire Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, ICBC and Banco Galicia to lead the bond sale, which will refinance a US$700m bridge loan extended by the same lenders, Pampa chairman Marcelo Mindlin told IFR.

Mexican real-estate developer Grupo GICSA has finished investor meetings through JP Morgan and Santander. The company has been marketing a US dollar bond, which is expected to be rated BB/BB-.

Celulosa Argentina is eyeing an up to US$250m seven-year bond sale, according to a filing with local regulators. The pulp and paper company has been in discussions with bankers from Citigroup and Credit Suisse about financing options, the company said.

Bolivia is hoping to sell an up to US$1bn 10-year bond in the coming months, according to Economy Minister Luis Arce Catacora. Proceeds would go mainly towards investment in healthcare, specifically hospitals. Bolivia is rated BB by S&P and Fitch and one notch lower at Ba3 by Moody's.

(Reporting by Mike Gambale; editing by Shankar Ramakrishnan)
Following the devastating terror attack in the Istanbul Airport that left dozens dead and over 140 injured, Israels Foreign Ministry on Wednesday morning 23 Sivan announced there are no missing Israelis.

There were reports hours after the attack that some Israelis were out of contact but on Wednesday morning the Foreign Ministry Situation Room confirmed there was no the case.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim the three suicide bombers were among the dead. ISIS appears to be behind the latest deadly attack.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The cabinet on Wednesday, 23 Sivan, voted to approve the draft agreement to restore diplomatic ties between Israel and Turkey. As indicating they would, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennett voted against the agreement.

According to a Haaretz report quoting two cabinet ministers anonymously, the agreement is three pages long including one-page addressing Israeli compensation for the Marvi Mamara. The document also contains a half page in which Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has ordered his institutions to do whatever possible to bring an end to the matter of missing Israelis in Gaza as a humanitarian gesture.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The Prime Ministers Office has contacted the Chief Rabbis of Israel requesting a meeting to discuss the controversy surrounding Reform Jewry and the Kosel. According to the Kikar Shabbos report, Rishon LTzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita and Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau Shlita are thinking if attending such a meeting is wise, since they believe it will be of a political nature and therefore, their presence would not contribute anything.

The report quotes a source close to the Chief Rabbis explaining since they do not rely on what will be said at such a meeting, there is no point in them participating.

In a directly related matter, the heads of the chareidi parties were scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday 23 Sivan to discuss an acceptable agreement regarding the egalitarian prayer area. The chareidim signaled they would be demanding a separate entrance to the egalitarian area, not one that connects to either the mens area of the Kosel or ezras noshim.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Har Habayis this week has been the scene of Arab violence against police and non-Muslim visitors as the attacks are intended to compel police to close the holy site to non-Muslims.

After three consecutive days of violence, police on Tuesday 22 Sivan did just that, ordering Har Habayis closed to all non-Muslim visitors until after Ramadan. This led to an outcry from Har Habayis activists and others who feel Jews must be permitted to visit the site.

One of the outspoken voices calling on the government not to surrender to the actions of those who create disturbances on Har Bayis was Har Habayis activist MK Yehuda Glick.

Despite the outcry to permit Jews to continue visiting, PM Netanyahu and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan announced the ban against Members of Knesset and cabinet ministers from visiting Har Habayis will remain in effect.

Gedolei Yisrael over the generations and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel prohibit visiting Har Habayis.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
No UK sector was more adamant that staying in the EU would be better for business than the automotive industry. And with an improved turnover of 71.6billon last year, it's no surprise.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders announced the figure as part of a new report this week, which also confirmed that jobs, production outputs and vehicle sales had all grown in 2015.

But instead of celebrating the record-breaking results the release was met with fear, as experts warn that Brexit could have an enormous toll on the booming car industry.

The important question for the motor industry now is what happens to our trade agreements after the vote for Brexit?

Car sector grows in 2015: Demand for both cars and commercial vehicles in the UK reached record levels last year with 2,633,503 million and 420,000 registrations respectively

The figures on Britain's booming car industry were revealed in the automotive body's 17th annual Sustainability Report issued on Wednesday.

The record turnover by vehicle manufacturers was an increase of 7.3 per cent on 2014, taking the additional value generated for the UK economy to 18.9bn - a 3.8 per cent increase on the year before.

Much of the growth, the SMMT said, has been aided by the UK's access to the single market.

Mike Hawes, chief executive at the industry representative, said the sustainability of the automotive industry is of 'acute concern' and that the EU is the 'single most important relationship that we have as an industry'.

He said: 'This success has been due to unrestricted access to the single market, input to EU legislation to safeguard the interests of UK Automotive, and the ability to recruit talent from abroad.

'Our growth depends on certainty and continued open and reciprocal access to the 100-plus markets with which the UK automotive industry so successfully trades. This is not just finished cars but components, technologies and the wider automotive value chain.

'Any risks and uncertainty to these fundamental benefits need to be addressed head on by UK government,' he added.

Analysts in Japan have warned that the shift away from the EU could force some carmakers to pull their operations from the UK altogether.

According to the Financial Times, both Honda and Toyota are weighing up their options to retreat from UK manufacturing after investing a combined 2.2bn but failing to make profit since the mid-1980s.

Ahead of the referendum, Toyota issued a warning of 'huge cost reduction challenges' it would face if there was to be a 10 per cent tariff on exports to Europe, especially as the vast majority of the cars produced in these UK-based plants are destined for Europe.

Toyota invested 100million in the Burnaston factory in Derbyshire back in 2011

Honda invested more than 200million in its Wiltshire facility from 2012, as Swindon became a global production hub for the Civic hatchback

Speaking to the Financial Times, Koji Endo, an analyst at Advanced Research Japan, estimated that there is a 75 per cent chance that both Honda and Toyota would pull the plug on UK car manufacturing.

'The reality is that its nearly impossible to make profit considering that they had not made much money over the past two decades,' he told the FT.

'Can you keep holding on to a perpetually loss-making operation in Britain?'

But business minister Sajid Javid said imminent challenges will be superseded by medium- and long-term opportunities from Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

Speaking at the SMMT International Automotive Summit in London on Wednesday, he said: 'Top of my list is getting the tariff-free access to the EU market that the car industry needs.

'The UK is a leading destination for international investment in manufacturing and we cannot afford to turn our backs on the world.

'In a sky full of stars your sector shines brighter than most, with a vehicle off the lines every 16 seconds, most for export.'

WHAT UK-BASED MOTOR COMPANIES SAID AHEAD OF THE REFERENDUM Ken Gregor, chief Financial officer of Jaguar Land Rover, said, 'Remaining in the EU  our largest market  will increase Jaguar Land Rover's chances to grow, create jobs and attract investment in future technologies. Our European supply chain has been fundamental in helping us to meet customer expectations worldwide and achieve sustainable, profitable growth.' Tony Walker, deputy managing director, Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK, said, 'After considered review, we believe that continued membership of the European Union is best for our business and for our competitiveness in the longer term.' Dr Ian Robertson, member of the board of management, BMW AG, said, 'We firmly believe Britain would be better off if it remained an active and influential member of the EU, shaping European regulations which will continue to impact the UK whatever the decision on Thursday.' Rory Harvey, managing director and chairman of Vauxhall, said, 'We are part of a fully integrated European company where we benefit from the free movement of goods and people. We believe not to be part of the EU would be undesirable for our business and the sector as a whole.' Nigel Stein, chief executive, GKN PLC, said, 'We see a real benefit in remaining in the EU. A vote to leave will not mean manufacturing investment disappears overnight, but over time a UK outside the EU will be disadvantaged and will lose the investment it needs to maintain our industries.' Gamil Magal, group chief executive, Magal Engineering Limited, a medium-sized Tier 1 components supplier, said, 'Full unhindered access to the European single market is essential for Magal Engineering's UK operations and growth.'

At the same event, Dr Johan van Zyl, president and CEO at Toyota Europe, said the Japanese brand will work with the industry to 'ensure a sustainable business in the UK'.

He added: 'We are proud of our UK work force's productivity, quality and flexibility.'

Jaguar Land Rover's strategy director, Adrian Hallmark, said the carmaker will standby investments in and outside the UK, which includes a new facility in Slovakia.

'I can't imagine any overly punitive measure in the premium end of the business that would cut off that market opportunity,' he commented during the conference.

'It would be cutting the European nose off to spite its face.'

According to the SMMT report, investment in R&D reached a record high of 2.5 billion in 2015, which now represents some 12 per cent of the countrys total R&D spend.

The increase in turnover has also been matched by a growth in employment in the sector, with 17,000 additional jobs provided by the motor industry in 2015, taking the tally to 814,000 filled positions.

Apprenticeships were up from 500 in 2014 to 825 and a further 5,000 vacancies are still being advertised due to a shortage of available skills.

The report said there has also been a shrinking environmental impact in the last 12 months, with 41 per cent less waste sent to landfills than the previous year. Water used for vehicle manufacturing also declining by 7.6 per cent - driven mainly by advances in the painting process.

It also pointed out that new cars registered in the UK last year emitted an average of 121.4g/km CO2 - while this was a 2.6 per cent improvement on 2014, the figures are based on an EU-regulated test that's come under mass criticism in the wake of the VW Group's emissions cheating scandal.

VW AGREES SETTLEMENT FOR EMISSIONS CHEATING SCANDAL IN THE US, WHILE TOYOTA RECALLS 3.37M CARS WORLDWIDE VOLKSWAGEN Volkswagen has taken major steps toward compensating owners and government regulators for its emissions cheating scandal - but only in the US. The German automaker has agreed to spend up to $15.3 billion to settle consumer lawsuits and government allegations that its diesel cars cheated US emissions tests. The settlement announced on Tuesday is believed to be the largest auto-related class-action settlement in US history. Up to $10 billion will go to 475,000 VW or Audi diesel owners. VW agreed to either buy back or repair their vehicles, although it hasn't yet developed a fix for the problem. Owners will also receive payments of $5,100 to $10,000. The news will be a bitter pill for UK motorists affected by VW's emissions scandal. While a repair process is underway to fix affected cars, owners have been told they will not receive compensation from the carmaker. 'Volkswagen customers in the UK will rightly question why a deal is being offered to US consumers when there is nothing on the table for the 1.2 million owners affected in this country,' Alex Neill, Which? director of policy and campaigns, said following the news. 'VW must not be let off the hook, the Government should intervene and stand up for UK consumers.' TOYOTA Toyota has had to issue a recall on 3.37 million cars worldwide over possible defects involving airbags and emissions control units. The automaker confirmed on Wednesday that it will recall 2.87 million cars over a possible fault in emissions control units, which followed an announcement late on Tuesday that 1.43 million cars needed repairs over a separate issue involving air bag inflators. According to Reuters, Some of the automaker's hybrid Prius models are potentially affected by both defects.
Britains biggest car maker Jaguar Land Rover insisted no jobs would be shed in the wake of the Brexit vote to leave the European Union as motor industry chiefs said it would be business as usual.

The EU would not exact revenge on Britain with punitive tariffs as this would be cutting off European noses to spite their faces, said JLRs top global strategy boss Adrian Hallmark.

Toyotas European chief too said jobs and production were safe in the short to medium term as it vowed to continue to support our business in the UK'.

A time for 'cool heads' and 'common sense to prevail': JLR's strategy director said there would be no impact on UK jobs or production following last week's Brexit vote

The views were voiced at a special press conference held by the Society of motor manufacturers and Traders ahead of their International Automotive Summit in London, ahead of a speech by Business Secretary and Prime Ministerial contender Sajid Javid.

Jaguar Land Rovers group strategy Mr Hallmark said he did not believe the EU would impose punitive tariffs against the UK premium car-maker  a rival to Germanys BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz.

Europe had more to lose than Britain if it jacked up the cost of exporting UK cars to the Continent by adding heavy taxes, he said  because any retaliatory action by the UK would have a far bigger impact on their exports to Britain.

It was in their own self-interest to keep open trade flowing, he said adding it was time for cool heads and common sense to prevail.

Jaguar Land Rover and Toyota both insisted there would be no impact on jobs or production in the short to medium term.

The longer term prognosis will depend on whatever trade deal is thrashed out between the UK Government  under a new Prime Minister  and the European Union.

Jaguar Land Rover global strategy director Mr Hallmark said his company employed more than 40,000 people, with 80 per cent of production exported, but only 20 per cent of it to continental Europe, giving them a balanced manufacturing portfolio.

He insisted: The short term challenge that Brexit presents does not change our overall strategy.

Were a British company. We live with that decision. Its another problem we will rise to, face and overcome. We will face up to the challenge.

Jaguar Land Rover committed to retaining jobs in the UK, including here at the Halewood plant in Merseyside

Chancellor George Osborne pictured during a visit to the JLR Solihull plant in January 2011

Asked if he expected JLR to be targeted with tariffs, Mr Hallmark said their much bigger German rivals  keen to export to the UK - would be hit harder than them if a tit-for-tat tariff war:

'There is interest in Europe to retain access to the UK market. I cant imagine there would be any overly punitive measures. It would be cutting off European noses to spite their faces.

We have to keep a cool head. Im sure common sense will prevail.

Asked directly how many of JLRs 40,000 jobs could be hit because of Brexit, Mr Hallmark said bluntly: From todays perspective  none. There is no Brexit-led need to change our strategy.

Nor would it affect JLRs investment in a new factory  within the EU  in Slovakia - adding to expansion in other plants abroad, including India and Brazil, he said.

And currency fluctuations could actually work in JLRs favour as a weaker pound made exports cheaper.

'There is no Brexit-led need to change our strategy, Adrian Hallmark from Jaguar Land Rover said

Toyota employs some 2,600 people to build 190,000 cars a year in the UK, including the Auris (pictured)

President and chief executive of Toyota Motor Europe, Dr Johan van Zyl, also insisted that his company did not foresee job cuts in the short to medium term  which he defined as around six years  or the life-cycle of a new car model.

Dr van Zyl said he Brexit vote was a matter for the British people which had to be respected: As a company we respect the decision of the British people. Its for them to decide what to do.

But he stressed: We will continue to support our business in the UK. We have been here since 1997.

In the UK Toyota employs 2,600 people building up to 190,000 Avensis and Auris cars a year, including hybrids, at its Burnaston car factory in Derbyshire, with more employed at their engine factory on Deeside.

It has nine manufacturing plants in total across Europe into which it has invested 9billion Euros, and builds 900,000 cars a year.

But Dr van Zyl insisted: In the short and medium term, I dont see any change.

Some 40 per cent of the content of UK-built Toyotas was sourced from British suppliers, he said: We are in a continuous drive to increase our local content.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of motor Manufacturers and Traders said: Its business as usual for the foreseeable future. The priority for business is access to a single market.

He believed the UK could still sell a record 2.7million cars this year  beating last years record of 2.63million.

He added: Its all down to consumer confidence. We are at an all time high. We will continue to build cars in this country.'
Shares in Carpetright plunged 16 per cent today after the retailer warned Brexit could hit consumer confidence and exacerbate the already more challenging trading conditions at the start of the year.

The retailer has struggled in recent years but sales had showed signs of improvements of late, suggesting that the turnaround strategy implemented by its new chief executive Wilf Walsh was paying off.

However, today Carpetright said it had a difficult May, with like-for-like sales down 7.6 per cent, although June was 'better, with sales up 6.3 per cent, leaving overall like-for-like UK sales down 1 per cent over the two months.

Competitive market: Carpetright said the group's outlook had been complicated by Brexit

Mr Walsh said: Trading conditions in the early weeks of the new financial year have been more challenging, against strong comparatives in the prior year and in a market which is increasingly competitive, particularly in the UK.

The outlook has been further complicated by the outcome of last week's referendum and we are cautious about the impact the associated uncertainty will have on consumer confidence.'

Shares in the group were down 16.5 per cent, or 45.4p, at 229.6p in late morning trading.

Carpetright made the announcement alongside its full year results, which actually showed a rise in profits thanks to lower property costs, but also saw falling revenues following the closure of some of its stores.

Underlying pretax profit in the year to the end of April rose to 33 per cent to 17.3million and like-for-like sales were up 2.8 per cent in the UK.

But revenues were hit by the closure of 25 underperforming stores, dipping 1.3 per cent to 456.8 million.

Independent retail analyst Nick Bubb said the full-year results showed a solid recovery, but that investors were more interested in Walshs comments on the uncertain outlook stemming from Brexit.

But analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded their forecasts for Carpetright for a second time following its Aprils trading update.

'The strategy being implemented by Wilf Walsh is credible but is not enough, in our view, to move the dial. Gross margins are likely to remain under pressure impacted by a more competitive trading environment and a stronger euro,' they said.

'In addition, the surprising European Referendum result is likely to have an impact on housing related spending, which has been relatively robust over the last six months,' the analysts added.

Retail sales growth slowed ahead of EU referendum Retail sales growth slowed slightly ahead of last week's EU referendum, according to the latest CBI survey. It's retail sales balance for June slipped to +5 from +7 in May. The survey was conducted between May 26 and June 14, before Britons voted to leave the EU last Thursday. 'Retail sales reported weak growth in the year to June, beating expectations of a modest fall and lifting sales slightly above average for the time of year,' the CBI report said. The CBI said it would not comment further on the results, given that the survey was conducted before the referendum. Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: 'The CBI survey points to relatively lacklustre retail sales growth in June.' He added: 'This suggests that consumers were relatively cautious in their spending in the run-up to the EU referendum, but did not completely keep their hands in their pockets.' The CBI June survey follows on from the Office for National Statistics showing strong retail sales growth in May and April.

Other companies from different sectors have expressed worries over the impact Brexit could have on their business.

British Airways-owner IAG and discount airline easyJet have already issued profits warnings in the wake of the referendum result, as has London-focused estate agent Foxtons.

Carpetright said it planned to invest 10million in the refurbishment of 100 of its 435 stores in the UK after the successful trial of its new store format.

A full refresh of its stores and branding was rolled out in June last year, with shops redesigned to feature more natural light and an easier shopping experience.

The company, which was founded by Conservative peer Lord Harris in 1988, also has 137 stores in Europe.

Mr Walsh took over from Lord Harris in 2014 and has attempted to move the group away from being a discount carpet seller and more towards a contemporary market.

Whilst we have a long journey ahead in transforming Carpetright, we have a clear direction and are confident that our plans for repositioning the business will yield positive results, Mr Walsh said today
Lionfish

The Mediterranean is being invaded by a new species: the lionfish.

According to a new study, published in Marine Biodiversity Records, these beautiful but venomous fish have colonized the southeastern coastline of Cyprus in a single year, and their numbers are expected to grow.

The study authors believe the warming sea temperatures of the Mediterranean Sea and the 2015 expansion of the Suez Canal may be allowing the lionfish to expand their range. A wider and deeper canal makes it easier for lionfish larvae and swimming adults to gain access to the Mediterranean waters.

An infestation of lionfish could be a disaster for the local Mediterranean ecosystem.

Notorious invaders

Originally from the Pacific and Indian oceans, these creatures are notorious invaders, having already rapidly spread throughout the Caribbean and Western Atlantic. It is believed that the animals first appeared in the Atlantic near South Florida in the 1980s after being dumped from home aquariums, and they quickly grew into an established invasive species by the 2000s.

These non-native fish have very few predators, thanks to their long, poisonous spines. Even humans have to be careful around these fish because their sting is extremely painful and can cause paralysis, cardiac arrest, and even death by anaphylactic shock.

With no natural predators, lionfish reproduce at an alarmingly fast pace. They spawn every four days, year round. Each female can produce about 2 million eggs in a year.

These prolific invaders have also demonstrated that they are highly adaptable, able to thrive in a range of water temperatures, depths, and salinity levels.

Voracious predators

The invasion of these fish is particularly worrisome because they tend to eat their way through the food chain, devouring all kinds of local fish and crustaceans. As active top predators, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, lionfish consume over 50 species of fish, including some ecologically important species, such as reef fish, and economically important ones.

Story continues

For example, lionfish feed on the young of snapper and grouper, which are both important commercial fish species. As a result, lionfish can have devastating consequences for the local fishing economy.

What can we do

Despite their poisonous spines, lionfish are slow-moving, making them easy to collect by divers and fishermen that take proper precautions and use the right equipment. They are also edible (once the spines are removed).

lionfish

This is why scientists and fishermen have teamed up in the Western Atlantic to try to slow down the lionfish invasion. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has even created a number of initiatives and opportunities for divers, anglers, and commercial harvesters to remove and kill as many lionfish as possible in seasonal competitions and year-round events.

In the Mediterranean, the lionfish invasion is just getting started, but things can quickly escalate. Already, another invasive species, the puffer fish, has disrupted food chains and replaced native species, threatening local biodiversity in the Mediterranean. Without action, lionfish might be next.

"By publishing this information, we can help stakeholders plan mitigating action," Jason Hall Spencer, author of the study and professor at Plymouth University, told The Independent. He suggests implementing removal programs like those in Florida as well as restoring populations of dusky groupers, a potential predator.

NOW WATCH: This incredibly accurate science experiment was centuries ahead of its time





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High street electricals giant Dixons Carphone has shrugged off Brexit fears as it posted a 17 per cent rise in profits.

The jump in earnings was in line with expectations and Dixons Carphone said it still sees opportunities to grow, despite the inevitable volatility coming from Britains decision to quit Europe and threat to consumer confidence.

The group, which was born out of the 5billion merger of Dixons and Carphone Warehouse in 2014, saw its pre-tax profits rise to 447million in the year to the end of April, mostly thanks to a strong performance at the old Carphone Warehouse mobile business.

New concept: The group is continuing with its plan to transform all of its shops into new 3-in-1 stores, which involves merging its Currys and PC World store and then installing a Carphone Warehouse outlet into each

Dixons Carphone's chief executive Seb James said: The nation has spoken and there has been a vote to exit the EU in due course. As you can imagine, we have been giving some thought to this.

Our view is that, as the strongest player in our market and despite the volatility that is the inevitable consequence of such change, we expect to find opportunities for additional growth and further consolidate our position as the leader in the UK market.

The FTSE 100-listed firm said group like-for-like sales rose 5 per cent over the year, after seeing its biggest ever trading day on Black Friday last year.

Mr James added that the group was continuing with its plan to transform all of its shops into new 3-in-1 stores, which involves merging its Currys and PC World store and then install a Carphone Warehouse outlet into each of the combined stores

And in a move that could ease some Brexit fears, Carphone Dixons plans to expand into the US.

He did not give an update on current trading, but said the group planned to continue expanding in the US, where it aims to open about 150 new stores through a joint venture deal with US telecoms group Sprint.

Overall turnover increased by 3 per cent, but reported sales were flat at 9.7billion as a result of the pounds strength over the year.

That slight disappointment saw shares in the electricals and mobile phone retailer fall 2 per cent, or 7.1p to 334.9p, having initially ticked higher with a market rally.

The group also operates in Scandinavia and southern Europe, with Elkjop and El Giganten stores in Nordic countries and Kotsovolos in Greece.

Dixons Carphone proposed a final dividend of 6.5p, taking the total payout for the year up 15 per cent, to 9.75p.

George Salmon, investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said Dixons Carphone was benefiting from its position as the last man standing on the UK high street offering large-scale supply of electrical items.

Despite macroeconomic conditions being far from favourable in many areas, market share is increasing, and sales are heading in the right direction across the board, the analyst said.

However, the vote to leave the EU has knocked the share price, which is unsurprising given the groups exposure to the UK consumer and weaker European economies, he added.

Salmon said Dixons Carphone also faced a structural threat from online retailers like Amazon and eBay, who have cost advantages like lower rent, fewer staff and less onerous business rate burdens.
Telecoms giant Vodafone has warned it could move its global headquarters, currently at Paddington in London, out of the UK altogether following last week's shock Brexit vote on EU membership.

The group - one of the UK's largest companies - said its decision would depend on whether Britain's negotiations to quit the European Union would restrict free 'movement of people, capital and goods'.

In an email to the press, Vodafone warned: 'It remains unclear at this point how many of those positive attributes will remain in place once the process of the UK's exit from the European Union has been completed.

'It is therefore not yet possible to draw any firm conclusions regarding the long-term location for the headquarters of the Group. We will continue to evaluate the situation and will take whatever decisions are appropriate in the interests of our customers, shareholders and employees.'

Listen up: Vodafone has warned it could move its global headquarters from the UK depending on the outcome of Britain's negotiations to leave the European Union

The email made clear that Vodafone believes the single market brings significant business advantages and that being outside the bloc could hamper its plans for the future.

In total, 55 per cent of Vodafone's profits in the last financial year came from its European operations, while the UK provided just 11 per cent.

The company is to start reporting its financial results in euros, rather than pounds.

The group employs more than 13,000 people in the UK, with additional offices outside of London in Newbury, Berkshire.

The email continued: 'The UK's membership of the European Union has been an important factor in the growth of a company such as Vodafone.

'Freedom of movement of people, capital and goods are integral to the operation of any pan-European business as are single legal frameworks spanning all Member States.

'Access to the emerging European digital single market should represent a significant opportunity for the UK, one of the world's leading digital economies.

It added: 'In the meantime - and in order to preserve Vodafone's ability to engage effectively with the EU institutions in future - we will strengthen Vodafone's regulatory and public policy activities in Brussels to ensure the Group's substantial businesses within the European Union continue to be represented appropriately.'

Current location: Vodafone's current headquarters is based on 1 Kingdom Street, behind Paddington station

Vodafone is the latest firm to sound the alarm over the Brexit vote and the impact of leaving the single European market.

Credit card giant Visa Europe could also relocate hundreds of UK jobs to other European countries as part of as 17.5billion takeover by its US sister company.

Visa Inc has stipulated - that as part of its deal with Visa Europe - data from Visa card transactions should not leave Europe.

The company, which employs more than 1,000 people in London, said yesterday it 'continues to monitor the situation carefully'.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid yesterday met business groups and company executives to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the vote to leave the EU.

He sought to assure industry leaders that the UK is 'open for business' and announced moves to calm fears about the impact of Brexit.

Javid said the biggest issue raised at the meeting was the need to secure continued access to the single market.

He added: 'My number one priority will be just that in the negotiations to come.'

The Business Secretary announced that he will be leading a series of trade missions to meet inward investors while trade minister Lord Price will be visiting countries including China and Brazil.

Business Department officials will also be visiting businesses across the UK to answer any concerns.

Vodafone is the seventh largest company listed on the FTSE 100 in London but the majority of its 462 million customers, 108,000 employees and 15,000 suppliers are based outside the UK.

The company, which launched in 1984, was the first UK mobile network.
A pump jack used to help lift crude oil from a well in South Texas Eagle Ford Shale formation stands idle in Dewitt County Texas A pump jack stands idle in Dewitt County, Texas January 13, 2016. REUTERS/Anna Driver

By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices surged 4 percent on Wednesday, with Brent settling above the psychological $50 a barrel mark, after a larger-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude inventories.

It was a second straight day of gains for oil, which has risen nearly 8 percent since Monday's settlement to recover almost all of what it lost after Britain's shock vote to exit the European Union.

Fading concerns over the so-called Brexit, potential for an oil workers' strike in Norway and a crisis in Venezuela's energy sector were among factors supporting Wednesday's rally. [MKTS/GLOB]

While spot contracts in Brent and U.S. crude surged, the premium for longer-dated oil spiked too as traders bet crude in storage will fetch better prices in coming months.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that crude stockpiles fell 4.1 million barrels in the week to June 24, the sixth consecutive week of drawdowns. [EIA/S]

That was more than the 2.4 million barrels expected by analysts in a Reuters poll. [API/S]

Brent crude futures (LCOc1) settled up $2.03, or 4.2 percent, at $50.61 per barrel. It hit a near one-week high of $50.74 during the session.

U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures (CLc1) also closed up $2.03, or 4.2 percent, at $49.88. WTI's session high was $50.

"Aside from improving market fundamentals, bulls are also eager to keep prices at around $50 as we begin the second half," said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital.

Among longer-dated oil futures, the discount for December WTI versus December 2017 held near the almost three month high above $2.40 a barrel seen on Tuesday.

"We played on that curve to widen out and it was good for us," said Tariq Zahir, crude spreads trader for Tyche Capital Advisors in New York.

The discount in nearby oil versus forward, known as contango, has widened as traders took advantage of cheap freight to store oil on tankers on expectations of further price gains by 2017 as a crude glut abates.

Story continues

Despite that, some were bearish on their longer-term view of oil as the EIA also reported an unseasonably large rise of 1.4 million barrels in gasoline stockpiles (USOILG=ECI) versus analysts' expectations for a 58,000-barrel draw.

On the East Coast, gasoline stockpiles rose to record levels.

"I am still unimpressed with overall crude draws for June," said Scott Shelton, energy futures broker with ICAP in Durham, North Carolina. "With 16.7 million barrels per day of crude runs and production declines, we should have larger drawdowns for Q2. That has simply not happened."

(Additional reporting by Julia Payne in LONDON and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Alistair Bell and Chizu Nomiyama)
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By Patrick Donachie

In the most contested congressional primary in the borough, former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi won the Democratic primary, beating four challengers. He will face Republican Jack Martins in the general election in November in a bid to succeed outgoing U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (D-Melville).

Turnout was low in the primary elections held throughout Queens Tuesday.

Suozzi garnered 35.5 percent of the vote, AP reported, with 99.8 percent of precincts reporting. For much of the night, Suozzi and Suffolk County Legislator Steve Stern were locked in a tight contest, but Stern eventually ended up tied with North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman with 22.9 percent of the vote. North Hempstead Town Councilwoman Anna Kaplan received 15.3 percent of the vote, while attorney Jonathan Clarke got 4.9 percent of the vote.

According to AP vote totals, 18,385 ballots were cast in the primary race. The 3rd District includes parts of Bay Terrace, Little Neck, Glen Oaks, Floral Park and Whitestone, as well as sections of Nassau and Suffolk counties in Long Island.

Incumbents won the three other Queens primaries. U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica) bested challenger Ali Mirza in the CD 5 primary with 81.8 percent of the vote, while U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn) beat Jeffrey M. Kurzon and Yungman Lee with 61.9 percent in the CD 7 race. U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-(Astoria) won in the CD 12 primary with 90.3 percent of the vote, beating challenger Peter Lindner.
The UN Security Council on Wednesday decided to send 2,500 extra peacekeepers to Mali, authorizing the force to take "all necessary means" to deter attacks in what has become the UN\s deadliest mission.

The council unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution that brings the force known as MINUSMA up to a maximum level of 15,200 troops and police, and provides for modern equipment and quick-reaction units.

The vote followed a spate of attacks on UN bases in Mali that have killed 27 peacekeepers so far this year.

MINUSMA will now have "a more robust mandate" with additional troops that will include "highly specialized European contingents," French Ambassador Francois Delattre said.

Germany is set to deploy 650 troops to Mali who will bring aerial drones and transport planes to bolster MINUSMA.

The resolution authorizes peacekeepers to "take all necessary means" to carry out their mandate in support of a struggling peace accord signed a year ago.

Mali\s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told the council by video-conference that "the entire Malian people, from north to south, east to west was rejoicing" over the resolution\s adoption.

The government would spare no effort to implement the peace accord that has been facing major delays implementation, he added.

The council threatened to impose sanctions against anyone blocking the peace accord in line with a request from Mali earlier this month.

The mission is "confronted with a resilient terrorist threat" from groups aligned with Al-Qaeda and jihadists who remain active mostly in the north, the French ambassador said.

But France has no immediate plans to strengthen its counterterrorism Operation Barkhane operating in Mali and the Sahel region, which provides backup for UN troops, he added.

Mali has been struggling to turn the page on an Islamist takeover of its northern territory in 2012 that triggered a French military intervention to pull the country back from the brink of collapse.

The UN peacekeeping mission has become a target for attacks since its deployment in July 2013.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which is not a signatory to the peace deal, has claimed responsibility for two recent attacks on peacekeepers in the northern city of Gao.

On Sunday, the head of the Islamist group Ansar Dine, Iyad Ag Ghaly, released a video threatening French and UN troops in Mali, vowing to confront "the crusaders\ military machine."

MINUSMA chief Mahamat Saleh Annadif has said the peacekeepers must be better-trained and better-equipped, in particular with armored personnel carriers capable of withstanding attacks from explosive devices planted on roads.

He has also asked for more surveillance drones and five more helicopters to accompany convoys on dangerous explosives-laden routes.

The council resolution instructed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to take additional measures to improve MINUSMA\s surveillance capacities and provide equipment to counter explosive devices.

SOURCE: AFP
Impatient European leaders pressed a humiliated Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday to speed up Britain\s divorce from the EU, warning that the UK cannot expect special treatment outside the bloc.

Five days after Britons shocked the world by voting to leave the 28-nation EU, British domestic political chaos spiralled with the leader of the opposition Labour party losing a no-confidence vote but refusing to resign.

US President Barack Obama warned however against "hysteria" as stock markets and the pound staged a tentative recovery after days of losses that saw sterling slump to a 31-year low.

Cameron, at probably his last EU summit in Brussels before stepping down over the referendum result, is refusing to bow to pressure quickly to initiate proceedings to exit the EU.

Instead he is leaving it to up to his successor  to be named on September 9  to trigger Article 50, the EU treaty clause that starts a two-year countdown until Britain\s departure.

As he arrived for what is likely to be an awkward dinner with his counterparts, Cameron said the split should be "as constructive as possible" and that he wanted the "closest possible relationship" with Europe afterwards.

But European powers are loath to give Britain an easy ride, insisting that negotiations on the future relationship cannot begin until it starts the divorce proceedings.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Cameron could not "cherry-pick" in the exit negotiations  and there would be a price for Britain to pay.

"It is important that we will negotiate only if the UK declares Article 50. There will be no informal or formal negotiations before," she said as she arrived in Brussels.

French President Francois Hollande warned that "the whole world has its eyes on Europe" as he pushed Britain to react so the union could move forward.

In a stern warning, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said that he had banned Commission officials from having any "secret" talks with Britain before Article 50 was triggered.

And European Parliament President Martin Schulz said Cameron was "taking the destiny of our entire continent hostage purely for internal political reasons".

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte however showed some sympathy for Britain\s predicament

"England right now is in the midst of a political, monetary, constitutional and economic crisis so it\s not reasonable at the present time for them to trigger Article 50," Rutte said.

Britain\s decision has also put the remaining 27 members of the EU under pressure to come up with an adequate response to prevent other countries following suit.

Germany, France and Italy have urged steps among the rest of the EU jointly to boost cooperation on security as well as programmes to boost economic growth and youth employment.

The 27 will meet without Cameron on Wednesday and EU President Donald Tusk proposed holding another summit in September.

The referendum result has caused an earthquake in British politics, claiming not only Cameron\s scalp but also leaving opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn fighting for his political life.

On Tuesday, Corbyn lost a no-confidence vote among Labour MPs by 172 to 40, but remained defiant despite around 20 members of his shadow cabinet resigning.

"I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60 percent of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning," Corbyn said in a statement.

Jockeying has also begun within the Conservatives to replace Cameron, with key Brexit proponent Boris Johnson and interior minister Theresa May considered front-runners.

The winner may call a general election later this year.

Stock markets and the pound recovered on Tuesday from heavy losses, but investors remain spooked by the prospect of one of the EU\s biggest economies leaving the bloc.

"None of the chaos induced by last Friday is anywhere near going away," Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell told AFP.

British entrepreneur Richard Branson on Tuesday said his Virgin Group had pulled out of a deal involving 3,000 jobs after Britain voted to leave the EU.

"When Brexiteers told the public that people were exaggerating that there would be a financial meltdown I think that it\s been proven that they were not exaggerating," Branson said.

But European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi told the EU summit that the growth in the eurozone economy would only take a mild hit of around 0.3 to 0.5 percent over three years.

Late Monday, Standard & Poor\s and Fitch both cut their credit ratings for Britain as a result of the referendum.

Both cited a possible second referendum on Scottish independence as a significant risk. Britain as a whole voted by 52 percent to leave the EU but 62 percent of Scots voted to stay.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would travel to Brussels for talks on Wednesday, saying she was "utterly determined to preserve Scotland\s relationship and place within the EU".

One happy man though was Nigel Farage, head of the UK Independence Party, telling a jeering European Parliament  after a hug with old sparring partner Juncker  that he has had the last laugh.

"When I came here 17 years ago and I said I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the EU, you all laughed at me," he said. "But you are not laughing now."

"The United Kingdom will not be the last member state to leave the European Union!"

SOURCE: AFP
Turkey has been hit by a string of deadly attacks in the past year, blamed on both Kurdish rebels and the Islamic State jihadist group.

Two suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up at the entrance to the main international airport in Istanbul on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding many more, Turkish officials and witnesses said.

Police fired shots to try to stop the attackers just before they reached a security checkpoint at the arrivals hall of the Ataturk airport but they blew themselves up, one of the officials said.

Speaking in parliament, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said that based on initial information he could only confirm that there had been one attacker. He said 10 people were killed and around 20 wounded.

"According to information I have received, at the entrance to the Ataturk Airport international terminal a terrorist first opened fire with a Kalashnikov and then blew themself up," he said in comments broadcast by CNN Turk.

Ataturk is Turkey\s largest airport and a major transport hub for international travelers. Pictures posted on social media from the site showed wounded people lying on the ground inside and outside one of the terminal buildings.

Television footage showed ambulances rushing to the scene. One witness told CNN Turk that gunfire was heard from the car park at the airport. Taxis were ferrying wounded people from the airport, the witness said.

Authorities halted the takeoff of scheduled flights from the airport and passengers were transferred to hotels, a Turkish Airlines official said. Earlier an airport official said some flights to the airport had been diverted.

Turkey has suffered a spate of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State, and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group.

In the most recent attack, a car bomb ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul during the morning rush hour, killing 11 people and wounding 36 near the main tourist district, a major university and the mayor\s office.

Turkey, which is part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, is also fighting Kurdish militants in its largely Kurdish southeast.
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.
Torin Halsey/Times Record News FIle: United Regional Health Care System

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Major university said to reach 'agreement in principle' to partner in running program

The controversy over United Regional Health Care System jettisoning its family practice residency center may have reached a solution Wednesday afternoon.

Allen Patterson, CEO of the Wichita Falls Community Healthcare Center, said his center reached agreement in principle with a major university health science center in Texas to partner with the center in running the residency program.

This is absolutely the best thing that could happen, Patterson said moments after concluding the arrangement.

United Regional CEO Phyllis Cowling could not be reached from comment on the late-breaking development. The hospital did, however, provide an email response by the administration.

Patterson did not reveal which university the program would partner with. It still has to have approval of several boards involved.

United Regional sent a shock wave through the medical community recently when it revealed it would phase out its long-standing relationship with the Family Practice Residency Program. The program has trained doctors in residency and provided much of the health care for indigent and poorer residents in the area for nearly 40 years.

In a message to hospital employees Tuesday, Cowling said the residency program had not met the established goals and expectations.

Patterson said he believes the potential arrangement with the university gives the hospital what it wants  a top class residency program.

The new arrangement, if approved, would involve the Community Healthcare Center in a managerial role, the university in an academic and support role, the existing residency as the training facilitator and United Regional, through which much of the programs federal funding must be channeled.

The potential breakthrough came a day after a meeting in Wichita Falls that attracted a Whos Who of state and local community leaders seeking a solution to the schism that rocked the medical community.

At that meeting, Cowling said the hospital was in contact with a university that had interest in taking the residency program here, but the staff of State Sen. Craig Estes, who arranged the meeting, said it contacted all medical schools in the state and learned that none was interested.

Cowling was not available to talk to the Times Record News Wednesday, but her office passed on an email reply from United Regional Administration:

While we concur that there is no formal agreement, we reconfirmed earlier today interest from at least one medical school, the administration said.

Part of the schism between the hospital and the program has revolved around funding, with the programs director, Dr. Ahmed Mattar, claiming URHCS underfunds the program, and Cowling saying the program didnt request additional funds.

Estes said he called the meeting after some people in Austin told him canceling one residency program and starting another would be difficult.

Mattar says even if URHCS were able to attract a new residency program, getting it fully established would take up to six years, leaving a gap in health care for thousands of people.

Shes making promises she cant keep, he said of Cowlings plan.

Tom Banning, CEO of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, who attended the meeting, agreed starting a new program from scratch would be very problematic.

He said his real concern was for patients in the area.

It will disrupt patient care, he said.

The response to that from United Regional administration was, The impact on our patients and our community is paramount in every decision United Regionals Board and management make. We anticipate that the new residency program will support similar, or even greater, numbers of patients (including Medicare, Medicaid, and indigent patients). In the meantime, we will work with other local providers  including our contracted hospitalist group for inpatient care and our United Regional Physician Group for outpatient care  to ensure continued, appropriate access to care for all patients during the transition to the new residency program.

Mattar and Banning said they would like to see the residency program move under the administrative umbrella of the Community Healthcare Center, which provides health services to the indigent and low-income families.

Estes said he thought Tuesdays meeting was productive and said maintaining a residency program in Wichita Falls is vital.

I encourage everyone to keep talking, he said.
STAR FILE PHOTO

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By Claire Kowalick of the Times Record News

The Fair Defense Act of 2001 provided substantial improvement to the indigent defense system in Texas, but a vast majority of mandated expenses continue to fall on individual counties.

Data from the Texas Indigent Defense Commission shows that in the past 15 years, indigent defense spending in Wichita County  the money to hire lawyers for criminal suspects who can't afford to hire their own  increased by 202 percent from $0.8 million in 2001, to $2.3 million in 2015. Statewide costs for indigent defense also rose 160 percent, but counties only receive a fraction of these dedicated funds. The first effort to bridge this spending gap since the act began in 2001, came from the 84th Legislature which approved $7.5 million to be allocated over the following two years to aid indigent defense.

Total spending for 2015, in Texas for indigent defense was $238 million with counties picking up an average 88 percent of the cost. In Wichita County, the state pays about 10 percent and the county covers the remaining 90 percent.

According to a 2010 report by The Spangenberg Project, through the Center for Justice, Law and Society at George Mason University, Texas is one of 18 states in which counties continue to foot the bill for more that 50 percent of indigent defense costs. More than two-thirds of states have some form of state-level oversight, but only 23 states fully fund their indigent defense systems.

Jim Bethke, Texas Indigent Defense Commission Executive Director, said in 2014, the Texas Judicial Council adopted a resolution for more state funding toward indigent defense. The project is still under consideration, but could bring some relief to counties by way of more state-level funding.

About 18 months ago, Wichita County benefited from a four-year discretionary grant that was used to hire a mental health caseworker. Shawnee Lofland works with the public defender's office to identify and assist the more serious mentally ill people who enter the justice system.

Public Defender James Rasmussen said Lofland has been a tremendous benefit to the indigent defense system and Public Defender's Office. He said Lofland is able to work with community services like the Helen Farabee Center and state hospital to get people connected with the services they need.

Unfortunately, the grant that made Lofland's position available is coming to a close. Wichita County Judge Woody Gossom requested funding for the position beyond the four-year grant, but was told by the TIDC that additional funding would not be possible at this time. Gossom said Lofland's work has more than paid for itself in time and effort saved and the county hopes to keep her on staff with or without additional funding.

Bethke said several Texas counties have submitted requests for enhanced state funding for indigent defense and associated services. Gossom said there will probably not be any changes for 2017, but there may be a possibility of additional state funding for indigent defense beginning in 2018.

The need for additional funding for criminal defense is not just a Texas problem. In January, a group of New York state senators submitted a bill that would require the state to pay for all of indigent defense services. The bill claims that since the Gideon vs. Wainwright decree in 1963, the state has put a majority of the cost of indigent defense on the counties. They claim defendants in counties with inadequate funding could receive "unconstitutionally substandard representation." Indigent defense costs in 2013, in New York was $359 million with the state contributing $82 million.
FILE - In this Tuesday Dec. 17, 2013 file photo, visitors take photographs of the world heritage site of Stonehenge, England. Researchers have discovered evidence of standing stones believed to be the remnants of a major prehistoric stone monument near the Stonehenge ruins. University of Bradford researchers said Monday Sept. 7, 2015 the monument is thought to have been built around 4,500 years ago. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

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By The Orange County Register

Great Britain's vote to leave the European Union sent shock waves through global financial markets and political bodies. The British exit, or "Brexit," from the E.U. was a jolting reminder that when voters are frustrated with their governments, populism becomes a powerful political force.

In the case of the 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 E.U. bureaucracy in Brussels. 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 I'm told 'you can't do that, you can't do this, because of the E.U..'  There are five presidents of the E.U. Now, can anyone name them? And did anyone vote for them? No  and you can't kick them out, either."

Even still, the British political establishment supported the "Remain" position, as did President Barack 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 Britain's 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 E.U. is not abandoning Europe. In fact, the U.K.'s leadership ought to look to the example of Switzerland, which has never been an E.U. 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.

Brexit's greatest lesson may be that voters desire a government close and accountable directly to them.
Kory Watkins, front, coordinator for Open Carry Tarrant County carries his Romanian AK 47 over his shoulder as he and his wife Janie, rear, along with others gather for a demonstration, Thursday, May 29, 2014, in Haltom City, Texas. North Texas gun rights advocates are suing the city of Arlington for amending an ordinance that they claim is discriminatory and infringes upon free speech rights, in the latest sign of growing tensions among gun activists and government forces in Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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George W. Clay, Wichita Falls

The writer of "Get the facts right" letter to the editor on June 23 deserves a "Get the facts right letter."

The AR-15 and AK-47 rifles can both be purchased legally by American civilians in semi-automatic configurations AND fully automatic configurations, though the full auto rifles require a different set of rules for ownership transfers than semi-automatic rifles.

In fact, civilians can also buy a fully automatic .45 caliber Thompson Sub Machine gun (Tommy Gun), 9mm MP-5, which our Navy Seals carry, 30-06 cal. BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle), which was first to be used in WWI, but didn't roll off the production line until after the war ended. Not to mention, fully automatic British Sten Gun, UZI's, G-3's, M-2 carbines, etc., can be also purchased.

An American civilian, as far as I know, can purchase most versions of fully automatic rifles by simply complying with the transfer of ownership rules as spelled out in the National Firearms Act.

Of course, because of the scarcity of theses full-auto rifles available for sale in the U.S., they cost quite a bit more than their semi-auto version and it may take as long as 6 months for a transfer to be approved by ATF, after a thorough background check, including finger printing and submitting photos and ownership paperwork for each full-auto you purchase legally.

God help anyone who tries to convert a semi-auto illegally as the authorities throw the key away. And by the way, these "common sense" gun control measures which certain government legislators always try to pass in the wake of a terrorist attack will do nothing to prevent these bad guys from getting guns. Might as well ban pressure cookers too. ...
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In his resignation speech following Great Britain's vote to divorce from the European Union, Prime Minister David Cameron claimed several achievements by his government: reforming welfare and education; increasing development assistance to "the poorest people in the world"; and "enabling those who love each other to get married, whatever their sexuality." He also mentioned "building a bigger and stronger society"  a reference to his "Big Society" ideological framework, which sought to empower local people and communities as an alternative both to centralized bureaucracies and to libertarian indifference.

What is remarkable about Cameron's definition of success is how utterly disconnected it is from the deep, visceral populist trends that have come to dominate his party and now his country. Cameron had attempted to define a post-Thatcherite conservative vision "integrating the free market with a theory of social solidarity." But this was swept away, not so much by an alternative argument but by powerful, ethno-nationalist instincts. In retrospect, Cameron's project of ideological renovation was hopeless, even poignant  trying to organize an outdoor tea during a hurricane.

This is the most frightening aspect for American conservatives of the British vote. Since 1955, with the founding of National Review, conservatives have attempted to make ideological arguments  involving respect for free markets and civil society  that they hoped would win influence in America's center-right party. But now that entire project seems threatened. The type of populism that Donald Trump has unleashed is not a set of arguments, but a set of tendencies and prejudices. In large portions of the Republican Party, ideology has been replaced by identity.

We are familiar with identity politics on the left, which can reduce public life to the organized appeasement of resentments. An identity politics of the right asserts that the real America  or the real England  is being diluted and corrupted by outsiders. It elevates a form of nationalism, not based on abstract ideals, but on blood and soil.

This is one reason ideological conservatives find it so frustrating to argue with Trump supporters. They are not looking for innovative policy, or reliable information, or even logical consistency. So it does not matter to them when Trump is exposed as shallow, deceptive or incoherent. They trust his instincts in defending American national identity as they have known it.

Trans-Atlantic elites have consistently underestimated the intensity of public reaction against migration, multiculturalism and globalization. When given the chance to vote, a significant and highly committed portion of the electorate wants to repudiate leaders, experts and authority figures.

In American politics, populism cuts across the parties. But in only one party has the establishment been beaten. The range of reactions has been revealing. Some, particularly in the Republican foreign policy establishment, are finding more ideological overlap with Hillary Clinton and her team than they have with Republican populists. By the measure of who would more responsibly and competently defend the country and engage the world, the contest is not close. On the international stage, Trump's silliness and impulsiveness take on a more sinister aspect. Determined outreach by the Clinton campaign to Republican internationalists may have a considerable yield.

Other principled conservatives, such as my colleague George Will, have chosen to part ways with a party that, in the choice of its presidential nominee, is no longer recognizably conservative.

Still other conservative leaders, traveling with a lighter load of principle, have chosen to make their accommodation in a remarkably cynical fashion. Commentators such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity spent decades on ideological purity patrol, calling out deviations from the pure Reaganite faith. Now their business model is to provide alibis for the least conservative Republican presidential nominee in history, who attacks free trade, opposes entitlement reform and seems to relish the prospect of expanded executive power.

The alternative to all these options is resistance  on the beaches, on the landing grounds, in the rules committee. Resistance at the convention, to deny Trump the nomination. If that fails, resistance in supporting a conservative third-party candidate who will carry the torch of sane Republicanism  if such a rare beast is finally sighted.

Resistance to recover nationalism from the nativists. Resistance to oppose the devaluing of political argument, to fight the end of reason. Resistance to honor the importance of character in our common life. In the Republican Party today, resistance is the evidence of principle.

Michael Gerson's email address is michaelgerson@washpost.com. He writes for The Washington Post Writers Group.
Among the best restaurants to open in the past year, casual restaurants and pubs dominated the Best of the Capital Region voting results, but an upscale steakhouse took the top spot. Black & Blue, the first Capital Region location and third overall for a small chain based in western New York, scores with diners for its striking design with elements of glass, metal and stone, a large, sun-filled bar and a kitchen equally good at steak and seafood. (Fish is sourced from a family company and overnighted from Florida.) Another expansion move brought Saratoga Springs-based Druthers Brewing to Albany's warehouse district for a large brewing facility and brewpub.

See which other new restaurants received support from their fans in the slideshow above.
'Roaster takeover' at Superior in Troy

In a promotion similar to the more familiar tap takeover, where bars devote all or most of their draft lines for a day to one brewery, Superior Merchandise Co., a Troy boutique offering home goods, coffee, beer and wine, on Saturday will dedicate its coffee selection to Drop Coffee of Stockholm. During each takeover, projected to be held quarterly, the shop will feature batch brew, espresso, iced coffee, pour-overs and retail packages from a hard-to-procure roaster.

On Saturday, customers may sample all five coffees that Drop is currently producing: two from Bolivia, one from Ethiopia, one from Rwanda and one from Kenya. Since Drop focuses on single-origin coffees, meaning no blends or espresso roasts, one of the Bolivian coffees will be served as both espresso and batch-brewed coffee.

Drop coffee will be served from 8 a.m. Saturday until supplies run out. The shop is at 147 Fourth St.

Troy food tours offered through October

Taste of Troy Food Tours is now offering three-hour walking and sampling tours of the Collar City's downtown every Saturday through October. The guided tours include visits to five eateries and one historical/architectural landmark. Participants will receive food at Psychedelicatessen, The Whistling Kettle, Illium Cafe, Brown's Brewing and Sweet Sue's. The tour also visits St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Third Street, which features a Tiffany-designed interior.

Tours start at 10 a.m., beginning and ending at Psychedelicatessen, 275 River St. Tickets are $49 adults, $29 for kids age 3 to 12. Calendar and ticket link are at www.tasteoftroyfoodtours.com

The Station in Malta opens Thursday

Dunning Street Station Bar & Grill, the new restaurant in the silver diner on Route 9 in Malta near Northway Exit 13, opens Thursday.

Hours are 3 to 10 p.m. daily (bar until midnight).

Known as The Station, the restaurant is owned by Scott Ringwood, co-owner of Lake Ridge in Round Lake, and his business partner, Bob McKenna. The building, at 2853 Route 9, previously was home to Quintessence, Bloomers and Chez Sophie.

British-foods store closing in Colonie

Brits R U.S., which has had a store selling British and Irish specialty foods in a Central Avenue shopping strip in Colonie for about three years, will close at the end of July because of slow business.

The owner, whose original shop is in Pittsfield, Mass., hopes to find a better Capital Region location to reopen.

The store, at 1593 Central Ave., is open from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday. It is offering free local shipping or delivery until the location closes.

Suarez Family Brewery opens in Columbia

Suarez Family Brewery opened a couple of weeks ago at 2278 Route 9 in Livingston, Columbia County, about 10 miles southeast of Hudson.

The husband-and-wife proprietors, Dan Suarez and Taylor Cocalis Suarez, spent three years developing the project.

Draft magazine reports: "The Suarezes plan to brew three categories of beer. Half will be mixed-fermentation saison and farmhouse beers (half of that half will be fresher, draft forms that Dan might also bottle; the other half will be super-long, barrel-aged and intense fruited specialties that won't be ready for months); a quarter of production will be relatively low-ABV aromatic ales, a series they're calling Crispy Littles; and the last quarter of production will be comprised of unfiltered pilsners, Dan's darlings."

Hours for the brewery's tasting room are 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday and noon to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Call 514-537-6464 for info.

Compiled by Steve Barnes. Items to be considered for publication must be submitted to sbarnes@timesunion.com. Visit his blog, blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping.
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Malta

The government of Abu Dhabi is merging two of its major investment funds  including the one that owns GlobalFoundries  into a new entity to provide more stability to the country's suffering petroleum-based economy.

It is unclear how the combination  which will involve the merger of Mubadala Development Co., which owns GlobalFoundries, and International Petroleum Investment Co.  will impact GlobalFoundries, which employs 3,000 people at its Fab 8 campus in Malta.

The announcement of the merger was made Wednesday morning by the Emirates News Agency, which reported Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed ordered the merger.

The combined entity will have $135 billion in assets.

"Integrating the two entities would create greater benefits and enhanced economic value to the government of Abu Dhabi," the news agency, also known as WAM, announced. "The combined entity will realize synergies and growth in multiple sectors including the energy and utilities sector, technology, aerospace, industry, health care, real estate and financial investments."

Jason Gorss, a spokesman for GlobalFoundries, declined comment on the merger or its impact on Fab 8 operations.

"We can't comment on behalf of Mubadala," Gorss said. "Please reach out to them."

Officials with Mubadala could not be reached for comment Wednesday, although it is not uncommon for the investment fund to remain quiet on any initiatives of the crown prince.

Various news agencies independently reported that the merger of Mubadala and the International Petroleum Investment Co., also known as IPIC, comes at a time when many other institutions in the United Arab Emirates are merging to save money and shore up the country's finances amid the global oil glut that has slashed government revenues.

Last year, there was speculation that Mubadala was looking to sell all of or a stake in GlobalFoundries to raise funds, although no deal materialized. Some news outlets said the merger of Mubadala and IPIC made after the sale of fund assets did not occur.

The crown prince, who has been called a "renaissance man" in his country and is also deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces, created a joint committee to complete the merger that will be chaired by Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, deputy prime minister and minister of presidential affairs.

GlobalFoundries had previously been owned by a Mubadala subsidiary called ATIC, or the Advanced Technology Investment Co., that was later merged into Mubadala.

lrulison@timesunion.com  518-454-5504  @larryrulison
Albany

A provision passed in the waning hours of New York's legislative session is likely to further diminish what's publicly known about the investigative activities of the state's lobbying and ethics watchdog.

The measure was part of a broader ethics reform bill passed after midnight on the last night of the session, and is awaiting the expected signature of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The legislation, its supporters say, would also bring greater fairness to those under the scrutiny from the Joint Commission on Public Ethics.

If it's signed into law, reports from JCOPE's staff laying out accusations against lawmakers, executive branch employees or lobbyists  known as a "substantial basis investigation reports"  are less likely to become public.

Reports would not be made public until after a confidential JCOPE hearing giving the accused an opportunity to respond.

A secret vote by the body's 14 commissioners would ensue concerning whether to the publicly release the results. Under current law, a small majority of JCOPE commissioners, who are appointed by the governor and legislative leaders, can veto the release of investigations into lawmakers.

"Instead of JCOPE fully developing an investigation, the prospective target will get a heads-up of where JCOPE is going and get a bite at knocking it out at the earliest stage," said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group. "Perhaps this is more closely analogous to early discovery in a criminal proceeding. But my understanding is that the (state) comptroller's audits are fully developed before the agency gets to respond."

Under current law, substantial basis reports were more like a "charging document," said JCOPE Executive Director Seth Agata at a commission meeting Tuesday. He was referencing the document put out by law enforcement that initiatives a criminal case.

Under the existing process, a public hearing is also held after a report's release  rather than a confidential one beforehand.

"This reform explicitly gives subjects the right to address allegations," said Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi. "Any finding of wrongdoing will be released under these provisions, just as it had under any previous process."

Even under existing law, however, JCOPE had not gained a reputation as an especially aggressive enforcement agency, even as a slew of lawmakers have landed in legal trouble from federal probes.

The change could benefit those under investigation by JCOPE by concealing investigations until they've had a greater due process.

"Given that there's already built-in political firewalls, this seems to make it less likely an investigation vote will turn into a full investigation," Horner said.

But one frequent critic of JCOPE says the new process would not necessarily be to the benefit of those under scrutiny. Attorney David Grandeau, the state's former top lobbying regulator, said the process that now forces JCOPE to put its charges out and hold a public hearing brought some sunlight to the agency's evidence and its sufficiency.

"This is making it even less public, even less transparent  a dark box of ethics enforcement," Grandeau said. "You want to present your case in public if you've done nothing wrong."

Grandeau cited the example of a lengthy JCOPE investigation into a nonprofit tied to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as an example of how the agency could wield power behind closed doors. Eventually, de Blasio's lawyer decided to go public with the details of JCOPE's actions.

Agata has disputed that the de Blasio-connected probe is politically motivated.

Under current law, substantial basis investigations were released by JCOPE concerning sexual harassment allegations against ex-Assemblymen Vito Lopez and Dennis Gabryszak.

Those reports indicated that there were efforts toward due process prior to their release. In the case of the now-deceased Lopez, the report said the assemblyman, through counsel, submitted a 23-page response to JCOPE's investigation before the report was publicly released. Lopez did not respond to a subpoena seeking testimony, relaying through his lawyer that he planned to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Gabryszak also invoked his rights in declining to be interviewed.

cbragg@timesunion.com  518-454-5303  @chrisbragg1
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TROY  Fire badly damaged a Sixth Avenue residence around midnight Tuesday.

One person was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation after the fire at 93 Sixth Ave.

The cause is undetermined at this time, according to the Troy Fire Department.

Volunteers from the Northeastern New York Chapter of the American Red Cross provided emergency aid to four people. A child and two more adults, one of whom was hospitalized, were also displaced by the fire, the Red Cross said.
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Troy

Hudson Valley Community College President Drew Matonak will retire from a four-decade career in higher education in 2018, giving the college a two-year window to find his replacement.

Matonak informed the board of his retirement plans Tuesday and the rest of the campus community Wednesday. He was named president of Hudson Valley in 2005, and will have served 13 years when he retires on Aug. 31, 2018.

Matonak graduated from Butler County Community College in Pennsylvania and led community colleges across Iowa, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas before coming to Hudson Valley.

"Beginning my higher education at a community college had a major influence on my career path," he said. "Capping my career at Hudson Valley, one of the most productive community colleges in the nation, is a fitting closing chapter. I look forward to enjoying more time with family during my retirement, but Hudson Valley Community College will always be in my heart."

During Matonak's tenure, the college grew in both size and scope. Today, it serves about 13,000 students a semester and is the second-largest college campus in the Capital Region.

Under his leadership, the college introduced more than 25 new degree and certificate programs, expanded online course offerings and developed so-called "pipeline" programs, like the Clean Technologies & Sustainable Industries Early College High School, which enables Ballston Spa High School students to earn an associate degree in STEM fields.

Matonak also oversaw the expansion of student support services  including the creation of the Center for Academic Engagement, the Marvin Library Learning Commons and the Wellness Center  and directed a $200 million facilities plan that included construction of a new science center, semiconductor lab in Malta, administration building, parking garage and outdoor athletic complex.

A highlight of his tenure, college officials said, was a 2009 visit by President Barack Obama to discuss the importance of community college economic-development and workforce-training initiatives.

"We're grateful for the time to conduct a deliberate and thoughtful search for the college's seventh president," said HVCC Board of Trustees Chairman Neil Kelleher. "As we begin our process, we're starting from a position of strength thanks to Drew's long-range planning and the many initiatives he began that will continue into the future."

bbump@timesunion.com  518-454-5387  @bethanybump
PETERSBURGH  Close to 75 people attended a citizens' group meeting at the Veterans Center Tuesday night to discuss developments involving testing for PFOA in drinking water and in residents' blood levels as well as the installation of filters in wells to remove the hazardous chemical.

Officials from the state Departments of Health and Environmental Conservation and the Rensselaer County Health Department were in attendance and took questions form the audience. A lot of them focused on a possible time frame for remediation of the chemical and reimbursement for those costs. People's frustration was evident at what they perceived to be the slow pace of progress in providing information about the filtration situation.

"The biggest issue for the community is everyone needs a filter. We're waiting," said Emily Marpe, adding, "Why are you making people wait?"

Negotiations are underway the DEC and representatives of Taconic, the manufacturing company whose plant off Route 22 discharged PFOA. DEC officials said they hope the talks will result in the company paying for filters for all wells contaminated by the chemical, including those with levels below 70 parts per trillion.

Several residents contended they we have a right to know what is going on and should be allowed to sit in on the negotiations.

DEC officials said that as part of the remediation plan, residents will have an opportunity to provide input, but the negotiations would be conducted between the agency and the company.

County health officials began testing for PFOA in water supplies this year in Petersburgh amid public concerns about whether the Taconic plant near the Little Hoosic River may have contaminated wells. The testing has shown various levels of PFOA in the town's public and private water supplies, including amounts that exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's safety guidelines.

PFOA contamination sparked concern in the the county in 2014 when Hoosick Falls resident Michael Hickey launched his own investigation and had samples of village water tested for the chemical. Hickeyresearched contaminants in the village's water because he believed there was a high rate of cancer in the community. His father, John, died of kidney cancer in 2013 after working at a plant operated by the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics plant. The plant has been a focus of regulators examining how the village's public water supply became contaminated with PFOA.

The situation in Hoosick Falls triggered investigations by state and federal environmental agencies and, in January, the state declared the Saint-Gobain plant a Superfund site. In February, the Times Union reported the state was first notified about PFOA contamination in Petersburgh more than 10 years ago, when Taconic officials alerted the Department of Environmental Conservation about its discovery of the toxic chemical in the groundwater around its plant. At the time, the discovery of the hazardous man-made chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, did not result in public notification or additional investigation by the state, officials said.

Taconic installed a carbon-filter system on the wells at its plant, but many residents said they were never not told about the water pollution. Taconic's plant used PFOA for years in its production of specialty products, including silicone-coated fabrics and tapes.

In January, Taconic officials met with state regulators because of heightened interest in the chemical because of the situation unfolding in Hoosick Falls, where residents questioned why village leaders and state officials told them the water was safe to drink for more than a year. Still, the January meeting between Taconic officials and state regulators did not trigger any public notification about the PFOA pollution in Petersburgh.

State officials said environmental laws and regulations in 2005 did not require any public notification or additional investigation because PFOA was not a "regulated contaminant."

PFOA has been used since the 1940s to make industrial and household products such as nonstick coatings and heat-resistant wiring. Multiple specialty manufacturing plants in eastern Rensselaer County and North Bennington, Vt., used the chemical for decades before studies emerged a decade ago linking the substance to cancer and other serious diseases.

The industry that uses PFOA reached an agreement with the EPA more than a decade ago to begin phasing out the use of the chemical, but it's still used by some manufacturers.

The Saint-Gobain plant is a few hundred yards from the underground wells that supply the village's water treatment plant. Saint-Gobain tested the groundwater under its plant last year and found levels as high as 18,000 parts per trillion. The EPA set the recommended short-term exposure level of 400 parts per trillion. The federal agency last month set a long-term exposure limit of 100 ppt that applies to regular residential water use.
ALBANY  The SUNY Student Assembly hosted a blood drive Wednesday to honor the 50 victims who died in Orlando earlier this month.

The SUNY Student Assembly passed a resolution calling for blood donation equality after members of the LGBT+/MOGII communities were not permitted to donate blood in the aftermath of the shooting due to current federal regulations. SUNY Student Assembly, among other organizations, advocates to change the policy.
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Washington

House Republicans on Tuesday concluded their $7 million, two-year investigation into the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, with fresh accusations of lethal mistakes by the Obama administration but no "smoking gun" pointing to wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton, then secretary of state and now the Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee.

After the long investigation, filled with partisan sniping by panel members, none of the new revelations highlighted by the House Benghazi committee in its 800-page report pointed specifically to Clinton's actions before, during or after the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. diplomatic outpost and CIA annex in the eastern Libyan city.

Four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, died in the attacks. Allegations against Clinton were a main impetus behind the House Republicans' creation of the politically charged, Watergate-style select committee. Clinton testified before the panel for nearly 11 hours last fall.

While the panel's GOP members took shots at Clinton on Tuesday, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the chairman, summed up the document by asking "the American people to read this report for themselves, look at the evidence we have collected and reach their own conclusions."

In Denver, Clinton dismissed the report as an echo of previous probes with no new discoveries. "I think it's pretty clear it's time to move on," she said during a campaign stop.

Republican rival Donald Trump, although silent on the subject Tuesday, has frequently lashed out at Clinton over Benghazi.

Nearly four years ago, the Libya attacks became immediate political fodder, given their timing in the weeks before President Barack Obama's re-election, and that has not abated despite seven previous congressional investigations. There has been finger-pointing on both sides over security at the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi and whether Clinton and the White House initially tried to portray the assault as a protest over an offensive, anti-Muslim video, instead of a calculated terrorist attack.

Republican insistence that the investigation was not politically motivated was undermined last year when House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., suggested that the committee could take credit for Clinton's then-slumping poll numbers.

His statements helped dash his chances of becoming House Speaker.

The committee interviewed more than 100 witnesses and reviewed some 75,000 pages of documents, but an almost accidental discovery by the panel last year has shadowed Clinton's candidacy. The committee disclosed that she had used a private email server to conduct government business while serving as secretary of state, a practice that has drawn widespread scrutiny, including an FBI investigation.

Already bitterly partisan, Tuesday's release of the report exposed divisions within Republican ranks.

Reps. Mike Pompeo of Kansas and Jim Jordan of Ohio issued a separate report slamming Clinton and the Obama administration, with Pompeo telling reporters that the former first lady and senator was "morally reprehensible." Clinton's comments casting the attack as a possible protest over the anti-Muslim video differed sharply from her private assessments to her daughter, Chelsea, and foreign diplomats, Jordan and Pompeo said.

Gowdy, however, deflected questions about her, saying the report "is not about one person."

The GOP report severely criticizes the military, CIA and administration officials for their response as the attacks unfolded, and their subsequent explanations to the American people.

On the night of Sept. 11, a large group of men rushed into the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, firing guns and setting fires. Visiting Ambassador Stevens and computer specialist Sean Smith were killed despite taking cover in a safe room.

Hours later, before dawn, mortar fire hit the CIA roof nearby, killing security contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

The report found that Libyan military officers loyal to former leader Moammar Gadhafi, whom the U.S. had helped depose, had taken part in rescuing the remaining Americans.

"Not a single wheel of a single U.S. military asset had even turned toward Libya," Gowdy complained.

The committee's five Democrats denounced the Republicans' report as "a conspiracy theory on steroids  bringing back long-debunked allegations with no credible evidence whatsoever."
As an example of the attention to detail given the creation of the pricey new Saratoga Springs steakhouse Salt & Char, consider this: They literally burned the boards.

The walls of the restaurant, located on Broadway in the former Rip Van Dam hotel, feature torso-high wood wainscotting, nearly black in color, that has the texture of alligator skin. It was achieved by burning the boards. The walls above the wainscotting are silver-white, with a rough finish. Thus the name, Salt & Char, is represented on the walls.

More Information If you go Salt & Char Where: 353 Broadway (former Rip Van Dam hotel), Saratoga Springs Opens: Saturday Hours: Bar menu available from 3 p.m. to midnight daily (bar open later); dinner 5:30 to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday, until 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Weekend brunch, served 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, is scheduled to start July 23; weekday lunch will begin in September. Food: Expensive big-city steakhouse menu. Beef: prime, dry-aged, American wagyu, grass-fed and more, $36 to $135; other entrees, $22 (grilled vegetables) to $37 (black sea bass) and $115 for lobster, oysters and shrimp for two; starters, $9 (watermelon gazpacho) to $28 (lobster Cobb salad). Drinks: 19 wines by the glass, $12 to $25 ($15 average); more than 200 wines by the bottle, $45 to $1,000; cocktails average $14; 8 draft beers, $7 to $12; 6 bottled beers, all $7. Info/reservations: 450-7500 or www.saltandchar.com See More Collapse

Such meticulous elements  many others not visible to customers  have been included throughout the restaurant, which opens Saturday, and they reflect the development team's commitment to quality and longevity. (The restaurant's first lease is for 16 years.) In the gleaming stainless-steel main kitchen, there are dish machines behind the cooking line for chefs' use, a floor scrubber that resembles a mini Zamboni comes through at least three times a day, and cardboard boxes are banned. "Bugs live in boxes," says the executive chef, Braden Reardon, who will be running the kitchen for Salt & Char's internationally renowned chef-partner, Gray Kunz. (Food, unpacked elsewhere, is transported to the kitchen in special crates from freezers, coolers and storage.)

Although taking over a space that was overhauled from offices to the restaurant Maestro's at the Van Dam only five years ago, the Salt & Char team gut-renovated again.

"We took everything down to the studs," says partner Toby Milde. "Everything everywhere is new."

Milde is president of Richbell Capital, a real estate firm with offices in Manhattan, Saratoga and Washington. Among its divisions is the new Adelphi Hospitality Group, which Milde says plans to develop luxury hotels and restaurants around the world. Its first project is Salt & Char, followed by the Adelphi Hotel, located next door. Due to open next spring after a $24 million-plus reconstruction, the Adelphi will have 32 suites and additional restaurant and banquet facilities. Milde declined to put a pricetag on the development of Salt & Char, which opens the same week as the Morton's The Steakhouse chain debuts its first Capital Region location, at the Saratoga Casino Hotel, and the locally owned Prime at Saratoga National unveils upgrades and a new outdoor restaurant called The Terrace.

Kunz, who as head chef of the Manhattan restaurant Lespinasse for nine years in the 1990s held a four-star rating from The New York Times and currently has a restaurant in Hong Kong, will oversee all of AHG's food and beverage operations. Unlike many high-profile chefs, who develop menus and lend their names to projects but are not part of daily operations, Kunz says, "I will be here. People will always see me."

Kunz describes Salt & Char as a contemporary steakhouse dedicated to local sourcing of as much produce as is available, meat when possible. Little Fields Farm in Argyle, Washington County, for instance, grows gorgeous lettuces and other greens specifically for Salt & Char, and its grassfed ribeye comes from Herondale Farm in eastern Columbia County, near the Connecticut-Massachusetts border. Other steaks are dry-aged, prime or Black Angus, and a cut that Reardon says is his favorite on the menu, a ribeye cap (aka spinalis dorsi) rolled to resemble a richly marbled filet mignon, is Kobe-style American wagyu beef from Snake River Farms in Idaho.

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The price for all this is steep: Steaks average $52, other entrees average $32, sides are all $11, and a signature sauce with black truffle and foie gras costs $28 extra. (For comparison's sake, on average, that's $8 more for steaks, $4 more for other entrees, than at Prime at Saratoga National.) A premium vodka and soda at Salt & Char goes for $14, $18 for a martini. (Identical martinis max out at $12 and $13 elsewhere.) The wine list, with about 215 bottles, starts at $45 and includes, for big track winners with a lot of friends, a 15-liter Nebuchadnezzar of French rose, the equivalent of 20 regular bottles, for $950.

"Our product, our execution, our service  it's all going to have a wow factor," says Reardon, who joined Salt & Char from NYY Steakhouse in Manhattan, has a college degree in marine biology (but never attended culinary school) and was a commercial fisherman in Alaska for four years.

He says, "The goal is to overwhelm the guest with the dining experience."

sbarnes@timesunion.com  518-454-5489  @Tablehopping
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In the opening line of the musical "Chicago," a performer addresses the audience: "You are about to see a story of murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery  all those things we all hold near and dear to our hearts."

The overture starts, full of slinky, frankly sensual dancing, followed by the infectious first number, "All That Jazz."

The audience is instantly engaged by, even attracted to, a story about bad people.

"It's sneaky that way," says Michael LoPorto, who is directing Park Playhouse's production of the John Kander and Fred Ebb musical. "The songs are so catchy and the dances have these 'Wow' moments, but the show sneaks in this important message."

More Information If you go "Chicago" Where: Park Playhouse, Washington Park Lakehouse, Madison and New Scotland avenues, Albany Previews: 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday Opens: 8 p.m. Tuesday; continues 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, through July 30 Tickets: Table seating $24; reserved seats $16 and $18; hillside amphitheater seating free Info: 434-0776 or www.parkplayhouse.com See More Collapse

As Owen Smith, Park Playhouse's producing artistic director, puts it, "We want (audiences) to be rapt to the dance numbers, to laugh at the humor and vaudeville shtick, and on the way home they'll go, 'Wait a second: Those are awful people. What they hell was I laughing at?' "

Smith adds, citing one of the characters, a slick lawyer, "Billy Flynn says, 'It's all a circus, kid  a three-ring circus.' He's a flim-flam man. You don't have to look any further than the Republican presidential nominee today to see how strong the resonances are."

The show, in previews on Friday and Saturday, opens Tuesday on Park Playhouse's stage in Washington Park in Albany. It runs through July 30. The company's second mainstage production, "The Little Mermaid," performed by Park Playhouse students, runs Aug. 9 to 27, and, for the littlest audiences, "Seussical the Musical" will be presented at the Palace Theatre in downtown Albany from Aug. 5 to 7.

"Chicago," originally produced on Broadway in 1976, takes a cold, cynical look at the world of crime, notoriety and celebrity. Set in Chicago in the 1920s, it was based on a 1926 play by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, who was inspired by sensational stories she wrote for the Chicago Tribune. Playwright and lyricist Ebb wrote the book for the musical with Bob Fosse, who also directed and choreographed the original production in his inimitable style.

The musical, being performed on Park Playhouse's first three-story stage (design by William Davis, construction by Andy Smith, both Albany High School grads), follows female murderers Velma and Roxie, who are awaiting trial for killing, respectively, a husband and sister, and a lover. Both are being defended by Flynn, who manipulates the press with ever-more sensational stories to turn his clients into celebrities.

LoPorto, returning for his seventh consecutive year and directing his 10th Park Playhouse show overall, and Smith have long wanted to stage "Chicago" in the park, but the rights were never available. (A revival is now in its 20th year on Broadway, and its touring production stopped at the Palace Theatre in Albany about two and a half years ago.) When rights for regional theaters opened up last summer, Smith grabbed them, confident LoPorto would agree to direct. He did.

"It's so relevant today," says LoPorto. "Starting in the '90s, with reality television, 'Real World,' 'Survivor' and all that, the famous have been thrust into all of our lives, and the public can't get enough of them, no matter what they do or how terrible they are."

He adds, "The Kardashians have definitely come up" in discussions with the cast. The cast was also provided with the original play and copies of newspaper articles about the court trials of the women on whom the main characters are based.

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The show's mature themes and darker subject matter  Park Playhouse is prominently advertising that parents may not want to bring kids younger than 13  make it a companion piece to "Cabaret," another Kander-Ebb musical, which the company produced to great acclaim in 2012. The two shows, along with other recent selections including "The Producers" and "Hands on a Hardbody," signal a shift from the musical-theater warhorses that for years were Park Playhouse's offerings. (In that way, last year's genteel "Singin' in the Rain" now seems an anomaly, a throwback.)

Audiences have embraced the new direction, with seasonal attendance hovering around the 50,000 mark. When combined with Park Playhouse's school tours and participatory programs, which reach another 25,000-plus annually, the company has broadened its appeal so much that it is able to raise money to support a current annual budget of $660,000, almost double the budget from when Smith took over six years ago.

He's aware that he's presenting free theater in a city park, and taste considerations and limits still apply.

Says LoPorto, "I always keep in mind where we are performing. I've got kids, and they come to these shows."

Nonetheless, Smith adds, "Free theater still needs to tell important stories, and in today's world, this is an important story to tell. In our celebrity culture, it's all about who can command the most attention, whether they're commanding it for good or for bad."

sbarnes@timesunion.com  518-454-5489
Two males were arrested on suspicion of a breach of public order when they allegedly knocked on the door of a house in Bulfin Crescent, Nenagh, at around 2am last Wednesday.

They were said to be demanding money from a male who didn't live at the address.

Meanwhile, four horses wandering on the public road and causing a hazard to motorists had to be rounded up by gardai at Newross, Newport, on Friday evening last.

On Monday afternoon of last week groceries to the value of 111 were stolen from the SuperValu shop in Roscrea. Gardai are following a definite line of inquiry.

On Tuesday afternoon of last week a male was arrested at Valley Place, Townparks, Roscrea for a suspected breach of public order.

A driver was arrested on suspicion of drinking with excess alcohol at Pound Lane, Nenagh, at 1.55am on Sunday last, while a male was arrested for a suspected breach of public order at The Court Yard, Nenagh, in the early hours of last Saturday.

The latter suspect was brought to the local garda station where he was searched. Gardai discovered a white substance on his person, suspected to be 20 worth of cocaine.

A male who allegedly refused to comply with the directions of a garda was arrested for a suspected breach of public order at Kickham Street, Nenagh, at 4.15am on Sunday.

A youth suspected of being abusive to gardai was arrested for an alleged breach of public order at Church Street, Roscrea at 1.05am on Monday.
With the CAO Change of Mind deadline just around the corner, many students on the cusp of beginning their college lives begin to question if they have made the right choice for the future. We speak to IT Tralees Vice President of Research and Development Brid Mc Elligott and award-winning Careers Officer Louise Nagle, who both offer valuable advice for prospective students and their parents, highlighting the factors to take into consideration when making such a key life decision.

One of the biggest issues that can prove problematic for third-level students and their families is that of the financial strain that can often go hand-in-hand with the college experience. Therefore, while it is hugely important for a prospective student to choose a career path about which they are passionate, it is also necessary to be realistic and practical about funding the process. Brid tells us that those considering IT Tralee as their educational home will be relieved to learn that the cost of living in Tralee is 50 percent less than Dublin and 25 percent less than Limerick or Cork. Aside from this, IT Tralee also offers over 40 scholarships to students every year, recognising both academic and sporting excellence.

In addition, Brid goes on to explain that with one of the best student-to-staff ratios in the country, IT Tralee offers students the best possible chance to learn, interact and succeed. The highly-trained staff at the Institute encourage students to follow their passion in life and show them how to turn it into a career. Such nurturing also extends to the colleges impressive list of support services. Students in need of advice or a helping hand can rely on a varied support system, from student counselling and chaplaincy support to a wide range of health services, including dyslexia support.

Another vital factor for students to consider when choosing their career path is employability, which Louise outlines is unfortunately far from a guarantee these days. It is extremely important to choose a college that will prioritise its students futures, even after they leave campus with high hopes of entering the working world. After all, a suitable and stable job offer is the desired result following years of hard work to achieve any given qualification. Impressively, having studied at IT Tralee, 82 percent of students gain employment or go on to pursue further studies by October following graduation from the college; an appealing prospect following years of late-night study sessions, deadlines and exams!

The Institute has also formed strong bonds with numerous companies across an array of industries, taking the pressure off many students each year when it comes to finding a suitable work placement. All of these factors contribute to IT Tralees strong rating by graduates, with 93 percent stating they would have no hesitation in recommending it as a place to study to family and friends.

In offering some final advice to those starting college this September, Brid concluded: From developing relationships with staff to integrating with your peers, there is a lot to get to grips with at the beginning of the college experience. Starting afresh and meeting a whole host of new faces and personalities can be a daunting process for students, so it is important for them to choose a place of learning in which they feel welcome and a sense of belonging. At IT Tralee, students are given every opportunity to avoid getting lost in the crowd. With a choice of 70 clubs and societies, there is most definitely a place for everyone to fit in. There are also over 70 nationalities on IT Tralees campus making this college an all-inclusive, welcoming environment.

For more information and top tips on decision-making with the CAO Change of Mind (deadline Friday 1st July 2016), see www.ittralee.ie or follow the conversation on facebook, twitter or snapchat #PerksofITTralee.
[June 29, 2016] Agilis Biotherapeutics Announces FDA Orphan Drug Designation for the Treatment of Aromatic L-amino Acid Decarboxylase Deficiency

Agilis Biotherapeutics, LLC (Agilis), a biotechnology company advancing innovative DNA therapeutics for rare genetic diseases that affect the central nervous system (CNS), announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation to Agilis' gene therapy product candidate, AGIL-AADC, being developed for the treatment of Aromatic L-amino Acid Decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency, a genetic disorder that results in severe developmental failure, global muscular hypotonia and dystonia, severe, long-lasting episodes known as oculo-gyric crises, frequent hospitalizations, and the need for life-long care. The gene therapy has been evaluated in 18 patients in two prospective clinical cohorts in Taiwan under the direction of Paul Hwu, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics at National Taiwan University (NTU) Hospital. "Receiving orphan drug designation from the FDA is another step on our path to bringing this important new medicine to patients in dire need of an effective, durable treatment," said Mark Pykett, President and CEO of Agilis. "Given the profound clinical course for patients with severe AADC deficiency, their poor quality of life, and refractoriness to standard therapy, any intervention to improve the condition of these patients represents an important advance in the fight against this disease. We are pleased that we continue to make important clinical and regulatory progress, positioning us to advance this new treatment to address this devastating disease." AADC deficiency is a rare genetic condition resulting from deficits in the enzyme, AADC, which is responsible for the final step in the synthesis of the neurotransmitters dopamine (a precursor of norepinephrine and epinephrine) and serotonin (a precursor of melatonin). AADC deficiency arises from mutations in the dopa decarboxylase (DDC) gene. Agilis entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with NTU for the treatment of AADC-D using gene therapy technology evaluated by Dr. Paul Hwu and colleagues. A single administration of gene therapy, containing an adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivering the human AADC gee, has been evaluated in two prospective clinical cohorts enrolling 18 subjects with severe AADC Deficiency. Treated subjects exhibited de novo dopamine production, as visualized by F-DOPA PET imaging, the emergence of dopamine metabolites, and substantial gains in motor function and cognitive scales over multiple years following the single gene therapy treatment. In contrast, untreated subjects routinely show continued deterioration as the disease progresses, as observed in natural history cases. All treatments have been performed at National Taiwan University Hospital. In preparing the program for clinical trials, The University of Florida Powell Gene Therapy Center was instrumental in the development of the initial product manufacturing and toxicology work.



"Preliminary clinical findings are encouraging and appear to support a positive impact on function, de novo dopamine production, and potential mitigation of the significant consequences of severe AADC deficiency with a single gene therapy treatment," said Christopher Silber, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Agilis. "These cohorts represent the first assessment of gene therapy as a potential durable treatment for AADC deficiency and we look forward to reviewing the ongoing data from these patients, and others." FDA Orphan Drug Designation is evaluated for drugs from all classes (e.g. small molecules, proteins, and gene or cell therapies) that are intended for the treatment of rare diseases, defined as diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. The designation provides sponsors with development and commercial incentives, including seven years of market exclusivity in the US, prioritized consultation by FDA on clinical studies, and certain exemptions from or reductions in regulatory fees.

About AADC Deficiency Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency is a rare genetic condition resulting from deficits in the enzyme, AADC, which is responsible for the final step in the synthesis of the neurotransmitters dopamine (a precursor of norepinephrine and epinephrine) and serotonin (a precursor of melatonin). AADC deficiency arises from mutations in the dopa decarboxylase (DDC) gene. In its profound forms, AADC deficiency results in severe developmental failure, global muscular hypotonia and dystonia, severe, long-lasting episodes known as oculo-gyric crises, frequent hospitalizations (including prolonged stays in intensive care), and the need for life-long care. Symptoms and severity vary depending on the type of underlying genetic mutation which abrogates AADC enzyme function. Severe forms of the disease can arise from specific DNA mutations. Patients with severe forms usually die before the age of seven years due to extreme motor dysfunction, autonomic abnormalities, and secondary complications such as choking, hypoxia, and pneumonia. No treatment options other than palliative care currently exist for patients with severe AADC deficiency. About Agilis Biotherapeutics Agilis is advancing innovative gene therapies designed to provide long-term efficacy for patients with debilitating, often fatal, rare genetic diseases that affect the central nervous system. Our therapies are engineered to impart sustainable clinical benefits, and potentially a functional cure, by inducing persistent expression of a therapeutic gene. The Company's technology is aimed at the precise targeting and restoration of a lost gene function, while avoiding unintended off-target effects. Our integrated strategy increases the efficiency of developing DNA therapeutics into safe, targeted gene therapies that achieve long-term efficacy and enable patients to remain asymptomatic without continuous invasive treatment. Agilis' rare disease programs are focused on gene therapy for AADC deficiency, Friedreich's ataxia, Angelman syndrome, and Fragile X syndrome, rare genetic diseases that include severe neurological deficits and result in physically debilitating conditions. We invite you to visit our website at: www.agilisbio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160629005335/en/

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Cover-More Appoints Head of Sales for USA and Canada Travel Insurance Operations

Cover-More Group (ASX:CVO), a specialist, integrated travel insurance and medical assistance provider, has appointed Mark Linton as Head of Sales for USA and Canada.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160629005594/en/

Mark Linton Cover-More Head of Sales US & Canada (Photo: Business Wire)





His appointment follows Cover-More's announcement that their executive Carole Tokody was relocating to New York as CEO, US & Canada and Global Direct to lead their North America and northern hemisphere expansion.

Mark will report directly to Carole Tokody and will be responsible for the sales of travel insurance and ancillary products and services in the US and Canadian markets. Mark's significant experience includes 15 years with RBC Insurance where he managed a national sales team, maintaining and acquiring numerous large national and regional accounts.

About Cover-More Group

Cover-More Group Limited is a specialist and integrated travel insurance, medical assistance and employee assistance provider. The group listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in 2013. Cover-More has the leading market position in Australia-with an approximate 40% share of the national travel insurance market and a growing footprint in India and China as well as a presence in Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand and the United Kingdom and now the United States.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160629005594/en/
[June 29, 2016] Dorsey & Whitney Congratulates Partner Jahna Lindemuth on Appointment as Alaska's New Attorney General

International law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP congratulates partner and head of the Firm's Anchorage office Jahna Lindemuth on her appointment by Alaska Governor Bill Walker as the state's next Attorney General. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160629006452/en/ Dorsey & Whitney congratulates partner Jahna Lindemuth on her appointment by Alaska Governor Bill Walker as the state's next Attorney General. (Photo: Dorsey & Whitney LLP) The appointment was announced yesterday by the Office of the Governor. The press release is here.



Ms. Lindemuth replaces Craig Richards who resigned last week. She will be the state's second female attorney general. The first was Grace Schaible, who was appointed by Governor Steve Cowper at the start of his term in 1987. Ms. Lindemuth brings extensive experience in complex commercial litigation, appeals to the Alaska Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and administrative management to her new role at the Department of Law.

Ms. Lindemuth received her juris doctor from University of California at Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law in 1997, graduating Order of the Coif, and clerked for former Alaska Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Eastaugh from 1997-1998. She serves on the Alaska Supreme Court Appellate Rules Committee, the Alaska Bar Association's Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection Committee, and is Co-Chair of the Alaska Bar Association's Appellate Law Section. "This appointment is a great and well-deserved honor for Jahna," noted Dorsey Managing Partner Ken Cutler. "She is a preeminent lawyer and a wonderful human being. Her years of experience as a litigator at Dorsey make her exceptionally qualified for the wide range of responsibilities entailed in representing the legal challenges facing Alaska. We will miss her tremendously, but I know that Jahna will bring incredible energy, insight and compassion to the job of furthering and defending the legal rights of the people of Alaska." About Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Clients have relied on Dorsey since 1912 as a valued business partner. With locations across the United States and in Canada, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Dorsey provides an integrated, proactive approach to its clients' legal and business needs. Dorsey represents a number of the world's most successful companies from a wide range of industries, including leaders in the banking, energy, food and agribusiness, health care, mining and natural resources, and public-private project development sectors, as well as major non-profit and government entities. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160629006452/en/

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[June 29, 2016] GEICO names John Pham vice president of Virginia Beach regional operations

GEICO has named John Pham vice president of its regional operations in Virginia Beach. Pham will oversee all business functions for Virginia and North Carolina insureds, as well as GEICO's military, motorcycle and recreational vehicle divisions. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160629005159/en/ John Pham, vice president of GEICO's regional operations in Virginia Beach. (Photo: Business Wire) Pham joined GEICO in 1990 as a management intern, and advanced through several claims leadership roles. He was later named a sales director, and then took over responsibility for directing GEICO's motorcycle division. In 2005, Pham was elected an assistant vice president of claims for GEICO's Fredericksburg, Va., office, and assumed the same role for GEICO's office on Long Island prior to becoming regional vice president of GEICO's New York operations. "John has built an impressive GEICO resume working in several management roles, and most recently running operations in New York, where GEICO is the leading auto insurer," said Bill Roberts, GEICO president and chief operating officer. "I'm confident GEICO's Virginia Beach region will continue to excel under John's leadership."



In Virginia Beach, Pham succeeds Joe Thomas, who retired after a distinguished career of more than four decades with GEICO. Pham graduated with honors from George Washington University with a degree in international affairs. He also holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and GEICO Certified Underwriter designations.

GEICO (Government Employees Insurance Company) is a member of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies and is the second-largest private passenger auto insurance company in the United States. GEICO, which was founded in 1936, provides millions of auto insurance quotes to U.S. drivers annually. The company is pleased to serve more than 14 million private passenger customers, insuring more than 23 million vehicles (auto & cycle). Using GEICO's online service center, policyholders can purchase policies, make policy changes, report claims and print insurance ID cards. Policyholders can also connect to GEICO through the GEICO App, reach a representative over the phone or visit a GEICO local agent. GEICO also provides insurance quotes on motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), boats, travel trailers and motorhomes (RVs). Coverage for life, homes and apartments is written by non-affiliated insurance companies and is secured through the GEICO Insurance Agency, Inc. Commercial auto insurance and personal umbrella protection are also available. For more information, go to www.geico.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160629005159/en/

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[June 29, 2016] North West of Ireland Launches Economic Development Initiative in Massachusetts

The North West of Ireland announced today the establishment of a new economic development program will serve a dual mission assisting U.S. companies utilize their region as a gateway to Europe and help accelerate Irish companies expand to the North American market. The North West of Ireland is a connected area of leading universities, research and development centers, and global corporations. As a result of this knowledge economy cluster, DuPont, Fujitsu (News - Alert), United Health, and Abbot all have located significant operations in this region. The North West of Ireland has engaged Boston-based economic development consulting firm Benchmark Strategies to support its bilateral trade and investment initiative in Massachusetts. The region will be working closely with corporations, industry associations, and site selection consultants to build business partnerships that will lead to job creation and economic growth. CEO's of Derry City and Strabane District Council and Donegal County Counci commented:



"The North West of Ireland has a long history of collaboration and business linkages with the wider Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We are delighted to announce this strategic initiative aimed at further embedding these relationships. "Our proposition is a simple one - we have some of the most talented, innovative and creative companies situated anywhere in the world. We can offer companies, with expansion plans the opportunity to trade within both the EU and UK regulatory environments. We can support this expansion through superfast broadband connectivity, a University Educated skills base and a competitive corporation tax base."

The key strengths of the region is the strategic cross-border partnership which has evolved between Derry City and Strabane District and Donegal, capitalizing on the many exceptional resources. This partnership exemplifies regional economic development collaboration that best serve inbound and outbound foreign investment. The North West of Ireland has served as a nexus point for global companies due to the region's reputation as an excellent base for business, whether a small local company or a multi-national corporation, firms can benefit from the world class level of wireless and high-speed broadband connectivity. The connectivity infrastructure provides companies with a competitive advantage in the European marketplace. In November, the North West of Ireland will lead a business delegation of technology companies that are interested in expanding to the United States. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160629005744/en/

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[June 28, 2016] Growing Demand for HD End-to-End Video Transmission to Create Opportunities for the Global Satellite Transponder Market Through 2020, Reports Technavio

Technavio analysts forecast the global satellite transponder market 2016-2020 to grow at a CAGR of more than 7% during the forecast period, according to their latest report. The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global satellite transponder market for 2016-2020. The report lists video applications, networks, governments, and others as the four main segments based on application. Technavio hardware and semiconductor analysts highlight the following three factors that are contributing to the growth of the global transponder market: Growing demand for HTS

Increasing satellite throughput and lower latency

Growing demand for HD end-to-end video transmission Growing demand for HTS The high throughput satellite (HTS) uses many small spot beams distributed across a particular service area. These beams help the satellite to link to small aperture earth stations at high data rates. Attenuation from rain has been a major challenge for many satellite links including the HTS. However, such satellites have developed sufficient rain fade margins to provide a good quality link. The transponders used in HTS can be of Ku and Ka bands. On an average, a typical HTS satellite should have many ultra-wideband transponders distributed along the beams with a bandwidth of 100Mhz. The HTS K-band and HTS Ka-band have their own advantages like greater capacity than conventional Ku- and C-band satellites and are best suited to certain applications like high-speed internet. For instance, EchoStar XVII satellite, which is an HTS, has 60 spot beams and excess capacity of 100 Gbps, which helps cater to 1.5 to 2 million broadband subscribers of HughesNet. The HTSs provide 10 to 15 times the capacity of a traditional satellite. "Thus, customers with industrial grde operations in remote and harsh locations opt for HTSs that can cater to the demand for increasing bandwidth requirements," says Sunil Kumar Singh, a lead analyst at Technavio for embedded systems research.



Increasing satellite throughput and lower latency High throughput Spacebus Neo platform developed by Thales (News - Alert) Alenia allows the satellite operators to deliver high-speed broadband internet to end-users at an affordable price. The adoption of such platforms is high in countries like Africa, where there is low penetration level of internet subscribers. It is expected that by 2020, 600 million people in Africa will be connected, which is an increase of 275% from 160 million connected people. "Many vendors are scheduling their future satellite launch, based on the target geographical location and applications like telecommunication, broadband connectivity, or video broadcasting. Increased demand from such applications drives the market," says Sunil.

Growing demand for HD end-to-end video transmission There are many satellite operators available in the market to facilitate end-to-end video transmission. SES (News - Alert) offers service to 313 million TV households, covering 1.1 billion population of the world spread across Europe, North America, APAC, Latin America, and Africa. The satellite operators are also striving to provide high quality video transmission from HD to UDH. In 2013, Intelsat demonstrated the first 4K end-to-end video transmission via satellite, in collaboration with Ericsson (News - Alert). For the demonstration, Intelsat Galaxy 13 satellite was used, which can encode and decode 100 Mbps video feed using Ericsson's AVP 2000 contribution encoders and RX8200 receivers, capable of 4K UDH operations. As the demand for high quality end-to-end video transmission increases, a large number of transponders that have higher bandwidth and throughput will be required. Video distribution is the major revenue segment for many satellite operators. For instance, in 2015, AsiaSat recorded 57% of the entire business revenue from video distribution, while SES recorded 67% of its net revenue. Browse Related Reports: Global Satellite Manufacturing and Launch Market 2015-2019

Global Military Satellite Market 2016-2020

Global Remote Sensing Satellite Market 2016-2020 Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact [email protected] with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160628005345/en/

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[June 28, 2016] Rise in Government Initiatives to Drive the K-12 Education Market in Thailand Through 2020, Says Technavio

According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the K-12 education market in Thailand is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 3% during the forecast period. This research report titled 'K-12 Education Market in Thailand 2016-2020' provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes an up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments and all geographical regions. Request sample report: http://goo.gl/UjaQZm The report categorizes the K-12 education market in Thailand into three segments by level of education. They are: Primary education

Secondary education

Pre-primary education Primary education This education segment primarily focuses on teaching core subjects from the National Curriculum, including science, social studies, religion, Thai, mathematics, culture, health and physical education, art, career and technology, and foreign languages. Public primary schools are administered by the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC). There will be stagnation of the enrollment rate in public institutions, whereas this rate should rise significantly in private schools on account of new enrollments and learners switching to private institutions in search of an international education. "Demand for quality education at par with international standards, is driving public-private partnerships and the establishment of various private schools. This will propel the primary K-12 education market in Thailand during the forecast period," says Jhansi Mary, a lead analyst at Technavio for K-12 and higher education research. Secondary education In the secondary education segment, the objective is to include a curriculum that is in alignment with industry requirements. Many federal research studies have indicated the poor quality of educationin the country. While the country's English language proficiency is lower than Cambodia's, its general quality of education is ranked below Laos. These indicate the significant challenges the Thailand education regulatory authorities need to overcome so as make Thailand an international education hub.



At a granular level, there are efforts initiated to manage this challenge. Schools are ensuring that a significant amount of their budget is spent on equipping students with appropriate laboratories for science and computer education, along with the use of educational hardware like interactive whiteboards and tablets in classrooms. This trend is gaining traction in private schools, and the government too, is taking initiatives to upgrade and introduce the latest technology in schools as a result of which this segment should experience steady growth. As in India and China, there is a growing trend of students seeking to go abroad for higher education in subjects like engineering, information technology, communication, and business. As a result, there are significant developments triggering the improvement of English fluency. This has also led to a rise in the number of bilingual schools in the country. "Educational institutions, are focusing on grooming their students to get admissions in reputed universities in the US and the UK. All these developments indicate that not only will the country witness a rise in enrollments, but there will also be a strong positive development in Thailand's secondary education segment," says Jhansi.

Pre-primary education The 10-Year Plan and Policy for Early Childhood Development (2006-2015) of Thailand ensures that early childhood education is universal and includes all Thai children. The plan will provide the opportunity for balanced development and increase participation from stakeholders. Adequacy of funds to deliver quality education and provision of access to disadvantaged groups are the key focus areas. Most preschools are private and located in Metropolitan Bangkok. These schools are under the supervision of the Office of the Private Education Commission, Ministry of Education. Another major factor for the growth of the market is the emergence of education technology startups, which are catering to the pre-primary segment. For instance, the Taamkru app was developed to ensure that pre-primary students have a good knowledge foundation. The top vendors highlighted by Technavio's research analysts in this report are: Bangkok Patana School

Harrow International School

NIST International School

Ruamrudee International School Browse Related Reports: Global Education Hardware Market 2016-2020

Global M-Education Market 2016-2020

Global Education Apps Market-Market Study 2015-2019 Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact [email protected] with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160628005480/en/

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[June 28, 2016] Ameri100 Appoints former Infosys CFO as New Board Member

PRINCETON, N.J., June 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ameri Holdings, Inc. ("Ameri100" or the "Company") (OTCQB: AMRH), is pleased to announce the addition of Mr. Venkatraman "Bala" Balakrishnan, as a new member to its board of directors. Mr. Balakrishnan is the founder and Chairman of Exfinity Venture Partners, a Venture Capital Fund focused on investing in technology start-up companies. Mr. Balakrishnan has more than 30 years of experience in strategy, finance, and mergers and acquisitions. He served as the Chief Financial Officer of Infosys Ltd from 2006 to 2012 and as Secretary and Senior Vice President-Finance of Infosys Ltd., from 2001 to 2006. Mr. Balakrishnan served as Chairman of the Board at Infosys BPO Limited and Chairman of Infosys Lodestone. He also served as a full-time board member of Infosys Ltd. from 2011 to 2013. Mr. Balakrishnan was the recipient of the "Best CFO" award from CNBC and Finance Asia. His educational background includes a bachelor of science degree from the University of Madras and he is an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India and Institute of Company Secretaries of India. Mr. Balakrishnan serves as the Chairman of MicroGraam which is a peer-to-peer lending platform that empowers rural entrepreneurs. He is also the trustee of Akshaya Patra Foundation, a non-governmental organization which provides midday meals to millions of children across Inia.



"We welcome Mr. Balakrishnan to the Board of Ameri100,"said Giri Devanur, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ameri100. Mr. Devanur added that, "Mr. Balakrishnan's vast experience and knowledge will enrich our team and the Company. We are delighted to have his counsel as we position Ameri100 to grow and build shareholder value in the future." "I am very impressed with the board and management team. I believe the Ameri100 strategy of combining organic and inorganic growth will yield superior results. There are a lot of changes happening in the enterprise information technology services market and Ameri100 is well positioned to take advantage of these changes," added Mr. Balakrishnan.

About Ameri Holdings, Inc. Ameri Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: AMRH) is a SAP-based strategy consulting firm that brings synergies of classic consulting and product-based consulting services to its customer base. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, with offices in New York, Atlanta, Dallas, and Toronto, as well as offshore centers in Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai India, the Company is a global leader in consulting and technology solutions. The Company leverages a global partner ecosystem that has deep knowledge and skills to build and implement great ideas that drive progress for clients and enhance their businesses through innovative solutions. For further information, visit www.ameri100.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes forward-looking statements that relate to the business and expected future events or future performance of Ameri100 and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause its actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Words such as, but not limited to, "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "targets," "likely," "will," "would," "could," and similar expressions or phrases identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about Ameri100's financial and growth projections as well as statements concerning our plans, predictions, estimates, strategies, intentions, beliefs and other information concerning our business and the markets in which we operate. Press Contact

Carlos Fernandez

100 Canal Pointe Blvd, Suite 108

Princeton, NJ 08540

Phone: (732) 243-9250 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151120/289748LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ameri100-appoints-former-infosys-cfo-as-new-board-member-300291707.html SOURCE Ameri Holdings, Inc.

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[June 28, 2016] WakingApp to Be Only Virtual Reality Content Software Exhibited at Mobile World Congress Shanghai

TEL AVIV, Israel, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the recent release of its full software range in Mandarin, WakingApp will arrive this week to MWC Shanghai, Asia's largest mobile and tech event of the year, as the only VR/AR content software being exhibited. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151104/283733LOGO ) WakingApp, the world's first platform that allows non-developers to easily create interactive virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) content for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets, will be the only VR software platform for non-developers due to exhibit at the upcoming Mobile World Congress Shanghai (MWC Shanghai). The company's attendance comes on the heels of the release earlier this week of their entire software platform - the ENTiTi creator - in easy-to-navigate Mandarin language as well as the integration of IoT content. WakingApp is attending the MWC Shanghai as part of twenty companies from Israel chosen to exhibit in the Israel Pavilion, to be located in Hall N1-E40. Visitors to the WakingApp exhibition will experience VRand AR made with the company's ENTiTi Creator software, available for PC and Mac. While at the booth, congress attendees will be able to create their own VR content in just minutes and experience it on all the different VR devices, including the HTC Vive.



"The ENTiTi Creator software has made it possible for anyone to create VR and AR content - with no coding experience of any kind required," said Alon Melchner, Founder and President of WakingApp. "Still, our vision is to be the universal platform that allows everyone to take part in this revolution in how we as humans interact with our environment. Therefore, we have to accommodate the one billion Chinese speakers to fully achieve our goal. I am excited to go back to China again to enable WakingApp's growth in this important market and appear at the prestigious MWC Shanghai, especially now that our complete software platform is available in easy-to-navigate native Mandarin." "Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world and we see the Chinese market as our target area for growth over the coming year," said Udi Shani, CEO of WakingApp. "We are seeking to expand usage of the ENTiTi platform among millions of Chinese artists, advertisers, e-commerce businesses, educational organizations, and industries. I am proud that representatives of some of our many local Chinese partners will be with us at the WakingApp exhibit at MWC Shanghai."

About WakingApp WakingApp's powerful cloud-based ENTiTi platform is the first in the world to enable any company or individual to create interactive virtual and augmented reality content without any developer skills or prior experience. All content is instantly made available on the ENTiTi app or on devices such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, and integrates with mobile devices, leading smart glasses and peripherals. WakingApp's mission is to build and grow the VR & AR ecosystems by providing the tools for anyone to create interactive and advanced content, and enabling the use of cutting-edge technology such as viewers, cameras, head mounts, controllers, and depth sensors. With a dynamic VR & AR marketplace powered by ENTiTi, content creators and technology manufacturers can easily share and offer their content, products and services as part of a thriving community. More information about the Congress can be accessed at: http://www.mwcshanghai.com. For more information about WakingApp, please visit http://www.wakingapp.com CONTACT

Sharon Segal

[email protected]

+972-50-2066637

http://www.wakingapp.com

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MasterCard to Simplify E-Commerce for Microsoft Dynamics Customers around the Globe

MasterCard (News - Alert) announced today it will collaborate with Microsoft to bring simple and secure e-commerce payments to Microsoft Dynamics users.

Simplify Commerce, a uniquely versatile, highly secure and incredibly simple cloud-based payments platform, helps businesses grow by maximizing online and mobile sales. Through this collaboration, Microsoft (News - Alert) Dynamics customers will have one system that connects their end-to-end planning and sales. This provides users with a number of key benefits:

Easy Integration: Businesses can easily add payments to Dynamics AX to begin accepting and managing online and call center payments within their existing operation.

Seamless Updates: Customers will stay up to date on the latest developments in the payments industry-from cutting-edge security to regulatory protocols-without lifting a finger. Through the integration, users will automatically take advantage of coordinated updates from MasterCard and Microsoft.

Customers will stay up to date on the latest developments in the payments industry-from cutting-edge security to regulatory protocols-without lifting a finger. Through the integration, users will automatically take advantage of coordinated updates from MasterCard and Microsoft. Expansive Global Footprint: Simplify Commerce provides connectivity to acquirers worldwide through a single connection point. Businesses can expand geographically without hitting payments hurdles.

Simplify Commerce will be available in the coming weeks through Microsoft Dynamics AX in 13 countries: U.S., Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, The Netherlands and the UK. Additional market availability is planned over time.

"Businesses need to be able to sell to their customers wherever they are without headache or hassle," says Deborah Barta, Simplify Commerce global lead, MasterCard. "We want to make life easier for businesses as they grow, and we look forward to working with Microsoft to bring safe, simple and secure electronic payments to more businesses around the world."

"Today's retailers require modern, integrated, secure and scalable payments solutions that grow with their business," says Daniel Brown, Microsoft general manager, Dynamics AX R&D. "Simplify Commerce is a world-class, global offering that is highly secure and makes it easy for retailers to adopt quickly to drive seamless commerce and to develop deeper engagement with their customers."

Simplify Commerce is just one of the ways MasterCard works to help busineses grow. Around the globe, MasterCard helps businesses manage cash flow and grow sales through a suite of solutions and advice designed to address the day-to-day demands of running a business - operating efficiently, getting paid quickly, simply and securely and easily paying for goods and services.







For Microsoft partners implementing Dynamics AX solutions, Simplify Commerce makes it easy for retailers to be PCI compliant and can be adopted quickly due to deep, out-of-the-box integration with Dynamics AX Retail processes. This includes mobile commerce, e-commerce and call center channels. More information will be available at the MasterCard booth (#1129) at the 2016 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, July 10-14 in Toronto, or by visiting www.simplify.com/microsoft.

About MasterCard

MasterCard (NYSE:MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world's fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities - such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances - easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160628006692/en/
[June 29, 2016] The MDM Institute Recognizes Innovative Systems' Synchronos As A Top 20 Master Data Management Solution For 2016

PITTSBURGH, June 29, 2016 /CNW/ -- The MDM Institute recently released their list of the Top 20 Master Data Management Solutions for 2016, which was featured in Information Management's latest publication. The MDM Institute is the world's leading research and advisory consultancy focused exclusively on Master Data Management. Innovative Systems is proud to announce that its Synchronos MDM solution is featured on this noteworthy list. The MDM Institute stated that Synchronos is easy to use and maintain and requires minimal cost, resources, or risk. Also highlighted were the product's scalability and robust hierarchy management and workflow management features. What sets Synchronos apart from alternatives is its unique approach, which delivers higher quality information, substantially reduces overall investment  often by 50% or more, compresses timelines, and reduces risk for MDM and other data management initiatives. This approach begins with a full production analysis of 100% of the source data, enabling organizations  prior to starting the implementation  to accurately predict the current data quality state, the data quality state that will be achieved at production rollout, and the time, cost and resources required to achieve the production rollout specifications. Michael Ott, senior vice president at Innovative, stated, "Our customers arepleased to find that their MDM implementations have exceeded their quality requirements and were completed in a fraction of the typical time and cost. The ability of Synchronos to quickly prototype the entire implementation for business user validation and identify issues early in the process provides the critical information needed to achieve a fast and effective implementation."



Released in October 2015, Innovative Systems' Synchronos MDM 4.1 offers multi-domain master data management for operational or decision support use and is available through SaaS/cloud or on-premise deployment. To learn more about Synchronos MDM, click here.

To visit Information Management's Top 20 Master Data Management Solutions list, click here. About Innovative Systems, Inc.

Innovative Systems, Inc. is a global leader in the development and delivery of high-performance enterprise data management and risk management solutions to organizations whose success depends on a complete and accurate understanding of their customers. Since 1968, companies worldwide have relied on Innovative's data quality software, Master Data Management (MDM) offerings, and compliance solutions. Innovative's on-premise and cloud-based (SaaS) solutions deliver dramatic, measurable improvements in accuracy, cost, and time to production over alternatives. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-mdm-institute-recognizes-innovative-systems-synchronos-as-a-top-20-master-data-management-solution-for-2016-300291772.html SOURCE Innovative Systems, Inc.

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[June 29, 2016] Mobeewave Expands Into China and Selects ADG to Drive Business Development

Mobeewave engages ADG to expand its reach in the Chinese market and further the uptake of the company's patented in-person money collection technology by leading OEMs MONTREAL and BEIJING, June 29, 2016 /CNW/ -- Mobeewave today announced that it has selected Alliance Development Group (ADG) to strengthen the company's business development efforts in China. Chosen for their excellent track record assisting mobile payment and FinTech companies to expand in China and their proven end-to-end services, ADG will collaborate with Mobeewave's business development team to foster strategic partnerships with China original equipment manufacturers (mobile device OEMs) in an important market for the Canadian FinTech company. Mobeewave's patented technology is a key differentiator solution for manufacturers of next-generation smartphones. Harnessing a phone's NFC capability, the technology enables individuals to safely and conveniently collect money in person from a contactless card or mobile wallet. This innovative approach is particularly secure as it ensures all sensitive information is encrypted in a device's hardware and software security. Home to seven of the top ten global smartphone vendors, China represents a key region for Mobeewave. Forward-looking Chinese OEMs  such as Huawei, Lenovo and Xiaomi  recognize the need to embrace innovation. By incorporating FinTech services like Mobeewave's in-person money collection technology, such vendors can continue to offer their usrs a genuine added-value experience.



ADG's previous success with companies like PayPal and EyeVerify, and many others made it the obvious choice to support Mobeewave's business development in China. With a deep understanding of the market, they will provide vital experience and facilitate the development of strategic relationships with the country's Tier 1 device OEMs as well as other leading China internet and payment companies. "ADG's expertise in mobile and FinTech and their strong connections with Chinese OEMs will strengthen Mobeewave's footprint in what is a key market for the company," said Maxime de Nanclas, COO and co-founder of Mobeewave. "Developing relationships in this region is of the utmost importance for us as we look to provide our key differentiator solution to the world's leading OEMs."

"Mobeewave's unique mobile payment solutions offer device OEMs an opportunity to play a larger part in the growing global payments space. We are excited to work with such a great company as Mobeewave and help them develop winning partnerships in China," said David Sullivan, Managing Director of ADG. About Mobeewave An award-winning company, Mobeewave brings balance to the FinTech world, empowering people to accept money in person using their phones. Based in Montreal, Mobeewave is challenging every aspect of the current mobile payment paradigm. With the Mobeewave solution, the company has created a simple, secure service to allow anyone to accept money from a contactless card or mobile wallet in a quick, easy and convenient manner. In collaboration with their partners at Oberthur Technologies, Mobeewave was recognized as the Best Mobile Security Solution at the 2015 SESAMES Awards organized by CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS. The company was also selected as a finalist in the Payment and FinTech category of the eighth annual 2016 SXSW Accelerator Competition. About Alliance Development Group (ADG) Since 2001, ADG has been a trusted partner for fast growing mobile and emerging technology companies helping them develop and execute China business development and expansion strategies. ADG provides an unmatched platform allowing our clients to accelerate the development of China partners and customers by leveraging our professional local China team, extensive relationship network, years of experience and proven best practices. ADG has assisted over 80 leading technology companies with China expansion including category leaders such as PayPal, The Weather Channel, Silicon Image, Nuance, Canonical, Ubuntu, EyeVerify, Graphite Software, Fleksy, Vlingo, Canesta, Audience, Brightstar, Netezza, IBM, Intervoice, among many others. For more information, please visit: www.alliance-dg.com For more information about Mobeewave, please visit: www.mobeewave.com Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160627/384066LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mobeewave-expands-into-china-and-selects-adg-to-drive-business-development-300290945.html SOURCE Mobeewave

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[June 29, 2016] Power Line Carrier Communication & PoE Controller Market Worth 12.31 Billion USD by 2022

PUNE, India, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Power Line Carrier Communication Market by Technology (Broadband & Narrowband), Application (Smart Grid & Indoor Networking), & PoE Controller Market by Type (PSE & PD), Application (Connectivity, Security, & LED Lighting), Geography - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global PLCC market is expected to reach USD 11.27 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 15.18% between 2016 and 2022. Increasing installation of smart grid hubs is a key driving factor for the PLCC market. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 98 market data Tables and 77 Figures spread through 232 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Power Line Carrier Communication Market & PoE Controller Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/power-line-communication-plc-market-912.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The global Power over Ethernet (PoE) controller market was valued at USD 0.45 Billion in 2015 and is expected to reach USD 1.04 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 12.56% during the forecast period. The growth in this market can be attributed to the ability of the Power over Ethernet technology to transfer electrical power through data cables, which makes supplying power to powered devices economical as well as convenient. Commercial vertical to hold the largest share of the PLCC market during the forecast period The commercial vertical is expected to hold the largest share of the Power Line Carrier Communication Market during the forecast period, owing to the ongoing transformation of the existing metering terminals to smart metering systems, significant adoption rate of PLCC systems in building automation applications, and surging demand for secure and reliable network communications. On the other hand, the major factors driving the growth of the PoE controller market for the commercial vertical includes high demand for PoE compatible devices, especially for connectivity and security & access control applications. Market for narrowband PLCC systems and powered device controllers expected to grow at a high rate The market for narrowband PLCC systems is expected to grow at a high rate during the forecast period. Growing adoption of narrowband PLCC systems in the residential, commercial, and industrial metering infrastructure is one of the key factors driving the growth of this market. The growth of he market for PD controllers is being propelled by the increasing demand for PoE enabled devices, especially VoIP phones and wireless access points.



APAC expected to be the fastest-growing market for PLCC and PoE controllers during the forecast period The PLCC and PoE controller markets in APAC are expected to grow at a high rate during the forecast period. Growing market for advanced metering infrastructure and surging demand for PLCC-based lighting control applications (such as roadways, parking areas, tunnels, and street lighting), and increasing deployment of PLCC-based products in the commercial and industrial sectors are expected to drive the growth of the PLCC market in this region. In addition, the high growth rate of the PoE controller market in APAC can be attributed to the increasing demand for PoE controllers in China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea as well as growing adoption rate of network devices such VoIP phones, wireless access points, and IP cameras (especially in the commercial vertical).

Inquiry Before Buying: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=912 The major players in the PLCC and PoE controller markets include Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (U.S.), Texas Instruments Inc. (U.S.), STMicroelectronics N.V. (Switzerland), Linear Technology Corp. (U.S.), Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (U.S.), Broadcom Ltd. (U.S.), and Yitran Technologies Ltd. (Israel) among others. This research report categorizes the global PLCC market on the basis of frequency, application, vertical, component, and geography; and the global PoE controller market on the basis of type, product, application, vertical, and geography. This report describes the drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges for the growth of the PLCC and PoE controller markets. Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp Browse Related Reports Power Management IC (PMIC) Market by Product (Linear Regulator, Switching Regulator, Voltage References, Battery Management IC, Energy Management IC, LED Driver IC, POE Controller, Wireless Charging IC), Application, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/power-management-ic-market-441.html IWSN (Industrial Wireless Sensor Network) Market by Sensor (Temperature, Pressure, Level, Flow, Humidity, & Others), Technology (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wirelesshart, & Isa.100.11a), Application (Oil & Gas, Energy & Power, Automotive, & Food & Beverage) & Geography Trend & Forecast to 2020

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/wireless-sensor-networks-market-445.html About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the world's No. 2 firms in terms of annual published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical info graphics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact:

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Markets and Markets

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Email: [email protected]

Visit MarketsandMarkets [email protected] http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/electronics-and-semiconductors Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets SOURCE MarketsandMarkets

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[June 29, 2016] Machine Learning: Crunchflow is Partnering with USC Researchers to Explore New Frontiers in Big Data



NEW YORK, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Crunchflow, a workforce planning platform, has recently signed a collaborative agreement with professor Lucio Soibelman, who earned a Ph.D in Civil Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with the goal of developing new solutions for businesses based on machine learning. Professor Soibelman and his research group at the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering will have access to Crunchflow's large metadata database that has anonymous performance information from thousands of projects and employees allocated in professional service organizations. The researchers' mission is to find in this data preliminary patterns and results that help to understand how companies can boost efficiency levels. They also want to demonstrate the potential for extracting knowledge from such a database. Bigger salaries without sacrificing margins Crunchflow's CEO Daniel Knijnik believes that the collaboration will place the company in the forefront of a technology that has the potential to revolutionize how artificial intelligence is applied to business. "We will have top researchers entirely dedicated to innovation, using the latest and most modern technology", he said. "It is an opportunity for companies to improve their margins and optimize their most precious resource: people". Knijnik explains that machine learning technology is an essential part of Crunchflow's platform, a workforce planning SaaS designed to boost productivity and efficiency in highly skilled professional services organizations. According to the CEO, the platform offers new opportunities for businesses in need of conciliating medium increase in salaries while avoiding an increase in their product's final cost. "We would like to show that it is possible to improve business margins even when we pay bigger salaries". New research opportunities in machine learning The initial collaboration with Soibelman can evole into an official partnership between Crunchflow and USC's entire Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, a leading institution in the United States when it comes to machine learning. "In case we are successful, we can propose new research lines and submit them to American development agencies", explains Mr. Soibelman, who has dedicated the last 23 years to researching machine learning and data mining.



According to Soibelman, machine learning technology is able to extract intelligence and new knowledge from great volumes of data generated by companies. Platforms such as Crunchflow automate this knowledge, generating valuable insights in real time for business managers. "It is one of the most active research areas today, and our knowledge is increasing in great speed". Soibelman says that the ideas generated by machine learning technology will also create new business opportunities to be explored by executives. "They certainly will have the opportunity to develop future companies and industries that do not exist at this time".

What is machine learning and how can it be applied to everyday business? Soibelman: Machine learning is a core subarea of artificial intelligence. It can be used to extract intelligence from large databases. It is one of the most active research areas today, and our knowledge is increasing in great speed. The ideas that are being generated by this technology will create great opportunities for executives. They certainly will have the opportunity to develop future companies and industries that do not exist at this time. Which opportunities will emerge from using machine learning?

Soibelman: The best ones are the tools developed to deal with "big data". For now, the tools that are available are not capable of analyzing the volume of data that is emerging from businesses on a daily basis. There are millions of bytes being generated - from financial operations to information coming from sensors that monitor infrastructure, environment, buildings and residences. I am referring to the data coming from the revolutionary "internet of things". What can we expect from this partnership with Crunchflow? Soibelman: In the first phase, we will adapt and use the many existing tools to extract knowledge from the data provided by Crunchflow. If it is necessary, we will develop new tools specifically for this analysis. If we are successful, USC and Crunchflow intend to sign an official partnership, in which we will propose new research lines and submit them to American development agencies. About Crunchflow Crunchflow is a NY-based workforce planning SaaS, the pioneer in combining the flexibility of project management, the accuracy of HR analytics and the evolution of machine learning in one powerful integrated platform. Crunchflow enables C-Level executives to plan, allocate and manage performance from their company's most valuable resource: their people. For further information, please see www.crunchflow.com. For press and media enquiries:

Andreas Muller

[email protected]

+1 212 520 1688 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/machine-learning-crunchflow-is-partnering-with-usc-researchers-to-explore-new-frontiers-in-big-data-300292186.html SOURCE Crunchflow

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Weve written about dodgy promoters and even artists looking to make a sly buck off Australias events industry before, but now a US reality TV star has pleaded guilty to violating currency reporting laws and one charge of bankruptcy fraud after an Australian tour.

As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, Abby Lee Miller, the founder of Dance Moms, admitted to failing to report more than $10,000 worth of Australian currency that was smuggled into the US after she completed a dance tour of Australia in 2014.

Miller and a troupe of dancers hosted masterclasses and meet-and-greets at convention centres in Melbourne, Sydney, the Gold Coast, and Perth, charging up to $179 for young dancers and $59 for supervising parents. Merchandise was also available for purchase.

Miller is now in hot water, with a bankruptcy fraud indictment alleging she hid $US755,000 ($1.021 million) worth of TV earnings and prosecutors have accused her of attempting to smuggle $US120,000 ($160,000) in her employees luggage.

If found guilty of the new charges she faces an extra $US250,000 fine and five years in jail. Miller originally faced 20 criminal counts of bankruptcy fraud and concealing assets that carried a $US5 million fine and five years imprisonment.

Prosecutors are currently seeking more than two years jail, whilst Millers lawyers are asking for a maximum of six months behind bars. She is set to be sentenced in October.
FIRST ON TKC!!! CHECK THIS EPIC SCREED CALLING OUT KANSAS CITY WATER SERVICES FOR MASSIVE RATE INCREASES AND BAD MANAGEMENT!!!

RE: Complaint Against Water Rate Hike of April 2016

Rising water rates are creating a crisis in Kansas City that threatens the management of City Hall Water Services with a deluge of pointed questions.To wit . . .This really is an. . . The letter is comprehensive and we could only include the first portion of it before the jump . . . Keep reading to read this important list of complaints, grievances and an upcoming call to action that couldthat locals have been demanding for years.Checkit the latest note afterover the weekend:Kansas City Water Services4800 E. 63rd StreetKansas City, MO. 64130Dear Mr. Leeds:Recently, I and a group of water company ratepayers and concerned citizens met to discuss how to respond to your April 2016 water rate hike, which doubled and even tripled water rates of most residential customers. We created a group,  Right2Water Coalition-KCMO , which is a watchdog group, designed to compel regulatory compliance, fairness in the water rate structure, and community control of water service.Your April rate hike of double the amount of customers bills concerns us greatly. We believe your rationale that it must be done to address the sewage infrastructure crisis, and that EPA is compelling you to bill Kansas City ratepayers $2.5 billion is false, and we believe that these are numbers you have made up yourself. We are not saying that the financial necessity does not exist for the construction project, but we believe that the companys construction request contains an inflated figure, and further believe that you have not stated the economic necessity for it. We feel that there is no financial justification for such a massive customer rate hike over a 25-year period to obtain it, and that there has to be a better method You just are not considering it. Finally, we believe that you are not locked into the kind of pipes or other construction products you purchase from a particular vendor, and should be seeking to save money, instead of adopting a Cadillac plan of profligate overspending. Ratepayers are on the hook for whatever you do.Why was there no consideration of a one-cent sales tax over 25 years, similar to that for the newly inaugurated downtown streetcar service? Why not try to raise taxes (or secure municipal bonds) for an equivalent amount from residents of the entire city and surrounding county, any of which depends on KC Water Services? In addition, why are people who use less than 2,500 gallons of water seeing any increase at all, that is, if you are concerned about overburdening the poor and low income workers with these hikes to their bills? Further, we question if commercial and industrial customers received similar rate hikes for sewer infrastructure since you have kept this a company secret from the media and public. In our opinion, businesses generally should pay much more than residential customers for their services, and they should bear the lions share of all payments toward the current sewer infrastructure repairs. If they use more water and have more toilets, like Kauffman Stadium, they should be paying more, as just one example.Finally, sir, if the city and water company officials had applied to EPA for infrastructure grants from their Clean Water State Revolving Fund years ago, when company and government officials first realized they were polluting the Missouri River with sewage, then the city likely would have gotten federal grant money and federal support, rather than a massive $600,000+ fine for violating the Clean Water Act. This is a matter of bad leadership, poor planning, and dishonesty by local government officials. This is why it is hard for us to believe you now when you say you need $2.5 billion in project funds, as we believe the figure may be much smaller, and if you obtained this amount, much of the surplus of this money would be transferred to the General Operating Fund of the city government for unrestricted and unaccountable spending by politicians. We are also concerned about the possible shutoffs of many customers water service altogether, more than your assistance plan can possibly handle because of these and other water rate hikes affecting so many people. Most families cannot pay $200-$300 per month, which is the projected cost for your service over the next few years. If this happens, we could quickly have a social crisis like Detroit or Flint, Michigan, where thousands have no water at all, because of mass shutoffs and their inability to pay. We fear that this citys water service is also becoming unaffordable.In April 2016, local government and company officials also created the Cost of Service Task Force, which supposedly is looking for diversified funding. This body supports the public posture that KC Water is investigating other sources of funding for the sewage repair project. Well, EPA grant-making may still be possible from the Clean Water Fund, but there are also numerous other grants from both government and corporate foundations. This would drive down significantly the amount of revenue expected to be paid by local water ratepayers. In fact, it is irresponsible, and would be mismanagement of the worst sort to place the entire burden on residential ratepayers alone for the years of neglect by local government and company officials.We therefore emphatically urge your Cost of Service Task Force to begin to immediately consider an EPA grant and other such funding sources, and not continue with their charade of how to pick the pockets of ratepayers, and make them accept your corporate plan as being in their own interest, or the only possible option.In addition to the April 2016 water rate hike, we object to the undemocratic process used to select the members of the Cost of Services Task Force. It is stocked with 15 well-heeled, politically connected cronies of the mayor and representatives of big business and commercial customers. Further, it is a conflict of interest to have city council members be on this COS Task Force, since they voted for the creation of the body and serve in the local government. This is clearly unethical, and ratepayers can have no faith in the veracity of such a process. There is not even one low-income ratepayer among these 15 appointees. This is a travesty, but it points out that this body is totally unresponsive and just a political sounding board, not a body seeking to work with all the ratepayers of your company to come up with actual solutions to the sewer infrastructure crisis. This COS-TF body needs to be dismantled and reconstructed to ensure that everyone has a voice and seat at the table, even those who disagree with company methods.This COS Task Force structure, as presently constructed, is all one-way communication, which makes it clear that low income and residential customers need their own organization, a pressure group that will make you listen to us, and which allows us to express a dissident opinion. We do not accept a puppet body which does not express our needs and concerns. We therefore created the Right2Water Coalition-KCMO, an independent non-governmental and non-corporate watchdog to ensure accountability and to challenge authority in this matter. We will contact you again and attend some of your COS-TF meetings where we will raise our positions and concerns on behalf of ratepayers. Thank you.Sincerely,Coordinator###########
Credit to KSHB

Rampant crime throughout KCMO has neighborhoods on edge whilst an irresponsible development agenda continues to dominate City Hall.for following up on neighborhood concern and proving our haters and doubters wrong again with some great coverage and incredible detail.Like it or not, we forgo Internet beef in favor of providing a resource andfor an open exchange of ideas despite the best efforts of haters and spammers to stop our local discourse because they've failed miserably at building anything of their own.Checkit: Waldo residents fed up with uptick in thefts, break-ins
Qatar-based Al Markab Real Estate has signed up Al Khayarin Group Trading and Contracting for the development of its office building with a total built-up area of 11,430 sq m at Energy City in Lusail, said a report.



The contract is for demolition, construction, completion and maintenance of the building to be located in Al Sadd area, reported The Peninsula.



The building, which will be constructed as per the smart city regulation and will feature all latest modern facilities, contains two basement levels primarily comprising parking facilities, services area besides a ground floor, mezzanine floor and three upper floors, said the report.


United Parcel Service (UPS), a global leader in logistics, has announced plans to build a new package sorting and delivery facility in Paris, France at an investment of over $100 million.



The new facility, set to open in the first quarter of 2018, will replace two smaller facilities and will create more than 100 new jobs, said a statement from UPS.



The site will be a showcase for the companys automated package sorting technology which minimises time in transit to final delivery, it said.



The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, mayor of Corbeil-Essonnes Jean-Pierre Bechter, mayor of Evry Francois Chouat and several other dignitaries attended the ground breaking ceremony, it added.



Addressing the gathering, Valls said: "The new UPS hub will allow French businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to take advantage of more efficient logistics, as well as export more easily and conquer new markets."



The new South Paris sorting and delivery facility will replace smaller buildings in Chilly-Mazarin and Savigny for small packages and larger freight shipments. It will have an operating area of more than 320,000 sq ft and 950 employees, said a statement.



The new facilitys advanced technology will make it possible to sort up to 37,000 packages per hour, using 124 loading and unloading bays, with 125 parking positions for UPS delivery trucks, it said.



Mike Harrell, managing director, UPS France, said: "France is a key market for UPS and building this new facility south of Paris shows our commitment to the French and European economies."



Corbeil-Essonnes and Evry are two economic centres in the Essonnes region, with more than 2,000 businesses of all sizes. By using our integrated network we will help these companies grow by giving them fast access to markets beyond their region, he said.



Nando Cesarone, president of UPS Europe, said: We are bullish on Europes growth potential and this investment in France - UPSs largest for the country  is part of our $2 billion investment programme currently underway in Europe.



With e-commerce and cross-border business on the rise, we are making our most economical cross-border service up to two days faster in 19 European countries, including France. Our customers rely on our network to help them be successful in todays global economy where cross-border trade represents real growth opportunities, he added.  TradeArabia News Service


Saudi Arabia and the UAE had imported a combined total of $3 million worth of pharmaceutical products from Brazil in 2015, said a top official of the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC).



The major importers of pharmaceutical products from the UAE and Saudi Arabia recently held discussions with Brazilian pharmaceutical manufacturers, during the International Exhibition of Technology for the Pharmaceutical Industry (FCE Pharma), in Sao Paulo, Brazil.



The event was aimed at developing and further boosting the trade relations between the two Arab countries and Brazil, remarked Dr Michel Alaby, its secretary general and CEO.



The prospective buyers, one each from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, were invited to the event as guests under the Brazilian Pharma Solutions programme designed to boost local exports by collaborating with priority international markets.



Managed by the Brazilian Pharmachemical and Pharmaceutical Inputs Industry Association (Abiquifi) and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), the Brazilian Pharma Solutions comprises around 70 pharmaceutical companies, from medication and medication inputs manufacturing to veterinary medication manufacturing to biotech for healthcare, said a statement from ABCC.



The recent event between Arab and Brazilian pharmaceutical companies could help further their respective pharmaceutical industries.



The positive and productive discussions between both sides signal their keenness to strengthen their relations and bring their cooperation to new levels of growth and development. We are confident that similar fruitful interaction will continue to take place in the future as we reiterate our unwavering support to such significant endeavours, he said.



This is part of our pursuit of further strengthening and sustaining the already robust relations between key Arab countries and Brazil, he added.  TradeArabia News Service


Denmark's AP Moller-Maersk has lost a major oil production contract in Qatar this week, just days after the shipping and oil group said it was considering a break-up due to worsening market conditions, shipping and banking sources say.

Maersk, which also announced last week the replacement of its chief executive and tasked the new CEO with a "strategic" review of its business, is battling on two fronts.

It is trying to deal with a container shipping market which is suffering its worst ever downturn and an oil business dealing with around a 60 per cent fall in prices.

"Replacing a CEO via an intra-day announcement and announcing a strategic review - you are not doing it for nothing. It is not because the numbers look that good," said ABN AMRO analyst Thijs Berkelder.

"We have to see what the company now really delivers for the remainder of this year in all of its activities: thats not really clear to me," said Berkelder, who maintained a Hold rating for the group.

Maersk Oil said this week it had lost the contract to operate Al-Shaheen, Qatar's largest oil field, which accounted for up 40 per cent of Maersk Oil's output last year.

It had held the contract since 1992, which analysts at Clarksons Platou estimated could mean a fall in group net profits of $150 million to $200 million, based on the current oil price of around $50 a barrel.

The group reported a net profit of $224 million in the first quarter of this year, down from $1.6 billion in the same period last year.

"Theyre being hit in most parts of the business at the same time," a senior oil banker at a European bank said. "The big worry is about their shipping business."

Maersk Line, the group's container shipping unit, is trying to remain the world's biggest carrier as new challengers, particularly in Asia, try to grab a bigger share of a depressed market.

Maersk veteran Soren Skou, 51, will replace Nils Smedegaard Andersen as group chief executive. Andersen, who will leave the group, had been in the job since 2007.

One senior shipping industry source said there were questions over whether Skou, who will also remain CEO of Maersk Line and who has been with the group for 33 years, would be able to tackle so many challenges at the same time.

"Skou is coming from inside the Maersk group and no one knows whether there is enough vision in terms of what is required. They really needs to be an overhaul," the source said.

"There are still question marks over the timing of the appointment and what lies ahead with so much turmoil."

Maersk chairman Michael Pram Rasmussen said last week Skou was a respected and knowledgeable leader with the ability to adapt quickly to market changes.

The management change came days after the grandson of Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller, who transformed the shipping company into an international conglomerate, was appointed chief executive of the holding company behind the group.

Maersk's chairman spoke last week about a possible split of the conglomerate into separate companies.

The company is the second biggest corporate contributer to Danish government revenues after Novo Nordisk.-- Reuters
The US Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday lifted an order issued earlier in the evening grounding flights between the United States and Istanbul's Ataturk Airport after a bomb attack there.  Reuters




As the connected world of travel becomes a reality, 91 per cent of airlines plan to invest in cyber security programs over the next three years, a new report has unveiled.



According to the Sita Airline IT Trends 2016 Survey published today, the level of commitment to cyber security reflects the consensus that a lot is being done in this area but there is always more to do.



Sita, the travel technology provider to the air transport industry, carried out its survey among the worlds top 200 airlines, and discovered that cyber security at airlines is progressing. Three years ago less than half of airlines (47 per cent) said they were making advanced preparations to manage cyber risks -today this has doubled to 91 per cent.



The focus on cyber security also reflects the move to the Internet of Things (IoT) in which a vast number of physical objects will become connected to the internet. This enables tracking, data collection, analysis and control, which necessitates more security. An overwhelming majority of airlines (68 per cent) are investing in IoT programs in the next three years, up from 57 per cent this time last year.



A key area of IoT investment is in connected aircraft which 46 per cent of airlines believe will give a better passenger experience. Today 37 per cent of airlines operate connected aircraft and this will jump to two thirds by 2019. Currently internet via passenger devices is the service offered by most (33 per cent). Over the next three years big increases in services are expected with more than half of airlines planning to provide destination services and duty-free shopping apps, while 70 per cent plan to provide multi-media file streaming on passenger devices.



Nigel Pickford, director Market Insight, Sita, said: Airlines are investing in areas which will promote a connected world of travel for the benefit of passengers and the workforce. We see new priorities attracting more investment, with cyber security and electronic flight bag solutions coming to the fore in this years research.



The initiatives to realize the Internet of Things include smart bag tagging to enable continuous tracking, which is planned by 61 per cent of airlines by 2019. Nearly half (47 per cent) of airlines are also planning IT programs for single token travel for passenger identification.



The overall sentiment among IT executives at the worlds airlines is positive. The majority expect an increase in their IT spend over the next year, this is a big change from 2015 when only around one third had positive expectations.



Other trends of note are the move to more software development in-house and the shift to outsource IT operations. In future a growing proportion of airline IT budgets is likely to be spent on innovation rather than service continuity with innovation rising to 36 per cent of overall IT and telecommunications spend in 2016.



Providing passenger services via smartphones continues to be a key area of investment for airlines; 79 per cent are planning major investment over the next three years while a further 17 per cent are planning a pilot program or R&D in this area. Services to passengers on tablets will also see significant investment with 71 per cent of airlines planning major programs for these devices (up from 63 per cent in 2015). Airlines are using social media activity and physical location to tailor personalised offers to passengers; in fact three quarters plan to do this by 2019.



Despite the fact that airlines have baggage tracking as part of their IoT plans, one quarter have no specific IT investment plans for compliance with Iatas Resolution 753. However, 77 per cent see a major benefit in improving customer satisfaction from compliance to the Resolution. - TradeArabia News Service


(Adds detail, statement)

JOHANNESBURG, June 29 (Reuters) - South Africa's state-owned Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) said on Wednesday it had offered to buy Chevron's majority stake in the country's oil refinery in Cape Town and other downstream assets as well as those in neighbouring countries.

"SFF has forwarded a commercial offer to Chevron and its financial advisers, in relation to the purchase of the 75 percent interest on offer," the company said in a statement.

The SFF said it would purchase 75 percent of the refinery and assets such as retail stations and depots for an undisclosed amount.

A Chevron official said the firm would issue a statement later.

The SFF said it was offer was made as part of its mandate to ensure a security of supply of liquid fuels.

Chevron said in January it would sell its business in Africa's most industrialised country after disposing of assets in Nigeria, in sales triggered by plunging oil prices.

The U.S. oil major is a leading refiner and marketer of petroleum products in South Africa, where it has had a presence for more than a century.

The refinery processes 110,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

Besides the Cape Town refinery, Chevron also has interests in a lubricants plant in Durban on the east coast. Its network of Caltex service stations makes it one of South Africa's top five petroleum brands, according to its website.

(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala and Wendell Roelf; Editing by James Macharia and Alexander Smith)
BRUSSELS, June 29 (Reuters) - Spain and Portugal risk European Union sanctions for their public deficits, Italy's prime minister said on Wednesday after an EU summit where leaders discussed member countries' fiscal gaps and banks.

"Today we discussed little about banks and a lot about deficits. There are two countries that risk sanctions for their deficit. I am talking about Spain and Portugal," Matteo Renzi told reporters after the meeting that for the first time was held without Britain, following the 23 June referendum.

Renzi said that Italy backed Spain's and Portugal's stance opposing sanctions. "It's absurd not to use common sense," Renzi said.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; editing by Robert-Jan Bartunek)
A Hornbill festival Trip to Nagaland this December in collaboration with India's leading online ticketing platform bookmyshow.com



(TRAVPR.COM) INDIA - June 29th, 2016 - Guwahati, Assam, June 29 2016  Eventours Travels LLP in collaboration with popular ticketing portal www.bookmyshow.com has come up with a unique voucher based trip to the famed Hornbill Festival in Nagaland this December. This is a 6 days trip starting and ending at Guwahati which would include wildlife safaris and stay at Kaziranga National Park too. This trip is an adventure and camping based event and is all inclusive of accommodation, meals, transportation and activities.

More are more travelers are looking for a different way to explore India and enhance their vacation experience, said Amitabh Sarma, Co-Founder of Eventours. We have crafted this trip in such a way that guests have deeper insight into the festival. Bookmyshow is already a leader when it comes to online ticketing in India. Mr.Sarma adds, This collaboration with Book My Show has given end-users to directly source the product from us and hence we have been able to keep the price low for such a trip yet with all the essential values. The trip is available online at www.bookmyshow.com at a price of 22974 INR per person. Both the companies have earlier collaborated on a similar successful trip for the Ziro Music Festival in Arunachal Pradesh.

Amitabh Sarma further adds that, The date for the Hornbill Festival Trip is Nov 29th 2016 from Guwahati.This partnership with bookmyshow.com has given us a unique platform to cater to end-users across India. Eventours has announced another 6 days trip on Dec 4th 2016 and this one can be booked directly with Eventours. The Hornbill Festival in Nagaland this year is from Dec 1st  Dec 10th. There website www.eventours.in will announce this trip soon. Eventours has organized and announced some very offbeat trips like a Motorcycle Trip in Mongolia, a photography expedition in Borneo, a daily walking activity in the streets of Guwahati and motorcycle trips in Laos, Vietnam and Northern Thailand.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Eventours Travels LLP, known as Eventours is a brand new company based out of Guwahati in Assam . Eventours is made up of a small group of people with countless years working in India and in the travel industry. Eventours focuses on trips and expeditions based on a festival or an event. All of their itineraries, irrespective of cultural, wildlife, adventure or leisure are embedded with special interest event or festival. Their website www.eventours.in has some exciting trips listed with destination information across the world. All inquiries are handled by their crew on the field, not office bound sales people, so any information provided is not only factual but also the most up-to-date available.

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Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 27

The Aam Aadmi Party today held a march in the city to demand the arrest of MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, who was booked in a fraud case by the CBI recently, along with 18 other accused.

AAP also demanded from the Governor that the MLA should be expelled from the Assembly.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd)

AAP workers, under the leadership of AAP leader Baljinder Kaur, who lost the Talwandi Sabo by-election earlier, started the protest march from Fire Brigade Chowk.

They crossed Railway road, Post Office Bazaar, Dhobi Bazaar, Arya Smaj Chowk, Court Road, Mehna Chowk, bus stand and reached the DC Office.

They submitted a memorandum, addressed in the name of Punjab Governor, to the Deputy Commissioner demanding the arrest of Jeet Mohinder and his expulsion from the Assembly.

The party leaders gave an ultimatum of 10 days failing which they would stage protests across the state.

SAD MLA from Talwandi Sabo, Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, and Fastway Transmission Private Limited managing director Gurdeep Singh were among 18 persons booked recently by the CBI in the alleged multi-crore scam in the functioning of International Customer Related Management Services (ICRMS) Private Limited.

Acting on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the CBI registered six FIRs under Section 120-B of the IPC read with Sections 212, 380, 406, 420, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 471, 472 and 474 of the IPC against the 18 persons.

The development followed an investigation into the alleged scam by a SIT involving officers of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) of Company Affairs under the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Enforcement Directorate (ED), the IT Department and the CBI.

It was alleged that the board of directors of the ICRMS (incorporated in 2001) located in Mohali and Chandigarh was changed and shareholding patterns were altered by the accused on the basis of forged documents to misappropriate funds and assets of the company.

The alleged scam involved transfer of funds worth Rs 231 crore from the accounts of the company and several bigwigs, including top politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen of the region who had held key positions in the firm.
Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 29

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) today said the governments decision to allow round-the-clock operations of shops and other business establishments was bound to pose several threats to the trading community. It has suggested that before implementing the decision, a pilot project in any one big market should be conducted for its impact assessment.

The CAIT said a study must be done to understand the quantum of increase in the footfall in markets if shops are open in the night viz-a-viz establishment expenses. It said perhaps the decision of the Supreme Court not allowing any activity beyond 11 pm might have escaped the attention of the authorities which have prepared the law.

CAIT national president BC Bhartia and secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said the decision to allow business establishments to remain open 24x7 would have far-reaching consequences in terms of law and order, environment, health, social and family issues.

They said: Even in the day working hours, the law and order situation is not so good. What will happen when shops and other business establishments remain open throughout the night? Will the law enforcing agencies be able to provide enough security to markets? It is a known fact that both life and property is at stake, especially if shops are open in night.

Khandelwal said asking the labour to work round the clock was another problem. The existing format of small businesses does not allow them to arrange different shifts of the labour and if it is so, it will bring extra financial burden on the traders. They said it may also have adverse effect on the health of people since round-the-clock working was against the basic fundamentals of health.
New Delhi, June 29

Non-resident companies can now claim benefits of tax treaty by just providing personal details including, name, address and tax residency certificate, even without providing PAN.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has come out with Rule 37BC, which gives relaxation to non-residents from furnishing PAN number in India while claiming TDS benefits.

Non-residents include foreign partnership, foreign body corporates, besides foreign companies.

It said in the absence of PAN, a non-resident can now provide the prescribed information and will not be subject to higher rate of withholding tax on payments made by Indian companies for interest, royalty, fees for technical services.

Non-residents can now claim the beneficial provisions of the tax treaty by providing personal details  name, email-id, address etc; Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) and Tax Identification Number (TIN) or any other Unique Identification number obtained in the country of residence.

Non-residents can now take a sigh of relief, since the beneficial provision of the amended Section 206AA has become operational and treaty benefits shall not be denied by the tax authorities in the absence of PAN. Now a non-resident can claim the beneficial provisions of the tax treaty by providing his personal details, said Rakesh Nangia, Managing partner, Nangia & Co.  PTI
Ujjwal Munjal, Founder-Director, Hero Electronix, talks to Girja Shankar Kaura

Over the years, Hero Group has been diversifying their business interests from bicycles to motorcycles and scooters. Electronics is one such area where the group sees a future. Ujjwal Munjal, founder-director, Hero Electronix, talks about the future plans of the company.

Q. Its been a year since Hero Electronix was founded. How has been the journey so far?

A. Hero Electronix is the Hero Groups maiden foray into the electronics sector. Our vision is to build a billion dollar global digital products and solutions enterprise. The past one year has been an exciting journey and I am proud to say that we have crossed many milestones. We started with the acquisition of a majority stake in June 2015 in MyBox Technologies, the largest multi-operator R&D house and manufacturer of digital set-top boxes in the country. MyBox Technologies has grown multi-fold in the past year; we added Airtel DTH as our customer and made good inroads into cable customers.

Recently in April 2016, Hero Electronix acquired strategic stake in the Bengaluru-based Tessolve Semiconductor, the world leader in semiconductor test engineering services.

Q. Why did Hero Electronix acquire strategic stake in Tessolve Semiconductor?

A. Hero Electronixs goal is to become a digital products and solutions enterprise and we are looking to partner with companies that can contribute in reaching that goal. Tessolve Semiconductor is the pioneer and leader in its space. It offers engineering expertise in semiconductor design, test/product engineering, PCB design, failure analysis and systems design.

Q. What are your plans to become a global digital enterprise?

A. Hero Electronix and its group companies plan to invest Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 1,200 crore in the next 5 to 7 years for expansion. Our approach is to invest in businesses that are engineering led and IP driven. Through a mix of strategic partnerships, global alliances and greenfield investments, Hero Electronix aims at building a robust digital technology business.

Q.Hero Electronix acquired majority stake in MyBox Technologies in 2015. How do you plan to grow the company in the highly competitive Indian set-top box market?

A. The demand for set-top boxes in India continues to grow with the digitisation mandate of the Government of India. Despite tremendous competition from global set-top box companies, especially from duty-free ASEAN countries, MyBox Technologies has shown a robust growth in the last financial year. There has been nearly 10-fold growth in revenues in fiscal 2016, with the current turnover touching about Rs 300 crore. With the overall push on digitisation, we are confident that the revenues would double in the current financial year. We are also targeting to further consolidate MyBox Technologies presence in DTH and cable segment along with entry into international markets. The company is working on developing next generation digital content distribution platforms like Hybrid, OTT etc.
Amit Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 29

The Barnala resident arrested in connection with the casting couch by the UT police is the son of a head constable of the Punjab Police and was blackmailing aspiring models for the past six months.

The statements of three models have been recorded by the police. The accused, Harpreet Bawa, tried to lure them on false promises of casting them in movies and songs.

Three mobile phones were recovered from the accused in which around 3,000 pictures were stored. The phones will be sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL).

Harpreet Bawa was arrested on a complaint of Darshan Aulakh, a resident of Sector 21 who is an actor and casting director, after he was approached by a model who revealed that a man was using the name of his production house, Darshan Aulakh Productions, to lure models from Chandigarh, Punjab and Mumbai.

Inspector Harinder Sekhon, in-charge of the cyber crime investigation cell, said the accused had made a fake profile as casting director. The accused used to take phone numbers of aspiring models and send them offers of roles in movies and songs, Sekhon said.

The statements of three models, whom the accused had approached asking them to send objectionable pictures, have

been recorded by the police. We have also recovered transcripts of chats between the accused and models, which will be used as evidence, said a police official.

WhatsApp chats between the accused and other girls were also verified.

Police officials said the victims mobiles would be sent to the CFSL for further investigation. We want to establish when the photographs were sent on the mobile phones, said a police official.

Speaking to mediapersons, the accused said someone from Mumbai had asked him to send pictures of models for a movie. The accused claimed that since Darshan Aulakh was famous, he planned to make a fake profile of Aulkah to lure models.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 29

A motorcyclist was killed after a speeding truck of the Municipal Corporation hit him near the road dividing Sectors 27 and 30 yesterday.

According to the police, the complainant in the case, Mohammed Sariv, a resident of Sector 29, reported that the victim, Mohammed Sadam, was hit by a truck of the civic body and received serious injuries.

The injured was rushed to the PGI where doctors declared him brought dead.

The truck was being driven by Hardeep Singh, who has been booked under Sections 279, 337 and 304-A of the IPC at the Sector 26 police station.

The driver was arrested and later released on bail.
Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 29

The monthly House meeting of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation hit a new low yet again with a nominated councillor using unparliamentary language against elected Congress councillors. The Congress councillors also paid back in the same coin and later boycotted the meeting.

The Congress councillors also staged a dharna outside the MC building. Later, Mayor Arun Sood convinced them to end the protest.

Earlier in the day, as a discussion over an incident that took place during the last meeting in which a nominated councillor, Prof Aruna Goel, had threatened to slap former Mayor and Congress councillor Subhash Chawla, was going on, another nominated councillor, Dr Shagufta Praveen, targeted Congress councillors for raising the issue in the absence of Goel.

Shagufta used unparliamentary language and said, Jab aap (Congress councillors) vote maangne aate hain to hamare (nominated councillors) paer dhote hain. Shagufa also opposed Congress councillor Subhash Chawlas alleged remarks against nominated councillors in a discussion on a WhatsApp group and said the Congress considered them as use and throw.

Shagufta was talking in context with the mayoral poll in which the nominated councillors votes are generally the deciding factor. This time, a majority of the nominated councillors openly campaigned for Arun Sood, who was the BJP candidate for the post of Mayor, and voted in his favour.

Congress councillors reacted sharply to Shaguftas remarks. City Congress president and party councillor Pardeep Chhabra said, You should clean our (Congress councillors) feet for making you a nominated councillor.

Shagufta first used the Congress to become a nominated councillor and later used the BJP for being nominated as a member of the Wakf Board of Chandigarh. Nominated councillors have exposed themselves, said former Mayor and Congress councillor Poonam Sharma.

Mayor Arun Sood apologised to both Congress and nominated councillors and appealed to them to maintain the decorum of the House.

Nothing new
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 29

A 21-year-old youth, Sanjeev Kumar (Sunny), a resident of Hallo Majra, was murdered near the Chandigarh-Mohali railway track today. He was allegedly stabbed by his two roommates. The body bore 36 stab wounds. The victim was stabbed on the stomach, chest and back.

According to preliminary investigations conducted by the police, before being stabbed, the youth was beaten up by the assailants.

The Government Railway Police were informed by a girl, Tarunjot Kaur, who was accompaning the assailants, Pankaj and Amir, when the youth was murdered. In her statement, she said after committing the crime, the duo forcibly took her to the railway station by brandishing a dagger. On seeing a crowd, she raised the alarm following which they fled.

Narrating the incident, Tarunjot told the police that in the morning, Pankaj and Amir asked Sanjeev to accompany them to the railway station on foot through the track saying that they had to board a train. As the four of them were walking on the track, Pankaj and Amir said they wanted to relax for a while and asked them to sit.

The three youths had heated arguments over the issue of the girl staying with them.

Following this, Pankaj held Sanjeev while Amir stabbed him several times.

A police official said all three of them were working in a liquor company in the Industrial Area, Phase I, Chandigarh. The girl informed the police that they were staying together for the past one month at Hallo Majra and had a tussle over her staying with them.

GRP SHO Urmila said a case had been registered against Pankaj and Amir under Sections 302, 201 and 34 of the IPC and a hunt had been launched to arrest them.

She said Sanjeevs body was found in the forest area near the railway track. The postmortem would be conducted tomorrow after which the body would be handed over to the family. She said the girl was in police custody. After registering her statement with the magistrate tomorrow, she would be allowed to leave.
Nirmal Sandhu

Affordable, public sector healthcare is under threat from an emerging corporate culture, where greed is the driving force and excellence is judged and rewarded by the contribution to the balance sheet. If the process is not reversed or slowed, low-priced health services would go beyond the reach of a large majority, and there could be life-threatening consequences. By slashing health budgets, neglecting dispensaries and promoting health insurance, governments are contributing to the proliferation of corporate hospitals and insurance companies while backing out of their commitment to meet a basic need of the less privileged citizens.

One can appreciate that corporate hospitals with their latest equipment and medical talent meet a growing need of a class that can afford to buy their five-star services. It is understandable that doctors too have aspirations, families to support, childrens foreign education to buy and occasional holidays abroad to enjoy. If society itself is in the grip of moral decay and greed, doctors cannot be singled out for finger-pointing.

However, in the pursuit of comforts of life the patient-doctor trust has got fractured and it is hard to restore the relationship to the levels that existed before an exploitative corporate culture set in. If doctors choose to place profiteering above human values, then they can no longer expect from patients a sense of gratitude which once was a given. Treatment today has become a service like any other that is paid for and the recipient has a right to protest if it is substandard or overcharged.

Lack of trust has raised suspicion about the doctors word. Medicine being a specialised field a patient does not know whether the prescribed drug, test or line of treatment is correct. It is only when things go seriously and noticeably wrong that a protest, a police complaint or a consumer court case follows. That is still rare. Most people give the doctor the benefit of the doubt.

The other day over coffee three of us discussed doctors, hospitals and ailments, and each had a horror story to narrate. Instance of medical negligence are legion but the following few immediately came to mind as we recalled with nostalgia a dying social order in which doctors valued human life more and deplored the emerging corporate culture where a dead patient is kept on the ventilator till the family is willing to part with the last rupee it is left with.

A few days ago, on June 21 to be precise, 24-year-old Ravi Rai of Delhi discovered that doctors at the Fortis Hospital in north Delhis Shalimar Bagh had operated on his healthy foot, not the one that had got fractured when he slipped on a staircase. His screams attracted media attention, which led to the suspension of the entire operating team. In the hurry to be the first with the breaking news a careless TV channel shocked viewers by saying that Ravis leg had to be amputated, which, fortunately, was not the case. Insensitivity, negligence and carelessness seem to have become our national traits.

Those who still believe top established hospitals do not engage in malpractices, or prescribe unnecessary treatment and unwanted tests, here is a recent example. Two months ago, Delhis Fortis Escorts Heart Hospital was asked by the State Consumer Commission to pay Rs 75 lakh for doing unwanted treatment on the patients who are not easily identifiable by the commission. In another case the consumer commission asked the same hospital to pay Rs 20 lakh (with 12 per cent interest since 2008) as compensation to a septuagenarian whose wifes leg had to be amputated up to her thigh. The total payout came to Rs 1 crore, a small price for a highly profitable hospital.

The highest-ever compensation in a case of medical negligence in India, however, was awarded on October 25, 2013, when the Supreme Court directed the Kolkata-based AMRI Hospital and three doctors to pay a record Rs 5.96 crore along with interest to a US-based Indian-origin doctor who had lost his 29-year-old wife during their visit to India in 1998. The woman, Anuradha, a child psychologist, had come to her home town Kolkata in March 1998 on vacation. She had complained of skin rashes on April 25 and died on May 28, 1998.

The AMRI (Advanced Medical Research Institute) group has five hospitalsfour in Kolkata and one in Bhubaneswar. With over 1,000 beds, 500 doctors and 10,000 surgeries conducted annually, AMRI is one of the biggest in health business in eastern India. At one of their hospitals in Kolkata a fire broke out in December 2011, killing 92 people. Wiser with experience, the AMRI owners belonging to the famous Emami group have today realised that it was a mistake to venture into hospitals. In a recent interview Emamis Executive Chairman RS Agarwal said, You need to be heartless to make money from hospitals. There may be other ways to make money from hospitals but we arent aware.

In a rare, if not first of its kind, book titled Dissenting Diagnosis two doctors have put in writing what most even hesitate to speak about: corporate malpractices. Everyone knows about them and yet few have the courage to admit them or speak on record. In a brave contrarian attempt Dr Arun Gadre and Dr Abhay Shukla have brought to public notice unwanted investigations, procedures and operations that members of their fraternity carry on without a fear of the law or a burden on their conscience.

The book quotes a general practitioner: Corporate hospitals often engage in marketing in a variety of ways. Buy one, get one free, Discount week full-page advertisements, mostly full of falsehoods. They throw parties for general practitioners, and they give them cuts. On top of this, they throw parties and supply liquor to keep politicians in their thrall. Some corporate and large hospitals admit bogus patients under the Rajiv Gandhi Health Scheme (a publicly funded health insurance scheme). They give the admitted person money, and plenty to eat and drink. They prepare records showing that an angioplasty or angiography has been done on that person, when actually nothing has been done. I wonder how the government comes out with such schemes, without first regulating private hospitals. Without regulation, the basic objectives of such schemes are lost, and they become mechanisms for corporate hospitals to loot public funds.

Failure of regulation is another known secret. The regulator, the Medical Council of India, itself stood discredited after the CBI arrested its former president, Ketan Desai, on April 22, 2010, in a Rs 2 crore bribery case. The bribe was paid for securing permission to enroll students in a Patiala college. Now there is a move to scrap the MCI and replace it with a commission to regulate medical education and practices.

Hospital wrongdoings rarely surface since doctors who are aware of these choose to keep quiet. Even those who are above board become a party to a wrong if they maintain silence. Law enforcers are usually soft towards doctors. No one knows when one may need them. Like other corporate czars, hospital bosses cultivate politicians and whosoever matters. Political patronage has helped hospital business flourish in Punjab and Haryana. For a clean-up job and putting the fear of law in corporate heads, it requires some political maverick like Arvind Kejriwal. Recently he slapped a fine of Rs 600 crore on five Delhi hospitals, which had got land on concessional rates but did not treat the poor as required under the deal.

nirmalssandhu@gmail.com
G Parthasarathy

ARRIVING coincidentally in Washington, on the same day as Prime Minister Modi, I was in for some pleasant surprises, amidst memories of the past. There has been a steady improvement in our relations with the US, ever since our nuclear tests in May 1998. Those tests were followed by the imposition of stringent, but unsuccessful sanctions, by the Clinton Administration. The joint statement issued on Mr Modis visit announced that preparatory work had commenced for constructing six nuclear reactors, each of 1000 MW, to be built in India by Westinghouse. We also agreed to commence the implementation after financial terms for credits had been agreed upon with the US EXIM Bank, with contracts to be finalised by June 2017. The US is today our largest export market for both goods and services.

This was, for me, the most significant agreement reached during Mr Modis visit. My last days in our embassy in Washington in 1981 had been spent in negotiating an amicable end to all nuclear ties with the US. There was mutual agreement that India would find an alternative source of nuclear fuel for the two 238 MW reactors in the Tarapur Nuclear Power Plant. The sustained American attempt to cap, roll back and eliminate our nuclear programme ended, when Mr Vajpayee defied American pressures and tested nuclear weapons. What followed was a path-breaking nuclear deal, which progressively ended all nuclear sanctions against India. This was negotiated and signed by Dr Manmohan Singh, in the face of some strong opposition from the highest levels in his own Congress party, not to speak of their Communists allies, who were ever ready to torpedo anything that did not suit their Comrades in Beijing. The wheel has now turned a full circle in the India-US nuclear relationship, after four decades.

In discussions I had in Washington, after Mr Modis departure, there was happiness with what he said in his address to the US Congress, and his visits to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arlington National Cemetery, and to the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial to pay homage to Indian astronaut Kalpana Chawla. We have an astonishing policy on honouring soldiers who were killed in combat in past world wars. As many as 62,000 Indian soldiers lost their lives in WW1 and 87,000 in WW2. We have not paid due respect to these men in arms who did us proud in what were the first instances, when soldiers from all over India fought and died together. Moreover, while our netas paid homage at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow, even though Indian soldiers never fought alongside their Soviet counterparts, there was a disinclination to make a similar gestures elsewhere. There are strong emotions in Australia about their soldiers killed in Gallipoli while fighting alongside Indians, who suffered over 7,000 casualties. Worse still, we are yet to complete the construction of a suitable memorial in our own Capital for our soldiers killed in defending the country after Independence. Mr Modi is, however, addressing this issue.

Mr Modis visit naturally focused attention on issues of concern to us, including terrorism, where the threats posed by groups like Dawoods D Company, the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad were referred to. He minced no words when he alluded to Pakistan sponsorship of terrorism in India, the Pathankot attack and terrorism in Afghanistan. The finalisation of a roadmap for cooperation across the Pacific and Indian Oceans now clears the way for increasing maritime cooperation. India should insist that this cannot be selective to suit just US interests, but must cover both our eastern and western seaboards. US support for our NSG membership was reaffirmed. Significantly, all this was occurring at a time when China became a collaborator and apologist for Pakistan-sponsored terrorism by blocking action against the Jaish-e- Mohammad in the UN and actively opposing our membership. What has, however, impressed people abroad is that India is now ready to make a serious effort to step up production of clean energy to address concerns on global warming.

Does this growing relationship with the US undermine our ability to strengthen ties with other major players on the world stage? The answer is no. Almost immediately after his return, Mr Modi called President Vladimir Putin, reiterating the importance he attaches to relations with Russia. The two leaders met in Tashkent on June 24 and have agreed to expand cooperation in areas like space, petrochemicals and nuclear power and measures to enhance cooperation in defence supplies and production. India has tacitly acknowledged the importance of Russias role in Syria. The bilateral engagement with Russia is being complemented by Indian participation in forums like the SCO, BRICS and the India, Russia, China trilateral dialogue. India can take a relaxed view of Russian supply of defence equipment like Mi-35 attack helicopters to Pakistan, which is so cash-strapped that it cannot pay for expensive acquisitions like SU-35 aircraft. While Russia has tried to experiment with pleasing China and Pakistan by supporting dialogue with the Taliban, it is aware of the serious impact on the security of its Central Asian allies in the event of a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Russia is strengthening its defence ties with Vietnam, with the supply of military hardware, despite Chinese misgivings.

China cannot be allowed to have a veto on how we conduct our relations with others, especially given its growing nuclear, missile and security ties with Pakistan, and its efforts to undermine our relations with SAARC neighbours, including Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. One area in which India can work together with Russia and the US is in building the military potential and rendering diplomatic support to Vietnam. The focus of its relations with China should remain on maintaining peace and tranquility along the border and expanding economic cooperation. Given Beijings recent actions on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and Indian membership of the NSG, India should respond more assertively on issues like Chinas violations of the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas. Despite present bonhomie, Moscow and Beijing have historically had ties clouded by rivalries, tensions and mistrust. This should be borne in mind while crafting a policy of strategic autonomy.
The bail refusal to Sadhvi Pragya Singh in the 2006 Malegaon blast case is important because it comes after the National Investigating Agency (NIA) had contended that it did not have evidence against her and five others. This invites questions about the credibility of the nations premier investigation agency. Special Court Judge SD Tekale did not accept its version of investigation and depended on evidence gathered by Maharashtras Anti-Terrorism Squad which had investigated the case under Hemant Karkare. The Malegaon case has become a test for Indias criminal justice system. The case was handed over to the NIA after Hemant Karkares investigations revealed that certain Muslims who were being tried for the blasts were innocent. Karkare, an officer of impeachable integrity who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attack, had found evidence linking the blasts to certain RSS elements, including Sadhvi Pragya.

After a change of government at the Centre doubts have been raised about the NIA being professionally fair and impartial. The agency has been accused of systematically weakening the case against these right-wing accused. On Tuesday the court took it to task for carrying out a fresh investigation by re-recording the statements of witnesses who had already been questioned by the ATS. In recent months witnesses in the case have turned hostile. The NIAs Special Public Prosecutor, Rohini Salian, had accused the agency of pressuring her to go soft in the case. It has dropped charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against all the 14 accused persons, including two absconders and nine others facing trial. Statements of key witnesses have got misplaced. It was, therefore, no surprise that the NIA did not oppose Pragyas bail plea. The NIAs performance was not reassuring to citizens.

The Mumbai judge relied on the ATS investigation in denying bail to Pragya, saying that there was a prima facie case against her. He has made it difficult for the NIA to carry its line of investigation to its logical end. It is also an indirect snub to those BJP leaders who have taken upon themselves to declare as innocent the accused in saffron terror cases even when trial is on.
The State of the World Children Report, 2016, released by UNICEF, has placed the country among the worst on social indicators of development. The rising global economy suffers from serious issues at home, educational status of its children and women is abysmal and their nutrition and health status a major cause of global embarrassment. With major budget cuts in the social sector and chaos on policy matters, this was expected. Yet what embarrasses a proud Indian, dazzled by a blitzkrieg of development propaganda, is the fact that India stands lower than its poor neighbours like Nepal and Bangladesh in terms of mortality rate of under-five children.

The status of children in any society is closely linked to the status of its women. The so-called Integrated Child Development Scheme, one of the worlds oldest nutrition programmes launched in 1975, has failed miserably for lack of political will. Several states have diverted ICDS funds to other programmes, according to a 2013 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General. The UN childrens agency has stressed on educating girls. If all mothers could complete secondary education, the shame of 1.2 million childrens death due to preventable causes in 2015 could have been reduced. These preventable causes included lack of hygiene and clean drinking water.

More than 60 per cent children drop out before completing grade 3, which nullifies a few good indicators achieved by the implementation of the Right to Education and Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan. The appalling state of our schools, absentee teachers, awfully produced textbooks, all contribute to the repulsion children inherit for schooling. UNICEF stresses that children must have a say in policies affecting their future. Will their voice be heard amidst the cacophony of religious and sectoral bias, allowed to influence education policy? Poverty, health and education are interlinked. But economic growth alone does not guarantee improved health and education of children. A huge rift exists between Indias aspirations and reality. Will sensibility prevail to balance the so-called growth with social responsibility?
Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 29

Power engineers across the state today wore black badges against privatisation of sub-divisions. An engineers association also disowned the statement of three engineers, who had supported privatisation at the alleged behest of managements of power discoms.

KD Bansal, president of the association, said the power engineers were opposed to the move to handover the maintenance of transmission lines to the private sector instead of recruiting staff. Bansal further alleged that privatisation was against the interest of power consumers.

We have been conducting regular meetings with the state power department authorities for our demands, but to no avail. However, the quickness with which it took the decision to hand over the subdivisions to the private sector shows that the welfare of employees and consumers is not the priorities of the government, alleged Bansal.

We condemn the statement of three engineers issued in support of privatisation to save their posting. The three individuals are neither our office bearers, nor they have any authority to issue such statement, said Bansal.

Padamjit Singh, chief patron of the All-India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), said the federation strongly condemned invoking of ESMA and all actions of the state government to victimise the striking power workers. The AIPEF has urged the government to resolve the issue amicably by holding negotiations and refrain from undemocratic actions.

The managements of the discoms are trying to spread wrong information about the strike by issuing fake statements through some engineers, alleged Vinod Gupta, spokesman, AIPEF.
Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 29

More than two years after Haryana came out with a provision for permitting gram panchayat land to be leased out virtually free of cost for up to 99 years to even those in unauthorised possession, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the rule.

Asserting that the fate of shamlat deh land in all villages of Haryana was at stake, a Division Bench also made it clear that gram panchayat/shamlat deh land would not be leased out for more than two years as prescribed under the earlier rules.

The Division Bench also referred the matter to a larger Bench. Among other things, the larger Bench would determine whether the impugned provision was an attempt to destroy the gram panchayat as an institution of local self-government.

The development took place on a petition by Dalel Singh and other petitioners against Haryana and other respondents. The petitioners had challenged the notification dated December 13, 2013, vide which Rule 6-A on the leasing out of land was inserted in the Punjab Village Common Land (Regulation) Rules as applicable to Haryana.

The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice AB Chaudhari was told that the Common Land (Regulations) Act was enacted for utilising shamlat deh/gram panchayat land for the benefit of the inhabitants of the village concerned

But the impugned provision was inserted to extend undue benefit to a particular class of persons in unauthorised possession of huge chunks of gram panchayat/shamlat deh land. They were ordered to be evicted by quasi-judicial forums; and the evictions orders had attained finality.

Taking up the matter, the Bench asserted the contentions raised on the petitioners behalf required serious consideration. Shamlat deh or village common land was the primary source of income for gram panchayats. As such, certain questions were required to be determined by a larger Bench.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 29

The first day of the two-day strike by the Electricity Department employees against privatisation of 23 sub-divisions evoked an overwhelming response across the state today.

The state government has adopted no work, no pay stance against employees.

It said power supply was normal across the state with hardly any disruptions or sabotage being reported.

Chief Secretary DS Dhesi claimed 36 per cent of the employees were absent from duty, but reports from the field pointed out that a majority of the employees, especially the regular ones, were absent from duty in spite of the imposition of the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA).

Dhesi said District Magistrates and officers in the field had been instructed to ensure that power supply remained undisrupted. Those trying to disrupt the supply would face action, he warned.

To a question, he said the number of employees on strike was high in Hisar, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ambala and Kurukshetra districts. The supply was disrupted in Hisar and Bahadurgarh, but it was restored later.

Additional Chief Secretary (Power) Rajan Gupta said the agitation being resorted to by a section of employees was totally unjustified. The employees are agitating against the decision to engage private service providers in maintaining 23 sub-divisions and redressing complaints of consumers, he said.

Gupta said the police had made arrangements to secure power sub-stations, sensitive installations.

Karnal: Uninterrupted power supply laid to rest fears of city residents and industrialists alike. They apprehended power outage on the first day of the strike.

The employees protested in each block of the district. The administration made elaborate arrangements to control the situation. No untoward incident was reported. A large number of police personnel was deployed at several places.

Amit Gupta, vice-president, Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the industry received uninterrupted supply on the first day of the strike.

Jhajjar: Of 930 employees of the power utilities, 586 did not turn up for duty today. The Power Department, meanwhile, terminated the services of eight Class IV outsourced employees and initiated termination process for 52 others working on daily wage. Superintendent Engineer (SE) SK Chawla said about employees had been outsourced for three days (June 28 to 30) to ensure smooth supply of electricity in the district.

Sonepat: Around 80 per cent of the employees remained on strike today. There was hardly any disruption in the power supply in most of the areas. No untoward incident was reported.

Kurukshetra: In all, 736 out of 1,136 employees abstained from their duty. There was no report of any attempt to sabotage power supply lines. Superintendent Engineer (SE) RK Tewatia said the department was geared up for any situation.

Bhiwani: Several employees of the Power Department participated in the strike. They sat on a dharna at Nehru Park in the morning and raised slogans against the government. They dubbed ESMA a black law.

Yamunanagar: Power Department employees sat on a dharna near Kanhaiya Sahib Chowk here today. No report of blackout was reported from the district.

Ambala: Notwithstanding the strike by Power Department employees, the supply remained undisrupted. VK Khurana, SE, confirmed this. Around 90 per cent of the regular staff remained absent from duty.

Kaithal: About 1,500 employees in the district remained on strike and held a meeting in Jawahar Park. Later, they submitted a memorandum of demands to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate.

Panipat: Around 90 per cent of regular employees and 10 per cent of contractual staff remained absent from duty, said Superintendent Engineer AK Raheja.

Rohtak: About 70 per cent of power employees observed strike, as a result of which several consumers faced inconvenience.

Work disrupted in 13 Jind sub-divisions

Jind: The work at 13 sub-divisions and three divisions of the Power Department in the district disrupted because of the strike by employees on Wednesday. They took out a rally in Jind. More than 700 employees participated. The Joint Action Committee that includes Sarv Karamchari Sangh and Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh gave a call for strike. Rajesh Kumar Verma of the Sarv Karamchari Sangh said, Employees will not accept the government's decision to privatise 23 sub-divisions which are generating revenue and working efficiently." The work was halted at five sub-divisions each in Narwana and Jind, and three in Safidon, he said. There are several defunct sub-divisions in Haryana. The government should take up their case instead of privatising well-functioned power houses, Verma said. He pointed out another demand of employees. The government should give jobs to members of families of employees who lost their lives while on duty, besides resuming pension scheme for employees. OC
Sat Singh

Tribune News Service

Bhiwani, June 29

A case of suspected honour killing has come to light today in Jamalpur village of the district after a 19-year-old girl was cremated discreetly by her family yesterday.

The girl, identified as Pooja Devi, was pursuing JBT from a college in Tosham.

The matter came to light when the police were informed that a girls body was placed on the burning pyre of Naresh Kumar of the village, who had allegedly committed suicide earlier in the day. When the police asked the parents of the deceased, they said she had committed suicide by consuming poison.

Sources said the girl was confined inside the house by her parents after she had eloped with a boy from Kalanur village of Rohtak district three months ago. Some of the villagers also said the parents of the girl had bundled her body in car for taking it to the crematorium.

Naresh Kumar, girls uncle, had also consumed poison yesterday and he was cremated by his family members without informing the police. Ramesh Kumar, Bawani Khera SHO, said a case under Sections 302 and 201 had been registered against the family members of the girl.

He said samples had been collected from the pyre of the deceased for examination.
Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, June 29

The indefinite strike by members of the Dharamsala District Bar Association entered the second day today. The condition of all five members of the Bar, who had been on a fast since yesterday, was stable.

President of the Bar Tek Chand Rana, who is also sitting on a fast, said they had not received any assurance on their demands. However, the Bar members would continue its strike until one of its demands of either abolition of circuit courts in Kangra or establishment of a High Court Bench in Dharamsala was met.

We were adopting other modes of protest and giving notices of their demands to the High Court and the state government but our pleas were unheard following which we were forced to take this extreme action, he said.

Jatinder Sharma, spokesperson of the Bar, said they had been forced to take this step. Six circuit courts were established in Palampur, Baijnath, Indora, Jawali, Nurpur and Dehra in Kangra district by a former Chief Justice of the High Court. This was the highest number of circuit courts established in a district. It had affected the livelihood of over 300 advocates in the Dharamsala district courts, he said.

He further said the basic objective of the circuit courts was to deliver justice to people at their doorsteps. If this was the case, then the circuit court of the High Court should also be established at Dharamsala. The state government had already written to the High Court, he said.

Tek Chand Rana said they had met the Chief Justice and other judges with the demand to curtail the circuit courts in Dharamsala.

Last year, we had received an assurance from the High Court that the number of circuit courts in Kangra districts would be curtailed to three. A proposal was mooted to stop circuit courts at Jawali, Baijnath and Indora. However, a year has passed but no action has been taken, he said.

The president of the District Bar Association said the advocate had been sitting on chain hunger strike for the past many months. However, the peaceful strike did not have any effect on the authorities. Now they had started fast-unto-death. The members of the Bar would strike work till the circuit courts in Kangra were curtailed, he said.

The advocates, who have sat on fast-unto-death, are Tek Chand Rana, Tarun Sharma, Ankur Soni, Richa Vashisht and Minakshi Hundal. For the second day, none of the advocates went to courts due to strike.
Tribune News Service

Mandi, June 29

Sangam Parv was celebrated with fervour at Tandi Sangam on the banks of the Chandrabhaga in Lahaul-Spiti here today. A number of residents from all over the district arrived at the venue.

The Tandi Sangam Parv Organisation Committee immersed the mortal remains of former VHP leader Ashok Singhal in the river at Tandi Sangam as per the rituals of the Hinduism and the Buddhism.

The place is of utmost importance for Hindus as the last rites could be performed here like they are performed in Haridwar and Benaras.

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma, who was the chief guest at the event, could not reach the venue as his chopper could not fly from Delhi due to bad weather conditions.

In the absence of the minister, Mandi MP Ramswaroop Sharma attended the function as a chief guest and announced to establish a ghat in the name of Ashok Singhal at Tandi Sangam.

Addressing the public, he said, I assure the people of the region that all assistance will be provided to promote tourism in this region.

President of the Sangam Parv Organisation Committee Chander Mohan Parsheera said the event was organised for the first time and with the celebration of this event, Tandi Sangam would be noticed by people of the state as well as outsiders and the celebrations would become an annual affair, he added.
Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 29

The attacks carried out on security forces in the Kashmir valley in recent months have one common link: Abu Dujana, a young commander of the Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Abu Dujana, alias Hafiz, is believed to be in his early-twenties. He has been categorised in police records as an A-plus-plus militant  highly active and a marked man for security agencies.

Probes have linked Abu Dujana to the ambush of a BSF convoy in Udhampur in August last year, ambush of a CRPF convoy outside Srinagar and subsequent three-day encounter at a multi-storey building housing the Entrepreneur Development Institute in February and killing of two policemen in Anantnag this month.

Such attacks  ambushes of convoys travelling on the strategic highway  have become Abu Dujanas method, making security forces work on a strategy to secure the 300-km highway connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country.

The most audacious strike by Abu Dujana took place last week when two militants ambushed a convoy of CRPF vehicles and killed eight personnel in Pampore, a few kilometres outside Srinagar.

A senior police official said Abu Dujana was involved in minutely planning the attack. He masterminded the attack. He was the one who planned it and was instrumental in providing logistics for the attack, he said.

In the four major attacks which Abu Dujana had planned in recent months, 17 security personnel were killed, including two Army officers of the Parachute Regiments special forces battalion, and 48 injured.

According to police records, Abu Dujana had infiltrated into the Kashmir valley four years ago and was sent to south Kashmir. He had operated under the command of Abu Qasim, a commander of the Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Police sources said after Abu Qasims death in October last year, Abu Dujana was made the commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba militants in south Kashmir, comprising four districts. He was now leading at least 20 militants.

The sources said Abu Dujana, believed to be a Kashmiri from the Gilgit-Baltistan area, was operating from south Kashmirs Pulwama district. He had survived at least three close encounters with security forces in the last three months.

He was reportedly in direct and regular contact with Sajid and Waleed, Lashkar-e-Toiba commanders based across the Line of Control.

Police officials described Abu Dujana as a secretive militant trying hard to protect his identity. He is very careful regarding movement in public. He keeps a very low profile and ensures that only a few know him, the police official said.
Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 29

The three-member team of the Ministry of Home Affairs has found gaps in the road opening procedure (ROP) on the strategic Srinagar-Jammu national highway, resulting in the high number of casualties to CRPF personnel in a militant ambush in Pampore on Saturday.

The MHA team visited Pampore and Bijbehara in south Kashmir, the scenes of the recent deadly highway attacks in Kashmir and interviewed officers and officials linked to the investigation of the case.

Highly placed sources said the team was informed by the officers in Pampore where it spent nearly 30 minutes that there was no security personnel deployed on at least 250-metre stretch of the highway and the two Pakistani Lashkar-e-Toiba militants had a free hand for nearly two minutes during which they inflicted the maximum casualties on the CRPF.

Sources said the team was also told that the Army which as per the standard operating procedure (SOP) had to provide corridor protection to the highway for daily security forces convoys took much time to reach the encounter site.

The fidayeens also took advantage of the highway running parallel with the Jhelum river and with no personnel of the ROP at the stretch, they attacked the four-vehicle convoy of the CRPF and inflicted a high number of casualties, the team was told.

On June 25, two Pakistani Lashkar militants ambushed a CRPF convoy during day time and killed eight security personnel and wounded 22 others. Two militants were also killed in the retaliatory fire. Earlier this month, three BSF jawans were killed and 7 others were injured when militants ambushed their convoy in Bijbehara, Anantnag.

The MHA team comprising Secretary, Border Management, Susheel Kumar, Special Secretary, Internal Security, Mahesh Kumar Singla, and Joint Secretary (Kashmir Affairs) Gyanesh Kumar later met police and security officers and discussed the overall security situation. Director General, CRPF, K. Durga Prasad also briefed the MHA team about the Pampore attack.

The sources said that the MHA team was looking at three components - highway attacks, internal security and infiltration (which is higher than the previous year).

The team will submit its report to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh later this week.
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 29

Even as the Centre has sanctioned much-awaited Rs 2,000 crore relief and rehabilitation package for Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and Chhamb refugees, the state government is adopting delay tactics in the disbursement of the relief to the deserving families, reasons best known to those who are at the helm of the affairs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to J&K on November 7, 2015, had announced a whopping package of Rs 80,000 crore for the state. Out of this, Rs 2,000 was announced as relief and rehabilitation package for PoJK and Chhamb refugees.

After the Prime Ministers announcement, the then Chief Minister of the state, late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, had announced on November 13, 2015, that Rs 2,000 crore had been sanctioned as a one-time monetary compensation to the refugee families of PoJK and Chamb. But, this package is yet to be disbursed on the ground.

According to official data available, 31,619 families from PoJK were registered with the Rehabilitation Organisation, out of which 26,319 families opted to settle down in the state itself and 5,300 families settled outside the state of J&K (Delhi -1,901 families, Maharashtra - 123 families, Rajasthan - 495 families and other states - 2,78 families). Highly placed sources said the Centre had sanctioned Rs 2,000 crore to the state for disbursement among PoJK and Chhamb refugees two weeks back, but the state administration had not shown enthusiasm in distributing the same among deserving families. A Rs 2,000-crore fund was transferred to the coffers of the Relief and Rehabilitation Department two weeks back, but those at the helm of the affairs are creating hurdles in disbursing the same, a source said, adding that realising that disbursement of this much-awaited package will give political benefits to the BJP, some elements in the administration are working as a stumbling block.

As these refugees are living in the Jammu region only, some elements in the administration are not interested in utilising the package for the deserving lot of the society, the source said.

The sources said the package was announced way back on November 7, 2015, but the state government had not shown enthusiasm to get the amount transferred to the department concerned.

It was all due to intervention of some higher-ups that the Centre has sanctioned the amount, a source said, adding that despite getting the package, the administration has not shown any sign to disburse the same early.
New Delhi, June 29

In a bonanza, one crore government employees and pensioners will get a 2.5 times hike in basic pay and pensions under the 7th Pay Commission recommendations that will cost the exchequer annually Rs 1.02 lakh crore, which the government says will have a multiplier effect on economy.

The new scales of pay provide for entry-level basic pay going up from Rs 7,000 per month to Rs 18,000, while at the highest level i.e. Secretary, it would go up from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh. For Class 1 officers, the starting salary will be Rs 56,100.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The Union Cabinet today accepted the recommendation of Justice AK Mathur headed panel due to which there would be a recurring burden of Rs 72,800 crore every year, while the current fiscal's burden would be Rs 84,933 crore in view of the fact that they would be implemented from January 1, 2016.

While the Cabinet in its meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accepted the recommendations in respect of the hike in basic pay and pension, a decision on its suggestions relating to allowances has been referred to a Committee headed by Finance Secretary.

Announcing the government's decision, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said government salaries have to be respectable in comparison to private sector, for which the Commission had engaged IIM-Ahmedabad for making a comparison.

Read : Pay hike to boost consumer demand, economic growth, says India Inc



"The recommendations of the Pay Commission with respect to pay and pension, have been accepted by and large by the government. And those recommendations will be implemented with effect from January 1, 2016, and the arrears would also be paid in this year," he said.

The recommendations cover 47 lakh central government employees and 53 lakh pensioners. This includes 14 lakh serving employees and 18 lakh pensioners in defence forces.

Allaying fears of government's fiscal maths going wrong, Jaitley said the budget has provided for the anticipated expenditure and it did not come as a surprise.

Concerns have also been expressed over the extra money in the economy pushing up inflation. The minister admitted that there will be some inflationary pressure.

Maintaining that government cannot grudge a hike in salary for government staff after 10 years, he said, "When people get more money, it comes back in the system in the form of taxation. Savings will increase ... spending will go up.

The Pay Commission had recommended abolition of 53 out of 196 allowances that the government employees currently get and moderation in several others.

The scrapping of the allowances was opposed by the Unions and so it has been referred to a Committee of Secretaries.

The once-in-a-decade pay hike has seen burden on exchequer rise from Rs 17,000 crore in the 5th Pay Commission to Rs 40,000 crore in the 6th and Rs 1,02,100 crore in the 7th Pay Commission, Jaitley said.

While the Cabinet approved the Commission's recommendation of enhancing ceiling of house building loan from Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh, the suggestion of deducting Rs 1,500-5,000 per month towards group insurance was not accepted.

Rate of annual increment has been retained at 3 per cent.

Also interest free advances for medical treatment, travel allowance and LTC have been retained. "All other interest free advances have been abolished," an official statement said.

For armed forces, gratuity ceiling has been doubled to Rs 20 lakh and it would increase by 25 per cent whenever Dearness Allowance rises by 50 per cent.

Jaitley said the Cabinet has brought about parity between defence personnel and Combined Armed Police Forces by providing an additional indexation.

Will help push economic growth: Jaitley

"Government salaries have to come to at a respectable level so that the government is able to attract the best talent. Not necessarily in civil services alone but also other services and therefore irrevocable consequence of this would be a pressure on the Budget along with OROP recommendations," Jaitley said.

He said since there will be more money in the market to spend, it will generate more demand, that will help push economic growth. Also additional savings will help economy, but in the flip side more money supply will lead to "inflationary pressure".

The Minister also announced Constitution of a separate committee to look into anomalies arising out of the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendation.

Another panel would be set up to suggest streamlining the implementation of the National Pension System.

After the Cabinet meeting, Jaitley had tweeted that it was a "historic" increase for government employees.

"Congratulations to Central government officers, employees & pensioners on a historic rise in their salary & allowances through the 7th CPC (Central Pay Commission)," he tweeted.

At the press briefing he said the government took just six months time to implement the 7th Pay Commission recommendations, as against 19 months taken to implement fifth Pay Commission and 32 months for the sixth.

The 7th Pay Commission had in November last year recommended an average 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay at junior levels, the lowest in 70 years. The previous 6th Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008.

After including allowances, the hike in remuneration proposed by the 7th Pay Commission came to 23.55 per cent.

Jaitley said the government intends to pay arrears for six months within the course of this year.  PTI
New Delhi, June 29

A model law that allows shops, malls and cinema halls, among other establishments, to run 24x7 throughout the year received Cabinet assent on Wednesday.

The law covers establishments employing 10 or more workers except manufacturing units and will provide freedom to operate 365 days with flexibility on timing to open and close.

It also provides for women to be employed on night shifts with adequate security and calls for better working conditions for employees such as drinking water, canteen, first aid, lavatory and creche.

The Model Shops and Establishment (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Services) Bill 2016 has been cleared by the Cabinet," a source said.

The model law will not require Parliament's approval.

It will help in generating additional employment as shops and establishments will have freedom to operate for longer hours round the year, thus requiring more manpower.

As per the proposal mooted by the Labour Ministry, the model law can be adopted by states with a provision of modifying it as per their requirements.

The law also provides exemption to highly-skilled workers like those in IT and bio-technology from daily working hours (9 hours) and weekly working hours (48 hours).

This is designed to bring in uniformity in legislative provisions, making it easier for all the states to adopt it and ensure uniform working conditions across the country.

The Centre has been receiving suggestions from time to time to enact the model law, which the states could consider for enforcement either by adopting the central law or necessary modification by the state law.  PTI
R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, June 29

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said Chief Justice T.S. Thakur would decide on the gay community's plea for decriminalisation of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

A Bench comprising Justices S.A. Bobde and Ashok Bhushan referred a PIL by celebrities from the LGBT community to the Chief Justice of India for appropriate orders.

The Bench noted that since a five-member Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court was hearing curative petitions, the right course was to leave the matter to the CJI.

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Arguing for the petitioners, Navtej Singh Johar and others, senior advocate Arvind Data said this was the first time the gay community had approached the judiciary directly.

Earlier, such petitions had been filed by NGOs, not the community itself, he said.

The Bench, however, said it could keep the petition pending till a decision on the curative petitions or refer it to the CJI.

Data accepted the second option.

Delhi High Court had diluted Section 377 by decriminalising homosexual acts among consenting adults in privacy. The ruling had come on PILs. But the Supreme Court set aside the high court judgement and restored the Section. It has also rejected the review petitions on the issue, but has referred the curative petitions, the last remedy available in the Supreme Court, to the Constitution Bench.
Mumbai, June 29

Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan was stuck at Instanbul airport hours before three suicide bombers attacked, killing 36 and injuring nearly 150 persons.

The 42-year-old Bang Bang! star, who was vacationing in Africa with sons Hrehaan and Hridhaan, was on his way back to India when he missed his connecting flight at the Istanbuls airport.

missed connecting flight at Istanbul n wer stuck at airport next flight ws next day,but took economy n flew out earlier. #Prayers4istanbul  Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) June 28, 2016

The actor thanked the airport staff for the assistance and also asked his fans to come together in the fight against terrorism.

Ws helped by d kindest staff at Istanbul arport hours ago. Shocking news. Innocents killed 4 religion.V must stand united against terrorism.  Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) June 29, 2016

Three suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbuls Ataturk airport, killing at least 36 people and wounding many others.  PTI
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 29

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz today said India was shying away from engaging in a dialogue with Pakistan.

It is actually India which is shying away as it knows that it has to discuss Kashmir and other issues on the dialogue table, Aziz said.

His comments follow Prime Minister Narendra Modis statement, in an interview, that India has to be alert vis-a-vis with Pakistan and also that one doesnt know who to talk to in Pakistan. Modi, in the interview, had said, Our approach has created difficulties for Pakistan, and they find it hard to respond on the matter in the international community.

PM Modis logic is beyond perception, Aziz was quoted as saying so by Radio Pakistan. We have a format of comprehensive and composite dialogue with India that includes issues such as people-to-people contact, visa and fishermen issue, trade and economic cooperation, Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek, he said.

India-Pakistan engagement is facing a virtual breakdown since the January Pathankot attack. The recent issue over the Nuclear Suppliers Group- Indias membership bid and the consequent efforts by Pakistan to ensure that India doesnt get in- is also not going to help the two countries get back to talks anytime soon.

In the interview, Modi had questioned whether it is the elected government in Pakistan that India should talk to or other actors. The Pakistani army, though not mentioned by the PM, was the obvious reference.

The first thing is that with Pakistan, to whom do we talk to decide about the lakshman rekha. Will it be with the elected government or with other actors? That is why India will have to be alert at all times, Modi has said.
Suresh Dharur

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, June 29

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today busted a suspected ISIS terror module during raids in Hyderabad.

The agency arrested five persons and detained six others, including a techie, for questioning. They were planning attacks in the city, sources said. A large quantity of ammunition and explosives, two 9 mm pistols, 25 cellphones and Rs 15 lakh in cash were recovered during the raids.

The detained youths were allegedly in touch with their handlers in Syria. NIA Inspector-General Sanjeev Kumar Singh said they had carried out searches in 10 localities of the city.

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The police identified five of the arrested youths as Mohammad Illiyas Yazdani, Mohammad Ibrahim, Habib Mohammad, Mohammad Irfan and Abdullah Bin Ahmad. An FIR was registered against them on June 22. Sources said members of the ISIS module were plotting to incite communal riots in the city. They had acquired weapons and improvised explosive devices and were believed to be in touch with other terror groups through the social media network.

In January this year, the NIA had arrested two suspected ISIS operatives in Hyderabad. A high alert has been sounded at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel have been alerted too.

The Telangana unit of the BJP charged the TRS government with "criminal neglect" in preventing Hyderabad from becoming a "safe haven" for terrorists.

BJP spokesperson Krishna Sagar Rao said, CM Chandrasekhar Raos soft approach and minority vote bank politics is taking a toll on the image of Hyderabad city.
New Delhi: A 59-year-old Madagascar diplomat posted in India was found dead at his rented flat here on Tuesday evening, police said. Rabenja Oliva was found dead on his bed at Chattarpur in south Delhi, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Nupur Prasad said. When Oliva, who claimed to be ill on Monday, didn't turn up for work on Tuesday, his staff went to his house. When he did not respond to their knocks, the police were alerted. "There were no injury marks on his body. No suspicious substance was found from his room," Prasad said. ians
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 29

A meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, which senior BJP leaders insisted was a routine, monthly affair", has triggered speculation on a Cabinet reshuffle with the swearing-in "before July 4".

The Prime Minister leaves for a four-nation tour in Africa next month. It seems he would like to re-arrange his Cabinet before that. However, BJP leaders said, "meetings (between the PM and Shah) take place regularly. Many issues are discussed.There are vacancies in the Cabinet and an expansion has to take place. When and how is the prerogative of the PM.

The grapevine is the reshuffle, which will pave the way for a rejig in the BJP organisation, is expected to be a small one. No changes are expected in the key ministries. Leaders from poll-bound Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand may find their way into the Cabinet while some from Bihar may exit.

Apart from finding a replacement for Sarbananda Sonowal, who is now Assam Chief Minister, Vijay Sampla, Punjab unit president, may be relieved of his portfolio. Indications are that Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Balyan could be promoted while BJP's UP ally Apna Dal MP Anupriya Patelmay be be inducted in the Cabinet.

The other names doing the rounds are Raman Deka, Assam MP and BJP vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, who was recently made Rajya Sabha member. The buzz is Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilisers Nihal Chand may be dropped to make way for Arjun Meghwal, a senior leader from Rajasthan.
Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 29

The government on Wednesday scheduled the monsoon session of Parliament between July 18 and August 12, saying it would push the pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill for approval in the upcoming session.

The GST Bill should be approved in the monsoon session of Parliament in larger interest of the country. There is larger consensus on the Bill across the country. We appeal to all political parties to pass it. We have been talking to all parties on the Bill, the Congress included, and will further engage them, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said today after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.

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The monsoon session will have 20 sittings, with the government today asking all Union Ministers to submit a list of potential legislations for passage. All ministers have been asked to submit the list by July 3, Naidu said, hoping the session will be free from disruptions.

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He said three ordinances are due for approval, including the MCI and Dental Council Ordinances. He said 11 bills were pending for passage in the Lok Sabha, citing the Enemy Properties Bill as another crucial Bill awaiting parliamentary approval.

The governments real test will however be on the GST Bill, with the Congress still not on board. Congress leader P. Chidambaram says the government is yet to respond to partys three core demands for amendments to the current draft. Naidu on the contrary argues that the government has been engaging the Congress.

The BJP appears confident of the GST Bill passage in the monsoon session, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi securing some level of understanding on the issue from the J. Jayalalitha-led AIADMK, which has been opposed to the Bill.

Moreover, the new Rajya Sabha will look different with a marginal decline in Congress strength and a corresponding increase in BJP numbers. The Congress, however, is still in majority in the Upper House, with stalwarts P. Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal set to enter the Rajya Sabha to add muscle to Congress opposition to the GST Bill.
R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, June 29

The Supreme Court today ruled that terrorists had no right to seek parole or premature release, citing human rights or individual liberty.

A Bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh made the clarification while setting aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment directing the Gujarat Government to release life convict Lal Singh alias Manjit Singh on parole for three months.

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In its ruling dated July 26, 2011, the High Court had directed Gujarat to reconsider its refusal to set the convict free, despite the fact he was in jail for more than 14 years. The Gujarat Government had approached the apex court, challenging the High Court verdict. Allowing the appeal, the apex court noted that the High Court had not found that the state government order was bereft of appropriate consideration of necessary facts or there has been violation of principles of equality.

It had merely cited many aspects of human rights and individual liberty and if we allow ourselves to say so, the whole discussion is in the realm of abstractions, the Supreme Court court remarked. On the other hand, the Gujarat Government had clearly stated in its order that the convict was involved in disruptive activities, criminal conspiracy and smuggling of arms, ammunition and explosives. Also, the convict had a widespread network to cause harm to national security.

Arrested in 1993, Lal Singh was tried, along with 20 others, under the then Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA).

The apex court, however, granted liberty to the convict to submit a representation to the Centre within eight weeks and directed the government to consider it expeditiously.
Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 29

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit four African nations-Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya- from July 7 to 11.

The PMs visit follows the recent visits to Africa by President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice-President Hamid Ansari. The government is taking the initiative to closely engage with the African continent and these high-level visits follow that logic.

High on the agenda is expanding energy ties, maritime security and enhanced co-operation in intelligence sharing with Africa. Indias image and its relations with the African nations have suffered a little, of late, because of the alleged racial attacks on people of the African community living here.

The PMs schedule will largely be restricted to one day in Mozambique while his visit to South Africa is likely to be more symbolic in nature. In Mozambique, the focus will be on developing energy ties between the two countries while in South Africa, the PM will address the members of the Indian diaspora.

South Africa, interestingly, was also one of the few countries that had reservations on Indias application to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) at the just-concluded plenary session in Seoul.

Last year in October, India had hosted the India-Africa Summit which saw a participation of 41 of the 54 leaders of the African Union. However, the fact remains that India is today competing with an aggressive China in the continent. While China has invested heavily in the African nations, especially in infrastructure, India has not been able to build up on its traditional historical ties with the continent.

Indias bilateral trade with Africa stands around $70 billion, way behind the figures of Chinas trade with Africa which has now exceeded $200 billion.
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Girja Shankar Kaura

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 29

The Centre today approved recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission on pay and pension which will boost consumption and economy by putting extra disposable income in the hands of the 47 lakh Central Government employees and 53 lakh pensioners.

The decision to implement the recommendations, including 23.5 per cent hike in pay and pension, was taken at a meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi. Briefing the media, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Cabinet, however, deferred the revision of allowances.

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Calling the hike inadequate, workers unions have decided to start protests from next week.

A panel headed by Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa would look into the pay panel recommendations in that regard as there was resentment among employees over the suggestions to scrap four allowances. Till then, existing allowances would continue.

In January, the government set up a panel headed by Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha to process pay panel recommendations. The commission had recommended a 23.5 per cent increase in pay, pension and allowances under a business as usual scenario. It envisaged a hike of Rs 39,100 crore in the pay bill, Rs 29,300 crore in allowances and Rs 33,700 crore in pension, taking the total financial impact for 2016-17 to Rs 1.02 lakh crore.

With allowances deferred, the burden on the exchequer would be Rs 72,800 crore on account of salaries and pension and over Rs 12,000 crore on account of arrears, aggregating to Rs 84,933 crore.

Of this, Rs 60,608 crore would come from the General Budget and Rs 24,325 crore from the Railway Budget.

The recommendations will be effective from January 1, 2016. The Finance Minister said, The employees had to wait for 19 months for the implementation of the 5th Pay Commission and for 32 months in case of the 6th Pay Commission. This time, the 7th Pay Commission recommendations are being implemented within six months from the due date.

The Cabinet also decided that pay and pension arrears would be paid in the current financial year (2016-17) itself, unlike in the past when parts of arrears were paid during the next financial year.

The minimum pay has been raised from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000 per month, while the maximum pay has been capped at Rs 2.5 lakh per month. The starting salary of a newly recruited employee at the lowest level will now be Rs 18,000, while it will be Rs 56,100 for a freshly recruited Class I officer. This reflects a compression ratio of 1:3.12 signifying that pay of a Class I officer on direct recruitment will be three times the pay of an entrant at lowest level. For the purpose of revision of pay and pension, a fitment factor of 2.57 will be applied across all levels in the pay matrices. The maximum pay is set at Rs 2.25 lakh per month for apex scale and Rs 2.5 lakh per month for Cabinet Secretary and others at the same pay level (as against the current Rs 90,000 per month).

The report had recommended replacing the present system of pay bands and grade pay with a new pay matrix. Separate pay matrices have been drawn up for civilians, defence personnel and Military Nursing Service. The principle and rationale behind these matrices are the same.

The Cabinet approved further improvements in defence pay matrix by enhancing index of rationalisation for brigadiers and providing for additional stages for Lt colonels, colonels and brigadiers to bring parity with their Combined Armed Police Forces counterparts. The lump sum ex gratia payable in respect of civil and defence personnel has been enhanced from Rs 10-20 lakh to Rs 25-45 lakh. The rate of Military Service Pay has been revised from Rs 1,000, 2,000, 4,200 and 6,000 to Rs 3,600, 5,200, 10,800 and 15,500, for defence personnel.

Govt okays 7th pay commission report

1 cr Central govt staff and pensioners to benefit

Rs 18,000 minimum pay, up from Rs 7,000; maximum hiked from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh

Rs 84,933 cr additional burden on the exchequer for 2016-17; this includes arrears for 6 months
R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, June 29

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would first decide if it had power to go into the validity of triple talaq, polygamy and other provisions of Muslim Personal Law before setting up a larger Bench of five judges for the purpose.

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A Bench comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and AM Khanwilkar made the remark as All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) pleaded that such personal laws were based on the tenets of Islam and as such the judiciary had no power to adjudicate on the validity of these laws in the face of womens fundamental right to equality.

The Bench was hearing a batch of PILs, including a suo motu petition, for and against such laws. It, however, rejected a plea by one of the petitioners for a ban on media holding debates the issue, particularly during Ramzan. The petitioners were also free to take part in such debates in order to create public awareness on the issue, it clarified.

The Bench asked all the petitioners to get ready for arguments on whether the issue should be decided by the judiciary or left to the lawmakers to take a call.

It then directed the Centre to file its response to the PILs in six weeks. Among the petitioners are two more Muslim women who have challenged the validity of triple talaq, polygamy and remarriage restrictions.

While Aafreen Rehman, a resident of Jaipur, has questioned her husbands move to divorce her through speed post, another woman, Badar Sayeed, ex-MLA of Tamil Nadu, has petitioned the SC pleading that Kazis in her state were routinely and habitually issuing certificates to Muslim men, validating triple talaq.

On March 28, a Bench comprising CJI Thakur and Justice UU Lalit asked the Centre to submit to the court the report of an experts panel that had studied the status of women since 1989 and the impact of personal laws on them.

AIMPLB has filed an application pleading to be heard on SCs move to go into the validity of personal laws in the context of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

The Bench sought the panels report on a PIL by Shayara Bano, a victim of triple talaq. Constituted in February 2012, the 14-member panel headed by Prof Pam Rajput of Panjab University had submitted its report in 2015.

In its report titled Women and the law: An assessment of family laws with focus on laws relating to marriage, divorce, custody, inheritance and succession, the panel is understood to have recommended amendments to the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939, banning triple talaq and polygamy and providing for statutory interim maintenance to Muslim women.

In her petition, Bano pleaded that the marriage and divorce acts of Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and Parsies did not have such gender discriminatory provisions.

The apex court had taken suo motu notice of various personal laws while dealing with a matrimonial dispute.
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 29

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has urged the Centre to release a special package for the natives of the border districts of the state as an acknowledgement of their sacrifices in protecting the nation.

He said this after winding up his two-day Sangat Darshan meets in various villages of Rajasansi Assembly segment here today.

On the likely CM candidate of the Congress Capt Amarinder Singh, Badal said he never bothered to meet the people during his regime. However now, in the false hope of becoming Chief Minister, Captain has announced to hold darbars in every constituency, he said.

He asked the people whether they have seen their Amritsar Lok Sabha MP, Captain Amarinder Singh, after the General Election. He said the electorate of the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency were repenting their decision to elect Amarinder.

Saying that pro-people exercises like Sangat Darshan was not every Chief Ministers cup of tea, Badal said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had attempted to hold Janta Darbar in Delhi, but could not continue it.

The Chief Minister slammed the AAP leadership for issuing a statement to review power subsidy being given to farmers after coming to power.

He said the Rs 5,000 crore annual power subsidy to the farmers by the state government was a humble tribute by it towards the immense contribution of the food growers of the country, who had played a key role in making the country self-reliant in food production. He said that the withdrawal of this subsidy would mean an additional burden on the already indebted farmers of the state.

Badal said a special package for border districts by the Centre would bolster the morale of the people living along the international border.

Terming the border natives as true patriots, Badal said these brave sons of the soil had suffered a lot due to Partition. He said that had the division of the country not taken place, this region would have been one of the most prosperous parts of the country.

The region has suffered much due to Partition. For this reason, the state government was specially focussing on its development.

He said he had regularly been raising this issue with the Centre and hoped that the NDA government would pay heed to the just demands of the Punjabis.

Badal today held Sangat Darshan meets in Mohale, Vehra, Bhiddi Aulakh Khud and other villages in Rajasansi Assembly segment.
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 29

SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar today shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking security for the Sikh and Hindu communities in Afghanistan.

He said media reports suggested that the Afghan Taliban and other militant groups were threatening the Sikh families.

He sought personal attention of the Prime Minister to secure the safety of the minority Sikh and Hindu communities in Afghanistan.

These groups were threatening them to shell out money for a peaceful living. Citing a recent incident, he said one Jagtar Singh, who is working as hakim in Kabul, was rescued by his neighbours when a group of Jihadis was forcing him to either embrace Islam or death.

He said the Taliban in Helmand province asked the Sikhs and Hindu families to shell out $2,800 every month or leave the area.
Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 29

The states only Braille press that provides free-of-cost school books in Braille script to hundreds of visually impaired students fails to fulfil the demand every academic season.

Procured from Sweden by spending Rs 17 lakh, the Braille printing machine (also called Braille book maker) was instaled in Ludhiana by the states Department of Social Security and Development of Women in 1996.

Sources said with a capacity of printing maximum 300 pages per hour, the machine can provide books of various subjects up to Class X only to 500 students that too with huge delay.

Every year, the press, which is rated as low capacity equipment, takes at least four to five months to print books for just 500 students. Students receive a complete set of books not before August. Moreover, the number of students seeking these books has increased up to 950 this year, said an officer.

He added, Besides low printing capacity, the major reason behind delay is preparation of master template of books of those subjects, whose syllabus is changed by the Punjab School Education Board. Every year, three to four books with changed syllabus are introduced. Normally it takes Braille experts over 20 days to prepare master template of 100 pages.

Facing the trouble every year, now the state government has decided to upgrade the press from the financial aid provided by the Centre.

Confirming the plan to upgrade the press, Gurloveleen Singh Sidhu, Director, Social Security, however, expressed inability to share the details.

However, sources said the Centre had provided financial assistance of Rs 1 crore to Punjab to buy a new press that would have the capacity to print over 1,000 pages per hour.

After instalation of the new machine, the press will be able to print over 5,000 books within a span of just one to two months, said an officer.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 28

Akali councillor from Malout Sham Lal Daddi has admitted that he helped at least nine persons get employed as SDOs with the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA).

Arrested by Vigilance Bureau sleuths from Bathinda yesterday, Daddi is in police remand till July 1. He is a close associate of Dyal Singh Kolianwali, an aide of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

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He claimed that several candidates approached him while recruitment of SDOs was going on, and he helped them in getting the job. The recruitments were conducted in November last year.

The Akali leader has reportedly said that his accomplice Amit Sagar, arrested by the Bureau earlier, was in touch with a Bathinda-based man, who, in turn, was in touch with the main conduit for the Lucknow-based key accused in the case. The Bureau has now sought production warrants for Sagar, who is lodged in the Nabha Jail these days.

Sources said they were very close to ascertain how the question papers set by the University Institute of Management Sciences, Panjab University, got leaked. The role of private publishers hired by the university is also under the lens.

Daddi was also involved in introducing Local Bodies Department post candidates to the kingpin in Lucknow.
Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Pathankot, June 29

The National Security Agency (NSA) has alerted the Pathankot Air Force station about a possible aerial attack by Pakistan-based terror outfits through micro-light aircraft, including gliders, and para-motors.

The authorities here have distributed posters warning residents about these aerial vehicles.

Sources claim that the authorities have gone on overdrive warning residents of aerial offensives after the NSA sent alerts claiming that Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed may be planning these attacks.

The air base was declared a sensitive zone after the January 2 attack in which four militants and seven security personnel were killed.

On July 27 last year, three terrorists had laid siege to the police station in the border town of Dinanagar, 25 km from here, before they were gunned down in a 12-hour-long battle.

Sources claim that these aerial vehicles can be used for surveying sensitive areas and also to launch an offensive.

Scores of posters have been distributed in recent days in localities falling on the periphery of the air base. These posters contain pictures of gliders and have the telephone numbers of officials who can be contacted in case of an aerial threat.

Pathankot SSP Rakesh Kaushal said that he was in touch with air base officials and added that security in and around the city had been tightened.

The police have a special focus on the villages located near the international border and have also been holding security drills, including flag marches, in these areas.

We are not taking any risks. Regular meetings are being held with the Army, BSF and various intelligence agencies to nullify any such offensive. Security has been tightened on the Pathankot-Jammu-Srinagar national highway as the tourist season is on, said the SSP.

After issuing shoot-on-sight orders recently in villages and sub-urban areas located on the periphery of the Pathankot Air Force station, the distribution of posters is seen as the second major decision taken by the air base officials to check the terrorists.
Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Pathankot, June 29

The National Security Agency (NSA) has alerted the Pathankot Air Force station of a possible aerial attack which may be carried out by Pakistan-based terror outfits through microlight aircraft, including gliders, and para-motors, following which the authorities have distributed posters asking residents to be cautious of such aerial vehicles.

Sources claim the authorities have gone into an overdrive warning residents of aerial offensive after NSA sent alerts claiming that Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed may be planning attacks.

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The airbase has been declared a sensitive zone after the January 2 attack in which four militants and seven security personnel were killed. On July 27 last year, three terrorists had laid siege to the police station in the border town of Dinanagar, 25 km from here, before they were gunned down after a 12-hour battle.

Para-motor is a generic name for the propulsive portion of a powered paraglider. It consists of a frame that combines the motor, propeller, harness with integrated seat and a cage. A glider is aerial vehicle that is supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against its lifting surfaces and whose flight does not depend on an engine. Unlike a glider, a para-motor uses an engine to propel its flight.

Sources claim that both these utilities can be used for surveying sensitive areas and also to launch an offensive, giving anxious moments to the authorities.

Scores of posters have been distributed in recent days in localities falling on the periphery of the airbase. These posters show pictures of gliders and have also listed telephone numbers of officials whom to contact if locals spot any such aerial threat.

Pathankot SSP Rakesh Kaushal said he was in touch with the airbase officials and added that security in and around the city had been tightened.

The police are laying emphasis on villages located near the international border and have also been holding security drills, including flag marches, in these areas.

We are not taking any risks. Regular meetings are being held with the army, BSF and various intelligence agencies to nullify any such offensive. Security has been tightened on the Pathankot-Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in view of the tourist season, the SSP said.

After issuing shoot-on-sight orders recently in villages and sub-urban areas located on the periphery of the Pathankot Air Force station, the distribution of posters is being seen as second major decision taken by the airbase officials to counter-check the intentions of terrorists.
Toronto, June 29

Pritam Singh Jauhal, a 95-year-old World War II veteran and a prominent figure in the Sikh-Canadian community who fought and won a high-profile battle to allow Sikhs wearing turbans into the Royal Canadian Legions, has died.

Lt Col Pritam Singh Jauhal passed away peacefully in Surrey on Sunday, his daughter was quoted as saying by The Globe and Mail newspaper.

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Jauhal spent 38 years in the Indian Army and Central Reserve Police Force, retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before immigrating to Canada to be with his children in 1980.

He shot to prominence in 1993 when he was prohibited from entering the Newton Legion on Remembrance Day. At the time, the establishment would not allow turbaned Sikh veterans on the premises.

Legion officials insisted that Jauhal and other Sikh veterans who had served the British Empire in the Second World War could only come in after removing their turban as rules forbade veterans from wearing headgear.

This was despite the fact that female veterans from England were allowed to go in wearing their berets.

He wrote an open letter listing turban wearers who had won the British Empire's highest military decoration. "Good enough for the Victoria Cross. Not good enough to earn a seat among the heroes of the Newton Legion," he wrote.

But the national headquarters of the Royal Canadian Legion issued a formal apology and condemned the actions of the local officials.

Sandhra, who co-authored Jauhal's 2013 memoir, 'A Soldier Remembers', said he was a proud man who insisted that he wouldn't have launched his campaign but for the fact that he had been invited to the Legion then turned away.

The foreword of the book was penned by a reserve army officer who is now Canada's Defence Minister, Harjit Singh Sajjan.

"(Jauhal) could have just gone home and tried to forget the insult, but instead he readied himself for another battle; a battle that he fought with his wits by attacking the ignorance with education," Sajjan, an Indo-Canadian Sikh, wrote.

Jauhal was the eldest of the four children of farmers in the Jalandhar district of Punjab. He is survived by his son and a daughter.  PTI
RECENT discussion and complaint in the press about overcrowding in railway trains led to a reference being made at the recent meeting of the Bombay Legislative Council held at Poona. Mr. Manmohan Das Ramji, who brought the complaint to the notice of the authorities, asked why the police department, which was so alert and active in prosecuting poor cab-drivers, refrained from proceeding against railway companies which daily and hourly violated the provisions of the Railway Act. We may suppose that neither the Government nor the police will be anxious to explain that point, but it is their duty to prevent all overcrowding and to prosecute the railway companies for every infringement of the provisions of the Railway Act.
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 29

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today lambasted Chief Minister Harish Rawat of doing a little to check corruption in the Power Department.

AAP state working committee in charge Anoop Nautiyal, while addressing a press conference here today, alleged that the top bosses in all three power departments of the state were indulging in rampant corruption.

He said corruption had crossed all limits in Uttarakhand and the state had slid to the lowest level on development front.

Nautiyal said all top posts of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), Power Transmission Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited and Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited had been given to persons with a corrupt background.

He said the act of the state government of granting extension to the incumbent Chief Managing Director of UPCL was totally ethical as the individual was embroiled in several acts of corruption.

He said AAP was of the strong view that the extension granted to UPCL chief managing director be withdrawn. He said a recently sting on incumbent UPCLs CMD reveals the level of corruption being done at his behest. He said the CAG report has highlighted large-scale irregularities in UPCL.

He said the CMD of Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited, who earlier served in Jharkhand, has a track record of corruption. It seems Chief Minister Harish Rawat has a great liking for corrupt bureaucrats and wants them all of them in key posts in the state, Nautiyal said.

Nautiyal said if no action is taken till July 3, he would be forced to register a written complaint at the CBI office.
BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, June 29

The number of patients arriving at the Lohaghat hospital in Champawat district has reduced after it started functioning under the public private partnership (PPP) mode on October 25, 2013. Since then, it does not have sufficient number of doctors and paramedical staff to provide proper medical services.

According to hospital sources, the number of OPD patients in the hospital in 2013 was 76,606 before it was given to a private management under the PPP mode. But it reduced to 61,525 in 2014.

Besides, the number of in-patients has also reduced to 4,169 from 5,712 before its management was handed over to a private party, said Naval Joshi, an employee in the hospital.

According to the sources, not only the number of patients has come down in the hospital, but also the number of delivery cases has reduced to 1,177 from 1,287 every year.

Social workers attributed the scenario to insufficient number of doctors in the hospital, negligent attitude of doctors and staff as well as their preference for private practice.

The number of doctors has been reduced to half of the strength mentioned in the agreement signed by the government with a private hospital based in Bareilly. The doctors prefer private practice to discharging their duties here, said Rita Gahtori, a social worker in Lohaghat town.

Govind Verma, another social worker of the town, said the hospital had become a referral centre after it was given into private hands. Even women are being referred to private hospitals for delivery, said Verma.

Residents getting drinking water once in 4 days

Residents of seven wards in the Lohaghat town area received drinking water supply after four days today. Sources in the Jal Sansthan at Lohaghat said the situation had arised as natural sources feeding the town and surrounding villages have not been recharged due to poor rainfall this month.

Pawan Singh Bisht, a Jal Sansthan engineer, said due to minimum generation of water from natural sources on which the residents depend, the town is getting drinking water once in four days while the villages are getting water only for 30 minutes per day.

The main schemes, such as Banswar and Shivalaya tubewells and the lift scheme at Chauri, are generating very less amount of water, which can only be supplied once every four days, the engineer said.

Some financially-sound people are taking water from a source at Barakot, 20 km away from Lohaghat town.

According to Jal Santhan officers, the town is getting only 4.5 lakh litres of water in 24 hours these days, whereas the requirement is of over 12 lakh litres of drinking water per day.

In Champawat district headquarters, the Jal Santhan is distributing drinking water through tankers as the water supply has not improved.

Even after the pre-monsoon spells of rain last week, the water generation from natural sources has not improved, said PC Kargati, an engineer with the Champawat Jal Santhan.
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 29

Surendra Kumar, media in-charge of Chief Minister Harish Rawat, has assured support to newspaper agents and hawkers in the state.

Surendra was addressing the annual function of the Doon Newspaper Agents Association here today. He said the state government was sensitive towards the concerns of newspaper agents and hawkers considering the nature of their duties that involve regular work in wee hours. A provision of Rs 66 lakh had been made for the betterment of newspapers agents and hawkers, which would be utilised for welfare schemes, he said.

Surendra gave away awards to the winners of a lucky draw. Rakesh Yadav, a newspaper vendor, was awarded a bicycle. Doon Newspaper Agents Association patron Rakesh Tyagi expressed gratitude to the state government for its concern towards newspapers agents and hawkers. Kamgaar Sangh president Asha Manorama Dobriyal Sharma, Rakesh Pandey from Vitrak Awaaj and Lalit Joshi were present at the function.
Brussels, June 29

EU leaders have given Britain breathing space by accepting it needed time to absorb a shock Brexit vote before triggering a divorce but insisted the crunch move could not wait months.

A humiliated Prime Minister David Cameron came face-to-face with European colleagues for the first time since last weeks vote at a Brussels summit which leaders said was sad but pragmatic.

Trillions of dollars have been wiped off world markets since Thursdays vote to leave the EU, while the United Kingdoms future has been thrown into doubt after Scotland said it would push for a new independence referendum.

Further shockwaves juddered through British politics as Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour party, vowed to fight on despite losing a crushing no-confidence vote among his partys lawmakers.

Thousands of people took to the streets of London, which voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU, to protest against the referendum result, waving EU flags and placards saying: Stop Brexit.

After hours of talks in Brussels, EU President Donald Tusk said that he understood that time was needed for the dust to settle in Britain before the next steps can be taken.

But reflecting wider concerns of a domino effect of other states wanting to leave, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said Britain did not have months to meditate.

He set a clear timetable for triggering Article 50, the EU treaty clause that begins the two-year withdrawal process, after Camerons successor takes office in early September.

Juncker said that if the new prime minister was a pro-remain figure, Article 50 should be activated in two weeks after his appointmentbut if it was a supporter of the leave campaign, it should be done the day after his appointment, he added.

The current favourites to take over from Cameron are leading out campaigner Boris Johnson and interior minister Theresa May, a low-key backer of EU membership.

Over a dinner of poached veal tenderloin followed by strawberries, a chastened Cameron urged EU leaders to consider reforming rules on freedom of movement, one of the EUs central tenets, to cement a close relationship with Britain post-Brexit.

He said Britain and the EU should have as close an economic relationship as possible and that the key to staying close is really to look at reform to free movement, a Downing Street source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A British government source added that Cameron believed that free movement was one of the driving factors in people voting to leave.

At a press conference, Cameron insisted he had no regrets about holding the referendum.

Earlier, US President Barack Obama warned against hysteria as stock markets and the pound staged a tentative recovery after days of losses that saw sterling slump to a 31-year low.  AFP
Brussels, June 29

EU leaders agreed today that Britain cannot have access to the single market after leaving the union without accepting the bloc's rules on free movement, president Donald Tusk said.

There will be no single market a la carte, Tusk told a news conference in Brussels after the 27 leaders met without British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Leaders made it crystal clear today that access to the single market requires acceptance of all four freedoms including freedom of movement, Tusk added.

The 27 EU leaders will also hold a summit, without Britain, in Bratislava on September 16 to discuss further the fallout from Britain's decision to leave the bloc, Tusk said.  PTI
Washington, June 29

Indian-origin Google CEO Sunder Pichai and three other Indian-Americans are among the 42 US nationals honoured with this years prestigious Great Immigrants: The Pride of America award.

The other three Indian-Americans are Hari Sreenivasan, anchor and senior correspondent, PBS NewsHour, Vikram Malhotra Chairman of the Americas, McKinsey & Company and Bharati Mukherjee National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author.

The annual award of the Carnegie Corporation would be presented to them at an event in New York on June 30, a statement said yesterday.

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For 2016, the Corporation named 42 honorees, who represent some 30 different countries of origin, a wide range of personal immigration stories, and inspiring professional accomplishments.

These accomplished Americans are immigrants like our forefathers, who ufounded this nation of nations, said Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York.

They are representative of the millions of immigrants who have come to the United States for economic opportunity, education, political or religious asylum, security, or reunification with families and relatives. They, like all Americans, share a common faith in this country, he said.

Pakistani American Shaiza Rizavi partner, Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co is also among the list of awardees.  PTI
Amman, June 29

US-backed Syrian rebels were forced to retreat from the outskirts of an Islamic State-held town at the border with Iraq and a nearby air base on Wednesday after a counter attack by the jihadists, two rebel sources said.

The US-backed New Syria Army rebel group had launched the attack aiming to capture the town of Al-Bukamal on Tuesday.

One of the rebel sources said Islamic State fighters had encircled the rebels in a surprise ambush. The rebels had incurred heavy casualties and weapons had been seized by the jihadists, the source said.

A spokesman of the New Syria Army, Muzahem al Saloum, confirmed they had retreated. "We have withdrawn to the outlying desert and the first stage of the campaign had ended," Saloum told Reuters.  Reuters
United Nations, June 29

Sending a message of unity post-Brexit, Italy and the Netherlands have agreed to share a two-year term on the UN Security Council for a non-permanent seat after five rounds of balloting failed to break a deadlock in the General Assembly.

The 193 members of the UN General Assembly yesterday elected Sweden, Bolivia, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan to serve on the world body's Security Council for a period of two years, starting from January 1, 2017.

Ethiopia got 185 votes, while Bolivia got 183, Sweden garnered 134 votes and Kazakhstan 138.

In a highly-contested campaign, Italy and the Netherlands were vying for a seat on the 15-member UNSC in the Western Europe category. However, after five rounds of voting, neither Italy nor the Netherlands met the required two-thirds majority for election and as a result, they announced a proposal whereby they would divide the term, with each serving one year on the Council.

In the first round of voting, the Netherlands had got 99 votes while Italy got 92. After the fifth round of voting, the two countries were tied, having garnered 95 votes each, less than the 127 required majority.

In announcing the proposal  requiring endorsement by the Western European and Other States Group, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands Bert Koenders said Italy would serve from 2017 to 2018, with his own country serving out the balance from 2018 to 2019. Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said that by that proposal, his country and the Netherlands hoped to send a message of unity between two European States.

The newly elected non-permanent members will fill seats to be vacated on December 31 by Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela.

Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay will remain elected Council members during 2017, completing the second year of their respective terms at the end of that year.  PTI
London, June 29

London's Pakistan-origin mayor Sadiq Khan today announced an India-born millionaire as his deputy for business to champion the city's financial interests amid the fall-out of the EU referendum.

Self-made millionaire Rajesh Agarwal, 39, grew up in India and went to London to set up foreign exchange giant RationalFX, which had a turnover of more than 1.3 billion pounds last year.

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He also founded international money transfer service Xendpay. The mayor and I are determined to build a coalition that ensures the needs of business and financial services are at the fore during negotiations with the EU, he said.  PTI
London, June 29

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai and her family have become millionaires as a result of income from her memoir describing life under the Taliban rule in Pakistans picturesque Swat valley and appearances on the lecture circuit around the world.

The 18-year-old Pakistani teenager who survived a shot in the head by the Taliban had relived the incident and her life in the Swat Valley in I am Malala, co-written with Sunday Times journalist Christina Lamb.

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A company set up to protect rights to her life story had 2.2 million in the bank by August 2015 and made a pre-tax profit of 1.1 million. Malala, her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, and her mother Toor Pekai are joint shareholders of the company, Salarzai Limited. They are now based in Birmingham, where Malala  who became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 - attends Edgbaston High School for Girls.

Her autobiography, which documents her experiences growing up in Pakistans Swat valley under the Taliban rule and being shot while travelling home from school on the bus with her friends, was published in October 2013 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK in a deal reported to be worth about 2 million.

It has sold at least 1.8 million copies worldwide, according to Neilsen Book Research, including 2,87,000 copies in the UK, earning 2.2 million in Britain in paperback and hardback sales.

According to research by the US-based Institute for Policy Studies, Malala is also one of the higher-earning Nobel laureates, bringing in 114,000 per speech, compared with 64,000 for Desmond Tutu.  PTI
Washington, June 29

The US should adopt a policy of total isolation against Pakistan to send a signal that it faces the prospect of becoming a second North Korea if it continues destabilising Afghanistan by supporting the Taliban and Haqqani network, a former top American diplomat has said.

In the aftermath of the US drone attack killing Taliban leader Mullah Mansour, this is the time to increase the pressure by suspending all assistance to Pakistanmilitary and civilianand move towards isolating Pakistan internationally, including not supporting IMF renewal of financial support, Zalmay Khalilzad, a former top American diplomat in the Bush Administration, told PTI.

Khalilzad, who played a key role Americas policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iraq after 9/11 terror attack, said the US should adopt a policy of total isolation against Pakistan.

Such a policy, he argued would send a signal to Pakistan that it faces the prospect of becoming a second North Korea unless it changes its course on Afghanistan.

Khalilzad was the highest ranking Muslim American in the history of the United States. He was the US Ambassador to the United Nations under President George W Bush. He also served as the US ambassador to Afghanistan and headed the countrys diplomatic mission in Iraq.

If Pakistan truly changes course, then the US should be willing to be supportive in a significant way. But we have to substantially escalate the cost of Pakistans hostile policy in Afghanistan, he said.

Khalilzad also called for retaining the current level of forces in Afghanistan and more flexible rules of engagement for US forces until the next President reviews the situation in Afghanistan and decides on a new policy.

While there are some potential risks in isolating Pakistan, there are real risks with continuing the current course in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said and called for having a contingency plan to deal with the nuclear scenario risks.

In fact (US forces) being in Afghanistan would help in addressing such challenges promptly, he said.

The choice we have made hasnt really worked for the last 15 years in terms of changing Pakistans two-faced policy. The time has come to adjust that policy. In my view a better option is international isolation of Pakistan, Khalilzad argued.

The role that Pakistan has played....is that of a double game. It has signalled on the one hand that it wants to be helpful to the United States in fighting terrorism and stabilising Afghanistan. But on the other hand, in reality, it has been energetically supporting the Taliban and the Haqqani network to achieve the very opposite. That has been the essence of the Pakistan policy on Afghanistan, he said.

Noting that Pakistans Afghan policy is determined by the Army and the ISI, Khalilzad said that the reason for such a policy is that they believe that by supporting the Taliban and the Haqqani network, they can achieve the goal of dominating Afghanistan.

An alternative explanation is that the status quo of an unstable Afghanistan with ongoing fighting, in which they have relationship with the Taliban and the Haqqani network and key players, is seen by Pakistan as favorable to its interests.

In my view they want peace and stability in Afghanistan only if the country is controlled by a group, such as the Taliban and the Haqqani network which they control or have strong influence over, he claimed.

Pakistan is the landlord and the Taliban is living in the house that Pakistan owns. This gives them huge leverage.

Actually the relationship is even stronger than a landlord and tenant. It is one of sponsor and sponsorees, he said.

Currently, chairman of the Atlantic Councils South Asia Centers Advisory Board, and president of Gryphon Partnerson, Khalilzad will deliver a talk on his new book The Envoy: From Kabul to the White House, My Journey Through a Turbulent World at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi on July 1.  PTI
Washington, June 29

Criticising the current US trade policies that has wiped out American manufacturing, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has threatened to take punitive actions against China's illegal trade activities while promising to herald a US economic resurgence if elected.

"If China does not stop its illegal activities, including its theft of American trade secrets, I will use every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes, including the application of tariffs...," Trump said in his remarks on economy in the Monessen township of Pennsylvania.

In his seven-point action plan on economic independence, Trump devoted considerable speech on China.

In fact, his last three action plans are all directed against China. "I'm going to instruct my treasury secretary to label China a currency manipulator, which should have been done years ago. Any country that devalues their currency in order to take unfair advantage of the United States, which is many countries, will be met with sharply. And that includes tariffs and taxes," Trump said.

"I'm going to instruct the US trade representative to bring trade cases against China, both in this country and at the WTO," he said.

Noting that China's unfair subsidy behaviour is prohibited by the terms of its entrance to the WTO, Trump said he intends to enforce those rules and regulations.  PTI
Los Angeles: A man in the US has taken his love for smartness to a whole new level -- by marrying it in a Las Vegas ceremony, media reports said. The wedding looked like a typical Las Vegas wedding, except for one deviation. The groom, Aaron Chervenak, wore a tux. The bride wore a protective case, Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Monday. Chervenak said "I do," when the officiant at The Little Vegas Chapel asked, "Do you, Aaron, take this smartphone to be your lawfully wedded wife, and do you also promise to love her, honor her, comfort and keep her, and be faithful to her?"  IANS

Woman uses phone at pump, suffers burns

Kuala Lumpur: A 25-year-old Malaysian woman has sustained 60 per cent burn injuries after a fire broke out when she used her mobile at a petrol station here. The woman was using her mobile while filling petrol in the car in Setapak Indah when the accident occurred. "A spark ignited from the pump and triggered a reaction with her handphone. Numerous signs are posted at petrol stations warning customers against using their handphone there, especially when filling up petrol as it could trigger a fire.  PTI
VDA President Matthias Wissmann is interviewed by a TV reporter. Photo: Sven-Erik Lindstrand.

Germany's automotive industry association, VDA, cautioned against any European Union imposition of customs barriers following the UK's decision to exit the European Union.

"Following British departure from the EU, it will be in nobody's interest to make the international flow of goods more expensive by erecting customs barriers between Britain and the European continent," said VDA President Matthias Wissmann.

Although the process to actually "de-couple" Britain from the EU may take some time, a majority 52% of the UK voted to exit the EU.

Several EU-member countries, including Germany, have huge interests in the UK automotive industry, including commercial vehicles. The German auto sector is exporting more to Britain than any other country in the world.

While Wissmann's remarks primarily concerned passenger vehicles, Britain imports a great number of commercial vehicles from companies such as Scania and Volvo, both based in EU member state Sweden, and Mercedes, based in Germany.

Scania trucks from Sweden are among the commercial vehicles imported to Britain from EU member states. Photo: Lee Bristol via Flickr under Creative Commons license.

"The British vote was close," Wissmann said. "But now it is more important than ever for Europe to stand together to avoid a possible domino effect. Every possible measure must be undertaken to enable the continued free movement of goods and services between the UK and the other EU countries," he continued.

"Even if leaving, free exchange of goods with Continental Europe will still be to Britain's net advantage." In central Europe, only Switzerland and Norway are non members of EU.

The VDA chief also appealed for calm in the face of market volatility following Britain's decision to exit. The first time an EU country will have left the 28-strong club has sent shock waves across the continent.

"Even if many 'experts' are competing to paint the worst possible scenario, now is the time for calmness," added Wissmann. "Brussels must draw the correct conclusions from the vote. Our common Europe must become more attractive to its members. We need more transparency and genuinely better regulation. The EU must not become a community of constant transfer payments or merely a transfer union."
Photo: Siemens

Specially equipped Scania trucks will travel on Siemens' first eHighway system, which it has opened on a public road in Sweden on a 2-kilometer stretch of the E16 highway north of Stockholm.

Using a catenary system of overhead power lines, which some have compared to electric trolley systems, the eHighway will be used to test two diesel hybrid trucks manufactured by Scania designed to operate with the technology. The country of Sweden sees this as a way toward its commitment to fossil-fuel-independent transport by 2030.

During the two-year trial, Sweden transport officials will study whether the Siemens eHighway system is suitable for future long-term commercial use and further deployment.

"The Siemens eHighway is twice as efficient as conventional internal combustion engines. The Siemens innovation supplies trucks with power from an overhead contact line, said Roland Edel, chief engineer at the Siemens Mobility Division. This means that not only is energy consumption cut by half, but local air pollution is reduced too."

The core of the system is an intelligent pantograph, which sends electrical current to the vehicle, combined with a hybrid drive system. A sensor system enables the pantograph to connect to and disconnect from the overhead line at speeds of up to 55 mph.

Trucks equipped with the system draw power from overhead wires as they drive, allowing them to travel efficiently and with zero local emissions. The hybrid system allows the vehicle to also operate outside of the contact line, allowing for the same flexibility as conventional trucks.

The eHighway technology is designed to be open to different configurations, allowing companies to use other types of powertrains such as all-battery or electric/natural gas hybrid solutions instead of the diesel hybrid being tested today.

Siemens is also developing another eHighway demonstration project in California. The project is part of a collaboration with Volvo on behalf of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The test will be conducted throughout 2017 to see how different truck configurations work with the eHighway infrastructure in the area surrounding the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
WASHINGTON  They celebrated outside the Supreme Court after Mondays surprise decision reaffirming abortion rights. They danced to Michael Jackson (I want to love you ...), as they had earlier to the Spice Girls and to Harry Belafontes Jump in the Line.

In the front row, facing the marble temple, a young woman held up a homemade sign:

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Abortion is legal

So f  you.

Justice Anthony Kennedy didnt use those words, but that was, essentially, the valentine he delivered to the anti-abortion movement. The justice, siding with the liberal bloc, lent his name to Justice Stephen Breyers resounding defense of abortion rights in his 5-to-3 majority opinion. In doing so, Kennedy put an end to any thought of banning abortion in America anytime soon  even if a future Republican president names a conservative to fill the late Antonin Scalias seat.

The Republican-controlled Senate refuses to consider President Obamas nominee, Merrick Garland, but a fifth liberal justice has arrived anyway. Kennedy, a Reagan appointee and the longest-serving current justice, surprised many last week by joining the liberals in defending race-based affirmative action. In earlier terms, he provided the key vote in legalizing same-sex marriage.

Its not that Kennedy has become a bleeding heart (he sides with the conservatives on gun rights, campaign finance and Obamacare) but that he has split with conservative colleagues such as Samuel Alito who, by temperament, are disinclined to find consensus.

You could see it Monday morning in the chamber, where, for the second week in a row, Alito took the unusual step of reading aloud from his dissent in a case that found Kennedy on the opposite side.

While Breyer read the majority opinion in the abortion case, Alito was a study in agitation. He shook his head, raised his eyebrows, clenched his jaw, rocked in his chair and carried on a silent conversation with himself  apparently rehearsing, in his head, his dissent.

When Breyer finished, Alito pulled up his microphone and delivered a bitter rebuttal, even citing Breyer by name. He had the acidity of Scalias legendary dissents, but he lacked Scalias neutralizing humor: No justification. ... Obviously wrong. ... Contrary to a cardinal rule. ... This is an abuse of our authority. The majority in this case has not done what a court of law must do.

During this performance, Kennedy sat calmly, reading and rocking gently at times. But mostly he sat, lips pursed, staring directly ahead of him  as still and silent as the stone likenesses of Hammurabi, Moses, Solomon and Confucius on the frieze above him.

Hes no King Solomon, but Kennedy, the perpetual swing vote, might be the dominant lawgiver of his day. Unlike Alito and Clarence Thomas (and, to a lesser extent, Chief Justice John Roberts), he recognizes the importance of public consensus on cultural issues, such as the growing acceptance of gay marriage. On abortion, which chronically divides Americans, Kennedy has avoided destabilizing change.

No one who follows the Court can doubt that he finds abortion very troubling, the Atlantics Garrett Epps wrote earlier this year. But no one also doubts that Kennedy takes the Supreme Court, and its place at the center of American law, seriously as well. His head here may conflict with his heart.

In Whole Womans Health v. Hellerstedt  the Texas case, decided Monday, that would have forced abortion clinics to close by imposing near-impossible restrictions on them  the appellate court brazenly ignored the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision, which Kennedy co-wrote. He was having none of it. He didnt merely agree to strike down the law on technical grounds; he joined a full-throated affirmation of abortion rights.

Justice Elena Kagan looked toward the press and gave a satisfied smile as Breyer said they had declared the Texas law unconstitutional because it imposed an undue burden on abortion seekers. Breyer ridiculed the idea that abortion needed stricter regulations than procedures such as childbirth (which is 14 times as deadly), colonoscopies (10 times as deadly) and liposuction (28 times as deadly).

Alito was grim. Leaning forward, his lower jaw protruding, he informed the majority that they are encouraging the view that if at first you dont succeed, sue, sue again. He said that the sort of thing that occurred in the case could have qualified as abusive litigation. He accused the majority of being lazy and of ignoring the normal rules.

His discouragement is understandable. The Senates refusal to confirm Garland was supposed to prevent a liberal majority on the court. But, somehow, it happened anyway.
Some of us have long predicted the breakup of the European Union. The cousins appear to have just delivered the coup de grace.

While Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU, England voted for independence. These people, with their unique history, language and culture, want to write their own laws and rule themselves.

The English wish to remain who they are, and they do not want their country to become, in Theodore Roosevelts phrase, a polyglot boarding house for the world.

From patriots of all nations, congratulations are in order.

It will all begin to unravel now, over there, and soon over here.

Across Europe, tribalism, of all strains, is resurgent. Not only does the EU appear to be breaking up, countries appear about to break up.

Scotland will seek a second referendum to leave the U.K. The French National Front of Marine Le Pen and the Dutch Party for Freedom both want out of the EU. As Scots seek to secede from the U.K., Catalonia seeks to secede from Spain, Veneto from Italy, and Flemish nationalists from Belgium.

Ethnonationalism seems everywhere ascendant. Yet, looking back in history, is this not the way the world has been going for some centuries now?

The disintegration of the EU into its component nations would follow, as Vladimir Putin helpfully points out, the dissolution of the USSR into 15 nations, and the breakup of Yugoslavia into seven.

Czechoslovakia lately split in two. The Donbass seeks to secede from Ukraine. Is that so different from Transnistria splitting off from Romania, Abkhazia and South Ossetia seceding from Georgia, and Chechnya seeking separation from Russia?

After World War II came the disintegration of the French and British empires and birth of dozens of new nations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. America returned the Philippine islands to their people.

The previous century saw the collapse of the Spanish Empire and birth of a score of new nations in our own hemisphere.

In Xi Jinpings China and Putins Russia, nationalism is rising, even as China seeks to repress Uighur and Tibetan separatists.

People want to rule themselves, and be themselves, separate from all others. Palestinians want their own nation. Israelis want a Jewish state.

On Cyprus, Turks and Greeks seem happier apart.

Kurds are fighting to secede from Turkey and Iraq, and perhaps soon from Syria and Iran. Afghanistan appears to be splintering into regions dominated by Pashtuns, Hazaras, Uzbeks and Tajiks.

Eritrea has left Ethiopia. South Sudan has seceded from Khartoum.

Nor is America immune to the populist sentiments surging in Europe.

In Bernie Sanders fulminations against corporate and financial elites one hears echoes of the radical leftist rhetoric in Greece and Italy against EU banking elites.

And as Brexit swept the native-born English outside of multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural, multilingual London, populist-nationalist Donald Trump and antiestablishment Ted Cruz swept the native-born white working and middle classes in the primaries.

In Britain, all the mainstream parties  Labor, Tory, Liberal Democrat, Scottish National  supported Remain. All lost.

Nigel Farages UK Independence Party alone won.

In the past six months, millions of Democrats voted for a 74-year-old socialist against the establishment choice, Hillary Clinton, as Bush-Romney-Ryan Republicanism was massively repudiated in the Republican primaries.

As Trump said last week, We got here because we switched from a policy of Americanism  focusing on whats good for Americas middle class  to a policy of globalism, focusing on how to make money for large corporations who can move their wealth and workers to foreign countries all to the detriment of the American worker and the American economy.

Yesterday, news arrived that in May alone, the U.S. had run a trade deficit in goods of $60 billion. This translates into an annual deficit of $720 billion in goods, or near 4 percent of our GDP wiped out by purchases of foreign-made rather than U.S.-made goods.

In 40 years, we have not run a trade surplus. The most self-sufficient republic in all of history now relies for its necessities upon other nations.

What might a Trumpian policy of Americanism over globalism entail?

A 10 to 20 percent tariff on manufactured goods to wipe out the trade deficit in goods, with the hundreds of billions in revenue used to slash or eliminate corporate taxes in the USA.

Every U.S. business would benefit. Every global company would have an incentive not only to move production here, but its headquarters here.

An America first immigration policy would secure the border, cut legal immigration to tighten U.S. labor markets, strictly enforce U.S. laws against those breaking into our country, and get tough with businesses that make a practice of hiring people here illegally.

In Europe and America, corporate, financial and political elites are increasingly disrespected and transnationalism is receding. An anti-establishment, nationalist, populist wave is surging across Europe and the USA.

It is an anti-insider, anti-Clinton wave, and Trump could ride it to victory.
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Oklahoma Baptist Universitys traveling worship band Davids Creed will lead worship at First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow Sunday morning, April 10. The group will lead worship that morning in both the blended service at 9:15 a.m. and the modern service at 10:30 a.m.

The service is free and all members of the community are invited. The church is located at 100 West Albany in Broken Arrow, on the northeast corner of 61st and Elm. For directions and more information about the church, visit www.fbcba.org.

The band will lead with popular songs and hymn-renditions alike, such as, Soul on Fire, This is Amazing Grace, Revelation Song, Oceans, and Power in the Blood.

Davids Creed, the nine-member band, along with director Justin Pierce, assistant professor in instrumental music at OBU, travels during the academic year to lead worship in churches across Oklahoma and surrounding states. The band integrates contemporary music and traditional hymns, allowing the group to minister to diverse congregations. The auditioned ensemble was started by the OBU Division of Music in spring 2007. Its primary purpose is to connect OBU with the churches in Oklahoma and the surrounding region by serving those churches in worship through music, testimony and Gods Word.

The current members of the band include Colton Seamans, 18 (guitar, vocals); Iveth Luna, 16 (vocals); Megan Mattke, 16 (keyboard/vocals); Demarcus Baysmore, 19 (electric guitar); Victoria Thrutchley, 16 (violin); Alexander Holland, 17 (drums); Trevor Schlosser, 18 (bass); and Emmalee Ewbank, 19 (guitar, vocals).

For more information on Davids Creed, contact Justin Pierce at (405) 585-4312 or justin.pierce@okbu.edu. For more information on the OBU Division of Music, visit www.okbu.edu/fine-arts/music.

With campuses in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City, OBU offers 10 bachelors degrees with 88 fields of study and four masters degree programs. The Christian liberal arts university has an overall enrollment of 1,986, with students from 40 states and 35 other countries. OBU has been rated as one of the top 10 regional colleges in the West by U.S. News and World Report for 24 consecutive years and has been Oklahomas highest rated regional college in the U.S. News rankings for 22 consecutive years. OBU is one of three universities in Oklahoma and the only private Oklahoma university listed on Great Value Colleges rankings of 50 Great Affordable Colleges in the Midwest. Forbes.com consistently ranks OBU as a top university in Oklahoma and the Princeton Review has named OBU one of the best colleges and universities in the western United States for 11 consecutive years.
Tim Stone is excited, and he has every right to be. He is the recipient of not just one miracle, but several which had to take place for him to be alive today.

With literally a new heart and revitalized enthusiasm for living, Stone wants his story to be known.

In March 2015, Stone was diagnosed with double lung pneumonia. He was incubated and put on life support for 19 days; he was in the hospital for 30 days.

We got over that, he said. We lived. The we includes God and Gods part in Stones successful recovery story.

Stones left kidney shut down which put strain on his heart. He developed atrial fibrillation which destroyed the right side of his heart. What was unique to all was they left for Florida on vacation, a family tradition, Stone said. I was half a block away from the ocean and never saw it.

Physicians tried to treat Stone while he was in Florida but said the condition was not treatable. The family returned home.

We called Integris Baptist in Oklahoma City and by the will of God got pushed in, a miracle in itself because there was a months waiting list.

They met Dr. Anita Phancao, a cardiologist. She was our guardian angel through the whole thing. She wasnt even supposed to be there that night, but she was there when we showed up. Stone was put in the intensive care unit (ICU) immediately.

Dr. Phancao did something shed never done before, Stone said. She gave my wife her card and cell phone numbers. She said to call her any time night or day. They became very close.

Stone spent 120 days in the hospital, 90 days in ICU. He went through every operation possible, including having an electromechanical circulatory device which Stone said was mounted on the inside of his chest with an internal pump used for patients recovering from heart attacks or heart surgery. He was supposed to go home with that, but he had been on the pump so long, his red blood cells and kidney started dying. Stones wife was told to start making funeral arrangements.

The night he and his wife Leslie were told he would die, after they prayed together, she said as she left the room, We have tonight. Lets see if we get a heart.

Thirty minutes later the doctor called, crying, and told her to get back to the hospital immediately. They had found a heart. God made the difference. God answered the prayer. The next morning I was having the transplant. The rest is history.

People are generally on a waiting list for months. He had been on the list 10 days. He had the heart transplant Oct. 29 and returned to work at Ferguson Super Store on Feb. 1, which he called totally unheard of. He wanted to be well soon enough to walk his daughter down the aisle, and he will be doing that in June.

The one thing I want to reiterate is my family is a big part of my surviving. In addition to God, he had his family working with him. But Ferguson went above and beyond what any employer would do to take care of us. That says a lot about Broken Arrow and Broken Arrow business.

Stone had been a power lifter for 30 years. During his hospital experience, he went from a muscular 182 pounds to 113. Hes back in the gym working out.

He and Leslie celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in the hospital. They have three grown children.
Dear Amy: Nine months ago, our daughter, a sophomore in college, told us she had a girlfriend and thought she was bisexual.

It didnt go over well, and I called one of my siblings (there are six of us) to ask for help and support.

I asked my daughter if she wanted me to tell family members. She was emphatic that this was a private journey for her.

My sister asked me if she could tell our other siblings. I repeated what my daughter said. I also stated that my husband and I would rather not make any of this public until we all felt we were ready to do so.

Three days later, that sister visited two other sisters and told them my daughter was gay. A short while later, one of those sisters told another sister and our mother.

When I confronted the initial rumor-spreading sister, she told me I was engaging in destructive dialogue and wouldnt talk further with me. She has not apologized.

I am beside myself with anguish over this betrayal of trust, and I do not know that I can ever forgive my sisters for their callousness, insensitivity and lack of compassion. Also, I have no idea what to tell my daughter (who is currently dating a boy). She and I are seeing a therapist together. Any advice?  Brokenhearted Sister and Mother

Dear Brokenhearted: Are you brokenhearted because your daughters sexuality may be different from yours? Or is it because you feel guilty for violating her privacy? Your daughters sexuality is no ones business, including yours. She was generous to share this with you.

You need to untangle your feelings. You should start with a simple admission and apology to your daughter. Do not apologize for other family members.

It would help if you were able to see this not as a tragedy, but as a transition into adulthood. Your message to your daughter should be, I love you as you are; however you are. Its really that simple.

In terms of your sister, her statement that you are engaging in destructive dialogue makes me think shes read a self-help book or two. Perhaps she would like to join you for a session in your therapists office.

Dear Amy: Worried wrote to you about her boyfriends impending deployment with the National Guard.

There are a lot of resources available for her. Her boyfriends unit should have a Family Readiness Group that provides information and support before and during deployment.

There are a lot of social media groups she can join  I am in three military mom Facebook groups. Being in a military family has a lot of scary moments, but it also means you are part of a larger family that truly knows the meaning of got your 6.  Army Mom

Dear Army Mom: Military spouses are a tough and supportive group of hometown heroes.

Contact Amy Dickinson via email: askamy@tribpub.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or like her on Facebook.
The PNM is saluting one of its former Senators, Dr Lester Henry, for his contribution to nat
The 60 Minutes case will be back before a court in Lebanon today with Adam Whittington likely to receive further jail time, according to media reports.

Investigative Judge Rami Abdullah will announce the findings of his investigation at the Baabda Palace of Justice in Beirut.

This includes findings for 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown, producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Ben Williamson, sound recordist David Bailment, Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner, child recovery agent Adam Whittington, his British colleague Craig Michael and two Lebanese men.

According to News Corp reporter Charles Miranda, Whittington and his associates are expected to receive another 3 months prison time.

All are expected to be found to have a case to answer for felony kidnapping but the 60 Minutes team could possibly be found guilty in absentia and receive a suspended sentence and not have to return to Lebanon.

The case will be ruled on wholly, rather than individually. The investigation should include evidence of the extent to which the Lebanese court finds the Nine Network was involved in the crime, beyond what is already known of its $100,000 indirect financing of the Whittington operation.

The Australian reports Nine transferred more than $500,000 to its Lebanese legal team last week, lifting the networks costs to well over $US2 million in legal fees alone.
Sevens coverage of the Federal Election results will begin from 5pm Saturday from Martin Place studios, with Mark Riley and Chris Reason.

A 30 minute Seven News will air at 6pm with coverage resuming at 6:30pm AEST, however in Melbourne and Adelaide it will screen on 7TWO.

Join Seven News political editor Mark Riley and senior correspondent Chris Reason for comprehensive and up-to-the-minute results as the countrys political heavyweights and commentators line up alongside each other in the most experienced election panel.

Australian radio broadcaster Alan Jones and former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett will provide expert commentary, along with former Labor leader Mark Latham, Senator Jacqui Lambie, deputy leader of the Labor party Tanya Plibersek, and key numbers man Senator Sam Dastyari.

Seven News anchor Mark Ferguson and senior political correspondent Tim Lester will be reporting live from Sydney where Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will be, and political reporters Marija Jovanovic and Nick Etchells will be in Melbourne with Bill Shorten.

Seven News will cross live throughout the night to reporters and politicians in more than 30 key battlegrounds across the country.

Election coverage will break on the main channel at 6pm AEST for a special 30-minute edition of Seven News hosted by Mark Ferguson.

Live election coverage will return to the main channel at 6.30pm AEST in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth  7TWO in Melbourne and Adelaide  and will be commercial-free until a result is known.

Live rolling coverage of Your Vote Australia Decides 2016 will begin with the results and analysis of an exclusive 7News/ReachTEL exit poll of voters that day, and a separate exit poll targeting voter sentiment in two key marginal seats.

As voters reject MPs, well eject them from the Departure Lounge. And wholl win the race up the Tower of Power.

Your Vote Australia Decides 2016 airs on Saturday from 5.00pm AEST on Seven.
On Friday July 1st Nine and TEN programming in many regional markets will change channels, following a landmark affiliate deal.

In most areas, Nine programming will move from WIN to Southern Cross, while TEN programming switches from Southern Cross to WIN.

Seven / Prime programming is unaffected.

Breaking News: Nine has signed affiliate deals with WIN Corporation in regional South Australia and Griffith in NSW. A deal has also been reached in Tasmania and in Western Australia.

Why is this happening?

Nine announced the end of its 28 year affiliate arrangements with WIN in late April. The corporate relationship between the two organisations had been frosty in recent years, with Nine seeking an increase in its affiliate fees once current deals expired. But WIN was refusing to budge and took Nine to court over its streaming service 9NOW moving into its markets (a case it lost but is appealing).

In the end Nine signed with Southern Cross which argues it can increase its ad rates with Nine content. The move left WIN and TEN to sort a deal, one both is claiming as a victory.

Overview:

TEN shows will now appear on channels 8 / 80s on WIN, and Nine shows will be on channels 5 / 50s on Southern Cross / Nine.

It is highly unlikely you will need to re-tune your TV, but there is a small possibility you may need to. If you find WIN or Southern Cross channels have gone missing, try an auto-scan on your TV to get them back. Please refer to the instructions from the manufacturer of your television. You may need to delete all the channels first.

If you have a program being recorded and series link function, you will need to change the record setting for the new channels and you might have to reprogram your set top box.

Services not affected include:

National: ABC and SBS

Metropolitan commercial services: Seven, Nine, Ten

Regional services: Prime, 7Qld, GWN7, Southern Cross Tasmania, NBN Television

Remote services: Imparja.

Areas:

These changes in program line ups will occur in regional areas including:

Regional Queensland Cairns, Townsville, Mackay Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba Gold Coast is not affected Southern NSW and ACT Canberra, Wollongong, Wagga Wagga, Orange, Dubbo and the South Coast Regional Victoria Albury/Wodonga, Shepparton, Ballarat, Bendigo and Gippsland Mildura Mildura Griffith Griffith Parts of Regional SA Riverland and Mount Gambier Tasmania All of Tasmania (Southern Cross 7 remains unchanged) Regional WA Mandurah, Bunbury, Albany, Kalgoorlie, Geraldton, Pilbara VAST Western VAST satellite services

Not affected:

Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney

Northern NSW (Gosford, Newcastle, Lismore, Grafton, Coffs Harbour, Tamworth and Taree) and the Gold Coast

Broken Hill and Spencer Gulf (Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, Whyalla)

Remote Central and Eastern Australia (Alice Springs, Coober Pedy, Longreach, Mount Isa, Lightning Ridge)

Eastern VAST satellite service

WIN / 10

Before 1 July 2016 After 1 July 2016 8/81 WIN 8/88 WIN 80 WIN HD (MPEG-4) 80 WIN HD (MPEG-4) 82 GEM 81/86 one 83/88 GO 82 Eleven 84 Life (MPEG-4) 84 TVSN 85 eXtra (MPEG-4) 85 Gold (MPEG-4) 86 Gold (MPEG-4)

Will WIN still support community and sporting organisations and events?

Our commitment to the areas where we broadcast is unchanged. We remain committed to supporting regional areas to assist in creating vibrant communities for our viewers.

What time is the WIN local news broadcast?

WIN News will be broadcast at 6pm each weeknight on Channel 8 and on WINs HD Channel 80. Local news has always been an important and consistent part of WINs commitment to regional Australia.

What happens to Family Feud when the WIN local news moves to 6pm?

Family Feud can be seen at 6pm on Channel 81 and 82 and is broadcast simultaneously on these two channels. Where there isnt WIN News at 6pm on channel 80, Family Feud will be seen at 6pm.

What about the National news, what time is this broadcast?

The National news will be broadcast at 5pm seven days a week and will be known as Ten Eyewitness News, First at Five.

Will I still be able to watch All Australian News, Fishing Australia and Alive and Cooking?

Yes, WIN will still broadcast All Australian News, Fishing Australia and Alive and Cooking.

Will programs be broadcast in HD?

Yes, if you have a HD TV you will still receive programs in HD on the HD channel numbers.

Who can I speak to about WIN Network programs?

You can contact your local WIN Network office or visit the web site wintv.com.au

SOUTHERN CROSS / 9

Before 1 July 2016 After 1 July 2016 5 Southern Cross 5/51 Nine 50 one HD 50 9HD (MPEG-4) 54 TVSN 52 9GEM 55 Eleven 53 9 GO 54 9Life (MPEG-4) July 17 56 Aspire 56 Aspire (MPEG-4)

Southern Cross market maps

What is happening in relation to Northern NSW where Nine/Win broadcasts the Nine channels?

We have renewed our affiliation agreement with Ten in relation to Northern NSW only and will continue to broadcast Ten in Northern NSW.

Is the first step towards a merger between Nine and SCA?

No. Our negotiations have been limited to affiliation issues.

Will I still get 9HD?

Yes you will get 9HD from 1 July.

Will I still get 9Gem, 9Go! and 9Life?

9Gem will be on channel 52 from July 1.

9GO! will be on channel 53 from July 1.

Southern Cross Austereo has ordered and awaiting delivery of the equipment to be able to broadcast 9Life. SCA will be broadcasting 9Life by July 17.

Will SCA broadcast local programming?

In recent years, SCA has been broadcasting news updates but not bulletins to its markets.

Using the strong experience and content of Nine, we will be considerably boosting the local content we broadcast. The ability to provide this news will be built and rolled out over coming months. We will announce our new services when we are in a position to do so.

In the meantime, SCA will comply with its local content quota requirements.

Will I still get all the NRL games I have been getting?

You will get exactly the same NRL games you have been getting. The only difference is that they will now find them on channel 5 (and the 5 series) on your remote control.

Can I still get Nine programs streamed on my phone?

Yes, 9Now will continue unchanged.

Will catch-up still be available?

Yes, 9Now will continue unchanged.

Who can I speak to about Nine programs broadcast in my area?

General inquiries can be made at our website

http://www.southerncrossaustereo.com.au/contact-us/

Joint Ventures: Tasmania / Mildura / Regional WA

Mildura: Nine has agreed to an affiliate deal with a joint venture operated by WIN Corporation and Prime Media Group. Please contact Prime TV.

TDT Tasmania: Updated: A last-minute deal has now been reached for TDT.

Southern Cross 7 remains unchanged.

Regional WA: Updated: A deal was reached on Saturday night.

Further information

Australian Communications and Media Authority

Southern Cross

WIN Television

Prime (for Mildura changes only)

This post updates
TV caption stenographers laid off last week by a live-captioning service are considering pursuing legal action in the Fair Work Commission.

Former employees of ACT-based Caption It were earning as little as $14 an hour, below the minimum wage. Several workers lodged complaints about their low pay, and asked to be switched to better rates before being made redundant by the company.

Caption It is subcontracted to provide closed-captioning on the ABC, as well as for SBS and TEN.

Caption It chief executive Nicole Gilvear confirmed to Fairfax workers were suspended pending disciplinary action, but said it was unrelated to their pay complaints. At least four of the complainants have now been made redundant.

Australias Community and Public Sector Union has since launched an investigation into the payment for television captioning work.

A spokesman for the ABC said it had no direct commercial relationship with Caption It, and was unaware of the matters raised.
Ukrainian citizen is among those killed in suicide attack at Istanbul airport.

Consul General of Ukraine in Istanbul Vasyl Bodnar said this on the air of 112 Ukraine TV channel.

According to preliminary information, the woman died from loss of blood after she had been hit in leg with debris.

"There is information that another citizen of Ukraine may have been injured, but this information is not confirmed yet," Bodnar added.

According to him, the search for Ukrainian citizens among the attack victims is ongoing.

More than 36 people have been killed and a further 147 wounded in a suicide blast at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday night.

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The Dutch government has not yet identified the political and legal formula to complete ratification of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, taking into account the negative results of the relevant referendum held in April.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said this after the European Council meeting, an Ukrinform correspondent in Brussels reports.

"We need a solution that will have legal force and include a lot of issues and discussions raised during the referendum in the Netherlands. And I still do not know the exact formula for this. This can be amendments to the wording or a solution that does not involve changes in the wording of the Association Agreement. I do not know still," the Dutch Prime Minister said.

Rutte warned that if the solution was not found, the Netherlands would not sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.

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On the eve of the Warsaw NATO Summit, U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Tefft has outlined its goals and possible outcomes in an interview with the Voice of America.

"I think it is important to consider this summit in the context. The context is the following: Russia started aggression against Ukraine few years ago. Since then, NATO's actions have been a response to that aggression. NATO is the defensive alliance. Everything that NATO is doing now [preparing to defend the alliance members] is a direct response to what happened in Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014," Tefft said.

The U.S. Ambassador to Russia also recalled that, despite some claims of the Russian authorities, Russia was the party to the Minsk agreements. "We all know that Russia invaded Crimea and that Russian troops and weapons are still in Donbas," he stressed.

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The United Nations Foundations Public Affairs team was recognized for its global communications work by two of the public relations industrys leading publications.

The digital team of the UN Foundation won the title of Social Media Team of the Year at the2016 PR News Social Media Awards. This award was chosen by a jury of peers and honored the years most creative, resourceful and shareable digitial campaigns. The UN Foundation team was praised for its ability to think digital first, highlighting its creation of nimble, impactful activations for its causes. The award was presented at the 2016 Social Media Awards luncheon held recently in Miami.

We believe that modern public relations on global issues can and should be a digital first endeavor, said Aaron Sherinian, UN Foundation Chief Communications and Marketing Officer. Our approach requires not just creativity, but a commitment to listen and engage as much as we post. The digital teams hard work and fresh ideas allow the Foundation to connect more people to the United Nations and important global issues every day in a way that is as much about connection as it is about content.

Sherinian was awarded In-House Global Professional of the Year at the 2016 PRWeek Global Awards that recognized the best and brightest in the global PR industry and honored transformative PR work that crosses borders and continents. The ceremony, which was held in London, was a celebration of communicators from around the world who gathered to debate, discuss, and celebrate the biggest opportunities and challenges for the profession.

UN Foundation President and CEO Kathy Calvin said of the PRWeek award for Sherinian, Aaron has been charged with building a new approach for communications in an era when it matters more than ever. The Foundation is honored to see this title go to our team as they build bridges with the public relations, marketing and media sectors.

###

About the United Nations Foundation

The United Nations Foundation builds public-private partnerships to address the worlds most pressing problems, and broadens support for the United Nations through advocacy and public outreach. Through innovative campaigns and initiatives, the Foundation connects people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. The Foundation was created in 1998 as a U.S. public charity by entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner and now is supported by philanthropic, corporate, government, and individual donors. Learn more at: www.unfoundation.org.
The University of the Sciences announced on Monday that the founding dean of Cooper Medical School, Dr. Paul Katz, would be its 25th university president.

The university had named the founding dean of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. Katz, 68, would be the 25th university president of the University of the Sciences, Philadelphia Media Network reported.

Katz is set to take over the university on Sept. 1. The founding dean is a physician, whom of which specializes in rheumatology. The incoming university president had spent about 40 years working in the fields of health care and higher education.

The founding dean at the Cooper Medical School would replace Kathleen Mayes, whom of which is the interim president since Helen Giles-Gee's resignation in December of 2014.

The university's board chairman, Marvin Samson, had stated that he has "enormous respect" for Katz. Samson added that the founding dean is a visionary in regards with the field of health care, as well as higher education. The board sees the new appointment as a step to a new beginning.

The board also cites that Katz dynamic understanding of the rapidly shifting arenas of health care and higher education makes him the ideal leader the board was aiming for, according to the New Jersey Biz.

Katz has been preceded by two interim presidents, namely Samson and Mayes. Both has been interim leaders at the university for a collective 18 months, since Giles-Gee's resignation in 2014.

The appointment would seem to be an easy transition for both parties, as Katz is familiar with the University of the Sciences because of its academic partnership with Cooper Medical School, according to the Biz Journals.

Katz had stated that one of the first things he plans to accomplish is to establish stability among the university president's office, as it hasn't had a permanent president of late.

The incoming university president is confident with the board's decision, as he believes that the faculty, staff, as well as the students are ready to do things differently at the institution.
The FBI has reportedly "hundreds of millions of dollars" allotted on developing hidden surveillance to be used in national security, as well as aid in domestic law enforcement investigations.

James Burrell, deputy assistant director at the FBI, recently spoke to a workshop roundtable, which was sponsored by the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, according to The Intercept.

The roundtable held its meeting on Thursday and Friday. The meeting's agenda was reportedly about topics that covers academics, scientists, developers, as well as tech officials. The meeting also discussed new technologies, and techniques in the field of encryption.

Burrell stated that the budget of the Operational Technology Division is "hundreds of millions of dollars." The division oversees the bureau's advanced surveillance technology that covers the range from machines aiding covert surveillance to biometric scanners.

Although Burrell did not state a specific amount in regards with the divisions budget, but recent reports have revealed that the FBI's budget for its secret surveillance was estimated to be between $600 million and $800 million, The Washington Post reported.

The attendees at the roundtable discussed whether it's possible to hand law enforcement access to advanced covert devices to spy on it's citizens, without compromising digital security.

Burrell insisted that the budget must be put "into context," and not to be blown out of proportions. The deputy assistant director stated that the funding is typically split between law enforcement and agencies in charge of guarding national security.

The surveillance technology in question is reportedly classified. Burrell stated that the products of the research funded by its budget are sometimes weren't necessarily distributed equally among the agencies and law enforcement, Sputnik News reported.

Burrell had revealed that the OTD develops surveillance technology intended for investigative purposes, with the division's strengths in IT.

Recent events have revealed that the FBI isn't willing to divulge much of its technologies and tactics, as it has come to light that the bureau was willing to concede criminal cases for the sole purpose of keeping its tactics secret.
The top 10 list of institutions that produce top CEOs includes the public research university - University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Money Magazine, a magazine that is published by Time Inc., compiled the high ranked list, in which the data were gathered from the educational backgrounds of the recently unleashed Fortune 500, News Wisc Edu reported.

With the strong business and engineering programs of the University of Wisconsin, plus the institution's reputation as one of the top state flagship universities in the nation, UW really deserves to be one of three public colleges to break into the top 10 list, Money Magazine reported.

Among the top 10 universities are Harvard University, Stanford University, Cornell University, Miami University of Ohio, Princeton University, the United States Military Academy, Pennsylvania University, University of Notre Dame and Texas A&M University.

The University of Wisconsin - Madison Chancellor Rebecca M. Blank, stated that the university did not only prides itself in handing out a world-class education, but also molding their students for success after graduation.

Not only the University of Wisconsin produced numerous graduates who became top CEOs, many of those top CEOs gave back to the institution to help future graduates. Thomas J. Falk, the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Kimberly-Clark Corporation, gave $10 million as a donation to the need-based scholarships and endowed faculty positions.

The University of Wisconsin - Madison has a long history of being recognized for producing CEOs. In 2006, UW-Madison tied for first place with Harvard University for producing CEOs who head Standard & Poor's 500 companies (American stock market index).

On the other hand, the researchers of the University of Wisconsin - Madison studying monkeys have come up a conclusion that one infection with the Zika virus protects against future infection. However, pregnancy may likely to have a strong effect the time the virus stays in the body, Fox 6 Now reported.
Applying to universities in the United States is not a walk in the park as there are arrays of processes international students need to first understand and navigate.

Nearly every US-based university require international students to opt for English as a second language test, such as TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System), along with SAT )Scholastic Aptitude Test) exams for undergraduate students or GRE (Graduate Record Examination) for postgraduates students.

But that's not all. Students should be determined to complete the aforementioned exams before they actually start the university - ideally in the month of August, Times Higher Education reported.

But the complicated admission process is not the sole reason why young Australians looking to commence tertiary study are eight times keener in joining a domestic university rather than one in the United States, even supposing the associated costs are the same.

These statistics stem from a new survey administered by the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney gauging the reputation of US-based universities in the Asia-pacific region.

Authors of the survey asked prospective students from Australia, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and China about their point of view toward studying the United States as compared to the studying in their home country.

In a response that was not short of shocking, only 5 percent of Australian students said they'd "definitely" study at an US-based university.

Given a choice between a local university and one in the United States, South Korean young students were least likely to go for the former, with merely 3 percent of respondents stating they'd "definitely" join a Korean university.

About 40 percent students, on the other hand said they'd rather enrol in an US university, provided costs were no object.

According to Professor Jackman, the older generation shows clear-cut tendency to be pro-America, the young people; however tend to be considerably more leery when it comes to studying in the US. Interestingly, this just flips around when it comes to higher education, The Australian reported.

Undertaking university study in Western countries is not uncommon in East Asian nations such as China, South Korea, and Japan.

Last year, nearly 1 million students from China alone enrolled in some sort of course at Australian universities, government data reveals.

Professor Jackman noted that the stats for Australian students could probably be understood by the anticipated differences (or lack thereof) between the United States and Australia.

Without-a-doubt, there is not much of a quality difference in terms of degree a student might get in the United States or Australia, Professor Jackman noted.
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Meet a Roadrunner: Lamine Bouamrane is a researcher who wants to help people with mental disorders Lamine Bouamrane

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(June 29, 2016) -- Meet Lamine Bouamrane. This postdoctoral fellow came to UTSA because he wanted to learn from the best.

Born and raised in Algeria, Bouamrane earned his master's degree and Ph.D. in genetics and neuroscience at Marseille University in France. Networking in France brought him to UTSA.

"I've always been interested in understanding how the brain works, especially how it generates consciousness and behaviors, and how it processes, codes and stores information. Of course those are difficult questions to address, so I decided to focus on dopamine neurons that are known to be central to these phenomena," Bouamrane said. "My old boss in Marseille told me if I wanted to be close to this field, the right guy to meet is Dr. Carlos Paladini."

Under Paladini, associate professor of biology and an investigator in the UTSA Neurosciences Institute, Bouamrane is studying dopamine neurons to determine how they work and how they influence behavior. He hopes to better understand brain function and dysfunction.

"Using various methods, we are trying to figure out what are the mechanisms and the parts of the brain that control the activity of neurons that release dopamine," said Bouamrane.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a major role in reward-motivated behavior and motor control. Alterations in dopamine signaling contribute to brain disorders such as addiction, Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia.

"Understanding how these neurons work could allow us to control their activity, and therefore could lead to new efficient ways of helping people suffering from these diseases," said Bouamrane.

Helping people with these diseases hits close to home for Bouamrane.

"I'm really interested in schizophrenia because I have a lot of cases in my family," Bouamrane said. "If I can understand these disorders, I can go further in trying to help people."

At UTSA, Bouamrane is surrounded by a team of top-tier researchers, like Paladini and Charles Wilson, who holds the Ewing Halsell Chair in Biology and directs the UTSA Neurosciences Institute.

"This is such a great opportunity because I'm working with the smartest people I've ever met," Bouamrane said. "I'm learning a new way of thinking and observing from Dr. Paladini. Dr. Wilson is the best scientist I've ever seen in my life. He is impressive and I'm really happy to be here in this environment, and work with these people."

Despite living thousands of miles from his home country, Bouamrane has found a new home at UTSA.

"The campus is alive. It's always moving," he said.

Now he hopes to encourage his girlfriend, who's working on her Ph.D. in neuroscience in France, to come to UTSA after she graduates.

"I'm telling her to come here because I want her to succeed," said Bouamrane. "I tell her about the Tier One education at UTSA. "

-------------------------------

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Nine UW Projects Awarded Summer Use of Supercomputer in Cheyenne

Nine new projects, headed by UW researchers, were recently chosen to receive computational time and storage space on the supercomputer in Cheyenne. (UW Photo)

Nine projects, a number of which have applications to atmospheric science issues, were recently chosen to receive computational time and storage space on the supercomputer in Cheyenne.

University of Wyoming faculty members and, in one case, a graduate student, will head projects that will use the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center ( NWSC). Each project was critically reviewed by an external panel of experts and evaluated on the experimental design, computational effectiveness, efficiency of resource use, and broader impacts such as how the project involves both UW and NCAR researchers; strengthens UW's research capacity; enhances UW's computational programs; or involves research in a new or emerging field.

The Wyoming-NCAR Allocations Panel evaluated a record-high nine requests, says Bryan Shader, UWs special assistant to the vice president for research and economic development, and professor of mathematics. The projects were granted allocations totaling 42.6 million core hours of computing time on Yellowstone and will enable some incredible science on issues of importance to Wyoming, the U.S. and the world. Given that Wyomings share of the NWSC is 75 million core hours, these allocations and the more than 40 million (core hours) allocated in February show more than full utilization of the resource.

Twenty-five UW-led projects used Yellowstone (the nickname for the supercomputer) in 2015, and this places Wyoming as the top university in total allocations, users and usage among the more than 150 universities that use the NWSC.

Since the supercomputer came on line during October 2012, allocations have been made to 65 UW research projects, including these latest nine, which commence July 1.

The newest projects, with a brief description and principal investigators, are as follows:

-- Maohang Fan, a UW professor of petroleum engineering, heads a project, titled Application of Density Functional Theory in CO2 Capture and Conversion Research. The project, partially funded by the Department of Energy, seeks to design promising catalysts for capturing and converting carbon dioxide. Collaborators include Wenyong Wang, a UW professor of physics and astronomy; Ted Russell, the Howard T. Tellepsen Chair and Regents Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech; and Hongtao Yu, professor and chair in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Jackson State University.

-- Bart Geerts, a UW professor of atmospheric science, heads the project, titled Regional Climate Change Assessment in the Interior Western USA Using a Dynamical Downscaling Method with CCSM Bias Corrections: Focus on Precipitation and Snowpack. The project focuses on better understanding how the distribution of precipitation, snowpack and stream-flow in the headwaters region of Wyoming are expected to change over the next 30-40 years. A better understanding of long-term changes in Wyoming watersheds is of great interest to the states water obligations and water development opportunities, as well as to agricultural and forestry interests in the state, and to downstream stakeholders.

Collaborators include UW postdoctoral student Yonggang Wang, UW doctoral student Xiaoqing Jing and Changhai Liu, a scientist from NCARs Research Applications Laboratory. The project is partially supported by the Wyoming Water Development Commission.

-- Zachary Lebo, a UW assistant professor of atmospheric science, leads a project, titled Investigating Forecast Performance in Wyoming Using a High-Resolution Numerical Weather Prediction Model. Lebo is interested in better understanding factors that result in forecast errors for weather across Wyoming and, in using this understanding, to create better prediction tools for ground blizzards. His project will lay the groundwork for a real-time Wyoming forecasting operation, and aspects of the project and modeling will be incorporated into UWs Introduction to Atmospheric Science undergraduate course.

-- Xiahong Liu, a UW professor of atmospheric science and the Wyoming Excellence Chair in Climate, will lead two projects. The first, titled Quantifying the Impacts of Absorbing Aerosols on Rocky Mountain Regional Climate, seeks to better understand the impacts on regional climate from the presence of light-absorbing aerosols, such as dust and particles from fires or pollution on top of snow.

Xiahong Liu, a UW professor of atmospheric science and the Wyoming Excellence Chair in Climate, will lead two research projects that will have use of the supercomputer in Cheyenne. (UW Photo)

Collaborators include Louisa Emmons, Simone Tilmes, Andrew Gettelman and Mary Barth from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR); and Chun Zhao, Yun Qian and Ruby Leun from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The project is partially funded by the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Tier-1 Engineering Initiative.

The second project, titled Modeling the Impacts of Biomass Burning Aerosols on Marine Stratocumulus Clouds Using a Hierarchical Modeling System, will study the effects of particulates from wildfires on cloud formation.

Collaborators include NCARs Emmons, Tilmes, Barth and Gettelman; Yuhang Wang, professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology; and Yun Qian, of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The project is partially supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF)/Department of Energy grant.

-- Subhashis Mallick, a UW geology and geophysics professor, will lead the project, titled Anistropic Reverse-Time Mitigation and Full-Wave Form Inversion of Single and Multicomponent Seismic Data and Joint Inversion Single Component Seismic and Electromagnetic Data. The project will develop the key analytic tools needed to use seismic studies to determine the storage capacity, optimum resource recovery, and other qualities of subsurface reservoirs as carbon dioxide storage and sequestration sites.

-- Scott Miller, a UW professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, heads a project, titled Integrating Dynamically Downscaled Climate Data with Hydrologic Models. The project will couple atmospheric and hydrologic models to study the impacts on water resources and flow regimes in the Crow Creek watershed in southeast Wyoming under different climate scenarios. This is one of the main watersheds providing water to Cheyenne. The project is supported by an NSF grant, called Water in a Changing West.

-- Fred Ogden, a UW professor in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, leads a project, titled ADHydro Model Development, that will further develop and test a large-scale hydrological model that incorporates the groundwater-surface water interactions that are of importance in management of reservoirs, diversions, etc. Both National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. National Water Center are considering incorporating Ogdens ADHydro model into their models.

-- Wei Wang, a UW graduate student majoring in geology and geophysics, will undertake a project, titled Near-Surface Adjoint Tomography Based on the Discontinuous Galerkin Method. The goal of his study is to image and study a portion of the Earths critical zone, or the portion of the Earth between bedrock and treetops. In particular, Wang will use near-surface seismic data to understand how rocks and soil weather. Research will focus on a site near Blair-Wallis in southeastern Wyoming. The project is partially supported by the NSF grant Water in a Changing West.

By the numbers

The most recent recommended allocations total 42.6 million core hours, 270 terabytes of archival storage, and 47,000 hours on data analysis and visualization systems, Shader says. To provide some perspective on what these numbers mean, here are some useful comparisons. In simplest terms, Yellowstone can be thought of as 72,576 personal computers that are cleverly interconnected to perform as one computer. The computational time allocated is equivalent to the use of the entire supercomputer for 24.5 days, 24 hours a day. The 270 terabytes of storage would be enough to store the entire printed collection of the U.S. Library of Congress more than 20 times.

Yellowstone consists of about 70,000 processors, also known as cores. An allocation of one core hour allows a project to run one of these processors for one hour, or 1,000 of these for 1/1,000th of an hour.

The successor to the Yellowstone cluster, to be called Cheyenne, is scheduled to come online in early 2017. It is anticipated that Yellowstone will be retired in late 2017. In fall 2017, Wyoming researchers will have an opportunity to apply for early opportunities to use Cheyenne for ambitious projects that utilize Cheyennes increased capabilities.

In late 2016, Wyoming researchers will be able to apply for regular allocations on Cheyenne. Wyomings share of Cheyenne will be around 160 million core hours per year. The new high-performance computer will be a 5.34-petaflop system, meaning it can carry out 5.34 quadrillion calculations per second. It will be capable of more than 2.5 times the amount of scientific computing performed by Yellowstone.

The NWSC is the result of a partnership among the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research ( UCAR), the operating entity for NCAR; UW; the state of Wyoming; Cheyenne LEADS; the Wyoming Business Council; and Black Hills Energy. The NWSC is operated by NCAR under sponsorship of the NSF.

The NWSC contains one of the world's most powerful supercomputers dedicated to improving scientific understanding of climate change, severe weather, air quality and other vital atmospheric science and geo-science topics. The center also houses a premier data storage and archival facility that holds historical climate records and other information.
Public Event for New UW President July 5 in Riverton

UW President Laurie Nichols

Fremont County residents have an opportunity to meet new University of Wyoming President Laurie Nichols during a public event Tuesday, July 5, at Central Wyoming College in Riverton.

A public reception is scheduled 4-6 p.m. at CWCs Intertribal Education and Community Center. Light refreshments will be served at the event, hosted by the UW Alumni Association and others.

The public event is part of a trip for the UW president to Fremont County that will include meetings with community leaders, legislators, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribal officials, and media representatives.

During her first months in office, Nichols is spending a day or two of each week traveling around the state to meet with citizens, community college and public school leaders, legislators, alumni, media and others.

Im having a wonderful time getting around the state to meet with people and hear their thoughts and expectations for Wyomings university, says Nichols, who began her duties as president May 16. This is a crucial time for the state and UW, and input from the public is important to make sure the university fulfills its land-grant mission of education, research and service to the entire state.

Nichols comes to UW from South Dakota State University, where she has served as provost and executive vice president since 2009. Before that, she was dean of the SDSU College of Education and Human Sciences from 1994 to 2008. She began her career in higher education as a member of the faculty of the University of Idaho from 1988 to 1994.

Nichols was born and raised in South Dakota. A first-generation college graduate, she received a bachelors degree in education from South Dakota State in 1978. She then earned a masters degree in vocational and adult education from Colorado State University in 1984 and a Ph.D. in family and consumer sciences education from Ohio State University in 1988.
SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Michele Castillo.

By Marjorie Hernandez of the Ventura County Star

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday announced the appointment of a former deputy public defender and court commissioner to a judgeship.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Michele M. Castillo, 47, was sworn into her new position Tuesday, but a formal ceremony will take place in the next few weeks.

Castillo is filling a vacancy left by the retirement of Judge Rebecca Riley in November.

Castillo served as a commissioner for the past two years, overseeing hearings involving domestic violence, civil harassment, workplace violence, child and spousal support, and restraining-order matters in Courtroom 35.

Castillo joined the Ventura County Public Defender's Office in 2005, defending indigent people in felony, misdemeanor, juvenile delinquency and special courts, including mental health, veterans and homeless courts.

Before working for the Ventura County Public Defender's Office, Castillo was a deputy public defender in Fresno County from 2003-05 and a criminal defense attorney for John A. Barker and Associates in 2002-03.

She is a graduate of UCLA and earned her law degree from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego.
STOCK PHOTO

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By The Associated Press

A Calabasas resident was among three men arrested Tuesday on charges that they cheated investors who thought they were contributing over $12 million to produce major films, only to discover their money went to other projects and to pay personal expenses, officials said.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in New York said in a release announcing charges against James David Williams, Steven Brown and Gerald Seppala that the defendants used "lies about making feature-length films and documentaries" to entice investors. An indictment did not identify the films.

A 2014 civil lawsuit against the men in Los Angeles federal court said they claimed investors' money would go toward films starring Nicolas Cage, Willie Nelson and Harry Connick Jr., among others.

In the criminal case, Manhattan prosecutors said the defendants made false promises and representations from 2012 to this year. They said the money was used to fund other projects, pay back previously defrauded investors and to pay personal expenses, including the purchase of a car and house for Williams.

Williams, 54, of Calabasas, was arrested in Los Angeles. Brown, 46, of Santa Monica, was arrested in New York City, while Seppala, 47, of Wayzata, Minnesota, was arrested in Wayzata. The men face conspiracy and wire fraud charges that carry potential penalties of decades in prison.

Brown was freed on $200,000 bail. His Manhattan attorney, Walter Mack, said only: "Innocent until proven guilty. Stay tuned." It was not immediately clear who was representing Williams and Seppala in the criminal case. A lawyer who represented the men in the civil case declined comment.

The lawsuit, brought by Bill A. Busbice Jr., of Jackson, Wyoming, said that he and two companies lost $10.9 million in "a bold and brazen securities fraud" as the defendants claimed they were investing in four films: "Made in America," ''The Letters," ''Left Behind" and "Angels Sing."

The lawsuit said the plaintiffs discovered they had been conned because the defendants did not invest their money in the films and they provided fake business and financial records.

Paul L. Gale, an attorney for Busbice, declined comment.
LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR A new area code will be added in 2018 to a region currently served by a number that has emerged as a brand.

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By Tom Kisken of the Ventura County Star

Scoot over 805. It looks like company's coming.

California Public Utilities Commission officials are launching a process to add a new area code in a three-plus county region now served by a number that is a brand, identity and a symbol of home.

The change is needed in June 2018, pushed by the necessity of providing more telephone numbers in the area. Without the change, available prefixes are expected to be depleted by December 2018.

"We call it area code exhaust," said Joe Cocke of the North American Numbering Plan Administration, which administers phone numbers in 20 countries. Similar scenarios are playing out in Sacramento's 916 area code, Los Angeles's 323 and San Diego's 619.

In an 805 plan recommended by phone companies and still in need of approval from the Public Utilities Commission, people would be able to keep their current numbers and area codes. Customers who ask for new numbers in June 2018 and beyond could receive a different area code.

That exact number won't be assigned until the commission's final approval, which could come next year, Cocke said. Public meetings on the change are scheduled for August.

The commission appears focused on one scenario: an area code for new consumers. However, Cocke said there is another option. It involves splitting off part of the 805 region and tagging it with the new area code.

The chances of such a split are remote because it involves people giving up an area code, Cocke said. It hasn't been implemented in the U.S. in nine years.

To many Ventura County residents, 805 is more than an area code. It names businesses and products, from a magazine to a blonde ale made by Firestone Walker.

It's a hashtag, tattoo and badge of pride.

"To me it's just home," said Mirella Escamillo of Oxnard who has lived here since she was 1. Like others, she was relieved to hear she'll likely be able to keep her area code.

"It's almost like it's been etched in us," said Lydia Bracamontes of Santa Paula. She has lived in the county for 64 years and worried the change meant the county was growing too big.

Others noted wryly other communities have experienced and survived area code changes.

"It's no big deal," said Dean Myring, a produce exporter from Ventura. It's a way to fill the growing need for more numbers.

"There are too many 10- and 12-year-olds who need phones," he said with a smile.

When Lynne Andujar launched 805 Living magazine in 2004, a handful of businesses used the area code in their names. Now dozens do, she said, predicting the addition of a new area code won't diminish the meaning of 805.

"It really represents a state of mind and a lifestyle that reflects the incredible area we live in," she said. "The 805 is not going away."

The area code covers nearly all of Ventura County except for puzzle-shaped pieces off the Pacific Coast Highway and near the Conejo and Simi valleys. It also covers most of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties with slices in Kern and Monterey counties.

Some observers predicted another byproduct of a new area code: Confusion.

If a new area code is added for new customers, people will have to include 10 digits in every phone call, Cocke said, adding that anxiety and concerns often accompany area code adjustments.

"It's a human nature to resist change," he said. "I think the concerns fade."

Public meetings on the area code will be held in Oxnard, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The Oxnard session will be held at 2 p.m. Aug. 22 at city council chambers, 300 West 3rd St. For more information, go to http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/805areacode.
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By Wendy Leung of the Ventura County Star

It's been a monthlong birthday party for the Oxnard Farmers Market.

The weekly gathering of farmers and shoppers has been going on for the past 25 years. This month, the operator, Downtown Oxnard Merchants Association, has been leading children's activities and sharing social media promotions to celebrate the milestone.

Many people are sharing memories, too.

Irma Suarez of Azteca Farms in Piru has been selling everything from dandelion greens to squash blossoms at the Thursday market for the past 17 years.

"It was super slow at first," Suarez said.

She would go home at the end of the day selling just $100 worth of produce.

Suarez and her family stuck with it and as the market grew in popularity, more shoppers got to know her.

"This is our way of making a living," Suarez said. "We go to markets five days a week. We're a small farmer. We grow it, we pick it, we sell it."

Azteca Farms travels to markets in Camarillo, Channel Islands Harbor and elsewhere in Los Angeles County.

Suarez said she likes to research the nutritional content of her produce so she can explain to shoppers what's best for their health.

"In L.A., everybody juices," Suarez said. "People here barely know what kale is."

The Downtown Oxnard Merchants Association took over the management of the market in 2014.

Ariana Segura, manager of the market, said the association has been hosting more events, trying to get families to come out to enjoy lunch, live music and shopping.

"My favorite thing about the farmers market is being able to be outside and talking to the farmers who directly grow your produce," Segura said. "You get to hear about the whole crop season and what is the best to be consumed."

Oxnard Farmers Market is open from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursdays at Plaza Park at Fifth and C streets.
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By Tony Biasotti

Oxnard police arrived at the scene of a car accident late Friday night and found a woman dead, and her car smashed against a tree.

But the crash didn't kill Oxnard resident Melissa Rodriguez, 19. Shortly after pronouncing her dead, police officers and paramedics found a gunshot wound to her head, according to a statement released Saturday by the Oxnard Police Department.

The crash and the shooting occurred a little before 11:30 p.m. on Ironbark Drive, in a residential neighborhood near H Street and just south of Gonzales Road. Police were called to the scene with a report of a car accident, and when they were on the way, they received another call reporting shots fired in the area.

Rodriguez's relatives, who gathered at her parents' home on Saturday afternoon, said Rodriguez's boyfriend lived in the neighborhood where she was killed.

Rodriguez's cousin was in the passenger seat of the car, family members said. She blacked out and doesn't remember the shooting or the crash, but she does recall sitting in the parked car on Ironbark Court while Rodriguez argued with her boyfriend.

Oxnard police would not comment on the case, except to state that they have not arrested anyone and are continuing to investigate.

Rodriguez worked at a Bank of America branch in Oxnard and attended Oxnard College. She was a 2007 graduate of Pacifica High School, and lived in a new subdivision near the school with her mother, stepfather, younger brother and two young half-brothers.

Her oldest brother, 13-year-old Tristan Rodriguez, said Melissa was "outgoing, fun, just a happy person."

"She loved her family so much," he said.
New Requirements for Machinery, Equipment to Take Effect on July 1, 2o16

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) issued a decree describing the requirements and procedures for import of used machinery, equipment and production lines which will take effect on July 1, 2016. Under the decree: used machinery, equipment and production lines which are not specifically prohibited from importing into the country may be imported if they meet the following conditions:

They are imported within 10 years from the manufacture date.

They are manufactured based on standards which conform to Vietnams National Technical Standards or National Standards; or that confirm with standards of G7 countries on safety, energy saving and environment protection.

The above requirements are exempted if the list of machinery, equipment and production lines has been approved in the investment license application dossier. In addition, used replacement components and spare parts can only be imported if companies need to fox or replace the currently used ones.

New Regulation on Offshore Indirect Investment

Decree 135, regulating offshore investment by Vietnamese investors or individuals, went into effect on February 15, 2016. The regulation allows Vietnamese individuals or corporate entities that are established in the country to participate in offshore indirect investment. This also includes foreign invested companies with less than 51 percent foreign capital. Nevertheless, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) is expected to issue a circular on procedures and processes of how to implement the process for individuals.

The offshore indirect investment will be done by two ways: proprietary trading of offshore indirect investment and entrusted offshore indirect investment. In addition, investors can only use their own foreign currency rather than using borrowed funds. While the new regulation is a good step in allowing outbound securities investment from Vietnam, the SBV and Ministry of Planning (MOF) still need to issue the various processes on how to do so. Locals can expect that such procedures should be issued before December 31 of this year.

Startups to Benefit from Proposed Tax Reduction

The Ministry of Finance has proposed to reduce corporate income tax particularly to aid small and medium enterprises. The ministry has proposed two ways to do this, one is by applying a general tax rate of 17 percent from January 1st of this year to 2020 for small and medium enterprises or reducing the general tax rate to 15 percent from the current 20 percent from January 1 of this year to 2020. The ministry has also proposed to reduce the corporate income tax for start-ups with investment projects in preferential areas or undeveloped and rural areas. It has proposed applying a tax rate of 10 percent in 15 years; tax exemption for four years and reduce 50 percent of the tax payable in the next nine years for new projects. The draft is being prepared for comments from the Parliament which will meet in October.



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Annual Audit and Compliance in Vietnam 2016

In this issue of Vietnam Briefing, we address pressing changes to audit procedures in 2016, and provide guidance on how to ensure that compliance tasks are completed in an efficient and effective manner. We highlight the continued convergence of VAS with IFRS, discuss the emergence of e-filing, and provide step-by-step instructions on audit and compliance procedures for Foreign Owned Enterprises (FOEs) as well as Representative Offices (ROs).

Navigating the Vietnam Supply Chain

In this edition of Vietnam Briefing, we discuss the advantages of the Vietnamese market over its regional competition and highlight where and how to implement successful investment projects. We examine tariff reduction schedules within the ACFTA and TPP, highlight considerations with regard to rules of origin, and outline the benefits of investing in Vietnams growing economic zones. Finally, we provide expert insight into the issues surrounding the creation of 100 percent Foreign Owned Enterprise in Vietnam.

Tax, Accounting and Audit in Vietnam 2016 (2nd Edition)

This edition of Tax, Accounting, and Audit in Vietnam, updated for 2016, offers a comprehensive overview of the major taxes foreign investors are likely to encounter when establishing or operating a business in Vietnam, as well as other tax-relevant obligations. This concise, detailed, yet pragmatic guide is ideal for CFOs, compliance officers and heads of accounting who must navigate Vietnams complex tax and accounting landscape in order to effectively manage and strategically plan their Vietnam operations.
United Nations General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft(L) speaks before the election of five non-permanent members of the Security Council at the United Nations in New York. (AFP/Kena Betancur)

Five non-permanent seats were up for grabs in the vote by the UN General Assembly, three of which were filled in a first round of secret ballot voting.

Kazakhstan beat out Thailand in a second round, picking up 138 votes against 55 for Thailand and winning a council seat for the first time since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Among the world's top aid donors, Sweden garnered 134 votes, scoring an outright win.

The Netherlands and Italy failed during three rounds to pick up the required majority and a new vote for the second seat reserved to western Europe was scheduled for 1900 GMT.

Applause rang out at the assembly hall after Sweden's victory was announced.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said she was "happy and proud" to see her country join the UN's top table, pledging to focus firmly on conflict resolution.

"With 40 conflicts and 11 full-blown wars, it is a very, very worrisome world that we have to take into account," Wallstrom said.

Italy has lobbied fiercely for a council seat, portraying itself as a crossroads country in the Mediterranean and touting its experience dealing with the refugee crisis.

The European country is also seen as a player in efforts to pull Libya out of chaos.

The Netherlands, home to the International Criminal Court and other world tribunals, has played up its commitment to international justice.

A FIRST FOR KAZAKHSTAN

Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrissov said "we are very proud to be the first central Asian country to serve on the council" and pledged to focus on nuclear non-proliferation and development.

Close to Russia, Kazakhstan gave up its nuclear arsenal after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

The five newly-elected countries will take their place alongside the five permanent council members - Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States.

The other five non-permanent members are: Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay.

The new members will begin their stint on January 1, just as the next secretary-general takes the helm following an October election to replace Ban Ki-moon.

Running unopposed as the candidate from Africa, Ethiopia picked up 185 votes.

With some 8,100 troops deployed in UN missions, Ethiopia is the largest contributor of UN peacekeepers and has been active in trying to mediate an end the war in South Sudan.

Bolivia, which had the backing of Latin American and Caribbean countries, won 183 votes.

The vote for a seat at the top diplomatic table caps years of lobbying by contenders.

As the ballot got underway, delegates at the 193-nation General Assembly were handed gift bags with miniature tulips and wooden shoes from the Netherlands, Baci chocolates from Italy and a buddha figurine from Thailand.
British Prime Minister David Cameron (L) shakes hands with European Union Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (R) prior to a meeting at the European Union Commission headquarters in Brussels on Jun 28, 2016. (AFP/Thierry Charlier)

Five days after Britons stunned the European Union by voting to quit the 28-nation bloc, key European leaders bluntly told Britain they wanted it to leave quickly - and not expect special treatment.

European President Donald Tusk said the bloc was ready to start divorce proceedings with Britain "even today" and the European Parliament called on Britain to initiate the departure process "as soon as possible."

In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Cameron could not "cherry-pick" in the exit negotiations - and there would be a price for Britain to pay.

"Anyone wishing to leave this family cannot expect to lose all the obligations but keep the privileges," Merkel told the German parliament.

Cameron said he wants the "closest possible" relations with the EU, adding the split should be "as constructive as possible".

"These countries are our neighbours, our friends, our allies, our partners," he added as he arrived at the summit. "I very much hope we'll seek the closest possible relationship in terms of trade and cooperation and security, because that is good for us and that is good for them."

The summit, starting mid-afternoon, takes place amid deep anger among the 27 other European leaders over Cameron's decision firstly to call the 'Brexit' referendum - and secondly his handling of the campaign itself.

That resentment has been compounded by fury over suspicions that Britain will now drag its feet over leaving, which would boost rising eurosceptic forces within the EU.

Cameron, who had fought to remain in the EU and has said he will step down, told his parliament on Monday that he will not yet start the two-year countdown on leaving the EU.

It begins when Britain formally invokes Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty. His successor is not expected to be appointed until September.

But European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, speaking in a stormy session of the European Parliament where he was heckled by Brexiteer Nigel Farage, told Cameron to waste no time, adding: "No notification (of Article 50), no negotiation".

"It is we who must decide what happens, not just those who wish to leave the European Union," Juncker said, echoing comments on Monday from Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Berlin.

NO 'SECRET TALKS'

Juncker said he had banned officials from holding "secret" talks with Britain. "There will be no informal or formal talks on the exit of Britain until an application has been filed to leave the European Union," Merkel has said.

Stoking the pressure, the European Parliament on Tuesday passed a resolution at an emergency session calling for Britain to trigger Article 50 - which initiates the Brexit process - "as soon as possible."

Facing boos and jeers from fellow MEPs, Farage said he had had the last laugh and predicted Britain would not be the only state to leave the EU.

"Isn't it funny. When I came here 17 years ago and I said I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the EU, you all laughed at me but you are not laughing now," said Farage, who nevertheless shared a hug with Juncker.

But Britain's decision has also put the remaining 27 members of the EU - who will meet without Cameron on Wednesday - under pressure to come up with an adequate response to stop other countries following Britain out of the door.

Germany, France and Italy have urged steps among the rest of the EU jointly to boost cooperation on security as well as programmes to boost economic growth and youth employment.

Tusk on Tuesday proposed holding a meeting in September to discuss the bloc's future.

TURMOIL IN BRITAIN

The referendum result has caused an earthquake in British politics. It has not only forced Cameron to quit but also left opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn fighting for his political life.

Around 20 members of Corbyn's shadow cabinet have resigned and the result of a secret ballot of Labour MPs on a no-confidence motion on his leadership is expected to be announced later Tuesday.

Jockeying has meanwhile begun within the Conservatives to replace Cameron, with former London mayor and key Brexit proponent Boris Johnson and interior minister Theresa May considered front-runners.

The winner may call a general election later this year.

MARKETS SPOOKED

Investors, meanwhile, remain deeply unsettled at the prospect of one of the EU's biggest economies leaving the bloc, wiping billions off stocks worldwide since the shock referendum result - markets had banked on "Bremain" - last Friday.

Late Monday, Standard & Poor's slashed Britain's cherished triple-A credit rating by two notches with a long-term negative outlook, while Fitch cut its rating from 'AA+' to 'AA', with a negative outlook.

Both ratings agencies listed a possible second referendum on Scottish independence as a significant risk. Britain as a whole voted by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave the EU but 62 per cent of Scots voted to stay.

The pound actually rose slightly on Tuesday, but this came after sterling hit a new 31-year low in New York and analysts warned the currency could face fresh selling as the crisis develops.

Similarly Asian stocks rallied and Europe's main indices rebounded Tuesday from recent Brexit-driven heavy losses, with London's FTSE 100, Frankfurt's DAX 30 and the CAC 40 in Paris all rising more than two per cent.

"None of the chaos induced by last Friday is anywhere near going away: the country is still without its next prime minister, the Labour party is in disarray, and the actual process to exit the EU has not even begun," Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell told AFP.
EU Ambassador to Vietnam Bruno Angelet

Speaking to the press in Hanoi on June 28, the Ambassador said he regretted the outcome of the recent Britains referendum on leaving the EU.



This could affect Vietnam, he said, adding that it is however still early to consider the level of influence.



As Vietnam and the EU have concluded negotiations on the bilateral free trade agreement, and are reviewing legal documents and translating the contents of the pact, the EU and Vietnams Ministry of Industry and Trade will push ahead with technical cooperation in the coming time to complete the aforesaid tasks, he noted.



The diplomat said he hopes the signing of the bilateral FTA will take place next year so that it could be implemented in early 2018 as scheduled.



The EU is ranking third among countries and territories investing in Vietnam, while Vietnam is leading ASEAN in exporting to the EU, he said, pledging that he will do his utmost to call for more investment in the Southeast Asian country.
The leader of Britain's opposition Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, leaves his home in London, Britain June 27, 2016. Photo source REUTERS/Neil Hall

Corbyn, who has the crucial backing of labour unions and was elected last year in a landslide by ordinary Labour party members, was defeated by 172 to 40 of the 229 Labour lawmakers in the non-binding vote.

But the 67-year-old self-declared pacifist, who won the Labour leadership despite warnings that he would take the party backwards and was unelectable, insisted he would not stand down.

"I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60 per cent of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning. Today's vote by MPs has no constitutional legitimacy," he said in a statement.

'NO CONSTITUTIONAL LEGITIMACY'

"Today's vote by MPs has no constitutional legitimacy," he added.

Five days after Britain's shock referendum vote, the two parties that have dominated Westminster for nearly a century - Labour and Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives - are in almost complete disarray.

Cameron announced his resignation last Friday, hours after the historic EU referendum vote handed victory to the Leave campaign by 52 per cent to 48 for Remain.

Corbyn, who has long had a strained relationship with Labour's MPs, almost immediately came under pressure to quit because of his lacklustre role in promoting the Remain camp, which Labour officially campaigned for.

A seemingly endless string of his front bench team then quit in coordinated fashion, each releasing withering resignation letters, and on Friday two of them proposed the no-confidence motion which was voted upon Tuesday.

If Corbyn continues to defy calls to resign, the next obvious step is for him to face a leadership challenge.

Media reports ON Tuesday suggested that his former business spokeswoman Angela Eagle could be preparing to launch a bid to succeed Corbyn.

The Labour turmoil comes amid speculation that, whoever succeeds Cameron as Conservative leader and prime minister, may be tempted to call an early election later this year.

'TROTSKYIST FANTASY'

Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said his party faced an "apocalypse" if an election was held and Corbyn was still in office. "It's probably the worst crisis since Labour's formation," he told Sky News.

"Mr Corbyn's position is wholly untenable. This I'm afraid is a very old Trotskyist fantasy, that somehow or other he'll be able to bypass parliament."

Meanwhile, the starting gun on the Tory leadership race is set to be fired this week as nominations open on Wednesday to succeed Cameron. They will close at noon on Thursday, and the new leader is expected to be announced on Sep 9.

Former London mayor and "Leave" figurehead Boris Johnson is tipped as the frontrunner along with Home Secretary Theresa May.

On Tuesday pro-EU finance minister George Osborne, long seen as a possible Cameron successor, ruled himself out saying: "I am not the person to provide the unity my party needs at this time."

British media reported that Work and Pensions Minister Stephen Crabb, a virtual unknown to the British public, will put his name forward.

A new poll Tuesday put May in the lead with 31 per cent, against 24 per cent for Johnson.

If more than two candidates stand, Tory MPs will vote next week to whittle down the field to two nominees, before the new leader is chosen by a postal ballot of party members, who currently number around 150,000.

Critics have questioned whether the "Leave" camp - and Johnson in particular - has any idea how to manage the unprecedented situation left by last week's vote.

"He has still to offer anything like a concrete plan on how he would negotiate the post-Brexit future," wrote former BBC political editor Nick Robinson.

He added: "The fallout from the biggest exercise in popular democracy has already been dramatic ... It has, though, only just begun.
A scientist holds up a lab mouse. (AFP/File/Pierre Andrieu)

Two prototype vaccines tested on lab mice "provided complete protection against the Zika virus" with just a single shot, reported the first team.

"These findings certainly raise optimism that the development of a safe and effective vaccine against Zika virus for humans may be successful," said Dan Barouch, director of the Harvard Medical School's Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, who co-authored a paper in Nature.

His optimism was echoed in a separate study into Zika infection in rhesus macaques - close genetic relatives of humans and well-matched animal models for medical testing.

In a study in sister journal Nature Communications, a US-based team said they managed for the first time to infect lab monkeys with the Zika virus. And they found that a single infection, mostly symptom-free as in humans, provided "complete protection" against later Zika exposure.

"This is a key finding because it means that a vaccine could be quite effective against the virus," said study co-author Dawn Dudley of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "It also indicates that people who are already infected with Zika virus are not susceptible to future infection, for example during a future pregnancy."

PREGNANCY FEARS DEEPEN

Benign in most people, Zika has been linked to a form of severe brain damage called microcephaly in babies, and to rare adult-onset neurological problems such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which can result in paralysis and death.

In an outbreak that started last year, about 1.5 million people have been infected with Zika in Brazil, and more than 1,600 babies born with abnormally small heads and brains.

On the downside, Dudley's team found that the virus persisted as much as two months longer in pregnant monkeys as non-pregnant ones, who were generally virus-free within 10 days after infection.

One hypothesis was that the foetuses themselves are infected, and remain so for much longer than adults.

"(M)y concern for Zika virus in pregnancy is much higher now than it was six months ago," Dudley said of the discovery.

The macaque babies have yet to be born.

There is no cure or vaccine for Zika, but the World Health Organization said in April that more than 60 companies and research institutions were working on drug candidates - including 18 vaccines targeting women of childbearing age.

Barouch said the two vaccines his team tested worked against two strains of the Zika virus, including one from the Brazil outbreak.

This was the first report of complete Zika protection in an animal model, he claimed, and "a step forward in the development of a Zika virus vaccine." It was unclear, though, how long the immunity lasts.

At least one other vaccine, developed by US biotech firm Inovio Pharmaceuticals, prompts animals to produce virus-attacking Zika antibodies, but this was not necessarily the same as full protection, Barouch explained.

Inovio recently received approval to conduct a Phase I safety trial in humans.

Outside experts welcomed the studies but highlighted a number of unknowns.

"DNA vaccines that work in mice have a sorry history of not working in humans," Peter Openshaw, president of the British Society for Immunology, cautioned via the Science Media Centre.

Crucially, it was not clear if the vaccines also produced antibodies against other viruses in the Zika family, such as dengue, which could cross-react with the Zika antibodies to dangerously enhance infection, commentators said.

Dengue is endemic in Brazil. It usually causes flu-like symptoms, but about one percent of patients develop a haemorrhagic fever which claims some 22,000 lives every year.

Before human trials can begin, the vaccines will have to be tested on other Zika strains in mice, and then in monkeys, said the experts.
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Try our home page: https://vir.com.vn/ - Vietnam Investment Review - VIR
Viettels representatives receive the awards. This is the first time Viet Nam has won the prize at the IT World Awards. Photo viettel

Its two applications of Antispam and BCCS 2.0 were also given bronze awards. This has been the first year Viettel competed at the awards in the US  the world biggest IT incubator. It means that Vietnamese IT products could compete with other competitors in the world market.

The online money transfers and payments via mobile phones, Bankplus also won the award for the best financial service in the Asia-Pacific region held by MasterCard for its outstanding results in promoting e-payments.

The products aimed to please Viettels customers. They were highly valued by specialists in Silicon Valley due to their application, creativity and large number of users.

Bankplus has been considered Viettels centrepiece as the application allows customers to open a bank account on mobile phones without internet connection. There are around three million customers using the application with US$150 million in transactions in the system. Bankplus is currently the only mobile banking service in the world allowing connection to several banks in one application. Bankplus has connected up to 16 banks, accounting for 95 per cent of total individual banking accounts in Viet Nam. The application has also been launched in Cambodia, Tanzania and Mozambique.

Rake Narang, editor-in-chief of Network Product Guide and head of IT World Awards organising board said they sought outstanding products from all companies in the world.

I think that Viet Nam has a lot of potential for IT development as the country has won awards on its debut. You should be confident to introduce your products to the whole world if they are excellent. Companies only need new ideas and creations to develop technologies and sell it to the world, he said.

The award aims to honour outstanding achievements in the IT sector. This years awards had the participation of big groups such as Samsung, Dell, Cisco, Ultimate Software and SAP.Read more at http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/298791/viettel-takes-gold-at-11th-annual-it-world-awards.html#GOhTmwMyczK1F8DL.99
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The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Ehlena Fry and her goldendoodle Wonder.
If scantily clad Trump girls want to prance around, thats their business


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Sun Mala, Sim Somnang and Try Sovikea, three environmental activists from Mother Nature were arrested and detained since August 17, 2015. They have now been in jail for more than ten monthsover the legal limit for cases of this kind. They were accused by the Koh Kong Provincial Court with intimidation and causing damage during the campaign to curb sand dredging in Andoung Tuk estuary in Koh Kong province. Their trial began on Monday, June 27, 2016. The court is expected to announce the verdict on Friday this week. (Courtesy of Mother Nature Cambodia and N1MNot1More)
Afghanistans national security adviser has accused Pakistan, without directly naming the country, of providing financial and logistical support to Islamic State (IS) fighters in Afghanistan.

Hanif Atmar told journalists Wednesday in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, that his countrys security forces this week arrested three IS fighters led by a militant from the central Asian country of Tajikistan, and interrogations of the men revealed they were receiving support from abroad.

We know where they received their training, who gave them arms, who gave them money, and who supported them, Atmar said. The majority of IS fighters in Afghanistan, he added, came from Pakistan and had identity documents that proved their citizenship. The Pakistani militants, he said, were joined by militants from Central Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

Afghan forces in fierce battles this week in Nangarhars Kot district claimed to have killed more than 135 IS fighters. Officials also confirmed the killing of at least 12 security personnel.

Atmar blamed Pakistan for providing safe havens to elements who carried out terrorist operations inside Afghanistan. Afghan authorities have long accused Pakistan of supporting the Afghan Taliban and giving top leaders safe refuge. However, authorities have not previously accused Pakistan of supporting IS, which opposes the Afghan Taliban.

Atmar also touted some success in countering IS and said the group, which previously had a membership in thousands, was now reduced to mere hundreds. Most of them, he said, had either been killed or had run away.

Pakistani officials deny the allegations of supporting IS but say they need to study Atmars statement before issuing a formal rebuttal.
European Union leaders have wrapped up an extraordinary summit in Brussels, sending Britain a clear message to get moving on exiting the bloc and to expect no special perks once it does, but struggling over how to make the EU more relevant to its member states' skeptical publics.

There are too many people in Europe who are unhappy with the current state of affairs and expect us to do better, acknowledged European Council President Donald Tusk during a final news conference in the Belgian capital Wednesday, adding leaders would meet again in September to discuss the next post-Brexit steps.

The talks Tuesday and Wednesday were unprecedented, as the EU grapples with the fallout of last weeks British referendum that has unleashed disarray in financial markets and British politics, and sparked widespread soul-searching about reforming the 28-member bloc.

The key issue is to what extent this core group of member states - France, Germany, but also Italy - can persuade governments in eastern and central Europe, says Marco Incerti, spokesman for the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies. They are the ones that need to get on board if the EU is to move forward.

At a dinner Tuesday night, EU leaders bid goodbye to outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron at a glum dinner lightened by a joking tweet, from Czech Europe Minister Tomas Prouza, who said there were no British staples on a menu that included quail salad and poached veal.

No beans in tomato sauce nor pudding for the #Brexit #EUCO dinner tonight, he noted.

Pro-Brexit leader booed

During a rowdy session at the European Parliament earlier in the day, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker sparred with pro-Brexit leaders, asking, Why are you here?

British Independence Party leader Nigel Farage was booed when he told EU lawmakers theyd never had a real job and the EU project was a failure.

Ill make one prediction this morning, he added. The United Kingdom will not be the last member state to leave the European Union.

While Cameron has called for strong post-exit ties with the EU, member states warned London cannot be choosy in accessing Europes single market.

If Britain wants to remain in the single market, it must pay the price in all senses of the term, said French President Francois Hollande.

Leaders also reiterated calls for Britain to act quickly in launching the exit clause, known as Article 50, of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, saying they will hold no Brexit negotiations with London beforehand. No action is expected until a new leader is appointed to replace Cameron, probably in September.

Many are also taking a firm stance that the referendum results must stick, despite a push in Britain for a second vote.

I want to say very clearly tonight that I see no way to reverse this, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday.

Calls for EU overhaul

Less certain is what the EU will do now. Calls are growing for a fundamental overhaul of a union that grew out of a post-war coal and steel pact. Polls show many Europeans are underwhelmed about the EU today, considering it a meddling bureaucracy undermining national sovereignty.

Europeans must reinvent themselves and rise to the collective challenges that are considerable, a group of leading political figures, including former Spanish and Belgian prime ministers, wrote in a petition published in several European newspapers and online.

I really think there needs to be fundamental reform, said analyst Bruno Cautres of the Center for Political Research at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po, in Paris. The big problem of the European Union is the legitimacy of EU institutions and their actions.

Leading up to the summit, influential EU countries Germany, France and Italy laid out a series of priorities from security, to youth and jobs, that the bloc should focus on as it moves forward; None, however, offers new directions.

Of course, the European Union needs further reforms, Juncker said, even as he said leaders have ruled out a fundamental overhaul of the group, including a treaty change.

Its about speeding up the reforms, he said, adding, Its not about adding new reforms to already existing reforms.
Every Monday through Saturday, residents of Arlington county, Virginia line up with empty bags at 10 a.m. sharp to collect free groceries at a local food pantry.

The recipients include retirees, the elderly, children, chronically unemployed and underemployed adults, the disabled, undocumented immigrants, and the working poor.

"We are dealing with people who live day to day," Charles Meng, executive director of the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) said. "We serve about 4,400 families, unduplicated, a year."

According to AFAC's numbers, people of Hispanic descent make up just over half of the population they serve, 10 percent are African-American and the rest are white. Most live at the very bottom rung in the county; no work, no savings and completely dependent, which is provided via referrals from the county.

At the very top of his client-base is the working poor.

"And they can be food insecure, you know, not enough food on the table, once a week, once a month and they are doing bad things," Meng said.

"You know, they are not feeding themselves or their kids."

The poverty threshold

An estimated 46.7 million Americans14.8 percent of the populationlived in poverty in 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's latest count. Compare that to the year 2000, when the census put the poverty rate at 12.4 percent.

About half of the poor are classified as of working-age adults (18 to 64 years of age).

"A good fraction of those workers are actually employed," said Ryan Nunn, policy director for the Hamilton Project and co-author of a recent joint survey with The Brookings Institution.

To be exact, 13 percent work more than 35 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. Nunn points out that if a person is working a full-time, minimum-wage job, making $7.25 an hour, that person's annual income will fall below the federal poverty line.

"Dating back to the late 1970s, for instance, we know that wage growth for those at the bottom, and even pretty far up through the middle of the income distribution, has been very limited or nonexistent," added Nunn.

But numbers are numbers.

A fixed figure doesn't account for the complexity and complications of working above the federal poverty threshold and still not making ends meet.

Consider Ray, who has a demanding full-time job that pays above the minimum wage, but who lives right on the edge.

"No matter how much I work, I can't make enough," he said.

At 47 years old, Ray is an experienced emergency room technician at Alexandria Hospital in northern Virginia. He asked this reporter to not use his full name to keep his teenage daughter from becoming fully aware of his financial troubles.

He stares down at a cup of stale coffee in a Starbucks nearby, nervously smoothing his thick salt-and-pepper hair as he explains how he got stuck in what he calls his "cash hole," his term for unpaid credit card debt and taxes, the aftershocks of the foreclosure of his townhouse about five years ago and, of course, daily living expenses.

"I pick up extra shifts to make overtime pay all the time," he said. "I just can't get ahead no matter how many hours I work."

Ray estimates he pulls in around $56,000.00 a year, depending on how much overtime he puts in, to support himself, his teenage daughter and his 78-year-old father, who is on disability due to chronic bad health.

That is well below the average median annual income in Alexandria County of $86,775.00.

So, while this employed American works over the standard 40-hour week to earn a stable income, he and his family live without cable television and wireless Internet access in his home, without a computer and drives an unreliable used car.

Family vacations?

"We sometimes drive to Virginia Beach for a day or two," he said. "My Dad isn't very mobile right now, so..." Ray's voice trails off for a moment before he forces a smile.

When asked about the presidential candidates who have promised to address income inequality, he dismisses that as "noise" that he doesn't pay much attention to. He's too busy working, taking his father to medical appointments and raising his child.

"I am grateful," he said. "I am better off than most. You see a lot of situations in an emergency room. I know I'm doing pretty good."
Mongolians voted in parliamentary elections Wednesday against the background of a sharp downturn in the landlocked nation's crucial mining sector.

Rising unemployment and disillusionment with the political system are also factors weighing on the vote for the 76 members of the national parliament, the State Great Khural. The result could see the ruling Democratic Party lose its majority to the opposition Mongolian People's Party, a year ahead of the 2017 presidential election.

President Elbegdorj Tsakhia urged Mongolians to participate in the lively democratic system that remains a rarity in a region characterized by one-party states and authoritarian leaders.

I encourage young people to come to the polling stations to exercise their right to vote. This is what democracy is all about, Elbegdorj said after casting his ballot in the Sukhbaatar district of the capital Ulaanbaatar.

Official results were not expected until Thursday morning, reflecting the vast distances and poor communications in the nation of just 3 million sandwiched between China and Russia.

The parliamentary elections are the seventh since the country made a peaceful transition to democracy in 1990. Yet disillusionment with the political process in the country - recently dubbed an oasis of democracy by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry - is growing among younger voters, whose turnout has steadily declined in recent years.

Sodnomtseren Choinzon, chairman of the General Election Commission of Mongolia, said 498 candidates were running for parliament and 2,288 candidates for local councils. More than 400 observers from foreign countries and non-governmental organizations were on hand to oversee the polls.

Mongolia's mining- and animal herding-dependent economy has been dragged down by weak domestic demand and a sharp decline in exports, impoverishing thousands of former herders who had moved to its few cities looking for jobs.

Economic growth has slipped from 17.5 percent in 2011 to just 2.3 percent last year, leaving one-fifth of the population in poverty. Billions of dollars in foreign loans begin coming due next year, posing another potential crisis.

Coal, copper and other mineral resources make up 94 percent of Mongolia's exports. But with demand in key market China weakening as its economy cools, Mongolia's own growth is forecast to fall below 1 percent this year.

While both main parties have campaigned on the promise of more jobs, it's unclear what measures are available to stimulate the flagging economy.

The main issue is, No. 1, to revive the economy, said Bulgantuya Khurelbaatar, secretary of the opposition Mongolian People's Party. She said the party aims to build 100 factories in 21 provinces that would create about 40,000 jobs, though she didn't say how.

With the decline in resource prices, foreign investment has slowed to a trickle, although mining giant Rio Tinto in May announced the launch of the next stage of a multibillion-dollar gold and copper mine.

Still, critics of government agreements with mining companies complain that too little of Mongolia's mineral wealth benefits the general public.

Some observers see recent changes to the electoral process as handicapping smaller parties and female candidates.

They have closed some space for smaller political parties, as majoritarian systems do tend to benefit two main political parties, said Ashleigh Whelan, country director for the International Republican Institute, a U.S.-based group that aims to promote democracy.

This can reduce the opportunity for lesser-known candidates, new candidates, youth, women and those candidates who may not be a guarantee in terms of winning, Whelan said. Her organization does not expect either party to secure an overwhelming majority.

In its latest National Human Development Report, the United Nations Development Program found that about only 45 percent of Mongolians aged 18-34 have voted in recent elections, compared to an overall turnout of 65 percent in 2012.

Skepticism grew after the ruling party recently offered citizens 300,000 tugriks ($155) each to buy back 30 percent of their promised shares in the state-owned coal mine, Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi. So far 1.2 million of 1.65 million shareholders have applied to sell their shares to the government.
Police officers armed with automatic pistols will patrol France's beaches for the first time this summer, a national police spokesman said on Wednesday.

Around 100 police officers will carry the pistols, rather than the customary telescopic truncheons, when sent on beach safety duties for the peak summer season, the official said.



"This is not about a specific terrorist threat to France's beaches but rather a decision to increase security generally given the very high threat level nationwide," the official said.

Many French beaches are staffed during the July-August peak holiday period with lifeguards and a small team of safety and health staff headed up by an officer from the CRS riot police department.

France is on high security alert after Islamist militants killed 130 people in attacks in Paris last November.
There is growing angst over how Britains decision to leave the European Union will impact Russias strategic footing around the globe, but disagreement about how much it will affect Moscow, just as the West moves to curb Russian aggression in the Baltics and Syria.

President Barack Obama tried to allay fears Tuesday, cautioning against post-Brexit hysteria and the notion that the European Union is unraveling and member states are drifting away from the United States on key global issues.

Europe cant afford to turn inward, Obama told NPR journalist Steve Inskeep during an interview broadcast Tuesday.

Theyre going to have to worry about working with us on the Middle East. They are going to have to worry about us working together to deal with an aggressive Russia, said the U.S. leader.

No big shifts seen

The president added he does not expect cataclysmic changes, and he pointed to the importance of the NATO alliance and shared U.S.-European interests.

But analysts said Brexit has played squarely into Russian President Vladimir Putins larger strategic designs for Europe, following Moscows annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its continued support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Under Putin, Russia has strategically sought to destabilize European politics, undermine Democratic values and weaken the EUs resolve, particularly on a cohesive Russia policy. Here Im referring to sanctions, said Alina Polyakova, deputy director of the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council, a global affairs research group.

In June, the 28-member bloc voted to extend by six months current economic sanctions against Russia for failing to follow through on the Minsk agreements meant to end the conflict in Ukraine. The sanctions target the oil, financial and defense sectors of the Russian economy.

Softer stances

The U.S. and Britain have remained together on sanctions against the Kremlin, but other EU states have softened their positions.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi have backed sanctions relief. In April, the French parliament approved a nonbinding resolution to lift the EU sanctions against Russia.

Our view is we don't expect the U.K.s referendum to have any impact on the rollover of sanctions against Russia, said Eric Schultz, White House deputy press secretary.

Obviously having the Britain vote to leave weakens the European Union, said Angela Stent with the Center for Eurasian, Russian and Eastern European Studies at Georgetown University. Still, she cautioned, Brexit has unknown consequences. Its not immediately clear how Russia benefits from this.

However, Stent added, Putin would like to see a weakened EU.

What the Kremlin wants is a new global order, not one imposed by the U.S. and its European allies, she said.

Polyakova agreed, saying Russia prefers bilateral negotiations.

It does not prefer to negotiate with a bloc, like the EU, said Polyakova, adding Moscow could play member states against each other and get what it wants at the bilateral level that it wont be able to get at the EU level.

Russian interest

Putin has denied Western claims that he has strategically worked to destabilize Europe in various ways, including backing far-right groups such as the National Front in France.

But experts say Russia has an interest in making sure the European Union remains economically stable.

It is in their interest to have a Europe that will continue to grow and prosper and buy more oil and gas from Russia, said Polyakova.

I dont think that we are going to see one great domino effect going forward after the Brexit vote, predicted Polyakova. Even though Russia likes to stir the pot in these countries, it is certain that these kinds of populist, anti-EU movements are domestically driven.

Putin has praised Brexit, saying the vote demonstrated that people want to be more independent and do not want to feed and to subsidize weaker economies.

Obama said the vote simply pressed a pause button on European integration as nations look for ways to maintain their identities and deal with voter frustrations.

But the basic core values of Europe, the tenets of liberal market-based democracies, those arent changing, Obama added.
The routines are still followed. They are still changing the guard at Buckingham Palace. Even the weather of a traditional British summer can be depended on, low-hanging gray rain clouds drizzling periodically.



And post-Brexit, people still avoid talking to each other on Londons famous Underground, willing only to exchange polite meaningless words, if really pushed.



But for all the outward sameness, few Britons doubt Brexit has changed everything. Even ardent Leave voters acknowledge the going will be rough and that Britain could be in the economic doldrums for a decade or more, but they insist the trade-off will be worth it.



Others dig deep into history invoking Spitfires and the Battle of Britain or even cite a mythical past of the Knights of the Round Table and the wizard Merlin.

We were great once and can be great again, insists Bill, a store manager. Although he insists he didnt vote to exit the EU because of the issue of immigration, he says, Britain was losing its Britishness.

Some still hold out hope the referendum result can be reversed or modified with a helping hand from Europeans, who they think might be persuaded to renegotiate the terms of a deal struck in February to keep Britain in the bloc.

The European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker ruled that out on Tuesday in a speech in the European Parliament.



But former British prime minister Tony Blair says Britain shouldnt be written out of Europe yet, arguing, I wouldnt rule anything out.



Political Parties Head for Showdown

Aside from the implosion of both main political parties, the Conservatives and Labour are heading for divisive leadership contests.

The political spectacle of the past few days has been one of politicians promoting ever more devious, some critics argue impractical, ways of reversing the Brexit referendum or striking a deal that will see Britain as an EU partner enjoying close ties with the bloc, but without freedom of labor movement.



The ideas include: having a re-run referendum or a second referendum on any terms agreed later between the EU and Britain for a free trade deal.

Advocates point to Irelands two referendums on an EU treaty, which saw the country vote against the Lisbon Treaty in 2008 and then back it 16 months later.



Others wanting to reverse the Brexit referendum are putting faith in having an early general election later this year, once the Conservatives and Labour have concluded their leadership contests, hoping the election will wipe out the referendum result. They argue the issues facing the country are so great a new parliamentary mandate is needed.

But an early election would place the Conservatives at a disadvantage. What platform would the party run on? A majority of Conservative lawmakers are opposed to Brexit, but the partys leading contender to be the next leader, Boris Johnson, a darling of Conservatives outside parliament, was one of the chief Leave campaigners.



Johnson has said that if he does replace Prime Minister David Cameron, he would not hold an early election.



His chief rival, Theresa May, the tough interior secretary, campaigned for Remain, but has been silent publicly on whether she would want to hold an early election. It would be virtually impossible for her to take the party into an election campaigning for the reversal of a referendum the party previously promised to uphold, say commentators.



And it isnt clear whether the anti-Brexit parties, Labour, which is in disarray, and the Liberal Democrats, could win an election.



Lame Duck Parliament

The political permutations and sense of alarm was on show Wednesday in Prime Ministers Question Time in the House of Commons. Not through an open clash, but conveyed by how subdued it was for most of the occasion.

It is as if we are holding our breath, said Emily Thornberry, a Labour lawmaker.



What is clear is this is a lame duck parliament. No decisions can be made, she added. The Leave camp is not helping, she maintains.

They now have control, but they have no idea what to do. They have taken us into this dark place, but dont know how to take us out of it, she said.



Conservative lawmaker, David Davis, a Brexit supporter, says people shouldnt be in a rush for answers.

What is happening now will define Britain for years to come and we need to take our time, he said.



Time though isnt just worrying EU leaders, who fear as the uncertainty prolongs markets will become more torrid and recession will quickly follow, but also many ordinary people and businesses.



I came over to sign two software deals for $100 million each with UBS and Barclays banks, says a Danish executive, who asked not to be named. On Monday both banks pulled out of the deals, saying they might be moving operations and anyway are making no new investments. Everything is on hold.

Outside London, nervousness is also apparent even in districts that backed Brexit.



In Sunderland in northeast England workers at the Nissan plant, Britains largest car-making site that opened 30 years ago, are now anxious about their jobs.



In 2015, 55 percent of the nearly half-a-million cars the plant produced were exported to other EU states. A full Brexit in two years time would likely force the company to shift at last half of its operations to other EU states and prompt plant lay-offs.

Bizarrely, many Nissan workers voted for Brexit, although local media outlets are now full of reports of workers saying, they now wonder why they did so.
A controversial cyber security law that is under review in China will give authorities the power to shut down the internet and block all communications online when so-called emerging social security events occur.

The new draft law, which is being reviewed by Chinas parliament, the National Peoples Congress, does not clearly state what it means by emerging social security events. The broad phrase could refer to anything from localized protests to widespread riots or violent attacks.



The current version of the draft law states local governments must seek approval of the central government before shutting down the internet. How long authorities would be allowed to keep an internet blackout in place is unclear.



Chinas new Great Wall



Authorities in China routinely censor the internet, scrubbing it of all kinds of content and commentary, particularly comments critical of the Communist Party and its policy decisions.



The new law goes even further, analysts say, and appears to be part of a trend by authorities to legitimize increasingly stringent and ever-expanding controls on the internet and make them more systematic.



The contrast between Chinas internet and the internet in the rest of the world is increasingly widening and a barrier is being built, said William Long, a well- known IT blogger in China. The obstacles to the flow of information from the rest of the world to China are growing and foreign companies are finding it more and more difficult to expand their market in China.



Soliciting public opinion



The government has asked the public to comment on the legislation, which was first publicized last year in June and is going through its second reading in parliament. Since the draft bill was launched, it has continually been a source of controversy both among the Chinese public as well as foreign businesses.



Authorities have said the law aims to protect Chinas cyber sovereignty and the public from growing threats such as terrorism.



But on social media, many criticized the draft bill and questioned whose interests it was putting first.



The power to shut down the internet is aimed at protecting those officials who arbitrarily bully and oppress the public, isnt it? True security is not for the public, but to prevent the people from capturing images of the truth, one commentator said on Weibo, Chinas version of Twitter.



Can you turn off the hearts and minds of the people, one user wrote, while others added sarcastically that the government should just cut off the publics access to water, electricity and even air, when such events occur.



Easy to block?



Long said the way the internet is set up in China, it is very easy for authorities to block connections between China and the rest of the world, because the Chinese internet has only a few access hubs to foreign countries.

But shutting the internet down locally is not as simple, he adds.



In some provinces, the internet is more diverse, with a wide range of service providers and systems. Others, such as the region of Xinjiang, are more unique and easier to shut down.



In 2009, following massive riots between Han Chinese and the remote western regions Muslim Uighur minorities, the internet, international telephone service and phone text-messaging service were all shut down for several months.



Stifling environment



Since President Xi Jinping came to power more than three years ago, Chinese authorities have been tightening their control over social media and all kinds of content online. In addition to the draft law, authorities ordered domestic app publishers to require users to register with their real names for all mobile phone apps. App publishers are also required to keep logs of all users for at least 60 days.



Authorities will be monitoring some four million apps.



Efforts to exert more control is not only expanding online, but at universities and within the Communist Party itselfamong both rank and file members and the party elite.



Communist party members have been told to support government policies and warned against improper discussions of party policies. The strict rules apply even to those who are retired.



A struggle between conservative and reformist minded academics is becoming increasingly intense.



Chinas state media reported this week that a top editor at a leading party ideological magazine committed suicide. Zhu Tiezhi was a deputy editor-in-chief at Qiushi magazine. He was suffering from depression, but friends have also said his condition may have been linked to ongoing and intense ideological struggles in China. Others have suggested that he may have been linked to an ongoing corruption investigation.



Zhu once wrote that if the party did not address real problems, ideological debates would become empty talk to undermine the mutual trust between the party, the government it leads, and the people.
It is one of the great unknowns about the 2016 presidential race.

How many Americans will walk into the voting booth on November 8 and mutter to themselves, 'Ugh, this is the choice I have, Clinton or Trump?'

Its a scenario that gives hope to a Trump campaign down in the polls, and it is the stuff of nightmares for Democratic strategists who worry the only thing between Hillary Clinton and the White House is an unmovable core of voters who don't trust her.

At the moment Clinton would seem to hold some daunting advantages. Most recent polls show the former secretary of state with a steady lead over Donald Trump, on average five to six points, as both presumptive party nominees prepare for their party conventions next month.



Of particular concern to Republicans are some of the recent poll numbers showing 70 percent of women have a negative view of Trump, as well as his dismal ratings with non-white voters.

WATCH related video report

Clintons image problems

Clintons own ratings arent much better. The latest Quinnipiac University poll found Clinton with a very slight lead over Trump  42 to 40 percent  with polls typically having a margin of error of 3-4 points.

Trumps favorability ratings were only 34 percent positive, 57 percent negative. But Clinton wasnt far behind with 37 percent approving and 57 percent disapproving.

It would be difficult to imagine a less flattering from-the-gut reaction to Trump and Clinton, said Tim Malloy, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll, in a statement on the survey. Malloy added that voters find themselves in the middle of a mean-spirited, scorched earth campaign between two candidates they dont like.

Scorched earth is a good description of the campaign likely to come. Clinton teamed with Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren at a rally in Ohio this week to go after Trump. Warren slammed Trump as a small, insecure money-grubber who fights for nobody but himself. Warren served as a warm-up act for Clinton.

We are not going to let Donald Trump bankrupt America the way he bankrupted his casinos! Clinton said to cheers at a rally in Cincinnati.

At a speech later that same day in Chicago, though, Clinton made a rare acknowledgment of her own polling problems and the challenge facing her to win back voter trust before November.

And I personally know I have work to do on this front, Clinton said. A lot of people tell pollsters they dont trust me. Now, I dont like hearing that. And it certainly is true Ive made mistakes. I dont know anyone who hasnt. So I understand people having questions.

Trump has a higher hill to climb

That being said, most analysts believe Clintons challenges pale in comparison to those facing Trump, who is held in very low esteem by women and minority voters. The polls on Trump have Republican Party leaders worried but hopeful that the New York billionaire still has time to turn things around.

Trump insists hell win because voters see him as the ultimate political outsider.



As soon as I ran, I became an insurgent. I became an outsider. Guys who were my friends said, youre an outsider! And you know why? Because I am going to do what is right for you. I am not going to do what is right for them! Trump told supporters at a recent rally in Phoenix.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell remains hopeful Trump can turn his image around.

I think there is no question he has made a number of mistakes over the last few weeks, McConnell told ABCs This Week. I think they are beginning to right the ship and its a long time until November.

Trump has started to use a teleprompter for some of his speeches now, something for which he used to bash Clinton. And at times, Trump seems like a more disciplined candidate.

Many analysts still see him struggling, however, to shift from a primary contender, eager to win over conservatives, to a general election candidate hoping to broaden his appeal.

Ive always thought that some of Mr. Trumps rhetoric works very well for [Republican] primary audiences, but it is going to cause him a larger problem, potentially, in the fall, said longtime analyst Tom DeFrank of National Journal on VOAs Issues in the News.

Clinton has work to do

But Republican strategists warn that Hillary Clintons negative poll numbers also are cause for concern for Democrats, and that Clinton has some work to do before November.

Independent of all of her baggage, she is a miserable candidate, said Republican analyst Scot Faulkner. Shes a poor speaker. She does not relate well to people. They are reintroducing her [so many times] so it is like, Hillary 7.0.

Faulkner is one Republican who believes Trump can overcome his negative baggage and go on to victory in November, primarily because of Clintons weaknesses with voters.

There is little doubt that Clinton will focus on Trumps negatives to boost Democratic voter turnout in November, according to John Fortier with the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.

She is so well known in politics that many people already dont like her and have already formed opinions. And so for Hillary Clinton the challenge really is to be able to turn out her base, to show people that Donald Trump is not the alternative they want, said Fortier.

But Clinton could have a tough time matching the Democratic turnout effort that won two elections for Barack Obama.

They will try to get Hispanics registered to turnout. They will try to get African American turnout to be what it was when Obama was running. They will try to get young people to turn out and vote. But its a challenge, said Gallup pollster Frank Newport.

Newport adds that one of the great wild cards of this election is the demand for change and how that will play out for Americans confronted with the choice of either Clinton or Trump.

The public is very, very disgusted, and I would use that word with the way Congress in Washington operates  the bickering, the lack of compromise, sticking to principle rather than be willing to compromise. Americans dont like that at all.

Newport sees the election coming down to which side can do a better job of turning out its supporters. With both candidates saddled with negative approval ratings, though, predicting who wins a lesser of two evils election has become a major challenge for the pollsters and pundits alike.
U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura says if he can restart intra-Syrian talks in July, there still is a possibility of moving forward on a political transition by an August deadline.



Im still aiming, we are aiming within July, but not at any cost and not without some guarantees; and aiming at August as the period where we should be seeing something concrete, so that in September we take stock, de Mistura told reporters after he briefed the U.N. Security Council in a closed session Wednesday.



He underscored that the next round of talks must be very well prepared because they likely will be the last before world leaders convene for their annual meetings in New York in mid-September.



De Mistura noted that the September General Assembly session will be the final one for outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as well as for U.S. President Barack Obama. The G20 summit also is planned for early September in China, and that could be the last time Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet.



The United States and Russia co-chair the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), and each back major parties to the conflict. Moscow supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Washington backs moderate opposition groups.

Turning on the pressure

Yes, I am putting pressure on all parties, de Mistura told reporters. I think that the main parties who can make this happen need to feel that they have an historic responsibility.



An August 1 deadline is looming over the talks, imposed by a U.N. Security Council resolution and backed by the ISSG. The resolution sets August 1 as the target date for the parties to reach agreement on a framework for a genuine political transition, which would include a broad, inclusive, non-sectarian transitional governing body with full executive powers.



What we need is that the stakeholders do come with a feeling of urgency and work on some ideas on how to bridge their differences between what everyone means by political transition, de Mistura said.



On the humanitarian front, de Mistura welcomed the news that all 18 besieged areas of Syria have now been reached with aid.



The U.N. announced Wednesday that it had finally succeeded in reaching the remaining two besieged towns on a list of 18 locations in Syria. The towns of Arbin and Zamalka received their first aid deliveries since November 2012.

The U.N. and its partners have now been able to access all 18 besieged locations in Syria through cross-line operations and airdrops.



Its quite a landmark, de Mistura said, [But its] not enough.
A Mexican judge has temporarily blocked the extradition to the U.S. of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most powerful drug lord and one of the world's most notorious criminals.

After Guzman's lawyers submitted appeals late Monday, the judge ruled Tuesday that their documents should be reviewed and their appeal arguments heard before the drug lord is extradited.

His lawyers claim that the statute of limitations has run out on some of the crimes of which he is accused in the U.S., and that some of the accusations against him are based more on hearsay than hard evidence.

U.S. officials are still confident that he will be sent to the U.S. within the year, though Guzman's lawyer said it could take as long as three years.

Guzman is wanted in the states of California and Texas on charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and murder.

Mexico had approved his extradition to the United States in May after being assured that he would not face the death penalty. Mexico no longer uses the death penalty and avoids extradition to nations where it is still in practice.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto initially opposed the extradition, favoring trying Mexico's most notorious criminal domestically.

Authorities arrested Guzman in January after he escaped from a maximum-security prison in July 2015, in an incident embarrassing to the Mexican government.

He gained his freedom by crawling through a hole in his jail cell's shower to a 1.5-kilometer tunnel.

Guzman also escaped from prison in Guadalajara in 2001 and remained at large for 13 years before being apprehended with information provided by U.S. intelligence agencies.
European Union leaders are focusing Wednesday on carving out a future without Britain, as they wrap up a summit in Brussels days after Britons voted to leave the bloc.

They have called for Britain to exit quickly and not to expect any membership benefits without paying the price.

The summit is likely the last for British Prime Minister David Cameron, who is stepping down after his government failed to convince voters to choose staying in the EU. Speaking after the talks, he said that despite sadness and regret, the meeting of the 28 leaders was constructive.

Britain should seek and Europe should seek the closest possible relations as Britain leaves the EU. Close relations over trade, over cooperation, over security, said Cameron.

But other leaders, such as French President Francois Hollande, sent the message that Britain should not expect any special treatment once it leaves, including access to Europe's single market. Hollande said for that Britain would have to accept the free movement of people, something opposed by those who campaigned for Britain to leave the EU.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also warned that Britain cannot have the privileges that come with EU membership without the obligations.

The Brexit vote has since sparked turmoil in financial markets, and fears of more long-term hit on growth. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Tuesday that central banks should try to align monetary policies to reduce what he called destabilizing spillovers.

EU leaders are now looking at their future without Britain amid widespread calls to re-energize and reinvent the effort that began after World War II.

It is a crisis for the EU and now its about how to manage that in the most coherent and unified way among 27 countries who share a very different vision about the EU project," said Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, head of the Paris office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

EU heavyweights Germany, France and Italy have outlined goals like security, youth, jobs and the economy as priorities, none of which are new challenges.

Despite the rest of the block looking to its post-Britain phase, that may not happen until September at the earliest.

Cameron has said he will not be the one to initiate the breakup by invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty on a negotiated departure. He will leave that to whomever takes his place as prime minister.
Hearings resume this week in the case of seven Moroccan journalists accused of violating national security. Their crime? They helped train citizen journalists to use a smartphone app.

Amnesty International reports that five of the defendants are accused of attempting to compromise citizens loyalty to the government and tarnish Moroccos image. If convicted, they could face five years in prison.

Two are accused of receiving foreign funding to finance propaganda.

The Dutch NGO Free Press Unlimited (FPI), active in Morocco for a decade, developed StoryMaker, an open source smart phone application designed to help citizen journalists write, produce and publish professional-grade news reports using Android phones. FPI then partnered with a number of NGOs inside Morocco to provide training in the apps use.



Amnesty International is calling on Morocco to drop the charges against these journalists and activists who promoted a secure storytelling app, said Sirinie Rached, a researcher with Amnesty International. Moroccan authorities should also amend state security laws that threaten those who criticize the authorities with imprisonment.



The journalists



Among those appearing in court Wednesday is Maati Monjib, a professor of African studies and political history at the University of Rabat. Monjib is President of the Moroccan Association for Investigative Journalism (AMJI) and a co-founder of Freedom Now, an organization promoting free speech and independent journalism.



On September 16, 2015, officials blocked Monjib from leaving the country when he attempted to attend a conference in Spain. On October 6, he began a hunger strike to protest the travel ban and a week later, he was hospitalized after losing consciousness. Morocco lifted the travel ban on October 29 and formally charged Monjib with harming national security.



Also on trial is Hicham Khreibchi, known more widely as Hicham Al-Miraat, editor and co-founder of Mamfakinch, a pro-democracy citizen media portal created in Morocco during the 2011 protests. He is also founder and former president of the Digital Rights Association and a former advocacy director for Global Voices.



The other defendants are: Abdessamad Ait Aicha (known as Samad Iach), AMJI member and former employee at the Ibn Rochd Center for Studies and Communication; Hicham Mansouri, 35, journalist and former AMJI staffer; Mohamed Essaber/Sber, president of the Moroccan Association for the Education of Youth; Maria Moukrim, journalist and former AMJI president; and retired journalist and AMJI president Rachid Tarik.



The defendants are currently at liberty pending the outcome of their trial, Rached said. They could be locked up at any time if the court decides to overlook press freedoms and convict them.

Morocco, long touted as a moderate and stable country in North Africa, is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and thus bound to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to free speech.

The government ushered in some reforms to avert Arab Spring uprisings that took place elsewhere in the region, but have increasingly cracked down on journalists, activists and other critics, especially those funded from outside.
Unknown gunmen in southwestern Pakistan ambushed and killed four members of the security forces on Wednesday.

Authorities say a vehicle of the paramilitary Frontier Corps had briefly stopped on a busy main road in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, when two men on a motorcycle ambushed and sprayed it with bullets.

A passerby was also seriously wounded, according to hospital sources. There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

The violence came a day after four police officers were gunned down in two separate ambushes in Quetta.

The extremist Pakistani Taliban, which is waging a deadly insurgency against the state, claimed responsibility for Tuesdays attacks.

A low-level ethnic separatist insurgency and religiously-motivated attacks blamed on Islamist militants have long posed serious security challenges for the authorities.

Leaders and commanders of Afghanistans Taliban insurgency are also believed to be sheltering in the Pakistani border province and directing violence against Afghan forces.

Balochistan is where a U.S. drone attack last month killed the fugitive leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.
The U.S. indicted six Honduran police officers Wednesday for allegedly conspiring with the son of former President Porfirio Lobo to smuggle cocaine into the United States.

The six officers, who have not yet been arrested, are accused of accepting $1 million in bribes from two undercover officers posing as Mexican drug lords.

Officials say they promised to give the drugs safe passage through Honduras in exchange for the bribes.

Fabio Lobo, son of the former president, introduced the officers to the two purported drug lords. He was arrested in 2015 and pleaded guilty last month.

The government of current Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez has declared police corruption a national emergency and set up a special investigative committee.

Omar Rivera, a member of a special Honduran commission with authority to investigate police corruption, welcomed the indictments.

"Police who dedicate themselves to protecting drug traffickers, who dedicate themselves to the drug trade, aren't police but criminals and they should be treated as such," he said, adding that U.S. collaboration is "fundamental" to resolving these cases.
The rights group Human Rights Watch has called on the United Nations General Assembly to suspend Saudi Arabia's membership on the U.N. Human Rights Council, citing the country's leadership in a military operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia, leader of a nine-nation coalition that began its mission in Yemen in March 2015, has been implicated in "numerous violations" of international humanitarian law.

Philippe Bolopion, deputy director for global advocacy for Human Rights Watch, said Saudi Arabia "has amassed an appalling record of violations in Yemen" while serving as a member of the Human Rights Council, and has damaged the group's credibility with what Bolopion called its "bullying tactics to avoid accountability."

Human Rights Watch and fellow rights group Amnesty International say they have documented 69 unlawful airstrikes by the coalition, killing at least 913 civilians and hitting homes, markets, hospitals, schools, civilian businesses, and mosques.

The groups say some of those actions may amount to war crimes.

Attacks

They also say they have documented 19 attacks involving cluster munitions, which are banned internationally.

Human Rights Watch says Saudi Arabia should be banned from the Human Rights Council until it ends unlawful attacks in Yemen and conducts "credible investigations that meet international standards" and cooperates with an independent international inquiry.

Saudi Arabia has not commented on Wednesday's statement, but in the past it has said that it is responding only to truce violations by the Houthi rebels. It has also said it does not target civilians.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has estimated that more than 3,500 civilians have been killed and 6,200 have been wounded since March 2015.
An Israeli court has acquitted Hananiya Shabbat, an employee of the prison service, of charges that he was part of a mob that killed an Eritrean immigrant at a bus station in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba last October.

Eritrean immigrant Habtom Zerhom was killed following a terror attack in which a gunman shot and killed 19-year-old Israeli Defense Forces soldier Omri Levi, and wounded several other people. In the ensuing chaos, Zerhom was wrongly identified as the attacker, then was beaten by onlookers and shot by Israeli police.

Shabbat had been accused of unnecessary violence and behaving in a manner not in keeping with his position as a prison worker. He was acquitted of all charges.

His attorney, Dan Groves, said his client and another prison employee were driving by the bus station and had tried to help in the aftermath of the attack.

"The court today gave a very clear verdict after very carefully examining the evidence," Groves told VOA. "When you look at the evidence, his actions are very, very reasonable.  He and his officer heard shooting. They stopped the car and jumped inside trying to help even though it was not their job, and they were not armed with anything."

Groves said his client was anxious to clear his name and had been on leave from his job since October. "Now he will get back to work and try to get his life back," Groves said.

Charges against police, security

Limor Lugasi, a lawyer representing Zerhom's family, filed a lawsuit against the police and the company in charge of security at the bus station for negligence and allowing a terrorist to enter the bus station.

The lawsuit also accuses the police of not being able to thwart the mob, which attacked Zerhom while he was on the ground after being shot.

Lugasi said that despite the acquittal, it was clear that others will face criminal charges for what they did to Zerhom.

"In the video footage, you can see it clearly that the policeman and all of the people that were there attacked Habtom [Zerhom] with everything they had to attack him. They attacked him with the table; they attacked him with clubs," said Ohad Priel, an attorney working with Lugasi.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month at the Beersheba District Court, requests that the National Insurance Agency recognize Zerhom as a victim of terror and asks for compensation of 3 million New Israel Shekel (NIS), or about $780,000, for his family.

Although Israel Radio has reported that the demand was rejected because Zerhom entered the country illegally, Lugasi said there are ongoing discussions with the government. Zerhom had received a license to remain in Israel temporarily.

"We are in discussion with the government to give them compensation for the family of Habtom Zerhom, but we didn't get the final answer of this," she said.

She expects an answer in about a month.
The Italian navy Wednesday was raising the wreckage of a boat, believed to have carried at least 700 African migrants, which sank in April 2015.

The navy has recovered more than 100 bodies so far, but many more, including those of women and children, are believed to be

locked below deck.

A refrigerated transport structure is being used so that scientists may try to identify the bodies of victims.

The boat capsized 193 kilometers south of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on April 18, 2015, when it is believed migrants moved to one side of the vessel as a merchant ship approached.

Only 28 people are believed to have survived the wreck last year, causing public outrage and forcing the European Union to support more search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean.

Italian officials said they rescued 7,000 migrants from small boats just last week.

More than 200,000 migrants have arrived in Europe by sea and 2,888 have died in 2016, according to the International Organization for Migration. Most of the migrants arriving by sea are from Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, and Gambia. Although many asylum seekers and refugees in Europe are from Syria and Afghanistan, they are more likely to make the trek on land through Turkey.
Vice President Joe Biden threatened Wednesday to pull federal funding for cancer studies that fail to publicly disclose their results, putting pressure on researchers, clinicians and drug companies to speed up progress toward cancer cures.

Hosting a cancer summit in Washington, Biden said the culture in the cancer research world is stifling progress, and he was committed to doing everything in my power'' to change that culture. He cited concerns that prominent medical institutions that receive millions in taxpayer dollars are flouting a federal rule that says they must submit their results to a publicly accessible database within a year.

Doc, I'm going to find out if it's true, and if it's true, I'm going to cut funding,'' Biden said. That's a promise.''

For months, Biden has been imploring cancer researchers to share their data and trial results more freely, so that scientists can build on each other's progress and more readily identify treatments that might work for individual patients. His ultimatum at the summit was the first time Biden has suggested that failure to heed that call could lead to National Institutes of Health grants being terminated.

There's no mechanism in place to enforce the mandate that trial results be quickly posted to www.clinicaltrials.gov, where patients and their doctors can identify treatments that have been effective for other patients. The Obama administration is developing a rule to crack down on those who ignore the requirement, the White House said.

At the summit, the showpiece of Biden's yearlong moonshot,'' the vice president said the world was on the cusp of breakthroughs.'' Yet he suggested the cancer community was essentially standing in its own way. He called out drug companies for unnecessary price increases and major research hospitals for insufficient collaboration.

It's not anybody's fault, but we've got to fix it,'' Biden said.

Researchers reactions

Cancer researchers and their institutions have pushed back on those critiques, arguing they already share reams of data and partner frequently with each other and the government. They've also cited major hurdles imposed by federal agencies with intense bureaucratic requirements that make it near-impossible to develop treatments quickly and get them approved for patients  a concern that Biden acknowledged.

For Biden, the conference comes as time is running out to make good on his pledge to double the rate of progress toward a cure before leaving office. Biden had hoped to dramatically boost government activity on cancer, but his campaign has run up against the same political and logistical obstacles that have challenged other White House priorities.

To fund Biden's effort, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1 billion over two budget years for research. Only a fraction has been approved. So Biden's focus has shifted to trying to highlight and streamline private and nonprofit research efforts.

To illustrate what's on the cutting edge, the Energy Department and the National Cancer Institute announced new programs to analyze cancer data with supercomputers, plus another computing program teaming up with drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline to speed up drug development. IBM unveiled plans to donate its Watson supercomputing technology to help Veterans Affairs ramp up its precision medicine program by sequencing the genomics of tumors for 10,000 patients over two years.

Those are the types of partnerships that really start to push things forward,'' IBM Watson Health Vice President Steve Harvey said in an interview. We kind of need each other in this journey.''

Biden, who was introduced at the summit by comedian Carol Burnett, seemed mindful of the concern that he's pursuing a personal mission to address an issue that's affected his family. Biden declared the cancer moonshot'' last year after his son, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, died of brain cancer.

This isn't about him, it's not about a single person, it's about us,'' Biden said. Not giving up hope. And having the urgency of now.''
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is expected to receive a new title that would reinforce his absolute hold on power, while holding in check the influence of the military.

The young leader currently holds the titles of chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and first chairman of the National Defense Commission (NDC).

In a closed-door session of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) scheduled for Wednesday, Kim is likely to be named chairman of a newly restored state apparatus named the Central People's Committee (CPC).

If Kim Jong Un monopolizes the highest national position, followed by [the] highest position of the party, he will virtually become the highest leader of the regime, said North Korean defector and analyst Ahn Chan-il with the World Institute for North Korean Studies.

The Central Peoples Committee was created in 1972 to oversee the military as well as civilian governmental functions. Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and the grandfather of the current leader, served as the head of the committee. But his son Kim Jong Il abolished the CPC during his rule and strengthened the NDC's role, prioritizing a "songun," or military first policy.

Kim Jong Uns expected restoration of his grandfathers power structure, analysts say, may diminish the influence of the military, and give greater voice to political advisers from the Workers Party.

In May, the North Korean leader also leaned toward his grandfathers style of governing by convening the first Workers' Party Congress held in 36 years that was also seen as a move to bolster his power and push forward his agenda. His father Kim Jong Il retained his party titles as well as military ones, but never convened a party congress.

However in the authoritarian state of North Korea, parliamentary meetings serve to unanimously endorse decisions already made by the leadership.

Popular support

Since he assumed power in 2011, the young leader who is believed to be in his early thirties has set his own his "byeongjin" policy that prioritizes developing nuclear weapons and increasing economic development.

North Korea continued development of nuclear weapons and multiple missile tests under Kim Jong Un has increased tensions with the international community.

U.N. Security Council resolutions ban North Korea from developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology. This year the U.N. imposed tough new sanctions after the North conducted its fourth nuclear test and launched a long-range rocket into space.

Pyongyang argues it needs nuclear weapons to deter or defend against a potential attack from the United States.

The Kim Jong Un government has also been under increased international criticism for alleged widespread and ongoing human rights atrocities that include operating a network of political prisons, systematic torture and executions.

But the North Korean leaders defiant stance against perceived international pressure may also be generating increased support at home.

The more pressure extended, exerted on the government of the DPRK (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea), the more the government is seemingly supported by the public, said Marzuki Darusman, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on North Korea.

Economic fallout

Over time North Koreas is expected to pay a high economic price for its defiant stance on nuclear weapons.

The international sanctions include suspending currency transfers and restricting the Norths lucrative mineral trade that had accounted for over half of the countrys $2.5 billion in exports to China alone.

Pyongyang this week proposed reviving inter-Korean negotiation to improve relations but Seoul rejected the offer, saying North Korea must first suspend its nuclear program before any talks can occur.
Tensions are rising in Lebanon as security is stepped up in the wake of a double wave of suicide bombings near the Syrian border.

On Monday, the northeastern town of Al-Qaa was hit by two separate attacks involving eight suicide bombers within the space of a day, leaving five dead and dozens injured.

Since then, amid reports of recently-thwarted plots emerging in the wake of the blast, the government has warned that the bombings could represent a new phase of violence against a country already struggling to cope with the overspill of the Syrian war.

Meanwhile, amid the arrest and continued detention of Syrians in the region of Al-Qaa, there are fears that the blasts may worsen already strained relations between Lebanon and its refugee population.

Deadly harbinger

The small Christian town, which is just a few kilometers from the Syrian border, was initially targeted by four suicide bombers on Monday morning, killing five and wounding others.

That evening as people gathered outside a church to mourn their loved ones, four more suicide bombers blew themselves up, reportedly injuring around 20.

No one has yet claimed responsibility, but the finger is being pointed at Islamic State, which is thought to have fighters holed up in positions close by along the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Multiple reports have emerged in subsequent days of other planned bombings, including one allegedly targeting a tourist site in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, that was thwarted by security forces.

A statement released Tuesday by the Lebanese government warned, We should not rule out that this terrorist crime is a harbinger of a wave of terrorist operations.

It could be an indicator of a new more aggressive phase of the battle with terrorist organizations, the statement added, which work tirelessly to inflict harm on Lebanon and drag it into chaos and ruin.

Mondays blasts are the latest in a series of bombings in Lebanon since the Syrian war began in 2011, the deadliest of which killed 47 last November in Beiruts southern suburb of Burj al Barajneh.

It is not known if the initial suicide bombers intended to target the town, or if they were disturbed before they had the chance to move elsewhere in Lebanon.

Fears of further bloodshed are running high in a country that has struggled to retain stability amid the influx of well over a million refugees and in which Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed Shia militia group, has fought in Syria in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad  a move that has polarized opinion both inside and outside Lebanon.

The bombing, which left more than 30 wounded, risks further escalating divisions, warned director of Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs Sami Nader.

This will add more confusion into what is already a complicated situation, and could further stir up sectarian strife, the analyst said. It could push the country onto the edge.

Further pressure

In the midst of a security crackdown, further pressure is likely to be piled on the refugees in Lebanon, who now make up a quarter of the overall population.

Lebanese newspaper Annahar reported that security sources claimed the attackers belonged to a 17-strong cell of militants, while other reports indicate that the army has cordoned off areas around the town and is continuing raids.

Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said that four of the eight bombers did not come from camps within Lebanon but from Syria itself.

Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) stated that 103 refugees have been arrested amid a series of raids on camps near to Al-Qaa, where funerals, postponed after the second attack, were set to take place Wednesday.

The arrests, it claimed, were for not having legal papers, a common problem among refugees, many of whom struggle to pay the yearly cost of renewing residency in Lebanon.

A volunteer from one of the camps, who did not wish to be identified, told VOA that many refugees were still being held, despite the fact they already had been cleared for security in the past.

They came during the morning and started arresting people randomly, they said.

With every attack, [refugees'] treatment is getting worse - it's not human. I fear that things will get even more difficult in the coming days.

With residents of Al-Qaa taking up armed patrols in response to the attack, and new curfews being imposed on refugees in the region, the towns mayor was among politicians calling on people not to blame the local Syrian population.

Others, however, have taken a less conciliatory stance, leaving Nadim Khoury of Human Rights Watch fearful of vigilante reprisals.

Theres danger of a reaction driven by politicians blaming Syrian refugees for the attack, he said, adding, We need a responsible discourse, not populist rhetoric.
Facebook is retooling its News Feed algorithm so that users see more posts from friends and family, the company announced Wednesday.

Facebook was built on the idea of connecting people with their friends and family. That is still the driving principle of News Feed today, wrote Facebooks Adam Mosseri, who heads up the News Feed team, in an online post. Our top priority is keeping you connected to the people, places and things you want to be connected to  starting with the people you are friends with on Facebook.

News Feed was launched 10 years ago, but Mosseri said in its current form it contains far too much information for any one person to consume.

Facebook also unveiled what its calling its News Feed values with the first being connecting people with their friends and family. The second is providing information such as news, and the third is to be entertaining via videos and funny pictures.

.

The changes could impact news organizations and other content publishers who have come to rely on Facebook as a powerful distribution network for their products.

Mosseri told CNN that publishers may see a noticeable but small change in referral traffic.

Perhaps in response to allegations, the social media giant was tweaking News Feed to leave out conservative political view. The newly tweaked feed promises to be a platform for all ideas, with Mosseri adding, We dont favor specific kinds of sources - or ideas.
Mitsubishi is resuming sales of vehicles for which it had reported inflated mileage, after offering to compensate each buyer with 100,000 yen ($960) to make up for the extra gas.



Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Wednesday that it will start accepting orders for its eK Wagon minicar models from July 1. The Tokyo-based automaker has acknowledged it had a systematic way of cheating on mileage for the models, including those it supplied to Nissan Motor Co.



According to Mitsubishi, the mileage for one of the models going back on sale has now been corrected to 25.8 kilometers per liter (60.7 miles per gallon) from 30.4 kpl (71.5 mpg).



It said it has not been slapped any government penalties so far for cheating on the mileage.



The automaker is forecasting a 145 billion yen ($1.4 billion) loss for the fiscal year through March 2017. It expects vehicle sales to drop around the world, especially in Japan.



Nissan has said it is taking a 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi to help its turnaround, although Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn has stressed that the deal is not final until due diligence, as Nissan checks into Mitsubishi.



The latest scandal follows a massive systematic cover-up of defects that surfaced in the early 2000s, which had spanned decades. The company's president has stepped down to take responsibility.
More than 20 people were killed Wednesday in fighting between government soldiers and Islamist insurgents in central Somalia, witnesses and officials said.

Al-Shabab fighters attacked a Somali National Army base in El-Hareri, a village in the Galguduud region, before dawn. The commander of the base, Colonel Ahmed Mohamed, told VOA's Somali service that 18 militants, five government soldiers and a civilian were killed during the fighting.

They attacked our base with hundreds of heavily armed fighters and 10 battle wagons mounted with machine guns, he said. We managed to repulse the attack, and our troops then counterattacked. Each side lost a vehicle in the clash, he said.

Abulle Idow, a resident contacted via telephone, said locals went to the base after the fighting and saw more than 20 dead bodies.

More than 10 militants and two government soldiers were injured in the attack, government officials said.

Radio Andalus, al-Shabab's mouthpiece in Somalia, reported that the militants had initially seized control of the base and killed more a dozen government soldiers, but Mohamed denied that.

They did not seize the base, he said. They attacked us with a large number of militants from different regions of Somalia to inflict us a great loss, but thanks to Allah, they failed.

Since 2006, al-Shabab has tried to overthrow Somalia's federal government and set up a state based on a strict interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law. The group once controlled most of southern Somalia but was ousted from major cities and towns by the African Union mission in Somalia, AMISOM.

Last Saturday, a suspected al-Shabab suicide bomber attacked a hotel in Mogadishu, killing at least 15 people. Among those killed was Buri Mohamed Hamza, a Somali government minister with Canadian citizenship, and Duale Shahid, a young Somali doctor whose father was killed in a similar hotel attack in Mogadishu in 2009.
The Netherlands and Italy took the rare step Tuesday of agreeing to share a two-year seat on the U.N. Security Council, after a contest that ended in a dead heat.

After five rounds of voting, the countries were tied with 95 votes each. Neither was able to reach the two-thirds majority needed to secure a seat.

After discussions, the two European Union members offered to split the seat allocated to the Western Europe and Others Group for one year each.

I think its a signal of the importance we attach to the work of the United Nations in a time when we need more unity, more conflict resolution, more work on development, and at the same time a show of unity in a complex period for Europe, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders told reporters.

We took the opportunity of this perfect parity  95 to 95  to decide a proposal that also gives this message of unity between two European countries, said Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

The ministers proposed that Italy would serve in 2017 and the Netherlands in 2018. This also would give each country an opportunity to preside over the council, because its presidency rotates monthly on an alphabetical basis.

This was not the first time candidates agreed to split a term. In 1960, after 52 rounds of voting, Poland and Turkey agreed to split a two-year term.

Successful candidates

Also securing seats Tuesday were Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Sweden.

Bolivia and Ethiopia ran unopposed  their regional groups already had decided among themselves whom to put up as their candidates  but the others competed for their seats.

The new EU members of the Security Council now have especially sensitive tasks, as the U.K. is going to be distracted at the U.N. by the fallout from Brexit at home, said Richard Gowan, a U.N. expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, using the shorthand for the U.K.s referendum on leaving the European Union. There is an extra burden for the other Europeans to stand up for EU interests.

We have to send a signal about unity  keeping the European Union together, not to speculate too much, not to do all kinds of desperate things, but rather just make sure that we deliver, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom told reporters as she marked her countrys election to the Security Council. She said Sweden would focus its council work on conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, as well as security issues and climate change.

Bolivias U.N. Ambassador Sacha Llorenti said the issue of Palestine would be a priority for his country, as well as implementing the newly signed deal between Colombia and FARC rebels. Under terms of the deal, the U.N. will be part of a monitoring-and-verification mission in Colombia reporting on the cease-fire and receiving the FARCs weapons.

Kazakhstan will be the first Central Asian country to sit on the council. We will try to do our best to bring our perspective and expertise to contribute to the work of Security Council and the United Nations for the cause of peace and development, Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov told reporters. He said his government would focus on global security, nuclear disarmament and development.

Ethiopia is a major contributor to U.N. peacekeeping and plays an important regional role as the host of the African Unions headquarters.

The really big change to the Security Council won't involve any of the temporary members, but the arrival of a new American team after November's elections, analyst Gowan speculated. If it is a [Hillary] Clinton administration, there will be a fair bit of continuity. If there is a [Donald] Trump administration, the U.N. is going to get really, really lively.

Campaigning

Typically, countries announce their intention to run for council seats years in advance. Sweden, for example, announced its intention more than 10 years ago and campaigned for a year and a half.

Candidates try to woo member states right up until the last minute. Last week, Italy tried to sweeten voters moods, passing out free gelato at the U.N., and on Monday night, Kazakhstan threw a lavish party at the famous Plaza hotel to celebrate its candidacy. On Tuesday, goodie bags with souvenirs from Sweden, the Netherlands and Thailand blanketed the tables inside the General Assembly hall.

The newly elected council members will replace Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela, which complete their terms December 31.

The new council members will begin their terms January 1. They will join the five permanent council members  China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States  and five current nonpermanent members  Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay.
The last service at the EYN church in Michika started with prayers and ended with gunfire as Boko Haram fighters stormed the town on a Sunday in September 2014.

Those that could ran to the nearby mountains, joining the millions of people that have fled the Islamist insurgency in Nigeria and neighboring countries.

More than a year-and-a-half after Boko Haram was routed from Michika and other towns in Nigerias northeastern Adamawa state, people are coming back home to rebuild their lives. But the towns, and the livelihoods, they returned to are much changed, residents say.

You become jittery, Habiba Nasiru, a student in the town of Gombi, told VOA. There are things you can comfortably do before, that you cant do now.

Gombi was stormed by the insurgents in November 2014 and became the southernmost settlement in Boko Harams territory, which at its height was equivalent in size to Belgium and stretched from Adamawa into nearby Borno and Yobe states.

Reclaimed territory

Gombi, Michika and other areas the militants seized were reclaimed by an offensive that began in late 2014 and accelerated in 2015, involving troops from Nigeria and its neighbors, foreign mercenaries and local vigilante groups.

Much of what these troops took back was rubble.

The militants destroyed churches, torched markets and broke into houses in Michika. Their commanders took up residence in an opulent home, while burying their dead in another mans backyard.

Fighting snapped bridges in half and left roads strewn with burned out armored vehicles.

All told, the Boko Haram conflict has killed more than 20,000 people and forced 2.7 million to flee in Nigeria and its neighbors Cameroon, Chad and Niger, where the group has also been active.

In northeast Nigeria, $9 billion will be needed to rebuild, according to a Nigerian government report.

Outside Michika, they have burned all the necessary places that we use them. Houses, schools, and they have killed many peoples, said Tumba Tumba Kwaha, a teacher at a village school near Michika.

Slowly rising again

Rebuilding has already begun. In Michika, one school the militants raided has been patched up, with only a gash in a classroom roof signaling the violence that occurred there.

But some of what Boko Haram wrought is permanent.

Vigilante group member Husseini Bunja stands with arduous stiffness, the result of a bullet fired by a dying Boko Haram fighter during the battle for Gombi that pierced his arm. The injury keeps him from working, and he spends his days at home.

I only get assistance in the market and among friends who know I have the problem or when I beg outside my house, Bunja said.

Michikas EYN church is now nothing more than a pile of rubble. Boko Haram destroyed it days after taking over. Parishioners have jammed pews, plastic chairs and a pulpit under an open-sided shelter situated in the ruin, creating a makeshift chapel.

But parishioner Hassan Dauda said hundreds of worshippers have not returned.

Some, their houses has been burned down, he said. Some are still afraid of coming back.
More than 100 Nobel Prize winners are calling on Greenpeace and other environmental activist groups to cease their opposition to genetically modified foods, saying they pose no danger to health and can even be beneficial.

The group  which includes scholars from varied disciplines such as medicine, economics, literature, chemistry and physics  is set to present an open letter to Greenpeace on Thursday in Washington, D.C. In it, the group says Greenpeace should stop opposing development of a genetically engineered type of rice that supporters say could reduce vitamin deficiencies that cause blindness and death.

The Nobel laureates say Greenpeace and its allies "should re-examine the experience of farmers and consumers worldwide with crops improved through biotechnology," and respect the findings of authoritative scientific bodies and regulatory agencies.

The type of rice they are talking about is known as Golden Rice. It was designed to counteract vitamin A deficiencies that affect children, in particular. The Nobel laureates note in their letter that vitamin A deficiency has the greatest impact on impoverished people in Africa and Southeast Asia.

Greenpeace criticism, GMO praise

Speaking Wednesday to the Washington Post, organizer Richard Roberts  1993 Nobel laureate in physiology and medicine  said Greenpeace's opposition to GMOs is "anti-science." He said Greenpeace and some of its allies "deliberately went out of their way to scare people" about genetically modified crops, as a way to raise money for their cause.

Roberts said he supports Greenpeace on many of its other activities, but said "this is an issue that they got wrong."

In their letter, the Nobel winners say, "Scientific and regulatory agencies around the world have repeatedly and consistently found crops and foods improved through biotechnology to be as safe as, if not safer than, those derived from any other means of production. There has never been a single confirmed case of a negative health outcome for humans or animals from their consumption."

Furthermore, fact sheets distributed with the letter say genetically modified crops can reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture by 37 percent, increase crop yields by 22 percent, and increase farming income by 68 percent.

Greenpeace, which has called genetically modified foods a form of "genetic pollution," has not commented on the letter.
U.S., Canadian and Mexican leaders strongly rejected a wave of trade protectionism and anti-globalization Wednesday at the North American Leaders' Summit in Ottawa.

U.S. President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto hailed the benefits of the 22-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, at a time when international trade deals are being attacked in the United States and Europe. Together, the three countries account for almost 27 percent of the world's economic output.

Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau said the meeting was a bit poignant ahead of what he termed Obamas "pending retirement." The trio declared their close friendship and high regard for each other, reinforcing the playful "Three Amigos" nickname some in the media have given them.

Trump 'rant'

At a trilateral news conference in Ottawa, the leaders were asked if they are concerned about likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumps anti-immigrant, protectionist and isolationist campaign rhetoric. The Canadian and Mexican leaders said they would respect the will of the American people and work with whoever is elected president, but they made clear they support free trade and friendly cooperation.

Watch video report from VOA's Zlatica Hoke:

Mexican President Pena Nieto said some politicians look for simple solutions, turning to populism, protectionism and isolationism, not appreciating all the economic benefits they would squander.

President Obama agreed with Trudeau and Pena Nieto that an attitude of "pulling up the drawbridge" would be bad for the interconnected global economy. Without mentioning Trump by name, Obama went on what he admitted was a long "rant" about Trump, saying he objected to calling people who are currently popping up populists. Obama said he genuinely cares about poor people and making sure kids get an education. But he said somebody else who has never shown any regard for workers or for helping ordinary people is not a populist. That rhetoric, Obama said, is not populism: It is nativism, xenophobia or worse. Or it is just cynicism to say controversial things to win votes."

Obama said he does believe that people who have complaints about trade have a legitimate gripe about globalization, but the prescription of withdrawing from trade deals is the wrong medicine. He rejected Trumps negative comments on Mexicans and other immigrants, saying they are "not representative of America."

Brexit, trade deals

Asked about Britain's vote to leave the European Union, Obama said he would advise British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others to take a deep breath and to proceed with negotiations in an orderly and well thought-out way.

At least some of the voter sentiment that led to last week's British decision to exit the European Union has been attributed to anti-globalization. In the United States, Republican presidential contender Trump says he wants to renegotiate or scrap NAFTA, saying it has cost thousands of U.S. jobs and cut wages for American workers.

The three North American leaders also discussed the Trans-Pacific Partnership and how they plan to ratify it in their respective countries. Trump also opposes that deal, as does Hillary Clinton, the presumptive U.S. Democratic presidential nominee, although she originally called it the "gold standard" of trade deals.

Clean energy deal

Obama, Trudeau and Pena Nieto agreed on a pact to try to boost North America's generation of clean electricity in the next decade, aiming to produce half of North America's electricity from non-carbon sources by 2025.

Currently, a little more than one-third of the continent's electricity comes from clean energy sources such as wind, solar, hydropower or nuclear energy.

The U.S. and Canada have committed to cutting methane gas emissions by 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels over the coming decade, preserving more land and marine areas of the Arctic, and speeding development of green technologies. President Pena Nieto also is expected to announce his country's commitment to that goal.

Mexico faces additional challenges, as it plans to double its clean energy production in the next eight years. According to the International Energy Association, 18 percent of Mexico's total power generation is from clean energy, but it has already passed legislation committing to reach 35 percent by 2024.

Although negotiations are the responsibility of Britain and the EU, the White House says North American countries will need to continue to engage with a range of partners to discuss the implications and effects.
Hugh Maguire can't believe the British really did it.

The Northern Ireland farmer, like many residents along the United Kingdom's virtually unmarked land border with the Republic of Ireland, faces the risk of financial ruin if Britain proceeds with plans to exit the European Union. EU farm subsidies provide most of his income from highland pastures of cows and sheep, around 80,000 euros ($90,000) annually to support his 241-hectare (600-acre) farm. He gets the subsidies under the EU's "Less Favored Areas'' rating, farms on marginally productive but environmentally valued land.



Maguire called last week's referendum verdict, with 52 percent voting U.K.-wide to leave the bloc, including 44 percent in Northern Ireland, "a disaster.''



"I can't see Britain subsidizing us the same as the EU has done,'' said Maguire, who voted to remain. "We've been much better off with the EU when we got the subsidies. ... I honestly think in a few years' time, there'll be no farming in this part of Northern Ireland.''



All along the meandering 310-mile (500-kilometer) border with the Irish Republic, residents are trying to imagine what life will be like if Northern Ireland, like the rest of the U.K., actually leaves the 28-nation EU. Both the U.K. and Ireland entered the then-European Economic Community together in 1973, and their cooperation at the European level helped to eliminate the border as a barrier to the economy or tourism by the early 1990s.



Many now fear that both British and Irish authorities will have no choice but to redeploy customs officers and police to deter immigration and smuggling, a prospect that could fuel renewed support for the outlawed Irish Republican Army. IRA attacks from the 1970s to 1990s spurred Britain to build border networks of bases and watchtowers manned by soldiers, but those installations have disappeared following the 2005 decision of most IRA members to disarm and renounce violence.



"For the sake of promoting peace and economic growth, we need to keep the Irish border as invisible as possible. Voters in England don't really understand what's at stake here,'' said John Paul Feeley, a county councilman born in Blacklion, a village of 200 bordered to the north and east by Northern Ireland.



Feeley said around 30,000 people travel daily across the border in both directions to attend jobs and schools, and the last thing they need is a return to traffic-snarling checkpoints.



"It's a very serious situation for us,'' he said.



The shock decision to back a Brexit sent the British pound tumbling against other currencies, including the euro used in the Republic of Ireland. The change means that southerners with euros in their pockets suddenly find shopping in Northern Ireland around 10 percent cheaper, while Northern Ireland-based companies that do business in pounds find imported goods growing prohibitively expensive.



"A lot of our customers are in Europe, and I think it's going to make it more difficult for us to compete in Europe,'' said Jonathan Balfour, director of Elite Electronic Systems, which employs around 200 people in the nearby Northern Ireland town of Enniskillen. The company assembles printed circuit boards and other electronic peripherals but finds its costs for imported materials are rising with the pound's sharp decline.



Other businessmen fear their supply chains will grow too difficult, with multiple tariff barriers, as they move goods from continental EU nations to the U.K. for eventual sale in EU member Ireland.



"I'm still in shock,'' said Joris Smet, a Dutch citizen who runs his own building supplies business in the Northern Ireland border town of Newry. He said many of his firm's goods were imported from Germany via the Netherlands and the Belgian port of Antwerp, then exported again to the Republic of Ireland. "So it's no surprise that I'm an avid supporter of EU membership. ... I cannot believe that people do not understand the obvious benefits to our economy.''



South of Newry, the Irish Republic city of Dundalk, 14 miles (22 kilometers) away, faces an exodus of retail trade to the north, where the weak pound means the euro enjoys boosted spending power. This last happened in 2007 and 2008, when Newry's shopping centers were inundated with cross-border shoppers.



"We've always lived with the currency fluctuations. Sometimes Dundalk wins, sometimes Newry wins,'' said Paddy Malone, spokesman for Dundalk Chamber of Commerce. "What we cannot live with is excessive border security.''



Malone gestured to the nearby M1 highway, which since 2007 has cut in half the travel time between the Irish capital, Dublin, and Northern Ireland's capital of Belfast. Currently, the only sign that a driver has passed from one nation to the other is that speed limits and distances in the Republic of Ireland are listed in kilometers, while the north uses miles.



"That road was built without any reference to border checks. Imposing them on what is supposed to be a high-speed, efficient piece of infrastructure would be difficult, to say the least,'' he said. "There's also hundreds of small roads and country lanes that cross the border, and it's impossible to police them all.''



"The British Army tried to seal off the border for years. They were never successful,'' he added.
Pakistan plans to fence its long, porous border with Afghanistan after construction of checkpoints at all established crossings is completed, a top government adviser said Tuesday.

Tariq Fatemi, a close aide to the prime minister on foreign policy, said in Islamabad that border management mechanisms were being implemented not to close the frontier but to facilitate "an orderly and documented" cross-border movement, and to ensure safety and security of the two countries.

For this purpose, we are establishing proper, well-organized and professionally manned check posts," Fatemi said. "We also intend eventually to have the Pakistan-Afghanistan border fenced. We believe that good fences make good neighbors. It is the absence of a well-defined border that is at the root of many of our problems.

Pakistan has been constructing checkpoints at several locations on the 2,600-kilometer border, known as the Durand Line. Activity at the main Torkham crossing this month triggered deadly clashes between border forces of the two countries. The fighting left several soldiers dead and dozens more wounded on both sides.

The latest and previous border tensions have all stemmed from Afghanistans historic opposition to the 1893 demarcation by former British rulers of the Indian subcontinent. Pakistan, however, maintains it inherited the frontier after gaining independence from Britain in 1947 and believes the Durand Line is an international border.

Hussain-Ghani meeting

Top Pakistani and Afghan officials have held meetings at various levels to try to prevent future border skirmishes and resolve mutual differences. Fatemi said the situation had gotten better, particularly after last weeks meeting between Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain and his Afghan counterpart, Ashraf Ghani, on the sidelines of a regional conference in Uzbekistan.

I am very confident that the decisions taken by them will bring about mechanisms and arrangements that should restore a degree of normalcy and the possibility of further progress towards an understanding between the two countries, said the Pakistani adviser.

Fatemi again rejected allegations that while Pakistan's military is cracking down on anti-state Islamist militants, commonly referred to as Pakistani Taliban, it continues to secretly support the Afghan Taliban and provides shelter to insurgent leaders on Pakistani soil.

We are convinced that there is no such thing as a good Taliban or a bad Taliban. They will all be treated with the same yardstick," he said. "We do also recognize that irrespective of what may or may not have been done in the past, Pakistan shall no longer involve itself in the domestic affairs of Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials insist the border restrictions are critical because they will also help address mutual allegations of supporting militant groups in other countries.

He said that Pakistan is also urging the international community to assist in the repatriation of nearly 3 million Afghan refugees living in the country, reiterating Islamabads concerns that militant and terrorist groups are using the refugee camps as sanctuaries.
A police crackdown in Pakistan has rounded up and deported hundreds of Afghan refugees in recent weeks. But authorities say Afghans with legal refugee status are not being targeted, nor will they be pushed out of the country.

The arrests have mainly taken place in the northwestern border province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which hosts most of the estimated 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees, in addition to a sizable number of illegal settlers, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Many of them have fled persecution and armed conflict in Afghanistan.

Border tensions



The crackdown coincides with stepped up Pakistani calls for the international community to help in the repatriation of Afghan refugees, citing security concerns and financial constraints for hosting them for more than three decades. It also comes at a time when relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated because of border tensions.

We have hosted them for over 30 years, it is time for them to return home in conditions of dignity and honor, said Tariq Fatemi, Pakistani prime ministers key aide on foreign policy matters.

But he clarified the government is encouraging Afghan refugees to return to their home and has no such intention of pushing them out or coercing them out.

But we are convinced that many of these refugees, particularly those who are undocumented, they could be harboring militants and others, and creating a law and order situation, he said.

Afghan and Pakistani officials said Wednesday Pakistan has extended the stay of registered Afghan refugees for another six months, a day before the June 30 deadline was to expire.

Gradual relocation

The Pakistan prime minister's office says the concerned ministries have been instructed to work with the U.N. Refugee agency and the Afghan government for "gradual relocation of refugee camps in Pakistan to Afghanistan."

"In order to facilitate relocation and as a gesture of continued goodwill, Pakistan shall commit provision of wheat for the relocated camps in Afghanistan for a period of three years, free of cost," the statement added.

A UNHCR spokeswoman, Dunya Aslam Khan, said her agency has received no reports of any mass arrests or deportations of registered Afghan refugees. They are legally protected, she told VOA, and the agency is able to immediately secure release of documented refugees in case they are arrested.

During a visit to Pakistan last week, the UNHCR Chief Filippo Grandi dismissed Pakistans assertions that Afghan refugees have become a source of terrorism in the country.

In meetings with Pakistani officials, he stressed the whole refugee population must not be blamed or penalized if a few of them have been involved in criminal acts.

During his trip he also announced an increase in assistance packages for registered Afghan refugees families, who return to Afghanistan under the UNHCR facilitated voluntary return program.

The number of returnees under the program has dropped drastically this year to only 6,000 from around 60,000 in 2015.
Polish migrant Sylwia has lived with her family for six years working various jobs in the small English town of Boston which she now calls home.

But after its residents overwhelmingly voted to leave the European Union in last week's referendum, the 45-year-old mother of two says she no longer feels welcome.

"We've started to hear of Polish people being told by locals to go home," she said, too anxious to give her surname. "Some were sworn at, even by children. Many people are scared."

The town in the rural county of Lincolnshire saw the arrival of thousands of eastern European migrants in the last decade, drawn to jobs picking vegetables and packaging food.

According to the Office for National Statistics, Boston had Britain's fastest increase in the percentage of people who described themselves as white but not British in the last census. A place with virtually no foreigners at all in 2001, it was more than 15 percent foreign-born by 2011, with many of the newcomers from the EU's poor, former Communist east.

Last week, the natives gave their response. More than 75 percent voted to leave the EU, the biggest margin of victory for "Brexit" in the country, after a campaign focused on calls to curtail immigration.

Now the local Polish community is worried the anti-EU feeling stirred up in the tense campaign is translating into open aggression.

Police in neighboring Cambridgeshire have said offensive leaflets towards Poles were distributed in the town of Huntingdon. In London, graffiti was sprayed on a Polish cultural center at the weekend. Islamic groups have also noted a rise in incidents against Muslims since Friday.

The National Police Chiefs' Council noted a 57 percent increase in reports of hate crime incidents to the police online hate crime reporting site, True Vision, in the days following the referendum compared to the same period last month.

In Boston, many of more than a dozen Poles interviewed by Reuters said they had heard of instances of verbal abuse. The front gate of a Polish restaurant had been knocked down on referendum night, though its owners were wary of linking the incident to anti-Polish sentiment.

"People are worried attitudes will change and English people may show more aggression towards Poles," said Patrycja Walentynowicz, whose Lincs PL business offers translation and other services to Poles.

"One of my friends heard very unpleasant comments when she spoke in Polish outside a school," she said, although she said she was also reassured by expressions of support from residents.

Her co-founder at the company, Iga Paczkowska, said she had already noticed a change.

"I don't know why but people...have been expecting that if they voted out, day by day we're just going to disappear," she said. "When they woke up on 24 June and realized we are still here, they became a little bit more open about their feelings."

In a joint statement on Tuesday, Boston Borough council and police said they would take action if any hate crime was reported.

"All law-abiding residents of Boston borough who are here legally should be treated the same - with dignity and respect - whether indigenous or from other parts of the world," they said.

"The police will not tolerate hate crime and will robustly investigate and prosecute. This is a tolerant community, reflected by no incidents of hate crime reported so far. We appeal for continued calm and understanding."

"Message of Reassurance"

Boston, dotted with Polish shops selling pickled cabbage and smoked sausages and restaurants serving pierogi dumplings alongside Lithuanian stores offering their specialities, was named "the least integrated place" in Britain in a January report by right-leaning Policy Exchange.

Last week, Jonathan Noble, local councillor for the anti-EU U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), told Reuters those working and settled "had nothing to fear" after the Brexit vote.

"Our message to them is one of reassurance," he said. "The people who have come here, most have come here to work and you can understand they want to make a better life for themselves and their families...All it [Brexit] means in the future is that we will be able to control immigration from the EU."

Prime Minister David Cameron has condemned harassment of foreigners and spoke to Polish counterpart Beata Szydlo to reassure her Poles in Britain would be protected. Most Poles are Catholic, and the leader of Catholics in England and Wales has also spoken out.

"This upsurge of racism, of hatred towards others is something we must not tolerate," Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols said in a statement. "We have to say this is simply not acceptable in a humane society and it should never be provoked or promoted."

According to 2014 official figures, there are some 790,000 Poles living in the U.K., making it the second-largest overseas-born population in Britain after those from India.

Polish is Britain's most common native language after English, beating Welsh.

"I think that by leaving the European Union, Britain has made a big mistake," said 31-year-old Pole Slawomir, who works in fields and plants around Boston. "They are going to be curbing immigration ...it's not clear what it is going to be like, what the rules of the new prime minister are going to be? Are they going to deport people and leave residents? Will those who are already here stay and those who want to come in face problems? Only time will tell."
Russia and Turkey have agreed to resume cooperation on travel and trade after the presidents of the two counties held their first telephone conversation since Ankara downed a Russian plane last year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a 40-minute telephone call Wednesday with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow would start talks with Turkey on resuming trade and economic relations and would lift restrictive measures on Russian tourists visiting Turkey, both sides confirmed in statements.



Putin and Erdogan also agreed to hold a face-to-face meeting in September on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in China.

The conversation was initiated by Putin in a response to the Turkish president's letter this week, in which Erdogan expressed regret for the downing of a Russian jet last year.

In a reference to the letter, Putin said that it had created conditions to close "the crisis chapter" in bilateral relations.

Putin also condemned the "heinous" attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport Tuesday that killed at least 41 people and offered condolences to the Turkish people.

Following the downing of the Russian plane in November relations between the two countries froze and Moscow imposed a number of sanctions, including an embargo on Turkish food products and a ban on charter flights and the sale of package tours to the country.
U.S.-backed Syrian rebel forces seized a small airport used as a base by Islamic State near the Iraq border early Wednesday.

The Hamdan air base had served as an Islamic State outpost strategically near the city of Al-Bukamal, just a few kilometers from the Iraqi frontier.

The airbase was captured just hours after an offensive was launched Tuesday seeking to cut the terrorist group's transit link between Syria and Iraq.

Islamic State took control of Al-Bukamal in 2014, which, for their military operations, effectively erased the border between Iraq and Syria.

The 18-month-old New Syria Army continued their offensive with U.S. support to retake the city on Wednesday - a move that would serve as both a symbolic and strategic blow to the jihadists' self-declared cross-border "caliphate", as it would limit Islamic State transit and coordination between the two countries.

Just this week Iraqi forces liberated the city of Fallujah from Islamic State fighters, following a month-long military offensive to seize control.
A database of 2.2 million suspected terrorists and people linked to organized crime -- a list used by intelligence agencies, banks and companies around the world -- has been leaked onto the internet.

The database, called World-Check, was managed by the Thomson Reuters financial data firm for its clients.

However, security researcher Chris Vickery found a 2014 version of the list that didn't require a password to access information.

Thomson Reuters thanked Vickery for the discovery. The firm said it reached the unnamed third party that had posted the information and that it had agreed to remove the list from the internet.

The list collates "risk profiles" on individuals with alleged links to terrorist groups, corruption and organized crime.
Toyota Motor Corporation has issued a recall for more than three million vehicles global for faulty airbags and defective emissions control units, the Japanese automaker said Wednesday.

Toyota recalled more than two-and-a-half million vehicles for emissions control unit defects just hours after it recalled nearly one-and-a-half million for potentially dangerous airbags.

The recall is not related to Takata - the airbag supplier responsible for massive recalls over the past few months.

The Prius hybrid, Prius plug-in, and the Lexus CT200h produced between October 2008 and April 2012 are being recalled for having small cracks in some of the airbag inflators that may expand and cause air bags on both the drivers' and passengers' sides to partially expand.

Another Prius model and some of Toyota's popular Corolla models produced between 2006 and 2015 have been recalled after Toyota found that their evaporative fuel emissions control units were prone to cracks, which could expand over time and lead to fuel leaks.

Toyota said it is not aware of any injuries or fatalities as a result of this defect.

This announcement is the latest in a string of airbag problems across multiple automakers that have resulted in recalls of over 100 million vehicles globally. At least 11 people have died from these faulty airbags, and some 100 more injured.
Tuesday's suicide attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport, that killed at least 42 people and wounded nearly 250, highlights how far Turkey has fallen from its former status as a regional example of stability.

Terror attacks have been growing across Turkey, with several targeting Istanbul  a city historically considered the meeting place of the European and Asian continents.

With its once thriving economy and robust tourism sector, the countrys financial boom has now gone bust. Tourist arrivals are down about one-third this past year.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the latest incident, but Turkish prime minister Binali Yildrim said Tuesdays attack seemed to have the hallmarks of an Islamic State operation.

It almost mirrored the March 22 attack claimed by IS on the international airport in Brussels that left 32 people dead.

The Institute for the Study of War had predicted an increase in IS attacks in Turkey during the Islamic June 5-July 5 holy month of Ramadan,as part of the extremist groups attempt to reorient its strategy in the region.

ISIS will likely select targets in neighboring states that relieve pressure from the group in Syria while setting conditions for future expansion in those states, ISW wrote. Targets that serve this dual purpose include foreign tourists, state security forces, and U.S. military elements in Turkey and Jordan.

Prime Minister Yildrim said in a news conference shortly after the attacks Tuesday that many of the victims of the attacks were foreign nationals.

Regional factors:

Islamic State

Previous Terror Attacks in Turkey 7 June, Istanbul: Car bomb kills seven police officers and four civilians. Claimed by Kurdish militant group TAK

Car bomb kills seven police officers and four civilians. Claimed by Kurdish militant group TAK 19 March, Istanbul: Suicide bomb kills four people in shopping street. IS blamed

Suicide bomb kills four people in shopping street. IS blamed 13 March, Ankara: Car bomb kills 34. TAK claims responsibility

Car bomb kills 34. TAK claims responsibility 17 February, Ankara: 29 killed in attack on military buses. TAK claims responsibility

29 killed in attack on military buses. TAK claims responsibility 12 January, Istanbul: 11 Germans killed by Syrian bomber in tourist area

2015 23 December, Istanbul: Bomb kills cleaner at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport. TAK claims responsibility

Bomb kills cleaner at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport. TAK claims responsibility 10 October, Ankara: More than 100 killed at peace rally outside railway station. Blamed on IS

More than 100 killed at peace rally outside railway station. Blamed on IS 20 July, Suruc, near Syrian border: 34 people killed in bombing in Kurdish town. Blamed on IS

An increasing number of terrorist bombings on Turkish soil have killed hundreds (see chart). While the Turkish government blames many of the attacks on the Kurdish separatist PKK group, many have been attributed to the Islamic State.

Reporting from Istanbul, VOAs Dorian Jones says analysts believe IS has large numbers of fighters who are Turkish nationals.

Sources say Islamic States recent losses in Iraq also may have prompted Tuesdays attack on the airport, according to Jones.

Iraqi forces seized ISs last positions in Fallujah on Sunday after a month-long operation, establishing full control over one of the extremists most emblematic bastions.

The Kurds

Ankara claims that Kurdish militants fighting Islamic State in neighboring Syria are an extension of the PKK, which has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy within Turkey since the 1970s.

Turkeys animosity towards the U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters has put it at odds with Washington, even while it is allied with the U.S. in the fight against Islamic State and the ouster of Syria's Russian-backed regime.

Ankara has bombed Kurdish fighters it believes allied with PKK in both Syria and Iraq, and has moved to crush the Kurdish movement inside its own borders, further inflaming Kurdish separatist violence.

Syrian conflict

Syrias civil war has now been going for more than five years, and armed groups roam both sides of the 804-kilometer Turkey-Syria border.

Ankara has been accused of allowing foreign fighters to cross over to join groups like Islamic State.

Nearly 2.5 million Syrians are now estimated to be living in Turkey, stretching the countrys resources and fomenting resentment among the Turkish population.

World politics

Tuesdays attack came just days after Ankara announced it would normalize diplomatic ties with Israel, after a 2010 incident in which Turkish activists trying to break Israels aid blockade on the Gaza Strip were killed by Israeli security forces.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also reached out to Russia this week, sending a letter of apology over the shooting down of a Russian warplane near the countrys border with Syria.

Observers say that Erdogan's alignment with Israel and Russia may have angered IS and Tuesday's attack was a result.
Turkey blamed Islamic State jihadists Wednesday for the deadly assault on Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport, denouncing the latest terrorist attack in the country and vowing to fight terrorism "until the end."

No one has claimed responsibility for the late Tuesday attack that killed 42 people and wounded more than 250 others when three suicide bombers opened fire with assault weapons and then blew themselves up.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, "The evidence points to Daesh," using an Arabic name for IS, but added that "our investigations are continuing." He suggested the attack could be connected with Ankara's move Monday to repair strained relations with Russia and Israel.

Yildirim said one of the suicide bombers blew himself up outside the airport terminal, with the other two using the panic of the moment to shoot their way past security guards and set off their bombs inside the airport.

The Turkish government declared a day of mourning Wednesday, even as work crews cleaned up the widespread debris at the airport, and flights resumed.

World condolences

World leaders condemned the bombings. U.S. President Barack Obama called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to offer his condolences.

Later, at a summit of North American leaders in Canada, Obama said the U.S. "will not rest until we have dismantled these networks of hate that have had an impact on the entire civilized world."

Mogens Lykketoft, president of the 193-member United Nations General Assembly, said, "The international community must  through much closer cooperation  redouble efforts to contain and fight radical and violent extremism."

Erdogan said the incident "shows that terrorism strikes with no regard to faith and values." But he said that his country "has the power, determination and capacity to continue the fight against terrorism until the end."

The attack on the airport, Europe's third busiest, is the latest in a wave of bombings in Turkey over the past year that have killed more than 260 people.

The terrorist attacks have decimated the country's tourist industry, cutting the number of visitors to the country that straddles Europe and Asia by 23 percent through May compared to a year ago.

Our airport has been opened to flights and departures, Yildirim said. Turkish Airlines said it has resumed all flight operations, including flights between the U.S. and Istanbul.

Officials said 13 of those killed were foreign nationals, with the remainder Turks. They said 109 of the injured were released from hospitals Wednesday, but that 41 were still in intensive care.

Witnesses said the suicide bombers opened fire on people before detonating explosives at the international arrival terminal.

One witness described the scene to VOA's Turkish service. "There were two small explosions and then a large one. People scattered everywhere. They did not know where to go. We were waiting for my sister, but could not find her. We are [still] waiting."

A second witness said, "In one direction there were shots. In another direction there were bombs, and people ran out as fast as they could, and there were people bleeding on the sidewalk."

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was on a plane that landed at the Ataturk airport just minutes after the attacks. Later, he expressed his condolences to the victims on his official Twitter account, saying he felt deep pity for the lost innocent lives in that barbarous act of those who have neither God or hope nor a place among the people.

Islamic State has been blamed for two suicide bombings earlier this year in Istanbul targeting foreign tourists.

The Kurdish rebel group PKK also has carried out suicide bombings, but usually targets security forces, as it did this month in an attack on a police bus that killed 11 people.

In the last year, both Ankara and Istanbul have seen scores killed in bombings carried out by both IS and Kurdish rebels.
A roadside bomb killed two soldiers and wounded three others in Turkeys Mardin province Wednesday.

The explosive device was detonated by remote control when an armored military vehicle was passing some 35 kilometers from the Derik district at about 3:00 PM local time.

Another attack was carried out against a military team patrolling a rural area in Lice in Diyarbakir province. The military has recently been involved in an operation to destroy illegal cannabis fields in the region.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesdays blasts.

The attacks came only hours after three suicide explosions at Istanbuls Ataturk International Airport left at least 41 people dead and more than 200 wounded, some in critical condition.

Turkey has been hit by multiple attacks on civilians and the military in the past several months, carried out by Islamic State or PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) militants.

Islamic State has been targeting civilians, while the PKK has been targeting Turkish police and military since July in its quest for autonomy in Turkey's southeast.

An estimated 500 Turkish security personnel have been killed while fighting Kurdish rebels, according to the military, which claims to have killed nearly 5,000 PKK militants in Turkey and northern Iraq.
Burundis human rights record is under scrutiny at the U.N. Human Rights Council over the objections and anger of that countrys government. The council said it is alarmed at the rise in rights violations in Burundi since last years political crisis. It wants the violations to stop, because it fears an ethnic conflict with devastating consequences for all of central Africa.

The United Nations and the government of Burundi have polar opposite views on what is happening in the country, a year after President Pierre Nkurunziza was elected to what his critics call an unconstitutional third term.

Campaign of distortion



While the government accused the U.N. of a campaign of distortion, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra-ad al-Hussein expressed great concern over the terrible reality that is playing out.



In a report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Zeid accused Burundi government agents and associated militia of killings, disappearances and arbitrary arrests. He said he is alarmed at the prospect of an escalation in ethnic violence.



In the past six weeks, a number of members of the defunct armed Forces of Burundi, or ex-FAB, have been murdered, possibly because of their Tutsi ethnicity. In the south of the country, I have also been informed of speeches by members of the Imbonerakure amounting to incitement to violence against political opponents, with strong ethnic overtones, said Zeid.



Imbonerakure, not militia



Given Burundis history of conflict between Hutus and Tutsis, the high commissioner warned the acts of incitement are potentially explosive. Willy Nyamitwe, a senior adviser to the president of Burundi, rejected accusations that the Imbonerakure, the ruling partys youth wing, is spreading hate speech and attacking people.

He told VOA the group is not a militia.

They do not have weapons. They are not killing people. But, you can see when you go through these reports that even the High Commissioner is saying it is a militia that is intimidating people, killing citizens, but without giving evidences. We need facts. So when there is no fact, there is flying rumors, stated Nyamitwe.



Nyamitwe accused Rwanda and Belgium of trying to destabilize Burundi by manipulating organizations, such as the International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch.



Some reports are really biased and it is a huge campaign of distortion and fabrication and lies that have been spread over the internetBurundi is not the first country in Africa that has been destabilized by some powers that are working for regime change," he added. "Everything that has been said about mass killings, about genocide against Tutsi were wrong.



Conflict trends, violations



The high commissioners spokeswoman, Cecile Pouilly, agreed that genocide is a very specific and powerful term that should not be used lightly. However, she disagreed with Nyamitwes contention that the high commissioners report is not based on fact.



She told VOA that U.N. human rights monitors are in contact with a large network of people. She said they carefully document all the information they receive.



What we observe is a number of extra-judicial executions going down. At the same time, we see a number of human rights violations going up. Other trends--including a number of arbitrary arrests, arbitrary detentions, and very worrying an increase in the use of torture and ill-treatment, especially in detention facilities run by the Service Nationale de Renseignementintelligence agency, if you wantthe police and the army, Pouilly said.

She said grenade attacks against the police and army are increasing. People continue to be displaced within the country and as refugees in neighboring countries.

And the crisis that is going on right now in Burundi, has been ongoing for months right now, is affecting the whole region," explained Pouilly. "And, the high commissioner has on many occasions warned against the risk of destabilization for the entire region.



The International Criminal Court recently said it will open a preliminary examination into violence in Burundi. U.N. rights chief Zeid welcomes that. He is urging the authorities to bring all those responsible for crimes to justice, and for the country to resolve its crisis through an inclusive national dialogue.
The U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday to beef up peacekeeping operations in Mali, in light of attacks making the mission known as MINUSMA the worlds most deadly.

Today the terrorists are stronger, said Inhaye Ag Mohamed, the secretary of Mali's peace and reconciliation committee, and we are asking the U.N. Security Council to reinforce the mandate to adapt to this new situation.

The Council on Wednesday increased the U.N. mission's force by 2,500, bringing the total to 13,300 troops and just under 2,000 police. The French-drafted resolution, passed on a unanimous vote, also directed MINUSMA "to move to a more proactive and robust posture" to carry out its mandate of supporting the government and re-establishing state authority.

Jihadist groups, which have attacked numerous sites in northern Mali, are extending their reach farther south, even hitting a hotel in Bamako last November.

It is a challenge considered unprecedented in the U.N.s history.

Never has a peacekeeping mission faced a situation like the one in Mali, says Kalidou Sidibe, a political analyst and expert on security in West Africa.

"Peacekeeping missions are usually there to preserve the peace, he said. In Mali, you have a variety of armed groups involved in trafficking and terrorism activities, and on top of that you have jihadists who know the terrain better than even the homegrown rebels."

Deadly mission

Since deployment in 2013, 68 U.N. peacekeepers have been killed in Mali, making it the U.N.'s deadliest active mission. They have faced ambushes, suicide attacks and IEDs, or improvised explosive devices.

Lately, the U.N. has also faced an increasingly hostile population in the north, as residents accuse peacekeepers of failing to go after terrorists and other groups. But that kind of proactive engagement isn't MINUSMA's current mandate, Sidibe says.

The Malian army is in shambles after the conflict in 2012, and there are no security forces in many northern towns. MINUSMAs aim is to fill that void, training the police and army to deal with terrorist threats, according to Sidibe.

Analysts, however, say more U.N. peacekeepers may have limited impact, as lasting peace ultimately depends on the Malian government and its security forces.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power has called on the global community to take greater action in tackling the refugee crisis.

Speaking Wednesday at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, Power announced U.S. plans to intensify resettlement efforts to admit 30,000 more refugees in 2016 and 2017, out of 100,000 refugees overall.

As the leading donor of humanitarian aid, Power said, the United States is contributing more than $5.1 billion for the Syrian conflict alone and will continue to provide robust support.

Urging a global response to the crisis, Power said that it has stretched the worlds humanitarian system to the breaking point and put millions of people in dire situations at even greater risk.

"We're asking governments to commit to welcoming more refugees into their countries with the goal of doubling the number of refugee admission slots worldwide," Powers said. "We are asking front line countries who are already hosting a considerable numbers of refugees with awe inspiring generosity, to do even more, allowing the refugees they host greater opportunities to become self-reliant.

"Our aim is to put at least a million more refugee children in school, and grant a million more refugees access to legal work," she added.

Power said that "ignorance and prejudice make for bad advisers" in dealing with the worst refugee and migrant crisis since World War Two.

The official proposal will be unveiled at President Barack Obama's Refugee Summit at the United Nations in September.

According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, at the end of 2015, more than 65 million people were displaced worldwide, and over half of them were children.
One day after Zika funding failed in the Senate, U.S. lawmakers heard a sobering assessment of the virus' potential to do harm and America's lack of preparedness to fight the mosquito that carries it.

The deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Anne Schuchat, noted that more than 500 pregnant women in the United States have contracted Zika, and the number is certain to rise.

"We need the states to be able to detect, respond [to] and prevent infections," Schuchat told the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday. "We need to strengthen surveillance for the disease and for mosquitoes. We need to do everything we can to control the mosquitoes."

Many U.S. states, however, lack a coordinated mosquito eradication program, according to the head of the American Mosquito Control Association, T. Wayne Gale.

"Especially for those states that don't have any existing programs, you can't stand up [create] mosquito control infrastructure overnight," Gale said, adding that keeping mosquitoes in check is labor-intensive and equipment-intensive, and training staff for new programs across the country takes time.

Focus on contraception

Senators also heard unsettling new medical data concerning the virus, which few researchers had focused on prior to last year.

Christopher Zahn of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists noted that the risk of a congenital heart defect in a newborn is about 1 percent, but the risk of a Zika infection causing a birth defect like microcephaly is 13 percent or higher.

With no vaccine on the immediate horizon and America's mosquito season well underway, Zahn said, "The only guaranteed way to prevent [Zika birth defects] is contraception. So access to contraception both domestically and abroad is crucial to address this issue."

Access to contraception became a central point of contention in the Senate debate leading up to Tuesday's vote blocking the $1.1 billion to fight Zika.

Democrats objected when a majority of Republicans inserted cost offsets that included a cut in funds to Planned Parenthood, a major provider of birth control to women.

"Women are concerned about birth control," said Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. "For a majority of young women, [Planned Parenthood] is the only place they have to go [for contraceptives]."

Republicans argued that Democrats bear the blame for scuttling Congress' last opportunity to act on Zika before both houses adjourn for next week's Independence Day holiday.

"Families don't want excuses. They want action," said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "In the midst of mosquito season, Democrats chose partisan politics over $1.1 billion in critical funds to protect pregnant women and babies from Zika."

Vaccines and funding

University of Wisconsin pathologist David O'Connor said he is confident a Zika vaccine will work, but that developing one and demonstrating its safety and efficacy will take time.

"The vaccines still need to be tested, first for safety in small numbers of people. Then, they need to be tested in small and in large efficacy trials," O'Connor said. "And those studies are going to be particularly difficult to do in pregnant women, because it's going to be difficult to want to expose pregnant women to the risk of a vaccine [where long-term health effects have not been ruled out]."

Schuchat said CDC funding currently exists for small-scale studies, but not large ones.

"That's one of the reasons that additional resources are needed," she said.

With no vaccine and only a patchwork of mosquito-control programs across the United States, many Americans may choose mosquito repellent as a primary defense.

H. Fisk Johnson, CEO of S.C. Johnson & Son, America's biggest bug spray manufacturer, told senators that the company is tripling production of repellent.

"We are truly gearing up to be able to supply the worst-case scenario if it comes to that," Johnson said.
Three suicide bombers detonated explosives late Tuesday at Istanbul's international airport, killing at least 28 people and wounding 60 others, city Governor Vasip Sahin said.

State television said one explosion occurred at a control point at an entry to the international arrival terminal. Witnesses said police fired on the suspects after one attacker initially opened fire with what was later described as a Kalashnikov rifle. Video later showed one such weapon lying unattended on the ground at the facility.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Television showed scenes of chaos at the huge facility, Turkey's largest airport and one of the busiest in the world. As police sought to secure the terminal, the death toll began to climb, after initial reports of 10 dead.

One witness described the scene to VOA's Turkish service: "There were two small explosions and then a large one. People scattered everywhere. They didn't know where to go. We were waiting for my sister, but couldn't find her. We're [still] waiting."

A second witness also sought to give words to the chaos. "In one direction there were shots, in another direction there were bombs, and people ran out as fast as they could and there were people bleeding on the sidewalk."

The attack triggered a closed session of the Turkish parliament, where opposition leaders were expected to question Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag about details of a recent U.S. travel warning for Turkey. MPs also were believed to be focusing on whether any security lapses could have contributed to the airport attack.

Istanbul has been the target of several terror attacks this year, including the June 7 car bombing of a police bus that killed 11 people.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for that attack, either. But Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast have been linked to a spate of similar attacks in recent months.

WATCH: Eyewitnesses Describe Chaos at Istanbul Airport

Ataturk is Turkey's largest airport and a major transport hub for international travelers. All flights there were suspended after the attack. Authorities later allowed incoming flights in holding patterns over the city to begin landings. All other inbound flights were diverted.

At a forum in Colorado, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the Obama administration was still "trying to ascertain what happened and who did it." He added that "this is daily fare, and thats why I say the first challenge we need to face is countering nonstate violent actors, for a host of reasons."
Suspended Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni has been questioned by the Anti-Corruption Commission over the appointment of the citys town clerk, just a few hours after a High Court judge ordered the Minister of Local Government to reinstate him.

Some Anti-Corruption Commission officials told Studio 7 on condition of anonymity that they wanted to question Manyenyeni on the Harare City Councils appointment of James Mushore as the citys town clerk.

Manyenyeni was initially suspended by Kasukuwere for allegedly disregarding the ministers call to reverse Mushores appointment.

His lawyer, Lovemore Madhuku said the Commission used the police to detain Manyenyeni.

Before being questioned by the Commission, a Harare High Court judge, Lavender Makoni, ordered his reinstatement and further interdicted the local government minister from suspending him.

Acting Local Government Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo had also suspended the mayor on allegations of criminal abuse of office. Manyenyeni approached the court arguing that Moyo did not comply with provisions of the Urban Councils Act in suspending him.

Manyenyenis lawyer, Lovemore Madhuku, confirmed the courts decision, saying the court further interdicted Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere from further suspending the city mayor pending the outcome of a case that he lodged with the Constitutional Court.

Manyenyeni told Studio 7 that he was welcoming the courts verdict.

Board chairperson of the Combined Harare Residents Association, Simbarashe Moyo, said local residents are happy about the High Court ruling, adding that this would give Manyenyeni time to address issues affecting local people.

In other court news, the Constitutional Court postponed judgement in a case in which some churches are challenging the decision by education ministry to introduce the national pledge in schools saying it violates their right to freedom of worship.

Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku ordered the parties to return to courts registrar after 30 days to allow negotiations between the churches and the government.
Church groups and civic society activists are planning to have a 16-day vigil outside the offices of provincial minister Shuvai Mahofa, to pray for the removal of President Robert Mugabe from office, saying millions of people are suffering due to the current social and economic problems allegedly caused by his ruling Zanu PF party.

The protesters are expected to hand over a petition to Mahofa, who will then forward it to Mr. Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for more than 36 years. Independent economists say the countrys unemployment rate is believed to be between 85 and 90 percent.

On the other hand, the government insists that the unemployment rate is pegged at almost 11 percent.

The International Monetary Fund has already indicated that Zimbabwes economy is in doldrums.

Prophet Tapfumaneyi Clement Zenda of the Christian Voice International told Studio 7 that church leaders and their congregants will camp for 16 days at Burombo provincial state offices and pray hard to the Almighty for the removal of Mr. Mugabe from power.

We as the church we believe we are the mouthpiece of the oppressed and those without a voice so here we are actually lifting our voices to God so that he hears our plight and to the authorities so that they may be sensitive to the plight of the people we are burdened by the situation whereby the authorities are concerned about their political terms at the expense of the people. Our economic situation has gone to the dogs. We have to look up to heaven to intervene.

The Christians are expected to be joined by several civic society organizations. Community Tolerance and Reconciliation Development programs officer, Zivanai Muzorodzi, said they will also seek divine intervention while camping outside the provincial government offices.

The government has failed to deliver since the last elections and we are now sliding back to 2008 political and economic chaos. Its high time the citizens rise up and demand the authorities like Shuvai Mahofa and her partner in crime Robert Mugabe to step down. We are going to conduct prayers at Benjamin Burombo for them to hear our pleas. Our issues are clear they range from unemployment, corruption, cash crisis and incessant police roadblocks.

Director Anoziva Muguti of the Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Alliance said residents are concerned about the continued violation of their socio-economic rights as a result of some challenges emanating from Zimbabwes economic meltdown.

We are in the prayers to express ourselves to God and the authorities that the socio-economic rights of residents are under threat from the economic collapse. Issues like access to clean and portable water, education and health facilities for citizens are under serious threat therefor we say the authorities should step down.

Two weeks ago, the same organizations were blocked by the police when they wanted to stage a peaceful protest on similar issues in the city. Mahofa was not reachable for comment as she was said to be busy attending to some urgent state business.
President Jacob Zuma must pay back about $500,000, or three percent of the public funds used to upgrade his personal country home, says South Africa's treasury.



The nation's highest court has accepted the report, but the presidents critics say theyre still not happy.



Once South Africas Constitutional Court finalizes its Tuesday ruling, Zuma will have 45 days to pay back the money into the nations coffers for upgrades he made to his rural homestead, called Nkandla.



In 2014, the nations top anti-corruption czar determined that Zuma benefited unduly by using about $23 million of government money to upgrade his home.



Zumas camp said the improvements were necessary security measures befitting a head of state.Public Protector Thuli Madonsela disagreed, saying he should not have used public funds for a swimming pool, cattle enclosure, chicken run, amphitheater and visitor center.



David Lewis, executive director of Johannesburg-based Corruption Watch, says South Africans want more from their president.



Im not surprised at the figures, he told VOA.I dont think that the public are going to be satisfied with it, and they arent, quite clearly.... because theres a widespread belief that the president benefits unduly from public resources over a range of fronts, and its an entirely justified perception, quite honestly.



Perception of corruption

Lewis says South Africans believe their leaders are corrupt because they often encounter corruption in their daily lives.That sense that corruption permeates the government is cause for concern, he said.



The perception of corruption is really very high, he said. And the perception that government is not doing enough, it is also very high and that should be good enough for any accountable government to be very robust in opposing it.



This is not President Zumas only brush with corruption allegations. In 2007, he faced a court case over 783 charges of fraud, corruption and racketeering over an arms deal. The court dropped the charges in 2009, clearing the path for him to rise to power. The case has recently been resuscitated and Zuma may have to appear in court over these charges.



Predictably, the corruption allegations have become politicized, with the opposition Democratic Alliance insisting that his alleged pattern of corrupt activities is grounds for removal and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters repeatedly disrupting parliamentary sessions by demanding that he pay back the money.



In April, the opposition mounted an impeachment attempt in parliament over the home upgrades.The measure was easily defeated by Zumas African National Congress, which holds a wide majority.



Democratic Alliance spokesman Mabine Seabe says his party will continue to pursue other corruption allegations against Zuma. He also said the party didnt think the treasurys bill was enough.



As a party, we believe strongly that this figure should have been much higher, he said.Because the president personally defrauded the people of South Africa as well as stole money from the people of South Africa through this Nkandla project, which enriched himself as well as his family.



But $500,000 is still a lot of money in todays South Africa, one of the most unequal societies in the world.The amount is just under three times Zumas annual presidential salary.But according to the nations statistical agency, it would take the average South African more than 370 years to earn that sum.



Zumas office did not answer calls seeking comment.But his office issued a statement alerting South Africans to a novel new scam, a fake crowdfunding account set up to help him pay the bill.



His office warned South Africans not to fall prey to such criminals.
Some civil servants unions have declared that their members wont accept the governments $100 offer as compensation for non-payment of June salaries.

Professional Educators Union of Zimbabwe president, Wilson Makanyaire, said his members felt that the offer is an insult to civil servants as it would be wiped out by bank charges and some monthly expenses.

Thats an insult to the teaching fraternity. Currently we are consulting teachers to find out whether they agree with this. The words we are hearing ... from teachers, (is) that they dont want to see anything short of their total amounts in their accounts, Makanyaire said.

He said that if the government wanted to give them the $100 each, they would reject it as they want their salaries in full, or they will embark on an industrial action.

What we are appealing to teachers today is irrespective of a union a teacher belongs to, non-affiliate or affiliate to unions, we must join hands and clearly go for a strike, said Makanyaire, adding that their members won't report for work after July 1st.

Takavafira Zhou of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe also said their members have rejected the offer.

The Zimbabwe Teachers Association, Zimta, told the state-controlled Herald newspaper that its members were "very angry and were ready for anything".

Zimbabwe Rural Teachers Union also said for rural teachers, the $100 would be eroded by expenses like transport costs.

The government failed to pay June salaries due to lack of funds.
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I. MIGRATION

1. Further to the decision to fully apply the Schengen Borders Code and the implementation of the EU-Turkey statement of 18 March 2016, crossings from Turkey to the Greek islands have sharply decreased and have now almost come to a halt. It is important to continue working actively to further stabilise the situation and to ensure a sustainable solution. The legislation recently adopted by Turkey on the treatment of both Syrians and other nationalities allows for the return of migrants to Turkey in full respect of the provisions on inadmissibility under the Asylum Procedures Directive. Considerable progress has been made by both sides to implement the full range of action points contained in the EU-Turkey statement and the European Council looks forward to further determined action. The European Council recalls the need to provide continued support to Western Balkan countries, including in their fight against smugglers, and to remain vigilant about potential developments regarding other routes so as to be able to take rapid and concerted action. Further action is required to accelerate the implementation of the existing relocation and resettlement schemes.

2. In the Central Mediterranean, flows of predominantly economic migrants remain at the same level as last year. The flows must be reduced, thus saving lives and breaking the business model of smugglers. The relevant security procedures must be fully applied to ensure full control over external borders. Delivering rapid results in preventing illegal migration and returning irregular migrants requires an effective Partnership Framework of cooperation with individual countries of origin or transit. This will contribute towards the implementation of the Valletta Action Plan, which should be stepped up. Building on the Commission communication, the EU will put into place and swiftly implement this Framework based on effective incentives and adequate conditionality, starting with a limited number of priority countries of origin and transit, with the following objectives:

 to pursue specific and measurable results in terms of fast and operational returns of irregular migrants, including by applying temporary arrangements, pending the conclusion of full-fledged readmission agreements;

 to create and apply the necessary leverage, by using all relevant EU policies, instruments and tools, including development and trade;

 to also mobilise elements falling within Member States competence and to seek synergies with Member States in relations with the specific countries.

Cooperation on readmission and return will be a key test of the partnership between the EU and these partners.

3. The High Representative, including in her role as Vice-President of the Commission, will lead the implementation of this new approach and ensure close and effective coordination between the EU institutions and services and the Member States, with a view to concluding the first compacts before the end of the year. The Council and the Commission will regularly monitor the process, assess its results and report to the European Council.

4. All relevant instruments and sources of funding should be mobilised in a coherent manner in support of the approach set out above. The Council is invited to rapidly examine the proposals made by the Commission to that effect. In addition:

 the European Investment Banks initiative in the Southern Neighbourhood and Western Balkan countries, as a first step in the new framework of cooperation, will help to foster investment in partner countries and has our full support. To implement this initiative swiftly, the Council is asked to rapidly explore how to provide the required resources;

 the Commission is invited to present by September 2016 a proposal for an ambitious External Investment Plan, which should be examined as a matter of priority by the European Parliament and the Council.

Complementarity among all the above initiatives must be ensured.

5. The approach set out above will be dynamic and will be extended if necessary to other countries or regions to reflect migration flows.

6. The EU and its Member States will continue to address the root causes of illegal migration, in close cooperation and in a spirit of mutual ownership with the countries of origin.

7. Ahead of the upcoming G20 Summit and the UN General Assembly High-Level meeting on large movements of refugees and migrants, the European Council recalls that migration is a global challenge that requires a strong response from the international community.

8. The European Council will continue to address and monitor all aspects of the EUs comprehensive approach to the migration challenge, as set out in the European Council conclusions of October 2015, and to define the general political directions and priorities. Recalling the need to reinforce the control of the EUs external borders to meet both migration and security objectives, it welcomes the political agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on the European Border and Coast Guard proposal and asks for its swift adoption and rapid implementation.

II. JOBS, GROWTH AND INVESTMENT

European Semester

9. The European Council generally endorsed the country-specific recommendations as discussed by the Council, thus allowing the conclusion of the 2016 European Semester.

Single Market

10. Delivering a deeper and fairer Single Market will be instrumental in creating new jobs, promoting productivity and ensuring an attractive climate for investment and innovation. This requires a renewed focus across Europe. The European Council calls for the different Single Market strategies, including on energy, and action plans proposed by the Commission to be completed and implemented by 2018.

11. The European Council today adopted an agenda calling for swift and determined progress:

 to bring the full benefits of the Digital Single Market to all stakeholders through:

 cross-border portability, which will allow EU residents to travel with the digital content they have purchased or subscribed to at home;

 removing barriers to e-commerce, including unjustified geo-blocking which prevents online customers from accessing and purchasing a product or service from a website based in another Member State. Reducing the costs of parcel delivery and modernising VAT systems will further facilitate cross-border selling of goods and services;

 the review of the wholesale roaming market in view of abolishing roaming surcharges by June 2017;

 the invitation to governments and EU institutions to meet the targets of the eGovernment Action Plan;

 reforms of the copyright and audiovisual frameworks;

 to create the right conditions for stimulating new business opportunities by:

 ensuring very high-capacity fixed and wireless broadband connectivity across Europe, which is a precondition for future competitiveness. The review of the telecoms regulatory framework should aim to incentivise major network investments while promoting effective competition and consumer rights;

 better coordinating spectrum assignment modalities together with the timely release of the 700 MHz band so as to help ensure Europes leadership in the roll-out of 5G networks;

 coordinating EU efforts on high-performance computing. In this context the European Council looks forward to the launch of an important project of common European interest in this field;

 to support service providers seeking to expand across borders. A services passport, in line with the Council conclusions of 29 February 2016, will enable entrepreneurs in key sectors to offer their services in other Member States without going through unnecessary procedures and will contribute to promoting innovation;

 to ensure easier access to finance for businesses and to support investment in the real economy by moving forward with the Capital Markets Union agenda. In particular, swift progress should be made on the proposal for the simplification of prospectus requirements and the proposals for simple, standardised and transparent securitisation, to be agreed by the end of 2016;

 to vigorously pursue efforts towards better regulation.

12. The Council will report annually to the June European Council on progress in deepening the Single Market in all its aspects. Better implementation and enforcement of existing legislation will further help to reap the benefits of Europes Single Market ambitions.

Trade

13. The President of the European Commission updated the European Council on ongoing trade negotiations. The European Council recalls its previous conclusions on trade and on the steel sector and will return to the issue for a comprehensive discussion at its forthcoming October meeting. In this context, the European Council calls for the swift completion of the work on trade defence instruments.

Investment Plan (including the EFSI)

14. The Investment Plan for Europe, in particular the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), has already delivered concrete results and is a major step to help mobilise private investment while making smart use of scarce budgetary resources.

15. The Commission intends to soon put forward proposals on the future of the EFSI, which should be examined as a matter of urgency by the European Parliament and the Council.

Economic and Monetary Union

16. The European Council took stock of the progress achieved in the work towards completing the Economic and Monetary Union, including the roadmap to complete the Banking Union, and calls for work to be taken forward. It endorses the recommendation on National Productivity Boards.

Taxation

17. The fight against tax fraud, evasion and avoidance, and against money laundering remains a priority, both within the EU and internationally. This is illustrated by the recent adoption of relevant EU legislation to take up this challenge, in particular in the area of exchange of information on tax rulings and country-by-country reporting, as well as the agreement reached on the Anti Tax-Avoidance Directive. The publication by the Commission of an Action Plan aiming at the creation of a modernised and fraud-proof single VAT area is also an important element of the overall approach.

Agriculture

18. Recalling its March 2016 conclusions, the European Council took stock of the developments in the agricultural sector, notably dairy and pigmeat. It invites the Commission to urgently implement all necessary support measures including, where appropriate, financial support to assist farmers, and calls on all actors in the supply chain to help improve market conditions.

III. EXTERNAL RELATIONS

19. The European Council reiterates its readiness to support the Government of National Accord (GNA), and calls on all groups in Libya to work with the GNA as the sole legitimate government in Libya to restore stability, fight terrorism and tackle migration across the Central Mediterranean. In this context, the European Council welcomes the adoption of UNSC Resolution 2292 and the expanded role for Operation Sophia in enforcing the arms embargo on Libya and training the Libyan Coast Guard.

20. The European Council welcomes the presentation of the Global Strategy for the European Unions Foreign and Security Policy by the High Representative and invites the High Representative, the Commission and the Council to take the work forward.

21. EU-NATO cooperation was discussed in the presence of the NATO Secretary General. The European Council called for further enhancement of the relationship, in light of our common aims and values and given unprecedented challenges from the South and East. This new ambition should take the form of accelerated practical cooperation in selected areas. The new impetus in EU-NATO cooperation will take place in the spirit of full openness and in full respect of the decision-making autonomy and procedures of both organisations, be based on the principle of inclusiveness and be without prejudice to the specific character of the security and defence policy of any Member State. The President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission will issue a declaration together with the NATO Secretary General in Warsaw in July.

22. The Dutch Prime Minister presented the outcome of the referendum in the Netherlands on the Association Agreement with Ukraine, as well as the concerns expressed in the debate preceding the referendum. The European Council invites the Council to seek a solution addressing these concerns as soon as possible.

IV. OUTCOME OF THE UK REFERENDUM

23. The UK Prime Minister informed the European Council about the outcome of the referendum in the UK.
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands note with regret that the British people have voted against membership of the European Union.

This decision of the British people is a turning point in Europes history.

The European Union loses not only a member state but a considerable chunk of its history, traditions and experience.

This event creates a new situation. The decision of the British people cancels out the agreement the European Council had reached on 18 and 19 February [2016]. Now we are waiting for the British government to clearly show that it will give effect to this decision as quickly as possible. The relevant provisions of the Lisbon Treaty (article 50 of the Treaty on European Union) allows for an orderly exit. We are ready to work with the institutions when the forthcoming negotiations, defining and clarifying future relations between the EU and the UK, have commenced.

We remain firmly convinced that the European Union offers a unique framework in history and is indispensable to guaranteeing liberty, prosperity and security in Europe; to defining peaceful relations that are mutually advantageous between her people and to contributing to peace and stability in the world.

Since the six founding states established it in 1957, the EU has successfully crossed a long path. It has reunited Eastern and Western Europe and has brought about the longest period of peace our continent has known in modern times. Furthermore, it has been an engine in gathering together the people of Europe, and by doing this, keeping the promises which we had undertaken in the treaties: to create an ever closer union between the people of Europe. We pursue our efforts in favour of a European Union, 27 states strong, that is stronger and more cohesive, resting on common values and on the primacy of law.

It is to this end that we also recognize several levels of ambition between Member States in the plan for European integration. Without revisiting what we have accomplished, we must find better ways of handling these levels of different ambitions so that Europe best responds to the expectations of all its citizens.

It is in this spirit that once again, we strongly declare our common attachment to the European Union. However, we are mindful of the dissatisfaction over its functioning, clearly apparent today in some sectors of our society. We take that very seriously and are resolved to take action so that the EU functions better for all our citizens. Neither a simple appeal to the benefits of Europe nor a period of mere reflection can be an appropriate response. We must focus our common efforts on the challenges that can only be treated through common European responses, while leaving all other tasks to the national or regional level. We have to bring the best responses to questions which we have chosen to address at the European level. We also have to assume the responsibility that falls upon us to strengthen solidarity and cohesion in the European Union.

Today, Europe is confronted by immense challenges in the context of globalization that require a better European Union. We have to focus more EU action on the big challenges of our time: guaranteeing the security of our citizens vis-a-vis external threats and internal growth; establishing a stable framework for cooperation to deal with migration and the influx of refugees, to stimulate the European economy to promote our economic harmonization, sustainable growth and job creation; also to make the way towards the realization of European Monetary Union. These challenges fall within a context of increasing instability and geopolitical changes to our European borders.

We express our confidence in our common European future.
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Jace Alexander. Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images

TV director Jace Alexander has been sentenced to ten years probation after being convicted of possessing child pornography, the Associated Press reports. Alexander  who directed 32 episodes of Law & Order, as well as installments of The Blacklist, Rescue Me, and Burn Notice  pleaded guilty to two child-porn charges in January. Though Alexander avoided the maximum sentence of seven years in prison, he must register as a sex offender. Five days after his arrest last August, Alexander resigned from his position as second vice president of the Directors Guild of America.
Prince Harry was simply doing his job on Tuesday, hosting a Coldplay-headlined concert, Kensington Palaces first. He was thanking the Basotho Youth Choir for playing, he was telling Coldplay that they rocked the palace, he was generally fulfilling the God-given duties of his birthright. Thats when Prince Harry felt the music in him. It started with a little rhythmic pointing, some light arm sways, some head nods, but it wasnt long before the British royal gave way to the song of his body. Its almost like he heard the pain of his people after a long, bad, Brexit-y bunch of days, and threw them a lifeline in the form of dancing goofy as heck. Its almost like that, except its not, because his is indisputably the act of one man, with one vibe, feeling himself be.
Florida man gets 10 days in jail for punching swanTHE ASSOCIATED PRESSFirst posted: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 10:46 AM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 10:54 AM EDTORLANDO, Fla. -- A Florida newspaper reports a homeless man has been sentenced to 10 days in jail for punching a swan near an Orlando lake. The Orlando Sentinel reports that 59-year-old Sor Angel Velez, listed as a transient in court papers, was sentenced Monday after pleading no contest to injuring the bird.Police report that two off-duty police officers saw Velez punch a mother swan at Lake Eola Park on Sunday evening after she reached for him when he stepped too close to her babies.Besides the jail time, Velez also was banned from the park.
The owner and the manager of a medical supply company near San Antonio were convicted in Waco in a $3.5 million health care fraud scheme.

Jurors in Wacos U.S. District Court convicted 55-year-old DTS Medical Supply owner Daniel Thomason Smith and 45-year-old office manager Kathleen Marina Kelly-Tuorila on Monday on one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of aiding and abetting health care fraud, 11 counts of aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft and eight counts of aiding and abetting false statements related to health care.

A third defendant, Robin Renee Haigler, 60, of Waco, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge.

DTS Medical Supply Co. is in Devine, just west of San Antonio.

Trial testimony showed that from May 2006 to January 2010, Smith, Kelly-Tuorila and Haigler conspired to submit false and fraudulent benefit claims to Medicaid and Medicare for compensation for powered wheelchairs.

Smith hired Haigler on a commission basis to recruit customers, primarily in the Waco area. Kelly-Tuorila used customer information from Haigler to generate fraudulent claims for reimbursement to Medicaid and Medicare for powered wheelchairs, evidence revealed.

Misusing names

According to testimony relating to the identity theft counts, names of doctors were used to support claims for reimbursement when the physicians never prescribed a powered wheelchair for the customer and, in some cases, didnt know the customer and had never had them as a patient.

Evidence also revealed that while DTS billed for powered wheelchairs, they delivered less-expensive powered scooters to customers, resulting in larger payments from Medicaid and Medicare and larger profits for DTS and Smith.

Smith and Kelly-Tuorila face up to 10 years in prison on the conspiracy and aiding and abetting counts, up to two years on the aggravated identity theft counts and up to five years on each false statement count.

No sentencing date has been set.

Haigler faces up to 10 years in prison.
A new 70-foot mural is in the works off Interstate 35. It highlights portions of the city and, in a first for the artist new to Waco, will feature LEDs and 3-D images.

Tony Bryant has spent the six months he has lived in Waco designing and creating the mural on the front of Guthrie Trailer Sales Inc., 5250 Interstate 35 Frontage Road in Waco.

But since he likes to multitask, Bryant is also in the process of completing three other pieces of art in the Waco area.

Bryant said he retired at the age of 30 from the corporate world to do what he loves, and what he loves is art.

They thought I was playin, but I wasnt, he said with a laugh about leaving the corporate world.

Bryant said he has painted all his life. His first memory of it dates back to his time with his aunt when he was 5 years old.

She used to take me to the drugstore every Sunday and she would buy me these little paint sets, and she would put me in the middle of the floor and say, Paint me a picture,  he said. I didnt have no idea what that woman was doing to me.

His last corporate position landed him in Houston before he decided it was time to go. Bryant said he then found himself in Marlin creating works of art for the city as part of a revitalization effort. While buying material for the projects, he met the owner of Guthrie Trailer Sales.

Bryant, born in Georgia, said while he loves all his work, he feels something special about the piece he is working on for Guthrie Trailer Sales.

This one here was kind of like my baby. It was an opportunity for me to express myself as an artist. Thats what art is really about, self-expression. People tell you its all about all this other stuff. But its about expression. If you get an opportunity to get a piece of canvas you can play with, go for it.

Bryant said he was looking for a new challenge, so he is attaching pieces of painted metal to the 14-by-70-foot mural.

Guthrie office manager Annie Gorman said it was an amazing accident that the business connected with Bryant. Gorman said the owner had recently been discussing his desire for artwork celebrating Waco along the outside wall when Bryant stopped by to buy some material for his projects in Marlin.

It was all by pure coincidence, she said.

Guthrie Trailer Sales, which has been at that location for about 20 years, incorporates LED lights into its trailers. To give Bryants mural a special touch, it will install LED lights into the mural when its done.

Im in love with the light on the bridge going over there by McLane Stadium, Gorman said. He was just going to do the stadium. I asked if he could do the stadium from that point of view, and now hes putting Plexiglas on there and the bridge will light up.

LED lights also will highlight the portion of the mural highlighting the ALICO Building, she said.

Bryant said he also is working on a painting at Harold Waite's Pancake House in Waco, inside artwork at Poppa Rollos Pizza on Hewitt Drive and another large project. The large project will be unveiled when it is completed at the intersection of 26th Street and Bosque Boulevard.

Art on panels

He said the business owner who wanted the latter piece appreciates art and wanted the mural to be movable in case the business relocates. Bryant will create the mural on panels and attach them to the building.

Thats a new experience for me, but they are artists and they want to be able to take it with them in case they move, he said.

Bryant said after these projects he already has a few more in the area lined up in which owners have allowed him the flexibility to stretch his artistic muscles.

He has received most of his work around the city from people calling him, but that hasnt stopped him from noticing a space or two that could use some color, Bryant said.

If you turn me loose in this city, Ill be painting everything around me, he said. Everything would have a picture on it if it were up to me.

Bryant, who has a studio on Central Park Drive in the Woodway area, said he rotates between the pieces of art throughout the day. He said he likes to experiment with styles depending on the project, which is an exciting part of the journey.

I accomplish everything I do. I set goals. But I just cannot do one thing at one time, he said. I enjoy it. I have fun doing it. Its something I can do and I do it very well. The challenge is the different jobs that I get. I like to be able to be creative with the way I go about doing it.
Dr. John A. Wells resigned in March as medical director at the McLennan County Jail three weeks after officials from McLennan Community College pulled nursing students from a jail internship program because Wells allegedly made sexually inappropriate comments to them, the Tribune-Herald has learned.

McLennan County officials remain tight-lipped about the circumstances under which Wells resigned his $330,000 annual contract with the county to oversee medical services at the jail.

But records obtained by the Tribune-Herald, and multiple sources close to the situation, say the MCC vocational nursing students reported that Wells sexually harassed them to the point that they tried to schedule their rounds at the jail when Wells was not working.

Wells, 65, who signed a five-year contract with McLennan County in November 2011, did not return phone messages left for him Tuesday and Wednesday at his business, Melchizedek Medical, PLLC.

In a letter dated March 9 to McLennan County Judge Scott Felton, Wells wrote that he would resign, effective April 30.

I believe that, with the assistance of the medical staff at the jail, we have made tremendous improvements in the efficiency, quality and cost of medical care provided at the jail, Wells letter states. Despite the good work that has been accomplished, I feel like it is time for a change.

Felton declined comment Wednesday about Wells resignation. He also declined to discuss the sexual harassment complaints against Wells, as did Mike Dixon, a Waco attorney who represents McLennan County.

Sources close to the situation said a Hispanic student nurse reported that Wells told her that the first person he impregnated was a 13-year-old Hispanic girl and that he likes Hispanic women. She also reported that Wells told her to stay away from Hispanic men because they dont know how to treat women, the sources said.

The Tribune-Herald filed a Public Information Act request with MCC Vice President of Instruction Donnie Balmos seeking statements from students concerning their complaints about Wells. The school sought an opinion about what it could release from Waco attorney Phil McCleery, who represents the school and who said Wednesday that he called the Department of Education to seek its advice before releasing the statements in whole or with parts redacted.

MCC officials also said they were contacting the students involved to see if they have objections to their statements being released to the Tribune-Herald.

The Tribune-Herald had not received the statements or related documents by late Wednesday.

Nursing directors letter

Kim Sales-McGee, director of vocational nursing at MCC, wrote a letter dated Feb. 17 to Sheriffs Capt. Ricky Armstrong, who oversees jail operations. Sales-McGee reported that she got a call from Wells, who was angry that nursing students were going to the jail on Tuesdays.

He stated that he wanted the students to have a good rotation so that he could teach them. Dr. Wells only wants the students to come to the jail on Mondays and Wednesdays when he is there, the letter says. He also stated that if I wanted the students to be with the nurses on the days that he isnt there, then he would cancel the students clinical rotation. I found this very strange considering that at any other clinical rotation, the students, the majority of the time, follow the nurses as the nurse makes rounds.

The letter concluded that, based on statements from students, Sales-McGee was suspending jail rotations.

I cannot have my students feeling intimidated or harassed by Dr. Wells, she wrote.

After Sales-McGee wrote the letter to Armstrong, she and he met with McLennan County human resources director Amanda Talbert.

Talbert declined comment this week about the meeting or the circumstances under which Wells resigned.

Balmos said Sales-McGee also reported the allegations to MCC administrators.

We were concerned, Balmos said. That is about all I can say at this point. We did report what we knew to the sheriffs office, and I think that eventually went to their HR office, and that is what resulted in the chain of events that have occurred over the last few months.

Sheriff Parnell McNamara and County Commissioners Ben Perry and Will Jones all declined comment about Wells.

It is not my place to comment on it since it was not my deal, McNamara said. The decision to terminate him wasnt mine.

Perry and Jones initially said they were unaware about why Wells resigned. Later, both said they had heard unfounded rumors that both declined to specify.

I dont know what is fact and what is not, Jones said. Really, I would just rather not talk about it.

Perry said Wells resignation was presented to the court as a mutual agreement for a separation.

I dont know that there is anything more to it on the personnel side or not, Perry said. I never did see his separation papers, and I was not told firsthand about anything else. I just know there was an agreement reached.

There was some scuttlebutt about him being involved in friction at times from an overbearing and overpowering mindset of his, but I am not familiar with comments of a sexual harassment nature. He at times had a propensity for being very overt, very opinionated, and I know it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. But in regard to specific comments, I could not tell you one way or the other.

Commissioner Lester Gibson and Commissioner Kelly Snell said they had heard nothing about sexual harassment allegations against Wells.

We accepted Dr. Wells resignation, and that was all that was presented to the court, Gibson said. There were no discussions about any of the allegations you are telling me about. If Amanda Talbert knew about this, she did not bring it to the court, and she should have come to the court with this. I have heard of no complaints relative to Dr. Wells.

Commissioners accepted Wells resignation March 15. On June 21, commissioners awarded a $330,000 annual contract to Dr. James R. Hodges of Compleat Physicians, of Waco, to succeed Wells as the jail medical director.

Drunken driving conviction

Wells pleaded guilty to drunken driving charges in August 2012 and was placed on misdemeanor probation. He successfully completed his term and was discharged from probation a year later.

Wells was arrested by Waco police in May 2012 after an officer found the doctor slumped in the seat of his 2003 Lexus early one morning outside an area bar.

According to police reports, Wells had a strong aroma of alcoholic beverage coming from him, had bloodshot eyes, trouble with balance and appeared unaware of where he was.

Officers found the Lexus over a curb and against a tree. The engine was running and the gear shift was in reverse in the parking lot of a retail area in the 4700 block of Bosque Boulevard, according to police reports.

Wells told the Tribune-Herald after his arrest that his diabetes, coupled with alcohol, was to blame for the events leading to his arrest.

Breath samples from Wells taken at the jail registered blood-alcohol contents of 0.15 and 0.14, almost twice the legal intoxication limit of 0.08, according to records filed in the case.

The Texas Medical Board reviewed the allegations against Wells and dismissed them as nonviolations of the Texas Medical Practice Act, and commissioners allowed him to retain his job at the jail.
Lone wolf jihadists should target white Americans so no one mistakes their terror attacks for hate crimes unrelated to the cause of radical Islam, Al Qaeda writes in the latest edition of its online magazine.In an article first reported by The Foreign Desk , Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) called for more self-directed Muslim terrorists to kill in America. But the article, titled Inspire guide: Orlando operation, tells terrorists to avoid targeting places and crowds where minorities are generally found because if gays or Latinos appear to be the targets, the federal government will be the one taking full responsibility.mo
U.S. marshals arrested a parolee on a sexual assault charge Monday, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said. The 52-year-old Waco man was released on parole in 2012 while serving a 99-year sentence for the 1986 murder of a 16-year-old Waco High School boy.

An arrest warrant charging sexual assault was issued for Edward Dewayne Willis on June 24, and marshals arrested him during a traffic stop at 15th Street and Bosque Boulevard on Monday, Swanton said.

A woman reported to police that she was walking on Dunbar Street on May 30 when Willis, a known acquaintance, picked her up, took her behind a garage apartment and demanded she undress, the affidavit states.

Willis threatened the woman and sexually assaulted her, leaving her with significant injuries, the affidavit states.

According to Tribune-Herald archives, Willis was arrested in the shooting death of 16-year-old Rodrick Scott after Scott and several other youths were sitting in the 200 block of Clifton Avenue in September 1986. Willis, who was 22 at the time, approached the group and asked Scott if he wanted to fight.

During the confrontation, Willis pulled out a small-caliber pistol and shot Scott in the side, according to reports at the time.

Police said Willis and Scott had argued with each other the week before the shooting. Scott was taken to an area hospital, where he later died.

In June 1987, Willis was sentenced to 99 years in prison for murder.

He was released on parole Nov. 6, 2012, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Robert Hurst said.

Willis remained in McLennan County Jail on Tuesday in lieu of a $50,000 surety bond.
Combat injuries vary. Some are visible. Some are not. In many cases, the hardest to treat are those that are beyond easy detection.

Scholarly articles and gut-wrenching personal stories speak of an injury deeper than even post-traumatic stress. It is moral injury or, simply, injury to the soul.

No matter what religious perspective we hold, one fundamental truth exists about combat: Kids grow up with a set of values or moral standards that theyre encouraged to live by. These morals are reinforced in the home, houses of worship and sometimes school. And in combat, those values are put to the test. Troops are ordered to do things that may contradict childhood teachings. Troops see suffering that has no simple or rational explanation.

And veterans often spend the rest of their lives reconciling what they were brought up to believe with what they were ordered to do.

In collaboration with the Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans at the Doris Miller VA Medical Center, the Heart of Texas Veterans One Stop is developing a program to address the reality of moral injury. The curriculum is being shaped by veterans themselves and will focus on restoring each veterans sense of worth. It will allow ritual and religious ceremony to play a part in healing the heart. Also involved in planning this program: the parents of veterans, immediate families, members of the health care community and local clergy. We hope to have this program set to debut come autumn.

We envision such healing activities happening over food and fellowship, games and play, initially involving veterans, later including entire families. The process is self-paced so that each veteran can proceed to the next step when hes ready. Caring, nurturing buddies will be there every step of the way.

This is the sort of work underway through the Heart of Texas Veterans One Stop, which marks its grand reopening from 1 to 5 p.m. Friday. Such work quickly outgrew the first center on Austin Avenue. Now a larger building at 2010 La Salle Ave. has been acquired.

A partnership of local, state and federal organizations made possible through commitment from the Heart of Texas MHMR, the Heart of Texas Veterans One Stop provides a place for veterans and families to benefit from a wide range of services. The County Veterans Service Office is there. Various veteran service organizations have space as well. Counselors are on hand. An interfaith chapel is available.

Its also a place where the community can rally around veterans and help them transition from a battlefield mentality to one conducive to home, neighborhood and civilian workplace. We encourage the people of the greater Waco area to join staff and volunteers in making the center a place of respite for veterans and their families.

In the time it takes for most of you to read this, have breakfast and make it to work, a veteran somewhere has died. Some deaths are deliberate. Their pain seemed too great. Other deaths are accidental. They sought peace. They just wanted to sleep. Some simply die of broken hearts. They never had a chance to reconcile the beliefs that molded them into young men and women with the horrific choices they had to make on the battlefield.

Many marched off to battle with flags waving. We made promises to care for them and to heal their wounds. Now is the time to acknowledge that some of these wounds are not easily seen. It is up to us to reach out to these vets and give them the time and place to find their spiritual center and to work through what it takes to forgive and to be forgiven.

Local restaurateur and retired educator Mary Duty is the mother of a veteran who served two tours of duty in the Iraq war. She is co-founder of the Heart of Texas Blue Star Mothers.
What do we mean when we talk about homegrown extremism or radicalization in the United States? Donald Trump claims that the threat of radical Islam is imported by immigrants from abroad, from regions where there is a history of terrorism against us and our allies. He refers to thousands upon thousands of people entering the United States, many of whom have the same thought process as the Orlando shooter. He asserts that they are forming large pockets of people who want to slaughter us.

Actually, we dont know the motivations of the Orlando shooter, and we probably never will. We certainly do not know what thought processes immigrants might bring with them as they travel from the many more Muslim countries Trump mentioned earlier this week (the short list  in addition to Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria  would include Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, Somalia, Mali, Niger and Nigeria). Many of these potential immigrants might be fleeing jihadist violence in their home countries.

What we do know in terms of facts is that only a small number of people who could conceivably be acting out of sympathy with the jihadist cause, presumably the thought process in question, have attempted to use terrorist violence here. Few of them succeeded. My research  based on public records  counts around 220 perpetrators or would-be perpetrators of what we could consider jihadist-oriented acts of terrorism against the U.S. homeland since 1993. My co-author, Gary LaFree, and I include this analysis in our book Countering Terrorism: No Simple Solutions, forthcoming from Brookings Institution Press.

This is the group of people who expressed agreement with the goals espoused by al-Qaida, the Islamic State or their associates and intended to or did use violence against targets in the United States. The list is narrow: It does not include individuals who expressed support for al-Qaida or the Islamic State but took no action, or who gave money to suspect causes, or who wanted to go to fight for the Islamic State in Syria or al-Shabab in Somalia. We shouldnt lump together all variations of homegrown extremism because there isnt necessarily any overlap between these different types of support.

On the other hand, within the category of violent jihadists in the United States, the standards of inclusiveness were generous. Sometimes a perpetrator only alluded vaguely to a jihadist cause as explanation for his or her plans or actions. This overall figure of around 220 includes the 19 hijackers on 9/11, who were al-Qaida agents sent from abroad, not immigrants. But apart from those, there are only around 200 people whose radicalization we should be concerned about  not thousands by any means. And in fact, the large majority of those who wanted to or did attack here over the past 23 years  including the Orlando shooter  are U.S. citizens, not immigrants. Trumps idea of banning immigration from suspect countries or by all Muslims would not have stopped them at all.

From the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 to the present, there were around 110 jihadist-oriented plots to use terrorism. Among that number, 16 attacks succeeded in causing casualties. Most plots involved only one person. The pathways to individual radicalization they followed, if any are apparent at all, do not reveal a consistent pattern. Ideas and beliefs can motivate violence, certainly, but in most cases motivations are impossible to establish. In almost every case, the possibilities are endless  from personal grievance to mental illness to social frustration. We cannot say whether an expression of allegiance to the principles of al-Qaida or the Islamic State was a genuine reason or an excuse. The Orlando shooter was apparently incapable even of distinguishing between the Islamic State and its enemy Hezbollah.

The majority of the plots were foiled by government authorities, most often with the help of informants. The plans were typically intercepted at very early stages of the plot. It is clear that the attackers and would-be attackers were not part of a social movement. There is no tide of violent extremism associated with Islam and carried by immigrants that is sweeping our country. The perpetrators of violence are not representative of any community.

Martha Crenshaw is a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts condemnation of the U.S. Supreme Court for voting down a controversial state anti-abortion law sparked a lot of comments, many of them spilling over into talk of secession modeled after the United Kingdoms explosive decision to leave the European Union. A Facebook sampling:

Daniel Nymeros Martell: Greg Abbott, no one is fooled by your excuse that the Texas law was trying to safeguard the health and safety of women. It was always intended to block the legal right of women to obtain an abortion in our state. If youre going to take a strong position, at least have the courage to stand up for it.

Rocky Burgess: Why should we care what SCOTUS does? They have rendered themselves irrelevant by forcing Obamacare on us. Their rulings are no longer valid. We in Texas should make it known by removing all federal employees from our state.

Christopher Rhyne: Even with just eight justices, it still went 5-3 against Greg Abbott and the hateful conservatives. Hows not allowing a sitting president to nominate the ninth working for ya?

Rex Vaughn: Gov. Abbott, its time. A Texas secession would give D.C. a wake-up call. We Americans can rebuild this nation, which was founded under God, one state at a time, with Texas in the lead.

Marty Evans: What we need is a statement from the governor, backed by the Texas attorney general, the commander of the Texas National Guard and the head of the state troopers, that We will not comply. It is time to exercise the 10th Amendment option and, if that doesnt work, then Texit.

Jonathan Ramos: We need to Texit anyway. We must secede. We could use Russia as an ally.

PJ Graham: What is your Texit strategy? You will have no trade agreements, meaning supply will be hindered. You will have no U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service or military support, so the fact that you have been poking Mexico with a stick for 200 years might be problematic. They wont protect you from the drug cartels, and your illegal immigration problem might actually become one. Your school system is already struggling  not that you seem to mind  so loss of schools altogether might be OK. Do you think your money will be accepted worldwide or will you just leech off the U.S. dollar?

Laura Martinson: You need to let this go. We will never secede. Born and raised in Texas, and I would never vote for such a thing. Im an American first, Texan second.

Carlos Quezada: The Texits are a special kind of stupid. Its no wonder Scandinavians use Texas as an adjective to mean stupid crazy.

Everett Saucedo: If the current leadership is any indication, an independent Texas would be a poor guarantor of civil and human rights, as well as the environment. Im an American first and a Texan second, and always will be.
WAHOO  Property valuation protests must be filed with the county clerks office by June 30.

Saunders County Assessor Cathy Gusman sent nearly 8,700 assessed valuation changes for real property parcels out on May 27.

As of Monday morning, only 104 protests have been filed. That compares to last years total of 402 protests.

But, the last week before the deadline is when many protests come to her office, said Saunders County Clerk Patti Lindgren.

Protests must have validity to the argument, Lindgren said.

In general, the values are trending more up, said Gusman. But, values are based on sales in that area and not an overall reflection of the county.

According to the Nebraska Department of Revenue, Property Assessment Division, if a property owner disagrees with the assessed value, whether or not a notice of valuation change has been received, a protest may be filed with the county board of equalization.

Property owners should review their property record card to make sure the information is accurate, including whether buildings have been added or removed as this might affect valuations.

If protesting, individuals get an opportunity to meet with a referee, which is a third-party appraiser hired by the county.

This third-party appraiser gives their recommendation, but all decisions are made final by the Saunders County Board of Supervisors.

If the protestor does not want a referee, the assessors office still double checks their data.

We act on all of them regardless, said Gusman.

To file a valuation protest, forms are in the County Clerks office on the third floor of the courthouse or available online at http://www.saunderscounty.ne.gov/webpages/clerk/protests.html.

On the form, protestors must provide name, address, parcel number, legal description and what they feel the property is worth and why, said Gusman.
PROXIMA

"El 80% de las residencias en Juana Matos estan destruidas"

El alcalde de Catano confirmo la informacion en entrevista con Noticentro.
The Bank of Nova Scotia provides various banking products and services in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia, the Caribbean and Central America, and internationally. It operates in four segments: Canadian Banking, International Banking, Global Wealth Management, and Global Banking and Markets. The company offers financial advice and solutions, and day-to-day banking products, including debit and credit cards, chequing and saving accounts, investments, mortgages, loans, and insurance to individuals; and business banking solutions comprising lending, deposit, cash management, and trade finance solutions to small, medium, and large businesses, including automotive financing solutions to dealers and their customers. It also provides wealth management advice and solutions, including online brokerage, mobile investment, full-service brokerage, trust, private banking, and private investment counsel services; and retail mutual funds, exchange traded funds, liquid alternative funds, and institutional funds. In addition, the company offers international banking services for retail, corporate, and commercial customers; and lending and transaction, investment banking advisory, and capital markets access services to corporate customers. Further, it provides online, mobile, and telephone banking services. The company operates a network of 954 branches and approximately 3,766 automated banking machines in Canada; and approximately 1,300 branches and a network of contact and support center internationally. The Bank of Nova Scotia was founded in 1832 and is headquartered in Halifax, Canada.
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Entergy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and retail distribution of electricity in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Utility and Entergy Wholesale Commodities. The Utility segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, including the City of New Orleans; and distributes natural gas. The Entergy Wholesale Commodities segment engages in the ownership, operation, and decommissioning of nuclear power plants; and ownership of interests in non-nuclear power plants that sell electric power to wholesale customers, as well as provides services to other nuclear power plant owners. It generates electricity through gas, nuclear, coal, hydro, and solar power sources. The company sells energy to retail power providers, utilities, electric power co-operatives, power trading organizations, and other power generation companies. The company's power plants have approximately 24,000 megawatts (MW) of electric generating capacity, which include 5,000 MW of nuclear power. It delivers electricity to 3 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The company was founded in 1913 and is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana.
On the last day of his life, Brenton Walsh shook himself awake at 4am. He showered, boiled some water and made some coffee. And then he was out the door, driving to Woolworths in the Victorian town of Moe, where he was manager of the supermarket's shelf-stacking team.

"A hard worker," is how Kerensa Walsh, his wife of two years, warmly describes him. "He really took pride in his job."

As this working day wore on, Mr Walsh's colleagues noticed something amiss. He looked tired, he seemed withdrawn. His eyelids were sagging, as though he had been crying.

Mr Walsh was a private man. If there were any more clues, they had not been obvious. But on December 6, 2013, the extent of his suffering became brutally apparent; a search crew found him dead in a grassy reserve near his home.
At the end of all those arms are camera phones. Scores of them.

Every few metres it pauses, swirling, and a forest of arms sprouts skyward.

A tsunami of cameras, microphones, reporters, video crews and protective police surges from the Hurstville railway station, sweeping shoppers and families before it and gathering them into its maw.

One of them is sure to belong to the Prime Minister of Australia.

Lucy Turnbull hugs her granddaughter Isla as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and son Alex look on. Credit:Andrew Meares

Any determined member of the roiling mob who has elbowed themselves close enough to the Prime Minister will be invited to turn over their phone to him so he can hoist it skyward and facilitate a group selfie, drawing squeals of excitement.

Malcolm Turnbull, who has assumed a casual and confident spring in his step during these closing days of the longest political campaign in Australian history, is the selfie Prime Minister.

He has during the eight-week campaign very nearly reached the heights of the Australian political champion of the craft, Kevin Rudd, who was rarely seen without a selfie phone in one hand, leaving the other free to sweep his treasured hair into pictorial perfection.
The Liberal Party's grovelling apology to Lucy Turnbull has cost much more than just embarrassment.

The party has handed over a cheque for $40,000 to the St Vincent de Paul Society, the proceeds of two exclusive fundraisers at which the Prime Minister's wife was the star attraction.

As revealed by Fairfax Media last week, the party inappropriately used Ms Turnbull's position as the head of a NSW government planning body, the Greater Sydney Commission, to promote a $3000-a-head women-only boardroom lunch hosted by Senator Michaelia Cash.
Walkley Award-winning Fairfax Media photographer Nic Walker, in a joint project with Instagram and Facebook, wanted to take stop-motion images that would go together to make a "moving portrait", in both senses.

The idea was to take portraits of politicians that revealed their true feelings, to capture split seconds of real, reactive emotion before the mask came down and the politician-subject put on a face for the camera.

The concept was simple, but the execution was delicate.

"We are trying to humanise the politicians," Walker says.

"Usually they are staring down the barrel of the camera or pulling a nothing 'powerful' face. This took it to a different level."

The question was, how to elicit emotion from politicians who are as practised at posing as they are at reciting slogans? And during an election campaign when the politicians (and their teams) obsessively control their own images?

Walker hit upon the idea of showing his subjects photographs of people or things that would elicit an emotional response.

He used a tele-prompter to flash the politicians images of their children and grandchildren, their partners and their political nemeses, both from the other side and from within their own parties.
Bill Shorten has defended his shift of position on a same-sex marriage plebiscite by saying it might have been valuable a few years ago but now "the community's moved on".

The Opposition Leader, speaking after the emergence of a 2013 video in which he said he was "relaxed" about a plebiscite, said similar votes overseas had been marred by needlessly destructive and homophobic campaigning.

"I think the community's moved on. Maybe a plebiscite was an idea a few years ago but I think community attitudes have moved on  We should just have it dealt with in the Parliament," Mr Shorten told radio station 2DayFM.
There used to be a great bar in New York's Chinatown called Double Happiness. It was a swanky place with red velvet couches and an assortment of martinis - a strange, elegant counterpoint to the gritty streets of Broadway below. Back then I drank chocolate martinis laced with sweet cocoa shavings and made two happy birthday toasts. One for me, and one for my sister-in-law, since we have the same birthday.

That was the last big bash I had in which all my friends were present. I was just about to turn 30 and it was just before my sister-in-law got pregnant. In those years, living in New York was a true high. I could meet up with friends from all walks of life, gather in the "city" for a night of debauchery and still manage to get up for work the next day.

It's hard to be the one in the group without kids. Credit:Getty

Those days are gone. Friendships have shifted as life marches on.

At first I was the one altering our relationships, dashing off to see the world, with my friends feeling left behind. But when I returned to New York in my mid-30s, there was a significant shift. My friends had gotten serious boyfriends.
Microsoft has been rubbing up a lot of people the wrong way with its aggressive push for Windows 7 and 8 users to upgrade to Windows 10.

So far, the company has employed some dodgy tactics to trick users into upgrading and now it's paying for its transgression; literally.

Microsoft has employed some dodgy tactics to trick users into upgrading.

In the US, Microsoft has to cough up $US10,000 ($13,540) after the company was sued by a small business owner over a Windows 10 upgrade that she didn't authorise on her PC.

Teri Goldstein, of California, took Microsoft to court after her PC downloaded Windows 10 and automatically tried to install the new operating system, allegedly without her consent.
Brendan Drechsler calls the Country Fire Authority one big family. Like his father and grandfather before him, he is captain of the Sedgewick fire brigade, fighting flames from the small village south of Bendigo.

But Drechsler is convinced his extended family of volunteers is under threat, leaving the community angry enough to burn Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Labor at the ballot box come Saturday.

Former CFA captain Graeme Pearce (left), from Mandurang, and Brendan Drechsler, captain of the Sedgwick fire brigade. Credit:Jason South

"It's going to bite, I believe. It's going to bite them hard," he says.
The Corruption and Crime Commission has finally admitted it had been investigating the sacking of former City of Perth chief executive Gary Stevenson.

WAtoday exclusively revealed on Tuesday the CCC was probing the dismissal of Mr Stevenson, after Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi and her eight councillors went behind closed doors in January to dump him.

Cr Limnios refused to sign the document. Credit:www.sbs.com.au

Yet when WAtoday grilled the CCC last week about whether there were any investigations into Mr Stevenson, it said it "doesn't confirm or deny whether anyone or anything is being investigated". However, it was revealed on Wednesday an investigation may have already wrapped up by then.

"The inquiries included a number of private examinations which were concluded last week," the CCC said in a statement on Wednesday.
A police officer tackled a suicide bomber to the ground at Istanbul's international airport before the attacker detonated his vest, almost certainly killing both of them, says a witness who was trying to flee.

Turkish authorities confirmed nearly 50 people were killed when three explosions hit Istanbul Ataturk Airport, a major transport hub in the region for international travellers, on Tuesday night, local time.

Witnesses also reported hearing gunshots, while the city's governor said three suicide bombers carried out the attack.
Beijing: Young women who have sex before marriage are degenerates. A girl who gives her body for love will make the boy who "conquers" her love her less. Premarital sex has a "tremendous negative psychological and physical impact on girls".

These are some of the assertions in a sex education textbook approved by a provincial education department in China that has led to an outcry on social media.

Primary school students in Jinhua City, Zhejiang province. Credit:Getty Images

Outraged by the text, "Senior Middle School Student Scientific Sex Education", a teacher posted photos from the book on Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, unleashing a firestorm of comments.
Patrick Norman Pat Chapman is a 34-year-old, Caucasian male who was last known to be in Piedmont which is near the area of Greenville, Missouri on May 10, 2020.

Pat had stayed the night with a friend and his wife at their home. In the early morning when the friend woke to go to work.

Pat was gone in his own Burgundy color 1995 Ford Escort. That is the last anyone was known to have seen him. The vehicle was later recovered on May 29, 2020 in Mill Spring, Missouri.
Twenty nine representatives from 26 Customs administrations in the Asia/Pacific Region participated in the WCO Regional Workshop on Risk Assessment and Selectivity with Advance Cargo information from 20 to 23 June 2016.

The Workshop, held at the WCO Regional Training Centre in Kashiwa, Japan, was organized in cooperation with Japan Customs and the Asia/Pacific Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB A/P), with the sponsorship of the Japanese Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF).

During the opening remarks, Mr. Hiroshi Kishimoto, Deputy Director General of Japan Customs and Tariff Bureau, and representatives of the WCO and ROCB A/P highlighted the importance of pre-arrival information in risk assessment. They also emphasized the relationship between risk-based cargo selectivity and effective resource allocation and trade facilitation.

Certain elements of risk management at the organizational level were covered throughout the Workshop, although the main focus was risk management at the operational level (risk assessment, profiling and targeting) by utilizing advance cargo information, with several group tasks, practical exercises, case studies and country presentations. Each session was followed by lively discussions, questions and answers.

During the group works and country presentations, participants entered into in-depth discussions on how to identify high-risk cargo by utilizing advance cargo information and the methodology explained in the WCO Customs Risk Management Compendium. Case studies and practical exercises also contributed to deepening an understanding of the topics.
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What do the Fourth of July, pancakes, budding young artists and an African safari have in common?

If you said, Murray Fire and Rescue, youd be right on.

These emergency service volunteers cook up nearly 1,000 pancakes every July 4 to raise funds for new equipment and maintenance needs. Volunteers, with the help of Future Farmers of America members, start serving at 7 a.m. and end at 11.

Last year we served about 600 people, said Murray Fire and Rescue Captain Steve Gdovic.

The breakfast not only includes the fluffiest pancakes this side of Cass County, but sausage, juice, coffee and plenty of maple syrup.

The squads added to the excitement of the pancake feed last year by auctioning off two African safari trips for two people.

If bidders didnt win last years trip, they will have another chance to win the safari trip, valued at nearly $5,000, during this years pancake feed. The auction begins at 10 a.m. The trip includes six days and nights for two people in a standard room at either the Zulu Nyala Privage Game Lodge or Zulu Nyala Heritage Safari Lodge.

These lodges are situated in South Africas province, Dwazulu-Natal, on the east coast of South Africa. You fly into Johannesburg or Cape Town and connect from there to Durban, where you get transferred to the lodge, Gdovic said.

Transfers, airfare and other incidentals are not included in the package.

Along with the lodging, winners will have delicious meals with an African flavor during their stay. The meals will help them fuel up for the two photo safaris a day guided by professional rangers on open game-viewing vehicles.

The rangers are knowledgeable on anything pertaining to animals, birds, plants and culture in this diverse ecologic region, Gdovic said.

The trip is valid for two years from the date of the auction, Gdovic added.

Once purchased the trip is non-transferable to any third party or organization, he said.

If youre not interested in this trip of a lifetime, you may want to take a chance on the many silent auction offerings including a family pass to Coco Key Water Park, tickets to Omaha Childrens Museum, passes to Vallas Pumpkin Patch and many more items.

Buy a chance on a floating Maui Mat or a Vizio Big Screen  Smart TV.

All the funds raised will go to purchasing a LUCAS CPR device and a FERNO power cot. The device is a mechanical chest compression-decompression system which enables automated and continuous closed chest compression, without unduly limiting other invasive procedures. The powered emergency stretcher lifts patients up and into the ambulance. A powered gurney eliminates straining the backs of the rescue volunteers who are focused on administering life-saving techniques until they get the patient to the emergency room.

Gdovic said about $60,000 is needed to purchase the equipment. They will really help fire and rescue volunteers, he said.

The funs not over after the auction and raffles.

Guests are encouraged to stick around and find out who won Murray Fire and Rescues art contest. Twenty-eight entries were received from youth in kindergarten to 12th grade, Gdovic said.

Winners will be announced and all artwork will be on display in the fire station, he said. So come see us on the Fourth of July and bring your family and friends.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Jun. 28, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 28, 2016 | 07:23 PM | PADUCAH, KY

The City of Paducah has introduced ordinances that would provide 911 services to residents of McCracken County.



At their Tuesday meeting, the Paducah Board of Commissioners introduced three ordinances for contracts for dispatching services between the City of Paducah 911 Communications Services Department and Concord Fire Protection District, West McCracken Fire Protection District, and McCracken County.



Dispatching services for all three areas is set to begin July 1. The contracts with Concord and West McCracken have a term of four years with an additional four year renewal clause.



The city says agreements are also being discussed with the other three county fire departments.



The contract with McCracken County is a temporary agreement that extends the current interlocal cooperation agreement through July 31. Paducah and McCracken County officials are reportedly discussing terms for a possible longer-term agreement.



Im glad to have the county on board with us," said Mayor Gayle Kaler. "We hope to provide such good service that they want to continue with us.
Three juveniles charged with robbing same Paducah store twice in one day
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Jun. 29, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 29, 2016 | 04:17 PM | PADUCAH, KY

Two men face drug charges after police say one of them set fire to a Paducah motel room.



Police were called about 10:45 am Sunday to Motel 6 at 5120 Hinkleville Road. Officers reportedly arrived to find a large burned area in a room and began questioning its occupants, 36-year-old Kasy Sigrist of Paducah and 42-year-old Shaun Wilkins of Metropolis, IL.



Police said Sigrist told them he had spilled butane on his clothing and was smoking marijuana in the room, which had caused the fire. After placing Sigrist under arrest, officers reportedly found hypodermic needles and about two grams of methamphetamine in a plastic bag on him. Sigrist was charged with first-degree criminal mischief, possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) and possession of drug paraphernalia.



During a search of Wilkins' vehicle, officers said they found almost a gram of methamphetamine in a plastic bag and drug paraphernalia. Wilkins was charged with possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) and possession of drug paraphernalia.



Both men were booked into McCracken County Regional Jail.
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In southeast Nebraska, its not unusual to be under a tornado watch or warning whether it is spring, summer, fall and, believe it or not, even winter.

Most residents understand the importance of preparing for such disasters by knowing where to take shelter and what supplies to have on hand. Cass County Emergency Management Agency (CCEMA) staff and fire and rescue volunteers across the area are ready to take action to help people in these circumstances.

But what about the beloved pets caught in a storm?

Thats exactly what 16-year-old Mary DeGraff of Weeping Water asked when she was planning her 4-H Diamond Clover project. Her mother, Roseann Dobesh-DeGraff, CCEMA deputy director, recommended her daughter raise funds for a Pet Disaster Relief trailer. Mary also has several pets of her own including two horses, three dogs, three cats and some fish.

Many people doing their Diamond Clover Project like planting flowers or something that helps the community. Im trying to raise around $12,000 in donations for an American Kennel Club (AKC) trailer, Mary explained.

If she reaches that goal, the AKC will provide a matching grant for $12,000. The combined amount is needed to pay for the $24,000 trailer.

According to information from the AKC, each trailer is stocked with essential, non-perishable necessities for sheltering pets. The supplies can then be used to create a safe, temporary home-base for displaced animals during a disaster and its aftermath.

Supplies include kennels, leases, identification tags, medical supplies and more, all stored in an organized fashion to expedite the pet rescues.

In Nebraska we have a high rate of tornados and flash floods. The trailer is one step before it actually happens, because we know Mother Nature is psycho, Mary said.

The trailer will not only save the lives of pets, but the owners as well.

People will actually stay with their pets and in their houses when they are told to evacuate. The trailer allows pets to be evacuated in a safe way and so they can be reunited with their owners when the danger passes, she said.

According a survey taken in 2006 by the Fritz Institute Poll, 44 percent of the people who didnt evacuate during Hurricane Katrina cited not wanting to leave pets behind as a reason.

Many new laws are being passed across the nation requiring cities to include pets in their disaster preparedness planning, but according to the AKC, most communities dont have the funds readily available to create their own solutions.

The supplies the trailer comes with are for disasters such as floods and tornados. The American Red Cross helps people in these situations but there are not many who help with pets, Mary said. Yet, for every person, there are at least two or more animals in their care. Right now, the closest pet relief operations are in Colorado and Oklahoma and over 400 miles away.

If Mary achieves her fund-raising goal within a year and the trailer is purchased, it may be used across the county and even to other counties. It would be housed at Cass County Emergency Management Agency in Weeping Water, Mary said.

So far Mary has had her project approved at the county 4-H level and the state 4-H level. She has started talking to 4-H camp counselors and others interested in the project.

Its amazing how much people are invested in listening to this idea. Its amazing how much people care about their communities, she said.

Diamond Clover 4-H projects are to be done within a one-year time period. During Limestone Day in Weeping Water June 25, Mary raised $100 toward the project. Although she has a long ways to go, Mary is determined to raise the funds.

The trailer will be delivered as soon as the money is raised, said Cassie Cox, an intern with CCEMA.

Donations can be made online at www.akcreunite.org/givingback, by phone at 919.816.3980 or by mailing a check made payable to AKC Pet Disaster Relief for Cass County EMA Nebraska trailer. Checks (no cash please) may also be sent to the CCEMA office, 8400 144th St. 200, Weeping Water, NE, 68463 or sent to Mary DeGraff at P.O. Box 414, Plattsmouth, NE, 68048.
By The Associated Press Jun. 29, 2016 | 04:59 AM | FRANKFORT, KY

Republican Gov. Matt Bevin's administration is heading to court to defend the governor's vetoes of the state budget and his reorganization of a board that recommends some state judges.

Kentucky Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo has challenged Bevin's vetoes of the state's two-year operating budget, arguing Bevin did not follow the law when he filed the vetoes in April. If Stumbo wins, it would restore $9.4 million for a program providing community college scholarships to most Kentucky high school graduates. Bevin has said his vetoes are valid. The first hearing in the case is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Also on Wednesday, Bevin's lawyers will ask a judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging his order reorganizing the Workers Compensation Nominating Commission. A state judge ruled against Bevin in that case earlier this month.
By The Associated Press Jun. 29, 2016 | 12:39 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

A state judge has delayed ruling on House Speaker Greg Stumbo's request to exclude evidence from his lawsuit against Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.

Stumbo is asking a judge to throw out Bevin's vetoes of the state's two-year, $68 billion operational budget.

Bevin says he filed his vetoes with House Clerk Jean Burgin. Bevin says Burgin promised she would deliver the vetoes to the Secretary of State's office. But Bevin said "House leadership" instructed Burgin to lock the vetoes in her office and not deliver them.

Stumbo's attorney Matt Stephens wants to exclude all evidence of what Burgin did because he says it is not relevant to the case. He says Burgin cannot assume Bevin's constitutional duties to deliver the vetoes. Judge Phillip Shepherd it was too early to rule on the request.
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Brian Friel, the Irish playwright who passed away last October, had a knack for quietly playing with form. Faith Healer, his most idiosyncratic piece, written back in 1979, strings together a series of monologues, reflecting on the same set of events: the life of an Irish faith healer, Francis Hardy (Stephen Dillane), and his sporadic miracles. It speaks of subjectivity, memory and external reality, and suggests that our world, as a whole, is a matter of faith.

"ONE NIGHT ONLY," holler Frank's posters. Like theatre, his travelling show lives mostly in the memory. He pitches up and takes off, leaving the audience to make sense of what they've seen  purported miracles curing the sick and disabled. Or not. Sometimes, Frank's gift' works  about one time in ten. Sometimes, it doesn't. His wife Grace (Gina McKee) travels with him, propping Frank up to perform, while his manager Teddy (Ron Cook), a blustering cockney, talks him up: his sales patter is a form of preaching, instilling belief that all this is possible.

Friel lets each tell their version of events  of one miraculous performance, of one that went wrong and of a death, maybe two, maybe more  only the accounts don't add up. Faith Healer is a play of perspectives; one that asks us to join the dots and fill in the gaps. Historical events are retold in triplicate and the truth, if such a thing even exists, sits somewhere between them  either a mid-point or else an amalgamation. Each version of events illuminates the other two, in overlaps and in divergences. Each telling reveals as much about the teller as the tale itself.

Es Devlin's eloquent, elegant design maroons the characters alone on an island stage. Rain falls around them, catching the light like a wall of static interference. Beyond it, a web of straight lines criss-cross: a tangle of triangulation that echoes both the play's shape and our perspective on one another.

It's a memory play  and pointedly so. Memory is itself a kind of faith and a form of healing. We believe what we need to of our pasts and ourselves, and each character's personal reflection both justifies their actions and eases their traumas. It's Teddy that gives the straightest account of that death: a stillbirth at the side of a road that's too painful for either parent to recount.

Lyndsey Turner's production, beautifully acted, lets those characters emerge with all their frailties and faultlines on show: three gorgeous character portraits. Dillane's Frank is gently convincing. Soft-spoken and hypnotic, his hands in the pockets of his ill-shapen suit, there's something almost Corbynish about him  a man hooking people in without asserting himself, unsure how he does it or if he'll manage to do so again. He hasn't the control of a conman or the conviction of a cleric, yet, despite his shambling appearance, his sing-song speeches pull you in.

McKee's Grace, surrounded by her domestic chores, is not the barking harridan the others imply, but a downtrodden, depressive woman, and Cook's Teddy, for all the gift of his gab, betrays his own anxieties with his dependence on drink. It's a sparkling performance, Cook's: one that shows all the showmanship of salesmanship, while letting self-doubt seep through as well. He's a tough, little bloke with hands that move like a magician's, but every so often, the facade drops. We're all performing all the time, you see: all of us, acting on faith.

Faith Healer runs at the Donmar Warehouse until 20 August 2016.
Control lock. Magnetos. Exterior lights. Annunciator lights. Electric gyros. Fuel gauges. Fuel level. Alternator belt. Wing flaps. Air intake. Propeller spinner. Trim tab. Aileron. Wing leading edge. Radios. Throttle. Fuel pump. Ignition switch.

And the list goes on, foreign to most, but a vital checklist to pilots when it comes to safety while cruising several thousand feet above the rolling, vaulting and remote terrains unfurling below across the states of Alaska or Nebraska.

With flying you really have to focus on the details, but you also have to have a grasp on the big picture, said Brian Newton, general manager of Fremont utilities.

As the pilot of a Piper Warrior, whose flying experience sent him skimming clouds over the terrestrial world and even into a harrowing plane crash during takeoff from a runway in Alaska, Newton knows the importance of a regimented routine. He understands the value of scrutinizing the details while always keeping one eye on the big picture.

Much of that same experience and wisdom translate to his current position for the Department of Utilities where he explained how checklists and fastidious communication go hand-in-hand with safety in order to accomplish the overall goal.

Those same skills promise to set the standard as Newton embarks on an interim period of double duty for the city of Fremont, serving as both General Manager of Utilities and now, the added responsibility of interim City Administrator  in lieu of the vacancy left by Dale Shotkoskis abrupt resignation earlier this June.

Brian has good leadership and communication skills, said Mayor Scott Getzschman. Which is a requirement to help oversee City Hall.

That aptitude, the mayor indicated, enables Newton to fill in at City Hall while also maintaining his duties overseeing the daily operations of the utilities department.

Im very excited and happy with the opportunity, Newton said of his added assignment. And Im humbled by the honor the mayor and the city council are bestowing upon me.

Newton acknowledged, appointing the director of utilities as an interim city administrator depicts a common practice for municipalities since both positions work closely together in the supervision and management of city operations. He also drew attention to the rest of the crew that occupies the Fremont City municipal building, noting that the network of experience and dedicated professionals provide for an environment where support remains ever ready to step in and offer backup.

If recent history in city events and proceedings provides any indication to the tasks Newton might face while he steps temporarily into both leadership positions, then a string of busy weeks, or months, might come tumbling down the pipe.

Newton recognized those possibilities, detailing a few upcoming issues faced by the city. He stressed the continued efforts by city engineers and the utilities department to continue tackling issues of storm water management in light of the recent flooding. He also stated that work would continue on revisions to the unified development code for the city. Additionally, Costcos proposed poultry processing operation continues to eclipse many of the daily activities occurring in Fremont.

However, Newton remains confident in the skill of those he works with as well as his 30 years of experience running various types and sizes of utility departments in Nebraska and other states.

Just because were in the interim and transition state doesnt mean were going to sit idle, Newton said. The mayor has things he wants to get done and we will continue to focus on those.

Weve got great people, Newton said. Im fortunate enough that I can delegate some of the work.

John Hemschemeyer, Fremonts human resource manager, concurred and further detailed a series of team building sessions that informed other employees with the knowledge allowing them to step up and help out when required. But Hemschemeyer stopped short of downplaying Newtons role during the transition period.

I think Brian is the only logical choice we have to step in and do both roles, Hemschemeyer stated.

Newton, who is married to wife Michell, with whom he raised three children, is a Nebraska native. He grew up on a farm in Wakefield. Working his way through school, he received his bachelors degree in business at Concordia University in Seward; retained a masters in business from Ashland University and earned his doctorate in management from Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio. He worked for utility departments and electrical co-ops in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Nebraska and Alaska.

Newton returned to Nebraska about one years ago after he saw the available position in Fremont. He applied and was offered the job.

We moved away 20 years ago and I never dreamt we would have the opportunity to come back, Newton said. To us its like a dream come true to come back and work for a great employer and be close to family.

Retiring in Nebraska persists as a personal and priority goal. For him, a Nebraska retirement is part of the big picture, though still a far off goal.

And similar to flying a plane, Newton explained that one cant forget about the big picture.

You cant forget about the end goal; what were all out here to accomplish  to get from point A to point B, Newton said.
When it comes to the poultry processing operation proposed for the Fremont area by Costco Wholesale and Lincoln Premium Poultry, an immense volume of information continues to disseminate.

Additionally, an endless array of questions (some new and some old) and concerns continue to re-emerge at the various Fremont Municipal meetings held over the last two weeks. Those continued questions and concerns, lead to long trains of residents (both for and against the proposal) marching up to address their questions and opinions to council members.

Tuesday nights Fremont City Council played out in similar format, leading several members of the community to question the public value of such a process.

Fremont needs to negotiate from a position of strength and not as a desperate community, said Dr. Richard Callaway, a long time resident and dentist. He expressed his concern for the way the proposal continues to move forward through the approval process.

A large business like (Costco) can change the character of Fremont, he said. If this plant is forced upon us it will not be a small change ... Instead of thinking what youll be doing for your community, you should be thinking about what youre doing to your community.

Costco officials and project proponents, such as the Greater Fremont Development Council, reiterated their assertions to the city that after conducting many door-to-door interviews; releasing equally as many press statements; conducting project related outreach; disseminating a transparent release of pertinent Costco information to the Greater Fremont area; and conducting a continuous due diligence, an impasse of opinion and frustration may continue to impair the ability to convince some that the project can represent opportunity for the Fremont area.

There has been a lot of discussion, a lot of dialog and a lot of questions answered, said Bill Vobejda, who attended the meeting as a representative of the GFDC and a Costco supporter. And it will continue.

He acknowledged however that when people (such as those opposed to Costco) feel like the city council does not agree with, or vote along the lines of those opposed, those people can become frustrated and develop the impression that they might not be privy to all the information. But Vobejda assured, that was not the case.

The process is playing out, he said, referring to the standard practices of any major development similar to what Costco and Lincoln Premium Poultry are proposing.

For that reason, Vobejda still remained upset about last weeks city council when several members left during a presentation in which various experts in the poultry field, the city government and representatives from Costco presented presentations to, and responded to questions from, council members.

Fremont resident Jeff Karls who remains an adamant proponent for assembling town hall meetings that afford the public an opportunity to address Costco and city officials directly. He believed such a process will allow those same officials to disseminate answers to public concerns in a more transparent manner.

This format (of official city meetings) is not conducive to real discussion, Karls said referring to the various city council and planning commission meetings that took place over the last two weeks at Christensen Field.

He pointed out the regimented structures of open public city meetings does not create and efficient dialog. He said it only allows citizens to address their opinions, information and question to the council members. Karls wants to see more public forums, where ideas and question can be directed to the officials for whom those question relate, such as Costco.

Im just looking for some place where the public can get their concerns addressed, Karls said.

Vobejda reiterated, that such town hall meetings are not the way private industry economic development is done, and can actually damage future possibilities for future development.

Cecilia Harry, executive director of the Greater Fremont Development Council responded to similar requests for public forums earlier in the evening. She reminded the board of the hostile and disrespectful response Costco representatives and proponents received during some of the more contentious meetings in the small town north of Fremont where Costco initially chose to locate its facility.

Project team members were being called names that cannot be repeated in public, Harry said to the board. Others simply want a platform to be angry and disrespectful.

Harry questioned the idea of open public forums. She stressed that such an environment is not conducive to true reception or dissemination of information.

Walt Shafer, chief operations officer and general manager at Lincoln Premium Poultry, offered support for Harrys words.

We will meet with people who are willing to listen  to the facts, Shafer said. We just want to do it in a forum where we have the chance  in the end we have to demonstrate; we have to live with what we do here  Its (Costcos) brand name. Its their members. Its their reputation.

Shafer added that he hoped people would not compare the Costco project to the past mistakes made by other producers in the poultry industry. Instead he hopes Costco will be compared to its own expectations.

The City Council revisited the three zoning change ordinances related to the large area of land (417 acres) situated south of Fremont in an area known as Hills Farm. Those three ordinance entered their second reading regarding zoning change in the area that would facilitate Costcos operations. If approved, the project could begin construction by late fall this year and be up and running at full capacity in 2019.

Many voices spoke throughout the evening, representing both sides. Despite the respectful environment, divisions ran deep.

Opponents continue to argue for more transparency in the approval processes. They also cite various environmental, health and economic impacts that could adversely harm the City of Fremont. They expressed concerns over economic effects, risks to water and the health of its citizens. Several continue to reject to the growing power of vertically integrated corporations that overshadow the food production industry through the use of grower contracts that take all the control from the farmer.

Proponents say the capital investments, increase in tax base, the new jobs created and the beneficial trickle down effects will bolster Fremonts economy and attract new businesses, development, jobs and improve the overall fiscal condition of the city. They stress that investment in area farmers will stimulate the return of younger generations to farm and seek agriculture jobs, enabling Nebraska to sustain its proud farming tradition.

The final readings for the ordinances will take place July 7 at the City Auditorium.
The Dodge County Sheriffs Office was responsible for the arrest of two individuals Tuesday morning, released information says.

Deputies were dispatched at 5:30 a.m. to County Roads 24 and P in regard to a trespassing complaint and a vehicle abandoned in a ditch.

Upon arrival, deputies couldnt located the driver of the vehicle or any of its passengers.

Later in the morning at 8:36 a.m., the Sheriffs Office received news that two men were walking in the area of County Roads 23 and O Boulevard.

When contact was made, a short foot pursuit ensued.

The two men were eventually apprehended and identified as Keenen P. Stafford, 19, of Fremont and Gregory J. Redler, 47, of Bennington.

Stafford was arrested for an outstanding Dodge County Warrant, and Redler was arrested for a parole violation, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a controlled substance and obstruction of law enforcement.

Assistance in the case was provided by the Fremont Police Department, Nebraska State Patrol troopers and air unit and the Bellevue Polices K-9 Unit.

Released information says there was no danger to the public at any time.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/06/2016 (2310 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Court of Queens Bench has, as expected, approved the plan of arrangement for BCE Inc. to acquire 100 per cent of the share of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc.

Last week, MTS shareholders overwhelmingly approved the deal with a vote of 99.66 per cent in favour.

The plan calls for BCE, the parent company of Bell, to pay $40 per MTS share in an aggregate combination of 45 per cent cash and 55 per cent in BCE shares.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / FREE PRESS FILES The MTS Building at 333 Main Street.

The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission regarding the TV licences, the Competition Bureau regarding the makeup of the resulting wireless competition and from the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada in respect to control of wireless spectrum.

This builds on the overwhelming support we received from our shareholders last week, said Jay Forbes, president & CEO of MTS. With the final order in hand and our shareholder approval in place, we look forward to working with BCE to secure the necessary regulatory approvals while continuing to highlight the compelling benefits the transaction has for our customers, our employees and the long term growth and prosperity of the Province of Manitoba.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/06/2016 (2311 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The NDP saw Premier Brian Pallisters Bah humbug Tuesday and raised him with charges Pallister is arrogant, makes bizarre statements, and risks Manitoba jobs.

Pallister was in Ottawa on government business and not there to be admonished.

The NDP took sides with the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, which accused the city and province Monday of being responsible for a slow start to the construction season.

Pallister had called the accusation irrational, and then went further.

It was the most bizarre comment that followed, said interim NDP leader Flor Marcelino. The premiers response: Bah humbug!' she told question period.

New Democrat Kevin Chief said the province is putting construction jobs at risk. He challenged Infrastructure Minister Blaine Pedersen: Will he stand with Manitoba businesses, who say they have a legitimate concern?

Pedersen said the Tories are aiming for predictable, steady growth. We have committed $1 billion each year going forward to infrastructure, he said.

Whereupon, Pedersen said the NDP had underspent on infrastructure every year except election years, and the NDP denied that it had.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/06/2016 (2311 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What is Premier Brian Pallisters end game?

For a week now, Pallister has been engaged in a mild but potentially risky form of political civil disobedience over proposed changes to the Canada Pension Plan.

The federal government recently forged an agreement to hike CPP premiums to fund increased benefits. Only two provinces declined to sign on: Quebec, which has its own supplementary pension scheme; and Manitoba.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESSL-R Manitoba Minister of Finance Cameron Friesen and Premier Brian Pallister at CPP presser.

It has been difficult to figure out exactly why Manitoba abstained. In practical terms, Manitoba cannot stop implementation of the new CPP deal; Ottawa needed to secure the support of at least seven provinces representing two-thirds of the countrys population. That threshold was met and exceeded.

Finance Minister Cameron Friesen has said the new provincial government in Manitoba needed more time to study the deal, during which it would weigh in with its own suggestions on how to improve CPP. Friesen and Pallister delivered on that pledge, releasing one proposal to index the CPP death benefit, and another to ensure widowed seniors would not lose part of their Guaranteed Income Supplement if they received survivor benefits.

The proposals are exceedingly reasonable. So much so that it would be hard to argue against including them in the forthcoming changes to premiums and benefits. Theres only one problem: Ottawa isnt interested.

On the same day Friesen and Pallister released their proposals, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneaus office told the Free Press he has no intention of re-opening discussions on a revamped CPP, preferring instead to implement the existing agreement as soon as possible.

The response from Morneaus office now leaves Manitoba standing upon unsteady political ground.

Even though Manitobas support is not necessary for implementation, Pallisters refusal to sign could cause quite a lot of trouble. At the very least, Ottawa might view this as needlessly provocative; at worst, it would be seen as a hostile act that could impair Manitobas relationship with the Liberal government for years to come.

Given the risks, what exactly is Pallister trying to achieve?

In an interview Tuesday, Pallister continued to refuse to directly endorse the plan to increase premiums to expand benefits. Sticking closely to the talking points he and Friesen have used for more than a week, Pallister said Manitoba wants to continue the national dialogue about improvements to CPP.

However, he did have a couple of new things to say.

Pallister said he is not particularly frustrated by Morneaus flat refusal to incorporate any of Manitobas proposals in the final CPP deal. He also said he and his finance minister will continue to work with other premiers and ministers to forge a consensus on the Manitoba proposals

We have an indication of some support, Pallister said without identifying who exactly is on board. We have to work hard now to build on that.

Pallister has a couple of things going for him in pursuit of that strategy.

First, Pallisters proposals are quite sensible. Second, the premier is about to enter a period in which he will have many opportunities to lobby the other provinces for support.

The lobbying window began Tuesday night, when Pallister travelled to Ottawa to attend a state dinner for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who is in Canada to attend the North American Leaders Summit along with U.S. President Barack Obama.

That window will extend through mid July when Pallister attends his first meeting of the Council of the Federation in Whitehorse, Yukon.

However, all that suggests that Ottawa can be moved off its current position. And there is evidence to suggest that Morneau is not only unwilling to budge, but that he will react quite negatively to any Manitoba-driven campaign to re-open CPP discussions.

Pallister should remember that prior to the meeting in Vancouver, the provinces were deeply divided on pension reform. Ontario wanted to go alone with its own supplementary scheme. Other provinces, notably Saskatchewan, were dead-set against any adjustments.

But somehow, Morneau got his deal by getting Ontario to agree to a delayed phase-in for premium increases. Even Saskatchewan, which revels in opposing federal Liberal policies, got on the bandwagon. Getting Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall to approve any of the Trudeau governments initiatives is a political windfall of immeasurable value.

The thought of re-opening those discussions, even for a couple of tidy and sensible proposals, might be unthinkable to Morneau.

And this is where the real peril lies for Pallister and his new government. There is a very fine line between being seen as the champion of reasonable and sensible changes to the CPP, and being portrayed as a rank political amateur in way over his head.

The latter view is backed up by Friesens performance in Vancouver, where he seemed unprepared for a national deal on CPP reform. Although the Tories have only been in government two months, senior Manitoba bureaucrats have been on this file for years. Friesen either did not ask, or was not provided, with the intel necessary to prepare for that meeting.

All that makes continuing to withhold support very risky. Pallister clearly believes Manitoba has gained some leverage by refusing to sign the CPP deal. However, the history of federal-provincial relations would suggest that, in a battle between a small province and an enormous central government, the little guy is not destined to succeed.

Add it all together, and it appears Manitobas proposals are reasonable but ill-timed and politically impractical. Manitobas new premier must tread carefully from this point on. Overplaying his current hand may translate into years of pain and suffering down the road.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/06/2016 (2310 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Teachers Society has offered its assistance to the Hanover School Division in Steinbach as the division grapples with an ongoing controversy over discussing sexual identity issues in the classroom.

Manitoba Teachers Society president Norm Gould spoke at a meeting of the division board Wednesday evening, telling members MTS will work with the school division to achieve a safe and inclusive learning environment.

We are offering our services, our expertise, our connections and our commitment to work alongside Hanover School Division, Gould said in a news release.

IAN FROESE / THE CARILLON Trustee Rick Peters (bottom right) speaks inside a packed house at a recent Hanover School Board meeting.

The Hanover school divisions current policy says teachers up to Grade 8 should call parents if a child inquires about topics including sexual orientation and abortion. It also suggests the child talk to a counsellor, a trusted relative or a help line.

Michelle McHale and her partner Karen Phillips asked that students be allowed to discuss sexual orientation in class at a school division meeting in April. The pair say one of their children was bullied at a school in the Hanover School Division because they are a same-sex couple,

On June 7, a majority of school trustees spoke out against the request. One suggested a link between sex education and higher rates of cancer.

While Gould applauded the division for the steps it has taken to create an inclusive learning environment, he also added as the areas population grows that the face of southeast Manitoba is changing.

And with this diversification comes new complexities that create challenges and opportunities for students, teachers, parents and you, he said, according to a transcript of Wednesdays presentation provided by MTS.

We arent downplaying or dismissing what you as school trustees and the community wrestle with we totally understand and recognize that change isnt easy. We get that this topic triggers emotional reactions in some people.

Hanover officials told the Free Press earlier on Wednesday that trustees will listen to Gould, but will not respond to his presentation.

 with files from The Canadian Press
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/06/2016 (2311 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A suicide attack at Istanbuls busy Ataturk Airport Tuesday that killed dozens and wounded more than 140 had a local impact.

Several Yazidi refugees who were enroute to Manitoba via the Istanbul airport on Tuesday have had their journey to Manitoba delayed by more than a week.

A 19-year-old boy, who was separated from his parents, and a family of eight had travelled to Istanbul from a refugee camp holding 25,000 Yazidi in Midyat, a 26-hour bus ride. They were on their way to the airport when the suicide bombers attacked.

Emrah Gurel / The Associated Press Passengers embrace each other as they wait outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following their evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. TURKEY OUT

They were eight hours from boarding their plane, said Belle Jarniewski, a co-ordinator for Operation Ezra, a community-wide effort to eventually relocate seven Yazidi families in Winnipeg. They were absolutely terrified.

The families were scheduled to arrive Thursday afternoon. Jarniewski said their arrival will now be delayed. Thursday they were told they would arrive July 11.

The families are doing ok but are clearly frightened and very anxious. The horrific events that caused the delay are a tragic reminder of the terror they are trying to leave behind, Operation Ezra said Thursday in a release.

We are very disappointed by the delay reflected in this new schedule and are working hard with government and members of parliament to find a way to expedite their departure from Turkey.

To date, Operation Erza has raised $250,000 since March of 2015. All the housewares and furniture have been acquired, Jarniewski said.

Thursday was supposed to be moving day for the first two families.

Theyre all going to live together, Jarniewski said. We have a home waiting for them. Hopefully, well see them in a few days.

Jarniewski noted the seven families being sponsored by Operation Ezra  Help, in Hebrew  only represent a tiny fraction of Yazidi, who follow an ancient Kurdish faith.

Last week, 19 Yazidi women were reportedly burned alive in a cage after refusing to have sex with their ISIS captors.

The world doesnt seem to care whats happening, Jarniewski said, noting the federal government should consider the plight of the Yazidi on par with Syrian refugees. We can settle them, but we cant do it alone. The government needs to do the right thing.

Hundreds of frightened passengers streamed out of the Ataturk Airport Tuesday, fleeing the latest of several bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. The attacks have increased in scale and frequency, scaring off tourists and hurting the Turkish economy, which relies heavily on tourism.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 36 were dead as well as the three suicide bombers. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said 147 were wounded. Another senior government official told The Associated Press the death toll could climb much higher.

The senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, at first said close to 50 people had already died, but later said that the figure was expected to rise to close to 50.

Yildirim said three suicide bombers were responsible for the attack and all initial indications suggest the Islamic State group was behind it.

The findings of our security forces point at the Daesh organization as the perpetrators of this terror attack, Yildirim told reporters at the airport, using the Arabic name for IS. Even though the indications suggest Daesh, our investigations are continuing.

 Staff / The Associated Press
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/06/2016 (2310 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Euthanasia is a difficult, morally fraught issue. It deserved a more serious examination than was afforded by a majority government simply ramming a bill through Parliament.

As it turns out, Canadians did see thorough scrutiny of the Liberal governments euthanasia plan, Bill C-14, courtesy of the Senate. Rather than simply signing off on the bill, senators took seriously their duty to examine and amend legislation. While the bill received royal assent relatively unscathed, it was subjected to additional public attention as the senators proposed amendments and returned the bill to the House of Commons.

Most importantly, the Senate asserted itself against the government and indicated Canadians should expect more of the same in the future. Senators were incensed when it was suggested they should simply accept the will of the House of Commons. (Sen. Ghislain Maltais responded defiantly: We are free and independent!)

ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Health Minister Jane Philpott testifies about the federal government's controversial bill on assisted dying before the entire Senate in Ottawa earlier this month.

Some welcomed the prospect of a more rambunctious, rebellious Senate; others were less impressed. The work on the governments euthanasia bill earned rebukes from critics claiming the Senate was engaging in undemocratic obstruction. The end result of a more activist Senate, they argued, would be gridlock as the two houses of Parliament butted heads. Governing would, accordingly, grind to a halt. Furthermore, so the argument goes, unelected senators have no business messing with the will of elected governments.

Polls show Canadians hold the Senate in low esteem, so such arguments are often accepted without much scrutiny.

There is something to these arguments: members of Parliament are elected, whereas senators are not. The House of Commons, therefore, enjoys democratic legitimacy the Senate lacks. As a result, the Senate will not often defeat bills approved by the House of Commons. (This is a good reason to elect senators, by the way, but thats a topic for another column.)

But it shouldnt be taken too far. The Constitution gives the Senate almost equal powers to the House of Commons. Senators enjoy the constitutional authority to propose, review, amend, delay or block government legislation. Senators excel at reviewing and offering amendments to government legislation  their sober second thought role  but have been hesitant to face off more boldly with the government.

The fact senators do not often exercise their powers to the full extent is a curious example of self-discipline that has not served Canada well. This is because Canadian governments, which typically command a majority of MPs in the House of Commons, are simply not subject to sufficient constraints on their powers. Federalism may frustrate some goals of the prime minister, and, as we have seen recently, the Supreme Court may strike down a few laws here and there but these are weak constraints on a powerful government.

In contrast, a confident, assertive Senate that occasionally causes gridlock would be a welcome check on the power of the federal government.

This is particularly true in Canada, where prime ministers that command majority government have for some time been able to whip MPs into voting for the vast majority of bills the government introduces. Academic studies often note the severity of party discipline in Canada, which means the PM almost always gets his way.

It gets worse. Centralization of power in the prime minister and cabinet is one thing. But, in recent years, observers have noted power has shifted above the cabinet to the unelected officials in the Prime Ministers Office, who may monitor and overrule cabinet ministers.

Do we really need additional constraints on the power of the prime minister in Canada? Heres a test: how many times in recent history can you recall when a prime minister really, really wanted something, but couldnt have it? I can count the number of such instances on one hand.

Perhaps its time for Canadians to consider the virtues of gridlock and the checks it necessarily imposes on governments. To paraphrase commentator George Will: gridlock is not a problem, its an achievement. It means governments are likely to achieve good things slowly and bad things not at all. The former is a small price to pay for the latter.

The Senate is in an ideal position to provide constructive obstruction to Canadian governments that have become far too powerful. I hope we see more of it in the future.

Royce Koop is an associate professor and head of the department of political studies at the University of Manitoba.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/06/2016 (2310 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Western Canada prospers when the four provinces work together. Premier Brian Pallister acknowledged as much when he brought Manitoba into the New West Partnership.

Of the many ways in which Manitoba can add value, one of the most exciting recent developments is its potential to help Saskatchewan and Alberta solve the challenge of shifting to clean electricity without causing significant harm to their economies.

Those two provinces have the highest per-capita emissions from power generation in the country, and have made plans to substantially grow their renewable electricity capacity in just over a decade. Both see wind as the cheapest emission-free replacement.

SUPPLIED Hydroelectric power, such as that produced by Wuskwatim dam in Manitoba, has a lower break-even point than wind or solar power.

We did our own analysis, however, for a research paper released Monday, entitled Power Up: The Hydro Option. It shows that over the long term, hydro outperforms wind in both reliability and cost.

Hydro has largely been absent from the renewable energy discussions, particularly in Alberta, but deserves serious consideration. Hydro is as reliable as coal, providing baseload power that is crucial to many of the industries operating in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Hydro is also more cost-effective than wind and solar. In Manitoba, the break-even price of electricity for wind is $86/MWh; for hydro developments, it ranges from $60 to 67/MWh. Large-scale solar (of which there is little in Canada) need prices closer to $100/MWh to be profitable.

Manitobans know first-hand the advantages of hydro. Of major Canadian cities, Winnipeg has one of the lowest residential prices and the lowest industrial price of electricity. A big reason is the capital costs of hydro infrastructure have largely been paid. Because of hydros lifespan of up to 100 years, Manitobans should benefit from low electricity prices for decades to come.

As Saskatchewan and Alberta consider the various low-emission replacements for coal-fired generation, consumers deserve a frank discussion about the real costs associated with each. One need look no further than Ontario to see how electricity prices skyrocketed in the shift to wind and solar.

There is potential to build large-scale hydro facilities, particularly in Alberta, but it comes with high upfront capital costs. Without a public utility, Alberta relies on private investment to build generation capacity, and getting capital for a hydro project would be tough.

Instead, interprovincial hydro imports could offer large-scale, reliable hydropower at a predictable price and in a timely fashion. These new Canadian customers could be the impetus to jump-start the stalled $10-billion Conawapa project on the Nelson River.

Although the idea of a western electricity grid powered by hydro is not new, two recent events make it a real possibility:

Saskatchewans and Albertas plans to double their capability to produce non-emitting electricity by 2030 requires adding significant amounts of new capacity over a relatively short timeframe. The prime minister has indicated the federal government is open to financially supporting an integrated power grid that transfers clean energy between western provinces. Attracting private investment is easier when the risk is reduced. The previous federal government did that by providing a $1-billion loan guarantee for a transmission line to move hydropower from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia. Similar action could facilitate construction of a transmission line stretching from Manitoba through Saskatchewan and into Alberta. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised more than $2 million in his first budget to study electricity infrastructure; he should direct some of the money into exploring the western grid option.

Building any linear infrastructure in Canada these days is challenging. Federal leadership in designating an interprovincial transmission line as green infrastructure could go a long way to increasing hydroelectricity use throughout all the western provinces.

As a cost-effective source of clean, reliable power, hydro should be given fair consideration in the discussion about changing the electricity mix in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Manitoba, with a wealth of both expertise and hydropower production, has a lot to offer its New West partners.

Naomi Christensen is a policy analyst with the Canada West Foundation, a non-partisan think tank focused on the concerns of western Canadians. http://cwf.ca/
The Winona County board on Tuesday night got an update on studies to its aging jail, and more information to help the county take the next steps in addressing the deficiencies.

The jail, built in 1979, is slated to be downgraded to a 90-day facility at the end of August because of a Minnesota Department of Corrections order. Steve Buswell, jail administrator, said that will cause several changes in the cost of housing inmates.

After the jail is reclassified, Winona County will have to outsource housing to surrounding counties. The board in March approved a contract that allows Houston County to be reimbursed for up to 15 prisoners at a rate of $48 per bed per day. It would go to $50 for each above that number.

Winona County prisoners are also housed at Wabasha, Goodhue and Olmsted counties, depending on their sentences and criminal classifications.

The average daily prisoner count since 2013 has been just over 53 in the jail, Buswell said.

The jail will be audited by the National Institute of Corrections, which is in the preliminary steps of setting up the process. County administrator Ken Fritz said that the county is hoping to complete it by the end of September. Fritz said that the institute has assigned and approved, assessors and are working on a date.

The NIC assessment, which the board approved applying for in mid-May, provides free technical assistance to local governments with the process.

The process is an ongoing attempt to keep up with state and national standards.

The regulations the jail was built to meet have been updated several times, as have federal workplace regulations set by OSHA, and the Americans with Disabilities Act  which didnt exist when the jail was built.

Buswell said that the regulations continue to change quickly, making questions of how to maximize effectiveness in changes to the jail hard.

To predict 10 years out is almost impossible now, Buswell said. It gets very difficult.

Board gets state session update

In planning for other aspects of the county, the board heard a Minnesota legislative recap from Sen. Matt Schmit, DFL-Red Wing, concerning the 2016 session, which he didnt mince words about.

Im not going to sugarcoat it, Schmit said. I think the best way to characterize the 2016 session is the good, the bad and the ugly.

Positives included managing to avoid turning a state budget surplus into a deficit, Schmit said, and continuing to concentrate on broadband infrastructure development, with $35 million in investments.

But, Schmit said, the failure to come up with a capital investment bill or find a solution for comprehensive transportation funding were failures.

Schmit said he was still hoping for a special session to address those issues, though that has become increasingly unlikely, with legislative leadership still unable to agree on compromises on primary issues.
Those who can do, teach.

This summer, Winona Area Public Schools teachers are benefiting from that flipped phrase by becoming students of local trades, visiting Winona companies to learn more about the technological and business advancements in the modern workforce.

The collaboration comes through the Teacher in the Workplace program, a pilot program run by the Winona Area Chamber of Commerce.

The project is part of a Minnesota Chamber initiative that launched last fall across the state to connect students to the local workforce, said Winona Chamber president Della Schmidt.

One of the things that we are working on is providing on-ramps to the jobs that actually exist, Schmidt said.

The Chamber is partnering with Fastenal, Thern, Benchmark and PlastiComp to host teachers for a week to show them the ropes of the company, top to bottom.

Winona Senior High School science teacher Bill Braun said the lessons he learned at PlastiComp Monday and Tuesday  he will also be assigned to a different manufacturer in July  were beneficial, and not limited to science and engineering.

Theres something that all teachers could get, Braun said.

Scott Rodeghier, a Fastenal recruiting manager for manufacturing, said that from public speaking to line production, the manufacturing companies in Winona have something to offer for all of Winonas students.

I can relate what we do to any classroom, Rodeghier said.

All of that comes full circle to the workforce, he said. They need to realize they dont have to move 100 miles away to get a good job.

Meanwhile this week, Fastenal is hosting Kyle Williams, industrial technology teacher at Winona Senior High School.

Williams said he would encourage any teacher to find ways to become involved with local businesses. He was most intrigued with discovering ways he can continue to teach how industrial work has evolved far past the dated image of gritty factories into complex, technology-driven careers.

They think its dirty and grimy, but its really not that way any more, Williams.

On Monday, Braun worked with product development engineer Marc-Henry Wakim and designer Shawn Gorder. Braun was using his physics expertise to understand the designs, stress points and delicate production that goes into the specific molds other companies will use to create their products out of PlastiComps fiber composite pellets.

Braun also brought the robot his robotics team students built and used in competition to demo to his temporary PlastiComp co-workers. Wakim and Gorder suggested ways Brauns students could use materials PlastiComp creates to improve its function.

Its those connections to real life and local companies that Braun plans to bring back to the classroom, and what Schmidt said will add a new dimension to student-teacher relationships.

Teachers are a critical partner in preparing these young people, Schmidt said. We just want to be a partner with them.
If you watched the national media reports regarding Great Britain leaving the European Union, it was a fight between the more educated youth and the uneducated old in a battle for that nation's future.

It's a political revolution of ideas thats looming here in the lessons of a national Common Core education.

Polling data showed younger, more educated voters, were more likely to support Britains remaining in the EU. Older, less educated, Brits typically favored leaving. According to the pundits, the experience of older voters should have been vetoed by the more educated class.

The EU did not begin 58 years ago. It can be easily argued that a string of treaties dating back to 1957 with the Treaty of Rome, which formed the European Economic Community, connects the history, but the EEC began with only six independent countries. England did not join this economic bloc until 1973  or five years after the formation of the European Community. In 1992, with the Treaty of Maastrich, the key word economic was dropped and the European Union was formed.

This is important because, contrary to what has been reported, the departure of England from the EU doesnt predate nearly all of the old people that voted in the Brexit referendum. The 700-year-old nation of England is only undoing about 40 years of the nations alliance which, in the past 20 years, has usurped more power from this sovereign nation in the name of uniformity.

Older voters remembered life before a new centralized European bank  yielding powerful influence over things like immigration policy  began blackmailing British policies. British citizens voted to take their country back.

Then-Prime Minister Tony Blair entered the agreement cautiously after demanding the EU treaty included an exit clause. The citizens of Great Britain just exercised it, much to the demise of a bunch of people who are either too young to remember Blair or werent even born yet.

The emphasis on the educated youth is a battle that is brewing here in the United States as well. This isnt a discussion comparing voter anger in England to Donald Trump: its about education. The reason young people are afraid is they have learned all about the benefits of being in the EU, not necessarily all of the pitfalls that came with the deal.

Here in the U.S., our youth are learning similar one-sided lessons that with an emphasis on liberal policy. As an example, eighth-graders at an area middle school are learning in math class that people cannot live on the minimum wage. The lesson is about the need for the government to increase the minimum wage to a living wage.

It might be a more valuable lesson if, rather than showing a video of a guy falsely trying to live for a month on $7.25 an hour, the discussion centers more on how to gain opportunities that do not keep you tied to the bottom of the federal wage scale. Things like working to get good grades and post high school education should have been the learning outcomes. Instead, they learned we need to raise the minimum wage.

At another middle school event a couple of years ago, the students demonstrated what they had learned about several social issues. One grandparent noted that she saw multiple displays about gay marriage, but not one display discussing the Defense of Marriage Act. I was more curious to know why they were discussing gay marriage in the eighth grade rather than learning about the Revolutionary War. Doesnt it seem that this current affairs topic is more appropriate for students older than the age of 13?

The liberal agenda has invaded the classroom as part of the daily lesson plan through Common Core curriculum. If you can place before children one-sided conversations regarding social, economic and environmental issues taught by people theyve learned to respect, youll eventually have generation discord that pits the educated youth against old guys who didnt learn this stuff.

These are the lessons of Common Core. In math class its about the minimum wage. In English class, its about social literacy. This is part of the national Common Core curriculum designed to match the required standards. Have you wondered why there are no Common Core standards for history in our classrooms?

The political revolution pitting the educated youth against the rest of us has begun. Well have to rely on our history. Theyre coming armed with the knowledge of Common Core.
A Lyndon Station man is accused of sexual assault of a child.

Danile R. Greyhair faces one count of first degree sexual assault  sexual contcat with a child under 13. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison.

According to the criminal complaint, a Juneau County Sherriffs Department detective met with a mother in late May after her daughter reported Greyhair touching her in her vaginal area.

A SANE exam conducted at Mayo Clinic  Eau Claire noted irritation in the vaginal area.

Greyhair told police he did not help her dress, undress, bathe or use the rest-room during her time at his house. He said he could not recall if she used his bathroom, but said he is aware she can use the bathroom without assistance.

Greyhair is due in court at 10:30 a.m. July 13 for his initial appearance.
Lets start with two premises: (1) Wisconsins 111-year-old civil service system set up government employees to have more job protection and security than private-sector workers, and (2) it also served the necessary purpose of guarding against politicians feathering nests by filling all those jobs with partisan cronies.

In the private sector an employer has a lot of leeway when it comes to hiring and firing in Wisconsin. In the case of an employees poor performance  let alone gross misconduct or deliberate malfeasance  a company can show the individual the door relatively fast.

Thats as it should be, because companies live or die on the abilities and integrity their workers bring to the job site every day. Poor performance or disruptive behavior by the few can undermine the job security of the many. Employers must have the flexibility to make decisions.

While we understand the public sector and the private sector are different in many ways  the primary difference, of course, is the public sector does not have to succeed and earn its money; it takes what it wants in taxes  that does not mean government management has no need for flexibility in the workplace.

Taxpayers want government to be well run and frugal with a buck. To do so managers need to be able to prune deadwood from the payroll. In any organization people are the difference makers. And in any organization there are top performers, average performers and below-average performers.

The below-average performers should be challenged to raise their game  or move on.

And those who commit serious infractions in the workplace should be removed from the payroll expeditiously without the months of delays so typical in the public sector.

If reforming work rules set down more than a century ago helps accomplish that goal, taxpayers should cheer.

Granted, it would be easier to cheer if people could trust politicians to do the right thing. Civil service rules originally were put in place because scheming politicians, when they gained power, would throw out all their predecessors workers and throw in their own cronies. Then, the next time power changed from one party to the other, the process would repeat. Government workers owed their livelihood to partisan allegiance rather than stellar performance.

That kind of political corruption must be guarded against, and with proper safeguards that can be accomplished. The Walker administration is still writing rules for the reforms, scheduled to begin taking effect Friday. Reading the fine print will be necessary.

But the overall purpose is a good one. More flexibility for management should mean higher standards and improved performance from government. If that happens, taxpayers win.
America was rocked by the cold-blooded murder of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Unlike the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Orlando shooter appears to be a lone gunman who, while claiming allegiance to ISIS, was not actually working with a terrorist group. About the only thing Orlando has in common with 9/11 are the way power-hungry politicians and federal officials wasted no time using it to justify expanding government and restricting liberty.

Immediately following the shooting, we began to hear renewed calls for increased government surveillance of Muslims, including spying on Muslim religious services. Although the Orlando shooter was born in the United States, some are using the shooting to renew the debate over Muslim immigration. While the government certainly should prevent terrorists from entering the country, singling out individuals for government surveillance and other violations of their rights because of religious faith violates the First Amendment and establishes a dangerous precedent that will be used against other groups. In addition, scapegoating all Muslims because of the act of one deranged individual strengthens groups like ISIS by making it appear that the U.S. government is at war with Islam.

The Orlando shooting is being used to justify mass surveillance and warrantless wiretapping. For the past three years, the House of Representatives passed an amendment to the Defense Department appropriations bill limiting mass surveillance. But, last week, the same amendment was voted down. The only difference between this year's debate and previous debates was that this year defenders of the surveillance state were able to claim that the Orlando shooting justifies shredding the Fourth Amendment.

The fact that the Orlando shooter had twice been investigated by the FBI shows that increased surveillance and wiretapping would not have prevented the shooting. Mass surveillance also creates a "needle in a haystack" problem that can make it difficult, or impossible, for law enforcement to identify real threats. Unfortunately, evidence that giving up liberty does not increase security has never deterred those who spread fear to gain support for increased government power.

The Orlando shooter successfully passed several background checks and was a licensed security guard. But, just like those who used Orlando to defend unconstitutional surveillance, authoritarian supporters of gun control are not allowing facts to stand in the way of using the Orlando shooting to advance their agenda. Second Amendment opponents are using Orlando to give the federal government new powers to violate individuals' rights without due process. One pro-gun control senator actually said, "due process is what's killing us."

Ironically, if not surprisingly, one of those calling for new gun control laws is Hillary Clinton. When she was sectary of state, Clinton supported interventions in the Middle East that resulted in ISIS obtaining firearms paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

Mass surveillance, gun control, and other restrictions on our liberty will not prevent future Orlandos. In fact, by preventing law-abiding Americans from defending themselves, gun control laws make us less safe from criminals. Similarly, mass surveillance and warrantless wiretapping erode our rights while making it more difficult for law enforcement to identify real threats.

If Congress really cared about our security and liberty, it would repeal all federal gun laws, end all unconstitutional surveillance, and end the hyper-interventionist foreign policy that causes many around the world to resent the U.S.
Wisconsin company wrestles with the FDA over an infant formula

Nikos Linardakis says the FDA has stymied efforts that he and James Esselman have made to launch their Bene Baby Co.s product.
Werowocomoco: A place of power, a lost city, an archaeological site, a national park

At Werowocomoco: A team of archaeologists work a section known as the Pastures at what once was the home of Powhatan, where John Smith was brought as a captive. The National Park Service has acquired the site for incorporation into the Captain John Smith National Historic Trail. Courtesy photo Photo - of - Hide Caption

The U.S. National Park Service has taken Werowocomoco under its umbrella.

The site of Werowocomoco, Powhatans capital city during the early years of the Jamestown Colony, has been acquired by the National Park Service. The site will be incorporated into the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, informally known as the John Smith Water Trail.

Chuck Hunt, superintendent of the John Smith Water Trail, said that planning process for the new park will unfold over the next 18 months or so. He said planning for the Werowocomoco park will involve a number of partners, including the Colonial National Historic Park, which will help with administration of the park.

Several state and local entities will participate as well, including Gloucester County, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, York River State Park, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and I would anticipate William & Mary being an important partner, Hunt said.

He stressed that members of the descendant Indian communities who have a shared connection to Werowocomoco will be part of the park development process as well. Seven Virginia tribes have cultural and ancestral links to Werowocomoco: the Pamunkey, the Mattaponi, the Chickahominy, the Chickahominy Eastern Division, the Rappahannock, the Upper Mattaponi and the Nansemond.

The planning process is to determine how the park should be managed and the Virginia tribes who are associated with the site are extremely important partners, Hunt said. The site will be managed in a way to share their heritage and their history, because its a place thats very special to them. They will be a core part of the site.

A story in the Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal broke the news that the NPS purchased the 264-acre site from The Conservation Fund, a Maryland nonprofit that bought the land from Bob and Lynn Ripley.

Ann Simonelli, media relations director at The Conservation Fund, said the focus of the nonprofit is to conserve properties of significant historic, cultural and environmental value such as the Werowocomoco.

We work with partners like the Park Service to protect land, water and wildlife. We were established with a dual mission, to focus on conservation solutions that provide both environmental and economic benefits, Simonelli explained, adding that development of Werowocomoco as a national park would generate an influx of tourism to Gloucester County.

Werowocomoco was the most significant city in the region at the time of the landing of the Jamestown colonists, and had probably been a place of power for centuries before 1607, says Martin Gallivan, professor of anthropology at William & Mary. Gallivan led an archaeological examination of the site, the precise location of which was uncertain until 2003.

The rediscovered city is prominent in early Virginia history. John Smith first entered Werowocomoco as a captive, caught in the mud at the headwaters of what is now the Chickahominy River by a squad of warriors led by sub-chief Opechancanough, brother of Powhatan. The legendary interference of Smiths execution by Powhatans daughter Pocahontas occurred at Werowocomoco  if it happened at all.

The acquisition by the National Park Service is the most recent in a series of government actions to preserve Werowocomoco as a historical, cultural and archaeological site. Rumors and reports of NPS interest in Werowocomoco surfaced a couple years ago, prompting a site visit from Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

The Ripleys signed a conservation easement agreement in 2013 with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and with representatives of the seven tribes of Virginia Indians that carry ancestral and cultural links to Werowocomoco. The National Register of Historic Places enlisted the site in 2006.

There arent many places like Werowocomoco in the National Park System, Gallivan said. As far as I know, there arent any sites focused squarely on Native history in the eastern part of the country. Theyre typically out west  think of Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, places like that.

The National Park Service is expected to make a formal announcement of the acquisition in the fall. No specific plans have been announced on what a Werowocomoco park would include, but Gallivan has at least the outline of a wish list.

Id like to see a park that is clearly focused on the Native history of the Chesapeake, Gallivan said, a site that incorporates the voices of the contemporary Virginia Indian community which has a very special relationship to the site.

He also said a Werowocomoco should have a strong interpretive component, accessible to the public. Archaeology has yielded a great deal of information about the site, notably the location of a 75-foot-long structure that was likely the residence of Wahunsenacawh, also known as Powhatan. But, Gallivan said, about 99 percent of the site has yet to be explored.

So, Id also like to see a place where archaeological research can continue to happen, Gallivan said. Now how you balance all of those interests in one place, well, thats going to be quite a challenge for the National Park Service.




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Horizon CEO outlines fresh challenge for nuclear

29 June 2016

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One of the nuclear industry's most experienced executives has postponed retirement from a 45-year-long career for a rare challenge - to deliver a privately backed new build project. As CEO of Horizon Nuclear Power - the UK subsidiary of Japan's Hitachi - Duncan Hawthorne aims to demonstrate that such a project is able not only to attract investors, but that it will be delivered on time and to budget.

Horizon plans to deploy the UK ABWR (Advanced Boiling Water Reactor) at two sites - Wylfa Newydd, which is on the Isle of Anglesey, and Oldbury-on-Severn, in South Gloucestershire.

Hawthorne at the NIA reception (Image: Horizon)

Hawthorne, who began his career as a craft apprentice in the Scottish electricity industry, was invited to head Horizon when he announced his retirement after 15 years at Canada's Bruce Power in April. Prior to this, he had spent three years as president of AmerGen LLC, and five years as executive director of British Energy. He served as chair of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) Atlanta Centre and until recently was president of WANO's governing board. He has been on Horizon's board of directors since 2013.

Business calling

In an interview with World Nuclear News, Hawthorne said he was persuaded to return to the UK from Canada, where he has citizenship, by the "business calling of trying to complete the set" in his career - a new build project.

"I didn't come here to fail. I didn't come here without strong belief that this was the right thing for the supply mix in the UK, that we have a good product that offers something that will fill a gap in the market," he said.

Hawthorne spoke to WNN on the side of the UK Nuclear Industry Association's summer reception, which was held in London on 23 June. Horizon sponsored the event.

He said: "British Energy were privatised in 1996 and just prior to that we'd talked a lot to the UK government about replacing nuclear with nuclear, that was in fact our slogan. But we didn't get any traction at that time, so I went off to North America with the intention of growing our business there and the expectation after two or three years was that I'd come back and try again to convince them on new build. And as it turned out we were very successful in North America, with acquisitions in the US and then Canada. And then of course British Energy got themselves into trouble in the UK. There was a separation and at that point, in 2002, I had the opportunity to come back and try and pick up the pieces in British Energy or stay behind in North America. I chose to stay, but I always had a feeling that there was a case for new build in the UK."

Shifting centre of gravity

WANO has been busy over the last five or six years with the "rapid growth of nuclear", particularly from Russian and Chinese state-funded projects, Hawthorne said, and with "making sure new entrants are actually able to manage the growth". But there is a "lack of a benchmark" for privately backed new nuclear projects, which is what Horizon wants to provide, he added.

Referring to the International Energy Agency's 'central scenario' - according to which global output from nuclear power plants is forecast to increase from 2478 TWh in 2013 to 4606 TWh by 2040 and expansion in China accounts for almost half of incremental nuclear generation - Hawthorne said the nuclear industry's "centre of gravity is moving towards the Pacific Rim". WANO is therefore considering "opening a fresh region in the Beijing area because that's where a lot of the activity is", he added.

"Our challenge is to win the commercial case here in the UK by building on time and on budget because that's where the real test is and [the industry] doesn't have a lot of good metrics on success with nuclear new build projects and we need to fix that," Hawthorne said, adding that Horizon wants the UK ABWR project to be its "flagship".

"We can talk about projects in Japan, but there was a different investor model to ours. This would be a really important test case for us. The Hitachi ABWR is not a first-of-a-kind design and the UK project is a destiny issue for the Japanese nuclear industry. They are looking to the return of the nuclear fleet in Japan, but in the meantime it's important that the technology continues to thrive and the UK is an important market for it," he said.

Regulatory benefits

A key part of its strategy is to have UK regulatory approval for the reactor design.

"There's no doubt that the UK regulatory regime is very highly valued by other regulators, so if your technology gets through that process, then you definitely have something that supports the product's marketability," Hawthorne said.

Even though Hitachi has been involved in the build of seven ABWRs in Japan to date, the Horizon plant will be the first time it has deployed the reactor design outside its home market, he noted. GE-Hitachi has deployed the ABWR in Taiwan.

"We're saying this is the eighth in a series, we do have experience, but people will say, but that was in your domestic market, what does that mean internationally. So there is a point to be proven here yet before we can really convince the broader market," he said.

Every regulatory regime has its own "nuances" and the UK's approach lends itself to a "proposal-disposal" type of relationship, he said.

"I don't think anyone had the expectation that the UK regulator would accept unchanged any foreign design, so the process is very clear; we go through various stages and the design is challenged. Obviously, we had to incorporate some post-Fukushima changes anyway, as did every vendor, but the hope was that we had a robust design and the changes wouldn't be major and to date we've confirmed that. We're feeling that the design has been vindicated by the approval process so far."

The ultimate positive outcome of the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process would be the issuance of a Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC) from the Office for Nuclear Regulation and a Statement of Design Acceptability (SoDA) from the Environment Agency. The UK ABWR began the GDA process in January 2014 and Horizon and the regulators have said it remains on target for completion at the end of 2017.

Technological first

The Horizon reactor will also be the first boiling water reactor in the UK, which has pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors (AGRs) in operation only. This means the UK regulator has had to "get up to speed" with certain aspects of BWR processes in its scrutiny of the UK ABWR. For example, the failure modes of a reactor with a boiler need to be understood against those of PWRs, where reactor steam is passed through the turbine, Hawthorne noted.

"With BWRs, like PWRs, it's the pressure vessel that tends to be the life-limiting component. It's not an easy fix. And with the AGRs it's the graphite core. Almost every design has some life-limiting feature, but it's probably fair to say that, if you look at what's happened to life extensions with PWRs, it's generally been the replacement of steam generators, or components like that. The BWR doesn't have those, so you're really thinking about the vessel. With a BWR, you can remove all the fuel and replace the vessel. It's more about the commercial viability than the technical feasibility. Whereas with AGRs it's a technical feasibility discussion."

Referring to EDF Energy's work to recover the operating margin of the AGRs it took over from British Energy, Hawthorne said: "There's no question that EDF have done a tremendous job in extending the life of the current fleet. I know this fleet as well as anyone and I wouldn't have bet anyone's money that these plants would last as long as they have." But those AGRs will be retired by 2030, he noted, and replacement capacity will be sorely needed before then.

In February, EDF Energy announced that the scheduled closure dates for its Heysham 1 and Hartlepool plants had been extended by five years to 2024, while those of Heysham 2 and Torness had been extended by seven years to 2030. The announcement followed extensions to the operating periods of EDF Energy's other AGR power plants.

Commercial structure

Horizon is not alone in its ambition to create a commercial structure that enables private capital to enter a UK new build project. NuGeneration (NuGen) - the UK joint venture between Japan's Toshiba and France's Engie - plans to build a nuclear power plant of up to 3.8 GWe gross capacity at Moorside, in West Cumbria using AP1000 nuclear reactor technology provided by Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba.

NuGen CEO Tom Samson, a friend of Hawthorne's and a fellow Scot, told WNN in May that his search for investment has included talks with Japanese and US export credit agencies.

Hawthorne said: "Not surprisingly, the characteristics of making the projects investible will be similar. Is it fair to say that NuGen and we are fishing in the same pool? Probably. But NuGen is probably looking somewhere else geographically than we are. The Toshiba-Westinghouse design takes them more into the US, while the Hitachi ABWR would take us more into Japan."

Unlike EDF Energy and its cooperation with China General Nuclear (CGN), Horizon "would be thinking about financial investors, rather than another vendor that is looking for an entre for their own technology", Hawthorne said.

Under a deal agreed last October, CGN will take a 33.5% stake in French state-owned EDF Energy's 18 billion ($28 billion) project to construct Hinkley Point C in Somerset. In addition, the two companies will develop projects to build new plants at Sizewell in Suffolk and Bradwell in Essex, the latter using Chinese reactor technology.

"There is a range of financing options and we're going to look at all of them, with the intention of offering a competitive project. The debt-equity structure and cost of capital are a direct function of the contract-for-difference. At the end of the day, there's no rite of passage for nuclear. There's an obvious climate change advantage, energy security and all the things you'll hear the Secretary of State talk about, but at the end of the day, the rate payer has to see a competitive price, and the debt-equity structure and the cost of capital can make a big difference," he said. "We would hope to have an idea of the financing structure by the end of this year," he added.

Horizon has not said publicly its estimated cost of the project, but Hawthorne said it expects its capital costs will be lower than those for Hinkley Point C "because it's not first-of-a-kind and the ABWR is a more compact and simpler technology" than the UK European Pressurized Reactor.

The importance of communication with the local community cannot be overstated, he said.

"You need to build reputation first and the plant second. You have to explain what kind of company you are, what's important to you, what your values are. We'll be on that site for 60 years and so people have to know what you stand for. Communication is key because sometimes you have to answer the same questions a number of times, not because they haven't heard the answer, but because they want the same answer, because that's reassuring.

"Hitachis values are about doing what we say we'll do, acting with integrity. Some people see those as soft issues, but I see them as core issues because without those things, how can you be trusted with the technology that no one can understand unless they're a nuclear physicist?"

Path to FID

Horizon's conversations with government are "lively, frequent and engaged", Hawthorne said, having just returned from a meeting with the Department of Energy and Climate Change. "The government have an interest in clarity and progress and for that reason we are meeting regularly with DECC. Our discussions are on the back of the Hinkley deal because that's the framework agreement and we're discussing what needs to be different and why. One of the obvious example of that is the fact we're a private sector company and how we look at the investibility of a project is different," he said.

"A direct lesson from the Hinkley project is if you look at the state aid challenge, that isn't a risk that a private sector company would take in nuclear new build. Simply stated, if the state aid thing becomes major, then you've lost your investment and there's no compensation for it. We have to think how we can be protected from that and in a reasonable way - because any protection a government would offer would in fact itself be state aid."

Hawthorne declined to discuss the details of Horizon's negotiations with government, but said, "The reality is there are a number of issues we need to resolve because our goal is to go out and explain to different capital pools why this is a good investment.

"Obviously we'll be able to say it's a good technology, it's tried and tested, we stand behind our vendor technology, but we also want to recognise that this is a multi-decades financial arrangement. Investors will only get their cash back once they've spent a lot of money towards it, so we have to prevent any uncertainty that this contract can stand the test of time in the short, medium and long term. And that takes a lot of work."

Different types of investors will come into the project at various stages, as is typically the case with any long-term capital project, he added.

"My experience in Canada showed that an operational nuclear plant is a very attractive investment for pension funds because it has long-term, stable and reliable returns to meet the long-term liability - paying people's pension. Pre-operation, your capital annually is not good for pension funds because they now have annual liabilities to fund with no income to match. So, it's a different type of investor with a different premium. Pension plans on the other hand are more likely to take a lower return because they are more interested in the certainty and stability. People who will take more risk, such as the build risk, are likely to be looking for a higher return. That means that in our debt-equity structure we have to strike a formula which allows the right type of investor to come in at the right time, but not at such a premium that it makes the product uncompetitive."

The project has to be competitive against a range of benchmarks, he said. "Hinkley is one benchmark, but so too are wind farms and gas plants. The government have expressed a view that they want to see this go ahead, but there is no blank cheque element to it. That's equally true between ourselves and Hinkley as between ourselves and offshore wind. So I'm working on the basis that our price has to be competitive against other options. That will be a necessary prerequisite to doing a deal."

The "deliverables" required to make a final investment decision include a DAC and SoDA, a site licence, a contract-for-different and a Development Consent Order (DCO). "They're not grey areas; we need to have those or we don't declare that we're able to make an FID," he said.

"We know how much work we have to do to fix the price of the build, to get a deal with government, the DCO piece, the design certification piece, and when all those come together we should be in a position to make the FID in 2019. It's more about other interim milestones and obviously we're now at stage 4 of the design certification so we'd like to believe we're in the 'fewer surprises' part of it. Now what I'm trying to do is make the same level of progress in the government discussions."

Peace and climate change

In a career spanning 45 years, Hawthorne has seen nuclear energy's role as an "incredibly powerful solution" to the world's energy deficit - as outlined by US President Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace speech of 1953 - and now, too, to climate change.

"There is no other high volume, high reliability emission-free technology," he said. "Of the eight billion people of the world, half of them still live in energy poverty. If they follow the same curve that we did, with wood and coal, then any savings we make in climate change will be entirely irrelevant. We in the more advanced cultures need to help those countries meet their energy deficit without creating climate change impact. If nuclear is not part of that, then I don't know of another option."

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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Handbook offers guidance to doctors on radiation

29 June 2016

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A new handbook has been compiled with the help of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to better prepare medical staff to communicate with the public about possible health effects of radiation during and after a nuclear or radiological emergency.

The handbook was launched in Singapore last week at the 3rd Conference on Science, Technology and Society Perspectives on Nuclear Science, Radiation and Human Health: the View from Asia. The conference - organized jointly by the IAEA and the University of Singapore - marked the end of a series of IAEA projects to improve the ability of medical professionals, physicists and other specialists in Asia and elsewhere to communicate about radiation-related health risks in a nuclear or radiological emergency. The initiative is based on the need for clear and science-based communication.

"The Fukushima accident taught us that what was required in medical response to a nuclear accident extends beyond ordinary medical expertise."



Koichi Tanigawa,

Fukushima Medical University

Atsushi Kumagai, associate professor at the Education Centre for Disaster Medicine at Fukushima Medical University said, "Radiation specialists thought they would be able to persuade people" about the level and risk of radiation following the 2011 Fukushima accident. "Instead, people went with their own hunch."

"The Fukushima accident taught us that what was required in medical response to a nuclear accident extends beyond ordinary medical expertise," said Koichi Tanigawa, vice president of Fukushima Medical University, who was involved in preparing the handbook.

"Back in 2011, the biggest challenges were scarcity of information on radiation among the public, and lack of coordination among responding organizations," he said. "A science technology society project may address the roles of individuals responding to these difficult situations."

Tanigawa added, "Health care professionals need to learn how to communicate with residents who have different perceptions about radiation, provide scientific information to the public as risk communicators, and facilitate their understanding of health risks, so that the residents can adapt their lives accordingly."

The IAEA said the new handbook provides an overview of general radiation history and circumstances of release of radiological material in Japan. It addresses risk perception and advises on how best to deal with psychosomatic symptoms. Topics on preparing for and coping with disasters and risk communication are also included, along with legal and ethical considerations.

May Abdel-Wahab, director of the IAEA's human health division, said: "If we can assist medical personnel in communicating effectively with the affected population, the health outcomes will improve as well. A tool like this handbook gives medical staff information to help people have better control over their lives and make appropriate informed decisions."

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by World Nuclear News

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UK remains committed to low-carbon strategy

29 June 2016

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The UK's decision to leave the European Union has not changed the government's commitment to new nuclear power, or to its climate change goals, says Amber Rudd.

The decision to leave the EU is of historic significance. To be clear, Britain will leave the EU. The decision of the British people was clear. The key challenge now, as the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have stressed, is to work towards a settlement that is in the best interests of Britain.

As a Government, we are fully committed to delivering the best outcome for the British people - and that includes delivering the secure, affordable, clean energy our families and business need. That commitment has not changed. Because while the decision to leave the EU is undoubtedly significant, the challenges we face as a country remain the same.

Amber Rudd speaking at the Business & Climate Summit (Image: J Cobb/World Nuclear Association)

How do we protect the strong economy that we have built over the past six years? How do we ensure we build the infrastructure we need to underpin our strong economy? How do we ensure people have good jobs that pay them well? The challenges to our environment remain the same. How do we make sure people can have respite from the daily grind in safe, clean green spaces near their home? How do we ensure we protect our most precious species? How do we ensure our green and pleasant land is protected both to respect the efforts of generations past and as a responsibility to generations to come?

In particular, I want to underline our commitment to the issue over which I have primary responsibility; climate change. Climate change has not been downgraded as a threat. It remains one of the most serious long-term risks to our economic and national security.

"We will build on the UKs expertise in nuclear innovation".

I was lucky enough to lead the world-class team of British diplomats at last year's Paris climate talks. Our efforts were central to delivering that historic deal. And the UK will not step back from that international leadership. We must not turn our back on Europe or the world. Our relationships with the United States, China, India, Japan and other European countries will stand us in strong stead as we deliver on the promises made in Paris. At the heart of that commitment is the Climate Change Act. Its success has inspired countries across the world, and its structure of five-yearly cycles inspired a core part of the Paris deal.

I know many of you are keenly awaiting the outcome of our deliberation on the 5th Carbon Budget. You can expect the Government's decision tomorrow. It is an important building block of our economy's future and you would expect us to take our time to ensure we got the decision right. And however we choose to leave the EU, let me be clear: we remain committed to dealing with climate change. The Act was not imposed on us by the EU.

The Climate Change Act in 2008 underpins the remarkable investment we have seen in the low-carbon economy since 2010. Investment in renewables has increased by 42% since 2010. In 2014, 30% of all of Europe's renewable energy investment took place in the UK. Annual support for renewables is expected to double during this Parliament to more than 10 billion.

Last year I set out a clear vision for the future of our energy system. We said that security of supply would be our first priority. Since then we have consulted on changes to the capacity market which has further secured our position. We are likely to see significant investment following the auction later this year.

Beyond that, we will continue to invest in clean energy. We have agreed to support up to 4 GW of offshore wind and other technologies for deployment in the 2020s - providing the costs come down. At the same time we made tough decisions on support for renewable energy, reflecting our core belief that technologies should be able to stand on their own two feet.

We remain committed to new nuclear power in the UK - to provide clean, secure energy. Government has prepared the ground for a fleet of new nuclear stations. Three consortia have proposals to develop 18 GW of new power stations at six new sites across the UK. These will support more than 30,000 jobs across the nuclear supply chain over the coming years.

We have announced record investment in new heat networks, to enable new and innovative ways of heating our homes and businesses. And we made a commitment to closing unabated coal-fired power stations - a commitment that was praised by leaders across the world. All these commitments remain in place. They will help us rebuild our energy infrastructure. And I am certain that future investment in this sector will continue to flow to Britain's strong economy.

As the Chancellor made clear earlier this week, thanks to the reforms of this Government, the United Kingdom approaches the challenges of leaving the EU from a position of strength. Growth has been robust. The employment rate is at a record high. And the budget deficit has been brought down from 11% of national income, and was forecast to be below 3% this year.

Britain remains one of the best places in the world to live and do business: the rule of law; low taxes; a talented, creative, determined workforce; a strong finance sector. We have to build on the strengths of our economy, not turn away from them. We have to enhance our scientific leadership including our co-operation with other countries.

These factors - a clear energy policy framework and a strong, investment-friendly economy - combine to make the UK an ideal place to attract energy investment. Whatever settlement we decide on in the comings months, these fundamentals will remain.

At the heart of the approach I set out last autumn is our commitment to innovation in energy. We do not yet have all the answers to addressing climate change. We must nurture new technologies and industries that will make our future energy system both cheap and clean. In energy, we are leading the way.

Last autumn as part of the Paris talks, Britain committed to Mission Innovation - a global partnership to encourage greater support for innovation. It was complemented by the Breakthrough Energy Coalition: 29 wealthy investors pledging to invest in energy research and development.

I met Bill Gates earlier this year to discuss this and we agreed the need for a transformation of our energy system. We also agreed that the transformation would only happen if we could find technologies which are reliable, clean and cheap.

We are doing our part. That is why, as a Government, we have committed more than 500 million over this Spending Review to supporting new energy technologies. This means supporting entrepreneurs as they look to develop the innovations of the future - in storage, in energy efficiency, in renewables.

As part of that program, we will build on the UK's expertise in nuclear innovation. At least half of our innovation spending will go towards nuclear research and development. This will support our centres of excellence in Cumbria, Manchester, Sheffield and Preston. Our nuclear program will include a competition to develop a small modular nuclear reactor - potentially one of the most exciting innovations in the energy sector.

Let's be honest, as the Chancellor said we now face a period of uncertainty. [The EU Referendum result on 23/24 June] raises a host of questions for the energy sector, of course it does. There have been significant advantages to us trading energy both within Europe and being an entry point into Europe from the rest of the world. Europe has led the world on acting to address climate change. The economic imperative that drove those relationships has not changed, an openness to trade remains central to who we are as a country. As the Prime Minister said, we will work towards the best deal possible for Britain.

Securing our energy supply, keeping bills low and building a low-carbon energy infrastructure: the challenges remain the same. Our commitment also remains the same. As investors and businesses, you can be confident we remain committed to building a secure, affordable low carbon infrastructure fit for the 21st Century.

Amber Rudd

Amber Rudd is UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. This is the full text of her speech delivered today at the Business & Climate Summit in London.

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Swedish regulator approves repository application

29 June 2016

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The licence application by Sweden's radioactive waste management company for an integrated system for the final disposal of used nuclear fuel and radioactive waste has been endorsed by the country's Radiation Safety Authority (SSM). A final decision to licence the facilities will be made next year.

An artist's impression of the planned repository concept, with its 66-kilometre network of underground tunnels (Image: SKB)

Svensk Karnbranslehantering AB (SKB) submitted applications to build the country's first repository for used nuclear fuel, together with a plant to encapsulate the fuel prior to disposal, to the SSM in March 2011. The integrated facility - the encapsulation plant and the Clab interim storage facility - is referred to in SKB's application as Clink. SKB has since made both clarifications and additions to the applications. The company has also submitted an application to extend the storage capacity of the Clab facility from the current 8000 tonnes of fuel to 11,000 tonnes.

The applications are being reviewed by the SSM and the Land and Environment Court in Stockholm. The SSM is considering questions of nuclear safety and radiation at the facilities as laid down in the country's Nuclear Activities Act. The review undertaken by the Land and Environment Court is based on the Environment Code.

In March, the SSM gave a positive assessment of SKB's application for its planned used nuclear fuel encapsulation plant next to the Clab interim storage facility in Oskarshamn.

The regulator has now also assessed that SKB has the potential to comply with SSM's nuclear safety and radiation protection requirements for the final disposal of used fuel in its proposed repository at Forsmark. The SSM has recommended to the Land and Environment Court that the repository system "should be deemed a permissible activity according to the Swedish Environmental Code".

The SSM said it based its assessment on SKB having sufficiently demonstrated: the rationale behind the choice of Forsmark as the preferred location for the repository; the rationale behind the preferred method for final disposal; and its capability meet radiation safety requirements during the development and operation of the encapsulation and repository facilities.

Ansi Gerhardsson, head of radiation safety at SSM, said: "We assess that SKB, at this stage of the authorization process, has adequately demonstrated the repository can be safe over the long term from the perspective of nuclear safety and radiation protection."

She added, "The Authority carries out a stepwise authorization process, which means that if the Swedish government decides that a licence is to be granted, we will at each stage in the process examine whether SKB's repository fulfils our safety requirements. For future authorization steps, SKB will need to carry out further development of its safety analysis report to demonstrate the repository's radiological long-term safety."

SKB president Christopher Eckerberg said, "SKB's safety assessment shows that we have the conditions to build a secure repository that meets regulatory requirements for safety after closure. This has also now been confirmed by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority."

"For the next steps in the licensing process, SKB's research and technology development will continue, partly in cooperation with Finland, where our method has already been approved by the authorities," he said.

The SSM is scheduled to issue its final opinion on the repository and encapsulation plant in 2017. The final decision to authorize the project will be made by the government, which will base its decision on the assessments of both the SSM and the Land and Environment Court. However, before the government makes a final decision, it will consult with the municipalities of Oskarshamn and Osthammars, which have the power to veto the application.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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Co-creator Tobly McSmith was shocked by the move

The esteemed 68-year-old composer of the music used in the Broadway show Cats sent a letter to the creators of the new Katdashians musical. The show is essentially a parody of the famous reality television family with elements from the classic Cats musical.

Webbers lawyers say the show has continued willfull infringement of his rights and will claim damages. The claim states the off-Broadway parody is using the tunes of no less than six of Webbers songs from the iconic Cats.

The legal letter also states, It is clear that the production is not a parody of Cats. Our clients property is being extensively misappropriated to parody another subject matter entirely.

The Katdashians co-creator Tobly McSmith describes the show as the story of a clan of internet famous cats torn apart by Fame, Family, and Friskies.

He recently told New York Posts Page Six, We were pretty shocked. We are fans of Webber and his work We thought hed enjoy the parodies we did of his songs, but apparently he did not.

A lawyer for McSmiths said, While we disagree with [Lloyd Webbers] position, it would be foolish to burden the court, but we are inviting all judges to see the show for free and decide on their own.

A representative for Webbers Really Useful Group recently said, We are pleased that the producers of the Katdashians are cooperating in removing copyrighted material from their show. If you want to hear Memory live this summer, it looks like youll have to go to Broadway, but it wont be performed by a Katdashian, whatever that is.
Experts say the algae that has closed Lake Temescal for the third year in a row is likely drought-related

Oaklands Lake Temescal has been closed to swimming due to yet another outbreak of toxic algae. The California Department of Public Health says exposure to the blue-green algae can cause diarrhea, skin irritation, headaches, vomiting, and sometimes death.

Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, forms naturally in surface water. The photosynthetic bacteria clusters multiply quickly in slow-moving, warm and nutrient-rich water. Carolyn Jones, a park district spokesperson, says that the algae, which had not been a problem until 2014, is likely related to drought conditions. This is the third year in a row that the lake has been closed, after an 80-year history with no problems.

Jones said it could take weeks, or even months, for the algae to clear up in the popular lake. The East Bay Regional Park District website cautions people to also keep dogs away from the water of Lake Temescal.

Several other Oakland area lakes are being affected by toxic blue-green algae blooms. The Arroyo behind Shadow Cliffs and Lake Del Valle contain the bacteria, but in low enough levels that swimming is still allowed. Swimming is prohibited at Lake Chabot and Shinn Pond.

Jones said that officials are acting on the cautious side at the popular lake.

Photo credit: Hal MacLean, East Bay Regional Park District
Payment card data stolen in months-long attack

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas reported on Monday that cyber criminals were able to access customer payment data. The scheme was carried out by using card scrapping malware installed in the casinos payment system.

The size of the data breach has not been revealed, but officials with the company warned that anyone who used payment cards at the resort between October 27, 2015 and March 21, 2016 could have been exposed to a threat.

An unnamed cyber security firm first identified the malware. The malicious software was able to isolate payment card information as it was routed though the casinos computer system. Details like card number, expiration date, cardholder name, and the internal verification code were all exposed.

This is the second time that The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino fell prey to a malware attack. Embedded software previously discovered in the companys computer system was used to steal payment card data from late 2014 to early 2015.

The issue of cyber security, however, is hardly limited to this one resort. Hospitality giants including Hilton, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, and Starwood Hotels have all been targeted by cyber criminals in the last year. Hyatt reported in early 2015 that 250 of its global properties had been affected by a data breach.

The overall frequency of large scale breaches has declined in recent years, but the hospitality industry remains a popular target. That is largely due to the fact that resorts collect and share a large volume of highly valuable personal and financial information. Many also rely on outdated IT systems that have not been updated to defend against sophisticated threats.

Hotels are also unique in that they maintain large public Wi-Fi networks. In past incidents, hackers have targeted hotel occupants rather than hotel administrators and successfully stolen users sensitive information, including passwords.

Experts warn that the frequency and severity of these breaches is expected to increase. Hotels, resorts, casinos and other businesses without a clear tech focus often underestimate the threat of cyber criminals. Many also lack the institutional resources necessary to detect and deflect complex attacks. Until the strength of the defense matches the strength of the offense, resort guests will continue to be put at risk.

Travelers concerned about cyber security are advised to be careful when using public Wi-Fi networks, to avoid untrusted ATM machines, and to keep all devices on your person at all times. Unfortunately, there is no way for travelers to protect their payment card data if a resort is using a vulnerable computer system.
Third Town Centre Shop Announces Closing Down Sale

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Jun 29th, 2016

A Wrexham clothing store has launched a closing down sale  the third to do so in Wrexham this month.

Those walking through the town centre today will have noticed that Store Twenty One on Regent Street had placed Closing Down Sale signs in its windows.

The store, which specialises in clothing and homeware, has been a regular fixture on many high streets in the UK for several years, having evolved from a manufacturing business in the 1930s  to a retail clothing store.

Store Twenty Ones closure comes less than two years after opening in Wrexham.

Earlier this month it was announced that the brand risked falling into administration and that options such as attracting fresh investment, a CVA (Company Voluntary Agreement), a possible sale or debt / equity swap were being looked into to help save the company.

Yesterday The Guardian reported that Store Twenty One was pursuing a CVA, a form of insolvency proceeding.

Currently Store Twenty One has over 200 shops across the country and sells fashionable clothing and accessories for men, women and children.

The store closure will come as further blow to Wrexhams High Street, with Peacocks, also on Regent Street launching a closing down sale over the weekend.

It will be the second time Peacocks has left Wrexham in the past three years.

A large section of retail space will also be vacant on Henblas Street, with BHS confirming earlier this month that its 163 stores will be closing after the company entered into administration.

(Pic: The store window this morning in a very rainy town centre)
Having spent more time and money than earlier Congressional probes into the Kennedy assassination, the Watergate scandal and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Republican-controlled House Select Committee on Benghazi wound up its operations with a whimper Tuesday, releasing a report that found no new culpability in the September 11, 2012 attacks that claimed the lives of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

The select committees report is the product of the ninth investigation into the events in Benghaziincluding seven previous congressional probes and one by the US State Department. Eight hundred pages long and involving interviews with 107 witnesses as well as the examination of 75,000 pages of documents, the report sheds little fresh light on the bloody events of nearly four years ago.

While criticizing the Obama administration, the State Department, Pentagon and CIA for failing to predict the violence, adequately secure the US facilities in Benghazi or respond rapidly once they came under attack, the report continues the prevailing silence of the US government, both major parties and the corporate media on the real roots of the debacle in Benghazi. These lie in blowback from Washington waging wars for regime change in the region, utilizing as its proxies Al Qaeda-linked militias armed and backed by the CIA.

From the outset, the formation of the select committee and its operations have constituted a partisan affair driven in the first instance by Republican attempts to exploit the Benghazi killings as a means of undermining the presidential candidacy of Democrat Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time of the attacks. This was openly acknowledged last September by Representative Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, who boasted that we put together a Benghazi special committee and, as a result, Clintons poll numbers are dropping.

While the probe inadvertently uncovered Clintons use of a private email server for her official communications, a matter that is under separate investigation by the FBI, it produced no evidence of specific wrongdoing in relation to the Benghazi affair.

In their own report, issued a day earlier, Democrats on the select committee accused the Republican leadership of grave abuses, including the exclusion of Democratic members from interviews, leaking false information and using exploiting the deaths of four Americans for political fundraising.

The harshest criticism in the Republican-drafted report was directed against the Pentagon. It questioned why the worlds most powerful military was not positioned to respond, adding, What was disturbing from the evidence that the Committee found was that at the time of the final lethal attack, no asset ordered by the Secretary [of Defense] had even left the ground.

Even this condemnation was considerably blunted, however, by the panels own acknowledgement that there were no US military units capable of reaching Benghazi in time to have prevented any of the deaths.

Among the new information included in the report is the revelation that Stevens, the US ambassador, was in Benghazi at the time of the attack at least in part to prepare the turning of a diplomatic office there into a official US consulate as part of the preparation for a planned visit to Libya the following month by the secretary of state.

Clinton, who played a leading role in promoting the US-NATO war for regime change in Libya and celebrated the lynch mob murder of the countrys leader Muammar Gaddafi with the infamous statement, We came, we saw, he died, apparently planned to use the trip as something of a victory lap in preparation for her planned run for the presidency. After the deaths of the four Americans, the plan was quickly and quietly shelved.

Also of interest was the revelation that the Americans who survived the attacks, most of them agents and contractors of the US CIA, were able to escape to the Benghazi airport thanks to the arrival of 50 heavily-armed security vehicles belonging to Libyan Military Intelligence.

Libyan Military Intelligence, the report continues, were not part of the Libyan government, nor affiliated with any of the militias the CIA or State Department had developed a relationship with during the prior 18 months since the Libyan revolution took place. Instead, Libya Military Intelligencewhom the CIA did not even know existed until the night of the attackswere comprised of former military officers under the Qadhafi regime who had gone into hiding in fear of being assassinated... In other words, some of the very individuals the United States had helped remove from power during the Libyan revolution were the only Libyans that came to the assistance of the United States on the night of the Benghazi attacks.

The report, however, includes no attempt to probe more deeply into this extraordinary situation in which US officials were attacked and murdered by their Libyan allies, a collection of Islamist militias linked to Al Qaeda, and rescued by those Washington had waged a war to overthrow.

Clintons principal culpability in the Benghazi massacre lies not in issues of security of the US facilities, response to the attack or distortion of what transpired, but rather in her promotion of wars of aggression to topple regimes in both Libya and Syria, using human rights as a pretext for furthering US geo-strategic interests in the Middle East.

To further this strategy, the US directly backed Islamist militias in Libya led by former members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an Al Qaeda affiliate, providing them with arms and funding and assuring their advance through a relentless bombing campaign. Christopher Stevens, who became the US ambassador, was at the center of this operation from April 2011 on.

Nowhere in the select committees report is there an examination of why the CIA had established the so-called Benghazi annex staffed with dozens of agents and contractors. The reality is that, in the aftermath of Gaddafis overthrow, the focus of the agencys operation turned to Syria. The annex was employed to organizein conjunction with the Turkish governmentthe transfer of both massive amounts of weapons from the Libyan governments stockpile along with Islamist fighters into Syria to carry out a far bloodier war than one waged in Libya.

The fiasco in Benghazi was evidently the result of a falling out between the US officials on the ground and the Al Qaeda-linked militias they had backed against Gaddafi and with which they were collaborating in fomenting the war in Syria. Whether it was over ideology, money or a combination of the two is still unclear.

While the Benghazi affair has been the subject of the most bitter recriminations between the Democrats and Republicans, neither party has any interest in investigating the real crimes from which it arose, imperialist crimes that have cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Libyans and Syrians and turned millions into refugees.

The author also recommends:

New York Times on Clinton and Libya: Portrait of a war criminal

[1 March 2016]

The Benghazi diversion

[14 May 2014]

The Quiet American: the death of J. Christopher Stevens

[14 September 2012]
Canadas Liberal government has formally rejected demands it order a public inquiry into the alleged abuse and torture of hundreds of Afghans detained by Canadas Armed Forces (CAF) during its decade-long frontline role in the Afghan War. And, it has done so in the light of damning new evidence of Canadian involvement in war crimes.

Earlier this month, the French-language Montreal daily La Presse published a letter from a group of military police officers that accuses high-ranking military police officers of ordering the abuse of Afghan detainees many of whom were not even Taliban fighters, but rather poor people who had been illegally detained during military sweeps of areas where insurgents were believed to be active. Nearly 50 percent of those detained, says the letter, were people like you and me, husbands, fathers, farmers, who had done nothing wrong.

The letter further charges that the CAF has systematically covered up and lied about the abuse and torture, actions it bluntly calls war crimes.

These revelations are all the more credible and damaging in that they come from people who directly participated in these events, which took place between 2010-11, when Canadas combat mission in Afghanistan was officially nearing its end.

La Presse has agreed to keep secret the names of the small number of military police officers who signed the letter, because they could face severe sanctions, including life imprisonment, for violating military discipline and going public with their accusations.

The letter relates how many of the detainees were victims of a brutal regime of terror, launched on the orders of the high command. In a practice dubbed dynamic entry exercises, military police officers staged night-time raids on the prisoners cells, during which they manhandled and sometimes physically assaulted detainees, so as to soften them up for interrogation. Some detainees were so terrified that they defecated and urinated on themselves.

The letter says that most of the detainees were released for lack of evidence after spending an average of two months in prison. The former Conservative government had claimed that the Canadian military detained prisoners for no more 96 hours.

The dissident military police officers also reveal that the CAF reached a secret deal with the NDS (the Afghan intelligence agency) so it would appear that the detainees were under their control when they were in fact in the hands of the Canadian military.

The letter complains that the military police is a puppet of the CAF and concludes by noting, Barely 20 years ago, members of the Canadian Armed Forces tortured an adolescent (in Somalia) to death. It is clear that today more than ever a deviant culture is present (in Canadas military.)

Last November the Military Police Complaints Commission of Canada (MPCC), an independent governmental body, launched an investigation into these allegations of CAF military police involvement in war crimes. However, the top brass of the military police, which is itself named in the complaint before the commission, has refused to cooperate with the inquiry and is denying the MPCC access to vital documents and recordings.

It should be noted that the dissident military police officers are themselves unflinching supporters of Canadian imperialism. Their concern is that the CAFs criminal actions proved counterproductive: they antagonized the Afghan population and undermined support at home for the Canadian military and its foreign interventions and wars.

The purpose of their letter is not to indict anyone, but to pressure the military polices top brass to co-operate with the MPCC investigation.

The day after La Presse published the military police officers letter, the Rideau Institute published an open letter to Prime Minister Trudeau calling for a public inquiry into Canadas complicity in the torture of Afghan detainees. It was signed by 41 eminent Canadians, including human rights advocates and current and former MPs. Like an electronic petition to the House of Commons initiated in April by former New Democrat MP Craig Scott, the Rideau Institute-sponsored open letter urges the Liberals to fulfill the demands they made of the previous Conservative government to call a public inquiry.

At first the Liberals remained conspicuously silent; however they were legally obliged to answer the e-petition. Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan, who served as a CAF intelligence officer during its Afghan combat mission, answered by whitewashing the militarys criminal activities and bluntly rejecting a public inquiry.

"Throughout military operations in Afghanistan, the government of Canada ensured individuals detained by the Canadian Armed Forces were treated humanely and handled, transferred or released in accordance with our obligations under international law, claimed Sajjan. The government of Canada does not believe an independent judicial commission of inquiry is necessary.

In fact, there is abundant evidence that the Canadian military was complicit in torture and that top-ranking military and government officials were well aware of it. The CAF routinely handed over Afghan prisoners to the NDS, which was itself notorious for its systematic use of torture.

In 2009, Richard Colvin, a Canadian diplomat who served in Afghanistan for 17 months, publicly described Canada's complicity in torture, as well as the indifference and obstruction he encountered from top officials when he raised concerns. Testifying in the fall of 2009 to a parliamentary committee, Colvin said the likelihood is that all the Afghans we handed over were tortured; were beaten, subjected to electric shocks, denied sleep, and raped or otherwise sexually abused.

Colvin was vilified by the Conservative government, military brass and the media who tried to tar him as a Taliban sympathizer. Months later, Ahmadshah Malgarai, a former CAF interpreter in Afghanistan, also divulged that the army subcontracted torture of Afghan detainees to the NDS.

These revelations followed those made by Amnesty International and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, which estimated that one in three prisoners handed over by Canadians are beaten or even tortured. Even the US State Department warned as early as 2006 that torture was widely used in Afghan prisons.

After Colvins testimony, pressure mounted for the setting up of a Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC) inquiry into whether the CAF and government allowed prisoners to be transferred to Afghan authorities knowing that they were at risk of being tortureda flagrant violation of Canadian and international law and itself a war crime under international law. But the Conservative government did everything it could to obstruct the MPCCs investigation of the issue and in the end it never heard a single witness.

This was only the one element in the governments drive to stymie any investigation of the CAFs treatment of the Afghan detainees. To cover up Canadas complicity in torture, the government repeatedly flouted parliament. In December 2009, it prorogued parliament so as to derail a parliamentary committee investigation into the treatment of the Afghan detainees. Subsequently, it refused to hand over documents pertaining to the Afghan detainee issue to parliament, resulting in the government being found in contempt of parliament.

Ultimately the Conservatives prevailed on the opposition parties to agree to the issue being studied by a tiny, specially-vetted committee of MPs who were sworn to secrecy. It then dumped on the short-staffed committee tens of thousands of pages of documents pertaining to Canadas intervention in Afghanistan, calculating that those relating to the CAFs and governments complicity in torture would be lost in a sea of paper.

Little more than a year later, Stephen Harper and his Conservatives, having secured a parliamentary majority, shut that inquiry down.

In the wake of Colvins revelations, the Liberals pushed for a public inquiry into the treatment of the Afghan detainees, hoping to embarrass their Conservative opponents. When Harper prorogued parliament to shut down the parliamentary committee investigation, Liberal MP Ralph Goodale, now Trudeaus Public Safety Minister, denounced it as a means of covering up what the Conservatives knew, and when they knew it, about torture in Afghanistan.

Now that the Liberals are in power, they are adopting the same position as Harper and his Conservatives and for the same reasons: to reassure the military top brass that they have the governments full and unqualified support and to protect the false image of the CAF as a defender of international law. The Liberals are determined that there should be no impediments to pushing through military spending hikes and using the CAF to aggressively assert the interests of the Canadian ruling elite on the world stage.

No doubt, the Liberals, like the Conservatives before them, are also anxious to cover up their own complicity in war crimes. It was the Liberal government of Paul Martin which in 2005 negotiated the first agreement with the Afghan government to transfer prisoners to its control, ignoring warnings raised by a diplomat that they would be at risk of torture.

While the NDP is now associating itself with the call for a public inquiry into the detainee issue, it is no more willing than the Liberals to tell the truth to the Canadian peoplethat the Canadian militarys and governments involvement in war crimes is not due to excesses, but is rooted fundamentally in the neo-colonialist character of the wars Canada waged in Afghanistan and continues to wage in the Middle East. All the parties in parliament supported Canadas leading role in the Afghan counter-insurgency war and support Canadas participation in the US military-strategic offensives in the Middle East and against Russia and China.
Fully 81 percent of the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) supported Tuesdays motion of no-confidence in leader Jeremy Corbyn. Just 40 Labour MPs voted against the motion, with 172 in favour. Thirteen did not vote at all and there were four spoilt ballots.

The extraordinary scale of the right-wing coup, which had already seen Corbyn lose most of his shadow cabinet in a series of timed resignations, was intended to force the Labour leader to resign. But in a statement put out moments after the result, Corbyn said that he had been elected by 60 percent of Labour members and supporters only last September, and I will not betray them by resigning.

The no-confidence motion, he said, has no constitutional legitimacy.

Corbyn is correct in that the motion is non-binding and there are no constitutional provisions in Labours rulebook for a leader to stand down in the event of such a vote. But his opponents are not merely indifferent, but viciously opposed to party democracy. They aim to overturn the result of last Septembers election, which saw Corbyn decisively win the leadership on a ticket of opposing austerity and war.

These events shatter Corbyns claim that the party can be reclaimed for working people. They make clear that Labour is a right-wing party of the state, deeply hostile to the working class and even to its own membership.

The seismic shock of last Thursdays referendum vote in favour of Britain quitting its membership of the European Union has provided the trigger for these moves. With the contest for the Conservative Party leadership opening today and a snap general election possible in the autumn, the PLP clique that controls the Labour Party is acting in concert with the highest levels of the state.

Their motivation is not their professed concern that Corbyn could not win a general election, but their fear that he very well might. Under conditions of the gravest crisis for Britains ruling elite since the Second World War, the bourgeoisie will not tolerate a potential prime minister professing an anti-austerity, anti-militarist agenda. They want to ensure that Labourthe main political obstacle to socialism in Britain for more than a centuryis completely reliable in carrying through the onslaught against the working class now being prepared.

On June 13, 10 days before the EU referendum, the Telegraphs political correspondent, Ben Riley-Smith, set out precisely the scenario that has now unfolded. Labour rebels, he wrote, were preparing to topple Corbyn after the referendum in a 24-hour media blitz.

By fanning the flames with front bench resignations and public criticism, they think the signatures needed to trigger a leadership race can be gathered within a day, he said.

Within hours of the referendum result, by midday Friday, Dame Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey MP had submitted the no-confidence motion against Corbyn. This was followed early Sunday morning by Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn informing Corbyn that he had no confidence in his leadership, leading to his sacking.

Beginning Monday morning, the wave of resignations by shadow cabinet MPs was underway. Charging that Corbyn had not done enough to ensure a Remain vote in the referendumdespite 64 percent of Labour supporters backing staying in the EUmore than 50 resigned their posts in less than 48 hours. Such was the febrile atmosphere in the PLP that there were wild and false allegations that Corbyn had personally voted to leave the EU.

Late Monday, the Financial Times demanded that the party now act to remove Jeremy Corbyn. Regardless of party rules and members desires, the PLP must press ahead and spell out to the whole Labour movement the consequence of the false path the party has embarked upon.

On Tuesday morning, the pro-Labour Daily Mirror led its front page with a call for Corbyn to step down for the good of the party and the country.

Corbyn was left to frantically seek replacements for the resigned shadow cabinet ministers, but he could not command sufficient support to fill the vacancies. Two members of his newly reshuffled shadow cabinet, Rachael Maskell and Rob Marris, abstained in the no-confidence motion.

Ian Murray, former shadow Scottish secretary, is among those who quit the front benches. He is Labours sole Scottish MP after the party was all but wiped out in last years general election. Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale joined the calls for Corbyn to quit, and Lord Foulkes, chairman of the Scottish PLP, said no Scottish politician would be prepared to sit in a Corbyn-led shadow cabinet.

These moves are deeply unpopular. More than 224,000 people have so far signed an online petition defending Corbyn. On Monday night, 10,000 protested in Parliament Square in support of the Labour leader. But right-wing Blairites have lined up to insist that this supportwhich they deride as consisting of Trotskyites and Stalinistsis illegitimate.

Alistair Campbell, Tony Blairs former spin doctor, said that Labour had become a Corbynite sect and a cult, made up of supporters of hard-left parties. Campbell called on those wanting to oust Corbyn to sign up as Labour supporters in preparation for a leadership challenge. A campaign, #SavingLabour, has been set up to recruit new members on this basis.

Former shadow business secretary Angela Eagle is today expected to announce her challenge to Corbyns leadership if he does not resign. Her candidacy, some on the right hope, would rally the majority of the PLP and effectively block Corbyn from even running in a leadership contest, as he does not have the support of the 50 MPs required for placement on the ballot. Corbyns supporters say that this is also unconstitutional, because, as serving leader, he automatically has the right to be on the ballot.

So far, Corbyn seems to retain the backing of the major trade unions, which are Labours main financial base. Len McCluskey, leader of the Unite union, the single largest donor, said that the behaviour of the PLP was extraordinary and that if anyone wants to change the Labour leadership, they must do it openly and democratically through an election, not through resignations and pointless posturing.

But such statements are lukewarm. And even if these blatantly anti-democratic moves fail and Corbyn is able to run, the PLP has made clear they will not serve under him if he wins again.

Hence the open calls for a split by the right. Former Home Secretary David Blunkett said Corbyns supporters should leave Labour and set up their own party with Momentum, the grassroots organisation set up to support Corbyn after his leadership victory.

Behind such demands, preparations are being made for a national unity government. Writing in the Telegraph, John McTernan indicated what is being discussed behind the scenes. The issue of EU membership had split the country and all the parties, he wrote, requiring a government capable of rising to the challenges the country faces. The solution was a grand coalition along German lines.

The ideal would be to take the ultra-left rump of the Labour Party around Corbyn and demerge them into a separate party.

The Conservative party could then be split into pro- and anti-Brexit camps. This would see Tory modernisers join with the majority of Labour MPs in a progressive party of the radical centre that could incorporate the remaining Liberal Democrats into an opposition of national unity.
European Union officials adopted a hard line against David Cameron on Tuesday at the final EU summit to be attended by the outgoing British prime minister. The meeting was called in response to last weeks referendum vote for a British exit from the EU. Prior to the summit, European and British officials traded bitter attacks in the European parliament, underscoring the intention of the major EU powers to punish the UK for voting to leave the union.

Cameron has announced he will step down after the ruling Conservative Partys annual conference in October, leaving it to his successor to invoke Article 50 of the EUs Lisbon Treaty, triggering negotiations on the terms of Britains exit. Once Article 50 is invoked, a country leaving the EU has two years to renegotiate all treaties and other agreements with the EU before they lapse.

No agreement between Cameron and top EU officials on the Brexit crisis emerged from a working dinner, whose attendees included EU Council President Donald Tusk and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. The EU decided to exclude Britain from a second day of talks, though Britain is still technically an EU member state, and Cameron went home empty handed.

Arriving at the EU summit, Cameron asked European officials to be as constructive as possible with Britains next prime minister. These countries are our neighbours, our friends, our allies, our partners, and I very much hope well seek the closest possible relationship in terms of trade and cooperation and security, because that is good for us and that is good for them, Cameron said. And thats the spirit in which the discussions I think will be held today.

On the contrary, leading EU officials, starting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, had the previous day issued a series of statements pressing for a rapid and punitive exit of Britain from the EU.

In an official address to the German parliament (Bundestag), Merkel adopted a harsh position vis-a-vis Great Britain. She said German officials were conscious that Great Britain does not yet want to file for Article 50. However, she continued, Great Britain should be conscious that there can be no negotiations or preliminary discussions so long as the Article 50 procedures have not been launched.

Barely concealing the implied threat in her remarks, the chancellor added, I can only advise our British friends not to fool around as they prepare to take the decisions that must be taken in Great Britain. Merkel stressed that even though Britain is one of the closest allies in NATO, Germany and the EU would negotiate with Britain on the basis of their own interests. She said Berlin would orient its policy around the interests of German citizens and businesses.

In an especially provocative part of her speech, which was applauded by all the parties present in the German parliament, Merkel said: We should make sure that the negotiations do not proceed on the basis of cherry-picking. It must make and it will make a noticeable difference whether a country wants or refuses to be a part of the EU family. Anyone who wants to leave this family cannot expect that as all the responsibilities of EU membership are removed, all the rights remain.

Merkel cited the so-called Lisbon Strategy, formulated in 2000, which called for establishing the EU economically and politically as a world power, to justify pushing for an independent EU foreign and military policy: We all see that the world faces deep unrest. Also in Europe, we face the consequences of oppression, crises, conflicts, and wars in our immediate neighbourhood. There are foreign and security policy challenges that we Europeans must unfortunately take up ...

Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem echoed Merkels hard line, making clear that the EU intended Britains exit from the EU to damage that countrys international trade. He attacked Nigel Farage, the head of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), saying Farage was living in his own world if he thought Brexit meant Britain would be able to trade on better terms with the EU. Dijsselbloem chided that Farage thinks Britain is still a world-spanning empire and can dictate everything, and its not going to happen like that.

Reporting on the working dinner he had had with Cameron and Juncker, EU Council President Tusk confirmed that the EU aimed to inflict serious economic damage on Britain, even at the cost of provoking a global recession, in order to make an example of Britain for voting to leave the bloc. EU officials at the dinner made clear, Tusk said, that Brexit means substantially lower growth in the UK, with a possible negative spillover all over the world.

The European parliament voted a resolution calling upon Britain to rapidly invoke Article 50 and begin negotiations, following a chaotic parliamentary session dominated by aggressive statements by Farage and EU Commission President Juncker.

Farage called for a grown-up and sensible attitude to how we negotiate a different relationship, but then denounced the European parliamentarians to their face, saying, Most of you have never done a proper job in your lives. He launched into an anti-immigrant diatribe against Merkel for allowing Middle Eastern refugees into Europe, and called the euro currency a failure, adding, As a policy to impose poverty in Greece and the rest of the Mediterranean, you have done very well.

Juncker, for his part, turned on UKIP parliamentarians who applauded a statement calling for respect for the Brexit referendum vote and told them to leave Brussels. He snapped: Thats the last time you are applauding here To some extent I am really surprised that you are here. You were fighting for the exit, the British people voted in favour of the exit. Why are you here?

The EUs vindictive policy toward Britain and the escalating conflicts between British and EU officials shed light on the deep divisions that have built up throughout the EU, especially since the 2008 financial crisis and the austerity policies imposed in its aftermath. Now, tensions are exploding not only between Britain and Brussels, but throughout the EU.

On Monday, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski blamed the leadership of the European Union for mistakes, and said that at least a part of the European leadership should suffer the consequences. He called the Brexit vote a defeat, and demanded that new politicians and experts work on new proposals for both Great Britain and Europe. He announced that Poland might present radical proposals at the EU summit, including a new European treaty that would give the main power in the EU to the European Council, not the Commission.

The right-wing and notoriously anti-Russian governments in Poland and the Baltic countries regard Brexit as a threat that could not only weaken the military buildup against Russia before the upcoming NATO summit in Poland, but also undermine the NATO Alliance as a whole. Arriving in Brussels and asked by reporters about the possibility that Britain in the end might turn around and decide to stay in the EU, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite took a noticeably different line from Merkel, saying, Welcome, welcome back!

After meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made clear that the military alliance does not want a change in its relationship with London. The UK is a strong and committed ally, responsible for almost one-quarter of defence spending among European NATO allies, he declared, adding, The Warsaw Summit will be important for the whole of Europe because we will make decisions on deterrence and defence, on projecting stability to our neighborhood, and on how we can enhance and further strengthen cooperation with the EU.
Illinois approaches the end of its 2016 fiscal year on June 30 without a state budget, marking the longest any US state has gone without a budget since the Great Depression. Nearly the entire population of the state has been affected in one way or another, through the loss or reduction of state services or from layoffs at agencies that depend upon state funding.

With even more state agencies scheduled to shut down July 1, legislators have been called to the state capital, Springfield, on Wednesday to vote on a stopgap budget deal that would ratify devastating cuts while concealing bipartisan plans for even more comprehensive attacks until after the November elections.

Since July 1, 2015, large areas of state government, including K-12 public education, certain federally mandated social and human services, and state government offices, have operated via a series of judicial orders that kept funding at the levels specified in the previous years budget. That has not been the case, however, for spending on many kinds of social services, which rely on state disbursements to a wide variety of private social service providers, most of which have received no funding from the state for the past 12 months.

Many of these providers have been forced to close down completely or to shut down specific programs funded by affected budget lines, and thousands of social service workers throughout the state have been laid off. A recent survey of state-funded social service providers conducted by United Way of Illinois suggests that at least 1 million people, or nearly 8 percent of the total state population, have lost access to state services as a result of cutbacks.

Most affected have been agencies involved in housing, senior services, substance abuse, and childhood education. More than a third of the 429 agencies polled indicated they would have to shut down within six months were they to continue without funding.

Mental health providers have been especially hard hit, and a letter to Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner from Marvin Lindsey, the CEO of the Community Behavioral Healthcare Association, a mental health advocacy group, indicates that 76 percent of community mental health and substance abuse treatment programs have been forced to shut down or reduce services while wait lists have ballooned to as many as 200 people per month, with at least one person on a waiting list having died before receiving needed services.

Public colleges and universities received nothing from the state for 10 months, until a late-April stopgap funding measure was passed, which provided 34 percent of what the Democrats had initially proposed, in itself a 6.5 percent cut from the previous years level. This did little but allow these institutions to limp through the end of the school year, while nearly all have announced some combination of layoffs, early retirement buyout programs, hiring freezes, and elimination of educational programs. Western Illinois University announced earlier this month that it would eliminate undergraduate programs in philosophy, religious studies, womens studies, and African-American studies.

Absent any funding for the next fiscal year, several schools have announced they will have further rounds of layoffs. Chicago State University, the university hardest hit by the lack of funding, laid off a third of its staff, including all non-tenure-track lecturers.

The stopgap budget is being worked out by so-called legislative working groups, under the direction of the Democratic and Republican leaders, rather than through the traditional legislative institutions, such as the Appropriations Committee, in order to hide their discussions, and the level of cuts, from the working class.

According to meager details released by Senate Republican Minority Leader Christine Radogno, the stopgap budget being contemplated would fund higher education and social services through December of this year, at amounts of $1 billion and $600 million, respectively. Neither of those amounts would come close to a fulfillment of funding for the fiscal year ending June 30, let alone the new one beginning July 1, ensuring that cuts will become broader and deeper.

Debate continues over the funding for K-12 public schools, with Democrats, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, seeking a change in state funding formulas in order to provide Chicago Public Schools (CPS) with additional budget allocations, while Republicans, including Governor Rauner, have intransigently opposed what they refer to as a bailout for CPS.

It should be clear, however, that the Democrats are not by any means mounting a genuine defense of public education, with Democrats, from Mayor Rahm Emanuel all the way up to President Obama, having led the attack on teachers and public education. Rather, this dispute, like the larger budget impasse itself, is a conflict within the ruling elite over how best to implement austerity and make the working class pay for the deepening economic crisis.

Rauner, a billionaire and member of the financial aristocracy, is a free-market ideologue casting himself in the mold of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and seeks to prosecute a full-scale assault on the working class. He has repeatedly vetoed budget measures passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature, demanding that they pass parts of his Turnaround Agenda, which includes cuts to workers compensation, elimination of prevailing wage requirements in construction contracts, freezes on local property taxes, restrictions on lawsuits against corporations, and drastic curtailment of the subjects allowed for collective bargaining between local governments and unions. Only in exchange for those would he agree not to veto proposals for an increase in the income tax which would allow for a balanced budget without massive reductions in spending.

These demands are unacceptable to the Democrats, not because they are opposed to attacking the working class, something they have done for years, but because the Turnaround Agenda is aimed at severing the close political relationship between the Democratic Party and the trade unions, which the Democrats rely on heavily to manage the working class and keep it under control in the face of relentless austerity.

Certain sections of the Democratic Party, including House Speaker Michael Madigan, are keenly aware that there is a seething anger throughout the working class over the years of budget cuts and layoffs. Madigan and sections of the business elite, particularly in Chicago, are deeply concerned that Rauners agenda threatens to blow up the entire political set-up by igniting a movement of the working class beyond their control.

With the increasing damage to state finances and even to corporate profits from the lack of a state budget, there have been rising calls that Rauner step away from at least some of his demands. A recent statement by the editorial board of Crains Chicago Business essentially retracted its previous endorsement of him, and called for him to redefine victory.

Through a stopgap budget, both parties have agreed to give themselves time to work out the full scale of their plans, which will include further cuts to education, social services, and pensions, as well as an increase in the flat income tax. More importantly, they intend to keep the working class in the dark about these plans until after the November elections.
The American and Iraqi governments proclaimed the full liberation of the Iraqi city of Fallujah this week, bringing to an end, at least officially, the Third Battle of Fallujah.

Fallujah has returned to the bosom of the country, and Mosul is the next battle, Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi proclaimed Sunday, while touring the front dressed in the uniform of the Iraqi Counter Terror Services (CTS).

In a US Defense Department statement released Tuesday, Secretary Ashton Carter congratulated Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the Iraqi people for their progress in freeing the city of Fallujah from the grip of ISIS.

It was really a heavy fight along the front line. Once they got through the hard-candy shell and into the chewy center, things went much more quickly, US Defense Department spokesman Jeff Davis said, praising the US-backed Iraqi forces.

The triumphant celebrations by US and Iraqi officials, issued over the smoking ruins of a city that has become emblematic of the worst crimes of 21st century imperialism, stand in glaring contradiction to the nightmarish scenes on display in and around Fallujah. Months of siege and bombardment, spearheaded by elite Iraqi death squads and backed by American air strikes, have produced yet another humanitarian catastrophe in Fallujah.

The joint US-Iraqi government assault on Fallujah, about 40 miles west of Baghdad and held by some 4,000 ISIS fighters, codenamed Operation Breaking Terrorism, was launched May 22, following a three-month siege. While Iraqi troops seized 11 villages on the outskirts of the city on the first day, and entered the city at the end of the first week, Fallujahs city center was retaken only after more than a month of continuous fighting, supported by more than 100 US bombing missions.

Some 90,000 civilians remain trapped inside the city, according to the United Nations. More than 14,000 families have abandoned their homes and sought to flee during the past week alone. The flood of displaced has become overwhelming and is producing total chaos according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.

A human catastrophe is unfolding in Fallujah. Families are caught in the crossfire with no safe way out, the council reported.

Prior to this years assault, Fallujah was already shattered by US assaults in April and November 2004. During those operations, carried out as acts of collective punishment against the population in retaliation for the killing of four Blackwater mercenaries, US forces deployed illegal and highly toxic weapons including white phosphorus and depleted uranium, indiscriminately. As a result, Fallujah now sees record levels of birth defects, cancer, infant mortality and higher levels of radioactivity than those found after the atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The re-saturation of Fallujah with ordinance, including IEDs and land mines, requires that the city be evacuated for a period of months before it is inhabitable again, UN representatives said. Numerous reports have already surfaced of atrocities and abuse by Iraqi government forces and sectarian militias. Iraqi forces have detained tens of thousands of civilians fleeing the city, including boys over 12 years old, supposedly to screen for ISIS fighters.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians were already displaced by the Ramadi offensive launched last November, which retook the central Iraqi city after an assault that dragged on for more than five months and left more than 60 percent of the city in rubble. The planned US-Iraqi offensive against Mosul is anticipated to displace an additional 500,000, who will join the more than 3.4 million Iraqis forced from their homes by violence since 2014.

Waged in the name of stabilizing the Baghdad government, it is already clear that the violent seizure of Fallujah has only intensified the sectarian divisions ripping apart Iraq. The political shockwaves of the Fallujah assault are fueling sectarian conflict between Sunni sectarian forces and the Abadi government. The storming of Fallujah itself was ordered amid mass demonstrations, organized by the Shia-based Sadr movement, that saw hundreds of protesters flood into the central government compound in Baghdad.

The Abadi government faces an unprecedented challenge by Shiite and Sunni political blocs calling for the overhaul of Iraqs political and security structure, the Wall Street Journal noted Monday.

The appearance of top Iranian general Qassim Suleimani on the front lines in Fallujah, where the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) have played a leading role, has prompted ferocious denunciations of alleged PMF abuses by Sunni leaders.

In a further omen of intensified sectarian violence, an Iraqi high court rejected Abadis plan to restructure the Baghdad cabinet along technocratic lines Tuesday. Abadi has pursued the cabinet reforms in an effort to dampen the influence of sectarian divisions within the central government, which currently disburses portfolios based on ethno-national criteria, in an effort to mediate between Sunni, Shia and Kurdish factions.

Since invading the country in 2003, Washington has relentlessly promoted and manipulated Iraqs factional struggles in a strategy of divide-and-rule. US polices have been deliberately crafted to amplify the centrifugal tendencies within Iraq and advance the carve-up of the country by an array of military bands, as a means to exert leverage over the Baghdad government, which is subject to heavy Iranian influence.

Warning of the need to control the population once conventional operations are over, US colonel Steve Mansoor called for American and Iraqi forces to rule the country by employing the lessons derived from the 2003-2011 occupation.

So the force on the ground should not disregard the lessons of the past 13 years, Mansoor said, referring to the counterinsurgency waged by US forces against the Iraqi population since 2003.

The renewal of the war has itself been brought on by the catastrophic failure of the lessons hailed by Colonel Mansoor. After taking office in 2008, having come to power largely by manipulating mass hatred of the Iraq war, the Obama administration genuinely sought to minimize the US presence in Iraq, as a tactical move aimed at freeing up resources for military buildups against Russia and China. This strategy was disrupted by the outbreak of renewed civil war in 2014 and the seizure of large areas by ISIS.

The neocolonial regime built up under the tutelage of the US occupation now clings to power amid a cauldron of Sunni, Kurdish, and Shia militias, maintaining control over its own capital only with hefty fire support from American forces. In a desperate series of improvisations aimed at stabilizing its position, Washington has supported and cultivated ever more reactionary political and social formations. The Iraqi Special Forces and its elite CTS units have emerged as the main forces defending the Baghdad regime.

US media have touted the successes of the units, which were trained, armed, and led by Americas Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), and which have played the central role in ground offensives in central and western Iraq.

Amid the deepening sectarian chaos, the US-backed government in Baghdad relies increasingly on the Iraqi CTS, whose menacing images have become a regular feature in US media during the past year. The CTS units were originally developed by US Special Forces cadres working in Jordan from 2004-2005 onward, as the US Coalition Provision Authority sought to fill the security vacuum opened up by de-Baathification and the abolition of the Iraqi Army.

The Iraqi CTS units received the most continuous US attention of any unit in Iraq, closely modeled on US Special Forces and armed with the latest in American-made weaponry, including High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs).

The CTS, typically photographed wearing all-black fatigues adorned with icons from American horror movie culture, show in concentrated form the nature of the US-backed puppet government in Baghdad.

The CTS exists outside of the nations traditional security structure, the Brookings Institution noted.

The Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) is an independent, quasi-ministerial level organization separate from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Ministry of the Interior (MoI), Brookings wrote. The liberal think tank went on to praise the CTS as a model for the development of effective forces for nations with military cultures similar to Iraqs, and noted that the CTS has retained its cohesion and effectiveness while other Iraqi Security Forces have collapsed.

There are plentiful signs that the Obama administration will spend its final months in office providing political cover for and attempting to deaden public consciousness of the new Iraq escalations planned for next year. While posing as a force for restraint against the military, the Obama White House is signing off on the groundwork for a still larger US military role in Iraq.

The White House has indicated that it will approve Pentagon requests for the further buildup of US forces in the coming months, beginning with deployments of hundreds of additional American troops to Iraq this fall.

The Pentagons proposals have not yet been formally submitted to the White House for approval, but key generals have already told many in Washington they need hundreds more US personnel to do the job right, the Washington Post noted Monday, in a telling characterization of the real decision-making processes in Washington.

According to the unofficial White House line, the administration is not ruling out the possibility of the major ground deployments demanded by the Pentagon. General Sean MacFarland, commander of US operations in both Iraq and Syria, has publicly claimed authority to deploy at least 400 additional troops, even without presidential approval.

Timeline of Obamas Iraq war (June 2014-present):

* On June 15, 2014, President Obama ordered first wave of new deployments to Iraq, just days after ISIS fighters seized 70 percent of Anbar Province, including Abu Ghraib, Al Qaim, and Fallujah, along with the cities of Mosul, Samarra and Tikrit.

* On June 26, at least 180 US military advisers were on the ground in Iraq. By June 30, US troops totaled nearly 500, and by early July more than 800 American soldiers were securing key locations around the country.

* On August 7, Obama publicly committed to a major renewal of US operations in Iraq, seizing on the plight of the Yazidi ethnic minority as a pretext. On August 13, the Pentagon begins winding down humanitarian rescue mission of the Yazidis, and simultaneously deploys another 130 military advisors and dozens of US Marines to northern Iraq.

* On August 16, US warplanes began providing air support for Kurdish offensive against Mosul Dam. On September 3, Washington deployed an additional 350 personnel to Baghdad. On September 10, President Obama vowed that US forces will not engage in combat in Iraq. On October 1, US air forces began assault around Kobani, in support of Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG).

* In January 2015, US-Kurdish forces began a joint offensive against Mosul, as 1,000 paratroopers from US Armys Panther Brigade deployed to Iraq.

* In March 2015, a US-Iraqi force launched the Second Battle of Tikrit. In April, US-Iraqi forces launched their offensive against Anbar Governorate.

* In January 2016, Obama White House officials told US media that the president was preparing to green light Pentagon plans for major escalations in Iraq, Syria and Libya. In February 2016, US Defense Secretary Carter announced deployment of a special expeditionary targeting force to Iraq. In March, the combat death of a US Marine near Firebase Bell exposed the previously undisclosed presence of hundreds of US Marines, deploying for combat operations in northern Iraq. In April, the White House approved deployment of 200 more troops to Iraq.

* More than 4,000 US Marines and soldiers were sent to Iraq between October 2015 and March 2016 alone.
On June 27, Socialist Equality Party presidential candidate Jerry White spoke with SEP National Secretary Joseph Kishore about the current state of the US election campaign and its global context. The discussion was held live on Facebook. The video can be accessed on Facebook here, where it can be shared.

Online interview with SEP US presidential candidate Jerry White
Last month, researchers analyzing data from the Kepler spacecraft announced 1,284 new confirmed exoplanets, bringing the total to 2,373 discovered by this mission. Twenty-one of these confirmed exoplanets are no more than twice the size of Earth and within their parent stars habitable zone. While no truly Earth-like planet has been found, the prospects of doing so are steadily increasing.

The Kepler spacecraft has been in operation since March 2009, nearly twice its planned mission duration of three and a half years. From 2009 to 2013, it observed approximately 100,000 stars more or less constantly, looking for the subtle but periodic dips in each stars brightness that would indicate a planet transiting (passing in front of) the star.

Spacecraft mechanical issues in 2013 led to a shift in the spacecrafts main mission from the ultra-precise measurements needed to find Earth-sized exoplanets to a broader study of stellar objects including supernova explosions and star formation, although the search for exoplanets continued as well.

Planets that are small, of equal or lesser size than the Earth, are the hardest to isolate in Keplers observations. Signals from a planet passing in front of a star are often mistaken for noise. Conversely, changes in spacecraft operations or on the star itself can mimic a planetary transit. It takes the labor of hundreds of scientists over years to find and verify the detection of such distant and comparatively tiny objects.

The problem is exacerbated the further away the planet is from its parent star. A planet like Earth orbiting a star like the Sun typically takes about an Earth year to complete its orbit. Since it generally requires three or four orbits to confirm an exoplanet, it takes at least three or four years worth of continuous data to find an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star.

Despite these difficulties, Kepler and the other exoplanet searches have discovered a total 3,422 exoplanets in 2,560 planetary systems, of which 582 are confirmed multiple-planet systems. Many thousands more await confirmation.

The number and type of exoplanets suggest that they are much more common than previously thought. Even up to 1995, when the first planet orbiting an ordinary star was found outside our Solar System, it was unclear how many stars would have planets around them. We had little more than our own Solar System to base planetary formation models on and had no indication that having such a large planetary family was the normal state of affairs. However, based on Kepler mission data, it is now believed that nearly every star system has at least one planet, whether it be a rocky world like Earth, a gas giant like Jupiter, or any of the myriad types of planets found in between.

In 2013, a team of astronomers took this idea and used the Kepler data to extropolate how many Earth-sized planets there are in the Milky Way galaxy. According to those estimates, there are upwards of 11 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting Sun-like stars in the Milky Way. Based on the statistics, the closest of these is likely within 12 light years, out of reach for travel based on current technology but a stones throw on the scale of the galaxy.

Of course, none of these results tell us much about whether or not these planets are Earth-like. While some of the larger exoplanets (those larger than Jupiter) have had their atmospheres imaged, it is doubtful that this is possible for Earth-sized planets with the technology that is currently available. It would take a specialized mission to do so.

Such missions have been proposed but none have succeeded in getting the necessary funding. The European Space Agency proposed the Darwin mission, which would use three-space based telescopes aimed at systems with known Earth-sized planets to cancel out the light of the stars and directly image the planets atmospheres. This would allow us to get the composition of the atmospheres and further narrow down which planets could support Earth-like life. A similar mission by NASA, the Space Interferometry Mission, was proposed by NASA in 1998 and cancelled in 2010 after a series of budget cuts by the Bush and Obama administrations.

This has not, however, stopped efforts to model exoplanetary atmospheres. Astronomers from NASA, UCLA and the University of Washington recently demonstrated that a number of possible atmospheres for the planet Kepler-62f, discovered in 2013, could sustain liquid water on the surface of the planet. This involved varying levels of carbon dioxide and water vapor, as well as testing different configurations for the planets orbit.

Of course, while studies like these are interesting, they ultimately must be borne out by data. There is no actual observation of Kepler-62fs atmosphere, its surface gravity, surface topology or its magnetic field strength, all of which are essential to understanding whether or not the planet is habitable.

In our own Solar System, there are only four rocky bodies with atmospheres that have the potential for the development of lifeEarth, Mars, Saturns moon Titan and Neptunes moon Triton. Only Earth currently supports liquid water at its surface. This small sample size does not really allow for a good comparison between models and reality.

This is not a limitation of technology, but of funding. Plans for space telescopes to directly observe the atmospheres of exoplanets have existed since 1988 but none has been given the necessary resources.

No doubt the atmospheres of exoplanets will be as surprising and varied as the exoplanets themselves. The only atmospheres that have so far been detected have been the extremely hot atmospheres of exoplanets orbiting very close to their parent star. Given how many exoplanets there are, at least some will harbor conditions similar to Earth. But as of now, we can only speculate.
Record numbers of independent and fourth party candidates appear on Senate ballot papers for the July 2 election. Across the country, 631 people are running for 76 Senate seats, hoping to capitalise on the widespread disenchantment with the main establishment partiesLabor, Liberal-National and Greens.

Just like mining magnate Clive Palmers now disgraced Palmer United Party (PUP) that sprang up before the 2013 election, these groupings serve to channel the popular hostility back into the parliamentary framework of capitalist politics. Almost without exception, they are pushing nationalist and protectionist policies that pit workers in Australia against their fellow workers in Asia and internationally.

Among them is Glenn Lazarus, a former PUP senator who announced in May the formation of yet another new party, the Glenn Lazarus Team. Like the Jacqui Lambie Network, established by another ex-PUP senator, and the Nick Xenophon Team, Lazaruss grouping is a right-wing, nationalist and populist party.

Lazarus, who is standing for re-election to the Senate in Queensland, was the PUPs Senate leader for a period. He has suggested no political differences with Palmer, except to try to distance himself from Palmers closure of the Queensland Nickel refinery in Townsville this year, at the cost of nearly 800 jobs directly and up to 3,000 more via flow-on effects.

In 2013, by posturing as an opponent of the major parties, PUP, through its well-funded campaign, won 5 percent of the national vote and 11 percent in Palmers home state of Queensland. It soon became more obvious, however, that Palmers agenda consisted of slashing corporate taxes and sponsoring other pro-business free market policies, all on the pretence of fostering economic growth that would somehow trickle down to benefit social services.

In the current election campaign, Lazarus is engaged in a similar hoax, combined with scapegoating of foreigners and immigrants for rising unemployment, falling living standards and deteriorating public services.

Responding to Prime Minister Turnbulls plea last weekend for voters not to support independents and small parties, Lazarus declared: Malcolm Turnbull and his government clearly want unfettered power in both houses of parliament to sell off of our land to foreign buyers, give away more of our jobs to overseas workers, increase GST to 15 percent, sell off Medicare, deregulate uni fees and cut the pension.

Nationalism and xenophobia are constant themes in Lazaruss remarks. He blames all of the current economic and social woes on foreign governments, corporations or workers. Lazarus calls for fewer visas for overseas workers and declares that foreign countries and companies are circling our farmers like hawks.

At the same time, Lazarus remains an unabashed supporter of big business. During April, when Turnbull conducted a trade mission to China, Lazarus called on the prime minister to emphasise that while Australia is open for business, Australian land is not for sale to foreign buyers.

Likewise, Lazarus has backed the planned spending of $495 billion over the coming decade on the military, provided only that submarines, ships and other weaponry are manufactured in Australia, supposedly to create local jobs.

On his web site, Lazarus promotes militarism. Military service is one of the highest forms of commitment to our country, he declares. Our defence policy must ensure our country is equipped to protect our borders and maintain regional stability.

Conscious of underlying popular opposition to war, however, Lazarus is silent on the purpose of the military buildupto participate in escalating US-led provocations and wars, particularly against China. Lazarus calls for a parliamentary vote on Australias involvement in war, in an attempt to lend political legitimacy to any such conflict. In reality, in the event of a US-China war, Australia would automatically be involved because of its hosting of key American military facilities and close integration into the US armed forces.

Lazaruss chauvinist attitudes were illustrated in May when he tweeted and uploaded to Facebook a comment denigrating the refugees being detained indefinitely in intolerable conditions in Australias offshore camps on Nauru and Manus Island. Why are asylum seekers on Manus Island being treated like kings and being given free cigarettes and other perks? he asked.

The comment led to a backlash on Twitter, where the overwhelming majority of responses supported the refugees and were hostile to Lazaruss demonisation of them. On Facebook, the responses were divided between those opposing such reactionary comments and those backing Lazarus, mostly voicing views of a far-right and racist character. The furore led to the post being deleted.

In line with their own promotion of nationalism and protectionism, various trade unions have backed Lazaruss re-election. The Queensland Council of Unions held a barbecue in support of Lazarus, while the Maritime Union of Australia has provided cash and assistance with handing out his how-to-vote cards.

Protectionism does not defend jobs. Rather it subordinates workers to less competitive sections of industry and divides them from their only genuine allythe working class around the world.

To justify their support for Lazarus, the unions point to his opposition to the governments proposed Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), which would have the power to interrogate and prosecute workers involved in industrial action.

Lazaruss claim to defend the legal rights of workers is a sham. In the first place, like the unions, as well as Labor and the Greens, Lazarus backs the Fair Work laws introduced by the previous Labor government as a more reliable means of suppressing strikes and stoppages outside of union-authorised enterprise bargaining campaigns.

As a PUP senator, Lazarus also vehemently backed the bipartisan, Coalition-Labor, assault on basic legal and democratic rights under the guise of combating terrorism. In October 2014, for example, Lazarus spoke in the Senate in favour of anti-terror laws, calling for prison sentences for publicly identifying an intelligence operative be lengthened to 10 years. The government accepted his proposal.

This expansion of the powers of the police and spy apparatus is aimed at suppressing social unrest and political discontent. As a result of Lazaruss amendment, any worker or political activist who exposes an undercover agent in their midst could be jailed for a decade.

The Socialist Equality Party urges workers and young people not to be fooled by the Glenn Lazarus Team and similar parties and formations. Above all, they defend the capitalist profit system, which is the root cause of war, social inequality and exploitation. Instead, we appeal to all those youth and workers looking for a way forward to support and join the SEP, the only party that represents a socialist alternative, based on the fight to unify the working class globally in order to overturn the financial and corporate oligarchy.

To contact the SEP and get involved, visit our web site or Facebook page.

Authorised by James Cogan, Shop 6, 212 South Terrace, Bankstown Plaza, Bankstown, NSW 2200.
As protests and barricades in support of striking teachers spread across Mexico, the National Organization of Educational Workers (CNTE) and the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) party of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador are maneuvering to bring the growing movement under control.

Yesterday morning, the CNTE announced an agreement with the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto to continue negotiations aimed at bringing a weeks-long teachers strike to an end. The CNTE and the government also scheduled a publicity stunt meeting between the government and victims of the recent massacre in Oaxaca. On June 19, police fired on a demonstration in the rural village of Nochixtlan, killing 13 teachers and supporters and wounding dozens more.

Adelfo Alejandro Gomez, a leader of CNTE Section 7, announced the government negotiations would give way specifically to the theme of justice for the recent events in Asuncion de Nochixtlan, Oaxaca. There has been a willingness on both parts to attend to and resolve all of the harms caused by the repression exercised by the federal police.

In reality, there is no willingness on behalf of the Mexican government to bring justice to the friends and relatives of those killed demonstrating against the right-wing education reforms. The government's response has thus far been first to lie about the killing and blame the attack on the teachers themselves.

The CNTE's agreement is aimed at instilling illusions in the Mexican state as it works in conjunction with Wall Street to privatize public education through the right-wing Pact for Mexico austerity program. The massacre of June 19 was not a misunderstanding, it was a calculated maneuver to defend the interests of Mexicos ruling class. The agreement will allow the government to hold a photo-op meeting next Wednesday, posing as sympathetic to family members of victims.

The Mexican government made clear it has no intention of repealing or revising the education reform. Speaking alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa yesterday, Pena Nieto told the media that his government will not give in to any provocation by teachers. Trudeau applauded his Mexican counterpart and called for a strengthening of the rule of law in Mexico.

The CNTEs efforts to instill illusions in Pena Nieto and the Mexican state come as opposition within the working class to the education reform continues to grow. On Monday, teachers and workers captured two police officers in Oaxaca, disarmed them, and forced them to hold a banner denouncing the Nochixtlan attack.

Teachers, workers, and peasants have also set up several new roadblocks throughout Mexicos southernmost states, including in Chiapas, where the highway connecting Mexico to Guatemala has been blocked, and Oaxaca, where access to the states primary airport has been at least partially blocked.

On Monday night, the Independent Workers Union of the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM) called a 24-hour sympathy strike at five campuses in Xochimilco, Iztapalapa, Azcapotzalco, Cuajimalpa, and Lerma in a further indication that the teachers strike is gaining broader support in the working class. Smaller demonstrations took place across the country, and Mexico City saw no fewer than six separate marches yesterday, following Sundays rally that gathered hundreds of thousands.

The size of Sundays demonstration, organized by Mexico City mayor and ex-presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his Morena party, is an indication of growing dissatisfaction with state repression, social inequality, poverty and relentless attacks on the living standards of the Mexican working class. Demonstrators shouted slogans calling for Pena Nietos immediate resignation.

This demand was explicitly opposed by Lopez Obrador, who called for Pena Nieto to remain in power until the 2018 presidential elections but appoint a new cabinet in the interim. Although demonstrators chanted to the Zocalo in an attempt to direct the demonstration to the central plaza where hundreds of thousands could converge, Lopez Obrador and Morena directed the crowd to the Angel of Independence monument in accordance with a city government decision to bar the march from reaching the Zocalo.

The unpopularity of the Pena Nieto administration and the ruling Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI), as well as widespread disdain for the National Action Party (PAN) and Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), have given rise to widespread expectations that Lopez Obrador may win the 2018 presidential elections.

Lopez Obrador is not the humanistic father-figure he pretends to be. He is an experienced bourgeois politician with a long political history who is consciously maneuvering to prevent political opposition among workers and youth from developing on an independent, socialist basis. The political formulations he puts forward are carefully constructed to instill illusions in the sanctity of the Mexican state and in harmony between the classes. He is a defender of the capitalist system and an opponent of the working class.

Speaking Sunday, Lopez Obrador called the Nochixtlan attack an irrationality and implored teachers to resolve your demands and avoid repression and violence. He called for a revolution of the minds and said this will result in an investigation and in the punishment of those that are responsible.

The catastrophic conditions besetting Mexican society cannot be changed through moralistic appeals to a ruling class that has proven time after time its willingness to impose the diktats of Wall Street with violence. The recent maneuvers by the CNTE, Morena, and Lopez Obrador are aimed at taking the initiative from striking teachers, disarming workers and youth, and transforming widespread social opposition into a vehicle for Lopez Obrador to ride to power in 2018.
Residents of West Virginia are facing an immense cleanup and reconstruction effort in the aftermath of the flash floods that killed at least 23 people and destroyed or damaged thousands of homes, bridges and roads. As of Tuesday, hundreds were living in emergency shelters, 7,000 remained without power, and health officials were warning of the dangers of contaminated well water and disease-carrying mosquitoes.

As in previous disasters, the declaration of a state of emergency by President Obama will provide minimal aid, and those trying to reconstruct their lives will face bureaucratic indifference from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and challenges by private insurers to their claims.

The immediate trigger for the flood was record-setting rainfall, called a nearly one in a thousand-year event by the National Weather Service. However, like all natural disasters, the extent of the damage and its human impact were determined by social and political conditions that are man-made.

The victims of such disasters are predominantly working-class and poor people living in the most vulnerable homes and communities. West Virginia is the second poorest state in the United States, trailing only Mississippi. After extracting vast fortunes from the labor of generations of miners, the giant energy corporations and coal bosses have left West Virginia in a state of economic, social and environmental ruin.

King Coal has long dominated the states political structure, through both Democratic and Republican politicians. Successive governors have showered tax cuts on the coal companies and looked the other way as they flagrantly violated environmental and job safety regulations. Just last month, the state legislature voted to slash millions from the budget, including a two percent across-the-board cut in already underfunded environmental protection programs.

After the 1972 Buffalo Creek Disaster, which killed 125 men, women and children, civil engineers and environmental organizations warned that deforestation from strip-mining and commercial logging operations made mountainsides and the communities in the hollows below them far more susceptible to deadly mudslides and flooding. These warnings have long been ignored, and many of the counties hardest hit by last weeks flooding were heavily mined and logged.

It is now nearly 11 years since Hurricane Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in US history. The hurricane, and the breaching of the levees protecting New Orleans, destroyed working-class and poor neighborhoods and killed nearly 2,000 people in Louisiana, Mississippi and other states. The disaster exposed the criminal level of neglect of basic infrastructure, at the time overseen by the Bush administration, and the desperate poverty facing millions of Americans.

The social conditions revealed by the West Virginia floods are no less horrendous than those in New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward, where so many perished. Were it not for a less dense population, the loss of life in the flood-struck areas of West Virginia could have been just as great as in New Orleans.

The flooding in West Virginia has once again revealed the basic reality of life in the United States: the immense social gulf separating the working classof all races and ethnicitiesfrom the corporate and financial elite that controls the political system. These conditions have been immensely exacerbated since the financial crash of 2008, which coincided with the coming to power of President Barack Obama.

This class chasm, intensified by ever-widening social inequality, dominates the capitalist system internationally. According to the World Wealth Report 2016 just issued by the consulting firm Capgemini, the number of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) in North America (those with liquid assets of $1 million or more) grew by 8.3 percent to 4.68 million and their wealth by 9.1 percent to US$16.2 trillion, driven largely by strong equity market performance. The net worth of these individuals would cover five times the amount the American Civil Engineers Association says the US needs to spend by 2020 to rebuild Americas decaying dams, levees, schools and other critical infrastructure.

In West Virginia, some 11,000 miners have lost their jobs since 2013. In many abandoned mining towns, half to three-quarters of the male population is jobless. Similar conditions prevail throughout the country. Meanwhile, Obama continues to declare that life in America is pretty darn great and workers have nothing to complain about.

The social anger over these conditions is beginning to take a political form. In last months West Virginia primary, Bernie Sanders, who describes himself as a socialist and who focused his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination on social inequality and denunciations of the billionaire class, defeated Hillary Clinton by a margin of 51.4 to 35.8 percent. Sanders secured far higher margins in the poorer counties and among young people who are looking for an anti-capitalist alternative to both big-business parties.

This political radicalization flies in the face of the official presentation of the white working class by the New York Times and other media mouthpieces of the Democratic Party, which slandered West Virginia workers as racist after Donald Trumps victory in the states Republican primary.

As the World Socialist Web Site explained at the time, if sections of miners and others were susceptible to the demagogy of the billionaire real estate mogul, it was because their struggles had over decades been betrayed by the United Mine Workers (UMWA) and because they were deeply alienated from the Democratic Party, which combines ruthless attacks on their jobs and living standards with racial and gender politics and denunciations of supposed white privilege.

Now that Sanders has effectively ended his campaign and is moving to back Clinton, the Times & Co. are stepping up their campaign to castigate white workers, insist that all issues must be considered from the standpoint of race and gender, and bury the issue of social inequality and the fundamental class questions. They do so even as they promote a right-wing, militaristic Democratic candidate who personifies the corrupt relationship between the political establishment and Wall Street.

West Virginia has a rich history dating from its inception in the rebellion of poor farmers against the slaveholders in Virginia and extending to the semi-insurrectionary Mine Wars of the 1920s and 1930s and the mass miners strikes of the 1960s and 1970s. The latter culminated in the 111-day strike of 1977-78, when miners defied the back-to-work order by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. But the miners have long been politically disenfranchised by the UMWAs subordination of the working class to the Democratic Party. The anti-working-class character of the UMWA is summed up by its current support for the gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Jim Justice, a coal baron and the states richest man, worth $1.6 billion.

Over the last seven-and-a-half years, President Obama has poured trillions of dollars into bank bailouts, endless wars, and domestic security programs to spy on the American people and arm the police with military-grade weaponry for the purpose of suppressing social discontent. As a result, the American people have never been so economically and socially insecure and vulnerable to disasters like the floods in West Virginia.
In an election marked by unprecedented hostility to the official political establishment, Socialist Alliance (SA) is advancing itself as an open ally of the Greens, a capitalist party of the affluent upper middle-class. Amid a leftward movement of growing numbers of workers and young people, this pseudo-left formation is seeking to channel the widespread hostility to the two-party system behind the Greens and to prop up the parliamentary system.

SAs orientation to the Greens, who they promote as a progressive alternative to Labor and the Liberals, has particular significance. With the corporate and financial elite fearful that neither of the major parties will win enough support to form a majority government in their own right, the Greens are presenting themselves as a party of parliamentary stability.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale has repeatedly stressed his partys willingness to take ministerial positions in a Labor coalition. Such a government would be committed to implementing the austerity agenda of the financial and corporate elite, including the $6.1 billion in spending cuts outlined by Labor during the election campaign. It would escalate Australias involvement in US-led wars in the Middle East, and military provocations against China.

SA has maintained a complete silence on the Greens overtures to Labor and big business. Instead, it has collaborated closely with Greens candidates in a number of areas. Prior to the launch of the official campaign, its publication, Green Left Weekly, conducted an interview with Greens candidate for Grayndler, Jim Casey, giving him the opportunity to fraudulently posture as a socialist.

SAs explicit orientation to the Greens is in line with the perspective spelled out at the SA national conference in April. Former leader Peter Boyle, SA candidate for the seat of Sydney, declared that it was an open question whether the party would maintain an independent existence, or seek to liquidate into the Greens.

Boyle said there was a strong pressure [on the Greens] to put everything second to winning parliamentary positionsin other words, to jettison their own limited election promises on the environment and social issues. But, he added, there was an ongoing struggle between the left and the right in the Greensthus attempting to maintain the illusion that the Greens are a progressive alternative.

In fact, the so-called left of the Greens, including figures such as Casey, work hand-in-hand with its openly big business representatives such as Di Natale. If the Greens entered government, the left-wing of the party, with the assistance of the pseudo-lefts, would function as apologists and political defenders as opposition emerged to the agenda of militarism and austerity.

Boyle made clear that SAs aim is to spearhead a regroupment involving the union bureaucracy, the Greens and sections of the Labor Party, stating: The process that we are engaged in is to seek out the rest of the leaders in our society and bring them together in a common project. SAs election program is aimed at securing these alliances. It calls for a peoples movement, and blandly declares the need to build a strong, active, democratic movement of the majority.

The SA program makes no mention of the working class and says nothing about the growing dangers of a war between the United States and China. Like the Greens, SA helps maintain the official conspiracy of silence over mounting tensions in the South China Sea, including calls by senior Labor figures for Australian warships and military aircraft to be dispatched to Chinese-claimed territoryan act of war that could spark open conflict.

The parochial and nationalist character of the SA campaign is summed up by the statements headline, which declares, Another Australia is possible. Its perspective is entirely within the bounds of capitalism, promoting the illusion that pressing social issues, such as housing and public transport, can be resolved by pressuring the powers-that-be for limited reforms.

Significantly, the program prominently and approvingly quotes Canadian author Naomi Kleins declaration that we have to challenge this system head-on. Klein, a liberal, might be prepared occasionally to issue tepid challenges but she is utterly opposed to the abolition of the profit system. SAs acceptance of the framework of capitalism is, of course, essential for its integration with the Greens and the political establishment more broadly.

SAs candidates include longstanding members for the Senate in New South Wales and Victoria who are billed as union activists. Howard Byrnes, one of their candidates for the Senate in NSW, is prominently featured as a delegate of the Construction Forestry and Mining Energy Union (CFMEU).

SA has close ties to the union, which it falsely promotes as militant. The CFMEU donated $5,000 to the partys NSW election campaign last year. Like its counterparts, the union functions as a corporatist arm of management to suppress the struggles of workers and has been exposed for a series of schemes that enrich the union apparatus at the expense of workers.

The CFMEU, a key constituent of the Labor Party, also promotes rabid nationalism that scapegoats of foreign workers for the lack of jobs. National secretary Michael OConnor last year declared that the unions opposition to the China Australia Free Trade Agreement was about the things that make this country great, adding that the union was not going to allow the government to sell off our sovereignty. SA is completely uncritical of the unions putrid nationalism.

Socialist Alliance is thoroughly mired in identity politics, the stock-in-trade of affluent sections of the middle class that it represents who seek to advance their privileged position within the framework of capitalism on the basis of race, gender and sexual orientation. The elevation of identity is to suppress fundamental class issues reflecting the hostility of this layer to the working class.

SAs lead candidate for the Senate in NSW, Ken Canning, is a longstanding Aboriginal nationalist. In his campaign statement, he makes no pretense to being a socialist. Instead he declares: The fight for the rights of First Nations people will always form the platform of any struggle I am involved in, including my campaign as the lead NSW Senate candidate for the Socialist Alliance.

At no point does Canning relate the appalling conditions facing Aboriginal workers to the need for a struggle by the working class as a whole. The social crisis confronting Aborigines is a class, not a racial questionit is the sharpest expression of the deep inroads being made into the living standards of workers everywhere.

Socialist Alliance is also cultivating relations with former Labor figures. Former national leader Peter Boyle was endorsed by Queensland MP Rob Pyne, who has worked closely with SA since leaving the state Labor government in March. Pyne, a featured speaker at SAs annual conference in April, left the government declaring he could better represent the northern Queensland city of Cairns as an independent. At the same time, he declared his ongoing confidence in the Premier and the Treasurerthat is, the state Labor government that is deepening the assault on living standards.

Amid the break-up of the two-party system, Socialist Alliance is playing a thoroughly pernicious role in attempting to steer workers and youth into the arms of the Greens and block the development of a genuinely socialist movement against war and austerity.

SA hailed the Syriza government in Greece, which took office in January 2015 by exploiting the widespread anti-austerity sentiment of Greek workers and young people. Within weeks, Syriza betrayed its election promises, and has continued to impose drastic spending cuts to healthcare, pensions and education.

Last year, Socialist Alliance organised a forum with Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon that uncritically backed the Syriza government and promoted the formation of a similar party in Australia. Rhiannon declared that Syriza had pulled it off in Greece, and we need to do it here! The Greens, she said, could have a critical role in building such a formation.

Socialist Alliance is fully committed to supporting the Greens in a project whose consequences would be just as devastating for the working class in Australia, as in Greece.

To contact the SEP and get involved, visit our web site or Facebook page.

Authorised by James Cogan, Shop 6, 212 South Terrace, Bankstown Plaza, Bankstown, NSW 2200.
Rail conductors on the busiest routes across Scotland and southern England held a 24-hour strike last Wednesday against plans to remove all safety duties from train conductors and impose driver-only operation (DOO). Britains private rail companies plan to eliminate 5,700 train conductors jobs across the UK and impose DOO on all train drivers.

The strikes at ScotRail and Southern GTR (Govia Thameslink Railway), called by the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, led to extensive cancellations and revised timetables.

Further strikes are planned over the next three weeks at ScotRail, which is run by Abellio for the Dutch national rail Nederlandse Spoorwegen. No further strikes are planned at Southern GTR (Govia Thameslink Railway). Govia is a joint venture operated by Go-Ahead and the private French company Keolis, which is controlled by the French state-run railway SNCF.

This is the second round of strikes held by Southern GTR workers. Messages of support poured in from rail workers across the country. Passenger support for the strikes was also high.

The plan to remove conductors from trains became part of Conservative government policy in 2014, after they adopted recommendations from Lord McNulty that included the slashing 20,000 jobs and the imposition of backbreaking productivity increases.

Southern GTR drivers voted to join the conductors strikes after a ballot saw 95 percent supporting strike action on an 82 percent turnout. But GTR blocked a strike through a High Court injunction on the most spurious grounds.

A hearing for the court case was to be held on June 27. However, the drivers union ASLEF, who described the decision to block the strike as oppressive, decided not to challenge the High Court decision. ASLEF will not re-ballot its members and agreed to pay 250,000 in court costs to GTR. ASLEF accepted that GTR is contractually entitled to require drivers employed on the Gatwick Express services to drive 12 car DOO.

In response to the first strike of Southern GTR conductors, the company vindictively and without precedent withheld conductors staff and family travel passes and parking permits, worth hundreds of pounds.

To justify the slashing of thousands of safety-critical job, the media and safety organisations funded by the government and the rail industry are trashing the conductors role. The Rail Safety Standards Board made the extraordinary claim that removing conductors could potentially deliver safety benefits because it would supposedly prevent confusion between driver and conductor!

The removal of door operations from conductors is the first step to eliminating the conductor grade. On all existing driver-only operations there are no conductors or on-board staff other than revenue inspectors.

Conductors currently operate doors, allowing drivers to concentrate on driving the train and obeying signals without distractions. Conductors are trained in passenger protection in case of derailment, train separation, chemical spills, train fires, line-side fires and train evacuation procedures. They are extensively trained in coordinating emergency services attendance at large and small incidents. Conductors have saved countless lives. In addition, the conductors role includes on-train safety of passengers, ticketing and customer information.

Southern GTR is the worst performing private rail franchise in the UK. To blame workers for the company not recruiting staff and the resulting large-scale daily cancellations, GTR has published workers sickness graphs. The London Evening Standard denounced the latest action as a sick note strike. The intention is to incite right-wing elements to oppose striking workers. According to the RMT, not only had Southern GTR management unofficially blocked overtime, but they have also cancelled large number of trains when drivers and conductors were available to work.

At ScotRail, conductors are facing threats by the company to deploy a scab force to break the strikes. In a letter sent last month from the Transport Salaried Staff Association (TSSA) to the new Scottish National Party transport secretary, General Secretary Manuel Cortes demanded the regional government intervene to stop ScotRail from asking white-collar TSSA members for their availability to attend [conductor] training courses to be deployed against the strike. Despite this request, the TSSA have indicated their willingness to capitulate with Cortez adding, It is not clear whether our members can opt out or refuse without recourse...

ScotRail have used nationalist arguments to sow divisions between striking workers in England and Scotland, describing the strike vote as a clear signal that our people in Scotland want to decide their own way forward. The RMT facilitate this with their support for Scottish nationalism.

While RMT General Secretary Mick Cash states that every rail company is undermining the conductors job, the union refuses to mobilise a national strike.

The RMT is doing its best to cover up its role in collaborating in the elimination of conductors jobs at London Overground in 2014, because they aim to carry out the same at ScotRail and Southern GTR.

An RMT leaflet declared, Like with London Overground many promises will be made to you with respect of protection of the guards [conductors] role in the future. But words are cheap. Dont forget that within 18 months of being told not to fear the future all the guards on the Overground had gone. We need to stand united and strong to ensure there is no repeat of that devastation across the whole country.

This narrative conceals the unions role in the elimination of 130 conductors from London Overground trains. London Overground conductors were removed and DOO imposed on drivers by the rail unions, in collaboration with Transport for London (TfL) and Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson.

This followed the RMTs support for the closure of all 265 London Underground ticket offices, completed December 2015. The closures led to the loss of more than 800 jobs.

A dinner for the London Undergrounds Fit for Future stations team was held recently in Londons luxury Mayfair RAF Club, to celebrate bringing in the office closures under budget. The tuxedo event, with nearly 50 managers in attendance, was denounced by the RMT as disgusting and obscene, but only served to expose the reactionary social forces the union is working with across the transport network to eliminate jobs and privatise services.

The RMT has appealed to the Conservative government to remove GTRs franchise. The government responded by backing GTR and blaming strikes and workers sickness. Confirming high-level government support for the attacks at Southern GTR, Conservative rail minister, Claire Perry, said in an interview that Charles Horton (GTR chief executive) and Dyan Crowther (GTR chief operating officer) are great people who were top-of-the-range, super experienced. We have the best people in the industry, she added. This follows the comments of a senior Department for Transport official at a public meeting in South London, who called for punch ups with strikers.

Any new private rail franchise bid granted by the government has to include a plan to eliminate the conductors role and force DOO, or it is refused. Alongside the demand to remove the franchise from GTR, which has facilitated the RMTs collaboration with regional Conservative MPs, the union is also demanding a toothless parliamentary inquiry into the Southern GTR franchise. This too can only lead to handing the initiative back to the Tories.

The rail workers struggle has shattered the false claims made by the Left Leave campaign in the Brexit referendum, of which the RMT was the main trade union backer. They claimed the British government and state were more responsive than the European Union to pressure. The reality is that rail workers have confronted High Court injunctions, violent public threats from government officials, gangster tactics by GTR, incitement of right-wing forces against staff, and the public rubbishing of their jobs by safety boards.

In the midst of this brutal offensive, the RMT published a circular urging a vote to leave the EU so that we can develop our industries. In other words, they called for unity with workers most vicious class enemies and promote national divisions and trade war. At the same time as French workers employed by SNCF rail are engaged in an ongoing struggle to protect jobs and democratic rights, Cash deepened the RMTs anti-French campaign by protesting outside the French private sector transport group Keolis office in London.

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Britain: Rail unions betray London Overground conductors

[15 January 2014]
The Leave vote in the Brexit referendum has immediately called the survival of the United Kingdom into question.

The outcome of the June 23 vote on UK membership of the European Union (EU) has seen tensions rise between the Westminster government and the devolved government in Scotland.

While across Britain, the Leave camp won by 52 percent to 48 percent, in Scotland 62 percent voted to Remain against only 38 who preferred Leave. Notably, while in England, the Leave vote was concentrated in rural areas and poorer regions outside the major cities, in Scotland every region, including the most impoverished, voted to Remain.

The contrast in results has allowed the SNP to claim a mandate to ensure continued Scottish membership of the EU and to again seek independence from the UK. Within hours, Scottish First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said that the option of another [independence] referendum must be on the table, and it is on the table.

Sturgeon continued, [W]hen the Article 50 process [of the EUs Lisbon Treaty] is triggered in three months time, the UK will be on a two-year path to the UK exit door. If the [Scottish] parliament judges that a second referendum is the best or only way to protect our place in Europe it must have the option to hold one within that timescale.

Sturgeon replaced Alex Salmond as SNP leader in the aftermath of the defeated 2014 referendum on Scottish independence. Despite all the pseudo-left groups rallying to support the SNP and its independence referendum, the 2014 vote was lost by 10 percent.

For years, the SNP had based its perspective of separation from UK on the financial and oil interests concentrated in Aberdeen and Edinburgh. That is why, while proclaiming the need for Scottish sovereignty to be returned, it insisted that Scotland must remain within the EU as a means through which it sought to strengthen relations with the transnational corporations. The crisis within the eurozone upset these plans.

In 2014, out of a total of 76 billion Scottish exports, fully 48.5 billion, or two-thirds, went to the UK, while the EU was the leading international destination, attracting 11.6 billion of exports42 percent of the total outside the UK. Moreover, with North Sea oil production in free fall, the Scottish economy is far more dependent on fiscal support from London, while tax revenues are collapsing.

From the standpoint of the Scottish bourgeoisie, then, having established more levers of power through devolution and the failed 2014 independence vote, the last thing they want is more political instability.

Sturgeon campaigned prominently for a Remain vote throughout the UK, taking part, like Scottish Conservative rival Ruth Davidson, in TV debates against the Leave camp. Days before the Brexit vote, Sturgeon also issued a joint statement with former Labour First Ministers, Jack McConnell and Henry McLeish, in favour of Remain in an unprecedented display of unity to make the difference in keeping the UK in the European Union.

Hitherto Sturgeon has been very careful not to commit definitively to a second independence vote until such time as it could confidently be won without disrupting trade, investment and tax revenues. But the Brexit vote has destroyed many sets of best laid plans. As well as placing a new independence vote in play, Sturgeon and her party have also floated back of the envelope proposals to take advantage of the Brexit calamity. Every one of them deepens conflicts with London and threatens to pull the UK apart.

Last Sunday, speaking on the BBC, Sturgeon suggested the Scottish parliament could block the Brexit decision. It was hard to believe that a legislative consent motion would not be required from the Scottish parliament before the UK could split from the EU, she said.

The basis of Sturgeons assertion is the devolution agreement whereby EU law, which is incorporated into Scottish law, also stipulates that changes involving devolution arrangements must have the consent of the Scottish parliament. With all the Holyrood parties strongly pro-EU, this consent would not be forthcoming.

The SNP has mooted the possibility of Scotland retaining some form of EU membership without breaking entirely from the UK. Because both Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU, it is argued that the EU borders could be re-drawn without forcing Scotland and Northern Ireland out. But this arrangement currently only applies to Greenland and the Faroe Islands, both of which are part of Denmark but not in the EU, both of which are isolated North Atlantic islands with tiny populations entirely dependent on the fishing industry. Applying the same solution to the complex historical edifice of the UK raises all the same conflicts as a new independence referendum for Scotland and the likely border referendum in Ireland.

The SNP has also started sounding out the EU and its member states to explore whether Scotland could retain EU membership. The Scottish government is seeking a meeting with European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and intends to host a meeting of European consul generals. Sturgeon is also expected to meet Guy Verhofstaft, former Belgian prime minister and president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, which includes 70 of 751 members of the European parliament.

Manfred Weber, who heads the European Peoples Party, is sympathetic. Weber, a close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said on a Scottish level: to go the other way, it is up to them. Europe is open to new member states, that it totally clear.

Webers remarks raise the possibility of the EU, led by Germany, easing Scottish EU membership as a means of further punishing London for Brexit through accelerating the dismemberment of the UK.

The SNP has begun a discussion with Labours London Mayor Sadiq Khan. Sturgeon reported a conversation with Khan in which they established clear common cause between us. What this is remains to be seen, but with major banks already promising to relocate to Paris and Frankfurt to remain in the EU, and with share prices collapsing, London is clearly facing major financial services job losses.

Promoting the Edinburgh-based financial services industry as a British-based, English speaking alternative within the EU might mitigate the damage to the City of London while allowing Edinburgh to compete with France and Germany. Tory MP and member of Westminsters Treasury Committee, Mark Garnier, a former banker, spelled out this thinking: I would be trying to build a financial services hub that would be the natural successor to London by leaving the union of the United Kingdom and staying within the European Union.

But for workers across Britain, any combination of the options above brings with it an inevitable sharp intensification of the assault on living standards, mass job losses, regional fragmentation and privatisation of vital services. Animated by nationalism and regionalism, and falsely presenting EU membership as a means of offsetting the social consequences of Brexit, all of these proposals serve only to tie workers to one or another section of a capitalist class.
Dozens have been killed and nearly 150 people wounded after a series of bombs exploded at Istanbuls Ataturk International Airport. Overnight media reports from Turkey said the death toll has risen to 36, with Turkish officials predicting the final figure might be as high as 50.

The citys governor Vasip Sahin said that three suicide bombers were responsible for the carnage. The attackers reportedly opened fire with assault rifles before blowing themselves up. Police exchanged fire with the bombers and several police officers were among the dead and wounded.

The method and staging of the attack was similar to that carried out at the Brussels airport three months ago by gunmen claiming loyalty to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Turkish government officials strongly suggested that ISIS had arranged the attack, but no organization has yet claimed responsibility.

There were conflicting reports about which locations the attackers targeted, but they included the entrance to the international terminal, and the airport parking lot. Ataturk airport is the worlds 11th largest and the third busiest in Europe, after Londons Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

A video circulating on social media showed a police officer wounding an unidentified man, who then blew himself up only seconds later, as he lay on the ground. An NBC News reporter who witnessed the explosions said he saw a police officer wrestle a man to the ground, who then detonated himself. It was not clear whether these were the same incident or separate events.

All entries and exits to the airport were sealed off by the police, with access limited to emergency vehicles. Some incoming air traffic was diverted, and all outbound flights were canceled. US authorities halted all flights between Istanbul and the United States, and issued instructions for special handling of the ten Turkish Airlines flights en route from Istanbul to various US destinations at the time of the bombings.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Prime Minister Binali Yldrm and Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar at the presidential complex to discuss the attack. Afterwards Yldrm, Deputy PM Numan Kurtulmus, Transportation Minister Ahmet Arslan and Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Betul Sayan travelled to Istanbul.

This is the fifth terrorist attack in Turkeys largest city this year, but the first that Turkish authorities attributed unambiguously to ISIS. Earlier attacks had been blamed on a radical split-off from the Kurdish nationalist movement PKK, giving the Erdogan regime a pretext for intensifying its military operations against the Kurdish population in southeastern Turkey.

The tourism industry, one of Turkeys main earners of foreign exchange, has been devastated by the previous attacks, with April showing the biggest drop in tourist arrivals in 17 years, according to official figures.

The attack came the day after the US State Department warned Americans against travel to southeastern Turkey, where there have been multiple terrorist attacks along with military conflicts between Turkish forces and the PKK.

A US government official, who would not be quoted by name, told NBC News that that the Istanbul attack fits the ISIS profile, not PKK  This does not fit the PKK profile, they go after Turkish targets, not international targets.

Another US official told NBC that more such attacks could be expected, saying, Our long summer of discontent has just begun.

There have been many indications over the past year of ties between ISIS and sections of the Turkish military. For instance, last November, Newsweek cited the comments of a former ISIS commander who claimed that the terror group operated massive truck convoys transporting oil into Turkey, with the full cooperation of the Turkish military.

Alongside the US, Turkey has provided extensive support to Islamist militias in Syria, in a bid to topple the Russian-aligned Assad regime. As with previous terror attacks, the Erdogan regime will also use the latest tragedy as the pretext for a further crackdown on civil and political rights.

The attack will also be used by Washington to justify its predatory military operations in the Middle East. Both presidential candidates of the two main US parties, Hillary Clinton for the Democrats and Donald Trump for the Republicans, issued statements denouncing the terrorist attacks. Clinton pledged support for Turkey as a NATO ally, while Trump cited the attack as an argument to take steps now to protect America from terrorists.
ATLANTA (AP) - Authorities say an Atlanta police officer shot a kidnapping suspect in the leg following a chase.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says a woman was kidnapped Monday night in East Point and her sons got cellphone messages demanding a $100,000 ransom. Atlanta police spotted the suspects' vehicle with the woman inside early Tuesday and gave chase.

The GBI says an officer shot one suspect when he emerged from the vehicle with a handgun after the suspects' vehicle crashed.

He and two others were quickly caught after fleeing on foot. A fourth suspect was caught a few hours later and fifth remained at large.

The man who was shot was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition.

The woman had been pistol whipped and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) - A Marietta man who stomped his mother's dog to death will spend 2 years in prison and 8 years on probation.

Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds says in a news release that 21-year-old Darwin Kerrington Thompson pleaded guilty in March to aggravated cruelty to animals after beating the poodle mix, Brooklyn, to death on Aug. 19, 2014.

Thompson's sentence had twice been delayed, first by a diluted and then positive drug screen and then a second time after he was admitted to a mental health institution.

Thompson's mother told the court that she felt responsible for not recognizing his emotional problems sooner and asked for an alternative to prison.

But Superior Court Judge A. Gregory Poole said he could not look past Thompson showing up to court on drugs.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
COCHRAN, Ga. (AP) - Authorities say a 32-year-old Georgia man was shot to death by a deputy when he refused to drop his gun during a dispute with his mother.

The Telegraph newspaper of Macon reports (http://bit.ly/29bZ3QJ) it happened Monday near Cochran.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Scott Whitley says Blake Peacock had vowed not to be taken alive, and refused to drop his rifle when deputies confronted him.

Whitley said a Bleckley County deputy shot Peacock.

The GBI said Peacock's mother, Sheila Peacock, had called 911, saying her son was attacking her.

The GBI said she also told the 911 operator that her son said deputies would have to kill him if they tried to remove him from the property.

No further information was released about the suspect or the deputy.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - The second man accused of killing FSU Professor Dan Markel is in the Leon County Jail.

Luis Rivera is being charged with first degree murder, according to Leon County deputies.

Prior to his extradition, Rivera was being held in a federal facility for his involvement in the gang, the Latin Kings, according to the Department of Justice.

Sigfredo Garcia, was arrested last month in Broward County and is also facing murder charges in the professor's death. He was in court last week for a bond hearing however bond was not set and as of Tuesday, no rescheduled hearing date has been set.

Dan Markel was killed in July of 2014 after being shot outside his Tallahassee home.

Police believe his ex-wife's family's desire to have her and Markel's children move to south Florida may have been the motive for his murder.
THOMASVILLE, GA. (WTXL) - If you're looking for a job in law enforcement, a Georgia police department is hiring.

The Thomasville Police Department is looking to add more officers to its force.

Applicants must be 21 years old and a U.S. citizen with no felony convictions or misdemeanor convictions involving violence or moral character. They are also required to have a valid drivers license high school diploma or GED certificate.

Anyone interested can contact the City of Thomasville Human Resources Division for an application packet. The last day to turn in applications is Friday, July 8th.
YAKIMA, Wash.  A Gleed man has been charged with first-degree animal cruelty in the stabbing death of his dog Saturday.
Placing tracks for the Yakima Trolleys at the intersection of Front Street and Yakima Avenue. The Lund building in back to left was built by A. Switzer. (Switzer also built the first City Hall/Police & Fire Station/Jail and the Switzer Opera House, also located on North Front Street.) The Lund Building held the Alfalfa Saloon until prohibition hit Yakima in 1916. It then became the Chicago Clothing Company. Flash forward to the 1980s and most would associate the Lund Building with The Greystone Restaurant and Cordeys Clothing store. In approximately 1985 the west side of the Greystone Restaurant/Lund Building rock wall fell off. Now the building is home to 5 North dining room and lounge. Submitted photo, taken in 1907, is from the Yakima Valley Museum Memory Search.
A Zillah doctor has been charged by the state Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery with
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Late at night, Sayeret Matkal commandos charged the old terminal in Entebbe, where Palestinian and German terrorists aided by Ugandan soldiers were holding 106 hostages. The Israeli troops were led by unit commander Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu.

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"We started walking quickly towards the terminal building," says Shlomi Reisman, a first sergeant. "In the briefing, Yoni stressed that we shouldn't run so that we wouldn't tip off the guards that were supposed to be posted outside the terminal. We walked together, a tight group of some 20 commandos nearing the entrance to the terminal that was a couple of dozens of meters ahead. And yet, it was still strangely quiet all around us.

"Muki (Betzer, one of the team leaders ed.) led the force, as planned. I stayed close to his right. Yoni gave him the job considered most crucial in hostage situations: being the officer who charges first into the hall where the hostages were being kept, through the first entrance. Amnon's team, which I was a part of, was meant to go in through the second entrance, a bit farther away.

The Sayeret Matkal rescue team after returning from Entebbe

"Around us, it was completely silent. But that silence was broken by a short burst of gunfire. A Ugandan soldier suddenly appeared to our left, in the space between the control tower and the terminal, and before he could realize what was happening, he was shotI believe by Muki. And still, we didn't hear any sounds of gunfire from inside the terminal, and no one was shooting at us.

"We kept moving, walking faster. We already walked past the control tower, which was looming over us to the left. In front of us, we saw the big structure of the terminal. Out front were large crates scattered around. The walls and the plaza outside were faintly lit by yellow flashlights. We were now only several steps away from the terminal building: the most critical stage of the operation. All we had to do was storm it, get to the hostages quickly, and hit the terrorists before they would have a chance to pick up their weapons."





At this point, another incident occurred, which to this day is a point of contention among the commandos.

"At the corner of the building, Muki stopped, fired a few bullets at a figure that appeared down the hall, and got held up changing his magazine. Yoni, who was running in the open area parallel to us, called out, 'Betzer, come on!' The holdup was unnecessary and unclear. We were standing behind Muki and waiting for him to finish changing his magazine," says Alex Davidi, a staff sergeant in Muki's team.

The old terminal building in Entebbe, where the hostages were kept (Photo: Elad Gershgoren)

Yiftach Reicher-Atir, the deputy Sayeret Matkal commander who also led his own team, remembers, "I was moving quickly with Muki and Yoni towards the building. Near the entrance, Muki stopped and started shooting into the building. I didn't see any target, and Yoni yelled to Muki that he should continue advancing and even made a step towards the building, as if he was going to go past Muki. I went past Muki myself and entered the room I was assigned to raid."

Betzer himself explains, "I saw a terroristostensibly a German onecoming outside, looking at us, crouching and preparing to open fire at us. I fired the second half of my magazine at him and didn't hit him. He jumped back into the passengers hall. I stopped for a second to change my magazine. I didn't announce that I was changing my magazine (as is standard in such operations ed.), because I wanted to lead."

Amir Ofer led the troops instead. "Officers and soldiers immediately got past Muki, who was standing still, and continued on their missions without waiting for him to keep leading. Seconds later, I saw Yoni fall and someone yelled, 'Yoni was hit.' I saw all of this through the corner of my eye, and it happened a few dozen meters away from me while I was running as fast as I could to reach the building."

Commandos from Sayeret Matkal with the Mercedes they used to deceive the Ugandans (Photo: IDF Spokesman)

Tamir Pardo, the former director of the Mossad, was Netanyahu's radio operation during the operation. "As we were running, I stayed close to Yoni. We came under fire from the tower, and if memory serves me right a Ugandan soldier who was by the terminal also opened fire (at us). Yoni was hit... he was so close I could reach out and touch him. His body did half a turn and then he fell... I remember myself saying on the comms 'Yoni was hit.' David (Hassin) the doctor came up to him and I joined Zussman's team," Pardo recounts.

"On my way, I fired towards that soldier, who at the moment I believed was the one who shot Yoni. Bullets that were fired from the tower hit the asphalt and pieces of it popped up and scratched my hand," he adds.

Amir Ofer was the first commando to enter the terminal. When I was 1015 meters away from the building, I saw the glass wall shatter, and a long burst of gunfire was shot directly at me by a terrorist who was lying down right in front of the door, about five meters into the building. The bullets flew past me on the left and right, but luckily missed. I was counting the bullets left in the terrorist's magazinehe fired 17 bullets. I returned fire, and we shot at each other at the same time, while he remained lying (on the ground). I shot four bullets at him in quick succession through the glass wall. Two of the bullets were tracer bullets, and I could see them connecting, his head slumping, and his gunfire stopped.

Left to right: Uri Ben-Ner, Alex Davidi, Gadi Ilan, Ilan Bloomer, Shlomi Reisman (behind Bloomer) and Danny Dagan on the Mercedes at the Tel Nof Air Force base following the operation (Photo: Shlomi Reisman)

"I went inside, made two or three steps, and shot him again at close range. I looked to the right and saw that none of our troops were inside the room, so I realized I was first in the terminal and immediately realized I was in far graver danger. I was completely alone inside a massive hall into which eight soldiers were supposed to storm at the same time from two different entrances, and in which over 100 hostages were, with some of the terrorists among them. It was likely these terrorists were already aiming their weapons at me from several locations in the big hall. It was clear to me that I couldn't stay where I was for even a fraction of a second longer, because in a moment a burst of gunfire would be aimed at that spot. I leapt backwards and pressed up against the wall, while ducking and looking left to the other side of the hall where, I assumed, there were other terrorists.

During that time, several meters behind me, a real drama was unfolding. Amnon was several meters behind me and running as fast as he could to catch up to me."

"I went inside right after him and saw two terrorists, a man and a woman, with their weapons aimed at Amir's back," says Amnon Peled, a captain who led the Amnon Team. "I fired two bullets into each of them and kicked their Kalashnikovs away. It later turned out they were the Germans. Amir was yelling into a megaphone in Hebrew and English, 'Everyone on the ground; we're here to take you home.' Several more seconds passed in which Amir and I were alone in the big hall. And then Amos Goren, Gadi Ilan and Muki Betzer came. I didn't know why they came in through our entrance and not their own."

This, too, is a point of contention among the commandos. "I stopped next to where my entrance was supposed to be, but couldn't find an entrance. It just didn't exist," Betzer explains.

An Israel-drawn map of the old terminal in Entebbe (Photo: GettyImages)

"I scanned the room, back and forth, and all of a sudden I saw on my left, next to a pillar, a figure rising quickly," says Amos Goren. "I realized it was one of the terrorists who was raising his Kalashnikov to shoot. I fired two bullets at him. The first hit his weapon, which was raised chest-high, and sent it flying out of his hands. The second bullet hit him directly in the chest. He was the last terrorist who was in the room the hostages were kept in. Even if there were explosives, there was no one left to set them off.

"I looked at the hostages, and they were all in shock. They were lying on mattresses, parents holding tightly onto their children, protecting them with their own bodies. Amir and I walked around them with a megaphone. 'We're soldiers from Israel,' we told themAmir in Hebrew and I in English, 'We've come to take you home.' They looked at us with shock. Only a few moments ago, they were in a different world, in hell, not knowing what was going to happen, whether they are going to live in an hour or be executed. They certainly could not imagine that there was a chance that the IDF would come and rescue them. And now, it was as if a hand from the heavens was sent for them and plucked them from one world into another.

Two of the hostages, Baruch Gross and his son Shai, upon their return home (Photo: Avi Simchoni and Micky Tzarfati)

"Several of the hostages got to their feet, some stayed lying down. I walked up to a woman protecting her young son with her body and told her, 'It's okay; we're here to take you back home.' She looked at me with a stunned expression and nodded: 'Yes, yes.'

"Two years ago, the Mossad organized an exhibition on the Entebbe Operation, and several of the commandos and hostages were invited. One of the hostages, Sara Guter Davidson (who also wrote a book about her experience ed.), talked about the events that had occurred and what the hostages were feeling inside the terminal, and about the moment the Israeli forces charged inside. She was talking about how she was lying over her son to protect him from the gunfire, and when she raised her head she saw 'a lovely Yemenite officer with a white hat and leopard uniform' standing over her and speaking Hebrew. When she was done talking, I walked up to her. 'I'm that lovely Yemenite,' I told her. 'Even thought I wasn't an officer, and I'm not really Yemenite...'"

Two of the Entebbe hostages: Sara Davidson and her son Benny (Photo courtesy)

Radio operator Tamir Pardo tells that clearing the passengers' hall of terrorists didn't take a long time. "If memory serves me, we had the hostages under our control within less than ten minutes, and we started getting ready to evacuate them. An hour after we landed, we were on the last plane leaving Entebbe."

Fighting through the terminals corridors

During those very moments, the other Sayeret Matkal teams were operating across the terminal building. Yiftach Reicher-Atir was commanding two teams whose job was to clear the customs hall and the second floor, which served as living quarters for the Ugandan soldiers. He says he and his men killed about 11 Ugandan soldiers, while "not a single shot was fired at us," and that "there were signs that indicated there were at least 60 people there who were able to get away."

"While we were entering the terminal and going upstairs, we encountered a few Ugandan soldiers running towards usprobably in an attempt to escape the buildingand we shot them," says Rani Cohen. "We started making our way back to search the cafeteria and the corridor. At this point, all the lights were off, and we were operating with our rifles' flashlight mounts. All of a sudden, I saw a Ugandan soldier coming at me. I shot him, heard glass shatter, and he disappeared. It was a mirror."





Map in Hebrew of the old terminal with markings indicating which force was to go where (click for full size)

Pinchas Bucris and Arnon Epstein were part of Reicher-Atir's team. "When I jumped off the Land Rover, my MAG (FN MAG 58 machine gun) strap got stuck on the seat," Buchris remembers. "It was a few seconds before I was able to pull it off, and then I found myself alone. I was trying to run but my feet wouldn't budge. I told myself, 'Buchris, run,' and then I started running; I felt like I was running on marbles, probably out of fear.

"I went into the first section of rooms in the terminal. While I was walking inside, I saw a few soldiers in leopard uniforms lying on the floor in the middle of the room. The thought crossed my mind that these might be our guys. When I came closer, I saw the color of their skin and their curly hair, and I calmed down. I kept going and met the rest of the team while it was on its way back from the end of the first section of rooms."

Later, Buchris says, while fighting, "I felt someone or something touching my shoulder and mumbling in a language I didn't understand. At first, I thought it was someone from my team, but when I turned around, I saw a massive Ugandan soldier standing over me, with the barrel of his weapon touching my neck. I quickly realized it would be hard to shoot him with my MAG. I yelled to Arnon, 'There's someone over me; shoot him.' And indeed he shot him over my head and killed him. At that moment, I realized the leopard uniforms must have saved me. He thought I was another Ugandan soldier. That incident led me later to dwell a lot on what would've happened if things had gone differently."

Sayeret Matkal commandos Danny Dagan, Shlomi Reisman and Gadi Ilan on one of the Land Rovers (Photo: Shlomi Reisman)

Another team of Sayeret commandos was led by Giora Zussman. Their job was to break into the smaller hall in the terminal, where they thought some terrorists, and maybe some hostages, might be.

"I got to the entrance first," Zussman says. "I came in and fired at a bed used by terrorists who were off guard duty, and for a moment I thought someone was lying there. I found a corridor to my right that we didn't know existed and fired into it. Two people came out of the last room with their hands up. It was very clear to me they were terrorists, and since we knew the terrorists might be wearing an explosive belt, I gave Shlomi (Reisman) an order to shoot them."

Shlomi Reisman recounts, "They went past Zussman and marched one after the other towards me. The one in the back looked like a woman. As they were walking past him down the corridor, Zussman shouted 'Reisman, shoot them, shoot them!' He couldn't shoot them without hitting me. The two kept walking towards me at a fast pace, their hands to the side of their bodyas if they've yet to decide whether they wanted to surrender or not. I moved aside and let them get past me. Despite Giora's order, I hesitated and didn't open fire. I wasn't convinced they were terrorists. What if they were scared hostages?

"I ordered them to stop in Hebrew, English, and Arabic. They completely ignored both my calls and the fact the barrel of my weapon was aimed at them, and kept walking towards the exit, trying to escape into the darkness. It was only at this point that I noticed the first terrorist was holding a grenade. Because of the problematic line of fire and the concern I would hurt my friends, I quickly got closer and shot them both, one through the other. My burst of fire glued them to one another and they both collapsed to the floor together.

"I saw a bluish spark under the bodies, and knew immediately what it was. I yelled, 'Grenade!' except there wasn't exactly anywhere to hide. I pulled Tamir (Pardo), who was standing next to me, into an alcove in the wall. Luckily the grenade went off under the terrorists. To this day, every dentist asks me what's the small lump of metal stuck in my face that shows up in x-rays."

Among Zussman's team were also Adam Coleman, Amnon Ben-Ami and Yoram Rubin. "Zussman sent us to the entrance that was farther away, and turned to the one on the right," Coleman says. "I got to the corner, glanced ahead, and saw a barrel of a gun peaking from the end of the 15-meter-long corridor. I started throwing grenades towards the passage, where the gun barrel was, and advanced with Amnon covering me from the back. When I got close to the end of the corridor, I saw it was leading towards a big hall filled with boxes and other cargo. I threw another grenade inside, towards the gun barrel I saw, and then went around the corner and, at close range, shot a soldier who was lying down in a shooting position behind cover with his weapon aimed forward. It looked like he had already been wounded by the grenades.





The old terminal building in Entebbe, where the hostages were kept (Photo: Elad Gershgoren)



"We went back to the corridor, and I saw another Ugandan soldier coming from somewhere at the other end of the hall, advancing towards me and taking cover between the boxes. I called out to Amnon and Yoram, telling them there was another soldier and that they needed to keep covering me. The space was very large, and there were a lot of boxes. It looked like a dangerous place to wander aroundit couldve contained a lot of surprises. I threw another grenade or two in his direction and then ran out. I had a phosphorus grenade left on me. I decided I wasn't going to leave that soldier there, not knowing if he was dead or alive. I threw the phosphorus grenade, which caused sparks and white smoke, and used that as cover to chargein between the boxestowards the soldier. I shot him at close range, made sure he was dead, and then got out of there back towards the corridor and the entrance hall. On my way, I reported to Amnon about the two dead Ugandan soldiers. I was in an unstoppable frenzy.

"I remember being rebuked by Muki for throwing a phosphorus grenade inside a closed space, because a fire could have broken out and then we wouldn't have been able to see what was going on. As far as I was concerned, at that moment I acted with the best means at my disposal. But I can't let go of the memory of that rebuke."

'Yoni was hit!'

In the main passengers hall, the hostages were starting to realize their lives had been saved.

Betzer says, "One of the hostages carefully got up and slowly walked towards me. I didn't have ranks on, but from the orders I was giving, he understood I was the commander, and told me in a calm voice: 'You killed all the terrorists here. All of the others are in the next room,' indicating at the VIP lounge on the other side of the wall. That very second, Giora Zussman announced over the comms: 'Mission accomplished. Muki, mission accomplished.'

"The entire drama lasted less than a minute. I called Yoni on the comms and told him, 'Yoni, this is Muki, the mission has been accomplished.' There was no answer. I tried again and againbut all I got was silence. During my third attempt, Tamir (Pardo), the radio operator, came on the comms: 'Muki, Muki, Yoni was hit! Yoni was hit!' I told Amnon Peled to treat the injured among the hostages and rushed outside.

"Next to the terminal wall, I saw Yoni, my friend, lying on his back. Dr. David Hassin was kneeling next to him, ripped his shirt open and started treating him. Unfortunately, I was already used to seeing wounded people and Yoni, at that moment, seemed fatally wounded.

Sayeret Matkal commander Yoni Netanyahu in a photo taken shortly before he was killed (Photo: Netanyahu family)

"At this point, Shaul Mofaz and his force had already landed, and I told all teams on the comms: 'Yoni is hurt, I'm taking command, roger that?' They all confirmed. At that moment, I realized: I was no longer responsible just for the raiding force, I was now in command of all of the unit's forces."

Shaul Mofaz, who went on to become the IDF's chief of staff and later the minister of defense, recounts how Yoni had insisted to charge ahead with his soldiers. "When I realized Yoni decided to be part of the raid force, I told him he should be where he can have a full picture of the battlefield, so he could better command the operation. Yoni explained that he had to be part of the raid force. This was my last conversation with Yoni," he says.

"I felt the mission carried a heavier burden on Yoni than any other mission. As for the fact he chose to be with the raid force, where he was hitin my opinion, he wanted to prove to everyone that he was the commander, that his bravery did not diminish and that under the circumstances he had no other option. He also felt like he alone could convey the messages that we can do this mission."

Pinchas Buchris and Dr. David Hassin, now the head of internal medicine at Ichilov Hospital and at the time a combat doctor in Netanyahu's team, were the first to reach the wounded commander.

"We moved towards the entrance of the big hall," says Buchris. "We saw a figure lying on the ground, face-down. We walked up to it, Dr. Hassin and me. When we turned the figure over, we saw it was Yoni Netanyahu. Hassin immediately started treatment. At the same time, we came under fire from the old control tower."

The old terminal building in Entebbe, where the hostages were kept (Photo: Elad Gershgoren)

"I grabbed Yoni by his webbing (load-bearing straps) and dragged him away from the line of fire," Dr. Hassin says. "He was unconscious and pale, which was indicative of a great loss of blood. I removed his shirt and saw a small entry wound, about one centimeter in size, under his collar bone, and a clear exit wound. When he was on the gurney, Yoni tried to sit up for a fraction of a second. He was then taken to the evacuation plane that was already parked in its planned spot, some 300 meters from the terminal. It was on the plane that the medical team declared Yoni Netanyahu dead."

Rami Sherman, the operations officer who led the backup force, recounts, "I remember when we were riding on the jeep, Yoni mumbled something, but I couldn't understand what he was saying. I remember that at the time, I didn't think these would be his final breaths."

Part 4 of this story tells of the battle raging outside the terminal, where other forces fought off Ugandan soldiers and worked to thwart any reinforcement from coming.

Dr. Ronen Bergman is Yedioth Ahronoth's chief military and intelligence correspondent. Follow him on Twitter @ronenbergman
The first digital district in Israel has been announced in the Eastern Negev Regional Council. The initiative was led by the Ministry of Social Equality headed by Gila Gamliel (Likud) and Cisco Systems, alongside Eastern Negev Regional Council Chairman and Dimona Mayor Benny Biton.

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The goal of the project is to turn the eastern Negev into a region that will provide quality health services, educational opportunities, and entrepreneurial assistance to its residents via advanced technology provided by Cisco, and enable more efficient digital cooperation between the various authorities and institutions in the region.

There will be 12 Jewish and Arab local authorities who will be taking part in the flagship project.

Cisco CEO John Chambers in Dimona to open up the digital region (Photo:Cisco PR)

Arad Mayor Nissan ben Hamo attended the opening ceremony via Cisco's Telepresence technology, and spoke from the new entrepreneurship center established in the city as part of the project.

Students from a high school in the Israeli-Bedouin town of Hura also presented their project on the Israeli Space Agency at the event.

"We consider this turning of the eastern Negev into the first digital region in Israel as part of the realization of Prime Minister David Ben Gurion's vision, who said 'it is in the Negev that the creativity and pioneering vigor of Israel will be tested," said Oren Sagi, CEO of Cisco Israel.

"Israel's biggest test during our generation isn't the fight against outside enemy forces, but is in controlling and overcoming - by force, with science, and with a pioneering attitude  the desolate land of southern region and the Negev. We at Cisco believe that innovation and access to technology are tools to reduce disparities within the population. Moreover, the participation of the different populations (in the region ed), and a wide range of (technological -ed) ecosystems is necessary for maintaining Israel's competitive advantage as the most innovative in the world," he continued.
In a final push to exert pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to use the Turkey reconciliation agreement to secure the return two MIA soldiers' bodies and two civilians from Gaza, their families met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday to solicit his direct cooperation. They vowed to pressure every minister to oppose the deal when it is voted upon on Wednesday morning.

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You initiated the ceasefire that was exploited by Hamas to kidnap Hadar Goldin, the families told Mr. Ban during the half-hour intimate conversation in the Prime Ministers Office in Jerusalem. Now we seek your involvement. Just as Gaza deserves humanitarian assistance, we also deserve humanitarian assistance.

Ban Ki-Moon (Photo: Reuters)

Zehava Shaul, the mother of IDF soldier Oron Shaul, also made an emotional plea to Ban, imploring him to help in returning their sons: I turn to you as a mother. For two years we have been without life. For two years I have waited for my son to return.

Netanyahu, who was also present at the meeting with Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, presented pictures of the missing boys that are being held by Hamas and also requested his help.

It is unjustified, Mr. Ban exclaimed before recalling how, in the past, he also met with Gilad Shalit, an IDF soldier taken captive by Hamas in 2006 and set free in a prisoner swap in 2011. He then promised to appoint an official representative to handle the matter and promised that he would immediately look into how assistance could be provided upon his return to New York.

But the families left the meeting overwhelmed with disappointment and despair: We entered the meeting with hope and left it disappointed. The UN secretary-general said that the matter was a humanitarian one. We therefore ask that the (Turkey) agreement not be signed, said Zehava Shaul.

Shaul and Goldin family protest outside PM's Residence (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Simcha Goldin, IDF officer Hadar Goldins father, expressed slightly more optimism that the UN chief would assist in the matter. Ban said he sees (the matter) as a humanitarian one and that is how the government also needs to view it.

Ilan Mangisto, whose brother Avra crossed the border into Gaza in September of 2014 , attended the meeting without his parents since they believed that nothing had changed . We will continue with our humanitarian struggle. I call on the cabinet members to stop the approval of the agreement. Freeze it until the boys return is finalized. We are all united behind one goal and share the same pain.

Illan Mangisto (Photo: Eli Mendelbaum)

In light of the deal which was signed on Tuesday, devoid of any assurances of the return of Goldins and Shauls bodies along with Avra Mangisto, it is not clear how the cabinet will vote. As things stand, two ministersYuval Steinitz and Yoav Galantwill definitely throw their lot behind the prime minister while three will seek to undermine the deal.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett has been the most vociferous against the signing of the deal while Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman also joined the opposition camp. According to them, not a single cabinet meeting has been convened in which the Turkey deal was discussed that, according to Bennett, amounted to turning us into a rubber stamp. The ministers complained, How can a decision like this be brought to us last minute. They are putting pressure on us to approve the agreement after we know it had already been signed. Source close to Netanyahu have denied these claims.

Nevertheless, four remaining ministers are yet to reveal their stance publicly. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, for example, as late as Wednesday morning refused to comment on how he would vote but assured that he would ask all the necessary questions. Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, Transport Minister Yisrael Katz and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri have also yet to state their position.

Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked (Photo: Yonatan Zindel, Flash 90)

On Tuesday night, the prime ministers close circle attempted to exert pressure on the more hesitant elements by saying, There is a question over whether there will be a majority vote in favor of the agreement, and therefore it is not certain that a vote will take place.

In the meantime, Oron Shauls family and friends have congregated once again outside the Prime Ministers Office on Wednesday morning: We will go to every single minister and convince him to oppose, said Zehava Shaul. "We are here so that the ministers will look at us before the vote. We ask that one clause is added to the agreement making is signing conditional upon the return of our boys. Their fate depends on the vote of the cabinet members. This is the last opportunity.
A tunnel used by Jews to escape the Nazis has been re-discovered after decades of searching the Ponar forest in Lithuania. Despite there being extensive witness testimony of the tunnel's existence, it took 71 years for the tunnel to be uncovered.

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Some 100,00 people, of whom 70,000 were Jews, were massacred and thrown into pits in the Ponar forest by the Nazis. A special Nazi unit was formed in 1943 with the task of covering up the genocide as the Russian Red Army advanced on Nazi positions on the Eastern Front. In Ponar, this task was assigned to a group of 80 prisoners from the Stutthof concentration camp.

At night the prisoners were kept in a deep pit which was previously used for the execution of Vilna's Jews. During the day they worked to open the mass graves, pile up the corpses on logs cut from the forest trees, cover them with fuel and incinerate them.

The pit in the Ponar forest where Jews were massacred (Photo:Ezra Wolfinger, NOVA)

Some of the workers resolved to attempt a daring escape by digging a tunnel from the pit that was used as their prison. For three months they dug a 35-yard tunnel using only spoons and their hands. On the night of April 15th, 1944 the prisoners made their escape. They cut their leg shackles with a nail file, and 40 of them began to crawl through the narrow tunnel.

Unfortunately, they were quickly discovered by the guards and many were shot. Only 15 managed to cut through the fence of the camp and escape into the forest. Eleven reached the partisan forces and survived the war.

Archaeologists searching for the tunnel (Photo: Ezra Wolfinger, NOVA)

Since WWII the exact location of the tunnel was unknown. Now, thanks to the cooperative work of Dr. Jon Seligman of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Prof. Richard Freund of the University of Hartford, Paul Bauman of Advisian of Calgary, Canada and the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, the tunnel has been rediscovered. It was located using a geophysical technique used in mineral and oil exploration known as Electrical Resistivity Tomography from the pit used to imprison the captives, to an open space beside it.

Dr. Jon Seligman, Israel Antiquities Authority said, "As an Israeli whose family originated in Lithuania, I was reduced to tears on the discovery of the escape tunnel at Ponar. This discovery is a heartwarming witness to the victory of hope over desperation. The exposure of the tunnel enables us to present, not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the yearning for life."

Minister of Culture, MK Miri Regev said of the discovery, "I congratulate the Israel Antiquities Authority on its participation in this international effort that turns history into reality. The exciting and important discovery of the prisoners escape tunnel at Ponar is yet more proof negating the lies of Holocaust deniers. The success of modern technological developments, that have aided the Jewish people to reveal another heroic story the Nazis attempted to hide benefits all humanity."
Two dozen men charged with supporting ISIS are squeezed into a cage in Jordan's state security court. After brief questioning from a judge, they file back out, and guards usher in the next group of accused militants.

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The court's heavy load is part of a widening domestic crackdown on the extremist group.

Hundreds have been sentenced to prison, are awaiting trial, or are being held for questioning about links to ISIS. Under toughened anti-terror laws, even liking or sharing the group's propaganda on social media can land someone a prison sentence.

Some say the crowded court rooms - along with recent attacks - signal that the pro-Western kingdom has a more serious problem with home-grown extremism than it has acknowledged in public.

ISIS suicide car bomb which killed seven Jordanian soldiers

"We have an extending of the network of ISIS in Jordan, not just among the poor, but also the middle class," said Mohammed Abu Rumman, an expert on extremists. "It is a minority but it is very dangerous."

The extremists underscored their reach last week when they launched a suicide attack from Syria, detonating a car bomb near a Jordanian border post and killing seven soldiers in the deadliest attack the kingdom has seen in years.

ISIS's 2014 capture of large parts of neighboring Syria and Iraq sent jitters through Jordan. The US spent millions of dollars helping the kingdom fortify its borders, and Jordan joined the US-led anti-ISIS military coalition.

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani said that extremism is a global problem and that "Jordan is at a level just like any other society in the world." The challenge is to reach and prosecute extremists and "make sure we have enough awareness in society against these elements," he continued.

For the West, any sign of instability in Jordan, a key ally, is of great concern. This includes the rising support for jihadi Salafism, the violent version of Sunni Islam that underpins ISIS and its precursor, al-Qaeda.

US-based analyst David Schenker said that while it's difficult to measure jihadi activity, the recent uptick "points to a threat that is not insignificant."

Jordanian soldier (Photo: EPA)

Abu Rumman estimated that there are more than 10,000 jihadi Salafists in Jordan, most loyal to ISIS, and that about 2,000 of them are fighting in the ranks of ISIS and al-Qaeda in Syria and Iraq.

Jordan's domestic jihadi Salafi movement goes back almost three decades when Jordanians returning from Afghanistan spread the extremist message at home. Jordan produced a spiritual leader of al-Qaeda, Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi, and the network's first chief in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed by the US in 2006.

Over the years, jihadi recruitment has been fueled by high unemployment, restrictions on political expression and the perception that the world stands by as Sunnis are being slaughtered in Syria's civil war and the Sunni-Shiite conflict in Iraq.

In Jordan, militant strongholds include poor urban areas, remote tribal towns and Palestinian refugee camps, where some feel like second-class citizens.

The support was on display recently in Zarqa. Hundreds attended the funeral of Nasser Idreis, a resident convicted of ISIS support who died in prison from complications of a liver infection.

Clean-shaven intelligence agents mingled with the mourners, not even trying to blend in. One even introduced himself to a journalist as "mukhabarat" - intelligence - and asked why she was taking photos.

Some mourners wore Salafi attire - short robes or pants that stop above the ankle -- though that didn't necessarily mean they belong to the jihadi strain of Salafis that supports violence. Bearded men hugged each other outside a mosque, among them a leading local jihadi Salafi known as Abu Bandar.

Abu Bandar said the government has stepped up pressure in recent months, including with preventive arrests, "because they are concerned that something might happen."

Idreis' family denies he had ties to ISIS.

In 2011, dozens of Zarqa residents were arrested after clashes between local Salafis and security forces - including Abu Bandar, who was one of the last of the group to be released, about six months ago. Dozens of those have since left and joined the ISIS "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria, said Moussa Abdallat, a lawyer who represented many of them.

Zaatari refugee camp in norther Jordan. If the camp were a city, it would be the 9th largest in Jordan (Photo: Reuters)

In response to the rise of ISIS, Jordan toughened anti-terror laws, criminalizing social media support for the group. Sharing ISIS material on social media can carry with it between one and five years in prison, and involvement in an actual plot far more.

The Jordanian intelligence agency closely monitors social media with an "electronic army," said Abu Rumman. "Anyone they find sympathizing with ISIS, they send him to court," he said.

Abdallat said about 300 Jordanians have been sentenced or are on trial, most for social media support. About 300 more are being held for questioning, though the number changes frequently, he said. Most are in their late teens and early 20s.

"There is a notable increase in the number of detainees," he said.

Court officials would not provide statistics.

During a recent session, a judge presided over a courtroom crowded with defense lawyers and family of the accused.

In the defendants' cage, the men stood tightly packed. Some hugged new arrivals. Among them were five young men accused of being part of a cell plotting attacks on security installations, a charge their lawyer denied.

In recent months, other reports of such alleged plots have emerged, along with actual attacks.

In November, a police captain opened fire in an international police training facility, killing two Americans and three others. In June, a gunman killed five Jordanians in an attack on an intelligence agency branch in the Palestinian refugee camp of Baqaa.

The government has portrayed the police captain as troubled and clamped a news blackout on the June attack. Abu Rumman said he believes both attackers were inspired by ISIS.

King Abdullah II of Jordan (Photo: AFP)

In March, Jordanian commandos and suspected ISIS supporters exchanged fire during an arrest raid, leaving seven militants and a member of the security forces dead. The ISIS cell had allegedly plotted to carry out attacks in Jordan. More than a dozen suspects arrested after the gun battle were charged in the security court this week, Abdallat said.

Jordan defends its anti-ISIS strategy, saying it is part of a broader counter-radicalization program involving 13 government agencies. Critics however, say the focus on jailing ISIS sympathizers is counter-productive.

Prison, critics argue, forges more bonds among jihadis, while a security-centric approach risks neglecting other causes of radicalization, said Schenker, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

A survey among Jordanians, published last week by the US-based International Republican Institute, found a sharp rise in discontent with Jordan's economy and political institutions. The poll also showed that 89 percent of Jordanians consider ISIS a terrorist organization, while 4 percent disagree and 7 percent are not sure - the same as in 2015.

"As jihadi Salafism continues to spread in the region, Jordan will have to adapt," Schenker said. "Ultimately, you are going to have more Salafists, and the king can't lock them all up.".
An Israeli-Arab was arrested at Ben Gurion International Airport after attempting to join ISIS, it was cleared for publication on Wednesday. He was arrested in a joint Shin Bet and the Coastal District Police in the beginning of June.

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The man, Ibrahim Hassan Yusef Agbariya, 23, is originally from the city of Umm al-Fahm in Wadi Ara, northern Israel.

Under questioning, Agbariya revealed that in the past several months he had been exposed to videos and other ISIS propaganda, and began to identify with the terrorist organization. He decided to make his way to Syria to join the fighting as an ISIS mujahid, or holy warrior.

After researching the routes into Syria, Agbariya boarded a plane to Istanbul, from where he took a connecting flight to Gaziantep  a Turkish city on the border with Syria. He was arrested by Turkish authorities in Gaziantep and was extradited back to Israel several days afterwards.

Ibrahim Agbariya tried to join ISIS in Syria

An investigation revealed that Agbariya left a note for his family in which he expressed his desire to carry out jihad. It was also emerged during th investigation that several people who knew Agbariya were aware of his plans to go to Syria, and even supported him.

A major fear exists among Israeli security forces that Israeli citizens who harbor extremist ideologies will be taught by jihadist organizations how to carry out terror attacks on Israeli soil.

"This case, like many others, only illustrates the risks of what can happen when young people are exposed to ISIS material on the internet," read the Shin Bet statement.
ANKARA- Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday was "very productive and positive", Turkish presidential sources said, adding that a written statement would be made shortly.

The phone call was arranged after Erdogan expressed regret in a letter to Putin on Monday over Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane last year, although the Kremlin later sought to dampen Turkey's hopes for a swift restoration of normal relations.
Government ministers approved the Israel-Turkey reconciliation deal on Wednesday afternoon following a heated four-hour cabinet discussion on a deal which was already signed on Tuesday.

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As expected, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman opposed the agreement. Prior to the cabinet discussions, Bennett and Shaked exited their vehicles to speak to the families of IDF officer Hadar Goldin, IDF soldier Oron Shaul and Israeli citizen Avra Mangisto directly.

Following the agreement's approval, Minister Bennett crticized the deal on the grounds that it would encourage others to seek to harm Israel. I dont see other states apologizing to those who have attacked them. This sets a precedent that we pay compensation to those who harm us. It could encourage others to harm us.

Outside the government offices, the family of Sgt. Oron Shaul, who was killed and captured by Hamas during Operation Protective Edge, protested against signing of the agreement.

Erdogan and Netanyahu. Turkey and Israel are very close to finalizing their reconciliation deal. (Photo: AP, Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Standing shoulder to shoulder with the Shaul family was Avra Mangistos family who have also been campaigning to the release of their son who crossed the border into Gaza in September of 2014.

The families argue that since Turkey has great influence with Hamas, the agreement should have been conditioned in Ankara exerting pressure on the Gaza terror group to release the bodies of Shaul and Goldin, as well as Mangisto and another Israeli citizen whose name is under gag order.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said, My heart goes out to the Goldin, Shaul, and Mangisto families. I promised them I would go to the cabinet and ask the difficult questions before making my decision and I did this. We must do a lot more to bring them home which is why I demanded that a cabinet meeting be held to discuss significantly worsening the conditions of Hamas prisoners.

The Goldin family expressed their outrage at the cabinets decision: We deeply regret the decision to sign an agreement with Turkey without including the return of Hadar and Oron, despite what was promised to us by the prime minister.

Attacking the Netanyahu, the family added, This agreement was lead by the prime minister and was not democratic. It encroaches on the basic values of the IDF and the State of Israel."

Ayelet Shaked speaks to the families (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

On Wednesday, the Goldin family circulated an impassioned letter among all the cabinet ministers urging them not to ratify the agreement which is devoid of a Turkish commitment to securing the release of the missing boys from Hamas grasp.

Naftali Bennett speaks to families of missing boys (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

The number one national interest is that our soldiers who are sent to battle know that whoever sends them will do everything to bring them back. The prime minister signed, in an undemocratic fashion, the deal and only after brought it for approval. Are you a rubber stamp? the letter read. However, it was ultimately to no avail.
Despite government ministers approval of the Israel-Turkey reconciliation deal on Wednesday afternoon following a heated four-hour cabinet discussion Shurat HaDin, a law firm which specializes in representing terror victims in Israel and around the world, raised a series of objections to any knd of reconciliation agreement with Turkey until Hamas is removed from its midsts.

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A high ranking Israeli official recently said that one of the main conditions of the reconciliation agreement with Turkey was that it halt all Hamas operations in its territory. According to the official, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his predecessor Moshe Ya'alon both believed that Turkey should expel Hamas operatives from their offices in Istanbul.

However, as was reflected in the draft agreement and by the statements of Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, the relationship between Hamas and Turkey is not up for discussion, and that the Turkish government will continue to have relations with Hamas "in the interests of peace."

The Turkish minister of foreign affairs added that the relations are known to Israel and don't present an obstacle for normalizing ties with Jerusalem. Although the reconciliation agreement did indeed included a Turkish committment to mitigate Hamas's ability to carry out an attack on Israeli interests from Turkish soil, Hamas is still allowed to continue to operate in Istanbul, and Turkey will continue to have diplomatic relations with the terror group.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yldrm (Photo: AP)

Jerusalem believes that during Turkish President Erdogan's most recent meeting with Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal in Istanbul, the Turkish president explained that the deal with Israel won't be signed at the expense of relations between Turkey and Hamas.

A letter written by Shurat HaDin Chairwoman Nitsana Darshan-Leitner said, "if these reports are correct, then this compromise is completely shameful and unacceptable. We demand that Israel reject the Turkish reconciliation agreement as long as it doesn't include the closing down of Hamas offices in Turkey and the expulsion of the Hamas leadership from its soil. Moreover, Turkey must cease all financial aid to terror groups  foremost amongst them Hamas  through Turkish financial institutions."

"Without fulfilling these conditions, signing a deal with Turkey will only further institutionalize the activities of terror organizations, and will enhance their recognition," the missive continued.

The letter also noted that Turkey has politically and financially supported Hamas for years. When Hamas leader Salah al-Arouri was released from Israeli prison in 2011 under the Gilad Shalit deal, al-Arouri found refuge in Turkey.

Turkish President Erdogan (Photo: AP)

Moreover, after Hamas vacated Damascus in 2012, Turkey provided the organization refuge, with a significant portion of the leadership moving there. The move also signalled the start of Turkish transfers amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the terror group. Indeed, Turkey has since turned into one of the primary benefactors of Hamas.

Darshan-Leitner continued in her letter saying "in Turkey, al-Arouri planned the operation to kidnap the three Israeli kids and kill them : Naftali Frankel, 16; Gilad Sa'ar, 16; and Eyal Yifrach, 19. Moreover, al-Arouri announced in front of a large audience of Islamic students and Turkish government officials that Hamas is responsible for the terror attack."

Accused of murdering Israelis, continuing to operate in Turkey the letter further included a note by Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, Vice President of Research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The note included a list of dozens of high ranking Hamas officials who have found refuge in Turkey and continue to operate from its turf:

 Bakri Hanifa  Senior Hamas economic figure who sent millions of dollars from Qatar to the terror group via Turkey.

 Maher Abed  Part of the Hamas politburo and key financial operative who, according to reports, is the foreign relations commissioner.

 Mohammad Atwan - Hamas terror operative convicted of murdering Warrant Officer Nissim Tolando. He is a Hamas media representative and occasionally gives speeches on the organization.

.

 Tayseer Suleiman  Hamas terror operative who killed an IDF soldier in 1993

 Fahad Sabri Barhan al-Shaludi  Hamas operative affiliated with Suleiman, appears on Turkish TV

Tayser Sulaiman's Facebook page

Schanzer also noted that this is only a small number of the high ranking Hamas officials who are openly residing in Turkey. Furthermore, he says many more can be found if one studies Turkish and Arabic press and relevant social media channels.

Darshan-Leitner's stressed that "any claim by Turkey that they will forbid and stop any attack emanating from their soil is simply not true."

"Turkey has said this in the past, especially after Israel went and complained to NATO in November 2014 about a Hamas terror cell which operated under the direction of Hamas leadership based in Turkey," the letter claims.

A high ranking Turkish official responded saying, "It is lies that Hamas allegedly operates with (on Turkish soil) with the knowledge of the Turkish authorities. While Turkey does in fact have a dialogue with Hamas, we would never let a terrorist organization operate on Turkish soil."

However, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said a few months ago, "Hamas is not a terrorist organization and has never carried out any terror attacks." Erdogan has also stated that Hamas is not a terrorist organization, but a political resistance organization.

Shurat HaDin claims "Israel must demand that Turkey actively work to cut off funding to Hamas and to stop it from operating from its territory. This is the basis upon which any normalization agreement should be with Turkey."
Following Brazils rejection last year of the former Yesha Council leader Dani Dayans nomination as the Israeli ambassador, and the diplomatic debacle which ensued, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering sending another candidate to Brasilia who could also raise a few eyebrows.

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Yossi Sheli, a former businessman who was previously barred from public office for three years after admitting that he had not declared his political affiliation despite being a Likud member at a time when he acted as chairman of the Israel Postal Companys board of directors and director general of the Beer Sheva Municipality.

He came under the scrutiny of Jerusalems local attorneys office in 2008, which issued an indictment alleging that he had presented false affidavits to the the Public Services Authority. He was found guilty in June of perjury and fraud.

Yossi Sheli (Photo: Yisrael Yosef)

In 2012, Sheli signed a plea bargain in which he admitted to the charge of breach of statutory duty without permission. According to the deal, he was forbidden from serving the state until June 2015. Sheli declined to answer questions put forth by Yedioth Ahronoth, Ynet's sister publication.

Netanyahus choice will raise further questions that could give rise to yet another political storm given that he has no diplomatic experience or state advocacy credentials.

Despite Shelis entanglement in these political misdemeanours and the paucity of relevant qualifications on his resume, Netanyahu is considering nominating him and has already informed the Foreign Ministry of his intention to appoint an ambassador. Moreover, the Prime Ministers Office has already approached the Committee for Appointments in the Foreign Service seeking its approval for Shelis nomination.
A large commotion broke out on the floor of the Knesset on Wednesday afternoon after MK Hanin Zoabi (Joint Arab List) said regarding the Turkey reconciliation deal, "The person who murdered is the one who needs to apologize. You need to apologize."

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MKs Mickey Levy (Yes Atid), Micky Rosenthal (Zionist Union), Basel Ghattas (Joint Arab List), and Zehava Galon (Meretz) were removed from the plenum. Levy yelled at Zoabi, "(You) filth!" During the brouhaha, visiting IDF soldiers were observing in the gallery.

The turmoil mounted after Zoabi finished speaking. She asked to return to the podium to apologize, but she then repeated her earlier sentiments: "As long as there is a blockade (on Gaza), I will object to the blockade, and there's a need to organize more flotillas."

Knesset hullabaloo (in Hebrew) ( )

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MK Oren Hazan (Likud) confronted her, "Your friends are murderers; you're complicit in terrorism. You've got some nerve. Time's up. You don't use that podium to speak against IDF soldiers." Zoabi replied, "You committed murder! Murderers! Shut up!"

Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid) insisted that Zoabi cease, and the inflamed orator answered, "Come and hit me, Aliza; come and hit me!"

At this point, Levy physically approached the podium and tried to get Zoabi to stop speaking. Some other parliamentarians yelled at her, "Liar", "Filth," and "You belong in Gaza."

MK Zoabi at the podium (Photo: Knesset Channel)

Hazan yelled at her, "You support terrorism; you encourage terrorism; you have blood on your hands." Hamad Amar (Yisrael Beytenu), who was chairing the session, ordered Zoabi to rescind her inflammatory speech: "If you don't apologize, I'll remove you." Zoabi replied, "The person who murdered is the one who needs to apologize. Nine activists were murdered; you need to apologize and end the blockade on Gaza."

Levy yelled, "Scum!" Amar ordered the Knesset's ushers to remove Zoabi from the plenum, crying out, "Remove Member of Knesset Zoabi! Take her outside!" When she resisted, the ushers employed physical force. Levy came a few meters from Zoabi and yelled, "Scum outside! Scum!"

MK Ilan Gilon (Meretz) was also removed from the plenum after saying, "This entire Knesset is trash."

After Zoabi was removed, Amar said, "Member of Knesset Zoabi lied to me. She said to me, 'I want to apologize.' She told me explicitly. She lied to the chairman of a Knesset session."

Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) later delivered the government's position on the incident: "This stage, a symbol of the sovereignty of the Jewish people in its country, has become a stage of insane incitement. One neo-Fascist (Zoabi) whose only desire in life is to destroy Israel as the state of the Jewish people. She, together with MK (Jamal) Zahalka, the students of the spy Azmi Bisharaand also a traitorHanin Zoabi is a terrorista terrorist!that participated in the terrorist flotilla on the Marmara, who prevented the treatment of the wounded, who incited against the State of Israel and its existence as the Jewish State. We are proud of our soldiers. We salute our soldiers. We are proud of the force that gained control of the Marmara and prevented the breach of the blockade on Gaza; and with the agreement (with Turkey), the blockade on Gaza will continue."

Usher removing Zoabi (Photo: Knesset Channel)

Akunis said further, "At the end of the 18th Knesset, I went to the Central Elections Committee and initiated the disqualification of MK Zoabi from serving in the Knesset. Somebody who works against Israel in an armed conflict can't be in the Knesset, the statute says, and she was disqualified! I say this with a heavy sorrow: an unprecedented historic mistake by persons whom I respect, of an institution that I appreciate, the Supreme Court, returned her by voiding the decision of the Central Elections Committee, which is a Knesset decision. Then, as well, Meretz representatives voted of course against the removal, against the disqualification. There's no reason to see MK Zoabi in the 21st Knesset."

Coalition Chairman and Likud Faction Chairman MK David Bitan said, "What we saw today is the continuation of the provocation of one member of Knesset who does it all the time. She lives off it and thus damages the coexistence between us and the Arabs. We need to make sure that she doesn't stay in the Knesset. She doesn't represent you like she should; stop backing her up. You can't call IDF soldiers 'murderers,' and we won't permit it."

At the conclusion of the debate, Galon, who is also the head of Meretz, said to Amar, "Shame for you who ran this meeting, shame and disgrace; be ashamed."

Shortly after the incident, MKs Nachman Shai (Zionist Union) and Amir Ohana (Likud) filed complaints against Zoabi with the Knesset's Ethics Committee. They claimed that this was not the first time that Zoabi's behavior was inappropriate and that she degraded the dignity of the legislature. The committee is expected to meet and discuss the details of the incident.

According to the Knesset's rules, the maximum penalty that can be imposed on one of its members who radically exceeded accepted behavior is to remove her from the plenum and Knesset committees for six months. Indeed, this punishment was meted out to Zoabi after she participated in the Mavi Marmara flotilla. She was also censured in the same manner for a four-month period for having met with terrorists' families and joining them in a moment of memorial silence; this punishment ended only on June 9.

In extreme cases, the committee can also withhold wages for one month.

Later on Wednesday, Zoabi released a statement to the media in which she continued in her line of accusations: "The agreement with Turkey constitutes an admission of one dry fact: The soldiers of Shayetet 13 murdered nine Turkish civilians aboard the Mavi Marmara, and the person who sent the soldiers and who now signed the deal will pay the price for that."
Palestinian news sites published on Wednesday photos of a "birthday cake" made for Muhammad Ali, who attacked two Israel Police officers at Nablus Gate in Jerusalem in October and was killed in the incident. He was 19 at the time. Printed on the cake is a photograph is a picture of his attack from security footage in which he is stabbing a policeman.

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Beside the picture, frosting writes out "the knives commando," which is a nickname that Ali gained posthumously. Wednesday would have been his 20th birthday. Palestinian news sites wrote that Ali's family prepared the cake and that they appear in pictures alongside it.

Family members posing with the cake

The decorated cake

One site wrote in a caption, "Today is the 20th birthday of the Jerusalemite martyr Muhammad Ali, who carried out a stabbing operation against occupation soldiers near Nablus Gate in occupied Jerusalem."

Family members posing with the cake

Ali, then a resident of the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, on October 10, 2015, sat near two police officers while concealing a knife in his clothes. They approached him and asked him to present his identity card, and he pulled out his knife and stabbed a policeman in the neck. Ali was shot and killed within a matter of seconds by another policeman.
Who knows when the next elections will be held? What's quite certain is that the Likud party will once again be lead by Benjamin Netanyahu. True, he has exhausted his welcome in the eyes of many in his party  and in those of many of their voters. It seems that he is even becoming a bit tired of himself. And still, there's no one in the Likud to go up against him. There's no party to oppose him either, unless a new one were to be established.

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That new party should be organized in advance. It has to come from the political right, plant its feet in the center, and be a national-liberal body. A new Kadima (a centrist political party formed in November 2005 by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. It later became the largest party in the Knesset following the March 2006 national elections, led by Ehud Olmert , who had replaced the medically-incapacitated Sharon. ed). Its leadership could be comprisde of people such as Moshe Ya'alon, Yair Lapid, Gideon Sa'ar, Moshe Kahlon, and Gabi Ashkenazi.

Former defense minister Ya'alon. Goes fromInsult to Insult. (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Ya'alon represents the value of laws and the spirit of workers in Israel. However, he does not inspire enthusiasm among voters, nor is he politically savvy. He moves from insult to insult. As head of the IDF's Military Intelligence Directorate (MID) and as an IDF GOC, he was exposed to Yasser Arafat's lies and took them personally. As IDF chief of staff, he was insulted by being left out of the loop regarding PM Sharon's Gaza disengagement plan . As defense minister, he was horribly insulted by his replacement by Avigdor Lieberman; it was the biggest shame of his career so far. These days, we can see him soothing the pain of that blow with flute playing and meditation, looking like someone who's headed towards an Indian ashram and not the Israeli political leadership.

Lapid created his Yesh Atid party from thin air and has cemented it in impressive fashion. But his record as finance minister is poor and short. His experience on stately and security matters can be summed up by his membership in the Security Cabinet. He's beloved by the Israeli center. His rightward turn of late has been a success. But Lapid is not yet equipped for a prime-ministerial run. He has a future, but not necessarily a near one. It seems that he'd have a hard time taking his party, the fruit of his loins, and merge it with others to create a larger entity.

Gideon Sa'ar. Born and raised in the Likud. (Photo: Barel Efraim)

Moshe Kahlon should avoid running with independent party once more, as his prospects in such a case are quite clearly poor. He is not willing to partner up with the Likud, since he didn't leave his old party just to turn right back around and be Netanyahu's servant once more. Joining a new party would be the best option for him. What's more, he has no current aspirations of being prime minister, and would like another term as finance minister to really make his mark.

Gideon Sa'ar was born and raised in the Likud  an initial advantage, as the goal of this hypothetical new party is to bring in the ruling party's voters. Sa'ar was a senior Likud minister, serving as Minister of Education, then Minister of the Interior. He was also a member of more than one Cabinet. If he's backed up by Ya'alon on one side and Ashkenazi on the other, it could make up for his lack of experience on matters of security.

This new party would need to add in female politicians such as (Minister) Gila Gamliel and (MK) Orly Levy-Abekasis. The real mark of its good future prospects would be (current Minister of Jerusalem Affirs and Likud MK) Ze'ev Elkin asking to join its ranks.

The Israeli Labor party has, for a frustratingly long time, been driving slowly on the Israeli political freeway, jamming up the left-hand lane that could be used better by a real leftist party. It's also obstructing the way for centrist parties that aspire to overtake some of the other vehicles racing towards the Knesset. What can you do with it? There are politicians like MK Tzipi Livni, who wish to organize a large center-left political alliance. Livni apparently believes this alliance should have her at its center. But this kind of entity is a failure in waiting. Instead, there should be a center-right alliance and a leftist alliance.

The Labor party's left wing membersShelly Yachimovich, Merav Michaeli, Stav Shafifr, Yossi Yonaneed to make a connection with Meretz. They would be able to improve Meretz, perhaps bringing it back to the days when it held 12 Knesset seats.

Erel Margalit. A more subtle, Israeli Donald Trump. (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

The Labor party itself will be one step to the new Kadima's left. It needs to put someone like MK Erel Margalit or Amir Peretz at its helm. Margalit is appropriate for the current timesa more subtle, Israeli version of Donald Trump. Peretz is right when he says that he beat Netanyahu and the Likud in Israel's periphery towns.

This kind of political case, in which the divisions and camps are reshuffled, will see Netanyahu and the Likud party bruised, and maybe beaten. But such a case looks like a mere fantasy, a fairytale, since it demands the reengineering of human nature, the neutering of more than one person's ambitions, and the rooting out of many political egos.
The Belgian constitutional court has rejected a proposed bill banning kosher slaughter of animals in the country. Members of the Belgian parliament wanted the law stating that an animal must be shocked before being killed to apply to Jewish slaughterhouses as well, even thought the act is in opposition to Jewish religious law. Jewish organizations turned to the courts, which decided that such an expansion of the law would be a violation of religious liberty.
Just a month ago, Bayit Yehudi members started a crisis surrounding the Security Cabinet. Now, with the Turkey reconciliation deal exposing again its weaknesses compared to the prime minister, a new bill is coming up to strengthen and anchor it. However, now Bayit Yehudi members will be faced with a new dilemma: to support the bill or to oppose it, together with the rest of the coalition.

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MKs Ofer Shelah and Yaakov Perry (both from Yesh Atid) proposed the bill, which is to be discussed at Sunday's meeting of the Committee of Ministers for Legislation. Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) chairs that committee, and she is likely to be under various pressures not to put it on the agenda.

Shaked and Bayit Yehudi Chairman Minister Naftali Bennett protested during the last crisis against the Cabinet's manner of operation, and Bennett even insisted that a military secretary be appointed to every minister who is a member. The protest eventually calmed down when Netanyahu announced a thorough examination of changes in the work methods, but since then he hasn't made any practical changes.

Ayelet Shaket and Naftali Bennett in the Knesset (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

The new bill seeks to weaken the prime minister's absolute power on government decisions and on setting its agenda. The law was formulated following the state comptroller's report on Operation Protective Edge, which indicated Cabinet failings in its handling of the fighting.

Shelah said on Tuesday, "Recent events prove that nothing has improved in Cabinet work or decision-making. As Netanyahu and his ministers do not really want to change, a law is required that would force them to act correctly."

Under the bill, a Cabinet member would be required to dedicate half a day per week for his duties as such. In addition, an advisor would be appointed for each member or each group of members. The bill also requires the Cabinet to meet monthly rather than only as needed and that summons for meetings would not be the sole prerogative of the prime minister, but available to every member of the Cabinet.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman wrote on his Facebook page Wednesday, "The soldiers of the IDF will continue to fight against terrorists at sea, on land, and in the air  and that includes (female) terrorists who sail the seas and are Knesset members."

MK Hanin Zoabi was ejected from the Knesset Assembly hall on Wednesday after referring to IDF soldiers as murderers. Her speech caused uproar among other MKs, several of whom were also evicted from the hall.
Providing airpower to Operation Freedom's Sentinel

Lt. Col. David Efferson, 457th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron commander, conducts a pre-flight inspection of an F-16C Fighting Falcon, June 28, 2016, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. The aircraft receives inspections before takeoff and after landing to see if there are any maintenance issues with the aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Justyn M. Freeman)
Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - With the Cedar Fire now more than 75 percent contained and pre-evacuation orders lifted, Governor Doug Ducey issued the following statement today, thanking firefighters and encouraging Arizonans to travel safely this weekend.

The state continues to monitor other fires in the state, including the Bug Fire near Cordes Junction in Yavapai County, and the governor is receiving regular updates.

I want to applaud our brave firefighters for their work the last two weeks to contain the Cedar Fire. On my visit to survey the fire, I saw first-hand the commitment these outstanding professionals had to protecting our citizens and natural resources. Local leaders and fire professionals, coordinating closely with state officials, have worked around the clock to control this fire and protect public safety.

With the Fourth of July weekend approaching, I encourage all Arizonans to stay safe and travel to the White Mountain region. From Pinetop-Lakeside to Show Low, Navajo County is one of the most beautiful corners of our state, particularly in the summer. The area is open for business. As always, remain safe, alert and vigilant. Fire season continues, and everyone can do their part to prevent forest fires. Please pay attention to weather and safety alerts, and drive carefully on state highways and interstates.

"My office, the State Forester and all appropriate state agencies will continue working closely with local and federal officials throughout the state on this and other fires, including the Bug Fire currently burning in Yavapai County.

"Again, thank you to all the firefighters, fire professionals, public safety officials, local leaders, state agency personnel and elected officials throughout the state who have worked and continue to work in partnership to protect our state."
Latest News

Washington, DC - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, and the Texas Association of Business, today hosted a cybersecurity conference aimed at helping small and mid-size business owners develop, evaluate, and strengthen cybersecurity programs.

A few years ago, cyberattacks against the government and corporations were on the margins of news stories, but now a day doesn't go by that we don't hear about a data breach or cyber-intrusion, said Ann Beauchesne, senior vice president for National Security and Emergency Preparedness at the U.S. Chamber. Through this conference and our cybersecurity awareness campaign, the Chamber is urging businesses of all sizes to adopt fundamental Internet security practices to reduce network weaknesses and make the price of successful hacking steep.

The event brought together top experts from government, law enforcement, and the private sector to discuss how to navigate the cybersecurity framework released by the White House, give business owners tools and tips for strengthening their cybersecurity programs, and explore ways to partner with law enforcement before cyber incidents occur. It also featured a panel looking at cybersecurity in the financial services industry, where cybersecurity is increasingly becoming a top priority.

In our increasingly digital world, cybersecurity is a topic that is applicable to absolutely everyone. The U.S. and San Antonio Chambers are doing an outstanding job of spreading awareness on this critical topic, said U.S. Representative Will Hurd (TX-23), a former cybersecurity entrepreneur and current chair of the House Subcommittee on Information Technology. Most importantly, this conference is a great opportunity to showcase my hometown. With more cybersecurity professionals than any other place in the U.S. outside of the national capitol region, and with local assets like the 24th Air Force, NSA Texas and USAA, San Antonio is in the perfect position to continue its rise as the nations leader in cybersecurity solutions.

When we look at the scope of the threats from cyberspace  and at the determination of our adversaries  an important lesson is that were in this together, said Suzanne Spaulding, under secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Our government networks, like those in the private sector, are constantly probed for weaknesses. Thats why its imperative that we work together to increase our collective level of security and resilience. One of the best ways to do that is through our National Cybersecurity Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) at DHS, which plays a critical role as the key civilian information-sharing portal between the government and the private sector. 

Held at the Embassy Suites San Antonio Riverwalk, the event featured speakers including Director of The University of Texas at San Antonio Center for Education and Research in Information and Infrastructure Assurance and Security Nicole Beebe, Ridge Global President Chris Furlow, Vice President and Chief Information Security and Privacy Officer of USAA Dave McDermitt, Citi Director and Global Head of Security Operations Center (SOC)Delfim Martins, FBI Special Agent Justin Allbritton, and National Institute of Standards and Technology Program Manager for the Computer Security Division Matt Barrett, among others.



The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the worlds largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.
Latest News

Washington, DC - Consumer Reports has partnered with the nonprofit Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting to produce a special report examining the nations growing student debt crisis, in which some 42 million people owe $1.3 trillion. The report explores how the crisis occurred, and what people including parents and students can do about it today.

The education debt report is being released concurrently today by both institutions, with a cover story in Consumer Reports August issue, and online at both http://ConsumerReports.org/studentdebt and RevealNews.org/studentdebt. CR and Reveal contributed unique pieces of content, including separate articles reported and written by each organization, along with videos, infographics, survey findings, and student profiles. Reveals version of the investigation dives deeper into the players and decisions that created the student debt crisis todayincluding the roles played by banks and investment firms, private investors, debt collection agencies, the federal government, and public universities. In addition, the topic is the focus of Reveals hour-long public radio show and podcast, which begins airing on public radio stations across the country starting on Saturday, July 2, and will be available on the Reveal podcast on Monday, July 4: revealnews.org/podcast.

CIR and Consumer Reports also are partnering on a social media campaign using the hashtag #mydebtcouldbuy. On Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, we are asking readers to share the amount they owe in student debt, paired with the hashtag and an example of what they could purchase for that amount: for example, a new car, a tropical vacation, or 2,500 cups of coffee.

The two organizations hope that this joint effort will illuminate the forces that led to the debt crisis, illustrate the profound and lasting impact the debt can have, and offer practical advice for those looking to avoid the trap. The report includes a guide on how parents can have a frank talk about financing college with their teens, built around 10 key questions every family should discuss before they choose a school.

Degrees of Debt & Regret

Because the data consistently shows that getting a college education translates into a better future and higher lifetime earnings, it should be worth the money you spend on it. But try telling that to the 1,500 Americans with student debt who responded to a nationally representative March 2016 Consumer Reports National Research Center survey. The burden of paying off significant loans has left many questioning whether college was worth the cost after they left.

Forty-five percent of people who are no longer in college and have student loan debt said that college was not worth the cost. Of those who said college wasnt worth the money:

38% didnt graduate

69% have had trouble making loan payments

78% earn less than $50,000 per year

43% didnt get help from parents when making financial aid decisions

CRs survey demonstrated that once people leave college, student debt impacts them in a variety of ways. For example, 44% cut back on day-to-day living expenses, 37% delayed saving for retirement or other financial goals, 28% delayed buying a house, 12% delayed marriage, and 14% changed careers as a result of student debt.

The package includes a section called Having the College Money Talk, which suggests that parents and teens sit down together for a frank discussion about family finances and create an action plan so that everyone can weigh his or her options rationally when acceptance letters and student aid offers are on the table. It begins with 10 key questions. For the full report, visit: ConsumerReports.org/studentdebt. Heres a look at some of the questions and tips:
Latest News

Stanford, California - When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the worry in the West was what would happen to that countrys thousands of nuclear weapons. Would loose nukes fall into the hands of terrorists, rogue states, criminals  and plunge the world into a nuclear nightmare?

Fortunately, scientists and technical experts in both the U.S. and the former Soviet Union rolled up their sleeves to manage and contain the nuclear problem in the dissolving Communist country.

One of the leaders in this relationship was Stanford engineering professor Siegfried Hecker, who served as a director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory before coming to Stanford as a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation. He is a world-renowned expert in plutonium science, global threat reduction and nuclear security.

Hecker cited one 1992 meeting with Russian scientists in Moscow who were clearly concerned about the risks. In his new book, Doomed to Cooperate: How American and Russian scientists joined forces to avert some of the greatest post-Cold War nuclear dangers, Hecker quoted one Russian expert as saying, We now need to be concerned about terrorism.

Earning both scientific and political trust was a key, said Hecker, also a senior fellow at Stanfords Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. The Russians were proud of their scientific accomplishments and highly competent in the nuclear business  and they sought to show this to the Americans scientists, who became very confident in their Russian counterparts technical capabilities as they learned more about their nuclear complex and toured the labs.

Economic collapse, political turmoil

But the nuclear experts faced an immense problem. The Soviets had about 39,000 nuclear weapons in their country and in Eastern Europe and about 1.5 million kilograms of plutonium and highly enriched uranium (the fuel for nuclear bombs), Hecker said. Consider that the bomb that the U.S. dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki in 1945 was only six kilograms of plutonium, he added. Meanwhile, the U.S. had about 25,000 nuclear weapons in the early 1990s.

Hecker and the rest of the Americans were deeply concerned about the one million-plus Russians who worked in nuclear facilities. Many faced severe financial pressure in an imploding society and thus constituted a huge potential security risk.

The challenge that Russia faced with its economy collapsing was enormous, he said in an interview.

The Russian scientists, Hecker said, were motivated to act responsibly because they realized the awful destruction that a single nuclear bomb could wreak. Hecker noted that one Russian scientist told him, We arrived in the nuclear century all in one boat, and a movement by anyone will affect everyone. Hecker noted, Therefore, you know, we were doomed to work together to cooperate.

All of this depended on the two governments involved easing nuclear tensions while allowing the scientists to collaborate. In short order, the scientists developed mutual respect and trust to address the loose nukes scenario.

The George H.W. Bush administration launched nuclear initiatives to put the Russian government at ease. For example, it took the nuclear weapons off U.S. Navy surface ships and some of its nuclear weapons off alert to allow the Russians to do the same. The U.S. Congress passed the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction legislation, which helped fund some of the loose nuke containment efforts.

While those were positive measures, Hecker said, it was ultimately the cooperation among scientists, what they called lab-to-lab-cooperation, that allowed the two former superpower enemies to get past the sensitivity barriers and make the world a safer place.

Since the end of the Cold War, no significant nuclear event has occurred as a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its nuclear complex, Hecker noted.

Lesson: cooperation counts

One lesson from it all, Hecker said, is that government policymakers need to understand that scientists and engineers can work together and make progress toward solving difficult, dangerous problems.

We dont want to lose the next generation from understanding what can actually be done by working together, he said. So, we want to demonstrate to them, Look, this is what was done when the scientists were interested and enthusiastic and when the government gave us enough room to be able to do that.

Hecker said this scientific cooperation extended to several thousand scientists and engineers at the Russian sites and at U.S. nuclear labs  primarily the three defense labs: Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia national laboratories. Many technical exchanges and visits between scientists in Russia and the United States took place.

He recalled visiting some of the nuclear sites in Russian cities shrouded by mystery. These cities were so secret, they didnt even appear on Soviet maps.

Change of threat

When the Soviet Union collapsed, the nature of the nuclear threat changed, Hecker said. The threat before was one of mutual annihilation, but now the threat changed to what would happen if nuclear assets were lost, stolen or somehow evaded the control of the government.

From an American perspective we referred to these as the four loose nuclear dangers,' he said.

This included securing the loose nukes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe; preventing nuclear materials or bomb fuel from getting into the wrong hands; the human element involving the people who worked in the Soviet nuclear complex; and finally, the loose exports problem of someone trying to sell nuclear materials or technical components to overseas groups like terrorists or rogue nations.

For Hecker, this is not just an American story. It is about a selfless reconciliation with a longtime enemy for the greater global good, a relationship not corrupted by ideological or nationalistic differences, but one reflective of mutual interests of the highest order.

The primary reason, he said, why we didnt have a nuclear catastrophe was the Russian nuclear workers and the Russian nuclear officials. Their dedication, their professionalism, their patriotism for their country was so strong that it carried them through these times in the 1990s when they often didnt get paid for six months at a time  The nuclear complex did its job through the most trying times. And it was a time when the U.S. government took crucial conciliatory measures with the new Russian Federation and gave us scientists the support to help make the world a safer place.
Spanish News

San Luis, California - Cafe Literario (Literary Cafe) is held every Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. at the San Luis Library. Meet with members of your community and enjoy coffee, tea, and lively conversation! The group will read popular Spanish books and discuss books, authors, and more.

There is no charge to attend.



Please note, discussion will be in Spanish.



The San Luis Library is located at 1075 N 6th Avenue in San Luis, Arizona. For more information, call (928) 627-8344.
My sole motivation behind letting myself into that abominable prison house called school was the little white stick that my mother allowed me to grab and lick after the classes were over. I used to look with wishful eyes the attractive white box of ice cream walla who also had other varieties-the red tangy one that came in twenty five paisa, the slightly yellow one that came in fifty paisa and the expensive white creamy one that came in full one rupee. My mother had warned me against eating the orange one as she said it contained worms that came out if you sprinkled salt on it! So my childhood remained deprived of that one single taste that so often contented the appetite of my not-so-affluent friends. <BR><BR> When I went to college I read about globalisation, about the invasion of markets by foreign goods and of absolute wiping out of the local economy by organized production houses. But I could not understand these things till one day while crossing from near my school my eyes failed to spot that old ice cream walla whose presence had become such an inseparable part of the entire set up. It came as a rude shock to me that his place was now taken by three four colourful wheeled vans endorsing attractive logos and pictures of branded ice cream. <BR><BR> That changes are always for better or worse is like putting an emotion into plain black and white. I may have in my own personal way some attachment with the white stick ice cream or with the more expensive soapy, frothy softie of my school days but the accessibility, taste and variety that the present day ice cream industry is offering is no doubt incomparable. <BR><BR> Who would have thought barely a decade ago of eating ice creams made of real fresh fruits- a la Gelato Vittorio or a cool creamy liquid fried in hot boiling oil or what is called today the fried ice cream. <BR><BR> In India the ice cream industry took sometimes to catch the global cue because the country has an indigenous rich and well developed dessert market. What ice cream would stand in competition against Indian sweets? But no you cant say so just because you are born in the land of Kulfi. You will have the authority only when you taste Baked Alaska (an ice-cream sponge cake dish topped with meringue), Arctic roll (British dessert made of vanilla and flour), Adzuki (Japanese red bean ice cream) and Dondruma( a Turkish ice made of salep and mastic resin). <BR><BR> We Indians who generally go gaga over a handful of varieties that Baskin Robbins offers are unaware of the fact that the company actually makes 1000 flavours! What we get in India generally as branded ice cream is nothing but milk and corn flour seasoned with a few chemicals and packed in attractive cones, cups and cornettos. Our knowledge of Ice cream is so poor that we do not even know what cornetto is! Most of us think it is the name of an ice cream that Kwality offers. Update your dictionary- it is actually the registered name of an improved variety of waffle cone that does not become soggy and that was invented and patented by an Italian firm called Spica in 1960! <BR><BR> The world offers so much in shape of that delicate, cool, tender delight called ice cream that I being a lover of it feel choked with emotion at my own minisculeness and misfortune of not having tasted even a fraction of that tremendous, rich and inexhaustible treasure. What is thy life O mortal, my heart cries out, if thou hast not known the glories of the Australian Giant Sandwich Monster, the Manoco Bar, the Irish Scottish Sliders, the Argentine Helado, the Greek Kimaki and the Japanese Macha! <BR><BR> Sometimes I wonder whether there is an intricate connection between the survival of a race and its appetite for ice cream! Otherwise why would the Greeks, the Romans, the Chinese and the Persians survive the ravages of time and the Glorious Harappan civilization fade into oblivion? And let us be pragmatic and not blame some harmless ecology or innocent river for their decline. The reason I am sure was hidden in their food habits-they having failed to secure the divine blessings of the Gods. Yes, thats precisely what the ancient Greeks called ice cream! Imagine what foodies they must have been that nearly 4000 years ago they got for themselves ice houses constructed at the banks of Euphrates and as early as 5th century BC they began its marketing by selling ice cones mixed with fruit and honey. A honey flavoured cornetto.! <BR><BR> Roman emperor Nero (62 AD) was fond of fruit ice cream and hence sent his servants to fetch ice from mountains! The Falooda that we eat today is actually a Persian dish Faloodeh made from starch and has its origin around 400BC. The Chinese who claim to be the pioneers in almost everything -be it the first currency notes, the first stint with silk or the first to flood the markets of neighbours with cheap plastic goods-were not far behind in making ice cream too. They are credited to have invented a device that made quick ice using salt peter (no, it was not imported from Bihar, China had enough of it). <BR><BR> The unfortunate Charles I whom the world knows as an autocrat, a despot, a tyrant, an enemy of democracy and parliament was also a lover of ice cream! It is said that he made his chef keep the formula a secret so that it remained a royal prerogative. <BR><BR> Our great Mughals, we should not forget were the die hard lovers of food and all that is rich and luxurious in the modern Indian cuisine has a Mughal origin. So they too loved ice cream and they too enjoyed it in royal feasts and ceremonies. When they could get choicest fruits from Farghana and Samarquand and the best wines from Persia, why couldnt they send relays of horsemen to bring ice from Hindukush for their aromatic fruit sherbets? <BR><BR> But were sending horsemen to run and fetch ice or storing ice in underground icehouses near rivers, the only way of making ice creams in those days? Sadly, yes. And thats why the common man remained deprived of and unknown to its delectable taste. But lets thank Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia who first got the patent for a small hand run ice cream freezer. Gradually with the coming of electricity there also came a revolution in ice cream making. Thereafter Giant corporates like Howard Johnson, Dairy Queen, Baskin Robbins, Gelato Vittorio, Ben and Jerrys, Haagen Dazs and Carvel changed the concept of ice cream in the world. Soft serves, Sundaes and super premiums began to be offered by shops next door. <BR><BR> Thanks to globalisation, the world has really become a small place to live in. Today I can access any ice cream from the world over in my local confectionary shop. but among the confused tastes of multitudinous flavours I some how always try to find that one singular taste of the white stick ice-cream which trickled through my fingers and ran into my nursery uniformspoiling it but leaving an imprint on my memory which has failed to faint in all these years.
New Delhi: Expressing disappointment over India's failure to become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the United States on Wednesday 'regretted' that its government was unsuccessful in making it a member of the grouping at its plenary in Seoul last week.

"We regret that in Seoul, we and India were unable to open the space necessary to allow India to the NSG at this moment.... but we are not giving it up," U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Tom Shannon said.

In a veiled reference to China, who opposed India's NSG bid, Shannon said one country can break consensus in a consensus-based organisation, while asserting that such a member should be held accountable.

"We understand that in a consensus-based organisation, one country can break consensus. But in order to do so it must be accountable, not isolated," he said.

Shannon further described India as a responsible and important player in the sphere of nuclear non-proliferation.

"India's recent entry into the MTCR from our point of view highlights that India is an important and responsible player in the world of non proliferation and so we want to have a strengthened position," he added.

He also said U.S. believes that India through its work in the Civil Nuclear Agreement is worthy of a place in NSG.

"We are committed to having India join the Nuclear Suppliers Group. We believe that through the kind of work we have done, the civil nuclear agreement, the way India conducted itself, it is worthy of this," he added.

He also said United States and India need to sit down and take a close look at what happened at Seoul.

"Take a close look at the diplomatic approaches which were significant and see what more we can do," he added.
Hyderabad: In yet another blow to YSR Congress party leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday attached properties worth Rs 749.10 crore, in in connection with money laundering probe, reports PTI.

The agency launched the investigations on the basis of a charge sheet filed by the CBI accusing Jagan, son of then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, of entering into a criminal conspiracy with others to get a mining lease allotted to M/s Bharathi Cement Corporation Private Ltd of which Bharathi is the chairman.

Jagan received bribes from various persons/companies in the guise of investments in his group companies as a quid pro quo for undue favours granted to them by the Andhra Pradesh government, the ED said in a statement here.

A case of laundering was registered against Jagan and others by ED's Hyderabad zonal office under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

ED said its investigations under PMLA revealed that Jagan laundered the proceeds of crime through his group companies M/s Sandur Power Company Pvt Ltd, M/S Classic Realty Pvt Ltd, M/s Silicon Builders Pvt Ltd, M/s Saraswati Power and Industries Pvt Ltd and 10 other firms in the form of investments, purchase of movable and immovable properties, third party payments, etc.

Apart from it, M/s Bharathi Cement Corporation Pvt Ltd has received the proceeds of crime in the form of limestone mined from the mines allotted illegally to them in Kadapa district by then AP government. The value of limestone works out to be more than Rs 152 crore during the relevant period, it said.

"During investigation under PMLA, the proceeds of crime involved in money laundering were identified in the form of movable (Rs 404,72,32,182) and immovable properties (Rs 344,38,10,378) totally valued at Rs 749.10 crore," ED Joint Director (Hyderabad Zone) S A Umashanker Goud said.

The attached properties are spread across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

In the past, the agency had attached properties worth several hundreds of crores belonging to Jagan and others.

CBI had filed 11 chargesheets against Jagan and others pertaining to the alleged investments made by various private firms and individuals to the tune of several crores in his businesse. The agency said this was part of quid pro quo arrangement in exchange for alleged favours by the erstwhile Rajasekhar Reddy government.

(With PTI inputs)
Hyderabad: In a major breakthrough, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids at several places in Hyderabad on Tuesday following a tip off about suspicious terror-related activities here.

According to initial reports, a full-fledged ISIS terror module was also busted after the multiple raids by the NIA officials at the old quarters of the IT-city..

At least ten alleged ISIS agents have also been detained by the NIA sleuths. They are being interrogated for more leads at the moment.

The arrests were made from houses in Chandrayangutta, Mirchowk, Talabkatta, Bhavaninagar and Mogalpura, said TV reports.

A large cache of weapons, explosives and cash has also been seized in the raids. The module is believed to be involved in recruiting ISIS inclined youths to work as Jihadis for the Iraq and syria based global terror outfit.

The members of the module were under watch for over four months after which the NIA decided to raid their hideouts here.

ANI quoted NIA sources as saying that popular public spots and religious places were their main targets. The detained ISIS sympathisers were in direct touch with their suspected handler in Syria, the NIA sources further said.

NIA had credible information that five of the 11 people detained were involved in terrorist activities. An FIR was also registered against them on June 22, the sources said. Those five people have been identified as Mohd Illiyas Yazdani, Mohd. Ibrahim, Habib Mohd, Mohd Irfan, Abdullah Bin Ahmad.

The raids come at a time when parts of the city are under prohibitory orders because of a strike by lawyers that has been on for over three weeks.

At the start of this year, 14 people suspected to be sympathisers of the ISIS were picked up from across the country in an anti-terror operation by the NIA.
Melbourne: In an apparent hate crime, a mosque in Australia has been targeted with a firebomb and sprayed with anti-Islamic graffiti while hundreds of Muslims were inside for evening prayer, prompting the Prime Minister to condemn the incident.

The attack occurred last night near the Australian Islamic College in Perth.

Local police said that accelerant was used to set the vehicles alight outside the Thornlie Mosque.

A car was gutted and four other vehicles were also damaged by heat, according to media reports.

"This, undoubtedly is a criminal act of hate, but it is the act of a person or group not the greater whole," a teacher at the Australian Islamic College said on Facebook.

An offensive anti-Islam message was also sprayed on a nearby wall but was later removed.

"Three men were seen fleeing the area after the attack", police said.

Police have released CCTV footage of the men wearing hooded jumpers, who were last seen running through an alley.

According to the Imam of the mosque, hundreds of worshippers were praying inside at the time of the suspected petrol bomb attack, however no-one was injured.

The incident was condemned by the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who said,"[Australia is] founded on a fundamental, a foundation of mutual respect. It's the golden rule... I deplore and I cannot condemn strongly enough any attacks of that kind."

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the incident appeared to be politically motivated.
Patna: The SIT investigating the infamous Bihar toppers scam on Wednesday requested banks concerned to freeze the bank accounts of all the arrested accused, including kingpin Bachcha Rai, police said on Wednesday.

The other arrested in the case are former Bihar Education Board Chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad and his wife and former Janata Dal-United legislator Usha Sinha. Former board Secretary Harharnath Jha, Visheshwar Prasad and others are also allegedly involved in the case.

A police official said the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had written to the regional managers of the banks concerned on the matter.

The SIT had moved a local court for issuance of arrest warrants against Bihar's Class 12 Arts 'topper' Rubi Rai, who was arrested on Saturday after failing a re-test at the board's office.

Ruby told police during preliminary questioning that it was 'Bachcha chacha' and her father who helped her to top the exam. On the basis of her statement, the SIT will now arrest her father, police said.

So far, over 20 persons have been arrested in the case, police said.

The scam surfaced after Aaj Tak TV channel showed a sting in which two Class 12 toppers could not answer even elementary questions about the subjects they 'topped' in.


New Delhi: The National Commission for Women (NCW) will on Wednesday submit to the Prime Minister's Office its report on the alleged gang-rape of a 21-year-old in Bihar's Motihari.

The NCW had announced an inquiry into the incident and one of its members had visited the town in Bihar's East Champaran district as part of a fact- finding mission.

Sushma Sahu, the NCW member who traveled to Motihari, said: "In the report, we have mentioned that doctors in Bihar still continue to use the two-finger test, which has already been banned. We have also sought details from the doctor who carries out medical tests on rape survivors because we suspect that several rape cases are simply brushed aside.

"We will also summon the civil surgeon on July 1. We also have several issues specifically about the local police and we will be sharing those with the Home Minister (Rajnath Singh).

The girl was allegedly gang-raped by five men in Motihari nearly a week ago.

Five men, who had stormed into the woman's hut, dragged her out and gang-raped her in front of her parents and neighbours. The accused had allegedly inserted a pistol and a wooden stick in her private parts.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: A 21-year-old woman, who was allegedly gangraped in Motihari in East Champaran district in Bihar on late Wednesday, was subjected to a two-finger test despite a ban by the Supreme Court, the National Commission for Women allegedly said in its report.

The women body today shared the report with the Prime Minister's Office and also sought an appointment with Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss its concern about the Bihar police administration.

Though, the NCW Chairperson did not divulge the details of the report, a source said it mentions that the alleged rape survivor had to undergo the two-finger test despite the court ban order. It is to be noted that the two-finger test conducted on rape victims by hospital administration was banned by the Supreme Court in 2013 who maintained that it violates the right of rape survivors' to privacy.

The report also questioned the role of doctors, alleging that they deliberately brush aside cases of rapes by meddling with test reports, the source claimed.

NCW is also expected to discuss with the Home Minister its concern about the Bihar police administration, the source said.

The Commission had instituted the inquiry into the gangrape and one of its members had visited the town as part of a fact-finding mission.

Two Union ministers from Bihar, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Minister of State for Human Resources Development Upendra Kushwa, who had met the woman's family last week, compared the case with the December 16 gangrape incident.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too has come under Opposition fire over "increasing lawlessness" in the state.

The incident had taken place nearly a week ago. Five men who had stormed into the woman's hut, dragged her out and gangraped her in front of her parents and neighbours. The accused had allegedly inserted a pistol and a wooden stick in her private parts.

Five persons have been arrested in connection with the case and two policemen suspended for dereliction of duty.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: Fighting to save its 21 parliamentary secretaries in the capital from being disqualified, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday wrote to the Election Commission and sought similar action against MLAs in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

The AAP in its letter said 24 parliamentary secretaries have been appointed by the Punjab government and nine by the Himachal Pradesh government, The Indian Express reported. All these should also be disqualified on charges of office of profit, the party added.

The AAP letter comes in the wake of the Commissions decision to personally meet the 21 AAP MLAs next month amid the row over their appointment as parliamentary secretaries by Delhi's AAP government.

Recently, the Delhi government had brought and passed a Bill in the Legislative Assembly to ratify the appointment of the 21 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries.

The Bill aimed at exempting the position of parliamentary secretary from the definition of Office of Profit.

However, President Pranab Mukherjee returned the Bill without his approval.
New Delhi: Hindu Mahasabha chief Swami Chakrapani, who was recently in news for burning a car that purportedly belonged to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, has been provided Z-category security after four people were arrested for planning an attack on him.

Chakrapani had earlier written to the Union Home Ministry in which he mentioned about receiving fresh threats from 'D-Company'.

Chakrapani, who won the car at an open auction in Mumbai on December 9, had publicly burnt the vehicle in Ghaziabad.

According to reports, the Hindu Mahasabha chief had earlier refused the security cover.
New Delhi: The Delhi University will release the first cut-off list online for admissions to its undergraduate courses late on Wednesday.

This year, students can expect a jump of at least 0.5-1 % across streams. The reason for high cut-off can be attributed to rise in the number of students scoring 90% and above in Class 12 board examinations. Another reason could be the higher number of students applying to the university as compared to the last year.

A total of 2,50,914 lakh students have applied for admission to various undergraduate course of Delhi University.

This year in CBSE, at least 90,000 students scored more than 90% marks as compared to over 60,000 last year.

The admissions will commence from June 30, that is, tomorrow. To check the cut-off lists, the students need to log in to the admission portal of the university.

The high cut-offs will see a rise in off-campus admission and evening colleges given the trend in the last few years.

According to Indian Express, B.A. (Honours) English course received maximum number of applications i.e. 1,15,786 followed by B.A. programme with over 98,000 applications and B.A. (Honours) Political Science jumping the 90,000 mark.
Brussels: EU leaders have given Britain breathing space by accepting it needed time to absorb a shock Brexit vote before triggering a divorce but insisted the crunch move could not wait months.

A humiliated Prime Minister David Cameron came face-to-face with European colleagues for the first time since last week's vote at a Brussels summit which leaders said was "sad" but pragmatic.

Trillions of dollars have been wiped off world markets since Thursday's vote to leave the EU, while the United Kingdom's future has been thrown into doubt after Scotland said it would push for a new independence referendum.

Further shockwaves juddered through British politics as Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour party, vowed to fight on despite losing a crushing no-confidence vote among his party's lawmakers.

Thousands of people took to the streets of London, which voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU, to protest against the referendum result, waving EU flags and placards saying: "Stop Brexit".

After hours of talks in Brussels, EU President Donald Tusk said that he understood that time was needed "for the dust to settle" in Britain before the next steps can be taken.

But reflecting wider concerns of a domino effect of other states wanting to leave, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said Britain did not have "months to meditate".

He set a clear timetable for triggering Article 50, the EU treaty clause that begins the two-year withdrawal process, after Cameron's successor takes office in early September.

Juncker said that if the new prime minister was a pro-remain figure, Article 50 should be activated "in two weeks after his appointment" -- but if it was a supporter of the leave campaign, "it should be done the day after his appointment," he added.

The current favourites to take over from Cameron are leading "out" campaigner Boris Johnson and interior minister Theresa May, a low-key backer of EU membership.

Over a dinner of poached veal tenderloin followed by strawberries, a chastened Cameron urged EU leaders to consider reforming rules on freedom of movement, one of the EU's central tenets, to cement a close relationship with Britain post-Brexit.

He said Britain and the EU should "have as close an economic relationship as possible and that the key to staying close is really to look at reform to free movement," a Downing Street source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A British government source added that Cameron believed that free movement was "one of the driving factors in people voting to leave".

At a press conference, Cameron insisted he had no regrets about holding the referendum.

Earlier, US President Barack Obama warned against "hysteria" as stock markets and the pound staged a tentative recovery after days of losses that saw sterling slump to a 31-year low.
Brussels: Talks were underway for the second day on Wednesday at the European Union summit here over the UK`s decision to leave the bloc, but without the presence of British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The 27 other member states will discuss plans for Britain`s likely EU exit, with the UK absent from negotiations for the first time in 40 years.

Arriving at the talks on Wednesday morning, Belgium Prime Minister Charles Michel told BBC Britain "cannot afford the luxury of having a long-drawn-out political crisis".

Michel said trying to reach an agreement among all 27 countries would create "immobility", and suggested that a smaller, core group of countries could "move ahead more quickly, without the others preventing them".

At the moment, the EU and Britain are locked in a kind of stalemate. EU leaders insist there can be no negotiation before the UK has formally invoked Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which will trigger the withdrawal talks.

David Cameron said Article 50 should be invoked by his successor as Prime Minister, effectively pushing the beginning of the process back until at October at the very earliest.

Tuesday`s meeting in Brussels was Cameron`s final EU summit, after he announced his intention to stand down by October.

In the meeting, Cameron said the rest of the EU wanted to have the "closest possible" relationship with the UK after Brexit.

But he said immigration was a "great concern" among UK voters and squaring this with access to the EU single market would be a "huge challenge".

On June 24, Britain voted 52 percent to 48 per cent for its exit from the EU, 43 years after becoming a member of the bloc in 1973.
London: The first candidate to put himself forward to succeed David Cameron as British prime minister, Stephen Crabb, has said a top priority for him would be to take back control of immigration policy.

Crabb, the work and pensions secretary in Cameron`s government, had supported a "Remain" vote in last week`s referendum on the European Union, which saw Britain vote to leave the bloc by 52 to 48 percent.

Cameron, who led the Remain campaign, has announced his resignation and a leadership contest will now take place in the ruling Conservative Party to elect his successor by early September.

"We cannot allow this leadership election to be defined by divisive labels like `Remainer` and `Brexiteer`," Crabb wrote in a column in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, calling on Conservatives to unite.

Crabb said, "The people`s verdict on the EU was clear and there would be no going back."

"A second referendum revisiting the issue was out of the question", he wrote.

"I want to lead a government that delivers on the expectations of the 17 million people who voted for Britain to leave the EU," he wrote.

"One of the overwhelming messages from that vote was the need to take back control of immigration policy in the UK. So for me, freedom of movement is a red line."

The Remain camp had argued that if Britain wanted to retain access to the European single market, which it presented as crucial for its economy, it would have to come to a compromise over freedom of movement which is a key principle for the EU.

A former state school pupil who was brought up by his single mother in a social housing home and once worked as a building site labourer, Crabb has been dubbed the 'blue collar ticket' by some newspapers.

His background contrasts dramatically with those of Cameron and of Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London who is seen as the frontrunner in the leadership contest, both of whom attended Eton, an elite private boarding school, and Oxford University.

Crabb has gained support from Business Secretary Sajid Javid.

Nominations must be submitted by Thursday.

Apart from Johnson, the other senior figure widely expected to join the fray is Home Secretary Theresa May.
District of Columbia: The suicide assault on Istanbul`s Ataturk airport bears the "hallmark" of an Islamic State attack, CIA Director John Brennan said Wednesday.

No group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday`s attack, which killed 41 people and wounded 239 more.

"The despicable attacks in Istanbul International Airport yesterday that killed dozens and injured many more certainly bears the hallmark of ISIL`s depravity," Brennan said, using an acronym for the IS group.

Witnesses described scenes of terror and panic as the attackers began shooting indiscriminately and then blew themselves up at the entrance to Ataturk airport, one of Europe`s busiest hubs.

The attack followed coordinated IS suicide bombings in March at the Brussels airport and a city metro station that left 32 people dead.

Brennan said the IS group typically does not claim responsibility for attacks in Turkey, so it can send a message to the Turkish government without alienating potential future recruits in the country.

America`s top spy added that the IS group may well be planning a similar attack in the United States.

"If anyone believes that the US homeland is hermetically sealed... I would guard against that," he said.

Earlier this month, a gunman killed 49 people at a Florida gay nightclub in the deadliest terror attack on US soil since September 11, 2001.

The shooter, US-born Omar Mateen, pledged allegiance to the IS group while carrying out the attack.
Washington DC: Hours after the deadly attack which left 41 people dead, Istanbul`s Ataturk Airport resumed its service.

Turkish Airlines says, it has resumed all flight operations, and Washington lifted a stoppage of flights between the US and Istanbul`s Ataturk airport.

Iran, however, suspended all flights to Istanbul on Wednesday.

According to CNN, three terrorists attacked the arrivals hall and a nearby parking lot with gunfire and explosives, killing 41 people. Of the 239 people injured Tuesday night, 128 remained hospitalised Wednesday, officials said.

Witness Laurence Cameron who saw and survived the carnage, said that despite the horrors of the day, everything was quite calm at the present, which was a little surreal.

"I was at the airport this morning looking for my lost luggage. They were sweeping up debris, and someone had hung up a big Turkish flag, pretty much right at the spot where (a) bomb had gone off - sort of an act of defiance, which was quite moving," he said.

At least 14 of the 41 killed were foreign nationals. The attack killed six Saudis and wounded 27 more, the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry said.

The other victims killed included two Iraqis, one Tunisian, one Chinese, one Iranian, one Ukrainian, one Jordanian and one person from Uzbekistan, a Turkish official said. Three of the foreigners had dual Turkish citizenship.
Rome: The Italian navy has raised from the seafloor the migrant ship that sank off Sicily last year with an estimated 700-800 people aboard in one of the worst known tragedies of the Mediterranean migrant crisis.

The navy said it had had successfully recovered the boat from a depth of 370 meters (1,214 feet) using a complicated pulley system fixed to a support frame that attached onto the shipwreck.

Now resurfaced, the wreck is being kept in a refrigerated transport module for the trip back to port in Sicily, where forensic experts will begin trying to identify the dead.

A press conference to explain details of the operation is scheduled for Thursday, the navy said.

The April 18, 2015 wreck remains one of the deadliest on record, though the real number of drownings will never be known. On that night, the boat carrying between 700 and 800 migrants, most of them African, capsized as a civilian freighter approached.

Most passengers were locked below decks; only 28 survived.

The sinking sparked renewed outrage and soul-searching in European capitals, which agreed to send in EU naval reinforcements to cast a wider safety net to try to rescue the waves of migrants leaving Libya on smugglers' boats.

While tens of thousands have been rescued, thousands of others have drowned: During one particularly deadly three-day period last month, an estimated 700 migrants died, including those aboard a huge, overcrowded fishing ship that capsized as rescuers filmed the horror.

The UN refugee agency estimates that from April 19, 2015 to today, some 4,927 people have perished making the sea crossing to Europe.

Most of the migrant boats that sink are never recovered, and the dead are never exhumed or identified. Soon after the 2015 tragedy, though, Italy pledged to recover the wreck and is hoping that the exercise will help create a European network to identify victims by cross-checking data.

The navy launched the complicated recovery operation this past spring; navy divers over the previous months had already recovered some 169 bodies found near the wreckage, located some 85 miles (130 kilometers) off Libya's coast.

The navy submerged a giant yellow-framed rectangular apparatus to stabilize the wreck and affix support legs to its hull. Pulleys then raised the frame and vessel to the surface for the tow operation into port.
London: Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai and her family have become millionaires as a result of income from her memoir describing life under Taliban rule in Pakistan's picturesque Swat valley and appearances on the lecture circuit around the world.

The 18-year-old Pakistani teenager who survived a shot to the head by the Taliban had relived the incident and her life in the Swat Valley in 'I am Malala', co-written with 'Sunday Times' journalist Christina Lamb.

A company set up to protect the rights to her life story had 2.2 million pounds in the bank by August 2015 and made a pre-tax profit of 1.1 million pounds.

Malala, her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, and her mother Toor Pekai are joint shareholders of the company, Salarzai Ltd, 'The Times' reports.

They are now based in Birmingham, where Malala who became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 - attends Edgbaston High School for Girls.

Her autobiography, which documents her experiences growing up in Pakistan's Swat Valley under Taliban rule and being shot while travelling home from school on the bus with her friends, was published in October 2013 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK in a deal reported to be worth about 2 million pounds.

It has sold at least 1.8 million copies worldwide, according to Neilsen Book Research, including 287,000 copies in the UK, earning 2.2 million pounds in Britain in paperback and hardback sales.

According to research by the US-based Institute for Policy Studies, Malala is also one of the higher-earning Nobel laureates, bringing in 114,000 pounds per speech, compared with 64,000 pounds for Desmond Tutu.

Her father, an educator and human rights campaigner who resisted Taliban attempts to shut down his own school in Swat, also gives lectures.

Salarzai Ltd, set up in August 2013 and based in London, operates separately to the Malala Fund, a charitable organisation inspired by Malala and set up by the Vital Voices partnership to help girls complete secondary education in safety across the world.

Most recently, Malala spoke in London last week to pay tribute to Jo Cox, the British MP who was stabbed to death earlier this month in her constituency.
Brussels: Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday met European Parliament President Martin Schulz here to discuss Scotland's future in the EU amid Britain's decision to leave the bloc.

"I've set out very clearly Scotland's desire to protect our relationship with the EU but I don't underestimate the challenges that lie ahead," said Sturgeon.

For the first time in 43 years, the summit was not attended by a representative of the United Kingdom, Efe news reported.

Sturgeon said it was too early in the process "to know Scotland's future".

As many as 62 percent in Scotland opted to remain in the EU in last week's referendum.

Across the UK, however, 52 per cent voted to leave, meaning England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are all due to leave the 48-nation bloc.

This sparked calls for a new referendum on Scottish independence, an option that Sturgeon has said was "on the table".

Scotland had voted "no" to leaving the UK in an historic independence referendum in September 2014.

Sturgeon said these preliminary meetings with the EU leaders were to make "people understand that Scotland, unlike other parts of the UK, doesn't want to leave the EU".

Schulz said he "listened carefully and learned a lot". He did not make a statement on his opinion on Scotland's future in the EU.
Moscow: President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday lifted restrictions on travel to Turkey after mending ties with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seven months after Ankara downed a Russian jet, triggering a raft of sanctions.

Following his first call with Erdogan since the incident, Putin announced that Moscow`s ban on charter flights and package tours to Turkey would be lifted and that government would also look at ending an embargo on some Turkish food products.

"I want to start with the question of tourism... we are lifting the administrative restrictions in this area," Putin told government ministers in televised comments.

"I ask that the Russian government begin the process of normalising general trade and economic ties with Turkey," he said.

The move came as Turkey was hit by a triple suicide bombing at Istanbul`s main international airport on Tuesday which left 41 people dead , including 13 foreigners.

The assault, at the start of Turkey`s crucial tourist season, was the latest in a wave of attacks in Istanbul and the capital Ankara blamed either on Islamic State (IS) jihadists or Kurdish rebels.

The attack was a further blow to an industry that was already battered by Russia`s sanctions.

Apart from banning charter flights to Turkey, Russia also prohibited sales of package tours to the country and suspended visas for Turkish visitors.

The diplomatic breakthrough with Russia was forged in a phone call by Putin to Erdogan after the Turkish strongman on Monday sent a letter to the Kremlin leader that Moscow said contained an apology over the downed fighter jet.In a statement, the Kremlin said that Putin expressed his "profound condolences" over the bombing and shooting attack at Istanbul`s Ataturk airport.

The Turkish presidency said in a statement that Erdogan and Putin "highlighted the importance of the normalisation of bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia."

Erdogan is expected to meet with Putin in September on the sidelines of the forthcoming G20 summit in China for their first face-to-face talks since the start of the diplomatic row, a Turkish official told AFP on Wednesday speaking on condition of anonymity.

The downing of the Russian plane near the Turkey-Syria border slammed the brakes on burgeoning relations between Moscow and Ankara and sparked a bitter war of words between the leaders.

Putin called it a "stab in the back" and demanded an apology from Erdogan, who he also accused of being involved in the illegal oil trade with the Islamic State group.

Ankara said Erdogan expressed his "regret" over the incident in Monday`s letter to Putin and asked the family of the pilot who died to "excuse us", but has not explicitly confirmed he apologised for shooting down the plane.Turkey has argued that the Russian plane strayed into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings, but Russia insisted it did not cross the border and accused Turkey of a "planned provocation."

The countries are on opposing sides in the Syrian conflict, with Ankara backing rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad who has the backing of Moscow.

Erdogan has been on a diplomatic blitz in recent days that also saw him restore ties with Israel after years of acrimony over a deadly 2010 raid on a Turkish aid flotilla for Gaza.

The crisis in relations with Moscow had dealt a blow to Turkish tourism, with the number of Russian tourists drastically declining in holiday resorts along the Mediterranean coast.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told local news wires that the ban on charter flights and the product embargo would formally be lifted in the "next few days".

Dmitry Gordin, the vice president of Russia`s association of tour operators, predicted on television that "roughly within three months we can return the flow of tourists to the same level as before sales were shut down."

Russia and Turkey also halted talks in December on the joint TurkStream project to pipe gas to Turkey and southern Europe but officials suggested the negotiations might start again.

Russia is currently suffering its longest economic recession since Putin came to power over 16 years ago due to Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis and the fall in oil prices.

Putin on Wednesday also extended to the end of 2017 Moscow`s embargo on food items from the West imposed in retaliation for sanctions over Ukraine.
Ahmedabad: A court here has dismissed a suit seeking a ban on the sale of a Gujarati book in which author Jayesh Shah, a Congress leader, has allegedly mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Civil court judge A M Dave cited Article 19 of the Constitution and dismissed the suit on Monday, holding that banning the book, titled "Fekuji Have Dilli Ma (Fekuji is in Delhi now)", would violate the fundamental right of freedom of expression.

The book dwells on a list of promises made by Modi during his campaign for 2014 Lok Sabha polls and claims that he has failed to deliver on them.

The suit demanding ban on the book was filed by a social worker Narsinh Solanki, who contended that the book is meant to "defame" Modi.

Solanki alleged that the contents and the title of the book are defamatory and derogatory in nature and they would spoil the image of the Prime Minister.

According to Solanki, Modi came to power just two years back, a time-frame too short to fulfil all the promises he made during the poll campaign.

Solanki sought the court's intervention to put an immediate ban on the sale of the book, which is in the market since last few months.

However, not convinced with the arguments of Solanki, the judge said that India is a democracy and people have all the right to express their personal views through a book. The court held that banning the book would violate the right of freedom of expression.
Ahmedabad: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's upcoming visit to Gujarat has been cancelled after the Anandiben Patel-led BJP Government in the state did not give permission for programme at the chosen venue.

Kejriwal, who visited Gujarat in 2014 in the run up to the general election, was expected to woo the Patidar community during his visit to the state.

The Patidar community, which is adamant on its demand for quotas in jobs and education, is gradually shifting from its traditional loyalty towards the BJP.

The AAP, which is keen to establish its base in the BJP-ruled state ahead of the assembly polls scheduled next year, is now looking to benefit from the discontentment of the Patidar community.

According to reports, the AAP supremo was expected to reach out to the farmers besides local businessmen and industrialists during his visit.

Kejriwal, who has been extremely critical of Gujarat strongman and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was also expected to meet Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel, presently lodged at Surat's Lojpore Central Jail on sedition charges.

The AAP chief had earlier this month dubbed the arrest of 23-year-old Patidar agitation leader as illegal.

In a video message posted on the AAP's Gujarat Twitter handle, Kejriwal said Hardik, who has been in prison for more than eight months, had merely raised his voice for the rights of Gujaratis.

"Hardik Patel is in jail for the last eight months and he has been charged with sedition. People told me that they are very upset with this. What is the mistake of Hardik Patel? He raised his voice for Gujarati's and fought for their rights. He never raised voice against the nation. He never spoke of breaking the nation," he said.

Asserting that Patel's demands were the same as that of lakhs of Gujaratis, Kejriwal demanded to know if the government would label all those as 'anti-national'.
New Delhi: BJP President Amit Shah on Wednesday raised questions over the circumstances that led to Bhartiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee's death and added that he was informed that he was allowed to enter Jammu and Kashmir without permit and there he was held in custody by the Kashmir police.

The BJP President said that a large section believes that Mookerjee, who had gone to participate in a protest in Kashmir in 1953, was actually murdered and raised questions about Nehru's handling of the events and the decision not to conduct an inquiry into it.

Shah claimed that Mookerjee was kept in an inadequately equipped safehouse near Srinagar and then not provided medical facilities as he was admitted to a gynecological ward even though he had a heart ailment.

Shah said that history has not done justice to the patriot and eminent educationist that Mookerjee was adding that if the history of the country was to be written impartially, then an important place will be provided to Mookerjee.

"It is unfortunate that first the British, and later the Leftists distorted the history of the country," Shah said. History has been viewed through the lens of ideology, he said claiming this was one of the reasons, Mookerjee was not conferred his due place in the annals of history.

Shah said it was because of Mookerjee that permits are not needed to enter Kashmir now and the titles Prime Minister and President are not used separately for J&K.

Shah claimed that if the Congress leadership at the time of independence had not got into a hurry, the division of India could have been prevented.

"When at the time of independence, the entire Congress leadership was anxious to become independent.... All of them were ageing, if it gets delayed was also worrying them. But at that time a young leader thought that a mistake should not happen and Bengal was saved," Shah said.

The event was to commemorate Bhartiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee, where Governor of Tripura Tathagata Roy also gave a lecture.

Earlier, Mr Roy who is also a biographer of Mr Mookerjee, narrated his contribution in running an "equitable" government in West Bengal in the pre-independence era and then his protest over special permits to enter Kashmir.

He claimed that Mr Mookerjee was allowed to enter Kashmir where the Jammu and Kashmir police were waiting for him. He also raised questions over the improper manner in which a leader of Mr Mookerjee's stature was dealt with.

Mr Roy also claimed that when Mr Nehru had visited Jammu and Kashmir, he had not bothered to visit Mr Mookerjee who was languishing in confinement there. He criticised Mr Nehru for deciding not to conduct an inquiry into the death despite a request from Mr Mookerjee's mother.

Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said the lecture was organised on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mr Syama Prasad's father Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee.

An exhibition on the Bharatiya Jana Sangh's life has been organised at NMML which will go on till July 6, he added.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will on Wednesday chair the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) meet aimed at finalising the dates for Parliament's Monsoon Session, likely to commence from July 18.

The CCPA will meet in room number 155 of the South Block.

News agency IANS has quoted a source as saying that Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs M Venkaiah Naidu will meet all ministers, which will be followed by a cabinet meeting, and the CCPA meeting, in the same room of the South Block building.

Among the bills pending in the Rajya Sabha is the Goods and Services Tax Bill, moved in the Upper House in August last year after it was passed by the Lok Sabha.

The government is hopeful of its passage during the upcoming session as the National Democratic Alliance tally has gone up by five to 74 members in the upper house after the recent biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha.

"Many regional parties are with the government on the issue. We hope it will be passed without any problem," Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told IANS.

In the Lok Sabha, important pending bills include the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015, and the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015.

These bills are expected to be passed during the month-long Monsoon Session.

In May, after the Budget Session of Parliament got over, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government expressed "satisfaction" over the performance of both houses of Parliament and said its "persistent outreach" has resulted in better functioning of the legislature "despite heat on some issues".

Naqvi said the Lok Sabha worked 118 percent of its scheduled time, while the Rajya Sabha worked 87 percent of its time.

The lower house passed 10 bills, while the upper house passed 12 bills during the budget session.

The Lok Sabha passed important legislations, including the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, which was described as one key reform step and a game-changer in terms of tracking black money.

This key bill later got the nod from the Rajya Sabha too.

In the Rajya Sabha too, despite differences and occasional disruptions over Uttarakhand and AgustaWestland chopper deal, a bill was passed on May 11 to upgrade the Rajendra Agricultural University in Bihar to a central university. In a record of sorts, the bill was also passed by the Lok Sabha on the same day.

(With IANS inputs)
Patna: The BJP on Wednesday questioned the integrity of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's 'anti-liquor' campaign alleging that there were 15 active alcohol factories in the state and said that he had been elected to the top post to fix the law and order situation besides other problems prevalent within the state.

Speaking to ANI here, Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi asserted that Nitish's entire agenda of prohibition fell flat because he was not able to stop the rampant production of alcohol in the state.

"Nitish is not able to control the open production of alcohol in Bihar, as there are 15 liquor factories in the state that are still functional. If selling alcohol is illegal, then how are its factories still running? And it's not just that, as the alcohol is also being sold in other states," Modi said.

Adding that there were other important things in the state to focus on like the deteriorating law and order situation besides other things, Modi said that Nitish's current 'alcohol-ban' campaign had absolutely no impact as the Congress-ruled states were still selling alcohol.

"This is complete farce. His government was formed with an alliance with the Congress. And the Congress-ruled states are openly selling alcohol. So, instead of telling the Prime Minister that an alcohol-ban must be implemented across the country, he should first tell Rahul Gandhi to ensure prohibition in the Congress-ruled states," Modi said.

The Bihar Chief Minister had earlier called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to impose prohibition of liquor across the country as those addicted cannot perform yoga which requires concentration.

"Yoga's first principle is to abstain from consumption of liquor. So, if you (government) are so serious about yoga, then Prime Minister Modi should ban liquor at least in all the BJP-ruled states," he said while addressing a rally.

He also said there should not be any liquor shop within 3.2 km radius of the borders of a state where prohibition is in force.

Nitish has maintained that there has been a drastic decline in crime in the last two months after complete prohibition was imposed in the state.
Kokrajhar: In a major success for the Indian Army in conjunction with Assam Police, a new terrorist outfit named 'Helem Tiger Force' was busted in a sustained operation over the last few days.

Eleven cadres of the terrorist outfit were apprehended along with a large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosives.

However, the kingpin of this new outfit is still at large and efforts are on to reach out to him.

Based on inputs, the Army along with theAssam Police carried out ops in Dima Hasao and West Karbi Anglong districts of Assam bordering Meghalaya.

The unearthing and apprehension of a majority of cadres of this terrorist outfit which has links with KPLT and UPLA has been a major setback to the nexus between the outfits which have been involved in kidnapping, extortion and 'tax-collection'.

In an another incident, based on specific intelligence about presence of NDFB(S) terrorists in Village Pakriguri, Kokrajhar District, a joint team of Army and Assam police launched a search operation on night 28, 29 June.

During the search, four hardcore NDFB(S) linkmen were apprehended, who were identified as Ram Tudu, Santosh Hembrom, Mwikhwm Mushahary and Jwisar Borgayari.

One Rifle, Pistol and few live rounds were recovered from the apprehended linkmen.

Ram Tudu, an ex NSLA(AT) cadre was directed by NDFB(S) hierarchy from Myanmar to attack Serfanguri Police Station in Kokrajhar District, by lobbing grenades.

He was also tasked by senior cadres of NDFB(S), in Myanmar, to extort money on behalf of NDFB(S), from contractors and timber smugglers in Kokrajhar District.

The other apprehended individual, Santosh Hembrom was working in conjunction with Ram Tudu and was also involved in extortion.

The apprehension by Security Forces is a further jolt and isolation of Bidai group, which was trying to settle down after last month's busting of camp in Ultapani area of Kokrajhar District.

The group is now dispersed in smaller groups in Ripu and Chirang Reserve Forest and are in desperate need of money, ration and medicines, for which they are solely dependent on Over Ground Workers (OGWs) and linkmen.
New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday demanded that the Narendra Modi government should sack the National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief whose role in the investigation into the Malegaon blasts has been questioned by a Mumbai special court.

"NIA has been misused to give clean chit to the BJP and RSS people who were involved in the terrorism cases. The Special Court in Mumbai too has come down heavily on NIA for not investigating the role of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case," senior Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza said at a press briefing at the party headquarters here.

"Scathing remarks of the court established the dubious role of NIA and we demand that the chief of NIA should be immediately removed from his position," Oza added.

She also said, "Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh should explain to the country that who is the manipulative hand in their government that is allowing the miscarriage of the justice in this case."

Oza said the NIA in its chargesheet had said that there was no case against Pragya Thakur, and insisted, "There were reasonable grounds to believe that charges against her were prima facie true".

Thakur was denied a bail by the Special Court in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Oza also demanded re-installation of Rohini Salian as public prosecutor. She had to leave the case amidst alleged pressure from the NIA to go soft on the Malegaon accused.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday held a round of meeting with Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at his residence.

"The BJP chief held a meeting with Prime Minister for about 20 minutes," a party source told IANS here.

The two leaders were later also joined by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, he added.

"Various issues concerning the party and government figured in their discussions," the source said, refusing to divulge details.

While there was no confirmation if a possible "reshuffle" of the union council of ministers figured in their meeting, party sources earlier indicated that Modi and the BJP leadership could consider "additional representation" from poll-bound states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab in the union ministry.

A senior party leader, however, said, "cabinet expansion or reshuffle is essentially a prerogative of thed Prime Minister".
New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday condemned the attack on Istanbul`s Ataturk international airport, which left 36 people dead and over a 100 injured, and termed it as a `cowardly attack on innocents`.

"My prayers are with the families of the victims & the ppl of #Istanbul," Gandhi tweeted.

"Shocked &deeply saddened by news of yet another terror attack in #Istanbul.Strongly condemn this cowardly attack on innocents," he said in another tweet.

According to Istanbul Governor, at least three people were involved in the attack at one of Europe`s busiest Airports that took place late last evening.

Police fired shots to try to stop two of the attackers just before they reached a security checkpoint at the arrivals hall at Ataturk airport but they detonated their explosives, one of the officials said.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim suggested that the Islamic State was behind the attack.

"According to assessments so far, 36 people have lost their lives along with three suicide bombers. We also have (people who are) wounded. Many of them suffer from minor injuries but few people suffer from serious injuries. Treatment is underway."

"Findings by our security forces indicate that this terror attack was carried out by Daesh (Islamic State). Even though the findings point to Daesh, the probe is still underway.

The airport reopened to air traffic as of 2:22 am (1122GMT) and air traffic returned to normal," he added.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday referred a fresh petition filed by a group of LGBT celebrities challenging Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a colonial era law that criminalises homosexuality, to the Chief Justice for India for appropriate orders.

Referring the matter to the CJI, the apex court bench said, ''A decision on similar petitions is already pending in the apex court. A five-judge constitution bench is looking into all the curative petitions in this regard.''

''The CJI will now decide if petition is to be heard along with curative petition already pending in SC,'' the apex court bench said.

Referring to the matter earlier, Union Law and Justice Minister DV Sadananda Gowda had said that the Centre had discussed the provision with its top legal officer and would decide on the line it would take in the court as the matter comes up for hearing in the SC.

Section 377 violated their rights to sexuality, sexual autonomy, choice of sexual partner as guaranteed by the Constitution, chef Ritu Dalmia, hotelier Aman Nath, dancer NS Johar, journalist Sunil Mehra and business executive Ayesha Kapur have contended in their joint petition.

The Supreme Court, which reopened today after a summer break, had in February agreed to re-examine its December 2013 verdict that re-criminalised gay sex.

It also sent to a larger five-judge constitution bench all the curative petitions seeking a review of the verdict described by activists as regressive, leaving gays vulnerable to violence and police action.

A curative petition is the last legal recourse available after a litigant exhausts all remedies such as appeals and review petition.

Eight such petitions are pending with the bench seeking review of the judgment that upheld the constitutional validity of Section 377, which prescribes a maximum punishment of life imprisonment for unnatural sex.

The Supreme Court had in December 2013 reversed a Delhi high court verdict that de-criminalised consensual homosexual acts. The high court in July 2013 declared unconstitutional a part of Section 377 that criminalises unnatural sex, saying the section denies a gay person a right to full personhood

Though it overturned the high court order, the Supreme Court left it to Parliament to take the final call on the controversial law. The majority view in the political class is against relaxing Section 377. Several religious groups, too, are of the same opinion.

The All India Muslim personal law board and a Christian group are opposing changes in Section 377, saying they had cogent arguments against de-criminalising homosexuality. They were among the petitioners who successfully opposed the high court verdict in the Supreme Court.

With PTI inputs
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will examine to what extent courts can look into Muslim personal law, including triple talaq, if they violate the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.

An apex court bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said on Wednesday that it was an important issue concerning a large number of people and there were divergent views on the issue.

"We have to hear all of them and take a call to what extent courts can interfere in the Muslim personal laws if courts find they are in violation of the fundamental rights," the bench said.

Describing the matter as serious and directing the next hearing on September 6, the court asked the parties to frame the issues.

The bench asked all the contesting parties, the central government included, to file their responses.

The court order came as it was told that the central government had not filed its response.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Thakur is hearing a PIL on the rights of Muslim women in the context of alleged arbitrary divorce by pronouncing triple talaq.

A bench of Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goal had on October 16, 2015 issued notice to Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi and the National Legal Service Authority as it directed the separate listing of a PIL addressing the question of the rights of Muslim women.

Appearing for two petitioners, senior counsel Indira Jaisinh told the court that the personal laws should be subject to the regime of the fundamental rights.

The question that the court should address is "Whether the personal laws are subject to the regime of fundamental rights", Jaisinh told the bench.

Senior counsel Anand Grover backed the position taken by Jaisinh. Grover had appeared for interveners Zakia Soman and Noor Jahan. He said triple talaq had no sanction in Islam.

Opposing the plea urging the court to examine the question of gender discrimination in Muslim personal law in the context of fundamental rights, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board said that most of the issues being agitated before the court have already been settled.

The Board said the Muslim personal law were from the holy Quran and Ahadith of the Prophet and were not covered by Article 13 of the constitution. Thus it could not be tested on the touchstone of fundamental rights.

The bench on Wednesday refused to restrain the AIMPLB from speaking on the subject and the media from reporting them.

Appearing in person, advocate Farha Faiz had urged the court to restrain the AIMPLB from issuing "misleading statements" which were causing confusion and the media from carrying them.

The bench said that for now it would not restrain any one.

Farha Faiz runs an NGO Muslim Women's Quest for Equality and is national president of the Rashtrawadi Muslim Mahila Sangh, which is associated with the RSS.

Assailing the AIMPLB, Farha Faiz wondered how a registered society could become the custodian of Muslim personal law.

"They say that Supreme Court can't interfere in their matters even if they are wrong," she told the bench, asking if that was so, where then was need for a constitution and constitutional courts.
New Delhi: Going by the arrangements planned at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to be preparing to rejig his Council of Ministers on Thursday.

According to a report by the Indian Express, the Ashoka Hall at Presidents House is being readied for a ceremony at noon, followed by lunch for attending dignitaries.

Earlier, a high tea had been planned at the same venue for Thursday evening, which will follow the Councils meeting  ostensibly to review the performances of ministers  at 10:30 am.

That meeting has been rescheduled for 4 pm.

With Uttar Pradesh elections due next year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to keep regional and caste balances in mind for his council of ministers.
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Government on Wednesday said the recent attacks in the Valley on security forces were not an ordinary law and order problem but a proxy war from across the border.

"It is not just a law and order problem. It is a proxy war war from across the border," Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh said in the Assembly here.

"We are in touch with the Centre over the matter. We want to ensure a peaceful and incident-free Amarnath yatra and tourist season," said Singh, who assured the House that the state government will make a detailed statement tomorrow after Opposition leader Omar Abdullah demanded a statement from

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on the security situation.

Omar said while it was good that government was concerned about the safety of Amarnath pilgrims and tourists, it should also think about the safety of the people living in the state.

"The Amarnath Yatra will be over in a month and the tourist season will finish in two months but what about the safety of people living in the state throughout the year, especially those living in the border areas?" the former chief minister asked.

He said although the house has been in session, the government has maintained a silence over the security issue.

"Today we come to know about various things through the media.

"Media reports say the infiltration is up or down, another report says CRPF will be withdrawn from road opening duty and another one says BSF will be recalled for counter-insurgency duties. What is the truth? The government should make a detailed statement on this," the former chief minister said.

Launching a scathing attack on the Chief Minister for making short appearances in the House, Omar said "she chooses a question and intervenes during the

Question Hour. That makes up for the press release and then she is not here.

"Please tell the Chief Minister to come to the House and make a statement on the issue tomorrow," he added.

The Deputy Chief Minister responded by assuring the Assembly that the government will make a detailed statement on the issue tomorrow, the last day of the ongoing budget session.

Earlier, National Conference MLAs Ali Mohammad Sagar and Devender Rana, supported by CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami, said that while everyone was concerned about the security issue, the state government was "silent".

"The Prime Minister is concerned, the Defence Minister and Home Minister are concerned about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The team from Centre is here and DG CRPF is also here.

"But the state which is affected, its government is silent," Sagar said.
Srinagar: Several Congress MLAs and independent legislator Shiekh Abdul Rashid today walked out of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly after their respective private members' bills on reservation in promotion in government jobs and revocation of ban on beef were rejected by the Speaker.

As soon as the House assembled, four Congress MLAs led by Nawang Rigzin Jora sought to know from Speaker Kavinder Gupta as to why the private members' bill seeking reservation in promotions in government jobs was not in the list of business.

The Speaker told them that the bill had been dropped since the matter was pending before court.

The Congress MLAs then stormed into the Well of the House protesting against the Speaker's move and shouted slogans against him.

After disrupting the proceedings for nearly 15 minutes, they walked out of the house.

Meanwhile, Langate MLA Rashid also protested against the non-inclusion of his bill seeking revocation of ban on beef in the state.

"If consuming liquor is a matter of choice as said by the Finance Minister, then why should not consuming beef be a matter of choice?" the controversial MLA, who threw a beef party last year to defy the ban, asked.

With the Speaker ignoring his protest, Rashid too walked out.

The MLA, in a statement issued later, condemned government for 'sabotaging' the bill seeking revocation on beef in the state and called the move 'unconstitutional' and 'murder of democracy'.

"The bill was introduced in the last session and government managed to buy time and ensured that it does not come up for the discussion," he said, adding it was a constitutional requirement that the bill had to be taken up for discussion and voted upon in topmost priority in the next session.

However, the bill did not figure in the list of business today.

Rashid said the Speaker had "bypassed norms, misused his position and damaged his own integrity and credibility of the House".

"If ministers can say in broad daylight, without caring for the sentiments of Muslims, that the government cannot ban alcohol in the state, why does it use unconstitutional ways and means to stop the anti-ban bill on Beef?

"If BJP-PDP coalition has decided to implement RSS agenda in state, it could have defeated the bill on the floor of the House rather murdering the spirit of democracy," he said.
Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly witnessed a major uproar today during a discussion on several bills, which led to independent MLA Engineer Rashid and Congress MLAs staging a walk-out from the house.

Rashid was seen rising from his seating shout slogans even as Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh was addressing the house.

Rashid said the ruling PDP-BJP coalition government was deliberately deferring the debate on his bill seeking scrapping of a law on beef ban.

He said he was left with no option but to walk-out as his repeated attempts to raise the issue had gone unheard in the assembly.

"In the last session, we had introduced a bill to end the beef ban. Even last time, they did not allow the bill to be taken up for discussion, and even this time they were avoiding it. If they do not want the bill, then they should reject it. Let the government oppose it, but the PDP knows what it would lead to," Rashid told reporters here

"I am not for any communal agenda, everyone has right to live, right to eat, right to pray. This is our fundamental right, and when they did answer these things, we had to walk-out," he added.

Congress MLAs too staged a walk-out and resorted to sloganeering over rejection of their bill on reservation in promotions.

"I had submitted a bill on reservation in promotions. There was an amendment in the Constitution, and I sought implementation of those amendments. Act of reservation 2004 gives reservations in promotions. I gave a bill to restore it. My bill was rejected without any explanation. If the bill is against the territorial integrity of the state and the country, then you reject it, but this is a legitimate bill," Congress MLA Ring Zing Jora told media here.

" Assembly is the temple of democracy and the Speaker is the priest. If he is biased against some particular section, then, we have no option other than to shout against him," he added.
Panaji: The tourism of sex, drugs and prostitution in Goa is backed by political patronage and is defaming Goa, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday.

He was speaking at an interaction with small hoteliers and tourism industry stakeholders in the coastal state.

"Tourism in Goa is being defamed because of allegations of sex, drugs and prostitution... It is not being stopped because political parties are backing these things," Kejriwal said.

It was the second meeting of `Goa Dialogues`, a preparatory process for drafting the Aam Aadmi Party`s election manifesto for assembly polls scheduled in early 2017.
Pune: Bhumata Brigade chief Trupti Desai has expressed hope that the Bombay High Court will pronounce its verdict in favour of women in the case of the ban on women's entry inside the sanctum sanctorum of Haji Ali Dargah that has been put in 2011.

Desai was quoted as saying by ANI that the ban on women's entry inside the sanctum sanctorum of Haji Ali Dargah had been put in effect in 2011.

"We want that women should be given permission to enter the Haji Ali dargah. We have protested for it as well, and I believe that courts verdict will be historic and in the favour of women. Because till 2011 women were allowed all of a sudden their entry inside the Dargah was banned. I believe that the court will establish equality," said Desai.

The Bombay High Court is set to pronounce its verdict on a petition filed by a women's group challenging ban on entry of women inside the sanctum sanctorum of Haji Ali dargah in the city.

Desai's efforts to enter the dargah were foiled by policemen and local residents on April 28.

The activist -- who had successfully campaigned against the ban on women entering the Maharashtra's Shani Shingnapur temple -- had planned to enter the dargah, one of the foremost Muslim shrines, which does not allow women in its core area.

The high court will hear a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by activists Noorjehan Niaz and Zakia Soman of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan urging the court to lift the restrictions imposed somewhere between March and June 2012 by the Haji Ali Dargah Trust.

The state had supported the entry of women saying that the trust would have to prove that banning entry of women is singularly essential to the practice of Islam.

The trust had claimed that separate arrangements are made for women who are allowed up to a certain point from where they can offer prayers but they cannot touch the tomb of a male saint as it is a sin in Islam.
Mumbai: Ramping up the confrontation with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena has put up posters depicting BJP president Amit Shah and party chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari dressed in attires of characters from Bollywood movie "Sholay".

This is in response to Bhandari's article in BJP publication "Manogat" in which he dared compared Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray with comedy actor Asrani's famous character as a jailor in "Sholay".

Besides, the Shiv Sena cadres set afire the effigy of the party's city unit chief Ashish Shelar in South Mumbai, highlighting the strains between the two allies.

The effigy of Shelar was put on fire, days after he gave a veiled warning to Sena to keep away from burning effigies of BJP leaders.

Taking a stern view, BJP warned its belligerent ally of giving a "fitting reply" if Shiv Sena leadership fails to rein in its cadres.

State BJP secretary and MLC Sujit Singh Thakur said, "BJP remained calm for past few days even after repetitive provocation from Shiv Sena workers. If anyone is taking it otherwise, they should understand it clearly that the BJP is strong enough to give a fitting reply".

Taking a strong objection to burning of an effigy of Shelar, Thakur said, "We too can resort to burning effigies or burning newspapers. But, we have kept quiet keeping in mind the larger good. But, no one should test our tolerance. If Sena leaders don't control their workers, they would be entirely responsible for any reaction arising from BJP workers".

He stated that BJP would henceforth not tolerate any derogatory remarks aimed at its national leaders.

Some BJP leaders had recently called for burning of copies of Sena mouthpiece "Saamana" for pouring vitriol on BJP every other day. However, Sena in an editorial condemned the BJP leaders' statement, saying that all those who want the daily to be burned were attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ideology.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: In a big relief for millions of WhatsApp users in the country, the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking a complete ban on the instant messaging platforms, incuding the popular messaging app.

Sudhir Yadav, a Haryana-based RTI activist, had filed a PIL urging the apex court to ask the government to seek the private key from WhatsApp and similar applications to access their contents in times of need.

However, an apex court bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice AM Khanwilkar asked the petitioner to approach the appropriate authorities.

Yadav said he was not asking for a ban on WhatsApp but wanted the government to ask WhatsApp and 20 other similar applications to share their private key if and when required.

He said this was similar to what the government insisted vis-a-vis BlackBerry.

Yadav said that in the absences of the private key, it would take the government years to access a message.

(With IANS inputs)
Bhubaneswar: Sharpening its attack on the Naveen Patnaik government over attack on the convoy of two Union Ministers at Bargarh allegedly by BJD workers, BJP today staged state-wide demonstrations accusing it of failing to take action against culprits.

Amid slogan shouting, BJP workers held demonstration in all the blocks of the state alleging that the attack on the convoy of Union Ministers Santosh Gangwar and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti on June 24 was 'pre-planned' and it was perpetrated at the 'behest of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik'.

The BJP has also planned an agitation near Raj Bhavan in the state capital Bhubaneswar on July 4 and a party delegation is expected to meet the President to apprise him of the violence perpetrated by BJD workers at Bargarh, senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra said.

Terming the administrative inquiry ordered into the incident as a 'mere eyewash', BJP's state unit President Basant Panda held the BJD government responsible for the 'violent' incident and its failure to take action against those involved.

Hitting out at the BJD government, Panda said, "No arrest has been made for the Bargarh episode even after five days, while immedite action had been taken against those who had demonstrated near the Chief Minister's cavalcade in the past and they were booked for attempt to murder."

"Instead of adopting democratic means, BJD workers and leaders indulged in violence and stone throwing when the union ministers and senior BJP leaders were on way to attend the 'Vikas Utsav' to celebrate completion of two years of Narendra Modi Government", Panda said.

Speaking in similar vein, another senior leader and former Odisha BJP President Suresh Pujari claimed no action has been taken against those involved in the 'murderous' attack whereas attempt to murder charge had been slapped against people for pelting eggs at CM's cavalcade.

The BJP leaders alleged that the attack on the convoy of the Union ministers had been unleashed at the 'behest' of the Chief Minister as the ruling BJD was worried over the rising popularity of BJP in the state.
Bhubaneswar: With the weather department predicting surplus rainfall this year, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday asked the administration to be fully prepared to tackle floods.

"The IMD has predicted surplus rainfall. Therefore, probability of flood this year appears to be very high. Keeping this in view, we have to remain in full preparedness to encounter flood situation," he told a state-level natural calamity meeting.

"It is the government's responsibility to reach out to the affected people and provide due assistance at the earliest in the event of flood", the Chief Minister said.

Pointing out that all the past breaches in embankments have been plugged, he said, "Water Resources department would ensure that adequate flood fighting materials are stored near weak and vulnerable points on river embankments and watch and ward arrangements made during flood."

"There are ten functional Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) units and the government has created ten more units which would be in place very soon", Patnaik said.

"Similarly, there are 293 fire stations at present and 42 more would be set up very soon", the chief minister said.

"These units must be in readiness for deployment to undertake rescue and relief operation as first responder in the event of flood," Patnaik said.
New Delhi: NASA draws parallel between ancient Mars and the Earth in terms of presence of oxygen and suggested that the atmosphere of the Red Planet had high levels of oxygen than it has now.

This research was done on the basis of chemicals found in Martian rocks by NASA's curiosity Mars rover. A laser firing instrument on the rover also helped in detecting high concentration of manganese oxide.

NASA researchers still don't have any clear idea about the past life on Mars. But they do have a theory that suggests that at one point in distant past, the Red Planet had both water and protective magnetic field just like our home planet.

However, as soon as magnetic field disappeared, the high radiation ionized the water and splitted its molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. And eventually planet's famous red-oxide rocks absorbed much of its oxygen.

So, on this basis scientists believed that early Mars had more oxygen than the Earth.
Salem: The Tamil Nadu Police has arrested a man for allegedly uploading morphed pictures of a 21-year-old woman on Facebook.

The woman, identified as A Vinupriya, had committed suicide after her morphed picture was uploaded on the social networking website.

The victim's family had on Tuesday refused to take her body for cremation alleging lack of prompt action and demanding immediate arrest of the culprits behind the cyber crime.

The Chemistry graduate had committed suicide by hanging in her house here on Monday after a morphed picture, showing her in an obscene fashion, was uploaded on Facebook by unidentified persons.

Following the incident, a complaint was lodged on June 23 with the police but no action was taken, according to the victim's father, Annadurai, who said another semi-nude picture of Vinupriya was sent to him on his mobile following which she took the extreme step.

Police said they have asked Facebook to block the morphed picture.

Annadurai had held police responsible for his daughter's death as the action was not taken on time.

Annadurai wondered why action could not be taken based on the IMEI number of the mobile phone from which the morphed picture was sent to him.

(With PTI inputs)
Muzaffarnagar: "Two persons have been booked for allegedly attempting to rape a 14-year-old girl at Kakroli village in the district", police said today.

"A case was registered against the accused Asif and Javed for forcefully entering the victim's house and attempting to rape her yesterday", SHO Sanjiv Sharma said.

"Asif was beaten up by the people and handed over to the police", he said, adding "the other accused was absconding."

In another incident, "A 9-year-old boy was allegedly sodomised in Kotwali area yesterday", police said.

"A case has been registered against the accused Shahid in this regard and efforts are on to trace him", they said.

"According to the complaint registered by the victim's family, the boy was lured by the accused to a room by promising him toffees and later sodomised him", police added
Kolkata: After lying low for the past several years after the Saradha scandal unfolded, chit funds are back in business in rural West Bengal, this time under the garb of "agricultural schemes".

The consumer affairs department has started a campaign against these chit funds which are operating on a small scale in various parts of Bengal.

"For more than a year we have been receiving several complaints, especially from rural Bengal about investors not getting returns or the capital siphoned off in various agricultural schemes," Consumer Affairs Minister Sadhan Pande told PTI.

The minister said that some chit funds promised huge returns on investment on potato purchase scheme and some others promised huge returns on tree plantation and poultry farming.

These ponzi schemes are not big like Saradha or other major chit funds companies which are presently under the scanner of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, according to the minister.

After the Saradha bubble burst in April, 2013, several Ponzi schemes and chit fund companies had to wind up their operations as central and state agencies cracked the whip amid protests by lakhs of defrauded investors.

According to the consumer affairs department, these chit funds are operating at such a small level that at times it becomes tough even for the local administration to locate them.

"These operators are taking the advantage of lack of proper banking facilities, poverty and illiteracy of the investors. In most cases the promise of huge return lure the investors into the trap. In most cases the investors and the frauds are known to each other," a senior official said.

The official said that in many cases these potato and other agricultural schemes offered investors guaranteed return of 20-100 per cent on their investment within a fixed period of time.

A chit fund company, which is being investigated by the CBI, had started a scheme called "potato flexi scheme" promising huge returns on investment in potato business.

On steps the consumer affairs department is taking to deal with such cases, a senior official of the department sounded helpless, saying, "If you buy a fridge and you are facing a problem then we can solve the matter. But in these cases of local chit funds we have nothing much to do."

"Whenever we receive such complains, we direct the complainant to lodge an FIR and then direct these cases to the state finance ministry. Earlier when the Shyamal Sen Commission was there we used to send these complaints to the commission but now we send it to the state finance ministry," the official explained.

Pande said that his department was conducting a campaign to make the poor and gullible rural people aware of the pitfalls of investment into these schemes.

"We are telling them that apart from bank, post office or government entities, they should not invest in any scheme or financial company which are not approved by the SEBI, RBI or other central financial agencies," Pande said.
Kabul: Condemning the terrorist attack on Istanbul`s Ataturk International Airport that left scores of people dead and dozens wounded, Afghanistan`s President Ashraf Ghani today expressed solidarity with the people of Turkey and called on world leaders to be united in their fight against terrorism.

"President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani was deeply saddened by the terrorist attack at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey that killed and injured a number of innocent people last night," Khaama Press quoted statement released by Ghani`s office, as saying.

"Condemning the terrorist attack, the President said that the people of Afghanistan feel the pain and suffering of the people of Turkey more than others as we have been the victim of terrorism for years," a statement by added.

Asserting terrorism as great threat for the security of the region and the world, Ghani called for joint action by all countries against the heinous phenomenon.

"President Ghani offers his deep condolences and sympathies to the people and government of the Republic of Turkey, families of all the victims, and wishes speedy recovery for those injured," the statement added.

The Turkish officials had earlier said that at least 36 people were killed and over 140 others were wounded after a group of suicide bombers attacked the airport last night.

Though no group has so far claimed responsibility behind the attack , Turkish officials said that Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group could possibly be behind the attack.
Beijing: A Chinese man allegedly raped his housemate, locked her in a suitcase after beating her unconscious and then abandoned her in a local park in China's Hunan Province, authorities have said.

The victim, when she was rescued by the police was found locked naked in the suitcase near the Xiangtan city's Muyu Lake park on Monday, the Xiangtan public security bureau said.

The 23-year-old suspect, surnamed Pan, raped his housemate after he found her alone.

Pan who was subsequently arrested admitted to police that he threatened the victim and beat her unconscious before sexually assaulting her.

He then put the girl into a suitcase and took her to the Muyu Lake park to abandon. The girl cried for help after waking up while Pan was pulling the suitcase in the park.

Locals reported their suspicions to police after hearing her cries, state-run Global Times reported today.

When police caught Pan, around an hour after he dumped the case, he was in the middle of the lake trying to swim away from the scene.

According to videos and pictures witnesses posted on their Weibo accounts, several girls helped the victim get out of the case, while one man took off his T-shirt and gave it to the girl.

The suspect sustained minor injuries while attempting to escape, police said.
Cairo: Data from one of the black boxes of a crashed EgyptAir plane showed smoke alarms had sounded on board, while soot was found on the wreckage, an Egyptian-led investigative committee said Wednesday.

The black box had been retrieved from the bottom of the Mediterranean after the Airbus A320 with 66 people on board plunged into the sea on May 19 while heading to Cairo from Paris.

It had recorded the flight`s data from its departure until it "stopped at an altitude of 37,000 feet (11,250 metres)," the committee said in a statement.

"Recorded data is showing a consistency with ACARS messages of lavatory smoke and avionics smoke," it said, two days after the damaged recorder was repaired in France.

Investigators had previously announced that the plane`s automated Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) sent signals indicating smoke alarms on board the plane before it went down.

"Parts of the front section of the aircraft showed signs of high temperature damage and soot," the committee statement added.

The repair work of the cockpit voice recorder, the second black box, had also begun.

The plane was carrying 40 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, two Canadians and one passenger each from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Chad, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.
Brussels: Britain does not have "months to meditate" on the next steps following the Brexit vote, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said Tuesday.

"I have some understanding for the fact that (Prime Minister) David Cameron wants to have some time in order to meditate," Juncker told a news conference after an EU summit.

"We want Article 50 (of the Lisbon Treaty formally stating Britain`s intention to leave) to be triggered as soon as possible... It has to be speeded up. We don`t have months to meditate, we have to act."

Juncker added: "What I don`t understand is that those who wanted to leave (the EU) are totally unable to tell us what they want.

"I thought that if you want to leave you have a plan, you have a project, you have a global picture," he said.

Juncker also said that he expected Britain to trigger Article 50 very soon after Cameron`s successor is named on September 9.

"If someone from the `Remain` camp will become British PM this has to be done in two weeks after his appointment," he said.

"If the next British PM is coming from the `Leave` campaign it should be done the day after his appointment."

EU President Donald Tusk meanwhile said leaders appreciated that the situation needs to calm down in Britain following the Brexit vote before the next steps can be taken.

"The leaders understood that some time is needed for the dust to settle," Tusk said.
Islamabad: Pakistan on Wednesday strongly condemned the terror attack at Ataturk airport in Turkish capital that killed at least 36 people, terming it as "mindless act of terrorism".

"We condemn this mindless act of terrorism in the strongest possible terms. We offer our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the bereaved families and to the brotherly people and government of Turkey," the Foreign Office said.

"We also pray for the speediest and fullest recovery of those wounded in this despicable attack," it said.

Pakistan reiterates its condemnation of terrorism in all forms and manifestations, it said.

"Like always, we stand in strong solidarity with the fraternal people of Turkey in their fight against terrorism. There is no doubt that this scourge would be decisively defeated with Turkey's iron will and unshakeable resolve," it added.

Suspected Islamic State suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing at least 36 people and wounding many others.
Karachi: It's yet another story loudly telling us about the plight of Hindus in Pakistan.

In a shocking incident, a Hindu reporter in Pakistans state-run news agency has been barred from drinking water in the same glass and sharing utensils with other Muslim staff at the office.

This all happened after his colleagues found out his religion i.e. Hindu.

The reporter's name is Sahib Khan Oad. He works as a senior reporter with Associated Press of Pakistan (APP)

Oad, who hails from Dadu district, was initially appointed as a reporter in APP Islamabad and was transferred to Hyderabad and then Karachi in April this year.

When did this discriminatory attitude begin?

The discriminatory attitude started soon after Oad's younger son Raj Kumar visited his office and everyone found out that he was Hindu.

What all discrimination he faced?

"Actually my name contains 'Khan' so everyone initially thought I was Muslim," Sahib Khan Oad said.

"The bureau chief asked me to separate my glass in the office because some colleagues had reservations," Sahib Khan Oad added.
AMMAN: "U.S.-backed Syrian rebel fighters helped by Western-backed special forces seized a military airport held by Islamic State militants close to their strategic stronghold of Al-Bukamal near the Iraqi border", a monitor said on Wednesday.

The U.K.-based Observatory for Human Rights said, "The operation", which involved foreign paratroopers landing by helicopters, "took place at dawn."

Heavy clashes were underway, with militants dug in at the Hamadan airport, 5 km (3 miles)northwest of Al-Bukamal.

The U.S.-backed New Syria Army announced on Tuesday it had begun an attack to take over the town on the Euphrates River, a move that would hamper the militants` ability to move between the Iraqi and Syrian territories of their self-declared caliphate.
Washington: The United States on Tuesday condemned what it called the "heinous" bombing and gun attack at Istanbul`s Ataturk airport that left at least 32 people dead and pledged its "steadfast" support for Turkey.

"Ataturk International Airport, like Brussels Airport which was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind us together," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement.

"We remain steadfast in our support for Turkey, our NATO ally and partner, along with all of our friends and allies around the world, as we continue to confront the threat of terrorism."
District of Columbia: South Korea, Japan and the United States held an unprecedented trilateral missile defence exercise on Tuesday, aimed at countering the growing threat from nuclear-armed North Korea which denounced it as a "military provocation."

The drill in waters off Hawaii came less than a week after North Korea flight-tested a powerful new medium-range ballistic missile that leader Kim Jong-Un hailed as a strike threat to US military bases across the Pacific.

The trilateral exercise included a ballistic target tracking operation to test the Aegis anti-missile systems used by the United States and its two key Asian allies.

"While there were no missiles fired, all participants strengthened interoperability, communication channels, data collection, and capabilities assessments," the US Pacific Command said in a statement.

The drill was significant for the participation of both South Korea and Japan, who are still emerging from an extended diplomatic freeze that had undermined US efforts to present a united front against Pyongyang`s nuclear weapons programme.

As well as rehearsing responses to a North Korean missile attack, the drill "enhanced the already strong relationship of all three nations participating", said Vice Admiral Nora Tyson, commander of the US Third Fleet.

North Korea`s Foreign Ministry condemned the drill as "another military provocation perpetrated by the US" and reiterated strategic willingness to carry out a "pre-emptive nuclear attack" if threatened.

The participation of all three countries revealed their "hegemonic scenario for disturbing regional peace and security", a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.



The North has this year claimed a series of major technical breakthroughs in developing what it sees as the ultimate goal of its nuclear drive: an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.

The recent test of a Musudan medium-range missile was seen by some weapons experts as a significant step towards an operational ICBM by 2020.

Tuesday`s drill also delivered a message of intent to China as Washington and Beijing continue to jostle for influence in Asia.

Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said last week the Musudan test underlined the need to strengthen missile defences to protect US troops stationed in South Korea and Japan.

Seoul and Washington are currently in talks over the deployment of the US military`s sophisticated Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) in South Korea -- a move staunchly opposed by China and Russia.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. It is virtually impossible to steal radioactive materials or radioactive waste for illegal use in Armenia. High level control and supervision is being implemented, Chairman of the State Nuclear Safety Regulatory Committ of Armenia Ashot Martisoryan said in an interview with ARMENPRESS, speaking on the arrest of three Armenian citizens in Georgia for the attempted illegal sale of radioactive materials.

Recently Georgian online media have reported three Armenian and three Georgian citizens were arrested for the attempt of illegal sale of radioactive materials. The news was immediately followed by the Azerbaijani propagandas another anti-Armenian hysteria, as if the Armenian nuclear terrorism is a threat not only for Azerbaijan, but the entire world. Azerbaijan continues manipulating this information in an attempt to damage the reputation of the Armenian state.

Our research has showed that Armenian citizens had been arrested for the attempt of illegal sale of nuclear materials in the past also. In particular in 2010 and 2014. Some of the citizens, mainly from the socially vulnerable class, are tempted by offers to make large sums of money and become involved in suspicious deals.

Firstly, citizens are offered deals which at first glance seem innocent, followed by offers to seek red mercury, cesium, uranium, cobalt and other nuclear materials. Similar offers are exclusively initiated by foreigners  regional bordering countries and Arab countries.

What is the level of the physical protection of nuclear and radioactive materials in Armenia? What kind of supervision is implemented at the borders? How likely is the trafficking of large quantities of radioactive materials from Armenia?  in order to have detailed information on this subject, ARMENPRESS had an interview with Chairman of the State Nuclear Safety Regulatory Committ of Armenia Ashot Martirosyan.

- Mr. Martirosyan, let us begin with the information of the Georgian media, three Armenian citizens have been arrested for the attempt of illegal sale of nuclear materials. What are your comments?

- Lets start with the level of physical protection of nuclear waste, nuclear materials and radioactive materials in Armenia. This will show that it is virtually impossible to steal nuclear or radioactive materials, or use them illegally. Armenia has joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, as well as the Safeguards agreement and the Additional Protocol. With this, Armenia has assumed obligation to not produce nuclear weapons, to not assist the production of nuclear weapons and proliferation. Till now, approximately 200 inspections have been carried out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (Agency), which confirmed that Armenia is completely fulfilling all obligations. Inspectors of the Agency are regularly implementing inspections in Armenia not only in the Nuclear Power Plant, but also other facilities. Reports are made for each inspection. Inspections of all facilities have shown 0 deviations. It is not only about the physical protection of nuclear materials, the balance, quantity, location, but also about technologies. Meaning Armenia is fulfilling its obligations under all articles. This means that it is impossible for criminals to get their hands on nuclear materials. Moreover, the registration of nuclear materials in carried out by a thousandth of gram of accuracy. Control and supervision of the abovementioned materials in carried out on several levels  both local and international.

- And what kind of supervision is carried out at the borders?

- Very sensitive state-of-the-art dosimeters are stationed at the borders, which detect even the slightest excess of radiation. This means that the illegal export or import of nuclear materials from/to Armenia is impossible. Even people exposed to radiation cannot cross the border without being detected. In recent years, a significant number of Armenian citizens travel to Georgia for medical reasons. During the treatment, patients undergo radioisotope diagnostics with the use of radioactive materials. Upon return, the dosimeters detect excess radiation in these people. Last year, the Customs Service has registered and reported more than 100 similar cases. Radiation control at the borders is carried out according to international standards.

-You said that it is impossible to steal nuclear materials. That is in those areas, where state control is implemented, what about unregistered radioactive sources?

-That issue is present not only here, but also around the world. A special project in collaboration with the US Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Committee is being implemented for the detection of these materials.

Detection works are carried out mainly in post-Soviet, closed-regime military-industrial facilities, where the presence of nuclear materials is probable. The joint project with the US is implemented quite effectively. Together with the experts from the US, we arranged the decontamination of detected radioactive materials and the safe transportation to nuclear waste storage facilities. This is a continuous project. Another example  The Agency had information that during Soviet years a heavy water factory was operating in Vanadzor, which is used in the production of nuclear weapons. We informed the Agency that the factory was active until the end of the 1970s, and later was moved to Russia and currently there is no such factory. However the Agency wanted to check the information. A joint visit with the inspectors of the Committee was carried out. The Agency was convinced that the factory doesnt exist. Only the walls and the roof were there. They saw, photographed, made relevant measurements, and were convinced. After this they came to inspect another three times (probably to be convinced that Armenia isnt continuing the production of heavy water on its own). Dont be surprised, the control and supervision is strict, this year they will come for inspections again. Therefore, I exclude serious quantity of radioactive materials being located in Armenia and us being unaware.

-Lets once again return to the publication of the Georgian media, which stated the value of the nuclear materials  around 200 million USD. How valuable are the mentioned nuclear materials and how real is the transportation of nuclear materials worth 200 million USD?

-In this case it was about Uranium 238. One kg of uranium 238 is worth 80 thousand USD in the international market. For 200 million, they would have to have 2 thousand tons of uranium 238. Let me say that large quantities of uranium in Armenia are present in the Nuclear Power Plant, which is used nuclear fuel, it has huge, deadly activity. Not only is the sale impossible, but also illegally approaching or getting near. It is located under the physical protection system of the Nuclear Power Plant, in addition the Agency has set 24/7 video surveillance systems on all facilities, where nuclear materials are stored. Those facilities are sealed with special seals, and even damaging the seals will immediately be registered by the Agencys division.

-Anyhow, three Armenian citizens were arrested. Maybe they are being involved in suspicious deals because of lack of information or social issues. What is your advice to citizens?

-It is very important to notify citizens, so they know the international experience: All illegal attempts regarding nuclear materials end in law enforcement agencies. Maybe people arent aware, maybe they dont realize what kind of fraud they are getting involved into. Let me say that nuclear materials are under serious control and supervision in all countries.

-In addition to issues with law enforcement agencies, health issues are also important. By dealing with this kind of materials they will face serious health issues.

Of course, nuclear and radioactive materials have penetrating properties. The person dealing with such materials gets a certain dose. People should know, that ionizing radiation has no smell, taste or color. If they accidently get their hands on radioactive materials, they will seriously damage their health, and it can even lead to death.

-What measures should be taken to refrain from such incidents?

We suggest citizens to refrain from illegal deals. If they receive similar propositions, it is necessary to inform law enforcement agencies. In addition, working with the society is very important  using television and other measures of mass media to raise awareness. And in case of discovering an abandoned radioactive material, which will have the radioactive sign, call 911 immediately.

Interview by Anna Gziryan
YEREVAN, JUNE 28, ARMENPRESS. The opportunities of Armenia-Switzerland bilateral economic cooperation are pretty big, says Vice-President of the Swiss Parliament, Co-chairman of the Switzerland-Armenia parliamentary group Dominique de Buman, who was recently on an official visit in Armenia with the Secretary General of the parliamentary group Sargis Shahinyan.

We have to develop relations, because there is the desire both in Switzerland and in Armenia. The two countries have many similarities. Switzerland has its own problems with Europe, and Armenia is under blockade, however the two countries have the understanding of the opportunity of cooperation. Armenia fully has the opportunity to capture new markets, Dominique de Buman said.

According to him, in this context the attitude in Switzerland is more powerful than before. I came to Armenia to speak with persons responsible for politics, economics, who have to start works quickly. I can say that now the fields of pharmaceuticals, tourism, as well as agriculture are in progress. For example, Switzerland lacks vegetables. There is great potential in the banking and watchmaking fields. And one of the most important fields, perhaps, is the energy field. Enormous possibilities of using solar energy are present in Armenia, he stressed.

According to Sargis Shahinyan, the main goal of the visit was strengthening bilateral economic ties. Now is the time to bypass the stage associated with historical problems, however not in the sense of ignoring, because now we have the need to look forward. For us the important issue is for the development of young forces in Armenia to be lasting. For this, there is no other way than to deepen the already formed economic ties. Now we want to provide Armenia with possibilities, it only remains to take it, Shahinyan said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. Armenian diplomats have spoken about the violations of human rights in Azerbaijan and Turkey at the UN. Mher Margaryan, representing Armenia, delivered a speech at the 32nd session of the Human Rights Council of the UN.

He reminded the obvious manifestations of xenophobia and racism in Azerbaijan, which were recently documented by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

ARMENPRESS present Mr. Margaryans speech:



In reply to Azerbaijan

We have already brought to the attention of this council the outrageous practices by Azerbaijan as regards Racism and Xenophobia, these are well documented and reported most recently by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial discrimination.

The Azerbaijani authorities regularly cite 30.000 Armenians living in Azerbaijan, which is in contradiction even with their own census data cited in the current report. This fabrication was also noted by the Advisory Committee of the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in its Third opinion on Azerbaijan adopted in October 2012, stating that only 306 persons, not 30000, indicated an ethnic Armenian origin in the 2009 census. We are not aware of any movement of people with the Armenian origin into Azerbaijan since then. If the Azerbaijani government has any such information why wont it share with the international institutions as well?

There are numerous facts when citizens of third countries who carry Armenian family name are declined entry into that country, being held at the airport checkpoints intimidated and sent back.

What is it of not a contemporary form of discrimination and racism in flagrant violation of the Durban Declaration and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.

We urge the Azeri delegation to refrain from disseminating yet another wave of manifestation of hatred and intolerance within this Council.



In reply to Turkey

It is not our intention to raise the issue of recognition of the Armenian Genocide or its denial by Turkey. We have rather addressed the manifestations of Racism and racial discrimination and xenophobia which accompanies the active denialism campaign by the authorities of Turkey.

Unleashing hateful threats and insults, dissemination of hatred and intolerance towards Armenians and those Turks who publicly acknowledge the Genocide and call upon their government to follow suit has become a norm in the political discourse of Turkish authorities. The situation has reached a point when politicians with Turkish origin in other countries who dare to attest the fact of Genocide or vote for its wider recognition are being stigmatized, subjected to derogatory labeling, called for laboratory blood tests, by the highest authorities of Turkey.

Defining people by their blood is nothing short of a total manifestation of racism and xenophobia. We think that such comments should not continue unabated and need to be properly addressed by the human rights mechanisms of the Council and OHCHR.



Thank you.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed sympathy for the Turkish people in connection with the terrorist attack at Istanbuls airport, TASS reports.



"We regret and feel sympathy for the victims of the terrorist attack that occurred yesterday," Putin said at the first meeting with Russian and German pupils devoted to the memory of the Great Patriotic War events (1941-1945).

Putin said the projects similar to those in which the pupils participate "create such a climate that does not allow such awful things happen" like the terrorist attack in Turkey.

Three suicide bombers blew themselves up late on Tuesday at the international terminal of Istanbuls Ataturk airport, killing at least 36 people and wounding 147 others. Unofficial reports say the death toll has reached 50. Turkeys Prime Minister Binali Yildirim who visited the blasts scene said the terrorist attack could have been carried out by the members of the Islamic State group.








YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. The European Commission rolled out the red carpet for Scotland's first minister on Wednesday, hours after outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron told an EU summit his country would be leaving the European Union following last week's referendum, Reuters reports.

A spokeswoman for the EU executive said Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker would meet First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in the late afternoon after Britain's 27 partners meet without the UK to discuss how to respond to a Brexit.

They are expected to launch a period of reflection, culminating in a set of EU reform proposals to be unveiled by March of next year, the 60th anniversary of the founding Rome Treaty. Leaders have said the focus will be on getting a grip on migration, bolstering security and creating jobs and growth.

"It's important to have this meeting of 27 because it will show the unity of the 27," said Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, describing the British vote as a wake-up call for Europe.

Sturgeon has said Scotland, where more than 60 percent of voters said they wanted to stay in the EU, does not want to be forced out of Europe by England, the most populous component of the United Kingdom, which voted to leave.

She has raised the prospect of the Scottish parliament trying to block exit legislation, and alternatively holding a new referendum on independence.

The Scottish Nationalist premier was to meet European Parliament president Martin Schulz first in Brussels to discuss the way forward. But the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, who chairs EU summits, turned down her request for a meeting, his spokesman said.

Diplomats said there was a risk that the high-profile welcome for Sturgeon, a day after Cameron's last EU summit, could be seen in London as an encouragement to secession, although EU officials denied any such intention.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan has talked about the situation at the Upper Lars checkpoint with Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev.

The PMs spokeswoman Gohar Poghosyan says taking into consideration that a large number of people are stranded in the checkpoint, including children, elderly and pregnant women, Abrahamyan has considered the solution of the problem via air transportation.

And as you now, accompanied by the representative of the Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations, today the aircraft of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations will land in Vladikavkaz, which will transport 156 Armenian citizens to Armenia, she said.

On June 23 it was reported that 2 km from the Upper Lars checkpoint (Georgian territory), 600 meters of the highway was completely destroyed by floods of the Terek River. There are no injured.

Later, the CMC of North Ossetia reported that 53 cargo trucks are stranded in Upper Lars checkpoint, another 11 in Rendant, 2 buses and 40 passenger cars. (Overall 230 Armenian citizens).
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. Dubais iconic skyscraper Burj Khalifa has introduced its new official mascot, Mr. Burj, Gulf Business reports.

Dressed as a replica of Burj Khalifa, the mascot will be present to welcome families with children to the towers observation deck experience  At The Top, Burj Khalifa.

The fictional stories of Mr. Burj, who was born from a wish of a young boy, Omar, are now available in comic strip teasers on Burj Khalifas social media accounts.

Further promotion will include personal meet and greet sessions, photographs with the mascot and Mr. Burj dedicated merchandise, which will soon be available at the At The Top, Burj Khalifa retail store in Dubai Mall.

Mr. Burj will be joining mascots previously introduced, including the mascots of KidZania, located in Dubai Mall.

Earlier this month, the Dubai skyscraper introduced Burj Khalifa themed bottled water, in the shape of the tower. Made of K9 crystals, it has been priced at Dhs 700.

The debut of the mascot and bottled water comes just in time for the summer break with high levels of tourist traffic expected in Dubai.

Welcoming 4.1 million travellers in the first quarter of 2016, Dubai has seen a 5.1 per cent increase in overnight visitors from the same period last year.

Burj Khalifa received a record number of visitors in 2013 at 1.87 million, averaging at 156,000 people visiting the attraction each month.

Since then, the tower has consistently been one of the most popular tourist points of the emirate.

Burj Khalifa developer Emaar Properties also introduced a new project earlier this year, a tower that is expected to surpass the Burj by 100m.

The new tower will be located at Dubai Creek Harbour and will have an area twice as big as Downtown Dubai, the area where Burj Khalifa is located.

The new project, standing at 928 metres will not as tall as the 1km-plus Jeddah Tower being built in Saudi Arabia.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs that on June 29 the USD exchange rate was 476.33 AMD which is a decrease of 0.46 drams compared to the previous day.

Armenpress reports that the Euro decreased by 1.80 drams forming 527.46 drams. British pound increased by 1.67 drams forming 638.09 drams, Russian ruble increased by 0.04 drams reaching 7.42 drams on June 29.

The prices for precious metals are as follows: the price for silver per gram is 269.07 AMD, gold-20,057.22 AMD, and platinum-14,931.5 AMD.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia has condemned the terror act in Istanbul airport on June 28, Armenpress reports MFA Armenia made a note on its Twitter page.

We condemn the horrible terrorist attacks at the airport in Istanbul. We extent our condolences to the families of all the victims, reads the note.

Three suicide bombers opened fire then blew themselves up in Istanbul's main international airport on Tuesday, killing 41 people and wounding close to 200.

The attack on Europe's third-busiest airport was one of the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in Turkey.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. The Israeli parliament will discuss Armenian Genocide on July 5, Armenpress reports famous Israeli scientist, expert in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, racism and contemporary Jewish studies, the Zorian Institute Board member Yair Auron informed.

Israel has avoided permitting a public debate on free voting frightened by being alienated from US and Israeli main ally Turkey. It is not a secret for anyone that Israel has an extremely contradictory position on the issue of the Armenian Genocide, which can be explained by different factors, including diplomatic. Modern Turkey is not guilty, but it is the legal successor of the Ottoman Empire with all its rights and responsibilities, Yair Auron said.

In his words, after the Bundestag vote on the Armenian Genocide resolution, as well as after refreshing the diplomatic relations with Turkey in the recent days, Israel must make its position on the Armenian Genocide more precise.

It is difficult for me to accept the double standards of Israel, both as a Jew and a scientist. It is difficult to witness the trade of Israel based on the sympathy resulted by the Holocaust, and on the other hand the denial of the genocide of other nations. If modern Germany admits the responsibility of the German Empire in the Armenian Genocide, how can one understand Turkish denialism? I would like the discussion of this year not to be similar to those in the past with a free vote and putting the emphasis on that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide will not be linked with friendly or hostile relations with Turkey, but will be the moral responsibility of Israel, he said.

Knesset speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein urged the Government on May 16 to recognize the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire.

On June 2 the German Bundestag adopted a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide called Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of the Armenians and other Christian minorities in the years 1915 and 1916.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. The bust transporting the 25 students of "Hay-Art" group, their pedagogues and 48 parents who arrived in Sochi to participate in Sochi, art and peace international festival will arrive in Yerevan on June 29, midnight, press service of the Ministry of Transport and Communication of Armenia informed Armenpress.

The students of "Hay-Art" group, their pedagogues and parents who arrived in Sochi to participate in Sochi, art and peace international festival were planned sail to Batumi on June 28 at 19:00 from where a bust would take them to Yerevan. They encountered difficulties returning from Russia to Armenia due to the closure of Verin Lars (Upper Lars) checkpoint. MFA spokesperson Tigran Balayan informed Armenpress that as soon as they arrive in Batumi the Ministry of Transport and Communication of Armenia will take the children, their pedagogues and parents to Yerevan by a bus.

As the department of Emergency Situations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Georgia informs, Upper Lars checkpoint is temporarily closed because of rock-fall. According to preliminary data the checkpoint will be closed for over a week.

As a result of water level rising of the Terek River there is a risk of a flood.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. Edward Nalbandian, Foreign Minister of Armenia, met with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Federal Foreign Minister of Germany and the OSCE Chairperson-in-office in Yerevan on June 29.

As Arm,enpress was informed from the press service of MFA Armenia, the meeting started in a tete-a-tete format, and proceeded in the extended format with the participation of delegations.

Welcoming the guests, Edward Nalbandian stressed, that regular high-level visits create a solid basis to discuss perspectives of the development of multilayer Armenian-German relations.



The Ministers commended the dynamic development of bilateral cooperation. The interlocutors shared the view, that it derives from the mutual aspiration to further develop and deepen relations between the two friendly countries.



Edward Nalbandian and Frank-Walter Steinmeier reflected on the process of implementation of agreements reached between the President of Armenia and Chancellor of Germany in April in Berlin.



The sides also praised the high level of the Armenian-German inter-parliamentary ties and attached importance to the cooperation established within the international parliamentary assemblies.



Edward Nalbandian mentioned that Armenia highly values the adoption of Resolution on the Armenian Genocide by German Bundestag on June 2, which complimented the Statement made by the Federal President Joachim Gauck on April 23, 2015. By this step, Germany not only makes a remarkable contribution to the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, as well as to the efforts of the international community for prevention of genocides and crimes against humanity, but also recognizes its part of responsibility for the Armenian Genocide, said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia.

The Ministers attached importance to the regular consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and further strengthening the cooperation within international organizations.



Ministers discussed numerous issues of bilateral agenda, including the expansion of legal framework, steps towards the development of cooperation in the fields of trade and economy, education, culture, healthcare. The sides emphasized the role of the Office of German Business Association, opened in Yerevan in April, in the advancement of bilateral trade and economic relations.



Edward Nalbandian and Frank-Walter Steinmeier discussed steps aimed at further strengthening of relations between Armenia and the European Union, and in particular, the process of negotiations over the new comprehensive agreement with the EU.



Ministers addressed issues related to the OSCE agenda. Edward Nalbandian reaffirmed Armenias support to the priorities of the OSCE German Chairmanship. It was mentioned that Armenia appreciates the support of the German Chairmanship to the efforts of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs aimed at exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.



Edward Nalbandian also valued the activities of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, and emphasized that the Office is the only OSCE full fledged mission in the region, which yet again demonstrates Armenias commitment to cooperation within the OSCE.



At the end of the meeting, Edward Nalbandian and Frank-Walter Steinmeier signed an Agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the Federal Republic of Germany on Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital.



The meeting was followed by the joint press conference of Foreign Ministers Nalbandian and Steinmeier.
Shares in Deutsche bank plunged, dragging down other European banks and markets worldwide

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that US operations of Germany's Deutsche Bank and Spain's Santander had failed an annual stress test, citing weaknesses in their capital planning and risk management.

The Fed granted a conditional approval to US investment bank Morgan Stanley to return funds to shareholders, while delivering a full endorsement to 30 other large financial institutions on their capital distribution plans.

The central bank's report pointed to the improved capacity of the US financial system overall to withstand an economic shock. But Santander Holdings USA fell short of the Fed's evaluation for the third year in a row, while Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation failed for the second straight year.

The Fed last week announced that all 33 large financial institutions had cleared the quantitative aspect of the stress test. That meant they were deemed to be holding sufficient capital to withstand a severe economic hit, such as a bad recession.

Federal Reserve officials said the types of negative scenarios incorporated into the tests were comparable with the worst-case outcomes some have said could play out after Britain decided to leave the European Union last week. The Fed's scenarios include 10 percent unemployment and negative interest rates for US Treasuries.

The Fed said it had found significant fault in the qualitative aspects of the plans to return capital to shareholders by the US units of Santander and Deutsche Bank, saying they both relied on assumptions that are "not reasonable or appropriate."

Key problems at the two European banks included poor risk measurement processes, stress testing procedures and data infrastructure.

Santander officials said they were pleased the bank had passed the quantitative analysis, but disappointed at falling short otherwise.

"We have already begun preparing for next year's stress test and we are well on our way to making the enhancements necessary to improve our qualitative assessment,"said Santander Holdings US chief executive Scott Powell.

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Deutsche Bank also said it would work to improve.

"The capital adequacy of Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation has never been in doubt," said Bill Woodley, chief executive of Deutsche Bank USA.

"We appreciate the Federal Reserve's recognition of our progress, and we will implement the lessons learned this year in order to strengthen our capital planning process."

The immediate impact of the Fed decision is to block any capital distributions from the two banks.

- Banks returning cash -

Morgan Stanley is permitted to conduct capital distributions, but must remediate weaknesses, including in modeling and governance, within six months. If Morgan Stanley fails to win an endorsement at that time, the Fed could block additional distributions.

Morgan Stanley said it planned repurchases of up to $3.5 billion in shares and would boost its dividend to 20 cents per share from 15 cents.

"We are very pleased to be able to increase our capital return to shareholders for the fourth consecutive year. Returning additional capital to our shareholders is a key element of our strategic plan," chief executive James Gorman said.

"In addition, we are committed to addressing the Fed's concerns about our capital planning process and fully expect to meet their requirements within the established timeframe."

Several other banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, announced new dividend increases or plans to make stock repurchases following the Fed's review.

The Fed said the winning of approval by the vast majority of the banks illustrates the benefits of capital building requirements overseen by the Fed since the 2008 financial crisis.

Banks have amassed $700 billion in additional capital compared with 2009, to $1.2 trillion, boosting their common equity capital ratio, which compares high-quality capital to risk-weighted assets.

"Over the six years in which (the stress tests) have been in place, the participating firms have strengthened their capital positions and improved their risk-management capacities," said Fed governor Daniel Tarullo.

"Continued progress in both areas will further enhance the resiliency of the nation's largest banks."

The Fed said it would push for more improvement in some key areas, saying it identified a broad problem throughout the industry in internal audits.

The Fed said it plans a "thorough review" of large banks' internal auditing later in 2016.
French-born designer Hedi Slimane, pictured on October 1, 2012 in Paris, has been accused by some of denigrating the hallowed legacy of the fashion house's founder Yves Saint Laurent

Hedi Slimane, the former creative director of French fashion house Saint Laurent, is to receive $13 million in a contractual dispute over his departure from the company, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

The ruling was made by a Paris commercial court after Slimane took the label's parent company Kering Group to court.

Saint Laurent announced in April that Slimane was leaving after a highly profitable four-year stint during which he remade the brand in his grungy rock star chic image.

However Slimane had been accused by some of denigrating the hallowed legacy of the fashion house's founder Yves Saint Laurent.

Belgian designer Anthony Vaccarello was named as his replacement within days.

Kering said it planned to appeal the court's decision, which it called an interim ruling concerning noncompetition obligations, a normal device to restrict executives from working for competitors for a certain amount of time.

Kering said it had lifted the clause at the end of Slimane?s contract, thus freeing the designer from the employment restraint.

Now, the group, said 47-year-old Parisian Slimane was requesting that this clause be applied, along with the financial compensation that goes with it.

Slimane's lawyer Herve Temime said the court ruling was great news and "perfectly natural".
Five things the Brexit will change for Australians

When the UK declared its shock decision to leave the European Union last week, global markets went into turmoil.

There are obviously plenty of questions around the future of, and implications for, the UK and Europe. But what exactly does this mean for is Aussies?

Also read: Brexit shouldn't impact Aust-EU trade deal

Here are five key ways that the decision to exit the EU will affect Australians, according to finder.com.au.

1, A fall in the Australian dollar

As soon as the news of Brexit was confirmed, the value of the UK pound plummeted against the US dollar, and the value of the Australian dollar fell with it.

The Aussie dollar then fell further off the back of Britains credit ratings downgrade this week.

Also read: 'Months of uncertainty' from Brexit

2, A fall in share prices

"If financial markets seize up, as they did in 2008, then the big Australian banks will find it difficult to secure the vast amounts of offshore funding that they require - share prices will fall sharply and government guarantees will be called for again," Curtin University senior lecturer Lee Smales said.

That will impact the value of your superannuation, and is likely to be a factor when the Reserve Bank meets in a fortnight to set official cash rates.

3. Changes to visas and working holidays

One of the main arguments driving the decision to exit the EU has been the UKs immigration levels.

Instead there have been calls for an Australian-style points system to encourage skilled immigration.

That could eventually result in tighter rules than the current system, which allows people under 30 to spend a year working in the UK.

While the immediate focus will be on rules controlling the movement of people between European countries, at some point there will likely be implications for Australians.

Also read: Britain votes to LEAVE the EU

4. Decline in the number of British tourists

"The spending power of British tourists (last year more than 700,000 of them arrived in Australia) would be lowered," Smales predicted.

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Brits residing in Australia who receive a UK pension will also have less spending power with the current decline in the pound.

5. Harder to call the Australian election

Australias next Federal election going to the polls on 2 July, and the impact of the Brexit decision is likely to be a key point of argument for the Australian economy.
French President Francois Hollande gives a press conference on June 29, 2016 at the European Union headquarters in Brussels

Britain's City of London financial district would have to give up its role in processing euro currency transactions after it leaves the European Union, French President Francois Hollande warned on Wednesday.

Hollande said other European financial centres should be ready to take over from London, which is home to many banking clearing houses that deal with euros.

"There is no reason for Europe, and still less the eurozone, to allow a country that is no longer a member of the European Union and has never been a member of the eurozone to continue operations in euros," Hollande said after a summit in Brussels.

The French leader added that European financial centres should "prepare to take on a certain number of operations that can no longer be done in Britain".

In a separate interview with French business daily Les Echos Hollande said France itself should "adapt its regulations, including fiscal (regulations) to make the Paris financial centre more attractive".

On Tuesday, the president of Paris Europlace, a group that promotes French finance, met with Finance Minister Michel Spain to suggest ways of boosting the French capital's ability to woo City bankers.

Britain's shock vote last week to leave the EU has sparked questions over its role as Europe's financial capital, with cities like Frankfurt, home of the European Central Bank, and Dublin also hoping to cash in on any move out of London by financial companies.

The issue of whether euro clearing houses can remain in the British capital is set to be one of the most contentious issues as Britain seeks to negotiate its future trade relationship with the EU after its departure.

Britain has jealously guarded its status and won a recent EU court decision against the European Central Bank in order to keep hosting the euro deals.

Jonathan Hill, a Briton, was the European Commissioner in charge of the coveted financial services portfolio until his resignation on Saturday following the referendum result.
After allowing women to serve in combat roles, the United States Marines Corps plans to update various specialty titles to be ungendered. Insecure men are angry about this.

Antitank Missilemen, for example, will now be Antitank Gunners instead. Operations Men will henceforth be Operations Chiefs. Most of the changes just replace the word "man" with the world "marine." Where a literary barbarism is unavoidable, gendered titles will be kept. For example, it's still going to be Riflemen, not Rifleperson/Riflemarine. And yet, the rage.

"On one hand, the name changes from 'man' to 'person' or whatever they want to call it doesn't really matter. They could call mortarmen bakers for all I care," said Sgt. Geoff Heath, a Marine rifleman with multiple combat deployments. "But on the other, it's a direct reflection on society's crybaby political correctness." Marines, though, complain about everything. Infantrymen Basic infantry Marines even more so. The rage  mostly confined to tweets, Facebook links and comments' sections  centered on the idea that the Marine Corps was being gutted by political correctness.

Some hover at an epiphany's edge
By Julia Edwards PHOENIX (Reuters) - The Obama administration is looking into whether it can challenge the Supreme Court's decision to block President Barack Obama's plan to spare millions of illegal immigrants from deportation, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Tuesday. "We will be reviewing the case and seeing what, if anything else, we need to do in court," Lynch told Reuters in an interview. Lynch did not say what legal options the Obama administration may pursue following a split decision by the Supreme Court justices last week that left in place a block on the executive action by a lower court. She said any future executive actions Obama may take on immigration would be left to the White House. In a wideranging interview on topics from gun control to the effect of the planned exit of Britain from the European Union, Lynch identified espionage from foreign nationals on U.S. companies as a "tremendous problem." The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reported a 53 percent increase in cases of economic espionage between 2014 and 2015 and the majority of cases involve Chinese nationals as culprits. Most recently, Xu Jiaqiang, 30, was charged with economic espionage and theft of trade secrets, for stealing software source code from his U.S. employer with the intent of benefiting the Chinese government. "It is a matter of priority for us," Lynch said. "When companies or industries are preyed upon by others, be they individuals, be they state actors who literally steal the fruit of their intellectual labors, essentially they are stealing from future generations also. Asked to comment on the impact of Britain's decision at a referendum last week to leave the European Union, Lynch said the law enforcement relationships between the United States and both Britain and the European Union would remain strong. "We have very strong and positive relationship with law enforcement in the United Kingdom and, as of now, I do not see that changing in respect to the United Kingdom or the European Union," Lynch said. Asked about changes that should be made in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando on June 12, Lynch did not say if the Justice Department or the Obama administration was working on more executive actions on gun control but would continue research on "smart-gun" technology. A smart gun is one that can only be fired by the authorized user, often by requiring a palm print, in order to prevent gun theft or accidental shootings. Thats going to be a longer-term project. One of the things that we want to make sure is that people who do own guns lawfully have a way to make sure that their family members are safe in the house with them," Lynch said the Justice Department is looking to see if the federal government can move smart-gun research forward, including on technology that can be used by the military. Lynch also said that it was important for the Justice Department to look at individuals in the ongoing criminal investigation into the Volkswagen emissions scandal. (Editing by Alistair Bell)
'I'm still shaking,' evacuee says as Mississauga blast forces up to 100 out of their homes

One person is dead after a devastating explosion levelled a house in Mississauga, Ont., and damaged 24 others.

The cause of the blast, which also left nine people with minor injuries, is still unknown. A fire official said it is too early to speculate on what led to the explosion that occurred about 4:20 p.m. ET on Hickory Drive, near Dixie Road and Rathburn Road East.

Peel Regional Police confirmed one person died in the explosion. Police declined to provide further information about the age or sex of the victim on Tuesday night.

Chief Tim Beckett of Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services said the area is now secure. He said Tuesday night that the evacuation area covered 25 to 30 homes, and a total of 50 to 100 people have been forced to leave their homes.

Beckett said there is also limited access to about 700 addresses in what he called the "outer perimeter" of the evacuated zone. That means people who were in their homes during the explosion can "shelter in place" or make arrangements to leave, and those who were not at home are not allowed to return for now.

"We are continuing to conduct an ongoing operation here with respect to the safety of the area. We have shut the area down. However, there's residual gas we have to look at," he said. "Nobody outside the perimeter prior to the explosion is allowed back into the perimeter for the purposes of securing the area."

Beckett said the limited access to the outer perimeter will be reassessed on Wednesday morning.

He said Toronto's Heavy Urban Search and Rescue team arrived Tuesday night to help officials go through homes still considered unstable. The team is trained to locate, remove and provide medical attention for people who might be trapped in collapsed buildings. It is currently doing an assessment of the site.

Beckett said fire officials have yet to begin their investigation into the cause, with the focus on stabilizing the site.

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"We definitely have collapsed homes and unstable homes," Beckett said. "There is definitely extensive damage to the area."

The air quality in the area has been determined to be okay, he said.

"We anticipate this will be a prolonged exercise. From here on in, it's just going to be a slow process that our crews will continue to work on."

Power outages for dozens of homes

A reception area has been set up at Burnhamthorpe Community Centre, which was scheduled to stay open Tuesday night. Residents are urged to register with the centre if they need any supportive services after the explosion.

"We will be there to welcome you and make sure that you have at least a dry place to stay," Beckett said.

Const. Paolo Carretta of the Peel Regional Police said it's not known when residents currently out of their homes will be allowed to return.

"As soon as we have a time, we'll be sure to let everybody know. In the meantime, we're asking any affected residents to please attend the community centre," he said.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said gas and power have been cut off to 58 homes in the area, and she urged residents to stay with family and friends if possible. She said six homes received moderate to heavy damage.

"It may last more than one night," she said.

Belma Colakovic, who lives in a townhouse complex known as Hickory Village, about 10 houses away from where the explosion occurred, said she was at a nearby Tim Hortons when she felt the blast.

"All of a sudden we feel the ground shake and the windows move and the doors open and close. At first we thought it was a really bad earthquake, and then we looked up outside, and we saw that there was a huge cloud of smoke everywhere," Colakovic said.

On her walk home, the roads were blocked by police.

"There was just wood on the street  scattered all over the place," she said.

She said she knows one of families in the houses affected by the explosion and is trying to contact them to find out if they're OK.

"We're just praying for all those families and really hoping that they weren't home."

Toronto Emergency Services said one person was pronounced dead at the scene and nine people were treated at the scene for injuries, mostly cuts and bruises. The injured were all treated on the Toronto Paramedic Bus.

Police are asking people to avoid the area near Dixie Road and Rathburn Road East.

The evacuated area is from Eastgate Parkway to the North, Rathburn Road East to the South, Golden Orchard Drive to the West and Dixie Road to the East.

Area residents have been sharing photos and video of the explosion scene on social media.

Garrett Brazzier was driving east on Rathburn Road East crossing over Hickory Drive when he stopped at the light at Dixie and Rathburn.

"I heard a loud bang, like a super-loud bang. It sounded like a bomb went off, almost. I looked in my rearview mirror and there was debris flying everywhere. There was a huge dust cloud," he said.
Canada Post mail service could screech to a halt as early as Saturday if the Crown corporation locks out its employees or the unions call a strike. Both will be in a legal position to do so if a collective agreement is not reached by July 2.

"There's no mandate on our side of the table today to go on strike," said Craig Dyer, President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Local 126. "But there's a lot of rumours and messages being sent out by the corporation that they are planning on locking out their 50,000 members."

In a news release, Canada Post says it tabled contract offers June 25 for its delivery employees and plant workers.

"Our offers are designed to help reach agreements and avoid a work disruption," it said in the statement.

The Crown corporation is warning customers to take precautions.

"In the event of a labour disruption, Canada Post will not operate. Mail and parcels will not be delivered, and no new items will be accepted. Any mail and parcels within the postal system during a work disruption will be secured and delivered as quickly as possible once operations resume."

Dyer, who represents 300 workers in the St. John's area, said Canada Post told the union earlier in June that it will suspend employee health, vision and dental benefits on July 2.

"That's sending the wrong message to the workers and that's sending the wrong message to the public." Dyer said in an interview with Here and Now's Jonathan Crowe on Tuesday. "We should be at the negotiating table trying to hammer out a bargain."

"Our membership [is] tired of being told that the sky is falling," said Dyer. "Right now our members are upset. We've made huge profits over the last few years."

Dyer hopes the change in federal government leadership will work to their advantage.

"I think it's a huge turning point. We spent 12 years under the Harper regime, but we still have a Harper-style management team in Ottawa," said Dyer. "We're hoping that the liberals are on side with us. The liberals are all about the middle class families. We are the middle class."

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Dyer said if a labour disruption happens, postal workers will keep essential services in place and deliver Employment Insurance cheques.

Canada Post issued deadlines for premium mail delivery options for guaranteed delivery by June 30:

- Xpresspost (national and regional): June 28

- Expedited Parcel (local): June 29

- Priority (national, regional and local): June 29

- Xpresspost (local): June 29

Deliveries were already cancelled on July 1 because of the holiday.
The Board of Directors of Nordea Bank Finland Plc has approved and signed a demerger plan on 4 February 2016 according to which Nordea Bank Finland Plc will demerge so that all assets, liabilities and reserves of the covered bond funding business are transferred to a new acquiring company to be incorporated in conjunction with the demerger. The demerger plan was approved by an extraordinary general meeting of Nordea Bank Finland Plc on 3 March 2016 and is conditional on the acquiring company obtaining a mortgage credit bank licence in accordance with Section 5 of the Covered Bond Act (688/2010, as amended) as well as an authorisation as a credit institution as referred to in Section 7 of the Act on Credit Institutions (610/2014, as amended). According to the demerger plan the planned registration date was 1 July 2016. The Board of Directors of Nordea Bank Finland Plc believe that the conditions for the registration of the demerger will not be met by 1 July 2016. As a consequence thereof, now it is Nordea Bank Finland Plcs intention to register the demerger as soon as practically possible after the conditions for registration of the demerger have been met. The current expectation is that these conditions will be met during the third or the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2016. For further information, please contact: Andreas Larsson, Senior Investor Relations Officer, Head of Debt IR and ratings +46 709 70 75 55 or Thomas Miller, Vice President, Retail Banking Finland +358 40 864 4554 Stock Exchange Release Helsinki, Finland 28 June 2016 at 5:00 p.m.
NEW YORK, June 28, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Halyard Health, Inc. (Halyard or the Company) (NYSE:HYH), Kimberly-Clark Corporation (Kimberly-Clark) (NYSE:KMB) and certain of the companies officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and docketed under 16-cv-05093, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons other than Defendants who: (1) purchased or otherwise acquired Kimberly-Clark securities on or after February 25, 2013 and subsequently received Halyard securities pursuant to Kimberly-Clarks spin-off of Halyard, effective as of October 31, 2014; and/or (2) purchased or otherwise acquired Halyard securities between October 21, 2014 and April 29, 2016, both dates inclusive (collectively, the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder.



If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired Halyard securities during the Class Period, you have until August 29, 2016 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll free, ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and number of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

Halyard provides health and healthcare supplies and solutions worldwide. The Company operates through two segments, Surgical and Infection Prevention (S&IP), and Medical Devices. Halyard markets its products directly to hospitals and other healthcare providers, as well as through third-party distribution channels.

Prior to October 2014, Halyard was the Health Care operating segment of Kimberly-Clark, a manufacturer of personal care, consumer tissue, and professional products. Kimberly-Clarks common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol KMB. On October 7, 2014, Kimberly-Clark announced the details for the completion of the spin-off of its Health Care segment as Halyard Health, Inc., advising its shareholders that they would receive one share of Halyard Health common stock for every eight shares of Kimberly-Clark common stock held as of the close of trading on October 23, 2014, the record date for the spin-off.

In late 2013, an outbreak of the Ebola virus began in Guinea, subsequently spreading to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and other West African nations. In August 2014, after meeting with health ministers from eleven countries, the World Health Organization designated the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, a rarely-used designation that invokes legal measures on disease prevention, surveillance, control, and response by 194 signatory countries. On September 30, 2014, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the first case of Ebola virus in the United States.

As awareness of the Ebola epidemic grew, demand surged for the personal protective equipmenti.e., eye shields, face masks and disposable gownsmade by Kimberly-Clarks Health Care segment and subsequently by Halyard, including the Companys MICROCOOL surgical gowns.

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the Companys MICROCOOL surgical gowns consistently failed effectiveness tests and failed to meet industry standards; (ii) Kimberly-Clark and Halyard had knowingly provided defective MICROCOOL surgical gowns to U.S. workers during the Ebola crisis; and (iii) as a result of the foregoing, Defendants public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On May 1, 2016, 60 Minutes reported that Kimberly-Clark and Halyard had knowingly provided defective surgical gowns to U.S. workers at the height of the Ebola crisis. A Company insider claimed that Halyards MICROCOOL surgical gowns were prone to leaks and did not consistently meet the industry safety standards for the treatment of Ebola, but that Kimberly-Clark and Halyard had nonetheless aggressively marketed the MICROCOOL gowns to hospitals during the epidemic.

On this news, Halyard stock fell $1.21, or 4.3%, to close at $26.95 on May 2, 2016.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com
LAS VEGAS, Nev., June 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Maxie Mobile Inc., the alternative banking solution operating on all mobile phones and PC's, and H40 Inc. have reached an agreement to bring 10's of 1000's of new users to the Maxie platform during the next 24 months. H40 is a consortium of banking and casino professionals brought together to offer a banking alternative to the many casino workers who are underserved by traditional banks and looking for a low cost banking alternative. The Maxie Mobile solution provides a bank account with a Visa debit card and a rich set of services including bill payment, cross border remittance, prepaid phone top-up and check cashing with very few costs to the user. This payroll deposit solution will alleviate the need for checks and prepaid cards currently in use by many of these organizations.

Gil Hooper, the Managing Director of Maxie, said "H40 brings a very large base of users to the platform which enables Maxie to customize the product specifically for their needs". Mr. Hooper added that "the founders of H40 came together to provide a low cost alternative to the casino workers, giving them the ability to direct deposit their pay into an FDIC insured account while gaining access to a group of very low cost financial services that are used frequently by this group of users". Maxie is also adding a cash back loyalty program that will provide every Maxie user with an average of 4.7% cash back from on-line purchases from over 4,000 retailers. Dave Moody, one of the principals of H40 commented that, "we evaluated a lot of alternatives before choosing Maxie. We see the Maxie and H40 partnership becoming a very important part of our overall business in the future".

Maxie Mobile Inc. is a Nevada based supplier of mobile payment solutions aimed at the underserved populations within the U.S. and internationally. Through its banking relationships, Maxie is able to offer a low cost, universal banking alternative to people who have a mobile phone or PC. In addition to bill payment and phone top-up, users can send money cross border to family members in over 40 countries. Maxie has optimized its application for use by anyone with a smart phone or a PC.

H40, Inc. is a consortium of bankers and casino professionals that provide a financial services to the 100's of 1000's of casino workers within the U.S. that are paying too much for banking services or have been excluded from banking because they do not meet the minimum income standards set by most banking institutions. H40 is targeting 200 casinos to implement the Maxie solution over the next 24 months and has been testing the solution for a number of months before rolling out to their other partners.

This article was originally distributed on PRWeb. For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/06/prweb13521630.htm
ESPOO, Finland, June 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Technology, engineering and project management company Neste Jacobs has worked on an assignment to prepare conceptual and basic design for Asia's largest human blood plasma fractionation plant project.

These phases of the project are now successfully completed to enable the implementation of the project by Sichuan Yuanda Shuyang Pharmaceutical Company.

Neste Jacobs has accumulated vast experience in human plasma fractionation over the last 40 years and the company has in-depth understanding of plasma technologies, production processes, operational aspects and cost levels required for a fully functional human plasma fractionation plant. This highly regulated biopharmaceutical sector sets high standards for the design and operation of the facility. Product safety, regulatory compliance, traceability and robust operability must be built-in during all design steps starting from conceptual and basic design now completed by Neste Jacobs.

"This project demonstrates that we are the world's leading expert in this very demanding bioindustry field", says Neste Jacobs CEO, Jarmo Suominen. "We have thorough understanding of various blood plasma technologies and a comprehensive network of partnerships in this field taking us way beyond our competition."

The plant now goes to the implementation phase, being built in China. "During the conceptual and basic phases of this project we have greatly contributed to our customer quality and functionality of the plant.

Our approach integrates technology, concepts and process knowledge within the automated operations and constructability. This way our customers can be confident about the functionality of the as such complex plasma fractionation plant", says Neste Jacobs Bioindustries Sales Director, Kari Kaskes. "We are without doubt a number one company in front line development of global bioindustries."

Read more about Neste Jacobs' Biopharma expertise at http://www.nestejacobs.com/industries/biopharma/

For more information, please contact:

Jarmo Suominen, CEO, Neste Jacobs Oy, tel. +358 50 458 3399

Kari Kaskes, Sales Director, Bioindustries, Neste Jacobs Oy, tel. + 358 50 458 9603

Neste Jacobs is a preferred solution provider of high-quality technology, engineering and project services for a wide range of industries in the fields of oil and gas, petrochemicals, chemicals, biorefining, biochemicals, biopharma and industrial infrastructure. We have 60 years of experience in technology development and industrial investment projects as well as maintenance and performance improvement in Europe, North and South America, Asia and the Middle East. In addition to our home market Nordic countries we are looking to grow in the global expanding markets. We employ 1300 professionals globally. www.nestejacobs.com
LOUISVILLE, Ky., June 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CareSource and University of Louisville Physicians have reached an agreement to provide more affordable health care options for Kentuckians. Now UofL Physicians accepts patients with CareSource health insurance coverage.



The agreement gives CareSource members with marketplace and Medicare Advantage plans access to the largest multispecialty physicians group in the Louisville area. UofL Physicians has more than 900 providers in 78 specialties and subspecialties.

"Research shows us that when selecting insurance coverage, for almost 50 percent of Kentuckians, the ability to keep their own doctor or hospital is the most important decision factor," said CareSource Senior Vice President Scott Streator, citing recent market research conducted by CareSource. "By coming together with UofL Physicians, CareSource is pleased to offer Kentuckians increased access to affordable coverage that includes more than 100 office locations and dozens of health clinics throughout the state of Kentucky."

Becky Lamb, vice president of contracting for UofL Physicians, said "We are pleased to partner with CareSource to provide exceptional care for their growing membership."

A non-profit health plan with a 26-year history, CareSource continues to invest in the health and well-being of Kentuckians through an expanding coverage area and provider network. For 2016, CareSource increased the footprint of its marketplace plan, CareSource Just4Me, to 46 counties and has added more than 1,000 providers to its network. CareSource serves more than 135,000 Kentuckians through its marketplace and Medicare Advantage plans, and through an alliance with Humana to serve Medicaid members.



About CareSource

CareSource is a nonprofit health plan nationally recognized for leading the managed care industry in providing member-centric health care coverage. Founded in 1989, CareSource is one of the nation's largest Medicaid managed care plans. Today CareSource offers a lifetime of health coverage to more than 1.5 million members across four states including offerings on the Health Insurance Marketplace and Medicare Advantage plans.

Headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, CareSource has a workforce of 2,700 employees located across the region. CareSource is living its mission to make a lasting difference in its members' lives by improving their health and well-being. CareSource understands the challenges consumers face navigating the health system and works to put health care in reach for those it serves.

For more, visit caresource.com, follow @caresource on Twitter, or like CareSource on Facebook.

About University of Louisville Physicians

University of Louisville Physicians is the largest multispecialty physician practice in the Louisville region, with more than 900 primary care and specialty providers in more than 78 specialties and subspecialties. Our doctors are the professors and researchers of the University of Louisville School of Medicine, teaching tomorrow's physicians and leading research into medical advancements.
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
Tom Sietsema

Tom Sietsema has been the Washington Post food critic since 2000. In leaner years, he worked for the Microsoft Corporation, where he launched sidewalk.com; the Seattle Post-Intelligencer; the San Francisco Chronicle; and the Milwaukee Journal. A graduate of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, he has also written for Food & Wine, Gourmet, GQ, Travel & Leisure and other national publications. In 2016, he received an award from the James Beard Foundation for his series identifying and rating the "10 Best Food Cities in America" the previous year.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to our weekly gathering. Well, any news today? I think so. Hillary Clinton learned that the FBI will recommend no charges over her emails. Director James Comey said no "reasonable" prosecutor would file charges given the facts. Of course, politicians are under no obligation to be reasonable, so Donald Trump is already tweeting about a "rigged system." For those who don't know, Comey was deputy attorney general under George W. Bush and can hardly be painted as some kind of Democratic hack. He said Clinton's private email setup was "careless" but not worthy of prosecution, which is about right. Some see his critical remarks as making this a bad day for the Clinton campaign. But considering the alternative, I think the Clinton camp must see this as a very good day indeed. Lots more to talk about, as usual. Let's get started.
OSHA's Temporary Worker Initiative Outlined at Safety 2016

Robert Lewellen and Scott DeBow, CSP/ARM, together discussed temporary workers in health and safety and the relationship the American Staffing Association has with OSHA.

ATLANTA -- Robert Lewellen and Scott DeBow, CSP/ARM, gave a presentation at ASSE's Safety 2016 conference in which they discussed temporary workers in health and safety and the relationship the American Staffing Association has with OSHA.

According to the presenters, 17,000 staffing firms work to employ 14 million workers nationwide, making up 2 percent of the nation's workforce. OSHA was finding that temporary workers were getting injured or killed in the first days on the job at an alarming rate, so it developed the Temporary Worker Initiative (TWI).

Many employers use staffing agencies for flexibility in workforce requirements due to changes and uncertainty in production, as well as leverage the opportunity to achieve the "right fit" prior to hiring someone full time. The OSHA TWI provides a framework to begin discussions between a host employer and primary (staffing firm) employer to ensure clear understanding on the hazards presented in the work environment, training responsibility and capabilities, PPE, and communication methods to ensure consistency between both employers.

Enforce during inspections.

Commit to ensuring quality hazard assessment/abatement methods are in place for all employees and train managers in supervising a contingent workforce.

Agencies need to ensure workers are getting trained on specific job methods, PPE, and methods of hazard reporting.

Hosts need to identify hazards, provide site specific training, and clarify standard work procedures.

Temporary work incidents have been categorized in the hierarchy of controls, which are as follows, in order of importance: Elimination, Substitution, Engineering, Administrative, PPE. While they have different levels of importance, Lewellen and DeBow emphasized it was important to show the same devotion for all concepts listed.

Evaluations should be conducted on a case-by-case basis, and it is important to ensure both the staffing agency and host employers conduct their due diligence. Finally, they explained how the American Staffing Association is working with OSHA: The two parties meet regularly and have a quarterly call to try to ensure those who are working temporary jobs are safe.
The Indochina property market has caught the imagination of the investing public in Singapore over the past few years. The hot favourite over the last three years has been the residential property market in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. There has been more interest in the resurgent Vietnam property market and increasing curiosity over property in Myanmar. While investing in each of these countries carries its different unquantifiable risks, it might be worthwhile looking at the measurable factors prior to investing in any of them. We review some of the typical quantifiable fundamental drivers of demand for real estate in this article.

In general, property prices and rents in Myanmar have outpaced fundamentals, suggesting that expectations of further large price increases in the near term are unrealistic, especially with a number of large projects pending completion

People and potential

When a countrys population grows and more of its residents are gathered at urban centres, it suggests there is a better chance that its property prices will increase relatively faster. Vietnams potential is most apparent  its 93 million population eclipses that of Myanmar and Cambodia (see Figure 1). Surprisingly, Myanmar has the largest proportion of its population living in urban centres.

Figure 1

Typically, in the major urban centres of these cities, the population is supplemented by foreigners who can help sustain the increase in property prices because of their ability to consume. As data is sporadic, the increase in visitor arrivals can be a good proxy. Growth in visitor arrivals in Myanmar has been much faster than that of Cambodia and Vietnam, and is likely to continue.

The potential of each real estate market can only be unlocked if there is sustained economic growth. According to the latest forecast by the International Monetary Fund, Myanmars economic growth over the next three years is expected to far surpass that of the other two countries (see Figure 2).

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Figure 2

This quick analysis suggests that the potential for growth in property prices is better in Myanmar, followed by Vietnam and Cambodia. There are many other factors  the quality of the property, transparency of the market, enforceability of legal contracts and control of supply, for example  that will determine how property prices grow. Investors are advised to evaluate these factors as well.

Myanmar: The Golden Land remains unreachable

We have been active proponents of investing in Myanmar since 2012.

Much has been written about the countrys transformation, its potential for growth and heightened expectations owing to its new government. However, the growing pains it is experiencing as an emerging market are becoming more apparent, and investors must be prepared for heightened volatility and be increasingly selective.

In general, property prices and rents have outpaced fundamentals, suggesting that expectations of further large price increases in the near term are unrealistic, especially with a number of large projects pending completion. The much-hyped Condominium Law (a bill formally approved on Jan 22) has thus far failed to reignite prices. This is because of the lack of administrative rules to implement this law. Prospective foreign investors will do well to understand the basics of the law, underlying lease of the land, details of the legal rights of a purchaser and mechanisms for resale.

Figure 3

Among the property sectors, perhaps the most resilient have been the hotel and serviced apartment segments. In fact, rents at established serviced apartments have been surprisingly resilient. Our property rental index showed that despite general weakness in the market, rents increased 1.3% q-o-q in 1Q2016 (see Figure 3). While there is some uncertainty in the short term, we remain positive on the markets longterm prospects. Over the next two to three years, investors should focus on quality assets that cater for foreigners (hotels, serviced apartments, logistics and warehousing) or the mass market (low-cost housing). This is because the next leg of growth in property prices and rents will have to be driven by the influx of foreigners as income growth among the domestic population remains slow.

Another key segment is Myanmar nationals who are residing overseas and could potentially return home. Based on the Census 2014, Myanmar households have two million family members residing overseas. Most of them are in their twenties and thirties (see Figure 4). This provides a rich market for developers.

Figure 4

In conclusion, property prices and rents in the above three main Indochina markets have enormous potential for growth in the next five to 10 years. In the meantime, investors seeking to enter these markets should be wary of short-term uncertainties, focus on the fundamental analysis of prices and rents to determine where to invest, do more homework to understand the issues faced when owning properties in each market and prepare to hold out for the unexpected.

Tan Kok Keong is CEO of real estate consultancy REMS Advisors, and co-founder of Fund places, a real estate- dedicated crowdfunding platform. He can be reached at kk.tan@ rems.asia.

Related Articles From TheEdgeProperty.com.sg
(Bloomberg) -- The initial public offering of Cemex SABs Philippines unit is likely to price Wednesday in a deal thats expected to raise about $500 million, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The deal will probably amount to the Asian countrys biggest IPO in more than two years, said the person, who asked not to be identified because details of the transaction are still private. Supermarket operator Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. sold shares for $621 million in October 2013, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Cemex, the largest cement maker in the Americas, is targeting asset sales of $1 billion to $1.5 billion by the end of next year as part of its push to restore an investment-grade capital structure after the global financial crisis pushed it to the brink of default. In March, the Monterrey, Mexico-based company announced the $53 million sale of its operations in Bangladesh and Thailand.

Shares advanced 3.5 percent to 11.07 pesos at 12:07 p.m. in Mexico City, extending a recovery after steep losses following the U.K.s vote to exit the European Union. Cemex posted the biggest two-day decline since 2011 in the sessions after the British referendum.

The company is among the most exposed in Mexico to the so-called Brexit, as 8.9 percent of revenue comes from the U.K., where infrastructure projects like Londons Crossrail tunnel helped boost sales in the first quarter. An economic slowdown in that country, if it materializes, would endanger Cemexs sales.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Navarro in Mexico City at anavarro30@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Jonathan Roeder

2016 Bloomberg L.P.
A judge in Panama asked Interpol on Tuesday to help arrest the country's ex-president Ricardo Martinelli on spying and corruption charges, police said. "The national police received the demand and it was immediately sent to the Interpol office" in Panama, said the head of the force, Omar Pinzon. "They immediately began procedures according to international police norms." Martinelli is thought to be in Miami, according to media. The foreign ministry on June 9 said it wanted the United States to extradite him. Martinelli, a millionaire businessman, is accused of corruption and of tapping opponents' and journalists' phones and emails during his 2009-2014 presidency.
Transworld Skateboarding headed to South Africa recently to explore the terrain, finding gnarly ditches, idyllic jersey barriers and some rough-as-a-badgers-arse street spots along the way. Willis Kimbel, Brian Delatorre, Yann Horowitz, JT Aultz and Tom Remillard bring the all terrain flavour

Don't watch it when you have seven hours left in the office, you'll be gutted.

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For any company doing business today, setting up an online identity in todays digital world is essential. Whether its through a social media page, a company-branded email or a website, an online presence will help you attract new customers and strengthen relationships with your existing ones.

By engaging customers online, you can find new customers and grow your business. The advantages the internet offers are limitless and can help your business not only get off the ground, but thrive in a competitive marketplace. Here are the three steps needed to bring your business online:

1. Register a Domain Name

2. Set Up a Company-Branded Email

3. Create Your Online Space

Get a step-by-step guide by downloading our ebook!
Digital technology has had a tremendous amount of impact on the way we communicate and access information. This has given businesses great opportunities and just as many challenges in meeting the needs of consumers, especially when it comes to customer service and experience.

Social media, mobile technology, instant communication, big data, analytics and machine learning are some of the many tools that make it possible to deliver highly personalized customer service, and consumers now expect this service from the companies with which they do business.

This is what makes customer service the differentiator in a market place where price variance is so small that it is becoming increasingly irrelevant. A Gartner survey revealed 89 percent of companies expect to compete mostly on the basis of customer experience, and digital technology is the biggest driver of this trend.

So any business, no matter how big or small, has to consider building a customer support team that can respond to the expectations consumers have today. Here are 20 tips to building a customer support team for todays marketplace.

How to Create a Great Customer Service Team

1. Always Listen to Your Customers

This sounds very obvious, but you would be surprised how many businesses dont follow this very simple piece of advice. The 2015 Q1 Forrester customer experience report revealed only one percent of companies deliver an excellent customer experience. That is a staggering statistic, and it all begins by how well you listen when your customer calls you for the first time. This lays out the ground work for everything to come.

2. Empower Your Employees

After hiring the right person for the job, putting limitations on their capabilities is a waste all around. Give them the tools, authority and responsibility to make decisions, so when a customer calls, they can resolve the issue without passing the buck. This is especially important for small businesses that are dealing directly with their customers.

3. Keep an Open Line of Communication

The days of I didnt know John or Jane were working on it, no longer apply. There are enough tools in the marketplace today to keep track of each interaction an employee has with customers and know what is taking place at all times. In addition to these tools, create an environment with open communications that looks at the big picture no matter how small the issue a customer brings up sounds.

4. Make Quick and Accurate Response a Priority

According to Oracle, more than 80 percent of Twitter and 50 percent of Facebook users expect a response to a customer service inquiry in a day or less. Other surveys have customers looking for a response within an hour.

The quick response has to be followed by accurately resolving the problem the customer has. They shouldnt have to call back for the same problem unless it is a follow up to ensure all is well. If you make this a priority, your customers are more likely to prolong their relationship with your company.

5. Keep Your Promise/Dont Break Your Word

Trust is a huge issue with everyone, no matter who they are dealing with. Only promise what you can deliver. Never over-promise or under-deliver. BE HONEST. If a customer knows what they are getting from you all the time, their appreciation will be shown by being repeat customers.

6. Invest in Training That Encourages Team Mentality and Recognizes Everyone

The positive effects of team mindset in any environment has been proven over and over. It begins with training that emphasizes these qualities and follows through in the day to day operation of the organization by recognizing everyone.

The recognition goes back to empowering your employees so they can be responsible decision makers.

7. Know how to use Every Touchpoint

In the past, direct calls, call centers and even snail mail was used when customers wanted to get in touch with a company. However, today there are multiple ways to do that, whether it is directly or indirectly.

You have to know how to use every touchpoint effectively so you can respond as quickly as possible. A customer doesnt necessarily have to make disparaging comments about the products and services you offer directly. But you have to have the tools that let you identify the channel that was used and respond accordingly as soon as possible. It can be the persons social media page, a forum or consumer related websites.

8. Provide the Best Customer Feedback Solution

Even if you are keenly aware of what your customers need, you wont know everything. If you create a feedback solution that can be easily accessible, you will know their concerns without any assumptions.

You can offer an email or phone survey and forms in the contact us page of your site so they can quickly give feedback. This not only gives you valuable information, but it also lets your customers voice their concerns on your site instead of on a social media page, where they can go viral.

9. Respect the Customers Time

Just as you want to resolve each customer interaction as quickly as possible because you want to maximize the productivity of your employees by using their time more efficiently, you also have to realize the same goes for the customer. No one wants to waste their time by calling customer service. The reason they do it is because, in most cases, there is something wrong.

Respect the customers time by removing unnecessary barriers to the ways they can get in touch with you, leave contact information, and continue previous conversations regarding an unresolved issue.

10. Create a Process for Problem Resolution

As stated previously, the customers time is valuable, so have processes in place to resolve their problems as quickly as possible.

Every business is different, but the following steps can be applied across the board: apologize; go over the grievance with the customer to make sure you have all the information you need; document the problem accurately so it can be available to everyone in the company; fix the problem; follow up to ensure the problem has been solved; and again document the problem with detailed information including the resolution to prevent it from happening again or have the answer available if someone else has the same problem.

11. Measure Customer Satisfaction

There are many tools designed to measure a wide range of metrics, and customer satisfaction is one of them. By evaluating this metric frequently, you can gauge if the processes you have in place are working or not.

12. Offer Continuing Support

With the available customer relationship management (CRM) solutions today, it takes minimal effort to keep in touch with your customers. A CRM can be set up to contact customers through an email, SMS, social media or appointments for phone calls. It costs up to seven times more to acquire new customers than to keep existing ones, so continuing support extends customer retention, and it is much cheaper.

13. Dont Rush

Being quick and efficient is fine and well, but if the customer feels they are being rushed, you may never hear from them again. Take your time and build a relationship by having a dialogue with your customers.

14. Get to Know Your Customers and Allow Them to Get to Know You

For small businesses this can go a long way in keeping your customer retention high. While it may not be possible to remember everything about each and every customer, documenting the interactions with the right solution can make it happen. Call recording and speech to text software are some of the tools you can use to archive the conversations with your customers and create bullet points of relevant information.

15. Personalize the Conversation

With mobile technology and video communications readily available, you can have face-to-face conversations with your customers any time.

16. Make Yourself Available

Todays consumers want to get in touch with you within a reasonable amount of time. With mobile technology, you can make your staff available at all times by giving incentives to employees that are willing to work the extra hours. Having a face-to-face or phone conversation may not be possible for the customer at the moment, but make yourself available by giving them the option to have it at a later time.

17. Provide Insight or Knowledge of Your Expertise

For small businesses this can be a great way to build relationships with your customers. Whether you are a plumber, electrician or handmade craftsperson, giving them information that empowers them and increases their knowledge base is a plus. The exchange of information goes both ways, because your customer can give you information that can be of great value for your business, but it all begins by making yourself available and offering your time and expertise.

18. Provide a Community

If you specialize in something, you can create a community, whether it be online or at your place of business. You can have webinars, as well as events with hands-on demonstrations and classes which can also be broadcast online. If your business is too small, find another company in another community or city and get in touch with them for a possible collaboration.

Not only will this improve your customer experience and service, but it can be another source of revenue.

19. Know Your Product Line or What You are Selling

If you have an intimate understanding of what you are selling, it will be that much easier to build a relationship with your customers. For small businesses, this will be much easier because a customer can talk directly to the owner and get the answer they need.

20. Know What Solutions are Available to Improve Your Customer Service

You can either do the research online or hire an expert to inform you of all the tools that are available to improve your customer service. There are many, so it is imperative to first find out what it is you are trying to accomplish, and then find the technology that will make it possible for you.

Conclusion

Delivering great customer service today has become much easier thanks to digital technology. The same technology has also empowered consumers, which has increased their expectations. If they are not satisfied with a particular product or service, they can quickly voice their displeasure on multiple channels.

Before it gets to that stage, businesses have to take proactive measures to deliver superior customer service and experiences.
Cloud-based accounting software platform provider Xero (NZE:XRO) and banking behemoth Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) just did their small business customers a huge favor.

The two recently announced (PDF) in a press release the formation of a strategic relationship built around an API (application programming interface) that connects Xeros accounting software with Wells Fargos servers to create a secure shared data feed.

In laymens terms, that means the two systems can talk to one another enabling the business owner to see, at a glance, what his financial picture looks like  something that, up to now, has only been possible with enterprise organizations.

Although this qualifies as major news on its own, it is just one part of a much larger story thats been brewing for some time: the financial Web.

The Financial Web Defined

The financial Web is a term coined by Xero CEO and founder Rod Drury to describe a tectonic shift in the way small businesses manage their financials.

Small business owners, working in the cloud, can now do their bank reconciliation using any device in real-time, bringing to a close the end of the month cycle. They can see their complete financial picture in a single snapshot at any given moment and can grant access to their accountant and financial institution so that everyone is on the same page.

Eventually, other organizations will be able to gain entrance into the system, according to Drury.

As we connect financial institutions  we believe there will be a myriad of opportunities to help grow small business including lending, insurance, factoring, currency services and much more, Drury said in a blog post introducing the concept.

He explains the full ramifications of the financial Web in this video:

How the Financial Web Works

The key to making the financial Web work is interoperability  the ability for different technology platforms to connect, interact and share data in a secure cloud-based environment.

Data sharing is driven by an API, and creates a secure, tokenized handshake between the companies servers, the announcement said.

It is not unlike how some websites allow customers to log in with their social media accounts. The API eliminates the need for Xero customers to share their Wells Fargo usernames and passwords or for the accounting platform to store them to retrieve bank account data.

You will be seamlessly sharing your accounting data with your bank and your banking data with your accounting system as easily as youre syncing bookmarks between your smartphone and browser or your location from your rental car, said a Xero blog post describing the data exchanges inner-workings.

It takes just a few steps to connect the businesss bank (in this case Wells Fargo) to the accounting software.

When Xero customers are logged into the service and wish to set up or add a Wells Fargo account, they will be directed to a Wells Fargo secure server to begin the enrollment process.

After the customer logs in, a Connect Accounts page appears where the customer can select which accounts and data he wishes to share with Xero. This feature gives customers control over the data they want to share.

After confirming the account information, the customer is then directed back to Xero. Data sharing between Wells Fargos servers and Xeros servers takes place via a unique token that identifies the customer and the customers accounts.

Access to Capital Key Component of Financial Web

In a telephone interview with Small Business Trends, Russ Fujioka, president, Xero Americas, said that the new data exchange will speed up a small businesss access to capital.

A small business gets a new contract, which stipulates that the client pays in 90 days, but the suppliers need their money in 30 days, Fujioka said, citing an example. Traditionally, when applying for a loan, the business would have to explain to the banker what it does, who it serves and the reason it needs the funds. The application process can be lengthy, putting the business at risk regarding cash flow.

Conversely, when the bank connects to Xero, it can easily see the businesss full financials and make a decision more quickly, thus speeding up access to capital by order of magnitude. It also helps transform small businesses from what banks perceive to be a risky, fragmented market with a small yield, to one that is reachable, serviceable and profitable.

Importance of Xero-Wells Fargo Relationship

Wells Fargo isnt the first financial institution with which Xero has forged a relationship. Five of the top six banks in the UK already run direct feeds, as do 50 Australian financial institutions and all of New Zealands biggest banks.

What makes Wells Fargo important is that, with more than three million small business customers, it is, by far, the largest bank in Xeros portfolio and a foundational block in building the financial Web across the U.S.

See Also: Xero Introduces a New Analytics Dashboard for Your Business

In citing Wells Fargos significance regarding the financial Web, Fujioka said, We cant enable the vision of the financial Web until we get major institutions like Wells Fargo to connect to us directly. That relationship, with their size, allows the capability of making the financial Web story a reality very quickly in the U.S.

Xero recently surpassed more than 700,000 subscribers around the world. North America is the companys fastest growing market with more than 62,000 subscribers. With Wells Fargo now on board, that number is likely to grow swiftly.

The new data exchange model will begin rolling out for new Xero customers who have Wells Fargo accounts in July. Wells Fargo customers who are currently using Xero will be moved to the new service starting in Q4 2016.
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Invoicing software provides an easy way for small businesses to streamline billing operations. These tools allow business owners and freelancers to request payments and get paid faster. Some even offer advanced features like time tracking, project management, and the ability to send recurring invoices.

Every business is likely to have different needs when it comes to their invoice software. But there are plenty of options available to meet every need and manage your invoice and collect more efficiently. (Theres also free invoice software.)

20 Invoicing Software Solutions to Consider

Are you considering invoicing software as a way to get paid faster by customers and clients? Then check out our list of 20 software solutions to help you create and send invoices more quickly and easily.

1. Zoho Invoice

Zoho Invoice is a fully featured invoicing software for small businesses. In addition to sending basic invoices, Zoho Invoice offers advanced features like estimates, expenses, and templates. Theres also a client portal to let your customers easily complete payments and track invoice information. Zoho also provides a wide array of other solutions for small businesses. So Zoho Invoice can easily integrate with other tools like Zoho Sign to make tasks like document signing easy.

There is a free plan for businesses that only need to send invoices to up to five customers per month. Paid plans range from $9 to $29 per month. And they offer advanced options like automated workflows, extra users, and custom domains.

2. Quickbooks Online

Quickbooks Online offers a full array of business accounting tools. So Intuits invoicing software can be used on its own or with other Quickbooks features. Quickbooks Payments lets you accept credit card payments, debit cards, and ACH bank transfers. You can send customer invoices with a simple pay now button to make payments easy. And theres even a mobile app and credit card scanner to simplify in-person payments. These functions can also be used in conjunction with tools like time tracking and bookkeeping, if necessary.

There are no long term contracts with the Payments feature of Quickbooks Online. You simply pay processing fees for each payment. Rates range from 1 percent for bank transfers to 3.4 percent plus $0.25 for keyed credit card purchases.

3. Freshbooks

Freshbooks offers invoicing and accounting solutions for small businesses. Solutions are tailored to various types of businesses, from freelancers to companies with employees and/or contractors. Invoices are designed to look professional and only take seconds to create. But the software also offers extra features like expenses, estimates, projects, and payment reports. You can even automate certain tasks like payment reminders.

Plans range from $4.50 to $15 per month. There are also add-ons available like options for extra team members. Or you can create a fully custom plan based on your businesss specific invoicing and payment needs.

4. Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja offers a full suite of online business apps, with invoicing and other finance options included. The invoice software is designed to be fully customizable. You can even add your own branding, custom domains, and choose from more than 40 payment gateway integrations. In addition to sending invoices, you can also create proposals, provide quotes, time tasks, and create custom processes with your team.

There is a free plan which includes basic features like quotes, payments, and integrations. The Pro plan for $10 per month offers extra customizations, templates, and bulk invoicing. Theres also an Enterprise plan for $14 per month that includes multiple users and access permissions perfect for teams.

5. Wave

Wave offers a series of financial apps for businesses. They cover everything from accounting to payroll. But the invoicing software in particular is known for being fast, customizable, and free. Wave provides a full dashboard where you can manage all of your invoices, payments, and customer information. And you can easily integrate it with other Wave accounting products to keep track of your entire financial picture.

The free account includes the ability to manage invoicing, accounting, and receipts. You can create and send invoices to unlimited clients. So its one of the best options for those looking for a free solution without limits. The paid plans include advanced features like payment processing and payroll. Payroll starts at $20 per month. And payments are calculated on a per transaction basis.

6. Bill.com

Bill.com is a payments solution that is designed to integrate with your businesss accounting software. You can connect to a variety of popular platforms, including Sage, Xero, Quickbooks, and SAP. The invoicing solution uses AI to intelligently capture payment information from customers and create invoices quickly when necessary. For example, the platform can detect duplicate invoices to make sure youre sending them to the right customers.

For businesses, plans range from $39 to $69 per user per month. And there are custom enterprise plans available as well. These plans provide payment networks, document storage, and even team approval workflows. So this may be a useful option for companies that need to manage multiple types of payments or work with large finance teams.

7. Square Invoices

Square Invoices is an online tool that lets you send invoices quickly at no cost. Customers can pay with just one click from their phone, computer, or even in person. And the platform accepts credit card payments, as well as those from Apple Pay and Google Pay. So its meant to be a streamlined experience that helps small businesses get paid for simple products and/or services quickly. Square also offers time-saving features like auto billing, cash flow reporting, and invoice progress reports.

Theres no monthly fee with Square Invoice. You only pay a small processing rate of $0.30 plus 2.9 percent per invoice paid online. So its an ideal solution for small businesses that just need to process a few payments and want to keep monthly costs low. It may also be useful for service providers who work with customers in person, since its one of the few invoicing solutions that offers this functionality.

8. Xero

Xero offers a full suite of accounting options for small businesses. The invoicing software lets you quickly create invoices to send to customers online. A simple pay now button makes it easy for users to get paid quickly. And it integrates with Stripe and Apple Pay. So customers can easily pay using a credit card or bank account. It even enables automatic payments for recurring customers.

Plans range from $5.50 to $31 per month. The base plan is best for freelancers and independent contractors that work with just a few clients each month. And the upgraded options provide advanced features like unlimited quotes and invoices, project tracking, and support for multiple currencies.

9. PayPal

PayPal is a popular online payments solution that also offers invoicing functionality. You can access the platform from nearly any device. And you can even make templates for the types of invoices you send most often. Then you can track payments, send reminders, and access all of your businesss money from one online dashboard. Of course, one of the biggest benefits of using PayPal for invoicing is that its so widely used and recognized. So theres a good chance that your clients are familiar with the platform and able to pay you easily. It can also accept credit card and bank account payments.

See Also: Infusionsoft Rebrands as Keap With Software to Streamline Client Tasks for Small Businesses

Its free to sign up for a PayPal account. And its free to create invoices as well. PayPal simply takes a transaction fee of $0.30 plus 2.9 percent per transaction. So its ideal for users that dont need to process a ton of payments. But the fees may add up for those with a larger volume.

10. Invoice2Go

Invoice2Go is a professional invoicing app that provides a simple interface, time-saving features, and plenty of integrations. The dashboard includes invoices, estimates, and business reports. And you can accept payments via credit, debit card, or PayPal. Theres even a mobile app so you can manage everything on the go. This can be especially useful for service providers that need to send information or accept payment information from work sites.

Plans range from $3 to $33.34 per month. And theres a free trial available for all plans. You can pay extra for things like unlimited invoices, time tracking, expense tracking, and appointments. But basic functions like receipts and profile pages are available with all plans.

11. Sage50

Sage50 is an accounting software thats built for productivity. You can send and track invoices from the same dashboard where you manage outgoing payments and even inventory. So its an ideal solution for companies looking for a full financial management solution. However, the invoice software is not offered separately. So its more costly for those who just want the simple ability to send invoices and get paid.

Plans range from $567 to $1,404 per year. That includes full accounting functionality. So you do get more than just invoicing. Theres also a free demo available. And you can get a deal on Microsoft 365 when you sign up.

12. Harvest

Harvest is an easy to use time tracking and invoice software perfect for freelancers and companies that charge an hourly rate. You start by creating a new timesheet for each project. Then you can designate start times and pause or stop tracking when youre done working on a particular item. Then its easy to add that time to an invoice or just use it to send more accurate estimates. There are also reports and analytics features available to help you make better use of your time going forward. You can customize the experience for one user working on hourly projects or teams that need to keep track of internal processes.

Theres a free version available if you just need one user and up to two projects. The paid version is $12 per seat per month. And you can work on unlimited projects with this plan.

13. PaySimple

PaySimple offers a flexible solution to help businesses get paid online, in person, and via mobile devices. You can create configurable online payment forms or even set up an online storefront. Then you can accept payments from credit cards or ACH bank transfers. You can also send payment reminders, manage recurring billing, and provide customers with their own payment gateways.

You can get all of the PaySimple features included for $59.99 per month. And then there are transaction fees for those that want to use PaySimple to process transactions. Users that process more than $50,000 per month in transactions can also request a custom pricing quote.

14. Zervant

Zervant is a cloud based invoicing software that is built to be easy to use. Enter a few quick pieces of information to create invoices in 60 seconds. Then you can quickly send them to your customers via email or PDF. You can even create estimates and sales reports to easily manage multiple financial aspects of your business.

Zervant does offer a free plan that you can use to send unlimited invoices to up to five clients. The premium plans offer advanced invoicing features like payment schedules and quick payment reminders. Unfortunately, the service seems to use only European currency currently, so invoicing US companies may not be possible at present. Plans range in price from 8 to 36 Euros per month.

15. Sliq Invoicing

Sliq Invoicing is a desktop invoice software. It lets you create multiple invoice templates, access invoicing reports, and even offers stock control features. Sliq is meant to help business users manage payments from beginning to end. Start by sending quotes. Then offer invoices, statements, and reminders as you track incoming payments.

Sliq Invoicing is a downloadable invoice software instead of an online tool. So you pay $65.20 per year instead of a monthly subscription fee. The company sends an unlock code so you can download the tool and sign up once payment has been received.

16. BillQuick Online

BillQuick Online offers an SaaS model for payments and invoice software. You can access the companys business tools online, via mobile app, or through integrations with other products like Microsoft Outlook. The tool is designed for professional service firms. And they provide 24/7 support to customers.

BillQuick Online is a fully customizable business management solution. So they dont offer set pricing models. Instead, you can request a free quote online to receive a customizable price for your companys needs. Free demos are also available.

17. Scoro

Scoro offers an end-to-end work management software that also includes invoicing. The idea is for Scoro to act as a control hub for your business. You can add on the apps you need within the platform. And it even integrates with third party programs like Slack and Evernote as well. When it comes to invoicing features, the platform lets you automate billing and create custom invoices for customers. You can also track the rest of your finances within the same dashboard.

Scoro plans range in price from $26 to $49 per user per month. They all support a minimum of five users. And they include features beyond invoicing like task management and bundles. The upgraded plans offer options like recurring tasks and project templates. There are also custom plan options for advanced users.

18. Honeybook

Honeybook offers a client management platform that includes invoicing and more. The invoicing software lets you create branded invoices in 30 seconds. Then you can create templates, include product or service lists, and set up recurring invoices. Clients can pay from any device and even set up automatic payments or receive payment reminders. The invoice software also includes options for things like proposals, contracts, and online payments.
Paychex, a payroll, human resource and benefits management company targeted to small business, recently hosted a live Q&A forum in New York City to help small business owners identify and tackle their most pressing HR issues.

The event covered topics such as health care rates and Affordable Care Act compliance, new employment laws, changes to the minimum wage and employee benefits.

We went over a lot of new New York City laws, said Jon Finocchiaro, senior HR generalist at Paychex. In general, record keeping and compliance were primary concerns. I heard responses from business owners who said they werent aware such laws existed or didnt realize they had to comply.

Heres an overview of what was covered:

HR Compliance Checklist  Top HR Issues from Business Owners

Business owners led the dialogue during the forum and identified the following three topics as key HR issues:

Changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act

One area of real concern among business owners who attended the event had to do with employee classifications  who qualifies as exempt or non-exempt  which are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), administered by the U.S. Department of Labor.

I talk with at least one client a day on this topic, and thats very lowball, said Jen Rosenblum, a Paychex HR consultant and forum moderator.

Rosenblum indicated that proposed rule changes to the FLSA are about to go into effect, one of which deals with the exempt/non-exempt employee classification issue.

(According to a document from the U.S. Department of Labors Wage and Hour Division, the rule change defines exemptions for white collar workers.)

Seven out of ten businesses are not compliant with wage and hour labor laws, Rosenblum said, citing Labor Department statistics.

Because employment laws are constantly changing, she urged the business owners attending the event to educate themselves on laws at the federal, state and local levels.

Workplace Safety

Workplace safety was another topic of concern to business owners.

Paychexs Finocchiaro stressed the importance of having a safety program in place, saying it limits a businesss exposure and liability.

He cited the fact that willful violations of OSHA regulations could result in fines of up to $70,000.

Paid Family Leave

The third issue on the minds of those in attendance had to do with the state of New Yorks new paid family leave policy.

New York just passed a landmark paid family leave policy  the strongest in the nation  which requires all businesses, regardless of size, to grant up to 12 weeks of paid leave for various family-related issues.

Attendee Reactions

We went through a list of recent changes and regulations, and each topic brought out more and more action items, said Desiree Lau, with Dante NYC, a New York City restaurant, remarking on outcomes gained from the event. Sometimes its just a reminder were protecting our employees and ourselves as a business.

Because we are a relatively new company, there are a lot of HR issues were not comfortable dealing with on our own, said Rose Lamoureux, business manager with Trusty Sidekick Theater Company in New York. As a result, we had questions about how those apply to our organization.

You dont know what you dont know, added Lau. Sometimes running through recent laws and changes brings about a conversation that helps you think about what else you need to put in place.

See Also: 6 eCommerce Customer Service Benchmarks for Your Business
SugarCRM held its annual user conference, SugarCon, earlier this week in San Francisco. Over 1,200 people were on hand to see what direction the company was taking its platform in. And while many of its competitors are expanding their offerings to include ecommerce, configure-price-quoting (CPQ), marketing automation and other related areas, SugarCRM CEO Larry Augustin emphatically stated that Sugar is staying true to its CRM roots and explore the many ways CRM can be even more important to business success in the near future.

I had a chance to speak with Augustin and hear how the company is looking to bring the latest and greatest technology developments to the platform to make CRM a system more relevant, and attractive, for sales professionals to turn to in order to build successful relationships with modern consumers. Below is an edited transcript of that conversation, as well as the video of our full conversation.

The Importance of Customer Relationship Management

* * * * *

Small Business Trends: There are several interesting things you are working on around artificial intelligence, machine learning, and also your digital assistant Candace. What are your customers saying about some of these things?

Larry Augustin: For a long time CRM has been a collector of information. Weve been talking for a long time about turning it, not just into recording information, but also a system of engagement that helps people do their jobs. The next step of that is not just giving them a system that helps them manage how they work, but now begins to give them something back in terms of intelligence.

If you look at our journey, I think of it in those three pieces. Stage one is you still need to be system of record, you still need to record the data and you need to have access to that. You need to automate that more and more so its much less about the person putting data in. Thats been part of our journey. You integrate with systems, you integrate with email, other data sources so those come in more automatically. Then you make the work flow and the activities easy to do so the system helps people do things, not just presents data.

The next step to that is intelligence. You saw some of our future vision around that today. Today we announced a couple of things; the Sugar Intelligence Service which is really a collection of services that help collect data, do data augmentation and then give you some intelligence and analysis around that. Then we showed a concept with a digital sales assistant, Candace, who is helping a person through natural language query understand their prospects and know what to do next. Some exciting things there.

One of things that I like in that that well be delivering very shortly is the data augmentation around a person. If you think about where your contact starts with a person, its frequently an email address. The way we have with the service now, you put in an email address and you can get back a fully populated record that tells a lot of information about a person.

If you think about what a good sales person does today, what do they do if they have an email address, they have that starting point around a person? They probably open up multiple tabs in their browser, they start searching for that person, theyll go on Facebook, theyll go on LinkedIn, theyll do a Google News search, theyll go to company bio page, theyll go to Twitter, social media, Instagram. Theres a lot of information on people out there. Its all very public. This is not information thats secret. Its information we all put out about ourselves. When youre going to meet someone, a good salesman will of course go and do that work. That can be 30 minutes of work or more opening multiple tabs in a browser. When you think about it, its very mechanical. This is not rocket science. Essentially what were doing is pulling all that information together now in a very easy way. Email address you get one screen, you click, you pull that in.

Then the next step is some insides around that. I think you saw in the demo today, the person were going to talk to is a Patriots fan.

Small Business Trends: When you think about some of the things mentioned in the various key notes  IoT (Internet of Things), machine learning, M2M (Machine to Machine), artificial intelligence, all the things that I would assume most salespeople dont even want to think about; are those the things that will actually make CRM usable and increase adoption for those salespeople?

Larry Augustin: Those are the things that behind the scenes will create the information, an insight that you can give to the salesperson before they talk to a prospect or go into a meeting.

It doesnt have to be hugely sophisticated. Now over time it will get more and more sophisticated, and you heard some of that future were looking at. I think one of the things that sometimes hits our industry is people like to talk way, way in the future and science fiction things and its not believable. A lot of the things we were showing today, very believable things you can understand and gather about a person. Were all about delivering that today. That will make the system a must-have for that salesperson to use.

Small Business Trends: You made the point in your key note yesterday about being a CRM company by choice, drilling down and doubling down on CRM. Talk a little bit about why you said that and why thats important.

Larry Augustin: We believe that theres a lot of opportunity for innovation at CRM. This is just one example of it. Even the digital revolution is leading to that. The information we can now gather on the internet digitally compared to what people could find out even 5 years ago, so much more sophisticated. We now have the tools to process that. I see immense opportunities to innovate in core CRM.

For us that means that weve chosen to be that CRM company and we are deliberately choosing not to expand our breadth of solution footprint. What does that mean? Were not in the marketing automation business. We have great partners there, they do marketing automation We compete with Salesforce. Theyve acquired, theyve acquired Demandware, theyve acquired Steelbrick. Those are all spaces where were happy to partner and were not going to go into those spaces. We see opportunity to get deeper in CRM and were a CRM company first and thats our mission and vision.

Small Business Trends: Were in 2016 halfway through the year. I still hear and see stories of companies, rather large companies, who are just making the decision to use CRM today. One of the terms I heard at the conference is being and Excellent company  meaning running their company on Excel. Are you surprised that that is still the case in 2016?

Larry Augustin: I am both surprised and encouraged by the fact that a lot of companies arent there and its an opportunity for business. If you look at the market, total commercial seats of CRM sold today, 28 million. Its probably less than 30 million. Ive been watching it creep up over the years. Im pretty sure its still less than 30 million.

You look today and there are 350 to 400 million people whose jobs are to talk to customers in business. You compare that to less than 30 million seats of CRM and 

Small Business Trends: Thats not even 10 percent.

Larry Augustin: Not even 10 percent! Thats why you see what you see which is a lot of companies are still not there. Theyre not using a commercial solution. Theyre using something, lets be clear, but theyre not using a sophisticated CRM dedicated solution. Theyre using Excel. Theyre using email. As much as we see Excel, we see, We have a process for organizing folders in email. We see that one all the time.

Lets be fair. Its not a bad solution when youre 3 people because you can look at the person next to you and just say to them, Im going to put everything in this folder and well follow it along and well track together. You can do that. But when youre 10 people or 20 as it starts to grow, that breaks down and you have no way to track, you have no way to report on that when you are handing from 1 person to the next, the history gets completely lost in all of that. Those solutions dont scale. There are also CRM solutions that work for small as well. Thats a different place in the market. What happens is companies still grow up with those and eventually at some point they realize this isnt going to work for me. I have to change it.

Small Business Trends: In terms of some of the things that I saw in this conference. The things that you are baking into SugarCRM. You have the artificial intelligence, you have the machine learning, you have the digital assistance, all these things. CRM has been around for almost 30 years and we see only 10 percent roughly penetration rate. Are the things that you displayed throughout the conference, is that going to accelerate the move to CRM in the next 5-10 years? Are we going to see that 10 percent penetration rate jump to lets say 20 percent?

Larry Augustin: I think we will begin to see it jump. Part of it is the digital revolution is making more people comfortable with all of these technologies and not just paper and pencil. The concept that I have an application that helps me do all this is becoming more widespread. Integrating with all the various digital technologies helps to encourage the growth and adoption and usage of that.

Part of it is just digital revolution in general. Part of it is the systems are delivering more and more value and there are less and less record keeping. If you look at the  Part of the way I got to that large number of potential users is youre expanding the set of people inside a company who the system can help. If its just record keeping, its going to be a smaller set. If its just sales management, its going to be a smaller set. If its everyone who potentially talks to a customer and coordinates around the customer and it helps them do that job, its a bigger set.

As you expand into helping more of the end users role and delivering more value to the end user, thats part of the way you expand. I think the statistics today show that in a typical company, the penetration of CRM is about 20 percent whereas about half of the company is customer facing. You think about that difference, 20 versus 50  Part of it is how do you find the companies that dont have something. The other part of it is what happens when you go from 20 percent of the company is users to 50 percent of the users, thats a big jump as well. That in itself is 2-1/2 times the market in existing companies. You deliver more value to them, it has to be easier to use for them, thats where things like the insight and the intelligence will add more value across the business.

Small Business Trends: Last question. In the end, how important is CRM today as compared to 20 years ago or 15, or 5 years ago?

Larry Augustin: CRM has evolved from the tool the VP of sales uses to manage their business and people to the center of the front office. If you look at ERP as the center of the back office and there are a ton of financial and operational systems around a company that will plug into ERP. Your expense reporting and tracking, HR and employee tracking. All those things will tend to plug into ERP. CRM holds that same role in the center of the front office. Marketing automation, other systems that are delivering information to the customer or across the front office will plug in around CRM. It becomes that center.

I talked about ecommerce and CPQ and marketing automation and you can go down the list, theyll have to sit around CRM. Those become the dual platforms that sit at the middle of the company. In that sense, I think CRM has become more important and grown out of the tool for the VP of sales to manage that business to the platform on which a company manages their customer facing part of their business.

This is part of the One-on-One Interview series with thought leaders. The transcript has been edited for publication. If it's an audio or video interview, click on the embedded player above, or subscribe via iTunes or via Stitcher.
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Since 2007, more than 8 million minority-owned firms have launched small businesses in the US. In fact, minority small business owners are represented in every industry sector, according to the US Department of Commerce.

Lenders have taken notice. Funding options abound for minority business loans.

What Defines a Minority-Owned Business?

How does a minority-owned business qualify for a loan? What if the businesses are single proprietors, owned by minority entrepreneurs?

Heres the definition:

A minority-owned business is one with at least 57% owned or controlled by one or more minority individuals.

What are Minority Business Loans?

This is another simple definition. Minority business owners can get small business financing thats especially set up for them. Lenders want to foster small business growth, especially among minority-owned businesses. So, they offer minority-specific business funding.

What are the best business loans for minorities? It depends on which type of loan is best for your business. Weve got a list for you.

Best Minority Small Business Loan Options

Minority small Business loans are greatly varied. They vary by type of lender, and also by minimum requirements regarding financial eligibility and credit score. Some have a maximum loan amount, and interest rates can be lower or higher than whats currently available at banks and other traditional lenders.

As you can see, loans for minorities run the gamut in the lending world. They include small business startup loans, online small business loans, small business loan programs, third-party nonprofit lenders and even business grants.

No matter what type of minority business enterprise you seek to fund, youll find the right option for you. Weve included the links so you can easily research further.

1. SBA 7(a) Loan Program

The Small Business Administration has long been the go-to for small businesses seeking loans, especially for working capital. The SBA 7 (a) Loan Program is a great fit for moderate-income business owners, whether or not they are minority business owners.

2. SBA 8(a) Business Development Program

Minority-owned small businesses can find a good fit with this Small Business Administration program. The SBA 8(a) Business Development Program seeks to promote underserved business owners including minority-owned businesses. The 8(a) Business Development Program offers disadvantaged businesses  in business for at least 2 years  services to help them obtain federal contracts and other benefits.

3. Community Development Financial Institutions  Best for Bad credit

Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are among the best small business loans for minorities and other underserved business owners. CDFIs are best for those with a low personal net worth and/or bad credit.

4. Accion USA  Microloan Program

Minority-owned businesses can turn to a microloan program such as the one offered by Accion USA. A microloan can be a small amount of money, with the loan proceeds supporting a start-up business idea.

5. SBA Community Advantage Loans:

Underserved communities in underserved markets are the focus of the SBA Community Advantage Loans.

6. Fundbox  Loans for Minority Startups

Fundbox is the site for minority business owners hoping to finance a startup.

7. OnDeck  Online Term Loans

If you meet the minimum personal credit score requirement, you should consider a term loan from OnDeck, which seeks to fund small businesses owned by minorities.

8. SBA Microloan Program

Again, the Small Business Administration has long set the standard. The SBA Microloan program is a good choice for an eligible small business owner.

9. SBA Express Loan

As it sounds, this small business loan from the SBA is on the fast track.

10. USDA business loans

The USDA seeks to fund small businesses operating or seeking to operate in rural communities. Loan applications must be made through local USDA offices.

11. National Funding  Working Capital Loans

If your small business is already operating and you need a loan for a special project or expansion, try National Funding.

12. Business Consortium Fund Loan

The Business Consortium Fund Loan can be a source for venture capital funds, as a group of business owners seeks to build a diverse company.

13. Union Bank Business Diversity Lending Program

Some banks and credit unions offer loans aimed at serving minority applicants. The Union Bank Business Diversity Lending Program is one of the top sources for minority business owners.

14. Nonprofit Organizations

If youre a minority-owned nonprofit organization, one of your best bets for a loan is a Community Development Financial Institution, or CDFI (see #3 above).

15. SBA Patriot Express Loan Program  Startup Expansions

If your small business startup is ready to expand, check the Small Business Administration Patriot Express Loan Program. This SBA program has already loaned more than $633 million to support startup expansions.

16. Business Center for New Americans

This is a Community Development Financial Institution that focuses on lending to minority business owners who are newcomers to the US. The Business Center for New Americans strives to build community wealth.

17. Backstage Capital

As it sounds, the Backstage Capital minority business loan focuses on small businesses involved in the arts.

18. National African American Small Business Loan Fund

Minority entrepreneurs involved in black-owned businesses should apply to the National African American Small Business Loan Fund. The funds are available through the National Black Chamber of Commerce.

19. Wells Fargos Community Development Banking and Lending Division

The Wells Fargo Community Development Banking and Lending Division focuses on commercial real estate loans.

20. Bank of Americas Merrill Lynch Entrepreneurial Finance Group

The Bank of America Merrill Lynch program focuses on entrepreneurs.

21. Microloan Business Loans from Online Lenders

Online lenders may offer microloans to minority owners. Lenders include Kiva, Lift Fund, Grameen, and others.

Other Resources for Minority Business Owners

Minority businesses can also seek to obtain grants or other monies from agencies. Keep in mind, that its not free money, but the terms are typically generous.

Small Business Grants

Small Business Grants often are pass-through monies. For example, a local entity such as a town or college gets a government grant. The monies are passed through to local small businesses.

Thats the basics of how minority small business grants are obtained via the USDA Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG) program. You can apply for loan funds and get technical assistance using your local USDA office.

Minority Business Development Agency

There are some steps to take to apply for a government grant through this Minority Business Development Agency program. For example, you have to set up an account at Grants.gov and youll need an EIN to set up an account. Once youve done that, youll be able to keep tabs on available grant monies.

Small Business Development Centers

Small Business Development Centers may be set up through the Small Business Administration and/or through local universities. Small business owners can get monies by joining the center.
Are rising student loan levels choking off entrepreneurship among Americas young people? Numerous authors, from Purdue University President Mitch Daniels to Forbes Magazines Steve Denning, have argued that they are. But the data disagrees.

Lets start with the facts. Fewer young people today are in business for themselves than was the case 25 years ago. The Wall Street Journal analyzed data from the Federal Reserve and found that the share of households led by someone under 30 that owned a business, fell from nearly 11 percent in 1989 to less than 4 percent in 2013.

The theory is that rising levels of student loans are exhausting the borrowing capacity of millennials, keeping them from starting companies. Two researchers at Northeastern University found that households with more student debt are less likely than other households to start companies. Researchers at the Philadelphia Fed discovered that counties with largest increase in student debt between 2000 and 2010 had the greatest decrease in micro businesses.

Despite these studies, student debt is unlikely to be the cause of declining entrepreneurship among the under-thirty crowd. These studies only looked at correlations. Households in economically depressed or hard hit areas might be more likely to take on more student debt and be less likely to take on the risk of starting businesses. If thats the case, then loan levels arent the cause of declining rates of entrepreneurship. Declining rates of entrepreneurship and student loan borrowing are both the result of tough economic times.

Is Millennial Student Debt the Culprit?

The rise in student loan debt didnt occur at the right time to explain the decline in entrepreneurship among those under thirty. Rates of entrepreneurship among young people have been falling since 1989, well before student loan debt began to rise rapidly in 2004. In fact, Federal reserve data show that the rate of business ownership among young households declined more between 1989 and 1998, when student loan debt was largely stable, than between 2004 and 2013, when it was rising rapidly.

As I have written about elsewhere, a change in attitudes is a more likely explanation. Surveys of college freshmen undertaken by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at UCLA reveal that young people today are less interested in being successful entrepreneurs than their parents were at the same age, and are more interested in other life goals. Moreover, the timing of the shift in attitudes better matches the timing of the change in entrepreneurship than the timing of the rise in student loan levels.

There are many reasons to worry about rising student loan levels, and politicians and pundits might be right to call for efforts to reduce the amount that Americas young people need to borrow to get a college education. But they shouldnt worry that student loan levels are causing fewer young people to start companies today than a generation ago. Falling interest in entrepreneurship among young people better explains the decline in entrepreneurship among millennials.
New York state just passed a paid family leave proposal that some see as the most forward-thinking piece of legislation of its kind ever enacted. Others feel it could turn into a bitter pill that the states hundreds of thousands of small businesses may be forced to swallow.

On March 31, 2016, the New York State Legislature completed a budget deal, which, in addition to promising a minimum wage hike to $15 per hour, created a bill mandating paid family leave. New York magazine called it the nations strongest and most comprehensive ever.

Passage of the bill makes New York the fifth state to make family leave a requirement  following California, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Washington.

New York Paid Family Leave Act: Details

Paid Family Leave (PFL) Program Facts

Under the program, full-time and part-time employees will get up to 12 weeks of paid time off to care for a newborn infant, ailing spouse, child, domestic partner or another family member.

The bill guarantees job protection, which means employees do not have to fear the loss of their jobs while tending to family needs.

Persons only have to be employed by a company for six months to qualify, and even that short a tenure is sufficient to cover the entire 12-week term.

The bill doesnt go into effect until January 1, 2018, and will be phased in over time.

New York Paid Family Leave Act: Consequences

Implications for Small Business

While the bills passage is good news for employees, the idea of mandatory paid leave can be challenging to very small businesses, particularly those with fewer than 10 workers. Unfortunately, even the smallest of businesses  those with a single employee  are not exempt.

To better understand the implications PFL presents to small businesses in New York, Small Business Trends turned to Mike Trabold, director of compliance at Paychex, a provider of payroll, human resource and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- to medium-sized businesses.

Trabold admitted that the family leave program will create some degree of a burden for businesses but said the news is not all bad and that the state tried, in his opinion, to make things less painful.

He listed the following as evidence:

No Direct Expense for Small Business

Any worker taking advantage of the family leave program will have a portion of their salary paid for by the state, Trabold said. A formula determines the exact amount, but its 50 percent of the employees wage up to a threshold. (That will rise to 67 percent over time.)

Paid family leave will be funded as part of the Temporary Disability Insurance program that has been in place in New York since 1950. Roughly one dollar per week will be deducted from employee paychecks.

The state will build up a fund out of which paid leave payments will come, and no employer contribution is required, Trabold said.

Extended Implementation Timeframe

Another way the state is attempting to lessen the burden on business, according to Trabold, is by extending the timeframe for implementation.

The process doesnt even start until January 1, 2018, and is then phased in through 2021, Trabold said. That gives small businesses time to prepare, react and gain clarity on what the responsibilities are.

Paid Family Leave as an Employer Benefit

Trabold went so far as to suggest that small businesses view New Yorks paid family leave program as a good thing in that it enables them to provide paid leave as a benefit, the same as larger companies.

Small businesses will be able to attract capable workers more readily with paid family leave in place, he said. Otherwise, employees would be forced to resign or fear being fired just to take care of a household member.

A Better Balance (ABB), a non-profit organization that has been advocating for paid family leave for years, agrees. In a statement summarizing the new bill, ABB said that the program would help to make small businesses more competitive by ensuring that all workers can receive paid family leave regardless of the size of their company.

Small businesses often cannot afford to provide the same paid leave benefits as larger companies, and they lose valuable workers as a result, ABB said.

See Also: 4 Ideas for Family Side Hustles

ABB didnt stop there, however, but asserted that the program will save employers money.

PFL will benefit employers by lowering turnover, boosting productivity and enhancing employee morale, the statement said.

PFL Burden on All Businesses

Not everyone feels as friendly toward the law as ABB. The Business Council of New York State, Inc. (BCNYS), a non-profit advocating on the side of business, calls it the most expansive and least business-friendly paid family leave law in the nation, saying that it places an undue burden on all businesses, especially those with smaller numbers of employees.

In a memo sent to legislators before the bills passage, BCNYS listed the following as reasons for its position:

Interferes with Employee/Employer Relationships

Instead of allowing employers to determine the terms and conditions of employment, the state becomes the arbiter, BCNYS said.

Increased Benefits Come with Higher Costs

The law falls under the Temporary Disability Insurance program and is, therefore, considered a disability payment. When fully enacted, PFL will more than quadruple the current disability payment of $170 per week to around $800.

BCNYS feels that an increase of that amount will only serve to broaden the scope of the benefits and result in expanded use, which, according to the organization, will drive up the amount that employers pay for disability insurance.

Non-alignment with Federal Family Medical Leave Act

The federal government already has a family leave law in place  the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)  administered by the Department of Labor, which provides up to 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave for certain employees.

PFL does not mirror its federal counterpart in areas such as the definition of family, the relationship between the type of family care and an employees own disability and the issue of job guarantee.

Small businesses, having to contend with both federal and state guidelines will now have multiple tiers of rules and requirements to deal with, BCNYS said.

Employee Replacement Costs

The Business Councils biggest objection to the paid family leave act relates to employee replacement costs.

A worker taking extended time off leaves a hole that has to be filled by other staff working overtime or by finding, hiring and training a new temporary employee as a replacement  both of which are direct costs to the business.

This is especially troubling for very small businesses with only one or two employees.

While its feasible to ask employees to work overtime when there are enough of them to take up the slack, one-or-two employee businesses arent afforded that luxury. They either find a replacement or, more likely, the boss has to shoulder the burden.

The problem becomes exacerbated because leave can be intermittent.

For instance, the pizza parlor with an employee who needs to take off Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons to care for a family member may be faced with shifts going unfilled, which could interfere with the businesss ability to meet customer needs or run efficiently.

Compliance Costs

Frank Kerbein, director of the Center for Human Resources at BCNYS, in a telephone interview with Small Business Trends, expressed concern over the likelihood that small businesses will run into compliance issues due to the rules and regulations associated with the program.

The Federal Family Medical Leave Act has been around 23 years and is still not always administrated correctly, Kerbein said. In large organizations, it takes one person just to manage the program. A small business may not have an HR person, which means that, in spite of its best intentions, the company could fail to comply with the new law, resulting in fines and penalties.

Other Cost Concerns

Kerbein is also skeptical of the states ability to hold costs down for employees who pay into the program weekly, to cover its costs.

Governor Cuomo campaigned on this issue saying it would cost no more than $1 per week, he said. The current weekly disability payment of $170 costs employees 67 cents per week. This benefit will go up to $800 per week when fully implemented. As such, were skeptical the state can maintain the $1 per week cap. More likely, costs will rise to four or five dollars per week and, at that point, the legislature could come back and tell employers that they have to pay for it.

Kerbein also expressed concern over the amount of time business owners will need to administer the program, which he says could turn into hours per year.

And that, too, is a cost, he said.

Currently, the paid leave program only applies to employees who live in the state of New York. Out of state employees are not eligible.
Entrepreneurs can often be so focused on making the company culture fun and lighthearted, that employees dont understand the importance of productivity. Thats why we asked 12 founders from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) how they make their expectations clear without damping the mood.

Heres what YEC community members had to say:

Play at Work

1. Create Different Spaces for Work, Focus and Fun

Creating different spaces within your office demonstrates the various needs of your company. Having a comfortable work station is table stakes. Create another location for the team to have fun. A bar or ping pong table works, it just depends on your company culture. And finally, create quiet spaces for focus. These three spaces will make it clear that you value fun and productivity. ~ Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches

2. Schedule Team Bonding Outside of Work Time

A fun and lighthearted company culture can improve productivity  the key is to foster that culture during times that dont impact productivity. Create a shared space where everyone can eat lunch together, schedule happy hours, or organize a softball or bowling team. Figure out ways to get employees to bond outside of the conference room. ~ Chuck Cohn, Varsity Tutors

3. Turn Productivity Into a Game

When theres a lot of work to be done I use games to keep motivated with my team. Asana, for example, uses flying unicorns on screen when we complete a task. In my office each writing task has a Post-it note and when five are done, we celebrate. Find a way to gamify accomplishing tasks or projects and then take the time to have fun. Ill finish an article today just to get that last Post-it note! ~ Kelly Azevedo, Shes Got Systems

4. Focus on Results, Not the Hours

Ive seen many entrepreneurs worry about the hours their employees work. They stress over employees coming in late or taking breaks. But ultimately, we all care about the results. By setting concrete goals and focusing on the results, you can provide employees with greater autonomy in how and when they do their work  which means more productive employees and more breaks for fun activities. ~ Bhavin Parikh, Magoosh Inc

5. Set an Example

I believe very strongly that at the core of a highly productive company culture is happiness. Employees who have fun and are happy work harder. They come in earlier and stay later, and are ready to overcome obstacles and confront challenges. Having fun things to do like ping pong and video games is great, but ultimately the company culture is set by founder(s). You need to set the example. ~ Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com

6. Schedule Time for Fun

While my team does enjoy a fun environment daily, I also make sure to schedule in time for fun during the week. I think its beyond important to have a team that not only works well together, but knows each other and enjoys being together. Thats why Ill always add team-building fun activities into our workweek, such as trivia. The hour or so spent on fun is well worth the investment. ~ Elle Kaplan, LexION Capital

7. Focus on Teamwork

When you allow your employees to get up from their desks, meet with their fellow co-workers, talk openly and discuss ideas, and work in teams as opposed to alone, the entire culture of your company gets a boost in happiness, fun, and most of all, productivity. Allowing your team to make groups of their own choice accentuates accountability, but also allows employees to enjoy themselves. ~ Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

8. Start With Hiring

Its so important to the culture of any workplace that the people there love what they do. Whenever I can, I choose the person who is clearly fascinated by instead of just talented at what they do. This attitude brings a very different feeling to the office, and works to create a much more fun and engaged atmosphere. People who are happy when they are productive tend to be both, most of the time. ~ Adam Steele, Loganix

9. Learn From Past Mistakes

Early on, my co-founder (David Mainiero) and I would work ourselves to the bone: 120 hours a week, no vacations, no days off. Month after month. Levity and fun were in short supply. Our work culture was so brutal that David landed in the hospital. I show our new employees this picture so they understand the importance of maintaining balance. ~ Joel Butterly, InGenius Prep

10. Find a Great Co-Working Space

When looking for new office space, we wanted to find a location that would be conducive to work-life balance. t makes it easier to pull late nights in the office when there are events in the space, networking opportunities with peers, mentoring hours and lunch included. ~ Jennifer Mellon, Trustify

11. Look for Skill in Applications and for Culture During Interviews

Skill sets can be an important filter when hiring talent, but its the interview that allows you to find people who best match the culture of your company. Once you have a block of applicants whose skills are above a certain threshold, you can flesh out whether their work/play balance matches the companys vision.  ~Justin Cooke, Empire Flippers

12 . Hold Team Building Events

To run a successful company, you need to do both at the same time. We just did an all-company hackathon that was 48 hours long and an enormous amount of projects were completed at an incredibly high caliber of work. It was fun and light-hearted because people had autonomy over what they wanted to do and who they wanted to work with. Having events like this help to bring the company together. ~ Chris Savage, Wistia
With a growing focus on consumer safety, manufacturers from nearly every industry and all parts of the globe are working to ensure the efficacy of their products. Failure to develop products that are safe and user-friendly could result in monetary fines, loss of contracts and even mass recalls. In fact, an all-time high of 51 million vehicles were recalled in 2015 alone.

The automotive industry isnt the only one to suffer from widespread product recalls. According to a recent study by a Swiss research firm, worldwide food recalls have effectively doubled since 2002. Given trends like this, efforts to ensure product safety and avoid recalls definitely need improvement.

How to Keep Off the Product Recall List

Monitoring Standards and Regulations

Standards and regulations that define product safety are constantly changing, evolving and adapting to new societal trends, needs and demands. In fact, OSHA maintains an online database that provides information and resources regarding new and existing regulations throughout dozens of industries.

OSHA is one of the most prolific and well-known safety agencies, but theyre not the only one. Depending on your specific industry, you may be subject to laws, rules or regulations from any number of other agencies. In fact, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, recently won a $15.45 million civil case against multiple appliance manufacturers in China as well as the United States.

With that in mind, entrepreneurs and business owners must pay attention to existing and new regulations alike. By staying on top of these changes, and by attaining new certifications as necessary, youll be better poised to avoid future recalls or penalties.

Pursuing Testing and Certification

While institutions like OSHA and the CPSC can provide information, resources and, in some cases, actual safety testing and certification, some processes require third-party interaction, inspection and analysis.

Some companies, like National Technical Systems, offer an array of product testing services throughout several different industries. Their tests, which focus on different standards and regulations, can ensure compliance with safety organizations from all corners of the globe. Specific products that can be tested by NTS include industrial machinery, lighting components and power supplies, audio and video hardware, household and commercial appliances, laboratory equipment and more.

Bolstering Your Supply Chain

Certain companies have even reduced their own product recalls by bolstering their strategies in supply chain management. Increased transparency throughout the entire chain can identify errors quicker and more efficiently while simultaneously improving communications with the general public in the event that a recall does occur.

With todays emphasis on mobile communications, its also important to facilitate mobile accessibility between sales representatives, compliance officers, distributors and customers. Supply chain and e-commerce apps can be coded to work across multiple platforms, including hardwired and mobile devices, which offers on-the-fly access and real-time monitoring.

Establishing a Compliance Team

If necessary, consider establishing a designated team of compliance specialists. It doesnt matter if these are third-party consultants or in-house experts. Instead, focus on securing reputable compliance specialists that have experience in your exact line of business and industry. While this will require you to allocate additional resources to the new team, the costs of avoiding product recalls and improving safety might be worth it in the long run.

However, its important to understand that the establishment of such a team is no straightforward task. A compliance team must avoid or overcome many challenges, including overly complex business models, conflicting viewpoints, stringent industry regulations and more.

Keeping Your Competitors Close

Theres an old adage that tells us to keep our friends close, but our enemies closer. This same saying can be applied to the world of manufacturing: By paying attention to your competition, youll be able to identify new safety requirements as soon as they emerge.

Moreover, you may even be able to learn from the mistakes of your competitors and avoid future recalls of your own.

Bucking the Trends

Although product recalls are still common and even increasing in some industries, others have seen significant improvement. According to the CPSC, the overall number of toy recalls has experienced a sharp decline since 2008. The total number of toy recalls involving lead-containing products have been nearly eliminated.

In some cases, a high number of recalls can actually prompt change on its own. According to the American Marketing Association, the number of automobile recalls between 1995 and 2011 eventually resulted in fewer accidents. Statistics like this show that there is a bright side after all.

Maintaining Product Safety Into the Future

As a manufacturer, product safety should be your top priority. There are few better ways to drive away a solid customer base than by releasing defunct or hazardous products. In some cases, the results can be downright deadly.

By sticking to the tips outlined above, and by taking a proactive stance toward manufacturing and consumer safety, youll be able to maintain the safety of your products and avoid mass recalls in the future.

Republished by permission. Original here.
A business loan is a great way to help your company grow. But what do you do if you have a bad credit score? Luckily, there are steps that you can take to increase the chances of getting approved for small business loans, which we will discuss here.

What do Lenders Consider Bad Credit?

Many of us have had a run-in with credit at some point in our lives. Maybe you missed a payment on a bill, perhaps you had an unexpected expense and couldnt afford your regular monthly payments. Or perhaps you just made some poor financial decisions in the past. No matter the reason, if your credit score is low, it will likely affect your ability to get a business loan.

Bad credit can be anything from not having any debt at all (a good thing!) to having late payments on utility bills or rent. It could also include bankruptcy., which can limit your small business financing options. So, what do lenders consider bad credit? Basically, anything that would make you a high-risk borrower, such as having a low credit score or no credit history at all.

To get a loan from these places, you will need to do everything in your power to increase your chances of getting approved.

What is the Minimum Credit Score for a Small Business Loan?

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to an ideal business credit score for a business loan that opens doors for lenders to approve your application. The minimum credit score (FICO) required depends on several factors, including the size and purpose of the loan, how much collateral there is, and whether or not its an unsecured loan. Generally, you will need a minimum personal credit score of at least 600 to be approved for a small business loan from banks or credit unions.

Is it Possible to Get a Loan with no Credit Check?

Certainly! Traditional lenders look over your credit history to see how well youve handled debt in the past. If there are red flags, you wont get the business loan. However, there are loan options if you are determined to be a business owner and cant meet the minimum credit score requirements.

One of these loan options is a lending institution that doesnt check your credit. Unfortunately, there is typically a big tradeoff in the way of high-interest rates when you go this route. In addition, these bad credit business lenders dont normally accept applicants with scores under 500, and many require that borrowers have a minimum FICO score between 580 and 600.

Types of Business Loans for Poor Credit

There are a few different types of bad credit business loans that you can apply for if you have bad credit (629 or lower FICO). They include:

1. SBA loan

The Small Business Administration offers a variety of loan programs for businesses with bad credit, including the Microloan Program and the CDC/504 Loan Program.

2. Merchant cash advances

A merchant cash advance (MCA) is a short-term loan based on your future credit card sales. These loans are often unsecured, have high-interest rates and have no set repayment terms.

3. Business lines of credit

A business line of credit is similar to a personal line of credit, but its for your business. These loans are unsecured and typically have variable rates tied to an index like the prime rate or LIBOR.

4. Equipment loan

If you need to purchase equipment for your business, you can get a loan specifically for that. These loans are typically unsecured and have a shorter repayment term than traditional loans.

5. Microloans

These loans come from microlenders who offer small loans to business owners who traditional banks have turned down. However, the average loan amount is $35,000, and the interest rates are incredibly high. Therefore, its important to shop around for the best deal.

6. Peer-to-peer lending

Peer-to-peer lending is a relatively new concept that matches borrowers with investors willing to lend money. Instead of going through a bank, you can use your bad credit business loan application to match up with one or more lenders based on the amount you need and their rates.

7. Guarantor loans

These are unsecured loans where someone else co-signs the loan with you and guarantees to repay it if you cant. Your guarantor must have good credit (a score of 700 or higher) and be willing to put their assets on the line.

8. Invoice financing or factoring

This option is another type of high-risk loan that allows businesses with solid revenues but low credit scores to get cash for unpaid invoices. The business sells its outstanding accounts receivable (A/R) at a discount.

9. Business credit cards

A business credit card will charge a steep APR, but its an option if you have bad credit and need some quick cash. Compared with other loans for business owners with no or poor credit, the rates on these cards are typically lower.

10. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a way to raise money from a large number of people, typically through the internet. Some crowdfunding platforms specialize in loans for business owners with bad credit.

How to Get a Small Business Loan with Bad Credit

As you can see, if you have a bad business credit score, there are options to get a small business loan. Here are a few tips and ideas to use when you are ready to do it:

Make sure you understand the terms of the loan before you sign anything. This includes the interest rate, monthly payments and repayment schedule.

Shop around for the best deal. Rates and terms can vary significantly from lender to lender, so its important to compare offers.

Be prepared to put up collateral. Many lenders require collateral in case you cant repay the loan. This could be your home, car or business assets.

Have a solid business plan and financial statements ready. Lenders will want to see that you have a good understanding of your business and are able to repay the loan.

Start-Up Business Loans with Bad Credit

Start-ups with bad credit will most likely need to turn to online lenders to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. These alternative lenders offer various types of business loans you can use to finance your start-up, including:

1. A business line of credit

Online lenders like Lendio offer flexible business lines of credit to start-ups with bad credit. With Lendio, you only need a 560 minimum credit score. Plus, you only pay interest on the funds you use. One of the cons of using Lendio is that you need $50,000 or more in annual revenue

2. Short-term loans

You can borrow up to $250K with one of these loans as long as you have a credit rating of 600. They may come with high-interest rates, but theyre a good option for a specific, one-time purchase. One of the alternative lenders that offers a short-term loan with bad credit is OnDeck.

3. Equipment loans

Currency Finance is a good alternative lender if you need equipment and have less than stellar credit. They often provide equipment financing in as little as 24 hours too. To qualify for equipment financing from Currency Finance, youll need at least $120,000 in annual revenue and a credit score of at least 620.

4. Microloans

Microloan companies offer loans for bad credit, often lending amounts as small as $500 to help entrepreneurs start or expand a business. Non-profit Accion offers microfinancing of up to $50,000 for small business owners whose minimum credit score is 550. The organization has over 50+ lending partners throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Latin America.

5. Invoice Financing

Invoice factoring companies like FactorTrust and BlueVine offer quick cash in exchange for your unpaid customer invoices. This is a great option if you have a solid business but need some help covering your expenses until you get paid.

6. Merchant Cash Advance

With an MCA, small businesses with bad credit can get up to $100,000 in quick funding. If you need money fast and have good sales volume and steady revenue, this could be an option for your business. Companies that offer them include Payability and Kabbage.

7. Business Loans

If you have a less than stellar business credit score, then business financing from Rapid Financing might be the answer. RF looks at your overall business credit health and not just your credit score when determining if you qualify for financing. Theyre one of the best companies to use for long-term financing, and funds can be available within hours after loan approval

8. Business Credit Cards

A business credit card is a good option for small businesses with bad credit as long as you use it responsibly. A few good options to consider are the American Express Plum Card, which has no annual fee and a 0% APR for the first nine months, or the Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, which offers 80,000 bonus points if you spend $5000 in the first three months.

9. Personal Loans

A personal loan can be a good option for small businesses with a bad credit score, but its important to remember that youll likely have a higher interest rate. You can use a personal loan to cover any business expense, such as inventory or marketing costs.

10. Working Capital Loans

If you need quick cash to cover day-to-day expenses like payroll or rent, consider a working capital loan. These are easy to qualify for and typically come with low-interest rates. Credibly can be the best if you have a very poor credit score, as their working capital loans and MCAs have a minimum required credit score of only 500.

Dont Let Bad Credit Stop You

As you can see, if you have less than perfect credit, there are options available to help get your business the money it needs. Looking into how to fix your credit is also a great option for your long-term financial health. Whether you need long-term financing for equipment or are looking for short-term cash flow until receivables catch up, these lenders can be an excellent source of funds for small businesses with bad credit. Bear in mind that loan payments can be a significant burden for businesses with tight cash flow, so its important to find a loan that has manageable payments and doesnt charge exorbitant interest rates.
The human gut is a complex and amazing system, and the more we learn about it, the more amazed we are. It turns out
ISTE 2016 Coverage

Vernier Produces Free Collection of STEM-Focused Resources for Teachers

The Oregon-based software company released a number of free resources, including support tools like in-person workshops, webinars, video tutorials, grant opportunities and more.

Vernier Software & Technology, a provider of technology-based solutions for STEM education, is offering education professionals free resources, including support tools and grant opportunities.

Free resources include:

Vernier Software & Technology is exhibiting at the ISTE 2016 conference in booth 3300. Further information is available on the Vernier site.
STEM

San Diego Supercomputer Center's High School Mentor Program Enters Second Year

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) has ended the first year of its Mentor Assistance Program (MAP) and is preparing to launch the second year.

The program, which is a collaboration between the SDSC at the University of California San Diego and the UC San Diego Division of Health Sciences, is designed to provide high school students with access to experts in their field of interest in order to help them prepare for their future careers. "MAP is focused on creating mentoring relationships that will enhance students' desire to learn, teach, and conduct research in a variety of fields, including science, technology, engineering and mathematics," stated a news release from the university. The program aims to provide a rewarding experience for high school students while providing flexibility for mentors, who typically have very busy schedules.

The first year of the program ran from November 2015 through May 2016. During that time, 77 students from 33 high schools in San Diego County worked with 34 mentors from 24 UC San Diego departments, assisting them on actual research projects. The program concluded with a symposium, where 65 of the students in the program presented 48 projects to an audience of nearly 300 school district administrators, principals, teacher and family members.

The organizers are now preparing to launch the second year of the program, which will run from November 2016 to May 2017. The program is already accepting applications from mentors. Students in grade 11 and 12 can apply from September 1 to 30. A select number of applicants will be chosen for the program. In the first year, the program received 225 applications and accepted 77 students.

Further information about the Mentor Assistance Program can be found on SDSC's site.
- Ababu Namwamba has made another demand to the ODM party aside from those he and eight other Western Kenya politicians had earlier made

- He reportedly demanded a private meeting with party leader Raila Odinga and a group of politicians he would personally chose

- He said this at a meeting Raila had called today, Wednesday, June 29, to discuss the grievances of MPs from W. Kenya

Information emerging from a meeting between Budalangi Member of Parliament and ODM Secretary General Ababu Namwamba and the ODM Central Committee this afternoon, Wednesday, June 29, is that Namwamba demanded to have a private meeting with Raila.

Ababu Namwamba arrives at the ODM party head quarters for a meeting to discuss Western Kenya ODM MPs' grievances on Wednesday, June 29.

According to sources privy to the matter, Ababu apologised for his media outbursts but wanted to meet the party leader privately with a number of members of parliament of his own choosing.

READ ALSO: Namwamba attends ODM meeting to discuss his grievances (photos)

Namwamba arrived at the party headquarters the same day where they were to discuss resolutions to the issues he and a number of Western Kenya ODM MPs had raised about the party among other discussions.

Namwamba is welcomed to the meeting at ODM's party headquarters

Those present for the meeting were Raila Odinga, Chairman John Mbadi, Vice chairpersons Paul Otuoma (Funyula MP) and Josephat Nanok (Governor, Turkana) and Director of Elections Junet Mohammed.

Others were ODM Whips Thomas Mwadeghu (MP, Wundanyi) and Janet Ongera (Senate), Treasurer Timothy Bosire, Beth Syengo- Women League chair and John Ketora, the Youth League chair.

Also in attendance was Oduo Ongwen, the partys Executive Director.

READ ALSO: Raila Odinga lists the top three ODM strongholds in the country

At a press conference last week, eight Western Kenya leaders complained about frustration in accomplishing their work in the party.

They accused the party of disrespecting and bullying them but Mbadi said there was no report of any cases from either of the eight to the party.

The leaders complained of being sidelined as well as being profiled as moles for the Jubilee government.

Source: TUKO.co.ke
The German share prize index (DAX) board and the trading room of Frankfurt's stock exchange (Boerse Frankfurt) are photographed with a circular fisheye lens during afternoon trading session in Frankfurt, Germany, February 23, 2016. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

By Jonathan Gould, John O'Donnell and Huw Jones

FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) - Germany's financial market regulator delivered a double blow to London on Tuesday, saying it could not host the headquarters of a planned European stock exchange giant after Britain leaves the EU, and nor could it remain a centre for trading in euros.

Felix Hufeld, who heads the Bafin regulator, is the most senior official to rule out London publicly as the head office of the merged Deutsche Boerse-London Stock Exchange group after Britons voted last week to leave the European Union.

Adding to uncertainty over the City of London's future, an EU official said the European Central Bank would push for the clearing of euro transactions to move to the common currency area within a couple of years.

Hufeld's remarks underline the vulnerability of what is currently Europe's dominant financial centre, with London's mayor trying to limit the damage while rival Paris wants to capitalise on the fallout from Thursday's referendum.

"Without doubt ... it is hard to imagine that the most important exchange venue in the euro zone would be steered from a headquarters outside the EU," Hufeld told reporters. "There certainly has to be an adjustment here."

Hardening positions in Germany, where politicians have made similar remarks, have created an additional hurdle to the planned $25 billion merger, which is now in danger of unravelling after Britain opted from Brexit.

Deutsche Boerse (DB1Gn.DE) declined to comment. An LSE (LSE.L) spokesman said shareholders would vote on the deal - which was first announced in February - on July 4 and the offer terms were unchanged.

As Germany's top supervisor, Hufeld's comments hold considerable weight and jar with recent statements from the LSE and Deutsche Boerse that the deal to create a European trading powerhouse will go ahead as is.

Bafin answers to Germany's finance ministry, led by minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. A spokeswoman for the ministry said supervisory authorities continued to examine the merger.

Story continues

A special committee created by the exchanges to deal with the referendum fallout will meet in the coming weeks to discuss the implications, including for the merged company's base.

The British government has signalled that it won't formally inform the EU of the country's intention to leave until after the summer. Without this step, a two-year period to negotiate the divorce under the EU's Lisbon Treaty cannot begin.

EURO LOSS

Hufeld, who also sits on the ECB's supervisory decision-making board, also said that London could no longer expect to be the centre of euro-denominated trading.

Such trading should move to the EU and could take place in Frankfurt, he said.

"I would see this as a significant political goal to think about steps to encourage this. It cannot be politically smart for a significant amount or a majority of euro-denominated trading ... to take place outside the European Union."

The loss of trading of euros in derivatives would be a heavy blow to London.

Before the vote, euro zone officials had told Reuters that the ECB was determined to tackle an anomaly dating from 1999 when Britain opted out of the euro's launch - that a dominant share of trading in the currency the ECB issues happens outside its jurisdiction in London.

When Britain leaves the EU, there is little incentive to keep this business there. Trading of euro-based securities spans trillions of euros of derivatives as well as the "repo" market providing short-term funding for banks  2 trillion euros of which experts say is based in London.

In addition to this, there is foreign exchange trading in the currency itself. The Frankfurt-based ECB wants oversight for practical reasons: if any disaster were to hit these markets, it would be responsible for clearing up the mess.

The exit vote prompted Mayor Sadiq Khan to call for more autonomy for London such as tax-raising powers and control over areas including business and policing.

He also wants London - Europe's richest city which against the national trend voted strongly to remain in the EU - to have a seat in negotiations with Brussels over Britain's future relations with the bloc.

Khan, who backed the Remain campaign, borrowed language from Brexit supporters who said Britain should leave the EU to regain control of policies such as immigration.

"London has to take back control too. Londoners, who voted for a different path to the rest of England, need more self-determination," he said. "We need to control our own destiny."

Rival Paris is gearing up to attract London bankers.

SocGen's (SOGN.PA) chief executive, Frederic Oudea, said the French capital could benefit as financial institutions based in Britain would no longer have access to European markets as they had before.

Swiss Bankers Association Chairman Patrick Odier also said the uncertainty from Brexit could benefit his members.

"It will ... probably make the value of the Swiss proposition  stability, predictability, state of law, strong currency - even more forceful than it was in the past," he said.

Heinz Geyer, an executive recruiter at Temple Associates, said some thousands of jobs could leave London over time.

But he added: "England has a strong dealing oriented tradition," he said. "It is hard to see how there would be such a large exodus of people from London."

He conceded, however, that much depended on the terms of any trade agreement that Britain gets after it leaves the bloc. "One can only hope that the negotiators have steel to secure the best deal."

(Additional reporting by Matthias Sobolewski in Berlin, Maya Nikolaeva in Paris, Joshua Franklin and Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi in Zurich, William James and Sinead Cruise in London; Editing by David Stamp)
(Recasts, adds details)

ULAANBAATAR, June 30 (Reuters) - The main opposition Mongolian People's Party (MPP) appears to have swept back to power in parliamentary elections, Mongolian media said early on Thursday, after campaigning dominated by concern over slowing economic growth.

The transformation of the former Soviet bloc state since a peaceful revolution in 1990 has been a big draw for foreign investors eyeing its rich mineral resources, unleashing a boom from 2010 to 2012.

But an abrupt economic slowdown since 2012 has stirred controversy over the role of global mining firms such as Rio Tinto , which last month finally approved a $5.3-billion extension plan for the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine.

The MPP, which last ruled from 2008 to 2012, is likely to have won most seats in the 76-member parliament, taking back power from the Democratic Party, leading Mongolian news websites news.mn and Ikon reported.

The government was expected to formally announce the final results of Wednesday's vote later on Thursday morning.

Stability during the MPP's rule helped lure investors to Mongolia, a vast country with just three million people that was nicknamed "Mine-golia" in the boom years.

But it has since struggled to adapt to giant neighbour China's reduced appetite for coal and copper, which has hit commodities prices.

The IMF forecasts economic growth of 0.4 percent this year, compared with 17.5 percent in 2011, the year before the Democratic Party took power.

Since 2012, Mongolia has borrowed billions of dollars in sovereign debt. In March, rating agency Moody's gave it a negative outlook, citing the rising debt burden, a projected widening of budgetary imbalances and mining revenue shortfalls.

The MPP, which has held power most years since 1990, has criticised the Democrats' economic management and the borrowing spree, promising to reassess spending and tighten fiscal management. (Reporting by Terrence Edwards; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Andrew Roche)
There has been a significant increase in the number of GP-led transactions reviewed by LPs over the past 12 months, according to a study by Capstone Partners focused on GP-led Secondaries.
The University of Arizona Marley Foundation Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program announced May 31 that it would postpone its plans to open its doors until fall 2017. The move comes as the AVMA Council on Education, the accreditor of veterinary colleges, reviews the report from a COE site team that visited Arizona. The universitys proposed School of Veterinary Medicine cannot admit students without a letter of reasonable assurance of accreditation.

This is the second time the program has delayed its anticipated timeline since its creation in 2012. At that time, the institution anticipated opening in fall 2015. The first setbacks came when the Arizona state legislature twice denied funding for the program after requests by the universitys board of regents in 2012 and 2013. Regardless, UA started the process to seek COE accreditation when the School of Veterinary Medicine conducted a feasibility study in 2013 and asked that year for a consultative site visit from the COE; the visit took place Jan. 13-15, 2014. Arizona then filed a letter of application with the COE in 2014, seeking a letter of reasonable assurance of accreditation. Also that year, the Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation stepped in with a $9 million gift to get the program off the ground, creating the Marley Foundation Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program. In 2015, with the COEs schedule for site visits already at capacity, the veterinary school delayed its projected opening until fall 2016.





   Dr. Peder Cuneo, the University of Arizonas extension veterinarian, works with students at the Campus Agricultural Center. On the basis of UA preveterinary enrollment, the new UA Marley Foundation Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program anticipates 500 students will be qualified to enter the pre-professional, first-year curriculum. It plans to select up to 100 of those students for the remaining three years. (Images courtesy of UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) 

A council site team traveled to Tucson, Arizona, for a comprehensive site visit Jan. 24-28 of this year. That visit is the final step before the council makes an accreditation decision, which could have happened for UA at the March 20-22 COE meeting. However, the council has a policy that decisions arising from site visits that occur less than 90 days prior to the next scheduled COE meeting will usually be deferred to the following meeting. The council next meets Sept. 25-27.

After its spring meeting, the COE released the following statement: The report of the site team is under review by the Council and in accordance with the Accreditation Policies and Procedures of the AVMA Council on Education, the Councils decision on a Letter of Reasonable Assurance will be posted on the public section of the AVMA website within 30 days of the final decision, likely here.

Then the veterinary school announced in the May 31 email that instead of opening the program this fall, it would wait until it has a definitive decision from the COE, with the new target to open the programs doors in fall 2017. Information on tuition and fees is expected to be available in spring 2017.

We have proposed a major paradigm shift in how future veterinary medical practitioners will learn and we expect the AVMA Council on Education will be diligent in review, in part because of the innovations we propose, according to the letter by Dr. Shane C. Burgess, interim dean of the veterinary school.

Reasonable assurance does not confer accreditation but is a first step toward earning provisional accreditation and, ultimately, accreditation. The classification means the developing college has demonstrated that it has a realistic plan for complying with COE standards. A college granted reasonable assurance must offer admission to its first class of students and matriculate them within three years.

The plan for the UA programa sort of hybrid between the European and Caribbean veterinary college modelsis to allow students who have met the prerequisites and have a sufficiently high GPA to directly enter a two-semester pre-professional program at the main campus without needing an undergraduate degree.

   The University of Arizona Marley Foundation Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program is composed of both the pre-professional year and the professional School of Veterinary Medicine. This rendering depicts the anticipated renovated exterior of the veterinary school building at UAs Oro Valley campus. 

From there, students would apply for acceptance into the three-year, year-round School of Veterinary Medicine. Those who are not selected on their first application for the DVM professional program could pursue an undergraduate degree at UA or reapply the following year. Students who have an undergraduate degree and at least a 3.0 GPA could earn a masters in animal and biomedical industries and also could reapply.

On the basis of UA preveterinary enrollment, the university anticipates 500 students will be qualified to enter the pre-professional, first-year curriculum. It plans to select up to 100 of those students for the remaining three-year veterinary curriculum.

Six of the nine semesters of the veterinary school would be taken at the universitys Oro Valley campus, about 6 miles north of Tucson. Following the six-semester preclinical program, students would spend 48 weeks of distributive clinical rotations at satellite facilities, private practices, and related industries around the state.

The Arizona state legislature recently approved, in its fiscal year 2017 budget, $8 million for renovations at the Oro Valley facility. Work is anticipated to begin in July and to be finished in time for the first veterinary students to occupy it in 2018. The site also will support UAs one-health efforts.

In the May 31 letter about the veterinary schools postponement, Dr. Burgess wrote, Thanks to funding from the state of Arizona, we can use the time and the funding to create a spectacular One Health facility for the education of next-generation veterinarians and the research and prevention of human and animal diseases.

Related JAVMA content:
Modified On Jun 29, 2016 03:05 PM By Raunak for Jeep Wrangler 2016-2019

Showcased at the 2016 Indian Auto Expo alongside the Grand Cherokee, Jeep India has now revealed details of the Wrangler Unlimited on its website. Just like the Cherokee, the Wrangler will also be launched around the festive season.

The Wrangler Unlimited will only be available in a single trim, unlike the Grand Cherokee which will feature three trims. Powering the Unlimited is a 2.8-litre diesel capable of producing 200PS and 460Nm of max torque extracted in-between 1600-2600rpm. The motor is mated to a five-speed automatic transmission. The car delivers a certified fuel efficiency of 12.1kmpl and features a 85-litre fuel tank. It offers Jeeps Command Trac 4x4 (four-wheel drive) setup.

Speaking of the features, the Wrangler Unlimited comes with a 6.5-inch touchscreen Uconnect infotainment system with navigation, Bluetooth integration and voice commands. The sound is pumped by an Alpine all-weather sound system. The audio system also offers 40GB of internal storage, of which 28GB is available for storage.

The cabin offers two colour themes  an all black option or a black and dark saddle theme. The seats are upholstered in leather depending on the colour theme of the cabin. The Wrangler Unlimited offers heated front seats and 60:40 folding rear seats.

On the outside, it comes with either a soft-top or a hardtop along with metal doors and roll-up windows. The car offers automatic halogen headlamps and fog lamps. The windscreen is tinted and the rear-view mirrors are powered and heated. It rides on 17-inch alloy wheels and off-road tyres

In terms of safety, the Unlimited features dual front multi-stage airbags, electronic stability control, electronic roll mitigation, hill start assist, bars with padding and traction control.

The Jeep Wrangler Unlimited comes with a two-year, unlimited kilometres warranty and roadside assistance.

Recommended: Jeep India Reveals Details Of Grand Cherokee
Modified On Jun 29, 2016 02:10 PM By Tushar for Porsche 911 2016-2019

The Porsche 911 has entered India in its latest avatar. The updated range of the German carmaker's flagship sportscar has been launched at Rs 1.42 crore (ex-showroom Delhi). Like the outgoing model, this 911 will be sold in our subcontinent as a completely built unit (CBU). Porsche India will be importing the car from Zuffenhausen, Germany and retailing the model through its dealerships in Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi, Gurgaon, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.

In its latest rendition, much to the despair of many Porsche loyalists, the 911 Carrera loses its trademark naturally-aspirated flat-six engine. In keeping with the era of engine downsizing, it gets a 3.0-litre twin turbocharged motor that produces 370PS of power and 450Nm of torque. The up-tuned version of the Carrera i.e. the Carrera S develops 420PS and 500Nm. The range-topping 911 Turbo features an updated 3.8-litre twin-turbo engine that makes 540PS and sprints to 100kmph in just 2.9 seconds with a top speed of 318kmph.

As youd expect, the tradition of keeping the 911s looks consistent through the ages has continued with the new model and the legendary silhouette remains untouched. The long nose, sloping roof and the short tail are typical of the 911. Visual updates include new headlamps with four-point daytime running lights, door handles without recess covers, a redesigned rear lid with vertical louvres and new tail lights.

The interior gets a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system that supports navigation and Apple CarPlay. The system also supports handwriting recognition and smartphones can be connected to the system via Wi-Fi.

In India the car will rival the likes of the BMW M4 and Jaguar F-Type. What do you think of the new 911? Share your thoughts with us through the comments section.

Variant-wise pricing is as follows. All prices, ex-showroom Delhi.

911 Carrera - Rs 1.42 Crore

911 Carrera Cabriolet - Rs 1.56 Crore

911 Carrera S - Rs 1.63 Crore

911 Carrera S Cabriolet - Rs 1.76 Crore

911 Turbo - Rs 2.26 Crore

911 Turbo Cabriolet - Rs 2.39 Crore

911 Turbo S - Rs 2.66 Crore

911 Turbo S Cabriolet - Rs 2.82 Crore

Read More on : 911 price
Published On Jun 29, 2016 01:27 PM By Aman

Czech automaker Skoda is all set to add a fully-electric upmarket SUV to its line-up by 2020. Work for the new SUV has already started and it will be based on Volkswagens MEB battery-electric platform. It is interesting that Skoda has chosen to introduce a new vehicle for this project, instead of applying the electric-technology to an existing model.

Above Image: Skoda VisionS

Speaking to Autocar UK, Skodas Brand Director Duncan Movassaghi expressed, It's easier to package something that was designed specifically to be an electric car. And electric cars will be more expensive (than petrols and diesels) for the foreseeable future, so it makes sense to produce a more premium model like an SUV.

Above Image: Skoda VisionS

This decision from Skoda appears to be in-line with its parent company Volkswagens 2025 strategy to introduce 30 new electric and hybrid models. Skoda will benefit from the new MEB platform which has a target to provide an impressive range of 482km to an electric car at a single stretch. Also, the electric cars under this platform will only need 15 minutes of charging time and is said to cost even lesser than a relative combustion engine.

The new all-electric platform will not only provide ecological benefits, but it has been developed smartly to even increase space on the inside. The batteries are sandwiched in the middle floor of the platform and not beneath the boot floor as earlier. This creates an extra space to accommodate a third row of passengers.

Meanwhile, focusing on its existing line-up as well, international markets will also see new plug-in hybrid variants of the Superb and the new Kodiaq SUV by 2019. Also, a replacement of the Yeti is on cards as part of the companys product strategy. It will share its architecture with the Volkswagen Tiguan and the Audi Q3 and will be based on Volkswagens MQB platform. Skoda seems to have hit the right button with its upcoming line-up and it will be interesting to see when these cars enter the Indian shores.
FOREST CITY  The train made Miller in 31 minutes. Not bad considering it's been 50 years since any passenger train was able to make the trip.

Local historians say the last passenger train ran through Forest City in 1956. Several passenger cars traveled from Forest City to Miller and back Saturday as part of the 100th anniversary celebration of the Farmers Cooperative Association.

The cooperative and several other investors own a stretch of track from Forest City to Belmond. Track operator Iowa Northern Railway brought several passenger cars to Forest City as part of the cooperative's celebration.

At least 1,500 people rode the train on a hot and humid day.

"I've never been on a train," Patty Brighton of Forest City said from her seat in the air-conditioned car.

Brighton and other passengers sat in vinyl seats with chrome handles. Seats were made for two passengers facing the same direction or four passengers facing each other. An upper deck of seats had a slightly different configuration as passengers faced east or west inside the car.

Brighton sat next to Mary Fisher, her neighbor in the Townsquare Apartments. Fisher had ridden the Scenic Valley Railway in Boone several years ago.

She had last ridden a passenger train "when I was very young," Fisher said.

"We were coming back from South Dakota (to Thompson) when our car broke down, so we rode the train back," she said. "At that time the train still stopped in Thompson. Now, there are no tracks."

Brothers Harold and Norman Nyhus last rode a passenger train in 1954. They were in military and traveling from Texas to California.

"We had sleeper cars then," Norman said."It took us three days.

"We've never been in one like this around here," he added. "This is an all new experience."

The brothers also sat in a four-person seat during the round trip that started in Forest City.

The train left the unused depot on J Street just after 2 p.m. on this trip. It started slowly down the tracks past cooperative buildings and houses. Tree branches hung close to the tracks in several spots. If the train windows were open and a passenger had the inclination, he could have touched those branches. The train continued past the back of two convenience stores before reaching the intersection of U.S. Highway 69.

Brighton's grandson, Carl Gordon, 17, of Belmond, rode the train because, "My nana asked me to."

He was curious, particularly about the speed, Gordon said.

Gordon would quickly realize the ride was geared toward a scenic jaunt in the countryside and not for traveling across the country.

"I like the speed," Brighton said.

"It gives you time to look around," Fisher said.

The scenes changed as the train traveled from Forest City.

The passengers saw more farms and fields. A junk pile with machinery occupied one corner of a field.

The train provided views that couldn't been seen from the road inside a vehicle.

The tracks crossed intersections with gravel roads where people stood with video cameras, phones and regular cameras to record the journey. Passengers waved from inside the train.

"You can hear the clickety-clack of the train" when a train passes by, passenger Lynne Church said. But from the inside, "You don't feel it. It so much smoother (than she tought)."

"It's good. It's different," Harold Nyhus said of the ride.

"It's pretty good," Norman Nyhus said.

"It's strange," Fisher said of the scenes. "It's like I've never been here before, yet I've lived around here all my life."

The train stopped briefly outside of Miller before it returned to Forest City. The train had an engine in the back and another in the front.

As it returned to Forest City passengers continued to chat and look out the windows.

"I will never see this again," Fisher said as the train passed corn fields and buildings.

"Me, neither," Brighton said. "That's why I wanted to ride today."
Since Alberts release on his birthday, February 19th, a few short months ago, hes been really busy After nearly a month of visiting with family and friends in New Orleans sharing more birthday cake than hes been able to consume in over forty years, Albert has been catching up with his dreams. This trio of video-interviews with Albert recorded recently, during a visit to Sacramento, will give you a glimpse of just how well Albert is doing. This first release, entitled "Just Stand" is in three parts: (1) A Message to Supporters, (2) Visiting Yosemite National Park and (3) Spending Quality Time With Family.

(PHOTO: Albert enjoys a canoe ride in Austin, TX.)





(PHOTO: Albert Woodfox stands strong during a recent visit to Sacramento, California)



A MESSAGE TO SUPPORTERS - After thanking the many supporters around the world that never gave up in fighting for his release, Albert sent them this message: "What they should take from my freedom is that you stand. You don't back away. You don't make unnecessary compromises. You stand, and no matter how painful, you stand." Watch the full interview here.



After thanking the many supporters around the world that never gave up in fighting for his release, Albert sent them this message: "What they should take from my freedom is that you stand. You don't back away. You don't make unnecessary compromises. You stand, and no matter how painful, you stand."





(Albert and Rigo 23, with the latest artwork from Rigo 23 illustrating that all of the Angola 3 are Free.)

(King and Albert in Austin- reunited in freedom!)

(Comrades from Houston and Austin join King and Albert for a welcome home party for Albert.)

(Albert with Louisiana exonerees John Thompson and Gary Tyler at Death Penalty Focus event.)

(Albert and Kings cousin, Elnora put together a sizzling surprise birthday party for King at the Craig Center in Algiers on June 11th. The theme was white linen. This photo of Albert dancing with longtime supporter Shana Griffin, was taken by the esteemed Ted Quant to memorialize the evening. View more photos from the party here.)

Since Alberts release on his birthday, February 19th, a few short months ago, hes been really busy After nearly a month of visiting with family and friends in New Orleans sharing more birthday cake than hes been able to consume in over forty years, Albert has been catching up with his dreams. This trio of video-interviews with Albert recorded recently, during a visit to Sacramento, will give you a glimpse of just how well Albert is doing.This first release, entitled "Just Stand" is in three parts: (1) A Message to Supporters , (2) Visiting Yosemite National Park and (3) Spending Quality Time With Family Just a few days before this interview was conducted, Albert visited Yosemite National Park, where he endured a challenging uphill climb. Albert reflects: "As you get older, you always wonder what you lose, and I think it felt very, very great to know that my will and determination have not changed, even though I've grown older. I know I have changed somewhat physically, [but] mentally, emotionally, and spiritually I'm as strong as I ever was."In this segment, Albert discusses his relationship with his family, with whom he tries to spend as much time as he can: "I'm a Dad, a Grandpa, and a Great Grandpa. I'm so grateful that my family accepted me back."Albert has been spending time in Houston with his brother Michael and his family as well as time in New Orleans with his daughter, grandson and grandchildren. His first speaking engagement was a trip to Pittsburgh for the International Conference on Solitary Confinement at University of Pittsburgh with King. When that was over, he spent a week in Austin with King and Austin supporters before heading off to California to fulfill one of his long held dreams, a trip to Yosemite. On the way he stopped in Los Angeles to attend the Death Penalty Focus Gala, where he was joined by an old friend from Angola, recently released Gary Tyler and about twenty exonerees attending on behalf of the Innocence Project. He also had a chance to drop in on long-time supporter and artist, Rigo 23 and family before heading north. After Yosemite, Albert attended the Malcolm X Festival in Oakland. On his return to New Orleans, Albert and Kings cousin, Noonie, cooked up a surprise birthday party for King and celebrated with many local supporters.The next few months are equally as busy. In August King and Albert will be in New York at the National Lawyers Guild Convention where Albert will accept the Arthur Kinoy award. After the NLG conference, Albert and King will spend time with BPP comrades in New York. In September they will be in Oakland for the Political Prisoners Conference and later in the month they will be speaking at a number of venues in Chicago. Theyll return to Oakland in October for the 50th Anniversary gathering of the Black Panther Party. Then in late October, they visit the UK and France to meet with Amnesty supporters, along with special events in the UK including London, Liverpool and Cambridge As youll be able to see from the short interviews and attached photos, Albert deals with all the activity like a champ  its hard to believe that hes spent four decades in a box, as he handles himself with grace and humor regardless of the situation presented.Freedom for our comrade, elder, and political prisoner Leonard Peltier is long overdue. Please sign Amnesty International USA's new online petition calling on President Obama to release him . Please also consider supporting the Leonard Peltier Statue Project . Free all political prisoners!
WASHINGTON, June 28, 2016  Federal officials permitted more than 1,200 offshore fracks by oil companies in the Gulf of Mexico from 2010 to 2014, according to federal documents obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity.

The fracks occurred in at least 630 different wells off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama (see interactive map: https://curtbradley.cartodb.com/viz/c31983fe-3cb3-11e6-9a00-0e787de82d45/embed_map ), and many took place in critical habitat for imperiled loggerhead sea turtles. Oil companies were also allowed to dump more than 76 billion gallons of waste fluid into Gulf waters in 2014.The Obama administration is essentially letting oil companies frack at will in Gulf ecosystems and dump billions of gallons of oil waste into coastal waters, said Kristen Monsell, a Center attorney. Every offshore frack increases the risk to wildlife and coastal communities, yet federal officials have been just rubber-stamping this toxic practice in the Gulf of Mexico for years.The Center obtained the information following an agreement that settled a lawsuit challenging the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Managements and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcements failure to disclose documents regarding the scope of offshore fracking in the Gulf under the Freedom of Information Act.Documents also show that the federal government has been permitting offshore fracking in the Gulf of Mexico with no site-specific analysis of the threats to imperiled species or the environment, and also without public involvement.The federal government has yet to release all the documents, so the full scope of offshore fracking is likely even larger. For example, at least one of the wells connected to the flow line involved in a nearly 90,000-gallon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last month was fracked, according to federal data. The federal government approved the frack job in 2015.Offshore fracking blasts vast volumes of water mixed with toxic chemicals beneath the seafloor at pressures high enough to fracture rocks and release oil and gas. The practice increases environmental damages beyond those of conventional oil drilling by increasing pollution and the risks of oil spills and earthquakes.Oil and gas companies are allowed to dump fracking chemicals mixed with wastewater into the Gulf of Mexico. A Center analysis of federal documents reveals that oil companies operating in federal waters off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana discharged more than 76 billion gallons of such chemical-laced waters in 2014 alone.Offshore fracking is an inherently dangerous activity that simply doesnt belong in the Gulf of Mexico, Monsell said. And the federal government certainly has no right to give the oil industry free rein to frack our oceans  or to keep coastal communities in the dark about this toxic industrial activity.At least 10 fracking chemicals routinely used in offshore fracking could kill or harm a broad variety of marine species, including sea otters and fish, Center scientists have found. Other scientists have identified some common fracking chemicals to be among the most toxic in the world to marine animals.Map courtesy Center for Biological DiversityThe Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.Center for Biological Diversity
Twins right-hander Phil Hughes will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, tweets Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The operation will alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome, according to Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, who adds that GM Terry Ryan says the club expects Hughes to be ready for Spring Training (links to Twitter).

Hughes was already on the disabled list for the foreseeable future due to a femoral fracture above his kneecap that he suffered upon being struck by a line drive, but hell now definitively be out for the remainder of the year. The injury puts an exclamation point on a second consecutive disappointing season for Hughes, who has seen his velocity dip since a breakout 2014 campaign in his first year with Minnesota. That season, Hughes pitched to a 3.52 ERA in 209 2/3 innings and set a Major League record with an 11.63 K/BB ratio in the first year of a three-year, $24MM contract hed signed the previous December. Minnesota rewarded Hughes by locking him up on an even longer-term deal, tacking on three years and $42MM to his existing contract.

Suffice it to say, the Twins will hope for better results than Hughes has delivered the past two seasons. Its not immediately clear how long this current injury, which will require a portion of Hughes rib to be removed, has been impacting his results on the mound, but after averaging better than 92 mph on his heater in the aforementioned 2014 campaign, hes averaged just 90.6 mph on his fastball in the 2015-16 campaigns. That dip in velocity has likely contributed to Hughes diminished results in some capacity, as hes logged a 4.83 ERA in 214 1/3 innings with just 5.4 strikeouts per nine innings across the past two seasons. Hughes has maintained his pinpoint command (1.2 BB/9 in that time), but his swinging-strike rate has plummeted along with his velocity.

Having just celebrated his 30th birthday four days ago, Hughes is certainly young enough to rebound and contribute to the Twins in the coming years if he can work his way back to health. Hes owed $13.2MM in each of the next three seasons.
Buhari's legacy: "I dont have an official car" - Minister

Festus Keyamo, the minister of state for labour and employment, has said that Buhari's government is so frugal that he does not have an official car for years.
OSAGE  Local high school musicians Garrett Maakestad, Hannah Mauser and Laurel Burrington, from Osage High School, will tour Europe with the Iowa Ambassadors of Music (IAM) July 3-18.

They are part of a select group of 350 student musicians, advisers and parents from across Iowa.

The 2016 tour is a 20-day event which includes four days of rehearsal in Grinnell with a farewell concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 2, at Grinnell Colleges Darby Gymnasium.

The Ambassadors then have a 16-day concert tour covering England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and Liechtenstein. The students will perform in each country except Liechtenstein.

Maakestad plays percussion, Mauser will be singing Alto I in the choir and Burrington will play first-chair tuba.

They were nominated by their directors, Jeff Kirkpatrick and Laurie Hoeppner

Being a member of the Iowa Ambassador of Music tour means that through performance, the participants participate in a sharing of cultures. Most tourists visit and take from their experiences  the Iowa Ambassadors of Music also give. One of the highlights from past tours has been when the students realize the USAs national march, the Stars and Stripes Forever, by John Philip Sousa, is a well-known and popular march in Europe. The choirs opportunity to perform its selections in settings with over a thousand-year heritage gives the students a chance to add a new page in the cultural venue of Europe.

The 2016 European tour is IAMs 15th trip. Since the group was established in 1988, over 5,000 student musicians have delighted European audiences with their performances as Iowa Ambassadors of Music.
WATERLOO  Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Rod Blum has challenged Democratic opponent Monica Vernon to a series of 10 debates across the 1st District starting in August.

Blum, a Dubuque businessman, proposes holding two debates in both the Cedar Rapids area and the Cedar Valley; one debate each in Dubuque, Marshalltown, Grinnell and Decorah; and two debates in rural communities to be determined.

The 1st District is made up of 20 counties in Northeast Iowa.

This election should be an honest contest of ideas, and I hope youll accept this offer to give voters of the 1st District an opportunity to hear for themselves about our differing visions for America, Blum said in the letter to Vernon.

Blums campaign said it would work closely with Vernons to organize the 10 debates and reach agreement on terms. He proposed debating before live audiences and airing the events on television and radio.

Vernon, a former Cedar Rapids City Council member, responded by proposing two televised debates in keeping with the precedent set in the 1st Districts 2012 and 2014 general elections.

I am eager to debate Congressman Blum so I can explain to him what real people need right here in Northeast Iowa, Vernon said in a statement. Instead of focusing on how we create more economic opportunities, we have a Congressman who has embarrassed us by calling for a recession, has voted to dismantle Social Security and Medicare as we know it, and is against funding that would allow more of our kids to go to college.

She proposes the two debates be held in the hometowns of each of the candidates  Cedar Rapids and Dubuque in October. The election is Nov. 8.

Blums campaign communications director Jeff Patch called Vernons counterproposal disappointing.

Contrary to Vernons claims, eastern Iowans expect more than the precedent set of two debates in the 1st District during the 2012 and 2014 cycles, Patch said. Hopefully, she will reconsider our offer to truly allow voters an opportunity to hear directly from the candidates.

Vernon is making her second bid for the seat, after losing in the 2014 primary to Dubuque Democrat Pat Murphy. Blum, who is in first term, narrowly beat Murphy in the general election.

Challengers typically propose a number of debates against incumbents. Earlier this week, for example, Democrat Patty Judge proposed four televised debates with long-time incumbent U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, to be held in the largest media markets.

The number of general election debates varies, though often fewer than five are held.

In 2014, Blum and Murphy debated just twice. Two debates also were held in 2012 when incumbent U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley faced a challenge from Republican Ben Lange.
CLEAR LAKE  While kids jump off docks and swim at City Beach, crews are hard at work in Clear Lakes City Park to set up the annual Fourth of July carnival.

Were having good weather for set-up, said Tom Evans, owner of Evans United Shows Carnival.

The partly cloudy skies and cool breeze were a nice break from the sweltering heat the carnival workers recently faced in Kansas City.

Evans said his company always looks forward to coming back to Clear Lake.

This is our 43rd year here, he said.

He thinks his children have only missed one or two Fourth of Julys in Clear Lake since they first came in the early 1970s. There are no more carnival workers or crew left from that first summer as theyve all retired.

But Evans says he has a great crew to get equipment unloaded and set, which takes most of the day  9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

We have so many people whove been with us for years, he said.

The Evans United Shows Carnival will open at 5 p.m. Thursday followed by a 7 p.m. performance by classic rock band Crossfire at the band shell.

The carnival will be open six days, Thursday through Tuesday, and will include a midway with games and prizes and around 25 amusement rides, Evans said. Bingo, a craft show and live music will also take place at the park.

The carnival will host wrist band day for $17 from noon to 5 p.m. Friday, Sunday and Tuesday.
- About 24 Boko Haram members have been apprehended by men of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF)

- The insurgents were arrested along the Cameroonian borders

- Some villages within the fregion have been rid of the Boko Haram dominance

Twenty-four fleeing insurgents have been arrested along the Cameroonian borders, they were nabbed by The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) fighting Boko Haram.

About 24 Boko Haram insurgents have been arrested by men of the MNJTF.

The spokesman for the task force, Muhammed Dole, said the insurgents were among those trying to escape the combined onslaught of Nigerian troops and the MNJTF within and around Sambisa forest.

Dole said several arms cache were recovered in the operation that led to the clearance of six major enclaves of the outlawed group.

Clearing operation to flush out the fleeing Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT) from the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) Area of Responsibility (AOR) continues to yield positive results.

The troop of Sector 1 with its relocated Tactical Headquarters in Makary, Northern Cameroun intensifies clearance operations along the borders between Nigeria and Cameroun to block the fleeing terrorists.

READ ALSO: You wont believe what happened to Boko Haram terrorists when troops opened fire on them

Recently, the terrorists in attempt to escape the firepower of MNJTF troops were migrating to some villages adjacent to the Sector 1 AOR.

Acting on credible information, the troops successfully cleared the six villages occupied by the terrorists, seized some logistic equipment and apprehended Twenty Four suspected Boko Haram accomplices.

The cleared villages are SAGUI, KIRTA-WOULGO, GORE MAHAMAT, GORE BLANGAFE, CHAUGRY and DAMBOURE. The recovered equipment are 20 x Outboat Engines, 2 x Motorcycles, 9 x Generating sets, 1 x Solar panel, 1 x Grinding machine, 1 x Handset, Flags and some Islamic religious books.

However, one soldier was killed by Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and another fatally wounded and lost his one of his lower limbs during the operation.

Addressing the troops during his operational assessment tour in Makary, the Commander, MNJTF, Major General Lamidi Adeosun commended their display of exceptional bravery and charged them to keep up the good work, while encouraging the traditional authorities in the area to set up vigilante groups to compliment the effort of the security forces.

Equally, on a similar visit to Sector 2 troops (Chad) at their temporary Harbour Area in Littri, the Commander expressed delight for their initial operational exploits, which despite difficult terrains and other operational challenges were able to clear terrorists from some villages on the Lake Chad Islands.

He encouraged them to maintain their high fighting spirit and keep up the momentum of the operation despite the challenges of the slow go terrains, Mr Dole's statement read.

In the same vein, the Nigerian police force have arrested 10 suspected Boko Haram terrorists, who reportedly escaped from the Sambisa forest.

Daily Trust reports that the suspects were nabbed in Dogarawa area of Sabon Gari, Zaria.

Police area commander in charge, Muhammad D. Shehu, said: Some good Samaritans volunteered information to us on the activities of the suspects.

We immediately mobilised with about 100 mobile police and we successfully surrounded the house the suspects were living in.

We were able to apprehend them and they are in our custody at our headquarters.

Source: Legit.ng
Thank you for reading The Cascadia Advocate, the Northwest Progressive Institutes journal of world, national, and local politics.

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Kungsleden AB installs 17 charging stations in the properties Kista One and Hornafjord 1 close to Kista Galleria. The company hereby contributes to charging of electric and plug-in hybrids in Kista. The investment is a natural part of Kungsleden's sustainability efforts. They will be available for both Kungsledens tenants and

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MASON CITY | Court proceedings for a North Iowa Transition Center resident accused of sexually assaulting a staff member in March are suspended until he undergoes a psychiatric evaluation.

Joseph Dean Wallace, 51, Mason City, was scheduled to be tried in Cerro Gordo County District Court Wednesday on one count of third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony.

Wallace, who has a mental health diagnosis, met with his attorney, Susan Flander, on Tuesday to discuss the trial date and a plea offer, according to the application for competency evaluation filed by Flander.

Based on Wallace's behavior during the meeting, in which he said Flander and the judge were prosecutors, said "this is murder," yelled "get me out of here" and began shaking, Flander stated she has concerns her client is suffering from a mental disorder which prevents him from appreciating the charge, understanding the proceedings or assisting effectively in his defense.

District Judge Rustin Davenport ordered the competency evaluation, which will take place at the Iowa Medical and Classification Psychiatric Hospital.

If Wallace is found to be incompetent, restoration to competency will be performed, according to Davenport's order. After treatment, Wallace is to be re-evaluated for competency.

The North Iowa Transition Center provides services designed to diminish the impact of mental illness and to assist individuals to live in their community with greater independence, according to the organizations website.

-- Mary Pieper
Although most people do not regularly appreciate it, geologic maps have been and remain a critical foundation of industrial society. They are used for myriad purposes, from locating and developing natural resources, to identifying and preparing for natural hazards, to building and maintaining infrastructure.

Many people who are familiar with introductory geology, via courses or reading, know that William Smith presented the first good geological map in 1815, a large map covering much of Great Britain. But beyond being the first such map, why was it so revolutionary and why is it still revered?

In the July issue of GSA Today, Peter Wigley addresses these very questions. Through digitization of "The 1815 Map" and poring through contemporary documents, Wigley describes how original map features were produced and presented, and compares these to those used in the generation of modern geologic maps for the same region.

Two hundred years later, the original map remains astonishingly accurate. The reasons lie in the combination of a brilliantly creative individual, a crucial collaborator, some timely technology, and an intriguing taxation law. While Wigley does not draw parallels to developments over the last few decades, one could certainly suggest a recurring theme and perhaps a future Hollywood movie.
Government agencies are having difficulty tracking potential terrorist attacks, since terrorists have developed new ways to communicate besides social media. A new framework developed by researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York is able to predict future terrorist attacks by recognizing patterns in past attacks.

Using data on more than 140,000 terrorist attacks between 1970 and 2014, Binghamton University PhD candidate Salih Tutun developed a framework that calculates the relationship between select features of terrorist attacks (e.g. attack time, weapon type). Mohammad Khasawneh, professor and head of the Systems Science and Industrial Engineering (SSIE) department at Binghamton University, assisted and advised Tutun with his research. The framework identifies the characteristics of future terrorist attacks by analyzing the relationship between past attacks. Comparing the results with existing data shows that the proposed method was able to successfully predict most of the characteristics of attacks with more than 90% accuracy. These results support the previous findings that terrorists tend to emulate the behavior of other terrorist groups and learn from their mistakes and successes.

"They are learning, but they don't know they are learning. If we don't have social media or other technologies, we need to understand the patterns. Our framework works to define which metrics are important," said Tutun. "Based on this feature, we propose a new similarity (interaction) function. Then we use the similarity (interaction) function to understand the difference (how they interact with each other) between two attacks. For example, what is the relationship between the Paris and the 9/11 attacks? When we look at that, if there's a relationship, we're making a network. Maybe one attack in the past and another attack have a big relationship, but nobody knows. We tried to extract this information."

Previous studies have focused on understanding the behavior of individual terrorists (as people) rather than studying the different attacks by modeling their relationship with each other. And terrorist activity detection focuses on either individual incidents, which does not take into account the dynamic interactions among them; or network analysis, which gives a general idea about networks but sets aside functional roles of individuals and their interactions.

"Predicting terrorist events is a dream, but protecting some area by using patterns is a reality. If you know the patterns, you can reduce the risks. It's not about predicting, it's about understanding," said Tutun.

Tutun believes that policymakers can use these approaches for time-sensitive understanding and detection of terrorist activity, which can enable precautions to avoid against future attacks.

"When you solve the problem in Baghdad, you solve the problem in Iraq. When you solve the problem in Iraq, you solve the problem in the Middle East. When you solve the problem in the Middle East, you solve the problem in the world," said Tutun. "Because when we look at Iraq, these patterns are happening in the USA, too."

Tutun presented his work at the 2016 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference (ISERC).
Species across the world are rapidly going extinct due to human activities, but humans are also causing rapid evolution and the emergence of new species. A new study published today summarises the causes of humanmade speciation, and discusses why newly evolved species cannot simply replace extinct wild species. The study was led by the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen.

A growing number of examples show that humans not only contribute to the extinction of species but also drive evolution, and in some cases the emergence of entirely new species. This can take place through mechanisms such as accidental introductions, domestication of animals and crops, unnatural selection due to hunting, or the emergence of novel ecosystems such as the urban environment.

Although tempting to conclude that human activities thus benefit as well as deplete global biodiversity, the authors stress that extinct wild species cannot simply be replaced with newly evolved ones, and that nature conservation remains just as urgent.

"The prospect of 'artificially' gaining novel species through human activities is unlikely to elicit the feeling that it can offset losses of 'natural' species. Indeed, many people might find the prospect of an artificially biodiverse world just as daunting as an artificially impoverished one" says lead author and Postdoc Joseph Bull from the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen.

The study which was carried out in collaboration with the University of Queensland was published today in Proceedings of Royal Society B. It highlights numerous examples of how human activities influence species' evolution. For instance: as the common house mosquito adapted to the environment of the underground railway system in London, it established a subterranean population. Now named the 'London Underground mosquito', it can no longer interbreed with its above ground counterpart and is effectively thought to be a new species.

"We also see examples of domestication resulting in new species. According to a recent study, at least six of the world's 40 most important agricultural crops are considered entirely new" explains Joseph Bull.

Furthermore, unnatural selection due to hunting can lead to new traits emerging in animals, which can eventually lead to new species, and deliberate or accidental relocation of species can lead to hybridization with other species. Due to the latter, more new plant species in Europe have appeared than are documented to have gone extinct over the last three centuries.

Although it is not possible to quantify exactly how many speciation events have been caused through human activities, the impact is potentially considerable, the study states.

"In this context, 'number of species' becomes a deeply unsatisfactory measure of conservation trends, because it does not reflect many important aspects of biodiversity. Achieving a neutral net outcome for species numbers cannot be considered acceptable if weighing wild fauna against relatively homogenous domesticated species. However, considering speciation alongside extinction may well prove important in developing a better understanding of our impact upon global biodiversity. We call for a discussion about what we, as a society, actually want to conserve about nature" says Associate Professor Martine Maron from the University of Queensland.

Researchers do agree that current extinction rates may soon lead to a 6th period of mass extinction. Since the last Ice Age, 11.500 years ago, it is estimated that 255 mammals and 523 bird species has gone extinct, often due to human activity. In the same period, humans have relocated almost 900 known species and domesticated more than 470 animals and close to 270 plant species.
What if testing yourself for cancer or other diseases were as easy as testing your blood sugar or taking a home pregnancy test? In a few years, it might be.

Chemists at The Ohio State University are developing paper strips that detect diseases including cancer and malaria--for a cost of 50 cents per strip.

The idea, explained Abraham Badu-Tawiah, is that people could apply a drop of blood to the paper at home and mail it to a laboratory on a regular basis--and see a doctor only if the test comes out positive. The researchers found that the tests were accurate even a month after the blood sample was taken, proving they could work for people living in remote areas.

The assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Ohio State conceived of the papers as a way to get cheap malaria diagnoses into the hands of people in rural Africa and southeast Asia, where the disease kills hundreds of thousands of people and infects hundreds of millions every year.

But in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, he and his colleagues report that the test can be tailored to detect any disease for which the human body produces antibodies, including ovarian cancer and cancer of the large intestine.

The patent-pending technology could bring disease diagnosis to people who need it most--those who don't have regular access to a doctor or can't afford regular in-person visits, Badu-Tawiah said.

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"We want to empower people. If you care at all about your health and you have reason to worry about a condition, then you don't want to wait until you get sick to go to the hospital. You could test yourself as often as you want," he said.

The technology resembles today's "lab on a chip" diagnostics, but instead of plastic, the "chip" is made from sheets of plain white paper stuck together with two-sided adhesive tape and run through a typical ink jet printer.

Instead of regular ink, however, the researchers use wax ink to trace the outline of channels and reservoirs on the paper. The wax penetrates the paper and forms a waterproof barrier to capture the blood sample and keep it between layers. One 8.5-by-11-inch sheet of paper can hold dozens of individual tests that can then be cut apart into strips, each a little larger than a postage stamp.

"To get tested, all a person would have to do is put a drop of blood on the paper strip, fold it in half, put it in an envelope and mail it," Badu-Tawiah said.

The technology works differently than other paper-based medical diagnostics like home pregnancy tests, which are coated with enzymes or gold nanoparticles to make the paper change color. Instead, the paper contains small synthetic chemical probes that carry a positive charge. It's these "ionic" probes that allow ultra-sensitive detection by a handheld mass spectrometer.

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"Enzymes are picky. They have to be kept at just the right temperature and they can't be stored dry or exposed to light," Badu-Tawiah said. "But the ionic probes are hardy. They are not affected by light, temperature, humidity--even the heat in Africa can't do anything to them. So you can mail one of these strips to a hospital and know that it will be readable when it gets there."

The chemists designed ionic probes to tag specific antibodies that extract the disease biomarker from the blood and onto the paper chip. Once they are extracted, the chemicals stay unchanged until the paper is dipped in an ammonia solution at the laboratory. There, someone peels the paper layers apart and holds them in front of a mass spectrometer, which detects the presence of the probes based on their atomic characteristics--and, by extension, the presence of biomarkers in an infected person's blood.

Badu-Tawiah and postdoctoral researchers Suming Chen and Qiongqiong Wan successfully demonstrated that they could detect protein biomarkers from the most common malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, which is most prevalent in Africa.

They also successfully detected the protein biomarker for ovarian cancer, known as cancer antigen 125, and the carcinoembryonic antigen, which is a marker for cancer of the large intestine, among other cancers.

They worked with former doctoral student Yang Song in the lab of colleague Vicki Wysocki, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, to study how the probes stick to the antibodies with a high-resolution mass spectrometer. Wysocki is the Ohio Eminent Scholar of Macromolecular Structure and Function and director of the Campus Chemical Instrument Center at Ohio State.

After confirming that their tests worked, Badu-Tawiah and his team stored the strips away and re-tested them every few days to see if the signal detected by the mass spectrometer would fade over time. It didn't. The signal was just as strong after 30 days as on day one, meaning that the disease proteins were stable and detectable even after a month.

Since the antibody strips survive more than long enough to reach a lab by mail, they could open up a whole new world of medical care for people in rural communities--even in the United States, Badu-Tawiah said. Even for people living in the city, testing themselves at home would save money compared to going to the doctor.

In the US, he said, the tests would be ideal for people who have a family history of cancer or have successfully undergone cancer treatment. Instead of waiting to visit a doctor every six months to confirm that they are still in remission, they could test themselves from home more frequently.

In the case of malaria, the human and financial costs are high, especially in Africa.

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by parasites. The infection starts with flulike symptoms that can develop into kidney failure or other complications. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there were 214 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2015, and 438,000 people died--mostly children in Africa.

"In Africa, malaria is so common that whenever you get feverish, the first thing you think is, 'Oh, it's probably malaria,'" Badu-Tawiah said.

While the prototype test strips at Ohio State cost about 50 cents each to produce, those costs would likely go down with mass production, he said. The greatest cost of using the strips would fall to urban medical facilities, which would have to purchase mass spectrometers to read the results. Model portable instruments can cost $100,000 but less expensive handheld mass specs are under development.

Still, Badu-Tawiah pointed out, an initial investment in mass specs would be more than offset by the potential boon to Africa's economy. UNICEF estimates that malaria costs the continent $12 billion in lost worker productivity every year.

In the United States, where mass spectrometers are more common, the cost savings would come in the form of reduced insurance use and fewer out-of-pocket expenses from going to the doctor less often.

"Although this approach requires an initial investment, we believe the low-cost paper-based consumable devices will make it sustainable," Badu-Tawiah said. "We can set one small instrument at a grocery store, then sell the paper strips for just 50 cents per test. The same for Africa, and perhaps much cheaper there."

The university will license the technology to a medical diagnostics company for further development, and Badu-Tawiah hopes to be able to test the strips in a clinical setting within three years. In the meantime, he and his colleagues are working to make the tests more sensitive, so that people could eventually use them non-invasively, with saliva or urine as the test material instead of blood.
Previous studies have shown that neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's can be induced in healthy laboratory animals, causing concern that dementia diseases can be transmitted between individuals, possibly via blood transfusions. However, in a new study published in The Annals of Internal Medicine, a team from Karolinska Institutet shows that the diseases are not transmitted.

Studies published in recent years have shown that a number of neurological conditions can be induced in healthy laboratory animals through the injection of diseased brain tissue from human sufferers. To determine whether dementia diseases can be transmitted between people via blood transfusion, researchers at Karolinska Institutet conducted a study based on a unique Swedish-Danish transfusion database. Their results demonstrate that dementia diseases are not transmitted in this way.

"The results are unusually clear for such a complicated subject as this," says principal investigator Gustaf Edgren, docent at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. "We've been working with this question for a long time now and have found no indication that these diseases can be transmitted via transfusions."

The study was a collaboration with researchers at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen and was carried out using data on a total of 1.7 million blood donors and 2.1 million patients given blood transfusions in Sweden and Denmark. The researchers were able to identify over 40,000 patients who had been given blood from donors diagnosed with one of the studied dementia diseases within 20 years of having given blood.

The patients were then followed up for a maximum of 44 years through the linking of a number of registries, including the Swedish and Danish patient registries. A total of 1.4 million patients who had not received blood from donors with a subsequent diagnosis were used as controls. The two groups were compared through statistical analysis taking account of sex, age, place of residence, blood group, number of transfusions and time since first transfusion. It turned out that the patients in the two groups had exactly the same risk of contracting these dementia diseases.

"Blood transfusions are extremely safe in the Western world today, but even so we are working continuously and proactively on identifying any overlooked risks," says Dr Edgren. "The Swedish-Danish database that we have built up and used in many similar studies clearly demonstrates the value of our vast health registries. This kind of study would have simply been extremely difficult anywhere else in the world."
Water is necessary for life as we know it, but too much water is bad for habitability. Therefore, to study the habitability of extrasolar planets, determining the abundance of water is a key element. Yann Alibert, Science Officer of PlanetS at the University of Bern, shows that the observation of exoplanets at different ages can be used to set statistical constraints on their water content -- an important result for future space missions.

With space telescopes astronomers can measure the radius of exoplanets passing in front of their star in a so called transit. Knowing the mass as well, calculating the density is easy. But this doesn't mean that you exactly know what the objects are made of. Yann Alibert, leader of the ERC group PLANETOGENESIS at the University of Bern, explains: "Medium density can mean that there is water in the planet, but it could also be a combination of silicates and iron with high density and gas with low density."

Besides mass and size, the researchers need an additional piece of information to find out whether exoplanets are water-rich or water-poor. But what could that be? It was almost by chance that Yann Alibert came across a solution. Two years ago, when he was asked to give a talk at a conference he tried to figure out what would be the benefits of knowing the age of the stars hosting transiting exoplanets. According to the current theory planets are formed together with their stars and therefore the exoplanets are supposed to have approximately the same age as their host star.

"It's a bit like looking at a bunch of people," says Yann Alibert. "You see how tall and how heavy they are, and you try to think about what you would be able to find out if you knew their age -- maybe that in general young people have more muscles." How could the mass, the radius and the age of exoplanets give away some information about their internal structure? To answer this question Yann Alibert computed how planets of different compositions evolved over billions of years. "We showed that although two planets could have the same radius and mass at a given time, in general they do not have the same radius at another time," the researcher summarizes in his paper that is now published online in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Determine the planet's energy

The astrophysicist calculated that the time evolution of the planetary radius depends on the amount of water ice that the planet is made of. Changing the amount of ice in a planet also changes its mean heat capacity and its gravitational energy. This energy difference means that the rates of cooling and contracting of water-rich and water-poor planets diverge -- the reason for the change of the radius. The difference is small, but large enough to be statistically measured by comparing two samples of planets of similar mass but at different age.

"In short, you observe a sample of planets that are 5 billion years old," Yann Alibert explains: "Then you observe a similar sample of planets that are considerably younger, like 500 million years old, and you compare their radii. This gives you an estimation on how fast the planets contract, and finally this can be related to the amount of water in the planet. So you may prove that some planets are water-rich." What may sound easy, is rather tricky. "The idea is quite intuitive in fact, but the statistics in the paper is not simple," the researcher admits. In his model he studied low-mass planets from Super-Earths to Neptun-like objects consisting of four layers: a core, a silicate mantel, an icy mantle and a gas envelope, computing hundreds of thousands of planet internal structure models.

Despite further assumptions and approximations Yann Alibert is convinced that future space missions observing exoplanet transits should be able to measure the calculated effect: "Transit observations such as will be performed by CHEOPS, TESS, or PLATO will be able to set statistical constraints on planetary composition with this model, provided the stellar age is known with sufficient accuracy and enough planets can be observed with sufficient mass and radius accuracy." This should help to better understand planet formation and potential habitability.
Big data has a bright future in personalized medicine, as demonstrated by an international competition centered at Rice University that suggested ways forward for treatment of patients with leukemia.

In the DREAM 9 challenge, 31 teams of computational researchers applied competing methods to a unique set of patient data gathered from hundreds of patients with acute myeloid leukemia at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Rice bioengineer Amina Qutub is principal investigator of the open-source paper published in PLOS Computational Biology. Rice served as the competition hub, in line with the university's strategic initiative to foster bioscience collaborations with fellow Texas Medical Center institutions.

DREAM, which stands for Dialogue for Reverse Engineering Assessment and Methods, is a platform for crowd-sourced studies that focus on developing computational tools to solve biomedical problems. Essentially, it's a competition that serves as a large, long-standing, international scientific collaboration.

Acute myeloid leukemia presented a worthy challenge since there is no single genetic cause of the disease, which makes it hard to select treatments for patients suffering from the deadly cancer of the blood, Qutub said.

The DREAM 9 patient data set was collected by Steven Kornblau, a leukemia doctor and professor at MD Anderson. The data was distributed to DREAM 9 participants online through Sage Bionetworks' Synapse web portal and through Biowheel, a cloud-based technology launched by the Qutub Lab.

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Biowheel is an interactive tool to visualize and group high-dimensional data of all kinds. It was developed by Rice graduate student Chenyue Wendy Hu, undergraduate alumnus Alex Bisberg and Qutub. National Library of Medicine postdoctoral fellow David Noren and research scientist Byron Long, also of the Qutub Lab, are lead authors of the paper.

For DREAM 9, each team was presented with training data from 191 patients that included demographic information like age and gender and more complex proteomic and phosphoprotein data that describes signaling protein pathways believed to play a role in the disease.

The competition used a test data set from 100 patients that didn't include outcomes, such as whether patients responded to therapy, relapsed, survived or died.

The primary challenge was to see how well the teams' algorithms could predict how patients responded to chemotherapy. The eventual goal is to give clinicians a predictive tool to develop individualized treatment plans.

The top-performing models were by Team EvoMed (Li Liu) of Arizona State University and Team Chipmunks (Honglei Xie, Greg Chen, Xihui Lin, Geoffrey Hunter) of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto. They were best able to predict patient response to therapy with an accuracy of close to 80 percent, Qutub said.

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She noted that one interesting takeaway was that overall the 31 models found it harder to predict outcomes for patients classified as "resistant to therapy" than for responsive patients. The median model prediction accuracy for resistant patients was 42 percent vs 73 percent for responsive patients. The winning models were impacted by the perturbation of signaling proteins known as phosphoinositide-3-kinase (a cell-cycle regulator) and NPM1 (which contributes to ribosome assembly and chromatin regulation), singling them out as strong candidates for further study.

The Qutub Lab became involved in leading DREAM 9 after the design of Biowheel won a DREAM 8 subchallenge three years ago. Five Qutub Lab members contributed predictive algorithms to the earlier challenge, which focused on proteomic analysis of breast cancer from MD Anderson data.

In discussions with DREAM organizer Gustavo Stolovitzky of IBM, Qutub had suggested a challenge based on one of the leukemia data sets Kornblau and her lab were analyzing to help understand molecular signaling in cancer.

"We used DREAM as a way to get general insight into making more accurate predictive models of clinical outcomes," Qutub said. "Steve (Kornblau), who runs the core banking facility for leukemia patients at MD Anderson Cancer Center, had the foresight to start gathering and banking patient biopsy samples when he was a resident over 25 years ago. The bank is a fantastic resource and a tremendous gift to the public. Genomic and proteomic analysis on a portion of these patient biopsies served as the basis for DREAM."

Because judging the entries was so computationally demanding, the Qutub Lab enlisted Erik Engquist, a co-author of the paper and director of the Center for Research Computing, and Rice's Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology (K2I) to help direct data traffic. Engquist helped the lab ensure a level playing field as competitors' algorithms ran on several of the university's high-performance computing platforms. He also helped set up a server to share challenge data via Biowheel, Qutub said.

"We had more than 270 participants and several dozen models to vet. K2I was instrumental in helping us run the challenge," she said.

Before DREAM 9 began, Noren spent considerable time designing the challenge and processing the complex patient data set. During and following the challenge, Noren, Long and the IBM team spent months processing the mountain of output data so the models, which analyzed 40 clinical indicators and 231 gene-expression profiles for each patient, would get a fair comparison. (The Rice lab did not compete because, as administrator, it already knew the results.)

Noren's task was to compare how well each model performed for each patient and to see whether the top-performing models had unique input parameters or features, Qutub said. "This way, we can start to learn which features of patients uniquely predict their outcomes."

The results still only hinted at the complexity of determining an optimal leukemia treatment plan, she said. Qutub's lab is using what it learned from its DREAM experience as a basis for experimentation on leukemia cell lines and test whether targeting specific sets of proteins offer a therapeutic advantage.
An international joint research group succeeded in developing a novel thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) material which displays emission of light in colors from green to deep-red through Intersystem Crossing from the singlet to the triplet excitons, a world first. The results will contribute to R&D in white TADF light emitting devices for indoor and outdoor use through combination with TADF materials that emit light in shorter wavelengths (deep blue to yellow).

Over the last few decades, research on organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) has greatly advanced. Indeed, many types of OLEDs can already be encountered in prototypical and commercial applications such as smartphones, lighting, and flat panel displays. Currently, almost all the commercial OLEDs contain the rare metals such as platinum or iridium because of their efficiency and stability. Due to their high costs, the development of inexpensive and highly efficient emitters is desired.

In OLEDs, the recombination of electrons and holes in an active material leads to the formation of various excited states such as singlet and triplet excitons, with the statistical probability of 25% and 75%, respectively. With a conventional fluorescent emitter, the generated triplet excitons are dissipated through non-radiative (NR) processes. Therefore, these triplets should be efficiently converted into emissive singlets to develop efficient OLEDs, and without using a heavy metal atom-containing phosphorescent emitters, the phenomena of delayed fluorescence (DF), either via the process of triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) yielding a maximum 62.5% internal quantum efficiency, or much better via TADF attaining theoretically 100% harvesting of excitons can be used.

A research group led by Youhei Takeda, Associate Professor and Masato Okazaki, a graduate student at Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University together with Dr. Przemyslaw Data and Andrew P. Monkman, Professor at the Department of Physics, Durham University discloses the development of a new family of efficient TADF emitters composed of a new A unit core, dibenzo [a,j] phenazine (DBPHZ), and two Ds. Through a detailed optical property investigation of this material, this group also confirmed that TADF was achieved through ISC from the singlet excited state (1CT) to the triplet excited state (3LEA). Furthermore, these new emitters were found to yield green to deep-red/NIR OLED devices with high external quantum efficiencies up to 16%, greatly surpassing 5%, the limiting value obtained by conventional fluorescent materials.
The judge who imposed a pregnancy ban on a North Iowa woman after she was convicted of child endangerment lifted the ban Tuesday after being ordered to do so by the Iowa Court of Appeals.

Stephanie Fatland, 24, had been ordered by Judge James Drew not to become pregnant while on probation after she pleaded guilty and received a suspended five-year prison sentence in Floyd County District Court.

The Iowa Court of Appeals ruled in May that the pregnancy ban was unconstitutional.

Drew also had banned Fatland from having unsupervised contact with children during her probation. The appeals court asked that this provision be modified.

During a hearing on Tuesday in Mason City, Drew ruled that although Fatland is not to act as a caregiver for children under 5 unless approved by her probation officer, she is no longer banned from having unsupervised contact with children.

Fatland brought her 5-month-old son to the hospital on July 20, 2014, with symptoms of a shaken baby, according to court documents. She was a resident of Rockford at the time.

-- Mary Pieper
A new twist on the use of renewable energy is saving children's lives in Africa. The innovation--a solar powered oxygen delivery system--is providing concentrated oxygen in hospital for children suffering from severe pneumonia.

The device created by Dr. Michael Hawkes, an assistant professor in the University of Alberta's Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, is the focus of a recently published study in The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and is already in use in two hospitals in Uganda.

"Solar-powered oxygen is using freely available resources--the sun and air--to treat children with pneumonia in the most remote settings," says Hawkes. "It's very gratifying for a pediatrician doing research in a lower-resource setting to fill a clinical gap and save lives. It's what our work is all about."

Each year, 900,000 children die of pneumonia worldwide with most deaths taking place in Africa and Asia. Vaccinations and medications exist, but are being rolled out slowly in Africa where diagnostics are poor and chest x-rays are not readily available.

Children with severe pneumonia have infected lungs that need concentrated oxygen until antibiotics begin to work. The concentrated oxygen helps overcome a problem with oxygen exchange caused by the lung infection. In Canada, it is available at the bedside in every hospital room. In developing countries like Uganda, it's harder to come by reliably.

Hawkes worked in Ugandan hospitals in the communities of Kambuga and Jinja for over two years where he quickly recognized a need for a more reliable oxygen source. In low-resource settings, oxygen can be delivered using cylinders, which are often in short supply, or concentrators, which depend on electricity. In Kambuga there were multiple power outages each day, some lasting for up to 48 hours.

"In the hospital you often didn't have access to oxygen cylinders. So the power goes out and you're out of luck. We had children that died in front of our eyes," says Hawkes.

To establish a reliable oxygen source, he and his colleagues came up with the idea of using solar energy. During the day, solar panels supply power to an oxygen concentrator that strips oxygen out of the air. At night, charged batteries from the panels supply the power to the concentrator.

To fund the idea, they received a Grand Challenges Canada grant, a Government of Canada initiative that supports global health research. The funds were used to set up the systems at the Kambuga and Jinja hospitals. "We piloted it on a group of 28 children and it showed that you could use the solar panels and batteries to run the concentrator 24/7. We treated children with pneumonia and the system worked," he says.

Next they conducted a larger randomized controlled trial and showed that solar powered oxygen delivery works just as well as the conventional method of oxygen delivery using cylinders. The trial officially ended in 2015, but after seeing such strong results, the hospitals continue to use the solar powered systems.

Hawkes and his team are now working with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in hopes of soon expanding the system's use to 80 hospitals across Uganda.

"If we could expand it, could you imagine how many children would have access to lifesaving oxygen therapy?" Hawkes wonders. "The challenges are different in these areas of the world, and the innovations need to be different as well."
Bonnie was one of the thinnest gray seal pups ever found by the Guernsey SPCA (GSPCA), a rescue located on an island in the English Channel.

An animal collection officer had been called out to check on a seemingly stranded seal pup along the rocky terrain of a nearby beach in January. It was only upon getting close to her that the extent of Bonnie's condition became shockingly apparent.

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At about a week old, Bonnie was just 30 pounds - she should have been closer to 88. "Not only is the gray seal pup extremely thin," Guernsey SPCA wrote in a blog post at the time, "it has been battered on the rocks, likely separated for some time from its mother and very dehydrated." She was immediately taken in by the GSPCA's wildlife unit, where the prognosis for the weak, sickly pup was worrying.

Bonnie was given fluids, placed underneath a heat lamp and given around-the-clock care. She had to be tube-fed every two hours. By some miracle, she managed to survive her first 36 hours in human care. But she was still far from fit to return to the wild. She was introduced to a rehabilitation pool, where she slowly but surely built up her strength both swimming and playing.

After months of tending to Bonnie, getting her back to a healthy weight and good shape, it was time to return her to the ocean.

On the morning of her release on June 24 - jokingly referred to as the #BonnieBrexit - she was pampered with her favorite breakfast: fish.

She was then all packed up and then taken to nearby Jethou Island.

Bonnie, who was once on the verge of death, showed just how far she had come by speeding out of her carrier once it was opened and hopping right into the water.

"We really didn't think Bonnie would survive and today was very special," Geoff George, an officer with the GSPCA, said in a statement on the day of Bonnie's release. "Bonnie was so thin when we rescued her and to see her swim back where she belongs was fantastic."
Browser, a cat whose only "crime" is being the mascot of his local public library, has found himself caught in the middle of a legal battle. After all, he's received a very sudden eviction notice from the city council of White Settlement, Texas.

Browser has lived at the library for six years. He arrived to help with the library's rodent problem, but quickly settled in and became more than just a hard worker - he is also a beloved family member of the White Settlement Public Library and community at large. But recently, a city employee got upset when they weren't allowed to bring their puppy to work - and then decided to take out that frustration on Browser, by pointing out the fact that Bowser was allowed to live at the library without repercussion, to the city council. And so, on June 14, it was voted that Bowser had 30 days to be removed from his home.

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Ironically, it was the city council that first voted to provide the library with a cat to assist with the rodent issue. Councilmen Paul Moore and Elzie Clements - who voted to remove Browser from his home in the 2-1 vote - cited allergy complaints as the reason behind their vote, local news outlet CBS 11 reported. Mayor Ronald White, a Browser supporter, believes otherwise. "That cat doesn't have anything to do with whether somebody can have their puppy at City Hall," he told the Star Telegram. "The council just went out and did this on their own because they don't like cats."

At the June 14 meeting, the Grizzly Detail, a local newspaper, reported that the council chambers were filled with people there to "voice their support" for Browser. More than 600 people also signed a petition in favor of keeping the cat, which noted that he was useful not only for rodent control, but also for making children want to come to the library. Yet in the end, Browser still lost the highly politicized fight.

"I don't have any animals," Lillian Blackburn, president of the Friends of the White Settlement Public Library, told the Star Telegram. "But this cat is so gentle and so lovable and he brings so much comfort to so many people, it seems like a shame to take him away." Browser's only hope of remaining at the library now lies in another council meeting on July 12, where the mayor hopes the council will reconsider its decision - just two days before Browser potentially loses his home forever.

And should Browser be evicted for good, well - hell hath no fury like cat lovers rushing to the polls on election day in November.
The fire started in the garage, possibly from a tool that was left plugged in. From there, it spread with terrible efficiency, engulfing the upper garage, then sweeping through the second floor of the house.

Robert Bova

Cleaning his room and listening to music, 27-year-old Randy Bova didn't have a clue the house was burning down around him. "I think we would have lost my brother due to the speed the fire spread," Robert Bova, Randy's brother, says, his voice cracking with emotion, as he recounts the story to The Dodo. Robert and Randy' mother, Lucy, wasn't home at the time of the fire, but Randy wasn't alone in the house that recent Saturday afternoon. He was stirred by a sudden, frantic barking at his door. It was the family dog, Bailey.

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Robert Bova

When Randy swung open the door, amid the thick tendrils of smoke, Bailey stood barking in shrill warning. Randy managed to scoop up the terrified dog and barrel downstairs through a wall of deadly smoke. Finally, he and Bailey stood in the backyard, watching the family home fade into the inferno. "When he went out our back door, he looked at the side of the house, and the entire thing was engulfed in flames," Robert says. The Guilford, Connecticut, family lost everything in that fire. Except, of course, the most important thing: their family. And they have the smallest member of it to thank for keeping it that way.

Robert Bova

It makes perfect sense for a dog who, since the day she arrived four years ago, has always been about family. "She means the world to us," Robert says. "She brought me, my brother and my mother closer together as a family. Once we got this dog, she was the centerpiece of our family's relationship."

Robert Bova

Last week, that centerpiece held a family together. The rest of their world, on the other hand, will take some rebuilding. Robert grew up in that house. Now, it's just smouldering memories. The family is now living in a hotel. "We all haven't really began to fully cope with it," he says. "It's kind of coming in waves. The first time I got to the hotel and I shut the door. I was in there by myself. I started crying." Even Bailey feels the weight of that loss.

Robert Bova
Fireworks are not a dog's best friend. In fact, every year, as the sky lights up and the air itself trembles to mark America's independence, countless pets find themselves cowering in a corner - or bathtub.

And cowering may the be least of the troubles that firework season brings. Terror can do strange things to a dog. Like give him the ability to leap over fences he may not have been able to hurdle in the past. The man-made thunder may also drive him to dig deeper than he's ever dug before. It's mostly about that noise - something animals are much more sensitive to than humans. "We must keep in mind that the sense of hearing in dogs is far superior to ours - so they hear and feel these sounds with much greater intensity," Terri Bright of MSPCA-Angell's behavior services department tells The Dodo. The end result is a dog at large, likely thinking he's running for his life - and hell on paws for anyone trying to catch him.

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But there are lots of ways to ease their minds and make this season a little safer for humans and pets alike. Don't let the dogs out This is one adventure you don't need to bring your dog along for. The best place for dogs during fireworks is indoors. "Keep dogs in a small interior room of the house with a noise machine and shades drawn so as to block out both explosive sounds and the bright lights of fireworks," Bright says. Remember, falling ash from fireworks can burn a dog's coat. Try conditioning your dog to noise before the big show While it may sound like a radical solution, sometimes it's best to inoculate your dog against loud, jarring noises in advance of fireworks season. Dione Black, a veterinarian at All Creatures Animal Hospital, suggests bracing your pyro-phobic pet for July 4. On the hospital's website, she says that "recordings of loud and scary noises such as firework explosions, trains, [and] thunder ... can be used to aid in the desensitization of your pet. Start with the volume down low and gradually increase it to a loud level."

There may be a pill for that Dogs who panic during fireworks might benefit from a sedative. There are a few on the market from a mild sleep aid like melatonin to various benzodiazepines to a drug called Sileo, the first FDA-approved treatment specifically for noise aversion. But be sure to check in with a veterinarian before giving your dog anything - different dogs may need different medications, if any at all. Fireworks are lethal to dogs in so many ways Nevermind what's happening in the sky. To a dog, an unlit firecracker can bear a tempting resemblance to a bright and shiny stick - which may account for the high number of dogs who see a vet during the holiday season.

"July 4 is a very busy time for emergency and critical care veterinarians," Jennifer Holm, a veterinarian at BluePearl Veterinary Hospitals, says in a release. "Pets get injured, they eat all sorts of things they wouldn't normally be eating, and many get very stressed out by fireworks."

There's no better time to unlock the treat jar Needless to say, dogs could use a distraction when things get loud. Consider loading up on a favorite food when fireworks reach a fevered pitch. "Offer an engaging and tasty treat such as a peanut butter-filled Kong to keep dogs occupied and comforted," Bright notes.

If everything goes terribly wrong, make sure you can find your dog In the event your dog does get outside during fireworks, you might be surprised by his ability to book it under fire. Which makes it all the more essential that the road to a happy ending often begins with a microchip. With a little planning and patience, the boom season doesn't have to be all about the doom and gloom for your dog. If all else fails, embrace the "thundershirt" Back in December, The Dodo reported on a simple measure that could go a long way toward keeping your pet from going into a full-fledged panic attack.
NEW YORKWith sales that have turned soggy, cereal makers are trying to salvage the breakfast bowls bruised reputation.

General Mills reported Wednesday that cereal sales were down 1 per cent for the year. But the company has a game plan. It launched its first new cereal brand in over a decade earlier this month.

General Mills isnt alone. Cereal makers are trying to stay ahead of shopper preferences as crunchy flakes and puffs increasingly move from bowls to snack bars and other untraditional forms. Theyre getting a boost from restaurants that have started experimenting with new uses for both cereal and sweetened milk with fine dining interpretations. And now comes a new tactic: trying to make cereal chic, which Kelloggs is aiming for with an upscale cereal cafe that opens next week in Times Square.

The goal: expand the appeal of cereal beyond breakfast.

These innovations come at a crucial time. Cereal sales have been slowing for the past four years, falling 2.4 per cent since 2012, according to Nielsen. As customers lives have gotten busier and more reliant on grab-and-go food, cereal has been squeezed out of morning routines.

Then came an eye-popping report earlier this year from research firm Mintel that seemed to spell doom for Capn Crunch and friends: Nearly 40 per cent of millennials said they thought cereal was inconvenient because it requires too much cleanup.

Its really a lifestyle shift that happened about 15 years ago when the mornings became just that much more hectic, said Jim Murphy, president of General Mills cereal division. You kind of slowly lose a bowl a week over a long period of time.

Traditional cereals are competing against rising preferences for heartier foods such as oats, yogurt and eggs. But there are also signs the dip in sales is levelling off. In the most recent 52-week period, sales were down just 0.7 per cent, compared to decreases between 1 per cent and 4.3 per cent in the previous three years, according to Nielsen.

Manufacturers have done a nice job of appealing to the changing role that cereal plays in our lives, said Jordan Rost, vice-president of consumer insights at Nielsen. Cereal can take a number of different forms now.

Cereal is still in 90 per cent of households, but companies know their boxes need a drastic overhaul to remain there. General Mills has been making gradual changes, including phasing out artificial colours and flavours and launching varieties of gluten-free Cheerios.

The companys newest cereal, Tiny Toast, is meant to appeal to the late teen/early young adult set thats grown out of kid cereals but hasnt quite gotten on the Fiber One bandwagon. It is made with real fruit  a big selling point for millennials  and comes in thick, bite-size pieces that are easy for snacking. That checks off another millennial sticking point: more millennials, 82 per cent, than adults overall, 75 per cent, believe cereal is a great snack, according to Mintel.

Kelloggs will capitalize on this too. At its cafe, the company is banking on lip-smacking menu items such as Froot Loops paired with mini marshmallows and passion fruit jam to help cereal play an even bigger role later in the day. The cafe will sling bowls of Rice Krispies and Corn Pops well past breakfast time, staying open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Thirty per cent of cereal is consumed outside of breakfast so we do certainly see that as an opportunity, said Noel Geoffroy, senior vice-president of marketing and innovation for U.S. morning foods at Kelloggs.

Kelloggs has tried this before. In 2014, the company opened a weeklong pop-up bar in New York to tout its cereals as good sources of grains and proteins. The new cafe is a permanent installation of that experiment, with a bigger emphasis on seasonal recipes and unexpected flavours  Special K will be served with Frosted Flakes, pistachios, lemon zest and thyme; Rice Krispies get a kick from green tea powder and fresh strawberries. Customers can choose between whole milk, skim milk, soy milk, plain yogurt and soft serve ice cream as a pairing.

More chefs are realizing that great dishes are typically those that tap into peoples food memories, said Christina Tosi, the founder of the Momofuku Milk Bar dessert shops, who created the recipes for the Kelloggs cafe. Tosi has a deeply personal connection to the brand, which plays a starring role in Milk Bar desserts, particularly in her signature cereal-milk soft serve made with milk thats been steeped in Corn Flakes.

Building restaurant-like experiences around cereal has proven to be a popular concept. Beyond Milk Bar, Londons Cereal Killer Cafe boasts both American and international cereal varieties. Trendy New York-based retailer KITH opened a cereal bar inside its Brooklyn store last summer, where customers can channel their inner child by choosing between 25 different kinds of cereal and pairing bowls with sweet toppings such as crushed Oreos or ordering an ice cream mixed with cereal.

Cereal invokes a certain nostalgia about childhood and sleepy mornings spent slurping up the milk after devouring a bowl of Cocoa Puffs. That feeling is part of why concepts that reimagine cereal for modern tastes have legs, Murphy says.

Cereal is so part of our pop culture in the developed world, he says. It really is an emotional category.

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What does America taste like? It tastes like freedom. Freedom from taste, that is.

For the duration of the summer, Budweiser has changed its name on bottles and cans sold in the United States to America, tapping into patriotic sentiments in a high-stakes election year.

America is in your hands makes a great slogan for encouraging Americans to vote, but more likely its just going to get them to buy more Bud.

This temporary rebranding has led to a predictable stream of media mockery  Nothing says America like an ice-cold can of mass-produced beer, scoffed USA Today  pointing out that this somewhat cynical patriot play is a product of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the worlds largest brewer, based in Belgium.

You decide

But when it comes to cheap pandering with ice-cold cans of mass-produced beer, Canada is way ahead. Molson has been calling its flagship lager Canadian since 1959, and not just in the summertime. And its marketing has long been just as proudly jingoistic as those America bottles decorated with lyrics from the Star Spangled Banner. Remember the I Am Canadian campaign? The current slogan, Made from Canada, is comparatively subtle.

Now, with the two brands aligned in time for both Canada Day and Independence Day, I picked up a six-pack of America in Buffalo, a six-pack of Canadian here in Toronto, and brought them in to the Star studio for the ultimate cross-border beer battle.

Members of our taste panel were served both brews in unmarked plastic cups, and had to pick a preference. They were highly divided, proving that taste in mass-market lager is a matter of personal preference, not geography.

I didnt blindfold myself before tasting the two beers, but I expected to prefer Bud  probably due to the memory of too many past events at which I resentfully drank Canadian by default, because there were no other options.

As a minor beer snob, I gravitate to flavourful craft brews, but will hate-drink the big names as a last resort. I dont expect your pity.

Still, to my surprise, I chose Canadian over America. The latter is the ultimate cliche of an American beer: all fizz, no flavour, but a cold one will do its job on a hot day. Canadian has just enough flavour  not good flavour necessarily, but flavour nonetheless  to keep it interesting. I like the Molson better, but Bud is easier to guzzle.

In any case, it doesnt matter what beer I, or anyone else in our taste panel, choose. The battle has already been won. Canadian isnt the most popular beer in Canada, nor is any other beer brewed by Molson, nor Labatt for that matter. What is Canadas No. 1 selling beer? That would be Budweiser, otherwise known as America.

WOULD I DRINK IT AGAIN? Of course. These beers are not the best beers, but theyre better than no beer at all.

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OTTAWAU.S. President Barack Obama will speak to a joint session of Parliament in the House of Commons Wednesday afternoon, joining the likes of John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill and Indira Gandhi as foreign leaders who have addressed Canadian lawmakers.

Other facts:

9  U.S. presidents have been the most frequent leader to speak to Parliament, with nine addresses over the years once Obama gives his speech. (Thats counting Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose 1944 speech occurred outside the Commons chambers.) British prime ministers have spoken eight times and Mexican presidents seven.

3  The Queen has addressed Parliament three times. Two of those were to deliver the speech from the throne. King George VI spoke in 1939 during a stop in Ottawa on his cross-Canada royal tour.

1995  Bill Clinton was the last U.S. President to speak to Parliament.

2  Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and U.S. presidents Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower all gave encore performances, each addressing Parliament twice during their time in office.

1941  As war raged at home, Winston Churchill gave his famous rebuttal to the gloomy French predictions that Britain would have its neck wrung like a chicken by Germany forces in mere weeks. Some chicken, some neck, Churchill said to cheers in the Commons chamber.

22  Leaders from 22 nations in all have spoken to Parliament since 1939.

Visit http://CanuckPolitics.com for more.

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Canada ranks second in the world when it comes to meeting the social and environmental needs of citizens, according to the 2016 Social Progress Index, released Tuesday.

Its an improvement from last years sixth place showing, though Canada lags behind when it comes to access to information and environmental quality.

Combining data from the likes of the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Gallup World Poll, the index ranks 133 countries on metrics such as obesity rates, traffic deaths, tolerance for immigrants, freedom of religion, and access to piped water.

Finland narrowly beat out Canada this year to take top spot, with Denmark, Australia and Switzerland rounding out the top five.

Michael Green, the executive director of the Social Progress Imperative, which compiles the index, says the top performers show there are many models that lead to social well-being.

I think thats quite important in showing its not just one model to get social progress, its not just the Scandinavian or Nordic model. Other countries, Canada being a great example, have other models, he said.

Canada got top marks for access to advanced education, ranking as the No. 1 overall in that category, which weighs factors such as the proportion of people going into advanced education, the quality of the education, and gender equity.

Its a very impressive achievement for Canada around that area, Green said.

Canada also scored well for tolerance and inclusion, ranking fifth overall. The achievement is compounded by the countrys diversity and sets an example the rest of the world can learn from, Green said.

Some countries can get a high score because they are fairly homogenous. Canada is big and diverse and is still the fifth highest, he said. Canada has somehow found a good mix, a good solution to this hard problem that other countries could learn from.

Where Canada did not fare as well was with environmental factors, including biodiversity protection, waste water treatment, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Canada also lagged far behind when it comes to mobile telephone subscriptions, with only 81 subscriptions per 100 people. That puts the country at 102 out of 133, placing it between Zimbabwe and Nepal.

Its very strikingly low, Green said. Thats an area of social progress thats really easy to fix. Countries with much lower levels of GDP have fixed it, and Canada is sort of falling back on that one.

Perhaps a slightly weird thing about Canada is that Canada is showing weakness in an area the world knows how to solve, on the other hand Canada is also doing pretty well on tolerance and inclusion, which is a much harder problem, he said.

The U.S. ranked 19th overall on the index, a significant underperformance compared to its G7 allies and relative to its $50,932 per capita GDP, Green said.

Though the U.S. still logs high social progress, placing between France and Slovenia, its ranking plummets when it comes to health and wellness.

The country also lags in personal safety, basic education and environmental quality relative to its economic might.

It tells a pretty stark story about the U.S.s failure to turn its wealth into social progress for its citizens, Green said.

The Social Progress Imperative, a U.S.-based not-for-profit organization, published the first official index in 2014, designed to be a complement to gross domestic product or GDP.

Theres always been a hunch that GDP doesnt tell the whole story, Green said. GDP thinks that prisons and bombs are progress. GDP says nothing about the environment. GDP says nothing about fairness or community.

The social progress index examines the relationship between a countrys economic health and the well-being of its citizens.

GDP is not destiny in determining social progress, and that means there are lots of policies and choices separate from economic policy that will really matter in determining the quality of life of your citizens.

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Some days its as though Stephen Harper never lost the election. Okay, not most days, but some. That was a hawkish speech Justin Trudeau delivered on Ukraine to a Ukrainian-Canadian audience last week in Toronto. A robust statement of continuity in Canadian policy.

Allow me to take this opportunity to reiterate that Canada will continue to defend Ukraines sovereignty, the (current!) prime minister said, in response to Russias illegal annexation of Crimea as well as its support to insurgents in Eastern Ukraine. The standing ovation, from members of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and a visiting delegation of Ukrainian politicians and business leaders, had begun before he could even finish reading the sentence.

Next week, a senior government source told the Star, the Trudeau government will put Canadian lives and treasure where its mouth is: as NATO heads of government gather in Warsaw, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan will announce Canada is sending several hundred soldiers to lead a multinational force in Latvia. The Canadian-led force will join a U.S.-led battle group in Poland, one led by the United Kingdom in Estonia, and a German-led deployment to Lithuania.

The senior Canadian source said the deployment of Canadian Forces troops to Latvia will be essentially permanent, unless and until Russia changes its posture in the region.

Harper used to talk tough on Ukraine, even telling Vladimir Putin to his face that he needs to reverse his annexation of Crimea. Some observers viewed it as knuckle-dragging or base partisan calculus. Good old political pandering to the sizable diaspora of Ukrainian-Canadian voters, the military analyst Scott Taylor wrote last year in the Winnipeg Free Press.

Another example of turning foreign policy into a shameless vote collection machine, Andrew Nikiforuk wrote in The Tyee.

Theres another way to view both Putins aggression and the reaction of  say it  successive Canadian governments: that an attack on Ukraine is morally wrong and profoundly destabilizing; that Canada has clear NATO obligations; and that voters who say so neednt be implicitly dismissed as an ethnic bloc.

I emailed International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland on the assumption shed take that view. I guessed right.

Her mother was born in a displaced-persons camp in Germany, to Ukrainian parents, after the war. Freeland worked in Moscow as a journalist, speaks Ukrainian at home with her children, and she was on the flight from Ottawa to Toronto with Trudeau as he put the finishing touches on his speech.

Its important for the country to understand that hes a strong supporter of Ukraine, Freeland told me in a telephone interview about her boss. Trudeau will travel to Ukraine after the NATO summit in Warsaw. Given all the demands on his time, Freeland said, its coming very early in his mandate. And hes spending a meaningful amount of time there  two days.

Freeland was leery of my attempts to compare Trudeaus deployment of Canadian troops to Harpers earlier decision to send Canadian Armed Forces trainers to Ukraine. She reminded me the history goes back a fair bit longer than that.

Pierre Trudeau delivered his first speech on his multiculturalism policy outside the House of Commons, in 1971, to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in Winnipeg. Brian Mulroney made sure Canada was, with Poland, the first country to recognize Ukraines independence from the collapsing Soviet Union in 1991. The recognition came after U.S. president George Bush urged Ukrainians not to be hasty. William Safire, the great New York Times columnist, called it Bushs Chicken Kiev speech. Mulroney ignored Bushs counsel.

Ukraine is a strategic country today for the West, Freeland said. Ukraine is standing up for values that are central to Canada. Well, pretty shakily, I said: Corruption is rampant in Kyiv. Yes, she said, but Canada is helping there, too: Nataliya Shuster, a veteran Montreal police officer, is part of an European Union advisory mission helping clean up policing and courts in Ukraine.

I asked around Ottawa: Is Freeland uniquely hawkish in this government? She doesnt really sound like Stephane Dion, the foreign minister, on Russia and Ukraine. I think that might be a fair characterization, my senior government source said. With Dion, its a bit of a head-shaker to him why this is as big an issue as it is.

This is not, my source hastened to add, a fight. There are legitimate differences of opinion on how you operationalize a policy that Freeland and Dion both agree with.

Carrots and sticks. Sajjan will send the sticks. Freeland has the carrots portfolio: while she said Trudeau hasnt decided whether shell accompany him to Ukraine, she has been driving her department hard to complete a free-trade deal with Ukraine, and his visit to the country would seem like the natural moment to announce its complete.

Free trade with Ukraine was a priority of Freelands predecessor, the Conservative Ed Fast. Some things dont change.

Paul Wells is a national affairs writer. His column appears Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

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MASON CITY  The Iowa Department of Revenue is looking into the circumstances revealed earlier this week that showed a shortfall of nearly $284,000 that should have been collected by the Cerro Gordo County treasurers office.

County Treasurer Pat Wright requested a state audit when she discovered what she considered irregularities in the processing of vehicle taxes in her office.

The state audit determined policies and procedures for recording vehicle registrations and title transactions did not follow state guidelines.

Based on the DOTs calculation, a dealership and a company performing upfitting avoided paying approximately $283,867.50 in first-time registration fees and use tax, the report said.

As a result of an internal investigation, Deputy Treasurer Natasha Lewerke was placed on paid administrative leave on July 22, 2015, and was terminated on Jan. 4, 2016. She supervised five office staff, processed motor vehicle transactions and oversaw the staff work in processing the transactions.

The Department of Transportation has turned over its findings to the Department of Revenue for further review.

Paul Steier, head of the DOTs Bureau of Investigation, said earlier this week he didnt think any criminal charges were warranted based on the DOTs investigation.

He declined to name the dealer or the upfitter, saying they were part of an ongoing investigation.
As much as he knew anything, Nelson Mandela knew the power, for good and ill, of human relationships.

I am what I am, both as a result of people who respected me and helped me, and of those who did not respect me and treated me badly, the late South African president once told a reunion of fellow graduates from the University of Witwatersrand.

Wrapped up in that sentence, and the place it was uttered, was Mandelas credo  the importance of respect, education, and people helping people.

And if Ndaba Mandela learned anything from his grandfather, it was that.

On Thursday, Ndaba will deliver the keynote address in a gala at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre at Exhibition Place in Toronto to celebrate Nelson Mandela Day. Hell speak about his relationship with his grandfather and the critical issues of education and connectivity in building employment and helping the economic rise of Africa through its post-Apartheid generations.

Ill basically be talking about my life growing up in South Africa with my grandfather and Nelson Mandela Day, he told the Star. The days all about doing community service, so we want people to really get involved.

Mandela, the 33-year-old father of two from Johannesburg who in 2010 helped found the Africa Rising Foundation to promote entrepreneurship, will also present Friends of Africa Humanity Awards to Canadians helping bring change to the continent.

Ndaba Mandelas father, Makgatho, was one of four children the late statesman had with his first wife, Evelyn Mase. That marriage ended, in part, because Evelyn insisted her husband choose between her and his consuming activism with the African National Congress.

Mandela  later sentenced to life in prison by the former apartheid regime after being convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government  had been in jail almost 20 years by the time Ndaba was born in 1983.

Ndabas family was not well off and moved around the country, from the vast beauty of the impoverished Transkei to the cramped red-brick boxes of Soweto.

As he was grew up, the grandfather who would become the greatest moral and political leader of his time was seldom spoken of.

We were just trying to get by. My grandfather was not in our lives. He was in jail. I heard people talk about him. But my parents never talked about him. My father, he never had his dad (at home when he was young). It was very tough for him growing up, Ndaba said.

Even after Mandela emerged from prison in 1990  an iconic fist in the air  he was instantly immersed in politics, rising to the presidency and working to avoid the civil war that Archbishop Desmond Tutu later said would have torn the country apart but for Mandela.

Ndaba started spending time with his grandfather in 1993, when he was 10. And the attention Nelson Mandela regretted not having paid his own children was showered on the next generation.

He was really all about education, Ndaba said. He expected nothing less than for me to excel in class, so he would tell me that Im a leader, and people would recognize me as his grandson and therefore theyd have huge expectations.

Hed also tell me that I should always be humble. He treated people, no matter where they came from, no matter what they looked like, with a lot of respect. Those are really the fundamentals.

Ndaba said a favourite memory was when his grandfather saw him graduate from the University of Pretoria.

That was very special to me, going home, doing the whole lunch thing with the family, he said. That was amazing.

For him, education was the key to inspiring yourself, the community and those around you. He would never stress one kind of life, or his expectations, or how we should continue his legacy. His main thing was get an education, and you will decide.

For Ndaba, that decision has meant promoting education and youth empowerment as the key to helping Africans write their own story and their own future.

Still, its no easy thing to bear a name so famous. The good news, Ndaba said, laughing, is that no one  least of all his grandfather  expected sainthood from mere mortals. Whether youre Mandela, or John Smith, or Eva Longoria or whatever the case may be, I think we all have pros and cons.

This is Ndabas first visit to Canada, a country for which his grandfather seemed to have a special affinity.

He did enjoy it. He loved people. He had a lot of compassion, especially for kids.

As the grandson knows, that is where the futures found.

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OTTAWAThe leaders of North America have called on the international community to ensure full respect for LGBTI people, as Canada and the United States pledge to step up equal rights advocacy at home and abroad.

In a joint statement at the North American Leaders Summit in Ottawa, Canada, the U.S. and Mexico promised solidarity with LGBTI communities as 2016 Pride celebrations begin across the continent.

Appalled and saddened by the recent events in Orlando, Canada, Mexico, and the United States call on all members of the international community to ensure full respect for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and intersex persons, the statement, issued as the leaders began their meeting, read.

The push comes after the deadliest mass shooting in American history, when a gunman murdered 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando earlier this month.

It also comes as Mexican President Enrique Peno Nieto moves forward with legislation to legalize same-sex marriage across his country.

Speaking on the International Day Against Homophobia in May, Pena Nieto said he wants to amend the constitution to allow-same sex marriage nation-wide. Some jurisdictions in Mexico, including Mexico City, already have equal marriage rights.

The initiative has been opposed by Mexicos Catholic church. Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico City spokesman Rev. Hugo Valdemar told the Associated Press in May that legislators should listen to their conscience.

Marriage has some very concrete aims, which, of course, two people of the same sex do not fulfill, Valdemar told the wire service.

The Mexican president has faced criticism on his four-day visit to Canada on his countrys human rights record. Amnesty International has urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to raise human rights issues, particularly violence against women, in bilateral talks with Pena Nieto.

A senior Canadian source said recognizing LGBTI rights was a significant conversation with the Mexican delegation, one that took place both formally as well as on the margins of a state dinner thrown for Pena Nieto at Rideau Hall Tuesday night.

While Mexico signed on to push the international community to support LGBTI rights, only Canada and the U.S. further pledged to flex their diplomatic muscle abroad to support the decriminalization of same-sex relationships. The Mexican delegation was not immediately available to comment.

Trudeau will become the first Canadian prime minister to march in Torontos Pride parade on July 3. Early in their mandate, the Liberals made a few gestures towards Canadas LGBTQ community, including raising the Pride flag on Parliament Hill and introduced legislation to extend human rights protections for transgender Canadians.

President Barack Obama has also earned praise from rights advocates. Over the course of his presidency, Obama oversaw the repeal of Dont Ask, Dont Tell policy on gays and lesbians in the military, appointed a number of LBGTQ judges, and extended hate crime laws, according to advocacy group Human Rights Campaign.

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REGINAThe Saskatchewan government is seeking an injunction to take back responsibility for children under the care of the Saskatoon Tribal Council, but some say the move infringes on aboriginal sovereignty.

Government lawyer Michael Morris argued the province has to step in because the tribal council isnt sharing even basic information, such as how many children are in care or their names.

Right now that informations not being provided, Morris told Court of Queens Bench Justice Lian Schwann on Tuesday.

Who are the caregivers to those children? What services are being provided to them? What are their needs? What, if any, case planning is there in relation to them? For every child that has been put into care . . . Saskatchewan requires that information.

Morris said the Ministry of Social Services not only has the authority, but also the duty to protect children on and off reserve.

He said Saskatchewan needs access to documents to ensure that children on the STC First Nations . . . are safe and receiving all proper support and services.

First Nations agencies are required to monitor and track children in care on reserve and report back to the Ministry of Social Services. The province has delegation agreements with them.

But Saskatchewan Social Services Minister Donna Harpauer said earlier this month that years of trying to negotiate a new deal between the province and the Saskatoon Tribal Council have reached an impasse. She also said that federal funding expired in March, which meant the province could terminate its part of the agreement.

Lawyer Josephine de Whytell, who argued on behalf of the tribal council, said funding from Ottawa expires each year with the federal budget and is renewed.

She said the council is following a bilateral accord on caring for children that was signed with the province in 1996. Its not a matter of the province delegating power to the tribal council, she added.

Those First Nations have not given up their authority to act as independent nations responsible for the protection and well-being of their children, she said.

De Whytell said the tribal council is willing to provide the information for auditing and case transfer purposes, but not because it reports to the ministry as a subordinate agency.

She called the provinces claims frivolous and vexatious.

The order thats being sought is not necessary to protect the best interests of the children because those children are already being protected by their own First Nations who are accountable to their own membership.

Outside the courthouse, children held signs that said No More 60s Scoop and Honour the Bilateral Accord #OurKidsOurJurisdiction.

Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Felix Thomas told reporters that the council will not abdicate control or be forced to sign a new agreement.

If youre a sovereign nation, you cannot be told, You need to give us that report. If youre a sovereign nation, youre told with respect, Please share a report so that we can do whats best for the child,  said Thomas.

Thats all weve been asking for with the province is show us the respect and live up to the agreement that you signed.

Justice Schwann has reserved her decision.

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Nabil Yatim believes that if police officers in Ontario received more training on how to use words instead of weapons, his son Sammy would be alive today.

Im almost positive he would be, Yatim told reporters at Queens Park Wednesday, after the release of a much-anticipated investigation by Ontarios ombudsman into how the provincial government trains and directs police on use of force.

Sammy Yatims high-profile death in July 2013 at the hands of Toronto police Const. James Forcillo prompted ombudsman Paul Dubes investigation. Since Yatims death, 19 more people have been shot dead by police in Ontario. In many cases, they were people in crisis, Dube writes in his report.

In a biting indictment of police training, Dubes report concludes that people in crisis are dying at the hands of police not because officers arent following their training. Its because they are.

His 90-page report makes 22 recommendations, ranging from ramping up training to calling on the province to create a regulation requiring police to use de-escalation techniques in all possible conflict situations  before resorting to force. The report calls for that regulation to be in place by this time next year.

The issue of how police are trained to handle situations of conflict with people in crisis is not a matter of academic debate. It is literally a matter of life and death, and one that has been neglected in this province for too long, Dube said at a news conference.

Dube, who officially took over from Andre Marin in April, said the need to improve police training is urgent.

Among the probes most troubling findings was that constables get far less basic training in Ontario than anywhere else in Canada  just 12 weeks at the Ontario Police College, compared with 24 weeks for new RCMP recruits.

(Some police services do provide additional training after the mandatory provincial training. Toronto police recently upped their additional training to 11 weeks, adding more de-escalation training.)

More importantly, the kind of training officers receive at the college needs to change, Dube found.

The majority of their training focuses on exerting authority and establishing control over armed or hostile subjects, principally by drawing their weapons and yelling commands, he writes in the report.

Among Dubes 22 recommendations for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services:

<bullet>Revise edged-weapons training for recruits to stress de-escalation techniques as the first option wherever possible when facing a person with something like a knife.

<bullet>Expand the Ontario Police College curriculum to offer more training on mental illness.

Institute a new use-of-force model that is easy to understand and clearly identifies de-escalation options.

Formally and publicly respond to all recommendations that come out of coroners inquests into police-involved deaths, and keep a complete record of actions taken in response.

In addition to Yatims death, the report references other cases of fatal police shootings of people crisis in Ontario  the human toll  including the deaths of Evan Jones (Brantford police in 2010), Michael Eligon (Toronto police in 2012) and Steve Mesic (Hamilton police in 2013).

Speaking to reporters after the report was issued, David Orazietti, the new minister responsible, said he accepted all of the recommendations. I recognize that things need to change, he said.

They align with the goals of Ontarios ongoing review of the Police Services Act, the legislation that governs police in the province, Orazietti said, including the urgent need to modernize policing to meet changing demands.

Asked if a new rule requiring police to use de-escalation techniques will be written into the Police Services Act, Orazietti said he was absolutely committed to that.

But when asked, twice, what sort of teeth would be built into the regulations  how officers could be disciplined if they did not use such techniques  Dube did not elaborate.

Were not talking about enforcing; were talking about arming officers with the skills they need, he said.

Camille Quenneville, chief executive officer of the Canadian Mental Health Associations Ontario Division, said the buy-in from the province is promising.

The other piece of this story, of course, is whether there is a will to do something, and I believe there is, she said in an interview Wednesday.

Jennifer French, the NDPs Community Safety critic, said Oraziettis vow to accept the recommendations is different than acting on them.

This is a government that has chosen not to act before; were hoping that this is going to be a different case, she said.

Julian Falconer, the lawyer representing members of Yatims family in a civil suit, also pointed to decades of inaction on the issue of police use of force.

Dubes report is an addition to an already large body of work that recognizes that police use-of-force training in Ontario is an anachronistic exercise. This constant re-statement of the obvious is becoming embarrassing, he said in an email.

That this Ombudsman had the courage to restate the tragic reality is not a bad thing but I wonder when the political and police leadership will show the courage to actually institute change.

The ombudmans office conducted 95 interviews, including with academics, psychiatrists and psychologists, family members of people killed in interactions with police, and employees at the Ontario Police College.

The report was produced with the help of two retired police chiefs  Vern White, former Ottawa police chief, and Mike Boyd, former chief of the Edmonton police  who acted as special advisors.

But Margaret Parsons, executive director of the African Canadian Legal Clinic, wonders why her organization was not consulted. She was disappointed the report failed to acknowledge that race is too often a factor in police use of force.

How could you talk about police use of force, and in particular deadly force, without wanting to address race and racism? she said.

Yatim was shot eight times by Forcillo while alone on a downtown Toronto streetcar, after wielding a small knife and exposing himself to passengers. The shooting was captured on bystander video, which was quickly disseminated, prompting public outrage.

Forcillo, 33, was charged and ultimately found not guilty of second-degree murder for the first three shots that killed Yatim, but guilty of attempted murder for the second volley of six shots fired six seconds after the initial three. Superior Court Justice Edward Then is now deciding Forcillos sentence, to be pronounced in late July.

The ombudsmans investigation was one of three systemic reviews of police use of force launched in the wake of Yatims death.

Just weeks after Yatims death, then Toronto police chief Bill Blair initiated an independent review of use of force within his own police service, tapping retired Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci to conduct the recommendation.

One year later, Iacobucci released a comprehensive report making 84 recommendations, including increased training, changes to hiring practices, and a shift in the workplace culture. Toronto police said last year they had implemented, in full or in part, 79 of the 84 recommendations.

Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association, said he welcomed any recommendation that will improve the outcome of interactions between officers and citizens.

The Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), a provincial agency that reviews police complaints, also launched a systemic review of police use of force following Yatims death  only the second systemic review launched by the OIPRD since its inception in 2009.

Rosemary Parker, spokesperson for the OIPRD, said in an email that the agency expects to release the first of two parts of the review this fall, and the second in early 2017.

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After spending a long day at the hospital with his mother in 1992, Tom Milakovic ran into his moms surgeon, Ofei Djoleto, at the hospitals coffee shop.

Djoleto was eating an apple, so Milakovic decided to buy one, too. The apple tasted awful. Milakovic didnt think it was fair that a top surgeon who had been at the hospital for at least the past 12 hours should be stuck eating cardboard-quality apples from a coffee shop.

From then on, every year, Milakovic personally delivered to Djoleto a bushel of freshly picked red delicious apples from his brother-in-laws hobby farm in Grimsby.

Milakovic had taken his octogenarian mother to the ER two years earlier at what was then known as The Mississauga Hospital because she had lost weight and was throwing up. The nurse asked Milakovic to leave the examining room. It didnt matter to her that a woman who had previously suffered a stroke needed her son by her side.

Djoleto understood. He told Milakovic to stay in the room, then put his hand on his new patients shoulder. Dont worry, Molly. Were going to make you feel better, Milakovic remembered Djoleto telling his mother.

He was one of the finest human beings I ever met, said Milakovic. He won our trust right away.

One week after Djoleto operated on Milakovics mother, Milakovic was diagnosed with bowel cancer and chose Djoleto to be his surgeon. Over the years, Djoleto also operated on Milakovics wife and on several other friends and family members.

He was so in demand, it was incredible, Milakovic said.

Djoleto died at age 69 on March 1 at Trillium Health Centre, the institution in which he had spent the last three decades of his career. He had been suffering from cerebral amyloid angiopathy, an illness affecting the brain.

He was a saint and a man who truly cared about his patients, a former patient, on whom Djoleto had performed two cancer surgeries, wrote in an online post. I will never forget his laugh nor his reassuring words when I was totally in the darkest of places. He will be missed by many and remembered by anyone who was lucky enough to have ever known him.

Djoleto became personally and emotionally invested in all his patients, said his wife, Jill, who spent each Friday working as his receptionist. If one of his patients died, hed be totally devastated for days, she said.

Djoleto worked very long hours, and often left his home at a moments notice in the middle of the night to perform emergency surgeries, said Jill. Luckily, he and his family lived only 10 minutes from the hospital.

When Milakovic was recovering from his 1990 operation, he saw Djoleto checking in on patients at 5 a.m. and at midnight on the same day.

Ofei Fleischer-Djoleto was born in Accra, Ghana, in 1946, the oldest of six children. As a child, Djoleto was extremely studious, said his sister, Eileen Russell, the only sibling he persuaded to join him in Canada. He attended Achimota School, a prestigious private school in Accra.

Djoleto moved to Montreal in 1966 after receiving a scholarship to study medicine at McGill University. After graduating in 1973, Djoleto moved to Toronto to work as an intern at St. Michaels Hospital.

He later headed to McMaster University to specialize in general thoracic surgery, then in 1980 joined The Mississauga Hospital, which later became Trillium Health Centre.

For about 20 years, Mississauga family physician Don Collins-Williams referred patients to Djoleto for thoracic operations such as lung-tumour removals, as well as more general surgeries such as gallbladder operations. Djoleto took the time to explain things to his patients and talked to them in a gentle manner, he said.

In the early days, Collins-Williams assisted Djoleto with some operations. He was a talented surgeon, he said, and a pleasure to work with in the operating room, being very patient, very meticulous, a real gentleman. Collins-Williams said he looked forward to being with Djoleto during those operations.

He was hard not to like, said Daniel Selchen, a neurologist at St. Michaels Hospital. They had met in 1985 when Selchen joined the staff of The Mississauga Hospital. Upon meeting Selchen for the first time, Djoleto gave him furniture to help him set up his office.

He was a generous, decent guy, said Selchen, and unassuming too.

Djoleto leaves behind his wife, two sons, one daughter, and five grandchildren.

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Ontarios top court delivered a strong affirmation of LGBTQ rights on Wednesday when it upheld a decision not to accredit an evangelical Christian law school.

The Court of Appeal ruled that the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC), which regulates lawyers in Ontario, was entitled in 2014 to deny accreditation to Trinity Western Universitys proposed law school over its community covenant, which students must abide by and prohibits sex outside of heterosexual marriage.

My conclusion is a simple one, wrote Justice James MacPherson for a unanimous three-judge panel. The part of TWUs community covenant in issue in this appeal is deeply discriminatory to the LGBTQ community, and it hurts.

MacPherson wrote that the decision not to accredit does infringe on TWUs right to freedom of religion, but not to the point where it must be overturned.

The LSUCs decision not to accredit TWU does not prevent the practice of a religious belief itself; rather it denies a public benefit because of the impact of that religious belief on others  members of the LGBTQ community.

The 50-page judgment, released just days before Pride weekend in Toronto, was praised by the legal regulatory body and LGBTQ groups.

TWUs covenant tells LGBTQ students youre not wanted here, said Paul Jonathan Saguil, one of the lawyers who represented groups Out on Bay Street and OUTlaws, which include LGBTQ professionals and law school students.

Were obviously delighted with the outcome and quite pleased with the timing. Given all thats happened with the LGBTQ community, especially with Orlando, we needed some good news, said Saguil, referring to the shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub that left 49 people dead.

The Law Society was pleased the court found that the regulatory body acted fairly and reasonably, said its newly elected treasurer, Paul Schabas.

It's significant that the court identified specifically that the Law Society has an important role to play in promoting a diverse profession, and that this is part of its public interest mandate, he said.

Schabas voted against accreditation in 2014 in a 28-21 vote among the bodys benchers, who decide on policy. Trinity Western then applied to a lower court for judicial review of the decision, but the case was dismissed, leading to the Court of Appeal challenge.

My position was largely similar to what the courts have articulated, which is that we have an obligation to not discriminate, said Schabas.

By accrediting Trinity Western, and in other words letting them into our licensing process, we would be effectively adopting a discriminatory path to licensing.

The B.C.-based university is currently challenging similar decisions in the courts in Nova Scotia and British Columbia. The school said in a statement Wednesday that it would seek leave to appeal the Ontario ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The community covenant is a core part of defining the TWU community as distinctly Christian, said university spokesperson Amy Robertson.

We are not making a statement about LGBTQ people; we are making a statement about traditional Christian marriage, which is sacred to us. The same covenant calls for all members of the TWU community to respect the dignity of others regardless of their background.

Saguil, who is openly gay and also a member of Out on Bay Streets board of directors, said the covenant can be especially damaging to those who are still learning about themselves, mentioning that he personally didnt fully come out until law school.

This is a formative time for a lot of people, he said.

We want the best lawyers and law students, but when youre considering merit, discriminatory considerations have nothing to do with it, he continued. It doesnt make you a better or weaker lawyer or law student because of who you love, who you go to bed with or who you date.

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For the last three months, a group of Ontario parents vowed they would never stop fighting for their childrens right to autism services. On Tuesday, their protests and headlines paid off as the province announced it is fixing some of the most contentious parts of the new autism program introduced in March.

Most significantly, the Liberal government backed away from the move that has caused the most havoc  a decision that children age 5 and older would no longer be eligible for intensive treatment and to start taking them off wait lists theyd been on for years.

Instead, all kids with an autism diagnosis can now count on the treatment when they need it, regardless of age, Children and Youth Services Minister Michael Coteau said at Queens Park.

The new program will provide all children, no matter how old they are with the level of intensity they require, he told reporters.

Every single child will receive the services they need, period.

News of the age cap in March came under immediate fire from many parents, therapists, teachers and advocates who mounted an unrelenting campaign to overturn the move. It sparked a vocal grassroots backlash known as #AutismDoesntEndAt5 and fierce lobbying by the advocacy group Ontario Autism Coalition.

Coteaus revisions amount to a massive victory even though the minister doesnt call it a reversal, said Laura Kirby-McIntosh of Thornhill, coalition founder and mother of two teenagers on the autism spectrum.

I think what weve seen today is somebody pressing restart, she said Tuesday. This is how it should have come the first time.

Under the changes, about 2,200 children ages 5 and up being transitioned off wait lists for intensive behavioural intervention (IBI) and given a spot in the new autism program will come out ahead.

First, they wont have to wait as long for the new autism program. Previously scheduled for rollout in two years, it will now be bumped up to a June 2017 launch and will provide varying intensities of behavioural therapy for all children but tailored to each childs needs.

In addition, those children coming off wait lists will get significantly more funds during the transition period. They had been promised a one-time payment of $8,000 to tide them over, which most parents said was barely enough to cover two months of private therapy.

But under the new plan, those families will get successive payments of $10,000 to spend over 10 weeks until their child has a spot in the new program next June. That amount was designed to be enough to pay for intensive private treatment and could potentially amount to $50,000 over the year for children currently off the wait lists.

Coteau said the package of revisions will be financed by new autism funding of $200-million over the next four years, on top of the $333 million announced when the program launched in March. The money is primarily aimed at reducing wait times that can be years long and creating more treatment spots.

While the changes were greeted as good news by parents, advocates and opposition politicians, many families were wary of hailing it as a triumph until they see the fine print and how the new program actually works for their children.

Im thrilled but Im cautious, I want to see it roll out, said Marguerite Schabas of Toronto, whose four-year-old son, Peter, started IBI this week after almost two years on a wait list.

She noted a big part of the problem over the last three months has been the utter chaos and confusion as government autism providers started putting new rules in place, often inconsistently, according to parents.

At Queens Park, Linda Galvao quietly wiped away tears as she listened to the news conference. She and her husband, David, have two sons with autism and came from Georgetown to hear the news in person.

Its emotional, said Galvao, whose son Toby, 8, is receiving IBI and is about to lose his spot because of the age cap. Luke, 6, has been on a wait list for almost three years. She was still trying to grasp the news that they can expect transition funding for private therapy.

The amount of stress . . . I cant even be excited, said Galvao.

Coteau has been in his job for only two weeks since replacing Tracy MacCharles in a cabinet shuffle, and said the changes to his predecessors plan were made because supports that were put in place were not adequate.

The new program reflects the collective voice of parents, advocates and MPPs, added Coteau, who started meeting with parents soon after his appointment.

Opposition leaders were quick to congratulate parents for their unremitting pressure on the government, which included protests outside the legislature, ejections from public galleries in side the legislature, a massive social media campaign and aggressive lobbying of MPPs that even resulted in one Liberal calling the police on a mother who had planned to picket outside his constituency office.

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown tweeted that he is pleased that Coteau listened to what weve been saying all along, that autism doesnt end at 5.

The changes are a victory for families and proof that speaking up and protesting can pay dividends, said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

Parents and children across Ontario living with autism stood up to fight for the services they need, she said. While this is an important win, there is more work to do so that Ontarians with autism can succeed throughout their lives.

Coteau also announced five regional hubs aimed at providing families quicker access to diagnosis, considered essential for starting intervention early and improving a childs long-term prospects.

The province will also beef up school supports for children with autism, including programs to help them transition into classrooms, and after-school sessions aimed at helping them build skills.

Tears of a different kind

A month ago, Melanie Palaypayon was in tears after her MPP called police on her. The Mississauga mother had planned a solo protest against the new autism program outside his office and he wasnt pleased. On Tuesday, her tears were happy ones after learning that Xavier, 6, is now eligible for funding for private autism treatment. Im so happy beyond words, not only for Xavier but all the kids, Palaypayon said in an interview from Maryland, where she watched a live webcast of the announcement while travelling. I feel so strong that we got the government to do the right thing.

A sigh of relief

Sandra and Jerry Pimentel went to the bank recently, bracing themselves to borrow for the private autism therapy their son needs. In April they found out that after a two-year wait, Vincent, 5, was suddenly too old for treatment covered by Ontario. Im not going to lie, there have been a lot of tears over the last few months, says Sandra. Then on Tuesday came news the province had backtracked and kids like Vincent would get funds for therapy until they land a spot in the new autism program. Im feeling a lot better, said the relieved Brampton mother. My son has a better chance at a future.

Seeking school supports

It wasnt front and centre of the autism changes but better school supports are key and should be the next focus, said Barkaat Ahmad of King City. His son, Amaar, 7, is social and plays well with other kids. But without proper support, he struggled in a regular classroom and moved to an autism class, where he regressed socially. The provinces plan to invest in diagnosis is crucial, and would have benefitted Amaar, who waited almost two years, says his father. I do not want other parents to have to go through that.

Feeling aftershocks

It has been three months of anger, worry and no idea what kind of autism treatment Kristen Ellison could manage for her son Carter, 5. He started therapy in April but then became part of the cohort who aged out. Prolonged uncertainty is one reason Ellison, a single parent from Cobourg, isnt ready to jump for joy over the latest fixes to Ontarios autism plan. Its a good day, but Im apprehensive, she said. The confusion among parents and treatment providers has made it like the wild west trying to get services, she added. I wanted an apology.

Mom has questions

Spring has been a roller coaster for Janet Ashers family. After a two-year wait, Benjamin got an autism treatment spot in April. Two weeks later, he turned 5 and hit the age cut-off. Now he can count on one years funding and a spot in the new streamlined service. In the long run, I think its a win for Benjamin and everyone in Ontario, says Asher. But still, she has many questions, such as who decides on the level of treatment each child needs under the new program and will they really get it.

Thrilled but cautious

Marguerite Schabas wishes the province had nailed the autism program the first time and saved families months of anxiety. The Toronto mother is thrilled but cautious about how it will unfold and glad the transition time has been cut in half. I hope that long-term this is going to get kids the help they need when they need it, said Schabas, whose son, Peter, 4, got an intensive treatment spot this week. The changes are aimed at giving kids under 5 shorter wait times than the two years he faced. Schabas, an active advocate, said the whole thing has been draining and emotionally exhausting.

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Doctors in the Windsor area are pressing Ontarios Ministry of Health for help after the regions only PET scanner broke down, leaving cancer patients with longer waits and travel elsewhere for important scans.

It is very frustrating, said Dr. Kevin Tracey of Precision Diagnostic Imaging, whose aging positron emission tomography (PET) machine went on the fritz a week ago.

Patients in the Windsor, Sarnia and Chatham areas are facing waits as long as six weeks for scans in London, Hamilton, Mississauga, Toronto and Ottawa because of the problem and a lack of money to fix it.

You cant operate in 2016 on a lot of cancers, you cant start therapy on a lot of cancers, without a PET scan, said Tracey, medical director at Precision and a specialist in diagnostic imaging.

His recent plea to the government for assistance with emergency repairs was rejected. He has reapplied for aid at the urging of the health ministry. Precision Diagnostic is a privately run clinic approved by the government that receives about $300,000 a year to do scans. It has been in operation since 2011.

I am hopeful this is something they study quickly, Tracey told the Star, noting about 50 patients are left in the lurch. Most have some form of cancer.

The latest breakdown is the second this month and hot weather makes matters worse, because the machine overheats.

In a statement, Health Minister Eric Hoskins said he is committed to ensuring residents in Windsor and area have access to the services they need close to home.

Earlier this month we invited Precision Diagnostic to submit a proposal to address the long-term sustainability of PET services in the Windsor area, including but not limited to funding for repair and refurbishment, the statement added.

In the meantime, we encourage Precision Diagnostic Imaging to not suspend its services and instead continue its dialogue with the ministry.

If service cannot be maintained, the Erie-St. Clair Local Health Integration Network will come up with a contingency plan, Hoskins added.

Tracey said a local businessman donated $100,000 to assist with repairs, which could have the machine back in operation soon. But he fears more trouble and wants government help so the clinic can afford an annual service contract with a repair company, which would cost about $200,000.

New Democrat MPP Lisa Gretzky (Windsor West) questioned why Sudbury recently got approval for $1.6 million in annual funding for a PET scan program, suggesting Windsor is being shortchanged.

The people of Windsor and Essex County need equitable access, Gretzky told the Star before releasing an open letter to Hoskins on Thursday saying Precision Diagnostic has repeatedly pleaded for stable funding. The clinic provided scans for 500 patients last year.

You must actively come to the table with solutions, she urged in the letter.

The sickest people in our population shouldnt have to travel two hours or more up Highway 401 for treatment or pay high rates out-of-pocket across the border in Detroit, she added in an interview.

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WASHINGTONHillary Clinton says its time to move on after a congressional report on the deadly 2012 Benghazi attacks accused the Obama administration of lethal mistakes, but produced no smoking gun pointing to wrongdoing by the former secretary of state.

Not likely, especially in an election year with Clintons presidential rival  Donald Trump  lashing out.

An 800-page report by a special House committee makes no direct accusations of wrongdoing by Clinton, who was secretary of state during the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Still, Republicans point to Benghazi as a major failure by the administration and by Clinton during her tenure leading the State Department. The issue is likely to shadow Clinton as she continues her bid for president.

Four Americans died, yet no one has been fired. No one even missed a paycheque, said Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Americans  including all our men and women serving overseas  deserve better.

Clinton, now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, said the report by Republicans on the House Benghazi Committee took more than two years and $7 million (U.S.) but found nothing to contradict the findings of earlier investigations.

Ill leave it to others to characterize this report but I think its pretty clear its time to move on, Clinton said a campaign stop in Denver Tuesday.

Republicans were not ready to let the issue go, especially with an election that will decide who occupies the White House and which party will control the House and Senate. The Benghazi panel has scheduled a July 8 meeting to formally adopt the report  10 days before the Republican National Convention begins in Cleveland.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican facing a tough re-election race, said the administration ignored a deteriorating security situation in Benghazi, and the State Department disregarded repeated requests for increased security.

Trump was uncharacteristically quiet on the topic Tuesday, but he has repeatedly blamed Clinton for the deaths in Benghazi.

Even after issuing the report the committees work is not over. On Wednesday the panel will interview a witness who posted on Facebook that he was a crew chief based in Europe on the night of the attacks. A committee spokesman said the interview would be posted on the panels website and any information he provides can be added to the report.

Democrats called the interview ridiculous.

The Libya attacks have been political fodder from the start, given their timing in the weeks before President Barack Obamas re-election, and that has not abated despite seven previous congressional investigations. There has been finger-pointing on both sides over security at the diplomatic outpost and whether Clinton and the White House initially tried to portray the assault as a protest over an offensive, anti-Muslim video, instead of a calculated terrorist attack.

The prolonged investigation into the attacks has also been marked by partisan sniping. Republicans accuse the administration of stonewalling important documents and witnesses, while Democrats say the panels primary goal is to undermine Clintons presidential bid.

Republican insistence that the investigation was not politically motivated was undermined last year when House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., suggested that the committee could take credit for Clintons then-slumping poll numbers. His statements helped dash McCarthys chances of becoming House Speaker.

The committee interviewed more than 100 witnesses and reviewed some 75,000 pages of documents, but an almost accidental discovery by the panel last year has shadowed Clintons candidacy. The committee disclosed that she had used a private email server to conduct government business while serving as secretary of state, a practice that has drawn widespread scrutiny, including an FBI investigation.

Already bitterly partisan, Tuesdays release of the report exposed divisions within Republican ranks.

Reps. Mike Pompeo of Kansas and Jim Jordan of Ohio issued a separate report slamming Clinton and the Obama administration, with Pompeo telling reporters that the former first lady and senator was morally reprehensible. Clintons public comments casting the attack as a possible protest over the anti-Muslim video differed sharply from her private assessments to family members and diplomats, Jordan and Pompeo said.

The panels chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., deflected questions, saying the report is not about one person.

The GOP report severely criticizes the military, CIA and administration officials for their response as the attacks unfolded, and their subsequent explanations to the American people.

Hours after the attacks began, Not a single wheel of a single U.S. military asset had even turned toward Libya, Gowdy complained. U.S. military leaders told the committee they thought an evacuation was imminent, slowing any response.

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ISTANBULIt was an attack that echoed the carnage earlier this year at the Brussels airport, down to the taxi that carried the men to their target: Inciting panic and then taking lethal advantage, three suicide attackers unleashed a deadly tide of bullets and bombs at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport, leaving 42 dead.

Authorities blamed Daesh, also known as the Islamic State, for the bloodbath late Tuesday, a co-ordinated assault on one of the worlds busiest airports and on a key NATO ally that plays a crucial role in the fight against the extremist group.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility by the militant group.

Although the attack took a heavy toll, the assailants were initially thwarted by the extensive security on the airports perimeter, Turkish officials said.

When the terrorists couldnt pass the regular security system, when they couldnt pass the scanners, police and security controls, they returned and took their weapons out of their suitcases and opened fire at random at the security check, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

One attacker detonated his explosives downstairs at the arrivals terminal, one went upstairs and blew himself up in the departure hall, and the third waited outside for the fleeing crowd and caused the final lethal blast, two Turkish officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to speak about the investigation publicly. None of the attackers were Turks, a third official said.

As the chaos unfolded, terrified travellers were sent running first from one explosion and then another. Airport surveillance video showed a panicked crowd of people, some rolling suitcases behind them, stampeding down a corridor, looking fearfully over their shoulders.

Other surveillance footage posted on social media showed one explosion, a ball of fire that sent terrified passengers racing for cover. Another showed an attacker, felled by a gunshot from a security officer, blowing himself up seconds later.

Cihan Tunctas had just disembarked from a flight from Azerbaijan when he heard the sound of gunfire.

Then the bomb exploded. We were at the exit and ... the roof collapsed on our heads, Tunctas said. The group tried to escape, but their path was blocked by the arrival of a second attacker.

Two of the security guards noticed him. They walked toward him. Just as they were walking toward him, I turned that way. They just caught him and at that moment he detonated the bomb.

Investigators later found a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a handgun and two grenades on the bodies, according to the state-run Anadolu news service. Raids at two addresses also uncovered encrypted organizational documents and computer files, the news agency said.

Although the government quickly blamed Daesh, there was no immediate claim of responsibility by the extremist group, which did not mention the bloodshed on its social media sites Wednesday. However, an infographic released to celebrate the second anniversary of its self-proclaimed caliphate claimed to have covert units in Turkey and other countries.

Daesh, however, rarely claims attacks in Turkey. One possible reason is a reluctance to be seen as killing fellow Muslims, said Anthony Skinner, director of the analyst group Verisk Maplecroft. Another is its desire to exploit the violent rift between Turkey and Kurdish rebels, he said.

It very clearly meets Islamic States strategic objectives to leave this ambiguity, Skinner said.

Yildirim, the Turkish prime minister, also suggested the attack could be linked to steps Ankara took Monday toward mending strained ties with Israel and Russia. Late Wednesday, he told the Turkish public the authorities were increasingly convinced that Daesh was responsible for the ghastly attack.

Our thought that it is Daesh, continues to gain weight, Yildirim said.

A key partner in the U.S.-led coalition against the Daesh, Turkey faces an array of security threats from other groups as well, including ultraleft radicals and Kurdish rebels demanding greater autonomy in the restive southeast.

The country shares long, porous borders with both Syria and Iraq, where Daesh controls large pockets of territory, and the government has blamed the extremist group for several major bombings over the past year, including in the capital Ankara, and on tourists in Istanbul.

The reality is that Turkey is situated in a very vulnerable situation, geographically speaking, Skinner said.

Victims in Tuesdays attack included at least 13 foreigners and several people remained unidentified Wednesday. The Istanbul governors office said more than 230 people were wounded and dozens remained in critical condition.

Among the dead was Muhammed Eymen Demirci, who had just landed a job on the airports ground services crew after more than a year of unemployment: I got the job bro! the 25-year-old texted a friend in May.

He died while waiting for a bus after his shift. A childhood friend who had helped Demirci get the job was devastated. He was such a friendly person, a man who fought for his ideals, Deniz Dogan told The Associated Press. Now I wish he hadnt gotten the job.

So, what can we think? We cannot think anything, said Ali Batur, whose brother also died. A terror attack might happen everywhere, it does happen everywhere.

Dozens of anxious friends and relatives waited Wednesday outside Istanbuls Bakirkoy Hospital.

You can hear that people are wailing here, said Serdar Tatlisu, a relative of a victim. We cannot cope anymore, we cant just stay still. We need some kind of solution for whatever problem there is.

Funerals for some of the victims began Wednesday as Turkish authorities sought to put together an attack timeline, going through surveillance footage and interviewing witnesses. A Turkish court imposed a media ban on any information not officially released by the government.

The devastation at Istanbuls airport was a reminder of the March 22 attack on the Brussels airport, where two suicide bombings ripped through check-in counters, killing 16 people. Daesh claimed responsibility for that attack, as well as an explosion the same day at a Brussels subway station that killed 16 more people.

As dawn broke Wednesday, workers were removing debris from the Istanbul airport and mere hours after the terminal erupted into chaos, it reopened to flights. It took 12 days for flights to resume in Brussels, and more than two months for the terminal building to fully reopen.

Turkey has suffered a series of attacks that have frightened away visitors and devastated its economy, which relies heavily on tourism.

The government has stepped up controls at airports and land borders and deported thousands of foreign fighters, but has struggled to tackle the extremist threat while also conducting security operations against Kurdish rebels. Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrances to terminal buildings and before the entrances to departure gates.

This year alone, a Jan. 12 attack that Turkish authorities blamed on Daesh claimed the lives of a dozen German tourists visiting Istanbuls historic sites. On March 19, a suicide bombing rocked Istanbuls main pedestrian street, killing five people, including the bomber, whom the authorities identified as a Turkish national linked to Daesh.

Last October, twin suicide bombings hit a peace rally outside Ankaras train station, killing 103 people. There was no claim of responsibility but Turkish authorities blamed it on Daesh.

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MASON CITY | Free water testing for private well owners and/or users in Cerro Gordo County is being offered after July 1.

Health officials recommend well owners have their water tested annually for bacteria and nitrates.

The Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health received a grant from Iowas Grants to Counties program to improve the safety of the local unregulated drinking water in private wells, meaning these tests will be offered free after July 1.

The tests will examine the water for contaminants that include bacteria and nitrates that may be harmful to the well users health. The property owner does not need to be present during the collection of the samples. The Health Department simply needs their permission. The samples will be collected from an outside water source.

Call 641-421-9300 to schedule a time to have water samples collected for testing. For more information go to www.cghealth.com.
BRUSSELSEuropean Union leaders drew a stark line along the English Channel on Wednesday, telling the U.K. that it cannot keep valuable business links with its former continental partners in a seamless single EU market, if it doesnt also accept European workers.

The challenge cuts to the heart of the British vote to leave the bloc following a virulent campaign where migration from poorer EU countries was a key concern. It also sets the scene for the complex departure negotiations facing departing Prime Minister David Camerons successor, for which nominations opened in London Wednesday.

Meeting for the first time without the U.K., the 27 other EU nations set out a united strategy to face the next British government which will seek to salvage as many of the EU rights as possible while reneging on a maximum amount of obligations.

They emerged from the summit insisting that the four freedoms central to European unity are indivisible: the free movement of people, services, goods and finances.

In Camerons absence, the most palpable remaining link to Britain at the summit was the English language used. The remaining presidents, chancellors and prime ministers showed a firm common resolve, committing to be absolutely determined to remain united, EU Council President Donald Tusk said.

The leaders sought to dispel any notion that the referendum result will amount to their Waterloo.

With a disunited United Kingdom, we need a united Europe more than ever, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said.

Tusk convened a special EU summit on Sept. 16 in Slovakias capital Bratislava to work out a plan to keep the EU united. Theres a widespread sense that the postwar project to foster peace via trade has become too bureaucratic and undemocratic with not enough meaning for its 500 million citizens. The initial EU founding nations in the west lean toward a tighter, closer union, while newer nations in the east want to keep more control with national governments  notably of their borders.

French President Francois Hollande warned that allowing the status quo to continue would benefit populist forces that seek the end of Europe. France is among EU countries now facing calls for referendums on quitting the bloc, mainly from the far right.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the lesson from Britains departure isnt necessarily either deeper integration or returning more powers to national governments. She said Wednesday: this is not about more or less Europe as a principle, but about achieving better results. She said that combating youth unemployment, for example, could involve both scrapping EU directives and deepening European co-operation.

The coming weeks will be decisive, Hollande said. Europe must show its solidity.

That will be tough when it comes to immigration. Central European nations led by Hungary refuse to accept imposed EU refugee quotas, and countries further north have all tightened border controls in response to the arrival of more than 1 million migrants last year. Britain is more concerned about EU immigration, since its strong economy draws hundreds of thousands of workers from other EU nations.

The shock British vote has roiled markets and will rob the EU of its richest financial market, biggest military power and a diplomatic giant. It could also prompt an unravelling of the U.K.

Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met Wednesday in Brussels with European Parliament President Martin Schulz and the leader of the EU executive, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Scottish voters overwhelmingly chose to remain in the EU but were drowned out by English voters. Sturgeon has indicated there may be a new referendum on Scottish independence.

It was a good opportunity for me to set out Scotlands position and Scotlands desire to remain within the European Union and to protect our relationship with the European Union, Sturgeon said after meeting Schulz. She added: I dont underestimate the challenges that lie ahead for us seeking to find a path.

In London, nominations opened Wednesday to replace Cameron as leader of the Conservative Party, with Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb the first official contender. Former London Mayor Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Theresa May are also expected to run.

The economic fallout from the vote has been severe. Ratings agency Fitch expects growth and investment in Britain to fall next year due to uncertainty over the exit. Some businesses are putting investments on hold and Fitch said there is little doubt that the U.K. referendum vote in favour of leaving the EU will take a significant toll on the economy.

Vodafone, one of Britains biggest companies, will consider moving its group headquarters because of the vote. The company, which says a majority of its customers are in other EU countries, said in a statement Wednesday that EU membership had been an important factor in its growth, and that free movement of people, goods and capital were integral to any pan-European business.

This is the worlds fifth-biggest economy and 15 to 17 per cent of the European Unions gross domestic product, and if this country leaves the internal market . . . then of course that will be a difficult situation, Merkel said.

Correction- July 4, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to the English Channel as the British Channel.

More on thestar.com:

Euro leaders acknowledge frustration with EU in wake of Brexit vote

EU leaders plot future without Britain, demand answers from Cameron

No Brexit stage left for Corbyn: DiManno

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Inequality kills.

Thats the message of UN childrens fund UNICEF, in its annual State of the Worlds Children Report, published Tuesday.

Unless the world begins to address disparities today, the report says, 69 million children will die from mostly preventable causes, 167 million will live in poverty, 60 million primary school-aged children will be out of school and 750 million women will have married as children by 2030. That is the target date for fulfilling the UNs Sustainable Development Goals for alleviating poverty and inequality.

While children born today are significantly less likely to live in poverty than those who were born in 2000, millions still live and die in unconscionable conditions, and the world is in danger of becoming more divided and unfair for its most vulnerable children.

The numbers of children who are out of school has actually increased by about 2 million since 2011. And child marriage has not declined for decades.

Around the world, millions of children are denied their rights and deprived of everything they need to grow up healthy and strong  because of their place of birth or family of origin; because of their race, ethnicity or gender; or because they live in poverty or with a disability. All these are considered factors that are often ignored in national statistics.

Compared with the worlds richest children, the poorest are almost twice as likely to die before age five.

UNICEF blames equity gaps, warning that without significant investment in education and poverty reduction, childrens lives and futures will be at risk. Currently, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia experience about 80 per cent of the worlds child deaths, which are concentrated in five countries  Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.

Unsurprisingly, children living in fragile states and conflict-affected countries have the poorest chances of survival.

The report said that children born to mothers with no education are almost three times more likely to die before they reach the age of 5 compared to children whose mothers attend secondary school. Marrying young also disadvantages children: girls from the poorest households are 2.5 times more likely to wed while underage than those from wealthier families, a fate that affects their health, education, future prospects and mortality rates.

Education is the key factor for lifting children out of poverty. On average, each additional year of education a child receives increases his or her adult earnings by about 10 per cent. A countrys poverty rates fall by about 9 per cent for each additional school year completed, on a national average.

But national averages that show economic progress can also mask the inequalities that fester in countries judged successes, but which ignore the gaps separating the most disadvantaged children from the rest of society. In Nigeria, for instance Africas largest economy  lack of access to clean water and sanitation may elevate the risk of death for children up to 11 months old by as much as 38 per cent.

Although the report focuses on the poorest children, wealthy countries may also overlook the effect of inequality on their youngest citizens. An earlier UNICEF report card on child well-being named Canada as one of the more unequal societies for children and youth, ranking 26th of 35 well-to-do nations in 2016.

Inequity is not inevitable, said David Morley, who heads UNICEF Canada. A sustainable and more equitable future is possible, but we must start investing more in the most disadvantaged children, investing earlier on, and investing in more innovative ways.

The first step to an equitable approach to development, said the report, is learning more about who is being left behind and why.

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ISTANBULOne man worked as a Turkish translator and was escorting tourists back to the airport. One woman, an airport worker, was looking forward to her wedding in 10 days. There were taxi drivers and a customs officer. And there was a Turkish couple who worked together, and died together, in the suicide attack Tuesday night at Istanbul Ataturk Airport that killed dozens of people and wounded more than 200.

As officials said Wednesday that the death toll from the attack had risen to 41, details about the victims began trickling out. At least 23 of them were from Turkey, according to a Turkish official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the attack.

The victims reflected the cosmopolitan and international character of Istanbul, whose airport is among the worlds busiest, a hub for tens of millions of passengers each year connecting to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and beyond. Among the victims were five Saudis, two Iraqis and one citizen each from China, Iran, Jordan, Tunisia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, the Turkish official said.

Hours after the attack, which has not been claimed by any group, although Turkish officials said they suspected it was the work of Daesh, also known as ISIL or ISIS, a limited number of flights resumed and workers continued clearing debris and replacing shattered windows at the airport.

Unlike Brussels, where a terrorist attack in March closed the airport for days, Istanbul appeared determined to get back to business as usual. Wednesday morning, cars streamed into the airports international terminal, where the attack occurred, almost like on a normal weekday.

But traces of the blasts lingered: Police tape marked off the area of one of the explosions on the lower arrivals area. And workers in yellow vests pounded long support bars into the concrete sidewalk, erecting a two-metre high metal fence dividing the road from the airport entrance.

A majority of the victims appeared to be Muslims, either Turks or visitors from Muslim countries. If the bombings are confirmed to be the work of Daesh, it would show once again that the group, which portrays itself as defending Islam and fighting Western powers, kills far more Muslims on the battlefields of Iraq and Syria or in terrorist attacks in the region, than it does non-Muslims. https://www.thestar.com/news/2016/06/29/eyewitness-recounts-turkey-airport-attack.html

The attack cast a pall over a city that until recently was brimming with self-confidence, projecting itself as a rambunctious, multicultural hub for the arts, with great cuisine and a dazzling history as a former imperial capital.

But terrorist attacks over the last year, some attributed Daesh and others to Kurdish militants, have decimated Turkeys carefully crafted image as a haven in a dangerous region, and they have damaged its once-thriving tourism industry.

The chaos enveloping Turkey, including the attacks and the influx of refugees that has strained resources, illustrates how the civil war in Syria has destabilized neighbouring countries.

Turkey is grappling with growing domestic strains as well, with deep divisions between Islamists who support President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and secular and nationalist Turks who oppose what they regard as his increasingly authoritarian grip on power. Making matters worse, a war that Turkey had fought for more than three decades against Kurdish militants resumed last year, turning cities in the southeast into war zones.

Early Wednesday, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said early indications suggested that Daesh was behind the latest attack, although officials had not released any information about the attackers by Wednesday afternoon.

Some analysts said the airport attack might be a game-changer for Turkeys approach to Daesh. The United States and other allies have accused Turkey of not doing enough to fight the group, and even of contributing to its rise by allowing fighters and weapons to pass through Turkish territory.

I was impressed with the rapidity with which the government said it was Daesh, said Soli Ozel, a Turkish columnist and professor at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. It suggests to me that finally maybe they have learned what the hell they have done.

He added, I think the fight against Daesh will become more serious than it has been.

Subways and streets in Istanbul were quiet on Wednesday, with tourists who had come anyway despite a string of attacks over the last year  the airport bombings were the fourth suicide attack in Istanbul alone this year  trying to enjoy themselves.

Its really sad, said Alex Afridi, 50, from Sacramento, California, who was visiting Turkey with his family and staying in a hotel in the Beyoglu neighbourhood of Istanbul. This city was already hurting. Its an amazing city.

Turks said they felt stunned at the dismal turn their country had taken.

I was in a crying mood this morning, looking at the news, said Osman Serim, 60, a businessman drinking coffee in Beyoglu. What is going to happen? What is the hope? What is the future for young people?

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BLACKLION, IRELANDHugh Maguire cant believe the British really did it.

The Northern Ireland farmer, like many residents along the United Kingdoms virtually unmarked land border with the Republic of Ireland, faces the risk of financial ruin if Britain proceeds with plans to exit the European Union.

EU farm subsidies provide most of his income from highland pastures of cows and sheep  around 80,000 euros ($90,000) annually to support his 241-hectare (600-acre) farm. He gets the subsidies under the EUs Less Favoured Areas rating  farms on marginally productive but environmentally valued land.

Maguire called last weeks referendum verdict  with 52 per cent voting U.K.-wide to leave the bloc, including 44 per cent in Northern Ireland  a disaster.

I cant see Britain subsidizing us the same as the EU has done, said Maguire, who voted to remain. Weve been much better off with the EU when we got the subsidies . . . I honestly think in a few years time, therell be no farming in this part of Northern Ireland.

All along the meandering 310-mile (500-kilometre) border with the Irish Republic, residents are trying to imagine what life will be like if Northern Ireland, like the rest of the U.K., actually leaves the 28-nation EU. Both the U.K. and Ireland entered the then-European Economic Community together in 1973, and their co-operation at the European level helped to eliminate the border as a barrier to the economy or tourism by the early 1990s.

Many now fear that both British and Irish authorities will have no choice but to redeploy customs officers and police to deter immigration and smuggling, a prospect that could fuel renewed support for the outlawed Irish Republican Army. IRA attacks from the 1970s to 1990s spurred Britain to build border networks of bases and watchtowers manned by soldiers, but those installations have disappeared following the 2005 decision of most IRA members to disarm and renounce violence.

For the sake of promoting peace and economic growth, we need to keep the Irish border as invisible as possible. Voters in England dont really understand whats at stake here, said John Paul Feeley, a county councilman born in Blacklion, a village of 200 bordered to the north and east by Northern Ireland.

Feeley said around 30,000 people travel daily across the border in both directions to attend jobs and schools, and the last thing they need is a return to traffic-snarling checkpoints.

Its a very serious situation for us, he said.

The shock decision to back a Brexit sent the British pound tumbling against other currencies, including the euro used in the Republic of Ireland. The change means that southerners with euros in their pockets suddenly find shopping in Northern Ireland around 10 per cent cheaper, while Northern Ireland-based companies that do business in pounds find imported goods growing prohibitively expensive.

A lot of our customers are in Europe, and I think its going to make it more difficult for us to compete in Europe, said Jonathan Balfour, director of Elite Electronic Systems, which employs around 200 people in the nearby Northern Ireland town of Enniskillen. The company assembles printed circuit boards and other electronic peripherals but finds its costs for imported materials are rising with the pounds sharp decline.

Other businessmen fear their supply chains will grow too difficult, with multiple tariff barriers, as they move goods from continental EU nations to the U.K. for eventual sale in EU member Ireland.

Im still in shock, said Joris Smet, a Dutch citizen who runs his own building supplies business in the Northern Ireland border town of Newry. He said many of his firms goods were imported from Germany via the Netherlands and the Belgian port of Antwerp, then exported again to the Republic of Ireland. So its no surprise that Im an avid supporter of EU membership. ... I cannot believe that people do not understand the obvious benefits to our economy.

South of Newry, the Irish Republic city of Dundalk, 14 miles (22 kilometres) away, faces an exodus of retail trade to the north, where the weak pound means the euro enjoys boosted spending power. This last happened in 2007 and 2008, when Newrys shopping centres were inundated with cross-border shoppers.

Weve always lived with the currency fluctuations. Sometimes Dundalk wins, sometimes Newry wins, said Paddy Malone, spokesman for Dundalk Chamber of Commerce. What we cannot live with is excessive border security.

Malone gestured to the nearby M1 highway, which since 2007 has cut in half the travel time between the Irish capital, Dublin, and Northern Irelands capital of Belfast. Currently, the only sign that a driver has passed from one nation to the other is that speed limits and distances in the Republic of Ireland are listed in kilometres, while the north uses miles.

That road was built without any reference to border checks. Imposing them on what is supposed to be a high-speed, efficient piece of infrastructure would be difficult, to say the least, he said. Theres also hundreds of small roads and country lanes that cross the border, and its impossible to police them all.

The British Army tried to seal off the border for years. They were never successful, he added.

Pogatchnik reported from Dublin, Newry and Belfast.

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ORLANDO, FLA.Police dispatchers heard repeated gunfire, screaming and moaning from patrons of the Pulse nightclub who called to report that gunman Omar Mateen was opening fire inside the club, according to written logs released Tuesday.

The first call of shots fired came in at 2:02 a.m. and the caller reported multiple people down.

One caller said Mateen had gone upstairs where six people were hiding. Dispatchers heard up to 30 gunshots in the background at another point as callers screamed and moaned.

My caller is no longer responding, just an open line with moaning, one dispatcher said in the report.

Another dispatcher wrote, Hearing gunshots closer, multiple people screaming.

A caller described Mateen as wearing a grey shirt and brown pants.

Mateen opened fire at the club on June 12, leaving 49 patrons dead and 53 injured in the worst mass shooting in recent U.S. history. In calls with the police after the shooting began, Mateen pledged his allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Daesh, also known as the Islamic Sate group, declared himself to be an Islamic soldier and demanded that the United States stop bombing Syria and Iraq, the FBI said.

Saying he pledges to the Islamic State, a dispatcher wrote at 2:40 a.m.

The report recounted where patrons hid in the nightclub: in an office upstairs, in a closet, in a dressing room and behind a stage. Ten people were hiding in the handicap stall of a bathroom. One caller described patrons using their hands to stop the bleeding of shooting victims.

At several points, callers relayed misinformation to the dispatchers. One caller said there was a second gunman and another thought Mateen had a bomb.

Mateen is saying he is a terrorist . . . and has several bombs strapped to him in the downstairs female restroom, the dispatcher notes said.

According to the time-stamped calls, nine people were evacuated through the air conditioner window of a dressing room at 4:21 a.m. At 5:07 a.m., dispatchers heard an explosion as SWAT team members tried to knock down a bathroom wall to free 15 hostages. At 5:17 a.m., dispatchers heard: Bad guy down.

Emails, inspection reports and texts released by the Orlando Fire Department on Tuesday suggested that one of the exits at the Pulse nightclub wasnt operable weeks before the massacre, but a fire department spokeswoman and an attorney for the club both said that wasnt true.

The last fire inspection at Pulse was conducted in late May when the inoperable exit door was discovered, according to an email exchange between Orlando Fire Marshall Tammy Hughes and Fire Chief Roderick Williams. A followup visit was planned but hadnt been assigned so it wasnt known if the problem was fixed, the emails said.

But Pulse attorney Gus Benitez said Tuesday that none of the six exits at the gay nightclub was blocked during the inspection. The inspector only found that a light bulb in an exit sign needed to be replaced and a fire extinguisher needed to be hung on wall. Both items were corrected, Benitez said in a statement.

Fire department spokeswoman Ashley Papagni backed up Benitezs contention on Tuesday. She said the exit door was deemed inoperable because of the light bulb problem in the exit sign.

Pulse had twice the number of exits needed to accommodate its maximum occupancy of 300 patrons, according to the emails and texts.

The emails and dispatcher notes were released on the same day that a legal tug-of-war broke out over which court should be the venue for determining whether 911 tapes from the Pulse nightclub shootings can be made public.

Nearly two dozen news media organizations  including The Associated Press, CNN and The New York Times  contend city officials are wrongly withholding recordings of 911 calls and communications between gunman Omar Mateen and the Orlando Police Department. Mateen was killed by police after a standoff in the shooting at the Pulse nightclub that killed 49 people and wounded 53 others.

City officials claim the recordings are exempt under Florida law and are part of an FBI investigation.

A hearing had been scheduled Tuesday in a Florida courtroom in Orlando but it was abruptly cancelled after the U.S. Department of Justice was added to the case and Justice officials asked for it to be transferred to federal court.

Attorneys for the news media organizations said they will fight to keep the case in state court.

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Rebecca Middletons family members celebrated what would have been her 37th birthday this past Monday with a cake, two decades after the Belleville, Ont., woman was raped, stabbed repeatedly and left to die on the purported island paradise that is Bermuda.

Shes still part of the family; its just that shes not with us, Dave Middleton says of his late daughter. It wasnt her fault that she got killed.

Cindy Bennett says she still misses her daughter. She wonders what her girl might have been like now had she, like her two older brothers, been able to grow up, get married and have kids of her own.

The 20 years that have passed . . . it makes every memory of Becky sweeter, Bennett, 64, says. Still in your gut, it feels like this just happened.

In the early hours of July 3, 1996, the mutilated body of the gregarious and trusting 17-year-old was discovered. When a taxi failed to show after an evening of fun, Middleton and her best friend Jasmine Meens, now Jasmine Bumstead, accepted rides on a motorcycle and moped with two locals.

Meens, whose father lived in Bermuda, made it home. Middleton, on an extended vacation with Jasmine, did not.

Dave Middleton, now 67, was at work with the local utilities company in Belleville, Ont., when the call came from his former father-in-law. Dave and Cindy had split up a few years earlier.

He says, Beckys been killed,  Middleton says. My brain told me that it couldnt be true. Maybe it was my heart telling my brain it couldnt be true.

The grim news was soon confirmed.

A switch clicks in you, and youre not the same person that you were before.

Bermudian police soon arrested two men, but the family, already victimized by the savage killing of their daughter, would find themselves revictimized. Bermuda, it seemed, was more intent on preserving its image as a pristine, safe travel destination than in delivering justice.

The whole thing is so discouraging, Dave Middleton says. They had it all cooked before it even got to court.

The two men charged in the killing were Kirk Mundy, then 21, and Justis Smith, then 19. At the time, Mundy was on bail for the armed robbery of a bank vehicle in November 1995, a crime for which he would later be given a 16-year sentence.

Mundy pointed the finger at Smith. In exchange for his testimony, Mundy pleaded guilty to being an accessory, while Smith faced a charge of murder. DNA evidence would later show Mundy had raped the teen.

The lead prosecutor on the case left the island a week before Smiths trial, leaving it to a newcomer to take up the case. After days of evidence, the judge directed the jury to acquit Smith, saying there was not enough evidence against him.

Half the people on the jury were crying, Dave Middleton says. They couldnt believe it.

What followed were a series of futile attempts to retry Smith that were ultimately rejected by Britains Privy Council on the grounds he had already stood trial once.

Bermuda authorities would later concede the family had suffered a great injustice, but nothing changed.

In 2007, internationally renowned human-rights lawyer Cherie Booth, wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair, argued Smiths murder charge was wrongly dismissed and that Mundy should have faced a more serious charge.

She was going to straighten it out and we were going to get a retrial, Middleton says.

That didnt happen.

Ultimately, he says, he just had to move on.

After a few years, you somehow manage to put it in the rear-view mirror instead of out in front all the time. It never goes away. I still think of her as being 17.

Ten years after the murder, Bermuda compensated the Middleton family for pain and suffering.

The cheque was for $2,840.63.

Its 10 years later and they want to sweep it under the carpet, Bennett said then.

Two years ago, Bermudian officials abruptly yanked film permits from a Canadian documentary crew probing the Middleton case, citing reputational risks to the country.

The interviews needed were filmed elsewhere.

Middletons mother still ponders the time and energy her ex-husband and others put into seeing justice done, all seemingly for naught.

While she may not see it happen in her lifetime, she says, justice will come, and thats enough for her.

I cant just be waiting and waiting for an end. The end came when Becky died. The rest was just a bunch of trying to get the right thing done, Bennett said. I cant keep looking for something else.

In some small ways, however, Rebecca Jane Middleton lives on.

One of her brothers daughters has Rebecca as a middle name. Her other brothers daughter has Jane as a middle name. Meens would also give her daughter the middle name Rebecca.

The man who found Middleton named his daughter Becky.

Scholarships in Belleville and Bermuda bear her name.

When the moon is full, Bennett casts back to a few days before her daughter left for Bermuda never to come home. The teen, Bennett says, was worried about getting homesick, so her mother reassured her that all she needed to do was look at the moon and know the family was thinking of her.

I will see her someday, Bennett says. I just wont see her in the same form.

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The turmoil in the U.K.s main opposition Labour Party worsened Tuesday after its lawmakers backed a motion of no confidence in their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, by 172 to 40. Corbyn rejected calls to quit, but theres now little to stop disaffected members of Parliament launching a formal challenge to his leadership.

So who might take over? Heres a look at the main candidates. And with a general election possible later this year, one of them might just be prime minister before Christmas.

Jeremy Corbyn: Again?

The Labour leader is elected by the party as a whole, and many rank-and-file members still back Corbyn, so its very possible they will choose to re-elect the man MPs are currently revolting against.

After decades as a lawmaker better known for rebelling against the Labour leadership than toeing the party line, Corbyn, 67, was unexpectedly propelled into the top job last summer. His offer of straight talking, honest politics struck a chord with party members and supporters.

Corbyn won an overwhelming mandate in the country, but only 10 per cent of Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons voted for him. He has struggled to assert any authority over MPs, who have accused him of lacking vision, campaigning skills and the ability to reach out to voters in Labour heartlands, many of whom are being drawn to the U.K. Independence Party. Critics also say he has failed to successfully exploit splits in the governing Conservative Party.

His supporters, who gathered in their thousands outside parliament on Monday to show their support, say Corbyn can reach voters disillusioned with politics. But his lacklustre performance in the European Union referendum campaign left many doubting his ability to successfully lead Labour into a general election.

Tom Watson: Murdochs Scourge

The lawmaker for West Bromwich East in Englands industrial Midlands, Tom Watson rose to prominence with his attacks on media mogul Rupert Murdoch and phone hacking by his News of the World newspaper. That made him a darling of the Labour Party but alienated large sections of the media.

A former labour-union official, Watson, 49, has been deputy Labour leader since September last year, when he was elected alongside Corbyn. Regarded as an effective campaigner, he has run into conflict with other lawmakers over allegations that he has used his union links to wield influence within the party.

A music fan who recommended an obscure rock band to former leader Ed Miliband when he resigned from his shadow cabinet, Watson was partying at the Glastonbury Festival on Saturday night when Corbyns firing of foreign-affairs spokesman Hilary Benn triggered the series of resignations that led to Tuesdays no-confidence vote.

Angela Eagle: The Favourite

One of a pair of twin sisters at the top of the Labour Party, Angela Eagle was a Treasury minister under Gordon Brown and rose to be the most senior woman in the party before her resignation from Corbyns shadow cabinet. She has been in the House of Commons since 1992.

An assured performer in Parliament, Eagle, 55, was chosen to represent the Remain side in one of the television debates during the referendum campaign. She chaired Labours policy forum before the last election and lost out to Watson in last years deputy leadership contest.

An international-level chess player as a child, Eagle worked for the Confederation of British Industry and a health-care workers union before entering Parliament. If she were to win, Eagle would be the first openly gay lawmaker to lead a major U.K. party nationally.

Lisa Nandy: The Straight-Talker

Lisa Nandy, 36, was elected to Parliament in 2010 after almost a decade of working in the voluntary sector for homelessness and childrens charities. Her straight-talking approach has led her to be installed as one of the favourites with bookmakers in the event of leadership election.

Touted as a candidate initially last year, the representative for Wigan in northwest England chose not to run following the recent birth of her son. Nandy served in Corbyns shadow cabinet as energy spokeswoman until she quit on Monday, saying in a joint statement with fellow lawmaker Owen Smith that she had lost confidence in Corbyns ability to lead and unite the partys left and right wings.

Born not far from Wigan, in Manchester, she earned a politics degree from Newcastle University before a stint working for a Labour lawmaker preceded her charity work. She served on Parliaments Education Committee and then acted as Labours spokeswoman for children and for civil society under Miliband, before taking the energy brief when Corbyn assumed the leadership.

The Military Man

Dan Jarvis, 43, turned down calls to run for the Labour leadership last year, despite suggestions that hed be the candidate the Conservatives would fear most. A former company commander in the Parachute Regiment who served in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sierra Leone, Jarviss military background makes him stand out from the pack.

Seen as a Westminster outsider, the lawmaker for the northern district of Barnsley since 2011 hinted he might quit the party earlier this year if it ditched its commitment to Britains nuclear deterrent as Corbyn has espoused.

He served as a shadow justice and culture spokesman under former Labour leader Ed Miliband but didnt join Corbyns team. Viewed as a moderate and a follower of the New Labour philosophy of Tony Blair, Jarvis has kept a low profile in the recent coup attempt.

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No more fancy talk, no more studies. We just want it cleaned up.

So declared Chief Simon Fobister of the Grassy Narrows First Nation earlier this month, commenting on the continuing, unconscionable mercury levels in the waters flowing through his community.

His exasperation is warranted.

For over half a century, the Grassy Narrows First Nation of Northwestern Ontario has been plagued by this odious chemical intruder in their water, fish, and bloodstreams, with appallingly flaccid government responses.

From 1962 to 1970, a now-defunct Dryden paper mill poured 10 tonnes of mercury into the Wabigoon-English River system. Though the contamination of the river and the Grassy Narrows community has been long-known and well-documented, the perduring poisoning, and apparently the leaching of mercury, continues.

While Chief Fobister suggests his communitys unaddressed mercury contamination is a result of wilful neglect, it might also be the result of something more insidious.

It also smacks of racism, specifically, environmental racism.

The notion of environmental racism was first articulated in the 1980s by Rev. Benjamin Chavis, then with the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice in the U.S. The commission, after opposing a proposed toxic-waste site slated for a poor, largely African-American community in North Carolina, launched a regional study that revealed a disturbing pattern.

Hazardous waste sites, landfills, incinerators and coal-fired plants were often placed in areas comprised largely of African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and the working poor. Such marginalized groups were perceived as weak, vulnerable citizens unable to rally against the poisoning of their neighbourhoods. Such targeting was often deliberate.

Sociologist Robert Bullards groundbreaking 1990 work, Dumping in Dixie, confirmed this trend, showing that to be impoverished, or a person of colour, in the U.S. often meant enduring a disproportionate share of pollution.

Yet, environmental racism is not relegated to the U.S. The citing of dangerous chemical plants in impoverished communities, such as the Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal, India, where more than 8,000 were killed in a poisonous gas explosion in December 1984, provides a ghastly example.

In Canada, as the environmental law group Ecojustice has argued, examples of environmental racism can be found among black communities in Nova Scotia, and in the contaminated water that pockmarks dozens of indigenous communities across Canada.

In Nova Scotia last year, an attempt was made to establish a legal precedent for environmental racism. A hotly debated private members bill sought to introduce an environmental racism framework that would acknowledge, validate and address the problem of environmental racism in Mikmaq and African Nova Scotia communities.

As MLA Karla MacFarlane argued in pressing for the bills adoption, What we have to realize is that environmental racism remains a reality for all people, and has been for generations.

Claiming the legislature must recognize the connection between race, socioeconomic status and environmental risk, MacFarlane concluded, we cant continue to keep the blinders on.

Though defeated, there is speculation the bill might be reintroduced.

In the tragic case of Grassy Narrows, we also cannot afford to keep the blinders on. As Chief Fobister recounts, when the mercury exposure came to light in the 1970s, the commercial fishing industry, the backbone of the Grassy Narrows economy, collapsed. A team of Japanese scientists confirmed the community was suffering from mercury poisoning, and a provincial and federal scientific panel reported in 1984 the river should be cleaned up.

A decision was made, however, to let the river remediate itself. It hasnt. And no systematic government monitoring has taken place since that time.

Why not?

For Craig Benjamin, indigenous rights co-ordinator for Amnesty International, Grassy Narrows is a clear example of environmental racism. He noted in a recent email to me that the governments failure to acknowledge the nature of the harm inflicted on the community, to conduct ongoing health monitoring, to provide specialized health services for mercury poisoning, and to clean up the river spelled out something more than neglect.

In light of these and other failings, Benjamin cannot but interpret the saga as one of racism and discrimination against indigenous peoples.

Sadly, it seems Benjamin is right.

Another hard truth to confront, and remedy, on the path to truth and reconciliation.

Stephen Bede Scharper, a Fellow of Trinity College, teaches environmental studies at the University of Toronto. Stephen.scharper@utoronto.ca

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For generations of a certain kind of Toronto film buff, Reg Hartt and the cinema-cum-salon he runs out of his rented Victorian on Bathurst Ave., below College, are institutions. Hartts little art house is among the stranger, crustier corners of the citys cultural community, a place where cinephiles have gathered for more than two decades to watch and discuss the classics, from Luis Bunuel to Buster Keaton, Bela Lugosi and beyond.

But despite its cult status, the so-called Cineforums days may now be numbered. The city, sicced on Hartt by someone who apparently hates his ubiquitous posters, says he is in violation of zoning bylaws and must apply to recategorize his place as a public art gallery. Thats an expensive, time-consuming process, and Hartt, who is 70, says hes not up to it.

The city should retreat and allow this indie institution to continue making its cultural contribution. It wouldnt be the first time. In 2010, the Cineforum faced shuttering on similar grounds, but received a last-minute reprieve from an unlikely saviour: Rob Ford, ever ready to answer a constituents call. The first time the city came after the cinema, in the 1990s, an intervention from Hartts old friend and champion Jane Jacobs, the late influential urban theorist, saved the day.

Its no wonder Jacobs was an advocate of Hartts. Though the eccentric impresario has a reputation as an ornery figure, occasionally combative in defence of his work, the Cineforum has done no harm, and is not likely to. Rather, by providing a free forum for curious Torontonians to consume and talk about art, it has in its modest way enriched the cultural life of the city. Any law that would erase this unique landmark on purely bureaucratic grounds is an ass of exactly the sort Jacobs fought so fiercely against.

A long-time Torontonian, Jacobs once wrote that big cities provide what otherwise could be given only by traveling; namely, the strange. Toronto, perhaps more than most metropolises, derives its greatness in this way, from the interweaving of its disparate parts. Jacobs worked much of her life to protect urban places, including ours, from paternalistic regulations that snuff out a citys spirit by displacing the small, idiosyncratic thing in favour, inevitably, of a big, generic one.

The city government claims to revere Jacobs thinking. It should honour her  and her ideas  by leaving her favourite oddball cinema and cineaste alone. Toronto without the Cineforum would be ever-so-slightly less Toronto.

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Saudi Arabia is known for two things: its egregious violations of human rights at home and abroad, and its penchant for splashing its oil wealth around the world.

Recently the two have come together much too closely. Following the kingdoms efforts to bribe and threaten its way off the United Nations annual black list of human rights violators, and the well-documented suffering caused by the coalition it leads in the war in Yemen, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called for its suspension from the UNs top human rights body.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, they accused Saudi Arabia of gross and systematic violations of human rights, obstructing justice for possible war crimes, and committing widespread domestic abuses. They urged its removal from the UN Human Rights Council until the attacks on Yemen end, and allegations of coalition violations are credibly investigated.

They charged that the Saudi coalition had carried out unlawful and deadly air strikes on Yemens markets, hospitals and schools and used internationally banned weapons in civilian areas. At home, Saudi Arabia has also carried out hundreds of executions, in at least two cases killing juveniles. Blogger Raif Badawi, whose family is now in Quebec, has been lashed and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Saudi Arabia could be suspended if two-thirds of those present in the 192-member General Assembly for the vote agree. But there is a deeper issue at stake: the credibility of the council itself.

In 2006 it replaced an earlier, discredited rights body that had become an embarrassment to the UN by letting egregious abusers off the hook. The new 47-member council is smaller, but elevated in status and requires members  elected by regional groups of the assembly  to voluntarily pledge to uphold the highest standards on human rights.

Over the past decade, fewer serious rights violators have run for council membership, although dozens of bad actors have still been elected. They currently include Ethiopia, China, Russia, Burundi, Cuba and the United Arab Emirates, which detained and allegedly tortured Canadian Salim Alaradi. Libya joined the council but was expelled in 2011, the only member to be ousted so far.

In spite of its failings, rights advocates say the council has played an important role in holding some states accountable for their bad deeds. It launches special investigations that throw light on some of the worlds darkest corners, and gives a wider scope for reporting abuses.

But Saudi Arabia and others who want to buy or bluff their way to international respectability as members should be censured. The UN should step up and accept the call for a suspension vote. The foxes should no longer be guarding the worlds hen houses.

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CEDAR RAPIDS  Despite trailing, Patty Judge is very encouraged by a new poll on the Iowa U.S. Senate race.

The Public Policy Polling poll shows Sen. Chuck Grassley leading Judge 46 percent to 39 percent with more than four months until Election Day.

Seven points, thats a horse race, Judge said in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday.

The poll showed that for the first time, Grassley, a six-term Republican, is under 50 percent in general election support and in his approval rating.

That may look like a horse race to Judge, but Grassley campaign manager Robert Haus pointed out that in five other battleground states PPP  Judges primary campaign pollster  found Democrats leading or within a percentage point or two of the incumbent Republican senator.

Even with a bogus survey, shes the weak link, he said.

Judge, who said her campaign did not commission the most recent poll, also takes encouragement from the polls finding that 40 percent of the 897 registered voters surveyed June 22-23 are less likely to vote for Grassley because of his refusal to hold hearings on President Barack Obamas Supreme Court nominee.

And theres more undecided voters than in an early June poll, which Judge called good news for a challenger.

Now I have to work very hard to close the gap, she said.

The Republican Party of Iowa has been chiding Judge for not working hard at all. Since winning the four-way Democratic primary with 48 percent of the vote, the former lieutenant governor has returned to her favorite pre-primary spot: off the campaign trail, according to the party.

Patty Judge is fond of saying she is the judge you cant ignore, but the problem is nobody could find her if they tried, RPI Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said.

I didnt know I was hiding, Judge said. Shes keeping a busy schedule meeting with Democrats and a fair number of independents around the state. She was in Sioux City and Council Bluffs Monday, and Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Tuesday.

I havent slept in the same place more than a night for a week or 10 days, Judges said.

Shes doing the same things as in previous statewide campaigns for secretary of agriculture and lieutenant governor, she said.

Im going to coffee shops and businesses, talking to people and shaking hands, Judge said. This is still a retail politics state.
Moody's has downgraded its outlook for the U.K. banking sector to negative from stable due to the expected impact of the U.K.'s decision to leave the European Union.

The credit agency also downgraded their outlook for 12 U.K. banks and building societies, including Lloyds (LYG) , Barclays (BCS) and HSBC (HSBC) . It did not downgrade its outlook for the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Moody's expects the decision to leave the EU will reduce the profitability of the U.K. banks and building societies due to "lower economic growth and heightened uncertainty over the U.K.'s future trade relationship with the EU to lead to reduced demand for credit, higher credit losses and more volatile wholesale funding conditions for U.K. financial institutions," Moody's associate managing director Laurie Mayers said.

Barclays and HSBC were downgraded to negative from stable. Moody's said that the referendum uncertainty adds to "existing negative pressures on the bank's intrinsic creditworthiness, largely driven by the ... near-term profitability challenges" for Barclays.

Barclays shares were trading 3.8% up in morning trading in London, despite the outlook.

The credit agency said that it expects the U.K. will need to renegotiate "passporting" agreements with the EU. These allow companies to set up a base in the U.K. but carry out activities in other European Economic Area countries. That could lead to additional costs for banks if they cannot replicate current conditions, Moody's warned.

HSBC was downgraded to negative because these increased costs could "depress the bank's net interest margin and delay the group's planned issuance of loss-absorbing capital." HSBC shares were down 1.9% in early trading.

But the contingency planning done by the Bank of England and the banks should mean there is little short-term liquidity implications for U.K. banks, Moody's said. But with the debt market more volatile, the cost of issuing debt could be higher. "While this could make funding plans more challenging and further erode net interest margins, the overall impact should be limited," the credit agency said.

Lloyds was downgraded to stable from positive and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was reaffirmed at positive.

Moody's said the positive outlook continues for the state-backed RBS reflected "the substantial progress the firm has made in its restructuring and ... [the] expectation that its credit fundamentals will continue to improve over the next 12-18 moths, which should not be materially affected by the economic and profitability pressures that are expected to arise following the outcome of the U.K. referendum."

Lloyds shares were up 2.2% in trading in London and RBS was up 2.9%.
Alcoa (AA) on Wednesday laid out some of the details of its planned split, assigning much of its debt and considerable pension obligations to what should be its faster-growing engineering and fabricating operations. Investors had better hope that the aerospace side of the business is ready to soar.

New York-based Alcoa announced plans to separate its downstream manufacturing assets from its raw metals operations last September, responding to criticism from investors that the market was undervaluing the company. Post-split shareholders would own shares of both Arconic, as the company's aerospace and auto component unit will be called, as well as shares of Alcoa's traditional business of mining bauxite and producing aluminum.

Klaus Kleinfeld, chairman and CEO of Alcoa, in a statement called both businesses "well-positioned for success," saying that the split "will allow each new company to pursue its own distinct corporate strategy and unlock the full value of each business."

The separation is the culmination of an aggressive campaign by Kleinfeld to build out Alcoa's downstream operations. The CEO, who will stay with Arconic post-split, took over in 2008 and scrambled to lessen Alcoa's reliance on commodity aluminum pricing, a market that has been hurt by growing supply out of China.

Alcoa, under Kleinfeld, acquired Firth Rixson for $2.85 billion, RTI International Metals for $1.5 billion as well as doing deals for the fastener business of TransDigm Group and auto supplier TITAL. During that time Alcoa has become less reliant on metal pricing, with alumina now making up just under 20% of the company's after-tax operating income.

The company is leaning on the newly assembled Arconic business to carry the heavy load. As part of the split, Arconic would retain Alcoa's existing debt, which totaled $9.07 billion as of March 31, but the new Alcoa intends to raise about $1 billion post-split that would be a payment to Arconic that the spinoff can use to pay down part of that total. Post-deal Alcoa would have estimated pension obligations of about $2.6 billion, compared to $3 billion for Arconic.

Arconic will also hold as much as 19.9% of the streamlined Alcoa post-split.

The split is designed to give Alcoa a more pristine balance sheet, with company officials hoping that the company freed from debt obligations and with a streamlined footprint will be able to better compete against foreign competition.

But the company will be a pure-play metals producer operating at the bottom of a commodity cycle with no earnings benefit from the downstream businesses to help it sustain until aluminum prices bounce back. It could also eventually become a target for a larger, more diversified, mining or metals company.

Arconic, at least in theory, should be a faster grower. Alcoa bulls have tried to compare the Arconic assets to Precision Castparts, a Portland, Ore.-based maker of aerospace fasteners and other components acquired last year by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway for $32.3 billion. But there are key differences between the companies that could put a damper on Arconic's valuation.

For one, less than half of Arconic's current sales come from aerospace customers, compared to nearly three-quarters of PCC's sales at the time of the deal. Precision Castparts sold into what has been a generational bull market for commercial airplane orders, and Arconic's reliance on generally lower-margin auto components could weigh on investor nerves.

It is also unclear how long the aerospace surge can last. Alcoa sent investors into a panic in April when it reported decreased demand for aluminum from aircraft makers. Similarly, while automakers are increasingly turning to lighter-weight aluminum in their products U.S. auto sales are currently firing on all cylinders, and any eventual slowdown in demand could eat into revenue at Arconic.

Under Kleinfeld, Alcoa invested heavily in diversification, attempting to free the company from its dependence on the commodity cycle. Post-split investors will have exposure to both the commodity cycle and demand fluctuations in the notoriously up and down autos and aerospace sectors. Here's hoping demand holds up.
Dr. Heidi Toffler gestures as her husband, Alvin Toffler, listens during a question and answer period at the 1994 Republican Governors Conference at the Lodge in Williamsburg, Va. (Steve Helber/AP)

Alvin Toffler, an author whose visions of accelerating social change guided Chinese leaders, American politicians and business moguls through the best-selling books Future Shock and The Third Wave, died June 27 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 87.

Toffler Associates, the Reston, Va.-based consulting firm he co-founded with his wife, Heidi Toffler, announced the death but did not give a cause.

Mr. Toffler wrote more than a dozen books charting the cultural shift from manufacturing-based economies to those driven by knowledge and data in the 20th century. Working with his wife, he predicted the unfolding of what he coined the Information Age and became a guru of sorts to world statesmen.

Nobody knows the future with certainty, he said in an interview with the Chinas Peoples Daily newspaper in 2006. We can, however, identify ongoing patterns of change.

Chinas Zhao Ziyang, Singapores Lee Kuan Yew and South Koreas Kim Dae-jung tapped his views as Asias emerging markets increased in global significance during the 1980s and 1990s.

Author and futurist Alvin Toffler in 2004 (Robert Galbraith/Bloomberg News)

In 1994, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) urged members of Congress to read Mr. Tofflers latest book, Creating a New Civilization. Mr. Tofflers works also influenced Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, who became the worlds richest person and a friend of the writers. More than 15 million copies of Future Shock have been sold, according to the Tofflers website.

Mr. Tofflers impact may be most evident in China. In 2006, the Communist Party named him to a list of 50 foreigners who significantly influenced the country in recent centuries. The Third Wave, published in 1980, was a bestseller in China, and a video version, produced by Heidi Toffler, was distributed to schools nationwide. The couple said that both were pirated, so they did not earn any royalties.

Where an earlier generation of Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese revolutionaries wanted to re-enact the Paris Commune as imagined by Karl Marx, their post-revolutionary successors now want to re-enact Silicon Valley as imagined by Alvin Toffler, Alexander Woodside wrote in a 1998 essay in Daedalus, a journal published by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Future Shock, published in 1970, described societys development as a series of waves, from the agricultural revolution of the Neolithic Age to industrialization in the 18th century to the Information Age after the 1950s. Toeffler warned about a perception of too much change in too short a period of time and warned of the dangers of not adapting to the technological and informational tsunamis to come, or as he put it, the dizzying disorientation brought on by the premature arrival of the future.

After The Third Wave, Powershift in 1991 completed the trilogy, examining how knowledge became the main means of gaining power and wealth, presenting challenges for the nation-state and opportunities for corporations. Mr. Toffler forecast that humans would be overwhelmed by the pace of change in everything from technology to politics.

The Tofflers claimed on their website to have foretold the breakup of the Soviet Union, the reunification of Germany and the rise of the Asia-Pacific region. He said in the Peoples Daily interview that Future Shock envisioned cable television, video recording, virtual reality and smaller American families.

Critics said Mr. Toffler was often wrong and failed to foresee humans ability to adapt to the pace of change, but he said that futurist debate is essential to making social progress.

It makes you think, he said in a 2010 interview published on NPRs website. It opens up the questions of whats possible. Not necessarily what will be, but whats possible.

Alvin Eugene Toffler was born in New York on Oct. 4, 1928. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Poland.

He studied English at New York University, where he met Adelaide Elizabeth Farrell, known as Heidi, who was starting graduate linguistics study. They dropped out, worked for Henry Wallaces Progressive Party, and moved in 1950 to Cleveland, where they married and became factory workers. He was a millwright and welder, while she was a union shop steward in an aluminum foundry. They soon became disillusioned with aspects of their extreme left-wing views, including a coming social revolution.

It became apparent that the immiseration of the worker wasnt happening, Mr. Toffler told the New Republic, referring to a Marxist theory about economic impoverishment. We either had to give up the theory or give up on reality. The most important thing I learned was that there were ways of looking at history as something that was more than episodic. We came away with the idea that there is such a thing as a model and that you could think of social change in a systematic way.

Mr. Toffler then worked for a newspaper backed by the International Typographical Union, followed by a stint as the congressional and White House correspondent for a Pennsylvania newspaper, the York Gazette and Daily. Returning to New York, he joined Fortune as its labor columnist before writing about business and management for the magazine and immersing himself in futurist circles at the Rand Corp. studying technology and the ways it was changing government policy as well as home and work life.

After leaving Fortune in 1961, he wrote a paper on the social and organizational impact of computers for IBM. He advised American Telephone & Telegraph Co., now AT&T, that the company would have to break up  more than a decade before the government forced it to, according to the Tofflers website.

Survivors include his wife. Their daughter, Karen, died in 2000 of complications from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disorder.

The couple co-founded a consulting firm, Toffler Associates, in 1996. A decade later, they published Revolutionary Wealth, examining nonmonetary wealth in a global economy that has blurred the distinctions between producer and consumer, creating what they call a prosumer.

We futurists have a magic button, Mr. Toffler said in a 2006 interview with Strategy & Business magazine. We follow every statement about a failed forecast with yet. 

 Bloomberg News

Adam Bernstein contributed to this report.
Americans spent an average of 10 hours, 39 minutes each day with smartphones, tablets, TV, radio, computers and video games during the first three months of 2016, a study shows. (Istock/Istock)

BANKING

Fed clears 30 banks after stress tests

The Federal Reserve has given the green light to major U.S. banks to raise dividends and buy back shares, judging them to have a sturdy enough financial foundation to withstand a major economic downturn.

But the Fed on Wednesday gave Morgan Stanley only conditional approval because of what were considered weaknesses in the banks plans for dealing with risks. Morgan Stanley has until the end of the year to submit a new capital plan.

As a result of its annual stress tests, the Fed rejected plans by the U.S. divisions of two European banks, Germanys Deutsche Bank and Spains Santander.

The remaining 30 banks are allowed to raise dividends or repurchase shares. They include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo, the four biggest U.S. banks.

The stress tests are an annual checkup of the biggest financial institutions in the United States. Thirty-three banks were tested to determine whether they have large enough capital buffers to keep lending even if faced with billions of dollars in losses in another financial crisis and severe economic downturn.

The participating firms have strengthened their capital positions and improved their risk-management capacities, Fed Gov. Daniel Tarullo said in a statement.

 Associated Press

TECHNOLOGY

Adults are spending more time on media

The typical American adult is using media for a full hour more a day than just last year, with smartphones accounting for most of the increase.

People spent an average of 10 hours, 39 minutes each day with smartphones, tablets, TV, radio, computers and video games during the first three months of 2016, according to a Nielsen study released this week. It was nine hours, 39 minutes in the same period in 2015.

And these numbers are probably underestimated; Nielsen measures the amount of time spent online on smartphones but does not count texting, taking selfies or talking on the phone.

An estimated 81 percent of American adults use smartphones regularly, with the number of users growing by more than 20 million in the past year, said Glenn Enoch, Nielsens senior vice president for audience insights.

Of the additional hour in media time that Nielsen measured this year, smartphone usage accounts for 37 minutes and tablets 12 minutes. Online smartphone use averages an hour and 39 minutes a day  more than double what it was two years ago, Nielsen said.

 Associated Press

Also in Business

 Fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes in May, with the year-over-year pace of pending sales sliding for the first time in nearly two years. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that its seasonally adjusted index of pending home sales fell 3.7 percent last month to 110.8, slightly below its May 2015 reading of 111. Overall home sales have steadily improved over the past year. But buyers are facing a shortage of available homes that might have curtailed pending sales last month.

 From news services

Coming THURSDAY

 From news services
MASON CITY  The search for the M16 rifle, 12-gauge shotgun and ammunition stolen from an unmarked Mason City Police Department car continued Tuesday.

Police Chief Jeff Brinkley said officers tracked down leads provided by the public and worked old burglary cases to try to find the M16 A1 rifle and Remington 12-gauge shotgun.

The guns and 28 rounds of .223-caliber ammunition, 17 shotgun shells with 00 buckshot and 12 slugs were taken from a police vehicle parked in the 300 block of South Tennessee Avenue.

We are still following up on information and what we think are the next best steps for possible places for these to surface, Brinkley said.

The guns and ammunition have not been found.

Authorities believe the items were stolen between Friday afternoon and Monday morning.

The theft was discovered Monday morning.

Mason City police officers went door to door Monday in the neighborhood where the guns were taken but did not find the weapons.

Police would not release the name of the officer involved.

The department says the officer had moved the guns from the trunk into the back seat to deal with a maintenance issue and that a lock on one of the car doors may have malfunctioned.

The incident will be reviewed by the department, Brinkley said.

Anyone with information about the case can call Mason City police at 641-421-3636 or Crimestoppers of North Central Iowa at 800-383-0088.
Dear Amy: Nine months ago our daughter, a sophomore in college, told us she had a girlfriend and thought she was bisexual.

It didnt go over well, and I called one of my siblings (there are six of us) to ask for help and support.

I asked my daughter if she wanted me to tell family members. She was emphatic that this was a private journey for her.

My sister asked me if she could tell our other siblings. I repeated what my daughter said. I also stated that my husband and I would rather not make any of this public until we all felt we were ready to do so.

Three days later, that sister visited two other sisters and told them my daughter was gay. A short while later one of those sisters told another sister and also our mother.

When I confronted the initial rumor-spreading sister, she told me I was engaging in destructive dialogue and wouldnt talk further with me. She has not apologized.

I am beside myself with anguish over this betrayal of trust, and I do not know that I can ever forgive my sisters for their extreme callousness, insensitivity and lack of compassion.

Also, I have no idea what to tell my daughter (who is currently dating a boy). She and I are seeing a therapist together. Any advice?

Brokenhearted Sister and Mother

Brokenhearted Sister and Mother: Why are you brokenhearted? Is it because your daughters sexuality may be different from yours? Or is it because you feel guilty for violating her privacy with a family member? Your daughters sexuality is no ones business, including yours. She was generous to share this with you.

You need to untangle your feelings. You should start with a simple admission and apology to your daughter. Do not apologize for other family members.

Secondly, it would help if you were able to see this not as a tragedy, but as a transition into adulthood.

Your message to your daughter should be, I love you as you are; however you are.

Its really that simple.

In terms of your sister, her statement that you are engaging in destructive dialogue makes me think shes read a self-help book or two. Perhaps she would like to join you for a session in your therapists office.

Dear Amy: One of my family members likes to leave a vehicle at my place for the winter. I have not asked for money.

As time went on, I was thinking this wasnt right, so I checked around at the local storage places nearby and got several quotes.

Many were more than $500 to $600 for winter storage.

I decided to charge $200 and thought that was plenty fair.

That family member insists that I should not charge family.

I dont see it that way. After this person drops off the vehicle, I dont see him again till summer.

We arent close. Whats your take?

Storage Wars

Storage Wars: Family members who dont want to pay for things that other people normally shell out money for always seem to cling to the homespun rule that you shouldnt charge family members for services.

Your choice is completely contingent on your relationship to this specific person. If you two were close and if you felt he valued your relationship, youd likely be happy to do him this favor.

If he doesnt want to be charged, he should find ways to endear himself to you quickly, because that vehicle might get really rusty out in the weather next winter. Otherwise, yes, $200 sounds like a fair friends and family discount.

If you do charge your family member, basically renting a storage space to him, does that make you liable for any loss/damage to the car while it is stored on your place? Make sure any agreement between you two waives you of all liability.

Dear Amy: Worried wrote to you about her boyfriends impending deployment with the National Guard.

There are a lot of resources available for her. Her boyfriends unit should have a Family Readiness Group that provides information and support before and during deployment.

There are a lot of social media groups she can join  I am in three military mom Facebook groups. Being in a military family has a lot of scary moments, but it also means you are part of a larger family that truly knows the meaning of got your 6.

Army Mom

Army Mom: Military spouses are a tough and supportive group of hometown heroes.

Amys column appears seven days a week at washingtonpost.com/advice. Write to Amy Dickinson at askamy@tribpub.com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.


Kitty Genovese, in 1956. She was stabbed to death in Queens in 1964. (June Murle/The Witnesses Film, LLC/FilmRise)

Bill Genovese didnt realize how many people knew his sisters name until he joined the Marines in 1966. Two years after 28-year-old Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in Queens while 38 neighbors watched and did nothing  or so the story went  he was in line during boot camp, waiting for a piece of equipment. Genovese, William, said the man checking names off a list. Is your sister Kitty?

And I looked at him like, what? Genovese recalls 50 years later. The Marine knew Kittys name from a psychology or sociology class. Thats the way a lot of people in the decades since have come across her. In some 101 textbook, her death is evidence of bystander apathy, a cautionary tale about how diffusion of responsibility causes inaction. A single witness alone would be more likely to help than one of 38, the theory goes.

High-profile assassinations aside, Kitty Genoveses murder is one of the most famous in modern American history. Her nightmarish final half-hour has inspired multiple Law & Order story lines, a folk song, novels, a musical and an episode of Girls. Psychologists found their lifes work because of Kitty, and she helped inspire the creation of 911 as a way to call for help.

Her death reverberated. It left an impression. Does it matter, then, that most people have the story wrong?

Starting in 2004, Bill Genovese spent more than a decade trying to understand how and why his sister died and who exactly she was. The new documentary The Witness chronicles the twists and turns of his search. Directed by James Solomon, the movie is as gripping as true-crime procedurals Serial and Making a Murderer, but with more intimacy and heartache.

Like most people, Genoveses initial understanding of the murder came from a sensational, now-debunked New York Times story that landed on the front page on March 27, 1964. 37 Who Saw Murder Didnt Call the Police, the headline claimed. (The number was later upped to 38.) Genovese and his siblings spent the next 30 years shielding their mother from articles that just kept coming. She never recovered emotionally from losing her eldest child.

But after his mother passed away in 1992 and the New York Times admitted inconsistencies in its narrative with a 2004 story, Genovese joined forces with Solomon, who had interviewed him for an HBO project that never came to fruition.

For whatever reason, I am drawn to these iconic stories we think we know, Solomon says. He also wrote the screenplay for The Conspirator, a Robert Redford-directed drama about Mary Surratt, who aided President Abraham Lincolns assasin, John Wilkes Booth.



Winston Moseley was charged with Genoveses murder. He later claimed that he was just the getaway driver. (United Press International)

So lets set the record straight: There werent 38 eyewitnesses to the murder, which happened first outside and then in an apartment vestibule, although there could have been many more ear witnesses. Only a handful of people probably saw Winston Moseley attack Kitty, and one yelled, Let that girl alone. At least two neighbors claim to have rung the cops, although police logs have no record of those calls. Another neighbor, Sophia Farrar, ran to help Kitty and held her as she died.

All five-foot-nothing of her went flying down the stairs at 3:30 in the morning, Genovese marvels. She doesnt know what shes going to come upon. She hadnt given a second thought to whether the guy was still there or not.

That heroic act, however, didnt conform with the Timess portrait of urban indifference. Theres no mention of her in the 1964 story.

Speaking of that article, Genovese also interviewed A.M. Rosenthal, who was city editor at the New York Times when Kitty was murdered and helped shape the narrative.

Where did the number 38 come [from]? Genovese asked him while filming the movie. Rosenthal, who has since died, responded with a sardonic laugh.

I cant swear to God that there were 38 people. Some people say there were more, some people say there were less, he said with a casual flip of his hand. What was true: People all over the world were affected by it. Did it do anything? You bet your eye it did something. And Im glad it did.

Even Genovese says the message of that piece  essentially, if you see something, say something  needed to be said. There were 636 murders in New York that year.



Kitty Genovese in her grandparents back yard in Brooklyn in 1959. (Andrew Giordano/The Witnesses Film, LLC/FilmRise)

That a false narrative has embedded itself in the collective consciousness doesnt really frustrate Genovese or Solomon.

Parables are important  they serve a function, Solomon says. Bills investigation  and it goes back to this notion of Bill not having an agenda  wasnt to debunk a story. It was just to follow it and to give voice to those who had been most deeply affected.

[More Washington Post movie coverage]

Whats ultimately so fascinating about The Witness isnt that it gets to the truth. It doesnt, because it cant, with so many conflicting reports. It still proves that diffusion of responsibility can affect people, but also gets at another aspect of human nature: the stories we tell ourselves to justify our actions.

I would say it a little less delicately, Genovese says. Its like we unconsciously make up bulls---, then we believe, because we repeat it in our heads many times until it becomes part of our life story.

Did one of Kittys neighbors really call the police? Or is that what she says so she can live with herself? Moseley, who died this year, admitted to the crime in 1964, but he claimed late in life that he was just the getaway driver and that some mobster killed Kitty. His son, whom Genovese interviewed during the movie, believed his father killed Kitty because she had yelled racial slurs at him. Residents who heard Kitty screaming that night say they thought it was just a domestic dispute. (She and Moseley were actually strangers.)



Bill Genovese attends a screening of "The Witness" during the New York Film Festival in October 2015. (Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images)

For better and worse, such stories deeply shape the people who believe them. The New York Times article led to major research in psychology and sociology, but it also made a group of people living in Queens look like heartless accessories to murder. It supplanted Kitty Genoveses life with Kitty Genoveses death. People dont remember the vivacious bar manager, the prankster, the beloved big sister. They remember a victim.

[More true crime stories from across the nation]

The story certainly shaped Bill Genovese. After he graduated from high school, he enlisted in the military instead of going to college. His friends were looking for ways to dodge the draft, but that scheme reminded Genovese of all the people who watched his sister die and did nothing. So he went to Vietnam, where he lost his legs.

Lying in the middle of that paddy, I was completely alone, he says in the movie. I thought of Kitty. What was it like for her when she realized no one was going to save her?

Its the closest hes ever come to understanding how Kitty must have felt on Austin Street in 1964. His story ended differently, though. Marines came to his rescue and carried him to safety.

I lived to tell the story, he says. And he lived to tell his sisters.
It may be the longest running on-air plug for an unremarkable suburban town since the old Laugh-In program and Tonight Show host Johnny Carson referred to their broadcast home as beautiful downtown Burbank.

Virtually every day, Washington-based NPR tells listeners across the country that news and programs prepared in its California production facility come from NPR West in Culver City.

Where? Well, Culver City, a small municipality on the western flank of Los Angeles, hard by Mar Vista and Ladera Heights and home to 39,000 souls. Nice-enough place, but unless you knew its where Sony Pictures is headquartered (and where The Wizard of Oz was filmed when MGM owned the Sony lot), Culver City is easily overlooked in the vast concrete and asphalt prairies of Southern California.

Until, that is, NPR started saying its name on the radio beginning in 2004  and thousands of times since then. These include high-profile broadcasts emanating from NPR West, from Morning Edition to All Things Considered.

The location is entirely accurate: NPR West is housed in a 25,000-square-foot building on Jefferson Boulevard, one of Culver Citys major arteries.

The odd part is that NPR is obligated to say the citys name.

Under an unusual agreement  and apparently an obscure one, even to NPR folks  the public radio broadcaster agreed with Culver City officials to mention the citys name each time it broadcasts from NPR West. Program hosts cant say Los Angeles or Southern California, for example.

The particulars are spelled out in a 2004 resolution by Culver Citys planning commission. In exchange for exempting NPR from city ordinances regulating the size and number of satellite-transmission dishes on the roof of its building, NPR agreed to a series of conditions. Among them: The City of Culver City shall be identified over the airwaves during those periods when programming produced at this site is broadcast.

The agreement has a few loopholes, however. The city granted NPRs request for clarifying guidelines  that is, exceptions  shortly after the planning commission passed the resolution. Among others, NPR was permitted to skip saying the citys name when a host in Washington is interviewing a guest at the NPR West studio.

As a result, the name is uttered frequently but inconsistently. Morning Edition co-host Renee Montagne, who is based at NPR West, said she was unaware of any requirement; her usual practice is to mention shes in Culver City only when her fellow co-hosts are somewhere other than Washington.

Its kind of a mouthful to say, she said, although she noted, It would be fun to say beautiful downtown Culver City. It really is a sweet little city.

The Culver City mentions on NPR have piled up over the years, particularly of late, because Kelly McEvers, who was named a host of All Things Considered last year, is based in Culver City.

Its probable that most listeners dont give the brief mentions a second thought, or even a first one. Except maybe if they live in Culver City.

The name-drops have given the city just a little more cachet, said Mayor Jim B. Clarke. When you are one of 88 independent cities in L.A. County, anytime you can get recognition it is a plus, he said, especially when associated with [a media organization] as prestigious as NPR.
Alexandria

These were among incidents reported by the Alexandria Police Department. For information, call 703-838-4636 or visit alexandriava.gov.

ARSON

Columbus St. N., 600 block, 1:09 a.m. June 19. An arson incident was reported.

Taney Ave., 5300 block, 9:21 p.m. June 21. An arson incident was reported. An arrest was made.

Wythe St., 800 block, 9:24 p.m. June 18. An arson incident was reported.

SEXUAL ASSAULTS

Commonwealth Ave., 1500 block, 11:35 p.m. June 18. A sexual assault was reported.

Usher Ave., 3900 block, 11:28 a.m. June 16. A sexual assault was reported.

ASSAULTS

Arch Hall Lane, 700 block, 2:22 p.m. June 18. An assault was reported. An arrest was made.

Armistead St. N., 400 block, 5:32 p.m. June 22. An assault was reported.

Central Ave., 2400 block, 9:11 a.m. June 21. An assault was reported. An arrest was made.

Commonwealth Ave., 1500 block, 8:04 p.m. June 22. An assault was reported. An arrest was made.

Courthouse Sq., 400 block, 12:02 a.m. June 18. An assault was reported.

Duke St., 4600 block, 1:15 p.m. June 22. An assault was reported.

Edison St., 3600 block, 1:15 p.m. June 17. An assault was reported.

Edison St., 3600 block, 8:31 p.m. June 17. An assault was reported.

Edsall Rd., 6000 block, 5:18 a.m. June 20. An assault was reported.

Edsall Rd., 6000 block, 10:31 p.m. June 20. An assault was reported. An arrest was made.

Eisenhower Ave., 4000 block, 7:07 p.m. June 19. An assault was reported.

Eisenhower Ave., 4500 block, 9:20 a.m. June 19. An assault was reported.

Eliot Ct., 5700 block, 2:31 a.m. June 22. An assault was reported.

Executive Ave., 3800 block, 1:53 a.m. June 16. An assault was reported.

Four Mile Rd., 600 block, 11:10 p.m. June 14. An assault was reported.

Grimm Dr., 5000 block, 5:30 p.m. June 16. An assault was reported. An arrest was made.

Harwich Ct., 5700 block, 12:24 a.m. June 20. An assault was reported.

Hudson St. S., unit block, 2:17 a.m. June 14. An assault was reported.

Ingle Pl., 100 block, 11:23 p.m. June 19. An assault was reported.

King St., 3200 block, 11:15 a.m. June 22. An assault was reported. An arrest was made.

King St., 3500 block, 4:16 p.m. June 16. An assault was reported.

King St., 4600 block, 12:20 a.m. June 19. An assault was reported. An arrest was made.

Potomac and E. Howell avenues, 11:35 p.m. June 22. An assault was reported.

Scroggins Rd., 2000 block, 12:56 p.m. June 14. An assault was reported.

Seminary Rd., 4300 block, 8:05 p.m. June 22. An assault was reported.

Seminary Rd., 4300 block, 10:26 p.m. June 22. An assault was reported.

Seminary Rd., 4900 block, 2:11 a.m. June 22. An assault was reported.

Tancil Ct., 300 block, 9:57 p.m. June 22. An assault was reported.

Taney Ave., 4600 block, 9:51 a.m. June 17. An assault was reported.

Whiting St. S., 200 block, 11:45 a.m. June 17. An assault was reported.

Woodland Ter., 200 block, 5:47 p.m. June 14. An assault was reported. An arrest was made.

First and Powhatan streets, 12:57 a.m. June 20. An assault was reported.

ABDUCTION

Armistead St. N., 400 block, 5:32 p.m. June 22. A kidnapping incident was reported.

ROBBERIES

Mount Vernon Ave., 4000 block, 11:18 p.m. June 14. A robbery was reported.

Roanoke Ave., 5400 block, 1:15 a.m. June 18. A robbery was reported.

Whiting St. S., 200 block, 3:12 a.m. June 20. A robbery was reported.

Whiting St. S., 200 block, 6:32 a.m. June 17. A robbery was reported.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Armistead St. N., 400 block, 9:33 a.m. June 21. A theft was reported.

Armistead St. N., 400 block, 11:25 p.m. June 20. A theft was reported.

Buchanan St., 200 block, 5:19 p.m. June 16. A theft was reported.

Clermont Ave., 200 block, 5:14 p.m. June 21. Property was stolen.

Columbus St. S., 200 block, 12:47 a.m. June 14. A theft was reported.

Commonwealth Ave., 3700 block, 6:45 p.m. June 14. Property was entered. An arrest was made.

Duke St., 1100 block, 1:32 a.m. June 18. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Duke St., 2900 block, 8:56 a.m. June 17. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Duke St., 3100 block, 9:54 a.m. June 21. A theft was reported.

Duke St., 3100 block, 11:11 a.m. June 17. A theft was reported.

Duke St., 4400 block, 5:18 a.m. June 19. Property was entered. An arrest was made.

Duke St., 4600 block, 3:24 a.m. June 15. A theft was reported.

Duke St., 5000 block, 7 p.m. June 22. A theft was reported.

Duke St., 5700 block, 7:01 p.m. June 16. A theft was reported. An arrest was made.

Duke St., 5800 block, 2:34 p.m. June 17. A theft was reported.

Duke St., 6200 block, 8:46 p.m. June 18. A theft was reported.

Edsall Rd., 6000 block, 5:18 a.m. June 20. A theft was reported.

Eisenhower Ave., 2700 block, 5:21 a.m. June 16. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Eisenhower Ave., 4000 block, 7:50 a.m. June 17. A theft was reported.

Eisenhower Ave., 5000 block, 10:46 a.m. June 19. A theft was reported.

Fayette St. N., 700 block, 7:49 p.m. June 16. Property was entered.

Hampton Dr. N., 3100 block, 2:42 a.m. June 18. A theft was reported.

Henry St. N., 800 block, 4:01 a.m. June 23. A theft was reported.

Holmes Run Pkwy., 5300 block, 12:27 p.m. June 18. A theft was reported and property was damaged.

Hume Ave., 100 block, 7:15 p.m. June 15. A theft was reported.

Jefferson Davis Hwy., 3100 block, 6:18 p.m. June 14. A theft was reported. An arrest was made.

Jefferson Davis Hwy., 3500 block, 3:23 p.m. June 15. A theft was reported and property was damaged.

Kenmore Ave., 4600 block, 4:07 p.m. June 17. A theft was reported. An arrest was made.

King St., 100 block, 4:03 a.m. June 17. A theft was reported.

King St., 1100 block, 12:35 p.m. June 18. A theft was reported.

King St., 3300 block, 11:18 a.m. June 17. A theft was reported.

King St., 3300 block, 1:44 p.m. June 17. A theft was reported.

King St., 3300 block, 2:24 p.m. June 21. A theft was reported.

King St., 3500 block, 4:55 p.m. June 21. A theft was reported. An arrest was made.

King St., 3500 block, 9:18 p.m. June 22. A theft was reported.

King St., 4300 block, 11:02 a.m. June 20. A theft was reported.

Lee St. S., 100 block, 12:57 p.m. June 18. A theft was reported. An arrest was made.

Madison St., 1000 block, 5:21 p.m. June 14. Property was entered.

Madison St., 1200 block, 3:35 a.m. June 19. Property was entered. An arrest was made.

Montgomery St., 1000 block, 1:01 p.m. June 15. Property was entered. An arrest was made.

Montgomery St., 1000 block, 1:44 p.m. June 15. Property was entered. An arrest was made.

Morgan St. N., 5400 block, 11:57 p.m. June 16. A theft was reported.

Oronoco St., 1500 block, 6:58 a.m. June 15. A theft was reported.

Park Center Dr., 2600 block, 5:50 p.m. June 14. A theft was reported.

Patrick St. N., 100 block, 3:30 p.m. June 19. A theft was reported.

Prince St., 400 block, 5:09 p.m. June 22. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Prince St., unit block, 8:30 p.m. June 17. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Princess St., 1500 block, 5 p.m. June 19. A theft was reported.

Raleigh Ave., 4300 block, 9:52 a.m. June 22. A theft was reported.

Raleigh Ave., 4500 block, 4:48 a.m. June 19. A theft was reported.

Rayburn Ave., 5600 block, 10:16 a.m. June 14. A theft was reported.

Reynolds St. S., 300 block, 2:22 p.m. June 14. Property was entered.

Reynolds St. S., 300 block, 3:18 p.m. June 16. Property was entered. An arrest was made.

Reynolds St. S., unit block, 8 a.m. June 15. A theft was reported.

Reynolds St. S., unit block, 11:57 a.m. June 15. A theft was reported. An arrest was made.

Ripley St. N., 100 block, 7:30 a.m. June 20. A theft was reported.

Ripley St. N., 100 block, 11:13 a.m. June 20. A theft was reported.

Ripley St. N., 300 block, 6:55 a.m. June 18. A theft was reported.

Roanoke Ave., 5400 block, 1:15 a.m. June 18. A theft was reported.

Saint Asaph St. N., 100 block, 4:15 p.m. June 18. A theft was reported.

Seminary Rd., 4900 block, 5:29 p.m. June 17. A theft was reported.

Taney Ave., 4300 block, 7:16 a.m. June 22. A theft was reported.

Taney Ave., 4400 block, 3:05 a.m. June 18. Property was entered.

Tennessee Ave., 700 block, 11:43 a.m. June 14. A theft was reported.

Union St. S., 100 block, 11:50 p.m. June 16. A theft was reported.

Valley Dr., 3600 block, 11:06 a.m. June 16. A theft was reported.

Van Dorn St. N., 400 block, 12:26 p.m. June 18. A theft was reported.

Van Dorn St. N., 400 block, 3:18 p.m. June 18. A theft was reported.

Van Dorn St. N., 800 block, 7:13 a.m. June 15. A theft was reported.

Walnut St. E., 100 block, 9:25 a.m. June 15. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Washington St. S., 1200 block, 7:55 p.m. June 15. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Washington St. S., 1200 block, 8:28 p.m. June 16. Property was entered. An arrest was made.

Whiting St. S., 200 block, 6:32 a.m. June 17. A theft was reported.

Windsor Ave. E., 100 block, 2:23 p.m. June 17. A theft was reported.

Wythe St., 1200 block, 12:57 p.m. June 14. Property was entered. An arrest was made.

MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS

Alfred St. N., 100 block, 2:30 p.m. June 15. A vehicle was stolen.

Branch Ave., 3400 block, 10:21 a.m. June 16. A vehicle was stolen.

Century Dr., 100 block, 12:50 p.m. June 20. A vehicle was stolen.

Hampton Dr. N., 3100 block, 5:13 p.m. June 18. A vehicle was stolen.

Jefferson Davis Hwy., 3800 block, 9:59 a.m. June 21. A vehicle was stolen.

Kenmore Ave., 4700 block, 6:52 a.m. June 17. A vehicle was stolen.

Kenmore Ave., 4700 block, 7:19 a.m. June 17. A vehicle was stolen.

Seminary Rd., 5000 block, 10:29 a.m. June 19. A vehicle was stolen.

Van Dorn St. N., 1400 block, 6:50 a.m. June 20. A vehicle was stolen.

Wyndham Cir., 3300 block, 10:17 a.m. June 14. A vehicle was stolen.

VANDALISM

Braddock Rd. W., 900 block, 11:56 p.m. June 14. Property was damaged.

Branch Ave., 3400 block, 10:21 a.m. June 16. Property was damaged.

Canterbury Sq., unit block, 10:01 p.m. June 22. Property was damaged.

Century Pl., 200 block, 6:13 p.m. June 17. Property was damaged.

Dawes Ave., 4900 block, 4:40 a.m. June 21. Property was damaged.

Duke St., 4600 block, 6:50 p.m. June 16. Property was damaged.

Eisenhower Ave., 4500 block, 9:20 a.m. June 19. Property was damaged.

Elizabeth Lane, 500 block, 1:45 a.m. June 16. Property was damaged.

Herbert St. and Mount Vernon Ave., 6:32 p.m. June 16. Property was damaged.

Holmes Run Pkwy., 5300 block, 9:45 a.m. June 19. Property was damaged.

Holmes Run Ter., unit block, 6:32 p.m. June 16. Property was damaged. An arrest was made.

Imboden St. N., 500 block, 6:36 p.m. June 17. Property was damaged.

Jefferson Davis Hwy., 2900 block, 11:29 a.m. June 20. Property was damaged.

King St., 3500 block, 4:16 p.m. June 16. Property was damaged.

Mason Ave. W., unit block, 8:25 a.m. June 16. Property was damaged.

Mount Ida Ave. W., 200 block, 1:29 p.m. June 17. Property was damaged.

Patrick St. N., 500 block, 10:17 p.m. June 14. Property was damaged.

Pickett and S. Van Dorn streets, 6:45 p.m. June 20. Property was damaged.

Seminary Rd., 4900 block, 4:34 p.m. June 21. Property was damaged.

Stevenson Ave., 6300 block, 11:20 a.m. June 14. Property was damaged.

Taney Ave., 4500 block, 8:39 p.m. June 14. Property was damaged.

Van Dorn St. S., 100 block, 5:19 p.m. June 14. Property was damaged.

Wythe St., 1200 block, 12:14 a.m. June 21. Property was damaged. An arrest was made.

Yoakum Pkwy., 200 block, 10:24 p.m. June 16. Property was damaged.

Arlington

These were among incidents reported from June 13 to June 21 by the Arlington County Police Department. For information, call 703-558-2222 or visit newsroom.arlingtonva.us.

SEXUAL ASSAULTS

Arlington Blvd. S., 3600 block, 3:30 p.m. June 17. A man reached under a female pedestrians dress and touched her inappropriately. The 16-year-old girl yelled and the man fled on foot.

ASSAULTS

Buchanan St. S., 900 block. An assault was reported.

Columbia Pike S., 4300 block. An assault was reported.

Courthouse Rd. N., 1400 block, 1:16 a.m. June 19. A person was assaulted with a knife.

Courthouse Rd. N., 1400 block, 9:07 a.m. June 21. Two people fought.

Frederick St. S., 800 block. An assault was reported.

Glebe Rd. S., 2900 block. An assault was reported.

Greenbrier St. S., 800 block. An assault was reported.

Hartford St. N., 1200 block, 1:30 a.m. June 18. During an argument. which became physical, a group knocked a man to the ground and fled from the scene.

Hayes St. S., 1200 block. An assault was reported.

Hayes St. S., 1400 block, 9:24 p.m. June 18. An investigation of a reported assault revealed that a female had bumped into a person, which caused a fight. Police found an unresponsive female who was taken to a hospital. She was in stable condition. A Clinton woman, 19, and a Patterson, N.J., woman, 63, were charged.

Irving St. N., 1100 block. An assault was reported.

Lee Hwy. N., 1400 block, 12:49 p.m. June 18. Two people fought.

Lee Hwy. N., 1500 block, 2:55 p.m. June 17. Two people fought.

Lee Hwy. N., 4800 block. An assault was reported.

Nelson St. N., 1000 block, 8:22 a.m. June 16. Two people fought.

Pershing Dr. N., 2200 block, 11:05 a.m. June 18. Two people fought at a residence.

Wilson Blvd. and N. Irving St., 8:09 p.m. June 17. Two people fought.

Wilson Blvd. N., 3100 block, 2:02 a.m. June 19. Two people fought.

10th St. S., 1600 block. An assault was reported.

18th St. N., 3100 block, 11:40 a.m. June 21. An assault was reported.

25th St. N., 5700 block. An assault was reported.

BOMB THREAT

Joyce St. S., 1200 block, 10:40 a.m. June 21. Police responding to a reported bomb threat at a restaurant found no results. An investigation is ongoing.

PEEPING TOM

Fourth St. N., 3900 block, 9:20 p.m. June 20. A woman found a man peering through her window.

ROBBERIES

Carlin Springs Rd. N., 100 block, midnight June 19. Two males demanded money from two men. After refusing, one of the men was stabbed in the back. Both males fled on foot.

Hayes St. S., 1100 block, 9:04 p.m. June 17. Two females assaulted a male after they robbed a store of merchandise.

Hayes St. S., 1200 block, 10:05 p.m. June 19. A man grabbed money from an employees hand and was restrained by other workers at the store when he attempted to flee. A man, 33, of no fixed address, was charged.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Arlington Ridge S., 1100 block. A theft was reported.

Buchanan St. S., 2200 block. A theft was reported.

Calvert St. N., 2000 block. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Columbia Pike S., 1500 block. A theft was reported.

Columbia Pike S., 4900 block. A theft was reported.

Columbia Pike S., 5500 block. A theft was reported.

Columbus St. S., 900 block. A theft was reported.

Courthouse Rd. N., 1400 block, 6:45 p.m. June 18. A theft was reported.

Fairfax Dr. N., 4200 block. Property was entered.

Fairfax Dr. N., 4400 block. An attempt was made to enter a property.

Four Mile Run Dr. S., 4000 block. A theft was reported.

Glebe Rd. N., 200 block. A theft was reported.

Glebe Rd. N., 700 block. A theft was reported.

Glebe Rd. N., 700 block, 12:02 p.m. June 20. A theft was reported.

Glebe Rd. N., 700 block, 3:53 p.m. June 16. A shoplifting incident was reported.

Glebe Rd. N., 700 block. 9:41 p.m. June 17. A shoplifting incident was reported.

Hayes St. S., 1000 block. Three thefts were reported.

Hayes St. S., 1100 block. Seven thefts were reported.

Hayes St. S., 1100 block. An employee theft was reported.

Hayes St. S., 1100 block. Identity theft was reported.

Hayes St. S., 1100 block. Two attempts to steal were reported.

Hayes St. S., 1200 block. A theft was reported.

Hayes St. S., 1400 block. A theft was reported.

Hayes St. S., 1400 block. An employee theft was reported.

Jefferson Davis Hwy. S., 1700 block. A theft was reported.

Jefferson Davis Hwy. S., 2100 block. Identity theft was reported.

Jefferson Davis Hwy. S., 2700 block. Property was entered.

Joyce St. S., 1300 block. A theft was reported.

Kemper Rd. S., 3500 block. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Key Blvd. N., 2000 block. An attempt was made to enter a property.

Lee Hwy. N., 4700 block, 6:51 p.m. June 21. A theft was reported.

Nash St. N., 1800 block, 4:56 p.m. June 15. A residential theft was reported.

Nelson St. S., 2700 block. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Old Glebe Rd. S., 100 block. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Orme St. S., 900 block, 4:10 to 4:30 a.m. June 15. A woman awoke to find a man in her hotel room and saw him removing items from her suitcase. The man fled when she confronted him.

Oxford St. N., 300 block, 1:19 p.m. June 21. A theft was reported.

Queen St. S., 2300 block. A license plate was stolen.

Randolph St. N., 900 block, 5:35 p.m. June 20. A theft was reported.

Randolph St. S., 3000 block. A theft was reported.

Scott St. N., 2100 block. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Scott St. N., 2100 block, 11:23 a.m. June 20. A theft was reported.

Shirlington Rd. S., 2200 block. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Walter Reed Dr. S., 800 block. A theft was reported.

Walter Reed Dr. S., 800 block. Property was entered.

Washington Blvd., 3400 block, 5:45 p.m. June 21. A theft was reported.

Wilson Blvd. N., 1900 block, 1:01 p.m. June 20. A theft was reported.

Wilson Blvd. N., 1900 block, 2:45 p.m. June 19. A theft was reported.

Wilson Blvd. N., 3100 block. A credit card was stolen.

Wilson Blvd. N., 3100 block, 3:36 p.m. June 18. A theft was reported.

Eighth Pl. S., 5400 block. A theft was reported.

14th Rd. S., 500 block. A theft was reported.

15th St. S., 500 block. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

20th Rd. N., 2500 block. An attempt was made to enter a property.

21st Rd. N., 1700 block, 12:47 p.m. June 20. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

22nd St. N., 1500 block, 7:49 p.m. June 15. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

22nd St. N., 5300 block, 11:30 p.m. June 13. A man was seen rummaging through a vehicle and fled. Police found the man unconscious in the grass nearby. A Falls Church man, 26, was charged.

MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS

12th St. S., 3800 block, June 21. A blue 2012 Longbo moped was stolen.

22nd St. S., 3800 block, June 17. A white 2002 Ford E-250 was stolen.

VANDALISM

Calvert St. N., 2000 block, 8:56 a.m. June 17. Property was damaged.

Culpepper St. N., 2100 block. Property was damaged.

Four Mile Run Dr. S., 3700 block. Property was damaged.

Lang St. S., 2700 block. Property was damaged.

Queen St. S., 1100 block. Property was damaged.

Taylor St. N., 2400 block, 6:42 p.m. June 20. Property was damaged.

Eighth Rd. S., 5200 block. Property was damaged.

16th St. S., 2600 block. Property was tampered with.
Wegmans, the grocery chain, said legislation pending in the District that requires employers to schedule workers two weeks in advance could dissuade it from opening a store in the city. (Benjamin C. Tankersley/For The Washington Post)

The District is fast becoming one of the labor-friendliest cities in the nation  a reality that has left the retail industry and conservative policy groups feeling pummeled by the citys progressive leaders.

First, city officials approved a $15 minimum wage. Then a proposal, still pending, to require employers in the District to provide workers with up to 16 weeks of paid family and medical leave.

And on Tuesday, the D.C. Council was slated to vote on a controversial measure that would dictate the amount of advance notice major employers must give workers when scheduling shifts.

But the retail and food industries, which launched a major lobbying effort to kill the scheduling legislation, scored a minor victory  or at least a sign that the council is paying attention to their pleas.

Council member Vincent B. Orange (D-At Large) withdrew his proposal before the full council could discuss it or take a scheduled vote on it Tuesday. He said he wants to smooth out issues in the proposal and hopes to get it back on the councils agenda July 12.

We were trying to push real hard and see if we could get it on the fast track and get it through today, Orange said. I thought it would be better to slow it down and work with a couple council members who have some questions on it.

San Francisco is the only city in the country to ban a widely used practice known as just-in-time scheduling, in which employers assign workers according to the time of day or month that they expect the most business. That requires the workers to be available at a moments notice  and it sometimes sends them home if business is slow.

The practice helps minimize labor costs, but it wreaks havoc on the lives of low-wage workers because it makes it difficult to schedule child care, commit to a second job or take part-time classes. It also leads to erratic paychecks.

The measure the D.C. Council will consider would prohibit employers with more than 40 locations nationwide from changing workers schedules less than two weeks in advance. If a business does make a change after the initial schedule is posted, the employee must be compensated one hour of pay. If the change is made within 24 hours of the shift, the employee must be compensated between two and four hours of pay.

The bill also requires those businesses to give extra hours to part-time workers instead of hiring more part-time workers. Businesses that do not comply could be fined.

Until recently, RasImani Diggs, 23, worked at the Marshalls in Columbia Heights for three years. She said the store would give employees their schedules for the coming week on Saturdays, which made it hard for her to juggle her other jobs.

They made it hard to give you a chance to breathe or live your life outside what was going on in Marshalls, said Diggs , who now works at a D.C. elementary school. They never even tried to meet me part- or halfway.

The TJX Companies, which owns Marshalls, declined to comment on the proposed legislation.

But business interests said that employers need to be able to schedule workers as they are needed and that the government should not be interfering with the flexibility they require.

Margaret Singleton, interim president of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, said that the Districts pro-labor posture could discourage prospective employers from opening in the city.

Its just a cumulative burden of employment-related laws that have been passed in the District in recent years, she said. This is just one additional one.

The Wegmans grocery store chain, for example, has long considered opening its first outpost in the District at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

But a spokeswoman for the New York-based chain said the scheduling legislation could be a deal-breaker.

The proposed legislation is a significant factor for us to consider before locating a store within the District, Marcie Rivera wrote in an email. It would negatively impact our ability to meet the work-life balance needs of our employees through flexible scheduling, while also increasing our costs.

Lobbyists for major national retailers and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce have been meeting with D.C. Council members, urging them to defeat the bill, which moved out of committee last week by a 3-to-2 vote.

Council members Brandon T. Todd (D-Ward 4) was a co-sponsor of the bill but voted against it in committee after meeting with local business officials, who said the legislation would dissuade them from expanding.

Weve seen a boom in the District with businesses wanting to locate here, Todd said. I think its incumbent upon our government that we remain competitive with Maryland and Virginia.

Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), a co-sponsor, also voted against the bill in committee. He said there are still details that need to be hammered out. For instance, the bill exempts employers from the scheduling rules in the event of severe weather but does not define the term, he said.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said that many of the council members felt uncomfortable with the bill as it stood. I share some of the uneasiness, he said.

Among the biggest concerns is what would happen if a business had an unexpected event and needed to schedule employees at the last minute, Orange said.

[D.C. advances bill that would tell businesses how to schedule employees]

But Orange and local labor activists are still confident that there will be enough votes to push the bill through in July.

We expect that the council can hear out legitimate business concerns and be reasonable about changes that need to be made to the bill, said Ari Schwartz, a campaign organizer at DC Jobs with Justice, one of several groups that have been pushing for legislation in the District. But at the end of the day, the council represents the people of D.C. and not these billion-dollar national corporations that have been all over the Wilson Building.
How does New Columbia sound? That may be the new name for the District of Columbia if the city wins its bid to become the 51st state, a statehood commission decided on Monday.

Settling on a name was among the most basic constitutional questions settled by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, D.C. shadow Sen. Paul Strauss and others on the five-member commission, which also approved a draft state constitution that calls for the creation of a 21-person state legislature.

[D.C. convenes first constitutional convention of the 21st century]

New Columbia is actually an old name - it was approved by voters in a 1982 referendum that was part of an earlier campaign for statehood.

But the moniker is far from a crowd pleaser. Residents suggested at least 10 alternatives ranging from Potomac to Anacostia to Douglass Commonwealth - an homage to abolitionist Frederick Douglass that would have maintained the Districts D.C. abbreviation.

We decided to keep what had been part of the statehood legacy since 1982, said Strauss, who says hes not a super fan of the New Columbia name. If the voters of the new state want to change it, thats going to be a great thing they can do as a free state.

Some also wanted the new name disconnected from Christopher Columbus, saying they associate the Italian explorer with the decimation of indigenous people.

If D.C. becomes the 51st state, what should it be called? Voting is closed on this poll User Poll Results: If the District is granted statehood, what should the 51st state be named? New Columbia Anacostia Potomac and Douglass Commonwealth Douglass Commonwealth None of the above. We need something better. Pardon the interruption! We need to verify that you are an actual person. New Columbia Anacostia Potomac and Douglass Commonwealth Douglass Commonwealth None of the above. We need something better. View Results This is a non-scientific user poll. Results are not statistically valid and cannot be assumed to reflect the views of Washington Post users as a group or the general population.

Bowser is leading a renewed push for statehood that has picked up steam this year, including some high-profile endorsements from President Obama and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton.

The Districts statehood bid also won the backing this week of the U.S. Conference of Mayors this week, and is included in a draft of the national Democratic Party platform to be debated at the July convention in Philadelphia.

The proposed 51st state name, however, got little love on social media following Mondays decision.

Those who detest New Columbia will get an opportunity to lobby for a different name in the fall, when the D.C. Council holds hearings on the draft constitution before bringing it before voters as a ballot question in November.
D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson will step down from her position in September. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) shared the news in a statement Wednesday. (WUSA9)

D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson will step down from her position in September. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) shared the news in a statement Wednesday. (WUSA9)

D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, who built a national reputation for shepherding a troubled school district through rapid improvements, announced Wednesday that she will step down from her post in the fall.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), who said she did not ask Henderson to resign, immediately tapped John Davis, the school systems chief of schools, to serve as interim chancellor beginning Oct. 1. A national search for a permanent chancellor will begin later this year, but a replacement likely wont start until the 2016-2017 school year concludes.

Henderson was preceded by Michelle Rhee, who drew attention  and scrutiny  for her combative approach to improving the citys schools. In a combined 10 years leading the citys schools between them, Rhee and Hendersons experiment in school reform became a national bellwether for urban schools.

Bowser said that the citys school-reform efforts will not slow under the next chancellor.

While we have made progress, no one should think that we are stopping, Bowser said. We want to send a strong signal that were putting a foot even further down on the gas when it comes to public school reform.

Kaya Henderson, chancellor of D.C. Public Schools, chats with students as they enter Eastern High School in this file photo from the first day of school on Monday, Aug. 25, 2014. (Amanda Voisard/For The Washington Post)

Henderson had long said she planned to stay at the helm of the city school system until at least 2017. But in an interview Wednesday, she said that leaving in September  a slow time for the school system, after the new school year begins  feels right.

She has led the school system for more than five years, far longer than the average three-year tenure of school superintendents in big cities. And she said leading the nearly 50,000-student system has been strenuous; she plans to relax and spend time with her family for at least six months before considering other offers in the education field.

[D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson celebrates 5 years at helm]

This is dog years on your life, Henderson said of her job. Leadership is about knowing when to pass the baton. I know that there are other people that can pick it up and run with it.

Hendersons unexpected departure comes as the city is experiencing an influx of wealth and new residents, and more parents are choosing D.C. Public Schools. During Hendersons five-year tenure, test scores have improved, schools have beefed up academic and extracurricular offerings and the system  once considered among the most dysfunctional in the nation  has been hailed by President Obama as an example of promising reform.

[District officials turn to home visits to boost schools]

What shes done here is not only just improve the academic outcomes, shes managed to stabilize the system, said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, a coalition of large school districts. Shes given the city a sense of optimism and hope that its public school system can be what they want it to be.





Despite the widespread accolades, the school system has not been without its troubles in recent years, with many questioning whether the citys approach to fixing its schools has benefited its neediest children. Although overall scores on national standardized tests have been among the fastest-rising in the nation, there are still stark achievement gaps separating white and black students and the wealthy and poor.

Aside from academics, there also have been controversies involving the school systems handling of its food-service contract and, more recently, over the testing of lead in water at city schools.

A onetime Spanish teacher and Teach for America executive, Henderson arrived at D.C. Public Schools in 2007 as a deputy to Rhee, the then-chancellor who had an unapologetically combative approach to reform and an antagonistic relationship with the citys teachers union.

Rhee abruptly closed more than 20 schools. And under her leadership, the citys school system became among the first in the nation to judge teachers and principals  and fire them  based in part on how their students performed on standardized tests.

When Rhee resigned after then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty lost his reelection bid, many wondered whether her reform efforts would be abandoned. But Henderson continued them, albeit with a softer touch that ignited fewer public firestorms.

Now Henderson says that D.C. Public Schools is staffed with a deep bench of talented people who share her philosophy, and she doesnt believe her departure will result in significant change.

I set about to build an institution where one person leaving wouldnt matter anymore, Henderson said. I have a team that is raring and ready to go, and I think just because people dont know them doesnt mean theyre not capable. People didnt know me, either.

In an interview on Oct. 2015, D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson talks about the challenges of turning around the troubled school district. (DC Office of Cable Television)

Davis, the incoming interim leader, is a former Baltimore teacher and administrator who, like Henderson, came to the District in 2007 to work with Rhee.

While Bowser lauded the chancellor Wednesday, she did not definitively say she would hire a new chancellor whose leadership approach mirrors Hendersons.

Part of searching for a new chancellor will be taking the pulse of the community, getting feedback from stakeholders and moving forward, Bowser said.

Henderson has had a rocky relationship with the Washington Teachers Union. The teachers contract expired in 2012 and has yet to be renewed, with each side blaming the other for stalled negotiations. Elizabeth Davis, the head of the WTU, said she hopes to finish contract negotiations before Henderson leaves.

[One in 10 D.C. students score college ready on new high school math test]

Under Hendersons leadership, the city became one of the first big school districts to embrace the Common Core, overhauling its curriculum in math and reading. She has pushed to change the trajectory for poor and minority children by extending the school day and year at some schools, by opening a school meant to prepare black males for college, by offering new career-education academies and by creating a summer study-abroad program.

[D.C. schools to invest $20 million in efforts to help black and Latino male students]

The school system has been among the nations fastest gainers on the National Assessment for Educational Progress, often called the Nations Report Card, although achievement gaps are wide: Just 17 percent of black fourth-graders are proficient in reading, for example, compared with 82 percent of white fourth-graders.

Henderson has pumped millions of dollars into secondary schools, aiming to keep students in the system as they hit middle school, when they historically have chosen to leave for charters, private schools or stronger suburban systems in Maryland and Virginia. Those efforts  a key Bowser priority  have had middling success: Between fall 2015 and fall 2016, DCPS middle school enrollment dropped by nearly 400 students, while the citys charters saw nearly equivalent growth.

Greg Rhett, a parent who lives in Ward 7  a predominantly poor, black area east of the Anacostia River  said he has to send his daughter to a middle school in Capitol Hill to give her a challenging academic experience.

City data shows that a majority of students in Wards 7 and 8 transfer to DCPS schools outside their neighborhoods or choose charters. Theres just a lot that is lacking east of the river, Rhett said. She came in, there was an achievement gap for children of color and I think that achievement gap still exists.

But overall, DCPSs efforts to improve and market itself have paid off. After a four-decade enrollment decline, the citys student population has grown for the past four years.

We are the nations capital, and we should have a school system that we should be proud of, Henderson said. That wasnt the case before, and that is the case now, and I feel proud to be part of that.
Angela Holocker, center, principal at Matapeake Middle School, responds to a vote during a meeting of the Queen Annes County school board in Centreville, Md., on May 4. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)

Maryland officials have denied community requests to remove three school board members in an Eastern Shore county following an uproar over the ousting of a popular superintendent.

In three opinions announced late Tuesday, the Maryland State Board of Education found that the requests  from more than 30 Queen Annes County residents  were not factually or legally sufficient to warrant removal of the boards relatively new majority. By law, such action may be taken for such reasons as immorality, misconduct in office, incompetence and willful neglect of duty.

The state board found that some of what the board members did in recent months  during and after heated confrontations at public meetings regarding the decision not to renew the school superintendents contract  was inappropriate and unprofessional. It condemned one school board members racially tinged public comment, cautioned another about her posts on social media, and urged the board members to be more open, receptive and respectful to the views of the public during important debates.

[Heated debate on Marylands Eastern Shore as critics seek to oust school board majority]

But the state board also found that nothing the board members did rose to the level of removal, noting that this was the first time it has considered a community-led effort to remove school board members from office; such requests usually come directly from school boards, according to the opinions.

The decision on whether to retain a superintendent is a quintessential local issue, entrusted to the board members who were voted into office by the citizens of the county, the board wrote in each of the three opinions. Elections provide an ultimate check on whether the citizens approve of the decisions made by their elected representatives. The State Boards removal authority is not meant to be a citizen recall.

Arlene Taylor, one of the three members who were the subject of complaints to the state, said late Tuesday that she had not yet reviewed the opinions. The other two  Annette DiMaggio and Jennifer George  did not respond to requests for comment.

[State board opinions regarding Annette DiMaggio, Jennifer George and Arlene Taylor.]

Some who opposed the board members and joined the state complaint said they were dismayed by the state boards findings but not completely surprised.

It was a lot to ask them to remove school board members, said L. Michelle Johnson, a Queen Annes parent, noting that such removals are rare.

The controversy in the semirural county of 50,000, just east of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, dates to February, when a recently elected three-member school board majority decided not to renew the contract of Superintendent Carol Williamson, a well-regarded educator who had been in charge for eight years and had served the school system for more than two decades. Queen Annes has 7,700 students and 14 public schools.

Williamson, 71, was a familiar face at school events and community gatherings and had no plans to retire as she neared the end of a second four-year contract. Many assumed that she would continue in her job, feeling the school system was strong and headed in the right direction.

As the community learned that the board had voted 3-2, in a closed session, not to renew Williamsons contract, residents packed school board meetings, assailing what many said was a secret move. They pushed for the chance to give input and demanded that the board explain its decision.

Members of the board who voted against Williamson have said little but have hinted at concerns that there are too few minority teachers and that academic achievement had stagnated. State board documents show that Queen Annes school board members have not wanted to discuss their rationale, citing it as a personnel matter, but one cited a need for change, and another described what she saw as a lack of academic progress as a factor.

Williamson, the outgoing superintendent, works her final day this week. The Queen Annes board appointed the systems assistant superintendent, Gregory Pilewski, as an interim schools chief while it conducts a search for a new leader.

The three state board opinions, each 12 to 19 pages long, parsed allegations that the board members violated open meetings laws and ethics rules, engaged in improper behavior at board meetings, disregarded public comment, lacked an explanation for the superintendent decision, and made threats against employees.

While the opinions noted that the board was permitted to discuss the superintendents contract in closed session, they pointed out that the states Open Meetings Compliance Board had found that the board had violated open meetings laws in the process.

The state board also took issue with some board members actions, even as they did not conclude that those actions amounted to official misconduct.

The opinion regarding complaints against DiMaggio said that social-media posts she published during the debate  including calling out an individual for what she considered bullying  showed a certain lack of professionalism and advised that her conduct reflects not just on her, but on the board as a whole.

The state boards opinion about Taylor, the boards only African American member, said some residents interpreted comments she made about race to mean that the superintendent was not renewed because she is white. While state officials did not conclude that Taylors decision was linked to the superintendents race, they found that Taylor was wrong to describe the county board as lily-white.

That type of language has no place in public discourse and we strongly condemn it, the state board wrote in the opinion.

State board members also noted, in the opinion relating to complaints about George, that allegations of the board not listening to members of the public who disagreed are serious concerns. The board advised that Queen Annes members be open, receptive, and respectful to the views of the public especially when controversial decisions are being made.

Bryan Holocker, who was active in the removal effort, said he is worried about retaliation against district staff members who supported Williamson and spoke against the board. His wife, Angela, is the principal at Matapeake Middle School in Stevensville, and she filed one of the first state complaints against the three school board members in March, accusing them of multiple examples of misconduct and willful neglect.

Im exceedingly disappointed, Bryan Holocker said.
CLEAR LAKE  A former North Iowa resident has filed a lawsuit against a Clear Lake company over an on-the-job injury.

Neal Prater, who now lives in Darien, Wisconsin, filed the lawsuit against Iowa Powdercraft LLC, and its owner, John Thompson, last week in Cerro Gordo County District Court.

The lawsuit states a heavy metal part which was held by chains and bolts so it could be powder-coated crashed to the floor, burning and crushing Praters legs, on Sept. 4, 2014.

Prater claims when the chains and bolts were purchased they had a prominent sticker on them stating objects were not to be hung from them.

On numerous occasions before the accident, employees notified Thompson the chains and bolts were inadequate and needed to be replaced, Prater claims.

Thompson occasionally purchased new chains and bolts or ordered an employee to do so, but the replacements also had the sticker on them indicating parts were not to be hung from them, according to the lawsuit.

Prater is requesting an unspecified amount in damages for past and future medical expenses, past lost wages and income, loss of future earning capacity and past and future mental pain and suffering as well as punitive damages.

We categorically deny any intentional negligence or wrongdoing, Thompson told the Globe Gazette.

He said the matter will be handled by insurance.

We hope he (Prater) continues to heal, Thompson said.

Iowa Powdercraft provides media blasting, pre-treatment and coatings for all metals.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Tuesday night that he will continue to fight the Democratic-majority legislature over the funding of transportation road projects and enlisted the help of local elected officials to join him.

During a 10-minute address before a crowd of about 700 people at the Maryland Municipal League Convention, Hogan said we cannot and will not let the General Assembly hinder road and bridge repairs.

Were going to keep fighting to make sure these priority road projects in every jurisdiction continue to move forward, Hogan said. But we need our municipal and our county officials, each and every one of you, to stand with us so our roads and highways dont go back down a path of neglect and under investment.

[Hogan vetoes transportation bill, setting up fight with legislature]

Hogan and the General Assembly have been in a protracted battle over how transportation funds should be spent.

Last year, the governor killed the Red Line rail project affecting Baltimore City and Baltimore County and slashed the states share of the costs of the Purple Line in Prince Georges and Montgomery counties. During the same transportation announcement, Hogan increased the amount of funding for repairing roads.

This year, the General Assembly responded by overturning the governors veto of a bill that requires the state to score transportation projects before choosing which plans to fund.

Hogans speech, which included jabs at the legislature and chest-pounding over improvements in job creation, was his first as governor to the convention.

Among the dinner attendees were former governors Harry Hughes and Parris Glendening and Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz (D), a likely candidate in 2018 for the governors seat.

Kamenetz said Hogans criticism of the General Assembly was unfair.

He criticized the General Assembly for passing a transportation scoring bill which really was as a result of his very action of stealing the money from the Red Line project, Kamenetz said. I think its fair for the General Assembly to ask how do you establish priority.

Meanwhile, Jerome J. Klobukowski, a commissioner in Poolesville, said he supported Hogans efforts on transportation because it has helped municipalities.

I hope he continues in office for more than one term, Klobukowski said.

[Hogan on cancer advocacy: I never expected to be in this position]

Last year, Hogan, who was newly diagnosed with cancer, could not attend the convention because of his chemotherapy treatment. He sent Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford (R) in his place, and the attendees posted pictures on social media of them wearing green Hogan Strong bracelets and signing a card for him.

Hogan thanked the officials for their prayers and well wishes.

I will never forget seeing the photos of all of you here signing that giant get-well card, Hogan said. Even though Im a year late, I want you all to know I am thankful to be standing here tonight in remission, 100-percent cancer free and feeling strong.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is joining forces with Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D) to fight an increase in electricity rates to cover the cost of a power line that will connect Delaware to a nuclear power complex that sits off its shores.

Hogan (R) said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission made a terrible move earlier this year when it ruled against Delawares request to lower the states share in paying for the power line, which according to Hogan and Markell (D) will largely benefit New Jersey customers.

This is a mistake. It is unreasonable and it is not fair to the hardworking ratepayers of Maryland and Delaware, Hogan said during an appearance with Markell on Tuesday.

We will use every tool at our disposal to reverse this improper decision.

Last week, the commission agreed to rehear the issue.

In joining Markell, Hogan pits himself against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), a close friend and ally who campaigned for Hogan when he ran for governor in 2014.

Hogan also endorsed Christies presidential bid last year, but he has not expressed support for Christies decision to back presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump after Christie dropped out of the race.

Hogan has said he does not support Trumps candidacy and will not vote for him in November.

[What Trump delegates in Md. think of Hogans refusal to back the candidate]

Asked Wednesday whether he had spoken to Christie about the rate increases, Hogan said he reached out to his fellow blue-state Republican governor but that they never connected.

The regulatory commissions plan would charge 90 percent of the total cost of the project to residents of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, Hogan said, with Delaware residents expected to cover 60 percent of that cost, Maryland residents 35 percent and Virginia residents 5 percent.

Asking New Jersey residents to pay only 10 percent is neither equitable nor in accordance with the established cost allocation practices, Hogan wrote in a letter this week to Norman C. Bay, the commissions chairman.

The commission has said that Delaware and Maryland residents will benefit from the new power line. But Hogan and Markell argue that based on usage, they will not benefit as much as those who live in New Jersey.

Mary Beth Tung, the director of the Maryland Energy Administration, said that at least 385,000 Maryland residents would be affected by the rate increases. She estimated that the average customer would pay $2 to $3 more a month.

[A pipeline that tore a Va. county apart]

Markell and the Delaware Public Service Commission complained last year to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission about the escalating costs of the pipeline project. On Wednesday, Markell said the proposed distribution of costs was unjust and irresponsible.

Its imperative that FERC resolve this issue without delay and before the project moves too far along, Markell said. Planning for construction is already underway, and uncertainty about electricity costs can impact economic development.

Hogans meeting with Markell was part of a multiday trip to Marylands Eastern Shore that included a speech Tuesday night to officials from across the state who were attending the Maryland Municipal League Convention in Ocean City.

Hogan told the crowd of about 700 that he plans to continue to fight the majority-Democratic legislature over funding road projects, and he enlisted the help of local elected officials in that effort.

We cannot and will not let state lawmakers hinder road and bridge repairs, Hogan said during his 10-minute address.

[Hogan vetoes transportation bill, setting up fight with legislature]

Hogan and the legislature have been in a protracted battle over how transportation funds should be spent. Last year, the governor killed the Red Line light-rail project affecting Baltimore City and Baltimore County and slashed the states share of the costs of the Purple Line in Prince Georges and Montgomery counties.

During the same transportation announcement, Hogan increased the amount of funding for road repairs.

This year, the General Assembly responded by overturning the governors veto of a bill that requires the state to score transportation projects before choosing which plans to fund.

[Hogan on cancer advocacy: I never expected to be in this position]

Hogan could not attend the convention last year because he had just been diagnosed with cancer and had begun chemotherapy.

He sent Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford in his place, and attendees posted pictures on social media of them wearing green Hogan Strong bracelets and signing an oversize get-well card.

On Tuesday, Hogan thanked the officials for their prayers and good wishes.

I will never forget seeing the photos of all of you here signing that giant get-well card, Hogan said.

Even though Im a year late, I want you all to know I am thankful to be standing here tonight in remission, 100 percent cancer-free and feeling strong.
A former court commissioner in Montgomery County was found guilty of sexual solicitation of a minor on Wednesday.

Daniel Read, 30, of Germantown, was accused of using social media and text messages to set up a meeting with a person who said he was a 15-year-old high-school student. Read actually was communicating with a detective pretending to be a teen with the user name Kinky Twinkie, according to arrest records.

In a two-day bench trial, Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Sharon Burrell found Read guilty of one felony count of solicitation of sex with a minor.

Read was released on bond. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 15 where he faces up to 10 years in prison and may have to register as a sex offender.

[Another Montgomery County court commissioner charged with sex crime]

Daniel Read (Montgomery County Police)

Reads attorney attempted to show that police induced Daniel to make this mistake.

The judge found police made him do it, but [prosecutors] showed he would have been willing to anyway, David Moyse said. Were grateful that Mr. Read can present his background and life story at a sentencing hearing, and want to move forward with his life. Moyse said his client had no criminal record and was working full-time while attending law school at the time of the offense.

In Maryland, court commissioners review applications submitted by detectives and other police officers, deciding whether there is probable cause to bring criminal charges against suspects. They also set initial bonds for suspects booked into jails.

They must have a college degree and go through two criminal background checks, a courts spokesman has said in previous descriptions of the job.

Ramon Korionoff, spokesman for the Montgomery County States Attorneys Office, said Read was convicted of a troubling charge.

Someone who used to set bonds for criminal sex offenders at the District Court Commissioners Office was himself committing a criminal act by seeking sex with a minor, Korionoff said.

Read was the second court commissioner in Montgomery County accused of a sex-related crime in the past year. Another court commissioner, Israel Mangroo, 31, was accused in December of using his smartphone to take a video up a womans skirt in his office at the county jail, according to court records.

[Maryland judicial officer charged in upskirting case]

Mangroo pleaded guilty in March, and was sentenced to one year in jail suspended with 18 months of supervised probation.
A federal judge has banned a Virginia man from using Twitter after he was charged with making threats directed at Republican senators and other members of Congress using the social media platform.

Kyler Schmitz, 27, of Alexandria, has been charged in Virginias Eastern District Court with making threats against two senators.

Im going to shoot you in the head for allowing someone to murder my loved ones, he reportedly tweeted to one senator, according to a federal complaint.

I am literally going to buy a gun shoot you in the face I watch your brains splat #BangBangByeB----, another tweet reportedly said.

A congressional committee staff member alerted the U.S. Capitol Police.

Schmitz posted the tweets under the Twitter handle @Chirperson, federal officials said in court files. The account has been suspended, according to a link to the profile.

He also allegedly sent a message to a Twitter account associated with the National Rifle Association asking about buying a rifle, according to the documents.

Schmitzs fiance told NBC4, which first reported on his arrest, that the tweets were not serious threats but satirical.

It wasnt him as a real person, Paul Cianciolo said in a videotaped interview with the station outside of the courthouse. It was a creative outlet.

Cianciolo told The Washington Post that he stands by that assessment and that the couple will defend Schmitz in court.

An attorney for Schmitz did not comment Wednesday.

During a bond hearing Tuesday, Judge Theresa Buchanan ordered Schmitz to stay away from the District and barred him from using Twitter.

The accused in this case could (and may well) raise . . . First Amendment challenges to the Twitter ban, Scott Shackelford, a professor of cybersecurity law at Indiana University said in an email. But, he added, the threatening nature of the Tweets in question could be used to justify the ban.

The judge also ordered Schmitz to undergo mental-health testing and treatment. The judge allowed him to be released as long as he gets approval for movement outside of his home.

As a driver for the car service company Uber, prosecutors said, Schmitz is allowed to use the Internet to access online banking, Google Maps and the Uber website.

An Uber spokesman said Schmitz was cut off from driving as soon as the company learned of the allegations.
Police said Wednesday they are investigating a homicide in Hyattsville after a man who was shot earlier this month died.

On June 24 at about 7:30 pm, police were contacted after three shooting victims came to a local hospital, Prince Georges County police said in a statement. An investigation revealed the victims were shot at the intersection of 54th Avenue and Macbeth Street in the unincorporated area of Hyattsville, the statement said.

One victim, 20-year-old Jeremiah Marlon Dingle of Hyattsville, died of his injuries on Wednesday, according to the statement. The other victims suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Detectives are working to identify a motive and suspects, the statement said. Police asked anyone with information to call the homicide unit at (301) 772-4925. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477) or go to pgcrimesolvers.com and submit a tip online.
Marylands second-highest court ruled Wednesday that a man suspected of killing a 16-year-old girl who disappeared in Baltimore in December 2010 can be prosecuted a third time in her killing.

The judges, with one dissent, said that the legal concept of double-jeopardy, which holds defendants cannot be prosecuted twice for the same crime, did not attach at two previous trials for Michael M. Johnson. He was charged with killing Phylicia Barnes, whose body was found in the Susquehanna River north of Baltimore four months after she disappeared while visiting her sister.

It was not immediately clear if Johnsons attorneys plan to appeal. The Baltimore States Attorneys Office said it would file for a third trial. This case has and always will be about securing justice for this 16-year-old girl and we are elated that the Court of Special Appeals decision will allow us to do so, prosecutors said in a statement.

A Baltimore jury convicted Johnson of second-degree murder in April 2012 but a Circuit Court judge ordered a new trial after concluding that prosecutors had withheld evidence from the defense.

At Johnsons second trial in 2015, a judge declared a mistrial after prosecutors played a recording that jurors were not supposed to hear. The judge then granted a judgment of acquittal, clearing Johnson of all charges.

But Marylands Court of Special Appeals ruled that the trial judge erred by granting the acquittal after declaring a mistrial. The second prosecution became in the eyes of the law no trial at all, the court ruled. That meant the judge no longer had the authority to revive the second prosecution to acquit the defendant.

One judge dissented, saying the trial judge had decided there was no relevant evidence that is legally sufficient to sustain a conviction.. . .Once that happens, we dont usually give the state a second (or in this case, third) bite at the apple.
Calvert County

These were among reports received by the Calvert County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. Anyone with information about these crimes is asked to call the Criminal Investigation Division at 410-535-2800 or 301-855-1194, the Crime Solvers line at 410-535-2880 or the state police Prince Frederick Barrack at 410-535-1400.

OWINGS AREA

VANDALISM

Mary Ann Dr., 12:05 a.m. to 1:30 pm. June 12. A vehicles finish was damaged with a sharp object.

PRINCE FREDERICK AREA

WEAPONS

Tranquil Ct., 1 a.m. June 16. Six gunshots went through a window at a house and into a ceiling. The incident stemmed from a domestic issue with a female acquaintance at the home. A Chesapeake Beach man, 22, was charged with first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and other counts.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Prince Frederick Blvd., 2:50 a.m. June 18. A man was found inside a vacant house with numerous stolen items from a theft on Dares Beach Road. A Chesapeake Beach man, 23, was charged with second- and fourth-degree burglary and fourth-degree burglary of tools, and theft of less than $1,000.

Charles County

These were among reports received by the Charles County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. For information, call 301-932-2222 or 301-870-3232. The website ccso.us has crime statistics and information on crime prevention programs.

REWARDS FOR INFORMATION

Crime Solvers will pay a reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment. The 24-hour hotline is 866-411-8477. Callers may remain anonymous.

WALDORF AREA

ROBBERIES

Smallwood Dr., 300 block, 9:52 p.m. Dec. 25. A man with a knife robbed a convenience store. On June 18, a La Plata man, 45, was charged with robbery.

St. Marys County

These w ere among reports received by the St. Marys County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. For information, call 301-475-8008. To submit a tip, call Crime Solvers at 301-475-3333. The Leonardtown Barrack of the state police has an anonymous tip line at 301-475-2936.

HOLLYWOOD AREA

HOME INVASION

McIntosh Rd., May 11. A man forced entry into a home, assaulted another man and fled. A Hollywood man, 36, was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree assault and home invasion. A protective order was issued. On May 30, the man entered the home again; another protective order was issued.

LEXINGTON PARK AREA

ASSAULTS

Seabiscuit Lane, May 28. A woman assaulted a male acquaintance. A Lexington Park woman, 26, was charged with second-degree assault.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Rogers Dr., June. Property was stolen from a home.

DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY

St. Lo Place, June 17. A woman used an object to break all the windows in a vehicle. A California woman, 18, was charged with malicious destruction of property.

MECHANICSVILLE AREA

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Mill Seat Dr., June. Property was stolen from a home.

VANDALISM

Dean Way, June 20. Fireworks were set off inside a mailbox.

Doctor Johnson Rd., June 20. A mailbox was set on fire.

Rison Lane and Yowaiski Mill Rd., June 20. Three mailboxes were damaged.

ST. INIGOES AREA

ASSAULTS

Jutland Dr., June 19. A woman bit an acquaintance in the ear and hit the person in the head with a set of keys. A St. Inigoes woman, 35, was charged with second-degree assault.
A new member of Virginias Republican State Central Committee apologized over the weekend for posting anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant rhetoric on Twitter and Facebook  much of which echoed incendiary comments by presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Burke resident Fredy Burgos, an ardent Trump supporter who was elected to the committee in May, called Islam a death cult organized by Satan, compared Muslims to Nazis and said immigration control from Islamic countries is a must. He labeled Muhammad Ali a racist black supremacist and adopted Trumps controversial criticism of the Mexican heritage of U.S.-born District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, asking on Twitter, Isnt this Judge an Anchor Baby?

[The Fix: Its time for GOP leaders to choose sides on Donald Trump]

After the state party chairman, John Whitbeck, told Burgos he did not approve of the comments, Burgos deleted them and apologized. In interviews, several members of the committee condemned what Burgos had written.

The vast majority of Republicans in Northern Virginia embrace diversity and view it as a good thing, said Kyle McDaniel, who also represents the 11th Congressional District on the committee. It is incredibly disappointing to see one of our leaders in Northern Virginia espousing views that simply do not reflect our beliefs.

Nadia Elgendy, a member of the state party committee, objected to Burgoss anti-Muslim tweets. (Courtesy of Nadia Elgendy)

Still, the incident highlights the challenges Virginia Republicans face as they seek to expand their base in a way that could help Trump capture the White House this fall and increase the chances for the election of a Republican governor in 2017.

On the one hand, Trumps campaign  including his calls to deport all undocumented immigrants and ban many Muslims from the country  has energized Republicans frustrated by illegal immigration and resentful of changing demographics in such places as Northern Virginia. On the other, such rhetoric can alienate potential GOP voters in the swing state, especially those who are ethnic or religious minorities.

When you use blanket terms like Nazi, it just diminishes the value of the discussion, said Jim Hoeft, editor in chief of the Bearing Drift conservative blog, which condemned Burgoss comments in an editorial last week. At the same time, Hoeft said he thinks Trump is tapping into frustrations felt by many Virginia Republicans and has become a voice of what they have been wanting to express for a very long time.

Trump easily won the Virginia primary but trailed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in much of Northern Virginia.

Corey A. Stewart, who chairs Trumps Virginia campaign and also has criticized Curiel on Facebook, defended Burgoss right to express his opinions online  although he said he strongly disagrees with the anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Theres gotta be room in the Republican Party for varying opinions, said Stewart, who is chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors and said he plans to run for governor next year. We just cant police the views of every Republican out there.

[As other GOP leaders squirm at Trumps stance on judge, Stewart applauds]

Donald Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown" of Muslims entering the U.S. in December. But since then, his commitment to a "total and complete shutdown" has wavered repeatedly. Here's how. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Burgos, a former candidate for state delegate, is the Canadian-born son of Chilean immigrants. He posts regularly in English and Spanish about illegal immigration in the United States. After a Trump rally in Richmond in June, he posted a video of himself pushing a protester who was calling on the crowd to show more sympathy to refugees.

Code Pink tossed out by yours truly, he wrote to his roughly 160 Twitter followers, in a post that also used degrading epithets to describe the protester.

One of the first to express concern about Burgoss postings was Nadia Elgendy, 19, a U.S.-born Muslim from Springfield who represents college students on the GOP Central Committee.

Bigotry doesnt have a place, not only in America and Virginia, but in the Republican Party, said Elgendy, a student at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va.

Elgendy attempted to read a statement of complaint at the Central Committees meeting in Charlottesville on Saturday. The state partys executive director, John Findlay, stopped her, saying they had to stick to the agenda. Elgendy went home and posted the entire statement on Facebook.

Kasia Neilsen, 21, who previously held Elgendys position on the committee, said party leaders should note the way millennials have reacted to the postings.

Im going to be in office in 10 years, and were not going to have people like Fredy represent the party, she said. If you believe in these comments, then youre not a Republican.

In the apology he posted online, Burgos said his words were misconstrued, but added that the state party needs my diverse perspective, rough edges and all.

In an interview, he characterized the incident as a family disagreement within the party, but stood by his argument that all forms of immigration should have a more stringent vetting process.

Jeff Ryer, a committee member from Williamsburg, said he had never heard of Burgos until people began complaining about his comments. After hearing part of Elgendys statement, Ryer said, he walked over to her to learn what offended her.

I was appalled, Ryer said, arguing that its important for Republicans to forcefully condemn the remarks if they want to be able to credibly condemn Democrats who say equally offensive things.

We have to hold ourselves to the same high standard, he said. If were going to take on the Democrats, we need to make sure our own house is in order.
Stanley Meisler, a reporter who chronicled foreign affairs in posts from Nairobi to the United Nations for the Los Angeles Times, and who later turned his journalistic curiosity to the history of 20th-century art, died June 26 at a hospital in Washington. He was 85.

The cause was cardiac arrest, said his son Joshua Meisler.

Mr. Meisler crisscrossed the globe during his three-decade career with the Times. He joined the newspapers Nairobi bureau in 1967 and traveled widely for his work, covering the bloody Nigerian civil war over the breakaway Biafra region and the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

He was the doyen of the press corps in the region, Jim Hoagland, a former Africa correspondent and foreign editor for The Washington Post, said in an interview. He really understood human nature, and he applied that in covering a continent that too frequently had been reduced to the cannibalism and coup detat syndrome.

The Times later sent Mr. Meisler to Mexico City, Madrid, Toronto, Paris and Barcelona. Among the pleasures in the life of a foreign correspondent, he once observed, was the opportunity to research and write little PhD theses on cultural curiosities.

One such curiosity he observed in Madrid shortly after the 1975 death of Francisco Franco, the fascist leader of Spain for nearly four decades. In an article published years later in the Times, Mr. Meisler recalled a screening of Charlie Chaplins 1940 political satire The Great Dictator. During the Franco regime, he explained, no one had ever been foolish enough to show it.

The Spanish moviegoers laughed uproariously at Chaplins slapstick antics exposing the pretensions of dictatorship while playing the Hitler-like character Hynkel, Mr. Meisler recalled. At the end, when the little Jewish barber . . ., also played by Chaplin, made an eloquent plea for peace and brotherhood and democracy, the audience around me stood up and broke into fervent applause. It was a shivering, emotional moment.

Mr. Meisler continued: That evening in the movie theater hallways served as a kind of metaphor for Spain at that moment in history. Not only did it demonstrate the enormous will of Spaniards for change, but the spirited laughter at old jokes, from a movie shelved for almost four decades, underscored how isolated Spain seemed in those days.

In the late 1980s, Mr. Meisler returned to the United States and reported from Washington and New York before his retirement in 1998. His coverage of the United Nations helped inform his first book, United Nations: The First Fifty Years (1995). He later wrote Kofi Annan: A Man of Peace in a World of War (2007), a biography of the Ghanaian diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was U.N. secretary-general from 1997 to 2006.

After Mr. Meisler retired, he dedicated himself to a lifelong interest in art. He contributed works of art history and criticism to publications including the Times and Smithsonian Magazine.

His last book, Shocking Paris: Soutine, Chagall and the Outsiders of Montparnasse (2015), focused on artists from the Russian empire, most of them Jewish, who made an often uneasy home in the French capital in the early 20th century. Mr. Meisler was a distant cousin by marriage of Chaim Soutine, a noted expressionist of the time.

Unable to leave German-occupied France during World War II, Soutine dodged roundups while nursing debilitating ulcers that forced him to survive on milk. He died in 1943 at age 50 after a surgery.

Mr. Meisler traced his interest in Soutine to an uncle, who warned Mr. Meisler not to become an artist, lest he consign himself to a life of struggle. Mr. Meisler quipped that his uncles admonition, contrary to its intended purpose, inspired his fascination.

Stanley Meisler was born in the Bronx on May 14, 1931. His father, a paper hanger, was a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe.

In 1952, Mr. Meisler received a bachelors degree in English from the City College of New York. Before joining the Times, he spent a decade with the Associated Press wire service and was a Peace Corps administrator. He was the author of When the World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years (2011).

His marriages to Gloria Greenwood and Susan Mitchell ended in divorce. A daughter from his first marriage, Sarah Meisler, died in 1976.

Survivors include his wife of 32 years, Elizabeth Fox of Washington; two sons from his first marriage, Joshua Meisler of Fontainebleau, France, and Sam Meisler of Knoxville, Tenn.; two stepchildren from his second marriage whom he adopted, Michael Mitchell of Victoria, British Columbia, and Michele Meisler of Sointula, British Columbia; two stepchildren from Fox, Gabriel Cardona-Fox of Geneva, Switzerland, and Jenaro Cardona-Fox of Cohasset, Mass.; and 12 grandchildren.

In his career as a foreign correspondent, Mr. Meisler at times faced unusual obstacles in his work. They included, while reporting from Kinshasa in the 1960s, outsmarting the Congolese security chief who required that all dispatches transmitted over telex machines be written in French  the language understood by censors.

After much thought, I concocted a new language of my own in which all the nouns were in French and all the verbs in English, he wrote in the Times in 1998. I would write and send by telex sentences like these: Les mercenaires are shooting up le congo aujourdhui.

My concoction worked. The Congolese censors were satisfied with my French, and the foreign desk figured out more or less what I was trying to say.

He did not, however, achieve this feat without some grief from colleagues back home.

I could not reach the office by phone and could only hint in my telex messages what was going on, he recalled. For a week I received sarcastic cables from Los Angeles congratulating me on my incredible grasp of the nuances of the French language.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that Mr. Meisler did not speak French.
Et tu, Trey?

A day after the House Benghazi committee released a final report that left Hillary Clinton relatively unscathed, conservative activists  the conspiracy-minded ones who pressured House leaders to appoint the committee in the first place  rounded on Chairman Trey Gowdy for failing to deliver the goods.

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement, retired Adm. James Ace Lyons complained at a meeting Wednesday afternoon of the Citizens Commission on Benghazi,

a coalition of far-right foreign- policy types. Chairman Gowdy is not a stenographer. . . . He was there to make findings and conclusions. He had the information. He copped out, which is consistent that weve seen with all our congressional leadership.

Retired Gen. Thomas McInerney agreed that the American people want to know from a group that spent almost two years on it what the conclusions are. Thats what we pay you for, Mr. Gowdy.

Charles Woods, the father of Ty Woods, one of the four Americans killed in Benghazi, lamented that I really dont have closure as far as who made the decision not to rescue. And Roger Aronoff of Accuracy in Media, which convened the Citizens Commission at the National Press Club, complained that they put a bunch of transcripts in there, interviews, but they didnt weave it all together.

House Republicans released their report on the attack on the 2012 U.S. consulate in Benghazi on June 28. Here are the 5 most serious accusations in the report. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

There were murmurs of agreement from participants when Lyons said of Gowdy: Regretfully, I dont think he measured up yesterday.

A woman in the crowd floated a new Benghazi conspiracy. Has someone in the GOP leadership gotten their fingers involved in watering down some of this to benefit Secretary Clinton? she asked.

Nobody rebutted this idea.

Herein lies a lesson for Republicans who are perpetually trying to appease the far right: Its a fools errand. They went to the tea party  and now theyre taking Donald Trump to the prom. Likewise, then-House Speaker John Boehner named the Benghazi committee because activists were dissatisfied that seven previous congressional investigations had failed to uncover major scandal material. Now an eighth has produced more of the same  and the agitators are as agitated as ever.

Two GOP members of Gowdys own committee were dissatisfied enough to write their own narrative drawing more sweeping accusations against Clinton and President Obama. Gowdy must feel the need for some cover: A day after delivering what was supposed to be the definitive account of Benghazi, his committee called in another witness for an interview. Democrats pointed out that the interviewee had just removed from his Facebook page the hashtag #IfYouVoteForHillaryYouAreBeyondStupid.

The Citizens Commission on Benghazi, which held Wednesdays event, is not the most reputable outlet. It dropped former CIA officer Wayne Simmons as one of its 11 members after the former Fox News commentator, who it turns out had no military or intelligence experience, pleaded guilty to fraud charges this spring.

Even without Simmonss creativity, the group managed to produce a 73-page Benghazi report this week full of inventive accusations. They found troubling evidence that Obama and Clinton were deeply and knowingly involved in running guns to al-Qaeda in Libya, as well as a clear case of official U.S. government submission to the Islamic Law on slander.

1 of 10 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  What the aftermath of the Benghazi attacks looked like View Photos In September 2012, a U.S. diplomatic compound and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, were attacked, killing four Americans Caption In September 2012, a U.S. diplomatic compound and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, were attacked, killing four Americans Sept. 14, 2012 Libyan military guards check one of the U.S. Consulate's burnt-out buildings. Mohammad Hannon/AP Wait 1 second to continue.

They determined that the Obama administration switched sides in what was then called the Global War on Terror and benefited this countrys worst enemies. They wrote that Clinton herself blocked U.S. military forces from attempting a rescue mission, and they attributed the decision to oust Libyas Moammar Gaddafi in part to financial interests of the Clinton Foundation.

They judged that Obama  one speaker referred to him as Barack Hussein Soetero Obama  had an ideological commitment to expanding the Muslim Brotherhood. They even gave longtime Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal credit for the administrations support for the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood-led al Qaeda militias. In one elaborate theory, they tied those guarding the U.S. facilities in Benghazi both to Blumenthal and to the wife of a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

They even faulted Ambassador Chris Stevens, who died in Benghazi, saying he rather romanticized the Libyan jihadis.

We see a field of smoking guns, Aronoff said.

Clearly. But the Benghazi committee didnt. Gowdy notably refrained from assigning blame or demanding accountability, Clare Lopez, of the Center for Security Policy and an adviser to the Ted Cruz presidential campaign, told the gathering. He also did not draw a connection between the dots.

Why?

I think he had his reasons  political, McInerney said. He speculated that congressional leadership had approved black operations to run weapons from Benghazi to Islamic State forces in Syria. Thats the dirty little secret that nobody wants out, he said.

Aha! So Gowdy himself is in on the Benghazi conspiracy.

Twitter: @Milbank

Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Bernie Sanders arrives at the Capital Hilton to meet with Hillary Clinton in D.C.

June 14, 2016 Bernie Sanders arrives at the Capital Hilton to meet with Hillary Clinton in D.C. Matt McClain/The Washington Post

The senator from Vermont is Hillary Clintons rival in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The senator from Vermont is Hillary Clintons rival in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The senator from Vermont is Hillary Clintons rival in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination.

William M. Daley is a former commerce secretary and White House chief of staff.

Bernie Sanders is making a big and potentially dangerous mistake with his continuing insistence on changes to the Democratic Partys rules and platform. I should know. As chairman of Al Gores 2000 presidential campaign, I understand too well where such ideological stubbornness can lead.

Back then, many progressives insisted on backing third-party candidate Ralph Nader despite warnings it would undercut the Democratic nominee. Nader received 97,421 votes in Florida, which Gore lost by 537 votes. The result? President George W. Bush, who championed ill-advised tax cuts, the invasion of Iraq and other actions we now deeply regret.

Sanders made an energetic bid for the Democratic nomination, drawing big crowds and fueling debates on important topics such as income disparity. Although he lost to Hillary Clinton, Sanders is pushing his agenda to the party convention and insisting on reforms in a Democratic nominating process he describes as seriously defective.

The party should reject Sanderss demands on grounds of fairness, good policy and smart politics.

Sanders is wrong to suggest the Democratic Partys nominating system is seriously defective. It isnt. Its eminently fair to let party members (i.e., registered Democrats) select the nominee, and to give party loyalists and elected officials (superdelegates) a modestly bigger say.

Start with Sanderss call for open primaries in all states. It might sound little-d democratic on its face, but political parties are not governmental organizations. They are member-run groups that have the right and obligation to set their own rules for picking nominees.

Its logical and fair to allow only registered or self-identified Democrats to choose their partys nominee (although numerous states do have open primaries). Letting more non-Democrats choose the nominee doesnt guarantee success in a November general election. And it does nothing to encourage people to join and work for the party.

Sanders says its really dumb to refuse to open all primaries to unaffiliated voters. Not surprisingly, he performed better in open primaries than in closed contests. But if a Washington-based Democratic hierarchy can instruct state parties how to run their primaries, lets just have one big national primary.

Then theres Sanderss call to eliminate superdelegates. These are the party leaders  including all Democratic members of Congress, governors and state party chairmen and vice chairmen  who go to nominating conventions unbound by how their states voted, unlike pledged delegates. Although he once asked superdelegates to back him, Sanders now paints them as an elite cadre that can thwart the primary voters will.

But superdelegates enhanced clout is modest. They are careful and mainstream by nature, and they certainly didnt hand Clinton the nomination, despite the claims of some Sanders supporters. They are party loyalists and workhorses who typically have spent years attending party functions, recruiting candidates and firing up volunteers.

Just look at the tumultuous Republican Party to see how an unpredictable gadfly can hijack a party whose leaders lack resources such as superdelegates.

Key Democratic constituencies, including the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Hispanic Caucus, strongly support superdelegates. Our delegate selection process is not rigged, Rep. James E. Clyburn (S.C.), a senior leader of the Black Caucus, wrote in a letter to colleagues. It is transparent to the public and open for participation.

Clinton beat Sanders fair and square. She won more states, more delegates (pledged and super), and 3.7 million more votes than he did.

Nonetheless, Sanders insists the party adopt the most progressive platform ever passed at its Philadelphia convention. Since when does the runner-up get to dictate the platform? (Or, for that matter, continue to enjoy Secret Service protection at taxpayers expense?) Centrist voters typically decide general elections, so hard-left or hard-right platforms dont help.

And its hard to argue with recent results. Democrats have won the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. In 2008, after losing a hard-fought primary to Barack Obama, Clinton promptly endorsed him and campaigned for him. In contrast, Sanders  who refused to even call himself a Democrat until this election  has yet to endorse Clinton. He says she, not he, is responsible for persuading his supporters to back her.

Every vote counts. Sanders should accept the primary outcome and enthusiastically rally his supporters to Clintons side to avoid a catastrophic Donald Trump presidency.
In her June 25 op-ed, Brexit is a warning to America, Anne Applebaum could have been more specific regarding the nature of the warning that Brexit sends to the United States. Up to an estimated 75 percent of voters between ages 18 and 24 voted to remain in the European Union. The majority of voters ages 25 to 49 also voted to remain. But turnout was higher among older voters, who voted to leave in increasing proportion to their age.

The economic downturn that will certainly accompany Brexit will lower the wages and economic prospects of all in the United Kingdom, but the cumulative cost will fall disproportionately on the young  those who voted to remain. The Brexit warning is precisely to the young people in the United States, who by all accounts would suffer even more acutely under presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trumps economic policies: Turn out to vote.

David H. Scott, Washington

Why must Britain leave the European Union? Especially when it has become obvious that this was a regrettable decision with enormously negative consequences for the British people and the rest of Europe? Was the Brexit referendum legally binding? No. There is no written constitution in the United Kingdom; this was merely Prime Minister David Camerons poorly thought-out campaign promise. There is no legal reason the next prime minister must take the nation out of the E.U.

If political cover is required, let at least one sensible Conservative put himself or herself forward for the leadership position  against an already-discredited Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and a leading voice in the campaign to exit the E.U.  on a campaign promise of keeping Britain in the E.U. The Labour side, for its part, should follow Tuesdays vote of no confidence in inept party leader Jeremy Corbyn with a leadership contest to unseat him.

Either way, there must be an adult or two in Britain willing and able to recognize a mistake and refuse to complete it.

Brian Carlson, Reston
Jim Ruth is a writer and retired financial adviser.

No Trump campaign buttons or bumper stickers for me. Im part of the new silent majority: those who dont like Donald Trump but might vote for him anyway. For many of us, Trump has only one redeeming quality: He isnt Hillary Clinton. He doesnt want to turn the United States into a politically correct, free-milk-and-cookies, European-style social democracy where every kid (and adult, too) gets a trophy just for showing up.

Members of this new silent majority, many of us front-wave baby boomers, value hard work and love the United States the way it was. We long for a bygone era when you didnt need safe spaces on college campuses to shelter students from the atrocity of dissenting opinions, lest their sensibilities be offended. We have the reckless notion that college is the one place where sensibilities are supposed to be challenged and debated. Silly us.

And please dont try to stereotype us. Were not uneducated, uninformed, unemployed or low-income zealots. Were affluent, well-educated, gainfully employed and successfully retired. Some of us even own our own business, or did before we retired, creating not only our own job but also employment for others. While were fiscally conservative, were not tea partyers. And on certain social issues, many of us even have some leftward leanings. Shhhh . . .

Our view of the media is old-school, too  just the facts, please. Before his untimely death some years ago, Tim Russert of Meet the Press set the standard for fair and balanced by grilling both Democratic and Republican politicians in a way that never betrayed his personal political persuasions. That still works fine. Its just damn hard to find.

The only pleasure the new silent majority has taken throughout this primary season has been watching progressives marinate in their own righteous indignation. They were giddy, like spoiled children opening Christmas presents, as they watched 17 Republican combatants call in airstrikes on one another. But eventually the tables turned as the Hillary-Bernie slugfest got ugly, and we took particular delight in the sourpuss expression on the faces of the lefties we know when they realized that the Republicans, left for dead, suddenly had new life and a chance to win the presidency.

We are under no illusions about Trump. We know that this Man Who Would Be King is a classic bully and a world-class demagogue in his personal, professional and political lives. He will continue to demonize his perceived enemies and take the low road at every opportunity.

And we know that if Trump makes it all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., the view after that is murky at best. Were confident that he will surround himself with smart and capable people from the business world, as well as some Capitol Hill veterans. But heres the rub: Past business associates describe him as a micromanager who likes yes men at his side. How long this new Washington brain trust will last in a Trump administration is anybodys guess.

Whos to blame for the Trump phenomenon? Theres culpability on both sides of the aisle for the absence of bipartisanship that fueled his rise. The left blames the policies of a fragmented, delusional, right-wing GOP. But the left bears responsibility, too. Turns out that the obstructers in Congress werent just the Republicans, as Bob Woodward reported in his book The Price of Politics. President Obama kept moving the goal posts in the 2011 sequester negotiations with Republicans. And who can forget the way Republicans were bullied over health care? They were left with no choice but to use every procedural maneuver in their arsenal to block, delay or postpone the liberal legislative agenda.

So why then would rational, affluent, informed citizens consider voting for The Donald? Short of not voting at all  still an option some of us are considering  hes the only one who appears to want to preserve the American way of life as we know it. For the new silent majority, the alternative to Trump is bleak: a wealthy, entitled progressive with a national security scandal in her hip pocket. In our view, the thought of four to eight more years of a progressive agenda polluting the American Dream is even more dangerous to the survival of this country than Trump is.

So come Nov. 8, youll find many of us sheepishly sneaking into voting booths across the United States. Even after warily pulling the curtain closed behind us, well still be looking over our shoulders to make sure the deed is shielded from view. Then, fighting a gag reflex, well pull the lever. We hate Donald Trump. But he just might get our vote.
In 2013, U.S. diplomat Ryan C. Fogel was briefly detained by the Russian security services and then ordered to leave the country . (Handout/Reuters)

In the early morning of June 6, a uniformed Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) guard stationed outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow attacked and beat up a U.S. diplomat who was trying to enter the compound, according to four U.S. officials who were briefed on the incident.

This previously unreported attack occurred just steps from the entrance to the U.S. Embassy complex, which is located in the Presnensky District in Moscows city center. After being tackled by the FSB guard, the diplomat suffered a broken shoulder, among other injuries. He was eventually able to enter the embassy and was then flown out of Russia to receive urgent medical attention, administration officials confirmed to me. He remains outside of Russia.

The attack caused a diplomatic episode behind the scenes that has not surfaced until now. The State Department in Washington called in Russian Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak to complain about the incident, an administration official said.

The motive for the attack remains unclear. One U.S. official told me that the diplomat was seeking refuge in the embassy complex to avoid being detained by the Russian intelligence services. A different U.S. official told me the diplomat may have been working as a spy in Russia under whats known as diplomatic cover, which means he was pretending to be a State Department employee.

Spokesmen for the both the State Department and the CIA declined to comment on the incident or whether or not the diplomat was in fact an undercover U.S. spy.

In 2013, Russian intelligence services arrested U.S. diplomat Ryan C. Fogle, whom they accused of secretly working for the CIA. Fogle, who was working as a third secretary in the political section of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, was arrested carrying various disguises and other tools of spycraft. Russia accused him of trying to recruit Russian intelligence officers.

After interrogating Fogle, the Russian government released him to U.S. officials, but not before humiliating him in the Russian media and chastising the U.S. government for spying inside Russia. Fogle was forced to leave Russia.

If the U.S. diplomat attacked on June 6 was not a spy, U.S. officials have no other explanation for why the FSB guard was trying to stop him from entering the embassy. FSB guards are stationed outside the U.S. Embassy regularly, administration officials said.

As I reported this week, Russian harassment of U.S. diplomats in Russia and several other European countries has increased significantly since U.S. sanctions were levied on Russian officials and President Vladimir Putins associates in 2014.

On Tuesday, the Russian foreign ministrys spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, responded directly to my column at a press conference and on Twitter and accused the U.S. government of deliberately undermining bilateral ties.

Diplomacy is based on reciprocity. The more the US damages relations, the harder it will be for US diplomats to work in Russia, she said.

Either way, the fact that the FSB is willing to attack a U.S. diplomat and beat him up right in front of the American Embassy reflects that the Russian security services are becoming increasingly brash, said Evelyn Farkas, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia for the Obama administration.

If this is true, its another example of the Russian security services demonstrating a willingness to break taboos, she said. The fact that they are using these brutal tactics against foreigners is taking things to a whole other level.
Doug Sosnik, a Democratic political strategist, was a senior adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1994 to 2000.

If history is any guide, the outcome of this years presidential election has already been decided.

With the exception of 2000, the result of every presidential election since, and including, 1980 has been determined before the general election even officially began. In fact, most of these elections were effectively decided by this point in the cycle.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton taking a double-digit lead over Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and a higher percentage of Americans saying she's qualified to serve as president. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

There is no reason to think that this year, as crazy as it has been, will be different. Spoiler alert: Hillary Clinton wins.

The single best predictor of the electoral outcome is the job approval of the incumbent president  even one whos not on the ballot. In four of the five elections since 1980 when the incumbent presidents job approval was at or above 50 percent, that party held the White House. The outlier was 2000, when President Bill Clinton enjoyed a 57 percent job approval rating in October yet Al Gore lost to George W. Bush.

In the three elections when the incumbents job approval fell below 40 percent in the final year of his term, the party suffered overwhelming defeats.

Some might argue that Jimmy Carters experience in 1980 disproves my point about races being decided by this point, but it doesnt. True, Carter was leading in national polls in a three-way race (remember John Anderson?) until mid-October. But by June 1980, Carters job approval had dropped to 31 percent  and it never significantly improved during the remainder of the campaign.

The nature of a three-way race masked the core of public dissatisfaction with Carter and prolonged until the end of the election the consolidation of the nearly 70 percent anti-Carter vote, which ultimately resulted in Ronald Reagans landslide win. By the beginning of the summer of 1980, with 2 out of 3 Americans disapproving of Carters performance in office, there was little doubt that the country would not give him four more years.

Three big election moments remain: the selection of the vice presidential nominees, the party conventions and the fall debates. Breathless coverage notwithstanding, none of these has had a measurable impact in changing the outcome of a presidential election in at least 40 years.

The last time a vice presidential selection may have altered the outcome was in 1960, when John F. Kennedys choice of Lyndon B. Johnson assured Democrats of carrying Texas.

The last time a partys convention may have changed the outcome was in 1968, when the Democrats suffered four days of rioting in the streets of Chicago.

And the last time a debate may have affected the outcome was in 1976, when Gerald Ford mistakenly asserted that there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, effectively ending his surge against Carter.

All indications are that the 2016 campaign is likely to continue this pattern.

President Obamas job approval rating now sits above 50 percent. Significant structural advantages have also favored Democrats since 1992. The partys candidate has carried 18 states plus the District of Columbia  totaling 242 electoral votes  in every election since 1992. Now New Mexico and its five electoral votes, which Bush won in 2004, are considered safely Democratic. If those states remain solid for Clinton, that leaves her only 23 votes short of the 270 necessary for victory.

Demographic trends since 1992 only reinforce this advantage for Democrats. In addition, Clinton enjoys a significant financial and organizational advantage over presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. In the past month, the Clinton campaign has run $23 million worth of ads in eight swing states without any time purchased by the Trump campaign to counter her attacks. Clinton has also maintained a stable campaign team at the top while building a national campaign staff of about 700 people. The Trump campaign, on the other hand, has had constant leadership turmoil with a staff of fewer than 100 people.

Lastly, and perhaps most important, never before has a party nominated a candidate as unpopular as Trump is. True, Clintons negatives are high  but Trumps are even higher, reaching 70 percent with more than half having a very negative view.

And Trumps party isnt helping him. According to a recent Bloomberg poll, just one-third of Americans have a favorable view of the Republican Party. Some 28 percent of self-identified Republicans have an unfavorable view of their own party.

Americans view their vote for president differently than for any other office. Ultimately, this is a decision as much emotional and instinctual as it is intellectual. And once voters have made that choice, it is very difficult to dislodge.

Voters have gotten to know Trump over the past year. They have pretty much made up their minds about how they feel. It is very unlikely anything that happens in the remaining 131 days of this campaign is going to change that.
THE DISTRICTS process for awarding government contracts has long been troubled, as evidenced by the scandals that litter the citys past. But legislation that professes to reform the procurement system fails to address issues that are central to the problem. Sadly, that means no real change in the pay-to-play culture that has come to define D.C. official business.

The D.C. Council on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a bill that aims to bring more transparency and accountability to government contracting. Included is establishment of an ombudsman for contracting and procurement. Left untouched, however, is a status quo that not only gives the council the ability to interfere with contracts that have been subject to independent, competitive bid but also allows those who want to win government contracts to make political contributions to those who hold sway.

These permissive practices make the District an outlier in the world of government contracts. Most jurisdictions shield the contracting process from direct political interference, but in Washington any contract larger than $1 million is subject to council approval. More than a dozen states, a growing number of local communities and the federal government explicitly ban campaign contributions from government contractors.

It is discouraging that efforts to bring the District in line with good-government contracting practices have gone nowhere, despite scandals such as that involving the D.C. Lottery contract and the dubious use of disapproval resolutions by council members to shake down the city administration for favors. Legislation sponsored by council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) that would remove lawmakers from approving specific contracts but still allow for proper oversight has languished since it was introduced last year. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) has refused even to hold a hearing.

Mr. Mendelson, to his credit, did make a bid to impose some limitations on campaign contributions from people or companies getting government contracts. The proposal  to eliminate those who donate to D.C. political campaigns from consideration for contracts worth more than $100,000 for a year from the receipt of a contribution  was a watered-down version of legislation promoted by the citys attorney general. But even in its weakened form, it couldnt win approval. Opposed by Mayor Muriel E. Bowsers (D) administration, it was blocked in committee on a 7-to-6 vote. That discouraging result means it will still be politics as usual in who gets the citys business.
Chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) attends a news conference held to discuss the committee's release of a report on June 28. (Michael Reynolds/European Pressphoto Agency)

The House Select Committee on Benghazi released its long-awaited findings Tuesday and concluded that . . . well, it looks as though theyre going to have to empanel another select committee to iron out the dueling conclusions reached by various members of the committee.

The panel members spent two years and $7 million to come up with the last word on what happened in Libya in September 2012, when four American personnel were killed. They had vowed to best the seven prior congressional investigations and the Obama administrations own probe.

Instead, they ended their investigation this week with three more competing reports: one by committee Democrats, one by Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) and the committees Republican majority, and one by a rump group of conservatives on the panel. Theres still no smoking gun from Benghazi  just a lot more smoke.

Had Gowdy found evidence that the military could have saved the lives of the four Americans? I dont know, Gowdy said.

Had he proved that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acted on political motives? I dont have a background in the why,  Gowdy demurred.

Do his findings support the allegation on bumper stickers and T-shirts across the land claiming Clinton lied, people died? You dont see that T-shirt on me, and youve never seen that bumper sticker on any of my vehicles, Gowdy replied.

Gowdy went out of his way not to mention Clinton in his opening statement at a news conference Tuesday. He said he would be shocked if people concluded the report is about her.

Unfortunately, at least two of the six committee Republicans sharing the stage with Gowdy had a dissenting view. Rep. Mike Pompeo (Kan.), who wrote a separate report with Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), proclaimed Clintons actions during the Benghazi attacks morally reprehensible and said relatives of the slain have every right to be disgusted with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

NBCs Luke Russert asked Gowdy about that morally reprehensible allegation.

You read the report, you will not see any of those quotes, the chairman replied.

But Pompeo stepped to the microphone and said he absolutely believes Clintons behavior was morally reprehensible  something he believes in my heart.

If having a legitimate probe was the goal, Gowdy was probably doomed from the start. He launched with a show of fairness. But Republicans, including Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), eventually confessed the panels political aims. Democrats grew more antagonistic, and Gowdy, after promising his report was not going to come out in the middle of 2016, released his report just before the political conventions.

Gowdy apparently lost hard-liners on his own panel. Pompeo and Jordan, in their rival report, alleged that Clintons State Department was seemingly more concerned with politics and Secretary Clintons legacy than with protecting its people in Benghazi, and they said the Obama administration was so focused on the next election that it lost sight of its duty to tell the American people the truth.

They faulted Clinton for a lapse in judgment that may well haunt our nation for years to come. And they thought it plausible to conclude that she forced Americans to stay in dangerous conditions because to leave Benghazi would have been viewed as her failure.

Pompeo, at Tuesdays news conference with Gowdy, added that Clinton chose to put political expediency and politics ahead of the men and women on the ground.

If Republicans leveled wild accusations, Democrats went the other way, issuing their own report categorically asserting that the Pentagon could not have done anything differently to save those killed, that Secretary Clinton never personally denied any requests for additional security in Benghazi, that intelligence assessments were not influenced by political considerations and that officials did not make intentionally misleading statements.

Between the reckless accusations and the nothing-to-see-here defenses, there was one obvious truth: There does not appear to be a smoking gun, CNNs Dana Bash informed her viewers before Gowdy entered the room.

Nor even a warm slingshot. The few revelations the panel advertised as new  that no military assets had been deployed to Benghazi, that embassy security staff had been ordered to change uniforms, that Clinton had been planning a visit to Libya  had mostly been uncovered in previous investigations.

Gowdy, with slicked gray hair, lavender tie and fitted suit, offered what sounded like an excuse for the absence of a bombshell. It is always better to be the first committee to investigate, and it is always better to investigate as contemporaneously to an incident or to an event as can be done, he said. Our committee did not have the luxury of either one of those.

Too bad they didnt think of this two years and $7 million ago.

Twitter: @Milbank

Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Watching Hillary Clinton beaming sidewise onstage as Elizabeth Warren taunted Donald Trump brought the Wrigley twin ditty to mind: Double your pleasure, double your fun, with double good, double good, Doublemint gum.

Instead of two happy twins riding a tandem bicycle to celebrate chewing gum, the Clinton-Warren sixties sister-clones  wearing blond bobs and shades of blue  rode Trump with a gobsmacking double punch.

Railed the senator from Massachusetts: Now, Donald Trump says hell make America great again. . . . Its stamped on the front of his goofy hat. You want to see goofy? Look at him in that hat.

This was her way of topping Trumps repeated use of goofy to insult her.

And: When Donald Trump says great, I ask: Great for who, exactly?  she said. When Donald Trump says hell make America great, he means make it even greater for rich guys just like Donald Trump. . . . Thats who Donald Trump is. . . . And watch out, because he will crush you into the dirt.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, right, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) at a rally in Cincinnati on June 27. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

And so the Twitter wars between a non-candidate and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will likely continue. Doesnt Trump realize that hes the one running for president?

Clintons rally, the first to feature Warren, was followed by a sisterhood hug that only women can exchange. That simple embrace signified a new benchmark in womens and American history and changed the political narrative for all time. Not only can a woman win a major partys nomination, but also its possible that two women can team up as running mates.

The idea that Warren might become Clintons vice presidential pick has been floating around for a while and is appealing if only for the prospect that two women could fill an entire presidential ticket.

Warren certainly is as qualified as many men who have filled the role. She obviously doesnt mind serving as the attack dog for Clinton. And Warren may be the one grinding Trump into the dirt, invective for invective. In a word, shes fearless to his careless.

Warren and Clinton havent always been so cozy, but, for the eternal record, women differ from one another in as many ways as men do. Warren is further to the left than Clinton ever meant to be. And she comes far more naturally to a populist message. While Clinton was being forced leftward by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Warren was continuing her years-long progressive crusade.

Her endorsement of Clinton and her new role as a rowdy, crowd-warming act constitute a bridge between Sanders supporters and the presumptive nominee they never wanted. Warren captures the anger and anti-1-percent angst of the liberal left and lays it like a wreath at the feet of the woman who would become the first female president.

Warren is a peace offering who aims to wage war on Trump. And shes on to his greatest weakness. He cant take a ribbing and he cant stand being challenged by a woman. It gets under his skin like nothing else. Thus, when Warren says he looks goofy in a hat, he calls her Pocahontas (for her having said she has Native American blood).

Whats clear is that Warren wont back down no matter what Trump tosses her way.

Speaking strictly as an observer, I think Trump may be losing his ranking as top draw in the political circus. If Warren stays on the stage, its nearly assured that all eyes will be on her  which might cause Clintonites some concern.

Like Trump, Warren has that certain something that fills arenas and draws people to their feet. Thats where the similarities end. A Harvard law professor before she ran for the U.S. Senate, Warren is smart, eloquent on consumer protection issues and passionately committed to well-defined principles. One neednt agree with her to appreciate her vigor, as well as a steely-eyed softness that comes across in person.

Unlike Trump, shes in possession of an agreeable personality. Even when yelling across a surging crowd, she manages to avoid sounding strident. Close up, shes warm, engaging and nonthreatening.

Most important, she allows Clinton to step back from the fray and gives everyone a chance to imagine what a two-woman ticket could look like. Too much the same? Too soon for two? For whom?

It may be true, as someone wrote me, that Clintons greatest virtue is her opponent. But its also plain that Warren is her greatest asset.

Talk about a twofer.

Read more from Kathleen Parkers archive, follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook.
Justice Antonin Scalias chair at the Supreme Court was draped in black to mark his death in February. Without Scalia, conservatives hopes for transformational decisions were dashed. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Conservative hopes for a transformational term at the Supreme Court ended with Justice Antonin Scalias death this winter, and liberals instead prevailed on what are likely to be the terms most influential decisions.

The cases and causes that had the right so excited at the beginning of the term  challenges to affirmative action, restrictions on abortion, complaints about labor union fees, bold attacks on the way electoral districts are drawn and President Obamas use of executive power  ended either with liberal victories or draws that set no precedent.

The era of aggressive conservative legislation and litigation in the Supreme Court may largely be over, unless and until Justice Scalia is replaced by someone like-minded, said Pamela S. Karlan, a Stanford University law professor and a leader in the liberal American Constitution Society. Each of these cases was an attempt to push the law sharply to the right, and the court doesnt seem to have the appetite for this.

[Supreme Court strikes down Texas abortion clinic restrictions]

As has been the case for more than a decade, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy again was the courts pivotal player, and he gave the left important and somewhat surprisingly broad victories.

The Post's Robert Barnes explains the big decisions in this Supreme Court session and how the absence of a justice will continue to affect it. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)

But it was the absence of Scalia, the bombastic senior justice whose intellect and bravado powered the courts conservative wing, that altered the courts tone and reversed its reputation as a welcoming place for conservative causes.

It has long been said that if you add one new justice, you get an entirely new court, said Washington lawyer Gregory G. Garre, a former solicitor general for President George W. Bush. This term showed that if you take away a justice, you get an entirely new court.

Elizabeth Slattery, a legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said that the theme of the term is the void that Justice Scalia left behind. We lost one of the greatest voices.

[How Scalias death hurts conservative hopes]

Without the perpetually in-the-spotlight Scalia, other members of the court emerged. Justice Clarence Thomas asked questions at oral argument for the first time in a decade  albeit just once  and assumed the role of the chief defender of gun rights.

Thomass ideological opposite, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, used a series of sharply worded dissents to speak frankly about race, discrimination and what she sees as inequality in the justice system. She is becoming the heir to Thurgood Marshall, said Neal Katyal, a former acting solicitor general in the Obama administration.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the no-frills, just-facts opinion striking down Texass widely replicated restrictions on abortion clinics. Some see him as having a role in moving Kennedy on affirmative action and helping the eight-member court reach narrow decisions that allowed consensus rather than gridlock.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. took on Scalias role as dissenter, airing from the bench his disagreements with the majority on abortion and affirmative action. But unlike Scalia, he lacks a love of the whip. Most of his dissent in the abortion case was a detailed explanation of how procedural rules should have barred the court from hearing the complaints of the Texas clinic owners.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the court a decision that turned back a conservative attempt to change the way state and local governments use the one person, one vote principle in a way that would have aided rural, conservative areas.

And she issued a succinct concurrence warning against future incursions on the right to an abortion. So long as this court adheres to Roe v. Wade, Ginsburg wrote, abortion laws that do little or nothing for health, but rather strew impediments to abortion . . . cannot survive judicial inspection.

In general, the temperature at the court this term was more moderate. There was no landmark case, such as last years same-sex-marriage case. Moreover, with the realization that the Republican-controlled Senate was not going to vote on Obamas nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, and restore the court to full strength, the justices seemed to adopt a were-all-in-this-together attitude.

Gone were the souring and scorching rhetoric of the Scalia dissent, Garre said.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. played down the trouble the court had in reaching decisions with only eight members. Sometimes we talk about cases longer to see if we can reach some type of agreement. But thats it, he told a group of judges and lawyers in Arkansas. There are reasons most appellate courts have an odd number of judges. But the process is pretty much what it has been.

[Roberts refuses to be drawn into battle over Scalia replacement]

But Justice Elena Kagan publicly praised Roberts for pushing the court to find compromise. (She did her part, siding with Roberts and Kennedy about as often as she did with her fellow liberals.)

However, the court still deadlocked on the labor union case, Obamas plan to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation and a handful of other cases. Seemingly tied on whether religiously affiliated groups could be freed from the Affordable Care Acts requirement that they provide workers with contraceptive coverage, the justices sent the cases back to lower courts in the hope they could reach a compromise.

I think what youre seeing is a seriously crippled court, said Steven R. Shapiro, legal director of the ACLU.

Conservatives said the relatively small number of cases in which the court could not reach a decision shows that there is not a pressing need to fill Scalias seat, as Democrats claim. But Elizabeth Wydra, president of the liberal Constitutional Accountability Center, disagreed.

The labor union case was one in which the tied vote kept the status quo in place, with an outcome Wydra favored. But she said she still thought it was wrong that major policy has been decided with a single-sentence affirmance of a lower-court decision rather than a reasoned opinion of the Supreme Court.

The failure to reach an agreement on Obamas immigration plan, which aimed to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation and give them the right to work legally in the United States, meant that a national policy was blocked by a district judge and a 2-to-1 vote of an appeals court panel, Wydra noted.

The Supreme Court was able to reach wide agreement on a clutch of election law cases by narrowing the results. Besides the one-person, one-vote case from Texas, the justices upheld a judge-drawn Virginia congressional redistricting plan that created a new district conducive to a minority candidate, and they approved of a plan drawn by Arizonas independent panel. All three decisions were favorable to Democrats.

There was no movement on the call from Breyer and Ginsburg at the end of last term that the constitutionality of the death penalty be reexamined. But the court threw out Floridas death penalty process, raised doubts about cases in other Southern states and, in a strongly worded opinion from Roberts, vacated the death sentence given to a young black man in Georgia by an all-white jury.

Shapiro and Katyal mentioned that the justices seem increasingly drawn into the debate outside the court about racial bias in the criminal justice system. The issue is seeping into Supreme Court debate and Supreme Court decision-making in ways that are powerful, Shapiro said.

In the end, the biggest decisions came back to Kennedy. Before writing his opinion in the University of Texas affirmative-action case, Kennedy had never approved of a race-conscious program, although he had not been as willing as his colleagues to outlaw the use of race.

Prior to the abortion decision, he had found only one statute unlawful  requiring a woman to inform her husband of her decision to have the procedure  among dozens the court had reviewed.

The next president will shape the future of the aging court, but Garre wondered if its move to the left has already begun.

Justice Kennedy had the biggest impact on the most important cases, and you have to wonder whether we have already seen a meaningful shift in the court, regardless of who fills Justice Scalias seat, he said.
A coffin is loaded into a hearse at the forensic building close to Istanbuls airport.

June 29, 2016 A coffin is loaded into a hearse at the forensic building close to Istanbuls airport. Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images

At least 100 were killed after suicide bombers attacked the citys Ataturk international airport.

At least 100 were killed after suicide bombers attacked the citys Ataturk international airport.

At least 100 were killed after suicide bombers attacked the citys Ataturk international airport.

What the scene at Istanbul airport looked like after attacks

What the scene at Istanbul airport looked like after attacks

The horrors unfolded in front of Mert Akbalik in the arrivals hall of the airport shortly after he finished his shift.

He pointed to where he said the gunmen entered Istanbuls international airport, where he hid, and where he saw shattered glass, pools of blood and one of the worst terrorist attacks in Turkeys modern history.

He also pointed to the signs of resilience. By Wednesday evening, less than 24 hours after the attack, the glass and blood had been removed. Amid a heavy police presence, passengers hurried to catch flights that mostly resumed after delays and cancellations. Construction workers shouted as they repaired ceiling panels that had been blown out in the suicide attack.

We have to come back to work today. We have to show that we will not be stopped by these monsters, said Akbalik, an 18-year-old employee at the airports Sbarro pizzeria who witnessed the incident after leaving work to catch a shuttle back home.

At least 41 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in an attack that involved at least three attackers who stalked passengers and airport staff with semiautomatic weapons before blowing themselves up. The victims were mostly from Turkey but included at least 13 foreigners.

Emergency responders raced to Istanbul's Ataturk Airport as passengers documented their harrowing, confusing experiences after the suicide attack on June 28. (The Washington Post)

[Death toll rises in Istanbul airport attack]

This nation has been badly shaken by this and a string of other recent attacks linked to Kurdish separatists and the Islamic State. Turkish officials suspect Tuesdays incident to be the work of the militant group, but there has been no claim of responsibility.

Faisal Rashid blamed Islamic State militants, which also overran much of his country of origin, Iraq, two years ago. In bone-white shorts, the 15-year-old stood in the departures area on Wednesday evening with his mother, father and 6-year-old brother, Mostafa.

They were supposed to pass through Istanbul the previous evening, after flying from Sweden, where the family now lives.

They prepared to check in for a flight to the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah. They should have landed there last night, but then the bombers struck.

Suddenly there were hundreds of people running toward us, screaming, run!  he said. We didnt know what to do. Somebody just broke open a door, and then we ran outside into the airport. We were hiding near the planes.

As he spoke, people from dozens of countries speaking various languages chatted, pulled luggage and tried to move on with their lives.

Turkey is reeling from a recent spate of terror attacks perpetrated by Kurdish separatists and the Islamic State. (Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

Faisal described the chaos, and his fear.

So did Mostafa. There was blood, guts. It was on the floor, he said.

His mother, May, put her arms around him.

Over the past year, scores of suicide and other attacks have targeted tourists, security personnel and even peace activists. Hundreds of people have been killed.

Some expressed suspicion of the extraordinary number of Syrian refugees  nearly 3 million  who reside in Turkey. Syrias civil war has been a major driver of unrest in Turkey. The conflict has helped the Islamic State carve out territory in Syria, and it has aggravated separatist sentiment among Turkeys large minority of Kurdish citizens.

Im not blaming Syrian refugees for this attack. But there are so many of them here, and it would be easy for some of these people to be manipulated by extremists, said Engin Karakas, a Turk in his 30s who arrived in Istanbul from Ukraine on Wednesday.

Airport authorities sealed off a large section of the departures area that was damaged by another suicide bomber. Employees prevented journalists and passengers from taking photographs of the disabled check-in kiosks, which were marred by the blast.

Hanging over the area were two Turkish flags and a massive banner displaying the visage of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkeys first president who is revered here as a George Washington-like figure.

By Wednesday evening, flights appeared to be arriving and departing with fewer problems, but delays continued to affect some.

Mattias Gunzer had just arrived on a flight from Tel Aviv, where he attended a medical conference. He was supposed to make a connection in Istanbul on Wednesday, but his flight to Germany was postponed to Thursday. He would not venture beyond the airport, he insisted.

Theres no way Im going inside Istanbul. Im afraid, of course, said Gunzer, 47, who lives in the German city of Dusseldorf.

Even as many people tried to go on about their day, airport employees mourned fallen colleagues. A picture of a woman named Ozgul Ide and her colleague hung from the shuttered entrance to Simit Saray, a cafe in the arrival hall where one of the assailants blew himself up. A group of people looked at the memorial photograph of the two, who were killed during the incident. One woman was crying, her hands cupped around her mouth and nose.

Only a day before, Aynur Olmez, another employee at Sbarro, recalled running into Ozgul.

Olmez, 38, struggled to hold back tears.

Were sad. Were scared. I knew her. I knew a lot of them, she said as she finished an evening shift. She was about to break her day-long fast for Ramadan, the Islamic holy month.

Olmez had the day off on Tuesday.

At the time of the attack, she said, her son, Abdulkadir, 18, was on his way to work a shift at the Caffe Nero in the arrival hall. And her brother, Regep, also works at the airport as a shuttle driver. He had just driven a group of passengers away from the airport when the assailants began firing into the crowds of people, she said.

My family, all of us, are lucky that we were not hurt. Its incredible that none of us were even here at the time of the attack, Olmez said. I cant explain it.

Olmez roughly translates in English as immortal.

As she spoke, she flipped through photographs on her cellphone of people who were wounded in the attack. One man lay in a bloodied T-shirt, his eyes open but lifeless. Another man was crumpled on his side.

Its horrible what happened to us, she said.

Zeynep Karatas contributed to this report.

Read more:

Turkeys increasingly desperate predicament poses real dangers

In Turkey, suicide bombers are targeting tourists

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
E.U. leaders gathered Wednesday without Britain for the first time in four decades for a painful inward look at a union challenged as never before, with stark divisions remaining about how to avoid a further crackup.

E.U. leaders appeared united a day earlier in taking a hard line against British desires to pick and choose the best parts of membership as they look ahead to talks over Britains break. But disagreements remain about how far to cast the island nation into exile.

There is even less consensus about how to salvage the rest of the union.

Some leaders want to bind themselves together even more tightly in a bid to fend off Euroskeptic forces that might want to copy last weeks British referendum on E.U. ties. Others say the only way to survive is by loosening the confederation and scaling back E.U. ambitions.

For now, mindful of the risks of ballot-box rebellions, many agreed on one tactic: avoiding more referendums in the 27 countries still in the E.U. fold. In a June 23 plebiscite, 52 percent of British voters chose to leave the European Union after a divisive campaign.

We can see that a referendum in one country can have so much impact on everyone, said French President Francois Hollande, who is facing a rabble-rousing anti-E.U. challenge ahead of elections next year. You cannot just organize a referendum for your own purposes.

[Could Britain ignore the referendum? Its happened before across the E.U.]

E.U. leaders recognize that Britain may not be the only nation where the electorate is far more Euroskeptic than those in charge. Sentiments in Greece, France and Spain show many are wary of the European Union, according to a poll this month from the Pew Research Center.

Even E.U. stalwart Germany is nearly split down the middle, with 48 percent disapproving of the union. And anti-E.U. parties are flourishing from Finland to Austria to Italy.

We all need to wake up and smell the coffee, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said as she entered a breakfast meeting of the 27 leaders.

[Pro-E.U. British look west  to Ireland and a possible passport]

Amid the disagreements, however, there was unity that Britain cannot have it both ways: wriggling loose from requirements on open borders with the rest of Europe while keeping access to Europes vast consumer market, the largest in the world. That has been the hope of the British leave campaigners, although there appeared to be a growing realization in London that they may be outgunned on the question.

1 of 56 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Britons react to cutting ties with the European Union View Photos 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. Caption 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. 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 Wait 1 second to continue.

Access to the single market requires acceptance of all four freedoms, including the freedom of movement. There will be no single market a la carte, said European Council President Donald Tusk.

In one measure of expectations for the outcome of the negotiations, French and German banks are increasingly looking at the market turmoil as a golden business opportunity. They are salivating at the possibility that the financial hub of London may dwindle in favor of Paris and Frankfurt, if Britain loses access to the E.U.s banking market.

In an appearance in Britains House of Commons on Wednesday, Prime Minister David Cameron seemed to acknowledge that his successor will be hard-pressed to win any meaningful concessions on immigration if the country wants to maintain single-market access.

Asked by former defense secretary Liam Fox, a fervent Brexit campaigner, whether retaining the E.U.s free-movement rules would be a betrayal of millions of people who voted to leave, Cameron said it was difficult to try to change the free-movement rules from within the E.U. and will be even more difficult from outside.

Cameron had sought agreement in February from fellow E.U. leaders to allow national governments greater control over who can resettle in their countries. But he was largely rebuffed, leaving him with little to show for the negotiation and vulnerable to charges from the leave camp that Britain would never bring down record immigration levels while it remained in the E.U.

[Brexit is not just Europes problem. It highlights a crisis worldwide.]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has lost a rival power base with the British exit, said E.U. leaders had a profound discussion about what they need to do to keep the European Union from further fracturing.

The union needs to give prosperity and security to its people, she said after Wednesdays meeting. Its not about more or less Europe, but that we have to be better in achieving the results in the objectives that we set out.

E.U. leaders plan to meet again in September in Bratislava, Slovakia, to further discuss strategies to hold Europe together.

Underlining the quick-shifting realignments unleashed by the British vote, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was also in Brussels as the leaders met, seeking an arrangement separate from any with the rest of Britain.

[Britain confronts a wave of racist incidents after the Brexit vote]

Scotland voted heavily to remain within the European Union, and Sturgeon has vowed that it will stay connected to Europe  even if that means a rerun of a 2014 secession vote in which Scotland opted not to leave the United Kingdom.

Sturgeon met with the heads of two E.U. institutions, European Parliament President Martin Schulz and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Other leaders declined her request for meetings, in part because E.U. member Spain is fearful of encouraging its own separatist regions to break away.

Griff Witte in London contributed to this report.
This photo released June 28 by the New Syrian Army shows fighters of the U.S.-backed group in an undisclosed place in Syria. (New Syrian Armyvia AP)

The U.S. militarys efforts to confront the Islamic State in Syria suffered another setback Wednesday after the militants routed the only group to have survived intact an ill-fated Pentagon program to train and equip moderate rebels last year.

The U.S.-backed New Syrian Army said it was forced to withdraw its forces to its base at Tanf near the Jordanian border after launching what appears to have been a poorly conceived offensive aimed at capturing the strategically important eastern Syrian town of Abu Kamal on the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Islamic State claims published by its Amaq news agency that its fighters had killed 40 members of the group and captured 15 could not be independently confirmed and appeared to be exaggerated. Islamic State social media accounts posted photographs and videos showing brutalized bodies, the beheading of one fighter and small quantities of captured, U.S.- supplied weaponry.

The New Syrian Army said in a statement only that it lost several men before the group successfully departed to Tanf, more than 150 miles away in remote desert terrain near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders.

[Pentagon struggles to train and equip Syrian rebels]

Abdulsalem Muzil, a spokesman for the rebel group with which the NSA is affiliated, said the fighters retreated with most of their weaponry and vehicles intact. He called the operation a success.

The whole operation was a test of power for the New Syrian Army, and our forces proved they can fight ISIS, he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State.

But other Syrians affiliated with the group said its attack did not go according to plan and that sleeper cells in the town that were expected to join the offensive failed to materialize.

The battle was a setback, they said, for a small group that was depleted further by an Islamic State suicide bomber in May and by a Russian airstrike in June. The group was formed last year with only about 100 men, and its ranks had dwindled significantly by the time the offensive was launched, according to commanders.

The rout also raised further questions about the United States strategy in Syria at a time when the Islamic States defenses are crumbling on multiple fronts elsewhere across its self-proclaimed caliphate. On Monday, Iraqi security forces finished driving the militants from the symbolically important town of Fallujah 45 miles west of Baghdad, and in recent weeks the Islamic State has been forced to retreat in several key locations of northeastern Syria by the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zour, where Abu Kamal is located, is now the only major territory controlled by the Islamic State in which the militants face no challenge. The offensive could have changed that, while also severing one of the Islamic States last remaining supply routes between Syria and Iraq.

[The long, lethal reach of the Islamic State]

The New Syrian Army could potentially pose a threat to Islamic State control of the province, because its members are from the area, most of them from Abu Kamal. Although the group had hoped that the attack might trigger a local uprising, the result instead seemed to hand the Islamic State a propaganda victory, even if its claims were exaggerated, analysts said.

Unless the New Syrian Army can regroup soon and launch another offensive, they will be finished, said Michael Horowitz, a senior analyst at the Levantine Group security consultancy. And if it is, he said, U.S. strategy will become even more reliant on Syrias Kurds, who have proved to be an effective fighting force but are regarded with deep distrust by most of the Syrian Arabs living in areas still controlled by the Islamic State.

If this is the end of the offensive, it is a major setback for U.S. policy in Syria and any future attempts to build an Arab force, he said. It will lead to reinforcement of U.S. support for the SDF, which is mostly made up of Kurds, and we know this could be a problem because they have their own interests.

Zakaria Zakaria in Istanbul contributed to this report.

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Two international human rights organizations on Wednesday called for Saudi Arabia to be suspended from the United Nations Human Rights Council over its conduct in the military campaign in Yemen.

In a joint statement, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said Saudi Arabia had committed gross and systematic violations of human rights during its two and a half years on the Human Rights Council. They said the Saudis had used their position to block independent investigations and criticisms of how the country has waged war in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia leads a coalition that has been accused of using cluster bombs and launching indiscriminate airstrikes against civilians in its battle against rebels in neighboring Yemen. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has estimated that more than 3,500 civilians have been killed and 6,200 wounded since the war began in March 2015.

[Massive protests in Sanaa mark the anniversary of Yemens civil war ]

Saudi officials could not be reached for an immediate comment, but the U.S.-backed coalition repeatedly has denied targeting civilians, saying it acts only in response to truce violations by the rebels.

The statement also cited Saudi Arabias human rights record at home, including the jailing of dissidents and discrimination against migrant workers, women and the Shiite minority. It said there has been a surge in executions since Saudi Arabia joined the Human Rights Council, including some for nonviolent, drug-related offenses.

But the bulk of the statement focused on the war against Houthi rebels in Yemen, a campaign that was launched last year after rebels advanced on the temporary capital of Aden. A fragile cease-fire is in place, and the Saudis back U.N.-brokered negotiations between the internationally recognized government and the rebels, but airstrikes have continued.

Saudi Arabia is one of 47 countries that sit, in a rotating membership, on the Human Rights Council, a Geneva-based body that can investigate abuses and recommend U.N. action but has no prosecutorial or judicial powers. The council currently includes several members criticized for human rights violations, including China, Cuba, Russia, Venezuela and Vietnam. Human rights groups have long argued that countries with poor records should be excluded from the council. But they have been particularly critical of the elected seat held by Saudi Arabia, which is usually ranked at the bottom of Freedom Houses list assessing freedom around the world.

[Why Saudi Arabia is on a U.N. human rights panel]

We have assessed that the Saudis have crossed a threshold, said Richard Bennett, head of Amnesty Internationals U.N. office, citing a council rule that member states can be suspended over particularly egregious human rights violations.

Theyve done that in Yemen. Theyve done so domestically, and theyve used their membership on the Human Rights Council to shield themselves from scrutiny. I cant think of other members that have done that. Saudi Arabia is in a class of its own.

In October, Saudi Arabia and its allies on the Human Rights Council successfully resisted a proposed international inquiry into human rights violations by all parties in the Yemen conflict. Instead, it adopted a resolution supporting a decree by the Saudi-backed government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, creating a national commission of inquiry. It asked the U.N. human rights office to offer technical assistance and help with capacity building.

Earlier this month, the Saudi-led coalition was briefly placed on a list of countries that maim and kill children in conflicts. Also on the list were Yemeni government forces, the Houthi rebels and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

After a weekend of objections by Saudi Arabia and allies who fund U.N. humanitarian operations, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told reporters that he had been subjected to undue pressure from countries that threatened to quit funding U.N. humanitarian work if he did not delete the coalitions name.

I also had to consider the very real prospect that millions of other children would suffer grievously if, as was suggested to me, countries would defund many U.N. programs, he said in explaining why he removed the coalition.

Last weekend, Ban was in Kuwait trying to rescue the off-and-on peace negotiations between rebels and the government.

While the cessation of hostilities is mostly holding, there have been serious violations, causing further casualties and suffering among the civilian population, including children, he said.

The joint statement said the human rights groups had documented 69 airstrikes that have hit homes, markets, hospitals, schools, businesses and mosques. It said some may amount to war crimes.

[Amensty International: All factions may have committed war crimes in Yemen]

Hillel Neuer, head of a human rights group called UN Watch, said there is little likelihood Saudi Arabia will lose its seat, however.

At this time, theres zero chance, said Neuer, who has frequently criticized Saudi Arabias actions on the council and argued that human rights violators should be barred from serving on the council. Weve seen the power play Saudi Arabias demonstrated.

John Sifton, deputy Washington director of Human Rights Watch, said he hopes it will keep Saudi Arabia from being reelected when its term expires at the end of this year.

We want to raise attention to the immense, catastrophic human costs of war in Yemen, Sifton said. The Saudi military has engaged in a pattern of conduct that has led to excessive civilian casualties through its use of cluster bombings, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks. Its record is bad.

Read more:

Saudi prince at UN after Saudi-led coalition removed from blacklist

Young Saudi prince is trying to reform his country

Yemeni rebels pose rising threat in southern Saudi Arabia
Turkish officials say three attackers with suicide vests detonated their explosives at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport, killing at least 41 people and wounding more than 200 others. Editor's note: This video contains graphic content. (TWP)

Turkish officials say three attackers with suicide vests detonated their explosives at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport, killing at least 41 people and wounding more than 200 others. Editor's note: This video contains graphic content. (TWP)

A brazen assault by three suicide bombers on Istanbuls Ataturk Airport has set the stage for a more violent conflict between Turkey and the Islamic State, a development that would deepen Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war.

There has been no claim of responsibility for Tuesdays carnage, but Turkish officials blamed the Sunni extremists for the attack, which killed 41 people and injured at least 239.

The raid marked the fifth bombing attack in Istanbul this year and struck the countrys most important transportation hub. Although Kurdish militants also have recently attacked targets in Istanbul, analysts said the airport operation bore all the hallmarks of the Islamic State.

On Wednesday, a senior Turkish official gave a timeline of the attack: First, a militant detonated explosives in the arrivals area on the ground floor of the international terminal. A second attacker exploded a bomb minutes later in the departures area upstairs. Finally, a third bomber detonated explosives in the parking area amid the chaos as people fled to escape the attacks inside.

[A day after the Istanbul attack: Were sad. Were scared.]





It was unclear at what point security forces exchanged gunfire with the attackers, according to the officials timeline. But witnesses spoke Wednesday of scenes of panic, fear and wounded fellow travelers.

It was chaos. No one was in charge, said Faisal Rashid, a 15-year-old who was traveling with his family from Sweden to Iraq, where they are originally from. We just ran, all of us, outside. We didnt know what we were doing  we just thought we could die.

Even as the country reeled from the violence, the assault on one of the worlds busiest airports  and a symbol of Turkeys modern economy  threatened to propel the country into a wider war with the Islamic State.

The airport handles more than 60 million passengers each year and is a hub for Turkeys official carrier, Turkish Airlines.

If the Islamic State is indeed behind this attack, this would be a declaration of war, said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. This attack is different: the scope, impact and deaths of dozens in the heart of the countrys economic capital.

It will have widespread ramifications, he said, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has depicted himself as a strong, conservative leader, cannot afford to let this go.

Turkey has taken steps to battle the Islamic State, which grew strong amid the bloody civil war in neighboring Syria. But critics have faulted Turkey for its reluctance to take the fight to the extremists.

1 of 41 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  What the scene at Istanbul airport looks like after gunfire, explosions View Photos Dozens are reported killed after suicide bombers attack the citys Ataturk Airport. Caption At least 100 were killed after suicide bombers attacked the citys Ataturk international airport. June 29, 2016 A coffin is loaded into a hearse at the forensic building close to Istanbuls airport. Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images Wait 1 second to continue.

[In Turkey, suicide bombers are targeting tourists]

For years, Turkish security forces turned a blind eye to the militants who slipped across the border from Syria, where Islamist rebels and others have been battling forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey wanted the Syrian leader to step down and also saw the militants as a bulwark against Syrias own autonomy-seeking Kurds. Turkeys ethnic Kurdish minority has long sought greater independence from the Turkish state, and the rise of a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria worries nationalist Turks, who fear it will inspire the Kurds in Turkey.

Fighters gathering on the Turkish-Syrian border  many of whom eventually joined the Islamic State  used Turkey as a crucial route for weapons, recruits and supplies. Lax enforcement along the frontier allowed the militants to develop sprawling networks inside Turkey, even as they grabbed land across Syria and Iraq.

And when the detente between Turkey and the militants came to an end  when Turkey joined the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State and opened its Incirlik Air Base to U.S. aircraft  the networks were tapped for the new battle with the Turkish state.

The Islamic State has either claimed or been blamed for at least five major suicide attacks in Turkey in the past year, including the assault at the airport and two other bombings in Istanbul this year.

Now, the two sides are edging toward full-fledged conflict, analysts say.

They went from a cold war to a limited war and are now moving towards full-scale war, Cagaptay said of Turkey and the Islamic State.

But among the questions is whether Turkey, a NATO member and U.S. ally, could actually escalate its role in the campaign in Syria.

Turkeys airstrikes against Islamic State positions were suspended after Moscow, responding to Turkeys downing of a Russian jet that Ankara said was flying over its territory last October, threatened to shoot down Turkish planes over Syria. Since then, Turkey has flown only surveillance and reconnaissance missions in its own airspace.

Russia intervened in Syria last fall to prop up Assad in the face of the rebel onslaught.

This week, Erdogan met Russian President Vladimir Putins demand for an apology for the shoot-down. The two spoke by phone Wednesday, the presidency here said, and Putin expressed his condolences for the victims of the Istanbul airport attack.

If Turkey wanted to engage with the Islamic State anywhere in northern Syria, they cannot do it without Russias blessing, Cagaptay said.

But even as Turkey mulls its options in the fight against the Islamic State, the latest bloodshed unfortunately suggests the beginning of the type of attacks that are coming, he said.

The capability of the Islamic State . . . is likely to continue to expand, said Ege Seckin, an analyst at IHS Country Risk, a political risk analysis firm.

And the size and nature of the militant cells in Turkey means preventing their attacks will be difficult, he added.

Zeynep Karatas in Istanbul and Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more:

Islamic State bombing sends a message to Turkey

Turkish president apologizes for downing of Russian warplane last year

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Following the initial shock over the result of the Brexit referendum last Thursday, the German elite is seeking to exploit the historic turning point for Europe (as Chancellor Angela Merkel put it) and the deep political, economic and social crisis to further develop their economic and political dominance within the European Union.

Merkel set the tone with her statement to the press on Friday. She regretted the decision of the majority of the British population  to end the United Kingdoms membership in the European Union. At the same time, she cautioned the remaining 27 members states against making any decisions that would further divide Europe. Now at stake was the ability to reassert our interestseconomic, social, ecological, foreign and security policyagainst global competition.

The export-oriented German economy is more dependent than any other in Europe on a common internal market, and the majority of the Germany elite regard the survival of the EU (at least for the moment) as necessary for the pursuit of the economic and geo-strategic interests of German imperialism. Merkel declared, Germany has a special interest in the success of European unity. Then she warned that going forward she would pay special attention  to the interests of German citizens and the German economy.

The efforts of the German government to stop the disintegration of the EU, to bring the worsening crisis under control and at the same time strengthen its own position against the other European powers have culminated in the demand that Britains exit be carried out as quickly as possible and that the EU undertakes a massive military expansion, both internally and externally.

At a joint press conference in Berlin with French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, prior to the start of the EU summit in Brussels on Tuesday, Merkel warned against a stalemate. Article 50, which provides for a countrys withdrawal from the EU, is very clear, she said. Britain would now have to take the necessary step and submit to the European Council a petition for withdrawal.

Most aggressive in their demand for a quick implementation of the Brexit has been the German Social Democratic Party (SPD). The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz (SPD), told the Bild am Sonntag: Hesitating in order to accommodate the party tactics of the British conservatives hurts everyone and leads to still more uncertainty, he said. He therefore expected that the British government now delivers. The EU summit was the right moment for this.

In an interview on Monday with Handelsblatt, SPD chairman and vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel explained provocatively: Theres no such thing as being a little pregnant. And theres also no halfway membership. The British have now decided that they are leaving and there will be no discussions about what the EU can offer Britain to convince it to stay.

The foreign ministers of the six founder states of the EU, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg, issued a joint statement on Brexit Saturday, with SPD foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier signing on behalf of Germany. The statement declared: We now expect the government of the United Kingdom to provide clarification and implement the decision arrived at through the referendum as quickly as possible.

Strategy papers currently being worked out between the European capitals and in Brussels provide information on the main thrust of the German position. A joint paper from Steinmeier and French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, titled A strong Europe in a world of uncertainties, expresses regret over Britains withdrawal, but also presents it as a chance to focus our joints efforts on those challenges that can only be addressed by common European answers.

In recent months and years, Great Britain was certainly a close ally of Berlin in the implementation of austerity policies in Greece and throughout Europe. But the conservative British government was increasingly seen as a problem for the development of a common defence, security and refugee policy. Above all, the creation of a European army, with which Germany has become increasingly involved, was met with harsh criticism in London.

Following Britains exit from the EU, at least a section of the German elite sees a chance to press ahead with their reactionary plans. At the centre of the paper by Steinmeier and Ayrault is the massive domestic and foreign military build-up of the continent.

Under the heading A European security compact, it states: One of the main features of todays security environment is the interdependence between internal and external security  To respond to this challenge, Germany and France propose a European Security Compact which encompasses all aspects of security and defence dealt with at the European level.

What then follows is a blueprint for the construction of a European police and military state. Steinmeier and Ayrault see the EU as as a key power in its neighbourhood but also  with global reach. An actor able to make a decisive contribution to tackling global challenges. The EU will need to take action more often in order to manage crises and therefore need[s] stronger and more flexible crisis prevention and crisis management capabilities.

They go on: The EU should be able to plan and conduct civil and military operations more effectively, with the support of a permanent civil-military chain of command. The EU should be able to rely on employable high-readiness forces and provide common financing for its operations. Within the framework of the EU, member states willing to establish permanent structured cooperation in the field of defence or to push ahead to launch operations 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.

Steinmeier and Ayrault do not mince words. In order to live up to the growing security challenges, Europeans need to step up their defence efforts. European member states should reaffirm and abide by the commitments made collectively on defence budgets and the portion of spending dedicated to the procurement of equipment and to research and technology.

Another paper, titled EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy, to be presented at the summit by EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, speaks a similar language. Die Welt has cited a few of the most important passages:

As Europeans we must take greater responsibility for our security. We must be ready and able to deter, respond to, and protect ourselves against external threats. In the realm of concerted and joint initiativesthe paper lists among other things a solid European defence industrythe focus would now have to be on improvements to collective military capabilities.

Die Welt points out that the new EU security strategy has Germanys fingerprints all over it. Berlin has championed and supported the military unification of Europe from the beginning, according to a new white paper by the German military that runs parallel to Mogherinis document and was written in close collaboration.

The desperate attempt of the European and above all the German elite to rescue the disintegrating EU with militarism exposes the historic lie that the continent can be united on the basis of capitalism. A progressive and permanent unification of Europe against the threat of nationalism and war is only possible in the form of the United Socialist States of Europe.
An American journalist inside Istanbul's main airport when three suicide bombers attacked has described the harrowing ordeal, and his attempts to protect his wife.



Steven Nabil told Good Morning America that he and his wife were traveling from Greece back home to New York City after their honeymoon when the bombers attacked Istanbul's busy Ataturk airport Tuesday night.



He wrote a series of frantic tweets about his harrowing experience after getting to safety.



"My wife was sitting at Nero cafA while I went 3rd floor to get food from sabbaro. Heard shots ran fast toward her," Nabil tweeted. He added, "We then took cover in a closet inside a hair salon. The 45 minutes we were sitting ducks waiting to find out who will open the door."



Three suicide attackers killed at least 41 people and injured dozens in the attack that began just before 10 p.m. local time, according to the New York Times and multiple media reports. Between 10 and 13 foreign nationals are among the dead, Turkish officials have said.





RELATED VIDEO: Istanbul Airport Bombed: At Least 36 Dead, More Than 140 Injured in Reported Suicide Attack

Two gunmen fired automatic weapons at a security checkpoint outside the airport before detonating their explosives. A third set off a bomb in the parking lot.



Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that early signs pointed to ISIS being behind the attack. However, the terror group has not claimed responsibility.





American Honeymooners Describe Terror of Hiding from Istanbul Airport Attackers as Death Toll Climbs to 41| Bombings, Crime & Courts, Death, Murder, Shootings, True Crime, True Crime





We just left the aiport. My wife was injured during the attack. We were face to face with the attacker while he sprayed #istanbul part1 a Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016







I ran back got my wife pulled her to store broke in and waited in terror while he was shooting outside the store.we barely made it#istanbul a Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016





Nabil described to GMA the moments he realized the airport, one of the world's busiest, was under attack.



"I went to get some food for [my wife] a I was getting pizza when I heard the first bullets. I looked across and I saw the people running. And I realized it's an attack," he said. "My instinct kicked in. I ran as fast as I could toward that area that she was in which was the corner where the guy was shooting from."



 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.





Story continues

Took this when we made it out of storage room,ran downstairs,we took shelter with others,blood everywhere #istanbul pic.twitter.com/lDNKpBLkWs a Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 29, 2016





He said being separated from his wife at that moment was "the worst feeling ever." Nabil said he pushed through a crowd of people to get to his wife and saw "bullets flying."



He was able to get to his wife and the two broke into a salon and hid in a storage room.





WATCH: New video shows terrorists opening fire before setting off suicide bombs at Istanbul airport. https://t.co/51EG7EcOdM a Good Morning America (@GMA) June 29, 2016





"That's when we heard the third blast. I scrambled for some sort of a knife or something to protect her and she was crying. I was putting my hand on her mouth trying to keep her quiet in case [the gunman]'s roaming around and he can hear us," Nabil told GMA.



"That's when I found a tea kettle with hot water and I figured if [the gunman] opens the door, my last resort would be dumping the water in his face, at least give her a chance to run while I wrestle him to the ground."





WATCH: New video shows terrorists opening fire before setting off suicide bombs at Istanbul airport. https://t.co/51EG7EcOdM a Good Morning America (@GMA) June 29, 2016







#istanbul

The screams of the victims and the blood everywhere didnt allow us to sleep.this child stared at the blood in shock a Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 29, 2016





Nabil said that he and his wife were "about 30 or 40 yards" away from the first attack and said, "If there was any sort of hostage situation we would have been the first one to go because we were right there."



Authorities are still trying to figure out the circumstances surrounding the attack and government officials said the suicide attackers, armed with guns and bombs, arrived at the airport in a taxi, the Associated Press reports.





Me and the Mrs A photo posted by Steven Nabil (@steven_nabil_) on Jun 22, 2016 at 5:14am PDT





An official told the AP that none of the attackers got past security checks at the airport and carried out the attacks at the international arrivals and the parking lot.



In the hours after the attack, hundreds of passengers were left sitting on grassy patches outside of the airport at several ambulances arrived at the scene.



Istanbul officials said 13 foreigners were among the 41 killed in the attack. More than 230 people were injured, the AP reports.
Authorities were called to the Texas home of Christy Sheats three times regarding suicide attempts over the last several years, Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls tells PEOPLE.



Nehls would not specify whether or not the attempted suicide calls were in reference to Sheats, the 42-year-old mother who fatally shot her daughters last Friday. Sheats was shot dead by police after refusing to surrender her weapon, police said.



According to a press release, the sheriff's office has responded to 14 calls for service at the Katy area home since January of 2012, though some of those calls had to do with the home's alarm system.



The press release says Sheats "convened a family meeting" in her living room, where she fired on her two daughters, Taylor, 22, and Madison, 17.



According to the release, Taylor, Madison, and their father and Christy's husband, Jason, ran out of the house through the front door. Jason ran to the end of the cul-de-sac, but Madison collapsed and died, the release states.



Christy followed Taylor into the street and shot her again. Police said Sheats went back into the home and reloaded her gun before coming out to shoot Taylor again.





Police Had Responded to Three Suicide Attempts at Home of Texas Mother Who Killed Her Daughters| Crime & Courts, Murder, True Crime

 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.



Sheats had a history of mental illness, authorities have said.



According to one witness who spoke with PEOPLE, Sheats "looked pretty calm-looking" during the shooting and had "no expression"  just a "blank face."



The witness adds: "She was just walking normally with a gun. There was no expression no hurry or rush, just walking with the gun. No expression on her face, she was just looking straight."



Police said Jason Sheats tried pleading with his wife, begging her not to hurt the girls. "Don't do this," he allegedly said to her. "They're our kids."



Family friend Madison Davey spoke with Jason Sheats after the shooting, she told ABC13. "He told Christy, 'Just shoot yourself. Make it easy on all of us, just shoot yourself,' and she said, 'No, that's not what this is about, this is about punishing you,'" Davey said.



Reporting by ADAM CARLSON
The Facebook page of the Texas woman who fatally shot her two daughters before being shot and killed by police herself lends eerie retrospective insight given her proclamations of love for her children and her views on guns.



Christy Sheats, 42, called a family meeting and opened fire on her daughters in her living room, according to a press release from the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office. Taylor, 22, and Madison, 17, along with Christy's husband, Jason, ran out of the house through the front door. Madison collapsed and died, but the mother followed Taylor into the street and shot her again.



A witness confirms to PEOPLE that Sheats went back into the home and reloaded her gun before coming out to shoot Taylor again. Jason escaped the shooting.



Taylor was airlifted to the hospital where she died from her injuries.







The Texas mom had posted several times on her Facebook page to support the Second Amendment and oppose gun control.



"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 a March Facebook post.



In January, she posted a meme that read, "I have 10 guns. Obama wants 8 of my guns. How many guns do I have? That's right, I have 10 guns."









According to the Houston Chronicle, she shared another meme that read, "Donat punish me because SOME gun owners are nutjobs." It pictured children from the Sandy Hook school shooting.



Sheats also used her social media page as an outlet to celebrate her two daughters.



In September, Sheats posted a sweet kind message to her children: "Happy Daughter's Day to my two amazing, sweet, kind, beautiful, intelligent girls," she wrote with photos of Taylor and Madison. "I love and treasure you both more than you could ever possibly know."









Taylor had kind words to say about her mother in a May 2013 Facebook post on Mother's Day.



"You're one of the strongest people I know, if not the strongest, and you have had to overcome so much in your life but you still manage to love us and put your everything into being a mom," Taylor said in the post, sharing a photo of her younger self smiling with her mom.









Authorities say Sheats had a history of mental illness, and the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office had been to her home "for previous altercations" involving Sheats's "mental crisis," sheriff's spokeswoman Caitilin Espinosa tells PEOPLE.
The U.S. may not have Hogwarts, but it has its very own wizarding school instead: Ilvermorny.

J.K. Rowling offered up new details on the institution with a new story on Harry Potter site Pottermore. Its the latest in a series of information Rowling has dropped to whet appetites for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the upcoming Harry Potter spinoff movie set in New York City 70 years before the Harry Potter stories start.

The four houses are named after magical beasts: Pukwudgie, Horned Serpent, Wampus and Thunderbird. As Rowling puts it, Horned Serpent favors scholars; Wampus, warriors; Pukwudgie, healers; and Thunderbird, adventurers.

The short Pukwudgie is a distant relative of the European troll, and isnt a fan of humans. The Parsel-tongue-speaking Horned Serpent is a river serpent with a jewel in its forehead. The Thunderbird can create storms as it flies, and the panther-life Wampus is almost impossible to kill.

The Ilvermorny Sorting Ceremony goes a little differently than the Hogwarts one. In Hogwarts, new students don the Sorting Hat, who decides where the student best fits. At Ilvermorny, students stand in front of four wooden carvings, each representing one of the houses, and waits for one to react.

Rowling also revealed some new details about the history of Ilvermorny. It was built in 17th century Massachusetts by an Irish woman who fled to the New World as a child to get away from her evil aunt.

Rowling is making her screenwriting debut on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which stars Eddie Redmayne as the bookish Newt Scamander. It will hit theaters on Nov. 18.

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PEN Center USA, the literary and human rights organization, is honoring former ABC newswoman Willow Bay and former Washington Post Tehran Bureau Chief Jason Rezaian with awards at its 26th annual Literary Awards Festival, the center announced.

Bay, currently the director of the USC Annenberg School of Journalism, will receive the Award of Honor, which recognizes people and institutions that have made meaningful contributions to the world of writers and journalists. Before joining the Annenberg School, Bay was a correspondent for Bloomberg Television, NBC News and MSNBC. Earlier in her career she co-anchored ABC's Good Morning America. She's also currently a senior strategic advisor at the Huffington Post.

Rezaian will receive the Freedom to Write Award. In July 2014, Rezaian and his wife were detained by Iranian authorities on vague and meritless charges of espionage and propaganda. He spent 545 days in Tehran's Evin prison before being released on Jan. 16, 2016, as part of broad negotiations between the U.S. and Iran over that country's nuclear arms program. Several other American detainees were released at the same time as Rezaian.

PEN Center previously announced Isabel Allende as the recipient of the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award.

This year's PEN Center gala is being hosted by actors and best-selling authors (as well as wife and husband) Amber Tamblyn and David Cross. The event takes place Sept. 28 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Read More: Adele's Overdue Glastonbury Headlining Set: "This Is the Best Moment of My Life"
Just in case you hadnt heard, the new Ghostbusters is coming out on July 15, and for all the nonsense regarding people being up in arms about lady Ghostbusters, at least none of those slack-jawed yokels could complain about the theme song. Notable all-male rock band Fall Out Boy, along with Missy Elliott, stepped into the shoes of Ray Parker Jr. to reboot his iconic (and stolen from Huey Lewis) theme to the original Ghostbusters. But in Japan, even the theme song isnt safe from gender debates; instead of Fall Out Boy, their theme song is a version of the Ghostbusters theme sung by four ladies and predictably, its awesome.

The video features four female Japanese comedians dressed in Ghostbusters uniforms, proton packs in hand, dancing around and having a grand old time to a Japanese version of the song we all know and love. While the video is for the new Ghostbusters, and features footage of Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and the rest of the gang in action, it also has a very 80s feel, even with a subtle homage to the original music video using the neon picture frames.

This version of Ghostbusters was released by Sony Music Japan, so it may be replacing the Fall Out Boy version overseas. If so, the people of Japan are very lucky. With all due respect to Fall Out Boy, they cant hold a candle to this video.

(Via Slashfilm)
Kellogs Cereal Cafe 1

Good morning! Here's everything you need to know in the world of advertising today.

1. Chase has called in auditors to scrutinize its relationship with Publicis Groupe media agency ZenithOptimedia  the company which buys its advertising. Business Insider learned that the decision by the consumer and commercial banking division of JPMorgan is a direct response to the high-profile report published earlier this month by the Association of National Advertisers.

2. RAPP USA, the Omnicom advertising agency, has denied allegations made against its global CEO Alexei Orlov in a lawsuit brought by its former US president Greg Andersen that claimed Orlov engaged in bullying behavior, Campaign reports. Rapp has filed a response to the lawsuit from Andersen  who is claiming wrongful termination, retaliation, and discrimination  saying his dismissal was "lawful and appropriate" and that Andersen had failed in his "basic duties" to the agency. Rapp's court filing says the allegations made about Orlov's behavior are "gross mischaracterizations."

3. Google is about to ask all its users if they want to opt in to "ads personalization." The change will allow Google to start using data it has about you from Search, Chrome, and YouTube to give you more personalized ads.

4. Snapchat is reportedly making its ad prices more reasonable for brands. A brand's minimum spend on ads could be reduced from $500,000 to $100,000  to address concerns from companies using the platform to promote products and services, according to Digiday.

5. The Washington Post hopes to add $100 million in annual revenue through selling software, including the site's content management system. So far around a dozen smaller news organizations are using The Washington Post's software.

6. Google could face another antitrust charge from the EU next month. The issue relates to Google's AdWords ad placement service  rivals have previously complained about unfair advertising exclusivity clauses and undue restrictions on advertisers.

Story continues

7. These are the top 30 Vine stars in the world. These Vine users used the platform to rise from relative obscurity to be followed by millions of people  they can teach valuable lessons to brands looking to do the same.

8. We tried out Kellogg's new restaurant in New York which charges more than $7 for cereal. The menu for the cafe, which opens to the public on July 4th, was created by Milkbar's Christina Tosi.

9. Chiptopia  Chipotle's new rewards program  offers the the best rewards in the market according to BTIG analyst Peter Saleh. However, the catch in the program is that it is temporary, lasting only three months.

10. The way painkillers are advertised in the UK may have to change after a landmark ruling. The UKs Advertising Standards Authority has banned an ad by Nurofen for claiming it could target specific types of pain, according to The Guardian.

NOW WATCH: LG pulled off its craziest marketing stunt yet to promote its latest vacuum cleaner





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From Cosmopolitan

What would your roommate do if you texted them out of the blue that you had just adopted a 5-year-old pit bull and would be bringing him home that night? Cosmopolitan.com asked 10 women to do just that (with a little help from the adorable Instagram-famous Chase the pit bull aka @sometimescarl). Here's what happened.

1. Kathleen and her husband Michael, whom she keeps in her phone as Miguel, have been together for nine years and have been living together for the last three years in what Kathleen describes as an incredibly small one-bedroom on the fifth floor of a walkup building in Jersey City.

"The only way I could do this was to drop the photo into our text exchange and then not say anything else. There is nothing Michael talks about more than adopting a dog," Kathleen said. "When I got home, he jokingly asked where the dog was, but he had figured it out by then."

2. Carina and Claudia are best friends. They lived together in college two years and just moved into their first real apartment - a cozy two-bedroom in Williamsburg - less than a month ago.

"She sensed it was probably a prank, since she used to work here and knows we get into crazy shenanigans at Cosmo," Carina said. "But when I told her it was a joke, she admitted that she was a little nervous since I am a dog freak and impulsive enough to actually do something like this probably."

3. Ginger and Prudence (not their real names) are best friends and have been living together for a couple of years. Prudence was not amused by the prank - not even a little - and would not give permission for her text messages to be used in this post. Even two weeks later, it is still a sensitive topic. 

4. Elizabeth and David are engaged and have been living together in their small one-bedroom walkup in the West Village for two years.

"By the time I got home that night, he had already forgotten about it," Elizabeth said. "To be honest, I don't think he ever really believed me."

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5. Hana lives at home with her parents and her younger brother, Harrison, who, she first texted about bringing the dog home.

"I had him open the front door for me and started scratching it so he would think Chase [the dog] was there," Hana said. "He wasn't amused when he didn't see the dog and gave me a look. I think he wanted him."

6. Tess and her fiance Mike have been dating for six and a half years and currently share a studio in a Midtown Manhattan apartment building that does not allow pets of any kind.

"We have been talking about getting a dog for years," Tess said. "But even though I'm a sucker for all pups, I'm a basic golden retriever girl at heart, so he knew I had to be lying about adopting a pit bull."

7. Alie and her boyfriend Mike have been dating for less than a year and although they don't live together, they spend a lot of nights together at her large one-bedroom apartment.

"I grew up with dachshunds, my whole family has dachshunds, and I talk about how I want a dachshund daily, so me saying I was adopting a pit bull was a big giveaway for him," Alie said. "He wasn't mad at all - just proud of himself for spotting me trying to trick him so quickly. Moral of the story: If you want to successfully prank your boyfriend, don't talk to him about anything ever."

8. Peggy and her husband Gregory have been living together for three years in a spacious one-bedroom in Brooklyn.

"As you can see from our very brief conversation, he knew it was a prank right away," Peggy said. "The big giveaway is that this dog, while extremely adorable, is not a pug or French bull dog. Greg would've also expected me to call him and not text if I really was serious about adopting."

9. Alexa and her friend Alex have been living together for over five years - three years during college and two since graduating. They currently share a small two-bedroom in Manhattan's Upper East Side.

"He was kind of disappointed," Alexa said. "I was shocked he believed me because he should know me well enough to know I would never randomly adopt a dog. I am not that impulsive and I really want a cat. I like other people's dogs but would probably never get my own. Plus we've talked about him wanting a dog, and I've always said no, so it would be so weird for me to just bring one home. He was just hoping it was real, I guess, and now I feel kind of bad."

10. Caitlin was convinced that her roommates would kick her out if she told them she had adopted a dog without asking them (prank or no prank), so she sent the photo to her boyfriend Colin instead.

"I was meeting Colin for dinner the same night I prank-texted him," Caitlin said. "When I got to the restaurant, he asked what I was going to do now that I had a dog. I wanted to play the lie out a tiny bit longer but was fumbling with my answer. He stopped me midway through and said, 'OMG! You got me, didn't you?'

"He was jokingly upset because he didn't think I would be able to prank him. I wasn't able to fool him during the great wedding text prank, and I vowed to try again. Victory is sweet! Colin said he was actually 10 percent mad that I 'didn't have a cool dog he could hang out with' but, ultimately, he admitted it was for the best. I think he believed me instantly because adopting a dog on a whim is 100 percent something I would do. I love dogs so much! But my living situation is not ideal for a furry friend, so I think he's happy it didn't pan out that way.

"That prank was so fun, but I promised not to prank him anymore. I did not promise that I would not bring a dog home though!"

Get non-boring fashion and beauty news directly in your feed. Follow Facebook.com/CosmoBeauty.

Follow Charles on Twitter and Instagram.
Between 1975 and 2014, seat belts saved 330,507 lives in car crashes. But if everyone had been wearing belts, an additional 378,983 lives could have been saved, according to a study by the Department of Transportation.

One way to promote seat belt use is to enact the strictest seat belt laws. But states may have lost the will to do so, says a nonprofit group that supports those laws.

Last year saw the fewest number of states enact highway safety laws since 2004. Thats when the group, Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety (AHAS), began rating states on progress in meeting 15 lifesaving laws regarding motorcycle helmets, texting, and more.

By its most recent tally, AHAS found that 34 states and the District of Columbia have primary enforcement laws for the front seats. Of those, only 18 states and the District have laws for front and rear seats.

New Hampshire is the only state that doesnt require adults to wear seat belts. Sherman Packard, a New Hampshire state representative when the last attempt was made to pass a mandatory seat belt law, in 2009, currently serves on the House transportation committee.

He says he wears a seat belt most of the time, sometimes not. He was opposed to a mandatory law then and still is. If wearing seat belts is the law, he asks, Where do we stop?

Do I think seat belts are a good thing? Absolutely, Packard says. But I believe its an issue of personal freedom and personal responsibility, and I dont believe the government should be telling us that we have to put on a safety device. It should be up to the individual.

All other states have some form of seat belt law, but the way theyre written makes a difference.

In states with the strictest primary enforcement laws, the police are allowed to stop and ticket people if theyre unbelted. With secondary enforcement, officers can give tickets to people not wearing seat belts only when they stop vehicles for another violation.

In 2015, states with primary enforcement seat belt laws had a 91.2 percent use rate; in states with secondary enforcement, it was 78.6 percent.

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The difference in the usage rates directly translates to lives saved. A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that in states that strengthened their laws from secondary to primary enforcement, driver death rates declined by about 7 percent.

Primary for All

Consumer Reports believes that every state should have primary seat belt enforcement for the front and rear seats. Stronger seat belt laws mean fewer deaths on our roads, says William Wallace, a policy analyst for Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports. Its time for all states to step up and pass these proven measures, which can keep a crash from becoming a tragedy.

Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety publishes regular Roadmap Reports comparing seat belt laws in all 50 states, at saferoads.org.

The U.S. still has the lowest rate of seat belt usage in the developed world, says Chris Caruso from Automotive Safety Consulting. Imagine how many more lives could be saved if 100 percent of occupants used their seat belts 100 percent of the time.

Editor's Note: This article also appeared in the August 2016 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.





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.
Purchase the best fish.

Buying fish can be a tricky task -- it's hard to find one that's healthy for both you and the ocean. There's no master guide ranking fish by what's important: high omega-3s, low mercury levels and healthy environmental factors. But here are 13 menu options that meet the bar on all those measures, according to the Environmental Defense Fund's Seafood Selector and the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch programs. These choices are high in omega-3s and low in contaminants, and they're produced in a way that's friendly to their environments. How you prepare a dish will obviously determine its calorie count, so unless noted, the calories listed here are for servings of uncooked fish.

1. Wild salmon from Alaska

Fresh, frozen or canned are all OK. Wild salmon will cost you a lot more (on average, $30 per pound) than the farmed variety, but it's worth the big bucks. Salmon farms hold up to 1 million fish per net, and this overcrowding exposes the farmed salmon to chemicals, lice, bacteria and viruses. Plus, salmon farming practices produce waste and can spread parasites and disease to wild fish, among other problems, according to Seafood Watch.

Calorie count: 180 per 4-ounce serving.

2. Arctic char

At a sushi bar, this fish is known as iwana. Arctic char is an environmentally friendly substitute for farmed salmon because it's farmed in systems that are chemical-free and usually void of diseases. It's fine to opt for this farmed fish over wild-caught (which isn't easy to get, anyway).

Calorie count: 204 per 4-ounce serving.

3. Atlantic mackerel

Mackerel populations in general are healthy, so wild-caught is A-OK. The EDF recommends you limit consumption of the Spanish and king species of mackerel because of their potential for mercury contamination, so stick to Atlantic mackerel as a staple.

Calorie count: 232 per 4-ounce serving.

4. Sardines

Sardine fishing on the west coast is closed because of a dramatic decline in the sardine population, so these tiny fish may be hard to locate in stores. If you're able to find them, they're a great snack because they don't come with the mercury worries of fish higher up the food chain, such as swordfish and grouper.

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Calorie count: 232 per 4 ounces of drained, canned, oil-packed fish.

5. Sablefish/black cod

Sablefish is known for its rich, buttery flesh, which puts it in high demand. Seafood Watch recommends you stick to sablefish caught off California, Alaska and British Columbia, where fishing practices have reduced the likelihood of the accidental catch of other species. The EDF advises children 12 and under to eat only two servings a month due to a moderate mercury content.

Calorie count: 220 calories per 4-ounce serving.

6. Anchovies

This little fish is available year-round and can be frozen, raw or canned. Although all anchovies have low mercury levels and high omega-3s, Seafood Watch recommends only eating those fished from the Adriatic Sea, where fishing methods are sustainable and less likely to accidentally catch marine mammals.

Calorie count: 148 per 4-ounce serving.

7. Oysters

Oysters can be either farmed or caught in the wild (although wild-caught oysters are uncommon). Both methods are generally well-managed and have a low impact on the environment, so oysters are always a great option. At the sushi bar, you may see oysters called kaki.

Calorie count: 67 per 4-ounce serving.

8. Rainbow trout

Rainbow trout are farmed in different ways worldwide, and the safest methods are practiced in ponds, raceways and recirculating agricultural systems -- indoor farms that use a series of filters to keep fish clean. Seafood Watch says these farming techniques are effective and can control chemical pollution that was once problematic for this species.

Calorie count: 156 per 4-ounce serving.

9. Albacore tuna

Make sure it's caught from the North Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific Ocean, where fishermen use methods that don't accidentally snag other species. (Most canned tuna comes from fisheries that use more wasteful methods.) Kids 5 and under should limit consumption to two meals a month because of moderate mercury contamination, the EDF says.

Calorie count: 150 per 4-ounce serving of drained, canned, water-packed fish.

10. Mussels

Farmed mussels are raised in an environmentally responsible manner -- they're hung from ropes in the ocean. This causes minimal impact to the surrounding ecosystem and in some cases can actually improve the marine environment. You may see them called murugai at a sushi bar.

Calorie count: 97 per 4-ounce serving.

11. Pacific halibut

Overfishing has depleted the stock of Atlantic halibut, but the similar Pacific halibut remains an option. These fish are raised in marine fisheries and then caught with longlines, a fishing method more sustainable than nets (which are the main reason why Atlantic halibut are endangered). Still, the EDF suggests kids ages 5 and under eat Pacific halibut only twice a month because of its mild mercury content.

Calorie count: 142 per 4-ounce serving.

12. Rockfish

Exact species doesn't matter -- all types of rockfish caught in California are OK, according to the EDF. There are more than 70 species of rockfish living off the U.S. west coast, and most are healthy. A few stocks are recovering from overfishing, but a new management program installed by conservation groups is helping fishermen keep the marine ecosystem intact.

Calorie count: 106 per 4-ounce serving.

13. Catfish

Watch out for the country-of-origin label -- Seafood Watch recommends purchasing catfish raised exclusively in the U.S. because contamination can occur in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and China, where the government doesn't regulate fish farming operations. Catfish is the most commonly farmed fish in the U.S. and is touted for its low mercury levels.

Calorie count: 108 per 4-ounce serving.
Luanda (AFP) - An Angolan court on Wednesday freed 16 young activists, including a well-known rapper, three months after they were jailed for rebellion against long-serving President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

Most of the group were arrested during a book club meeting in June last year where one of the books on the line-up was about non-violent resistance to repressive regimes.

The activists maintained throughout their trial they were peaceful campaigners for the departure of dos Santos, who has been in power since 1979 and rules the oil-rich country with an iron fist.

"Release warrants under house arrest were issued on behalf of 17 applicants to be executed from the present day," the Supreme Court in Luanda said in a statement.

Sixteen of the activists were freed immediately while one remained in prison Wednesday serving out a four-month sentence for a contempt of court offence imposed during the trial.

"They sentenced innocent people. Justice has been done. The struggle continues," the activists chanted as they left prison late Wednesday.

The ruling overturns sentences ranging from two to eight years in prison, which were handed down at the end of a lengthy trial in March amid complaints about political repression.

One of the accused, rapper Luaty Beirao, went on hunger strike for over a month last year to protest against his detention.

Beirao, who holds dual Portuguese and Angolan nationality, has a loyal fan base in Portugal, Angola's former colonial ruler.

As supporters waited for the activists to leave prison, defence lawyer Francisco Miguel Michel said he was "very happy".

"Any court concerned with the application of justice would have ruled the same," he said, insisting his clients "committed no crime".

- 'Public pressure' -

Human Rights Watch researcher Zenaida Machado told AFP the ruling was "long overdue".

"The order should have been given immediately after the verdict in March... I am satisfied that the Supreme Court is upholding the law of the country," she said.

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The 17 had been charged with "preparatory acts of rebellion" and "criminal conspiracy".

Earlier this month, rallies were held in several foreign cities to mark one year since their detention.

Prominent independent journalist and campaigner Rafael Marques said the group should never have been arrested.

"Their release was a political decision as a result of public pressure," he added.

In March, a Portuguese branch of the Anonymous hacking collective said it had shut down about 20 Angolan government websites in retaliation for the jailing, while at the sentencing about 30 protesters chanted for the arrest of the president.

Dos Santos said earlier this year he would stand down in 2018, but there was scepticism over whether he would do so after similar pledges in the past.

His current mandate ends at the end of next year.

Rights groups say activists in Angola, Africa's second-largest oil producer, are being increasingly targeted by the government.
The Daily Beast

Photo illustration by Luis Rendon/GettyERIE, PennsylvaniaIn his highly anticipated debate against Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman was asked to square two conflicting statements: one saying hes never supported fracking, and another saying hes always supported fracking.Uh, I do support fracking, and, I dontI dontI support fracking, and I stand, and I do support fracking, Fetterman said.As he tried unsuccessfully to square the two opposing sentiments, a debate watch party
A kitten tossed out of the window of a moving car onto a busy bridge could have resulted in a cat-astrophe, but thanks to a police officer and a Good Samaritin, the feline is on her way to recovery.

Read: Newborn Kitten Survived By Nursing on Pit Bull, Rescued and Recovering Together

Delaware River Port Authority Officer Richie Ridolfi told InsideEdition.com that he was going the opposite direction over the Walt Whitman Bridge connecting Pennsylvania and New Jersey last week when he got the call.

"We received a call from a motorist stating they saw someone throw a kitten out of their window on the bridge heading into New Jersey," Ridolfi said. "We have no idea who the tosser was or what type of vehicle."

To reach the kitten, he said, "I jumped over the central barrier."

Jean Finizio, who was driving over the bridge at the time, said she slowed down her car as she saw the cat. When she stopped, "[the cat] jumped into the wheel well of the car," Ridolfi said.

The officer then removed his belt and vest, and attempted to crawl under the car to get a better look.

"Being so scared, it continued to crawl further into the undercarriage of the car," he said.

As they noticed traffic begin to build up behind the stopped car, Ridolfi and Finizio decided to move the car to a safer location by driving as slowly as possible.

Once the car was off the bridge, Ridolfi said he and another officer kept trying to reach the kitten until finally, "she ran out and we were able to grab her."

"Fittingly, I named her Bridgette (Bridge-ette) since that's where we reached her," he joked. "She would have been Walt, if she were a boy."

Of course, the battle to rescue the kitten Ridolfi estimated to be around 2 months old was not yet over.

They rushed her to the Philadelphia Animal Hospital, where Ridolfi offered to pay the vet expenses.

Read: Heartwarming Rescue Effort Staged for Kitten Stuck in Storm Drain Over 28 Hours

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"I fed her, got her dewormed, defleaed, checked her for feline AIDS, leukemia and got her bathed," he said. "[I] covered it all to ensure she would be fully healthy and ready to go to a home where she would be taken care of."

He then shared her image on Facebook and eventually found a loving family to adopt the rescued kitten.

Watch: Heart-Thumping GoPro Footage Shows Hero Motorcyclist Saving Kitten from Busy Road

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Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f131283%2fcongressletter_copy

Scientists have had enough of Congress' climate denial. On Tuesday, a whopping 31 major scientific groups  representing tens of thousands of researchers  delivered a joint letter to Capitol Hill to present a unified front on the seriousness of human-caused global warming and the need to address it.

The 3-page letter, which is a more forceful version of a 2009 letter to which 19 scientific societies signed on, comes as the House Science Committee continues to investigate peer reviewed studies of climate change.

SEE ALSO: Earth's hot streak continues with warmest May since at least 1880

It also landed on Congress' doorstep as House lawmakers are maneuvering to block the Pentagon from spending money to implement its plan to adapt to global warming and prepare for the more unstable world it is ushering in.

In addition, money to fund climate adaptation efforts in developing countries, which is a key part of the Paris Climate Agreement, is also on the chopping block in negotiations between the House and Senate.

The letter sends a powerful message to lawmakers that have been standing in the way of climate action.

The problem with it, though, is that it's unlikely to do anything to change the toxic dynamic on Capitol Hill or beyond.

An appeal to scientific authority

"Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific research concludes that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver," the letter states. "This conclusion is based on multiple independent lines of evidence and the vast body of peer-reviewed science."

Some of the largest groups that signed the letter include the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), whose CEO, Rush Holt, is a former congressman from New Jersey and a physicist by training, as well as the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and American Chemical Society.

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"Climate change is real and happening now, and the United States urgently needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Holt said in a statement.

"We must not delay, ignore the evidence, or be fearful of the challenge. America has provided global leadership to successfully confront many environmental problems, from acid rain to the ozone hole, and we can do it again. We owe no less to future generations."

Other groups that joined the statement include the American Meteorological Society (weather geeks), Geological Society of America (geology geeks), and even the Society of Nematologists (worm geeks). One noteworthy holdout is the American Physical Society (physics geeks), though that group does have its own climate statement.

The Republican-led House has been so hostile to climate science research that it has sought to cut funding in nearly every budget line item containing the word "climate." At a 2015 Senate committee hearing, NASA administrator Charles Bolden was forced to defend why NASA studies the Earth at all.

"We can't go anywhere if the Kennedy Space Center goes underwater and we don't know it  and that's understanding our environment," Bolden said, referencing global warming-related sea level rise.

"It is absolutely critical that we understand Earth's environment because this is the only place that we have to live," Bolden said.

The lengths to which some members of Congress, such as House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) are going to harass climate scientists and investigate climate advocacy groups shows that it is wishful thinking to believe that an appeal to scientific authority is going to change many House members' entrenched climate denial.

"I agree that this letter is unlikely to persuade the 'unpersuadables' within Congress," said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of Yale's Program on Climate Change Communication who closely tracks public opinion on this issue.

Image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

"But its still important on several levels," he said in an email to Mashable.

"... It draws (again) a red line where members of Congress have to decide whether or not they agree with the conclusions of the scientific community that this problem exists, is human-caused, and has serious consequences," Leiserowitz said.

He cited a mantra of another expert on public attitudes regarding climate change, Ed Maibach of George Mason University, that "... Simple, clear and compelling messages, repeated often, by a variety of trusted messengers" are most effective.

"We forget the repeated often, repeated often, repeated often at our peril!" Leiserowitz said.

Facts won't carry the day, at least not right now

David Titley, director of the Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk at Penn State University and a former top Navy climate programs official, said he recognizes the letter itself is not going to change the policy environment.

"It's a sad commentary on the Congress that we feel we still need to write letters like this," he said via email.

"If this was a discussion about facts, evidence, or even risk management, the debate would have ended years ago. But this is really about ideology, beliefs, money, the role of governments in solving long-term challenges, and, frankly, a failure of imagination on scales rarely seen before," Titley said.

"Scientific societies can and should play a constructive supporting role in the evolution of this issue, but are unlikely to break the logjam by reciting facts already known and embraced to those who examine the evidence, and denied by those who refuse to address the issue."

Image: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

So the letter is simultaneously impressive and impotent, given the post-factual era in which we're trapped in.

According to Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University who devotes a considerable portion of her time to giving climate science presentations to the public, said that scientific societies recognize this issue too.

"It is clear to most of us, including many of the leaders of those scientific societies, that traditional modes of communication no longer achieve their purpose in a world where ideologically-driven opinions supersede facts any day," she told Mashable.

The AGU, for example, tries to address this by helping to train its members in science communication, and the AAAS provides fellowships to embed scientists on Capitol Hill.

"At the same time, however, it makes sense for the societies not to abandon their traditional approach of making statements," Hayhoe said.

"No other group of scientific organizations has the same gravitas; these letters still matter to some; and they may matter again more in the future if  as we can only hope  we reach a new societal and political equilibrium where facts matter more."

The question facing all of us, though, is whether we arrive at that factual society soon enough to have a meaningful impact on the pace and severity of global warming.
Turkey was rocked on Tuesday night by yet another deadly terrorist attack. Officials say at least 36 people were killed and more than 150 wounded when three suicide attackers, armed with automatic weapons and explosives, unleashed carnage on those waiting at a security checkpoint to enter Europes third busiest airport.

The assault on travelers at Istanbul Ataturk Airport  named for Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the country as a secular republic  brings home how far down Turkey has been dragged from its former status as a regional exemplar of stability and a major tourist destination. Terrorist attacks have been rising across the country, with several targeting Istanbulincluding a car bombing earlier this month that killed 11 people  bringing violence to a cosmopolitan city of 14 million that straddles the Bosphorus Strait and has historically been considered the meeting place of the European and Asian continents. Tourist arrivals are down by more than a third in the past year. How has it come to this?

1. The war in Syria

When the Syrian government brutally cracked down on the Arab Spring uprising in 2011, Turkeys then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan  now the President  was quick to call for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, comparing his regime to Nazi Germany. Syrias bloody civil war has now been raging for more than five years, with a plethora of armed groups proliferating in the chaos. Turkey shares a 500-mile border with Syria  with attendant security headaches  and has been accused of allowing foreign fighters to cross over to join groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS). There has been even more movement in the other direction: more than 2.5 million Syrians are now estimated to be living in Turkey.

2. Kurdish insurgency

Turkeys role in Syria has been complicated by its own long-running battle with an insurgency waged by the Kurdish ethnic group who live across eastern Turkey and in parts of Syria, Iraq and Iran. The Turkish government claims Kurdish militants fighting ISIS are an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy since the 1970s. Turkeys preoccupation with fighting Kurdish forces in Syria  including with airstrikes  puts it in conflict with both U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters and the Russian-backed Assad regime. Kurdish leaders say this in effect places Turkey on the same side as ISIS in the conflict.

3. ISIS

A rising number of terrorist attacks have been committed on Turkish soil in the past year, killing hundreds of people. The government blames some on a Kurdish rebel group, but  underlining the complex threat the country is facing  officials also believe ISIS is launching attacks. Authorities have already indicated they believe ISIS was behind Tuesdays airport attack, which resembled the March attacks on Brussels airport that were linked back to the organization. Observers of the militant group say it has in the past chosen not to claim responsibility for attacks it has launched in Turkey.

4. Geopolitics

Tuesdays attack in Istanbul came just days after Turkey announced it would normalize diplomatic ties with Israel, which had been ruptured since a 2010 incident when Turkish flotilla activists were killed by Israeli security forces while trying to break Israels aid blockade on the Gaza Strip. Apparently seeking to end isolation caused by its policy in Syria, Erdogan also signaled a thaw in relations with Russia this week by sending a letter of apology over a Russian warplane that Turkey shot down near the countrys border with Syria. Turkish commentator Mustafa Akyol tweeted after Tuesdays attack that the timing of the airport attack might not be an accident, suggesting that it could be an ISIS response to the deal with Israel. Reports also say Turkey has recently carried out arrests and raids targeting ISIS at the border with Syria, which also could have sparked retaliation.
Even for students who have always dreamed about a career in medicine, medical school may not necessarily be the right path. For example, if you're hesitant about the time commitment physicians must make to their practice, you might consider an alternative career in health care. Many other patient care professionals are able to achieve a more satisfactory work-life balance.

If you're uncertain that a career as a physician is the right path, pay attention to these six red flags. They're good indicators you need to consider other options.

1. Your MCAT score is repeatedly low, despite thorough test prep. If you have been unable to improve your MCAT score, think about the future and how many more times you will have to take standardized multiple-choice tests. Although many want these tests to disappear from medicine, it's unlikely that will happen anytime soon.

Standardized tests don't guarantee whether someone will be a good physician nor does a low score indicate someone will be a poor physician -- rather they are simply part of the medical school process. However, if you are scoring in the lower 25th percentile repeatedly, I recommend seriously considering other options.

Could you eventually increase your chances of success? Perhaps, but it isn't probable.

2. You have a low GPA. If you worked hard to achieve a 3.0, remember that you will be competing with even smarter students in medical school. I do know of students who had a 3.0 undergraduate GPA and successfully earned a medical degree.

Most of them, though, took more courses to prove they could handle the material, or they had remarkable success with their research. If you have little desire to enter a postbaccalaureate program to improve your grades, you may want to choose a different career path.

3. Your science grades could be better. If lower science grades are indicative that you really don't like science, medicine may not be the right career choice. As a medical student, you will often have to give up other pastimes -- such as reading for pleasure and spending time with family and friends -- to master the necessary science requirements.

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And learning science doesn't end with medical school; rather, successful physicians make a lifelong commitment to mastering science.

4. You aren't interested in volunteer opportunities. Volunteering is important because it demonstrates concern and empathy. As a physician, you will need to make sacrifices for others.

An old saying is "medicine is a jealous mistress." Although I never liked this saying, it is true that a career in medicine requires huge amounts of precious hours stolen away from other activities.

Some students may resent giving up video games or other recreation to volunteer. If you don't have a volunteer mindset, you will struggle through residency and beyond.

[Discover howvolunteer work can offer lessons to prospective medical students.]

5. You're resistant to shadowing a physician. Shadowing is considered evidence that you have watched how hard physicians work and that you have what it takes to be resilient when things aren't going as planned. You may not be interested in shadowing because you are observing rather than doing. In medical school, you'll have your fair share of doing, but you will observe a lot as well.

If you do shadow a physician, be sure to ask how much time the physician dedicates to electronic medical records -- physicians generally must complete patient charts within a 24-hour window. Ask when and how the physician completes these charts. Can you see yourself doing this?

[Considershadowing a physician to gain medical school insight.]

6. Your partner or spouse does not support your medical school plans. Weighing the risks and benefits of your decision as it relates to your relationships is tremendously important. Only you and your partner or spouse know your values and can discover the right answer.

While the above is not an exhaustive list of red flags, it represents the most common reasons why medical school may not be right for you. On a positive note, similar patient care opportunities abound, such as advanced nurse practitioners, medical technologists and physician assistants.

Fewer years of preparation, wide availability of training programs and an extensive job market make these attractive careers. Research careers are another alternative that students who began in a premed program often pursue. The possibilities are endless.

If you have your heart set on a career in medicine but are tentative about the rigorous training to become a physician -- or physicians' demanding work requirements -- consider other options. Red flags that pull you away from medicine may be green flags that draw you to the career of your dreams.

Kathleen Franco, M.D., is associate dean of admissions and student affairs at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. She previously served both as director of residency training and director of medical student training in psychiatry at Cleveland Clinic. She is board-certified in psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine and attended Medical College of Ohio -- Toledo.
From Cosmopolitan

In what's maybe the most dad move that's ever been pulled, 78-year-old Arthur Brooks paid $900 to place a full-page personal ad for his 48-year-old single son, Baron Brooks, complete with "musts" the idea woman needs to possess. The demands for this ideal woman are pretty steep, and maybe hint that Arthur wants some grandchildren in the near future.

"My name is Baron Brooks," the ad reads. "I am 48 years old, never been married and live in Salt Lake City. I am looking for a wife who is ready, willing, and able to have children as soon as possible. I look just like my picture except I now have grey hair."

The personal ad ran on June 18 in the Coeur d'Alene Press, where Arthur - a thoroughbred horse breeder from California, according to Spokesman-Review - was staying at a resort over the weekend. At the bottom of the ad, the number for the resort is listed with instructions to "ask for Arthur Brooks." Arthur then planned to interview prospective wife candidates (so long as they brought along a short, one page description, background, and current photo) on Saturday, June 25 at the resort.

Even though the ad reads as though Baron himself wrote it, he apparently had no idea about his dad's agenda. "It was so shocking that I wasn't even sure what I was reading, even though I read it twice," he told the Spokesman-Review. "I thought it was a joke at first."

But, as Arthur assures in the ad, finding a wife for his son is no joke. The bottom of the advertisement reads:

"This is absolutely not a scam. The person or persons selected will be given round trip air tickets as well as first class lodgings. You may bring a chaperone if you wish; mother, father, friend, etc. Their expenses will also be paid. We will go out on a dinner date and go from there. THIS IS A SERIOUS REQUEST. PLEASE BE SERIOUS AS WELL."

The ad also lists some very specific requirements for the sort of woman Arthur believes his son might be interested in falling in love with. These are the musts from the ad:

Story continues

"You must be willing to move to Salt Lake City as that is where my business is located."

"You must be politically conservative. This is very important to me. If you voted for Obama or plan to vote for Hillary you are not for me."

"I am 5'5" and if you are 5'8" & like to wear high heels it may not work."

"Religion is open."

"I would expect that if we have children you would be a stay at home mom."

It seems as though there are women out there that fit these requirements. Though Baron described his father to the Spokesman-Review as "nuts," "neurotic," and knowing no boundaries, he let Arthur go ahead and screen calls and conduct interviews with women (although the resort did not let him conduct them there). He gathered files from a dozen women, and plans to meet with them in the coming weeks.

"I think maybe one of them was local, but almost all of them were from all over the United States, and even some international," Baron Brooks told the Spokesman-Review. "But he has a file and he's contacting them."

Here's to hoping Arthur finds a good woman who's ready to pop out some kids and then stay at home with them for his son. If this doesn't work, Arthur might have a future career as a guest host for the Bachelor.

Follow Hannah on Twitter.
Leading provider of facility solutions, ABM Industries Incorporated ABM, recently announced that it has inked a deal to offer infrastructure upgrades in Temple Terrace in Florida. ABM will provide its customized energy performance contracting program (EPC) to improve energy efficiency in the city. The company will provide its energy-efficient program to eight public buildings in Temple Terrace.

The Deal

Utilizing ABMs advanced technology, the city will be well positioned to save over $1.46 million in energy and operating costs over a period of 15 years. The project started from Apr 2016 and will be completed by October this year.

The companys EPC program is designed to meet customers technical needs and sustainability goals by significantly reducing operating costs.

To go ahead with this project, ABM conducted an extensive audit of the public buildings in Temple Terrace. Per the audit, 57% of the HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) equipment in these buildings was either 15 years old or more with several units showing signs of degradation. Given a detailed list of the citys assets, their conditions and expenses, the company was able to design a project plan and chalk out financial solutions to enhance energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. This project will help boost operating profit by upgrading HVAC equipment and adding state-of-the-art technology in these buildings.

ABM will be closely working with city leaders to gather insights about the city and its infrastructural needs. Together they will work out a financial program, using the citys Community Investment Tax funds, to secure $3 million for driving infrastructure improvements.

ABM INDUSTRIES Price

ABM INDUSTRIES Price | ABM INDUSTRIES Quote

Benefits of the Deal

Channeling the above fund, the city will be able to generate energy and operational savings, which will in turn finance the upgrades without burdening the taxpayers further. This investment will reap its fruits in the long run, as it will provide relief to the citys General Fund for years to come. In addition, the program will provide more than $95,000 on an average in energy savings, which will be monitored by the company over the tenure of the contract, to make certain that the full amount is received. ABM anticipates that the operational savings will amount to more than $100,000 per year in addition to the energy savings.

Story continues

The deal will help the city utilize tax payers funds more efficiently. Alongside, this is a long-term project for ABM, which apart from reaping profits will also augment the companys goodwill in the market.

ABM carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Some other stocks worth a look in the industry include Owens-Illinois, Inc. OI, Apogee Enterprises, Inc. APOG and Core-Mark Holding Company, Inc. CORE. Owens-Illinois and Core-Mark Holding carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), whereas Apogee Enterprises carries the same Zacks Rank as ABM.

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* Mubadala, IPIC to merge on order of govt - statement

* Latest response to economic impact of lower oil prices

* To create fund with $135 bln of assets - Reuters calculations (Recasts, adds analyst quote, context)

By Stanley Carvalho and David French

ABU DHABI/DUBAI, June 29 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi will merge two of its most important investment funds, Mubadala Development Co. and International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC), responding to the impact of lower oil prices by pooling their investment power and consolidating operations.

With oil prices still below half the levels they were at two years ago, all Gulf sovereign funds are having to adjust their strategies to cope with lower inflows. Mubadala did not receive any new cash from the government in 2015 for the first time in at least eight years.

The combined fund would have assets worth around $135 billion, according to Reuters calculations based on both funds' latest financial statements.

On Wednesday, in a statement published by the state news agency, Abu Dhabi said it had formed a committee led by Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahayan to oversee the combination of Mubadala and IPIC.

"The merger of the two companies augments the investment advantages and economic revenue for Abu Dhabi, and creates a body capable of achieving the highest level of integration and growth in multiple sectors, including energy, technology and space industry," the agency said.

The tie-up, which was being approached as a merger of equals, should be completed by the end of 2017, a source close to the discussions told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the subject.

While not adopting the radical approach of neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which aims to completely revamp its economy through a national transformation plan, Abu Dhabi has been slowly reforming key parts of its economic infrastructure to cope with reduced oil revenues.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is just one of the state-owned entities to have shed thousands of jobs in recent months, while two of its largest lenders, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank, confirmed earlier this month they were in merger talks.

Story continues

BENEFITS

"It's a sensible move at a time when there's a need for Abu Dhabi to slim the budget and consolidate organisations that are doing similar things," said one analyst who covers sovereign wealth funds, who declined to be named due to company policy.

Mubadala's role had been to make investments to help advance Abu Dhabi's economy, both domestically through ownership of firms such as satellite operator Yahsat and aerospace components manufacturer Strata, but also through stakes in global names including General Electric and Carlyle Group.

It also has a petrochemicals division and a number of investments in energy projects, including ownership of clean energy firm Masdar, which would fold neatly into IPIC's traditional energy sector remit.

IPIC owns Spanish energy firm Cepsa, Canadian petrochemical maker NOVA Chemicals and has a majority stake in Austrian plastics company Borealis.

The improved ability to raise money from international markets was also a rationale behind the tie-up, according to the source close to the discussions.

IPIC's debt levels have been regarded as an issue for some time, with rating agency Standard & Poor's saying in a June 28 note that while its business risk was satisfactory, its financial position was "highly leveraged".

IPIC is also in the midst of a row with 1MDB. The Abu Dhabi fund has asked a London court to arbitrate in a dispute with the Malaysian state fund over a debt restructuring in which IPIC is claiming about $6.5 billion.

While unlikely to impact these proceedings, the sovereign wealth fund analyst said the scandal had undermined IPIC's reputation and so a tie-up with Mubadala, which is considered one of the better-run state investment funds in the region, would be beneficial.

(Additional Reporting by Tom Arnold in Dubai and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo; Editing by Sami Aboudi, Louise Heavens and Alexandra Hudson)
* Mubadala, IPIC to merge on order of govt - statement

* Latest response to economic impact of lower oil prices

* To create fund with $135 bln of assets - Reuters calculations (Recasts, adds analyst quote, context)

By Stanley Carvalho and David French

ABU DHABI/DUBAI, June 29 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi will merge two of its most important investment funds, Mubadala Development Co. and International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC), responding to the impact of lower oil prices by pooling their investment power and consolidating operations.

With oil prices still below half the levels they were at two years ago, all Gulf sovereign funds are having to adjust their strategies to cope with lower inflows. Mubadala did not receive any new cash from the government in 2015 for the first time in at least eight years.

The combined fund would have assets worth around $135 billion, according to Reuters calculations based on both funds' latest financial statements.

On Wednesday, in a statement published by the state news agency, Abu Dhabi said it had formed a committee led by Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahayan to oversee the combination of Mubadala and IPIC.

"The merger of the two companies augments the investment advantages and economic revenue for Abu Dhabi, and creates a body capable of achieving the highest level of integration and growth in multiple sectors, including energy, technology and space industry," the agency said.

The tie-up, which was being approached as a merger of equals, should be completed by the end of 2017, a source close to the discussions told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the subject.

While not adopting the radical approach of neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which aims to completely revamp its economy through a national transformation plan, Abu Dhabi has been slowly reforming key parts of its economic infrastructure to cope with reduced oil revenues.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is just one of the state-owned entities to have shed thousands of jobs in recent months, while two of its largest lenders, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank, confirmed earlier this month they were in merger talks.

Story continues

BENEFITS

"It's a sensible move at a time when there's a need for Abu Dhabi to slim the budget and consolidate organisations that are doing similar things," said one analyst who covers sovereign wealth funds, who declined to be named due to company policy.

Mubadala's role had been to make investments to help advance Abu Dhabi's economy, both domestically through ownership of firms such as satellite operator Yahsat and aerospace components manufacturer Strata, but also through stakes in global names including General Electric and Carlyle Group.

It also has a petrochemicals division and a number of investments in energy projects, including ownership of clean energy firm Masdar, which would fold neatly into IPIC's traditional energy sector remit.

IPIC owns Spanish energy firm Cepsa, Canadian petrochemical maker NOVA Chemicals and has a majority stake in Austrian plastics company Borealis.

The improved ability to raise money from international markets was also a rationale behind the tie-up, according to the source close to the discussions.

IPIC's debt levels have been regarded as an issue for some time, with rating agency Standard & Poor's saying in a June 28 note that while its business risk was satisfactory, its financial position was "highly leveraged".

IPIC is also in the midst of a row with 1MDB. The Abu Dhabi fund has asked a London court to arbitrate in a dispute with the Malaysian state fund over a debt restructuring in which IPIC is claiming about $6.5 billion.

While unlikely to impact these proceedings, the sovereign wealth fund analyst said the scandal had undermined IPIC's reputation and so a tie-up with Mubadala, which is considered one of the better-run state investment funds in the region, would be beneficial. (Additional Reporting by Tom Arnold in Dubai and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo; Editing by Sami Aboudi, Louise Heavens and Alexandra Hudson)
TOULOUSE, France, June 29 (Reuters) - Aircraft leasing giant AerCap is not worried about the impact on its business of Britain voting to leave the European Union because it and other leasing companies can move airplanes around in times of crisis, a senior executive said.

"I think it is too early for us or anyone else to opine on how Brexit is going to play out," Philip Scruggs, AerCap's president and chief operating officer, told Reuters.

"But I can tell you that the aircraft leasing business is set up to deal with temporary issues in geographic areas whether it is Russia or Brazil or UK or Europe. North America was slow for 10 years and then it has been on fire the last three years.

"So it won't affect us because that is our business, to move airplanes around in times of crisis. And frankly our customer base in the UK is a pretty strong customer base. I am not worried."

Scruggs said the company did not expect Brexit to affect AerCap's financials negatively. "The UK for us represents less than 5 percent of revenues," he said.

Scruggs was speaking after Ethiopian Airlines took delivery of a new Airbus A350, the first European long-haul plane to be added recently to the fleet of the airline, which traditionally operates Boeing jets.

The aircraft is on lease from Dutch-registered AerCap.

AerCap shares rose 3 percent on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Aaron Maasho, Writing by Tim Hepher. Editing by Jane Merriman)
The already struggling airline stocks were pushed further on the backfoot after Britain voted to leave the EU on Jun 24. As was widely expected, Britains market-jolting decision to quit the EU sent the global stock markets into a tailspin and the airline industry is no exception. Airline stocks have been hit hard with fears of travel demand slackening.

According to the International Air Transport Association, with Brexit (the short way of saying Britains exit from the EU) materializing, U.K.s air passenger market is expected to shrink in the band of 3% to 5% by 2020. In fact, the Brexit decision has worsened matters for U.S. carriers with exposure to Britain.

Apart from the Brexit-induced sell-off, the Dallas-based low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines Co. LUV was a top news maker over the past week when it announced a restructured delivery schedule with respect to Boeing jets. The carrier projects economic fuel price per gallon in the band of $1.80 to $1.85 for the second quarter.

Moreover, the past week saw updates from United Continental Holdings, Inc. UAL and Spirit Airlines SAVE.

On the price front, the NYSE ARCA Airline index declined 5.45% to $78.77 over the past week as chaos and uncertainty prevailed following the disclosure of the results of the U.K. referendum which revealed that 51.9% of the votes were cast in favor of Brexit while 48.1% opposed the notion.

TRANSPORTATION-AIRLINE Industry Price Index

TRANSPORTATION-AIRLINE Industry Price Index

Read the last Airline Stock Roundup for June 22, 2016.

Recap of the Past Weeks Most Important Stories

1. Following the Brexit vote, U.S. airline stocks which were already suffering due to the Orlando shooting, have been pushed further back. The Fort Worth, TX-based American Airlines Group AAL has been a major sufferer with its shares declining in double-digits since the vote as it has high exposure (6.2% of capacity) to the U.K. The 2007 Open Skies Agreement had facilitated the travel of U.S. through the EU apart from encouraging tie-ups with their European counterparts. Now with Brexit materializing, the future direction to be taken by the EUUS Open Skies Agreement is anybodys guess (read more: 4 U.S. Airline Stocks at Risk as UK Opts for Brexit).

Story continues

2.At its investor day, Southwest Airlines, which apparently has a more positive outlook on unit revenue compared to its peers, stated that it intends to delay the delivery of 67 new Boeing 737 Max jets by almost six years to manage capital spending. The planes, which were initially expected between 2019 and 2022, will now be delivered between 2023 and 2025. As a result, the companys capital expenditure will be reduced by $1.9 billion.

3. United Continental Holdings , the parent company of United Airlines, reached an agreement with the labor union (Association of Flight Attendants or AFA), representing its flight attendants. The agreement aims to bring the carriers 25,000+ flight attendants into a single work group. However, there is a long way to go before the objective of the agreement is fulfilled. The contract will take shape of a provisional deal following approval from the Joint Master Executive Council, including all Local Presidents (read more: United Continental Reaches a Truce with Labor Union AFA).

4.Good news flowed in at low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines when the company and the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers or IAM ratified a pay-related tentative contract. The deal covers the members of the ramp service team of the low-cost carrier based at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

5 According to various media reports, Brazil, in a bid to give a lift to its struggling carriers like GOL Linhas GOL, is on its way to allow 100% foreign ownership forits local carriers. To this end, the countrys lower house of Congress recently voted in favor (199-71) of lifting the restrictions on foreign ownership. The bill, however, awaits approval from the Brazilian senate.

Performance

The following table shows the price movement of the major airline players over the past week and during the last six months.

Company Past Week Last 6 months HA 3.67% 0.88% UAL -13.52% -34.32% GOL 29.66% 90.69% DAL -10.27% -33.54% JBLU -8.61% -32.84% AAL -11.16% -38.16% SAVE -3.90% -0.68% LUV -7.32% -15.58% VA -0.11% 49.12% ALK -7.03% -31.48%

The table shows that most of airline stocks traded in the red over the past week, courtesy of the Brexit vote. Shares of United Continental depreciated the most (13.52%).

Over the past six months, the majority of the airline stocks lost value, leading to a 11.95% decline in the NYSE ARCA Airline index. Shares of American Airlines Group lost the maximum 38.16% over the same period.

What's Next in the Airline Space?

Apart from further updates on the impact of the Brexit vote on airlines, we expect June traffic data from carriers like Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL and Alaska Air Group, Inc. ALK in the coming days. Moreover, investors will keenly await updates on the impact that the terror attacks on Istanbul airport on Jun 28, leaves on U.S. carriers, especially ahead of July Fourth.

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Tirana (AFP) - Albania's Prime Minister says his resolve to join the European Union has not been shaken by Brexit but has called for a "substantial change" in the nature of the bloc's leadership to ensure its survival.

In an interview with AFP in Tirana, Edi Rama also described the migration crisis -- which saw hundreds of thousands of displaced people cross the Balkans -- as a "disgrace for Europe".

Rama, 51, described the vote by British people to leave the European Union as the "most important" shock for the 28-member bloc, stressing the EU's importance for peace and security in the Balkans.

In his region, he said, there remained something "which was somewhat lost in the most developed countries: the true meaning of Europe as a large project for peace" -- as well as security and development.

After Brexit, a "substantial change in the nature of European leadership" is required, otherwise the EU risks "being dismantled piece by piece with consequences that cannot be positive", Rama warned.

Albania has been a candidate for EU accession since mid-2014, and Rama believes membership will happen "if the European Union exists on the day when Albania is ready".

The Socialist Party leader, a former mayor of Tirana and head of government since 2013, spoke to AFP on Tuesday ahead of a Balkans summit in Paris next week.

- Failure over migrants -

He slammed Europe's lack of planning over the migration crisis as "a disgrace for Europe" and "a disgrace for the countries which rid themselves of the problem" under the pretext that "geographically they were not affected".

Rama said Albania had from the beginning been "ready to take responsibility" for welcoming "a number of refugees, in proportion to the country, and in a European plan.

"The European Union has failed to live up to Angela Merkel and Germany," he added, saying the German Chancellor had "saved the honour of Europeans".

Story continues

Albania, population 2.8 million, did not become a major crossing point for migrants trying to reach western Europe, although hundreds of thousands have crossed through neighbouring nations over the past year.

One of Europe's poorest countries, Albania remained on the margins of the crisis even after other Balkan countries closed their doors to migrants in March.

Rama has meanwhile been working to get his parliament to adopt reform of a corruption-plagued judicial system, a precondition set by the EU to accession.

"Albania's justice is the most extraordinary example of why it is not a member of the European Union, and why we need another ten years to become one. It is the shame of this country," said Rama.

- 'Unthinkable reconciliations' -

Rama acknowledged other difficult issues facing the Balkans, such as the refusal of Belgrade to recognise Kosovo's independence, Macedonia's political instability and Bosnia's fragility.

But he insisted: "The changes in each country and in the Balkans are linked to a simple fact: the Balkan people want to be part of Europe."

He pointed to his landmark visit to Serbia in 2013 -- the first by an Albanian head of government in 68 years -- and the reciprocal visit to Tirana by Serbian premier Aleksandar Vucic.

Rama concluded that "Europe is a natural force" towards "an area of peace, security and cooperation".

Thanks to the European dream, he said, "we saw unthinkable reconciliations."
Jeremy Clarkson Amazon

Former "Top Gear" hosts Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond are known for their great comedic chemistry.

In fact, it's what helped make their previous show the most-watched in the world.

Recently, the trio took some time off ahead of the launch of their upcoming Amazon Prime show to remind us of what we have been missing in the year they have been off the air.

Uploaded earlier this month to May's YouTube channel, the video shows Clarkson attempting assemble a DHL shipping box.

It's a simple premise, but the comedy is real. At one point, in true Clarkson form, he requests the use of a hammer to assist in the assembly process.

In fact, one can even argue that this is much more entertaining than the current iteration of the BBC's "Top Gear" which as seen it ratings plummet in recent weeks.

So far, the box assembly video has been viewed more than 1.6 million times.

In March of 2015, Clarkson was dismissed from the BBC after he punched a producer for not being able to obtain a hot steak dinner.

Hammond, May, and long-time "Top Gear" executive producer Andy Wilman voluntary left the BBC following Clarkson's exit.

In April 2015, Clarkson, Hammond, May, and Wilman signed a three-year deal with Amazon Prime to produce a new car show worth as much as $250 million.

Although the trio has spent the past few months taping segments for the new show called "The Grand Tour", the first live studio taping won't take place until next month in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Check out the video here:





More From Business Insider


An American who witnessed Tuesday's triple suicide bombing at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport that killed 41 and injured at least 239 has described the horrific scene.



"They had cuts. People were very badly injured," Adam Keally from Boston, Massachusetts, told the Associated Press. "One guy had holes in his back from shrapnel or from glass."



Keally, who had recently been working in Africa to combat malaria, described the scenes of chaos in the airport during the attack.



"People were shooting on one side and we all ran the other way," Kealy, a recent Fordham University graduate, said, according to The Daily Telegraph.



"Then the bombs went off and people started running the other way and there was more shooting. We came out and after that I think there was another bomb, but I'm not really sure," Keally added.



The attack began began just before 10 p.m. when two gunmen fired automatic weapons at a security checkpoint before detonating their explosives.



A third man set off a bomb inside the airport's parking lot.



Among those killed were 23 Turkish citizens and 13 foreign nationals  none are believed to be Americans, a U.S. State Department official tells PEOPLE.



 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.



Surveillance cameras stationed throughout the airport captured the moment one of the bombs detonated, sending pedestrians racing from the fireball.



A second video seems to show one of the gunmen being shot by security as he runs through the airport, firing his weapon. The gunman can be seen in the clip lying on the ground, fiddling with a detonator before blowing himself up.



While responsibility for the bombings has yet to be claimed, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has firmly pointed the finger at ISIS.



The terrorist group has previously called for their members to stage attacks during the holy month of Ramadan and has also focused attention on Turkey.



Over the past year, Turkey has endured a spate of terror attacks due to campaigns by both ISIS and Kurdish militants. In March, 37 people were killed by a Kurdish militant car bomb that exploded in the Turkish capital. One month before, 28 people died in an attack on Turkish security forces in Ankara, also orchestrated by Kurdish militants.
Following the attack on a Turkish airport, the JetBlue terminal at New Yorks JFK Airport was evacuated due to a false alarm bomb scare that caused pandemonium in the area.

Read: Terror in Turkey: ISIS Suspected in Airport Attack That Killed 41, Injured More Than 230

Hours after suicide bombers detonated themselves at Ataturk Airport, there was a chaotic scene at JFK as passengers were ordered outside the terminal.

A Port Authority spokesperson said a suspicious package was found inside the area, according to The New York Daily News. An NYPD bomb squad determined the item was not explosive and the terminal was reopened.

JetBlue said: "A customer left a bag unattended in the check-in area," adding that the terminal was evacuated "out of an abundance of caution."

After the attacks by three bombers in Turkey, the grim spectre of terrorism is hanging over the upcoming July 4 holiday.

America is on edge as millions of passengers head to the airports for the long weekend.

On Wednesday morning, there was a visible security presence and long delays at JFK.

The fears are heightened after ISIS has called for attacks during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, which ends July 5.



"Make it a month of calamity everywhere for the non-believers, especially in Europe and America," ISIS said.

On Monday, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning telling Americans to avoid certain areas.

"Foreign and U.S. tourists have been explicitly targeted by international and indigenous terrorist organizations," the warning said.

Read: 911 Logs Reveal Horror in Orlando Club: 'My Caller is No Longer Responding, Just... Moaning'

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey posted on Twitter:

Following the attack in Turkey, a spokesperson for LAX said security at the airport will remain vigilant in our mission.

Story continues

Watch: Tim Tebow Leads Prayer for Family After Man Suffers Heart Attack Mid-Flight

Related Articles:
San Diego native Brian Justin Crum showed up on the America's Got Talent stage Tuesday night  and wowed the crowd with both his rendition of Queen's "Somebody to Love" and the heartfelt story that preceded the performance.

Crum, 28, t that growing up he was bullied for being gay and overweight, and eventually was forced to move in with his aunt and uncle in Oregon for a "fresh start."

Source: YouTube

But Crum was all smiles when he took the stage for a powerhouse performance  and he blew everyone away.

Source: YouTube

By the end of his performance, Crum had all the judges (even Simon Cowell) on their feet.

Source: YouTube

Judge Heidi Klum summed it up perfectly when she told Crum, "I just love that you just showed all those people who bullied you. ... You really gave everything and I fe"

Crum made it through the the next round with four "yes" votes.

See the whole performance here:
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Two leading human rights groups urged UN member-states to suspend Saudi Arabia from the UN Human Rights Council over the killing of civilians in Yemen and repression at home.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said they would begin lobbying the UN General Assembly to hold a vote on suspending Saudi Arabia from the Geneva-based council, even though they admitted this was a long shot.

"Over the past few months, Saudi Arabia has gone beyond the pale and does not deserve anymore to sit on the Human Rights Council," said HRW deputy director Philippe Bolopion.

Human Rights Watch accused Riyadh of targeting civilians in the war in Yemen, using cluster bombs banned by international conventions and laying siege to ports to prevent basic goods from reaching Yemen.

The joint appeal again put the spotlight on Saudi Arabia, which has been leading an Arab coalition carrying out air strikes against Huthi rebels and their allies who seized much of Yemen.

The coalition is supporting Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in a war that the UN says has killed more than 6,400 people, about half of them civilians since March 2015.

"Saudi Arabia is in a league of its own," Bolopion told a news conference, adding that the kingdom is "getting away with murder in a way that no other country has been able to do."

The rights groups charged that Saudi Arabia had used its position as a council member to block an independent international investigation of war crimes in Yemen.

Riyadh pressured UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to remove the coalition from a blacklist of child rights violators by threatening to withdraw funding to UN aid programs.

Saudi Arabia has denied using pressure tactics and insists the coalition is not deliberately targeting civilians in Yemen.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir dismissed the accusations as "outrageous."

"The coalition is very cautious in selecting targets. We do not harm civilians," the minister told reporters in Paris.

Story continues

- Repression at home -

Amnesty International said the Saudi government had brutally cracked down on dissent at home and resorts to executions for offenses that under international law are not punishable by the death penalty.

Since 2013, all prominent human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia have been either thrown into prison, threatened into silence or have fled the country, said Richard Bennett, Amnesty's UN director.

Saudi Arabia was elected by the assembly in 2013 to sit on the 47-member council and a two-thirds majority would be needed to remove it from the body, which the rights groups and UN diplomats admitted would be unlikely.

Libya is the only country ever to suspended from the council by a vote held in 2011 to protest Moamer Kadhafi's violent crackdown on protesters.

The rights groups said Saudi Arabia had managed to get away with such violations because of support from the United States and Britain.

HRW's director for the Middle East, Sarah Leah Whitson, said the United States and Britain had "crossed the threshold to be part of this war" in Yemen by supplying weapons and supporting operations.

The rights group is asking the Pentagon to provide information on how it is supporting the coalition with the choice of targets, said Whitson.

This form of military assistance would make the United States complicit in war crimes, she said.
By Greg Roumeliotis and Pamela Barbaglia

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - The value of announced mergers and acquisitions (M&A) worldwide dropped by a third in the second quarter of 2016, as a wave of transactions were abandoned in the wake of concerns over regulatory and tax risks or national security.

While 2015 was a record year for M&A, 2016 is shaping up to be a record year for 'broken' deals, as the United States flexes its antitrust muscle and seeks to crack down on deals that aid tax avoidance or risk harming national security.

Such upsets have caused company executives to think twice before contemplating complex deals that could attract government scrutiny.

Coupled with market volatility triggered by Britain's vote to leave the European Union last week, this has dented some of the confidence required by corporate boards to approve deals.

"This year companies have been reluctant to take on meaningful regulatory or tax risk or to pursue unsolicited transactions to the same extent that many companies did last year. The fact that a number of those deals were not ultimately successful has undoubtedly had an impact," said Gary Posternack, global head of M&A at Barclays Plc (BARC.L).

Last year's biggest deal, U.S. drug maker Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) $160 billion (119 billion) agreement to acquire Dublin-based Botox maker Allergan Plc (AGN.N), was abandoned last April after the U.S. Treasury introduced new rules to curb so-called inversions that are used by companies to lower their bills by redomiciling overseas.

U.S. oilfield services providers Halliburton Co (HAL.N) and Baker Hughes Inc (BHI.N) last month terminated their $38 billion merger deal after opposition from U.S. and European antitrust regulators.

In February, Koninklijke Philips NV (PHG.AS) cancelled a planned $2.8 billion sale of its lighting-components unit to a consortium led by China's GO Scale Capital after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which scrutinizes deals on national security grounds, objected.

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Such moves affected new dealmaking.

Announced global M&A deals reached a value of $839 billion in the second quarter, down 32.5 percent from a year ago but up 14.2 percent from the first quarter of 2016, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data.

The second quarter's biggest deal was German chemicals and life sciences company Bayer AG's (BAYGn.DE) $62 billion offer for U.S. seeds company Monsanto Co (MON.N). The two companies have yet to successfully negotiate a deal.

Other deals this quarter included Abbott Laboratories' (ABT.N) $30.5 billion takeover of U.S. medical products maker St Jude Medical Inc (STJ.N) and Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) $26.2 billion agreement to acquire U.S. professional social media platform LinkedIn Corp (LNKD.N).

Weighing on M&A has been the recent negative reaction that acquirers have seen in their stock price following a deal announcement. This may be partly due to companies paying more on average to buy companies this year than they did last year.

After declining to 25 percent in 2015, their lowest level since 2006, bid premiums increased to 34 percent this year, modestly above the long-term average of 33 percent, according to a research note this week by Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) analysts.

"It's too premature to say if the Brexit decision will cause any slowdown in global M&A activity. The key drivers of a healthy dealmaking environment remain: the need to supplement limited organic growth with M&A, the opportunity to improve margins by realizing synergies, and the availability of low-cost capital to finance acquisitions," said Matt McClure, Goldman's co-head of M&A in the Americas.

BREXIT JITTERS

Dealmaking in Britain, which accounts for 7.0 percent of global M&A volume, has suffered, with M&A announcements down 85 percent year-on-year in the second quarter.

"Brexit is likely to have an impact on M&A going forward. It has increased market volatility and negatively impacted the global economic outlook. Ongoing uncertainty will inevitably lead to a more cautious approach to M&A for the rest of the year," said Adrian Mee, Bank of America Corp's (BAC.N) co-head of global M&A.

European M&A deals were down 41 percent in the second quarter to $147.3 billion. The United States, the world's biggest M&A market, was also down 23 percent to $421.8 billion.

"While recent volatility, headline-induced uncertainty and macro headwinds may create a challenging environment for global deal flow, we expect U.S. focused M&A to remain relatively strong," said Vito Sperduto, head of U.S. M&A at RBC Capital Markets (RBC.TO).

Chinese companies have continued to be a major driver of dealmaking activity. China outbound cross-border M&A totalled $121.1 billion so far this year, already surpassing the full year record of $111.5 billion set last year.

(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York and Pamela Barbaglia in London)
From Esquire

One thing to always remember about Papa Francesco: On many issues, he's a decent guy trying to do the best he can to turn a 2000-year-old barnacle-encrusted supertanker of an institution onto a course that's more decent and humane than the one it's been on for most of its existence, or roughly since the Founder blew town having made the capital mistake of leaving his business for human beings to run. So, over the weekend, when he was asked whether HMC should apologize for its abominable treatment of gay people down through the millennia, Papa Francesco went about as far as he's likely to go. Per the AP:

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?" "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.

(Think Progress has a good roundup of opinions from people in the LGBTQ community who are less than impressed by what the Pope said. They're pushing him to go further, which is good, and which is what's supposed to happen.)

[contentlinks align="center" textonly="false" numbered="true" headline="" customtitles="They Loved the Church. They Loved Each Other More." customimages="" content="article.45719"]

Basically, once again, he is being critical of the institution for having committed, as the nuns used to say, sins against charity. But to get an idea of what he's up against, let's take a walk over to Josh's joint, where he points us to an interview on the subject conducted by Chris Cuomo with sweaty ultramontane shut-in Bill Donohue. From TPM:

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Donohue argued that the Pope did not call on the Catholic church to apologize, but individual Christians who have offended gay people. "If a Catholic or Protestant or Jew or Muslim has offended a gay person, or anybody, of course they should apologize," Donohue said Monday morning. "But the idea of a blanket apology because you are a member of some demographic group, I mean, I don't know what church teaching is it that you have a problem with that maybe the church should apologize for?"

Later, CNN's Chris Cuomo asked Donohue, "Why did you spend so much energy on this? Why is it so important to you to denounce gays?" In response, Donohue lamented that CNN producers only wanted to bring him on to talk about the LGBT community. "I don't care what gay people do," he said. "I don't want to have a lifestyle thrusted in my face, though. That's a different kind of thing altogether." "What do you mean thrusted?" Cuomo asked in response.

Nice, Cuomo. Very nice indeed.

Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page.
The ongoing legal controversy raging over pre-1972 sound recordings continues to produce mind-bending judicial opinions, and now the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing in with its own.

In 2013, Flo & Eddie of The Turtles filed several lawsuits against SiriusXM across the country seeking to protect "Happy Together" and other hits under state laws. Under their theory, if they had common law copyrights, that would mean they should be compensated for the public performance despite decades where everyone assumed that radio play rendered no such pay.

Flo & Eddie won big decisions in New York and California, but not in Florida after a district judge there opined that there is no specific Florida legislation covering sound recording property rights.

The dispute then went up to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which on Wednesday followed the 2nd Circuit's lead by certifying the question of whether Florida recognizes a common law copyright to the state's highest court. In doing so, the 11th Circuit noted "there is at least a significant argument that Florida common law may recognize a common law property right in sound recordings."

But that's not what makes the opinion provocative. The 11th Circuit also certified another question.

Circuit Judge R. Lanier Anderson brought up a 1943 decision involving a magician named Charles Hoffman, who sued another musician, Maurice Glazer, for infringing on the performance of a trick where various cocktails and other drinks were poured from seemingly empty shakers and beakers. The case appeared to recognize that Florida confers a common law copyright in the performance of magic tricks, writes Anderson, so sound recordings may be no different.

However, the judge in that 1943 case went onto explain that Hoffman had performed his sleight-of-hand tricks before many audiences since 1935. The conclusion came that the magic trick performance thus qualified as a "publication," and that any member of the public including Glazer had the right to use it.

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Anderson writes, "If the rule articulated in Glazer in the context of magic tricks - that there is copyright protection for the performance of the magic trick but that the performance before 'many audiences' amounted to a publication for the purposes of divesting the common law property right in the magic trick - should be extended to sound recordings, there is a significant issue as to whether Flo & Eddie may have lost any common law property in its sound recordings by publication thereof and dedication thereof to the general public."

So the 11th Circuit also wants the Florida Supreme Court to tackle the issue of potentially rights-divesting "publication," too.

Here's the full opinion, which also is certifying a question regarding Sirius' backup or buffer copies as well as whether Flo & Eddie may sue under causes of action including unfair competition and conversion.

The appellate court mania will continue. Earlier this week, in a separate dispute involving CBS Radio, after a California judge ruled that remastered versions get copyrights under federal law and can mean owners of the original can't stop public performance, a notice of appeal was filed to the 9th Circuit.
Buenos Aires (AFP) - An Argentine judge Thursday ordered a probe into suspected irregularities in President Mauricio Macri's tax returns after the leader was named in the Panama Papers offshore accounts scandal, a source said.

"Federal judge Sebastian Casanello ordered comparative technical analyses of (Macri's) tax returns from 2013 to 2015 to see whether there are inconsistencies or data omitted concerning the real value of his assets," a judicial source who asked not to be named told AFP.

Macri, 57, was mayor of Buenos Aires at the time of those tax returns. He took over as Argentine president last December.

Documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca leaked in March showed Macri was on the boards of two offshore companies. He later declared he had $1.2 million in an account in the Bahamas.

He denied wrongdoing, but later promised to repatriate the funds from his account in the Bahamas.

In another major scandal, prosecutors brought formal corruption charges Wednesday against Jose Lopez, an ex-minister who was caught trying to hide millions of dollars of cash in a monastery, judicial sources told AFP.

Lopez, 55, served for 12 years in the cabinets of Argentina's last two presidents, Nestor and Cristina Kirchner, as the deputy minister for public works.
By David Schwartz

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A grandfather angered over a judge's ruling in a child custody dispute opened fire outside an eastern Arizona courthouse, killing the mother and grandmother of the two children involved in the case, authorities said on Wednesday.

Salomon Diaz, 47, of Snowflake, Arizona, also wounded the children's aunt during the shooting spree that occurred late on Tuesday afternoon outside an entrance to the Navajo County Superior Court complex in Holbrook, Arizona, following a hearing.

Diaz left the building following the judge's decision concerning the two children, retrieved a gun and shot the women as they left the building, according to Navajo County Chief Deputy Jim Molesa. Diaz is the paternal grandfather.

The judge ended up granting visitation to all parties much to the dismay of the suspect, Molesa said in a phone interview. Diaz was arrested at the scene.

The victims were identified as the children's mother, Ashley Utley, 25, and maternal grandmother, Sherry Quintero-Davenport, 45. They were each shot multiple times and died at the scene, Molesa said.

Angela Chambers, 68, the children's aunt, was shot in the leg and treated at a local hospital, authorities said.

Diaz, who had been taking care of the children for an extended period, according to authorities, was booked into county jail on suspicion of two counts of second-degree murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The shootings occurred about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, causing an emergency lockdown of the county complex, officials said. There were no other injuries reported stemming from the incident.

(Reporting by David Schwartz; Editing by Ben Klayman and Bill Rigby)
Two former local TV personalities have been indicted in Arizona for child abuse after their 4-month-old baby was found with cocaine in its system, authorities tell PEOPLE.

A public information officer for the Oro Valley Police Department says Krystin Rae Lisaius and Somchai P. Lisaius  both news personalities in the Tucson area  were indicted June 9 on three felony charges: possession of a dangerous drug, drug paraphernalia and child abuse.

Both pleaded not guilty in court on Monday, and were released on their own recognizance.

It would be a gross, gross injustice [with] even the mention of prison time, the Lisaius lawyer, Michael Piccarreta, told Tucson News Now. I anticipate they will demonstrate that they have learned a very hard, embarrassing lesson and that this will become a footnote in their life, not a chapter.

Police said they were alerted after the couple brought the baby, who was showing signs of distress and appeared lethargic, to the Oro Valley Hospital on May 15. The couple allegedly refused to allow a blood test on the baby, who was then transferred to Diamond Childrens Center at the Banner University Medical Center in Tucson by ambulance, police said.

At Banner, a urine test was conducted after the parents again allegedly refused a blood test, police said. Toxicology results showed the presence of cocaine.

Krystin, 26, later allegedly admitted to Oro Valley authorities that she ingested cocaine after a party at the couples home, police said. She allegedly said she breastfed the child 12 hours later.

 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.

A friend identified only as Thomas told police that he allegedly watched Krystin snort the drug from the homes master bathroom countertop after the party.

Thomas said he and Somchai, 42, allegedly also used cocaine during the evening. Police said Somchai allegedly confirmed the recent drug use, and, in a police report obtained by Tucson News Now, said he used cocaine every six weeks or so.

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A search of the couples home produced multiple samples of drug paraphernalia, police said. Two small bags containing a white powder substance found at the residence tested positive for cocaine, they said.

Somchai is a former reporter at Tucson News Now, the station confirmed, and Krystin previously worked for nearby KGUN 9. Krystin also competed in 2013 for the title of Miss Arizona USA, according to the pageants website.

The baby was released from Banner Hospital within a few days of being admitted, and was placed with the maternal grandmother. The Department of Child Services is continuing to monitor the childs welfare, police told PEOPLE.

Krystin was granted 24-7 contact with the baby, and Somchai is allowed to see the child for 12 hours a day, according to KAUZ 6.

Hypothetically, Piccarreta said, if the child ingested cocaine through breast milk, then you gotta realize that theres different understanding as to when a recreational drug will be out of your system.

And if theres a misjudgment as to how fast its out of your system, then its an error that has been learned. It wont be repeated.
Michael Wang

The US Supreme Court's ruling in favor of affirmative action at the University of Texas at Austin last Thursday likely further validated the use of race in admissions policies around the country.

And for the Asian-American students and organizations who feel that discrimination runs deep within the college admissions process, the ruling has fueled dismay.

"I feel disappointed with the court and what they're trying to do because I feel like they are just trying to avoid the issue of dealing with affirmative action right away," Michael Wang, a rising senior at Williams College, told Business Insider.

As an Asian-American, Wang has a personal interest in the issue of affirmative action. With a perfect ACT score and 13 Advanced Placement courses under his belt, he applied to seven Ivy League universities and Stanford in 2013. After most of them rejected him, Wang filed a complaint with the US Department of Education, alleging that Yale, Stanford, and Princeton discriminated against him because of his race.

In its recent decision, Wang feels that the justices are considering the policies at specific schools to avoid ruling on affirmative action broadly.

"Sandra Day O'Connor in '03 stated that in 25 years we wouldn't need affirmative action. I feel that what the Supreme Court is doing right now is delaying that 25 years and saying, 'We won't deal with it now, let's deal with it in 2028,'" Wang said.

Abigail Fisher

When he applied in 2013, Wang suspected that his race might work against him. But he was still shocked when he received rejection letters from Stanford and every Ivy League school except for the University of Pennsylvania.

Wang says that he worked incredibly hard and excelled in every area possible, but it still wasn't good enough.

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"There was nothing humanly possible I could do," Wang told Business Insider last year, adding that he felt utterly demoralized after his rejections.

He has yet to receive a response from the Department of Education.

"Still no updates on that  complete quiet," he said.

Wang isn't alone in his belief that the Ivies discriminate against Asian-Americans. A coalition of more than 60 Asian-American groups filed a lawsuit against Harvard in 2015, alleging that the college and other Ivy League institutions use racial quotas to admit students to the detriment of more qualified Asian-American applicants.

Though Wang was surprised that the court issued a ruling so quickly on the Fisher v. University of Texas case, he doesn't necessarily think that pending court cases brought by Asian-Americans against purported discrimination in college admissions took a hit.

The ruling stated that colleges must "very objectively prove why they need to use affirmative action to achieve diversity," Wang said.

In his mind, Harvard isn't being transparent enough with its requirements for different students.

Williams College

"They are hiding a lot of their evidence behind a veil," he said. "If you're truly not being discriminatory, why can't you show us that evidence?"

But some legal experts have opined that the ruling will certainly affect other affirmative-action decisions.

That decision "makes it less likely that [other] affirmative-action policies will be struck down by the courts," including Harvard University's policy, UCLA law professor Adam Winkler told Business Insider last week.

"The fact of how Fisher came out really does impact the [Harvard] case significantly," Winkler said.

Wang's credentials are impressive. Academically, he was ranked second in his class and graduated with a 4.67 weighted GPA. He scored a 2230 on his SAT, placing him in the 99th percentile of students who took the exam.

He also stressed that he was not just academically driven, but also a well-rounded applicant who maximized his extracurricular activities. He competed in national speech and debate competitions and math competitions. He also plays the piano and performed in the choir that sang at US President Barack Obama's 2008 inauguration.

For now, he's enjoying his time at Williams College. And while Williams consistently ranks near the top, if not at No. 1, in US News & World Report's rankings of liberal-arts colleges, Wang still feels as if he was unfairly rejected from the Ivies.

"I think I deserve better than what I got," he said.

NOW WATCH: Watch This Disturbing Video Showing Harvard Students Trying To Pass Louisiana's 1964 Literacy Test





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joe margulies

The United States has more of its population in prison than any other country in the world. There are currently 2.2 million people in prison or in jail in the United States, according to The Sentencing Project, prompting discussion about reforming the criminal-justice system.

In an interview with Business Insider, Joe Margulies, a law professor at Cornell University, offered an unusual idea for how to help fix it.

If the professor could pick one category of the incarcerated population to release today, he said it would likely be the people who committed very serious offenses and have been in prison for a long time.

Margulies didnt name any specific offenses, but if individuals sentenced to more than 25 years in prison were released today, it would certainly include those guilty of such crimes as sexual assault and murder.

Even though it seems counterintuitive, Margulies insisted that releasing the longtime prison dwellers would not necessarily pose a threat to society.

The kind of person they were when they went into prison often just doesnt exist anymore, Margulies said. Keeping them in prison offers no chance for redemption, and no one is a monster.

Theyre even the group thats least likely to recidivate, or wind back up in prison, he said. He added this is common knowledge for people familiar with the criminal-justice system  but not so obvious to the average citizen.

nyc rikers island jail

Much of the political discussion around criminal-justice reform has focused on reducing the sentences of nonviolent drug offenders.

Yet even though Margulies agreed that many low-level offenders should not be incarcerated in the first place, he urged caution in using solely this line of thinking.

Emptying the prisons of nonviolent drug offenders will not, by itself, fix the many issues that plague our criminal justice system, he said.





More From Business Insider


An award-winning Tibetan film director was detained by police in China and ended up in hospital, officials and fellow cinematographers said Wednesday.

Pema Tseden, whose most recent film "Tharlo" was shown at film festivals around the world, was taken away by police on Saturday at Xining airport in his home province of Qinghai, the Film Directors Guild of China and online reports said.

He was detained over a "minor incident with local police about luggage", according to Robert Barnett, head of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University.

Tseden, who is diabetic, was ordered to be detained for five days and suffered dizzy spells after being held in stress positions, Barnett said on Twitter, adding he was released to hospital on Monday.

Tseden's 2005 movie "The Silent Holy Stones" was the first full-length film made in China to be shot entirely in Tibetan.

His work often reflects the clash of traditional Tibetan life in the modern world, reflecting his personal transformation as a son of nomads who now shows films at international festivals.

China's ruling Communist Party has cracked down on dissent under President Xi Jinping, but Tseden is not believed to have previously had trouble with authorities.

He was taken away for "disturbing public order" but no official charge had been announced, according to the Film Directors Guild, which is independent of Chinese authorities.

"We are strongly concerned about the incident," it said in a statement. It called on police to say publicly why they "took such forceful measures, whether standard measures were taken, and whether violent or excessive enforcement was used".

Police in Xining said Tseden had not listened to their commands as he was trying to return to the baggage claim area after exiting, a spokeswoman who refused to give her name told AFP.

Tseden spent one night in a detention centre and said he was feeling unwell the next day, she added, at which point he was taken to hospital, where he is now receiving treatment for high blood pressure and high blood sugar.

China has ruled Tibet since the 1950s and many Tibetans say Beijing represses their Buddhist religion and culture -- charges China denies.

"Abuse and discrimination against Tibetans is embedded in the culture of Chinas security forces and this deplorable incident will only have further fuelled Tibetan anger against Chinese rule," said Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren, director of London-based campaign group Free Tibet, in a statement, adding that Tseden had been treated "as a second-class citizen in his own country".
Dubai (AFP) - Prominent Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was returned to prison from hospital despite his health "getting worse," one of his lawyers said Wednesday.

The 51-year-old, who had been pardoned for health reasons last year, was rearrested earlier this month as part of intensifying crackdown on government critics that has drawn protests from Washington and human rights groups.

Rajab, who heads the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), was taken to hospital on Tuesday with heart problems after two weeks in solitary confinement.

Defence lawyer Jalila al-Sayed said he was returned to prison but should undergo further tests on Wednesday.

"His situation is getting worse and is not stable at all," she told AFP, adding that he was due to appear before prosecutors later on Wednesday for a decision on whether his custody would be extended.

The BCHR issued a statement expressing "great concern for the health and well-being" of its head.

It said "the decline of his physical and mental health are due to his isolated detention since his arrest."

It called on the "international community and Bahrain's allies to take urgent and public actions to stand by their commitment to protect human rights defenders."

When Rajab was rearrested earlier this month, Washington said it had complained directly to its Gulf ally.

The Shiite activist has been repeatedly detained for organising protests and publishing tweets deemed insulting to Bahrain's Sunni authorities.

Rajab previously served two years in jail on charges of taking part in unauthorised protests.

He is likely to face trial on July 12 on charges "probably related to tweets" which he is said to have either posted or retweeted, his lawyer said.

The tweets were allegedly made in March 2015 and were about unrest at the kingdom's Jaw prison and the conflict in Yemen, where a coalition led by neighbouring Saudi Arabia launched a military intervention that month, she added.

She said the defence team had yet to see a formal chargesheet.

Home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, Bahrain has been rocked by unrest since security forces crushed Shiite-led protests in 2011 demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.
The supplier of metal packaging products, Ball Corporation BLL, confirmed that it has received a conditional approval of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding its proposed acquisition of Rexam PLC REXMY. This clears the final regulatory clearance for the merger deal. Shares of Ball Corp. gained over 3% yesterday, to close at $70.60.



In early 2015, Ball Corporation had confirmed its offer to acquire Rexam for a cash and stock deal valued at $8.4 billion (5.4 billion). The acquisition will create the world's largest consumer-packaging supplier. The merged company will be better positioned to serve the combined customer base through supply-chain efficiency, manufacturing excellence and increased product innovation.

BALL CORP Price

BALL CORP Price | BALL CORP Quote

Ball Corporation received the final unconditional regulatory clearance in Brazil on Jun 8. Earlier in Jan, 2016, the European Commission (EC) had cleared the deal subject to the divestment of the companys 12 plants. EC also required the company to dispose certain European innovations and support functions. Ball Corporation finally got the clearance from the European Commission on Jun 17 after fulfilling the conditions.



The FTCs approval comes with a condition that requires Ball Corporation and Rexam to divest eight aluminum can plants and related assets in the U.S to Luxembourg-based Ardagh Group. Ardagh Group is one of the worlds largest producers of glass bottles for the beverage industry and metal cans for the food industry.



Upon completion of the proposed offer for Rexam, the combined company will operate 16 existing metal beverage packaging manufacturing plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico alongwith its Rocky Mountain Metal Container joint venture in Golden, Colorado. The merged company will also operate Rexam's beverage can manufacturing plants in Phoenix, Arizona; Chatsworth, California; St Paul, Minnesota; Longview, Texas; Kent, Washington; and Queretaro, Mexico; end manufacturing plant in Birmingham, Alabama; and joint ventures in Amatitlan, Guatemala and Cristobal, Panama.



Further, the North and Central-America regional office and innovation center will be operated from Ball Corporation's existing Westminster, CO locations.



The buyout will allow Ball Corporation to further leverage, simplify and streamline its business in Brazil as well as across the broader metal beverage business. Following the closing of the transaction, Ball Corporation will remain a New York Stock Exchange-listed company domiciled in the U.S.



Currently, Ball Corporation has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).



Better-ranked stock in the sector include Greif, Inc. GEF and Silgan Holdings Inc. SLGN, both carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).



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Ben Carson Hosts Super Tuesday Election Night Party In Baltimore

Ben Carson joked Wednesday that had his mother been "cognizant" of his run for the White House, she "probably" would have "taken a gun" and "shot some of the dishonest reporters."

Carson's comments came during an interview on CBS Radio's "Brown and Scoop Podcast."

"What would your mother think seeing you run for the White House?" host Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson asked Carson.

"My mother is still alive, by the way," Carson corrected. "She has Alzheimer's."

He added: "She's not really cognizant of that, which is a good thing because my mother is really a fighter. She probably would have taken a gun and gone out and shot some of the dishonest reporters."

After dropping out of the 2016 presidential race, Carson shocked many observers when he endorsed Donald Trump. The retired neurosurgeon said on the podcast that he thought the Manhattan billionaire's brash style made him the most electable Republican candidate, but he added that he would not adopt Trump's style.

"I don't know that I would adopt his style, quite frankly, but his style resonates with a large number of people largely because of where we are as a nation," he said. "We're sort of at what I call a WWE Raw stage, and this is what appeals to us. That certainly is not who I am, and I never will be that."

Carson also said he did not want a cabinet position, should Trump be elected.

"I get asked that a lot, and I don't particularly want a government job," he said. "I feel I can be much more effective from outside the government because you don't have nearly as many constraints on you."

Carson has made numerous peculiar comments in support of Trump in recent months. Last week, he said the real-estate mogul had low cash on hand because supporters were "confused" about where to donate. In May, he inadvertently told a reporter whom Trump was possibly considering for vice president.

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By John Stonestreet LONDON (Reuters) - Tomas Berdych battled the elements and a gritty display by unseeded Croatian Ivan Dodig at a rain-ravaged Wimbledon on Wednesday, sealing a four-set victory he admitted should have been his the previous day. The 10th-seeded Czech, on the hunt for a new coach after splitting with Dani Vallverdu following May's Italian Open, won 7-6(5) 5-7 6-1 7-6(2) -- one of only two matches completed by mid-afternoon as the weather cut a swathe through the program for the second day running. "The situation right now, it's fine to me, and (a coach is) definitely something that I'm looking for," he told reporters, adding he wanted a long-term working relationship rather than one focused on individual tournaments. Berdych, who had led 4-1 in the fourth set when play was called off on Tuesday, served for the match at 5-3 and looked in a desperate hurry to finish things off. But in damp windy conditions that gradually turned to steady drizzle and forced play to be called off on all outside courts, Dodig broke serve and saved two match points before taking the set to a tiebreak. Berdych, runner-up to Rafael Nadal at the All England Club in 2010 and contesting his 52nd consecutive grand slam, steadied his nerves to take the breaker 7-2 when he forced a backhand error from Dodig. "First of all, I should have been done (with the match) already yesterday," he said. "But... especially when my opponents finished yesterday, I think it's really good that we were able to finish the match." The Czech, vocal in criticizing how French Open officials managed frequent rain interruptions at Roland Garros earlier this month, next plays unseeded German Benjamin Becker. Rain delays were forecast for the rest of Wednesday and Centre Court action began on schedule at 8 a.m. ET under the roof, with the most eagerly anticipated clash that of seven-times champion Roger Federer against the tournament's biggest outsider, Britain's world number 772 Marcus Willis. (reporting by John Stonestreet; editing by Martyn Herman)
Sen. Bernie Sanders' political revolution faced a setback Tuesday night, when another one of his endorsed candidates lost a Democratic congressional primary, this time in upstate New York.

Eric Kingson, a professor at Syracuse University whom Sanders campaigned alongside last week, lost the primary by a 16-point margin to Colleen Deacon, a former Capitol Hill aide backed by New York's two Democratic senators.

We make a future to believe in together. #CNY #VoteforChange #NY24pic.twitter.com/JYBxDY2mac https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ClwD7mQWQAEa_2d.jpg:large

The 70-year-old college professor was the first congressional candidate Sanders held a campaign event for in 2016.

Yet Sanders' attention to the race did not help increase voter participation. In fact, the primary saw almost record-low turnout, according to Syracuse.com.

@EricKingsonNY is a long-time fighter to protect Social Security. Help him win his primary in New York today: https://go.berniesanders.com/page/content/ekphonebank/?source=tw20160627 ...

To be sure, Tuesday night's New York primary was not a total loss for Sanders.

Zephyr Teachout, a progressive candidate who Sanders also backed, won a congressional primary in New York's Hudson Valley Tuesday night.

But Teachout was already a favorite in the primary  even before Sanders endorsed her earlier this year.

She carried parts of her congressional district when she ran a strong primary challenge to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2014.

And unlike Kingson, Teachout was backed by establishment figures in the New York Democratic Party  including Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand  making her less of an outsider candidate than other so-called

Still, Kingson is the second Sanders-endorsed congressional hopeful to lose a primary in 2016  yet another sign of the challenges Sanders will face to keep his revolution together when he himself is not on the ballot.

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Earlier this month, Nevada congressional hopeful Lucy Flores also saw a double-digit loss to an establishment-backed candidate.

Both candidates were running in districts presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton carried in the primary.

And both may foreshadow a disappointing result for Sanders' supporters in Florida next month, when Sanders-backed candidate Tim Canova will look to unseat Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Wasserman Schultz's district backed Clinton with nearly 70% of the vote in the presidential primary  meaning it's unlikely to be fertile territory for a Sanders-endorsed primary challenger.
Of all the cringeworthy insta-narratives framed by horse-race journalists during the presidential campaign, the Bernie-Sanders -needs-to-fall-in-line meme easily takes the top spot.

This predictable, singular focus on electoral politics confirmed pundits and politicians still live in BBRBefore Bernie's Revolution-when a plurality of voters' predominant concern was the upcoming election.



Of course, voters and activists wanted Sanders to win the White House, but that goal never surpassed their burning desire for real change rather than political platitudes presidential candidates have long used to tantalize Americans. This, after all, is one of Sanders' historic campaign's major legacies.



And there's one man who's known this since April 29th, 2015: Bernie Sanders. Unlike most presidential candidates, when the wily Vermont Senator announced his presidential bid, he never thought in the microscopic terms of White House or bust.



Up against the entire national, state, and local Democratic establishment, Sanders knew toppling the Clinton machine would be a Herculean accomplishment that might not be reached.



Now he's ready for the real campaignone that has nothing to do with becoming president.



In an online town hall two weeks ago and a subsequent rally in New York City June 23, Sanders spoke indignantly about the current political moment having to be about more than defeating Donald Trump, vowing to keep fighting for the progressive policies he's championedas well as for state and local candidates who'll do the same.



Whether the Democrats adopt an uber-progressive convention platform or not, if anyone thinks Sanders' truly expects Hillary Clinton or the party to honor such a document, I've got a bridge to sell you.



Look no further than the 2012 Democratic platform, which said, "We believe we must take immediate action to curb the influence of lobbyists and special interests on our political institutions."



Here's the immediate action Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Democratic Party took: continuing to bankroll themselves by Wall Street donors and special interest donors and reversing the eight-year ban on donations from lobbyists and Super Pacs to the DNC.



Story continues

Platform power indeed!

Sanders isn't angling for his progressive policies to show up in the platform because he thinks a potential President Clinton will start aggressively trying to deliver on them on day one of her presidency.

No, this is about paving the road for the return of Senator Bernie Sanders, a much more influentialand potentially threateningforce who'll serve as a quasi-check and balance once Clinton shifts from the "progressive who gets things done" back to her natural neoliberal, neocon self.

Sure, Senator Sanders will initially strike the right note with a potential President Clinton, saying all the right things in Oval Office meetings about working together and imparting his wisdom from three decades in Congress.

But the moment Clinton starts her inevitable "pivot" to moderate governancealso known as lying about what you believe when you're a candidateSanders will engage in some familiar behavior that sprung him onto the national scene in the first place.

Get ready for the inevitable Sanders filibuster (circa 2010's Bush-tax cut extension barn burner) the moment President Clinton signals openness to "tweaking"aka cuttingSocial Security.

Or when President Clinton sends 1000 "special advisers"aka as ground troopsto Syria or Iran.

Or when President Clinton appoints another corporate-friendly Supreme Court Justice with no concern over Citizens United.

Only this time, he'll have at his disposal millions of the troops he's inspired during the campaign at the ready; available to do everything from storm Capitol Hill in protest to apply pressure on the neoliberal Democratic establishment members representing them around the country.

Sanders won't stop at filibustering. He's the first politician to realize campaigning doesn't have to stop when an electoral campaign does.

At an energetic 74, who can't envision Sanders traveling across the country to speak out loud and proud against whatever regressive "bipartisan compromise" Clinton and Republicans have reached in front of crowds packed by the thousands.

And for a media void of the never-ending political news a presidential election provides, TV and digital outlets won't be able to ignore Sanders' ongoing movement if thousands, potentially millions, join him in personand on social media.

The fate of the 2016 campaign is far from being known. A lot can happen from now until November that could stop Hillary Clinton from becoming president; hell, maybe even Donald Trump as well.

But, judging by his actions since the Democratic Primary officially ended, one thing is certain.

Bernie Sanders is just getting started.

Commentary by Jordan Chariton, a political reporter for The Young Turks, reporting on the presidential campaign trail. He can be seen on TYT Politics. Before TYT, Jordan was a reporter for TheWrap and TVNewser. Follow him on Twitter @JordanChariton.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
Men's fashion week only just finished in Paris and couture looms next week but before then it's all eyes on Germany for Berlin Fashion Week AW16.

From Veronika Heilbrunner's lesson in rocking a slip dress to our very own German fashion team's take on trends, here we've rounded up the best looks outside the shows to inspire your summer wardrobe.

The casual low bun. The loosely-knotted blouse and matching trousers. The floral print. The bag. Perfection.

If it's still a bit too cold for a cold-shoulder cut-out, wear a polo neck underneath for elegant layering. We love the billowing flares too.

When cowgirl meets urban chic. This outfit is everything.

If the cropped, ruffled, frayed jeans weren't enough we're also enamoured with the check Gucci loafers, off the shoulder shirt and statement necktie. Bravo Nike Van Dinther. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

These Gucci check slip ons are everything. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

When you don't know what to wear to fashion week you can never go wrong with a monochrome outfit. Instant chic. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

R29's German Editor Cloudy Zakrocki gives us a masterclass in revealing flesh in the most sophisticated way possible. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

More proof that anything Gucci goes with this baseball cap which perfectly completes a white, tennis-inspired look. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

We're still into pyjama dressing in a big way. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

The Grecian dress, the gold sandals, and the dusty pink knitted bomber. 10/10. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

Tennis skirts are evidently a big trend in Berlin and one we're hoping will head to the UK. We love this sports chic look complete with preppy shirt, rucksack and baseball cap. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

The Thrasher hoodie is the gift that just keeps giving. Here it's styled to perfection with a leather jacket, cropped dark denim and trainers. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

This MCM bag is called the Berlin Crossbody so naturally it was spotted on the coolest girls at Berlin Fashion Week. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

We're obsessed with this slip over shirt ensemble courtesy of German Elle 's Fashion Editor Vivian Tran. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

The extreme off the shoulder. Only for the bold and the brave. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

Sonia France wears Lala Berlin trousers, Zara gold sandals, a Chanel bag, a red bomber and a T-shirt reading 'Go the Bahamas and forget the dramas.' We hear you. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

50 shades of blue. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

The J.W.Anderson bag we can't get enough of. We'd like it in every colour way please. Founder of C'est Clairette and writer at ZEITmagazin, Claire Beermann, wears it with a blue Rachel Comey backless dress. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

We love the monochrome head-to-toe vibe just as much as we love the vibrant red and blue column dress and Valentino bag. Good work guys. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

These velvety trousers.... FOTO: fashioncommandpost

When you nail three summer trends in one fell swoop with ruffles, an off-the-shoulder silhouette and frayed, cropped denim. Extra points for the Chloe bag and Miu Miu shoes. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

A flash of colour seen on the lining of the bomber jacket brightens up this effortlessly elegant outfit. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

The Gucci bag of our dreams and a whole lot of red, finished off with trusty Converse. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

A lesson in wearing varying shades of copper. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

Katja wears a Ganni leather jacket over an orange slip dress, finished off with Nike trainers. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

The Breton stripes, the platforms, the pom poms. We're into every inch of these two looks. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

When a skinny waist belt just won't do. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

Two of our favourite things  navy and white. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

Veronika Heilbrunner shows us how to dress down a Christopher Kane slip dress with a denim jacket and red Converse. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

A close-up of Veronika's Olympia Le-Tan Dumbo embroidered clutch. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

Glitter skate shoes shouldn't work but these are magnificent. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

The khaki how to. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

This is how you wear shrunken silhouettes (the jacket) and oversized (the jeans) seamlessly together. FOTO: fashioncommandpost

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

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Forest Hill, MD, June 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the all-volunteer developers, stewards, and incubators of more than 350 Open Source projects and initiatives, announced today the availability of Apache OODT v1.0, the Big Data middleware metadata framework.

OODT is a grid middleware framework for science data processing, information integration, and retrieval. As "middleware for metadata" (and vice versa), OODT is used for computer processing workflow, hardware and file management, information integration, and linking databases. The OODT architecture allows distributed computing and data resources to be searchable and utilized by any end user.



"Apache OODT 1.0 is a great milestone in this project," said Tom Barber, Vice President of Apache OODT. "Effectively managing data pools has historically been problematic for some users, and OODT addresses a number of the issues faced. v1.0 allows us to prepare for some big changes within the platform with new UI designs for user-facing apps and data flow processing under the hood. Its an exciting time in the data management sector and we believe Apache OODT can be at the forefront of it."



OODT 1.0 signals a stage in the project where the initial scope of the platform is feature- complete and ready for general consumption. v1.0 features include:



Data ingestion and processing;

Automatic data discovery and metadata extraction;

Metadata management;

Workflow processing and support; and

Resource management

Originally created at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1998 as a way to build a national framework for data sharing, OODT has been instrumental to the National Cancer Institutes Early Detection Research Network for managing distributed scientific data sets across 20+ institutions nationwide for more than a decade.



Apache OODT is in use in many scientific data system projects in Earth science, planetary science, and astronomy at NASA, such as the Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project (LMMP), NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) Sounder PEATE Testbed, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) project, and the Soil Moisture Active Passive mission testbed. In addition, OODT is used for large-scale data management and data preparation tasks in the DARPA MEMEX and XDATA efforts, and for supporting research and data analysis within the pediatric intensive care domain in collaboration with Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and its Laura P. and Leland K. Whittier Virtual Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (VPICU), among many other applications.



"To watch Apache OODT grow from an internal NASA project to 1.0 where it is today and dozens of releases is an amazing feat. I truly believe having it at the ASF has allowed it to grow and prosper. We are doubling down on our commitment to Apache OODT, investing in its enhancement and use in several national-scale projects," said Chris Mattmann, member of the Apache OODT Project Management Committee, and Chief Architect, Instrument and Science Data Systems Section at NASA JPL. "Apache OODT processes some of the worlds biggest data sets, distributes and manages them, and makes sure science happens in a timely and accurate fashion."



OODT entered the Apache Incubator in January 2010, and graduated as a Top-level Project in November 2010.



Catch Apache OODT in action at ApacheCon Europe, 14-18 November 2016 in Seville, Spain http://apachecon.com/ .



Availability and Oversight

Apache OODT software is released under the Apache License v2.0 and is overseen by a self-selected team of active contributors to the project. A Project Management Committee (PMC) guides the Project's day-to-day operations, including community development and product releases. For downloads, documentation, and ways to become involved with Apache OODT, visit http://oodt.apache.org/ and https://twitter.com/apache_oodt

About The Apache Software Foundation (ASF)

Established in 1999, the all-volunteer Foundation oversees more than 350 leading Open Source projects, including Apache HTTP Server --the world's most popular Web server software. Through the ASF's meritocratic process known as "The Apache Way," more than 550 individual Members and 5,300 Committers successfully collaborate to develop freely available enterprise-grade software, benefiting millions of users worldwide: thousands of software solutions are distributed under the Apache License; and the community actively participates in ASF mailing lists, mentoring initiatives, and ApacheCon, the Foundation's official user conference, trainings, and expo. The ASF is a US 501(c)(3) charitable organization, funded by individual donations and corporate sponsors including Alibaba Cloud Computing, ARM, Bloomberg, Budget Direct, Cerner, Cloudera, Comcast, Confluent, Facebook, Google, Hortonworks, HP, Huawei, IBM, InMotion Hosting, iSigma, LeaseWeb, Microsoft, OPDi, PhoenixNAP, Pivotal, Private Internet Access, Produban, Red Hat, Serenata Flowers, WANdisco, and Yahoo. For more information, visit http://www.apache.org/ and https://twitter.com/TheASF

 The Apache Software Foundation. "Apache", "OODT", "Apache OODT", and "ApacheCon" are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries. All other brands and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

# # #






More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimers disease today. Every 66 seconds, someone in the United States develops the disease. Its the sixth leading cause of death in the country.

Despite its prevalence, little progress has been made in terms of treatment.

It has been over a decade of various failed drugs in Alzheimers disease, RBC analyst Michael Yee told Yahoo Finance. Part of that is driven by the fact that scientists dont have great conviction on exactly whats driving Alzheimers.

Alzheimers disease is a progressive neurological disorder that gradually deprives patients of their memory and ability to carry out daily activities, Yee explained in a recent note. As Alzheimers disease progresses, individuals may experience difficulties with language, perception, and mobility, as well as face detrimental changes in personality and behavior, such as anxiety, depression, agitation, delusions, or hallucinations.

Analysts say that a successful medicine for the neurodegenerative disease could draw $10 billion annually, but so far its mostly been disappointments.

The beta-amyloid approach

Companies, led by pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (LLY) and biotech leader Biogen (BIIB), are developing antibodies that target whats known as beta amyloid, a sticky protein that clumps together and forms nerve-killing plaque in the brain.

The thesis from researchers follows that removing the plaque from the brain could slow or end Alzheimers disease progression. However, clinical trials thus far have fallen short.

Eli Lillys drug, solanezumab, has failed in prior phase 3 trials. Biogens drug, aducanumab, has only showed positive results in early-stage studies involving small sets of patients. And drugs from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Pfizer (PFE) and Roche (RHHBY) also have all failed in prior phase 3 studies.

But the past study failures may provide some promise.

We think that the failed study actually has moved the space forward, Yee said, explaining that while the study did fail, a subset of the patients did respond positively to the drug. In that study, we determined that ... the more mild patients  which is about half the population  appeared to do much better on the drug.

Story continues

In other words, it may be that drugs don't work as well at the later stages of Alzheimer's.



Eli Lilly is currently conducting a phase 3 study with a more limited patient enrollment, focused on patients with mild Alzheimers and with a focus on cognitive improvement specifically. Results are expected in December.

The company is also working on a study aimed to clip base inhibitors that stop the creation beta amyloids, an area where Merck (MRK) has also made some headway.

Yee still said its too early to get too excited about Alzheimers drug potential, and sees only a 35% probability that Eli Lillys drug will show positive results in December.



Theres a long history of disappointing results within Alzheimers, Yee said. We do not know if beta amyloid is the right target."

He still calls for potential upside, however.

"There are reasons to believe that study could work. So were optimistic, he added.



June is Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness month. For more on the financial and emotional toll of America's Alzheimer's problem, see here.






By Allison Lampert

MONTREAL, June 29 (Reuters) - Canadian planemaker Bombardier Inc will soon get the certification of the larger of its CSeries jet family, a senior executive said on Wednesday, after delivering its first 110-seater CS100 plane, the smaller model, to customer Swiss International Airlines.

The CS100 was awarded certification by Transport Canada in December last year. Bombardier has said it expected to get the larger, 130-seat CS300 certified during the second quarter of this year. Airlines cannot fly planes commercially until certification is granted.

"The next big challenge is to get the CS300 certified, which will happen soon," said Bombardier Commercial Aircraft president Fred Cromer on Wednesday, following a flight with reporters aboard the smaller CS100.

Swiss International Chief Technical Officer Peter Wojahn said the carrier is well prepared to integrate the nine CSeries aircraft it is taking this year.

He said he had some initial concerns triggered by media reports over Bombardier's liquidity challenges last year and the narrowbody plane program's struggles with delays and cost-overruns.

"We had some concerns, quite honestly, you know when there was this negative media (reports) in the last 12 months," Wojahn told reporters on the tarmac at Bombardier's Mirabel factory in Quebec.

Swiss International has ordered 30 CSeries jets and is not currently planning to order additional planes, Wojahn said. Germany's Lufthansa has options for another 30 planes.

The delivery is a milestone in Bombardier's efforts to break into the fleets of top airlines, and challenge larger rivals Boeing Co and Airbus Group SE in the niche market for 100-seat planes.

"It's a historic day," said Rob Dewar, the CSeries vice president and general manager at Bombardier Aerospace.

(Reporting By Allison Lampert; Editing by Bill Rigby)
Credit quality is deteriorating.

Deep-pocketed investors in Singapore are learning the hard way that they lack clout in negotiations when high-yield bond investments blow up.

PT Trikomsel Oke became the first company to default on Singapore dollar debt since 2009 when it failed to repay a bond coupon in November last year, followed shortly afterwards by Pacific Andes Resources Development Ltd. The market faces more tests with Swiber Holdings Ltd.s July 6 maturity among S$2 billion ($1.5 billion) of notes coming due this year.

According to a report by Bloomberg, fragmented wealthy investors face hurdles in restructuring talks, including organizing negotiating groups and potentially prohibitive legal fees.

Read the full report here.





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Born Free 8 Custom Bike Show - Oak Canyon Ranch, Irvine, California

It's hard to believe from the size of it, but the Born Free show hasn't even hit its 10th anniversary yet.

I have been to many a car and bike event, but this one is right up there with the annual SEMA convention in Las Vegas when it comes to custom vehicle sensory overload. Everywhere you look there are candy colored, cool, custom bikes, each one better than the last. Having finally been there to see what all the fuss is about, the plan now is to go back and camp out next year.

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Normally when I cover an event for RideApart I use an old Pentax digital point and shoot, and my LG G3 cell phone, but I did not feel those would give me the rich detail custom bikes demanded. So, this time I actually reverted back to shooting 35mm film in an SLR; those flairs and overexposures are real, not instagram filters. I could have spent days photographing the bikes there and still missed crucial details on them. I went full hipster.

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Oak Canyon is the perfect place for an event like this because it has trees and shade, varying terrain, and a pond. It is like a cross between a fairgrounds and summer camp. The location is about an hour away from anywhere worth mentioning, so it is a good riding distance for sketchy project bikes just barely finished.

Just off the show grounds is a camping area (which typically sells out three months before the show) for the hardcore and long-haul bikers to spend the weekend. You would be surprised at some of the bikes there, which look like they'd hardly make it to the liquor store but display plates from as far afield as Utah and British Columbia.

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For many years, Oak Canyon hosted the Hootenanny, where bands like Social Distortion played surrounded by vintage cars, bikes, and vendors. The Born Free show has a similar vibe, though with more emphasis on bikes, and less on the music.

Rhett Rotten and his Wall of Death (just like the one in Eat the Peach) was there putting on a show every hour without fail, and always with a line to get in. Still, there were several bands playing over the weekend, among them the Fryed Brothers serving up rock with a country bent and a fiddle, and all-female AC/DC tribute band Hell's Belles somehow blowing the roof off this open air venue.

Story continues

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At Born Free there are three distinct areas, and five tiers of bikes to geek out over. The lowest tier is the casual showgoer who rides in and has to park in one of the two dirty and dusty lower-class parking lots. But, they are both still full of cool bikes like the twin turbo, twin cam Harley Softail, or the sick CB750 chopper that were ridden in by ordinary showgoers.

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The next tier of coolness is the so-called Grass Pass, which basically lets you ride your bike right inside the show. Of course, everyone wants one, which is why these passes usually sell out two months before the show. With one of these passes you just keep getting waved by security and parking attendants, so the gathered crowds get to see how cool you and your bike are.

Just slightly above those bikes are the multitude of bikes brought in by the vendors, many of which are so awesome they will just leave your jaw hanging open.

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The next tier are the actual show bikes, entered and divided into various categories, such as: best knucklehead, best Japanese, best British, etc. Many of these bikes are on par with the professionally built bikes in the vendor area or the invited builder corral, and are often representative of the next generation of custom builders.

You also find a lot of period-correct, back-in-the-day resurrections in this area, which are always great to see out of the magazine and in the flesh.

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Finally, you get to the inner circle, the top tier: the bikes by the invited custom builders. Not only is it an honor to be invited to participate as a builder, these bikes are the only ones in the running for the top prize, which includes a trip with the bike to Japan for the Mooneyes show, and a cash prize.

There were a bunch of over the top bikes there, including a Triumph chopper within an Ed Roth-inspired fiberglass show rod pickup truck, but the best of show was obvious. Kiyo Matsuhiro of Kiyo's Garage built a dual-engined Honda CB750 custom, inspired by the Russ Collins drag racing bikes from the 1970s that was just beyond belief, and blew them all away.

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The other thing that I took away from the show, was how many of these Clydesdales had been hopped up to run like a thoroughbred.

The Dyna is a great chassis for what it is, and handles better than you would expect most cruisers to, but some have taken that foundation and run with it. I saw canyon-carving Harleys, turbo land speed record Harleys (185+mph at El Mirage according to the plaque), and supercharged bikes set up for who knows what. It is nice to see that even though some people love the low-end torque, and want to buy American, they still want to go fast and turn and stop like a modern bike.

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There are many more pictures, but I only used the best of them here. You can click over to a gallery of nearly 100 on my own Wordpress site here: Born Free 8 - 2016.

I'm always game to go out and look at cool bikes, so drop us a line if you know of a cool show, or race, or other event you think we should cover.

Learn more about Bryan and the rest of RideApart's excellent staff here: The RideApart Team

Follow RideApart on Facebook and Twitter, along with@RideApart on Instagram.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Britain's BP Plc (BP.L) this month received a Venezuelan crude cargo from state-run PDVSA, according to Thomson Reuters trade flows data, the first since the companies agreed on a swap arrangement to settle pending payments for U.S. oil shipments.

BP and China Oil won a tender launched by PDVSA in March to be supplied with U.S. and African light oil during the second quarter of this year. The light oil is needed to dilute Venezuela's extra heavy output and for processing at Caribbean refineries.

After cash-strapped PDVSA did not make payments on time, BP in May halted further discharges of cargoes of U.S. crude at the port of Curacao.

Then a swap agreement was reached involving deliveries of Venezuelan oil to BP as payment for the U.S. crude, a source close to the talks said earlier in June.

Aframax tanker Grimstad, chartered by BP and carrying some 500,000 barrels of Venezuelan Merey crude, arrived in Pascagoula Anchorage and Lightering Area in the U.S. Gulf Coast on June 11. It has been waiting to discharge since then.

BP has not had access to Venezuelan crude since 2013, when its unit TNK-BP sold its stake in a crude upgrader at the Orinoco belt to Russia's Rosneft (ROSN.MM).

BP still needs to receive more cargoes from PDVSA to cover all payments it is owed and this is why several BP tankers have still yet to unload in Curacao, according to traders.

As of June 29, 2.05 million barrels of U.S. crude in three tankers are still waiting to unload, while a fourth cargo entered PDVSA's Bullenbay terminal in Curacao this week to start delivering.

A unit of Russia's oil company Lukoil has also been importing cargoes of Venezuelan crude in the United States since late 2015 under a similar swap agreement with PDVSA.

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Terry Wade and Chizu Nomiyama)
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's Congress on Tuesday opened an ethics investigation into Jair Bolsonaro, an outspoken lawmaker whose views on torture, rape and homosexuality are sparking concern that the country's political crisis may foster an authoritarian political revival. The ethics committee of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress, will try to determine if Bolsonaro, a former Brazilian Army paratrooper, broke parliamentary decorum when he prefaced his vote in April to impeach President Dilma Rousseff with a speech praising Army Colonel Carlos Ustra. Courts have found Ustra, a notorious Army intelligence officer during the 1964-1985 military regime, responsible for torture. Rousseff, a former left-wing insurgent, was tortured by Ustra's Army intelligence unit. For his congressional opponents, Bolsonaro's backing of Ustra represents support of torture. Bolsonaro, Brazil's fourth-most popular politician according to recent polls, is an extreme example of a broader shift to the right in Brazilian politics in the wake of Rousseff's impeachment. Small groups of protesters in recent anti-Rousseff street marches were seen carrying signs calling for a return of military rule. Conservative legislators in Brazil said recently they will back interim President Temer through a growing corruption scandal in return for support for tougher restrictions on abortion and gay rights, looser gun control and more power for farmers in disputes with Indian tribes. A congressional ethics examination and resulting recommendation can lead to sanctions that include removal from office. Bolsonaro said Ustra was never formally convicted and congressmen have immunity to say whatever they like on the chamber's floor. Only five lawmakers attended the opening ethics committee meeting. While Brazil's constitution protects free speech, laws still exist making speech considered racist or hateful toward identifiable groups illegal. In some cases people have been charged under laws making it a crime to defend the use of illegal drugs. Bolsonaro is also defending himself in the Supreme Court against accusations of inciting rape for comments he made in 2014. He said a female colleague was "very ugly" and "did not deserve to be raped." Rousseff was suspended in May after the Senate agreed to try her for allegedly breaking budget laws. She was replaced by Vice President Michel Temer who will serve as acting president until Rousseff's Senate trial is complete, likely in August. Rousseff denies the charges. If she is convicted, Temer will serve out the remainder of Rousseff's term, which ends Dec 31, 2018. If acquitted, Rousseff can resume her office. (Reporting by Maria Pia Palermo, Writing by Caroline Stauffer and Jeb Blount; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
BRASILIA, June 29 (Reuters) - Grupo BTG Pactual SA , which is recovering from a corruption scandal, is moving ahead with plans to spin off Engelhart CTP, its fast-growing commodities sales and trading unit, the Brazilian investment bank said on Wednesday.

BTG Pactual will transfer up to $1 billion in Engelhart stock to its shareholders, reducing its stake in the unit to around 35 percent from 92 percent, the company said in a statement. It expects to complete the transaction, first announced in April, in the third quarter.

The spinoff would help insulate the commodities unit from the scandal, which hurt BTG Pactual last year. Founder Andre Esteves was arrested in November in connection with a corruption probe in Brazil, sparking massive client fund withdrawals and asset sales.

(Reporting by Silvio Cascione; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
HAMILTON, Bermuda, June 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- An estimated 250 asset management professionals and investors are expected to travel to Bermuda this fall for the first annual World Alternative Investment Summit Bermuda (WAIS Bermuda) at the Fairmont Southampton Resort.



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/912778e0-62b2-43dd-b186-9c3b231502d7

Slated for September 2830, the event is hosted by Canadas Radius Financial Education (Radius) and supported by the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA).

Hosting this conference in Bermuda will further enhance growth in the asset management sector here, as well as to boost the islands corporate tourism, said BDA CEO Ross Webber. Bermudas world-respected fund business is strong and growing, and events such as this one help heighten our profile and signal our renewed drive as a jurisdiction to attract investment industry professionals.

WAIS Bermuda now joins the Regulatory Compliance Associations (RCA) Regulation, Operations & Compliance Symposium (held in April) and the Global Fund Forum (October 2426), organised annually by Hedge Connection, on the Bermuda asset management calendar. Additionally, the high-profile Convergence (November 911) event has become a yearly staple, geared to alternative reinsurance and insurance-linked strategies professionals.

The fact that we have these international events taking place here this year affirms we are back on the industrys radar, said Sean Moran, BDA Business Development Manager, who led a delegation to Radius WAIS Canada event in Niagara Falls, Ontario last September and subsequently secured its commitment to host a Bermuda conference in 2016.

Bermuda is once again a destination where fund experts are gathering to network, address pertinent issues, and have some fun in the process, said Moran. Delegates are always impressed by Bermudas natural beauty, but many are also impressed by its sophistication, talent and significance as an international financial centrethis leads to new business opportunities for local fund managers, directors, lawyers, administrators and other service providers.

The three-day WAIS Bermuda event will bring together investment and business experts to network and share insights and ideas around the global alternative investment industry. Delegates will include asset managers, institutional and high-net-worth investors, hedge funds, family offices, banks, legal and accounting firms, and fund administrators.

We are excited to present WAIS Bermuda with the endorsement of the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA), said Tony Sanfelice, President of Toronto-based Radius. We are committed to delivering a successful event that brings together alternative investment managers and investors. With Bermudas formidable history as one of the worlds leading financial jurisdictions, and its reputation for respected regulation and commitment to compliance, it is an excellent location to extend our success producing leading alternative investment management conferences.

Radius has 14 years experience producing leading financial conferences, including the annual WAIS Canada (www.waisc.com). Radius also produces the Niagara Institutional Dialogue (www.institutionaldialogue.com), a flagship pension event attended by high-profile Canadian and global institutional investors and fund managers. Radius also produces Canadas flagship Exchange Traded Forum or ETF (www.exchangetradedforum.com) each spring.

CONNECTING BUSINESS



The BDA encourages direct investment and helps companies start up, re-locate or expand their operations in our premier jurisdiction. An independent, public-private partnership, we connect you to industry professionals, regulatory officials, and key contacts in the Bermuda government to assist domicile decisions. Our goal? To make doing business here smooth and beneficial.
SAO PAULO, June 29 (Reuters) - Clients of South African investment firm Coronation Fund Managers have endorsed Kroton Educacional SA's revised unsolicited takeover bid for smaller rival Estacio Participacoes SA, amid a fierce battle for control of Brazil's No. 2 for-profit education company.

Suhail Suleman and Gavin Joubert, co-managers of Coronation's Global Emerging Markets Strategies Fund, said in a statement that the Kroton proposal, which was announced last week, was "the more preferable option for Estacio shareholders over the long term."

Coronation is a shareholder of both Kroton and Estacio.

The firm had warned Estacio's board against demanding an unreasonable premium to the revised offer if that could jeopardise the deal, the statement said.

Reuters reported on Tuesday the fund had sent a letter to Estacio's board backing the Kroton proposal, citing a source.

(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
A small group protests at Londons Parliament Square on Saturday, one day after a majority of the British public voted to leave the European Union. (Photo: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

The United Kingdoms historic vote last week to leave the European Union prompted a social media storm of celebration, sadness and regret, with several British celebrities and average citizens alike mourning the decision that  despite standing to have the biggest impact on Britains youth  was largely backed by older voters.

According to a survey by the U.K.-based Internet polling firm YouGov, the leave campaign was backed by 61 percent of voters age 65 and over, while 75 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 24 cast their ballots in support of remaining part of the EU.

Dis-United Kingdom? @YouGov's On-the-Day poll demonstrates how groups in society have such differing views on #EURef pic.twitter.com/lAoeamMtLe  Joe Twyman (@JoeTwyman) June 23, 2016

Less than a week later, many young people throughout the U.K. are still grappling with the potential implications of Brexit. Yahoo News spoke to three disappointed young Brits about why they voted to stay, their concerns about a future outside the EU and their potential plans to relocate.

Jamie McGee, 31

Jamie McGee went to bed Thursday night feeling hopeful. For the past two months, the referendum vote over whether the U.K. should remain a part of the EU had become a leading topic of conversation among his friends. As polls closed, McGee scrolled through his Facebook feed full of posts from friends who, like him, had cast their ballots to remain.

For the first time in any election, I knew all my friends were engaged and voting, he says.

Plus, the pound-to-dollar exchange rate  which hes been keeping a close eye on ahead of his honeymoon to the United States this September  was the highest it had been in a while.

By the time he woke up Friday morning, the leave movement had declared victory, and the pounds value had plunged to a 30-year low. McGee says he was filled with a mix of shock, sadness and frustration.

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Im sad for the younger generation, he says. I spent my 20s traveling all over Europe. My sister spent months living in Germany with my cousins. I have friends who didnt have a lot going on in England, but moved to European cities and are now doing great. They would probably never emigrate if they had to fill out the paperwork, but thanks to the freedom of movement, they are now doing happy and striving in these new cities!

McGee, who has lived in Manchester since 2004, is a native of Derry, a city in Northern Ireland which, unlike the Republic of Ireland, is a part of the U.K. Thanks to McGees Irish passport, however, hell be able to remain a member of the European Union. Not all of his British friends are as lucky.

In fact, many of my English friends are looking at their grandparents lineage to see if they can apply for an Irish passport for this reason, McGee says. The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs reported Friday that it was seeing an unusually high number of people in Northern Ireland seeking Irish passport applications in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Like McGee  and the majority of Northern Ireland  he says his three sisters all voted to remain in the EU. Though McGee says he and his siblings generally agree on politics, it was the first time his 28-year-old sister had voted on anything.

We know how much better off we have been in Europe, he says.

McGee says he has not talked to his parents or grandparents about the referendum beyond urging them to vote. Still, he says, I cant help but feel the only deciding point for the older generation is immigration and false promises of NHS [National Health Service] spending.

Even with his EU membership intact, McGee isnt sure he wants to stay in the U.K. after this vote.

I do not trust this government, he says. I worry that they have their own agenda, and it is based on greed and racism.

He says hes discussed moving to the United States with his fiance, who is American, but theyve agreed not to make any plans until after the presidential election.

I dont want to live anywhere that elects Donald Trump, he says.

Emma Clarke, 26

Though most of the United Kingdom was fast asleep when the results of last weeks referendum vote were finally announced, 26-year-old Emma Clarke and her partner were wide awake.

We couldnt sleep, Clarke told Yahoo News. So they stayed up to watch the historic news unfold in real time.

I just felt absolutely gutted, she says, adding that while part of me was shocked  another part wasnt.

Clarke, who is originally from Manchester, has lived in the West Yorkshire city of Leeds since she moved there for university in 2008. She is now a business consultant at an international software company, and the mother of a 4-month-old girl.

In the months leading up to the vote, Clarke says she was worried that not enough of her peers were engaged in the issue, and feared that if young people didnt turn out to vote, the Brexit would prevail.

A few of my friends were openly confused about how to vote due to lack of facts being reported in the media, and posted asking for people to share information they had gathered to help them decide, she says.

Google Trends reported Friday that the top searched question by U.K. users in the previous 24 hours was What does it mean to leave the EU?

What is the EU? came in second place.

Still, as the big day drew closer, Clarke says her conversations with friends in person and on social media gave her hope that remain could have a chance.

But now, I genuinely believe that people did not vote for this decision based on facts, she says, pointing to the admission by U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage on Friday that one of the leave campaigns central pledges  that exiting the EU would free up 350 million a week for the National Health Service  was a mistake.

In the aftermath of the vote, several Brexit backers said they regretted their decision.

The vote also caused a great divide within Clarkes own family, with the sides being drawn along generational lines: Clarke says she and her sister were united in support of remaining, while her dad and grandfather both voted to leave.

Both my sister and myself cannot discuss politics with my dad without it turning into a heated debate, she says. My granddad also voted to leave, saying he had done it to protect our future, which is particularly gut-wrenching. His main reason was immigration, which is crazy seeing as he spent most of his younger life as an immigrant in South Africa.

While her partners parents also voted to leave, Clarke says her mother claims to have switched sides at the last minute to vote remain  though shes skeptical about whether this is true or simply her moms voters remorse talking.

I hope it is genuine, she says.

As a mother, its perhaps this stark generational divide over the issue that baffles Clarke the most.

I find this so bizarre as I sit and look at my daughter feeling that I would do anything for her, and knowing that on the whole, it was our parents who voted for this against our pleas not to, she says.

In fact, a big part of Clarkes decision to vote remain was influenced by her daughter, and the potential impact a Brexit could have on her future.

There have been public sector cuts all over due to our current government, and without EU guidance, I fear that this will get worse, she says. It makes me concerned for the schooling my little girl will receive and the health care that she will have available to her.

Clarke also worries about what leaving the EU will mean for her job as a consultant, which often requires her to travel throughout Europe.

I need to be able to work easily in any European country, she says. For me, this is not just about how it will affect us as tourists to travel around Europe, but it would make my job harder to do.

Clarke says she has several friends who had already been planning moves to countries like Canada, Australia and Sweden  all of which have made this choice based on the decisions of this government and the outcome of this vote. Now shes considering doing the same.

There is a real feeling of uncertainty in our household, she says. We really dont know how bad this could be for us just yet.

Adam Wishart-Taylor, 30

Like McGee, Adam Wishart-Taylor went to sleep on Thursday night confident of a remain victory. Instead, he says, I awoke to find out the result and was immediately horrified.

Originally from Lancashire, a mostly rural county on Englands northwest coast, Wishart Taylor works part-time as a recruiter at a music college in Leeds and the rest of the time as a tour manager and musician.

Being a touring musician is what concerns me most, he says of leaving the EU. The strong possibility of having to gain visas to enter Europe for touring is going to become expensive and discouraging. The threat to employment is another major concern.

Like many of his peers, Wishart-Taylors parents voted in favor of leaving  a decision he believes was made based on misinformation and false promises.

We have already seen in the short time since the result, that leave campaigners are denying the facts they based their entire campaigns on, such as the 350 million we will no longer pay to Europe going back to the NHS, he says. Its quite frankly disgusting now that they have won that they finally reveal the truth of it.

The musician has long had his sights set on leaving the U.K. for New York City, and had been planning to move within the next 10 years or so. Now, though, Wishart-Taylor says hell probably be ready to cross the pond a lot sooner. In the meantime, he says, I am secretly hoping for a second Scottish independence referendum so they can stay in Europe and I can claim citizenship thanks to my grandparents.

Overall, Wishart-Taylor says he hopes the rest of the world understands how disappointed he and so many of his peers are over this decision.

The youth of Britain wished to remain, as it is us who are the future generations that other countries shall be dealing with, he says. It is such a sad time for a country usually so well-recognized for its strength and unity. To now see it broken and divided, these are very dark days ahead for us, I can assure you.





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Slideshow: Britains Brexit battle >>>

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By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will clinch a deal to allow it wide access to European Union markets after Brexit because Germany and France do not want to impose limits that could hurt their biggest industries, leading Brexit campaigner Chris Grayling told Reuters. Grayling, a member of Prime Minister David Cameron's top team, said he expected Britain to have informal talks with the EU about its future relationship before triggering Article 50, which he said should only be done only when Britain is ready. "At the end of the day, money and jobs talk," Grayling, a Conservative MP and leader of the House of Commons told Reuters in his office in Parliament. "This is not about the United Kingdom knocking on the door and saying: 'Please, what about us?' This is a really important trading relationship for the European Union." When European Union leaders met for the first time without Britain on Wednesday, they made it clear they believed London could only access the bloc's lucrative single market if it agreed to allow free movement for EU workers. Britain's economy, worth around $2.9 trillion (O2.15 trillion) before the Brexit vote, is dwarfed by the EU's economy, worth $13.3 trillion without Britain, according to International Monetary Fund data for 2015. Grayling, one of a handful of senior Conservatives who campaigned to leave the bloc ahead of Britain's 52 to 48 percent vote for Brexit, said the fact Britain was an essential market for key industries in other EU states made a deal possible. "It is as much about their access to the UK market as it is the other way round," he said. "When the heat has settled and the dust has settled after this referendum vote it is in everybody's interests to have a sensible trading arrangement." Britain's financial services sector, by far Europe's biggest, would have to be protected in any negotiation, he said. "It is inconceivable that we would simply say for example that it is fine for French agriculture or German automotive to be able to have free, unfettered access to the UK market in future but to leave the rules and regulations in a way that would cause a real damage to the City of London," he said. "To me trading normally means that German cars are sold in the UK, that French agricultural products are sold in the UK and that the City of London delivers financial services to clients around the European Union." LIMITS ON IMMIGRATION With immigration a major feature in the debate over Britain's EU membership, Grayling said the result of last week's vote compelled the government to act on curbing free movement. "It is very clear the British people have given us a mandate to be able to set limits on the number of people who come and live and work here, this may be a challenging part of the negotiation but it is an essential part," he said. Cameron, who led the Remain campaign, announced his resignation after last week's vote, triggering a leadership contest within the ruling Conservative Party that will elect his successor by early September. Grayling, who declined to say who he would support in that contest, said he did not think the new prime minister needed to hold an early election. Britain is not due to hold its next national election until 2020. "I would think there is absolutely no reason at all to have a general election this year or in the near term," he said. "We need to get on with this job, I can see no benefit at all to the United Kingdom in trying to have an early election." Grayling, a former journalist and management consultant, said he had initially been surprised by the referendum result but believed it would open up opportunities for Britain. The EU, he said, was being left behind the rest of the world economically and needed to integrate further, without Britain, if it was to survive. "I dont think it is necessarily doomed but it has huge challenges," he said. (Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
Ottawa (AFP) - Britain's vote to leave the European Union raises "longer-term concerns" about global growth at a time of already weak economic output, US President Barack Obama said Wednesday.

"I think there are some genuine longer-term concerns about global growth if, in fact, Brexit goes through and that freezes the possibilities of investment in Great Britain or in Europe as a whole," Obama said, speaking at a North American leaders summit.

"At a time when global growth rates were weak already, this doesn't help," he said.

The US president after meeting with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts expressed confidence in the global financial system's resilience however, as markets rebounded Wednesday from post-Brexit losses following a bruising two-day rout.

"Given the vote of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, our economic teams are going to continue to work together so that we remain focused on keeping our economies growing and making sure that the global financial system is stable," Obama said.

This is "something I am confident that we can do."

Both Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had made clear their desire to see Britain remain in the 28-member bloc and the fallout from the Brexit was high on the agenda in Ottawa.
Britain's exit from the European Union may erode the bloc's leadership role in fighting climate change and stymie crucial efforts to set more ambitious targets for cutting greenhouse gases, officials and experts said Tuesday.

The damage will become worse the longer the divorce proceedings drag on, or if Brexit inspires other EU nations to follow suit, they said.

European leaders meeting in Brussels pressured British Prime Minister David Cameron Tuesday to launch the two-year withdrawal process "as soon as possible", but the embattled premier has vowed he will leave that task to a successor to be named on September 9.

When it comes to EU climate policy, "there is going to be quite a bit of uncertainty, transition and volatility for at least two years," the UN's outgoing climate chief, Christiana Figueres, told delegates to the Climate and Business Summit 2016 in London on Tuesday.

Britain's own emissions reduction commitments -- set in national law -- are not likely to budge, even if global warming is unlikely to figure at the top of a new Conservative government's agenda.

On the other side of the Channel, however, the impact could be significant, especially if other countries follow the UK's example.

At a minimum it will create an accounting and administrative quagmire for governments because the formerly 28-nation bloc's climate change commitments -- inscribed in the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement -- will need to be recalculated for the remaining 27 members.

"The EU would have to look at some recalibration of the effort on burden sharing," said Figueres, referring to the internal negotiations on how European states divvy up the carbon reduction targets of the bloc as a whole.

New terms must likewise be negotiated for Britain -- which imports nearly half its energy needs -- for access to the European energy market.

Brexit will also be a major headache for businesses keyed into climate- and energy-related sectors.

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- Nightmare scenario -

"Within the business community, the amount of management time that will be unnecessarily spent on this issue will distract from the very critical decisions we need to make," said Peter Sweatman, CEO of Climate Strategy, an international consulting firm based in Spain.

In a highly competitive international environment, "we don't have the luxury of focusing on non-productive things," he said on the margins of the two-day London conference.

Some analysts worry that Britain's exit will cripple the EU's ability to increase its carbon-cutting goals -- something scientists say all major emitters must do if Earth is to avoid calamitous climate change impacts.

"The role of Europe as a key political driver in setting ambition will be lowered," said Nick Mabey, chief executive of E3G, a London-based environmental think tank.

"That will lower the overall global drive," he told AFP.

"Pretty soon you find everyone veering off course for two degrees, and that's when you get into dangerous zones of climate change."

The Paris pact -- headed for ratification later this year or in early 2017 -- calls for capping global warming at well below two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and 1.5 C (2.7 F) if possible.

But voluntary national pledges from some 190 nations to cut carbon pollution would still see Earth's surface heat up by 3 C (5.4 F), compared to a pre-Industrial era benchmark.

How to close that "emissions gap" is arguably the most urgent question on the international climate agenda.

Historically, Europe -- led in part by Britain -- was a leader in the fight against global warming, often acting as mediator between other nations bickering over how to share out responsibility.

For European advocates of aggressive climate action, the nightmare scenario is further unravelling of the EU.

Far-right parties rising in the polls in the Netherlands and France, for example, have already called for Brexit-style referendums.

"If Europe really started to disintegrate, it would be hard to maintain any of its continent-wide policies -- car standards, clean energy, the energy market," Mabey said.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Britain's membership on the UN Security Council has become more important for asserting London's global power after the Brexit vote, the British ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday.

"My job just got even bigger," Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters.

"The Security Council, if anything, has become even more important for the UK as an even larger proportion of our total world outlook."

Britain is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council but the vote to quit the European Union will leave France as the sole EU power among the so-called P5 on the top UN body.

Some diplomats expect Britain to move closer to the US position on foreign policy, even though the two countries already are close allies.

Rycroft dismissed suggestion that Britain's membership at the council could be challenged as a result of the Brexit vote, stressing that London retains its veto over any changes that could be proposed.

At the council, Britain is leading diplomatic efforts on Libya, Yemen, Sudan's troubled Darfur region, Somalia and Colombia, taking on "penholder" responsibilities for drafting UN resolutions.

Rycroft said he expected Britain to be more active at the United Nations as a prime forum for London's international engagement and pledged to work closely with other European countries.

He also stressed the importance of cooperation to prevent a weakening of the European stance toward Russia.

"Russia would be one of the countries that would benefit were there to be a weakening of Europe," said Rycroft.
The United States Oil Fund (USO) , which tracks West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures, and the United States Brent Oil Fund (BNO) , which tracks Brent crude oil futures, are among the various commodities exchange traded products that have been stung by the Brexit result.

A stronger dollar coupled with downward revisions to U.K. economic growth forecast are among the factors pressuring crude in Brexits wake and there could be more near-term pain for oil because some market observers see Brexit also affecting Chinese economic growth.

Related: The Worst Could be Over for Oil ETFs

The Brexit also likely has a negative impact for China by strengthening the Japanese Yen and triggering a sell-off in the Yuan. The future of EU Oil imports is also brought into question, given the risk of other countries following Englands lead in exiting the Union. Despite the risks, inventory levels are expected to inch lower over the summer months, which may underpin Oil prices. US production is expected to decrease over the coming months, which may offset decreased UK/EU demand, according to OptionsExpress.

Brexits subsequent volatility could drag on riskier assets like commodities and add to concerns over a global slowdown in energy demand. Moreover, commodities may find pressure from a strengthening U.S. dollar as many expect the British pound to depreciate following a break.

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Elevated levels of production remain an issue for oil as well. OPEC has kept up production to pressure high-cost rivals, such as the developing U.S. shale oil producers. The International Energy Agency expects it will take several years before OPEC can effectively price out high-cost producers.

Saudi Arabia previously said it would join a production freeze deal if Iran agreed to curb output. However, Iran has maintained that it should be allowed to raise production to previous levels before the introduction of Western sanctions over Irans nuclear program, instead arguing for individual-country production quotas.

Story continues

Related: Oil ETFs at 7 Month High on Falling U.S. Inventories

Turning to the chart, we see the August Crude Oil contract forming what could become a double top formation. If confirmed, the measure of the double top could result in a test of the $40 level. The recent closes below the 20-day moving average (MA) suggest that a near-term high may be in place, adds Options Express.

For more information on the oil market, visit our oil category.

United States Brent Oil Fund
WASHINGTON, June 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and Nikon Instruments Inc. jointly announce a new partnership under the BIO Business Solutions offerings. Nikon Instruments is a world-renowned market leader in optical instrumentation and research microscope systems known for cutting edge digital imaging technology for biomedical research solutions.



As a supplier partner, Nikon Instruments is now part of BIOs exclusive Business Solutions program which is helping thousands of companies save on items they need to run a successful biotechnology enterprise.

The Nikon Instruments Research Grade Microscope Systems Program is available to BIO and select state and regional life science associations members, and offers a wide selection of research instrumentation and digital imaging solutions for microscopy for direct purchase. Nikon Research Grade Microscope Systems enable researchers fully integrated microscope systems for expediting discoveries to commercialization at a cost savings.

BIO members require flexible and solution driven research instrumentation to advance discoveries, but finding the right provider at the right value can be difficult, said BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood. By teaming up with Nikon, were able to offer high-quality products and services that will meet our members needs at favorable rates.

BIO Business Solutions negotiates significant volume-based discounts, competitive terms, and other benefits on products and services with industry leading suppliers on behalf of its members and members of state and regional biotech associations. Through the BIO Business Solutions program, more than 2,900 companies saved more than $161 million last year.

By selecting Nikon Instruments Inc. as a contracted supplier, members will benefit from Nikons outstanding service and support network, cutting edge imaging technology and exclusive pricing for BIO members. Nikon Instruments Inc. offers a broad array of research-grade imaging systems including award-winning live-cell imaging platforms, super-resolution systems, confocal microscopes and High Content imaging systems. Each of these imaging solutions is designed for flexibility and ease of customizability to help meet the individual needs of the biotech company and can be easily scaled up for larger operations.

Nikon Instruments Inc. Vice President of Sales Jim Hamlin said, Nikon Instruments Inc. is committed to meeting the business needs of the growing life science industry and partnering with BIO is a testament to this. BIO and all of its partners help large and small businesses within the biotech community lower supplies and select capital expenditures, and gain access to industry best practices through the spirit of collaborative purchasing power.

About Nikon Instruments Inc.:

Nikon Instruments Inc. is a world leader in the development and manufacture of optical and digital imaging technology for biomedical applications. Now in its 99th year, Nikon provides complete optical systems that offer optimal versatility, performance and productivity. Cutting-edge instruments include microscopes, digital imaging products and software. Nikon Instruments is one of the microscopy and digital imaging arms of Nikon Inc., the world leader in digital imaging, precision optics and photo imaging technology. Product-related inquiries may be directed to Nikon Instruments at 800-52-NIKON.

About BIO:

BIO is the world's largest trade association representing biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the worlds largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world. BIOtechNOW is BIO's blog chronicling innovations transforming our world and the BIO Newsletter is the organizations bi-weekly email newsletter. Subscribe to the BIO Newsletter.
Brussels (AFP) - EU leaders gave Britain breathing space Tuesday by accepting it needed time to absorb a shock Brexit vote before triggering a divorce but insisted the crunch move could not wait months.

A humiliated Prime Minister David Cameron came face-to-face with European colleagues for the first time since last week's vote at a Brussels summit which leaders said was "sad" but pragmatic.

Trillions of dollars have been wiped off world markets since Thursday's vote to leave the EU, while the United Kingdom's future has been thrown into doubt after Scotland said it would push for a new independence referendum.

Further shockwaves juddered through British politics as Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour party, vowed to fight on despite losing a crushing no-confidence vote among his party's lawmakers.

Thousands of people took to the streets of London, which voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU, to protest against the referendum result, waving EU flags and placards saying: "Stop Brexit".

After hours of talks in Brussels, EU President Donald Tusk said that he understood that time was needed "for the dust to settle" in Britain before the next steps can be taken.

But reflecting wider concerns of a domino effect of other states wanting to leave, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said Britain did not have "months to meditate".

He set a clear timetable for triggering Article 50, the EU treaty clause that begins the two-year withdrawal process, after Cameron's successor takes office in early September.

Juncker said that if the new prime minister was a pro-remain figure, Article 50 should be activated "in two weeks after his appointment" -- but if it was a supporter of the leave campaign, "it should be done the day after his appointment," he added.

The current favourites to take over from Cameron are leading "out" campaigner Boris Johnson and interior minister Theresa May, a low-key backer of EU membership.

Story continues

- 'You're not laughing now' -

Over a dinner of poached veal tenderloin followed by strawberries, a chastened Cameron urged EU leaders to consider reforming rules on freedom of movement, one of the EU's central tenets, to cement a close relationship with Britain post-Brexit.

He said Britain and the EU should "have as close an economic relationship as possible and that the key to staying close is really to look at reform to free movement," a Downing Street source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A British government source added that Cameron believed that free movement was "one of the driving factors in people voting to leave".

At a press conference, Cameron insisted he had no regrets about holding the referendum.

Earlier, US President Barack Obama warned against "hysteria" as stock markets and the pound staged a tentative recovery after days of losses that saw sterling slump to a 31-year low.

But with so much still remaining uncertain, analysts warned the recovery could be short-lived.

Late Monday, Standard & Poor's and Fitch both cut their credit ratings for Britain as a result of the referendum.

One happy man was Nigel Farage, head of the UK Independence Party, who told a jeering European Parliament -- after a hug with his old sparring partner Juncker -- that the joke was now on them.

"When I came here 17 years ago and I said I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the EU, you all laughed at me," he said. "But you are not laughing now."

- Breaking up is hard to do -

European powers are loath to give Britain an easy ride as it leaves the EU, partly because they do not want to send a signal to other countries which may eventually head in the same direction.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned Cameron could not "cherry-pick" the terms of the exit negotiations and that there would be no informal talks before Article 50 was triggered.

The European Parliament has called on Britain to initiate the departure process "as soon as possible", its president Martin Schulz saying Cameron was "taking the destiny of our entire continent hostage purely for internal political reasons".

The Brexit vote has also put the remaining 27 members of the EU under pressure to come up with an adequate response to prevent other countries following suit.

The 27 will meet without Cameron on Wednesday and Tusk proposed holding another summit in September in Bratislava.

- Westminster chaos -

The referendum result has caused a political earthquake in Britain, claiming not only Cameron's scalp but also leaving Corbyn fighting for survival.

On Tuesday the veteran socialist, who has been accused of not campaigning hard enough to stay in the EU, lost a no-confidence vote among Labour MPs by 172 to 40.

Dozens of Corbyn's shadow cabinet have already quit but he has insisted he will not "betray" grassroots Labour party members who elected him last year by resigning.

In Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly to remain, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon fleshed out her proposals for about splitting the country off from Britain to keep it in the EU.

She travels to Brussels for talks on Wednesday, saying she was "utterly determined to preserve Scotland's relationship and place within the EU".

Scotland voted against independence in a referendum in 2014 but Sturgeon has said that the Britain of that time "does not exist any more" following the Brexit vote.
By William James LONDON (Reuters) - In the global maelstrom created by Britain's vote to the leave the European Union, turbulence within the opposition Labour Party looks like a ripple. But it could define the country for years to come. Jeremy Corbyn, the 67-year old activist behind a grassroots left-wing rebranding of Britain's main opposition, is clinging on as party leader in the face of an attempt to oust him by his more centrist fellow Labour lawmakers. Three quarters of them backed a motion of no confidence on Tuesday, arguing that Corbyn's lukewarm endorsement of the EU contributed to a vote to leave that has plunged the country into its worst crisis since World War Two. With Britain now poised to negotiate an exit far more painful than many voters anticipated, Corbyn's critics say Labour needs to present a strong, united alternative to the ruling Conservative party's ascendant eurosceptic right wing. Without that, they argue, Britain could lose the protections for workers, consumers and the environment within a free market afforded by the EU in a rush towards untrammelled corporate power, a reduced social safety net and international isolationism. Pro-Brexit Conservatives say that completely misrepresents their aims, emphasising a "one-nation" approach they say will balance all the population's needs, help Britain's economy to grow and retain the country's influence on the world stage. Whatever the outcome, it will have lasting significance. "The EU negotiations are going to define the direction of this country for the next century," Labour lawmaker Wes Streeting who supports ousting Corbyn, told Reuters. "We need a leadership that has its eye on the ball and makes sure Labour has a strong voice." During the referendum campaign, Corbyn said he wanted an EU that was "based on social justice and good, rather than solely on free-market economics" and he has called for Britain's heavy industries to be protected from global market forces. "I was elected Leader to redistribute power and wealth in this country," he said the day after the Brexit result was announced. He voted 'Remain', but voted 'No' to Europe in a previous referendum in 1975 and has been a long-term critic of the bloc, which he considers in thrall to corporate interests. He also dismisses criticism that his support for immigration on universal human rights grounds alienates the many Britons who voted to leave the EU because they felt migrants from its poorer regions had driven down wages and strained public services. "We cannot duck the issue of immigration (but) we cannot talk about immigration as something separate from its social and economic context," he said. "BIG CALLS" Corbyn's opponents say his principles are high-minded but unrealistic. "I'm extremely worried," said Streeting. "He's completely out of his depth, he doesn't have the knowledge and judgement to take the big calls." Labour parliamentarians say the Conservative right wing and the growing eurosceptic UKIP party will take Britain in a direction most of its people do not want to go in unless their party plays a strong role in Brexit negotiations. "Libertarians who see this as a way to roll back all state involvement, free-marketeers who see it as a way to cut employment protection, reactionary conservatives who want to cut themselves off from the rest of the world - none of those right-wing visions will work for Britain," Yvette Cooper, a centrist who ran against Corbyn in 2015, said in a speech. Some Labour lawmakers have called for a second referendum to approve the country's exit plan - an idea popular with many of the 48 percent of voters who chose 'remain'. "Whatever happens to Labour, I will continue to campaign for remain," Labour's David Lammy told Reuters. "Were already seeing the uncertainty having a real impact on business investment decisions, on financial markets. Its not too late to stop this. CORRIDOR COUP More than 40 Corbyn's colleagues have resigned one by one from his policy team in the past few days - a drip feed of bad news designed to ramp up pressure on him to quit. "It's a battle for the soul of the Labour Party," Labour lawmaker Chris Bryant said after emerging from a hostile meeting between Corbyn and his party in parliament on Monday. Corbyn's allies describe the turmoil as a "corridor coup", a reference to the labyrinthine hallways of the Palace of Westminster, home of the Houses of Parliament, where informal business takes place and plots are hatched. "Stop the whispering, stop the corridor coups, stop trying to pressure an elected leader of the Labour Party to stand down without any vote or democracy," his spokesman said. A furious confrontation followed between Labour lawmaker John Woodcock and Corbyn's chief spokesman in which each accused the other of destabilising the party as reporters looked on. In the long history of political plots in Westminster, where parliament has been based for 750 years, historians say it is rare for a leader to survive such attacks for long, but Corbyn has an incentive to swim against the political tide. "Corbyn is willing to look ridiculous, because for him this is the one shot that someone from his side of the party is going to get," said Steven Fielding, Professor of Political History at the University of Nottingham. "If he goes, his kind of 'left' will not get another chance for a generation or two, if that." Corbyn also has a trump card: the support of Labour activists outside parliament. He was elected to lead Labour in September in the aftermath of its May 2015 national election defeat at the hands of the Conservatives, now split by the referendum and seeking a successor after Prime Minister David Cameron offered to resign. Labour's 2015 defeat prompted a surprise surge in support for a more radical agenda and carried Corbyn, a veteran left-wing campaigner classed as a rank outsider, to a runaway victory after hundreds of thousands of new members signed up to vote. "They shouldn't be attacking him in this way," said Josh Chown, a 20-year old Corbyn activist among thousands of supporters who flooded to a square outside parliament for a hastily-convened protest against efforts to oust him. "The Labour membership overwhelmingly supports Jeremy Corbyn ... he puts forward a different, better idea." If Corbyn hangs on, some expect Labour to divide in what could be part of a wider reshaping of the political landscape. "In that scenario there is no alternative but for the party to split," said Professor Tim Bale of Queen Mary University London. "It's just not possible to lead a party like that into an election and ask the public to vote for them." (Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Philippa Fletcher)
Too soon. That's been the overriding reaction to a Brexit-inspired seat sale launched by British Airways this week.

With the fallout of Brexit, the British pound has taken a nosedive. That translates to increased spending power for American visitors to the UK -- a development that BA is trying to maximize for their US market.

"Your dollar has never gone further, and with our amazing 3 day sale you can see even more of London!," reads the tweet which was posted earlier this week and has since been taken down.

The three-day sale is promoting a seven-night, round-trip journey from Boston to London, for instance, for $647.

But internet users have been quick to scold the airline, with some users on Twitter calling the marketing tactic everything from "horrendously tacky" to greedy and insensitive.

In one running thread, a Twitter user tries to defend the carrier and questions the sentiment that it's too early to exploit the Brexit situation.

"Too soon? No one died," they tweet.

To which many users pointed out, "Someone did die actually," in reference to British MP Jo Cox, who was stabbed to death in the lead-up to the referendum. Cox was a vocal advocate for the 'Remain' camp. The man charged with the murder is reported to have shouted "Britain first" during the attack.

Here are a few other Twitter reactions:

"How greedy of you to quickly use your country's economic troubles for your own gain."

"Horrendously tacky, turning the Brexit market crash into a sales pitch."

"Nice to see that airline companies in the UK are just as lecherous as their American counterparts."

The sale ends June 29.
YEREVAN (Reuters) - Britain's decision to leave the European Union was regrettable but should be respected, and the EU needed a common position over future relations with London, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Wednesday.

"We should respect (Britain's) choice," Steinmeier told a news conference in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, his first stop during a three-day tour in the South Caucasus countries.

"I hope we won't fall into a long process of distrust ... " he said, adding that all the EU's members should agree a common position.

(Reporting by Hasmik Mkrtchyan; Writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Larry King)
With more than $1 trillion assets under management, Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) prides itself in having more than 2,000 professionals across 33 offices worldwide, since its inception in 1869. GSAM offers financial services including investment and advisory solutions along with expert risk management to institutional and individual investors throughout the globe. With its global multi-product platform, this renowned financial management company offers its clients innovative investment solutions that come with working with a large firm.

Below we share with you three top-rated Goldman Sachs mutual funds. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future. Investors can click here to see the complete list of Goldman Sachs mutual funds, their Zacks Rank and past performance.

Goldman Sachs Real Estate Securities A GREAX invests the majority of its assets in equity securities that are mostly involved in or related to the real estate industry. GREAX may also invest a maximum 20% of its assets in fixed income investments including government, corporate and bank debt obligations. GREAX seeks both long-term growth of capital and dividend income. Goldman Sachs Real Estate Securities A is a non-diversified fund that returned 10.7% over the past three years.

GREAX has an expense ratio of 1.26% as compared to the category average of 1.28%.

Goldman Sachs Global Income A GSGIX seeks total return. GSGIX invests a large chunk of its assets in fixed income securities issued throughout the globe. The fund may also invest in forward contracts and swap contracts. Goldman Sachs Global Income A is a non-diversified fund that returned 4.3% over the past three years.

As of Mar 2016, GSGIX held 1,514 issues with 8.31% of its assets invested in GNMA.

Goldman Sachs Large Cap Growth Insights A GLCGX invests a large portion of its assets in a broadly diversified portfolio of equity investments in large-cap U.S. issuers and non-U.S. issuers traded domestically. GLCGX seeks long-term growth of capital. Goldman Sachs Large Cap Growth Insights A has returned 11.8% over the past three years.

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GLCGX has an expense ratio of 0.96% as compared to the category average of 1.17%.

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Caitlyn Jenner has been outspoken about her conservative political views, and, in a new interview, she expresses support for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

In a conversation with Stat about transgender health, Jenner said that she doesn't agree with President Obama on the economy or constitutional rights but she appreciates what he's done for the transgender community. Jenner admits that presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has been a strong LGBT rights advocate, but Jenner commends Donald Trump for his views.

"Everybody looks at the Democrats as being better with these issues. But Trump seems to be very much for women," said Jenner. "He seems very much behind the LGBT community because of what happened in North Carolina with the bathroom issue. He backed the LGBT community."

She does recognize, however, that with Trump "there's a lot more unknowns."

"With Hillary, you pretty much know what you're gonna get with the LGBT community," Jenner told the publication.

Read More: Caitlyn Jenner Covers 'Sports Illustrated' 40 Years After Winning Olympic Gold

In the past, Jenner has said that while Democrats might be better than Republicans on transgender rights, she would never vote for Hillary Clinton.

"She could care less about women. She cares about herself," said Jenner while debating politics on I Am Cait. When he was still running for president, Ted Cruz also earned Jenner's praise. She said she likes him and called him a "great constitutionalist." She did, however, admit that he's "one of the worst" politicians when it comes to trans rights.

When Donald Trump said Jenner could use any bathroom she wished to use in Trump Tower, she visited his building and used the women's restroom.

"Thank you, Donald, really appreciate it," she said after using the facilities. "And by the way, Ted, nobody got molested."

Read More: Caitlyn Jenner Admits Democrats are Better than Republicans on Trans Issues
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While the Jenner and Kardashian daughters stand by Hillary Clinton, Caitlyn Jenner remains firmly in Trump's camp.

"Trump seems to be very much for women," the Olympian said in a recent interview focused on health and the trans community.

Jenner does not provide any evidence of this statement.

SEE ALSO: Four decades later, Caitlyn Jenner again graces the cover of 'Sports Illustrated'

Jenner, who has been outspoken about her conservative politics, says Obama has been good about transgender issues, but challenges the assumption that Democrats are better for the LGBTQ community.

"[Trump] seems very much behind the LGBT community because of what happened in North Carolina with the bathroom issue," said Jenner. "He backed the LGBT community."

Jenner does concede that no one really knows much about Trump's policies.

"[I]n Trumps case, theres a lot more unknowns," she said. "With Hillary, you pretty much know what youre gonna get with the LGBT community."




Pronoun Ambiguity on the GMAT

Using a pronoun without an antecedent

Error in matching the pronoun to its antecedent in number and gender

Using a nominative/objective case pronoun when the antecedent is possessive

Congress is debating a bill requiring certain employers provide workers with unpaid leave so as to care for sick or newborn children.



(A) provide workers with unpaid leave so as to

(B) to provide workers with unpaid leave so as to

(C) provide workers with unpaid leave in order that they

(D) to provide workers with unpaid leave so that they can

(E) provide workers with unpaid leave and

While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they are potentially devastating for homeowners, whose equity  in many cases representing a lifes savings  can plunge or even disappear.



(A) they are potentially devastating for homeowners, whose

(B) they can potentially devastate homeowners in that their

(C) for homeowners they are potentially devastating, because their

(D) for homeowners, it is potentially devastating in that their

(E) it can potentially devastate homeowners, whose

Although Napoleons army entered Russia with far more supplies than they had in their previous campaigns , it had provisions for only twenty-four days.



(A) they had in their previous campaigns

(B) their previous campaigns had had

(C) they had for any previous campaign

(D) in their previous campaigns

(E) for any previous campaign



- Veritas Prep Blog ( link We encounter many different types of pronoun errors on the GMAT Verbal Section. Some of the most common errors include:. For example, the sentence, Although Jack is very rich, he makes poor use of it, is incorrect because it has no antecedent. The antecedent should instead be money or wealth.. For example, the sentence, Pack away the unused packets, and save it for the next game, is incorrect because the antecedent of it is referring to unused packets, which is plural.. For example, the sentence, The client called the lawyers office, but he did not answer, is incorrect because the antecedent of he should be referring to lawyer, but it appears only in the possessive case. Official GMAT questions will not give you this rule as the only decision point between two options.But note that the rules governing pronoun ambiguity are not as strict as other rules! Pronoun ambiguity should be the last decision point for eliminating an option after we have taken care of SV agreements, tenses, modifiers, parallelism etc.Every sentence that has two nouns before a pronoun does not fall under the pronoun ambiguity error category. If the pronoun agrees with two nouns in number and gender, and both nouns could be the antecedent of the pronoun, then there is a possibility of pronoun ambiguity. But in other cases, logic can dictate that only one of the nouns can really perform (or receive) an action, and so it is logically clear to which noun the pronoun refers.For example, Take the bag out of the car and get it fixed.What needs to get fixed? The bag or the car? Either is possible. Here we have a pronoun ambiguity, but it is highly unlikely you will see something like this on the GMAT.A special mention should be made here about the role nouns play in the sentence. Often, a pronoun which acts as the subject of a clause refers to the noun which acts as a subject of the previous clause. In such sentences, you will often find that the antecedent is unambiguous. Similarly, if the pronoun acts as the direct object of a clause, it could refer to the direct object of the previous clause. If the pronoun and its antecedent play parallel roles, a lot of clarity is added to the sentence. But it is not necessary that the pronoun and its antecedent will play parallel roles.Lets look at a different example, The car needs to be taken out of the driveway and its brakes need to get fixed.Here, obviously the antecedent of its must be the car since only it has brakes, not the driveway. Besides, the car is the subject of the previous clause and its refers to the subject. Hence, this sentence would be acceptable.A good rule of thumb would be to look at the options. If no options sort out the pronoun issue by replacing it with the relevant noun, just forget about pronoun ambiguity. If there are options that clarify the pronoun issue by replacing it with the relevant noun, consider all other grammatical issues first and then finally zero in on pronoun ambiguity.Lets take a quick look at some official GMAT questions involving pronouns now:The answer is (D). Why? The correct sentence would use to provide (not provide) and so that (not so as to), and should read, Congress is debating a bill requiring certain employers to provide workers with unpaid leave so that they can care for sick or newborn children. In this sentence, they logically refers to workers. Even though they could refer to employers, too, after you sort out the rest of the errors, you are left with (D) only, hence answer must be (D).Lets look at another question:The correct answer is (A). The correct sentence should read, While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they are potentially devastating for homeowners, whose equity  in many cases representing a lifes savings  can plunge or even disappear. The pronoun they logically refers to depressed property values. Both the pronoun and its antecedent serve as subjects in their respective clauses, so the pronoun antecedent is quite clear.One more question:The correct answer is (E). The correct sentence should read, Although Napoleons army entered Russia with far more supplies than for any previous campaign, it had provisions for only twenty-four days.The pronoun it logically refers to Napoleans army and not Russia. Both the pronoun and its antecedent serve as subjects in their respective clauses, so the pronoun antecedent is quite clear. Note that the pronoun and its antecedent are a part of the non-underlined portion of the sentence so we dont need to worry about the usage here but it strengthens our understanding of pronoun ambiguity._________________
People look at jars of marijuana at the medical marijuana farmers market at the California Heritage Market in Los Angeles, California July 11, 2014. REUTERS/David McNew/File Photo

California will officially vote on whether to make recreational marijuana use legal this November.

If approved, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) will allow adults over 21 to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use, as well as allow the cultivation of up to six plants, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

The initiative exceeded the 402,000 required signatures needed to qualify for the ballot on Tuesday. Alex Padilla, California's secretary of state, is expected to certify the initiative on June 30, reports Reuters.

"Today marks a fresh start for California, as we prepare to replace the costly, harmful, and ineffective system of prohibition with a safe, legal and responsible adult-use marijuana system that gets it right and completely pays for itself," Jason Kinney, the spokesman for AUMA, said in a statement.

AUMA would also set up a system to license, regulate, and tax the recreational sale of marijuana, allowing California to get a slice of the burgeoning legal-cannabis market.

David Bienenstock, head of content for High Times magazine, wrote in an email to Business Insider that he sees California's vote as a "tipping point" toward ending prohibition nationally.

Maine, Arizona, and Nevada are also likely to vote on legalization initiatives in November.

marijuana colorado

If the vote follows recent polls, California's marijuana-legalization initiative will likely pass.

Sixty percent of Californians indicated that marijuana should be legal in a poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California in May. And 56% of respondents in a national CBS poll in April indicated that they supported legalization, up from 53% in 2015.

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"Given the support nationally for legalization and the success of programs in other legal states, Americans across the country and across the aisle are rejecting marijuana prohibition as an ineffective and racist policy," Amanda Reiman, a lecturer at UC Berkeley and a policy manager at the Drug Policy Alliance, told Business Insider in an email.

But even though the polls show that a majority of voters support legalization in California, not everyone is on board.

"The dangers of marijuana are pretty clear in terms of motorist safety, criminal activity, impacts on society," Cory Salzillo, the legislative director of the California State Sheriffs' Association, told The Associated Press. "We don't believe that decriminalization will upend the black market."

marijuana

But legalization in California would not be without challenges. Though California would be the fifth state to legalize recreational marijuana use  joining Alaska, Oregon, Colorado, and Washington  it is by the far the most populous and diverse of the bunch, according to Reiman.

"Challenges in implementation will be related to the size and heterogeneity of California," Reiman wrote, adding, "California is by far the most diverse state to implement legalization both in culture and in beliefs about marijuana."

Though there will be challenges, the recreational marijuana industry could be a huge windfall for California's economy.

In Colorado, where recreational use has been legalized since 2012, the marijuana industry pulled in $140 million in 2016 alone.

"We will not have a perfect system overnight, but moving marijuana from the illicit to legal framework is the first and necessary step to creating the policies we want to see in the future," Reiman wrote.

NOW WATCH: This is how the legal marijuana industry is affecting Mexican drug cartels





More From Business Insider


This November, when California residents cast their ballots in the presidential election, they'll also vote on whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults 21 and older. The vote comes two decades after California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana, when voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996.

If Californians vote yes, the state will join four others  Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington  which have already legalized

According to ABC News, a vote in favor of legalization would also mean one in six Americans lives in a state with legal marijuana sales.

A medical marijuana dispensary in California

ABC reported the legalization of recreational marijuana would increase the state's revenue by $1 billion in addition to saving the state government millions more in costs associated with police, courts and correctional facilities.

However, as we've seen in Colorado, the welcome economic boost that comes with legalization is not without its consequences, especially for people of color. According to the Guardian, black people are still 2.5 times as likely to get arrested for marijuana-related offenses in Colorado, and just one of Colorado's 424 weed dispensaries is owned by a black woman.

Still, Jason Kinney, a political strategist campaigning for the initiative, said in a statement that he feels hopeful about the outcome of the vote, ABC reported.

"Today marks a fresh start for California, as we prepare to replace the costly, harmful and ineffective system of prohibition with a safe, legal and responsible adult-use marijuana system that gets it right and completely pays for itself," Kinney said.
Residents of California could be heading to the voting polls in November to decide the legal status of recreational marijuana.

According to Reuters, the proposed "Adult Use of Marijuana Act" would make it legal for individuals over the age of 21 to possess up to one ounce of marijuana for personal use and possess up to six marijuana plants.

Marijuana for medical use has been legal since 1996.

The initiative required 402,000 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot and is already supported by the state's Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and other state-wide politicians and lawmakers.

Related Link: Microsoft Lights Up New Partnership With Marijuana Tech Firm KIND Financial

Should recreational use of marijuana become legal in California, the state will establish a system in which it will oversee and tax sales of the recreational product.

"Today marks a fresh start for California, as we prepare to replace the costly, harmful and ineffective system of prohibition with a safe, legal and responsible adult-use marijuana system that gets it right and completely pays for itself," initiative spokesman Jason Kinney said in a statement.

California's Secretary Alex Padilla could certify the initiative as soon as Thursday.

Voters in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska have already permitted recreational use for adults, while voters in several other states are likely to also vote on the matter in the coming months.

See more from Benzinga

 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The search for a blue whale tangled in commercial crabbing gear off California's coast stretched into a second day on Wednesday as whale watchers, leisure boaters and fishermen hoped for a glimpse of the ensnared animal and a second chance to rescue it. The 80-foot-long (24-meter-long) whale, about twice the size of a school bus, has not been spotted since a day-long attempt on Monday evening to free the marine mammal from its potentially lethal entanglement in the waters off Dana Point, about 65 miles (105 km) north of San Diego. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has asked vessels in the area to alert the agency again if the whale is spotted. A whale-watching boat crew, joined by NOAA officers, local harbor patrol and sheriff's deputies, spent hours on Monday following the distressed whale along the ocean's surface, and using long poles with cutters to try slicing away the rigging of a commercial crab pot that dangled from its mouth. But rescuers lost sight of the animal when it plunged back underwater and vanished into the depths as the sun was settling. "It disappeared on us when we were right on top of it," said Dave Anderson, owner of Captain Dave's Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari. "It's a huge ocean and it could have gone any direction." Anderson said whale-watching boats and fishermen would coordinate by radio to resume rescue operations if the whale reappears. "If no one can do anything the odds are good that that whale is going to die," Anderson said, adding that it could take a month to succumb to injuries or starvation. Blue whales, an endangered species, grow up to 100 feet (30 meters) in length and weigh close to 200 tons, ranking as the largest living animals on Earth. A blue whale's heart is about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle car. Whale entanglements are not uncommon, and can prove lethal, according to NOAA spokesman Michael Milstein. Last year, 61 whales were found caught in fishing gear, crab pots and netting along the U.S. West Coast, and nearly 40 have been reported so far this year, Milstein said. Most are gray and humpback whales, which tend to swim closer to shore. The animal encountered on Monday marked only the second known entanglement of a blue whale, a species more common to the open ocean, according to Milstein. (Reporting by Steve Gorman; Writing and additional reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Sandra Maler)
By John Chalmers MANILA (Reuters) - Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Hun Sen of using the judiciary to crush the opposition and guarantee his own victory in 2018 elections while the country goes "down the drain" amid rampant corruption. Speaking to Reuters in Manila, where he spends some of his time since he went into his latest period of self-imposed exile, Rainsy said he still hopes to strike a political deal with his nemesis. He said he will definitely return home just before local elections in June next year. "Hun Sen himself realises that he is losing ground, that the popular support the opposition enjoys is growing," Rainsy said during a break from a meeting with nearly 60 key members of his Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), most of whom had flown into the Philippines' capital overnight. "So he wants to disrupt the election process by creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation ... This is just intimidation and an attempt to frighten the whole population not to support the opposition." Government spokesman Phay Siphan could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. The spokesman for Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party denied that the government or the party uses the judiciary for political ends. "The cases against people at the CNRP are criminal wrongdoings, and they must be held responsible before the law," said Sok Eysan, adding that Rainsy should not hope for a political deal before the 2017 vote. Rainsy, 67, has gone into exile four times, the latest coming last November when a warrant for his arrest was issued. He flew to Paris, where he has lived for considerable periods of his adult life. He said that since then Hun Sen, who has led the country for three decades altogether, has used the judiciary to hound opposition politicians to avoid a rerun of the 2013 poll. The CNRP says it won and that the result was fixed to keep it out of power. "The judiciary in Cambodia is just a political tool for the ruling party to ensure impunity for themselves and to crack down on the opposition," said Rainsy, wearing a garland of jasmine flowers presented to him for the party meeting. "CULTURE OF VIOLENCE" Rainsy's deputy, Kem Sokha, has been holed up in the CNRP's headquarters in Phnom Penh for more than a month to avoid arrest. Rainsy said that two of his party's lawmakers are behind bars while others face threats and live in danger. Hun Sen, who is 63 and has said he will rule Cambodia into his seventies, portrays himself as the man who saved Cambodia from the terror and chaos of the Khmer Rouge years in the 1970s and the civil war that followed. However, his authoritarian rule and widespread corruption have alienated young people who did not live through that era. Rainsy said 70 percent of the country's population are under the age of 30, and for the vast majority of them there are no jobs. Kem Sokha told Reuters at the weekend there must be "national reconciliation" talks to end a crisis that both he and Hun Sen have warned could nudge the Southeast Asian nation from political tension into conflict. Rainsy echoed his deputy, calling for "a culture of dialogue" to replace a "culture of violence" that he said was a legacy of the Khmer Rouge. Nevertheless, he said he was confident that Hun Sen would allow him to return and lead the opposition party in the 2017 local communes election and general election the following year. Otherwise, the polls would not be seen by the international community as legitimate, Rainsy said. If the opposition wins the 2018 election, Hun Sen would have no choice but to stand aside, he said. "I think that Hun Sen is intelligent enough to understand that the world has changed, that he cannot try to cling to power forever and at any cost," Rainsy said. "All previous dictators have stepped down at one point of time." (Reporting by John Chalmers. Editing by Bill Tarrant.)
Prime Minister Hun Sen, accused of intensifying a crackdown on dissent before Cambodia's 2018 election, threatened on Wednesday to jail an opposition leader who has refused to come forward over an alleged sex scandal.

Political tensions have risen in recent months, with rights groups accusing Hun Sen's government of arresting scores of critics and tying up other opponents in legal cases.

The main opposition party's deputy leader Kem Sokha has spent the past month holed up inside his party's headquarters after armed police tried to arrest him in late May.

He is wanted for questioning in a prostitution investigation launched against a woman who claims to be his mistress.

But the lawmaker has refused to be interviewed, arguing that the police probe is politically motivated.

"You (Kem Sokha) said Hun Sen is scared of losing an election, but I send you a message: You could be jailed without release. A prisoner! Don't be rude," Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 31 years, told an audience in Phnom Penh.

"Even though you don't go to jail, still the jail could come to you. I am telling you in advance," he added.

The premier denied the prostitution case was politically motivated and said the lawmaker "created the problem himself by having a mistress".

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party could not be reached for comment.

Its top leader Sam Rainsy has been living in self-imposed exile for months to avoid arrest warrants he says are an attempt to undercut his party's prospects in the 2018 election.

The party has accused Hun Sen of denying it a majority by rigging the 2013 election in his favour, a charge the premier denies.

The wily and combative Hun Sen has steered impoverished Cambodia from the ashes of civil war to a relatively fast-growing economy.

But the opposition party has gained ground amid growing disillusionment with endemic corruption, rights abuses and political repression.

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The European Parliament has threatened to review nearly $500 million of aid if Hun Sen's government continues to repress opponents, and the UN and United States have recently voiced concern over attempts to detain Kem Sokha.

But Hun Sen warned Wednesday against interfering in his country's domestic affairs.

"I don't want all diplomats to become parrots speaking the tone of the opposition party," he said. "Don't use so-called aid to insult Cambodia or to threaten Cambodia."
British Prime Minister David Cameron said, For heavens sake, man, go! when Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn refused to resign despite a potential leadership challenge. Corbyns predecessor, Ed Miliband, echoed Camerons call, made in the first Prime Ministers Questions session after the European Union referendum. Cameron himself resigned after a majority of the British public voted for the UK to leave the EU.

Cameron said there was sadness and regret regarding Britains decision at the EU meeting in Brussels on Tuesday. EU leaders met on Wednesday, June 29, for the first time without a British leader.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon lobbied for Scotland to stay in the EU in meetings with political leaders in Brussels on Wednesday.

On a separate note, Cameron offered condolences to families of the victims in the Istanbul Airport explosion that killed dozens of people on Tuesday. Credit: YouTube/UK Parliament
Police and prosecutors have announced the arrest of three more suspects in connection with the shootout that left Carey Gabay, former aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo, dead during predawn J'ouvert celebrations last September. Two suspected gang members have been indicted on murder charges, making a total of three facing murder charges, and a fourth man is being charged with possessing a MAC-10 submachine gun at the scene of the running shootout in which Gabay was caught in the crossfire.

Prosecutors are charging Tyshawn Crawford, 21, of East New York, and Ketih Luncheon, 24, of Crown Heights, with murder, weapon possession, and reckless endangerment. Each faces as many as 25 years in prison on the second-degree murder charges. A third man, Stanley Elianor, of Brownsville, was indicted back in October on gun possession charges, but officials only now made the arrest public.

"These defendants are charged with creating a killing field in a crowd of innocent people, showing depraved indifference to human life and causing the death of Carey Gabay, who used his Harvard education and commitment to public service to improve the lives of others," Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson said in a statement. "This indictment shows the importance of our efforts to put an end to gang-related gun violence that places innocent lives in the crossfire. "



(Brooklyn District Attorney's Office)

Last month, cops arrested Micah Alleyne, 23, saying that he was involved in a sprawling gun battle "with numerous others" on the patio and in a parking lot of the Ebbets Field Apartments, a rent-stabilized residential complex on Bedford Avenue in Crown Heights. The shootout took place at about 3:45 a.m. on September 7th, 2015, during the roving J'ouvert street parties that precede the daytime West Indian Day Parade.

A grand jury indicted Alleyne last week on murder, reckless endangerment, and weapon possession charges. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail on Rikers Island.

Prosecutors say that the Ebbets Field patio is controlled by Folk Nation gang members, who have long feuded with the Eight-Trey Crips in nearby East Flatbush, and that gang members on both sides went out that Labor Day morning ready to shoot rivals on sight. The DA's Office estimates that two to three dozen shots were fired in all during the gun fight, from at least eight guns. District attorneys say Alleyne, an alleged Folk, has admitted to being on the patio and shooting a gun that morning, and that Crawford, an alleged member of the Brownsville crew Hoostarz, is on surveillance video pulling out a gun. A witness or witnesses saw Luncheon, an alleged Eight Trey, shooting, according to prosecutors.

The authorities also say they matched Elianor's DNA to a loaded MAC-10 found under a metal grate on the patio. Police arrested Elianor on September 18th, 2015, and he is being held without bail. He faces as many as 15 years in prison on the most severe felony gun possession charge. He is also facing dozens of possession of a forged instrument charges in connection with an April 2015 arrest.

Luncheon and Crawford are set to be arraigned this afternoon. Luncheon has outstanding cases for weapon possession and for manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and reckless driving. Crawford was arrested in March on charges of jumping bail, robbery, and weapon possession, prison records show. He has a pending gun possession case from July of 2015, got out that month on a $25,000 bond, and had a warrant put out for his arrest in that case in January, records show. A judge set his new bail in that case is at $100,000 yesterday.

At the time of his death, Gabay was 43 and a lawyer for Empire State Development, a state authority that doles out grant, loan, and bond money to developers and other businesspeople. He had previously worked as a legislative aide to Cuomo, helping, among other things, to draft the SAFE Act, which bans high-capacity magazines, mandates background checks for gun purchases, and heightens penalties for crimes committed with banned guns.

Prosecutors are pursuing murder charges under the theory that no matter whose bullet(s) killed Gabay, anyone involved in the shootout is responsible for murder by depraved indifference, because "they all entered into a de-facto agreement to engage in a gun battle."
Beirut (AFP) - A car bomb killed at least 10 people on Wednesday in a Syrian town near the Turkish border held by US-backed Kurdish-led forces, a monitoring group said.

Another nine people were wounded in the attack in Tal Abyad, which was captured from the Islamic State group by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and allied Arab groups in June last year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The alliance was formalised in October 2015 into the Syrian Democratic Forces, which then seized swathes of northern and northeastern Syria from IS with US support.

An SDF official said the car bomb was detonated outside offices of the Kurdish autonomous administration on the town's main street.

He said nine people were killed.

The Kurds and their allies have now captured most of the Turkish border areas that had been under IS control, depriving the jihadists of access routes for foreign fighters and funds.

The SDF is currently fighting the jihadists in the town of Manbij, across the Euphrates River to the west, threatening what was a key staging post on one of their few remaining entry routes.
Carnival (NYSE: CCL), the world's largest cruise operator, reported a better-than-expected rise in quarterly revenue , but expects to feel the impact of Brexit when it comes to currency exchange rates, its CEO said Tuesday.



That impact was reflected in the company's guidance going forward for the full year.



Carnival, which operates the Costa and Princess cruise lines, raised the lower end of its 2016 profit forecast but cut the top end. It now expects earnings of $3.25$3.35 per share, compared with its earlier estimate of $3.20$3.40.



"We were able to maintain the midpoint of our guidance that we had given in March, despite a 17-cent drag from currency and rise in full prices," Carnival CEO Arnold Donald said in an interview with CNBC's " Closing Bell ."



"We were able to make that up largely through improved performance."

The Miami-based cruise operator is among the first U.S. companies to flag the U.K.'s exit from the European Union as a risk factor.

"We have lots of natural hedges," he said. "Currencies go up, they go down."

Carnival shares closed slightly higher after trading in a wide range Tuesday. The firm reported a $3.7 billion second-quarter revenue, beating Reuters analysts' estimates of $3.68 billion. Carnival also reported adjusted earnings of 49 cents a share, above a Reuters estimate of 39 cents.

"Our business is strong  our prices are up, our booking curves are further out so we have strong bookings and things are looking pretty bright," Donald said.

 Reuters and CNBC's Celena Chong contributed to this report.







More From CNBC


By Krisztina Than BUDAPEST, June 29 (Reuters) - Central European stock markets and currencies extended gains on Wednesday, helped by a rise in Asian stock markets after the initial shock of Brexit wore off and investors went cherry-picking with global markets calming down.

Financial markets in the European Union's eastern wing had already rebounded strongly on Tuesday as the region is still attractive to investors thanks to its good growth prospects and big current account surpluses in most economies.

Britain's exit from the EU could erode some of this economic growth in the medium term, especially if it results in less development funds flowing to eastern Europe from the EU's budget and if euro zone economies slow.

But investors seemed to look past the longer term impacts for now as sentiment in global markets improved.

"International investor sentiment is positive this morning as after Brexit, market players see an increasing chance for central banks taking steps," brokerage Equilor said in a note.

The forint led currencies higher by firming 0.2 percent in early trade, while the Polish zloty was up 0.1 percent. Stock markets across the region opened strongly in positive territory with both Budapest and Prague rising almost 1 percent.

"After two days of falls, we saw strong rise in the Budapest stock market (yesterday)... and based on this morning's Asian and futures markets' performance, we expect a positive day," Raiffeisen bank analysts said in a note in Budapest.

Shares in central Europe's largest independent lender, OTP Bank, often a harbinger of wider market sentiment towards Hungary, gained 1.3 percent in early trade, with other blue-chips were also just in the black.

On Tuesday, Hungary's first treasury bill sale after the British vote attracted very strong demand. The debt agency lifted its offer to 60 billion forints from 40 billion.

The Czechs will hold their first bond auction after a month-and-a-half break on Wednesday. That is likely to be the last sale until at least August.

"Due to low amounts coming to market and Czech bonds performing with a lag compared to EU bonds post Brexit, we think the demand generated shall be enough to make the result successful today," Komernci Banka trader Dalimil Vyskovsky said in a client note.

CEE MARKETS SNAPSHOT AT 0918 CET CURRENCIES Latest Previous Daily Change bid close change in 2016 Czech crown 27.1350 27.1180 -0.06% -0.50% Hungary forint 316.5000 317.1400 +0.20% -0.59% Polish zloty 4.4205 4.4269 +0.14% -3.68% Romanian leu 4.5245 4.5285 +0.09% -0.12% Croatian kuna 7.5240 7.5145 -0.13% 1.53% Serbian dinar 123.8900 124.0000 +0.09% -1.95% Note: daily calculated previous close at 1800 change from CET STOCKS Latest Previous Daily Change close change in 2016 Prague 814.09 806.43 +0.95% -14.87% Budapest 26455.61 26226.84 +0.87% +10.60% Warsaw 1758.19 1751.81 +0.36% -5.43% Bucharest 6475.36 6443.76 +0.49% -7.55% Ljubljana 0.00 683.53 +0.00% -100.00% Zagreb 1661.83 1663.05 -0.07% -1.65% Belgrade 0.00 604.59 +0.00% -100.00% Sofia 453.62 453.94 -0.07% -1.58% BONDS Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs Bund change in Czech Republic spread 2-year -0.109 -0.028 +054bp -4bps s 5-year 0.103 0 +066bp -1bps s 10-year 0.476 -0.01 +058bp -2bps s Poland 2-year 1.689 0.034 +234bp +2bps s 5-year 2.31 -0.01 +286bp -2bps s 10-year 2.999 -0.017 +310bp -3bps s FORWARD RATE AGREEMENT 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interban k Czech Rep Hungary Poland Note: FRA are for ask quotes prices (Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Krisztina Than; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
(Reuters) - A judge in Detroit has dismissed charges against famed street artist Shepard Fairey, creator of the 2008 Barack Obama "Hope" poster, who was accused last year of defacing several properties in the city, local media reported on Wednesday.

The office of Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway confirmed she granted on June 21 a motion to dismiss the charges filed by Fairey's attorney, Bradley J. Friedman, according to the Detroit News.

Hathaway, Detroit city attorneys, Friedman and Fairey could not be immediately reached for comment.

Fairey, 46, was accused of two counts of malicious destruction of property, each punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Detroit Police accused him of plastering his signature Andre the Giant posters on buildings in and near downtown in May 2015, when he was in town to create a 184-foot-high mural that was commissioned for the side of a building.

Police said he vandalized nine different locations, including two city-owned properties. A warrant was issued for Fairey and he turned himself in to Detroit police on July 14 last year.

In addition to creating the four-color "Hope" image Obama used during his 2008 presidential campaign, Fairey is the man behind the "Obey" street-art sticker campaign.

(Reporting by Justin Madden in Chicago; editing by Fiona Ortiz and Tom Brown)
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank's (DBKGn.DE) former co-chief executive and former chief financial officer have been cleared of charges of conspiring to evade taxes in the trading of carbon emission certificates, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The source said the Frankfurt public prosecutor terminated investigations of Juergen Fitschen, who stepped down as co-CEO of German's biggest bank in May, and of Stefan Krause, who recently joined buyout group Warburg Pincus.

The prosecutor and Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

Earlier this month, a former Deutsche Bank employee was sentenced to three years in jail for his part in a scheme trading carbon emission permits designed to curb global warming but used to fraudulently collect tens of millions of euros of sales tax.

Handing down suspended jail sentences to five other former Deutsche bankers also involved, Judge Martin Bach had criticised the bank, saying the "failure of all security mechanisms" had allowed the fraud.

The case stems from an investigation into so-called carousel trades in the European Union's carbon market in 2009 and 2010, in which some buyers imported emissions permits into one EU country without paying value-added tax (VAT).

The buyers sold the permits designed to put a price on pollution to each other, adding VAT to the price and generating tax refunds when no tax had been paid.

Frankfurt prosecutors had investigated more than two dozen current or former employees at Deutsche Bank, including Fitschen and Krause.

European police agency Europol has estimated the cost to taxpayers at more than 5 billion euros (4 billion pounds) since 2008.

Sueddeutsche Zeitung earlier reported the end of the investigations into Fitschen and Krause.

(Reporting by Andreas Kroner; writing by Arno Schuetze; editing by Andreas Framke and Jane Merriman)
* Lu Wei no longer China internet tsar - Xinhua

* To be replaced by a deputy, Xu Lin

* Xu seen as protege of President Xi Jinping - media

* No change seen in hardline internet policy - expert (Recasts, adds details)

BEIJING, June 29 (Reuters) - China on Wednesday appointed a new head of its powerful internet regulator, a man who has publicly vowed to maintain the ruling Communist Party's tight grip over cyberspace.

The Chinese government exercises widespread controls over the Internet and has sought to codify that policy in law. Officials say such restrictions are needed to ensure security in the face of rising threats, such as terrorism.

In a brief report, the official Xinhua news agency said Lu Wei will no longer head the Cyberspace Administration of China, naming one of his deputies, Xu Lin, as his replacement.

Xu, 53, was in charge of propaganda in China's commercial capital Shanghai from 2013-15 before being moved to Beijing to become a deputy to Lu, according to his biography.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post said Xu is regarded as a protege of President Xi Jinping. The two men worked together when Xi was briefly Shanghai's Communist Party chief in 2007.

In an article about internet management for influential bimonthly party journal Qiushi in October, Xu pledged to uphold party leadership over the Internet and management of the media and public opinion "without any equivocation".

"There can be no turning deaf ears to or ignoring wrong points of view on the internet, fantastic stories and theories, distortions of facts to create rumours or malicious attacks," he wrote.

"I definitely don't see this as a bullish thing for foreign internet companies," said Duncan Clark, chairman and managing director at BDA China, a Beijing-based investment consultancy.

Xinhua did not say where Lu would go next. In China, it can often take weeks before subsequent public appointments are announced. Xinhua also made no mention of Lu's other title - head of the general office of the Central Leading Group for Internet Security, another body that oversees internet policy.

Story continues

Reuters was unable to reach either Lu or Xu for comment.

"NOT WELCOME"

Lu worked his way up though Xinhua before becoming head of propaganda in Beijing and then moving on to internet work in 2013.

Known for his strong defence of government controls over the Internet, in December he rejected criticism ahead of a major state-sponsored internet conference that China's internet was too censored, saying order was a means to online freedom.

Lu defended blocking some websites and censoring online posts, saying that if the government were being too restrictive, China's online market would not be developing so rapidly.

"Indeed, we do not welcome those that make money off China, occupy China's market, even as they slander China's people. These kinds of websites I definitely will not allow in my house," Lu said.

China has the world's largest population of internet users, at more than 650 million, and is home to some of the biggest internet firms such as Tencent Holdings, Baidu Inc and Alibaba Group Holding.

The government has blocked sites it deems could challenge Communist Party rule or threaten stability, including Western sites such as Facebook and Google's main search engine and Gmail service.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Wednesday appointed a new head of its powerful internet regulator, a man who has publicly vowed to maintain the ruling Communist Party's tight grip over cyberspace. The Chinese government exercises widespread controls over the Internet and has sought to codify that policy in law. Officials say such restrictions are needed to ensure security in the face of rising threats, such as terrorism. In a brief report, the official Xinhua news agency said Lu Wei will no longer head the Cyberspace Administration of China, naming one of his deputies, Xu Lin, as his replacement. Xu, 53, was in charge of propaganda in China's commercial capital Shanghai from 2013-15 before being moved to Beijing to become a deputy to Lu, according to his biography. Hong Kong's South China Morning Post said Xu is regarded as a protege of President Xi Jinping. The two men worked together when Xi was briefly Shanghai's Communist Party chief in 2007. In an article about internet management for influential bimonthly party journal Qiushi in October, Xu pledged to uphold party leadership over the Internet and management of the media and public opinion "without any equivocation". "There can be no turning deaf ears to or ignoring wrong points of view on the internet, fantastic stories and theories, distortions of facts to create rumors or malicious attacks," he wrote. "I definitely don't see this as a bullish thing for foreign internet companies," said Duncan Clark, chairman and managing director at BDA China, a Beijing-based investment consultancy. Xinhua did not say where Lu would go next. In China, it can often take weeks before subsequent public appointments are announced. Xinhua also made no mention of Lu's other title - head of the general office of the Central Leading Group for Internet Security, another body that oversees internet policy. Reuters was unable to reach either Lu or Xu for comment. "NOT WELCOME" Lu worked his way up though Xinhua before becoming head of propaganda in Beijing and then moving on to internet work in 2013. Known for his strong defense of government controls over the Internet, in December he rejected criticism ahead of a major state-sponsored internet conference that China's internet was too censored, saying order was a means to online freedom. Lu defended blocking some websites and censoring online posts, saying that if the government were being too restrictive, China's online market would not be developing so rapidly. "Indeed, we do not welcome those that make money off China, occupy China's market, even as they slander China's people. These kinds of websites I definitely will not allow in my house," Lu said. China has the world's largest population of internet users, at more than 650 million, and is home to some of the biggest internet firms such as Tencent Holdings, Baidu Inc and Alibaba Group Holding. The government has blocked sites it deems could challenge Communist Party rule or threaten stability, including Western sites such as Facebook and Google's main search engine and Gmail service. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
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Evgeni Kouris, a 33-year-old entrepreneur, built a 13-person software company in Berlin he wants to move to China  but he knew hed face high barriers to entry in that country.

Given the language barriers and regulatory obstacles, Kouris expected global expansion to be particularly challenging in China. You cant do any business without the proper government understanding and support and the right network and partners, he told Yahoo Finance.

One of those partners is the popular communal working startup WeWork valued at $16 billion, which is expanding to China starting Friday. Hes snagged a desk there and will be building his Chinese business from WeWorks new Shanghai location.

Kouris is the quintessential global entrepreneur. In 2013, he created Gamewheel, a platform that helps brands use ad games in mobile marketing. Born in Russia, he moved to Germany when he was 15 but frequently travels internationally. During one of his business trips to New York City he ended up meeting a potential client at one of WeWorks 30 locations in New York City. He says the energy and aesthetic of the coworking space immediately fascinated him.

In fact, the concept appealed to him so much that he was one of the first people to sign up for WeWork Berlin, which opened on May 1. Previously, hed rented a small space in a traditional office building.

My team has been super motivated because of the amazing view of Tiergarten (an urban park) but we also love the quality of the office and the fact that everything is super well thought of, he says. It allows us the chance to operate in a grown-up and professional setting even though were a small company.

This week he and several of his employees are in Shanghai attending the Mobile World Congress to connect with potential investors. Kouris says it was perfect timing that WeWork was setting up shop in Shanghai in just a few days, and was eager to sign up for an office. But because of the high demand he wasnt able to secure a private office and instead got a desk.

Story continues

WeWork has become ubiquitous across the US, but its also expanding internationally at an aggressive pace. Its first location in Asia will be in Shanghais Jingan District, one of the citys central business and commercial areas. Offices start at around $500 per month and individual desks start at $440.

Though three established companies have already committed to WeWorks Shanghai location, the building is currently 70% full, according to Ruch. He says he expects the office (that can fit 500 members) to be 100% full by the end of the month.

Its been amazing to see that several companies want to use WeWork as a launching pad to go into other markets like China, says Ole Ruch, managing director and head of WeWorks operations in Asia. Ruch joined the company a year ago and was tasked with building out its international strategy and expansion, particularly in Asia Pacific.

Though ex-pats who have seen or heard of WeWork will likely be easily convinced of the value of a co-working space, Ruch says he expects the office to be 80% local Shanghainese and 20% foreigners.

We provide a physical place where people like Kouris can come in and meet local companies, but we also offer professional services and partnerships that can generally be helpful to people, he says.

Gamewheel was also accepted into an accelerator program run by Silk Ventures, a venture capital firm backed by the Chinese government. The program offers a two-week tour of the country and helps Kouris set up meetings with potential investors and partners. If Gamewheel finds a collaborator through the program, Silk Ventures then takes an undetermined amount of equity in the company.

Now, with a desk in Shanghai, Kouris will be able to invite prospective investors and partners to the office. Of course, he had his fair share of concerns before becoming a WeWork member, questioning the feasibility of building his own company culture in a coworking space. But, ultimately, he says Gamewheel has benefited from being a part of the WeWork community.

Kouris says it would be impossible to provide his employees with the kinds of perks that companies like Google or Facebook can offer  especially as fledgling companies spend their capital more cautiously.

This phenomenon is clearly palpable in startup hubs like Silicon Valley. Young entrepreneurs are growing increasingly conservative about their growth needs as VC firms scrutinize how their investments are being spent, Chris Roeder, international director at real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, told Bloomberg.

So for young entrepreneurs like Kouris, WeWorks amenities  like high-speed internet, free coffee and fruit water, private phone booths and access to weekly lectures and networking events  are an integral part of the experience.

There will be two more locations in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong this fall. Plus, there will be a WeWork opening up in Seoul this summer and one in India later next year.

With over 60,000 members spanning 30 countries, WeWork is truly creating a global network. But it remains to be seen how the company will try to monetize on the relationships that are blossoming within its walls. Eventually, WeWork could charge commission or a cut of the revenue as more entrepreneurs cross country lines to grow their companies.

Read more from Melody:

Why this 37-year-old British financier voted for Brexit

I checked out WeWorks communal housing, and now Im considering a move

Facebook hosts a lot of fake news, and big brands say its on you to sort it out
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday urged South Korea to pay attention to China's concerns about the deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system to the country and "cautiously" address the plan. The United States and South Korea have begun talks on possible deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system after North Korea tested its fourth nuclear bomb on Jan. 6 and conducted missile tests. China and Russia have urged the United States to back off, saying THAAD's deployment could also affect their security. South Korea should "attach importance to China's legitimate concern on security and cautiously and appropriately address the United States' plan" to deploy THAAD in South Korea, Xi told visiting South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, the official Xinhua news agency reported. North Korea's drive to develop a nuclear weapons capability has angered China, Pyongyang's sole major diplomatic and economic supporter. But Beijing fears THAAD and its radar have a range that would extend into China. Xi added that China and South Korea should continue to work for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, work together to maintain peace and stability and solve problems through dialogue and consultation. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)
From Road & Track

We're still waiting to get our hands on the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio here in the States. But while we wait, we've been anxiously following along with what the European press thinks. And so far, it all sounds pretty good-503 horsepower and rear-wheel drive will do that.

But the latest European journalist to take a look at the Giulia is none other than former R&T contributor and current Top Gear co-host Chris Harris. For the first episode of his new BBC web series Chris Harris Drives, he tested the manual-transmission version of the Giulia Quadrifoglio.

Top Gear won't let us embed the video, but you can watch the whole thing here.

As you can imagine, things get plenty tail-happy. But the question is, has Alfa managed to build a car that's better than the BMW M3 or even the Mercedes-AMG C63? That still remains to be seen.
Chris Stevens speaks to local media in Benghazi, Libya, in 2011. (Photo: Ben Curtis/AP/File)

Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that the long-awaited report from the House Select Committee on Benghazi found nothing new on the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, during her tenure as secretary of state.

And Stevens family agrees.

I do not blame Hillary Clinton or [former Defense Secretary] Leon Panetta, Anne Stevens, MD, Chris sister who has served as the family spokesperson since his death, told the New Yorkers Robin Wright. They were balancing security efforts at embassies and missions around the world. And their staffs were doing their best to provide what they could with the resources they had.

The Benghazi mission was understaffed, she continued. But, again, Chris knew that. It wasnt a secret to him. He decided to take the risk to go there. It is not something they did to him. It is something he took on himself.

In its 800-page report, the Republican-led Benghazi committee blamed the Obama administration for what it concluded was a slow response to help the Americans under attack.

Clinton, who was grilled for 11 hours before the committee last year, suggested that House Republicans had accomplished little with their extensive look into the attack.

I understand that after more than two years and $7 million spent by the Benghazi committee out of taxpayer funds, it had to today report it found nothing, she said. Nothing to contradict the conclusions of the independent accountability board or the conclusions of the earlier prior investigations carried out on a bipartisan basis in the Congress.

Stevens echoed that sentiment.

It doesnt look like anything new, Stevens told Wright. They concluded that the U.S. compound in Benghazi was not secure. We knew that.

Clinton said on Tuesday that she responded to the attack by thoroughly investigating the incident, adding, Its pretty clear its time to move on.

She has taken full responsibility, being head of the State Department, for what occurred, Stevens said. She took measures to respond to the review boards recommendations. She established programs for a better security system. But it is never going to be perfect. Part of being a diplomat is being out in the community. We all recognize that theres a risk in serving in a dangerous environment. Chris thought that was very important, and he probably would have done it again. I dont see any usefulness in continuing to criticize her. It is very unjust.

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She believes her brothers death has been inappropriately politicized, particularly in this election season. Many conservatives focus on the State Departments reaction to the Benghazi attack while attacking Clintons record. But Stevens said some of those attacks had gone too far.

Every report I read that mentions him specifically has a political bent, an accusatory bent, she said. With the many issues in the current election, to use that incident  and to use Chriss death as a political point  is not appropriate.

Stevens was also asked what Chris would have felt about the 2016 presidential campaign.

I know he had a lot of respect for Secretary Clinton, she said. He admired her ability to intensely read the issues and understand the whole picture.

For the New Yorkers full interview with Anne Stevens, click here.
Four hours after three suicide bombers killed at least 41 people and wounded hundreds more at Istanbuls Ataturk airport, CIA Director John Brennan said the attacks bore the grim hallmarks of ISIS and warned that the fanatically violent Islamic terrorist group wants to conduct similar large-scale attacks in the United States.

I am worried from the standpoint of an intelligence professional who looks at the capabilities of Daesh  and their determination to kill as many as people as possible and to carry out attacks abroad, Brennan said in an exclusive interview at CIA headquarters with Yahoo News. Brennan credited effective homeland security measures and intelligence for the fact that ISIS has been unable to attack America directly  the Orlando and San Bernardino shootings were carried out by radicals inspired by ISIS but not under its control  but he believes the group will keep trying to penetrate American defenses.

You look at what happened in the Turkish airport, these were suicide vests. Its not that difficult to actually construct and fabricate a suicide vest  so if you have a determined enemy and individuals who are not concerned about escape, that they are going into it with a sense that they are going to die, that really does complicate your strategy in terms of preventing attacks.

He added: Id be surprised if Daesh is not trying to carry out that kind of attack in the United States. Daesh is an acronym for the Arabic name of the Islamic State, better known as ISIS or ISIL.

Without confirming that the airport bombings were carried out by ISIS, which as of Wednesday morning had not claimed responsibility, Brennan indicated that the method of attack  suicide bombers wearing explosives-laden vests  pointed to the Islamic extremist group rather than to Kurdish nationalists, who have been waging a campaign of violence against the Turkish state. It was a suicide bombing [which] is usually more a Daesh technique, Brennan said.

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Moreover, Brennan said that ISIS has a motive to spread its terror to Turkey, which has been targeting ISIS terrorists across the border in Syria. Until recently, Ankaras failure to police its border with Syria was a sore point with Washington. Turkey has been cracking down on some of the transit of foreign fighters who are flowing into, as well as out of, Turkey, and they are part of part of the coalition providing support, allowing their territory to be used by coalition aircraft, so there are a lot of reasons why Daesh would want to strike back.

Brennan said ISIS is using terror tactics to offset tactical battlefield setbacks and losses of territory in Syria and Iraq. But he was quick to add that the wider offensive in the region and Europe and beyond is not solely a reaction to losses in Iraq and Syria. Over the past year and a half they have made a more determined effort to carry out attacks abroad, and we see in terms of their plans, their preparations, the movement of people as well as propagandizing outside, exhorting, inciting a much more determined effort to carry out these external operations, Brennan said.

Slideshow: Deadly attack at Istanbuls Ataturk >>>

In the interview, Brennan was blunt about the slow nature of progress both in the fight against ISIS and efforts to push Syrian President Bashar Assad out of power. He echoed somewhat pessimistic comments he made earlier this month before the Senate Intelligence Committee about the enduring strength of ISIS as a terrorist organization with global reach. Weve yet to really thwart Daeshs ability to reach beyond the Syria-Iraqi borders and put in place some of the plans and preparations to carry out attacks, Brennan said. He added, I am very concerned we have not had the success against Daesh in that environment as weve had in the core areas of Syria and Iraq.

A key prong of U.S. strategy to defeat ISIS is the removal of Assad, whom Brennan described as a magnet for a wide spectrum of extremist groups in Syria. But the CIA chief acknowledged that Assad is getting stronger rather than weaker. Relative to where he was on the battlefield last year, [Assad] is in a better and stronger position [today], he said. For that he blames Russia, which intervened last September to prop up its flagging client with thousands of troops and sophisticated weaponry. Frustrated with Moscow, Brennan said, The Russians sometimes want their cake and eat it too as far as having the cooperation with us against terrorists but not wanting to do anything thats going to lead to a political settlement that will have a more durable future as a far as a political agreement.

Between the Syrian conflict and Russias invasion of Crimea in 2014, Moscow has been a persistent problem for Brennan. More recently, he had to confront his Russian counterparts over evidence that their intelligence operatives have been systematically harassing U.S. diplomats both in Moscow and Europe. According to a Washington Post report, Russian agents have paid journalists to write negative stories about Americans, have followed their kids home from school and, in one case, have even broken into a U.S. defense attaches home and killed his dog. Brennan says he told his counterparts in direct terms, that the behavior was unacceptable and destructive to the relationship.

CIA Director John Brennan testifies during a Senate Committee hearing on national security on June 16. (Photo: Evy Mages/Getty Images)

Another sort of irritant emanating from Moscow is Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor whose unauthorized disclosures of highly classified surveillance programs infuriated and embarrassed the U.S. intelligence community. A polarizing figure, who some see as a whistleblower and others as a traitor, Snowden was granted asylum by Russian President Vladimir Putins government in 2013 and later charged by U.S. prosecutors with violating the Espionage Act. In the twilight of Barack Obamas presidency, there are mounting calls for Snowden to receive a pardon. Brennan is having none of it. He has dishonored his oath, he said, and should return to the U.S. to face charges. Asked to comment on former Attorney General Eric Holders recent comment that Snowden, while harming American interests, actually performed a public service by sparking a debate on civil liberties, Brennan bristled a bit and said, I do not believe that at all. I respectfully but vehemently disagree with the former attorney general.

In the Yahoo News interview, Brennan also weighed in on reports that state-sponsored hackers in Russia penetrated the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clintons presidential campaign in an effort to collect intelligence about the U.S. election  potentially to try to influence it. There probably are concerns that people might have on this issue in terms of any types of external influences , Brennan said carefully about an active FBI investigation into the cyber-intrusion. If there are efforts to get into different types of networks and databases, theres absolutely that concern and I will defer to my FBI and Homeland Security and other colleagues to address their concerns in that cyber realm.

Brennan was cautious in his comments about Donald Trump. Asked about Trumps anti-Muslim rhetoric, Brennan declined to criticize the presumptive nominee directly but mentioned that his fellow spymasters, particularly in the Middle East, are concerned that comments coming from some political quarters in the U.S. are feeding extremist narratives. And Brennan sidestepped a question about whether he would be comfortable giving Trump a classified intelligence briefing, as protocol dictates, the day after he becomes the formal Republican nominee. The agency will carry out its responsibilities as appropriate in the aftermath of the conventions, Brennan said.

Toward the end of the interview, which took place in the directors private dining room in Langley, overlooking the lush woods surrounding the CIAs main campus, Brennan contemplated every spymasters darkest fear: the possibility, however remote, that a mole has penetrated his service. If youre part of an intelligence organization, counter-intelligence needs to pervade everything that you do, Brennan said. One should never assume that there is not a mole in your organization. Lightning flashed across a cloud-darkened sky as Brennan mused on the chances of an enemy spy in his midst.

The full transcript of the interview will be posted on Yahoo News next week.
By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - Clearing houses and payment systems must show by June 2017 how their core operations would recover within two hours from a cyber attack, regulators said on Wednesday in their first global financial sector guidelines for tackling hackers.

Central banks and other regulators worry that hackers can freeze often interlinked payment and clearing systems to undermine financial stability.

Mary Jo White, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission - one of the watchdogs behind the new guidelines - told Reuters in May that cyber security is the biggest risk facing the financial system.

"This is a landmark report for the financial industry," Benoit Coeure, chairman of the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI), said as CMPI published its final guidelines in a report.

"Financial market infrastructures (FMI) should take action immediately to implement its recommendations."

The aim is to make sure that responsibility for cyber defence rests in the board room and not in the IT department.

The guidelines from CPMI, a global central bank panel, and IOSCO, an umbrella group for securities regulators, say core functions of payment systems, trade repositories, and clearing and settlement houses must be able to recover quickly from a cyber attack.

The guidelines, based on proposals made in 2014, will also be implemented by SWIFT, the global messaging network used by banks even though it is not formally an FMI.

FMIs are the "plumbing" of the financial system, linking major players like exchanges, banks and brokers.

"An FMI should design and test its systems and processes to enable the safe resumption of critical operations within two hours of a disruption," the guidelines say.

"FMIs should also plan for scenarios in which the resumption objective is not achieved," the guidelines stipulate.

FMIs must have concrete plans to meet the two-hour time limit in place for regulators by June 2017.

Draft proposals in 2014 had implied this two-hour requirement would come into effect when the final guidelines are published. All other aspects of the guidelines come into effect immediately.

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FMIs must also be able to identify the status of all transactions and positions of members at the time of a disruption in a timely manner.

Aware that defences are only as strong as the weakest link, the guidelines also emphasise the need for building up resilience to hackers collectively.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Jake Tapper really wanted to get an answer from Donald Trump. To do it, he had to ask the same question 24 different times.

The exchange, during which the 47-year-old CNN anchor queried Trump again and again earlier this month over whether his comments regarding the background of U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel were racist, has become a famous one in recent days. Trump had charged the judges background presented a conflict of interest in a case that would the business practices of the presumptive Republican candidates Trump University. Rather than emerging as an obnoxious talking-head with an attitude, the Washington, D.C. -based Tapper came out of the verbal donnybrook looking like a reporter who wouldnt take a candidates first glib bullet point (or second, for that matter, or third) as truth.

Tapper had no idea the two would spar in front of the cameras in such a manner. Trump is usually able to bulldoze through questions, he said, but I really wanted to get to that question, so I just kept going. As did he. And I finally got there.

Some viewers might say Tapper has finally got there in other ways, too. He has in recent months developed a reputation as a skeptic who places emphasis not just on getting the facts, but on telling viewers which ones they should really believe. In an era when social media, so full of unverified opinion and reams of misinformation about any half-trending topic, is fast becoming the news junkies first stop, Tappers style is gaining more notice.

As more Americans get their news from social media and television, and less from traditional journalism sources like newspapers, we need TV journalists to be tough and aggressive in holding politicians accountable. While politicians can speak directly and without filters on social media and advertisements, they need to be tested and challenged by journalists, said Jason Shepard, who chairs the Department of Communications at California State University, Fullerton. Social media can encourage citizens to engage with only like-minded people, and that can lead to group think and polarization.

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And yet, it is also the venue to which more people are turning first for important information. Sixty-two percent of U.S. adults get news on social media sites, according to the Pew Research Centers State of the News Media 2016.

Twitter provides information. Sometimes the information is coming from great new voices who havent been heard from or voices who feel shut out of the process, noted Tapper during a recent visit to CNNs New York headquarters. What Twitter doesnt have is any sort of authoritative body vetting the information. That is our value.

In recent broadcasts of his two CNN programs, The Lead on weekdays and State of the Union on Sundays, Tapper has taken the unorthodox step of telling his viewers not to be hoodwinked by falsehoods making the rounds, including two from Trump: Muslims celebrating in New Jersey in the wake of 9/11 or a link between Ted Cruz father and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Even so, he doesnt try to turn his interviews into crusades. One of the things Ive picked up over the years, whether its Secretary Clinton or Donald Trump or whomever, the tougher the question, the more low-key the delivery. Its more effective. Because then its not about, Oh Candidate X and Reporter Y are having this exchange, or Look at the ego on Reporter Y. Its not about that. Its just about the question and the answer, he explained. Its not that easy. Honestly, when youre having a conversation, the first instinct is not to go quiet.

Tappers technique seems to be helping him win audience. The Lead saw its viewership among people between 25 and 54 grow by 35% in the second quarter of 2016, while the same crowd rose 72% for the 9 a.m. showing of State of the Union. Tappers reporting has helped boost CNN during the current election cycle, said Jeff Zucker, president of the Time Warner-owned unit. He moderated our first record-breaking debate in September with 17 contenders, his interviews with nearly every presidential candidate have made headlines time after time and hes remained relentless in holding their feet to the fire, Zucker said via an emailed statement.

Others have embraced the idea of doing more than just spouting facts. Matt Lauer earlier this month told viewers that recent Trump efforts to question Hillary Clintons faith amounted to misinformation. CNBCs Joe Kernen routinely plays the contrarian on that networks Squawk Box morning program, questioning guests about the veracity of conventional market wisdom.

To be sure, its not revolutionary. Edward R. Murrow used to do it, too. Tapper said he has long worked to check facts, and not just at CNN. He used to do a fact-checking segment on ABCs World News Tonight when Peter Jennings anchored that newscast. Maybe hes been in the business long enough to have more authority, or maybe hes simply feeling more comfortable as an anchor and viewers have taken notice.

Tappers interest in getting to the truth of things may have been sparked by a background that is not the traditional sort for national TV anchors. He was working in public-relations and doing freelance writing for anyone willing to bet on him, when an editor named David Carr  later the New York Times columnist  convinced him to try a job at Washington City Paper, the alternative weekly in Washington, D.C. Tapper also worked for a while at Salon, when that web publication was gaining a reputation for bringing deep reporting to the world of digital journalism.

Working for non-traditional outlets gives you more of an outsider perspective, Tapper said. I dont feel like mainstream media, so to speak, even though I know I am.

He has other atypical proclivities. Anyone who watches State of the Union knows the program often wraps up with a political cartoon  drawn by Tapper himself. Indeed, the anchor was a cartoonist who drew a daily strip at Dartmouth College and even tried to get a job doing the same thing when he graduated. I tried to do it professionally, but its very hard, especially as print dies and newspapers die off. Its more and more competitive. He decided to try his hand at writing instead, but the comics bug remains: Tapper has copies of strips from Gasoline Alley and Pogo, among others, decorating his home. He once even got to fill in on Dilbert, the cynical Scott Adams comic about the foibles of working life.

Cable-news outlets like CNN are enjoying heady ratings boosts  and the influx of ad dollars that comes with them  thanks in no small part to its continued election coverage. Yet Tapper thinks viewers will have reason to stick around after a U.S. President is elected. No matter who wins in November, it will be a groundbreaking achievement, he said. One way or the other, a complete outsider the likes of which politics has really never seen is one hand, and on the other is the first woman president. Its not a small achievement.

Neither is juggling two different programs that air each week. But the anchor intends to continue doing both The Lead and State of the Union. Both shows help him try to bring peoples attention to things, he said, even if its just telling viewers which bits of information are the ones upon which they should really rely. After three years on CNN, said Tapper, he is really trying to take seriously the reason for this job.

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Sao Paulo (AFP) - Even under three blankets, Marcio Carvalho can't stop shaking as he seeks shelter on the streets of Brazil's biggest and richest city, Sao Paulo.

The teeming streets in the centre of a city that is home to 20 million people are deserted at night except for members of the estimated 16,000 homeless population.

And while much of Brazil basks in tropical conditions, a chilly snap in the first days of the southern hemisphere winter has already claimed the lives of six people this month.

Among their few lifelines are volunteers from the aid group Anjos da Noite (Angels of the Night), who distribute food, water and blankets to the hundreds sleeping rough.

Carvalho, 41, who moved to Sao Paulo from the northeastern state of Bahia to improve his life, said he has been homeless for three years.

"I was working as a plumber but I separated (from his wife) and I couldn't stay in the house," he said. "That's how I ended up here."

"Life on the street is very difficult and dangerous," he added.

"I've been attacked several times. They've stolen my things and I've been very cold. I've had a drinking problem since I got here. To live on the street you have to drink."

Cold is his latest enemy. Temperatures hit a 22-year low in early June to 3.5 degrees Celsius (38 degrees Fahrenheit).

Homeless people and local media also accused security officers of stripping street people of their blankets and mattresses, prompting an outcry.

The leftist mayor, Fernando Haddad, initially said he didn't want squatters occupying public squares with shacks and other gear, but later backtracked, making clear that personal belongings can't be taken from the homeless.

- Mean streets -

Sao Paulo's population has risen around 0.7 percent each year over the last decade-and-a-half, but the homeless number has gone up by almost five percent annually. More than 80 percent are men and 2.5 percent children -- 403 in all, according to the most recent study.

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For those who fall through the cracks in Brazil's crumbling economy, the landing is brutal, says Silvia Schor, an economics professor at Sao Paulo University.

"Survival conditions in Sao Paulo are cruel," she said. "The city has inacceptable inequality, where income distribution means a lot of families can't have their own house."

Some two million residents live in slums called favelas, she added.

The severe recession has resulted in a 10 percent increase in homeless numbers, says Kaka Ferreira, head of Anjos da Noite and a 27-year veteran of helping the city's homeless.

"There are the unemployed, the sick, those with no family," said Ferreira, who works at the agriculture ministry and devotes Saturdays to caring for the homeless along with a network of 80 others.

One of those gratefully collecting a plate of dinner recently was Marina Mayara da Silva, 19. Homeless with her two-year-old son and five months pregnant with another child, she sells sweets during the day.

"I've been here for two months because I couldn't pay the rent anymore," she said. "I used to live with my mother but there came a time when I couldn't."

Just along the street was Carvalho, wrapping himself in the blankets and saying he dreamed of being able to return to his onetime home in Bahia, where Brazil is tropical and even the winters are hot.
As Colorado deals with the fallout of an expanding  but controversial  marijuana industry, those who supported the drugs legalization are acknowledging it will take time to overcome early challenges.

It will take time to change some peoples opinions that pot is bad, said Pueblo County commissioner Sal Pace in a recent interview with Fortune. The city of Pueblo is the top cultivation spot for marijuana in the state  something Pace notes with pride  but some opponents have started to argue the industry is taking a negative toll on the area.

Paula McPheeters, who leads Citizens for a Healthy Pueblo, is one of many residents now complaining about the negative impacts of legalizing marijuana, Fortune reported. The group is responsible for a measure on the November ballot that would revoke all recreational marijuana licenses in the county. Industry leaders have filed a lawsuit in response to the measure, arguing that the number of signatures collected by the group falls short of whats required. A judge will rule on the suit in July.

Anti-marijuana groups in Colorado argue that pot is being sold too close to schools, that retail and cultivation facilities smell and that pot products are too potent. Marijuana advocates counter that their criticism is misplaced, arguing the industry is generating jobs and taxes.

While school suspensions and hospitalizations related to marijuana have spiked since legalization, other studies indicate that teen marijuana use has actually dropped. Some experts say there is not yet strong data offering a conclusive answer about how marijuana is impacting the state.

It may be a year or two before well really have good answers, said Larry Wolk, chief medical officer for the state Department of Health, Fortune reported.

Meanwhile, state leaders across the country continue to look to Colorado as a case study of what to expect if recreational marijuana is legalized in their own state.

I would suggest wait a year or two and see how it goes, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said recently on CNBC.
We have a rare situation heading into next season when the deals for the casts of the two top comedy series on television, CBS The Big Bang Theory and ABCs Modern Family, are both up. There is no movement on either but I hear talks with The Big Bang cast are expected to start soon, with progress likely made before the show goes back into production on August 10. Both casts are expected to ask for salary increases.

Besides being their respective networks highest-rated comedies, there are more similarities between the two shows. Both Big Bang and Modern Family whose license fee deals with CBS and ABC also are up after next season  come from outside studios not affiliated with the nets they air on  Warner Bros. TV and 20th Century Fox TV, respectively. Both are key assets for their studios with rich off-network syndication deals, netting some $1.5 million an episode from TBS (The Big Bang Theory) and USA (Modern Family). Meanwhile, it is the networks that will pick up the tab on the new actor deals as nets pay for the cost of their shows at this point of their run. (It is not unusual for studios to pitch in on lucrative for them properties.)

Modern Family and Big Bang also are the only broadcast comedies currently on TV to have landed best series Emmy nominations. Modern Family has won the top comedy award for a record-tying five times.

There are some differences in the standings of each series. Nine seasons in, The Big Bang Theory finished the 2015-16 season as the most watched scripted series on television with more than 20 million viewers per episode (Live+7). In adults 18-49, it is the second highest-rated scripted series only behind Fox much younger drama Empire with a 5.8 rating. In todays highly fragmented, SVOD-dominated landscape, these are pretty extraordinary linear TV numbers, so CBS has little choice but back up the truck to secure Big Bang for more seasons, with some projecting a 12- or 13-year run for the highly-rated comedy.

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In its most recent seventh season, Modern Family was #36 in total viewers (9.8 million) and #10 in adults 18-49 (3.4). While CBS has struggled to launch comedy breakouts lately, with Life In Pieces as its most promising newcomer in years, ABC has steadily added to its comedy lineup with The Goldbergs, Black-ish and Fresh Off the Boat, the highest rated of which, The Goldbergs, is less than a rating point behind Modern Family. Meanwhile, the gap between Big Bang and second-highest-rated CBS comedy series, Life In Pieces, is more than 3 ratings points.

I hear there has been some posturing by ABC, with the network sending signals that a renewal of Modern Family is not a given and that it could conceivably do without the praised comedy after next season. Still, observers expect talks between ABC and 20th TV to begin in a few months. They could drag on, and negotiations with the cast could go down to the wire next spring. But most expect that Modern Family would go to a ninth season and could ultimately run for 10 seasons.

As usual, Ed ONeill, the most senior and highest-paid Modern Family cast member, is expected to go first, followed by the rest of the cast  Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Sofia Vergara  who are getting more than $200,000 an episode, plus a small piece of the backend.

On Big Bang, leading the pack again will be the leading trio of Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco, who the last time around

Image (1) BigBangTheory__120612235742.jpg for post 652581

entered Friends salary territory with a per-episode paycheck in the $1 million range and more than a point of the shows backend. I hear early indications are that all three, as well as the rest of the cast, would like to continue on the show. (Friends came to an end largely due to one of the leads, Jennifer Aniston, wanting to focus on movies.)

There are differences in the way WBTV and 20th TV have handled talent renegotiations, with WBTV usually being more proactive, starting talks early and locking multi-year deals.

Production on Season 8 of Big Bang was delayed by a week because of the cast negotiations in 2014 but talks went relatively smoothly, given the stakes.

Meanwhile, the 2012 salary renegotiations between the Modern Family cast and 20th TV escalated into a legal war, with the actors filing a lawsuit against the studio.

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While fat shaming is an epidemic on the Internet, skinny shaming is a serious problem too. Just ask Giuliana Rancic whos been the victim of vicious tabloid articles and social media chatter surrounding her frail figure, with many insinuating she had an eating disorder or that the breast cancer shed beaten had recurred.

In order to put an end to the rumors, Rancic opened up to People last year to explain her slim frame, saying that the cancer-suppressing medication she had been taking altered her metabolism and facilitated weight loss. Im sorry that some people think Im disgustingly skinny, as they put it, but theres nothing I can do, she told the magazine. Im lucky that I even have the type of cancer that reacts to the medicine.

However, times seem to have changed for the television host, who recently posted a bikini selfie on Instagram looking like a much healthier version of herself:

Giuliana Rancic in a neoprene bikini pictured with her son. (Photo: Giuliana Rancic/Instagram)

Although only a small change, fans were immediately supportive of Rancics apparent weight gain. Omg looking amazing G! Youve put on some really good healthy weight and looking fabulous!! said one commenter. You look fantastic!!!! Good for you! said another.

Although its wonderful to see so many positive comments on the E! News correspondents post, the big picture indicates that regardless of size, commenters continue to voice their opinion and focus their attentions on a persons physical appearance, especially in regards to celebrities.

To further the point, Dove recently launched an inspiring film after their research team found that 7 in 10 women agree that they receive more compliments and comments on the way they look, rather than on their accomplishments, further proving that theres a never-ending judgment placed on womens appearances.

So, instead of talking about Giuliana Rancics slim figure, find out more about the opening of her brand new restaurant, RPM Italian, in Washington D.C. Congrats to Giuliana for her ongoing success!

Read This Next: Hilary Duff Says Shes Not Worried About Looking Absolutely Perfect in Swimsuits

Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Consumers often get caught up in financial rules, believing they need a certain amount of money to retire or that they should have a specific amount saved by a given age. But money management isn't just about the numbers; it's about the emotions and attitudes behind our decisions to spend, save or invest.

"You're not managing money as much as you are managing your choices," says financial behaviorist Jacquette M. Timmons. "How do you make your choices? How do you evaluate option A versus option B? You'll begin to see that money is no different from any other domain," she explains.

Here's a look at common mindsets that could be sabotaging your wallet, along with strategies for reframing these thoughts in a more positive way.

[See: 12 Ways to Be a More Mindful Spender.]

There's never enough money. Within this scarcity mindset, there are two distinct groups. One involves experiencing a cash crunch and feeling that there isn't enough money; the other has plenty of money but irrationally worries that it's not enough or that they'll suddenly lose it. When the latter occurs in middle-aged women, it's called "Bag Lady Syndrome," and it's relatively common. In fact, the 2013 Women, Money and Power Study conducted by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America found that nearly a third of women with a household annual income of at least $200,000 reported a fear losing all their money often or sometimes.

By understanding that money is a finite resource, you can avoid making rash financial decisions. But too much of this attitude isn't healthy, and it can create a negative feedback loop that prevents you from earning more and moving forward. Timmons recommends starting with gratitude. "As corny as it sounds, it really is important to be grateful for what you have," she says. "At least you have a place to spring from." Next, brainstorm ways to get more money, whether that's selling old cellphones or getting a part-time job.

For those suffering from Bag Lady Syndrome, she recommends listing the steps that would need to happen in order for you to become homeless. She suggests asking yourself: "Is this really possible? Is this really going to happen?" Listing those steps could help you recognize your fears as unlikely, she explains.

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Why bother? My situation isn't going to change. This attitude of resignation is similar to a defeatist mindset, and it can turn toxic when it prevents you from taking smart steps to save for a rainy day or plan for retirement.

If you feel powerless with money, Timmons recommends looking at other aspects of your life where you may feel more empowered. She recommends asking yourself: "What's my behavior in those situations?" According to Timmons, it's also a good idea to "analyze it as if you were having an out-of-body experience. Look at some of the attributes there, and apply that to your money," she says. For instance, maybe you feel that your money always runs out before the end of the month, but you are disciplined about running several times a week. Think about how you can apply the discipline you already have in training to better manage your spending habits.

[See: How to Live on $13,000 a Year.]

You only live once. This catchphrase (or YOLO for short) has been used to justify all sorts of purchases, from designer bags to luxury vacations. We all need some fun in our lives, but people who take this to financial extremes are what Susan Zimmerman, a chartered financial consultant and licensed marriage and family therapist, describes as jugglers. "The juggler has lots of spontaneity but is often in financial crisis because they've not looked into the future at all," she says. In contrast, the planner falls at the opposite extreme and the balancer sits somewhere in between, planning purchases but allowing for some flexibility and fun, says Zimmerman, who is a partner and co-founder at Mindful Asset Planning.

Consumers who fall into this mindset should practice a 24-hour rule, Timmons says. Wait a full day before committing to a purchase and then ask yourself how it will impact your life and what you're willing to give up to accommodate that purchase. Ask yourself questions such as, "If I do this, what am I going to let go of?"

Those who put off future planning or hate creating a budget can benefit from reframing. "If you can, just reframe something simple, like reframe saving for retirement as spending for retirement," says Rick Kahler, a registered financial advisor in Rapid City, South Dakota, and past chair of the Financial Therapy Association. "For people who love to spend, don't create a budget. Create a spending plan," he says.

The universe will provide. Kahler says he sometimes sees an avoidant attitude in people who work in professions such as teaching, nursing, social work and ministry. Often, these professionals don't make a lot of money, but many think "if you do all the right things for the right reasons, you're not going to have to worry about the future," he says. They think "[their] good karma is going to guarantee that good things are going to happen." Adjacent to this mindset is some women's expectations of being rescued by a man and never having to worry about money. While these mindsets take a more upbeat approach than a "why bother?" framework, they're still passive -- and using any attitude to justify a failure to plan can get you into trouble.

Kahler suggests asking yourself: "First, is that [statement] true? And second, is that really true?" In some cases, the universe does provide, but in others "a lot of good people have done the right things [and] have ended up in poverty," he says.

[See: 10 Painless Ways to Save More for Retirement.]

More money will fix everything. Regardless of income or net worth, many of us erroneously believe that more money will solve our problems. "That's an issue with our society: the thought that more money is magically going to bring us meaning or happiness or security," Kahler says. He points to a financial therapy client who had hundreds of millions of dollars and still felt unhappy because her money separated her from other people. "There wasn't once in her life that she knew she was asked to be on a board or committee that wasn't because of her money," he says, adding that the client wanted to be seen for her human attributes not her wealth.

But if you keep thinking that more money will right all wrongs, think again. This can lead to workaholism and disappointment when expectations aren't met. "It's liberating to stop looking for more money as the solution," Zimmerman says. "Instead, define the problems and ask how they can be solved in ways other than extra money."





More From US News & World Report


Periodically, Gothamist sits down with teachers at different stages of their careerssome entering service, some with a few years under their belt, and a couple of vets. We talk about why they chose to teach, how they feel about the government's education policy and their thoughts on the charter system and the United Federation of Teachers. Essentially, we want to know: are the teachers all right?

Read them all here. As the school year concludes and another summer break begins, here's one more for the road.

Hannah is a second year English Language Arts teacher working at a middle school in Queens with a predominantly immigrant and English Language Learner population. Despite having only two years experience, Hannah has ambitions to shake up the city's school system and give her kids access to the achieve at the highest levels of academic success.

I guess I am one those people who always had a career in mind, since I was little. When I was in 3rd grade, I remember learning how to borrow in math class. I was so confused and because of that, I thought I had a horrible teacher. I went home that day in tears, hysterically crying, and I told my parents, I am going to become a teacher someday, because I dont want anyone to feel as sad as I feel for not understanding something. That is something Ive always carried with me. Ive wanted to do this because Im drawn to the idea of differentiating properly for students. Thats something thats followed me my whole life.

When I applied to teaching programs, I applied to Teach for America, to the Urban Teacher Center and KIPP. But I really liked the idea of going to New York. I was also really interested in teaching a population that had a large ESL program (English as a Second Language) or that had predominantly Hispanic students because I had studied Spanish in college. The idea of being in an area where I could teach and apply those things I had learnedsince I had worked so hard to achieve this minor in Spanish, I wanted to use it. I knew I could find a community like that in New York, especially in Queens, there is a huge population of students learning English as a second language. I also have an abnormal amount of energy. I think whenever I visited New York in the past, I felt, The city gets me here, people dont sleep here and its great! That part of me fits in here well.

I teach sixth grade. Its a cool age and underrated for teaching. Theres this bit of innocence thats left still in my students. They are figuring themselves out. They need you more than ever as a teacher to be a positive person. I feel like I have the ability to make a really big difference and I like that. Especially with my girls.

I teach in an underserved area. My kids are from all over the world. In talking to my kids, I have seen that a lot of them dont have moms who have gone into a career. Im somebody who is independent and a woman and still pretty young. The fact that I tell them, You can do this too, it means a lot to them. Its my birthday on Saturday, so today I got this letter from all the girls in the homeroom I oversee, saying, Youre my hero. Youre my idol. When I grow up, I want to be like you. I just cried. It shows you that you can do a lot by constantly telling kids they are capable at that age. Theres so much doubt when you are in sixth grade. I remember constantly doubting myself and hating myself, almost, at that age. To have someone tell you, You can, especially if that person is a woman and you havent seen many women in that position, its powerful.

I teach in Maspeth. A lot of students are from the neighborhood, but a lot are coming from Elmhurst or Corona too. We have a ton of English Language Learners at my school. Enrollment in ENL, our English as a New Language Learner program, is extremely high. Our students are primarily Hispanic but we also have a lot of Asian students. In my class, I teach one class that has eighteen Expanding English language learners and those kids are from all over the world. I have a kid who came in during the year from Honduras. All of the kids except for three were born in other countries or they are first generation. I also teach an SP class, honors or special placement, which is also very mixed in terms of where the students are from.

There have been a lot of challenges. My whole life, I have been a control freak when it comes to work. I would say Im a borderline perfectionist. I think I had a rude awakening last year, that I wasnt going to be able to control everything and it was never going to be perfect, no matter how hard I tried. It took me a long time to let go of that. I came directly to this job out of college. I went from this beautiful little liberal arts school, where you are taken care of and you have a community of people who support you and generally want the best for you, to a place where I had to adjust expectations for myself and give myself room to fail in order to grow.

That was really terrifying in the first year. I would put so much work in outside the classroom and then come into the classroom and see it fall through because I had a lot of trouble reaching my audience for the first part of the year. I almost forgot how to talk to kids. Things that made perfect sense to me and looked great in my lesson plan template, they didnt necessarily make sense in the classroom. I had to learn to be okay with trial and error.

The second challenge was enduring negativity, from the school and from the system. Sometimes it makes me sad. I have come back down to reality. I have always been an extremely positive person, but Ive seen some really sad things happen in this underserved school, where there are limited resources and where teachers are struggling. The environment where I work is a tough place. Since thats become my reality, part of me is forever changed. Ive had to learn to navigate the system to make it work for me. As a teacher in a huge New York City public school, if you want something to happen, you really have to get it done yourself. For example, I wanted to take my kids to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a field trip. Something that should be easytaking the kids out of school, going on a field trip, giving them an opportunity to embrace ManhattanI had to jump through so many hoops to make that work.



(Jennifer Preissel)

There are a lot of young teachers at my school. But I still feel lonely even though there are people my age. I have a hard time finding time being social during the school day and I feel really guilty about that. I dont know how to change that. I felt really unhappy my first couple months of teaching and it kept me from being social and making friends and reaching out to make a support system for myself. I feel I missed an opportunity in that sense. I have a hard time asking for help. I have made friends at the school, but I dont know if I want the same things as everyone else.

I have accepted who I am and I bring that to the classroom. Once I was able to accept and acknowledge that I am from a privileged background and decide I would not pretend to be anything other than who I amthats when I was able to find true success. My kids will sometimes teach me. Its not just me instructingmy classroom is more collaborative. I think that once I accepted that, I opened up to my students. This year I know my kids so much more because I have taken the time to know them. I cant know where they come from, I cant truly understand unless they tell me. Thats been cool and enjoyable on my end to let that happen.

We have limited resources at my school, but rather than feeling I cant do anything good, I have been proactive, making sure my school knows Im willing to work. This year, for example, I have been helping out in the office. I took on this curriculum writing responsibility. Ive been making myself available because I want our school to be better. I want to be a part of the change, rather than complaining about it. Because of that, not only do I know I am making things work better in my classroom, but maybe Im making things work better for others too.

In the way I set up my classroom, I am very rigid with routines and rituals. But its all based on positive reinforcement. I dont yell at children. I let them know when they are making me happy and I let them know when they havent met my expectations, but they dont bring negativity into my classroom. I try to make my room a place where they will leave it at the door. I speak to my students by saying, How can I help you? How can we get through this? Not only do I put an emphasis on being myself, but I encourage others to do that as well. In the classroom, I expect that people are listening and being respectful to each other. I have created a classroom where people feel comfortable, and kids can come to me with questions and concerns. I feel that in all my classes, the environment is positive and a loving place. The kids feel respected by me and thats my biggest success, I would say.

I proctored exams this year for a general education class. And all year, the kids who have been struggling in ELA, they gave up really easily on the tests. When they take tests, I try to say positive things to them. But a lot of times, you see questions on the test where the content is not relatable for my kids. Last year, one of the questions was about horseback riding. And my students didnt understand that this was an activity people did for fun because they would never have the money to go horseback riding. Its messed up. Someone who is from a more privileged background would know that.

The test is really discriminatory, and its not fair. I dont think the people who make the test understand that the content is discriminatory. If the kids cant understand a whole passage, they are not going to read it or even give it a shot since they have no idea what it means. Its very stressful to watch. Everyone says, Isnt it testing week? Shouldnt you be relaxed? But its really hard to watch them sit there and struggle with these things. I hated that week.

I am thankful that the New York City Teaching Fellows program and my graduate program at St Johns gave me a supportive community to fall back on. I had professors who gave great advice, who will help me going forward in my career. I had people to talk to, who were willing to help me always. During the school year, as annoying as going to grad school was, I loved it because I saw the same people, my crew, once a week, and we were going through the same things. Thats something the Fellows gave me. I have people to ask stupid questions of and I dont feel any judgment.

My experience has been better than friends who have been in the field who have minimal support. I have friends who went to certain charters that seem great because they have a lot of money and many resources, but now they are saying, I have to get out of this system. Its not healthy, its not okay. Its really hard to keep up the discipline. It makes you cold inside. But then there are other charter systems which are really wonderful and base school culture on positive reinforcement.

I think in ten years, I see myself just leaving the classroom. I want to start my own school. I want to start a charter school in Queens. I think that there is a really high need out there and that a lot of charters dont know how to serve the ESL population. I want to get a PhD in administration or in educational leadership to start my own school. Thats my plancreating something new. I have so much that I want to change and I dont know how I could go into a school and change it unless its my own. Maybe in a decade Ill laugh that I even said that, but as of right now, I would like to start my own charter school in Queens for kids who are immigrants or children of immigrants.

Its hard to know your rights if you are new to this country. Its an issue in any underserved area, but the language barrier makes addressing that especially difficult. I think that we need to strengthen relationships between parents and teachers, especially if there is a language barrier. I know its impossible to have all your teachers speak the language of their students, but I think that should be your target or you should have teams designated for that specifically.

We also need to differentiate the content in the classroom for different cultural backgrounds. How do we make content actually relatable? How do we make learning inclusive? Sometimes my lessons really do work for everybody. Because I am a privileged teacher teaching in an underserved community, the kids have different backgrounds from me, but they also often have very different backgrounds from each other. I want to build a school that has a curriculum that is inclusive in that way. And that works for the parents, lets them know their rights, brings them into the classroom, gets them the help they need, gets them their own ESL classes. I almost want to start a school for kids and their parents, with a day school and a night school.

As negative as things get sometimes, I still can say I love what I do. Being a New York City public school teacher is hard, but all the people I know, working in the field, love it. Theres a reason why we are doing this. Dealing with the way things are almost seems masochistic from an outsiders perspective. But theres a reason why we do it. We love kids. My hardest days are frustrating because I didnt reach the kids or make a big enough difference. Thats an important thingand its not just me that feels that way, its also the people I went into teaching with. I think its really impressive. They really love kids.



This interview has been edited and condensed.



Jennifer Preissel is a New York City high school teacher.

Read our entire New York City teacher interview series here.
Lagos (AFP) - A west African regional court on Wednesday adjourned a ruling in a case in which Nigeria's former national security adviser Sambo Dasuki is challenging his detention by the country's secret police.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court had reserved a ruling until Wednesday after the submissions of both the prosecution and defence lawyers in the high-profile corruption trial.

But court officials told reporters in Abuja on Wednesday that a new date for the ruling would be communicated to counsels.

Dasuki, who served under the regime of former president Goodluck Jonathan until his defeat in the 2015 elections by President Muhammadu Buhari, had urged the regional court to void his detention since December by the Department of State Service (DSS).

Despite being granted bail by the three separate courts, the DSS has continued to detain Dasuki without pressing any new charges.

The former spy master is facing a slew of charges over allegedly bogus arms deals in which money meant for military procurement to fight Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast was diverted for political purposes.

The government considers Dasuki a flight risk while Buhari has said the country cannot allow him to "jump bail".

Dasuki has said his trial is politically-motivated and to settle old scores.
By Linda Thrasybule (Reuters Health)  The odds of surviving a cardiac arrest are higher if the rescuer performing CPR is heavier in weight and has upper body strength, researchers say. Our results confirm that the heaviest people perform CPR better than those who are underweight, they report in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Upper body strength can offset the disadvantages of low weight, however, according to Angel Lopez Gonzalez of the School of Nursing at University of Castilla-La Mancha in Albacete, Spain and colleagues. First responders should be advised to exercise arm strength to improve the quality of CPR, they write in their report. The findings shouldnt stop average people from getting CPR training, said Dr. Robert Shesser, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in the District of Columbia, who was not involved with the study. The more people who know CPR, the higher the chance of saving someones life, Shesser told Reuters Health. Each year in the U.S., more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of hospitals, according to the American Heart Association. CPR can double or triple a persons chance of survival. Chest compressions - pushing down hard and fast at the center of the chest - help deliver blood to the heart and brain while the heart is stopped. The new study included 63 college students. About 44 percent were underweight, about 52 percent were normal weight for their height and about 5 percent were overweight or obese. Upper body strength was evaluated using a handgrip to measure the force of grip strength in each hand. Participants received a 30-minute session of training in basic CPR 48 hours before the CPR test. For the test, they had to perform CPR on a mannequin for 20 minutes or until exhaustion. Chest compression parameters included how fast they performed compression, the correct location, the compression depth and the relation between compression and rest phases. Participants who were underweight achieved lower scores in compression parameters than those who were normal weight or overweight. But the effect of the volunteers size on their performance of CPR was partly mediated by muscle strength, the authors found. Volunteers with medium or high muscle strength achieved higher scores in compression depth and adequate compression than participants with low upper body strength. The study was done in a very controlled environment, Shesser said. This is just a laboratory type of study. Subjects of the test had their strength measured, but it wasnt done in a real life cardiac arrest situation. Whats most important is that people get CPR training, regardless of their size, noted Shesser. Theres no doubt that CPR training is going to improve outcomes of cardiac arrest, he said. A little bit of training goes a long way. Formal training is best, but the American Heart Association also offers instructions for CPR on its website, here: http://bit.ly/1OZ8SAY. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2934uoj American Journal of Emergency Medicine, online June 15, 2016.
LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - The first candidate to put himself forward to succeed David Cameron as British prime minister, Stephen Crabb, has said a top priority for him would be to take back control of immigration policy.

Crabb, the work and pensions secretary in Cameron's government, had supported a "Remain" vote in last week's referendum on the European Union, which saw Britain vote to leave the bloc by 52 to 48 percent.

Cameron, who led the Remain campaign, has announced his resignation and a leadership contest will now take place in the ruling Conservative Party to elect his successor by early September.

"We cannot allow this leadership election to be defined by divisive labels like 'Remainer' and 'Brexiteer'," Crabb wrote in a column in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, calling on Conservatives to unite.

Crabb said the people's verdict on the EU was clear and there would be no going back. A second referendum revisiting the issue was out of the question, he wrote.

"I want to lead a government that delivers on the expectations of the 17 million people who voted for Britain to leave the EU," he wrote.

"One of the overwhelming messages from that vote was the need to take back control of immigration policy in the UK. So for me, freedom of movement is a red line."

The Remain camp had argued that if Britain wanted to retain access to the European single market, which it presented as crucial for its economy, it would have to come to a compromise over freedom of movement which is a key principle for the EU.

A former state school pupil who was brought up by his single mother in a social housing home and once worked as a building site labourer, Crabb has been dubbed the "blue collar ticket" by some newspapers.

His background contrasts dramatically with those of Cameron and of Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London who is seen as the frontrunner in the leadership contest, both of whom attended Eton, an elite private boarding school, and Oxford University.

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Crabb has gained support from Business Secretary Sajid Javid.

Nominations must be submitted by Thursday. Apart from Johnson, the other senior figure widely expected to join the fray is Home Secretary Theresa May.

(Reporting by Estelle Shirbonl; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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Not sure how to parent? A new dad from New Zealand has you sorted.

In a YouTube series called How to Dad, Jordan Watson is helping provide a shortcut to a smooth parenting life, giving you lessons on how to do all the important things in a matter of minutes.

SEE ALSO: 16 dads who totally have this parenting thing down

Watson originally went viral with his video "How To Hold A Baby" in June last year, but he's recently released videos teaching mums and dads how to get their infant to do some damn housework.

Yep, you can now try and get your baby to clean the house instead of letting them laze around all day watching Peppa Pig  or get them to fetch a beer so you can laze around all day watching Peppa Pig.

There are also hilarious videos on how to get yourself a dad bod, how to change nappies, plus how to teach your baby how to dance so they "don't start twerking when they're older."

It's parenting, without the existential pain. Also, before you call child services, it's a comedy series.

First up, get your toddler cleaning the house

You'll sometimes need to travel with your baby, so here's how you do it

Wash your baby in the sink, where they'll eventually

clean the dishes for you

Potty training has never been easier

Now, get your baby to fetch you a beer

Work on that dad bod you've been meaning to attain

Before taking your baby on the shhh train to sleep

See, parenting is easy
Vlogger Average Dad is back again, except this time hes been replaced by his wife, Average Mum. Average Dad is away for work, so Mum takes this opportunity to go visit her parents in Portugal with her daughter. Mum decided that this would be a great time to expand her daughters palate, much to her daughters dismay. Credit: YouTube/Average Dad
And bond restructurings trip up Singapores wealthiest investors.

Singapores sovereign-wealth fund is negotiating to acquire Yes Communities, an owner of manufactured housing communities, in a deal that would value Yes at more than $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Read more here.

Prices of completed non-landed private homes in Singapore fell by 0.8 percent in May 2016, compared to a 0.2 percent increase in the previous month, flash estimates of the NUS Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) showed. Read more here.

Singapores wealthy investors are discovering they lack clout in negotiations when high-yield bond investments blow up. PT Trikomsel Oke became the first company to default on Singapore dollar debt since 2009 when it failed to repay a bond coupon in November last year, followed shortly afterwards by Pacific Andes Resources Development Ltd. Read more here.





More From Singapore Business Review


Scott Ellis and Trudie Infantini are the only remaining Republican candidates in the Clerk's race.

BREVARD COUNTY, Florida - Steve Burdett, a candidate in the Republican primary for Brevard County Clerk of Court, withdrew as a candidate today after qualifying as a candidate just last week, according to Brevard County Supervisor of Elections' records.











His withdrawal comes on the heels of allegations made by Brevard County Commissioner Trudie Infaniti that Burdett would have to either resign his current position at the Clerk's Office or withdraw from the race under Florida's "Resign to Run" law.





Under the law, a subordinate cannot run against his or her boss in the same election.

The legal requirement became an issue after Burdett's boss, Brevard County Clerk of Court Scott Ellis, announced in May that he would seek re-election.



"I have decided to leave the race for Brevard County Clerk of the Circuit Court," Burdett wrote on his Facebook page today. "Thank you to everyone that helped us in the campaign!"




Daniel Radcliffe learned to say all manner of magical phrases during his time as Harry Potter, but he's now picked up an even more important one: never say never.



Speaking in an interview with the Radio Times, Radcliffe, 26, said if the conditions were right he could one day return to Hogwarts and the role that made him an international superstar.



"The circumstances would have to be pretty extraordinary," Radcliffe said, according to the BBC. "But then I am sure Harrison Ford said that with Han Solo, and look what happened there."



Harry Potter fans don't need to dust off their school gowns and join the line at Platform 9 3/4 just yet, however. Radcliffe added that the circumstances aren't right at the moment and that he was still "saying 'No' for now."







Although, intriguingly, he added, that he was "leaving room to backtrack in the future".



Whether Radcliffe will copy Harrison Ford and wait until he's 73 to reprise his most famous role remains to be seen. But one thing is absolutely certain: he will never fully escape his association with JK Rowling's fantastical world.





RELATED: Daniel Radcliffe's Changing Looks!

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The British actor is currently appearing as a magician turned thief in Now You See Me 2 alongside Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson, and once more having to deal with all manner of questions about magic.



"I actually didn't consider the connection to magic until somebody pointed it out to me," the actor said. "They were like, 'You are going to get loads of questions about magic again,' and I went, 'Oh, damn, I guess I am!'"
LONDON (Reuters) - British artist David Hockney will return to the Royal Academy of Arts with a new exhibition of portraits that offers an insight into his life in Los Angeles and his connections to the art world. The show, "David Hockney RA: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life," will be held at the Sackler Wing at the Royal Academy of Arts from July 2 to Oct. 2. "He's intensely interested in people and he loves the company of people and I think bringing all of these people to Los Angeles was a very important thing," said curator Edith Devaney. "He's also interested in what the camera has done to our perception of the portrait and in a way, he's challenging that here," she added in an interview. Each portrait was created within three days, which Hockney has described as "a 20-hour exposure." His subjects include designer Celia Birtwell, architect Frank Gehry and comedian Barry Humphries as well as family and friends. Every portrait is painted in acrylic on a canvas of the same size with the subject seated in the same chair against a vivid blue background. Born in Bradford, England in 1937, Hockney studied at the Royal College of Art from 1957-62. He cemented his reputation with the "Young Contemporaries" exhibition in London in 1960, before moving to Los Angeles in 1974. Hockney is considered as one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century. "He's enormously important still in the art world," said Devaney. "Not only is he unbelievably gifted as a draughtsman, you know his drawing is like no one else's." (Editing by Patricia Reaney and G Crosse)
Day 4: Meeting with the American embassy staff in Morocco

Day 4: Meeting with the American embassy staff in Morocco

This week, First Lady Michelle Obama is documenting her travels in support of Let Girls Learn here on HelloGiggles. Today, she describes her experiences in Morocco  what young women there are doing to become leaders in their community and get an education. Read day one here, day two here, and day three here.

After a wonderful visit to Morocco, I headed to Spain for the final leg of my journey. But before I left, I was able to take part in one of my favorite traditions on these trips: meeting with some of our outstanding embassy staff to hear about their experiences and thank them for their service.

Every day in nearly every country across the globe, thousands of Americans work at our embassies and consulates, serving as Americas face to the world. In fact, for many people in foreign countries, our embassy staff may be the first  or even the only  Americans they ever meet, and our embassies perform the vital daily work of building and maintaining our relationships with other countries.

The folks at our embassies work to promote cooperation with governments, and they also work with local law enforcement agencies to investigate and prevent international crimes like human trafficking. They promote American products abroad, encouraging consumers around the world to buy the cars we make and eat the fruits and vegetables we grow. Our embassies also help Americans adopt children from abroad and review visa applications for students, businesspeople and tourists. And if you ever lose your passport when traveling, or get into any other kind of trouble, the American embassy should be one of your first phone calls.

Finally, the people who work at our embassies introduce people around the world to our American heritage and culture. This cultural diplomacy is a vital part of how we build relationships with people, countries and leaders across the globe. Thats why, when foreign leaders visit the United States, in addition to holding meetings and working on policy issues, we try to share some distinctly American customs, cultural activities, and cuisine.

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For example, I recently gave five spouses of leaders from Nordic countries a tour of a local museum, and last year I visited the National Zoo with the Chinese First Lady to name our newest panda bear (we went with Bei Bei, and he was adorable).

If you love traveling and learning new languages, and youre interested in meeting people around the world, I hope youll consider a career as a diplomat. The State Department is always looking for talented Americans who want to serve their country abroad  check out these links and see if a career in diplomacy just might be for you:

To learn more about how to become a Foreign Service Officer, go here.

To learn more about how to enter the foreign Civil Service, go here.

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 4: Meeting with the American embassy staff in Morocco appeared first on HelloGiggles.
A suicide car bombing killed a number of people and injured several more in a Kurdish town in north Raqqa on June 29, according to local reports.

Local reports said eight people died and 15 were wounded. A Reuters report said five people died. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave a figure of 10 dead.

The car exploded in the main street in the city center of Tel Abyad, also known as Gire Sipi, a town near the Turkish border.

The attack struck near a local administrative office. Amaq News, the Islamic State-affiliated news agency, said IS militants were behind the attack.

The local activist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently also reported on the bombing.

Tel Abyad was recaptured from Islamic State by Kurdish forces from Islamic State in 2015.

This video was shared by a Kurdish news agency and is described the aftermath of the explosion. Credit: YouTube/ANHA
There were likely no Americans among those killed in the bombings at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport on Tuesday, a U.S. State Department official confirms to PEOPLE.



"We are not aware of any U.S. citizen deaths," the official says. "We are aware of reports of U.S. citizens who were near the attack location, but there are no reports of U.S. citizens seriously injured."



At least 41 people were killed and 239 injured when three explosions and gunfire erupted at the airport, Istanbul's governor confirmed, according to the Associated Press. The explosions were the result of multiple suicide bombers, who detonated themselves after an exchange of gunfire with police.



Turkey's government blamed the attack on Islamic State extremists, but the group did not immediately take responsibility.



The Istanbul Ataturk Airport is one of the busiest international airports in the world, handling 62 million passengers a year. An estimated 400,000 Americans visited turkey in 2014, according to a U.S. Department of Commerce survey.



An American journalist told Good Morning America on Wednesday that he was inside the main airport when the three suicide bombers attack, traveling with his wife back home to New York City after their honeymoon in Greece.



"I went to get some food for [my wife] ... I was getting pizza when I heard the first bullets. I looked across and I saw the people running. And I realized it's an attack," he said. "My instinct kicked in. I ran as fast as I could toward that area that she was in which was the corner where the guy was shooting from."



The pair were able to break into an airport salon, and took shelter in a storage room, he said.



Just one day before the attack, the State Department updated a travel warning for Turkey that urged American citizens to "exercise heightened vigilance and caution when visiting public access areas, especially those heavily frequented by tourists."
In 2015, the Corinthian College conglomerate collapsed after federal officials found that the school had fraudulently inflated its job placement rates. The Department of Education sanctioned Corinthian while further investigations continued, at which point the school filed for bankruptcy, essentially leaving U.S. taxpayers with possibly tens of millions of dollars in federal student loans.

In response, the Department of Education is undertaking a negotiated rulemaking procedure to clarify definitions and a process for borrower defense to repayment, an old and rarely used rule. This rule provides federal student loan borrowers with relief if their school violates certain state laws. Note that this rule is separate from the eligibility and process currently in place for students affected by the Corinthian situation.

Earlier this month, the Department of Education released the draft version of the rule for public review and comment, with the final version expected to be published no later than Nov. 1, 2016, with an effective date of July 1, 2017, although some aspects of the rule could be implemented sooner.

[Read about three changes that will help student loan borrowers.]

Although this is only a draft, here is an overview of how this rule is shaping up to provide relief for defrauded borrowers. Note that rules cannot be made retroactively, so new and existing loans will have different eligibility requirements.

Discharge Eligibility for Direct Loans Made Prior to July 1, 2017

The draft borrower defense to repayment rule maintains the existing eligibility definition only for direct loans made prior to July 1, 2017. To be potentially eligible for full or partial discharge under the existing rule, borrowers will need to show that the school violated state law in relation to their federal student loans or in the education it provided -- or didn't provide -- them. In most cases, this state law means the state's consumer protection laws, which are usually outlined on the local attorney general's website.

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One example of a violation that may fall under this particular eligibility definition is a school stating that its job placement rate is 100 percent for a particular major when the actual rate is much lower. Another is a school advertising that students who complete a certain credential at the school will be eligible for certain employment but, in reality, the courses do not fulfill the necessary licensing requirements for that field.

Examples of circumstances that don't fall under this discharge eligibility include slip-and-fall accidents on campus, allegations of sexual harassment and most grade disputes.

In most cases, borrowers must submit applications directly to a special unit that the Department of Education created to review these applications. If applicable, that same unit will pursue the schools for restitution of the discharged funds.

[Here are three times college closings can affect student loan repayments.]

It's important to note that, in most cases, whether the Department of Education can or will pursue a school for restitution on these discharges has no bearing on borrowers' chances of the department approving their discharge application.

With that said, again in most cases, the majority of the evidence will have to prove the borrowers' claims, which in some situations may be difficult for consumers to prove unless the school has already faced some legal or other action or if the Department of Education already has evidence in its files that support the borrowers' claims.

Discharge Eligibility for Direct Loans Made on or After July 1, 2017

Although the process for discharge is the same for new borrowers, the eligibility for discharge under the draft rules is much broader.

Under the proposed rule, borrowers may be eligible for full or partial discharge if they can show that a court found that the school violated state or federal law; that the school committed a breach of contract; or that the school or a representative of the school substantially misrepresented something -- such as cost, employability or the education provided -- that the students reasonably relied on when deciding to attend the school or remain at the school.

For both older and newer loans, borrowers can apply for discharge at any time, as long as they have an outstanding loan balance. If they also want to seek a possible refund for payments they already made, borrowers in most cases will need to make the claim within about six years of when the violation occurred. For claims made based on court findings of state or federal law violations, there is no statute of limitations.

Discharge Eligibility for Federal Family Education Loan Program or Other Federal Loans

In general, potentially eligible borrowers will face a much larger hurdle for discharge under certain federal loan programs, such as the Federal Family Education Loan Program. However, we won't go into the details on why there's differences between the programs here.

[Check out three tips for securing student loan forgiveness.]

To make a discharge claim for these federal loans, borrowers must prove that the school violated state law and that the school and the lender had a referral relationship. Most consumers will have a difficult time proving this, especially considering that, at best, these loans are at least six years old now.

In recognition of this challenge, the Department of Education is proposing to allow FFEL, Perkins and other federal loan borrowers to consolidate into the direct loan program if they can show that they would be eligible for full or partial discharge under the direct loan eligibility definition.

We realize that many of our readers will fall into this federal loan category. However, since the rule is currently only a draft and full details remain unclear, we will wait to discuss this further when the details have been clarified.

Betsy Mayotte, director of regulatory compliance for American Student Assistance, regularly advises consumers on planning and paying for college. Mayotte, who received a B.S. in business communications from Bentley College, responds to public inquiries via the advice resource "Just Ask" and is frequently quoted in traditional and social media on the topics of student loans and financial aid.
Washington (AFP) - The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that US operations of Germany's Deutsche Bank and Spain's Santander had failed an annual stress test, citing weaknesses in their capital planning and risk management.

The Fed granted a conditional approval to US investment bank Morgan Stanley to return funds to shareholders, while delivering a full endorsement to 30 other large financial institutions on their capital distribution plans.

The central bank's report pointed to the improved capacity of the US financial system overall to withstand an economic shock. But Santander Holdings USA fell short of the Fed's evaluation for the third year in a row, while Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation failed for the second straight year.

The Fed last week announced that all 33 large financial institutions had cleared the quantitative aspect of the stress test. That meant they were deemed to be holding sufficient capital to withstand a severe economic hit, such as a bad recession.

Federal Reserve officials said the types of negative scenarios incorporated into the tests were comparable with the worst-case outcomes some have said could play out after Britain decided to leave the European Union last week. The Fed's scenarios include 10 percent unemployment and negative interest rates for US Treasuries.

The Fed said it had found significant fault in the qualitative aspects of the plans to return capital to shareholders by the US units of Santander and Deutsche Bank, saying they both relied on assumptions that are "not reasonable or appropriate."

Key problems at the two European banks included poor risk measurement processes, stress testing procedures and data infrastructure.

Santander officials said they were pleased the bank had passed the quantitative analysis, but disappointed at falling short otherwise.

"We have already begun preparing for next year's stress test and we are well on our way to making the enhancements necessary to improve our qualitative assessment,"said Santander Holdings US chief executive Scott Powell.

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Deutsche Bank also said it would work to improve.

"The capital adequacy of Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation has never been in doubt," said Bill Woodley, chief executive of Deutsche Bank USA.

"We appreciate the Federal Reserve's recognition of our progress, and we will implement the lessons learned this year in order to strengthen our capital planning process."

The immediate impact of the Fed decision is to block any capital distributions from the two banks.

- Banks returning cash -

Morgan Stanley is permitted to conduct capital distributions, but must remediate weaknesses, including in modeling and governance, within six months. If Morgan Stanley fails to win an endorsement at that time, the Fed could block additional distributions.

Morgan Stanley said it planned repurchases of up to $3.5 billion in shares and would boost its dividend to 20 cents per share from 15 cents.

"We are very pleased to be able to increase our capital return to shareholders for the fourth consecutive year. Returning additional capital to our shareholders is a key element of our strategic plan," chief executive James Gorman said.

"In addition, we are committed to addressing the Fed's concerns about our capital planning process and fully expect to meet their requirements within the established timeframe."

Several other banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, announced new dividend increases or plans to make stock repurchases following the Fed's review.

The Fed said the winning of approval by the vast majority of the banks illustrates the benefits of capital building requirements overseen by the Fed since the 2008 financial crisis.

Banks have amassed $700 billion in additional capital compared with 2009, to $1.2 trillion, boosting their common equity capital ratio, which compares high-quality capital to risk-weighted assets.

"Over the six years in which (the stress tests) have been in place, the participating firms have strengthened their capital positions and improved their risk-management capacities," said Fed governor Daniel Tarullo.

"Continued progress in both areas will further enhance the resiliency of the nation's largest banks."

The Fed said it would push for more improvement in some key areas, saying it identified a broad problem throughout the industry in internal audits.

The Fed said it plans a "thorough review" of large banks' internal auditing later in 2016.
By the time Nihar Suthar was a junior at Cornell University, he had two internships under his belt.

The economics major began his search for a high-paid internship during the fall of his junior year. After submitting more than 40 applications over five months, the 21-year-old landed a paid internship at General Electric Co.'s corporate headquarters last summer.

"I think the thing that worked for me was starting as early as possible," says Suthar, who received three job offers after graduating from college this year. "Most people would say GE -- that's a great internship."

A competitive, paid internship not only opens doors for full-time work, but it also can help students pay for college.

Suthar saved $4,000 last summer from his internship at GE, which he says paid $750 a week, and used the money to pay for college expenses during his senior year. The Cornell grad also says his paid internship helped him nab a full-time job at Roland Berger, a global strategy consulting firm.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers finds that the chances of securing a full-time job after graduation is greatly improved with an internship -- especially a paid one.

The District of Columbia-based organization in its annual survey finds that more than 60 percent of interns from the class of 2015 were paid, and the majority of those were in the private sector.

[Understand the differences between aco-op and internship.]

It's not surprising for one internship at a big technology company or global energy brand, which are paid highly, to receive hundreds of applications for one role, says Scott Dobroski, a career trends analyst at Glassdoor, a website where employees and former employees review companies and their management.

But paid internships at places that pay a little less can be just as rewarding, he says.

"Some internships where the pay is not nearly as handsome, we still see that satisfaction is high," Dobroski says. "Interns like working at NBCUniversal or Walt Disney because they feel like they're doing work that matters."

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The average salary of an intern at The Walt Disney Co. earns around $16 an hour, which is much lower compared with tech companies such as Google, which pays a software engineer intern around $41 an hour, according to Glassdoor data.

[Check out thesetop colleges for internship and co-op programs.]

On average, the hourly rate for a bachelor's degree-level intern is $17.20, according to the 2015 NACE internship and co-op survey.

Rachel Roizin-Prior, a double major in marketing and communications at Ithaca College, found a paid summer internship at advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners after submitting more than 30 applications.

The San Francisco firm pays an advertising intern between $15 and $16 an hour, according to Glassdoor.

"It was paid the highest of all them, and I'll be able to pay my food and rent and save a bit of money going into my senior year, " says the 20-year-old about her internship choices; she hopes to save around $2,000 this summer.

[Discover how toland an internship after freshman year of college.]

To land a sought-after, paid internship, here are some ways college students can set themselves up for compensated work experience.

--  Start early: "I started in August," says Roizin-Prior, "I made a spreadsheet of when different application dates were due."

She says she also applied to local internships -- which tend to have later deadlines -- to hedge her odds on finding a summer internship.

-- Take an unpaid internship after freshmen year: "As a freshman, it's hard to even get an internship unless it's local," Suthar says. "Don't worry if you have to build your way up from an unpaid internship -- you'll get a paid internship ultimately in your junior year."

An unpaid internship can help students gain work experience to look more attractive for a paid internship, recruiting experts say.

"A lot of applicants and those selected have had previous internships either paid or unpaid," says Billie Kellar, director of human resources at Gatesman+Dave, a Pittsburgh-based marketing agency that pays its summer interns. The agency says it selected 10 interns from more than 350 applicants this year.

-- Consider a paid internship at a startup: Rachel Willis, a 20-year-old intern at Gatesman+Dave, says that prior to interning at the agency she worked as a public relations marketing intern at Small Farm Central, an e-commerce startup, for $10 an hour.

The Duquesne University student says she worked 120 hours a semester both in the fall and spring, earning experience and money for college. Willis attributes her experience at the startup for helping her land a competitive, paid internship this summer.

-- Network with contacts: Willis says she also made an effort to show her interest in Gatesman+Dave, establishing a point of contact at the agency months before the February internship application deadline.

"I initiated a conversation with one of their account executives," says Willis, who credits keeping in touch with contacts for gaining a foot in the door. "I asked if I could shadow her for a day and meet a few more people on the team."

Other students say reaching out to college alumni gave them a boost in the application process.

"I reached out to friends of family and alumni on LinkedIn," says Roizin-Prior, who contacted marketing professionals within her network at places where she wanted to intern. "I think saying that you know someone makes a big impact."

Trying to fund your education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for College center.

Farran Powell is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering paying for college and graduate school. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at fpowell@usnews.com.
From Delish

If theme park food makes you think of turkey legs, popcorn and cotton candy, you haven't been to Disney lately. The brand specializes in treats that are almost too cute to eat-but absolutely must be 'grammed (see the caramel apples sold in Disney Springs as Exhibit A). In China, Disney's taking things to all new levels of cuteness overload, starting with its dim sum menu.

The Crystal Lotus at the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel turns steamed buns into all kinds of characters, from Big Hero 6's Baymax to Frozen's Olaf. There are hundreds of Instagram posts devoted to #Disneydimsum, and over the past few hours, story after story has cropped up about them. Some say you can also find this dish at Disney's new Shanghai Resort, though the Crystal Lotus website says they can only be found there. As of press time, a Disney representative hadn't responded to a request for clarification, but real talk: You're really interested in seeing what they look like, aren't you? Let's get right to it.

First up, Olaf, a steamed bun with a red bean filling:

Second, a tribute to Monsters, Inc.:

The Crystal Lotus doesn't describe what the one-eyed Mike Wazowski bun tastes like. Maybe it's similar to this equally green trio from Toy Story? (They're filled with pork and vegetables.)

There's even a bespectacled Chicken Little bun.

And the three little pigs, filled with-what else?-barbecue pork.

Here's Baymax, which is just listed as "Baymax bun":

There are also buns shaped like Chip and Dale.

All of the above characters are pretty easy to recognize, even if you had a wicked stepmother who forbade you to watch Disney movies. This last pair, however, only true Disney fans will recognize. Look familiar?

Still nothing? How about now?

Why, it's Duffy the Disney Bear and his bestie, ShellieMay. The duo may be the most meta of the Disney family: Duffy is a stuffed bear that Minnie Mouse made for Mickey when he was about to travel, so he wouldn't be alone, according to Disney lore. Later, Minnie made a female stuffed bear, ShellieMay, so that Duffy would "always have a friend by his side." (You know, for those days when Micks is having some one-on-one time with Minnie and can't be bothered to hang with his bear. Or so that Disney could have two classic teddy bears to sell in its parks.)

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Whatever the reason, this duo has been reimagined as steamed sweet buns at the Crystal Lotus.

Saving up for a trip to China just to try these steamed buns might be a bit much for the average person, but in the meantime, you can live vicariously through this family, who chronicled their meal on YouTube:

If the buns look time-consuming to make, that's because they are. You have to place your order at least 48 hours before dining there, if you're stopping by on a weekday, and at least 24 hours' notice if you plan on eating there on a weekend or public holiday, according to Hong Kong Disneyland's website.

Follow Delish on Instagram.
donald trump

Donald Trump claims he has a window into the relationship between Sen. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

In a speech in Maine on Wednesday, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said that despite Sanders' criticisms of Trump, the senator, in fact, had a poor relationship with Clinton.

"Bernie, I have to say one thing about Bernie, and he'll be nasty and say 'I'll never vote for Trump.' But I know how he feels inside. He hates her. I mean he cannot stand her. I'm pretty good with people. Bernie Sanders cannot stand Hillary Clinton," Trump said.

The real-estate mogul also reiterated his agreement with Sanders on trade issues. Trump said that he would renegotiate trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement and would pull the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multi-national trade agreement that the US is currently considering joining.

"I don't care if they're good, I don't care if they are horrendous, I just want great deals," Trump said.

Over the past several months, Trump has repeatedly suggested that he would co-opt Sanders message in the general election.

In an April interview on MSNBC, the real-estate mogul said he would recycle some of Sanders' rhetorical barbs at Clinton.

"Bernie Sanders has a message that's interesting," Trump said. "I'm going to be taking a lot of the things that Bernie said and using them."

He added: "I can reread some of his speeches and I can get some very good material."

It's unclear whether Trump's claims will win over any Sanders supporters.

In a Washington Post/ABC poll released on Sunday, only 8% of respondents who backed the senator in the Democratic primaries responded that they would support Trump over Clinton in the general election. Last month, 20% of former Sanders supporters said they would back Trump in November's general election.

For his part, Sanders has said he will likely vote for Clinton in the general election. But he's withheld an official endorsement, saying that the former secretary of state needs to embrace more progressive stances on key policy issues.

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"I'm going to do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump," Sanders said Sunday in an interview on CNN. "But a lot of that responsibility about winning the American people over to her side is going to rest with Secretary Clinton. We got something like 12 to 13 million votes. And those people voted for me, I believe, because they said it is time to have a president to have to guts to stand up to the big money interests."

He added: "We are saying to Secretary Clinton: Make it clear which side you're on."

NOW WATCH: TRUMP SPOKESWOMAN: Why the Republican Party has 'miserably failed'





More From Business Insider


Trump Clinton

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton issued two contrasting statements about the suicide bombings that killed more than 30 people in Istanbul on Tuesday.

The statements underscore the candidates' very different approaches to foreign policy  specifically concerning the growing threat of terrorism worldwide.

Trump said in his statement:

"The terrorist threat has never been greater.

"Our enemies are brutal and ruthless and will do anything to murder those who do not bend to their will. We must take steps now to protect America from terrorists, and do everything in our power to improve our security to keep America safe."

The statement echoed comments Trump tweeted after the attacks.

Meanwhile, Clinton's statement emphasized Turkey's status as a US ally and the need to cooperate with other countries in the region:

"Terrorists have struck again in the heart of one of our NATO alliesand all Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence. Already, stories of heroism on the part of Turkish police are emerging, as their quick actions to confront the suspects may have prevented an even worse tragedy. Today's attack in Istanbul only strengthens our resolve to defeat the forces of terrorism and radical jihadism around the world. And it reminds us that the United States cannot retreat. We must deepen our cooperation with our allies and partners in the Middle East and Europe to take on this threat. Such cooperation is essential to protecting the homeland and keeping our country safe. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the Turkish people."

The Obama administration also referenced the US's relationship with Turkey in a statement by White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest:

"The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms today's heinous terrorist attack at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport in Turkey, which appears to have killed and injured dozens. Ataturk International Airport, like Brussels Airport which was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind us together. Our deepest condolences go out to the families and loved ones of those killed, and we wish a speedy recovery to those injured. We remain steadfast in our support for Turkey, our NATO Ally and partner, along with all of our friends and allies around the world, as we continue to confront the threat of terrorism."

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Despite Turkey's status as a US ally, the relationship between the two nations has been strained of late.

A study published by Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic in April said that while Obama initially viewed Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's president, in a positive light, "Obama now considers him a failure and an authoritarian, one who refuses to use his enormous army to bring stability to Syria."

NOW WATCH: Clinton raised 5 times as much money as Trump in May  here's a breakdown of their funds





More From Business Insider


If you only read one thing: Over the course of the campaign, Donald Trump has promised to do a lot if elected president, but his promises Tuesday may be some of his boldest yet. Delivering the most detailed explanation of his economic vision for the U.S., Trump promised to reinvigorate domestic manufacturing from steel to the electronics industry, a move which would break more than three decades of declines due to trade and globalization. Advocating for the abrogation of trade agreements and higher tariffs on imports, Trumps agenda will be a hard sell in Washington and around the world, flying in the face of the GOPs agenda for generations. And as is often the case with Trump, it reverses his own position on globalization from just a few years ago, when he defended outsourcing and promoted globalization. Its the latest indication that Trump views policy as something fungibleand sees the conflicting messages as an asset. His campaign goes out of its way to avoid clarifying the situation, leaving even his own supporters guessing about what he will do once in officewhich is just the way Trump likes it.

Hillary Clinton called on the nation to move on from Benghazi after the release of the GOP report found no wrongdoing by Clinton in the 2012 terrorist attack, but the political hits will keep coming. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders is claiming that his decision to vote for Clinton doesnt amount to an endorsementthe same line Republicans who will vote for Trump have used.

Trump is spamming UK members of parliament. Paul Ryan calls for a free trade deal with the UK. And California to vote to legalize marijuana.

Here are your must-reads:

Must Reads

Donald Trump Declines to Clarify Contradictory Positions on Immigration and Trade

Trump finds strategy in a muddle [TIME]

What to Watch for at North American Leaders Summit

Donald Trump is not on the agenda, but will be discussed [TIME]

Story continues

Benghazi Report Unknowns Will Keep Political Fight Alive

House Republicans describe the smoke, but no new fire, TIMEs Mark Thompson writes

Donald Trump Lays Out Protectionist Views in Trade Speech

Candidate rejects longstanding GOP orthodoxy by saying he would scrap NAFTA, U.S. involvement in TPP [Wall Street Journal]

How Obama will campaign for Clinton

Hillary could use a little more excitement around her candidacy. The president thinks he can help generate it by making an affirmative case for her election [Politico]

Who will show up? Who will pay?

The many unknowns of the GOP convention [The Washington Post]

Sound Off

So, Ill leave it to others to characterize this report, but I think its pretty clear that its time to move on. Hillary Clinton on the release of the Benghazi Committees report.

A Trump Administration will also ensure that we start using American steel for American infrastructure. Donald Trump delivering his economic protectionism speech Tuesday in Pennsylvania.

Bits and Bites

Marijuana Could Be Legalized in California November Vote [Associated Press]

Donald Trump Had a Very Different Message About Trade Before He Ran For President [TIME]

Donald Trumps Economic Nostalgia [The Upshot]

Paul Ryan urges new trade deal with the U.K. after Brexit [Washington Post]

British Politicians Demand to Exit  Donald Trumps Fundraising List [Wall Street Journal]

Bernie Sanders just gave an amazingly condescending interview about Hillary Clinton [Washington Post]
Sixteen years. Thats how much longer the average British voter aged 65 and older will live, according to one analysis, which means thats how long theyll have to live with the outcome of last weeks Brexit referendum. Since older voters are estimated to have turned out in huge numbers  and voted overwhelmingly to leave the European Union  Britains graying generation is partly responsible for the biggest drop in the pound in decades, for the uncertainty in lives of millions of EU citizens in Britain and British citizens in the EU, and for bringing to power a group of conservative politicians who trafficked in racist rhetoric and outright lies to win.

Theres a decent argument to be made for denying suffrage to anyone old enough to collect Social Security.

So why do we even let old people vote? After all, there are minimum voting ages  16- and 17-year-olds fought for the chance to vote in the EU referendum and were denied. Had that 1.46-million-member voting bloc been allowed to contribute, it would likely have swung the vote for Remain  82 percent of them said theyd have voted to stay in the EU. When Scotland voted on its independence in 2014, 16- and 17-year-olds were given a vote, under the logic that it was their future being irrevocably altered. Theres a decent argument to be made for denying suffrage to anyone old enough to collect Social Security. Most are no longer working or raising children. Why should they create the future when they wont be around to deal with the consequences?

Pragmatic, the idea is not. Its hard to imagine any legislator introducing such a bill (we hear you, AARP!), or, for that matter, a court diluting or limiting the power of an older-person bloc. For starters, doing so would blatantly violate the U.S. Constitution, points out voting rights expert Nathan Persily: The 26th Amendment declares that voting cannot be denied or abridged on account of age, so long as the voter is 18 or older. And apart from that, such a proposal is mean and disrespectful; not all older people are shortsighted (we love you, Mom and Dad!). It also sounds a bit like millennial grousing. Instead of trying to dilute the power of an older voting bloc, why cant young people turn out in greater numbers? Get thee to the polls, young people!

Outlandish though the idea of restricting the suffrage of elders is, a reasonable argument does exist that there is bias against the youth vote in the system as currently constituted, says Persily. Younger people tend to be more transient than older ones. Not necessarily in a bad way, mind you. Some are attending college and working summer jobs. Others are moving from job to job, or house to house, or partner to partner, in an effort to get settled and put down roots. Mobility, it turns out, is an important predictor of voter registration, and because young people move more, fewer are registered. Indeed, sometimes localities try to dilute the influence of college students by scheduling elections in the summer.

So why not make voting registration easier? In most countries, Persily says, voter registration is a state responsibility and the default status of citizens is registered. Most jurisdictions in the U.S., on the other hand, put the burden on its citizens to register. In 2012, the Pew Charitable Trusts estimated that 51 million eligible voters were not registered, a whopping 24 percent of the eligible population. A disproportionate number of those were young people.

Automatic voter registration is changing this fact  but in the meantime, consider this: Americans dont get to vote in Mexican elections, and Canadians dont get a say in who leads France, or whether France remains in the EU, or whether Paris arrondissements should be redistricted. The future is a country, and if youre not going to be there, dont expect to get to govern it.

 Pooja Bhatia contributed reporting to this story.

Related Articles
From Harper's BAZAAR

It would seem that being courted by a young, dashing member of the royal family isn't a modern-day fairytale after all.

Chelsy Davy has admitted that her seven-year relationship with Prince Harry was "scary" and "uncomfortable" due to media intrusion and the scrutiny which comes with dating royalty.

"It was so full-on - so crazy and scary and uncomfortable," the 30-year-old Zimbabwean solicitor-turned-jewellery designer told The Times.

"I found it very difficult when it was bad. I couldn't cope... I was trying to be a normal kid, and it was horrible."

Chelsy started dating Prince Harry in 2004, and the pair had an on/off relationship until 2010. In 2011, she was invited to the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, but revealed she would not marry Harry because "it's not the life for [her]".

Prince Harry most recently had a relationship with aspiring actress Cressida Bonas, but recently confirmed his single status.

On the difficulties of maintaining a relationship in the public eye, the 30-year-old royal explained: "If or when I do find a girlfriend, I will do my utmost... to ensure that me and her can get to the point where we're actually comfortable with each other before the massive invasion that is inevitably going to happen into her privacy.

"The other concern is that even if I talk to a girl, that person is then suddenly my wife, and people go knocking on her door."

Meanwhile, Davy has just released her own African-based jewelry brand of Aya in London.
turkey ataturk

At least 44 people killed.

More than 200 injured.

Three attackers dead.

Police officers and foreign nationals are among those wounded.

Air traffic at Ataturk Airport has returned to normal.

Dozens were killed after three suicide bombers blew themselves up at Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, at about 10 p.m. local time on Tuesday.

At least 44 people have died, according to Istanbul's governor, Vasip Sahin. Turkish officials on Wednesday said the dead included 23 Turkish citizens and 13 foreigners. Among the foreign victims are four Saudis, an Iranian, and a Ukrainian. At least 239 people were wounded in the ambush, including police officers and foreign nationals, Sahin confirmed.

Air traffic has returned to normal at the airport.

Istanbul explosions

One attacker opened fire with an automatic rifle in the departures area, Reuters reported. According to witnesses and officials who spoke with the news wire service, the three attackers detonated themselves on the arrivals level, one floor below. They reportedly arrived at the airport by taxi.

Airport taxis were transporting the wounded to hospitals, and the Red Crescent was asking for blood donors.

"People were wounded, people fell down in front of me ... They were torn to pieces," airport worker Hacer Peksen told The Associated Press.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the attack  which was carried out during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan  "heinous."

"The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city," Erdogan said in a statement. "Make no mistake: For terrorist organizations, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago."

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Istanbul Ataturk airport bombing

It is still unconfirmed who is responsible for the attack, which appeared to have been coordinated. T

he Associated Press said initial indications suggested that the Islamic State may be responsible for the ambush.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim agreed that the Islamic State, the terrorist group also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh, seemed to be behind the attack.

"This attack, targeting innocent people is a vile, planned terrorist act," he said.

Multiple attacks in Turkey over the past year have been linked to ISIS and Kurdish groups. The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, is waging an insurgency against the Turkish government, but it primarily targets military and security personnel in the country's southeast.

The Ataturk attack "fits the ISIS profile, not PKK," a counterterrorism official told CNN, adding that the PKK didn't usually go after international targets.

Ataturk is the third-busiest airport in Europe and the 11th-busiest airport in the world, with at least 61 million travelers passing through in 2015.

Many have noted that Turkey had assigned extra security to the entrance of Ataturk after numerous ISIS-linked terrorist attacks in Istanbul in the past several months. Travelers at the airport have to go through security before entering any terminal and then pass through security again inside. The extra layer of security prevented the attackers from entering the airport, which many analysts say may have saved dozens of lives.

Airport security workers have also been praised for their calm and professional behavior amid the chaos.

Airport-security workers recorded the surveillance-camera footage of the moment the explosion ripped through the airport:

The moment of the attack at the Istanbul airport. Horrific. pic.twitter.com/Npikwlloxk  Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) June 28, 2016

Footage emerged of panicked travelers running away from the scene of the explosions:

Panic speads thru #IstanbulAirport after suicide bombers open fire & blow themselves up. (via @expressgzt) pic.twitter.com/zZCCEBAN3Z  Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) June 28, 2016

Lisa Monaco, the assistant to the US president for homeland security and counterterrorism, briefed President Barack Obama on the attack, according to a White House official.

The White House released an official statement Tuesday evening that likened the attacks to the ones at Brussels Airport in March, calling the airport "a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind us together."

The statement continued, "We remain steadfast in our support for Turkey, our NATO ally and partner, along with all of our friends and allies around the world as we continue to confront the threat of terrorism."

The US State Department renewed its three-month-old travel warning for Turkey on Monday, noting in a warning posted on the department's website that "foreign and US tourists have been explicitly targeted by international and indigenous terrorist organizations."

The US consulate is working to determine whether US citizens are among the airport attack's victims, the State Department tweeted.

Many passengers were stranded outside the airport:

Huge numbers of passengers stranded outside Ataturk pic.twitter.com/E5w4jRJI9N  Borzou Daragahi (@borzou) June 28, 2016

Turkey is part of the US-led coalition against ISIS. The terrorist group has claimed responsibility for multiple terrorist attacks on Turkish soil since mid-2015.

In January, 13 people were killed and 14 injured in a suicide bombing in a popular central square in Istanbul. The perpetrator was identified as Nabil Fadli, an ISIS follower from Syria.

Last July, ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in southeastern Turkey that killed 33 young activists. Three months later, an ISIS-linked suicide bombing at a peace rally in Ankara killed more than 100 people.

Suicide attacks in Turkey in the past year pic.twitter.com/mnM9m6Qxui  dwnews (@dwnews) June 29, 2016

Michael Weiss, coauthor of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror," said on Twitter that ISIS had a "lot of motives for attacking Ataturk airport, including the imminent loss of Manbij [in Syria], Turkish shelling of ISIS, and of course Turkish-Israel rapprochement."

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, a breakaway faction of the PKK, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Ankara in February that killed 29 people and another in March that killed 37.

A car bomb claimed by Kurdish separatists ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul on June 7 during the morning rush hour, killing 11 people and wounding 36 near the main tourist district, a major university, and the mayor's office.

Video reportedly shows one of the attackers being shot

A video has emerged purportedly showing one of the attackers being shot inside the airport. The video was uploaded onto Twitter by the editor-in-chief of Radio Sawt Beirut International.

Footage shows people running away, followed by a man who is then shot by someone out of sight  reportedly part of Turkish security forces.

As he falls down after being shot, the man who was running is then seen lying on the floor, struggling. Another person (who seems to be the man who shot him) is seen standing next to him before running away.

A few seconds later, the man who is lying on the floor then blows himself up.

turkey airport attack





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The launch of the new XE is as monumental for Jaguar as the dramatic landscape of the Rocky Mountains looming behind me. It is the British marques first contemporary compact sedan, and although it competes in a fiercely competitive class that includes the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, the all-new XE is up for the challenge with its dialed-in performance, elegant looks, and British flair that sets it apart from the usual suspects.

Driving past the quaint storefronts of Aspen and into snow-capped peaks, I gain nearly 4,100 feet of elevation in less than half an hour. The 35t models supercharged V-6 engine (which is pulled from the Jaguar F-Type) isnt producing all its 340 horses in Colorados thin air, but the 3-liter tackles the climb with gusto, especially in sport mode, which holds the gears of the ZF 8-speed automatic at higher revs. Later, the 25d variants turbocharged, 2-liter, 4-cylinder diesel (available this fall), struggled as I approached altitudes of 12,000 feet, but its 180 hp should suffice for sea-level dwellers.

Despite 45-mph speed limits and nervous minivan drivers, I managed to catch empty stretches of road where I seized the opportunity to toss the XE around more aggressively. Like the larger Jaguar XF, which we drove late last year, the XE shares the same aluminum construction, along with a 50-50 weight distribution that keeps the chassis rigid, balanced, and responsive. All-wheel-drive, which can transfer up to 50 percent of torque to the front wheels when needed, helps the XE stick through the turns, and the Jaguars electric power-assisted steering feels connected to the road, with a stiffer feel in Dynamic mode.

At the summit of Independence Pass, more than 12,000 feet above sea level, our little fleet of XEs is scrutinized by burly locals in Subarus and giant pickup trucks. Part of the XEs allure is its broad color palette, which goes beyond the handful of choices offered by German competitors. Along with premium options of gray and silver, there is a striking selection of metallic, including Caesium Blue, bold Italian Racing Red, and, of course, classic British Racing Green. An R-Sport model clads the XE with a sport front bumper, extended side sills, and a decklid spoiler.

Inside, soft-touch material covers the top of the dash while accent trims include etched aluminum, satin burl ashwood, or carbon fiber. Leather seats include contrast stitching in the higher-end Prestige models, and R-Sport variants come with perforated leather (particularly striking in black and red). Unlike German and American rivals, the seats in the XE fit a wider range of body types, thanks to a shorter seat cushion that accommodates F1-sized drivers but extends to fit NBA-length legs.

My XE is equipped with an optional 10.2-inch touchscreen and Jaguars InControl Pro interface, which includes smartphone integration and Bluetooth audio streaming. Response time is quick as I tap through the menus, and pinch and drag my way around the navigation map. (The standard instrument panel comes with an 8-inch touchscreen, which is equally intuitive.) The XE can also be equipped with advanced safety features, including emergency autonomous braking, lane keep assist, and automatic parallel parking assist. Starting at $51,700, the XE tops out around $66,000, fully loaded. (jaguarusa.com)

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breathalyzer drunk driving

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that police officers could administer warrantless Breathalyzer tests to people suspected of driving drunk.

The case, Birchfield v. North Dakota, effectively criminalizes the refusal to submit to a Breathalyzer test and affects laws in 11 states.

The outcome will most likely lead to an increase in drunken-driving convictions across the country, according to Derek Andrews, a defense attorney at Anelli Xavier.

The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, though laws vary by state. Many lawyers openly encourage their clients to refuse a Breathalyzer test because prosecutors have a harder time landing convictions with less evidence. Depending on the probable cause, refusing to take a Breathalyzer test before an arrest has been made most likely won't result in a license suspension, but in many states, like New York, refusing a Breathalyzer test after an arrest could lead to automatic license suspension.

With the Supreme Court's decision, however, there could be "an increase in the number of chemical test results," Andrews wrote in an email to Business Insider. People might be more likely to submit for fear of legal repercussions. Chemical tests can be done with a Breathalyzer, a blood draw, or even a urine sample.

To put it simply, more people submitting to Breathalyzer tests means that states and prosecutors will have greater evidence against them.

Andrews said he agreed that a state should be able to ask for a warrantless Breathalyzer test, and even a blood draw, but he took issue with the criminalization of refusing the tests.

"It is a fundamental premise of our criminal justice system that it is the government's burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone is guilty of a crime, and it is the government's duty to collect evidence and develop a case," Andrews wrote. "It is not, however, a person's duty to give that evidence to the government."

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cop car lights night pulled over

Even with criminal penalties, however, some people will still refuse Breathalyzer tests.

"This country is simply going to have more criminals because the government has chosen to criminalize a refusal to provide (potentially) incriminating evidence to law enforcement," Andrews wrote, adding, "There are other ways of combating DWI/DUI than convicting more people of crimes."

The Supreme Court differentiated between Breathalyzer tests and blood tests in its ruling, arguing that blood draws are more intrusive and therefore may not be demanded by the state without a warrant.

The decision combined three cases but centered on an incident in North Dakota in which a man, after crashing his car, took a Breathalyzer test that found his blood-alcohol concentration at three times the legal limit. He didn't, however, agree to a blood draw and was charged with a misdemeanor.

While Justice Sonia Sotomayor sided with the majority's opinion on warrantless blood tests, she took issue with the court "establishing exceptions to the warrant requirement" and suggested that states should find other ways to combat drunken driving that "do not have the same impact on personal privacy" as allowing warrantless Breathalyzer tests.

Andrews, for his part, agrees.

"The Fourth Amendment is being attacked," he wrote, "and our freedoms in this country are being whittled away."

NOW WATCH: The number of times Obama has had to respond to mass shootings during his presidency is staggering





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Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f131264%2fspongebob_diary

Do you love Spongebob Squarepants? Not as much as Jack Rowe does.

The 18-year-old from County Mayo, Ireland, recently unearthed his childhood "Spongebob diary"  a volume full of exuberant love letters to the great yellow sponge himself.

"Dear Spongebob, I am your biggest fan even bigger than everyone else," one entry reads. "I love you Spongebob."

SEE ALSO: 'Spongebob Boy' pulling faces and dozing off is all of us during dull political broadcasts

Rowe also mentions mysterious figures named "Alan" and "Fiona"  mere bandwagon fans who do not love Spongebob as much as he does.

Image: twitter/@jackkrowee

Some entries are even more passionate.

"I wish I was yellow just like you and have holes in my body just like you," the journal says. "I may seem like a copycat but I am not."

Are you really prepared to live in an undersea pineapple, Jack? Have you checked to make sure you can rent the scuba equipment?

Image: twitter/@jackkrowee

But the journal isn't all self-promotion. Rowe also asked some tough questions: for example, why is Squidward ("squid") so upset all the time?

"I would like to see him nice to you and Pat," wrote Rowe, "but I think that will never happen in life of him."

Image: twitter/@jackkrowee

We are inclined to agree.

Rowe tweeted a few shots of the diary on Tuesday  and despite his apparent horror, the Internet has been very supportive.

See? A strong imagination is nothing to be embarrassed about.

[H/T: BuzzFeed]
By Gabriela Baczynska and Robert-Jan Bartunek BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte asked European Union leaders on Tuesday for "legally binding" assurances to address his country's concerns over a trade and association deal with Ukraine and said The Hague would block it otherwise. The Netherlands is the only EU state not to have ratified the bloc's agreement on closer political, security and trade ties with Kiev following a referendum in April in which the Dutch voted overwhelmingly to reject it. The agreement with Kiev, reached after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and then backed rebels fighting government troops in the east of the country, is being provisionally implemented now, but its future hinges on the Netherlands. "What we need is a legally binding solution, which will address the many worries and elements of the discussion in the Netherlands leading up to the referendum," Rutte said after an EU leaders' summit in Brussels to discuss the aftermath of Britain's vote last week to leave the bloc. The debate around the referendum in the Netherlands, which showed dissatisfaction with Rutte's government and policy-making in Brussels, zeroed in on whether the agreement with Kiev would herald EU membership for Ukraine and its 45 million people. "The exact form - I don't know yet," Rutte said. "It could be that we have to change the text, it could be that we can find a solution which will not involve changing the text of the association agreement. I don't know yet. "If I am not able to achieve that ... we will not sign," he said. "We will try to find a solution, it will be difficult, the chances are small that we will get there but I think we should try." The whole deal could be derailed should The Hague refuse to ratify it, but a senior EU official said he hoped this could be solved by the end of the year. The Netherlands will hold parliamentary elections next March, with Rutte's rating going down as he faces growing pressure from the anti-immigration, eurosceptic Party for Freedom (PVV) of Geert Wilders. The Brexit vote - which cast into doubt Europe's post-Word War Two order, sent global stocks tumbling and triggered a political meltdown in Britain - has increased pressure on Rutte to show he is moving on his own people's call. Two diplomats said after the talks that one idea was to give Rutte a declaration of the other EU leaders that the Ukraine deal was "no basis" for membership in the bloc. The Dutch government was expected to come back to the EU with more detailed proposals, and leaders could come back to that this autumn. (Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Dominic Evans and Leslie Adler)
European Union leaders have warned Britain not to expect an a-la-carte approach to the blocs policies as they negotiate their exit, but after a two-day summit there remained little clarity on exactly how and when Britain will untangle itself from the bloc.

British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in a Brussels gripped by regret and recrimination on Tuesday for his final summit of E.U. leaders. Over a dinner of poached veal tenderloin with seasonal baby vegetables, he told the 27 other heads of government that he was sorry Britain had voted to leave the E.U. in the June 23 referendum, and said he wanted the country to continue to have a close relationship with Brussels.

But while the other leaders may have expressed sadness and even a little sympathy for the outgoing Prime Minister as they polished off a dessert of fresh strawberries, they left him in little doubt that there would be no special treatment for the U.K.

Leaders made it crystal clear that access to the single market requires acceptance of all four freedoms including the freedom of moment, said Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, referring to the free movement of goods, services, capital and people. There will be no single market a-la-carte.

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also used their post-summit press conferences on Wednesday to take the same line, sending a strong signal to some Leave campaigners who have insisted that Britain can retain all the benefits of the single market while putting controls on migration.

And despite suggestions on Tuesday from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that there were a number of ways for the Brexit vote to be walked back, Merkel made clear that the E.U. believed the result to be final and binding. I see no way to reverse this, she said.

In Brussels at least, the fact of Britains departure from the E.U. was one of the few matters where there was unity and clarity. But no timetable was set out for when the U.K. might actually leave; the British government has yet to trigger Article 50, the vaguely-worded clause in the E.U. treaty which kick-starts two years of exit negotiations.

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Tusk, seemed willing to give the U.K. a pause before beginning the process. Leaders understand that some time is now needed to allow the dust to settle in the U.K. European Parliament leaders however want the formal request to leave as soon as possible to calm uncertainty in the markets but Cameron insists it is the job of his successor  who will likely not be in place until September  to decide when Article 50 would be invoked. Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the E.U. executive branch, took a harder line, saying: We dont have months to meditate  we have to act, while also chiding Cameron for creating the political atmosphere in Britain which led to the leave vote.

My impression is that if you are over years, if not decades, telling your public that something is wrong with the European Union, that this European Union is too bureaucratic, too technocratic you cannot be taken by surprise if voters believe you, he said.

Leaders turned to the question of how to reverse this mistrust when they met on Wednesday. Cameron was frozen out of those talks, which aimed to start a period of reflection to try and take the sails out of euroskeptics who are threatening referenda in other E.U. nations like France and The Netherlands. However, the bloc also remains divided over the best way to regain the trust of voters and prevent the E.U. splintering further.

Core nations like France, Belgium and Luxembourg believe the only way to save the E.U. is deeper political integration to bind the economies and foster financial stability. But fears of giving too much power to Brussels was one of the key issues of concern in the British vote, and many other leaders believe it would be a mistake to push further integration at this point.

Merkel insisted the debate was not about more or less Europe, but [being] better in achieving the results and objectives, and finding a positive vision to present to a public worn down by economic stagnation, high unemployment, and the migration crisis.

When Russia many years ago sent the first people into space, America said Now we have to send someone to the moon, she said. We have to set a positive agenda, and positive goals, and try to show that we have an ambition and an aspiration to produce prosperity for our people.

Also Wednesday, the Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, was in Brussels to discuss potential legal options for Scotland remaining in the E.U, as the majority of Scottish citizens voted Remain in the referendum.

She received a warm welcome  with citizens in so many corners of the union turning away from the E.U., officials in Brussels can ill afford to ignore the few who still share their vision of a united continent, albeit one now shorn of one its most valued members.
When an industry as large as U.S. oil gets hit as hard as it has in recent years, the struggles can weigh on parts of the economy that have nothing to do with energy.

According to the Houston Chronicles Lydia DePillis, areas of the country losing a lot of oil-related base jobs are likely also losing non-base jobs as well.

A regions economic base is typically the industry and/or manufacturing jobs in a region that extend to markets outside of the local area. For example, Londons financial services industry provides services throughout Europe, which is one of the reasons why there is so much uncertainty about the U.K. economy following the Brexit vote.

Related Link: How One Russian Oil Tycoon Has Added .5 Billion To His Net Worth During The Oil Market Collapse

Houston is known for its oil industry, but the non-base jobs the city was relying on to help build the its 21st-century economy are already getting dragged down by the oil market. These non-base jobs include restaurants, retail, hospitality, real estate and professional services. While no single segment has a larger presence in Houston than the oil & gas industry, all the non-base jobs combined far outnumber the local oil & gas jobs.

The end result can be seen in the graph below.

Once a regions base economy starts to falter, those base employees are no longer contributing as much to the rest of the local economy and its only a matter of time before the entire local economy starts to suffer.

Houston residents are hopeful that the 5.5 percent surge in the United States Oil Fund LP (ETF) (NYSE: USO) so far in 2016 is a sign that the worst of the downturn could finally be over.

Disclosure: The author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.

See more from Benzinga

 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Geneva (AFP) - Ecuador's foreign minister voiced suspicion on Wednesday that British intelligence was perpetually spying on his country's embassy in London, where Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is camped out.

"There are cameras everywhere. It is one of the most spied on embassies in the world," Ecuador's top diplomat Guillaume Long told reporters in Geneva, on the sidelines of a Human Rights Council session.

"You are very fortunate if you can even make a phone call from inside the embassy. Internet collapses all the time. Everything is hacked. It is a pretty hostile context for Mr. Assange, every day," Long said.

Asked if he believed British intelligence was responsible for the espionage, Long said: "I have my suspicions."

Assange, 44, is wanted for questioning over a 2010 rape allegation in Sweden but has been inside Ecuador's UK mission for more than four years in a bid to avoid extradition.

The anti-secrecy campaigner, who denies the allegation, walked into the embassy of his own free will on June 18, 2012, with Britain on the brink of sending him to Stockholm, and has not left since.

Long said Assange's health was deteriorating, mentioning a serious arm problem without providing details.

The minister said he came to the rights council during a European diplomatic tour partly aimed at resolving the Assange saga.

A UN panel in February issued a non-binding legal opinion that Assange had been subjected to arbitrary detention by the Swedish and British governments.

Stockholm and London have both rejected that ruling, with Britain calling for an official review.

Long accused Britain of demanding compliance with UN human rights rulings in various contexts around the world, while dismissing such opinion when they hit close to home.

"This is a clear case of double standards which Ecuador denounces."

Long restated Ecuador's position that it did not want to interfere with Sweden's rape investigation.

Quito would support Assange's transfer if Stockholm could provide guarantees that he would not be sent to the United States for prosecution over WikiLeaks' release of 500,000 secret military files.
Cairo (AFP) - Data from one of the black boxes of a crashed EgyptAir plane showed smoke alarms had sounded on board, while soot was found on the wreckage, an Egyptian-led investigative committee said Wednesday.

The black box had been retrieved from the bottom of the Mediterranean after the Airbus A320 with 66 people on board plunged into the sea on May 19 while heading to Cairo from Paris.

It had recorded the flight's data from its departure until it "stopped at an altitude of 37,000 feet (11,250 metres)," the committee said in a statement.

"Recorded data is showing a consistency with ACARS messages of lavatory smoke and avionics smoke," it said, two days after the damaged recorder was repaired in France.

Investigators had previously announced that the plane's automated Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) sent signals indicating smoke alarms on board the plane before it went down.

"Parts of the front section of the aircraft showed signs of high temperature damage and soot," the committee statement added.

Egyptian investigators had confirmed that the aircraft had made a 90-degree left turn followed by a 360-degree turn to the right before hitting the sea.

The plane was carrying 40 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, two Canadians and one passenger each from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Chad, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

The repair work of the cockpit voice recorder, the second black box, was underway at the France's BEA air safety agency.

The device had been found broken into pieces but salvage experts managed to retrieve the recorder's memory unit, Egypt's civil aviation ministry had said.

The committee statement said the search remained for the remains of the passengers and crew.

It "will continue till the full recovery of all the remains at the crash location," it said.

Both Egyptian and French judiciary have opened investigations into the mysterious incident, without ruling out that it had been deliberately downed.

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The crash follows the bombing of a Russian passenger over Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula last October, killing all 224 passengers and crew.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack, but there has been no such claim linked to the EgyptAir crash, and the group usually swift claims responsibility for large scale attacks.

Egypt's aviation minister had initially said an attack was the more likely explanation, but President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said there was no theory being favoured yet.

EgyptAir said last week advance compensation payments of $25,000 will be offered to families of the 66 people killed in the crash.

The payments are separate to those expected from insurance companies on behalf of various parties depending on the investigation into the disaster.
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.
Last year, biophysicist Moh El-Naggar and his graduate student Yamini Jangir plunged beneath South Dakotas Black Hills into an old gold mine that is now more famous as a home to a dark matter detector. Unlike most scientists who make pilgrimages to the Black Hills these days, El-Naggar and Jangir werent there to hunt for subatomic particles. They came in search of life.

In the darkness found a mile underground, the pair traversed the mines network of passages in search of a rusty metal pipe. They siphoned some of the pipes ancient water, directed it into a vessel, and inserted a variety of electrodes. They hoped the current would lure their prey, a little-studied microbe that can live off pure electricity.

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The electricity-eating microbes that the researchers were hunting for belong to a larger class of organisms that scientists are only beginning to understand. They inhabit largely uncharted worlds: the bubbling cauldrons of deep sea vents, mineral-rich veins deep beneath the planets surface, ocean sediments just a few inches below the deep seafloor. The microbes represent a segment of life that has been largely ignored, in part because their strange habitats make them incredibly difficult to grow in the lab.

Yet early surveys suggest a potential microbial bounty. A recent sampling of microbes collected from the seafloor near Catalina Island, off the coast of Southern California, uncovered a surprising variety of microbes that consume or shed electrons by eating or breathing minerals or metals. El-Naggars team is still analyzing their gold-mine data, but he says that their initial results echo the Catalina findings. Thus far, whenever scientists search for these electron eaters in the right locationsplaces that have lots of minerals but not a lot of oxygenthey find them.

Story continues

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As the tally of electron eaters grows, scientists are beginning to figure out just how they work. How does a microbe consume electrons out of a piece of metal, or deposit them back into the environment when it is finished with them? A study published last year revealed the way that one of these microbes catches and consumes its electrical prey. And not-yet-published work suggests that some metal eaters transport electrons directly across their membranesa feat once thought impossible.

* * *

Though eating electricity seems bizarre, the flow of current is central to life. All organisms require a source of electrons to make and store energy. They must also be able to shed electrons once their job is done. In describing this bare-bones view of life, Nobel Prize-winning physiologist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi once said, Life is nothing but an electron looking for a place to rest.

Humans and many other organisms get electrons from food and expel them with our breath. The microbes that El-Naggar and others are trying to grow belong to a group called lithoautotrophs, or rock eaters, which harvest energy from inorganic substances such as iron, sulfur, or manganese. Under the right conditions, they can survive solely on electricity.

The microbes apparent ability to ingest electronsknown as direct electron transferis particularly intriguing because it seems to defy the basic rules of biophysics. The fatty membranes that enclose cells act as an insulator, creating an electrically neutral zone once thought impossible for an electron to cross. No one wanted to believe that a bacterium would take an electron from inside of the cell and move it to the outside, said Kenneth Nealson, a geobiologist at the University of Southern California, in a lecture to the Society for Applied Microbiology in London last year.

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In the 1980s, Nealson and others discovered a surprising group of bacteria that can expel electrons directly onto solid minerals. It took until 2006 to discover the molecular mechanism behind this feat: A trio of specialized proteins sits in the cell membrane, forming a conductive bridge that transfers electrons to the outside of cell. (Scientists still debate whether the electrons traverse the entire distance of the membrane unescorted.)

Inspired by the electron-donators, scientists began to wonder whether microbes could also do the reverse and directly ingest electrons as a source of energy. Researchers focused their search on a group of microbes called methanogens, which are known for making methane. Most methanogens arent strict metal eaters. But in 2009, Bruce Logan, an environmental engineer at Pennsylvania State University, and collaborators showed for the first time that a methanogen could survive using only energy from an electrode. The researchers proposed that the microbes were directly sucking up electrons, perhaps via a molecular bridge similar to the ones the electron-producers use to shuttle electrons across the cell wall. But they lacked direct proof.

Then last year, Alfred Spormann, a microbiologist at Stanford University, and collaborators poked a hole in Logans theory. They uncovered a way that these organisms can survive on electrodes without eating naked electrons.

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The microbe Spormann studied, Methanococcus maripaludis, excretes an enzyme that sits on the electrodes surface. The enzyme pairs an electron from the electrode with a proton from water to create a hydrogen atom, which is a well-established food source among methanogens. Rather than having a conductive pathway, they use an enzyme, said Daniel Bond, a microbiologist at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. They dont need to build a bridge out of conductive materials.

Though the microbes arent eating naked electrons, the results are surprising in their own right. Most enzymes work best inside the cell and rapidly degrade outside. Whats unique is how stable the enzymes are when they [gather on] the surface of the electrode, Spormann said. Past experiments suggest these enzymes are active outside the cell for only a few hours, but we showed they are active for six weeks.

Spormann and others still believe that methanogens and other microbes can directly suck up electricity, however. This is an alternative mechanism to direct electron transfer, it doesnt mean direct electron transfer cant exist, said Largus Angenent, an environmental engineer at Cornell University, and president of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology. Spormann said his team has already found a microbe capable of taking in naked electrons. But they havent yet published the details.

* * *

Only a tiny fractionperhaps 2 percentof all the planets microorganisms can be grown in the lab. Scientists hope that these new approachesgrowing microbes on electrodes rather than in traditional culture systemswill provide a way to study many of the microbes that have been so far impossible to cultivate.

Using electrodes as proxies for minerals has helped us open and expand this field, said Annette Rowe, a postdoctoral researcher at USC working with El-Naggar. Now we have a way to grow the bacteria and monitor their respiration and really have a look at their physiology.

Rowe has already had some success.

In 2013, she went on a microbe prospecting trip to the iron-rich sediments that surround Californias Catalina Island. She identified at least 30 new varieties of electric microbes in a study published last year. They are from very diverse groups of microbes that are quite common in marine systems, Rowe said. Before her experiment, no one knew these microbes could take up electrons from an inorganic substrate, she said. Thats something we werent expecting.

Just as fishermen use different lures to attract different fish, Rowe set the electrodes to different voltages to draw out a rich diversity of microbes. She knew when she had a catch because the current changedmetal eaters generate a negative current, as the microbes suck electrons from the negative electrode.

Yamini Jangir, then a graduate student in Moh El-Naggars lab at the University of Southern California, collects water from a pipe at the Sanford Underground Research Facility nearly a mile underground.

The different varieties of bacteria that Rowe collected thrive under different electrical conditions, suggesting they employ different strategies for eating electrons. Each bacteria had a different energy level where electron uptake would happen, Rowe said. We think that is indicative of different pathways.

If you have a system that can pick up electrons from iron and have some water, then you have all the ingredients for a conceivable metabolism.

Rowe is now searching new environments for additional microbes, focusing on fluids from a deep spring with low acidity. Shes also helping with El-Naggars gold mine expedition. We are trying to understand how life works under these conditions, said El-Naggar. We now know that life goes far deeper than we thought, and theres a lot more than we thought, but we dont have a good idea for how they are surviving.

El-Naggar emphasizes that the field is still in its infancy, likening the current state to the early days of neuroscience, when researchers poked at frogs with electrodes to make their muscles twitch. It took a long time for the basic mechanistic stuff to come out, he said. Its only been 30 years since we discovered that microbes can interact with solid surfaces.

Given the bounty from these early experiments, it seems that scientists have only scratched the surface of the microbial diversity that thrives beneath the planets shallow exterior. The results could give clues to the origins of life on Earth and beyond. One theory for the emergence of life suggests it originated on mineral surfaces, which could have concentrated biological molecules and catalyzed reactions. New research could fill in one of the theorys gapsa mechanism for transporting electrons from mineral surfaces into cells.

Moreover, subsurface metal eaters may provide a blueprint for life on other worlds, where alien microbes might be hidden beneath the planets shallow exterior. For me, one of the most exciting possibilities is finding life-forms that might survive in extreme environments like Mars, said El-Naggar, whose gold mine experiment is funded by NASAs Astrobiology Institute. Mars, for example, is iron-rich and has water flowing beneath its surface. If you have a system that can pick up electrons from iron and have some water, then you have all the ingredients for a conceivable metabolism, said El-Naggar. Perhaps a former mine a mile underneath South Dakota wont be the most surprising place that researchers find electron-eating life.

This post appears courtesy of Quanta Magazine .

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What Were Following

The Airport Attack in Turkey: Dozens of people are dead and at least 60 more are injured after a series of bomb blasts rocked Istanbuls Ataturk International Airport Tuesday night. Turkish officials reportedly claimed two or more suicide bombers detonated themselves in the airports international terminal. No organization has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

More Brexit Fallout: Britains political crisis expanded after Labour MPs decisively voted against party leader Jeremy Corbyn in a vote of no confidence. Shortly after the 172-to-40 result was made public, Corbyn vowed not to resign, saying the vote had no constitutional legitimacy and that the majority of Labour Party members supported him.

Space Junk Tours: Generations of archaeologists sought the treasures of antiquity beneath the earth, digging and excavating the remnants of lost civilizations. But their successors could soon find themselves searching above the Earth instead. Two scholars believe, in the not-too-distant future, economically privileged explorers could visit derelict space junk orbiting the planet the same way Europes aristocratic scions once toured Greek and Roman ruins.

Snapshot

Sheila Orlovsky, 29, of Florida, lights a joint in the bus during a cannabis tour in Denver. See more photos of female-owned pot businesses here. (Emily Jan / The Atlantic)

Quoted

I think for some people, hearing about Donald Trump is like reading their Peanuts strip, like, something happened to their favorite cartoon character. Seth Meyers, the late-night television host

Recommended: Personal Stories of Abortion Made Public

Rather than call her parents or apply for a suspension, we sat in a circle and talked about how her action damaged the trust of the community. Michelle Patterson Murray, a middle school assistant principal, on how best to discipline children

Our public health infrastructure is at the point of breaking. Our mantra has been to do more with less, but now were doing less with less. Bill Smith, who runs an organization focused on STD prevention

Story continues

Evening Read

Would a work-free world be so bad? Ilana E. Strauss writes:

"Gray likens these aspects of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to the carefree adventures of many children in developed countries, who at some point in life are expected to put away childish things. But that hasnt always been the case. According to Gary Crosss 1990 book A Social History of Leisure Since 1600, free time in the U.S. looked quite different before the 18th and 19th centuries. Farmerswhich was a fair way to describe a huge number of Americans at that timemixed work and play in their daily lives. There were no managers or overseers, so they would switch fluidly between working, taking breaks, joining in neighborhood games, playing pranks, and spending time with family and friends. Not to mention festivals and other gatherings: France, for instance, had 84 holidays a year in 1700, and weather kept them from farming another 80 or so days a year.

Continue reading here.

News Quiz

1. For the first time in more than 55 years, a U.S. company is now operating a hotel in __________.

Recommended: 'Game of Thrones' Finally Became a Different Show in Season Six

(See answer or scroll to the bottom.)

2. Furniture retailer Ikea recalled millions of __________ that have been linked to the deaths of at least six children.

(See answer or scroll to the bottom.)

3. __________ announced it would drop visa requirements for Mexican visitors starting this December.

(See answer or scroll to the bottom.)

Reader Response

Readers are sharing their personal stories of abortion in our ongoing series here. In the latest, a reader describes what happened after the procedure:

I hadnt eaten that morning because of nerves, so the fiance and I stopped at an Arbys drive thru. I promptly vomited a half hour later and have never ate their regular fries since. I didnt realize until the next day, but in an effort to prevent crying, I had clenched my muscles so hard that I pulled several leg muscles, and muscles in my sides, my buttocks, and arm. A few weeks later I was watching South Park with some friends and it was the stem-cells episode. There was a vacuum cleaner sound. I started sobbing and went into hysterics.

Read more here.

Verbs

United Nations Security Council elected, helium reservoir discovered, Zika vaccines tested, ancient birds wings preserved, moon canyon spotted.

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GFG Resources Inc. to Complete RTO with Crest Petroleum Corp., a CPC Company

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2016 / Endurance Gold Corporation (EDG.V) "Endurance" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update with respect to the Company's shareholding investment in GFG Resources (US) Inc., a private Nevada corporation ("GFG US"). GFG US owns and/or controls, subject to underlying royalties, an undivided 100% interest in the Rattlesnake gold exploration project comprised of 1,281 unpatented lode mining claims and seven (7) state fee land leases totaling approximately 26,500 acres in the Rattlesnake Hills District, Natrona County, Wyoming, located approximately 100 kilometres southwest of Casper in central Wyoming, USA.

In 2015, GFG US acquired Endurance's 100-per-cent interest in the Company's Rattlesnake Hills property through the payment of US$150,000 in cash to Endurance, and the issuance of 1,400,000 GFG US shares to Endurance (850,000 GFG shares issued on closing and the balance of 550,000 GFG US shares subject to issuance) (the "Endurance Sale Transaction"). Additional bonus share payments totaling 750,000 GFG US shares are payable under certain circumstances. Endurance retains a 2% net smelter returns royalty ("Endurance Royalty") on Endurance's former mining claims. GFG US can purchase one half of the Endurance Royalty on or prior to December 31, 2017 for a cash payment of US$750,000, and thereafter, at any time, for a cash payment of US$1,500,000. In a separate 2015 transaction GFG US also acquired the adjoining Rattlesnake Hills property and gold discoveries at North Stock, Antelope Basin, South Stock, and Black Jack from Evolving Gold Corporation.

As per the terms of the Endurance Sale Transaction, GFG US had agreed to seek a listing of GFG US shares on a public exchange. On June 27, 2016, Crest Petroleum Corp. ("Crest") announced that it had signed a binding letter of intent (the "LOI") with GFG Resources Inc. ("GFG Resources") to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of GFG Resources ("GFG Shares") in exchange for shares of Crest ("Crest Shares") that will result in a reverse takeover of Crest, a capital pool company, by the shareholders of GFG Resources (the "RTO Transaction"). GFG Resources is a private British Columbia company that has reached an agreement in principle to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of GFG US ("GFG US Acquisition") in exchange for common shares of GFG Resources, on a one share for one share equivalent basis.

In conjunction with the GFG US Acquisition, GFG Resources has raised approximately US$3,700,000, by way of a private placement of up to 14,800,000 common shares at a price of US$0.25 per share, (the "GFG Financing"). Upon completion of the GFG US Acquisition and the GFG Financing it is anticipated that there will be approximately 35,114,250 GFG Shares issued and outstanding.

Under the RTO Transaction the shareholders of GFG Resources (the "GFG Shareholders") will exchange all GFG Shares for common shares of Crest ("Crest Shares") on a one GFG Share for one Crest Share basis.

For further details and conditions of the RTO Transaction please refer to the June 27, 2016 press release issued by Crest.

O w n er s h i p of GFG and Capitalization of Resulting Issuer

Endurance is currently one of the 50 registered shareholders of GFG US and upon completion of the Endurance Sale Transaction, the GFG US Acquisition, and the GFG Financing, it is anticipated that there will be approximately 35,114,250 GFG Shares outstanding. As part of completing the GFG US Acquisition, the Company has assumed that the 550,000 GFG US shares that are subject to issuance, will be issued to Endurance before the completion of the RTO Transaction.

There are currently 4,750,000 common shares of Crest issued and outstanding such that upon completion of the RTO Transaction there will be approximately 39,864,250 common shares of the Resulting Issuer outstanding.

As a result of the Transaction Endurance will own 1,400,000 shares of the Resulting Issuer or about 3.5% of the Resulting Issuer.

Upon completion of the RTO Transaction the Resulting Issuer's board will include Brian Skanderbeg, (who will also become the President and Chief Executive Officer), Jonathan Awde, President of GFG US and President of Gold Standard Ventures Corp, Patrick Downey, and Stephen de Jong, CEO of Integra Gold Corp.

About Endurance

Endurance Gold Corporation is a company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of highly prospective North American mineral properties with the potential to develop world-class deposits. The Company's exploration focus, for projects operated by Endurance, is intrusive-related mineral systems with potential for discovery of major new precious or rare metals deposits, and its business plan offers shareholders exposure to several majority-owned exploration projects with significant discovery potential such as the Elephant Mountain Gold Property in Alaska. The company also owns 35.5% in the Pardo joint venture, a Precambrian-aged paleoplacer gold system, in Ontario.

Please visit www.endurancegold.com.

ENDURANCE GOLD CORPORATION

Robert T. Boyd

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT

Endurance Gold Corporation

(604) 682-2707, info@endurancegold.com

www.endurancegold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release may contain forward looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results that may prove to be inaccurate as a result of factors beyond its control, and actual results may differ materially from the expected results.

SOURCE: Endurance Gold Corporation
* Move comes after months of litigation, heated arguments

* Williams has appealed last week's court ruling

* Both companies better off without merger uncertainty -investor

* Williams to refocus on natgas pipeline business (Adds investor comments, company background and share prices)

By Michael Erman

June 29 (Reuters) - Energy Transfer Equity walked away from its more than $20 billion takeover of Williams Cos Inc on Wednesday after months of lawsuits and heated arguments between the rival pipeline companies.

A Delaware judge ruled last week that ETE could terminate the deal after Tuesday over tax issues that were raised by the company's lawyers. Williams has appealed that ruling.

Williams said it would seek damages against ETE, which it believes has no right to end the deal. It has previously said damages could be as much as $10 billion.

Williams plans to refocus on its natural gas pipeline business.

Rob Thummel, portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, said the companies are better off without the uncertainty of the deal hanging over them. Tortoise is a top 10 shareholder at both companies.

"We've got finality to this and they should return to what they're good at, which is operating key strategic assets," he said.

Both companies have said they may need to trim dividends as they look to maintain investment grade credit ratings at the master limited partnerships they control, Energy Transfer Partners and Williams Partners.

Shares of ETE were up 4 percent at $14.99 on Wednesday afternoon, while Williams was up 0.6 percent at $20.76.

ETE ended the deal because its lawyers did not believe it would be tax-free.

The company originally raised the tax issues in April and rejected two possible solutions proposed by Williams.

The deal has been in doubt for months, with Williams accusing Energy Transfer of trying to break it. The two companies have sued each other.

ETE Chief Executive Kelcy Warren, a Dallas billionaire, set his sights on Williams last year to transform his company into one of the world's biggest pipeline networks. He made an unsolicited bid last June and reached a deal in late September that was then worth $33 billion.

Story continues

But oil and gas prices dropped significantly after the merger was announced. The companies' shares fell sharply, and investors started to worry that the $6 billion cash portion of the deal would saddle ETE with too much debt.

ETE made it clear that it no longer believed the deal was attractive. It slashed estimates for expected cost savings and said it would probably have to cut distributions to shareholders entirely next year if it had to complete the acquisition. It also said it would have to cut jobs in Williams' home state of Oklahoma.

(Reporting by Michael Erman in New York and Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Matthew Lewis)
By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Essar Oil, the top Indian buyer of Iranian oil, has this month cleared $500 million of a debt owed to Tehran, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Essar, which operates a 400,000 barrels per day oil refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat, owed about $3 billion to Iran for oil purchases made when tough Western sanctions had choked banking channels.

Some of the sanctions were lifted earlier this year after Iran met all the conditions to curb its disputed nuclear programme. That helped Iran in unlocking billion of dollars frozen overseas.

Indian refiners have been settling oil debts in euros via State Bank of India and Germany-based bank Europaeisch-Iranische Handelsbank AG (EIH).

No comment was available from Essar.

(Editing by William Hardy)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - There is no reason for the City of London to remain a center for euro clearing if Britain leaves the European Union's single market, and other financial centers in the bloc should get ready to carry out these transactions, French President Francois Hollande said. "As soon as Britain leaves the European Union's single market, if it decides to do so, there will be no reason for the euro zone to allow a non-member country to continue carry out transactions in euro," Hollande said after a European Council in Brussels. "Where will these transactions go? There are other trading places in Europe," he said. "I want European trading places to get ready to carry out these operations that eventually won't be done in the UK," he added. The Socialist president also downplayed the French audit office's warning on Wednesday about a possible overshoot of France's deficit target in 2017, saying the body was inherently skeptical of government targets. "The Cour des Comptes doubts, therefore it is," he said, adding that if growth reached 1.7 percent as Paris expects in 2017 and the government was extremely careful in its budget execution, the 2017 deficit target will be met. (Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and Jean-Baptiste Vey in Brussels, Michel Rose in Paris; Editing by Richard Lough)
BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) - Europe's Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska has called on Volkswagen to also compensate European drivers after the company agreed to pay out up to $15.3 billion in the United States to settle claims over the diesel emissions scandal. Under Volkswagen's (VW) proposed settlement of U.S. civil claims published on Tuesday, the German group has pledged to compensate 475,000 owners of VW diesel-powered cars there, giving them the option to sell their vehicles back to VW or have them fixed. Most U.S. owners will get $5,100 to $10,000, based on the pre-scandal value of their vehicles, but spending on buybacks could be much less if owners opt for repairs instead. Bienkowska on Wednesday reiterated her call for non-discrimination, saying it would be unfair for VW diesel car owners in Europe to be treated differently just because of a different legal system. "European consumers have been cheated in the same way as US customers, so it is only fair to offer comparable compensation without hiding behind legal arguments," Bienkowska said in an emailed statement. "I remain convinced that the best way to restore consumer trust is to treat them fairly, without the need for class action threats," she said. Bienkowska is echoing calls by consumer groups and lawyers whose chances of winning compensation from VW in Europe are diminished by the lack of mechanisms available to marshal complaints such as U.S.-style class-action lawsuits, as well as the fact that the rules on diesel emission-control devices are less stringent. "VW is also obliged to pay damages to its German and European customers," Christopher Rother, Berlin-based lawyer of U.S. law firm Hausfeld told Wednesday's edition of business daily Handelsblatt. "In this respect the legal situation is unambiguous," Rother said. VW has rejected such calls, saying car owners in Europe will not suffer a loss of value in their cars as VW is implementing steps approved by regulators to remove the illicit software from the vehicles in a campaign that so far has involved about 3.7 million of 8.5 million affected vehicles in the region. "The situation in the U.S. is not comparable to Germany and Europe," a VW spokesman said. (Reporting by Alissa De Carbonnel, Andreas Cremer and Jan Schwartz; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
Brussels (AFP) - Britain got its first taste Wednesday of a future outside the EU as Europe's leaders met without premier David Cameron and warned London it must accept EU migrants to win access to the bloc's free trade zone.

The heads of government, meeting without a British representative for the first time in 40 years, said in a statement that Britain would be treated as a "third country" with both "rights and obligations".

Continued access for to the huge EU single market of 500 million people "requires acceptance of all four freedoms, including freedom of movement," EU president Donald Tusk told a news conference.

This is a blow to "Brexit" campaigners, who promised to restrict large-scale EU migration to Britain while assuring British companies would still be able to easily sell goods and services to the continent.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also warned that London cannot not "cherry-pick" the terms of the exit negotiations.

There are also concerns that with euroscepticism growing in many member states, giving Britain overly favourable divorce terms will spark a domino effect of others leaving the EU.

Cameron, who on Tuesday attended probably his last EU summit in Brussels, is also under pressure to quickly initiate divorce proceedings by formally telling the EU Britain wants to leave.

But Cameron has resisted pressure to immediately activate the Article 50 mechanism to leave the EU, saying he is leaving it to his successor, who will not be named until September 9.

EU leaders say that until this notification is made, no talks can begin -- formally or informally -- on resetting Britain's ties with the EU, a process meant to last two years.

As the world braces for the potential ripple effects of Britain's departure from the bloc, US President Barack Obama said he recognised there existed "genuine concerns" about the impact on long-term global growth if the Brexit goes ahead.

Story continues

But he also expressed "confidence" in the global financial system's resilience and stability, and the ability of all parties in Europe to work out a smooth transition.

In an effort to prevent further exits, European leaders agreed on Wednesday they need to do more to battle "dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs", their joint statement said.

"Europeans expect us to do better when it comes to providing security, jobs and growth, as well as hope for a better future," they said.

- 'For heaven's sake' -

Meanwhile in Britain, the political shockwaves from the Brexit bombshell still reverberated, with opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn under intense pressure to follow Cameron and quit.

"It might be in my party's interests for him to sit there, it's not in the national interests and I would say, for heaven's sake man, go," Cameron told Corbyn in a raucous parliamentary session.

Labour MPs voted against Corbyn in a no-confidence motion Tuesday, with the veteran left-winger accused of not campaigning hard enough to convince the party's traditional working class voters to oppose Brexit.

Within the governing Conservatives, nominations opened Wednesday for a successor to Cameron.

The race is expected to be a two-way contest between ex-London mayor and anti-EU campaigner Boris Johnson and interior minister Theresa May, who wanted to stay in the bloc.

- Sturgeon 'heartened' -

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said meanwhile she had been "heartened" by her talks with EU officials to protecting her country's status in the EU after Brexit.

She added though this "of course doesn't translate into an automatic easy path for Scotland through the situation we find ourselves".

While Britain as a whole voted 52-48 percent to leave the EU, Scotland voted 62-38 percent to remain.

Scots rejected independence in 2014 but since the June 23 Brexit vote, there have been calls for another referendum to give Scotland the option to remain in the EU.

However, even assuming that such a referendum is held and returns a result in favour of breaking the centuries-old union, acquiring EU membership is far from guaranteed.

Spain's acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and French President Francois Hollande rejected any possibility of Scotland having a separate role in the Brexit talks.

"The United Kingdom leaves and with it, all those who make up the United Kingdom," said Rajoy, who faces separatist pressures in his own country from Catalonia.

US Secretary of State John Kerry meanwhile said on Tuesday that the "very complicated divorce" that is Brexit might never happen.

Asked if he thought the decision to leave the EU could be "walked back" and if so how, Kerry said, without elaborating: "I think there are a number of ways."
SARAJEVO (Reuters) - European Union and U.S. envoys warned Bosnia's leaders on Wednesday that the country risked missing out on closer ties with the EU in the near term and losing 2 billion euros in support due to an impasse over reforms. Bosnia hoped Brussels would consider its EU membership bid at its next ministerial council in mid-July, but without the reforms this may not happen. "The window to secure a positive response in the near term to the application of (Bosnia) for membership in the EU is closing fast," Head of EU Delegation and EU Special Representative Lars-Gunnar Wigemark and U.S. Ambassador Maureen Cormack said in a joint statement. Bosnia, an ethnically divided Balkan nation beset by corruption and economic woes, formally applied to join the 28-nation EU in February and was told it must advance economic and social reforms before its bid can be considered. Most of the conditions, such as the adjustment of Bosnia's Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU to reflect changes after Croatia, another ex-Yugoslav republic, joined the bloc, and the approval of an effective coordination mechanism with Brussels, are still on hold due to Bosnian Serb opposition. Since the 1992-95 war, Bosnia has been divided into the Serb-dominated Serb Republic and the Federation shared by Croats and Muslim Bosniaks. The Serb Republic President Milorad Dodik said he feared the SAA adjustment would deprive the region's agriculture sector of an estimated 210 million euros annually and he sought further negotiations. "The events over the next few days are likely to have a profound effect on the prosperity and security of the country through the next decade," the diplomats said. They warned a revising of the SAA and Brussels' acceptance of Bosnia's EU membership bid are also critical to keep on track a 550 million euro three-year loan arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), expected to be approved by the lender by mid-July. [L5N18L5UU] In exchange for reforms the international community has pledged to secure over two billion euros in budget and infrastructure support for the country over the next three to four years, the diplomats said. "But all of this is predicated upon [Bosnia] being on a stable political path toward Europe. There is simply no time left... The future of [Bosnia] depends upon it," they said. ($1 = 0.8999 euros) (Reporting by Maja Zuvela; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
By Noah Barkin BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Hoping to stave off a broader political crisis after Britain's shock decision to leave the EU, European leaders agreed on Wednesday to spend the next nine months developing proposals for an overhaul of the bloc amid deep divisions between its members. Disillusion with the EU has risen sharply following years of economic weakness and after a record influx of refugees and series of deadly attacks by Islamic militants. The problems have fueled the sense that elites in Brussels and other European capitals are ineffective and out of touch with the concerns of ordinary people. Last week, the anger bubbled over in Britain's Brexit vote, which threw six decades of closer European integration into reverse and raised fears of a domino effect on the continent, where anti-EU, xenophobic parties are on the rise. EU leaders, who met on Wednesday without Britain, agree that change is needed. But they also know that time is required to get the remaining 27 members behind a common European initiative due to a deep divide over what lessons to draw from Brexit. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking to reporters at the end of the summit, said it was unrealistic to consider radical changes, such as moving towards a fiscal or political union, in the current environment. These would require changes to the EU's Lisbon Treaty and more referendums, which leaders are desperate to avoid. "It is not about more or less Europe but about delivering better results," Merkel said. "Our citizens often don't understand why we are doing something and what our goals are. All of us want to change this. It is not about changing the EU Treaty, about introducing more laws or less. It's about delivering on our goals." Officials said that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who holds the rotating presidency of the EU, had made clear to other leaders that it was not the time for "revolutions". Another top official acknowledged that vague pledges to create a "better Europe" were largely empty but that the main priority for now was to send a simple message that everyone around the table could agree on. EXISTENTIAL The period of "political reflection" will start in earnest in mid-September at a summit in Bratislava, Slovakia. Some EU leaders have said the goal is to reach a set of proposals by March of next year, the 60th anniversary of the EU's founding Rome Treaty. The period mirrors the one that followed French and Dutch rejections of a European constitution in dual referendums in 2005. Merkel came to power the same year and led negotiations on the more modest Lisbon Treaty. But the current crisis is more existential for the EU because of the Brexit vote, which in one fell swoop deprives the bloc of one of its only economic and political heavyweights. Years of crisis have also left deep scars among member states and there is very little agreement about what the changes should entail. Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic have called for the powers of the European Commission to be reined in following Brexit. Politicians in France and Belgium have suggested that a core of like-minded member states press ahead with deeper integration in a "multi-speed" Europe. And German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble appears to favor stricter budget rules, an idea that would infuriate southern European countries which are struggling to cope with high unemployment after years of austerity. A poll by the Pew Research Center earlier this month showed support for the EU plunging in its biggest member states. The fall was most pronounced in France, where only 38 percent of respondents said they had a favorable view of the EU, down 17 points from last year. Favorability ratings were also down sharply in Spain, at 47 percent, and Germany, at 50 percent. European Council President Donald Tusk, speaking at the end of the summit, said the flood of over a million migrants into Europe over the past year had been a major factor in the rising euroskepticism. "Irregular migration was and is one of the principle reasons of this crisis of confidence in Europe," said Tusk, noting that Europe needed to show its citizens that it could control its external borders. The influx of migrants has fueled populist, anti-immigrant parties like the National Front in France and Freedom Party in Austria, which have cheered the Brexit vote and called for referenda across Europe. "The Brexit vote risks preventing the EU from developing further," Commerzbank Chief Economist Joerg Kraemer told Reuters. "It has fueled euroskeptic forces in other states and in this situation, the politicians won't dare push for more Europe." (Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald & Paul Taylor, EU summit team; Writing by Noah Barkin; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Germany and the European Commission told Italy on Wednesday to follow the rules after Italy made preliminary plans to prop up its banks in the wake of volatility caused by Britain's vote to leave the European Union. Rome says it is concerned that Italian banks, which hold 360 billion euros (295.82 billion pound) of bad loans, a third of the euro zone's total, risk attack by hedge funds betting that market turmoil could tip them into full-blown crisis. Banking and government sources said Italy was preparing to protect its banking industry by requesting more flexibility from the EU on both public spending and state aid for its lenders. The Italian initiative did not go down well in Germany, the main contributor to the EU budget and a staunch supporter of fiscal discipline and strict rules. "On the banking union we established specific rules as far as the winding down of banks, the recapitalisation of banks is concerned," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference after a summit of EU leaders in Brussels, the first after Brexit. "We can't come up with new rules every two years," she said, replying to a question about Italy's requests. Merkel's comments came after an EU official told Reuters that the Commission, which is in charge of competition policies and financial rules, stood ready to support the banking sector in Italy but did not give its backing to Rome's plans. "The Commission is ready to help but so far it has not been convinced by what has been proposed by Italy," the official said. EU rules allow member states to provide financial help to banks only in case of an exceptional situation. "Can the Italians really prove that there is a systemic problem caused by the British vote? I don't know," the official said. "There is a special impact on the banks, this is true, but everyone in the world has been affected, not only Italy." Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he was confident that under existing rules the government would be able to ensure that citizens' bank savings were protected. He insisted there was no emergency situation to face in the Italian banking sector and that Italy was not asking to change existing rules. "The question of our banks is not on the agenda, no-one is asking to change the rules," he told reporters after the summit. On Tuesday, Renzi had met Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and vice president Valdis Dombrovskis, who takes control of EU financial services in July after British commissioner Jonathan Hill quit last week, and discussed the impact of Brexit on the Italian banking sector. Renzi also said he believed a bank rescue fund Italy set up with private investors this year can be capitalised further. The Atlante fund was set up to help banks raise money to boost their capital and shift some of bad debts. Two such capital hikes have already used up a large part of its firepower. The official showed caution towards a new bank-led initiative in Italy: "The question is who will put the money in. At some point the possibility of the banking system will be exhausted. There are limits." A Commission spokeswoman said on Wednesday that the EU executive is "closely monitoring market developments in the European Union, including in Italy". "We are in close, regular contact with Italy as part of our normal exchanges. We have no comment on the speculations in the press on any potential specific measures," she said. (Additional reporting by Gavin Jones and Isla Binnie in Rome, Noah Barkin in Brussels; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Brussels (AFP) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will hold talks in Brussels Wednesday with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has said she plans to defend Scotland's place in the EU after a vote by Britain as a whole to leave the bloc.

The meeting will take place at 5:00pm (1500 GMT), Margaritis Schinas, spokesman for the European Commission, said on Twitter. Sturgeon will also meet president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz.
By Alastair Macdonald and Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon got a "sympathetic" hearing in Brussels on Wednesday as she pleaded her case for Scots to stay in the EU, showing how Britain's vote to leave the bloc could splinter the United Kingdom. But she drew a rebuff from Spain and a mixed response from European officials. EU leaders met for the first time without Britain. Outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron flew home after briefing his 27 peers on Tuesday evening on last week's referendum defeat. Pro-independence leader Sturgeon has said that Scotland, where voters backed staying in the EU by a near 2-1 majority, must not be dragged out of the EU against its will. She wants to negotiate directly with Brussels to protect the membership rights of Scots - and is open to a new independence referendum if that is the only way to keep Scotland in the bloc. But Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, struggling to prevent the autonomous region of Catalonia from breaking away, said Madrid would oppose any EU negotiation with Scotland. "If the United Kingdom leaves, Scotland leaves," he said after the first meeting of the 27 EU partners without Britain. Sturgeon, pointedly referring to Rajoy as "acting" premier following the unclear outcome of Sunday's Spanish election, said she was not at all surprised to hear such "starting positions" from Madrid and she was well aware of the difficulties. "We are very early in this process," she told reporters, stressing that her priority was to have Scotland's voice heard. "I have been heartened today to hear a willingness to listen." A spokesman for Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU Commission chief who irked some European diplomats by meeting Sturgeon at such a critical time in EU relations with London, stressed that he had listened but would not interfere in British domestic politics. EUROPE VS LONDON The 27 EU leaders sent a firm message to London that there would be "no negotiations of any kind" on future trade relations until the UK officially triggers the EU treaty's exit clause. "This should be done as quickly as possible," they said in a joint statement. In a clear warning to Britain's Leave campaigners, added at the last minute, the 27 also said that access to Europe's prized single market "requires acceptance of all four freedoms" of movement for goods, capital, persons and services. Leave campaigners such as former London Mayor Boris Johnson, a favourite to succeed Cameron as Conservative Party leader and prime minister, have said they want free access to the EU common market, but would retain the right to control migration. Cameron, who campaigned to stay in the EU and announced he would step down by October after he lost last week's referendum, said on Tuesday that Britain's future relations with the bloc could hinge on its willingness to rethink free movement of workers, which he blamed for the referendum result. SYMPATHY FOR SCOTLAND There has been a surge in sympathy in many parts of Europe for the 5.5 million Scots, whose strong vote to stay in the EU was overridden by the English, who outnumber them 10 to one. Britain as a whole voted 52-48 percent to leave. But countries like Spain that have dealt with regional separatism are strongly opposed to any direct EU talks with Scotland. Back in London, Cameron told Parliament negotiations had to be carried out by the United Kingdom as a whole. European Council President Donald Tusk, the chairman of the summit of EU leaders, pointedly declined Sturgeon's request for a meeting. Nonetheless, Sturgeon prevailed upon Prime Minister Enda Kenny of Ireland, another part of the British isles facing serious Brexit problems, to remind leaders of Scotland's wishes. Officials from some EU states called Juncker's decision to meet Sturgeon a provocation designed to raise pressure on London to give formal notice to quit. He rejected such suggestions. "Scotland has won the right to be heard in Brussels," Juncker told a news conference. A spokesman said after the two met that he had listened to Sturgeon but stressed the issue must be dealt with in the context of U.K. constitutional affairs. Officials briefed on talks Sturgeon held with senior figures in the European Parliament said she discussed whether there was any legal way that a breakaway Scotland might somehow remain in the EU once the United Kingdom completed its so-called Brexit. EU officials stressed, as they did before Scots voted against independence in a 2014 referendum, that Scotland could not apply to join the Union until it was a sovereign state. Senior officials dismissed the notion that Scotland could take over the empty British chair at the European Council table. Sturgeon has raised the prospect of the Scottish parliament trying to block Brexit legislation to keep the entire United Kingdom in the EU, but has also said she believes a new referendum on Scottish independence is now highly likely. COMPLICATION With the EU facing years of uncertainty in negotiating the withdrawal of its second-biggest economy, the Scottish factor is a complication most governments would rather avoid. "This is a way of putting pressure on London to trigger the exit clause," a senior official in one EU government said of EU efforts to bounce London to the negotiating table, while Cameron has insisted only his successor will set the clock ticking on a two-year deadline to withdrawal. The leaders launched a period of political reflection, with their next informal meeting set for September in Bratislava, culminating in a set of reform proposals to get a better grip on migration, bolstering security and creating jobs and growth. "Europeans expect us to do better when it comes to providing security, prosperity as well as hope for a better future. We need to deliver on this, in a way that unites us, not least in the interest of the young," a joint statement of the 27 said. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called the British vote a wake-up call for Europe and said: "It's important to have this meeting of 27 because it will show the unity of the 27." But officials said that facade of unity was punctured in the meeting by calls from Poland and the Czech Republic for the EU to do less and return more powers to national capitals. Both countries' foreign ministers have called for Juncker to step aside after the Brexit vote - a suggestion he brushed aside. Juncker earlier challenged Cameron's explanation of the referendum defeat, saying successive British leaders had engaged in "Brussels bashing" and should not be surprised if their citizens had believed them. German Chancellor Angela Merkel doused any hopes that Britain might yet reverse its decision, warning after the dinner with Cameron against "wishful thinking". While she persuaded fellow leaders to give London more time to hand in its formal notice to quit, Merkel said Britain could not drag out the process endlessly. She made clear that a new government would not be allowed to "cherry-pick" the parts of EU membership benefits that it liked. (Additional reporting by Paul Taylor, Andreas Rinke, Svebor Kranjc, Julia Fioretti, Gabriela Baczynska and Noah Barkin in Brussels and Elisabeth O'Leary in Edinburgh; Editing by Noah Barkin, Peter Graff and Janet McBride)
A district judge found the officer guilty and jailed him for six months. (Yahoo file photo)

A former public servant was jailed six months on Wednesday (29 June) for unlawfully stalking his girlfriend.

Adrian Goh Guan Kiong, 38, is said to have done so by engaging in acts to harass and humiliate the 25-year-old woman.

According to media reports, the married man got to know the woman at the end of 2011 and they were involved in a relationship shortly after. The relationship continued after the woman started to work in a government department.

Goh had taken nude pictures of the woman with her consent but promised not to circulate them.

However, their relationship soured over the womans close relationship with several male colleagues, which led to the couple quarreling regularly.

His anger with the woman increased after he found out that she was going to Malaysia with a male colleague.

On 31 July 2015, Goh was having lunch with the woman at Causeway Point and she had passed her mobile phone to him. Goh then excused himself and went to a toilet.

Goh transferred the nude photos he had taken to the womans phone and sent four images to her work chat group on WhatsApp. He deleted the images from her phone after transferring them.

He followed up with messages to the chat group, saying that the images were sent to the wrong group, and later deleted the messages. Goh went back to his girlfriend and returned the phone to her.



The woman discovered about the pictures and messages and confronted Goh, who denied doing it.

Goh also created a fake email account and emailed the womans superior in August last year, alleging that she and a colleague had engaged in sex while at work, even though he was aware that there was no such relationship.

Knowing that the womans father was a staunch Christian, Goh posted a letter to him to say that she was engaging in pre-marital sex with two men.



The victim then made a police report on 3 August last year.

Pleading for leniency, Goh said in his mitigation letter that he was sorry and what he did was totally out of character.



Goh was the second person ever to be convicted of unlawful stalking under the Protection of Harassment Act. A 26-year-old man was sentenced on 17 June to 12 months in jail for a similar offence.



The maximum penalty for stalking is a $5,000 fine and 12 months jail.
Paris (AFP) - Hedi Slimane, the former creative director of French fashion house Saint Laurent, is to receive $13 million in a contractual dispute over his departure from the company, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

The ruling was made by a Paris commercial court after Slimane took the label's parent company Kering Group to court.

Saint Laurent announced in April that Slimane was leaving after a highly profitable four-year stint during which he remade the brand in his grungy rock star chic image.

However Slimane had been accused by some of denigrating the hallowed legacy of the fashion house's founder Yves Saint Laurent.

Belgian designer Anthony Vaccarello was named as his replacement within days.

Kering said it planned to appeal the court's decision, which it called an interim ruling concerning noncompetition obligations, a normal device to restrict executives from working for competitors for a certain amount of time.

Kering said it had lifted the clause at the end of Slimanes contract, thus freeing the designer from the employment restraint.

Now, the group, said 47-year-old Parisian Slimane was requesting that this clause be applied, along with the financial compensation that goes with it.

Slimane's lawyer Herve Temime said the court ruling was great news and "perfectly natural".
By Jason Szep, Matt Spetalnick and Andrew R.C. Marshall WASHINGTON/BANGKOK (Reuters) - The United States has decided to remove Thailand from its list of worst human trafficking offenders, officials said, a move that could help smooth relations with Bangkoks military-run government. The upgrade, confirmed to Reuters by a U.S. official in Washington and a Bangkok-based official from an international organization with direct knowledge of the rankings, would mark a rare boost for U.S.-Thai relations. Ties between the countries have flat-lined since the Thai military seized power in a 2014 coup that Washington strongly condemned. It also comes as President Barack Obama works to forge a united front among wavering Southeast Asian countries against China's pursuit of its territorial claims in the South China Sea. Bangkok has protested publicly to Washington that it should be removed from the lowest ranking on the State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, which is due to be released on Thursday. The report is expected to cite improvements in Thailand's efforts to combat human trafficking, especially in its vital multibillion-dollar seafood industry, the U.S. official said. The upgrade would put Thailand on a so-called "Tier 2 Watch List" and remove it from the rating for countries with the worst human-trafficking records, known as Tier 3. Major General Sansern Kaewkamnerd, spokesman for the Thai premier's office, said the upgrade shows Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha had stuck to his pledge to fight human trafficking in response to international criticism. "The international community will see that what the prime minister told the international community he would do, he did," Sansern told Reuters. Thai Defense Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan said the upgrade to Tier 2 Watch List did not mean Thailand will stop tackling trafficking issues. "Even though we will be moved to Tier 2 we need to keep solving this problem," said Prawit. The report organizes countries into tiers based on trafficking records: Tier 1 for nations that meet minimum U.S. standards; Tier 2 for those making significant efforts to meet those standards; Tier 2 "Watch List" for those that deserve special scrutiny; and Tier 3 for countries that are not making significant efforts. Thailand was downgraded to the lowest ranking in June 2014 just weeks after the military seized power. Thai officials were incensed last year when Malaysia was upgraded from Tier 3 but Thailand was not, and even human rights advocates agreed that Bangkok had made a greater effort to curb human trafficking than Kuala Lumpur had. In this year's report, the State Department has opted to keep Malaysia at the higher ranking it received last year, according to the U.S. official. State Department spokesman John Kirby declined to comment on the tier rankings: "We will not comment on the contents of this years report until after the report is released," he said. The junta has repeatedly vowed to crack down on human trafficking, particularly in its multi-billion-dollar seafood industry. Thailand is the world's third-largest seafood exporter, and much of the labor the fishing industry employs comes from neighboring Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Thailand recently reformed its anti-trafficking laws and introduced a system to track fishing vessels, part of what it called "comprehensive and irreversible" measures to clean up its supply chain and curb illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing. But rights groups say millions of migrant workers remain vulnerable to abuse in the fishing sector and other Thai industries. Investigations by news organizations and rights groups have exposed widespread trafficking and abuse, sparking fears of a consumer backlash in the West against Thai-sourced seafood. The Obama administration has been unsettled by Chinas warming ties with the Thai junta, which has sought to counterbalance the cooling of its traditionally strong U.S. relationship, U.S. officials say. A Reuters investigation published last August found that senior diplomats repeatedly overruled the State Department's anti-trafficking unit and inflated the grades of 14 strategically important countries, including Malaysia. The State Department denied any political considerations but U.S. lawmakers raised questions about the reports credibility and called for reforms. The TIP report matters to Thailand's generals not only because the U.S. appraisal could affect a key industry. The junta, widely criticized at home and struggling to kick-start a sluggish economy, also is keen to boost its record for tackling issues that previous, civilian governments did little about. (Additional reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat in BANGKOK and Patricia Zengerle in WASHINGTON; Writing by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Stuart Grudgings and Simon Cameron-Moore)
"As an actor of color, I really, every now and then, would love the freedom to play a character that doesn't have to represent every single Latina out there," America Ferrera tells ET when asked about her decision to play Brigida, the dim owner of a Spanish restaurant in Netflix's Special Correspondents, who, at times, struggles to communicate with Ricky Gervais' character because English is her second language.

"That's not a freedom, as actors of color, we feel the right to take, because there is so much pressure on every single role that does represent people of color or women that we put a burden on those roles to say something or to represent us or to stand for us," Ferrera continues.

MORE: America Ferrera Finds Her (Comedic) Voice on 'Superstore'

The role is not overtly offensive but it straddles a line, which Ferrera says is part of a larger farce and social commentary. "The way that I looked at that character was in that context of diving deeper into the ridiculous stereotypes to kind of comment on," she says, explaining why such a role was both appealing -- "I was really thrilled to work with Ricky Gervais" -- but seemingly at odds with her career.

The 32-year-old actress first became popular for playing the titular magazine employee on Ugly Betty. The show, which premiered 10 years ago, was celebrated for its portrayal of the Latino community on American television. Ferrera was recognized for defying stereotypes, which she has continued to do throughout her career, especially as producer and star of the NBC comedy Superstore.

Netflix

Superstore, Ferrera's first full-time commitment to a TV series since Ugly Betty, appealed to her because of creator Justin Spitzer's point of view. He wrote the characters without a specific ethnicity in mind; "He was just casting the best actors for the roles," Ferrera says. "That awareness was already there."

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And as a producer on the series, Ferrera is constantly having conversations with her team about diversity. "How do we defy expectations? How do defy stereotypes? Where are the opportunities to undercut what people expect?" she says. "Those are questions we're asking all the time and that's very important to me."

In recent months, Ferrera has become even more outspoken about diversity and, in particular, tokenism on TV. "Tokenism is about inserting diverse characters because you feel you have to; true diversity means writing characters that aren't just defined by the color of their skin, and casting the right actor for the role," she wrote in a guest column for Deadline. "Diversity is on everyone's agenda today, but it's something I've had to think about my entire career, because, in a way, it's like the tax you pay for being a person of color in this industry."

MORE: America Ferrera Talks 'Powerless' Feeling as an Actor of Color in Hollywood

"As an audience member, I find myself wanting roles that are female or roles that are women of color to represent a certain thing," Ferrera explains to ET. "But as an actor, an unequal burden falls upon actors of color to have every role say something and represent something."

That pressure, it seems, isn't only on Ferrera. Aziz Ansari, star and co-creator of Netflix's Master of None, says that "when you're a minority and have a voice, it can be a little daunting sometimes because there are so few voices of your kind because you're a minority."

His critically acclaimed series tackled issues of diversity, calling out Hollywood for its ignorance in using brown face and examining what it means to be Indian-American.

"Your voice is amplified in the community and there's this pressure to handle that in a certain way," Ansari says. "You know, what can you do? You're not going to please everybody."

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Heres what we know on Thursday June 30:

Turkish media, citing government officials, say a Russian, a Kyrgyz, and an Uzbek national were behind the attack on Istanbuls Ataturk International Airport Tuesday night that killed 42 people and wounded more than 200.

Three suicide bombers, whom officials suspected belonged to the Islamic State, opened fire and blew themselves up at the airport, one of Europes busiest.

Were live-blogging the aftermath of the attack, and you can read how it unfolded below. All updates are in Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5).

June 30 at 8:12 a.m.

Turkish media and officials are reporting the three men who attacked Istanbul airport were foreign nationals: Russian, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz. The death toll from the attack now stands at 42, according to Anadolu, the state-run news agency.

Heres more from Hurriyet, the Turkish newspaper:

A total of 13 suspects were detained in Istanbul on June 30 over the deadly suicide attack at the citys main Ataturk Airport on June 28 blamed on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadist group. Police conducted raids on 16 different addresses in Istanbul in the morning hours, detaining 13 suspects, including three foreign nationals, during the operation.

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8:12 a.m.

The Istanbul Governor's Office said the dead included 10 foreign nationals, including three who had dual nationality. The office also said that of the 239 people wounded in the attack, 109 had been discharged from hospital.

June 29 at 7:48 a.m.

Reuters, BBC, AP and others report the number of dead has risen from 36 to 41 between early Wednesday morning and Wednesday afternoon, citing Istanbuls governor. The number of injured has risen from 147 to 239.

11:08 p.m.

Witnesses described the attack and the chaos that followed reporters in Istanbul. From the AP:

Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions Tuesday. They were shaken by what they witnessed. Paul said: We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off. He added: There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a hand gun.

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From Reuters:

There was a huge explosion, extremely loud. The roof came down. Inside the airport it is terrible, you can't recognize it, the damage is big, said Ali Tekin, who was at the arrivals hall waiting for a guest when the attack took place. A woman named Duygu, who was at passport control having just arrived from Germany, said she threw herself onto the floor with the sound of the explosion. Several witnesses also reported hearing gunfire shortly before the attacks. Everyone started running away. Everywhere was covered with blood and body parts. I saw bullet holes on the doors, she said outside the airport.

9:29 p.m.

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The Turkish Red Cross tweeted a list of locations where people could donate blood in support of the victims:

Istanbul Anadolu yakas Kan bags noktalarmz da gorseldedir. pic.twitter.com/NAV0MGBTfX  Turk Kzlay (@TurkKizilayi) June 28, 2016

9:03 p.m.

Wire-service photos from the airport show people, some with luggage, sitting on sidewalks outside of the terminal where the attack occurred. Mark Lowen, BBCs Turkey correspondent, is there after his flight landed at Ataturk around the time of the bombing:

Airport official tells us it's "complete chaos" inside. Around 3000 passengers waiting at arrival gates. Could be several hours. #Istanbul  Mark Lowen (@marklowen) June 29, 2016

7:59 p.m.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters outside Ataturk airport that 36 people had been killed in the attack. The dead included five police officers. He said 147 people had been wounded, adding the three attackers blew themselves up.

He said the initial investigation suggests the Islamic State was behind the attack, but we are still working on determining the cause. He said the attackers had come to the airport by taxi. He said by 2:22 a.m. Wednesday local time air traffic is back to normal and flights have resumed in Turkey.

7:44 p.m.

Steven Nabil, a freelance journalist, who was at the airport at the time of the attack, tweeted this account of what he saw:

We just left the aiport. My wife was injured during the attack. We were face to face with the attacker while he sprayed #istanbul part1  Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016

I ran back got my wife pulled her to store broke in and waited in terror while he was shooting outside the store.we barely made it#istanbul  Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016

We were transiting from our honeymoon tonight through #istanbul back to NYC when the bullets were closer i hugged and kissed her  Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016

My wife was sitting at nero cafe while i went 3rd floor to get food from sabbaro. Heard shots ran fast toward her.people #istanbul part 1  Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016

Came down the stairs to see the court empty and the terrorist firing toward us.carried her arm and ran around sitting ducks part 2#istanbul  Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016

#istanbul we then took cover in a closet inside a hair salon.The 45 minutes we were sitting ducks waiting to find out who will open the door  Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016

7:35 p.m.

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This is at least the sixth major attack to hit Turkey this year. Earlier this month, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) killed seven officers and four civilians in Istanbul; in March, the Islamic State was blamed for a suicide attack in Istanbul that killed four people; earlier that month, a car bomb claimed by TAK killed 34 people in Ankara, the Turkish capital; in February, a TAK attack killed 29 people on military buses; and in January, 11 Germans were killed in Istanbul by a Syrian bomber. (All the numbers come from the BBC.) In 2015, there were at least three major attacks in Turkey that killed more than 100 people. ISIS claimed responsibility for two; TAK for one (which occurred at Istanbuls other airport).

7:23 p.m.

It is not yet clear who was behind the airport attack, but terrorist organizations often target such crowded places, known as soft targets, where the number of casualties can be high. In March, suicide bombers killed 16 people and injured many more at Zaventem airport in Brussels. Another 16 people were killed the same day in a bombing at a Brussels metro station. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks.

7:17 p.m.

In Washington, the White House said President Obama has been briefed on the attack. In a statement, White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the assault a heinous terrorist attack and reiterated the U.S.s support for Turkey, a NATO ally.

Ataturk International Airport, like Brussels Airport which was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind us together, Earnest said. Our deepest condolences go out to the families and loved ones of those killed, and we wish a speedy recovery to those injured.

The two presumptive presidential nominees also addressed the attack:

"All Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence." Hillary pic.twitter.com/QmSccJvcV0  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 28, 2016

Yet another terrorist attack, this time in Turkey. Will

the world ever realize what is going on? So sad.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2016

We must do everything possible to keep this horrible terrorism outside the United States.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2016

7:10 p.m.

Anadolu, the state-run news agency, quoted Vasip Sahin, Istanbuls governor, as saying three suicide bombers were involved in the attack. The news agency also quoted Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag as saying one attacker opened fire using an AK-47 ... before detonating a suicide bomb.

6:49 p.m.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as turning point in fight against terror around the world, according to his spokesman, who tweeted his comments.

#Turkey President @RT_Erdogan: "The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world."  Dogan Eskinat (@doganeskinat) June 28, 2016

#Turkey President @RT_Erdogan: "For terrorists, there is no difference between Istanbul+London, Ankara+Berlin, Izmir+Chicago, Antalya+Rome."  Dogan Eskinat (@doganeskinat) June 28, 2016

5:32 p.m.

Facebook has activated its safety-check feature, which allows users near the Ataturk Airport to mark themselves as safe and alert their Facebook friends to their status.

5:23 p.m.

AP, Reuters, and others now report at least 28 people are dead, citing Istanbuls governor. More from AP:

Bekir Bozdag said that according to preliminary information, a terrorist at the international terminal entrance first opened fire with a Kalashnikov and then blew himself up.

4:55 p.m.

Turkeys state broadcaster TRT World and others have increased the number of wounded from 20 to at least 60:

UPDATE: 60 people wounded following gunfire and explosions at #Istanbul's Ataturk Airporthttps://t.co/IdFiSDynsU pic.twitter.com/POKNCzoJhv  TRT World (@trtworld) June 28, 2016

4:49 p.m.

BBCs Turkey correspondent Mark Lowen landed at Ataturk around the time of the attack and is tweeting what he sees:

Just landed at #Istanbul #Ataturk airport to awful news. Waiting to disembark to see what situation is  Mark Lowen (@marklowen) June 28, 2016

All passengers being kept on plane for now. Unclear what is happening inside terminal  Mark Lowen (@marklowen) June 28, 2016

4:39 p.m.

The U.S. State Department has advised U.S. citizens to stay away from the airport:

Multiple casualties and wounded reported at Istanbul Ataturk International Airport in #Turkey. U.S citizens are advised to avoid the area.  Travel - State Dept (@TravelGov) June 28, 2016

4:38 p.m.

This is the second airport in Istanbul to be attacked in recent months. Last December, an explosion at the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport killed one person. A group known as the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) claimed responsibility.

4:26 p.m.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the explosions, but Turkey has been the target of several recent attacks both by the Islamic State, which operates in neighboring Syria, as well as Kurdish separatist groups, some of which Ankara views as terrorist organizations.

The Syrian civil war next door has created turmoil in Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quick to call for Bashar al-Assads ouster soon after the conflict began more than five years ago. But the civil war shows no sign of ending, and millions of people who have fled the fighting have made Turkey their top destination. This has also allowed some members of the Islamic State to cross over and operate inside the country. Add to this restive climate, Turkeys decades-long problem with Kurdish separatists. That conflict, which had eased in recent years, has escalated in recent months, with Turkish troops bombing Kurdish rebel groups some of which are fighting against Assad, and those groups, in turn, attacking Turkey through bombings and other means.

4:20 p.m.

Turkeys state broadcaster TRT World reports dozens of police, medics, and firefighters have been dispatched to the airport. The wounded are being treated at the site. TRT says Turkish Airlines staff are among the injured.

4:12 p.m.

Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency confirms earlier reports of 10 fatalities and gives a number wounded:

10 killed, 20 injured in Istanbul terror attack  ANADOLU AGENCY (ENG) (@anadoluagency) June 28, 2016

4:08 p.m.

Wire services have released the first photos of the airport after the explosions. Here's one from Reuters, showing ambulances rushing to the scene:

Osman Orsal / Reuters

And another, also from Reuters, of police cars blocking the road toward the airport:

Osman Orsal / Reuters

4:02 p.m.

CNN Turk and other news organizations report 10 people have died after the explosions, citing Turkeys justice minister.

3:43 p.m.

CNN Turk is reporting that taxis outside the airport are ferrying the wounded; the airport is on lockdown, the network adds.

3:42 p.m.

More on Ataturk International Airport: The airport is one of the busiest in Europe. It saw 61.3 million passengers last year, according to the website of TAV Airports, which operates Ataturk and four other airports in Turkey and several in Georgia, Tunisia, Macedonia, Saudi Arabia, and Croatia.

3:31 p.m.

CNN Turk is reporting that two explosions, as well as gunfire, were heard at Ataturk airport in Istanbul.

#BREAKING Reports of explosion and gunfire at international terminal of Ataturk Airport in Turkey's Istanbul  CNN Turk ENG (@CNNTURK_ENG) June 28, 2016

#BREAKING Eyewitness tells CNN TURK there were two loud explosions at Ataturk Airport #istanbul #Turkey  CNN Turk ENG (@CNNTURK_ENG) June 28, 2016

#BREAKING Casualties reported in explosion that rocked Istanbul Airport #Turkey pic.twitter.com/yNcnzxZlUq  CNN Turk ENG (@CNNTURK_ENG) June 28, 2016

Turkey has been the target of several recent deadly attacks. Some have been claimed by the Islamic State, which operates in neighboring Syria, while others have been claimed by Kurdish separatist groups.

This is a developing story and well update it as we learn more.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
To make users share more personal information, Facebook FB will be adding a new feature this week called Slideshow to its iOS mobile app. Slideshow has been a part of the social media services photo sharing Moments app.

Facebook will now automatically sync users photos and video and if there are more than five pictures/videos taken in the last 24 hours, it will create a slideshow for you. The preview of the slideshow will appear at the top of the news feed. Users can post, edit or delete the sideshow presentation. Users can customize the same by finding a slideshow in News Feed and clicking on the "Try It option."

Currently, Facebook has added 10 different themes of varying styles and music like epic, playful, nostalgic, and birthday with more additions coming eventually.

Facebook also added that slideshows use less data and load faster than the average video advert, making them ideal for users on low-bandwidth connections.

Slideshow yet again underscores Facebooks efforts to go full steam ahead with video viewing. Facebook is trying to tap the opportunity presented by ever increasing video viewing on social media platforms. As per The Wall Street Journal, Facebook recently signed nearly 140 deals with celebrities like actor Kevin Hart, Chef Gordon Ramsay and Indian American author Deepak Chopra and media houses like Buzzfeed, New York Times and CNN, worth $50 million to churn out live video content for its platform.

Online video is the most rewarding component of digital advertising. As video ads generate more revenues than its photo and text based counterparts, Facebook is trying to incorporate more and more video oriented content to bring in more ad dollars. Moreover, it is the live feature that is emerging as a terrific opportunity. Facebook noted that there has been a threefold jump in creation and sharing of new videos by users. Facebook also added that an initial survey found that people reacted 10 times more to a live video than regular videos. Research firm, Forrester Research projects digital ad revenues to touch $12.6 billion by 2019.

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Though Facebook is trying to expand into video viewing, the arena is marked by stiff competition. Alphabets GOOGL YouTube is the dominant player in this field. Also, Snapchat and Twitters TWTR Periscope are names to reckon with in the video space.

At present, Facebook is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock worth considering is NetEase, Inc. NTES, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Belgian data protection authority on Wednesday lost a legal battle with Facebook in which it sought to stop the social network from tracking the online activities of non-Facebook users in Belgium who visit the social network's pages. The Belgian Privacy Commission said the Brussels Appeals Court had dismissed its case on the grounds that the regulator has no jurisdiction over Facebook Inc, which has its European headquarters in Ireland. That marks a victory for the U.S. company, which staunchly maintained that only the Irish Data Protection Commissioner has jurisdiction over how it uses Europeans' data. Facebook has had run-ins with a number of European privacy watchdogs over its use of people's data. Belgium's data protection regulator took Facebook to court a year ago, accusing it of trampling on EU privacy law by tracking people without a Facebook account without their consent. The court ruled in favour of the regulator and ordered Facebook to stop tracking non-Facebook users when they visited a Facebook page or face a 250,000 euros ($277,000) daily fine. Facebook appealed the ruling. In the meantime it said it would comply and stop using the so-called 'datr' cookie which it places on people's browsers when they visit a Facebook.com site or click a Facebook 'Like' button on other websites, allowing it to track the online activities of that browser. "We are pleased with the court's decision and look forward to bringing all our services back online for people in Belgium," a Facebook spokeswoman said. The Belgian regulator said it would look into launching a final appeal with the Court of Cassation, which can throw out previous judgements but not deliver new ones. "Today's decision simply and purely means that the Belgian citizen cannot obtain the protection of his private life through the courts and tribunals when it concerns foreign actors," the regulator said in a statement. It added that the Court of Cassation had previously overruled the Court of Appeal on matters of jurisdiction over foreign companies. "Thus the citizen is also exposed to massive violations of private life," said Willem Debeuckelaere, president of the Belgian Privacy Commission. The Brussels appeals court also threw out the Belgian Privacy Commission's claim that the case was urgent and required expedited procedure. (Reporting by Julia Fioretti; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)
Global health officials are racing to better understand the Zika virus behind a major outbreak that began in Brazil last year and has spread to many countries in the Americas. The following are some questions and answers about the virus and current outbreak: How do people become infected? Zika is transmitted to people through the bite of infected female mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same type that spreads dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said Aedes mosquitoes are found in all countries in the Americas except Canada and continental Chile, and the virus will likely reach all countries and territories of the region where Aedes mosquitoes are found. How do you treat Zika? There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika infection. Companies and scientists are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine for Zika, but the World Health Organization (WHO) had said it would take at least 18 months to start large-scale clinical trials of potential preventative shots. How dangerous is it? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that infection with the Zika virus in pregnant women is a cause of the birth defect microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities in babies. The CDC said now that the causal relationship has been established, several important questions must still be answered with studies that could take years. According to the World Health Organization, there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause the birth defect microcephaly in babies, a condition defined by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems. In addition, the agency said it could cause Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis. Conclusive proof of the damage caused by Zika may take months or years. Brazil reports the number of confirmed cases of microcephaly at more than 1,600 as doctors and Brazilian health officials find that some suspected cases of microcephaly are not the disorder. Suspected ones under investigation declined to 3,257. Colombia confirmed two cases of microcephaly linked to Zika. Brazil registered 91,387 likely cases of the Zika virus from February until April 2. Current research in Brazil indicates the greatest microcephaly risk is associated with infection during the first trimester of pregnancy, but health officials have warned an impact could be seen in later weeks. Recent studies have shown evidence of Zika in amniotic fluid, placenta and fetal brain tissue. What are the symptoms of Zika infection? People infected with Zika may have a mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and fatigue that can last for two to seven days. But as many as 80 percent of people infected never develop symptoms. The symptoms are similar to those of dengue or chikungunya, which are transmitted by the same type of mosquito. How can Zika be contained? Efforts to control the spread of the virus focus on eliminating mosquito breeding sites and taking precautions against mosquito bites such as using insect repellent and mosquito nets. U.S. and international health officials have advised pregnant women to avoid travel to Latin American and Caribbean countries where they may be exposed to Zika. Cases of sexual transmission have also been reported, prompting health officials to advise use of condoms, or abstaining from sex, to prevent infection between partners. How widespread is the outbreak? Active Zika outbreaks have been reported in at least 48 countries or territories, most of them in the Americas, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Brazil has been the country most affected. (http://1.usa.gov/1ovAJyh) Africa (1): Cape Verde Americas (39): Argentina, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Bonaire, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthelmy, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, U.S. Virgin Islands and Venezuela Oceania/Pacific Islands (8): American Samoa, Fiji, Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tonga. What is the history of the Zika virus? The Zika virus is found in tropical locales with large mosquito populations. Outbreaks of Zika have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Southern Asia and the Western Pacific. The virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys and was first identified in people in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania, according to the WHO. [nL2N1641YI] Can Zika be transmitted through sexual contact? The World Health Organization (WHO) said sexual transmission is "relatively common" and has advised pregnant women not to travel to areas with ongoing outbreaks of Zika virus. It also advised women living in areas where the virus is being transmitted to delay getting pregnant. The U.S. CDC is investigating about a dozen cases of possible sexual transmission. All cases involve possible transmission of the virus from men to their sex partners. The WHO has also identified Zika cases in Argentina, Chile, France, Italy and New Zealand as likely caused by sexual transmission. British health officials reported Zika was found in a man's semen two months after he was infected, suggesting the virus may linger in semen long after infection symptoms fade. The PAHO said Zika can be transmitted through blood, but this is an infrequent transmission mechanism. There is no evidence Zika can be transmitted to babies through breast milk. What other complications are associated with Zika? Zika has also been associated with other neurological disorders, including serious brain and spinal cord infections. The long-term health consequences of Zika infection are unclear. Other uncertainties surround the incubation period of the virus and how Zika interacts with other viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes, such as dengue. (Compiled by the Americas Desk)
A fallen K9 received an officer's salute fit for a hero after being killed in the line of duty.

Read: Three-Legged U.S. Marine Corps Dog Is Awarded Highest Animal War Medal

On Tuesday afternoon, officers paid their respects to their fallen partner. They formed a line up in the parking lot outside the California hospital where K9 Credo succumbed to his injuries, and saluted as the fallen K9's remains were transported out in a gurney draped in an American flag.

Officers paying their respects to fallen K-9 Credo as he is carried from hospital by K-9 officers #K9Credo pic.twitter.com/MRIwBKoVcD  Long Beach PD (@LongBeachPD_CA) June 29, 2016

Credo's handler, 23-year Long Beach Police Department veteran Mike Parcells, appeared grief-striken and overcome at the ceremony.

The 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, who worked with patrol and narcotics and was pivotal in more than 30 apprehensions, was shot by friendly fire alongside the suspect.

Credo was transported by squad car to the Signal Hill Pet Hospital, where he died of his injuries.

"These service dogs, these K9s, they're not just dogs. These are police officers," Deputy Chief Richard Conant from the Long Beach Police Department said at a press conference. "This dog was injured in a performance of his duty and that's going to weigh heavily in the Long Beach police family."

Credo, who has served with the department for two years, will also be given an honorable burial.

Read: Meet the K-9 Who Helped Take Down Jared Fogle: 'He's Man's Best Friend Unless You're a Pervert'

K-9 Credo was a 4-yr-old Belgian Malinois who served the dept for 2-yrs along side his handler Ofc. Mike Parcells. pic.twitter.com/MegmctbEjf  Long Beach PD (@LongBeachPD_CA) June 28, 2016

According to a press release, the Long Beach Police Department were called in to join a SWAT team in arresting a male suspect wanted in connection with a 2014 shooting involving multiple victims.

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Credo was commanded to stop the suspect from advancing toward officers. The suspect was considered armed and dangerous, and produced a knife as Credo fought him off.

After the suspect refused to back down to intermediate measures including a rubber bullet, an officer then fired his weapon, and both the suspect and Credo were caught in the gunfire.

Aerial footage of the scene captured Officer Parcells slinging the dog over his shoulder, distraught. He carries his partner away from the scene and lays him on the sidewalk, and can be seen throwing off his helmet in frustration.

"[He] served valiently and courageously in the service he rendered to the Long Beach Police department," Long Beach Police Department's Liutenant Ryan LeBaron told InsideEdition.com, "and ultimately gave his life to the service."

K-9 Credo worked Patrol & Narcotics and was involved in over 30 apprehensions during his years of service. #lbpd pic.twitter.com/1WLwxd8tfQ  Long Beach PD (@LongBeachPD_CA) June 28, 2016

The unidentified suspect was also transported to local hospital where he was prononced dead.

Read: Cop Who Left Police Dog in Hot Patrol Car Also Investigated in Fatal Shooting of Previous K9 Partner

A young woman, who NBC4 identified as the suspect's sister, said, "I wouldn't wish death on my brother. I wouldn't wish death on the dog. I wish everything could have been normal."

Credo became Parcells' second K9 partner who was killed in duty. In 2005, K9 Ranger was struck by gunfire during a tactical incident where he was working to apprehend another dangerous suspect, LeBaron told InsideEdition.com.

According to CBS LA, Ranger was killed after officers attempted to expel an armed parolee from underneath a porch.

Watch: K9 Gets Stage Fright As He Is Sworn Into Office as Department's First Comfort Dog

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Its been confirmed. While the plot and exotic locales of the latest Fast and Furious movie, Fast 8, have yet to be known, the production crew has released a few teasers and hints. The cast is going to Iceland.

The crew recently filmed scenes in the Nordic island nation and here are some of the special ice cars that fans can expect to see. Time to get excited.

Expectedly, Roman Pearce (played by Tyrese Gibson) has opted for a fast, exotic, and typically flashy supercara shapely orange Lamborghini Gallardo. No word yet on how V10 Italian supercars function in the snowy North

VIDEO: Check Out the $17 Million Cars of Fast and Furious 8

Another obvious choice, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) finds himself behind the wheel of another specially built Dodge Chargergo figureoutfitted with a set of studded snow tires, gigantic fender flares, and showing some considerable battle damage.

His perennial love interest Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) keeps the muscle car trend going with the rough-and-tumble Local Motors Rally Fighter, complete with an LED light bar, bull bar, and enough ground clearance to tackle some small boulders.

RELATED: Check Out Paul Walkers 1993 Fast and Furious Supra

Luke Hobbs (Dwayne The Rock Johnson) and Tej Parker (Chris Ludacris Bridges) both go for a more military-style approach with their ice ridesan Ice Ram pickup truck and a Ripsaw tank, both sporting US military liveries. With a turret mounted on top and all-terrain capability, the Ripsaw tank ought to be the hero of the scene, then again you never know what a Ram pickup with a giant claw on the back will do.

Excited yet? The Fast and Furious franchise returns to the silver screen on April 14, 2017.

RELATED: The Worlds Only Bare Carbon Ferrari Enzo is For Sale
More than a half century of safety advances, public-relations campaigns, legislation, and advertising pitches by the Department of Transportation and the worlds automakers have persuaded 88.5 percent of Americans to fasten their seat belts when they get into their cars.

But that also means 11.5 percent of vehicle drivers and passengers still dont buckle up. That translates to almost 25 million people who ignore the public-service ads, the reminder chimes in their vehicles, the 49 state laws that make seat belt use mandatory, and the nagging from loved ones who do click into their seat belts.

At this point in the history of the seat belt, the research behind its effectiveness is so conclusive and well-socialized that few abstainers can claim ignorance, forgetfulness, or confusion. To regulators and safety advocates, the remainder of stubborn people who refuse to buckle up represents an incredibly high number of unnecessary vehicle fatalities.

The societal consequences extend beyond the tragedies themselves. The added risk from unbelted motorists raises car-insurance rates and healthcare costs for everyone. And automakers have made numerous design compromises to their vehicles to account for unbelted occupants, resulting in cars that are less safe for the rest of us.

Seat belts have been standard equipment in passenger cars since 1968. Usage was low at first, but in the 1980s states began to set mandatory seat belt laws. The DOT then pushed out a large-scale public-education campaign, which turned crash-test dummies into cultural icons. (Scroll down to see a history of seat belts.)

The results were significant. After New York State passed the first seat belt law in 1984, observed belt use rose from 14 percent to 37 percent within two years. By the end of the 1990s, it was above 70 percent.

The Vince and Larry ads and high visibility enforcement campaign Click It or Ticket have proven tremendously helpful in increasing seat belt use, says Mark Rosekind, chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

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Rosekinds agency is Americas official record-keeper when it comes to traffic accidents. According to its data, seat belts represent the single greatest public-safety innovation in automotive history. In the past 50 years, 14 safety innovations have saved 613,501 lives. They include frontal airbags, child safety seats, and side impact protection and curtain airbags. But not one has come close to seat belts, which are responsible for saving 329,715 livesmore than half the total.

Consumer Reports recently posted an online request to hear from seat belt abstainers. A majority of respondents complained of discomfort, especially shorter drivers and women with large breasts.

Others expressed a fierce libertarian streak, seeing seat belt laws as onerous and unjustified. Some were baby boomers who grew up not wearing belts and never got into the habit of using them. Many said they buckled up on highway trips but not when driving around town. We even heard from someonewho said hes in law enforcementwho refuses to wear a seat belt and doesnt think anyone else should have to, either.

More than a few who responded said they had been in accidents while unbelted but continued not to wear a seat belt. Some even theorized that being ejected from the car actually saved their life.

There are always stories of people defying the odds and surviving a car crash unbelted, but the likelihood of being injured or killed as a result of being ejected is actually very high, says Jennifer Stockburger, director of operations for Consumer Reports Auto Test Center.

The odds are not in your favor, Stockburger says. Youll only hear survival stories from survivors, but unfortunately not from the many whose lives could have been saved by buckling up.

Statistically speaking, youre twice as likely to die in a crash if youre not wearing a lap/shoulder seat belt. Your chances are even worse if youre in a light truck or SUV.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, women are more likely to buckle up than men, and drivers in urban and suburban areas are more likely to wear their seat belts than those in rural areas.

Backseat Bad News

Data on rear-seat passengers are the most distressing. Adult seat belt use in 2014 was only 73 percent in rear seats, down from 78 percent the previous year. Worse still, rear seat belt use among younger passengers (ages 16 to 24) fell significantly, to 68 percent from 78 percent, a possible reason motor-vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teens. NHTSA data show that more than half of teenagers who died in crashes werent wearing a seat belt.

Rear-seat passengers are three times more likely to die in a crash if theyre unbelted, according to a recent study done for the Governors Highway Safety Association. It noted that 883 unrestrained rear-seat passengers ages 8 and older were killed in crashes, but that buckling up might have saved 436 of them.

The study also revealed a macabre fact: A driver wearing a seat belt is more than twice as likely to be killed in a frontal crash when an unbelted person in the backseat is hurled forward.

By being completely unrestrained in a vehicle, the child or the adult is free to fly around inside the vehicle and strike basically anything, says Dennis Durbin, M.D., director of the Office of Clinical and Translational Research at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. Anything can include hard surfaces such as the side pillars, glassor other occupants.

An unrestrained passenger in the backseat might not only become a projectile that hits the driver in the back of the head; he or she can also be propelled forward with enough force to compress the driver against the steering wheel or windshield, Durbin says.

I suspect that when people choose not to wear their seat belt, particularly in the backseat, he says, they dont realize that they are putting others in the vehicle at risk.

Society Picks Up the Tab

In 2010 NHTSA studied the social and economic costs of motor-vehicle crashes. The conclusion? A direct cost to society of $242 billion that year. When pain and suffering were included, it came to $836 billion.

Seat belts saved 12,500 lives and prevented 308,000 serious injuries that year. As a result, seat belts saved $50 billion in medical care costs and the lost productivity and other costs they would entail. But crashes involving unbelted passengers cost society more than $10 billion.

Those of us not directly involved in crashes pay for more than 75 percent of all crash-related costs, direct and indirect. Those costs are primarily related to higher insurance premiums, taxes, travel delays, and excess fuel consumption because of traffic, according to NHTSAs study.

Also, about one-third of what insurers pay out in auto-insurance claims is for medical bills. Therefore, about one-third of what consumers pay for liability coverage is affected by medical costs, says Robert Passmore, assistant vice president of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

If you are using your seat belt, you are much less likely to sustain an injury in the first place, and the severity of that injury is going to be less, Passmore says. Generally speaking, the less severe the injuries, the lower medical costs will be. But among the worst things that can happen to you is to go through the windshield or be thrown outside the car. Thats where you hear of the most catastrophic injuries occurring.

The more severe an injury, the higher the related costs. According to NHTSAs 2010 report, the cost of an accident in which a passenger is critically injured is estimated at more than $3.3 million in terms of medical bills, property damage, and lost wages. For a fatality, that number climbs to more than $5.3 million.

How Seat Belts Affect Car Design

Auto-industry experts consulted by Consumer Reports say that modern cars are designed to protect unbelted occupants in a crash, but that those protections result in compromises that can actually reduce safety and comfort. One result is that automotive engineers essentially have to supersize airbags.

The belted occupant is subject to a much larger, more powerful airbag than necessary, says Chris Caruso, a former GM crash-safety engineer and now a consultant with Automotive Safety Consulting in Las Vegas. He spent more than 20 years designing three generations of airbag safety systems, leading to the airbags that are in vehicles today.

Modern cars take into account how passengers are seated, their weight, and whether or not theyre belted, then adjust the force at which airbags deploy accordingly. But there are design and engineering limitations for how much the airbag can be depowered. Also, airbags could be made smaller if federal standards didnt require them to protect unbelted occupants, Caruso says.

The larger size and volume of the driver airbag to compensate for unbelted occupants results in an airbag that is larger than the steering wheel rim diameter, Caruso explains. That can result in injuries to the drivers hands, wrists, and forearms in a crash.

In Europe, where a higher percentage of people use seat belts, regulators dont require automakers to build airbags to protect unbelted passengers, so airbags are smaller.

If the U.S. adopted similar regulations, belted occupants actually could be much safer, although that would mean unbelted occupants would be at a much greater risk, Caruso says.

Sam Campbell, the head of U.S. safety engineering at BMW, says that the requirement to accommodate unbelted passengers makes a difference in cabin design as well.

BMWs vehicles, especially its smaller cars, could be roomier and lighter, reducing emissions and fuel consumption, Campbell says. But to protect the unbelted, the instrument panel has to be closer to occupants to keep them from being hurtled as far and fast toward the airbags. If they were belted, you would have a little bit more design freedom to make the instrument panel a little bit slimmer.

And without that requirement, BMW could do away with part of the instrument panel and knee airbags, Campbell says.

But those airbags are designed to protect the lower extremities of unbelted occupants, who could otherwise be thrown into the footwell. Smaller, less expensive airbags could also mean a reduction in the cost of a vehicle or the addition of features, Campbell adds.

Rolling Out New Tech

Technology exists that could get more people to buckle up and keep them safer when they do. The new Chevrolet Malibu, for instance, can mute the vehicles stereo when people in the front arent wearing their seat belts.

Adding seat belt reminder chimes for rear seats like those for up front could also get more people to buckle up. Thats why Congress, at the urging of Consumer Reports and other safety advocates, asked the Department of Transportation to propose a rule for rear seat belt reminder systems by October 2014. The agency still hasnt done so.

Other technologies are also available to further improve seat belt performance. For years, front seat belts have had pre-crash pretensioners and load limiters to help reduce chest injuries for belted occupants in a collision, yet those systems are rare to nonexistent for rear seat belts. And some Fords and Mercedes-Benzes offer seat belts with a small airbag in the shoulder portion for rear seat occupants.

Getting driversand their passengers to buckle up is one of the great success stories in our society, about how we can change behavior, says Rosekind of NHTSA. But more work needs to be done.

We are at 88.5 percent, he says. We need to get all the way to 100.

A History of Seat Belts

Editor's Note: This article also appeared in the August 2016 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.





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COLUMBUS, OH - MARCH 24: Fedor Tyutin #51 of the Columbus Blue Jackets skates against the Carolina Hurricanes on March 24, 2016 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Columbus Blue Jackets have bought out the final two years of the contract for long-time defenseman Fedor Tyutin.

The decision to buy out Tyutin will save Columbus $3,291,667 million against the salary cap this season and $2,541,667 against the salary cap for the following season according to General Fanager.

It will still cost Columbus $1,208,33 million against the salary cap for 2016-17 and $1,958,333 for 2017-18.

The following two years Tyutins buyout will cost Columbus $1,458,333 each season. The NHLs buyout period ends at 5 p.m. eastern time on June 30.

Buying him out also prevents the Blue Jackets from being forced to protect him in next years expansion draft. This is because he had a no-move clause.

The move was necessitated by Columbus decision to re-sign young restricted free agent defenseman Seth Jones to a six-year $32.4 million contract. The Blue Jackets now have $69,665,475 locked into 46 contracts for 2015-16 without any major restricted free agents left to sign.

Tyutin ranks second all-time in Blue Jackets game played with 553, behind Rick Nash. Columbus acquired the 32-year-old Tyutin from the New York Rangers on July 2, 2008 along with Christian Backman for Nikolai Zherdev and Dan Fritsche.

Fedor Tyutin is a pro in every sense of the word and has been an important player for the Columbus Blue Jackets for many years, but this decision is a result of the current depth on our blue line and to add some financial flexibility for our club moving forward, Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said in a statement. I want to thank Fedor for his many contributions and wish he, his wife, Sarah, and their family all the best moving forward.

A recent online chat by the Columbus Dispatch also noted Jared Boll and David Clarkson as possible buyout candidates, though it also said, theres very little relief in buying out Clarkson and he might also be an LTIR candidate.

As far as other aging players with big contracts on the Blue Jackets, the Dispatch recently reported forward Scott Hartnell was on the market, but his deal for a $4.75 million salary cap hit per-year through 2018-19 may make him unmovable.

Story continues

Even though Hartnell remains productive, with more goals (51) than any other Blue Jacket during his two-season tenure, his salary demands and the no-movement clause in his contact, with an expansion draft looming, make him a tough sell

Last season Tyutin scored one goal and notched two assists in 61 games and averaged 17:35 of ice-time per-contest. Hes not the top-four defenseman he once was, but he adds more depth to a group of unrestricted free agent defensemen that lack marquee names.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
When Fidelity introduced its lineup of 10 sector exchange-traded funds, which has since grown to include a real estate fund, three years ago, those ETFs were the least expensive sector funds on the market.

Well, Vanguard, also known as Mecca for thrifty investors, did not like Fidelity's low fees and although it took Pennsylvania-Vanguard until late 2015, the firm was able to regain the title of issuer of the least expensive sector ETFs when it unveiled another batch of fee cuts.

Now Boston-based Fidelity is apparently serious about being home to the cheapest sector ETFs, because the issuer announced it is trimming fees on its 11 sector ETFs. The announcement was made as part of a broader fee reduction plan unveiled by Fidelity on Tuesday.

The Battle Continues

As of July 1, Fidelity's 11 sector ETFs will charge 0.084 percent per year, or $8.40 for every $10,000 invested. That is down from the ETFs' original expense ratio of 0.12 percent a year. Fidelity clients can enjoy added cost savings because the firm's sector ETFs, among other ETFs, are available to its clients on a commission-free basis.

Related Link: Deutsche AM Adds Multi-Factor Small-Cap ETF

The average expenses across Fidelity's index fund line-up will decrease to 10.2 basis points (0.102 percent), down from 11.6 basis points today. The expense reductions are expected to save current shareholders approximately $20 million annually, according to a statement.

Fidelity's well-known sector ETFs include the following, among others;

Fidelity MSCI Consumer Discretionary Index ETF (NYSE: FDIS)

Fidelity MSCI Energy Index ETF (NYSE: FENY)

Fidelity MSCI Health Care Index ETF (NYSE: FHLC)

So in the race to almost free among sector ETFs, it is Vanguard's. If history is an accurate guide, Vanguard will respond.

See more from Benzinga

 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
A talky and mostly turgid attempt by British director David Yates to build on the epic vision he brought to the final four Harry Potter movies via another beloved literary hero, The Legend of Tarzan is sequel, origin story and racially sensitive revisionist history lesson all in one. What it isnt is much fun for anyone whos seen Edgar Rice Burroughs ape man in any of his previous incarnations. While name recognition alone should snare a fair number of those who prefer their pulp heroes endowed with superpowers, between this and last years Pan, evidence suggests Warner Brothers ought to leave the live-action reboots to Disney.

As it turns out, Disney scored a double victory earlier this year with The Jungle Book, not only getting out in front of Warners Andy Serkis-directed version of the same, but also stealing the thunder from the rival studios other jungle child tentpole. Relatively light on action and downright disappointing in the visual effects department, The Legend of Tarzan is conspicuously bookended by two registered trademark symbols. The first appears after the title itself, lest anyone dare to use Tarzan without the Burroughs estates permission, while the other is buried deep in the end credits, following the standard American Humane Society sign-off: No animals were harmed. And how could animals be harmed in a film where they all appear to be digital anyway?

For a film of this scale, the visual effects are astonishingly subpar, obliging the creative team to distract us with such impressive topographical sights as the African savannah and Alexander Skarsgards abs. The latter selling point doesnt appear until nearly midway through the movie, until which point Adam Cozad and Craig Brewers script is concerned primarily with getting Tarzan back to Africa  a prospect his beloved Jane (a semi-empowered Margot Robbie) far prefers to days spent hybridizing coconuts and playing ping pong. While choppy, action-oriented flashbacks retrace the feral childs formative years in the wild, it seems the one-time vine-swinger has grown up and re-gentrified in rainy old England, where he has traded his loincloth for a dapper pair of pants and assumed his identity as John Clayton III, fifth earl of Greystoke and member of the House of Lords.

Covering his protagonist in scars (a superficial gesture toward realism), Yates has attempted to give us a more psychologically complex Tarzan  which is to say, he serves up a version of the character that shamelessly emulates the why so serious tone of Christopher Nolans brooding Batman movies. Skarsgard plays Clayton as a pampered rich kid haunted by his parents deaths who feels compelled to protect others. The main difference is the fact that everybody knows his secret identity, which makes it rather easy for the films villain, Capt. Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz in yet another of his suave sociopath roles, just a few degrees removed from the well-mannered Nazi officer he played in Inglourious Basterds), to invent a pretext that will lure Tarzan to the Congo, where Rom plans to deliver him to vengeful tribal chief Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou) in exchange for the sought-after diamonds of Opar (insert another registered trademark symbol here).

Inadvertently helping to pull off Roms plan is another Tarantino regular, Samuel L. Jackson, who may as well be riffing on his score-settling The Hateful Eight character here. Jackson plays George Washington Williams, a veteran of the American Civil War (and a real historical figure) who suspects that Belgian king Leopold II may be enslaving  or at least condoning the enslavement of  the natives of his colony in the Congo. Having fought to help end slavery in the United States, Williams has now set out to staunch the practice at its source, enlisting Tarzan (who frankly seems more interested in the fate of the gorilla family who raised him) to restore some sense of balance to the region.

Williams makes an intriguing addition to the formula, as does the decision to peg this particular Tarzan adventure to the Congo, which isnt necessarily the backdrop Burroughs had in mind, although situating it there does allow the film to make a more impactful commentary on Europes controversial relationship with the Dark Continent. To the extent that white men have exploited Africa for more than two centuries, Tarzan comes to represent the extension  a hero who identifies with the natives and stands up to the corrupt white men who refuse to respect their lives, liberty of potential claim to their own natural resources.

The film establishes Roms villainy early on via a scene of disturbingly cold-blooded genocide, as the Belgian officer gives the go-ahead for his Force Publique soldiers to machine-gun locals armed only with spears (although like Tarzan, Yates seems more interested in the fate of the gorilla family later in the film). Rom, who is also based on an actual historical figure, was notoriously cruel to African natives  to the extent that his habits may have inspired the character of Col. Kurtz in Heart of Darkness. Dressed in white linen and armed with only a deadly rosary made from Madagascar spider silk, Rom gets the fate Hollywood feels he deserves, which includes a homophobic barb from Jane that flies right over the characters head (Sounds like you and your priest were really close).

The role of Tarzan is unique among Western heroes in that he requires virtually no acting ability (as bodybuilder Miles OKeeffe and Calvin Klein model Travis Fimmel both demonstrated). And yet, with each subsequent screen appearance, the bar is raised on how perfect audiences expect the characters wildly unnatural physique to be. In that respect, True Blood hunk Skarsgard makes a fine choice for the role, looking more than ever like someones fantasy PhotoShop rendering of father Stellans head grafted onto an impossibly shredded torso  which isnt so far removed from the process the visual effects team used to meld his face onto an all-CG body during scenes when Tarzan swings through the trees at top speed.

To the extent that modern audiences accept the character as a sort of proto-superhero, Tarzans powers rank way down there with those of Aquaman: Hes super-strong, agile and can speak to animals, having mastered the mating calls of nearly every African species. Whenever Tarzan shares the screen with animals, however, the critters look appallingly digital  with human actors not even bothering to look in the right direction much of the time (consider the scene when Mbongas men are surrounded by gorillas, reacting as if to invisible ghosts). Its a glaring problem, given all the attention Yates poured into crafting a believable context for what amounts to a glorified B movie. As a brand, Burroughs hero has always been schlocky, and no amount of psychological depth or physical perfection can render him otherwise if the filmmakers cant swing a convincing interaction between Tarzan and his animal allies. That dynamic  along with his full-throated yodel  has always been Tarzans trademark, but in this relatively lifeless incarnation, it simply doesnt register.

Related stories

Samuel L. Jackson to Receive Albert R. Broccoli Award From BAFTA/LA

'Legend of Tarzan' Director: Samuel L. Jackson's Character 'Deserves a Movie in His Own Right'

Alexander Skarsgard-Michael Pena Comedy 'War on Everyone' Bought by Saban
By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Firefighters in central California appeared on Tuesday to have turned a corner in their battle to corral a deadly wildfire that ranks as the biggest and deadliest in a rash of blazes that have raged up and down the state in recent days. Crews carved containment lines around 45 percent of the fires perimeter by Tuesday morning, up from 10 percent on Sunday, while a key highway through the area was reopened and additional evacuees were permitted to return to their homes, authorities said. Fire managers also began to scale back manpower deployed against the so-called Erskine Fire, which erupted Thursday in the drought-parched foothills near Lake Isabella in Kern County, about 110 miles (180 km) north of Los Angeles. The total firefighting force assigned to the blaze numbered about 1,800 personnel on Tuesday, down from more than 2,000 earlier in the week. As of Tuesday, nearly 47,000 acres had burned, with little growth reported since Monday. "Overall the fire was quiet last night," according to an update issued by fire managers on Tuesday. "Smoke will be visible over the next several days as unburned pockets of grass and trees within the fire's perimeter continue to burn." The fire raged largely unchecked during its first two days as high winds quickly drove flames through several communities south of the lake, burning more than 250 structures to the ground as residents fled for safety. The charred remains of two people were found on Friday just beyond the ruins of their home, Kern County sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt said. Authorities warned earlier that the death toll could rise as salvage crews made their way through devastated neighbourhoods to inspect the damage. The two victims were identified by the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin as a priest and his wife, Byron and Gladys McKaig. Their deaths marked California's first wildfire fatalities of 2016. Although wildfire season officially began in May, the nine major blazes that flared across California over the past week in the midst of an early summer heat wave marked the first widespread outbreak of intense fire activity this year. The Erskine was by far the largest and most destructive of those. Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the state had already experienced some 2,400 wildfires, small and large, since January. They burned a total of 99,000 acres (400 square km). The cause of the Erskine fire was under investigation. (Additional reporting by Sharon Bernstein; editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f130882%2fsnake_in_fire

LONDON  There are probably quite a few advantages to keeping an 8-foot-long snake as a pet  we imagine it would make a pretty effective guard dog, for one thing  but there are also some inevitable problems.

Billy the boa constrictor recently caused something of an uproar after he decided to investigate the inside of his owner's gas fire  only to get himself well and truly stuck.

SEE ALSO: Billy the bull gets his head stuck in a tree, fire service storms to the rescue

Gainsborough Fire Station  who had to be called to the scene to help free Billy  shared the following images on Twitter in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

"The owner lets Billy roam around the living room to stretch its legs, as it were!" Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue worker Andrew Thorpe told the BBC.

"He usually curls around the pouffe, but the owner turned her back for a minute and it got in a tiny hole under the fire!"

Here are some mildly disturbing closeups of Billy being removed.

Image: twitter/@gainsboroughfrs

Image: twitter/@gainsboroughfrs

Image: twitter/@gainsboroughfrs

Image: twitter/@gainsboroughfrs

The whole thing looked like a much, much creepier version of that magic trick where the magician pulls a super-long handkerchief from his pocket.

Billy was apparently a bit shaken up by the incident, but fortunately he came out of it unscathed.
From Esquire

Hawaii's governor David Ige signed a bill Monday that places residents who own firearms on an FBI database, and will monitor them for possible wrongdoing anywhere in the United States.

Residents in Hawaii are already required to register their firearms. The bill essentially adds one more step, where Hawaii police will register the firearm and enroll the owner into an FBI criminal monitoring service called "Rap Back," according to Ige's office.

Rap Back has already been in use as means of monitoring criminal activity by people under investigation, or people in certain positions of authority (such as teachers and daycare workers). Hawaii is the first state to place registered gun owners on Rap Back.

If Hawaii police see that a registered owner has been arrested, they can then evaluate whether or not the person should continue to possess a gun. Hawaii state Senator Will Espero, a Democrat who co-authored the law and owns a gun, said to Reuters it was "common sense legislation that does not hurt anyone."

Naturally, the NRA disagrees.

"As you can imagine, the NRA finds this one of the most extreme bills we've ever seen," Amy Hunter, a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association's institute for legislative action said to Reuters.

The NRA website reads, "The exercise of an individual's Second Amendment rights is not inherently suspicious and should not require a person to surrender other civil liberties, including unwarranted invasions of privacy or unequal treatment under the law. The lawful acquisition, possession, carrying, or use of a firearm does not justify subjecting citizens to ongoing monitoring."

In addition to this bill, Ige's office also signed into law two other firearms bills. One would disqualify people convicted of stalking and sexual assault from gun ownership. The other bill would require firearm owners to surrender their weapons if they were diagnosed with a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder.
Havana (AFP) - Starwood Hotels on Tuesday took over management of a luxury hotel in central Havana, becoming the first big American hospitality chain with a presence on the island since the Cuban Revolution a half-century ago.

The newly-rechristened Cuba Four Points by Sheraton on Havana's Quinta Avenida -- a hotel owned by the Cuban military -- now will be managed by the American hospitality giant.

Located in Havana's Miramar district, the posh hotel -- formerly known as the Quinta Avenida hotel -- has rooms available from $246 per night, according to its website.

Management of the hotel under the Starwood banner is a point of pride, said Jorge Giannattasio, who oversees the company's Latin American properties.

"It's a unique moment, a special moment" to be the first US-based hotel company in 55 years to locate in Cuba, Giannattasio said at a ceremony late Tuesday marking the re-opening of the newly-refurbished, 186-room hotel.

One of the world's leading hospitality companies, Starwood has more than 1,300 properties in about 100 countries, and also runs the Meridien, W, Westin and Sheraton hotels chains.

The company soon will assume management of another iconic Cuban hotel -- the Inglaterra, an 83-room property which first opened in 1875.

Starwood's entry into the hospitality industry on the Communist island is the latest sign of normalized ties between the United States and Cuba.

The former Cold War foes in July of last year restored diplomatic ties severed half a century ago.

President Barack Obama paid an historic visit to Cuba in March of this year, further cementing the normalization of relations.

A spokesman for the US State Department, Mark Toner, told reporters on Tuesday that "providing adequate lodging and safety and security for authorized travelers will increase people-to-people contact, and that'll benefit the normalization process."

He said Starwood's re-training of the staff at the property it now runs in Havana "is going to help develop sector-specific know-how among Cuban employees in the lodging and travel business".

Toner added: "This is just one deal, but what we want to keep seeing is a steady increase in these kinds of investments -- certainly in the tourist infrastructure for Cuba.
Mongolians head to the polls Wednesday for their seventh national election since transitioning from state socialism to democracy in 1990. Here's what you need to know:

What's at stake?

Mongolia is rich in natural resources, with huge deposits of copper and coal, as well as gold and other minerals. The government has promised to use those treasures to enrich the nation, but the road to prosperity has been bumpy. Economic growth skyrocketed in 2011, as Ulan Bator worked to get a major mineral deposit online. But political bickering and an economic slowdown in Mongolia's biggest trading partner, China has kept the country's mines from reaching their potential, meaning politicians have fallen short of their big promises for new jobs and big money. In the words of University of British Columbia analyst Julian Dierkes, voters' have one big question on their minds: who is going to put fried mutton on the table?

Who are the major players?

Mongolia's ruling Democratic Party (DP) is pitted against its rival the Mongolian People's Party (MPP). The DP put Mongolia on its current democratic path, but the MPP, a leftover from the Soviet era, still commands strong loyalty from older voters with fond memories of socialist rule. Both parties have their partisans, but many Mongolians see little difference between the two. Voters hoping for a fresh approach to government have few options. While the 2012 election featured candidates from a range of political parties, the country's constitutional court changed the election rules in May of this year, moving it from proportional representation to a plurality-based system, essentially eliminating third parties. Still, there are a few other small parties and around 70 independents.

Mongolia is so big. How do people get to the polls?

With a population of about 3 million spread over more than 1.5 million square kilometres, Mongolia has the lowest population density of any country in the world. That's great for herders, who count on access to the country's vast steppe to feed their animals, but hard for people trying to get to the polls. So, the government has taken great pains to make sure everyone has the chance to vote. A number of Mongolia's 21 provinces have set up gers, traditional Mongolian homes also known as yurts, in strategic locations around the countryside. Voting is done by black box, an optical scanning machine that transmits results from even the farthest reaches of the Gobi desert to election committees, who then report to the central government by phone. Once the preliminary count is in, administrators collect the ballots and verify 50 percent by hand, with final tallies announced on July 1. For the elderly or sick, mobile polling stations roam the country, letting people vote from the comfort of their own home.

Story continues

How is Mongolia's campaign different?

Mongolia's unicameral parliament, called the Great Hural, has 76 members. All campaigning must stop at midnight on the day before the election. Also, hoping to put a damper on high political spirits, the government imposes a nationwide ban on the sale of alcohol for three days starting from the day before voters head to the polls. In 2008, fatal riots broke out after voters contested the election results.

How strong is Mongolia's young democracy?

This year's election has been plagued by a number of issues that have raised voters' concerns about corruption. Many see the recent change in election laws as an attempt by the ruling parties to weaken potential challengers. That impression is supported by parliament's decision late last year to shorten the campaign period by 18 days, giving incumbents a leg up on new contenders. If that was not enough, the current coalition government recently announced that they would pay cash for shares of a national mining company given to Mongolians in the run up to a previous election. Many see the move as a cynical ploy to buy votes, taking advantage of voters who have fallen on hard times. Other concerns include the reliability of the black boxes used to count ballots, which many fear will be used to rig the election. Last but not least, the government has also taken steps to limit women's political power, cutting a national quota mandating 30 percent of candidates must be female to just 20 percent.
On Jun 28, 2016, we issued an updated research report on Ford Motor Company F. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Ford is witnessing strong sales volumes in all major markets. This has been boosting its revenues. The company posted adjusted earnings per share of 68 cents in the first quarter of 2016, 39 cents higher than the figure recorded in first-quarter 2015 (excluding special items). Moreover, earnings per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 43 cents.

Revenues in the reported quarter increased to $37.7 billion from $33.9 billion in the year-ago quarter. Moreover, the figure outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $36.10 billion.

Ford is expanding its production capacity in many emerging markets to facilitate supply and reduce costs. The company is also turning toward capital deployment to boost shareholder value. Further, its accelerated product transformation plan, One Ford, is positively impacting results.

However, following Britains vote to exit the European Union, Ford expects the projected softness in the European industry and weakness in the sterling to negatively affect its operations in the long term. The company is also facing weakness in South America.

Fords financials may be adversely affected if it pays the $75 million compensation sought by Indonesian dealers for losses they will incur due to its exit from the nation.

Despite these headwinds, Ford hopes to continue with its robust financial performance this year. Management expects 2016 pre-tax profit, earnings per share, Automotive revenue and Automotive operating margin to be equal to or higher than 2015 levels. Also, North America, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and the Asia Pacific segments are expected to be profitable in 2016.

FORD MOTOR CO Price and Consensus

FORD MOTOR CO Price and Consensus | FORD MOTOR CO Quote

Some better-ranked automobile stocks include Spartan Motors Inc. SPAR, Visteon Corporation VC and Unique Fabricating, Inc. UFAB. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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Former University of Connecticut student Luke Gatti, who was arrested last year for a drunken mac and cheese rant, is in trouble with the law again.

PHOTOS: Stars at Court

According to NBC News, the 20-year-old was arrested after an altercation with a police officer. On May 28, he was charged with battery of an officer and resisting an officer with violence in Boca Raton, Florida.

The New York native was going through treatment for alcohol and drug abuse at the Wellness Resources Center at the time of the incident, NBC reports. He reportedly became frustrated when he wasn't allowed medication for his withdrawals and left the facility. Per NBC, Gatti returned nearly two hours later and screamed at staff members.

PHOTOS: Celebrity Mugshots

Authorities threatened to use a stun gun and took Gatti in for his own protection. According to the police report, Gatti said, "I just want to die," while sitting in the backseat of the police car.

Gatti previously made headlines last year when he went on a curse-filled tirade at Union Street Market, an on-campus dining hall at UConn. He asked for jalapeno and bacon macaroni and cheese, but was denied service because he was intoxicated. In a video of the incident, which went viral, he could be seen shouting at a university food service supervisor and shoving him numerous times. He was later arrested.



Celebrity Health Scares

Gatti's antics even caught the attention of celebrities such as Jimmy Kimmel and Justin Theroux. In October 2015, the same month as the outburst, the actor wore a wig and recreated the market scene in a pre-taped video for Jimmy Kimmel Live!




whitney wolfe

In an with Sophia Amoruso on the #Girlboss Radio podcast, Whitney Wolfe discussed the experiences that motivated her to found Bumble, a dating app through which women can ask out men  but not the other way around.

Wolfe told Amoruso why the app "really turns the rules on society's head":

"I can't tell you how many times in college I had a crush on a guy, or I thought a guy was cute, and I would text him, and my friends would be like, 'You just committed the ultimate sin.' Like, 'What have you done? You texted him first?'

"No thank you.  It's so outdated, and it's so needed for something to come in and say 'enough.'"

Wolfe's experience is hardly unusual. The dating website Match told Business Insider that straight women initiate only about 18% of emails between straight women and straight men on Match.

So what happens when women do break with tradition and make the first move?

According to the most recent "Singles in America" survey, for which Match questioned more than 5,000 singles (not just Match users), a whopping 90% of men said they're comfortable with a woman asking them out.

Of course, the men in the survey were answering hypothetically, and it's possible they were simply responding in a way that would make them sound enlightened.

But if you assume that most of these men were telling the truth, then there's a huge gap between the number of women who initiate dates and the number of men who would be totally open to it.

woman on smartphone texting

In fact, according to a recent OkCupid study, women on that site who make the first move can wind up with more attractive partners than women who wait for men to ask them out.

That's because women generally message men who are five points more attractive (as rated by OkCupid users) than they are, while they typically receive messages from men who are seven points less attractive.

Story continues

There's no clear psychological reason why women don't initiate relationships with men more often. One potential explanation is evolutionary.

In a 2011 Psychology Today column, Michael Mills, a professor of psychology at Loyola Marymount University, proposed that when a woman asks out a man, it suggests that she'll do so again, with other men. That might make the man less inclined to believe she'd be a faithful partner  and research has found that men desire sexual fidelity in women.

But given the fact that 90% of the men survey respondents say they're comfortable being asked out by a woman, it may be more that women think men would see them negatively if they initiated a date ... which means everyone might be better off when a woman sends that text.

NOW WATCH: Bumble founder: Men should stop putting these 4 things in their profiles





More From Business Insider


Brussels (AFP) - Britain's City of London financial district would have to give up its role in processing euro currency transactions after it leaves the European Union, French President Francois Hollande warned on Wednesday.

Hollande said other European financial centres should be ready to take over from London, which is home to many banking clearing houses that deal with euros.

"There is no reason for Europe, and still less the eurozone, to allow a country that is no longer a member of the European Union and has never been a member of the eurozone to continue operations in euros," Hollande said after a summit in Brussels.

The French leader added that European financial centres should "prepare to take on a certain number of operations that can no longer be done in Britain".

In a separate interview with French business daily Les Echos Hollande said France itself should "adapt its regulations, including fiscal (regulations) to make the Paris financial centre more attractive".

On Tuesday, the president of Paris Europlace, a group that promotes French finance, met with Finance Minister Michel Spain to suggest ways of boosting the French capital's ability to woo City bankers.

Britain's shock vote last week to leave the EU has sparked questions over its role as Europe's financial capital, with cities like Frankfurt, home of the European Central Bank, and Dublin also hoping to cash in on any move out of London by financial companies.

The issue of whether euro clearing houses can remain in the British capital is set to be one of the most contentious issues as Britain seeks to negotiate its future trade relationship with the EU after its departure.

Britain has jealously guarded its status and won a recent EU court decision against the European Central Bank in order to keep hosting the euro deals.

Jonathan Hill, a Briton, was the European Commissioner in charge of the coveted financial services portfolio until his resignation on Saturday following the referendum result.
Passengers on two cruise ships sailing near Bermuda captured dramatic video of a jet owned by the French Air Force flying at low altitude overhead. The aircraft involved in the June 23 and 24 flypasts was identified by Bermudas Department of Civil Aviation as a French Air Force Dassault Falcon, according to local news website Bernews.

Some passengers were unimpressed by the French pilots aerobatics. Whoever was the pilot of the Falcon, was either a terrorist who was spying on us, marine training, or a dumbass rich dude whos showing off his new aircraft, said Richard Ogle in a comment on his YouTube video of the incident. Others, including the Kate McCue, captain of the Celebrity Summit cruise ship, shared their appreciation of the pilots fancy flying. Credit: YouTube/Richard Ogle
Paris (AFP) - French police are probing new threats against satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the target of a jihadist attack in January 2015 that left 12 dead, a legal source said Wednesday.

The publication has received a series of threatening messages on its Facebook page since June 8, and on June 22 a hand-written letter was posted to the newsroom containing the same threats and the words "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest).

"No one has been arrested at this stage and investigations are ongoing," said the source.

Jihadist brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi gunned down eight Charlie staff as well as several others in and around the building in the attack on the magazine whose drawings of the Prophet Mohammed drew the fury of Muslims around the world.

An accomplice, gunman Amedy Coulibaly killed a policewoman a day later and then took shoppers hostage at a Jewish supermarket, shooting dead four.

All three jihadists were killed in police raids.

While the staff of Charlie Hebdo moved into new top-security premises, the magazine has continued to raise ire, refusing self-censorship in the wake of the attacks.
By Colleen Jenkins (Reuters) - The release of police dispatch records offering new details from witnesses of the Orlando nightclub massacre provided fresh grist on Wednesday for the debate about whether law enforcement waited too long to take out the gunman. About three hours passed on June 12 between the firing of the first shots and the killing of the hostage-taking shooter, prompting people to ask on social media and in emails to public officials whether quicker police action could have saved lives. Orlando, Florida, authorities on Tuesday released new details including 911 operator notes and text and email messages received by the police chief whose officers fatally shot the gunman, Omar Mateen, after he killed 49 people and wounded 53 more. The call log provides a minute-by-minute account as reported to emergency dispatchers, offering the most detailed timeline yet of the incident as it unfolded. The three-hour duration of the episode was already known. Some critics said the transcripts showed police should have acted faster to remove the threat, but others argued they did the best they could in chaotic conditions. Retired police sergeant Grant Whitus, who led the SWAT team during the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado in 1999, believes Florida officers should have pursued Mateen immediately inside the Pulse nightclub to "end it right there" before he could take hostages. "How do you negotiate with a terrorist or mass murderer? You don't," Whitus said in a phone interview. "The more time you give him, the more people that are killed." That view was echoed by critics including Facebook user Chris Byrne, who said the delay amounted to gross misconduct. "Do I blame the responding officers? Absolutely not ... I blame their 'leadership,'" Byrne wrote. But several experts in tactical training and police performance cautioned against such judgments. They argued that, based on what is known so far, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history would have been even worse if not for the deliberate response by police. "It's always easy to second-guess and hindsight when you have time to sit and think about things. But when you consider how dynamic that situation was, their actions undoubtedly saved lives," Thor Eells, board chairman for the National Tactical Officers Association, said in a phone interview. Eells said he has trained SWAT members from the Orlando Police Department and other law enforcement agencies in Florida, and has been in contact with officers there since the shooting. He and two other police veterans said the first officers at the scene responded appropriately by seeking out the source of the gunfire and trying to address the threat. According to a timeline from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, officers from various law enforcement agencies entered the nightclub and exchanged gunfire with Mateen 6 minutes after the initial report at 2:02 a.m. of shots fired. By 2:15 a.m., the police dispatch log said the shooter was trapped in a bathroom. Orlando Police Chief John Mina has argued that Mateen's forced retreat allowed officers to rescue many people from elsewhere in the club. However, other patrons who fled to the bathrooms as the gunfire erupted were now hostages. Someone in a bathroom whispered "please help" to a 911 operator and callers advised of victims losing blood, according to the police log. The FBI said three crisis negotiation calls with Mateen, ranging from 3 to 16 minutes, occurred between 2:48 a.m. and 3:24 a.m. "It's very much a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation," said Scott Reitz, a former SWAT operator and instructor for the Los Angeles Police Department. "So many things can go wrong." When police learned at 4:29 a.m. that Mateen was threatening to strap bomb vests onto hostages, they breached a wall of the club for what would be a final confrontation. Jim Bueermann, president of the nonprofit Police Foundation, said an independent review of the incident should be conducted. "At this point, criticism is unwarranted because we dont have enough definitive information about what actually happened," he added. (Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Matthew Lewis)
Never tell Joshua Yehl the odds.

Yehl, 28, of Los Angeles, California, is petitioning Disney and Lucasfilms, the studios behind the Star Wars franchise, to dedicate an out LGBT character to his friend, Christopher "Drew" Leinonen, who was killed in the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Leinonen was killed along with his partner, Juan Roman Guerrero, and their families planned a joint funeral.

The idea to have the franchise's first onscreen out character named after Leinonen came to him on the way home from Leinonen's funeral, Yehl said. He also said he hoped that having a gay character either inspired by or named after Leinonen could counteract some of the hate and homophobia in the world.

Joshua Yehl and Christopher "Drew" Leinonen

"Everyone likes Star Wars, so I feel like that means everyone might think, 'I don't have to hate them or fear them because they're apart of this thing that I love,'" Yehl said in a phone interview. "I felt like I want to show the Drew who I knew, who I considered the real Drew, who was this big nerd, who liked Pokemon and video games and was a movie buff."

Yehl and Leinonen met when they sat across from each other at a dinner party. They discussed Battlestar Galactica. Leinonen invited Yehl over for a movie night, where Yehl saw Leinonen's collections of movies and action figures.

"I don't have to hate them or fear them because they're apart of this thing that I love."

"We became best friends in like a day," Yehl said.

Though they met in Orlando while students at University of Central Florida, a new job opportunity recently brought Yehl out to Los Angeles. Leinonen, Yehl said, was the first to visit him. They saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens together.

Source: Change.org

"If anything had a machine aspect, he just fell in love with it," Yehl said. "He bought a popcorn tin that had BB8 on it, but he didn't put popcorn in it because he wanted to collect it."

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Due to his love of machines, Yehl said, Leinonen loved Darth Vader, half man, half machine, and General Grievus, also part man, part machine.

Other Disney fans are clamoring for more LGBT representation on screen in a variety of ways. Recently, petitions like #GiveElsaaGirlfriend and #GiveCaptainAmericaaBoyfriend have requested that the studio do more than pay lip service to LGBT fans. Recent Pixar film Finding Dory caused a firestorm online when the trailer featured a glimpse of a lesbian couple.

While Star Wars has never featured an out LGBT character on screen, there have been some LGBT characters in the larger Star Wars universe outside of the films. And of course, the internet does keep shipping Poe Dameron and Finn. Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams has also spoken in favor of having gay characters in the Star Wars universe.

Yehl's Change.org petition currently has over 2,700 supporters.
The Vertical Front-Office Insider Bobby Marks, a 20-year executive with the Nets, takes a look at how teams balance the salary cap heading into free agency.

With the draft in the rearview mirror, teams now shift their focus to addressing roster needs via free agency.

The first step in that process is clearing cap space.

TRADE OPTIONS

Free agency does not begin until July 1, but teams have already begun prioritizing trade options if additional cap space is needed.

Kevin Durant has teams ready to clear cap space. (AP)

For Golden State, San Antonio and the Clippers  teams with limited cap flexibility  their free-agent meetings with Kevin Durant will dictate whether they need to create cap space.

All three teams currently do not have the space to have an impact in free agency.

In order to create room, teams will need to follow the San Antonio model from last summer.

With limited flexibility, San Antonio had the option of trading Tiago Splitter to Atlanta if room was needed.

When LaMarcus Aldridge committed to the Spurs, Splitter was traded; had Aldridge signed elsewhere, Splitter would have likely remained in a Spurs uniform.

Philadelphia, Brooklyn and the Lakers  teams with more than $50 million in cap space  could be used as facilitators in helping teams create additional cap space.

All three teams are rebuilding and obtaining a player through a trade could be more beneficial than overpaying one in free agency.

Teams will place a premium on acquiring players with expiring contracts based on the need to reach the salary cap floor of $84 million.

The growing sense among league executives is that with the cap jumping to $94 million, fewer teams could move players to clear room.

With a below-average free-agent market and teams likely having to overpay free agents, retaining players could be the best choice.

However, organizations often view players on the free-agent market with more value than their own players.

PLAYERS WITH NON-GUARANTEED CONTRACTS

Similar to trading players to clear space, teams will weigh cap space against retaining players with contracts that are soon to be guaranteed.

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For Boston, that decision will come down to retaining role players Amir Johnson and Jonas Jerebko. Their contracts become guaranteed if they are on the roster beyond July 3.

With $18 million in cap space before any transactions, the challenge for Boston is identifying free agents who can fill Johnsons and Jerebkos roles if either player is released.

Although the Celtics cap space could grow to $35 million, the backchannel research Boston does in exploring free-agent commitments could determine the fates of Johnson and Jerebko.

One team that did not have the buffer of the first few days of free agency to decide on a non-guaranteed contract (or team option) was Memphis.

With a June 29 team-option deadline for Lance Stephenson, Memphis chose not to exercise his $9.4 million option. The Grizzlies can potentially have $25 million in cap flexibility, not including the $14 million cap hold for Mike Conley.

QUALIFYING OFFERS



Corey Joseph ended up with the Raptors after he was a Spurs cap casualty. (AP)

Although rare, teams also can create cap space by withdrawing the qualifying offer to their own restricted free agent. Withdrawing the qualifying offer terminates the one-year guaranteed contract that is on the table and gives a team additional flexibility.

The once-restricted free agent can sign with another team.

The Spurs last summer withdrew the qualifying to Cory Joseph, making him an unrestricted free agent. Joseph signed with Toronto, and the Spurs used the room to help re-sign Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.

If Golden State does get a commitment from Durant, the likely scenario would be for the Warriors to withdraw the qualifying offers to Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli, which would free $16 million in cap space.

FIRST-ROUND PICKS

Teams can also wait to sign their first-round picks to keep cap space free.

That means we could see a majority of this years first-round picks playing in summer league without a contract. Last year 17 out of the 30 players selected in the first round did not sign until after July 9.

Similar to a free-agent cap hold, teams are also charged a first-round hold for players taken in the first round. Because teams can add an additional 20 percent each year on top of the slotted rookie scale contract, players likely will have to wait until the second week of July to sign.

The extra 20 percent in cap savings ranges from $950,000 for the first pick to $188,000 for pick No. 30.

The Celtics could do this with No. 3 pick Jaylen Brown. He currently has a $3.9 million cap hold that will increase to $4.7 million once he signs. Although its not a large number, the extra $800,000 could make a difference when juggling the cap.

Teams can also elect to leave international players drafted in the first round overseas.

A player and team must agree that a contract will not be signed until next July. If both consent, the first-round hold is removed and additional cap space is gained.

The Celtics could save $2 million in room if first-round picks Guerschon Yabusele and Ante Zizic stay overseas.

More NBA coverage from The Vertical:
A mural by well known Montana artist J.K. Ralston depicting a victorious Crow Indian war party riding into camp arrived at its new home at the Montana Historical Society last week.

The 15-foot-long artwork, "Return of the Raiders," which was carefully restored by John Hartmann Preservation in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was installed in the Montana Homeland Exhibit last Wednesday afternoon shortly after it was unloaded from a semitrailer truck.

The mural had once graced the entryway of the Empire Building and Loan in Livingston, until the business changed hands and a remodel forced its removal.

"It was very intriguing, especially to young boys like me," recalled Livingston attorney Joe Swindlehurst, the son of the bank official who had commissioned the Ralston painting in 1953. "I remember being excited by it."

When the mural had to be moved, the Swindlehurst family hired an art conservator from Denver to remove it from the wall in 2007, said Swindlehurst, who kept it rolled up and stored.

"Somehow the historical society learned about it," he said. "We were delighted to give it to them and they were delighted to have it." He estimates that he and his sister donated it to the historical society in 2013.

"The painting was full of a thousand cracks," said MHS senior curator Jennifer Bottomly-O'looney. "It was glued onto the wall" of the bank.

"The cracks were all the way through." To hold chipping paint in place, large pieces of tape had been applied across major portions of the canvas.

That's hard to imagine when gazing at the newly restored work, which seems to almost glow with morning light. It shows jubilant Crow warriors on horseback galloping into camp waving their war trophies.

In the background, Crow tribal daily life carries on outside a row of decorated teepees.

The camp is believed to have been on the Yellowstone River below Livingston some time in 1850, according to the historical society account.

In the far distance are golden cliffs and trees.

"I'm glad they have it and people can see it because it's kind of a neat picture," said Swindlehurst.

"I never personally met him," he said of Ralston. "I remember dad talking about it. ... If you notice, there's a red blanket in the foreground of the picture. My father liked to have color in things. As I recall it, he coerced Ralston into putting it in there because he wanted something red in it. I'm pretty sure that red blanket originated with my dad."

He also recalls that the building architects weren't enamored with Western art or having a Ralston painting prominently displayed in the building.

"My father was pretty adamant about that," added Swindlehurst.

Ralston was born in 1896 in Choteau. Later, he and his family moved to Helena, where they lived until he was 10, and then moved to a ranch in Dawson County.

Ralston worked as a cowboy in eastern Montana for his early adult life, attended the Chicago Art Institute and also served overseas in the U.S. Army during World War I.

"He's a Montana favorite son," said Bottomly-O'looney, adding that Ralston was inspired by Charlie Russell.

After working as a commercial artist in California, Ralston returned to Montana to run his father's ranch near Culbertson until they were forced out by the Great Depression. He moved to Billings in 1935 and worked as a full-time professional artist.

He died in 1987, and his log cabin studio is now on the grounds of the Western Heritage Center in Billings.

Ralston painted a number of murals and paintings, which are displayed at such places at the Western Heritage Center in Billings and the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

The National Cowboy Hall of Fame awarded him a gold medal and inducted him into the Hall of Great Westerners in 1978. He was inducted into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2012.

"I think this is a great example of the connections that families have to Montana history and a recognition that this plays a role in sharing our history, not only the story of the Indians who are depicted here, but the family that preserved this piece of fine art for the people of Montana," said MHS director Bruce Whittenberg.

The Montana Historical Society is located at 225 N. Roberts St., 444-2694.
From Popular Mechanics

After nearly two long years, the starship Enterprise has boldly gone where it's never gone before: the front entrance of Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Along with seminal artifacts such as Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis and the Apollo Lunar Module, the Enterprise is part of the museum's new 19,000-square-foot Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall, which officially opens to the public on July 1 to celebrate the museum's 40th anniversary.

For more than a decade, the 11-foot, 200-pound prop from the original "Star Trek" television series hung in the basement gift shop, forgotten and ignored by many of the millions of visitors who pass through the museum every year. Malcolm Collum, the Engen Conservation Chair and Chief Conservator at Air and Space, told NPR, "that is probably one of the worst places to put an artifact." But the challenge for moving the Enterprise into the limelight is that the ship was never meant to be preserved for the ages. Made from poplar wood, vacu-formed plastic, rolled sheet metal and steel wires, it was constructed as a Hollywood set piece, not a piece of pop culture history made to last forever. So, in the fall of 2014, the iconic vessel was taken down and returned to spacedock for a painstaking, all-encompassing restoration. The goal was to bring the ship back to its last-known modification, which was for the 1967 episode "Trouble with Tribbles."

Led by Collum, the team had to do their research. "We wanted to make sure we really did our homework first and know what we were dealing with before laying our hands on the object," Collum told Popular Mechanics on Facebook Live during the museum's press preview. To help with this process, they brought in an external advisory committee with people from the "Star Trek" fan base and community. Superfans, basically. "[They] really know this thing like nobody else...and identifying all those little subtle details that are really essential to getting it done right."

Two years later, with the Enterprise is looking pristine. There's the new (old) green paint job. Using original paint found on the saucer's top as a reference, the museum removed layers of old paint while adding new coats as needed. Captain Kirk's ship may look more green than fans will be accustomed to, but that's because the studio lights made it appear more gray on television.

With the help of George Lucas's visual effects studio Industrial Light and Magic, Air and Space added lettering decals and a more authentic deflector dish with the exact specifications of the original, which had been lost prior to the ship's 1974 arrival at the Smithsonian and replaced with what Collum unaffectionately called "the salad bowl." The most noticeable improvement, however, are the blinking and spinning lights throughout the ship, which were based on the 1967 modification. This new version uses LEDs rather than incandescent bulbs, which ran hot and were a fire hazard.

In addition to the restored Enterprise, the newly renovated Flight Hall also features a 16 by 12-foot high interactive touchscreen wall and a plethora of significant space and flight age artifacts, some on public display for the first time, like the collection of Sally Ride artifacts near the Enterprise. Others have been meticulously conserved and preserved so that they can be appreciated for generations to come.

That includes the Spirit of St. Louis, which was in need of a deep clean. "Over the decades, it got darker and darker," says Robert van der Linden, curator of Air Transportation and Special Purpose Aircraft at the museum. "We realized it was mostly just because of dirt... it took them months to (clean it) with cotton swabs and a special water solution... now it looks so much closer to what it looked like in 1927." While inspecting the plane last year, the staff found a lost treasure inside of the plane-a pair of pillars that likely accompanied Lindbergh on his Trans-Atlantic journey.

The Apollo Lunar Module, which was previously displayed in another gallery, is the new exhibit's centerpiece. It has been so well-preserved that, in theory, with a few minor tweaks it could still go to the moon. "The fuel tanks are there, the engines are there, the electronics are there, the gauges are there, the handles and controls, they are all there," says Allan Needell, curator of the human spaceflight collection.

Until the last few years, this large exhibit space at Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, which first opened in 1976, remained largely untouched. The expectation is that this renovation, which was made possible by a $30 million donation from Boeing, will make the museum more accessible to the curious public and better preserved for years to come. The hope is that America's greatest space and aviation artifacts will live long and prosper.
The murder took place at this three-storey semi-detached house in Telok Kurau. (Yahoo Photo: Safhras Khan)

The 23-year-old Indonesian maid accused of murdering her employer early this month will be remanded for a further two weeks to undergo further psychiatric assessment.

Daryati, who goes by one name, took to the stand via a video link at the State Courts on Wednesday (29 June).

The women from Lampung, a village in Southern Sumatra, looked calm as the proceedings were explained to her through an interpreter.

The plump woman even managed a smile and was seen nodding her head earnestly when she was addressed by her counsel, Mohamed Muzammil Mohamed.

Muzamil, who was assigned by the Indonesian Embassy on 8 June, a day before Daryati was charged in court, told reporters that his client had been undergoing psychiatric assessment for the past three weeks.

According to Muzamil, the doctor requested for Daryati to be further examined for two more weeks.

Daryati is facing one charge of murder after she allegedly stabbed her 59-year-old employer, Seow Kim Choo, at the deceaseds residence at Lorong H Telok Kurau on 7 June.

Daryati was injured in the process and later warded at Changi General Hospital (CGH).



She is also accused of attacking Seows husband, Ong Thiam Soon, causing the 57-year-old man to sustain multiple injuries.

Daryati will be back in court on 20 July. If found guilty of murder, she faces the death penalty.
YouTube star Calum McSwiggan claims he was assaulted by three men outside of a gay bar in West Hollywood, Calif., early Monday morning. But the alleged hate crime may be fabricated, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.



In an Instagram caption posted on Tuesday, McSwiggan claims that while out at a gay club, he was separated from his friends and "beaten up by three guys" who left him with three broken teeth and six stitches in his forehead.



"The authorities should have been there to help and protect me but instead they treated me like a second-class citizen," the 26-year-old Englishman  who is known for YouTube content geared toward LGBT viewers and was in California for VidCon  charges in his message, which captions a selfie of him in a hospital bed. "I've never felt so terrified to be a gay man in the public eye."



The Sheriff's Department, however, says that officers responded to McSwiggan's report early Monday morning but were "unable to substantiate the assault and McSwiggan "had no visible injuries." He was arrested at the scene when "deputies observed him vandalizing a car" on Santa Monica Boulevard, according to the department's statement.







McSwiggan was booked at approximately 2:30 a.m. and placed into a cell alone at the West Hollywood Station, where he was later observed "injuring himself with the handle and receiver to a payphone inside the cell."



It was then, the sheriff's department says, that McSwiggan was taken to a local hospital to be treated for the injuries. "Mr. McSwiggan's booking photo was taken prior to deputies seeing Mr. McSwiggan injuring himself," the statement reads.



In McSwiggan's mug shot, obtained by the Los Angeles Times, he has no visible injuries.



McSwiggan's bail was set at $20,000 on a count of vandalism with property damage greater than $400  a felony charge  according to jail records, and he was released at 9:13 p.m. on Monday.



On Tuesday night, McSwiggan took to Twitter, writing, "I've been told to say nothing before court tomorrow but staying silent here is killing us. If you're a friend just DM me for the truth."



Similarly, his friends Melanie Murphy and Riyadh Khalaf  who say they were with him at the club  have stated they won't comment until "we know more."



"I saw Cal screaming crying after the attack. He didn't fake it," Khalif tweeted following the alleged incident. Khalif also alleged that the attackers "knew where we were going to be because of our posts on social media before we went out and even said our names as they beat him."





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I'm not commenting until tomorrow when we know more and can legally speak. I saw Cal screaming crying after the attack. He didn't fake it a Riyadh Khalaf (@RiyadhK) June 29, 2016





None of us have spoken fully yet about yesterday's events/ @CalumMcSwiggan's attack & the aftermath, so please don't form opinions til then x a Melanie Murphy (@melaniietweets) June 29, 2016





These people knew where we were going to be because of our posts on social media before we went out and even said our names as they beat him a Riyadh Khalaf (@RiyadhK) June 28, 2016





On Wednesday, McSwiggan wrote that he was at the courthouse, "but they have no record of anything."



"As soon as our lawyers give us the all clear we will explain everything fully," he wrote.





We're at the court house but they have no record of anything. As soon as our lawyers give us the all clear we will explain everything fully a Calum McSwiggan (@CalumMcSwiggan) June 29, 2016





YouTubers seemed torn over the situation, with Rustin Low writing on Facebook, "YOUTUBE FRIENDS: Read what Calum Andrew just attempted to capitalize off of and consider removing your collaboration videos."



In support of McSwiggan, vlogger Mike Jerry wrote on Twitter, "@CalumMcSwiggan We love you, we've got your back. Stay strong <3."
The model comes clean on why she had to quit the fashion industry. (Photo: Getty Images)

She was discovered at 14, made her Australian Fashion Week debut the next year, and was the youngest model ever to land the cover of US Vogue.

But at the age of 20 and reportedly commanding $20,000 per catwalk strut, Gemma Ward disappeared. Without any explanation, without a backwards glance.

I wanted to focus on things I could develop and get better at because for a period of time I had people telling me, Youve got to do this when youre young, Your looks are going to fade, Youre not going to get better, Gemma told Elle magazine. Like, you hit your teenage years and everything goes downhill  its kind of horrible to think.

Discovered at 14, fresh-faced Gemma spent years jetsetting around the world and partying with celebs including Scarlett Johansson. (Photo: Instagram/gem.gems)

It was around this time Gemma put on weight and was openly battling depression following the death of her ex-boyfriend, actor Heath Ledger in 2008. So she decided to walk away.

I actually couldnt go on. But I also was very sure of what I needed to do, she said. There was some healing that needed to happen.

The healing happened as Gemma found love with photographer David Letts, welcomed her daughter Naia in 2013, and concentrated on her acting  appearing in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, writing and music.

Gemma surprised the fashion world with her return to modelling at Milan Fashion Week in 2015. (Photo: Getty images)

But the lure of the catwalk proved too difficult to resist, and Gemma surprised the fashion world with her model comeback, walking in the Prada spring/summer 2015 show at Milan Fashion Week.

Now 28 and happy being back in the public eye, the model explains theres only one thing in her life that matters to her.

Gemmas family now come first. [Naia has] changed my life for the better, shes my reason to live and my reason to grow as a person. I feel like Im more carefree, but I also have direction.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
George W. Bush And Laura Bush Speak At Veteran's Employment Opportunities Summit In D.C.

President George W. Bush is apparently taking issue with how he was portrayed in a recent Kanye West music video.

The rapper's "Famous" video featured a wax figure that depicted the former president naked in bed with him and numerous celebrities.

Addressing the controversial clip, a Bush representative told the New York Post that "in case there was any doubt," it was "not President Bush" in the video.

"He is in much better shape," the unidentified representative told the newspaper.

The music video has spurred backlash against West. The rapper has welcomed the controversy and even dared some of the celebrities depicted naked in the video to sue him.

NOW WATCH: The number of times Obama has had to respond to mass shootings during his presidency is staggering





More From Business Insider


There's been another bizarre twist to the celebrity rape case that has obsessed the German media.

A German sausage company has been forced to apologize for a lewd commercial that appears to mock Gina-Lisa Lohfink, a model and reality TV star at the center of an ongoing sexual assault case. Lohfink has said she may sue Wiesenhof, the sausage company, for damages.

In the TV spot, well-known German comedian Atze Schroder holds up a freshly-BBQed sausage and says to the camera: "Are you ready for the biggest sausage of the summer? Here it is. After this one, Gina and Lisa will have to go to trauma therapy."

The spot set off a storm of protest, with many accusing Schroder and Wiesenhof of treating rape as a joke. Gina-Lisa Lohfink claims she was raped by two men in 2012, who filmed the encounter and posted the video online. Her case became the focus of national attention when a Berlin court ruled against her, accusing her of makingtestimony and ordering her to pay her alleged attackers $27,000 (&euro24,000) in damages. She has appealed the case and appeared in court this week.

Lohfink has become the face of a national campaign to change German law to make the principle of "no means no" legally binding in sexual assault cases. Activists and politicians in favor of the changes have seized on her case as an example of how the current system often fails, and even punishes, rape victims who come forward to testify.

Wiesenhof and Schroder have apologized for the commercial, calling it a mistake. They claim the spot was shot last year, before Lohfink's rape case become widely known, and that it should never have been shown in the current context. "We would like to apologize and we have taken the video off the internet," the company said in a statement.

On his official Facebook page, Schroder called the commercial "very stupid ... something I deeply regret. I am completely and without exception against every form of sexual violence," the comedian wrote. He said he would donate his $22,000 (&euro20,000) fee for the spot to a charity that fights child prostitution and would also do a benefit show.

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"So sorry I was so stupid," he wrote.

The German Council on Advertising said it received more than a thousand complaints about the commercial within two days of it first airing. The council called the spot "degrading and discriminatory" and not in line with its standards. They questioned why Wiesenhof approved of the commercial in the first place.

Read More: The Celebrity Rape Case That Could Bring "No Means No" to Germany
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has abandoned plans to set out a timetable to exit coal-fired power production and scrapped C02 emissions reduction goals for individual sectors, according to the latest draft of an environment ministry document seen by Reuters on Wednesday. An earlier version of the draft document that was leaked in May had suggested that Germany should phase out coal-fired power production "well before 2050" as part of a package of measures to help Berlin achieve its climate goals. The new version, which was revised following consultation with the economy and energy ministry, has also deleted specific concrete C02 emissions savings targets for the energy, industry, transport and agriculture sectors. The document forms the government's national climate action plan for 2050 and lays out how it plans to move away from fossil fuels and achieve its goal of cutting CO2 emissions by up to 95 percent compared to 1990 levels by the middle of the century. The original proposals met with hefty opposition from unions, coal-producing regions and business groups who said it would cost jobs and damage industry. Christoph Bals, policy director at environmental NGO Germanwatch, criticized the changes. "Seven months after the successful climate summit in Paris the government is capitulating to the interests of the fossil fuel industry and missing the chance to give the economy a modernization impulse by presenting clear plans," he said. Another suggestion for an additional levy on petrol, heating oil and gas to increase demand for green technologies has also been scrapped, according to the document. However, the document does still mention plans for an ecological tax reform. An alternative paragraph that said Germany would consider lobbying for the introduction of a minimum price on European carbon-dioxide emissions has also been taken out of the document. The draft, which still needs to be rubber-stamped by other ministries, is now in the Chancellery. It is due to be debated by the cabinet in September. (Reporting by Markus Wacket and Caroline Copley; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
A 35-year-old Helena man is being held on $100,000 after authorities say he led officers on a pursuit at speeds of about 100 mph. He faces four felony charges.

The incident began at about 1:45 a.m. Monday when sheriff's deputies responded to a call reporting a man had just tried to sell him methamphetamine near David Gulch. The driver of the car, later identified as Brandon Edward Donaghy, appeared to be attempting to dodge the deputy, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

The deputy made a traffic stop during which it was learned Donaghy had several active warrants for his arrest. Court documents say when the deputy asked Donaghy to step out of the vehicle, Donaghy drove off at a high rate of speed.

Donaghy sped north on Oro Fino Gulch at about 100 mph, the documents allege. He is accused of continuing past Broadway Street and driving through two red lights at about 80 mph. While attempting a right turn, Donaghy lost control of the vehicle and struck a median. Authorities say Donaghy stopped the car on Knight Street and fled on foot.

Donaghy then tried to jump a fence unsuccessfully. He was apprehended by officers.

Donaghy is being held on felony charges of criminal endangerment and three counts of criminal possession of dangerous drugs, for methamphetamine, clonazepam and burpenorphine hydrochloride. He also faces misdemeanor charges of fleeing from or eluding a peace officer, driving on a suspended or revoked license, possession of marijuana and possession of hashish.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's defense minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday said she would fly to Incirlik air base in southern Turkey on Friday to visit 250 German troops there, after Turkey's prime minister this week reversed a ban on the trip. Von der Leyen, speaking during a tour of German military facilities, said she had called her Turkish counterpart to offer condolences over the attack at Istanbul's main airport on Tuesday that killed 41 people and wounded 239 others. She said she assured Fikri Isik that Germany would continue to support Turkey in its fight against Islamic State, which U.S. officials and Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim suspect carried out the airport attack. German lawmakers had reacted angrily to apparent efforts to block visits by politicians to the base, with some calling for an end to German deployments to Turkey. Relations between Turkey and Germany have been strained for some time, but took a sharp turn for the worse in May after the German parliament passed a resolution declaring the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces was a genocide. Germany sent troops, six Tornado surveillance jets and a tanker aircraft to Incirlik late last year as part of the U.S-led fight against Islamic State. Germany is also working closely with Turkey in the Aegean Sea to stop illegal migrant flows. Von der Leyen also plans to look at the housing situation at the base before finalizing a 60 million euro ($66 million) deal for Germany to build new barracks, an air operations center and other facilities there. (Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Louise Ireland)
On Wednesday, Giorgio Moroder announced his return to Casablanca Records. Several of his most famous releases came out on the label in the late '70s -- including his solo album, E=MC, and the Donna Summer records I Remember Yesterday and Bad Girls, which Moroder helped to write and produce.

Britney Spears & Giorgio Moroder's 'Tom's Diner' Has a Lyric Video & 2 New Remixes

"Giorgio is one of music's most important innovators," Brett Alperowitz, General Manager of Casablanca Records says in a statement. "He ushered in a new era of dance music in 1977 with his groundbreaking production of Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love.' It feels great to have him back with the label and we are looking forward to his next innovation!"

There have been many phases to Moroder's career. After a series of audacious collaborations with Summer swept dancefloors in the '70s, he conquered the rest of the world in the '80s by soundtracking blockbusters - Top Gun, Scarface - and working with David Bowie, Janet Jackson, Blondie, and more. Seemingly content with the breadth of his achievements, he took a long break in the '90s and '00s before returning with Deja Vu in 2015.

Giorgio Moroder Returns to Dance Charts After 38 Years

His influence is difficult to contain in one genre. Another king of disco, Nile Rodgers, credits the Moroder/Summer collaboration "Love To Love You Baby" with changing his life, and Daft Punk used an extensive quote from Moroder on the Random Access Memories album. Others artists with more oblique connections to disco have also paid homage. Sia and Charli XCX contributed to Deja Vu, while Shooter Jennings - son of the country legend Waylon Jennings - released a project that honored Moroder earlier this year.

Shooter Jennings on Giorgio Moroder Tribute Album

Moroder hopes to put out fresh material on the label this summer. "I am so excited to share new music with you and to work with the Casablanca family," he noted in a statement, before making a pun based around one of his own album titles. "Casablanca from here to eternity."

"It just makes sense," he added. "It feels like home."
Paris (AFP) - World supplies of helium, the gas that makes your voice squeaky, may be on the ascent.

Scientists and a Norway-based exploration firm this week hailed a huge find of the rare element in Tanzania as a potential game changer.

Helium, the second most abundant gas of the universe after hydrogen but found only rarely on Earth, is used notably as a liquid coolant in hospital MRI scanners, electronics and the manufacturing of fibre optics.

Until now, helium had been discovered only as an accidental by-product of oil and gas drilling, said Oxford and Durham university researchers and the exploration company, Helium One.

But for the first time, they said, an exploration team had found helium deliberately, using their knowledge that volcanic activity can release the gas from ancient rocks.

"We show that volcanoes in the Rift play an important role in the formation of viable helium reserves," said researcher Diveena Danabalan of Durham University, which joined with Oxford University and Helium One in the search.

Oxford University professor Chris Ballentine said the team had calculated that helium reserves in just one part of the African Rift valley amounted to 54 billion cubic feet, enough to fill more than 1.2 million medical MRI scanners.

- 'Game changer' -

"This is a game changer for the future security of society's helium," Ballentine said in a joint statement released Tuesday when the find was revealed.

"Similar finds in the future may not be far away," he said.

World helium sales amounted to an estimated $1.01 billion (909 million euros) in 2015 and are expected to balloon to $1.52 billion in 2020, said a report by market research group Technavio.

Eric Prades, global helium and rare gases director at French group Air Liquide, said 80-90 percent of the world's helium is extracted from natural gas wells in a process that relies on very low temperatures.

The Tanzania find had an "interesting potential" because it avoids the cost of extracting the element from natural gas, said Prades, who was not involved in the find.

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Helium prices climbed in 2012-2013 over supply concerns, said the Air Liquide specialist. At the time, Tokyo Disneyland went so far as to ban helium balloons.

But supply worries have largely evaporated since, said Prades.

Russian oil and gas giant Gazprom could produce 40 percent of the world helium market by the 2020s thanks to a vast extraction project at a natural gas field in Siberia, he said.

Iran could begin producing helium too, Prades said, explaining that it shares the same natural gas field as Qatar, the world's second largest producer after the United States.

Meanwhile, demand for helium is expected to grow only moderately by two-to-three percent a year over the next five years, the expert said.
How going to the movie theater is going to change forever  thanks to the brains behind Netflix

How going to the movie theater is going to change forever  thanks to the brains behind Netflix

Going to the movies can often be a drag. Between high ticket prices and the cost of snacks (why is popcorn like a MILLION dollars?) its a luxury that a lot of us have trouble affording. Sure, there are a few films we cant wait to see, but if it doesnt have a lot of visual effects, we might as well wait for it to come to Netflix and watch it at home.

Speaking of Netflix, one of its founders, Mitch Lowe, just joined on as CEO of a company thats aiming to solve the movie theater problem. That company, called MoviePass, offers up a similar subscription plan  but with participating movie theaters, instead. Starting at just $30 per month (with the price varying based on your location) you can watch a 2D movie every day if you wanted to. Over 3,700 theaters are participating, and you can make sure yours accepts MoviePass before you even sign up. Lowe was also one of the brains behind Redbox, so obviously this guy knows how to sell movies. The company has actually been around since 2011, but needed some help to stay afloat, so this brand new pairing could mean great things for MoviePass, Lowe, and of course, fans of the movie theater experience.

hader

Heres how it works.

Five to seven days after you register, youll get a card in the mail. This card acts a lot like a debit card, and will be your ticket in a sense. Using the MoviePass app, youll select the movie that you want to see, and then present the card when you arrive at the ticketing booth to redeem entry. All you need is a smartphone in order to work the app.

There are a few drawbacks.

Currently, you cant see 3D or IMAX movies at any theater that isnt an AMC located in Boston and Denver. Also, the company only allows one seat to be reserved in a 24-hour period, which means that your friends will also have to sign up, or buy tickets as they regularly would. But who knows? With time, and Lowe backing up the company, the services will likely expand.

Sounds cool, right? The service is perfect for the summertime, when a lot of major films are released. (And when you need that movie theater mega A/C the most.) If you love going to the movies, MoviePass can totally be a game-changer.

The post How going to the movie theater is going to change forever  thanks to the brains behind Netflix appeared first on HelloGiggles.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2016 / Wolf Wiese, CEO of Golden Dawn Minerals Inc. (GOM.V) (3G8A.F) (the "Company" or "Golden Dawn") announces that the conditional approval of the transaction to exercise its option to acquire 100% of the Greenwood Project, consisting of a state of the art floatation Mill, the Lexington Mine, the Golden Crown Mine and all ancillary equipment and rolling stock, has been granted by the TSX.V. These assets are situated 10k.m. south of the city of Greenwood B.C. and 15k.m. from the Company's 100% owned May-Mac Mine. The City of Greenwood is 500k.m. east of Vancouver on Trans-Canada Highway 3. For further details see news release of April 12th and February 24th 2016 on the Company website www.goldendawnminerals.com .

Golden Dawn conducted a multi-disciplinary due-diligence process, which led to the company's decision to move forward on the exercising of the option. To accommodate the successful solicitation of the financing required, initially CAD $3,350,000 to transfer 100 % title of the aforementioned assets, Huakan International Mining Inc. and Golden Dawn Minerals Inc. have signed an amendment to the option agreement where the exercise of the option must be on or before August 6th. 2016.

The Company has agreed to fund the Care and Maintenance costs of the mines and mill starting July 1st. 2016, of CAD $30,000 in advance, as a part of this agreement. Currently the company is evaluating a gold streaming deal, a bridge loan and actively soliciting a debenture financing for the project.

Terms of the debenture financing are below. All financings are subject to TSX.V and board approval.

To finance the acquisition and capital cost for the Project the company is offering a Debenture with the following terms.

TERM SHEET

SECURED DEBENTURE WITH GOLD CONVERSION OPTION





Pre-Closing Funds:

All proceeds from the Offering will be held in trust by a Vancouver law firm pending closing (the "Closing") of the Offering. If a minimum of USD$3,000,000.00 is not received all of the proceeds held in trust shall be immediately returned to the Subscribers.

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Post-Closing Funds:

All of the proceeds from the Offering will be held in trust by a Vancouver law firm. The funds will only be released from trust upon presentation of appropriate invoices as proof of expenditures on the Greenwood properties including the development of the mineral claims, equipment purchases, operating expenditures, and administrative and regulatory expenditures.

Gold Repayment Option:

Debenture holders will have a right to require repayment of their principal amount of the debentures in gold. After 20 months from Closing, Debenture holders holding at least USD$80,000 in Debentures have the option to sell up to  of their Debentures to the Company for gold delivery. And, after 27 months, those Debenture holders have the option to sell up to 100% of their Debentures to the Company for gold delivery. Any Debentures purchased by the Company under this option shall be purchased with gold at a price equal to USD $1,295.00 per ounce or USD $41,774.20 per kilogram of 99.9% registered purity gold. Debenture holders wishing to exercise this option will need to provide the Company with a minimum of 90 days' notice.

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

GOLDEN DAWN MINERALS INC.

"Wolf Wiese"

Wolf Wiese

Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Corporate Communications

604-221-8936

allinfo@goldendawnminerals.com

THIS PRESS RELEASE WAS PREPARED BY MANAGEMENT WHO TAKES FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITS CONTENTS. NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CERTAIN FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS WHICH INVOLVE KNOWN AND UNKNOWN RISKS, DELAYS, AND UNCERTAINTIES NOT UNDER THE COMPANYS CONTROL WHICH MAY CAUSE ACTUAL RESULTS, PERFORMANCE OR ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE COMPANY TO BE MATERIALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE RESULTS, PERFORMANCE, OR ACHIEVEMENTS IMPLIED BY THESE FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS. WE SEEK SAFE HARBOR.

SOURCE: Golden Dawn Minerals Inc.
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. investment banks Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) have denied speculation they are poised to shift London-based staff and operations to Frankfurt as soon as Britain's divorce proceedings from the European Union formally begin.

"We have not made any changes to our real estate requirements in Frankfurt as a result of the referendum result," Goldman said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

"As we have already communicated to our employees, there is no immediate change to the way we conduct our business or where we conduct our business."

Echoing its Wall Street rival, Morgan Stanley also moved to quell chatter it was planning to relocate to the German financial hub when the UK government evokes Article 50 -- the first official step in its disentanglement from the 28-nation bloc.

"Morgan Stanley does not have pre-let office space in Frankfurt," the spokesman said in an emailed statement.

Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein said the bank, a big donor to the defeated 'Remain' campaign had planned for either referendum outcome for many months, in a statement issued after the outcome of the historic referendum became clear on Friday.

"Goldman Sachs has a long history of adapting to change, and we will work with relevant authorities as the terms of the exit become clear. Our primary focus, as always, remains serving our clients' needs."

(Reporting by Sinead Cruise; additional reporting by Lawrence White; Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Louise Heavens)
(Adds details on valuation)

LONDON/FRANKFURT, June 29 (Reuters) - Private equity group PAI Partners and Goldman Sachs' investment arm have mandated Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to sell building materials maker Xella after failing to float it last year, people familiar with the matter said.

An auction or a second attempt to float the German company is expected to fetch more than 1.8 billion euros ($2 billion) and to start in September, they said on Wednesday.

Xella posted revenues of 1.3 billion euros and core earnings of 243 million in the twelve months to the end of March 2016, according to its latest financial presentation.

Listed sector peers such as Wienerberger, Braas Monier, Etex or H+H trade at roughly 5 times their expected core earnings.

One source familiar with the matter said Xella's core earnings, or adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA), are expected to reach 260 million euros this year and the company may be valued at more than 7 times that.

Xella this month gave no specific EBITDA forecast and only said that it expects its efficiency programme to reap fruit while it sees an upward trend in the construction industry continuing in its core markets where Germany, the Netherlands and Poland have been drivers over the last 2-3 years.

In last year's initial public offering (IPO) attempt the company had targeted an enterprise value of 2.5 billion euros, sources said at the time.

Xella has since increased its net debt to 744 million euros as of March 2016 from 568 million a year earlier.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley declined to comment, while PAI was not immediately available for comment.

The company will be marketed to other large buyout groups with an interest in the sector, the sources said, noting that other building materials makers are unlikely to submit offers.

Building materials brands such as Ytong, Hebel and Silka account for roughly two thirds of the business of the Duisburg, Germany-based group, while 20 percent of its sales come from higher-margin lime and limestone businesses, which account for almost a third of the group's earnings.

This month Moody's lifted its outlook on Xella to stable from negative citing the expected improvement in 2016 performance.

(Reporting by Pamela Barbaglia and Arno Schuetze; Editing by Harro ten Wolde and Louise Ireland)
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Some days, it wouldnt seem surprising if Donald Trump got up on stage and revealed that he is actually a deep-cover mole, working for the Democrats to destroy the Republican Party from within. Because if he were, his attack Tuesday on globalization and international trade would have been perfectly calibrated to do just that.

In his speech, Trump ran roughshod over three decades of Republican orthodoxy on the issue of free trade, prompting harsh rebukes from traditionally Republican-friendly groups, like the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.

Related: Trump Denounces Globalization, but Trade Experts Arent Buying It

Trump also put Republican lawmakers in tough election battles in extremely uncomfortable positions.

In a year when the GOP is locked in a desperate fight to retain control of the United States Senate, he did it in two states where pro-trade Republican senators are facing very tough reelection battles.

Trump began the afternoon in Pennsylvania, the home of embattled first-term Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, where, sticking fairly closely to prepared remarks, he said trade deals have destroyed the American middle class.

Later in the day, though, he crossed the border into Ohio, home state of another first-termer, Sen. Rob Portman, who is facing a strong challenge from former congressman and governor Ted Strickland. In Ohio, Trump was a bit more colorful, underlining the difference between on-script Trump and off-script Trump. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is another disaster done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country, he said. Just a continuing rape of our country.

Related: Pushed Around and Left Out. The Frightening US Parallels to Brexit

Portman who may be uniquely vulnerable to attacks on trade deals because of his service as US Trade Representative under George W. Bush, moved quickly to shore up his pro-labor bona fides, appearing on a radio show in his home state and claiming partial credit for three major anti-dumping cases brought against foreign steel manufacturers.

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Other Republicans expressed bafflement at the sight of a Republican presidential nominee moving to the left not just of his own party, but of the historic positions of presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Jeff Flake of Arizona, who has been critical of Trump (and is not currently in a reelection battle) took to Twitter Wednesday to express the astonishment that many of his colleagues no doubt share.

The Republican nominee running well to the left of the Democrat on trade? Not a banner day for the GOP https://t.co/ec0MjbWe7m  Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) June 29, 2016

Meanwhile, traditional Republican allies were livid. National Association of Manufacturers president Jay Timmons went after Trump on Twitter, telling him, you have it backwards. He added, .@realDonaldTrump should understand 40% of manufacturing jobs are related to exports. We need more exports-- not less.

Related: Trump and Clinton Square Off On Saving Social Security

The US Chamber of Commerce released a critique of Trumps position before his speech started, and also went after it on social media while he was delivering it.

In a blog post, Contrary to rumor, the benefits of trade greatly outweigh the costs, senior vice president for international policy John G. Murphy wrote, In fact, trade has been a lifeline for many more workers in Pennsylvania and Ohio  especially in the wake of the recession.

Not only does trade support more than 3.1 million jobs in the two states, its fueled the economic recovery. This is especially true of trade with Americas trade agreement partners, which purchase 49 percent and 60 percent of Keystone and Buckeye state exports, respectively.

While Republican lawmakers and their allies may be unhappy with Trump, one thing they absolutely cannot do is claim that they couldnt have seen this coming. Not only has Trump been railing against US international trade deals since he descended the golden escalator in Trump Tower to announce his candidacy last year, hes been doing it for well over 20 years.

Related: How Britain Could Reverse Its Historic Brexit Vote

The Trump campaign on Wednesday emailed reporters a collection of news articles detailing Trumps history of opposition to trade pacts, like the Clinton-era North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said Tuesday that he would demand be renegotiated.

As early as 1993, prior NAFTAs being ratified, Buzzfeed found evidence that Trump had spoken out against the deal at a business conference in California. The Associated Press, in 1999, reported that Trump was still powerfully against the deal in 1999, writing, Trump called the North American Free Trade Agreement a disaster and said leaders of other countries 'can't believe how easy it is to deal with the United States.' 'We are known as a bunch of saps,' he said. 'We need our best people to negotiate against the Japanese and the many other countries that are really giving it to us from every different way.

In some ways, in fact, Trump is a monster of the GOPs own making when it comes to trade. The party is usually very supportive of trade deals, but in a hyper-partisan climate, during an election year in which the senate, the White House, and the ideological balance of the Supreme Court are all in play, Congressional Republicans were unwilling to give President Obama a victory on the Trans Pacific Partnership.

Once expected to receive a vote this summer, TPP came under withering criticism from GOP leaders generally supportive of trade deals in most other cases. That means both that the future of the deal is in question and that Republican Congressional leaders dont have much of a leg to stand on when their partys presumptive presidential nominee starts demagoguing it.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
hand sanitizer

The FDA wants to know more about your hand sanitizer.

The agency is asking companies that make hand sanitizer for more information about how safe and effective they are. That's not because the FDA thinks they're categorically unsafe, but just because they're being used so much that there might be some unknown side effects.

Ideally, when you have dirty hands, it's best to use soap and water to wash them. Hand sanitizers that are more than 60% alcohol kill about the same amount of germs as soap and water do. But, because hand sanitizer gels aren't rinsed off with water, whatever active chemicals are getting used to kill the germs stay on your hands once the alcohol evaporates.

That's what the FDA wants to know more about: Do these ingredients, when used daily, have any negative effects on the people using them?

Its our responsibility to determine whether these products are safe and effective so that consumers can be confident when using them on themselves and their families multiple times a day," FDA director Janet Woodcock said. "To do that, we must fill the gaps in scientific data on certain active ingredients.

Looking for the best way to keep your hands relatively germ-free? Follow these hand-washing steps, courtesy of the WHO:

Wet hands with water

Grab enough soap to cover all surfaces of your hands

Rub palm-to-palm

Rub your right palm over the back of your left hand, interlacing fingers, then do the reverse

Rub your hands palm-to-palm with interlaced fingers

Rub the backs of your fingers against the opposite palm so that your hands are interlocked

Rub your left thumb in your right palm, and then do the reverse

Get your fingertips in there too, by rubbing your right-hand fingers against your left palm, then doing the reverse

Rinse, dry, and you're done!

NOW WATCH: Bananas give you more radiation exposure than living next to a nuclear power plant





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Gwyneth Paltrow is opening up about the negative attention she sometimes gets as a Hollywood fixture.



The Iron Man star told Stephen Sackur, host of the BBC News Hard Talk, that being picked as the Most Hated Celebrity in 2013 left her feeling slightly bemused.



First of all I was like, Im the most hated celebrity?  asked an incredulous Paltrow, before laughing. More than, like, Chris Brown? What did I do?



Paltrow said, however, that she is not about to change her ways just to keep off a list.



All I can do is be my authentic self, she said. But I think there are things about me that make people draw conclusions. For example, there is the perception that I grew up very wealthy and that I was given, you know  That I was sort of raised with a silver spoon in my mouth, which inspires a lot of resentment.



The truth, Paltrow maintained, is that while she had an idyllic upbringing and attended Spence School in Manhattan, her late father Bruce Paltrow told her that she was on her own upon graduation.



He said, You are completely on your own,  she added. So he never gave me anything: I never had any supplementation, he never helped me with my rent, I never had a trust fund. So the idea that I am spoiled or that I didnt work for what I have, thats just not accurate. But I can see how somebody might have that perception.



Another misconception? That Paltrow is a prima donna about her dining choices.



People tend to think that I eat just seaweed and a bit of air, she said, nothing that in reality, I have never had a horrible experience with French fries. French fries are my life!



Since giving birth to daughter Apple, 12, and son Moses, 10, with ex Chris Martin, Paltrow has placed acting on the back burner. These days movie-making is very much secondary to the business of running her lifestyle website Goop, she said.



Despite no longer being a red carpet regular, however, Paltrow remains keenly aware of the feminist issues recently raised by the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Charlize Theron and Keira Knightley, and described the idea of equal pay in particular as very important.



Having started her career in an era of robust budgets and a lot of female stories, she recognizes that there are less female stories currently being told. Yet, she also has the experience to know this wont always be the case. To Paltrow, the key is simply to remain patient.



As women in the culture now we are always trying to push forward and move the needle and reach for equality and demand equality, she said. Its like a super tanker: you know, you cant turn it a really quick turn. Its sort of a slow turn. But I think were getting there.
(credit: Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Billings)

In times of crisis, such as the War on Terror, when suspects deemed as threats to national security are subject to the highest levels of punishment, an important question is whether executive actions taken against those people should be subject to legal scrutiny as well.

In the historic ruling of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006), delivered on June 29, 2006, that answer was yes. The George W. Bush administration sought to have the plaintiff, a prisoner of war, tried by a military commission, but the Supreme Court ruled such a commission to be outside of the inherent powers of the executive branch and in violation of the plaintiffs constitutional rights.

The plaintiff in this landmark decision was Yemeni citizen Salim Ahmed Hamdan. Hamdan was Osama bin Ladens chaueffeur, captured by Afghan militia forces in 2001; he was subsequently turned over to the United States and imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay in 2002 by the U.S. military.

In 2004, President Bush declared that Hamdan had committed crimes triable by a military commission. When before such a commission, the accused is afforded military counsel and a copy of the charges against him; however, in the interest of national security, he is denied the right to see all evidence or hear all witness statements, and the hearing may take place outside of his presence. The commission designated Hamdan as an enemy combatant, trying and convicting him of conspiracy.

In response, Hamdan filed a writ of habeas corpusprotected by the Suspension Clause in Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, which says that habeas cannot be suspended except in circumstances of rebellion or invasionand challenged the constitutionality of his commission. The petition was reviewed and granted by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which ruled that, before a military commission could try him, Hamdan first had to be given a hearing determining whether he was a prisoner of war (POW) under the Geneva Convention, a series of treaties which broadly govern the treatment of and protect POWs.

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However, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia voted unanimously to reverse the decision. Their rationale centered largely on the arguments that, because it was a treaty, the Geneva Convention did not apply to individual rights or to members of al-Qaeda, and that authorization by Congress renders military commissions legitimate means for trying enemy combatants.

The case went to the Supreme Court, which issued a 5-3 decision, 10 years ago today, reversing the lower court. The majoritys main rationale was that there was no constitutional basis for acts of Congress or any inherent executive powers that authorized the military commission in question. As such, the commission was required to be in compliance with federal law and the laws of war. The Supreme Court therefore had the power to enforce both the Geneva Convention and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The structure of the military commissionnamely, the exclusion of Hamadan from parts of his own trialviolated both the terms of the Convention and the Code, and was therefore unconstitutional.

The decision was a reminder that executive power is not unitary or immune to checks and balances. Furthermore, it was a reassertion of the universal nature of constitutional rightseven for Guantanamo detainees.

But just a few months later, Congress unveiled the Military Commissions Act (MCA) of 2006 , signed by the President in October 2006. Almost undoubtedly a response to the Hamdan ruling, its main purpose was to authorize trial by military commission to violations of the law of war, and for other purposes. Furthermore, the Act prevented federal courts from hearing the habeas petitions of those designated as enemy combatants. This set the stage for Bush v. Boumediene (2008).

Lakhdar Boumediene was one of five Algerian natives suspected in a plot to attack the U.S Embassy in Bosnia. Seized by Bosnian police and classified by the U.S. government as an enemy combatant in 2002, he was subsequently detained at Guantanamo Bay. He filed a writ of habeas corpus on the basis that his constitutional right to due process had been violated. In its first go-around in the courts, the claim was dismissed under the reasoning that Boumediene did not have rights to a habeas petition because he was an alien detained at an overseas military base. This ruling was affirmed by the D.C. Circuit but effectively reversed by the Supreme Court ruling Rasul v. Bush (2004), which stated that non-citizen Guantanamo detainees do in fact have the right to file a habeas petition.

Under the MCA, however, the federal courts had no jurisdiction to hear Boumedienes habeas application because he had been classified as an enemy combatant. So the case was appealed to the D.C. Circuit a second time on the grounds that it violated the Suspension Clause. The D.C. Circuit denied the appeal, basing its decision on language in the MCA stipulating that the Act apply to all cases with no exceptions. It was also argued that the Suspension Clause was only meant to protect habeas rights as they existed in 1789 and could not possibly have been meant in 1789 to extend to an overseas military base. Finally, the court held that aliens outside of the U.S. were outside the realm of constitutional protection and, as such, Guantanamo detainees were not guaranteed a right to the writ of habeas corpus.

After initially denying review, the Supreme Court weighed in on the case and issued a 5-4 decision declaring that Guantanamo detainees who had been classified as enemy combatants were nonetheless protected by the Suspension Clause and entitled to seek habeas. The fact that they were enemy combatants on an overseas military base was not enough to remove them from the realm of constitutional protection; the MCA was therefore unconstitutional in its violation of those rights.

Beyond stirring controversy around issues of executive action and the treatment of suspected terrorists, these cases raise integral questions about just how far the reach of constitutional protection should extend. Even more pertinently, they highlight the unavoidable and constantly developing conflict between the preservation of national security and the guarantee of constitutional rightsa conflict that will likely never cease.

Jordyn Turner is an intern at the National Constitution Center. She is also a recent graduate of Dartmouth College, where she majored in Asian & Middle Eastern Studies and minored in Government. This fall, Turner will begin work toward a masters degree in Global Studies from Tsinghua University in Beijing as a member of the inaugural class of the Schwarzman Scholars Program.

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In most of the U.S., June is LGBTQ Pride Month, culminating in the New York City Pride March, the biggest and oldest pride parade in the U.S., which happened last weekend. (The same week the Stonewall riots took place in 1969, setting off the modern gay rights movement.) Pride Month this year was shadowed by mourning, anger, and some fear after the tragic massacre of 49 LGBTQ people at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on June 12. (The owners of the club, which was named in honor of one of the owners brothers, who died of AIDS in 1991, marched on the lead float in New York City.) But thats not to say Pride 2016 hasnt been joyous  for some, perhaps more so, just to prove that homophobic attacks cant break the rainbow-colored spirit of the LGBTQ community. Heres a look at supercool LGBTQ ladies in cities throughout the U.S., what theyve done or are doing for Pride, and where theyd take you if you showed up as a guest in their hometowns!

Photo: Courtesy of Leigh Richards

Who: Leigh Richards, 28, certified nursing assistant, Portland, Ore.

Pride plans: For Portland Pride, we went to a few parties, performed at a block party downtown, and did the Dyke March!

After Orlando: I attended vigils in Atlanta, where I happened to be the weekend of the massacre, and Portland. There was a heightened police presence at our downtown Pride festivities, which I think is sad and also dangerous.

Summer Pride look: My girlfriend, Adrienne, and I both wore leopard rompers to the Dyke March. We are both blond femmes who wear a lot of makeup and like being the most, so it was a good excuse to really lean into being matchy-matchy. I also wore a vintage whitish leather fringe jacket, vintage chain belt, and an armband made by some friends in Atlanta for the vigil there. Oh, and a ton of blue eyeshadow!

Summer Pride song: I woke up Adrienne on Pride Sunday by playing the theme from The L Word, so I suppose its that!

If friends were visiting for Pride: Wed go to Tasty n Sons. We went there Pride Saturday for brunch and the nicest random stranger lady paid for us! I doubt lightning would strike twice on that front, but the food is always great even when you have to pay for it yourself!

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Talk like a real Portlander: Im from Georgia, so the local slang in Portland feels really touch and go for me. But probably something like, Fred and Carrie are the Devils playthings.

Photo: JagurlTV.com

Who: Ravin Williams, performer/host, 24, Atlanta

Pride plans: Atlanta has two Pride weekends that I attend: Atlanta Pride and Atlanta Black Pride. Ill work both events as an entertainer/performer and as a go-go dancer and host.

After Orlando: Im sure our Pride events this year will be different and will likely include a moment of silence.

Summer Pride look: Something cute, fun, and with a little edge to it.

Summer Pride song: Panda by Desiigner. That song is bound to get any party started!

If friends were visiting for Pride: Two Urban Licks is my favorite Atlanta restaurant. Id also take them to [legendary lesbian bar/club] My Sisters Room in Midtown for a drink and their delicious wings! Then wed dance all night there with the beautiful ladies of the city. During Black Pride, Id definitely take them to Soul Bar at Pals Lounge for some hookah and good music.

Talk like a real Atlantan: Hey, yall, whats the move for tonight? That club was poppin! Time to continue the turn-up!

Photo: Instagram/thefawz

Who: Fawzia Mirza, actor, Chicago

Pride plans: For Chicago Pride, starting Friday night, I went to Shimmer Womens Wrestling, then to Jai Ho, a South Asian Bollywood dance party. Saturday, I was at an all-day big gay pool party with DJs and performances, then Sunday I marched in the parade in Lakeview, then ended up at Back Lot Bash.

After Orlando: I originally wasnt planning on being in the parade this year, but as a queer Muslim, I felt like it was important for us all to represent our collective LGBTQ family.

Summer Pride look: Pride always involves sporting shades of denim! I wear denim like its formalwear. On top or bottom. Until its got holes.

Summer Pride song: Give Me Your Love by Sigala. We have to love one another better. The last few weeks have reminded me of that, and sometimes you cant express yourself in words or youre tired of words, so you just have to dance.

If friends were visiting for Pride: Wed eat a ton of tacos at Maxwell Street Market made by a Mexican family who makes fresh tortillas and salsa there every Sunday. Go to Boystown, walk through Andersonville. Wed drink slushies and find a beautiful Chicago rooftop like the one at the Virgin Hotel. And wed dance. Then detox from it all at King Spa.

Talk like a real Chicagoan: Its the way we say Chicago. With a really long a.

Photo: Instagram/brooklynwonder

Who: Sarah Jenny, 32, nonprofit fundraising professional and co-curator of the NYC Pride Weekend event Everybooty, Brooklyn. N.Y.

Pride plans: We are lucky enough to have a Pride in each of our citys five boroughs, but Manhattan Pride is the largest by far. I celebrated at Everybooty at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, an event I have been co-curating for the last six years. Its a radical mashup of performance, bands, drag, art, dance, DJs, and readings and is truly inclusive of the entire gender and sexuality spectrum.

After Orlando: I lived in Orlando for a number of years, and this year hits home. On a personal level, Ive been supporting friends who have lost loved ones. Weve dedicated Everybooty to the victims, their families, and loved ones. I think it is a delicate balance to make space for mourning, anger, and sadness as well as space for community healing, resilience, and resistance. We need all of it.

Summer Pride look: I am a high femme, so nothing makes me feel more beautiful and celebratory than a bold lip and a fun party dress!

Summer Pride song: All in the Name by Bright Light Bright Light. Its very uplifting and about seeking community and care, which really resonates with me right now. Bright Light Bright Light is playing Everybooty. Im really looking forward to getting on the dance floor!

If friends were visiting for Pride: Id take them to Jacob Riis, our local queer beach, then grab dinner at Tanoreen in Bay Ridge for some authentic Palestinian cuisine. Clubs are open until 4 a.m., so Id suggest a disco nap before heading out to one of our amazing LGBTQ parties, such as Xanadude, Be Cute, Hot Rabbit, or Scissor Sundays.

Talk like a real New Yorker: Order an everything and a schmear to get a healthy dollop of cream cheese on this classic Ashkenazi New Yorker bagel breakfast.

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The Whitehall Biological Weed Control Project will be accepting phone and email requests on Thursday for insects to help control leafy spurge infestations.

Weed control participants collected the insects, leafy spurge flea beetles (Aphthona spp.) on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Grass Range area.

Weed control project coordinator Todd Breitenfeldt can be reached at 406-498-5236 during normal business hours or outside of those hours by email at tbreit@whitehallmt.org any time to arrange for a release of the insects. Bryce Murphy, assistant coordinator for the project, can be reached by phone at 406-533-5672.

The insects will be given out on a first come, first served basis, so those interested in receiving them are encouraged to contact the weed control project during normal business hours.

Those who will receive the insects will need a small cooler with an ice pack and some packing to separate the insect container from the ice to transport the insects.

These releases will usually contain several species of flea beetles, both the black and brown colored types, according to a news release from Breitenfeldt.

They all are host specific  they eat only leafy spurge  and work about the same.

The insects lay their eggs in early summer (now) by dropping them onto the soil surface from above. The larvae soon hatch and burrow into the soil to begin eating the roots of leafy spurge. It is the minute larvae that do the most damage to the plant although the adults make small holes in the leaves, Breitenfeld wrote in his news release.

The larvae eat the roots all summer and fall. They overwinter in the soil and continue to munch on the roots the following spring. In late spring they pupate just under the surface of the soil and emerge as small adult beetles in early summer to do it all again.

The weed control project recommends a release on about every quarter-section of land, which is every quarter mile.

These beetles release an attractant scent and tend to stay together at the release site that causes a circle of damaged spurge around the site the next year.

This area of dead and dying plants increases in size each year as the beetle population increases, the news release noted.

The flea beetles work best in dry, hot sites and less well in shady sites. They will not work along creeks and ditches, as standing water or saturated soil drowns the larvae.

Ideal sites for releases of the insects are those that are the hottest and those that will not flood. Also, do not release them within 10 yards of ant piles, as ants prey on the eggs and harass the adults.

Funding for the Whitehall Biological Weed Control Project comes primarily from the Montana Noxious Weed Trust Fund, the Montana Department of Transportation and land owner donations. Therefore, the insects provided for release are distributed free. However, project organizers hope that those who receive insects would be willing to provide a donation to help with the matching funds for the weed trust fund grant.

Breitenfeldt is a science teacher in Whitehall, and the project is based out of Whitehall High School, and hires WHS students.
CHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2016 / HDS International Corp. and CMG Holdings Group, Inc. (OTC PINK: HDSI & OTC: CMGO): HDSI is pleased to announce that starting tomorrow our change of name and trading symbol go into effect. The new name of the company will be officially "Good Gaming, Inc." and the trading symbol will be "GMER". We believe that these two corporate actions more aptly describe our new and exciting business going forward, and management is extremely pleased with these changes after months of work bringing the public vehicle current with its SEC filings. As part of this process, FINRA performed an extensive review of the Company's financial information and shareholder/Board resolutions and has told us in writing that these changes will become effective June 30, 2016.

Management would like to take the opportunity to set the record straight as to what took place with the cancelled tournament this past weekend. While we are aware of certain negative feelings and misconceptions among our investors, we thought we would take this chance to explain. One of the founders of the company is battling a virulent form of cancer and was scheduled for emergency surgery for Saturday evening. There were a number of team members that wanted to be at the hospital to support his wife and family. While all tournaments are important this was a beta tournament with less than 200 players, we spoke to a group of players and they seemed to understand our desire to put it off and thus the decision was made. The decision was made at the highest level in the organization and had nothing to do with not being able to replace our founder, as he is not involved in running the tournaments directly. It was a group decision based on solidarity with one of our own. There was nothing nefarious in management's decision, but rather it was simply a desire to do what we thought was the right thing to do. We apologize to any of our shareholders who took this as some type of slight or insult. We have and will continue to produce quality product and tournaments. We have a number in the pipeline and they will be launching shortly, and we believe you will be pleased with what we have up our sleeve. Hang in there as you are about to get an excellent show. Thanks for all your support. - GG Management.

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About HDS International Corp.

Good Gaming, Inc. (HDS International Corporation) is a leading tournament gaming platform and online destination targeting the over 205 million eSports players and participants worldwide that want to compete at the high school or college level.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements not historical in nature, are intended, and are hereby identified as, "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements may be identified by words including "anticipate," "believe," "intends," "estimates," "expect," and similar expressions. The Company cautions readers that forward-looking statements including, without limitation, those relating to future business prospects are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from projections, estimates or aspirations, due to factors such as those relating to economic, governmental, technological, and any risks and factors identified from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the SEC.

Contact Information

HDS International Corp. (Good Gaming, Inc.)

Vik Grover

CEO

(708) 400-9050

corporate@good-gaming.com

SOURCE: HDS International Corp.
Specialist traders work inside a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 27, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Via Dave Lutz at JonesTrading, here's a quick guide to what traders are talking about right now:

Good Morning! Spoos adding to their best rally since March as hedges continue to unwind  The SPX is up 60bp, but these smallcaps are jumping nearly 1% early. Across the Atlantic its a sea of green, as the DAX jumps 1.2%, and the FTSE jumps 2.1% and nears pre-Brexit levels as their VIX collapses. Energy shares are loving Oil prices, while banks across the continent jump 3%, while Turkish equities trade lower on the triple-suicide attack in Istanbul. Turnover remains heavy, with no major sectors in Frankfurt or London trading lower. In Asia, Shanghai gained 70bp - Nikkei up 1.6%, shrugging off the Yen as Fins and Tech rallied - Aussie climbed 80bp on the back of materials and energy, while we saw a strong overnight for Emerging Markets, where shares in South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines led gains, rising at least 1%.

Still a strong demand for Yield, as the Irish 10-year yield falls to a new record low while German Bund Yields nosediving a bit here. Their 10YY at -13bp right now as EU leaders continue to debate the implications of Brexit at a summit in Brussels and Feds Powell was all dovish last night  Fed Funds now pricing in next hike for January 2018. The British pound continued to rise for a second straight trading session, while the PBoC intervened in the offshore yuan market this morning to stabilize their FX. The DXY is near yesterdays lows, and commodities are loving the tailwind: Silver is leaping 2.3%, while Copper is basically unchanged around 2month highs. WTI is climbing 1% on the back of a Huge API drawdown and a potential strike in Norway  while Natty continues to add to yesterdays 7% squeeze.

At 8:30 today, we get Personal Income and Spending, along with core PCE. At 9:30 ECBs Draghi Participates in Panel at ECB Conference, and at 10am we get US Pending Home Sales for May. At 10:30 attention turns to the DOE data for Crude, where last nights API data showed a draw of nearly 4mm, with 1.2mm coming out of Cushing. All eyes on the Fins today ahead of 4:30pm, when the Federal Reserve Board releases CCAR results. Down in Washington, there is a Senate Homeland Security Cmte meeting on Preparing for and Protecting the Nation from Zika at 10 a.m.

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Hillary Clinton took her campaign for president right to millennial voters on Tuesday, telling a town hall full of YouTube stars her stance on everything from immigration to Donald Trump.

The presumptive Democratic nominee, on a fundraising swing through Southern California, made her pitch to young voters that attended a summit sponsored by digital content platform BeautyCon. She told the crowd of 100 popular digital celebrities - who combined boast a social media following of 321 million fans - that she wanted them to get involved with this year's election.

For Clinton it was an opportunity to get in touch with younger voters, many who have been swayed to rival Sen. Bernie Sanders during the hard-fought campaign. BeautyCon has made its bones zeroing in on a large following, comprised mostly of young women, through conventions and YouTube stars whose digital shows have a massive outreach.

So digital creators like YouTuber Aaron Rhodes, Rachel Levin, Alexa Losey, Jenn McAllister, Teala Dunn (Tealaxx2) and Angel Merino peppered Clinton with questions - and asked their fans to chime in using the hashtag #CreatorsAskHRC on social media. The hour-long conversation, moderated by Dulce Ruiz (known online as "Dulce Candy"), kicked off with a not-so-softball question about her stance on immigration.

Read More: 'Hamilton' to Fundraise for Hillary Clinton With Additional Performance

"I think the people who should be deported are people who are violent, who pose a real threat to others," Clinton remarked. "We are a nation of immigrants and we are a nation that has been really blessed by the talents, skills and hard work of people who have come from all over the world."

Then she took her first stab at the presumptive GOP nominee's pledge to build a wall and kick out anyone who was illegally living in the U.S.: "The economy would be badly damaged if Donald Trump had his way and 11 million people were deported."

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But Clinton did tell the YouTubers that she understood why Americans were voting for Trump, while also making a pitch against voting for the real estate mogul.

"I am sympathetic to a lot of the people attracted by Trump's message who are feeling really left out and left behind. They have lost faith in their government, in the economy and certainly in politics and most other institutions and they don't know how they are going to create a better future for themselves," Clinton said. "So I am not only sympathetic; I'm looking for solutions. I understand why people are frustrated and even fearful, but don't look for easy answers and misleading promises that cannot deliver what they're hoping for."

She added that "the whole slogan 'Make America Great Again' is code for 'go back to the time when a lot of people were not included,' including women, including African Americans and Latinos and a lot of other people  I am not sympathetic to the xenophobia, the misogyny, the homophobia, the Islamophobia," she said, "or the sort of dog whistles that Trump uses to create that fervor among a lot of his supporters."

Sanders was also a topic of conversation. Clinton praised her fellow Democrat, commending his campaign for being "terrific for the Democrats" with "passion" and "energy."

After answering more questions from web stars ranging in topics from teachers' salaries to revenge porn, homelessness and mental health, she gave her opinion on the power of social media. "There's no doubt that social media is a driver of opinions, of commitments, of involvements," she said. Clinton then remarked of connecting with people through social media channels: "I think that's part of being a leader in today's world."

Asked by a YouTuber what she would do to tackle homophobia, Clinton expressed her condolences to the recent mass shooting at gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando (calling it "both terrorism and a hate crime") and exhorted, "We have to keep standing up against the homophobia, the hatred, the disrespecting and demeaning of people." Clinton said she will continue in the fight for gun safety and is "working as hard as I can to keep guns out of the wrong hands."

And the way BeautyCon ended the town hall with the mostly millennial crowd - a selfie, of course. Clinton joined the crowd and declared: "This could be better than the Oscars! We have to send it to Ellen!"

Read More: Oprah Endorses Hillary Clinton for President
(Hillary Clinton in Chicago.Joshua Lott/Getty Images))

Hillary Clinton is crushing Donald Trump in almost all of the states needed to swing the presidential election in November.

A new Ballotpedia poll of swing-state voters released Tuesday found Clinton leading Trump by significant margins in numerous key battleground states.

According to Tuesdays poll, Clinton leads Trump 51% to 37% in Florida, 45% to 41% in Iowa, 48% to 38% in North Carolina, and 45% to 38% in Virginia.

The poll, conducted June 10-22, also significantly undermines Trumps argument that he can reach the 270 Electoral College votes needed to clinch the presidency by mobilizing white working-class voters in Rust Belt states. According to the Ballotpedia poll, Clinton led Trump 50% to 33% in Michigan, 46% to 37% in Ohio, and 49% to 35% in Pennsylvania.

The margin of error was plus or minus 4 points for Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. It was plus or minus 3.9 points for Virginia and Ohio.

Not all the polling news on Wednesday was bad for Trump.

A new Quinnipiac University poll of 1,600 registered voters nationally found Trump and Clinton in a dead heat, with the former secretary of state leading but just 2 points, well within the surveys margin of error.

Still, other national polls found the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in much better standing.

New Washington Post/ABC and Reuters polls published over the weekend found Trump trailing Clinton by double digits, while an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that the real-estate magnate trailed Clinton by 5 points, down from 3 points in May.

Despite Clintons significant lead, many voters in recent surveys remain pessimistic about both candidates.

It would be difficult to imagine a less flattering from-the-gut reaction to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Quinnipiac University Poll assistant director Tim Malloy said in a press release. This is where we are. Voters find themselves in the middle of a mean-spirited, scorched earth campaign between two candidates they dont like. And they dont think either candidate would be a good president.

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Many polling analysts caution against relying too heavily on state polls several months out from the election, since regular public polls of swing states are still fairly rare.

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 recently in an email. This years states are mostly correlated with 2012, so theres no realignment. This means that watching national numbers is probably a reasonable substitute.

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Hillary Clintons new proposals would mean big changes for students in debt and young entrepreneurs

Hillary Clintons new proposals would mean big changes for students in debt and young entrepreneurs

Just yesterday, the Clinton campaign released their proposed Initiative on Technology and Innovation, with the belief that with the right public policies, social and economic inequality can be reduced, and American leadership on the global stage can be secured. The Tech & Innovation agenda touched on a great deal of tech issues  some of which are already in place by the Obama Administration. But the issues surrounding immigration seemed to strike a few chords  both positive and negative.

giphy

The Clinton campaign would like to make a point to attract and retain the top talent from around the world, and plan to do this by clearing the backlogs and removing the barriers foreign entrepreneurs face when pursuing green cards.

Hillary would allow international students with STEM degrees to move to green card status as long as they continued to contribute to the US economy.

Hillary also plans to give start-up visas to top foreign entrepreneurs who come to the U.S. to build companies in technology-oriented globally traded sectors, creating jobs for Americans. While this portion of the initiative definitely sounds like a pro, its being harshly compared to other investor visa programs that have been pegged as gateways for wealthy immigrants to buy their way into the green card system.

giphy (1)

The campaign also proposed to defer student loans in hopes of helping young American entrepreneurs to pursue their business goals  leveling the playing field for entrepreneurs and innovators who are launching their own start-ups.

Hillary believes that student loan debt and lack of credit are key barriers for young entrepreneurs, and to help overcome these obstacles, entrepreneurs will be allowed to put their student loans into special status just until their start-up gets off the ground. The deferment agreement would prevent the founders and the first 10-20 employees from having to make payments, zero interest and principal, for up to three years  which is known as the critical start-up phase for new enterprises.

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giphy (2)

It gets even better for those entrepreneurs who wish to launch their new businesses in distressed communities, or enterprises that have a measurable social impact or benefit. Participants will receive $17,500 in student loan forgiveness after five years. With experts estimating this springs graduating class to be carrying at least $37,000 in student loan debt for each individual student, $17.5K in loan forgiveness doesnt sound like a whole lot, but its certainly a step in the right direction.

The post Hillary Clintons new proposals would mean big changes for students in debt and young entrepreneurs appeared first on HelloGiggles.
From Cosmopolitan

Before Hillary Clinton's town hall for digital content creators began on Tuesday afternoon, "Let's Get Loud" played as a hordes of Millennials in bodycon dresses and fashionable suits took selfies in the audience. The BeautyCon-sponsored event wasn't unlike a thumping nightclub - both Kylie Jenner's best friend, Jordyn Woods, and Karrueche Tran were in attendance, after all.

The event, which was live streamed on Clinton's Facebook page, natch, was organized by BeautyCon with the specific intent of putting Clinton in the same room with a bunch of tech-savvy younger voters. As the CEO of Beautycon Media, Moj Mahdara, told Cosmopolitan.com, the 100 content creators in attendance had a reach of more than 300 million subscribers combined. "We have a bunch of voices here with giant platforms and the fact is, millennials are the most likely to protest but the least likely to vote. I want to change that."

Speaking of protesters, out front, dozens of anti-abortion protesters wielded giant signs that said things like "Hillary Supports Killing Babies" and "Hillary 2016 = Dead Babies." Children and teens used chalk to write, "Hillary Kills Babies" in pastel pink and yellow on the concrete. A protester who wished to be identified only as Sue, said she chose to attend the event because, "we know Hillary is very pro-abortion and so we're here to encourage her and her supporters to love the moms and love the babies by not killing them."

Back inside, Moj Mahdara introduced Clinton to the group, but not before giving everyone the WiFi login info, which was met with the biggest applause of the evening. The questions of the evening ran the gamut of issues that move Millennial voters, including student loan debt, LGBTQ issues, and revenge porn.

Chrissy Chambers, who makes videos with her girlfriend on the BriaAndChrissy YouTube channel, asked Clinton about the latter.

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"In 2015, I came out as one of the first public figures who was a victim of revenge porn," she told Clinton. "And ever since have been trying to pursue justice for myself as well as other victims."

Chambers explained that although 34 states have some laws against revenge porn, there is no federal law criminalizing it. She asked Clinton what she would do to ensure that there was a federal law passed so victims can get justice and "perpetrators can be held accountable for sexual assault, digital privacy invasion, and this horrible crime that ruins so many people's lives and almost ruined mine."

Clinton thanked Chambers for her bravery and told her, "I will do everything I can as president, to try and figure out how we can give victims like you the tools you need, and the rest of society should support, to be able to protect yourself and by doing so, protect others."

Clinton also spoke to the audience about the importance of their roles in helping to support victims of these crimes.

"Some of you have kept people alive, because you have been able to communicate with a person who was bullied. Or a young person who was struggling with their sexuality and feeling all alone. And you were able to give that person a sense of survival. And a feeling they weren't by themselves," she said.

Raymond Braun, 26, asked Clinton what she would do to tackle homophobia and transphobia and keep LGBTQ people safe, especially in light of the recent mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

"The horrifying events in Orlando, which was both terrorism and a hate crime, sent shock waves through America, but the people most affected were those in the LGBT community," Clinton responded. "It's one of the reasons why I went to Pride Parade in New York City because I wanted to demonstrate unequivocally that I would do everything I could to deal with homophobia."

She stressed the need to pass laws to protect LGBTQ people - including employment protection  as well as stricter gun laws. "I can't stop every hate crime, I wish I could, and I am working as hard as I can to keep guns out of the wrong hands, something that I think contributed to the murders in Orlando," she said. "The idea that we can't do more to protect people from the epidemic of gun violence is just so heart-sickening to me that I'm gonna stay on this, take on the gun lobby, and keep fighting for gun safety measures."

After the event, Braun said he was pleased with Clinton's answer. "I'd feel very safe with her as President," he told Cosmopolitan.com. "She is including LGBTQ people in her campaign  we are woven into its fabric."

As to whether an event like this can affect voter turnout, especially among millennial voters, Braun is optimistic. "These peer-to-peer conversations are super important. I tell my friends, if you can't think of a reason to vote, think of me. I'm part of a group that's routinely discriminated against, and one candidate is fanning the flames of hatred and bigotry, and one candidate who is actively and beautifully advocating for my community, so which do you want to support?"

The town hall ended with Clinton taking a selfie with the entire crowd "This is gonna be bigger than the Oscars," she joked, to a round of laughter and applause.

Follow Laura on Twitter.
Ashok Mirpuri, Singapores ambassador to the United States, said his visit to Montana was part of his effort to acquaint himself with this nation.

Now in his fourth year in Washington, D.C., he said he travels to different states to learn and understand the perspectives coming from those states.

Visiting states is an opportunity for him as an ambassador to see the U.S. more widely and bring some of those insights back to the broader relationship between the two nations, Mirpuri explained.

"So the trip here is really in that context," he said before speaking at a noon luncheon held by the Montana World Affairs Council at the Best Western Premier Great Northern Hotel, where he offered a view on the United States' economic involvement and its engagement with the Asia-Pacific region.

From discussions with those in business, he said, he has learned there is already an economic engagement between Montanans and his island city-state located at the tip of Malaysia and south of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.

"For me, it was a nice surprise to find that even without too much effort on the part of governments, businesses have found their way to each other," he said.

"So I think that  can lead to some promising future connections," he added.

He said he saw his trip as possibly fostering conversations on student exchanges and art educational opportunities, he continued.

Some of the resources that Montana has, such as its agriculture, can be promising for export and a relationship between Singapore and Montana, Mirpuri said.

Singapore, he would later tell the audience that numbered about 40, must import its food, water and energy. The nation celebrated 50 years of independence in 2015 after having joined Malaysia for two years, from 1963 to 1965 before the two separated.

"Singapore serves very much as a regional hub in the Asia Pacific," Mirpuri said.

"Singapore and the U.S. already have a bilateral free trade agreement and so Montana products, U.S. products enter Singapore largely without any tariff and that then creates the ability for them to reach out wider in the region because we also have free-trade agreements around the region as well.

"So I think thats where some of the partnerships can evolve," Mirpuri said.

Because Singapore is a very small, urbanized society, its ability to provide goods for trade with the U.S. would come later, he noted.

According online information from U.S. Department of Commerce, Montana's exports in 2014 totaled $1.5 billion, with Canada the state's largest market and accounting for nearly 36 percent of those exports.

Of the 2014 total, 51 percent, amounting to $773 million, was destined for nations that negotiated the Trans-Pacific Partnership  a trade deal involving the U.S. and 11 other countries that has yet to win congressional approval.

Singapore is among the Asia-Pacific nations involved in the trade pact.

Robert Seidenschwarz, president emeritus of the World Affairs Council, said he saw the importance in the ambassador's visit to Montana.

"I can't state how important something like this is in terms of the effort of the ambassador to come here and meet with the governor, attend a function like this because it's an introduction for Montanans to get to know Singapore," Seidenschwarz said.

This is an opportunity to develop personal relationships between the two entities, he added.

"Montana has a lot to offer the world, but they don't always know what those options are until you educate Montanans to that point too."

"An event like this is a stepping stone," Seidenschwarz said, and explained that he anticipated several visits and exchanges of information would be needed in the coming years before trade relationships could be created.

Nothing like this happens quickly, he said, noting that usually it's a combination of public- and private-sector efforts that are required.

Those who are in business need to know both where their opportunities are as well as challenges, Seidenschwarz said.

"You first, as a business person, need to know in this very small country but culturally diverse what are some of the differences that exist. You want to be very specific to your market and your product."
By Nina Chestney LONDON (Reuters) - A project to build two new nuclear reactors at EDF Energy's Hinkley Point site in Britain will not be influenced by the outcome of the country's vote last week to leave the European Union, energy minister Andrea Leadsom told lawmakers on Wednesday. "I don't believe the Austrian challenge to Hinkley has any merit ... and I do not believe (the project) will be influenced by the results of the referendum," Leadsom told an energy and climate change committee hearing. Austria launched legal action against the European Commission last year over its backing of British plans to build the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, saying it went against the EU's aim to support renewable energy. A final investment decision on Hinkley Point has been delayed as France's EDF tries to secure partners and financing. Concerns have been raised that Britain's decision to leave the EU could put the project even further behind. Leadsom, who was in favour of leaving the EU, also said she did not believe anything would change for British energy policy following last week's vote and that nothing should change for interconnectors with the EU, which are run by companies that have commercial agreements. The minister said she could not give details about the timings of the second and third rounds of auctions for government-supported renewable energy projects, known as contracts-for-difference (CfD). "On the timings of the second and third auctions, it depends on progress, the pipeline (of projects) and so on, and so it is not possible to say right now," Leadsom said. (Reporting by Nina Chestney, editing by Louise Heavens and Susan Fenton)
From Cosmopolitan

A California woman suspected of drunk driving reportedly hit a pedestrian on a sidewalk and then drove for a mile with the victim's body partially lodged in her car.

Esteysi Sanchez Izazaga, 29, who also goes by the name Stacy Sanchez, has been charged with hitting a man who was walking on a sidewalk at 6:20 a.m. Monday, according to NBC San Diego. She was allegedly driving so fast that the victim flew into the windshield of her car and was dismembered upon impact. The victim's leg flew through the back window, according to police.

"The impact was so hard it knocked him off the hood of the vehicle and the windshield," Sgt. Ignacio Sanchez of the Oceanside Police Department told CBS8. "His body came to rest on the passenger side."

After the crash, Izazaga continued driving for about a mile and eventually parked the car and walked away. NBC San Diego reports that after witnesses called the police, Izazaga was found a few blocks from her car.

One witness, Edwin Esparza, said Izazaga tried to walk away while he questioned her about the horrific scene. "I kept asking her, Who's that man, who's that man? She was crying and not really answering me," Esparza told NBC San Diego.

Izazaga was arrested and has been charged with a DUI, felony hit-and-run, and vehicular manslaughter. Her bail is set at $130,000, CBS8 reports. The victim's name has not yet been released.

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Paris (AFP) - President Francois Hollande said he expected the French economy to perform better than expected this year and add at least 200,000 new jobs, as the deeply unpopular leader shifts into campaign mode ahead of next year's elections.

In an interview published Wednesday on the website of Les Echos daily, the Socialist president also repeated a promise made last month to cut taxes by up to two billion euros, a move he said was aimed at helping the "middle classes".

"There is a rebound going on in France and the start of a reversal of the unemployment curve. This is an indisputable fact," Hollande said.

"Our growth will exceed 1.6 percent this year, which will allow us to create at least 200,000 jobs."

Looking ahead to 2017 Hollande was even more bullish, forecasting growth of 1.7 percent.

The government previously estimated the eurozone's second-largest economy would expand by 1.5 percent both this year and the next.

Hollande however warned of the repercussions from Britain's shock vote to leave the European Union, which he said could spread beyond the UK and negatively affect eurozone economies.

"The Brexit (vote) will mostly have an unfavourable impact on the United Kingdom and it will be through a possible recession across the Channel that there could be a risk to the eurozone and to France," Hollande said.

To limit the fallout, he called for "a swift and clear European response".

"The shorter the period of uncertainty about the place of Britain in Europe, the more contained the Brexit consequences will be," he said.

Boosted by household spending, France's gross domestic product grew 0.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, beating analyst expectations, official data showed recently.

The figures provided a rare dose of good news for Hollande, who has record-low approval ratings, and whose government has been grappling with mass street protests against planned job market reforms less than a year ahead of the next presidential election.

Hollande has pledged not to seek re-election if he fails to rein in stubbornly-high unemployment, which is hovering at around 10 percent.
BRUSSELS, June 29 (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande said on Wednesday that a border agreement between France and Britain would not be affected by last week's Brexit vote because the so-called Le Touquet accord was a bilateral agreement

"To question the Le Touquet accord because Britain is going to leave the EU has no sense," Hollande told a news briefing in Brussels at the end of European Council summit.

The agreement signed in 2003 allows British officials to check passports in France and vice versa, effectively pushing the British frontier onto mainland France. This led to migrants trying to reach British shores congregating in Calais.

Some French politicians have called for the deal to be scrapped. Last week's referendum vote to leave the European Union has highlighted those demands.

(Reporting by Richard Lough and Michel Rose; Editing by Andrew Callus)
By Sanjeev Miglani DHAKA (Reuters) - Early in June, a man walked into the Dhaka premises of the Ramakrishna Mission, a Hindu center for spirituality and learning in the Bangladesh capital, and delivered a handwritten note warning of an attack by Islamic State. Days later, armed policemen were sitting inside the mission's compound among orange-robed monks, the gates outside were closed and fewer people than normal showed up at a medical clinic it runs for the neighborhood. "We are monks, we will live and die here, but people with families are worried," Swami Shivananda, a priest managing the administration of the mission, said of the country's Hindu community, which accounts for 10 percent of the population. Islamic State and al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for the killings of more than 30 people since early last year, in an escalation of militant violence targeting liberals, atheists, foreigners, gays and religious minorities. They have shocked the largely moderate Muslim country of 160 million people and heightened fears that Bangladesh, once hailed as the next Asian tiger economy with its huge garment industry, could lose out to more stable competitors in the region. Unlike some security experts, Bangladesh authorities say the two international jihadi movements are not directly involved in the murders, many of which were carried out with machetes. But, as the police at the Hindu mission attest, the danger is real, and counter-terrorism officials warn it could get worse with one local militant group adopting al Qaeda's methods and calling on the expertise of a former army major implicated in a failed 2011 coup. DEADLY RIVALRY Security officials say two local militant groups, Ansar-al-Islam and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, are behind the killings. Of the two, Ansar, which pledges allegiance to al Qaeda, has emerged as the most organized and dangerous, they say, while Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen is seen as a looser organization that claims it represents Islamic State but has no proven links to it. "By now we have a clear idea of the organizational structure, command and control and methods of operations of Ansar-al-Islam," Monirul Islam, chief of Bangladesh's counter-terrorism police, told Reuters in a recent interview. "They follow the ideology of al Qaeda, their operational leaders are mostly educated men, (from a) middle class background. They declare their allegiance to al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and, through it, to Ayman al-Zawahri," he said, referring to al Qaeda's global leader. According to Thomas Joscelyn, senior editor at The Long War Journal that tracks jihadi groups worldwide, there was evidence of more direct links between Bangladesh and al Qaeda, and he warned the Islamist militant threat had been underestimated. "We now have competition between al Qaeda and the Islamic State in Bangladesh, which means that the jihadist pool is deep enough for both organizations to operate in the country." In May, 2015, AQIS leader Asim Umar claimed responsibility for the murder of Avijit Roy, a U.S. citizen and blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh that February. U.S. officials said at the time they were unable to confirm the claim. Initially, Ansar struck bloggers and publishers critical of radical Islam, then university teachers, including one who asked a woman student to remove her veil in class. In April, it said it murdered two gay rights activists, saying they were promoting anti-Islamic activities, police said. MYSTERIOUS EX-OFFICER Also worrying for authorities is the apparent rise within Ansar's ranks of former army major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque, who went into hiding after the military accused him of involvement in a plot to overthrow the government in 2011. "We have a suspicion that the ex-major is one of their leaders," said counter-terrorism chief Islam. "He is in hiding. We know his capability. If he is involved, it is a strength for Ansar-al-Islam." Zia, as intelligence agencies call him, was from the engineer corps and trained in special operations. His would be the first known case of a Bangladesh military officer switching sides to join a militant group, although it has happened elsewhere. A military spokesman said Zia had been dismissed from service five years ago, but added that he was not in a position to speak about Zia's activities since then. Zia's involvement with Ansar was first mentioned by the head of its predecessor group following his capture in 2013, two police officials said. Zia was helping in the training of the fighters, motivating them to carry out jihad against "anti-Islam" forces and also taught bomb-making skills, one official briefed on the interrogation report said. Reuters could not independently verify the police claims. At the same time, Islamic State has said it was behind the killings of Hindus, Buddhists and members of minority Muslim sects, which have accelerated in recent weeks. Security officials tie those deaths to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, a home grown group inspired by Islamic State's vision of a caliphate. Police official Islam said authorities had found computer evidence that Bangladesh-origin foreign fighters, some in Syria, were claiming attacks on behalf of Islamic State as soon as they occurred. But he said there was no evidence of operational ties with the Middle East-based movement. (Additional reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
HONG KONG, June 29 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's securities regulator has publicly censured two units of Bank of America for breaches of the city's takeover codes in relation to two transactions last year.

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said in a statement on Wednesday the censures were linked to Bank of America's role in a partial offer for China Resources Beer and the privatisation of Power Assets Holdings Ltd .

The SFC said Bank of America failed to disclose its dealings in relevant securities in the two transactions, as required by the city's takeover codes.

A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment.

(Reporting by Denny Thomas; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
* Says bank units failed to disclose equity swaps in both deals

* Says Bank of America has probed breaches, took remedial measurs (Adds details, background on regulator action)

HONG KONG, June 29 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has publicly censured two units of Bank of America for breaches of the city's takeover codes in two deals last year, the regulator said on Wednesday.

The SFC said the censures were linked to the role of the units in a partial offer for China Resources Beer (CRB) and the privatisation of Power Assets Holdings Ltd .

The regulator said the Bank of America units failed to disclose their dealings in equity swaps in both the CRB partial offer and the Power Assets privatisation, despite taking the role of adviser on both transactions.

A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment.

The city's takeover codes require parties to an offer and their associates to disclose dealings in relevant securities, whether for themselves or clients, during an equity swap period, the SFC said in a statement.

"BofAML Group should have taken reasonable care to establish and maintain procedures and systems to guard against non-compliance with the Takeovers Code," it added.

Bank of America accepted the "oversight of the disclosure obligations" in both transactions, the regulator said, and had investigated the issue and taken remedial measures.

In February, the SFC censured Goldman Sachs for infringing parts of the takeover code while acting as financial adviser to Wing Hang Bank Ltd in a $5-billion offer for the Hong Kong lender in 2014.

(Reporting by Denny Thomas and Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has publicly censured two units of Bank of America for breaches of the city's takeover codes in two deals last year, the regulator said on Wednesday.

The SFC said the censures were linked to the role of the units in a partial offer for China Resources Beer (CRB) and the privatization of Power Assets Holdings Ltd.

The regulator said the Bank of America units failed to disclose their dealings in equity swaps in both the CRB partial offer and the Power Assets privatization, despite taking the role of adviser on both transactions.

A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment.

The city's takeover codes require parties to an offer and their associates to disclose dealings in relevant securities, whether for themselves or clients, during an equity swap period, the SFC said in a statement.

"BofAML Group should have taken reasonable care to establish and maintain procedures and systems to guard against non-compliance with the Takeovers Code," it added.

Bank of America accepted the "oversight of the disclosure obligations" in both transactions, the regulator said, and had investigated the issue and taken remedial measures.

In February, the SFC censured Goldman Sachs for infringing parts of the takeover code while acting as financial adviser to Wing Hang Bank Ltd in a $5-billion offer for the Hong Kong lender in 2014.

(Reporting by Denny Thomas and Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
From ELLE DECOR

Summer is in full swing, and if you haven't nailed down your vacation plans yet, it's about time.

TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals has identified the 10 most popular international destinations for Americans this summer  plus the average weekly rate for a two-bedroom rental home there.

Unsurprisingly, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil comes out on top, with searches for rentals peaking the week of August 13th, just in time to see Olympic events in diving, swimming, and track & field. If TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals' findings are any indication, maybe people aren't so worried about the Zika epidemic after all.

Apart from Rio, European cities dominate the list - which is based on search volume for international vacation rentals between May and September 2016 - with London, Paris, Edinburgh, Rome, and Barcelona coming in as the next most popular tourist spots. And as Refinery29 points out, Americans traveling to London are getting a lot more fish and chips for their buck this summer, given the results of the shocking Brexit vote.

Also worth noting? Budget-conscious travelers are looking to Canada as a prime vacation destination. Vancouver and Whistler rounded out the top 10 spots  the only two cities from the same country on the list. According to The Globe & Mail, the Canadian dollar is taking a bit of a hit this summer, too, so now may be the best time to head to Drake and Ryan Gosling's homeland.

Interestingly, none of TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals' findings are consistent with Pinterest's list of the most popular summer travel destinations, where waterfalls and national parks take precedence over cosmopolitan cities.

Take a look at the list below:
Helenas downtown sits in Last Chance Gulch. Its major street carries the same thoroughly Western name. This was not always the case. Changing the street name in the early 1950s excited the town for months.

Last Chance the gulch was named by the Four Georgians in 1864. Those prospectors were returning back through the Prickly Pear Valley of Montana with no gold to show for their long search. Stopping to water their horses, they told each other, Boys, this gulch is our last chance. They found gold and the rest is history  or, Helena.

Last Chance the street was named 90 years later, through efforts of the Chamber of Commerce. Prior to 1953, the main street of Helenas downtown was called Main Street. Upgrading this name to something more colorful was the first public project of the travel bureau of the Chamber.

The Chambers petition drive to change the name immediately won impressively favorable response, according to the Independent Record. Within six days  during the height of the 1952 Christmas shopping season  the City Council was presented with petitions representing more than 90 per cent of the people who work and own property on Main.

Heading the project were Vern Cougill, general manager of Capital Motors, and John Quigley, who built Frontier Town outside Helena. Cougill explained, "Every town and city in the U.S. has a Main Street but only Helena has a Last Chance Gulch, a name with the lure of the west. Quigley held it was the first step in a long-range program to make Helena more attractive to the tourist trade.

Support for renaming Main Street was not unanimous. The Last Chance Gulch Mining Association represented Helenas original industry and it had objections. Association secretary Hugh Gaw maintained Fuller Avenue and the alley between Main and Park were the actual path of Last Chance Gulch Creek. Technically, he was right. But technicalities dont attract tourists.

The president of Fligelman's Department Store, Norman Winestine, called on the City Council to not be ashamed of the romantic glorious past of Helena. The spirit of our attitude is important. If we want to be stagnant, we can be what some articles have called us, a stagnant city.

Ed Commers, official state capitol guide who led pack trips through the granite tepee, said the out-of-state visitors werent interested in Main Street because they wanted to get away from one of their own hundreds of miles away.

Having heard both Gaw and the Chamber, Mayor J. R. Kaiserman delayed, ruling that the Council shouldnt take any arbitrary action until the factions had it settled. Possibly he still was grumpy over having his office and the council voted out of existence the previous month. That was another Chamber-endorsed initiative, this one to modernize city government.

The switch to a commission-city manager form of government took place in March 1953. Four months later, the new commissioners held a night meeting for the first time so residents could join the discussion about changing Main Streets name to something more modern in function if not form.

The Independent Record described the arguments as tense. The acting mayor, Amos Little, started by declaring the change was something the departed city council should have done back in December. Winestine followed, testifying that Fligelmans had risked our capital, our credit and our prestige to use Last Chance Gulch as an address and never received a sneering or derisive response from outsiders.

K. Ross Toole, secretary of the Historical Society of Montana, rebutted remarks describing the past as something to get away from, saying, The founders of Last Chance Gulch had dignity, fortitude and courage, all had something worthy of commemoration.

Gaw testified in opposition. He cited the cost. He cited the confusion. He cited the topography. He was not successful. The Commission voted unanimously to make the change.

The Commission vote didnt quite end the debate. Opponents mounted a petition drive to force a special election on the question of the name change. Petitions with 1,594 signatures were submitted by the August 26 deadline, short of the number needed. Reflecting the emotions the name change had provoked, Commissioner Little said tartly, he doubted there was a was a legally valid protest petition in the lot.

With that, Helenas downtown street had a name that has drawn tourists ever since.

Paul Cartwright is working on a history of urban renewal in Helena. All quotes are from the Independent Record.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's Olympic sprint hurdles champion Sally Pearson said she was 'gutted' after a hamstring tendon tear she picked up in training forced her to pull out of the Rio de Janeiro Games on Wednesday. The 29-year-old, who won gold in the 100 meters hurdles at the London Olympics, had battled back after being sidelined for a year by a shattered wrist only to suffer the hamstring injury training at her base on the Gold Coast. "It's a hard time for me at the moment. I'm disappointed and I'm gutted," Pearson told Australia's Nine Network on Wednesday. "Unfortunately, it is the biggest sporting event in the world that I am going to be missing out on and I can't be a part of. It's devastating that I can't be at Rio as the Olympic champ." Pearson's hopes of defending her title at the Aug. 5-21 Games had looked slim after a fall at the Golden Gala meeting in Rome last year shattered her wrist so badly, she feared her left forearm might need to be amputated. The 2011 world champion, who also won silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, missed the back end of the 2015 season as a result of the fall and only returned to racing in Europe early this month. Her results in three races in Birmingham, France and Oslo were disappointing, however, and she returned for a period of intense training in the warmer climes of her hometown on the Queensland coast. COMING TOGETHER She said upon her return home that she had "left nothing in the tank" but said on Wednesday she was finally starting to feel physically better before her hopes were crushed earlier this week. "My body finally was starting to feel normal again, it was starting to feel the speed, the strength... it was all coming together," she said. "Unfortunately on Monday, I went over the hurdles and felt two squeezes in my hamstring and my heart sank. "I thought it was just a hamstring tear and it would probably take me a couple of weeks and I'd be all right. But the scans showed it was a tendon tear and any tendon takes a long time to recover." Pearson, who is keen to compete at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in her hometown on the Gold Coast, said the danger of going to Rio and aggravating the injury would have hampered that opportunity. "The risk of going to compete at the Olympics could do major damage to my hamstring," she said. "And there would be no chance of me competing at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in a couple of years time." (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Greg Stutchbury/John O'Brien)
Low-cost airline Wow Air is to start flying New York to Reykjavik from $99 in November, with stopovers to European destinations also available.

With flights from Reykjavik starting at $99 (including taxes), Wow is also offering routes to its European destinations, with those including Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris, Frankfurt and Berlin starting at $149.

Flights are to depart from Newark Liberty International Airport; stopover flights land at Keflavik for an hour.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian counter-terrorism officials on Wednesday arrested five men on suspicion of plotting a series of attacks across the country on behalf of Islamic State, two intelligence officials said. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and local police raided 11 locations in the southern city of Hyderabad at dawn, seizing ammunition, explosive materials and cash. Nine men were detained and five of them were arrested for conspiracy to wage war against the Indian state, one of the officials said, on the condition he was not named. If a suspect is arrested, police have 90 days to present charges. "We have ample proof to show that the suspects were working for ISIS (Islamic State) and also had direct connection with Syrian leaders," the first official told Reuters. The second official, NIA Inspector General Sanjeev Kumar, said the men were recruited by an Islamic State handler operating outside of India, but declined to say how many of those detained would be charged. Islamic State has struggled to win over many recruits in India, which is home to the world's third-largest Muslim population. However, Indian police arrested 29 men last year for establishing bases to recruit men to the Islamist militant group. All men were charged with conspiracy to wage war against the state. A handful of Indians are also suspected of having traveled to Iraq and Syria to join Islamic State, where the group is fighting to install an Islamic caliphate. In a video circulated in May, a group of Indian fighters vowed to avenge the deaths of Muslims killed in riots in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat and elsewhere. (Reporting by Rupam Jain and Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Gareth Jones)
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Supreme Court refused on Wednesday to hear a petition challenging a law criminalizing gay sex, a setback for gay rights activists battling in the country's courts to get the ban overturned. A number of well-known lesbian, gay and bisexual Indians had argued that Section 377 of India's penal code, which prohibits "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal", undermined their fundamental rights by failing to protect their sexual preferences. "The Supreme Court refused to hear the matter and asked the petitioners to approach the Chief Justice of India," Arvind Dattar, a lawyer for one of the petitioners, told Reuters. India's chief justice is already hearing a separate case to strike down the ban, and India's top court has previously argued that only parliament has the power to change Section 377. The decision is the latest setback India's gay community has faced in its fight to get a prohibition on homosexual sex overturned ever since the Supreme Court reinstated a colonial-era ban in late 2013. That ban ended a four-year period of decriminalization that had helped bring homosexuality increasingly out into the open in a deeply conservative society. Discrimination faced by homosexual communities across the world was thrown into sharp relief again this month after a gunman slaughtered 49 people at a gay nightclub in Florida. Some Western countries have pressured India to overturn its ban on gay sex and respect human rights regardless of sexual orientation. This month U.S. Ambassador Richard Verma's residence in New Delhi's leafy diplomatic quarter was lit in the colors of the rainbow in a gesture of solidarity towards victims of the Orlando massacre. Violation of the Indian law on gay sex can result in a prison sentence of up to 10 years. (Reporting by Tommy Wilkes and Suchitra Mohanty; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Governor Steve Bullock's establishment campaign is known for blasting Greg Gianforte for having come to Montana from somewhere else (tsk, tsk!), even though it's been decades. Gianforte proceeded to create over 1,000 very high paying jobs here while pursuing the American Dream (somehow Bullock finds fault with this). How ironical that Bullock is now OK with bringing into Montana thousands of undocumented Syrian refugees, even though they're coming from a hotbed of radical Islamic terrorism. Bullock's reckless and spineless hypocrisy in order to appease the national Democrat machine places Montana families at risk for their safety. Meanwhile, job-creator Gianforte says he'll stand up to federal overreach and not allow unvetted potential ISIS terrorists into Montana.
By Fergus Jensen SAMARINDA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Thousands of mines are closing in Indonesias tropical coal belt as prices languish and seams run dry. But almost none of the companies have paid their share of billions of dollars owed to repair the badly scarred landscape they have left behind. Abandoned mine pits dot the bare, treeless hillsides in Samarinda, the capital of East Kalimantan province on Indonesia's part of Borneo island. It is ground zero for a coal boom that made Indonesia the world's biggest exporter of the mineral that fuels power plants. Abandoned mining pits have now become death traps for children who swim in them, and their acidic water is killing nearby rice paddies. Indonesia has tried, mostly in vain, to get mining companies to keep their promises to clean up the ravaged landscape. But it doesn't even have basic data on who holds the many thousands of mining licenses that were handed out during the boom days, officials say. "Nobody was in control," said Dian Patria, who works on natural resources at the country's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Patria estimated that 90 percent of the more than 10,000 mining license holders had not paid the reclamation funds they owe by law. One-third are for coal. Even if they wanted to, many companies now lack the cash. The same large banks that leant billions during the boom have now pulled out of coal, wary of the sector's commercial outlook and contribution to climate change. The problem is not unique to Indonesia. As mineral prices languish, even major global miners are trying to avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in increasingly hefty closure costs, mostly by selling off pits. FEW QUESTIONS ASKED After pro-democracy protesters swept Indonesia's authoritarian president Suharto from power in 1998, the Jakarta government gave towns and districts control of natural resources as part of far-reaching decentralization reforms aimed at preventing the archipelago from fracturing. Newly empowered local leaders handed out thousands of mining licenses, many of them to small operators, as coal prices leapt from around $40 per ton in 2005 to nearly $200 at their peak in 2008. In East Kalimantan alone, around half the province was covered in coal mining permits. Under President Joko Widodo, elected in 2014, Indonesia has promised to turn around its dismal environmental record. The administration has also wrested control over natural resources away from local leaders, giving it to provincial governors instead. Awang Faroek Ishak, East Kalimantan's governor, has issued a moratorium on new licenses. He is threatening to punish mining companies that have failed to restore the land, he said in an interview. But the data on mining companies and funds for rehabilitation are missing, he said. "How can we look into this if we don't have the documents," he complained. Greenpeace activist Kiki Taufik says governors do, however, have the authority to freeze permits and operations while they investigate. "The governors have authority, but they never use this authority." PATCHY OVERSIGHT Most of the mining licenses went to small firms, many of which have gone bankrupt or simply abandoned their operations, mining industry officials say. "For now, it's really difficult not to lose money," said Budi Situmorang, a mining engineer at small coal miner CV Arjuna. "All we can really do is hold on. Looking at the 56 mines in Samarinda, no more than 10 are still active." The mining companies themselves are supposed to restore the land from money they paid into accounts held at state banks and supervised by local officials. "That's what you're supposed to do, but in practice very few people do it," except for the major mining firms, the head of Indonesia's Coal Mining Association, Pandu Sjahrir, told Reuters. The central government has had a list since 2011 of nearly 4,000 licenses that have failed to meet their requirements. It expects to be able to revoke the problematic permits only by January 2017. Patria's team at the anti-corruption agency is pushing for the national government's Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to investigate miners - including over unpaid rehabilitation funds estimated in the hundreds of millions. Even that is only a fraction of the cash that would actually be required, says Merah Johansyah from the Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM). Pressure from campaigners is increasing as mine closures reach a peak by 2020, according to some industry estimates. One set of 2,272 coal permits and contracts, compiled by mining consultancy SMGC and reviewed by Reuters, showed the average expiry date of the permit is October 2017. MINING WITHOUT PERMITS But environmental watchdogs say an end to permits does not mean an end to mining. "In East Kalimantan, even where permits have long been revoked, they're still operating," Syahrul Fitra, a legal researcher at the environmental NGO Auriga told Reuters. "What we found in the field is that no punishments have been applied." In areas where companies are conducting reclamation activities, it is usually not to replant forests -- most mining concessions are being turned into housing developments, agricultural land or other uses, environmentalists and industry officials say. In the meantime, the run-off water and mud from abandoned pits, numbering around 150 in Samarinda alone, are polluting surrounding rice paddies and rivers. After his employer closed a small mine in Samarinda, Suyadi, who like many Indonesians uses one name, went back to working the small rice paddy on his family's farm on the edge of the city. The mines, however, have followed him there. "Like it or not, the tailings flow here," says Suyadi, referring to the stream of chemically treated mining debris that is left after coal is extracted. "If they continue to leave it like this, where else will that water flow? To the lower areas where there are rice paddies," Suyadi said. The attractive aqua hue of the water in the abandoned pits conceals a darker story: 24 local children using them as swimming holes have drowned around Samarinda over the past five years. Graphic: http://tmsnrt.rs/29dFJT9 (Writing by Clara Ferreira Marques, Editing by Bill Tarrant.)
Indonesia is planning a hi-tech monitoring network to protect peatland at the centre of last year's raging fires that cloaked Southeast Asia in toxic haze, a senior official said.

The fires sent smog billowing across the region in September and October, disrupting the daily lives of tens of millions and fuelling anger at Indonesia for its failure to tackle the crisis.

The blazes and resulting haze, caused by illegal slash-and-burn land clearance, are an annual occurrence. But the fires in 2015 were the worst for years as an El Nino weather phenomenon created tinder-dry conditions.

The hardest-hit areas were peatland on Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo, which become highly flammable after being cleared of vegetation and drained to make way for palm oil and pulpwood plantations.

Jakarta in January set up an agency to oversee the restoration of 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres) -- roughly the size of Rwanda -- of peat in the next five years to try to prevent future fires.

It is part of a broader push to stop a repeat of the devastating blazes. President Joko Widodo has introduced other measures to protect peatland and banned the use of new land for palm oil operations.

Restoration of peat involves damming enormous canals built to drain the peat, replanting vegetation and replacing lost water.

Monitoring devices will be installed in the peat to ensure restoration is being properly carried out, said Peatland Restoration Agency head Nazir Foead.

"We are going to install monitoring tools, sensors, that will send us the data real time through the Internet so companies are fully aware that their restoration action is being monitored," he told AFP in an interview on Tuesday.

Roughly half the peat earmarked for restoration is on companies' concession land and they are responsible for carrying out the improvement work, with guidance from the agency.

The agency will restore peat on government- and community-owned land.

Story continues

The monitoring stations will include an underground sensor and rain gauge to check if peat is retaining water after rainfall, allowing authorities to work out whether drainage canals have been properly closed off.

The sensors will send regular updates to a control centre near Jakarta which is linked to government departments, Foead said. A test monitoring device was installed on Sumatra last month and the agency hopes eventually to have hundreds across the country.

Foead conceded that only "very small steps" had been taken so far in restoring peat, but was optimistic the body would be able to fulfil its task. He said he did not believe 2016 would see a repeat of last year's fires as authorities were better prepared.
By Randy Fabi JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's president on Wednesday ordered an expansion of offshore oil exploration and commercial fishing in the waters near the Natuna Islands, the latest in a new campaign to assert sovereignty over the area in the South China Sea. Indonesia has taken unprecedented steps in the past week to lay claim to the remote island chain, whose gas-rich waters Beijing recently said were subject to "over-lapping claims". President Joko Widodo traveled to Natuna for the first time last week to hold a cabinet meeting aboard a warship, in what Indonesian officials described as the strongest message that has been given to China. "Out of 16 blocks around Natuna, only five are producing," Widodo said before a cabinet meeting to discuss development of the area. "We want to push so that they enter production stage sooner." The East Natuna gas field, being co-developed by state-owned Pertamina [PERTM.UL], Exxon Mobil Corp, Total SA and PTT Exploration and Production, is believed to hold one of the world's largest untapped gas reserves. ConocoPhillips and Chevron Corp also hold stakes in the nearby South Natuna Sea Block B, but are looking to sell their stakes. "Essentially, we want the Natuna area to be a hub for gas processing and related industries," said Rizal Ramli, coordinating minister for maritime affairs. The government also wants to develop Indonesia's commercial fishing industry in Natuna, whose waters are regularly trawled by vessels from Vietnam, the Philippines, China and other nearby nations. Widodo said current fishing production around Natuna was only around 9 percent of its potential. Indonesia's navy has stepped up patrols around the islands after a series of face-offs between Indonesian naval vessels and Chinese fishing boats in the area. Parliament on Tuesday approved a near 10 percent hike in defense spending to fund, among other things, major upgrades to military facilities in Natuna, located off the northwest coast of Borneo island. Jakarta objects to Beijing's inclusion of waters around the Natuna Islands within China's "nine-dash line", a demarcation line used by Beijing to show its claims. "We do not recognize China's nine-dash line and its claims of a traditional fishing zone," said Chief Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan. "Natuna is our territory. We want stability in the area." China claims almost the entire South China Sea, where about $5 trillion worth of trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. (Additional reporting by the Jakarta bureau; Editing by Nick Macfie)
flirty woman

Right before summer break between my junior and senior year of college, I started seeing a guy.

We hung out for a few weeks, on the last of which I said something about how great it would be to keep dating next semester.

"We'll see," he replied.

Gah!

My mistake here was obvious  I'd made my interest in him too explicit. Everyone knows you're supposed to hide your romantic feelings, to avoid coming off as too strong and turning the other person off. (In case you were wondering, we did not keep dating the following semester.)

I wish  truly, I do  that I could now present you with scientific research that provides evidence to the contrary, that suggests the guy mentioned above was an aberration, and that most people like it when you make your interest clear.

Alas, I cannot. In fact, while researching a story on surprising reasons why people fall in love, I came across two studies that suggest an air of mystery is highly appealing, at least when you first meet someone.

In one 2014 study, researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Toronto, and Stanford University recruited 61 single guys at a Hong Kong university to participate in a speed-dating experiment.

Some of the guys were told they had been assigned a woman to date. Other guys were presented with a group of profiles of different women, designed so that one was clearly the most attractive and would always be chosen.

Unbeknownst to the guys, the woman in both conditions was really an experimental confederate.

Half the time, she was told to act interested in the guys, by finding things they had in common, asking them questions, and smiling. The rest of the time, the woman was told to act disinterested, by only passively responding to their questions, not asking any of her own, and displaying an unresponsive facial expression.

networking

After the date, the researchers asked all the guys to indicate how much they liked their partner and how much they would want to meet her again.

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Results showed that the guys were more interested in meeting the woman again when she'd played hard-to-get by acting disinterested  but only if they'd chosen her as their partner, instead of being assigned to her. The researchers say that's because the men who'd chosen the woman felt "committed" to her.

The weirdest part of the study? Even though the men wanted the hard-to-get women more, they liked her less.

For the second study, which was published in 2010, researchers at the University of Virginia and Harvard University recruited 47 female undergrads, and told them that their Facebook profiles would be viewed by students at other universities. Each woman got to see the Facebook profiles of four men who had viewed her profile.

One group of women was told that they were seeing the profiles of the guys who'd liked them best; one group was told they were seeing the profiles of the guys who'd rated them average; and one group saw some profiles, but the researchers didn't reveal whether the men had rated them highest or average.

In reality, these men's profiles had been designed by the researchers, and no one had really seen the women's Facebook profiles.

shrug

Sure enough, the women liked the men more when they thought the men had rated them highest, compared to when they thought the men had rated them average. But here's the kicker: The women liked the men most when they didn't know what rating the men had given them.

The women even reported thinking about the men more when they didn't know whether the men liked them.

Taken together, these findings suggest that some uncertainty about whether someone likes you can be enticing  at least for college-age heterosexuals. That could be somewhat disempowering, suggesting that when you want a person to like you, you should sit back and pretend you're not interested.

Another way to frame it, as suggested by social and personality psychologist Jeremy Nicholson on Psychology Today, is that it helps to pose a "challenge" to increase someone's desire.

All this to say: Dating can take a lot of effort. It's frustrating, and exhausting, and often unrewarding. But pretty much everyone goes through it before they enter a serious relationship  so at least know you're not alone in your exasperation.

NOW WATCH: 3 reasons why summer is the best time to meet someone new





More From Business Insider


From Cosmopolitan

Mickey Mouse pancakes and turkey legs just got shown the hell up by the dim sum at Hong Kong Disneyland, which serves bite-sized Olaf dim sum and Toy Story alien dim sum at its Crystal Lotus restaurant.

A special dim sum lunch at Crystal Lotus will run you around $50, but you can also order a la carte. The menu appears to feature mostly savory options, like the Three Little Pigs barbecue pork bun and Golden Minnie shrimp dumplings. There is a steamed sweet bun available, based on Duffy and ShellieMay, the Disney bears.

Here's a look at the full menu:

I have to wonder, though, are people even eating this? I just can't imagine looking Minnie in the face and then taking a big ol' bite. I'm sure the dim sum is delicious, but it just looks too cute to eat!

And while there don't appear to be any Disney princesses on the list of options, here's hoping that "Disney princesses reimagined as dim sum" is the next big food trend.

Follow Robyn on Twitter and Instagram.
The meeting at a St. Louis hotel had run for more than nine hours and stretched into the night by the time the main reason Jim Zogby was there came up. As Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanderss primary point person on the intractable Israeli-Palestine conflict, long a political landmine in U.S. presidential politics, Zogby was ready for a fight.

We do not often see the Arab-Israeli conflict through Palestinian eyes, Zogby began, according to an informal transcript of the meeting obtained by Foreign Policy.

He was pushing an amendment calling for an end to occupation and illegal settlements. American policymakers, he noted, have for decades referred to the Israeli presence in land Palestinians claim for a future state as an occupation.

We have to have the ability in our politics to say what we say in our policy, he said.

Wendy Sherman, a Jewish-American and the top State Department negotiator on the historic Iran nuclear deal, was representing presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton at the platform talks and pushed back, firmly but gently. She told Zogby that she sympathized with both innocent Israelis and innocent Palestinians, but that his amendment went too far.

I have been with teenagers in Ramallah where I wished I could disappear into the floor because they were so angry and in such pain, Sherman said. I have been with Israeli young people who live with risk and terror and fear every single day.

She left former California Rep. Howard Berman, an unaligned Democratic National Committee pick who helped push through strict Iran sanctions in 2010, to play bad cop.

Berman said the amendment would be a terrible mistake because it was one-sided toward the Palestinians. Its not our time, I think, to select out things which understandably aggravate many people, but only on one side of the conflict, he said.

At issue in the talks was the partys platform, a formal distillation  to be presented for ratification at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia  of the goals Clinton would pursue as president. In practice, the platforms are exercises in pleasing each partys core constituencies but rarely carry substantive weight. Yet the late-night debate between Sanderss allies on one side and the DNC and Clintons allies on the other was a half-hour snapshot of perhaps the most politically fraught fight within the Democratic Party today. Democrats have seen a seismic shift on the Israel-Palestine issue in the nearly eight years of the Obama administration  with a strong push to the left by Sanders, the first Jewish presidential candidate to win a primary.

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In one of the most heated exchanges of the unexpectedly contested nomination fight, the Vermont socialist used an April debate in New York to push the former secretary of state to call Israels 2014 strikes on Gaza disproportionate. She refused.

An unofficial transcript of the Israel-Palestine debate at the drafting committees last meeting  as well as a copy of that portion of the final draft of the platform, which has yet to be released  shows just how far the party has moved on the issue.

The current platform says a just and lasting Israeli-Palestinian accord, producing two states for two peoples, would contribute to regional stability and help sustain Israels identity, reflecting longtime U.S. policy.

The new version has some notable differences, even if neither Sanders nor Clinton got all they wanted.

Sanderss allies did not ultimately achieve their goal of inserting the word occupation. But for the first time, the platform explicitly asserts Palestinians independence, sovereignty, and dignity alongside Israeli security.

Early Saturday, the drafting committee adopted the final language for the 2016 platform without Zogbys amendment, which had lost 8-5, with only Sanderss picks voting for it.

Still, compared with past platforms, the subtle shifts are significant.

We will continue to work toward a two-state solution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict negotiated directly by the parties that guarantees Israels future as a secure and democratic Jewish state with recognized borders, it reads, and provides the Palestinians with independence, sovereignty and dignity.

Underscoring the continued combustibility of the issue, both the DNC and supporters of Clinton and Sanders have kept the seemingly small but significant changes quiet. None of the statements on the platform from the DNC and the campaigns in the days since the drafters final meeting mention the Israel-Palestine debate, and neither the Clinton campaign nor the DNC provided comment.

In an interview, Zogby said the presumptive nominees allies peppered him anxiously before the meeting last weekend to finalize the platform.

Whats gonna happen? Whats gonna happen? What are you going to do? he recounted to Foreign Policy. Did I know wed lose? Of course I knew wed lose. But we ended the deadly silence that says you cant talk about this.

Typically, the larger platform committee, which will meet July 8-9 in Orlando, Florida, adopts the final language approved by the drafters, and the platforms ratification at the convention is largely pro forma.

But should he choose, Sanders has enough power to bring the more controversial language to Philadelphia as a minority plank, which could force a debate on Israel-Palestine on the convention floor.

Sanders has said he will vote for Clinton but indicated he will not formally endorse her until his key demands are met.

The exchanges among the delegates at the late-night meeting, according to the transcript, show just how much distance remains.

Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, a Sanders pick and one of only two Muslim-American lawmakers, urged adoption of Zogbys amendment on Friday, according to the transcript. I know that this is an incredibly difficult issue for many of us, he acknowledged during the meeting. I respect that, I appreciate that.

Business executive Bonnie Shaefer, another DNC selection and a gay Zionist Jew, said Israel is the only place in the Middle East where I can walk down the street with my wife hand-in-hand and not be afraid.

Zogby responded that while Shaefer may be able to hold her wifes hand in Tel Aviv, unafraid, he cant travel without risk of harassment. He was once held at the airport for seven hours  though hed flown to attend a dinner at Israels legislature at the invitation of former Vice President Al Gore.

Cornel West, an outspoken Sanders surrogate, civil rights activist, and fiery scholar, drew parallels between slavery and the Palestinian experience.

All were trying to say is, the Democratic Party must tell the truth, he said. We can never fully respect the Palestinians unless we can name what theyre up against, the boot on their necks.

Zogby has spent much of his adult life working on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Democratic policy. A Maronite Catholic of Lebanese descent, Zogby founded the Arab American Institute, a nonprofit to encourage Arab American leadership. He has been deeply involved with the party platform for decades, including as part of the DNCs executive body. In 1988, when he pushed for mere mention of the p-word  Palestinian  as a member of the larger platform committee, he said fellow Democrats told him he would destroy the party.

It was then that he first faced Sherman, the Clinton advocate he would debate some 30 years later in St. Louis.

As the session wound down, Sherman quipped, He and I havent grown any older since 1988, when we tread this same territory.

Photo credit: AHMAD GHARABLI/Staff
By William Schomberg

HUNTINGDON, England (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union are likely to take years to rewrite the rules that govern their business ties after the UK voted to leave the bloc.

Mike Ashmead can't wait that long. The managing director of Encocam, a company that makes crash-test dummies, had planned to hire 120 people between now and 2018 to work at the company's design and production base near Cambridge.

But at a hastily called meeting on Monday, four days after the so-called Brexit referendum, Ashmead and his management team shifted their sights to the continent.

The firm, which currently employs 172 people, immediately began enquiring about grants to open a design centre in Spain and is considering Portugal, Ireland, Germany and Poland too.

"We cannot wait for two years to see what will come out of this," Ashmead said in an interview at the firm's headquarters in the town of Huntingdon, part of a high-tech cluster centred around Cambridge.

His worry is not the markets meltdown that was unleashed by Thursday's vote. A plunge in the value of sterling, which touched a 31-year-low against the U.S. dollar earlier this week, is likely to help Encocams bottom line.

Eighty percent of its revenues come from exports - including motorcycles and lightweight panels for high-speed trains  which will now be cheaper for buyers, although the aluminium it imports from Germany and Italy will be more expensive.

What worries Ashmead is the likelihood of new immigration rules that could hinder his ability to hire engineers, designers and other skilled workers from abroad. It is a concern that is reverberating among many British employers who have long relied on foreign workers.

Telecoms giant Vodafone (VOD.L) has said the continued freedom of movement of people is vital for its choice of location.

According to the Office for National Statistics, 2.1 million people from other EU countries and 1.2 million non-EU nationals are working in Britain, compared with 28.2 million Britons.

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One of the key pledges of politicians who campaigned to leave the UK has been to introduce more selective immigration rules, responding to widespread concerns among voters about strains on public services.

It is not clear whether those promises will survive the renegotiation of Britains entire relationship with the EU as a non-member. Many issues will be on the table, including the rights of UK banks to sell their services in the EU and myriad other trade issues.

The issue of foreign workers promises to be one of the thorniest because migration featured so prominently in the Leave campaign while the free movement of people is a key element of the EUs single market for goods and services  something to which the UK wants to keep as much access as possible.

Ashmead expects it will become too hard to keep on hiring from abroad as his firm has done until now. While most of its employees are British, a quarter come from other EU countries.

"We love making things in this country and we will continue operations here, that is for sure," Ashmead said as workers from Poland, Spain and Britain prepared high-tech replicas of human legs for simulations of a pedestrian being hit by a vehicle.

"But we have to have the ability to do it. I need the people who can make it happen."

SELECTIVE OR RESTRICTIVE?

Leaders of the Leave campaign say their planned changes would give priority to immigrants who are most needed by British employers. Under the current system, EU citizens can work in Britain without visas, unlike workers from outside the bloc who often have to pass a complicated application process.

Employers have long complained that they cannot find enough British workers with the right skills to fill their vacancies, especially in areas such as engineering and programming. Recruiting from abroad has been an answer to that problem.

Extending administrative controls to workers from Britains neighbouring countries does not sound promising to Encocam. It took the company 18 months to get a work visa for an engineer from India. The process at one point required three managers to travel to Birmingham to explain how the engineer had skills they could not find among workers locally nor in the EU.

Helen Dighton, Encocam's head of sales, said Britain was unlikely to be able to spend sufficient time on designing a visa system that worked well for employers, given how many other issues it will have to deal with as it leaves the EU.Within hours of the announcement of the referendum result on Friday, she called Spain's embassy in London to ask about grants and other assistance for foreign investors and has followed up with enquiries with other EU embassies.

By deciding to focus abroad, the firm is necessarily reining in its plans for Britain. It cancelled a 500,000-pound ($668,500) investment in 20 metre-tall, automated storage tower which would have stood in a forecourt of one of the companys sites to open up space for more production on its shopfloor.

Encocam also dropped a plan to buy a four-bedroom home for employees moving to the Huntingdon area which would have added to the five others it owns for staff accommodation.

Ashmead is worried about morale too. He fears the vote may unsettle some of his foreign staff, despite his assurances that, as far as Encocam was concerned, nothing will change for them.

"We don't know how many people we're going to be able to hang on to. They have pride. They have other options," he said.

Angel Rivero Falcon, a 30-year-old chemical engineer from Spain who has worked at Encocam for more than four years, appreciated the support from the firm.

Still, he said friends in Spain had sent him emails asking whether he felt pressure to leave the UK and he believed the vote could change Britains image abroad as a welcome place for young, skilled Europeans.

Rivero Falcon has noticed a difference around him.

"The atmosphere in the street and on the shop floor; there is something going on there. It's a strange feeling. I don't know if people want us to be here," he said.

(Editing by Susan Thomas)
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2016 / Levi & Korsinsky announces it has commenced an investigation of Frequency Electronics Inc. (FEIM) concerning possible violations of Delaware law. To obtain additional information about the investigation, go to: http://zlk.9nl.com/frequency-electronics-feim or contact Eduard Korsinsky, Esq. either via email at ek@zlk.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972.

Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, New Jersey, California, Connecticut, and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise and experience representing investors in securities litigation involving financial fraud, and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

Levi & Korsinsky, LLP

Eduard Korsinsky, Esq.

30 Broad Street - 24th Floor

New York, NY 10004

Tel: (212) 363-7500

Toll Free: (877) 363-5972

Fax: (212) 363-7171

www.zlk.com

SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
OMAHA, NB / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2016 / Lindsay Corporation (LNN) will host a live webcast to discuss the results of the third quarter 2016, to be held Thursday, June 30, 2016 at 11:00 AM Eastern Time.

To participate in this event, listen to the event online at www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=175078 as well as via the Lindsay Corporation website (www.lindsay.com).

If you are unable to participate during the live webcast, the event archive will be available at www.investorcalendar.com or www.lindsay.com.

About Lindsay Corporation

Lindsay manufactures and markets water management equipment and services including irrigation systems, pump stations, filtration, and M2M controls designed to increase or stabilize crop production while conserving water, energy, and labor, and that also provide efficiency benefits in various industrial applications. The Company also manufactures and markets infrastructure and road safety products under the Lindsay Transportation Solutions trade name. Lindsay's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LNN. For more information regarding Lindsay Corporation, see Lindsay's website at www.lindsay.com.

SOURCE: Investor Calendar
By Jessica Toonkel

NEW YORK, June 29 (Reuters) - Investor groups are using the high-profile battle for control of Viacom Inc to rally support for their campaigns against dual-class share structures which give founders and insiders outsized voting rights.

Mercy Investment Services is partnering with Missionary Oblates, a Roman Catholic congregation in Washington, to submit a proposal in September to collapse the dual class shares at Viacom.

The socially responsible investor is going to start reaching out to shareholders next month in hopes that the public feuding at the company will help win support for the proposal, said Donna Meyer, director of shareholder advocacy at Mercy. Mercy presented a similar proposal by Missionary Oblates last February but it was rejected.

"This is really big news, so no one should say to me 'I don't know Viacom,'" Meyer said.

Similarly, the Council for Institutional Investors, an influential group of top U.S. pension plans, is using Viacom as a "top talking point," to urge members to take a stronger stance against companies adopting the dual class structure, said Ken Bertsch, executive director of the trade association.

Investor concern about dual class companies, in which only one class of investors has voting rights, has been increasing as a growing number of companies are adopting this structure when they go public, Bertsch said. In March, the Council for Institutional Investors adopted a policy that all investors in IPOs should have equal voting rights.

There have been eight proposals to collapse the dual share class at S&P 500 companies so far this year, up from zero in 2012, according to proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services.

Ending the special voting rights is usually impossible without support from the insiders who benefit from the dual class structures. Defenders of the structure argue that it allows management, often founders, to focus on long-term performance.

The Viacom situation, where the company's Chief Executive Philippe Dauman is questioning the mental competence of 93-year-old Sumner Redstone, shows the need for a sunset provision on this kind of structure, said Jon Lukomnik, executive director of New York-based Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute.

Story continues

"Even if you were to accept the rationale that you have a visionary leader, there is a point at which that changes," said Lukomnik.

A Viacom spokesman declined to comment. The company said in its 2015 proxy statement that the board periodically reviews the structure and believes it has helped protect the company from short-term pressures.

(Reporting By Jessica Toonkel; Editing by Tom Brown)
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said it had suspended all flights to Istanbul's main international airport on Wednesday after it was attacked by militants. "Due to last night's explosion at Ataturk Airport ... all Iranian flights are suspended until their safety and security are guaranteed," Reza Jafarzadeh, director of the public relations at Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency. He added that the flights might be resumed in the afternoon. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
It's just a one-hour flight from London to Dublin, but in the wake of last week's Brexit vote, the two cities seem worlds apart.

London is in the center of a political and financial storm following Britain's June 23 vote to leave the European Union. The British pound has tanked, financial markets are stumbling and the local film industry is left wondering: What happens now?

In Dublin, the Irish film industry is coming off of one of the best years in its history, thanks to award-winning movies like Room, Brooklyn and The Lobster, not to mention John Carney's indie sleeper Sing Street. And, as an EU member with no plans to leave, Ireland and its filmmakers can continue to rely on European film subsidies and full access to the European market.

The country's industry is clearly expanding: Early this year, the city of Limerick gave planning approval for the construction of a new film studio. It will be the country's third backlot, complementing the Ardmore and Ashford studios located south of Dublin.

For producers uncertain about what Brexit will mean, Ireland certainly looks appealing, not least because of its generous 32 percent tax incentive for film and TV shoots.

"Obviously Ireland will continue to benefit from being a part of the EU, Irish productions will continue to qualify for EU subsidies and for EU television quotas," says James Hickey, CEO of the Irish Film Board. "But it's too early to say what Brexit will actually mean for us. The real answer is we simply don't know."

Amid the speculation, there are some suggestions of significant long-term gains for the Irish industry.

Dublin has built itself up as a postproduction hub in recent years, attracting work from major U.S. networks, and this growing arena - one often heavily reliant on international talent - could receive a boost from the U.K.'s dramatic European departure.

Gareth Young, who heads up the post and VFX studio Egg, whose credits include BBC/Amazon series Ripper Street, points to the free movement of labor between EU nations, something at the top of the agenda for many U.K. "leave" campaigners.

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For the pilot of upcoming Jenna Elfman-starring Sony/ABC sitcom Imaginary Mary, Egg had a team of 60 working on the VFX, with around 40 coming from within the EU (and not the U.K.) to work on the project.

"We have people from all over Europe coming to work with us," says Young. "Romanians, Bulgarians, Germans, French - we had all of those in our team."

Were the U.K. to follow through with promises of restrictions for EU citizens, it would require those seeking employment there to obtain a work permit, which can be a pricey - not to mention bureaucratic - affair.

"It's around 1,000 ($1,350) per person, so if you've got 100 people, that's a lot of money," says Young. "Whereas in Ireland we can take people from any country around Europe to bring them into our team. So that's going affect the VFX industry over there."

Of course, the immediate effect for Ireland isn't quite so rosy, with the U.K. suddenly becoming a whole lot cheaper thanks to the pound's post-referendum tanking.

"This doesn't make us as competitive as were a week ago, which is unfortunate," says Young, adding that the exchange rate change also makes it more expensive for U.K. clients wanting to work in Ireland.

But with the U.K. expected to have a somewhat rocky, turbulent road ahead as it attempts to renegotiate its international trade deals and untangle itself fro the EU, those with long-term projects might well turn to the Emerald Isle.

"I think if the U.S. was looking towards Europe for something more stable, they'd probably stay within the Eurozone, and then Ireland is a better option," says Young. "[The U.K.] may be competitive now, but nobody knows what it's going to be like a year's time. But it's all speculation ... I could be proved both a liar and an idiot in about three weeks' time!"

Read More: Brexit: Who Stands to Win (or Lose) in Hollywood After the Vote?
Congratulations may be in order for Australian actress Margot Robbie, who was seen sporting a massive pink diamond ring at the Legend of Tarzan premiere in Hollywood Monday night.

Rumor has it that Margot Robbie may be engaged to Tom Ackerley. (Photo: Getty Images)

The blond bombshell looked drop-dead gorgeous on the red carpet in a Japanese-inspired gown, but it was the gigantic, twinkling diamond ring on her engagement finger that caught the worlds attention.

No one could keep their eyes off Robbies impressive pink diamond ring. (Photo: Getty Images)

Robbie and her boyfriend, assistant director Tom Ackerley, have been together for two years now, so this might just have been the occasion the pair decided to share their exciting news.

As she strutted down the carpet, the 25-year-old seemed quite conscious of her dazzling pink diamond ring. The pink center stone is surrounded by a ring of small diamonds, which also go around the band.

While the Wolf of Wall Street star was posing for photos during the arrivals, she flicked back her beautiful blond mane, simultaneously exposing her sparkler in the spotlight.

Thanks to the blinding ring, the word around town is that the Englishman may be more than just Robbies boyfriend.

Photo: Getty Images

Hes the best-looking guy in London, Robbie once told Vogue of her guy, whom she met on the set of the 2014 film Suite Francaise.

We were friends for so long. I was always in love with him, but I thought, Oh, he would never love me back, she confessed.

Photo: Getty Images

While she looks absolutely stunning, we cant help but stare at the huge bling on her ring finger. Its just so huge!

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Syrian rebels were forced to retreat from the outskirts of an Islamic State-held town at the border with Iraq and a nearby air base on Wednesday after a counter attack by the jihadists, two rebel sources said. The U.S.-backed New Syria Army rebel group had launched the attack aiming to capture the town of Al-Bukamal on Tuesday. One of the rebel sources said Islamic State fighters had encircled the rebels in a surprise ambush. The rebels had incurred heavy casualties and weapons had been seized by the jihadists, the source said. A spokesman of the New Syria Army, Muzahem al Saloum, confirmed they had retreated. "We have withdrawn to the outlying desert and the first stage of the campaign had ended," Saloum told Reuters. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Tom Perry)
The Islamic State beat back an assault on Wednesday by U.S.-backed Syrian rebels who tried to retake a critical border crossing with Iraq. It wasnt just a rare battlefield win for the militants: it also allowed them to get their hands on crates of American ammunition, U.S. mortars, a Toyota Hilux pickup adapted to carry a heavy machine gun, and new body armor.

ISIS publicized its war spoils in a video released Wednesday that also showed machine guns and M-16 rifles that most likely originated in the United States, as well as at least 2,000 rounds of ammunition that definitively came from American manufacturers, according to N.R. Jenzen-Jones, the director of specialist technical intelligence consultancy Armament Research Services, or ARES.

Further evidence of the U.S.-origin of this equipment appears in the form of a large moving box made by Unicorr, a Connecticut-based packaging company. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The two minute-long video ends with gruesome footage of an Islamic State fighter sawing the head off of a fighter from the so-called New Syrian Army, and placing the corpse on a stone fountain in a public square. Dozens of locals can be seen driving past the macabre display. Jenzen-Jones identified the trousers worn by the beheaded rebel as U.S. tri-color desert camouflage, although these are commonly seen in the Middle East.

The rare Islamic State victory comes as the group steadily loses ground to U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab forces around the city of Manbij in northern Syria, and while it attempts to regroup in Iraq after being chased out of Fallujah by Iraqi forces. Likewise, the New Syrian Army has suffered a series of body blows in recent months, including a cluster bomb assault by Russian warplanes on its garrison near al Tanf in early June, and a devastating ISIS suicide car bomb attack on the groups headquarters in May.

Col. Chris Garver, a spokesman for the U.S.-backed coalition fighting the Islamic State, confirmed to Foreign Policy Wednesday that the New Syrian Army suffered a setback. Garver said that American advisors are still assessing the situation, and are aware of the videos of captured equipment, but did not confirm it was U.S. gear.

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American warplanes backed up New Syrian Army forces as they fought for control of the town of al-Bukamal and a nearby airbase Wednesday, hitting ISIS with eight airstrikes, according to information provided by the U.S. Central Command. The assault was meant to cut off the Islamic States most accessible resupply route between Iraq and Syria.

Considering the New Syrian Armys relatively small size, the decision to launch even a shaping operation on al-Bukamal seems like extraordinary hubris, said Charles Lister, an expert on Syrian rebel groups and fellow at the Middle East Institute.

The New Syrian Army was initially formed some 18 months ago as part of the Pentagons wider $500 million effort to train and equip Syrian rebels to battle against the Islamic State. The Defense Department scuttled the program late last year after admitting that it had only trained four or five fighters.

Lister said the New Syrian Army, whose size he estimates at no more than 150-200 fighters, likely receives more U.S. assistance than any other anti-Islamic State force in Syria.

According to the Amaq news agency, which is affiliated with ISIS, the terrorist group killed 40 New Syrian Army rebels and took 15 others hostage. The New Syrian Army reported only five or six of its fighters dead, and several wounded.

A rebel source reached by Reuters acknowledged the seriousness of the groups defeat on Wednesday. The news is not good. I can say our troops were trapped and suffered many casualties and several fighters were captured and even weapons were taken, the source said.

The town of al-Bukamal sits just a few miles from the strategic al-Qaim border crossing with Iraq and is a symbol of the Islamic States success in redrawing the modern borders of the Middle East. The towns capture during the Islamic States blitz in 2014 effectively erased the Syrian-Iraqi border.

To think a force of at most 100 fighters was capable of capturing it seems bizarre  even with air support and Iraqi operations on the other side, Lister said.

Photo credit: YouTube
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli cabinet ministers on Wednesday approved a deal reached with Turkey at the weekend on normalising relations after years of acrimony over a deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

The security cabinet approved the deal seven to three after four and a half hours of debate, giving it final Israeli government approval, a spokesman said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others have promoted its economic benefits, with talk of building a pipeline to Turkey to export Israeli gas, and the need to find allies in the turbulent Middle East.

But there have been objections over Israel agreeing to pay $20 million in compensation to families of the Turkish activists killed in the raid.

There were also allegations that the agreement does not do enough to push for the return of four Israelis missing in Gaza, two of them soldiers who have been declared dead and two of them civilians believed held alive by Hamas.

Turkey will be allowed to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza as part of the deal, but Netanyahu has stressed that Israel's blockade on the enclave will remain in place.

Turkey has been seeking to restore its clout in the region after a diplomatic crisis with Russia and other foreign policy difficulties.

Ankara said Tuesday that the two countries would begin the process of exchanging ambassadors this week. It was unclear if Tuesday night's attack at Istanbul airport that killed 41 people would affect the process.

Previously close relations between Israel and Turkey were downgraded significantly 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 the Gaza Strip.

Nine activists aboard the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara ferry were killed, with a 10th person later dying of his wounds.
ANKARA (Reuters) - Twenty-three Turkish citizens and 13 foreign nationals were killed by suicide bombers in an attack at Istanbul's main international airport on Tuesday night, a Turkish presidential official said. Reuters earlier reported a Ukrainian and an Iranian were among the dead. Around 150 people were wounded in the attack, which has been blamed on Islamic State militants. Saudi media reported that among those hurt were seven Saudis, who were in good condition. (Reporting by Dasha Afanasieva; Editing by David Dolan)
Washington (AFP) - The suicide assault on Istanbul's Ataturk airport bears the "hallmark" of an Islamic State group attack, CIA Director John Brennan said Wednesday.

No group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack, which killed 41 people and wounded 239 more.

"The despicable attacks in Istanbul International Airport yesterday that killed dozens and injured many more certainly bears the hallmark of ISIL's depravity," Brennan said, using an acronym for the IS group.

Witnesses described scenes of terror and panic as the attackers began shooting indiscriminately and then blew themselves up at the entrance to Ataturk airport, one of Europe's busiest hubs.

The attack followed coordinated IS group suicide bombings in March at the international airport and a metro station in Brussels that left 32 people dead.

The IS group typically does not claim responsibility for attacks in Turkey in order to send messages to the government without alienating potential future recruits in the country, Brennan said.

The IS group may well be planning a similar attack in the United States, America's top spy added.

"If anyone believes that the US homeland is hermetically sealed... I would guard against that," he said.

Earlier this month, a gunman killed 49 people at a Florida gay nightclub in the deadliest terror attack on US soil since September 11, 2001.

The shooter, US-born Omar Mateen, pledged allegiance to the IS group while carrying out the attack.

Speaking in Washington at the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank, Brennan opened his remarks by saying the intelligence-sharing partnership between Britain and the United States would not be affected by the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union.

"The bonds of friendship and cooperation between (US and UK spy) services are only destined to grow stronger in the years ahead," Brennan said.

Still, he noted, Britain's momentous decision may pose the greatest challenge the European bloc has ever faced.
Peripheral Europe exchange traded funds were slammed last wake in the wake of the shocking Brexit decision. That group of increasingly vulnerable single-country Europe ETFs includes the iShares MSCI Italy Capped ETF (EWI) .

Once again, Italys fragile banking sector, the largest sector allocation in EWI, is in focus as global market participants fret about Brexits impact on Italys banks. The Italian government has been under pressure to calm concerns over its ailing banking system, which underperformed in the European Central Banks 2014 financial stress test and is holding 360 billion, or $410.5 billion, in bad loans.

Related: ETFs to Watch as Brexit Uncertainty Mounts

Shares in the countrys biggest lenders lost 30% of their value on Friday and Monday as global markets went into meltdown after the U.K. voted to leave the European Union. The stocks stabilized on Tuesday but are still deep in the red for the year  some of the big names have lost 60%, reports CNN Money. Media reports suggest the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is considering injecting as much as 40 billion euros ($44 billion) into the sector in the form of new capital or government guarantees.

The iShares MSCI Europe Financials ETF (EUFN) , which features exposure to Italian banks, has been a laggard performer this year and was also punished on the back of Brexit news.

Trending on ETF Trends

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In Italy, regulators are currently working to configure a bad debt company of sorts to help Italian banks deal with a rising non-performing loan problem. Italy is part of EUFNs geographic lineup. Earlier this year, Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan called a meeting in Rome with executives from Italys top financial institutions on Monday to hash out a plan for a state-backed fund to acquire bad loans and cover capital shortfalls, reports Silvia Aloisi for Reuters.

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In 2015, reforms to Italys banking sector were seen as a potential driver of improved equity market performance. Specifically, the reforms would turn these types of banks into possible takeover targets almost instantly.

Related: Help for the Italy ETF

Italian banks bad loan problem has beome more pressing during years of economic stagnation. A highly fragmented and inefficient industry doesnt help  Italy has more than 600 banks, supporting 52 bank branches for every 100,000 adults. Germany has 14 bank branches per 100,000 adults, and the United States 38, according to CNN Money.

For more information on the Brexit fallout, visit our Brexit category.

iShares MSCI Italy Capped ETF
ROME (Reuters) - Italy has begun raising the wreck of a fishing boat that sank in April 2015, drowning hundreds of migrants packed on board, its navy said on Wednesday. The disaster is feared to have killed up to 800 people, making it one of the deadliest shipwrecks in decades of seaborne migration from North Africa towards Europe. The navy has recovered 118 bodies, but hundreds of corpses are believed to be trapped below deck, where survivors said migrants including many women and children were locked. Navy video footage showed a large yellow frame-like apparatus attached to a ship being lowered into the water to a depth of about 370 meters (1,200 feet), where it gripped on to the wreck. Recovery coordinators applauded from their control room as the raising began. The hulk will now be placed in a 30-metre-long refrigerated structure while emergency services start recovering bodies from inside. Experts will examine and try to identify the victims. The vessel sank about 135 km (85 miles) north of Libya, from where it departed, and will be taken to the port of Augusta in eastern Sicily. Public outrage at the disaster, in which only 28 people are known to have survived, prompted the European Union to restore rescue operations in the Mediterranean. (Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
ROME (Reuters) - The Italian Senate voted on Wednesday to halt supplies to Egypt of spare parts for F16 warplanes in protest against the killing of Italian student Giulio Regeni earlier this year. Italy has repeatedly complained that Egyptian authorities have not cooperated to find those responsible for the 28-year-old student's death, and in April it withdrew its ambassador to Egypt for consultations. However Wednesday's vote in the Italian Senate marked the first commercial steps taken against Cairo. After a heated debate, the upper house of parliament passed the so-called Regeni amendment by 159 to 55. Regeni, who was doing postgraduate research into Egyptian trade unions, was last seen by his friends on Jan. 25. His body, which showed signs of torture, was found in a roadside ditch on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital on Feb. 3. Nicola Latorre, a senator from Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party, said the vote was aimed at putting pressure on Egypt to help "the truth emerge more quickly" over the killing. Center-right lawmakers warned that it would hurt relations with "an ally in the fight against terrorism." (Reporting by Francesca Piscioneri, writing by Gavin Jones; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Abidjan (AFP) - Lawyers for Ivory Coast's former first lady Simone Gbagbo, on trial for crimes against humanity, on Wednesday said a key witness who claimed she had bankrolled a militia movement had psychiatric problems.

The bid to discredit Moise Metchro Harolde Metch came a day after the former militia head told the court that the feisty Gbagbo had financed his group.

Simone Gbagbo is accused over deadly violence following the 2010-2011 presidential election that her husband Laurent Gbagbo lost. Laurent Gbagbo is on trial for war crimes at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

"We have proof that the witness has already undergone a psychiatric examination," Simone Gbagbo's lawyer Ange Rodrigue Dadje said.

Gbagbo's lawyers had earlier called for the psychiatric test on the ground that Metch's earlier statements in the run-up to the trial were "flagrantly incoherent."

Dadje then called for that report to be made public.

The head of the court, Kouadio Bouatchi, asked Metch if he was compos mentis, to which he replied: "I am in full possession of all my mental faculties. I am not crazy!"

Metch's hearing was postponed until Thursday after the report of the psychological examination is made public.

Simone Gbago, 67, whose trial began on May 31, has denied any contact with the militia that hunted down supporters of her husband's rival, current President Alassane Ouattara.

The decision by ex-president Gbagbo not to recognise Ouattara's victory in the November 2010 election triggered a crisis which cost the lives of more than 3,000 people over five months.

The violence ended only after troops stormed the bunker where the Gbagbo couple had holed up.

The former first lady has rejected allegations she was involved in a decision to shell a pro-Ouattara Abidjan neighbourhood and helped plan attacks by Gbagbo supporters on his detractors.

This is Simone Gbagbo's second trial in Ivory Coast where she is already serving a 20-year sentence for "harming state security".
* Tokyo targets securing air superiority to counter Beijing

* High cost a potential barrier to Japan-designed plane

* Mitsubishi Heavy to work with Western contractors -sources

By Siva Govindasamy

SINGAPORE, June 30 (Reuters) - Japan will launch a tender for fighter jets as soon as mid-July, the Ministry of Defence said, in a deal seen worth up to $40 billion as Tokyo seeks to bolster its air defences amid creeping tension with China over disputed maritime borders.

In one of the biggest fighter jet contracts up for grabs in years, a ministry spokesman said Japan will contact foreign and domestic defence contractors soon after a July 5 deadline for expressions of interest in the tender for about 100 warplanes.

People familiar with the matter said U.S. firms Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp have been invited to take part in the project, dubbed the F-3 fighter jet programme, alongside Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) , the prime domestic contractor.

A final decision is likely in summer 2018, the people said, with deployment due at the end of the 2020s at the earliest. They declined to be identified because the matter was confidential.

With a value seen by these people at up to $40 billion, the F-3 programme will dwarf most recent fighter jet deals in value, likely attracting global contractor interest. But analysts say Japan's preference for an aircraft that can operate closely with the U.S. military, given close Washington-Tokyo ties, makes a non-U.S. option a long-shot.

The project launch comes as Japan seeks a plane to maintain air superiority over China, now asserting itself in regional maritime disputes. China's warplanes still lag aircraft used by the U.S. and its allies, but Beijing has been building its capability, military experts say, fuelling Japan's more muscular security agenda under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Touted as a replacement for existing Mitsubishi F-2 multi-role fighter jets, the new home-grown aircraft will operate alongside Lockheed F-35 fighters that Japan has on order, as well as Boeing F-15Js jets that it is upgrading. A spokeswoman for MHI said the company doesn't comment on individual projects.

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IMPORTS VS. HOME PRODUCTION

Japan is open to importing existing fighter jets directly from Western suppliers, producing them under licence at home, like the F-15Js, according to the people familiar with the matter.

"We are certainly interested in another potential opportunity to bolster our longstanding partnership with Japan," Lockheed Martin told Reuters via email. "We look forward to learning more about Japan's F-3 plans as discussions progress."

Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Japan has a long-standing interest in acquiring a twin-engined stealth aircraft with long-range capability and internally-stowed missiles, according to the people with knowledge of the F-3 programme.

The only aircraft now in service that meets those requirements is Lockheed's F-22 - but that jet is no longer in production and the U.S. has not made it available for export despite Tokyo's interest.

That makes Japan more likely to design and make the F-3 fighter at home, according to the people with knowledge of the matter, ramping up the project's cost. High development costs could be a barrier for Japan as it weighs its national budget, though its move to lift a decades-long ban on arms sales last year could potentially pave the way for future export sales to ease the cost burden.

Beyond Boeing and Lockheed, other potential partners include the Eurofighter consortium - a European joint venture between Airbus Group, BAE Systems PLC and Leonardo Finmeccanica SpA that produces the Typhoon fighter jet - and Sweden's Saab AB, which recently unveiled the latest variant of its Gripen warplane.

On behalf of the Eurofighter consortium, an Airbus Defence and Space spokesman said, "We are in regular contact with Japan and Japanese industry to discuss our capabilities and potential collaboration opportunities."

A Saab spokesman said the company was unable to comment on the tender.

(Reporting by Siva Govindasamy; Additional reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo in TOKYO; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
Jean Reno is set to receive the President's Award for Contribution to World Cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which is set to run Friday-July 9.

News of the award was announced Wednesday in Prague, where organizers also revealed that Woody Allen's romantic comedy Cafe Society will be the festival's closing film.

The French-born actor of Spanish descent will receive his award in the Grand Hall of the Czech festival's Hotel Thermal ahead of a screening of Luc Besson's 1994 hit Leon (also known at The Professional), in which Reno played the title role.

His collaboration with Besson in films that also included The Big Blue (1988) and La Femme Nikita (1990) paved the way to a career in Hollywood, with star turns in blockbusters such as Mission: Impossible (1996), Godzilla (1998) and The Da Vinci Code (2006).

Reno's comic roles include French-language film The Visitors, The Pink Panther and Couples Retreat.

He currently is working on Terry George's The Promise, and he will next be seen on the big screen in Sean Penn's much criticized The Last Face.

In other KVIFF news revealed Wednesday, Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated actor Michael Shannon will join director Joshua Marston and producer Jay Van Hoy to present their new film Complete Unknown at the fest.
On Wednesday night, being beyond fabulous was obligatory to gain entry into Leicester Squares Odeon for the world premiere of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie in London. Drag queens by the dozen littered the golden carpet, blinding fans with sequin reflections and glistening full body latex  a scene that made star and scribe, Jennifer Saunders, and partner in Lacroix-covered crime, Joanna Lumley, look shockingly under-dressed.

To date 2016 has proved a grim year for celebrity survival. So it was joyous news that Kate Moss reported demise, having drowned in the river Thames, never to pout again, was merely the plot for the film.

Quarter of a century on from its small screen conception, what made here and now ripe for the resurrection of faux fashionistas, Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone? Producer, Jon Plowman, was on hand to explain the teams simple, killer push. Part of the reason we did this was, Hurray, theyre all still alive! I mean, quit while youre ahead.

The question of if the characters could still be relevant, 25 years on, was on everybodys plumped lips. Just before running indoors to let the champagne good-times role, Saunders mused on theoretical casting for a younger-years prequel. Who would she want as a youthful Patsy and Edina? I think Lena Dunham would play me and Amy Schumer would play Patsy, she announced.

Jane Horrocks, Dawn French, June Whitfield and Julia Sawalha proved to be all still kicking, as they joined helmer Mandie Fletcher, to enjoy chats along the media gauntlet. Elsewhere, media juggernaut Rupert Murdoch appeared slightly less impressed with the fabulous fun, while he was led quickly along the golden path by the hand of wife, Jerry Hall.

Like cameo confetti, Kylie Minogue breezed about the carpet along with singular Spice Girl, Emma Bunton  both dressed in fitting glamorous get-up. One fan was overtly keen to join in with an alternative interpretation of the flashy theme  shamelessly stripping off her top aside the cameras and busy carpet  for all to see.

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By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) - A New Jersey limousine driver pleaded guilty on Wednesday to helping funnel $80,000 in foreign contributions to President Barack Obama's joint fundraising committee in 2012 so that foreign national could attend a campaign event.

In announcing the plea in Newark federal court of Bilal Shehu, who pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly and willfully making foreign contributions and donations, prosecutors did not identify the foreign source or national.

But the case came after a Republican congressman in 2013 called for investigations into the purchases by Shehu's family of two $40,000 tickets for a San Francisco fundraiser, one of which was used by now-Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

At the October 2012 event, Rama, the Albanian Socialist Party leader, was photographed with Obama.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California at the time contended the photo was then used for "deceitful" purposes by Rama to imply a relationship with Obama during Albania's own election, which brought him into leadership.

A spokesman for Rohrabacher declined comment on Wednesday.

In pleading guilty, prosecutors said that Shehu, a U.S. citizen, admitted that in late September 2012 he received an $80,000 wire transfer from a foreign source knowing he was to provide it to the joint fundraising committee.

Prosecutors said Shehu, a Paramus, New Jersey resident, then flew to San Francisco and attempted to gain entry into the fundraising event with the foreign national, who was denied entry but was allowed to be photographed with Obama.

"By his plea today, Mr. Shehu has accepted responsibility for his conduct and is deeply remorseful for his actions," said his lawyer Alan Abramson.

Prosecutors said no one on the joint election committee has been accused of any wrongdoing and that it had cooperated fully in the investigation.

Shehu faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 5.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York, editing by G Crosse)
A 115-foot-long escape tunnel hand-dug by Jewish prisoners has been discovered at a Nazi execution site in Lithuania, a team of archaeologists and geoscientists announced today.

It's been estimated that up to 100,000 people most of them Lithuanian and Polish Jews were massacred at the infamous killing site in the Ponar forest, just outside the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, between 1941 and 1944.

Using a remote-sensing technique, a group of researchers was able to relocate the narrow tunnel at Ponar without ever breaking ground. [See Photos of the Jewish Escape Tunnel at Ponar]

Spoon-dug tunnel

German forces took control of Vilnius in the summer of 1941. Soon afterward, the military established Jewish ghettos in the city and began periodic killings at Ponar. In the three years that followed, 95 percent of Lithuanian Jews were killed.

By 1943, Soviet forces were closing in on the region, and the German military formed a special unit of 80 Jewish prisoners from the Stutthof concentration camp who were tasked with covering up the evidence of genocide at Ponar, the researchers said. Known as the "burning brigade," these prisoners were kept in a former execution pit at night, and forced to open the mass graves and burn the corpses during the day.

Some members of the unit plotted an escape, and over the course of three months they dug a tunnel about 115 feet (35 meters) long, using spoons and their hands. On April 15, 1944, the last night of Passover that year, about 40 of the prisoners attempted to escape through the tunnel. Many were caught and shot by their Nazi guards, the researchers said. Only 11 reached the Jewish resistance forces and survived the war; the survivors gave testimonies about what happened at Ponar.

Looking underground

Researchers from Israel, Lithuania, the United States and Canada recently set out to find the exact location of the lost tunnel. The team used a technique called electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), which detects changes in electrical properties underground. Often used in the oil and gas industry, ERT can help find buried archaeological features. (For example, limestone foundation blocks and porous soil could be distinguished by their different levels of electrical resistivity, the reciprocal of conductivity.)

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Only the entrance of the tunnel (from inside the prisoners' pit) had been known, but earlier this month, the researchers detected the rest of the passage. The team also detected previously unknown mass grave pits in the surrounding forest, which could hold more Ponar victims.

"As an Israeli whose family originated in Lithuania, I was reduced to tears on the discovery of the escape tunnel at Ponar," Jon Seligman, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority who worked on the project, said in a statement. "The exposure of the tunnel enables us to present, not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the yearning for life."

Uncovering Holocaust accounts

In recent years, archaeologists have used their skills to uncover evidence of atrocities at several other World War II sites. For example, the first excavations at the Treblinka death camp a few years ago revealed new mass graves and the first physical proof of gas chambers at the site.

"Geoscience will allow testimonies of survivors  like the account of the escape through the tunnel  and many events of the Holocaust to be researched and understood in new ways for generations to come," another investigator on the project, Richard Freund, a professor of Jewish history at the University of Hartford in Connecticut, said in the statement.

The findings at Ponar will be documented in a film set to air on the PBS science series NOVA in 2017.

Original article on Live Science.

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Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
In Memoirs of an Italian Terrorist, the author, who purports to have been a member of a left-wing militant group, vividly conveys the excitement and pressures of living underground as a secret operative. There are questions about the books authenticitythe author, who identifies himself only by the pseudonym Giorgio, declares that what I write here cant be true, it can only be truthfulbut theres a telling detail in his description of mission preparation. I would never set out to undertake a proletarian expropriationa communist-inflected euphemism for a robberyif I didnt feel that I was dressed right.

For todays wannabe jihadists, whether inspired or directed by groups like ISIS, stylebe it in the form of a righteous beard or a voluptuous application of kohl eye makeupalso matters. But perhaps not as much as celluloid, and for a certain kind of Islamized Giorgio the capture of atrocities on film matters almost as much as their actual commission. The British writer Neal Ascherson, in his foreword to Memoirs of an Italian Terrorist, referred to the sinister frivolity of Italian urban terrorism. In the case of ISIS and its so-called lone wolf emulators, sinister narcissism seems to be the more appropriate formulation.

Related Story

The Pornography of Jihadism

One evening this month, in the French town of Magnanville about 35 miles outside of Paris, Larossi Abballa, a 25-year-old Moroccan Frenchman, ambushed an off-duty police officer outside his home and stabbed him to death. He then broke into the house and murdered the officers wife with the same weapon. Minutes later he recorded himself live on Facebook with his phone, boasting of his deed and declaring his allegiance to ISIS. A police SWAT team stormed the house and fatally shot Abballa, but his image and voice lived on: ISIS's Amaq news agency, which described Abballa as an Islamic State fighter, later uploaded to YouTube an edited version of the live video.

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Abballas attack took place less than 48 hours after Omar Mateen slaughtered 49 people at a gay hangout in Orlando, Florida, and wounded many more. Mateens horrifying legacy is quantitative in nature: No other individual mass shooter in American history has killed more people in a single rampage. Abballas legacy, by contrast, is qualitative: He is the first terrorist to broadcast live at the scene of his atrocities. And his actions may portend a horrifying new genre of terrorist theater: live streaming political murder. Jason Burke of The Guardian was right: It may not be long, he wrote in February, before an individual attacker, or a terrorist group, produces a live stream of an attack, with images broadcast from the point of view of the killer. Or rather Burke was partially right: Abballa did not live stream the actual moment of slaughter, although it seems only a matter of time before a terrorist will attempt to do so.

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ISIS has revolutionized jihadist propaganda by creating a visually distinct pornography of pain that combines high production values with intimate atrocity. Unlike its predecessor al-Qaeda in Iraq, whose signature production was the IED mash-up video, ISIS has become notorious for staging obscenely graphic, high-definition atrocities. These theatrical events drastically narrow the distance between the viewer and the victim, bringing the latter squarely into the foreground. ISIS doesnt just want to show the viewer the spectacle of a tank or truck exploding; ISIS wants to show the viewer the spectacle of a human body being savaged, up close. It is precisely this quality of horrifying intimacy that is the new element in ISIS propagandaand a key to its global dissemination. This is the primordial secret, no longer well kept: The killing act is a spectacle people want to see.

Yet for all its malevolent creativity, not even ISIS central in Iraq and Syria has live streamed from a murder scene. There are structural reasons for this. To project an image of total power and control in its execution videos, ISIS must make killing look effortless and competent. This calls for heavy post-production editingand hence rules out the live spectacular. In addition to this, live streaming is precarious from a security perspective, since it risks giving away the location of the atrocity. But for sheer horror, live streaming is hard to beat, because it further narrows the distance between viewer and victim: The killing may be happening in a distant place, but it isnt happening in any distant past. It is happening now.

There have always been people ready to watch executions, and ready to enjoy the spectacle.

By live streaming from the scene of his crime, Abballa also points to a new and growing trend in jihadist propaganda: the terrorist as auteur. It is likely that Abballa, who had proven links to terrorism, would have watched ISIS propaganda. But he was no mere spectator, and by filming in the immediate aftermath of his attack he propelled himself into the ranks of creator, producing his own brand of do-it-yourself ISIS propaganda.

Facebook quickly removed Abballas footage and disabled his account. Had it not done so, it is a near certainty that people would have watched in large numbers, transfixed by the horror unfolding in front of their eyes, just as thousands searched online for the beheading video of the American engineer Nick Berg after it was posted online in May 2004. (The video was an early, and then-rare, example of the genre later perfected by ISIS; the title identifies the executioner as the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.)

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As the anthropologist Frances Larson writes, There have always been people ready to watch executions, and ready to enjoy the spectacle. Or as Susan Sontag has more piercingly put it, It seems that the appetite for pictures showing bodies in pain is as keen, almost, as the desire for ones that show bodies naked. One possible reason for this, cited by the intellectual historian Karen Halttunen, is the secret comparison we make between ourselves the person who suffers, and the satisfaction of prizing our own good fortune that results from this. Another possible reason, discussed in J. Glenn Grays The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle, is related to what the author calls, invoking the Bible, the lust of the eye: the urge to see the novel, the unusual, the spectacular.

Terrorist attacks, the scholar Brian M. Jenkins observed over 40 years ago, are often carefully choreographed to attract the attention of the electronic media and the international press. The goal is publicity, which is itself a strategic asset that can be used for all sorts of purposes, such as winning recruits or putting an issue on the political agenda. Jenkins also remarked on how the willingness and capability of the news media to report and broadcast dramatic incidents of violence throughout the world enhances and even may encourage terrorism as an effective means of propaganda. Today, with the advent of the internet and social media, that willingness and capability has increased markedly, and with it a further possibility discussed by Jenkins has materialized: namely, ever more extravagant and destructive acts of terrorism.

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It is easy to condemn the news media for its fascination with terrorism and for playing into the hands of the terrorists by giving them the publicity they crave. Yet audiences, too, collude in this. We denounce the killers, yet we are riveted by their awesome violence and their convoluted life-histories. They are the classic folk devil we love to hateand endlessly talk about. Terrorists know this and draw encouragement from it, as does the international news media with which they are in a dark symbiosis. Which is why the jihad will be televisedand you and I will be watching.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
After meeting with outgoing U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the U.K. might not ever leave the E.U., despite the outcome of last weeks referendum.

This is a very complicated divorce, Kerry said at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado on Tuesday, according to Agence France-Presse, going on to note that most of the people who voted to do it neither know how to, nor seriously want to, execute the Brexit decision.

Cameron, who announced his resignation from the U.K.s highest office shortly after the referendum results were announced last Friday, apparently told Kerry that he was reluctant to begin the withdrawal process. Kerry also said that there were a number of ways by which the U.K. could reverse the decision.

The Obama Administration  in which Kerry has served since 2012  has made no secret of its opposition to the Brexit decision. However, in a conversation with National Public Radio, President Obama warned against the hysteria that has followed the referendum, describing Brexit as only a pause button pressed on the project of full European integration.

I would not overstate it, he told NPR. Theres been a little bit of hysteria postBrexit vote, as if somehow NATOs gone, the trans-Atlantic alliance is dissolving, and every country is rushing off to its own corner. Thats not whats happening.

[AFP]
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. bank JP Morgan said on Wednesday it now expects Scotland to vote for independence and introduce its own currency before Britain leaves the European Union in 2019. "Our base case is that Scotland will vote for independence and institute a new currency at that point (2019)," JP Morgan economist Malcolm Barr said in a note to clients on Wednesday. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will meet European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday afternoon, seeking a way for Scotland to remain in the EU. Scotland voted to stay in the EU in last week's referendum, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom as a whole, which voted 52-48 percent in favor of Brexit. (Reporting by Jamie McGeever; Editing by MIke Dolan)
In the wake of the terrorist attack in Istanbul, travelers can expect longer than average wait times at airports throughout the United States this Fourth of July weekend.

Several major U.S. airports are tightening security after three suicide bombers killed at least 41 people and injured hundreds more Tuesday night at Istanbuls Ataturk airport, Europes third-busiest.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PA), for instance, said it added high visibility patrols equipped with tactical weapons and equipment at the metropolitan areas three major airports: John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International and La Guardia.

The agency continues to monitor the situation in Turkey and is collaborating with federal, state and local law enforcement partners to include the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, the authority said in a statement. Todays action is in addition to the diverse counterterrorism patrols at various Port Authority facilities following the attack on an Orlando club earlier this month.

A U.S. Army specialist monitors the security line at JFK Airport, New York City, on June 29. (Photo: Andrew Kelly /Reuters)

This heightened security resulted in a brief bomb scare at JFKs Terminal 5 around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, when a K-9 unit found an unattended bag. A bomb squad was called in, the area was evacuated and the roadways to the area were closed, according to PA spokesman Joe Pentangelo. But police quickly cleared the package and the terminal resumed normal operations.

The PA estimates that more than 5.5 million people are expected to use its facilities to travel by air, car or train from Wednesday, June 29, through Monday, July 4. Of those, more than 2.6 million passengers are expected to use airports, with 1,267,600 traveling through JFK.

The Los Angeles Airport Police Division said there are currently no credible threats against Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), but that it is constantly assessing intelligence and events in the U.S. and abroad.

TSA checkpoints at Los Angeles International Airport, May 31. (Photo: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

In light of the violent attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, and the upcoming July 4th holiday travel period, we remain vigilant in our mission, the division said in a statement.

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Rob Pedregon, a public information officer with Los Angeles Airport Police, told Yahoo News they had already implemented enhanced security measures for the holiday weekend before the attack.

Fourth of July, of course, is a big day for all of us, the anniversary of the birth of our nation. Its a big holiday, and thats not lost on terrorists. We knew that coming into this, he told Yahoo News.

Travelers authorized to use the TSAs expedited security line at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport have their documents checked in March. (Photo/Ted S. Warren/AP)

Pedregon said they shifted resources toward LAX security as well because they expect the airport to get a record number of travelers this weekend.

Kimberly Gibbs, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said that the safety of their passengers and airport employees is always their top priority.

Reagan National and Dulles International airports have a robust security structure, both publicly visible and behind the scenes, Gibbs said in a statement. We constantly train our employees and evaluate our security procedures, in collaboration with our federal partners and local mutual aid partners, to make adjustments, updates and enhancements based on new information and situations.

Encouraging to see this at Dulles Airport especially after the Turkey attacks.@WTOP #IstanbulAttack pic.twitter.com/HSxV5LcaKy  Kathy Stewart (@KStewartWTOP) June 29, 2016

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe told local radio station WTOP that his states airports already had heightened security but that theyve taken it to the next level after consulting with the commonwealths top transportation and safety officials.

At Dallas-Fort Worth International, a handful of TSA agents and two bomb-sniffing dogs were present when American Airlines flight 2880 arrived early Wednesday from Santa Fe, N.M. Hilbert, a yellow Labrador retriever, sniffed all the gate-bagged checks coming off the flight and made a pass through the small regional jet.

TSA officers work with K-9s in Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on June 29. (Photo: Jason Sickles/Yahoo News)

An unidentified TSA security officer told deplaning passengers were trying to address this situation without further explanation.

Hilbert and a second dog, a black Lab, continued to canvass other gates after finishing with the Santa Fe flight.

Some travelers have already started to vent their frustration with security lines on social media.

All I can say is @TSA there has got to be a better way to be expeditious while being efficient. #needme2showu ? pic.twitter.com/FN28eC0NGi  Marlo Richardson (@IamMarloNicole) June 29, 2016

Much of the holdup, however, will be completely unrelated to recent terrorist attacks: Independence Day weekend is ordinarily one of the busiest travel periods of the summer.

The American Automobile Association projects that nearly 43 million Americans will travel this from Thursday through Monday by car, plane, train or cruise ship. Thats 5 million more than last year and the highest Fourth of July travel volume on record, according to the trade group.

The TSA advises travelers to arrive two hours prior to departure for domestic flights in anticipation of a drastic increase in travelers for the holiday weekend.

Presumably in an effort to speed lines along, the TSA is using social media to remind passengers of how to prepare for flights. The TSA told Independence Day travelers to leave behind firecrackers and other types of fireworks, which are prohibited in both carry-on and below-board bags.

Stories of customer frustration over long TSA lines have been in the news for months. Many travelers have been detained in security lines for so long that they wound up missing their flights. The national president of the American Federation of Government Employees is among those who attribute the slowdowns to the TSA being understaffed.

A representative for the TSA declined to comment when contacted by Yahoo News for this story.

Related slideshows:

Slideshow: Deadly attack at Istanbuls Ataturk >>>

Slideshow: Front-page coverage of Istanbuls Ataturk Airport attack >>>
By Kevin Murphy

KANSAS CITY, Kan (Reuters) - The Kansas Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a bill state lawmakers passed last week resolves inequities in public education and will allow schools to open as scheduled in August.

The court had set a June 30 deadline for lawmakers to address disparities between wealthy and poor school districts created by what the court said was an unconstitutional funding formula. Schools would otherwise be shuttered, the court said.

The Republican-controlled Kansas House and Senate went into a special two-day session on Thursday and Friday of last week to assemble a $38 million funding plan to satisfy the earlier court order. Republican Governor Sam Brownback signed the bill.

Obviously, plaintiffs are extremely pleased that schools will be opening in the fall and that funding will be distributed in a manner that comports with the Kansas Constitutions equity requirement, Alan Rupe, a lawyer representing four school districts that sued over the funding issues, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The dispute over equitable funding came on the heels of recent income tax cuts in Kansas that have reduced resources for education and other services. The state Supreme Court rejected an education funding formula the state enacted in 2015.

Although the court has determined that the $38 million plan is equitable, it is still reviewing whether education funding overall is adequate in the state. The court is expected to hear oral arguments on that issue in the coming months.

(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City, additional reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by Andrew Hay)
Kellan Lutz might be our next He-Man and the internet cant handle it

Kellan Lutz might be our next He-Man and the internet cant handle it

With one simple tweet the internet was sent into a tizzy, and its all thanks to Kellan Lutz. The hunky Twilight star took to social media to announce something it seemed like the whole world had been waiting for: a reboot of the 80s flick He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

Hey @HeManTheMovie and all MOTU fans,



Had an amazing meeting with @McGsWonderland and @ItsMaryViola talking MOTU!



ITS IN GREAT HANDS!   Kellan Lutz (@kellanlutz) June 24, 2016

While this tweet neither confirms nor denies Kellans involvement in the film, or that its actually happening, that doesnt mean fans havent taken the liberty of mocking up what it would look like:

For those who arent familiar, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was a popular 80s cartoon about a muscular Prince Adam, whose alter ego (He-Man) has superpower strength to fight a villain called Skeletor. (Out Magazine also described it as one of the gayest and cheapest cartoons of all time, so theres that.)

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This wouldnt be the first live-action interpretation of He-Man, either. It was done before all the way back in 1987 starring Dolph Lundgren and a young Courteney Cox, and Hollywood has been searching for writers and directors for a reboot for seemingly just as long.

Whatever this meeting means for Kellan, its probably okay to start getting excited for some kind of He-Man hilarity in the not-so-distant future. That being said, its practically the role Kellan was born to play, so keep the amazing Photoshops coming

The post Kellan Lutz might be our next He-Man and the internet cant handle it appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Would you pay $7 for a bowl of Frosted Flakes?

No? What if it was combined with Special K and sprinkled with pistachios and thyme?

What about a bowl of Fruit Loops with lime zest and marshmallows? Or some Honey Smacks with toasted pecans and banana chips?

Still no? Well, if you change your mind, you can visit Kellogg Co. Ks first-ever cafe dedicated to cereal, that traditional breakfast staple, in New York Citys Time Square. Opening on July 4, the restaurant was designed by Anthony Rudolf, who founded the members-only restaurant professional club Journee and is the director of operations for chef Thomas Kellers restaurants, and has a sleek, intimate atmosphere.

Sales of cereal have been on the decline for years, as consumers are turning to more convenient, on-the-go breakfast options like yogurt or fast food breakfast sandwiches. Kellogg hopes to rebrand cereal by creating a dining experience that is exciting, luxe, and modern.

The menu was developed by Christina Tosi, who is the chef and founder of Milk Bar bakeries in New York, Washington D.C., and Toronto. It features Kelloggs classic cereals like Frosted Flakes, Chex, Rice Krispies, and Raisin Bran, among others, and in addition to the combinations mentioned above, customers can order cereal that goes way beyond the kitchen. For example, The Corny Blues mixes Kelloggs Corn Pops with blueberry jam, lemon zest, and just a pinch of salt, while The Chai Line uses fresh peaches and Chai tea powder on top of Crispix. You can even order Rice Krispies topped with ice cream, strawberries, and matcha powder.

In terms of price, a small bowl costs $6.50 and the large is $7.50, or roughly two times the cost of an entire box of any of these cereals at your grocery store of choice.

Customers will pick up orders via a set of kitchen cabinets, a kind of un-automated automat. Inside the door will be their food and a little surprise, like those found in a box of cereal. Most days, it will be a small treata plastic ring or a morning newspaper. But there are also plans in the works to give away several tickets to the Broadway smash Hamilton, notes The Wall Street Journal.

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Kellogg is following in the footsteps of other commercial food brands who have launched restaurants or pop-up shops. There are M&M World Stores in Las Vegas, New York, Orlando, London, and Shanghai; gourmet yogurt brand Chobani has a store in New Yorks SoHo neighborhood, and soon in Tribeca; and PepsiCo Inc. PEP will soon unveil a new restaurant dubbed Kola House that specializes in cocktails inspired by the kola nut. Even fashion brands like Ralph Lauren RL has Polo Bar, its name brand restaurant on Fifth Avenue in New York, and Armani has luxury hotels in Milan and Dubai.

More than anything, this venture is about direct, clever marketing. It takes a standard, somewhat boring breakfast option and reinvents it, presented to consumers in a new, attractive way. John Stanton, a food marketing professor at Philadelphias St. Josephs University, said to the Journal that [cereal companies] are trying all different ways to get their name in front of consumersIts just that everything they did in the past is not going to be what makes companies successful in the future.

Have you changed your mind yet? Maybe? Because I dont know about you, but I would probably pay $6.50 for a small bowl of The Corny Blues or Frosted Flakes and Special K topped with pistachios and thyme. Only once though, and really, only to get a chance to win tickets to see Hamilton.

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By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan forces on Wednesday killed five suspected members of Somalia's al Shabaab, which has claimed responsibility for attacks that have killed hundreds in Kenya in the last three years, officials said. Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) spokesman David Obonyo said in a statement troops had killed four militants believed to belong to the Islamist group during a clash near a military camp in Lamu County in the country's east. A soldier was also wounded. The troops had been in hot pursuit of the al Shabaab terrorists after they conducted a probing attack on a KDF camp in Mangai, Lamu County yesterday evening, the statement said. He said that with the bodies they recovered a rocket-propelled grenade, two hand grenades, four AK47 rifles and an improvised explosive device. In a separate incident in the coastal resort of Malindi, police killed a suspected al Shabaab member and arrested two of his accomplices. The suspect who was shot dead fired at our officers first and injured one of them, who is undergoing treatment, Malindi area police chief Matau Mushangi told reporters. He said counter-terrorism officers had raided a house where the suspects were hiding following a tip-off. The suspects had been recruiting for al Shabaab and were preparing to return to Somalia, Mushangi said. Police recovered a shotgun, revolver, 18 national identity cards of people he said he believed the suspects had recruited, and over 20 passports. (Editing by George Obulutsa and Andrew Roche)
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f130621%2fchair

Watch out bottle flipping dude, you have new challengers.

These school kids from New Zealand have devised a diabolically addictive lunch time activity: Flipping chairs so they land perfectly on their legs.

SEE ALSO: Show your pet you love them by wearing them

It's a feat of immense skill that's been captured on video and uploaded to the Facebook page of Corban Baker, since receiving more than a million views.

Baker and his friend Cosmo Everett-Wells have done it before, but this is the first time they considered recording one and trying a few different tricks, according to stuff.co.nz.

"Everyone was kind of watching us and getting into it, so we thought, 'let's do this yeah, let's make something out of this'," Everett-Wells told the publication. Each trick took at least 20 takes, some took up to 50 to get right.

While it isn't likely that this brand new sport will make any sort of Olympics in the near future, it's a stupid conquest that is pretty damn entertaining.
The one-time Jack Bauer from the hit series "24" will be making a big small-screen comeback Wednesday, September 21, in a new series called "Designated Survivor" on US network ABC.

Kiefer Sutherland hasn't been seen on TV since "24: Live Another Day" ended July 14, 2014. After a break of over two years, the actor will return to the small screen this fall in a brand new role. In "Designated Survivor," the former anti-terrorist agent will be playing the President of the USA. His character, named Tom Kirkman, finds himself promoted from the simple role of cabinet member to the top job after a devastating attack on Washington kills everyone before him in line to the Oval Office.

Other new series airing this fall on ABC include "Speechless," starring Minnie Driver, which starts September 21. The series follows the day-to-day life of a family with a special-needs child and explores the various challenges they face. Plus, from Thursday, September 22, "Notorious" -- which focuses on links between the law and the press -- will take the slot between "Grey's Anatomy" and "How to Get Away with Murder."

"Conviction" will air October 3, starring Hayley Atwell ("Agent Carter") as a former first daughter who ends up working in a special unit of the Los Angeles police force. "American Housewife," following a dysfunctional family in a residential neighborhood full of seemingly perfect families, is due to land October 11, joining Tuesday's comedy line-up of "The Middle," "Fresh off the Boat" and "The Real O'Neals."

Viewers will have to wait until 2017 to catch the network's other new series, "Still Star-Crossed," "Time after Time," "Downward Dog" and "Imaginary Mary." ABC also has two new event miniseries in store for 2017, with "When We Rise" from Gus Van Sant and the TV remake of "Dirty Dancing."
29 Jun - Actress and TV personality Kris Aquino has confirmed rumours that she will be making an appearance on Marian Rivera's morning talk show, "Yan Ang Morning".



As reported on Coconuts Manila, the actress, who has just recently returned to the Philippines following her two-month break with sons Bimby and Josh, revealed to fans of her plans through Instagram.



Listing all the things she would be doing for the rest of the week, Aquino revealed, "On Wednesday, I get to fulfill my promise to my [godchildren Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera]. I am guesting in "Yan Ang Morning".



Aquino reportedly agreed to appear on the programme as a show of gratitude towards Dantes, who helped a lot in campaigning for Leni Robredo as vice president during the election.



The actress will also be keeping herself busy with other programmes for the time being, including an appearance at the unveiling of the People Power Monument in Cavite.



(Photo source: instagram.com/kriscaquino)
The Kardashian/Jenner brood has a knack for making money. From Kim Kardashian West's wildly successful app, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, or Kylie Jenner's Lip Kit selling out every time it's restocked, the know how to use their brand to make people waste their money.

Kardashian/Jenner matriarch Kris Jenner is not one to be left out  and she's now hawking a $175 necklace for her very own collection, which appears to be made of fancy paperclips.

My new 'Elegance' necklace is available now, exclusively online! http://bit.ly/292eluC pic.twitter.com/2Da4vk51Tp https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmC4CNsUkAIonVQ.jpg:large

The necklace, which "epitomizes versatile elegance and is an exquisite, timeless classic," is a combination of sterling silver clips and white organic man-made pearls, according to the Debut Networks website.

Source: Debut Networks

Twitter users couldn't wrap their minds around Jenner selling what looks like an arts-and-crafts creation for close to $200, though.

@KrisJenner this is safety pins and fake pearls get off my timeline Kris you playing in my Face Kris.pic.twitter.com/mvts691pjL

@KrisJenner babe are those paperclips

@KrisJenner $175 for North West's arts and crafts project? Oh nah

Hopefully Kris' foray into jewelry design goes better than Kim's music career or Khloe's talk show.
BUTTE -- A partnership of local groups, including The Montana Standard, will bring a series of well-known Montana authors to town this fall for a new Writers in Residence program.

Humanities Montana this week awarded The Root and Bloom Collective of the Clark Chateau $5,000 for the program.

In addition, the Superfund Advisory and Redevelopment Trust Authority has awarded the county $14,400 to restore the Henry and Adele Jacobs House, at the Montana and Granite, where the writers will stay, said Mary McCormick, BSB historic preservation officer.

Collaborators on the project are Butte Archives Director Ellen Crain, Clark Arts Chateau Program Director Carson Becker, BSB Chief Executive Matt Vincent and The Montana Standard Editor David McCumber.

McCumber, who guided similar literary series in San Francisco and Seattle, said the group plans to attract well-known and emerging Montana writers.

Well be able to offer people a little honorarium to stay, said McCumber. And well drive a lot of interest to the state.

The authors will each lead a youth literary workshop, a public reading, a creative process lecture, and a radio interview with KBMF, the local community radio station.

They will also work with McCumber to write original work inspired by the history and community of Butte to be published in The Montana Standard.

Residencies will be scheduled for August, September, October and November. The subsequent writing and interviews will be archived and made available to the public.

There will be writers of great distinction, said Becker, herself a veteran of numerous writers-in-residence workshops, both as a teacher and as a student playwright. Writers will come billed as artists themselves and will be mentors. They will be able to use the Archives and all of Butte as research.

Becker said the group aims to invite an array of writers, who will be named later.

Genres will run the gamut: fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama, said McCumber. The writers' public readings will amount to a lecture series, he said.

The SARTA grant, matched by $14,000 in Butte-Silver Bow funds, will provide much-needed work to the Jacobs House, which is in dire need of the upgrade, said McCormick.

Built in 1879 by Buttes first mayor, Henry Jacobs, the house needs a new roof and gutters, a front porch overhaul and maybe a stucco upgrade, said McCormick. It was one of the first brick buildings built in Uptown Butte.

Jacobs passed a landmark ordinance to use brick instead of wood in the Uptown, McCormick added. Its true brick masonry.

Originally a Queen Anne-style house with columns, the building was converted to craftsman style in the 1920s.

Its a very significant house and this project will make a big visual improvement in the Uptown, she said. Were very excited about it being used for this Writers in Residence project.

The Montana Preservation Alliance has also shown interest in using the house for an artist in residence, said McCormick. But that remains to be seen.

Its a great little space that the county converted to offices, added Crain.

Humanities Montana is an independent, nonprofit state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Since 1972, it HM has provided services and grants to hundreds of Montana organizations for public programs in history, literature, civics and public issues.

If it picks up momentum, the Writers in Residence could be here to stay.

Were hoping this is something that happens every year, said Becker.
Leah Remini is continuing her crusade against Scientology with a new TV series that will no doubt give Church leadership headaches.

The King of Queens star and former Scientologist is working on a new show spotlighting Scientology and how it rips apart families, according to a blog post by Tony Ortega, who worked on the hit documentary Going Clear.

Weve confirmed that Leahs series is currently shooting footage, and appears to be on a fast track, Ortega wrote of the new show.

Also Read: 5 Shocking Scientology Revelations From Leah Remini's '20/20' Interview

Representatives for Remini and Scientology did not immediately return TheWraps request for comment.

Remini made a very public split with the Church in 2013, and went on to publish a tell-all book, Troublemaker, about the inner-workings of Scientology and Church leadership.

Remini also pulled no punches in a 20/20 interview regarding the Church, revealing that she was punished for telling Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes to get a room. Remini also said she was asked to bring along her friend Jennifer Lopez to Cruise and Holmes wedding, presumably to convert her to Scientology.

The Church has previously denied all of Reminis allegations, releasing a statement claiming everything in her book is false.

Also Read: Leah Remini Says Scientology Views Tom Cruise Critics as 'Evil'

Leah Remini knows the truth she conveniently rewrites in her revisionist history, the statement reads in part. The real story is that she desperately tried to remain a Scientologist in 2013, knowing full well she was on the verge of being expelled for refusing to abide by the high level of ethics and decency Scientologists are expected to maintain.

Related stories from TheWrap:

Watch Billy Eichner, Rachel Dratch Spoof Scientology With Hilarious Obstacle Course (Video)

Paul Haggis Blasts Media for Not Grilling Tom Cruise on Scientology: 'Shame on You'

Tom Cruise Bans Scientology, Dating Questions for Interviewers on 'Mission: Impossible' Media Blitz (Exclusive)
AMMAN (Reuters) - At least five people were killed and scores wounded on Wednesday in a bomb attack on a local administrative office in the Kurdish-held Syrian town of Tel Abyad, near the Turkish border, witnesses said. They said a suicide car bomber attacked the building run by Kurdish local authorities in the town, which was captured by the Kurdish YPG militia last year from Islamic State militants in an offensive backed by U.S.-led air strikes. Tel Abyad lies north of Raqqa and had been a key supply line for the Islamic State stronghold. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights later said at least 10 people were killed in the blast with nine wounded, some seriously. Amaq news agency, affiliated to Islamic State, said militants detonated a car near a gathering of YPG fighters near the old local parliament building in the city center. The YPG is one of the most powerful militias in Syria and seen as the backbone of the Syria Democratic Forces, whose campaign to seize Islamic State controlled Manbij is supported by U.S.-led air strikes and American special forces. Islamic State militants have carried out more car bombings in Kurdish controlled areas after losing significant territory in northeastern Syria. (Reporting by Rodi Said in Kobani, Syria; Writing by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
1.5 stars (out of 4)



Him, Tarzan. You, sleepy.

Put the loincloths away: The Lord of the Apes will not be rescuing the most dire summer movie season in ages. He may be able to nimbly swing from vines, but he lands with a thud in an ill-conceived adventure. Simply put, The Legend of Tarzan (opening Friday, July 1) is so dreadful that you will root for the gorillas to eat the evil humans just so it will end faster.

This is a gung-ho character that dates all the way back to 1912. There was a silent film franchise in the 1930s and 40s (starring a former Olympic swimmer and Mia Farrows mother), a dozen more books and countless TV series. Disney got in on the act in 1999 with an animated flick that featured lots of Phil Collins songs and a pre-Scandal Tony Goldwyn as the voice of the man himself. And throughout these iterations, the basic plot remained unchanged  an orphaned boy who was raised by friendly apes in the jungle returns to the wilds as a fearless adventurer.



So whos ready for a morose drama in which a stone-faced Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) reluctantly treks back to Africa to stop a slavery ring in the 1890s?

Dont call him Tarzan, by the way. He goes by the name John Clayton (i.e., the Earl of Greystoke) here. Since leaving the jungle, he has forged a aristocratic life as a lord in the British parliament. He sips tea like a gentleman. His loving wife Jane (Margot Robbie) holds down the stately homestead. Then nature calls. In an early scene, John is invited back to the Congo to serve as a sort of goodwill ambassador and trade emissary. At first, he says no. Its hot, he sneers. An American Civil War soldier turned humanitarian (Samuel L. Jackson, looking and sounding like he dropped in from the 1990s) changes his mind, pleading with him to come along to expose possible slavery in the land.



Alexander Skarsgard Bares His Abs in Legend of Tarzan: See the New Shirtless Pictures

Little does Tarzan/John/Greystoke know that hes merely a pawn in a game of class warfare. Sinister King of Belgium Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) has promised the tribal chief (Djimon Hounsou) that he will deliver the former jungle boy in exchange for diamonds. Make that diamondzzzzz. With that misguided wind up, the nodding off might start before Tarzan et al. even step foot in the jungle. A century's worth of swashbuckling fun has been stripped away.

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Rom kidnaps Jane. You wont care. Jane fights back. You wont care. Tarzan communicates with gorillas. You wont care. Skarsgard turns into an action hero and teams up with Jackson to fight the bad guys. You wont care. Skarsgard doffs his shirt. You wont care. OK, fine. Youll care. But not enough.

The performances stink up the jungle too, as the actors go through the motions with a collective look of pained embarrassment on their faces. Surely Quentin Tarantino will not be pleased as two members of his regular troupe, Jackson and Waltz, ham it up in a dud.

Margot Robbies Beauty Routine Includes Placenta Toner and Cold Spoons

It didnt have to be this way. Just three months ago, The Jungle Book illustrated how to create a fully immersive and entertaining call-of-the-wild experience. The answer isnt a glum ape-man solving a sinister colonial conspiracy. Though the film's budget reportedly ballooned to $180 million, an engaging and surprising script always trumps the sight of CGI'ed wildebeests repeatedly stampeding the land.

Without that cinematic magic, all that remains is a smattering of laughter and applause when Jackson delivers the most knowing line of the movie: Can we please just stop this?




From LennyLetter

Ivy, the heroine of the new five-part BBC America series Thirteen, isn't freed by a prince, like in fairy tales about female captives. The anti-Rapunzel, she simply emerges from the house where she has been kept prisoner for over a decade - pale, barefoot, and tentative - and then runs like a frightened animal to the nearest pay phone to call for help. We learn very little about her life in confinement. Thirteen, which originally aired in the UK in February and March of this year, gives us a survivor's story set firmly in the present. The series never looks back, though as Ivy interacts with her family and friends, who have known her "all her life," they quickly realize that is only half-true. Taken at 13, then kept for 13 years, she is now 26. They need to deal with the current Ivy, not the Ivy they remember.

This Ivy is wary, shy, manipulative, and defiant. Her lips wobble and she has trouble making eye contact. She sometimes sounds like a typical teenager, demanding a phone and to see her onetime boyfriend; when her mother won't let her, a tantrum ensues. "I've had sex!" she yells, the words knifing though the air. She doesn't call it rape. When holes in her account of the abduction and the years she spent locked in a basement emerge, the police and her parents begin to question everything she says. As soon as there are discrepancies in her story, the issue of consent creeps out the window. Just like assault survivors everywhere, once Ivy "admits" to something outside the traditional victim's role, her abuser is seen as less culpable.

Ivy's list of betrayals before, during, and after she returns is long. She is not the only person keeping secrets. Her parents have divorced in the interim, but they don't tell her. Her teen boyfriend is married, but he removes his wedding ring when they meet. Her father had given up on the idea that she might ever return. Her sister questions whether she is really Ivy. The police, at first her saviors, begin to investigate her. Every time Ivy's anger flares at these discoveries, the more she resists the stereotype of a timid victim and the idea of happily ever after.

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We're in a moment where there are several kidnapping narratives running through popular culture, whether they're used for dark humor, as with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, or for a more serious emotional punch, as with the Oscar-winning Room. And, of course, the female captive is a mainstay of our most beloved myths and fairy tales, from Persephone to Tiger Lily. What sets Thirteen apart is not only its exclusive focus on Ivy's life after she escapes, but the way it acknowledges that all freedom is relative.

I haven't been through a horrific trauma, but I've definitely - like most women - come up against infuriating societal expectations about how I should live. In a way, Ivy fled a certain kind of safety when she came out that door, leaving behind a world where she had lived half her life, one where all the rules were set and understandable. She left this kind of demented haven for a situation (a situation called life!) where she has to constantly make decisions, often while doubting her instincts, and then defend her choices to the people around her. I feel like I go through this every day, although on a much smaller scale. The show is about Ivy's freedom, but it made me realize that there isn't a lot out there about what it's actually like to be a "free" woman.

Mikki Halpin is Lenny's editor at large.
He's still pretty spry, for a 90-year-old.

Dick Van Dyke recently belted out the Mary Poppins tune "Let's Go Fly A Kite, leading a sing-a-long among fans at Walt Disneys childhood home in Chicago.

Read: Happy Birthday Dick Van Dyke! Actor Dances With Flash Mob As He Turns 90

The star of the classic 1964 Disney film performed the impromptu song on the front lawn of the movie moguls home Sunday.

Read: Woman Captivates Crowd at Lincoln Memorial With Rendition of Star-Spangled Banner

The actor even gathered an audience around him, who joined in singing the chorus.

Van Dyke was nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Bert, a London chimney sweep in the timeless film.

Watch: Protegee Reveals What Happened Inside Private Plane Where Prince Collapsed 6 Days Before His Death

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(Repeats June 28 story, text unchanged)

By Sujata Rao

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - The Libyan wealth fund's former deputy chief screamed and cursed at Goldman Sachs bankers in a stormy meeting over derivatives trades made on the bank's advice that ultimately turned out to be worthless, a witness told a court on Tuesday.

In a trial at London's High Court, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) is trying to claw back $1.2 billion from Goldman Sachs related to nine disputed trades carried out in 2008.

The LIA argues Goldman took advantage of its financial naivety by first gaining its trust, then encouraging it to make risky and ultimately worthless investments.

Goldman Sachs denies the allegations and says the trades in question "were not difficult to understand".

The LIA called as its final witness Catherine McDougall, a former Allen & Overy lawyer who was seconded to the LIA in July 2008 by Allen & Overy to assist and provide training to the LIA's legal team.

McDougall said that from her conversations with LIA staff, specifically members of the Equities team, she found they had no idea what they had actually purchased. They were under the impression they had bought shares or "quasi shares" whereas the products they had were "completely synthetic".

She said she brought this up with the LIA, with Allen and Overy and eventually with Goldman Sachs.

McDougall told the court she had little experience of derivatives at the time but said LIA executives seemed to have even less. She said they did not understand how derivatives worked or what were call and put options.

She said that in response to her question in July 2008 about what kind of due diligence had been done before the trades, one of the LIA officials had asked: "Due what?" However, she said the exchange took place in a meeting and she didn't recall the name of the official.

In her statement, she said she felt "Goldman Sachs had unfairly taken advantage of the LIA's lack of sophistication ... and sold the LIA $1 billion worth of derivatives products the LIA could not understand".

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Robert Miles, a lawyer acting for Goldman, stated to McDougall that the LIA officials had understated their understanding of the trades "in order to shift the blame".

The LIA equity team had also seemed to implicitly trust Youssef Kabbaj, the banker who was Goldman's main contact with the LIA, and relied completely on his advice, McDougall said.

"I think they didn't understand how much Mr Kabbaj stood to gain personally from his relationship with them. They were ... very effusive and very welcoming and they trusted people. They thought he was their friend," she told the court.

Kabbaj no longer works for Goldman and has signed a confidentiality agreement with the bank. He has commented once to the media but has declined to speak further, citing the agreement.

Goldman says its relationship with the LIA was at all "material times an arm's length one" between banker and client.

In a witness statement seen by Reuters, McDougall said she told Mustapha Zarti, the LIA's then deputy chief, that she could not see "one redeeming feature" in the trades.

Following this, she said, she was present at a meeting between Zarti, Kabbaj and Kabbaj's colleague Nick Pentreath at which Zarti lost his temper, swore at the men and threatened to "come after their families."

"His face ... it went red in this, like, flash of anger and he darts in front of me ... and then just starts screaming at Mr Kabbaj and Mr Pentreath and telling them a lot of cursing," she told the court.

Zarti is no longer connected with the LIA. Reuters has been unable to reach him for comment.

Miles cited documents provided by Goldman to the LIA which he said showed the nature of the deals and clearly explained the conditions under which the trades could lose money.

Goldman Sachs will begin its defence on Thursday.

(Editing by Larry King/Mark Heinrich)
Get your lifes savings ready: the PostSecret house is for sale

Get your lifes savings ready: the PostSecret house is for sale

The DailyDot dropped a heavy bomb on us when they announced that the PostSecret birthplace is up for grabs. Thats right  the family keeping our postcard secrets safe is relocating to California.

The stunning Maryland 4 bedroom / 3.5 bath home located at 13345 Copper Ridge Road is on the market for $599K, and were all jealous of those of you who were able to attend the open house this past Sunday.

postsecret3

MC9683731 - Basement

MC9683731 - Basement

If youre unfamiliar with PostSecret, its a place where all of us misunderstood teenagers would send postcards penned with our deepest and darkest emotions, in hopes of having it published on Sundays  anonymously, of course.

Did you catch this Sundays secrets? Visit www.postsecret.com to view more secrets! A photo posted by PostSecret (@postsecret) on Oct 7, 2013 at 4:00pm PDT

September 29th #sundaysecrets For all of this Sunday's secrets visit www.postsecret.com A photo posted by PostSecret (@postsecret) on Sep 29, 2013 at 12:07am PDT

Did you catch this Sundays secrets? Visit www.postsecret.com to view more secrets! A photo posted by PostSecret (@postsecret) on Oct 7, 2013 at 4:07pm PDT

But, who will be there to receive our postcards now, you ask? PostSecrets Frank Warren reassured us that he has a great relationship with the local postoffice, and will still be able to receive all of our dirty little secrets when sent to the Germantown, Maryland address.

The post Get your lifes savings ready: the PostSecret house is for sale appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Mandalgovi (Mongolia) (AFP) - It took Mongolian nomad Pagvajaviin Shatarbaatar seven days to get to his polling station to vote in Wednesday's general election -- accompanied by more than 2,000 sheep, goats and horses.

His family spends the year travelling around the Gobi Desert in search of pasture for their animals, maintaining a way of life largely unchanged for centuries.

As the vote approached they were hundreds of kilometers from their polling station in Mandalgovi, the capital of Dundgovi province. So began the slow process of herding their animals north for the summer, following one of Mongolia's few paved roads.

The journey is a difficult one, said Shatarbaatar's wife Otgontsetseg, but they feel a responsibility to make their voices heard.

Mongolians have grown increasingly apathetic about the democratic experiment they began when they shook off Soviet influence 26 years ago.

Many claim there is little difference between the two major political parties, and no chance for third parties to make their voice heard.

"We want politicians who are responsible for the people in the same way we are responsible for our animals," said Otgontsetseg, leaning on a pillow in the small mobile home they use to follow their flock.

They intended to vote for a candidate from the Xun Party, a small group of reformers mainly composed of Mongolians educated at elite universities abroad.

"Our government policy is totally wrong," she said. "The greediest ones have the power.

The night before the election, the family camped by a lake about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from town. On Wednesday they rose with the sun and tended to their herd, eating a quick breakfast of tea and homemade curds.

Otgontsetseg phoned a friend to check the location of their polling station, to be told that 500 new voters had registered ahead of the election -- a large number in a sparsely-populated province that sends only one delegate to the 76-member parliament, the Great Hural.

Story continues

The sudden change raised suspicions of political gamesmanship, but Otgontsetseg's friend was more interested in discouraging her from voting for a candidate with little chance of victory. "You're throwing your vote away," she said.

- 'No more herders' -

At the polling station, Shatarbaatar and his wife embraced relatives they had not seen in months, brought together by the vote.

The family say they are voting for a better future for Mongolia but the ballot is also about different visions of the country: one driven by businessmen in Ulan Bator's handful of skyscrapers, the other by men living off the land.

"All of our generations were herders," said Shatarbaatar. But that is changing.

The couple -- who have two hired stockmen -- raise cows and sheep for meat and goats for cashmere, which they say has made them wealthy.

Their lifestyle has some modern touches: instead of the traditional ger, also known as a yurt, their home is on wheels, towed from pasture to pasture by an old Korean truck with their black sheepdog Bankhar running behind.

The men herd the animals with a Yamaha motorbike as well as horses, they have a cellphone for communication and satellite television to keep up to date. Shatarbaatar wonders about buying a drone to help manage the flock.

Their daughter is studying business in Miami while their son is in Shanghai, training to be an electrical engineer.

As herders, they are far better off than Mongolians who depend on jobs in the struggling mining sector, they said.

But the price of sheepskins has dropped to around 10 cents apiece, Otgontsetseg laments.

"In the US, people pay $30 for a manicure," she said. "We care for a goat for a year and only get $30 for a kilo of cashmere."

She worries whether they will be able to maintain their way of life.

The government has debated whether to privatise the country's endless grasslands, now publicly owned and available for anyone to use, as they have been for centuries.

"If someone owns this or that land we won't be able to move around the countryside anymore," she said. "There will be no herders."
By Tricia Wright and Vikram Subhedar

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Health, safety and even some traditional 'sin stocks' have already shown signs of weathering Brexit-related storms in European equity markets over the past week.

The flight to safety in the aftermath of last week's Brexit vote is sending investors scurrying back into healthcare and consumer-related stocks that have shielded them from nearly every big market dislocation of the past five years.

On Wednesday, European healthcare became the first major regional sector to recover all its post-Brexit losses, helped largely by the big UK bellwethers. Food and beverage stocks are poised to follow.

Stocks such as AstraZeneca PLC, Diageo PLC and British American Tobacco PLC are up between 7 percent and 11 percent since last Thursday's close.

They have led the broader market's recovery after more than $3 trillion was knocked off the value of global stocks in the two-day selloff that followed Britain's unexpected decision to leave the European Union.

The combination of dependable profits, dividends and expectations that the weaker pound and euro will spur earnings upgrades for firms that sell mostly to consumers outside the UK and Europe has underpinned their resilience.

"There are three things at work but I think the first is the reach for dollar earnings," said Eric Moore, who runs the Miton Income Fund from London.

"In a world where GDP is probably slowing everywhere, irrespective of Brexit, there's just more uncertainty," said Moore, adding the relative stability of the so-called defensive sectors, whose profits are less reliant on economic growth, brightens their appeal.

The rally in bluechip healthcare and food and beverage stocks has even pushed the UK's FTSE 100 to less than a percent below its pre-Brexit level. In US dollar terms the index is still more than 10 percent lower.

Outside of the UK, German real estate has found favour. Shares of Vonovia and Deutsche Wohnen are both higher than where they were before last week's vote.

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Both companies are focused on residential properties in Germany where low rates have contributed to steady price rises while low vacancy rates have put a floor under rents.

Gold mining stocks Rangold Resources and Fresnillo are up more than 20 percent as demand for the precious metal surged.

For a list of major European stocks that are above where they closed last Thursday see: http://reut.rs/295Lkwm

Goldman Sachs, which slashed its economic forecasts for the UK and Europe after the vote, now expects earnings in 2016 for the Stoxx 600 to contract 5 percent.

Still, with German 10-year bund yields below zero the U.S. bank says equities offer value compared with other assets.

But given worries over the health of European banks and growth Goldman warns against broad-based buying and recommends investors stick with food, beverage and tobacco and healthcare shares.

"The attractions of the more defensive or stable parts in equities are clear," said Goldman strategists in a note to clients.

(Reporting by Vikram Subhedar and Tricia Wright, additional reporting by Tina Bellon in Frankfurt; Editing by Mike Dolan and Toby Chopra)
Luxembourg (AFP) - Two whistleblowers in the "LuxLeaks" tax scandal were given suspended jail sentences on Wednesday for leaking thousands of documents that exposed Luxembourg's huge tax breaks for major international companies.

The LuxLeaks scandal sparked a major global push against the generous deals handed to multinationals that grew even further after the Panama Papers revelations earlier this year.

Former PricewaterhouseCoopers employees Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet received 12-month and nine-month sentences respectively while journalist Edouard Perrin was acquitted of all charges.

In his ruling, Judge Marc Thill recognised the defendants' status as whistleblowers and their "undeniable contribution... to greater transparency" on tax matters.

The documents revealed the huge tax breaks that tiny EU nation Luxembourg offered international firms including Apple, IKEA and Pepsi, at a time when Jean-Claude Juncker, now head of the European Commission, was prime minister.

The revelations ended up forcing the EU to take urgent steps to stop global firms avoiding tax in Europe, including anti-trust inquiries into firms like Apple, McDonald's and Amazon.

The scandal also pressured Luxembourg into accepting a new law that requires EU member states to share tax deal information with its bloc partners.

In an email to AFP, a support group for Deltour said both men would appeal, adding that the verdict amounted to a dangerous "warning towards future whistleblowers" by the court.

Deltour and Halet faced a maximum penalty of 10 years on charges which included stealing documents, revealing business secrets and violation of professional secrets.

The documents were originally used for a 2012 report by reporter Perrin on French public television but really exploded onto the world stage two years later with the huge "LuxLeaks" release of all 30,000 pages into the public domain.

- 'Tax dodgers emboldened' -

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The case drew worldwide attention and a few dozen tax campaigners demonstrated outside the court in Luxembourg on Wednesday at the start of the hearing.

"Tax dodgers will be emboldened by this verdict - the law is on their side, which is wrong," said Max Lawson, an inequality expert from the charity Oxfam.

"It will take an exceptionally brave individual to speak out about tax abuse now that they face the very real prospect of a huge fine or imprisonment," he said.

The LuxLeaks scandal put huge pressure on Juncker during his first weeks as head of the European Commission, the powerful executive arm of the 28-nation European Union.

The entire LuxLeaks trove contained many more documents, not only from PwC but also other accountancy and law firms involved in obtaining secret "tax rulings" that lowered rates for companies to as little as one percent.

Luxembourg authorities pressed on with investigations after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released its documents, leading to Deltour being charged in December 2014 for violation of professional secrecy and wrongfully accessing a database.

"The judges have clearly decided to protect the interests and reputation of multinational companies that allegedly avoided taxes rather than the interest of public to be informed about wrong-doings," said Jane Whyatt of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom.

However, the tiny duchy of Luxembourg has also tried to show that it is clamping down on tax evasion, as well as diversifying into other forms of industry.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, which declared itself a civil party in the trial, won a symbolic euro ($1.1) from their former employees in the verdict.
From Esquire

Today in age-old stereotypes: the Mafia has allegedly been running another racket in northern Italy. Turns out, when you dump toxic chemicals into the Italian countryside, people get poisoned.

Writer Ian Birrell traveled to the Campania region of Italy to discover why it has been dubbed the "Triangle of Death" by locals. Unsurprisingly, he found it was because a lot of people are dying, including many children, from cancer. The problem is linked to corrupt officials allowing the Mafia to dump harmful industrial chemicals into the surrounding farmland and landfills.

Birrell found that crime syndicates, looking to cash in on industrialist profits, became toxic waste garbagemen for hire beginning in the 1980s, disposing of poison for a price. The waste contaminated the ground, the air, mothers' milk, and animal milk.

As Birrell wrote for Mosaic:

This shocking saga goes far beyond the stupidity of greedy gangsters. The Italian state is guilty of at best grotesque and fatal incompetence, at worst a murderous cover-up in league with wealthy, tax-dodging industrialists that may have caused the deaths of at least 2,000 people already, according to one recent official study.

The crime bosses are no longer dumping chemicals, thanks in part to efforts by locals, but according to Birrell, other nations and multinational companies are. The effects are still evident in the sick locals.

Read the full story here.

[h/t: Digg]
Gilan Sharafani, a beauty vlogger based in Norway, says that a lot of her subscribers were curious to know how she had gotten such big curls. To appease the curiosity, she made a "new tutorial" with her less-than-revolutionary technique. But, as many people have since pointed out, the "big heatless curls" method wasn't so novel after all; it's called Bantu Knots and has been used by African women for centuries.

"This is a highly requested tutorial, where I show how you can fake big curly hair with no heat," Sharafani captioned an Instagram post. The video, which was reposted by Girls Creativity, a Facebook page that often highlights makeup tutorials, has since garnered 21,000 shares and 6,000 comments, most of which call the vlogger out for cultural appropriation.

Source: YouTube

"They're called 'Bantu knots' if you must appropriate our stuff, please put some respect on the name," wrote Ebonie Dingle. "If your gonna steal our style at least keep its proper name which is Bantu knots. I never had a problem with white people admiring our styles and wearing it my problem is when they rename them like the "boxer braids" which are actually call cornrows," said Emmy Jarvis.

Others are posting photos of their own "big heatless curls."

"What BANTU KNOTS are supposed to look like," Courtney Odell captioned the below image. "Don't even try to say that birds nest on your head looks good. Ya'll so great at stealing our culture putting some blonde hair on it calling it something different and acting like you

Source: Facebook

Many are pointing out that although it might be "acceptable" for white women to wear their hair like this, women with natural hair are often shamed for it.

"Oh you mean bantu knots you know the hair style that originated in Africa for Africans and was not widely accepted and deemed professional on blacks but they're perfectly fine for Becky?" Dominique Robinson commented on Sharafani's video.

Story continues

"But when girls with naturally curly hair go out like this, with big frizzy curls, we are shamed, humiliated, accused of bad hygiene and, depending on race and class, maybe even fired," Krysta Beam wrote.

And they aren't wrong. Young girls are sent home from school and others are reprimanded in the workforce for wearing their hair natural. Just a few weeks ago, a woman entered a hair salon and was told her curls were "an animal that can't be tamed."

Source: Facebook

Sharafani has since updated the caption to her post on Instagram, writing, "For all of you commenting about what I shall call this style, I did not know that this was an African hairstyle till now. And I have never said that this is a new technique discovered by me! So if you want me to call it Bantu Knots, then it's Bantu Knots." Mic has reached out for further explanation and will update with a response.

As many Facebook users pointed out, the problem isn't so much the hairstyle as it is the lack of education and credit. From Kim Kardashian West's "boxer braids" and her half-sister Kylie Jenner's cornrows to Cara Delevingne's micro braids, as of late, many

Just like Jennifer Escobar stated in a comment on the video, "Enjoy the hairstyle just don't act like this is something new."

Watch the full video below:
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian anti-corruption authorities said they had arrested on Wednesday a senior national opposition leader who has been under investigation for abusing his position as chief minister of Penang. The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), in a statement, said Lim Guan Eng was arrested at his offices in Penang, an opposition-held state. Lim, who is also secretary-general of the federal opposition Democratic Action Party, will be detained until Thursday morning when he is expected to be formally charged, a MACC source said. The exact charges he faces were not spelt out. The MACC said in March this year that it started investigating Lim after a report which accused him of abusing his position by securing a two-storey bungalow on the island state at below market price in July last year. (Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
A North Carolina man named Ronald McDonald may have strayed too far from the Golden Arches last week.

The McDonald's mascot's namesake was at a Sonic drive-in restaurant in Lumberton where police say a heated argument with an employee of the fast food chain turned violent.

Read: Man Who Tossed 3-Foot Alligator Into Drive-Thru Window Faces Assault Charges

Both McDonald, whose wife is a manager at the Lumberton restaurant, and the employee fired guns, police reportedly told WNCN.

A spokesman for the Lumberton Police told InsideEdition.com that "this appears to be over an extra marital relationship between the female manager and an employee."

McDonald was struck by gunfire and is being treated for his injuries, which are not considered life-threatening.

As of Wednesday morning, no charges have been filed in the case.

Read: Man Who Tossed 3-Foot Alligator Into Drive-Thru Window Faces Assault Charges

Just days after the alleged Sonic incident, an appalling attack occurred at a Wendy's drive-thru in Missouri.

A pregnant fast food worker was reportedly dragged out of the fast food drive-thru window and beaten after a customer accused her of forgetting to put straws inside their take-out bag.

Watch: Pregnant Wendy's Worker Dragged Out Drive-Thru Window, Assaulted: 'You Forgot the Effing Straw'

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While Marc Faber isnt bearish on global stocks, the Swiss investor is looking to other areas of the market for a place to make money: Gold and U.S. government debt.

[Gold] been a very good investment since 1999, Faber told the FOX Business Networks Trish Regan. [Its] much better than the S&P 500 and much better than tech stocks in the U.S. Certainly over the last six months nobody can accuse me of having been wrong to buy gold.

Faber, who is the publisher of The Boom, Gloom & Doom Report, also recommended buying Treasury bonds, despite a recent plunge in the yield after last weeks Brexit vote.

He also said he is certain there will be more quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve, in part due to the U.S. presidential election.

Both candidates for the presidency will increase the deficit meaningfully, he remarked. And that will require the Fed to buy more paper that is issued by the Treasury. He added, in the long run, most governments in the Western world, if they had to account like a corporation, would be bankrupt. And so more money printing will become a necessity.

Related Articles
What's in a name? Plenty, says the Marine Corps.



Nineteen of the service's job specialty names will be changed to reflect gender-neutral titles.



Within the next few days, the Corps is expected to issue a mandate to remove "man" from Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) job titles such as "Infantry Assault Man" and "Basic Infantryman," and to replace gender-specific endings with "Marine." Some job titles, such as "Rifleman" and "Mortarman," will remain in place.



The change comes in the wake of a months-long review mandated by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who also oversees the Marine Corps. Mabus requested the review in January, after the Defense Department opened all military jobs to women.



"Please review the position titles throughout the Marine Corps and ensure that they are gender-integrated as well, removing 'man' from the titles," Mabus wrote in January to the Marine Corps Commandant, Gen. Robert Neller.



The change has prompted a range of responses from the military community.



Some see no point in creating what they view as a non-issue.



"We're doing a lot of things in the military in general that are absolutely a waste of time," a Navy admiral tells PEOPLE. (The admiral is on active duty and cannot speak to the press for attribution.) "You don't see anyone on street corners with signs saying, 'I'm tired of having a rating with 'man' in the title.a "



Former Air Force anti-terrorism team leader Liesl Greg Mote, who served as a captain while a special agent in the Office of Special Investigations, agrees.



"The bottom line for me is, I don't care what you call me," Mote says. "These women like those men want to do their jobs and do them well without all of the bureaucrats getting in our space about a freaking word on a piece of paper. All I am concerned about is my boots on the ground."



"I think you will find that women and men don't have monolithic, gender-based opinions on the issue of semantics or integration, and that is a good thing," says West Point graduate Paula Broadwell, who runs the Think Broader Foundation, a non-profit focused on how gender is represented in the media and society. "Diversity of opinions challenges each of us think more broadly about these important issues."



The MOS name changes are important, Broadwell notes, because she believes they contribute toward setting a tone where women are viewed not as objects, but as equals. "In that regard," Broadwell says, "making micro changes in semantics is a critical step towards holistic integration.



Some, however, view the changes as signs of a degraded military.



The services overall have been weakened by "empty platitudes and concessions to political correctness run amuck," says Commander Dan O'Shea, a retired Navy SEAL and OEF/OIF veteran.



"Can SECNAV Mabus answer how further emasculating the Navy and Marine Corps by removing 'man' from every job title increases the combat mentality and lethality of our military?" O'Shea says. "Continuing to push a 'macho' warrior culture and ethos out of the service will only result in driving out those who joined to go to war and not for the GI Bill, VA benefits or false praise like a medal for finishing boot camp or an unearned 'neutered' title."



Others have mixed views.



"The Marine Corps has a very sound, vibrant, culture," says former Marine Angie Morgan. "There are many opportunities for women to succeed in the organization. If, by renaming MOSas, this attracts more qualified women because they see the range of opportunities available to them, then I think itas great."



However, Morgan adds, "I donat see a need to change (the long-used mantra) aEvery Marine is a rifleman.a Itas part of our organizational identity. I never took issue with viewing myself as a rifleman. I joined the Marine Corps. I knew what I was getting into. "



But others believe that the Rifleman title should be changed, as well.



"The fact that the word 'man' in this MOS title was not removed, is on purpose, and an insult to the Marines who happen to be women who will serve as 'Riflemen,' " says Shelly Burgoyne, a former Army officer who served as a combat resupply convoy commander during two tours in Iraq. "Rifle Marine is more fitting."



One active duty Marine is nonplussed by the entire discussion.



"At the end of the day, my fellow brothers and sisters are all Marines, regardless of what the MOS is called," says Joel Weber, a Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) Master Gunnery Sergeant who spoke to PEOPLE on his off-duty hours.



The Marine Corps, meanwhile, is neither confirming nor denying the forthcoming announcement. The service has not yet announced the changes because the official document mandating the changes has not been signed, a Marine Corps official tells PEOPLE.



Noting published reports on the announcement, though, the official says: "There is no inaccuracy in what has been reported."
Go East  Far East  global investing guru Mark Mobius is telling investors, saying the U.K. vote to leave the European Union will hasten the swing of the "center of gravity" to Asia.

"More and more trade [and IPOs] will go in that direction," he predicted Wednesday on CNBC's " Squawk Box ," admitting he was "very wrong" on Brexit, which he called an "amazing event."



He added: "I believe now in England there are second thoughts."

Weakening economic cooperation in Europe would benefit Asia, said Mobius, executive chairman of the Templeton Emerging Markets Group. "Nothing has really happened yet because people are sort of frozen like deer in the headlights," he continued. "[But] as we simmer down and begin to think about the future, that certainly will be in people's minds."

The speed at which China moves to free up its currency will be the determining factor in how quickly trade and initial public stock offerings ramp up in Asia, Mobius said.

Against that backdrop, the United States should cooperate with China on trade instead of pursuing the adversarial approach advocated by presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump , Mobius said. He said the Chinese would be open to working with America.

"The U.S. has really got to wake up to what China is doing. And I believe the best path would be for them to cooperate and join with China." Mobius said. "Here, you have two great nations. And if they cooperate, it could be beneficial to both."

Mobius said the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal, opposed by Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton , should include China. "It really doesn't make sense to exclude them," given Beijing's outsized role in the region, he added.

The TPP  which aims to capitalize on trade opportunities in the Asian-Pacific region  involves the U.S. and 11 other nations, including Japan, Singapore and Australia.

Story continues

For investors, Mobius said they should look East. "With the softening of the U.S. market and with what's happening in Europe, people will begin to think more about diversification. They are very underweight emerging markets."









More From CNBC


Mark Zuckerberg Attends Mobile World Congress 2016

Getty Image

Mark Zuckerberg is not winning over any friends on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where he purchased a 700 acre plot of land for $100 million back in 2014. The Facebook entrepreneur has yet to build a home on his new property, but is currently in the process of constructing a massive, six-foot stone wall around the perimeter of the land. As a technology mogul worth approximately $35.7 billion does!

Neighbors on the island are displeased about the sudden appearance of the wall  of unknown projected length and completion date  which apparently cuts off, you know, the scenic view of the ocean Hawaii is known for. One such neighbor is Kilauea resident Gy Hall, who lives along Koolau Road where the wall is currently being built. Until a few weeks ago, Hall had enjoyed the view of the ocean and the breeze from his home.

The feeling of it is really oppressive. Its immense, Hall said. Its really sad that somebody would come in, and buy a huge piece of land and the first thing they do is cut off this view thats been available and appreciative by the community here for years. Another Kilauea resident, Donna Mcmillen, calls the wall a monstrosity. Im super unhappy about that. I know that land belongs to Zuckerberg. Money is no option for him. Im 58 and when Im walking, I see nothing but wall, Mcmillen said. It just doesnt fit in with the natural beauty that we have here. There are people on the island who money can pay for anything. These kind of things that they do take away what Kauai is all about.

Shawn Smith, a spokesperson for the project who sold the property to Zuckerberg, claims in a statement that the primary purpose of the wall is to mitigate highway and road noise.

The sound barrier follows all regulated rules and regulations by the county and our entire team remains committed to ensuring that any development is consistent with the local landscape and environment and considerate of neighbors.

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Somehow, neighbors seem to disagree. This isnt the first time a celebrity has come under fire for moving into a neighborhood and disrupting locals. May we never forget the Ross Is Not Cool incident when Friends star David Schwimmer bought a gorgeous townhouse one year away from achieving landmark status in New York Citys East Village, only to have it torn down.

You dont want to be like Ross. Do you, Zuck? No one wants to be like Ross.

(Via Gizmodo and The Garden Island)
Personal income is up 0.2% in May thanks to higher demand in automobiles and other goods. Unfortunately, Britain's vote to leave the EU may hurt consumer confidence. Meanwhile, global markets are all in the green. Were seeing rallies in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. for a second straight day, rebounding from the post-Brexit selloff.

Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App

Shares of Toyota (TM) were down 1% ahead of the open. The carmaker plans on recalling a combined 3.4 million vehicles due to problems with airbags and emissions control units. This would be separate from the big recall of Takata airbags from a few weeks ago. Toyotas stock is down 18% year-to-date.

Investors were also keeping a close eye on Sony (SNE), with shares up 3% in premarket trading. The consumer electronics giant said virtual reality headsets will raise its games sales target next year. Sony plans to begin selling the headsets in October. The companys CEO also said its working on a robot capable of forming an emotional bond. But Sony cut its outlook on image sensors revenue, blaming slowing smartphone sales. Investors have been bonding with the stock, which is up just shy of 14% so far this year.

Verizon (VZ) plans to sell $1.2 billion in bonds sometime in the third quarter. But these bonds will be backed by new smartphone sales contracts with roughly 2.5 million customers. According to The Wall Street Journal, Fitch is expected to give most of the bonds an AAA rating. Verizon shares are up 14% since the start of 2016.

Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App

North American leaders talk trade

President Barack Obama, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are discussing the threat of Brexit and how to make it easier to facilitate trading across borders. What new trade options are possible?

Trump blasts trade agreement

Theres definitely one person who doesnt like the trade meeting, and thats presidential hopeful Donald Trump. Trump says he will force Canada and Mexico to renegotiate the trade agreement if hes elected president. He feels the current deal is a jobs killer for the US. Is Trump right?

Story continues

LendingClubs bombshell

LendingClub (LC) says that former CEO Renaud Laplanche borrowed money in order to inflate the companys volume. Investors use loan volumes as a key way of figuring out an online lender's value. What does this mean for Laplanche and the future of online trading?
MONTICELLO  Paul Doane wanted to find a way to keep soil and farmland nutrients from being lost into a nearby stream along his property in rural Monticello.

Water from hundreds of acres of land would drain toward the stream, but Doane said preventing nutrient loss from the runoff could get expensive. Still wanting to come up with a solution, he turned to staff from the Piatt County Soil and Water Conservation District, who suggested a streambank stabilization project.

With the help of the Piatt County Farm Bureau, grant funding was secured as part of a cost share arrangement. Doane didn't mind seeing the grass torn up and some trees removed from along the stream.

In the long run, I'll take it, Doane said. You've got to look down the road a year or two.

The work is helping to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous from building up in the Lake Decatur Watershed, said Emily Zelhart, Piatt County Farm Bureau manager. Rock was placed in three spots to stabilize the streambanks, Zelhart said.

A field day is being planned for Wednesday, July 27, to give those interested a chance to view similar projects in the area, Zelhart said. For more information, call (217) 762-2128.

It's part of a nutrient loss reduction strategy, Zelhart said. We need to do our part to reduce that runoff and improve water quality. Farmers are taking a big step to help with these projects.

The Illinois Farm Bureau provided a nutrient stewardship grant and the Macon County Soil and Water Conservation District helped with an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency grant.

The issue of nutrient loss has become more notable as agriculture has changed over several decades, said Wayne Kinney, a contractor with Midwest Streams who is retired from working for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

It's a lot more intense, Kinney said. Most streams in Illinois need some of this. It's a one-time fix. It should last.

The rock helps to stabilize and reshape the banks, Kinney said. While the banks look torn up now and the rock is visible, he said it will become covered up over time and blend into the landscape.

It will look more natural, Kinney said. In a few years, we'll be hard-pressed to see rock.

Kinney said one side of the channel is built up to allow for changes to the flow of the stream on the other side. He said the relatively low cost of the work helps landowners to justify the expense.
By Ian Simpson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former Maryland teaching assistant has been indicted on 270 child sex charges that include filming videos of students at an elementary school, state prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The suspect, Deonte Carraway, 22, of Glenarden, Maryland, was charged by a grand jury in the Washington suburb of Prince George's County, prosecutors said in a brief statement. The indictment is far larger than the six original charges filed against Carraway in February.

Carraway, who also was a church choir director, faces charges of sexual abuse of a minor, sex offenses and child pornography, the statement said.

All the charges stem from actions involving students from Judge Sylvania Woods Elementary School, both on and off the property. Carraway had worked there as an aide and then a volunteer until his arrest.

Carraway, who is being held in jail without bond, had been accused of filming more than 60 sexually explicit videos of minors. Police say many were taken at the school when it was in session.

Police were notified after a father discovered pornographic images on his son's phone.

Carraway pleaded not guilty in March to federal child pornography charges.

Attempts to reach his lawyer listed on court documents were unsuccessful.

The Prince George's County school board is facing a class-action lawsuit over the allegations involving Carraway.

(Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Democratic members of Maryland's congressional delegation gather in an attempt to maintain pressure on the issue of gun safety legislation. Maryland gun-safety advocates met in Baltimore to support tougher laws connected to gun violence, setting up what could be an interesting debate next week on Capitol Hill. After last week's sit-in on the House floor, many of Maryland's Democratic members of Congress, along with gun violence prevention advocates and victims of gun violence, made an attempt to keep up the pressure on the issue, addressing a crowd in north Baltimore.
Imagine the struggle of being a fashion designer and maintaining an international brand miles away from most fashion capitals of the world. Now, add in an active role in the military and you have a sneak peek into what Julian Woodhouse's days look like.

Woodhouse, 26, is an openly gay man and executive officer in the U.S. military, residing in South Korea with his husband. On July 11, he will be will be showing his fourth collection under his brand's name "Wood House" at New York Men's Day as a part of New York Fashion Week: Men's.

"If I had a camera on my busiest days, it'd be hilarious," he said in an interview conducted during a rare break in his day. "I'll come to work in my uniform, have a casting at 12, meeting with my factory at 3, be on the phone with New York... It's kind of hectic, but it makes me feel like I am doing something."

A photo posted by Julian Woodhouse (@julian_woodhouse) on Jun 8, 2016 at 5:40pm PDT

Woodhouse's love of fashion started at 12 years old, all thanks to a pair of Gucci shoes. It wasn't long before he began looking up designers, memorizing collections and obsessing over the latest trends.

"I had looked at fashion as just clothing on your back, just clothes that you wore," he said. "I had no idea there was an entire industry." He started modeling, working as a stylist, sketching, drawing and dreaming up his own collection. But even so, this was just that  a dream and nothing more.

A photo posted by Julian Woodhouse (@julian_woodhouse) on Feb 12, 2016 at 6:41pm PST

Woodhouse's journey from soldier to stylist/model to designer wasn't an easy one. "I grew up in the military, I was an Army brat," he said. "I thought [joining] was going to be something I automatically did."

Besides growing up in a military family, he believed that becoming a solider and joining the Reserve Officers' Training Corps program at the University of Minnesota was an easy way to hide his sexuality  which at the time, he wanted to change.

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Woodhouse

"Joining the military kind of went hand in hand with coming out of the closet," Woodhouse said. "I didn't want to be gay at the time and I thought that fashion was connected to that in some way. I thought that by divorcing myself from fashion, I would also divorce myself from my sexuality."

But his desire to create was too strong and this thought didn't last very long. "I wanted to find a way to do army and fashion at the same time," he said.

When Woodhouse moved to Korea in 2013, he didn't know if he could fit into any fashion industry, let alone a foreign one. He worked as a stylist and model before meeting his first business partner who simply said, "let's do a brand."

"I am inspired by the experience of men in a social way," Woodhouse said. "I have a vision for menswear and more so, I have a vision for what I wish I had more access to as a consumer. Whenever I go shopping, I will go to the men's section and just stare and then I end up going to women's section and buy something that can be androgynous and wear it like a guy."

FW16 NYFW

While women have vast options depending on their body shapes, shoulder shapes, waistlines, menswear is often more prototypical because of the lesser demand. "I realized that men do not have such a multifaceted offering of clothing that they can consume," Woodhouse said. "My brand is based off of that... [it's for a] guy that is confident, sure of himself, wearing something that reflects how he feels inside. When he walks into a party he's feel like he's arrived. I've always wanted to feel that way when I was growing up."

Remember, this was all while he had a full-time job within the military, and so, many of the pieces are uniform-inspired.

"I think subconsciously definitely inspired by the military," Woodhouse said. "I like how the uniforms fit. I like the way that a gentlemen would look in a uniform. There's a heir of regalness, importance, confidence. I'm not necessarily inspired by the shapes, more by the affects it has and I've tied that to my collection."

FW15, SS16

Woodhouse showed his first Wood House collection, one made up of dark, androgynous but still masculine pieces, during Seoul Fashion Week in March 2015. He debuted his third collection in New York City at NYFW: Men's on Feb. 2.

"I began dressing myself in more color, which prompted me to start designing with more color," he said. "By my third collection, I had found a happy place within myself." He mixed the silhouettes, shapes and cuts from the first season with the colors he used for the second.

NYFW: Men's FW16

NYFW: Men's FW16

NYFW: Men's FW16

Woodhouse hopes to someday open up a center where people can go and create without having to spend any money. "I didn't think that an Army guy who has my back story could accomplish this, especially executing it from another country," he said.

As for what he would tell others? "You are the person that sets your mission. In the military, if you got to go do some military task, whether tactical or administrative, having it not happen is never an answer," Woodhouse said. "If you look at you end goal as that mission, and say 'It's not an option for this not to happen. I will be a fashion designer showing at NYFW, I just need to figure out how to do it.'"

I didn't think that an Army guy who has my back story could accomplish this, especially executing it from another country.

Within the next few years, Woodhouse has plans to move to either New York or Shanghai with his husband where he will continue to create.

"I want to have a brand that actually has made some sort of change in the industry," he said. "I just want to have reached a point where I can inspire large groups of people. Not only in a way that I am changing menswear, that I'm cultivating some sort of dedication to creativity and pushing that forward."
The men of Metallica in the Brioni campaign. (Photo: @brioni_official/Instagram)



Metallica might be known for their heavy metal hair and grunge 80s outfits, but the bands just been tapped to star in its first luxury fashion campaign.



Justin OShea, the street style star and former MyTheresa global buying director, was recently hired as the creative director of Italian menswear brand Brioni and wanted to do something more rugged, masculine.

A photo posted by Brioni (@brioni_official) on Jun 29, 2016 at 4:51am PDT

Group members James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo, and Lars Ulrich appear in two different images, one in black suits and another in white. The resulting ads are obvious odes to Queens Bohemian Rhapsody album cover and lead up to Brionis next collection presentation, which will take place during Paris Couture Fashion Week, beginning July 4.



OShea also introduced a new logo with a bold Gothic font that hearkens to Kanyes Life of Pablo merch more than Brionis current branding. According to the company, its a new interpretation of the brands first logo that was used up until the 80s.

A photo posted by Brioni (@brioni_official) on Jun 28, 2016 at 10:04pm PDT

A new look isnt all that Brioni has in store. According to Business of Fashion, following Paris Couture Week, the Italian suiting label will host a show in New York, in November, in concert with a renovated store opening. This presentation will kick off a see-now, buy-now, two collections a year approach that a number of brands (like the popular label Vetements) are adopting.

With all the news, Brioni is definitely one to watch in the coming months. Reports are surfacing that Grace Wales Bonner, who recently won the LVMH Prize, will be supporting OShea in a design role. That move only heightens anticipation for the collections debut.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.


WASHINGTON -- The starting rotation of the New York Mets was a strength going into the 2016 season.

Now it is officially a concern following updates Tuesday on left-hander Steven Matz and right-hander Noah Syndergaard, who lasted just three innings on Monday in Washington against the Nationals.

"We have a less than perfect situation right now," Mets general manager Sandy Alderson admitted Tuesday, after announcing that Matz would not make his start as scheduled on Wednesday against the Nationals.

Logan Verrett (3-4, 4.14) will make the start Wednesday against Max Scherzer (8-5, 3.52) of the Nationals. Verrett has made 20 appearances this year, with four starts, while Scherzer threw a no-hitter at New York last October.

"Steven has a spur in the back of his elbow," Alderson said. "It is causing discomfort. There is no structural damage in his elbow. Continuing to pitch will not cause any structural damage. What we have decided to do for the moment is skip his start tomorrow and pitch him on Thursday. We will continue to monitor his situation. We will monitor the level of discomfort. We will monitor it on a start-by-star basis."

Alderson said at some point the Mets may consider going to a six-man rotation to help save wear and tear on Matz and the rest of the staff. But manager Terry Collins said Tuesday that is not going to happen in the immediate future.

Matz last pitched on Friday against the Atlanta Braves and last 4 1/3 innings and gave up six earned runs on nine hits. He did not figure in the decision as the Mets won 8-6.

Is he confident he can pitch through his elbow issues?

"I've been doing it up until this point," he told reporters Tuesday. "It's something that, as long as they feel comfortable with me being out there with the way I'm pitching, then I think I'm going to battle through it. That's the mindset- get it all behind me and just go out there and pitch."

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Is it difficult to deal with mentally?

"There's not much difficulty there just because the doctor is really confident that nothing structurally is wrong. So it's just a matter of going out there and pitching now," Matz added.

Alderson said if Matz had surgery he would be out about three months, which would put a return in October. Matz said he will deal with the spur coming out when the time comes.

The Long Island native said he has talked to veteran pitcher Bartolo Colon, whom Matz has talked to regarding his condition.

"Yeah, I was talking to Bartolo. He's had stuff like this taken out and he's pitched through it. I know some other guys I've talked to that have dealt with the same thing," Matz said. "I think that's one thing I talked about with Terry that we're going to just treat this like I'm cleared to go. We're going to put this behind me, we're going to keep it in mind, but we're going to try to keep the rotation in order. That's ultimately up to them, but that's my mindset too... If I'm good, then I'm good."

Alderson said Syndergaard has a very small spur in the back of his elbow. "There is no structural damage," said Alderson, who added the right-hander will take anti-inflammatory medicine.

The Nationals have right-hander Stephen Strasburg on the disabled list, but have ace Scherzer ready to pitch the series finale Wednesday against the Mets. Washington will seek a sweep after winning on Monday and Tuesday.
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Sure, the Obamas are Americas First Family, but theyre also undeniably our most fashionable. We all know Michele Obama can rock a primary colored cocktail dress like few other women in this great nation, but on their recent string of family vacations, weve also seen how much Sasha and Malia have grown up into full-blown style stars in their own right. And their latest journey to Morocco only underlines that point.

The Obamas arent just making headlines for their stellar style, however  theyre currently on a global tour for the First Ladys Let Girls Learn initiate. They kicked things off in Morocco for a sit-down summit (attended by Meryl Streep and Freida Pinto) with female students, and then followed that up with a meeting with Princess Lalla Salma, the wife of King Mohammed VI, on Tuesday evening, at a traditional iftar, a sumptuous meal held after sunset on Ramadan, at the Kings Palace in Marrakesh. Streep also joined them for the meal, but thankfully she was kind enough to leave her Donald Trump guise back in the States.

RELATED VIDEO: Raising Hopes Lucas Neff: Why Michelle Obama Is Not Just Her Arms



RELATED PHOTOS: Michelle Obamas Prints-Packed Tour of Asia: See Every Look!

The FLOTUS and her daughters ensembles were perfectly matched for the evening affair, with Michelle covering up her famous arms in a long-sleeve, floaty handkerchief-hem dress featuring an all-over white print intersected with contrasting black lines and buttons up the front. Likewise, her daughters also wore boldly printed ankle-length gowns, with Malia, 17, going for a bright paisley-printed dress with black piping and lace-up flats, while Sasha, 15, gave a slightly different twist on the look pairing her white and maroon printed gown with a matching belt, thin choker, and black strappy sandals.

Basically, if the timeless style of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the international diplomacy of Jimmy Carter could be synthesized into a piece of clothing, it would be these three dresses.

Which Moroccan-inspired look was your favorite? Sound off below!

Emily Kirkpatrick


DECATUR  The search for a new superintendent for Decatur schools will be postponed for at least 90 days.

On Tuesday, the board elected to wait the three months to allow co-interim superintendents Bobbi Williams and Michael Dugan to put into place the plans for the beginning of the new school year and get school under way. The board then would determine whether to search for an interim superintendent or begin the search process for a permanent replacement for Lisa Taylor, who took a job in the Heyworth School District.

There are a lot of things we want to get done, Dugan said. The beginning of the year is important to teachers. I don't think we could have done (this job) without each other.

Board member Dan Oakes said that the superintendent duties are a 24-hour-a-day job and that with Williams and Dugan also doing their own jobs as assistant superintendents, they were trying to fit 48 hours of work into 24. We don't want to burn you out, he said.

Other board members lauded the two for the efficiency with which they're performing their combined jobs, and member B.A. Buttz said he thought asking the Illinois Association of School Boards to provide a retired superintendent to act as interim would be a mistake. Retirees can only work 100 days a year, and that would mean the interim would only be available two or three days a week. In his opinion, he said, that would stall progress, and would bring in someone who doesn't know the district and its needs the way Williams and Dugan do.

The board is planning a retreat, probably in September, and will revisit the issue then.

In other business, Laura Anderson was named assistant principal for Hope Academy. The board also reinstated the adult education program, which had been suspended due to the lack of a state budget. The Macon-Piatt Regional Office of Education provided funding to keep the program going for six more months. The board also recalled Executive Director Rocki Wilkerson, who said she is working on grants and other alternative funding.

If the state approves a budget by the end of December, Williams said, the board can consider extending adult education and Wilkerson's contract.

The board also approved naming the practice gym at Eisenhower High School The Ida Brooks Gymnasium; the performing arts wing at Eisenhower The Kistler-Scott Center for the Performing Arts in honor of Shirley Kistler and Milton Scott, retired teachers; and the MacArthur High School Auditorium The Culbertson-Waller Performing Arts Center, in honor of retirees James Culbertson and Timothy Mark Waller.
By Laura Benitez

LONDON, June 29 (IFR) - Molson Coors will price a 800m eight-year bond at 110bp over mid-swaps, according to a lead bank.

The US brewer began marketing a benchmark trade at mid-swaps plus 145bp area earlier on Wednesday, and later set guidance for plus 115-120bp.

The transaction follows the company's US$5.3bn four-part bond, and two-part C$1bn transactions priced on Tuesday.

The bonds, will partly fund the purchase of SAB Miller's stake in MillerCoors and be the first euro transaction since the UK voted to leave the European Union last Thursday.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and UBS are joint bookrunners.

The deal is expected to price later today.

(Reporting By Laura Benitez, Editing by Helene Durand)
Mongolia's main opposition was set for a landslide win in national elections, official preliminary results showed Thursday, as voters rejected economic policies that have left the sprawling, sparsely populated country struggling.

Squeezed between Vladimir Putin's Russia and Communist China, Mongolia prides itself on its democracy, but voters expressed frustration with poor governance and a weakened economy in the face of slumping demand from its southern neighbour.

The contest largely came down to a choice between the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and opposition Mongolian People's Party (MPP), a holdover from the country's socialist past that has traditionally commanded a loyal following among older voters.

Hours after the 10 pm (1300 GMT) close of the polls, preliminary vote counts showed the MPP winning 63 out of the country's 76 provinces, with two areas yet to declare and full results to be announced Thursday morning.

The preliminary results, released by the Mongolian general election committee, are based on an electronic tally of all votes and are not confirmed until the ballots have been counted by hand.

At a press conference, MPP chairman Miyegombiin Enkhbold thanked the party's supporters.

"The people of Mongolia have just given great trust to the MPP," he said, adding that the party "understands that this trust is a huge responsibility."

Many voters saw little difference between the two parties, who ran on largely similar platforms, heavy on bromides about economic development but light on concrete proposals.

But the electorate still turned against the DP, delivering a stinging rebuke of its failed economic policies and sending down the party's candidates by huge margins -- in some cases by almost two votes to one.

Voters also soundly rejected independent candidates, with only one out of 69 candidates selected.

In a statement following the results, the leader of the DP said his party will respect the people's will, easing fears that the country might see a repeat of 2008 riots following accusations of vote tampering.

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 Voter anger 

Despite weak early turnout, participation levels ended at around 70 percent across the country, according to Mongolia's Eagle News.

The number wa a slight uptick from 2012 levels, bucking analysts' expectations that voting could hit an all-time low.

Turnout has declined each election cycle, a trend that experts attribute to increased scepticism of the country's political class.

According to pre-election polling by the International Republic Institute, over 60 percent of Mongolians felt the country was headed in the wrong direction.

"As the economic crises persist, there's considerable mistrust in the political system," Morris Rossabi, an expert on Mongolia at Columbia University, told AFP.

Voters were "facing increasing disillusionment with political parties," Rossabi added.

Mongolia's vast natural resources have drawn the attention of multinational mining giants, such as Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto, which has a multi-billion-dollar copper and gold project at Oyu Tolgoi in the southeast.

But political disputes over the role of foreign investment and slowing growth in Mongolia's largest trading partner China have stymied development.

In the run up to the election, many voters expressed anger at the DP's inability to live up to its promises to turn Mongolia into a prosperous nation when it took power following the last election in 2012.

After the DP came to power, the country's world-leading growth of 17.3 percent in 2011 quickly fell, dropping to an anemic 2.3 percent last year.

Speaking earlier in the day, mother of three Shatariin Chahdal told AFP said that she had voted for an independent, but hoped that regardless of who won, the new government "would focus on creating new jobs rather than delivering cash handouts."
Mandalgovi (Mongolia) (AFP) - Mongolians went to the polls across their sprawling, sparsely-populated country Wednesday as it struggles to benefit from its vast natural resources amid disputes over foreign investment and slumping demand from neighbouring China.

Squeezed between Vladimir Putin's Russia and Communist China, Mongolia prides itself on its democracy, but voters expressed frustration with the country's poor governance and weakened economy.

Many said they feared a repeat of 2008 riots that followed claims of election tampering.

The contest largely comes down to a choice between the ruling Democratic Party and the opposition Mongolian People's Party.

Both their campaigns have been heavy on bromides about economic development but light on concrete proposals for tackling voter concerns, including improving the country's educational and health care systems.

In Mandalgovi, capital of the province of South Gobi, mother of three Shatariin Chahdal told AFP: "I voted for an independent candidate, who is young and wise.

"I want the new government to focus on creating new jobs rather than delivering cash handouts."

Across the country -- more than twice the size of France, but with a population of only three million -- trucks with mobile ballot boxes crisscrossed the vast steppe to enable the sick and elderly to vote, while herders and others streamed to polling stations in set up in gers,traditional Mongolian tents.

But while enormous efforts have been made to ensure participation in even the most isolated areas, enthusiasm for voting has waned in the 26 years since the young democracy threw off the yoke of Soviet influence.

Turnout has declined each election cycle, a trend that experts attribute to increased scepticism in the country's political class.

"As the economic crises persist, there's considerable mistrust in the political system," Morris Rossabi, an expert on Mongolia at Columbia University, told AFP, adding that voters were "facing increasing disillusionment with political parties".

Story continues

Mongolia's vast natural resources have drawn the attention of multinational mining giants, such as Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto, which has a multi-billion-dollar copper and gold project at Oyu Tolgoi.

But political disputes over the role of foreign investment -- and at what price -- have stymied development, while slowing growth in China, by far Mongolia's biggest trade partner, has sent commodity prices collapsing.

China's economy grew 6.9 percent last year, the worst since 2009, meaning less demand for the raw materials, such as coal, that Mongolia supplies.

For its part Mongolia enjoyed world-leading growth of 17.3 percent in 2011, but that slumped to 2.3 percent last year.

One third of voters had gone to the polls by noon on Wednesday, the election commission said.

Ashleigh Whelan, country director for the International Republican Institute (IRI), which has observers all over the country, said turnout had been high in the countryside but disappointingly low in Ulan Bator.

- 'Such a mess' -

Ganbaatareen Jargal, 25, is a trained mining engineer but has to work on building sites instead due to the government's failure to expand the resource sector, he said as he watched a campaign rally Saturday in a slum district on the fringes of Ulan Bator.

Politicians "have to fulfil all their promises", he said. "There are so many things to demand."

In May, just weeks before the election, a court ruling also changed the electoral system from a partly proportional setup to first-past-the-post in each constituency, severely limiting the chances of any parties other than the main two securing a significant presence in the 76-seat State Great Hural.

The change raised allegations of a backroom power sharing agreement between them.

According to polling by the IRI, over 60 percent of Mongolians feel that the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Respondents said they would vote for the party that could best deliver economic development and jobs.

But some voters are simply resigned to keep the status quo.

"I'm going to vote for the Democratic Party," said Jargal, the engineer turned construction worker.

"If another party wins, they have to finish the job that the DP started... they're going to waste four years, complaining that we had to restart everything because the DP made such a mess."
ULAANBAATAR (Reuters) - The main opposition Mongolian People's Party (MPP) appears to have swept back to power in parliamentary elections, Mongolian media said early on Thursday, after campaigning dominated by concern over slowing economic growth. The transformation of the former Soviet bloc state since a peaceful revolution in 1990 has been a big draw for foreign investors eyeing its rich mineral resources, unleashing a boom from 2010 to 2012. But an abrupt economic slowdown since 2012 has stirred controversy over the role of global mining firms such as Rio Tinto, which last month finally approved a $5.3-billion extension plan for the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine. The MPP, which last ruled from 2008 to 2012, is likely to have won most seats in the 76-member parliament, taking back power from the Democratic Party, leading Mongolian news websites news.mn and Ikon reported. The government was expected to formally announce the final results of Wednesday's vote later on Thursday morning. Stability during the MPP's rule helped lure investors to Mongolia, a vast country with just three million people that was nicknamed "Mine-golia" in the boom years. But it has since struggled to adapt to giant neighbor China's reduced appetite for coal and copper, which has hit commodities prices. The IMF forecasts economic growth of 0.4 percent this year, compared with 17.5 percent in 2011, the year before the Democratic Party took power. Since 2012, Mongolia has borrowed billions of dollars in sovereign debt. In March, rating agency Moody's gave it a negative outlook, citing the rising debt burden, a projected widening of budgetary imbalances and mining revenue shortfalls. The MPP, which has held power most years since 1990, has criticized the Democrats' economic management and the borrowing spree, promising to reassess spending and tighten fiscal management. (Reporting by Terrence Edwards; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Andrew Roche)
New York (AFP) - Monsanto said Wednesday it was still open to a potential merger with Bayer, or to another big deal, as it reported lower earnings due to a tough agricultural market.

One month after the US seed and pesticide maker rejected a $62 billion takeover bid by Germany's Bayer AG as too low, Monsanto chief executive Hugh Grant said he had held talks with Bayer and with other unspecified companies.

"While there is no formal update on the Bayer proposal, I have been personally in discussions with Bayer's management over the last several weeks, along with others regarding alternative strategic options," Grant said in a statement announcing the company's latest quarterly earnings.

"We continue to recognize the potential value these types of combinations can create as they accelerate innovation and increase choice for farmers across a broader set of crops, geographies and production practices, while improving the sustainability of agriculture around the world," he said.

The Bayer-Monsanto dance comes in the wake of announced proposed megamergers involving US companies DuPont and Dow Chemical and Swiss company Syngenta and ChemChina as low crop prices depress demand for many agricultural products.

The deals have sparked worries among farmers who fear that consolidation will lead to higher prices for seeds. Some analysts have said a Bayer-Monsanto tie-up could face tough scrutiny from antitrust regulators.

Monsanto reported Wednesday a 37.2 percent drop in fiscal third-quarter earnings to $717 million after sales tumbled 8.5 percent to $4.2 billion. Key factors included the pricing declines in herbicide glyphosate, known by its brand name Roundup.

"Our industry is running at a low point in the overall agriculture cycle and we've experienced an unforeseen level of challenges affecting our business in fiscal year 2016," Grant said.

"Today, however, we anticipate positive resolution on the horizon for several of these challenges, coupled with early signs of recovery in agriculture."

Shares of Monsanto rose 1.5 percent to $102.65 in late-morning trade.
Although best known for his offbeat documentaries, the American filmmaker has chosen the story of Sue Mengers -- the famous Hollywood agent to stars of the big screen -- as the subject of his first fictional feature film.

After arriving in the US from Germany aged five, this American superagent was almost as well known as the stars she represented in the 1960s and 1970s. Her clients included Sydney Lumet, Brian de Palma, Cher, Steve McQueen, Burt Reynolds, Gene Hackman, Nick Nolte, Faye Dunaway and Barbra Streisand, who became a close friend.

Sue Mengers was above all known for her straight-talking honesty and outspoken nature. This was a groundbreaking style for the time that won over a host of actors and broke Sue Mengers into the selective and male-dominated world of 1960s and 1970s Hollywood. Far from flattering egos, this New Yorker, who grew up in the Bronx, was a brash and brutally honest agent with a taste for cigarettes, cannabis and junk food. She saw no moral quandary in using sex to further her career and would even encourage her clients to do the same.

A first fictional movie for Morgan Spurlock

It's this strong character and unusual destiny that appealed to Morgan Spurlock as the perfect subject matter for his first ever fictional movie. The life and career of Sue Mengers, who died in 2011 aged 79, has all the elements of a hit biopic. Behind this Hollywood success story was a woman who was very alone, and who didn't manage to keep pace with the 1980s and its new wave of talent led by the likes of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

Morgan Spurlock is best known for making documentaries with social or political dimensions. The American director's 2004 documentary "Super Size Me" explored the health effects of fast food, for example, by following him during a 30-day period of eating only McDonald's food. Three years later he went in search of the former Al-Qaeda leader in "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden." Then, in 2011, he focused on product placement in the film industry with "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold."

Morgan Spurlock now hopes to finish the screenplay for his upcoming biopic this autumn and to start filming as soon as possible. All that remains now is to find a suitable actress to step into the role of Sue Mengers, previously played in the theater in 2013 by Bette Midler in John Logan's play "I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers."
It didnt take long for Morgan Stanley's (NYSE:MS) conditional approval from the Federal Reserve to throw investors a bone. Minutes after the Federal Reserve cleared 31 banks to return capital to shareholders the firm announced plans to repurchase up to $3.5 billion of outstanding common stock for the four quarters beginning in the third quarter of 2016 through the end of the second quarter of 2017.

The firm will also increase the quarterly common stock dividend to $0.20 per share from the current $0.15 per share, beginning with the common stock dividend expected to be declared for the third quarter of 2016.

James Gorman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley, said, "We are very pleased to be able to increase our capital return to shareholders for the fourth consecutive year. Returning additional capital to our shareholders is a key element of our strategic plan. In addition, we are committed to addressing the Fed`s concerns about our capital planning process and fully expect to meet their requirements within the established timeframe."

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) also announced plans to increase its quarterly common stock dividend by 50 percent to $0.075 per share. In a press release, the CEO Brian Moynihan said Over the last few years, we have significantly strengthened our company and increased our earnings as we execute a straightforward strategy focused on responsible growth. This improvement has allowed us to take a significant step toward returning more capital to shareholders.

Related Articles
By Alan Baldwin SPIELBERG, Austria, June 29 (Reuters) - Spanish driver Carlos Sainz will continue to race for Toro Rosso next season, the Red Bull-owned Formula One team said on Wednesday. The Italy-based team said on their website (www.scuderiatororosso.com) that Red Bull had taken up the option on the Spaniard's contract ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix. "We are very happy that Carlos continues with us, because he has shown a very good performance since he is with Scuderia Toro Rosso and I am convinced that he will be very competitive and strong in 2017 as well," team principal Franz Tost said. Sainz, whose father and namesake was a world rally champion, had been linked to a number of other teams on the paddock rumour mill. He joined Toro Rosso last year and has scored 18 points in eight races this season. Any hopes of moving up to the senior Red Bull Racing team in the immediate future appeared to have ended when 18-year-old Dutch driver Max Verstappen was promoted from Toro Rosso to partner Australian Daniel Ricciardo. Both Verstappen, who won on his debut for Red Bull in Spain in May, and Ricciardo have contracts to the end of the 2018 season. Red Bull principal Christian Horner told reporters that he expected Russian Daniil Kvyat, demoted to make way for Verstappen, to stay at Toro Rosso next year. "I think Dany Kvyat is continuing his development, he is finding his feet now and there isn't an obvious candidate knocking on the door at the moment that would warrant that seat," he said. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)
Enough.

Thats our message today to Gov. Bruce Rauner, House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton and every member of the Illinois General Assembly.

The state needs a budget. Now. The state needs your leadership over partisanship, beginning today when you return to the state capital for the first time in a month.

This is a huge crisis and it will not be totally solved today, this week or perhaps even this year. However, the road to a solution has to begin today.

This issue is so important that weve taken the unusual step of placing this editorial on our front page.

Newspapers across Illinois are doing the same thing, trying to send a message to our leaders about the urgency of this issue.

We dont need to remind anyone about the impact of the states financial mess. The state is in financial chaos. Universities and colleges, which should be a well of economic development, have been starved. Social service agencies have been denied money to serve 1 million residents who rely heavily on the state for help. Companies that do business with the state have had to go months without being paid. Its possible that construction projects will be shut down soon, putting 25,000 workers out of jobs. The toll on the overall economy hasnt been measured, but its significant.

Tomorrow, Illinois will become the first state since the Depression era to go a full year without a budget. There is no budget in place for the new fiscal year, either.

The response to this crisis from our leaders has been political posturing. Rauner has insisted on his Turnaround Agenda in exchange for tax increases. Madigan and Cullerton have appeared to be more interested in thwarting the governor than solving a crisis that they helped create.

Moving ahead without a budget would make a terrible situation more precarious. Education was spared in the current years budget, but that isnt the case beginning Friday. Most schools say they will be able to open in the fall, but arent sure how long they can stay open. The lack of a budget will continue to harm institutions of higher education, social services and other services offered by the state.

Its expected that the General Assembly will be offered a "stopgap" budget today. This budget is meant to get our politicians through the Nov. 8 election. Another example of putting politics ahead of people.

Thats disappointing, but if its the best the General Assembly can do, its better than nothing. However, no one should be fooled into thinking such a budget is a victory. At best, its a bandage for a broken bone.

The state has to start somewhere. Our political leaders need to find a way to begin addressing the issues facing the state. The first of those is a budget, followed closely by workers compensation reform, returning more financial control to local governments, easing the burden on property tax payers, reforming the way political maps are drawn, keeping the jobs at the Clinton nuclear plant and reforming the pension system to lessen the burden on taxpayers.

Weve seen the political gamesmanship and partisanship that has gotten us to this point. Illinois taxpayers are no longer interested in winners and losers of the political game. We want solutions.

We've had enough.
June 29 (Reuters) - The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Wednesday. To inform us of other job changes, email moves@thomsonreuters.com.

DEUTSCHE BANK AG

The investment bank's wealth management unit named Sam Petrucci head of wealth planning for the Americas.

BRINKER CAPITAL

The independent investment management firm said Jason Moore, a former Morgan Stanley managing director, has joined as chief administrative officer.

OLD MUTUAL PLC

The UK-based holding company's wealth management unit named Mark Nash head of global bonds to bolster its fixed income team.

STANDARD CHARTERED BANK

Patrick Dupont-Liot has joined Standard Chartered Bank as executive director in the European DCM corporates team.

(Compiled by Nikhil Subba in Bengaluru)
By Shuriah Niazi BHOPAL, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Imrat Namdev and her younger sister Pushpa Namdev were neighbors in Chhatarpur district, in the drought-hit Indian region of Bundelkhand. Both relied on the same well for water and, according to police, frequently quarreled over how much the other was using. In May, during one fight over water, Pushpa, 42, beat Imrat, 48, with a stick, police say. The injured sister was rushed to a hospital, but died there, and Pushpa was charged with murder. "Our village faces a severe shortage of potable water," Imrat's son, Jitendra, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Pushpa always felt my mother drew more water from the well." As northern and central India continue to suffer thorough severe drought and oppressive heat, police in Bundelkhand and several other regions are reporting a rise in violent  and often deadly  clashes over water. After almost 10 years of below-average rainfall and several consecutive years of drought, the regions rivers, lakes, reservoirs and wells are drying up. Disputes are a common problem in many places in India that face water shortages. But Indian police report that the fighting is getting more frequent and bloody. In many parts of the country, neighbors, friends and family are turning on each other, desperate to protect what little water they have left, police records suggest. Last month, in the tribal-dominated Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh, 13-year-old Surmada, her brother and her uncle used a neighbor's hand-pump, without permission, to get water for the family's houseguests. According to police, the owner of the pump and his son attacked the group with arrows. One pierced Surmada's eye, killing her. And in the village of Kanker, in Shivpuri district, a large-scale argument broke out after two motorcyclists got into an accident, causing one to spill the 15-litre (4 gallon) container of water he was carrying. "The two later called their family members and friends and attacked each other with spears, axes and sticks," said investigating officer Jaisingh Yadav of Sathanwada police station. Fifteen people were injured, five of them women, he said. Lal Singh Arya, Madhya Pradeshs urban administration and development minister, said the government is using all its resources to try to make sure everyone has water. But he predicted tensions will remain high until monsoon rains  which began recently in some areas  take hold. There have been disputes over water in many parts of the state because of two consecutive droughts," he said. "The situation will improve with the monsoon rains." ONLY DRINKING WATER Activists say the governments failure to act to better manage water is partly to blame for the rise in violence. "The present crisis is the fallout of over-consumption, wasteful use and inefficient water governance systems," said Ajay Dubey, an activist with the environmental non-governmental organization Prayatna, based in Madhya Pradesh. "People are going to any lengths for the sake of water. They've lost hope that the situation will ever improve. Things were never so bad," Dubey said. According to the Madhya Pradesh water resource department, out of the state's 139 main reservoirs, 82 are at only 10 percent capacity and 22 are empty. As authorities try to make the remaining water last until monsoon rains help refill the reservoirs, the measures they have implemented have only exacerbated the sense of desperation. Across much of the region, authorities have banned the use of water for washing cars or trucks, bathing cattle or irrigating crops. In most cities in Madhya Pradesh, the local government only supplies drinking water on one out of every two to seven days. The district administration of Sehore in Madhya Pradesh has temporarily taken charge of all water sources, whether government or privately owned, so that it can manage use of the dwindling resource. And in three towns in Madhya Pradesh, the use of water for anything other than drinking is banned. Lokesh Kumar, sub-divisional magistrate of Ichhawar town, said water can't be used for farming or industrial purposes until July 5, when the monsoon is underway and authorities hope water sources will be replenished. For many in rural India, the struggle to survive with very little water is proving too difficult. In areas like Bundelkhand, a growing number of people are leaving their homes and abandoning their work in hopes of finding water  even just a little more  somewhere else. Asandi Das, who lives in a village in Chhatarpur district, plans to take his family to Agra, where the famous Taj Mahal is located, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. He said that right now his family has neither food nor water. He knows it won't be easy even in Agra  or anywhere else  but hopes to get enough work to make ends meet. "We'll not be able to survive in our village," Das said. "There's just no water. We'll have to go to some other place if we want to live." (Reporting by Shuriah Niazi; editing by Jumana Farouky and Laurie Goering :; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate)
Two Muslim girls naturalization requests were denied by Swiss authorities after they refused to participate in school swimming lessons with boys.

The 12- and 14-year-old girls, who live in Basel and have not been named, say their religion forbids them from the activity. Since the lessons were a part of school curriculum, officials saw them in violation of requirements for citizenship. Whoever doesnt fulfill these conditions violates the law and therefore cannot be naturalized, the president of the naturalization committee told a TV station, USA Today reports.

Swiss rules privilege assimilation, and its not uncommon for citizenship to be denied for a lack of integration. One family from Kosovo was denied citizenship for wearing sweatpants around town and failing to greet their neighbors. Another familys application was suspended when two boys refused to shake hands with their female teachers, a common practice in Swiss schools.

[USA Today]
By Timothy Mclaughlin and Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), should amend and abolish laws that threaten freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Wednesday. Laws covering areas from telecommunications to defamation have been used to arrest at least 70 people this month, said the report's author, Linda Lakhdhir. The arrests come despite reforms by former President Thein Sein and the NLD, which won the November election in a landslide, giving it control of both houses of parliament and installing Suu Kyi as the country's de facto leader. "We think there has been a mixed bag of achievements on behalf of the new government," said David Mathieson, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, referring to the NLD's efforts to ease laws restricting freedom of speech. While the NLD deserved credit for freeing many political prisoners, the "legal architecture of repression" that put them behind bars remained largely in place, Mathieson added. The NLD, made up of many former activists and dissidents, has scrapped some restrictive laws and proposed changes to others, such as the Peaceful Assembly Law, which allows for protests that were barred under the junta, but still imposes limits, and is used to arrest and jail many demonstrators. The NLD's proposed changes to the law are an improvement, Human Rights Watch has said, but they do not go far enough. The draft bill, being discussed in parliament, would punish protesters for spreading "wrong" information and make it an offense for them to swerve from slogans registered in advance with the authorities. Also troubling, the report said, was a broadly worded clause of the Telecommunications Law that prohibits use of the telecoms network to, "extort, threaten, obstruct, defame, disturb, inappropriately influence or intimidate". Arrests of social media users whose posts are deemed distasteful have continued under Suu Kyi's government. "While some of these posts may be considered offensive by some, being offensive is not a crime," said Lakhdhir. Enacting change in Myanmar is not a simple task. Under the country's semi-civilian government, the military controls 25 percent of the seats in parliament and three ministries, including home affairs, which oversees the police. Sensitivities over the portrayal of the army as the country deals with the legacy of 49 years of harsh military rule have been exposed in recent weeks. 7Day News Journal, a popular newspaper, was sued by a member of the military last week for a story that carried comments from Shwe Mann, a top member of the former junta who is now a close confidant of Suu Kyi and has been ousted from the military-backed party. The charges, leveled against the editor-in-chief and a reporter, claimed that his comments could aid in a mutiny and carried a sentence of 10 years imprisonment but were dropped late Wednesday, according to staff member who asked not to be name. 7Day published a lengthy apology on Tuesday expressing "deep regret" to the armed forces, saying that it did not intend to "incite disloyalty" of the armed forces. The publication said that it would carefully edit future stories that dealt with the armed forces. "The military maintains an air of menace," Mathieson said. "They are ultra sensitive about how they are perceived in the community and willing to threaten and sue people." (Editing by Nick Macfie)
North Korea was to convene a session of its legislative assembly on Wednesday, with observers looking for more details to emerge of a new economic plan announced at a rare party congress in May.

The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) meets only once or twice a year, mostly for day-long sessions to rubber-stamp budgets or other decisions made by the leadership.

No schedule or subject agenda was provided in advance of Wednesday's session, which was announced three weeks ago but has since gone virtually unmentioned in the state media.

The SPA usually meets in April but was postponed this year amid fevered preparations for what was the first full meeting of the ruling party congress for nearly four decades.

The congress saw leader Kim Jong-Un unveil a five-year economic plan, the first such document to come out of the North Korean leadership for decades.

While full of rhetorical ambition about boosting production, the plan was short on any detail, and there are hopes that the SPA session might shed more light on what policy changes -- if any -- are in the pipeline.

"This SPA session is really a follow-up," said an official with South Korea's Unification Ministry.

"It is expected to follow through with decisions made at the congress, approve personnel and organisational changes and underscore Kim's one-man rule," the official said.

At the beginning of this month, Pyongyang kicked of a "200-day battle" -- a mass mobilisation campaign aimed at boosting productivity to jump-start the new economic plan.

North Koreans are used to such mandatory campaigns, with participation rigorously monitored and used as a measurement of loyalty to the regime.

"Kim Jong-Un has made all the necessary legal and institutional preparations for prolonging his power, but he still needs to impress the people with tangible economic progress," said Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean studies in Seoul.

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The May congress also saw Kim walk off with the new post of party "chairman" and some analysts have suggested the SPA might see another title conferred on the 33-year-old to underline his status as supreme leader.

The SPA could approve a structural re-organisation of the powerful National Defence Commission, appointing Kim head of a new state organ to oversee the NDC's operations.

Wednesday's assembly comes with North Korea again under fire at the United Nations -- this time over its recent testing of a powerful new intermediate-range ballistic missile.

Last week, the UN Security Council denounced the tests and called for the redoubled enforcement of sanctions imposed after Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test earlier this year.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2016 / NetCents Technology Inc. (CSE: NC) ("NetCents" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the launch of its newly designed corporate website. Visit us at www.netcents.biz.

NetCents continues to capture the migration from cash to digital currency through our easy to use payment solutions. Designed with our users in mind, the new website reflects our platform with its streamlined layout and an easy to-navigate interface that is engaging and informative. The Company's improved site contains a number of additions, including integral information that highlight the evolution of the company, as well as Services; companies that NetCents proudly partners with, such as PayPal, Visa, and Apple Pay; a new Blog; and a Products section that showcases our Payments, Payment Gateway, Blockchain/Smart Contracts, Risk Management, and Financial Partners.

"With the rapid growth and evolution of NetCents, it was imperative to design a new website in order to better streamline the user experience as well as illustrate the opportunities that NetCents provides," commented Clayton Moore, CEO and Founder of NetCents. "A number of new features have been added to our site, as shown in our Enterprise Solutions section, which highlight our intelligent applications of blockchain and distributed ledger-based protocols. We believe that expanding our solutions to the global commercial market is vital for the Company to reach its vision of being an international payment leader. This is a natural evolution to continue pioneering the future of payment technologies. We encourage our followers to visit the website and register for their NetCents account today."

About NetCents

NetCents is an online payments platform, offering consumers and merchants online services for managing electronic payments. The Company is focused on capturing the migration from cash to digital currency by utilizing innovative Blockchain Technology to provide payment solutions that are simple to use, secure and worry free. NetCents works with its financial partners, mobile operators, exchanges, etc., to streamline the user experience of transacting online. NetCents technology is integrated into the Automated Clearing House ("ACH"), which ensures our consumer's security and privacy. This newly designed website will enhance the users online experience, granting them the freedom and convenience to Pay. Your Way.

Further information about the Company is available under its profile on the SEDAR website, www.sedar.com, on the CSE website www.thecse.com, on our website www.netcents.biz or contact Robert Meister, Capital Markets at Ph: 604.676.5248 or email: Robert.meister@net-cents.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

NetCents Technology Inc.

Clayton Moore, Founder/CEO



NetCents Technology Inc.

Suite 1500, 885 West Georgia Street

Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3E8

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions, market prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

SOURCE: NetCents Technology Inc.
An artists self-portrait: stuffy, vain, easy on the eye. Right? Not for Lu Yang, a scrappy 31-year-old new-media artist based in China. In a computer rendering of herself, Lu is naked and genderless, with electrodes jabbing at her brain like a lab rat. Then comes her callous death, her convulsing body slowly sliding into the charred furnace of a gaping MRI machine.

Lu Yang is no stranger to stirring up strife with her provocative videos and unsettling animations. Revived Zombie Frogs Underwater Ballet is exactly what it sounds like  Lu Yang sends electric shocks to dissected frogs to make them dance as they hover in water. Her latest pieces include both a massive floating kite of her head and an animation of her charred corpse flailing about in flames. And for good measure, Uterus Man rides a zooming pelvis chariot and flies like Iron Man by shooting blood out of his vagina  not just weird, but explicitly taboo. Clearly, Lu Yang doesnt do hoity-toity. Instead, she dabbles and dives into thorny themes from biology, neurology and religion, some stuff that, she says, is too hard-core for China. As an artist, Lu isnt just messing around with medium and form; shes engaging in a struggle against a kind of cultural straightjacket in China that discourages people from openly and honestly broaching these topics.

Lu yang by ka 5a s

Lu Yang in the flesh.

Source: Ka XiaoXi



Death and doom aside, Lu Yang is alive and well as she escorts me up to the tenth floor of her dingy apartment building in Beijing. Her art studio is filled to the brim with the canvas of her choice  four massive computer monitors  and she greets me in plaid pajamas and pink slippers, carrying none of the frill from her formal training at the China Academy of Art. But dont let the nonchalance fool you: She just woke up after an all-night binge of editing on Adobe Illustrator, BodyPaint 3D and Maya. Lu Yang has gained acclaim through several solo exhibitions worldwide and earned the respect of celebrity Chinese artists like Yao Dajuin and Wang Changcun. Back in school, she honed her artistic chops under the tutelage of Zhang Peili, the father of video art in China, and just last year, Lu Yang attended the famed Venice Art Biennale. Shes without a doubt one of the bright lights, says Martin Kemble, founder of Art Labor, a contemporary arts gallery in Shanghai.

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If Lu Yangs work had to be classified, it would go under WTF. The art scene has come a long way in China. During the Cultural Revolution, talented artists were suppressed and banished to the countryside throughout the 60s and 70s. Some continued painting or drawing, but only at the governments behest to disseminate propaganda or mobilize political opinion, much like artists and musicians in Nazi Germany. Fast forward to the present, the communist country still imprisons a handful of dissident artists or shuts down their art exhibitions  Ai Weiwei, Chinas most renowned visual artist, languished in prison for nearly three months and under house arrest for four more years. So, how did such an out-there artist like Lu Yang manage to dodge the ire of Chinas iron fist? Well, her answer is simple: Im totally uninterested in politics, she says matter-of-factly. By staying away from politics, she avoids the treacherous path of imprisonment and condemnation that China has imposed on renegade artists like Ai Weiwei.

Fbcrop

Lu Yangs self-portrait is all doom and gloom.

Source: Courtesy of Lu Yang

Lu Yang deeply explores the meaning of life as well as questions its very existence, says Wang Wan, with the Beijing Commune, the gallery that represents Lu Yang. But Lu Yang never broaches the legitimacy of the ruling communist party, unlike other contemporary artists. She pays little heed to her own Chinese identity and often borrows from Japanese anime, western horror films and science fiction as her main muses, rather than drawing from her local experiences of growing up in Shanghai. Im not a Chinese artist, just an artist who happens to be from China, she says. Moreover, with a national five-year plan to erect more museums and nurture a burgeoning arts scene underway, her unconventional flair is probably not what Chinas stuffy art elite had in mind. She doesnt even like museums, because I dont understand a lot of the works, she says, without pretense.

But Im afraid of her. Every artist has their critics, but Lu doesnt shy away from the controversy  she thrives on it, and it consumes her. When I leave her studio, she disappears behind her four huge monitors, embracing the darkness. While her art is an arresting sight, some still question the depth of her work. Shes grappling with meaty topics  the ethics of torture, gender fluidity, life and death  in which she is self-taught with scant formal education. Intellectually, it all needs to be explored on a deeper level, says Kemble, from Art Labor: Shes just surfing the net grabbing things and repackaging them for mass consumption. But Lu Yang says she put in the time  going in and out of hospital emergency rooms for asthma attacks as a child and becoming hooked on the philosophy of medicine ever since. Like a surgeon, she approaches her work with the same precision and cold objectivity. No one is willing to talk about these topics in China, but I am not afraid of them, she says.

This is the fourth story in an OZY special series on The Lady Bosses of China resisting communist rule. Video by Melanie Ruiz.

LuYang Delusional Mandala by LuYang from LuYang on Vimeo.

Lu Yang

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It reads like an espionage novel: Hell-bent on a deadly mission, she bribes an immigration official to slip out of the country under the radar. From there, she fakes a passport and gets on an international flight. And then another, at which point she vanishes. But not before a terrorist attack that devastates the City of Light.

This scenario, of course, is not fiction. Some time before terrorists slew their way through Paris, Seham Al Salkhadi bribed a group of immigration officials and members of the judiciary police in Colombia to the tune of $1,500 and boarded a flight to the French capital using a fake Israeli passport. From Paris, the Syrian woman boarded a flight to Stockholm and vanished. Authorities from Colombia and France are still trying to track Al Salkhadi down, uncertain as to what role, if any, she played in the attacks in Paris last November.

Certainly, the route to France from Syria via Colombia is convoluted, but it is not all that uncommon. In 2015, 28 Syrians were found to be in Colombia illegally and were quietly deported, according to information released in November by government authorities. Such numbers are too small to be really noticed among the 6,600 people the South American country deports every year. But Colombia, and other countries in Latin America, are now paying more attention to patterns and the flow of people that may have gone unnoticed in the past.

These pockets of radicalism are out there, and it is [imperative] to keep them monitored. Roman Ortiz, founder and director of Decisive Point

Most illegal migrants who make their way through the region are en route to the U.S., typically looking for whatever work they can find. Increasingly, however, Colombian authorities worry about people (including some with links to extremist groups) from Nepal, India, Pakistan or Syria using these flows to move through the region or make contact with sympathizers without attracting notice. More and more, there are concerns that terrorists, affiliated or not with the Islamic State, could move through Colombia, as well as places like Venezuela and Guatemala, ending up in Mexico and then crossing into the U.S., or head elsewhere in the world the way Al Salkhadi did  all with relative ease.

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ISIS dominates the fears of many, but amid blanket fears, not everyone recognizes that terrorist groups like it strategize territories in chillingly savvy ways. Islamic State is clearly trying to build structures in the United States, but clearly this has nothing to do with the Mexican border because they do not need it, Roman Ortiz, the founder and director of Decisive Point, a Colombian firm that works with governments and major corporations and provides national security and defense consulting services, told OZY. The Mexican border obviously is a door, but I dont think its the most important. There are indications that in some areas of Latin America, such as Trinidad and Tobago, there is a growth of Islamic radicalism, adds Ortiz. It is local people who have gone to Iraq and Syria to fight with ISIS  These pockets of radicalism are out there, and it is [imperative] to keep them monitored.

Unchecked migration could make the monitoring of radicalisms growth very difficult. Colombian authorities, which did not respond to requests for comment, say it can cost as much as $12,000 to reach the U.S. through Central and South America. In some cases, migrants might be involved in prostitution or drug smuggling to pay off the debt to the individuals or cartels that facilitate the migration. And links between these cartels and extremist groups are a cause for concern, particularly since they are not without precedent. In 2011, for example, the FBI uncovered a plot between the Los Zetas drug cartel in Mexico and extremists in Iran to kill Saudi diplomats. In another incident, U.S. authorities dismantled a Colombian-Lebanese money-laundering organization actively working for Hezbollah.

For now, the world is more focused on the refugee crisis in Europe. Its a good thing to be focused on, but theres a sobering downside: Very little attention is being paid to this particular route. That includes people of any stripe  from hardworking families in search of a better life to terrorists looking to move undetected into countries they may be targeting. This may be a dangerous mistake. There are countless migrants stranded across Latin America and the Caribbean. At this very moment, there are several thousands of Cubans looking to make their way to the U.S. who are stuck in one country or another as they flee the Castros regime, according to the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. Some 43,159 Cubans entered the U.S. in 2015, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data that Pew acquired after a request for records. That figure is up 78 percent from the 24,278 Cubans who entered the U.S. in fiscal year 2014. Figures from Migracion Colombia, that countrys immigration agency, show that 3,194 Cubans were caught in Colombia illegally during the first eight months of 2015.

And the numbers are still rising. According to Migracion Colombia, from January to May, 2016, about 6,000 illegal immigrants were detected by authorities in the South American country. More than 3,800 of them were located in the town of Turbo, the last checkpoint before the border with Panama. Today, more than 100 Cubans are stranded in a warehouse in Turbo waiting for a solution so they can continue their journey to the U.S. From the beginning, we have respected the rights and integrity of each of these migrants, Christian Kruger, head of Migracion Colombia, said in a press release. The release adds that Migracion Colombia and the national government do not provide transportation to any location other than the border where they entered Colombia or their place of origin, because otherwise we would be contributing to these criminal gangs.

Although this crisis is under the radar, not everyone has ignored it. I urge the countries of the region to redouble generously every effort to find a rapid solution to this humanitarian tragedy, said Pope Francis late last year as he called on Central American countries to assist migrants, especially those fleeing Cuba. Two days later, a group of governments in the region reached a deal to fly 8,000 Cuban migrants out of Costa Rica and into El Salvador, from where they could conceivably make their way to Mexico and the U.S.

The flow of people remains  and remains virtually unchecked.

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Nicolas Cage is back on the dating scene.



The actor and a mystery date were spotted at sushi hotspot Asanebo in Los Angeles on Friday. Cage wore a black suit and tie with a white button up, while his date opted for a colorful Japanese kimono.



Cage and the woman looked cozy together and were photographed kissing at their table.



A rep for the actor confirmed to PEOPLE on Friday that the Joe star and his wife of nearly 12 years, Alice Kim, had been separated since January.



The couple, who would have celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary in August, share one son, Kal-el Coppola Cage, 10.



Cage, 52, met Kim, 32, in February 2004 when she served him while working as a waitress in a Los Angeles restaurant. They were engaged two months later before tying the knot on a ranch in Northern California.



This is Cages third marriage: He was wed to Lisa Marie Presley for almost four months in 2002 before filing for divorce, and, prior to that, to Patricia Arquette for five years.



Cage also has a 25-year-old son, Weston, from a relationship with model Christina Fulton.
A broken window at Istanbuls Ataturk airport. Photo: Reuters/Osman Orsal

There have been no reports of Singaporeans injured or directly affected by Tuesday (29 June) nights Istanbul airport attack, said a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesman.

MFA has contacted most of the registered Singaporeans in Istanbul and verified that they are safe. The Singapore Embassy in Ankara is also in touch with the local Turkish authorities, and will continue to contact the remaining registered Singaporeans, added the spokesman.

At least 36 were killed and almost 150 people injured when three suicide bombers struck at Istanbuls Ataturk airport. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has said initial indications suggest the extremist Islamic State is behind the attack.

The MFA spokesman strongly condemns the attacks. We are saddened by the loss of many innocent lives and we stand in solidarity with the Turkish people and government during this difficult time. We also extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved families and hope that the injured will make a quick recovery, he said.

Singaporeans in Turkey are advised to exercise vigilance and follow the instructions of the Turkish authorities.

Those who are in Istanbul and require consular assistance should contact the Singapore Embassy in Ankara or the 24-hour MFA Duty Office at:

Embassy of the Republic of Singapore in Ankara

Tel: + 90 530 066 7311

Email: singemb_ank@mfa.sg



MFA Duty Office

Tel: +65 6379 8800 / 8855 (24-hour hotline)

Email: mfa_duty_officer@mfa.gov.sg
A Hamilton Family Center participant at a Mother's Day event

According to the common stereotype, San Francisco tech companies are full of white guys who grew up in the burbs, went to expensive colleges, and are here only for the high-paying jobs and bars with fancy beer.

Every few months, a new insensitive comment about homeless people goes viral on social media, leading to a new round of recriminations.

Like most stereotypes, it's largely bunk.

"I have met so many incredible passionate tech employees who have come and poured out so much love onto the families we serve," says Debbie Wilber, the director of development at the Hamilton Family Center, a nonprofit that aims to end family homelessness in San Francisco by 2020.

Hamilton is a proponent of "rehousing," which proposes that the best way to reduce homelessness is to put people in homes.

This may sound obvious, but it's actually a relatively recent trend in homeless policy. Until recently, the proposed solutions to homelessness were "paternalistic," in Wilber's view, arguing that people needed to be taught how to live in society before they could be granted a home.

"Most are homeless because of economics  they might have been poor, but some sort of crisis pushed them over," Wilber says. Such crises include the loss of a job (many homeless parents work multiple jobs) or an illness in the family. "The solution is not 'teach a parenting class,'" Wilber says. "The solution is provide housing."

Hamilton offers shelter for up to 75 families, but its main goal is to get families off the streets permanently. To achieve this, it works with homeless families to figure out budgeting and then matches them up with appropriate low-income housing in the area. It provides rent subsidies for up to 18 months.

HFC family 2 at mother's day event

If you're familiar with the crazy rent situation in San Francisco, you might be surprised to learn that there is actually housing available for low-income families  about one-third of the families Hamilton helps do stay in the city, while two-thirds end up moving to other cities like Vallejo or Stockton.

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The big problem is connecting homeless families to the agencies that can provide this housing, especially since the city was overloaded with demand during the recession that ran from 2007 through 2011.

This is partly where tech companies are helping out.

Salesforce has worked with Hamilton to create a database of available housing, and its employees frequently volunteer through the company's 1-1-1 program (which encourages employees to donate 1% of their time to a nonprofit). A partnership between Hamilton and Google has helped the San Francisco public-school district collect information about homeless and at-risk students  more than 2,000 kids in the city's public schools are homeless, about twice as many as were in 2007.

Salesforce volunteers at shelter

"We also have a great relationship with Twitter," Wilber says. The company has contributed funding to Hamilton's facility in the Tenderloin, as well as free marketing through promoted tweets.

The best relationships with tech companies are from multiple places.

"It's the funding, technical skill, product in some cases," Wilber says. "Then it's volunteers connecting to work we do, ideally becoming advocates. One of my hopes with the volunteer program is that folks come and take whatever misconceptions and stereotypes they have, they learn more about family homelessness and walk away advocates for our work."

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Latest acquisiton increases Noram's land package to 17,738 acres

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2016 / Noram Ventures Inc. (NRM.V) ("Noram" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has entered into an arms-length binding agreement to acquire 150 mineral claims comprising 3,000 acres, in Nevada's Clayton Valley. This latest acquisition makes Noram the largest direct holder of lithium claims in the Clayton Valley.

The new claims are contiguous with the eastern boundary of the Zeus Group Claims that form the northern portion of Noram's South Block Extension (Figure 1). These claims, collectively, are adjacent to and in the same geological formation as Matica Enterprises' McGee property, where results were recently announced showing an average of approximately 750 ppm lithium from all samples taken over a 1,500 metre long by 700 metre wide area with lithium values as high as 1,420 ppm in the claystones.

Noram will acquire the interests in the new Zeus extension claims for the following consideration;

US$25,000 on acceptance of the Binding Acquisition Agreement;

Noram assuming all financial obligations.

Noram's Clayton Valley South Block Expansion:

The South Block property, which now consists of 700 claims in three contiguous claim groups (Zeus, Hades and Spartan) covering approximately 13,740 acres, is strategically located between and contiguous with the Silver Peak lithium mine operated by Albemarle Corp. near the northern boundary and Pure Energy Minerals Ltd.'s Clayton Valley South project 1km to the west.

Initial surface sampling on the Zeus and Sparton claims (see News Release of June 9th, 2016) returned very encouraging results with lithium values ranging from 196ppm to a high of 760 ppm and averaging 530 ppm lithium. Additional surface and sub-surface sampling on the Zeus and Sparton claim groups is in progress. Results are forthcoming and will be reported as they become available.

"We are very pleased with our land acquisition strategy that has nearly doubled our project footprint and significantly increases the potential and scope of our Clayton Valley, Nevada project," said Noram's president, Mark Ireton.

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The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Michael Collins, P.Geo., who is a Qualified Person with respect to the South Block Claim's Group Property as defined under National Instrument 43-101.

About Noram Ventures Inc.:

Noram Ventures Inc. (TSX-V: NRM and Frankfurt: N7R) is a Canadian based junior exploration company, with a goal of becoming a force in the Green Energy Revolution through the development of lithium and graphite deposits and becoming a low-cost supplier for the burgeoning lithium battery industry. The Company's primary business focus since formation has been the exploration of mineral projects that include the lithium projects in Clayton Valley in Nevada and the Jumbo graphite property in British Columbia. Noram's long term strategy is to build a multi-national lithium-graphite dominant industrial minerals company to produce and sell lithium and graphite into the markets of Europe, North America and Asia.

Please visit our web site for further information: www.noramventures.com

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

/s/ "Mark R. Ireton"

President & Director

This news release contains projections and forward-looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. Such forward-looking information can include without limitation statements based on current expectations involving a number of risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance of the Company. The following are important factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements; the uncertainty of future profitability; and the uncertainty of access to additional capital. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results and the Company's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information. Actual results and future events could differ materially from anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and expressed qualified in their entirety by this notice. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking information should circumstances or management's estimates or opinions change.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Noram Ventures Inc.
By Roberta Rampton and David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada, the United States and Mexico on Wednesday mounted a fierce defense of free trade, vowing to deepen economic ties despite an increasingly acrimonious debate about the value of globalization. U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto also took swipes at U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has vowed to renegotiate or scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if he wins November's election. "The integration of national economies into a global economy: that's here, that's done," Obama told a news conference at the end of a summit dubbed the "Three Amigos". "And us trying to abandon the field and pull up the drawbridge around us is going to be bad for us," he said after the talks, hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump says free trade has been disastrous, costing thousands of U.S. jobs and depressing wages. Similar complaints were heard in Britain ahead of a surprise referendum vote last week to leave the European Union and its free trade area. Obama and Pena Nieto stressed the importance of the relationship between their countries, which has come under strain amid heated U.S. campaign rhetoric. "Isolationism cannot bring prosperity to a society," Pena Nieto said after bilateral talks with Obama. Later, at the news conference, Pena Nieto warned of the dangers of populism in a globalized world and defended comments earlier this year in which likened Trump to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. "Hitler, Mussolini, we all know the result," he said when asked to explain the comparison. "It was only a call for reflection and for recognition, so that we bear in mind what we have achieved and the great deal still to achieve." The summit, Trudeau's first and Obama's last, could be the final harmonious one between the three countries if Trump wins the White House in the November U.S. presidential election. Trudeau, who has generally steered clear of commenting on Trump's remarks since taking power last November, said that regardless of rhetoric the three nations would continue to have tremendously close relations. Obama has strongly criticized Trump in recent weeks and took aim at the Republican's promises to clamp down on what he says is out-of-control illegal immigration. The United States, he said, acknowledged public fears about the uncontrolled arrival of foreigners and had worked hard to secure its borders. "America is a nation of immigrants. That is our strength ... The notion that we would somehow stop now on what has been a tradition of attracting talent and strivers and dreamers from all around the world, that would rob us of the thing that is most special about America," he said. Obama - whose progressive social policies are very similar to Trudeau's - later received a rapturous welcome when he addressed the Canadian Parliament. In a speech often interrupted by prolonged applause, he said he understood that some people had genuine concerns about the pace of change. "If the benefits of globalization accrue only to those at the very top, if our democracies seem incapable of assuring broad-based growth and opportunity for everyone, then people will push back out of anger or out of fear," he said. "For those of us who truly believe that our economies have to work for everybody, the answer is not to try and pull back from our interconnected world. It is, rather, to engage with the rest of the world, to shape the rules so they're good for our workers and good for our businesses." Protests over immigration have also been seen in Britain in the wake of the so-called Brexit vote last week, which at one point wiped more than $2 trillion off global equity markets. Obama said he expected the world economy would be steady in the short run but expressed longer term concerns about global growth if Brexit went ahead. Trump also opposes the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was signed in February but may not be ratified by the United States given increasing domestic resistance. Obama said on Wednesday he was committed to ensuring the pact contained high labor and trade standards. One obstacle to free trade is the dumping of products at artificially low prices, and Trudeau, Obama and Pena Nieto said they agreed on the need for the governments of all major steel-making nations to address excess capacity. The three also pledged to produce 50 percent of their nations' electricity from clean energy by 2025. (Writing by David Ljunggren; Editing by James Dalgleish and Diane Craft)
Oslo (AFP) - A Norwegian court gave the green light on Wednesday for the extradition to Italy of a controversial Kurdish Iraqi cleric accused of belonging to the Islamic State group.

Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, also known as Mullah Krekar, has lived in Norway as a refugee since 1991 but Italy has requested his extradition in the belief the 59-year-old is an Islamic fundamentalist who associates with jihadists.

"A swift and complete resolution of the affair and respect for international penal cooperation speak in favour of pursuing penal procedure in Italy," an Oslo city court ruled.

Krekar has twice served jail terms in Norway for threats and inciting violent behaviour.

Iraqi attempts to have him extradited failed over Norwegian fears he could face the death penalty at home.

Wednesday, his lawyer Brynjar Meling said his client would appeal, citing alleged procedural irregularities.

"We have not had access to the original (case) documents," Meling told AFP, suggesting Oslo was looking for any excuse to have him leave a country which views him as a security threat.

Italy wants to charge him over alleged terror plotting in the belief he leads Rawti Shax, an internet-based offshoot of extremist group Ansar al-Islam and helps to recruit jihadi fighters.

Meling says accusations against Krekar should be heard in Norway.
This news will be music to your ears. Astronomers have just recorded sounds from a 13-billion-year-old cluster of stars in our galaxy called M4.

The European Southern Observatory took the data and created an interactive graphic that lets users hover over the stars in M4 and hear what they sound like.

The research could provide a new way to study the early universe.

"The stars we have studied really are living fossils from the time of the formation of our galaxy, and we now hope be able to unlock the secrets of how spiral galaxies, like our own, formed and evolved," Andrea Miglio, lead author on the study, said in a statement.

How do you find out what a star sounds like?

The astronomers used a technique called asteroseismology to record the oscillations, or "starquakes," coming from the stars.

"These oscillations lead to minuscule changes or pulses in brightness, and are caused by sound trapped inside the stars," the University of Birmingham explained in a press release.

A can use the sound data to figure out the mass of a star, how old it is and to study the inner structure of the star  t

Previously, this technique was only used on relatively young stars, study co-author Guy Davies noted in the statement. Now that asteroseismologists can apply it to old stars, we can create a better picture of what the early universe looked like.

"Just as archaeologists can reveal the past by excavating the earth, so we can use sound inside the stars to perform galactic archaeology," Bill Chaplin, leader of the international collaboration on asteroseismology, said in the statement.
The National Rifle Association has targeted Hillary Clinton in battleground states with a new television advertisement that attacks Clintons handling of Benghazi.

The NRAs political arm is putting $2 million behind the cable spot that features Mark Geist, a security contractor who co-wrote the book 13 Hours about the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya. In the ad, Geist says, I served in Benghazi. My friends didnt make it. Geist tells viewers that even if theyre unhappy with their options, they need to do their part and vote to Stop. Hillary. Now. The ad ends with an NRA logo below TRUMP 2016.

The ad comes a day after House Republicans released a report that found no new evidence of wrongdoing by Clinton when she was Secretary of State. While Republicans heavily criticize Washingtons handling of the attack, which killed four Americans, repeated inquiries have not found that Clinton obstructed efforts to save prevent the loss of life. Republicans have criticized the State Department, and Clinton, for failing to increase security for the diplomatic mission before the attack.

The NRA says the ad will run nationwide with specific focuses in Colorado, Ohio, Nevada, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maine.

We cannot trust Hillary Clinton with our gun rights or our national security, said Chris W. Cox, chair of the NRA Political Victory Fund, in a statement. The NRA has publicly endorsed Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee.

Clinton has been opposed by the NRA for years, and in recent years she has become more aggressive in calling for new regulations of guns. Recently, she called semi-automatic rifles weapons of war in the wake of the shooting at an Orlando nightclub.
The National Rifle Association will spend $2 million on a Benghazi-themed ad urging voters to vote for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump  one of the biggest expenditures by an outside group on Trump's behalf so far, USA Today reported Wednesday.

In the 30-second ad, Mark Geist, a Trump supporter and Marine Corps veteran who survived the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, tells reluctant Trump voters to back the businessman in November. Clinton was secretary of state at the time of the attack.

"A lot of people say they're not going to vote this November because their candidate didn't win," says Geist, who endorsed Trump in February. "Well, I know some people who won't be voting this year either. Hillary as President? No thanks. I served in Benghazi. My friends didn't make it. They did their part. Do yours."

The ad will run in the battleground states of Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, USA Today reported.

The $2 million expenditure finally puts Trump on air in battleground states, where presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is outspending Trump $26 million to $0, according to an NBC News analysis.

Updated battleground-state ad data in 2016 race: Team Clinton $26M, Team Trump $0 http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/team-clinton-spent-26m-battleground-ads-june-trump-spent-0-n600611 ...pic.twitter.com/FdFZAgxTPI https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmEFbpUWQAArfPc.jpg:large

The ad also comes a day after House Republicans released their findings from a two-year investigation on the attacks in Benghazi that found no new evidence of Clinton wrongdoing in the attack that led to the death of four Americans.

Following the report, Clinton said, "I think it's pretty clear it's time to move on."
While the safety, cost, and long-term environmental impacts of nuclear energy have been contested for the past half century, there is no debate that nuclear power plants are a significant source of carbon-free electricity.

So is this the best time to be shutting them down?

It is in California. One of the states biggest utilitiesPacific Gas and Electric Companyenvironmental groups, and labor organizations have proposed shuttering Diablo Canyon, Californias last nuclear power plant, when its license expires in 2025 and replacing it with solar, wind, and other sources of renewable energy.

The shutdown has implications nationwide, as it shows how dozens of other aging nuclear plants could also be closed in favor of cheap natural gas or renewable energy.

Diablo Canyons 2.3 gigawatts of generation capacity supply about 8.6 percent of the states electricity, providing power to around 20 percent of PG&Es customers in Northern and Central California. The fear: Despite PG&Es commitment to replace Diablo Canyon with solar and wind, the company will be forced to rely on carbon-spewing natural gas plants if it cant ramp up renewables fast enough.

Thats what happened when the state shut down the San Onofre nuclear power plant in Southern California after its steam generators failed in 2012.

Solar and wind farms supply 11 percent of Californias electricity demand. The state would have to nearly double renewable energy production by 2025 to make up for the loss of Diablo Canyon.

Thats entirely feasible, said Michael Dorsey, a former member of the Sierra Clubs board of directors. In just three years, solar energy jumped from under 1 percent of statewide electricity production to 6.7 percent in 2015, according to Californias power grid operator.

RELATED: States Announce a New Coalition to Fight for Climate Change Progress

Twenty years ago, it wouldnt make sense to take this type of power offline to replace it with carbon-emitting power sources, said Dorsey, now the interim director at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies energy and environment program. But the prices are now there, they are competitive, and it makes economic sense to bring photovoltaics and wind here now.

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PG&Es plan is notably light on specifying what types of renewables will replace Diablo Canyon, but the closure plan identifies three strategies. The first step is to reduce electricity demand by 225 megawatts by expanding the use of energy-efficient lighting, appliances, and other equipment. The utility will also add 225 megawatts of renewable energy from solar and wind farms by 2030. Last, the company will exceed state-mandated targets for renewable energy production.

Not all the power generated by Diablo Canyon needs to be replaced, according to PG&E, given energy-efficiency advances and technological changes in the way the power grid operates.

Given these and other uncertainties, the parties cannot, and it would be a mistake to try to, specify all the necessary replacement procurement now, PG&E stated in the proposal to shutter Diablo Canyon.

The boom in rooftop solar systems will also help meet electricity demand, said Geisha Williams, president of PG&E. Photovoltaic panels installed on the roofs of homes and businesses account for an estimated 5 percent of Californias electricity generation.

You dont need [Diablo Canyon], Williams told KQED. Theres been so much energy efficiency. Theres been so much power thats been generated by customers on their own private solar rooftop.

The nuclear power decline could be a turning point for solar.

To the extent that any capacity is retirednuclear or otherwiseits an opportunity for new solar development, said Shayle Kann, senior vice president of research for Greentech Media.

Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, is calling for solar capacity to grow from 26 gigawatts to 140 gigawatts by the end of 2020 and for half a billion solar panels to be installed by the end of her first term if she is elected.

Clintons target can be reached if the U.S. solar market grows at an annual rate of 32 percent from 20172020, Kann wrote in a blog post. This is roughly on par with our projected 36 percent growth rate from 20132016, but the markets growth during Obamas second term is coming from a much smaller installed base.

In other words, the market just needs to keep growing at the same rate for another four years. That wont happen under business-as-usual conditions, hence the big difference between our 2020 forecast and Clintons goal, Kann wrote.

The cost of producing electricity from photovoltaic panels is expected to drop by 59 percent worldwide by 2025, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency, making solar cheaper than fossil fuels.

The fact is that we live in a world where technologically, financially, environmentally, and ethically, nuclear power generation no longer makes sense, Dorsey said.

The California Public Utilities Commission still has to approve the closure of Diablo Canyon. If the commission rejects the proposal, the company could attempt to relicense the plant and keep it running past 2025. But PG&E CEO Tony Earley wrote in a letter to employees that keeping Diablo Canyon open no longer makes economic sense given the amount of ever-cheaper renewable energy coming online.

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Original article from TakePart
RENO, NV / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2016 / Scandium International Mining Corp. (SCY.TO) ("Scandium International" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of a confirmatory metallurgical test work report from Altrius Engineering Services (AES) of Brisbane, QLD, Australia. The test work results directly relate a list of recommended programs included in the recently released NI 43-101 Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS"), authored by Lycopodium (Brisbane, QLD, Australia) and filed on SEDAR. AES devised and supervised these test work programs at the SGS laboratory in Perth, Australia and at the Nagrom laboratory in Brisbane, Australia.

In addition to recent test work results, the Company also reports that the Nyngan Project environmental impact statement ("EIS") has completed its public exhibition and comment period.

Metallurgical Test Work Results

The project DFS recommended a number of process flowsheet test work programs be investigated prior to commencing detailed engineering and construction. Those study areas included pressure leach ("HPAL"), counter-current decant circuits ("CCD"), solvent extraction ("SX"), and oxalate precipitation, with specific work steps suggested in each area. This latest test work program addresses all of these recommended areas, and the results confirm recoveries and efficiencies that either meet or exceed the parameters used in the DFS.

HIGHLIGHTS

Pressure leach test work achieved 88% recoveries, from larger volume tests,

Settling characteristics of leach discharge slurry show substantial improvement,

Residue neutralization work meets or exceeds all environmental requirements as presented in the DFS and the environmental impact statement ("EIS"),

Solvent extraction circuit optimization tests generated improved performance, exceeding 99% recovery in single pass systems, and

Product finish circuits produced 99.8% scandium oxide, completing the recovery process from Nyngan ore to finished scandia product.

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Test Work Specifics. A series of 15 (20 litre) HPAL tests were conducted at SGS in Perth between February and April 2016. The results of these tests augmented earlier leach performance data, and also provided leach solution for downstream tests, where additional optimization data was also sought. The feed-stream source of scandium in each case was Nyngan limonite resource, graded at approximately the head grade assumed in the DFS.

Flowsheet test results were positive in all cases.

HPAL recoveries exceeded 88% in the majority of options tested (vs 87% in the DFS),

Settling characteristics on HPAL discharge slurry were substantially improved, with the use of different chemical additions, and

At the solvent extraction stage, test work produced superior loading performance, with recovery in this step exceeding 99%.

Further work was conducted on residue chemistry as well. The process for residue neutralization, as proposed in the DFS was fully tested, and environmental requirements for tailings disposal at the project site were met.

The process flowsheet for producing final scandium product has also been confirmed by additional test work using the solutions produced at SGS. These solutions were delivered to Nagrom Laboratories in Brisbane, where we have set up a mini solvent extraction (SX) pilot plant to test process variants, to produce loaded strip liquor, and to produce product-grade scandium oxide. The results of this work produced 99.8% scandium oxide, again confirming the process applied in the DFS is capable of generating high purity scandia product in a very simple, single stage operation--this time directly from Nyngan laterite resource. Scandium oxide grades of 99.8% exceed the requirements of the aluminum industry for use in aluminum alloys.

Other Project Updates

Second Town Hall Meeting Held. The Company held a second town hall meeting in Nyngan on May 23, 2016, to brief the community on project plans and impacts. The meeting was announced in the local Nyngan Observer newspaper, and attended by local members of the community, the town Council, and the Mayor. Discussion was encouraged and issues raised were general in nature.

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Status. As previously reported (May 2, 2016), the EIS has been completed and submitted to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment. The EIS was accepted by the Department after an adequacy review, and the Company met with Department staff on May 25th, for detailed discussions on details of the document and development plans. After this formal departmental review meeting, the EIS was subsequently placed on public exhibition on May 26th, for access by the public and other NSW governmental agencies, for a period of 30 days.

The exhibition period was completed on Friday, June 24th. The filing received relatively few comments, none that represent an issue with development, and will now be followed by further internal reviews and discussions between the Company and various governmental agencies.

The final outcome sought from this formal environmental and developmental review is the granting of a Ministerial Development Consent, and subsequently a Mining Lease for project development, anticipated as early as year-end 2016.

George Putnam, CEO of Scandium International Mining Corp. commented:

"These latest metallurgical test work results further confirm a number of key parameters used in the DFS, and they formally complete an important check-list item prior to the start of detailed engineering on the project. The product specification achievement of 99.8% scandia from Nyngan resource is particularly important. It validates our earlier product quality work, confirms a single pass SX system can deliver product to this standard, and fully supports our planned product offering to the aluminum alloy industry. This formally and empirically completes the Nyngan resource-to-product cycle for us.

We view the efficient and positive EIS public exhibition experience our project received as a very positive indicator of both regulatory and community support. This helps us progress without delay towards a mining lease, and keeps us on our tight timetable to begin construction early next year."

QUALIFIED PERSONS AND NI 43-101 TECHNICAL REPORT

Willem Duyvesteyn, MSc, AIME, CIM, a Director and CTO of the Company, is a qualified person for the purposes of NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release on behalf of the Company.

ABOUT SCANDIUM INTERNATIONAL MINING CORP.

The Company is focused on developing the Nyngan Scandium Project into the world's first scandium-only producing mine. The Company owns an 80% interest in both the Nyngan Scandium Project, and the adjacent Honeybugle Scandium Property, in New South Wales, Australia, and is manager of both projects. Our joint venture partner, Scandium Investments LLC, owns the remaining 20% in both projects, along with an option to convert those direct project interests into SCY common shares, based on market values, prior to construction.

The Company filed a NI 43-101 technical report in May 2016, titled "Feasibility Study - Nyngan Scandium Project" . That feasibility study delivered an expanded scandium resource, a first reserve figure, and an estimated 33.1% IRR on the project, supported by extensive metallurgical test work and an independent, 10-year global marketing outlook for scandium demand.

In addition to the two lateritic scandium properties in Australia, SCY owns a 100% interest in the Trdal Scandium/REE property in southern Norway, where we continue our exploration efforts, specifically for scandium and REE minerals.

For further information, please contact:

George Putnam, President and CEO

Tel: 925-208-1775

Email: info@scandiummining.com

This press release contains forward-looking statements about the Company and its business. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and include, but are not limited to: reserve and resource estimates, estimated NPV of the project, anticipated IRR, anticipated mining and processing methods for the Project, the estimated economics of the project, anticipated Scandium recoveries, production rates, scandium grades, estimated capital costs, operating cash costs and total production costs, planned additional processing work and environmental permitting. The forward-looking statements in this press release are subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company's actual results or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by forward looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, without limitation risks related to uncertainty in the demand for Scandium and pricing assumptions; uncertainties related to raising sufficient financing to fund the project in a timely manner and on acceptable terms; changes in planned work resulting from logistical, technical or other factors; the possibility that results of work will not fulfill expectations and realize the perceived potential of the Company's properties; uncertainties involved in the estimation of Scandium reserves and resources; the possibility that required permits may not be obtained on a timely manner or at all; the possibility that capital and operating costs may be higher than currently estimated and may preclude commercial development or render operations uneconomic; the possibility that the estimated recovery rates may not be achieved; risk of accidents, equipment breakdowns and labor disputes or other unanticipated difficulties or interruptions; the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated expenses in the work program; risks related to projected project economics, recovery rates, and estimated NPV and anticipated IRR and other factors identified in the Company's SEC filings and its filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities.

Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, opinions and expectations of the Company's management at the time they are made, and other than as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update its forward-looking statements if those beliefs, opinions or expectations, or other circumstances, should change.

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors Regarding Resource Estimates: The Company's technical disclosure uses terms such as "indicated resources" and "measured resources" which are defined by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, and are required to be disclosed in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101). The disclosure standards in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Industry Guide 7 normally do not recognize information concerning these terms or other descriptions of the amount of mineralization in mineral deposits that do not constitute "reserves" by U.S. standards in documents filed with the SEC. Accordingly, information concerning mineral deposits set forth in the Company's disclosure documents may not be comparable with information presented by companies using only U.S. standards in their public disclosure.

SOURCE: Scandium International Mining Corp.
President Obama, speaking Wednesday in Canada, offered a lengthy and passionate rebuttal to what he described as Donald Trumps anti-immigration sentiment.

At a summit with the leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico in Ottawa, a reporter asked at a joint press conference if they had discussed Trumps sometimes caustic rhetoric toward Mexico and if the moguls populist campaign affected the trade negotiations among the three countries.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto began by saying his government would respect the outcome of the U.S. election, which he described as a domestic matter, according to the summits translation of Pena Nietos remarks.

Obama, speaking next and without saying Trumps name, was far more forceful in his denunciation of the presumptive GOP nominee.

I think Ive made myself clear, setting aside whatever the candidates are saying, that America is a nation of immigrants, Obama said. Thats our strength. Unless, you are one of the first Americans  unless you are a Native American  somebody, somewhere in your past showed up from someplace else. And they didnt always have papers.

Trumps rhetoric and policy proposals have sparked a number of firestorms throughout the campaign. Among other things, Trump launched his White House bid with a speech accusing the Mexican government of sending criminals across the U.S. border. He also proposed temporarily barring Muslim tourists and immigrants from entering the U.S.

But Obama insisted Wednesday that it was nothing new for anti-immigration views to be exploited by demagogues.

It was directed at the Irish. It was directed at Poles and Italians. And you can go back and read what was said about those groups, the president recalled. And its identical what theyre now saying about Mexicans or Guatemalans or Salvadorans or Muslims or Asians. Same stuff: Theyre different. Theyre not going to fit. They wont assimilate. They bring crime. Same arguments.

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Obama continued: But guess what? They kept coming. And they kept coming because America offered possibility for their children and their grandchildren. And even if they were initially discriminated against, they understood that our system will over time allow them to become part of this one American family. And so we should take some of this rhetoric seriously  and answer it boldly and clearly. But you shouldnt think that is representative of how the American people think.

He also stressed that illegal immigration had fallen under his administration and that the next president would have to tackle the broader problems within the U.S. immigration system.

Im pushing very hard  and will continue to push until I leave this office, and expect our next president to push for  a comprehensive immigration reform plan that can fix those aspects of the system that are broken so that we remain a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants, he said.
Ottawa (AFP) - President Barack Obama joined Turkey Wednesday in pointing the finger at the Islamic State group after the latest attack to rock the US ally left 41 dead at Istanbul airport.

Obama telephoned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to offer US security assistance in the wake of the assault, which was set to feature prominently at a three-way US-Mexican-Canadian summit taking place in Ottawa.

"Let me just publicly extend my deepest condolences to the people of Turkey for the terrible attack that took place in Istanbul," Obama told reporters in the Canadian capital. "We stand with the people of Turkey."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the newest atrocity but Ankara has said the evidence points to IS, and Obama appeared to second that stance.

"It's an indication of how little these vicious organizations have to offer beyond killing innocents," Obama said in a seeming reference to the Islamic State group.

"They're continually losing ground, unable to govern those areas that they have taken over. They're going to be defeated in Syria, they're going to be defeated in Iraq."

"We will not rest until we have dismantled these networks of hate that have had an impact on the entire civilized world."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said earlier that Obama had offered Erdogan "any support that the Turks can benefit from as they conduct this investigation and take steps to further strengthen the security situation in their country."

"Any information that we obtain that could be useful to the Turkish investigation, we will certainly share that information," he added.

Earnest did not indicate whether Turkey had officially sought US assistance following the latest attack.

The assault, which comes at the start of Turkey's crucial tourist season, was the latest in a wave of attacks in Istanbul and the capital Ankara blamed either on Islamic State (IS) jihadists or Kurdish rebels.

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Earnest said Obama would have a chance to meet with Erdogan "in some setting" when he travels to Warsaw for the upcoming NATO summit on July 8-9.

The attacks loomed large as Obama joined Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto for the so-called "Three Amigos" summit in Ottawa.

"This is something that will certainly be on the minds of all three North American leaders," Earnest said.
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama spoke on Wednesday with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan about the attack at Istanbul's main airport, offering assistance to the Turkish government in its investigation, the White House said. In a telephone call, Obama expressed his condolences over Tuesday's shootings and suicide bombings at the airport, which killed 41 people and wounded 239, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. Earnest declined to offer any official U.S. assessment of who might have been responsible for the bombing. "Any information that we obtain that could be useful to the Turkish investigation we certainly will share that information, but I don't have any information that we've obtained that I can discuss publicly at this point," Earnest told reporters during a briefing. The militant Islamist group Islamic State is at the top of the list of suspect for the attack, according to two U.S. counterterrorism officials familiar with the early stages of investigations. Earnest did not name any suspects in the Turkey bombing, but he said that the United States remains concerned about Islamic State's ability to carry out attacks. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Frances Kerry)
OTTAWA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged the Venezuelan government to respect the democratic process and the rule of law, including allowing the release of political prisoners. "Given the very serious situation in Venezuela and the worsening plight of the Venezuelan people, together we're calling on the government and opposition to engage in meaningful dialogue and urge the Venezuelan government to respect the rule of law and the authority of the national assembly," Obama said at a news conference with the leaders of Canada and Mexico. "Political prisoners should be released, the democratic process should be respected and that includes legitimate efforts to pursue a recall referendum consistent with Venezuelan law." (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason; writing by Doina Chiacu, editing by G Crosse)
The police officer who shot a mother who had just killed her two daughters is struggling in the aftermath of the incident, his boss says.

Chief of Police Kenny Seymour tells PEOPLE that the unnamed officer is actually doing very well considering the circumstances, but that like anyone else who discharges their weapon in the line of duty, he is struggling to cope with the shooting.

I dont care how tough you are, when you take somebodys life, it absolutely takes a toll on you, Seymour said.

Christy Sheats shot her two daughters to death on Friday, and was subsequently taken down herself by the police officer.

The Fort Bend County Sheriffs office and the Texas Rangers will investigate the incident and present findings to a grand jury, which will decide if the officer acted appropriately. Per protocol, the officer will remain on leave until that decision. Local authorities believe the officers actions were totally justified.

[PEOPLE]
By Lin Taylor LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Only five countries in the world have given lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people equal constitutional rights, global research shows, with most countries failing to protect the community from widespread discrimination and abuses. Britain, Bolivia, Ecuador, Fiji, Malta are the only countries that give constitutional rights to people regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity, according to a report by global research group WORLD Policy Analysis Center (WORLD) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The report, which analyzed the constitutions of all 193 countries recognized by the United Nations, is the most comprehensive study to date, researchers say. Despite 22 countries introducing same-sex marriage laws, the lack of equal constitutional rights means LGBT people are at risk of rights violations and discrimination, researchers said. "While marriage equality is an important start, it is not enough to prevent discrimination at work, in housing or many other spheres of life," said study author Jody Heymann, founding director of WORLD and dean of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. "It is crucial for constitutions to guarantee equal rights and protection from discrimination to LGBT individuals in all spheres," she said in a statement. Most countries' constitutions protect people regardless of sex, religion, race or ethnicity, but do not extend the same legal protections to the LGBT community. The constitutions of Mexico, New Zealand Portugal, South Africa and Sweden give equal rights to people based on sexual orientation, but not gender identity, the report said. (Reporting by Lin Taylor @linnytayls, Editing by Katie Nguyen.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian issues, conflicts, global land rights, modern slavery and human trafficking, women's rights, and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org to see more stories)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's deeply divided opposition Labour Party seems to be heading for a contested leadership election with its leader Jeremy Corbyn refusing to resign, the party's deputy leader Tom Watson said on Wednesday. Corbyn is popular with the party's membership but Labour lawmakers passed a motion of no-confidence in him this week after what they saw as his lacklustre performance in the EU referendum campaign this month, which ended with Britons voting to leave the bloc. "It's a great tragedy," Watson told the BBC. "He does have a members' mandate but those members who joined the political party know that you also need a parliamentary mandate if you are to form a government." Asked whether he had told Corbyn to resign, Watson said: "I'm afraid Jeremy was not willing to discuss that with me so I'm assuming he remains in office." "It looks like the Labour Party is heading for some form of contested election," he said, adding "I won't run." (Reporting by Stephen Addison, Editing by Kylie MacLellan)
Ive got some frenemies in Washington.

Actually, all entrepreneurs who want to build great companies with great teams of hard-driving employees have been sucker punched by the very people who give us awards, stop by for photo-ops during election seasons, and say we are the engine of America.

Startups, during the first five years of operations, create enough jobs to make up for all the nations job losses caused by corporate downsizing, off-shoring and business closures. And how are we repaid for all the risks that we are taking? With a sucker punch of new regulations that will make it suddenly more costly to operate and of course to create new jobs.

The latest big blow has come in the form of a substantial change in the number of employees who fall under qualification for overtime pay. Starting December 1, 2016, the annual salary threshold for overtime pay coverage will jump for certain types of employees who earn less than $47,476, representing more than a 100% increase over the current $23,660 threshold. The new regulations also apply to certain highly compensated employees who earn between $100,000 and $134,000.

Further, the changes apply to all businesses, even businesses with fewer than 50 employees and non-profit organizations. Business owners will experience the pain again as the coverage thresholds will adjust upward every three years no matter the condition of the nations economy. Ouch!

The Department of Labors website blogs are rather cavalier in their recommendations to employers. They imply the choices are simple: just boost qualifying employee salaries to over $47,000, pay the overtime or dont allow targeted employees to work over 40 hours a week. If it were only so easy to operate in a just-in-time economy!

There is another component of the new regulations that has all small businesses against the ropes. The new regulations take effect this year giving business managers little time to determine their compensation game plan and then rework budgets and implement new procedures for monitoring who is working on what, when and for how long.

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A genuine friend of small business owners would have given more warning or would have exempted the most vulnerable industries within the small business community. The White House and company didnt. Democratic-leaning business owners are disappointed; Republican-leaning business owners are saying, I told you so.

My suspicion about rules like this is they are crafted by people who have never started or worked in a meaningful way in a growth-oriented small business. They dont appreciate how little extra cash small businesses have for nasty surprises, let alone investment in new initiatives. Career government workers also dont seem to understand what drives entrepreneurs and the people who leave higher paying jobs to work for them. Let me break it down:

Were not clock punchers. Walk into any startup company and you will find hard working people having a great time at work. We love the challenge and satisfaction that comes with turning ideas into tangible products. Our drive and commitment to our companys advancement doesnt switch off after 40 hours. Its not just the founders that are up at 5 am talking to prospective customers in Europe or testing out a prototype before a big buyer presentation, but the staff.

The fast way to take the creative joy out of an entrepreneurial company is to ask highly productive people to log the time associated with every late night or weekend phone call, email or other work on behalf of the company. Thats when fun work becomes tedious work.

We are not motivated by overtime pay. Why do staff members put extra time into a growing business they love? To get the job done. To help a young company advance. To have a chance of being a part of something special. To earn a greater stake in the business success through stock options and group-earned, year-end profit sharing plans.

We will ultimately work around the regs. The new regulations will motivate business owners to hand over extra work to independent contractors rather than stretch in-house staff with new challenges and opportunities for advancement. Is this what the Department of Labor really wants? More freelancers with less benefits and job security?

Rule changes cost money. The Department of Labor says that compliance wont be costly to small business owners. For a small business, the Department projected that it would spend only one hour to learn about the rule, one hour per worker to determine new compliance costs and roughly five minutes each week for new scheduling and monitoring costs for a total per entity cost of only $100 to $600.

Contrast this wishful thinking to the real world. It took me several hours to read the fine points of the more extensive regulations. Businesses that turn to payroll specialists or legal counsel can expect to pay up to $600 per hour to help avoid making compliance mistakes. In the real world, employee compensation decisions involve benefit packages, bonus payments, profit sharing plans, stock option plans and performance metrics. New timekeeping systems will have to be created and implemented before the holiday season. This isnt simple and it will take time and cash to get it right.

I do appreciate the Department of Labors drive to boost middle class salaries in America. Im all for it too, but not in this way. Good jobs dont trickle down from large corporations but are created and nurtured from teams of people who want to get involved in ground floor opportunities and build from there.

A genuine friend of the entrepreneurial community would do everything possible to lighten the load of regulation and spare fledgling businesses from sudden shifts in cost structure to help them thrive.

Susan Schreter is a veteran of the venture finance community, expert on startup sustainability and CEO of Start on Purpose, a service organization that offers the largest free directory of debt and equity funding sources in America. Connect with Susan @StartonPurpose.

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From LennyLetter

I spent a summer in New York during college living in a neighborhood called Borough Park, in Brooklyn. That's when I had the immense pleasure of getting my first (so far only, but let's not jinx it) urinary-tract infection. As far as I understand it, you get a UTI from not peeing after sex or not drinking enough cranberry juice, which made it absurd that I would get one, because I've done those two things simultaneously. I was furious at my urinary tract, and it was furious at me. This angry standoff went on for days. Not even a friend's insistence on calling me a "cutie with a 'uti" helped to improve my sour mood. After a fifth night of agony, I headed down to the emergency room.

The emergency room was a nightmare on a level that would've made Dante go "holy shit." Maybe almost a hundred people in a big open room. Beds were pushed so close together I could hear the woman next to me quietly praying in what I think was Armenian. I waited six hours to get painkillers or antibiotics, during which time my phone died and I learned far too much intimate detail about my neighbor's small intestine.

And then it got worse. When I finally got the routine antibiotics I needed, gathered my hospital-issued bag, and started to trundle off to the bathroom to change out of my paper gown, a man sitting near the bed next to mine got up and snatched the bag out of my hand. My own clothes. Out of my own hand. My own black hand.

I was stunned for a moment while he rifled through it. Apparently, the hospital issued us all the same bag for our clothes, a fact you could easily look around and see because we were all trapped together in this windowless hellhole. Yet he was convinced I had stolen his sick grandmother's clothing. Satisfied after picking through my undergarments, he muttered an apology before thrusting my clothes back at me. I went into the bathroom and promptly burst into tears.

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I went into the bathroom and promptly burst into tears.

What made that experience the particular worst was not having space or any ownership. I was half-naked, stacked nearly on top of other people in a strange part of town. I was stripped of everything that I owned and then when I finally managed to collect my stuff, someone immediately assumed I stole it. I felt personally humiliated on a level that took me back to the not-so-distant past.

I have strong feelings about space and things. At the worst times in my life, I haven't had a lot of either, and I think that's true for most people. People need space. People need to feel like they have some semblance of control over their environment. People need a place to belong.

I've often found myself in places where my presence is unusual, unwelcome, and occasionally even unprecedented. There's Wisconsin, where I was born and where I grew up excelling in math and science, which often made me "the fly in the milk" of all my lily-white advanced STEM classes. Not to mention that I was/am a girl. Have you ever had a male teacher kiss you on the head for getting a good grade? I have! It's about as fun and totally appropriate as it sounds. On top of that, my family moved around a lot, which made me feel rootless and insecure wherever I was, hyperaware of my surroundings, constantly putting my back against the wall so nothing and no one could sneak up on me.

I've often found myself in places where my presence is unusual, unwelcome, and occasionally even unprecedented.

Then came Harvard. No sweat, right? Time to get my back off the wall! I'll walk in there like I own it! Put my feet up on the couch where Mark Zuckerberg sat! Debate famous professors! Pretend I know what anthropology is! Act like a fuckin' Obama, damn it!

This is what I told myself I would do.

I did no such thing.

Instead, I sat on the floor. A lot. I didn't have much furniture my freshman year. In my own head, I crawled around Harvard on my knees just trying to find a little corner where I didn't feel massively uncomfortable. I wasn't supposed to be there. This is not my place. These aren't my things. That's just how it is and how it always will be.

I applied to the Lampoon, the 140-year-old humor magazine known for graduates like Conan O'Brien and B.J. Novak, looking for a place to be. I also was looking to prove to myself that I could earn some space, even at Harvard. It took a long time to feel comfortable even after I got on staff, even after I became president. One great incident involved myself and the former vice president Eleanor Parker meeting a male alum shortly after our election. It was the first time two women have simultaneously held the positions Eleanor and I occupied. He looked us up and down before remarking, with all sincere concern, "Well, it'll be difficult handling the finances of the place," as though this were 1950. Fun fact: I got my degree in economics. Parker got hers in organismic and evolutionary biology. I think our lady brains can more than handle a couple of spreadsheets.

Becoming president of an organization that old was surreal and gave me a weird high I can attribute only to a sense of ownership. Finally, after so much struggle and occasional bigoted remarks, I belonged somewhere. I could take my back off the wall and just have fun. I could make people leave if they made my place unsafe. And as I listen to the conversations about Harvard's penalizing of single-sex social organizations, potentially squashing all of final-club and Greek life, all I keep thinking about is space. Does this give more space to more people? Will this help people feel like they belong? Or does it just destroy the few spaces that exist at all, sweeping under the rug a bigger issue?

Finally, after so much struggle and occasional bigoted remarks, I belonged somewhere.

I graduated last year and moved to Los Angeles to write for the latest season of HBO's Veep. I have my own place here. I recently started writing for Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I have a seat at a writer's table. I direct! I call the shots on my set! I have a nice big room, a room my boyfriend will be moving into soon, a development that wouldn't be possible if I didn't feel so secure. Now that I belong in a space, all I want to do is share it with people I care about. Share the space and share that feeling.

And so I am here. And where I am is mine. I'm not going to crawl through a doggy door with my head down; I'm going to stroll through the front gate, and then once I get inside I'm gonna install one of those badass wheelchair open-button things that make you feel like a wizard. You, a guest, will support me or get the fuck out of my internal/external house. You will not snatch my hospital bag of clothes or my seat at the table or my dignity from me, because this, all of this, all of my life, all that I claim, is mine. I own it. I've earned it. And nobody can take it from me. Not without one hell of a fight.

Alexis Wilkinson is a comedy writer and director who lives in Los Angeles.
By Mehreen Zahra-Malik and Jibran Ahmad PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan has extended by six months a deadline for Afghan refugees to register with the government, a refugee official said on Wednesday, a day before the deadline was set to expire. Pakistan has the world's second largest refugee population, with more than 1.5 million registered, and about a million unregistered, refugees from Afghanistan, most of whom fled the Soviet occupation of their country in the 1980s. The number of Afghans voluntarily returning home has plunged this year as violence worsens in Afghanistan, where the government and its U.S. allies are fighting a stubborn Taliban insurgency. "The prime minister has approved another six-month extension in the deadline," Imran Zeb Khan, the chief commissioner for Afghan Refugees, told Reuters in an interview. "But Pakistan can't ensure that these refugees will return. That cannot happen without support from Afghanistan and the international community which need to create the right conditions for their repatriation." Khan said Pakistan would hold a tripartite meeting with Afghanistan and the United Nations refugee agency on July 19 to plan the way forward. The comments came soon after officials told Reuters at least 500 Afghan refugees were arrested in a northwestern border province and deported as a security risk. Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported that more than 2,000 refugees were arrested in the last month, and 400 deported to Afghanistan. There are only 100,000 registered refugees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the site of the arrests, said provincial information minister Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani. "We don't suggest any aggressive campaign against Afghan refugees, but we have been hosting them for the past 35 years and it is time they should go back to their country," Ghani said. Unregistered Afghans had become a major security issue for the government, he added. About 6,000 Afghans have chosen to return home from Pakistan in 2016, well below last year's figure of 58,211, the United Nations' refugee agency has said. Registration cards allowing a temporary legal stay for Afghan refugees last received a six-month extension after they expired in December 2015. Many Afghans have lived in Pakistan for decades and contribute significantly to its labour force. But Afghan refugee camps have become "safe havens for terrorists", Pakistani foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz told a Pakistani television channel last week. Pakistani federal minister for states and frontier regions Abdul Qadir Baloch also warned that Pakistan was not willing to host Afghan refugees indefinitely. Visiting Pakistan last week, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said he had made the case to the government for extending the June 30 deadline. (Writing by Mehreen Zahra-Malik; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Pantera's Vinnie Paul, whose former bandmate "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott was killed onstage by a crazed fan in 2004, discussed the murder of Christina Grimmie in a new interview. "It just floored me, man," Paul told KBAT (via Team Rock).

'No One Wants to Die on Tour.' A Look Into Concert Security

"I never thought it would happen again. And that's really almost the same scenario that happened to my brother," Paul said. "It's just unbelievable that there's still people that are that fanatical and that crazy out there in today's world that we don't have enough security to keep that from happening."

Following Grimmie's death on June 11th, Pantera called for better artist protection in a statement posted on Facebook. In December 2004, Abbott and three others were shot and killed onstage by a deranged fan during Damageplan's concert in Columbus, Ohio. Grimmie was similarly murdered during an Orlando meet-and-greet session by an obsessed fan.

"We are so sad and disappointed to hear that Christina Grimmie was gunned down the same way that Dimebag Darrell was," the note read. "After Dime's murder, we all prayed that our industry (i.e. club owners & promoters) would do whatever they needed to do to protect artists from gun wielding fanatics. Sadly, that's not the case and another rising star had to pay the consequences with her life. SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE!"

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Foo Fighters tour manager Gus Brandt revealed that he's demanding venues beef up security measures and employ more officers at each show as part of an artist's pre-negotiated security riders.

"I'm doing that across the board with everybody I work with  Pharrell, the Foos. No one wants to die on tour. And no one wants anyone to die for going out to have fun," Brant said. "It needs to be industry-wide. Everyone needs to take stock. This is not directed to any particular venue, but some of your security that's guarding your kids, and my artists and my crew, their sole training for security sometimes is putting on a T-shirt that says 'security.' The concert industry needs to react and adjust and come up with a plan."

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Paul added in his radio interview, "It's a dangerous world, man. You've got to keep your eyes and ears peeled and be on the alert all the time."

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Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesian parents were being advised Wednesday to consult their doctors and consider re-innoculating their children as a massive counterfeit vaccine scandal sweeps the country.

Police smashed a criminal syndicate last week accused of selling fake vaccines for more than a decade to health clinics across Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 255 million people.

Sixteen people, including a married couple believed to have masterminded the scheme, have been arrested over their alleged involvement. They are accused of distributing fake boosters for diseases including tuberculosis, hepatitis B and tetanus.

Indonesia's health ministry is working with police to determine the scale of the problem. The national food and drugs agency has confiscated vaccines from nearly 30 health clinics, but it is not yet known how far the syndicate reached.

"We are working with the national food and drugs agency to collect data and take all measures necessary," health ministry spokesman Oscar Primadi told AFP.

"If vaccinations need to be redone then we will do it, it's not impossible."

The Indonesian Pediatric Association said parents unsure if their child could be affected should ask their hospital or health clinic about the origin of their vaccines.

"If you're still unsure, you can redo the vaccination. It does not have any negative impacts on a child's health," association chairman Aman Bhakti Pulungan told AFP.

The scandal was brought to light after a major pharmaceutical company alerted Indonesian authorities that some of its products had been counterfeited.

The case has caused nationwide concern and condemnation, with Indonesian President Joko Widodo demanding the harshest punishment possible for this "extraordinary crime".
Paris (AFP) - Paris and Moscow admitted Wednesday that war-torn Syria is at a stalemate, urging each other to pressurise their respective allies to restore a truce and relaunch a peace process.

"Today things are blocked," said French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. "It is urgent to improve the situation on the ground and to encourage a resumption of negotiations. There's no other answer," Ayrault said after meeting in Paris with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

On Tuesday, Ayrault said he would ask Moscow "to pressure the Damascus regime to stop air strikes claiming thousands of lives, notably in Aleppo".

But Lavrov, saying "not everything depends on the Russians", called on all sides to "pressure their proteges on the ground".

"The problem will be resolved when our Western partners convince their 'moderate' proteges to withdraw from the positions of the Al-Nusra Front", Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, which is fighting the Damascus regime, Lavrov said.

International efforts to reach a political solution to Syria's five-year war, which has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions, have faltered and a February 27 ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia has all but collapsed.

Damascus and Moscow are continuing air strikes against "terrorist" positions -- where, according to Lavrov, "so-called moderate opposition groups are taking part in hostilities" -- while the US-led coalition against IS is bombing jihadists and backs armed groups on the ground.

On the diplomatic front, two rounds of indirect peace talks have been held so far this year in Geneva, but without making any headway.

UN mediator Staffan de Mistura has called for a resumption in July, but it seems unlikely.

A UN roadmap calls for a transition body to be set up in Damascus by August 1, followed by the drafting of a new constitutions and elections in mid-2017.
Canada quietly left the door open Wednesday to participating in a United Nations cease fire observer mission, should the Colombian government make a request.

Background documents, released as part of the North American Leaders' Summit in Ottawa, praised efforts by the country's president, Juan Manuel Santos, to secure a final peace deal with Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), left-wing rebels who've fought running battles with the South American government for five decades.

The three leaders said they strongly support the recent establishment of the UN Special Political Mission, which will deploy to monitor and verify the final cease fire.

- Live blog: Three Amigos in Ottawa: Trudeau, Obama, PenaNieto meet

"Mexico has recently announced that it will send observers for the UN Mission following the signature of a final peace agreement," said the documents, which flesh out the myriad promises and proposals made by the leaders.

"Canada will support initiatives directly responsive to the government of Colombia's priorities for peace implementation."

U.S. officials  even before the summit  were openly uttering what some in Canadian military circles call the "p-word."

Washington wanted support "co-ordinating peacekeeping around the world," Mark Feierstein, a senior director at the U.S. National Security Council, said Tuesday.

Options for peacekeeping

It wasn't that long ago that American officials, during the Bush Administration's war in Iraq, referred to peacekeeping with disdain.

But the diplomatic language in the statement Wednesday shows the conversation between Ottawa and Washington, which has been focused on oil pipelines for years, had shifted to how both nations can meet the challenges of an increasingly turbulent world.

- Aaron Wherry: What U.S. presidents have said to Parliament

- EricGrenier: 2 of the next 3 Amigos could mean trouble for Trudeau

Story continues

- Tuesday: Canada drops Mexican visa requirement, Mexico lifts beef ban

Federal sources told CBC News that defence planners have been examining various options for a peacekeeping mission in Colombia since the UN approved a request for an unarmed force last January.

Prior to the summit, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office released a statement that said Canada will use its expertise to help Mexico establish itself as a reputable peacekeeping nation.

Mexican efforts to establish its own peacekeeping training centre and to participate in UN operations were welcomed.

"Canada is prepared to further its support to Mexico in the development of a peacekeeping training institution by facilitating access to expertise from the Canadian Armed Forces training schools," the statement read.

Utilizing Canada's expertise and reputation in peacekeeping was expected to be one of the subjects up for discussion between Trudeau and U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday. The pair were to meet at the conclusion of the Three Amigos Summit and before the U.S. president's historic address to Parliament.

Awaiting a decision

The apparent U.S. interest in embracing peacekeeping may be music to the ears of the Liberal government, which campaigned on returning the Canada military to that kind of role.

Although Trudeau has talked up the notion, there's been little concrete indication where Canadian peacekeeping troops, equipment and know-how might be headed.

Holding a slot open for a possible peacekeeping operation was one of the suggested reasons Canada did not automatically sign on to a NATO deterrence mission in eastern Europe and the Baltic states.

The clock is ticking towards the NATO leaders summit in Warsaw and Canada has privately signalled interest, but wrestling a firm public commitment out of Canada is likely going to be high on the American agenda, said two international relations experts.

"Will Canada show up in Latvia or not?" asked Steve Saideman, an international affairs professor at Carleton University. "In terms of a bilateral relationship, it's on the top of the list right now."

The U.S., Britain and Germany have already said they'll contribute to the highly mobile brigade of roughly 4,000 soldiers destined for eastern Europe and meant as a show of force against Russian expansionism.

The domestic debate about whether the Canadian air force gets the F-35 or the Super Hornet, likely won't make it on to the radar, Saideman added.

Britain's break with the EU ups the stakes for NATO leaders, said Srdjan Vucetic, an associate professor of international relations at the University of Ottawa.

"NATO is looking for help to deter more of Putin's revisionism in Eastern Europe and to demonstrate post-Brexit unity," he said Tuesday.

"For Canada, the Baltic mission is relatively low-risk and it has several benefits: it builds on historical and current practices; it is likely to be popular with most Canadians, certainly relative to the sending troops to Asia or Africa; and it would give Canada clout in Brussels and Washington."

Pipeline questions  once a dominant topic of bilateral discussions under Stephen Harper's Conservatives  are all but a dead issue, according to a senior White House adviser, who seemed content to bury it under the great green initiatives and goals being rolled out today.

"I think that the partnership is explicitly focused on trying to support our country's efforts to be more ambitious with respect to climate and clean energy and the environment," Brian Deese told reporters on Tuesday. "And there will be a discussion about infrastructure for sure. The focus there is on making sure that we have harmonizing integrated infrastructure to encourage clean energy."

Follow @Murray_Brewster on Twitter
From Popular Mechanics

Sarah Nunberg has a problem.

In the Chapel of the Good Shepherd at Saint Peter's Church, large, abstract wooden sculptures seem to move along much of the 28-foot walls. The figures are strange yet somehow calming, giving the impression of quiet and space juxtaposed against the commotion of midtown Manhattan just outside. Nearby, three five-foot-long rectangular columns, representing the Holy Trinity, hang suspended from the ceiling next to the altar, covered in a gleaming gold leaf.

The odd shapes are actually abstract representations of biblical scenes. One sculpture is called the Frieze of the Apostles, another the Cross of the Resurrection.

Upon closer inspection, however, the pieces don't look so good. "The sculptures are in really bad shape," Nunberg says. She's an objects conservator with the Objects Conservation Studio, and it's her job to restore these sculptures to their former glory.

The sculptures, designed by famed artist Louise Nevelson, were once painted white. That was 40 years ago, and they have since faded to a yellowish hue. You can't see that yellow. Over the decades, the sculptures have been repainted in a slapdash manner with different kinds of water-based paint. Now the wood has expanded and contracted in a different way from the paint, causing it to blister and chip, revealing unsightly patches of dark wood underneath. Trying to paint over it again, as has been done for decades, wouldn't work. The paint wouldn't even stay on.

Nunberg has put together a team to figure out how to best preserve these sculptures. They are testing different solutions that will strip away the added layers of paint to reveal Nevelson's slightly yellowed original. "First we will glue everything down, and then we'll peel off the restoration layers like an onion," she says.

People visit museums to learn, but more than that, to be transported to the past. They might ooh and ahh over artifacts masterfully crafted with simple tools or paintings that depict a lifestyle long disappeared. We often assume these objects are immortal, that they will always be there to remind us of who we are as a culture. (Who wants to imagine a world in which The Last Supper or The Scream don't exist anymore?) Yet few of us think about how much had to be done to those objects simply to stop them from falling apart. Urns that gleam on museum shelves were once pulled from the ground as corroded hunks of metal. An earthenware pot might have been a million fragments before someone painstakingly pieced it back together. A dedicated scholar and craftsman has returned a faded painting to its former glory.

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Art conservators fight a constant, never-ending battle against time, an unwinnable war against entropy to bring works of art back to nearly immaculate condition and keep them there. Of course, things don't always go according to plan. (Remember the Jesus fresco in Spain ruined by a bizarrely botched restoration?) Good intentions aside, old, delicate objects can be damaged by overzealous cleaning or by storing them under the wrong conditions. There have been shards of Mayan ceramics that were whittled down to fit together when the reassembly is incorrect, like snipping the knobs off jigsaw puzzle pieces when you can't figure out where they go. Prehistoric flints in storage in Verona, Italy, turned a pearly blue because of previously unknown molecules present in the plastic drawer liners. One conservator I talked to recalls an incident in London from the late 1970s in which the inlay in several intricate Faberge eggs melted while on display.

The lights were too bright.

Conservators are craftsmen. Restoration treatments need to be made of the right chemicals to prevent damage, but applying them requires a delicate hand and a light touch. Conservators rely on science to aid their efforts. They scrutinize the tiniest details of priceless artifacts. They conduct chemical analyses of an object to determine its molecular makeup and decide how best to clean or repair it. They place a sculpture or painting in storage or on display under environmental conditions that will delay its slide into destruction.

And yet, art conservation is not quite a science. Saving the past means navigating a sea of unanswered or unanswerable questions about what the artist intended an object to look like or how efforts to fix a piece of art could damage it. Sometimes conservators make mistakes-mistakes that destroy irreplaceable objects. Sometimes intuition fails. And though the field has become much more scientific in the past few decades, conservators still have some big questions about how to preserve the past without destroying it. "We have to take the long view of the history of these objects," says Pamela Hatchfield, the head of objects conservation at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

First, Do No Harm

Bruno Pouliot was working on a number of pieces from President George Washington's Mount Vernon estate in Virginia when he received a new artifact.It had been reduced to a mess of wood and leather, but Pouliot, an art conservation professor at the University of Delaware, worked out its original identity. It was a canteen, a container that would have stored the spices and kitchen gadgets needed to prepare a nice meal while soldiers were out on a campaign. The bag didn't look much like a bag anymore, though. "It was missing big segments," he says. "It just looked terrible, like an old rotten piece of leather."

It just looked terrible, like an old rotten piece of leather.

Pouliot wanted to preserve the canteen and put it back on display at Mount Vernon if possible, but this wasn't an object that had been designed to last 250 years. The leather was treated with some waterproofing chemicals (Pouliot wasn't sure which) and the canteen had carried salts and herbs that would have degraded the materials if it weren't carefully cleaned. Before they could start to take action, Pouliot's team had to figure out what animal was the source of the leather, what kinds of waterproofing treatments were made on leather in the Revolutionary era, and what kind of degradation happened to the canteen during its centuries in storage. It's a daunting task to save the past.

From the moment it is created, an object starts to decompose. Materials release gases as they break down, which can interact with one another to accelerate decomposition. The most famous example of this is cellulose nitrate, a material that made up early film. It would release gases such as nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide and, if unventilated, would quickly discolor and turn brittle or even burst into flames. The other things enclosed in a case with an object, or the foam padding underneath it, or even the container it's in affect how it breaks down.

To start, you've got to know what you're dealing with, so conservators subject an artifact to a barrage of tests that tell them the chemicals it contains. In the past, Hatchfield says, those tests would sometimes be fairly destructive. Conservators might shave off part of a bronze bowl to check for characteristic corrosion between its grains, or rip a tooth from a mummy's mouth to test its DNA. Today, they try to alter an object as little as possible, and so they test microscopic samples of a piece.

They use X-ray fluorescence machines that work by shooting a beam of high-energy rays at a sample, then detect how much energy is released when an outer electron becomes dislodged. They use gas chromatography mass spectrometry, in which a sample is turned into a vapor and mixed with a light gas like helium-the components in the sample separate based on their chemical properties and are then heated to become ions, which enables the device to identify the different elements based on their structure. Heating up pottery reveals the low levels of radiation trapped inside it, so conservators can approximate the age of the material via a process called thermoluminescence. CAT scans and MRIs show conservators what's under a mummy's wraps without having to physically peel them off.

"We use many different analytical techniques, but there's a limit to what these techniques can do," Pouliot says. Many still can't distinguish well between organic materials, Pouliot says, and that can make a difference in the long run, say, if you're treating cowhide versus a sheepskin. Or if the surface of a ceramic pot has been exposed to light for a long time, conservators can't figure out when it was made without drilling deeper into it.

Pouliot and his collaborators were able to restore the canteen enough so that it could be put on display at Mount Vernon, but there were "large losses" in the leather. They had to replace it with modern leather, doctored to look centuries old, that they glued to the original. "In the future, we will likely lose more of the [original] hide because we don't fully know the longevity of these adhesives that are in contact with the material," Pouliot says.

Even with the most sophisticated chemical analysis, some questions-about the artifact's past use, where it's been since it was created-just can't be answered without a time machine.

To Fix or Not to Fix

Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito, and a skeleton. Each of the four rides a dark, maniacal horse with legs ablaze as it gallops over the planet; each clutches a dagger or a bomb. It's called Apocalypse '42. The piece, by American artist Viktor Schreckengost, has been shown a lot in the past 70 years, says Helen Ingalls, an objects conservator at the Lunder Conservation Center at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. (though there's now some debate about whether to show this piece at all because of its stereotypical depiction of Japanese people). In November the jarring sculpture was to go on display at the newly renovated Renwick Gallery. But first, something weird caught the eye of restorers when they took the piece out of storage-a red glaze from the horse's hooves seemed to have bled onto the base.

"This is a fine art museum and we have a minimal tolerance for distracting anomalies," Ingalls says. "We want people to get sucked into the content of the work, we don't want them to think, what is that thing?" It was pretty clear that the glaze belonged there, at least according to Ingalls. "Whether or not the artist intended for it to run like that and look bloody, it definitely enhances the context and content of the work," she says. "And the artist decided to keep it. I think the artist was both horrified and delighted."

Bringing a work of art back to its former visual glory can be as simple as cleaning or stabilizing it, as in removing damaging salts that will cause cracks eventually. But other times conservators need to actively repair an artifact. To do that, conservators need to put themselves in the artist's shoes. "The original intent is something we think about a lot," Hatchfield says. This attention to detail might seem obsessive, but it's necessary.

Let's take the Nevelson sculptures, for example. Removing that yellowish original paint requires scraping and sanding, which can affect the original wood. That's simply something conservators don't do, Nunberg says-it's too damaging. "Removing original and replacing it with new paint removes important original history and is not reversible," she says. "Future generations would not be able to see original  surfaces, they would see a surface that would be a part of the conservator's handwork."

"The second you start introducing materials into something that's lasted 2,000 years, you're messing with it."

In the early days of art conservation, in the 1960s and '70s, it was in fashion to repair as much of an artifact as possible. Restorers would use glue or epoxies to fix tears, metal pins to reattach broken parts of a sculpture, fill in parts of a painting that had faded-even if their modern paint had a totally different chemical composition. "The second you start introducing materials into something that's lasted 2,000 years, you're messing with it," Nunberg says.

Over-cleaning can be a problem too. To make artifacts look nice on display, people might remove some of the chemical layers that were probably on the object during its original use-think of the oxidized layer that gives the Statue of Liberty her distinct green hue. If the statue were restored to its original gleaming copper, it would just look wrong. "I prefer to be the first one to work on any given object-there's often been too much cleaning, or things were put together incorrectly," Hatchfield says.

Things have changed. Today conservators are less likely to clean objects, and there's a push to make their treatments more reversible and use them more sparingly. That's partially because of a newfound value in keeping artifacts as intact as possible. But it's also because of a larger cultural shift, an understanding that objects in museums don't show up looking just as they did when they were created, and the evidence of that doesn't need to be totally erased. "These days we allow objects their own history, to have a trace of what they've been through," Hatchfield says. "They have a story to tell beyond just their manufacture and ancient use."

You need only look at the new and creative ways to save priceless art while still showing it off. When a painting by famed abstract artist Mark Rothko was faded beyond repair, conservators at Harvard projected light onto the canvas, adding color to make the painting look like its former self. Large institutions like the Smithsonian are digitizing their collections to preserve them better, which also allows them to render objects as they might have been before they were damaged. A team of Tokyo-based scientists have spent years capturing images of the collapsing Bayon temple at the center of Cambodia's Angkor Wat, which has allowed them to discover and restore new faces carved into the stone.

But even after the painstaking restoration process, it remains a challenge to put them on display to the world without letting them fall apart.

An Oddball Test

A stainless-steel oven, about the size of a dorm-style mini-fridge, sits inconspicuously on a counter in the lab. Inside sits a rack filled with about two dozen vials, each with strips of metal stuck in the top and a different colored material resting at the bottom. The vials had been in there for nearly a month, baking at a relentless 140 degrees Fahrenheit with 100 percent humidity.

This is the Oddy test. Developed in 1973 by conservator Andrew Oddy of the British Museum, it's a way to test materials that would go in a museum's display case. Mats, paints, mounts, they're all tested this way. It's meant to speed up the rate at which the materials in question release the gases and chemicals trapped inside. If the material contains any acids that would be corrosive to an object, then the three metal strips in the vial-made of copper, lead, and silver- would react. Depending on the chemical makeup of object in question and how much the metals reacted, the Oddy could show that a particular material would be too reactive to be used.

"I don't mean 99.9 percent, I mean perfect."

Sounds pretty scientific, right? It's not. Every institution has a slight variation on the test, which makes it difficult to compare the results across multiple trials. Many of the materials evaluated in the Oddy test are from a supplier and most are proprietary, which means that conservators don't actually know what chemicals are in them before they start. The manufacturers can change the recipe with no warning, so the same foam board tested a year ago needs to be tested again, just in case.

What's more, there are simply too many variables at play in this test to know what's causing a corrosive reaction. "Basically what you need for an Oddy test is a perfect environment," Ingalls says "You need everything to be perfectly clean, you need your metals to be perfect. I don't mean 99.9 percent, I mean perfect."

Conservators are aware of the failings of the Oddy test. "[At the Museum of Fine Arts] we are kind of dismissive of the Oddy test, though we do it," Hatchfield says. "It's a test that is fraught with imperfections," Ingalls says, describing it as kitchen chemistry. "Nevertheless, it can identify the worst offenders in case materials. And that's extremely valuable, because otherwise you're flying completely blind."

Art conservators are constantly negotiating with exhibition designers and the construction team to find materials that fit the museum's budget and the exhibit schedule. That means compromise. Sometimes you just need a test that basically works. "It's sort of like a canary in a coal mine situation-it can really identify the worst offenders. That's hugely important," says Ariel O'Connor, also an objects conservator at the Lunder Conservation Center.

"It can identify the worst offenders That's extremely valuable, because otherwise you're flying completely blind."

Lastly, they call in some backup. Museums will use another type of material to absorb some of the gases that get loose in a display. These are called sorbents or scavengers, and what they're made of depends on what the object is made of. But you can think of them like the silica gel packets placed in a box of new shoes to absorb moisture. Silver cloth or copper can absorb sulfur, for example, preventing it from reaching the artifact. For most materials, though, there no formula to calculate how much sorbent is needed. It takes a lot of trial and error. "You have to think of it in terms of the whole case, not just one material," Nunberg says.

Over the next few decades, new types of analysis will help conservators noninvasively answer more questions about the chemical composition of artifacts and the materials that accompany them. At Harvard, archaeologists developed a test called peptide mass fingerprinting that can better distinguish organic materials or even different types of resins, something that's never before been possible, and precise enough that it may replace the Oddy test. Lasers and carbon dioxide treatments might provide gentle cleaning methods-soon, we could be brushing gunk off artifacts without even touching them.

The Future Is Scientific(ish)

In the mid-1980s, workers at the Hirshhorn gallery in Washington, D.C., found a sculpture "dripping" in its case, according to a 1985 Washington Post article. The 1920s sculpture by Russian-born artist Antoine Pevsner, called Head of a Woman, was made of dozens of pieces of cellulose nitrate, the same material as early film. The material started out clear and shiny. But as the material was exposed to light and released gases, it shrank and turned brown. At a conservation workshop at the Tate Gallery in London in 2007, another of Pevsner's cellulose sculptures drew collective gasps because it looked like a "plate of Doritos," according to a 2010 blog post.

Art itself does not stand still. Conservators have spent decades learning to clean and protect paintings and pieces of wood or leather, only to find themselves confronted by the challenge of saving newer works made of newer stuff. "The big question now is what we do with the preservation of early synthetic materials," Pouliot says. That applies to sculptures like Pevsner's and those of some of his contemporaries, but it also holds true for objects made of rubber, early photographs, film, and even ladies' combs used in the 19th century. For now, that means making replicas and putting those on display, keeping the originals in cold storage to slow their breakdown. But in the future, these new analytic techniques might help conservators find an alternative way to preserve objects made of these synthetic materials.

Back at the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Nunberg and her collaborators have a plan to strip away the layers of restoration paint and save Louise Nevelson's sculptures. They just need to figure out how to do it. On a blustery March day, Nunberg and her colleague Soraya Alcala met to test methods for removing the paint. Nunberg used a paintbrush to apply a thin gel to the painted wood, while Alcala held a thicker substance in plastic wrap and held it against the sculpture until it stuck. The thicker substance is easier to remove than the thin, clear gel.

It's taken some in-depth analysis to get here, Nunberg says. Her team has used X-ray fluorescence, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (to understand the emissions from a sample), and microscopic cross sections. Before applying the nanogel to remove the paint from the 586 square feet of sculpture in the chapel (a process that will take four conservators about eight months), the team will try it out on mock-ups and perform a large-scale environmental analysis to determine the ecologic impact of whichever solution they choose.

Despite all this, there's a chance that the original paint underneath all the restoration layers won't be as pristine as the team hopes. Nothing lasts forever. Nunberg just wants to make it last a little longer.
Piaggio Joins (RED) in Fight Against AIDS

The Piaggio Group has announced a partnership with AIDS charity (RED) https://red.org/ in support of raising funds to finance programs that battle against the disease.

Attending the event that launched collaboration was also Bill Gates who, through the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation, is one of the main global protagonists in the battle for health and wellbeing in developing countries.

Vespa (RED)

Founded in 2006 by Bono and Bobby Shriver, (RED) has contributed $350 million to the battle against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. These funds have been distributed in Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia  with 100 percent of the resources destined to activities on site.

In support of the organization, Piaggio brand Vespa has developed a (RED) model to allow two-wheel enthusiasts to express their support. From the sale of each unit, $150 will go toward supporting the activities of the Global Fund for the battle against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Vespa (RED)

The partnership with (RED), one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, represents another concrete commitment by Piaggio in this area, said Piaggio Group CEO Roberto Colaninno. This will be a global collaboration between two organizations recognized all over the world as symbols of professionalism and excellence.

The Vespa (RED) will be presented in its final form at this years EICMA show in November. The models will be sold in Europe, Asia, the Pacific and the United States. The first group of Vespa (RED) vehicles will go on sale in December 2016, to coincide with (RED)s Shopathon campaign.
In the middle of a meeting on whether to sink money into a concierge service app, the team at the Sound Ventures investment fund got a little silly and tried the service out by ordering a cactus to be delivered to co-founder Ashton Kutcher. "We actually did invest in that company, and we continue to use it," says Abe Burns, a partner in the fund. "And the cactus is now in our office, sitting there."

Hands-on engagement with the ventures it backs is one of the hallmarks of investing for the team behind Sound Ventures, which first made its name with A-Grade Investments, a fund founded in 2010 by Kutcher, music executive Guy Oseary and billionaire Ron Burkle that become a quick legend in startup investing. Early bets on Uber, Airbnb and Spotify have helped its portfolio grow eightfold to $250 million and landed Kutcher on the cover of Forbes' "Midas List" edition in March featuring the world's savviest tech investors.

That growth wasn't just luck. Much like selecting an Oscar-winning script from a pile in an agent's office, picking winners from the mind-boggling number of startups seeking support means performing extraordinary due diligence, establishing a connection with the founders of the company and settling in for a few years. "I think of it like a five- to seven-year - or longer - relationship," says Burns, who's a partner in the $100 million Sound Ventures fund created with Kutcher and Oseary last year. "You're going to spend a long time with them; you have to have that spark."

Kutcher and company are among a number of celebrity investors getting buzz for their startup savvy. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jared Leto, Bono and Nas also have earned attention for their venture funding. Music manager Troy Carter (Spotify's new global head of creator services) has his own VC fund. Big-time DJs Tiesto, John Acquaviva and David Guetta are among a group of EDM artists called Plus Eight Equity Partners, which backs digital music startups. And even such agencies as CAA and UTA are in on the act.

But would-be investors don't need an Oscar or a Grammy to get access to the same sort of deals. They just require the resources and the willingness to do the footwork and take the risk. And yes, risk is rife in the startup world, whether you're offering seed money to a company taking its first steps, acting as an "angel investor" helping a fledging firm take flight or providing venture funding for companies seeking to ramp up to the next level.

"There are some good investments out there, but what people often hear about are the 'unicorns,'&thinsp" says Daniel Gottfried, a partner at the law firm Hinckley Allen who frequently advises early stage investors. Unicorns, or private companies that rack up valuations of $1 billion or more (think Dropbox and Blue Apron), are the types of investments Gottfried believes should be considered "once in a lifetime" hits "that even the best professional investors will often miss."

The first step for wealthy investors (those with at least $1 million in investable assets, not including their primary home) is consulting with their accredited financial adviser on which venture funds are looking for money. Deals can be as small as a few thousand dollars, but most investors start off with somewhere in the range of $200,000 to $500,000.

Experts advise to buckle up. The smartest way to invest is to spread cash across a number of startups so that a winning bet offsets the losers. "It's inevitable," says Burns. "Not every company can be Uber or Airbnb, and that's fine."

Hinckley Allen saw a rush into angel investing about five years ago, but the fervor tapered off as many people found the risk to be unappetizing. Still, venture investing remains at a 20-year high, according to a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Some $60 billion was deployed in the U.S. last year and about $100 billion globally.

Experts say novice investors should start by observing. That includes attending an incubator event for startups, where company founders go to meet investors. One that has lured Hollywood players is Y Combinator, the quintessential seed accelerator, where twice a year tech startups present their products and make connections. The San Francisco fund has even teamed with CAA to host an educational conference for clients and friends of the agency who are interested in learning more about angel investing.

Invites to Y Combinator's Demo Days almost are as hard to score as Hamilton tickets, but smaller investor showcases and angel conferences are held throughout the country by hundreds of organizations. One popular place to start is by joining AngelList.co, an online platform that brings investors and entrepreneurs together.

Seasoned investors and advisers contend it's a good idea to start out with an angel group or a pool of investors with varied expertise. The members can then tap into their collective wisdom when making decisions and advising the companies in which they invest.

Experts also stress that these investments are usually not liquid - once the money is sunk in, it can be five or more years before investors see a return. So those hoping to turn the money from a spec script sale into a never-work-again fortune might be waiting a long time.

And then there are cases in which investors are wiped out.

"These investments can be awesome if you have the right ingredients," says Gottfried. "But they can be a nightmare if they don't or if you don't know what to expect."

This story first appeared in the July 15 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
These Pics Prove that Kriti is Bollywood's 'Golden Girl' These Pics Prove that Kriti is Bollywood's 'Golden Girl'

Even though the lovely Kriti Sanon has been a part of the Hindi film industry for just a couple of years, the gorgeous lady has carved quite a niche for herself thanks to her impeccable style statement and charming personality.

Now, she is back in the limelight yet again. As it so happens, Kriti was recently spotted as she posed for some amazing photos. Sporting a golden outfit, the Heropanti actress looked quite stunning. Moreover, her shy expressions and cool body language added new life to the getup. We must say, Kriti sure is elegance personified. Way to go!

On the professional side of things, Kriti was last seen in the action-comedy Dilwale. In it, she was paired opposite Varun Dhawan. At present, the star is busy working on her next release Raabta. In the romantic-drama, she will be seen opposite the much-love Sushant Singh Rajput. It has already created a buzz amongst movie buffs courtesy this fresh pairing
SPARTA TOWNSHIP, New JerseyOn a recent early summer morning, the chirps and trills of songbirds filled the air as our group of around two dozen walked down a dirt access road into a forest in northern New Jersey. The leaves formed a dense green canopy high above our heads, filtering out most of the warm sun. Bear tracks, said one man, pointing to a row of paw marks drying into the damp earth. We stepped carefully to avoid crushing them with our hiking boots.

We were on a walk into the Sparta Mountain Wildlife Management Area, a 3,461-acre state-owned nature preserve about 50 miles northwest of Manhattan and about 30 miles due east of the Delaware River and the Pennsylvania border. The preserve is nestled amid a dozen or more preserves and parks running across the states northern mountains, in a region called the New Jersey Highlands. This lofty 100-year-old forest is in the heart of a swath of unbroken, mature forestland that is rare in Americas most densely populated state, all of it sitting above an aquifer that provides drinking water for 6 million residents.

Although its a relatively small chunk of New Jerseys roughly 740,000 acres of publicly owned forestland, Sparta Mountain is also at the center of a controversial management proposal, prepared by New Jersey Audubon for the state Department of Environmental Protection, that would allow up to 10 percent of the preserves forest to be cut over the next 10 years by state-contracted loggers. While some plots would have trees selectively removed, others would be clear-cut to create multi-acre thickets of young trees surrounded by older forest.

The plan is roiling the states environmentalistsand it reflects a larger debate in the Northeast about how to manage the regions resurgent forests, which have regrown in the past century to cover the greatest area seen since colonial times. Advocates say that cuts are necessary because the forest, which is composed of evenly aged trees ranging from 65 to 100 years old, lacks the habitats needed by diverse wildlife species, including the birds and bats that everyone agrees are on the decline. The even ages of the trees also make them vulnerable to a catastrophe such as parasites or extreme weather.

The proposed plan would allow for selective thinning in areas where there are trees of predominantly the same age class, said Robert Geist, communications coordinator with the NJDEPs Division of Natural and Historic Resources. The main point of this plan is forest management and making sure that we have a healthy forest for generations there today and generations to come.

Opponents of the plan argue that New Jersey cannot afford to lose any of its mature forest. New Jersey is one of the last states to start signing up for the young forests initiative on public land, said ecologist Emile DeVito, the manager of science and stewardship for the New Jersey Conservation Association, which, along with the New Jersey Highlands Coalition and the states chapter of the Sierra Club, opposes the proposal. Most other Northeastern states have adopted this idea that there needs to be a lot more young forest on the landscape, [but] when you bring it down to New Jersey, the main problem is you dont have a lot of intact forest. Weve done all we can to slow down fragmentation in the Highlands.

Opponents also worry that the plan is a veiled effort to bring commercial logging to New Jerseys forests. Julia Somers, the director of the New Jersey Highlands Coalition, believes that with the Sparta Mountain proposal, the DEP is trying to monetize state lands.

RELATED: Size Does Matter When It Comes to Saving Forests

Its a philosophical idea that they should be making money from state lands, she said, rather than assessing their value based on recreational uses, clean air and water, or biodiversity conservation. They dont see the value in the public enjoyment of places that have not been harvested.

Somers allowed that some active management of the forest is probably necessary, but her group has criticized the attention that the proposal gives to commercial forestry, such as the preserves proximity to commercial rail transportation that could serve to transport forest products in the future.

We dont believe they should be harvesting product, Somers said. If you take that as your guide, it completely changes the impact of what youre going to be doing.

Geist denied the charge. A lot of people when they think logging, they think northern Michigan or northern Maine. This is not that, he said.

Its unclear at this stage whether the state would pay contractors to do the work or expect them to generate revenue from selling the wood they cut on Sparta Mountain. It does cost money to remove the trees, Geist said. The people who remove the trees are free to do what they want with that. If that means making some money, thats OK. We dont expect people to work for free.

That position is echoed by John Cecil, vice president for stewardship at New Jersey Audubon and a leader of our June morning hike, along with colleague Donald Donnelly, a stewardship project director-forester with New Jersey Audubon. Neither rule out a logging contractor making some money off the trees they would cut under the management proposal, although they too refute that the results would amount to creating a commercial logging industry in New Jersey.

But many of the people who have turned out for the walkcommunity members concerned that the plan will harm the forest, regional water quality, and local wildlifelook unconvinced.

Sharon Wander of Newton, New Jersey, who with her husband, Wade, has worked for decades as an environmental consultant in the state, is one of these skeptics.

This forest has a complete suite of organisms, up to bobcats and barred owls, she said as we walked. That is usually taken as an indicator of a healthy forest.

Wander is also concerned that the plan does not offer the sorts of documentation and protections of streams, wetlands, or vernal pools that would be required in a commercial development project, or firm plans for monitoring them. There are pristine waterways up there that go into public water supplies, she said. Serious research has demonstrated that when you do clear-cuts, you have tremendous loss of soil nutrients into nearby waterways. Nutrient levels can be affected for decades. And theyre not monitoring because they say they are not doing anything bad. But they should be.

She also believes that creating big gaps in the forest could lead to big problems with invasive species. Youve got wild sarsaparilla and all these forest plants that are vulnerable to disturbance, she said. Alien plants are going to get in there that were never in there before.

The proposal notes the presence of about 50 rare or endangered plants in the Sparta Mountain preserve that the proposed cuts would have to work around or promote, as well as 41 species of vulnerable wildlife. The one that has come up most often among both defenders and detractors of the plan is the golden-winged warbler, a songbird that summers and breeds in North American forests and winters in Central America and northern Colombia. The species eastern U.S. population has declined by 90 percent over the past 40 to 50 years, said Ron Rohrbaugh, assistant director of conservation science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and loss of young forest habitat in its summer nesting grounds is one reason why.

In the birds eastern United States range, we have a lot of early successional forest that has grown up into mature forest because of current land use practices and the way we manage our forests, Rohrbaugh said. We just dont have the amount of young forest that golden-winged warblers need to breed in.

In the preserve, Donnelly and Cecil bring our group to a brushy thicket of bushes and saplings that barely hit the five-foot-tall mark. Its the site of a 13-acre clear-cut that the state made in consultation with Audubon during the winter of 2013.

Three years later, the growth is still a little young for pure golden-winged warblers, Donnelly said, which like their forests in the five- to six-year range, apparently. But blue-winged warblers and blue-golden hybrids have been sighted in the thicket, and he seems pleased with the diverse array of trees growing in. He names tulip poplar; sumac; red, black, scarlet, and white oak; black birch; hickory; cherry; and red maple. The location of this cut, near a power line right-of-way where golden-winged warblers have been known to nest, makes him and his colleagues optimistic that the species will move in.

When they fledge their young, they move them into the mature forest, said Rohrbaugh of the warblers. So its important to have this patchwork, this shifting mosaic of habitats and structures, so the birds can move into one or the other over their breeding cycle.

Although there is a stream and a wetland downslope of this cut, Donnelly and Cecil say there have been no signs of erosion or sediment loading since the cut. Weve seen nonnative mugwort plants along the dirt road, but Donnelly said that invasive plants are far from problematic in the cut, making up less than 5 percent of the regrowth. Greater than that would trigger an herbicide treatment, he said.

There were around 100 breeding pairs of golden-winged warblers in New Jersey in the 1990s, said Cecil. Now there are about 25 pairs, and half of them are using the rights-of-ways under power lines for nestingvulnerable areas because utility companies are legally required to keep undergrowth no higher than three feet.

While they are still waiting for a firm sign that the cut is attracting golden-winged warblers, Sharon Petzinger, a senior zoologist and a 15-year veteran with the DEP, tells the group that since 2014, shes seen a jump in the diversity of avian species in the area. She has recorded 28 bird speciesincluding gray catbirds, prairie warblers, towhees, scarlet tanagers, buntings, field sparrows, and indigo buntingscompared with 14 to 16 in the interior forest and around 20 in typical Sparta Mountain wetland.

These managed sites are amazing compared to the shrubby wetlands. Species diversity is increasing, she told us.

Rohrbaugh cautioned that the warblers decline will not be stopped solely by actions in New Jersey or the United States. We all think of these birds as our birds, and we must be to blame if theyre declining. But they spend much more time on their wintering grounds in Central America and in Colombia, where deforestation could be reducing overwintering survival, he said.

Critics of the plan are skeptical of its goals for conserving golden-winged warblers. The golden-winged warbler has all of a sudden become this poster bird for Lets manage for a rare species,  said DeVito.

But the birds disappearance from New Jersey cannot be stopped, he said, because climate change is making the states forests more hospitable to a competing species. They have all been replaced with the blue-winged warbler, its southern counterpart, which is both taking over its habitat and hybridizing with the golden-winged warbler, DeVito said. As average global temperatures rise, the effective elevation of our habitats is going down, he said, which is forcing the warbler and other birds to shift northward.

Im the last one that wants to see the golden-winged warbler disappear from New Jersey, DeVito said, but its not like its going to go extinct.

Advocates like Cecil and Rohrbaugh counter that managing for where the bird is now, as well as where it may be in the future, are equally important to its survival. These forests are not meant to be static and unchanging, said Rohrbaugh. Because processes like fires and beavers have all been changed by humans, he said, we have to try and mimic these natural processes, and sometimes that means cutting trees.

Sign the Petition: Hold Big Business to Its Promises: Eliminate Deforestation

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Original article from TakePart
Social media has evolved into so much more than a way to share vacation photos, keep in touch with your friends overseas, and poke your crush. Its now a way for those whove been wronged to put bullies in their rightful place  publicly.

One of the latest people to use this function of social media to her advantage is Brynne Huffman  a woman from Frisco, Texas  who, this past Friday, wrote a lengthy Facebook post detailing an unpleasant experience shed had while running errands around town. Huffmans offense? Wearing denim shorts while being plus-size.

It all happened while she was standing in line at the UPS store  which actually began quite pleasantly. Wrote Huffman,

I stood in line between two women. Woman #1 in front of me was about sixty. As I took my place in line behind her, she smiled and complimented me on my tan and my hair. We chitchatted about the weather and children until it was her turn at the counter. [In] the spirit of paying it forward, I turned to Woman #2 behind me and smiled. Woman #2 was probably about 30-35, very attractive, about a size 8, wearing a shirt that says COEXIST..She says: Your hair really is amazing. ::cocks head to side:: You should probably rethink the shorts though.

Yikes.

Huffman continues:

My face instantly flushes, not out of embarrassment but anger. No, not anger. Rage. This as my head slowly tilts to the side. If youve seen me really angry you know what I mean. My fists clenched up. I know this because I felt my nails digging into my palms. So many things ran through my head. Because I dont have time to get arrested today, what came out was this: You should probably rethink your shirt. I turned around and ignored her until I left the store. I wanted to say more but was afraid, of all things, that I would start crying. All I wanted to do was go home and change my clothes. And THAT made me angry.

But instead of letting her anger get the best of her, Huffman, whos an actress, decided to use the experience to rally people  particularly women  together to stop the vicious cycle of negativity that leads to tearing each other down.

Story continues

Listen, people. Especially women. Plus sized doesnt necessarily mean unhealthy. Plus sized doesnt necessarily mean lazy. Plus sized doesnt mean ugly or undesirable or untalented or uncoordinated or LESS. THAN. HUMAN. You might have an issue with my body. I dont. And Ive worked very hard past judgmental family and friends, past divorce, past depression to NOT have an issue with my body. Women. Do not tear each other down. Celebrate each other. Every day.

And Huffmans post has clearly resonated with others. At press time, its been shared nearly 4,500 times and has more than 9,800 likes and reactions. She may not have gotten an apology from Miss Coexist, but she found the support of thousands of people who were on her side.

Facebook rants about so-called size-ism have become increasingly common. In late May, a teen named Missy Rogers saw her post about American Eagles shrinking shorts sizes go viral. It began with the words, Im not one to be big about Facebook rants  But I do feel that this needs to be shared. To date, more than 76,000 people who have shared her post seem to agree. Leeds, U.K., resident Ruth Clemens saw her mid-June rant against the bogus sizing at H&M get shared 12,670 times, which eventually warranted a response from the clothing brand itself.

And ranting, of course, isnt exclusive to females. A guy named Benjamin Ashton Cooper made headlines in March for posting photos of himself trying on his girlfriends tank tops to prove how whack the sizing of womens clothing is. That post has been shared more than 306,000 times. And in May, a stay-at-home dad named Michael Jammer received more than 76,000 shares after posting about the same sentiment.

In other words, social media has given the masses a platform on which to be heard, ensuring that their complaints wont end up discarded before theyre seen. And in being shared by others who agree, each post is turned into a petition  even if that petition is against a single rotten person, a brand, or society as a whole.

Speaking up about whats wrong is the first step to making a change in the future. And as more and more people continue to voice their upset on social media, somethings bound to change  even if it takes a while.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron promised on Wednesday to clamp down on hate crime in the wake of a spike in racially motivated incidents since Britain voted to leave the European Union which have spread fear among ethnic minority groups. Muslim and Eastern European communities have reported a spate of incidents across the country after last week's Brexit vote, which followed a campaign in which immigration had played a key role. Dozens of people have reported being abused and told to "go home" in the street, offensive leaflets have been distributed and graffiti daubed on a Polish community centre in London. Police said online reports of hate crime incidents had risen by 57 percent. "We will not tolerate hate crime or any kind of attacks against people in our country because of their ethnic origin," Cameron told lawmakers who repeatedly asked him to provide support to EU nationals living in Britain. Cameron said he had reassured European leaders at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday night after they had expressed concern about what they had heard was happening in Britain. Critics accuse some in the "Leave" campaign of having stoked xenophobia and racism as part of a message that exiting the bloc would allow Britain to regain control of its borders and stop uncontrolled immigration, which many Britons blame for putting pressure on jobs and public services. A week before the vote, opposition Labour lawmaker Jo Cox, a strong supporter of staying in the EU, was shot and stabbed to death in her constituency in northern England. Home Office (interior ministry) minister Karen Bradley said extra funding would be provided to tackle hate crime, to boost reporting of offences and to provide security at potentially vulnerable institutions. "In recent days we have seen far-right groups engaged in organised marches and demonstrations sowing division and fears in our communities," Bradley said. "We have also seen far-right groups broadcasting extreme racist and anti-Semitic ideology online along with despicable hate speech posted online following the shocking death of our colleague Jo Cox." Labour home affairs spokesman Andy Burnham said since last week there had been reports of a fivefold increase in race hate comment on social media channels, and there had been already been a "rising tide" of hate crime. London police said they had arrested a 41-year-old man on Wednesday on suspicion of inciting racial hatred, adding the investigation was related to extreme far-right social media postings of an "Islamophobic and anti-Semitic nature". (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)
New Delhi, June 29 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed profound grief over the loss of lives in the dastardly attack on Istanbuls Ataturk international airport and dubbed it as inhuman and horrific.

Prime Minister Modi took to micro-blogging site Twitter to condemn the attack, which left 36 people dead and over a 100 injured.

Attack in Istanbul is inhuman & horrific. I condemn it strongly. My thoughts are with bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly, the Prime Minister tweeted.



Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has also expressed grief over the attack and tweeted, "My prayers are with the families of the victims & the ppl of #Istanbul,

"Shocked &deeply saddened by news of yet another terror attack in #Istanbul.Strongly condemn this cowardly attack on innocents, he said in another tweet.

According to Istanbul Governor, at least three people were involved in the attack at one of Europes busiest Airports that took place late last evening.



The attackers opened fire at airport guards at the terminal entrance and a shootout erupted before they blew themselves up one by one.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for stepped-up cooperation in the fight against terrorism, following the deadly attack.

He condemned the attack and expressed his deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the government and people of Turkey.

In a statement, his spokesman said that the UN chief hopes that the perpetrators of this crime will be identified and brought to justice.

Turkey has been hit by a string of deadly attacks in the past year, blamed on both Kurdish rebels and the Islamic State terrorist group. Meanwhile, the US and French consulates have issued a warning, asking people to stay away from the area.

Source: (ANI)
BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - NATO should keep its door open to countries of strategic importance, such as Ukraine, Poland's President Andrzej Duda said on Wednesday. "NATO should uphold an open-door policy, especially when it comes to countries that are strategic in terms of their character and location," Duda told a joint news conference with Slovak president Andrej Kiska in Bratislava. "And it should always be ready to assist countries which have been attacked and against which international laws have been broken," Duda also said. (Reporting by Tatiana Jancarikova; Writing by Marcin Goclowski; Editing by Justyna Pawlak)
By Elizabeth Piper and Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - It had been billed as David Cameron's most awkward summit, a time when he would be forced to rake over the mistakes which led to Britain voting to leave the European Union. But in Brussels on Tuesday, at least for the cameras, the British prime minister cut a relaxed figure, one who shared his regret with other leaders but one who was resigned to offering advice from the sidelines on how to fix a broken relationship. For the others at the dinner, summit protocol ensured a formal politeness and no one felt the need to kick a man who was clearly down and voicing his own apologies. One participant reckoned it may have been "too polite" given how furious every one of the other 27 is with his gamble on a referendum which has plunged all of Europe into turmoil, with no clear way ahead. "Cameron was praised to the grave," another diplomat said of the funereal humor over quail and veal. There were no insults, but no parting gift: "He got dinner," one official said curtly. Cameron apologized for being unable to deliver the victory that other leaders hoped he would secure after they bent EU treaties out of shape to cut him a deal on curbing immigration to Britain - a deal he then barely referred to in the campaign. Cameron aides said "sorry" so much to counterparts backing up the leaders that one EU diplomat described stepping in to end the British self-flagellation. But while there was sadness, even Britain's free-trading friends in northern Europe showed a marked lack of sympathy for its fallen leader, officials said. And after Cameron aides told British reporters that he felt easy EU migration policy had cost them Britain's membership -- and Cameron his job -- EU officials hit back, accusing the British leadership of reaping the whirlwind of years of anti-EU rhetoric and making vows to cut immigration he could not keep. "Don't blame other people for your own failures," one senior EU official said of Cameron's complaints over migration policy, noting that Britain had long wanted cheap east European labor. CAMERON TRANQUIL Cameron gave little sign of having heard such criticism. After relinquishing his premiership when Britain voted for a Brexit, or British exit, against his advice, Cameron came to Brussels as a caretaker leader, one who wanted to help "shape" Britain's future ties with the EU for a new prime minister. "What's he got to lose?" said a government source. "He could have not turned up tonight, or he could turn up tonight and ... set out what he continues to believe is what is in the best interests for Britain." Diplomats said he assured leaders his successor would quickly launch the formal EU withdrawal process -- though some understood from him that he was less sure that would be the case if Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson wins the party leadership. Johnson, aware that triggering the Article 50 mechanism sets a two-year deadline to possible abrupt ejection, has said he sees no urgency to launch that process. As Cameron shook hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk and others, there was occasional awkwardness but also, his aides said, he was pleased that he had won some "understanding" that he had to resign. And despite irritation that he has reneged on a promise to trigger the withdrawal process immediately, an EU official also acknowledged that Cameron's move to leave that job to whoever succeeds him was the mark of "a clever tactician to the end". There were displays of frustration, pity and scorn from EU leaders and lawmakers who pressed him to give early notice of Britain's intention to leave the bloc. But there was also "sadness and regret", Cameron said. In what will most likely be his last EU summit, Cameron may even have seemed somewhat relieved. The British leader has never hidden a dislike of Brussels, a bureaucracy that has deeply divided his ruling Conservative Party for decades and helped bring down two of his predecessors, Margaret Thatcher and John Major. After hailing the immigration deal in February, he said: "I do not love Brussels. I love Britain." But he argued it was his "hard-headed assessment" that it was in Britain's best interests to stay - an argument he repeated for weeks before the vote, but one which not everyone in his party, or in the country, believed was totally heartfelt. It took the British prime minister years to get to grips with the EU system, sources close to Cameron and in the EU have said. He often failed to understand how irritated he was making others. Or looked bored and uninterested in proceedings. This time, it was relatively plain sailing. The state in which he leaves Britain's relations with the EU was, an aide said, "a difficult issue to work through". But, as Cameron, 49, contemplated retirement, those issues were for his successor. (Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Sandra Maler and Peter Graff)
President Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto just had the best three-way handshake of all time.

The three North American leaders met Tuesday at the North American Leaders Summit in Ottawa to discuss deepening their countries' economic ties and strengthening the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

"We will build upon this strong trilateral economic relationship, and further facilitate trade among our three countries, and improve the networks that allow us to produce products and services together," the three said in a joint statement.



But while the meeting appeared to be productive, the true scene stealer was the magnificently awkward handshake that took place during a photo-op between the three leaders.

PM Trudeau took control of the moment by doing a cross-over shake with both Obama and Nieto while Nieto tried to grab for Obama's other hand with his other hand. Seeing that Nieto missed, Trudeau then facilitated in what was truly a slam-dunk moment.

This isn't the first handshake situation Obama has found himself in. This March, Obama became the first sitting US president to visit Cuba in 88 years, while there an interesting handshake (or wristshake?) with Cuban President Raul Castro went viral.

Want more from Yahoo Finance? We've got you covered:

That's all, folks  the Brexit crisis is over

What Donald Trump gets wrong about NAFTA

What the Brexit vote means for the British economy
President Barack Obama on Wednesday addressed the ongoing situation in Turkey where 41 people were killed in a terrorist attack at the Istanbul airport. Following a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at the North American Leaders Summit, Obama expressed his condolences to the people of Turkey for the terrible attack that took place in Istanbul.

During the morning flight to Ottawa, where the summit is being held, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the president had spoken to Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and offered support. Obama later condemned the terrorists who carried out the attack, which reportedly consisted of three suicide bombers who first shot at citizens and then detonated explosive devices. Authorities have not yet deemed any one group responsible for the attack, though Turkeys Prime Minister suggested ISIS is responsible for the attacks.

Obama said the attack was an indication of how little these vicious organizations have to offer beyond killing innocents.

Theyre continually losing ground, unable to govern those areas that they have taken over. Theyre going to be defeated in Syria, theyre going to be defeated in Iraq, Obama said of the terror network. We will not rest until we have dismantled these networks of hate that have had an impact on the entire civilized world.

We stand with the people of Turkey, the President added.
The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

The Times

The co-chief executive of Goldman Sachs International Richard Gnodde has warned that some of the bank's 6,500 staff in the UK may be moved to Europe following the referendum result.(http://bit.ly/293r8wP)

Aston Martin is to stick to its plan to build a carmaking plant in south Wales, even arguing that the vote for Brexit has made the project more viable. (http://bit.ly/292LQsQ)

The Guardian

Vodafone, one of Britain's biggest companies, has warned that it could relocate its head office outside the UK if the negotiations for a post-Brexit Britain do not give it freedom of movement across the EU for people, capital and goods.(http://bit.ly/29mijd4)

Virgin billionaire, Richard Branson, says Chinese business partners are already pulling investment from the UK in the light of the EU referendum vote, and warned that "thousands of jobs will be lost". (http://bit.ly/291qh9Y)

The Telegraph

The British Government is "committed" to expanding airport capacity in the south east, despite the political turmoil caused by Brexit, the transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has said, signalling a decision on a controversial 17.6 billion ($23.49 billion) third runway at Heathrow could still be on the cards. (http://bit.ly/292O3of)

Lloyds Banking Group's boss has bought another 100,000 shares in the bank in a show of confidence that the lender's share price tumble is a short-term hit rather than a sign of long-term problems. (http://bit.ly/294jQHh)

Sky News

Hundreds of British-based jobs at the credit card giant Visa could be forced to relocate to the Continent in the wake of last week's EU referendum. (http://bit.ly/29232xB)

Tax rises and spending cuts will be needed within months to deal with economic challenges following the British vote to leave the EU, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has warned. (http://bit.ly/298ZHzK)

Story continues

The Independent

Fitch has downgraded the UK's credit rating to AA negative, after similar moves by Moody's and S&P, following Britain's vote to leave the EU. (http://ind.pn/28YYG9E)

The Bank of England has injected 3.1 billion ($4.14 billion) into the UK banking system. The amount released on Tuesday was the last of the extra auctions announced by the Bank of England in March this year. (http://ind.pn/293EhnG) ($1 = 0.7493 pounds)

(Editing by Andrew Hay)
(Editors note: Spoilers for Pretty Little Liars ahead.) Tuesday's episode of Pretty Little Liars picked up after Caleb turned Alison over to Uber A  who clearly has some connection to or is Alison's new hubby, Dr. Elliott Rollins, who proceeds to quietly threaten her in his masked British accent and stick her with a syringe. It was a bad day for Ali.

Meanwhile, Hanna escaped her twisted captor only to end up as a literal deer in Mary Drake's headlights.

As fans expressed on Twitter, this episode lacked the normal Pretty Little Liars drama and action, and instead seemed to be a decompression from last week's episode and a set up for next week. Also, this was clearly the breakup episode, where everyone talks about the magnetic, seemingly inescapable quality of Rosewood and chucks the shiny new toys they acquired in their time away from home. Bye Jordan. Bye Liam. Well... sort of "bye" to Liam. And maybe bye Spencer?

BYE LIAM. BYE JORDAN #PLLpic.twitter.com/sKyrmBxCKL

So before we dive into "Haleb" and "Ezria" and the slew of other love triangles, let's talk about Mary Drake. The episode opens with the new "Mrs. D" giving Hanna a ride back to Spencer's house, talking about how complicated family secrets can be how sometimes they are "actual people."

Hannah asks her, "Is that what you are?" to the response, "Not anymore." We know that Mary Drake was locked up in Radley Sanitorium for most of her life (hence no one knowing of her existence) but now we have been given an explanation as to why: When she and the original Mrs. D (Jessica) were 14 years old, Jessica was babysitting and begged Mary to come over and relieve her. Mary obliged, and Jessica put the baby to bed before sneaking out to meet a boy.

When the parents returned home, however, the baby was dead in his room and the blame landed squarely on Mary, who had lied and said she had been babysitting the whole time because Jessica had a headache. Jessica, evidently, stayed silent and let her twin sister get locked away forever. Clearly they never watched White Christmas growing up.

Story continues

'Pretty Little Liars' Season 7, Episode 2 Recap: Breakup Season Has Arrived

So, in light of her confession and vulnerability, we begin to feel for Mary Drake. Maybe she was a victim too just like Charlotte. But we also know that she has been conspiring with the increasingly evil Dr. Elliott Rollins. With his weirdo British accent and vampiric appearance, he is now withholding Ali from any visitors and injecting her with a mysterious crazy potion. Even Mary Drake, in a private silhouetted conversation that Emily observes through blinds in the hospital, objects to how Elliott is treating Alison. Which begs the questionhow evil is Mary Drake?

Im so conflicted over the topic of Mary Drake #PLL

I almost like Mary Drake. I feel like Elliot is the twisted one. #PrettyLittleLiars #PLL

So now on to the messy tangle of relationships that we just saw end, falter, or tested. Couples: Aria and Liam, Aria and Ezra, Hanna and Jordan, Hanna and Caleb (maybe?), Caleb and Spencer (for now), and Emily and Alison (bear with us, here).

Here's who broke up:

Hanna and Aria breaking up w/ their boyfriends is ironically the perfect way to start off the "most romantic season" #PrettyLittleLiars #PLL

Aria and Liam: Aria jumps the gun and totally botches her intended amicable and understanding breakup with Liam. She dives right into the whole "it's not you, it's me" spiel (come on, Aria, you're a writer, get creative) before he can announce to her that he is now the editor what he calls "creative gatekeeper" for her and Ezra's book in progress. Liam proceeds to accuse and mildly threaten Ezra in an edit session through the guise of critiquing the book's characters.





Hanna and Jordan: Hanna attempts to reignite their dwindling romantic flame by planning a second first date at the bar in which they first met. She's also wearing a killer red dress. However, when they discover that the place has been razed, Hanna realizes that her love for Jordan may have been as fickle as New York City real estate. Though we don't hear the words, we see her hand her engagement ring back to Jordan-- which isn't lost on cute/creepy little Lucas as she finally signs on to be in business with him. But really, did anyone think Jordan was going to last?

PLL #PLLChat Omg I feel so bad for Jordan.He loved Hanna so much and she clearly wasn't all in from the get go.

Here's who's on the rocks:

Spencer and Caleb: After making it clear throughout the entire kidnapping ordeal that his heart still lies with Hanna, Caleb is kind of in the dog house with Spencer. She spends a lot of the episode whimpering in corners, knowing the truth but not wanting to admit it. Caleb, on the other hand, doesn't want to admit to himself that he's still in love with Hanna and tries to get Spencer to "come to bed"can't blame a guy, right? They finally address their stiffness (and not the good kind) at the end of the episode, when Caleb refers to their relationship in the past tense, which doesn't go unnoticed by poor Spence.

Who should just get (it) together:

Ezra and Aria: Guys, we just need you to quit holding hands on benches where Aria's very recent ex-boyfriend can clearly see you and get back together already. #TeamEzria

My heart will always be with these two #Ezria pic.twitter.com/skfAbTJiuy

Hanna and Caleb: Caleb, you started this episode by handing Hanna someone else's engagement ring just get your own and make us all happy. #TeamHaleb

I need Hannah to stop living in denial land and let #haleb be a thing. #pll

Emily and Alison: They make out in bed. Emily is annoyingly obsessed with her. Ali has said that Emily is her "favorite" since pretty much Day 1. Let's call a spade a spade, guys. #TeamEmison

The episode ends with Spencer getting fired from her job in DC via text effectively getting ghosted by an institution and faceless hands injecting Alison with something through an IV in her hospital room. She is then mysteriously transported somewhere on a gurneythough the over the top halos suggest this might be a dream sequence.

We see some serious action drama coming up next episode, complete with open hospital gowns, potential poison, and attempted strangulation. The kind of PLL we know and need.
Prince Harry is all of us rocking out onstage at a Coldplay concert

Prince Harry is all of us rocking out onstage at a Coldplay concert

While we all love Coldplay, we dont all get the chance to host them essentially in our backyard. If youre Prince Harry, however, that just happened. H celebrated by hopping up onstage at Kensington Palace and fangirling (fanboying?) out  and the pictures are adorable.

prince harry coldplay

He wasnt just there to party with Chris Martin. The concert itself was organized by Sentebale, Prince Harrys charity that raises money for those affected by HIV/AIDS. This is one of many engagements the prince has ahead of him in order to shine a spotlight on this important issue after Kensington Palace announced the initiative earlier this week, according to Pink News.

Held on the Palaces East Lawn, the concert sat directly behind a statue of Queen Victoria, for which Harry apologized, saying she was surely the only person who has ever had their back to Coldplay. He later added that he was also certain she would have big a big fan of Coldplay were she around to hear their music, but it seems like Harry is a big enough fan for both of them.

The finale was when the real magic happened. The Prince, joined by Sentebale co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho and a 12-strong choir from the southern African kingdom, all got up on stage to sing along to Coldplays hit Up & Up. Were not sure who in that combo is luckier.

Prince Harry Coldplay

Prince Harrys next stop is Durban, South Africa for the 2016 International Aids Conference . . . and were sure Coldplay will be stuck in his head the entire time.

The post Prince Harry is all of us rocking out onstage at a Coldplay concert appeared first on HelloGiggles.
From Redbook

Apparently dating one of the most handsome members of the royal family (sorry, Wills) isn't all crumpets and unicorns.

Chelsy Davy, who was courting Prince Harry for nearly seven years, described the experience as "scary." It had nothing to do with Harry, per se. He was surely the perfect gentleman. What Chelsy didn't care for was all the scrutiny that came with wooing someone in the (very) public eye.

"It was so crazy and scary and uncomfortable. I found it very difficult when it was bad. I couldn't cope," the Zimbabwe-born jewelry designer told The Times.

Chelsy, who started dating Harry in 2004, after they met in Africa, explained, "I was trying to be a normal kid and it was horrible."

Duchess Kate, formerly of "Waity Katie" fame can relate to the hardships of being on-again, off-again with a prince, but thankfully for those of us who can't get enough of George's cheeks, her relationship ended up working out in the end. Scholars say it may have had something to do with this dress:

When Chelsy and Harry split in 2010, she returned to Zimbabwe to escape the trolls. Now, she says her life is "calm" and believes that she and the world's most eligible bachelor will always be friends.
Ever since a parrot named Bud began squawking Dont f***ing shoot, the relatives of murder victim Martin Duram have claimed the bird was repeating the last conservation between Martin and his wife, Glenna.

She was charged last week with the shooting death of her husband, who was killed last May in the couples Sand Lake, Michigan, home.

Read: Polly Wants A Conviction?

Glenna Duram shot herself in the head, authorities said. She has since recovered. She pleaded not guilty during a court appearance and is being held without bail.

The parrot has been repeating the same words, which his family says show that Glenna killed her husband during an argument.

I believe with all my heart that those are the last words of Marty, his former wife, Christine Keller, told the Detroit Free Press. I recognize two different voices screaming and yelling and it always ends with Dont f***ing shoot.

The parrots pronouncements led to widespread media speculation that Bud would make a powerful witness for the prosecution.

It makes Newaygo Prosecuting Attorney Robert Springstead shake his head.

Only humans can testify, Springstead told Inside Edition.com on Wednesday. There will be no parrot testimony.

A witness must be able to understand and answer questions, he said. The prosecutor has been getting emails from around the country from legal experts and parrot experts, he said.

Read: Reporter Shrieks As Parrot Lands On Her Shoulder Live On TV

Whether the parrots utterances can somehow be introduced as evidence in Durams murder trial is still being reviewed, Springstead said. But I think that its a longshot that this sort of information would rise to the level of being introduced in court, he said.

He declined to comment on details of the case. But local media, after filing a Freedom of Information Act request, have reported the couple was facing several financial dilemmas, including her gambling debts and the foreclosure on their home.

Story continues

Watch: Could Parrot That Says 'Don't F***ing Shoot' Be The Key To Owner's Murder?

Related Articles:
By Esha Vaish

(Reuters) - Brewer Greene King Plc (GNK.L) expects to win market share this year, despite the risk that Britain's vote to leave the European Union will deter people from drinking and dining out at a time when pub firms are already fighting for every pound in consumers' pockets.

CEO Rooney Anand said the company would be able to lure more customers as over 300 of its pubs were switching to more food-driven formats, currently in vogue, and it had gained popular food brands by acquiring Spirit Pub Company last year.

Shares in Greene King, which brews ales such as Old Speckled Hen, rose as much as 5 percent on Wednesday, after full-year profit beat consensus, but by 1145 GMT were up just 0.26 percent. They are down nearly 15 percent since last week's Brexit vote, amid concerns about potential vulnerability to any fall-off in consumer demand.

The company said like-for-like retail sales rose 2.8 percent over the first eight weeks of the current financial year, as better weather in May and England's involvement in the European soccer championship drove many to its outlets despite reluctance among consumers to spend before the June 23 referendum.

The figure showed an acceleration in sales over the 1.5 percent growth seen in the year to May 1, which had beaten the 1.3 percent rise seen across the wider market.

"The opportunity that Spirit represents in bringing the business together as we are doing, and having the strongest stable of brands and the biggest war chest, will give us opportunities that will enable us to take market share," Anand said.

He said Greene King's confidence about its ability to outperform also stemmed from the fact that it had fared better than its peers after the 2008-9 financial crash.

Panmure Gordon analyst Anna Barnfather said the company's integration initiatives and its ownership of pub properties left it "less operationally geared than many of its leasehold pub and restaurant peers".

Greene King's 774 million-pound Spirit deal, the biggest in its 217-year history, has helped it better compete with rivals such as Marston's Plc (MARS.L), Mitchells & Butlers Plc (MAB.L) and J D Wetherspoon Plc (JDW.L).

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Spirit brands, such as Flaming Grill, were among the first to increase their food offerings to satiate growing appetites among Britons to drink out less and instead opt for value meals that can also be bought at supermarkets and takeaway shops.

Boosted by Spirit synergies, full-year adjusted pretax profit grew 52.2 percent to 256.5 million pounds ($343.6 million), beating analysts' consensus of 246.1 million pounds according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Deutsche Bank analysts wrote that the company was in a "position of comparative strength to withstand any near-term declines in consumer sentiment".

Greene King, however, said that it expected some impact from currency movements as it purchased some items from Europe and some using dollars, and would give an update in December.

(This version of the story corrects to remove reference to Hungry Horse as a Spirit brand in paragraph 10. It is a Greene King brand).

(Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair and Mark Trevelyan)
(Recasts throughout; adds final vote expected by evening)

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON, June 29 (Reuters) - A relief plan to help the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico address its $70 billion debt moved closer to passage in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, clearing a critical procedural hurdle by winning a supermajority of votes.

The measure, backed by 68 senators in the Wednesday morning procedural vote, is identical to the plan passed by the House of Representatives this month. Supporters want to send it to President Barack Obama to sign into law by July 1, when Puerto Rico faces a potential default on a chunk of its debt if it cannot make a $1.9 billion payment.

The legislation would create a federal oversight board, appointed by Washington, with power to restructure Puerto Rico's unmanageable debt. With 68 votes to clear the procedural hurdle, the bill looks almost sure to pass, although some opponents are still trying to amend it.

The Obama administration backs the measure. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew went to Capitol Hill this week to urge senators to vote for the relief plan for the Caribbean island, which has been waiting for months for Congress to act as its economic crisis worsened.

The Senate aimed to hold a final vote on the bill by Wednesday evening, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.

McConnell, a Republican, said that first there would be votes on an attempt to amend the bill by Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, and a technical objection known as a "budget point of order" by Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders.

If neither Menendez nor Sanders succeed, the Senate will move to final passage.

Many Puerto Ricans are leery about the proposed oversight board, fearing it could usurp the island's government and place investors' concerns over local priorities. Some Democrats have bridled at a Republican provision that might lower the minimum wage for some young workers and weaken overtime pay rules.

Some Republicans, meanwhile, have said the bill would amount to a bailout of the island, which supporters of the bill deny.

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Thirty-two senators voted no on the procedural vote; 18 Republicans, 13 Democrats and Sanders, an independent who sought the Democratic nomination for president.

After the vote, the price on Puerto Rico's benchmark 2035 General Obligation debt rose, as did share prices of some monoline bond insurance companies with exposure to portions of the island's debt.

Leaders of both parties in the Senate warned that failure to pass the legislation by Friday could lead to a U.S. taxpayer-funded bailout.

"This is the best and possibly the only action we can take to help Puerto Rico," McConnell told fellow senators before the procedural vote.

"Doing nothing now ... (is) the surest route to both a taxpayer funded bailout of Puerto Rico and a humanitarian crisis for its people," he said.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said he backs the legislation, yet also shares the concerns of many Democratic opponents.

"I take issue with the oversight board, their excessive powers and appointment structure," Reid said, adding he was unhappy with provisions affecting overtime rules and wages for Puerto Rican workers.

But Reid said he would vote for passage because Puerto Rico needed help before July 1.

"Otherwise we ... turn them over to the hedge funds and they will sue them to death," Reid said.

Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory whose 3.5 million residents are U.S. citizens, is reeling from a 45 percent poverty rate, a steady flow of migration to the U.S. mainland that shrinks its tax base and shuttering of essential services.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell, additional reporting by David Morgan; editing by Richard Cowan, Daniel Bases and David Gregorio)
Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
Puerto Rico does not have the ability to repay the $70 billion debt that was generated by past administrations and their creditors. The debt must be restructured fairly and equitably to both the people of Puerto Rico and the bondholders.

A fair solution to the problem is critical in order to bring progress back to the island. The case of Puerto Rico is similar to New York City's and Detroit's, except they had the tools to restructure their debt, and Puerto Rico does not.

My administration has acted swiftly. Puerto Rico adopted the most stringent austerity measures. The Island's budget has been cut by billions during my term. The payroll has been reduced dramatically. We have deferred other obligations. We have withheld tax refunds.

Payables to suppliers have reached more than $2 billion. The inability to pay our suppliers has resulted in the loss of commercial credit and many services must now be paid on delivery. Without supplier credit, medicines and supplies for public hospitals and air-ambulance service to trauma centers are now in jeopardy.

The emergency measures we have taken are unsustainable, harm our economy, reduce revenues and diminish our capacity to repay our debts. Puerto Rico cannot endure any more austerity.

In order to yield a permanent fix to the debt crisis, lacking the mechanisms that New York and Detroit had, we introduced our own restructuring statute; but the federal courts closed that door. We have tried to negotiate a settlement with the creditors to no avail. This is why we sought the support of Congress. Their response was PROMESA, the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act.

PROMESA is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it provides the tools needed to protect the people of Puerto Rico from disorderly actions taken by the creditors. The immediate stay granted by the bill on all litigation is of the utmost importance in this moment. Most importantly, the authority to adjust our debt stock provides the legal tools to complete a broad restructuring and route Puerto Rico's revitalization.

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On the other hand, PROMESA has its downsides. It creates an oversight board that unnecessarily undercuts the democratic institution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. But facing the upsides and downsides of the bill, it gives Puerto Rico no true choice at this point in time.

On July 1, 2016, Puerto Rico will default on more than $1 billion in general obligation bonds, the island's senior credits protected by a constitutional lien on revenues. Creditors and bond insurers have initiated multiple lawsuits and last week, hedge funds filed an injunction before the Southern District of New York claiming the "absolute highest priority" over government resources, including those needed for essential public services. That complaint minces no words and states that, in "times of scarcity," bondholders should be paid before essential services.

No amount of contingency planning can shield us from the fallout of the defaults in the coming days; no amount of contingency planning will replace the necessity of a debt restructuring regime. We have suffered a decade of economic contraction. We are facing a government less capable of providing the services which the public needs.

As governor, I will use my remaining time in office to benefit from the tools provided by PROMESA and develop a fiscal plan that is faithful to the best interests of the people of Puerto Rico.





Commentary by Alejandro Garcia Padilla, an attorney and the governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Follow him on Twitter @agarciapadilla.



For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.





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Hillary Clinton looks across the pond, and must loathe what she sees. Average English people have acted out, voting for Brexit like naughty children pulling a prank on the school principal. Despite apocalyptic warnings from business and political elites, they decided to leave the EU.

UKs leaders were punished for neglecting middle class wages and hopes and instead pursuing grander ambitions  tighter bonds with Europe. Hillary must wonder, will we be next? Will Americans blame stagnant incomes on President Obama who was so busy "fundamentally transforming the United States of America that he forgot about the people who elected him?

Related: Why Brexit Fears Are Far from Over for Investors

The parallels are significant. In both countries there is anger about immigration and lingering fury about the financial crisis. Voters see that the fortunes of the one percent have soared, while theirs have soured, and they blame the Establishment. The plunging stock market and pound sterling weakness that followed Brexit moved the leave crowd not at all. As one 59-year-old Guinness-drinking bloke remarked to a reporter, I dont have any money in the stock market, so whats it to me?

The economic fortunes of the British and of Americans have been undermined by decades of automation and globalization. For Brits, leaving the EU may worsen their prospects instead of make them better. But the EU became a symbol of the UKs loss of power and sovereignty, and proved an attractive target for voter frustration.

EU leaders didnt help -- spraying regulations across the UK while pressing unification in the face of grievous union shortcomings. They finally got the message.

Meeting just a day after the Brexit votes were tallied, the ministers of the six original founding countries issued a statement suggesting they understood the varying levels of ambition amongst Member States when it comes to the project of European integration. More important, they promised to focus our common efforts on those challenges which can only be addressed by common European answers, while leaving other tasks to national or regional levels.

Story continues

Related: How the Brexit Affects Your Retirement

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, admitted to fellow political elites last month, Obsessed with the idea of instant and total integration, we failed to notice that ordinary people, the citizens of Europe, do not share our euro-enthusiasm.

The International New York Times, an editorial bemoaning the uprising of the populist sentiment driving the Brexit vote, and warning of its ominous spread, noted the difficulties of England untangling from the EU, especially since A large proportion of Britains internal regulations are based on EU rules and will need to be revised. Exactly.

Its not as though the EU has been such a spectacular success. Like Hillary Clinton promising four more years of Barack Obamas decidedly mediocre economy, those arguing the remain case could hardly hold up EU growth as aspirational. Instead, echoing Hillarys prediction of life under Donald Trump, they pitched the chaos and loss of jobs that might follow should Britain exit the EU.

Since the vote, they have backtracked on their dire forecasts, partly to reassure markets, but also because the prospect of the EU punishing the UK seems absurd. Since Britain is Germanys third-largest export market, its doubtful Angela Merkel will really take a hard line with the UK.

Related: What the Brexit Vote Means for the US Economy

In building the union, Eurocrats overreached, creating an unwieldy behemoth of political micro-management and interference. EU officials aspired to dictate everything from cellphone fees to cheese names. The 33,000 staff members of the European Commission in Brussels (and that doesnt include numerous agencies operating out of the UK and elsewhere) meddled in an ever-widening list of activities. At the same time, the leadership proved incapable of addressing the most important underpinnings of the union, such as what to do about struggling nations like Greece.

In the U.S., the federal government continues to expand its dominance over matters large and small, while failing to protect our borders or revitalize our education system. While the White House dictates bathroom policies, Americans see our infrastructure crumbling, our tax system sending businesses overseas, Obamacare premiums soaring, and lobbyists thriving. In the face of widespread discontent on the right and the left, will Mrs. Clinton turn out voters by campaigning for the status quo?

The final blow for English voters was the Syrian refugee crisis. More than one million refugees, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, entered Europe in 2015 and the flow continues today.

While Germany welcomed the greatest number, Hungary took in more refugees relative to its local population, at 1,799 per 100,000 inhabitants. The UK, by that measure, was towards the bottom of the list, settling only 60 migrants against an EU average of 260 for every 100,000 citizens. Nonetheless, as violence attributed to the presence of Middle Eastern refugees increased on the continent, English resistance to admitting more immigrants from outside the EU built.

Related: Meet Boris Johnson, the Man Who Led the Brexit -- and May Lead the UK

Last fall, the seeds of Brexit were sewn as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, peeved at the resistance of some member countries, announced that quotas for accepting asylum seekers from Syria would be compulsory for EU members. Ukip leader Nigel Farage jumped on this dictate, and began warning of a flood of refugees of biblical proportion. The die was cast.

The admittance of refugees is a hot topic in the U.S. as well. In spite of ongoing terror attacks, President Obama continues to argue for opening our doors to those displaced by the conflict in Syria. Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump has proposed banning Muslims from war-torn regions. Many Americans, alarmed by the events in San Bernardino and Orlando, agree with Trump.

English disenchantment with the EU parallels attitudes in the U.S. about the federal government. In a recent poll, 78 percent of Americans said they were dissatisfied or angry with the way the federal government is working. It was a remarkable sounding, given that 64 percent said they were satisfied or happy with their personal financial situation.

Whether Americans will act out like the English and elect a candidate in November who is scorned by business and political elites is anybodys guess. But it is hard to imagine the country embracing four more years of the status quo. One thing seems certain: voters are skeptical of advice from their leaders, and not afraid of disruption.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday extended to the end of 2017 Moscow's embargo on food items from the West imposed in retaliation for sanctions over Ukraine.

A decree posted in the official government database states that the existing embargo on produce, dairy, meat, and most other foods will be extended to December 31, 2017.

Russia has since August 2014 banned most foods imports from the European Union and other countries, including the United States, which imposed sanctions on Moscow over its 2014 annexation of Crimea and support of east Ukraine's separatists.

The food embargo was extended for a year in 2015 and the Russian government said in May that it had drawn up a plan to extend them again until 2018.

EU ambassadors last week agreed to roll over their economic sanctions against Russia to January 2017 due to the lack progress on a peace process to end the fighting in east Ukraine.

The sanctions, as well as Moscow's own embargo, have impacted the Russian economy, with the embargo pushing food prices up and quality down, but also giving a boost for some domestic producers.
DailyFX.com -

Talking Points:

- GBP/USD perks up through $1.3400, pulling DAX and SPX500 up.

- New regime in precious metals as shift in sentiment does little to reduce recent luster.

- FX volatility is set to remain high - it's the right time to review risk management principles to protect your capital.

More rabble rousing in the British Parliament on Tuesday (outgoing Tory PM David Cameron said to Labour leader-in-crisis Jeremy Corbyn, "for heaven's sake, man, go,' in a call for him to resign) but thus far there are no real implications for markets. Nor has PM Cameron in his question session revealed much new information:; the government, under Cameron's guidance, will not change its approach towards the fiscal surplus spending rule (keeping the country under the cloud of austerity); and the Cameron-led government will continue to take a harsh stance on the economic repercussions of the Brexit vote.

The sobering reality is that there won't be any movement on the Brexit front until the Conservative party conference in September, at which point a new Tory leader will be elected. Given the magnitude of power the new PM will have - the ability to trigger Article 50 (or not) - there is likely a vote of confidence and perhaps a general election in the pipeline for late-Q3'16 or early-Q4'16.

Don't expect European Union officials - particularly heads of state - to say much on the issues until then. German Chancellor Merkel, French President Hollande, and Italian Prime Minister Renzi all made clear that informal discussions on Brexit would not occur; that it was only in Britain's power to trigger Article 50. If there's a strategy from EU brass, it mind as well be 'keep quiet on the Western front.' All's quiet indeed (though expect Italian PM Renzi to try and use Brexit as cover for help for the flailing Italian banking sector).

If there is any hope that a Brexit never actually comes to fruition, this is a savvy political move. Outside interference - loss of national sovereignty - was a significant platform point for the 'Leave' campaign. If the UK's internal political process plays out in such a manner that a general election mandate supercedes the referendum, then maybe all this concern is for naught. Any talk by European officials that alludes to disrespecting the democratic will of the British people will surely strengthen the Brexit case, which in and of itself is a catalyst for more volatility.

Story continues

Read more: GBP/USD Driving Equities and Volatility, Likely to Persist

How does Brexit impact the Euro? Read our Weekly Trading Forecast, "Realization of Brexit is a Potential Nightmare for the Euro"

--- Written by Christopher Vecchio, Currency Strategist

To contact Christopher Vecchio, e-mail cvecchio@dailyfx.com

Follow him on Twitter at @CVecchioFX

FX volatility is set to remain high with the UK voting to leave the EU - it's the right time to review risk management principles to protect your capital.



original source

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London (AFP) - The ruling Conservatives fired the gun Wednesday on the race to pick Britain's next premier after a shock Brexit vote, as departing David Cameron turned his fire on beleaguered opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Ex-London mayor and anti-EU campaigner Boris Johnson is tipped as a favourite to take over from Cameron on September 9 while interior minister Theresa May, who wanted to stay in the bloc, is another frontrunner.

Despite last week's surprise vote, it was not Cameron -- who is quitting after leading the unsuccessful "Remain" campaign -- but Corbyn who faced the roughest ride at parliament's weekly Prime Minister's Questions session.

Corbyn has vowed to stay in his job despite losing a confidence vote of MPs in his Labour party, dozens of whom have quit his frontbench team in recent days.

"It might be in my party's interests for him to sit there, it's not in the national interests and I would say, for heaven's sake man, go," Cameron told the veteran socialist, to loud cheers from MPs.

Even Corbyn's deputy Tom Watson has said he should quit, predicting there would be a formal leadership contest.

"I'd like to apologise to the country for the mess that they're seeing," Watson told the BBC, calling the situation "a great tragedy".

Corbyn has faced months of criticism for lacklustre leadership after being selected by the party's grassroots last year which came to a head after he was accused of not campaigning enough keep Britain in the European Union.

- MPs backing Johnson -

First to throw his hat into the ring for Cameron's job was work and pensions minister Stephen Crabb, a virtual unknown to the British public, whose campaign is expected to stress his working class credentials in a party often seen as elitist.

The 43-year-old urged the Conservatives to "get past this Boris/stop Boris dichotomy", in reference to the divisive Johnson.

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The party officially opened nominations at 5:00 pm (1600 GMT). Johnson and May are expected to announce their bids Thursday morning, before nominations close at noon.

The new Conservative leader, who will be chosen by a postal ballot of party members currently numbering around 150,000, is expected to be announced on September 9.

He or she will also become prime minister but may call an early general election.

Bookmakers have Johnson as a slight favourite over May and The Sun newspaper reported Wednesday that he had already secured the backing of 100 of the 330 Tory MPs who will whittle down the field to two nominees.

The ConservativeHome blog surveyed more than 1,300 members and found the slimmest of leads for May, mirroring the results of a YouGov poll published Tuesday.

Pro-EU finance minister George Osborne, long seen as a possible Cameron successor, has ruled himself out.

Critics question whether the "Leave" camp -- and Johnson in particular -- has any idea how to manage the unprecedented situation left by last week's vote.

"He has still to offer anything like a concrete plan on how he would negotiate the post-Brexit future," wrote former BBC political editor Nick Robinson.

- 'Worst crisis' in Labour history -

The political chaos was not confined to the ruling party, with opposition Labour leader Corbyn battling against a huge majority of his own MPs.

Corbyn was defeated by 172 to 40 in a non-binding no-confidence vote held by Labour lawmakers late Tuesday, and speculation was mounting that a candidate would come forward and challenge him.

Media reports suggested that his former business spokeswoman Angela Eagle could be preparing a bid.

A fierce battle is looming over who owns the soul of the party -- parliamentarians or members.

Former foreign minister Jack Straw said Labour faced an "apocalypse" if an election was held with Corbyn still in office.

"It's probably the worst crisis since Labour's formation," he told Sky News.

The leadership ructions of both parties dominated the front pages of Wednesday's newspapers, with the Metro calling on Corbyn to "Please Jez go!" and The Sun declaring it "Boris day".
We will work together to protect nature and to advance our scientific understanding of the environmental challenges we share. And finally, we will respond directly and decisively to the challenge of climate change, working to make our own countries more resilient as we encourage others to do the same.

This is what can happen when countries come together in pursuit of a common goal, when we have a big idea and the political will to make it happen. Todays climate agreement stands as proof that cooperation pays off and that working together always beats going it alone.

There were, of course, other issues on the agenda as well.

TRUDEAU (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): We also had the opportunity to talk about ways of advancing trade and competitiveness in North America. Its essential to each of our economies and it is vital for the creation of good jobs for the middle class. Furthermore, we reasserted our common commitment to human rights and we discussed the aspect on which we could be better partners to ensure the protection and defense of fundamental rights.

We also discussed regional and worldwide issues that are urgent, and we talked about the way we will work together to meet these common challenges.

TRUDEAU: (inaudible) about how to better cooperate on defense. But it also meant forging a closer working relationship when it comes to providing development and humanitarian assistance, as well as finding ways to more effectively combat public health challenges, the illicit flow of funds and drugs, and human trafficking.

As I said, the conversations were friendly, but also frank. And Im reassured and encouraged by the progress we were able to make today.

Relationships between the citizens of our three nations have always been strong, even in the past when our governments havent always seen eye to eye. Its gratifying that once again, we are able to come together as leaders of three truly great nations to honor that enduring friendship and to once again deliver real results for the people of Canada, Mexico, the United States, and indeed, the entire global community.

Thank you, Barack and Enrique, for all your hard work today and every day.

Id now like to introduce the president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto.

PENA NIETO (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Thank you very much, Prime Minister of Canada; Honorable Barack Obama.

With this press conference, we come to an end of this day in Canada, two days of state visits, and today at the North American Leaders Summit.

Prime Minister Trudeau, allow me to say once again how grateful I am for your hospitality, for the warmth with which we were received, myself and my delegation. We were warmly welcomed in this country. Were going back to Mexico with memories of the warm welcome that the Canadian people showed in Quebec, in Toronto and Ottawa.

PENA NIETO (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Were going back to Mexico fully convinced that we have renewed our bilateral relationship with Canada. Canada, in yourself, Canada has a leader that is going back to universal values that make Canada stand out in the world.

President Barack Obama, I would like to say that we acknowledge your determination to have a more united, integrated, and competitive North America. A more prosperous and inclusive North America. I would like to highlight specifically being the last North American leaders summit that you will attend to as a president of the United States.

I would like to acknowledge that Mexico recognizes the fact that you have promoted along Mexico a strategic partnership, and you have always been willing to work towards a bilateral agenda that covers different fronts, beyond security. In the process of generating clean energy, you have favored those efforts.

You have always favored a more expedited trade, a safer border, more competitiveness in our trade. You have always been in favor of having cooperation in education and cultural matters. You have always been willing to push technology and science forward.

But there is no doubt that your legacy also covers other regions of Latin America. You have re-established a relationship with Cuba. You have supported the development of Central America. And in the summit of the Americas as well, you have contributed to its advancement.

We would like to acknowledge as well your tireless efforts made towards the investment of the environment, and addressing the challenges of global warming. There is no doubt that your presidency has helped to build and reaffirm the candid relationship that the United States and Mexico have.

During this trilateral summit, the government of Canada, the United States, and Mexico, we have reaffirmed our decision to work together with a vision, with resolve to advance economic integration in North America. In order to fulfill this goal, Mexico values that in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, there is a great opportunity to reaffirm this level of integration between the three countries that are part of NAFTA.

But besides that, we are taking this opportunity to other regions of the world, specifically towards Asia. I believe that the advantages, the benefits, and the beauty that this integration will carry and has carried along for the benefit of our societies can be extended when the Trans-Pacific Partnership is approved.

Mexico supports this effort with enthusiasm. This partnership, this agreement, is at the Senate in the process of being approved. We are fully convinced that by working together and by taking stock of our complementarity, we can be the most competitive region in the world.

As Prime Minister Trudeau has said during this summit, we have worked on addressing four priorities: climate change, clean energies, and environment; competitiveness at the borders and trade security and defense; and regional and global issues.

Specifically, Mexico addressed the area of competitiveness in trade and in our borders. I would like to highlight some of the most important agreements. Were going to create single trade windows to enable our border exchanges. Our goal is to have one foreign trade single window for North America. Secondly, were going to map North American clusters.

PENA NIETO (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): This will be a vital tool for decision making and to bolster economic trade in the region. We have agreed to have a trilateral cluster map as soon as possible. And thirdly, I should mention the trilateral program for trusted travels.

Mexico has proposed that this program uses global entry platform that Canada and the United States already have. And this year, we will implement the electronic kiosks platform that is already present in different airports in the United States and Canada. This system and result (ph) will be used in North America as a whole, and this will be a system that will enable and expedite the flow and transit of individuals in North America.

Finally, I would like to use an example to describe our level of integration. The preservation of the monarch butterfly conservation  this is a species that, in its pilgrimage, we can see how our countries are intertwined.

And back in our last summit, we agreed that we would take care of this species and make sure that in its journey, the monarch butterfly from Canada, flying through the United States all the way down to Mexico, and the figures speak for itself. In the year 2014, in our country, the area where butterflies reach  that eventually reached only covered less than one hectare, .6 hectares.

Due to the efforts made by our trilateral task force created for that purpose last year, this year, the surface in my country now extends to 4.1 hectares and we are in route that by 2018, this figure would grow to six hectares and eventually, that would be our goal for the monarch butterfly reserve in  in Mexico. And by that, we will be making sure the migration of this species is the symbol of the relationship that Canada, the United States and Mexico has.

The North American Leaders Summit bears witness that isolated national efforts are insufficient. If we want favorable results for the benefit of our societies, it is better to work together as a region. We all know that this (inaudible) challenges. Isolationism is not the solution. In contrast with what happens in other corners in the world, the countries in North America, we have decided to be closer, to work as a team and to complement each other and to make progress together as the most competitive region in the world.

Thank you very much.

TRUDEAU: President Obama. OBAMA: Good afternoon. Bonjour. Buenos tardes. I want to thank my friends and partners, Prime Minister Trudeau and President Pena Nieto.

To Justin and the people of Ottawa and Canada, thank you for your wonderful hospitality. This is my fourth North American Leaders Summit and the first that Canada is hosting in nearly a decade, and this reflects the new commitment that Prime Minister Trudeau has brought to our shared vision of a strong and integrated North America. So thank you so much, Justin.

Let me start by once again commenting on the horrific terrorist attack that took place yesterday in Istanbuls main international airport, which is one of the busiest airports in the world. The prayers of the American people are with the people of Turkey, the people of Istanbul and all those who were affected by this terrible crime.

We have offered all assistance that we have available to our ally, Turkey, and we stand prepared to assist them during this difficult time. Were still learning all the facts, but we know this is part of our broader, shared fight against terrorist networks and we will continue to work closely with Turkey to root them out.

Meanwhile, were going to do whats necessary to protect our people. Im confident that we can and we will defeat those who offer only death and destruction. And we will always remember, even as there are though who are trying to divide us, that we are stronger when we come together and work toward a better world together.

OBAMA: Were reminded of this basic fact at this summit. Combined, our three nations are home to nearly 480 million people. We are bound together by family, including millions of immigrants who trace their roots to each others countries.

Were not only among each others top trade partners, we are a global hub of innovation, with integrated economies and supply chains and co-production that span our borders. On every security and global challenge we are partners. And were united by common values as democracy and pluralism and a commitment to human dignity.

Over the past eight years Ive worked to strengthen our partnerships with our friends in the Americas. And that begins with strengthening our relationship with Canada and Mexico. During my administration, for example, we boosted U.S. exports to Canada and Mexico by about 50 percent. That supports about 2.8 million American jobs. And today as Justin and Enrique described, we agreed to build on that progress in several key areas.

First, we agreed to make it even easier to do business together so that our regions even more competitive. Were bringing more advanced technologies and automation to our border crossings, which will reduce wait times for travelers and make it more affordable to trade. By the end of this year well have a single Trusted Traveler Program for all three of our countries, which will make it easier to travel, while at the same time improving security.

Well continue to align our standards and regulations, which is especially important for small businesses who want to export more. Were going to do more together to promote women entrepreneurs and minority-owned businesses to succeed as well. And were going to keep expanding our educational exchanges among our students.

As has been mentioned, we discussed the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The politics of trade are always difficult in every country. I dont know any country where there arent going to be some folks who argue against trade.

But we all believe that in an integrated global economy the goal is not for us to try to shut ourselves off from the world, but rather to work together to raise standards for the world for workers and for the environment. And thats exactly what the TPP does. Its the right thing to do. And were going to keep working for it.

Given the flood of steel and aluminum on global markets, however, it points to the fact that free trade also has to be fair trade. And our three countries agreed to work together on a range of trade measures to enforce our rights and protect our workers and ensure a level playing field for the steel and aluminum industries here in North America.

And given the vote of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, our economic teams are going to continue to work together so that we remain focused on keeping our economies growing and making sure that the global financial system is stable, something Im confident that we can do.

Second, were making sure that North America remains a leader in the fight against climate change. And I could not be prouder of the work that Justin and Enrique have done to help realize this important goal. All three of our nations are now committed to joining the Paris Agreement this year so we can bring it into force.

Were announcing a new goal across our continent that generating 50 percent of our electricity with clean power by 2025, which is a bold goal, but is an imminently achievable goal. The United States governments making a major commitment to purchase more clean energy for federal facilities, and more clean and efficient government vehicles. And all three of our countries are committed to reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45 percent by 2025.

Third, were going to do more to make sure that were looking after the safety and health of our citizens from the danger of illicit drugs. And were particularly focused right now on the epidemic of opioid abuse, including heroin that is taking so many lives and devastating so many families.

Our teams will meet this fall to make sure that were coordinating our efforts, including more access to treatment. And as always, we will continue to be relentless against the criminals and narco-traffickers that are inflicting so much violence on communities.

Fourth, were deepening our cooperation on regional and global challenges. Joint efforts against diseases like Zika. Helping our Central American partners reduce poverty and violence that have led to so many families and children making an extraordinarily dangerous trip to flee difficult circumstances.

OBAMA: I want to thank Justin and Enrique for their governments strong support of our new approach to Cuba. And Im also glad that our countries have agreed to do more around the world to address the refugee crisis and to expand our peacekeeping efforts.

In our own hemisphere with the historic agreement in Colombia, a major step toward peace. Our three nations are going to help the Colombians remove landmines, as just one example of efforts to fortify what has been the very difficult negotiation.

And given the very serious situation in Venezuela, and the worsening plight of the Venezuelan people, together were calling on the government and opposition to engage in meaningful dialogue. And there is the Venezuelan government to respect the rule of law, and the authority of the National Assembly.

Political prisoners should be released. The democratic process should be respected, and that includes legitimate efforts to pursue a recalled referendum consistent with Venezuelan law.

In closing, were determined to keep building on the progress thats been made at so many previous summits. And by the way, Enrique, I love the story about monarch butterflies. Theyre not just any species, they are spectacular.

And we want to make sure that our children, our grandchildren can see them as well. Were creating what we call the North American Caucus, which means our three governments will meet on a more regular basis. Were going to continue to deepen our trilateral cooperation in this hemisphere, and around the world.

And in short, were going to do more to speak with one united North American voice on the world stage. We couldnt have better partners than Justin and Enrique. Im confident that were going to continue to advance regional cooperation and integration. And thats not just going to be good for our own people; theyll be good for the world as well.

(UNTRANSLATED)

MODERATOR: So with (ph) now(ph) the (ph) need (ph) to start with a question period (ph). Our first question is from Canadian journalist Richard Madan from CTV News.

QUESTION: Hi guy (ph). Good afternoon, gentlemen. One of the candidates who wants to replace President Obama has already said he wants to renegotiate NAFTA and walk away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, all suggesting that perhaps theres a growing disconnect between the pro-trade message you are selling here and the protectionist voices were hearing in the U.S. and possibly the BREXIT in the U.K. So, my question is to all three of you.

What is your strategy to reverse this growing sentiment? And Prime Minister Trudeau, (UNTRANSLATED). If the rest of you speak French, thats great.

TRUDEAU (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): First of all, our strategy is to highlight how much trade and positive agreements among our nations are good, not only for the economy of the world, and the economy of our countries, but its also good for our citizens.

We know that industries that export more goods pay salaries that are 50 percent higher than sectors that dont export. We also know that trade gives rise to good jobs, innovation, and progress for individuals as well.

TRUDEAU (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In our conversations today and yesterday, with President Pena Nieto, we signed agreements and held conversations that allowed us to remove visas for Mexican visitors to Canada. This will have effects on all Canadians who live in communities that welcome Mexican tourists.

It will also allow Canadian agriculture producers to have access to the Mexican beef market. These are examples of the cooperation that we say is good for the North American market, but also good for the entire world.

And its with this in mind that its important to come together, to talk together about the future of this world where we are more and more connected and we have to agree more and more in this world.

TRUDEAU: Our response to the kinds of protectionism that were seeing around the world is indeed to highlight that when we come together, like in events like this North American Leaders Summit, there is an opportunity to come together in ways that are beneficial for the global economy, that are beneficial for our countrys economies, but mostly, that are beneficial for individual citizens.

We know that export-intensive industries pay on average 50 percent higher wages than non-exporting industries. We know that trade leads to innovation and opportunities for communities, for individuals, for workers. We need to make sure that we are dealing with challenges and problems as they come up, and thats where a constant engaged dialogue comes with positive outcomes.

TRUDEAU: Just yesterday, with President Pena Nieto, we were able to establish forward movement on two difficult issues between our  not just our countries, but our peoples, which will have a beneficial impact on both sides of  of the deal.

We will be lifting visas for visitors to Mexico, to Canada from Mexico, which will a positive impact on communities across the country as we welcome in tourists.

But also, weve been able to secure access for Canadian farmers to sell their beef in Mexico. These are good, concrete things that happen when we pull together and deal with important issues.

And always, there will be people trying to get us all to turn inwards, but the fact is, our world is interconnected in so many ways, that it is much better that we engage, that we work through our challenges together, because really, thats how we end up with the kind of growth that benefits our countries and our citizens.

TRUDEAU (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Ill be very brief in addressing your question. Theres sometimes that what one-half have not envalued (ph) enough until you lose them. And what this integration has managed to achieve in North America is precisely to give to our three countries more opportunities and to give our societies more opportunities by growing trade  by having more investment in our three countries.

In our three countries, we see opportunities and reaching out more people. I could (ph) then make (ph) exchanges) (ph) and the possibility of studying abroad in any of the three countries represented here by three Heads of State.

Are outcomes of our trilateral agreements, I believe that  we are all aware of how the reactions are  what happen in the U.K. and theres still uncertainty. The outcome of the referendum is uncertain, but when someone values what you had, then  we see such reactions.

So we are here trying to innovate, to be more competitive. Why? Because we are competitors, yes. But we have complimentary economies and then give more development to our societies. I believe that this is the main goal of our efforts.

The agreements mainly here and not only agreements made by three Heads of State. We are building roads; were building the foundation so that our societies can have strong foundations and get  go further. And that makes a great contrast when some other countries choose isolationism, they choose protectionist measures and they are not letting their societies project themselves to other kinds of scenarios.

OBAMA: Well, let me make a couple of points. First of all, the integration of national economies into a global economy, thats here. Thats done. And, so the question is not whether or not theres going to be an international, global economy, there is one.

Technology, travel, massive cargo containers that can ship goods back and forth, the fact that a company can move capital around the world in the blink of an eye. The fact that an engineer can send plans to the other side of the world in an instant, to a colleague. Those are facts.

So we have an integrated economy already, the question is under what terms are we going to shape that economy? And it is my firm belief that making sure that how we trade, how we exchange goods  it is my firm belief that shaping those in accordance with the values that our three countries care deeply about is going to be good for us.

And us trying to abandon the field and pull up the drawbridge around us is going to be bad for us.

Now, with respect to Brexit, I think its important to point out that those who argue about leaving the European Union are the same folks who the very next day are insisting dont worry, were still going to have access to the single market. So, apparently their argument was not against trade generally. They just didnt want any obligations to go with the access to the free market.

And its  its important for us not to draw easy analogies between what happened in the U.K. and the E.U. versus whats happening between our three countries in terms of trade, or whats happening in terms of us attempting to access Asian markets through TPP.

Thats point number one. Point number two, ordinary people who have concerns about trade have a legitimate gripe about globalization. Because the fact is that as the global economy has integrated, what weve seen are trend lines across the advanced economies of growing inequality and stagnant wages and a smaller and smaller share of overall productivity and growth going to workers and a larger portion going to the top 1 percent.

And thats a real problem because if that continues, the social cohesion and political consensus needed for liberal market economies starts breaking down. So theyre right to be concerned about that. Im concerned about it. Justin is concerned about it. And Enrique is concerned about it.

The question is: What do you do about it? And the prescription of withdrawing from trade deals and focusing solely on your local market, thats the wrong medicine. First of all because its not feasible, because our auto plants, for example, would shut down if we didnt have access to some parts in other parts of the world. So wed lose jobs and the amount of disruption that would be involved would be enormous.

Secondly, wed become less efficient. Costs of our goods in our own countries would become much more expensive. And this nostalgia about an era when everybody was working in manufacturing jobs and you didnt need a college degree, and you could go in and as long as you worked hard, you could support a family and live a middle class life, that has been undermined far more by automation than it has been by outsourcing or the shift of jobs to low-income or low-wage countries.

I mean, the steel industry is producing as much steel in the United States as it ever was. It just it needs one-tenth of the workers that it used to. And this is why my push-back on both the left and the right when it comes to protectionism or anti-trade arguments, is you are right to be concerned about the trends, but what youre prescribing will not work.

And theres a better way of doing this. And the better way of doing it is countries like ours that have high wage  high labor standards and high environmental standards and strong protection of intellectual property and rule of law, weve got to get out there and help to shape those rules so that they work for our workers and our businesses.

OBAMA: Because if we dont, China will write the rules. And they may not have the same regard for the values that we care about. Other countries will write the rules in ways that disadvantage our workers and our businesses.

In Asia right now, there are a whole lot of tariffs that keep our products out, but because we happen to be some of the most open nations in the world, theyre selling our stuff in. So we cant disengage, we got to engage more. And if we combine that with investments in education and tax policies that are fair and making that college is affordable and were strengthening the safety net and were rebuilding infrastructure, which are jobs that cannot be exported. And were making investments in research and development and were building an inclusive society in which everybodys got a fair shot. Thats how were going to solve these problems.

And what is absolutely true is that too many folks who have been in charge around the world have neglected that side of the equation. So were going to keep on pushing hard to shape an international order that works for our people. But were not ongoing to be able to do that by cutting off trade, because thats going to make all of us poorer.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Thank you, we can now take the second question.

Daniele Venegas (ph), Millenial.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Good afternoon. I would like to ask you how the election process is going on the United States. There is an anti-immigrant and (inaudible) Mexican rhetoric by Donald Trump. I would like to ask you, did you address this issue during your meeting, and how can you bring sense the agreements that you have described and the positive outcomes of your trilateral relationship.

What would happen if someone who is not in agreement  he has said that NAFTA  they would step back from NAFTA. Would did you address in your meetings? Thank you.

PENA NIETO (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I would like to begin by saying that we did address the issue and we had discussed it during the State visit, specifically I would speak on behalf of Mexico; my government will respect the election process, which is a domestic process for the United States. We are getting ready to work with whoever turns out to be president of the United States. And the best way to (inaudible) the progress, an agreements that have been made so far is to explain clearly and let the people feel the beauties and benefits of all the work we do. Most of what we have today is not (inaudible) a gift from God. But, it is actually the outcome of out work, of the foundations and the work we have done so far.

And I believe that in the end of the day, what we manage to achieve today would teach us a lesson and would be for the Americans to define who would provide them better guarantees to move into the path towards growth and development based upon what we have managed to build in the past.

OBAMA: Well, I think Enrique is right. Whoever becomes the president of the United States going to have a deep, strong interest in having a strong relationship with Mexico. Its our neighbor, our friend and one of our biggest trading partners.

I think Ive made myself clear, setting aside whatever the candidates are saying, that America is a nation of immigrants. Thats our strength. Unless you are one of the first Americans, unless you are a Native American, somebody somewhere in your past showed up from someplace else. And they didnt always have papers.

OBAMA: And the genius of America has been to define ourselves not by what we look like or what our last name is or what faith we practice, but our adherence to a common creed. A belief that all people are created equal. A belief in free speech and freedom of assembly and Democracy and pluralism and tolerance and rule of law. And we have observed those ideals imperfectly at times, but in each successive generation, weve gotten a little bit better at it. Weve come closer to our ideals.

And the notion that somehow we would stop now on what has been a tradition of attracting talent and strivers and dreamers from all around the world, that would rob us of the thing that is most special about America and I dont think it will happen.

Now, people are genuinely concerned about immigration that is not orderly, people pouring across borders without, you know, having gone through some sort of process. It adds to peoples sense that things are out of control, and thats why weve invested in securing our borders and we have made unprecedented investments. Its part of the reason why illegal immigration to the United States is actually at its lowest level since the 1970s.

Its why we so value the cooperation that weve obtained from the Mexican government in making sure that our borders work to facilitate legal trade and legal immigration and commerce, but discourages illegal immigration. Its why Im pushing very hard and will continue to push until I leave this office and expect the next president to push for a comprehensive immigration reform plan. They can fix those aspects of the system that are broken so that we remain a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.

And thats ultimately, I think, where people in the United States will land. Weve had times throughout our history where anti- immigration sentiment is exploited by demagogues. It was directed at the Irish, it was directed at Poles and Italians, and you can go back and read what was said about those groups and its identical to what theyre now saying about Mexicans or Guatemalans or Salvadorians or Muslims or Asians.

Same stuff; theyre different, theyre not going to fit, they wont assimilate, they bring crime. Same arguments. You go back to the 1800s, the language is identical. But guess what? They kept coming, and they kept coming because America offered possibility for their children and their grandchildren, and even if they were initially discriminated against, they understood that our system will over time allow them to become part of this one American family. And so we should take some of this rhetoric seriously and answer it boldly and clearly. But  but you shouldnt think that that is representative of how the American people think.

MODERATOR: And now our third question (UNTRANSLATED) from the United States. Reporter Roberta Rampton from Reuters.

OBAMA: I should also point out that  I should point out that Roberta is also secretly from Canada.

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: Not so secretly.

OBAMA: So Canadians are now getting an extra question.

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.

Given how the Brexit vote shook the stability of the global economy, do you feel that you need to do more to calm the markets quickly and perhaps encourage a quick exit, rather than something thats long and drawn out? Do you still feel that the U.K. should be at the back of the queue for a trade deal with the United States?

And are you going to make a full-throated pitch for  for the TPP, for your prescription (ph), when youre out on the campaign trail this summer stumping for Secretary Clinton?

QUESTION: Prime Minister Trudeau, both  I mean, you seem to be quite careful when you talk about Mr. Trump. Renegotiating NAFTA or tearing it up would be such a disaster for Canada. Why not come out and say that forcefully?

And President Pena Nieto, in March you compared Mr. Trump to Hitler and Mussolini. Im wondering if you still stand by that? And how worried are you that this time next year, there will be a wall up on your border?

OBAMA: Okay.

(LAUGHTER)

Excellent question, Roberta.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: Canadians are a little more subtle?

(LAUGHTER)

Im actually going to help out my friends a little bit on your last question, even though it wasnt directed at me, and just say when I visit other countries, its not my job to comment on candidates in the middle of a race just because they may end up winning. And the relationship between governments tends to transcend whoever is in power at any given time.

So, its a tough question. Its  Im not saying they shouldnt answer. Im just  Im helping him out a little bit.

(LAUGHTER)

Because theres no doubt that when I visit countries, there are times when Ive got preferences, but I rarely express them.

With respect to Brexit, first of all, I think youve seen the markets settle down a little bit over the last couple of days. I didnt follow the markets today. But were monitoring very carefully whether theres any systemic strains on the system. And so far what youve seen is reactions in the market, stock prices, currencies, but I think the preparations that were done by central banks and finance ministers, our treasury secretary, you know, indicate the degree to which the global economy in the short run will  will hold steady.

I think there are some genuine longer-term concerns about global growth if in fact Brexit goes through and that freezes the possibilities of investment in Great Britain, or in Europe as a whole. At a time when global growth rates were weak already, this doesnt help.

And so when we attend the G-20 summit in China later this year, one of the major topics, which is something that Ive continually advocated for during the seven-and-a-half years that Ive been president, is we all have to look at what we can do to boost global demand, whether its the United States adopting a more robust budget for infrastructure improvements and fixing water systems in Flint, Michigan, or repairing airports that are not as efficient as they should be, or rebuilding our power grid so that it can take advantage of clean energy.

Whether its Germany, a country with a surplus, doing more in terms of spending; or Europe as a whole lifting some of the austerity constraints that have been placed on them; whether its China shifting to a more consumer-based, domestic-based growth strategy as opposed to trying to export its way out of problems. You know, there are going to be a whole host of measures that all of us can take to fortify the global economy. And that should be a top priority of ours.

With respect to the actual Brexit negotiations, my main message to David Cameron, Angela Merkel and others, is everybody should catch their breath, come up with a plan and a process that is orderly; thats transparent; that people understand. And then proceed understanding that both sides have a stake in getting this right.

And I think that that will be a difficult, challenging process, but it does not need to be a panicky process. I think it can be a steady, sensible process.

Obviously, leadership issues in Great Britain will need to be resolved for it to move as crisply and as  and as effectively as it needs to, but that  I think thats recognized and that should happen fairly quickly.

OBAMA: And I know that speaking with Chancellor Merkel that her interest is not in retribution. Her interest is in making sure that the process works. And I have a lot of confidence in people being able to do that. And we will help in any way that we can to facilitate that.

Then the last part of your question is, with respect to the U.K. and any trade agreement with the United States, frankly, we will be the least of their problems right now because their first order of business is going to be to address the market where they sell half their goods, which is Europe. And these things are not easily negotiated, particularly because weve been spending our time trying to negotiate with the European Union. And so to suddenly go off on another track will be challenging.

But I think their first and primary concern is going to be to try to figure out how they interact with the European Union and the European market, if in fact and when in fact they leave. I have emphasized throughout, though, that the special relationship that we have with Great Britain does not change.

The ties of affection and family and language and institutions and culture and the business relationships that exist  those are so deep and so long-lasting, the cooperation we have on security issues and on global challenges, those are so fundamental that, you know, our relationship with the U.K. fundamentally doesnt change. We are concerned that their absence from the European Union and the potential disruptions within Europe make it harder for us to solve some of the other challenges that have to be solved.

TRUDEAU: One of the things thats easy to forget amid the inflated rhetoric of an election campaign is that the relationship between our three countries goes far deeper than any individual leaders. And if the three of us get along, its not just because were aligned in many different values and priorities, it is very much because we serve citizens who are they themselves tremendously aligned in terms of priorities, in terms of hopes and dreams, in terms of desire for success and ways to reach it.

So when you look at the level of integration of our supply chains, of our markets, of the flow back and forward across borders of goods, of people, and the tremendous benefits that have come from proximity and strong relationships to individual citizens across this continent, its  its essential that we understand that regardless of electoral rhetoric, Canada, the United States and Mexico will continue to have tremendously close relationships, economically, culturally, socially, familiarly, historically and towards the future.

So as Ive said many times and Ill say it again, I look forward to working with whomever the American people choose to elect as their president in November. I know that we will always be able to find shared priorities and challenges that we want to work together to overcome. And I know that our commitment to doing whats right and whats best for our citizens will lead us to much more alignment than differentiation.

NIETO (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Roberta, Ill go straight to the point to describe the stand of my administration and my own very personal point of view.

Ive said it and Ill say it again, my government will respect fully the domestic electoral process in the United States. I dont think Ive said anything different from what Im stating once again here. What I have said is that today  and I did not make reference to a specific place. My words reinforce what I believe. I believe that in this global scenario, and Ill use President Obamas words, and  and as he said, he gave us a hand to address this question. We are facing a global reality. We have a populace world, an interconnected world with its own challenges.

What I have said is that in the world were living, in different places we have political leaders, political stakeholders that use demagoguery and have the populistic slogan that want to eliminate and destroy what has been built, what has taken decades to build, to go back to problems of the past.

And yes, it is true, all the benefits have not reached society as a whole. That is true. But those leaderships, those political actors by using populism and demagoguery, they choose the easiest way to solve the challenges of todays world. And things are not that simplistic.

Its not as easy as that, to lead a country, to take on a responsibility to rule a country, it goes beyond giving the easiest answer. It is complex and it is difficult to lead a country. And I just said it, what we have reached so far, the level of development, the level of well being that we have in the world, without a doubt makes contrast with what  the situation that we leave 30 years back  never before, a global society or the societies at least of our three countries has lived the level of development and well being that we enjoy today.

Never before have our countries had a high life expectancy as we have today. Never before have we had the opportunity to have access to the knowledge of the world as fast and as easy as we do today. Never before, were in such a level of connection between society and the possibility of having access to any product from any corner of the world as we do today.

And that was built throughout the years by using the model based on openness, free trade, trade agreements. And the biggest challenge today is to make sure that those benefits reach out to every single citizen. But the solution proposed by some (ph) is not by destroying what we have built, it is not taking a different route to choose a roads toward isolationism and destruction.

What we need to do is keep up the pace toward development. And when I said that, I mentioned that most of what some people say, it is very similar that in the past  and President Obama already said it, even years back  but in the past, some leaders addressed their societies in those terms. Hitler and Mussolini did that. And the outcome, its clear to everyone, it resulted in devastation and turned out to be a tragedy for mankind, and we saw it last century.

That was my message when I make reference to  to this event (ph). My  my message was about to value what we have and also to be aware of the road that we need to walk still. But thats the benefit that were looking for, to take the benefits to our society.

TRUDEAU (THROUGH TRANSLATOR) (?): Last question.

MODERATOR: The question will be from (inaudible) of (inaudible) News.

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Mr. Trudeau, with the goals that you have said are ambitious for clean energy, does this mean the U.S. will import more hydroelectricity to produce more clean energy?

QUESTION: (inaudible) Mr. Obama, does it mean that the United States will have to import more hydroelectricity from Canada?

TRUDEAU: Certainly, the agreement that weve concluded today values our shift towards cleaner renewable energy. Canada has a tremendous amount of energy that comes from clean sources right now and were always looking to create more.

How we work together as  not just as two countries, but as three countries on energy solutions that give opportunities to our citizens while protecting future generations from the impacts of climate change is something that we are all entirely agreed on.

One of the things that weve learned, and this is through the Paris Agreement and through many years of following different paths toward solutions is there is no one single solution to our energy challenges or to the challenges posed by climate change. That we need to be creative. We need to be innovative and we need to work together.

And thats why the conclusion of this ambitious continental energy strategy is so important in how were going to do not just our share to combat the global challenges climate change, but to demonstrate leadership and show that clean energy and clean growth are exactly the solution and the opportunity that we face because of climate change.

TRUDEAU (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Its true that the agreement that we came to today is very important because it allows us to fight climate change. But its also very important when it comes to investing in green energy, clean growth, and our country.

I know that we will have to pursue multiple different solutions when it comes to clean energy. But cooperation and the collaboration that weve highlighted today among our three countries will give rise to innovative solutions that are positive in the area of green energy. I cant wait to work with the United States and with Mexico in order that together were able to face climate change challenges.

Its not just a matter of doing our fair share. Its a matter of showing leadership in the world. When it comes to climate change and clean energy we have to do more than our share. We have to show that the future of the environment and the economy involves taking responsible decisions for the environment and green energy. Thank you.

PENA NIETO (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Even when this question was addressed to the U.S. and Canada, I would like to say that Mexico in this trilateral relationship, and as it has been mentioned here, we also are committed to clean energy. Mexico has revamped its legal framework so that by 2024 at least 35 percent of a generation of energy is clean. This is an agreement they made in this trilateral meeting to reduce other pollutants like methane.

What I would like to say is that our three countries share the same agenda in environmental issues. We have agreed to protect our world and to find solutions that were already working on.

OBAMA: Well, Justin I think got it right, which is that weve set a goal. And we are coordinating and synchronizing best practices. And there is going to be an energy mix in each of our countries thats going to be different. And some of its going to be determined by what natural resources we have. Its going to be determined by how well we can integrate the grid and transmission of power.

So there may be some wonderful hydroelectric power that wed like to get to the United States. The question is, are there enough transmission facilities for us to be able to buy it at a competitive price. Just as you know as we develop wind energy, we have to build an infrastructure to get wind produced in South Dakota down to Chicago.

OBAMA: And each of us I think are going to have national plans. But the point is that by setting these goals, creating these coordinating mechanisms, were in a better position to take advantage of the confluence of interests and economies and opportunities. And I view this clean energy sector as an enormous opportunity. But oil is cheap right now, but its not going to be cheap. Ive said this before. Those of you who are buying gas guzzlers, Im telling you, because it is a finite resource and it becomes more and more expensive to extract and people are taking climate change more and more seriously.

And so were in a transition phase, but in the meantime, technology is moving. And solar and wind and hydro and biomass and entire technologies we havent even thought of yet. You know, theres some 15-year-old kid somewhere who is figuring it out. I dont know whether hes in Mexico or Canada or the United States or China or Saudi Arabia, but somebodys out there whos going to figure this out, and I want that  that opportunity to accrue to our workers, our people, our communities.

And whoever wins this race is going to  everybody else is going to follow. And I believe that we have the brain power and the architecture to lead. And we have such a huge market between our three countries that we can test out a lot of these opportunities and figure out which work best.

If youll allow me, I want to say one last thing, though, because its been a running thread in a bunch of questions. And thats this whole issue of populism. Maybe somebody can pull up in a dictionary quickly the phrase populism, but Im not prepared to concede the notion that some of the rhetoric thats been popping up is populist.

When I ran in 2008, and the reason I ran again, and the reason even after I leave this office I will continue to work in some capacity in public service is because I care about people and I want to make sure every kid in America has the same opportunities that I have. And I care about poor people who are working really hard and dont have a chance to advance. And I care about workers being able to have a collective voice in the workplace and get their fair share of the pie.

And I want to make sure that kids are getting a decent education and a working mom has childcare that she can trust. And I think we should have a tax system thats fair and that folks like me who have been  have benefited from the incredible opportunities in my society should pay a little bit more to make sure that somebody elses kids who werent as lucky have those same opportunities.

And I think there should be curbs on the excesses of our financial sector so that we dont repeat the debacles of 2007 and 2008. I think there should be transparency in how our systems work so that we dont have systems dodging taxes by setting up offshore accounts in other places and avoiding the responsibilities that their fellow citizens who dont have fancy lawyers and accountants, you know, that they cant benefit from those same tricks.

Now, I suppose that makes me a populist. Somebody else who has never shown any regard for workers, has never fought on behalf of social justice issues or making sure that poor kids are getting a decent shot at life or have healthcare  in fact, have worked against economic opportunity for workers and ordinary people, they dont suddenly become a populist because they say something controversial in order to win votes.

OBAMA: Thats not the measure of populism. Thats nativism or xenophobia or worse. Or its just cynicism. So, I would just advise everybody to be careful about suddenly attributing to whoever pops up at a time of economic anxiety the label that theyre populous. Where have they been? Have they been on the front lines working on that (ph) for working people? Have they been carrying the labor (ph) in order to open up opportunity for more people?

Now, there are  there are  there are people like Bernie Sanders, who I think genuinely deserve the title because he has been in the vineyards (ph) fighting on behalf of these issues. And there, the questions just going to be all right, we share values, we share goals, how do we achieve them?

And I do think Enriques broader point is right, which is sometimes there are simple solutions out there, but Ive been president for seven-and-a-half years, and it turns out thats pretty rare.

(LAUGHTER)

And the global economy is one of those areas where there arent a lot of simply solutions and there arent a lot of shortcuts to making sure that more people have opportunity in our countries. We are going to have to educate our kids better, and that takes time. Weve got to make sure our manufacturing sector is more dynamic and competitive, and that takes time. Weve got to restructure our tax codes to incentive the right things and make sure workers are getting higher pay, that takes time.

Weve got to raise minimum wages. Weve got  weve got to make sure that college is affordable. We have to restructure and reform our financial sector so theyre not reckless, but were got to do so in ways that dont destroy the entire system and throw millions of people suddenly out of work.

And when we bailed out the auto industry, that wasnt popular, so maybe I wasnt populous, but I tell you what, all of those automakers, all those  all those UAW members, both here in the United States and in Canada are pretty happy I did even though it was  had about 10 percent popularity at the time. Even in states like Michigan.

So I dont know. Maybe that was an elitist move on my part because it didnt poll well. The last time I visited an auto plant, though, they were pretty happy. So lets just be clear that somebody who labels us versus them or engages in rhetoric about how were going to look after ourselves and take it to the other guy, thats not the definition of populism. Sorry. This is one of the prerogatives when youre at the end of your term, you just kind of

(LAUGHTER)

You go on these occasional rants.
From Cosmopolitan

"Your test was positive; there's microcephaly. The baby looks unwell. Is this a pregnancy you want to move forward with?"

It's a conversation Christine Curry, MD, PhD, has rehearsed over and over. The ob-gyn is South Florida's go-to doctor for pregnant patients with the Zika virus. While the symptoms for adults who test positive for Zika are usually just rashes or red eyes, for pregnant women, the virus can be devastating. It was recently confirmed that Zika can cause microcephaly, a birth defect where a baby's head is smaller than average, often because their brain hasn't developed properly, along with other severe birth defects.

In December 2015, faculty members at the University of Miami Hospital met to address the then-mysterious virus that was spreading quickly in South America. The link to birth defects was still speculative then, but to prepare for questions or concerns from their international patients, the staff decided one doctor should take the lead.

Dr. Curry, a 36-year-old about a year into her job at the hospital, raised her hand.

"I have an interest in infectious disease - I have a PhD from the microbiology and immunology department at Loyola [University Chicago] - and so I said I'd be happy to take the lead on this, not really knowing what that meant or where that would go," Dr. Curry says.

In just seven months, Zika has exploded into a global public health emergency, according to the World Health Organization. As of May 20, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are monitoring 279 pregnant women with confirmed or suspected Zika virus infections in the U.S, according to the New York Times. The CDC reports that fewer than a dozen women in the U.S. have had miscarriages or had babies born with birth defects due to Zika. But this week, the first baby with Zika-related microcephaly was born in Florida.

Since that December meeting, Dr. Curry has treated about a dozen pregnant women who have tested positive for the virus. The hospital recommends all pregnant women who have traveled to a Zika-affected area in the last 12 weeks get tested, regardless of whether they feel sick. "The vast majority of patients are asymptomatic. They are often surprised by their positive test," says Dr. Curry, who uses a combination of blood and urine tests to determine a diagnosis.

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Dr. Curry is the one who breaks the news that they have Zika, the one who describes how this could affect their babies, the one who explains their options in English, Spanish, or Haitian Creole. The virus is so new, she's sometimes learning along with her patients. "It's not uncommon for a patient to ask a question I've never thought of," Dr. Curry says. "You just have a sort of contract with your patients like, 'Listen, this is new. This is new to you, this is new to me, and this is something that isn't in my textbook.'"

She's also the one who delivers the baby - or she can terminate the pregnancy.

If a patient has Zika, she says, "We go through their test together, then we talk about how far along they are in pregnancy and what their options are, depending on what trimester they're in." In the first trimester, usually it's impossible to tell if there are any problems with the fetus, so a patient must decide blindly if she wants to proceed with a pregnancy that could show symptoms later on.

A woman in the first trimester may look at that risk situation and say, 'I want none of this.'

"A woman in the first trimester may look at that risk situation and say, 'I want none of this. This is really difficult for me. I'm not willing to wait another couple months to see if a problem develops. I would like to terminate this pregnancy,'" says Dr. Curry. "Or she may say, 'OK, we don't yet know if this is a 1 percent chance or a 25 percent chance, let's wait a couple months and see what happens.' It's a very personal decision."

During the second trimester, at about 18 to 20 weeks, Dr. Curry performs an anatomy ultrasound, and that's usually the first time microcephaly can be diagnosed. But a normal ultrasound at this point does not guarantee that the fetus will continue to grow without defect. "There are some women who have been infected in the first trimester, and it's not until later that some of these findings manifest," says Dr. Curry. In Florida, women have the option of having an abortion up until 24 weeks, giving these women about a month after this ultrasound appointment to make a decision about the future of their pregnancy. They often ask Dr. Curry for advice. "It's an intense conversation," she says.

A lot of her counseling is administrative. With many of her patients coming from outside of the U.S. - from countries like Honduras, Haiti and Brazil, where Zika is active and abortion is illegal - she teaches them how the U.S. health-care system operates, what abortion laws they need to be aware of, and what paperwork they'll need. "Many of them don't know that [terminating a pregnancy] is necessarily their right," she says.

If microcephaly is detected in the third trimester, it's too late to terminate the pregnancy in Florida (some other places do allow late-term abortions), so the conversations turn to delivery and childbirth. The patient will come in every four to six weeks for an ultrasound to monitor the baby's development, as opposed to just a single ultrasound in the third trimester for a typical pregnancy.

"It's all of the fun things about preparing for childbirth - prenatal classes, birthing classes - but also making sure that mom is not paralyzed with fear about the pregnancy, because many of these babies will be born normally," Dr. Curry says. "If there's ever a sign that a problem developing, it's all about honesty and transparency and just being available for the patient. Some patients do become nervous but, for the most part, they're like, 'OK, if there's nothing I can do about it, we're in it together.'"

Dr. Curry says she's delivered babies to women who have tested positive for Zika, but declines to say how many or to comment on their health.

Kids with microcephaly can have developmental delays, problems with movement and balance, seizures, as well as vision and feeding problems, according to the CDC. The problems range from mild to severe, and can last a lifetime. Microcephaly can require around-the-clock care for the child and can, in worst cases, be life-threatening - but it isn't always. One Brazilian journalist with microcephaly spoke to the BBC about her life earlier this year, saying she's faced seizures and breathing problems, but has grown up to go to university and write a book about her life.

"Microcephaly is a box of surprises. You may suffer from serious problems or you may not," Ana Carolina Caceres explained. "What I recommend to mothers or pregnant women is that they remain calm. Microcephaly is an ugly name but it's not an evil monster."

Some patients do become nervous but, for the most part, they're like, 'OK, if there's nothing I can do about it, we're in it together.'

As the number of positive tests keep ticking up and the headlines multiply, patient concern grows. Women ask Dr. Curry: What does this mean for the planning of my family? Should I avoid pregnancy for a while? Should I get pregnant right now before it spreads further?

Dr. Curry says all she can do is echo the CDC's warning: "We anticipate that Zika will get to the United States. Hospitals, clinics, etc., need to start educating patients preemptively about what we know about Zika, what is the effect on the baby, and what can you do to prevent mosquito bites."

Her patients with Zika, meanwhile, anxiously bring in clippings of news articles, and recite concerns and rumors from their parents, cousins, aunts, and uncles. Dr. Curry plays the role of fact-checker and sympathetic ear, telling them there's no question too small. Being a Zika-focused ob-gyn is, Dr. Curry says, as much about relating to her patients as it is about treating them. "It's sitting and talking or drawing pictures and making other ways to communicate so that they can then take back to their families and discuss."

Follow Kate on Twitter.
In a record-setting feat, an electric car zoomed from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in just 1.513 seconds last week, making it the fastest known electric car in the world.

The "Grimsel" electric car took less than 98 feet (30 meters) to reach 62 mph, according to ETH Zurich, a science, technology, engineering and mathematics university in Zurich, Switzerland.

The previous world record  0 to 62 mph in 1.779 seconds  was set in 2015 by a team at the University of Stuttgart in Germany. That makes both electric cars faster than the Ariel Atom (which can go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds), the No. 1 rated car on a list put together by the BBC's Top Gearof "fastest accelerating cars on sale today." [Hyperloop, Jetpacks & More: 9 Futuristic Transit Ideas]

The new record was set at the Dubendorf Air Base near Zurich on June 22. The award-winning team of 30 students, from ETH Zurich and Switzerland's Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, built the car in less than a year.

The Grimsel is the fifth electric vehicle at the Academic Motorsports Club Zurich (AMZ), a club created by students at ETH Zurich in 2006, and sets new standards in lightweight construction and electric drive technology, ETH Zurich representatives said in a statement.

The car is made out of carbon-fiber materials and weighs just 370 lbs. (168 kilograms), or about as much as a small upright piano. It has four-wheel drive, and each of its wheel-hub motors is capable of generating 200 horsepower and 1,254 foot-pounds (1,700 newton meters), the researchers said. A foot-pound is how much energy it takes to raise 1 lb. a distance of 1 foot.

The Grimsel's traction-control system regulates each wheel's performance individually, which allows the car to accelerate even faster, according to ETH Zurich.

"No large-scale production car  even one with a combustion engine  can reach an acceleration comparable to [what] the Grimsel [achieved]," ETH Zurich representatives said in the statement.

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In fact, the Grimsel also did well at the 2014 international Formula Student competition, the largest competition in the world for engineering students. A total of 500 teams competed in that event, and the Grimsel scored an average of 920 points out of a possible 1,000 on three different trials, making it AMZ's most successful vehicle to date, ETH Zurich representatives said.

The Grimsel even helped AMZ maintain first place at the Formula Student world rankings  a position it has held since 2013, according to ETH Zurich.

Original article on Live Science.

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Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
(Adds comments from ministers throughout)

By Alonso Soto

BRASILIA, June 29 (Reuters) - Brazil posted on Wednesday its largest ever primary budget deficit for the month of May, highlighting the challenges the government faces to close a massive fiscal shortfall amid the worst recession for decades.

The primary deficit of 18.125 billion reais ($5.57 billion) in May topped market expectations for a gap of 17.3 billion reais.

It followed a surplus of 10.182 billion reais in April.

The primary balance, which excludes debt payments, is a key gauge of a country's capacity to repay its borrowing. The overall deficit, which includes interest costs, rose to 60.623 billion reais in May.

Acting Planning Minister Dyogo de Oliveira said on Wednesday that the government expects a smaller primary deficit somewhere above 100 billion reais in 2017.

The forecast will be revealed next week amid lingering doubts about the government's commitment to close a fiscal gap that cost the country its investment grade rating last year.

Michel Temer, who as vice president replaced President Dilma Rousseff during her impeachment trial in the Senate, is proposing capping public spending to limit this year's deficit, which is expected to swell to a record 163.9 billion.

May's large deficit was due mainly to a drop in the federal government's revenues as the economy faces what could be its worst recession in a century.

Despite the drop in revenues, the government announced on Wednesday an increase of 12.50 percent in the "Bolsa Familia" program, a subsidy to the poor supported by Rousseff in recent years.

The increase will cost the government 2.1 billion reais per year, Social Development Minister Osmar Terra told reporters.

The ample deficits for this and next year would allow the Temer administration to spend more in order to gain political support for key pension and tax reforms, some critics say.

The two-year-long recession and past fiscal mismanagement have raised fears among investors that Brazil will be unable to service its debt in coming years.

The country's gross debt rose to an equivalent of 68.6 percent of gross domestic product in May from 67.5 percent the previous month. Brazil's debt, already high when compared to other emerging economies, is expected to reach 80 percent of GDP as early as 2017. ($1 = 3.2568 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Writing by Silvio Cascione and Alonso Soto; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Andrew Hay)
Sumner Redstone told the Massachusetts Family and Probate Court today, ahead of a hearing tomorrow, that he can be left alone while it rules on Viacom CEO Philippe Daumans effort to remain on Redstones family trust and the board of his National Amusements theater chain.

At issue is a May 20 notice from Redstone telling Dauman and Viacom director George Abrams that they had been replaced on the two entities. The trust would control Redstones ownership stake in National Amusements if he cant manage his own affairs. NAI, in turn, controls 80% of the voting shares of Viacom and CBS.

Dauman and Abrams say Redstone, 93, is incompetent and his daughter, Shari, is manipulating him to control his media empire. They want him examined by an independent doctor.

But in a filing today, Redstone says that theres no need: A majority of the trustees and the NAI board  whose competence isnt in question  also voted to oust Dauman and Abrams.

Consequently, there is no justification for an intrusion upon Sumners privacy at all, much less before these likely case dispositive issues have been resolved, the filing says.

It adds that he was already examined by geriatric psychiatrist Stephen Read in September, October, December, January, April and May and he does not suggest that a further mental examination of Sumner is necessary, or even would be helpful.

The filings (read here and here) reiterate Redstones assertion that Dauman and Abrams havent fulfilled the conditions that the trust spells out to have him declared incompetent: It requires either a finding by three physicians, or a court  and their decision cant be retroactive.

Until hes deemed incompetent, his decisions are final, conclusive, and immune from attack.

If they could invalidate actions taken before a finding of incompetence, then no one is entitled to vote the NAI stock, todays court filing says. NAI would be paralyzed, and Viacoms board and management  including, not coincidentally, Plaintiffs  would be accountable to no one. Such an absurd result plainly was not intended.

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Meanwhile, Viacom added some suds to the Redstone family soap opera by releasing previously private letters that highlight the once-bitter divisions between Sumner and Shari.

For example, Sumner wrote in a September 29, 2014 letter to members of his National Amusements trust: Recent dealings with my daughter, Shari, have caused me to believe even more strongly that she does not have the requisite business judgment and abilities to serve as Chair of Viacom or CBS.

He urged trustees to let each companys board exercise their independent judgment regarding the appointment of a Chair.

A June 25, 2009 letter from Sumner to Shari noted that, when he dies, his trust would use its clout to have her named Non-Executive Chairman of Viacom and CBS.

But it adds that Philippe will continue to be CEO of Viacom and she would deal with management only through the CEO, and not directly.

A compensation agreement will also provide among other things for the continuation of your salary of $5.5 million with cost of living increases for the ten year term you requested, with the continue use of The Pierre and the airplane, as well as changing the [Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan] age from age 60 to age 55.

Sumner closed the letter saying hes glad this will be behind us. Love, Dad.

With the releases, Viacom seemed to thumb its nose at a letter that Redstone-controlled National Amusements released yesterday.

It said that the theater chain is deeply concerned with the time and resources being devoted to malicious and ultimately pointless attacks on Sumner and his family, rather than to business and management decisions that will redound to the benefit of all shareholders.

Related stories

Redstone Vs. Dauman Hearing Adjourns Without Decision

Redstone And Dauman Lawyers Still Debating Viacom's Fate As Mass. Court Case Breaks

Viacom Agreement Bars Sale Of Paramount Stake During Board Challenge
Port-en-Bessin-Huppain (France) (AFP) - John Degenkolb said he was feeling relaxed as the German prepared to tackle the Tour de France just five months after a horror crash that could have ended his life, let alone his career.

The 27-year-old was one of six Giant-Alpecin riders involved in a head-on crash with a car while training in Spain in January.

Degenkolb suffered injuries to his thighs, forearm and lips, while he came close to losing a finger.

He missed the whole of the Spring Classics season, denying him the opportunity to defend the prestigious Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo titles he'd won in 2015.

But after making his return to racing last month, the German one-day specialist is raring to go.

"Happiness is really a very important expression when it comes to (how he's feeling) because the accident was huge and I had to do the biggest break of my career, and rehabilitation," said Degenkolb from the Giant team hotel in Normandy.

"I was never injured like that. I think I was two or three weeks in hospital, that's a pretty hard time -- that was the hardest part, when you don't know what's going on, what's the schedule, when you'll be back on track, when you'll train again, when you'll race again.

"We said we wanted to try to make it to the Tour de France, now finally I'm in the selection -- it's a great feeling! The plan worked out, I'm very happy about that."

It hasn't been easy to overcome the scars from his crash -- his left forearm retains a huge, pink, jagged reminder of the accident -- but Degenkolb says he's coped with it.

"I remember everything from the accident basically but... I'm just over it, I have no problems with it any more. For me it's the past and now I can concentrate on what's coming in the future."

But given his lack of racing this year, Degenkolb, who is also an able sprinter, insists there is less pressure on him in this year's race, where Giant also have high hopes in the overall standings for young Frenchman Warren Barguil.

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Degenkolb will be expected only to challenge for stage victories on lumpy sprint stages that suit him more than the faster out-and-out sprinters such as former team-mate Marcel Kittel.

"I didn't lose my mentality, it changed a bit my perspective of how I looked on things in life," he said of his crash.

"I think I'm just a bit more relaxed, I'm enjoying more what I'm doing because it's a big privilege to be a professional cyclist and I have the right to ride the Tour de France.

"Before they put me in this role and I have to do it, (but) now I'm just trying to enjoy it more -- I am enjoying it, it's really nice and I'm looking forward to it."
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Wednesday Italy was not seeking a change in European Union rules to help its struggling banks, and the question was not on the EU agenda.

"The question of our banks is not on the agenda, no-one is asking to change the rules," Renzi told reporters after an EU summit in Brussels.

Earlier on Wednesday officials told Reuters that the European Commission was not convinced by Italy's proposals to help its banks, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said EU rules could not be changed every few years.

Italy's banks are saddled with 360 billion euros (296.64 billion pound) of bad loans and their share prices plunged after Britain opted to leave the EU in last week's referendum.

Renzi said Italy should have fixed its banks' problems four or five years ago under previous governments, when EU rules on state aid were less rigid, but it failed to do so.

Nonetheless, even under the current rules, he said the government would be able to ensure that citizens' savings were protected.

(Reporting By Gavin Jones, editing by Isla Binnie)
Scott Peters, a 58-year-old second-term Democratic congressman who represents the area around San Diego, may be an unlikely candidate for online stardom. But his use of Periscope to broadcast parts of last week's Congressional sit-in for a vote on gun-control legislation has put him -- and Periscope, as well as his continued demands for action on gun violence -- in the spotlight.

"We decided the right thing to do was to show America this important conversation," says Peters, who was joined by other representatives who broadcast their own footage on Periscope and Facebook Live. "You could tell what a visceral connection we were making with America."

Peters arrived on the House floor when he heard that Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights leader who now represents part of Georgia as a Democrat, had organized a sit-in to call for a vote on gun control in the wake of the shooting in Orlando that left 49 people dead. Because the protest prevented House business from proceeding as scheduled, the cameras and microphones that normally capture events for C-SPAN weren't running. Peters was about to return to his office when an assistant there suggested he download Periscope instead. The world was watching -- online -- and Peters believes it could be the beginning of a process to push Congress to enact more thorough gun-control laws.

(For much more on the Orlando tragedy and Billboard's open letter to Congress to stop gun violence, visit billboard.com/orlando.)

How did you decide to film the sit-in on Periscope?

We realized that the cameras and the microphones were turned off and I thought to myself, "What a waste of time -- we're sitting on the floor of the House but no one is going to hear or see this." So I downloaded Periscope -- I had heard of it, but I hadn't used it -- and I filmed for a little while. I walked off the floor to call my daughter, and after 10 minutes, I got back and saw all of these people asking what happened to the broadcast. So I started filming again. The Sergeant at Arms kept asking me to stop because it's against the House rules, so I started sneaking it -- and every time I would post something, it would get a great response. I made a deal with myself that if the Speaker would turn on the cameras, I would turn off mine.

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How You Can Help End Gun Violence: 6 Steps Anyone Can Do to Effect Change

What made the frustration in Congress boil over into a sit-in?

There are two things we're asking for. First, we're looking to close the background-check loophole. If you go to Walmart to buy a gun, you have to have a background check to make sure you're not a felon. Right now, if you buy a gun on the Internet or at a gun show, you don't. We just want to apply the same rule everywhere. Second, if we have a no-fly list, people on that list shouldn't be able to buy guns. These two concepts are supported by 80 percent of the American people. We get so frustrated that even after Sandy Hook and now Orlando we can't get a vote on it. So people who are frustrated got to see that Democrats share their frustration.

Is this the beginning of a process that will result in a law?

We don't know yet. What we discovered from social media is that people are really engaged in this issue -- they're fed up with a Congress that doesn't work, and they saw that there are a lot of people in Congress who share that frustration. It's not just guns -- it's immigration, it's tax reform. We're not doing the service to the American people that they deserve. Every week, I get on the plane from one of the nicest places in the world to go to Washington, D.C., and the thought of not getting anything done drives me crazy.

Wait a minute: Are you suggesting that Washington, D.C., isn't as nice as San Diego?

It's not. And you can have that on the record.

What can people in the music business do to push for more thorough gun-control laws?

What everyone should do, including music business folks, is demand that Congress legislate. When we're not doing it, call us out. The music industry has particular leverage -- you have a lot of prominent folks. Just encouraging young people to speak up would scare the pants off of people. If young people turned out to vote at the same rate as people in their 60s, our government wouldn't just be talking about the cost of prescription drugs; we'd be talking more about the climate, about education.

What does that mean in practice? How can people get the attention of legislators?

People really underestimate the effect of communications -- letters, but also tweets and Facebook posts about legislators. You can guide your elected official to do the right thing. Legislators pay attention to their voters, as they should. Every mom out here in San Diego thinks it's nuts not to do anything about this.

Do you think the changes you're suggesting would be a significant step toward reducing gun violence?

Those two things would be really important. We know background checks save lives. We know of shootings where the guy was a felon. And we know that people agree on this. So let's not fight about an assault weapons ban right now. Almost none of the mass shootings have been with assault weapons; the publicized ones have been. But most people get killed by handguns and a lot of them get killed by people who couldn't pass a background check. That would be an important step.

If so many Republicans want to change this, why aren't they voting for it? And do you think this could change?

I don't know. I have great sympathy for [Republican Speaker of the House] Paul Ryan [who ordered television cameras turned off during the sit-in]. He cares about doing the right thing, but he's in an impossible spot. If he works with Democrats, the Freedom Caucus will throw him out. If he doesn't, he won't get anything done. But for his party, the smart thing to do would be to put this on the floor. The public has a way of making change happen.
Enrique Pena Nieto Mexico

A Reuters reporter asked Mexico's president at a Wednesday press conference about the plan by Donald Trump to build a wall on the southern border of the US if he wins the presidency.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the US presidency, has repeatedly called for a wall to prevent people from illegally crossing the border between Mexico and the US. He has also said that he would make Mexico pay for the wall.

"How worried are you that this time next year there will be a wall up on your border?" the reporter asked at a press conference held at the North American Leaders' Summit in Ottawa, Canada.

US President Barack Obama was at the conference along with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and he cut in to comment on the Trump question.

Obama said:

"I'm actually going to help out my friends a little bit on your last question even though it wasn't directed at me and just say, when I visit other countries it's not my job to comment on candidates in the middle of the race just because they may end up winning, and relationships between governments tend to transcend whoever is in power at any given time.

"So, it's a tough question, I'm not saying they shouldn't answer it, I'm just helping them out a little bit."

Pena Nieto then addressed the question through implicit attacks on Trump's rhetoric.

He said:

"Those political actors, by using populism and demagoguery, they choose the easiest way to solve the challenges of today's world. And things are not that simplistic. It's not as easy as that to lead a country. To take on a responsibility to rule a country, it goes beyond giving the easiest answer. It is complex and it is difficult to lead a country."

Trump has made "the wall" a cornerstone of his campaign. He often mentions it at rallies, drawing huge cheers from crowds. Trump has also been accused of racism for saying early on in his campaign that Mexico is "sending people that have lots of problems" to America, including rapists, drug runners, and other criminals.

Story continues

Pena Nieto was also asked about his past comments comparing Trump's rhetoric to that of dictators.

"In the past, some leaders addressed their societies in those terms," Pena Nieto said. "Hitler and Mussolini did that. And the outcome, it's clear to everyone, it resulted in devastation and it turned out to be a tragedy to mankind."

NOW WATCH: After the Istanbul attack, Trump calls for the US to bring back waterboarding





More From Business Insider


Jeff Flake

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake said on Wednesday that it's "quite possible" that Donald Trump will lose his state after a series of polls showed the race between the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and Hillary Clinton as either extremely close or in the former secretary of state's favor.

But Flake, in an interview with Business Insider, said that it won't affect fellow Arizona Sen. John McCain's efforts at reelection in the traditionally deep-red state.

The Republican senator said:

"I think it is possible that Trump can lose. I think that's quite possible. But I don't think that will trickle down on the McCain race. Sen. McCain has his own brand and has been attacked by Donald Trump. So I just don't think that will affect the McCain race much."

Clinton is leading Trump by half of a percentage point in Arizona, according to the RealClearPolitics average of several polls. The presumptive Democratic nominee was given a 53.9% chance of winning the state in FiveThirtyEight's election forecast, which was released on Wednesday. The projection gave Trump a 45.7% chance of winning in November.

McCain has a 5.5% lead over his Democratic challenger, House Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, according to the RealClearPolitics average. But a recent poll from Public Policy Polling showed that McCain's lead over Kirkpatrick had dwindled to just two points.

He said, according to a recording from a fundraiser obtained by Politico last month:

"If Donald Trump is at the top of the ticket, here in Arizona, with over 30 percent of the vote being the Hispanic vote, no doubt that this may be the race of my life. If you listen or watch Hispanic media in the state and in the country, you will see that it is all anti-Trump. The Hispanic community is roused and angry in a way that I've never seen in 30 years."

Flake has been a frequent critic of Trump in recent months. He has not endorsed the Manhattan billionaire.

NOW WATCH: Trump praised Scotland for voting to leave the EU  it didn't





More From Business Insider


Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - The European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday opened hearings into the cases of two former Guantanamo Bay inmates, who claim to have been held by the CIA in secret prisons in Romania and Lithuania before being transferred to the notorious US prison in Cuba.

The pair remain incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay, among the last 79 prisoners still held there.

Amnesty International called the hearings "an important step" in determining Romania and Lithuania's role in the so-called US rendition process.

The two countries "have never been held accountable for their direct involvement in CIA rendition and secret detention," Julia Hall, the rights group's expert on counter-terrorism and human rights in Europe, said in a statement.

"Todays hearing is a chance for the victims lawyers to set the facts out before the European Court in the hope that it will help break the conspiracy of silence," she added.

The cases being heard by the European court based in Strasbourg, France, are being brought by Saudi-born Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah who claim they were held by the CIA in secret prisons in the Eastern European countries from 2004 to 2006.

Al-Nashiri, in his fifties, is suspected of carrying out an attack on the destroyer USS Cole in the port of Aden that killed 17 US military personnel in October 2000.

He is also suspected of playing a role in an attack on the French oil tanker Limburg in the Gulf of Aden in 2002, an attack which left one person dead and 12 injured.

He claims to have been held illegally in Romania from April 2004 to September 2006.

Al-Nashiri says he was subjected to several violations of the European human rights convention in Romania, at the hands of his American captors.

The second complainant, Abu Zubaydah, considered a leading Al-Qaeda member by Washington, says he was imprisoned in Lithuania for a year, from February 2005 to March 2006.

Born in Saudi Arabia in 1971, he was arrested in Pakistan in 2002.

Story continues

He claims he was held by the CIA in several secret prisons, notably in Poland, Morocco, Lithuania and Guantanamo.

"Mr Abu Zubaydah complains that the rendition process amounted to a violation of his rights," the European court said in a statement.

Neither Bucharest nor Vilnius have ever admitted the existence of secret CIA prisons on their soil, but the prosecutors general in both places have opened enquiries into the matter.

The European rights court is not expected to pronounce on the cases for several months.

In 2014, the court ruled that Poland abetted the unlawful imprisonment and torture of Zubaydah and another Saudi citizen Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in 2002-2003.
University of Wisconsin-Madison students stand in line at the Gordon Dining Center to obtain a free UW student voter ID.
The world will soon be gearing up for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, held August 5 to 21, 2016. It hasn't taken long for ready-to-wear labels and beauty brands to start splashing all kinds of items with yellow and green, with a range of Brazilian-inspired garb from sunglasses and flip-flops to sexy swimwear. Here's a look at some of the Brazilian buys currently on offer to get into the spirit of the Summer Olympics.

Havaianas flip-flops

The Organizing Committee for the Rio 2016 Olympics has teamed with the famous Brazilian footwear brand for a special collection of flip-flops in the colors and patterns of the upcoming Games. There are four models to choose from. Two come decorated with patterns and symbols of the Rio 2016 Olympics, one pair features Sugarloaf Mountain, and a final pair features Christ the Redeemer.

Price: 24 for the "Rio" model or 26 for the "Slim."

Website: www.havaianas-store.com

Beliza "Lisa" bikini

Swimwear brand Beliza has embraced the spirit of Rio 2016 with gusto this summer, creating an elastane triangle bikini top with yellow and green cups and gold elastic, matched with green briefs with gold elastic on the sides. The "Lisa" bikini is available in a range of sizes.

Price: 149

Website: beliza-swimwear.com

Paquerettes Paris "Brasilia" sunglasses

Paquerettes Paris has unveiled a pair of "Brasilia" shades that bloom with floral embellishments. These hippie-style round sunglasses come with dark lenses with Category 3 UV protection and are hand-customized with flowers in Brazilian-themed colors of white, blue, green and yellow.

Price: 60

Website: www.paquerettes-paris.com

Eastpak "Springer" waist pack

Best known for its iconic backpacks, Eastpak has released its "Springer" waist pack in a bright yellow shade, bringing the colors of Brazil to its summer range. The waist pack has been making a slow comeback for several seasons now. Eastpak's take on this new must-have features a main zip compartment, an adjustable waist strap and a rear zip pocket.

Price: 27

Website: www.eastpak.com

Fabletics "Salar Jungle" leggings

The ready-to-wear sportswear brand co-founded by Kate Hudson has released its iconic "Salar" leggings in Brazilian colors and patterns for summer 2016, setting tropical motifs in green and yellow against a black background.

Price: 44.95

Website: www.fabletics.com
Rockwell Collins Inc. COL has been awarded a modification contract from the U.S. Navy to provide additional AN/ARC-210 radios and ancillary equipment for domestic as well as foreign allies. The contract is valued at $60.1 million.

ROCKWELL COLLIN Price

ROCKWELL COLLIN Price | ROCKWELL COLLIN Quote

Per the contract, Rockwell Collins will provide additional AN/ARC-210 radios and ancillary equipment for domestic and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) platforms. Rockwell Collins will perform the activity at its facility in Cedar Rapids, IA and the work is expected to be completed by Sep 2018. Contracting activity is the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD.



The company has already supplied more than 30,000 AN/ARC-210 radios worldwide on over 180 platforms, making them the accepted choice for multiband, multimode communications.



Notably, Rockwell Collins RT-1939(C) (ARC-210 Generation5) is the most innovative Receiver-Transmitter (RT) in its proven ARC-210 communication system family.



On a global scale, the demand for weapons has witnessed a gradual turn. Instead of guns and ammunition, growing demand is witnessed for sensors, missiles and next-generation ISR technologies. With this there has emerged an evolving need for transmission and communication security solutions. To comply with the National Security Agencys (NSA) Cryptographic Modernization Initiative, the RT-1939(C) is the first military airborne transceiver to supply an embedded, fully programmable INFOSEC capability.



Rockwell Collins has an unwavering focus on research and development (R&D), which enables it to clinch lucrative deals. Under its R&D program, the company invested $242 million in second-quarter fiscal 2016. It intends to invest about $1 billion in fiscal 2016. Continuous spending on R&D helps the company to develop high quality and technically advanced products.



Zacks Rank



Rockwell Collins currently holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other well-placed stocks in the aerospace defense equipment industry include TransDigm Group Incorporated TDG, B/E Aerospace Inc. BEAV and CAE Inc. CAE. While TransDigm Group sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), B/E Aerospace and CAE carry the same rank as Rockwell Collins.



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Rolling Stone is facing one less lawsuit over its since-retracted story about a woman's alleged rape at a University of Virginia fraternity after a New York federal judge granted a motion to dismiss the suit.

Three members of Phi Kappa Psi sued the magazine in July, claiming its infamous story "A Rape on Campus" implicates them in a crime they didn't commit.

U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel on Tuesday granted the magazine's motion to dismiss, finding "the article's details about the attackers are too vague and remote from the plaintiffs' circumstances to be 'of and concerning' them."

Castel's opinion recounts the gory details of the alleged gang rape and stipulates that "the parties do not dispute that the rape depicted in the article did not occur, and was the fictitious creation of 'Jackie,' the article's principal source.

"While the statements may portray Phi Kappa Psi in a negative light, they do not expressly or impliedly state that the fraternity required all initiates to participate in a rape, or impute any knowledge of such a requirement to the plaintiffs," Castel writes. "They therefore fail to state a claim of small-group defamation."

Rolling Stone is still facing a $25 million defamation suit from the Virginia Alpha chapter of Phi Kappa Psi, which alleges the entire organization was implicated in the article. The trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 23 in Virginia state court.

The university's associate dean Nicole Eramo also has an active defamation lawsuit against the magazine in Virginia federal court. "Jackie" was deposed in April as part of that lawsuit.
PARIS (Reuters) - Moscow has agreed to a Russia-NATO council after the alliance's summit in Warsaw next month, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Wednesday, as both sides seek to defuse military tensions exacerbated by the Ukraine crisis. NATO held its first formal meeting with Russia's envoy to the alliance in almost two years in April, but the talks did little to ease tensions triggered by the Ukraine crisis. France and others have called for another meeting to try to help rebuild trust between the two sides as NATO prepares for a summit next month. "Russia gave its approval but would like the meeting to take place after the Warsaw summit to be able to examine the decisions that are taken there," Ayrault told journalists after meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Paris. NATO allies are to decide at the summit on July 8-9 how best to deal with Russia after Moscow's lightning seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The United States, Britain and Germany have said they will deploy more troops to Poland and the Baltics to send Moscow a message. Ayrault said France wanted the summit to show solidarity among allies but also transparency towards Russia through dialogue. "We don't want the Warsaw summit to be a confrontational summit," he said. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Andrew Callus and Louise Ireland)
June 29 (Reuters) - The 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race will be the longest in the history of the event and will take place over eight months rather than the usual nine, organisers said as they unveiled the route on Wednesday. Navigating the vast icebergs, freak waves and the most remote expanse of often storm-filled water on the planet, the race will return to its Southern Ocean roots. The fleet of one-design boats will cover 45,000 nautical miles. The race starts in Alicante, Spain with a 700nm journey to Lisbon before the teams sail to Cape Town, South Africa. The 12,500nm in the Southern Ocean will test the sailors in the cold waters around Antarctica with winds as strong as 70 knots. New Volvo Ocean Race CEO Mark Turner promised to lead the global event into a new era with state-of-the-art communications and a challenging new route. "More action, more speed, more tough miles and more host venues, but a shorter race - it's an evolution in the right direction," Turner said. The boats will head to Hong Kong, followed by a non-scoring transition to Guangzhou, China around the notoriously dangerous Cape Horn and up through the Atlantic Ocean to Itajai, Brazil. The 19.8m (65 foot) monohull race boats will call at Newport, United States before crossing the Atlantic to the Welsh capital city of Cardiff as the race returns to Britain after a 12-year absence. The fleet then heads to Gothenburg, Sweden for the penultimate leg and the finale will take place in The Hague, Netherlands. (Editing by Ed Osmond)
Correction appended, June 29

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously voted to outlaw a host of commonly used foam products, in a move hailed as the nations most extensive such ban.

The ban applies to polystyrene food packaging, packing peanuts, to-go containers, coffee cups and pool toys, among other things. For most products, the ban will take effect Jan. 1, 2017. For meat and fish trays, it becomes effective July 1, 2017. The bills sponsors argued that such foam products, which are not biodegradable, pollute waterways and can harm animal life. They touted the ban as an example of the citys leadership on environmental issues.

While the products included in the San Francisco ban are often colloquially referred to as Styrofoam, the ban does not apply to trademarked Styrofoam products, which are used for insulation and construction materials and some craft products.

Similar bans have become more common, but controversial, in cities across the U.S. New York City briefly implemented a ban last year, arguing that polystyrene products cause environmental harm and contribute to waste. But the ban was overturned a few months later in favor of a plan to ensure the products could be recycled, the New York Times reports.

Washington, D.C., currently has a ban on expanded polystyrene products in the food service industry. It went into effect in January.

Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly described the scope of the ban. In covers commonly used foam products like food packaging and packing peanuts.
One of San Franciscos lawmakers proposed a new tax on Tuesday that would be levied only on tech companies in the city. It is time for San Francisco, said Supervisor Eric Mar, to require big technology companies to pay their fair share.

Citing a previous tax break that some tech companies received and blaming tech companies for contributing to the citys affordability problems, Mar announced that the 1.5% payroll tax  the so-called Fair Share measure  would raise an estimated $120 million, which would be dedicated to fighting homelessness and funding affordable housing, as well as lowering costs for small businesses. The lawmaker has the support of two fellow progressives but will need the support of six supervisors by early August to get the measure on the ballot.

Critics and more moderate lawmakers were quick to call the proposed ballot initiative ludicrous job-killing and emblematic of a deep divide in a city struggling with economic inequality. This would be penalizing an industry that has led to the lowest unemployment rate in the country, Alex Tourk, a spokesperson for sf.citi, an advocacy organization for tech firms in San Francisco, told TIME Wednesday. He described the proposal as San Francisco politics at its worst, flicking at the notion that the ballot measure might increase progressive turnout at the polls in November.

This is the latest flare-up in a political battle that has been going on for years in San Francisco, with locals who are angry about the rising costs of living  and changing culture of the city  focusing their ire on an industry with unmissably affluent players. As middle class workers have been priced out, tech workers more able to pay for $3,500 one-bedroom apartments have flowed in. City leaders have tried to keep the peace between long-term residents and young companies that have brought thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue to San Francisco.

The proposal reflects the deep divide in our city as a few have prospered while so many are pushed out by rising costs, Supervisor Jane Kim told TIME in a statement about the tech tax proposal. There is a growing problem that requires creative solutions that we can all support regardless of the industry in which you work.

Other lawmakers argued, as they have before, that the anger at tech firms and their growing army of well-compensated employees is misplaced and misguided. Our housing crisis is the result of decades of not creating enough housing. The crisis wont be solved by chasing good-paying, good-benefits jobs in one targeted industry out of San Francisco, Supervisor Scott Wiener said in a statement.

The tax break Mar alluded to, which was labeled by critics as the Twitter tax break, was a deal brokered five years ago when the unemployment rate was almost triple the current low of 2.9%. Companies were offered a break on payroll taxes as an incentive to move to a stretch of Market Street, a blighted central artery, with hopes that they would serve as anchor tenants to revitalize the area. At the time about a third of storefronts were vacant. Twitter took the deal. Others, like Square and Uber, followed, with some choosing not to take the break.

But as new shops opened, non-profits and poorer residents were pushed out. And what Mayor Ed Lee and other city leaders heralded as a great success for the neighborhood known as the Tenderloin, protesters mocked on signs as they blocked so-called Google buses, a generic term for shuttles that ferry workers from homes in San Francisco to jobs in Silicon Valley. Protesters rallied outside Twitters headquarters. Twitter youre no good, hundreds of union workers shouted outside the headquarters in 2014. Pay your taxes like you should.

In a statement to TIME, the mayors press office recalled the different situation that the city was in several years ago. This job-killing ballot measure puts San Franciscos economic stability at risk and will return this city back to the days of the Great Recession  when unemployment was nearly 10%  just as an the national economy is softening  Rather than scapegoat a sector of our economy, we should be working together to find solutions to housing and homelessness.

Mar stated to TIME that it was time for San Francisco  five years into our tech boom and housing crisis  to ask the tech companies to pay their fair share, and I believe voters will agree.

He added: Our housing crisis in San Francisco is the biggest threat to our economic health and stability. This Fair Share measure will help bring more stability and economic vitality to small businesses and our neighborhoods.

The measure would not apply to companies with gross receipts of less than $1 million, but sf.citis Tourk says its unclear which companies or how many would be affected. Though economists have said that the reasons for San Franciscos housing problems are complex  linked to factors like the influx of wealth, limited space on the peninsula, as well as the local politics that have resisted building new housing in order to preserve the character of the city  Mars language implies more of a one-to-one equation. He describes the impetus for the initiative as the technology-driven housing crisis in the ballot language.

Any San Franciscan understands the reality of rising costs of housing and the perception of a widening gap that is not only happening in San Francisco but in cities across the country, said Tourk. In my opinion, this is not a thoughtful approach. Its another way to divide two constituencies.
From Popular Mechanics

Ever since 2005, when the Cassini spacecraft discovered that Enceladus shoots geysers of liquid water 125 miles into space, the little icy moon orbiting Saturn has tantalized planetary scientists. Not only does the moon likely have a warm subsurface ocean thanks to the gravitational pull of Saturn, but it also periodically flings material from that ocean out where an orbiting spacecraft can sample it. Whether Enceladus is more likely to be habitable than other watery worlds such as Jupiter's moon Europa is a matter of pure speculation-but whether it would be easier to search for life on Enceladus than on other worlds is a clear yes.

This is the conclusion of planetary scientists like Carolyn Porco, head of the imaging team for the Cassini mission. Earlier this month, she organized a meeting at the University of California, Berkeley, with astrobiologists, organic chemists, and oceanographers to discuss the best way to search for life on Enceladus, according to Scientific American.

To search for life on Mars or Europa, we need to land a spacecraft on the celestial body and either search the surface or tunnel through layers of ice to get to the liquid ocean beneath. We are already searching Mars's surface for signs of life, and the new Mars 2020 rover will continue to probe the planet for all its secrets. There are also some intriguing ideas to tunnel through Europa's surface ice with a heat exchanger that would use high-pressure jets to carve a hole in the ice-technology that is being demonstrated in Alaska. But at Enceladus, maybe all we need to do is fly through the towering geysers with a spacecraft designed to identify signs of organic life.

At Enceladus, 888 million miles from the sun, any life would be encased in somewhere between 2 and 20 kilometers of ice. The leading theory is that organisms could cling to hydrothermal vents near the core of Enceladus, similar to the vast ecosystems on the ocean floor of Earth that manage to survive while completely cut off from the energy of the sun. If we assume life does in fact exist on Enceladus, the question is, will that life be detectable in the plumes that shoot out into space?

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It may be that any life near the core of the small moon would leave no trace in the geysers erupting from the surface. However, at the meeting lead by Porco, the scientists discussed the possibility that a process known as "bubble scrubbing" could deposit organic material in Enceladus's geysers. At Earth's hydrothermal vents, bubbles rip organisms and organic material from the walls of water columns, mixing it in with waters closer to the surface of the ocean. A similar process on Saturn's little moon could mean the water erupting from the surface would have detectable traces of life.

We already have a spacecraft in the area, Cassini, and it already flew threw the geysers of Enceladus, but it doesn't have the necessary science instruments to conduct a thorough search for organic life. The data taken in that flyby is still being analyzed, with no conclusive evidence regarding habitability one way or another.

We need a new spacecraft, one specifically designed to probe Enceladus for life.

We need a new spacecraft, many argue, one specifically designed to probe Enceladus for life. It will be difficult to take a sample without crushing any organic molecules when the spacecraft soars through a water plume at high speeds, but many at the UC Berkeley meeting are optimistic that advanced science instruments could find molecules indicative of life, and maybe even life itself.

There is a remote possibility that a near-future spacecraft actually manages to take images of life eating or reproducing or swimming around. But confirming that images of microbial life actually depict living organisms and not just a collection of particles would prove difficult.

However, there are other, less direct ways of searching for life in a water sample. Amino acids, used by cells to create proteins, and lipids such as fats and waxes-used to build outer cellular walls-could point to life on Enceladus. These two types of molecules exist where life does not, such as on comets and meteorites, so scientists would be looking for unique structures and distributions of amino acids and lipids that are not thought to occur due to natural chemical processes-the specific arrangements are made by life. If scientists see these structures of amino acids and proteins, it would be convincing evidence that life exists.

There is also the possibility that extraterrestrial life is nothing like life on Earth.

There is also the possibility that extraterrestrial life is nothing like life on Earth-that it doesn't use the same types of molecules in the same ways. During the Berkeley meeting, Porco brought up the possibility that life on Enceladus doesn't even use amino acids. If that's the case, "then we're sunk and nature is perverse," said Chris McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, according to Scientific American. "We should all just give up and become poets."

That is the grim reality of sending a spacecraft to Enceladus to search for life in the water plumes-the most likely scenario is that nothing conclusive can be determined from the data. Confirming the existence of alien life in our solar system would almost certainly require evidence from a number of different science experiments and possibly multiple missions.

Still, scientists are confident that the environment at Enceladus could sustain life, and flying through the moon's watery plumes a few times would be much easier than tunneling through the surface ice. It's a high-risk mission because it would cost hundreds of millions, and it might come up empty. But from the prospective of a planetary scientist, the potential reward has never been higher.

Source: Scientific American
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will meet European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday afternoon, Juncker's spokeswoman said. The meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. local time (1500 GMT). Sturgeon is already set to meet European Parliament leaders on Wednesday morning to seek a way for Scotland to remain in the European Union. Scotland voted decisively to stay in the EU in last week's referendum, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom as a whole, which voted in favor of Brexit. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)
[Photo: Mark Niemierko]



Other than your funeral, your wedding is probably the only time everyone you know will be in the same room with you  so you want to do it right, says Mark Niemierko, events planner to the rich and famous.



This is how he justifies why his clients can spend (literally) millions on their special day and why its important that he makes sure that the job is done perfectly.

Coming from a working class family in Essex and a background in TV production, events planner Mark Niemierko has worked and is working with everyone from celebrities to members of the Royal family.

Hes hands on with everything; from squeezing his brides into their Spanx to negotiating the budget with their rather anxious fathers. FYI, his minimum spend on a wedding is 150k.

Asked about his most extravagant wedding, the 35-year-old doesnt even have to pause to recall this wedding that he planned around four years ago.

[Photo: Mark Niermierko]



I did a wedding for a bride from a well known Hong Kong business family, and each of the 97 guests had two nights at Claridges  marking the biggest group booking in the hotels history. Oh, and each guest had a 300 Fortnum and Mason hampers in their room. I suppose I am so spoilt with my budgets, arent I?

He says, as a result, hes become an expert on everything from booking first class flights to the perfect pastry for canapes. Rather excitingly for us, hes not shy about dishing the dirt on his famous clients who include James Corden and Rochelle and Marvin Humes.

Rochelle made sure she watched Jeremy Kyle on the morning of her wedding  it was even in the running order  even though shes asked me not to mention that since!

[Photo: Hello!]



He says Rochelle and Marvins monochrome themed big day at Blenheim Palace was one of the hardest weddings hes worked on, based mainly on the sheer size of the venue, but credits them one of the easiest couples to plan for.

Marvin is one of the nicest people in the world; he could charm the gas meter  one of the most romantic things was when we were at Claridges.

Story continues

It was here, Mark says, that the budget went out the window.

Rochelle would meet me there, get on her Spanx and try on her dress in the Royal suite. We were discussing something about the lunch plans when Marvin leaned across the table and said Just give her whatever she wants.

[Photo: Hello!]



Similarly, James Corden was flexible with his budget when it came to getting the big day he wanted.

James was the most hands-on groom Ive ever had  we had one three hour meeting where we decided pretty much everything. He was so involved in the look and feel, but hes so not try hard  they didnt even have a cake.

Just two days before the wedding James phoned and asked how much a firework display would cost  and in that time we managed to arrange the most amazing display which was a huge surprise for Julia, he told us.

Saying that, one thing Mark isnt keen to talk about is the exact cost  saying that its crass to discuss money.

[Photo: Mark Niemierko]



However, to put things into perspective, the average spend on a Niermerko wedding is roughly 250k and despite the big names involved nothing is ever given for free.

We dont do freebies, and celebrities are so used to getting things for free that they expect them. But people like Rochelle, Marvin and James are happy to pay to get the best day and the day that they want.

However, the event planner will draw the line at some requests.

One bride asked to arrive on a zebra before roller skating down the aisle  the story was that they met in Africa  I turned it down, Im not quite sure what she had been smoking, he tell us.

And sometimes he will admit that even he questions what his clients are spending their cash on.

I had a bride that was obsessed with cats. One the day of the wedding my assistant had to go and collect the cat, put it in a wedding dress and take the cat to the Four Seasons to deliver to the bride alongside a bottle of Cristal.

Yeah, that was a total waste of money.

However, Mark isnt going budget any time soon.

The extravagance doesnt ever put me off  I work for amazing people. Life is too short, he tells us, ending with:

I like people to be themselves  they can have a sausage roll, but its going to be a Claridges sausage roll.

[Photo: npower]



Mark Niemierko is working with npower to promote Macmillan Cancer Supports Summer Lights campaign, which encourages people to host a celebration to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer support.



To help raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support, share your pics of you and your loved ones enjoying your #SummerLights event with @npowerhq and theyll donate 5 every time someone tweets. View Marks video, which shows the creation of his two Summer Lights looks here.



24 Cheap And Cheerful Summer Wedding Ideas

Would You Live Stream Your Wedding?
PRISTINA (Reuters) - A court in Kosovo sentenced a Serbian man to 13 years in jail on Wednesday on charges of preparing a terrorist attack after police found him transporting explosives in the streets of the capital Pristina. Slobodan Gavric, born in 1968, was arrested in December 2015 after police found 12.2 kilos of explosives in his car in an area where the United States and other Western embassies are located. Police said forensic experts working with the FBI had established that the explosive was Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN), a substance used in many terrorist attacks or attempts in past years. "He was planning to destabilize and destroy the most important political, constitutional, economical and social structures," judge Shadije Gerguri said while reading the verdict, although he did not specify Gavric's target. Gerguri said the explosives contained fragments of metal, bolts and nails to increase their destructive force and cause a high number of victims. Gavric remained silent while the verdict was being translated into his language. During the trial he said he had no intention of committing any crime and was only transporting the explosives in order to earn some money. He did not say to whom he was delivering the explosives. His lawyers said they would appeal. Security is fragile in Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following a 1998-99 war in which NATO warplanes bombed Serbia. Some 5,000 NATO troops remain stationed in the new country. (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; editing by Giles Elgood and Richard Balmforth)
MOUNT PLEASANT  The massive Zoo Interchange reconstruction project in Milwaukee County could do more than cut motorists drive times.

It could also help lakefront property owners battling erosion problems in Racine County.

Mount Pleasant Village President Jerry Garski said he has talked with the state Department of Transportation about obtaining concrete from the project to help shore up bluffs, which have crumbled amid high water levels.

The village is also looking into getting concrete from a construction project at the Waukegan, Illinois, airport, he said.

However, some issues still need to be resolved. A big one is how to pay for transporting the concrete to the lakefront.

The two stumbling blocks right now are, yes we can get it, but as always its the transportation cost and where to store it, Garski told the Mount Pleasant Village Board late Monday.

DNR to set up shop

Rising Lake Michigan levels have eroded the bluffs, putting homes in Mount Pleasant, Caledonia, Somers and elsewhere in danger. Mount Pleasant has seen the most serious problems, with Gov. Scott Walker requesting federal assistance for the village.

Racine County has also declared an emergency to better position it for state and federal assistance.

Garski said Monday the village is working closely with the state Department of Natural Resources, which he said plans to set up an office in Mount Pleasant to assist homeowners with applying for permits to complete work on the lakefront.

Officials from the DNR and other state agencies held a community meeting earlier this month at Mount Pleasant Village Hall, 8811 Campus Drive, where they walked through stabilization measures residents can take.

Federal officials, including House Speaker Paul Ryans office, are also working to qualify the village for funding under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Section 14 emergency authority, which would allow the agency to expedite construction of bluff protection measures.

Theyre just trying to figure out how possibly to get some funding for that aspect, Garski said.

While media attention has died down, dealing with bluff erosion is still taking a lot of time every day, Garski added.
Voters sick of the Liberal-Labor duopoly in Australian politics have plenty of choice at polls on Saturday with more than 50 minor players on the ballot, including a sex party, one for car enthusiasts and another with no policies.

While Malcolm Turnbull's Liberals or the Labor party led by Bill Shorten will be elected to high office, minor party alliances can hold the balance of power in the upper house Senate.

This means their vote could decide the outcome of an issue if the government and opposition disagree, something that has frustrated the current Liberal government.

It prompted Turnbull to call an early poll because crossbenchers -- politicians who are independent or from minor parties -- have failed to pass legislation relating to the creation of a construction industry watchdog.

But minor players remain undeterred, promising a range of alternatives to the mainstream despite operating on a shoestring.

The Greens are traditionally the most powerful small party, and the centrist Nick Xenophon Team -- named after its founder member -- is tipped to get two or three members elected, but there are no shortage of others hoping to pick up disaffected voters.

The Australian Sex Party, established in 2009 in response to what it saw as escalating government encroachment on adult's civil liberties, now has 6,000 members.

Among its policies, it advocates for nationally consistent age of consent laws, the decriminalisation of sex work and voluntary assisted dying.

In a bid to boost its chances, it recently announced an alliance with the Marijuana (Hemp) party, running a "joint ticket" in all states and territories except New South Wales and Victoria.

Minor parties secured 15 percent of the vote in 2013 elections under Australia's complex transferable ballot system, where voters rank parties or candidates according to preference.

Fiona Patten, Sex Party MP in the Victorian state upper house, said they traditionally attract the youth vote, but support was increasing among baby boomers.

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"Because we've also had a very strong stance on euthanasia, I must say I'm getting approached by people in their 80s who are saying 'I'm voting for Sex Party'," Patten said.

"And they're also the people who want access to medicinal marijuana."

- 'Real-time' voting -

Independent Victorian senator John Madigan has called for "a snub to the major political parties on July 2 and a vote for independents and minor parties".

"People are sick and tired of the duopoly. They no longer want the Coles and Woolies of Australian politics calling the shots," he said, referring to the grocery shopping duopoly.

Political scientist at Monash University Nick Economou admitted "the choice has never been greater".

"It's true that there's a bit of a drift away from the major parties, but there's a huge increase in the number of parties," he said.

The Australian Motoring Enthusiasts Party has its own unique agenda, focusing not just on cars but the preservation of family values while encouraging a sense of community.

Remarkably, at the last election in 2013 one of its candidates Ricky Muir, who had no political experience, won a Senate seat and in an alliance with the Palmer United Party held sway in the upper house.

"Political correctness drives me nuts," Muir, who favours jeans and hoodie over a suit, explained to reporters this month on why he was in politics.

Among other minor parties on the ticket are the Renewable Energy Party, the Smokers Rights Party, Socialist Alliance and the Australian Anti-Paedophile Party.

Perhaps the most innovative is the Flux Party, which has no policies and no platform.

Using the moniker Upgrade Democracy, members would vote "yes" or "no" on each bill before parliament via the Flux app, which would instruct the partys senator how to vote.

"Flux is here to upgrade our democracy, pioneering a real-time voting system which gives you a direct voice into parliament," it explains on its Facebook page.

Voting is mandatory in Australia for all adults, with turnout never falling below 90 percent since it became compulsory in 1924.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2016 / Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC notifies investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against of Gerdau S.A. ("Gerdau" or the "Company") (NYSE: GGB) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired Gerdau securities as American depositary receipts ("ADRs") between June 2, 2011 and May 15, 2016, inclusive (the "Class Period").

Gerdau produces and commercializes steel products worldwide. The Company operates through Brazil Business Operation, North America Business Operation, South America Business Operation, and Special Steel Business Operation segments.

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the Company was engaged in a bribery scheme in collusion with Brazil's Board of Tax Appeals ("CARF"); (ii) Gerdau had defrauded Brazilian tax authorities of roughly $429 million in taxes; (iii) Gerdau's Chief Executive Officer ("CEO"), Defendant Andre Bier Gerdau Johannpeter ("Johannpeter") and other directors and employees of the Company had engaged in bribery, money laundering, and influence peddling; and (iv) as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' statements about Gerdau's business, operations, and prospects were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

On or about March 26, 2015, Brazilian authorities announced that a Federal Police investigation, dubbed Operation Zelotes, had uncovered a multibillion-dollar tax fraud scheme at the Ministry of Finance ("Finance Ministry"), reporting that as many as 70 companies had bribed members of the CARF, a body within the Finance Ministry that hears appeals on tax disputes, to obtain favorable rulings that recused or waived the amounts that the companies owed. On or around March 29, 2015, it was reported that Gerdau was among the companies under investigation.

On December 4, 2015, the Brazilian publication Jornal do Comercio reported that a report by a committee of the National Congress of Brazil had named Gerdau, along with other companies, as a beneficiary of a tax evasion scheme.

On this news, Gerdau's ADR price fell $0.11, or 6.96%, to close at $1.47 on December 4, 2015.

On or around February 25, 2016, post-market, Brazilian police raided Gerdau offices in connection with Operation Zelotes, as police carried out some 20 court orders for testimony and 18 search warrants in Recife, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Brasilia. Gerdau's CEO, Defendant Johannpeter, was among the individuals ordered to testify by day's end. In an e-mailed statement, Gerdau stated that the Company had never authorized the use of its name in illegal negotiations and that the Company abided by rigorous ethical standards.

On this news, Gerdau's ADR price fell $0.03, or 3.16%, to close at $0.92 on February 25, 2016.

On February 29, 2016, Gerdau announced that it would delay the release of its fourth-quarter financial results as the Company "analyze[d] the case records involving Gerdau in the recent phase of [the] Zelotes Operation."

On May 16, 2016, various news outlets reported that Brazil's federal police had accused Gerdau of evading $429 million in taxes and indicted a total of 19 Gerdau personnel, including Defendant Johannpeter and some of the Company's executives, directors and lawyers, on corruption-related charges including bribery, money laundering, and influence peddling.

On this news, Gerdau's ADR price fell $0.13, or over 7%, to close at $1.72 on May 16, 2016.

No Class has yet been certified in the above action. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Investor Relations Coordinator, Eitan Kimelman of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 212-697-6484 or via email info@bgandg.com. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address and telephone number. If you suffered a loss in Gerdau you have until July 25, 2016 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a corporate litigation boutique. Our primary expertise is the aggressive pursuit of litigation claims on behalf of our clients. In addition to representing institutions and other investor plaintiffs in class action security litigation, the firm's expertise includes general corporate and commercial litigation, as well as securities arbitration. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

Contact:

Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC

Peretz Bronstein or Yael Hurwitz

212-697-6484 | info@bgandg.com

SOURCE: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2016 / Levi & Korsinsky announces it has commenced an investigation of Orion Energy Systems, Inc. (OESX) concerning possible breaches of fiduciary duty by the board of directors of the company. To obtain additional information, go to: http://zlk.9nl.com/orion-energy-systems-oesx or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@zlk.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972.

Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, New Jersey, California, Connecticut and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting securities litigation involving financial fraud, representing investors throughout the nation in securities and shareholder lawsuits. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

Levi & Korsinsky, LLP

Eduard Korsinsky, Esq.

30 Broad Street - 24th Floor

New York, NY 10004

Tel: (212) 363-7500

Toll Free: (877) 363-5972

Fax: (212) 363-7171

www.zlk.com

SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2016 / The following statement is being issued by Levi & Korsinsky, LLP:

To: All Persons or Entities who purchased Diamond Resorts International, Inc. (DRII) stock prior to June 29, 2016 .

You are hereby notified that Levi & Korsinsky, LLP has commenced an investigation into the fairness of the sale of Diamond Resorts International to Apollo Group Management, LLC for $30.25 per share. The transaction has a total approximate value of $2.2 billion. To learn more about the action and your rights, go to: http://zlk.9nl.com/diamond-resorts-drii or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@zlk.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. There is no cost or obligation to you.

Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, and Washington D.C. The firm''s attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting securities litigation involving financial fraud, representing investors throughout the nation in securities lawsuits and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. For more information, please feel free to contact any of the attorneys listed below. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

Levi & Korsinsky, LLP

Joseph E. Levi, Esq.

Eduard Korsinsky, Esq.

30 Broad Street - 24th Floor

New York, NY 10004

Tel: (212) 363-7500

Toll Free: (877) 363-5972

Fax: (212) 363-7171

www.zlk.com

SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Reel them in, marine ecologist Dr. Mike Heithaus says with a laugh. No, Shark Week titles dont get much grabbier than his, Sharks vs. Dolphins: Face Off, which premieres tonight at 10 p.m. on Discovery. As it suggests, the two species are at odds more than we suspect, and the hour looks at not only likely attack scenarios  see one in the sneak peek above  but also the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Related: Shark Week: Your Air Jaws: Night Stalker Burning Questions Answered



Youve been studying this relationship for 20 years. What is it that fascinates you?

Dr. Mike Heithaus: Im just, in general, really interested by interactions between predators and prey, and what that means for the health of ecosystems. If you think about sharks and dolphins, these are two of the top predators in the ocean. How do they navigate that relationship, and how does that interaction between the two affect the rest of the ocean ecosystem? Its kind of like when you think about lions and hyenas: theyre two top predators. What happens when you have a conflict between those two?

What do you think will surprise people most?

I think people are usually just surprised by the fact that sharks can get dolphins, because the story that people had usually heard is that dolphins will beat up and chase the sharks. When I started working with this question, thats what I thought. People would actually say, Why are you bothering to study this? Dolphins are too smart to get eaten by sharks. I think people are surprised that this happens at all. But to me, the other interesting thing is that the impact that sharks have on dolphins isnt just if they eat them. If the dolphins really change their behavior in order to stay safe  they will avoid areas, the buffet table of awesome food, if its dangerous there  that means some of the prey of the dolphins are actually protected by the presence of sharks in some of these areas. I think that thats a cool thing.



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Then the final one is, people really dont think that sharks get eaten by dolphins. There are some dolphins that will eat sharks. The bottlenose dolphin, theyll kill small sharks. Theyll actually, in some areas, kills porpoises, just use them as play things. Killer whales are the biggest dolphins  in some populations, killer whales actually specialize in eating sharks. In New Zealand, killer whales will specialize on eating rays and sharks. Then theres this group of killer whales they call the offshore whales that are in the Pacific Northwest, off British Columbia and Washington state, that appear to dive down to deep depths and eat sleeper sharks a lot.



The special shows a dolphin named JoJo in Turks and Caicos that goes after nurse sharks.



I have never had the opportunity to meet JoJo myself. But you would not want to be in your shark costume if you met JoJo.

Whats the most memorable interaction youve seen between dolphins and sharks?

One of the most interesting things I ever saw was when I was working in Western Australia. This was really early in my career. We ran into a small great white shark. We were excited, but we were really calm, like, Oh, we finally see a shark. We just started following it and watching it, and we noticed it turn. It started heading right toward a group of dolphins that were hanging at the surface.

My colleague and I were pretty much freaking out: Oh my gosh, this sharks going to go attack the dolphins. The dolphins were faced right toward the shark. The shark kept swimming to them, and the dolphins didnt even notice it was there until it was probably within about eight feet or less of them. Then one of them must have seen it and just panicked. All the dolphins shoot underwater, and this is a group of moms and calves, and they came up leaping. It was every dolphin for themselves including calves. I think they leapt for five minutes away from this area, and the shark never attacked. It was probably as freaked out as the dolphins when they scattered. That was one of those inklings. It was kind of a small white shark. The adult dolphins werent too much smaller than it. If youre ever going to have a situation where it should be defend and beat up the shark, it would seem that that would have been it. The fact that that didnt happen just goes to show that the best defense is No. 1, not to run into a shark, but No. 2, swim away very quickly.



Another thing that intrigued me, when I was studying the dolphin with my colleague Richard Connor at the University of Massachusetts, is male dolphins have social relationships among them that look a lot like politics to us. Your friend today may be your enemy tomorrow. Theyll team up to attack other ones. The two of us would be in different boats. We would see these dolphins would be together, theyd break apart, go their separate ways, maybe be a mile or more apart from one another. Were listening underwater for sounds, and wont hear anything that would be communication, and those dolphins will come together and basically coordinate some attack, like attacking another dolphin, or engaging in one of these social relationships. How did they coordinate? It almost seems like theyre able to plan whats going on. Theyre on the same page. I think that the level of communication and social complexity in dolphins is really amazing.

Related: A Shark Week First: Watch a Great White Glide Into the Deep



As you mentioned, we all know how smart dolphins are. But I was surprised to see in the special that one was able to look at two poster boards covered with different quantities of large dots and, 85 percent of the time, correctly pick which board had the smaller number. And also, if you cover one dolphins eyes, it can still mimic what the dolphin next to it is doing, in terms of spinning or jumping.

The sensory abilities of dolphins are incredible. Even their echolocation, the clicks they send out so they can see with sound, they can eavesdrop on other dolphins. If one isnt making clicks, but another does, and the echo bounces off, they can kind of eavesdrop on that click. I guess thats one of the reasons that people get surprised that sharks can attack dolphins. They seem like theyre super smart, theyve got these sensory abilities, but theres still a chink in the armor, which is that echolocation only goes out in front of the dolphin. Theres plenty of sound in the ocean to mask the water movement of the sharks. Sharks still can sneak up on dolphins. So theyve got to be careful in areas where there are big sharks that could be dangerous.

Related: Shark Week Preview: A Dangerous Dive at Tiger Beach and Uncharted Territories in Isle of Jaws

And why is it important for the ecosystem to continue studying where these attacks are most prevalent and whether the dolphins are leaving those areas?

Its partially because dolphins eat so much fish. Theyre warm-blooded, so they have to eat a lot more than sharks do. If you change where the dolphins are, or how theyre feeding, it could affect the fish, and then that could affect the coral reefs or the sea grass. Theres the potential for these effects to cascade through the whole ecosystem.

Sharks vs. Dolphins: Face Off premieres June 29 at 10 p.m., after Deadliest Shark, which explores whether the oceanic white tip deserves that title, at 9 p.m., on Discovery.
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f128748%2fgettyimages-57137337

Australian businesswoman and yarn fiend Marion Wheatland has devised a way for you to give your four-legged best friend  be they a dog, cat, guinea pig, or rabbit  the homage they deserve.

By collecting your pets hair, Wheatland can turn your bestie, dead or alive, into a keepsake for life, by spinning their wool into an item of clothing, a rug or a photo frame. Hurrah.

SEE ALSO: Socially awkward dog is just chillin' at this doggy pool party

Wheatland was approached by a student at one of her yarn spinning classes with a genuine and really weird request: to spin her some yarn from her poodle Mango so she could wear it when she was cold.

Never one to turn her nose up at a peculiar request, Wheatland set to work making a warm winter vest of poodle, a beanie quickly followed and before long, the pet-oriented garment requests came galloping in.

That is when Wheatland started her pet yarn business, Spinning Pets Yarn. "Some people think we're crazy but animals are part of the family," Wheatland told Mashable Australia.

yarn

Image: spinningpetsyarn

How do you turn your dead animal's coat into a keepsake?

We use horse hair for violin bows, sheep's wool for literally everything that requires warming and goat's hair to make the scarf of choice for rich old ladies. So why not take all that hair your pet sheds on every precious, fabric-based possession you own and turn it into something useful and warm?

The first step is gathering your pet's excess hair. You then turn it into yarn via a process called spinning. Not a new dance move, spinning is actually the procedure of twisting fibres in a spiral and winding them onto a bobbin.

Wheatland often receives requests from bereaved pet owners asking to have her create a memento from their beloved family friend and, depending on how long ago the animal died, she's more than happy to oblige.

For one previous client, Wheatland made enough yarn from the hair of a deceased pet for just a small square. "If you can catch the fibre before the animal really goes down hill, there's nothing wrong with it, it can still be used," she explained.

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And use it she has, and not just on a small scale.

Wheatland also has been known to spin husky hair into beanies to raise money for huskies, to spin in Antarctica to raise money for conservation and to teach spinning classes to get the local community involved in her extraordinary hobby.

yarn.

Image: spinningpetsyarn.com

What, pray tell, is the world's most wearable dog you ask?

With the help of a wool classifying company, Wheatland has even been able to develop a scale for measuring the comfort factor for different types of pet fibre.

Unsurprisingly the breed of dog with the highest comfort factor (so far) is your bog standard Schnauzer with a comfort factor of 90, followed closely by the Samoyed and Newfoundland sitting cushy at 80 and bringing up the tail end is the Airdale Terrier with a pretty average comfort factor of 49.

Ignoring the novelty factor of it all, Wheatland has a fairly matter-of-fact approach to the whole practice. "It's a great way to have that personal connection to your animal," she said. "we wear sheep, goat, arctic fox, squirrel, your mother or grandmother even wore mink, so why not your pet."

It's definitely more humane than wearing fur and with the added benefit of it being entirely free.

It's not weird  you're weird!
Lead plaintiff Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder of Whole Womans Health, exults after the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law imposing strict regulations on abortion doctors and facilities, June 27, 2016. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

It is just as difficult to get an abortion in Texas today as it was yesterday, and that will likely be true for a long time to come, providers across the state say.

Mondays Supreme Court ruling striking down obstacles the state had put in the way of doctors and clinics was a huge victory said Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder, president and CEO of Whole Womans Health, the named plaintiff in the suit, but the clinics that closed arent going to reopen overnight. The process will take quite a bit of time.

Three years ago there were 40 abortion providers in Texas. Then, in July of 2013, the Legislature passed a bill known as HB2, which required that doctors performing the procedure have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and that clinics be equipped like ambulatory surgical centers. Once that bill took effect, more than half the Texas clinics closed almost overnight. A series of court fights and injunctions allowed 19 to remain open, and that is the total today. They are sprinkled throughout the sprawling state at such wide intervals that some women have to travel hundreds of miles to obtain an abortion.

It is unclear how many of the closed clinics will be able to reopen, said Yvonne Gutierrez, director of Planned Parenthood Texas, the policy and advocacy arm of the organization. As health centers closed across the state, they had to sell buildings, let go of leases, let go of staff members who now have other jobs, she says. Reopening means finding new locations, new employees and, most importantly, getting new licenses to operate. Its not as though we have this ruling from the Supreme Court and click, lights back on, she said.

Hagstrom Miller said she hopes to reopen the clinics she had to close. Whole Womans Health operates in five states and had six sites in Texas before the new law went into effect. Now there are four. The Beaumont clinic closed completely. One of two Austin clinics closed, and Hagstrom Miller kept the space open as a workspace for those working on the legal challenges to HB2. Clinics in McAllen, Fort Worth and San Antonio remain open. The McAllen location  the only place where abortion is available in the entire Rio Grande Valley  closed, then reopened after the Supreme Court issued an injunction in 2014.

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Speaking by phone from Texas, having just arrived home from a trip to Washington where she heard Justice Stephen Breyer read the Whole Womans Health v. Hellerstedt decision in person, Hagstrom Miller said she is only just starting to navigate what it will take to recertify her clinics. She knows she can rapidly hire more staff for those clinics already operating, she said, now that the admitting privileges requirement has been struck down. But the bureaucratic timetable for licensing and inspecting any new clinics is not expected to go quickly.

The Texas legislators who brought HB2 to a vote in Texas in the first place responded to the court ruling by saying they would introduce new abortion restrictions in the next session. In that environment, Gutierrez said, every step of the reopening process is likely to face a fight. It will be interesting to go back to the same agencies that were responsible for shutting clinics down for approval to reopen, she said.

Still, Hagstrom Miller stressed, This is a victory. Most obviously, 10 more clinics would have been closed today had the courts ruling gone the other way. In addition, she said, It is a huge victory in putting a definition to what the undue burden standard is, putting a stop to this copycat legislation in other states, showing that a small independent provider can stand up to the state of Texas.

That does not mean that the bureaucratic tussles ahead are not daunting, however. This is one of the reasons this kind of law needs to be stopped before it passed, she said, because this kind of lawsuit takes time  as does undoing a law that should not have been passed in the first place.
Chaos in Istanbul. Another bloody terrorist attack on a civilian target killed 41 and injured over 230 others at the entrance to Istanbuls busy Ataturk International Airport Tuesday. Turkeys Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Wednesday that the government believes the Islamic State conducted the attack, but theres been no claim of responsibility so far.

The dead come from across the globe, and include 23 Turks and 18 foreigners. Turkey has faced a rash of terrorist strikes over the past year, including five in Istanbul itself, as it faces down threats from both the Islamic State and Kurdish militants operating out of Syria and moving back and forth over the border with ease.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tied the attack to the global fight against the Islamic State, which has either orchestrated attacks, or inspired them, in places like Paris, Brussels, San Bernardino, Texas, and Orlando over the past year. The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world, he said. Make no mistake: For terrorist organizations, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago, or Antalya and Rome.

Brexit comes to Turtle Bay. With the United Kingdom looking less united than ever before, a rump Britain could lose influence at the U.N., which would be a real problem for both London and Washington. FPs Colum Lynch reports that while the U.K. isnt really in much danger of losing its seat on the Security Council, things might look a bit different for London in the coming years.

European governments are expected to grow less willing to submit to Londons leadership role at the United Nations in crises from Libya to Somalia, where British diplomacy is backed up by European muscle and euros, Lynch writes. That will greatly enhance the influence and prestige of France, which will become the sole remaining representative of the European Union, among the councils big power caucus. Great Britain, meanwhile, may suddenly find itself as the runt of the Security Council, quipped Richard Gowan, a U.N. specialist at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

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Tale of two quotes. In a bit of a surprise move, Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday said Irans involvement in Iraq is, in some respects, actually helpful. Look, we have challenges with Iran as everybody knows and we are working on those challenges, Kerry said at the Aspen Ideas Festival. But I can tell you that Iran in Iraq has been in certain ways helpful, and they clearly are focused on ISIL-Daesh, and so we have a common interest, actually. Earlier in the day, Brett McGurk, U.S. special envoy overseeing the fight against the Islamic State, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that most of the Shiite Iranian-backed militias operating near Fallujah and elsewhere operate under the control of the Iraqi state, but about 15-20% of them actually do not. And those groups are a fundamental problem.

FPs John Hudson reports that McGurk said the campaign against ISIS is going pretty well, with Iraqi forces and Syrian rebels clawing back territory from the terrorist group. The envoy backed up his usual optimistic take on the situation with reams of anecdotal information, saying the group is now slashing pay, cannot provide services, and is facing internal resistance, from dissenters.We know from other sources, as well, that [ISIS] fighters are panicking on the battlefield, foreign recruits are now looking to return home, and leaders are struggling to maintain discipline, even despite the threat of execution for disobedience.

Benghazi. Its here. After spending more than two years and about $7 million in taxpayer money, the House Select Committee on Benghazi released its final report on the 2012 terrorist attack that left four Americans dead. The 800-page behemoth found no new evidence that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was at fault, FPs Molly OToole says. The Republican-penned report comes out a day after Democrats on the committee released their own 339-page version, which says the Pentagon could not have acted in time to save the lives of the four Americans killed in the attack.

The Republicans, conversely, slammed security gaps that prevented U.S. military forces stationed elsewhere from moving quickly enough to reach Benghazi in time. Like previous reports, it is highly critical of not only the State Department, but also the Defense Department and CIA, for not heeding warnings about the worsening security situation in Libya. One of the oddest revelations of the Republican report highlights the disorganization among State Department and Pentagon officials, who argued for hours whether Marines preparing to fly to Libya should wear their uniforms or civilian clothes, forcing them to change outfits multiple times over the course of several hours.

Read the Republican report.

Read the Democratic report.

Good morning again from the Sitrep crew, thanks for clicking on through for the summer 2016 edition of SitRep. As always, if you have any thoughts, announcements, tips, or national security-related events to share, please pass them along to SitRep HQ. Best way is to send them to: paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or on Twitter: @paulmcleary or @arawnsley

Pacific

Its just about always drill season among the maritime powers of East Asia, and the latest round of exercises features the U.S., Japan, and South Korea practicing their missile defense skills off the coast of Hawaii. The allies are exercising with an eye on the North Korean missile threat, as Pyongyang has been especially puckish lately, lighting off a series of Musudan intermediate range ballistic missiles, 300mm rockets, and a rocket which could form the basis of an intercontinental ballistic missile. The exercises also mark a diplomatic step forward for South Korea and Japan, which have traditionally been frosty over lingering bitterness from Japans World War II occupation of Korea.

Fat Leonard

Defense News Chris Cavas has a lengthy interview with former Seventh Fleet deputy of fleet operations Cmdr. Mike Misiewicz, one of the U.S. Navy officers at the center of the Fat Leonard corruption scandal. Misiewicz pled guilty to trading classified information on U.S. Navy comings and goings in Asia for bribes and prostitutes so that Fat Leonard Glenn Francis of Glenn Defense Marine Asia could gouge the Navy for port services. The disgraced officer, though, is less than contrite about his corruption, offering a defense that Fat Leonards services cost us money, but the strategic value of some of those things outweighed the expense.

Russia

The U.S. and Russia are locked in another dispute over their vessels coming too close for comfort. Russias Ministry of Defense has accused the U.S. destroyer USS Gravely of sailing too close to Russias frigate Yaroslav Mudry on June 17 in the Mediterranean. The ministry says that the Gravely, which was escorting the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, came within a dangerous distance of nearly 600 feet and violated international and bilateral agreements. American officials say the Gravely was just protecting the carriers flight operations as the Mudry was intentionally trying to interfere with Harry S. Truman operations. A big fear would be that the Russian ship would electronically jam U.S. pilots as they came in for a landing on the carrier, potentially causing a crash. Video shot by Russian sailors of the Gravelys passing is here.

The Islamic State

A small but notable resistance movement has formed within the Islamic States territory as the so-called caliphate shrinks under pressure from the U.S.-led coalition. Reuters reports that civilians forced to live under Islamic State rule have been carrying out small but heretofore unthinkable acts of resistance, such painting graffiti in Mosul with the initial M for muqawama, the Arabic word for resistance and posting a video of it online. Residents of Mosul are also now working with the anti-Islamic State coalition, feeding it with intelligence on the group. Islamic State leaders now try to disguise their movement from locals in Mosul to prevent their location from being slipped to American and Iraqi security forces.

Iran

In a surprise move, Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei canned Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, the general in charge of the Iranian armed forces on Tuesday. Firouzabadi had been Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces dating back to 1989, staying on for a record tenure while other senior brass were generally cashiered after six year terms. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei replaced Firouzabadi with his deputy, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri. Thus far, Iranian media and officialdom are mum on reasons for the changeup.

Afghanistan

Afghanistans nascent peace talks have hit another snag as the Islamist militant group Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, run by anti-Soviet insurgency veteran Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, has walked out on the talks, the Long War Journal reports. Afghan officials were hopeful they could sew up an agreement with Hekmatyar but the Islamist militant leader issued a Taliban-style poison pill demand, saying that the group wouldnt sign on to any peace deal unless the Afghan government broke contact with the U.S. and removed all of its troops.

Suns out, guns out

The U.S. Army is about to start rolling up its sleeves. Its kind of a big deal. But we note that Tuesday was U.S. Army Day at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley threw out the first pitch. But if you look closely at the troops, you see that none of their sleeves are rolled. Change comes slowly

Think Tanked

The American Enterprise Institutes Michael Rubin has released a new report, Kurdistan Rising: Considerations for the Kurds, Their Neighbors, and the Region, which examines the challenges to Kurdish political aspirations in the Middle East. The report says that the political reality of Iran, Iraq, and Syrias Kurdish populations is more complex than commonly assumed with intra-Kurdish politics playing home to a range of actors and agendas. Rubin argues that Iran, more than Turkey, is the largest impediment to the establishment of an independent Kurdish state.

Photo Credit: Defne Karadeniz/Getty Images
By Nate Raymond

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Six members of the Honduran National Police were indicted on Wednesday on U.S. charges they participated in drug trafficking activities and conspired with a son of former Honduras President Porfirio Lobo to import cocaine into the United States.

The indictment, filed in federal court in Manhattan, said the officers agreed to take bribes to help two informants posing as drug traffickers transport a multi-ton load of cocaine through Honduras so it could be sent to the United States.

The two informants, who worked on behalf of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, were introduced in 2014 to the six officers by Fabio Lobo, a son of the former Honduran president, the indictment said.

Lobo, who prosecutors said agreed to provide the informants with security and logistical support in the purported drug deal, was arrested in 2015 in Haiti and pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to import cocaine into the United States.

The case comes amid efforts in Honduras to clean up the country's 12,000-strong police force, which has long been accused of working with criminal gangs in the poor Central American country.

Omar Rivera, a member of a special Honduran commission with authority to investigate corruption and dismiss or suspend members of the national police, welcomed the indictments.

"Police who dedicate themselves to protecting drug traffickers, who dedicate themselves to the drug trade, aren't police but criminals and they should be treated as such," he said in an interview, adding that U.S. law enforcement collaboration is "fundamental" to resolving these cases.

According to U.S. prosecutors, certain members of the Honduran National Police from 2004 to 2014 received bribes from drug traffickers for access to information about ongoing probes and military and law enforcement checkpoints.

Prosecutors noted that the Honduran government had recently established the special commission, which has already sanctioned several police.

Story continues

The six officers indicted were Ludwig Criss Zelaya Romero, 39, Mario Guillermo Mejia Vargas, 46, Juan Manuel Avila Meza, 45, Carlos Jose Zavala Velasquez, 44, Victor Oswaldo Lopez Flores, 43, and Jorge Alfredo Cruz Chavez, 39.

Rivera said that Mejia Vargas has already been suspended from the police and is being investigated in Honduras for possible involvement in the 2009 murder case of a top anti-drug official, while Zavala Velasquez has been removed from the force.

Lopez Flores has been suspended pending an investigation, while the fates of the other three men are expected to be resolved shortly, along with some 150 other officers under evaluation, added Rivera.

All six defendants remain at large and were charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and related firearms offenses. They could not be reached immediately for comment.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Additional reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa; Editing by Andrew Hay and Leslie Adler)
FORT McCOY  Fort McCoy spent $263.3 million on payroll, operating costs and other expenditures in 2015, according to the garrisons Plans, Analysis and Integration Office.

Using a gross multiplier index of 3.2 to represent the number of times a dollar turns over within a region, thats an economic impact of more than $842 million.

More than 2,000 people worked at Fort McCoy during the fiscal year from October 2014 through September 2015  1,326 civilians, 391 military and 319 contract employees.

That total economic impact represented a decline of 10.8 percent from the $944.7 million economic impact reported for the previous year. Fort McCoy officials cited the winding down of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act spending and the decrease in demand for the staging of troops on their way to overseas deployments as the key factors in a decline in the garrisons economic impact that began after a peak of $1.38 billion in fiscal year 2010.

While spending might have been down, Fort McCoy set a record by supporting the training of 155,237 personnel. Thats a 6.9 increase over FY 2014 and a 39.4 percent increase since 2010.

Fort McCoy hosts training for reserve- and active-duty personnel from throughout the military.

About three-quarters of Fort McCoys workforce lives in Monroe County, and the FY 2015 payroll for civilian and military personnel totaled $131.5 million.

Fort McCoy spent $115.2 million on utilities, physical plant maintenance, repair and improvements, new construction projects, and purchases of supplies and services, as well as salaries for civilian contract personnel working at Fort McCoy.

The installation made more than $1 million in payments to local governments for such things as land permit agreements and school district impact aid in 2015, and the Fort McCoy Plans, Analysis and Integration Office estimated soldiers who trained at the garrison spent $15.5 million in area communities.

Founded in 1909, the garrison is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
By Ginger Gibson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's scathing criticism of his stance on trade, highlighting divisions within the Republican Party that threaten unity ahead of the Nov. 8 election. At a campaign rally in Maine on Wednesday, Trump called the nation's largest business association "controlled totally by various groups of people who dont care about you whatsoever." He said new trade deals should be negotiated because foreign countries are taking advantage of America. "Every country that we do business with us look at us as the stupid people with the penny bank," Trump said Wednesday at the rally in Bangor, Maine. The Washington-based lobbying group, which represents the United States' largest companies and business interests, is typically a reliable backer of Republican policies. But on Tuesday it took issue with Trump's vocal opposition to trade deals, calling his proposals "dangerous" ideas that would push the United States into another recession. Trump said the Chamber's argument that his policies would cause a trade war were incorrect because the United States was already at a deficit. "Were already losing the trade war, we lost the trade war," Trump said. "Nothing can happen worse than is happening now." In speeches on Tuesday, Trump called for renegotiating or scrapping the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico, calling it a job killer, and reiterated opposition to the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership among the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries. He also lambasted China's trade and currency policies. The Chamber has consistently backed trade deals. The public squabbling between the presumptive Republican nominee and the business group was unusual, one of a series of reminders that Trump still struggles to unite his party behind his campaign. The Republicans and many business leaders tend to share policy goals and work in lockstep, and many business leaders have traditionally been big donors to Republican candidates. So far, the Chamber's political action committee has donated $134,000 to federal candidates or their committees, with $127,500 of that total going to Republicans, according to U.S. government campaign finance records. Billionaire Republican donor Paul Singer, who bankrolled an effort to try to defeat Trump during the campaign's nominating phase, said on Wednesday that a Trump presidency and his trade positions would almost certainly lead to a global depression. "The most impactful of the economic policies that I recall him coming out for are these anti-trade policies," Singer said during a panel discussion at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, according to CNBC. But opposing trade deals has proven a winning strategy for Trump among voters concerned about the loss of manufacturing jobs. Art Laffer, an economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan who supports Trump, said he did not like the tone of Trumps speech on Tuesday but thought it was an improvement over his past comments on trade. "Its not terribly alarming to me, Laffer said. I didnt see any 45 percent tariffs across the board. ... "I saw negotiating better trade deals rather than throwing away all the trade deals we have now. He points out the flaws in these trades, and thats all true," Laffer said. "I dont like the tone of it, but I dislike the tone less today than I did three weeks ago. Peter Navarro, a Trump trade policy adviser, defended the candidate's position. Heres the central point to understand: The White House has been utterly and completely soft on Chinas illegal trade practices, said Navarro, a professor at the University of California, Irvine. "The status quo is the worst of all possible worlds for the United States." Trump also took fire from for his positions on trade from Democrats. In a call organized by rival Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, U.S. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, a former businessman and tech entrepreneur, said that while the country needed to do a better job protecting workers, more resources should be put into training them for a new economy. He also noted that it was unusual to see a Republican standard-bearer and the Chamber divide. Youve really got a special circumstance when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce responded to Trumps economic plan with a full-fledged onslaught, Warner said. No one could have predicted this kind of election season. Clinton held no public campaign events on Wednesday but did announce she would appear next week with President Barack Obama, the first time this year that he and his former Secretary of State have campaigned together. (Reporting by Ginger Gibson, Grant Smith, Amanda Becker, Alana Wise and Emily Stephenson; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Some years back, I traversed the American Southwest in a tour bus with acrobats, contortionists and variety-show performers. Elements of this might sound appealing, but it was undeniably one of the worst jobs Ive ever had. Whatever puerile visions Id had of life as a roadie melted away somewhere along the road from nowhere to nowhere; sipping as I was, birdlike, from a coffee that would both sustain me for the death march ahead but also lead me to suffer the indignities of the bus bathroom.

Work aids were dispersed widely to smooth out the rough patches. But they soon had quite the opposite effect and became a commodity more prized than self-respect, or even life itself. The line between functional human being and walking, sometimes talking, skin-bag of organs got thin.

Wed been rehearsing for several weeks  each performer had individual choreography set to an audio track  so by the time we reached New Mexico, everyone had been subjected to the same 10-song playlist for close to a month. Id heard Purity Rings Bodyache (Id say listened to, but that implies choice) something like 400 times in three and a half weeks. And yet, though I hated almost everything in the world at that time, from the chills Id get touching the fake-velvet bus seat upholstery to the very sound of my own breathing, I did not hate Bodyache.

Packshot

Why are elves telling me to set the bus on fire?

Source: Courtesy of Purity Ring

Hailing from Edmonton, a city described by two Canadian friends as hands-down the shittiest in Canada, Purity Ring make emotionally earnest synth-pop that falls somewhere in the Beach HouseKraftwerkVengaboys Venn diagram. The songs are generously peppered with chilling, misery-inducing minor-chord progressions flitting beneath vocals that conjure images of a small female robot trying and largely failing to experience real human emotions  the end result of, say, Vicki, the house-cleaning cyborg from Small Wonder, spending 1985 in a windowless German leather bar and resurfacing to start a band with a friend in her garage.

Story continues

As I was riding across a desolate landscape, sleep-deprived, drained of feeling, sick with visions of a fiery crash or terrible, Flying Wallendasstyle accident, Bodyache, and the rest of Purity Rings excellent Another Eternity, seemed a perfect audio distillation of the entire tour experience: Am I a robot? Will I feel again? Why are elves telling me to set the bus on fire?

But like all things, the job ended. I emerged more or less whole. And a few weeks ago, I found myself engaged in a strange kind of Stanislavskian real-life sense-memory exercise in the iTunes store. I bought Another Eternity because I needed to feel what not feeling felt like.

All you need is 9.99 and a major credit card.

Purity Ring, "Bodyache"

Related Articles
Sophie Turner just shot down *that* disturbing Sansa theory

Sophie Turner just shot down *that* disturbing Sansa theory

***SPOILER ALERT***

Thousands of Game of Thrones fans have been desperately hoping that one very depressing fan theory isnt true: that Sansa was made pregnant by Ramsay after he raped her on their wedding night. Despite the fact that Sansa was having appetite problems, and that Ramsay told her that hes part of you now, other Game of Thrones actors such as Liam Cunningham have shot down that theory  and now, Sophie Turner is, too.

sophie turner

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sophie discussed Ramsays final words, Im a part of you now  and how they relate to Sansas hypothetical pregnancy:

I think some people have taken it very literally, thinking that she might be pregnant. Personally, I think its more figurative, especially because months and months have gone on and Sansa really hasnt developed a baby belly. So I think he means hes going to forever be imprinted on her in a way that hes done such a terrible thing to her. Hes taken something of hers thats so precious.

Makes total sense to us. But does Sophie Turner think Ramsay will, indeed, always be a part of her? I think he believes that will always be a part of her, but I think he underestimates just how strong she is, and just how easily she can forget him, she said. Now that shes killed him she can forget him, and she can move on with her life. . . Shes onto bigger and better things. Ramsay was just a tiny blockade in the way of something much bigger.

sansa

OK, were officially done with *that* theory. All memory of Ramsay will, indeed, disappear, and Sansa will continue being the BAMF of the North that she totally is. Were 100% on board with that.

The post Sophie Turner just shot down *that* disturbing Sansa theory appeared first on HelloGiggles.
JOHANNESBURG, June 29 (Reuters) - South Africa's state-owned Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) said on Wednesday it has offered to buy Chevron's majority stake in the country's oil refinery in Cape Town and other downstream assets as well as those in neighbouring countries.

The SFF said it would purchase 75 percent of the refinery for an undisclosed amount, according to a report on Bloomberg.

A Chevron official said the firm would issue a statement later. Officials at SFF were not available to comment.

Chevron said in January it would sell its business in Africa's most industrialised country after disposing assets in Nigeria, in sales triggered by plunging oil prices.

The U.S. oil major is a leading refiner and marketer of petroleum products in South Africa, where it has had a presence for more than a century.

(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by James Macharia)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Transnet will shut down its coal export line for 14 days of routine maintenance from July 11, the state-owned logistics firm said on Wednesday. A total of 230,000 tonnes of coal per day is transported on the line, the company said. Transnet on Monday reported a slight rise in full-year revenue but said coal export volumes fell by 5.5 percent to 72.1 million tonnes. (Reporting by TJ Strydom; Editing by James Macharia)
Brussels (AFP) - Spanish and French leaders on Wednesday rejected any possibility of Scotland having a separate role in talks between Britain and the European Union after the Brexit vote.

Spain has consistently opposed Scottish independence for fear its own separatists, especially in Catalonia, its richest region, would claim a crucial precedent while France has taken a hard line on Britain's departure.

Speaking in Brussels after the 27 remaining EU leaders met to discuss the next step, Spain's acting Premier Mariano Rajoy said: "The Spanish government is opposed to any negotiations with anyone else but the British government."

"The United Kingdom leaves and with it, all those who make up the United Kingdom," he said.

French President Francois Hollande made the same point separately.

"The negotiations will be with the United Kingdom, not with a part of the United Kingdom," Hollande told reporters after the summit.

"It is only in this context that it will be possible to envisage situations, solutions that might concern Scotland," he added.

Rajoy and Hollande spoke shortly before Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, having earlier held talks with European Parliament head Martin Schulz.

European Council President Donald Tusk declined to meet Sturgeon as it was "not the appropriate moment", an EU source said on Tuesday.

Sturgeon told reporters later Wednesday that she was "heartened" by her talks with top EU officials as she set about protecting Scotland's place inside the EU and Britain prepares to leave.

"I don't underestimate the challenge but I have been heartened today that I've found a willingness to listen," she said, conceding that that did not necessarily make her task any easier.

Asked about Rajoy's remarks, Sturgeon said she did not find them "particularly surprising."

Story continues

"We are at an early stage in this process; this is a UK negotiation with the EU and I fully respect that," she said.

"What I am seeking to do is once UK negotiations with the EU get underway -- and of course none of us know exactly when that will be -- that all of the options are considered and Scotland is represented," Sturgeon added

While Britain as a whole voted 52-48 percent to leave the EU, Scotland voted 62-38 percent to remain.

Scots rejected independence in 2014 but since last Thursday's Brexit vote, there have been calls for another referendum to give Scotland the option to remain in the EU.
On the Fourth of July, Americans who celebrate with myriad renditions of The Star-Spangled Banner may well know that the lyrics were the handiwork of Francis Scott Key, who composed his immortal poem while watching the Battle of Baltimore.

But fewer people are likely to know what led Key  who was a lawyer, not a soldier  to witness the battle in the first place.

The answer comes down to the saga of one Maryland doctor.

In late August of 1814, the British had marched to the American capital and also invaded Maryland. When they made their way to the town of Upper Marlboro, which had been largely abandoned, they found one Dr. William Beanes, the towns primary landowner and a patriarchal figure in the community, who had elected to remain, according to Harold D. Langley in the Encyclopedia of the War of 1812.

When the British arrived, Dr. Beanes greeted them as friends, and even offered up his estate as a makeshift headquarters for British officers, who accepted the offer. Even though the U.S. had been independent for nearly 40 years, there were still British sympathizers in the region. The men likely figured that the doctor was either a sympathizer or merely a hospitable gentleman who treated high-ranking officers, be they American or British, with the respect their position commanded.

Their time together had been amicable. But a few days after the officers departed, word reached Dr. Beanes that British soldiers were looting the abandoned farms of his neighbors. The doctor formed a small posse of Maryland residents to round up these roguish soldiers and held them in a local jail. One of the detainees managed to escapeand he went straight to his leaders to tell them about the Dr. Beanes posse.

Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter

The British officers felt betrayed that the doctor they had spent time with had chosen to treat their soldiers in such fashion. So, in the middle of the night, a party of British horsemen rode up to Beanes front door, crashed into the house, and pulled the doctor out of bed, as narrated in Walter Lords book The Dawns Early Light, which adds that the British Major-General, Robert Ross, normally the most humane of warriors, had nothing but contempt for the old doctor, and that the Royal Navy Admiral, George Cockburn, wanted to send him in chains all the way to the British prisoner-of-war camp in Nova Scotia.

Story continues

Taken into British custody, the doctor despite being a gentleman of 65 was brought to the Royal Navy ship, the HMS Tonnant, and thrown in the brig. Such treatment of a prominent citizen was unusual in that era.

Fortunately for Dr. Beanes, he was a well-liked and well-connected man, whose seizure and incarceration did not go unnoticed. A gifted and charming 35-year-old lawyer named Francis Scott Key was enlisted to try to help him. Receiving the consent of then-President James Madison, Key  who accompanied by prisoner exchange agent John S. Skinner  boarded a flag-of-truce ship and headed down the Chesapeake Bay towards the British.

Key and Skinner found the British officers still highly indignant. Prepared for this much, the Americans then produced letters from British soldiers who had been wounded during the recent Battle of Bladensburg; these letters expressed much gratitude for the kind and effective treatment they had received from American doctors.

This heartfelt literature had such a profound effect on the British that they decided to free Dr. Beanes. Upon his release, the doctor went with Key and Skinner to the truce ship, where  due to the outbreak of the Battle of Baltimore and the Royal Navys attack on Fort McHenry  they were forced to wait, and witness. A chorus of booming cannons and exploding rockets riveted them throughout the night.

When morning arrived, and Key saw that the American flag still flew above Fort McHenry, he was so moved that he took to verse, composing the poem, Defence of Fort MHenry, which later became The Star-Spangled Banner. Interestingly, he made no effort to promote this composition. In fact, he did not even sign it. He merely showed his lyrics to a few friends, who then circulated the work. For several decades, Keys name rarely appeared alongside these lyrics, which  by the time of the Civil War  had become arguably Americas most beloved song.

It wasnt until 1931 that a congressional resolution signed by President Herbert Hoover made The Star-Spangled Banner the U.S. national anthem  an anthem that never wouldve existed had a lawyer not been asked to help out a doctor.
This week the French leather goods brand announced Spanish model Steffy Argelich as the face of its autumn/winter 2016-2017 collection.

Although still relatively unknown to the public at large, the Spanish model is part of a new wave of faces on the fashion scene. Her androgynous figure, emerald eyes and natural character have already seen Steffy Argelich picked by a host of ready-to-wear labels for both photo shoots and catwalk shows.

Lancaster Paris is the latest brand to sign up this young model, starring her in the label's autumn/winter 2016-2017 campaign.

Steffy Argelich rocked her 1970s style for photographer Guy Aroch, who has worked on all of the Lancaster brand's latest campaigns. Carried by her natural, characteristic style, the brunette poses as a rebellious yet romantic figure with a slightly retro vibe.

For the autumn/winter 2016-2017 collection, Lancaster focuses on clean, simple shapes and leather, finished in autumnal colors ranging from a slate-toned blue to burgundy, khaki, nude and gray. Combinations of gray, burgundy and blue are also seen on certain designs.

The collection includes small and large tote bags, shoulder bags, handle bags and clutches, and will sell in Lancaster outlets and online at www.lancaster.com.

Steffy Argelich can be seen in the Emilio Pucci Resort 2017 lookbook and in recent campaigns for Mango, AllSaints, Max Mara and Just Cavalli. She is also highly in demand for catwalk shows. For the spring/summer 2016 season, she trod the runway for Paul & Joe, Kenzo, Isabel Marant and Courreges.

Previous stars of Lancaster campaigns include models Behati Prinsloo, Karlie Kloss and Elsa Hosk.
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.
Following last week's Brexit vote, British Prime Minister David Cameron is stepping down, and Stephen Crabb would like to replace him. Currently the Work and Pensions Secretary in the U.K.'s cabinet, the Tory MP originally stood with Cameron in the conservative "Remain" camp.

same-sex marriage  Crabb made headlines in 2014 after  he's a reminder that conservatism today can be a lot about exclusion: Crabb is adamant about closing the U.K.'s borders.

Crabb announced his official candidacy for PM Wednesday with a vow that he would "confront, head-on," the "uncomfortable truths that arose from the referendum," according to Wales Online. Following the U.K.'s vote to exit the European Union, some worry that xenophobic sentiment will spike  many who advocated for a Brexit did so because they believed foreigners were coming in and taking British jobs.

"What came out really clearly during the referendum campaign was that the thing that matters most was actually getting back control of our immigration," Crabb said during his address, the Independent reported. "No more open borders." At the same time, he said, he wanted to keep in place roughly the same economic relationship to the continent the U.K. has now. That's a tall, maybe prohibitively tall, order.

British PM candidate, Stephen Crabb

According to the Wall Street Journal, Crabb "portrayed himself as a modern and compassionate conservative, eager to improve the lot of the poor and disenfranchised"  the people who voted to leave the EU, who tended to be older, believed that European immigrants were leeching off the welfare system and snatching up available work. Their main proponent was former London Mayor Boris Johnson, who is considered to be the frontrunner in the race.

But even if he's an underdog, Crabb echoes the ethos . "He has heard the messages of those who feel ignored and let down by politicians, and not only does he get these issues but he has answers to their problems," Conservative MP Maria Caulfield wrote for the Telegraph.
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Image. It's a facet of politicians that their careers have lived or died on.

It's something that is carefully-crafted with the aid of advisors, with the public rarely getting to see beyond the sheen of forced smiles and election promises.

SEE ALSO: Awful Australian election made more awful by awful Facebook Live videos

A new photographic series called Election 2016: Our Leaders by Fairfax Media aims to cut through the masquerade that is political life, capturing the micro-expressions of the country's politicians during a nine-second shoot.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten participated along with eight other high-profile politicians.

Each politician was shown six images to elicit a reaction, although unfortunately we'll never find out what the images are. Nine frames were shot each second, totalling 81 frames  giving the subjects no time to consciously alter their expressions. The portraits were posted on the Instagram pages of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

"During an election campaign, you get the sense that politicians go into a mode where their image is very crafted and manufactured," the project's creative director, Nic Walker, said in a statement emailed to Mashable Australia. "This project was all about eliciting a very human response to remind people that love or hate their ideas, politicians are people too."

Can you handle the truth?

Anthony Albanese

Julie Bishop

Richard Di Natale

Tanya Plibersek

Christopher Pyne

Penny Wong

Barnaby Joyce

Nick Xenophon

Bill Shorten

Malcolm Turnbull
Sturgis Streets to Host AMA Supermoto Event

Sturgis, South Dakota, will be hosting its 4th Annual Sturgis Supermoto event in the citys downtown streets this weekend.

An AMA-sanctioned event, it features Supermoto and Freestyle Motocross competitions and will, of course, be wrapped in the citys Fourth of July celebrations. Supermoto combines elements of motocross, dirt track and road racing into one dynamic and exciting race.

Sturgis Supermoto

The citys purpose-built track features jumps and high-speed straights on both dirt and asphalt. The layout is designed to showcase the trademark versatility possessed by top Supermoto racers.

We are very excited to be hosting this event, said Jerry W. Cole, director of the City of Sturgis Rally Events Department. Never before have we had this kind of speed and horsepower competing right on Main Street.

Sturgis Supermoto

The race is part of the AMA Pro Series. The action begins on Friday, 1 July at 8am with on-track instruction from three-time AMA Champion Mickey Dymonds 43 Racing School.

The pro and amateur practice sessions start at 4pm, with races starting at 6pm. The next day  Saturday 2 July  features professional riders from across the United States and Canada. Amateurs from around the region will also get the opportunity to show off their skills both Friday and Saturday.

Sturgis Supermoto

Sturgis Supermoto is one of the only events in the world where you can sit on Main Street and have lunch 10 feet away from the racers said Cole. Its going to be a race we hope people wont soon forget. We will also have some of our best local talent on the track and were hoping that our racing community will come out and support them.

For more information, visit: www.amanationalsupermoto.com
From Esquire

Several explosions as well as gunfire rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Tuesday night, killing at least 37 people and wounding 230 others.

Three attackers were responsible for the blasts, which occurred shortly before 10 p.m. local time when two men brandishing automatic weapons opened fire at a security checkpoint outside the airport. After security officials returned fire, the men blew themselves up, according to The New York Times, igniting two fireballs. The third attacker detonated himself in a parking lot.

No one has taken responsibility for the attack yet, but a top Turkish official told The Associated Press that the Islamic State is likely to blame.

"We've watched these attacks on TV for months, but I never imagined it would happen with so much security in an airport," Eylul Kaya, 37, told the Times.

Paul Roos, a South African tourist traveling with his wife Susie, said he heard shots and then saw a man with a gun. "We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off," he said. "There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a hand gun."

Istanbul Ataturk International, which is located on the European side of the city, is Turkey's largest airport. Last year, it was the 11th busiest in the world and the fourth busiest in Europe. Like other airports in Turkey, the security checks are found at both the entrance to the terminal building and before entry to the departure gates.

Video of the rescue efforts circulated on Twitter Tuesday.

Turkey has suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or Islamic State group militants, including two in Istanbul targeting tourists, which the authorities have blamed on the Islamic State group.

But, in a statement after the attacks, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reminded the world that the fight against terrorism is global.

"The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world," he said. "Make no mistake: For terrorist organizations, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago, or Antalya and Rome."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
* Suicide bombers target Turkey's biggest airport

* Witness says attacker randomly opened fire

* PM says Islamic State most likely suspects

* Ataturk airport is world's third-largest, a major tourism hub

* "We heard more gunfire, another explosion, then it was over" (Adds Turkish Airlines suspends flights, paragraph 23, adds link to graphic)

By Humeyra Pamuk and Daren Butler

ISTANBUL, June 29 (Reuters) - Three suicide bombers opened fire then blew themselves up in Istanbul's main international airport on Tuesday, killing 36 people and wounding close to 150 in what Turkey's prime minister said appeared to have been an attack by Islamic State militants.

One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover and trying to flee, before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below, witnesses and officials said.

The attack on Europe's third-busiest airport was one of the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in Turkey, which is part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State and is struggling to contain the spillover from neighbouring Syria's civil war. It is also battling an insurgency by Kurdish militants in its largely Kurdish southeast.

Police fired shots to try to stop two of the attackers just before they reached a security checkpoint at the arrivals hall, but they detonated their explosives, a Turkish official said.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said: "This attack, targeting innocent people is a vile, planned terrorist act."

"There is initial evidence that each of the three suicide bombers blew themselves up after opening fire," he told reporters at the airport. Yildirim said the attackers had come to the airport by taxi and that preliminary findings pointed to Islamic State responsibility.

Two U.S. counterterrorism officials familiar with the early stages of investigations said Islamic State was at the top of the list of suspects even though there was no evidence yet.

Story continues

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the use of suicide bombers against "soft" targets was more typical of Islamic State than the other obvious suspect, Kurdish PKK militants who generally attack official government targets.

One of the officials also said that, while Islamic State had recently stepped up attacks in Turkey, the group rarely claims responsibility because Turkey remains one of the main corridors for its fighters travelling from Europe to Syria and Iraq.

No group had claimed responsibility more than nine hours after the attack, which started around 9:50 p.m. local time (1850 GMT).

The attack bore similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March that killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital.

"THE ROOF CAME DOWN"

Most of those killed were Turkish nationals but foreigners were also among the dead, a Turkish official said.

Ali Tekin, who was at the arrivals hall waiting for a guest, said the roof came down after an "extremely loud" explosion. "Inside the airport it is terrible, you can't recognise it, the damage is big," Tekin said.

A woman named Duygu, who was at passport control after arriving from Germany, said she threw herself to the floor after the explosion. "Everyone started running away. Everywhere was covered with blood and body parts. I saw bullet holes on the doors," she said.

Paul Roos, 77, said he saw one of the attackers "randomly shooting" in the departures hall from about 50 metres (55 yards) away. "He was wearing all black. His face was not masked," said Roos, a South African on his way home after a holiday in southern Turkey.

"We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Roos told Reuters.

"He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over."

President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against militant groups.

"The attack, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorism strikes with no regard for faith and values," he said in a statement.

The United States said it stood in solidarity with Turkey, its NATO ally, and that such attacks would only reinforce their joint determination. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the need to intensify global efforts to combat extremism.

FLIGHTS RESUME

Ataturk is Turkey's largest airport and a major transport hub for travellers from around the world. A helicopter buzzed overhead as police evacuated the building. Dozens of passengers walked back down access roads with their luggage, trying to hail cabs. The U.S. embassy urged U.S citizens to avoid the area.

Authorities initially halted the takeoff of scheduled flights from the airport and some flights to the airport were diverted. Yildirim said later air traffic had resumed.

Turkish Airlines said it had suspended its flights until 8 am (0500 GMT) on Wednesday and that any bookings on flights to or from Ataturk airport could be changed or refunded without cost for the next week.

In the United States, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reacted to the explosions by putting armed, high-visibility patrols at the three main airports in the New York metropolitan region. The U.S. Federal Aviation authority also lifted an earlier order grounding U.S. flights to Ataturk.

Turkey has suffered a spate of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State, and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group.

In the most recent attack, a car bomb ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul during the morning rush hour, killing 11 people and wounding 36 near the main tourist district, a major university and the mayor's office.

One person was killed on Dec. 23, 2015, when an explosion hit Istanbul's second airport, Sabiha Gokcen, located on the Asian side of the city. That attack was claimed by a Kurdish militant group.

(Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley, Asli Kandemir, Istanbul bureau and John Walcott in Wshington; Writing by Nick Tattesall and David Dolan; Editing by Gareth Jones, Bill Rigby and Paul Tait)
Value investing is always a very popular strategy, and for good reason. After all, who doesnt want to find stocks that have low PEs, solid outlooks, and decent dividends?

Fortunately for investors looking for this combination, we have identified a strong candidate which may be an impressive value; Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. SMFG.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group in Focus

SMFG may be an interesting play thanks to its forward PE of 5.81, its P/S ratio of 0.99, and its decent dividend yield of 1.87%. These factors suggest that Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is a pretty good value pick, as investors have to pay a relatively low level for each dollar of earnings, and that SMFG has decent revenue metrics to back up its earnings.

SUMITOMO-MITSUI PE Ratio (TTM)

SUMITOMO-MITSUI PE Ratio (TTM) | SUMITOMO-MITSUI Quote

But before you think that Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is just a pure value play, it is important to note that it has been seeing solid activity on the earnings estimate front as well. For current year earnings, the consensus has gone up by 6.7% in the past 30 days, thanks to 1 upward revisions in the past two months compared to none lower.

This estimate strength is actually enough to push SMFG to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), suggesting it is poised to outperform. So really, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is looking great from a number of angles thanks to its PE below 20, a P/S ratio below one, and a strong Zacks Rank, meaning that this company could be a great choice for value investors at this time.

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SUMITOMO-MITSUI (SMFG): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
The sun is losing its spots  and heres why thats a bad thing for all of us

The sun is losing its spots  and heres why thats a bad thing for all of us

The sun is losing its spots, and its certainly something that we shouldnt take lightly. According to news.com.au, our fireball has gone blank for the second time this month, leading Meteorologist Paul Dorian to believe that the next solar minimum is approaching and there will be an increasing number of spotless days over the next few years. This matters because the amount of sun spots reportedly affects our climate.

So, lets start with solar minimum. What is it exactly? Well, NASA explains it to be when the suns natural solar cycle shows the lowest amount of sunspots. You see, when at its best, the suns surface is covered in visible dark blemishes, or sunspots. The sun goes through a natural solar cycle approximately every 11 years, and each cycle is marked by the increase and decrease of sunspots  with the highest number of sunspots in any given solar cycle being the solar maximum and the lowest number being solar minimum.

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The sun at its best.

During Solar Max, huge sunspots and intense solar flares are a daily occurrence. Auroras appear in Florida. Radiation storms knock out satellites. Radio blackouts frustrate CB radio as well. The last such episode took place in the years around 2000-2001, says NASA.

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And, the sun at its worst.

NASA goes on to explain that during solar minimum, the opposite occurs. Solar flares are almost non-existent while whole weeks go by without a single, tiny sunspot to break the monotony of the blank sun. This is what we are experiencing now.

So why we should care? Well, Dorian breaks down all of the sun-related deets to us in his report, published just a few days ago. The blankness will stretch for just a few days at a time, then itll continue for weeks at a time, and finally it should last for months at a time when the sunspot cycle reaches its nadir, says Dorian, leading a lot of us to believe that the next mini ice age is on its way.

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The post The sun is losing its spots  and heres why thats a bad thing for all of us appeared first on HelloGiggles.
A Chicago man who admitted to police of firing a gun on June 17 on Madison's South Side has been ordered to court.

Shaqkeem Buchanan, 22, faces a tentative charge of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, Madison police said.

Officials said he has been cooperating with police and has not been arrested.

Officers were dispatched to the 2900 block of Coho Street on June 17 for reports of shots being fired.

Witnesses said a disturbance broke out among individuals who appeared to be familiar to one another, with a shot or shots being fired during the disturbance.

Officers found evidence of that, but no evidence of property damage or anyone being injured.
Murder suspect Quinton Tellis has returned to Mississippi to face charges in the 2014 burning death of teenager Jessica Chambers.



Tellis, 27, is being held in the DeSoto County Jail in Hernando, where he'll remain until his legal proceedings in the state are completed. He has not yet entered a plea.



Chambers, a 19-year-old former cheerleader, was found engulfed in flames near her car on a rural road in Courtland, the hometown she shares with Tellis, on Dec. 6, 2014. She was flown to Regional Medical Center in Memphis with burns over 98 percent of her body, and died in the hospital. Investigators said she had been doused with an accelerant at the scene and left to die.



Tellis was transferred from Louisiana's Angola Prison on June 23 after pleading guilty last month to one count of unauthorized use of a credit card. The card belonged to a slain Monroe, La., Taiwanese exchange student Meing-Chen Hsiao, who was found stabbed to death in her apartment in August 2015. (The cases of Hsiao and Chambers are considered unrelated.)



 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.



He has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for that crime, with no possibility of parole, a sentence owing to the fact that he's a "habitual offender," says Ouachita Parish Assistant District Attorney Neal Johnson. Tellis was not charged in the student's murder because, Johnson tells PEOPLE, "It was a pure circumstantial-evidence case  there was no DNA evidence putting him inside the student's apartment."



He adds: "My main goal is that he never hits the streets again."



Tellis was living in Monroe when police arrested him last February in connection with Hsiao's murder.





Suspect in Burning Death of Jessica Chambers Extradited to Mississippi| Crime & Courts, Death, Murder, True Crime

His arrest capped a meticulous investigation involving hundreds of law enforcement personnel and a Crimestoppers reward of $54,000. Chambers's murder mystified and frightened her small town, with neighbors looking at each other with fear and suspicion. An investigation focusing on gang activity yielded many clues but no answers.



Desoto County District Attorney John Champion, who is prosecuting the case, was at the DeSoto jail when Tellis arrived. "Nothing's changed with him, as far as I can tell," he tells PEOPLE. Alton E. Peterson, Tellis's attorney, did not return PEOPLE's calls for comments as of press time.



Tellis's hearing, originally scheduled for July 5, has been rescheduled for July 15, where Champion says he will enter a plea. At that time, Champion says, Tellis will enter a formal plea and the dates for his trial will be set. Champion anticipates that the trial will begin sometime in spring 2017.



"It's going to take a long time for the defense lawyers to go through everything," he says. "I want it to be done right, so they'll get all the time they need to prepare."



Champion says he's not looking for any other suspects in the case. "I'm ready to try this man," he tells PEOPLE.
By Isma'il Kushkush WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four scientists who specialized in sweet potatoes were named the winners of this year's World Food Prize on Tuesday for their work to make foods more nutritious. Maria Andrade of Cape Verde, Robert Mwanga of Uganda and American Jan Low, who all are from the Lima, Peru-based International Potato Center, and American Howarth Bouis of the international research group HarvestPlus were honored in a ceremony at the U.S. State Department. Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, called their work "a breakthrough achievement in developing and implementing biofortification." He defined biofortification as "the process of breeding critical vitamins and micronutrients into staple crops, thereby dramatically reducing hidden hunger and improving health for millions and millions of people." The honorees' work has focused on the orange-fleshed sweet potato, an important source of vitamin A, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Vitamin A deficiency, especially there and in Asia, is a cause of blindness and premature death, according to the International Potato Center, an agriculture research center based in Lima, Peru. "The impact of the work of all four winners will be felt around the globe but particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, said Gayle Smith, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The prize is awarded annually by the World Food Prize Foundation for food and agriculture innovation. The scientists will share the $250,000 prize equally and it will be awarded at a ceremony during World Food Prize week in Des Moines, Iowa, in October, when the prize will celebrate its 30th anniversary. Past recipients include John Kufuour, a former president of Ghana; former U.S. Senators Bob Dole and George McGovern; and Grameen Bank founder and Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh. (Reporting by Isma'il Kushkush; Editing by John Walcott and Bill Trott)
OMAHA, Nebraska, June 29 (Reuters) - Michael Phelps continued to trim his program at the U.S. Olympic swim trials, scratching from the preliminaries of the 100 metres freestyle on Wednesday. The most decorated Olympian of all-time with 22 medals, Phelps will now attempt to qualify in just three events for the Rio Summer Games, the 100 and 200 metres butterfly and 200 individual medley. Phelps, who turns 31 on Thursday, will try to give himself an early birthday present by clinching a place in his fifth Olympic team on Wednesday evening when he swims in the 200 butterfly final. The 18-times Olympic gold medallist also pulled out of the 200 metres freestyle on Monday. (Reporting by Steve Keating in Omaha, Editing by Ed Osmond)
The Watch Was Created By Thierry Clottu and Is a Testament to the Elegance and Legacy of Swiss Watchmaking before the Arrival of Automatic Systems

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2016 / Done Swiss Mechanical Watches is pleased to announce their official release to the public. Created by microtechnology engineer and 10 year veteran of the watch industry, Thierry Clottu, Done watches were named after their birthplace of Neuchatel, Switzerland.

While Switzerland is considered the global hub of quality watch manufacturers, Clottu and his team wanted to create a watch that would capture the history of Swiss precision, but be affordable enough so that anyone could own a Swiss timepiece of master engineering.

"I wanted the design of my first model 'MECHANICA' to be classic, plain, timeless and modern, with a touch of 'sport-chic'," says Clottu.

Once he finalized drawings of the piece he created a stereolithograph prototype via 3D Printer to test the ergonomics of the watch on the wrist and adjust for an optimal fit. After the watch was perfected, he updated his 3D model and drawings for submission to the various suppliers.

The final watch features a scratch proof domed sapphire crystal, faceted diamond-polished hands with superluminova C3, multilayer dial with faceted diamond-polished index and superluminova C3, Hand-decorated ETA 6497-1 mechanical movement, 43.8 mm on bezel diameter 316L Stainless steel case (silver or 4N Gold color), a subtle balanced finish with satin-finished and polished surfaces, screwed case back with sapphire glass to contemplate the hand-decorated Swiss made mechanical movement, a genuine black or brown leather strap, is water-resistant to 50 meters (5 ATM), and comes in 6 color options that are a mix of white, black, and gold in differing combinations.

"Decoration is essential to my project as a watch is not only an object allowing to read time, it's above all an object you get attached to," says Clottu.

Story continues

The watch is also hand wound, which is a throwback to Swiss watches of old, and which carries with it extremely high dependability for accuracy and longevity of the movement.

"Before the arrival of automatic systems, all watches were wound by hand, hence it is a wink to the handsome watchmaking of the past," says Clottu. "What a delight it is to admire this great hand-decorated movement beating at its balance wheel rate."

In order to bring his DONE watches to a wider audience, Clottu has taken his project to the pages of Kickstarter where he hopes to raise enough donations to fund a major production push.

To learn more about DONE watches, please visit: https://goo.gl/kdJJ6k.

About DONE Watches:

DONE watches are the creation of 10 year master watchsmith Thierry Clottu. They are an affordable representation of Switzerland's long history of creating precision timepieces that stand the test of time.

Contact:

Hattie Wright

admin@rocketfactor.com

(949) 555-2861

SOURCE: DONE Watches
ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland and the European Union have to find a compromise on how to act on a Swiss referendum to limit immigration without breaching bilateral treaties with the EU, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said in a TV interview on Wednesday. "We have to find a solution with Switzerland because we need each other. I believe Switzerland (needs) the EU a bit more than the other way round," Schulz told Swiss television SRF. Both sides should try to reach a mutual agreement, he said. Neutral Switzerland has until February to implement a binding 2014 referendum demanding limits on the influx of foreigners into a country whose population is already a quarter foreign. It needs a deal by summer to have legislation in place. But with the EU preoccupied with the loss of major member Britain, chances are fading for a quick deal that would allow outsider Switzerland to implement the referendum without infringing bilateral treaties guaranteeing the free movement of persons between Switzerland and the EU. "The talks won't become easier because the free movement of persons now plays a bigger role," Schulz said, referring to the impact of Britain's "Brexit" vote. He said the Brexit negotiations were going to take a long time, while the EU and Switzerland needed to find a solution "relatively quickly". (Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
ASUNCION (Reuters) - Taiwan's government will continue to look for ways to maintain dialogue with China, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday, after Beijing said it had halted a regular communication mechanism with Taipei. China, which regards the self-ruled island as a wayward province, is deeply suspicious of Tsai, who took office last month, since Beijing suspects she will push for formal independence. Tsai, who heads the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, says she wants to maintain the status quo and is committed to ensuring peace. But China has insisted she recognize a pact called the "1992 consensus" between its Communists and Taiwan's then-ruling Nationalists, by which both agreed there is only one China, with each having its own interpretation of what that means. On Saturday, China said because Taiwan's new government would not recognize that principle, it had stopped the regular communication mechanism between the two sides. "No matter what party is in government in Taiwan, we always have a single, common objective: to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," Tsai told reporters during a visit to Paraguay, Taiwan's sole diplomatic ally in South America. "We will continue the dialogue with mainland China, as even though, probably at this moment official negotiation channels have been temporarily interrupted, there still exist other options for communication and dialogue," she said, speaking through an interpreter. On Wednesday, Taiwan Premier Lin Chuan said the government's approach was for positive interactions with China to continue, based on existing foundations. "There must be willingness on both sides to move forward on the relationship," Lin told reporters about the suspension issue at a function in southern Taiwan. But in Beijing, a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office signaled there would be no compromise, saying the "1992 consensus" had been the basis for improved relations since 2008, when the China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou became president and signed a series of landmark trade and tourism deals with China. "People cannot help but ask - why does Taiwan want to change the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait that has been in place since 2008? What is the aim?" An Fengshan asked at a regular news briefing. Tsai is on her first trip overseas as president, visiting diplomatic allies Panama and Paraguay, with transit stops in the United States each way. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan after a civil war with the Communists in 1949, which has never formally ended. China has also never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. (Reporting by Daniela Desantis; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and J.R. Wu in Taipei; Writing by Adam Jourdan and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
The best medicine for this Arizona teen suffering from terminal illness is 10,000 cards, delivered to him in time for his birthday.

Read: 3-Year-Old with Brain Cancer Receives 500 Postcards From Supporters Around the World

13-year-old Jacob Priestley from Mesa, Arizona, was diagnosed with Mitochondria disease, a life-threatening illness that affects his entire body.

"It's very hard for me to wake up," Priestly said in an interview with KPHO.

He is largely homebound, and as a result of the disease, he is always tired, and hardly has energy. "Sometimes, I just lay in bed and just keep sleeping."

Despite appearing lively on camera and even joking to newscrews, his mom wrote on his Facebook support page that he continues to suffer seizures, and often feels sick and tired.

With his 14th birthday coming up, his mom Britney Priestley said she is determined to give the boy a memorable time.

"Since his disease is terminal, we don't know how many more birthdays he's going to have with us," she said. "We vowed that we would make every birthday bigger and better than last year."

Priestley is appealing to her son's supporters on Facebook to send him one simple gift that costs no more than postage: A birthday card.

"They make me feel better and they just make me happy," Jacob told KPHO.

Last year, his mom made a similar appeal. She posted to Facebook with the aim of reaching a couple hundred cards.

Instead, the boy received 8,000 birthday cards in the mail.

This year, the goal is to receive 10,000 cards by his August 28 birthday.

Since the call for cards earlier this month, Jake's Facebook page announced that they have already received about 125 cards from as far as Australia, China and England.

Read: Boy Nicknamed 'Bear' Loses Cancer Fight After Receiving Hundreds of Birthday Cards

"He can just see that people love him, and there's no reason to be down," Priestly said, according to KPHO.

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Some cards were even sent by prison inmates.

Others were sent by children who also suffer from terminal illnesses.

"I think it gives him a little bond they can share, they know they're not alone," his mom said.

To support Jacob Priestley in his time of need, send birthday cards to the following address:

Jacob Priestley

P.O. Box 855

Queen Creek, AZ 85142

Watch: 8-Year-Old Girl Receives Hundreds of Books from Authors After Losing All of Hers in a Fire

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If the way Madison police officers arrested Genele Laird last week at East Towne Mall was legal, the law needs to be changed, speakers said Tuesday at a spirited news conference questioning police practices and calling for an independent review of the incident.

Lets never let that type of behavior (by the arresting officers) become standard in Madison, said Ruben Anthony, president of the Urban League of Greater Madison, at the gathering of elected officials and community leaders on the steps of the City-County Building. All legal policies are not necessarily just.

Brandi Grayson, who leads the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition, said Laird didnt deserve to be treated like an animal in the street, and accused officers of handling Laird, who is black, more roughly than they would a white woman who resisted arrest.

This is damn sure about race, Grayson said. It is time for community control over the police.

Dane County Board Sup. John Hendrick said the fatal shootings of Paul Heenan and Tony Robinson by Madison police in 2012 and 2015, respectively, and the force used in Lairds arrest, show the training needs to change, the person responsible for the training needs to change and the leader of the (police) department needs to change.

Laird, 18, was forcefully arrested June 21 by two white Madison police officers outside the mall, where she works. Police were called after Laird reportedly brandished a knife at employees of a Taco Bell in the mall food court and threatened mall security officers in a dispute over whether someone stole her cellphone.

A video of Lairds arrest taken by another person at the mall rapidly went viral and divided those with strong feelings into two camps. One group  including some who spoke at Tuesdays conference  sees pure police brutality in the aggressive takedown of the struggling, screaming, 105-pound Laird, including one officer using knee strikes, a closed-fist punch and a Taser to help handcuff her.

Others fault Laird alone for displaying a knife inside the mall and then for not following police commands and for kicking, scratching and spitting at officers.

Two days after the arrest, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne ordered Laird, who was facing tentative felony charges, released from jail. On Friday, he announced that Laird, who has no adult criminal record, would not be prosecuted for the mall incident if she completes a community restorative justice program designed to divert low-level, first-time offenders who accept responsibility for their actions from the criminal justice system. The officers who arrested Laird and the people she reportedly threatened inside the mall agreed to that approach.

But speakers at the press conference Tuesday said Ozannes solution was too one-sided  holding Laird accountable but not the officers they believe went too far in her arrest.

This needs to be more balanced, said Anthony, who acknowledged police have dangerous and important work to do but maintained they sometimes can do it better.

We need public education around this, he added, so that young people know not to resist arrest and so that officers do arrests appropriately. Both sides need to do work.

Another speaker, state Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, said police need to behave less like warriors and more like guardians of our safety. She cited the recommendations for progressive policing in President Barack Obamas recent Task Force on 21st Century Policing as a road map for improvements and a needed push-back against a trend toward increased militarization of U.S. law enforcement seen since the 9/11 terror attacks.

The state standards (for use of force) are minimum standards, Taylor said, maintaining Madison should aim for better than the minimum. Communities (being policed) have to be listened to and collaborated with.

David Couper, who helped bring more women and minorities into the Madison Police Department when he led it from 1972 to 1993, echoed Taylor on eschewing a warrior model for policing. He also argued that U.S. judicial standards for the use of deadly force should be set higher, so public trust in police is not undermined.

Without trust, police cannot be effective or safe in their jobs, Couper, now an Episcopal priest, said. We must demand this (change) and the police must comply.

In a statement provided to the Wisconsin State Journal, the Madison Police Department praised Couper for changing the Madison Police culture in the early 1970s, noting he was owed a debt of gratitude for that.

But the statement also maintained the police department already supports and does much of what the speakers suggested, including a detailed dissection and reported embrace of the recommendations in the Task Force on 21st Century Policing. A link on the police departments website lists each of the task forces many recommendations, followed by a statement in blue assessing where Madison police operations stand in comparison to the recommendation.

In recent decades, the MPD has embraced community-based, trust-based policing philosophies and the current command staff remains committed to best practices and continued improvement, the statement said. In January, the MPD responded to the (task force) recommendations, looking at each pillar while applying MPDs current practices in adherence to the recommendations.

It should be noted that Chief (Mike) Koval has been talking about the guardian mindset since the moment he first took office in 2014, the statement added.

Koval has expressed support for the officers involved in the Laird arrest, defending their actions as necessary to make the arrest while also ordering a use of force review by the departments Professional Standards and Internal Affairs Unit. The review will examine whether officers actions during the arrest were in compliance with state standards for training and use-of-force rules.

Madison Police spokesman Joel DeSpain confirmed Tuesday that internal reviews are done for every use of force incident, making Kovals decision to order one in the Laird arrest not unusual. What is different for the Laird case is that Koval also asked the Dane County Sheriffs Office to supervise the review, adding an outside set of eyes.

But speakers at the press conference said the Sheriffs Office could not be trusted to provide an impartial review of actions by the Madison Police Department.

They really operate as allied agencies, said Madison Ald. David Ahrens, adding he is planning to propose a city resolution calling for an outside investigator to look at the level of police force used in the Laird arrest.

Longer term, Ahrens said the city should explore creating a public investigation body to review controversial police arrests or incidents, below the level of police-involved killings, that would have police and citizen members and would operate transparently. State law already requires an outside investigation when a person is killed by police.
The Texas police officer who last Friday fatally shot a mother moments after she fatally fired on her two daughters is likely "totally justified" in doing so, local authorities tell PEOPLE.



The Fulshear city officer who pulled the trigger is "actually doing very well," Chief of Police Kenny Seymour tells PEOPLE. But Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls says the officer had had "a difficult time dealing with this"  as does any officer who shoots someone on the job.



"When you have to take the life of another, that is most likely going to rest with him most of the rest of his life," Nehls says.



Nehls' office, with assistance from the Texas Rangers, will investigate the officer's actions and then present their findings to a grand jury, who will determine whether or not to indict.



Seymour tells PEOPLE that his department will likely wait for the grand jury's decision before returning the officer  who has not been identified publicly and who is on leave  to duty, as is standard procedure.



This is the first officer-involved shooting in the Fulshear police department's history.



Seymour described the officer as young but very competent and compassionate (who was in fact working early the day of the shooting, to cover a shift).



Seymour says he's been in daily contact with the officer, and that the officer has also spoken with another officer in the department who was shot on the job, and has provided support.



Seymour says the officer is holding up emotionally: "As far as I can tell, my officer's doing very well."



But a shooting on the job  and the physiological effects of that moment, the adrenaline dump  stays with you, Seymour says.



"I don't care how tough you are, when you take somebody's life, it absolutely takes a toll on you," he says.



"Even after you pull the trigger, you're still going to have to process those things," he says.



 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.





Story continues

The Scene of the Shooting

According to authorities, first responders found tragedy last Friday afternoon, as Christy Sheats chased her daughters, Madison, 22, and Taylor, 17, into the street in front of their home, firing on them repeatedly.



Christy was shot dead by a Fulshear officer, who was assisting Nehls's deputies, after she refused to drop her handgun, authorities said.





Texas Officer Who Fatally Shot Mom Who Killed Two Daughters Is 'Having a Difficult Time Dealing with This,' Says Sheriff| Crime & Courts, Personal Tragedy, Shootings, True Crime

A motive remains unclear in the case, which is still under investigation. But the sheriff's office told PEOPLE that Christy had a history of mental illness, and that deputies responded three times in recent years to her home regarding attempted suicide.



Police say Sheats convened a meeting in the living room of the family home in the Katy area before opening fire on her daughters.



Police said Jason Sheats tried pleading with his wife, begging her not to hurt the girls. Family friend Madison Davey, who spoke with Jason after the shootings, told ABC13, "He told Christy, 'Just shoot yourself. Make it easy on all of us, just shoot yourself,' and she said, 'No, that's not what this is about, this is about punishing you."



Authorities are giving space to Christy's husband, Jason, who witnessed the triple shooting. And Nehls says his department's Critical Incident Stress Management Team has spoken with the officer who shot Christy, working "immediately" to give him psychological support.



"Any time you have to go out and take someone's life, it's very difficult, it's very difficult," Nehls says.



"But he acted appropriately," he says, adding, "He did what he needed to do."





Chilling 911 Tapes

On Tuesday, authorities released the 911 calls placed from inside the Sheats home.



In the chilling audio, obtained by PEOPLE, Christy's husband, Jason Sheats, 45, and the couple's children can apparently be heard begging for Christy to put her weapon down as they cry and yell frantically.



"Please don't point the gun at us. Put down your gun," a male voice pleads. "Please don't shoot."



The recording continues as the man apparently tries to reason with a woman, apologizing and offering to do anything she would like if she would surrender the weapon.



At one point the man says, "I promise you whatever you want"  and the woman says, "Too late."
BJPs alliance with Shiv Sena, which has had its share of ups and downs, is currently going through one of its roughest patches ever. In an article in BJPs publication, Manogat, Madhav Bandari, the partys spokesperson, while listing the efforts that the party had made to keep the alliance going, dared Shiv Sena to take a divorce and leave the alliance. The state BJP leadership has now asked its party members to prepare for the civic polls due next year, on its own without the Sena. On its part, the Shiv Sena has also been taking pot shots at the BJP through its paper, Saamna.



Politics in India has always been full of relationships being forged, drama and heartbreaks, with many alliances being made and broken over matters of trust, seat sharing issues, differences in views, and others. We take a look at some such alliances that were formed, and others that were broken:

Mahagatbandhan: In June 2015, Samajwadi Partys (SP) Mulayam Singh Yadav got RJDs Lalu Prasad and JD(U)s Nitish Kumar to set aside their differences and come together for the formation of the Mahagatbandhan. But, while RJD, JD(U), along with the Congress continued with their alliance, and went on to script a major win, Mulayam walked out over seat sharing issues. He accused Nitish Kumar of splitting the Janata Parivar and holding secret talks with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. He also said that Nitish had deceived Lalu Prasad into forging an alliance between them, despite being hounded by Nitishs team for the fodder scam. Mulayam went on to join hands with NCP, former Lok Sabha speaker PA Sangmas National Peoples Party and Samajwadi Janata Dal (Secular) formed by Devendra Prasad Yadav, to constitute the third front.

Janata Dal (United) and BJP: The two parties had been in an alliance for 17 years, before the JD(U) broke away from the alliance in June 2013. The split was in protest of the elevation of Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate in the May 2014 General Assembly elections.

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Jitan Ram Manjhi and Nitish Kumar: Manjhi had served as Minister of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes in the Nitish Kumar government, and was considered to be a close confidant of the Chief Minister. When JDU failed miserably during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Nitish accepted responsibility and stepped down from the CMs post. Manjhi then replaced him as the 23rd CM of Bihar. When, after ten months of running an unstable government, he was asked to make way for Nitish to come back as the CM, Manjhi refused and turned rebel. He then went on to form his own party, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), which allied with the BJP to fight against the grand alliance.

Trinamool Congress and UPA: A breakaway faction of the India National Congress formed in 1998, the Trinamool Congress was in alliance with the Congress until it pulled out of the UPA in September, 2012. The breakup happened after the Centre did not pay heed to TMCs demand to roll back government initiated changes such as FDI in retail, increase in the price of diesel and limiting the number of gas cylinders to households. This put the UPA government in the Centre in trouble as TMC withdrew the support of 19 of its MPs to the government, which needed 272 MPs to remain in power, and had only 254. Mulayam Singhs Samajwadi Party, with 22 MPs and Mayawatis BSP, with 21 MPs, bailed the government out.

Congress and Left: The Left front, led by CPI(M), and the Congress party entered into an alliance, which was termed more of a seat sharing arrangement, in the run up to the West Bengal Assembly elections, held in May, this year. The main aim of the experiment was to try and dethrone the TMC - the idea being that since the Congress and the Left Front, together, had won 39.64 per cent of the votes in West Bengal, in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections - barely short of TMCs 39.72 per cent - if something similar happened in 2016, the alliance would pose a challenge to the TMC. However, that was not to be, and despite fighting incumbency, TMC won with a solid two thirds majority.

DMK and UPA: In March 2013, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) pulled out of the UPA following issues with the Governments unclear stand on the Tamil issue in Sri Lanka. However, the two former allies got back during the state Assembly elections held in Tamil Nadu in May, this year, in a bid to combat the ruling AIADMK, headed by Jayalalithaa. While the Congress-DMK alliance won 17 out of 30 seats, in Puducherry, hence going on to form the government there, in Tamil Nadu, it lost against the incumbent AIADMK, which became the first party in Tamil Nadu to be re-elected, since 1984.

NCP and Congress split: In September 2014, just before the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) broke away from the Congress, with which it was in an alliance for 15 years. The move was seen as a means of breaking free from the bigger party and attempting to grab power on its own. There had also been weeks of negotiations between the two parties over seat sharing, along with a proposal from the NCP to share the Chief Ministers post for 30 months, which the Congress did not agree.
Todays Al Roker sat down with the organizers of Big Slick Celebrity Weekend, a charity event in Kansas City, Mo., that raises money for the Cancer Center at Childrens Mercy Hospital. First item of note: how many great comedians come from Kansas City. Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, David Koechner, and Eric Stonestreet all hail from the City of Fountains. Riggle originally spearheaded the event, recruiting Rudd and eventually gathering other comedic friends from the area.

Once a year, this gang invites other celebrities to help with a weekend of activities for Childrens Mercy, which raised $1.3 million this year, a new record. Its a pretty exceptional place. It runs on donations; theyre not a part of a network, said Rudd. They dont turn anyone away. The fundraiser culminates in a celebrity softball game at Kauffman Stadium, a fitting way for these funny guys to give back to their hometown.

WATCH: Blake Lively talks having more kids with hubby Ryan Reynolds:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram  or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Khail Anonymous, on Twitter.


epn obama and trudeau

US President Barack Obama, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are in Ottawa this week, taking part in their final "Three Amigos" summit.

Trudeau and Pena Nieto met in the Canadian capital yesterday for introductions and some light cardio, and they were joined by Obama on Wednesday for talks on trade, energy, and other issues facing North America.

When the three of them attempted to shake hands in front of the press on Wednesday afternoon, things got a little ... awkward.

The three leaders made it on the dais without incident, stopping and standing in front of the Canadian Parliament building.

After a brief wave, Trudeau reaches toward Obama for a handshake first, perhaps indicating an acknowledgement of US primacy on the continent.

Then, while continuing to shake Obama's hand, Trudeau reaches toward Pena Nieto. The Mexican president reaches forward with both hands, perhaps in anticipation of the three countries coming together.

Obama doesn't initially react, then lets Trudeau's hand go before pausing, perhaps in a continuation of his often cautious approach to international relations.

Obama and Pena Nieto then shake hands, turning to the audience and laughing along with Trudeau. The three move toward the stairs, with Pena Nieto leading the way down.

Then, in a sudden international development, Obama turns toward the buildings behind the photo op, with Trudeau turning to give him a rundown on what they are. Pena Nieto, after momentarily disappearing from view, pops back up on to the stage.

The three heads of state take in the sights for a few moments, then walk off the stage in an orderly fashion. It would appear that relations between the countries of North America are smooth, even if their leaders' choreography is not.

Story continues

Watch the whole thing:





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What did the Three Amigos discuss?

The talks hadn't even started between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto when statements began circulating about what they'd agree on.

- LIVE BLOG | Three Amigos in Ottawa: Trudeau, Obama, Pena Nieto hold news conference

Among the laundry list of shared priorities and work in progress, here's what caught our eye.

Climate change

Obama was barely off the plane when the White House announced a joint environmental action plan. (Canada's release soon followed.)

As CBC News reported earlier this week, the three countries want 50 per cent of their electricity to come from clean power generation by 2025. The plan includes support for cross-border transmission lines, including infrastructure for renewable energy.

There's also a plan to tackle short-lived pollutants, including cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector between 40 and 45 per cent by 2025, reducing black carbon (soot) emissions and finding alternatives to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

The trio is also collaborating on green transportation strategies and conservation measures to protect species at risk, like the monarch butterfly.

Trilateral trade

With protesters gathered in downtown Ottawa to denounce the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership, would the official communiques enthusiastically embrace this trade agreement?

Not really. There's one line about the Pacific Rim deal the three North American partners must ratify by early 2018: "We will continue to work diligently to complete our respective domestic processes."

(The TPP has been sent to Mexico's Senate for ratification. The U.S. Congress may vote during this fall's "lame duck" session at the tail end of the Obama administration's tenure. Canada is still consulting on what to do.)

In the meantime, the Amigos continue to adjust their existing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to changing economic circumstances. They've revised the rules of origin for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, rubber, metals, industrial/electrical machinery, precision instruments and natural gas.

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Briefing reporters on the plane to Ottawa, White House spokesman Josh Earnest reacted to Donald Trump's call to repeal NAFTA by promoting the TPP, a deal once hoped to be Obama's trade legacy: "We've already succeeded in renegotiating NAFTA. That's exactly what the TPP does," he said.

Border issues

The North American trusted traveller program continues to roll out. By the end of 2016, Canadian and American citizens who are part of the NEXUS system, which streamlines border crossing for low-risk, frequent travellers, will be eligible to apply for a Viajero Confiable program to expedite screening at Mexican airports.

In return, Mexicans will be able to apply for NEXUS processing.

Other work to improve technology and speed up border crossings continues, including data sharing.

In 2016, Canadian personnel will be embedded alongside Mexican counterparts in a U.S. customs centre to fight the illegal smuggling of contraband goods with better pre-screening for high-risk cargo shipments.

Economic competitiveness

The American release mentions steel first and greater co-operation to manage excess steel capacity through "robust trade enforcement." (China is not mentioned by name, but its ramped-up production is blamed for distorting world markets.)

Canada's release mentions steel at the bottom.

The three countries will embrace "cluster asset mapping," to identify regions with interconnected companies, suppliers and institutions and help attract new industries. They will also collaborate on cybersecurity and convene an industry summit in Washington to share expertise.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the priority Canada's Liberal government puts on advancing gender equity, there's a trilateral memorandum of understanding to promote women's entrepreneurship. Canadian and American businesswomen are planning a trade mission to Mexico over the next year.

Human rights

In the aftermath of the Orlando nightclub shootings that targeted that city's gay community, the three leaders are calling on the international community "to ensure full respect for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and intersex persons."

The Amigos support the establishment of an independent expert at the United Nations to work on preventing violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In particular, Canada and the U.S. commit their embassies to collaborate on efforts to promote decriminalization of same-sex conduct and combat violence and discrimination around the world.

During Trudeau's visit to Washington earlier this year, the two leaders' spouses attended an event in support of girls education. This global development issue pops up among the Three Amigos priorities as well.

There's also a reference to the "alarmingly high levels of violence" indigenous women and girls in all three countries endure. A continental working group will convene in Washington this fall to exchange knowledge and help victims.

Security

Peacekeeping has returned to the continental security agenda. Canada will help train Mexican forces as peacekeepers, while defence planners are exploring options for a peacekeeping mission in Colombia.

There are no specific announcements on drug policy co-ordination, despite Canada's commitment to legalize marijuana, starting with legislation coming in 2017. Instead there's a general commitment to collaborate and share information on the illegal drug trade.

There's also collaboration on illicit financial transactions and human trafficking. A 90-day pilot program will launch later this year to target foreign fugitives with known ties to North America.

The trio also finds common cause against poverty and corruption among their Central American neighbours. Specific funding is targeted at the root causes of irregular migration: limited economic opportunities, poor education and health services and gang violence.

The joint statement also condemns the political crisis underway in Venezuela, applauds Colombia's recent progress towards a peace agreement with FARC and regrets the absence of a democratically elected president in Haiti.
Thanks to an unintended outcome from a 1961 constitutional change, it is possible for the 2016 presidential election to end in a tie vote, and there are at least three scenarios where that is a possibility.

269tie

One tie scenario. Map generated on 270towin.com

If you recall from Civics class, the 23rd Amendment was ratified on March 29, 1961 when Ohio and Kansas approved the proposed Amendment, which gave three Electoral College votes to the District of Columbia. That changed the total number of electoral votes in a presidential election to 538 (an even number) from 535 (an odd number).

Since a tie election is only possible with an even number of votes in the Electoral College, the possibility of a tie has been present in every election since 1964. (In overall history, there have been 57 presidential elections, with 29 held in years with an even-numbered Electoral College.)

In theory, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump could each get 269 electoral votes, which would deadlock the 2016 presidential election. A total of 270 electoral votes is needed to win the presidential race outright.

What makes the possibility of a tie election possible is the polarization of the American electorate by political party, with many states decidedly in the Democratic or Republican Party column. By most accounts, there are just 12 contested Swing or Battleground states in 2016 (as well as a Maine congressional district), as voters choose Clinton, Trump or another candidate at the polls.

The Constitution accounts for a scenario where one political ticket lacks a majority of the electoral votes in two ways. The presidential contest is sent to the new House of Representatives to decide, while the Senate decides the vice presidential contest.

There have been three runoff elections like this in American history. The House settled the 1800 and 1824 presidential elections, while the Senate picked the winner of the 1836 vice presidential contest. (The 1876 election almost faced the same scenario until a commission settled a dispute over Electoral College slates.)

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And in 2012, there was a scenario that would have given Barack Obama and Mitt Romney 269 electoral votes in the November election. Then Romney would have become president with Joe Biden as his vice president.

Here is a look at how the current Swing states break down and what combinations of states leave Clinton and Trump in a 269-269 tie. Using estimates from Real Clear Politics, Clinton has an estimated 210 electoral votes in Democratic states, while Trump has 164 in likely GOP states. Up for grabs are 164 toss-up votes in 12 states and part of Maine.

Combination One: Clinton only takes northern Swing States

In this scenario, Clinton would win just Pennsylvania (20 votes), Ohio (18 votes), Michigan (16 votes), New Hampshire (4 votes) and Maine congressional district 2 (1 vote) among the Swing states in play. That leaves Trump taking four southern swing states (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia), Iowa and three western swing states (Colorado, Arizona and Nevada. The result: 269 votes for each candidate.

Combination 2: Clinton with limited success outside Florida

The Sunshine State with its 29 electoral votes is always a big factor in presidential election years. This time, Clinton is leading in early polls there, but Florida wont be enough for her without more than 30 electoral votes from the other swing states. For example, Florida (29), Pennsylvania (20), Nevada or Iowa (6) and New Hampshire (4) just gets Clinton to 269 votes, one vote short of a win  unless she takes the Maine district with 1 electoral vote. The bottom line: even with Florida and Maine in the Clinton column, there are several combinations that leave her one-vote short, such as just Pennsylvania (20) and Colorado (9) as Clinton states, or just Virginia (13) and Michigan (16) in the Clinton column in addition to Florida and Maine.

Combination 3: Trump wins Florida and Ohio

Losing both Florida and Ohio is usually bad news for a presidential candidate, and this year is no exception. In Clintons case, she could win Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, Colorado and that Maine district, and wind up with 269 electoral votes. That would leave Trump taking Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Iowa, Arizona, Nevada and New Hampshire.

Remember, with the House of Representatives expected to remain in Republican hands, a tie is as good as a win for Trump in that case. The Senate race is too close to call at the moment.

The X Factors

Two potential factors are unique Electoral College situations in Maine and Nebraska, and the chance of an elector picked in the election voting for someone else.

Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that award electoral votes by congressional district. Nebraska is forecast to be in the Republicans column with its five electoral votes, but back in 2008 Barack Obama was able to split off a single electoral vote from Nebraska by winning Omahas congressional district.

Currently, Real Clear Politics lists Maines congressional district 2 as too close to call, with the lone poll in that district giving Trump a one-point lead. (Clinton is projected to take the states other district and its electoral vote.)

And then there is the odd, long-shot but very real scenario of an Electoral College member becoming a faithless elector and switching their vote from their pledged candidate when the Colleges votes are cast on the Monday after the second Wednesday of December.

Many states have laws that punish faithless electors and only nine votes have been cast by faithless electors since 1900. And a presidential election has never been adversely affected by a faithless elector. But technically, votes from faithless electors count as cast, until new Congress counts the votes on January 6, 2017. At that point, members of Congress would need to decide how to handle the issue.

Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.

Recent Stories on Constitution Daily

Can Ivanka Trump or Bill Clinton be the next Vice President?

10 people who very nearly became President

What are the real Swing States in the 2016 election?
AUSTIN, Texas, June 29 (Reuters) - Three missing railway workers are now presumed to have been killed when two freight trains crashed, setting off a massive fire in north Texas, police said on Wednesday.

"We have moved from rescue operations to recovery operations," said Sergeant Dan Buesing, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The crash took place on Tuesday near Panhandle, about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Amarillo. The lead locomotives of two Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co trains crashed head-first into each other, causing a fire that was still smoldering a day later.

A fourth train worker on board one of the trains has injuries not considered life-threatening, emergency personnel said. Local media reported the worker apparently jumped off a train prior to the crash.

One of the trains had refueled with diesel in Amarillo prior to the crash, which contributed to the large and sustained fire, Buesing said.

The cause of the crash has yet to be determined.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by David Gregorio)
Google faster cable

Google has a message for Facebook and Microsoft: eat our spray.

While those two companies have just begun a project to build an undersea cable to speed up internet access to their services, on Thursday, Google will flip the switch on its cable.

Google and its partners started building it two years ago.

Google teamed up with five Asian telecom companies to fund a $300 million underwater cable network connecting the US and Japan in 2014.

In a blog posting announcing the cable was being turned on, Alan Chin-Lun Cheung who is on Google's Submarine Networking Infrastructure team, wrote:

"The FASTER Cable System gives Google access to up to 10Tbps of the cables total 60Tbps bandwidth between the US and Japan. We will use this capacity to support our users, including Google Apps and Cloud Platform customers. This is the highest-capacity undersea cable ever built  about ten million times faster than your average cable modem  and were beaming light through it starting today."

The 9,000km trans-Pacific cable has connections between Oregon in the United States and two points in Japan. From Oregon, the system is connected o major hubs on the West Coast covering Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland and Seattle.

Google has launched the cable in anticipation of launching a new cloud data center region in Tokyo later this year.

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BEIJING (Reuters) - An award-winning Tibetan film director has been detained and suffered serious injury while in police custody, a Chinese film directors' guild said on Wednesday, though police said he was only lightly injured being taken away from a luggage dispute. Pema Tseden, a renowned Tibetan filmmaker best known for the films "Tharlo" and "Old Dog", was detained at an airport in western China on Saturday, the Film Directors' Guild of China said in a statement posted to its official microblog account. He was badly hurt in the course of his detention, the statement added, and was then taken to hospital in the western Chinese city of Xining on Monday. Pema Tseden could not be reached for comment. Xining police did not respond to repeated calls, but in a statement on its official microblog police said he had got into a dispute with security guards after trying to return to the luggage reclaim hall having forgotten an item. He was then detained, but as he refused to cooperate he ended up with bruises from the handcuffs, police said. On Monday morning, he was taken to hospital after feeling dizzy and complaining of tightness in his chest, and was briefly hospitalized for high blood pressure and blood sugar levels, police added. His rights were protected at all times, police said. Pema Tseden is China's first director to make films entirely in the Tibetan language. His work has won many prizes at home and are not critical of Beijing's rule over Tibet. Rights groups say China, which took control of Tibet in 1950, has tried to stamp out religious freedom and culture in the Himalayan region. China rejects the criticism, saying its rule has ended serfdom and brought development. People with knowledge of the case told Reuters they believed police had not recognized the director and detained him after the dispute. "(We) call on the relevant authorities to quickly respond to the association's concern, and make public the whole story of this incident, including the reason for police taking forceful measures," the guild said in a statement. Abuses by Chinese police departments, which are largely unregulated, are common in China, but this case generated unusual fervor on social media networks because of the director's fame. Tibetans on Chinese social media networks called for calm. In May, there was a major public outcry after an environmentalist who had graduated from a prestigious Beijing university died in police custody. (Reporting by Megha Rajagopalan; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)
A former State Capitol Police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony theft for stealing a painting by Wisconsin artist Aaron Bohrod from the Governors Mansion in 2011.

Travis Sackett, 32, of Tempe, Arizona, who was a Capitol officer from 2009 to 2011 and worked as part of the Dignitary Protection Unit, pleaded guilty to stealing the 1968 painting Gold Fantasy Box. A state Department of Administration employee discovered in January that the painting was missing from storage at the mansion.

Another charge, mail fraud, for selling the painting to a Connecticut art dealer, was dismissed but can be considered by Dane County Circuit Judge Nicholas McNamara when he sentences Sackett on Aug. 8.

Sackett also pleaded guilty to four other charges that were part of an unrelated case: forgery, misuse of someone elses identity, identity theft and misdemeanor bail jumping. All relate to Sacketts forgery of a lien satisfaction document that he tried to file at the Dane County Clerk of Courts office, purporting to show that he had paid about $13,000 in restitution from a 2012 theft case.

Under a plea agreement, both sides are recommending that Sackett be placed on probation and serve 10 months in jail.

Sackett was also originally charged with misconduct in office, but that charge was dismissed at a preliminary hearing in April.

According to a criminal complaint, DOA employee Joan Sample was tasked with auditing and cataloging state-owned property at the Governors Mansion but was unable to find the Bohrod painting. Searching the internet, she found it for sale at Don Barese Fine Art and Antiques in Hamden, Connecticut.

Barese told police he bought the painting from Sackett in March 2011 for $1,800. In February, Barese told the Wisconsin State Journal that Sackett claimed to have bought the painting for $400 at an estate sale. Barese said the painting is worth about $5,000.
Acclaimed Tibetan director Pema Tseden suffered serious injury and had to be hospitalized while in the custody of the Chinese police, the Film Directors Guild of China said Wednesday

Tseden was detained in Northwestern China earlier this week. According to Chinese authorities, the director got into a dispute with security guards at an airport in Xining while attempting to retrieve his luggage. He was badly hurt in the course of his detention, and later "displayed health problems" that caused him to be hospitalized, the directors guild said in a statement issued over Chinese social media.

A festival circuit regular, Tseden served on the jury of the Shanghai International Film Festival earlier this month alongside British actor Ian Mckellen. Tseden is known for lyrical films such as Tharlo, The Sacred Arrow and Old Dog, which strive to depict the realities of contemporary Tibetan life but are not overtly political or overtly critical of the Chinese government. He was the first Tibetan director to graduate from the prestigious Beijing Film Academy, and is the first filmmaker in greater China to make films entirely in the Tibetan language.

Read More: 'The Sacred Arrow': Shanghai Review

Xining police said in a statement that Tseden got into the dispute upon re-entering the airport luggage hall after forgetting an item. Police say he refused to cooperate and was detained and that his only injuries were three cuts on his wrists from handcuffs digging into his skin. Tseden was ordered to serve five days of administrative detention on the charge of disturbing public order. But on Monday, after experiencing headaches, chest pain and high blood sugar, he was briefly hospitalized.

"We call on the related departments to quickly respond to society's concerns and make the whole case public, including the reason for the enforcement methods used by the police and whether their procedures were within the rules, whether there are questions of the use of violence or excessive enforcement," the directors guild's statement said.

Story continues

Police brutality is a regular occurrence in China. News of Tseden's detainment and injuries swept through Chinese social media Wednesday, with many speculating that the authorities probably hadn't recognized the director and now regretted the episode.

Read More: The Search -- Film Review
The following timeline charts the origin and spread of the Zika virus from its discovery nearly 70 years ago: 1947: Scientists researching yellow fever in Uganda's Zika Forest identify the virus in a rhesus monkey 1948: Virus recovered from Aedes africanus mosquito in Zika Forest 1952: First human cases detected in Uganda and Tanzania 1954: Virus found in Nigeria 1960s-80s: Zika detected in mosquitoes and monkeys across equatorial Africa 196983: Zika found in equatorial Asia, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan 2007: Zika spreads from Africa and Asia, first large outbreak on Pacific island of Yap 2012: Researchers identify two distinct lineages of the virus, African and Asian 201314: Zika outbreaks in French Polynesia, Easter Island, the Cook Islands and New Caledonia. Retrospective analysis shows possible link to birth defects and severe neurological complications in babies in French Polynesia March 2, 2015: Brazil reports illness characterized by skin rash in northeastern states July 17: Brazil reports detection of neurological disorders in newborns associated with history of infection Oct. 5: Cape Verde has cases of illness with skin rash Oct. 22: Colombia confirms cases of Zika Oct. 30: Brazil reports increase in microcephaly, abnormally small heads, among newborns Nov. 11: Brazil declares public health emergency November 2015-January 2016: Cases reported in Suriname, Panama, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Venezuela, French Guiana, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Guyana, Ecuador, Barbados, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Curacao, Jamaica Feb. 1: World Health Organization (WHO) declares public health emergency of international concern Feb. 2: First case of Zika transmission in United States; local health officials say likely contracted through sex, not mosquito bite Feb. 5: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says virus being actively transmitted in 30 countries, mostly in the Americas Feb. 8: U.S. President Barack Obama requests $1.8 billion to fight Zika Feb. 12: Brazil investigating potential link between Zika infections and 4,314 suspected cases of microcephaly. Of those, 462 confirmed as microcephaly and 41 determined to be linked to virus Feb. 17: Brazil investigating potential link between Zika and 4,443 suspected cases of microcephaly. Of those, 508 confirmed as microcephaly and most of those cases are linked to the virus. WHO seeks $56 million to fight Zika. Feb. 18: CDC adds Aruba and Bonaire to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 32. Feb. 23: CDC investigating 14 cases of possible sexual transmission of Zika. CDC also adds Trinidad and Tobago and Marshall Islands to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 34. Feb. 25: Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases number more than 580 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil is investigating an additional 4,100 suspected cases of microcephaly. Feb. 27: France detects first sexually transmitted case of Zika. Feb. 29: CDC adds St. Maarten, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 36. March 1: Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases rose to 641 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil is investigating an additional 4,222 suspected cases of microcephaly. March 8: WHO advises pregnant women to avoid areas with Zika outbreak and said sexual transmission of the virus is "relatively common." March 9: CDC adds New Caledonia to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 37. March 15: Cuba reports first case of Zika contracted in the country. March 16: Cape Verde identifies first case of microcephaly. March 18: CDC says during Jan. 1, 2015 to Feb. 26, 2016, 116 residents of the United States had evidence of recent Zika virus infection based on laboratory testing. Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases rose to 863 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil is investigating an additional 4,268 suspected cases of microcephaly. March 19: CDC adds Cuba to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 38. March 21: South Korea confirms first case of Zika. March 22: CDC adds Dominica to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 39. Bangladesh confirms first case of Zika virus. Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases rose to 907 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil is investigating an additional 4,293 suspected cases of microcephaly. March 29: Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases rose to 944 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil said the number of suspected cases of microcephaly dropped slightly to 4,291. March 31: According to the World Health Organization, there is a strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause the birth defect microcephaly as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis, though conclusive proof may take months or years. April 1: CDC adds Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 40. April 4: CDC adds Fiji to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 41. April 5: Vietnam reports first Zika infections. April 6: Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases rose to 1,046 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. The number of suspected cases of microcephaly dropped to 4,046. April 7: St. Lucia confirms first two cases of Zika, contracted locally. April 12: Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases rose to 1,113 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. The number of suspected cases of microcephaly dropped to 3,836. It was the second week in a row that the overall total figure fell. April 13: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that infection with the Zika virus in pregnant women is a cause of the birth defect microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities in babies. The CDC said now that the causal relationship has been established, several important questions must still be answered with studies that could take years. CDC adds St. Lucia to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 42. April 14: Colombia confirms two microcephaly cases linked to Zinka. April 18: Peru reports first case of sexually transmitted Zika virus. CDC adds Belize to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 43. April 19: Chilean authorities find Zika mosquito for first time in decades. April 25: Canada confirms first sexually transmitted Zika case. April 26: Brazil says the number of confirmed cases of microcephaly climbed to 1,198 from 1,168 in the week through April 23, but suspected ones under investigation continued to decline to 3,710 from 3,741 a week ago. Brazil registered 91,387 likely cases of the Zika virus from February until April 2, the health ministry said, in its first national report on the epidemic. April 29: Puerto Rico reports first death related to Zika, according to the CDC. The country also confirmed 683 Zika cases, including 65 pregnant women, and five suspected cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome from Zika, the CDC reported. May 4: Panama confirms four microcephaly cases tied to Zika. May 6: Spain gets first case of Zika-related brain defect in a fetus. May 9: CDC adds Papua New Guinea, Saint Barthelemy and Peru to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 46. Honduras suspects first case of microcephaly in Zika patient. May 11: Brazil says the number of confirmed cases of microcephaly dropped to 1,326 in the week through May 7 as doctors and Brazilian health officials find that some suspected cases of microcephaly are not the disorder. Suspected ones under investigation continued to decline to 3,433. May 12: CDC adds Grenada to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 47. May 13: Puerto Rico reports first case of Zika-related microcephaly. May 20: WHO says an outbreak of Zika virus on the African island chain of Cape Verde is of the same strain as the one blamed for birth abnormalities in Brazil. May 24: Brazil reports the number of confirmed cases of microcephaly at 1,434 for the latest week to May 21. Suspected ones under investigation declined to 3,257. May 26: CDC adds Argentina to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 48. June 9: WHO issues updated guidelines on prevention of sexual transmission of the Zika virus, including advising women living in areas where the virus is being transmitted to delay getting pregnant. June 14: El Salvador confirms first case of microcephaly linked to Zika. June 22: Brazilian Ministry of Health confirms more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly in Brazil, mostly in the northeast. June 28: First baby with Zika-related birth defect microcephaly born in Florida. SOURCES: World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Reuters (Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by the Americas Desk)
The message, as Floridas Pensacola Police Capt. Stephen Davis explains it, is pretty darn simple:

Dont be stupid and leave your 2-week-old puppy in the car. Or your kid, he told Inside Edition.com.

Read: Watch Veterinarians' Shock When They Pull An Old Sock Out of Puppy's Intestines During Surgery

The departments Facebook page lit up after it posted two photos Tuesday  one showing a teeny-weeny puppy inside a car, and the other showing the cars smashed passenger window.

The latter came courtesy of officers who responded to a call from a shopping mall parking lot where passersby heard the pup whimpering and saw the tiny pooch inside a locked car on a hot, sweaty day in the Florida panhandle.

The puppy, only two weeks old, was taken to the Escambia County Animal Shelter.

Davis said the puppy was later returned to its owners because the dog needed to be with its mother. He didnt know how the baby dog got into the car or why it was left behind in the parking lot.

A phone message left by Inside Edition with the county animal shelter was not returned Wednesday.

Read: Pit Pull Pup Found With 6-Pound Chain Cinched Around Neck: 'We're Shocked She Survived'

The police department left a stern warning with its Facebook post.

Dont. Just dont. If you leave your dog in a hot car and that dog is suffering, we will do whatever we have to do to free him. Or her. Doesnt matter, we like both kids of dogs.

We will drive your pooch to the caring folks at the Escambia County Shelter and we will drop you off with the caring folks at the Escambia County Detention Facility. You will both receive attention, food and shelter, albeit different kinds. So, dont.

Watch: Police Officer Refuses To Leave Stray Puppy's Side After 12-Hour Shift

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Top Gear, the U.S. version, was officially canceled this week. But the long-running auto show at least went out on top, drag racing in Cuba!

Adam Ferrara, Rutledge Wood, and Tanner Foust traveled to the island of Cuba, where they were the first Americans to legally race in over 50 years. In fact, no one has done much legal racing in Cuba, since it was outlawed in 1962.

The three hosts met up on a highway where Cubans have only recently been holding government sanctioned races. Ferrara started off the drag races in a 1955 Ford Fairlane, sporting a 4-cylinder diesel engine from a Toyota. Even though he was slow, his competition was slower, and he managed to pull out a victory.

Wood then raced a 1956 Chevy Bel Air wagon and also won. Which was surprising because he pushed that American steel around with an even-smaller 4-cylinder diesel engine.

Finally it was professional driver and X-Games legend Tanner Fousts turn, and unlike the other guys, he had a Y-block V-8 in his 1952 Mercury Monterey. Unfortunately for him, the guy he was racing had an even more impressive car, and he had his doors blown off at the starting line.



Sadly, Top Gear U.K. isnt doing much better:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram  or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Cynthia LuCiette, on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Top Gear, the US version, was officially cancelled this week. But the long-running auto show at least went out on top, drag racing in Cuba! Adam Ferrara, Rutledge Wood, and Tanner Foust travelled to the island of Cuba where they were the first Americans to legally race in over 50 years. In fact no one had done much legal racing in Cuba since it was outlawed in in 1962. The three hosts met up on a highway where Cubans have only recently been holding government sanctioned races. Ferrara started off the drag races in his 1955 Ford Fairlane, sporting a 4-cylinder diesel engine from Toyota. Even though he was slow, his competition was slower and he managed to pull out a victory. Wood then raced his 1956 Chevy Bel-Air wagon and also won. Which was also surprising because he was pushing that American steel around with an even smaller 4-cylinder diesel engine. Finally it was professional driver and X-Games legend Tanner Foust's turn to race, and unlike the other guys he had a wide block V8 in his 1952 Mercury Monterey. Unfortunately for him the guy he was racing had an even more impressive car. So he had his doors blown off from the starting line.
Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Britain's vote to leave the European Union might never be implemented and that London is in no hurry to go.

Speaking one day after talks with Prime Minister David Cameron, Kerry said the outgoing British leader feels "powerless" to negotiate a departure he does not want.

"This is a very complicated divorce," Kerry told the Aspen Ideas Festival, referring to Britain's negotiated exit from the EU after last week's "Brexit" referendum.

Kerry, who visited Downing Street on Monday, said Cameron was loath to invoke "Article 50" of the Lisbon treaty, which would trigger a two-year timetable for departure.

London, Kerry explained, does not want to find itself boxed in after two years without a new association agreement and to be forced out of the EU without one.

And, he added, Cameron "feels powerless -- and I think this is a fair conclusion - to go out and start negotiating a thing that he doesn't believe in and he has no idea how he would do it.

"And by the way, nor do most of the people who voted to do it," Kerry said, apparently referring to "Leave" campaigners such as former London mayor Boris Johnson, now the frontrunner to replace Cameron as premier.

Asked by the panel moderator if this meant the Brexit decision could be "walked back" and if so how, Kerry said: "I think there are a number of ways."

"I don't as secretary of state want to throw them out today. I think that would be a mistake. But there are a number of ways," he said.

Washington has long supported a strong role for its British ally in the European project, and was dismayed when British voters chose last week to quit the Union.

Now, US officials are calling for a calm debate on Brexit leading to a deal that would allow a close association between London and Brussels to continue.

Some EU leaders, however, insist that Cameron must move quickly to invoke Article 50 and begin divorce talks, to put an end to political and economic uncertainty.
After nearly two years of telling you about cars being recalled because of shrapnel-shooting Takata airbags, its almost a refreshing change of pace to report on an airbag recall that has nothing to do with the auto parts maker. However, Toyotas latest recall of 1.4 million vehicles bears a striking resemblance to the Takata problems.

Toyota said Wednesday that it would recall 1.4 million model year 2010 and 2012 Prius and Lexus vehicles worldwide that contain potentially malfunctioning airbags, the New York Times reports.

The recall concerns the inflator that causes the airbag to inflate in the event of a crash.

Related Stories from Consumer Reports

According to Toyota, who did not name the parts supplier for the airbags, the inflators may have a small crack in a weld that can cause the airbag to inflate unexpectedly, sending pieces of metal into the vehicle.

Like the Takata inflator issue, the risk of unexpected airbag deployment is highest in areas of high humidity. However, unlike the larger years-long recall, Toyota believes that the new issue is the result of a manufacturing error, not a design problem as with the Takata safety devices.

So far, the company is unaware of any injuries or deaths related to the problem.

In a separate action on Wednesday, Toyota announced the recall of 2.87 million vehicles worldwide over fuel tank issues. The campaign involves several vehicles, including model year 2006 to 2015 Prius and Corolla sedans.

Toyota says the issue is related to a fault with a mechanism in vehicles fuel tanks that releases evaporated fuel. Cracks in the mechanism can cause small amounts of fuel to leak when drivers fill up their gas tanks.

Toyota Recalls 1.4 Million Vehicles for Airbag Problem [The New York Times]





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By David Shepardson and Naomi Tajitsu

WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp has recalled 3.37 million cars worldwide over possible defects involving air bags and emissions control units.

The automaker on Wednesday said it was recalling 2.87 million cars over a possible fault in emissions control units. That followed an announcement late on Tuesday that 1.43 million cars needed repairs over a separate issue involving air bag inflators.

About 930,000 cars are affected by both potential defects, Toyota said. Because of that overlap, it said the total number of vehicles recalled was 3.37 million.

No injuries have been linked to either issue.

Toyota on Wednesday said evaporative fuel emissions control units in models produced from 2006 to 2015 including the Prius, Auris compact hatchback and Corolla were prone to cracks, which could lead to fuel leaks over time.

Of the 2.87 million vehicles recalled due to the emission control units, Toyota said 1.55 million are in Japan; 713,000 in Europe; 35,000 in China; and 568,000 in other areas.

Late on Tuesday it recalled Prius models and Lexus CT200h cars made from 2010 to 2012 over air bag inflators that could have a small crack in a weld, which could lead to the separation of the inflator chambers.

Of the 1.4 million vehicles recalled over the air bag inflators, 482,000 are in the U.S. market.

The inflator could partially inflate and enter the vehicle interior, increasing the risk of injury, Toyota said.

Sweden-based auto safety gear maker Autoliv Inc (ALIVsdb.ST) (ALV.N) confirmed on Wednesday that it supplied the air bag inflators involved. Autoliv said about 90 percent of the affected inflators were in Prius cars.

Autoliv said it was aware of seven incidents where a side curtain air bag has partially inflated in parked Toyota Prius cars, but no injuries were reported.

Autoliv has benefited from an earlier recall involving faulty air bag inflators made by Japan's Takata (7312.T).

Story continues

The company said in an April regulatory filing that it was investigating six incidents related to its air bags and a possible recall could cost it between $10 million-$40 million, net of expected insurance recoveries. (http://1.usa.gov/2946IzQ)

Autoliv said on Wednesday it expected the cost of recall to be at the lower end of the range.

The company's U.S.-listed shares (ALV.N) were down 3.6 percent at $106.06. The stock fell as much as 16 pct to 765 Swedish kronas on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, their lowest since December 2014.

Toyota Motor's U.S. listed shares (TM.N) reversed losses earlier in the day to close up 1.7 percent on Wednesday at $101.52.

(Additional reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bangalore and Bernie Woodall in Detroit; Editing by Sandra Maler and Don Sebastian)
An East Side woman taking the garbage out Sunday night was sexually assaulted by a man who ran off when she screamed, police reported.

The sexual assault happened at about 10 p.m. Sunday on Union Street, Madison police said.

The 51-year-old woman told police she was behind her home when the stranger approached.

"He made a lewd comment and began groping her over the outside of her clothing," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain. "She screamed and the stranger ran off."

The suspect was described as black, 5 feet, 8 inches to 5 feet, 9 inches tall, in his 20s, medium build, braided hair, low voice, wearing a white T-shirt, baggy jeans and a do rag, with breath smelling of alcohol.
Washington (AFP) - The US presidential battle is too close to call, but one element is clear: Americans have soured on candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, a poll released Wednesday showed.

Respondents to the latest Quinnipiac University national poll put Clinton ahead of Trump just 42 percent to 40 percent, a narrowing from Clinton's four-point margin in the organization's June 1 survey.

It is also considerably closer than the 12-point Clinton advantage in an ABC News/Washington Post poll published Sunday which highlighted Clinton capitalizing on Trump's recent mis-steps.

The Quinnipiac survey of 1,610 registered voters notably showed that 61 percent believe the 2016 election "has increased the level of hatred and prejudice in the US."

Of that group, two thirds blame the Trump campaign, with just 16 percent blaming Clinton's team.

Overall the survey shows less-than-flattering views of both candidates in the months before the November 8 election to determine who succeeds President Barack Obama in the White House.

"Voters find themselves in the middle of a mean-spirited, scorched earth campaign between two candidates they don't like. And they don't think either candidate would be a good president," Quinnipiac poll assistant director Tim Malloy said in a statement.

Trump has made several incendiary statements during the campaign, including a call for banning Muslims from entering the United States, and describing Mexicans as rapists and criminals.

It has been a tumultuous week for Trump, a political novice who recently fired his campaign manager and faced criticism for having a paltry $1.3 million war chest at the end of May.

Following the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, the brash businessman earned rebukes for tweeting out self-congratulations over "being right on radical Islamic terrorism."

Respondents said by 58 percent to 33 percent that former secretary of state Clinton is better prepared to be president than Trump.

But they said Trump would be better at creating jobs (52-40 percent) and at handling Islamic State extremists (52-39).

The poll has a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.
By Emily Stephenson and Amanda Becker MONESSEN, Pennsylvania/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to force Canada and Mexico to renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement with the United States if elected, as part of an effort to protect and restore American jobs. Trump criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement as a U.S. job killer, saying he would be willing to scrap the pact if Canada and Mexico were unwilling to budge. He also tried to link Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to the deal on the eve of a meeting in Ottawa of the "three amigos," the leaders of the three NAFTA signatories: the United States, Mexico and Canada. In his most detailed speech on trade, the presumptive Republican nominee said he would pull the United States out of negotiations for a deal among 12 Pacific Rim nations and promised to use executive power to resolve trade disputes with China. Trump also pledged to revive the U.S. steel and aluminum industry, speaking at an aluminum scrap company in Monessen, Pennsylvania, nearly 30 miles (50 km) south of Pittsburgh, the one-time American steelmaking capital. Trump has identified Pennsylvania as a state he believes he can wrest from the Democrats in the Nov. 8 election. He also campaigned on Tuesday in Ohio, which like Pennsylvania is a Rust Belt state. Democratic President Barack Obama won both states in 2008 and 2012, but manufacturing job losses have led to voter anxiety in the region. "I'm going tell our NAFTA partners that I intend to immediately renegotiate the terms of that agreement to get a better deal for our workers. And I don't mean just a little bit better, I mean a lot better," Trump said in Pennsylvania. If Canada and Mexico do not agree to renegotiate the pact, Trump said he would notify them under the agreement's terms "that America intends to withdraw from the deal." He tried to tie his Democratic rival to the pact, approved in 1993 during the administration of her husband, President Bill Clinton, as he called NAFTA one of the "worst legacies" of the Clinton years. On MSNBC after Trump's speech, Clinton spokeswoman Kristina Schake called the wealthy New York businessman the "king of outsourcing," in an apparent reference to Trump-branded products such as suits and ties made overseas. "It was full of hypocrisy and misstatements and outright lies," Schake said. Trade has been a vulnerability for Clinton, who struggled for white, blue-collar votes in her Democratic primary race against U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who criticized her for supporting trade deals and said she was too close to Wall Street. TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP Trump echoed Sanders' criticism on Tuesday, saying Clinton supported the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, while she was secretary of state and only opposed it once she was running for president. Clinton's campaign said she opposed the agreement because it was not strong enough on currency manipulation and other areas. Clinton has said she will evaluate each trade deal on its merits but does not believe the TPP is good for U.S. workers. Sanders now says he will vote for Clinton in November, although he has not formally withdrawn from the race. Trump said he saw no way to fix the TPP, calling it a "death blow" for American manufacturing. Although China is not part of the agreement, Trump said Beijing might try to enter it "through the back door" later on. Later, during a rally in St. Clairsville, Ohio, Trump said the deal was "just a continuing rape of our country." Just hours before Trump spoke, Clinton allies sought to pre-empt the planned trade speech by saying Trump's policies amounted to empty promises. Earlier, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told a trade conference in Washington that "Trump embodies everything that is wrong with our current trade policy. He has consistently sent American jobs overseas to line his own pockets." The AFL-CIO, which collectively represents more than 12 million workers, making it the largest U.S. labor federation, endorsed Clinton this month. POPULIST ANGER Both Clinton and Trump have acknowledged that Britain's vote to leave the European Union signaled a global economic frustration among working-class voters that could reverberate in the U.S. election. "There is a lot of legitimate anxiety, fear and even anger in many parts of our country because people feel like the economy has failed them," Clinton said in Denver on Tuesday. "I think this is going to be one of the defining issues in this election." Trump has seized on the historic Brexit vote to bolster his argument that voters are rising up against establishment leaders, saying Americans would reject the "global elite" and support his presidential candidacy. But Trump has broken with Republican Party orthodoxy in criticizing trade deals, and has threatened to slap tariffs on Mexican and Chinese imports. His rhetoric has drawn criticism from many economists, who say such practices could spark trade wars. As Trump spoke, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is usually in sync with prominent Republicans on trade policy, said on Twitter: "Under Trump's trade plans, we would see higher prices, fewer jobs, and a weaker economy." (Additional reporting by Adam DeRose and Alana Wise; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)
* Production halted in March when turret bearing broke

* Spread mooring involves anchors to hold ship in place

* Tullow decision important to Ghana ahead of election

By Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Kwasi Kpodo

ACCRA, June 29 (Reuters) - Tullow Oil is set to announce on Thursday how it will repair a ship that is a hub for its most important oil field, and is likely to recommend a fix that will allow output to continue - instead of suspending it for a year, officials said.

The 'spread mooring' solution would mean Tullow avoids the need to tow the vessel from its position in the Jubilee field off the coast of Ghana for repairs at a port such as Singapore or Rotterdam, which might take up to a year.

Keeping the oil flowing is vital for Ghana, which holds a 13.6 percent stake in the Jubilee field and is already facing financial troubles that have led it to strike a 3-year austerity deal with the IMF.

It would also benefit the London-headquartered company at a time when its hedging strategy has yielded rewards in the face of lower oil prices, the analysts said. Tullow said in May it was hedged for 2016 to an average floor price of $73.10 per barrel while Brent Crude stood at over $48 on Wednesday.

That floor price drops to $68.36 next year and $62.09 in 2018, giving Tullow an incentive to maintain short term output.

"Tullow has suggested 'spread mooring' because they cannot afford a shutdown," a senior official in Ghana's energy industry told Reuters. His view was echoed by others close to the decision-making process.

The Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel processes and holds oil from wells in the Jubilee field, by far its most productive asset.

The ship, called the Kwame Nkrumah after Ghana's founding president and a pan-African nationalist, broke a bearing on its main turret in March, bringing the field's production of roughly 100,000 barrels per day to a halt for around two months before it was restarted at a lower rate.

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Ghana lost millions in revenue as well as gas supplies needed to alleviate power cuts that have angered voters. President John Mahama faces a tough re-election battle in November, with power supply a major issue.

Engineers have identified three options to fix the turret, said several people close to the company.

Tullow holds a 35.48 percent stake in Jubilee and must secure agreement prior to its announcement from its partners Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Kosmos, Anadarko and Petro SA.

"We will be updating the market on the situation with the turret," said company spokesman George Cazenove, who declined to give details, citing the market sensitivity of the decision.

Spread mooring would involve using anchors or buoys to replace the tug boats, which currently hold the ship steady at what one analyst said was a cost of around $10 million a month.

This would also enable Tullow to tow the vessel for repair at a later date, if needed. In that case, it could fabricate parts before moving the ship, cutting the period of downtime.

The company, which also has projects in Kenya and Uganda, hopes to begin production at the Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme oilfield close to Jubilee in July or August. (Additional reporting by Karolin Schaps in London; Editing by Tim Cocks and William Hardy)
By Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Kwasi Kpodo ACCRA (Reuters) - Tullow Oil is set to announce on Thursday how it will repair a ship that is a hub for its most important oil field, and is likely to recommend a fix that will allow output to continue - instead of suspending it for a year, officials said. The 'spread mooring' solution would mean Tullow avoids the need to tow the vessel from its position in the Jubilee field off the coast of Ghana for repairs at a port such as Singapore or Rotterdam, which might take up to a year. Keeping the oil flowing is vital for Ghana, which holds a 13.6 percent stake in the Jubilee field and is already facing financial troubles that have led it to strike a 3-year austerity deal with the IMF. It would also benefit the London-headquartered company at a time when its hedging strategy has yielded rewards in the face of lower oil prices, the analysts said. Tullow said in May it was hedged for 2016 to an average floor price of $73.10 per barrel while Brent Crude stood at over $48 on Wednesday. That floor price drops to $68.36 next year and $62.09 in 2018, giving Tullow an incentive to maintain short term output. "Tullow has suggested 'spread mooring' because they cannot afford a shutdown," a senior official in Ghana's energy industry told Reuters. His view was echoed by others close to the decision-making process. The Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel processes and holds oil from wells in the Jubilee field, by far its most productive asset. The ship, called the Kwame Nkrumah after Ghana's founding president and a pan-African nationalist, broke a bearing on its main turret in March, bringing the field's production of roughly 100,000 barrels per day to a halt for around two months before it was restarted at a lower rate. Ghana lost millions in revenue as well as gas supplies needed to alleviate power cuts that have angered voters. President John Mahama faces a tough re-election battle in November, with power supply a major issue. Engineers have identified three options to fix the turret, said several people close to the company. Tullow holds a 35.48 percent stake in Jubilee and must secure agreement prior to its announcement from its partners Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Kosmos, Anadarko and Petro SA. "We will be updating the market on the situation with the turret," said company spokesman George Cazenove, who declined to give details, citing the market sensitivity of the decision. Spread mooring would involve using anchors or buoys to replace the tug boats, which currently hold the ship steady at what one analyst said was a cost of around $10 million a month. This would also enable Tullow to tow the vessel for repair at a later date, if needed. In that case, it could fabricate parts before moving the ship, cutting the period of downtime. The company, which also has projects in Kenya and Uganda, hopes to begin production at the Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme oilfield close to Jubilee in July or August. (Additional reporting by Karolin Schaps in London; Editing by Tim Cocks and William Hardy)
TUNIS (Reuters) - A Tunisian military doctor seeking to retrieve his son who had joined Islamic State in Syria was among those killed in Tuesday's suicide attack by militants at Istanbul airport, a security sources said on Wednesday. Three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers opened fire and blew themselves up in Istanbul's main airport on Tuesday evening, killing 41 people and wounding 239 in the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings this year in Turkey. The Tunisian Defence Ministry confirmed that Brigadier General Fathi Bayoudh, a military hospital doctor, was among those killed. A senior security source and local media said he had been in Turkey to try and convince his son to leave Islamic State. "Bayoudh traveled to Turkey in an effort to meet his son, who joined the Islamic State in Syria a few months ago with his girlfriend," the Tunisian security source said. The source said the son had now been detained by Turkish troops on the border with Syria. "Bayoudh's son traveled with his girlfriend who studied with him at the Faculty of Medicine a few months ago, which prompted several attempts by his father to persuade him to return," the source said. Several local Tunisian newspapers online and radio also cited other security sources saying Bayoudh was in Turkey to met his son to try to persuade him to come home. Tunisia has become a model of democratic reform in the Arab world since its 2011 uprising against autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. But it is also one of the largest sources of foreign fighters for Islamist groups in Iraq and Syria. Government officials estimate more than 3,500 Tunisians have left to fight for Islamic State and other groups in Syria, Iraq and Libya, some in command positions. Some are recruited from impoverished areas in the North African nation, but others are professionals and graduates recruited online by jihadists. (Reporting by Tarek Amara; editing by Patrick Markey and Gareth Jones)
The bombs ripped through the busy airport terminal. Gunfire echoed. Hundreds of travelers and airport workers ran in terror while others dove for cover. Blood spilled on the floor as outside, screeching ambulances parted the crowd of stunned travellers.

The gun and bomb attack on Istanbuls Ataturk international airport on Tuesday could signal the opening of a new front in the war with the Islamic State militants who control parts of Iraq and Syria. Losing ground on battlefields throughout the region, ISIS is seeking desperately to reclaim headlines through a campaign of attacks on civilians in the Middle East, Europe, and beyond.

Turkey has become the central target in that campaign. The June 28 bombings, which killed at least 41 people and injured over 200, were the fifth major attack on civilians in Turkey thought to have been carried out by ISIS in the last year. The slaughter at the airport raises the stakes of the conflict, dealing another blow to Turkeys economy, raising alarms in Europe, and heaping more pressure on Turkeys leaders to stabilize the countrys southern border with Syria. It is one more sign that otherwise stable Turkey is being drawn deeper into the regional crisis emanating from Iraq and Syria.

No group had claimed responsibility for the attack on the airport as of late Wednesday, but Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim swiftly assigned blame. The evidence points to Daesh, he was quoted as saying, using the Arabic acronym for the group.

The Istanbul attack unfolded in chaotic scenes reminiscent of the killings in Paris and Brussels. Three men wearing explosive vests arrived at the airports international terminal by taxi, according to Turkish authorities. They opened fire and set off two explosions: one inside the international arrival hall, one near the ranks of taxis outside. The assailants died during the attack.

The bombings struck at the beating heart of Turkeys civilian infrastructure, and a symbol of its cosmopolitanism. Ataturk airport links cities throughout the Middle East and Europe. Ironically, it has also been used as a transit point for Western ISIS recruits headed to the battlefields in Syria and Iraq. In addition to Turkish citizens, victims included five people from Saudi Arabia, two from Iraq, a Palestinian woman, and others from Tunisia, Uzbekistan, China, Iran, Ukraine and Jordan.

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ISIS attacks inside Turkey intensified roughly a year ago, when a bombing in July blamed on ISIS killed some 32 people in the border town of Suruc. In October, suicide bombers struck a peace rally in Ankara, killing 103 people in the deadliest attack in Turkeys modern history. The bombings continued in January and March 2016 with a pair of attacks in Istanbul targeting the cities bustling tourist districts.

Read More: 4 Reasons the War Against ISIS Is Workingand 1 Reason Its Not

The attack is also the clearest sign to date that the civil war in Syria has become a regional crisis. The Assad regimes war with armed opposition groups is the central cause of the massive flight of Syrian refugees and provides the fuel for jihadist groups that increasingly menace Syrias neighbors. Having accepted 2.7 million Syrians, more than any other country, the country is now turning back desperate Syrians fleeing the war in their country.

But its clearer than ever that ISIS already maintains a robust network of operatives inside Turkey. In recent months, the jihadists have waged an underground campaign of terror against Syrian activists opposed to both the Assad regime and ISIS, many of whom live in Turkeys southern towns. Suspected ISIS members beheaded an activist who helped document ISIS abuses in Syria in November, and shot dead another prominent activist in the Turkish city of Gaziantep in April.

Turkeys government is already at war with ISIS, launching airstrikes on its positions in Syria and attempting to stanch the flow of foreign recruits transiting through Turkey. But critics have also accused the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of failing to curtail the jihadist operations. Following the Ankara bombing last October, the authorities zeroed in on a single group of suspected militants in the town of Adiyaman. Human rights activists and local residents said they tried to alert police to the so-called Adiyaman cell before the Ankara attack, to no avail. Erdogan firmly rejects the notion that his government failed to clamp down on ISIS. Turkey will continue its fight against all terrorist organizations at all costs until the end of terrorism, he said shortly after the airport attack.

That reference to all terrorist organizations signals that Turkeys fight is two-pronged. The Turkish state is also at war with Kurdish insurgents based in the southeast of the country, who have claimed responsibility for a separate series of deadly bombings as a slow-burning civil war in Turkeys southeast has escalated, leaving thousands dead and 350,000 displaced. The unrest in the southeast represents another dimension of the spillover from the war in Syria, as young Kurdish militants in Turkey take inspiration from their counterparts battling ISIS.

The attack on Ataturk airport came on the same date ISIS proclaimed itself an Islamic caliphate in 2014 in the territory it seized in Syria and Iraq. But two years on, its so-called state is shrinking rapidly as rival forces make major advances in Iraq, Syria, and Libya. Iraqs government declared victory over ISIS in the city of Fallujah on June 26. In Syria, U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces are edging closer to the jihadists de facto capital of Raqqa.

As it loses territory, ISIS is waging a desperate bid to reclaim momentum through attacks on civilians far from the theater of war. In May, ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani issued a specific call for external attacks during the fasting month of Ramadan. Jihadists have acted on that call, from Baghdad to Orlando, Florida (though Omar Mateens killing spree was likely inspired as much by personal hatred as by ISIS). As the campaign of killings continues, neighboring countries like Turkey are directly in the line of fire. Its the tyranny of geography. Its the Western country, NATO ally thats closest to this geography of instability, said Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, a think tank in Brussels. The more ISIS militants are squeezed the more they lash out, he says, as a signaling mechanism to the outside world that they continue to be operational.

Erdogan too is attempting to send signals to the outside world, having taken steps in recent days to reverse a slide toward geopolitical isolation. On June 29, the President spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in November 2015. Turkey and Israel also announced a restoration of ties on June 28, after a period of tension. Its possible these shifting alliances could accompany a change in approach to Syria, where Turkey has prioritized combatting Assad and containing Kurdish militants. But in the meantime, ISIS extends its bloody battlefield ever further.
Beirut (AFP) - The Turkish authorities have accused the Islamic State group of carrying out the attack on Istanbul's international airport that killed 41 people.

Long accused of complacency towards IS, Turkey has changed its approach since joining the US-led coalition against the jihadists in August 2015.

What was Ankara's policy towards IS?

IS has long relied on Turkey as a conduit for reinforcements and weapons bound for Syria to fight the regime of Bashar al-Assad, his armed opponents and Al-Nusra Front, the branch of Al-Qaeda in the war-torn country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a devout Sunni Muslim, openly advocated the downfall of his old ally, his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad of the Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam.

He therefore supported all components of the rebellion since the start of the conflict in Syria in 2011 that has now killed more than 280,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes.

Why has it changed?

In August 2015, Turkey joined the international military coalition against IS which, along with Russia, is mainly targeting the jihadists' oil facilities, including many fields and wells.

"Strangely, IS accuses Turkey of lending support to the YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units) and has blamed Turkey -- and others -- for the loss of territory along the border," says Aron Stein of the Atlantic Council think-tank.

For its part, after having condoned IS's activities, police have been "hitting IS in Turkey pretty hard" including raids in Gaziantep and elsewhere. And Ankara announced recently that its forces were shelling IS positions in Syria.

Why is Ankara blaming IS?

Although no-one has claimed responsibility for the attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said "the evidence points to Daesh", using another name for IS.

According to the Soufan Group intelligence consultancy, "Turkey has become a prime target for the Islamic State in the last year. It has been mentioned several times in the group's English-language magazine, Dabiq; President Erdogan was featured on the cover of issue 11."

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Turkey also believes that IS hit it where it hurts, especially tourism, which brings the country's economy around $30 billion a year.

Ege Seckin of IHS Country Risk says that "the attack was most likely conducted by the Islamic State to undermine the Turkish economy by attacking the airport ahead of the summer months, when tourism peaks."

Why isn't IS claiming the airport attack?

IS, which is normally quick to claim responsibility and reveal gory details of its attacks, has always been discreet when it comes to Turkey.

Unlike Kurdish separatists, it has never endorsed attacks in the country except against Syrian citizen journalists.

"It's unclear why IS doesn't claim credit, but it appears to be part of a broader strategy to exacerbate internal Turkish tensions, ranging from political polarisation to the Kurdish-Turkish conflict," says Stein of the Atlantic Council.

Are they heading for all-out war?

The airport attack could mark a turning point.

"If the Islamic State is indeed behind this attack, this would be a declaration of war," says Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Programme at The Washington Institute.

"Thus far, Turkey has avoided engaging the Islamic State in full war, instead prioritising its battle against the Assad regime and the Syrian Kurds. For Turkey, fighting the Islamic State as a first order battle could now be unavoidable."
A Sun Prairie man who killed his mother with a sword last year pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree intentional homicide, then was committed to a state mental hospital after prosecutors and defense lawyers in the case agreed that he was mentally ill at the time of the killing.

Matthew J. Skalitzky, 41, pleaded guilty to killing his mother, Jane Skalitzky, 68, on Sept. 11 at Matthew Skalitzkys apartment in Sun Prairie. Deputy District Attorney Corey Stephan and state Assistant Public Defender Stanley Woodard agreed with a report by psychiatrist Dr. Kenneth Robbins that Skalitzky was mentally ill at the time of the crime.

In April, Skalitzky had entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, which prompted the examination by Robbins.

Dane County Circuit Judge Josann Reynolds ordered Skalitzky committed for life to the state Department of Health Services. A hearing will be held in a few weeks that will more formally set the length and place of his commitment. Its also possible that Skalitzkys family will speak at the hearing. They did not speak at Wednesdays plea hearing.

A criminal complaint states that Skalitzky killed his mother with a sword after she found a box in his apartment containing swords and knives. A criminal complaint states that she was decapitated.

At a court hearing last year, Stephan said that Skalitzky saw his mother as an inhuman clone, and told his roommate after killing his mother that he had hacked the clone.

No specific diagnosis of Skalitzkys mental illness or details about Robbins report were mentioned in court on Wednesday, but Skalitzky continues to take psychotropic medication that in April helped him become competent to stand trial. Early on in the case, Skalitzky had been found incompetent to assist his lawyers prepare his case or understand the charges against him.

Skalitzky appeared calm in court as he answered standard yes-or-no questions asked of criminal defendants during plea hearings. When prompted by Reynolds for his plea, he simply said, Guilty.

An insanity finding means that under the law, a person lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his or her conduct or conform his or her conduct to the requirements of law.

Commitment to an institution is required if a person poses a risk of harm to himself or others.

Once confined to an institution, Skalitzky can petition for conditional release into the community every six months, but Woodard said that its unlikely Skalitzky would petition anytime soon or that such a petition would be granted by a judge.

Its going to take him quite some time for him to get a handle on himself and his mental instability, Woodard said after the hearing.

A criminal complaint states that Skalitzky had breakfast with his parents on Sept. 11, then went with his mother to the condo that his parents had rented for him. A roommate said that when Skalitzky arrived at the condo with his mother he seemed distant and unemotional.

About 10 minutes later, the complaint states, the roommate heard noises upstairs and heard Jane Skalitzky yelling, No, no no. When he got upstairs he saw Skalitzky holding a sword and his mothers body on the floor.After police arrived, the complaint states, Skalitzky was asked if his mother was dead. He responded, Yes, but shes not my real mother.
Soon after the Orlando shootout, the world has been shocked yet again by the latest terrorist attack in Turkey. The Ataturk international airport in Istanbul was attacked on Jun 28 by three suicide bombers. The incident resulted in 41 casualties apart from injuring many more. Foreigners too are likely to be among those victimized in the attack. All flights from the airport were suspended after the incident for a few hours.



One of the three attackers began shooting in the departures area before all three blew themselves in the arrivals hall. The Turkish police attempted to avert the incident by firing at the suicide bombers but the situation could not be contained.



Globally, leaders and heads of states have condemned this attack on Europes third busiest airport. Although no terrorist or militant outfit has claimed responsibility for this attack yet, the attackers are suspected to bear allegiance to either ISIS or Kurdish PKK. ISIS is becoming a major threat in Europe as evidenced by the previous terrorist attacks in Brussels and Paris. Additionally, Turkey has been facing constant challenges from Kurdish militants in the countrys southeast region.



Impact on U.S. Airlines



This attack is expected to have a global impact on airlines. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had earlier suspended all U.S. flights from the Ataturk airport, which was later lifted. The Port authority of New York and New Jersey have increased surveillance and patrol across the three major airports in the state following the attack.



Travelers have already been jittery about visiting Europe owing to earlier attacks in the continent and many might end up cancelling their travel plans post the latest incident. The U.S. Independence Day weekend is around the corner and hence, the aforesaid attack is expected to adversely impact U.S. airlines.

TRANSPORTATION-AIRLINE Industry Price Index

TRANSPORTATION-AIRLINE Industry Price Index

Airlines for America (A4A)  the trade organization for leading U.S. airlines  expects summer traffic to reach an all-time high this year and surpass the record set in 2015 by 4%. Passenger traffic between Jun 1 and Aug 31 is likely to be around 231.1 million compared with 222.3 million in the year-ago comparable period. However, the airline industry stocks have still been underperforming owing to global issues resulting in delayed or cancelled plans.

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Most of the top airlines, such as American Airlines Group Inc. AAL, Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL, United Continental Holding Inc.s UAL United Airlines and Southwest Airlines Co. LUV, have been struggling to life passenger unit revenues despite higher margins due to low oil prices. Therefore, macroeconomic uncertainties and unprecedented attacks pose greater challenges for airline companies.

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ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke on the phone with U.S. President Barack Obama, who said he strongly condemned Tuesday's suicide bomb attack in Istanbul which killed 41 people and injured more than 200, Turkish presidential sources said. Obama offered his condolences to the people of Turkey after the attack on Europe's third-busiest airport, the latest in a series of suicide bombings this year in Turkey. The NATO member forms part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, which is suspected of perpetrating the attack. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay and Tulay Karadeniz; Editing by Dasha Afanasieva)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Airlines suspended its flights until 8 am (0500 GMT) on Wednesday, the company said in a statement, after suspected Islamic State bombers killed 36 people at Istanbul airport late on Tuesday. The flag carrier said in another statement any bookings on flights to or from Istanbul Ataturk airport between 28 June and 5 July 2016 would be changed or refunded without any cost, provided the passenger requests this by July 31. (Reporting by Asli Kandemir, writing by Dasha Afanasieva; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - A roadside bomb planted by Kurdish militants ripped apart a military armored vehicle in southeast Turkey on Wednesday, killing two soldiers and wounding three others, security sources said. Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants detonated the explosives by remote control near a village in the Derik district of Mardin province at 3:10 pm (0810 EDT), the sources said, adding an operation was launched in the area to capture those responsible. Turkey is facing multiple security threats. As well as the insurgency in the mainly Kurdish southeast, it is also fighting Islamic State in Syria as a member of the U.S.-led coalition. Suspected Islamic State suicide bombers killed 41 people and injured 239 in an attack on Istanbul's main airport on Wednesday. Conflict between the PKK and the Turkish military flared up last July after the collapse of a ceasefire. Thousands of militants, security force members and civilians have been killed in fighting across the mainly Kurdish southeast since then. Earlier on Wednesday, the Turkish military said two soldiers were killed and another three wounded on Tuesday evening in two attacks by PKK fighters in the southeast's Diyarbakir province. The militants launched one attack in the Lice area of Diyarbakir, wounding four soldiers, one of whom later died in hospital, the armed forces statement said. It said another soldier was shot dead by PKK militants in Diyarbakir's Bismil district after he got out of a vehicle in front of his house. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies, began its insurgency in 1984. Violence has surged since the collapse of a ceasefire last July. (Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan; Writing by Dasha Afanasieva and Daren Butler; Editing by David Dolan)
(Reuters) - A gunman opened fire on Tuesday on two women outside of a northeast Arizona courthouse, killing them both in an apparent legal dispute, authorities said on social media.

A male shooter was taken into custody at the Navajo County Superior Court where he fatally shot the two women after a court hearing, Navajo County said on its Twitter account.

"A dispute stemming from a court hearing earlier today led to one of the parties meeting the two victims outside of the courthouse where the suspect opened fire," the Navajo County Sheriff's Office said on its Facebook page.

The women and the shooter were not identified by authorities.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Tom Perry AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Syrian rebels were pushed back from the outskirts of an Islamic State-held town on the border with Iraq and a nearby air base on Wednesday after the jihadists mounted a counter- attack, two rebel sources said. The New Syria Army rebel group had launched an operation on Tuesday aimed at capturing the town of Al-Bukamal from Islamic State and cutting supply and communications lines for the group between Syria and Iraq, the U.S. coalition fighting IS said. One rebel source said Islamic State fighters had encircled the rebels in a surprise ambush. They had suffered heavy casualties and weapons had been seized by the jihadists, the source said. "The news is not good. I can say our troops were trapped and suffered many casualties and several fighters were captured and even weapons were taken," he said. A spokesman of the New Syria Army, Muzahem al Saloum, confirmed the group's fighters had retreated. "We have withdrawn to the outlying desert and the first stage of the campaign has ended," Saloum told Reuters. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the New Syria Army had been driven entirely from the province of Deir al-Zor, where Al-Bukamal is located. Saloum said most of their fighters had returned to their base at al-Tanf, a Syrian town southwest of Al-Bukamal at the border with Iraq and in neighboring Homs province, but that there was still fighting in the southern desert of Al-Bukamal. Saloum said the fighters had at least succeeded in evicting IS from large swathes of desert territory around the town. Amaq news agency, affiliated with IS, earlier said the group had killed 40 rebel fighters and captured 15 more in a counter-attack at the Hamadan air base north-west of the city. U.S. SUPPORT Islamic State's capture in 2014 of Al-Bukamal, just a few kilometers (miles) from the Iraqi frontier, effectively erased the border between Syria and Iraq. Losing it would be a huge symbolic and strategic blow to the cross-border "caliphate" led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The operation to recapture Al-Bukamal has come as IS faces a separate, U.S.-backed offensive in northern Syria designed to drive it away from the Turkish border. The New Syria Army was formed some 18 months ago from insurgents driven from eastern Syria at the height of Islamic State's rapid expansion in 2014. Rebel sources say it has been trained with U.S. support. A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition battling IS said the coalition was providing "advice and assistance" to the New Syria Army, and had conducted eight large air strikes on IS targets near Al-Bukamal overnight in support. The operation, which is continuing, "limits high speed routes for reinforcements, resupply and foreign fighters flowing between the countries (Iraq and Syria), thereby increasing the pressure across the so-called caliphate," U.S. army Col. Christopher Garver said. The U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State has moved up a gear this month, with an alliance of militias including the Kurdish YPG launching a major offensive against the militant group in the city of Manbij in northern Syria. In Iraq, the government this week declared victory over Islamic State in Falluja. Syrian rebel sources say the rebel force has received military training in U.S.-run camps in Jordan, but most of their training was now being conducted in a main base at al-Tanf. The New Syria Army's base in al-Tanf was hit twice earlier this month by Russian air strikes, even after the U.S. military used emergency channels to ask Moscow to stop after the first strike, U.S. officials say. (Reporting by Tom Perry and Suleiman Al-Khalidi; additional reporting by John Davison and Yeganeh Torbati in Washington; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Gareth Jones)
AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Syrian rebel forces were fighting street battles with Islamic State militants after entering their strategic stronghold along the border with Iraq, a rebel commander said on Wednesday. A rebel commander confirmed the rapid advances by the New Syria Army alliance of Arab rebel groups who had announced on Tuesday they had begun an attack to "liberate" the town along the Euphrates river in the oil rich Deir Zor province of Syria. "The clashes are in the town itself but the situation has not been decided yet," said the rebel commander from Asala wa-al-Tanmiya Front, a main group within the New Syria Army, told Reuters, asking not to be named. (Reporting by Tom Perry, Writing by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
A one-year-old child found in a mobile home in Prairie du Chien was taken to safety early Monday morning as police arrested five adults on drug charges.

The child was placed in temporary custody with the Crawford County Department of Human Services, the Sheriff's Office said.

The adults were arrested during the investigation at the residence on Norma Avenue within the Homesteader Trailer Court in the town of Prairie du Chien.

Abby Hiles, 33, was tentatively charged with delivery and possession of methamphetamine, maintaining a drug house and recklessly endangering the safety of a child.

Alan Hagensick, 28, was tentatively charged with maintaining a drug house, obstructing and recklessly endangering the safety of a child.

Anthony Hagensick, 34, was tentatively charged with possession with intent to deliver marijuana and possession of psilocybin mushrooms, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana.

Monica Knockel, 36, was tentatively charged with possession of marijuana and methamphetamine.

Corey Hagensick, 27, was tentatively charged with possession of marijuana and methamphetamine.

The investigation was conducted by the Sheriff's Office and the Prairie du Chien Police Department.
By Stephanie Nebehay and Marina Depetris GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged Britain on Tuesday to prevent further incidents of xenophobic abuse in the wake of the vote to leave the European Union, and to prosecute perpetrators. Polish and Muslim leaders in Britain have expressed concern about a spate of racially motivated hate crimes following last week's Brexit referendum, in which immigration was a key issue. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the U.N. rights boss, voiced deep concern over reports of abuse targeting minority communities and foreigners in Britain. "Racism and xenophobia are completely, totally and utterly unacceptable in any circumstances," Zeid said in a statement. Police said offensive leaflets targeting Poles had been distributed in a town in central England, and graffiti had been daubed on a Polish cultural centre in London on Sunday, three days after the vote. Islamic groups have reported a sharp rise in incidents against Muslims. Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the attacks on Monday and said he had spoken to his Polish counterpart Beata Szydlo to express his concern and to reassure her that Poles in Britain would be protected. Zeid, in an interview with Reuters Television on Tuesday, said he shared Cameron's concern at xenophobic and racist threats and attacks on immigrant communities in Britain. "The United Kingdom has by a democratic act decided to take its leave of the EU. This should not be interpreted by some individuals that they have license to take leave of their senses and embrace a mob-like behaviour in respect of vulnerable communities," he said. Mutuma Ruteere, the independent U.N. investigator on racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia, said that some of the abuse and comments reported since the vote "certainly are xenophobic and racist". "I also note that the government and the Prime Minister has been very categorical in denouncing those practices as well as what has taken place," Ruteere told a news briefing. Britain had watchdog institutions that monitor racism, he said, adding: "This is the test for all these institutions that have been put in place over time. "I'm quite confident and hopeful that actually the institutions that exist can address this problem and nip it in the bud before it becomes a bigger problem." (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Wednesday he feared increased violence and incitement in Burundi's crisis could turn ethnic in nature, but the government rebuffed his comments. U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein also told a meeting in Geneva while giving a report on Burundi that he was concerned about suspensions and arrests of students for defacing portraits of President Pierre Nkurunziza's earlier this month. Burundi has been mired in a year-long crisis in which more than 450 people have been killed since Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term. Opponents said his move violated the constitution and a deal that ended a civil war in 2005. The central African country has an ethnic Hutu majority and Tutsi minority. Zeid said while the number of Burundians killed had fallen since April, cases of arbitrary arrests, detention and torture had continued while ex-officers of the defunct armed forces, or FAB, had been killed because of their Tutsi ethnicity. "I am alarmed by the very real prospect of an escalation in ethnic violence," he said. "In the south of the country, I have also been informed of speeches by members of the Imbonerakure amounting to incitement to violence against political opponents, with strong ethnic overtones," he added, referring the ruling party's youth wing. Neighboring Rwanda also has a Hutu majority and Tutsi minority. In Rwanda in 1994, extremist Hutus killed about 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis but also moderate Hutus, in a genocide after years of civil war. Burundi's government rejected Zeid's accusations, saying his report to the U.N. Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva omitted a lot of other items and was imbalanced. "We would like to remind the council that the Imbonerakure are just members of the youth league of the CNDD-FDD, just like any other party in Burundi that has a youth component in its organization. Their stigmatization, through the different reports and statements, has cost a lot of lives," Burundian Human Rights Minister Martin Nivyabandi said. "It's scandalous that the report does not mention young people who have tried to create chaos, after being recruited, trained and armed. There serious attacks with heavy weapons... murders by non-identified actors against members of defense and security forces - we don't really see it in this report." Early this month, 530 students were sent home from schools across the central African country for defacing Nkurunziza's portrait, and in one incident, police shot and wounded another as they demonstrated against the arrest of fellow students. "I am dismayed by continuing reports of the suspension and arrest of school children and students for having scribbled on pictures of the president in textbooks," Zeid said. (Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate is aiming to finish its work and vote later on Wednesday on final passage of a relief plan to help Puerto Rico address its $70 billion debt, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. The bill cleared a critical procedural hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday morning, and has already passed the House of Representatives. Supporters want to send it to President Barack Obama to sign into law by Friday, when Puerto Rico faces a potential default on a chunk of its debt if it cannot make a $1.9 billion payment. (Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
By Andrew M. Seaman Over 80 percent of U.S. women groom their pubic hair, for a wide variety of reasons. While previous studies have found most women groom their hair "down there" - for example, by shaving, waxing or trimming - until now no one had looked at their motivations, said Dr. Tami Rowen, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the University of California, San Francisco. Its important to understand what drives women to groom their pubic hair, she and her colleagues say in new report. Increasingly, women are requesting genital cosmetic surgery, they point out, and in most cases, the women are motivated by aesthetics rather than functionality. Pubic hair grooming might have a role in this trend, because women are able to visualize their labia more easily now than in the past and are thus more motivated to change their appearance, they say. In a nationally representative survey of 3,316 women, ages 18 to 65, about 60 percent said they groomed for hygiene and cleanliness. About 46 percent said it was part of their routine and about 32 percent said they thought it made their vagina look nicer. About 56 percent said they groomed for sex. About 46 percent said they groomed for vacation and 40 percent said they trimmed for a healthcare visit. "I have noticed over the past couple years that women are extremely self-conscious about their genitals and apologize for not being groomed," Rowen said. "Women were far more likely to groom if their partner also groomed and if their partner preferred that they groom," the researchers found. Frequency of sex, types of sexual activity and sex of sexual partner were not tied to the likelihood of women grooming. Overall, about 84 percent reported ever grooming their pubic hair, and nearly all said they trimmed it themselves. Removing the hair around or above the vagina was most common followed by trimming the hair on the inner thighs. White women and those with a college degree were most likely to groom. Women over age 45 were about 95 percent less likely to groom than younger women, according to the results in JAMA Dermatology. "There were still a lot of older women who were grooming, but they were grooming far less than the younger women," Rowen told Reuters Health. The practice may lead to cuts and infections, the researchers note. Pubic hair serves some important purposes, Rowen said. "It serves as a cushion" between the outside world and the sensitive skin tissues of the vulva, and possibly the labia. She added, "It traps bacteria, chemicals and various things to prevent them from getting to the vagina and protects the skin from getting irritated." Rowen said it's still not clear whether trimming of pubic hair makes a difference to vaginal health. The habit "very much seems to be a cultural trend," she said. "Forty years ago this was not a trend." She said her team did not do the study to judge people's choice to groom, but she said women should consider their motivations before trimming or permanently removing their hair with lasers. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/29a2QQH JAMA Dermatology, online June 29, 2016.
(Courtesy of Dana White)

Dana White doesnt have a lot of free time on his hands, but the UFC president devotes what little he does to watching The Cartoon Network.

OK, to be fair, White has become, in his words, a crazy, huge fan, of Adult Swim, a cable network that airs from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. ET/PT on The Cartoon Network.

He sits in front of the television every evening laughing at shows like King of the Hill, Bobs Burgers, Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and American Dad.

The commercials on Adult Swim are, again in Whites inimitable style, crazy [expletive] up stuff that is targeted at the younger generation. All the blockbuster movies are advertised on the network, though in a non-traditional way.

White got so into the network that he began to research it, as well as its ratings and its audience. What he learned in essence was that Adult Swims audience and the MMA audience is eerily similar.

The demographic for the channel is 18-to-34-year-old males which, coincidentally, happens to be the UFCs primary demo.

I learned that their audience is like 40-something-percent white, 40-something percent African American and like 11-12 percent Hispanic, White said. Theyve got two million viewers and theyre totally engaged and committed to this. I just kept going deeper and deeper into it and it was fascinating. For a year, a year-and-a-half, I was watching and studying and learning about it. It was really fascinating and I learned a lot.

Like most fight promoters, White allows In Demand, which represents the cable companies, as well as DirecTV and Dish, to place his ads. Theyve never advertised on Adult Swim.

As White learned more about it, he decided to change that. But he did it in a very Dana White way.

He reached out to Mike Judge, an animator, actor, writer and producer who created Beavis and Butthead, and wrote and directed the movies Office Space and Idiocracy.

White pitched Judge his idea, to do a cartoon-based commercial about UFC 200 that would be for Adult Swim. Judge was into it and brought on animator John Kricfalusi, who created The Ren & Stimpy Show.

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Those guys are absolute legends in the business, White said.

Theyve created an animated spot that features light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and interim champ Jon Jones. You can watch the commercial here.

White thinks he may have found a new spot to court potential MMA fans.

That whole Comic-Con crowd, theyre super loyal and passion and its demographics are a lot like ours, White said. Ive had a lot of fun with this and I think it makes a lot of sense to try.
The UFC Fight Night 91 fight card has undergone a major shake-up this week.

Originally headlined by a pivotal lightweight bout between Michael Chiesa and Tony Ferguson, UFC Fight Night 91 now features a bantamweight battle between Michael McDonald and John Lineker. On Tuesday, a back injury forced Chiesa to withdraw from the fight with Ferguson, who will remain on the fight card, but will face newcomer Landon Vannata.

TRENDING VIDEO > Jon Jones Would Prefer Any Other Ref to Big John McCarthy at UFC 200

L ater on Tuesday, UFC officials announced that a featherweight bout between Alex White and Ryan Hall had been pulled from the card. White suffered an injury and could not fight. With White out, Hall requested to fight on a different date rather than take a new opponent for the South Dakota card.

With the White vs. Hall bout cancelled, UFC Fight Night 91 will move forward as a 12-bout fight card. It takes place on July 13 in Sioux Falls, S.D.

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London (AFP) - Britain's banking sector is "well placed" to deal with the fallout after the country's shock vote to leave the European Union, the minister overseeing the financial sector said Wednesday.

Harriett Baldwin, addressing a retail banking conference in central London, told delegates that the industry -- ravaged by the global financial crisis -- had adequate capital and liquidity to weather Brexit.

World stock markets tumbled in the immediate aftermath of the June 23 referendum but have rebounded strongly over the past two sessions on bargain-hunting that some analysts argue will not last.

"British banks are well placed to manage the uncertainty resulting from last week's vote," said Baldwin, whose title is Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

"Since the financial crisis in 2008... both the government and the industry have been working extremely hard to ensure that the UK has a safer and stronger banking sector."

She added: "UK banks have collectively raised over 130 billion ($173 billion, 157 billion euros) of capital and now have more than 600 billion of high quality liquid assets.

"So our institutions have enough capital and liquidity to withstand a period of severe market volatility."

In reaction to the Brexit vote, the Bank of England pledged Friday that it stood ready to pump more than 250 billion of funds to aid the smooth functioning of markets.

British commercial lenders on Tuesday had tapped the BoE for 3.1 billion to help bolster their balance sheets in the wake of the shock vote.

So far this month, the central bank has injected a total of more than 9.0 billion into lenders in three funding auctions aimed at calming markets.

"Britain's financial services sector has been through trying times before," said Baldwin, referring to historic turmoil that has included the 1987 stock market crash and the 1992 crisis when Britain pulled sterling out of the ERM, a precursor to the euro.

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"Financial markets are capable of weathering challenges. They adapt quickly. They find new levels. They price in and offer ways of managing risks like these."

Wednesday's conference, hosted by industry body the British Bankers' Association (BBA), also heard growing concerns from delegates over the future of Britain's membership of the single market and the so-called passporting scheme that currently allows London-based financial services firms to operate across the bloc.

- 'Disconnect' in referendum vote -

Justin Bisseker, pan-European banks analyst at Schroders, said Britons voted on June 23 against the wish of many big players in the City.

"The comfort point was obviously the status quo, and that is why large businesses in the City voted for that," he told delegates at the BBA conference.

"But there is a huge disconnect in this country that has been borne out of the financial crisis -- and a lot of this disconnect existed before -- between the haves and have nots.

"The City of London has recovered and has continued to thrive and do very well.

"I think the banks were recovering. Yes, shareholders have lost a lot of money -- but the gravy train of good solid dividends coming along was almost there for the taking."

Meanwhile, Britain is still slashing state spending under a harsh austerity programme that was triggered by the global financial crisis.

The nation voted last week by 52 percent to 48 percent to quit the EU -- despite government warnings of a potential recession and hefty price hikes for consumers.

"For me... the experience of the man or woman in the street of the 'Leave' vote, is yet to be felt," cautioned Bisseker.

"In an economic sense, it could be felt pretty quickly. Property prices, I am sure, will fall. A lot of people are saying (between) 15 and 20 percent."
By Susanna Twidale LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government remains committed to fighting climate change despite last week's vote to leave the European Union, the country's energy and climate minister said on Wednesday. "While I think the UK's role in dealing with a warming planet may have been made harder by the decision last Thursday, our commitment to dealing with it has not gone away," Amber Rudd told a Business and Climate Summit in London. "Climate change has not been downgraded as a threat. It remains one of the most serious long-term risks to our economic and national security," she said. She said annual support for renewable electricity generation is expected to double during this parliament to more than 10 billion pounds. "We will work closely to reassure people ... we need to be clear that Britain is open for business and it is a good place to invest," she said. Britain has a legally binding target to cut emissions by 80 percent on 1990 levels by 2050. To meet this, the government sets five-yearly carbon budgets. The fifth carbon budget (2028-2032), was set out by advisory body the Committee on Climate Change last year and calls for a 57 percent cut in emissions on 1990 levels by 2030. Rudd said the government would on Thursday announce its decision on whether to accept the CCC's advice. (Reporting by Susanna Twidale, editing by Louise Heavens and David Evans)
One of Madisons leading couples is being honored at UW-Madison for their work in education and growing technology.

Carl Gulbrandsen, retiring managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), and Mary Gulbrandsen, former administrator in the Madison School District, have been honored with the Distinguished Chair in Early Childhood Education.

WARF announced the honor on Wednesday. Gulbrandsen officially steps down as head of WARF on Thursday.

The chair is endowed by WARF, and will be part of a new center for early childhood education in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research in the School of Education.

Diana Hess, dean of the School of Education, said a national search for the chair will start in the fall.

Mary and I are humbled by this honor, Gulbrandsen said. We are particularly delighted our collective passion for advancing education across the age spectrum will continue through this gift.

Gulbrandsen joined WARF, the non-profit patent and licensing arm for UW-Madison, in 1997, and became managing director in 2000.

WARF was founded in 1925 and manages over 1,700 patents and $2.6 billion in investments. WARF has given almost $900 million to the university for research, faculty retention and recruiting.

Mary Gulbrandsen served as a senior administrator for more than 25 years in the Madison school district, and currently serves as executive director of the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars.

Erik Iverson, who most recently was an administrator at the Infectious Disease Research Institute, takes over as WARF managing director on Friday.
Beirut (AFP) - The Islamic State group pushed back an offensive by US-trained Syrian rebels on a key route linking jihadist territory in eastern Syria to Iraq, a monitor said Wednesday.

The New Syrian Army, backed by US-led coalition strikes, had advanced overnight on IS territory near the Albu Kamal border crossing and adjacent town.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the NSA had seized the small Al-Hamdan airbase nearby, but IS had recaptured it by Wednesday afternoon.

"The attack failed. They lost control of the airport," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

He said NSA units were still inside the oil-rich Deir Ezzor province where Albu Kamal lies, but had been forced to retreat.

NSA spokesman Muzahem al-Sallum confirmed that his group was no longer in control of the airport, but said it was preparing "the next phase" of their offensive.

"We retreated towards the desert around Albu Kamal," he told AFP.

NSA fighters had announced the operation on Tuesday and said it was aimed at severing IS's access route between eastern Syria and Iraq's western Anbar province.

The rebels said the operation was coordinated with Iraqi forces who were advancing on the crossing from the other side of the border.

The US-led coalition announced it had carried out eight air strikes near Albu Kamal and five near Al-Qaim, on the Iraqi side, on Tuesday.

IS seized the Albu Kamal crossing in mid-2014, when it overran swathes of territory on both sides of the border and declared a self-styled "caliphate".

NSA fighters were trained in Jordan by US and British troops.

They already captured the Al-Tanaf border crossing between Syria and Iraq earlier this year.

IS is facing growing pressure from US-backed offensives in both Syria and Iraq.

In northern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters has edged into the IS stronghold of Manbij with coalition air support.

In Iraq, authorities declared at the weekend that they were in full control of the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, long an emblematic bastion for IS.
Washington (AFP) - US-backed Syrian fighters battling the Islamic State group have snatched thousands of documents, cellphones and other digital devices from the jihadists, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.

The seizure came as an anti-IS force comprising Kurdish and Syrian Arab fighters hones in on the northern city of Manbij, an important waypoint between the Turkish border and Raqa, the jihadists' de facto capital.

Colonel Chris Garver, a spokesman for the US-led anti-IS campaign, said Syrian Arab fighters were establishing "footholds" on the southern and western edges of Manbij, and had seized entrances to an intricate jihadist tunnel complex.

They "also seized more than 10,000 documents from the outlying edges, including textbooks, propaganda posters, cellphones, laptops, maps and digital storage devices," Garver told reporters.

"Exploitation of this information is ongoing to better understand Daesh networks and techniques, including the systems to manage the flow of foreign fighters into Syria and Iraq," he added, using an Arabic abbreviation for the IS group.

Pentagon officials often highlight the value of such information, leading to new targets and helping them understand the IS network.

Separately, in the southeastern corner of Syria, a group of US-trained rebels called the New Syrian Army was Wednesday battling for control of territory near the Albu Kamal border crossing with Iraq.

Their goal was to cut IS military supply lines in the Euphrates Valley between Syria and Iraq.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels had seized the small Al-Hamdan airbase nearby, but IS jihadists recaptured it by Wednesday afternoon and had been forced to retreat.

Garver did not provide additional details on the ongoing fight but stressed the value of the border crossing.

"That fight is important because that's going to help slow down the flow of foreign fighters ... from Iraq to Syria and back," he said.

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The Pentagon claims numbers of foreign fighters coming into Iraq and Syria have dropped from about 2,000 a month last year to as few as 200 a month this year.

"You don't see the massive amounts of movement. It's certainly been whittled down in its size," Garver said.

IS seized the Albu Kamal crossing in mid-2014, when it overran swaths of territory on both sides of the border and declared a self-styled "caliphate."

Over in Iraq, Garver said attention is now shifting from Fallujah, which Iraqi security forces last week recaptured from the IS group, to the jihadists' main stronghold in the country, Mosul.

Coalition air strikes destroyed IS's "self-proclaimed ministry of oil headquarters" in Mosul and continue to hit targets in the city, Garver said.
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Talking Points:

USD/CHF Technical Strategy: Continued drift higher after last Fridays Post-Brexit breakout.

USD/CHF may be a difficult candidate if looking to push short-USD themes, as the prospect of Swiss National Bank intervention may stem the declines.

SSI - If youre looking for trading ideas, check out our Trading Guides. And if you want something more short-term in nature, check out our SSI indicator. If youre looking at opening a trading account, FXCM has a contest at the beginning of next month for certain account holders. Click here for full details.

In our last article, we looked at the range that had built-in to USD/CHF just ahead of the Brexit referendum. And as we warned, this range was extremely vulnerable as the upcoming vote around the U.K. leaving the European Union had the potential to roil macro-economic themes across global financial markets.

And roil it did: Voters surprised markets by electing to leave after a risk-on rally had built-up on the presumption that voters would choose to continue the status quo by voting to stay. As news permeated markets that many districts were showing stronger-than-expected results on the leave side of the campaign, risk aversion began to show across global markets. This brought a major bid to haven assets such as Gold, Treasuries, the Japanese Yen and the US Dollar. Also high on that list of haven assets is the Swiss Franc, as we saw the Euro drop by nearly 400 pips over a seven-hour window as the results were making their way into markets.

And then something familiar happened: The Swiss Franc started dropping aggressively, spiking against the Euro by more than 250 pips over the next four hours. It wasnt until later that we heard that this was the product of the Swiss National Bank intervening in currency markets to stem the rampant Franc strength that was being seen in this flight-to-quality. If anything, the surprising part was that the SNB actually admitted this, as they normally no comment questions regarding intervention; and this itself should serve as warning for traders that the SNB is watching for excessive Franc strength.

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So, this is a pair that traders should be extra cautious with if looking to implement short-USD price action themes; as there may simply be greener pastures to voice that same theme without the threat of the representative Central Bank jumping on the other side of the trade.

However, for traders that do want to look at long-USD continuation strategies, Swissy may be or become an attractive candidate for such a theme. At current, price action appears to be attempting to carve out a higher-low on the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of the most recent major move. But be careful here, as a confluent zone of Fibonacci resistance just ~60 pips away could cap top-end movements in the near-term. More attractive would be a deeper retracement to the 50% Fibonacci level around .9738; or to take matters a bit further, we have another confluent zone in the .9686-.9700 area that could also be an attractive area of resistance. Should support build-in around either of these zones, top-side continuation strategies could become attractive, targeting that same .9850 zone of potential resistance.

USD/CHF Technical Analysis: Be Careful of Pushing Short-USD

Created with Marketscope/Trading Station II; prepared by James Stanley

--- Written by James Stanley, Analyst for DailyFX.com

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As part of a continuing series this summer, Constitution Daily looks at Vice Presidential selections that had an impact on the Constitution. Today, the Vice President who famously argued for state nullification of federal laws: John C. Calhoun.

History has dubbed Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and John Calhoun the great triumvirate and the immortal trio, the congressional powerhouses of the era between the Founding and the Civil War. However, individual legacies were blurred at the expense of this clique. Calhoun was, after all, the vice president to both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, a feat shared only by George Clinton (who served under both Jefferson and Madison). Calhoun lived a political life all of his own, full (and constitutionally suspect) even without historys forging ties to Clay and Webster.

John Caldwell Calhoun was born on March 18, 1782, in South Carolina. The frontier community from which he hailed was largely one of Scotch-Irish settlers having emigrated from County Donegal. Calhoun was raised in a strictly Calvinist household, his familys Presbyterianism often pitted against the religious elite of Charleston. Though he once declared, Life is a struggle against evil, there is little reason to believe Calhoun was particularly religious in later life.

Calhouns father Patrick was a fiery patriot who fought in the American Revolution and often against Native Americans in the back country. From his father, Calhoun inherited both a love of a country and an affinity for states rights. Jeffersonian in his views, Patrick Calhoun went as far as to not endorse the ratification of the Constitution. His son, however, would use the Constitution as his best defense of state nullification.

Calhoun attended Yale where he excelled and participated in the Brothers of Unity, a debating society. He went on to pursue law at Tapping Reeve Law School and was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1807. He married his first-cousin-once-removed, Floride Bonneau Calhoun, in 1811. Entrenched in the establishment Calhouns father had so detested, Floride Calhoun was the daughter of U.S. Senator John E. Calhoun. Perhaps it was his wife, then, who gave Calhoun the legitimacy to enter the House of Representatives the same year the two were married.

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However, Floride Calhouns main legacy may be found in her role in the Petticoat Affair of 1830-1831. The Petticoat Affair was just what it claimed to be: petty. Floride Calhoun organized Cabinet Wives to exclude Peggy Eaton, wife to Andrew Jacksons secretary of war, from social life in the capital on account of alleged adulterous behavior. Jackson was no stranger to mudslinging, in his first presidential election specifically (his marriage to wife Rachel, a divorcee, was subject to antagonizing question and coverage) and sided with the Eatons. Martin Van Buren, a widower, had no stake in the drama manufactured by cabinet wives. He sided with Jackson and Eaton, as well, essentially guaranteeing himself Calhouns vice presidential role in the later Jackson administration.

Long before this political episode, however, Calhoun was just a young congressman calling for a declaration of war against Britain. Dubbed the young Hercules who carried the war on his shoulders, Calhoun played a leading role in the War of 1812, from fundraising to military organization. After the Treaty of Ghent was signed, Calhoun devoted himself during the Era of Good Feelings to better preparing the military for future conflicts. These efforts impressed James Monroe, who appointed Calhoun Secretary of War in 1817.

Calhoun also devised a plan for the deportation of Native Americans west of the Mississippi River. Calhouns proposal, which was killed by the House, recognized Native American groups as individual nations, a notion Jackson would fail to acknowledge through his Trail of Tears removal policy years later.

Calhouns political prominence saw a major boost following the presidential election of 1824. Because all of the 1824 presidential candidates hailed from the same party, their vice presidential pick was critical in distinguishing themselves from one another. With no candidate managing a majority in the Electoral College, John Quincy Adams became the sixth president through the Corrupt Bargain and brought Calhoun along as his veep. Though Calhouns Southern roots would help the New England-bred Adams in theory, their politics were too inherently at odds. Calhoun jumped ship and ran with Jackson in 1828. However, he would behave no more favorably under the new commander-in-chief.

Soon after the election was won, Calhoun anonymously authored South Carolina Exposition and Protest, a document which rejected the said Tariff of Abominations that President Jackson largely supported due to its promise of protectionism. Calhouns ardent pro-Southern economic policy fuelled his defiance that, coupled with the Petticoat Affair, culminated in his estrangement from President Jackson.

When Jackson named Van Buren his likely running mate for the 1832 election, Calhoun more openly championed the constitutional theory of state nullification, the legal theory that a state has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law which that state has deemed unconstitutional. On November 2, 1832, Calhouns home state adopted the Ordinance of Nullification, which deemed the tariff unconstitutional.

Calhoun resigned as vice president on December 28, 1832, just months before Congress passed the Force Bill, enabling Jackson to crush the uprising in South Carolina. Calhoun, alongside Clay, brokered a compromise that ended the Nullification Crisis soon after. However, questions regarding the constitutionality of nullification and secession lingered. While secession would later be discredited as a constitutional right, nullification would be reinvoked even in modern times, famously cited (and rejected) in an effort to prevent the integration of Southern schools.

Calhoun served in the Senate until his death in 1850. His dreams of the presidencymuch like those of Henry Clay, who famously declared, Id rather be right than presidentwere never realized, but his presence in government shaped the period. As Margaret Coit wrote in the introduction to her biography of Calhoun:

Despite the absence of all these hallmarks of political power, from the beginning to the end of his forty year political career, Calhoun arrested public attention and influenced public opinion  [H]e was never predominant in influence, but there was never a time when he was not a major player who had to be taken into account.

Whether he was promoting the annexation of Texas or rejecting the Compromise of 1850, Calhoun, as Merrill D. Peterson once articulated, triangulated the destiny of the nationfor better or for worse.

Olivia Fitzpatrick is an intern at the National Constitution Center. She is also a rising junior at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in English and minoring in Legal Studies.

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Vitiligo sufferer Tiffany Posteraro got this tattoo to defy bullies who labelled her cow and dalmatian. She hopes to enlighten people over the condition. [Photo: tumblr]

You may recognise the woman pictured below as former Americas Top Model contestant, Winnie Harlow; the beauty with the symmetrical patches of depigmented skin - also known as Vitiligo.



[Photo: Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock]

Vitiligo is a condition that causes white patches to develop on the skin due to lack of melanin. Its thought to be an auto immune condition though its not exactly clear what causes it. Its not physically painful and its not contagious. Around 1 in 100 people in the UK will develop Vitiligo.

Thanks to people like Winnie Harlow awareness of the condition is on the rise. Other famous Vitiligans include: Graham Norton, actress Kara Louise Tointon and Richard Hammond.

Developing Vitilgo can be confusing and even depressing. I first noticed I had the condition about four years ago; it started with a small patch on my wrist and gradually developed into bigger patches on my hands, feet and thighs. All of that I could handle but the big circles that appeared around my eyes like some sort of reverse raccoon made my self-esteem plummet.

Almost over night I turned from somebody who wore little to no make-up into a person unable to leave the house without it. On the rare occasion Id pop to the shops bare faced I was painfully aware of the curious glances that lingered a little too long.

Even alone with my family I felt self-conscious. Their attempts to boost me, telling me I looked nice or that Id done my make-up well only served to stoke my smouldering insecurity. Its not as bad as you think, theyd say. But the point was it was still there. Why are your eyes like that? My two-year-old niece once asked. Kids - they say what they see.

My patchy hand. [Photo: Jasmine Jones]

While Ive gradually come to accept that this is the new me, unlike Winnie I feel more confident wearing camouflage make-up on my face. Ive argued with myself a lot over this, debating whether Im being my true authentic self by covering up.

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After a lot of soul searching I made a promise to stop beating myself up for wanting to camouflage the Vitiligo on my face. If it improved my quality of life then so be it. This took a great deal of time, research and money (make up is expensive!). Each product bringing new hope only to lighten my wallet and send me crashing down when it didnt work.

After witnessing my obsessive search for the perfect camouflage make-up someone very close to me accused me of being vain partly, Im sure, because they felt powerless to help. Still, it was a bitter pill to swallow amidst the despair I was feeling at the time.



Other people with Vitiligo may choose a different way to cope with the condition. I hope these findings from my experiments with both professional camouflage creams and beauty counter products are useful to those searching to find good makeup to suit their needs. My main aim was to find something that looked and felt natural.

One thing I would say is to have patience; youll need to practice with colours and application methods to get the right coverage that works for you. Get samples where you can so you dont break the bank. I recommend using good make-up tools, namely concealer brushes and beauty blenders. Good quality make-up will get you so far but you need the right tools for the job.

Personally I dont bother with primers because some are water-based and some are silicone-based and matching them to the ingredients in camouflage make-up is a real headache. All combinations seem to make my make-up split rather than create a long-lasting look. Im not saying primers dont work but after a lot of experimenting Ive found, for my needs, they interfere rather than enhance.



If you have Vitiligo, going without sunscreen is not an option. My personal favourite is Ultra Sun Face. I find the SPF 50 too greasy but SPF 30 still offers high protection, is light, easily absorbed, works great under make-up and most importantly for me, lasts up to 10 hours. This is good news because after applying camouflage mak-eup I dont want to be messing around reapplying sunscreen halfway through the day. Its also comforting on the skin so on days when Im in a rush I can skip my daily moisturiser.

Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer - Urban Decay

[Photo: Urban Decay]

This is the best beauty counter concealer Ive tried so far. Its highly pigmented weightless formula feels great on my skin and doesnt fall into pores or lines, making it suitable for the under eye area which is where I have most of my vitiligo.

You can build and build this stuff and it never feels cakey and always sets to a natural finish. The shades tend to dry a tiny bit darker than they go on so I recommend trying before you buy.

As with any concealer I wouldnt wear it on its own; its always best to apply even a tiny amount of foundation or bb cream to give it a base to stick to. Urban Decays Weightless Ultra Definition liquid foundation is a great partner to this concealer. Its super light, sheer-to-medium buildable coverage allows you to let the concealer do all the hard work while giving you a radiant natural look. This works for me because I prefer to spot conceal my vitiligo rather than wear a full coverage foundation all over my face.

While the concealer is long-lasting I find my foundation base tends to slip after about four hours, however setting everything with a generous mist of Urban Decays de-slick Makeup Setting Spray holds everything in place for the whole day. Literally no touch ups necessary. Its labelled as oil control but I have normal to dry skin and have had absolutely no problems with it.

Using all three products together I feel confident enough to leave the house for the whole day without any makeup in my bag. This is a massive step for me.

Keromask London

[Photo: Keromask London]

Keromask London are recommended by dermatology practitioners at the British Association for Skin Camouflage and Changing Faces.

Keromasks vast range of shades and mixers mean its possible to find a match for every skin tone. The creams are highly pigmented - a little goes a long way. You need to work in thin layers. Its easy to sheer out in areas that dont require full coverage and works beautifully as a foundation. Its unscented, doesnt feel the least bit heavy and is buildable without looking cakey.

This product felt great on my skin and definitely covered my Vitiligo but unfortunately it wasnt long-lasting. I tried a variety of ways to remedy this: on moisturised, bare and primed skin but after about an hours wear the coverage felt more like that of a sheer coverage foundation and my Vitiligo was showing through.

Their translucent, mineral rich setting powder is much better than any beauty counter brand Ive ever tried. It sets to a velvety finish, isnt drying and doesnt fall into cracks.

Keromask also offer a lovely range of reasonably priced make-up brush kits. I use their flat concealer brushes every day.

Veil Cover Cream

Founded in 1952 by cosmetic chemist Thomas Blake, Veil Cover Cream was originally formulated to hide post-operative scars.

Veil comes in a range of easily blendable shades to get your perfect match. There are also four colour correctors which when applied sparingly beneath the camouflage creams help conceal stubborn areas such as hyperpigmentation and redness.

The cream seems thick at first but warming it up on the back of your hand prior to application melts it into a thin workable texture. This formula is highly pigmented and a little goes a long way; working in small sections and building in thin layers will ensure you dont end up with a cakey look. It can be easily sheered out to create a base colour in areas that dont require high coverage.

The look is more natural than any high coverage beauty counter foundation Ive tried and certainly feels more weightless. You will look like youre wearing make-up but certainly no more so than any other full coverage foundation. The payoff is that the coverage is reliable, doesnt fall into pores or cracks when properly worked into the skin and doesnt feel like youre wearing a mask.

Veil too stock an excellent velvety light finishing powder which again, exceeds any beauty counter product Ive tried. Set your look with this and you can get through the day with about one touch up.

Be careful of using cream contour kits with this stuff as it tends to split the camouflage. Sticking with a powder pallet is best.

Smashbox 24 Hour CC Spot Concealer

A highly pigmented concealer that lasts all day.

This concealer really does hide imperfections but its tricky to work with as it dries incredibly fast and once it sets it doesnt budge. I found putting it on the back of my hand, dabbing with small concealer brush then blending with my finger the best way to apply with control.

Youll need to touch up your foundation base to keep up with the very long-lasting waterproof properties of this concealer otherwise you may find you skin looking patchy.

This stuff doesnt work well under the eye area as its a little too thick once dried. Be careful when building as it has the potential to get really cakey, however, the coverage it provides is decent enough that you shouldnt need to layer.

There are currently only eight shades on offer and I had to use two to match my skin. At 20 a tube thats a lot. Still, a little goes a long way and after using for almost a year I never emptied one.

Smashbox claims that this product works to visibly fade dark spots over time, however I used it for the best part of a year to conceal areas of hyper pigmentation and noticed no difference.

This concealer is great for those who have smaller areas to camouflage.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation

[Photo: Estee Lauder]

Available in 44 shades, Double Wear is a truly long-lasting foundation that stays in place all day. The coverage is medium to full and dries very quickly - I recommend applying gradually in small areas over the face and in thin layers.

Sheered out with a damp beauty blender it feels very comfortable but building it up in areas that require actual camouflaging creates a pasted-on look. Not great for under the eyes. The semi-matte finish is a little on the dry side for my normal to dry skin but would be brilliant on normal to oily.

I found it covered my vitiligo areas effectively but I physically felt like I was wearing make-up and personally I prefer something lighter.

Make Up For Ever - 5 Camouflage Cream Palette

[Photo: Makeup For Ever]

Make Up Forever claim the highly concentrated pigments in their 5 Camouflage Cream Palette are perfect for covering dark spots and other skin blemishes. I had really high hopes for this product but for me, it didnt deliver.

The formula is light, glides on beautifully and mixing the colours allows for great skin matching. Unfortunately, I found it impossible to achieve any decent camouflage.

Despite careful layering this product remained slightly translucent. It certainly didnt hide dark spots or my Vitiligo. I also found it wasnt long-lasting; vanishing from my face in under an hour. I tried Make Up For Evers silicone and water based primers to remedy this but neither worked. I also found this palette incompatible with their Ultra HD foundation as it made the camouflage split.

While this product would be great for unifying skin tone and covering minor imperfections for me, it didnt cut it as a true camouflage product.

What Makeup Brushes Do You Actually Need?



Why Do People Get Freckles?


London (AFP) - British telecoms giant Vodafone warned Wednesday that the future of its London-based headquarters is in doubt after voters chose to quit the European Union.

EU membership has been important to Vodafone's growth, the group said in a statement, with most of its 462 million customers and 108,000 employees based outside of Britain.

The bloc offered free movement of people, money and goods, as well as access to an emerging European digital market, it said.

"It remains unclear at this point how many of those positive attributes will remain in place once the process of the UK's exit from the European Union has been completed," Vodafone said.

"It is therefore not yet possible to draw any firm conclusions regarding the long-term location for the headquarters of the group."

Britons voted 52 percent to 48 percent in favour of leaving the 28-nation bloc in a June 23 referendum that has toppled Prime Minister David Cameron of the ruling Conservative Party and left the opposition Labour Party in turmoil.

It is unclear what form Britain's relations with the European Union will take, nor even when the country will notify Brussels of its intention to leave, formally starting exit negotiations.

Vodafone said it would evaluate the developing situation and take "whatever decisions are appropriate" for its customers, shareholders and staff.

The multinational group stressed that it was committed to supporting customers in Britain and would invest in its British operations in the future.
Donald Trump

Almost 9 in 10 voters think that "hot-headed" is an accurate phrase to use when describing presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, according to a Fox News poll released on Wednesday.

The poll, conducted by phone between June 26 and 28, asked 1,017 registered voters if a series of words or phrases accurately described the Manhattan billionaire.

Of the respondents, 83% said that "obnoxious" was an accurate description and 45% agreed with "corrupt."

Just 35% agreed that Trump was "sensible," 34% said that he was "experienced," and 66% agreed that he was "intelligent."

In describing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, though, the answers were quite different.

For Clinton, 82% agreed that the former secretary of state was "intelligent" and 77% said that she was "experienced."

But only 30% agreed that Clinton was "honest and trustworthy."

Clinton currently leads Trump in the RealClearPolitics polling average. She has bested him in more than a dozen consecutive polls. The Fox News survey had Clinton leading Trump by six points.

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Republicans face a very difficult Senate map this year, and when you combine that with the fact that Donald Trump is their presidential nominee, its clear a Senate majority is very attainable for Democrats.

If you needed confirmation of that, here it is.

A key super PAC tasked with defending Republicans Senate majority has reserved nearly $40 million in ad time in the fall. The Senate Leadership Fund announced the following ad buys in a press release Tuesday afternoon:

New Hampshire  $15.8 million (4 weeks in September;

2 week

s in October) (this buy in concert with a New Hampshire super PAC)

Ohio  $8.1 million (2 weeks in September; 2 weeks in October)

Nevada  $6 million (

3 week

s in September; 3 weeks in October)

Pennsylvania  $6.2 million (3 weeks in October)

Missouri  $2.5 million (

3 week

s in September)

The group also said in the release that it plans to reserve ad time in the coming weeks in a sixth state, Florida, where Florida Sen. Marco Rubio just opted to seek re-election, and possibly other states.

These are merely ad reservations, which can be canceled at any time. But they are generally a good preview of where those most closely involved in the races see the real battlegrounds shaping up. And whats notable on this list is not so much the races that are included, but those that arent. Specifically, the group isnt yet reserving any ad time for Sen. Mark Kirk in Illinois or Sen. Ron Johnson in Wisconsin.

Similarly, ad reservations placed by Senate Republicans official campaign arm  the National Republican Senatorial Committee  in April focused on many of the same states: New Hampshire, Ohio, Nevada (the one offensive opportunity on the list) and Pennsylvania. The NRSC did reserve some ad time in Wisconsin, but the small $2 million reservation there was only about one-third the size of its others. It did not reserve time in Illinois.

At the time, both Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats focused their ad buys on swing states where it would be much more expensive to purchase time later in the campaign  when the presidential campaigns start buying up time. In that way, leaving off Illinois and shortchanging Wisconsin (which was contested in 2012 but has long been blue), could be seen simply as Republicans not needing to buy up time this early.

But its also clear that these are two incumbents facing very tough races, and its not clear that Republicans see them as worthwhile investments at this early juncture  especially with their majority increasingly in doubt by virtue of Trumps nomination. Whats more, the fact that the Senate Leadership Fund is reserving time for Sen. Roy Blunt in Missouri  a second-tier Democratic target  rather than Wisconsin (which Trump might try to win) suggests an even more defensive posture.

Potentially conceding one or even two states, of course, would not be ideal for Republicans. They can afford to lose four seats  or five if they can pick off a Democratic seat in Nevada. But once Republicans lose a net of four seats, they would lose control of the Senate  assuming Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election at the same time. (For what its worth, its unlikely the GOP would lose four Senate seats if Trump were winning the presidency, so four is really the magic number here.)

Conceding half the seats Democrats would need might not seem like a great strategy, but its possible they might simply be too hard to defend. Kirk, after all, is seeking re-election in a state that has voted double-digits for Democrats in every presidential election since 1988, and multiple polls already have shown Johnson trailing by double digits in his rematch with former senator Russ Feingold, a Democrat who served three previous terms.

Again, Republicans could jump into these races whole-hog at any point, but it will get more expensive as things move forward, and the fact that they havent yet is notable. Whether they do or dont in the future, their ad reservations will tell the tale.
Frankfurt (AFP) - Volkswagen cleared a big hurdle with a US deal over compensation for its engine-rigging scam, but the embattled auto giant is still a long way from drawing a line under the affair, observers say.

VW has agreed to a record payout in the US, pledging to buy back or fix vehicles that tricked pollution tests, and pay each owner up to $10,000.

In a settlement filed in federal court on Tuesday, the German auto giant agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion (13.2 billion euros) to American consumers and US authorities, and announced a separate deal to pay $603 million to settle consumer protection claims from US states.

The huge settlement, the biggest in a US air pollution probe, only partly resolves claims against the automaker, embroiled in a months-long scandal that has roiled the industry and tarnished the reputation of the company and its "green" initiatives, analysts said.

"With the US settlement we think the high level of insecurity is set to abate," said Equinet analyst Holger Schmidt.

Metzler analyst Juergen Pieper said he believed that the deal represented "a key step".

But he estimated that the sum being paid out in the US only represented around half of the overall cost of the affair.

LBBW analyst Frank Biller and NordLB analyst Frank Schwope put the final cost at 20-30 billion euros ($22-33 billion).

- Additional provisions -

Such forecasts may be far below the figures of as much as 60 billion euros that were first bandied around when the scandal broke last September.

But they still exceed the 16.2 billion euros in provisions that VW has set aside so far, pushing the carmaker into its first year-end loss in more than 20 years last year.

Analysts therefore expect VW to up its provisions in the coming months, with Biller at LBBW suggesting a figure of an additional 1.8 billion euros for the third quarter of 2016.

Under the terms of the deal reached on Tuesday, which has still to be approved by the US authorities, the owners of the 480,000 cars affected in the US can hand back their cars to VW or have them refitted at the carmaker's cost. In addition, each owner could be paid up to $10,000 in compensation.

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It was originally the US authorities that broke the scandal when they exposed VW for installing software into some of its diesel engines, enabling the vehicles to spew up to 40 times the permitted amounts of nitrogen oxides.

Volkswagen subsequently admitted that it had installed the suspect software into as many as 11 million vehicles worldwide.

While in Europe, VW has already started recalling the affected cars, the negotiations for a deal in the US had been much more arduous.

"The deal seems very expensive, but $4.0-5.0 billion won't be paid out," said Metzler analyst Pieper.

Most of the clients were happy with their cars and would not seek to exchange them, which would bring the bill down to "nearer $10 billion," he said.

But VW is still under a seperate investigation in the US concerning engine-rigging in another 100,000 three-litre models not included in current deal.

- Solid finances -

Elsewhere around the world, VW is facing a number of regulatory probes and lawsuits filed by car owners who feel they have been duped and investors who are seeking compensation for the massive drop in the value of their shares.

In Europe, where VW does not envisage any financial compensation for owners, there is growing criticism of the unequal treatment of US and European consumers.

More than eight million vehicles are affected in Europe and owners feel they are being treated like "second-class citizens," raged lawyer Christopher Rother in an article in the business Handelsblatt. Rother represents clients on both sides of the Atlantic.

The recall action in Europe, where engines will simply be refitted, is expected to cost VW at least one billion euros, said Pieper at Metzler.

Financially, VW is on a solid footing, with annual sales of around 200 billion euros and a workforce of 600,000.

It has a huge cash mountain and credit lines that would enable it to spend up to 50 billion euros without having to divest any operations, said Pieper.
Humans have a lot to contribute even in the face of artificial intelligence, Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella said Wednesday on CNBC's " Power Lunch ."

"I definitely fall into the camp of thinking of AI as augmenting human capability and capacity," Nadella said. "And then distilling a set of principles. Algorithmically, for example, how can AI be programmed to care for humans  not have bias built in? How can it be trustworthy? How can it be transparent? Those are the principles of AI design that are pretty core."

Earlier this year, of course, Microsoft made headlines when one of its chat bots apparently became racist and sexist after a barrage of offensive Twitter comments. As machines get more intelligent in very narrow ways, technology has a role in amplifying empathy, curiosity and creativity, Nadella said.



Cortana, Microsoft's answer to Apple (AAPL)'s Siri, is already become more intelligent every day, Nadella said, echoing his recent comments in Slate, where he argued that humans and machines will work together, not against each other.

"With all the abundance we have of computers and computing, what is scarce is human attention and time," Nadella said. "So having the personal digital assistant really helps me regain my time  empowers me to get more out of every moment of my life."

Nadella spoke alongside Walter Isaacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute and author of "Steve Jobs," at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, where speakers covered broad topics like the role of machines in policy and the future of Mars. The interview coincided with the announcement of Nadella's new book, "Hit Refresh," that will focus on the future of intelligent machines.



The meeting came amid a changing landscape for technology companies. Britain's vote to leave the European Union pressured stocks in the industry, just after Microsoft closed a monster acquisition of social network LinkedIn (LNKD).

Microsoft's 30-year history in the U.K. means the company will continue to invest in its sizable business there, Nadella said. But Nadella said that technology companies need to make a better case for global trade creating local wealth.

Story continues

"What happens in Britain, what happens in the world, matters a lot to us in our core business," Nadella said. "The real thing is, 'How do we bring back certainty that global companies and a global economy can thrive in a connected world?'"

Nadella said that Microsoft remains focused on organic innovation and what Microsoft can uniquely contribute to the world as a company. But the LinkedIn deal was "game-changing" because the two firms aligned so closely, he said.

"LinkedIn was an amazing deal for us to do because of their mission," Nadella said.





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Officials at White House said the power of North America will be evident when President Obama travels to Ottawa, Canada on Wednesday to meet with the leaders of Canada and Mexico for his final North American Leaders Summit.

The summit will be the first for liberal Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who kicked off meetings with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Tuesday with a morning run, and the last for Obama. The three leaders plan to discuss trade, climate change, economic policies, and national security. But the gathering, also known as the three amigos summit, comes at an interesting time in global politics.

Issues from the United Kingdoms recent vote to leave the European Union to the policy proposals of likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will loom large over the days meetings, though they are not on the official agenda. Brexit has raised a number of questions about the sustainability of the European model and the future of European trade. The North American leaders will likely have their own questions not only about the future of Europe, but the North American model of free trade.

Europe is probably most successful example of a regional economy that weve ever had, says Christopher Sands, Director of the Center for Canadian Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. The [North American] leaders are going to have talk about what we do here in North America. Are we still committed to working together? Do we want to restrict what were doing to avoid the mistakes of the EU, or do we want to say that this is different?

Presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle have been critical of trade agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA. During a speech on the economy on Tuesday, Trump said he would demand that Mexico, the U.S., and Canada renegotiate the agreement. If that doesnt happen, he said, he would pull the U.S. out. For her part, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said her position on NAFTA changed.

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During her time as First Lady, Clinton defended the agreement, which was ratified and implemented under President Bill Clinton. Years later, during 2000 Senate race and in her time on the campaign trail in 2008, Clinton called the agreement flawed and said shed been a critic of it from the very beginning. Both Clinton and Trump have also been critical of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement between the U.S. and 11 countries, including both Canada and Mexico. The strategy has worked well on the campaign trail, at least for Trump.

[O]rdinary people are wondering what are we doing and what is the purpose of regional economic integration, Sands says. Leaders have stopped explaining, and as a result, some people have stopped believing that trade is beneficial.

Another elephant in the room is the overall candidacy of Donald Trump. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday that though Trump wasnt on the official schedule, it would be hard to deny that he would come up in conversations. Largely because, as President Obama said during a trip to Japan in May, Trump has rattled world leaders. And given the candidates rhetoric aimed at Mexico the subject will likely come up in a meeting between the two countrys leaders.

Ahead of the summit, the White House announced the three nations will sign a pledge to generate 50% of their energy from clean sources (meaning wind, solar, other renewables, and nuclear power) by 2025. In 2015, about 37% of energy generated in all three countries combined was from clean sources.

The government of Canada announced it would lift visa requirement for Mexican travelers in an effort to deepen ties between Canada and Mexico and will increase the flow of travelers, ideas, and businesses between both countries. White House officials said on a conference call Monday that more announcements were forthcoming.
In Monday's episode of Full Frontal, Samantha Bee visited Dearborn, Michigan, to quell two misconceptions about Muslims: that they hate America and that they aren't doing anything to combat terrorism.

Bee spoke with Kassam Ali, the leader of the largest mosque in America, and police officer Mike Jaafar, and learned that American Muslims have continuously been working with authorities on combatting extremism.

The segment also showed an infographic of known sources of terrorism from 2001 to 2015. It revealed that the American Muslim community has given nearly three times more tips to the U.S. government than foreign governments, and is nearly on-par with the number of tips the FBI and CIA have given.

Source: Full Frontal/TBS

Later on, Bee asks Ali if there's something he'd like to say "1001 times for people to ignore, but this time on national television?" It was a clear jab at the right-wing media and anti-Muslim figures that continuously  and falsely  claim that American Muslims aren't condemning terrorism and don't love America.

"American Muslims love America," Ali said. "We love what our country stands for, we are proud of our country."

There were several key reasons why Bee decided to travel to Dearborn. The Detroit-area suburb  often referred to as "Dearbornistan" by anti-Muslim activists  is the city with the largest population of Muslims in the United States. It was also a hunting ground for another : Islamophobes.

For example, in 2012, swarms of anti-Muslim protesters (who called themselves "Bible Believers") held up signs that said Islam was a "religion of blood and murder" and carried a pig's head on a spike.

Source: Full Frontal/TBS

In her segment, Bee spoke to the protester who carried the pig head  while hilariously referring to him as a human manboob and a bearded uncooked ham:

Bee: People just want to eat ice cream cones and buy tube socks, and do the things people do in festivals. Why are you doing this?

Man: Pig head to Muslims is like a crucifix to a vampire.

Bee: Almost any human being would recoil from a pig head on a stick,

Man: Their religion teaches if they die with that pig there's a problem.



Story continues

Despite how confident he seemed to be in what he was saying, the "human manboob" is wrong: Nothing in that dying with pig's blood will condemn them to an eternity in hell. Muslims are just prohibited from eating pork.

The anti-Muslim protester then went on to boast about an American general using bullets dipped in pig's blood to kill Muslims in combat in the Philippines  .

The timing of Bee's segment on anti-Muslim sentiment is significant. On Friday, Britain voted to leave the European Union, which many experts say was spurred by anti-Muslim and anti-immigration sentiment. Now racial tensions are rising, and the value of the British pound is at the lowest it has ever been in more than 30 years.

If there's any lesson to be learned from Bee's segment, it's this: Hating Muslims isn't just evil, it's also pretty ridiculous.

Watch the segment in full here:
operation inherent resolve coalition air forces isis

The US military has released a video that shows the anti-ISIS coalition eliminating an ISIS fighting position near a critical battle line near Manbij, Syria.

Manbij has emerged as a critical front, as it is one of the last areas of territory that ISIS can contest along the Turkish border. Kurdish troops have recently taken the city, and the consolidation of control over the area would effectively block ISIS from being able to move fighters and supplies over Turkey's porous border.

The strikes occurred on June 21 as part of the anti-ISIS coalition's efforts to eliminate ISIS's abilities to carry out terrorist attacks across the world and hold territory in Iraq and Syria.

US Central Command notes that the strikes near Manbij were part of a larger series of attacks against the terrorist group throughout Iraq and Syria. In addition to destroying the fighting position, the coalition also hit an ISIS headquarters near the group's de facto capital of Raqqa, several other tactical units near Manbij, and a tactical unit near Ma'ra, Syria.

In addition, in Iraq the coalition carried out strikes against ISIS tactical units and rocket systems in Mosul, rocket rails in Qayyarah, and a heavy machine-gun unit in Tal Afar.

The strikes were carried out using a mixture of bombers and attack, fighter, and unmanned aircraft.

You can watch the strike against the fighting position in Manbij below:

via GIPHY

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Dakar (AFP) - "Catastrophic" levels of illegal fishing in west Africa are costing the region millions in lost revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs, a development think tank said Wednesday.

Countries such as Senegal, Sierra Leone and Mauritania are missing out on vital income because of the masses of fish taken from their waters by trawlers from as far afield as South Korea, according to research by Britain's Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

Senegal lost $300 million, or 2.0 percent of its GDP, to the practice in 2012, while Sierra Leone -- one of the region's poorest nations -- missed out on $29 million, said the report, entitled "Western Africa's Missing Fish".

A lack of government transparency in the region, limited capacity to patrol the seas and legal loopholes once west Africa's fish arrive in Europe, its biggest market, were all contributing to the situation, report author Alfonso Daniels told AFP.

"It's a huge problem and it's only getting worse," he said.

West Africa's "illegal" fish are transported in giant refrigerated containers mixed with other cargo to escape scrutiny at port, Daniels explained.

"Four-fifths are coming through container ships and (they) are not considered at all by the anti-illegal fishing legislation of the European Union, which is the largest market for fish in the world," Daniels said.

Europe is the destination for 44 percent of all west Africa's fish exports.

Despite this loophole, the EU remains a leader in sanctioning producers of illegal fish.

Meanwhile, a series of opaque agreements between West African nations and the likes of Russia, China and South Korea mean that the scale of the region's "missing fish" could be much larger.

"Fisheries agreements... should be public and openly available as they are with the European Union," Daniels said.

And if Africa fished its own waters rather than striking shady deals with other countries, more money would flow into the governments' coffers.

Story continues

The sale of fishing rights to foreign operatives netted Africa $400 million in 2014, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, but could in theory generate $3.3 billion if the continents own fleets caught and exported the fish.

Another practical step towards combating the problem would be creating a blacklist of illegal vessels.

The ODI report estimated more than 300,000 new jobs could be created if measures such as a global tracking system for fishing vessels were instituted, loopholes were closed and a blacklist created.

"Further development benefits would derive from increased export revenue. Sustainable management of fisheries resources would also strengthen food security," the report said.

Achieving "marine environmental sustainability" would stop permanently depleting endangered stocks and would provide a long-term income, it said.
When the Brexit vote was still months away, veteran Conservative Party politician Kenneth Clarke predicted that, should David Cameron lose the campaign for Britain to stay within the European Union, [he] wouldnt last 30 seconds.

Clarke was slightly off; Cameron lasted a few hours. But what came next could hardly have been more spot on: Afterward, wed be plunged into a Conservative leadership crisis, he said, which is never a very edifying sight.

The Brexit vote has opened a Pandoras box of instability, and the United Kingdom is descending into political chaos. The jockeying for Camerons job is, in some ways, the least of it: The Scottish nationalists have made clear their intention to call a second referendum on Scottish independence; nearly 4 million people have signed a petition for a second referendum on EU membership; and the Labour Party is facing a spectacular internal rebellion against party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

How Britains economic future will look outside the EU is difficult to predict. It depends largely on what sort of deal the British government can extract from the union. But the current upheaval means that a deal is very far off indeed. Debates are still ongoing about whether Scotland will attempt to block a Brexit, and there are questions about when, or even whether, divorce proceedings will actually start and who will oversee them. Until the official notice of Britains intent to withdraw from the EU has been served, Germany and other EU member states say they will not start negotiations.

In other words, the political turmoil currently engulfing Britain might, in the short term, hurt the economy at least as much as the outcome of the referendum itself.

So, what should we expect? In the months ahead, economic activity is likely to slow sharply. Concerned individuals and nervous investors will freeze consumption and investment. Firms have already put on hold some decisions  for example, opening new branches or upgrading existing equipment. Business confidence and manufacturing export orders have been on the decline since mid-2015, when it became clear that the EU referendum would be held before 2017. And quarterly fixed capital formation, which measures investment in physical assets  for instance, new machinery and office equipment  has grown at its slowest rate since 2013. The pound sterling declined from $1.49 to a low of $1.32 in the aftermath of the referendum (it has since recovered slightly).

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People have begun to fear for their jobs and their futures. According to a survey of its members by the Institute of Directors, a pro-business advocacy group, nearly two-thirds of respondents thought the outcome of the referendum was bad for their business, a quarter said they were freezing hiring plans, and 5 percent were planning to make employees redundant. Approximately 20 percent of respondents were considering moving their operations elsewhere. Financial services are particularly vulnerable: Non-EU banks that are currently based in London are planning to move to financial centers based in the EU, costing as many as 70,000 to 100,000 jobs in the U.K.

Keeping up confidence is critical. Britain has a large current account deficit  about 7 percent of GDP  and inflows of foreign money are necessary to finance this deficit. London, the worlds leading international financial center (for now, at least), requires foreign investors confidence to thrive; liquidity is essential to maintaining this confidence, and any hint that flows might be constrained would create turmoil.

One of the lessons from the global financial crisis is that confidence tends to hold when individuals and businesses have the sense that there is somebody in the drivers seat. Perhaps sensing that the present mess in Westminster isnt reassuring, both the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, and the chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, have made it clear that they are prepared to do whatever is necessary to avoid a rerun of the financial crisis: The Bank of England has promised to supply more than 250 billion pounds to support economic activity, among other measures. But will this kind of support be enough?

Market reaction so far has been brutal. Rating agencies Standard & Poors and Fitch have downgraded Britains credit rating to AA (from AAA and AA+ respectively) due to what the former called a less predictable, stable, and effective policy framework in the U.K. The bumpy ride looks likely to continue. Political uncertainty looks unlikely to be resolved soon, and regulatory and institutional uncertainty will be a feature of doing business in the U.K. for years to come. As a result, financial markets will become more volatile, and professional investors will have to shift gears and adapt to a bumpier landscape. Volatility, however, does not always signal intrinsic vulnerability; the British financial system is more resilient and more able to absorb shocks than it was in the 2008 crisis. There is a well-knitted safety net in place: Swap agreements have been arranged to provide liquidity in foreign currencies, and the banking sector has more capital.

It is the real economy where vulnerabilities are more pronounced. As things stand, Britain has many years of adjustments ahead of it, which will be spent, first, disentangling its laws and institutions from the EU and, second, engineering an entirely new regime. Investment will be reduced, jobs will be lost, and businesses will be shuttered or relocated. News of Brexit has finally sunk in, and there seems to be only one certainty: Britain will be poorer for some years to come.

Photo credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
With a new leader, new headquarters, new name, new programs and an expansion outside of Dane County, Journey Mental Health Center is embarking on a new journey.

More people need our services, said Ron Lampert, who became president and CEO in April, replacing William Greer, who retired after being CEO since 2005. Were going to expand and grow.

Journey, the countys safety net provider of mental health and substance abuse services, is seeking funding changes from the county and the state as it adapts to a changing health-care environment, Lampert said.

When you are the mental health local entity, you take everybody. Well, you cant do that today, he said. You have to have some business acumen to say, We can do so much, and absorb so much, and still be solid.

Lampert  who previously was a vice president at Thresholds, a mental health agency in Chicago  said he will pursue mergers with nonprofits that provide related services, such as job support or home health care, and potentially develop a multi-state organization.

Journey is positioned very well to take off like that, he said.

How Journey evolves could have a big impact on mental health services for the underserved in the Madison area, said Lindsay Wallace, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness chapter in Dane County.

Their role is really integral, Wallace said. If you dont have insurance, that is where youre going to go to get access to mental health services.

Journey, which started in 1948, offers a variety of services at 10 locations, from a Suboxone clinic for substance abuse addicts and treatment for released jail inmates to a mental illness clubhouse called Yahara House, and Kajsiab House, which offers mental health support for Hmong elders.

It served 12,210 patients last year, up from 8,585 in 2012.

The agency will move its Downtown Madison headquarters to the West Side in early August, when it will change its name to Journey Health Wellness Recovery. Until 2011, it was known as the Mental Health Center of Dane County.

The new headquarters, at 25, 37 and 49 Kessel Court, has twice as much space and nearly five times as many parking spaces as Journeys main building now, at 625 W. Washington Ave. between Bedford and Proudfit streets.

Transportation services are being arranged for people who need help getting to the new location, Lampert said.

The reason for the name change is illustrated, in part, by a $1.6 million federal grant Journey received in October to start offering primary care services. Providers from UnityPoint Health-Meriter and Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin are working with some Journey mental health patients to improve their chronic medical conditions.

Our consumers were dying of treatable illness  cardiovascular disease, diabetes, lung disease, said Dr. Karen Milner, Journeys medical director. A portion of that had to do with the fact that they werent getting primary care treatment in a timely fashion.

Another new program is Promoting Recovery from Onset of Psychosis, or PROPs. It is for people between 15 and 25 who are experiencing early symptoms of psychosis, such as seeing things others are not.

Starting in September, Journey will provide mental health services for Columbia County, replacing the Pauquette Center for Psychological Services. Lampert said hed like to expand into additional counties.

In Dane County, Journey hopes to establish a new payment system that combines services into one rate per person per month, Lampert said. Lynn Green, director of the countys Department of Human Services, said she has been considering such a model. The county provides 68 percent of Journeys funding.

Journey is also eyeing an expansion of its crisis services.

It operates Bayside, one of the countys two mental health crisis centers; the other is run by Tellurian. A routine request for proposals to operate the program this spring resulted in competitive bids, Green said. A decision is expected by August.

Were proposing that we take the whole thing, Lampert said.

Journey, which had budget deficits for three years before seeing surpluses in 2014 and 2015, stopped taking new Medicaid fee-for-service patients this month, though it continues to accept new BadgerCare managed care patients.

Lampert said he hopes to persuade the state to pay higher rates for Medicaid patients, which make up 17 percent of Journeys patients. We cant take any more; well go out of business, he said.

Wallace, of NAMI, said some mental health consumers complain about long waits for assessments and psychiatrist appointments at Journey. They dont have enough staff or funding, she said.

Mike Wiltse, spokesman for Journey, said a shortage of psychiatrists is a nationwide problem. Patients can schedule intake appointments within 10 days or use a walk-in clinic Tuesdays through Fridays, he said.

Once assessments are completed, patients are referred to therapists within 30 days, Wiltse said. A new prescribing model to be implemented at the new headquarters will allow patients to get medications more quickly, he said.
The White House has condemned the attacks at Ataturk Airport in Turkey, supporting a unified front against terrorism around the world.

Read: Terror in Turkey: ISIS Suspected in Airport Attack That Killed 41, Injured More Than 230

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement: "Ataturk International Airport, like Brussels Airport which was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind us together.

"Our deepest condolences go out to the families and loved ones of those killed, and we wish a speedy recovery to those injured. We remain steadfast in our support for Turkey, our NATO ally and partner, along with all of our friends and allies around the world, as we continue to confront the threat of terrorism."

The 2016 presidential candidates also commented on the matter.

At a rally in Ohio, Donald Trump had this reaction to the bombings.

Following the carnage Tuesday night, he tweeted: "Folks, there's something going on that's really, really bad. Alright? It's bad. And we better get smart, and we better get tough. Or were not gonna have much of a country left, OK?

Read: Security, Witness Footage Capture Grim Scenes From Inside Turkish Airport During Attacks

He was the first to politician to tweet about the attacks, saying:

Yet another terrorist attack, this time in Turkey. Will

the world ever realize what is going on? So sad.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2016

We must do everything possible to keep this horrible terrorism outside the United States.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2016

Hillary Clinton tweeted: "All Americans stand united with the people of turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence."

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"All Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence." Hillary pic.twitter.com/QmSccJvcV0  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 28, 2016

The attacks killed 41 people and wounded 147 on Tuesday night when three suicide bombers entered the airport, Turkey's largest, and blew themselves up.

Watch: Counterterrorism Expert Calls For Security Screenings Outside Airports

Related Articles:
Its called the Week of Making, a White Housesponsored initiative to celebrate and encourage young and older tinkerers, inventors, and entrepreneurs who create innovations that push technology and the nation into the future. From June 18 to 24, President Barack Obamascience geek in chiefwelcomed inventors of all ages to demonstrate their ideas.

But a new report repeats an old story: American kids arent spending much time on the skills involved in making. Without encouragement to join the community of hands-on makers exploring and creating technology, poor, black, and Latino kids are likely to get left behind.

RELATED: Whos Going to Teach Americas Kids to Codeand How?

More than half of low-income students surveyed havent taken any computer science, engineering, or industrial-technology classes in school, according to the report, which was commissioned by Change the Equation, a nonprofit organization promoting literacy in science- and math-based disciplines. Black and Latino students are the least likely to have enrolled in any of those courses, with 61 percent of black girls responding that they havent studied those disciplines.

American students spend precious little time tinkering, troubleshooting, or doing the kinds of hands-on problem-solving that are at the heart of technology and engineering, according to the Washington, D.C.based nonprofits first-ever Nations Report Card in Technology and Engineering Literacy. Girls, minorities, and low-income students do least of alldampening hopes to create a more diverse STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] workforce in future years, wrote the reports authors.

RELATED: Boy Takes Home Top Prize in Competition for Girls in STEM

Although their white peers arent doing so well eitherthe report found that less than half of all students are on the path to proficiency in STEM fields, the foundation of makingthe dismal showing among students of color is disturbing, Claus von Zastrow, Change the Equations chief operating officer and research director, told TakePart.

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The whole making community is what we looked into from a slightly different angle of students seeking education that involves solving problems with tech-based skills, von Zastrow said. The essence of the concept, he said, involves solving problems by creating thingsfrom a supercomputer to a pencilthat make the world a better place for humanity.

But less than half of all American eighth graders are proficient or practicing those skills, and when [researchers] looked at students of color, African American and Latino percentages were a good deal lower, he said.

The survey included what black and Latino kids do outside school, von Zastrow said, and making isnt it. Theyre much less likely to engage in...things like taking something apart to fix it, see how it works, or find a way to make it work better, he noted.

That would suggest that one of the reasons theres this big gap is lack of access, von Zastrow said. While white kids may have access to a maker centera technology shop or a computer lab at schoolor a parent whos an engineer, minority kids are far less likely to have that sort of entree or contact with a maker, and the odds increase if they live in struggling neighborhoods.

RELATED: Parents Want STEM Classes, So Why Do Schools Struggle to Keep Them Alive?

Margaret Honey, president and CEO of New York Hall of Science, an interactive science center that hosts both World Maker Faire and Maker Space, where families can tinker, design, and create together, agrees.

While the maker movement has grown tremendously, she said, when it comes to diversity, it needs more work.

That includes outreach, Honey said, noting that organizations ranging from the White House Office of Technology to oil industry giant Chevron are creating programs aimed at minority students in struggling neighborhoods. Even Congress has a maker caucus, she added.

There are pockets of excellence demonstrating the power and potential of underserved communities and students, Honey said. We just dont have enough of them.

Von Zastrow said the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act has provisions for bringing the making ethos into the classroomwith federal money, including for after-school programs, attachedand its possible to integrate concepts like engineering- and computer-based problem solving into standardized achievement tests.

When you get these standards-led challenges into the classroomthats when you reach all the kids, he said. That has a lot of promise as well.

Like von Zastrow, Honey said programs outside the classroom are critical to drawing more black and brown children into the maker communityparticularly to develop a more diverse technology-based workforceand spurring hands-on learning that could ignite a passion for science.

Making is all about innovation coupled with entrepreneurship, she said. Its an important piece of who we are as a country. We need to do a better job of drawing diverse kids into making.

The key, von Zastrow said, is that policy makers have to act with intent.

Diversity can come, he said, but weve got to mean it.

Take the Pledge: If We Dont Act Now, Who Will Teach Our Kids?

Related stories on TakePart:





 Can the Hunger Games of Coding Solve Americas Tech Worker Shortage?

 Black and Latino Parents: Our Kids Aren't DumbThey're Bored

 Gender Bias in the Classroom Is Pushing Women Out of STEM Programs

Original article from TakePart
forooharbook

Foroohar is an assistant managing editor at TIME and the magazines economics columnist. Shes the author ofMakers and Takers: The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business.

One of the most interesting economic solutions proposed by Hillary Clinton recently on the campaign trail is that the financial burden of education be eased for future entrepreneurs. Under her proposal, college graduates who start a business may end up being able to get their student loans deferred, interest-free, for up to three years as they launch new ventures. Those who locate in distressed communities or start a social enterprise also could ask the government to forgive as much as $17,500 in loans after five years in business.

The goal is not just to create jobs and encourage entrepreneurship amongst millennials, who are graduating with record debt and entering a still weaker-than-normal job market, but also to help boost enterprise creation in general, which has fallen dramatically in this country since the 1970s.

This is a big deal, because it ties into the most important economic question of the day, which is why there isnt stronger productivity growth in the economy right now (economic growth is essential productivity plus demographics). In a speech Tuesday, Fed Governor Jerome Powell touched on the issue and the stakes:

One factor that may contribute to low productivity growth is the notable decline in recent decades in measures of the dynamism of our economy. Entrepreneurs start new firms; most of them fail, but a few of them succeed, grow very rapidly, and account for significant amounts of job formation. Older firms shrink or go out of business if they fail to keep up with innovation and advances in productivity. Workers change jobs and move around the country (or the world) as their careers evolve and as companies grow and shrink. These processes can be painful and messy for both workers and firms, but they are essential to the allocation of resources to their highest, most productive uses. The high levels of innovation and fluidity of our economy have long been thought to be among the principal reasons for our high and rising living standards.

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Start-ups are a key driver of productivity. But the birthrate of startups has been in decline since the 1970s. Since then, it has dovetailed with a shift in how the financial sector business model works  it no longer invests primarily in new business, but rather buys up and trades existing assets, and funding for small and mid-sized start ups is still scarce (while increasing monopoly power on the part of large firms squashes new ones, as Robert Reich and others have recently written.)

As Governor Powell puts it:

New firms can be loosely grouped into two categories: those started by lifestyle entrepreneurs who want to be their own boss, but who have little prospect or desire for high growth; and those founded by transformational entrepreneurs who start businesses that aspire to grow dramatically and change their industry. Before 2000, the decline in new firm entry was mainly in the first sort; since 2000, it is also found among the so-called transformational firms. While the drop in the formation of lifestyle-type firms could be neutral or even a positive for productivity, as in the case of the U.S. retail sector, the reduction in the creation of high-performance new firms suggests that lower dynamism could be associated with slower productivity growth . . . Fewer start-ups has meant lower job flows, as measured by job creation and destruction, and fewer opportunities for workers to find better jobs. And labor market dynamism across many dimensions has declined by more than can be explained by the reduction in startups. Workers have become less likely to leave their jobs, change jobs, or move geographically to take new jobs.

This is a big deal in a country in which labor mobility has traditionally given us a leg up economically over Europe and other nations. I think Clintons idea to tie together entrepreneurship and student debt forgiveness is a great one, and a good way to make some of Bernie Sanders most popular ideas more doable. I hope to hear more about portable benefits, another key idea that could help bolster entrepreneurship, from her soon.
On Jun 28, 2016, the Zacks Investment Research upgraded Washington-based HomeStreet Inc. HMST to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).



Acquisition & Projection of Improved Q2 Earnings Drive Upgrade



HomeStreet has been witnessing rising earnings estimates driven by the announcement of an acquisition and the companys expectations of growth in the second quarter earnings.



On Jun 22, HomeStreet announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire two branches from Boston Private, a subsidiary of Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc. BPFH, based in Boston. Of these, one is located in Granada Hills and another in Burbank, California.



HomeStreet expects to acquire approximately $110 million in deposit accounts and increase its number of retail branches to 12 in South California. While the company does not provide any timeline for the closure of the deal, the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.



Mark K. Mason, HomeStreet Bank President, CEO and Chairman, said We are excited to add these two branches to our Southern California network. Not only do these branches add to the strategy of increasing our density in one of the most attractive markets in the United States, they are also each located near offices of our affinity partner, Kaiser Permanente.



Further, HomeStreet is expected to witness 4.62% year over year rise in the second quarter 2016 earnings, after reporting disappointing first quarter results.



Moreover, HomeStreet has been witnessing rising earnings estimates, indicating analysts bullish stance on the stock. Over the last 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate increased 0.45% to $2.25 for 2016 and 0.8% to $2.51 for 2017.



Stocks That Warrant a Look



Some similarly ranked finance stocks include Flagstar Bancorp Inc. FBC and WhiteHorse Finance Inc. WHF.



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>



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FLAGSTAR BANCP (FBC): Free Stock Analysis Report



WHITEHORSE FINL (WHF): Free Stock Analysis Report



HOMESTREET INC (HMST): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
If a night of wanton, government-sanctioned violence is your idea of fun, youd agree that Purge Night is, as what one of the characters in The Purge: Election Year says: Halloween for adults. Initiated in the United States in the late 2010s following an economic collapse, the purge is a national civic tradition whereby anyone is free to hurt or kill anyone for one night. For 12 hours from 7 pm on March 21 to 7 am on the next day, all crime is legal and police, fire and medical emergency services are unavailable.

The New Founding Fathers of America use it as a way to artificially control the American population and lessen the burden on society, as the homeless, disabled, mentally ill, uneducated and those living in slums are the usual targets of lawlessness. The only restrictions: Government officials ranking 10 and up have immunity (this is revoked in this years instalment of The Purge franchise) and weapons above Class 4 (grenades, bazookas and rocket launchers) are prohibited.

While others may have written survival guides for this entirely fictitious construct, over here at Singapore-based The Popping Post we are hard-pressed for ideas on how Purge Night would work in the worlds second-safest city (Tokyo is ranked first). Therefore, we present a few reasons why Purge Night wont be fun in Singapore:

1. What weapons?

Assault weapons. (Credit: cpreview.org)

Assault weapons. (Credit: cpreview.org)

The Purge rules allow the use of weapons below Class 4  i.e. rifles, handguns, machine guns. But this is a moot point in squeaky clean Singapore, where the man on the street doesnt dream of possessing firearms because, well, they arent available! Singapore has some of the toughest gun control laws in the world. According to the Arms Offences Act, unlawful possession of firearms or carrying of firearms is punishable by caning or imprisonment.

So, unless you have some way of magicking ammunition across the border within those 12 hours during Purge Night, youll have to resign yourself to using whatever the Ninja Turtles use, or go old school with knives and pillows. Either way, youd have exhausted plenty of time getting your hands on the guns or plenty of energy suffocating your spouse in bed, and youd be glad to call it a night long before 7 am.

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2. Kiasi-ism (Hokkien for fear of death)

This poster says everything. (Credit: mothership.sg)

This poster says everything. (Credit: mothership.sg)

Singaporeans are literally afraid to die. So, unlike festive scenes from the movie franchise where youll see foolhardy teenagers and angry vagabonds tearing up the streets while dressed in wacky costumes, Singapore is likely to be very, very quiet on Purge Night. Most people would have the common sense to simply lock themselves up in their homes, close the windows, switch on the air-conditioner and put on a DVD, instead of going on a rampage. For those who prefer to play it super safe, its easy to pretend that youre not at home, too. You just have to try not using any electricity in case your potential murderer checks your electrical meter for signs of your presence. Your only challenge in this case would be the hot weather, but would you rather be killed or simply endure 12 hours without fan or air-con? Kiasi-ism answers the question for you, doesnt it?

3. Its too easy to leave

Anyone would rather be here... (Credit: anaya.com.sg)

Anyone would rather be here (Credit: anaya.com.sg)

The best way to avoid Purge Night is to simply not be here, just like how we go on vacation during Chinese New Year to avoid nosy relatives. Right? Im sure youve noticed how quiet it is downtown during the CNY long weekend. Thats because most people arent even here at all. Our resident population probably drops by about 50 per cent every long weekend. What more Purge Night?

Singapore is not known as a transport hub for nothing. If you cant get a flight out, you can always drive, or for those who cant afford it, walk across the Causeway. (Where its probably more unsafe than regular Singapore, by the way.) You can also take a boat to nearby Bintan or Batam and enjoy a lovely sunset on the beach while Purge Night commences in Singapore. Youll be so safe, its almost boring.

4. Hard to get hallucinatory drugs

Weed. (Credit: www.drugabuse.gov)

Weed has been legalised in some states in the US, but is prohibited in Singapore. (Credit: www.drugabuse.gov)

Saw the previous point about purgers dressed up like wackos and going on killing sprees? How does one work himself or herself into such an irrational frenzy? Its anybodys guess that theyre probably high on something. Well, you might have heard that Singapore hangs drug traffickers, which makes it notoriously difficult for one to get hold of recreational party drugs. Youd have to be either insane or terribly angry to work up the rage required for Purge Night. Otherwise, youd just be hiding, or on a beach in Bintan See a pattern here?

5. Everybody is a grassroots leader

Remember this particular grassroots leader? (Credit: The Straits Times)

Remember this particular grassroots leader? (Credit: The Straits Times)

Considering that grassroots leaders get lots of privileges in Singapore, such as better chances of getting their kids into their primary school of choice and priority for Housing Board flat applications, I wouldnt be surprised if grassroots leaders are granted immunity on Purge Night. Im not sure whats the equivalent of a Government official ranking 10 in Singapore, but those, combined with an army of grassroots leaders, would make plenty of people untouchable here.

Obviously, it would be more fun to watch The Purge: Election Year than to envisage Singapore ever implementing Purge Night! This time, Senator Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell) and her head of security Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) must find a way to survive on the streets of Washington DC following a betrayal. Its a race to stay alive and stop a guerrilla group from assassinating the person who wants them dead  even if its legal to murder him on Purge Night. Movie opens in cinemas on July 14.

Movie to be released on July 14. Stay tuned!

Movie to be released on July 14. Stay tuned! Credit: United International Pictures

Sources: Wikipedia.org, Library Of Congress, Golden Village

The post Why Purge Night wont be fun in Singapore appeared first on The Popping Post.
What is Jo Malone?

If you havent heard about Jo Malone, dont worry, you are not alone. Originated from UK, the brand carries an extensive range of exquisite colognes, baths and everything to do with scents! From candles to shampoos, you name it, Jo Malone has it.

The popularity of Jo Malone products could have been boosted by the royals. After it was announced that Kate Middleton used Jo Malone on her wedding day, sales for this luxury perfume brand soared through the roof in UK. Another reason why the Jo Malone brand gained popularity among the British, is likely due to its unisex fragrances. One cologne to be shared between you and your partner? Score!

Credits: Telegraph

Jo Malones colognes range from Citrus, Fruity, Light Floral, Floral, Spicy to Woody. The wide variety of fragrances gives everyone the chance to find the perfect scent, for the perfect occasion.

Here are some of our favourite Jo Malone fragrances:

Jo Malone Mimosa & Cardamom (85 for 100ml)

This is one of Jo Malones latest perfumes, that are specifically curated for the ladies. This new scent includes honey, mimosa, rose, cardamom, sandalwood etc. Users have raved about the sweet, and light scent of this fragrance, making this scent one of the most popular Jo Malone colognes!

JM1

Source: Jo Malone

Jo Malone Lime Basil & Mandarin (85 for 100ml)

One of Jo Malones signature fragrance! It was rumoured that this was the scent Kate Middleton wore on her special day. The basil and tinge of white thyme brings an unpredicted twist, a reminiscence of the Caribbean sea.

cheaper jo malone Uk

Source: Jo Malone

Jo Malone Nashi Blossom Cologne (130 for 100ml)

The Nashi Blossom Cologne was released last month, and has since been extremely popular. The colognes packaging was inspired by the sweet and speckled Nashi Flower; As a result, the final packaging looks surprisingly elegant and quirky at the same time. The Nashi Blossom Cologne carries a tinge of lemon scent, complimented with the sweet fragrance of roses.

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Introducing Nashi Blossom. Playful. Radiant. Efflorescent. #PetalPop A video posted by Jo Malone London (@jomalonelondon) on Apr 30, 2016 at 5:21am PDT

Source: Jo Malone

Fragrance Combination

Jo Malones loyal fans also swear by the brands exclusive Fragrance Combination feature. If you want a unique scent to yourself, you can combine various Jo Malones colognes through layering. A tip would be to apply the heavier scent first and then the lighter scent so that the heavier scent will not overpower the lighter scent. For more tips on layering scents, click here!

Screen Shot 2016-06-29 at 4.54.09 PM

How much cheaper is it to buy Jo Malone from UK?

The Jo Malone cologne is available at Singapore Changi Airport at SGD$200 for 100ml of the well received Jo Malone Mimosa & Cardamom cologne. The smartest (and most economical) way to get Jo Malone colognes would be to buy them at the UK airport where it will cost about 85 translating to about SGD$155. We have even compiled a list of price comparison for your easy reference!

cheaper jo malone Uk

How to get it at a lower cost?

Instead of paying for the outrageously priced plane ticket to U.K., you should tap on the community of Airfrov travellers to get them for you! Just post a request and travellers going to the UK will be notified, should a traveller be able to buy the item for you, he/she will offer to help you!

cheaper jo malone Uk

(One of the first few Jo Malone colognes that have came through Airfrov!)

If you are ready to own a royalty-approved fragrance, simply go to Airfrov.com to make a request!

jo malone Uk

The post Love Jo Malone? Heres how much you can save by getting them from UK appeared first on Airfrov Blog.
If you tuned into Channel 4 News last night, you might have been confused by what you saw. A slightly taken-aback Jon Snow attempted to conduct an interview on air while thousands of protesters outside Westminster chanted Remain slogans and waved EU flags. The faces in the crowd were mostly young, observed Snow, and they looked angry.

This demonstration of support for Britain staying in the EU was not mistimed but reactionary; like other similar marches that have taken place over the last couple of days, like the online petitions calling for a second referendum, like London Mayor Sadiq Khans statements that he wants to keep London involved in the EU, people are fighting for a way to undo what was done last Friday  the day just over half of British voters decided in favour of a Brexit.

Crowds assembled at Trafalgar Square from 5pm yesterday, standing in thick rain and holding signs that read better together, EU we love you and everyone is welcome here before marching on to Parliament. The peaceful demonstration, entitled London STILL Stays! on the Facebook page created by its organisers, was intended as a rally to call for London to stay in the EU. But despite the clear intention of the protest, the individuals we spoke to last night have little hope that London will remain.

I dont think that London Stay is a good idea, Hannah, 27, told us. I cant see how more segregation is going to do anyone any favours and I cant see how its feasible. I just wanted to come here because I believe a Brexit was the wrong decision and I wanted to be around people who are doing something about it and showing their defiance.

Kirsten & Ana (L), Remain supporters, and a 'London Stays' banner against the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square (R).

Hannahs sentiment was echoed by others who agree that 'London Still Stays' is implausible. It would be beautiful if London stayed in the EU but I think thats unrealistic, said Kirsten, 27 and originally from Belgium, although she now calls London her home. This is a global, multicultural city and that feels endangered at the moment, she continued, Its good that Khan is advocating for more rights and independence, but I dont think London will stay.

Story continues

Hopes for a second referendum were dashed yesterday after David Camerons spokesperson claimed that this was not remotely on the cards, as reported in The Independent. That was despite the fact that over four million people had signed an online petition calling to discount a vote to Leave that was based on less than a 60% majority and less than a 75% turnout. In the wake of Camerons words, it seems unlikely that there will be much room for London to negotiate a stay.

Sophie, originally from France, offers hugs to protesters.

Some protestors at Trafalgar Square yesterday reacted to this with defiant spirit; Sophie, 34, from France, who has been living in the UK for ten years, circled the protest carrying a sign that read hug a European, and offered up the service to strangers. There are lots of reasons people are here, she explained, to change things, because they are worried, because they want to reverse the course of action. Sophie said she cant see the decision being reversed now, so she came to display solidarity instead. I have this sign because I want to show love, she said. Whatever happens, its important that we stay unified against hatred.

Galactica (L), Anna (R).

This seemed to be the overarching consensus in the march from Trafalgar Square to Westminster yesterday. Following the crowd, young people voiced major concerns over the rise in racially motivated attacks across the UK since the referendum votes were announced. 17-year-old Anna is from Finland but grew up in the UK. She came to the protest to show that she doesn't condone how people from immigrant backgrounds are being made to feel unwelcome. Galactica, also 17, agreed: "The level of racism  which has risen since the result  is just inherently wrong."

Aya, 28, wears a t-shirt saying Iraq Syria Love.

Its brought to the surface a lot of racism and bigotry, concurred Aya, 28, who explained that she is a second generation Iraqi immigrant, and that while she always saw London as a foundation of multiculturalism, shes no longer sure she wants to stay in the city. Its a different place now, she added. The least I could do was come here to stand in solidarity with those who feel the same. Aya said she didnt really know what else to do; Its so disheartening... I feel numb.

Elsewhere, Imann, 24, a French student who has been living in London for three years, felt that  as a black woman and as a French woman  she no longer felt at home here after the results. It feels like a way to accept racism, she said, the message is that foreigners are no longer accepted and thats not OK. Imann harbours concerns that a similar decision could happen at some point in France; That such an important country economically as the UK have showed that they will leave sets such a bad example for the other countries in Europe to do the same, she said.

Imman (L), Rosanna (R).

Planned protests like yesterdays will continue to take place across London over the coming weeks. Another march to Westminster is scheduled for the 2nd of July, and a protest to better make the voice of 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds heard is planned for the 3rd of July, again, in Trafalgar Square. People are organising now because, while, as Kirsten puts it, Its not too late to send a strong signal that we dont agree with the result," its also about figuring out what to do next.

On this note, Rosanna, 29, said she signed an online petition and has been following post-Brexit coverage online, but feels that its difficult to work out what you should do when there are so many deceptive headlines and different ideas on social media. She says that she came to the protest to march from Trafalgar to Westminster yesterday because she wanted to try to meet more people and engage with people in the real world with a view to taking action.

What that action is, remains to be seen. But yesterdays protest  thousands strong and significant by Jon Snows estimations  suggest that those ardently in the Remain camp will not take last weeks decision lightly. The show of people from across European countries at the demonstration only served to bolster the message that borders are irrelevant and anti-immigration rhetoric is unacceptable. Ultimately, yesterday seemed less about whether London still stays in the EU, and more about hoping the passionate Europeans in attendance "still stay" in London.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

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Shares of offshore drilling giant Transocean RIG gained over 6.5% in morning trading Wednesday following signs of renewed analyst optimism.

Analyst James West of Evercore upgraded Transocean from sell to hold and raised his price target to $12 from $11. West credited Transoceans management, ability to win contracts, and extensive fleet of floating rigs as signs that the company could improve its earnings outlook soon.

Even with his optimistic stance, West warned investors that Transoceans dayrates are likely at or near cash breakeven levels. West also pointed out that the offshore driller has led the industry in rig retirements recently.

Transocean was recently awarded a contract from Indias state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation to drill off the east coast of the country. Transocean offered a dayrate of $127k/d to operate a semi-submersible rig at the 600-meter level. The contract is for a 730-day drilling operation.

The contract in India may be welcome business for Transocean, but its offered dayrate is extremely low. The company will be hard-pressed to breakeven or turn a profit on that job, which could damage its earnings outlook.

In the near-term, Transoceans earnings situation appears uncertain. Over the past 60 days, we have seen five positive estimate revisions against four negative revisions for the companys current quarter earnings.

However, the long-term picture for Transocean appears much better. In that same timeframe, we have seen eight positive revisions against just two negative revisions for Transoceans next quarter earnings. We have also seen six positive revisions against zero negative revisions for its annual earnings.

The oil sector has been volatile from top to bottom for quite a long time now, and it looks like it could still take some time for investors to regain confidence in the demand for offshore drillers. Nevertheless, Transocean appears to be showing signs of recovery.

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istanbul airiport attack

A triple suicide bombing at Istanbul's international airport Tuesday night bears all of the hallmarks of an ISIS attack. But it's unlikely that the militant group will claim responsibility for the ambush, which left at least 41 people dead.

A senior Turkish official said Tuesday night that initial indications suggest the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, was behind the attack. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said later that it appeared ISIS was behind the "heinous" attack.

And a senior US counterterrorism official told NBC that "it is very likely" the attack was the work of 35 ISIS fighters sent to Turkey ahead of Ramadan.

Michael Weiss, the coauthor of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror," noted on Twitter that ISIS has a "lot of motives for attacking Ataturk airport, including the imminent loss of Manbij [in Syria], Turkish shelling of ISIS, and, of course, Turkish-Israel rapprochement."

The Ataturk attack, moreover, "fits the ISIS profile, not PKK," a counterterrorism official told CNN. The official noted that PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party  which is currently waging an insurgency against the Turkish government  doesn't usually go after international targets, instead focusing its attacks on security personnel in the country's southeast.

"If the Islamic State is indeed the culprit, it would mirror the Brussels' airport attack of March 2016; this recent attack comes on the two-year anniversary of the group's caliphate declaration," The Soufan Group, a strategic security intelligence firm, wrote in its daily briefing.

The brief continued:

"Turkey has become a prime target for the Islamic State in the last year. It has been mentioned several times in the group's English-language magazine, Dabiq; President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan was featured on the cover of issue 11. The timing is also suggestive of  but does not prove  Islamic State involvement. The attack comes during the month of Ramadan, a time in which the Islamic State has specifically called for its supporters to carry out attacks wherever possible."

Story continues

Multiple attacks in Turkey over the past year  in Ankara, Istanbul, and the southeastern border town of Suruc  have been linked to the jihadist group. But the group has never formally claimed responsibility for a major terror attack on Turkish soil, analysts point out.

"The difficulty with the recent attack at the Istanbul airport in Turkey is that ISIS has historically not claimed major attacks there," Rukmini Callimachi, a reporter for The New York Times covering jihadist groups and ISIS specifically, wrote on Twitter. "Recent attacks on tourist areas of Istanbul were blamed on ISIS by officials, but unlike elsewhere, ISIS never claimed responsibility."

The "exception has been assassinations carried out by ISIS in southern Turkey against Syrian activists from Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently," Callimachi added, referring to an anti-ISIS activist group. "Those they claimed."

Istanbul explosions

Humeyra Pamuk, a Reuters reporter covering Iraq and Syria, agreed with those sentiments.

"ISIS has never formally claimed responsibility for any of their attacks in Turkey, apart from those in which it targeted Syrian activists," Pamuk said.

Amar Amarasingam, a fellow at The Program on Extremism at George Washington University, noted that ISIS is "not shy" about claiming responsibility for these kinds of attacks, "even when there is a tangential link."

'ISIS does not want to rock the boat'

Stopping short of formally claiming responsibility for terror attacks on Turkish soil, however, makes sense in light of ISIS' desire to avoid the wrath of the Turkish government and allow fingers to be pointed at Kurdish insurgents.

"ISIS is looking to destabilize Turkish society, but not draw the ire of Ankara," Weiss said on CNN. "Turkey has traditionally prioritized its fight against the PKK. ISIS does not want to rock the boat."

ISIS has traditionally been able to transport fighters, weapons, and funds across the Turkish border and into its de facto capital of Raqqa, in Syria, with relative ease, given the Turkish government's preoccupation with the renewed Kurdish insurgency in the country's southeast and the notoriously relaxed border policies Turkey adopted between 2011 and 2014.

Turkey officially ended its open-border policy in 2014, but not before its southern frontier became a transit point for cheap oil, weapons, foreign fighters, and pillaged antiquities. Smuggling networks along the nation's 565-mile border with Syria emerged and flourished while the policy was in place.

syria turkey isis

Turkey tightened a stretch of its border with ISIS-held territory in Syria in February, increasing military patrols and building more walls. But Ankara has yet to adopt a comprehensive legal framework for how to deal with the militants who come back to Turkey after fighting with ISIS and becoming radicalized in Syria.

Even if the militants are caught by Turkish authorities crossing the border, then, prosecutors generally can't keep them detained for long because of the still unclear legal definition of ISIS in Turkey.

The Islamic State has consequently been able to establish deep networks in Turkey, particularly in Istanbul, Ankara, Konya, Adana, Izmir, SanlUrfa, and Gaziantep, according to the Atlantic Council's Aaron Stein.

Since January 2015, seven attacks on Turkish soil  including October's suicide-bomb attack at a crowded rally in Ankara that killed more than 100 people  have been linked back to ISIS.

"The perpetrators of five of these attacks are all linked to one active Turkish Islamic State cell, previously based in the southeastern town of Adyaman," Stein, an expert on Turkey, wrote in War On The Rocks in March.

"This cell operated for close to a year in the city with little interference from the Turkish authorities, despite local residents complaining to police forces that the house was doubling as an ISIL recruitment center," he added.

ISIS turkey

There have been a number of successful anti-ISIS raids in Turkey over the past six months, Stein noted on Tuesday. But were the group to begin formally claiming responsibility for its attacks on Turkish soil, Ankara would likely be under intense pressure to significantly ramp up its anti-ISIS operations across the country.

That, in turn, could spread Turkey's resources thin, spark more blowback from the militant group inside the country, and distract from Ankara's war against the PKK, which it views as a greater threat to its territorial sovereignty than ISIS.

"ISIS has selected Kurdish/PKK-aligned targets knowing Kurds would blame Ankara, PKK would ramp up attacks, and Erdogan would de-prioritize ISIS," Weiss said on Twitter. The group's initial targets in Turkey were secular Kurds in the country's southeast  an ISIS-linked suicide bombing in Suruc last July prompted a wave of protests across the country by people demanding Ankara do more to combat the jihadists.

What ISIS is doing now, anaylsts say, is not unsimilar to what al Qaeda in Iraq  ISIS' predecessor  did after 2005 in order to drive a wedge between the country's Shiite and Sunni populations.

By not taking responsibility for its attacks in Turkey, ISIS wants to do the same [as al Qaeda], triggering societal fault lines, this time between supporters and opponents of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leftists and rightists, Turks and Kurds, seculars and conservatives, Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, wrote for CNN.

Even if ISIS has not claimed responsibility for the attacks, however, the group's rhetoric about targeting Turkey has been heating up since mid-2015. That's when Erdogan announced his intention to join the US-led anti-ISIS coalition, and gave the US permission to use Turkey's Incirlik Air Base to launch airstrikes against the jihadists in Syria.

"IS has built anticipation it will wage jihad in Turkey via increased focus on Erdogan in propaganda," terrorism analyst Michael S. Smith wrote on Twitter, pointing to an uptick of mentions of Erdogan and Turkey in ISIS' propaganda channels on Telegram and in its magazine, Dabiq.

NOW WATCH: MIDDLE EAST EXPERT: These are the biggest misconceptions about the region





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With gun rights under increasing scrutiny, the U.S. Supreme Court has acted decisively to signal that such rights are not absolute. In a 6-2 decision Monday, the court upheld that those convicted of reckless misdemeanor domestic violence can be banned from owning firearms.

The court previously had upheld the ban for intentional acts of violence. But, as anti-domestic violence advocates have argued, the careless disregard for the safety of a significant other is all too often a part of the continuum that can lead to serious injury and even death.

The ruling is important in two respects: It puts abusers on notice that simply claiming the violent act was unintentional will not lessen the consequences. This is only right, since for the victim the injury is the same no matter what the abusers state of mind was at the moment. But of equal significance is the intent by a clear majority of the court to reinforce the idea that the Second Amendment right to bear arms has boundaries, as do all constitutional rights.

Among the eight justices, only Justices Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor dissented, and only Thomas wrote a dissent that defended the rights of abusers to keep their firearms. In a dismissive fashion, Thomas wrote that a simple misdemeanor should not be enough to deprive someone of a constitutional right.

Thomas is wrong on that point. Only recently has domestic violence been treated with the gravity it deserves by the criminal justice system.

In the past, even abuses that resulted in serious injuries were pleaded down to misdemeanors. And the bar for felonies was high. Until 2006, when the law was changed, a husband in Minnesota who attempted to strangle his wife typically faced a misdemeanor charge.

Incredibly, the two Maine petitioners in the Supreme Court case attempted to argue that because their violence was not intentional, it should not result in lost gun rights.

Constitutional rights should carry some responsibilities. Those who prize their ability to own deadly weapons should be prepared to demonstrate that they can be responsible. Assaulting a partner or immediate family member should cause the attacker to fail that test.
Istanbul (AFP) - A petrified honeymoon couple hugged each other inside a hair salon cupboard as shots rang out outside, praying the gunmen rampaging through Istanbul's airport would not find them.

Other survivors crouched under check-in counters frantically weighing up whether to stay put or flee.

Amid the chaos, some watched the horror unfold on smartphones or told their stories live on social media. Many were left not knowing for hours whether loved ones were alive or dead.

Witnesses to the carnage at Istanbul airport described scenes of blind panic and stomach-churning terror after attackers detonated three bombs and began shooting indiscriminately in the main terminal building.

At least 36 people died in the bloodiest of four attacks in the city this year. Turkish authorities have pointed the finger at Islamic State militants.

Security cameras captured passengers scattering desperately on Tuesday evening as a huge ball of flame erupted at one entrance. Other footage showed a black-clad gunman blowing himself up after apparently being floored by a police marksman's shot.

Abandoned luggage sprinkled with shards of shattered glass was strewn across the blood-splattered floor.

- 'Surreal' smartphone view -

With passengers scrambling in every direction, some survivors were left with agonising waits to discover if travelling companions had also got out.

Otfah Mohamed Abdullah was checking her luggage in when she saw one of the attackers pull out a hidden gun and begin shooting.

"He's shooting up, two times, and he's beginning to shoot people like that, like he was walking like a prophet," she told AFPTV.

"... and then my sister was running I don't know which way. She was running and after that I was falling down, I was on the ground until he finished. Until now I can't find my sister and I don't have anything, everything (I have) is inside."

Japanese woman Yumi Koyi was waiting for her flight to Tokyo when the attacks began and she was swept up in a scramble to escape. "I heard gunshots so it was really panicking, everyone together."

Story continues

Latvian businessman Rihards Kalnins told AFP that those inside the terminal had no way of knowing what was happening.

"There was just panic about what was going on. People were running, screaming. I didn't know what was going on. At first I thought it was a fight or something like that. I had no idea.

"Then people started saying there was an explosion, there was gunfire. There was no order. Then for the next few hours, the only way to find out what was going on was through social media.

"Literally while we were hiding out a couple of hundred metres (yards) away around the corner, some local guy was showing us video footage on his phone of what was going on 200 metres away -- which was surreal."

- 45 minutes of terror -

New York-based Iraqi journalist Steven Nabil said he was on his way home from his honeymoon when he was caught up in the drama, which he depicted in a series of Tweets.

He had left his wife in a cafe while he went to get food on a different floor. "Heard shots, ran fast toward her," he wrote.

"Came down the stairs to see the court empty and the terrorist firing toward us.

"We then took cover in a closet inside a hair salon. The 45 minutes we were sitting ducks waiting to find out who will open the door.

"When the bullets were close I hugged and kissed her."

South African university administrator Judy Favish was checking in on her way home from Ireland.

As others scattered, she opted to huddle under the counter along with ground staff.

"After about ten minutes someone told us we had to move and we were ushered, running, down to the basement. A couple of people who had been injured were with us and they were still bleeding and very shaken," she told eNCA television.

"A couple of people had major panic attacks downstairs. We were there for about two hours and then they said we could go and ushered us out.

"We walked through the airport and saw debris and blood. It was just chaos. It was horrible."
The FBI is hunting for a woman they say murdered her neighbor who was nine months pregnant after the pair had an argument over loud music at a Milwaukee apartment complex.

Shanika Minor, 24, has been on the run for more than three months after she allegedly shot and killed 23-year-old Tamecca Perry five days before her due date, the FBI said Wednesday when it announced Minor had been added to the bureaus 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List.

The two women originally came to blows in an argument over loud music that Perry had been playing in her apartment, authorities said.

Minors mother, who lived next door to the victim, told her daughter on March 5 that Perry had been playing loud music at an unreasonable hour. Minor approached Perry as she stood on the sidewalk outside her home and, showing that she had a gun, challenged her to a fight.

Apparently Minor believed that the victim had somehow disrespected her or her mother, Special Agent Chad Piontek said. It is a fairly violent neighborhood. Unfortunately, there is sometimes a street mentality about solving problems.

When Minors mother got involved and begged her not to hurt the pregnant woman, Minor allegedly fired a round from her gun into the air, got in her car and left, investigators said.

Most people who witnessed the incident thought that was the end of it, Piontek said.

But Minor returned to the duplex and confronted Perry again at the back door of her home at about 3 a.m. the next day, officials said.

Minors mother tried to stop her daughter by standing between her and the pregnant woman, but Minor reached over her mothers shoulder and fired at Perry, hitting her in the chest, police said.

Perry stumbled into her home, where she died in front of her two young children.

Her unborn child also died.

Read: Cops: Pregnant Woman, Unborn Child Fatally Shot By Neighbor Who Felt 'Disrespected' After Argument

Story continues

Minor has been on the lam ever since, reportedly telling acquaintances that she would not turn herself in.

She faces a slew of charges, including first-degree intentional homicide; first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, a federal offense.

Though the 509th person to be added to the 10 Most Wanted Fugitives collection, Minor is only the tenth women ever to be added to the FBIs list, which was established in 1950.

"The brutal murder of a mother and her unborn child is reprehensible," said Robert Shields, special agent in charge of the FBI Milwaukee Division. The FBI will provide all of our available resources to assist the Milwaukee Police Department in locating and apprehending this violent fugitive."

Milwaukee Police Department Assistant Chief William Jessup welcomed the assistance, saying: "The senseless and tragic murder of an innocent woman and unborn child demands justice and the men and women of the Milwaukee Police Department will not rest until justice is achieved.

"The addition of Shanika S. Minor to the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List combines federal law enforcement resources with MPDs efforts and is certainly appreciated," he continued. "We are optimistic that this federal assistance and national attention will result in a swift arrest.

Minor may have contact with people in Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, Ohio and Georgia, authorities said, noting they believe she is being helped by family members or friends.

There is no record she had any reliable employment, Piontek said. I dont think she has a lot of resources on her own. Clearly, people have assisted her such help is criminal, and individuals could be charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive.

Read: Polygamous Leader Warren Jeff's Brother Lyle Flees Home Confinement: Cops

Authorities are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to Minors capture, which Piontek said he hopes motivates someone to come forward.

Our hope is that whoever is assisting her will find the potential reward more attractive than protecting a person wanted for first-degree murder.

Minor is described as 5-foot-6, weighing 165 pounds with a medium build, black hair and brown eyes. She has a tattoo on her lower abdomen of a display of roses, which are a cover-up of an earlier tattoo that is not fully covered. Some of the roses petals are shaded in red, while others are outlined in black.

She should be considered armed and extremely dangerous, likely still carrying the gun used to kill Perry and her unborn child, officials said.

"She killed someone who was not a stranger to her  a family acquaintance," Piontek said, noting that the pair had gone to high school together. "This was a senseless crime and we believe Minor is capable of more violence. We need to capture her so that no one else is harmed."

Anyone with information concerning Minor should contact the nearest FBI office or local law enforcement agency, or submit a tip online. The FBIs Milwaukee Division can be reached by phone at 414-276-4684.

Watch: Homeless Man Gets $100,000 Reward for Helping Cops Catch Fugitives

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From Cosmopolitan

The FBI has added its 10th woman ever to the "Ten Most Wanted" list after a 24-year-old woman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, murdered her mother's pregnant neighbor following an alleged dispute over the victim playing loud music. The killer, Shanika S. Minor, fled the scene and hasn't been heard from since.

According to a statement from the FBI, Minor "believed that the victim had somehow disrespected her or her mother" after repeatedly playing loud music at an "unreasonable hour." She then instigated a dispute with the woman, 23-year-old Tamecca Perry, and challenged her to a fight while brandishing a handgun. Minor's mother then stepped in to implore her daughter not to harm the woman. Minor fired a round in the air and left the duplex in her car.

However, early the next morning, Minor returned to the home and confronted Perry again. Her mother again tried to convince Minor not to harm the woman, and this time, put herself between them. But Minor allegedly then put her gun over her mom's shoulder and shot the neighbor in the chest.

After being shot, Perry "retreated into her residence, where she died in front of her two children." She was nine months pregnant and less than a week away from her due date. The unborn child could not be saved.

At this time, the FBI is offering up to $100,000 for information leading to Minor's arrest. She is wanted on multiple charges, and should be considered "armed and extremely dangerous." The FBI believes she "may have contact with people in Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, Ohio, and Georgia," and that she has definitely received help as she does not have many financial resources on her own.

"The murder weapon was not recovered, and it is likely she is still armed," Special Agent Chad Piontek said in a statement. "She killed someone who was not a stranger to her - a family acquaintance ... Our hope is that whoever is assisting her will find the potential reward more attractive than protecting a person wanted for first-degree murder."

Story continues

"This was a senseless crime, and we believe Minor is capable of more violence," he continued. "We need to capture her so that no one else is harmed."

Update 7/1, 12:30 p.m.: Minor was captured and arrested early Friday morning in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The FBI will release more details as they become available.

Follow Gina on Twitter.
By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - A woman who was shot inside a downtown Denver office building this week, triggering a massive police response, has died, gunned down by her estranged husband who then committed suicide, police said on Wednesday.

The 53-year-old victim had recently filed for divorce from her husband, who hunted her down at her workplace on Tuesday, shooting her multiple times, Denver Police Commander Ron Saunier told a news conference.

"He came there with the intent of getting the victim," Saunier said, adding that when police officers arrived at the scene, the 58-year-old gunman had killed himself.

Denver's Office of the Medical Examiner identified the dead as Cara Russell and her husband Mickey Russell.

Cara Russell, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds, was taken to a local hospital following the shooting where she was later pronounced dead, Saunier said.

When reports of an active shooter surfaced at midafternoon on Tuesday, SWAT officers and other first responders converged on the Alliance Center in the city's bustling lower downtown area.

Cara Russell was the executive director of the Colorado Association for Recycling, an organization that has office space inside the building, according to Center spokesman Andy Boian. The Center is home to 49 separate organizations, many of which focus on environmental sustainability.

Local TV footage showed office workers fleeing with their hands above their heads as they were evacuated from the building around the time of Tuesday's shooting.

Saunier said the massive police response is standard procedure when there are reports of an active shooter, especially in Colorado which has experienced several mass shootings in recent years.

Investigators have learned that the gunman, who lived in the mountain town of Buena Vista, Colorado, was emotionally unstable and there were rumblings that he could harm his wife, Saunier said, but he had no criminal record.

The Denver Post newspaper reported that Cara Russell had previously served as Buena Vista's mayor before working for the environmental group.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Additional reporting by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Andrew Hay)
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican police and armed forces often use torture and sexual violence against women to obtain confessions during interrogations and arrests, according to a report by Amnesty International released on Tuesday. The report, based on interviews with 100 women, said 72 women had been sexually abused and 33 raped while they were detained, reinforcing reports by other organizations and the United Nations that torture is a common practice in Mexico. "Sexual violence is the preferred tool for security forces in Mexico," said Madeleine Penman, a researcher for Amnesty International in Mexico. "When it comes to the torture of women, their bodies are a target in the war against narco-trafficking." Neither the National Security Commission nor the Defence Ministry could be reached for comment. Mexico brought the military onto its streets more than a decade ago to fight drug cartels, leading to a proliferation of allegations of human rights violations, including torture and extrajudicial executions. The report said torture was commonly used by police. (Reporting by Anahi Rama; Writing by Natalie Schachar; Editing by David Gregorio)
People across Europe and Asia strongly believe presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump would do a poor job of world affairs as U.S. President, according to new research released by Pew Research Center.

In a survey looking into the public image of the U.S. around the world, Trump inspires little confidence: 85% of the Europeans surveyed doubted Trumps ability to do the right thing regarding world affairs. Among them, 92% of Swedes and 89% of Germans said they had no confidence in Trumps ability to handle the international aspect of the presidency. Some 87% of Australians and 82% of Japanese agreed.

The mogul enjoys slightly higher levels of support in China, where only 40% said they had no confidence in his leadership. He also rated comparatively better among Europeans Euroskeptic or anti-immigrant parties. In the U.K., 30% of rightwing U.K. Independence Party (UKIP) voters said they had a positive view of Trump. In Germany, people who hold a favorable view of right-wing and anti-refugee party Alternative for Germany (AfD) were more likely to hold confidence in Trump.

The poll showed that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton inspired confidence from the majority of countries surveyed. Across the 10 E.U. nations polled, 59% have faith that she will do the right thing in world affairs. Greece was the notable exception, where 78% say they have no confidence in her ability to deal with world affairs.

But neither candidates enjoy the popularity of U.S. President Barack Obama, who received favorable rating on foreign affairs from 77% of Europeans. In 15 of the 16 countries surveyed, majorities expressed confidence in his proficiency when it comes to handling world affairs. The exception, once again, was Greece, where respondents felt Russian President Vladimir Putin was the stronger leader.

Overall, the U.S. enjoys largely positive views around the world. At least 50% of people in every nation surveyed held favorable opinions of the U.S., with higher-than-average ratings in Poland (74%), Italy (72%) and Japan (72%).

The poll was conducted in 10 European nations, four major Asia-Pacific countries, Canada and the U.S.
From House Beautiful

When it comes to pirates, there's no one we'd rather spend the afternoon with more than Jack Sparrow. The character from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean series is cunning, goofy and, even if he would hate to admit it, kind-hearted. Unfortunately for us, he's not a real person - but you can live like him (if only for a day) when you visit the Wallilabou Anchorage in St. Vincent, which is where scenes from Port Royal were shot.

In case you don't remember, this is where Elizabeth Swann's father governed and Will Turner was a black smith. During filming, the bay was filled with cast, crew and even pirate ships. Inside the hotel, cast used the rooms to create "Green Rooms." We'd love to call dibs on the suite Orlando Bloom shot in.

Sadly, after the film wrapped, everyone packed up and went home - but they left many of the details behind. Today, you can visit and, for a truly immersed experience, try on some of the original pirate costumes from the movie. Afterwards, we recommend exploring the grounds and taking a few photos in front of the canons that line the water or next to the eerie noose. It's the next best thing to actually exploring the famous port with Sparrow himself.

Take a look:
Kai Green was having trouble breathing. When he tried to exhale, he would erupt in a fit of coughing and felt like he had to vomit. For weeks, Green, who is transgender, avoided seeking helping for fear of having doctors reduce his illness to his gender identity.

But Green, a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University who lives in Chicago, finally relented on June 9, rushing to the emergency room at Evanston Hospital, 20 minutes outside of the city. There, the doctor took Green's medical chart and studied the list of medications he was taking.

"Why are you taking testosterone?" the doctor asked.

"I'm a trans man," Green responded.

"Have you had the surgery?"

"What surgery?" Green asked, confused about what his transgender identity might have to do with his inability to breathe. He explained that yes, he had a double mastectomy years ago, but his coughing and difficulty breathing were the problem now.

As if on cue, Green began to cough again.

"What are you here for?" the doctor asked.

"I'd like to be able to breathe!" Green responded.

The United States medical establishment has slowly made health care for transgender people more accessible  including transition-related care like hormone treatments and gender confirmation surgery. A third of Fortune 500 companies offer "transgender-inclusive health care coverage," according to a 2015 report from LGBT rights group the Human Rights Campaign. In May, the Health and Human Services announced a rule that bans many insurance companies from denying coverage to patients based on their gender identity.

But routine doctor's visits continue to prove troublesome for transgender patients, who regularly encounter health care professionals who are either wholly ignorant about transgender health or, like in Green's case, can't look past their gender identity. In he National Transgender Discrimination Survey Report on Health and Health Care found that that 28% of survey respondents reported being harassed about their gender identity in medical settings. The problem is so endemic that it has prompted transgender patients to recount their horror stories on Twitter using the hashtag #TransHealthFail, like talking about being misgendered and forced into medically unnecessary tests.

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In one instance, Parker Molloy, a well-known , s was asked to take a pregnancy test before getting a chest X-ray  despite the fact that she doesn't have a uterus.

There was a time I had to take a pregnancy test before getting a chest x-ray despite lacking uterus. #transhealthfailpic.twitter.com/e8zIoBqjSN https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLMuOqFWsAAeqPx.jpg:large

"My wellness may or may not be related to me being a transgender person, so I need [doctors] to listen to the full story," Green said in a phone interview. "If you see me and all you think is 'trans,' you're going to miss a lot."

That's exactly what happened at Evanston Hospital, Green said. He packed up his things and left, but not before leaving a note asking staff to send his chest X-rays to a doctor at Howard Brown Health Center, which caters to LGBTQ clients. "I deserve better," . "I'm out. Headed home breathing a little bit easier now."

Evanston hospital did not immediately respond to a request from Mic for comment.

The problems that transgender people face in the United States' health system start with gaining access to it. Transgender Americans are according to a 2015 report from the Center for American Progress and Movement Advancement Project. In a system where health care is tied to employment, this means transgender people often lack access to health care. The 2010 National Transgender Discrimination Survey Report on Health and Health Care stated 19% of survey respondents reported not having any medical insurance.

But even when trans people do have reliable health insurance, there are no standard training practices that hospitals or medical professionals are required to take that teach them about transgender health. "Most physicians only learn well after they're out of school and encountering a trans patient for the first time," said Anand Kalra, health programs manager at the Transgender Law Center. "There's no across-the-board standard for quality of care."

Half of respondents surveyed by the National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force reported having to teach their providers about transgender health care, according to the 2010 report. Green, in Chicago, said he was asked four years ago to conduct a seminar for doctors at the University of Southern California after he commented on his frustrating interactions with medical staff there.

It's no surprise that, according to the 2010 report, 28% of participants in the National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force survey did what Green did and postponed medical care altogether.

Slowly, the medical establishment has begun to introduce such training. obtaining information about a patient's sexual behavior and identity.

Green eventually found out what was ailing him: He had bronchitis. But he said his experience in Evanston taught him a valuable lesson, one that he hopes more physicians will also learn. "There needs to be some recognition that doctors don't know everything," he said. "People need to be humble and recognize they don't have the answers and they need to ."
WASHINGTON  The House Select Committee on Benghazi released its long-awaited findings Tuesday and concluded that ... well, it looks as though theyre going to have to empanel another select committee to iron out the dueling conclusions reached by various members of the committee.

The panel members spent two years and $7 million to come up with the last word on what happened in Libya in September 2012, when four Americans were killed. They had vowed to best the seven prior congressional investigations and the Obama administrations own probe.

Instead, they ended their investigation this week with three more competing reports: one by committee Democrats, one by Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, and the committees Republican majority, and one by a rump group of conservatives on the panel. Theres still no smoking gun from Benghazi  just a lot more smoke.

Had Gowdy found evidence that the military could have saved the lives of the four Americans? I dont know, Gowdy said.

Had he proved that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acted on political motives? I dont have a background in the why, Gowdy demurred.

Do his findings support the allegation on bumper stickers and T-shirts across the land claiming Clinton lied, people died? You dont see that T-shirt on me, and youve never seen that bumper sticker on any of my vehicles, Gowdy replied.

Gowdy went out of his way not to mention Clinton in his opening statement at a news conference Tuesday. He said he would be shocked if people concluded the report is about her.

Unfortunately, at least two of the six committee Republicans sharing the stage with Gowdy had a dissenting view. Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas, who wrote a separate report with Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, proclaimed Clintons actions during the Benghazi attacks morally reprehensible and said relatives of the slain have every right to be disgusted with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

NBCs Luke Russert asked Gowdy about that morally reprehensible allegation.

You read the report, you will not see any of those quotes, the chairman replied.

But Pompeo stepped to the microphone and said he absolutely believes Clintons behavior was morally reprehensible  something he believes in my heart.

If having a legitimate probe was the goal, Gowdy was probably doomed from the start. He launched with a show of fairness. But Republicans, including Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, eventually confessed the panels political aims. Democrats grew more antagonistic, and Gowdy, after promising his report was not going to come out in the middle of 2016, released his report just before the political conventions.

Gowdy apparently lost hard-liners on his own panel. Pompeo and Jordan, in their rival report, alleged that Clintons State Department was seemingly more concerned with politics and Secretary Clintons legacy than with protecting its people in Benghazi, and they said the Obama administration was so focused on the next election that it lost sight of its duty to tell the American people the truth.

They faulted Clinton for a lapse in judgment that may well haunt our nation for years to come. And they thought it plausible to conclude that she forced Americans to stay in dangerous conditions because to leave Benghazi would have been viewed as her failure.

If Republicans leveled wild accusations, Democrats went the other way, issuing their own report categorically asserting that the Pentagon could not have done anything differently to save those killed, that Secretary Clinton never personally denied any requests for additional security in Benghazi, that intelligence assessments were not influenced by political considerations and that officials did not make intentionally misleading statements.

Between the reckless accusations and the nothing-to-see-here defenses, there was one obvious truth: There does not appear to be a smoking gun, CNNs Dana Bash informed her viewers before Gowdy entered the room.

Nor even a warm slingshot. The few revelations the panel advertised as new  that no military assets had been deployed to Benghazi, that embassy security staff had been ordered to change uniforms, that Clinton had been planning a visit to Libya  had mostly been uncovered in previous investigations.

Gowdy, with slicked gray hair, lavender tie and fitted suit, offered what sounded like an excuse for the absence of a bombshell.

It is always better to be the first committee to investigate, and it is always better to investigate as contemporaneously to an incident or to an event as can be done, he said. Our committee did not have the luxury of either one of those.

Too bad they didnt think of this two years and $7 million ago.
Paris (AFP) - Two studies of newborns in Zika-stricken Brazil yielded meagre clues Wednesday about the mysterious workings of the virus, and prompted researchers to call for better tests to identify brain-damaged babies.

Some infants with brain abnormalities may not be diagnosed because they have normal-sized heads instead of the tell-tale small skulls of those born with Zika-linked microcephaly, said one of the papers published by The Lancet.

More than 100 babies who had "definitely or probably" been infected with Zika in the womb, turned out to have normal-sized heads in a recent study, researchers said.

The skull is fully developed by about week 30 of pregnancy, which lasts some 40 weeks.

This meant that "newborns infected with the virus late in pregnancy may go unreported due to their head size being within normal range," said study co-author Cesar Victora of the Federal University of Pelotas.

Also, many of the affected infants' mothers had not had the pregnancy rash sometimes indicative of Zika infection.

Benign in most people, the mosquito-borne virus has been linked to microcephaly -- a shrinking of the brain and skull -- in babies, and to rare adult-onset neurological problems such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which can result in paralysis and death.

In an outbreak that started last year, about 1.5 million people have been infected with Zika in Brazil, and more than 1,600 babies born with abnormally small heads and brains.

Existing diagnostics, such as skull measurements or checking for a rash, were not enough to detect all Zika-affected children, said the team.

As a result, some may be living with brain damage that will only become apparent much later.

Doctors should also screen for other signs of brain abnormalities, using ultrasound brain examinations, for example, Victora told AFP.

And, "we need to improve the detection of Zika virus infection on the blood".

- Second wave -

The authors speculated that babies may develop brain damage from an infection that occurs even after birth.

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"Zika affects the growing brain, and brain growth does not stop at birth but continues throughout infancy," said Victora.

"If a foetus infected in the last trimester of pregnancy can suffer brain damage, couldn't a newborn who is infected by a mosquito also be affected?"

No such case has yet been reported, "but I think it is possible that this will happen," the scientist said.

With a new wave of Zika virus infections in southeast Brazil early this year, there could soon be a second wave of microcephaly births, the authors added.

A second study added to the growing body of evidence linking the virus to birth defects.

It reported finding Zika in the brain tissue of three dead babies with severe brain damage, and the placenta of two miscarriages.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has concluding that Zika causes microcephaly, even though there have only been a handful of studies to confirm the presence of Zika in foetuses or babies with birth defects.

A lot more research is needed, said the authors, to determine how the virus works and what it does.
Believing in my bones, as I do, that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are unworthy and unqualified to be president of the United States has inspired me to do a lot of soul searching, and that has drawn me more and more to the writings of the legendary H.L. Mencken and less-than-legendary Albert J. Nock.

The two Tory anarchists, as some called them, were friends and intellectual comrades-in-arms who stood athwart the progressive and populist passions that defined American politics in the first half of the 20th century.

The domestic madness of World War I galvanized both men. Under Democrat Woodrow Wilson, the United States established the first modern ministry of propaganda, the Committee on Public Information. The Wilson administration jailed political dissenters by the thousands, encouraged the brown-shirt tactics of the American Protective League and censored newspapers and magazines with abandon.

Wilson demonized hyphenated Americans  i.e. Irish Americans or German Americans  as enemies of the state. There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American, he proclaimed. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.

Nock wrote a scalding editorial for The Nation criticizing labor leader Samuel Gompers for supporting the government. The Wilson administration responded by temporarily banning the publication.

The government also banned booze  an effort led in Congress by Republican Andrew Volstead. Prohibition further demonstrated for Mencken and Nock that the zeal to muck about with peoples lives was a bipartisan affair.

The more obvious the failure becomes, the more shamelessly they exhibit their genuine motives, Mencken wrote in 1926. In plain words, what moves them is the psychological aberration called sadism. They lust to inflict inconvenience, discomfort, and, whenever possible, disgrace upon the persons they hate  which is to say, upon everyone who is free from their barbarous theological superstitions, and is having a better time in the world than they are.

What united Nock and Mencken most was a sense of homelessness in the intellectual establishment. Franklin Roosevelt, who campaigned on the promise to use the war-fighting methods of the Wilson administration to fight the Great Depression, further cemented their alienation. Communism, the New Deal, Fascism, Nazism, Nock wrote in his memoirs, are merely so-many trade-names for collectivist Statism, like the trade-names for tooth-pastes which are all exactly alike except for the flavouring. This was an exaggeration, but one can only exaggerate the truth.

Once again American politics is threatening to become a competition between rival factions of statists, eager to use the government to reward themselves and punish their enemies, with enemy defined as anyone who doesnt agree with them.

Today, America looks very different from the America of Mencken and Nocks era, but the similarities are hard to ignore. Liberal elites have decided that if you have a problem with men using womens bathrooms, youre not just wrong, youre a bigot. A registered Democrat murdered 49 Americans at a gay nightclub, in the name of the Islamic State, and the smart set insists conservative Christians are somehow to blame.

The zeal of Prohibition has multiplied like a cancer cell, with reformers wanting to ban everything they dont like: vaping, free speech, coal, Uber, refusal to bake cakes for gay weddings, and, if they could, guns.

On the right, the presumptive GOP nominee promises not limited government but stronger, more protectionist government enlisted to remedy the grievances of his constituencies. His white working-class supporters represent real America, and their problems are always somebody elses fault. Ive lost count of how many times his most ardent fans have called me a bigot for opposing Trump.

True to their reputations as curmudgeons, no constituency was above reproach for Nock and Mencken. Business elites were Babbitts, eager to chart the course of least resistance. The people, in Menckens famous phrase, were the great booboisie. The decent and right-thinking were, according to Nock, a silent and tiny remnant hiding away from politics. Democracy itself, according Mencken was the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

My cynicism is not yet as great as theirs. I have some cause for optimism. But one only looks for signs of hope when theres ample reason to despair.
A who has a smartphone is capable of whipping out a high-resolution camera and filming injustice in progress. That technology is how we've become exposed to police abuses nationwide and helped inspire a new wave of police reform activism.

Technology makes that kind of accountability possible, but technology could also undo that progress.

Apple was granted a patent Tuesday for a new system that would allow people and institutions that are equipped with a certain infrared light emitter to shut down photo and video recording on nearby iPhones.

The technology's purpose, according to the patent, is to prevent bootlegging movies, or recording in private spaces like concerts. This is how the technology would work:

[A]n infrared emitter can be located in areas where picture or video capture is prohibited, and the emitter can generate infrared signals with encoded data that includes commands to disable the recording functions of devices. An electronic device can then receive the infrared signals, decode the data and temporarily disable the device's recording function based on the command.

W could object to that? Filming at concerts sucks for everyone. Concertgoers overpay to see their favorite performers through a sea of raised phones, and Beyonce gets her blowout performances put up on YouTube after the first show on the tour.

This is an image included in the patent filing, demonstrating how the new system would work.

B given how police have secretly adapted new kinds of technology, from Stingrays that can intercept text messages in transit to license plate scanners, it's not hard to predict how police could take on as part of their arsenal, regardless of Apple's recent anti-surveillance track record.

Filming police in public is a protected right that police . Police a trying to confiscate or destroy phones and video footage. And apps that instantly upload video to an online database as they're taken, like the American Civil Liberties Union's

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The Supreme Court case Glik v. Cunniffe gave people the right to hold police accountable by filming and photographing them in the course of their work. No one will know whether they can rightfully push back with their own tech until they
If you you have an unhealthy attachment to your smartphone, get a load of this guy. According to Las Vegas news station KTNV, Los Angeles man Aaron Chervenak drove all the way to The Little Vegas Chapel for the chance to join his smartphone in holy matrimony.

"At first it was like, 'What'?" chapel owner Michael Kelly told the news station. "And then I was like... 'All right, let's do it.' We don't really have many people that marry inanimate objects."

Source: YouTube

Given that it's in Nevada (or anywhere), WTF is going on here? Why stage a fake ceremony to a smartphone in the first place?

"People are so connected to their phones and they live with them all the time," Kelly told KTNV said. "They're with them 24 hours a day. They go to sleep with their cell phone. They wake up with their cell phone, sometimes it's the first thing that they check. I think he wanted to explore that. Can technology become human?"

Ah. So it's an attempt to make a statement about how addicted we are to our devices, which manifests itself in nomophobia, the word for the crippling fear we experience when separated from our smartphones. This is not the first time we've been down this road, lest we forget the 2013 movie Her, in which a dude somehow manages to fall in love with his computer's o

Anyway. It should be interesting to check back with this guy in two years when he's eligible for an upgrade.
On March 8, 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton hailed the arrival of a new era, one in which the internet would mean the triumph of liberty around the world. He dismissed Chinas fledgling efforts to restrain online speech. Good luck, quipped Clinton. Thats sort of like trying to nail Jello to the wall.

More than 16 years later, however, it appears that China has largely succeeded in doing just that. Key to this achievement was Lu Wei, known as Chinas internet czar. The charismatic head of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs, Chinas internet regulator, channeled the vision and confidence of strongman President Xi Jinping and, with a barrage of strict new policies aimed at corralling online speech, plugged the holes left by the prior administrations half-measures, which left social media a flourishing space where government was often criticized. On June 29, state news agency Xinhua confirmed reports that Lu would be stepping down, an unexpected move. Its unclear what prompted the move, or whats next for Lu. But his legacy, and Chinas unprecedented system of internet controls, are unlikely to fade.

China has committed massive resources and ingenuity to filtering online content. Censorship began in the 1990s with the introduction of early forms of the internet, and picked up slowly in the 2000s, as China began to block foreign social media sites, slowly what came to be known as the Great Firewall of censorship. But it was the 2011 Arab Spring, a wave of pro-democracy protests that gained support and organized via social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, that seemed to alert Chinese authorities to the existential threat the internet posed to authoritarian governments. After assuming Chinas presidency in late 2012, Xi seemed determined to realize the ruling Communist Partys declared vision of the internet: one whose liberalizing streak could be stifled without squelching its economic usefulness.

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Lu was the man Xi chose for that task. Lu soon set out to dismantle the three bulwarks of the internets power: anonymity, virality, and impunity. China already required internet service providers and mobile companies to hand over user information at government request. In a country without significant privacy protections and no institutions capable of meaningfully restraining authority, the main challenge was technocratic. Under Lus watch, the space for anonymous online posting shrank as the government introduced new requirements for internet users to register online accounts with their real names and phone numbers, making it easy for security officials to locate the author of individual posts.

Preventing the rapid spread of information authorities deemed sensitive or dangerous required monumental effort. During Lus tenure as head of Cyberspace Affairs, China often contracted out the work of censorship to internet companies themselves. Chinese authorities issued censorship guidelines, then threatened to shut companies down if they did not comply. Chinese companies hired small armies of censors to flag, remove, and report sensitive comments in real time. Foreign websites that did not abide by the official guidelines were blocked.

But the knockout punch was combining the defeat of anonymity and the advent of mass web filtering to topple the third fortress  the sense of impunity that allows web users sitting behind their computers to speak more boldly than they otherwise would. In 2013, China launched a war against what it called online rumors, arresting several celebrity bloggers and shaming them on national television. It was, to use a Chinese phrase, killing the chicken to scare the monkey  making an example to threaten others. Many users began to vigorously self-censor, unclear of where the line was drawn but afraid of accidentally crossing it.

The effect was felt immediately, a former employee of Sina Weibos censorship department said in a March interview with the Committee to Protect Journalists. The amount of original posting dropped rapidly. Users not only withdrew from serious commentary, but became reluctant to post about what they heard or saw in their daily lives. The strategy proved effective long-term. Now, concluded the former censor, the government rules Weibo with ease.

The attack on user impunity has only deepened. In 2015, Beijing announced that it would embed cybersecurity police directly into the countrys largest tech firms, streamlining the process and the time between the flagging of questionable content to the moment when men in uniform arrived at the web users home address. By August 2015, Chinese police had arrested 15,000 people for internet crimes.

Perhaps Lus greatest personal contribution to the evolution of the modern internet was his role as evangelist for Chinas approach. He wasnt just the technocratic architect of a system of controls; he also served as a vocal international advocate for the ideological and practical superiority of such a system. He proudly championed the idea of internet sovereignty, the idea that the internet, like territory, has borders which each nation is entitled to monitor and defend. Its an idea that is gaining steady appeal around the globe, particularly among authoritarian regimes. Iran, Russia, Turkey, Thailand, and Zimbabwe are now looking to China as they consider their own national version of the Great Firewall.

Western observers have been slow to comprehend what Chinas leaders first grasped  that the internet, like traditional media, can be controlled. Clintons Jello comment grew out of the post-Soviet optimism of the 1990s, which led to rosy predictions that democracys global triumph was nigh. The internet blossomed amid this flush of ideological triumph. Now that all seems naive.

Getty Images
Microsoft's Satya Nadella

Taking a page from Isaac Asimovs famous Three Laws of Robotics, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has drawn up six musts for the revolution in artificial intelligence that he sees coming, plus four musts for the humans living in the AI age.

Nadellas deep dive into the philosophical underpinnings of AI research comes as Microsoft is turning its attention toward AI tools with a vigor reminiscent of billionaire co-founder Bill Gates pivot to the internet in the mid-1990s. In his own essay, published today online on Slate, Nadella refers not only to Asimovs laws, but also to Gates 1995 Internet Tidal Wave memo.

The essay also comes amid a debate over whether AI could pose a Terminator-level threat to humanitys long-term future. Just this week, for example, British physicist Stephen Hawking warned about the rise of an AI arms race in autonomous weapons. Over the past month, the White House has been conducting a nation-spanning series of workshops focusing on the promise and potential peril of intelligent machines.

Nadella says humans and machines could work together to address societys greatest scourges, including disease, ignorance and poverty.

Doing so, however, requires a bold and ambition approach that goes beyond anything that can be achieved through incremental improvements to current technology, he writes. Now is the time for greater coordination and collaboration on AI.

Nadella lays out the principles and goals, as an industry and a society, that we should discuss and debate. Folks who are at all interested in artificial intelligence and its implications should read the whole essay, but heres the TL;DR version of Nadellas 10 Laws of AI:

AI must be designed to assist humanity.

AI must be transparent.

AI must maximize efficiencies without destroying the dignity of people.

AI must be designed for intelligent privacy.

AI needs algorithmic accountability so humans can undo unintended harm.

AI must guard against bias.

Its critical for humans to have empathy.

Its critical for humans to have education.

The need for human creativity wont change.

A human has to be ultimately accountable for the outcome of a computer-generated diagnosis or decision.

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Nadella says experts should track the effects of AI advances on society through efforts such as Stanford Universitys One Hundred Year Study, the brainchild of Microsoft Researchs Eric Horvitz. Nadella acknowledges that the framework for AI research will need to be tweaked in the decades ahead  but the way he sees it, the biggest need is to build the right foundation, right now.

The most critical next step in our pursuit of AI is to agree on an ethical and empathic framework for its design, he says.

More from GeekWire:
Here are some of the stocks the Yahoo! Finance team is watching for you.

Shares of Toyota (TM) were down 1% ahead of the open. The carmaker plans on recalling a combined 3.4 million vehicles due to problems with airbags and emissions control units. This would be separate from the big recall of Takata airbags from a few weeks ago. Toyotas stock is down 18% year-to-date.

Get the latest market data and news with the Yahoo Finance App

Investors were also keeping a close eye on Sony (SNE), with shares up 3% in premarket trading. The consumer electronics giant said virtual reality headsets will raise its games sales target next year. Sony plans to begin selling the headsets in October. The companys CEO also said its working on a robot capable of forming an emotional bond. But Sony cut its outlook on image sensors revenue, blaming slowing smartphone sales. Investors have been bonding with the stock, which is up just shy of 14% so far this year.

Verizon (VZ) plans to sell $1.2 billion in bonds sometime in the third quarter. But these bonds will be backed by new smartphone sales contracts with roughly 2.5 million customers. According to The Wall Street Journal, Fitch is expected to give most of the bonds an AAA rating. Verizon shares are up 14% since the start of 2016.
Since society has already given up on saving the baby, they told us, lets at least save the mother. It may not be full compassion, whole-hearted compassion, but at least, this distasteful choice is born in compassion, of a sort. At least the Lefts intentions were good.

This was the promise: that legalization would protect the mother from the back alley abortionist, that legalization would defend her from the infections and shoddy workmanship and inherent malpractice of so-called doctors who work on the other side of the law.

Since people will get abortions anyway, we were told, the horse is out of that barn, you know we need to legalize the practice, so that it can be safe, legal, and rare.

So, when a renewed effort for legalization of abortion really kicked into high gear in the 1960s, it was couched in a mantle of compassion instead.

When the modern abortion movement first began, a century ago, Planned Parenthood founder and hero Margaret Sanger was quite clear on her belief in the theory of eugenics. She wanted to reduce the numbers of undesirable people in America (you know, all those other races and ethnicities), and abortion was the easiest way that sprung to mind. But it didnt catch on; it was too extreme.

The Texas Case

So the people of Texas accepted that theory, and attempted to apply it. In 2013, the state of Texas set rules for abortion clinics, requiring that they meet the same standards of equipment and sanitation that any other place calling itself a clinic would have to meet. Nothing extreme, nothing burdensome. Nothing that you dont have to do if you want to call your operation a 24-hour emergency care facility, or a suburban outpatient center, or a plastic surgeons office, doing facelifts and tummy tucks. Just normal cleanliness and waste disposal processes, normal record-keeping and reporting requirements, and admission privileges at nearby hospitals.

This last one is particularly noteworthy. You know how your regular doctor is sometimes late for an appointment because hes held up a bit at the hospital, performing or assisting on a surgery or a birth? Thats because you want your doctor to have a relationship with the hospital. He practices there too, as well as in his office or clinic. We need that relationship, because if anything goes wrong at the clinic, you need the doctor to be able to get the patient into the right hands at the hospital quickly .

And, in case you havent heard the abortion procedure happens to be one of those things that has complications sometimes. Complications that can and do prove fatal.

So theres nothing unfair, nothing burdensome in the Texas requirement.

The people of Texas were just taking the abortion supporters at their word, assuming that they included the safe part of safe, legal and rare on purpose. Since the practice obviously isnt safe for the child, it just had to be the mother they were concerned about. Right?

Hence the Texas rule. There has to be some noticeable difference between the back-alley abortion mills of the past and the legally-established abortion providers of the present.

In short, if you want to run an abortion clinic, it has to be a proper clinic. Fair enough.

Whole Womens Health vs. Hellerstedt, Commissioner, Texas Dept of State Health Services

The Center for Reproductive Rights immediately challenged the Texas law, and fought it all the way to the Supreme Court. The Court voted five to three to strike down the law on Monday, June 27, 2016, in an opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer and rooted in the fancy that theres some Constitutional right to abortions somewhere in the emanations and penumbras of a document that was written in 1787, but was hidden so well as to be first noticed by William O. Douglas in 1965, nearly two centuries later.

We see now that when it helped their case, the Left maintained that abortion should be safe, legal and rare but when it was no longer necessary, they decided that the legal part trumps the other two desires. In their world, you cant make safety a condition on making it legal, after all. And hey, if safety requirements cause it to be rarer too, well then, theyll be happy to throw rarity under the bus as well. Keeping abortion legal is what counts.

Looking beyond this case, we must consider that many states impose reasonable conditions on abortion: parental notification if the mother is a minor, a 72-hour waiting period to think about such a momentous occasion, a requirement to lay out other options such as adoption things like that. This 5-3 decision has excited the Left in ways we havent seen since 2009 when they assumed control of House, Senate and White House all at once again. The Left is now motivated to be aggressive in attacking all other safety-related and judgment-related restrictions. We should expect many more challenges, each more aggressive than the last, in the effort to make abortion every bit as much a part of American life as going to school, driving a car, or watching TV.

The Real Motivation?

America is therefore left with many quandaries, as we go forward from here. We see that the Supreme Court has fallen even further than perhaps we had feared We see that state after state must now expect to shell out billions they dont have for legal fights, as massive challenges are bound to spring up And we now know that all the Lefts protestations for good, safe healthcare for Americas troubled young mothers was actually just poppycock, all along.

And on a philosophical level, perhaps it tells us something else, if we think hard about it.

We have been told that Abortion should be between a woman and her doctor but now the Left has admitted they dont care if the abortionist is really a legitimate doctor at all, and theyve cheered at seeing the high court strip that requirement away from the law.

We have thought of the abortion debate as involving, principally, three parties; the mother, the child, and the doctor. The Left gave up on the childs life years ago and now we see that theyre willing to toss any rule that would protect the mothers life too.

So whos left to protect?

Well, there are an awful lot of abortionists in this multi-billion dollar industry, and they write a lot of campaign checks to Democratic Party candidates, from your local state rep all the way up to the man or woman who seeks the White House.

The Supreme Court  and the abortion movement  have finally made it clear. Between the mother, the child, and the doctor we now know whose side the Left is on, and who theyre willing to sacrifice on that altar of theirs, in order to keep the gravy train of (often taxpayer-funded) donations flowing in their direction.

Copyright 2016 John F. Di Leo

John F. Di Leo is an international trade lecturer, actor, and writer. His columns are found regularly in Illinois Review.

Permission is hereby granted to forward freely, provided it is uncut and the IR URL and byline are included.
"Im designating the Stonewall National Monument as the newest addition to Americas national parks system. Stonewall will be our first national monument to tell the story of the struggle for LGBT rights," President Obama said.

"I believe our national parks should reflect the full story of our country  the richness and diversity and uniquely American spirit that has always defined us. That we are stronger together. That out of many, we are one."

In response to the Stonewall rebellion, as some call it, the first gay pride parades were held on the last weekend in June in New York and other major U.S. cities, including Chicago.

One version of the story behind the newest national monument is told on Wikipedia this way:

Very few establishments welcomed openly gay people in the 1950s and 1960s. Those that did were often bars, although bar owners and managers were rarely gay. At the time, the Stonewall Inn was owned by the Mafia. It catered to an assortment of patrons and was known to be popular among the poorest and most marginalized people in the gay community: drag queens, transgender people, effeminate young men, butch lesbians, male prostitutes, and homeless youth. Police raids on gay bars were routine in the 1960s, but officers quickly lost control of the situation at the Stonewall Inn. They attracted a crowd that was incited to riot. Tensions between New York City police and gay residents of Greenwich Village erupted into more protests the next evening, and again several nights later. Within weeks, Village residents quickly organized into activist groups to concentrate efforts on establishing places for gays and lesbians to be open about their sexual orientation without fear of being arrested.

The following was produced by the White House:
The appointment comes after patriarch Osamu Suzuki this month said he would decline the CEO position to take responsibility for the automaker's use of incorrect testing methods when calculating vehicle mileage.

Japanese investigators raided the company's headquarters last week in their probe of the improper tests.

By Reuters: Suzuki Motor Corp on Wednesday said its board has appointed Toshihiro Suzuki, son of Chairman Osamu Suzuki, as its next chief executive effective the same day, as the Japanese automaker attempts to recover from a vehicle testing scandal.

ALSO READ: 2017 Maruti-Suzuki Swift image leaked

The appointment comes after patriarch Osamu Suzuki this month said he would decline the CEO position to take responsibility for the automaker's use of incorrect testing methods when calculating vehicle mileage.

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Japan's No. 4 automaker by sales said in May it had used wrong tests to calculate mileage for models going back to 2010, submitting figures compiled from indoor tests performed on individual parts, rather than vehicle coasting tests.

ALSO READ: Maruti Suzuki to ramp up Vitara Brezza production to 10,000 units from July

Japanese investigators raided the company's headquarters last week in their probe of the improper tests.

The change to chairman Suzuki's role and the retirement of the vice president will be effective June 29, subject to approval by shareholders at its annual general meeting, the company said.

ALSO READ: Maruti-Suzuki sells 7,193 units of Vitara Brezza in May

Suzuki said it plans to introduce improvements including better training for engineers and strengthening of its mileage testing systems. It would also encourage whistle-blowing, it said.

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The facelifted Porsche 911 Carrera has been priced at Rs 1.39 crore in Mahrashtra and Rs 1.42 crore in New Delhi.

By India Today Web Desk: German automaker Porsche launched its facelifted flagship sportscar, the Porsche 911 Carrera, in India today at a price of Rs 14,233,000 in Delhi for the base variant.

In Maharashtra, the same will be priced at Rs 13,971,000.



The latest addition to the German carmaker's portfolio in India is a facelifted version of the previous model and will be imported as a completely built unit (CBU) from Porsche's plant in Zuffenhausen, Germany. Porsche will retail the model through its dealerships in six cities in India - Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi, Gurgaon, Bangalore and Ahmedabad.

The 911 Carrera's technical details.

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The new 911 models are powered by a newly developed 3-litre biturbo petrol engine.



With its long nose, sloping roof and short tail, the 911 retains its looks. However, it comes with updated new headlamps with four-point daytime running lights and a rear lid with vertical louvres. It has also got new tail lights.



The new Porsche 911 also sports a new 360mm diameter steering wheel taken from the 918.



Rear wheel steering will be optional on the S models and standard on the Turbo models of the 911

The Porsche 911 Carrera gets a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system which also supports navigation, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.



ENGINE POWER



The new 911 Carrera produces 370hp while the 911 Carrera S delivers 420hp, thanks to a combination of turbochargers with modified compressors, enhanced exhaust system and tuned engine management.

Sprinting from 0-100 in 4.2 seconds the new 911 Carrera is faster than its predecessor. The 911 Carrera S with PDK and Spot Chrono package does the same in just 3.9 seconds.

Torque gains in the new models are higher by about 60Nm with 450 Nm in the 911 Carrera and 500Nm in the 011 Carrera S. The full torque will be available to push the car from as low as 1700rpm. The maximum torque in the new cars is available in the entire range at up to 5,000rpm.



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Some of the brightest minds on our planet believe that colonizing Mars is an inevitable future to ensure the survival of the human species.Read on to know more about farming on Mars.

By India Today Web Desk:

The colonisation of Mars is still a far-fetched idea for many but with the growing instability in climate the need to look for other habitable planets has grown exponentially. So far, Mars is the only planet that has shown some promise of sustaining human life. One of the main benchmarks of colonising an alien planet will be to create an environment that can provide sustenance to the colonisers.

Is it possible to grow food on Mars?

Farming on Mars is not possible without modifying the soil's components. Devoid of any organic material, the soil cannot provide the necessary nutrients for agriculture. The planet's soil is heavily loaded with metals such as lead, copper and cadmium. These metals are capable of contaminating the produce.

However, a new research by scientists at Wageningen University in the Netherlands claims that they have grown a few crops in the soil that mimics the Martian soil composition. The scientists were able to grow crops such as radishes, peas, tomatoes and rye. They introduced organic material in the soil to make it fertile enough to grow edible crops.

Can we start colonising Mars already?

Although the research was a success and was able to grow 10 common crops in the fake Mars soil, the assumption that the real Martian soil will also behave in a similar fashion is farfetched. Other than suitable soil, the produce heavily depends on the air quality and the gravitational force of the planet. Farming on Mars will either require humans to terraform the planet or completely regulate the air and soil quality.

Then when can we start moving to Mars?

A few prominent private companies are heavily investing in plans to colonise Mars as early as possible. The Space X programme, under the guidance of Elon Musk, plans to send its first unmanned space mission to Mars by the year 2022 followed by a manned mission in 2024. Another major not-for-profit foundation, called Mars One, is planning to send its first unmanned Mars flight in 2020 and a manned mission in 2026. Which will be followed by subsequent crews in every 26 months.

Some of the brightest minds on our planet believe that colonising Mars is an inevitable future in order to ensure the survival of the human species. Recent reports suggest that human induced climate change is aggravating every year. If this phenomenon continues at the same rate, humans will have no choice but to explore other possibilities such as Mars.



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To get more updates on Current Affairs, send in your query by mail toeducation.intoday@gmail.com

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By PTI: Gaya (Bihar), Jun 29 (PTI) A man from Jharkhand was today arrested with 228 bottles of liquor in Barachatti police station area of Gaya district, police said.

A car coming from Ranchi was intercepted by the police and 228 bottles of whiskey, meant for supply to the paramilitary forces, seized, City Superintendent of Police Avkash Kumar claimed.

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As liqour has been banned in Bihar, the police arrested one person, identified as Bhola Singh, under the Excise Act for illegal possession of liqour bottles.

Singh was travelling from Ranchi by the car with the liquor bottles on way to his native place in Aurangabad district of Bihar, Kumar said. PTI CORR KDK NN SAI

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By PTI: Amaravati, Jun 29 (PTI) Marking a historic occasion, four departments of Andhra Pradesh today formally moved into the New Government Transitional Headquarters (GTH) -- also called the temporary Secretariat -- at Velagapudi village in the state capital region Amaravati.

Panchayat Raj, Housing, Medical and Health and Labour Departments moved into fifth block at the GTH though the infrastructure is only half ready.

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Panchayat Raj Minister Ch Ayyannapatrudu and Housing Minister K Mrinalini occupied their chambers in the presence of their colleagues Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N Chinarajappa, Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, Agriculture Minister P Pulla Rao and Excise Minister Kollu Ravindra at 2.59 PM even as about 150 Secretariat employees were driven in in special buses from Hyderabad.

AP Chief Secretary Satya Prakash Tucker, Special Chief Secretary (Political) Jagdish Chander Sharma, Principal Secretary (Labour) G Anantaramu and other officials were present on the occasion.

"Its indeed a historic event as the administration moved to its own state," the Deputy Chief Minister remarked, and welcomed the employees.

The Chief Secretary said it would take at least 50 more days for the entire government machinery to move base completely to the capital region from Hyderabad, which would continue to be the joint capital of AP and Telangana for eight more years as per the AP Reorganisation Act-2014.

"Blocks in the GTH will be ready in phases by July 6, 15 and 21. By then we hope to relocate the various Secretariat departments. Things will settle down by August 15. Many offices of the Heads of Departments (Commissionerates and directorates) have already started functioning from different places in the capital region," Tucker told reporters.

For the government staff who relocated to the capital region from Hyderabad, the government started implementing the five-day week work rule.

"We are arranging special buses while a new super fast train has also been introduced between Vijayawada and Secunderabad for easy commuting of employees," the Chief Secretary added.

Meanwhile, office of the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration was opened this morning at Gollapudi on the western side of Vijayawada.

CCLA Anil Chandra Punetha formally opened his office in a private rented building.

The HoD office of Roads and Buildings Department was also inaugurated at Gollapudi by the minister Sidda Raghava Rao. PTI DBV NRB PVI BAS

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The pay panel had recommended a 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay -- the lowest in 70 years. The previous 6th Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike, which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008.

By India Today Web Desk: The recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission got the Cabinet nod today, which will benefit over one crore government employees and pensioners.

The pay panel had recommended a 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay -- the lowest in 70 years. The previous 6th Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike, which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008.

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HIGHLIGHTS The recommendations will result in a hike in salaries of nearly 50 lakh central government employees and payouts of 58 lakh pensioners. The pay panel had in November last year recommended 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay at junior levels, the lowest in 70 years. The commission has recommended a minimum pay of Rs 18,000 per month, fixed an upper ceiling at Rs 2,25,000 per month for Apex Scale and Rs 2,50,000 per month for Cabinet Secretary and others at present at the same pay level. The date of implementation for the recommendations is January 1, 2016. The previous 6th Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008. After considering the increase proposed in allowances, the hike in remunerations comes to nearly 24 per cent. While the Budget for 2016-17 did not provide an explicit provision for implementation of the 7th Pay Commission, the government had said the once-in-a-decade pay hike for government employees has been built in as interim allocation for different ministries. A secretaries' panel, headed Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, has already vetted the 7th Pay Commission recommendation. The total financial impact of implementing the pay commission recommendations in the 2016-17 fiscal is likely to be Rs 1,02,100 crore, as per government estimates. The pay panel also recommended 'one rank one pension' kind of set-up for the central government's all civil employees, Central Armed Police Forces as well as defence personnel to bring "parity between past pensioners and current retirees with the same length of service" who retired before January 1, 2016.

Also Read:

15-20 per cent hike likely in Seventh Pay Commission, decision today

Exclusive: Don't think pay commission recommendations will remain...have and will flag them, says Parrikar



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Here's how the 7th Pay Commission that was cleared today will be affecting you.

By India Today Web Desk: The Union Cabinet has given a green signal to all the recommendations made by the 7th Pay Commission. This approval will benefit over one crore government employees and pensioners.

It has recommended an increase of 23.55 per cent in pay and allowances of central government employees and an increase of 24 per cent in pension of retired officers.

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What is Pay Commission?

The Pay Commission is a panel constituted by the Indian government to give recommendations regarding changes in salary structure of government employees.

Formed for the first time in 1946, the government constitutes the Pay Commission almost every 10 years. There have been seven pay commissions till date.

The Commission, consisting of advisers, institutional consultants and various experts, and is headquartered in Delhi. Every time it is constituted, it is given 18 months to make these recommendations.

Also read: 7th Pay Commission recommendations cleared by government





What happened in the 7th Pay Commission?

The 7th Pay Commission was formed in February 2014 by the UPA Government, headed by Justice A K Mathur.

The Commission recommended the entry-level pay be raised to Rs 18,000 per month from Rs 7,000.

The maximum pay, which is drawn by the cabinet secretary, has been recommended to be hiked from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh, and from Rs 80,000 to Rs 2.25 lakh for the secretaries.

It also made a recommendation for the lowest hike in 70 years by suggesting a 14.27 per cent increase in basic pay at junior levels.

The annual rate of increment has been retained at 3 per cent.

One Rank One Pension has been proposed for civilian government employees on the lines of OROP for armed forces.

Since it was to be implemented from January 1 this year, the Cabinet will be deciding if the arrears for six months will be paid at once or in the form of installments.

Source: 7th Pay Commission Report





How much have the Pay Commissions affected salaries till date?

The minimum entry-level pay for central government employees has risen 225 times since the Second Pay Commission submitted its report, which was in 1959.

This chart here shows the increase in the recommended increase in minimum entry level pay over the years:

Source: 7th Pay Commission Report

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While the CM said polls could be advanced to December this year - six months before the scheduled 2017 when the tenure of the state Assembly would formally end - he also claimed that his Samajwadi Party (SP) would emerge as a clear winner in the elections.

By Mail Today Bureau: As reported first by Mail today on May 26, there are indeed possibilities of the Uttar Pradesh polls being held not in 2017, but as early as December 2016. Though Mail today broke the news earlier, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav hinted strongly of the possibility at a Dainik Jagran event on June 27.

AKHILESH YADAV CONFIDENT

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While the CM said polls could be advanced to December this year - six months before the scheduled 2017 when the tenure of the state Assembly would formally end - he also claimed that his Samajwadi Party (SP) would emerge as a clear winner in the elections to the disappointment of the opponents. He said the race among other parties was for the second spot.

Highly placed sources had earlier told Mail today that the SP was all ready for the polls. "We anticipate that elections in UP may be brought forward by six months and be held in December rather than mid-way in 2017. The Samajwadi Party is ready for the polls. Moreover, this way Mayawati's Bahaujan Samaj Party will get even less time to prepare and mobilise voters," the source had said.

IN A HURRY

What further reinstates the claim of SP being ready for the polls is the way the state government is in a hurry to complete its mega flagship programmes and projects, like the Agra-Lucknow Expressway or the metro projects across the state. The Akhilesh government, it seems, wants to inaugurate these in its tenure and not leave the electoral harvest to be reaped by the successive government if there is a change of guard.

The government has already fast-tracked projects in urban complexes of Ghaziabad, Noida and Lucknow. According to SP sources the government is now moving into the districts to take its achievements to the grass-roots.

ALSO READ:

Revealed: BJP's masterplan for 2017 UP Assembly polls

Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections: Rahul Gandhi first choice for CM post, says Congress





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By PTI: From Natasha Chaku

Melbourne, Jun 29 (PTI) In an apparent hate crime, a mosque in Australia has been targeted with a firebomb and sprayed with anti-Islamic graffiti while hundreds of Muslims were inside for evening prayer, prompting the Prime Minister to condemn the incident.

The attack occurred last night near the Australian Islamic College in Perth.

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Localpolice said that accelerant was used to set the vehicles alight outside the Thornlie Mosque.

A car was gutted andfour other vehicles were alsodamaged by heat, according to media reports.

"This, undoubtedly is a criminal act of hate, but it is the act of a person or group not the greater whole," a teacher at the Australian Islamic College said on Facebook.

An offensive anti-Islam message was also sprayedon a nearby wall but was laterremoved.

Three men were seen fleeing the area after the attack, police said.

Police have released CCTV footage of the men wearing hooded jumpers, who were last seen running through an alley.

According to the Imam of the mosque, hundreds ofworshippers were praying inside at the time of the suspected petrol bomb attack, however no-one was injured.

The incident was condemned by the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who said,"[Australia is] founded on a fundamental, a foundation of mutual respect. Its the golden rule... I deplore and I cannot condemn strongly enough any attacks of that kind."

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the incident appeared to be politically motivated. PTI NC NSA

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The Brexit vote has unleashed a wave of racist attacks in the United Kingdom. A recent footage shows three teenagers hurling harrowing racist abuses at a man telling him to "Get back to Africa". The incident took place inside a tram in Manchester city.

By India Today Web Desk: In the wake of Thursday's referendum in which 52 per cent voters said they wanted to leave the European Union, there has been a spike in racist incidents across UK.



Most attacks anchor on the frivolous assumption that migrants will have to leave the UK, and those involved in the racist slur have somehow internalised the fact it is justified to attack migrants and non-Britons.

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The social media is strewn with individual accounts of racist attacks. People started documenting their experiences with the #Postrefracism tag on Twitter.

More recently, a disturbing footage shows a group of teenagers hurling racist abuses at a tram passenger who confronted them for using foul language.

In the video, one of the teenagers is heard saying "Get deported, you're a muppet, get back to Africa." According to a report in The Guardian, the man who was attacked is a US Army veteran named Juan Jasso.

Three people have been arrested following an apparent incident of racial abuse on a tram in Manchester. https://t.co/TkzhDjm0Gv Hayley Barlow (@Hayley_Barlow) June 28, 2016

Jasso responded saying, "You are an absolute disgrace. A disgrace to England," and urged the boys who appear to be holding bottles of beer to stop abusing as women and children on the tram were shaking with fear.

As they walk away from the scene the youths scream, "Salford! ****ing immigrant!"

A woman travelling on the tramsaid,"It was really horrible. When I was walking back to my work I was crying all the way. I couldn't control myself. I feel scared for my children and feel that it is not safe, I will not take them on the tram."



Greater Manchester police arrested three men, aged 20 and 18 and 16, after the footage was widely circulated on social media.



Racism up close and personal

In another case, the words "Go Home" was scribbled all over a Polish community building in Hammersmith. The Polish Embassy in London expressed shock in a Facebook post. They said, "We are shocked and deeply concerned by the recent incidents of xenophobic abuse directed against the Polish community and other UK residents of migrant heritage."

Following the rise in hate crimes London Mayor Sadiq Khan told residents to "stand guard".

We must stand guard against any rise in hate crime. This will be a priority for @metpoliceuk pic.twitter.com/9HNfrUVbuw Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) June 27, 2016

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A Facebook Album called "Worrying Signs" documented all the post-Brexit racist incidents and xenophobia.



There have been reports of open verbal abuses in Huntington and Cambridgeshire. Cards with "Leave the EU, no more Polish vermin" was circulated to Polish families on the day of the referendum result.



"F*cking foreigner, go back to your country": just watched this outrageous racist incident in #Hackney https://t.co/87rqFKIhOv Shulem Stern (@ShulemStern) June 24, 2016



Another person tweeted pictures of his father, after he was badly beaten up by people who he claims were Englishmen.

father has a broken arm, and possible neck trauma, son has severe facial fractures, broken jaw and nose. my god. pic.twitter.com/XFCSUzhVcN carlos (@b0redinbucks) June 25, 2016

Sima Kotecha, Indian-origin BBC reporter faced racist abuse on the streets of her hometown in southern England. She was shocked when someone called her 'Paki'.

In utter shock: just been called p**i in my home town! Haven't heard that word here since the 80s..! Sima Kotecha (@sima_kotecha) June 27, 2016

John O'Connell, from anti-racism group Far Right Watch, 90 incidents have been recorded over just three days, all ranging from "verbal abuses to physical violence."

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The wedding photographer caught the beautiful moment in all its glory, and it's a moment new-wife Christina Torino Benton is proud of.

By India Today Web Desk: When a single mother decides to get married, a lot is said about her, especially in the Indian context. So, thank the lord this happened in Canada!

Christina Torino-Benton is our new breastfeeding hero, thanks to what she did at her wedding ceremony, amidst all the guests present--she breastfed her 9-month-old daughter Gemma, while being in her wedding dress (thank god for strapless dresses).

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And like a proud mom, Christina submitted a rather candid picture of her "in the act" to a Facebook breastfeeding group called Breastfeeding Mama Talk. Little did she know that it would receive close to 8,000 likes in less than a week and be featured in People magazine.

Picture courtesy: Facebook/Lana Nimmons Photography

Captured by wedding photographer Lana Nimmons, the picture shows a Christina sitting at her wedding ceremony, holding her daughter, who was crying up against her chest. Talking to People magazine about how she actually ended up doing it, Christina said, "I tried for maybe two minutes to allow some family members to calm her down, but having missed her nap, and in that heat, it wasn't going to happen. There was no question. I had to nurse, and I wasn't hesitant about it at all."

The 30-year-old bride from Montreal said her daughter eventually fell back to sleep and was a little angel throughout the mass. Needless to say, Christina is extremely happy that her photographer was able to capture the touching moment so beautifully, despite some negative comments by perpetual haters!



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By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 29 (PTI) Union Cabinet today approved signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India and Tanzania for bilateral co-operation in water resources management and development.

The areas of enhanced co-operation include techniques in water harvesting, surface and groundwater management and development and aquifer recharge, an official statement said.

"Collaboration and sharing of expertise on the areas mutually agreed will benefit the country in techniques in water harvesting, water conservation, surface and groundwater management and development and aquifer recharge," the statement said.

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The Government shall encourage exchange of experts, organisation of training programmes, study tours and other such activities including demonstrative pilot studies, in order to build capacities in the areas mentioned above.

A Joint Working Group shall be formed to monitor the activities under the MoU.

The enhanced cooperation comes in the wake of the visit of Minister of Water Resources, Government of Tanzania to New Delhi on July, 16, 2014.

The two sides had discussed the issue of water harvesting and management practices and decided to have a MoU after mutual consultations. PTI ENM RG

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The consultations between the two main parties are at an informal stage and will intensify close to the Monsoon Session.

By Javed M. Ansari : The prospects of the much delayed GST (Goods and Services Tax) Bill being passed in the forthcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament has considerably brightened over the past few days. This is on account of the informal consultations between the government and the Congress.

CONSULTATIONS TO INTENSIFY CLOSE TO MONSOON SESSION

The consultations between the two main parties are at an informal stage and will intensify close to the Monsoon Session. While the final decision on the Congress position will be taken by the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi, the government has discerned a change in the Congress party's position.

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Sources in government and in the Congress party say the differences on the bill between the two sides have narrowed down. The broad contours of the compromise being worked out is that the Congress party will agree to soft pedal its demand for a cap on the percentage of tax that can be levied and the government dropping its proposal for one per cent additional tax in addition to changes in the composition of the GST council.

The Bill has been stalled in the Rajya Sabha on account of the opposition from the Congress, the Left Parties and the AIADMK. The government has managed to convince some of the regional parties like the Trinamool Congress, the JDU, the SP and the BSP. However, since it's a Constitutional Amendment Bill, it has to be passed by a two thirds majority in both Houses. It sailed through the Lok Sabha, where the government has the numbers but has come unstuck in the Upper House because of the government's inability to muster up the numbers.

CONGRESS SUPPORT NEEDED

The government needs the Congress party to support the bill for it to get past the two thirds majority. In addition to trying to persuade the Congress party the government has also been simultaneously working on parties like the AIADMK which has 13 MPs in the Upper House to either vote for the bill or at the very least lend indirect support by abstaining from voting against it.

The government has also been encouraged by the attitude of the new CPI-M government in Kerela which has indicated that it is in favor of the bill.

If Parliament passes the bill it will have to be ratified by atleast 50 per cent of the state legislatures.

GST BILL FIRST INTRODUCED IN 2009

Both the Congress and the BJP have from time to time changed their position on the bill. The GST Bill was first introduced in 2009 by Pranab Mukeherjee as the Finance Minister. However, the UPA government was unable to get the bill passed on account of the opposition from the BJP. Narendra Modi as Chief Minister of Gujarat was instrumental in getting his party to oppose the bill.

After the BJP came to power in 2014, it changed its position on GST and introduced the bill in Parliament. It sailed through the Lower House but has not been able to pass muster in the Upper House.

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Also read:

Parliament's Monsoon session from July 18, GST top on agenda





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By Maha Siddiqui: As the electorally crucial state of Uttar Pradesh heads for Assembly election next year, the Congress is still struggling to find a chief ministerial face. With much stuck in the usual rut, party workers are growing restless. However, there is one news that is keeping at least the Mahila Congress on its toes. There are strong murmurs that Priyanka Gandhi will be campaigning more aggressively in the state and stepping out of her twin domains of Amethi and Rae Bareilly. The women's wing of the party is already preparing the ground for Priyanka to set off the campaign with a big bang in Uttar Pradesh.

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MAHILA CONGRESS TO TARGET AKHILESH'S ACHILLES HEEL

India Today has learnt that to prepare a solid foundation for star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi, the Mahila Congress has been tasked to target the Akhilesh government's Achilles heel. With sharp focus on the deteriorating law and order situation in the state and special emphasis on women's safety, the ball has been set rolling. The party has stepped up its efforts by setting up meeting with victims of sexual violence in the state. They have been helping victims and families to lodge complaints and FIRs with the police. To further draw attention to the issue, the Mahila Congress is planning to gherao the Vidhan Sabha in the first week of September. While clarifying that Priyanka Gandhi is yet to take a final call on her campaign availability, Mahila Congress chief Shobha Oza told India Today "Her role will be much larger. We can't restrict her to issues relating to a gender but of course this matter is close to her heart. She will fight for each and every citizen."

TRAINING PROGRAMME

A training programme was organised for all the district presidents and state office bearers of the Mahila Congress on the 30th and 31st of May in Lucknow. The team was geared up in view of the assembly elections. A brief overview of ideology and history of the party was imparted. The group was updated on certain election related issues and how to tackle them, they were asked to focus on the failures of both the Akhilesh government in the state and the Modi government at the Centre. The event saw a participation of over 250 women party workers.

SUGGESTIONS FROM WOMEN WORKERS

In the third week of May, political strategist Prashant Kishore held a meeting in Lucknow with the women too. He is believed to have taken stock of the organisation and the state set-up. He invited suggestions from the women workers. India Today has learnt from a source that he spoke less and heard more. When many pushed for the party to give more tickets to women candidates for the assembly elections, Prashant Kishore is believed to have asked each aspirant to give names of two other women who will manage the booth for them in case they do get the ticket. It is believed that he made it amply clear that accountability will be held for poor booth management.



SECURITY ISSUE

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Mahila Congress is simultaneously taking up women's security issue at a pan India level. They are all set to protest in another election going state, Punjab. A gherao of the Vidhan Sabha is slated again for the first week of September. On the 17th of July they will hold protests at the Rajasthan state assembly and gherao the Parliament during the monsoon session. With this they are hoping to rake up the issue enough to create a major impact in the state of Uttar Pradesh for which all knives will be out.





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By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 29 (PTI) Terming the Left Front-Congress alliance in West Bengal Assembly polls as "disastrous", All India Forward Bloc today accused CPI(M) of "forcing" the adjustment on its allies and said it must now accept the tie-up was "opportunistic".

AIFB also accused CPI(M) of not consulting other Left Front members before making the deal with Congress and said it should "rectify" its stand in the interest of Left unity.

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Speaking to reporters after the AIFB central committee meeting here, party general secretary Debabrata Biswas said an AIFB delegation will call on the CPI(M) central leadership to share its concerns with them.

AIFB had contested 26 seats in the Assembly election held during April-May and could win only two seats in the 294-member House. The Left Front managed to win only 32 seats and was relegated to third position after TMC and Congress.

"The tie-up was disastrous... It is CPI(M) which initiated and finalised the alliance and seat-adjustment with the Congress. The leading party of the Front didnt consult other Front parties before making the adjustment... Other parties were forced to accept the adjustment in order to avoid division when the elections were at doorstep," he said.

He charged the CPI(M) leadership with creating confusion by its "double standards" with some of its leaders sharing platform with Congressmen while others refusing to do so.

He said that in an "immature campaign" some CPI(M) leaders supported the alliance publicly, while some refused to do so.

"By doing this immature campaign and acts, CPI(M) has virtually abandoned the Left unity, confused the voters and depended on Congress for electoral gain. The Visakhapatnam Party Congress of CPI(M) had declared it will work for Left unity as an alternative. But in the polls, it has totally gone against the letter and spirit of the resolution," he said.

Biswas said the tie-up helped Congress more than the Left Front which lost the post of Opposition leader to Congress.

He admitted that AIFB was part of the "mistake" of going with Congress in the polls.

He also expressed disappointment over the Fronts dismal show in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Assam Assembly elections held around the same period.

He expressed concern over the growth registered by BJP in Kerala.

Asked about AIFBs decision to support Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala, Biswas said his party will "rectify" the stand and work for Left unity.

Biswas said the committee has decided to rejuvenate the entire organisation of AIFB "from top to bottom" by making changes in the leadership by December this year to expand party base. PTI ENM SMN PAL SMN

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By Shuja-ul-Haq : What seems to be the fallout of the Pampore attack, the CRPF may get more bullet proof vehicles from the Centre soon. If sources are to be believed, the MHA is going to take these steps to ensure better security.

TEAM TO ASSESS SECURITY SITUATION

A three member Home Ministry team is in Srinagar to assess the latest security situation, sources said. The team arrived here to take stock of the security scenario after the deadly militant attack in Pampore which killed 8 CRPF jawans. The team is closely assessing the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to figure out if there were any possible lapses in its implementation during the June 25 Pampore attack.

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The team is also looking into the preparedness with the upcoming annual Amarnath yatra beginning on July 2.

Sources say the Centre will wait for return of its three-member high level team from Kashmir and its report before taking a decision on whether there was requirement for deployment of more personnel in Kashmir.

The force may in the meantime soon get more bullet-proof in the Kashmir Valley to ensure that para-military forces move in vulnerable zones and militancy-infested areas.

QUESTIONS RAISED OVER SECURITY

After the Pampore attack many questions have been raised on the level of alertness and the response by the security forces to such militant acts. It is pertinent to remember that intelligence input had been sent to all the security agencies on that day about a possible attack of this nature. The officers were advised to be vigilant.

Also read:

India Today exclusive: Initial probe finds security lapses in Pampore attack

LeT attacks CRPF convoy in Pampore, 2 militants killed Role of surrendered terrorists suspected in Pampore attack

--- ENDS ---
NASA fired the booster for the most powerful rocket in the world, the Space Launch System (SLS), yesterday, for its second qualification ground test at Orbital ATK's test facilities in Promontory, Utah.

The first full-scale booster qualification ground test completed in March 2015. During this test the booster was heated up to 90 degree Fahrenheit to test its performance. Testing at thermal extremes gives a better understanding on the effects of temperature on the propellant.

The second qualification test comes before the rocket's first mission to Mars which is scheduled for 2018. During this mission the booster will launch the unmanned Orion spacecraft on a three-week journey that will take it around the moon.

The two-minute, full-duration ground qualification test provided NASA with critical data on 82 qualification objectives that will support certification of the booster for flight. Engineers now will evaluate test data captured by more than 530 instrumentation channels on the booster.

When completed, two five-segment boosters and four RS-25 main engines will power SLS on deep space missions.The solid rocket boosters, built by NASA contractor Orbital ATK, operate in parallel with SLS's main engines for the first two minutes of flight.

They will provide more than 75 per cent of the thrust needed for the rocket and Orion spacecraft to escape Earth's gravitational pull.

"This final qualification test of the booster system shows real progress in the development of the Space Launch System," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC. "Seeing this test today, and experiencing the sound and feel of approximately 3.6 million pounds of thrust, helps us appreciate the progress we're making to advance human exploration and open new frontiers for science and technology missions in deep space," he said in a statement.

"Today's test is the pinnacle of years of hard work by the NASA team, Orbital ATK and commercial partners across the country," added John Honeycutt, SLS programme manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama.
The investigation was ordered after some mountaineers alleged Pune couple Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod, who are both police officers, faked their achievement by circulating digitally altered photos of the climb.

The Rathods held a press conference on 5 June to announce that they had scaled Mount Everest. (Photo courtesy: makaluadventure.com)

By India Today Web Desk: The Maharashtra Police are verifying claims by two climbers who say they are the country's first couple to scale the world's highest peak Mount Everest, even as a group of mountaineers object to their claim.

The investigation was ordered after some mountaineers alleged the Pune couple, who are both police officers, faked their achievement by circulating digitally altered photos of the climb. Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod told reporters this month that they reached the 8,850m (29,035ft) summit on 23 May and their guides also supported their claim. The couple work as constables in Pune, Maharashtra.

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The Rathods held a press conference on 5 June to announce that they had scaled Mount Everest.

MAHARASHTRA POLICE ORDERS PROBE



The Maharashtra Police will approach the Nepal government, which issued them climbing certificates, to authenticate the genuineness of the certificates, reports said.

However, Pune-based mountaineer Surendra Shelke, along with some mountaineers, raised doubts about the couple's claim. Shelke said his suspicions "were first aroused owing to the time lag between the day, the Rathods claimed to have reached the summit and their press meet announcing their achievement".

ASCENT ORGANISER SUPPORTS COUPLE'S CLAIM



But, Mohan Lamsal, the chief of Kathmandu-based Makalu Adventure which organised the ascent, insisted that the Pune couple had scaled the world's highest peak. "They were taken to the summit by Sherpas who worked for my company for several years and they reached the summit on 23 May and his company had sent a helicopter to fly Tarakeshwari Rathod out from base camp to Kathmandu for treatment after she fell ill," Lamsal said.

The company's website also contains pictures of the couple that they say were taken on the summit.

ALSO READ: This inspiring story of the first female amputee to climb Mount Everest will make you proud



--- ENDS ---
By PTI: other states: AAP

New Delhi, Jun 29 (PTI) With the sword of disqualification hanging over its 21 Delhi MLAs over the issue of Office of Profit, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has approached the Election Commission seeking similar action against nearly 45 legislators of the BJP, Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal, holding such posts in other states.

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Party units in Punjab, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh have made similar complaints to respective states Chief Electoral Officers and the Election Commission.

The party intends to file a similar complaint in Gujarat and Chhattisgarh and other parts of the country by tomorrow.

"We have written to the Election Commission seeking disqualification of parliamentary secretaries.

The Punjab, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh units have already done it.

The remaining units will follow the suit by tomorrow," party spokesperson Deepak Bajpai said.

The AAP is currently facing heat over a possible disqualification of its 21 Delhi MLAs over the issue of Office of Profit.

Early this month, the President denied assent to a bill which sought immunity to its parliamentary secretaries from disqualification.

The Election Commission will commence personal hearing for all 21 MLAs as requested by them.

The AAP also attacked the BJP and the Congress over the issue on the pretext that even the states which are being ruled by these parties have parliamentary secretaries.

In Punjab, the AAP has sought disqualification of 24 legislators, of which five are of the BJP and the remaining 19 belong to the Shiromani Akali Dal for holding post of parliamentary secretaries.

A compliant with the poll panel by the party said that the total number of parliamentary secretaries in the state has gone up to 24.

This is "in violation of article 191 of the Indian Constitution" and that they should be "immediately disqualified", the plea claimed.

Party?s Madhya Pradesh Convenor Alok Agarwal said that a plea to disqualify School Education Minister Paras Jain and BJP MLA Deepak Joshi has been made to the poll panel.

In his plea, Agarwal said that Jain is the chief commissioner of a scout organisation while Joshi is the vice-president of the same body, which, he claimed, comes under the purview of office of profit.

"In Karnataka, we have also lodged a complaint seeking disqualification of 10 MLAs," said AAP?s Karnataka convenor Prithvi Reddy. PTI PR RG

--- ENDS ---

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By PTI: fishermen

New Delhi, Jun 29 (PTI) DMK MP Tiruchi Siva today met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here and sought her intervention for the release of 29 Tamil Nadu fishermen lodged in Sri Lankan prisons.

During the meeting, the Rajya Sabha member from Tamil Nadu urged Swaraj to ensure release of 104 boats which were seized and berthed by the Sri Lankan Navy.

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"The berthing of boats results in their total damage which in turn will affect the livelihood of the fishermen from the state," Siva said, adding that families of the jailed fishermen were undergoing starvation and suffering due to the absence of their breadwinners.

The DMK MP led a delegation of representatives of the fishermen community from Puducherry and Nagapattinam, Pudukkottai and Rameshwaram districts of the state and met the Union Minister and discussed issues faced by the community while being engaged in their livelihood.

The legislator also demanded the retrieval of Katchatheevu island from Sri Lankan Navy and said that the island had been ceded by the Centre unilaterally, without taking into confidence neither Parliament nor the Tamil Nadu government.

"Hostile nations can easily take advantage of our lack of jurisdiction over Katchatheevu which lies just 18 nautical miles off the Indian coast," Siva added.

Earlier on June 14, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, in her memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had also demanded the retrieval of the island and the restoration of fishing rights to Tamil Nadu fishermen in the area. PTI RRT DBS ZMN DBS

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: fishermen

New Delhi, Jun 29 (PTI) DMK MP Tiruchi Siva today met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here and sought her intervention for the release of 29 Tamil Nadu fishermen lodged in Sri Lankan prisons.

During the meeting, the Rajya Sabha member from Tamil Nadu urged Swaraj to ensure release of 104 boats which were seized and berthed by the Sri Lankan Navy.

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"The berthing of boats results in their total damage which in turn will affect the livelihood of the fishermen from the state," Siva said, adding that families of the jailed fishermen were undergoing starvation and suffering due to the absence of their breadwinners.

The DMK MP led a delegation of representatives of the fishermen community from Puducherry and Nagapattinam, Pudukkottai and Rameshwaram districts of the state and met the Union Minister and discussed issues faced by the community while being engaged in their livelihood.

The legislator also demanded the retrieval of Katchatheevu island from Sri Lankan Navy and said that the island had been ceded by the Centre unilaterally, without taking into confidence neither Parliament nor the Tamil Nadu government.

"Hostile nations can easily take advantage of our lack of jurisdiction over Katchatheevu which lies just 18 nautical miles off the Indian coast," Siva added.

Earlier on June 14, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, in her memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had also demanded the retrieval of the island and the restoration of fishing rights to Tamil Nadu fishermen in the area. PTI RRT DBS ZMN DBS DK

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The latest step by the Enforcement Directorate is a major setback for Jagan - a piquant situation which will be exploited by Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu.

By Amarnath K. Menon : YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy is under siege. On Wednesday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced that it has attached movable and immovable properties valued at Rs 749.10 crore as it was gained unlawfully by money laundering.

Investigations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by the Enforcement Directorate revealed that Jaganmohan Reddy had laundered the proceeds of crime through his business entities, Sandur Power Company Private Limited, Classic Realty Private Limited, Silicon Builders Private Limited, Saraswasti Power, Industries Private Limited and 10 other companies in several forms including investments, purchases of movable and immovable properties and third party payments.

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Besides this, Bharathi Cement Corporation Private Limited has received the proceeds of crime in the form of limestone, which was mined from the reserves allotted to the entities in Kadapa district, illegally by the government of Andhra Pradesh. The value of limestone works out to more than Rs 152 crore.

Though Jagan's acolytes were apprehensive of his media empire - Telugu daily Sakshi and a television channel by the same name - that serves as his party's mouthpiece, being attached, the ED has apparently avoided it for want of clinching evidence.

The latest step by the ED is a major setback for Jagan - a piquant situation which will be exploited by Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu who has already wooed 20 MLAs so far from the YSR Congress to boost his party's strength.

--- ENDS ---
For now, the Government employees will have to be satisfied with the bonanza at the entry level salary hike from Rs 7000 to Rs 18,000 per month while on the allowance front, it's a wait for at least for 4 months.

By Devina Gupta: As the government employees cheer the pay hike after the seventh pay commission, they will be missing out on a big chunk of their allowance hike.

The Cabinet has decided to defer the recommended allowance hike in the government employees pay package and refer the matter to a committee headed by Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa.

Speaking to India Today, Justice (retd.) AK Mathur who headed the seventh pay commission said that this move is set to have a substantial impact.

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"Allowances contribute a lot in the pay hike recommendation. If the allowance is not taken into consideration it will mean fewer amounts (for employees) because the allowance which we proposed is very substantial. We had clubbed the allowances with the basic pay which is a reasonable one", he said.

CONGRESS SLAMS GOVT



His seventh pay commission which was formed under the UPA government had recommended average 23.5 per cent hike including the housing rent, education and transport allowances. The Congress was quick to target the government for only implementing the basic salary hike proposal.

"Government has first only increased pay to 15 per cent, not the 23 per cent. If you compare with previous government decision, we increased the salary by 40 per cent. It is cheating large section of employees. Why allowances like Medical and Transport are removed from the hike", said Congress. spokesperson, Randeep Surjewala.

BURDEN TO EXCHEQUER REDUCED



But for the government, it's important to first balance the budgetary provisions. Although, Rs 1.02 lakh crore provision was made in the general and the railways budget for seventh pay commission, government was at risk of crossing the limit and missing the fiscal deficit target.

By deferring the allowance hike proposed by the seventh pay commission, the burden to the exchequer is reduced by a 17 per cent at Rs 84,933 crore.

"The Government must be considering the liability on them as it may have increased more than 1.02 lakh crore to exchequer if allowances were factored in. We will have to see if the matter is referred to a committee of secretary which allowances is deferred, but they will make it a lot of difference", added Justice Mathur.

So, for now, the Government employees will have to be satisfied with the bonanza at the entry level salary hike from Rs 7000 to Rs 18,000 per month and the maximum pay cap raised from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh per month. On the allowance front, it's a wait for at least for 4 months till the time finance secretary panel mulls over the proposal.

"Until the decision will be taken on the allowances issue, the present allowances will continue", said Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

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ALSO READ:

7th Pay Commission cleared: What is the Pay Commission? How does it affect salaries?

7th Pay Commission recommendations cleared by government



--- ENDS ---
An investigation by India Today's special investigation team has revealed how candidates, who are required to cover a distance of 5 km in 25 minutes as a prerequisite to their selection process, were using banned drugs to enhance their endurance level.

By Vishwas Kumar: Two men collapsed while taking part in a recruitment drive organised by the Haryana Police and later died at a hospital in Kurukshetra last week. Thousands of aspirants had arrived for the fitness test as part of the recruitment drive. The Haryana Police has advertised 10,000 constable posts.

An investigation by India Today's special investigation team has revealed how candidates, who are required to cover a distance of 5 km in 25 minutes as a prerequisite to their selection process, were using banned drugs to enhance their endurance level.

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4 types of drugs and what they do to your body: Heroin, Cocaine, Meth and LSD



India Today reporters saw many candidates gasping for air and vomiting froth during the fitness test. Emergency crews present at the spot expressed shocking suspicion - that these police aspirants used cheap drugs to pass the physical tests.

HERE'S WHAT A DOCTOR TREATING THE ASPIRANTS REVEALED

Reporter: Can these symptoms be a result of drugs, such as pills or injections?



Dr Sourav Kaushal: It's possible. We did recover pills from their pockets in a couple of cases. We have those pills with us as a sample for testing, but we can't take any risk. We know what type of steroids they would have consumed to enhance performance.

Clinically, many in-coming patients from the police recruitment camp show signs of drug use, confirmed Dr Sourav Kaushal.



His colleague at the same hospital also suspected dope.

Mamta Kulkarni an accused in India's biggest ever drug seizure: Police

Reporter: Looks like, his condition is bad?



Doctor: His condition is much better now... But you never know when he may get hyper again.



Reporter: Drugs?



Doctor: It's possible. Chances are high. None of them will admit it.



Reporter: He's frothing.



Doctor: I suspect the same thing in this patient too. In case of routine (fatigued) patients, their condition settles down in half an hour. 8 to 10 runners collapsed because of drugs and 20 because of hot weather.



Reporter: So, 10 took the dope.



Doctor: You can say up to 10.





Candidate: There were standing out there, saying if anyone wants injections.

Reporter: Who were they?

Candidate: One or two boys were standing out there.

Reporter: Were people getting the shots?

Candidate: I don't know about it. There were asking if anyone wants injections. A couple of boys came.

Reporter: How much were they asking for?

Candidate: Between Rs 100 and Rs 200...

India Today's team also saw authorities inspecting a drug vial and a syringe recovered from along the tracks. Shockingly, police too are aware that drugs play a role in their recruitment drive.

"When a runner collapses under the influence of drugs, he won't be able to take a single step forward. We have strict instructions not to help such people resume the race. We let them fail. We just get the stretcher for his medical treatment but not to help him cross the finish line," said DSP Anoop Singh.

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No one seems to dispute drugs shadow police recruitment drives in Haryana. Yet, no one in authority seemed to have scrambled to clean up the system. Even basic conservative methods of sample collections before and after competition have not been introduced. And that leaves a lot to be desired.

Also Read:

Epidemic of drug addiction now grips Punjab's women too



The roots of drug addiction that plagues Punjab



--- ENDS ---
The defence ministry is moving fast to end the critical shortage of fighter jets in the Indian Air Force (IAF) which has been decommissioning squadrons flying MIG-21s that have been in service for over 50 years.

Indian officials will get a presentation on the proposals on F-16s and F-18s next month when Pentagon official Frank Kendall will be in New Delhi.

By Gautam Datt: Hoping to seal the deal for 36 French Rafale soon, India's hunt for another range of fighters will gain ground next month when it gets a lowdown on the plans for 'Make in India' F-16s and F-18s.

Indian officials will get a presentation on the proposals on the two US fighters next month when Pentagon official Frank Kendall will be in New Delhi.

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END TO CRISIS



The defence ministry is moving fast to end the critical shortage of fighter jets in the Indian Air Force (IAF) which has been decommissioning squadrons flying MIG-21s that have been in service for over 50 years.



US companies have already made formal presentations on supplying F-16s and F-18s to the IAF but New Delhi wants to make these planes completely in India. The Russian Sukhoi-30 MKIs are assembled in India but the new proposal is to get complete transfer of technology that would require assembly lines of the US fighters to be set up in India.

Sources said that after New Delhi conveyed its plans, the US officials will bring back their proposal in the meeting next month. India is keen on deep absorption of technology, not just bringing the planes in knocked-down kits.

The IAF's requirement for fighter jets is such that there will be enough orders for the companies to set up manufacturing units in India.

NEW PROJECTS



During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington, India was recognised as a major defence partner of the US. Kendall's visit is being seen as a follow-up of the move to explore new projects of cooperation. Sweden's aircraft defence major Saab has also offered Gripen fighter jets but it is yet to make a formal presentation. The IAF had rationalised fighter operations to delay decommissioning of some squadrons. New Delhi hopes that the deal to buy 36 French Rafales would be signed in the coming weeks.

The indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas will make an entry into IAF from July 1. Only two aircraft will form the 45 squadron which is being revived. The IAF will have 20 aircrafts with the current capability and equal numbers with enhanced features and 80 with the advanced version which, apart from the new radar, will have capability to fire advanced BVR and short range missiles.



IMPROVEMENTS

Officials hope that the strength of the squadron will reach eight by the end of next year. The complete version of Tejas, known as Mk IA, which will bring it at par with the best in the world, is still some years away. This aircraft will have Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) which will enable it to handle several targets.

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CHOICE GALORE



In terms of the existing platforms, the supply of home-assembled Su-30 MKIs by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to IAF has improved significantly. Last year, IAF received close to 20 aircraft, the highest since production began over a decade ago. The officials said that all options are on the table as of now on the choice of new fighters

ALSO READ:

EXCLUSIVE: With only two planes and issues unresolved, IAF to bring LCA Tejas home





--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Aditi Khanna

London, Jun 29 (PTI) Britains outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron today asked opposition Labour partys embattled leader Jeremy Corbyn to step down in the national interest, saying "for heavens sake man, go".

Criticising Corbyns role in the EU referendum campaign, Cameron during a regular weekly exchange in Parliament said, "It might be in my partys interest for him to sit there, its not in the national interest and I would say, for heavens sake man, go."

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Achallenge to Corbyns Labour leadership is expected following a no-confidence vote by MPs and the two possible candidates for the post including the partys deputy leader, Tom Watson, and former shadow business secretary Angela Eagle.

Labour MPs voted against Corbyn in the no-confidence motion by 172 to 40 after dozens of members of his frontbench team stepped down in recent days.

Despite most of his shadow Cabinet resigning and the no-confidence vote, the Labour leader has refused to step down, saying quitting would betray all the members that back him.

The UKs vote to leave the European Union last week led Labour party MPs to question Corbyns leadership as they felt he did not do enough to campaign for a Remain vote in line with the partys view.

In Parliament, Cameron ceased upon this and said Corbyn should "reflect on" his role in the campaign, adding: "He said he put his back into it, I would hate to see him when he wasnt trying."

Corbyns predecessor Ed Miliband and former deputy leader Harriet Harman have also urged Corbyn to step down.

The former Indian-origin shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Seema Malhotra, who had also resigned from the shadow cabinet earlier, said: "The Labour Party is bigger than any one individual. My decision is about the future of the party and how we best focus on achieving our purpose.

"I believe we now need to move forward under a new leader to rebuild confidence in Labour and start to look like a government in waiting."

Corbyn, however, has pointed to his backing among the partys grassroots, insisting that the vote by MPs had "no constitutional legitimacy".

"I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60 per cent of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning," he said.

On Monday, he had announced a reshaped shadow cabinet to replace those that had walked out but several positions in his top team remain to be filled after the mass resignations.

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The shadow cabinet walkouts - in a bid to oust Corbyn - came after the sacking at the weekend of shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, who told Corbyn he had lost confidence in his leadership. PTI AK PMS AKJ PMS

--- ENDS ---
Governor NN Vohra had discussions with senior officers of the security agencies, NDRF, SDRF and the Mountain Rescue Team regarding the arrangements being made on and along the tracks for the smooth conduct of Yatra from 2nd July onwards.

Governor NN Vohra (centre) was informed that in addition to 09 langars, 279 toilets, 33 baths, 800 tents, and 50 shops are being set up at Sheshnag.

Governor NN Vohra, Chairman Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), conducted an aerial reconnaissance of the Pahalgam-Panjtarni route and thereafter visited Panjtarni, Sheshnag and Baltal Yatra camps and the check barrier at Domel to review preparedness for the Amaranath Yatra, which is going to start from July 1 from Jammu. First darshan of the pilgrims going from Baltal route will be on July 2.

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BASIC FACILITIES FOR YATRIS



Governor Vohra was briefed about the upgradation of track on Holy Cave-Panjtarni-Sheshnag Sector and Pissu top-Sheshnag-Panjtarni Sector, security arrangements and the facilities being established for the establishment of medical facilities, shelter sheds, langars, tents, shops, pre-fabricated huts, toilets and baths etc.

The Governor had discussions with senior officers of Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police, CRPF, BSF, NDRF, SDRF and the Mountain Rescue Team regarding the arrangements being made on and along the tracks for the smooth conduct of Yatra from 2nd July onwards.

He directed the officers, who are deputed during yatra to ensure close co-ordination amongst various agencies involved in the management of the Yatra, to have regular meetings every morning and evening with all the security agencies, various departments and other stakeholders to ensure immediate resolution of any arising problem. He also directed them to ensure cleanliness and effective sanitation within the camp areas.

The Governor directed the concerned Departments particularly the Pahalgam Development Authority (PDA) to speed up ongoing works on the Chandanwari-Pissu Top-Sheshnag-Mahagunus Top-Poshpatri-Panjtarni track by 30th June latest so as to ensure that Yatris do not face any inconvenience along the tracks. He stressed (R&B) and PDA to complete ongoing railing erection work at all vulnerable stretches along both the tracks.

He was informed that in addition to 09 langars, 279 toilets, 33 baths, 800 tents, and 50 shops are being set up at Sheshnag. Also, the arrangements have been made for stocking of LPG cylinders, rice, atta, sugar, wheat bran and kerosene oil at the camp.

WATER AND ELECTRICITY SUPPLY



The Governor was informed that water and electricity supply and telephones are now functional at the camp. Elaborate arrangements have also been made for extending medical facilities to Yatris by setting up the base hospital. In addition, Medical camps are being set up by ISM, Army, BSF and CRPF. The Health Department will also be setting up Emergency Aid Centre (EAC) between Sheshnag and Wavbal Top, while BSF and State Health Department (SHD) will be setting EAC /MAC at Wavbal Top and MG Top respectively.

While reviewing the security arrangements and other facilities being made at the Panjtarni Camp, the Governor was informed that in addition to 10 langars, 353 toilets/baths, 900 tents, and 50 shops are being set up at Panjtarni.

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For providing medical facilities on this axis, the State Health department(SHD) will be setting up a base hospital at Panjtarni and medical camps by ISM, BSF and CRPF here, 2 MACs by SHD and BSF at MG Top, 3 MACs by SHD, BSF and CRPF at Poshpatri, an EAC by SHD at Kelnar and Dardkote each by SHD.

At Baltal, the Governor was informed that 400 toilets and 100 Baths have been installed till now at Baltal Base Camp and 300 toilets and 50 baths installed between Ranga Morh and Domel. Till date 9 langars at Baltal Base Camp and 25 langars have been set up at Domel. The Governor also visited the Access Control Gate at Domel and reviewed the arrangements made for regulating the movement of the Yatris there.

MEDICAL FACILITIES FOR YATRIS



The Governor was also informed that elaborate arrangements have been made for extending medical facilities to the Yatris. A 20-bedded hospital has been set up at Baltal at the old helipad where specialist doctors will be stationed. X-Ray and pathological laboratory facilities will be available at the base hospital. Besides this a MAC has been set up at Domel and a Medical dispensary at the Neelgrath helipad.

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To help the old / infirm/ sick Yatris in negotiating difficult stretches on the Yatra routes, 8 Mountain Rescue Teams (MRTs) of JKAP each comprising 10 police personnel shall be deployed at Sheshnag, Wavbal and Poshpathri, Kelnar, Sangam. Lower Holy Cave, Railpathri and Brari Marg. Besides 2 MRTs of CRPF will be stationed at Domel and Panjtarni. The Governor was also informed that 10 Teams of SDRF will be deployed at Chandanwari, Pissu Top, Zojibal- Nagakoti, Sheshnag, MG Top, Panjtarni, Holy Cave, Baltal, Brari Marg and Sangam. Besides, 4 NDRF teams will be deployed at Baltal, Panjtarni, Pahalgam and Sheshnag and 36 Dog squads of Army, CRPF, BSF and JKP will also be deployed at various locations.

ALSO READ:

Bulk SMS service introduced for Amarnath Yatra 2016

Pampore fallout: Security forces on high alert ahead of Amarnath Yatra



--- ENDS ---
By Manjeet Sehgal: Once bitten, twice shy! The Haryana government seems to have learned a lesson from the recent Jat violence which not only caused widespread damage to the public and private property but also divided the state into Jats and non-Jats. The decision to provide 10 percent reservation to Jats had left non-Jats fuming as the government did not consult them before announcing its decision.

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In what is being termed as good governance initiative, Haryana's Khattar government has decided to go public and seek 'Aam Aadmi's' opinion before taking major decision like formulating new policies, regulations and legislation.

Chief Secretary Haryana D S Dhesi said that all Administrative Secretaries and Heads of Departments have been asked to ensure that before passing, the drafts of policy, regulation and legislation are put on the website of the concerned department for inviting suggestions and comments of the general public.

HOW WILL IT FUNCTION

The process of seeking suggestions and objection will be digital. Each department will post the proposed policy or regulation on its website to seek public opinion .The decision will be taken on the basis of the suggestions received online.

"They (Heads of departments) have been directed that suggestions and comments so received should be compiled and processed by the department and these should also be displayed on the website as to how the suggestions and comments of general public have been incorporated in the final notification," DS Dhesi said.

DS Dhesi has also clarified that the decision to refuse to provide property details of Chief Minister and his colleagues under the RTI Act was not of the Government but of State Public Information Officer (SPIO) designated under the RTI Act. He said that the SPIO had exercised his quasi judicial powers with his wisdom.

--- ENDS ---
A remote village in Uttarakhand was literally cut off from the world. It had no post even after 69 years of Independence. A tweet from India Today's Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai changed its fate.

By India Today Web Desk: Located about 120 kms from the India-China border, Bhanoli Sera village in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand is a nondescript mention on the country's map. Pithoragarh (65 kms) and Almora (80 kms) are the two nearest towns to this remote village.

It may sound absurd but Bhanoli Sera did not have a post office even after 69 years of Independence. There have been numerous instances where residents of this far flung village had to lose job opportunities due to delay in communication.

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Now you can get a splash of Gangajal by post

However, a June 20 tweet by India Today's Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai changed the fate of Bhanoli Sera forever.

"A lovely story... a village in Uttarakhand battles for a post office," Sardesai had tweeted alongwith a link to a story about Bhanoli Sera.

Photo of newly opened PO in Pithoragarh 4 days after I tweeted about its need! Well done @rsprasad , @PARInetwork ?? pic.twitter.com/6N2706s3fe Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) June 26, 2016

Moments later, Union Minister of Communication and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad responded promising swift action. Bhanoli Sera got a working post office in just under four days.

Getting @rsprasad to respond to Ukhand village plea for post office is healthy sign. We should use social media to connect on real issues. Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) June 21, 2016

Also Read:

Govt cuts rates on short-term post office schemes by 0.25 per cent

--- ENDS ---
Train journey in India will be a different experience altogether with upcoming world-class stations that will do away with long queues at station entry, untidy waiting halls and stinking toilets.

By Rakesh Ranjan: Flamboyant buildings with airport-like facilities, helipad, executive lounges are going to be the characteristics of Indian Railway stations in the years to come. Train journey in India will be a different experience altogether with upcoming world-class stations that will do away with long queues at station entry, untidy waiting halls and stinking toilets.

The station buildings will wear a swanky look with separate terminals for arrival and departure like the ones at airports. While the work has started on development of Habibganj as the first world class station, the Indian Railways is in the process of finalising bids for other railway stations. These include Surat and Gandhinagar in Gujarat and Anand Vihar and Bijwasan railway stations in Delhi, Chandigarh, Shivaji Nagar in Pune and SAS Nagar in Mohali.

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INTERNATIONAL EXPERTISE

A railway ministry official said consultations are being held with foreign experts to develop these stations with world-class amenities. Sources said Uttar Pradesh will have over 12 world-class stations - the maximum in any Indian state. The French Railway has taken up the work of developing Ambala and Ludhiana as worldclass stations while the French experts have also inspected the New Delhi railway station.

A railway board official said countries like Japan, South Korea, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria have also shown interest in developing railway stations in India. Sources in the railway ministry said the government will spend nearly Rs 100 crore for the development of 400 railway stations that were announced in the Railway Budget.

A railway board official said the stations will be developed by creating additional space that will also be used for commercial purposes like shopping malls, multiplexes, restaurants and offices.The most striking feature will, however, be separate terminals for arrival and departure of passengers. Such facilities are currently available only at airports.

FEATURES



"The proposed world class stations will have three levels. The top level will be used by outbound passengers while those arriving from trains will use subways in the basement to exit from the station building. There will be minimum passenger movement on the platforms," said a senior official associated with the project. This aims at managing crowd at the railway stations that goes up manifold during festive rush. Habibganj station is the first railway station to be redeveloped through public private partnership mode under the station redevelopment programme of Indian Railway.

Total estimated cost of station redevelopment is Rs 100 crore while additional Rs 350 crore will be spent on commercial development. As per the plan, Habibganj will have have dedicated pick up and drop off parking facilities for the station users. Provision of parking for over 1,000 vehicles has been made at the stations.

"The world class stations will be designed as a multi modal transit hub. The stations will have adequate seating and waiting apace so as to reduce congestion. Also, these stations will have multiple entry/exits for better crowd management," said railway spokesperson Anil Saxena.

"The stations will have segregated areas for passengers, commercial activities and railway officers. There will be dedicated approach roads for traffic to railway station along with municipal roads with its integration in circulating areas," Saxena said. In Delhi, railways have planned overhaul of Anand Vihar terminal which caters to the trains bound for eastern states like Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

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AN INTEGRATED HUB

Apart from creation of new facilities, the station will be integrated with Anand Vihar station of Delhi Metro and the interstate bus terminal (ISBT).

"As part of Anand Vihar redevelopment plan, railways will remodel the station building on the lines of the airport. The station building will be separate arrival and departure decks while there will be ample space for a hotel, restaurants, coffee shops, multiplex, retail outlets and offices. Business of all sorts will be accommodated at the station building," officials said.

The redevelopment plan of Anand Vihar is in advanced stage; bids for it will be invited soon. The upcoming railway station at Bijwasan will have ample scope for commercial development.

According to railways, redevelopment of stations will be a major source of revenue generation besides benefiting lakhs of passengers every day. For commercial exploitation, railways plan to raise multi-storey buildings on unused land and lease them out to private firms. In the year 2015-16, the railways have posted a deficit of over Rs 32,000 crore and the initiative aims at increasing revenue generation by commercially exploiting its resources.

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ALSO READ:



Indian Railways, Power Ministry aim to achieve 100 per cent electrification of rail network

Indian Railways introduces new rules; 5 ways they will benefit a train traveller





--- ENDS ---
The anti-submarine torpedo, which was showcased on the Republic Day Parade this year, has been developed by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory of the DRDO for the Indian Navy.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Indigenously developed heavyweight torpedo Varunastra, which was showcased for the first time on the Republic Day Parade at Rajpath this year, was inducted in the Indian Navy today.

KNOW VARUNASTRA

The anti-submarine torpedo has been developed by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory of the DRDO for the Indian Navy.

Weighing around 1.25 tonnes, the torpedo carries about 250 kg of explosives at a speed of around 40 nautical miles an hour.

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Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, handing over the torpedo to the Indian Navy, asked the DRDO to do "hand-holding" for the Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) which will be manufacturing the torpedo. India is among a group of elite nations which have the capability.

Important day for 'Made in India' weapons capabilities: the #Varunastra torpedo formally joins the Navy! pic.twitter.com/nePRCTMimNShiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) June 29, 2016

IT WILL BE EXPORTED TOO

The Defense Minister pointed out that the heavyweight torpedo was being inducted in the navy a day before the first squadron of indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas was to be inducted by the Indian Air Force.

The minister added that the government was looking forward to exporting the torpedo, and that he has already had a chat with the navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on this.

"I will also tell them their job is not over... They should ensure the product is of best international standards because not just Navy (will use them), we can export them. I have got a verbal clearance from navy chief too... He said there is no technological problem," Parrikar said, adding that the official procedures will be followed and stressed on quality control.

HUGE SUCCESS

Project Director for Varunastra Torpedo P. Trimurthulu termed it a huge success for the team which had been working on the project for the past decade.

"For last 10 years, we have been working 20 hours a day. This is a big success for us," Trimurthulu told IANS.

"Handing over a weapon to the nation is a great achievement," he said.

SOON WILL BE FIRED FROM A SUBMARINE

The project Director added that the torpedo, which has already been test-fired from ships, will soon be fired from a submarine.

"We will soon be test-firing the torpedo from a submarine. Some minor modifications will be needed for that," he said.

COMPLETE PROJECTS WITHIN TIME

Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba stressed on the need to tighten the time frame for completing projects.

"We need to move towards more reasonable time-frames for completing projects," Admiral Lanba said.

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He added that the Indian Navy and DRDO have identified 93 "high-end technology" projects to be jointly taken up.

Also Read:

As India kicks off naval drills with US and Japan, China responds warily

'Forced to rape each other': Australian navy cadets reveal details of sexual abuse during training



--- ENDS ---
Tuesday's attacks at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport in Turkey claimed at least 36 lives and left dozens more wounded.

Tuesday's attacks were among the worst Turkey has had to deal with in the recent past

By India Today Web Desk: Turkey saw one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in recent time when three suicide bombers struck at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport on Tuesday (June 28). The attacks claimed at least 36 lives and left dozens more injured. While the Islamic State is suspected to have orchestrated the attacks, the group hasn't claimed responsibility yet.

ALSO READ: Istanbul terror attacks - Prayers and outrage pour in on Twitter as death toll rises

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ALSO READ: 36 killed, 147 wounded in suspected ISIS attack on Istanbul Ataturk Airport

Tuesday's attacks sent a shiver down the spine of people all over the world. Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan took to Twitter to say how he had a close shave. He was supposed to have been at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport when the attacks took place, but he 'took economy' and flew out a day earlier on a different flight.



missed connecting flight at Istanbul n wer stuck at airport next flight ws next day,but took economy n flew out earlier. #Prayers4istanbul Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) June 28, 2016

Ws helped by d kindest staff at Istanbul arport hours ago. Shocking news. Innocents killed 4 religion.V must stand united against terrorism. Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) June 29, 2016

The tweet got Hrithik trolled big time on Twitter, with people pointing out how he was bothered about flying 'economy' when a city was reeling from an attack as horrifying as this.

A bevy of Bollywood stars took to the social networking site to tweet prayers and thoughts for Istanbul.

Stay strong Istanbul. Thoughts and prayers with you. Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) June 29, 2016

#Istanbul attack is again a recurring reminder that we need to do a lot to change this world. Reconciliation from local to global level. Ayushmann Khurrana (@ayushmannk) June 29, 2016

They target innocent lives & families yet again..Angry & saddened to hear about the terror attacks in #istanbul #Attaturk ..All my prayers???? SOPHIE CHOUDRY (@Sophie_Choudry) June 29, 2016

Feel so sad about the Istanbul airport attacks...wonderful city wonderful people may God give them strength...what's the world coming to ??? Arjun Kapoor (@arjunk26) June 29, 2016

Tuesday's attacks began shortly before 10pm (local time) when two gunmen opened fire at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport. Turkish officials said the gunmen fired their automatic weapons outside the airport security checkposts before blowing themselves up.

A third suicide bomber set off explosives in the parking lot. All three attackers were killed when they detonated their vests.

The terrorist attack comes during the holy month of Ramzan. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for global unity and support during this time of crisis.

"Despite paying a heavy price, Turkey has the power, determination and capacity to continue the fight against terrorism until the end," Erdogan said in a statement.

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He added, "The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world. Make no mistake: For terrorist organizations, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago, or Antalya and Rome."

The Istanbul Ataturk Airport was closed shortly after the attacks. Flights to Istanbul were diverted. On Wednesday morning, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that the airport had been reopened.

The Istanbul airport is the third busiest in Europe, and 11th busiest in the world.

(Photos: AP)



--- ENDS ---
As the death toll rises, people from across the world are condemning the terror attack at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport and extending their support to Turkey through social media.

By India Today Web Desk: At least 36 people have been killed and over 150 others injured after a gun attack and two explosions shook Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport late last night.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said three suicide bombers were involved in the terror attack. While there has been no immediate claim of responsibility, initial indications suggest the Islamic State was behind it.

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Also read: 36 killed, 147 wounded in suspected ISIS attack on Istanbul airport

Yildirim said the three attackers opened fire near the terminal entrance before blowing themselves up one by one at around 10.30pm local time.

Also read: Eye witness tweets chilling encounter with the attacker

As the death toll rises, people from across the world are condemning the attack and extending their support to Turkey through social media.





Cowards strike again..

Condemning the suicide bomb attack..

More power to families who lost their loved one's.#Istanbul #Prayers Manjunath Kp (@manjunathkp04) June 29, 2016





Instagram video from Istanbul Ataturk Airport captures the panic https://t.co/sMkjQXQRy6 pic.twitter.com/Re4JPLu9va RagAp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) June 28, 2016





#Istanbul. A place of culture, style, and more. And today the victim of a horrific act of terror. My heart is heavy. pic.twitter.com/Xp92gmQTIj Bill Frakes (@BillFrakes) June 29, 2016





CCTV of police shooting an #Istanbul airport attacker before he detonated himself https://t.co/THLoYJ9LfS pic.twitter.com/7Y2ARwhH58 The Baptist (@Admitonesin) June 28, 2016









The attack on #Istanbul airport.. nothing is safe anymore. The number of times I've used the airport... give those families strength Bindu Rai (@BinduRai) June 29, 2016









To think that ISIS attacked a Muslim country proves how terrorism has no religion and also how no one is safe. #Istanbul Nilima M. (@niiliimaaa) June 29, 2016





Suspected Attack on ataturk airport in #Istanbul trukey, Atatrk Istanbul on Camera [ Full ]: https://t.co/GbuAaBVLxG qua Las Ruedas del Autob (@KidSongTV) June 29, 2016









Atatrk hava limani bombali saldiri yapildi pic.twitter.com/qWpnLX7sGk Oguzcan Aksoy (@Oguz146) June 28, 2016





--- ENDS ---
This daring cop shot and injured one of the terrorists at Istanbul airport who blew himself up seconds later. The hero policeman however, managed to escape the explosion just in time.

By India Today Web Desk:

CCTV footage has emerged which shows the moment a daring Turkish policeman shot a terrorist on the rampage at Istanbul airport.

Seconds later, as he fell, the terrorist triggered the explosives in his suicide vest. The cop however showed the speed and presence of mind to escape the explosion.

Also Read - Istanbul attack: Eyewitness tweets chilling encounter with the attacker

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After having shot the terrorist and seeming incapacitating him, the policeman approached the body. However, he soon realised that the terrorist was still alive and had already triggered a detonation.

Also Read - Istanbul terror attack: Prayers and outrage pour in on Twitter as death toll rises

Wasting no time, the cop reacted in seconds and made a run for it even as the suicide vest exploded.

Here's the shocking video of the incident:





#BREAKING: CCTV of policemen shot one of 3 #Istanbul airport attackers before detonating himself pic.twitter.com/j9ngrfIebN Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) June 28, 2016





While the policeman seemed to escape the blast, his current status is not known. Out of the 36 dead at the airport, five are policemen.

Also Read - In pics: 36 killed, 147 wounded in Istanbul's Ataturk Airport explosions



--- ENDS ---
While Twitter is flooded with condolences and prayers for Istanbul, a user tweeted his chilling encounter with the attacker from the Ataturk Airport.

By India Today Web Desk: Three suspected ISIS suicide bombers attacked Istanbul's Ataturk Airport yesterday night leaving at least 36 people dead and over 150 people injured.

According to the Turkish officials, death toll is expected to rise to 50. Turkish news agencies are citing police sources that say ISIS is behind the attack.

The suicide bombers opened fire on the security personnel and terrified passengers before blowing themselves up.



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While Twitter is flooded with condolences and prayers for Istanbul, Steven Nabil, from his handle @stevoiraq, described his chilling encounter with the attacker from the Ataturk Airport.

Also read: Istanbul terror attack: Prayers pour on Twitter as death toll rises

He has claimed that he and his wife, who also got hurt, came face to face with the attacker when he opened fire.

We just left the aiport. My wife was injured during the attack. We were face to face with the attacker while he sprayed #istanbul part1 Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016

I ran back got my wife pulled her to store broke in and waited in terror while he was shooting outside the store.we barely made it#istanbul Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016

We were transiting from our honeymoon tonight through #istanbul back to NYC when the bullets were closer i hugged and kissed her Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016

My wife was sitting at nero cafe while i went 3rd floor to get food from sabbaro. Heard shots ran fast toward her.people #istanbul part 1 Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016

Came down the stairs to see the court empty and the terrorist firing toward us.carried her arm and ran around sitting ducks part 2#istanbul Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016

#istanbul we then took cover in a closet inside a hair salon.The 45 minutes we were sitting ducks waiting to find out who will open the door

Steven nabil (@stevoiraq) June 28, 2016

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Yoshita Singh

United Nations, Jun 29 (PTI) Sending a message of unity post-Brexit, Italy and the Netherlands have agreed to share a two-year term on the UN Security Council for a non-permanent seat after five rounds of balloting failed to break a deadlock in the General Assembly.

The 193 members of the UN General Assembly yesterday elected Sweden, Bolivia, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan to serve on the world bodys Security Council for a period of two years, starting from January 1, 2017.

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Ethiopia got 185 votes, while Bolivia got 183, Sweden garnered 134 votes and Kazakhstan 138.

In a highly-contested campaign, Italy and the Netherlands were vying for a seat on the 15-member UNSC in the Western Europe category. However after five rounds of voting, neither Italy nor the Netherlands met the required two-thirds majority for election and as a result, they announced a proposal whereby they would divide the term, with each serving one year on the Council.

In the first round of voting, the Netherlands had got 99 votes while Italy got 92. After the fifth round of voting, the two countries were tied, having garnered 95 votes each, less than the 127 required majority.

In announcing the proposal ? requiring endorsement by the Western European and Other States Group, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands Bert Koenders said Italy would serve from 2017 to 2018, with his own country serving out the balance from 2018 to 2019. Italys Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said that by that proposal, his country and the Netherlands hoped to send a message of unity between two European States.

The newly elected non-permanent members will fill seats to be vacated on December 31 by Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela.

Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay will remain elected Council members during 2017, completing the second year of their respective terms at the end of that year.PTI YAS ZH

--- ENDS ---
Kanhaiya, who is on a 2-day visit to Bihar, led a protest march in Patna and questioned the Nitish government over the poor condition of education system in his home state.

By Rohit Kumar Singh: JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar today led a protest march in Patna over the toppers scam that was exposed by India Today and raised questions over the existing education system in the state under the Nitish Kumar's government.

The protest march was scheduled to start from Patna University and conclude at the Bihar Assembly, but the march was stopped before the Assembly building. During the protest march, Kanhaiya also attacked PM Narendra Modi and HRD Minister Smriti Irani over the controversy over their educational degrees.

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'EDUCATION SYSTEM IN BIHAR CRUMBLING'

Addressing a gathering of students, most from Left parties, at Patna's Gandhi Maidan, Kanhaiya said that the toppers scam highlights Bihar's crumbling education system, but in the same breath he also lashed out at PM Modi and HRD minister Smriti Irani.

Attacking the PM and HRD minister, Kanhaiya said that questions are being raised over the degrees of the PM and HRD minister which was a matter of shame.

TARGETS MODI, SMRITI IRANI

"Toppers scam speaks volume about the apathy of education system in the state but the bigger apathy is when questions are raised over the degree of the PM and HRD Minister of the country. It is a matter of shame. I don't know whether the degree of PM is real of fake, I don't know whether the PM has attained education or not but questions are being raised over his degree," said Kanhaiya.

Apart from the issue of toppers scam, Kanhaiya also raised the issue of how seven students of Arts College in Patna have been jailed recently for carrying out movement against their college administration highlighting the corruption rampant in the college. Kanhaiya who met these jailed students at Beur Jail after arriving in Patna said that the oppressive behaviour of the Nitish Kumar government does not befits of 'sushasan' in Bihar.



'NITISH MUST OPEN HIS EYES TO RAMPANT CORRUPTION'



"Nitish Kumar has to open his eyes. If he does not listen to students then students will also not listen to you. Nitish should sack the principal of Arts College if he is corrupt as the students are alleging," said a combative Kanhaiya.

The JNU Students Union president like his last visit to Patna has no plans to meet political leaders like Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar.

Modi government all about selfies & jumlas: Kanhaiya Kumar

Interestingly, Kanhaiya's rally against the Nitish government comes just days after he met both the chief minister and RJD boss Lalu Prasad in Patna.

After meeting the top leaders during his May tour, Kanhaiya had echoed Nitish's stand that all non-BJP parties should unite against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Sangh (RSS) brand of politics.

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"He fought for social justice in Bihar, so I have come to meet him," Kanhaiya had said after meeting Lalu Prasad.

Kanhaiya had come under heavy fire from all quarters during his Bihar tour in May after images of him touching Lalu's feet went viral.

Also Read:



Kanhaiya Kumar at India Today Conclave: Kashmir an integral part of India



Why JNU's Kanhaiya Kumar meeting Rahul Gandhi is significant

Kanhaiya Kumar: I'm no celebrity, travelling by air due to fringe elements



--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: After Vikram Bhatt took a stand against Deshdrohi actor Kamal Rashid Khan (KRK) for using abusive language for Bollywood actresses in his tweets, actor Karan Kundra blasted a female troll, who called his girlfriend 'cheap' and a 'prostitute'.

With this perfect response, our respect for the actor has gone several notches up. "I do not want fans like these.. If you've been brought up in such kind of filthy ways.. And belong to the lowest scums of humans plz I beg of you.. Do not be a fan and make me sad! The worst part is that the account is run by a girl!! A GIRL!! I can't imagine what pathetic mindset of people must she belong to that she can talk like this about another girl!" (sic)

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"She looks lyk pros. Dat is nt good pic hw u can make her ur gf...She is so cheap...," a female 'so-called-fan' had commented on Karan and Anusha's Instagram snap.

Karan's other fans also came out in defence of Anusha calling the troll's mentality cheap. "Get a life..she's slaying it perfectly n she looks sexy..get a proper education..you can't just call anyone "pros" neither is she "cheap" it's your mentality which is cheap."

The arrogant troll didn't stop at that. She went on with her rant. "Oh hlo miss @anu16shree i dnt need to learn anything frm u ohk u r not my frnd or anything just go to hell...," adding, "For me dis is velgrity (vulgarity) cheap things so I'll say ohk n i dn lyk dis types of things..Dnt intrfre in my cmnts..." (sic)

Another fan supported Anushka, "Please grow up! You can not call a lady cheap and call her a prostitute because YOU find her picture vulgar. It just shows how narrow minded you are." (sic)

It's high time trolls understood their limits.

--- ENDS ---
Kareena Kapoor Khan says that she could never do what Priyanka has done for herself in Hollywood, as the Jab We Met actor has different priorities.

By India Today Web Desk: Bollywood divas like Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone are going global. In 2017, both the actors will make their Hollywood debuts with Baywatch and XXX The Return of Xander Cage. While many aspire to follow their footsteps, but not Kareena Kapoor Khan. The Jab We Met actor says that her priorities are different and she could never do what Priyanka has done.

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ALSO READ: There is nothing to say about pregnancy rumours, says Kareena Kapoor Khan

ALSO READ: Kareena made her debut in Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai. Don't believe us? Here's proof



In her recent interview to Vogue, Kareena said she does not want to conquer the world. She added that she is a married woman and won't give up everything to move to LA for Hollywood plans.

"My priorities are very different. I think it's amazing what Priyanka has done. But I don't think I could ever do something like that. I want to be a married working woman. My responsibilities are a lot more different than hers. I have a husband, I would like to start a family," said the 35-year-old actor.

She added, "I can't give up everything and move to LA. That's not me. The kind of work that these girls have put in, you need to have that kind of dedication of wanting to achieve so much and do it so wonderfully. Also, maybe I'm lazy. I don't want to conquer the world but I don't mind having a little place of my own. It's as simple as that."

On the work front, Kareena will soon begin shooting for Rhea Kapoor's production ventue Veere Di Wedding. The film also stars Sonam Kapoor and Swara Bhaskar. It is said to based on Hollywood film The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants.



--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Bengaluru, Jun 28 (PTI) Karnataka and Germanys Bavaria have signed a joint declaration ofintent to intensify police cooperation between the two states.

The declaration was signed between the BavarianMinistry of Interior for Building and Transport and theKarnataka Home Department during the visitof a delegation lead by Home Minister G Parameshwara to the German state.

Both ministries have intended to cooperate by exchangeof experience in police tasks with regard to public securityand order, especially in fields of safe city planning and development, citizen-friendly policing, establishment of safe cities jointly with stakeholders including civil society. Also, victim protection, especially protection of women and children; cooperation between police, justice and civil society organisations; traffic security; cyber crime and technologies for crime fighting; basic and advanced police training are covered under the tie-up, a copy of the declaration released to the media here said.

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The document of joint declaration of intent signed between Parameshwara and Joachim Herrmann, Bavarian State Minister of the interior for Building and Transport in Munich on June 20, said that the cooperation will be carried out mainly through the engagement of experts, information visits and capacity building measures like workshopsm, seminars and conferences. The declaration of willingness is in continuation tothe existing MoU between the two governments signed on April 2,2007. PTI KSU RA VS KND

--- ENDS ---
In the midst of the legal trouble surrounding Shirish Kunder's Kriti and Aneel Neupane's BOB, YouTube has taken down Kriti following copyright claim while Farah Khan furiously defends her husband.

By India Today Web Desk: Shirish Kunder's short film, Kriti that has been in the centre of controversy after Nepali filmmaker Aneel Neupane alleged that Kunder stole the plot of Kriti from Neupane's short film BOB, was taken down from YouTube on Tuesday (June 28).

ALSO READ: Kriti Movie Review

ALSO READ: Did Shirish Kunder copy Kriti's plot from BOB?



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When the film is searched on YouTube, the link leads to a disclaimer stating 'The video is no longer available due to copyright claim by Aneel Neupane'.



Those who seek Kriti will find it removed. @ShirishKunder #KritiStoleBOB

Thank you all for the immense support. pic.twitter.com/VOY4N01OYB Aneel Neupane (@AneelNeupane) June 28, 2016

Kriti, a psychological thriller starring Manoj Bajpayee, Radhika Apte and Neha Sharma was uploaded on YouTube on June 22. The next day, Aneel Neupane posted a status update on Facebook where he alleged that Kriti's plot was lifted off from his short film BOB. He also wrote that he had uploaded BOB on Vimeo as a private video, to be shared only amongst his "close friends". He later uploaded the film on YouTube on May 12, this year.





However, Kunder clarified the allegations in a series of tweets where he stated that Kriti was ready by February, this year. At such, there was no way for him to copy the plot from BOB.





To those comparing #Kriti with some short film released on May 12, 2016:#Kriti was shot in February, 2016. Hope this settles the matter. Shirish Kunder (@ShirishKunder) June 24, 2016

ALSO READ: Shirish Kunder sends legal notice to BOB director Aneel Neupane over Kriti Stole Bob controversy

The controversy erupted into a legal spat when Kunder sent a legal notice to Neupane on Monday (June 27). The notice read, "Assuming your position is correct that the two films are so similar, then it is you who has infringed our client's copyright." Kunder also added in the notice that since Kriti's script was shared with a lot of people, the possibility of Neupane coming across it somehow and making BOB was strong.

Kunder also sought an "unconditional apology" from Neupane, demanding that the latter should refrain from commenting on Kriti orally or in written form, take down BOB from the internet immediately and never upload the film or a part of it anywhere on the internet.

Now, it is Kriti that is not on the internet.

In an interview to Mid-Day today (June 29), director-choreographer Farah Khan came out strongly in support of her husband Shirish Kunder, where she said that Kunder had been working on the script for three years, as far back as when she was making Happy New Year (2014).

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Responding to Neupane's allegations, the Tees Maar Khan director added, "Every time a film releases, someone gets up and alleges plagiarism. Any Tom, Dick and Harry cannot just cry foul and take away someone's hard work."

--- ENDS ---
The state minister for Housing and Higher Education said that the allegations leveled against him by the Mumbai Congress Chief Sanjay Nirupam were baseless and without proof.

Shiv Sena minister, Ravindra Waikar, who is facing graft charges of land grab and misusing his office, today refuted all allegations against him.

The state minister for Housing and Higher Education said "Allegations leveled against me by the Mumbai Congress Chief Sanjay Nirupam are baseless and have no poof."

Waikar, who was on a vacation abroad, returned to Mumbai today and addressed a press conference.

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The Shiv Sena leader dared Nirupam to substantiate his allegations with proof.

"If they (the allegations) turn out to be true, I will resign as the minister and if Nirupam doesn't have proofs, then he should resign as the Mumbai Congress Chief."

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST WAIKAR

Few days back, Sanjay Nirupam accused Waikar of grabbing 20 acre lands in the Aarey Colony in Mumbai, next to a gym constructed by the Shiv Sena minister.

Nirupam also claimed that Waikar had used his office to get the contract of slum rehabilitation in Jogeshwari area.

The Congress chief said that the contracts were given to Waikar's business partner. He further alleged that for one particular project in the same area, Waikar also held a meeting at his official residence.



WAIKAR RESPONDS IN STYLE

Waikar, responding to allegations about the SRA project permission near Mahalaxmi caves, put the ball in the court of Chief Minister and Archeological department's . He said they were the ones who cleared the projects.

Waikar reiterated that he left Aishwarya lights company in 2011 as partner but mentioned it's name in the election affidavit as he had loaned them money, which wasn't repaid to him till 2015.

After the controversy broke out, none of the Shiv Sena leaders defended Waikar in his absence.

However, he believed that his leadership is behind him.

Waikar is also likely to file a defamation suit against Nirupam for making "false allegations".

Also Read:

Nirupam accuses Sena minister Waikar of illegality in SRA

Shiv Sena minister Ravindra Waikar in dock over graft charges; refutes all allegations



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By PTI: (Attn.editors: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same). LeEcos Le 2 - Redefining Mid-range Smartphone Category

MUMBAI, June 29, 2016/PRNewswire/ -- LeEcos recently launched Superphones - Le 2 and Le Max2 made impressive records in their first flash sale that was concluded successfully yesterday. The global Internet and technology conglomerate managed to record sales orders of over 61,000 units and amassing revenues to the tunes of Rs. 78 crore. It is a true testimonial of how the popularity of LeEcos Superphones and the growth that the company has been able to achieve.

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The Indian smartphone space is also growing at a fast pace in the past couple of years, it is the mid-range smartphone category that has become very popular. The consumers in this category are looking for feature-packed smartphones that shine out in terms of value for money proposition.

In the past few months, there have been plenty of smartphones launched in this category, which has resulted in consumers being swamped with options, leaving them spoilt for choice.

However, LeEcos recently-launched Superphone Le 2 has managed to take the Rs. 10-15k smartphone category by storm. The main reasons as to why the phone is becoming a top choice for consumers are powerful processor, best-in-class design and revolutionary CDLA technology, which has taken audio experience in smartphones to a whole new level, Le 2 is a tough competitor to Xiaomi Redmi Note 3.

And heres what makes this all possible -

Processor and OS: Delivers more power to you LeEco Le 2s performance is considerably enhanced from the earlier models and complementing its 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage is the powerful Octa-Core Qualcomm(R) Snapdragon(TM) 652, the fastest processor in this price segment. On the other hand, Redmi Note 3 is powered by 1.4GHz hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 and comes with 3GB RAM and packs 32GB of internal storage. With these specifications, Le 2 promises to deliver an unmatched experience to users without any issues of their smartphone lagging. MORE PRNewswire PS

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Iconic manga series Lone Wolf and Cub will finally see a English language adaptation, thanks to the producer of the English language remake of Ghost In The Shell.

By India Today Web Desk: After six films, four stage plays and a television series, legendary Japanese manga (Japanese comic books) Lone wolf and Cub will finally have a live-action English language adaptation.

According to variety.com, producer Steven Paul's SP International Pictures has acquired remake and sequel rights of the manga Lone Wolf and Cub: Final Conflict from the company Koike Kazuo Gekiga Sonjuku, Inc., which also produced the 1993 Japanese film Kozure Okami: Sono Chisaki Te Ni based on the manga. The 1993 film will be remade by Paul's company, which plans to begin shooting by 2017.

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ALSO READ: Scarlett Johansson to star as a cyborg in English remake of Ghost In The Shell

ALSO READ: Barkhad Abdi joins Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford in Blade Runner sequel



The Lone Wolf and Cub franchise has its roots in the 70s, as a comic book written by prolific manga writer Koike Kazuo, with illustrations by Goseki Kojima. While the series has never seen a Hollywood adaptation, 1980's Shogun Assassin, produced from footage edited from the first two Japanese films became very popular in US through DVD sales. The film eventually became a part of American pop culture, with its best American homage being Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 2, where the heroine and her four-year-old daughter watch the film as a bedtime story.

Final Conflict is the story of noble samurai who becomes the victim of a conspiracy, after which he goes against his Shogun's orders and becomes a hired assassin.

In a statement, producer Steven Paul said, "I have been a huge fan of the property for many years and can't tell you how excited I am to have the opportunity to embark on this journey."

Los Angeles-based Paul, through his productions - Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider films and Namco Bandai's Tekken 1 and 2, has been responsible in bringing together Hollywood and Japanese film industry. His latest production is a live action adaptation of popular manga Ghost In The Shell starring Scarlett Johansson and Takeshi Kitano. Paramount Pictures own the worldwide distribution rights of the film.

While the Ghost In The Shell project has been criticized by fans for "whitewashing" the roles (notably the casting of Johansson as a character which was originally an Asian woman), Final Conflict will feature an all-Japanese cast mostly, according to a statement Paul made to the website.

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Siddaramaiah's supporters were seen trying to convince the man to "withdraw" the curse, as only a person, who has cursed another, should nullify its effect.

By Mail Today Bureau: Just days after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah changed his official car as a crow perched on the vehicle (considered an ill-omen), an unidentified man from Karnataka's notorious black magic town Kollegala today "cursed" him near his home in Mysuru.

SUPPORTERS WORRIED

The man, apparently upset by the fact that the CM did not accept a cloth blessed by a local deity or grant him financial relief, uttered the curse from the driver's side open window, as Siddaramaiah sat in the vehicle. Though Siddaramaiah did not take the incident seriously, his followers are worried, particularly in the wake of the recent political developments that have marred his image, especially after the Cabinet reshuffle, which has led to rebellion in the Congress.

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Siddaramaiah's supporters were seen trying to convince the man to "withdraw" the curse, as only a person, who has cursed another, should nullify its effect. "He uttered a few words aimed at fetching bad luck for our leader. This is not good for any of us. We want the man to withdraw the curse," his supporters in Mysuru said.

HOW IT UNFOLDED

The incident unfolded when the man tried to break the barricade and approached the CM. He tried to hand over the "blessed cloth" but Siddaramaiah turned away and walked towards the car. As he was entering the car, the man pleaded for monetary grant contending that his wife was sick. But Siddaramaiah ignored him and told his supporters, "He (the unidentified man) has been doing this for the last few years. He doesn't have any other work." The enraged the man, despite the presence of the police, managed to reach the driver's side and curse the CM.

BLACK MAGIC

Kollegala in Chamarajanagara district in southwest Karnataka occupies a special position among the politicians of the state. The town gets abuzz with activities during elections in Karnataka. Candidates seek the support of black magic practitioners to ward off evil spirits or invoke defeat for their rivals. Kollegala features prominently in conversations among politicians, especially when a leader falls sick unexpectedly.

Congress leaders often alleged that the Janata Dal (Secular) employed black magic practitioners to curse their leaders. In 2011, when B S Yeddyurappa was the CM, he had stunned everyone by alleging that there was threat to his life from black.

The man was upset as CM didn't accept blessed cloth .His allegation came in the wake of black magic items found near Vidhana Soudha and near his official residence. On Sunday, the Karnataka CM was in the news as Girija Srinivas, a Panchayat member, kissed him on his cheek during a state-level programme. Siddaramaiah, of course, didn't expect it and was evidently baffled.

ALSO READ:

How a crow may have dented Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah's car and his faith

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According to the police, the incident took place inside Lovely Public School last week. Cops have registered a case under IPC and POCSO Act.

By Mail Today Bureau: Delhi Police arrested two accused for allegedly gang raping a minor in a private school situated in east Delhi. According to the police, the incident took place inside Lovely Public School last week. Cops have registered a case under IPC and POCSO Act.

Investigators have taken statement of the minor victim as well. "The incident took place inside Lovely Public School. "When we received the complaint, a case was immediately registered against the accused and both the accused were arrested after taking the statement of the victim," Rishi Pal, DCP east district said.

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The incident took place around 3pm when a local kabariwala, identified as Ramesh, went to the school along with the victim and asked the security guard to go inside the school along with them, cops claimed. "Accused went inside the school and raped the girl. "Accused asked victim to wait in the office and after that they gang raped her," senior police official said.

ALSO READ:

Bihar: Banned 'two-finger test' conducted on Motihari rape survivor





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Want to travel the world for free? Here's how this woman is doing it.

By India Today Web Desk: Get ready to be jealous if you have been dreaming of travelling the world. Meet Natalie Wood, a resident of Canterbury, Kent, who has managed to visit countries like Turkey, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Australia, among others--all for free.

Sounds unbelievable, right? Natalie seemed to hit the bull's eye when she joined Miss Travel. Founded by a Chinese businessman in 2012, it is a dating site that brings together people comfortable with the idea of travelling on a date.

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Also read: The best vacation destinations of 2016-2017 list is out; guess who's on top?

Despite being called a 'gold-digger' by many who read her story, Natalie doesn't let such things get to her, as in her words, she's just a "luxury traveller."

Since Natalie has joined the website, she has not only managed to visit exotic places, the 30-year-old's also got access to designer goods, exquisite villas, luxurious cars, yachts and the best of everything money can buy.

Ms Wood having the time of her life in Miami. Picture courtesy: Instagram/@nataliewood_1

While the website is often criticised for being a marketplace for prostitutes and is often seen by people as a way to push sex trafficking, Natalie's experiences tell a completely different story. She seems to have a penchant for picking the right men, it seems.

In her interview with Mirror, Natalie was quoted as saying, "I am honest about what I am looking for, I am single and enjoy meeting new people and being spoilt. Most of the men, who are usually a little older than I am, are successful businessmen who are tired of travelling alone and have enough funds to be able to share their trip with me. But I always put my safety first, I insist on Skyping and always ask to see their ID before we arrange to meet, but every guy I have met has been a true gentleman."

About the money spent by her dates on her, Natalie added, "It's hard to put a figure on it, but men have spent tens of thousands on my flights and accommodation, I think it would total in excess of GBP 60,000, but I don't keep track of it."

Natalie also got a peek inside the cockpit. Picture courtesy: Instagram/@nataliewood_1

Since she's joined the website, Natalie has been on around 80 dates with men from all over the world. Talking about one of her experiences, she said,"I flew to Perth in Australia to me meet a different guy who owned private planes; he had a huge collection and I was able to ride in one."

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Those wondering if sex is a pre-requisite for such trips, Natalie will have you believe it's not: "There's no pressure to have a sexual relationship with the men I date but I don't rule sex out, I always make sure I am attracted to them first and the connection has to come naturally," she said.

Though she plans to open a spa in the future, inspired by her travels, till the time she finds her Mr Right--"an international businessman"--she'll continue to use the website for further adventures.

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By PTI: From Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, Jun 29 (PTI) The logjam in Nepalese parliament over mismanagement of the post-earthquake reconstruction today ended after an agreement between the ruling and the opposition parties over the release of NRs 200,000 aid to the survivors, leading to the resumption of discussion on this years Budget.

The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) had been disrupting House proceedings for the past a few days demanding immediate release of the financial package to the victims of last years devastating quake that killed nearly 9,000 people.

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The NC had also alleged a lack of transparency in the distribution of the compensation to the victims of the quake.

Following the agreement between the ruling alliance and the main opposition Nepali Congress, Parliament today resumed discussion on the budget announced a couple of weeks ago.

Clarifying his governments position,Prime Minister KP Oli said his government was serious about reconstruction and providing relief to the survivors of the 7.8 magnitude quake.

He told the House that the Nepal Reconstruction Authority (NRA) started work soon after the required act was formulated.

He, however, acknowledged its work was delayed "for some time" due to the blockade of border checkpoints with India by Madhesis, who share strong cultural and family bonds with Indians, over a range of demands including that the new Constitution was discriminatory against them.

Oli also countered Opposition charges that his government has politicised the NRA, saying there was no political bias in the work of the NRA and that it was a transparent body.

Responding to Nepali Congresss demand to provide NRs 2,00,000 in one instalment to quake survivors to build their houses, Oli said that it was not possible.

But he said if themain opposition party agreed then the existing procedure can be amended to provide an additional NRs 1,00,000 in the second instalment to those who have already received NRs 50,000.

The government has agreed to provide the amount in three instalments, Oli said, adding that that was the agreement.

The NC welcomed the agreement regarding the release of the financial aid.

Issuing a statement after Olis Parliament address, the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party said that it believed that the challenges Nepal faces can be also be resolved in future through agreement, common commitment and mutual trust.

As per the agreement, the statement said, the earthquake survivors would get Rs 150,000 in first instalment and the remaining Rs 50,000 support in the second instalment.

But those who have already collected Rs 50,000 as first instalment would get Rs 100,000 immediately. PTI SBP ABH AKJ ABH

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Always armed with at least three guns, he gave the police the slip five times but a two-month-long chase finally ended on Tuesday.

By Shashank Shekhar: Muneer Ahmed, who pumped more than a dozen bullets into NIA officer Mohammad Tanzil and also murdered his wife, says he wants to kill every cop who comes in his way.

Always armed with at least three guns, he gave the police the slip five times but a two month-long chase finally ended on Tuesday. "I have no remorse on killing Tanzil Ahmed. I will kill more officers," Muneer said soon after his arrest. The cops who were on his tail were wary of the "aggressive moody killer".

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ON A SHOOTING SPREE



"Each member of three raiding teams always wore a bulletproof jacket as Muneer had decided to shoot anyone who stopped him, said a source.

Over 100 buses were searched at Delhi?'s ISBTs, India Gate, Bikaner House and Dhaula Kuan as the police got a tip that Muneer would escape to Ahmedabad via the bus route.

"He started shooting indiscriminately on a police team when he was intercepted near Bisrakh,", said Amit Pathak, senior superintendent of police, special task force (STF). National Investigation Agency officer Tanzil Ahmed and his wife Farzana were shot dead in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district on the night of April 2.

Tanzeel died on the spot with over 12 bullet injuries while Farzana succumbed to the gunshot injuries at a Delhi hospital 10 days later.

NO TERROR LINK

The STF so far has found no links with terror organisations and says central agencies too will question Muneer in connection with the killing of Tanzil who busted several jihadi modules. After killing the NIA officer, the accused travelled across the state, shifting locations between 12 districts including Azamgarh, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lucknow, Bijnor, Ghaziabad and Aligarh, said sources.

He also reportedly went to Nepal, Ahmedabad and Mumbai, constantly changing his hideouts. "He is a sharp criminal and a master of going underground. Soon after killing Tanzil, he went to his residence and stayed there for two days. Then he started changing his location. During our raid at Azamgargh, we arrested his close associate, but after the raid we got to know that we missed Muneer who left the house just 15 minutes before the search",?the police said.



WILD GOOSE CHASE

STF officers claim that tracking Muneer became a wild goose chase as he left no gelectronic footprint behind. Muneer was an avid social media user but stopped in 2012 and two years later he also stopped using a mobile phone,?h said officers. He did this on the instructions of his role model, Ashutosh Mishra, who was caught earlier.

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Muneer believed that Tanzil played a role in Ashutosh's arrest."Muneer decided to eliminate him and for six days, he did a recce of Tanzil?'s house in Delhi. He thought Tanzil will also pass-on the information about him and he would be arrested",the police said. Cops said they had to rely on informers as there was no way to electronically track Muneer. ? "



ROBBERY

"He never called his associates. He simply visited them and offered them large sums of money each time. Close to 20 people helped him go underground and also assisted him in buying property and his monetary transactions. Muneer has made over Rs 3 crore from robbery and loot",?the officers said. Mastermind Ashutosh is the mastermind of a Rs 1.5-crore heist at Delhi's Kamala Market area on November 29, 2014. ?He and Muneer were part of the robbery. Ashutosh was arrested last year and Muneer again thought that Tanzeel was behind his arrest.

"He even approached Tanzeel earlier this year and sought help in getting Ashutosh out of jail", said Pathak. ?However, Tanzeel refused, Muneer and Tanzeel were from the same village. Muneer knew him and his gang associate Rayyan is Tanzeel?fs cousin.

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Rayyan had a property dispute at his village where Tanzeel allegedly helped his opponents. Muneer was also irked by the incident, said sources. An Assistant Commandant with the BSF on deputation to the NIA, Ahmed had proceeded on leave on April 1 after completing his job as the liaison officer for the five-member Pakistan Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that was in Delhi to probe the Pathankot attack when he was shot dead while.

ALSO READ:

Tanzil Ahmed murder case: Main accused arrested in Noida

Murdered NIA officer Tanzil Ahmad's wife dies 10 days after Bijnor attack



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By Radhika Bhalla/Mail Today: The recipe to becoming a celebrity chef is rather simple - first, instill a passion for food at a young age; next, find yourself a supportive set of friends and family; and then go with your instincts. Well, that's pretty much how former call centre employee Nidhi Mahajan went on to become an internationally recognised chef on the popular food show, Masterchef Australia (Season 8).

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"It's only been three years here in Australia, and my life has changed overnight," shares Mahajan when describing her move from her hometown, Chandigarh, to pursue a new life Down Under. "I remember sitting on the terrace with my husband, Sumit, and feeling very frustrated with my life. My husband asked me whether I wanted to change my job or city. I told him I wanted to move out of the country, and he agreed!," she says.

And yet, it's not shifting bag-and-baggage that she considers life-changing, but her arranged marriage to Sumit, a software engineer, that truly changed her life. She is quick to state that he has encouraged her at every step. "When we came to Australia, I decided to study for a Masters degree in accounting. We were on a budget because of the tuition fees and we couldn't afford to go out that often, but I made sure my husband got the best of food. I would look up restaurant menus, and cook those dishes for him," she recounts.

Also read: What this Indian MasterChef Australia contestant did on being eliminated will make you proud



Her loving meals certainly paid off, for when the applications for Masterchef Australia surfaced, Sumit was convinced that she needed to apply. "I loved watching Masterchef back in India too but when he asked me to apply, I didn't think I was 'Masterchef material'. I mean, I know my food, but I didn't think I knew it to that level," she shares.

Nevertheless, her husband insisted that she apply, telling her she had nothing to lose. "It was a 60-questions long application, and Sumit would help me by giving me the laptop and cooking dinner for us after work, so that I could send in my form and follow my dreams. And that is how it all started," she recounts.

MasterChef Australia judges George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston. Photo: Mail Today MasterChef Australia judges George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston. Photo: Mail Today

Speaking of her experience at the show, Mahajan says she has no words to explain it. "It was a surreal experience. I had made the Bengali dish 'Kosha Mangsho' for the audition dish and there was no looking back after that. I learned so much about cooking concepts like molecular gastronomy, working with chemicals and techniques like making gels," she explains.

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While on-screen the contestants cook within a stipulated time period, off-camera, they are busy reading up and trying their hand at new flavours at the Masterchef house. "We would read a lot to learn new recipes and techniques, and in the evenings or over weekends, we would practice and help each other improve. Everybody had their own strengths, and it was a very positive environment," she shares.

She recalls her favourite dish to be the 'tea-infused parfait, cornflake and ginger wine crumble' that she cooked for guest judge Billie McKay. As for her favourite moment, she shares excitedly, "It was when celebrity chef Marco Pierre White praised me saying that if I had a restaurant where he lived, he would visit it every week."



Also read: Nidhi Mahajan To Rishi Desai: Know all about the Indian contestants on MasterChef Australia



As for her touching the feet of judges Matt Preston, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan when exiting the competition after being eliminated, she explains, "I did not want to impress anybody, because there are people on social media who said I should have cooked better and not done drama. I have been taught to respect my teachers and touch their feet, and I considered them my gurus. This was my way of giving respect, not about making it a highlight."

Nidhi Mahajan's MasterChef might have come to an end, but her culinary career has just begun. Photo: Mail Today

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She further adds, "Life has totally changed since I went on the show," she says. "I am so much more confident about myself, and I am now devoting my time as a professional chef." Mahajan has started a small catering company where she cooks at parties for guests, something like the group challenges in the show. "You're like a guest at your party. We decide the menu and I cook everything for you at your place," she states. The young entrepreneur has also started giving cooking lessons, selling homemade spice mixes, and is now looking for a spot to open a restaurant.

As for her celebrity status, she clarifies, "People recognise me when I am out, but I don't know if I'm a celeb. I'm a normal person. I travel in a bus every day and I love my life."

Given how proud she has made Indian home-cooks across the world with her parathas, raita, pickled onions and more, she has sure won a spot in the hearts of admirers across the world.

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Masterchef Australia Season 8 airs weekdays on Star World at 9 pm

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The Intelligence Bureau in its report flagged the proximity of the youngest perpetrator of 2012 gangrape to a Kashmiri inmate who was involved in the 2011 Delhi high court bombing while he was at the juvenile home.

The youngest convict in the Nirbhaya case was released in December last year after serving a three-year sentence in a juvenile reform home, leading to widespread outrage.

By Abhishek Bhalla : The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has issued a fresh alert over suspected jihadi links of the youngest perpetrator of 2012 fatal gangrape in Delhi who was released in December as he was a minor when the crime was committed, sources told Mail Today.

Authorities in Uttar Pradesh have been advised to keep a close watch on his movements as the man, now 21, hails from the state's Badaun district.

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He ended his three-year term in a reform home six months ago after being held guilty along with five others for the brutal attack on a 23-year-old woman, dubbed Nirbhaya, in a case that prompted nationwide revulsion and turned global spotlight on crimes against women in India.

"Recently some activity was noticed and we informed the local authorities," said an intelligence official, without saying anything about the man's present whereabouts.

TERROR CONNECTIONS

Before his release in December 2015, the IB flagged his proximity at the juvenile home to a Kashmiri inmate who was involved in the 2011 Delhi high court bombing. The two shared the same room for over a year and the cellmate allegedly indoctrinated him and prompted him to take up the cause of Kashmiris.

"There is no specific input but whatever assistance is required will be provided by us," said Sunil Saxena, senior superintendent of police, Badaun.

CALLS FOR ARREST

Hundreds of people, including Nirbhaya's parents, had staged protests in the Capital against the convict's release with the campaign spurring Parliament to pass legislation lowering to 16 the age at which someone can be tried for serious crimes. His radicalisation was also pitched as one of the reasons to stop his release. The convict himself expressed fears that he may be lynched once he is set free.



BJP leader Subramanian Swamy also approached the Delhi high court but the judges rejected his plea saying the sentence complied with existing law.

"Having regard to the fact that the maximum stay that can be directed in the Special Home under Section 15(1) of the Juvenile Justice Act is three years and that the convict would be completing the period of three years by December 20, 2015, there cannot be any direction to continue his stay in the special home beyond December 20. Hence, we decline to issue any direction as prayed by the petitioner," the bench said while allowing the convict to walk free.

The Intelligence Bureau in its report prior to his release last year said that taking advantage of his proximity to the rape convict, the Kashmiri youth brainwashed him and motivated him to join jihad in Kashmir. As per the instructions of the union home ministry, the rape convict went through counseling sessions for de-radicalisation.

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A trial court awarded the death penalty to the four adult accused in the Nirbhaya gangrape case for the gruesome act. The woman was sexually assaulted on a moving bus and sustained serious internal injuries after being violated with an iron bar during the attack.

The Delhi high court upheld the sentence and the matter is now pending in the Supreme Court. One of the five accused, Ram Singh, committed suicide in the city's Tihar Jail three years ago.

ALSO READ:

AQIS, ISIS eye radicalised Indian Muslims for jihad

All you need to know about the brutal Nirbhaya-like rape case of Kerala



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By PTI: From Sajjad Hussain

Islamabad, Jun 29 (PTI) Pakistan today allowed the nearly three million refugees from Afghanistan to stay in the country for an additional six months while tasking authorities to take up the issue of their return with Afghan and UNHCR officials.

The announcement in this regard by Pakistan was made a day before the deadline of the return was to expire on June 30.

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Pakistan had set the deadline to put pressure on the about 3 million Afghan refugees - 1.5 million registered and about as many undocumented - to return to their homeland.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif granted the six month stay till December 31, 2016, an official said.

Radio Pakistan and Pakistan TV reported that Sharif has extended the stay of the refugees in the country and asked authorities to discuss the issue of their return with Afghan officials and UN High Commission for Refugees.

Sharif said that Pakistan will supply free wheat for three years to refugee camps set up in Afghanistan to accommodate those returning from Pakistan.

Afghanistan had earlier asked to extend the stay for two more years so that it could prepare to receive the refugees. According to UNHCR there are 1.6 million registered and another 1 million unregistered refugees in Pakistan but local official of Pakistan put their total number to more than 3 million.

Pakistan wants early return of the refugees as they have become a security problem as militants use their camps to hide, according to Advisor to the Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz.

The deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan meant that between January and June only 7,000 Afghans have returned to their homeland, according to UNHCR Pakistan.

Pakistan last week called for international support as it warned that without help, the flow of those fleeing Afghanistans decades-long war to Europe could increase.

Next month Pakistan will host a tripartite meeting with Afghanistan and the UN to discuss the situation.

Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, an estimated five million Afghan refugees crossed over to Pakistan, and many still remain in camps in the poorest rural areas of the country. PTI SH ABH

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What had actually miffed the Muslim community body and the RSS was an ostensibly off-hand but insensitive comment by Basit when he told media persons that while the issue of J&K was a contentious one, they should enjoy the iftar party which was underway.

By Mail Today Bureau: The Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), an organisation "for and by the Muslims" which works under the aegis of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), on Tuesday withdrew its iftar invitation to Pakistani High Commissioner in India Abdul Basit citing the ambush and consequent death of eight CRPF jawans in Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir.

INTERNATIONAL IFTAR PARTY

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Mail Today had been the first to report on June 19 that Pakistan had been invited to the event. The Muslim body had planned an international iftar party on July 2 at the Parliament House Annexe, where it had started the tradition last year. This year representatives from 140 countries, especially Muslim nations, were invited to the party. Earlier, Manch's national convener Mohd Afzal had told Mail Today that through the iftar party they wanted "dispel the propaganda that Muslims are not happy or at peace in India", but on Tuesday he said the invite to Basit had been withdrawn as Pakistan had failed to condemn the Pampore attack.

HIGHT COMMISIONER'S STATEMENT

What had actually miffed the Muslim community body and the RSS was an ostensibly off-hand but insensitive comment by Basit when he told media persons that while the issue of J&K was a contentious one, they should enjoy the iftar party which was underway at the Pakistani High Commmission.

"It's the month of Ramzan, let's focus on this iftar 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 iftar party and enjoy ourselves," Basit said.

On the other hand, the RSS and the BJP had come under attack from ally Shiv Sena which had alleged that the two had lost track of the 'Hindutva agenda' and had termed the iftar 'pure hypocrisy'. Meanwhile, an RSS source told Mail Today that MRM was not an RSS affiliate and was an independent body, which had wanted to cooperate with the RSS which had in turn appointed a liaison.

Spiritual head of Ajmer Dargah Zainul Abedin Ali Khan also condemned the Pampore attack and demanded that the Armed Forces be given a free hand to take action against terrorist camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). "The attack by Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba is an act of cowardice," he said in a statement. "Pakistan is waging a proxy war with India through terror groups and the Indian Air Force should be given the nod to enter and destroy terrorist camps set up by the Pakistani army in PoK," he added. The Ajmer Dargah Deewan also criticised Basit for shrugging off a question on the attack. "When our jawans are being killed at the border, how could the iftar party take place," Khan said, adding that the Rasthriya Muslim Manch withdrawing its invite was worth appreciating.

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ALSO READ:

RSS tries to shed pro-Hindu image, invites 140 countries to Iftar party



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"Pakistan cannot be trusted. It has played us now for a total of USD 33 billion of our money since 2001," Republican Congressman Ted Poe, chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade of the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote yesterday in an op-ed in US News.

Poe's move to retain the US aid to Pakistan to USD 700 million for the fiscal 2017 as for 2016 was voted down by the House of Representatives. Poe said he is disappointed by House's decision.

"For 15 years we have been asking Pakistan to go after terrorists within its own borders and for 15 years not only has Pakistan not done so in any significant way, but it has actually supported those very terrorists who kill our service men and women in Afghanistan. It is time to call it like it is," he said.

"We do not need to give Pakistan a raise to betray us. They will do it for free. And that's just the way it is," Poe said.

The House of Representatives recently gave Pakistan a USD 200 million raise. In all, it was a USD 900 million payday for a country that to this day is supporting terrorist groups that kill US service men and women in Afghanistan, he said.

"It is well known by now that Pakistan gave safe harbor to Osama bin Laden. Before he met his maker in one of the greatest US military raids ever conducted, bin Laden was living in a big house in a bustling military town in Pakistan," he added.

"Less known is that after that raid our CIA station chief in Pakistan was poisoned: Both he and the CIA suspect he was poisoned by Pakistan's version of the CIA called the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency or 'ISI'," Poe wrote.

"The ISI is infamous for its support for terrorists. In February 2012, a NATO report confirmed that it was supporting the Taliban and other terrorist groups with resources, sanctuary and training," Poe said.
The explosion took place outside the Thornlie Mosque near the Australian Islamic College.

Following the explosion, the people rushed outside. They found a car on fire and anti-Islamic slogans sprayed on the mosque walls.

As per reports, worshippers heard a loud bang outside the mosque at about 8pm.

Yahya Adel Ibrahim, from the mosque, wrote on Facebook that "a suspected petrol bomb" was to blame and "hate fuelled graffiti put on the wall".
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 28 (PTI) Ahead of its initial public offer, staffing firm Quess Corp today raised Rs 180 crore from anchor investors, including Kuwait Investment Authority.

The company allotted shares to around 15 anchor investors at a price of Rs 317 apiece - upper end of the price band fixed for the Rs 400-crore IPO opening tomorrow.

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Apart from Kuwait Investment Authority, Fidelity Investments, ICICI Prudential MF, HDFC MF, Nomura, Harvard Management Co, DSP BlackRock, Wasatch, Pictet and Grandeur Peak were among the anchor investors.

Quess Corp allotted 56.78 lakh shares to anchor investors at the price of Rs 317 per scrip, according to a filing to the stock exchanges.

Promoted by Ajit Isaac and Thomas Cook (India), Quess Corps IPO has a price band of Rs 310?317 per equity share having face value of Rs 10 each.

The IPO, which would open tomorrow and close on July 1, comprises fresh issue of equity shares aggregating Rs 400 crore.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company plans to use the proceeds towards incremental working capital, acquisitions and other strategic initiatives, debt repayment and other general corporate purposes.

Set up in 2007, Quess Corp offers comprehensive solutions, including recruitment, temporary staffing, technology staffing and IT products and solutions. PTI SP RAM ABK

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Shannon said a closer look at diplomatic approaches is needed to ensure that India's bid for the NSG at the next occasion is successful.

By Smita Sharma: US Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Thomas A Shannon reiterated America's commitment towards India joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) on Wednesday. Speaking in Delhi Shannon praised India's nuclear non-proliferation record and expressed Washington's 'regret' in being unable to open the space necessary to allow India to get into the NSG at the Seoul plenary, but added 'we are not giving up'

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"We believe that through the kind of work we have done in our civil nuclear agreement and the way that India has conducted itself, India is worthy of this. India's recent entry into the MTCR highlights that India is an important and responsible player in the world of non-proliferation and we want to have it strengthened," Shannon said.

"POSITIVE DECISION BY NSG WILL ALLOW US TO MOVE FORWARD ON PARIS AGREEMENT"



Shannon who met Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar in Delhi on Wednesday said a closer look at diplomatic approaches is needed to ensure that India's bid for the NSG at the next occasion is successful. "We understand that in a consensus based organisation, one country can break consensus. But in order to do so it must feel comfortable that it will not be isolated. Therefore, what we need to do, going forward is for both of us for India and the US to sit down and take a closer look at what happened in Seoul," Shannon said while speaking on US-India Diplomatic Leadership at the Indian Foreign Service Institute.

Responding to the NSG plenary statement in Seoul, Ministry of External Affairs in its statement last Friday had said," Our application has acquired an immediacy in view of India's INDC envisaging 40 per cent non-fossil power generation capacity by 2030. An early positive decision by the NSG would have allowed us to move forward on the Paris Agreement ."



Asked if the US thought that NSG membership would be crucial to India being able to move forward on the Paris agreement as per deadline, Shannon hoped it would be the case by the year end. "We are going to have to sit down and talk to each other and determine what our next steps will be. We are fully confident that, as President Modi, as he said to President Obama, that India will be prepared to accede to the Paris agreement as early as possible. And our cooperation on energy issues particularly nuclear energy will be a part of that. We will certainly continue to work with India to ensure that it can contain its carbon commitments," Shannon replied

LIKE BRAZIL, NORWAY TOO FIRM ABOUT PROCESS AND NPT



According to multiple sources, China had the backing of several countries including Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, Austria, Turkey at the Seoul plenary discussions on technical consequences inclusion of non-NPT countries into the elite nuclear group. Sources have also told India today that like Brazil, Norway too was not opposed to the Indian bid but remained firm on questions of non-discriminatory criterion based process and non-dilution of global non-proliferation regime.

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India has strong views on not signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty for a minimum regional deterrent against nuclear arsenal of China and Pakistani nuke weapons. But India remains hopeful a special meeting could be convened at near future to discuss the issue of Non-NPT countries application and the inclusion of India into the NSG as the 49th member.

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By PTI: Bhubaneswar, Jun 29 (PTI) A special vigilance court here today sentenced a retired Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer to two years rigorous imprisonment and penalty of Rs three lakh to after convicting him in a disproportionate assets case.

Special Court (Vigilance), Bhubaneswar, Judge Balakrushna Mohapatra found during the trial that Laxmidhar Bhoi, an IFS officer, who retired from the service in 2002, owned disproportionate assets worth Rs 8.06 lakh.

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A case was made against Bhoi, Ex-DFO, Kendu Leaf Division, Kuchinda, Sambalpur under section 13(2), 13(1)(e) of Prevention of Corruption Act after finding him guilty of possessing disproportionate assets worth of Rs 8,06,422.

"The court sentenced Laxmidhar Bhoi to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and to pay fine of Rs three lakh and in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for another six months," said Sunil Kumar Pati, Special PP, Special Court Vigilance, Bhubaneswar.

The vigilance had submitted a charge sheet against Bhoi for amassing disproportionate assets worth Rs 11.87 lakh, Pati said.

However, the court found evidence of Rs 8.06 lakh disproportionate assets of him and awarded him two years jail term and Rs three lakh fine.

On December 26 and 27 of 1997, Bhois official residence and office chamber at Kuchinda, Sambalpur and residential house at Geetagram, Angul, were searched simultaneously to detect disproportionate assets.

After investigation charge sheet was placed against Laxmidhar Bhoi, on May 31, 2002 for possession of disproportionate assets worth of Rs 11,87,347.

Bhoi joined in government service as a Forest Ranger on October 3, 1962 and thereafter he promoted to the rank of Assistant Conservator of Forest in the year 1972.

He subsequently became the Deputy Conservator of Forest in 1987. He was Divisional Forest Officer (Kendu Leaf) in Jeypur Kendu Leaf Division and Kuchinda Kendu Leaf Division from 1992 till retirement on March 31, 2002. PTI AAM DKB

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The woman, Vinupriya, a BSc graduate, committed suicide on Monday at her residence after discovering that someone had morphed her face on to photos of scantily clad women.

By India Today Web Desk: The Tamil Nadu Police have arrested a man named Suresh for allegedly uploading morphed photographs of a 21-year-old woman on Facebook.

The woman, Vinupriya, a BSc graduate, had committed suicide on Monday after discovering that someone had morphed her face on to some obscene photos and had uploaded the same to the social networking site.

Suresh, 21, works in powerloom sector.

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In her suicide note, Vinupriya had stated that she could not deal with the humiliation any longer. Police is suspecting it is an act of vengeance.

Safest city to crime capital: Is this the new Chennai?



COMPLAINT FILED

Vinupriya's parents had filed a complaint with the police regarding the Facebook page and had asked for the page to be taken down.

However, before the police could take any action, the accused uploaded more morphed photos of Vinupriya. In the latest update on Sunday, June 26, the girl's image was posted with the contact information of her father.

This was the last straw for Vinupriya. She committed suicide when her parents had gone to the police station. She was later declared dead at the Salem Hospital.

"We have lost our child; there is nothing more we can do. If officials had taken down the page when we had complained about it, this day may never have come for our child," lamented Annadurai, Vinupriya's father.

Worse still, she was not sure whether her parents believed in her innocence. Vinupriya got to know of her fake Facebook profile on June 23 when she was alerted by a few friends. The fake profile had numerous obscene pictures of hers.

Chennai: Woman Infosys employee hacked to death at railway station



LACK OF TIMELY ACTION

The family lodged a complaint with the Superintendent of Police (SP), Salem district, Amit Kumar Singh, and urged him to take action against the miscreants. The complaint was later forwarded to Magudanchavadi police by the SP. The family though has alleged that timely action was not taken by the officials. There are allegations that some police officials had called up the family and had asked for a bribe in order to proceed with the investigation. Ironically, the police got the page pulled down an hour after Vinupriya committed suicide.

45-year-old advocate murdered in Chennai



FAMILY WANTS JUSTICE

Annadurai and his family want justice for Vinupriya. Earlier, the family had refused to receive Vinupriya's body from the hospital after the post-mortem. "Till the police arrest the culprit we won't budge," Annadurai had said. On June 28, nearly 24 hours after Vinupriya's death and after assurances from the Salem SP that the accused would be caught within the next two days, Vinupriya's family finally decided to receive the body.

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Chennai: Man kills family, stays with the bodies for two days



NEED STRONGER LAWS: MANEKA GANDHI

Reacting to news of Vinupriya's suicide, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said that she received such complaints on a daily basis and that there was a need to make cyber laws stronger.

"Cyber laws should be strengthened and we will take up this matter with the home ministry," she said.

Also Read:

Woman commits suicide after morphed images of her were put up on Facebook



Salem: Morphed Facebook images drive woman to suicide



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Salman Khan may give in to public pressure and may as well say a sorry or two. But will that be an apology or an apology of an apology?

By Kamlesh Singh: "When I used to walk out of the ring, after the shoot, I used to feel like a raped woman. I couldn't walk straight." ~ Salman Khan, 2016

Salman Khan has replied to the National Commission for Women's notice on his 'felt like a raped woman' comment but hasn't, we are told, said sorry. He Must Apologise is the war cry now.

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This collective scream to force an apology out of a man who is clearly not apologetic is terribly misplaced and dangerously disingenuous. He is clearly a soft target. He is a box-office star and he has got a film coming out soon.

ALSO READ: Salman Khan was quick to retract 'raped woman' analogy but that went unreported

ALSO READ: Salman Khan not sorry for 'raped woman' remark, says he didn't trivialise rape

He may give in to public pressure and may as well say a sorry or two. But will that be an apology or an apology of an apology? Are politicians judged by the same standards of speech?

We agree, the word rape is not the same after the Delhi gangrape case. And Salman Khan is aware of how that one incident changed the way India looked at and talked about rape. Yet, his choice of words to describe the gruel of a shoot reflected no empathy.

Reducing rape to just physical pain, he compared himself to a 'raped woman' as if it were a joke. And it ironically drew laughter. He realised it before the guffawing journalists did. He said, right after uttering the 'raped woman' comment, "I shouldn't have..." But, by then, the damage was done.

India rose, rightly so, and in unison condemned his casual attitude towards a serious crime that scar women for life. A crime that India has been struggling with. A crime that has significantly damaged India's reputation in the world.

Most prominent citizens and speakers went on record to slam his bad-boy behaviour. That he has a history of bad behaviour helped. Salman's father Salim Khan apologised on his behalf. That should have been punishment enough for a 50-year-old, if he had any shame or felt sorry.

If he doesn't feel sorry, what's the point of asking him to say sorry? If you think sorry is just a word, then so is rape. Saying sorry just to satiate people is a sorry thing to say.

This demanding an apology for words said is a bad idea. It goes against the essence of free speech. It is also dangerous because it will discourage people like Salman Khan from speaking their minds, thus denying the nation a vision of their true nature.

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How would you know a politician/actor/celebrity is a rabid communal crook, if you discourage foul, incorrect, lousy speech? How would we ever know Mulayam Singh believes 'boys will be boys' and will sometimes rape girls? How would we know that Muslims should be sent to Pakistan if we expect public figures to apologise every time they make a communal speech? How will the world know what Kamaal R Khan thinks of starlets if we force him to watch every word he types on Twitter? Or what the junior Owaisi brother thinks of his big brother's powers?

This apology business has to stop and be replaced by a vocal, united, massive berating of the celebrity who mouths insensitive statements about women. And stop there.

That's all we need. We do not need an anal-retentive asinine star to apologise. We just need to know he's asinine and anal-retentive.

Let the big stars of politics/business/show business shoot from the lips, because that gives us a peek into their small minds. Don't close this window by screaming 'We Want Apology' into their ears. Besides, if you close the windows to keep foul air out, the fresh will have no way to get in.

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(The writer tweets as @kamleshksingh)



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By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 29 (PTI) Salman Khan is "not apologetic" over his rape remark in his reply to the National Commission for Women, its Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam said today, noting the panel is looking into it.

"Salman Khan has sent a reply and it is not apologetic in tenor. We now need to decide what we are going to do next. We have to look at both what comes under our mandate and what are the legalities involved...

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"We are not going to give out the details of Salman Khans reply now. We need to first go through it in detail, along with our lawyers. Only then will both his reply and what we are going to do next will be made public," she said.

The reply was e-mailed to NCW through a lawyer last evening while the NCW notice was sent directly to the Bollywood actor to his residence.

"The reply has come from his lawyer, which means it is a legal reply. So we cant just reply off the cuff," Kumaramangalam said.

The NCW chief had earlier said that if the actor did not give a satisfactory reply then he could be asked to appear before the Commission.

Calling the comment "callous and condemnable", NCW had issued Salman a notice last week, giving him five days to reply, over a comment he made comparing himself with a raped woman when quizzed about the gruelling shoot for the movie "Sultan".

"We have sent him a letter asking for explanation in seven days. We have said that he should give a public apology," the NCW chief had then said. PTI JC SMN SC SMN

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The Chief Justice will now decide if the petition is to be heard along with the curative petition already pending with the Supreme Court.

By Anusha Soni: A Supreme Court bench today referred a petition challenging the validity of Section 377 which criminalises gay sex to the bench headed by the Chief Justice of India.

A bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan said the matter will be listed before a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India for appropriate orders.



"Let the constitutional bench decide the main matter," the bench said as it passed on the matter to Chief Justice TS Thakur. The Chief Justice will now decide if the petition is to be heard along with the curative petition already pending with the Supreme Court. The fresh petition was filed by prominent social figures including chef Ritu Dalmia, hotelier Aman Nath, journalist Sunil Mehra, business executive Ayesha Kapur and dancer NS Johar among others. The petition asked for the protection of the civil rights and sexual preferences of the LGBT community.

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By Gaurav C Sawant: There were a series of lapses which resulted in the killing of eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in the terrorist attack in Pampore on Saturday, according to top sources engaged in counter-terror operations in J&K.

SENSITIVE AREA

The area where Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists struck has been used by terrorists to attack convoys earlier as well. The Jammu-Srinagar highway and the Srinagar-Baramulla highway are considered very sensitive, especially now with Amarnath Yatra round the corner. "The road domination should have been very active. But where was the road opening party and why was this bus isolated? Why was it not a part of a convoy?'' questions a top officer, a part of overall management of situation in J&K.

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India Today TV has accessed a video of the encounter, which shows two terrorists firing indiscriminately into the bus. Two Army mine protected vehicles (MPVs) are then seen rushing to the spot from either sides of the road. "The Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of 50 RR was the first to respond along with the mobile bunker of the CRPF. From the cupola, the CRPF soldier fired. The Army QRT got out of the MPV and started firing at the terrorists neutralising them,'' sources told India Today TV. The mobile gypsy of the CRPF is then seen rushing towards the bus but it doesn't engage the terrorists in these shots.

TRAINING AND RESPONSE



"This is not the first time a CRPF convoy has come under attack. In February too, a CRPF bus was ambushed by terrorists in Pampore. The terrorists then ran into the EDI building and the Army lost two brave officers of Special Forces while neutralising the terrorists. The CRPF needs to improve its training, tactics and response techniques under fire,'' sources added.

In Anantnag, South Kashmir, early in June, a BSF convoy came under fire resulting in the death of three security force personnel. "The highways are the arteries but also the Achilles heel if not protected well. And fool proof corridor security remains a nightmare,'' said an official. "Force strength is being looked into for highway security ahead of the Amarnath Yatra,'' K Durga Prasad, Director General CRPF said. "As of now, south of Pir Panjal, there is a company deployed at every 11 kilometres and at every 4.5 kilometres, north of Pir Panjal.

The CRPF is now working on increasing not just the force strength for the Yatra but also working on increasing the number of mobile bunkers along the highway. The force is also re-looking deployment along the highway,'' he said. K Durga Prasad complimented his force personnel for firing back at the two terrorists despite being in the line of fire. "Our effort is now to ensure the QRT response time is reduced further,'' he added. He refused to comment on lapses insisting it would be premature to comment ahead of the inquiry.

COUNTER-MEASURES

The Army - after the 2013 Hyderpora highway killing of its soldiers - made a series of changes in its convoy movement. The changes included deploying additional highway domination teams (HIDOTs) - deploying troops at vulnerable roads, points and occupying high ground to prevent terrorists from launching a standoff attack. The Army also altered the timing and dates of their convoy movements. Additional counter-measures were taken in terms of convoy protection vehicles not just in front and rear but also in the middle of the convoy.

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"Troops inside were also given weapons to respond to a threat. Training was rejigged to ensure troops could immediately retaliate and neutralise the treat,'' sources added. "The Central police organisations -BSF and CRPF - need to train officers and men together and ensure standard operating procedures,'' the official added.

ALSO READ:

Pampore attack: How brave CRPF jawans fought Lashkar terrorists till their last breath





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By PTI: Chandigarh, Jun 29 (PTI) Slovenia today invited Indian companies to invest and set up projects in that country, saying it is an ideal investment destination.

Jozef Drofenik, Ambassador of Slovenia to India said this while interacting with industry members at a session organized here.

Showcasing Slovenia as an ideal investment hotspot for Indian companies from Chandigarh region, Drofenik invited the industry from this region to collaborate, invest, partner and build business ties with their counterparts in Slovenia, extending full support.

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"Slovenia is a perfect investment platform for Indian companies due to its excellent infrastructure, a well-educated work force, and a strategic location between the Balkans and Western Europe," said Drofenik.

"We have a lot of small and medium sized companies having high technology and skilled work force. Slovenia has signed an agreement with the Indian Air force for hundred high-end planes which can cover maximum distance in one fuelling. Slovenia has one of the highest per capita GDPs in Central Europe," he added.

Maja Segota, First Counsellor, Trade and Economic Affairs, Embassy of Slovenia in India, said, "Investors wishing to build a customer network in Europes east and southeast can benefit from expanding their business through Slovenia with its supportive environment, pro-business infrastructure and technically-savvy workforce."

Speaking on bilateral trade between India and Slovenia, CII Chandigarh Council Chairman, Dinesh Dua, said, "The economic and commercial relationship between India and Slovenia, particularly investment relationship, has grown in recent years.

FDI flows from Slovenia to India between April 2000 and June 2015 are about USD 8.49 million, making it the 79th most important investor in India."

The sectors that attracted maximum investments from Slovenia include manufacturing, pharmaceutical products, computer software & hardware, green technology, electrical machinery and organic chemicals, he added. PTI CHS DBS RG DBS

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Ex-convicts face immense difficulties getting jobs, but Drive Change is offering them a second chance.

Drive Change's food truck, Snowday, trains and employs former inmates from New York jails. Picture courtesy: Instagram/drivechangenyc

By Shreya Goswami: The social stigma attached to people who have been to jail, whether for a short term or long, is immense. Even though the world now believes in behavioural reform and social integration instead of severe punishments, former inmates, especially young men and women, find it really difficult to get good, long-term employment.

Drive Change, a non-profit organisation in New York is changing all that, and that too with a food truck that sells delicious, sweet-and-salty maple syrup-topped grilled-cheese sandwiches, and other hot favourites like burgers and salads.

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Also read: Out of the box: You have to see what this quirky New York pizzeria has come up with

The food truck is called Snowday, and employs young people who have served time in jail. According to a recent report, the founder of Drive Change, Jordyn Lexton, came up with this idea when he was teaching juvenile inmates English at Rikers Island Prison in New York.

Jordyn Lexton is the founder of Drive Change. Picture courtesy: Instagram/drivechangenyc

He observed that most inmates who were released kept returning to jail thanks to the lack of a system to support them.

Lexton came up with Drive Change and its food truck Snowday to change the world with food. Drive Change offers former inmates aged 17-25 years a training programme during which they learn how to cook, operate a mobile kitchen and get their licenses at $9 per hour.

Ex-cons are given the opportunity to join the food industry by Drive Change. Picture courtesy: Instagram/drivechangenyc Ex-cons are given the opportunity to join the food industry by Drive Change. Picture courtesy: Instagram/drivechangenyc

Once they finish the orientation, they are paid $11 per hour for senior level jobs while attending professional courses for business development and marketing.

Also read: New York rolls with ice creams that look like they came from Willy Wonka's factory!



The ex-cons are also given placements in other restaurants and cafes for a few months to add to their work experience. Basically, the whole programme focuses on giving them the confidence to and preparing them for a long and healthy professional life.

Drive Change offers former inmates a training program and experience in the food industry. Picture courtesy: Instagram/drivechangenyc

Thanks to Drive Change, these young people get a chance to take control of their lives and join the now booming food industry.

The Drive Change initiative has already sent ripples across New York as their team won multiple accolades like winning the Vendy Cup (awards for food vendors), being featured in Oprah Magazine, Time Out, New York, and The Chew Talk Show. This is a group that's actually bringing about changes that need to be made to make this society more inclusive and introduce more young people, with huge potential, to the food industry.

Is India taking note?



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By India Today Web Desk: So, in keeping with her new duties as a self-appointed nun, Sofia Hayat or Gaia Mother Sofia as she now refers to herself, posted an image on Instagram of beauty queens at a pageant, and dispensed her gyan.

However, the new-found wisdom didn't go down too well with some people, and some of the responses, including her own, were downright funny.

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It started with this post:

sofiahayat Women shouldn't be sex icons and valued by their bodies no matter what size; we harp on about curvy being sexy..or skinny being sexy..or having a "thigh gap"..sexy makeup that makes you beautiful, light skin, tanned skin, tall....it is still judgement. We are so ridiculously obsessed by what beauty is..you forget that actually, beauty has nothing to do with what you look like. Real beauty is felt..not seen. Gaia Mother Sofia

And then, this person stepped in to say what a lot of people are probably thinking.

d_se_daud Medam u r also doing same thing. Why u doing publicity by@being nun. If u really want to be nun then jst delete ur insta id. And everything related to publicity then u will be original nun.@sofiahayat



But not one to keep quiet, Sofia responded. She is, after all, a 21st century nun.



sofiahayat Wakeup. Telling the truth through social media is helping comments like those above just show a huge lack of awakening..an imprisoned mind ..if anyone thinks social media should be exclusive for promotion of movies..clothes .. and superficiality are drowning in their own vanity and ego..the Internet is a source of enlightenment.. information..if you use it correctly.



Sofia's reply was obviously unconvincing, and she was compared to none other than Rakhi Sawant (both are past Bigg Boss contestants, by the way).



john_patel @sofiahayat .. U have lost your Mind... U r now 3 steps above Rakhi Sawant. U need a Serious counseling.... And BTW... Who gave u the Title 'Mother' ??? Seriously??? It is EARNED.... NOT HIJACKED...



However, not all the respondents were negative. This user came to Mother Sofia's rescue, urging her not to be disheartened:"You have woken up... and so will we."



mantramugdh Dear Mother..never have you looked or been more beautiful than you are now.. please do not be disheartened by the negative comments.. you have woken up..and so will we.. keep spreading the good word ..



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Sonu, a preschooler, went missing in 2010 from his house. After six years, he has been found at a shelter home in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sonu (left), Mahboob, Sonu's father with an old photograph of Sonu

By Puneet Kumar Sharma: Mahboob, a resident of Delhi's Seemapuri, has been searching for his lost son since 2010. Sonu was just a preschooler in 2010. He vanished from the premises of his house one night while playing.

The family informed the police about the missing and a case was registered. The police had to close the file in 2013 since they could not find any clue about the missing boy.

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Now, after six years, Sonu has been found at a shelter home in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A DNA test was conducted to confirm his identity.

Delhi Police is now finishing the formalities to bring Sonu back to India from Bangladesh.

However, the incident has left many questions unanswered.

How did Sonu vanish from his house?

Where was he all these years?

How did he survive?

How did a kid reach Dhaka, crossing the border?



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The increasing number of attacks on the security forces is an indicator that militant groups are strategically choosing the highway to mount attacks.

By Shuja-ul-Haq : The Pampore attack on June 25 in which 8 jawans were killed and 20 injured, has put the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway under the serious terror radar.

"This is right. We are trying to plug this. We are taking security measures. We are also increasing operations in the hinterland so that they aren't able to come down only", PVK Reddy, Special DG CRPF

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In last 4 months as many as 17 security force personnels have been killed in various attacks launched on the national highway by militant groups. The numbers speak themselves for the grave security concerns on this highway.

Thanks to its strategic location that favours the militants from the other side, the stretch has become an easy target.

The video of June 4 attack, in which two policemen were killed, clearly shows how well the terrain favors the terrorist.

THE DEADLY HIGHWAY:

June 25: 8 CRPF personnel killed after militants open fire at convoy in Pampore.

June 3: 3 jawans are killed and the militants escaped unhurt.

June 4: Similar attack near the Anantnag town. Two policeman were killed in this attack.

April : Militants target army vehicle killing two civilians.

February 2016: Two CRPF personnel killed in another Pampore attack.

December 2015: Two senior officials injured in Pampore.

December 9, 2015: CRPF intercept a vehicle near Pampore, two militants killed in the combat.

Also read:

Landslides blocks Jammu-Srinagar highway

India Today exclusive: Initial probe finds security lapses in Pampore attack

Terrorist, woman killed in gunfight on Jammu-Srinagar highway



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Swamy also said that he stands by Modi as he admires his spine but took a dig at journalists planting "deliberately false stories" to provoke him.

By India Today Web Desk: BJP MP Subramnian Swamy, who had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wrath for his "craving for publicity" today suggested that it is publicity which "relentlessly seeks" him as he wrote about hordes of journalists waiting outside his residence.

"New problem: when publicity relentlessly seeks a politician. 30 OBs outside the house, 200 missed calls from channels and paparazzis?" he tweeted.

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"Presstitutes are daily planting deliberately false stories hoping I will be provoked to reply. Ha! They have a hope!," he said in another tweet.

I STAND BY MODI: SWAMY

Swamy also said that he stands by Modi as he admires his spine but took a dig at journalists planting "deliberately false stories" to provoke him.

"I have said before and saying now: Come hell or high water I stand by Modi. I admire his spine. No foreign power can buckle him," he added.

The Rajya Sabha member, who consistently attacked RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and then took potshots at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has been lying low after the BJP leadership indicated its unhappiness and Modi voiced disapproval of his conduct.

Also read:

Subramanian Swamy's intriguing tweet a day after PM Modi's rebuke

PM Modi rebukes Swamy: Breaking party line, seeking publicity wrong





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Courts in Telangana have not been functioning since June 6 with the lawyers protesting at various spots and even locking up the court premises at Medak on Wednesday.

By Amarnath K. Menon : Belligerent lawyers have filed a complaint against Union Law Minister Sadananda Gowda for cheating even as the stand-off between the High Court in Hyderabad and the subordinate judiciary supported by the lawyers escalates with the lower court judges deciding to stay away from courts for a fortnight from Wednesday in Telangana. The complaint filed at the Saroornagar Police Station in Hyderabad said that Gowda had assured the bifurcation of the High Court during his visit to the state but later ignored the promise.

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What they are peeved about is Gowda's comments stating that Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao was welcome to sit on a dharna at Janta Mantar in New Delhi in protest against the inordinate delay in the bifurcation of the High Court as provided for in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014.

Courts in Telangana have not been functioning since June 6 with the lawyers protesting at various spots and even locking up the court premises at Medak on Wednesday. Never before have judicial officers stayed away from work in protest and seeking justice arguing only natives should be given opportunities to be presiding officers of subordinate courts like elsewhere in the country following the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014. However, the High Court has viewed seriously the decision of the presiding officers to take part in the protests, bringing legal proceedings in all lower courts to a standstill. The High Court has already suspended eleven judges of lower courts for taking part in the protests.

The agitating judges and lawyers are demanding recall of the provisional list dividing the judges between the two states which they described as skewed to enable those from Andhra Pradesh to preside over courts in Telangana for the next decade or more. Such is the sharp divide that some protestors point out that the High Court is also biased in favour of Andhra Pradesh by pointing out just three of the judges hail from Telangana while 18 are from Andhra and the remaining four of the 25 judges are from the non - Telugu speaking states.

They also want measures to be initiated on priority for the bifurcation of the judiciary including the High Court. They accuse both the government of India and government of Andhra Pradesh of being insensitive to the issue of judicial officers from Andhra Pradesh being posted to deliver justice in several subordinate courts across Telangana. Their leaders assert that the agitation will continue until their demands are met. The Joint Action Committee of the lawyers has announced that an indefinite strike begins on July 1.

With the judges going on mass leave, lawyers protesting outside and cases piling up the judiciary, Telangana is facing a major crisis. The ruling TRS is accusing Andhra Pradesh of plotting to have its sway over Telangana through the judiciary. Sensing the developing crisis, chief minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao has written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh to expedite the process of bifurcation of the High Court in Hyderbad apart from issuing an appropriate notification for taking up the exercise of dividing and allocating judicial officers and staff only after the High Courts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh start functioning separately.



--- ENDS ---

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An awareness drive lasting for nearly two hours was organized by the IAF, aimed at the local residents.

By Manjeet Sehgal: Air Force authorities on Tuesday alerted Pathankot residents to the possibility of an 'aerial-attack' by Pakistan-based terror groups in the strategically important border town.

The officials, carrying photographs of hang gliders, powered para gliders, and drones, knocked on residents' doors and informed them about the modus-operandi which the terrorists could adopt.

HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED An awareness drive lasting for nearly two hours was organized by the Indian Air Force. It was targeted at residents in and around the airbase. The officials shared important telephone numbers with the local residents, asking them to immediately share information in case they notice any unidentified flying objects. They said the motive of the drive was to inform residents that terrorists could use remote-controlled aerial devices to attack civil and military areas. The officials said the decision to educate people about the possible terror attack was taken on the basis of alerts and fresh threats. "We regularly get alerts and have decided to educate people how the terrorists can misuse these things (gliders and drones) to launch an attack. We have appealed to the people to inform us in case they notice any suspicious object in air," Junior Warrant Officer Yash Pal told the media.

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ANOTHER ATTACK THREAT?



On June 22, the Pathankot police launched a massive search operation to trace the terrorists, which, according to a Parliamentary committee, were 'hiding' outside the airbase that was attacked by the terrorists early this year.

Committee Chairman P Bhattacharya, in a report, said that some locals informed them of the presence of terrorists in the villages.

He said that the terrorists could mastermind another attack on the IAF base, which comes under Western Air Command..

On March 15, residents of Pathankot spotted two parachute-like objects in the sky.

The objects were seen flying towards Kathua, Jammu.

The authorities were informed by the locals but they failed to trace the objects.

The incident is shrouded in mystery. No one knows if the people behind these UFOs were terrorists or crew members.

WHEN PRO-KHALISTAN MILITANTS PLANNED TO 'AIRDROP' TERRORISTS

Sikh militants and Lashkar-e-Taiba had jointly hatched a plan in Pakistan to air-drop four Lashkar terrorists in Pathankot in 2014 using a specially designed glider. The police had overlooked it.

Arrested Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Jagtar Singh Tara's interrogation in 2015 had revealed that LeT had a bigger strike plan for Punjab.

Tara, who was involved in the conspiracy to assassinate former Punjab CM Beant Singh, had escaped from Chandigarh's Burail Jail in 2004. He was arrested from Thailand in January this year.

Sources said that Tara had ordered a Rs 10 lakh glider from Germany in 2013 for air-dropping the terrorists.

"It was also planned that a Khalistan supporter will open a roadside eatery (dhaba) for the terrorists till they planned their strike. However, the glider developed snags and failed to air drop the terrorists in Pathankot. It is still not known if and where the terrorists had actually landed or crash-landed," sources said.

They added that KTF militant Harjit Singh, currently hiding in Pakistan, had helped Tara in procuring the glider. But Tara left Pakistan and went to Thailand instead after his plan failed.

Tara had taken some youths from Jalandhar and Bhatinda to Thailand and trained them in making bombs. The police nabbed one of the youths in Bhatinda who spilled the beans on Tara's whereabouts in Thailand.

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Also Read:

Police launches search operation in Pathankot to trace 'terrorists'



Jaish leader who directed Pathankot airbase attack flees Pakistan



--- ENDS ---
Baghdadi tweeted saying ISIS does not represent Islam and the Turkish Press Office called it the most meaningful statement. "It crushes Muslim lives. It wants to dominate Muslims. We are the first and biggest victims of ISIS, always."

By India Today Web Desk:

Iyad El-Baghdadi is an entrepreneur and a human rights activist who is often mistaken for the leader of ISIS Al-Baghdadi. This Islamic libertarian lived in United Arab Emirates after he was expelled from the UAE for commenting on the Arab spring.





In the wake of Istanbul terror attacks, the libertarian tweeted a few statements which Turkish Press Office called -- "the most meaningful statement."



Here is the thread posted on Twitter by Turkish Press.

Today's most meaningful statement came from @iyad_elbaghdadi. Thank you Iyad. You briefed very well. #istanbul pic.twitter.com/ZX6CoZTu4e Turkish Press Office (@trpressoffice) June 29, 2016

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Also Read: Muslims from across the world troll IS' call for every Muslim to join them



Here are the tweets from Iyad El-Baghdadi's handle.



ISIS attacked a Muslim majority country during the holy month of Ramadan and most of the victims are Muslim. But it calls itself "Islamic". Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) June 29, 2016

Worst, idiots the world over give ISIS a huge boost by aiding its narrative that it's representative of Islam and/or Islamic tradition. Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) June 29, 2016





ISIS kills Muslims. It crushes Muslim lives. It wants to dominate Muslims. We are the first and biggest victims of ISIS, always. Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) June 29, 2016

You give extremists an automatic and big win when you accept their claim that they represent tradition and that the tradition equals Islam. Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) June 29, 2016

He now resides in Norway, where he has received asylum but no reasons were given for his expulsion from the UAE.

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This is the couple's fourth trip inside a month, where Hiddleston and Taylor have met each others parents.

By India Today Web Desk: Looks like the Tom Hiddleston-Taylor Swift love story is blooming and it looks lovely. After their very public date, which happened on a beach in Rhode Island, the couple went around romancing inside the Colosseum.



The James Bond-candidate looked dapper in his crisp white shirt and classic black wayfarers, while his popstar girlfriend wore a cream blouse with white pants. The couple were seen showering plenty of affection on one another, as they took pictures of each other, held hands and went along the tourist spots.



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I hope she uploads this pictures ???????????? Taylor and Tom in Rome yesterday #taylorswift #tomhiddleston #swiddleston #hiddleswift A photo posted by Taylor Swift Updates (@taylorswuft) on Jun 28, 2016 at 3:06am PDT

The couple has been travelling out of the suitcase, since they went public about their relationship two weeks ago. Right after their beach date in Rhode Island, the couple went to meet Taylor's parents in Nashville, Tennesse.Shortly after that, the couple flew out in the Blank Space singer's private jet to London, where Tom introduced Taylor to his mother, Diana.

#tomhiddleston tom and taylor at the coliseum in rome yesterday gosh the other pics?????? tom looks so happy and i felt so happy when i saw that i'm so aldnalsnlajd and he is adorable with her i'm crying i've never seen him like this before ????? i wish them the best of happiness cred to torrilla A photo posted by @cupofthomas on Jun 28, 2016 at 2:15am PDT

The couple famously declared their love to the world, after they were supposedly smitten by one another at the Met Gala where they danced together. Soon, news came that Taylor Swift had broken up with her then-boyfriend DJ Calvin Harris.

The couple don't have a nickname yet, even though fans love 'Hiddlor'. None of the celebrity couple nicknames have caught on to these two yet.

--- ENDS ---
A medical test was conducted on them and all five were found to be in an inebriated state.

By Siraj Qureshi: In a shocking incident, a group of five tourists forced their way inside the "yellow" restricted zone of the Taj Mahal with a car and when they were stopped by a police constable, he beat him up badly.

Following this incident, all five tourists were arrested by the police and a criminal case has been registered against them in the Tajganj police station of Agra.

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According to reports, the Taj Mahal's entry was crowded and there was a long queue at the barrier, when a car entered the yellow zone in high speed. When police constable Ramdas tried to stop the car, a woman came out of the car and started shouting and abusing the constable. When she was informed that she cannot drive into the yellow zone, the woman returned along with four more tourists and started thrashing and abusing the constable.

Traffic constable Sachin Kumar, who was on duty at the barrier, when arrived to save constable Ramdas, was also badly beaten up.

Later, all five of the tourists were arrested and brought to the Taj Ganj police station. A medical test was conducted on them and all five were found to be in an inebriated state. The names of the arrested tourists are Vikrant, Diljeet Babbar, Rinku Chopra, Aditi Singh and Kashish Jolly. Out of these, Aditi and Diljeet were granted bail, while the rest are still locked up.

Eyewitnesses claim that the family appeared to be politically connected as the woman was threatening to call PM Modi and get the constable terminated from the force.

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The apex court adjourned its hearing on the contentious provision for divorce within Islamic law to September 6.

By Anusha Soni: The Supreme Court today said the issue of triple talaq must be examined on the touchstone of constitutional framework and should not violate the fundamental rights of a citizen.

The apex court adjourned its hearing on the contentious provision for divorce within Islamic law to September 6.

CASE OF FARHA FAIZ



The court also rejected the appeal of petitioner Farha Faiz, who asked for restraining orders against the Muslim Personal Law Board.

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Faiz accused the Muslim body of creating a public opinion against women protesting against the practice of triple talaq.

BMMA APPEAL

Earlier this month, a Muslim women's group called Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) said it will use the holy month of Ramadan to step up its campaign to ban triple talaq and "nikah halala".

"We (appeal) to the Muslim community to do a good deed by supporting the campaign for abolition as a contribution to the lives of their sisters," a statement by the group said.

The BMMA also wrote to the National Commission for Women and sought its support to make the practice that "destroys the life of women" as illegal.

A number of Muslim intellectuals and scholars have also urged the All India Muslim Personal Law Board to take corrective measures to stop and prevent its misuse.

The 'triple talaq' -- pronouncing 'talaq' thrice in one instance to divorce wife -- is often exploited and misused by some Muslims.

Also Read:



Supreme Court notice to Centre on triple talaq





--- ENDS ---
By PTI: London, Jun 28 (PTI) A 16-year-old British boy today admitted launching cyber attacks on websites around the world, including on Floridas SeaWorld theme park.

The teenager, from Plymouth, pleaded guilty to three offences, committed between October 2014 and January 2015, at Plymouth Youth Court.

The boy, who cannot be named due to his age, admitted targeting Floridas SeaWorld theme park and Devon and Cornwall Police in the attacks.

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He was charged with the five offences following the investigation.

He has admitted three counts of doing an act to hinder access to a programme or data held in a computer.

He has denied two charges of sending bomb hoaxes to US airlines via Twitter.

Prosecuter Ben Samples told the court American Airlines received a threat allegedly made by the boy on Twitter on February 13, 2015.

He said the tweet read: "One of those lovely Boeing airplanes has a tick, tick, ticking in it. Hurry gentlemen, the clock is ticking."

The tweet was also tagged to the White House Twitter account and the FBI were notified, Samples was quoted as saying by the BBC.

No action was taken by the US authorities following an assessment of the credibility of the threat, and the matter was passed to the UK authorities, the court heard.

A similar tweet saying was also sent to Delta Air Lines on the same day, Samples said.

Investigators from the Zephyr Regional Cyber Crime Unit traced the threats to the twitter account of the boy and seized his computer, the court heard.

The prosecution said the boy had changed his story about whether he sent the tweets during police interview, before finally denying the charges.

A twitter account used by the boy later tweeted the Zephyr Regional Cyber Crime Unit, saying "to be fair they caught me red handed" and "I still maintain the utmost respect for Zephyr", Samples said. PTI AKJ AKJ

--- ENDS ---
There's good news and bad news but the tiny nation of Belarus is more obsessed with good nudes and bad nudes. Here's why.

By India Today Web Desk:

The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, recently put an enormous naked foot in his mouth when he urged citizens "to get undressed and work till you sweat".

Instagram/irm.by

The problem for Lukashenko was that Belarusians apparently have a tremendous sense of humour. They took his words quite literally and began posting pictures of themselves naked at work, mostly using office equipment to protect their dignity.

Instagram/museum_brovka

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Yessir, there's a naked revolution on in the tiny landlocked nation of Belarus. Thousands of Belarusians have been sharing naked pictures on social media using the hashtag #getnakedatwork, in Russian of course.

Twitter/@tutby

Apparently, the president only wanted to encourage people to "develop themselves" - a phrase which sounds very similar to "get undressed" in Russian, UK media reported.

Instagram/anti_santi

Little did he know that social media would be flooded with Belarusians at work in their birthday suits.

Instagram/usedfriendly

One Instagram user put it aptly: "The president said this was necessary".

Instagram/daholme72 Instagram/daholme72

We're sure the president didn't mean to give his people a dressing down. Well, dressing down is what they're doing.

Instagram/keshakedysh

--- ENDS ---
In the build up to the reshuffle, the Prime Minister Office had asked for a thorough review of the performance of all ministers in the Union Cabinet.

By India Today Web Desk: With an eye on the next year's Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is planning a major revamp of his Cabinet. Sources have told the India Today Group that final touches are being given to the proposed reshuffle in the Modi government.

Sources added that the reshuffle is expected in the first week of July ahead of PM Modi's foreign tour. According to insiders, up to 10 portfolios could be changed in the latest reshuffle.

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EYE ON CRUCIAL UP POLLS

The focus of the BJP-led NDA government is likely to be on UP where crucial Assembly elections are scheduled early next year. At least two berths are likely to be offered to BJP leaders from the state.



Goyal may replace Jaitley who may get defence in Modi Cabinet reshuffle



The prime minister has already had a series of meetings with BJP president Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in this regard.

NON-PERFORMING MINISTERS TO GO

In the build up to the reshuffle, the Prime Minister Office had asked for a thorough review of the performance of all ministers in the Union Cabinet. Sources say that some of the ministers, who have not performed satisfactorily according to the benchmark set by PM Modi, are likely to be axed.

SENIORS MINISTERS MAY BE 'RESTED'

Sources also said that PM Modi is likely to drop ministers who have either crossed the 75-year age limit or are nearing it. One of the casualties of this could be Najma Heptulla, who holds the Minority Affairs portfolio.

The BJP had earlier indicated that those leaders who have crossed the age of 75 should not be involved in active politics.

Heptulla could be replaced by Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who comes from Uttar Pradesh.

Another minister who could face the axe is Giriraj Singh. Sources say that the minister from Bihar was drafted in the Modi Cabinet to garner more support in the Bihar Assembly polls, however, Singh's induction made little impact on election results for the party. Moreover, the minister has often forced the BJP on the backfoot through his controversial remarks.

Sources in the President's house have told India Today that they have so far not received a formal word about when the Ashoka Hall should be readied for the reshuffle. The sources added that preparations can be made at a two hour notice.

Also Read:

Stage set for Modi Cabinet's rejig, but will PM carry out a surgical operation to meet his governance goals?



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On what basis will the Modi government reshuffle the cabinet?

--- ENDS ---
By Akshaya Nath: There are more than 125 million Facebook users in India, but the world of social media is not all about spreading cheer as a 21-year-old girl found out in Tamil Nadu. After morphed images of Vinupriya, daughter of a weaver from Salem district, dressed in scantily-clad attire was posted on a Facebook page, the girl decided to take her life.

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COMPLAINT FILED

What makes things worse for the parents of this 21-year-old is the fact that the parents had filed a complaint about the Facebook page and had requested the page to be taken down. However, the sluggish pace of the investigation gave ample time to the accused to upload further pictures of the girl and in the latest update on Sunday the girl's image was posted with the contact information of her father.

This shameful act left the girl with no hope for justice and considering her life to be ruined, she resorted to commiting suicide. "We have lost our child; there is nothing more we can do. If officials had taken down the page when we complained about it, this day may never have come for our child," lamented Annadurai, Vinupriya's father.

SUICIDE NOTE

Police officials found a suicide note in her room. It was stated in the note that Vinupriya could no longer deal with the humiliation. Worse still, she was not sure whether her parents believed in her innocence. On June 23, after being alerted by a few friends, Vinupriya was shocked to find out a fake profile with obscene pictures of hers.

LACK OF TIMELY ACTION

The family lodged a complaint with the superintendent of police (SP), Salem district, Amit Kumar Singh, urging him to take action against the miscreants. Soon, the complaint was forwarded to Magudanchavadi police by the SP.

The family though has alleged that timely action was not taken by the officials. On June 26, another semi-nude image of Vinupriya's was uploaded and this one stated her father's mobile number as the contact detail. Traumatised by the development, the girl committed suicide when her parents were out to meet the police officials. She was declared dead when taken to Salem Hospital .

FAMILY WANTS JUSTICE

After the shocking death of their daughter, Annadurai and his family are adamant that justice is done to their child. The family refused to receive the body of the girl from the hospital after post-mortem. "Till the police arrest the culprit we won't budge," said Annadurai. On June 28, close to 24 hours after the death of Vinupriya, after assurance from the Salem SP that the accused would be caught within the next two days, Vinupriya's family finally decided to receive the body.

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The tragedy that this family has faced showcases many layers of poor administration in the state. Firstly, the police officials allegedly acted in a sluggish manner. Secondly, it is being alleged that a police official demanded a bribe from the family on phone in order to proceed with the investigation. The fact that the police finally pulled down the Facebook page within an hour of Vinupriya's death harshly highlights their slowness when the initial complaint was received.

Also read:

Salem: Morphed Facebook images drive woman to suicide



--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: The makers of Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai are looking for an apt ending to the track of Karan Mehra, who put in his papers recently owing to health issues.

If reports are to be believed Akshara's beloved husband Naitik Singhania will either be shown killed or kidnapped. The makers have shot both the endings and will choose one of the two to mark the exit of his character.

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Also read: The reason behind Karan Mehra's exit from Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai is just sad



"Honestly I never wanted to quit but I just could not continue anymore. My health woes were worsening day by day. I am on immunotherapy shots. I have developed HAH (High Altitude Headaches) & Back Spasms. My allergies have boomed and the doctor asked me to take it easy or i would collapse and reach the ICU. It was high time I looked after myself. So I left the show," Karan had earlier shared in an interview.

Yeh Rishta... premiered on January 12, 2009. It also stars Hina Khan, Rohan Mehra, Shivangi Joshi and Kanchi Singh.

--- ENDS ---
India's chef de misson, Rakesh Gupta says that the atheletes are well educated about the virus and all preventive measures have been taken.

By Indo-Asian News Service: India's chef de mission for Rio Olympics Rakesh Gupta on Wednesday dismissed fears of Zika virus that has forced many international players to withdraw from the upcoming summer Games in the Brazilian city.

Gupta said the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has taken enough measures to educate the athletes about the virus and have taken all the preventive measures.

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He said so far there has been no objection from any of the participating athletes.

(Also Read: Rio Olympics: Missy Franklin, Ryan Lochte struggle against rising stars at US trials)



"IOA has taken all possible measures to inform the athletes about the virus. So far, none of the athletes have objected to their participation in the Olympics. We are in constant touch with the organising committee in Brazil," Mehta told reporters here.



"We will not take any chance and so each of the kits for the Olympics contain three full sleeve shirts which will protect them from the virus," he added.

Deputy chef de mission Anandeshwar Pandey urged the media not to spread any fears about the virus which may discourage the athletes from taking part in the Rio Games. (Also Read: Rio Police protest 'financial disaster' ahead of Olympics)



Referring to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Pandey said during that time there was widespread reportage of dengue in the national capital but that did not deter the athletes.



Due to the fear of the Zika virus, many international stars have withdrawn from what will be the maiden Olympics in South America.

More than 100 athletes from India are expected to take part in the quadrennial extravaganza, slated from August 5 to 21.

--- ENDS ---
According to Ringing Bells' Founder and CEO Mohit Goel, they are ready with nearly two lakh Freedom 251 handsets.

By Indo-Asian News Service: The delivery of the world's cheapest smartphone at Rs 251 (less than $4) will finally begin from July 7 and not June 30 as was announced earlier, its makers said on Wednesday, adding that they are trying to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for garnering his support under the Make in India initiative.

According to Ringing Bells' Founder and CEO Mohit Goel, they are ready with nearly two lakh 'Freedom 251' handsets.

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"In the meanwhile, we have prepared a letter requesting a meeting with our Prime Minister to pitch our case as a domestic smartphone maker which wishes to contribute towards 'Make in India' initiative," Goel told IANS.

"We are planning to organise a launch event in the capital on July 7, a day after starting the delivery," Goel added.

In an earlier interview to IANS, Goel had announced June 30 the date for delivery, adding that once he is done with this first phase of delivery (of two lakh phones), he will open registration again for those who wish to buy the handset.



Also Read: Freedom 251 is shipping, but big questions remain about this Ringing Bells phone

The company had in mid-February this year planned to deliver 25 lakh handsets before June 30. However, it received over seven crore registrations before its payment gateway crashed within three days.



"We learned from our mistakes and decided to go silent till we come out with the product. Now we have a 4-inch, dual-SIM phone ready for delivery. I feel vindicated," he had told IANS.

According to Goel, he is facing a loss of Rs 140-Rs 150 per handset, for which parts were imported from Taiwan, but hopes to make profit on volumes.

"We will have a loss, but I am happy that the dream of connecting rural and poor Indians as part of the 'Digital India' and 'Make in India' initiatives has been fulfilled with 'Freedom 251'," Goel said.

The 3G device has a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory and supports external memory cards of up to 32GB. No device was, however, given to IANS. Only a photograph was allowed to be taken.

The company has offered an 8MP primary camera with flash, a 3.2MP front camera for selfie and a 1,800 mAh battery. It runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop).

The phone is available in two colours -- black and white -- with centrally aligned rear camera and branding on the back panel. It has a speaker just alongside the branding.

The device displays the Indian Tricolour when you switch it on. The company has incorporated all the basic Google apps in the handset.

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"Our devices are completely 'Make in India' and were manufactured at our Haridwar-based manufacturing unit. We plan to sell two lakh devices every month," he said.

The company is also planning to launch a 32-inch high-definition LED television -- also called "Freedom" -- in the first week of July.

Also Read: Freedom 251: How and why Ringing Bells can price it at Rs 251

"These will be the cheapest television sets in India and will be available for less than Rs 10,000. Within two days, the delivery would be made and we will sell them online," Goel said, adding that the company currently has one lakh such pieces in stock.

In comparison, the cost of 32-inch HD LED TV sets normally begins from Rs 13,000.

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: LeEco has become Coolpad's largest shareholder after it purchased another 11 per cent of the latter's shares, according to a deal announcement on June 17. LeEco bought the 11 per cent Coolpad shares from Data Dreamland, the former largest shareholder of Coolpad, with 1.047 billion HKD (US$135 million). After the transaction, LeEco holds a total 28.9 per cent of Coolpad's shares and becomes the largest shareholder of China's top four domestic mobile brand. On the same day, Mr. Jia Yueting, founder and owner of LeEco also confirmed the deal at a speech at Russia's St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

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Before the deal, LeEco was Coolpad's 2nd largest shareholder after it invested 2.74 billion HKD (US$353 million) in buying 18 per cent of the latter's shares last June 28.



The integration is looking to become the strongest Chinese smartphone league, and will also allow LeEco to have a stronger voice and influence in the smartphone industry. In terms of league sales, a conservative estimate is 50 million to 60 million units of smartphones in 2016, and more than 100 million phones in 2017, making LeEco one of the biggest smart phone company in the world.

The integration will help Coolpad's products to align with LeEco's ecosystem model, which is "platform + content + terminal + application". Coolpad used to China's 2nd largest mobile phone brand, dominating China's 3G and 4G market together with Samsung.

LeEco is one of China's most popular mobile brands although it just broke into the market a year ago. By this April, LeEco had sold more than 10 million smartphones, and its second quarter single month sales has exceeded 2 million units, and the number is expected to be over 3 million in the 3rd quarter.

LeEco as Coolpad's largest shareholder will not only benefit from added product research, patents, marketing and after-sales capabilities, but also allow the companies to strengthen its respective brands and change the mapping of global smartphone industry.

On the strategic level, the support of Coolpad's smartphone resources will bring valuable advancement to LeEco's Superphones. The strategic stake will allow the ecosystem model to integrate with Coolpad's near-billion intelligent terminals within a very short time.

From an R&D standpoint, Coolpad has a 3000-strong team, with over 7000 patents including more than 500 patents overseas, and has already established 7 major R&D centers around the world, which will greatly strength LeEco's R&D capabilities and speeds up the globalization of LeEco.

LeEco will also benefit from Coolpad's strong sales channels. Besides more than 500 direct offline stores in China, Coolpad also has strong sales in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Before the stock deal, Coolpad's 2016 global sales target was 30 billion yuan (US$4.6 billion), in which 70% from China and 30% from overseas, and the company predicted its overseas market sale will increase 100% year over year within the next 3-5 years, making its overseas sales equivalent to its China sales.

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Also worth noting is that LeEco, as Coolpad's largest shareholder, will enjoy the advantage of ingraining its ecosystem model into Coolpad's near-billion smart devices, with access to its smartphone users, 50% of whom could be converted to LeEco's ecosystem-based users, further enhancing LeEco's stance in the mobile Internet industry.



--- ENDS ---
The current-generation Note 5 comes with a 3,000mAh battery which is even smaller than the one on the Note 4.

By India Today Web Desk: The whole world went gaga when Samsung announced that its current-generation flagship phone, the Galaxy S7 Edge, will come with a 3,600mAh battery. History hasn't been kind with Samsung's flagship Galaxy phones, as far as battery capacity (and life) is concerned. The new-age Galaxy phones however changed that. The company is now looking to carry forward the trend with the next Note phablet, expected to be called the Galaxy Note 7.

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According to Russian tipster Eldar Murtazin, the Galaxy Note 7 will come with a 3,600mAh battery inside which will be capable of lasting for up to 20 hours of video playback with the brightness levels set to maximum. The current-generation Note 5 comes with a 3,000mAh battery which is even smaller than the one on the Note 4.



Note 7 - 20.5 A?AA?AA AAAAA AA AAAA?AAAAA?AAA A?A?AAA?A?A. A? AAAAAAAA AAAA?AA?AA?A?AA?A AA 4000 AA?A? AAA? ((( 3600 AA?A? - AAA?A? A?AAA?A? AA?A A?AAAAAA ))) Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) June 28, 2016

Murtazin also confirms long-standing rumours that Samsung will launch the Note 7 on August 2.



Previously, serial tipster Evan Blass, better known as @evleaks had confirmed that the upcoming Note 7 phablet will be IP68 certified and support expandable storage.



Also Read: Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to be water-resistant, include microSD card slot

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is further said to come with a 5.7-inch QuadHD Super AMOLED display, much like the current-generation Note 5. The phablet will sport a 12-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. The Note 5 has a 16-megapixel camera on the rear with f/1.9, Optical Image Stabilisation, autofocus and LED flash alongside a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.



It is further said to come with 64GB of onboard storage option and will be available in the colours Black, Silver and Blue. Moreover, @evleaks has also confirmed that the Note 7 will feature an iris-scanner.



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The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking a ban on messaging applications such as Whatsapp, which use 256-bit end-to-end encryption.

By India Today Web Desk: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking a ban on messaging applications such as Whatsapp, which use 256-bit end-to-end encryption. The petition - filed by one Sudhir Yadav -- was based on the argument that applications such as Whatsapp which use end-to-end encryption give terrorists a mode of communication that becomes impossible to intercept.

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According a Medianama report , "The case was dismissed as the court found no merit in the pleas raised by the petitioner. However, after the Chief Justice indicated that case would be dismissed, as there were sufficient number of government authorities taking care of national security, the petitioner sought to withdraw the petition, and approach an appropriate authority, with respect to the grievances raised in the petition."



Also Read: WhatsApp is now probably illegal in India

Sudhir Yadav -- a Haryana-based RTI activist - had sought a ban on messenger services like WhatsApp and Telegram on the grounds that the aforementioned applications were a cause of national security concern.

"Even if WhatsApp was asked to break through an individual's message to hand over the data to the government, it too would fail as it does not have the decryption keys either," Yadav had said in his petition. It added that decrypting any message on WhatsApp would need a whopping 115,792,089,237,316,195,423,570,985,008,687,907,853,269,984,665,640,564,039,457,584,007,913,129,639,935 key combinations, something that is almost impossible for even a super computer. And even if it did, it would take hundreds of years to make that happen, Yadav had argued.

Also Read: Supreme Court to hear plea to ban WhatsApp next Wednesday



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A comprehensive approach

Guaranteeing the right to abortion isnt enough. We know that economic, cultural, religious, and systemic barriers prevent many people from accessing abortion care even where its legal and available.

Our solution: We work across institutions and communities to build sustainable abortion ecosystems. In such an ecosystem, people have the information they need to make decisions about reproductive health, theres community and health-system support for human rights and abortion access, and laws and policies support full bodily autonomy.
counterfeiting copycats are everywhere!

A pawful outcome for Swedish

m&m lovers?

According to the recent Counterfeiting Report from the Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) part of the Chamber of Commerce, global counterfeiting remains a 'tremendous and ever increasing global threat'. The report estimated that China alone is the source of more than 70% of global physical trade-related counterfeiting, or $285 billion worth. Physical counterfeiting makes up 12.5% of Chinas exports of goods and over 1.5% of its GDP.However, as the report shows, counterfeiting is far from confined to China (and Hong Kong) - it damages economies and public health across the globe. GIPC have modelled estimates of rates of physical counterfeiting and analysed the value of seized counterfeit goods of 38 economies sampled, totting up to a total of $5.2 billion, which is itself a mere 1.2% of the estimate of total global physical counterfeiting. The full report is available online here The Unitary Patent has been many years in the making, and its future is still not entirely clear. Dr. Ingve Bjorn Stjerna has published a series of papers on the subject, all of which are available to read along with links to other useful resources here . IPKat readers in particular may be interested in the expert teams of the Preparatory Committee, and the immediate implications for SMEs.CIPA's shining stars will be performing on 5 July at The Borderline in London. You may have heard enough about borders to last you a lifetime recently, but this event promises to be something completely different - a very special night, featuring musical performances from CIPA members, and with profits raised going to Generating Genius, a charity supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in STEM. You can register for the event through the CIPA website, or for non-members, by email. More information is here The Svea Court of Appeal has ruled that Mars is not allowed to use its lower case m&m's logo in Sweden, as it is too similar to Mondelez International's Marabou brand (see left). Mars Nordic's corporate affairs director expressed disappointment at the court's decision, telling the press: "we have always believed no confusion exists between the colourful m&m's brand  one of the world's favourite chocolate products  and the Marabou M Peanut Brand." Marabou's 'm' branded chocolates have been on sale in Sweden since the 1950s. The m&m brand has existed in the USA since 1941, but took a while to expand into the global market. Swedish website The Local reports that Mondelez (then Kraft) signed an agreement with Mars in 1989 promising not to sell m&m's in Scandinavia. This agreement expired, and in 2009 Mars started selling m&m's in Sweden. It is not clear why it took Kraft/Mondelez so long to challenge Mars' use of the m&m's mark. If this decision is of interest you can read a summary of the decision here . Katfriend Nedim Malovic tells the IPKat that non-Swedish speakers will shortly be able to read about the decision in the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice.The Wall Street Journal reports that Chinese company Shenzhen Baili won a surprise injunction against sales of Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone6+ in Beijing based on a design patent for its 100c smartphone. It's difficult to tell at this stage whether the Chinese company is a troll or whether it has a genuine case, but either way, this is an interesting example of what may become an increasingly common sight: Chinese companies using the domestic patent system to successfully attack Western tech giants. The iPhone models in question are still available in Beijing, as the injunction that was issued against their sale was stayed pending an appeal.
New oil contracts for those would-be investors are due this summer, and there is some discord inside Tehran regarding the prospective terms. Whereas the Rouhani administration is eager to court investment in order to extend the effects of sanctions relief under last summers nuclear agreement, its political adversaries are concerned that the contracts will give Western businesses too much power over the Iranian economy, thereby undermining the Islamic Republics reputation as a bulwark against Western influence in the region.

Opponents of the Iranian regime, such as the Paris-based opposition movement that National Council of Resistance of Iran, have long maintained that these political divisions are reflective of different tactics in service of the same fundamental goals, chiefly the retention of independent power for the Iranian regime. In terms of the economic aspects of this goal, President Hassan Rouhani is focused on the recovery of the sanctions-damaged oil economy, whereas Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has sought to further extend the resistance economy strategy that helped Iran to weather those sanctions.

The latter strategy is certainly guided first and foremost by the Islamic Republics lifelong anti-Western ideology. But there is also growing uncertainty about whether Iran is even in a position to serve the foreign markets that the Rouhani administration is striving to attract.

On one hand, the expansion of Irans oil output has largely exceeded analysts expectations since the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in January. In fact, by May the countrys overall production figures had come close to pre-sanctions levels. But on the other hand, Bloomberg reported on Monday that that strong initial recovery might now be at an end.

The report indicated that Irans observed oil exports were 20 percent lower over the first three weeks of June than during comparable periods in previous months. It is highly unlikely that the last weeks figures will close the gap, and Bloomberg speculates that this means the short-term post sanctions oil boom has now ended for Iran. The Saudi Arabian Oil Ministry agrees that the well-recognized oversupply of oil is now coming to an end as Iran faces a diminished ability to vie for expanded market share.

These observations in turn lend credence to the notion that Irans own bold claims about the speed of its recovery were backed up in large part by exports that were drawn away from oil surpluses that had accumulated in storage facilities and offshore tankers during a period when sanctions prevented much of that oil from reaching the market.

If Iran has indeed been misrepresenting its short-term output, it has almost certainly been part of an effort to attract foreign investor interest. The shake-up of NIOC thus comes at a crucial period, as Iran presumably needs to secure significant such investment before tapering exports show the recovery to be less substantial than previously thought. At the same time, that investment also appears to be essential to Irans ability to actually supply the markets that the oil industry seeks to enter.

But it is highly probable that none of this will be an issue in the immediate future, as the Bloomberg report also indicates that virtually the whole of Europe remains extremely wary of returning to the Islamic Republic, either as investors or customers. The relative lack of investment has been given a great deal of attention in recent weeks, especially in light of Iranian officials complaining that remaining US sanctions threats were scaring off banking institutions and European businesses. But what has been given less attention is the fact that Iran has struggled to push its European oil exports beyond half of their pre-sanctions levels, as well as the fact that those exports actually declined during the first three weeks of June.

If these export struggles represent a broader trend, it may suggest that Iran will be forced to work with a less flexible financial situation than its previous public statements would have suggested. This may encourage the Islamic Republic to pull back from prospective investment deals, thereby bolstering the hardliner argument for avoidance of re-engagement. And there may already be signs of this trend emerging in the closely-watched Iranian commercial airline industry.

On Monday, another Reuters report indicated that there were growing doubts regarding the much-discussed deal between Iran Air and the European airplane manufacturer Airbus. Specifically, Iran has indicated that it might cancel the aspect of the deal that involves the purchase of 12 superjumbo A380 jetliners.

The inclusion of the worlds largest jetliner was hailed as a symbol of thawing relations and a sign of Irans determination to compete economically with Arab Gulf states that fly the jet, Reuters reported before going on to explain that Iran still expects to struggle with financing for the deal, and that it may have to make substantial improvements to the commercial airline infrastructure in order to accommodate the A380s.

Despite the partial recovery of the oil industry, Irans domestic economic recovery has been slow in coming, if it has come at all. Although some media attention has recently been given to excessively high compensation for government-affiliated business leaders, the vast majority of the population reportedly lives below the poverty line, and unemployment continues to grow with the closure of industrial factories. Given these conditions, the government can ill afford the high levels of domestic investment that would support foreign purchases of the A380, at least without significant economic reforms.

Some observers have expected President Rouhani to spearhead these sorts of reforms, but others have emphasized that since taking office in 2013 he has failed to present a serious alternative to the hardline policies of Supreme Leader Khamenei. The sole exception to their pattern of agreement or non-interference is the slight tension surrounding the nuclear agreement with the West, and the associated foreign investment strategies such as the appointment of the new head of NIOC.
On one hand, Iranian military officials have already identified the aircraft that they would like to obtain from foreign partners. Chief among them is the Russian Su-30, which is comparable to the American F-15 and which would replace the 1970s-era F-14s that were purchased by the government of the shah prior to the Islamic Revolution. This model constitutes many of the 348 fighters that make up the current Iranian air force.

The Daily Beast points out that in terms of raw numbers this makes Irans the ninth most powerful air force in the world. But the countrys military technology has not meaningfully advanced for the past three decades, and many of Irans outdated fighter jets, like its commercial aircraft, are aging and in poor repair. The acquisition of Su-30s would prevent Irans air force from being threatened by much smaller forces that utilize more advanced jets and weaponry.

The article suggests that this is serious ground for concern among American and European policymakers. But it also indicates that the West has already expressed commitment to restraining Irans military growth, at least over the short term. Although critics of the Obama administrations nuclear agreement and associated diplomatic policies toward Iran are concerned about Iran being given too long a leash, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action has established that restrictions on weapons sales to Iran will continue at least until 2021  after an entire term in office for whoever takes over for the Obama administration in the White House.

On the other hand, Russia has already engaged in talks with Iran over Su-30 sales and has expressed interest in making those sales as early as 2018. This reflects the often close relationship that Iran has had with the Islamic Republic, especially in military matters. Last year, Iranian influence reportedly persuaded Moscow to more directly intervene in the Syrian Civil War by conducting bombing raids in coordination with Iranian ground operations.

But the Daily Beast provides considerable reassurance to anyone who is concerned about the implications of the Iran-Russia weapons talks. The US has made it clear that it would block approval of any fighter sales, meaning that a deal could not actually go through before 2021. And even after that, Iran might lack the money or the internal approval to pay for the expensive fighters. This is in part because of the apparent lack of domestic economic recovery for the Islamic Republic, but it is also because of the unquestioned authority that Irans bewildering internal politics give to its supreme leader over such deals.

While the air force may be a priority for some Iranian officials and military leaders, it is not for Khamenei, least of all when Iran is clearly capable of relying on partners like Russia for air support in some of its regional interventions. The ayatollah has a habit of only approving arms deals that boost his own political allies, especially within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Daily Beast explains, referring to Khamenei. And even if other officials had a greater say in final policy decisions, it is unlikely that they would skew from this pattern.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, regarded by some Western policymakers as a moderate, is currently under fire from political rivals and Iranian citizens following reports of staggeringly high and apparently illegal compensation packages being given to Iranian business executives who are close to his administration. Such reports demonstrate a pattern of cronyism that also existed under the administration of Rouhanis firebrand predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and under others before him.

Somewhat surprisingly, this trend has apparently made it more difficult for the Islamic Republic to make key investments in its regular armed forces. But it has delivered a steady stream of capital to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, as well as to IRGC-affiliated proxies beyond Irans borders. The budget for the previous Iranian year saw the Rouhani administration deliver a more than 50 percent increase to the IRGCs budget, at a time when the president was attempting to cut government subsidies for a largely impoverished population.

This increased budget has certainly allowed the IRGC to carry on with its sponsorship of foreign terrorist organizations including Lebanons Hezbollah. And this helps to explain why Hezbollahs leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah was able to boast on Friday that new US sanctions efforts will not affect the Shiite militant group.

We are open about the fact that Hezbollahs budget, its income, its expenses, everything it eats and drinks, its weapons and rockets, are from the Islamic Republic of Iran, he explained, according to The Tower. As long as Iran has money, we have money.

The Tower adds that Iran recently declared that its overall defense spending would increase by 90 percent this year. No doubt a very large portion of this will go to the IRGC, even at the expense of hoped-for projects and acquisitions for the regular armed forces. The IRGC financing, furthermore, will go a longer way toward serving ideological purposes for the Iranian regime. This is well evidenced by the fact that Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarifs made a statement last summer assuring Sheikh Nasrallah that the nuclear agreement with the West would give Iran and Hezbollah an historic opportunity to confront Israel.

As well as financing and collaborating with Hezbollah, the IRGC has its own foreign operations division, the Quds Force, which has been strongly involved in Irans interventions in Syria and Iraq. This has encouraged recruitment for Shiite militias fighting in parallel with IRGC forces, and has in turn given a more sectarian character to the fight against Syrian rebels and Sunni ISIS militants.

Iran and Russia have been sharply criticized for putting the focus of their operations on the moderate rebels against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and not on ISIS. This situation apparently persists to the present day, as suggested by a report at the AntiWar website indicating that against the backdrop of the ISIS conflict in Iraq, the Iranians have been bombing Kurdish territory out of fear that Kurdish successes against ISIS will further encourage the Kurdish separatist movement inside Iranian territory.
[June 28, 2016] Ismael Cala announces alliance with Andres Moreno and Next University to foster leadership and personal growth

MIAMI and BOGOTA, Colombia, June 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- International lecturer, author and communicator Ismael Cala has announced an alliance with the successful educational institution, Next University, presided over by Andres Moreno, founder and CEO of Open English. Starting in September, Cala will be offering an online Intensive course in leadership, with the indispensable tools to be a great leader and achieve one's goals in all areas of life. The course will last four weeks with classes in form of videos, texts, audios and homework. "My aim is to share the keys for understanding what it means to be a leader, and how to become one. In the classes we will be working on the virtues of leadership, an intrinsic quality in everyone, but one that we must develop with effort and perseverance. I'd like to thank Andres Moreno and Next University for their firm backing of education," Ismael Cala said from Miami. Next University CEO and president Andres Moreno, for his part, had this to say: "I offer thanks to Ismael Cala for joining this great project that is Next University, key to the education of new generations. Together we will create an innovative space for developing new ideas regarding leadership. Thousands of people have already benefited from our courses. We hope that many more will avail themselves of these tools to transform their own lives." ABOUT ISMAEL CALA <> Ismael Cala is a communicator, author and international lecturer on issues of personal development and leadership. For more than five years he was host of the primetime show CALA on CNN en Espanol.



He is currently considered one of the leading communicators in the Americas, and his message of social entrepreneurship, mindfulness and well-being is a touchstone for millions of followers attuned to his books, seminars, workshops and lectures throughout Spanish America. Cala has traveled to more than 25 countries and impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people with his message. He is the author of the bestsellers El analfabeto emocional ('The emotional illiterate') (2016), Cala y Cruz: Las dos caras de la comunicacion ('Cala and Cruz: The two faces of communication'), (2016), El secreto del bambu ('The secret of bamboo') (2015), Un buen hijo de P ('A real S.O.B.') (2014), and El poder de escuchar ('The power of listening') (2013).

Cala was born in Santiago de Cuba in 1969. He has a degree in Art History from Universidad de Oriente, and studied Journalism and Television Production at York University in Toronto. ABOUT OPEN ENGLISH Open English is the leading company for teaching English in Latin America and within the Hispanic market. This online school offers customized live classes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with teachers who are native speakers. Since it began in 2007, the company has raised more than $US 120 million in investment capital to create and improve its online educational platform. The company serves a growing global market with a cumulative base of more than 500,000 students, and more than 1,500 employees in six offices throughout the Americas. ABOUT NEXT UNIVERSITY Founded at the close of 2013 by Andres Moreno, Next University is one of the fastest growing online educational institutions in Latin America. In December of 2015, the company was acquired by Open English. Next University focuses on providing Certifications in the areas of digital technology that are most in demand in the job market. Certificates offered by the platform include digital marketing, web development, mobile applications, entrepreneurship and leadership, among others. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ismael-cala-announces-alliance-with-andres-moreno-and-next-university-to-foster-leadership-and-personal-growth-300291546.html SOURCE Cala Enterprises Corporation

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[June 28, 2016] GSE Systems' Simulation Technology Selected to Support Human Factors Research and Operational Excellence

GSE Systems, Inc. ("GSE" or "the Company") (NYSE MKT:GVP), the world leader in real-time high-fidelity simulation systems and training solutions to the power and process industries, today announced that it has been awarded multiple contracts for the GSE GPWR Generic Pressurized Water Reactor simulation technology. The Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), an international energy and nuclear technology research foundation, has licensed the GSE GPWR simulation technology to support human factors research at the OECD Halden Reactor Project. Specifically, IFE will use GSE's full-scope high-fidelity simulation technology, training materials and full procedure set at HAMMLAB, an international center for research into human performance supporting utilities and regulatory bodies from twenty countries worldwide. In addition to providing simulation software technology, GSE will collaborate with IFE/Halden to develop next generation human-machine interface applications to improve nuclear plant operations and training. In addition to IFE, North Carolina State University and a government-led research laboratory also recently have licensed the GSE GPWR simulation software together with GSE's VPANEL glass-top simulator to display the simulation software. North Carolina State University's nuclear engineering department will utilize the solution to educate and train students on a simulated operational nuclear power plant. "The application of GSE's GPWR simulation technology in the university setting will help students gain a real world operational understanding of nuclear power principles and provides a research platform to meet the growing demands for improved nuclear plant performance. The application of a high-fidelity simulation for experimentation and method development in the university setting aligns with North Carolina State University's goals to provide students and partners with real world application insights and the simulator allows us to do that with speed," said Dr. Kostadin Ivanov, Department Head for Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University. "We are excited to be recognized by these leading research facilities as the simulation technology of choice to support the advancement o nuclear power design and operation," said Kyle Loudermilk, Chief Executive Officer and President of GSE. "These recent license sales demonstrate the value that GSE brings to market through packaging our technology and know-how, creating differentiated solutions that deliver compelling value to the nuclear power industry ecosystem. The application of GSE simulation solutions has been a cornerstone of power industry operational excellence for decades, and these customers will be joining a growing network of engineers in industry, government and independent nuclear research facilities across the globe. We look forward to supporting this network and continuing to deliver innovation to the market that drives operational excellence in the power industry."



GSE Systems, the original simulator engineering company supporting the nuclear power industry, developed the GPWR high-fidelity simulator to accelerate the advancement of research to support simplified techniques that drive performance and efficiency for nuclear plant operators. Developed using GSE's proprietary simulator engineering software tools, the GPWR simulator brings 40 years of first principle physics coding and fidelity together to bring the reactor to life for real-time research and training. For more information on the GPWR visit http://www.gses.com/training-applications#NUCLEAR-GPWR.

ABOUT GSE SYSTEMS, INC. GSE Systems, Inc. is a world leader in real-time high-fidelity simulation, providing a wide range of simulation, training and engineering solutions to the power and process industries. Its comprehensive and modular solutions help customers achieve performance excellence in design, training and operations. GSE's products and services are tailored to meet specific client requirements such as scope, budget and timeline. The Company has over four decades of experience, more than 1,100 installations, and hundreds of customers in over 50 countries spanning the globe. GSE Systems is headquartered in Sykesville (Baltimore), Maryland, with offices in St. Marys, Georgia; Chennai, India; Nykoping, Sweden; Stockton-on-Tees, UK; and Beijing, China. Information about GSE Systems is available at www.gses.com. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS We make statements in this press release that are considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements reflect our current expectations concerning future events and results. We use words such as "expect," "intend," "believe," "may," "will," "should," "could," "anticipates," and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean a statement is not forward-looking. These statements are not guarantees of our future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that could cause our actual performance or achievements to be materially different from those we project. For a full discussion of these risks, uncertainties, and factors, we encourage you to read our documents on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those set forth in our periodic reports under the forward-looking statements and risk factors sections. We do not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160628006616/en/

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[June 28, 2016] HVR Software Drives Growth by Appointing Ex-Teradata and GoldenGate Leader

Anthony Brooks-Williams joins data replication leaders HVR Software as CEO with ambitious plans to scale the business globally. Brooks-Williams joins from Teradata (News - Alert), where he led the RainStor business, post-acquisition. Prior to this, he was responsible for building the sales and services teams, driving significant growth at RainStor that led to its acquisition. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160628006694/en/ Brooks-Williams brngs extensive experience in the enterprise software market with proven success building startups, in particular data integration and database solutions. Prior to RainStor, Brooks-Williams held numerous positions at GoldenGate Software and, post-acquisition, with Oracle (News - Alert). He was responsible for key partnerships and building its SQL Server focused business. Anthony came to GoldenGate in 2005 through the acquisition of Coherent Software Corp, a company focused on SQL Server replication for Audit and Recovery solutions, where he was a Founder and CEO.



"HVR Software has a massive market opportunity to enable customers to sync data in real-time across a broad range of heterogeneous environments from classic Oracle to Hadoop and the cloud," stated Brooks-Williams. The company is well-positioned to scale with proven success across a global customer base and a very strong team. We will build-out the development team and expand our go-to-market teams with key individuals from the industry. I am super excited and look forward to leading HVR Software as we embark on this journey," added Brooks-Williams. Kyle Klopfer, an HVR Board Member said, "Anthony is a strong leader with proven experience scaling technology companies. His expertise and the relationships he has built in this market will strengthen both our customer and partner bases and of course drive revenue."

HVR Software is an expert in real time data replication solutions and proven as the reliable, secure and scalable way to move data for many of the world's largest companies. HVR Software, a privately held company is head-quartered in San Francisco, with offices across North America, Europe and Asia. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160628006694/en/

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[June 28, 2016] New GSMA Report Predicts Chinese IoT Market Will Exceed One Billion Connections by 2020, Underpinned by Licensed Low Power, Wide Area Market

China's machine-to-machine (M2M) market will reach one billion connections by 2020, with the majority coming from the developing Low Power, Wide Area (LPWA) market, according to a new report released today by GSMA (News - Alert) Intelligence and The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT). The report, 'Mobile Operators and Digital Transformation', highlights that China is currently the world's largest M2M market with approximately 100 million cellular M2M connections, a figure that is expected to increase to 350 million by 2020. However, an additional 730 million connections will be enabled by LPWA technology, taking the total figure to just over one billion. By 2025, it is expected that 50 per cent of the world's 28 billion connected devices will be suitable for connection by LPWA networks. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160628005096/en/ New GSMA Report Predicts Chinese IoT Market Will Exceed One Billion Connections by 2020, Underpinned by Licensed Low Power, Wide Area Market (Photo: Business Wire) "With government support, China has quickly become the world's largest M2M market, and LPWA will play a fundamental part of its future growth, presenting new opportunities for key industry sectors and for operators to provide connectivity across the country," said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer, GSMA. "The GSMA's Mobile IoT Initiative is working with China's mobile network operators to deliver commercial LPWA solutions in licensed spectrum to accelerate adoption and transform the development of the Internet of Things in areas such as agriculture, automotive and utilities." LPWA networks are designed for M2M applications that have low data rates, require long battery lives and operate unattended for long periods of time, often in remote locations. The GSMA Mobile IoT Initiative has coalesced the industry behind global technology standards in licensed spectrum for the LPWA market, which have now been published by 3GPP. Three complementary technologies - Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT), EC-GSM-IOT and LTE Machine Type Communication (LTE-MTC) - will cover all LPWA use cases, ensuring customer choice and helping the IoT market to flourish. Licensed LPWA networks complement and extend conventional wide area networks, which make use of 2G and 4G cellular technologies, as well as local area networks such as WiFi (News - Alert), Bluetooth and Zigbee. These licensed standards allow operators t optimise their existing mobile network infrastructure through an upgrade to EC-GSM-IoT for 2G networks and LTE-MTC for LTE networks, while NB-IoT can use both 2G and 4G spectrum. Backed by 36 global mobile operators, device makers and chipset, module and infrastructure companies, the GSMA Mobile IoT initiative is working to accelerate the development of LPWA solutions and is supporting multiple global pilots with full commercial solutions expected in market later this year.



LPWA at Mobile World Congress (News - Alert) Shanghai There will a number of demonstrations of LPWA technology at the GSMA Innovation City at Mobile World Congress Shanghai, located in Hall N3 (Stands A38 and E37) at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Visitors will be able to experience how LPWA networks in licenced spectrum are connecting up everything from pets to street lighting. It will be open during Mobile World Congress Shanghai exhibition hours from Wednesday, 29 June through Friday, 1 July. For more information, visit www.mwcshanghai.com/innovation-city/. The GSMA will also host an IoT Summit on Thursday, 30 June at The Kerry Hotel, Shanghai where delegates will hear from leading industry experts on the latest on Mobile IoT industry applications and technologies. For more information or to register, please visit www.gsma.com/connectedliving/events/.

Get Involved at Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2016 For more information on the 2016 Mobile World Congress Shanghai, including how to attend, exhibit, partner or sponsor, visit www.mwcshanghai.com. Follow developments and updates on Mobile World Congress Shanghai through our social media channels - follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) at @GSMA and use #MWCS16, get regular updates through our LinkedIn Showcase Page at www.linkedin.com/company/mobile-world-congress-shanghai, and follow us on Facebook (News - Alert) at www.facebook.com/mwcshanghai. In China, you can follow us on Sina Weibo http://weibo.com/mwcshanghai or on the GSMA account on WeChat. For additional information on GSMA social channels, visit www.mwcshanghai.com/register-plan/networking/social-media. To download the GSMA Intelligence report, 'Mobile operators and digital transformation' please follow this link. -ENDS- About the GSMA The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with almost 300 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai and the Mobile 360 Series conferences. For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160628005096/en/

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[June 29, 2016] Silicon Photonics Market Worth 1,078.9 Million USD by 2022

PUNE, India, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Silicon Photonics Market by Component (Optical Waveguides, Optical Modulators, Photo Detectors, WDM, Lasers), Product (Transceivers, Active Optical Cables, Multiplexers, and Attenuators), Application, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets, this market is expected to be worth USD 1,078.9 Million by 2022, at a CAGR of 22.1% between 2016 and 2022. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )

Browse 89 market data Tables and 58 Figures spread through 193 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Silicon Photonics Market". http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/silicon-photonics-116.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The major driver for the growth of the silicon photonics market is the increasing use in data communication applications. High demand for active components and active optical cables expected to drive the silicon photonics market The market for active components is expected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2022. Active components include optical modulators, photo detectors, wavelength-division multiplexing filters, switches, and lasers integrated within a single device, providing a smaller form factor with the help of silicon photonics. The advancements in silicon photonics-based networking services would lead the silicon photonics market. The demand for the installation of silicon as an optical medium in photonics device for high-speed data transmission with low cost is growing. Therefore, the demand for active components in silicon photonics is high. Data communication application expected to witness the highest growth between 2016 and 2022 The market for the data communication application is expected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2022. The demand for high-speed data transfer in data centers is expected to boost the market for silicon photonics technology. In this application, silicon photonics enhances performance in terms of computation, communication, and measurement to fulfill the needs of consumers and enterprise cloud services. This would drive the growth of the Silicon Photonics Market for the data communication aplication.



APAC expected to hold the largest market share and witness high growth during the forecast period The silicon photonics market in APAC is expected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2022. The reason for this growth is adoption of new technologies, economic growth, and increasing use of cloud-based and networking services in the corporate world. The rapid increase in technological innovations and advanced communication systems are driving the demand for silicon photonics in China, Japan, India, and South Korea. Most of the developments in telecommunication and data communication applications are expected in this region. Therefore, the market in APAC is expected to grow rapidly during the forecast period.

Inquiry Before Buying: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=116 The key players in the ecosystem of the silicon photonics market profiled in this report are Cisco Systems, Inc. (U.S.), Intel Corporation (U.S.), IBM Corporation (U.S.), Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (U.S., Israel), Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (Japan), STMicroelectronics N.V. (Switzerland), Infinera Corporation (U.S.), Finisar Corporation (U.S.), Luxtera Inc. (U.S.), DAS Photonics (Spain), and Aurrion Inc. (U.S.). Browse Related Reports Silicon on Insulator Market by Technology (BESOI, ELTRAN, SOS, SIMOX and Smart-Cut), Product (Optical SOI, SOI Transistor, MEMS, Image Sensor and Memory Devices), Application (Automotive, Computing & Mobile) and Geography - Global Forecast to 2020

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/global-silicon-on-insulator-market-158.html Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) Market by Application (Consumer electronics, Automotive, Aviation, Military, Optical 3D measurement, Medical), Product (Projectors, HUD & HMD) and Geography (North America, Europe, APAC & ROW) - Forecasting (2013-2018)

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There has been a lot of discussion about container orchestration lately. Indeed, container pioneer Docker last week announced it has integrated orchestration functionality into the most recent version of Docker Engine.

Orchestration tools create clusters of containers so users can deploy more complex applications. But what manages those clusters of containers, and enables different teams to access the clusters? Thats an area in which Rancher Labs specializes.

Rancher Labs just last month announced it had raised $20 million in Series B funding led by new investor GRC SinoGreen. Existing investors Mayfield and Nexus Venture Partners also participated in this new round.

We are seeing a lot of attention and demand for our Rancher platform and feel it is due to our unique approach to container management, Sheng Liang, CEO of Rancher Labs, said in announcing the funding. Containerization has enabled organizations to do amazing things to improve application performance, availability, and cost. The next pieces of this puzzle, which will really help to perfect container technologies, are the tools around the management of containers. We are excited to continue efforts in furthering our goal of providing users with the right tools to take advantage of container technologies, and the financial and organizational benefits they promise.

I sat down last week at DockerCon with Liang and Shannon Williams, vice president of sales and marketing, at Rancher Labs to learn more about container management and Rancher Labs.

Rancher Labs provides an open source management platform that some of the largest companies in the world use to manage their container clusters, said Williams. Liang added that 10 percent of all the containers in production in the world leverage Rancher Labs technology.

The company in the past has supported Docker Swarm and Kubernetes container environments. Earlier this month Rancher Labs announced its support for Mesos as well.

The combination of the Apache Mesos scheduler and Rancher container management platform is a big win for users, said Josh Bernstein, vice president of technology at the emerging technology division of EMC (News - Alert) Corp. With the integration of these two open source projects, organizations will be able to spin up Mesos clusters in minutes on any infrastructure, and easily schedule and deploy workloads.

There is a lot of fragmentation in the container arena given the availability and prevalence of Kubernetes, Mesos, and Docker technologies, Williams added. However, Rancher Labs helps address that by allowing developers to just write once to make their applications work.

Going forward, Rancher Labs plans to integrate Docker 1.12 with its built-in Swarm orchestration into the companys own technology. It expects to preview a version of that integration early next month.

Williams said Rancher Labs is also working to extend automation to allow for autoscaling based on holes in demand, and to support more big enterprise frameworks such as EMC and NetApp.

Edited by Stefania Viscusi
[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the second Emergency Government-Bank of Japan (BOJ) Meeting on Stabilizing Financial Markets at the Prime Ministers Office.

During the meeting, analysis and exchange of information concerning the UK exit from the EU took place.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

Following the result of the national referendum on the UK exit from the EU, since the end of last week the Government has held a ministerial meeting, emergency meetings with the BOJ, and a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, taking all necessary economic and financial response measures.

With a lack of transparency and concerns over risk still persisting in markets, it is important that the G7 nations continue to cooperate in sending out a unified message about their strong commitment to work to stabilize markets.

The joint statement issued last weekend by G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors recognizes that excessive volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates can have adverse implications for economic and financial stability, and states that the G7 nations and central banks will continue to consult closely on market movements and financial stability and cooperate as appropriate. Through this statement, I believe we have been able to give a sense of security to markets.

I would like Minister Aso to work with Governor Kuroda of the BOJ in continuing to pay close attention to financial and currency market movements, in accordance with their joint statement that was issued on the same day as the G7 statement.

Furthermore, I would like Minister Aso to cooperate closely through all channels with the other G7 nations and make the necessary economic and financial responses in a flexible manner.

The BOJ is already engaged in the supply of funds and I would like it to continue to support financial intermediary functions through the provision of ample funds to ensure that companies that require capital, including Japanese companies engaged in business in the UK, can continue to operate stably.

At the recent G7 Ise-Shima Summit, the exit of the UK from the EU was recognized by G7 leaders as one of the risks to global economic growth.

As the country holding the G7 Presidency, Japan will take the initiative in facing such risks in order to ensure a firm growth trajectory for the global economy, not just in the short term, but also in the medium to long term.

The Government is resolved to mobilize all measures comprehensively, starting with concerted efforts to ensure that this situation does not impact the real economy of Japan, above all the activities of small- and medium-sized enterprises.


Enough.

Thats our message today to Gov. Bruce Rauner, House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton and every member of the Illinois General Assembly.

The state needs a budget. Now. The state needs your leadership over partisanship, beginning today when you return to the state capital for the first time in a month.

This is a huge crisis and it will not be totally solved today, this week or perhaps even this year. However, the road to a solution has to begin today.

This issue is so important that weve taken the unusual step of placing this editorial on our front page.

Newspapers across Illinois are doing the same thing, trying to send a message to our leaders about the urgency of this issue.

Leaders work on budget as lawmakers return to Springfield SPRINGFIELD -- With time running out for Illinois to approve a spending plan before the stat

We dont need to remind anyone about the impact of the states financial mess. The state is in financial chaos. Universities and colleges, which should be a well of economic development, have been starved. Social service agencies have been denied money to serve 1 million residents that rely heavily on the state for help. Companies that do business with the state have to go months without being paid. Its possible that construction projects will be shut down soon, putting 25,000 workers out of jobs. The toll on the overall economy hasnt been measured, but its significant.

Tomorrow, Illinois will become the first state since the Depression era to go a full year without a budget. There is no budget in place for the new fiscal year, either.

The response to this crisis from our leaders has been political posturing. Rauner has insisted on his Turnaround Agenda in exchange for tax increases. Madigan and Cullerton have appeared to be more interested in thwarting the governor instead of solving a crisis that they helped create.

Moving ahead without a budget would make a terrible situation more precarious. Education was spared in the current years budget, but that isnt the case beginning Friday. Most schools say they will be able to open in the fall, but arent sure how long they can stay open. The lack of a budget will continue to harm institutions of higher education, social services and other services offered by the state.

Its expected that the General Assembly will be offered a ``stopgap budget today. This budget is meant to get our politicians through the November 8 election. Another example of putting politics ahead of people.

Thats disappointing, but if its the best the General Assembly can do, its better than nothing. However, no one should be fooled into thinking such a budget is a victory. At best, its a bandage for a broken bone.

The state has to start somewhere. Our political leaders need to find a way to begin addressing the issues facing the state. The first of those is a budget, followed closely by workers compensation reform, returning more financial control to local governments, easing the burden on property tax payers, reforming the way political maps are drawn, keeping Eastern Illinois University funded and reforming the pension system to lessen the burden on taxpayers.

Weve seen the political gamesmanship and partisanship that has gotten us to this point. Illinois taxpayers are no longer interested in winners and losers of the political game. They want solutions.

Theyve had enough.
U-Stop is planning its largest-ever convenience store in Hickman, and it has plans to bring a similar-size store -- minus the gas pumps -- to Lincoln's Haymarket next year.

The Lincoln-based convenience store chain has broken ground near the Titan U-Stop in Hickman for what will become its largest convenience store.

The location will have 8,500-square-feet dedicated just to grocery and personal items. The store also will have a Godfather's Pizza and will have several gas pumps, including ones that dispense diesel.

The new location is expected to open in early January.

Mark Whitehead, president of Whitehead Oil, which owns the U-Stop chain, said he chose Hickman for the new large-format store for a couple of reasons.

For one, that location, which used to be a Casey's General Store, is outdated, "being kept together with duct tape and baling wire," and undersized, with only two fuel pumps and no room to add more.

Another reason is that Hickman is one of the fastest-growing communities in the state and has just one small grocery store, Jack & Jill.

Whitehead said the Hickman U-Stop will still be a convenience store but should be "a good alternative" to driving into Lincoln to go to a supermarket.

The new U-Stop will carry grocery staples such as fresh meat and produce and deli items. To be able to do that, Whitehead said, he had to switch grocery suppliers and will use Affiliated Foods, which supplies many of the small, independent grocers in Nebraska.

While the U-Stop Market concept is sort of an experiment, there already are plans for a second one.

Whitehead said he's hoping to have a U-Stop Market open in Lincoln's Haymarket by the the third quarter of 2017.

He had originally partnered with the people redeveloping the Schwarz Building at Eighth and O streets, but he said he now has a deal with Speedway Properties and Nelnet to be a tenant in a mixed-use building they have proposed at Canopy and N streets that is still awaiting city approval.

Though the two stores will be similar, they will serve very different demographic groups, Whitehead said.

In Hickman, people are 10-15 miles away from a supermarket but have no qualms about driving that far. In the Haymarket, people are no farther than a mile or two from a large grocery store but don't want to travel that far, he said.

Whitehead said there are no plans for more U-Stop Markets beyond the Lincoln and Hickman ones, but "we'll be receptive to taking a look at individual markets," he said.

"This is going to be a new learning curve for us, and we'll see how well we adapt to it."
A Beatrice man serving 26 to 41 years in state prison for beating and raping a woman in 2011 was given a three-year federal sentence Friday in a child pornography case.

Joseph Buttercase, 34, pleaded guilty in March to production and transportation of obscene material in an agreement with prosecutors, who dropped three child pornography charges.

Between October 2003 and November 2004, prosecutors say, Buttercase produced five videos and about 900 obscene images with the intent to distribute them across state lines.

Authorities arrested him in Beatrice in 2011 for beating and raping a 29-year-old woman. In the course of the the investigation, they seized his computer and found pornography, U.S. Attorney for Nebraska Deborah Gilg said in a news release.

He is serving the state prison sentence after being convicted in Gage County of beating and raping a 29-year-old woman in July 2011.
Lancaster County Judge Thomas W. Fox will not seek to keep his seat on the bench at the end of the year.

Fox, who is 47 and was appointed to the judgeship four years ago, declined to say why he made the decision, a rare one given he does not intend to retire.

"I have made the personal decision to leave the judicial bench," he said in an email to the Journal Star Monday. "After stepping down from the bench, I intend to use my legal experience to continue in the practice of law or in other capacities.

"Wherever I end up, it will always be my mission to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God," Fox wrote.

The Nebraska Judicial Ethics Committee, which allows judges to pose ethical questions anonymously, received two inquiries in the past year. One asked whether a judge or clerk magistrate could refuse to perform same-sex marriages based on religious beliefs. The answer: They can, but they must refuse to do all marriage ceremonies.

Judge Fox does not perform marriages, according to the court.

The other asked whether a county judge could disqualify himself from hearing cases in which same-sex married couples are trying to adopt a child if the judge is an "openly professing and practicing evangelical Christian ... (who) believes God has ordained and designed the family to be made up of a husband, a wife, and children."

In answering the second question, the committee issued an opinion in March concluding that a judge could not disqualify himself or herself from adoption cases because of a married couple's sexual orientation based on strongly held religious beliefs.

"Although each judge comes to the bench with a unique background and personal philosophy, a judge must interpret and apply the law without regard to whether the judge approves or disproves of the law in question," said the opinion approved and adopted by the committee.

The opinion was sought by a county court judge. Asked if he was that judge, Fox replied: "I am not seeking retention. If you have questions about judicial ethics opinion requests or other questions, please contact the State Court Administrator, Corey Steel."

Steve Schmidt, an associate professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law and a former co-worker of Foxs while he was at the county attorneys office, said Fox is a great guy and a great judge.

He is the kind of stand-up guy that if his job required him to do something that was against his moral or religious beliefs, he would quit the job, he said, adding that he hasn't talked with Fox about why he's leaving the bench.

Longtime attorneys say while it is not unheard of, it is rare for a judge to step down before retirement age and go back to private practice.

State Court Administrator Corey Steel said Tuesday he has been told it has happened in the past, but it's the first one in his two years on the job.

The ACLU of Nebraska called for equal treatment in the legal system.

"Strong nondiscrimination provisions have been on the books for some time and apply to all Nebraska judges and lawyers so that justice is accessible and fair for everyone," Executive Director Danielle Conrad said in a statement. "Officers of the court have an obligation to serve all Nebraskans."

In his email Monday, Fox said it has been a blessing and honor to serve the people of Nebraska as a county court judge, and that he has enjoyed working with all of the judges in Lancaster County.

He sent a letter to Gov. Pete Ricketts March 28 saying he won't seek a second term. The deadline to file an application for retention to be put on the November ballot is Aug. 1.

Steel said Fox's term will go to the end of the calendar year, and then the Judicial Nominating Commission will meet to determine if the position should be filled, the same process used when a judge retires. Fox is one of seven Lancaster County court judges.

Prior to becoming a judge, he practiced law for 13 years in Nebraska, most recently as a deputy Lancaster County attorney in the Civil Law Division. Before that, he was a deputy in the office's Criminal and Juvenile Law Division.

He has been a member of the Nebraska State Bar Association since 1998 and has prosecuted a variety of adult criminal cases and juvenile cases, including child neglect and truancy. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska College of Law.

Fox and County Judge Timothy Phillips both were appointed in June 2012 by Gov. Dave Heineman, the result of vacancies due to the retirement of Judge Jean A. Lovell and a new judgeship created by the Legislature that year.

This year, Fox became the presiding county judge in Lincoln, meaning he has primary responsibility for overseeing the delivery of county court services for the district.
A Lincoln man accused of trying to pay for sex with a 12-year-old girl with trading cards and a DVD player was sent to prison Wednesday.

Joshua Vrana, 26, pleaded no contest in May to two counts of first-degree attempted sexual assault of a child, first-degree sexual assault, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child and debauching a minor.

A Nebraska State Patrol investigator got a tip in April 2015 about an exchange on an online dating site in which a user claimed to have a 25-year-old friend who wanted to have sex with a 16-year-old user's 12-year-old sister.

Investigators identified the user with the friend as Vrana and messaged him on Facebook pretending to be the 16-year-old, according to an affidavit to jail Vrana.

Vrana said he would pay for sex with the now 13-year-old using Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards and a DVD player, investigators said in documents.

Lancaster County District Judge Karen Flowers told Vrana during his Wednesday morning sentencing that he's every parent's worst nightmare.

"You are a sexual predator and you prey on children and that's wrong," she said.

She sentenced him to 15 to 30 years in prison and gave him credit for the year he's been in jail.
A Davenport man on Saturday was convicted on four of five child sex assault charges for raping a 15-year-old girl several times in late 2014.

The Thayer County District Court jury returned the verdicts against Harold L. Stone, 59, plus a fifth guilty verdict for intentional child abuse.

Jurors deliberated about five hours after the five-day trial.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Stone in June 2015 about two weeks after a woman reported the abuse.

In an interview at the Child Advocacy Center in Lincoln, the woman's daughter said Stone raped her once a week through the end of January.

She told a forensic interviewer he threatened to hurt her parents if she told and once said he had mercury and could kills lots of people with it, investigators said in an affidavit to jail Stone. She also said Stone made her take home pregnancy tests and threatened to make her have an abortion if she conceived a child, the affidavit said.

During their investigation, deputies found a journal at Stone's home with a heading matching the initials of the girl and handwritten notes mentioning conversations he'd had about sex, virginity and "his thoughts about what she needed," the investigator wrote in the affidavit.

Stone remained in the Thayer County jail Monday night and will be sentenced Sept. 1.

Each of the first-degree child sexual assault counts carries a penalty of 20 years to life imprisonment.
Lincoln police say a 30-year-old man has died in an apparent suicide after shooting himself while parked in a lot at Tabitha.

The shooting happened around 8 p.m. and occurred in an SUV near the care center's north side at 47th and J streets, Sgt. Todd Hruza said.

Staff members found the man, who had been working at the center for a short time, Hruza said.

Lincoln Fire and Rescue crews responded to the scene, but the man had died prior to their arrival, police confirmed.

His name is being withheld as police work to notify family members.

Crime scene technicians and investigators were still processing the scene around 9 p.m.

At the scene, Tabitha Health Care Services Senior Vice President Brad Johnson declined to comment, citing the pending investigation.
A second Lincoln woman who police say was involved in a sex trafficking operation has been arrested.

Jacqueline Stebbins, 33, of 3051 W St. was taken into custody Tuesday and remains jailed.

In a warrant for her arrest, investigators say posts on a website advertising a 17-year-old girl for sex trace back to her cellphone and email address.

Kimberly Wheeler, 40, of 3515 Baldwin Ave., and Stebbins were charged with pandering after asking the girl and another 14-year-old to send nude and semi-nude photographs of themselves so the women could post them on a website and get men to pay them for sex, an arrest warrant says.

The pictures of the 17-year-old were found on the website. She was reported as a runaway on May 10 and has been placed in the care of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

Pictures of the younger girl were not used.

Police arrested Wheeler at 1624 Garfield St. after an undercover officer responded to the ad and met the girl, Duncan wrote.

During interviews later, Wheeler denied selling the girl.

Police are also looking for Kayla Holt, 25, who lives at the Garfield Street address. Court documents say sexual services were provided by the teenager in Holt's bedroom at the Garfield Street apartment and that Holt collected money from her afterward.

Investigators believe the 17-year-old had sex for money with approximately three people daily from May 15 to June 21.

Lincoln police said it's possible there are more victims and others involved. Anyone with additional details about the case or information of sex trafficking in Lincoln is encouraged to contact criminal investigations at 402-441-6000.
A 21-year-old Lincoln man faces a statutory rape charge after police say he had sex with a 15-year-old girl he met at a party last weekend.

Cody J. Boppre, 385 W. Charleston St., was charged Tuesday with first-degree sexual assault of a minor.

The girl told police Sunday she went to a party, met Boppre and left with him, according to an affidavit for Boppre's arrest.

Boppre and the girl had sex at his apartment, she told investigators.

She said she doesn't know how she got home and that she told a relative what had happened and he called police.

In Nebraska, children younger than 16 cannot legally consent to sex.

On Tuesday, a judge set Boppre's bond at $150,000 and ordered him not to contact the girl or anyone younger than 18. If convicted, he could get as many as 50 years in prison.

Boppre remained in jail Wednesday.
Rejecting Texas' latest effort to do away with abortion rights, the Supreme Court served the antiabortion movement some very bad news Monday. The justices didn't believe Texas was just trying to help its poor, hapless women out. Instead, according to Justice Stephen Breyer's majority opinion: "In the face of no threat to women's health, Texas seeks to force women to travel long distances to get abortions in crammed-to-capacity superfacilities."

From now on, the court warned, it would no longer, as the White Queen said in "Through the Looking Glass," believe "as many as six impossible things before breakfast." Not even about abortion. Not even, the court emphasized, when the impossible suggestions, like looking after women's health, come from the legislative branch. You want to help women out, Breyer wrote? You gotta prove it to us.

The link between helping women and restricting their access to abortion, never very convincing, grew more and more attenuated as conservative state legislatures took Kennedy's majority opinion in Gonzales to mean open season on abortion. As long as they found for themselves that they were helping women, they thought, they were protected from the Constitution. A bunch of legislatures passed such laws. The Texas law requiring surgical standards and admitting privileges with a hospital, which the court struck down Monday, is just one extreme example of the anti-choice strategy. But Breyer's opinion and, implicitly, Kennedy's vote with the majority indicate that Texas did not help its cause by pushing the envelope. Defending its law, Texas' lawyers contended that more rigorous standards for doctors who perform abortions and for abortion facilities were needed to help women. However, "when directly asked at oral argument whether Texas knew of a single instance in which the new requirement [requiring admitting privileges] would have helped even one woman obtain better treatment, Texas admitted that there was no evidence in the record of such a case," Breyer wrote.

Needing Kennedy's vote in the Texas decision, Breyer emphasized that even Gonzales didn't say the court always had to defer to the legislature on factual matters. Breyer wrote: "Gonzales went on to point out that the 'Court retains an independent constitutional duty to review factual findings where constitutional rights are at stake.'"

This portion of Breyer's opinion looks like a clean sweep for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the dissenters in the prior case. But here's the rub: Breyer's distinction is a fragile one, given the language and outcome in Gonzales, so he buttressed it by noting that the Texas legislature hadn't even made any findings in the current law. Uh oh. A bunch more laws like Texas' law are waiting in the wings in lower courts. And Alabama's law, for example, includes a long recitation of legislative findings.

And that's where Ginsburg weighed in with one of her signature futuristic concurring opinions. When the news broke that RBG was concurring, the initial reaction was puzzlement. Why would Ginsburg need to write separately from a pro-choice opinion by her liberal colleague Breyer? Looking at her concurrence, however, the explanation is clear.

The concurrence is less than two pages. She dismisses Texas' argument about its interest in protecting "the health of women who experience complications from abortions," by countering that "complications from an abortion are both rare and rarely dangerous." She recites a laundry list of studies of how safe abortion is, and then she delivers the message: "So long as this Court adheres to Roe v.Wade, 410 U. S. 113 (1973), and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v.Casey, 505 U. S. 833 (1992), Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers laws likeH. B. 2 that 'do little or nothing for health, but rather strew impediments to abortion,' Planned Parenthood of Wis., 806 F. 3d, at 921, cannot survive judicial inspection." [Emphasis added.]

She is writing into law the factual finding that abortion is safe, full stop. When the court turns to the Alabama law, with its "finding" that women need abortion to be restricted, she wants that future court to be able to cite to her opinion that they do not.
America feels fractured. Signs of it are all over the news: Sanders vs. Clinton; Trump vs. Never-Trump; Democrats vs. Republicans; on immigration, abortion, health care, economy, taxes, foreign policy, gun control -- the list goes on.

And yet with all that divisiveness we generally coexist peacefully in our families, neighborhoods and communities where our differences are only part of who we are. We have so much that unites us. We are one community, with many distinct voices but also many shared values: creating a better future for our children, protecting those around us, working together for the common good, helping those in need. These are values that define what it is to be American.

Energy is one more issue that divides us right now, but it doesn't have to. There is bipartisan support for clean energy across our state and nation, and across ideological lines. To me, no issue is more important to unite around. Our children, our communities, our businesses, our country would all benefit.

Nebraska in particular has tremendous clean energy potential which should be developed. This transition conserves natural resources, and provides leadership to the world as we gradually move away from the energy sources that have given us so much, but are taking an unacceptable toll on our planet.

Recently, the House of Representatives made a symbolic vote almost entirely along party lines on something known as the Scalise amendment, against a carbon tax. All three Nebraska representatives voted against a carbon tax, because according to the amendment such a tax would harm our economy, increase the cost of gas and electricity, and hit our poor and small businesses hardest.

Our representatives are right to be concerned about protecting our pocket books. Although the long-term benefits of moving away from fossil fuels and towards renewables are tremendous, if you design energy legislation poorly it could have negative short-term consequences. I share those concerns.

That is why we should design legislation correctly. If all of the income from a gradually rising carbon tax were rebated to American households, studies show that over 20 years 2.8 million jobs would be created, GDP would increase by $70-$85 billion, and 227,000 premature deaths would be prevented while reducing carbon emissions 50%. All of this comes without regulation or subsidization, using a purely market-based approach. That's what a Carbon Rebate can do.

This is the time for solutions; we need more than saying no.

This past week, nine Nebraskan volunteers from Citizens' Climate Lobby went to Washington, DC to talk to the offices of all five Nebraskan members of congress. These generous concerned citizens paid their own way to work with our members to lead on the energy transition and build towards a bipartisan solution.

But it takes more than nine people to convince our members of congress that they have our support. If you support clean energy, the best action you can take is to respectfully contact Congressman Fortenberry and Senators Fischer and Sasse. It's easy: it takes about 5 minutes, and everyone I've ever talked to in each office is Nebraska Nice. As contentious as Washington may be right now, our politicians listen. If you want clean energy, let them know. If you believe in a bipartisan approach to global warming, tell them. If you want a Carbon Rebate, say so.
The sit-in by Democrats on the floor of the House chamber made for good political theater, what with the live feed via Periscope aired on C-Span and photos and headlines in newspapers across the country.

But its no way to govern a country.

Rep. Brad Ashford, the lone Democrat in Nebraskas congressional delegation, did the right thing in declining to participate in the 25-hour event that Democrats said was staged to force votes on proposed gun legislation.

He does not support shutting down Congress on any issue, and he is concerned that this tactic will be used in the future by the far-right to advance issues that we do not agree with, spokesman Joe Jordan said.

Concern that sit-ins could become more common is no idle worry. Actually the Republicans employed the same tactic in 2008 when they were in the minority. And it worked.

With gas around $4 a gallon House Republicans staged a sit-in on the House floor when Congress recessed in August with the goal of allowing a ban on off-shore drilling to expire. Apprehensive that the scene might hurt Barack Obamas presidential campaign, Democratic House leaders allowed an appropriations bill to pass without the rider that had banned off-shore drilling for decades.

However sit-ins definitely are a rare event. Prior to that, one has to go to 1995 to find a sit-in in the historical record. As reported by the Washington Post Democrats spent a few hours on the floor to protest a budget passed by House Republicans.

Dysfunction pervades the nations capital. House Republicans were so internally divided that they were unable to pass an annual budget resolution this again year.

Senate Republicans continue to refuse to even hold hearings on President Barack Obamas nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy.

On an issue close to home the Senate this week finally confirmed Omaha attorney Robert Rossiter Jr. as a federal judge for Nebraska. The position had been vacant since October, 2014, with a workload in the district so heavy that it was classified as judicial emergency. There was nothing controversial about Rossiters nomination. Nonetheless it took the Senate a year to act once President Barack Obama nominated him.

In the past five years congressional productivity in terms of laws passed have been among the lowest in the country's history.

The last thing that Congress needs is another way to gum up the works.

By declining to join the Democratic sit-in Ashford took a stand in favor of government that works. Nebraskans should be proud.
Connecting the greedy, multinational, globalization dots is how to understand the reason English voters opted out of the EU ("Brexit deals major blow to world globalization efforts," June 25). Surprise from the international media is whats surprising. Englands working class are suffering the results of the globalization, free market, corporate-driven, insatiable lust for profits, extracted at the direct expense and from the pay checks of middle class worker wages, union structures, retirement programs and democratic principles. Cheap immigrant labor, exploited and imported to satisfy corporate greed for the benefit of multinational corporate shareholders and corporate executives is becoming ever more transparent to the average voter, both in the UK and the US.

The UK still has a democracy where voters have a voice that matters. America seems to be heading in the opposite direction, where deep, corporate, wealthy pocketbooks decide elections from the statehouse to the Congress and Supreme Court. Ironically, America was created to escape the British elite, plutocratic gentry system, where a few owned everything and controlled the entire political system from county, to state to the nation.

Ironically, the Brexit vote may well demonstrate something to America. Unrestrained corporate greed, driven by multinational corporations with no loyalty to the United States of America and our own economy, is both unacceptable and unsustainable. Mainland England voters decided that unrestrained multinational-corporate-driven globalization is unacceptable.

Dan McGuire, Lincoln
The League of Women Voters of Nebraska applauds the Nebraska ACLU for its survey of county election officials on their knowledge of felons voting rights. If, as apparent, about half of the officials could not provide accurate information, this problem should be addressed prior to our general election in November. The League thanks Secretary of State John Gale for his response that his office will better publicize the states law on felon voting rights and provide more training to county officials (" Secretary of State Gale questions ACLU survey ," June 24).

During the past several years, Leagues across the country have worked with state legislatures to create bills to re-enfranchise former felons, believing that excessive disenfranchisement undermines voting rights as well as reintegration into the community. If the felon has paid his or her debt to society, it is only right to help him or her become a productive member of society. The right to vote is one important step.
SCOTTSBLUFF  Prosecutors want the Nebraska Supreme Court to overrule the Nebraska Appeals Court, which had overturned a Scottsbluff man's conviction on child abuse.

Cody Olbricht was convicted last year of child abuse resulting in serious injury, accused of beating his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter. In February the Appeals Court said evidence didn't show the girl's injuries occurred when Olbricht was the only adult in her presence and ruled that Olbricht couldn't be tried again.

Prosecutors say in their appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court that the evidence was sufficient for the conviction and that the Appeals Court was overreaching in requiring that prosecutors show the girl was solely in Olbricht's care when the injuries occurred.

The state must establish the defendant's guilt for a conviction, the prosecutors' appeal says, but prosecutors are "not required to disprove every hypothesis consistent with the defendant's presumed innocence."

Court records show the girl was hospitalized in late September 2014 after her grandmother noticed she had a fever and was lethargic and vomiting.

The Appeals Court questioned the credibility of the girl's mother, who said in testimony that she hadn't noticed that the girl suffered any serious injures before dropping her off with a baby sitter and who had been the subject of complaints filed with child welfare authorities. The girl's mother, Cassandra Miller, was sentenced last year to two years' probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor child abuse by neglect.

The Appeals Court also questioned the testimony of the girl's grandmother, who had been convicted of false reporting and other charges.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Aug. 30.
Police have arrested a 75-year-old Union man on suspicion of sexually assaulting two women in a nursing home.

Otoe County Judge John Steinheider issued a warrant for Terry McClane on Monday, and he was arrested Tuesday morning, Otoe County Attorney David Partsch said in a phone interview.

McClane began visiting Golden Living Centers while his wife, Laura McClane, lived there and continued after her death on May 15. He was a frequent visitor and befriended other residents, Partsch said.

Staff became suspicious of him after a June 17 incident and called Nebraska City police on June 20.

Investigators spoke with two residents who said he sexually assaulted them between Jan. 1 and June 17, at least one in a private bathroom, Partsch said.

He commended Golden Living Centers staff for discovering the alleged assaults and contacting police and said officials are confident in the residents recollection of the events.

Golden Living Centers Executive Director Jade Harrah said the facility has zero tolerance for such behavior and is cooperating with authorities and family members of the residents involved in the alleged incidents.

Our patients and residents are our highest priority, and we continually strive to protect them as best as we can, Harrah said.

McClane faces two felony counts of first-degree sexual assault of an incompetent person, two felony counts of abuse of vulnerable adults and two misdemeanor counts of third-degree sexual assault, according to court records.
More than 100 community leaders gathered June 28 at The Cornhusker Hotel to honor Junior Achievement of Lincolns top teachers and volunteers of the year.

More than 800 corporate and community volunteers brought the JA curriculum to over 1,200 classrooms this year. A select few were chosen to receive the prestigious Peak Performance awards. The honorees:

Volunteers of the Year

Suzann Butler, Continental ContiTech

Jeff Markey, Great Western Bank

Bill Snyder, Retired Professor

Educators of the Year

Jennifer Fisher, Kahoa Elementary School

Audrey Mattson, Saint John the Apostle School

Molly Orton, Adams Elementary School

In addition, Candiss Kleen of Lincoln Industries was named Company Coordinator of the Year for her efforts in recruiting and encouraging employees to volunteer for JA.

Leadership Awards

Four individuals also received JA USA Leadership Awards, presented to a select few long-time supporters of JA who demonstrate extraordinary dedication to the JA mission. Recognized were:

Bronze

Carol Andringa, Lincoln Public Schools

Nicole Barrett, The Career Academy/Southeast Community College

Dustin Lottman, Farm Bureau Financial Services

Silver

Bud Olsson, Great Western Bank

Three individuals were inducted into JAs Gold Apple Society, whose members have impacted at least 500 students and have taught at least 20 JA classrooms since 2010:

Steve Fankhauser, Nelnet

Steve Ford, Pepsi

Melanie Nebesniak, Lincoln Industries

About JA of Lincoln

Celebrating 45 years in the community, Junior Achievement of Lincolns 800 business and community volunteers annually deliver its in-school programs to more than 27,000 students in 111 local public and parochial schools at no cost to the schools.
RACINE  At a presentation Wednesday, Racine will unveil the return of a working bubbler to the city.

The fountain features a bottle-filling spout which, according to Mayor John Dickert, will "ensure our visitors, our bikers, our walking, running or strolling citizens will be able to fill up with the best tasting water in America."

Dickert references a national award given to the city by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2011. The new fountain is located on the southwest corner of West Boulevard and Washington Avenue just outside the DaVita Dialysis Center parking lot.

Wednesday's presentation also features a memorial plaque dedication for Peder Back, a prominent Danish-American radio host from Racine. He hosted a show on WRJN from 1928 until his retirement in 1970, at which point the show was considered the longest running radio program in the country.

Both the fountain and plaque will be introduced to the public at 2 p.m. Wednesday on location.
MOUNT PLEASANT  A Flight For Life helicopter transported a teenager who was injured Wednesday at Quarry Lake Park, after the teen reportedly went to the park with friends to go cliff diving.

The 18-year-old girl from Illinois was taken by helicopter to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa after the 11 a.m. incident. All seven in the group, including the injured teen, received $343 trespassing citations, according to Mount Pleasant Police.

Aidan Earl, 17, who was with the teen, said the girl slipped before she had a chance to jump.

She fell 20 feet straight down, Earl said of the teen, who is reportedly from Lake Villa, Ill., and recently graduated from Grant Community High School in Fox Lake, Ill.

Three of the teens ran down to help her, while another called 911 and others ran to meet emergency crews, Earl said.

She was conscious and talking, but you could tell she was in a lot of pain, Earl said.

Despite the teens apparently non-life-threatening injuries, a Flight For Life helicopter was called to nearby Batten International Airport, authorities said, to transport the patient to Froedtert.

South Shore Fire Department Battalion Chief John Radewan said the teen had upper-body injuries and they decided to send her to Froedtert because its a Level 1 trauma center, the highest level of emergency care in the region.

Multiple emergency crews responded to the call, including the Racine Fire Department, which brought a rescue boat. Even though the teen did not land in the water, crews decided to use the boat to bring her to safety, rather than using other equipment to get her back up the cliff, Radewan said.

Inherent danger

According to teens at the park, the lake off of Northwestern Avenue is a popular place for cliff diving, but authorities are warning there are serious consequences.

Besides being illegal, it is very dangerous, as you can see here, Radewan said.

The group from Illinois is not the only group who have made their way to Quarry Lake Park for a thrill  its a practice that has gone on for decades.

After hearing about the incident Wednesday, Deven Rosetti, who graduated from Case High School in 2014, and a friend went straight to Quarry Lake to make sure it wasnt someone they knew.

My friend comes down here a lot. We came down here because we were afraid it was him, Rosetti said.

Jamee Goodreau, 20, of Racine, said what happened Wednesday is what she has always been afraid would happen.

After witnessing the fall Wednesday, Earl said his message to others is: Be careful. Maybe dont even risk it. You never know when something like that is going to happen.

When asked if he would ever cliff-jump, having seen what happened to his friend, Earl said: Most likely not. I dont want to die. That was kind of scary.

Besides being illegal, it is very dangerous, as you can see here.  South Shore Fire Department Battalion Chief John Radewan
Happy Halloween! Some houses are very much into the spirit of the holiday this year; here are some of our favorites.
FOND DU LAC  A jury in the homicide trial of Dennis J. Brantner  the 62-year-old Kenosha man accused of killing Sturtevant teen Berit Beck in 1990  could be deadlocked despite continuing to deliberate.

After parsing the case for more than 10 hours over two days  an exhaustive process that has thus far included reviewing audio and video recordings of Brantners police interviews, as well as pieces of physical evidence presented by prosecutors during the trial, such as receipts  jurors were sent home at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday without agreeing on a verdict.

Their request to go home came just hours after sending a note to Fond Du Lac County Circuit Judge Gary Sharpe. Written on a yellow sheet of legal paper it read We cannot agree to guilty or not guilty.

As the court took a brief recess so that attorneys could absorb the possible implications of that statement, friends and members of the Beck family huddled outside the courtroom. Some embraced, while others waited stoically. More than a few wept, reaching into pockets and purses to retrieve handkerchiefs and packages of tissue paper.

Once back in the courtroom, those family members were listening to attorneys discuss what instructions should be read to jurors to encourage them to come to a consensus when the bailiff handed Sharpe another note from the jury.

It read audio clips, 1, 2 and 4.

Trying to determine what that new inquiry might mean in light of the jurys earlier note, attorneys for the state and the defense debated the jury instruction issue some more before Sharpe decided that the jury would be given additional guidance after listening to the audio clips.

The case

It was a July day in 1990 when 18-year-old Berit Beck left her Sturtevant home en route to a computer seminar in Appleton and never came home.

Her last known stop, her parents, Diane and David Beck, would later learn, would be at a Walgreens in Fond du Lac on July 17, 1990.

A massive search effort was launched in the days that followed, with the teens face posted on countless flyers and even on the side of a semitrailer.

A month later, on Aug. 22, 1990, the Becks worst fears were realized when a farmer discovered Berits skeletal remains in a ditch five miles west of Waupun, and about 20 miles from where her van was found on July 18, 1990, sitting locked in a K-Mart parking lot across from the same Walgreens.

A long-haul trucker with a troubled past and a history of fractious relationships, Brantner did not become a suspect in Berits murder until 2014  roughly a year after investigators in the cold case resubmitted to the state crime lab a collection of still unidentified fingerprints that had been found on about five different items in the Beck family van, including a Burger King cup, and a wrapper from a pack of Marlboro cigarettes.

After retesting the fingerprints, crime lab technicians determined that they had found a match in Brantner.

Interviews

Interviewed by police a month later at his home, Brantner denied ever even being in the van, saying he had no idea how his fingerprints might have ended up inside the slain teens vehicle. In a subsequent interview at a police station, however, Brantner stated after being pressed by detectives to come clean: If I did it, I did it. If I did it, I dont know.

But it was the audio clips of the earlier interview police conducted with Brantner at his Kenosha home that jurors asked to review Wednesday afternoon. Initially, police are quite cordial in the clips, chatting up Brantner about his knowledge of the Waupun area, waiting for several minutes to tell him theyre inquiring about a homicide. But the investigators slowly turn up the heat, making it clear Brantner is indeed the main suspect in the homicide.

As the audio clips were played back for them a second time on Tuesday, jurors seemed to hang on every word, as if hoping to hear something they hadnt heard before.

Before sending the jurors back into the deliberation room, Sharpe encouraged them to consult with each other with a view toward reaching an agreement.

Each juror must decide the case for himself or herself, but only after an impartial consideration of the evidence, he said, noting that a jury may be discharged if there is no reasonable probability of agreement.

Each juror must decide the case for himself or herself, but only after an impartial consideration of the evidence,  Fond Du Lac County Circuit Judge Gary Sharpe, delivering instructions to the jury
RAYMOND  Two years after building a 30,000-square-foot facility in Raymond, Southport Heating, Plumbing & Geothermal plans to almost double in size by the end of the year.

Company officials in the past week have received nearly all needed approvals from governmental bodies for a planned 23,320-square-foot addition to the facility at 1343 S. 27th St., in Raymond, just west of Interstate 94.

The Racine County Economic Development and Land Use Planning Committee approved the project June 20, while the Town of Raymond Plan Commission reviewed the proposal Monday and recommended approval. The Raymond Town Board took up the recommendation Monday night and voted 5-0 in favor of the project.

Since the Town of Raymond and Village of Caledonia have a cooperative boundary agreement, the Caledonia Plan Commission reviewed the project Tuesday and recommended approval.

The final step will be for the Caledonia Village Board to give consideration of the Plan Commissions recommendation at its July 18 meeting.

About Southport

The company was founded in 2005 and serves customers in southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

The proposed addition appears to fit with other uses in the area, and meets with village development standards, according to Jarmen Czuta, Caledonias zoning administrator.

The 23,573-square-foot expansion would be built to the west of the existing facility. Construction is expected to start Aug. 1 and should be completed by Jan. 1, according to the zoning and conditional use permit report.

More parking spaces also will be added to the facility and lighting and landscaping will mirror the original enhancements, Czuta said.

Essentially they are continuing what they have been doing, said Plan Commission Vice Chairman Jonathan Schattner. Its a nice looking building. I think Caledonia would be proud to look west and see that.

When the addition is completed, Southport expects to have 105 full-time employees, and would operate Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. and 5 p.m., the report said.

Kueny Architects of Pleasant Prairie is designing the project. Kueny has been in business for more than 45 years and has projects under construction in Dane County, the Town of Delafield, and Genoa City, and is designing projects in Cedarburg, Mequon, and Waukesha County.

Southports current 30,000-square-foot facility was approved by county and local officials in 2013 and completed in 2014.

Southport, which until 2013 had been headquartered in Kenosha, started Racine County operations in a small building on Highway K in Franksville. Southport owner Tom Suchla was at the Raymond and Caledonia meetings this week, but declined to elaborate on the proposal.
41 more security guards return from Kabul

Forty-one Nepali migrant workers employed with G4S Secure Solution in Kabul, Afghanistan, left for Kathmandu on Tuesday. On Sunday, the company had sent 41 Nepali migrant workers back to Nepal.
Fire destroys properties worth RS 1.2 million of cotton industry

Properties worth million rupees were destroyed when a fire destroyed the goods in a cotton factory at Bhimad VDC in Tanahu district on Wednesday.
Giant boulder threatens settlement

The inhabitants of Bhandare village in Manakamana VDC-7 of Nuwakot have demanded the local administration to remove a giant boulder resting precariously above their settlement.
HSEB changed into National Exams Board

Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) has been transformed into the National Exams Board (NEB) with the certification of The Education Act (Eighth Amendment), 2016 by the President on Wednesday.
India proposes Nepal for power tariff hike

India has proposed Nepal for increasing per unit electricity charge on the supply of electricity from southern neighbour to Nepal through Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur and TanakpurMahendranagar transmission lines, said Nepali officials participating in a bilateral talk.
Istanbul Ataturk airport attack: At least 36 dead and dozens injured

A gun and bomb attack on Istanbul's Ataturk international airport has killed 36 people and injured more than 140, officials say.
Istanbul Ataturk airport attack: Death toll rises to 41, with 239 hurt

The death toll in a gun and suicide bomb attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport has risen to 41, 13 of them foreign nationals, with 239 injured, the Turkish city's governor says.
Landslides block roads in Rasuwa

Multiple landslides triggered by heavy rains have blocked Kalikasthan-Rasuwagadhi road section in Rasuwa district.
Madhes parties serve mid-July ultimatum

The Madhes-based parties have warned of resuming protest in the plains if the government fails to offer solution to the Tarai crisis by mid-July.
NC asks government to implement agreement to provide Rs 150,000 at earliest

Leader of the major opposition Nepali Congress, Sher Bahadur Deuba, has demanded that the government immediately implement the agreement reached on Tuesday to provide Rs 150,000 as first installment to every earthquake-hit household.
Prithvi Man Shrestha is a political reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering the governance-related issues including corruption and irregularities in the government machinery. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2009, he worked at nepalnews.com and Rising Nepal primarily covering the issues of political and economic affairs for three years.
Nepali tea unlikely to get easy entry to India

Trade hurdles imposed by India on export of Nepali tea are unlikely to be eased anytime soon.
No threat in Australia for Dahal: Envoy

Amid reports that CPN (Maoist Centre) Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal called off his scheduled Australia visit at the last moment for the fear of being arrested on charge of conflict-era rights violations, Australian Ambassador to Nepal Glenn White has said there was no such issue and that he was regularly in touch with his government, the police administration and the attorney general.
North America leaders meet with trade threats, Brexit on their minds

The leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico gather on Wednesday to stress the importance of trade at a time of mounting international doubts about the benefits of globalization.
Parliament meeting begins

The Legislature-Parliament meeting began in Parliament building in New Baneshwor after a disruption of five days.
Prez Bhandari certifies Education Act (Eighth Amendment)

President Bidya Devi Bhandari certified the most awaited Education Act (Eighth Amendment), 2073 BS, passed by the Legislature Parliament on June 4, at the Rastrapati Bhawan, Sheetal Niwas on Wednesday.
PU education fair from Friday

The Purbanchal University Education Fair-2016 will be held in the Capital from Friday.
Recruiter to pay each Rs 3m insurance

Sabre International, the agency that hired the Nepali security guards who were killed in a terrorist attack in Afghanistan last week, has agreed to pay Rs3 million to the families of each to the 13 victims in insurance.
Test release of water conducted at Sikta

The Sikta Irrigation Project has conducted a test release of water into part of the main canal as the construction of the scheme has been speeded up.
The exodus

The protracted Afghan civil war has given birth to a new generation of people with no memory of a peaceful life
TJ bills will be tabled soon, says law minister

Law Minister Agni Kharel has said that the government would soon table the anti-torture bill, along with the bill to criminalise disappearance, in Parliament.
Upiya ko Nibandha: A heartbreaking comedy

Upiya ko Nibandha, a play by director Kedhar Shrestha, highlights the psychology of a teacher and his students in a traditional Nepali classroom and explores the relationships between them. The play, which is a part of the National Children Theatre Festival, is currently being staged at Theatre Mall, Sundhara.
Yarsha pickers face drop in income as prices dive

The price of yarshagumba has been dropping for three years in a row, and mountain villages where collecting the herb is a major source of livelihood are looking at hard times as their incomes are shrinking.
YouTube removes Shirish Kunders Kriti after copyright claim

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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
By Jun Ji-hye



A 12-member delegation led by Vice Defense Minister Hwang In-moo will visit Cambodia and Laos this week to discuss defense cooperation, the Ministry of National Defense said Monday.



The visit is part of the nation's efforts to bolster diplomacy with countries that have been friendly with North Korea to ensure worldwide implementation of the toughest-ever sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on the reclusive state.



The delegation left for Cambodia late Monday for a visit until Wednesday, which will be followed by a trip to Laos from Wednesday to Friday.



The two Southeast Asian nations have traditionally maintained close ties with North Korea.



"Hwang will meet with Cambodia and Laos's senior defense officials and discuss bilateral defense cooperation," the ministry said in a press release.



Hwang is the highest ranking South Korean defense ministry official ever to visit the two countries. The delegation comprises working-level officials from Cheong Wa Dae, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the Ministry of National Defense.



During his visit, Hwang will also make a courtesy call to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.



"In the talks with senior officials, Hwang plans to request cooperation in dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue, including efforts to push for the implementation of UNSC resolutions," the ministry said.



Hwang will also meet with senior defense officials in Laos to discuss a wide range of issues, including cooperation in demining, according to the ministry.



The latest visit is in line with the nation's broadening diplomatic foray to win over Pyongyang's allies.



In May, President Park Geun-hye became the first South Korean leader to visit Iran and Uganda, which have maintained close military ties with the North.



Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed to support the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during his summit with Park, May 2, while Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni promised to "disengage" from military cooperation with the North, May 29.



In June, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se held the first-ever foreign ministerial talks with his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez, in Havana, where Yun expressed Seoul's willingness to establish diplomatic ties with the Caribbean country.



The talks broke a decades-long absence of formal diplomatic exchanges between Seoul and Havana. Ties between the two were severed in 1959 when Communist revolutionary Fidel Castro took power and aligned with North Korea.



The government apparently expects that improving ties with countries that maintain close relations with the North will further pressure the repressive state, as its international isolation has already deepened following the sanctions.



The UNSC imposed the harshest sanctions yet on the Kim Jong-un regime in early March for its fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch in February. Sanctions from major countries including the United States also followed.



But the North is showing few sign of giving up its nuclear and ballistic missile program.



The regime launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) last week, which was the latest in a series of provocative actions.



"The upcoming visits will add to the efforts made by the government following the North's nuclear test," a defense official said on condition of anonymity.




INDIANAPOLIS  State officials revealed the names of more than 2,000 Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay torchbearers, as well as the official torchbearer uniforms, Tuesday morning at the Indiana Statehouse.

The list includes 85 people from the four counties of northeast Indiana  33 from DeKalb, 15 from LaGrange, 18 from Noble and 19 from Steuben. The local group includes five posthumous selections.

The 2,000-plus Hoosiers selected as torchbearers embody the Indiana traditions of service, civic pride, community involvement and volunteerism, said Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb. As we reflect on Indianas first 200 years, it is only fitting that we celebrate Hoosiers who serve as inspirations in their communities.

Torchbearers were nominated by the public and selected by local committees on a county-by-county basis. More than 4,000 torchbearer nominations were received. Those selected are Hoosiers who demonstrate exceptional public service, excellence in their profession, acts of heroism or volunteer service to their neighborhood, community, region or state, a news release said.

The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay will start Sept. 9 in Corydon, Indianas first state capital, and culminate with a celebration on Oct. 15 on the grounds of the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis. The torch relay will touch each of Indianas 92 counties during its 3,200-mile journey across the state.

The torch relay is scheduled to reach Noble County on Sept. 29, DeKalb County on Oct. 1, Steuben County on Oct. 2 and LaGrange County on Oct. 3.

The torch bearer uniform is comprised of a lightweight, lined, wind-resistant jacket made of ripstop polyester fabric, a 100 percent micropolyester, moisture-wicking T-shirt and a specially designed cap.

Local selections as torchbearers (an asterisk * denotes a posthumous selection):

DeKalb  Robert Anderson*, Stephen Brady, J. Daniel Brinkerhoff, Laura Brinkman, David Bunn, Ted Christensen, Destinee Deaton, Larry Dove, Cora Fuhrer, Dawson Furnish, Dick Griffis, Don Grogg, Michael Hamman, Lyle Holman, Amy Hullinger, Jagger Hurraw, Nolan Johnson, Don Kaufman, Taylor Knox, Donald Lash*, Mike Ley, Bill Moree, Lowell Prentice, Jerry Rathburn, Marsha Rosenbalm, Gerald Schippers, Wayne Smith, Harold Spiess, Mikayla Surface, Sharon Targgart, Greg Vick, George Wappes, Luke Zuehsow.

LaGrange  William Connelly, Patricia Boase, Tom Miller, Winford Jones, John Egli, Sue Keenan, Sue Glick, Eva Merkel, Jodi Getz, Dan Byler, John Senecal, Carlos Olivares, Ryan Riegsecker, Nathan Jones, Laney Kratz.

Noble  Samuel Boggs, Edward Campbell, Jack Garrett, Suzanne Handshoe, Phyllis Herendeen, Fred Inniger, Douglas Keenan, Nelson LeCount, Joy LeCount, Arthur Mapes*, Elaine Moser, Craig Munk, John Riemke, Brian Shepherd, Jaren Shepherd, Roberta Stone, Gene Stratton-Porter*, Clara Whan.

Steuben  David Ballinger*, Paul Beckwith, Bill Boyer, Shane Christ, Peg Dilbone, Elizabeth Gilbert, Thomas Hagerty, Lou Ann Homan, Robert Howard, David Olson, Michelle Olson, Bob Osterholt, Dr. Chet Pinkham, Susan Raston, Maxine Ritter, Ronald Smith, Don Smith, Susan Stackhouse, Bill Stockberger.

Counties will provide participants to represent posthumous selections. The local deceased selections includes a distance runner who participated in the 1936 Olympic Games (Lash), a former Indiana poet laureate (Mapes) and a famed author and naturalist (Stratton-Porter).
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 33F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 33F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Thomas Trehus, the 26-year-old running for state representative of Minnesotas District 28B, paid a visit to Corkys Pizza for a La Crescent town hall meeting on June 23. Hes running against long-time representative Greg Davids (R-Preston).

For the past month, the Spring Grove native has been door knocking and holding public sessions to hear what advice his constituents have to offer him. His stop for pizza last week was his third such event this month, after stops in Rushford Village on June 9 and Spring Valley on June 16.

Trehus said the inadequate Republican budget over the past two years, which hadnt prioritize education as much as he would have liked, has motivated him to launch the campaign.

Trehus currently serves on the Spring Grove Board of Education, which he said has shown him the importance of funding local education with available budget surpluses. The extra cash, he said, should be used to increase the amount of per-student aid rural school districts get from the state as a way to alleviate some of the pressure on the districts and their corresponding tax base.

When the state doesnt fund education, schools have to raise levies, Trehus told an audience of about 15, and I dont think thats a sustainable way to fund our public education system and fund our government in general.

Education is a large part of Trehus campaign (he graduated from University of Minnesota) but, as he noted, its not just small schools hes trying to preserve.

My priorities really are to maintain our small schools, small towns and our small farms, he said. In Houston and Fillmore counties, we have lots of small things, but we have big hearts and really amazing people.

Houston County Commissioner Judy Storlie attended Trehuss visit and spoke about how the county is suffering because of the bipartisan split at the state level.

In response to Storlie, Trehus said the legislatures failure to pass a bonding and transportation bill at this years session was utter chaos and a complete mess, and that theres been enough of the blame game being played on both sides in St. Paul.

Trehus, who was one year old when Davids, a 12-term incumbent, took his seat, is running his campaign on the prospect of working together  Republicans and Democrats  to achieve one unanimous goal. As he reiterated, I just want to do what makes sense.

But besides education and clashing between reds and blues, the audience wasnt concerned with local issues. Instead, in the spirit of a tense national election, Trehus was fired questions on the hottest of topics at the federal level.

Republicans dont believe in global warming, an audience member blurted. What do you think?

Trehus, a Democrat, laughed a bit, then replied, Not all Republicans. I think some of them are coming around to the idea that the earth is warming due to human behavior, he said, adding, however, that Those who deny (global warming) are not in reality, and thats unfortunate because we all need to work together to solve the problem.

When asked about his stance on gun rights and the second amendment, Trehus said, Some of the high-powered rifles and machine guns  I dont see a lot of folks hunting with them around here. I dont think they have a place in civilian life, he said.

Theres some pretty realistic, common-sense things we can do to provide a little more safety, but not restrict the second amendment, he said, later explicitly establishing his support for restrictions on those flagged on the federal no-fly list.

When pressed if he was pro-life or pro-choice, Trehus said he wants to limit unwanted pregnancies, and that the best way to do that is to provide the best education and the most amount of resources to individuals.

Making this a political issue and a wedge issue is unstatesmenlike and wrong, he added.

About 15 percent of Houston and Fillmore counties are between the ages of 20 and 34, and a pillar of the Trehus for Minnesota State House campaign rests on its ability to get these young voters out to the polls.

Its tough, Trehus said, Young people are moving and going to college and doing everything but thinking about our democracy.

The Trehus camp includes Trehus himself, a campaign manager and an intern. The trio has spent June door-knocking and getting to know some of the roughly 40,000 citizens Trehus hopes to soon represent.
The debate over whether to ban frac sand in Winona County comes to the planning commission this week, kicking off a process expected to end with a final decision by the county board this fall.

The commission is scheduled to hold its first public hearing on the issue at 7 p.m. today (Thursday), with the venue showing the potential scope of the discussion: While the commission typically meets in the smaller confines of the government center, this meeting will be held at the Tau Center on Winona State Universitys west campus, which holds hundreds of people.

Those who arent able to attend Thursdays meeting  whether to check out one of Winonas most popular summer arts events, the free Minnesota Orchestra performance, or for other reasons  still have plenty of time to weigh in.

The commission, with the understanding that there may not be time for every voice to be heard at the first meeting, has scheduled two continuances of the public hearing at special meetings set Aug. 1 and Aug. 8, as well as an optional third continuance Aug. 15.

Meanwhile, those interested in submitting written comments can contact the countys planning department.

Thursdays meeting will start with a presentation of the proposed amendment to ban silica sand mining and operations for use in fracking, then open the floor to public comment.

The commission, which serves in this capacity as an advisory board, has 60 days to make a recommendation to the Winona County Board of Commissioners regarding the amendment.

The board voted 4-1 June 14 to send the issue to the county planning commission. After the commissions recommendation, the county board will make a final decision.

Opponents of frac sand mining have been advocating for the ban for several months through a variety of methods, including speaking regularly at county board meetings. In response, the county kicked off the process April 26 when the board instructed planning staff and the county attorney to develop language for a ban on silica sand mining related to its use in fracking operations elsewhere in the county.

The amendment was drafted by Winona County Attorney Karin Sonneman and draws from several examples, including Goodhue Countys Florence Townships ban on silica sand mining for fracking and the Land Stewardship Projects proposed language for a ban created earlier in the spring.

Sonnemans legal analysis made several additions to the initial language, including making an argument for the amendment as it relates to the values in the countys comprehensive plan and the purpose of the countys zoning ordinance.

It also clarifies the distinctions between restrictions on different types of mineral excavation, extraction and land alteration by defining some as commercial minerals compared to industrial minerals.

The amendment would establish a ban, as opposed to just regulating the mining through conditional-use permits issued by the county.

The Land Stewardship Project and other Winona County residents against frac sand operations have pushed for a full ban, claiming that the industry is too hard to regulate and has a history of not following rules in other states, including Wisconsin.

Supporters of the sand mining industry have in turn claimed the full ban would affect other sand operations, which Sonneman has said the amendment would not, due to proposed distinctions based on use.
You wont have to wait until the Fourth of July to see corn thats much taller than knee-high.

The weather has been a boon for farmers in Western Wisconsin and in neighboring Minnesota.

Sunny days when farmers needed it have provided heat for the growing corn and soybean crop while allowing cattle farmers the time needed to harvest a high-quality first hay crop. And timely rains have kept the ground moist enough to keep things going this summer, with no sign things will change in the near future.

The USDA released weekly crop progress updates on Monday showing things were ahead of schedule for many farmers in our region.

According to the report, the corn crop, which is rated at 86 percent good to excellent, is waist-high or taller, with 84 percent of the soybean crop rated in good condition or better.

Minnesota data showed similar findings. In both states, the USDA said farmers had finished the first crop of hay ahead of schedule and were well into starting on second crop.

The quality of the hay has been really good, Trempealeau County Extension Ag Agent Steve Okonek said. In some places almost too good.

Timely rains such as the storms during the weekend have helped keep things moist, Okonek said. Some farmers have experienced storm damage such as hail, resulting in some replanted acres of soybeans.

Things have also been hot, but not too hot. Crops dont do as well once the thermometer passes 85 degrees. With both the heat and amount of moisture  La Crosse is about three inches ahead of average precipitation for the year  ahead of schedule, the corn crop should begin tasseling in a few weeks and the soybean crop is already beginning to flower.

Crop development is progressing right along, Okonek said.

With the weather cooperating, farmers are turning their attention to another aspect of the harvest equation: prices. The commodity markets have rallied in the past month or so but are still subject to volatility and are impacted by everything from local demand to international politics, said Winona County Farm Bureau President Glen Groth.
A new weekly farmers market is providing fresh produce and other items to visitors in Black River Falls.

The Jackson County Farmers Market wrapped up its second week this past Thursday at its site near the Lunda Community Center on Diploma Drive after launching in response to a survey that indicated interest in a new event in the area.

We think its great, said Lisa Listle, whos helping coordinate the market. I just think its another option because were not the only market in town.

A spring community survey taken by nearly 400 people found a majority of respondents had visited a farmers market in Black River Falls in the past and just over 71 percent indicated they might visit a new option if placed near the new Lunda Community Center and high school. Respondents also overwhelmingly indicated they feel its important to have farmers markets and their available selections available in the community.

The survey came after visitors to the UW-Extension office discussed possibly wanting a new farmers market option, and several community groups and organizations, including the community center, assisted with its formation and distribution.

The new market, held from 2-6 p.m. on Thursdays, has had a variety of available items in its first two weeks, including fruits and vegetables and some jams and jellies. The event also would like to welcome craft and other vendors.

A food truck has been on hand to allow people to get a late lunch or supper, Listle said.

People are really excited, she said. They come here, theyre happy  So far, its working out really well.

J and A Produce and CSA is one of the producers that have participated in the market, and operator Ashley Seekamp said shes enjoyed the location and response so far.

Its been a great spot and its been a great location for people coming in and out, she said after bagging up some beets and Swiss chard for a customer. Its been a good turnout.

Listle also said the collaboration between community groups has been strong and helpful in the markets early stages.

Its been a really nice partnership, she said.

To view complete survey results, visit http://jackson.uwex.edu. For more information on the market, e-mail jcfarmmarket@gmail.com.
Jake Mason has received treatment for substance abuse from the private sector and the Veterans Administration.

He has no doubt which delivered the more effective care.

The VA  they take it from the standpoint of veterans, said Mason, an ex-Marine. A lot of doctors hear about PTSD, but these are people who know what youve gone through.

Mason was one of 15 patients and employees of the Tomah Veterans Administration Medical Center who held a lunchtime Keep the Promise rally last Thursday at the facilitys entrance.

Carrying signs and chanting hey, hey, ho, ho, hospital closings got to go, and hire nurses, hire doctors, rally participants objected to proposals that would transition much of the VA system to private care.

Lin Ellinghuysen, president of the American Federation of Government Employees union chapter that represents Tomah VA employees, said privatization is bad for veterans, VA employees and taxpayers.

Today is primarily about the veterans, and secondarily about the VA employees careers and their families, Ellinghuysen said.

The union has raised objections to a Congressional commission assigned to study veterans health care and issue recommendations. Ellinghuysen said seven of the 15 members are backing a plan that would close numerous VA hospitals across the country. The commission is expected to release its report next week.

Ellinghuysen said privatizing the system would make care more expensive and overwhelm private providers.

If all VA services are privatized or contracted out ... thats going to put an enormous burden on our current health care system, she said.

There are not enough doctors and nurses out there now. If we have these veterans go out in the private sector, everyone is going to have to wait, not only the veterans, but the non-veterans as well.

A vocal critic of the VA dismissed the rally as self-serving. Ryan Honl, a former Tomah VA employee who helped expose reckless prescription drug practices at the facility, wrote on his Facebook page that the rally was a blatant example of a self-serving government special interest more interested in scaring veterans to remain shackled to a choiceless system.

Honl favors a system of expanded choice.

In realty what this means is that public-sector unions are scared to death that veterans would have the right to be a customer that can decide for themselves what is best for their health care and where to take their lives and their benefits, Honl wrote.

Mason, who now is a vocational rehabilitation specialist at the Tomah VA, said the VA has an inherent advantage over the private sector.

When veterans are sitting in the mental health waiting room, theyre talking to each other, he said. I opened up more in the waiting room than I did with any other doctor.

He credits the care he received at the Tomah VA for putting him on a path toward a stable life that includes a wife and two children.

I was crashed and burned, but now here I am, Mason said. Without this VA, I dont think I would be married. I would have never gotten straightened up enough for anyone to put up with me.
OSHKOSH, Wis.  When Miss Green Bay Area Courtney Pelot, 22, of Manitowoc was named Miss Wisconsin 2016 at Oshkosh West High School last weekend, two contestants with La Crosse ties were right behind her.

Placing second was Miss Great Lakes and University of Wisconsin-La Crosse junior Madeline Kumm, 20, of Nekoosa, while Miss Madison Sarah Newton, 24, of Brookfield placed third. Newton, a 2014 UW-La Crosse graduate, placed fourth last year as Miss Seven Rivers.

Another UW-L graduate, Miss Harbor Cities Tianna Vanderhei, 23, of Wisconsin Rapids, a reporter for WXOW News 19, placed fifth and won the overall interview award.

Also among the 11 semi-finalists were Miss Wisconsin Central Tara Pizer of rural Richland Center, and Miss La Crosse/Oktoberfest Zoe Roou of Sparta, who claimed the state pageants community service award and the health sciences scholarship.

Miss Onalaska Emily Mihalovic of Holmen won the Miss America Academic Scholarship; and Miss Sparta Alexandra Lira tied with Miss Kenosha Brynn Weinzirl of Oak Creek for the Early Childhood Education scholarship. There were 25 entrants this year.

The 2016 Miss Wisconsins Outstanding Teen pageant on Friday was won by Kylene Spanbauer, 17, of Fond du Lac, who was crowned by last years winner, Jordenne Butler of Onalaska.

Placing third was Miss Onalaskas Outstanding Teen Annie Skogen, 16, of Onalaska, and Miss River Citys Outstanding Teen Maria Ekern, 17, of West Salem, placed fourth. Zeli Frantz, 15, of Racine, placed second.

There were 21 contestants in the state teen pageant.

This story was updated with correct information about Tianna Vanderhei's employer.
WINONA, Minn.  Most people think Ankith Arun wants to become a doctor for the money. In reality, when the 16-year-olds grandfather died after fighting cancer, Arun found a life goal.

Thats when I noticed I want to help people, Arun said.

Arun is participating in Scrubs Camp on the Winona State University campus this week for the second year in row to prepare himself for college, where he plans to study to become a cardiologist.

I feel like every time I come back, I feel more prepared for college, Arun said Tuesday, adding that the camp has provided him with motivation to complete high school.

The camp is offered through Healthforce Minnesota and designed to introduce students to medical careers and college life, said Misun Bormann, Healthforces director of statewide K-16 initiatives and partnerships.

Since the camp began in 2008 in Winona as a way to connect first-generation students to college, it has grown to include 15 to 16 different camps across Minnesota. Each camp offers a different view on the healthcare field, based on specialties available in that community.

Its hugely successful, Bormann said. Its all about the local community pulling together.

For WSUs camps, Bormann said, the focus is on the undergraduate and graduate nursing programs WSU has become known for.

There are also options to learn about EMT work, mental health, research and development, and even how mindfulness and dancing are part of medicine.

Students will be exploring medicine this week through activities such artificially inseminating frog eggs, separating gluten from dough and Zumba.

Part of Scrubs Camp is really to expose students to a wide variety of careers in health care, Bormann said.

Allison Vander Plas, 16, has a sister is graduating from WSU with a nursing degree. But Vander Plas said she wants to focus on solving medical challenges rather than patient care. Vander Plas dreams of becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon and has been using Scrubs Camp since middle school to prepare herself for college.

Its a new experience every time, Vandev said.

Through the connections and experiences students like Vander Plas and Arun have gained at the camp, Bormann said, Healthforce Minnesota hopes to provide a place to create a core group of medical professionals prepared and passionate about the fields in which theyll eventually work.

Part of Scrubs Camp is really to expose students to a wide variety of careers in health care. Misun Bormann, Healthforces director of statewide K-16 initiatives and partnerships
Four employees at Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare in La Crosse will be honored as nominees for an award throughout the Mayo system during a celebration and award ceremony today.

The event, beginning at 11 a.m. in Marycrest Auditorium in the Mayo-Franciscan hospital building at 700 West Ave., is part of the systems Service Day, with Awarding Excellence as its theme.

In addition to honoring the four local Mae Berry Service Excellence Award nominees, the ceremony will recognize 18 sites and departments from Mayo locations in southwest Wisconsin and southeast Minnesota. The 24 departments are being honored for finishing in the top 10 percent for overall care quality throughout the Mayo system.

The Mae Berry Service Excellence Award recognizes nonphysician employees who provide outstanding service, serve as role models and inspire others, act selflessly to meet the needs of patients and co-workers and go above and beyond daily to serve patients, co-workers and clients.

Mayo-Franciscan nominees

Renee Bauman, a registered nurse and patient care supervisor

Donna Kettner, a clinical therapist

Karee Munson, a patient experience senior adviser and

Deneen Olson, business operations coordinator

Medical Practice Award

Caledonia, Minn.  Family medicine

Holmen  Family medicine

La Crescent  Family medicine

La Crosse  Nephrology, orthopedic surgery, urology, endocrinology, dermatology, general surgery and podiatry

Tomah  Eye services

Waukon  Family medicine

Waukon  Overall clinic

Winneshiek Medical Center in Decorah, Iowa, received the Press Ganey Overall Hospital Performance Award for obstetrics.

Receiving Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Awards were:

Communication with nurses

Winneshiek (Iowa) Medical Center  Obstetrics

Sparta  Medical/surgical

La Crosse  Third and fifth floors

Communication with doctors

Winneshiek Medical Center  Obstetrics

Sparta  Medical/surgical

La Crosse Third and fifth floors

Pain management

Winneshiek Medical Center  Obstetrics

La Crosse  Fifth floor
LA CRESCENT, Minn.  A 27-year-old La Crosse man repeatedly stabbed a 23-year-old Bangor woman, a 3-year-old child and a dog Tuesday afternoon in a car before stabbing himself, according to La Crescent police.

All three people were transported to a local hospital after authorities from multiple agencies responded to Juniper and Willow streets about 5:15 p.m. The dog was treated by a veterinarian.

The names of those involved and their medical conditions were not released.

The male knew the victims, and police think its an isolated event. Police continue to investigate.
MANCHESTER, Iowa  An eastern Iowa judge is accused of throwing a water bottle at her husband and hitting him.

Online court records say Judge Stephanie Rattenborg, of Manchester, is charged with domestic assault in Delaware County. Her attorney, Mark Roeder, said Wednesday that she'll plead not guilty. Her first court appearance on the charge is scheduled for July 12.

Court documents say a sheriff's deputy responded to a 911 call from Rattenborg's husband Friday evening. The documents say Randall Rattenborg told the deputy that his wife threw the water bottle at him and began hitting him because she'd learned he was having an extramarital affair. He suffered a minor lip injury.

The documents say Stephanie Rattenborg admitted throwing the water bottle but denied hitting her husband.
MADISON (AP)  Wisconsin will be sending 45 members of the State Patrol to Cleveland next month to help with security at the Republican National Convention.

That is 11 percent of the State Patrols 409 sworn staff members.

Wisconsin Department of Transportation spokeswoman Patty Mayers says those going to the convention are being diverted from lower priority assignments and on overtime. She says all of the costs will be funded by Ohio through a mutual aid agreement.

A North Carolina police department last month rescinded its offer to send 50 officers to Cleveland amid concerns about the citys readiness for an event expected to draw 50,000 people.

Murray says the Wisconsin State Patrol has not been asked for assistance in providing security for the Democratic Party convention in Philadelphia.
MONESSEN, Pa.  Donald Trump called for a new era of economic Americanism Tuesday, promising to restore millions of lost factory jobs by backing away from decades of U.S. policy that encouraged trade with other nations  a move that could undermine the countrys place as the dominant player in the global economy.

The speech marked a significant break from years of Republican Party advocacy for unencumbered trade between nations, and drew immediate condemnation from GOP business leaders.

In his 35-minute speech, Trump blamed former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs.

He threatened to exit the more than two-decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement and vowed to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations that has yet to take effect.

He pointed to China as a source of many of Americas economic woes, promising to label that country a currency manipulator and slap new tariffs on Americas leading source of imports, a decision with the potential to dramatically increase the cost of consumer goods.

This wave of globalization has wiped out totally, totally our middle class, Trump said, standing in front of pallets of recycled aluminum cans on a factory floor. It doesnt have to be this way. We can turn it around, and we can turn it around fast.

Delivered in a hard-hit Pennsylvania steel town, the speech underscored the central message of Trumps campaign: that policies aimed at boosting international trade  and Americas intervention in wars and disputes abroad  have weakened the country.

Its an argument that found support among Republican primary voters, especially white, working class Americans whose wages have stagnated in recent years. Trump hopes it will yield similar success among the wider electorate that will decide the general election.

I promise you, if I become president, were going to be working again. Were going to have great jobs again, he said. Youre going to be so happy.

But he drew a quick and scathing response from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a traditional Republican ally and leading business lobby.

Under Trumps trade plans, we would see higher prices, fewer jobs, a weaker economy, the Chamber said on its Twitter feed, directing readers to a blog post that said Trumps policies would lead to millions of job losses and a recession.

Many economists have dismissed Trumps promise to immediately restore manufacturing jobs as dubious at best, given the impact of automation and the many years it typically takes to negotiate trade agreements.

While renegotiating tougher deals with Americas foreign trading partners might help some businesses, manufacturing as a share of total U.S. jobs has been slipping for several decades. The number of such jobs has risen slightly since the end of the Great Recession, but the introduction of robotics and access to cheaper foreign markets has reduced U.S. factory employment to a total last seen around 1941.

Indeed, the National Association of Manufacturers slammed Trumps logic on Tuesday, with the organizations president, Jay Timmons, writing on Twitter: @realDonaldTrump you have it backward. Trade is GOOD for #mfg workers & #jobs. Lets #MakeAmericaTradeAgain.

In making his case for a new approach to trade, Trump recounted economic policies in place at the founding of the country  a time when goods traveled by horseback and schooner, the invention of the telegraph was still decades away and the advances of the Internet and broadband communication hardly imaginable.

The billionaire real estate mogul then skipped ahead to the 1990s, blaming the Clinton administration for negative impacts of globalization. He cited Bill Clintons support of NAFTA, which aimed to reduce barriers to trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and Chinas entry into the World Trade Organization.

He challenged reporters to ask Hillary Clinton if she would be willing to denounce the Trans-Pacific Partnership on her first day in office and unconditionally rule out its passage in any form.

Throughout her career  her whole career  she has betrayed the American worker. Never forget that, Trump said.

Clintons positon on trade has been a frequent attack line for Trump. She has supported some agreements, opposed others and flipped on both NAFTA and TPP, which she promoted dozens of times as secretary of state.

She now says she will back trade deals only if they fulfill a three-pronged test of creating good jobs, raising wages and improving national security.

Under Trumps trade plans, we would see higher prices, fewer jobs, a weaker economy. U.S. Chamber of Commerce
In its June 19 editorial, Department of Natural Resources needs to protect our groundwater, the Tribune states, Thanks to an opinion by Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, Republicans have successfully allowed the DNR to provide less oversight of high-capacity wells. The editorial proceeds to argue that its time our state leadership and DNR protect our most valuable natural resource.

My job as the attorney general is to interpret and apply the rule of law as written by the Wisconsin Legislature. Accordingly, my personal views on the underlying policy issue of high-capacity wells are immaterial and had no bearing in issuing my legal opinion.

In requesting the attorney generals opinion, the Legislature posed a straightforward legal question, namely, whether the DNR has unlimited authority to regulate high-capacity wells by imposing permit conditions not explicitly specified in law. Stated differently, can the DNR go beyond the statutes regulating high-capacity wells and impose any permit conditions it deems fit?

After closely reviewing the law, my team of lawyers and I determined that the DNR does not have unfettered and unlimited authority to regulate high-capacity wells. Instead, the DNR only has those powers to regulate high-capacity wells under Wisconsin Statute 281.34 and 281.35 as enacted by the Legislature.

This conclusion is buttressed by a 2011 law  Act 21  which set parameters on state agency rulemaking. Act 21 provides that state agencies, including the DNR, may issue new rules and impose permit conditions only when the Legislature has granted agencies explicit authority to do so. In addition, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has explained that state agencies are the creation of the Legislature and, thus, only have those powers that are expressly granted by statute.

The following is an excerpt from my opinion addressing the current state of law regarding the DNRs authority to regulate high-capacity wells as granted by the Legislature:

During the 1985-86 legislative session the Legislature enacted 1985 Wisconsin Act 60, which required the DNR to evaluate the impact of the wells on public rights in navigable waters for wells with a water loss of over 2 million gallons per day. Wisconsin Statute 281.35. Subsequently, during the 2003-04 legislative session, the Legislature enacted comprehensive legislation (2003 Wisconsin Act 310) that explicitly set forth the DNRs authority when it comes to regulating high-capacity wells. Wisconsin Statute 281.34. If the Legislature believes that current law does not provide sufficient groundwater protections, it clearly has the authority to enact more stringent laws. However, as explained in great detail in this opinion, the DNR may not impose conditions unless it has such explicit statutory authority.

The opinion clearly explains the DNR has only those powers that are explicitly granted to it by the Legislature, and no more. The issue of high-capacity wells is a policy matter that must be decided by elected lawmakers who are directly accountable to the citizens of our great state.
If you could go back and study a subject youd never had the chance to explore or understand, what would it be?

Let your imagination go free-range with this question. Dont narrow your answers by worrying about whether youd become one of the leaders in the field; picture yourself being diligent and achieving excellence. If you choose a performance- or practice-based area, dismiss any anxieties about whether youd receive accolades or awards; consider only the satisfaction of your curiosity and satisfying your own sense of mastery.

You will not be graded. You will be applauded. Youre doing this for yourself alone and not your resume.

With these principles in mind, what do you wish youd had the opportunity, the talent, the strength and discipline to place into your lifes intellectual carry-on?

Mine are fairly basic and they fall into three categories.

Because I am illiterate when it comes to all things musical  being unable to read it even though I can appreciate hearing it  I wish Id taken courses in music when I was in high school and college. Because of budget cuts that continue to plague arts programs in public schools, our district phased out classes for those who did not sing in a choir or play an instrument (and poor kids did not usually play instruments).

I knew I liked The Doors better than The Archies, and I knew Leonard Cohens voice made me cry while Peaches & Herb made me wince, but I could never explain why. Id like to hear the design in a Bach fugue as well as be in awe of it and Id love to hear nuance as well as brass when listening to a jazz band.

At both fundamental and ethereal levels, I know math and music are connected, and I wish I knew the math part, too. Because I unknowingly but systematically transposed numbers as a kid, however, I was always terrible at math, barely passing even the most basic classes. I assumed that part of my brain was misshapen, like an intellectual hangnail or hammertoe, annoying and unfixable. I placed mathematics in my peripheral vision.

Yet when I recently had the honor of being the graduation speaker at The Lincoln School in Providence, R.I., I listened to one of the young women deliver a class speech that was charming, enthralling and hilarious concerning the concept of integers (which I had not known was derived from the Latin word for whole) and employing it as a vehicle to discuss how the girls, as individuals, created a community.

The Lincoln senior explained integers with elegance, lightness and simplicity, and as I watched her appreciative classmates nod in understanding, it struck me that they were already enviably fluent in the vocabulary of a world I would never enter. I wish I had a third of her grasp of the subject (but thats a wild guess, since Im not sure what a third would be because of the whole Im-bad-at-math thing).

In addition, so to speak, there are nearly countless bonuses attached to learning mathematics: With it, I might have been able to study physics, astronomy, economic theory and figure out what exactly European dresses sizes mean.

Id like to be able to claim with confidence that I can: ice-skate, fix old cars, trace your familys genealogy, design and build a bookcase where the title Im searching for is instantly illuminated, and recite the Book of Job in the original Hebrew whenever the need arises (which happens more than you think).

Lastly, Id like to grasp the actual plot to Game of Thrones, but, even with a total immersion course, thats probably not possible. I have no clue who these people are anymore. Its sad.

Most lives arent long enough to study everything wed love to learn, but it doesnt mean we shouldnt try. If were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of horizons that shimmer in our imagination, or have at our fingertips talents wed like to unlock, lets instill in one another the courage to approach them. The only thing theres no time for is a sense of inadequacy or a fear of failure. That time has passed.
Anger is clearly the buzzword of the 2016 presidential campaign, especially on the GOP side of the aisle. Google the word with Republican and, like me, you might get more than 24 million hits (vs. 606,000 when matched with Democrat).

I have watched the angry storyline take hold. On roughly a dozen occasions during this campaign season, I was a CNN election-night panelist. If you watched, you may have seen my colleagues and me with our faces buried in laptops. Often we were analyzing exit surveys from those who had just cast ballots. Republican rage was a constant in those numbers. When asked their feelings on the federal government, many GOP voters said angry or dissatisfied. Democrats were rarely asked the same question, although I suspect if they were asked their feelings about Wall Street or income inequality, we would have seen a lot more anger among them, too.

For example, in Iowa, 42 percent of Republicans said they were angry, in New Hampshire the number was 39 percent, South Carolina and Florida 40 percent. Despite the resulting headlines, I grew suspicious about these numbers representing the total electorate. So, in March, I asked on my website, which better describes your mood, angry or hopeful? Among the 1,666 who voted, 32 percent said the former and 68 percent the latter. The poll was unscientific, but a week later, Lynne Vavreck, a political science professor at UCLA, challenged the conventional wisdom about angry voters in a column for The New York Times.

She cited the Index of Consumer Sentiment, one of the longest-running measures of Americans views on the economy, and the General Social Survey, which, since 1972, has asked Americans to take all things together and rate their level of happiness. Her data challenged the narrative that the nation is in a funk. For example, one GSS report, published in April 2015, found that 32.5 percent of people in 2014 said they were very happy, an increase of 3.7 percentage points since 2010.

If thats true, what explains this disconnect?

I argue that its indicative of the outsized role played by those among us with the most fervor, as compared with the rest of the nation. Pew Research Center has documented the influence of passion, noting that it rests on the ends of the political spectrum. Thats where you find the activists. They are the most reliable voters. The people who put up yard signs. Hang a bumper sticker. Write checks. And are angry.

But if there is a new silent majority in the nation, its members are not Tea Party activists or millennials feeling the Bern, but rather, the tens of millions of Americans who are not angry, but thus far not engaged in the election. Consider that only 16 percent of voters participated in a primary or caucus in 2012. And this year, in Iowa  despite all the buildup, the TV commercials, and the opportunity to go and hear any candidate speak in person  just 180,000 Republicans and 170,000 Democrats participated in a caucus  a mere fifth of the 1.6 million Iowans who voted in November 2012. Its an even smaller percentage of the Iowans eligible to vote in a general election.

My argument is that those who have participated, especially on the right, are over-representative of anger, and Donald Trump has been the beneficiary. Of the 42 percent of Iowa Republican voters who said they were angry at the federal government  Trump won 30 percent of them, when he still had roughly a dozen competitors. In New Hampshire, 39 percent said they were angry and 44 percent of them backed Trump. He took the same percentage of the 40 percent of angry voters in South Carolina. He claimed 59 percent of the 40 percent of angry Florida Republicans.

The good news for those of us not piqued is that there arent enough angry voters (alone) to win the White House. No doubt youve heard that Trump received more votes than any Republican running for president. Thats true. Trump received 13.9 million votes this primary and caucus season. But he also set a record for the most votes cast against a top vote-getter  more than 17 million voted for another choice.

According to the Pew Research Center, roughly 57.6 million people, or 28.5 percent of eligible American voters, cast a ballot in the 2016 primaries. Trump won 24.1 percent of the total votes cast, which is only 6.9 percent of the votes of eligible voters. Trump needs to build significantly on the nearly 14 million who have already voted for him. Consider that four years ago, President Obama won reelection with 65.9 million votes. (In 2008, he received 69.4 million, a record.)

Dont misunderstand  I dont deny that anger exists in the electorate, or that it could be a vehicle for Trumps continued success. But I want to give comfort to the contented by arguing that we still have time to turn down the tone.

But time is short. Anger is metastasizing, and its time for the rest of us to take control of the political debate.

Dont misunderstand  I dont deny that anger exists in the electorate, or that it could be a vehicle for Trumps continued success. But I want to give comfort to the contented by arguing that we still have time to turn down the tone.
Mary Leonard doesnt look shook up at all.

Thats because she loves summer  the days last longer and theres a different kind of energy, which she has more of this time of year.

She needs it at the moment. Leonard, along with 21 cast members, an orchestra pit of 11, and a large team of designers are the driving force behind the somewhat Elvis-inspired rock n roll musical All Shook Up, which has opened at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as part of the SummerStage series.

Its light and fun, and on a hot summer night you want to come into the air conditioning and get entertained, said Leonard, the shows director. You dont want to see something dark and moody in the summer. We do save that for the school year.

The musical spelunkers through Elvis Presleys canon of hits, from Jailhouse Rock to Blue Suede Shoes, with a generous shot of Burning Love thrown into the mix.

The Joe DiPietro libretto manages to evoke everything from Cry Baby, Footloose, Bye Bye Birdie and even Love Me Tender. Call it musical homage-podge.

The complexity of the shows score, with rock right alongside gospel and ballads, caught Leonards ear more than her eye.

The arrangements are so beautiful, she said.

So is her cast, which this summer is discovering the exacting price of that beauty. With four short weeks of rehearsal, its a lot for everyone to take in.

Theres a point where they just turn a corner, Leonard said. When they come forward, and take it and run with it, its the most rewarding thing that could ever happen. They inspire me.

The plot centers on Chad, a roustabout recently released from prison, who enters a tiny 1950s-era town via a classic motorcycle and puts a boot through the Mamie Eisenhower Decency Act. It seems loud music, tight pants, and necking in public are as outlawed as Chad himself, and he causes a minor sensation in the hearts and minds of those he swivels his hips at.

Borrowing liberally from Shakespeares Twelfth Night, his secret love isnt here disguised as a boy; this time around shes a mechanic, Natalie, who fixes his road hog and just cant help falling in love with him.

For 19-year-old Avital Maltinski, the role hits closer to home than Graceland.

Its so close to my personality, as it is, Maltinski said.

Shes always had a bit of the mechanic in her soul, even though shes been a ballerina since she was 3 years old.

I dont know where it comes from, she said.

Being a musical theater major with three major musicals at UW-L already under her belt, what Maltinski does know is that All Shook Up is one of the most fast and furious shows shes been a part of.

It flies by so fast that youre ready before you even know it, she said.

Shes also good friends off stage with her leading man, 21-year-old Mitchell Gray, who has the devil in his jeans as Chad.

This show has been a blast for all of us to work on, Gray said. People are going to come to the theater and have a great time. Its super fun music; everybody knows the music, most of it, which is cool. But, the twists in the arrangements are awesome.

This is Grays first leading role, and Leonard said hes perfect for it. In fact, he started studying the complicated musical score a month before auditions.

Hes stepped up to the plate every time, Leonard said. Its been a joy to watch Mitchell take the reins and grow. And now, this is huge. Hes up for it. He deserves it.

Gray said he was careful in the direction he chose for Chad; its easy to cruise down the wrong road.

Everybody likes him, Gray said, and hes charismatic and infectious to everyone, so I was trying to play this like, lets get the fun-loving guy, the life of the party that everybody wants to be around.

Still, the material doesnt let him totally hide the peacock, with lines like, Youre the spark plug that makes my engine go purrr. He rolled his eyes and laughed. It was a different time.

Its certainly been a different time down in the pit, where musical director and conductor Kathryn Skemp Moran is in charge of all those glorious tunes.

When I listen to this score, it sounds like one finale after the next, Moran said. Its all these epic numbers.

She likened the intense pace, not to mention the complexity of the arrangements, to musical boot camp.

When its a musical like this, whats on the page is intended, she said. We have this idea of these tunes in our ear already, and its tricky to get those out of our ear and sing whats on the page, to get everybody singing harmoniously together.

But, thats exactly what audiences can expect. And, when being Eisenhower-era bad feels so good, sometimes you just have to shout it from the rooftops.

These students are training to do this as a profession, Moran said, so theyre really excited about it, and excited to share that passion.
Heres to the voice of freedom.

I remember July 4, 1976, the bicentennial of this great country, 40 years ago.

At the time I was eight years old and swept up in pride with the realization of what our country promises us, protection of the rights and values we hold most dear. Promise of prosperous American families with rights to a fair wage and a good living  safe roads and healthy schools. Rights to clean food, water, land, and air. Rights to equal protections under the law. Rights to a future without war, that honors the sacrifices of veterans by making peace. Rights to fair taxation and income equality. And, at its most basic, our right to vote.

I was so taken with these values that when I came across a bamboo pole in the student housing complex I lived in with my family, I felt compelled to stake my own flag. I procured a piece of white fabric and my trusty red and blue crayons, I crafted an American flag, attached it to the pole, and stuck it in the middle of the round sanbox outside my door.

I dont have an Instagram feed to prove it, but I remember clearly stepping back to marvel at my work, and my deep appreciation of all the fights that had come before to afford me that sense of freedom.

At the root of this freedom is the ideal of democracy, which, by the way, is a verb not a noun. democracy without representation is just plain chaos, as were seeing right now in the current election season, as the electorate is waking up to the fact that both sides are challenged in their loyalty to voters. Both sides are entrenched in corporate influence and follow big money donors biddings, whether in their own self interest or for the real constituents of Wall Street, Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big box stores, Big health care, and on and on

Chaos ensues in this model where representation is compromised, as the electorate has very little voice. People recoil at the mention of politics and voting becomes a painful act. And theyre not making it easier.

As of July 1, 2016, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) that oversees voting rights, will cease to exist. Thats right, the one bipartisan means of giving accountability to our rights to vote will convert to a partisan appointed body. Our most basic right is being stripped from our control. To add insult to injury, the administrations Voter ID law restricts our ability to cast our ballots further, effectively silencing the voices of far too many.

But within the chaos, at its very core, is the power of our voice! Your entire Wisconsin government is made up of just 132 legislators for the entire state. We have exactly two people to speak for us, one Senator, one Assembly person, to amplify our voices and shape our future.

This is a tremendous opportunity, and we should choose well. And no matter who you want to vote for, you have to vote to exercise your voice. Its your right as an American, and your most patriotic connection to values of freedom. When we vote for the voices that protect our rights and uphold our values, we exercise democracy.

It is simply unacceptable that we pay taxes to a government that works for to serve profit over the well-being of citizens. As a mother and a Main Street renewable energy business owner in Viroqua, Ill be on the ballot in November for the 96th Assembly seat. Service has always been my greatest joy in life and so I look forward to taking our stories, our values, and our voices to the halls of the Capitol, to fight for the rights we all treasure.

For further info about how to vote where you live go to www.myvote.wi.gov or call (866) VOTE-WIS.
2 The second and final qualification motor (QM-2) test for the Space Launch Systems booster is seen at Orbital ATK Propulsion Systems test facilities in Promontory, Utah. During the Space Launch System flight, the boosters will provide more than 75 percent of the thrust needed to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth, the first step on NASAs Journey to Mars.


A new report about the attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, criticizes the United States government.

The report says the Obama administration, as well as military and intelligence agencies, did not provide enough security to prevent the violence.

The U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Benghazi released the 800-page report Tuesday. The September 11, 2012, terrorist attack killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens.

The Benghazi attack has been officially investigated at least 10 times. The latest investigation lasted two years and cost $7 million.

The chairman of the committee, Republican Representative Trey Gowdy, spoke to reporters about the reports findings. He said the investigation found a clear disconnect between the violence there and what officials thought was happening.

Gowdy said American officials had real time information but yet somehow they thought the fighting had subsided.

The report criticized the U.S. military for not sending resources to help protect diplomats in Benghazi. It said the military did not act although President Obama and then Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta had ordered action.

Gowdy said, Nothing was en route to Libya at the time the last two Americans were killed almost eight hours after the attacks began.

Military leaders have repeatedly said they did not have dependable intelligence on what was happening in Libya. They also said they did not have the resources to take action.

The report blamed the Central Intelligence Agency for missing warning signs about the threat of violence in Libya. It also blamed the C.I.A. for writing false intelligence reports after the attack.

It criticized Obama administration officials for their early reaction to the attack. It also criticized them for how they later explained the events to the American people.

Gowdy accused the State Department, the military and the C.I.A. of purposeful and shameful delay of the investigation. He said the agencies refused to provide or delayed providing all requested records to the committee.

Hillary Clinton was serving as Secretary of State at the time of the attack. Last October, she answered questions before the Benghazi committee for 11 hours during a televised hearing.

The report does not contain any new evidence against Clinton, who is now the presumptive 2016 Democratic presidential nominee. She has accused the Republican-led committee of acting for political reasons.

On Tuesday, Clintons campaign said the new report had not found anything to contradict the conclusions of the multiple, earlier investigations.

Gowdy said his reports conclusion was not aimed at Clinton. But two Republican committee members said they did not think the report fully dealt with Clintons part in the events. Representatives Jim Jordan and Mike Pompeo released their own statements on the findings.

Pompeo called Clinton's actions after the attacks morally reprehensible. He and Jordan said her public comments about the attacks were very different from her private comments to family members and diplomats.

Democratic Party members on the committee released their own report Monday. That report concluded that the State Departments security measures were woefully inadequate on the night of the attack.

But it said former Secretary of State Clinton never personally denied any requests for additional security in Benghazi.

It also said that the military could not have done anything differently on the night of the attacks that would have saved the four Americans killed in Benghazi.

The report found that the nearest U.S. military troops to Benghazi were across the Mediterranean Sea in Italy. It argued that they could not have reached Libya in time to rescue the diplomats.

It also found that Clinton was actively "engaged" in dealing with the attack as it was happening.

Im Caty Weaver.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for Learning English, based on additional reports from VOANews.com, the Associated Press and Reuters. Caty Weaver was the editor.

What's your opinion about the Benghazi investigation? Let us know in the Comments or on our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

subside  v. to become less strong or intense

en route  adv. on the way, during a journey

shameful  adj. worthy of causing shame or disgrace

contradict  v. to deny or disagree with what someone else says

reprehensible  adj. bad, deserving very strong criticism

woefully  adv. very badly

inadequate  adj. not having the required quality or quantity

engaged  adj. involved in meaningful contact with
President Barack Obama is again urging the United States Congress to act on immigration.

Obama made his latest appeal after the nations highest court failed to support his order protecting up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation.

The Supreme Court released that order last week. The court was split on the issue, with four members agreeing with the president and four others opposed.

The ruling keeps in place a lower court decision that blocked the immigration order.

The president called the Supreme Court ruling, heartbreaking.

I have pushed to the limits of my executive order, he said. We now have to have Congress act.

But congressional action seems unlikely before Obama leaves office in January.

We know there isnt much left with this Congress, said Norm Ornstein, a specialist on U.S. politics at the American Enterprise Institute. Orenstein said the ruling is bad news for the president because he had hoped to make immigration reform an important part of his legacy.

Texas and 25 other states had challenged Obamas 2015 executive order. It not only protected five million undocumented immigrants from being expelled, but let them have work permits.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the Supreme Court did the right thing. The court, he said, Keeps in place what we have maintained from the very start: one person, even a president, cannot unilaterally change the law.

The ruling last week is not expected to lead to mass deportations.

Obama says the Department of Homeland Security would continue its long established policy. That means moving slowly on deporting parents of children who are in the United States legally.

But those adults would not be given work permits, making it harder for them to find employment.

Businessman Donald Trump is likely to win the presidential nomination of the Republican Party. Trump has said he would deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

But Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican who lost to Trump in nominating events, said that will not happen -- even if Trump is elected. The American people wouldn't stand for it, Rubio, a Florida senator, told CBS television.

Early in Obamas second term, the U.S. Senate approved a reform in immigration policy that had the presidents support. But the House of Representatives refused to consider the bill.

The Supreme Court divided 4-4 on his executive order on immigration because it does not have a ninth justice to break ties.

The Republican-led Senate has refused to vote on Democrat Obamas choice to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia died in February. Obama nominated U.S. Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland in March.

Had the Senate confirmed Garland, it is likely the Supreme Court would have overturned lower court rulings blocking Obamas immigration order.

American Immigration Lawyers Association President Victor Nieblas said the Supreme Courts decision continues uncertainty for millions of undocumented immigrants. The court, he said, denied parents of United States citizens and students to seek refuge and protection from a dysfunctional immigration system.

Roy Beck is head of a group called NumbersUSA, which wants more limits on immigration.

Beck said the Supreme Courts decision means that immigration policy, including the power to issue work permits, still belongs to the people through their elected officials in Congress.

Im Bruce Alpert.

Mary Alice Salinas reported on this story for VOANews.com. Bruce Alpert adapted her report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page.

____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

deportation  n. to be removed from a country for violation of its immigration laws

challenge  v. to say or show that something may not be true, correct, or legal

maintain  v. to continue doing something or taking the same position

unilaterally  adv. acting alone

refuge  n. shelter or protection from danger or trouble

dysfunctional  adj. unable to function in a normal way
The suicide attack in Istanbul that killed at least 41 people is the latest in a series of deadly terrorism strikes to hit Turkey.

Tuesdays attack at Ataturk International Airport also wounded more than 200 people. Istanbuls governor said at least 10 of those killed were foreigners.

Three suicide bombers entered the airports international arrival area and began shooting people before setting off explosives.

Officials announced Wednesday that the airport had fully reopened. Turkish Airlines said it restarted all operations and flights resumed between the United States and Istanbul.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. But, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said early evidence suggested that it was the Islamic State group.

He called the attack cowardly and promised to keep up Turkeys fight against extremism. Unity will be the best answer to terrorists, he said.

The Islamic State group was blamed for two suicide bombings in Istanbul earlier this year that targeted foreign tourists. Many people have been killed in Ankara and Istanbul in bombings carried out by both Islamic State and Kurdish rebels.

The Kurdish rebel group PKK has been known to carry out suicide bombings. However, it usually targets government security forces. This month the group attacked a police bus, killing 11 people.

The recent attacks underscore the sharp increase in recent terrorist bombings in Turkey that have killed hundreds. Some of the attacks have been blamed on the PKK, while others have been attributed to Islamic State.

Terrorism experts say Islamic State is believed to have many fighters who are Turkish nationals. They also suggested that recent Islamic State defeats in Iraq may have led to Tuesdays airport attack.

The Institute for the Study of War predicted an increase in Islamic State attacks in Turkey during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which ends July 5. The institute said Islamic State appears to be using Turkey to help develop a larger plan in the area.

ISIS will likely select targets in neighboring states that relieve pressure from the group in Syria while setting conditions for future expansion in those states, the organization wrote. Targets that serve this dual purpose include foreign tourists, state security forces, and U.S. military elements in Turkey and Jordan.

Syria conflict

Another regional issue affecting terrorism in Turkey is Syrias civil war. Armed groups roam along both sides of the 804-kilometer Turkey-Syria border. Turkey has been accused of permitting foreign fighters to cross the border to join groups like the Islamic State.

The civil war has also led to an estimated 2.5 million Syrians now living in Turkey. This has strained government resources and caused anger among the Turkish population.

Turkey was once seen as a bastion of stability in the area, with a strong economy and tourist industry. But last year, tourist arrivals fell by one-third.

The increase in terror has led to increasing uncertainty about Turkeys economic future and its national security.

Im Jonathan Evans.

Bryan Lynn adapted this story for Learning English based on reporting from Sharon Behn of VOA, with additional reports from VOANews.com and the Associated Press. Mario Ritter was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

cowardly  adj. afraid in a way that makes you unable to do what is right or expected; lacking courage

underscore  v. to emphasize or show the importance of

attribute  v. considered to be caused by something

roam  v. move about or travel over a wide area

bastion  n. a place or system in which something continues to survive

stability  n. the quality or state of something that is not easily changed or likely to change
The United States government is increasingly using social media to investigate people who may represent a security threat to the country.

The latest example comes from the Department of Homeland Securitys Customs and Border Protection office. It wants to ask foreign visitors to provide information about their accounts on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

An optional  or non-required  question would be added to the form that people must complete before entering the United States.

The form asks information like the persons name, phone number, and countries they have visited since 2011.

The proposed social media question would only concern travelers who do not need a visa to enter the United States. Travelers from 38 countries are permitted to enter the U.S. without a visa.

The Customs and Border Protection office said in its proposal that adding the question would affect about 24 million people.

There is a 60-day comment period for the public to share their opinion about the proposal.

Congress Also Proposing Social Media Bills

U.S. lawmakers have also proposed bills concerning the use of social media for researching possible terrorism links.

Senator John McCain sponsored a bill that would require the Department of Homeland Security to look at internet activity and social media profiles of anyone seeking entry to the United States.

Senators Martin Heinrich and Jeff Flake sponsored a bill that would permit the Department of Homeland Security to search open source information, including internet and social media postings of people applying for a visa to enter the U.S.

Senator Chuck Schumer has proposed a different plan to help officials search for possible terror links. He wants to reward people who send officials terrorism-related information from social media posts. Anyone whose information leads to the arrest of someone planning an attack in the U.S. would be paid money.

Schumers proposal would make use of the Justice Departments Rewards for Justice program.

Schumer said that investigators need the publics help. Schumer said he wants to award people who come forward with information anywhere from $25,000 to $25 million.

In the House of Representatives, Congressman Stephen Fincher proposed a bill that centered on stopping prisoners from becoming radicalized.

His bill would require volunteers in federal prisons to provide their social media accounts during their background investigations. Fincher called U.S. prisons a breeding ground for Islamic radicalization.

Chris Hannas reported this story for VOANews.com. Mehrnoush Karimian-Ainsworth adapted the report for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

optional  adj. available as a choice but not required

sponsored  v. to introduce and support (a proposal) in a legislative assembly

breeding ground  expression. a situation or place in which bad things can easily begin to develop

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.
About 600 riders with more than 600 horses embarked on cross-country horse ride delivering mail in their famous mochillas last week.

Participating riders, all members of the National Pony Express Association, set out in groups riding their own states beginning Wednesday, June 15 at 10 a.m. fromSacramento,Calif., with the final destination beingSt. Joseph,Mo. on Saturday, June 25, said Lyle Lander, national president of the National Pony Express Association.

Its a giant relay through 1,966 miles. We have state organizations that ride through their states in groups. Everybody in a group rides two to three miles, Lander said.

Last week riders stopped at Midway Station south of Gothenburg and at Veterans Memorial Park in downtown Cozad.

During their stops for food and water, Lander explained that Pony Express riders are known to take an oath of service when they enlist other riders for the journey. The oath involves reciting instructions out-load and pledging to complete their duties with good behavior, he said.

Lyle Gronewold,Nebraska president of the National Pony Express Association, said a person needed to be at least 14 years old to become a Pony Express member and know how to ride a horse. He said each state has its own application for membership.

Most of us want to keep the history alive. Most of us that ride are proud and glad we can do it, Gronewold said.
After successful pre-selection rounds in Cape Town Durban and Soweto , the startups to compete at the grand finale on 30 June in Johannesburg have been chosen.

South Africa was previously represented by Giraffe, who was crowned the 'Seedstars World Global Winner 2015' for their innovative solution to reduce unemployment in emerging markets. The award has given us massive exposure, which is something we really need, and there are a lot of investors and potential partners contacting us in order to collaborate. But this award is not only affecting Giraffe, its also putting South Africa on the map, says Shafin Anwarsha, co-founder of Giraffe.

The top startups to advance to the grand final are:

 Crew Pencil: An online crew booking and diary service for the film industry that allows diary, bookings and invoicing all in one.

 Pargo: A convenient logistics solution that lets customers collect and return their parcels at a local store when it suits them best.

 WumDrop: It allows people to pick up and drop off anything with the click of a button.

 Guardian Angel Safety Solution: A GPS tracking product that offers an affordable personal safety solution for children, adults, elderly, and even pets.

 You, Baby and I: An online platform that allows moms to experience brands by matching them to location and interests.

 Vitls: The startup building a revolutionary wearable medical device for homes and hospitals, allowing vitals to be monitored continuously and undisturbed from anywhere.

 Sortd: A communication-centric organiser that transforms email and instant messaging into a set of organised to-do lists.

 UmoyAir Communications: A provider of free calls from mobile phones to any number without airtime or data.

 Riovic: A micro-insurer that provides digital and P2P insurance backed by crowdfunding.

In addition, Seedstars World has decided to introduce a wildcard, and will invite one additional startup to compete in Johannesburg.

The startups will pitch in front of a jury that consist of Jayshree Naidoo, head of incubator at Standard Bank; Polo Radebe, chief executive officer at IDF; Ravi Naidoo, executive director for economic development and tourism at City of Johannesburg; Charmaine Padayachy, principal at Omidyar Network; Fritz Milosevic, managing partner at Dotadvisors; and Marcello Schermer, regional manager for Africa at Seedstars World.

Seedstars World is working with Standard Bank for the event, which will be hosted at the banks incubator in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Further support for the finals in Johannesburg is provided by partners Entrepreneur Traction, Omidyar Network, Payfast, Glocell, Red Bull, Dot Advisors, and Duo Marketing. In addition Seedstars World has partnered with TRECC to bring the 'Transforming Education Prize' which will award the best startup in the education space from around the world with a prize of over $50,000.
MasterCard has announced that it will collaborate with Microsoft to bring simple and secure e-commerce payments to Microsoft Dynamics users. Simplify Commerce, a versatile, secure and simple cloud-based payments platform, helps businesses grow by maximising online and mobile sales. Through this collaboration, Microsoft Dynamics customers will have one system that connects their end-to-end planning and sales.

This provides users with a number of key benefits:

Easy integration: Businesses can easily add payments to Dynamics AX to begin accepting and managing online and call centre payments within their existing operations;

Seamless updates: Customers will stay up to date on the latest developments in the payments industry - from cutting-edge security to regulatory protocols - without lifting a finger. Through the integration, users will automatically take advantage of coordinated updates from MasterCard and Microsoft; and

Expansive global footprint: Simplify Commerce provides connectivity to acquirers worldwide through a single connection point. Businesses can expand geographically without hitting payments hurdles.

Simplify Commerce will be available in the coming weeks through Microsoft Dynamics AX in 13 countries: the US, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, The Netherlands and the UK. Additional market availability is planned over time.

Businesses need to be able to sell to their customers wherever they are without headache or hassle, said Deborah Barta, Simplify Commerce's global lead, MasterCard. We want to make life easier for businesses as they grow, and we look forward to working with Microsoft to bring safe, simple and secure electronic payments to more businesses around the world.

Deeper engagement with customers

Todays retailers require modern, integrated, secure and scalable payments solutions that grow with their businesses, said Daniel Brown, Microsoft's GM, Dynamics AX R&D. Simplify Commerce is a world-class, global offering that is highly secure and makes it easy for retailers to adopt quickly to drive seamless commerce and to develop deeper engagement with their customers.

Simplify Commerce is just one of the ways MasterCard works to help businesses grow. Around the globe, MasterCard helps businesses manage cash flow and grow sales through a suite of solutions and advice designed to address the day-to-day demands of running a business  operating efficiently, getting paid quickly, simply and securely and easily paying for goods and services.

For Microsoft partners implementing Dynamics AX solutions, Simplify Commerce makes it easy for retailers to be PCI compliant and can be adopted quickly due to deep, out-of-the-box integration with Dynamics AX Retail processes. This includes mobile commerce, e-commerce and call centre channels.

More information will be available at the MasterCard booth (#1129) at the 2016 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, 10 to 14 July in Toronto, or by going to www.simplify.com/microsoft.
If you type Neha Mahajan on your Google search bar, the first result to appear will be 'Neha Mahajan MMS'.

For the record, Neha Mahajan is an actress in Hindi and Marathi films, who found herself the victim of selective editing of clips from a Malayalam film that she was a part of (Chaayam Poosiya Veedu, 2015), which was reportedly put together to look like a nude MMS.

This may seem like a small pawn in a sporadic spurge of MMS leaks, but it is not. A few months ago, the same thing happened to Radhika Apte when reportedly nude pictures of hers were leaked from a film she was a part of, Hunterrr.

However, before we get into discussions about the morality of nudity, there's a crucial thing to be remembered: consent (we should be posting this word on billboards and before movies instead of no-smoking ads, but that's a conversation for another day).

A couple of days ago Fergie (of Black Eyes Peas fame) was in the news because of a topless selfie she posted ahead of her album release. She captioned it, "this has just been leaked!"

And of course, how can we forget Kim Kardashian, whose unabashed sharing of nude selfies has garnered quite the backlash on Twitter. Everyone is divided on what they think about her selfies. What classifies as freedom of expression, and should we be self-censoring our own bodies?

Kardashian posed with model Emily Ratajkowski, who captioned the image as, "However sexual our bodies may be, we need to hve the freedom as women to choose whn & how we express our sexuality."

You may think all these women have something in common, but they don't. One person's celebration of sexuality is another woman's cause of suicide.

Take the case of this girl from Salem, who took her own life because her morphed pictures appeared on Facebook. Her fear of being ostracised was so high, she thought it was best to just kill herself.

Neha, the Salem girl and Radhika are victims of manipulated content that they may or may not have been a part of. These images or video clips have been used without their consent. However, Fergie and Kim K have voluntarily uploaded images of themselves, and nude or topless, it doesn't matter.

But can we expect people to make this crucial difference? In an ideal world, yes. But the world wide web is hardly ideal.

It's bad enough that when you Google a woman celebrity's name, nine out of ten times the first few results will be "hot pics" or "nude pics" or "kissing scene". It's a hypocritical world we live in where on the one hand Google searches will tell you the reality of objectification of women, and yet TV stars who pose in bikinis, or actresses who happen to have pictures revealing their inner garments, are trolled heavily on social media for breaching some sort of imaginary norm.

Basically, if something is leaked, it's fine, who cares about the woman in question anyway, right? But god forbid a woman put out an image of herself that shows anything remotely "objectionable".
Maybe Salman Khan should realise that the solution to the current predicament he is facing involves doing something very simple: saying sorry.

On Wednesday, Khan responded to the National Commission for Women (NCW) via his legal representatives over the controversy created after he had earlier said that the physically exhausting shoot schedule for his upcoming wrestling drama Sultan left him "feeling like a raped woman".

News reports have said that the NCW is now assessing Khan's reply  which, apparently, does not contain an apology for the rape remark.

In fact, India Today TV reported that in his response, Khan has said that the "NCW should not have taken suo motu cognizance (of this issue)."

Yet again, Khan blew all our minds with his amazing Bhai logic.

Because of course, "the apex national level organisation of India with the mandate of protecting and promoting the interests of women" should take absolutely no interest when an actor with a huge fan following trivialises rape by comparing the trauma faced by a rape victim to the exhaustion felt after an intense shoot.

Reports have also said that the Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW) has also now summoned Khan for a hearing on the matter on 7 July.

Because of his stubborn refusal to apologise, Salman Khan is actually creating more trouble for himself. But despite all the media outrage, summons by a government body, an apology from his father and even Bollywood's divided views on his rape remark, Salman Khan simply refuses to apologise.

This points out something very important: Either Khan actually believes that he did absolutely nothing wrong or he has such a big ego that an apology is simply not an option. Because after all, how can Bhai, the superstar, apologise?

Both these possibilities show how arrogant Salman Khan is and what he thinks about the respect that should be (or should not be, as it seems with this case) given to women.

Most of us are not even expecting Khan to feel sorry about his remark. We have seen people issue meaningless apologies all the time. Politicians apologise to people and take 'moral responsibility' after defeat in an election all the time. And we all know how meaningful most of those apologies really are.

But they issue it nonetheless, because a public apology is an attempt to try and convince the people one feels bad for hurting them, irrespective of its authenticity.

But Salman Khan has not issued even a meaningless apology. Why? Maybe because of his 'Bhai' image, because of the fact Khan can do pretty much anything and he will still have a huge fan following in this country.

According to India Today TV, Khan in his response to the NCW also said that this entire controversy has affected his image and he did not intentionally make insensitive remarks.

What he does not realise is that apologising will actually help improve his image by putting an end to the outrage over his remark without affecting his fan following, who will love him no matter what he does.

And yes, we all know that Khan had said, "I should not have (said that)..." after making the rape remark. But saying one should have done something is very different from apologising, which is acceptance of guilt and has greater impact.

As far as intention goes, we know that Khan did not literally mean he felt like a sexually assaulted person after the shoot. He meant that he was exhausted. And most of us use the F-word sometimes to describe exhaustion, frustration, anger or some negative emotion.

But the F-word does not focus on non-consensual sex, which is rape. Saying 'felt like a raped woman' is meant to especially focus on the fact that the analogy was based on non-consensual sex, something which is a heinous crime and an act of violence.

The fact that rape culture is common in our country, and other people also use rape as an analogy, should not be a defence for Khan. In fact, it makes him all the more liable. If our celebrities and VIPs start making remarks based on rape culture and then not apologise for the same, it will only worsen the problem in our society.

Salman Khan has to apologise because rape culture should no longer be tolerated in the country.
Here's the latest on the Salman Khan rape remark row.

Amid the controversy regarding his comments, Maharashtra State Commission for Women has asked Salman to appear for a hearing on 7 July.

The actor  who had been issued a summons by the National Commission for Women for 29 June, and had been asked to apologise for making a derogatory comment  has now responded to the NCW via his legal representatives.

News reports said that the NCW is now assessing Salman's reply  which, apparently, does not contain an apology for the remark, through his lawyers.

Several TV channels have claimed that Salman has said that he is a victim of his celebrity status, and his comments have been misinterpreted.

Salman had said that the physically exhausting shoot schedule for his upcoming wrestling drama Sultan left him "feeling like a raped woman".

He made the remark to a group of mediapersons who were interviewing him regarding Sultan.

However, he had immediately retracted his statement, admitting, "I should not have (said that)..."

The actor's comment, however, triggered national outrage as his flippant remark was seen as the insidiousness of rape culture in our society.

Read all of Firstpost's coverage on the Salman Khan rape comment controversy here

Several fans of the actor rushed to his defence, even as his father Salim Khan issued a public apology on Twitter.

Salman himself has stayed silent silent on the issue, and only made a passing allusion to it at the just-concluded IIFA awards in Madrid, where he said, "Knowing me, the lesser I speak the better".

At the time of publishing this report, it is not clear exactly what was contained in the reply Salman's lawyers have made to the NCW's notice.
All through Wednesday (29 June), rumours that Telugu stars Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu were engaged kept them on top of fans' Google search keywords.

While the star pair has refused to either confirm or deny the speculation about their relationship status, we couldn't help but put together this little compilation that shows just how good they do look together!

Remember when for many months in 2010, Karthik and Jessie were etched in our minds? Yes, we are talking about Samantha and Naga Chaitanya's effortless chemistry (on screen) that stole our hearts in their very first blockbuster, Ye Maye Chesave. With romantic train rides, sentimental church scenes and a love-to-die-for, as Jessie and Karthik, the two were perfect. Incidentally, both Samantha and Naga Chaitanya made their debut in the Telugu film industry with this movie.

Samantha was quite the 'Kudanapuboma' to Chaitanya in this film. However, unlike the movie, in which Naga Chaitanya  as Karthik  fights till the end to win the love of his life, rumours suggest that he got an easy nod from Samantha's parents and his own father Akkineni Nagarjuna for this real-life romance.

On the subject of parents  while Manam brought together the entire Akkineni family, Samantha played wife to Naga Chaitanya. Now, as rumours of their engagement swirl, it seems like a 'crystal-ball' moment that she was part of the Akkineni family (even if only on screen) in 2014 itself.

The couple caught our attention with their love-hate relationship set in different eras in the movie. It was quite a treat for the stars' fans as they witnessed them play two entirely different roles, yet keep their chemistry intact.

Then there was Autonagar Surya, which may not have had much space for a love angle, but Samantha and Naga Chaitanya still managed to infuse romance and glamour to this story. They definitely left us wanting more!

It's been two years since we saw Samantha and Naga Chaitanya on screen  is the couple making time for some real romance, instead of a reel one?
New Delhi: Implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations will give a much-needed boost to demand in the consumer durables sector, which has witnessed sluggish sales in the last couple of years, industry players said.

Terming the Seventh Pay Commission as key to boosting demand especially when the global economy is reeling under the Brexit impact, Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) President Manish Sharma said consumer spending is expected to rise.

"We strongly believe that consumer spending will be on the rise owing to an increase in income levels by 23.55 per cent. "With the rise in disposable income and scaling of e-commerce, the consumer durable industry is expected to grow by 15 per cent in this fiscal," Sharma said in a statement.

Echoing similar sentiments, South Korean manufacturer LG said that both urban as well as rural sales will improve. "Certainly Seventh Pay Commission implementation will have a positive impact. We expect people will upgrade their consumer durables post increase in disposable income," LG India Corporate Marketing Head Niladri Datta said. According to Sony India Sales Head Satish Padmanabhan, the hike would have a quite positive impact as more money would come into the market.

"Overall sentiment is looking quite good because of on par monsoon and all in all, it would be a good bonus for the business," said Padmanabhan.

Panasonic India Head, Sales and Service, Ajay Seth said, "With the festive season approaching imminently, we have already channelised our businesses to meet the heavy demand for consumer durables and smartphones."

Videocon COO C M Singh said that the pay panel recommendations would favor 50 lakh central government

employees and 58 lakh pensioners, which in turn will trigger purchases.

"This will certainly have an impact on the sales and trigger purchases. Favoring a tilt in demand for premium products, we expect the new age technologies segment to boost our business," said Singh.

Whirlpool of India Managing Director Sunil D'Souza said, "This is great positive for the consumer durables industry since this will definitely spur demand for discretionary and aspirational products".

"We look forward to this contributing to good growth in the later part of this year," he added.
Chototel, a London-based technology start-up, will open its first hotel with 240 rooms spread across 1.5 acres and 75,000 sq ft of constructed area in Nagothane on the Mumbai-Goa highway in July. It will target the large bank of industrial workers, working within a 15-kilometre radius, travelling on the Mumbai-Goa expressway.

Chototel, which comes from the Hindi and Japanese word chotu meaning small and hotel, is a budget hotel. However, it uses technologies such as steel-framed dry construction; closed-loop, off-grid utility systems; microbots and big data processing to manage unmanned operations and billing; and real-time financial and cash technologies to address a resource-poor market.

Chototel uses an innovative construction technology called Light Gauge Steel Framing which minimize its carbon footprint by using an environmental-friendly method that eliminates the use of bricks and wood as raw materials. With insulated walls integrated in the building design, thermal conductivity is bettered, leading to a reduction in the need for heating or cooling infrastructure, thereby saving energy. The houses are designed to consume less than a 100 watts of peak load , making it energy efficient.

Each room is 280 square feet and includes a 30 square foot pantry, a 30 square foot bathroom and toilet, a 100 square foot multipurpose room with a cupboard, study-cum-dining area and a sofa-cum-bed. The mezzanine of 80 square feet and designed to sleep two people. Bots are fitted at access points and utility flow points to control and bill services. The room comes with free television and pay-per-use Internet. Customers may hire cycles at a price of Rs. 12/day or Rs. 300/month.

Rents start at $2 a night and surge to a peak of $5 a night, which is an average of $1,000 per year. Rhea Silva, Managing Director and Founder, says, Our model is based on an average of $3.5. We are uniquely positioned between social rental housing and super-budget hotels.

The hotel is operated by self-help groups (SHGs) and with the help of technology they sell utilities, such as water, electricity and gas, and services. This revenue is used to operate the hotel, informs Silva.

Silva has raised $3 million for the first pilot. Chototel is a `super budget hotel and an asset heavy business, unlike most of the startups that are currently attracting capital, says Silva.

Based on current trends in urban migration and income growth, it is estimated that 440 million households - 1.6 billion people, equal to a third of humanity - will occupy crowded, inadequate and unsafe housing by 2025. The estimated cost to address this challenge is $9 - $11 trillion. Chototel hopes to capture a significant stake in this market.

The start-up is in the process of acquiring land in Chakan, Goa and Gujarat for its next round of projects in India. The company aims to build 100,000 rooms in the next five years in the country, said Silva.

Chototel has identified the UK, Nigeria and the UAE for its next phase of development. The company has targeted revenues of $1 million in first full year of operation. It is also planning to raise money to build 100,000 rooms in the next year.
Mumbai: A Mumbai Special Court on Wednesday ordered Vijay Mallya, head of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines, to appear before it on 29 July regarding money laundering cases filed against him.

Special Judge PR Bhavake told Mallya, now in Britain, to appear before him at 11 am on 29 July.

In the Proclamation Order published in Mumbai newspapers, Judge Bhavake said Mallya had committed an offence punishable under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

Attempts to serve an arrest warrant on Mallya failed as he "cannot be found" at a care of address of Kingfisher Airlines office in south Mumbai.

The Special Court was satisfied that Mallya had "absconded and is concealing himself to avoid the service of the (arrest) warrant" as per the order.

Earlier this month, the court declared him a proclaimed offender.

Mallya, 60, owes over Rs 9,000 crore to various banks. He left India on a 2 March using a diplomatic passport and is currently in the UK.

The Enforcement Directorate is also seeking to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to extradite Mallya.
New Delhi: Morgan Stanley's Chief Global Strategist Ruchir Sharma today said no "great" economic reforms are expected from the Modi government as the best time for major policy initiatives is the first two years of a new government.

"If you look at pattern of other countries, typically the best time to carry reforms happens to be in first year, especially first two years of a new government.

"And longer a leader stays in power, the more are the diminishing returns to power... So, in that way, first two years is sweet spot for when things are carried out by any government, because then focus begins to turn on getting re-elected," he said citing his research.

Even in the case of the Modi government which assumed office in May 2014, he said, "the first year, until the Delhi election took place, there was no opposition. The government could have done what it wanted to do, according to me. After Delhi election opposition got galvanised..."

Aam Admi Party swept Delhi Assembly elections and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party BJP could win only three seats.

On what he hopes from the government, he said: "I have no expectation of any great reform any more. I think that whatever big reform could have been done, should have been done in first year or may be in the first two years."

Sharma is Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. He is in India to promote his latest book, titled 'The Rise and Fall of Nations: Ten Rules of Change in Post-Crisis World.'

Stressing his point, he said even if one look at stock market prospective, 90 percent of outperformance of market happens in the first two years of new government.

While he does not expect any major economic reform, Sharma said there may be some further liberalisation in FDI norms or changes in taxation front and "if we get lucky then we will get Goods and Services Tax (GST)".

He opined that major reforms like privatisation of public sector banks or labor reforms should have been done by the government in its first two years.

Building further on his point that reforms should be carried out by government in its initial years, Sharma said "and if government comes back to power a second time, the odds are that in second term government does not have that much energy that it had in first term."

To a query whether India's election calender makes it difficult to carry out economic reform, he said, "its an excuse" because during elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu no central issues were being discussed but only local ones.
Noida: A public meeting of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Noida was preceded by chaos and unruly scenes, forcing the police to resort to a mild cane charge.

Police said due to large crowds the organisers failed to manage the people and there was complete chaos at the venue.

However, Kumar later addressed the rally and demanded that liquor be banned in Uttar Pradesh with immediate effect.

Pointing out that consumption of liquor in UP was much more than in Bihar, he said the state will not only be a better place to live in but also the health of people and families would be improved by liquor ban.

A Hindu seer, Acharya Pankaj, had organised the event. He had met Kumar in Patna and invited the Bihar chief minister to address the rally, and demand a ban on liquor.

At a Cabinet meeting last week, Uttar Pradesh government cleared the sale of IMFL in tetra packs, hinting that it planned to promote liquor by making it readily available.
Ahmedabad: A court here has dismissed a suit seeking a ban on the sale of a Gujarati book in which author Jayesh Shah, a Congress leader, has allegedly mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Civil court judge AM Dave cited Article 19 of the Constitution and dismissed the suit on Monday, holding that banning the book, titled "Fekuji Have Dilli Ma" (Fekuji is in Delhi now), would violate the fundamental right of freedom of expression.

The book dwells on a list of promises made by Modi during his campaign for 2014 Lok Sabha polls and claims that he has failed to deliver on them.

The suit demanding ban on the book was filed by a social worker Narsinh Solanki, who contended that the book is meant to "defame" Modi.

Solanki alleged that the contents and the title of the book are defamatory and derogatory in nature and they would spoil the image of the prime minister.

According to Solanki, Modi came to power just two years back, a time-frame too short to fulfil all the promises he made during the poll campaign.

Solanki sought the court's intervention to put an immediate ban on the sale of the book, which is in the market since last few months.

However, not convinced with the arguments of Solanki, the judge said that India is a democracy and people have all the right to express their personal views through a book.

The court held that banning the book would violate the right of freedom of expression.
WHY DONT YOU READ THESE?
A university probe into the Kerala Dalit student 'ragging' case stated that the victim had tried to commit suicide because of family problems.

"It was no ragging incident. The girl tried to commit suicide due to family problems," a report prepared by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) stated, as reported by ManoramaNews.

The girl's uncle however dismissed the reports saying that there were no problems in the girl's family, says the report further.

The incident came to light on 21 June, when the victim, Aswathy, a 19-year-old Dalit first year nursing student from Kerala, was admitted to admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital (KMCH) with serious stomach problems.

She was reportedly forced to drink toilet cleaner by her seniors at the women's hostel of Al Qamar College of Nursing, Gulbarga.

The victim said the seniors abused her for her dark complexion, and for her father deserting his family a few years ago, reported The Times of India.

Based on her statement, police in Kozhikode had registered an FIR on 22 June against five of her seniors. On 25 June, three senior students were arrested from the nursing college based on the victim's allegations and sent to judicial custody.

Meanwhile college administrator M M Baigh, said the girl had consumed the toilet cleaning solution herself. "We had rushed her to a hospital when it came to our notice. She had recovered from it and resumed coming to college," he said, as reported by The Times Of India.
It is a matter of great shame that Constable Vir Singhs body should have lain awaiting the solution of a controversy on his cremation because of his 'caste.'

The man died for the country in the Pampore gunbattle, and we are told that some high-caste individuals in his village in UP raised objections to the use of a public space for the final rites.

Of course, it is despicable. It makes one cringe. But what is more despicable is that the sub-divisional officers had to negotiate with the village elders and engage in prolonged talks. What the hell is that? Prolonged talks, like there were two sides to the question.

It is a crime to use caste as a measure of anything. Therefore, why the chatting up? Just call the cops, guard the grieving family and get on with it.

You dont sit there and discuss the merits of the situation.

And while we are at it, where was the CRPF honour guard and the flag officers at the funeral? It is customary when a comrade falls in battle to do the honours. There is a proper volley of gunfire in salute and his colleagues present reverse arms. Didnt Director General Durga Prasad send a contingent? There is a poignant protocol to the final journey and it should have been maintained.

Did no VIP go to the funeral? Was the body just dispatched so that some bureaucrat with his heart in the right place (thankfully) would engage in conversation with the gram pradhan, Mr Vijay Singh who seems to understand and appreciate the sentiments of these upper castes? It was a bizarre meeting that went for hours.

If one of these members of 'high' castes needed blood to save his life, and there was a 'low' caste member with the same group, it would have been interesting to see how fast hed make him his brother.

By law, all these protesters should have been arrested. We dont have to be thankful that a soldier killed in combat was conceded a 10x10 metres' space for the final rites, as a special gesture.

What is wrong with us that we let such things happen and then we accept them as par for the course?

Vir Singh lived up to his name. He took a bullet from the enemy and we couldnt even give him a decent goodbye. No one has been held culpable or accountable.

So here we are in 2016, grateful that the sarpanch, or whoever was nice enough, gave in.

In fact, the guy should be behind bars with all his high-caste buddiesfor acting against the spirit of Article 15 which says discrimination on the basis of caste is illegal in India.

Whats the point of having it on the books if it doesnt count for anything?
In 1992, the Uttar Pradesh government headed by Kalyan Singh enacted an anti-copying law which aimed at stopping mass copying in school and university examination, which was prevalent in the state. The new Act made the use of unfair means in examinations a cognisable offence. When Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party came to power in 1993, he repealed the law. Students rejoiced and raised cheers for the new government.

While the effectiveness of dealing with the erring students using a stern law was debated, doing away with the law criminalising cheating, was guided more by political considerations rather than the interests of students. The majority of intermediate students were voters and constituted a major vote bank. Upsetting them would not have helped the new government in any manner.

While over the years some efforts have been made to stop mass cheating in the state, the fact remains that a lot depends upon political dispensation.

A senior bureaucrat who had served in Uttar Pradesh said, During the Samajwadi Party rule, you will see that there is a sudden rise in the pass parentage of the students, with majority of them getting first division marks. But then, it is preceded by large-scale cheating in the exams. On the other hand, I have seen that cheating in board exams declines considerably during the BSP government, which, at least in this respect, refrains from indulging in politics.

In February this year, more than 70 students and teachers in Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh were booked for cheating in the board exam. The imagery was in many ways similar to the picture that went viral last year in March, in which family members and friends were shown climbing the wall of Vidya Niketan School in Vaishali district in Bihar, to help students with answer chits.

On 25 June, Bihar's Class 12 "topper" in Arts Ruby Rai, who had said political science is all about cooking, was arrested after she appeared for a re-test at the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) and failed miserably. Following which she was sent to judicial custody.

Rai, along with the science topper Saurabh Shreshtha, came under severe criticism when they failed to answer the most basic questions from the subject in which they topped. During a television interview while Rai pronounced political science as 'Prodikal Science and said that the subject relates to the art of cooking, Shreshtha failed to correctly identify the most reactive element in the periodic table and in the re-test failed to answer what linked water and H2O.

Those who are acquainted with the functioning of state boards like Bihar and UP will not be shocked at the ignorance of the toppers. In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, many students who pass with distinction every year, in state board exams, lack even minimum knowledge of their subjects. But then, the bigger questions remains as to who should be blamed for this sad state of affair.

Former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian, who headed the committee which was entrusted with preparing a new education policy for India, says, An important point that has been made is that these students (who are accused of cheating) were the last in the chain. They did not even know what is happening. The deals were done by their parents. And parents were also led by the vested interests. Unless you get to the root of the problem, which is much bigger and deeper, arresting these students will be of no use.

The story of the Bihar topper went viral to an extent that Foreignpolicy.com on Tuesday ran a story with a headline Indian Student Jailed After Accidentally Revealing She Cheated on Live TV. In the article, while talking about 'many embarrassing ways that students in India have been caught cheating in school', it wrote about Ruby Rai, who 'made it through her entire exam without being caught exploiting the system.'

However, while quoting Upendra Kushwaha, minister of state for HRD, it stressed that that not everyone is thrilled with the students public humiliation. According to Foreignpolicy.com Kushwaha had said that that if anyone is to be punished, it is those who allow the states poor educational infrastructure to continue to suffer.

TSR Subramanian, further commenting on the issue, adds, See, you have to understand one thingit is not possible that that the people in charge of education in the state and district, like the district magistrate, the district education officer, the principal of the college and others, were not aware of what was going on there for all these years. They all knew about it, but let it happen. It was their duty to check this. By arresting the foot soldiers, not much can be changed. The fact is that such problems emanates from the complacency of those in power.

For proper functioning of schools, a strong and transparent management is must, which in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, is absent. In this context, the report of the committee for evolution of the new education policy makes a very important observation. It reads, A school-led governance system with an appropriate framework of autonomy with accountability needs to be put in place to enable the school system to respond to changing circumstances, and to initiate remedial action where required. Towards this, schools need to be evaluated, both internally and externally, based on an accepted framework of standards, to measure school quality, and help to develop the professional competency of the school management, the school head and teachers, in a manner which contributes to autonomy, self-appraisal and performance.

Further highlighting the problem of able leadership in the school the report states, Till recently, most states did not have an independent position of Headmaster in primary schools; one of the teachers was given additional responsibility of Headmaster. While Government secondary schools did have the post of principal, many remained vacant for years due to delays in recruitment, litigation and administrative apathy. A lack of effective leadership in government schools has contributed to indiscipline among students and teachers and falling academic standards.

Subramanian in his report highlighted that there is large scale corruption in appointments, transfers, approvals to affiliate and grant recognition of institutions, even going to the extent of manipulation of examination results. And to counter this, the report suggest that the process of selection, promotion and transfer of teachers and principals need to be made transparent, on established principles

The report states, Political intervention from all levels is all-pervasive in selecting the location of institutions, approval of grant-in-aid status, selection of examination centres, and all senior appointments, and in many states from VC to college Principals to District Education Officers. Any functionary or close observer could give any number of examples from his own experience to substantiate this point.

In this context, the arrest of Ruby Rai and Saurabh Shrestha is like throwing the baby out and retaining the bathwater.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking ban on WhatsApp and other communication applications on security grounds and claiming that these services violated the law.

The bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur and AM Khanwilkar, however, granted liberty to the petitioner to approach appropriate authority in the government with his grievances.

It said the petitioner could also approach Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) with his plea.

During the hearing the bench did not go into the submissions that the message service applications like WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption feature poses a security risk to the country.

Petitioner Sudhir Yadav appearing in person said these messenger services violated the provisions of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, and Information Technology Act, 2000. Other than WhatsApp, the petitioner had also named over dozen other messaging platforms like Hike, Viber, Signal, Telegram and Secure chat.

"Even if WhatsApp was asked to break through an individual's message to hand over the data to the government, it too would fail as it does not have the decryption keys either," the petitioner said.

In his petition, Yadav said that terrorists and criminals could easily communicate on WhatsApp and make plans which are impossible to access even by supercomputers as decrypting a single 256-bit encrypted message would take hundreds of years.

In an update in April, WhatsApp introuduced 256-bit encryption for all its users. In his petition, he said that this was similar to what the government had insisted vis-a-vis Blackberry as well.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will examine to what extent courts can look into Muslim personal laws if they violate the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.

An apex court bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said on Wednesday that it was an important issue concerning the lives of a large number of people and there were divergent views.

"We have to hear all of them and take a call to what extent courts can interfere in the Muslim personal laws if courts find they are in violation of the fundamental rights," the bench said.

It directed the next hearing on September 6.
New Delhi: BJP National President Amit Shah on Wednesday said that Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee never got the due place in history which he deserved.

Speaking at an exhibition titled 'Shyama Prasad Mukherjee-A Selfless Patriot' at Nehru Memorial Museum, Shah said: "If anyone writes the history of India impartially and neutrally then he (Shyama Prasad) will find an important place. But he didn't find the place in history which he deserved."

He further said that its the "responsibility of the historians to analyse the stature of a person on the basis of the work done by him for the country.

"Earlier the British and later the Leftist historians twisted the history of the country which is an inexcusable crime," Shah said.

Attacking the Congress for the Partition, Shah said: "No country should be divided on the basis of religion, but the Congress accepted the Partition on the basis of religion."

Highlighting the contribution of Shyama Prasad, the BJP president said: "If today Jammu and Kashmir and Bengal are an integral part of India then its all due to him, whose foundation were laid down by his sacrifices."
By Ila Ananya

Since the morning of 24th June, when Swathi S was murdered at the Nungambakkam railway station in Chennai, the police seem to have surprisingly little information on the identity of the murderer. News reports have circulated this small amount of information for the past few days  that Swathi, who worked at Infosys, was murdered at 6.30 am by a man who approached her and whom she argued with, that nobody on the platform helped her, that the railways station has no CCTV cameras and the police turned up two hours later, and that perhaps the man was a stalker.

The police released photographs of the man who they suspect is the murderer, which they only got because of the CCTV camera installed at a nearby apartment. On Sunday, the police then released more footage of the suspect.

This is the only information we have had over the last four days, but what is strange is the large number of news articles that quote Swathis family and friends talking about her character. Every article that I have read has a quick quote, as an aside, on how Swathi was a nice, reserved girl, who didnt interact with strangers or men, and disliked any kind of conflict. She wasnt involved in any love affair. I urge the media to stop defaming her character as well as the familys reputation, Govindarajan, Swathis uncle, told the media on Sunday; She didnt mingle much with men, one of her friends said to reporters. But its heartbreaking that a defence of her character should be needed at all  apart from giving the police clues about who the culprit might have been, would it have made a difference if Swathi had been in a relationship, had not been in a relationship, stayed away from boys, or had several male friends? Could her ability to be soft-spoken and friendly lessen in any way by having relationships with men?

The Indian Express carried a photo with one of its articles, from a candlelight vigil held at Infosys for Swathi. The photo has a note that reads, Killing her character is worst then killing her. This is a dramatic statement that is simply not true; it is dangerous to privilege her character over her life, as though there is something worse than killing her. There isnt. The photograph is not unlike Sushma Swaraj saying that Jyoti Singh Pandey would be a zinda laash if she had survived, as though Singhs life was somehow less important than the stigma that comes with rape.

K Santhanagopalakrishnan, Swathis uncle, also talked to reporters to request the media to refrain from discussing Swathis relationship with the man who killed her. Congress National Spokesperson, Khushbu Sundar, who visited Swathis house, also said that she was concerned about the medias speculation about the motive behind the killing, and of Swathis character.

I remember a conversation with a colleague at work when we were reading articles on the rape and murder of Jisha, and realised it was a similar conversation to one I had had in school, after the rape and murder of Jyoti Singh Pandey. There was some kind of desperate need that seemed to come through in the attempts to establish how gruesome these two rapes and murders were, in the same desperate way that there have been people who try to blame women for inviting rape. It makes me uncomfortable to wonder if theres something in the way that we report such cases, which has pushed people into this position of defence, this manner of saying again and again that this woman was not of bad character.

The desire to defend Swathis character perhaps comes from the fear that she will be blamed for what has happened to her, simply because she might have been a woman who had a boyfriend, or has been stalked, even though this isnt her fault. But even this is really just another way of saying that perhaps, just possibly, the crime was asked for.

It doesnt matter that we havent defined this term, or that it has come to us from people who tell women how to dress, to talk, to sit, to live. But the term remains damning  its the same thing that lets people whisper loudly about what clothes a woman was wearing when she was raped, and what time of the night it was, and who she was with. Its the same moral judgement that let the Mumbai police feel like it could be negligent of Esther Anhuyas disappearance in 2014, telling her family that she had probably just eloped and would return soon enough. Weeks later, Anhuya was then found by search parties organised by her family with no police help, murdered and left on the side of a road.

The case is similar for the woman who everybody knows as the Suryanelli girl, who was 16 when she was trafficked in Kerala. When she was brought home, she had to deal with court cases where people said she was a girl of deviant character, and not a normal innocent girl. The Kerala High Court ruled that there was no convincing evidence to show that she was not an unwilling partner of sexual intercourse.

Discussing the murder is perhaps something that cant be avoided  as in the cases of Jyoti Singh Pandey and Jisha, the degree of violence reported against them continues to act as a gauge for our levels of outrage. But in the process of the discussion of the case, it has somehow become easy to blame women for the crimes committed against them because everyone has moral judgements to make about everything that women do. It is as though women can be victims in every scenario where they are treated as having no agency of their own, except in those of violence against them, when their personal choices become more important than what has happened to them. This is what needs to change.

The Ladies Finger is an online feminist magazine.
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Government on Wednesday said the recent attacks in the Valley on security forces were not an ordinary law and order problem but a proxy war from across the border.

"It is not just a law and order problem. It is a proxy war war from across the border," Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh said in the Assembly here.

"We are in touch with the Centre over the matter. We want to ensure a peaceful and incident-free Amarnath yatra and tourist season," said Singh, who assured the House that the state government will make a detailed statement tomorrow after Opposition leader Omar Abdullah demanded a statement from Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on the security situation.

Omar said while it was good that government was concerned about the safety of Amarnath pilgrims and tourists, it should also think about the safety of the people living in the state.

"The Amarnath Yatra will be over in a month and the tourist season will finish in two months but what about the safety of people living in the state throughout the year, especially those living in the border areas?" the former chief minister asked.

He said although the house has been in session, the government has maintained a silence over the security issue. "Today we come to know about various things through the media.

"Media reports say the infiltration is up or down, another report says CRPF will be withdrawn from road opening duty and another one says BSF will be recalled for counter-insurgency duties. What is the truth?

The govenrment should make a detailed statment on this," the former chief minister said.

Launching a scathing attack on the Chief Minister for making short appearances in the House, Omar said "she chooses a question and intervenes during the Question Hour. That makes up for the press release and then she is not here.

"Please tell the Chief Minister to come to the House and make a statement on the issue tomorrow," he added. The Deputy Chief Minister responded by assuring the Assembly that the government will make a detailed statement on the issue tomorrow, the last day of the ongoing budget session.

Earlier, National Conference MLAs Ali Mohammad Sagar and Devender Rana, supported by CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami, said that while everyone was concerned about the security issue, the state government was "silent".

"The Prime Minister is concerned, the Defence Minister and Home Minister are concerned about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The team from Centre is here and DG CRPF is also here.

"But the state which is affected, its government is silent," Sagar said.
London: Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai and her family have become millionaires as a result of income from her memoir describing life under Taliban rule in Pakistan's picturesque Swat valley and appearances on the lecture circuit around the world.

The 18-year-old Pakistani teenager who survived a shot to the head by the Taliban had relived the incident and her life in the Swat Valley in I am Malala, co-written with Sunday Times journalist Christina Lamb.

A company set up to protect the rights to her life story had 2.2 million pounds in the bank by August 2015 and made a pre-tax profit of 1.1 million pounds.

Malala, her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, and her mother Toor Pekai are joint shareholders of the company, Salarzai Ltd, The Times reports. They are now based in Birmingham, where Malala  who became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 - attends Edgbaston High School for Girls.

Her autobiography, which documents her experiences growing up in Pakistan's Swat Valley under Taliban rule and being shot while travelling home from school on the bus with her friends, was published in October 2013 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK in a deal reported to be worth about 2 million pounds.

It has sold at least 1.8 million copies worldwide, according to Neilsen Book Research, including 287,000 copies in the UK, earning 2.2 million pounds in Britain in paperback and hardback sales.

According to research by the US-based Institute for Policy Studies, Malala is also one of the higher-earning Nobel laureates, bringing in 114,000 pounds per speech, compared with 64,000 pounds for Desmond Tutu.

Her father, an educator and human rights campaigner who resisted Taliban attempts to shut down his own school in Swat, also gives lectures. Salarzai Ltd, set up in August 2013 and based in London, operates separately to the Malala Fund, a charitable

organisation inspired by Malala and set up by the Vital Voices partnership to help girls complete secondary education in

safety across the world.

Most recently, Malala spoke in London last week to pay tribute to Jo Cox, the British MP who was stabbed to death earlier this month in her constituency.
New Delhi: BJP MP Subramnian Swamy, who had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's disapproval for his "craving for publicity", on Wednesday suggested that it is publicity which "relentlessly seeks" him as he wrote about hordes of media persons waiting outside his residence.

He also said that he stands by Modi as he admires his spine but took a dig at journalists planting "deliberately false stories" to provoke him.

"New problem: when publicity relentlessly seeks a politician. 30 OVs outside the house, 200 mAfter PM Modi's rebuke, Subramanian Swamy says publicity seeks him and not vice versaissed calls from channels and paparazzis?" he tweeted.

PTs : New problem: when publicity relentlessly seeks a politician. 30 OVs outside the house, 200 missed calls from channels and paparazzis ?  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 29, 2016

"Presstitutes are daily planting deliberately false stories hoping I will be provoked to reply. Ha! They have a hope!," he said in another tweet.

"I have said before and saying now: Come hell or high water I stand by Modi. I admire his spine. No foreign power can buckle him," he added.

The Rajya Sabha member, who consistently attacked RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and then took potshots at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has been lying low after the BJP leadership indicated its unhappiness and Modi voiced disapproval of his conduct.
Lucknow: With just a day remaining for Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan to retire, the race for the next top bureaucrat in Uttar Pradesh has picked up.

Sources say that while there was no unanimity in the 'first family' on who could be the "best bet" for the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP), a decision is likely to be taken by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav next week after his return from London.

Yadav is leaving for the UK on a five-day vacation on Wednesday night. Close aides to the Chief Minister told IANS that Agriculture Production Commissioner (APC) Praveer Kumar is the choice of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav, still smarting under the embarrassment of QED merger being set aside, is pitching for his long-standing aide Deepak Singhal. The official has been the Principal Secretary of Irrigation for the past four years and is seen in bureaucratic circles as "quite a manager".

He also in the good books of Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh, who made a comeback to the party after six years of ignominy. Singhal, however, has a "negative image" which does not work well with plans of Akhilesh to come across as heading a government with non-controversial names.

Praveer Kumar, the present APC, is a suave man and known to be an honest official. But his low-profile image, many suggest, could be the stumbling block for the present dispensation, especially in an election year. "He is too meek, quiet to take up the baton from Alok Ranjan, known to be quite a darling of the media and officials," says a close aide of the Chief Minister.

Another man in contention, sources say, is senior IAS official Rohit Nandan, who is currently on central deputation. A doer by-the-book and extremely popular official with the media, 1982-batch official Nandan could be the dark horse, especially since the Chief Minister is known to prop up surprises these days.

He is also senior-most in the batch of 1982, which is under the contention for the top job. "Nandan is a fine officer and could fit in both the 'Mr Clean' image and that of a proactive official, and he is credited with the near turnaround of the Air India," opines a senior bureaucrat, not wishing to be named.

Nandan served for over four years as the CMD of national carrier Air India and is now serving as secretary at the Skill Development ministry. Mohammad Azam Khan and Shivpal are also likely not to oppose his candidature, sources say.

Azam Khan, an important man in the ministry, has been sulking for many reasons for the past few weeks and does not like either Singhal or Praveer Kumar.

Will Akhilesh chose merit over connections? With the Chief Minister heading for a holiday and no clarity on the Chief Secretary, state's bureaucracy for now is keeping its fingers crossed.
The 'nuclear fissile material' has imploded again and the ruling party does not have the foggiest idea about how to contain him. The nonchalance with which Subramanian Swamy operates is breathtakingly audacious. He has publicly stated that he has the ear of the top two in BJP, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, and even a public rebuke from the Prime Minister seems to have had little effect on him.

During a televised interview aired by Times Now channel on Monday, Modi said that nobody is above the system and quite clearly asked  albeit without taking his name  the BJP MP to shut up and not embarrass the government with his frequent, disparaging remarks against the Union finance minister and his top technocrats.

"Whether it is in my party or not, still I think such things are inappropriate. This fondness for publicity is never going to do any good to the nation. People should conduct themselves with utmost responsibility. If anybody considers himself above the system, it is wrong," the Prime Minister told Arnab Goswami, the interviewer. On being asked to confirm whether that was a "clear message", Modi answered in the affirmative.

If Modi thought he had done enough to restore order in his house, he'd have noted that Swamy's inertia lasted just about one day. In a double entendre which can either be interpreted as an explanation for his actions or even a rebuttal to the Prime Minister, Swamy suggested that instead of him "seeking publicity", it is the publicity that seeks him. He was referring to the hordes of media persons waiting outside his residence on Wednesday morning.

PTs : New problem: when publicity relentlessly seeks a politician. 30 OVs outside the house, 200 missed calls from channels and paparazzis ?  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 29, 2016

But lest it gives an impression that the maverick politician is out to challenge even Modi's authority, another post quickly followed where the BJP MP declared that he admires the PM's "spine" and shall always stand by him.

@ashishbhutada :I have said before & saying now:Come hell or high water I stand by Modi. I admire his spine. No foreign power can buckle him  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 29, 2016

During the series of controversies involving RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, finance minister Arun Jaitley, technocrats Arvind Subramanian and Shaktikanta Das, the media has generally been critical of Swamy and he has been widely slammed for his intemperate remarks. He was also perceived as the main reason why Rajan refused to apply for a second term.

For someone who has little use of political correctness, Swamy's run-ins with the media aren't anything new. On Wednesday, the journalist who conducted the Prime Minister's interview seemed to be his next target.

Friends tell me Arnab G is on his show nowadays foaming in the mouth chanting Muruga Muruga. Must have been bitten by a mad unelectable dog  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 29, 2016

He even had a primer for his followers, whom he calls PTs (patriotic tweeples), on the terms he had used in that tweet.

@idiotinsearch : Muruga is a Tamil word for Subramanya  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 29, 2016

@MrsTrolluSharma : Unelectable is term in UK canine trade for unwanted dog  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 29, 2016

It is anybody's guess whom the controversial BJP MP was referring to with his uncharitable "unelected dog" remark. But he stepped up his attack on the media, accusing them of "twisting" his comments and vowed not to be 'provoked' to reply despite being the target of "deliberately planted false stories".

@siva_sharath : They have paid heavily to twist what I say. They did the same with Gadkari and Srinivasan by lies  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 29, 2016

@sameer_polonium : Presstitutes are daily planting deliberately false stories hoping I will be provoked to reply. Ha! They have a hope!  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 29, 2016

@madvigyani : NDTV will face my wrath in court after this Parliament session  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 29, 2016

Swamy's track record presents an existential dilemma for the BJP. On the hand he is a useful tool to needle the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, on the other hand his propensity to indulge in friendly fire has party members and government servants scurrying for cover. There has been speculation that Jaitley, who has been at the receiving end of Swamy's many tirades, is deeply unhappy over party spokespersons refusing on record to chastise the maverick politician.

BJP understands well enough that Swamy is a huge distraction that may derail the government agenda on development and its deliverance but the fear is that any further public rebuke  other than of the PM  would make the party appear as a divided house and may even end up provoking the controversial MP into more unfettered attacks. In a tweet on Friday, Swamy certainly indicated his intention of doing so if pushed to a corner.

People giving me unasked for advice of discipline and restraint don't realise that if I disregard discipline there would be a blood bath  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 24, 2016

Unable to take on Swamy directly, the BJP apparently got two recent functions cancelled where the Harvard-returned economist turned politician was scheduled to speak. It was seen as the craftiest way to prevent further attacks and also to send a message.

These are unlikely to deter Swamy, however. The 'nuclear fissile material' (a term used by Congress to refer to Swamy) may cause even more implosion.
Ahmedabad: AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal's scheduled visit to Gujarat next week has been cancelled after a trade body which had invited him to Surat withdrew the invitation due to pressure from the state government, the party alleged on Wednesday.

"Surat Vehapari Mahamandal had invited Arvind Kejriwalji for felicitation and speech on 10 July. Kejriwalji was to start his 2017 election campaign for Gujarat by visiting Somnath temple on 9 July and Surat the next day," AAP state chief Kanu Kalsaria told PTI.

"The trade body had booked a hall of (Veer Narmad) South Gujarat University for the function after proper written invitation, to which Kejriwalji had given a date of 10 July," Kalsaria said.

Kejriwal, whose party had earlier announced that it will fight all 182 Assembly seats in Gujarat in the 2017 polls, was to kickstart his campaign in the state by seeking blessings of Lord Somnath, and addressing a gathering in Surat city.

"However, when the state government came to know about it, it exerted pressure on the trade body and the university. The body comprising of small traders of Surat buckled under pressure and has withdrawn the invitation. The hall booking has also been cancelled by the South Gujarat University," Kalsaria alleged.

"We tried to convince the trade body but they told us that it was hard to sustain the pressure exerted by the state government," he said, adding that they were small traders and feared the government could disrupt their businesses. "The South Gujarat University told us that they have withdrawn the permission to hold the function in their premises on 10 July as they have another function on the same day. We don't know how true is that," Kalsaria said.

However, not being disheartened by the developments, the state AAP unit has decided to hold Kejriwal's mega rally in the state in next two months when the party will kickstart its campaign for the state elections. "We will hold a mega rally in Gujarat to kickstart our campaign for the state polls in which Kejriwal will remain present. He has decided not to visit Somnath also as Surat visit has been cancelled," he said.

The Assembly election in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is due in later half of 2017.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on 29 June 2016. It is being updated in light of the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to announce the cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday.

With eyes on Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday is expected to factor in the BJP's political strategy in Uttar Pradesh. Some new ministers will take oath at about 11 am on Tuesday at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and sources told ANI at least two more faces from Uttar Pradesh may join the Cabinet.

Suspense is thick in the air in the power corridors of New Delhi. What will be the magnitude of the Cabinet rejig scheduled for Tuesday? Will it be a major one, based on mid-term performance review, and interlink the reshuffle and organisational restructuring in the BJP? Or will it be only cosmetic, filling out some vacancies here and there and making some basic changes?

After talking to a host of senior leaders in the BJP, including some ministers and higher functionaries in the government, Firstpost got a sense that none of 'Big Four'  Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, will be touched.

The Prime Minister is broadly satisfied with their performance and positioning and thus, does not intend them and the consequent existing hierarchical order to change.

But that does not mean that the Cabinet reshuffle would not be a major overhaul exercise. In fact, even as the decision on the magnitude of the Cabinet reshuffle-cum-expansion would be decided only between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, an internal debate, albeit private is on among senior leaders on the subject.

While many leaders think that it would be a minor exercise, there are strong arguments suggesting a major exercise, which should send a message across that PM Modi means business, and is unsparing to non-performers.

The PM has assessed the working of his ministers in last two years and knows how work is progressing in all ministries, more so in core areas of larger popular concern. The government is on the right track, we had much to boast about on completion of two years in power, but there is lot more to do  speed up delivery of goods and services on the ground. That could be done only if right men and women are in right places," a senior leader said.

"While it is clear that the top four ministers wouldnt be touched, the Cabinet reshuffle would be a good opportunity for the Prime Minister to convey a message within his party and to people all across that he means business and remains to be a tough task master, the senior leader said.

Conventional wisdom suggests that new ministers need at least one month to three weeks time to adjust with new ministerial positions, and accordingly face the parliament.

Honestly, when will the Cabinet reshuffle take place, nobody in the party and in the government knows. We all are guided by our wisdom and on some informed speculations among ourselves. Sirf Pradhan Mantri Modi ji ya Param Pita Parmeshwar jante hain ki asal me reshuffle kab hoga. (Only Prime Minister Modi or Supreme God knows when it would actually happen) But it is also a fact that partys restructuring and reshuffle, to an extent, are linked, a senior leader who had earlier been a minister said.

Modi is already through two major executive decision announcements  of 100 percent FDI in some critical sectors including defence and civil aviation, and the Seventh Pay Commission  and its time he could concentrate on rejig in his council of ministers which currently has 65 members.

It is also clear that it would be a BJP-centric induction, or shuffle of packs. The allies would not have any more cheers.

There is one clear vacancy: Sarbanand Sonowal, who left union Cabinet to become Assam chief minister. Minority affairs minister Najma Heptullah is past the 75-year cut off age. MoS Vijay Sampala has been made Punjab BJP chief, and thus could be divested of ministerial charge; controversial MoS from Rajasthan Nihal Chand could face axe and pave way to some new faces from Rajasthan including chief whip Arjun Meghwal.

Apna Dal leader, and ally Anupriya Patel was seen on the dais in Modis Allahabad rally, and it is widely speculated that she could gain entry in the government. The sole Muslim face in the Government, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, could be elevated to the Minister of State (Independent) rank.

There are also talks that Shiv Pratap Shukla, who has been brought by the BJP to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh in last month's election, could be made a minister. Shukla is a senior UP leader and a Brahmin, a big votebank in the state that all parties are vying for in these elections.

Surface transport and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari, Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu, power and coal minister Piyush Goyal, Telecommunication Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Chemical and Fertiliser minister Ananth Kumar, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan are taken to be the best performing ministers, and should see no changes.

Agriculture, rural development and water resources are ministries where the leadership has certain concerns. Given the limited talent bench strength, Modi has quite a task at hand.
Srinagar: Several Congress MLAs and independent legislator Shiekh Abdul Rashid on Wednesday walked out of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly after their respective private members' bills on reservation in promotion in government jobs and revocation of ban on beef were rejected by the Speaker.

As soon as the House assembled, four Congress MLAs led by Nawang Rigzin Jora sought to know from Speaker Kavinder Gupta as to why the private members' bill seeking reservation in promotions in government jobs was not in the list of business.

The Speaker told them the bill had been dropped since the matter was pending before court.

The Congress MLAs then stormed into the Well of the House protesting against the Speaker's move and shouted slogans against him.

After disrupting the proceedings for nearly 15 minutes, they walked out of the house.

Meanwhile, Langate MLA Rashid also protested against the non-inclusion of his bill seeking revocation of ban on beef in the state.

"If consuming liquor is a matter of choice as said by the Finance Minister, then why should not consuming beef be a matter of choice?" the controversial MLA, who threw a beef party last year to defy the ban, asked. With the Speaker ignoring his protest, Rashid too walked out.

The MLA, in a statement issued later, condemned government for "sabotaging" the bill seeking revocation on beef in the state and called the move "unconstitutional" and "murder of democracy".

"The bill was introduced in the last session and government managed to buy time and ensured that it does not come up for the discussion," he said, adding it was a constitutional requirement that the bill had to be taken up for discussion and voted upon in topmost priority in the next session.

However, the bill did not figure in the list of business on Wednesday. Rashid said the Speaker had "bypassed norms, misused his position and damaged his own integrity and credibility of the House".

"If ministers can say in broad daylight, without caring for the sentiments of Muslims, that the government cannot ban alcohol in the state, why does it use unconstitutional ways and means to stop the anti-ban bill on Beef?

"If BJP-PDP coalition has decided to implement RSS agenda in state, it could have defeated the bill on the floor of the House rather murdering the spirit of democracy," he said.
Thiruvananthapuram: Communist Party of India legislator V Sasi was on Wednesday elected the Deputy Speaker of the Kerala Assembly, which was a foregone conclusion. However, independent legislator PC George caught the attention of all by voting Nota or None of the Above.

Explaining why he wrote Nota, George told IANS: "See, Nota is now an accepted thing by the Election Commission, so in the ballot also it should be there too. I did not vote for any of the candidates because none asked me for my vote. I am now in the process of building up a political front which does not have any allegiance to any of the three the LDF, UDF or the BJP."

Sasi, a two-time CPI legislator, secured 90 votes with the Congress-led opposition candidate I.C. Balakrishnan getting 45 votes. The lone BJP legislator O Rajagopal was not present in the house as he was attending a family function in his home town Palakkad.

In the 141-member Kerala Assembly, including one nominated Anglo-Indian nominee, the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) has 92 members while the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has 47, and then there is George and Rajagopal.

On Wednesday, Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan did not cast his vote, and there were four absentees, including two from the opposition and one from the treasury bench and Rajagopal.

George, a seven-time legislator, in the 16 April assembly polls won from his traditional Poonjar seat in Kottayam district as an independent candidate.
New Delhi: Confident of garnering support of some opposition parties for the GST Bill, the government on Wednesday asserted it has "enough" numbers for passage of the crucial legislation in the Monsoon Session of Parliament which will commence on 18 July.

After a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA), chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said, "We have a wider support and we have enough numbers for GST but we would like to have all parties on board because it will have an effect on states."

The session will conclude on 12 August and there will be a total of 20 working days during it. Naidu said the session could also be extended or curtailed by two-three days depending on requirement.

He said that the government wants to get the bill passed by consensus and is making efforts in that direction but asserted that even if consensus is not there, "we must get it approved in this session".

Since GST is a Constitution Amendment Bill, support of two-third of Rajya Sabha members is required for its passage. It means the government will require 164 votes.

Speaking separately, BJP sources said that after the recent Rajya Sabha polls, the scenario has tilted in favour of the ruling alliance.

A source said BJP's strength has now risen to 54 from 46 and the total strength of pro-GST members from the ruling alliance, supporting independents and nominated members, will be about 81.

Besides, the ruling alliance is also confident of support of around 76 members from parties including SP, Trinamool Congress, JD(U), BJD, BSP, NCP, DMK, RJD, TRS, INLD, IUML, JMM, Kerala Congress, JD(S) and YSR Congress.

The party believes 22 other members from parties including AIADMK, CPM and CPI would support the measure after pressing some amendments or abstain.

If BJP's calculations work, votes in favour of the bill could go up to 179, more than the required 164.

"In these circumstances, the GST Bill may be passed without the support of 60 members of Congress, if it does not create din in the Rajya Sabha," a party functionary said.

BJP sources said even if the 13-member AIADMK abstains, the number of the 245-member House will be reduced to 232 and the government will require the support of only 155 members to pass the bill.

Naidu said voting on the bill will be the last option, suggesting that the government would like to avoid any trial of strength on this issue and will strive to take all parties along.
Guwahati: Differences have cropped up between the BJP and Asom Gana Parishad, the two allies in the Assam government, after Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan declared handing over of 12 small oilfields in the state to private companies to extract crude oil.

Opposing this decision AGP leader and former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta told Firstpost on Wednesday that the BJP is following the path once walked upon by the Congress, as regards to the oilfields in Assam.

"We opposed when Congress decided the same with the oilfields in Assam and we continue to do it now even if the decision is made by our ally," said Mahanta.

He said that handing over the oilfields to private firms is against the interest of Assam.

Dipanka Kumar Nath, president of All Assam Students Union (AASU), which also tows the same line, said that the students body will oppose this decision all along.'

We are going to organise protest meetings in a phased manner from 4 July in the state," he said.

Nath said that exploration of crude oil has been carried out by two public sector behemoths Oil India limited and Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Limited in Assam for a long time. But suddenly these companies find themselves not competent enough to extract oil from small oil fields and the Centre decides to hand them over to private companies.

"The Centre should try to enhance the capability of the public sector companies," he said.

Nath said that AASU has been demanding the Centre to grant right to the indigenous people, over the natural resources of Assam.

Handing over the oilfields to private sector companies only means showing disrespect to such demand, the AASU president said.

Nath even pointed out possible gaps for corruption in the decision.

"There are earlier instances where OIL and ONGC officials join private sector companies to extract crude oil from the same fields they once declared exhausted during their tenure in the public sector units. So these angles are also to be looked into," he said.

"Whatever decision the Centre takes on this regard has to be in the best interests of Assam. The people of the state must get due share of their rights, he said.

Mahanta expressed his discomfort by stating that a common minimum program has to be formulated among the allying political parties of the BJP-led government in Assam on such contentious issues.

But that has not been worked out yet, he said.

When asked if this decision taken by the petroleum ministry may result in split in the government, Mahanata said, It is too early to say that. We have demanded that Centre should reconsider its decision.

Pradhan in a visit to Guwahati on 24 June announced that Assam will earn Rs 4,000 crore as revenue from oil fields lying idle for years once they are handed over to private companies. They are among the 67 numbers of small oilfields across the country his ministry has decided to hand over to private companies.

A civil society organisation named Tai Ahom Yuba Parishad Asom had called for a 12-hour long Assam Bandh on Tuesday in protest of this decision.
The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA), headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, on Wednesday recommended holding of monsoon session from 18 July to 12 August.

The government will seek to ensure that the bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST) gets passed in the upcoming session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said on Wednesday.

"We held a meeting of the Cabinet committee on Parliamentary Affairs. The prime minister (Narendra Modi) presided over the meeting. We were all in favour of bringing the GST Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament," Naidu said.

"There is a lot of consensus on the issue. There are some concerns as well. Both myself and the finance minister (Arun Jaitley) will speak to political parties. The prime minister has already said he is ready to talk to political leaders," the minister said after the meeting.

"We feel this is a very important bill and we do hope it will be passed in the monsoon session."

The government has already missed the target of implementing the GST regime from 1 April this year in the wake of stiff opposition to the tax reform measure by Congress and some other parties.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had recently claimed that almost all the states have agreed to support GST.

After a meeting of State Finance Ministers in Kolkata recently, Jaitley had said that except Tamil Nadu, which has some reservations, all other states favour the proposed legislation. Even the Kerala government has not made it's stand clear.

The GST is being touted as a key tax reform measure by the Modi government which will help give a fillip of 1 to 2 percent to the country's GDP.

The bill has already been passed in Lok Sabha.

With inputs from PTI
The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs on Tuesday recommended the convening of the monsoon session of Parliament from 18 July till 12 August, 2016 subject to the demands of government business.

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs M Venakaiah Naidu said that the forthcoming monsoon session will have a total of 20 sittings over a duration of 26 days.

Of importance is the passing of the bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST). "We held a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs. The prime minister (Narendra Modi) presided over the meeting. We were all in favour of bringing the GST Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament," Naidu said and added, "given the importance of the Bill, it would be appropriate if GST Bill could be passed unanimously".

Naidu said that there are 11 bills pending in Lok Sabha and 45 bills pending in Rajya Sabha. He said that the ministers have been asked to take necessary action in respect to the pending and new bills to be introduced by the third of next month to ensure that about 20 to 25 bills could be taken up for introduction, consideration and passing.

The minister, who addressed the media on Wednesday, expressed hope that the GST Bill would be passed during the ensuing monsoon session of the Parliament. "There is a broad consensus on the GST Bill, with almost all the state governments and political parties favouring the Bills. If some parties still have some issues, the government is keen to discuss the same.

There are three bills that will be taken up in the monsoon session to replace three Ordinances: the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016; the Dentists (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 (Both relate to exemption this year from National Eligibility cum Entrance Test); and the Enemy Properties (Amendment and Validation) Third Ordinance,2016.

Some of the bills that are pending in the Lok Sabha are: The Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2014; The Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2014; The Lok Pal and Lokayuktas and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2014; The Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Bill, 2015; The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2015; The Consumer Protection Bill, 2015; The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015.

The Department Related Standing Committees have presented their reports on these seven bills. They are  The Indian Trust (Amendment) Bill, 2015 (agreeing to of amendments made by Rajya Sabha), The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (referred to Standing Committee), The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (referred to Joint Committee); and The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015.

Some of the 45 bills pending in the Rajya Sabha are: The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 1987 (as reported by Joint Committee); The Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015; The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2016 The Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill, 2016 (these bills have been passed by the Lok Sabha).

Other bills such as The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill,2012; The Right of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014; and The Pesticides Management Bill, 2008 have reports presented by standing committees.

Two bills passed by Lok Sabha and reports presented by Select Committee of Rajya Sabha are The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Second Amendment) Bill, 2014  GST Bill and The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016.

The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013, which is up for hearing has been referred to the Select Committee.
New Delhi: BJP on Wednesday termed as "drama" Samajwadi Party's flip flop over its association with gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's party, saying it was aimed at washing away the party's taint following Mathura and Kairana incidents.

BJP said UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his party were indulging in a failed marketing exercise to shore up its image after their government "failed" on all fronts.

"We saw this merger and then the decision to scrap it besides the sacking of a cabinet minister and then his induction again in the government. This is all nothing but drama whose script was written to wash away the blots of Mathura and Kairana," BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma told reporters.

UP suffers from the alliance of mafia and government, he alleged, citing the two incidents as an example.

While in Mathura over 29 persons, including two police officers, died in a clash with land grabbers, BJP has alleged that people have been forced to migrate from Kairana.

"Akhilesh Yadav has failed on all fronts. Now we are seeing a marketing exercise to shore up his image. It is a failed exercise," he alleged.

Ansari's Qaumi Ekta Dal had merged with SP but it was later called off, reportedly over the Chief Minister's unhappiness who did not want to join hands with him due to his criminal background.
In 2012, a glistening tower of shops, offices and residences opened in Istanbul  an emblem of the brash attitude of an ancient city that prided itself as an international gateway between Asia and Europe. Those ambitions, increasingly dampened by internal conflict and spillover from the tumult in neighbouring countries, were dealt another blow in the deadly assault on the city's main Ataturk Airport.

The attack that killed dozens and was blamed on the Islamic State group could have happened anywhere in the world, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Yet the three suicide bombers who used automatic weapons before blowing themselves up chose an especially sensitive target, an airport embodying Turkey's aim to become a global player and an international transit hub on a par with Dubai.

Istanbul, a sprawling metropolis of more than 15 million people that straddles two continents, had long drawn visitors who flocked to museums and palaces from an imperial past, coasted on ferries on the Bosporus Strait and, increasingly in the last decade, attended business forums, international conferences and shopped in high-end malls where security officials screened people at the glass doors.

It has been an ebullient time in a city that has billed itself as a cradle of ancient empires and a modern melting pot, in a country with a Muslim identity and Western leanings that seemed to be thriving after decades of authoritarian rule, factional violence and chaotic politics.

As with recent attacks in Brussels and Paris, and the kind that happen routinely in war zones such as Iraq and Syria, Tuesday's violence in Istanbul is likely to leave an impact, an unease or outright trauma, for a short time or much longer, even with those who were not directly affected.

Deniz Ergurel, a Turkish journalist who lives close to the airport, said he felt haunted by the sad stories of the dead.

"From my window I can see the planes taking off (from) the airport, meaning that things have turned into normal. But when I say we're fine, I only mean it as a physical statement. In fact, it is those rare times when you feel kind of ashamed to be well," Ergurel wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

"Only a few days ago I was there, returning from an international conference. It could be me, it could be anyone," Ergurel wrote. "This is a tragedy and shock beyond words. And it will definitely affect the psychology of everyone."

He suggested Turkish security procedures need a review, noting that more than a dozen deadly bombings had occurred in Turkey in one year. Even before Tuesday's attack, once-robust tourism was struggling because of attacks linked to Islamic extremists, as well as Kurdish militants whose peace efforts with Turkey had collapsed.

Istanbul's famed landmarks include the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, popularly known as the Blue Mosque, and the Hagia Sophia, a former Greek Orthodox patriarchal basilica that was transformed into an imperial mosque and is now a museum. In January, a suicide bomber blew himself up nearby, killing 12 German tourists. Authorities blamed an IS-linked Syrian man who entered the country as a refugee from neighboring Syria.

The number of foreigners arriving in Turkey in May was 2.48 million, down 34.6 percent from the same month in 2015, according to government data.

A Turkish business leader predicted that the impact on tourism of the airport attack "will not be as high as one might think" because such violence has become sadly routine in some parts of the world.

Tarkan Kadooglu, president of Turkonfed, a non-governmental group that represents Turkish businesses, said recent efforts by NATO-member Turkey to reconcile with Israel and Russia, as well as closer intelligence-sharing with allies, could help curb militant attacks.

Allen Collinsworth, an international business consultant based in Istanbul, said there are "a lot of liquidity problems" in Turkey and that foreign investment has been drying up because of concerns about stability. However, he said the country has "always been in a boom and bust cycle" and that it has endured tough times in the past, including a crackdown on dissent that followed a 1980 military coup.

"It's not like the end of the world for Turkey," Collinsworth, an American, said in a telephone interview. "They always muddle through it."

Istanbul's bloody periods reach deep into history. Its ethnic Greek population endured devastating mob attacks in 1955, and hundreds of prominent Armenian luminaries were rounded up there in 1915 at the start of the massacres of Armenians during World War I. Crusaders pillaged the city, then Constantinople, in the early 13th century, and it fell to invading Ottomans in 1453.

The owners of the gleaming high-rise that opened in 2012 paid for the tower to carry the Trump name, presumably thinking it was synonymous with glamor and quality. Even there, the shine has come off because of comments deemed to be anti-Muslim by Donald Trump, now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in the United States. Erdogan said this month that the name should be removed from the building, Turkish media reported.

Erdogan has championed some of Istanbul's massive projects, including plans for a huge mosque, a new airport to relieve congestion at Ataturk Airport and a canal, alternative to the Bosporus Strait, which would link the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Critics describe the plans as grandiose.

In 2012, an AP reporter wrote: "Once a backwater aching with memories of a glorious past, Istanbul today is hectically, perhaps blindly, hustling to create a vibrant future."

For now, the feel-good times are over.
BEIJING/AMSTERDAM An international court said on Wednesday it would deliver a hotly anticipated ruling in the Philippines' case against China over the South China Sea on July 12, drawing an immediate rebuke from Beijing, which rejects the tribunal's jurisdiction.

The United States, which is a close ally of the Philippines and is concerned about China's expansive South China Sea claims, reiterated its backing for The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration and urged a peaceful resolution of the dispute.

Manila is contesting China's historical claim to about 90 percent of the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Several Southeast Asian states have overlapping claims in the sea and the dispute has sparked concerns of a military confrontation that could disrupt global trade.

In a lengthy statement after the court's announcement of the July 12 ruling date, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Manila's approach flouted international law.

"I again stress that the arbitration court has no jurisdiction in the case and on the relevant matter, and should not hold hearings or make a ruling," he said.

"The Philippines' unilateral lodging of the South China Sea arbitration case is contrary to international law."

He said: "On the issue of territory and disputes over maritime delineation, China does not accept any dispute resolution from a third party and does not accept any dispute resolution forced on China."

In Manila, presidential communications secretary Herminio Coloma Jr said the Philippines "expects a just and fair ruling that will promote peace and stability in the region".

U.S. state department spokeswoman Anna Richey-Allen reiterated U.S. backing for the court. "We support the peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea, including the use of international legal mechanisms such as arbitration."

China's official Xinhua news agency said the court was a "law-abusing tribunal" that had "widely contested jurisdiction." It said the case would only worsen the dispute.

"Manila fails to see that such an arbitration will only stir up more trouble in the South China Sea, which doesn't serve the interests of the concerned parties in the least," it said.

The case "even threatens to further complicate the issue by giving certain parties in the disputes the false impression they could profit by deliberately creating chaos", Xinhua added.

China's bases its South China Sea claim on a so-called "Nine Dash line" stretching deep into the maritime heart of southeast Asia and covering hundreds of disputed islands and reefs, rich fishing grounds and oil and gas deposits.

The Philippines argues that China's claim violates the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and restricts its rights to exploit resources and fishing areas within its exclusive economic zone.

U.S. officials are worried China may respond to what is widely expected to be a negative ruling for Beijing by declaring an air defense identification zone in the South China Sea, as it did in the East China Sea in 2013, and by stepping up its building and fortification of artificial islands.

U.S. officials say that beyond diplomatic pressure, the U.S. response to such moves could include accelerated "freedom-of-navigation" patrols by U.S. warships and overflights by U.S. aircraft as well as increased defense aid to southeast Asian countries.

China has accused the United States of "hyping" the issue and warned in May that international complaints about its actions in the South China Sea would snap back on its critics. But it has largely avoided specific threats of how it might respond to the arbitration ruling.

(Additional reporting by Manny Mogato in Manila and David Brunnstrom on Washington; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
WASHINGTON A Chinese national has been sentenced to 30 months in a U.S. prison for smuggling or trying to smuggle to China high-tech U.S. military hardware, including night vision and thermal imaging rifle scopes, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday.

Kan Chen, 26, of Ningbo, in China's Zhejiang Province, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release for illegally exporting or trying to export over 180 items worth over $275,000 (204,485) to China, the department said in a statement.

Chen was arrested in Saipan in June 2015 and pleaded guilty in March this year, it said.

(Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Eric Beech)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
London: Nominations opened on Wednesday to replace Prime Minister David Cameron as leader of the Conservative Party, with the victor getting the challenge  or the poisoned chalice  of negotiating Britain's exit from the European Union.

David Cameron announced his resignation after British voters decided last week, against his advice, that the UK should leave the 28-nation bloc.

The first contender to make it official was Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb, who said he was running because "I don't see anybody who provides a compelling answer" to the question of how to heal a deeply divided nation.

The 43-year-old Crabb, raised by a single mother in public housing, said he would offer "resilience, optimism, humility, strength." Although he backed the "remain" side in the referendum, he promised to deliver a "negotiated exit" from the EU.

Crabb is running with Business Secretary Sajid Javid  who would serve as his finance minister  on what has been dubbed a blue-collar ticket. Both men come from working-class backgrounds, in contrast to upper-crust front-runner Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London, and the current prime minister, Cameron.

Johnson, who led the 'Leave' side in the referendum campaign, has the support of several senior Tory lawmakers. Environment Secretary Liz Truss wrote in the Daily Telegraph that she was backing Johnson because the new leader must be "someone who believes in, and campaigned for, leaving the EU."

Home Secretary Theresa May, who backed the 'Remain' side but is seen as competent and experienced, is also expected to run.

After nominations close at noon Thursday, Conservative lawmakers will vote and whittle the nominees down to two. Those names will be put to a postal vote of all party members with the result expected in early September.

The opposition Labour Party is also in turmoil at the top, with leader Jeremy Corbyn resisting intense pressure to resign.

On Tuesday, Labour members of Parliament passed a no-confidence motion in Corbyn by 172 votes to 40. But Corbyn says he has the support of grass-roots party members and will not resign.

Many Labour supporters accuse Corbyn of failing to make a strong case to Britons for why they should stay in the European Union.

Former Labour Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell said the party was in "a complete shambles."

"It is a statement of the obvious that Jeremy has got to stand down and allow a new leader to rebuild the party," she said.
Monessen, Pennsylvania: Donald Trump called for a new era of economic "Americanism" Tuesday, promising to restore millions of lost factory jobs by backing away from decades of US policy that encouraged trade with other nations  a move that could undermine the country's place as the dominant player in the global economy.

The speech marked a significant break from years of Republican Party advocacy for unencumbered trade between nations, and drew immediate condemnation from GOP business leaders.

In his 35-minute speech, Trump blamed former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs.

He threatened to exit the more than two-decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement and vowed to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations that has yet to take effect.

At a rally later Tuesday, Trump declared that TPP had been "done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country, just a continuing rape of our country. That's what it is, too."

In the speech, he pointed to China as a source of many of America's economic woes, promising to label that country a currency manipulator and slap new tariffs on America's leading source of imports, a decision with the potential to dramatically increase the cost of consumer goods.

"This wave of globalization has wiped out totally, totally our middle class," Trump said, standing in front of pallets of recycled aluminum cans on a factory floor. "It doesn't have to be this way. We can turn it around, and we can turn it around fast."

Delivered in a hard-hit Pennsylvania steel town, the speech underscored the central message of Trump's campaign: That policies aimed at boosting international trade  and America's intervention in wars and disputes abroad  have weakened the country.

It's an argument that found support among Republican primary voters, especially white, working class Americans whose wages have stagnated in recent years. Trump hopes it will yield similar success among the wider electorate that will decide the general election.

"I promise you, if I become president, we're going to be working again. We're going to have great jobs again," he said. "You're going to be so happy."

But he drew a quick and scathing response from the US Chamber of Commerce, a traditional Republican ally and leading business lobby.

The Chamber tweeted and directed its followers to a blog post that said Trump's policies would lead to millions of job losses and a recession.

Under Trump's trade plans, we would see higher prices, fewer jobs, and a weaker economy https://t.co/3xcCNgiS2k pic.twitter.com/9jPtGXAOlQ  U.S. Chamber (@USChamber) June 28, 2016

Many economists have dismissed Trump's promise to immediately restore manufacturing jobs as dubious at best, given the impact of automation and the many years it typically takes to negotiate trade agreements.

While renegotiating tougher deals with America's foreign trading partners might help some businesses, manufacturing as a share of total US jobs has been slipping for several decades. The number of such jobs has risen slightly since the end of the Great Recession, but the introduction of robotics and access to cheaper foreign markets has reduced US factory employment to a total last seen around 1941.

Indeed, the National Association of Manufacturers slammed Trump's logic on Tuesday, with the organisation's president, Jay Timmons, writing on Twitter:

In making his case for a new approach to trade, Trump recounted economic policies in place at the founding of the country  a time when goods traveled by horseback and schooner, the invention of the telegraph was still decades away and the advances of the Internet and broadband communication hardly imaginable.

The billionaire real estate mogul then skipped ahead to the 1990s, blaming the Clinton administration for negative impacts of globalization. He cited Bill Clinton's support of Nafta, which aimed to reduce barriers to trade between the US, Canada and Mexico, and China's entry into the World Trade Organisation.

"Throughout her career  her whole career  she has betrayed the American worker. Never forget that," Trump said.

Clinton's positon on trade has been a frequent attack line for Trump. She has supported some agreements, opposed others and flipped on both Nafta and TPP, which she promoted dozens of times as secretary of state.

She now says she will back trade deals only if they fulfil a three-pronged test of creating "good jobs," raising wages and improving national security.

But Trump, too, has evolved on the issue. In a 2005 blog post on a website affiliated with his now-defunct Trump University, the billionaire mogul argued that outsourcing isn't always a bad thing, citing a study that found it "actually creates more jobs and increases wages, at least for IT workers."

"We hear terrible things about outsourcing jobs, how sending work outside of our companies is contributing to the demise of American businesses. But in this instance I have to take the unpopular stance that it is not always a terrible thing," he wrote.

The speech came as Trump, facing sliding poll numbers and a far larger Clinton campaign operation, is working to re-tool his message for the general election. In addition to a slew of new hires, he has been delivering prepared speeches aimed at calming the nerves of GOP donors and others concerned about his often combative style.

But his toned-down rhetoric didn't last long.

At a rally on Tuesday evening in St Clairsville, Ohio, in addition to comparing the TPP to rape, Trump reiterated his call for the return of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques in the fight against Islamic State militants, declaring, "you have to fight fire with fire."

The comment drew cheers and chants of "USA! USA!" from the crowd.
CAIRO Investigators have downloaded data from one of the black box flight recorders on EgyptAir Flight MS804 and are preparing to analyse it, bringing them closer discovering what caused the jet to crash, Egypt's investigation committee said on Wednesday.

The Airbus A320 plunged into the eastern Mediterranean Sea en route from Paris to Cairo on May 19, killing all 66 people on board. The cause of the crash remains unknown.

"Preliminary information shows that the entire flight is recorded on the FDR since its takeoff from Charles de Gaulle airport until the recording stopped at an altitude of 37,000 feet where the accident occurred," Egypt's Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee said in a statement.

Search teams have salvaged both of the so-called black box flight recorders. Investigators are now preparing to analyse data from the flight data recorder.

"Recorded data is showing consistency with SCARS messages of lavatory and avionics smoke," the committee said, referring to the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, which routinely downloads maintenance and fault data to the airline operator.

The plane had sent a series of warnings indicating that smoke had been detected on board through SCARS.

Recovered wreckage from the jet's front section showed signs of high temperature damage and soot, the committee said. Those were the first physical signs that fire may have broken out on the A320 airliner, in addition to maintenance messages indicating smoke alarms in the avionics area and lavatory.

The committee said these findings would need further analysis to discover the source and reason for the marks, however.

SECOND BLACK BOX

The second black box, the cockpit voice recorder, is still being repaired in laboratories belonging to France's BEA aircraft accident investigation agency, where the data chips from both recorders were sent after the devices were retrieved from the Mediterranean earlier this month.

The BEA is involved in the investigation because France is both the flight's point of origin and home to Airbus, the plane's manufacturer. Fifteen of those killed were French.

A United States National Transport Safety Board investigator is also involved, since the plane's engines were built by a consortium led by the U.S. company Pratt & Whitney (UTX.N).

If intact, the cockpit recorder should reveal pilot conversations and any cockpit alarms, as well as other clues such as engine noise.

A search vessel contracted by the Egyptian government from Mauritius-based Deep Ocean Search is still searching the Mediterranean for human remains.

No explanation for the disaster has been ruled out, but current and former aviation officials increasingly believe the reason lies in the aircraft's technical systems, rather than sabotage.

The Paris prosecutor's office opened a manslaughter investigation on Monday but said it was not looking into terrorism as a possible cause of the crash at this stage.

The crash is the third blow since October to Egypt's travel industry, which is still suffering from the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.

A Russian plane crashed in the Sinai Peninsula in October, killing all 224 people on board in an attack claimed by Islamic State. In March, an EgyptAir plane was hijacked by a man wearing a fake suicide belt. No one was hurt.

(This story corrects name of French agency to BEA, not BEAN in 9th and 10th paragraphs.)

(Editing by Andrew Roche and Lary King)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday sought to heal ties in their first phone call since Ankara downed one of Moscow's jets in Syria last year.

A statement from the Turkish presidency said Erdogan and Putin "highlighted the importance of the normalisation of bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia."

The November incident froze relations between the two nations and saw Moscow slap sanctions on Ankara.

Putin also condemned the "heinous" attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport Tuesday that killed at least 41 people and offered condolences to the Turkish people, the statement said.

"Reiterating their commitment to reinvigorate bilateral relations and fight terrorism together, the two leaders agreed to remain in contact and meet in person," Erdogan's office said.

The Kremlin confirmed that the conversation took place and said a statement would be released..

The breakthrough phone call by Putin came after Erdogan on Monday sent a letter to the Kremlin leader that Moscow said contained an apology.

The downing of the plane in November ruptured relations and saw Moscow impose a raft of sanctions, including an embargo on Turkish food products and a ban on charter flights and the sale of package tours to the country.

It also sparked a bitter war of words between the leaders with Putin calling it a "stab in the back" and demanding an apology from Erdogan.

Ankara has said Erdogan expressed his "regret" over the incident in Monday's letter to Putin and asked the family of the pilot who died to "excuse us", but has not explicitly confirmed he apologised for shooting down the plane.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday described the letter as an "important step" but warned that "there is no need to think that in several days it will be possible to normalise everything."

Turkey has argued that the Russian plane strayed into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings, but Russia insisted it did not cross the border and accused Turkey of a "planned provocation."

The countries are on opposing sides in the Syrian conflict, with Ankara backing rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad while Moscow is one of his last remaining allies.
Brussels: EU leaders have given Britain breathing space by accepting it needed time to absorb a shock Brexit vote before triggering a divorce but insisted the crunch move could not wait months.

A humiliated Prime Minister David Cameron came face-to-face with European colleagues for the first time since last week's vote at a Brussels summit which leaders said was "sad" but pragmatic.

Trillions of dollars have been wiped off world markets since Thursday's vote to leave the EU, while the United Kingdom's future has been thrown into doubt after Scotland said it would push for a new independence referendum.

Further shockwaves juddered through British politics as Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour party, vowed to fight on despite losing a crushing no-confidence vote among his party's lawmakers.

Thousands of people took to the streets of London, which voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU, to protest against the referendum result, waving EU flags and placards saying: "Stop Brexit".

After hours of talks in Brussels, EU President Donald Tusk said that he understood that time was needed "for the dust to settle" in Britain before the next steps can be taken.

But reflecting wider concerns of a domino effect of other states wanting to leave, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said Britain did not have "months to meditate".

He set a clear timetable for triggering Article 50, the EU treaty clause that begins the two-year withdrawal process, after Cameron's successor takes office in early September.

Juncker said that if the new prime minister was a pro-remain figure, Article 50 should be activated "in two weeks after his appointment"  but if it was a supporter of the leave campaign, "it should be done the day after his appointment," he added.

The current favourites to take over from Cameron are leading "out" campaigner Boris Johnson and interior minister Theresa May, a low-key backer of EU membership.

Over a dinner of poached veal tenderloin followed by strawberries, a chastened Cameron urged EU leaders to consider reforming rules on freedom of movement, one of the EU's central tenets, to cement a close relationship with Britain post-Brexit.

He said Britain and the EU should "have as close an economic relationship as possible and that the key to staying close is really to look at reform to free movement," a Downing Street source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A British government source added that Cameron believed that free movement was "one of the driving factors in people voting to leave".

At a press conference, Cameron insisted he had no regrets about holding the referendum.

Earlier, US President Barack Obama warned against "hysteria" as stock markets and the pound staged a tentative recovery after days of losses that saw sterling slump to a 31-year low.
Brussels: European leaders met on Wednesday without Britain for the first time in 40 years to prepare for life after the Brexit bombshell, as the race began to succeed Prime Minister David Cameron.

Highlighting the seismic shock from last week's referendum, one person who was in Brussels however was Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, "utterly determined" to see Scotland remain in the EU.

Britain "made the decision that it did. And this morning it looks like they aren't sitting at the table any more," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said as he arrived Wednesday.

At a summit described as "sad" on Tuesday, Cameron won some breathing space from the remaining 27 leaders of the bloc five days after Britain rocked financial markets by voting 52 to 48 percent to leave the bloc.

EU President Donald Tusk said he understood that time was needed "for the dust to settle" before the next steps can be taken.

However, Juncker warned Britain did not have "months to meditate" before triggering Article 50 -- the EU treaty clause that begins the two-year withdrawal process -- after Cameron's successor takes office in early September.

And German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that London could not "cherry-pick" the terms of the exit negotiations.

Some in Brussels are concerned that giving Britain favourable divorce terms will spark a domino effect of others leaving the union, set up six decades ago to foster peace on the continent after World War II.

"We need more than ever a united Europe, in contrast to a disunited UK," Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said Wednesday.

Cameron flew back to London after yesterday's summit, as Sturgeon headed in the opposite direction to test the waters in Brussels for her country joining the bloc as a separate entity.

Scotland overwhelmingly backed "Remain" in last Thursday's vote, and the combative Sturgeon has said she was "utterly determined to preserve Scotland's relationship and place within the EU".

That may require a new referendum on Scottish independence, with Sturgeon saying that the Britain from the last vote in 2014 "does not exist any more" following the Brexit vote.

Sturgeon met this morning with European Parliament President Martin Schulz and was to hold talks with Juncker later.

Top of the agenda at today's EU meeting was how the remaining 27 members can bolster unity after the shock of the British vote.

Cameron has urged a reform the rules of freedom of movement, with officials seeing the large influx of eastern European workers as a key factor behind the referendum outcome.

Merkel has called for a "new impulse" for the EU and stepped-up cooperation in areas including defence, jobs and competitiveness.
Back in 2011, when Hina Rabbani Khar had flown into India as Pakistan's first female foreign minister, Indian media swooned over the swish 34-year-old's oversized Hermes Birkin bag, Roberto Cavalli sunglasses, pearl jewellery and model-like looks. Beyond the style though, there was substance. And a refreshingly new liberal approach.

During the joint news conference that had followed with her 79-year-old Indian counterpart SM Krishna, Khar impressed with her positive words and mature vision. She didn't pick up the Kashmir issue even once and promised to usher in a new era in bilateral ties by announcing 14 new confidence-building measures. For an India still suffering the aftershocks of the 26 November. 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, this was a pleasant surprise.

Five years down the line, it is evident that Khar, who remains a Pakistan People's Party member and delivers lectures on foreign policy  even though she has retired from active politics  hasn't lost her breadth of vision.

Khar's interview to GEO News channel is remarkable because it is perhaps for the first time on a public platform that a former Pakistan foreign minister has taken the lid off crippling insecurities that the state nurtures beyond the rhetorical template that largely defines its foreign policy vis-a-vis India.

Her pragmatism, while talking about the stickiest issues plaguing Pakistan, shone through. It was also a pointer to the liberalism that had marked her stint in public office in a country which remains steadfastly closeted.

In 2010, President Asif Ali Zardari promised that Pakistan was ready to wage a 1,000-year war with India over Kashmir. And the woman who was appointed by Zardari as Pakistan's youngest and first woman minister of foreign affairs, holds that Islamabad can never conquer Kashmir by going on the warpath.

"I believe that Pakistan cannot conquer Kashmir through war, and if we cannot do that, the option we are left with is dialogue; and dialogue can only proceed with a partner with which we have normal relations and a certain level of mutual trust," Khar said in the interview.

She urged the Nawaz Sharif government, which has a majority, to do much more to lessen the hostility that marks Indo-Pak relations, claiming that the PPP government despite being a coalition had tried its best to normalise ties with India through relaxation of visa rules and by normalising trade ties.

Khar's advice of reconciliation fits in well with Narendra Modi's vision. The Prime Minister has received a lot of flak for what has been termed as a blow-hot, blow cold Pakistan policy but during a recent interview to Times Now, Modi explained the rationale behind his consistent diplomatic overtures, holding that Pakistan has little to lose if India cancels talks.

Khar was also bang on in her assessment that a recent downturn in Pak-US ties and Obama administration's tilt towards India (which earned a sarcastic reaction from China), has everything to do with India's perception of a force being driven by economy, market and a counter-balance to China.

"Now let us ask ourselves, is US moving towards India because India is a nuclear state, or because it is a military power, no, it is people power and their democratic traditions, if we want to compete, lets compete on these grounds," said Khar.

The maturity is perhaps only to be expected of a woman who despite coming from one of the poorest parts of Pakistan has broken through a lot of glass ceilings. With a background in economics and an MSc from the University of Massachusetts, Khar entered politics almost by default at the young age of 24 contesting her first elections in 2002 on a family seat as her father Ghulam Noor Rabbani Khar, wealthy landowner and former parliamentarian, became illegible to participate in polls under a new law because he didn't have a college degree.

As a former minister of state for finance and economic affairs, two-time MP and one who earned nomination for Young Global Leader award, Khar strangely has always been considered as a bit of an outlier back home. Doubts were continuously raised over her un-Pakistanness and she was, unfairly, considered lacking in gravitas as a foreign minister.

Her comments on Pakistan's ideological crisis amply demonstrates why she isn't exactly a popular figure.

"In 60 years, we have taught our children that our national identity is to hate someone, and we are doing it with those who are physically the nearest. Hostile with India and now hostile with Afghanistan," said the former foreign minister.

The candour is breathtaking.

It tackles the core problem of Pakistan. Is it, in fact, a country, or a site for an Islamic experiment in welding together the spiritual and temporal into a state, as General Ayub Khan had argued.

Pakistans raison d'etre is hatred and fear of India. It is a country that defines itself in terms of India. In her book 'Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army's Way of War', academician and South Asian political and military affairs wonk C Christine Fair has extensively written on how Pakistan views India as a "Hindu" nation because that makes it easier for them to set up a civilisational battle. These are well-documented arguments.

But Khar, a former foreign minister, deserves full respect for her disarming sincerity. Beyond that, however, whether it will have any effect at all on Pakistan's relationship with India is doubtful.

Even as Khar gave the interview, the very office which she occupied once, gloated on Monday how Pakistan's intensive diplomatic lobbying, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif personally writing to 17 prime ministers, prevented India from gaining entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
A day after former foreign minister of Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar said Pakistan cannot "conquer Kashmir through war" and that the issue can only be handled in an environment of mutual trust with India, adviser to the prime minister, Sartaj Aziz said Pakistan wanted to have peaceful relations with India, but it would not back down from its principled stance over Kashmir.

"If there has to be an improvement in relations between the two countries, there has to be a dialogue on all issues, including the core issue of Kashmir," Aziz said.

India is "shying away" from peace talks with Pakistan to avoid discussions on Kashmir and other issues, Aziz added. The foreign policy adviser, flanked by other important Pakistan ministers  information minister Pervaiz Rashid, PM's special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi and foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry  spoke on Afghanistan, Pakistan's relations with India, the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Gulf Cooperation Council and listed the achievements of a 'successful foreign policy of the government'.

In a statement on Pakistan's foreign policy, Aziz said that India stalled bi-lateral talks and used the 2 January attack on Pathankot as an excuse to do so. "There was some positive progress in December 2015, when during the Heart of Asia Conference, Foreign Minister of India and I agreed to resume the Comprehensive Dialogue on all issues covered under eight segments. But before the Foreign Secretaries could meet and finalise a schedule for resuming the Comprehensive Dialogue, the Pathankot incident of 2 January 2016 gave India an excuse to postpone the resumption of the dialogue."

Aziz said Pakistan was not shying away from talks.

"It is actually India which is shying away as it knows that it has to discuss Kashmir and other issues on the dialogue table," Aziz said, commenting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks during his interview with Times Now earlier this week.

"Prime Minister Modi's logic is beyond perception," he said. "We have a format of comprehensive and composite dialogue with India that includes issues like people-to-people contact, visa and fishermen issue, trade and economic cooperation, Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek," Aziz was quoted as saying by Radio Pakistan.

He said that the Indian Army had stakes in Siachen and when the last time both the governments reached an agreement, the Indian Army rejected it.

In an interview with Times Now, PM Modi had said that due to his diplomatic efforts, the world had seen that India was not reluctant to engage with Pakistan. "Our approach has created difficulties for Pakistan, and they find it hard to respond on the matter in the international community," said Modi.

Blaming India for not changing "their narrative", Aziz said, "They do not want to give us credit (for our actions against terrorism) and keep an excuse for not starting dialogue." The problem, he said, was that India wanted normalisation on its terms, which was not acceptable for Pakistan.

Sartaj Aziz's comments follows a day after reports quoted the adviser as saying that Pakistan's intensive diplomatic lobbying, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif personally writing to 17 prime ministers, prevented India from gaining entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

In an exclusive interview with DawnNews, Aziz said Pakistan has diplomatically engaged numerous countries over the criteria-based approach for non-NPT countries. "If the group forms such a uniform criteria, then Pakistan has stronger credentials for NSG membership than India."

"Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif personally wrote letters to 17 prime ministers of different countries on the matter, which is on record," Aziz told senior journalists at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad and added that Pakistan will continue their diplomatic offensive in this regard.

With inputs from agencies
As Turkey struggles to cope with the aftermath of the Istanbul terror attack that left at least 36 dead and 147 injured, leaders from around the world strongly condemn the bombings, and express their sympathies for the victims.

Presumptive Republican US presidential nominee Donald Trump, tweeted about the incident, saying that terrorism must be kept out of the states.

Yet another terrorist attack, this time in Turkey. Will

the world ever realize what is going on? So sad.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2016

We must do everything possible to keep this horrible terrorism outside the United States.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2016

Meanwhile, Trump's arch rival Hillary Clinton the Democratic presidential candidate, called for a deeper cooperation between the US and its allies in the Middle East.

"All Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence, she said in a statement." said Hillary in a statement.

"All Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence." Hillary pic.twitter.com/QmSccJvcV0  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 28, 2016

Paul Ryan, 54th speaker of the House expressed his support for turkey in his tweet.

Terrorism will not prevail. We stand with our ally #Turkey in the face of this heinous attack.  Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) June 28, 2016

Donald Tusk, President of European Council too condemned the attack, saying his thoughts were with the victims of the attack.

I condemn the brutal terrorist attack in #Istanbul today. My thoughts are with the victims.  Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) January 12, 2016

Francois Hollande, the French president tweeted saying "I denounce the abhorrent terrorist attack today in Istanbul, which has left at least 10 people dead and many injured."

Je denonce lodieux attentat terroriste perpetre aujourdhui a Istanbul, qui a fait au moins 10 morts et de nombreux blesses.  Francois Hollande (@fhollande) January 12, 2016

Canadian president Justin Trudeau expressed his grief for the victims and said that Canada stood by its allies in the fight against terrorism.

Canada strongly condemns tonights deadly attack in Turkey. My thoughts are with the victims as we stand with our allies against terrorism.  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) June 29, 2016

The queen of Jordan, Rania Al-Abdullah expressed her sorrow over the lives lost in the attack.

More innocent lives lost, more families torn apart... Our prayers for all #Lebanon#Istanbul#Ataturk  Rania Al Abdullah (@QueenRania) June 28, 2016



Closer to home, leaders in India too took to twitter to denounce the attacks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the attack 'inhuman and horrific' and hoped for a quick recovery of the injured.

Attack in Istanbul is inhuman & horrific. I condemn it strongly. My thoughts are with bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 29, 2016

Rahul Gandhi condemned the 'cowardly' attack in his tweet.

Shocked &deeply saddened by news of yet another terror attack in #Istanbul.Strongly condemn this cowardly attack on innocents  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) June 29, 2016

My prayers are with the families of the victims & the ppl of #Istanbul  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) June 29, 2016

Vasundhara Raje, Chief Minister of Rajasthan echoed the sentiments of her fellow leaders, saying her prayers were with those in Istanbul.

Strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Istanbul. My prayers are with the the victims and their families. #uniteagainstterror  Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) June 29, 2016

Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the world needed to unite to 'destroy such barbaric evil forces'.
AMMAN/BEIRUT U.S.-backed Syrian rebels were pushed back from the outskirts of an Islamic State-held town on the border with Iraq and a nearby air base on Wednesday after the jihadists mounted a counter- attack, two rebel sources said.

The New Syria Army rebel group had launched an operation on Tuesday aimed at capturing the town of Al-Bukamal from Islamic State and cutting supply and communications lines for the group between Syria and Iraq, the U.S. coalition fighting IS said.

One rebel source said Islamic State fighters had encircled the rebels in a surprise ambush. They had suffered heavy casualties and weapons had been seized by the jihadists, the source said.

"The news is not good. I can say our troops were trapped and suffered many casualties and several fighters were captured and even weapons were taken," he said.

A spokesman of the New Syria Army, Muzahem al Saloum, confirmed the group's fighters had retreated. "We have withdrawn to the outlying desert and the first stage of the campaign has ended," Saloum told Reuters.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the New Syria Army had been driven entirely from the province of Deir al-Zor, where Al-Bukamal is located.

Saloum said most of their fighters had returned to their base at al-Tanf, a Syrian town southwest of Al-Bukamal at the border with Iraq and in neighbouring Homs province, but that there was still fighting in the southern desert of Al-Bukamal.

Saloum said the fighters had at least succeeded in evicting IS from large swathes of desert territory around the town.

Amaq news agency, affiliated with IS, earlier said the group had killed 40 rebel fighters and captured 15 more in a counter-attack at the Hamadan air base north-west of the city.

U.S. SUPPORT

Islamic State's capture in 2014 of Al-Bukamal, just a few kilometres (miles) from the Iraqi frontier, effectively erased the border between Syria and Iraq. Losing it would be a huge symbolic and strategic blow to the cross-border "caliphate" led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The operation to recapture Al-Bukamal has come as IS faces a separate, U.S.-backed offensive in northern Syria designed to drive it away from the Turkish border.

The New Syria Army was formed some 18 months ago from insurgents driven from eastern Syria at the height of Islamic State's rapid expansion in 2014. Rebel sources say it has been trained with U.S. support.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition battling IS said the coalition was providing "advice and assistance" to the New Syria Army, and had conducted eight large air strikes on IS targets near Al-Bukamal overnight in support.

The operation, which is continuing, "limits high speed routes for reinforcements, resupply and foreign fighters flowing between the countries (Iraq and Syria), thereby increasing the pressure across the so-called caliphate," U.S. army Col. Christopher Garver said.

The U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State has moved up a gear this month, with an alliance of militias including the Kurdish YPG launching a major offensive against the militant group in the city of Manbij in northern Syria.

In Iraq, the government this week declared victory over Islamic State in Falluja.

Syrian rebel sources say the rebel force has received military training in U.S.-run camps in Jordan, but most of their training was now being conducted in a main base at al-Tanf.

The New Syria Army's base in al-Tanf was hit twice earlier this month by Russian air strikes, even after the U.S. military used emergency channels to ask Moscow to stop after the first strike, U.S. officials say.

(Reporting by Tom Perry and Suleiman Al-Khalidi; additional reporting by John Davison and Yeganeh Torbati in Washington; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Gareth Jones)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Istanbul: The attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Tuesday was the latest in such incidents at major airports in recent years. The following is a list of some of those attacks:

26 June 2016 - Three suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing at least 36 people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said.

12 June 2016 - An explosion at a check-in-area of Shanghai's main international airport injures four people. The blast at Pudong International Airport, China's second-busiest, was carried out using fireworks stuffed inside empty beer bottles.

22 March, 2016 - 16 people are killed in two suicide bombings as bombs ripped through check-in counters at Brussels Airport. The Islamic State group claims responsibility for the attack. A subsequent explosion at a Brussels subway station killed 16 more people.

7 March, 2016 - A bomb explodes in a piece of luggage at an airport in a central Somali town, wounding three people. Somalia's Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, claim responsibility for the blast.

28 December, 2015 - A suicide car bomb attack killed at least one civilian near the eastern entrance of the Kabul international airport. Another 13 civilians were wounded. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

17 August, 2015 - An explosion near Kabul's international airport appears to have been caused by a suicide car bomb. Police say a suicide car bomber struck the front gate of the airport. No causalities reported.

21 March, 2015 - A machete-wielding man attacks TSA officers at New Orleans' international airport and is shot and killed. Authorities later said he was carrying a bag loaded with Molotov cocktails. One of the TSA officers was slightly injured.

3 February, 2015 - Two explosives are defused at Cairo International Airport. Officials say one bomb was planted in the arrival hall of the terminal hosting EgyptAir. Another was planted near a police patrol location in the airport's parking lot. No one was injured.

11 December, 2013 - Car bomb explodes near a gate used by NATO troops in the northern section of the Kabul airport. The Taliban claim responsibility for the blast that caused no casualties.

20 July, 2013 - Authorities say a partly paralyzed man explodes a bomb inside Beijing Capital International Airport in hopes of winning redress over an alleged beating by public officials. He is the only person injured in the explosion.

18 July, 2012 - A bomb explodes on a bus carrying Israeli tourists at the airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, killing five of the tourists, the Bulgarian bus driver and the suicide bomber. Another 35 people are hurt. In 2014, Bulgaria's interior minister says he is convinced the Shiite militant group Hezbollah was behind the bus bombing.

27 February, 2012 - Suicide car bomber struck at the gates of Jalalabad airport in eastern Afghanistan, killing nine people. The Taliban said the attack on the airport, which serves both civilian and international military aircraft, was revenge for the burning of Muslim holy books at an American military base.

24 January, 2011 - Suicide bomber blew himself up in the international arrivals area of Moscow's Domodedovo airport, killing 37 people and wounded 180 others and was claimed by Chechen rebels. Russia's Federal Investigative Committee later identified the suicide bomber as a 20-year-old from the North Caucasus region.
ANKARA Twenty-three Turkish citizens and 13 foreign nationals were killed by suicide bombers in an attack at Istanbul's main international airport on Tuesday night, a Turkish presidential official said.

Reuters earlier reported a Ukrainian and an Iranian were among the dead. Around 150 people were wounded in the attack, which has been blamed on Islamic State militants.

Saudi media reported that among those hurt were seven Saudis, who were in good condition.

(Reporting by Dasha Afanasieva; Editing by David Dolan)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
On Tuesday, Istanbul's Ataturk Airport was targeted by a group of suspected Islamic State suicide bombers killing at least 38 people and wounding many others. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim suggested that the attack was linked to what he said was Turkey's success against Kurdish rebels as well as steps Ankara took on Monday toward mending strained ties with Israel and Russia. Turkey has suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or Islamic State group militants.

Turkey occupies a unique spot in global geopolitics and straddles between the West and Asia. In the past, Turkey has been widely criticised as being an ally of terrorism and terrorist activity because of its deliberate non-engagement/non-reaction towards fighters crossing into Syria from its borders. In Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate, Abdel Bari Atwan says that Turkey has "occupied an unenviable position of having allowed fighters and arms safe passage through its 560-mile porous borders with Syria during the civil war." Europe's Islamic State network responsible for the Paris and Brussels attacks also have moved through Turkey to join with the groups in Syria.

Turkey and Islamic State: An inside problem

Turkey and Europe also have a bittersweet relationship, according to Aaron Stein in The Islamic State in Turkey: A Deep Dive Into A Dark Place, both authorities have not been forthcoming in cooperating towards prevention of cross-border transit to and from Syria. Though Turkish authorities have made consistent efforts to crack down on Islamic State cells in the country, Stein argues that the Islamic State has well-established networks in Turkey. This too can be attributed to Turkey's lackadaisical approach towards securing its borders and ignoring the large number of foreign fighters using Turkish territory to go in and out of Syria. According to Stein, the "well-established" networks in "funnel men and material to the Syrian civil war" and cities such as Gaziantep in Turkey's western Anatolia region is where suicide vests and explosives used in the Islamic State attacks carried out in Turkey.

While such home-grown terrorism networks are not a problem unique to Turkey, according to Stein, Turkey woke up to the danger too late  the crackdown against Islamic State networks and propaganda started very late. "Radicalisation will remain a threat to Turkey," and drafting policies or signing air-base agreements with the West will not resolve it.

Turkey's change of heart

Largely, a Sunni country, Turkey has been hesitant in openly declaring war against the Islamic State ever since the most tangible attacks by the Islamic State took place in Turkey in 2013.

The Islamic State had threatened Turkey in 2013 with dire consequences  a series of suicide attacks  if Turkey wouldn't reopen its Syrian border crossings. Since then, attacks grew by the multifold and in 2014, 49 Turks were abducted by Islamic State  the Turkish government first paid the Islamic State for their return and later exchanged close to 180 militants. 2014 was seminal because Turkey officially joined forces with the US to fight against the IS  this was perhaps the first such vocal move by Turkey and a clear stand against the Islamic State. In the same year, according to Atwan, Turkey joined France and Britain to develop methods to identify returning fighters who might pose a risk at home. It is also after this that the Turkish authorities decided to arm the Kurdish population in combating the IS, despite its legacy of conflict and distrust with the Kurds.

According to Yonah Alexander, Dean Alexander in The Islamic State: Combating The Caliphate Without Borders, the Kurdish units have played a great role in fighting against the Islamic State. Perhaps, one of the reasons for Turkey's reluctance to pro-actively fight the Islamic State stems from its conflict with the Kurdish forces in Syria.

This had multiple consequences in the coming years, after a series of attacks in 2015, the Ankara bombings cost the lives of 102 people. In 2016, Wednesday's attack is the fifth such attack by the Islamic State.

Turkey, since 2014 has been clear about wanting to fight the Islamic State, despite the turmoil that persists within the country's fragile cultural and economic state. With great proximity to the Islamic State, from a geographical perspective, has greater chances of striking fatal blows to the Islamic State. It's alignment with the West and it's strong resolve to end Islamic State (owing to the three years of attacks it has had to endure because of the Islamic State) has primed Turkey as an obvious target.
PHOENIX The Obama administration is looking into whether it can challenge the Supreme Court's decision to block President Barack Obama's plan to spare millions of illegal immigrants from deportation, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Tuesday.

"We will be reviewing the case and seeing what, if anything else, we need to do in court," Lynch told Reuters in an interview.

Lynch did not say what legal options the Obama administration may pursue following a split decision by the Supreme Court justices last week that left in place a block on the executive action by a lower court.

She said any future executive actions Obama may take on immigration would be left to the White House.

In a wideranging interview on topics from gun control to the effect of the planned exit of Britain from the European Union, Lynch identified espionage from foreign nationals on U.S. companies as a "tremendous problem."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reported a 53 percent increase in cases of economic espionage between 2014 and 2015 and the majority of cases involve Chinese nationals as culprits.

Most recently, Xu Jiaqiang, 30, was charged with economic espionage and theft of trade secrets, for stealing software source code from his U.S. employer with the intent of benefiting the Chinese government.

"It is a matter of priority for us," Lynch said. "When companies or industries are preyed upon by others, be they individuals, be they state actors who literally steal the fruit of their intellectual labours, essentially they are stealing from future generations also.

Asked to comment on the impact of Britain's decision at a referendum last week to leave the European Union, Lynch said the law enforcement relationships between the United States and both Britain and the European Union would remain strong.

"We have very strong and positive relationship with law enforcement in the United Kingdom and, as of now, I do not see that changing in respect to the United Kingdom or the European Union," Lynch said.

Asked about changes that should be made in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando on June 12, Lynch did not say if the Justice Department or the Obama administration was working on more executive actions on gun control but would continue research on "smart-gun" technology.

A smart gun is one that can only be fired by the authorized user, often by requiring a palm print, in order to prevent gun theft or accidental shootings.

Thats going to be a longer-term project. One of the things that we want to make sure is that people who do own guns lawfully have a way to make sure that their family members are safe in the house with them,"

Lynch said the Justice Department is looking to see if the federal government can move smart-gun research forward, including on technology that can be used by the military.

Lynch also said that it was important for the Justice Department to look at individuals in the ongoing criminal investigation into the Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) emissions scandal.

(Editing by Alistair Bell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Los Angeles: A man in the US city of Los Angeles has married his smartphone in a church ceremony in Las Vegas, taking his cellphone love to a whole new bizarre level. Aaron Chervenak, an artist-director, drove 365 kilometres from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to take part in a typical Las Vegas wedding.

The normal wedding had one deviation - the groom Aaron donned a tux while the bride wore a protective case.

"Do you, Aaron, take this smartphone to be your lawfully wedded wife, and do you also promise to love her, honor her, comfort and keep her, and be faithful to her?" Michael Kelly owner of the Little Las Vegas Chapel told the groom.

"I do," Aaron said, and then the groom placed his wife on his left ring finger, since the wife had a nifty little ring attached to her plastic cover, Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Kelly, who has married a lot of strange couples, said, "At first it was like what? And then I was like... Alright let's do it."

Kelly said Aaron's symbolic gesture to marry his smartphone was because he wanted to make a point about how dependent people are on their phones.

"People are so connected to their phones and they live with them all the time. They go to sleep with their cell phone. They wake up with their cell phone, sometimes it's the first thing they check," Kelly said, adding that it sounds almost like marriage.

"My smartphone has been my longest relationship. We connect with our phones on so many emotional levels. We look to it for solace, to calm us down, to put us to sleep, to ease our minds," Aaron said in a YouTube video.

"To me, that's also what a relationship is about," he said.The marriage is not legally recognised by the State of Nevada.
New Delhi: A week after India failed to get entry into Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) due to China-led opposition, the US on Wednesday said one country can break consensus in the atomic trading bloc and insisted that such member should be held accountable.

US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Tom Shannon asserted that the US is committed to ensuring India's entry into the NSG while expressing "regret" that Washington was unsuccessful in making India a member of the bloc in its pleanary in Seoul last week.

"We understand that in a consensus-based organisation, one country can break consensus. But in order to do so it must be (held) accountable not isolated.

"I think what we need to do going forward is, for both of us India and the US, sit down and take a call what happened in the Seoul, take a close look at the diplomatic process which is significant and see what more we can do and how we can ensure that next time we are successful," he said during an interactive session at the Foreign Service Institute.

Calling India an "anchor of stability" in the Asia Pacifc region, US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Tom Shannon also said what China was doing in South China Sea is "madness" and it wants New Delhi to play a major role in the Indian Ocean.

Shannon said managing the rise of China was a major challenge and that the US wants to work with India to have a strong and comprehensive presence in the Indian Ocean.

Describing India a responsible and important player in the sphere of nuclear non-proliferation, Shannon said, "We are committed to having India join the Nuclear Suppliers Group. We believe that through the kind of work we have done, the civil nuclear agreement, the way India conducted itself, it is worthy of this."

On India's NSG bid, he said the US would continue to work for India's inclusion in the group.

Shannon, who met Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar earlier in the day, said India's recent entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) highlighted that the country is a "responsible and important player in the road to non-proliferation."

"We regret, in Seoul we and India, were unable to open space necessary to allow India to move into the NSG at this moment," he said.

When asked whether he thinks India will ratify the Paris climate deal before Obama administration's tenure got over and, at the same time, it will become a member of the NSG, he said "I hope so".

He said India has given a commitment to ratify the climate deal.

Shannon said that Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation was a very important symbol of friendship between the two countries.

"Just a few weeks ago, President Obama and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi welcomed the start of preparatory work on a site in Andhra Pradesh for six AP 1000 reactors to be built by an American company.

"This is expected to provide jobs in both countries and bring clean, reliable electricity that will help meet Indias growing energy needs while reducing reliance on fossil fuels," he said.
Washington: Hillary Clinton says it's "time to move on" after a congressional report on the deadly 2012 Benghazi attacks accused the Obama administration of lethal mistakes, but produced no "smoking gun" pointing to wrongdoing by the former secretary of state.

Not likely, especially in an election year with Clinton's presidential rival  Donald Trump  lashing out.

An 800-page report by a special House committee makes no direct accusations of wrongdoing by Clinton, who was secretary of state during the 11 September, 2012, attacks that killed four Americans, including US Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Still, Republicans point to Benghazi as a major failure by the administration and by Clinton during her tenure leading the State Department. The issue is likely to shadow Clinton as she continues her bid for president.

"Four Americans died, yet no one has been fired. No one even missed a paycheck," said Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "Americans - including all our men and women serving overseas - deserve better."

Clinton, now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, said the report by Republicans on the House Benghazi Committee took more than two years and $7 million but "found nothing to contradict" the findings of earlier investigations.

"I'll leave it to others to characterise this report but I think it's pretty clear it's time to move on," Clinton said a campaign stop in Denver Tuesday.

Republicans were not ready to let the issue go, especially with an election that will decide who occupies the White House and which party will control the House and Senate. The Benghazi panel has scheduled a July 8 meeting to formally adopt the report  10 days before the Republican National Convention begins in Cleveland.

Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican facing a tough re-election race, said the administration "ignored a deteriorating security situation" in Benghazi, "and the State Department disregarded repeated requests for increased security."

Trump was uncharacteristically quiet on the topic Tuesday, but he has repeatedly blamed Clinton for the deaths in Benghazi.

Even after issuing the report the committee's work is not over. On Wednesday the panel will interview a witness who posted on Facebook that he was a crew chief based in Europe on the night of the attacks. A committee spokesman said the interview would be posted on the panel's website and any information he provides can be added to the report.

Democrats called the interview ridiculous.

The Libya attacks have been political fodder from the start, given their timing in the weeks before President Barack Obama's re-election, and that has not abated despite seven previous congressional investigations. There has been finger-pointing on both sides over security at the diplomatic outpost and whether Clinton and the White House initially tried to portray the assault as a protest over an offensive, anti-Muslim video, instead of a calculated terrorist attack.

The prolonged investigation into the attacks has also been marked by partisan sniping. Republicans accuse the administration of stonewalling important documents and witnesses, while Democrats say the panel's primary goal is to undermine Clinton's presidential bid.

Republican insistence that the investigation was not politically motivated was undermined last year when House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., suggested that the committee could take credit for Clinton's then-slumping poll numbers. His statements helped dash McCarthy's chances of becoming House Speaker.

The committee interviewed more than 100 witnesses and reviewed some 75,000 pages of documents, but an almost accidental discovery by the panel last year has shadowed Clinton's candidacy. The committee disclosed that she had used a private email server to conduct government business while serving as secretary of state, a practice that has drawn widespread scrutiny, including an FBI investigation.

Already bitterly partisan, Tuesday's release of the report exposed divisions within Republican ranks.

Mike Pompeo of Kansas and Jim Jordan of Ohio issued a separate report slamming Clinton and the Obama administration, with Pompeo telling reporters that the former first lady and senator was "morally reprehensible." Clinton's public comments casting the attack as a possible protest over the anti-Muslim video differed sharply from her private assessments to family members and diplomats, Jordan and Pompeo said.

The panel's chairman, Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., deflected questions, saying the report "is not about one person."

The GOP report severely criticises the military, CIA and administration officials for their response as the attacks unfolded, and their subsequent explanations to the American people.

Hours after the attacks began, "Not a single wheel of a single US military asset had even turned toward Libya," Gowdy complained. US military leaders told the committee they thought an evacuation was imminent, slowing any response.
Ottawa: President Barack Obama on Wednesday offered US security assistance to Turkey after 41 people were killed in a suicide assault on Istanbul airport, the latest in a string of attacks to rock the US ally.

Obama telephoned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "to express his deep condolences on behalf of the American people," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters travelling with the US leader to a summit in Ottawa.

"In the context of that call, he will offer any support that the Turks can benefit from as they conduct this investigation and take steps to further strengthen the security situation in their country. Any information that we obtain that could be useful to the Turkish investigation, we will certainly share that information," he added.

Earnest did not indicate whether Turkey had officially sought US assistance following the latest attack.

The United States earlier condemned as "heinous" Tuesday's bombing and gun assault on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport and pledged steadfast support for its NATO ally.

The assault, which comes at the start of Turkey's crucial tourist season, was the latest in a wave of attacks in Istanbul and the capital Ankara blamed it on Islamic State (IS) jihadists or Kurdish rebels.

Earnest, like Turkey, pointed the finger of blame at IS for the newest atrocity.

"We've made important progress in Iraq and in Syria against IS," he said using an alternate acronym for the group.

"But we continue to be concerned by the ability that IS has to carry out these kind of terrorist attacks, not just in Iraq and Syria but in other places."

Earnest said Obama would have a chance to meet with Erdogan "in some setting" when he travels to Warsaw for the upcoming NATO summit on 8-9 July.

He said the attacks were certain to be raised Wednesday in Ottawa, where Obama joins Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto for a so-called "Three Amigos" summit.

"This is something that will certainly be on the minds of all three North American leaders," Earnest said.
OTTAWA U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he expects the world economy will be steady in the short run after Britain's decision to leave the European Union but expressed concern about longer term global growth.

Obama, appearing at a North American summit with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, said there have been reactions in markets, stock prices and currencies since last Thursday's so-called Brexit vote.

Preparations by central banks, finance ministers and the U.S. treasury secretary helped ensure the global economy will hold steady in the short term, he said at a news conference.

"I think there are some genuine longer term concerns about global growth if in fact Brexit goes through and that freezes the possibilities of investment in Great Britain or in Europe as a whole," Obama said. "At a time when global growth rates were weak already, this doesn't help."

The U.S. president, who had openly sided with British Prime Minister David Cameron against Brexit, said the leaders of G20 nations, who will meet in China this year, will have to work to boost global demand and fortify the global economy.

Obama said that, while the special relationship between Britain and the United States will endure, that country's absence from the EU would "make it harder for us to solve some of the other challenges that have to be solved."

He said his main message to Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders involved in the Brexit would be: "Everybody should catch their breath, come up with a plan and a process that is orderly, that's transparent, that people understand and then proceed, understanding that both sides have a stake in getting this right.

"And I think that will be a difficult, challenging process but it does not need to be a panicky process."

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Tom Brown and James Dalgleish)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Islamabad: Pakistan on Wednesday strongly condemned the terror attack at Ataturk airport in Turkish capital that killed at least 36 people, terming it as "mindless act of terrorism."

"We condemn this mindless act of terrorism in the strongest possible terms. We offer our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the bereaved families and to the brotherly people and government of Turkey," the Foreign Office said.

"We also pray for the speediest and fullest recovery of those wounded in this despicable attack," it said.

Pakistan reiterates its condemnation of terrorism in all forms and manifestations, it said.

"Like always, we stand in strong solidarity with the fraternal people of Turkey in their fight against terrorism. There is no doubt that this scourge would be decisively defeated with Turkey's iron will and unshakeable resolve," it added.

Suspected Islamic State suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing at least 36 people and wounding many others.
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday greeted the people of Democratic Republic of Congo on their National Day and said that bilateral engagement with the central African nation have expanded.

"I have the pleasure to convey warm greetings and felicitations to you and to the friendly people of the Democratic Republic of Congo on the occasion of your National Day," Mukherjee said in a message to DR Congo's President Joseph Kabila Kabange.

Our engagement has expanded steadily in recent years, particularly in the areas of trade and development cooperation," he said in a statement issued.

"I am confident that our close and friendly relations will continue to strengthen in the years ahead".

Democratic Republic of Congo is a central African country and celebrates its National Day on 30 June.
New Delhi: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is all set to embark on a week-long visit to the United Kingdom where he will address a gathering of Hindus from Britain and Europe in London towards the end of July.

The Sangh views the event as one that would bring together the Hindu community and reflect its growing influence in various parts of the world.

The event has been organised by the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), which is engaged in promoting the Hindu community in the UK, to mark its Golden Jubilee. It will be the first time Bhagwat that will address a 'Mahashivir' (mega camp) of volunteers in the UK who draw inspiration from the Sangh.

"This is the first time that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat would address such a big gathering of Hindus in UK. The programme is of HSS, which draws inspiration from the RSS. The event is being organised by the Hindu community to help connect the new generation with the country's cultural heritage, besides helping them promote community and social work that showcases the Hindu model to the world," all-India RSS Communications in-charge Manmohan Vaidya told PTI.

"The event will see coming together of Hindus across UK and Europe. Such events help the new generation connect with their cultural heritage. It also helps them do social and community work, presenting a perfect model of the Hindu-family in each society to the outside world," he added.

The proposed meeting comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's several interactions with the Indian diaspora during his foreign visits.

The three-day event, to be held from 29 to 31 July at Hertfordshire County Show Ground near Luton on the outskirts of London, will herald the beginning of the year-long golden jubilee celebrations of the HSS, which runs over 100 family 'shakhas' across the United Kingdom which are attended even by women.

The theme of the gathering is Sanskaar (values of life), Sewa (selfless service) and Sangathan (community spirit).
ISTANBUL Three suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up in the main international airport in Istanbul on Tuesday, killing 31 people and wounding close to 150, officials said.

Police fired shots to try to stop two of the attackers just before they reached a security checkpoint at the arrivals hall at Ataturk airport, Europe's third-busiest, but they detonated their explosives, one of the officials said.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said 31 people were killed and 147 wounded, according to Turkish broadcasters. Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said authorities believed there were three suicide bombers, an account corroborated by witnesses.

A Turkish official said the vast majority of those killed were Turkish nationals but foreigners were also among the dead.

"There was a huge explosion, extremely loud. The roof came down. Inside the airport it is terrible, you can't recognise it, the damage is big," said Ali Tekin, who was at the arrivals hall waiting for a guest when the attack took place.

A woman named Duygu, who was at passport control having just arrived from Germany, said she threw herself onto the floor with the sound of the explosion. Several witnesses also reported hearing gunfire shortly before the attacks.

"Everyone started running away. Everywhere was covered with blood and body parts. I saw bullet holes on the doors," she said outside the airport.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest in a string of suicide bombings in Turkey this year, but the Dogan news agency said initial indications suggested Islamic State may have been responsible, citing police sources.

A Turkish official said it was too soon to assign blame.

The attack bore some similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March which killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital.

Paul Roos, 77, described seeing one of the attackers "randomly shooting" on the departures floor of the terminal.

"He was just firing at anyone coming in front of him. He was wearing all black. His face was not masked. I was 50 metres (55 yards) away from him," said Roos, a South African on his way back to Cape Town with his wife after a holiday in southern Turkey.

"We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Roos told Reuters.

"He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over."

"COULD HAVE BEEN ANYWHERE"

President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against militant groups.

"The attack, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorism strikes with no regard for faith and values," he said in a statement.

"The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world," he said, urging all governments to join forces against terrorism.

Speaking in parliament earlier, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said initial reports suggested one attacker had initially opened fire with a Kalashnikov then detonated explosives.

Ataturk is Turkey's largest airport and a major transport hub for international travellers. Pictures posted on social media from the site showed wounded people lying on the ground inside and outside one of the terminal buildings.

A helicopter buzzed overhead as police evacuated the building. Dozens of passengers walked back down access roads with their luggage, trying to hail cabs. The U.S. embassy urged U.S citizens to avoid the area.

FLIGHTS HALTED

Authorities halted the takeoff of scheduled flights from the airport and passengers were transferred to hotels, a Turkish Airlines official said. Earlier an airport official said some flights to the airport had been diverted.

The airport will be closed for up to 48 hours, Turkey told one foreign government.

In the United States, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reacted to the explosions by putting armed, high-visibility patrols at the three main airports in the New York metropolitan region.

Turkey has suffered a spate of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State, and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group.

In the most recent attack, a car bomb ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul during the morning rush hour, killing 11 people and wounding 36 near the main tourist district, a major university and the mayor's office.

Turkey, which is part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, is also fighting Kurdish militants in its largely Kurdish southeast.

One person was killed on Dec. 23, 2015, when an explosion hit Istanbul's second airport, Sabiha Gokcen, located on the Asian side of the city. That attack was claimed by a Kurdish militant group.

(Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley, Asli Kandemir and Istanbul bureau; Writing by David Dolan and Nick Tattesall; Editing by Gareth Jones and Bill Rigby)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: The US should adopt a policy of "total isolation" against Pakistan to send a signal that it faces the prospect of becoming a "second North Korea" if it continues destabilising Afghanistan by supporting the Taliban and Haqqani network, a former top American diplomat has said.

"In the aftermath of the US drone attack killing Taliban leader Mullah Mansour, this is the time to increase the pressure by suspending all assistance to Pakistan  military and civilian  and move towards isolating Pakistan internationally, including not supporting IMF renewal of financial support," Zalmay Khalilzad, a former top American diplomat in the Bush Administration, told PTI.

Khalilzad, who played a key role America's policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iraq after 9/11 terror attack, said the US should adopt a policy of "total isolation" against Pakistan.

Such a policy, he argued would send a signal to Pakistan that it faces the prospect of becoming a "second North Korea" unless it changes its course on Afghanistan.

Khalilzad was the highest ranking Muslim American in the history of the United States. He was the US Ambassador to the United Nations under President George W Bush. He also served as the US ambassador to Afghanistan and headed the countrys diplomatic mission in Iraq.

"If Pakistan truly changes course, then the US should be willing to be supportive in a significant way. But we have to substantially escalate the cost of Pakistan's hostile policy in Afghanistan," he said.

Khalilzad also called for retaining the current level of forces in Afghanistan and more flexible rules of engagement for US forces until the next President reviews the situation in Afghanistan and decides on a new policy.

"While there are some potential risks in isolating Pakistan, there are real risks with continuing the current course in Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said and called for having a contingency plan to deal with the nuclear scenario risks.

"In fact (US forces) being in Afghanistan would help in addressing such challenges promptly," he said.

"The choice we have made hasn't really worked for the last 15 years in terms of changing Pakistan's two-faced policy. The time has come to adjust that policy. In my view a better option is international isolation of Pakistan," Khalilzad argued.

"The role that Pakistan has played....is that of a double game. It has signalled on the one hand that it wants to be helpful to the United States in fighting terrorism and stabilising Afghanistan. But on the other hand, in reality, it has been energetically supporting the Taliban and the Haqqani network to achieve the very opposite.

That has been the essence of the Pakistan policy on Afghanistan," he said.

Noting that Pakistan's Afghan policy is determined by the Army and the ISI, Khalilzad said that the reason for such a policy is that they believe that by supporting the Taliban and the Haqqani network, they can achieve the goal of dominating Afghanistan.

"An alternative explanation is that the status quo of an unstable Afghanistan with ongoing fighting, in which they have relationship with the Taliban and the Haqqani network and key players, is seen by Pakistan as favorable to its interests.

"In my view they want peace and stability in Afghanistan only if the country is controlled by a group, such as the Taliban and the Haqqani network which they control or have strong influence over," he claimed.

"Pakistan is the landlord and the Taliban is living in the house that Pakistan owns. This gives them huge leverage.

Actually the relationship is even stronger than a landlord and tenant. It is one of sponsor and sponsorees," he said.

Currently, chairman of the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center's Advisory Board, and president of Gryphon Partnerson, Khalilzad will deliver a talk on his new book 'The Envoy: From Kabul to the White House, My Journey Through a Turbulent World' at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi on 1 July.
MONESSEN, Pennsylvania/WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to force Canada and Mexico to renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement with the United States if elected, as part of an effort to protect and restore American jobs.

Trump criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement as a U.S. job killer, saying he would be willing to scrap the pact if Canada and Mexico were unwilling to budge. He also tried to link Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to the deal on the eve of a meeting in Ottawa of the "three amigos," the leaders of the three NAFTA signatories: the United States, Mexico and Canada.

In his most detailed speech on trade, the presumptive Republican nominee said he would pull the United States out of negotiations for a deal among 12 Pacific Rim nations and promised to use executive power to resolve trade disputes with China.

Trump also pledged to revive the U.S. steel and aluminium industry, speaking at an aluminium scrap company in Monessen, Pennsylvania, nearly 30 miles (50 km) south of Pittsburgh, the one-time American steelmaking capital.

Trump has identified Pennsylvania as a state he believes he can wrest from the Democrats in the Nov. 8 election. He also campaigned on Tuesday in Ohio, which like Pennsylvania is a Rust Belt state.

Democratic President Barack Obama won both states in 2008 and 2012, but manufacturing job losses have led to voter anxiety in the region.

"I'm going tell our NAFTA partners that I intend to immediately renegotiate the terms of that agreement to get a better deal for our workers. And I don't mean just a little bit better, I mean a lot better," Trump said in Pennsylvania.

If Canada and Mexico do not agree to renegotiate the pact, Trump said he would notify them under the agreement's terms "that America intends to withdraw from the deal."

He tried to tie his Democratic rival to the pact, approved in 1993 during the administration of her husband, President Bill Clinton, as he called NAFTA one of the "worst legacies" of the Clinton years.

On MSNBC after Trump's speech, Clinton spokeswoman Kristina Schake called the wealthy New York businessman the "king of outsourcing," in an apparent reference to Trump-branded products such as suits and ties made overseas.

"It was full of hypocrisy and misstatements and outright lies," Schake said.

Trade has been a vulnerability for Clinton, who struggled for white, blue-collar votes in her Democratic primary race against U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who criticized her for supporting trade deals and said she was too close to Wall Street.

TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP

Trump echoed Sanders' criticism on Tuesday, saying Clinton supported the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, while she was secretary of state and only opposed it once she was running for president. Clinton's campaign said she opposed the agreement because it was not strong enough on currency manipulation and other areas.

Clinton has said she will evaluate each trade deal on its merits but does not believe the TPP is good for U.S. workers. Sanders now says he will vote for Clinton in November, although he has not formally withdrawn from the race.

Trump said he saw no way to fix the TPP, calling it a "death blow" for American manufacturing. Although China is not part of the agreement, Trump said Beijing might try to enter it "through the back door" later on.

Later, during a rally in St. Clairsville, Ohio, Trump said the deal was "just a continuing rape of our country."

Just hours before Trump spoke, Clinton allies sought to pre-empt the planned trade speech by saying Trump's policies amounted to empty promises.

Earlier, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told a trade conference in Washington that "Trump embodies everything that is wrong with our current trade policy. He has consistently sent American jobs overseas to line his own pockets."

The AFL-CIO, which collectively represents more than 12 million workers, making it the largest U.S. labour federation, endorsed Clinton this month.

POPULIST ANGER

Both Clinton and Trump have acknowledged that Britain's vote to leave the European Union signalled a global economic frustration among working-class voters that could reverberate in the U.S. election.

"There is a lot of legitimate anxiety, fear and even anger in many parts of our country because people feel like the economy has failed them," Clinton said in Denver on Tuesday. "I think this is going to be one of the defining issues in this election."

Trump has seized on the historic Brexit vote to bolster his argument that voters are rising up against establishment leaders, saying Americans would reject the "global elite" and support his presidential candidacy.

But Trump has broken with Republican Party orthodoxy in criticizing trade deals, and has threatened to slap tariffs on Mexican and Chinese imports. His rhetoric has drawn criticism from many economists, who say such practices could spark trade wars.

As Trump spoke, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is usually in sync with prominent Republicans on trade policy, said on Twitter: "Under Trump's trade plans, we would see higher prices, fewer jobs, and a weaker economy."

(Additional reporting by Adam DeRose and Alana Wise; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
TUNIS A Tunisian military doctor seeking to retrieve his son who had joined Islamic State in Syria was among those killed in Tuesday's suicide attack by militants at Istanbul airport, a security sources said on Wednesday.

Three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers opened fire and blew themselves up in Istanbul's main airport on Tuesday evening, killing 41 people and wounding 239 in the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings this year in Turkey.

The Tunisian Defence Ministry confirmed that Brigadier General Fathi Bayoudh, a military hospital doctor, was among those killed. A senior security source and local media said he had been in Turkey to try and convince his son to leave Islamic State.

"Bayoudh travelled to Turkey in an effort to meet his son, who joined the Islamic State in Syria a few months ago with his girlfriend," the Tunisian security source said.

The source said the son had now been detained by Turkish troops on the border with Syria.

"Bayoudh's son travelled with his girlfriend who studied with him at the Faculty of Medicine a few months ago, which prompted several attempts by his father to persuade him to return," the source said.

Several local Tunisian newspapers online and radio also cited other security sources saying Bayoudh was in Turkey to met his son to try to persuade him to come home.

Tunisia has become a model of democratic reform in the Arab world since its 2011 uprising against autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. But it is also one of the largest sources of foreign fighters for Islamist groups in Iraq and Syria.

Government officials estimate more than 3,500 Tunisians have left to fight for Islamic State and other groups in Syria, Iraq and Libya, some in command positions. Some are recruited from impoverished areas in the North African nation, but others are professionals and graduates recruited online by jihadists.

(Reporting by Tarek Amara; editing by Patrick Markey and Gareth Jones)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
WASHINGTON U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials are monitoring the situation after attacks at Turkey's main Istanbul airport and have been in touch with U.S. and international counterparts, a department spokeswoman said.

The department and its partners "routinely adapt both seen and unseen security measures in order to counter evolving threats," spokeswoman Marsha Catron added.





(Reporting by Diona Chiacu; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chris Reese)

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Washington: Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has said the terror attack in Turkey is a reminder that the US can't retreat from this part of the world and needs to deepen co-operation with allies in the Middle East and Europe to take on this threat.

"Today's attack in Istanbul only strengthens our resolve to defeat the forces of terrorism and radical jihadism around the world. And it reminds us that the United States cannot retreat," Clinton said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We must deepen our cooperation with our allies and partners in the Middle East and Europe to take on this threat," she said adding that such cooperation is essential to protecting homeland and keeping the country safe.

"Yet another terrorist attack, this time in Turkey. Will the world ever realize what is going on? So sad," Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump tweeted.

"We must do everything possible to keep this horrible terrorism outside the United States," Trump said.

In a statement, the Trump campaign said the terrorist threat has never been greater.

"Our enemies are brutal and ruthless and will do anything to murder those who do not bend to their will. We must take steps now to protect America from terrorists, and do everything in our power to improve our security to keep America safe," the Trump campaign said.

Former Republican presidential candidate and Florida Senator Marco Rubio said the US stands with ally Turkey in condemning this attack.

"We stand ready to assist them as we learn more about the perpetrators responsible for this," he said.

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer said the attack in Istanbul was a heinous assault on a key US ally, and the Turkish people should know with certainty that the American people stand in solidarity with them in this difficult hour.

"Whenever terrorists attack a major global transit point, as they did a few months ago in Brussels and again today in Istanbul, they seek to erect barriers of fear that divide the free nations of the world. But we will not be divided," Hoyer said.

"We will stand together to meet the challenge of groups like ISIS, which represent the antithesis of our most important values - democracy, individual freedom, and opportunity for all," he said.
Washington: Despite strained US-Iranian ties, US Secretary of State John Kerry has praised Tehran for being helpful in the mission to stamp out the Islamic State terror group in Iraq.

Asked if Irans influence in Iraq was more helpful or more harmful at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, Kerry gave an unexpected response.

Look, we have challenges with Iran as everybody knows and we are working on those challenges, RT online quoted Kerry as saying.

But I can tell you that Iran in Iraq has been in certain ways helpful, and they clearly are focused on IS, and so we have a common interest, actually."

Islamic States power has been on the wane in Iraq, particularly in the volatile Anbar province, where a coordinated effort by Iraqi ground forces and American air power has weakened it.

The Americans believe that cooperation between Tehran and Washington can only go as far as fighting the IS, each for its own ends.

The US has also accused Iran of helping the Americans in Iraq in order to quietly secure a route to its allies in Syria.

The Obama Administration is currently split on some key issues regarding Tehran. The US Treasury and State departments are at odds over just how much financial support Iran should be entitled to following the recent landmark nuclear deal.
Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-EU UK Independence Party, on Tuesday told a jeering European Parliament that he had had the last laugh after Britain defied their warnings and voted to quit the EU.

He did not just earn the hatred of the EU members but was also rebuked by the chairman.

Let's sit back, relax and read his audacious speech which might have turned most members of the EU against him:

"Funny isnt it? Funny isnt it?"

"Thank you very much for that very warm welcome."

"Funny, isnt it? When I came here 17 years ago and I said that I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the EU, you all laughed at me. Well I have to say, youre not laughing now, are you? And the reason youre so upset, the reason youre so angry has been perfectly clear form all the angry exchanges this morning  you as a political project are in denial. Youre in denial that your currency is failing, just look at the Mediterranean, as a policy to impose poverty on Greece and the rest of the Mediterranean youve done very well and youre in denial over Mrs Merkels call last year for as many people as possible to cross the Mediterranean into the EU has led to massive divisions between countries and within countries."

"But the biggest problem youve got and the main reason the UK voted the way that it did is you have, by stealth, by deception, without ever telling the truth to the British or the rest of the people of Europe, you have imposed upon them a political union and when the people in 2005 in the Netherlands and France voted against that political union when they rejected the constitution, you simply ignored them and brought the Lisbon Treaty in through the back door."

"What happened last Thursday was a remarkable result, it was indeed a seismic result, not just for British politics, for European politics but perhaps even for global politics too because what the little people did, what the ordinary people did, what the people who have been oppressed over the last few years and see their living standards go down - they rejected the multinationals, they rejected the merchant banks, they rejected big politics and they said, actually, we want our country back, we want our fishing waters back, we want our borders back, we want to be an independent self-governing, normal nation and that is what we have done and that is what must happen. And in doing so we now offer a beacon of hope to democrats across the rest of the European continent. Ill make one prediction this morning - the UK will not be the last member state to leave the EU."

"The question is what do we do next  it is up to the British government to invoke Article 50 and I have to say I dont think we should take too long in doing it. I totally agree, Mr Juncker, that the British people have voted, we need to make sure that it happens."

"But what I would like to see is a grown-up and sensible attitude to how we negotiate a different relationship. I know that virtually none of you have ever done a proper job in your lives or worked in business or worked in trade or, indeed, ever created a job, but listen, just listen."

"Youre quite right Mr Schulz, Ukip used to protest against the establishment and now the establishment protests against Ukip, so something has happened here. Let us listen to some simple, pragmatic economics."

"We between us, between your countries and my country we do an enormous amount of business in goods and services, that trade is mutually beneficial to both of us, that trade matters  if you were to decide to cut off your noses to spite your faces and reject any idea of a sensible trade deal the consequences would be far worse for you than it would be for us. Even no deal is better for the United Kingdom than the current rotten deal weve got, but if we were to ,move to a position where tariffs were reintroduced on products like motor cars then hundreds of thousands of German workers would risk losing their jobs."

"Why dont we just be pragmatic, sensible, grown-up, realistic and lets cut between us a sensible, tariff-free deal and thereafter recognise that the UK will be your friend, that we will trade with you, we will co-operate with you, we will be your best friends in the world but do that, do it sensible and allow us to go off and pursue our global ambitions and future. Thank you."

With inputs from AFP.
MEXICO, D.F.  InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), one of the world's leading hotel companies, and Mexican-based Alkoer announce a joint venture to develop two Staybridge Suites hotels in the cities of Irapuato and Silao, both in the state of Guanajuato.

The Staybridge Suites Irapuato hotel will be located eight miles north of downtown Irapuato along Federal Highway 45 and in close proximity to the Marabis Plaza, home to retail and food and beverage outlets. The Staybridge Suites Silao hotel will be situated in the Guanajuato Inland Port, the main business park in the Bajio region, and next to the Del Bajio International Airport. Both nine-story hotels are slated to open in late 2017.

German Ongay, RVP Franchise Sales & Development Mexico, IHG said: We are extremely pleased to continue to grow the Staybridge Suites brand in Mexico. The brand is designed to create a warm and social environment for travelers who are away from home for weeks or months at a time and we will be able to provide home-like accommodations and amenities for those visiting both Irapuato and Silao."

The Staybridge Suites brand is designed for business and leisure travelers who are spending an extended time away from home for business, relocation or leisure. Both 120-room properties in Irapuato and Silao will each feature a mix of 84 studios, 24 one-bedroom suites and 12 two-bedroom suites and will provide guests with amenities such as a complimentary, daily American-style hot breakfast buffet and The Social  the Staybridge Suites brand's complimentary evening reception. These properties will have on-site guest laundry facilities, 24-hour fitness and business centers, home theater, an outdoor swimming pool and outdoor living room with barbecue and fire pit.

The hotels are part of a joint venture between Alkoer and IHG and will be managed by an affiliate of IHG. In Mexico, Staybridge Suites hotels are located in Chihuahua,Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Queretaro, and San Luis Potosi. The Staybridge Suites brand participates in IHG's hotel rewards program, IHG Rewards Club. The industry's first and largest hotel rewards program is free to join by enrolling at www.IHGRewardsClub.com, by downloading the IHG App, by calling 1-888-211-9874 or by inquiring at the front desk of any of IHG's more than 5,000 hotels worldwide. Guests can also book a green hotel stay at any of our IHG Green Engage enrolled hotels.

About IHG

IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good.

With a family of 17 hotel brands and IHG Rewards, one of the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries, and a further 1,800 in the development pipeline.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 350,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.

Visit us online for more about our hotels and reservations and IHG Rewards. For our latest news, visit our Newsroom and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Neil Hirsch

IHG

+1 770 604 5775

IHG
Autograph Collection Hotels, Marriott International's growing collection of strikingly independent hotels, welcomes its second property in Greece, with the launch of Domes Noruz. The new adults-only hotel, set to be one of the world's most exciting new resorts, is opening 20 July 2016 in the extraordinary destination of Chania.

Domes Noruz

Sister hotel to the legendary Domes of Elounda, the Domes Noruz Chania, Autograph Collection is an 83 room and suites, adults-only, beachfront boutique hotel. Like its sister hotel, Domes Noruz joins Autograph Collection, an evolving ensemble of strikingly independent hotels. Each destination has been selected for its quality, bold originality, rich character and uncommon details, created for the traveller seeking an escape from the predictable. This brand new Exactly Like Nothing Else experiential hotel in Chania, complete with a buzzy atmosphere, will be a must visit destination for the couple, or the group of friends, that likes to relax and have fun in chic, ultra-stylish surroundings.

The spell-binding city of Chania plays host to this thrilling new venture. Located on the northwest coast of Crete, this is one of the Mediterranean's 'must sees' and a hot new destination for UK travelers, with direct flights from London's Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, as well as most other UK's major airports. Lively Chania will charm you from the moment you arrive, inviting you to explore its captivating streets and endless hidden treasures. With its utterly enchanting Venetian harbor and lighthouse, its Riviera-rivaling beaches, and a seamless blend of Ottoman, Venetian and Greek architecture, the old town is just 10-minute drive from the hotel and is sure to be a magnet for guests. Explore the cobbled streets of the old town where you will unearth delicious local cafes and exquisite restaurants. Its waterfront and promenade come alive at night with bars, clubs and restaurants and Aghia Marina, complete with flowing champagne, stylish pool parties and a beautiful and affluent set, offers an incredible choice of all day beach bars and night clubs. For those seeking culture, Chania is also steeped in history and the best place if guests want to visit Polyrinia, one of the most fortified towns in ancient Greece, as well as being home to an historic market and impressive Archaeological Museum.

Domes Noruz Chania, with sporting clean lines, splashes of vibrant colors and a striking design, is an exclusive 'All Adult' hotel offering a bright and airy ambience, exuding a cool and romantic feel. Its adults only status, allows for a holiday of privacy, intimacy and exclusivity, but with nightlife and cultural attractions easily accessible. Domes Noruz's modern thinking and open mind invites all guests to enjoy this new and elegant hotel.

Room options include those with spectacular pool and sea views as well as private outdoor baths or plunge pools, most looking out onto a wide swath of naturally sanded beachfront on the lapis Cretan Sea. The architecture is breath taking, inspired by the Venetian heritage of the old town of Chania, made of eye-pleasing Cretan sandstone. And all details here have been carefully considered with delightful touches everywhere, such as mini Smeg fridges and other luxurious surprises.

Domes Noruz embraces the past and the present of Chania, by building on its inherent charisma and introducing a fresh, contemporary opportunity for design-savvy guests to enjoy each and every moment in their own way. The word 'Noruz' means 'new light' and with this, the play of sunlight and the ever-changing sky will become a focal point throughout the style, interiors and architecture of the property.Domes Noruz doesn't want to merely host guests, but to curate the holiday they've been dreaming of. A strong sense of locality fused with the highest standards of hospitality and a well-researched touch of innovation, here it's about creating once in a lifetime, tailor-made experiences - whether that be fine cocktails with unexpected local ingredients, to late night events at the Domes Noruz's sandy beach under the moonlight and helicopter rides at the breathtaking UNESCO protected 'Samaria Gorge'.

Wellness is deeply a part of the philosophy here. The beautiful seaside with stunning ocean views are ideal for private yoga lessons. Thoughtful touches have been added throughout such as preloaded (in room) MP3 players with uplifting music, with the emphasis on creating the right setting and anticipating every guests need.

The inviting spa is a haven of serenity and tranquility. With design inspired by traditional local embroidery and fabrics, this calming space is dominated by a soothing shade of sky blue. Intentionally sub-lit, with diffused, indirect lighting to sustain a sense of relaxation, it offers the latest in natural massage and experiences, while using organic herbs from the island. The pool area and the juice bar nearby are just two of the highlights.

The hotel's hotly anticipated opening of restaurant Zeen will offer delectable Cretan cuisine with international accents  all lead by the acclaimed, award-winning chef, Doxis Bekris. A dynamic, modern all day restaurant and bar with different deli corners during breakfast, such as a bakery display and a vitality bar, this vibrant space puts an emphasis on local produce and organic ingredients, while adding an international flair to beloved Cretan recipes. Chef Bekris' talent has lead him to work in places such as Dubai, New York, Italy, Japan, Zambia, Zurich and Kenya and brings with him a very cosmopolitan and current approach to food. The rooftop Raw Bar and The N Bar at Domes Noruz Chania are both sleek and stylish, offering guests an extensive selection of exciting and innovative cocktails.

George P. Spanos, Vice-president of Ledra Hotels and Villas SA (owning and managing company of DomesNoruz Chania) commented, ''We added our own touch of aesthetics to make accommodation at DomesNoruz Chania a unique experience. From the initial design to completion, our team has been working at creating an innovative, boutique and fresh property. These elements which will be seen throughout the property will be further enhanced by the spectacular destination of Chania.''

Commenting on this new addition to Autograph Collection, John Licence, brand leader for Autograph Collection Hotels in Europe, says: "We are delighted to welcome the luxurious Domes Noruz as our second Greek and Mediterranean resort into the Collection. As the portfolio grows in Greece, in a country where Autograph Collection has been so well received with Domes of Elounda, we believe that Domes NoruzChania truly embodies the philosophy of our collection by showcasing unique attributes ensuring that the brand's offering is nothing short of exactly like nothing else."

Taking the very best of an incredible location and elevating it to the highest levels in hospitality is whatDomes Noruz Chania, Autograph Collection will do this July. It is without question the perfect setting for a holiday that is sure to create a host of wonderful memories, to be savoured for years to come.

About Marriott International

Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) is based in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and encompasses a portfolio of more than 8,100 properties under 30 leading brands spanning 139 countries and territories. Marriott operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts all around the world. The company offers Marriott Bonvoy, its highly awarded travel program. Connect with us on Facebook and @MarriottIntl on Twitter and Instagram.

Claire Mans

+44 (0) 208 878 1008

Marriott
Durham, New Hampshire USA  Business activity for US hoteliers declined to a reading of 116.0 in May according to today's release of the Hotel Industry's Pulse (HIP) indicator. eforecasting.com's HIP - a predictive analytic which gauges monthly overall business conditions for hotels earlier than any industry indicator - fell by 0.3% in May after a decline of 0.1% in April. The index is set to equal 100 in 2010.

HIP's six-month growth rate, which has historically confirmed the turning points in US hotel business activity, posted a negative rate of 0.7% in May, following a negative rate of 0.1% in April. This compares to a long-term annual growth rate of 2%, the same as the 40-year average annual growth rate of the industry's gross domestic product.

US Hoteliers in Recession Mode Photo by e-forecasting.com

The probability of the hotel industry being in recession, which is detected in real-time from HIP with the help of sophisticated statistical techniques, registered 59.7 % in May, up from 51.8% reported in April. When this recession-warning gauge is near or passes the threshold probability of 50%, the US hotel industry has entered a recession.

"In the last seven months, monthly growth rates in HIP posted zero or negative numbers" said Maria Sogard, CEO of eforecasting.com. "Particularly in May, HIP declined by 0.3%, or an annualized decline of 3.6%; such a decline was last seen in May 2009 during the great recession," Maria added.

US Hoteliers in Recession Mode Photo by e-forecasting.com

None of the demand and supply indicators of current business activity that make up Hotel Industry's Pulse (HIP) Index had a positive contribution to its change in May. The three indicators of current business activity which had a negative or zero contribution to HIP's change in May were Hotel Jobs; Total Spending on Hotels (includes non-room revenues); Hotel Capacity;

"Two turning-point predictive analytics, recession probabilities and the long-term growth rate, show underlying trends indicative to a recession for US hoteliers. The probability of recession passed the 50% threshold, and the six-month growth rate hit negative readings for a second month in a row," said Evangelos Simos, professor at University of New Hampshire and research advisor for predictive analytics at e-forecasting.com.

US Hoteliers in Recession Mode Photo by e-forecasting.com

The latest HIP reading will be used to update e-forecasting.com's total US Monthly Hotel Forecast as well as market level forecasts for the top 25 US markets. The firm also covers EMEA markets via a partnership with HotStats with hotel market profitability forecasts. For more information on these forecasts which include two-year predictions of occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, online ADR, room profitability and predictive analytics for investing in hotel properties, email us at [email protected]forecasting.com with subject: UShotelforecast.

About HIP

The Hotel Industry Pulse, or HIP for short, is a hotel industry indicator that was created to fill the void of a real-time monthly indicator for the hotel industry that captures current conditions. The indicator provides useful information about the timing and degree of the industry"s link with the US business cycle for the last four decades. Simply put, it tracks monthly overall business conditions in the industry, like an industry GDP, and points in a timely way to the changes in direction from growth to recession or vice versa. The composite indicator is made with the following components: revenues from consumers staying at hotels and motels adjusted for inflation, room occupancy rate and hotel employment, along with other key economic factors which influence hotel business activity.

About e-forecasting.com

e-forecasting.com, an international economic research and consulting firm, offers forecasts of the economic environment using proprietary, real-time economic indicators to produce customized solutions for what"s next. eforecasting.com collaborates with domestic and international clients and publications to provide timely economic content for use as predictive intelligence to strengthen its clients" competitive advantage.

Maria Simos Sogard

Chief Executive Officer

+011 (603) 868-7436

e-forecasting.com
Millions of U.S. travelers flying during the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend will face heightened security and increased delays due to the deadly attacks at Istanbul's main airport, officials and air security experts said Wednesday.

Airport officials were hesitant to reveal specific safety measures taken following Tuesday's attacks by suspected Islamic State militants, which killed 42 people and wounded nearly 250 at Europe's third-busiest airport, but increased vigilance appeared to have resulted in at least one airport disruption.

A terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York was briefly evacuated Wednesday morning while police investigated a report of a suspicious package.

The implementation of stricter security measures will likely increase travel time this weekend, air security experts said, even as the Transportation Security Administration continues to struggle amid personnel shortages.

"If you are in a 'marquee' airport, you should absolutely allow significantly more time, on the order of 30 to 45 minutes," said Bruce McIndoe, the chief executive officer of travel risk advisory company iJet International.

Security outside checkpoints

Authorities can "dial up" various security elements, from increasing the frequency of "random" passengers selected for extra screening to turning up the sensitivity of magnetometer devices, according to McIndoe.

Following the Istanbul attacks, which took place outside security checkpoints, U.S. airports are likely to focus on surveillance and armed personnel in similar public spaces not subject to screening, McIndoe said.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees operations at the three major airports in the New York City area, said in a statement that police had added "high visibility patrols with tactical weapons and equipment."

The agency said it had already put in place counterterrorism patrols at various transportation hubs following the mass shooting in Orlando earlier this month.

Agencies in charge of other major airports, including Reagan and Dulles in the Washington, D.C. area, Logan in Boston, O'Hare in Chicago, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta and Dallas/Fort Worth, declined to offer operational details but emphasized that security remains their top priority.

"Logan maintains an enhanced security posture," said a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Port Authority. "There are many elements that are seen and unseen."

Beyond airports

The security measures are not limited to airports. New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton told reporters Wednesday that there will be more officers, including a counterterrorism unit, present at the city's July 4th celebrations.

Meanwhile, Amtrak said it had "robust security measures" in place and was working with other agencies to gather intelligence following the Istanbul attacks.

A record number of Americans, 43 million, are expected to travel between June 30 and July 4, according to AAA.

The vast majority will go by car, AAA said, but 3.3 million are expected to fly. That is more than 25 percent higher than the 2.6 million AAA projected to fly during Memorial Day weekend in May, after months of widespread complaints about long security lines.

The attacks in Istanbul, as well as bombings at Brussels' airport that also struck outside checkpoints, have reignited debate over whether airport screening should extend into public spaces, despite the increased inconvenience and questions about the effectiveness of such a move.

But McIndoe said those proposals lead to an "infinite loop" that has no solution; checking vehicles before they enter the airport, for instance, simply forces cars to queue up, creating a new target.

Despite the massacres, he added, the chance of dying in an attack while traveling by plane is infinitesimal, given the more than 3 billion passengers that fly each year.

"You're tens of thousands of times more likely to die in an automobile accident," he said.
The new U.S. envoy to Somalia, who was sworn into office Monday, will be the first American ambassador to that nation in 25 years. He will take up his post as Somalia faces a number of crucial issues, including insecurity, an upcoming election, and the potential closure of the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. VOAs Jill Craig asked Somalis living in Kenyas capital city Nairobi how they feel about the U.S. finally installing a new ambassador.
Military operations have chased Boko Haram out of towns and cities in Nigerias northeast since early last year. But it is only recently that people have begun returning to their homes in Adamawa state, near the border with Cameroon, to try to rebuild their lives. For VOA, Chris Stein traveled to the area and has this report.
The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan on Wednesday launched a program to help advance educational opportunities for Afghan women.

Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Promote Scholarship Program will provide aid to 720 Afghan women over the next five years, an embassy statement said.

Recipients will use the scholarships to complete their bachelor's degrees at private universities in Afghanistan. An additional 180 masters degree scholarships will be provided to students to study in countries in the region, mainly at Indian universities, according to an official of the Asia Foundation in Kabul, which will be implementing the project.

[The program is] giving us hope and opportunity for advancement and personal enrichment, and for the advancement of Afghan women, said U.S. Charge d'Affaires Michael Raynor, who announced the program along with Afghanistan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and other senior Afghan officials.

The scholarship program targets students who have demonstrated strong academic performance and those who are unable to pursue university education because of inadequate funds. The recipients are expected to contribute to creating an environment that fosters womens empowerment in the country.

It is time to thank the United States for their generosity and sacrifice to make those changes possible for the citizens of Afghanistan, Abdullah said.

Despite many obstacles such as a lack of parity in health care and in economic and political opportunities, Afghan women have made tremendous strides in the past 14 years.

In addition to the assistance provided by USAID and the international community, the current Afghan government has been trying to provide larger political opportunities for Afghan women.

The Promote program, the largest womens empowerment program in USAIDs history, was launched in November 2014 to help advance opportunities for Afghan women who can become political, private sector and civil society leaders.

Since 2002, USAID has provided the largest bilateral civilian assistance program to Afghanistan. The U.S. State Department has provided hundreds of educational scholarships to Afghan men and women, including the prestigious Fulbright and Humphrey fellowship programs, at U.S. universities.
The United States government has become increasingly focused on the idea of examining social media posts in order to make determinations about who represents a security threat to the country.

The latest example is a proposal from the Customs and Border Protection arm of the Department of Homeland Security to ask foreign travelers to disclose information about their accounts on services like Facebook and Twitter.

It would appear as an optional question on the form people fill out either upon arrival or presubmit online with information such as their name, address, phone number and the names of countries they have visited since 2011. It would also only apply to travelers from the 38 countries allowed visa-free entry into the U.S.

"Collecting social media data will enhance the existing investigative process and provide DHS greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections by providing an additional tool set which analysts and investigators may use to better analyze and investigate the case," the proposal says.

Customs and Border Protection is asking the Office of Management and Budget for permission to add the question and says it would affect an estimated 24 million people. There is a 60-day comment period for the public to weigh in.

Meanwhile, members of Congress have been busy during their current session drafting bills involving examining social media posts for terror links.

Senator John McCain sponsored one of several bills that would require the Department of Homeland Security to look at internet activity and social media profiles of anyone applying for admission to the U.S.

"It is unacceptable that Congress has to legislate on this, and that it wasn't already the Department of Homeland Security's practice to take such commonsense steps when screening individuals entering this country," McCain said.

A bill from Senators Martin Heinrich and Jeff Flake specifies that DHS "may search open source information, including internet and social media postings, of an alien who applies for a visa to enter the United States."

"It should be crystal clear to those inside and outside of DHS that the agency has the authority to review publicly available social media posts when vetting visa applications," Flake said.

The proposals do not seem to address the accounts of anyone who has set their posts to be private.

"Reviewing the public social media posts of an individual seeking a U.S. visa is just common sense in the digital world we live in today," Heinrich said.

Senator Chuck Schumer has proposed a different tactic to alert authorities to potential terrorists. He wants to use the Justice Department's existing Rewards for Justice program to pay people who submit a tip about a social media post that leads to the arrest of someone planning an attack in the U.S.

"We are in a time when a terrorist a world away can corrupt a disaffected youth -- and with just a few posts or tweets, can push them to plan or carry out acts of terror," Schumer said. "We need the public's eyes to alert authorities if they see someone they know writing things they know spell trouble."

He wants the awards to range from $25,000 to $25 million.

In the House of Representatives, Congressman Stephen Fincher is focusing on keeping those serving time in federal prisons from becoming radicalized and posing a threat when they are released. His bill calls for anyone who wants to volunteer in the prisons to divulge their social media accounts as part of a background check for possible links to terrorism.

"Over the years, our federal prisons have become a breeding ground for radicalization," Fincher said. "By allowing volunteers to enter the system without first having to undergo a comprehensive background check, some of the most vulnerable members of society have become susceptible to radicalization."
Chinas ambassador to Portugal said in Lisbon that the Portuguese government is waiting for Chinese companies to get involved in the countrys energy, services, financial, insurance, medical, health, maritime business, agricultural and infrastructure sectors.

Cai Run was speaking in the Portuguese capital to an economic delegation from the Pan Pearl River Delta (9+2) region, which includes nine Chinese province (Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan) and the Special Administrative Regions of Macau and Hong Kong, which visited Belgium and Portugal from 19 to 24 June.

According to a statement from the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), the diplomat said Portugal was a land of marvels, with an excellent geographic location and added that Chinese companies should make use of local advantages and explore existing business opportunities.

On the trip to Portugal IPIM organized a seminar in Lisbon to promote and expand Macaus role as a platform for trade and economic cooperation between the Pan Pearl River Delta (9+2) region and the Portuguese-speaking countries.

At the meeting, which brought together dozens of participants, the president of IPIM, Jackson Chang, said that the city of Beijing and Portugal had been invited to be Partner City and Partner Country of the 21st Macau International Fair (MIF) held from 20 to 23 October.

During the seminar Gu Wanjun, member of the Commission for Development and Reform of Guangdong province and director of the Office for Planning of the Secretariat of the Joint Executive Conference of the Pan Pearl River Delta (9+2) region, discussed the regions economic potential.

The Pan Pearl River Delta (9+2) region accounts for one fifth of Chinas area, one third of its population and a third of its GDP. MDT/Macauhub
Sweden and Kazakhstan won contested elections for coveted seats on the Security Council and the Netherlands and Italy ended a battle for another seat by agreeing to split the two-year term on the U.N.s most powerful body.

The U.N. General Assembly met to choose five new council members and it overwhelmingly elected Ethiopia and Bolivia, who faced no opposition for seats earmarked for Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean.

But after five rounds of voting, the Netherlands and Italy who belong to the Western group of countries were deadlocked with each receiving 95 votes  and needing 127 votes to win.
Tests have confirmed that a wooden boat found buried in a dry riverbed near Cambodias famous Angkor Wat temple complex is from the early 13th century, an official at the agency overseeing the archaeological site said Monday.

Apsara Authority spokesman Long Kosal said tests by a research institute in New Zealand confirmed the age of the 12.8-meter-long boat, which was carved from a single tree trunk. He said it is the oldest boat ever found in Cambodia, and its discovery will be useful for scholars of the Angkor era, when the Khmer empire dominated the region from the 9th to 15th centuries.

A farmer discovered the boat in April while digging mud from the riverbed, several kilometers from the temple complex. The boat has been sunk in a pond in front of the temple to keep it preserved pending restoration for public viewing.

An Australian archaeologist announced earlier this month that he and colleagues have found evidence of previously undiscovered medieval urban and agricultural networks surrounding the ancient city of Angkor Wat.

Using high-tech lasers to scan the Cambodian jungle, Damian Evans and colleagues said they found traces of extensive networks surrounding the monumental stone temple complex at Angkor Wat. Evans said their findings could further our understanding of Khmer culture and throw into question traditional assumptions about the decline of the empire.

For years, experts have proposed a variety of reasons for the collapse of the Khmer civilization in the 15th century, including invasions by Thai armies, social and religious change, internal power struggles, and overpopulation and prolonged drought which forced populations to relocate to southern Cambodia. But Evans said their laser maps showed no evidence of relocated, dense cities in the south and that it wasnt clear there was any such mass migration. Sopheng Cheang, Phnom Penh , AP
An Indonesian court decided yesterday to proceed with the trial of a former resident of Australia accused of murdering a friend by lacing her coffee with cyanide.

The 27-year-old defendant, Jessica Kumala Wongso, was charged with plotting the Jan. 6 poisoning of Wayan Mirna Salihin because of the victims advice that she sever her relationship with her troublesome boyfriend. The two were former classmates in Australia.

The indictment submitted by the state prosecutors has clearly, accurately and comprehensively explained the murder, said presiding judge Kisworo. Therefore the objections of the defense lawyers could not be accepted.

Wongsos lawyers have ridiculed the prosecutions contention that Salihins advice that Wongso end her relationship led to the murder. They said the explanation could not be accepted by common sense.

Salihin collapsed and died after drinking coffee at a Jakarta cafe where the two met along with another friend. Police say laboratory tests showed the drink contained cyanide.

The case has riveted Indonesia for months and attracted attention in Australia because Wongso was a permanent resident and studied in Sydney.

Police have struggled to bring the case to trial as prosecutors deferred it several times due to insufficient evidence. It was accepted after Indonesian investigators gained additional information from the Australian Federal Police.

Wongso is charged with premeditated murder, a capital crime in Indonesia, but Indonesia has promised not impose the death penalty in exchange for the help from Australia, which opposes the death penalty.

The trial is to resume July 12 with the testimony of witnesses presented by prosecutors. AP
Local lawyers agree on the topic of detention, claiming that there is an excessive use of the preventive detention measures. The remark was made on the sidelines of the launch of a book by Joao Miguel Barros, The Judiciary System (noted) [Sistema Judiciario (Anotado) the original version].

This weeks book launch at the Portuguese Consulate-General building was attended by a large number of professionals from the judicial sector.

I think there are too many [people in preventive detention] and I think it is important to start with the idea in Macau that alternatives need to be found, said the lawyer and book author Barros to Lusa news agency commenting on the given current figures.

According to the figures provided to the same agency by the Correctional Service Bureau (DSC), 20.8 percent of the total number of people serving time are people who are preventively arrested.

In agreement with Barros, lawyer and legislator Leonel Alves told TDM that the trivialization of the use of the one heavier coercive measures, is censurable. He argued that the preventive detention is more understandable in cases when people involved in crime are non-residents and there is a serious concern that they might try to escape justice.

As for suggestions to review the measure Barros said that in Portugal, the use of the electronic bracelet had a wide circulation and therefore I think it can be an interesting alternative.

Lawyer Maria Amelia Antonio also voiced her disagreement with the alleged excessive use of preventive detention: Macau has excellent conditions to use other control measures. What Portugal has implemented a number of years ago, the electronic bracelet, could be implemented here because Macau has a [limited geographical] size and a control over the borders, and hence there are optimal conditions for this system, she said, as cited by Ponto Final newspaper. RM
Dear Editor,

The issues of litter in and around Macau, Hong Kong and the Pearl River Estuary seem to be in a constant distressing state as its unsightly presence is encroaching and affecting daily life.

On Monday, June 27, I was on the 11.30 a.m. ferry, departing from Macau Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal to Sheung Wan on one of Turbo Jets older small jetfoils.

As we were crossing under the Taipa Friendship bridge, before we had entered into open water, the Ferry started to act very unusual. The Ferry captain announced over the speaker that rubbish had entered the intake and that they were attempting to flush it out.

After about 20 minutes turning about in the water just east of the bridge, the captain informed that the debris was unable to be flushed out and that we would be returning to the ferry terminal. Just looking around, one could see a great deal of debris and rubbish floating on the water. The amount of rubbish now in the shipping canal is so thick that it seems impossible for any ship to avoid.

50 minutes after initially departing, we had returned to the Outer Harbor ferry terminal and were quickly transferred onto one of the larger Catamarans to continue our departure for Sheung Wan.

Throughout this incident, no one was harmed and we made it back to the terminal safely, albeit slowly, thanks to the professionalism and handling by the ferry crew. However, on the second attempt to get to Hong Kong, I paid closer attention to the water and was astonished at the constant stream of rubbish that our ferry passed by during the entire length of the journey.

We were fortunate the rubbish affected the intake at a time the vessel was traveling at a low speed, but in the past few years, others havent been as lucky.

A quick Google search brings up an incident in November 2013 in which a Turbo Jet ferry struck an unknown object suspected to be floating debris (SCMP, Macau jetfoil passengers tell) as well as a similar incident in October 2015 (MDT, At Least 100 Injured as speeding jetfoil strikes unknown object). These are no longer isolated incidents but are now leading to a disturbing trend in which we must ask not if, but when will the next accident occur in which a ferry strikes rubbish that could result in injuries.

All attempts to pressure local government officials to acknowledge this issue with litter and pollution of our water ways do not seem to be working, likely due to the fact that the problem is much larger than rubbish coming from Macau, but the whole region. Any action is going to require close cooperation by the mainland authorities jointly with Macau and Hong Kong authorities overseeing pollution, environmental concerns and travel safety across the Pearl River Estuary.

But given the complex nature of governmental decisions between all bodies, it may be more effective that private organizations and companies, such as Turbo Jet, voice their concerns or take some direct action as the rubbish growth will not only affect our view of the city but will eventually harm our health and economy.

Sincerely,

Luke Lienau

lmlienau@gmail.com

Central Macau
MGM China hosted its third quarterly small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) Business Matching Session last week, welcoming over 120 local SME vendors from the creative and food and beverage industries.

According to a statement issued yesterday by the gaming operator, representatives from other integrated resort operators attended the session, which was part of an attempt to share insights over how to collectively support SMEs.

Moreover, four leading Macau banks participated in the Business Matching Sessions to provide one-stop financial services for SME vendors on-site.

As a follow up to its SME Food Safety Seminar held earlier this month, MGMs food and beverage teams also met with local vendors and took the opportunity to emphasize on practices of upholding international food safety standards and procurement procedures.

We are delighted to be hosting our third SME Business Matching Session with an enthusiastic response and we would like to thank all [of] our partners, said MGM Chinas executive director Grant Bowie, as cited in a statement from the company.

Moving forward, we are eager to share our experience with the key players of the industry, as it takes a collaborative effort to foster a healthy environment for local SMEs to grow in a direction that will increase Macaus competitiveness. [] We hope to help bring local brands beyond Macau, added Bowie.

Chui Yuk Lum, vice-president of the board of directors of Macau Chamber of Commerce said that the session gave SMEs the opportunity to build confidence for themselves, build trust for the clients, and a channel to present their products, which are all important first steps for any business.
A mother has criticized police authorities for forcing her 13-year-old daughter to get in their van after the teenager failed to present her Macau Resident Identity Card (BIR) during an ID inspection.

Julene Goitia Soares, who is a Portuguese citizen and a local resident, said that her daughter was traumatized after being stuck in the van with several detainees. She argues that this was a case of police abuse.

According to Soares, her daughter started crying after the officers forced her to get in the van; despite the minor explaining to them that she is a Macau resident but did not have her BIR with her.

She called my husband [] and while she was explaining, the police just grabbed her arms and just put her inside the police van, she stressed.

Soares rushed to Praca de Ferreira do Amaral where the authorities were waiting for her, and explained that she holds the minors BIR as she was afraid that her daughter might misplace it.

When I arrived, I just asked the police, who arrested my daughter? I just wanted to know names [but] no one answered me, she said.

However the authorities have threatened her saying they will not entertain her if she keeps shouting at them.

Of course Im angry, she told the Times. I just received a call that my daughter is inside a police van, how could I react?

When Soares asked them if they could leave, she claimed that one police stood at the door of the van, blocking her daughter to exit the vehicle.

I asked them if someone can speak Portuguese. They said no. I told them if no one can speak Portuguese here, how can my daughter not be scared [when] no one explained whats happening, she said.

The mother stressed that her daughter is unable to speak Cantonese. She also revealed that the policemen started laughing at the minor after she started to cry.

Although the authorities told her there is no problem with what they did, she says that it was wrong for them to hold the minor in the van with several strangers.

They didnt even ask [for] her parents phone numbers, she stressed. They dont care!

Soares has filed a complaint to the police authorities and reportedly will have to wait 45 days for a response.

She revealed to the Times that she plans to legally file a case against them if she is not pleased with the authorities response.

They need to apologize and they need to do something to the people [policemen], she demanded. Lynzy Valles
South Chinas Guangdong Province will start giving overseas tourists refunds of goods and services taxes from July 1.

According to the Guangdong Department of Finance, overseas tourists will be allowed to claim value-added tax (VAT) refunds of purchases made in specific shops, at certain ports of departure.

Tourists from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and foreign countries are entitled to an 11 percent rebate on goods bought at designated department stores, if they stay on the Chinese mainland for fewer than 183 days. Two percent of the VAT will be deducted as a handling charge, meaning this translates into a nine percent rebate.

The minimum purchase for the rebate is 500 yuan (75.20 U.S. dollars) at one store in one day. The refund is valid for purchases made within 90 days before departure.

The ports of departure covered by the refund scheme are Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, Guangzhou Nansha Port and Jiuzhou Port in Zhuhai City. The province plans to gradually increase the designated ports and stores.

A pilot tax refund program began on the southern island province of Hainan on January 1, 2011. Beijing and Shanghai rolled out the policy in July 2015. It has since expanded to more destinations nationwide.

Guangdong is a major destination for inbound tourists. Around 105 million tourists entered China through Guangdong ports in 2015, accounting for 78.5 percent of the figure nationwide.
Within weeks of India easing aviation rules, Singapore Airlines Ltd.s local venture is charting a course to take on carriers from the Middle East. Its counting on a surge in international traffic from the worlds fastest growing major air-travel market.

Vistara, in which the city-states flag carrier owns 49 percent, is considering buying or leasing wide-bodied aircraft for long-haul routes and will seek funds from its owners to finance the purchase, the companys Chief Executive Officer Phee Teik Yeoh said in an interview June 24. Vistara, which has 11 planes in its fleet and is co-owned by Indias Tata Sons Ltd., needs at least nine more to fly abroad under the relaxed policy.

The number of international travelers from India is poised to grow 10-fold to 500 million by 2050, according to a CAPA Centre of Aviation study that was commissioned by Vistara. The carriers plans may be the start of a fresh challenge for Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways PJSC that have long been the biggest foreign carriers in India and have, along with Air India Ltd. and Jet Airways India Ltd., dominated the market for offshore travel.

We believe Vistara may pull out all stops to get to the 20 number and fly overseas, said Amber Dubey, the New Delhi-based India head for aerospace at KPMG. Being an Indian carrier they will have the advantage of providing non-stop flights from India to the European Union and U.S., something that Gulf carriers cant do.

Prime Minister Narendra Modis cabinet ratified its policy changes in aviation on June 15, permitting domestic airlines to fly overseas, provided they deploy 20 planes or 20 percent of capacity, whichever is higher, on local routes. Earlier, carriers needed to have a minimum of 20 aircraft in their fleet and five years of domestic services.

The world is our oyster now, we are spoiled for choice, Vistaras Yeoh said. We can be East-bound, West-bound, we can be short-haul or long-haul from New Delhi.

The wide-bodied planes Vistara is considering would be in addition to the 20 it would have by June 2018 after leasing company BOC Aviation Ltd. delivers nine more jets from Airbus Group SEs A320 family, Yeoh said.

Vistara is seriously looking at advancing the delivery schedule of those nine aircraft to enable overseas flights sooner, he said.

Singapore Air remains open to all options on funding Vistara, the carrier said in an e-mailed response, without elaborating. Tata Sons referred queries to Vistara. Emirates didnt respond to a request seeking comments, while Etihad and Qatar declined to comment.

At least 81 foreign carriers vie for passengers flying to and out of India, with Emirates and Etihad in the lead, followed by others including Qatar Airways Ltd., Singapore Air and Deutsche Lufthansa AG.

Etihad and its local partner Jet Airways together carried 2.4 million passengers to and from India during the first three months of this year, while state-run former monopoly Air India carried 2.1 million, data from the aviation regulator showed.

It will be a mammoth task taking on the Middle East carriers now or in the near future, said Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation consultant Endau Analytics in Malaysia. As it stands, the Middle East airlines are peerless in terms of money and products.

Still, the size of the Indian market and its potential growth may offer room for more operators. Just 1 percent to 2 percent of Indias population flies now, compared with 40 percent of the global population, according to the Sydney-based CAPA Centre study.

Air travel in the South Asian country grew more than 20 percent last year, according to the International Air Transport Association. In comparison, passenger traffic in China rose about 10 percent and that in the U.S. grew by less than 5 percent, IATA said in a December presentation.

Tata Sons, the holding company of Indias biggest conglomerate, set up Vistara with Singapore Airlines after an earlier attempt by the two partners in the mid-1990s failed. The carrier, which started flying in January 2015, now offers 18 domestic destinations with 487 daily flights.

Vistara is drawing up a 10-year plan for its growth in India, Yeoh said. The wide bodied planes it plans to acquire could be bought directly from manufacturers, bought and then sold to lessors to be leased back, or leased outright, he said, without elaborating on which option was preferred.

International is not going to be a walk in the park, Yeoh said. We are not in a hurry to grow old, wed like to be nimble but we have big ambitions. Anurag Kotoky, Bloomberg
Mongolians vote in parliamentary elections today with sentiment weighed by a sharp downturn in the landlocked Asian nations crucial mining sector, rising unemployment and political disillusionment.

The Democratic Party could lose its majority in parliament, known as the State Great Khural, to the opposition Mongolian Peoples Party a year ahead of the 2017 presidential election. But with no major policy offerings on the table and an economy pummeled by the global slump in commodity prices, its unclear what options Mongolia has for reviving its fortunes.

The parliamentary elections are the seventh since the country made a peaceful transition to democracy in 1990. Yet disillusionment with the political process in the country  recently dubbed an oasis of democracy by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry  is growing among younger voters, whose turnout has steadily declined in recent years.

Amgalan Sukh-Ochir, 30, who works in marketing, said he plans to boycott the elections.

In the last elections when the DP made all these great promises for prospering, I decided to support them, but look where we are now. I dont think theyve achieved much, he said.

Mongolias mining- and animal herding-dependent economy has been dragged down by weak domestic demand and a sharp decline in exports, impoverishing thousands of former herders who had moved to its few cities looking for jobs. Economic growth has slipped from 17.5 percent in 2011 to just 2.3 percent last year in the resource-rich nation of 3 million people, one-fifth of whom live in poverty.

Both the ruling Democratic Party and its main rival have campaigned on the promise of more jobs.

The main issue is, No. 1, to revive the economy, said Bulgantuya Khurelbaatar, secretary of the opposition Mongolian Peoples Party. She said the party aims to build 100 factories in 21 provinces that would create about 40,000 new jobs, though she didnt say how.

Its unclear what measures or resources are available to stimulate the flagging economy.

Coal, copper and other mineral resources make up 94 percent of Mongolias exports. But with demand in China weakening as its economy cools, Mongolias own growth is forecast to fall below 1 percent this year.

Foreign investment in the country has slowed to a trickle, though mining giant Rio Tinto announced in May the launch of the next stage of a multibillion-dollar gold and copper mine. Still, critics of government agreements with mining companies complain that too little of Mongolias mineral wealth benefits the general public.

Some observers see recent changes to the electoral process as handicapping smaller parties and female candidates.

They have closed some space for smaller political parties, as majoritarian systems do tend to benefit two main political parties, said Ashleigh Whelan, country director for the International Republican Institute, a U.S.-based group with the stated aim of promoting democracy globally.

This can reduce the opportunity for lesser-known candidates, new candidates, youth, women and those candidates who may not be a guarantee in terms of winning, Whelan said. Her organization does not expect either party to secure an overwhelming majority.

In its latest National Human Development Report, the United Nations Development Program found that only about 45 percent of Mongolians aged 18-34 have voted in recent elections, compared to an overall turnout of 65 percent in 2012.

Skepticism has grown after the ruling party recently offered citizens 300,000 tugriks (USD155) to sell 30 percent of their promised shares in the state-owned coal mine, Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi. So far 1.2 million of 1.65 million shareholders have applied to sell their shares to the government.

I think its illegal to tell you the truth, said Khurelbaatar of the opposition party. This is right before elections. It seems to all political parties that theyre actually trying to buy off votes.

The Democratic Party did not respond to requests for comment. Grace Brown, Ulaanbaatar, AP
Supporters of an activist detained in Bahrain as part of an intensifying crackdown on dissent say hes been taken to the hospital with an irregular heartbeat. Sayed Alwadaei, of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said yesterday that activist Nabeel Rajab was at the cardiac care clinic of an unidentified hospital after being in isolation for 15 days. Rajab is the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. He helped lead protests during Bahrains 2011 demonstrations as the islands majority Shiite population and others demanded more political freedoms from its Sunni rulers.

Israel bans access to Jerusalem holy site

Israeli police yesterday banned non-Muslims from a contentious Jerusalem holy site until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan following two days of clashes with Palestinian rioters at the site. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said rocks and other objects were hurled toward police forces and Jewish worshippers in a nearby plaza. A 73-year-old woman was lightly wounded and police arrested 16 suspects in the disturbances that have been going on for three days, Rosenfeld said.
The Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosario, said yesterday that CTM will automatically have its telecommunications services concession renewed for another five years after December 31, unless, before this date, the company incurs a serious breach of local regulations and laws. Alternatively, the concession renewal could be cancelled if the city finds strong reasons that support the revoking of the contract renewal, he said.

On the sidelines of a meeting with the Legislative Assembly (AL) Follow-up Committee for Public Administration, the secretary admitted that if the government does not renew the contract with CTM in view of ample public interests, then both parties will be involved in a dispute to settle due compensations. As indicated by Rosario, the government would be required to pay CTM 2.5 times the net profits the company would collect in one year before taxation. This amount would be calculated on the basis of average annual profits for the last three years.

In 2009, Macau granted CTM exclusivity in providing public telecommunications services, as well as the installment and management of all telecommunication systems and equipment in the city. The concession started on January 1 of 2012, and it will be renewed for another five years, until December 31 of 2021, if there is no serious breach of regulations or laws.

However, the concession is an unfair contract claimed lawmaker Chan Meng Kam yesterday, since residents must pay high prices for often sub-par services. Chan added that CTMs profit margins are exceptionally high, especially for its model of charging competitor services to use the CTM network.

The government admitted that there are many unreasonable articles and problems in the contract, Chan added.

Local internet fiber access is additionally mainly managed by CTM. Other operators that intend to enter the market in the MSAR are currently required to make considerable payments in order to rent the service from CTM.

According to TDM, Chan also said that other service providers have confided in him that CTM takes in as much as MOP80 in immediate profit for each MOP100 it charges to other service providers using the companys infrastructure.

He also noted that greater problems in telecommunication services might afflict the territory if the government suddenly stops the contract at the very end of this year. Hence, Chan hopes that the local government can assume the responsibility of managing telecommunication infrastructure in the near future in order not to be too reliant on any one service provider. Staff reporter
The number of non-resident workers (TNR) in the territory reached a historical high in May this year, according to the Labor Affairs Bureau (DSAL) who released official figures from the Public Security Police Force (PSP).

The figures presented from the bureau state that the total number of TNR is now 182,344 people.

This number represents a growth of 1.6 percent year-on-year and 0.5 percent when compared with the previous month (April 2016).

Mainland China continues to top the list of the countries from where these workers originate with a total of 117,858 people (64.6 percent), followed by the workers from the Philippines which now totals 25,059 people (13.7 percent) and Vietnam, which accounts for 14,524 non-resident workers.

About 26 percent of the TNR are employed in hospitality sectors such as hotels and restaurants, followed by the construction sector, which is responsible for another 24.5 percent with domestic work coming third with only 13 percent.

On the other hand, the numbers of TNR arriving from Hong Kong and Thailand is decreasing year-on-year, declining 19.2 percent in May to 8,177 workers. RM
I wrote most of this column at the Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin, the giant port city (population: 15 million) a half-hour bullet-train ride southeast of Beijing. Its a sleek aircraft-hangar of a building thats hosting the World Economic Forums Annual Meeting of the New Champions, what the Chinese call summer Davos.

That all sounds pretty modern and global and connected, doesnt it? Technologically sophisticated, too: I arrived too late this morning (lots of traffic in Tianjin) to get a seat at the question-and-answer session with Lei Jun, the founder and chief executive officer of smartphone maker Xiaomi, so I sat in a comfy chair in one of the cafes strewn about the convention center, drinking a coffee and tapping into the conference Wi-Fi to watch live on my laptop instead.

If I wanted to use that Wi-Fi connection to reach the outside world, though, things deteriorated pretty quickly. I could search on Bing, but not Google. Sometimes my Bloomberg e-mail functioned OK, but Gmail never did. Evernote worked, Dropbox didnt. And if I wanted to check Facebook or Twitter, or read something on a Western news site, or  God forbid  watch a show on Netflix, I was completely out of luck.

Such are the workings of the Great Firewall  the Chinese governments way of keeping the free-for-

all of the internet within bounds it finds comfortable. For most people in China, I get the sense that the firewall seldom interferes with their shopping and gaming and digital socializing. For Chinese internet companies, it may even be a net positive, providing a defense against the colonization by U.S.-based internet giants that has been experienced in most of the rest of the world.

For foreigners visiting or living in China, or for Chinese citizens trying to maintain business or personal relationships outside the country, its a different story. This isnt my first visit to China, but its the first when Ive tried to keep doing my job while here, and I can testify that the Great Firewall is a gigantic pain. Lots of China-based businesspeople Ive talked to report similar aggravation.

There are workarounds. Virtual private networks that connect users directly to servers outside the country are a necessity for those aiming to remain connected to the outside world. But while the VPN I subscribe to has worked  slowly  about a third of the time at my hotel in Tianjin, its been completely blocked at the World Economic Forum meeting.

Cellular data networks are another option for visitors. Its easy for Chinese mobile operators to tell which users are from other countries, so non-Chinese smartphones are allowed to bypass the firewall. But cellular is slower and can be expensive. Also, the fact that Chinese cellular operators can easily identify foreigners isnt necessarily good news; some people buy phones just for China and discard them when they leave because theyre worried about inadvertently downloading spyware.

In past years, the World Economic Forum was allowed to bypass the Great Firewall and give participants at its summer Davos meetings unfettered internet access. But with the continuing tightening of control under President Xi Jinping, and lots of Chinese citizens at the meetings, thats apparently no longer an option.

This is pretty remarkable, when you think about it. The Annual Meeting of the New Champions, now in its 10th year, is one of Chinas biggest opportunities to showcase the country to the global elite. Yet the government is now perfectly willing to deny that global elite access to Google.

This strikes me as a useful indication of how Chinas current leadership sees its relationship with the rest of the world. It wants to participate in globalization, but to do so entirely on its own terms. If that means its a place where its really difficult for outsiders to do business and live their lives, well, tough. Justin Fox, Bloomberg
CHINA replaces its internet regulator Lu Wei, the hardliner responsible for leading the governments efforts to tighten control over domestic cyberspace and export the ruling Communist Partys philosophy of web control abroad.

PHILIPPINES The bodies of dozens of suspected drug peddlers have turned up in the Philippines in recent weeks, providing an eerie backdrop to the swearing-in today of Rodrigo Duterte, who has warned of a bloody presidency in his bid to eradicate crime.

VIETNAMs military says the bodies of eight crew from a search plane that crashed two weeks ago while looking for a missing fighter jet have been recovered.

NORTH KOREA convened a meeting of its national parliament that is expected to follow up on the first congress of its ruling Workers Party in 36 years, which was held last month. The Supreme Peoples Assembly, which is the legislative branch, was convened in Pyongyang. It was not immediately known how long the assemblys meetings would last, though sessions normally only take a few days.

JAPAN Toyota announces it is recalling 1.43 million vehicles for defective air bags and another 2.87 million vehicles for faulty fuel emissions controls. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi is resuming sales of vehicles for which it had reported inflated mileage, after offering to compensate each buyer with 100,000 yen to make up for the extra gas.

EU Block leaders spelled out stark conditions for a new relationship with a departing Britain, warning that if British business wants to keep access to Europes single market, the country must accept European workers, too. The 27 remaining presidents, chancellors and prime ministers said theyre absolutely determined to remain united, EU Council President Donald Tusk said.

NORTH AMERICAs leaders, at their summit in Canada, are confronting a rising tide of economic protectionism and nationalism. President Barack Obama arrived in Ottawa for talks with Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. Trade, the environment and fallout from Britains decision to leave the European Union were expected to top the agenda.

USA Donald Trump called for a new era of economic Americanism, promising to restore millions of lost factory jobs by backing away from decades of U.S. policy that encouraged trade with other nations  a move that could undermine the countrys place as the dominant player in the global economy. The speech drew immediate condemnation from GOP business leaders.

POGBA According to Spanish newspaper Marca, Mourinhos Manchester United have entered into negotiations with their former midfielder Paul Pogba, who is also said to be wanted by Zinedine Zidane at Real. Pogba, currently representing France at the Euro 2016, has been targeted by a number of elite clubs, but Juventus have reportedly slapped a price tag of 120 million euros.
TWIN FALLS  If youve heard the last names Fitzgerald or Stastny, chances are its connected with revitalizing downtown Twin Falls.

Ken Fitzgerald bought the Paris Building  which houses Slice and Twin Falls Sandwich Co.  in 2009. Slice, a pizza restaurant, is owned by his cousin Tim Stastny. And soon, another family member will open a restaurant in the building.

Kens daughter, Kathy Fitzgerald, plans to open the Yellow Brick Cafe this fall next to Slice. The southern California native with deep Magic Valley roots moved to Twin Falls in February.

She went to culinary school in 2010, but worked at restaurants before that. After culinary school, she worked as a chef in Napa Valley and Sacramento, Calif.

Obviously, theres a big emphasis on farm-to-table cuisine, she said.

During her time as a chef, she became interested in healthful meals and local produce  something she plans to bring to her new cafe.

While visiting Twin Falls in the past, she noticed there was always good food, but it was a struggle to find healthy, fresh options.

Now, she says she wants to offer the freshest, most natural food possible. And she wants to showcase that healthy food can be delicious.

It doesnt have to taste like rabbit food, she said.

Kathy has been in contact with Idahos Bounty Cooperative to help her connect with local growers. And shes reaching out to Idaho breweries and wineries.

So far, a challenge has been finding local farmers to provide ingredients for the cafe. And she anticipates finding fresh produce year-round could also be an uphill battle.

At the cafe, her focus will be primarily on offering a juice bar and smoothies, as well as coffee and espresso.

The cafe will have a cozy feel, she said, and will offer breakfast and lunch to start out with. Shes also thinking about offering an occasional Sunday brunch.

Her family is Czechoslovakian and is big into food, she said, as well as Sunday brunch. Shes interested in offering a bohemian brunch with a big buffet and mimosas.

Kathy said she wants the cafes atmosphere to be welcoming, where visitors can hang out all day, similar to European cafes.

Shes also interested in holding workshops with guest speakers, sharing information about topics such as juicing and nutrition.

Kathy has family members who grew up in the Magic Valley and she spent childhood summers in the area. Her great-grandmother and family farmed in Murtaugh.

And when her father bought the Paris Building, we just kind of knew this is where I needed to be, she said.

She also wanted to leave California, partly due to the high cost of living. It just got so difficult, she said.

And with her family connections in Twin Falls and her love of the outdoors, she said the Magic Valley is a good fit.

And Kathy said she didnt want to work in fine dining and deal with the pretentiousness that comes with it.

The space for the Yellow Brick Cafe was previously used for events and overflow seating at Slice. Even though Kathys father owns the Paris building, Kathy will be paying rent for her restaurant space.

On Thursday, the building  with wood floors and exposed brick walls  was mostly empty, except for a few window displays.

We have a lot of construction to do in here, Kathy said.

One of the biggest projects: building a staircase to a rooftop patio, she said. I think thats definitely needed down here.
TWIN FALLS  Now through Tuesday, its legal to shoot of your safe and sane fireworks.

But amid the celebrations, officials are reminding residents that aerial fireworks  anything that shoots up 20 feet or higher  are still illegal in the city. Additionally, nothing can be discharged between midnight and 8 a.m.

Were still reminding folks there are designated hours they can use those, city spokesman Joshua Palmer said.

But residents arent the only ones that have to follow a set of rules: local vendors last week got the OK from the Twin Falls fire marshal before they could open.

Safety

Fire Marshal Tim Lauda had a busy day Friday, ensuring each booth had no smoking signs, two exits, two fire extinguishers and only approved fireworks. There are also limits to the amount of gunpowder a firework can have in it to be considered safe and sane.

Fireworks booth attendants and local officials also had safety recommendations for people buying fireworks. Jon Powlus with Discount Fireworks said adult supervision is a must, and its important to respect a firework just like any other tool.

Have a means of extinguishing when youre shooting those out, Lauda said, adding that a bucket of water can sufficiently douse anything after use.

Fireworks cant be ignited within 100 feet of a stand, and Lauda recommends not lighting them within 20 feet of any structure.

Aerial fireworks and firecrackers are prohibited, including sky lanterns. Possessing or setting off dangerous fireworks, or discharging fireworks other than between the designated dates, can result in a $100 fine. Other infractions of city fireworks code may result in up to a $300 fine and six months in jail.

Different cities have their own regulations, as do counties. No fireworks are allowed on public lands, said Lori Stewart, spokeswoman for the Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office.

We want people to remember if youre drinking to be extremely careful when using fireworks, she said.

Sales

While business has been slow for some, it is expected to pick up closer during the holiday weekend.

Hopefully well be busier than we ever have been, said Matt Brown, distributor for TNT Fireworks.

Brown says hes been told that when the Fourth falls on a Monday, sales and celebrations tend to pick up.

But Dave Weaver, owner of Red Dragon Outlet Fireworks, said it could go both ways. Oftentimes during a three-day weekend, families decide to take off elsewhere instead.

Weaver owns five stands in Twin Falls, operated by family and friends.

Some years are better than others, he said. The first few days are really slow.

Fireworks stands cant open until midnight June 23 in Twin Falls, by city ordinance, and they must close midnight July 5.

The third and fourth are usually the busiest days, Powlus said. I sell out every year.

Weaver believes its important to be open the first few days to establish relationships with potential customers. And its also important to those running the stands  many of whom have children helping out.

It teaches them how to talk to people, said Becky Powlus, who co-owns Discount Fireworks.

The Powlus children help with the booth to earn money for extra-curricular activities.

Jessica Erickson, with the Red Dragon Outlet Fireworks booth in front of Jimmy Johns, says fireworks sales have become a family tradition for her children.

We love it, she said. Our Fourth of July is different than it used to be.

Several booths planned to be open during the Fourth of July events, for last-minute purchases. But when the clock strikes midnight on Tuesday, itll be time to pack up.

Updated June 29 with correct opening date for fireworks stands.
BURLEY  A Heyburn man crashed into an Idaho State Police car Tuesday after he failed to yield while the trooper was en route to an emergency call.

Virgil A. Mitchell, 54, turned in front of and collided with ISP Trooper Russell Poulsen, 26, of Oakley, as he responded to an emergency call at 12:23 p.m. at Overland Avenue and 21st Street.

Cassia County Sheriff Jay Heward said Mitchell was arrested on an outstanding warrant for a suspended drivers license.

Poulsen was driving the ISP car, a 2011 black Dodge Charger, when Mitchell, driving a 1994 Ford pickup, hit him.

No one was injured.
KIMBERLY  A Jerome man was arrested after stealing a Kimberly city pickup truck from a city employee Monday and driving recklessly in Jerome, police said.

Jose Luis Mendoza, 48, was arraigned Tuesday in Twin Falls County Magistrate Court on a felony count of grand theft.

Prosecutors say Mendoza drove away in the Kimberly city truck about 2:30 p.m. Monday when a city employee, Garret Lammer, left the truck running outside Ridleys Family Markets on Main Street. Lammer said he went into the store to hang posters for a city event, and when he went outside, the truck was gone.

Police reviewed surveillance from Ridleys and noticed the man who stole the truck bought a drink from the store earlier. Police used records from that transaction to identify Mendoza as the thief, court documents said. Police searched two addresses in Jerome connected to Mendoza but did not find him.

Just before 7 p.m. Monday, Jerome Police were dispatched to a report of a reckless driver in a truck matching the GMC Sierra that was stolen from Kimberly. Jerome officers stopped the truck and detained the driver, who Kimberly police later confirmed was Mendoza.

After originally telling police his sister gave him the truck, Mendoza finally admitted he took the truck without asking, court documents said. Police suspect Mendoza might also be the same man who tried to steal a taxi and another car from the Red Lion Hotel in Twin Falls earlier Monday.

Mendoza is being held in the Twin Falls County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond and a preliminary hearing is set for July 8.
TWIN FALLS  A St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center patient who police said jumped a fence to try to get to the Air St. Lukes helicopter Monday afternoon was charged with four misdemeanors.

Michael Lynn Ray, 43, was arraigned Tuesday in Twin Falls County Magistrate Court on misdemeanor counts of trespassing, assault or battery upon a police officer, resisting or obstructing arrest and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

It was unclear if Rays intention was to steal the Air St. Lukes helicopter, a city spokesman said Monday.

Prosecutors say Ray, who was a patient at the hospital Monday, was very agitated, grunting (and clinching) his teeth and fist when police arrived about 1:45 p.m. at the hospital. An officer reported Ray was inside the restricted helipad area pacing back and forth in the sprinklers and that it was apparent  that Ray posed a risk to the employees who had gathered outside.

A pastor who originally convinced Ray to go to the hospital tried to help police control the situation and calm Ray, but an officer wrote in his sworn affidavit that Ray wouldnt follow police commands, jumped a railing and ran back towards the emergency room where there was a crowd gathering outside near the emergency department entry.

As he approached the emergency department, Ray swore at the officers and told them to leave him alone, then charged towards an officer with clinched fist and arms down and out towards his side as if in a tackling position.

It was evident to me that Ray was going to attack Officer (Dallan) Hall, Sgt. Kevin Loosli wrote in his affidavit. I deployed my Taser electronic control weapon, which successfully struck Ray, stopping his aggression. Ray was taken into custody.

After being cleared by hospital staff, Ray was taken to the Twin Falls County Jail, where hes being held in lieu of $10,000 bond. A pretrial conference is scheduled for Aug. 23.
TWIN FALLS  Some officers in the city of Twin Falls will begin wearing body cameras as soon as August, the department announced Tuesday.

The Twin Falls Police Department plans to order 60 cameras, but will begin using five to seven of them in August while it studies the best use of the cameras and best ways to store the footage they record.

During a media briefing Tuesday, senior members of the department explained those policies and answered questions about how the cameras will be used, when theyll be used and how long footage will be stored.

The department plans to give the same presentation and answer questions from community members Thursday night at the College of Southern Idaho.

Were moving extremely slow and deliberately with this body-worn camera program, Capt. Anthony Barnhart said. Were trying to get buy-in from the community.

As for the most basic question of why the department is choosing to deploy the cameras, Barnhart said, it has identified five areas they hoped the cameras will improve: professionalism, transparency, accountability, training and evidence.

The cameras will help make the department a professional, 21st century police department and will show its officers are treating people fairly, Barnhart said. Cameras in other departments have made police more accountable but also make people they come in contact with more accountable.

Not only are police behaving better, but citizens are behaving better, Barnhart said, adding this leads to better interactions between officers and citizens.

Footage from the cameras can also be used for training and will hopefully lead to a higher conviction rate, Barnhart said.

While those in the police department expressed optimism about the usefulness of the cameras, Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs tempered that optimism during an interview Tuesday afternoon.

It was inevitable, Loebs said. I think theyll help in as many cases as they hurt.

The prosecutor wonders if the cameras will have a chilling effect for people who might want to speak with police but dont want to be recorded on video. He said his office has been involved in shaping the departments policy, but he said questions of privacy are still unresolved.

To that point, the police department said Tuesday that yes, officers will be recording in peoples homes.

If officers have a legal reason to be there, the cameras will likely be on, Barnhart said.

But the captain added that public records requests that seem frivolous  like ones made by nosey neighbors who want to see the interior of an arrested neighbors home  will be scrutinized by the city attorney.

Its unclear though what legal basis the department would have to withhold video based on that criteria.

Twin Falls officers will also have the ability to review their videos before making reports, which some departments dont allow.

That video footage is just another piece of evidence, and its no different than any other piece of evidence that the officer collects during an investigation, Sgt. Brent Wright said. To write the best report, we let the officers analyze their evidence so they can write the best report, and that video is the same thing.

The department is using $90,000 from a grant to help fund the new program and has committed another $139,000 of department money to fund the program.

Twin Falls police looked into getting body cameras as far back as 2011, but decided against it then, Barnhart said. Now, with the grant funding and nine-months of studying the issue, the department finally feels ready to proceed.
TWIN FALLS  The Depot Grill is changing the no weapons signs at its doors to clarify that while concealed weapons are allowed, open carrying is not.

Owner Steve Soran said Tuesday that the signs up now made lawbreakers out of some of our customers who had concealed carry permits. That was never our intention.

Those signs say, No firearms or weapons allowed on this property, The new signs, Soran said, would say no open carry of weapons.

Were not going to change our policy, Soran said. Were going to change the sign.

The signs went up after what Lance Earl, a political activist and firearms instructor from the Pocatello area who is starting a chapter of his group AmendTwo in the Twin Falls area, described in a blog entry on his DallyPost website as a confrontation between two men at the Depot who were openly carrying handguns and two cowboys who picked an argument with them over it.

Soran and General Manager Don Olson said at the time that their issue was with open carry at a family restaurant and that they didnt have a problem with concealed carry.
RUPERT  An Oregon man charged in the November 2015 crash that killed a Rupert man was arrested after his sentencing hearing Tuesday. Joseph D. Murray, 31, of Pendleton, will serve 30 days in the Mini-Cassia Criminal Justice Center on a charge of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in the death of Robert Paulson, 75, of Rupert.

Minidoka County Magistrate Judge Rick Bollar sentenced Murray to a jail term of 365 days with 335 days suspended and 20 days of discretionary time.

Bollar will review the case on Dec. 28.

Paulson was driving his orange Volkswagen Beetle car to lunch at the Minidoka County Senior Center on Nov. 13, 2015, when Murray, who was driving a semi-truck and trailer, failed to stop at a stop sign at Idaho Highway 25 and 100 East and collided with Paulsons vehicle.

Paulson died at the scene.

Murray made a delivery to Cargill Animal Nutrition and left the business driving south on N. 100 E. Road. He told police he stopped at the intersection and felt the impact as he crossed the road.

Several witnesses said they heard Murray say immediately after the crash that he did not stop at the stop sign, police said.
I just returned from a week on the Oregon coast with my pretty wife, my five children, their spouses and 13 grandchildren. For that short period of time, I ignored the incessant buzzing and chirping of my phone; listened to only music on the radio and, well, tuned you out of my life while I basked in a short pause and a much needed breather.

I have returned to the land of dwindling liberty, the devastation of corrupt government and to a populous where the majority wallows in a sludge of ignorance and laziness. In my absence, evil did not stand still. The armies of darkness continue an unrelenting march into the abyss.

It was interesting to discover my name in a Boise newspaper. I followed the breadcrumbs to the Times-News in Twin Falls and to a reporter by the name of Nathan Brown.

I am not really angry about the story, but I am disappointed. The article was not entirely accurate and it failed to capture the meat and the heart.

Such columns often touch the facts with a measure of truth while ignoring critical foundational underpinnings. This often occurs when media focuses on issues and ignores principle. Then, the ignorant in a society are satisfied while the informed become restless.

The story was about the Depot Grill intentionally becoming a gun-free zone. The issues are all about the right to keep and bear arms versus property rights. I can and will prove that the Depot Grill owners are in blatant violation of a principle which they themselves established. Even so, I must recognize an enduring principle of property. James Madison wrote that it is the property owners right to exercise exclusive dominion over property. That is why I must reluctantly support and defend a persons rights, even when they are exercised stupidly. In this case, the owners of the Depot Grill are exercising rights that are theirs, even though the exercise thereof establishes a baneful lack of personal integrity.

Now, let us set the issues aside and focus on principle. Principle, by its very nature, encompasses the most profound, sacred and binding of ideals. The owners of the Depot Grill have sworn an oath to the Constitution. Most think that this type of oath is limited to those who served in the military, police forces, etc. Now, I have no idea of past military, law enforcement or other services that may apply to these men. Perhaps no such service was rendered, but there was an oath and that oath has been thoughtlessly violated.

Consider these, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Do these words sound familiar to you? They continue, and to the republic ... What republic? Delegates from the states, the first 13 colonies, met in Philadelphia. Together they toiled, they sweat, they struggled, they debated and at times they raised fists and voices in anger. For the most part, theirs was a labor of love, love of country, love of people, love of family and love of God. The result was the magnificent document we now call the Constitution of the United States. The republic spoken of was created when these several states adopted and committed themselves to the principles it defined.

The owners of the Depot Grill made this solemn pledge, on that I will bet my butt. They did so willingly and patriotically and I think they thought that they meant it. They did not! They are reserving, for themselves, the right to impose exceptions and add restrictions. There is a place where imagined belief and solemn principle collide. This is the place where men of real principle stand resolutely and unmovable. This is also the place where oath breakers, covenant breakers and pledge breakers show there true and running colors.

And what of those who have used their voices to support the Depot Grill? Did they not also place a hand over their hearts and utter a pledge? Did those words, do those words mean anything at all? They mean something to me!

I struggled a little with a portion of the Brown column that categorized me as a conservative activist. If Brown had taken the time to review two or three of my most recent works, he would have discovered that I allow no man to associate me with that despicable title. I telephoned Brown and asked if he were able to identify the dividing line between the conservative and liberal elements of the GOP; he could not. He hung a title on me that he himself cannot comprehend or define. The reality is that there is no left, right, conservative or liberal title that anyone can define. These titles are fluid. They are molded and twisted by the corrupt to sway the ignorant.

The Founding Fathers left us with the founding documents along with other writings that clearly identify the only true categories of people, constitutional or criminal. The definition of the constitutional man is not fluid or movable or corruptible. The founding documents are simple to read and easily comprehended by any man of average intelligence. The tools are before you, they are spread at your feet. Now, it is up to you.

If you are ready, if this is your time to stand, if you are willing to abandon issues and embrace principle, call me at 208-317-9843.
Children learn to read up until third grade, and then they read to learn, Gov. C.L. Butch Otter loves to say.

Its become a favorite slogan as Otter has pushed for more education funding ($10.7 million in new money this year) and programs to ensure youngsters are reading by third grade. His initiatives largely mirror recommendations from a task force assembled to study Idahos education system over the past two years, and theyre good steps that will likely lead to improving the reading abilities of youngsters.

But lawmakers continue to ignore the elephant in the room when it comes to education funding: Idaho has no state-funded preschool. And thats handicapping Idaho students and costing the state.

Studies have shown that investing in early education actually saves money in the long run, because students who begin to learn earlier turn out to be more productive adults, contribute more to the economy and are less likely to commit crimes.

That science has convinced lawmakers in 42 states to fund early education programs, namely public preschool. But its fallen on deaf ears in Idaho, one of only eight states in the nation without public pre-school. Idaho doesnt even require students to enroll in school until first grade.

That model worked fine in the 1950s, but in todays world children are learning earlier, and thats giving them advantages youngsters in Idaho simply dont have.

A new report released last week shows just how far Idaho students are falling behind. A staggering 69 percent of Idahos 3- and 4-year-olds arent in any form of preschool, according to the 2016 Kids Count data book, a wide-ranging analysis of the nations children compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. That puts Idaho dead last when it comes to early education.

So is it any surprise that Idaho also ranks dead last in the foundations last report when it comes to children who graduate high school on time?

In other states, those 3- and 4-year-olds are already learning to read. In Idaho, theyre at home watching cartoons.

Without a public preschool program, parents are left to search out expensive private preschools, some of which function more like daycares than schools. Or the kids stay home.

If lawmakers and the governor truly wanted to ensure Idaho students are reading by the third grade, adopting a public preschool program would be the most effective solution  not patchwork programs designed to catch struggling students who are already behind. Today in Idaho, far too many children are not prepared for kindergarten (or first grade) and simply do not catch up. No wonder so many are still struggling to read by third grade.

Over the past two years, lawmakers in the Statehouse have made huge strides to reinvest in Idaho education, after the Legislature made massive and crippling cuts in the wake of the Great Recession. Those have been noble and commendable efforts.

But we also believe Idahoans would be better served if a good chunk of that money had been spent on establishing a public preschool program. The idea has been pitched before, but mostly conservative lawmakers have balked.

Its time to stop leaving Idaho children behind. Public preschool should be the next education target for lawmakers when they return to Boise in January.
DR Congo president Joseph Kabila on Monday met with Congo-Brazzavilles president Denis Sassou Nguesso in his hometown of Oyo, northern Congo, to discuss the tense political situation in DRC.

Local media said the official visit aims at addressing the issues surrounding the political situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and particularly in view of the presidential election.

The United Nations Security Council last week expressed concern over the arrest of political opposition members in DRC and urged the president to hold elections by the end of the year as required by the constitution.

The Security Council also voted to renew sanctions on Congo stressing the crucial importance of a peaceful and credible electoral cycle in accordance with the Constitution.

The Congolese government said it is unlikely it will be able to hold elections on time for logistical reasons.

Congo has not had a peaceful transfer of power in its 55 years of independence. Kabila, who took office in 2001, has yet to comment publicly on his political future.

However a top Kabila ally has raised the possibility of a referendum to allow him to run in the next presidential election.

Former Togolese Prime Minister Edem Kodjo is leading Africa Unions mediation talks between the DRC government and opposition groups.
The United Nations on Monday released $13 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to provide life-saving assistance for victims of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigerias north-east.

According to UN humanitarian agencys head, Stephen OBrien, People have experienced unspeakable suffering due to the violence perpetrated by Boko Haram. We now have better access finally, and a chance to help them.

An estimated 250,000 people are in need of help because of the loss of property due to the insurgency in the region, while 50,000 people were in need of tools for the upcoming planting season, the UN body said.

Last week, the medical charity MSF said nearly 200 refugees fleeing Boko Haram militants have starved to death over the past month in the northern east of Nigeria.

Many inhabitants are traumatized and one in five children is suffering from acute malnutrition, the charity group said.

Nigerias military has carried out a large-scale offensive against Boko Haram but the group still attacks villages in the northeast, destroying homes and burning down wells.

More than 15,000 people have been killed and 2 million displaced in Nigeria and neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon during Boko Harams seven-year insurgency, in which the group has tried to create a state adhering to sharia law.
Data published by the Tunisian Tourism Ministry on Monday showed that tourists continue to stay away from the North African country following the 2015 terrorist attacks as the number of arrivals fell by 21.5% in the first six months of 2016 compared to the same period last year.

Tunisia has been calling on the United Kingdom to lift the travel warning on the country after the Sousse attack in June killed 38 people on the beach, most of them British.

Tunisia attracted 5.5million tourists last year and tourism minister Salma Elloumi Rekik is hoping to repeat the feat after boosting security at touristic areas but that seems unlikely because many tour operators and cruise ships have cancelled their trips to the country. Sousse, the city where the most deadly attack was carried out, is heavily affected. Fouad el Ouad, regional tourism representative said the number of English tourists is down by 98% in the city.

Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui during a meeting with Tobias Ellwood, a British parliamentary undersecretary of state in charge of Middle East and North African affairs, on Sunday urged him to ask his government to review the travel warnings because Tunis had taken the measures to fight terrorism, secure tourist zones and protect tourists. Ellwood was in Tunisia to commemorate the one year anniversary of the killings on the beach and at the Imperial Marhaba Hotel.

Prior to the Arab Spring, Tunisia attracted almost 7million visitors annually and the industry accounted for 7% of the gross domestic product but revenues have dwindled by 51.7% in 2016 according to the central bank with visitors dropping by 65.8% since 2010.

Tunisia is hoping that increasing numbers of Russian and Algerian tourists will help limit the effects of the paralyzed industry as locals admit that there are still no signs of vibrancy.
First Lady Michelle Obama is paying a visit to Morocco to promote the Let Girls Learn initiative she launched together with President Obama in March 2015.

On the sidelines of the First Ladys visit, the U.S. government announced, on Tuesday, new investments to promote girls education in the North African country.

Michelle Obama, who was greeted by Princess Lalla Salma, spouse of King Mohammed VI, upon arrival in Marrakech Monday night, participated on Tuesday in an exchange with Moroccan teenagers. The exchange was moderated by CNNs anchor Isha Sesay and was attended by American actress Meryl Streep and Indian actress Freida Pinto, who are both advocates for girls education.

Michelle Obama pledged on this occasion to tackle school exclusion of girls worldwide, saying, We will emerge together as a group of women to tackle this exclusion, which affects some 62 million girls around the world.

The White House said the new programming in Morocco announced on Tuesday by the U.S. Government is to help address the unique barriers that prevent girls access to an education. Through these programs, the U.S. Government hopes to improve the future for adolescent girls in Morocco.

Part of this new programming, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC,) a foreign-aid agency, announced a nearly $100 million investment in a new model for secondary education in Morocco.

In partnership with the Moroccan Government, the MCC investment is expected to benefit about 100,000 students, including 50,000 adolescent girls through activities that will address the particular learning needs of adolescent girls, says the White House in a press release.

The MCC investments seeking to transform secondary education will finance, among others, mentoring programs, internships, after-school clubs, upgrading bathrooms and changing rooms for girls and gender responsive training for teachers and administrators to transform the way curriculum is delivered and how schools are managed.

A new $4.6 million Education for Employability Partnership Fund, included in this investment, will engage the private sector and NGOs to develop innovative programs for middle and high school students that address the unique needs of girls and work to reduce social and gender inequalities in Morocco, the White House says.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on its part announced a new $400,000 investment in a local NGO to establish five new girls dormitories (known locally as Dar Talibas) to provide housing and support for rural girls to continue their education. The new dormitories are expected to be ready by the next school year.

According to the White House, the First Lady said:I am so proud that the U.S. is working with the Moroccan Government to make these transformative new investments to educate and empower girls across Morocco  investments that will help these girls succeed in the workforce and fulfill their boundless promise.

The Let Girls Learn initiative aims at ensuring adolescent girls across the world attain a quality education that empowers them to reach their full potential. The initiative brings together the USAID, the Peace Corps, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation to address the range of challenges  both in and out of the classroom  preventing over 62 million girls from getting the education they deserve.

Before coming to Morocco, Michelle Obama paid a similar visit to Liberia and is expected in Madrid on Wednesday to highlight new commitments to support Let Girls Learn initiative.
NATO must do more to deter Russian threat

By Messenger Staff

The transatlantic community faces new challenges very different from the Cold War. In the east, Russia is acting aggressively and advancing new forms of hybrid warfare; on the southern flank, hordes of refugees and foreign fighters are destabilising the region; further abroad, Afghanistan also remains very dangerous, while ISIL and other terror groups show no sign of slowing down, US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said at a security conference.Despite the progress that weve made together since the end of the Cold War, Russia has in recent years appeared intent  with its violation of Ukrainian, Georgian, and Moldovan territorial integrity, with its unprofessional behavior in the air, in space, and in cyber-space, as well as with its nuclear sabre-rattling  on eroding the principled international order that has served the United States, our allies and partners, the international community and Russia itself so well for so long.Carter said the United States is taking a strong and balanced approach to address Russia.Were strengthening our capabilities, our posture, our investments, our plans and our allies and partners, all while still keeping the door open to working with Russia where our interests align. And we will continue to make clear that Russias aggressive actions only serve to further its isolation, and further unite the NATO Alliance, said Carter.According to him, NATO must do more to deter and defend against Russian aggression and to meet the challenges to NATOs south and further abroad.The United States frequently speaks out against Russias aggressive foreign policies.The Georgian Government shares Washington's concern over Russian aggression and also criticises Moscow and its actions, but at the same time they claim that Georgia must try to peacefully solve conflicts with Russia to avoid being dragged into war.Georgia is taking steps towards Euro-Atlantic integration, while the United States tries to assist its allies in upgrading their self-defence capabilities.Georgia still seems to be a target of Russian international policies; even after President Saakashvili, Moscow's implacable enemy, was removed from power in the 2012 parliamentary elections, relations have not improved. Though another armed conflict seems to be unlikely,Russian aggression remains in the form of its creeping occupation of Georgian territory.
The News in Brief

Zurab Abashidze to meet Grigory Karasin on June 27



Georgian Prime Ministers Special Envoy for Russia-Georgia Relations, Zurab Abashidze, will hold a meeting with Deputy Russian PM Grigory Karasin on June 27, Russias Foreign Ministry reports.



As announced by the ministry, representatives of Russian and Georgian transport agencies will also take part in the meeting.



A discussion of practical issues of bilateral Georgia-Russia relations is planned during the consultations, reports the ministry. (IPN)







Saakashvili ordered beating of MP who criticized him to set an example



Former Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili on Tuesday testified that ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili ordered the beating of a parliament member to make an example of what would happen to others if they dared openly criticize him.



In his testimony at a trial concerning the beating of parliamentarian Valeri Gelashvili in 2005, Okruashvili said that Saakashvili had a grudge against Gelashvili because of statements the latter had made in an interview with the daily newspaper Rezonansi two weeks before he was attacked.



Gelashvili said that Saakashvili had taken his house from him without paying any compensation. The house used to be in the location where the presidents residence stands today. In addition, he also spoke about the private life of Saakashvili in an unfiltered manner, which was unusual at the time.



Gelashvili was also one of the first people to say publicly that Saakashvili was making political decisions for own his personal gain.



Later Gelashvili was stopped while driving his car, and beaten by unknown assailants wearing black masks. He was severely injured and according to doctors barely survived. According to a medical report, he had brain trauma, several broken bones, injuries to the nose and forehead and other injuries.



In a testimony on Tuesday, Okruashvili, the Defence Minister in the early years of Saakashvilis government, claimed that the former president as well as ex-Minister of Internal Affairs Vano Merabishvili were behind the attack.



Saakashvili asked me to carry out retribution against Gelashvili. It had to be done so that the motive wasnt revealed. I refused, and when [Gelashvili was beaten] I spoke with Saakashvili and understood that his order had been carried out by Vano Merabishvili, he said at the trial on Tuesday.



Okruashvili recalled that he had several meetings with Saakashvili about this issue and that he had also met Merabishvili once. He said that Merabishvili encouraged Saakashvili to carry out the plan.



He claimed that if someone dared do such a thing to the president once, then others would do the same and he couldnt let it pass but had to take measures. I thought that it was pointless to try and placate Saakashvili, Okruashvili recalled.



After a falling out with Saakashvili in 2007, Okruashvili joined the opposition against him, and then left for France. On March 28 2008, a court sentenced Okruashvili to eleven years in jail in absentia. After the parliamentary election in 2012, he returned and was detained, but later the court released him on bail. (DF watch)







Substantial package shows our progress in NATO-Georgia relations  Davit Bakradze



Its important for the alliance members to reaffirm that Georgia has all necessary instruments to continue preparation for NATO membership, said State Minister for Euro Integration Davit Bakradze before the Nato Warsaw Summit.



The conference will welcome representatives of Georgias government, foreign governments international organizations, and the diplomatic corps.



As for the practical instruments, we will receive more and more support by intensifying the Substantial Package in terms of improving our self-defence capabilities and increasing compatibility with NATO, Davit Bakradze stated.



Georgias Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli, Minister for Euro Integration Davit Bakradze, First Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Dondua, representatives of Diplomatic corps and other officials will take part in the conference. (IPN)




It was lunch time and the newly arrived teenage inmates had just filed into the mess hall at Sumter Correctional Institution, sat down with their lunch trays and began eating. Some of them started talking  just like the inmates whod been there longer were doing at nearby tables.

But their supervising officer considered the newbies disruptive. He warned them. They continued. Within minutes, Officer Alexander was ordering the nearly 15 inmates to stand up and dump their lunch trays in the trash. He then ordered them back into their dorm.

Thats where state Rep. David Richardson, a Democrat from Miami Beach, found them.

Richardson was at the Central Florida prison in Bushnell on one of his routine visits to the states largest male youthful offender programs. Richardson randomly selected six of the 14- to 17-year-olds to speak with him and, one-by-one, started asking questions.

Hows your day going? Richardson said he asked.

Not very good, was the reply. We were just at the lunch room and a couple of people were talking and the guard told us to go and dump all our food in the trash. All six inmates identified Alexander as responsible. The agency, citing the ongoing investigation, would not reveal Alexanders first name or any other information about him.

Depriving inmates of food is against the law in Floridas prisons but when it happens, it rarely gets reported. Richardson complained and FDC responded immediately. They removed Alexander from contact with the inmates who had been in prison less than three weeks. The inmates were supplied with another tray of food, and FDC opened an investigation to determine what discipline to take against Alexander. Story here.

Photo: Rep. David Richardson visiting Suwannee Correctional Institution earlier this year.
@ByKristenMClark

Another recent poll shows incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio as the clear Republican favorite in Florida's U.S. Senate race -- but he would have a battle on his hands against Democrat Patrick Murphy if the two faced off in the general election, the poll found.

The new statewide survey from News 13/Bay News 9 -- conducted June 25-27 -- found Rubio with 63 percent support in the Aug. 30 GOP primary, with "undecided" being a distant second at 13 percent. Manatee County home-builder Carlos Beruff got 11 percent, followed by relative unknowns Dwight Young at 10 percent and Ernie Rivera at 2 percent.

For those results, the TV stations polled 555 likely Republican voters. The results had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percent.

In the Democratic primary, the potential victor is not so decisive.

"Undecided" still leads the pack with 35 percent support -- as it has consistently for months while the Democratic contenders fight for prominence among primary voters.

But as is consistent with most other recent polls, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of Jupiter holds the edge. He got 30 percent support compared 21 percent support for fellow U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando, the poll found.

Among the remaining percent: Miami labor attorney and former naval officer Pam Keith got 10 percent support, former assistant U.S. attorney Reginald Luster of Jacksonville got 3 percent and California businessman and former presidential hopeful "Rocky" Roque De La Fuente of Orlando got 2 percent. Luster and De La Fuente joined the primary contest last week when they qualified for the ballot.

The stations surveyed 618 likely Democratic primary voters for those results, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

The only general election match-up the stations polled was between Rubio and Murphy, who are viewed as the frontrunners in their respective primaries.

If the election were held this week, respondents would have made it a draw.

Both Rubio and Murphy polled with 43 percent support, while 8 percent said they were undecided and 7 percent would've picked another candidate.

The general election survey polled 1,678 likely November voters. The results had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percent.

More detailed poll results here.
@JeremySWallace

With another $100,000 donation earlier this month, the US Sugar Corporation has become one of Gov. Rick Scott top financial supporters.

Since October, US Sugar has now given Scott $200,000 in donations for a political committee Scott runs called Lets Get to Work. In hitting the $200,000 threshold, US Sugar became one of Scotts five biggest donors since the start of 2015.

By far the biggest donor to Scott since the start of 2015 remains the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which has donated $790,000 to Scotts committee. Walt Disney World Parks and Resorts; Floridians for a Stronger Democracy (a political committee with ties to Associated Industries of Florida); and Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeffrey Vinik have also given $200,000 or more to Lets Get to Work.

Since the start of 2015, Scott has raised $6.5 million for Lets Get to Work, including about $1.7 million in 2016. Lets Get to Work has spent $4.9 million since the start of 2015, and about $1.8 million in 2016.

The financial activity comes despite Scott being term limited and unable to run for re-election. While some have suggested Scott is aiming to run for the U.S. Senate in 2018, Scott has refused to say publicly whether he is considering taking on U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat.
Critics of Donald Trump worry what would happen if a man with little regard for the Constitution and a willingness to impose his personal will on a hot-button issue like immigration became president.

This isn't a far-fetched scenario  in fact, it has already happened. A deadlocked Supreme Court let stand a lower-court order blocking President Barack Obama's unilateral bid to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants in a wholly outrageous violation of our constitutional norms.

President Obama's order was so flagrantly lawless that he had repeatedly denied he had the power to act on his own  until he did.

The "deferred action" program in question granted amnesty to the illegal-immigrant parents of U.S.-born children and expanded a previous executive amnesty for illegal immigrants who came here before age 16. The administration claimed the program was merely an exercise in prosecutorial discretion. In reality, it was a new legal dispensation, giving a broad category of illegal immigrants work permits, Social Security numbers and driver's licenses, among other benefits.

In his huffy remarks after the Supreme Court decision, Obama said that when Congress refused to act on so-called comprehensive immigration reform, he "was left with little choice but to take steps within my existing authority to make our immigration system smarter, fairer and more just." But there is no clause in the Constitution giving the president power to legislate in the absence of congressional enactments. The president's own sweeping description of the supposed benefits of his action  a smarter, fairer, more just system  implies its breadth.

It certainly doesn't sound like a mere act of discretion around the edges  and it isn't. The appeals court noted that nearly 150 pages of instructions were issued on how to carry out the president's previous executive amnesty, and only about 5 percent of more than 700,000 applications were denied. The president of the union representing the immigration workers charged with processing those applications said the Department of Homeland Security worked to ensure that they were "rubber-stamped." President Obama himself had said that DHS officials who didn't implement his latest edict would face "consequences." So much for discretion.

In his post-decision statement, President Obama referred to our "broken" immigration system, a favorite cliche of supporters of amnesty. The brokenness of the system, though, is largely a function of the long-standing refusal by the federal government to enforce our immigration laws. If we didn't enforce our tax or environment laws, they'd be broken, too.

President Obama is said by his critics on the open-borders left to be the Deporter-in-Chief, but this is a misnomer wrapped in an act of statistical legerdemain. The Obama administration began counting deportations differently to get the numbers up. President Obama himself has admitted that this accounting gimmick is misleading. The truth is that interior enforcement has been gutted. John Sandweg, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has said, "If you are a run-of-the-mill immigrant here illegally, your odds of getting deported are close to zero." Even the deportation of criminal aliens, supposedly the priority of the administration, has been declining.

The assurance that President Obama issued after the Supreme Court decision that enforcement priorities won't change is certainly correct  the enforcement priority will continue to be nonenforcement.

The conventional wisdom is that better border controls and a weak economy have checked the flow of illegal immigrants, but the numbers are beginning to tell a different story. According to data from the Center for Immigration Studies, illegal immigration in 2014 and 2015  with other countries picking up the slack from Mexico  is significantly up from the level of the prior two years. Overall, the number of new legal and illegal immigrants is now higher than before the 2007 recession.

No matter how highhanded President Obama has been in defying the separation of powers to get his way on immigration, an even more lawless president beckons. Hillary Clinton has pledged to go even further.
Some members of Congress recently wasted more taxpayer dollars on yet another hearing designed to block climate action. This maneuver is in stark contrast to public opinion. A majority of Republicans, Democrats and independent voters want government action to address climate change.

Polluters and their climate-denying allies are attacking the Clean Power Plan, which sets the first ever federal standards on carbon pollution from power plants and encourages investments in safer, cleaner renewable energy.

The Clean Power Plan is good news for our country's economy and public health. By 2030, these lifesaving standards will produce up to $54 billion in health and climate benefits and could, on average, save American families more than $200 on their electricity bills every year.

Despite the reckless attacks by polluters and their allies, the Clean Power Plan has a strong legal and technical foundation under the Clean Air Act. In fact, the Supreme Court has already ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to set limits on carbon pollution from the power sector.

Former Republican EPA Administrators William Ruckelshaus and William Reilly defended the Clean Power Plan in court by filing a friend of the court brief, calling it a "pragmatic, flexible and cost-effective," program that "properly respects state sovereignty" and "falls well within the bounds of an administrator's authority." Ruckelshaus led the EPA under GOP presidents Nixon and Reagan, while Reilly was appointed to the position by President George H. W. Bush.

Opponents of the Clean Power Plan are on the wrong side of the legal argument, the wrong side of public opinion and the wrong side of history.

Sally Brown,

Missoula
In response to Steve Wheat's letter to the editor June 23:

Let me get this straight. A Muslim kills or wounds nearly 100 people in Orlando and he wants to punish freedom-loving Americans by taking away our gun rights. It is America's fault for our lax gun laws.

Democrats don't care a bit about American victims in Orlando but only see it as a convenient excuse to further their far-left causes. This mass killing in Orlando could have been curtailed quickly if even one or two citizens had concealed weapons and the knowledge of how to use them. This isn't about gun laws. It is about the failure of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama policies in Iraq, Syria, Benghazi and the Middle East, and in dealing with Islam.

In the army, we shot the M-16 out to 300 yards with open sights, a perfect hunting rifle. The AR-15 in the .308 caliber is an excellent big-game rifle. Any veteran knows that the AR-15 is not an assault rifle. Ban the AR-15 platform and you can ban any rifle on the market today.

The words "assault weapon" are propaganda. When the press says "assault weapon," you are hearing the same propaganda tactics perfected by Hitler in the 1930s. Banning weapons was one of Hitler's prime objectives, as it is from Obama and his supporters, and is quietly being supported by one of Obama's most avid supporters, Jon Tester, who certainly does not represent Montanan views.

The childish actions of Democrats in Congress show that they and Jon Tester would rather go after American's freedoms than deal with the Islam problem. Do Democrats care about 100 American casualties in Orlando? As Hillary said about dead Americans in Benghazi: "What difference, at this point, does it make?"

Max Agather,

Kalispell
When is this resettlement madness going to stop? When are the citizens going to rise up and say no more? The Constitution is not a suicide pact.

I am tired of the naive individuals who dream of a multicultural society where children of diverse cultures can study together  play together  and be raped by some barbarian who has no regard for women and children. Bring in 100 per year to Missoula County? Insanity! Those who want this are more interested in the money than concern for refugees.

This writer can no longer tolerate the deception being promulgated by the occupant of the White House. It is my firm belief that the occupant of the White house is a Muslim. We also have a feckless Congress and a corrupt judiciary that refuses to investigate the occupant of the White House, resulting in a usurpation of the Office of the President by a person who cannot possibly be a natural-born citizen as required by the U.S. Constitution.

As a Muslim, Barack Obama is facilitating the fundamental transformation of the United States of America. His concerted effort to resettle Muslim refugees is evidence of this. He claims there is no religious test for immigration. However, the preference for Muslims over any other religion is evident when 97 percent of those selected for resettlement are Muslim. He has created a religious test. He wants this to happen. He is facilitating the Islamic takeover of the United States of America.

We constantly hear that we are a nation of immigrants. However, this is not immigration. It is migration. It is the fundamental transformation of the country by means of massive migration or hijra.

Wake up, citizens. It is not refugee resettlement. It is jihad!

Harry Solomon,

Bigfork
The men threw out a note scribbled on toilet paper. The note was from Mr. Mwenda. It said: Call my wife. Im in danger.

That is the last anyone has seen or heard from Mr. Kimani, Mr. Mwenda or the taxi driver, human rights advocates say. Their phones abruptly went dead on Thursday night. Police officers at the base where the toilet paper note was reportedly thrown out the window denied ever seeing the three.

Early the next morning, the taxi was found more than 30 miles away, parked on a road in a deserted, misty tea plantation, with the doors locked.

Many of Mr. Kimanis colleagues now fear that police officers may have killed the three. And while Kenya is widely known as corrupt and violent, and is dogged by a long history of impunity, the brazen disappearing of a witness, a taxi driver and a well-known human rights defender is considered far beyond the norm in this country.

That could have been me, said Jeremy Chabari, a young Kenyan lawyer.

Kenya is no Rwanda, Ethiopia or Democratic Republic of Congo, places where dissidents are routinely locked up or worse. Kenya is considered one of the most progressive and open democracies in Africa. But this case is seen as a chilling setback in the battle to clean up the Kenyan police services.

Its astonishing that a lawyer with international human rights connections can be disappeared in a country which enjoys strong international support and is subject to close Western scrutiny, said Salim Lone, a former official in Kenyas leading opposition party who now lives in New Jersey.

On Wednesday, several dozen young lawyers, immaculately dressed in suits and equipped with the latest smartphones, stood on the steps of Kenyas Supreme Court to deliver a set of demands. The lawyers called on the government to immediately open an independent investigation and make a full report public by next week.
The arraignment for a Butte mental-health counselor accused of soliciting a patient to incriminate her ex-husband, his wife and a Butte attorney in drug activity is set for July 7 in Butte district court.

Dana Ann Trandahl, 52, was initially charged in Butte justice court in May with felony counts of solicitation of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and criminal distribution of dangerous drugs. The case was transferred to district court last week.

An affidavit filed June 22 paints a picture of a woman embroiled in a nearly nine-year custody dispute with two of the alleged victims, ex-husband Pat Ryan and attorney Tim Dick, over what Trandahl alleged was abuse and neglect of their children by Ryan.

Butte-Silver Bow County prosecutors allege the licensed clinical professional counselor solicited a patient over a two-month period to purchase and plant methamphetamine in vehicles belonging to Ryan and his wife.

Trandahl also allegedly gave her patient  during a counseling session -- six different prescription medications such as hydrocodone and Tramadol, both opioids, and Ambien, a sleep aid, and commanded her to place them in the trunk of Ryans car and under the drivers seat of his wifes car, court documents state.

The patient reported to a police detective that Trandahl showed her where Ryan and his wife lived and apprised her of his work schedule.

The affidavit states Trandahls patient further stated that on three occasions between April 12 and May 17 she was given $400 to buy meth and place it in Ryans car and his coffee cup. She was also requested to put some in Ryans wifes car, her fathers car and to mail envelopes of meth to Ryan and Dick.

According to the affidavit, the patient canceled two appointments to thwart Trandahls threat to cause trouble if she didnt follow through with the plan to plant drugs. But Trandahl demanded to meet the woman at her office May 26, the same day that Dick alerted police about a conversation with Trandahls patient.

When the patient met Trandahl at her office on Floral Boulevard, she was wired and their conversation was monitored and recorded by law enforcement investigators. The affidavit states that Trandahl discussed her plan to have her patient buy meth to implicate Ryan.

On the recording, Trandahl can be heard saying apologize for putting so much pressure on you. My situation is such that school is almost over, the affidavit states. After moving to a back room in the office, Trandahl whispered to the woman, telling her to spill the methamphetamine all over the inside of the Pat Ryans car.
Looking for something to do over the long 4th of July holiday? Well look no further. The Montana Standard has a list of events taking place in Southwest Montana that will surely interest one and all.

Friday, July 1

ART WALK

The monthly Art Walk in Uptown Butte runs from 5 to 9 p.m.

LEWIS AND CLARK

Explore nature with interpretive programs at Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park at 8 p.m. Tom Elpel will talk about the Jefferson River Canoe Trail. Meet at the park amphitheater. Details: Call the park visitor center at 406-287-3541.

DRAFT HORSE EXPO

The 21st Big Sky Draft Horse Expo runs Friday through Sunday, July 1 through 3, at the Powell County Fairgrounds in Deer Lodge. A weekend pass is $30; kids under 17 are free; day passes are Friday, $8; Saturday and Sunday, $15 each. Performances are Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., and Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. During the Saturday afternoon break: 2 p.m., horses mowing hay at Grant-Kohrs; 3 p.m., black powder demonstration across from the old prison; 2 to 4:30 p.m., barns open to visit horses. Details: www.drafthorseexpo.com.

Saturday, July 2

FARMERS MARKETS

The Butte Farmers Market is from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays on Park Street between Main and Dakota in Uptown Butte.

Whitehall farmers market runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays on Legion Ave. Details: 406-491-0512.

Twin Bridges Farmers Market runs Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon in the Main St. City Park.

GEOLOGY CLASS

Wise River Community Foundation will host "Discovering the Geological World" from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Wise River Community Building. The free geology class is part of a series. Details: George Brimhall, 406-832-3406, or Alta, 406-832-3389, or www.earthresourcesmt.org.

SNAKE TALK

Park Ranger Derrick Rathe presents Snakes of Lewis & Clark Caverns at 8 p.m. at Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park. Following the snake presentation, Rathe will lead a short interpretive walk, Things That Go Bump, in search of the parks amazing night life. Details: 406-287-3541.

GOLD PANNING

Learn the Art of Gold Panning at 2 p.m. from staff at Bannack State Park, southwest of Dillon.

LIBRARY BAZAAR

The Friends of the Librarys bazaar in Virginia City is Saturday and Sunday, July 2 and 3, and includes baked goods, used books and crafts. Proceeds support the library, 217 Idaho St., Virginia City. Details: 406-843-5346.

FUN COLOR RUN

The Butte Chamber of Commerce's Paint the Town 5k Fun Color Run starts at 11 a.m. at 1000 George St. Registration begins at 9 a.m. Details: Stephanie at marketing@buttechamber.org or 406-723-3177.

DRAFT HORSE EXPO

The 21st Big Sky Draft Horse Expo continues at the Powell County Fairgrounds in Deer Lodge. Kids under 17 are free; day passes $15. Performances are at 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. During the afternoon break: 2 p.m., horses mowing hay at Grant-Kohrs; 3 p.m., black powder demonstration across from the old prison; 2 to 4:30 p.m., barns open to visit horses. Details: www.drafthorseexpo.com.

Sunday, July 3

LIBRARY BAZAAR

The Friends of the Librarys bazaar in Virginia City continues. Proceeds support the library, 217 Idaho St., Virginia City. Details: 406-843-5346.

ENNIS RODEO

Ennis NRA Rodeo starts at 8 p.m. and features the top cowboys and cowgirls from the northwest. Tickets are $12 adults, $10 children age 6-12, free for children 5 and under.

BIG M FIREWORKS

Butte fireworks on the Big M begin at dusk. The event is sponsored by the Kenneally Family and the Town Pump Foundation.

AT CHESTER STEELE PARK

The annual party at Chester Steele Park, adjacent to St. James Healthcare, starts at 6 p.m.; Edmonton Service Pipes and Drum Band perform at 7 p.m. Also planned are food vendors, live music by Highlands Brass and Butte Community Band, and DJs provided by KBMF Radio 102.5.

FLOATS ON DISPLAY

Professional floats sponsored by Summit Beverage, Council of Commissioners, REC Silicon, Montana Resources, and the Whitefish Winter Carnival float sponsored by Butte Hill Catering will be in the parking lot of the Butte Civic Center with their lights on for all to view.

DRAFT HORSE EXPO

The 21st Big Sky Draft Horse Expo concludes at the Powell County Fairgrounds in Deer Lodge. Performances are 8:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. Details: www.drafthorseexpo.com.

Monday, July 4

FUN RUN

The Run for Recovery to benefit people in recovery programs starts at 9:30 a.m. from the Butte Civic Center. The run precedes the parade. Sign-up starts at 8:30 a.m. in the Stokes parking lot. Walkers also welcome. Details: John Willard, 406-490-7987.

BUTTE PARADE

Buttes Fourth of July Parade starts at 10 a.m. from the Butte Civic Center south on Harrison Ave.

ANACONDA PARADE

The parade begins at 2 p.m. Fireworks start dusk in Washoe Park, sponsored by Anaconda Celebrations United Veterans Fireworks.

GEORGETOWN PARADE

The annual Georgetown Lake Parade starts at noon on the road by Seven Gables, 150 Southern Cross Rd. Lineup starts at 10 a.m.

ENNIS PARADE

The Ennis parade starts at 10 a.m. in Ennis. Details: 406-682-4388.

CAR SHOW

The Ennis 4th of July Car Show & Swap meet begins at 9:30 a.m. on the lawn of the Sportsmans Loge. Bring your parts to sell; the swap meet space is free. Reservations, 406-682-4242. Details: Brent Oliver, 406-579-1714, or Joe Richardson, 406-581-2969. Registration is from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Fee is $20; awards are at 1:30 p.m.

DEER LODGE FIREWORKS

The annual 4th of July Fireworks Display and Pig Roast are at the Old Prison Yard, Deer Lodge. Gates open at 6 p.m. The event is free. Details: 406-846-3111.

VIRGINIA CITY FIREWORKS

The display starts at dusk from the Boot Hill area. Donations benefit the Virginia City Rural Fire Department Auxiliary.
An easement fight resolved last year by the Montana Supreme Court in Small Horse Canyon, south of Dillon, has erupted again  this time with a new twist.

Cheryl Hren, along with two others  Renee Klakken and Jeffrey Nelson  pled not guilty Monday in Dillons Justice Court to misdemeanor charges over a metal gate that was paid for by the Meine family.

Hren and Klakken were charged with theft and criminal mischief. In addition to those two charges, Nelson was also charged with assault.

According to the Beaverhead County Sheriffs complaint, Hren, Klakken and Nelsen took a metal gate belonging to the Meine family and their relatives, the Blake family, at about 1 p.m. on May 28. Nelson allegedly shoved the metal gate toward Jerry Meine and made contact with Meine. Nelson also raised a fist as if he was going to strike Meine, the complaint states.

The incident took place at the bottom gate in Small Horse Canyon, adding a new chapter to the access dispute in that canyon that dates back to at least 2007.

That was the year the Hren family accused the Meine family of criminal mischief over breaking a lock on a gate in the canyon. In 2010, the Hrens accused the Meine family of assault over a lock on a gate.

Those charges were part of a lawsuit that went all the way to the Montana Supreme Court, which was settled in February 2015. The Meine family broke the locks the Hren family put on a gate in 2007 because they believed they had the right to use the road since they had done so for decades. The Montana Supreme Court ultimately agreed.

The Meines claimed they have used the road since the early 1920s. The Hrens, citing a road grading the Meine family did without permission, refused to give the Meines a key to the lock. Hren told The Montana Standard previously that Richard Blake, grandson to Robert Meine, did damage to their property when he graded the road without their permission.

Jerry Meine previously told The Montana Standard that he hoped the states Supreme Court decision would end the dispute with the Hren family.

Calls to Cheryl Hren, Jeffrey Nelson, Renee Klakken and the Meine family were not returned by press time.

The plea hearing took place in Judge Cheryl Hoernings courtroom Monday in Dillon. The three defendants have 10 days to advise the court of their attorney. The court expects to set a schedule for trial by early August.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is alerting the public to fishing restrictions on the Big Hole and Madison Rivers effective Thursday, June 30, as a result of high water temperatures.

Restrictions on other southwest Montana rivers are likely in the near future, the release said.

The restrictions beginning Thursday will close the following rivers to fishing daily from 2 p.m. to midnight until conditions improve:

The Big Hole from Saginaw Bridge on Skinner Meadows Road to the Mouth of the North Fork Big Hole River

The Madison River from Ennis Dam to the Mouth

The snowpack melted extremely early this year and river flows around the state are suffering early. This coupled with warm weather has resulted in conditions stressful to fish, says Travis Horton, regional fisheries manager.

As restrictions are implemented, FWP recommends anglers seek out opportunities for fishing waters less susceptible to fish kills (i.e. high mountain lakes and reservoirs).

For up-to-date information on restrictions related to drought, go to http://fwp.mt.gov/news/restrictions/.
DEER LODGE  A former Deer Lodge police officer is facing a felony obstruction of justice charge.

Erik Miller, who was hired by the city on November 5, 2012, was charged Tuesday in Deer Lodge district court. If found guilty, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

According to court documents, on June 8, 2015, Krystine Close told Sheriff Scott Howard that Miller warned her to stay out of bars because her probation officer, Tim Meloy, was doing bar checks that night.

Close also told him she and Miller had been involved in a relationship and that he had warned her to get out of bars before, documents show. She showed Howard a text message confirming her statement.

Howard requested the Montana Department of Criminal Investigation to handle the investigation because Miller had previously worked for the sheriffs office and he wanted to avoid any appearance of bias.

The record states that during the investigation, Meloy verified he was working in Deer Lodge on November 11, 2014, the night the text messages were sent. Close was a probationer on his case list and it would have been a felony probation violation for her to be found in a bar.

Investigator John Sullivan interviewed Miller on June 10, 2015, at the Deer Lodge police station during which Miller allegedly admitted having sexual relations with Close, documents show. Miller also admitted to having texted her to warn her that probation officer Meloy would be performing bar checks and she should stay out of the bars, records show.

City officials suspended Miller with pay on June 10, 2015, until the investigation was complete. He was terminated on August 7, 2015.

Miller is free on his own recognizance pending further court proceedings.
HELENA  The Republican Governors Association agreed to register as a political committee in Montana after spending more than $450,000 prior to the state's June 7 primary to benefit Bozeman businessman Greg Gianforte's campaign for governor.

Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl called on the governors association to register as a committee after The Associated Press reported the group acknowledged spending large amounts of money for television spots critical of Gov. Steve Bullock.

The organization filed a campaign finance report on Monday, the latest reporting deadline, as required of all political committees that register as a Montana entity.

Under the auspices of the RGA Right Direction PAC, the association of GOP governors reported spending more than $453,000, the bulk for advertising and two polls.

"That was a lot of money, and we're glad it is now reported," Motl said on Tuesday.

Montana law requires groups spending money on Montana campaigns to register with Motl's office and file monthly spending reports. Motl acknowledged a gray area in state law that he said could be interpreted as allowing federally registered committees to report less frequently under the schedule set by the Federal Election Commission.

Prompted by an AP report earlier this month about the pace of spending and fundraising in the Montana governor's race, Motl sent a letter noting that the Republican Governors Association had not filed as a political committee under state law.

Michael Adams, the governors association's general counsel, replied to Motl in an email that it was his understanding that the RGA, as a federally registered committee, was in compliance.

"That said, let me assure you we have no desire to be cute or tricky or game the system" Adams wrote in a subsequent email. "We are not a 'dark money' organization and we have always been transparent about our activities, in Montana and elsewhere."

Motl said Republican Governors Association officials were cooperative, and despite gray areas in state law opted on their own to register as a political committee with his office.

"We're not trying to create a fight with the RGA," Motl said. "We were just trying to get them to report because this was a lot of money."

Montana's gubernatorial race has generated big money thus far, in fundraising by the candidates and in outside spending.

Campaign finance reports filed with the state on Monday show Gov. Steve Bullock has more than $1.4 million to spend in his re-election campaign, while his Republican challenger, Greg Gianforte, has about $133,000 left after spending heavily in the first months of the governor's race.

Monday's filing reports were the first since the state's June 7 primary elections and cover the period between May 28 and June 22.

Gianforte's report shows his campaign received another $100,000 from his personal fortune. In all, the Bozeman businessman has contributed $500,000 toward his bid for governor.

Gianforte has spent more than $1.6 million since launching his campaign, while Bullock has spent $554,000.

While Gianforte might have drawn down much of the $1.8 million he's raised, he can tap into his personal wealth to help finance his campaign.

The Democratic Governors Association is also registered with the state. In its most recent filing on June 4 it shows a donation to the Montana Democratic Party of $20,000, made on June 2.
HELENA  A group that doesnt yet have to report its political spending in Montana plans to mail 400,000 fliers across the state attacking Democrat Gov. Steve Bullock.

Americans for Prosperity-Montana sent fliers out recently saying Bullock turned his back on special needs children by vetoing a bill that would have created an education savings account using public money that a disabled child's parent could use for an alternative education.

AFP hasnt had to register as a committee yet this election cycle and report where it gets its money and how it spends it. Thats because the flyer isnt technically a piece of election material.

It's a case of something that looks like a duck  a shiny mailer with the governor's photo and text telling people to call Bullock  but it doesn't talk like one, and thats the key for passing the U.S. Supreme Courts test for whether an ad is issued-based and not a piece of campaign material.

If a mailer focuses on a legislative issue, takes a position on the issue and urges the public to do the same and encourages the public to contact an elected official, but doesnt mention elections, candidacy, a political party or challenger and does not take a position on a candidate's character or qualifications for office, its an issue-based ad.

That flier does not say to vote for or against anybody, said Jonathan Motl, Montana Commissioner of Political Practices. It also doesnt mention an election or race, specifically the contest for governor between Bullock and Republican challenger Greg Gianforte.

In 2013, the Gianforte Family Charitable Trust gave $1,000 to AFP Montana, according to tax records. The private Petra Academy, which Gianforte helped open, says on its application it is not staffed to handle students with severe learning disabilities or those who have trouble behaviorally.

The mailing comes in what Motl called a gap period between the day after the June 7 primary and Aug. 15, after which the states Disclose Act requires the disclosure of any electioneering communications. That is defined as paid communication that is publicly distributed, made within 60 days of the initiation of voting in an election, is received by more than 100 people and refers to a candidate, depicts the name, image, likeness or voice of a candidate and refers to a political party or ballot issue.

Its a deliberately designed piece of issue advocacy scheduled to fall into the gap between the primary election and the start date for reporting, said Montanas top campaign cop.

Motl said he expected many additional "issue advocacy" mailings to go out before the Aug. 15 deadline.

According to its website, AFP is working to educate Montanans on the governors policies and empower citizens to hold him accountable for his choices.

The group said it has knocked on 25,000 doors and made 61,000 calls this year and will be doubling down on this effort to focus exclusively on the governors record.

Its goal is to visit 83,000 homes and distribute 400,000 mail pieces in order to educate Montanans on the governors policy decisions and stances.
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.

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 post-war European history.

-- George Will's email address is georgewill@washpost.com.

(c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group
Governor Bullock is under an illusion that creating a new office in Helena will do something for public land access in Montana. It was stated by the governors office A public access specialist there will be on call. What? BLM and National Forest are federal public lands and those agencies are responsible for public access on federal lands, not the governor. Is the governor referring to public state lands then under the Montana Constitution of 1889 and MCA-77-1-203 of 1973?

We owned 5.2 million acres of public state land in Montana in 1991. After a long battle for 12 years by a few, we won access to/on our public state land with HB778 signed into law April 21, 1991. All was good with a $10 annual fee to the trust to use our state lands for 12 months. With a new governor and land board all was about to change. Now we need two licenses to use our land for 12 months -- one purchased with our conservation license for the hunting season only; the other available only at a distant DNRC office to use our land other months. Without the second license there is a $500 fine for bird watchers, cross country skiers, photographers, hikers and other recreationists. How many users of OUR public state lands today know this, Governor, its in your regulations?

There is more. Governor Schweitzer in all his wisdom created the misguided land banking program to rid us of our land below full market value required under the Enabling Act. Governor Bullock served as AG then on the land board to do just that. Governor Bullock continued on with the same misguided program today. Now 68,060 acres of OUR State Land valuable for many resources was placed on the chopping block. So what is the governor talking about to help protect, enhance public land access?

What is needed is a moratorium on selling ANY of our public state lands -- no new government bureaucracy is needed.

Look at a land status map of Montana you will see BLM, National Forest, other federal lands, private lands and public state land locations. Our public state lands are identified in blue color. At a land board meeting, I asked the director of DNRC if she had ever seen such a map, and she said, No! Hard to believe and yet they were selling our land at that meeting.

State land may be located adjacent to and within federal public land boundaries including within state FWP wildlife management areas next to roads, rivers/streams etc. Even the so-called isolated lands provide access to block management, wildlife habitat, historical and antiquities values under the Montana Antiquities Act -- but not a single acre has ever been professionally inventoried.

What is so evil about hands off on selling ANY of our public state lands by zealous state bureaucrats and real estate promoters?

A new public-funded office with more bureaucrats will do little to protect our lands and provide access. What happened to the other misguided governor proposal to spend $11 million of sportsmens dollars to buy OUR state land we own. Did it die a fast death? Seems to me we have people in Helena who do not know what they are doing.

Hopefully the second debate will also address the state land access issue. Our public state lands must all be retained and managed in a responsible manner as required under the laws.

-- Jack D. Jones of Butte worked as a wildlife biologist in Montana for 36 years with the Bureau of Land Management.
Butte-Silver Bow Planning Director Jon Sesso wants the Urban Revitalization Agency to forgive a $100,000 loan it gave to a now-disbanded alliance of Butte festivals more than three years ago.

Sesso told the URA Board Tuesday that most of the money bought assets such as a staging, tables and electrical wiring still being used by the festivals today and the events have proven themselves as a boon to Buttes economy.

But URA Board member Bob Brown says a request made on behalf of the festivals in 2013 was for the same thing  a grant that would not have to be repaid  and the panel rejected it.

The URA board decides how tax revenue from the Uptown tax-increment finance district is spent on economic development in the area, primarily through grants and loans.

Everybody would love to have their loans converted to a grant, Brown said after Sesso proposed the loan be forgiven by making it a grant.

Brown was not on the board when the loan was made in April 2013, but two of five current members were, including current Chairman Dale Mahugh.

At his suggestion Tuesday, the board tabled Sessos request so members could review documents and shake the cobwebs to learn more about the decision three years ago.

But officials say there are no documents about the loan itself. Because it was an intergovernmental loan, there was no interest, no timetable for repayment or any other written terms.

Brown expressed surprise about that and fellow board member Bob Worley said later, I almost think they walked out of here (in 2013) thinking this loan will be turned into a grant so we dont have to worry about it.

The URA board agreed to the loan in April 2013 after rejecting an initial request for a $200,000 grant for the festivals they would not have to pay back.

It was made to the Butte Events Team, an alliance of seven festival partners that included Buttes biggest summer events  the Montana Folk Festival, Evel Knievel Days and the An Ri Ra Irish festival. The money helped cover 2013 expenses such as security and to purchase items still used at events today, including tents and sound equipment.

Brown brought up the loan this past April, asking when it would be repaid and if it would include interest. Community Development Director Karen Byrnes, who is also director of the URA, said later that Sesso would address the issue at the June 28 meeting.

Sesso did that by suggesting the loan be converted into a grant.

He said prior to 2013, the URA board had made large grants to the festivals that were instrumental in them becoming success stories that help boost Buttes economy. The festivals eventually formed a partnership that, among other things, purchased items and services all the events could use.

When E. Jay Ellington became parks director in late 2013, he wanted separate contracts between the county and organizers for each festival so the partnership was dissolved, Sesso said. Ellington left Montana last year for another job.

The URA already had been decreasing its money contributions to the festivals, Sesso said, although they were still getting about 25 percent of expenses covered with other public dollars.

For example, the big three festivals have received a combined $100,000 in each of the past three years from the countys ARCO Redevelopment Trust Fund. They also have received money from local property tax dollars.

Sesso said if the festivals have to repay the 2013 loan, the money would come from other public dollars. That means it would simply be a reduction in money they get now from those other public sources.

Most of the original loan was used for things still used by the festivals today, he said, and they included infrastructure improvements that helped transform the Original Mine Yard into a great events venue.

And the economic payoff the festivals bring to Butte speaks for itself, he said, and the festivals raise most of their money privately.

These seven entities have pulled their weight, he said.

But Brown suggested the wishes of prior URA boards should be respected.

The board (then) obviously said no to a grant, he said.

When Byrnes said there was no paperwork about the loan, Brown said, No documentation of a loan?

As to it carrying no interest, Brown said, Its hard to be a loan if there is no interest.

Sesso said it was made clear to the festivals in April 2013 that the $100,000 was a loan, not a grant, but Worley questioned that, too.

Was there any plan when they got it to repay the loan? he asked.

Brown also noted that the URA has hardly any money now to give out in grants that don't need to be repaid. That's because a new TIF district took effect in Uptown in 2014 and much of the new revenue it will generate will be used to fund a new parking garage.

The board could take up the matter again at its next monthly meeting.
A county official says she has faith the owners of the Dumas Brothel in Uptown Butte will make good on a $67,000 loan they got from the Urban Revitalization Agency.

We are going to get caught up, URA Director Karen Byrnes told the agency board Tuesday. I have faith.

In other action, the board agreed to loan developers $46,750 to convert a building at 668 S. Montana St. into a four-plex of apartments.

The URA granted the Dumas loan to Michael Piche and Travis Eskelsen in March 2015. Byrnes said in April they had made 12 of their monthly payments but had not been able to pay the past three months.

Byrnes said Tuesday they brought in an additional payment last week and planned to come in to discuss possible modifications to the loan. She said their power bills spiked unexpectedly in the middle of this past winter and that was one reason for their financial difficulties.

Before Piche and Eskelsen took over the Dumas in 2012, the buildings previous owner Rudy Giecek neglected to pay property taxes for three years. Because of that, the famous brothel was in danger of being taken over by the county.

The loan the board approved Tuesday will go to Josh and Steve Brandsted for renovations on the Montana Street property. They will be given one year to pay only principle on the loan, with the rest to be repaid over 20 years.

Glacier Bank also is providing financing for the project.
ORIGINAL NOTICE FOR PUBLICATION

Bank of America, N.A.

Plaintiff,

vs.

Ryan M. Dreyer; Ashley S. Dreyer; Parties in Possession; United States of America, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; United States of America, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Discover Bank, et al.

Defendants.

You are notified that a petition has been filed in the office of this court naming you as a defendant in this action. The petition was filed on May 19, 2016, and prays for foreclosure of Plaintiffs mortgage in favor of the Plaintiff on the property described in this notice and judgment for the unpaid principal amount of $73,795.01, with 4.125% per annum interest thereon from November 1, 2015, together with late charges, advances and the costs of the action including (but not limited to) title costs and reasonable attorney's fees, as well as a request that said sums be declared a lien upon the following described premises from February 12, 2008, located in Muscatine county, Iowa:

The Northerly 11 feet of Lot 3, and Lot 4, except the Northerly 33 feet thereof; all in Block 2 of Canon' s Addition to the City of Muscatine, Iowa., commonly known as 412 Begg Street, Muscatine, IA 52761 (the "Property")

The petition further prays that the mortgage on the above described real estate be foreclosed, that a special execution issue for the sale of as much of the mortgaged premises as is necessary to satisfy the judgment and for other relief as the Court deems just and equitable. For further details, please review the petition on file in the clerk's office. The Plaintiffs attorney is Emily Bartekoske, of SouthLaw, P.C.; whose address is 1401 50th Street, Suite 100, West Des Moines, IA 50266.

NOTICE

THE PLAINTIFF HAS ELECTED FORECLOSURE WITHOUT REDEMPTION. THIS MEANS THAT THE SALE OF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY WILL OCCUR PROMPTLY AFTER ENTRY OF JUDGMENT UNLESS YOU FILE WITH THE COURT A WRITTEN DEMAND TO DELAY THE SALE. IF YOU FILE A WRITTEN DEMAND, THE SALE WILL BE DELAYED UNTIL TWELVE MONTHS (OR SIX MONTHS IF THE PETITION INCLUDES A WAIVER OF DEFICIENCY JUDGMENT) FROM THE ENTRY OF JUDGMENT IF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY IS YOUR RESIDENCE AND IS A ONE-FAMILY OR TWO-FAMILY DWELLING OR UNTIL TWO MONTHS FROM ENTRY OF JUDGMENT IF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY IS NOT YOUR RESIDENCE OR IS YOUR RESIDENCE BUT NOT A ONE-FAMILY OR TWO-FAMILY DWELLING. YOU WILL HAVE NO RIGHT OF REDEMPTION AFTER THE SALE. THE PURCHASER AT THE SALE WILL BE ENTITLED TO IMMEDIATE POSSESSION OF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY. YOU MAY PURCHASE AT THE SALE.

You must serve a motion or answer on or before 20th day of July, 2016, and within a reasonable time thereafter file your motion or answer with the Clerk of Court for Muscatine County, at the county courthouse in Muscatine, Iowa. If you do not, judgment by default may be rendered against you for the relief demanded in the petition.

If you require the assistance of auxiliary aids or services to participate in a court action because of a disability, immediately call your District ADA Coordinator at 563-326-8783. If you are hearing impaired, call Relay Iowa TTY at 1-800-735-2942.

By: Jeff Tollenaer

CLERK OF THE ABOVE COURT

Muscatine County Courthouse

401 East 3rd Street,

Muscatine, IA 52761

IMPORTANT:

YOU ARE ADVISED TO SEEK LEGAL ADVICE AT ONCE TO PROTECT YOUR INTERESTS.
The man accused in the serious assault of an East Moline police sergeant had encountered the officer at the police department shortly before the attack.
WAPELLO, Iowa  Louisa County may soon have a formal drug testing plan for employees.

Paul Greufe, Davenport human relations consultant for Louisa County, met Wednesday with around 15 elected or appointed department heads to discuss the possibility of developing a proposed policy that could be presented later this year to the board of supervisors.

At the start of the discussion, Greufe said there were essentially four times a potential or actual employee could be subject to a drug test.

The first would be pre-employment/post offer; the second would be if there was a reasonable suspicion an employee was abusing drugs; the third could be following an accident; and the fourth instance that could trigger a test would be if an employee was involved in an injury.

He also suggested random testing could be implemented. That would require departments to have identifiers and individuals selected by chance for testing.

Louisa County Emergency Management Director Staci Griffin, who handles safety issues for the county, initially said Louisa County had a pre-employment/post offer drug policy as part of its safety policy.

However, she later backed off from that after reviewing the countys safety policy and reported the drug testing section was not a fully developed program. Greufe said if may not have mattered even if it had been.

Was that drug policy ever approved by the board (of supervisors)? he asked.

He said that would be a required step, along with approval from any external board, such as the board of health for the county public health workers; county conference board for the assessors office; or the county conservation board for its staff.

However, the first step would be to decide which of the four testing protocols the department heads favored, adding the cost would be around $50 per test. Greufe also said some of the protocols, such as reasonable suspicion would require training.

Im all for reasonable suspicion. We deal with it every day, sheriff Brad Turner said, adding his office already had some testing policies in place.

Other department heads agreed and indicated they could also support other additional protocols that would include alcohol and prescription drugs, provided there was some flexibility in consequences for a failed drug test.

Greufe agreed.

The county has a reasonable expectation that everyone who comes to work should perform their job. The intent (of testing) is to prevent someone coming to work impaired, he said.

In other discussions, Greufe also summarized a coming change in overtime rules. He said under new U.S. Department of Labor regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act, some employees who previously were not receiving overtime or other compensation might now qualify.

The new rules, which change the monetary threshold for qualifying for overtime from $455 per week to $913 per week, are set to go into effect Dec. 1.

The group also discussed the recent decision by the Louisa County Board of Health to unilaterally boost wages for several of the public health service workers.

Greufe pointed out the controversial decision was an effort by the board to adjust its staff wages to rates paid to comparable workers outside of the county.

Dont be mad at them because their board wanted to address it, he urged the group, adding the county staff needed to maintain mutual trust and respect for each other.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  A 35-year-old Columbus Junction man was injured Monday night after losing control of his motorcycle on Eisley's Hill.

According to the Muscatine County Sheriff's Department, Douglas Mahoney was traveling on Highway 61 between Burlington Road and 275th Street at about 8:48 p.m. Monday when he lost control.

Mahoney was transported by Louisa County Ambulance and then flown by AirCare to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. No word on his condition is available.

The investigation into the accident is ongoing, and charges are pending.

The Letts Fire Department, Letts Ambulance, Muscatine Police Department and the Louisa County Sheriff's Office assisted at the scene.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  Interest free loans are now available to help Muscatine Power and Water customers update their connections to utility service.

The Board of Water, Electric, and Communications Trustees Tuesday evening approved a loan program to help finance customer-owned improvement projects that will also benefit the utility.

Eligible projects include conversion of customer overhead service to underground service, replacement of customer water line between the meter and the main, installation of geothermal or air source heat pumps, and installation of Energy Star Heat Pump water heaters. After credit review, a maximum of $3,000 may be loaned, interest free. Loan payments will be added to utility bills -- up to twelve months for loans of $2,000 or less or up to 18 months for loans of over $2,000.

MP&W customers wanting more details or an application are invited to call customer services at 563-263-2631.

All three utilities at Muscatine Power and Water outperformed the budget in May and for the year to date through May, Finance and Administrative Services Director Jerry Gowey reported.

A loss of $2,381,843 was expected for the electric utility in May, but the actual loss was $554,776. Gowey said both revenue and expenses were below budget. For the year to date through May, a loss of $2,577,664 was budgeted, but the actual loss was $1,214,556. The electric utility finished May with a cash balance of $29,627,969.

A loss of $36,092 was budgeted for the water utility in May, but instead a profit of $55,459 was posted. Gowey said revenue was right on target while expenses were lower than expected. A loss of $228,952 was budgeted for the year to date, but instead profit of $169,888 was posted with a cash balance of $790,165.

The May profit of $172,102 for the communications utility bested the budgeted profit of $129,463. Gowey said both revenue and expenses were above budget. For the year to date through May, actual profit of $818,171 outperformed the budgeted profit of $546,403, and the ending cash balance was $6,923,174.

In other business:

The board ratified payment of May expenditures and transactions totaling $11,925,228.

The board accepted as complete the construction of foundations for installation of an auto transformer at the South Substation at a total cost of $105,877.

The board approved a three-year contract with Chicago-based Baker Tilly Virchow Krause to conduct annual audits.

The board elected Susan Eversmeyer, Board Chair, and Doyle Tubandt as Vice Chair. Gowey was reappointed as Board Secretary for the year beginning July 1.

General Manager Sal LoBianco announced MP&W has received a 25-year partnership with Trees Forever. "Muscatine residents have an opportunity to purchase high quality trees at low cost," LoBianco said.
WEST BRANCH, Iowa  Kyle Hoffman, of Muscatine, and Erin Oppel, a junior from Muscatine High School have been named as finalists for the Herbert Hoover Uncommon Student Award.

Hoffman and Oppel are among 14 high school students from across Iowa who are finalists in the nineteenth annual Herbert Hoover Uncommon Student Award (USA) program.

Kyle is the son of Chris and Heidi Hoffman of Muscatine. Erin is the daughter of Craig and Natalie Oppel of Muscatine.

The title of Kyles project is Catapults for Kids and Classrooms. His goal is to give the same advantage he had - of learning basic Physics principles early on - to students all across our school district. Hoffman adds, However, I will arrange it to be even MORE hands-on than what I experienced!

The title of Erins project is Middle School Matters. Despite the actions taken by Muscatine High School to keep students in school, the dropout rate continues to be an issue of concern. I hope to work with at-risk middle school students and provide them with mentors, places to work on their academics after school and reward them for their effort, success in the classroom and for attending school on a regular basis, declares Oppel.

The USA program seeks to identify uncommon Iowa high school juniors who are gifted as hard workers. The program encourages young Iowans to invest their talents and energies in their schools, communities and beyond; promoting personal growth, maturity and self-confidence while making a difference in peoples lives.

The Hoover Presidential Foundation in West Branch sponsors the Uncommon Student Award program which honors Herbert Hoover, an Iowa native and the 31st president of the United States. The program is named after a speech he gave in 1948 on the The Uncommon Man and challenges young Iowans to be uncommon. He noted, In my opinion, there has been too much talk about the common man. We believe in equal opportunity for all, but we know that this includes the opportunity to rise to leadership--in other words, to be uncommon.

Hoffman and Oppel made a trip to West Branch to participate in the June 24 Uncommon weekend activities at the Hoover Presidential Library-Museum and National Historic Site.

They will both return on October 12th to receive a $1,000 award and speak to a selection committee of distinguished Iowans about his project. Three students will be chosen based on their presentations to receive $5,000 scholarships to be used at an accredited two or four college or university anywhere in the country.

The Hoover Presidential Library Foundation is a nonprofit support group for the Hoover Presidential Library-Museum and the Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch. The scholarship program is funded entirely by private donations. For more information, contact Delene McConnaha at 319-643-5327, or DMcConnaha@HooverPF.org
WILTON, Iowa  Royalty visited Monday night's meeting of the Wilton City Council.

Little Miss Muscatine Ava Kirk, Little Miss Hospitality Olivia Burdick, Miss Junior Muscatine Chloe Gundrum, Miss Junior Teen Muscatine Rainee Thomas, and Miss Pre Teen Muscatine Emma Vetter, a Wilton native, introduced themselves to the council.

The five were crowned June 4 at the 36th annual pageant in Muscatine. Pageant director Judi Connor told the council she had said she would never again be involved in pageants after witnessing what she termed child abuse in Texas pageants, but when Muscatine pageant enthusiasts asked for her help, she answered the call. "I'm going to be a real stickler," Connor said she told them. "No makeup. The moms aren't allowed backstage. The girls have to have chaperones. The contestants are just having a party, showing off their pretty dresses."

The five young royals weren't the only honorees Monday night. Later in the meeting, the council unanimously recognized Janice Meincke of rural Walcott as an honorary Wilton citizen for her support of the library, scholarship programs, and the proposed recreation center. "I think it's important we recognize her for what she's done," commented Mayor Bob Barrett.

Meincke wasn't in attendance, but officials planned to present her with a certificate Wednesday.

SCHOOL PARKING

Wilton residents can expect some changes in parking regulations, thanks to the closing of the old elementary school and this fall's opening of the new school. City Administrator Chris Ball told the council there will no longer be a need for strict regulations around the old school site. He added it may be a good time to review parking rules in other parts of town as well. "We thought it's a good time to look at the whole parking ordinance and see if we want to change the parking anywhere else," said Ball.

Discussion turned to how parking and traffic flow will be handled around the new school. "Whatever we decide we're doing, we're going to need help from the school," commented police officer Todd Johnson.

No decisions were made, but Ball said he would discuss the matter with School Superintendent Joe Burnett.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

The council approved payment of bills totaling $750,171.

The council approved a resolution setting city employee salaries for the fiscal year that begins July 1, providing an average three percent increase as budgeted.
I feel the finger on the trigger. I also feel it on the button.

"Dear President Obama," the letter begins. It goes on to remind him of something he said in his 2008 presidential campaign: "Keeping nuclear weapons ready to launch on a moment's notice is a dangerous relic of the Cold War. Such policies increase the risk of catastrophic accidents or miscalculation."

The letter, from the Union of Concerned Scientists, is signed by 90 scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates. It continues: "After your election, you called for taking 'our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert.'"

Presidential campaigns, mass killings, war . . . nuclear war. Washington, we have a problem.

The time has come for extraordinary change. Who we are -- this monstrous, planet-destroying entity called America -- needs to be decommissioned and reconstructed on a foundation more solid than the present myths of greatness, greed and entitlement. We need a new vision, a manifestation of the moral intelligence that is also part of who we are: a vision of how this nuclear-armed, gun-saturated nation can disarm itself and, in the process, become a force for real peace.

"We urge you," the scientists write, "to take U.S. land-based missiles off hair-trigger alert and to remove from U.S. war plans the option of launching these weapons on warning. The United States should encourage Russia to follow suit, but it should not wait to act. Taking these steps would have profound security benefits for all Americans by reducing the risk of nuclear disaster."

I think about this in the context of the Orlando murders and see a gruesome similarity between U.S. militarism and the violent forays of armed loners -- and the "concentrated horror" both inflict. The main difference, as far as I can tell, is that the human carnage and environmental destruction resulting from U.S. militarism remain emotionally invisible, you might say, to the American public.

In a powerful essay at TomDispatch, William J. Astore, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, takes a harsh look at the wars we have waged from on high since World War II, noting that "for all its promise of devastating power delivered against enemies with remarkable precision and quick victories at low cost (at least to Americans), air power has failed to deliver, not just in the ongoing war on terror but for decades before it. If anything, by providing an illusion of results, it has helped keep the United States in unwinnable wars, while inflicting a heavy toll on innocent victims on our distant battlefields."

He adds: "At the same time, the cult-like infatuation of American leaders, from the president on down, with the supposed ability of the U.S. military to deliver such results remains remarkably unchallenged in Washington."

He points out that in the Korean War, in the early '50s, the U.S. pounded North Korea with 635,000 tons of bombs and 32,557 tons of napalm. Cities were leveled, but the war ended in no better than a stalemate; more than half a century later, Korea remains a bitterly divided nation.

Then came a decade of war in Southeast Asia. By the time this pointless war ended in dishonorable defeat, the U.S. had dropped, according to Astore, "a staggering seven million tons of bombs, the equivalent in explosive yield to more than 450 Hiroshimas," on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. We also poisoned the jungle with defoliants, having given ourselves free rein to commit environmental carnage with horrific consequences well into the unforeseeable future for absurdly limited tactical ends.

It took a decade and a half for the military-industrialists to overcome "Vietnam syndrome," the public's weariness of war, but eventually they were able to put Iraq in the crosshairs, devastating the country with bombs and missiles -- including munitions made of depleted uranium -- over the course of several decades, spreading immediate carnage and long-lasting genetic damage, all of course to no end except endless war.

And the War on Terror, which I call the War To Promote Terror, is still going on 15 years later, with no end in sight. The funding for it is unquestioned and seemingly limitless. The point of it is also unquestioned, except at the social and political margins. It certainly is unquestioned in the 2016 presidential race, especially the winnowed down version of it -- Trump vs. Clinton -- that's left. The military-corporate branch of the American government remains well beyond public reach.

And so I think about the Orlando murders and the unending grief they have caused in the context of all the murders the U.S. and its allies and its enemies have committed in the name of war.

And I think about the congressional failure to enact any legislation in regard to the sale of assault weapons in the context of the letter 90 scientists associated with the Union of Concerned Scientists wrote to President Obama, reminding him that before he was president he expressed awareness of the danger of having nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert, and asking him to remove the 450 land-based nuclear missiles (but not the submarine-based missiles) from high alert.

And I wonder at my certainty that the request will be ignored. And I wonder what will happen next.

Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. His new book, "Courage Grows Strong at the Wound" (Xenos Press) is now available. Contact him at koehlercw@gmail.com, visit his website at commonwonders.com or listen to him at Voices of Peace radio.
On June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in Birchfield v. North Dakota, that police officers may require suspected drunk drivers to take breathalyzer tests without warrants as required by the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment and under criminal penalty should they refuse. The court did go so far as to leave the constitutional warrant requirement intact for blood tests. Associate Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, lays out the chilling logic for differentiating between the two:

"Because breath tests are significantly less intrusive than blood tests and in most cases amply serve law enforcement interests, a breath test, but not a blood test, may be administered as a search incident to a lawful arrest for drunk driving. No warrant is needed in this situation."

Searching the shed behind my house would certainly be "significantly less intrusive" than searching my closet or requiring me to open the lock box in which I keep important personal documents. Does this mean that the police should be free to poke around in my shed without procuring a warrant based on probable cause to believe I've committed a crime, if doing so happens to "amply serves their interests?" No, it doesn't. The Fourth Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures isn't there for the convenience of law enforcement. It's there to protect everyone else's rights from abuses BY law enforcement.

And the thing is, it's never been easier for the cop on the street to get a warrant within minutes, or to prove that the warrant application is (or was) justified. Most jurisdictions have judges "on call" to handle warrant applications 24/7. Between radios and cell phones, police officers are almost never unable to communicate with their departments or with those judges. Cell phone video, dash camera video and, more and more lately, body camera video are all available for reference to establish that probable cause exists (or, in retrospect, existed).

Laws requiring drivers to acquiesce in breathalyzer tests absent warrants -- as well as other unconstitutional excesses such as random "DUI checkpoints" where drivers are stopped and interrogated absent any reason at all to believe they've committed crimes -- aren't about fighting drunk driving or making the roads safe.

These laws are about making law enforcement's job easier. Which sounds nice, but gets things backward. A peace officer's job is to keep the peace by the rules, easy or not. Absent those rules, cops become the public's enemies rather than its servants.

These laws are about greasing the squeaky wheel. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), a tired special interest group that has long since fulfilled its founder's purpose, is now mostly interested in keeping its revenues (more than $30 million per year as of 2013) coming by lobbying against the rights of those Americans who aren't among its 400-plus employees.

And yes, these laws are at least a little bit about reminding the serfs just who's in charge.

What these laws are not is constitutional. And that should be the only thing the Supreme Court considers in its deliberations.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.
I still remember your funeral.

I still remember the white casket, small with only two handles on each side.

I still remember the red teddy bear someone had placed near your head.

I still remember then-Florida state lawmaker Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall weeping over your coffin, then-Congressman Kendrick Meek standing there in speechless anguish, and then-Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio deploring the violence that took you away at just nine years of age. "In our very midst," he said, "we sit on a crisis of epic proportions'' that we fail to recognize.

At your graveside, they released a white dove and it zoomed away, skimming through the trees.

You write different columns for different reasons. Some you write to argue a point, some to vent anger. One reason I write this one, Sherdavia Jenkins, is because this week makes 10 years since you died and I feel the need to call your name.

Not that it will resonate for many people. They won't know it in Seattle, Austin or Denver. But they'll never forget it in Miami.

I've never been quite clear on why that is. After all, it's not as if it's unknown for children to be shot to death -- in South Florida or elsewhere. So I've always wondered why you're the one Miami named a park for, the one that is remembered.

Maybe it's because you were a child of uncommon promise. At your funeral, they passed out a booklet of certificates you'd received, documenting excellence in reading, science, math and Spanish. You had your school's top scores on the state math test and were named "best all-around student."

So maybe we're stung by the fact of a sparkling future, foreclosed. Or maybe it's just the way you died, in a crossfire between two punk gangsters, while playing outside your own front door. What kind of country is it when a child is not safe on her own doorstep?

But again, your story is not unique. In the decade since you fell, thousands of other children have died by gunfire. They all had names, too.

Joseph Spencer, age 12, died nine years ago in Jackson, Miss.

Michael Alvin Muha, age 12, died eight years ago in Redstone Township, Pa.

Roberto Lopez, age four, died seven years ago in Los Angeles.

Rosay J. Butler Jr., age three, died six years ago in Selma, Ala.

Gabriel Martinez Jr., age five, died five years ago in Oakland.

Delric Miller, age nine months, died four years ago in Detroit.

Antonio Santiago, age 13 months, died three years ago in Brunswick, Ga.

Davia Garth, age 12, died two years ago in Cleveland.

Ja'Quail Mansaw, age seven months, died last year in Kansas City, Kan.

King Carter, age six, died in February near Miami.

Chicago is awash in the blood of its children. South Florida is routinely heartbroken. And I haven't even mentioned the weekly massacres of children and adults in places like Newtown, Aurora and Orlando.

Sherdavia, I'd love to be able to say we've taken decisive action to fix this, but we haven't. A nation where the right to free speech is regulated and the right to freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures was just narrowed again somehow considers the right to have a gun to be sacrosanct.

Lawmakers refuse to consider measures favored by the vast majority of us to keep guns away from those who should not have them. Yet we keep returning these paragons of moral idiocy to office. That includes Sen. Marco Rubio, who spoke at your funeral.

As I said, Sherdavia, you write columns for various reasons. I've given you one reason I'm writing this one. The other is simply that I felt the need to say the obvious: We've failed you in life and in death and I'm sorry.

You deserved better. They all did.

Leonard Pitts is a columnist for The Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132. Readers may contact him via e-mail at lpitts@miamiherald.com.
Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi []
Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []
Regulation is unlikely to hobble the R6.55bn sale of telecoms business Neotel to connectivity provider Liquid Telecom, said representatives of the latter company.

Indias Tata Communications, which owns a controlling stake in Neotel, said on Tuesday that it is selling the South African telecoms company to Liquid Telecom for R6.55bn.

Empowerment group Royal Bafokeng Holdings is also taking a 30% stake in Neotel.

Liquid Telecom is a data, voice and IP provider owned by African telecoms player Econet Wireless, which is run by Zimbabwean businessman Strive Masiyiwa.

This deal comes after Vodacom abandoned its bid to buy Neotel for R7bn. Vodacom launched its bid in May 2014 but it then walked away from the deal in March this year.

Vodacom blamed regulatory complexities and certain conditions not being fulfilled for the failed deal.

But representatives of Liquid Telecom have told Fin24 that they dont expect regulation to be an issue with the bid to buy Neotel.

We hope to have completed the transaction before the end of the year, Liquid Telecom representatives told Fin24 in an email.

Liquid Telecoms existing operations in South Africa are very limited in size, so the competition issues are of a much smaller scale than those arising from the failed Vodacom deal.

We do not believe there are any major competitive issues, the company said.

The deal would have to be submitted to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), the Competition Commission and the Competition Tribunal for approval.

Liquid Telecoms statement regarding regulation comes after Neotel non-executive director Kennedy Memani said on Tuesday that Neotel expects regulators to approve the deal by the end of its financial year in March 2017.

Meanwhile, Liquid Telecoms acquisition of Neotel would mean that its connectivity business would span 12 countries from South Africa to Kenya, making it the largest pan-African broadband network and business to business telecoms provider

Using the combined operations, African companies will be able to connect with each other in a cost effective and reliable way, all on a single fibre network, said Liquid Telecom.

Liquid Telecom has early on recognised the importance of high-speed, last-mile connectivity and started rolling out fibre networks in 2009. Liquid Telecom now has thousands of kms of metro and last-mile access networks in Africa, as well as extensive fixed wireless networks that complements its fibre coverage, said the company.

Fin24

More on Neotel

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Neotel launches 200Mbps FTTB service
Chevron South Africa has dismissed rumours of a fuel delivery strike, according to a report by IOL.

Rumours of an impending fuel strike circulated on WhatsApp and Facebook on 29 June, with motorists urged to full up as fuel shortages would soon follow.

Certain messages claimed petrol and diesel would start running out by 30 June.

Workers union Ceppwawu said it was not aware of a strike or where the strike notices came from.

We can confirm that this information is incorrect and fuel deliveries and supplies to filling stations across the country remain normal, said Chevron SA.

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Dell has unveiled three interactive display products, built for active learning, classrooms, and conference rooms.

The company also revealed Dell Classroom, a Chrome-based software solution aimed at schools and places of learning.

One device was the Dell 70-inch Interactive Conference Room Monitor, which is the companys first interactive-touch, 70-inch, 1080p monitor.

It offers 10-point hand touch, two styluses, an anti-glare and anti-smudge coating, and monitor components for clear text and images.

These new displays allow students and teachers the opportunity to interact and create, making learning easier and more fun, said Dell.

More on Dell

How Dell laptop prices are kept low in South Africa

Alienware gaming laptops back in South Africa  model and pricing details

These are the best 13-inch laptops you can buy in South Africa
Offline shopping in South Africa is set to receive a boost with a new application designed to drive shoppers to local stores.

Unlike the concept of a traditional shopping application that focuses on e-commerce, MiBrand is designed to drive consumers to brick and mortar stores.

We aim to drive people into malls and stores. We want to enhance both the shopping experience and businesses foot traffic, developer Salvatore Barras told Fin24 about the application.

MiBrand will launch on mobile store listings this week and Barras said it solved a key problem.

We got tired of being faced with the problem of not having an efficient connection to stores in our community. So MiBrand was born, the app is designed to make it easy to connect to everything nearby.

Startup funding

The developers have ambitious plans to help business owners in shopping malls map customer traffic.

When you walk into a mall your live feed will display all of the specials in the mall. We are also planning to incorporate a mall GPS similar to Google Maps to help navigate a mall and measure foot traffic at different locations in the mall, said Barras.

The application is free to use but merchants pay between R300 to R500 to post specific content.

There are four tabs in the application: Live Feed, Discover Grid, MiBrand and My Cart which all help consumers follow favourite retailers and find specials.

Barras added that they use analytics tools to measure the size of the local community.

MiBrand has raised more than R1m in startup funding. Barras said that they have big plans for the platform.

We will eventually incorporate in-app purchases. We are aiming at making it possible to access the entire mall, with all its shops and products from your phone. Over time, features will be added, for now didnt want to overdo it.

According to the South African Council of Shopping Centres, there are 2 000 shopping centres in SA, the 6th highest number of shopping centres in the world.

An Ispsos survey reported that South African shoppers spent R28.8bn online in 2015, which is expected to grow to R46bn by 2017, of which mobile will account for R19bn.

Fin24

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Relay for Life in American Canyon last weekend was 24 hours of sweat and tears, laughs and sorrows, celebrations and remembrances.

Local residents as well as some intergalactic visitors from the 501st Legion of Star Wars enthusiasts walked the dirt track continuously from Saturday morning to Sunday morning at Donaldson Way Elementary School to raise money for the fight against cancer.

The event offered more than the opportunity to walk together for a good cause. People took breaks together in the many tents surrounding the track on this hot summer day. They watched children get their faces painted and participate in sideline contests. They enjoyed a communal meal of ribs and smores in the evening.

Nightfall was also a time for perhaps the most moving portion of Relay: the Luminaria.

Hundreds of paper bags, illuminated by candlelight, lined the earthen track. Each bag contained a message to someone who had battled cancer, is still fighting it, or who had lost.

One anonymous message read:

Mam-ma 

I miss you every single day.

I still pick up the phone to call you.

I love you to the moon and back.

Vincent Lin, chairman of this years Relay for Life, acknowledged at the beginning of the Luminaria ceremony how emotionally difficult it would be for him.

Im going to try to get through this without crying, he said to those gathered at one end of the track.

Lin said it was a time to reflect about loss, how each luminaria will touch us in a personal way.

Jill Neumeier of Florida said she comes out every year for American Canyons Relay ever since her daughter, Shanda, survived her battle with breast cancer.

This Relay is our Relay, she said. Its close to our hearts.

Neumeier talked to the crowd about her own experience as a parent and caregiver to someone who went through the long ordeal of being diagnosed with cancer.

The two most devastating words youll ever hear, she said, referring to the results of a biopsy, is, Its positive.

She proceeded to talk about how a persons life changes after hearing those two words, and how it is possible to turn its positive  which really is a negative, she said  back into something positive.

Its positive  you are going to the beauty parlor to address the results of having chemotherapy treatment.

Its positive  you are off to Wal-mart because the person youre caring for will need new clothes from weight loss, or DVDs and games to fill the long hours and days of recovery.

Its positive  you are off to Safeway for comfort food.

She concluded her remarks by telling her daughter, who has fully recovered: You are positively our hero.
American Canyon has committed to spending up to $1 million to finance an affordable housing project for seniors and veterans that has struggled to break ground.

The Valley View Affordable Senior Apartment Project has tried for four years to raise more than $23 million to build 70 units on the west side of town just off Theresa Avenue.

The projects developer, nonprofit Satellite Affordable Housing Associates of Berkeley, says it is close to securing enough grants and loans to reach its goal, but needs at least $500,000 from the city to help bridge the funding gap, according to a report prepared for the City Council.

SAHA also asked the council for a commitment of another $500,000 if the project does not receive a grant of that same amount from Home Depot.

Aubra Levine, SAHAs associate director of housing development, said she wont know until December if Home Depot will award the grant.

She told the council it has been a long process, longer than most when it comes to raising money for Valley View.

City Manager Dana Shigley, who supported SAHAs request, agreed. Its been a very long and arduous effort to gather the funds to complete this project, she said.

Levine said their timing was not ideal when SAHA started raising money in 2012. We hit the market at a bad time, she said, referring to changes in federal rules that decoupled the use of tax credits and state housing funds to help pay for projects like Valley View.

This change forced SAHA to find other sources of money which took them longer to approach their goal.

The good news, according to Levine, is that Valley View could start construction next spring as long as the project receives either the Home Depot grant or the second $500,000 from the city.

The council approved the distribution of $500,000 from the citys affordable housing nexus fund during the 2016-2017 fiscal year. It also committed to providing the second $500,000, if SAHA needs it.

But council members did not approve the second installment, saying SAHA would have to return at a later time, at which the council will decide how to budget that distribution to the project.

Valley View would provide 69 apartments for seniors aged 55 and older with incomes between 30 percent and 60 percent of the area median income, which ranges from $60,250 to $68,900.

The development will consist of 58 one-bedroom, one-story cottages, plus a two-story building that will have eight one-bedroom and four two-bedroom units, according to SAHA.

Almost one-third of the apartments (22) will be reserved for seniors who are veterans. Of these 22 units, 17 will go to chronically homeless veterans.

Valley View also may have a full-time case manager from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on site, according to Levine.

She said having a VA official on hand would be convenient for residents who are veterans because currently the nearest VA office is in Santa Rosa.

The VA is very interested in working with us to have a presence at our property, said Levine. It would make serving these residents easier.

Last Tuesday, the Napa City Council  which doubles as the housing authority for American Canyon as well as Napa  approved housing 17 vouchers for future residents of Valley View.

The vouchers are open to those 55 or older who qualify for federal Section 8 housing assistance, and two will be reserved for chronically homeless seniors. First priority will go to seniors already on the authoritys housing assistance waitlist, which stopped taking new entrants three years ago, said Housing Manager Lark Ferrell.

Napa Valley Register reporter Howard Yune contributed to this report.
Veteran Cassidy Nolan, a 26-year-old Napa Valley Community College student, was honored Wednesday in the State Capitol as the 2016 Veteran of the Year for the 4th Assembly District.

Each year, the state Assembly honors one veteran from each of the states Assembly Districts who has significantly contributed to their local communities and served their country with honor and distinction.

It was a privilege to be recognized along with veterans of all different generations from across California. This was a special day that highlighted the contributions of veterans, Nolan said.

Nolan joined the military immediately after graduating high school in 2008, enlisting in the Marine Corps. He served two deployments in Afghanistan from 2008-2013 as Senior Intelligence Analyst and later as Intelligence Chief and Assistant Security Manager. During his service, Nolan received a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. After completing his service in July 2013 with the rank of E-4 Corporal, Nolan enrolled at NVC to study business management.

As we look ahead toward our Independence Day, its important to honor veterans like Nolan who have protected this nation and are now supporting other veterans as they return home, Dodd said in a news release.

At NVC, Nolan became president of their Student Veterans Organization in 2013. As president, he acts as an ambassador between veterans and the college, and as a veteran he understands the difficulties and challenges that fellow veterans face when leaving the military. He provides outreach, college assistance, scholarships and other financial support for veterans attending NVC.

In his three years as president, Nolan has been instrumental in the transition and development of a new version of a Pathway Home in Yountville, which helps empowered veterans through education and adequate medical treatment.

Looking to the future, Nolan has plans to transfer to UC Berkeley to finish his studies in business management. When Nolan is not advocating for veterans or pursuing his education, he spends time with his wife and two little girls.
The Napa Valley Farmworker Foundation, which held its first farmworker recognition and donor appreciation luncheon Tuesday, heard from Arnulfo Solorio, who said learning English helped advance his farmworker career.

My dream is that farmworkers can speak, read and write English. That they have basic math skills. That they acquire leadership skills. That they acquire general viticulture skills, and have access to professional development, Solorio told attendees at the luncheon at Solage Calistoga.

The Napa Valley Farmworker Foundation honored English Literacy Program graduates, recognized the 2016 Napa County Pruning Contest champions, and thanked the donors whose funding provides educational and professional development opportunities to Napa Valley vineyard workers and their families.

Through your contributions throughout the year and at (Harvest) Stomp, we thank you, thank you, thank you, said Jennifer Putnam, executive director of the foundation. You have helped us educate over 10,000 people in five short years. Weve raised almost $3 million and have a really exciting future.

Harvest Stomp is the foundations annual fundraiser and harvest party that includes dinner, dancing and live auction.

The foundation was created by the Napa Valley Grapegrowers in 2011 to support and promote vineyard workers in personal and professional development. It offers programs in English literacy, vineyard safety, pest management and control, leadership skills and more.

For years, the Napa Valley Grapegrowers had been investing in farmworker education programs in an effort to improve our ability to control quality and the quality of life within in our vineyards here in Napa County, said Paul Goldberg, vice president of the foundation and director of operations at Bettinelli Vineyards.

As far as we know, we dont know of any other organization in the world that has focused so much energy and time and resources to educate farmworkers as we have, Goldberg said.

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, thanked the donors, employers and farmworkers for their work.

I dont know if you know how important you are, said Thompson, who is also a grapegrower, to the farmworkers in attendance. Youre the make-it-or-break-it in our profession.

He also recounted how Rene di Rosa would read the newspaper to his vineyard workers every day to make sure his employees knew what was going on in the world and were educated. Di Rosa, who died in 2010 at the age of 91, was a vineyardist who helped put the Carneros region on the map, and was also a newspaperman and whose passion for art turned into the di Rosa art collection in Napa.

I want you all to know that your job is greatly appreciated. You, the farmworkers, are in large part responsible for all of the success that we, the collective we, in Napa Valley are able to enjoy, Thompson said.
ST. HELENA -- St. Helena police are investigating a rash of incidents where thieves have stolen the wheels from parked cars.

The crimes occurred on Spring Street between 3 and 5 a.m. on June 19, at Harvest Inn on the night of June 21-22, and on Monte Vista on the night of June 23-24.

The culprits  police believe there are probably at least two, but theyre not sure  have targeted newer SUVs, said Sgt. Chris Hartley of the St. Helena Police Department. Its unclear whether the suspects are primarily after the rims or the tires, since both are valuable, even in their unmodified stock versions.

In the first case, the suspects stole only three wheels because the car collapsed, trapping the fourth wheel and the suspects jack underneath.

They got all four wheels from the second car, which was parked in a secluded parking lot at Harvest Inn. They left the car supported by a scissor jack and cinder blocks.

They got two wheels from the car on Monte Vista, possibly because theyd been interrupted, Hartley said. They left behind a jack and another item that Hartley declined to identify.

Hartley said police have collected some substantial evidence thats being analyzed with the help of the Napa County Sheriffs Office crime lab in Napa. He didnt elaborate on the nature of the evidence, but he said hes hopeful it will lead to the identification of one or more suspects.

Weve changed up our tactics on this caper to try to catch them in the act, Hartley said.

Similar crimes have been reported in American Canyon recently, but its unclear whether theres a link to the St. Helena incidents.

Hartley advised citizens to park in lighted areas, keep an eye out for suspicious activity, and be observant when dogs start barking late at night, since that could be a sign of something unusual happening.

Owners of newer SUVs in particular should take extra precautions if its possible, Hartley said. Garage it or leave it in a driveway. Dont leave it where there are no streetlights.

Dont be afraid to call us on a hunch, especially during the hours of darkness, Hartley said. Wed rather respond and have it turn out to be nothing, just to know that the neighbors are paying attention.

Dan Beltrami at Browns Auto Parts said there are locking lug nut kits available that could help deter such crimes. He also suggested parking next to an object, such as a high curb, that would make it difficult to jack up one side of the car.

The St. Helena Police Department may be reached at 967-2850.
YOUNTVILLE  Amends were offered Tuesday for the rough treatment that many Vietnam veterans received when they came home from war.

I remember coming back and getting spit on, said Gary McConnell, 73. I couldnt wait to get out of my uniform.

McConnell served three combat tours in South Vietnam and 11 total years in the military he still has a scar on his left arm from where he was hit with shrapnel.

Coming back from Vietnam to angry Americans who opposed the war also was frightening, McConnell said.

Buses transporting veterans coming back from the war were pummeled with tomatoes, eggs and rocks, said Malcolm Higdon, 78. Welcome home, baby killers, they would say.

In such situations, Sweetheart, if you werent scared there was something wrong with you, said McConnell.

The Veterans Home of California sponsored a ceremony Tuesday in the Lincoln Theater to honor Vietnam vets as part of 50th anniversary events tied to the unpopular war.

Three Vietnam veterans  Rep. Mike Thompson, Veterans Home Administrator Don Veverka, and Jeff Jewell, director of the Concord Vet Center  spoke during the ceremony.

Its about time we got some recognition, Thompson said. When people think about the Vietnam War, they remember protests in the streets, he said. Whether or not someone agrees with a war, they should always honor the warriors, he said.

We served in an unpopular war, echoed Veverka. The Vietnam War is a war we would like to forget. Its a war we cant.

Veverka asked those who were drafted into the war to raise their hands. Fewer than a dozen out of 50 people raised their hands.

Im sure you can remember the day that manila folder came in the mail, congratulating you that you would be serving your country, he said. My mother cried.

Honor to our country should never be unpopular, but embraced and valued as a core value of freedom, Veverka said. Welcome home, Vietnam heroes.

Following the speeches, county Supervisors Brad Wagenknecht and Alfredo Pedroza presented a proclamation from the Board of Supervisors thanking the veterans for their service. Pins, bumper stickers were handed out, as well as certificates from President Obama.

It was a good effort, McConnell said of the ceremony. Getting recognized feels pretty good, he said, even if it is late. I think were getting more respect now then we were.

McConnell, who wears his Vietnam veteran cap, said that the last two times he went out to eat at restaurants, the check was picked up by someone else in the restaurant. He was surprised, but grateful, he said.

Im proud of my service, McConnell said. We went because we thought it was our duty.

The 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War began on Memorial Day, May 28, 2012 and will end on Veterans Day, November 11, 2025, according to the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration. The anniversary is being commemorated over a long period of time to reflect the amount of time that Americans served in the war, which lasted from 1955 until 1975.
Political feelings aside, one must admit that the new Wine Train is spiffily designed, isnt it? Im a fan of the clean black-and-white look. It almost makes one want to take a ride, doesnt it? And yes, by one Im referring to a certain columnist who cant afford to splurge very often, but still feels entitled to dream now and then.

***

Birdwatchers, grab your binoculars. Stu Smith up on Spring Mountain reports a rare sighting of the Lady Amhersts Pheasant. Its a dramatically colored bird with an enormous tail and the amazing ability to fly straight up at great speed (the bird demonstrated this skill when my dog tried to chase it), Stu writes. The bird, which has dazzling plumage (be sure to Google it), is native to southern China and Burma and is spectacularly out of place in our Spring Mountain forests, Stu says. I can only surmise that this bird escaped from a pet store or an owner somehow let it loose. Stus wife, Julie Ann Kodmur, adds that the bird has also been spotted at Stony Hill. I hope he finds his way into my backyard.

***

The St. Helena Rotary Club asked me to extend its gratitude to the many people who attended the clubs Kentucky Derby party and fundraiser on May 7, benefiting St. Helena Preschool for All. The club thanked the following people and organizations for contributing to the event: Carolyn Cardoza, David Arthur Winery, Tim Doran/David Moreland, Gary Jaffe, Jennifer Lamb/Herb Lamb Vineyards, Judd Howell, La Boheme, Dr. James Lies, Joanne Mattioda, John and Jennifer Muhlner, Robert Biale Winery, Rutherford Grove Winery, St. Helena Florist, John Sales, Hendrik Smeding, Steves Hardware, Lisa and Joel Toller, and Steve Yost. Thanks to all for helping Rotary help local kids.

***

The St. Helena Public Librarys Adult (and Teen) Summer Reading Program sounds like a lot of fun. This years theme is Exercise Your Mind, and readers are welcome to sample multiple genres and formats. Complete at least five of the 13 categories, turn in your Reading Log by Aug. 31, and be entered into a raffle to win a gift certificate to the Cameo Cinema, Main Street Books and the Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Co. Pick up a Reading Log at the library or at SHPL.org.

***

I have a few more Nimbus Arts summer classes and camps to share with you: Beginning Drawing, Clay and Play, and the nicely Kubrickian-sounding Out of This World Space Odyssey Camp. Check NimbusArts.org for times and fees. While youre there, check out ongoing courses in ceramics, SoulCollage and a special drop-in class for toddlers.

***

This summer will be remembered as the one I spent almost entirely on a cushy recliner in my air-conditioned living room reading Peter Robinsons series of Yorkshire-set police procedurals featuring the amiable Inspector Banks, a nicely shaded character whos skilled and sympathetic without being clinically depressed like all those brooding Scandinavian sleuths or a twitching bundle of neuroses like so many American TV detectives. And hes a big Van Morrison fan to boot. Heartily recommended to all my fellow mystery fans.
Last weeks 25-hour sit-in on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives was an embarrassing day for democracy, and serves as a lesson to us locally about what happens when hyper-partisanship and ideology trump statesmanship.

Were not taking sides on the gun control debate. Were talking about process, and how crucial it is for politicians and citizens alike to talk to one another like adults, even when  especially when  we disagree.

Gone from Congress  or at least politically marginalized  are the skilled legislative wheeler-dealers like Lyndon Johnson and the congenial brokers of compromise like Tip ONeill. Theyve been forced out by political polarization. Theyve been shouted down by a new breed of ideologues who equate compromise with weakness and cater to their political bases by demonizing their opponents as the dreaded other.

That same polarization is sometimes felt here in St. Helena, where our passionate views about tourism, wineries, business and housing sometimes make us lose sight of the underlying goal that we all share: maintaining our identity as a small-town agricultural community where residents love to live and visitors love to spend money.

But one recent incident gives us reason to be optimistic.

Earlier this month, Citizens Voice St. Helena and the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce circulated dueling petitions reflecting their starkly differing views on the General Plan update. It seemed like we were headed for another us-vs.-them showdown, the equivalent of a shouting match between talking heads on cable news, and just as productive.

Instead, reason won the day. Susan Kenward of Citizens Voice met privately with members of the Napa Valley Vintners. The two sides listened to each other, expressed themselves in a respectful manner, and came away with a better understanding of the other sides views.

The end result: Citizens Voice seems to have conceded that some of its ideas about defining wineries would be better addressed in St. Helenas zoning ordinances, not the General Plan.

Showdown averted. Friendships preserved. A happy day for democracy. Kenward, John and Beth Novak Milliken, and the rest of the people who organized the meeting have earned our gratitude and respect for showing that we can be passionate without being irrational.

With the General Plan update almost complete, St. Helena is at a turning point on a lot of issues. If we dont sit down and talk openly about our differences  if we talk at each other instead of with each other  the end product is political dysfunction, economic stagnation, and a misanthropic social atmosphere that, psychologically speaking, is just as corrosive to the small-town charm that everyones trying to preserve as a dozen winery event centers.

True leadership puts compromise above ideology. For the sake of the small-town character we all cherish, lets hope that local leaders step up who will nurture productive public dialogue, build consensus, and recognize that the political forces that separate us are no match for the social bonds that unite us.

And lets hope we never see a sit-in at Vintage Hall.
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. - President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on Wednesday received the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and German FM Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The President welcomed the guest, noting that his visit is a good opportunity to discuss both the cooperation in the framework of the OSCE and issues related to the Armenian-German bilateral agenda.

Sargsyan once again thanked the supreme German leadership for receiving the Armenian delegation at a high level during the presidents visit to Germany in April, as well as for the interesting and meaningful discussions.

According to the President, the dynamics of mutual visits and bilateral communication is indicative of the high level of relations between Armenia and Germany. Sargsyan stressed that Armenia considers Germany as an important political and economic partner, as well as a friendly country.

He also highly appreciated the financial and technical support provided to Armenia by the German Government for many years for the purpose of social and economic development. In this context, Sargsyan expressed gratitude for the 500,000 euro financial support provided by the German Government for making amendments to the Armenian Electoral Code.

The President also expressed satisfaction with the Double Tax Treaty signed in the framework of Mr Steinmeiers visit.

Apart from this, the Armenian President once again thanked the German Bundestag for adopting the resolution recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide.

The meeting also addressed the current stage of the negotiation process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing states, as well as the opportunities and prospects for moving the process forward.

Attention was also attached to consistent steps toward carrying out the arrangements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg in order to reach long-lasting peace and stability.

Besides, the interlocutors discussed issues related to Armenia-EU cooperation. The Armenian President expressed hope that the talks round the new Armenia-EU framework agreement, four rounds of which have been successfully held, will be implemented in near future and the sides will have a new document aimed at developing their ties.
It's 5 a.m. in New Delhi. Twenty-four jet-lagged undergraduate students pile into a fleet of white taxis and find themselves catapulted into the chaos that is morning traffic in India. Ironically, the students came to India to study inner peace and are making the 12-hour pilgrimage north to the Sarah Institute of Buddhist Dialectics College, located in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Their mission: to study the connection between the mind and the body from the point of view of the Tibetan Buddhist contemplative tradition with Emorys Mind-Body Sciences Summer Abroad Program.

The five-week immersion experience, which spanned May 17 to June 23 this year, is part of a unique relationship that Emory has cultivated with the Tibetan Buddhist refugee community, including His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, now residing in Dharamsala, India.

In fact, Emory is the only Western university to which the Dalai Lama has accepted an appointment, joining the faculty as Presidential Distinguished Professor in 2007. Through his role as a professor, the Dalai Lama has offered a private class to the annual Mind-Body Sciences summer program, which started in 2009.

"It was a truly profound experience to meet someone who actually practiced what they preached, who not only set high standards for themselves and the world, but met those standards and led by example," says program participant Geoffrey Solomon, a rising junior.

This unique summer study abroad program was a direct consequence of the Dalai Lamas attempt to promote and nurture a relationship between the scientific perspectives and studies of the West and his own Buddhist philosophical worldview.

With the help of former monk and Geshe (the highest degree in Tibetan Buddhism) Lobsang Tenzin Negi, professor of practice in Emory College's Department of Religion, the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative began in 2006 to attempt to blend modern science and Tibetan monastic culture.

Through this program Emory faculty, among other scientists, travel to India in the summer to teach short intensive courses on scientific topics ranging from physics to neuroscience, as well as the philosophy of science and the scientific method.

After observing the tremendous success of the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, Negi sought to take the relationship between the two communities one step further.

I wanted to offer Emory students the chance to study inner science, contemplative science, healing science," he explains. "I wanted to create a forum where Tibetan Buddhist monastics and Emory students could inspire each other and encourage young minds to learn from one another, in the hopes of cultivating strong relationships and generating a dialogue for future interactions between these two different worldviews.

Combining Buddhism and science

So in 2009, a small group of Emory undergraduates took part in the first expedition to India. Since then, the program has continued to gain traction and attention from the Emory student body as a whole.

I have always loved Buddhism and science and I wanted to do something that would combine my passions for both topics. Honestly, this program is one of the reasons I chose to attend Emory in the first place and I am so excited that I got to experience this amazing culture firsthand, says Micaela McCall, a rising junior in Emory College and participant in this summer's trip. The main thing for me is Ive never realized how much your thoughts impact your physiological well-being."

Fellow summer abroad participant Courtney Clark, another rising junior at Emory, agrees. "Ive come to learn that negative thoughts can literally make you sick or suffer," she says. "I never really understood that before."

Changing the body, changing the mind

Geshe Kelsang Wangmo, a revered teacher and nun in Dharamsala, explains the Tibetan understanding of the connection between mind and body.

Changing the body, from a Buddhist point of view, is changing the mind," Wangmo says. "Sometimes I think Western medicine and health practices overlook this mind-body partnership. But in Tibetan Buddhist teachings, the mind is the ultimate source of clarity and well-being.

Summer program participant Emma Neish, a rising senior at Emory, plans to bring that perspective to her future career as a physician.

Being a pre-med student, I am already appreciating the agency we have over our own perceptions, emotions and mind and how that relates to our health and well-being," she says. "Never before would I have considered that ones 'emotional hygiene' plays an equally important, if not more important, part in his or her life and health than the daily maintenance of ones physical hygiene.

"It has given me a new perspective on health and medical intervention, which I feel will serve me in my future studies and understanding of Western medical practice," Neish continues.

New perspectives on the human condition

The Mind-Body Sciences Summer Abroad Program continues to evolve and develop as its popularity grows. The program now includes students from other universities who seek to learn more about the Tibetan Buddhist contemplative tradition.

In 2014, the program expanded to include two-and-a-half weeks living on the grounds of Drepung Loseling Monastery, in the southern city of Mundgod, India, instead of the entire program taking place in Dharamsala. This enables students to become fully immersed into the Tibetan Buddhist Monastic culture and offers a unique opportunity to live and interact with more than 3,000 Buddhist monks.

I hope that this program not only educates students in their academic endeavors, but also provides them with a new perspective on human purpose, life and meaning, giving students a new dimension to understanding the human condition as viewed form a Tibetan Buddhist perspective," Negi says.

"I want this experience to inspire further investigation and collaboration with the Tibetan Buddhist community," he continues. "But ultimately, I want students to gain different tools to enrich their lives, tools that better their internal wellbeing and education as they pursue their external academic endeavors once they return to the West."

Whatever career and life paths the students ultimately choose, Negi hopes they will take with them important lessons from the summer abroad experience.

"I hope they find that the Tibetan Buddhist doctrines of compassion, altruism and mindfulness allow them to live their life in a new way through the cultivation and discovery of their own inner dimensions and mind," he says.

Editor's note: Aspen Ono is a student in Emory College and a participant in the Mind-Body Sciences Summer Abroad.
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WASHINGTON: US space agency NASA is set to test-fire a booster for the world's most powerful rocket Space Launch System (SLS) which will power astronauts on the journey to Mars and on other deeper space missions.

The booster will be fired up at Orbital ATK Propulsion Systems' test facilities in Promontory, Utah, at 7.05 p.m. (Indian standard time) on Tuesday.

The test will provide NASA with critical data to support booster qualification for flight.

This is the last time the booster will be fired in a test environment before the first test flight of SLS with NASA's Orion spacecraft, known as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), in 2018.

The first, full-scale booster qualification test was successfully completed in March 2015.

The SLS that will launch an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to a stable orbit beyond the Moon in 2018 will also carry 13 tiny satellites to test innovative ideas.

These small satellite secondary payloads or "CubeSats" will carry science and technologyinvestigations to help pave the way for future human exploration in deep space, including the journey to Mars.

SLS' first flight, referred to as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), provides the rare opportunity for these small experiments to reach deep space destinations, as most launch opportunities for CubeSats are limited to low-Earth orbit.

"The 13 CubeSats that will fly to deep space as secondary payloads aboard SLS on EM-1 showcase the intersection of science and technology, and advance our journey to Mars," said NASA deputy Administrator Dava Newman in an earlier statement.

On this first flight, the SLS will launch the Orion spacecraft to a stable orbit beyond the moon to demonstrate the integrated system performance of Orion and the SLS rocket prior to the first crewed flight.

The CubeSats will be deployed following Orion separation from the upper stage and once Orion is a safe distance away.

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Special Judge P.R. Bhavake ordered Mallya to appear before him on July 29 at 11 a.m. Earlier this month, the court had declared him a "proclaimed offender".

Mallya, 60, owes over Rs 9,000 crore to various banks. He left India on a business trip on March 2 using a diplomatic passport and is in the UK.

The Enforcement Directorate is also seeking to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to extradite Mallya.

--IANS qn/mr

( 117 Words)

2016-06-29-13:58:01 (IANS)
The US is committed to India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and one country cannot stop international consensus on this, a senior Barack Obama administration official said here on Wednesday. "We are committed to having India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group," Thomas Shannon, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, said in an interaction with diplomats and officer trainees of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) here. "India's recent entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) highlights that India is a responsible and important player in non-proliferation," he said. His comments came after China, at the NSG plenary in Seoul earlier this month, stymied international consensus to include India in the 48-member group on the ground that a country needed to be a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) for this. India formally applied for membership in the NSG earlier on May 12. "We regret that in Seoul, we were unable to open the space necessary to have India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group at this moment," Shannon said. "We understand that in a consensus-based organisation, one country cannot stop international consensus." Earlier in his address to the gathering, Shannon said that civil nuclear cooperation was a "very important symbol" of the India-US relationship. "Where the nuclear question once divided us, today it brings us together," he said. "Just a few weeks ago, President Obama and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi welcomed the start of preparatory work on a site in Andhra Pradesh for six AP 1000 reactors to be built by an American company. "This is expected to provide jobs in both countries and bring clean, reliable electricity that will help meet Indias growing energy needs while reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Shannon also referred to US Secretary of State John Kerry's remark that the US might not have another partnership that was so wide-ranging as the one with India. A key factor has certainly been the connection between our two peoples, he said. The three million Indian Americans are some of the most successful people in the United States. They have started 15 percent of Silicon Valley companies, become governors and Members of Congress, and won the Miss America pageant. The US official also pointed out that 130,000 Indians were studying in his country and more than a million Americans visited India last year. As for bilateral trade ties, Shannon said that US and Indian business leaders and young entrepreneurs have shown their own ambitions to work together. Annual trade between our countries is now over $107 billion a year, five times what it was a decade ago, he said. He also said that US-India defence cooperation was much broader, as both countries now looked to each other as priority partners in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean region. In fact, we see India as an anchor of stability in this dynamic region, and were pleased to finalise the text of a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Understanding (Lemoa) this month, Shannon said. He said both the US and India stood united against terrorism and violent extremism. We work together bilaterally and multilaterally to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorism anywhere in the world, and dismantle infrastructure that supports them, he stated, adding that both sides recently finalised a new arrangement to share terrorist screening information. Apart from terrorism, the other global threat the two countries were addressing together was climate change, the US official said. Climate change is a key challenge our leaders have committed to, including through the historic Paris Agreement, he said. Our leaders pledged to work towards full implementation of the Agreement and to seeing it enter into force as early as possible. Shannon also said the US-India partnership was indispensable for peace and prosperity in Asia. That is why President Obama and Prime Minister Modi signed a Joint Strategic Vision Statement for the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean Region last January, he said. We affirmed the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea, he added. --IANS ab/bg ( 687 Words) 2016-06-29-20:00:04 (IANS)
"'Metro' producer Jaya Krishnan will produce the Telugu remake. Ananda Krishnan who directed the film will helm its remake too. Shirish, instead of playing the protagonist, will play the baddie," a source from the film's unit told IANS.

The source added that the makers are in talks with actor Naga Chaitanya to play the lead.

"Metro", which explores the psyche of modern-day criminals, portrayed chain snatching in great detail and realistically.

The film's Kannada remake rights were sold even before release.

--IANS hp/rb/vm

( 121 Words)

2016-06-29-11:48:04 (IANS)
The film is an independent drama set against the backdrop of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, reports variety.com.

Mustang director Deniz Gamze Erguven will helm Kings from her own script. The film will mark her English-language debut.

If Craig joins the project, he will portray a loner who lives in South Central Los Angeles and falls in love with Berrys character. When the riots erupt, he will help Berry in protecting her children from the violence.

The riots started a few hours after a jury in suburban Simi Valley acquitted four Los Angeles Police officers of use of excessive force in the videotaped arrest and beating of Rodney King in 1991 following a high-speed chase. A total of 55 people died during the riots amid looting, assault and arson causing more than $1 billion of property damage.

--IANS sas/rb/vm

( 165 Words)

2016-06-29-12:40:04 (IANS)
The 64-year-old actor, who is busy shooting Episode VIII, tweeted, "I meant "out of work" because #Ep8 is wrapping soon, OK? #DontOverThinkEVERYTHING #ParsingHamill #WaitForVIII," reports Channel.24.

Speculations were rife that Skywalker might die in the latest Star Wars installment after the 'Empire Strikes Back' actor said, "I finish Episode VIII and then I'm out of work" at The Big Issue event in London.

'Star Wars: Episode IX' is scheduled to be released on 23 May, 2019. (ANI)
Blaming former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for having committed a 'historic blunder' on the Kashmir issue, BJP president Amit Shah today said but for the mistake by Nehru, the Kashmir issue would not have existed.Speaking at a function organised in memory of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee here, Mr Shah said, had Nehru did not declare a truce in 1948 when Pakistan-backed tribal raiders were being repulsed in Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir issue would not have arisen."Suddenly, without any reason -- the reason is not known even today -- truce was declared. Never has any leader of the country made such a historic blunder. If Jawaharlalji had not declared a ceasefire at that time, the Kashmir issue would not have existed," Mr Shah said at the event where Governor of Tripura Tathagata Roy gave a lecture.Claiming that the decision to call truce was taken by Pt Nehru to improve his personal image, Mr Shah said because of this, a part of Kashmir is now with Pakistan''.Taking potshots at the Congress, Mr Shah alleged that India's partition happened because of the hurry by the Congress leadership. He claimed that had the Congress leadership not been in a hurry at the time of Independence, the division of India could have been prevented."At the time of Independence, the entire Congress leadership was anxious to become independent as -- all of them were ageing. But at that time a young leader (Shyama Prasad Mookerjee) thought that a mistake should not happen and Bengal was saved," Mr Shah said.Mr Shah gave credited to Dr Mookerjee for ensuring that Kolkata became part of India after partition. "If Kolkata is a part of India, and one person has to be given credit for it, it is Syama Prasad Mookerjee. Dr Mookerjee took a major stand stating that Bengal couldn't be handed over to Pakistan,'' Mr Shah said.He said that the citizens of India needed a permit to visit Kashmir but Dr Mookerjee was against it. The contemporary historians neglected the contributions of Dr Mookerjee especially his role in the Bengal partition scheme and Kashmir issues. Lauding the Jan Sangh founder's role, Mr Shah said he had played a key role in raising the concerns of Hindus in Bengal.Mr Shah supported Dr Mookerjee's policy to reconstruct India after independence in a way different from Pt Nehru's policy of developing India by adopting modernisation.Delivering his lecture, the Tripura Governor highlighted Dr Mookerjee's remarkable achievements in his short life. Also present at the event were Prof Lokesh Chandra, President Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Chairman, Executive Council, NMML.Dr Anirban Ganguly, Director, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation welcomed the audience and Sanjiv Mittal, Director, NMML gave the vote of thanks. UNI AR SW SHK 1740 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-810631.Xml
The Supreme Court will examine to what extent courts can look into Muslim personal law, including triple talaq, if they violate the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution. An apex court bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said on Wednesday that it was an important issue concerning a large number of people and there were divergent views on the issue. "We have to hear all of them and take a call to what extent courts can interfere in the Muslim personal laws if courts find they are in violation of the fundamental rights," the bench said. Describing the matter as serious and directing the next hearing on September 6, the court asked the parties to frame the issues. The bench asked all the contesting parties, the central government included, to file their responses. The court order came as it was told that the central government had not filed its response. The bench headed by Chief Justice Thakur is hearing a PIL on the rights of Muslim women in the context of alleged arbitrary divorce by pronouncing triple talaq. A bench of Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goal had on October 16, 2015 issued notice to Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi and the National Legal Service Authority as it directed the separate listing of a PIL addressing the question of the rights of Muslim women. Appearing for two petitioners, senior counsel Indira Jaisinh told the court that the personal laws should be subject to the regime of the fundamental rights. The question that the court should address is "Whether the personal laws are subject to the regime of fundamental rights", Jaisinh told the bench. Senior counsel Anand Grover backed the position taken by Jaisinh. Grover had appeared for interveners Zakia Soman and Noor Jahan. He said triple talaq had no sanction in Islam. Opposing the plea urging the court to examine the question of gender discrimination in Muslim personal law in the context of fundamental rights, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board said that most of the issues being agitated before the court have already been settled. The Board said the Muslim personal law were from the holy Quran and Ahadith of the Prophet and were not covered by Article 13 of the constitution. Thus it could not be tested on the touchstone of fundamental rights. The bench on Wednesday refused to restrain the AIMPLB from speaking on the subject and the media from reporting them. Appearing in person, advocate Farha Faiz had urged the court to restrain the AIMPLB from issuing "misleading statements" which were causing confusion and the media from carrying them. The bench said that for now it would not restrain any one. Farha Faiz runs an NGO Muslim Women's Quest for Equality and is national president of the Rashtrawadi Muslim Mahila Sangh, which is associated with the RSS. Assailing the AIMPLB, Farha Faiz wondered how a registered society could become the custodian of Muslim personal law. "They say that Supreme Court can't interfere in their matters even if they are wrong," she told the bench, asking if that was so, where then was need for a constitution and constitutional courts. --IANS pk/mr ( 543 Words) 2016-06-29-18:06:28 (IANS)
The Union Cabinet today approved the Revised Cost Estimates for establishment of eight New IITs at Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Mandi, Patna and Ropar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. The revised Cost Estimate is Rs. 13,990 crore for establishment of eight new IITs over a period of 11 years, from 2008-09 to 2018-19. The original project cost was Rs 6,080 crore. The increase in expenditure due to escalation in both time and cost overrun is Rs. 7,910 crore. The student strength in each IIT at the end of the project will be 2360. The total student capacity would be 12,880 in these eight IlTs by the end of the 11th year i.e. March, 2019. The direct beneficiaries in terms of numbers would be about 12880 students. However, indirectly the eight new IITs would be expected to bring about quantitative and quality growth in the areas of research, publication of books and research papers, registered patents / trademarks / designs, quality improvement programmes. These institutes would also meet the emerging needs of the industry and the economy as a whole, for skilled technical manpower is expected to be met from the talent pool of trained personnel of these new institutions. Apart from this, these institutions will provide research and development atmosphere with sizeable infrastructure which will contribute to new innovations and good faculty for premier technical educational institutions in the country. The Cabinet, in its meeting held in July, 2008, had approved establishment of eight new IITs at Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Mandi, Patna and Ropar as per the DPR and Cabinet approval, each institute was to be established with a total outlay of Rs. 760 crores amounting to Rs. 6080 crores for all eight new IITs. UNI AR PR SW 1940 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-811207.Xml
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today said Delhi education policy would be revamped with introduction of the 'Chaunauti 2018' scheme in all government and its aided schools to make all students pass tenth standard by the year 2018 in the national capital.Talking to mediapersons, Mr Sisodia said,'' After wide consultations with the principals and teachers of various schools in Delhi and our own research, we came to the conclusion that all students who have failed in class ninth once or twice or are appearing in class tenth board exams through patrachar or due to some reason have dropped out completely will be covered under the ambit of this scheme "Chaunauti 2018" whose motto is "No Child is left behind'' and will be launched from this year.'' ''Under the scheme, each and every student has to be passed . For this to happen , the teachers have been directed to ''teach and work'' upon individually on every ward. The plan is to identify the weak areas of every ward like a student might be weak in reading or his writing skills may not be that strong. According to the skills, grouping will be done or what is called is 'base line assessment' will be done, he said. After identifying the weak areas, dynamic teachers will be roped in who will concentrate on the student by teaching him or her the required skills by taking extra classes or remedial classes.If the government faces the problem of shortage of required number of teachers, guest teachers will be accommodated to fill the gap, he informed.''In order to provide quality education to all, "Patrachar system'' is also being overhauled. While the student will have the liberty to choose his number of subjects and the subjects in which he wants to appear in,he or she can attend regular classes from Mondays to Fridays in schools rather than one hour classes of weekends. The government will provide the ward with free uniform, books and scholarships. They will get all the facilities like a regular student does. Moreover, the government has also made the provision of letting the failed student of standard ninth or tenth take admission in another school out of stigma of studying in the same school which he or she had attended as a failure,'' Mr Sisodia said. More UNI SY PR SW 1939 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0093-811029.Xml
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah today held a meeting at 7 RCR here over Cabinet reshuffle. According to sources, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also attended the meeting. The sources said the second cabinet reshuffle was expected to take place before July 4 when the PM embarks on a visit of four African countries. The organisational changes in the BJP are also likely to coincide with the Cabinet.The sources also said that some of the ministers might be taken out for the party work and portfolios of some senior ministers might be changed. It is expected that Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand which are going to polls next year might be given greater representation in the Cabinet.UNI NY/SAC PR 2156 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0099-811478.Xml
The Dutch House of Representatives has rejected by majority a motion by opposition leader Geert Wilders for a referendum on the country's European Union (EU) membership. "I say this to everyone: the Dutch deserve a referendum as well," Wilders stated while advocating his motion in parliament in The Hague on Tuesday. "The Dutch should also be able to rule in favour or against the departure of the Netherlands from the European Union and the restoration of our national sovereignty and independence," Geert, leader of Party for Freedom (PVV) said. Only 14 of the total of 150 MP's supported the motion for a 'Nexit' referendum, the 12 members of Wilders anti-EU Party of Freedom PVV and two MP's who had separated themselves from the PVV. A Dutch EU referendum would be possible with the backing of a majority of parliament or if the prime minister would issue a referendum. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has already stated that he is against a referendum in general and also against the Netherlands leaving the EU. "That would have major consequences for the Netherlands, our stability and the recovery of our prosperity," Rutte reacted on the outcome of Britain's vote to leave the EU. "I am absolutely against it. It would not be in the Dutch interest." According to a poll by Dutch news show EenVandaag on June 25, 54 per cent of the Dutch people would like to have a referendum on whether the Netherlands should stay part of the EU. The same survey showed there would be no majority for a Nexit, with 48 per cent voting to leave the EU. According to Dutch law, citizens of the Netherlands can only apply for an advisory referendum and such a referendum can only deal with laws or treaties already adopted but not entered into force yet. This was the case in April when a majority of the Dutch voted against the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement. Wilders won't give up on his Nexit message. "My proposal for a Nexit referendum was rejected today," he said, adding "But the Dutch get a second chance on March 15, 2017, the day of our next general elections." --IANS ksk ( 373 Words) 2016-06-29-08:26:01 (IANS)
Stating that Pakistan is lagging behind economically, senior journalist Zahid Hussein pointed out that Islamabad has become isolated which is why there is a need for re-examining the country's foreign policy. Speaking at a seminar titled "Is Pakistan Isolated? Regional Challenges and Opportunities' hosted by the Institute for Policy Reforms (IPR) yesterday, Hussein presented examples of India and China, saying the two countries have progressed, have focused on their economies and added that Islamabad has to change its course. "The current government has made policies for economic development, but they are yet to be implemented because Pakistan's foreign policy is driven by national security. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor could be a game changer," Dawn quoted him as saying. He also compared Pakistan's economic growth with that of India and China saying Islamabad's rate has been 3pc for the last 10 years with that of India the economy of which has been growing by 8pc. "Pakistan has been left far behind, even by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh," he added. However, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi disagreed with Hussein's observation and said the current foreign policy is relevant to the needs at the time. Fatemi said that no foreign policy can be called a complete success or failure. "The PML-N's manifesto said that the foreign policy will focus on the economy. We have tried to have good relations with Afghanistan because we believe there will be no peace in Pakistan until there is peace in Afghanistan," he said. Asserting that Pakistan wants good relations with India and that the PML-N led government wanted to resume relations from how they were in 1999, he said that the sentiment has to be reciprocal for this to work. "We have good relations with Arab countries and 100,000 Pakistanis will be sent to Qatar for employment. As far as the Nuclear Supplier Group is concerned, Pakistan has been working on this for months and though the application was given at the last moment, 11 countries supported Pakistan. This was all because of diplomacy," he added. Meanwhile, eminent historian and author of 'Pakistan, a Hard Country', Prof Anatol Lieven was of the opinion that though the U.S. hostility has increased, China continues to support Pakistan and warned that this support must not be taken as a carte blanche. "No country wants Pakistan to cross the line between sheltering the Afghan Taliban and arming them. Pakistan will forfeit all goodwill if this were to happen. It is desirable to revive the peace talks," he said.(ANI)
Talks were underway for the second day on Wednesday at the European Union summit here over the UK's decision to leave the bloc, but without the presence of British Prime Minister David Cameron. The 27 other member states will discuss plans for Britain's likely EU exit, with the UK absent from negotiations for the first time in 40 years. Arriving at the talks on Wednesday morning, Belgium Prime Minister Charles Michel told BBC Britain "cannot afford the luxury of having a long-drawn-out political crisis". Michel said trying to reach an agreement among all 27 countries would create "immobility", and suggested that a smaller, core group of countries could "move ahead more quickly, without the others preventing them". At the moment, the EU and Britain are locked in a kind of stalemate. EU leaders insist there can be no negotiation before the UK has formally invoked Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which will trigger the withdrawal talks. David Cameron said Article 50 should be invoked by his successor as Prime Minister, effectively pushing the beginning of the process back until at October at the very earliest. Tuesday's meeting in Brussels was Cameron's final EU summit, after he announced his intention to stand down by October. In the meeting, Cameron said the rest of the EU wanted to have the "closest possible" relationship with the UK after Brexit. But he said immigration was a "great concern" among UK voters and squaring this with access to the EU single market would be a "huge challenge". On June 24, Britain voted 52 percent to 48 per cent for its exit from the EU, 43 years after becoming a member of the bloc in 1973. --IANS ksk/vt ( 294 Words) 2016-06-29-15:26:03 (IANS)
BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- More than 13,000 jurors have been selected to participate in a two-year pilot program to increase public participation in legal proceedings and improve the standing of court rulings, according to the Supreme People's Court (SPC) Tuesday.

Since the launch of the pilot program in April 2015, jurors at 50 courts in ten provincial regions including Beijing, Hebei, Shandong and Chongqing have participated in hearing concerning 10,002 criminal cases, 59,616 civil cases and 4,711 administrative cases, accounting for 73.2 percent of first trial cases, said the SPC in a statement.

Unlike the jury system in the United States, where jurors are randomly selected, jurors in China are chosen from a group of candidates that are recommended by local communities or authorities.

The reform program increased the minimum age for jurors from 23 to 28 but lowered education requirements. It also changed the selection procedure to allow more people from different walks of life. In the program, at least three jurors are required to sit on major case panels, up from the previous two.

The SPC noted that jurors in the program were involved in major cases that may have a big impact on public interests and group interests. A special collegiate bench involving more than three jurors and a judge were involved in the hearing of 818 sensitive cases, it added.

A large number of common people who know public opinions will be selected as jurors, said the statement.
BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Inno Way, a section in Beijing's Zhongguancun area, is home to many of the country's top tech firms and it is becoming a deep-pocketed rival to Silicon Valley venture capital hub Sand Hill Road.

Since 2014, the government-backed incubator has attracted hundreds of startups and thousands of investors and entrepreneurs from China and beyond.

Inno Way is becoming a better choice than its U.S. rival for many cash-strapped international companies seeking funding. Zhongguancun investors have more money to spare, plus they offer access to the huge Chinese market.

Street Scooter, a German startup, just raised one million euros in financing from seven Chinese investors through Angel Crunch, an Inno Way-based crowd-financing platform that lets investors fund startups in exchange for equities.

The six-year-old company plans to produce electronic vehicles to replace 30,000 cars used by the German mail system. The first 2,000 vehicles will be delivered and put into use this year, the company said.

"More international companies are seeking funds in China, especially at Inno Way," said Lan Ningyu, the founder of Angel Crunch.

According to Bi Sheng, strategy executive at Angel Crunch, another German electronic car company, e.Go, is joining the financing platform to seek funds in China.

Angel Crunch is expanding to offices in Silicon Valley and Archen in Germany and expects to draw more international companies, according to Lan.

"Some foreign companies have told me that it might take more than six months to raise the money overseas, but it only takes three months here in China," said Mao Daqing, founder of Urwork, an incubator at Inno Way.

According to Bi from Angel Crunch, more foreign companies are raising capital in China, not just for the money, but also for the Chinese market and more business resources.

According to the latest statistics from Zero2IPO Group, equity financing rose in April, unleashing more funding to back startups. Total investment in China in April topped 10.7 billion U.S. dollars -- twice as much as the same period last year.

WuXi AppTec Inc., a leading global pharmaceutical and medical device outsourcing company with operations in China and the United States, opened an office at Inno Way earlier this month.

"With government support and business resources, we believe Inno Way is a good choice for us to offer professional consulting and provide a technology platform for more pharmaceutical startups," said Yang Qing, COO of the company.

Yang Hongbo, CEO of Haizhikechuang, which operates Inno Way, said that the incubator helps introduce new ideas from abroad to China, while linking Chinese entrepreneurs to overseas resources.
NAIROBI, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The emergence of China as an economic giant has boosted Africa's economies by enabling the continent to diversify its sources of investments, a think tank said here on Tuesday.

"China's investment is expanding Africa's horizon and this is good for Africa as its total stock of investments are increasing," Kenya's Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) CEO Kwame Owino said during the China-Africa round table, a trade forum.

The day-long event brought together participants to review the role of China in Africa's economies.

Owino said that there is a positive relationship between China's capital inflows into Africa and the growth of incomes in the continent.

He noted that Africa has an investment deficit which is complicating the region's ability to create jobs.

China accession into the World Trade Organization in 2001 is widely seen as the beginning of its integration to the global economy.

IEA said that one of the biggest beneficiaries of China's economic expansion has been the African continent.

"In fact, the increasing trade and investment between China and Africa has made China to become one of the continent's biggest trading partners," Owino said.

Kenya government data indicates that Sino-Kenya trade has grown by an average of 27 percent annually between 2011 and 2015.

Chinese exports to Kenya constitute about 35 percent of Kenya's total imports.

Owino said that previously most of the machinery and equipment imports in Kenya was from the UK, but the African nation now sources them from China.
MEXICO CITY, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A Mexican judge on Tuesday suspended the extradition of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman until two appeals filed by his lawyers could be heard, according to an official notice from the court.

On Monday, Guzman's defense team filed two appeals at the second district court of Mexico City, saying that the statute of limitations has expired on certain charges their client faces in the United States and that a lack of evidence undermines other charges.

On Tuesday, judge Jose Diaz de Leon agreed that the appeals had enough merit to be heard and temporarily suspended the extradition of the drug lord.

Jose Refugio Rodriguez, the chief of Guzman's defense team, told the press after the decision that he thought the appeals could take up to three years to be resolved.

Rodriguez added that he would take this matter all the way to Mexico's Supreme Court as he feels the Mexican government signed off on Guzman's extradition without enough evidence against him.

In May, the Mexican Foreign Ministry signed two extradition agreements, allowing Guzman to be sent to the United States to face trial on charges of conspiracy to import and distribute drugs, money laundering and murder.

Guzman is currently being held in a federal prison of Ciudad Juarez, in the northern state of Chihuahua.
by Roberto Manriquez

SANTIAGO, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Pacific Alliance Summit 2016, which began Tuesday in the Chilean city of Puerto Varas, will show the bloc is on the right track to commercial openness, Chilean lawmaker Jorge Tarud has said.

"This meeting will show that things are progressing well among the bloc, with the right blend of commercial openness and political pragmatism," said Tarud, president of the Chamber of Deputies' foreign relations committee, in an interview with Xinhua.

The Pacific Alliance is a bloc created in April 2011 by Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, four Latin American countries that border the Pacific Ocean, to promote regional integration. The 9th summit is taking place from Tuesday to Friday in Puerto Varas, around 1,000 km south of Santiago.

It will bring together the four heads of state -- Chile's Michelle Bachelet, Peru's Ollanta Humala, Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto, and Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos -- as well as President Mauricio Macri of Argentina as a guest of honor.

On the agenda is revisiting the bloc's vision for regional integration. Seen as an example of free trade in a region, the Pacific Alliance seeks to forge closer ties with other blocs such as Mercosur, the Southern Common Market.

The four countries and Argentina will also hold a business summit for their entrepreneurs to discuss potential commercial opportunities.

Mexican ambassador to Chile Ruben Beltran Guerrero told Mexican press agency Notimex on Tuesday that "the Pacific Alliance is rooted as a good idea and a good project. We have a common vision of effective integration, which will help boost our productivity and exports to Asia, for example."

In Tarud's view, "This is clearly a sign that other Latin American countries are seeking commercial opening-up and to move beyond protectionism."

"Our emphasis is clearly on the freedom of trade and Macri's visit is a gesture from beyond Mercosur's members," he commented.

Asked about the bloc potentially expanding, Tarud said it would make sense for Ecuador to join, as "geographically, it should be part of the Alliance. However, this is obviously for President Rafael Correa to outline."
OTTAWA, June 28, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau(R) walks with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada on June 28, 2016. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Tuesday announced his government's intention to lift the visa requirement for Mexican visitors beginning on Dec. 1, 2016. (Xinhua/David Kawai)

OTTAWA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Canada will drop its controversial visa requirement for Mexican visitors starting from December this year, while Mexico will fully reopen its domestic market to all Canadian beef products from October this year, according to an agreement reached here Tuesday.

The agreement was reached by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who came to Canada for a two-day visit.

The visit by the Mexican president came ahead of Wednesday's North American Leaders' Summit with U.S. President Barack Obama in Ottawa, a gathering known as the Three Amigos.

At a joint press conference after his meeting with Pena Nieto, Trudeau said the move will make it easier for Mexicans to visit Canada, while growing Canada's local economies and strengthening our communities.

Pena Nieto voiced his satisfaction that the two main irritants in their bilateral relationship would be removed, paving the way for deeper co-operation.

"Since 2009, this barrier has been set, but today thanks to a great political will, we are overcoming such a barrier," Pena Nieto said..

The previous Canada's Conservative government imposed visas in 2009 to stop thousands of asylum claims being made by ineligible Mexican citizens -- a controversial move that has stood as the major irritant between the two countries ever since.

In a joint statement issued after a joint press conference, the two countries made a commitment to work in close cooperation to grow their cultural connections, expand growing trade and investment relationship, and find solutions to the shared challenges of climate change.

They promised to work together to advance the interests of indigenous people in both countries, in particular to help women gain access to education and foster innovation and entrepreneurship. Enditem
ISTANBUL, June 28, 2016 (Xinhua) -- File photo taken on Feb. 1, 2016 shows the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey. Two explosions hit the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday evening, with gunfire heard and injuries reported, CNNTurk said. (Xinhua/Cihan)

ISTANBUL, June 28 (Xinhua) -- At least 28 people were killed and 60 others injured in two explosions that hit the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday evening and involved three suicide bombers, forcing the suspension of all flights.

"We're evaluating the possibility of three suicide bombers," Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin told the press at the airport.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said earlier in Ankara that one terrorist opened fire with a Kalashnikov rifle at random and then blew himself up.

A Turkish official was quoted as saying on Twitter that the vast majority of casualties are Turkish citizens, with foreigners among the dead and wounded.

The police have closed the entrances and exits of the airport, and some inbound flights to the airport have been diverted in the aftermath of the attacks, press reports said.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has ordered the formation of a crisis desk and was coming to Istanbul overnight.

Kerem Kinik, the head of Turkish Red Crescent, has appealed for blood donation.

A Chinese national upstairs at the airport said he heard of gunfires and ran for cover. He then heard of one explosion inside, and saw smoke everywhere and the injured being carried away.

"It's really good to be alive," he added.

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated over the past year, with Istanbul, the national capital of Ankara and other cities having already been hit by a number of bombing attacks.

The latest attack that hit Istanbul occurred on June 7, in which a bomb-laden car targeted a riot police shuttle bus, killing 11 people, including six police officers.
Police officers take simulated terrorists into custody during an anti-terrorism rehearsal at the "Golfe Olimpico" BRT station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb. 11, 2015. An anti-terrorism rehearsal was held here targeting the possible hostage crisis during the Olympic Games on Wednesday. During the rehearsal, the Tactical Intervention Unit (ITU) of Special Police Operations Battalion (BOPE) came to the rescue of the detained hostages in a BRT bus near the Olympic Golf course. This training was part of the BOPE's preparation for the Olympic Games and other similar situations. (Xinhua/Xu Zijian)

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Brazil has launched an awareness campaign designed to foil terror plots during the Rio Olympics in August.

The South American country is not a traditional terrorist target and the government hopes the initiative will reduce Rio's vulnerability to possible attacks.

"It's a simple, informative campaign without calling for hysteria," defence ministry official Luiz Felipe Linhares said in a statement on Tuesday.

The campaign involves the distribution of brochures, posters and booklets explaining how to identify people engaging in suspicious activity, the government said.

"Our country has never faced this type of threat so we need to make sure that people are more alert," Brazilian defence force anti-terrorism chief, Mauro Sinott said.

"The message that we want to pass on is that if you think a certain situation is suspicious, it is because it is in fact suspicious."

Earlier this month the government said Brazil's intelligence agencies were working alongside counterparts in the United States , England, France , Israel and Russia to counter the threat of terrorism.

Brazil will also deploy tens of thousands of troops in Rio's streets to ensure the safety of athletes, officials, residents and an estimated 600,000 foreign visitors during the August 5-21 Games.

In total there will be 85,000 security personnel - including armed forces, police and security agents - patrolling the city. The figure is more than double the number used at the London 2012 Olympics.

Related:

Rio State governor admits Olympics could be "big failure" amid crisis

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Rio de Janeiro's interim governor Francisco Dornelles admitted Monday that the Olympic Games could be a "big failure" if there are no appropriate measures taken in regards to security and transport during the Games.
UNITED NATIONS , June 28, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Olof Skoog(R), Sweden's permanent representative to the United Nations hugs Sweden's foreign minister Margot Wallstrom after Sweden was elected as non-permanent member of UN Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York on June 28, 2016.The UN General Assembly on Tuesday elected Ethiopia, Bolivia and Sweden as non-permanent members of UN Security Council to serve a two-year term starting from Jan. 1, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly on Tuesday elected Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Sweden to serve during 2017-2018 in the UN Security Council, while the contest between Netherlands and Italy has yet to be officially resolved.

The two countries vying for one of two seats representing the Western European and others Group (WEOG) agreed to split the two-year term and balloting was "suspended until further notice" shortly after 5 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT). Sweden resoundingly won the other WEOG seat on the first ballot.

The elected five are to join on Jan. 1, 2017 the five permanent members of the 15-nation council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States and replace the five non-permanent members elected in 2014 to serve during 2015-2016 -- Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela, who are ending their two-year terms on Dec. 31.

The 193-member General Assembly mandated in 2014 that elections beginning in 2016 for non-permanent Security Council seats be held six months in advance of the term in order to give the elected countries more time to prepare for their new responsibilities. Previously balloting was held in October.

Before the meeting was suspended, Norway, as chair of WEOG, announced a meeting for 10 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) Wednesday to discuss the proposal which would have to be approved by the group and then voted on by the General Assembly where a more than two-thirds majority of those voting is required for election.

Italy and Netherlands were tied 95-95 after a total of five rounds of secret ballots to determine which country will join the other five non-permanent council members -- Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay, whose two-year terms will end on Dec. 31, 2017.

"The signal of this assembly this afternoon has been quite clear and I think it was reflected in the last vote this afternoon 95 votes for Italy and 95 votes for the Kingdom of the Netherlands," said Foreign Minister Bert Koenders of Netherlands. "That means it is a clear signal that you appreciate both our countries in representing you in the Security Council."

"Therefore, my colleague (Italian Foreign Minister Paolo) Gentiloni and myself would like to put forward a proposal following subject to full endorsement of WEOG that we would like to split the term," said the Dutch foreign minister.

He proposed Italy to serve the first half, next year, and the Netherlands would serve in 2018 subject to WEOG endorsement and approval of the General Assembly.

Koenders' proposal was greeted by applause.

"I confirm on behalf of the Republic of Italy what my colleague and friend Bert Koenders just said," Gentiloni said, expressing thanks to the assembly for "your patience and your support."

"We wanted maybe to give also a message of unity between European countries and so we took the opportunity of this perfect parity, 95-95 vote, to decide a proposal that gives also this message," said Gentiloni, adding that the campaign "was an extraordinary opportunity to strengthen relations with all UN countries."

"The competitive election has many negative things but it has an extraordinarily positive thing in that it gives an opportunity to know better all the membership of the UN," the foreign minister said.

He later told reporters outside the great hall of the assembly. "We have no doubt this agreement will be implemented."

Asked if the European unity message was an "anti-Brexit" message, referring to last week's UK referendum decision to exit the European Union, he said "This is not anti-Brexit, it is pro unity."

Netherlands' Koenders told reporters the Italy-Netherlands accord came at "a very, very complex time in the UN Security Council. We both campaigned for a strong United Nations, we need a strong UN in a time of geopolitical complex conflicts, disarmament discussions, discussion on the development goals and more than ever unity is needed in the Security Council to solve the problems of the world."

Earlier, Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom of Sweden said after her nation's election, "We will now do what we promised to do; we will work on prevention, peacekeeping, peacebuilding; we will work on security issues and climate and new threats to security; we will work on women's peace and security."

"I will instruct my staff here to work on a transparent and inclusive way to talk with countries, not only about them," she added. "We are now ready to serve and we will do it based on the values and principles of the UN Charter."
Olof Skoog, Sweden's permanent representative to the United Nations, Sweden's foreign minister Margot Wallstrom and Sacha Llorenti, Bolivia's permanent representative to the UN(L to R) pose for a photo after Sweden and Bolivia are elected as non-permanent members of UN Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly on Tuesday elected Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Sweden to serve during 2017-2018 in the UN Security Council, while the contest between Netherlands and Italy has yet to be officially resolved.

Bert Koenders(L, center), foreign minister of Netherlands, speaks with Paolo Gentiloni Silveri(R, center) Italian foreign minister, during the election of non-permanent members of UN Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York. June 28, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

The two countries vying for one of two seats representing the Western European and others Group (WEOG) agreed to split the two-year term and balloting was "suspended until further notice" shortly after 5 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT). Sweden resoundingly won the other WEOG seat on the first ballot.

The elected five are to join on Jan. 1, 2017 the five permanent members of the 15-nation council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States and replace the five non-permanent members elected in 2014 to serve during 2015-2016 -- Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela, who are ending their two-year terms on Dec. 31.

The 193-member General Assembly mandated in 2014 that elections beginning in 2016 for non-permanent Security Council seats be held six months in advance of the term in order to give the elected countries more time to prepare for their new responsibilities. Previously balloting was held in October.

Before the meeting was suspended, Norway, as chair of WEOG, announced a meeting for 10 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) Wednesday to discuss the proposal which would have to be approved by the group and then voted on by the General Assembly where a more than two-thirds majority of those voting is required for election.

Italy and Netherlands were tied 95-95 after a total of five rounds of secret ballots to determine which country will join the other five non-permanent council members -- Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay, whose two-year terms will end on Dec. 31, 2017.

Bert Koenders(L), foreign minister of Netherlands, speaks during the election of non-permanent members of UN Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York. June 28, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

"The signal of this assembly this afternoon has been quite clear and I think it was reflected in the last vote this afternoon 95 votes for Italy and 95 votes for the Kingdom of the Netherlands," said Foreign Minister Bert Koenders of Netherlands. "That means it is a clear signal that you appreciate both our countries in representing you in the Security Council."

"Therefore, my colleague (Italian Foreign Minister Paolo) Gentiloni and myself would like to put forward a proposal following subject to full endorsement of WEOG that we would like to split the term," said the Dutch foreign minister.

He proposed Italy to serve the first half, next year, and the Netherlands would serve in 2018 subject to WEOG endorsement and approval of the General Assembly.

Koenders' proposal was greeted by applause.

"I confirm on behalf of the Republic of Italy what my colleague and friend Bert Koenders just said," Gentiloni said, expressing thanks to the assembly for "your patience and your support."

"We wanted maybe to give also a message of unity between European countries and so we took the opportunity of this perfect parity, 95-95 vote, to decide a proposal that gives also this message," said Gentiloni, adding that the campaign "was an extraordinary opportunity to strengthen relations with all UN countries."

"The competitive election has many negative things but it has an extraordinarily positive thing in that it gives an opportunity to know better all the membership of the UN," the foreign minister said.

He later told reporters outside the great hall of the assembly. "We have no doubt this agreement will be implemented."

Asked if the European unity message was an "anti-Brexit" message, referring to last week's UK referendum decision to exit the European Union, he said "This is not anti-Brexit, it is pro unity."

Netherlands' Koenders told reporters the Italy-Netherlands accord came at "a very, very complex time in the UN Security Council. We both campaigned for a strong United Nations, we need a strong UN in a time of geopolitical complex conflicts, disarmament discussions, discussion on the development goals and more than ever unity is needed in the Security Council to solve the problems of the world."

Earlier, Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom of Sweden said after her nation's election, "We will now do what we promised to do; we will work on prevention, peacekeeping, peacebuilding; we will work on security issues and climate and new threats to security; we will work on women's peace and security."
CANBERRA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has on Wednesday condemned the deadly attack carried out at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport overnight, which has left at least 36 dead and injured many others.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop extended Australia's sympathies to Turkey following the attack which ripped through the busy airport, and said the government was desperately trying to determine if any Australians were in the area at the time of the bombings.

"The Australian government condemns what appears to be a coordinated terror attack on the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey on June 28. Our thoughts and sympathies are with the people of Turkey," Bishop said in a statement on Wednesday.

"I understand the Turkish authorities have secured the area of the attack and have advised that Ataturk Airport will be closed for up to 48 hours."

Turkey is a popular holiday spot for Australians seeking to escape the winter chill down under, and Bishop said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) was "urgently" trying to locate any Australians who might have been caught up in the bombings.

The foreign minister has urged Australians to reconsider their need for travel to Turkey, while she instructed Australians in Turkey to be alert in any crowded area.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The pace of decline in China's national rail freight volume, an indicator of economic activity, narrowed in the first five months of 2016 as the economy showed signs of stabilization, according to official data.

Rail freight volume for the first five months of 2016 fell 7.7 percent year on year to 1.318 billion tonnes, compared with a 7.9-percent drop in the first four months, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Railways carried 270 million tonnes of cargo in May, down 7 percent year on year, said the NDRC.

China posted its weakest economic growth since the global financial crisis in the first quarter, weighed down by weak demand both at home and abroad, industrial overcapacity and faltering investment.

Although downward pressure persisted, economic indicators suggested some stabilization.

In the first five months, industrial output grew 5.9 percent from one year earlier, up from 5.8 percent registered during the January-April period.
HAVANA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. hotel and leisure company Starwood on Tuesday officially started to run a Cuban hotel, marking a new sign of thawing ties between Havana and Washington since the restoration of diplomatic relations.

The 186-room Quinta Avenida in the Havana's classy Miramar neighborhood, which was run by Cuban tourism company Gaviota, changed its name and logo to Starwood's Four Points by Sheraton.

"Starwood becomes the first U.S. company to operate in Cuba after more than 55 years. With this iconic opening, we are building bridges between the two countries," Jorge Giannattasio, chief of Starwood's Latin American operations, told the opening ceremony.

The deal was signed in March before U.S. President Barack Obama's historic visit to the island.

Starwood will begin to operate another hotel in downtown Havana by the end of August.

Cuba received 1.5 million tourists in the first four months of 2016, up 13.5 percent from the same period last year, due to more visitors from the United States and its traditional markets of Canada, Germany and Britain.
SYDNEY, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The world has a stake in ensuring peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific thus rival claimants should not "up the ante" following the outcome of an imminent ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

"No nation wants to see competition for dominance in Asia descend into an armed conflict or even a period of tension in the South China Sea," former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr told Xinhua.

Carr, now director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), urged cooler heads too undertake "calm reflection" after the tribunal delivers its decision "what ever that decision is."

"We've all got a stake in a region with stability and peace," Carr said.

"America has got to be very careful. If America keeps increasing its military investment in the region, then the question going to be asked of America: what next?"

As such, Carr suggests both China and the United States come together to develop a plan for more detailed communication in the event of any misunderstanding, miscalculation or "any accident."

"Both sides have got too much at stake," Carr said. "We've got to give the U.S. and China plenty of off-ramps, so that if there is a misunderstanding, there is an accident, then there's plenty of time for consideration and for mutual restraint and withdrawal."

There also must be exploration to come up with solutions to the regional disputes, just as a proposed joint development of some of the disputed territories.

"The economic growth of Asia has been a great piece of good news for the entire world, (but) it would be placed at risk by armed conflict in the South China Sea," Carr said.

"There's nothing that can't be, first of all managed well, and second, subject to negotiations toward a solution."

The former Australian top diplomat believed it would be viewed in China as hypocritical for Western countries, such as both the United States and Australia, to pressure China into follow the liberal rules-based order, when they themselves have not when it has been against their own interests.

"There's no reference to the rules-based order when America saw it as being vitally important to its interests, and very very urgent, to invade Iraq (in 2003) without a resolution of the UN Security Council," Carr said.

"The West elevates the liberal rules-based order when it suits it," he said.

Related:

Arbitration not answer to S. China Sea disputes: experts

THE HAGUE, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The disputes over the South China Sea between China and the Philippines are not appropriate for a judicial settlement or arbitration, experts said Monday.

An arbitral tribunal's decision to allow a case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines is also highly questionable, according to a group of leading experts on international law who concluded a seminar here. Full story

Spotlight: China does not accept arbitration on South China Sea issue: ambassador

PARIS, June 27 (Xinhua) -- In an op-ed recently carried by the French daily Le Figaro, Chinese Ambassador to France Zhai Jun has reiterated the country's stance that China does not accept the arbitration on the South China Sea issue.

The sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters belongs to China, Zhai noted in the signed article published on June 24. Full story

Int'l experts question proceedings of South China Sea arbitration

THE HAGUE, June 27 (Xinhua) -- A group of experts on international law voiced their doubts and concerns on Sunday over the South China Sea arbitration, warning the proceedings of the case are questionable.

Some 30 experts from Asia, Africa, the United States and Europe exchanged views at a seminar co-organized by Leiden University's Grotius Center for International Legal Studies and Wuhan University's Institute for Boundary and Ocean Studies. Full story

Interview: Bilateral talks best option to solve South China Sea dispute

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. Full story

Brazilian expert supports China's sovereignty over South China Sea islands

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. Full story

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.
ISTANBUL, June 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Policemen stand guard at the entrance to Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, June 29, 2016. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Wednesday blamed the Islamic State for the bombing attacks that killed 36 people at the airport Tuesday night. (Xinhua/He Canling)

ISTANBUL, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Wednesday blamed the Islamic State (IS) for the terrorist attacks on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport that killed 36 people and injured many others.

There are signs indicating that Tuesday night's attacks were carried out by the IS, but efforts to identify the attackers are still under way, Yildirim told reporters at the airport.

Three suicide bombers had arrived at the airport by taxi and opened fire before blowing themselves up, said the prime minister. Foreign nationals were among the dead, he said.

The prime minister ordered the formation of a crisis desk and vowed to fight terrorism with "unity and solidarity."

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged continued battle "against all terrorist organizations at all costs until the end of terrorism."

Following the attacks, all flights at the airport were suspended, and entrances and exits were sealed, reports said. But the flights will resume soon, according to the police.

A Chinese national at the airport said he ran for cover after hearing gunshots. He then heard one explosion, and saw smoke everywhere and the injured be carried away.

"It's really good to be alive," he added.

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated over the past year. A number of bomb attacks have hit Istanbul, the Turkish capital of Ankara and other cities.

The latest attack that hit Istanbul occurred on June 7, in which a car bomb targeted a riot police shuttle bus, killing 11 people.
UNITED NATIONS, June 28 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday condemned the terrorist attack at an airport in Istanbul, Turkey.

"The secretary-general hopes that the perpetrators of this crime will be identified and brought to justice," said a statement released by Ban's spokesperson.

"He (Ban) stands firmly by Turkey as it confronts this threat and stresses the need to intensify regional and international efforts to combat terrorism and violent extremism," it added.

At least 36 people were killed and more than 100 others injured in two explosions that hit Ataturk Airport Tuesday evening local time.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated over the past year. The capital city of Ankara, the most populous city of Istanbul and some other ones have been hit by a number of bombing attacks.
WASHINGTON, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The White House on Tuesday condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the attack at Ataturk airport in Istanbul that killed at least 36 people.

"Ataturk International Airport, like Brussels airport which was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind us together," said the White House in a statement, adding that the United States remains steadfast in supporting Turkey and other allies around the world.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday grounded all flights between the United States and Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city, after the attack.

It remains unclear how long the order would last.

At least 36 people were killed and hundreds of others injured in two explosions that hit the airport in Istanbul on Tuesday night local time.

Three suicide bombers were involved in the attack. One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below, witnesses and officials said.

A Turkish official was quoted as saying on Twitter that the vast majority of casualties are Turkish citizens, with foreigners among the dead and wounded.
ISLAMABAD, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Wednesday condemned terrorist attacks at the Istanbul airport and expressed solidarity with the people and Turkish government.

At least 36 people were killed and many others injured in explosions that hit the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday evening, forcing the suspension of all flights.

"Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has strongly condemned the suicide blasts at Ataturk airport in Istanbul in which several innocent people have been killed," the PM's office said in a statement.

The prime minister has extended his heartfelt condolences for the government and people of Turkey on the loss of precious lives.

While expressing solidarity with the people of Turkey, Prime Minister Sharif has condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, the statement said.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said in Ankara that three terrorists opened fire at random and then blew themselves up at the airport.
VANCOUVER, June 28 (Xinhua) -- With surging housing prices in major Canadian cities, a panel investigating misconduct by real estate agents in British Columbia is calling for stiffer punitive fines to individuals and brokerages of misconduct.

The fines will be levied to a maximum of 250,000 Canadian dollars (192,000 U.S. dollars) for individuals, from the current 10,000 Canadian dollars (7,677 U.S. dollars); and to half a million Canadian dollars for brokerages, from the current 20,000 Canadian dollars.

The panel said in a report released on Tuesday that agents should no longer be allowed to engage in dual agency, also known as "double ending," in which a single real estate agent represents both the seller and the buyer.

"The current regime was set for transactions of homes, not investments," panel leader Carolyn Rogers, also the province's superintendent of real estate, told a press briefing. "Houses are no longer just homes. They are investments and this has put pressure on a regime that has not changed."

The panel calls for the "disgorging" of any ill-gotten gains obtained by an agent via fraudulent ways to be returned to a client in a process that will involve the courts. A total of 28 recommendations to strengthen investigations are detailed in the report.

Rogers said the recommendations would help the province adjust to the "gold rush" environment of the frothy housing market.




MISSISSAUGA, June 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on June 28, 2016 shows houses destroyed in an explosion in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. A person was killed and other nine were injured on Tuesday afternoon in an explosion, which damaged 25 houses in Mississauga, a satellite city in western Greater Toronto Area. (Xinhua/Zou Zheng)

TORONTO, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A huge explosion occurred Tuesday on the eastern outskirts of Toronto, Canada's biggest city, killing one person and injuring nine others.

The cause of the blast that took place at about 4:20 p.m. (2020 GMT) in Mississauga, Ontario, remains unknown. Local police said it is too early to speculate on what led to the explosion.

Garrett Brazzier, who was driving on Rathburn Road East near the blast scene, said: "I heard a loud bang, like a super-loud bang. It sounded like a bomb went off, almost. I looked in my rear-view mirror and there was debris flying everywhere. There was a huge dust cloud."

Fire crews will search the scene for clues of the cause of the blast and victims.

An official at the scene told reporters that, 25 houses were impacted by the explosion, six were heavily damaged.

Police have evacuated the area, and 50 to 100 people have been forced to leave their homes. A reception area was set up.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said gas and power to 58 homes have been cut off. Residents were told they should expect to be away from their homes "for a significant period of time."
MANILA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Rodrigo Duterte will take his oath of office on Thursday as the Philippines' 16th president.

On the campaign trail, the tough-talking former mayor from southern Philippines' Davao City has promised to "kill" drug lords and shame corrupt government officials and policemen suspected of colluding with criminals.

"We'll just make this country peaceful and we'll have the investments coming in," the 71-year-old said in a speech in Davao City Monday, warning he will not allow a Mexico-like narco-politics to reign in the country.

Fresh from last month's electoral victory, Duterte said he is ready to make sweeping policy changes during his six-year term. "Change is coming," he said.

Duterte's real work of delivering promises begins on Thursday.

Aside from cracking down on rampant crime and eradicating corruption, Duterte will also have to grapple with a slew of problems including rapid population growth, poor infrastructure, inefficient bureaucracy and widespread poverty.

COMBATING POVERTY

A quarter of the country's 100 million people are poor, according to the Asian Development Outlook 2015, the annual economic publication of the Asian Development Bank released in March.

In the first half of 2014, poverty incidence was reported at 25.8 percent, compared with 24.6 percent in the same period in 2013, rising due to higher food prices and damage to livelihoods caused by typhoons, the report said.

Many of the people of Mindanao, where Duterte hails, continue to grapple with abject poverty.

While the Philippines has posted solid growth in recent years, the report said unemployment and underemployment "remain high."

"Even when the unemployment rate fell to 6.6 percent in January 2015, the lowest in 10 years, 2.6 million people remained jobless, nearly half of them aged 15-24 years, and a further 6.5 million were underemployed," the report said.

"Challenges are to accelerate infrastructure development and further improve the investment climate to regenerate more and better jobs for poverty reduction," the report said, adding that "higher rates of investment are needed to build on recent gains and raise employment to reduce poverty."

The report said investment has improved in the Philippines but still lags behind its Southeast Asian neighbors Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The country's net foreign direct investment inflows "are modest," despite a 66 percent increase to 6.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, it said.

"A key constraint on growth stems from inadequate past investment in infrastructure," the report said. The Philippines ranked 95th out of 144 countries for the quality of its infrastructure in the Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015 of the World Economic Forum.

Duterte's Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said infrastructure investment is priority, stressing the need to build railways, ports, airports, bridges and even cable cars to ease the monstrous traffic in Metro Manila. "There will be connectivity of islands," he said.

Investors have indeed shun the Philippines, discouraged by poor roads, unreliable power supply and bad communication facilities, analysts said, adding that rampant corruption, unsolved violent crimes and decades-old insurgencies also mar the country's investment climate.

The ADB has predicted that the Philippines will see strong growth to continue this year and next, 6 percent in 2016 and 6.1 percent in 2017 respectively.

Richard Bolt, ADB country director for the Philippines, has earlier said that to sustain this growth "will require the continuation of policies that support infrastructure and human capital development, improvements to the investment climate, and better governance."

Duterte has vowed to promote contraceptives to prevent population explosion. "I will reinstall the program of family planning. One. Two. Three. That's enough."

Duterte has said he intends to amend some provisions in the 1987 constitution in a bid to transform the country into a federal state and lift the economic provisions that hamper foreign investors from investing in the country. "Nothing short of a federal structure would give Mindanao peace," he said.

BOOSTING RECONCILIATION

Days before taking his oath this Thursday, Duterte sent his aides to Oslo, Norway to initiate peace talks with exiled leaders of the Left that has been fighting the government for decades. He has also met with Muslim rebels. "I will call for inclusive talks with everybody, the Moros (Mindanao Muslims), the (Communist) rebels," he said.

Duterte has also decided to allow the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos in the Heroes' Cemetery, saying this will bring healing to the country. "I will allow the burial of President Marcos in the Heroes Cemetery not because he is a hero but because he was a Filipino soldier."

Marcos died in Hawaii in 1989, his body, which was brought to the Philippines in 1993, is now on display inside a glass box in an air-conditioned crypt in the Marcos family's ancestral home north of Manila.

The past administrations have refused Marcos's body to be interred at the national heroes' cemetery, causing years of on-and-off political debates on whether the disgraced leader deserved a military honor and a plot in the hallowed ground.

Another bold move that Duterte wants to make is to free former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who is now detained at a hospital over plunder charges. Duterte, a lawyer, said Arroyo has been detained for four years without trial.

"She deserves to be released. She has been detained for so long, the trial delayed," Duterte said, adding Arroyo is a victim of slow justice.

CRACKING DOWN ON CRIMINALS

He stressed the need to reimpose the death penalty so he could hang criminals. "When you kill someone, rape, you should die. I believe in retribution. Why? You should pay," he said.

Duterte's platform promises have won him more than 16.6 million votes, a resounding victory. Filipinos are pinning their hopes on Duterte, hoping for better and safer lives.

Duterte was first elected as mayor of Davao in 1988 and since then never lost an election until he became president.

"In Davao we were able to correct the so many errors along the way. I intend to do the same for the whole country. I will be harsh to the criminals. I will be strict to the wrongdoers but you'd always find something in me... especially those who are hopeless, helpless and defenseless," he said in his farewell speech Monday in Davao City where he was mayor for 22 years.

"I like the fact that he puts law and order first," said political analyst Clarita Carlos. "No other activity can happen if there is rampant criminality. I want those drug lords to be put to jail. Business (sector) wants law and order for economic activity to prosper."

Political science Professor Edmund Tayao said Duterte's plans are doable: "All he is saying is that he doesn't mind using every means available in order to accomplish his promise of a crime-free society in as little as six month. That can be done."
LIMA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Peruvian President-elect Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said Tuesday that he will begin a "social revolution" to deal with inequality in various parts of the country.

Kuczynski, the leader of the Peruvians for Change party, attended a ceremony to receive his presidential credentials from the National Elections Board on Tuesday.

"We have succeeded in making a great change in the last 25 years but we still need ... the social revolution in Peru," Kuczynski said at the event, emphasizing the need to raise the level of social and economic development in other provinces beyond Lima, particularly for poor people living in the Andes or the Amazon.

The next government will seek "to ensure that the large majority who go to public schools can receive the same level of education as those who go to private schools," he said.

The president-elect also called on all social and political sectors of society to team up with his administration so as to jointly tackle Peru's development issues.

"We must maintain our unity. There are many differences between us, but ultimately, we have just completed our fourth democratic electoral transition since 2001," Kuczynski noted.

Kuczynski will take over from current President Ollanta Humala next month and rule in the next five years.
SINGAPORE, June 29 (Xinhua) -- A Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight bound for Istanbul, Turkey, turned back to Singapore's Changi Airport after suicide bombings at Istanbul's Ataturk airport, said the carrier on Wednesday.

SIA said via its Twitter that SQ392, which was due to arrive at Istanbul at about noon Singapore time, headed back to Singapore because the Ataturk international airport was closed. The flight is scheduled to arrive back at about 10:40 a.m. on Wednesday.

SIA added that the airline has not cancelled subsequent flights to Istanbul, but this may change depending on when the airport re-opens.

At least 36 were killed and many were injured in the bombing attacks at Ataturk international airport on Tuesday night.
SINGAPORE, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Singapore strongly condemns the attacks on the Istanbul Ataturk Airport which has resulted in many casualties on Tuesday, said a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Wednesday.

MFA extended the deepest condolences to the bereaved families and hope that the injured will make a quick recovery, said the spokesman. "We are saddened by the loss of many innocent lives and we stand in solidarity with the Turkish people and government during this difficult time."

MFA added that there are no reports of any Singaporeans injured or directly affected by the attacks thus far. The ministry has contacted most of the registered Singaporeans in Istanbul and verified that they are safe. The Singapore Embassy in Ankara is also in touch with the local Turkish authorities.

At least 36 were killed and many were injured in the bombing attacks at Ataturk international airport on Tuesday night.
RIO DE JANEIRO, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government on Tuesday condemned the terrorist attack at an airport in Istanbul, Turkey, which killed at least 36 people.

"The Brazilian government expresses its firm condemnation of the attacks which made dozens of victims at the Ataturk airport," a governmental statement said, adding that Brazil denounces any form of terrorism.

According to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, no Brazilian nationals were found among the victims so far.

On Tuesday night local time, suicide bombers opened fire at random at the airport and then blew themselves up, leaving at least 36 dead and more than 100 injured. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated over the past year. A number of bomb attacks have hit Istanbul, the Turkish capital of Ankara and other cities.

The latest attack that hit Istanbul occurred on June 7, in which a car bomb targeted a riot police shuttle bus, killing 11 people.
UNITED NATIONS, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Tuesday condemned the killing of a UN peacekeeper in the Central African Republic.

The peacekeeper from Senegal was shot dead Friday by unidentified armed men in Bangui, the capital city of the Central African Republic.

"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms all attacks and provocations against MINUSCA by armed groups," the 15-nation UN body said in a statement issued to the press, referring to the UN stabilization mission in the country.

The council members expressed their deepest condolences and sympathy to the family of the victim, as well as to the government of Senegal and to MINUSCA, the statement said.

The council members also called on the government of the Central African Republic to swiftly investigate this attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.

On Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the killing, saying that attacks against those who are working toward peace and security in the Central African Republic are unacceptable.

At least 20 UN personnel, including troops, have been killed since the Security Council set up MINUSCA in April 2014.
by Liu Lili, Chen Peihua and Zhou Jing

MEXICO CITY, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Despite change in the political landscape of Latin America in recent years, the region's relations with China has remained solid, political observers have said.

Argentina has a new leadership; Peru will soon have a a new president from a new political party; Brazil and Venezuela are undergoing political strife.

Observers believe that the solid foundation of mutual trust, strong complementarity between their economies and shared confidence in the future will lead to stability in China-Latin America relations.

AN ENDURING RELATIONSHIP

Political contact and economic cooperation between China and Latin America have increased notably from the start of the 21st century.

China is now Latin America's second-largest trade partner and an important source of investment. In 2015 bilateral trade reached 236.5 billion U.S. dollars and China's nonfinancial direct investment in Latin America surpassed 21.4 billion dollars, according to Chinese figures.

China and Latin America are strongly complementary to each other in economy and trade. While Latin American countries depend heavily on the export of agricultural products and raw materials to China, the Asian country offers abundant investment and advanced experience in infrastructure construction, said Sun Yanfeng, assistant director of the Department of Latin American Studies at China's Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

In recent years, trade between the two sides has suffered from the global recession and drop in the prices of raw materials, giving rise to trade frictions. The political uncertainty in some Latin American countries have also cast cloud on the future of ties between the two sides.

However, considering the solid foundation of equality, mutual respect and pragmatism of this link, regardless of ideological differences, there will be no substantial changes in cooperation in the future. Both sides need each other for social stability and economic sustainability.

China "doesn't want to intervene in politics or tell leaders how to govern. That's a stark contrast from the U.S., which has a long history of intervening in Latin American politics," Patrick Gillespie, a correspondent for CNN Money, has written.

MATURING TIES

Ties between China and Latin America will in fact mature in the medium and long term, Guo Cunhai, a researcher at the Latin American Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said, adding that after decades of rapid development, the relationship will settle into a phase marked by stability and moderation.

The liberalization, commercialization and opening up of regional economies will become the new trend in Latin America. The new governments will focus on diversifying, adjusting economic structures and reducing overreliance on raw materials, he noted.

A mature relationship between the two sides will entail new challenges and opportunities for China, Guo said.

Reaching a new consensus and acting in accordance with international law and market regulations will not only be necessary, but will be the reality of China-Latin America ties in the future, something essential to maintaining the sustainable development of the relationship between the two sides, said Guo.

China is adapting to the change in Latin American economies. Cooperation in productiion capacity will continue to develop as Latin America's industrialization progress and will spur the export of China's stronger production capacity for the benefit of both, he said.

Cooperation in infrastructure building will be a new and important area for the future of bilateral ties, he said.

COMPLEMENTARY ADVANTAGES

As global economic recovery remains slow, China and Latin America need to expand their cooperation strategy, intensify their economic complementarity and seek a new engine for future growth, said Yin Hengmin, the special representative on Latin American affairs of the Chinese government.

"China has always insisted on linking its own development to that of other developing countries, and Latin America, in turn, has made an effort to spur the modernization of its economic structure," said Yin.

"The two sides should -- with cooperation in production capacity as a turning point -- improve the quality of pragmatic cooperation and make the most of the complementarity of their respective advantages," he said.

In response to Western media's complaint that the development of China-Latin America ties threatens U.S. interests in the region, Guo said China does not intend to compete with the United States, but to fulfil the common interests of China and Latin America.

"Today, politics in Latin America is increasingly more fragmented and balanced. It is unlikely that in the future we will again see a situation where a single party controls both the government and the parliament at the same time."

"That will make it impossible for one party or one political alliance to have a monopoly on power," he said.

In the same vein, "neither will it be possible to see the emergence of an extreme policy such as 'get close to China, move away from the U.S.' or 'move away from China, get close to the U.S,'" he said.
MOSCOW, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the gas price for Ukraine in the third quarter will be based on the formula under a contract signed between the two countries.

"According to preliminary estimates, the prices for gas won't be above the market prices. Therefore, there is no need for discount on gas for Ukraine," Novak said in an interview with TV channel Russia 24 on Tuesday.

Earlier, energy firm Naftogaz of Ukraine refused to buy Russian gas at a price of 177 U.S. dollars per thousand cubic meters, referring to the fact that this price is higher than the offer in Europe.

Novak said that the pricing formula involves the valuation of oil and petroleum products over a period of several quarters.

"The relevant calculations for the third quarter will be made in the end of the month," he added.
SANSHA, May 1, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Fishing boats are berthed at Zhaoshu Island of Qilianyu Islands in Sansha City, south China's Hainan Province, April 29, 2016. Since Sansha was officially established in 2012, people's lives on Zhaoshu Island have significantly improved by building the power station, seawater desalination plant and the road running around the island. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)

VIENNA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- An Austrian expert has said that arbitration cannot solve the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines.

"It is a principle of international law that all sides must agree on the arbitration," Padraig Lysaght said in a recent interview with Xinhua. "Otherwise, the result of the arbitration is not binding."

The Philippines unilaterally filed in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, the Netherlands, an arbitration case against China over South China Sea disputes in January 2013.

China maintains that the tribunal has no jurisdiction over the case, which is in essence about territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation.

"It is perfectly legal to simply not accept this award. I don't think the award can solve the problem," Lysaght said, adding that modern international law cannot provide a suitable solution to every problem.

Meanwhile, Lysaght, a historian who wrote his dissertation about the South China Sea, said historical arguments should not be completely discarded in the South China Sea dispute.

"Many arguments in the dispute over the South China Sea islands are based on historical events," Lysaght told Xinhua.

In the Ming Dynasty, China was an influential power in the South China Sea, he said. "Not in a military way, but culturally. All neighboring countries have been culturally influenced by China."

"Old cartography mapping these islands does exist. The oldest of these maps are clearly Chinese. Even Vietnam or the Philippines uses ancient Chinese maps for their arguments," he said.

Currently, one of the problems is that not only the littoral states but also the United States are involved in the dispute, according to Lysaght.

"The United States sees their hegemonical claims in this area challenged," Lysaght said.

Lysaght said military actions in the area could be interpreted as provocative, adding, "It is not necessary to provoke each other."

What is positive in the dispute is that all littoral states have agreed on a code of conduct, Lysaght said, referring to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea signed between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2002.

In addition, there is an exemplary agreement between China and Vietnam on the development of the Beibu Gulf, a half-closed bay surrounded by Chinese and Vietnamese territory and a traditional fishing area for the two countries. "This is a model solution for this region," the expert said.

In 2000, both countries signed agreements on the demarcation of the Beibu Gulf and fishing cooperation in the area.

In 2012, they established expert working groups, which specialize in maritime cooperation on less sensitive issues.

Since then, China and Vietnam have signed cooperation agreements on two programs, which have helped strengthen bilateral maritime cooperation.

Related:

Cambodia's ruling party not to support arbitration court's decision over South China Sea: PM

PHNOM PENH, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) President and Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen announced on Tuesday that the CPP would not back the arbitration court's upcoming decision over the South China Sea issue, saying that the party saw the upcoming decision as "the worst political collusion in the framework of international politics".

In 2013, the Philippines unilaterally filed compulsory arbitration against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague with respect to the two sides' disputes in the South China Sea. The Chinese government has reiterated its non-acceptance and non-participation stance in the case. Full Story

Spotlight: China does not accept arbitration on South China Sea issue: ambassador

PARIS, June 27 (Xinhua) -- In an op-ed recently carried by the French daily Le Figaro, Chinese Ambassador to France Zhai Jun has reiterated the country's stance that China does not accept the arbitration on the South China Sea issue.
WELLINGTON, June 29 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand engineers will be legally obliged to report building faults following the collapse of a building that killed 115 people -- most of them young students from Asia -- in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith on Wednesday tabled in Parliament a strengthened code of conduct for engineers requiring them to inform regulatory authorities of serious deficiencies in buildings or structures.

The changes, which take effect from July 1, also require engineers to inform authorities if they believe other engineers have violated the code.

"The tragedy of the CTV building, which claimed the lives of 115 people when it collapsed, is that engineers had identified flaws in its design. This was many years earlier during a pre-purchase check, but this information was not passed on to regulatory authorities," Smith said in a statement.

"The code will make plain that this obligation overrides any commercial contract or confidentiality agreement with a client. This change is an important step in improving New Zealand's engineering systems and safety in managing complex risks, such as earthquakes."

The New Zealand Police are still investigating the collapse of the CTV building.

A report by the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission of Inquiry detailed how the six-storey building, which was designed in 1986 and completed around 1988, had a "design that was deficient in a number of important respects" and should never have been issued with a construction permit because it failed to comply with building regulations.

The commission also found the building was never properly structurally assessed after being damaged in strong earthquakes on Sept. 4 and Dec. 26, 2010, despite being inspected by three building officials.

Most of the 185 people killed in the 6.3-magnitude quake of February 2011 died in the building when it collapsed and caught fire.

The CTV victims included 64 Asian students studying at an English language school: 17 students from the Chinese mainland, 28 from Japan, 10 from the Philippines, six from Thailand, two from the Republic of Korea, and one from China's Taiwan.

The New Zealand government bought the CTV site in 2014 and plans to include it in a mainly residential area on the edge of the city's new central business district.
MANILA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government justified its decision Wednesday to allow Indonesian forces to enter its territory in the event that another kidnapping of Indonesian nationals takes place.

Department of National Defense spokesman Peter Paul Galvez said the border crossing arrangement is consistent with the 1975 agreement of the two neighbors.

"Indonesian security forces are allowed to enter Philippine maritime zones under the concept of hot pursuit in the same way that Philippine forces are allowed to enter Indonesian maritime zones," he said.

The spokesman said that in such incidents the Philippine security forces are as well immediately informed so that a coordinated and joint operation could immediately be undertaken.

"This is a move to further strengthen collective commitment to address, prevent and resolve transnational crimes," Galvez explained.

Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin met with his Indonesian counterpart, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, who recently visited Manila, to discuss effort to secure the release of seven Indonesian seamen being held hostage by an armed group in southern Philippines.

The kidnapping of Indonesians by the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group was the third in the waters between the two countries.

The seven crew members of Tugboat Charles 001 and Robby barge ship 152 were seized in the Sulu Sea of southern Philippines on June 20, Indonesia said.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The terrorist attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport Tuesday that killed 36 people and injured many others was the latest in a spate of terror attacks in the country. Following is a list of some of those attacks in the country in recent months:

June 8, 2016 -- A car bomb attack by Kurdish militants on a police station in the town of Midyat in southeastern Turkey killed three people and wounded more than 30.

June 7, 2016 -- Seven police officers and four civilians were killed and 36 others injured in a car bombing attack on a police shuttle bus in central Istanbul's main tourist district.

March 19, 2016 -- A suicide bomber killed himself and four others in a central Istanbul shopping and tourism district, wounding at least 36 people. The bomber was later identified as a Turkish member of Islamic State.

March 13, 2016 -- A car bomb tore through a crowded transport hub in the capital city of Ankara, killing at least 34 people and wounding 125 others. Officials blamed the Kurdistan Workers Party for the attack.

Jan. 10, 2016 -- A suicide bomber thought to have crossed from Syria killed at least 10 tourists, nine of them German, in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square. The Islamic State was blamed for the attack.

Dec. 23, 2015 -- One person was killed when an explosion hit Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport located on the Asian side of the city. The attack was claimed by a Kurdish militant group.

Oct. 10, 2015 -- More than 120 people were killed and almost 250 others wounded when two blasts hit Ankara's central railway station targeting a peace rally. The Islamic State was blamed for the most deadly attack of its kind on Turkish soil.
MELBOURNE, June 29 (Xinhua) -- A team of Melbourne scientists has begun a study to discover how much bacteria is living within the city's public transport system.

Melbourne, along with Sydney, are two of 58 cities participating in an international study based out of New York, which is aimed at developing an outline of the germs and bacteria found in major cities' public transport systems. In Melbourne, the team will run tests inside and outside trains, trams and buses.

In the study already completed in New York's subway system, scientists discovered that of the human bacterial DNA identified, 32 percent was associated with the stomach and intestine area and 29 percent was connected to the skin. Another 20 percent of the bacteria was identified from the genital area and almost 10 percent was associated with the simple act of breathing.

The Melbourne team, led by Monash University science student Andrew Gray, told Fairfax Media on Wednesday that each city is taking a "selfie of its microbiome", also known as its bacterium system.

To create a snapshot of Melbourne's bacterium landscape, scientists and volunteers ran tests across seven of Melbourne's train stations, including key tourist spot, Flinders Street station, and the CBD's Southern Cross and Melbourne Central stations in June.

The scientists swabbed the infrastructure around key transport hubs, including benches, vending machines, handrails, escalators and bike racks near the stations. The swabs were then placed in a tube containing a mixture designed to keep the bacteria alive but inactive.

"We really know very little about the bacteria that surround us," Gray told Fairfax on Wednesday.

The international experiment, which is partly being funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the U.S., will hopefully give researchers an understanding into any bacterial trends that develop in the major cities, as they aim to combat infectious disease.

"Bacteria are really good at evolving; they evolve really fast," Gray said. "So this will give us an insight into how they evolve and hopefully enable us to stay one step ahead."

Of the data collected in New York, 48 percent did not match any known living organism, showing how ambiguous and unknown the bacterium can be.

However, it wasn't all bad news, as computational geneticist and lead investigator on the international project Christopher Mason said most of the bacteria detected were harmless.

The results of the Melbourne samples will be available within six months, as the tubes are currently being stored in a community science laboratory in Melbourne.

The samples will then be sent to a Shanghai University in China, where the bacteria's DNA will be determined.
PHNOM PENH, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen reiterated on Wednesday that the country would not support an arbitral tribunal's upcoming decision over the South China Sea issue.

In 2013, the Philippines unilaterally filed compulsory arbitration against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague with respect to the two sides' disputes in the South China Sea. The Chinese government has reiterated its non-acceptance and non-participation stance in the case.

"Cambodia does not support, and more so is against, any statement by ASEAN to support the court's decision," Hun Sen said in a speech during the 65th anniversary of founding the Department of Customs and Excise.

He said the issue is between the Philippines and China, not between ASEAN and China.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on June 8 that China has all along stood for peacefully settling territorial and maritime delimitation disputes through negotiations with states directly concerned on the basis of respecting historical facts and in accordance with the international law.

On issues concerning territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation, China never accepts any recourse to third party settlement, or any means of dispute settlement that is imposed on it, the statement said.

Related:

Interview: Arbitration cannot solve South China Sea dispute: Austrian expert

VIENNA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- An Austrian expert has said that arbitration cannot solve the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines.

"It is a principle of international law that all sides must agree on the arbitration," Padraig Lysaght said in a recent interview with Xinhua. "Otherwise, the result of the arbitration is not binding." Full story

Cambodia's ruling party not to support arbitration court's decision over South China Sea: PM

PHNOM PENH, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) President and Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen announced on Tuesday that the CPP would not back the arbitration court's upcoming decision over the South China Sea issue, saying that the party saw the upcoming decision as "the worst political collusion in the framework of international politics".
SYDNEY, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Six Egyptian mummies are on their way to Australia, the New South Wales (NSW) state government announced on Wednesday.

The city of Sydney has secured the Australian premiere of "Egyptian Mummies: Exploring Ancient Lives" from the British Museum.

NSW state Arts Minister Troy Grant said the exhibition would feature items from the British Museum's Egyptian Collection, which is the largest and most comprehensive collection outside Egypt.

"Six mummies who lived and died in Egypt between 1800 and 3000 years ago will be on display alongside almost 200 objects associated with funerary practices and daily life in this rich period in history," Grant said.

"The mummies from the British Museum collection have remained wrapped for thousands of years but using cutting edge technology we can reveal for the first time their burial secrets while maintaining their integrity and ensuring their preservation."

NSW state Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres said the exhibition would be a major drawcard for visitors to Sydney.

"The Egyptian Mummies will travel to Australia for the first time, making Sydney the inaugural destination for visitors to meet these individuals and discover more about their stories," Ayres said.

"The exhibition is expected to deliver more than 3 million Australian dollars (2.22 million U.S. dollars) in overnight visitor expenditure and the NSW Government is proud to support the exhibition, through our tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW."

The exhibition will run from Dec. 10 to April 30, 2017.
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, June 29 (Xinhua) -- About 15 Taliban militants were killed and 17 others detained following a night raid operation in Afghanistan's northern province of Kunduz overnight, the provincial police said on Wednesday.

"The operation was conducted by Afghan Special Forces in Hazrat-e-Sultan, an area in outskirts of provincial capital Kunduz city late Tuesday night and eight militants were also wounded in the raid," it said in a statement.

A Taliban local commander named Mullah Nasim was among the killed, the statement added.

The security force also seized weapons and ammunition, the statement said, without adding if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.

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 has yet to make comments.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan side should take full responsibility for suspension of communication mechanisms between the Chinese mainland and the island, a mainland spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Taiwan's current administration has not recognized the 1992 Consensus which endorses the one-China principle, shaking the political foundation for cross-Strait interaction, said An Fengshan of the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office at a press conference.

Suspended communication mechanisms include both the regular mechanism between cross-Strait affairs departments and the consultation mechanism between the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF).

Both operated on the basis of the 1992 Consensus. An said, "Peaceful development of cross-Strait ties since 2008 did not come out of the blue."

The mainland has not changed in its stance, An said. "It was the Taiwan side which changed the situation."

The key to ensuring negotiation and contact is whether the SEF will be authorized to confirm adherence to the consensus, An said.

"On such a fundamental question, ambiguity is of no avail," An said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R,front) and his wife Peng Liyuan are greeted by Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoev (L,front) and Governor of Bukhara Province Muhiddin Esanov upon their arrival at Bukhara International Airport, Uzbekistan, June 21, 2016. Xinhua/Lan Hongguang

BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A "major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics" has taken shape since Xi Jinping became the top leader in late 2012.

Following are 26 key words or phrases that relate to this new style of diplomacy.

AIIB

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a new development bank proposed by China, started operation on Jan. 16, 2016.

The new global multilateral financial institution, to support infrastructure projects in Asia, was formally established in Beijing on Dec. 25, 2015. Headquartered in Beijing, it now has 57 founding members.

Photo taken on Jan. 17, 2016 shows the stone monument in front of the headquarters building of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in downtown Beijing, capital of China. Xinhua/Li Xin

AIIB also means a great deal to the global economic governance system. It is a product of the evolving economic landscape, and will help make the global economic governance system more just, equitable and effective.

Belt and Road Initiative

The Belt and Road initiative, which comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was first promulgated by Xi in 2013, who envisioned a trade and infrastructure network that connects Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes. Over 70 countries and organizations have voiced support for and willingness to join the initiative.

Photo taken on February.27, 2016 shows that a train is about to enter a tunnel along Pap-Angren railway in Uzbekistan. Xinhua photo

Climate Change

To fulfill its commitment to the Paris Agreement on climate change, China will cut its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60 to 65 percent by 2030 from the 2005 levels; increase non-fossil fuel sources in primary energy consumption to about 20 percent; and peak its carbon emissions by 2030. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said China had demonstrated great leadership with its remarkable commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Destiny

The concept of "a community of common destiny" was first raised in a report approved by the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, expressing the hope of the Chinese people to build a better world together with people from other countries.

It underlines that all nations should raise the awareness that everyone on earth is a member of the community of common destiny, meaning there is a common responsibility to pull together in times of trouble, and strive for common development and lasting peace.

Economic Governance

According to a communique issued after the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, in the five years from 2016, China will further integrate its economy with the wider global economy, and pursue an open strategy of mutual benefit and win-win, while participating in global economic governance and the provision of public goods, raise its institutional discourse power in global economic governance and establish a far-ranging community of shared interests.

People stand at the bund overlooking the financial district Lujiazui in Shanghai on June 1, 2016. AP photo

FTA

The latest free trade agreements (FTAs) between China and the Republic of Korea (ROK), and between China and Australia, shows that a "grand free trade strategy" is taking shape, bringing the nation closer to establishing a global free trade network and implementing deeper domestic reforms.

China has signed and implemented 14 FTAs covering 22 countries and regions across Asia, Latin America, Oceania and Europe.

G20

China will host the 2016 G20 Summit in the eastern city of Hangzhou on Sept. 4 to 5 under the theme "Building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy."

Photo taken on June 22, 2011 shows the Baochu Pagoda of West Lake in the sunset in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province. The 2016 Group of Twenty (G20) summit will be held in the city. Xinhua/Xu Yu

Host

China has hosted the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit; the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) summit; and is preparing for the upcoming G20 summit.

These events provide important opportunities for China to promote multilateral diplomacy at home. China's surging international influence has been translated into increasing global attention, hence, the more active diplomatic push on the home court.

Innovation

Innovation will drive development in the five years from 2016, and China understands how important innovation cooperation with foreign countries will be. For example, China and Switzerland agreed to build an innovative strategic partnership during Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann's visit to China in April 2016. It is the first time China has established an innovative partnership with any other country.

Justice

In its relations with developing countries, China applies a more balanced approach between upholding justice and seeking interests, which means it will put justice first, and pay more attention to the needs of developing countries.



Korean Peninsula

As a neighbor of the Korean Peninsula, China plays a vital role in maintaining peace and stability in the region. China supports the denuclearization of the peninsula, opposes conflict and seeks to safeguard the legitimate security rights of all members in the region. This reflects China's commitment to resolving disputes peacefully through dialogue and negotiations.

Liu Yunshan (C front), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, offers a flower basket at the Cemetery of the Fallen Fighters of the Chinese People's Volunteers, in Anju, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Oct. 11, 2015. Xinhua/Rao Aimin

Legitimate Rights

The actions China has taken in the South China Sea are legitimate reactions to safeguard its territorial sovereignty. China will continue to take reasonable and legitimate approaches to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.

Major-Power Relationship

In 2013, President Xi and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama agreed to build a new type of major-power relationship between the two countries at the Annenberg Estate in California. Two years later, Xi made his first state visit to the United States. His trip has boosted China-U.S. relations and lifted "trans-Pacific cooperation" to a new level. (more)
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R front) and his wife Peng Liyuan are greeted by Serbian children with flowers upon their arrival at the airport of Belgrade, Serbia, June 17, 2016.Xinhua/Lan Hongguang

Neighborhood Diplomacy

In October 2013, Xi proposed a new philosophy of neighborhood diplomacy featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness. He stressed that the Chinese Dream should chime with similar visions of neighboring countries; planting the seeds of a community of common destiny into the region.

Opening up

China's economic miracle started decades ago with two major policies, the reform and opening up. Xi said that China will continue to contribute to global development and pursue an opening up strategy driven by mutual benefit. The door to China will never close and all countries are welcome to ride on its development.

Partnership

China has established partnerships in various forms with more than 80 countries, regions and organizations under the principle of building a global network of partnership while abiding by the principle of non-alignment.

A worker adjusts British and China (R) national flags on display for a signing ceremony at the seventh UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue "Roundtable on Public-Private Partnerships" at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China September 21, 2015. Reuters

Quota Reform

On Jan. 27, 2016, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) publicized the 2010 Plan for Quota and Governance Reform.

According to the plan, around 6 percent of quota shares were shifted to dynamic emerging markets and developing countries, making China the third largest shareholder of the IMF with quota rising from 3.996 percent to 6.394 percent.

Rejuvenation

The Chinese Dream, championed by Xi in late 2012, is to build a moderately prosperous society and realize national rejuvenation. Chinese diplomacy is aimed at creating a more stable and friendly external environment for this to be realized.

Photo taken on Nov. 8, 2012 shows a flower parterre at the Tian'anmen Square, with the Great Hall of the People in the background, in Beijing. Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng

Security Concept

President Xi Jinping proposed a new concept of Asian security in 2014. In sharp contrast to the decades-old Post-Cold War security system, the new approach aims to establish a mechanism that stresses common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security to tackle rising challenges facing the region.

At the third Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in The Hague, Xi first proposed "a rational, coordinated and balanced" nuclear security concept and called for a global nuclear security system featuring fairness and win-win cooperation.

Ten Cooperation Plan

At the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Xi announced ten major China-Africa cooperation plans for the next three years, backed by 60 billion U.S. dollars, including interest free loans and preferential policies.

Unprecedented

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that trust between Russia and China had reached an unprecedented level.

The China-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination features mutual support on issues concerning core interests such as sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, and close coordination in solving major international and regional issues and propelling large-scale cooperative programs.



V-day

Dozens of heads of state and governments attended China's Victory Day celebrations on Sept. 3, 2015. The event commemorated the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Chinese President Xi Jinping watches the military parade during the commemoration activities to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 3, 2015. Xinhua/Lan Hongguang

World Order

When addressing the annual high-level general debate of the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters, Xi said China will stick to a path of peaceful development, dedicate itself to defending the existing world order founded on the UN Charter, and continue to support the global body.



Xi-style

President Xi Jinping pointed out that China must develop a distinctive diplomatic approach befitting its role as a major country, so that diplomacy will show salient Chinese features -- style and confidence. China's relations with the outside world have started new chapters. Some foreign media outlets believe that China's diplomatic stance sends a signal -- Xi-style diplomacy has taken shape.



Year

China has launched various people-to-people exchange events with a number of countries, such as the China-U.S. Tourism Year; the China-Russia Media Exchange year; "the Year of Languages" program between China and Germany; and China-India Tourism Year. These colorful events play an important role in enhancing mutual understanding and friendship.

Chinese tourists take pictures at the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family in Barcelona on May 8, 2016. AFP PHOTO

Zero-sum Game, No!

In a signed article run by the state-run newspaper Russian Gazette in 2015, Xi said the bitter lessons drawn from WWII teaches that a "winner-takes-it-all" or zero-sum mindsets contradict coexistence, peace and development. Conditions today are more favorable than ever to achieve peace and development. He called for efforts to build a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at its core. Enditem
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Britain's decision to leave the European Union (Brexit) could have important implications for the country's exchange rate and monetary policies, according to a senior J.P. Morgan economist.

Brexit was a major shock to the global financial market and economy, with its full impact still unfolding, J. P. Morgan China Chief Economist Zhu Haibin said in a research note.

It will lead to more volatility in the global foreign exchange market, and to avoid sharp exchange rate fluctuations, the Chinese central bank may have to fine-tune its foreign exchange policy as it maintains the current market-based exchange rate regime, Zhu said.

He forecast that the exchange rate of the yuan would weaken to 6.75 against one U.S. dollar by the end of 2016, but said this is more likely to be driven by a strong dollar rather than the depreciation of the yuan.

After Brexit, as major economies favor additional monetary easing or slower pace in monetary policy normalization, China's monetary policy will stay neutral rather than shift towards tightening, Zhu said.

China's monetary policy could have a slight easing bias if the macro economic situation weakens again, the economist predicted.

In trade terms, it's unlikely China will face any serious direct headwinds from Brexit and the indirect impact, by economic slowdown in Britain and the European Union, could be offset by the two sides' seeking closer trade relationship with China and the rest of the world, Zhu said.
Staff with China railway seventh group CO. discusses with workmate on how to construct on the bridge floor at a construction site of an international port in Matadi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), April 30, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Bo)

KINSHASA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The different road-construction and rehabilitation works launched in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) by President Joseph Kabila in collaboration with Chinese companies, have greatly contributed to improvement of the economic situation in the country.

According to Gorbi Mirindi, a congolese economic expert, DR Congo has suffered due to lack of road infrastructure for many years since its decolonization.

"The launch of the road construction program by Kabila with Sino-Congolese cooperation, has helped to boost other sectors in the country, especially within Kinshasa town," Mirindi said.

The expert noted that the housing sector had equally grown in different parts of the country, especially in Kinshasa.

"The congolese population strongly appreciates the enormous road infrastructure work that has been undertaken by Chinese companies in this country because the work has had a direct and positive impact on their daily lives," Mirindi said.

As for Nkere Ntanda, a professor at Kinshasa University and an expert on investment matters, "the Congolese people had never seen such levels of construction works in their country since independence in 1960."

Staff Su Fucheng of China railway seventh group CO. welds metal with local workers at a construction site of an international port in Matadi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), April 30, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Bo)

He noted that the reconstruction work is highly appreciated by the population, because it has helped to resolve problems that date back to decades.

According to him, the improvement of the road infrastructures by Chinese companies in DR Congo had generally led to the emergence of small and medium size companies in various parts of the country, something that has directly improved the people's wellbeing.

Ntanda equally urged the population to change their behaviour and maintain the new roads that have been constructed.

"There should be a behavioural change for our population and leaders to ensure we are able to maintain the infrastructures we have benefited with through Sino-Congolese cooperation program," Ntanda said.
Photo taken on April 28, 2015 shows an overview of the eastern sector of the IFO-2 camp in Dadaab refugee camp, some 470 kilometers north-east of the Kenyan capital Nairobi. (AFP/TONY KARUMBA)

NAIROBI, June 29 (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 last week. 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.

Refugees gather to watch UN High Commissioner for Refugee Antonio Guterres' visiting delegation at Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya, May 8, 2015. Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp in northeastern Kenya.(Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

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.
TEHRAN, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif condemned on Wednesday the terrorist bomb attack on Turkey's Istanbul Ataturk international airport which claimed scores of lives.

"Extremism and violence is a global threat, and we must tackle it together," Zarif said, expressing regret that terrorism has hit Iran's "friendly and neighboring" country.

On Tuesday night, suicide bombers opened random fire at Attaturk Airport in Istanbul and then blew their suicide jackets up, leaving at least 36 dead and many more injured.
BEIRUT, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Speaker Nabih Berri warned Wednesday that he received security information about "terrorist groups planning to carry attacks against some prominent politicians and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)."

The Addiyar daily quoted Berri as saying that "the UNIFIL were informed in order to take the necessary precaution measures."

The daily said that Berri cautioned "the imminent terrorist danger we are facing today requires the unity of the Lebanese and if consensus on political issues remains out of reach at least we should unite facing this poisonous threat that is targeting all of us."

Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam has chaired Tuesday a security meeting and called for an extraordinary sessions for his cabinet and cautioned that "the country entered a new phase of confrontation with the fundamentalist terrorism."

The northeastern border town of al-Qaa was hit Monday with two waves of suicide bombers leaving 5 killed and more than 25 injured.
GAZA, June 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Palestinians wait for a travel permit to cross into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza Strip, June 29, 2016. Hamas said Egypt on Wednesday temporarily opened its border with the Gaza Strip for five days during the holy month of Ramadan and before the upcoming Eid al-Fitr. (Xinhua/Khaled Omar)

by Osama Radi, Omar Othmani

GAZA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement, which has been ruling the Gaza Strip since 2007, was apparently unhappy after Israel and Turkey reached a reconciliation agreement earlier this week that won't completely lift an Israeli blockade.

According to the agreement, Israel promised Turkey that it would relax Gaza blockade, but will keep it imposed on the ground and sea in order to prevent Hamas from smuggling more arms from abroad. Turkey would build a power station, water desalination station and a hospital in Gaza.

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. The incident killed 9 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 Gaza.

As for Turkey, it relinquished its demand to remove the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, and will bar judicial prosecution against Israeli soldiers and officers.

Turkey also committed to ban the Islamic militant Hamas movement from carrying out or planning attacks against Israel from its territory.

Turkey won't cut off its ties with Hamas, but it will limit the activities of Hamas leaders present in Ankara. However, observers and analysts said Hamas would not be happy because the Israeli blockade won't be fully lifted, but at the same time Hamas would consider easing the blockade an achievement.

After the agreement was announced and in order to keep good ties with Turkey, Hamas kept silent for several hours. Then it issued an official leaflet emailed to reporters saying that it highly appreciates the Turkish efforts to ease an Israeli blockade that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for ten years.

Officials close to Hamas in Gaza said relaxing the Israeli blockade "is a good sign to improve the daily hard living situation of the Gaza Strip populations and it could be a good step forward to increase the Turkish efforts and pressure on Israel to completely end the Israeli blockade later on."

Meanwhile observers said that Hamas leaders were disappointed when Turkey announced that it had given up its demand of totally lifting the blockade, adding that the Turkish decision "was a setback to the aspirations of Hamas movement."

Mustafa Sawaf, a Gaza-based political analyst, told Xinhua that "even if the Israeli blockade is not fully lifted, Hamas movement would grab the opportunity and would wait for more steps that lead at the end to a full lifting of the Israeli blockade."

"The steps that would lead to relaxing the siege imposed on Gaza can't be considered as political achievement for Hamas, but it would be a fruit of its good ties with Turkey and its endless attempt to improve the hard living condition in the impoverished Gaza Strip," said Sawaf.

He stressed that Hamas highly trusts Turkey, adding "this confidence would not be affected even if the Turkish deal with Israel doesn't include a full ending of the siege imposed on Gaza, and the Turkish attempts to convince Israel to fully end the siege would continue and there is no blame on Hamas."

Senior Hamas delegation headed by Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal visited Turkey earlier this week and held talks with the Turkish leaders to understand more details related to the agreement reached with Israel.

Hamas said in an official statement emailed to reporters on Saturday that Hamas delegation reiterated to the Turkish leaders that the main goal for the Palestinians is to end the Israeli siege.

However, some analysts voiced disjointed views towards the deal between Turkey and Israel.

Mustafa Ibrahim, another Gaza-based political analyst, blamed Turkey for giving up its demand of a complete lifting of the blockade, adding "Turkey is only concerned about its interests and it needs Israel for its economy and security interests."

"It seems that the agreement reached between Israel and Turkey gives the latter a distinctive role in aiding Gaza, similar to the role of the United Nations organizations," said Ibrahim, adding "the agreement deals with Gaza as an area that needs humanitarian aid and has no political implications."

He went on saying that the Israeli blockade apparently will continue forever and it won't be completely lifted, adding "the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip is a political collective punishment to around two million Palestinians, but most of them are not involved in the whole plot."

Abdul Majid Sweilem, a political analyst based in the West Bank, told Xinhua that the Turkish-Israeli agreement would boost Hamas rule of the Gaza Strip and would deepen the internal Palestinian division, adding that the prices of the Turkish-Israeli reconciliation are more than just providing Humanitarian aid.

"Turkey searches for its economy and security interests and Turkey had replaced the aspirations of Hamas to completely end the blockade," said Sweilem, adding that "Hamas has no choice but to accept any Turkish achievement because Hamas hardly got support from Egypt and Saudi Arabia."

Related:

Hamas says it appreciates Turkey's efforts to help ease Gaza blockade

Islamic Hamas movement said late on Monday night that it highly appreciates the Turkish efforts to ease an Israeli blockade that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for ten years. Full story
TOKYO, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Japan pledged its solidarity with the Turkish government and its people on Wednesday in the wake of a terrorist attack at Istanbul Ataturk Airport a night earlier that killed 36 and left around 150 people injured.

"Japan would like to express its strong solidarity with the Turkish government and the Turkish people," Japan's Foreign Press Secretary Yasuhisa Kawamura said in a statement.

The statement added that Japan wishes to "express its heartfelt condolences to all the families of the victims and extends its sympathies to the injured."

The attack on the airport, according to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, was the responsibility of the so-called Islamic State, although the militant group has yet to claim responsibility for the deadly attack.

Kawamura said that such acts of terrorism could under no circumstances by justified and Japan stands opposed to such abominable acts.

"Terrorism cannot be justified for whatever reason and Japan resolutely condemns such terrorist acts," the foreign press secretary said.
ISTANBUL, June 29, 2016(Xinhua) -- Photo taken on June 29, 2016 shows the damaged roof at the exit of Istanbul's Ataturk airport in Turkey. The Ataturk airport in Istanbul resumed business early Wednesday morning with boosted security, following hours of mess and chaos that ensued from a series of suicide bombing attacks. (Xinhua/He Canling)

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkey is facing severe challenges in fighting terrorism after an attack on its busiest airport was added to the list of the recent frequent terror attacks in the country.

The attack was allegedly launched by the Islamic State (IS), and killed 36 people and wounded nearly 150 others.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters that there are signs indicating that Tuesday night's attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport was carried out by the IS, but efforts to identify the attackers are still underway.

Three suicide bombers had arrived at the airport by taxi and opened fire before blowing themselves up, said the prime minister. Foreign nationals were among the dead, he said.

The prime minister ordered the formation of a crisis desk and vowed to fight terrorism with "unity and solidarity."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged continued battle "against all terrorist organizations at all costs until the end of terrorism."

Following the attacks, all flights at the airport were suspended, and entrances and exits were sealed, reports said. But the flights will resume soon, according to the police.

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated over the past year. A number of bomb attacks have hit Istanbul, the Turkish capital of Ankara and other cities.

This year, the IS claimed it carried out a suicide bomb attack in Istanbul on March 19 that killed five people including the suicide bomber and a bomb attack in Istanbul on Jan. 12 that killed 10 people including nine Germans.

The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a Kurdish militant group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), has also been responsible for a series of attacks.

The previous attack that hit Istanbul occurred on June 7, in which a car bomb targeted a riot police shuttle bus, killing 11 people. The TAK said it carried out the bombing.

The TAK also claimed responsibility for a car bomb on March 13 and an attack on a military van on Feb. 17, which killed 34 and 29 people, respectively.

The frequent attacks in Turkey which were carried out by not only foreign terrorists but also domestic militants showed that Ankara may have underestimated the severeness and complexity of counter-terrorism.

Located in the Eurasian continent near turbulent countries like Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel, Turkey has been hard hit by terrorism.

Media reports said that since the IS emerged in northern Iraq and Syria, regions along Turkey's border, Turkey has become a "transfer station" for foreign extremists from different parts of the world, who went to Iraq and Syria to join the group.

Turkey is also one of the main tunnels through which the IS smuggles oil to obtain an immense amount of funds to continue terror activities, according to the reports.

Since last year, especially after a series of terror attacks occurred on its soil, Turkey has enhanced its fight against terrorists.

Turkish media reported that the country arrested a total of 961 IS members from 57 countries and regions.

Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala said his country had prevented 36,000 people suspected of being IS extremists from entering Turkey.

Experts say that these measures may trigger the revenge from terrorist organizations.

Furthermore, the Kurdish separatist forces in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, which have been greatly weakened by the Turkish government, have aroused Ankara's attention as the Middle East has descended into chaos once again.

Turkey has launched military attacks on Kurdish militants to prevent the expansion of the anti-government forces in northern Syria and Iraq. But the action has drawn strong condemnation from Syria, Iraq and Russia as well as other countries.

Related:

Turkey president urges joint firm stand against terrorism

ANKARA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned strongly the terror attack at Istanbul Ataturk Airport in a statement late on Tuesday, urging the world to take a firm stand against terrorism. Full story

Abbas, Hamas condemn terrorist attack against Istanbul Ataturk airport

RAMALLAH/GAZA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Islamic Hamas movement on Wednesday both condemned the terrorist attack against Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.Full story
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Xu Lin replaced Lu Wei as the head of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs, according to an official statement on Wednesday.
NEW DELHI, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday condemned the deadly terror attack in Istanbul, describing it as "inhuman".

"The attack in Istanbul is inhuman & horrific. I condemn it strongly. My thoughts are with bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly," Modi tweeted.

Meanwhile, the Indian External Affairs Ministry has said that there has been no report so far of any Indian casualty in the terror attack which claimed the lives of 36 people.

The casualties, which include 150 injured, happened after three suicide bombers opened fire and then blew themselves up at the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport Tuesday.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has said that the attack, targetting innocent people, "is a vile, planned terrorist act" and that preliminary findings indicated the involvement of Islamic State.
MINSK, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Belarus may turn into an important interlink along the new Silk Road due to its geographic location and its dynamic cooperation with China, Chinese Ambassador to Belarus Cui Qimin said Tuesday.

Belarus is a geographic anchor point on the Silk Road Economic Belt in Europe. It is a gateway to the huge markets of the European Economic Unit (EEU) and the European Union (EU), and to the Baltic and Black Sea, the ambassador told Xinhua.

Relations between China and Belarus have been developing dynamically in recent years. In 2013 the two countries announced that bilateral ties would be lifted to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

Against the backdrop of a global economic recession, two-way trade in 2015 reached 3.2 billion U.S. dollars, up 5.6 percent from 2014. China has become Belarus' third largest trading partner. The volume of China's total investment in Belarus amounted to 1.34 billion dollars in 2015, the ambassador said.

The two countries are actively working on utilizing a credit line of 7 billion dollars to Belarus, announced in 2015. The first projects will be launched soon, the ambassador said.

A Chinese space vehicle has recently launched a Belarusian communications satellite into orbit. Space technology has become a new avenue of bilateral cooperation.

The two sides are also working together to set up the Chinese-Belarusian Industrial Park, a mutually beneficial and environmentally friendly platform for international industrial cooperation and a model project on the Silk Road Economic Belt, the ambassador said.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday raised anti-dumping duties on imported photographic paper from two companies.

The move comes after a review showed evidence of dumping by the two closely connected firms, according to a statement on the ministry's website.

Effective on Wednesday, FUJIFILM Europe will be levied a duty of 23.5 percent, up from 17.5 percent set in 2012.

FUJIFILM U.S.A. will be imposed a duty of 23.6 percent, compared with 16.2 percent over the past four years.

China started levying duties ranging from 16.2 percent to 28.8 percent on photographic paper from foreign companies including Fujifilm and Kodak in 2012.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R,front) and his wife Peng Liyuan are greeted by Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoev (L,front) and Governor of Bukhara Province Muhiddin Esanov upon their arrival at Bukhara International Airport, Uzbekistan, June 21, 2016. Xinhua/Lan Hongguang

BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A "major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics" has taken shape since Xi Jinping became the top leader in late 2012.

Following are 26 key words or phrases that relate to this new style of diplomacy.

AIIB

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a new development bank proposed by China, started operation on Jan. 16, 2016.

The new global multilateral financial institution, to support infrastructure projects in Asia, was formally established in Beijing on Dec. 25, 2015. Headquartered in Beijing, it now has 57 founding members.

Photo taken on Jan. 17, 2016 shows the stone monument in front of the headquarters building of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in downtown Beijing, capital of China. Xinhua/Li Xin

AIIB also means a great deal to the global economic governance system. It is a product of the evolving economic landscape, and will help make the global economic governance system more just, equitable and effective.

Belt and Road Initiative

The Belt and Road initiative, which comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was first promulgated by Xi in 2013, who envisioned a trade and infrastructure network that connects Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes. Over 70 countries and organizations have voiced support for and willingness to join the initiative.

Photo taken on February.27, 2016 shows that a train is about to enter a tunnel along Pap-Angren railway in Uzbekistan. Xinhua photo

Climate Change

To fulfill its commitment to the Paris Agreement on climate change, China will cut its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60 to 65 percent by 2030 from the 2005 levels; increase non-fossil fuel sources in primary energy consumption to about 20 percent; and peak its carbon emissions by 2030. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said China had demonstrated great leadership with its remarkable commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Destiny

The concept of "a community of common destiny" was first raised in a report approved by the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, expressing the hope of the Chinese people to build a better world together with people from other countries.

It underlines that all nations should raise the awareness that everyone on earth is a member of the community of common destiny, meaning there is a common responsibility to pull together in times of trouble, and strive for common development and lasting peace.

Economic Governance

According to a communique issued after the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, in the five years from 2016, China will further integrate its economy with the wider global economy, and pursue an open strategy of mutual benefit and win-win, while participating in global economic governance and the provision of public goods, raise its institutional discourse power in global economic governance and establish a far-ranging community of shared interests.

People stand at the bund overlooking the financial district Lujiazui in Shanghai on June 1, 2016. AP photo

FTA

The latest free trade agreements (FTAs) between China and the Republic of Korea (ROK), and between China and Australia, shows that a "grand free trade strategy" is taking shape, bringing the nation closer to establishing a global free trade network and implementing deeper domestic reforms.

China has signed and implemented 14 FTAs covering 22 countries and regions across Asia, Latin America, Oceania and Europe.

G20

China will host the 2016 G20 Summit in the eastern city of Hangzhou on Sept. 4 to 5 under the theme "Building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy."

Photo taken on June 22, 2011 shows the Baochu Pagoda of West Lake in the sunset in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province. The 2016 Group of Twenty (G20) summit will be held in the city. Xinhua/Xu Yu

Host

China has hosted the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit; the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) summit; and is preparing for the upcoming G20 summit.

These events provide important opportunities for China to promote multilateral diplomacy at home. China's surging international influence has been translated into increasing global attention, hence, the more active diplomatic push on the home court.

Innovation

Innovation will drive development in the five years from 2016, and China understands how important innovation cooperation with foreign countries will be. For example, China and Switzerland agreed to build an innovative strategic partnership during Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann's visit to China in April 2016. It is the first time China has established an innovative partnership with any other country.

Justice

In its relations with developing countries, China applies a more balanced approach between upholding justice and seeking interests, which means it will put justice first, and pay more attention to the needs of developing countries.



Korean Peninsula

As a neighbor of the Korean Peninsula, China plays a vital role in maintaining peace and stability in the region. China supports the denuclearization of the peninsula, opposes conflict and seeks to safeguard the legitimate security rights of all members in the region. This reflects China's commitment to resolving disputes peacefully through dialogue and negotiations.

Liu Yunshan (C front), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, offers a flower basket at the Cemetery of the Fallen Fighters of the Chinese People's Volunteers, in Anju, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Oct. 11, 2015. Xinhua/Rao Aimin

Legitimate Rights

The actions China has taken in the South China Sea are legitimate reactions to safeguard its territorial sovereignty. China will continue to take reasonable and legitimate approaches to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.

Major-Power Relationship

In 2013, President Xi and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama agreed to build a new type of major-power relationship between the two countries at the Annenberg Estate in California. Two years later, Xi made his first state visit to the United States. His trip has boosted China-U.S. relations and lifted "trans-Pacific cooperation" to a new level.

Neighborhood Diplomacy

In October 2013, Xi proposed a new philosophy of neighborhood diplomacy featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness. He stressed that the Chinese Dream should chime with similar visions of neighboring countries; planting the seeds of a community of common destiny into the region.

Opening up

China's economic miracle started decades ago with two major policies, the reform and opening up. Xi said that China will continue to contribute to global development and pursue an opening up strategy driven by mutual benefit. The door to China will never close and all countries are welcome to ride on its development.

Partnership

China has established partnerships in various forms with more than 80 countries, regions and organizations under the principle of building a global network of partnership while abiding by the principle of non-alignment.

A worker adjusts British and China (R) national flags on display for a signing ceremony at the seventh UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue "Roundtable on Public-Private Partnerships" at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China September 21, 2015. Reuters

Quota Reform

On Jan. 27, 2016, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) publicized the 2010 Plan for Quota and Governance Reform.

According to the plan, around 6 percent of quota shares were shifted to dynamic emerging markets and developing countries, making China the third largest shareholder of the IMF with quota rising from 3.996 percent to 6.394 percent.

Rejuvenation

The Chinese Dream, championed by Xi in late 2012, is to build a moderately prosperous society and realize national rejuvenation. Chinese diplomacy is aimed at creating a more stable and friendly external environment for this to be realized.

Security Concept

President Xi Jinping proposed a new concept of Asian security in 2014. In sharp contrast to the decades-old Post-Cold War security system, the new approach aims to establish a mechanism that stresses common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security to tackle rising challenges facing the region.

At the third Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in The Hague, Xi first proposed "a rational, coordinated and balanced" nuclear security concept and called for a global nuclear security system featuring fairness and win-win cooperation.

Ten Cooperation Plan

At the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Xi announced ten major China-Africa cooperation plans for the next three years, backed by 60 billion U.S. dollars, including interest free loans and preferential policies.

Unprecedented

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that trust between Russia and China had reached an unprecedented level.

The China-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination features mutual support on issues concerning core interests such as sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, and close coordination in solving major international and regional issues and propelling large-scale cooperative programs.



V-day

Dozens of heads of state and governments attended China's Victory Day celebrations on Sept. 3, 2015. The event commemorated the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Chinese President Xi Jinping watches the military parade during the commemoration activities to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 3, 2015. Xinhua/Lan Hongguang

World Order

When addressing the annual high-level general debate of the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters, Xi said China will stick to a path of peaceful development, dedicate itself to defending the existing world order founded on the UN Charter, and continue to support the global body.



Xi-style

President Xi Jinping pointed out that China must develop a distinctive diplomatic approach befitting its role as a major country, so that diplomacy will show salient Chinese features -- style and confidence. China's relations with the outside world have started new chapters. Some foreign media outlets believe that China's diplomatic stance sends a signal -- Xi-style diplomacy has taken shape.



Year

China has launched various people-to-people exchange events with a number of countries, such as the China-U.S. Tourism Year; the China-Russia Media Exchange year; "the Year of Languages" program between China and Germany; and China-India Tourism Year. These colorful events play an important role in enhancing mutual understanding and friendship.

Chinese tourists take pictures at the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family in Barcelona on May 8, 2016. AFP PHOTO

Zero-sum Game, No!

In a signed article run by the state-run newspaper Russian Gazette in 2015, Xi said the bitter lessons drawn from WWII teaches that a "winner-takes-it-all" or zero-sum mindsets contradict coexistence, peace and development. Conditions today are more favorable than ever to achieve peace and development. He called for efforts to build a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at its core.
SINGAPORE, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have written to their Turkish counterparts respectively to convey condolences, as well as strongly condemns the terror attacks at Istanbul Ataturk Airport on Tuesday, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in a statement on Wednesday.

In the letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Tan wrote he was "shocked" by the terror attacks at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, and stressed that "Singapore strongly condemns this act of terror against innocent civilians and stands united with Turkey in its fight against terrorism."

President Tan also conveyed deepest condolences to the bereaved families and wish those injured a speedy recovery on behalf of the people of Singapore.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he was "shocked and saddened" to learn of the terror attack in his letter to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

PM Lee reiterated that "Singapore strongly condemns this heinous act and stands in solidarity with Turkey in countering this global menace of terrorism."

"I wish to convey my deepest condolences to the bereaved families and wish those injured a full and quick recovery," added PM Lee.

At least 36 were killed and many others injured in the bombing attacks at Ataturk international airport on Tuesday night.
ALGIERS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika chaired a closed meeting in Algiers on Tuesday, to discuss the security situation on the country's southern borders, said a statement from the President Office.

Top government and military officials as well as chiefs of National Gendarmerie and Security Police, including National Army's Chief of Staff Ahmed Gaid Salah and Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal, attended the meeting, accoding to the official statement.

Surrounded by countries suffering political and military troubles, including Mali, Tunisia and Libya, Algeria has deployed more troops on its eastern and southern borders to stem the influx of arms and militants.

Large quantities of weapons have been discovered on the border with Libya in recent months, with about 8 Islamic State fighters killed in the last six months, official figures show.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Foreign Ministry has condemned the terrorist attack at Istanbul's main airport that left at least 36 people dead and nearly 150 injured on Tuesday evening.

"China strongly condemns this terrorist attack that targeted civilians," spokesperson Hong Lei said on Wednesday.

He said China opposes all forms of terrorism and called on the international community to strengthen coordination in anti-terror work so as to safeguard regional peace and stability.

No group has claimed responsibility for the two explosions at Ataturk Airport.
YANGON, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan arrived Nay Pyi Taw Wednesday on a two-day visit to Myanmar, according to official sources.

Wongsuwan's trip came three days after Myanmar State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi concluded her trip to Thailand.

During his stay in Myanmar, Wongsuwan is expected to meet with President U Htin Kyaw and Suu Kyi, who is also foreign minister.

Wongsuwan will also hold talks with Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Service Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing and Defense Minister Lt-Gen Sein Win on military cooperation, reports said.

Aung San Suu Kyi visited Thailand from June 23 to 25, during which three documents including a memorandum of understanding on labor cooperation, an agreement on cooperation in the employment of workers and a trans-boundary agreement were signed.

In May, Min Aung Hlaing also visited the neighboring country, bringing the two countries' military cooperation to a new high.
BEIJING, June 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with the Republic of Korea (ROK) Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn in Beijing, capital of China, June 29, 2016. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday urged the Republic of Korea (ROK) to attach importance to China's legitimate concern on security and "cautiously and appropriately" address the United States' plan to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in the country.

Xi made the remarks as he met with visiting ROK Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn in Beijing.

Related:

China, ROK pledge to strengthen relations

BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) should respect each other's core interests and major concern, and strengthen communication to well maintain the overall situation of their strategic partnership of cooperation, Premier Li Keqiang said Tuesday.

The premier made the remarks in his talks with ROK Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn in Beijing. Full Story

China voices opposition to THAAD deployment in ROK

BEIJING, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- China has reiterated its opposition to deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), an advanced U.S. missile defense system, in the Republic of Korea (ROK) as a special envoy visited the ROK.
Palestinians wait at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip, after it was opened for two days by Egyptian authorities, on May 11, 2016. Israel imposed a tight air, sea and land blockade on Gaza in 2006, designed to prevent the Islamist Hamas movement that controls the territory from rearming. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

GAZA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement, which has been ruling the Gaza Strip since 2007, was apparently unhappy after Israel and Turkey reached a reconciliation agreement earlier this week that won't completely lift an Israeli blockade.

According to the agreement, Israel promised Turkey that it would relax Gaza blockade, but will keep it imposed on the ground and sea in order to prevent Hamas from smuggling more arms from abroad. Turkey would build a power station, water desalination station and a hospital in Gaza.

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. The incident killed 9 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 Gaza.

Palestinians wait at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip, after it was opened for two days by Egyptian authorities, on May 11, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

As for Turkey, it relinquished its demand to remove the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, and will bar judicial prosecution against Israeli soldiers and officers.

Turkey also committed to ban the Islamic militant Hamas movement from carrying out or planning attacks against Israel from its territory.

Turkey won't cut off its ties with Hamas, but it will limit the activities of Hamas leaders present in Ankara. However, observers and analysts said Hamas would not be happy because the Israeli blockade won't be fully lifted, but at the same time Hamas would consider easing the blockade an achievement.

After the agreement was announced and in order to keep good ties with Turkey, Hamas kept silent for several hours. Then it issued an official leaflet emailed to reporters saying that it highly appreciates the Turkish efforts to ease an Israeli blockade that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for ten years.

Officials close to Hamas in Gaza said relaxing the Israeli blockade "is a good sign to improve the daily hard living situation of the Gaza Strip populations and it could be a good step forward to increase the Turkish efforts and pressure on Israel to completely end the Israeli blockade later on."

Meanwhile observers said that Hamas leaders were disappointed when Turkey announced that it had given up its demand of totally lifting the blockade, adding that the Turkish decision "was a setback to the aspirations of Hamas movement."

Mustafa Sawaf, a Gaza-based political analyst, told Xinhua that "even if the Israeli blockade is not fully lifted, Hamas movement would grab the opportunity and would wait for more steps that lead at the end to a full lifting of the Israeli blockade."

"The steps that would lead to relaxing the siege imposed on Gaza can't be considered as political achievement for Hamas, but it would be a fruit of its good ties with Turkey and its endless attempt to improve the hard living condition in the impoverished Gaza Strip," said Sawaf.

He stressed that Hamas highly trusts Turkey, adding "this confidence would not be affected even if the Turkish deal with Israel doesn't include a full ending of the siege imposed on Gaza, and the Turkish attempts to convince Israel to fully end the siege would continue and there is no blame on Hamas."

Senior Hamas delegation headed by Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal visited Turkey earlier this week and held talks with the Turkish leaders to understand more details related to the agreement reached with Israel.

Hamas said in an official statement emailed to reporters on Saturday that Hamas delegation reiterated to the Turkish leaders that the main goal for the Palestinians is to end the Israeli siege.

However, some analysts voiced disjointed views towards the deal between Turkey and Israel.

Mustafa Ibrahim, another Gaza-based political analyst, blamed Turkey for giving up its demand of a complete lifting of the blockade, adding "Turkey is only concerned about its interests and it needs Israel for its economy and security interests."

"It seems that the agreement reached between Israel and Turkey gives the latter a distinctive role in aiding Gaza, similar to the role of the United Nations organizations," said Ibrahim, adding "the agreement deals with Gaza as an area that needs humanitarian aid and has no political implications."

He went on saying that the Israeli blockade apparently will continue forever and it won't be completely lifted, adding "the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip is a political collective punishment to around two million Palestinians, but most of them are not involved in the whole plot."

Abdul Majid Sweilem, a political analyst based in the West Bank, told Xinhua that the Turkish-Israeli agreement would boost Hamas rule of the Gaza Strip and would deepen the internal Palestinian division, adding that the prices of the Turkish-Israeli reconciliation are more than just providing Humanitarian aid.

"Turkey searches for its economy and security interests and Turkey had replaced the aspirations of Hamas to completely end the blockade," said Sweilem, adding that "Hamas has no choice but to accept any Turkish achievement because Hamas hardly got support from Egypt and Saudi Arabia."
ISLAMABAD, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations refugee agency has increased assistance package for registered Afghan refugee families, who are opting to return to Afghanistan under the UNHCR facilitated voluntary return program.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi made the announcement as he concluded his first tri-nation visit to Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, the UNHCR said on Wednesday.

"As an immediate step, he announced to double the existing individual assistance package for returnees from an average of USD 200 to USD 400 per person," a UNCR's statement said.

The High Commissioner reassured the Pakistani leadership of UNHCR's continued support in assisting the 1.5 million Afghan refugees currently residing in the country.

The Proof of Registration Cards, or PoRs, that allow registered Afghan refugees to stay in Pakistan will expire on June 30 and the government has not yet extended its period.

Afghan officials say they have requested Pakistan to extend the PoR cards for two more years so they are able to make arrangements to accommodate the returnees.

Besides the registered ones, Pakistan also hosts about one million un-registered Afghan refugees, and Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed on a plan to document the unregistered Afghans.

There is now a concerted push from the Pakistan government to repatriate a large number of the almost one million refugees living in the Peshawar district. UNHCR has set aside funds for 60,000 returnees. But so far this year just over 6,000 have actually crossed the border permanently, according to the UNHCR.

The High Commissioner also called on the international community to redouble their engagement in Afghanistan and support the efforts of the National Unity Government at this critical juncture of its nation building and reconciliation processes.

Commending Pakistan's generosity for hosting one of the world's largest protracted refugee populations, the High Commissioner noted that the international community needs to support solutions in Afghanistan through robust development investments.

"Traditional approaches to solving protracted refugee situations were not enough and therefore there is a need for innovative solutions," Grandi said.
DAMASCUS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed and 25 others wounded on Wednesday when a car bomb tore through a northern border city controlled by the U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), local media and activists reported.

The blast targeted the city of Tell Abyad in the northern countryside of al-Raqqah province in northern Syria near the Turkish borders, said state news agency SANA.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blast was huge, with a car bomb targeting one of the Kurdish administrative institutions in the city.

The city is under the control of the SDF, which consists of Arab and Kurdish fighters led by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), said the Observatory.

It added that the street where the blast hit is a main street and usually crowded, which means the death toll is likely to rise.

Other local media said the Turkish border guards refused entry to those wounded in the blast.

The Islamic State (IS) withdrew from the city in June 2015 after the Kurdish-led fighters launched attacks under the air cover of the U.S-led anti-terror coalition.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Xu Lin has replaced Lu Wei as the head of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs, according to an official statement on Wednesday.

Citing decisions made by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the statement also said Lu Xinshe replaced Qiang Wei as secretary of the CPC Jiangxi Provincial Committee.

Qiang will no longer be a member of the CPC Jiangxi Provincial Committee or its Standing Committee.

Wang Guosheng replaced Luo Huining as secretary of the CPC Qinghai Provincial Committee and a member of the CPC Qinghai Provincial Committee as well as its Standing Committee.

The statement said there will be a further assignment for Luo.
ATHENS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Greece's Aegean Airlines on Wednesday offered a date change or refund to travelers who had booked tickets for flights to/from the Turkish city of Istanbul, where at least 36 people were killed in a terrorist attack.

In an announcement issued after the terrorist attack, which also left more than 140 injured at Ataturk airport Tuesday, the Greek airline informed its customers that the change concerns tickets issued for flights until July 6.

Wednesday's four scheduled flights to and from Istanbul were canceled as Turkish authorities need time to restore the airport's operation.

A Turkish Airlines flight, scheduled for Tuesday night from Athens to Istanbul, was also canceled, said officials at Athens International Airport.

So far no Greek nationals have been identified among the victims of the attack, according to Greek authorities. About half an hour before the blasts, an Aegean Airlines flight departed from Ataturk airport.
BRAZZAVILLE, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso will make a State Visit to China between July 4 to 8, 2016, Chinese ambassador to Congo Xia Huang said on Tuesday in Brazzaville.

The visit will be an opportunity "for high level exchanges between the top leadership of both countries," the Chinese diplomat said.

During the visit, the leaders of both countries are expected to discuss issues of international concern as well as African matters and issues concerning the Central African sub-region.

Speaking of pockets of tension in Central Africa, the Chinese ambassador said leaders of the two countries will try to come up with ways "to mobilize the international community to guarantee proper management of persistent crises in the region."

However, the visit will particularly focus on cooperation between the two countries, not only in terms of their strategic partnership, but also under the South-South cooperation framework as well as Sino-Africa cooperation.

China is one of Republic of Congo's key partners, with a volume of trade that reached 5.87 billion dollars between January and November 2013, against 290 million dollars in 2002.

The forthcoming visit to China by Sassou Nguesso comes after a similar visit in 2014. During the visit, the two countries signed various agreements in different sectors such as economy, trade and social domains.

Since then, new projects especially in infrastructure construction such as the Pointe Noire Mineral Port and a railway line linking Pointe Noire to Brazzaville have been launched.

China, in the opinion of its leaders, wants to make this friendly country since 1964, "a pilot country" in its economic partnership in Central Africa.

Commenting on the two visits to China by the Congolese president in less than three years, Xia said "this was an exceptional case," adding that "it showed the quality of relations and deep trust between the two presidents."

"China remains close to Africa because it is the continent with the highest number of developing countries. It will continue to support efforts to restore peace and stability on the continent," the ambassador added.
BRAZZAVILLE, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The presidents of Republic of Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso and Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) Joseph Kabila, have reiterated their support for an African proposal for the reform of the UN Security Council, local media reported on Tuesday.

They were speaking in a meeting held on Monday in Oyo, some 400 km from Brazzaville, during which they also discussed peace and security issues affecting their respective countries.

The two presidents said they supported Ezulwini Consensus which was a position on international relations and reform of the United Nations, agreed by the African Union.

It calls for a more representative and democratic Security Council, in which Africa, like all other world regions, is represented.

Ezulwini Consensus proposes that Africa should have two permanent seats at the Security Council and two non-permanent seats at the Council.

Regarding bilateral relations, the two presidents discussed the need to reinforce cooperation between their two countries through political dialogue.

At the regional level, Sassou Nguesso and his DR Congo counterpart urged parties taking part in the Burundi crisis to dialogue, since this is the only way of restoring peace.

They further condemned recent terrorist acts and expressed their willingness to work with the rest of the international community to combat the scourge.

Relations between Brazzaville and Kinshasa have considerably improved after moments of tension that were caused by the launch of an operation by Republic of Congo police which resulted in repatriation of thousands of DR Congo nationals who were illegally living in the country.
OUAGADOUGOU, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The political crisis that hit Burkina Faso in 2014 considerably impacted the country's tourism sector, data released on Tuesday by Culture, Arts and Tourism ministry has shown.

Tourist arrivals dropped by 3.9 percent and 3.5 percent respectively in 2014 and 2015.

The ministry said the crisis led to temporary closure of two four-star hotels in the capital Ougadougou, as well as a tourists' restaurant.

In 2013, Burkina Faso received 506,000 tourists who earned the country 75 billion CFA Francs (125 million U.S. dollars).

Between 2011-2015, the country invested 50 million dollars in the tourism sector.

By 2015, the country had 140 travel and tourism agencies, 460 tourist lodges and 183 tourist restaurants, the ministry revealed.

In October 2014, a popular uprising led to the resignation of the then president Blaise Compaore, when he tried to amend the Constitution to contest for another term after being in power for 27 years. He fled the country and took refuge in Cote d'Ivoire.

The country went through a transition period until the swearing in of current President Roch Marc Christian Kabore in December 2015.
TEHRAN, June 29 (Xinhua) -- One Iranian was killed and five others were injured in Istanbul airport attack on Tuesday, the consulate deputy of Iranian foreign minister said Wednesday, state IRIB TV reported.

Five Iranians were also injured, and one of them is in critical condition, Hassan Qashqavi was quoted as saying.

Qashqavi expressed the hope that the number of the injured Iranians will not increase. "Further information about the Iranians' situation following the blast in the Turkish airport would be announced soon," he added.

On Tuesday night, suicide bombers opened random fire at Attaturk Airport in Istanbul and then blew their suicide jackets up, leaving at least 36 dead and many more injured.
XICHANG, June 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- An experimenter of Dark Matter Experiment "PandaX", which means Particle and Astrophysical Xenon Detector, enters the Jinping Underground Laboratory, located at 2,400 meters under the surface of Jinping Hydropower Station, in southwest China's Sichuan Province, June 28, 2016. PandaX is designed to build and operate a ton-scale liquid xenon experiment to detect the dark matter, invisible material that scientists say makes up most of the universe's mass. The PandaX program, headed by China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University, was conducted in the Jinping lab, one of the world's deepest underground labs opened in December 2010. The Jinping lab provides a "clean" space for scientists to pursue the dark matter. Researchers said the extreme depth helps block most cosmic rays that mess with the observation. (Xinhua/Xue Yubin)

CHENGDU, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists are expanding the capacity of an underground facility designed to detect elusive dark matter particles.

Scientists are still searching for evidence to prove the existence of the hypothetical dark matter, an invisible substance thought to account for over a quarter of the universe's mass-energy balance.

The Jinping Underground Laboratory, which is 2,400 meters under a mountain in Sichuan Province, started operating in December 2010. It has a store of xenon, one of the few materials that interact with dark matter, and the cosmic rays that commonly interfere with attempts to observe dark matter generally cannot penetrate to such a depth underground.

Xiao Mengjiao, a researcher at the laboratory, said he and his colleagues have started the second phase of their experiment.

The lab now stores 300 kilograms of xenon, an expansion from the 54 kilograms in the first phase.

"In the future, the quantity of xenon will reach a number of tons, but it will depend on when the research funding arrives," Xiao said.

The second phase, which will last about a year, "will take us further on our way to find dark matter signals," he added.

Analysis of data collected during a trial run of the second phase from November to December is complete, according to the scientist. "The results are a significant step forward from the first phase, because we are able to focus on areas where dark matter is most likely to be observed," he said.

"We have reason to believe we are on the verge of finding dark matter."

But the researchers may need to keep up their current pace if China is to win the race in this field.

"International competition in the hunt for dark matter has gotten quite fierce, and many are building larger detection equipment and adopting more cutting-edge technology," Xiao said.

According to Liu Jiang, another lab researcher, "Dark matter is like the smog in the universe and the Earth is like a car that rides through the smog. It is the detectors' responsibility to record the 'sound' of collision between the car and the smog."
ISTANBUL, June 29, 2016(Xinhua) -- People stand at the entrance to Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, June 29, 2016. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Wednesday blamed the Islamic State for the bombing attacks that killed 36 people at the airport Tuesday night. (Xinhua/He Canling)

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Countries and organizations around the world have unanimously condemned the terrorist attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport in Turkey, which killed at least 36 people and injured more than 140 others.

Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Wednesday said there are signs indicating that Tuesday night's attacks were carried out by IS, but efforts to identify the attackers are still underway.

The prime minister ordered the formation of a crisis desk and vowed to fight terrorism with "unity and solidarity."

Three suspected IS terrorists arrived at the Ataturk international airport by taxi on Tuesday night local time and opened fire randomly at the departure and arrival halls before blowing themselves up.

Early Wednesday, several local and international Turkish Airlines flights were scheduled to take off from around 9 am (0600 GMT), according to the airport's website. Arrivals resumed in the early hours, and people were allowed into the departures hall.

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated over the past year. A number of bomb attacks have hit Istanbul, the Turkish capital of Ankara and other cities.

The latest attack that hit Istanbul occurred on June 7, in which a car bomb targeted a riot police shuttle bus, killing 11 people.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday condemned the terrorist attack, hoping "the perpetrators of this crime will be identified and brought to justice."

"He (Ban) stands firmly by Turkey as it confronts this threat and stresses the need to intensify regional and international efforts to combat terrorism and violent extremism," his spokesperson added.

The U.S. White House on Tuesday condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms," saying "Ataturk International Airport, like Brussels airport which was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind us together."

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday grounded all flights between the United States and Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city, after the attack.

It remains unclear how long the order would last.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said "the Australian government condemns what appears to be a coordinated terror attack on the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey on June 28. Our thoughts and sympathies are with the people of Turkey."

The foreign minister also urged Australians to reconsider their need for travel to Turkey, while she instructed Australians in Turkey to be alert in any crowded area.

In Asia, Singapore strongly condemned the attacks on the Istanbul Ataturk Airport on Wednesday, saying "we stand in solidarity with the Turkish people and government during this difficult time."

Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif also strongly condemned the terror attack at the Ataturk airport, and expressed solidarity with the people of Turkey. Sharif said he condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo took to Twitter to express his condolence, saying that "humanity has been torn apart once again" over the suicide terror blasts, and "the world is united against terrorism." The government called on all Indonesian nationals in Turkey to remain vigilant.

Related:

Spotlight: IS blamed for Istanbul airport attack, Turkey faces severe anti-terrorism challenge

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkey is facing severe challenges in fighting terrorism after an attack on its busiest airport was added to the list of the recent frequent terror attacks in the country. Full story

Singaporean leaders convey condolences, strongly condemn terror attacks in Istanbul
TIRANA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Albanian economy is not directly affected by Brexit, but developments in the banking system are being closely monitored, especially on remittances, chief of Bank of Albania Gent Sejko said here Tuesday.

"The expansion of economic activity (in Albania) continues to be decelerated by the unfavorable economic performance in the euro area, which is further complicated by Brexit," Sejko said.

Entrepreneurs' reluctance to implement long-term business projects has also undermined the country's economic prospect, he added.

In this regard, the country's economic development should focus on maintaining and strengthening economic and financial stability and accelerating structural reforms, the central bank governor suggested.

Bank of Albania has been discussing with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Albania's economic and financial situation, and trying to make development plans for the country.

Head of the IMF Mission to Albania Anita Tuladhar said the IMF is expecting Albania' s economic growth to keep improving.

"We foresee the economic growth to reach 3.4 percent for this year, and that will receive support from foreign investments and from increased internal demand," said Tuladhar.

However, Albania's economic risks remain high, especially those coming from external environments. The IMF is asking the Albanian government to accelerate business climate reforms and preserve the positive progress of budget revenues, said the IMF representative.
MADRID, June 29 (Xinhua) -- China Eastern Airways operated its first flight on its new route between Madrid and Shanghai, it was reported Wednesday.

The first aircraft to fly the route arrived in Madrid from Shanghai on Tuesday evening, before taking off on the return flight.

China Eastern Airlines will fly the route four times a week, with flights scheduled on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday in an Airbus 330-200 aircraft.

This is the fifth new route China Eastern Airlines has opened in 2016, following the start of flights to Paris, Chicago, Amsterdam and St Petersburg.

China Eastern Airways opened the Madrid-Shanghai route on the same day that Spanish national carrier Iberia also made its first flight between the two cities.

Iberia will fly the route three times a week meaning that the options for Chinese and Spanish passengers has suddenly increased from no direct flights between Madrid and Shanghai to seven a week.
BRUSSELS, June 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker attends a press conference at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, June 28, 2016. European leaders on Tuesday pressed for a quick and clear British departure plan to quell worldwide anxiety about the continent's future. (Xinhua/Gong Bing)

BRUSSELS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- European leaders have urged Britain to act quickly to resolve the political and economic chaos and speed up the Brexit process during a European Union (EU) summit here held for the first time since Britons voted to leave the EU.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told a press conference mid-night the British should trigger the article 50 "as soon as possible."

"I hope the notification by the next British government will arrive as soon as possible. We want the article 50 to be triggered as soon as possible that is what the three Presidents want," Juncker said.

"It has to be speed up. We don't have months to meditate. We have to act," he added.

European Council President Donald Tusk, during the same conference, said he expected the intentions of the British government to be specified as soon as possible.

"Respecting the will of the British people, we all recognized that a process of orderly exit was in everyone's, and especially, in the UK's interest," said Tusk.

"Leaders understand that some time is now needed to allow the dust to settle in the UK. But they also expect the intentions of the UK government to be specified as soon as possible," he underlined. "This was a very clear message which I believe Prime Minister Cameron will take back to London," he added.

In a separate press conference, British Prime Minister Cameron outlined the results of the referendum Thursday last week and underlined the divorce talks will not only be triggered by his successor.

Britain will discuss with the EU and examine all the ways following the historic referendum but the incumbent British government will not initiate Britain's exit procedure, Cameron told the press.

London and Brussels will negotiate on how to deal with the vote and the decision to trigger a British exit may only be made by "next cabinet" and "next prime minister," he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a national press conference at the end of the first day of the EU summit that she believed the British decision to leave the EU can't be reversed.

"I want to say very clearly tonight that I see no way to reverse the decision. We would do well to accept this reality," Merkel said, when asked about the the possibility of a British U-turn on Brexit.

She added that this is not a time for "wishful thinking", but to see things as they are.

During the first day of the summit, European leaders also considered the post-Brexit economic situation in the presence of the European Central Bank president, who reassured about the good and constant cooperation of central banks.

"However, it was also made clear that Brexit means substantially lower growth in the UK, with a possible negative spillover all over the world," said Tusk.

Juncker also told reporters that the European Commission will do everything to prevent "bank run."

"The banking sector in Italy and elsewhere in Europe will be protected in the best way as possible," said Juncker.

In addition to the fallout of the referendum, European leaders also discussed and took important decisions on the single market, the digital market, the capital markets union, on stemming irregular migration and on closer cooperation with NATO.

"We agreed to step up work with African countries on returns of irregular migrants, and on measures that would stabilize the situation in Libya," said Tusk.

He said EU-NATO co-operation was discussed in the presence of NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg ahead of the Warsaw Summit, with participants pledging to enhance EU-NATO ties given unprecedented challenges from the South and East.

"We decided on steps to deepen the Single Market further, especially when it comes to the digital market. We will also continue to develop the capital markets union despite the recent turmoil," Tusk added.

Related:

Brexit talks to be triggered by next British PM: David Cameron

BRUSSELS, June 28 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron announced Tuesday he would not trigger Britain's exit talks with the European Union (EU) but leave the tricky issue to his successor. Full story

Anti-Brexit protesters gather around parliament in Britain

LONDON, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of people were protesting outside the Houses of Parliament against the result of the referendum of Britain's membership of the European Union, Sky News reported on Tuesday.Full story
CAIRO, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Egypt extends its condolences and strongly condemns the terrorist attacks against Istanbul's Ataturk airport, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement conveyed via its official Facebook account Wednesday.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Ahmed Abu Zeid, expressed his condolences to the Turkish people as well as the victims' families, and wished the injured a speedy recovery, in the statement.

The Egyptian people will stand by the Turkish people during this critical time.

In addition, Egypt is urging the world to unite its efforts towards eradicating terrorism, said Abu Zeid in the statement.

At least 36 people were killed and several others were injured in the bombing attacks against Ataturk international airport on Tuesday evening.
PHNOM PENH, June 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn (R, front) meets with South Korean vice defense minister Hwang In-moo (L, front) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 29, 2016. Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said on Wednesday that the country wished to see the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula and urged all parties to return to the long-stalled Six-Party Talks, a spokesman said. (Xinhua/Sovannara)

PHNOM PENH, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said on Wednesday that the country wished to see the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula and urged all parties to return to the long-stalled six-party talks, a spokesman said.

The minister made the remarks during a meeting with visiting South Korean vice defense minister Hwang In-moo, according to Chum Sounry, a spokesman for the Cambodian ministry of foreign affairs, who told reporters after the meeting.

In regard to the nuclear tests launched by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the minister said that Cambodia condemned every provocative action that could affect peace, security, and stability in the Korean Peninsula.

"Cambodia considers those actions as the violation of the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, and calls for the resumption of the six-party talks as soon as possible in order to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula." the spokesman quoted Prak Sokhonn as saying to Hwang.

The six-party talks began in August 2003 as a forum focusing on the DPRK's nuclear program and were halted in April, 2009 when the DPRK announced that it would no longer take part in the talks in a reaction to the international condemnation of its long range missile test.

The countries directly involved in the six-party talks are South Korea, the DPRK, China, Russia, the United States of America, and Japan.
JAKARTA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government on Wednesday gave a warning to foreign ships wishing to intrude the country's waters for illegal fishing.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo told a cabinet meeting that stern actions will be applied to the intruders of the country's territory.

The president disclosed that the government has stepped up efforts to anticipate such violation at sea, including establishment of a special force (Satgas 115) to face the criminal acts, and a settlement of several weaknesses in efforts to fight against the foreign intruders in the past.

"Now, please intrude (Indonesia's waters), if they want to take risks from the Satgas 115," President Widodo said at the State Palace.

Under President Widodo's leadership, Indonesia has sunk 162 foreign ships engaging in illegal fishing in the country's waters, according to fishery ministry.

Fishery Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said on Wednesday that most of the ships were from Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

The minister has said that the country's policy has been fruitful as Indonesia's fish outputs have risen significantly in recent months.

Next month, 30 others ships will be drowned by the special force for such violation in Indonesia's territory, Minister Pudjiastuti revealed at the palace.

President Widodo, who come into office in October 2014, issued the policy months after taking office following reports of rampant illegal fishing in the country's waters that has led Indonesia suffering a huge economic loss.

The president unveiled that over 5,400 ships illegally exploit Indonesia's resources at sea every year.

Indonesia is an archipelago country, with about 17,500 islands.
TEHRAN, June 29 (Xinhua) -- All flights from Iran to Turkey's Istanbul were suspended following deadly terrorist attacks on Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Iran's Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) announced on Wednesday.

"Following the explosions at Turkey's Istanbul airport, eight flights from the Imam Khomeini International Airport to Istanbul airport were cancelled," Director of Public Relations Department of the CAO Reza Jafarzadeh was quoted as saying by Iran's private news agency Tasnim.

No flights to the Turkish airport are being operated, said Jafarzadeh.

Suicide bombers opened fire at random and blew suicide jackets up at Istanbul Attaturk Airport on Tuesday night, killing at least 36 and injuring more than 140.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif condemned on Wednesday the terrorist bomb attack.

"Extremism and violence is a global threat, and we must tackle it together," Zarif said, expressing regret that terrorism has hit Iran's "friendly and neighboring" country.
WASHINGTON, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The American Red Cross has apologized for the pool safety poster it produced as more netizens continued to call it "super racist."

"We deeply apologize for any misunderstanding, as it was absolutely not our intent to offend anyone ...we are committed to diversity and inclusion in all that we do, every day," the organization said on Monday in a statement.

The controversial poster depicted a crowd of cartoon children playing in and by a swimming pool. It tags "cool" behavior and "not cool" behavior.

Twitter users pointed out that the "cool" children are all light-colored while the "not cool" ones are dark-skinned.

The image hit on the ever sensitive nerve of racism in the United States.

"Hey, @RedCross, send a new pool poster to @SalidaRec bc the current one they have w your name on it is super racist," John Sawyer, who voiced his concern in a tweet on June 21.

The Red Cross said in a statement that it has removed the controversial image from its website and Swim App and has discontinued production.

It also requested its partner aquatic facilities to take down the poster, the statement said.

The poster is part of the Aquatics Centennial Campaign launched in 2014by the Red Cross. The organization said its intention was to reduce the drowning rate in high-risk communities.
by Ronald Ssekandi

KAMPALA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Frustrations with the international community to boost support to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have forced Uganda to consider pulling its troops out of the country before the end of next year.

Henry Okello Oryem, Uganda's minister of state for international affairs, told Xinhua in an interview on Wednesday that the international community has been put on notice that Uganda will withdraw its over 6,000 troops from Somalia.

"We went there with a view of clearing and getting rid of the terrorism in Somalia, we did not go there to be Somalis. We should re-examine the mission and the objective of the mission," Oryem said, noting that Ugandan troops have been in Somalia for over nine years.

The frustrations stem from several factors like financing of the mission, availability of military equipment and the capacity of the Somali army to protect the already captured territories from the Al-Shabaab militants.

The European Union, a major funder to AMISOM, has cut over 20 percent of the money it has been sending to the mission, arguing that there are other pressing needs elsewhere in the world that also need support.

This reduction has had an effect on the mission as the peacekeeping troops have gone without pay for several months. Observers say this could reduce the morale of the troops fighting the Al-Shabaab.

Uganda says although lack of payment is a major factor, it would not affect the troops' morale.

Oryem said Uganda has for years told the international community of the need to avail force enablers and multipliers like helicopters but nothing has been given.

He said helicopters are needed to provide aerial support to the ground troops and also the troops can be quickly moved from one point to another where there is urgent need.

"We need to be able to ferry our troops rapidly to areas where they are needed, we need weapons and other equipment in order to be able to deal with the Al-Shabaab effectively," Oryem said.

Uganda had attempted to deploy its helicopter gunships in Somalia but they crashed in neighboring Kenya en route to Somalia. Efforts to get the international community to replace the gunships have not yet yielded any fruit, according to the Ugandan military.

Uganda has also got frustrations with the Somali army which it says does not have enough capacity to protect areas that have already been rescued from the militants. Uganda argues that the international community must help build the capacity of the Somali National Army to protect its people and property.

"We need a formidable army not only to fight but also protect the country's interests. We need them on the ground so that whereas the troops are attacking the Al-Shabaab, the Somalis are in position to capture and maintain the ground we have successfully liberated," he said.

Turkey, a major humanitarian donor to Somalia, early last month urged the international community not to backtrack on its support to the horn of African country.

"Leaving alone such a country fighting against terrorism at such an extent would be a big mistake," said visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He was in Uganda on June 1 for a state visit.

Uganda provides the bulk of the AMISOM troops, contributing over 6,000 troops of the 22,000-strong force. Other African countries like Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti also have their troops in Somalia.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- China's coal output fell 8.4 percent year on year to 1.34 billion tonnes during the first five months of the year, the top economic planning body said Wednesday.

Coal imports rose 3.7 percent from one year earlier to 86.28 million tonnes during the five-month period, according to a statement on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Exports more than doubled to 4.01 million tonnes.

Coal storage in major power plants totaled 54.32 million tonnes.

The statement added that stockpiles at coal companies amounted to 120 million tonnes at the end of May, down 9.2 percent year on year.
MANILA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government has posted a surplus of 55 billion pesos(1.17 billion U.S. dollars) in April on the back of strong revenue collections, a senior government official said Wednesday.

Year-to-date, the budget deficit hit 57.5 billion pesos(1.22 billion U.S. dollars), said outgoing Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

"Year-to-date, total revenues rose 7 percent year-on-year, amounting to 725.6 billion pesos (15.44 billion U.S. dollars), while expenditures expanded 19 percent to reach 783.1 billion pesos (16.66 billion U.S. dollars)," Purisima said.

The Finance chief said he was happy to report a "strong finish" on both the revenue and expenditure sides of the Philippines' balance shit.

"I am highly confident that the next administration's economic team has what it takes to improve and build on our gains moving forward," he said.

President-elect Rodrigo R. Duterte is to assume his post on Thursday, replacing Benigno S. Aquino III who ends his six-year term.
NAY PYI TAW, June 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi (R, front) meets with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan (L, front) in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, June 29, 2016. Gen Prawit Wongsuwan arrived in Nay Pyi Taw Wednesday on a two-day visit to Myanmar, according to official sources. (Xinhua/Pool)

NAY PYI TAW, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw met with visiting Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan in Nay Pyi Taw on Wednesday vowing to raise the two countries' bilateral trade to 20 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, according to the President's Office sources.

The pair urged early completion of the Myawaddy Friendship Bridge to facilitate trade activities.

Their discussions also covered cooperation of the two defense ministries and armed forces for border stability and development.

Meeting with Wongsuwan on the occasion, Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi said Myanmar and Thailand will cooperate to show their close relations as a model not only in the region but also in the international arena.

The pair focused their discussions on raising the friendship between the two peoples to fraternal level, prompting holding of joint boundary committee for boundary demarcation, legal protection of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand and settlement of dispute if arises and facilitating implementation of Dawei Special Economic Zone which will benefits both countries, cooperation in police training and repatriation of 196 Myanmar refugees to their homeland.

Wongsuwan, who arrived in Nay Pyi Taw earlier Wednesday for a two-day visit, also held talks with Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Service Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing on military cooperation, border security, cracking down on terrorists and narcotic drug trafficking, boundary demarcation and labor affairs.
JERUSALEM, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Israel's security cabinet approved the rapprochement agreement with Turkey, despite objections from top ministers and public criticism.

The agreement, officially signed on Tuesday, normalizes ties between the former allies after a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla in 2010 strained their relations.

The security cabinet, Israel's top decision-making forum on security issues, approved the deal with three out of its 10 ministers voting against it, a spokesperson for the government told Xinhua.

The newly appointed defense minister Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu ("Israel is Our Home"), Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, both from the ultra-nationalist Jewish Home, voted against the deal.

Families of missing Israeli civilians, who were killed in Gaza during Israel's 2014 offensive against the enclave, told local media they are "disappointed" with the decision. They demand the return of the bodies of their loved ones be part of the deal.

The bereaved families entered the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office and stated their pleas on Wednesday morning, after pitching a protest tent in front of his official residence in Jerusalem.

The agreement will soon go to the Turkish parliament for a vote , where it is expected to pass.

With the deal approved, the two countries will exchange ambassadors in the upcoming months. They also plan to begin talks over gas exports from Israel to Turkey.

Israel and Turkey, once close allies, suspended diplomatic ties and cooperation after Israeli commandos killed ten Turkish activists who sailed to the Gaza Strip to protest the Israeli-imposed blockade in May 2010.

Under the agreement, Israel will pay 20 million U.S. dollars in damages, and allow Turkey to carry out humanitarian projects in Gaza.

Turkey would pass a bill that would not allow citizens to sue Israeli soldiers who took part in the raid, and relinqushed its demand for Israel to remove its naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement since 2007.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government is struggling to meet its annual fiscal targets, finance minister Lou Jiwei warned Wednesday.

The central treasury received 2.968 trillion yuan (about 446.4 billion U.S. dollars) from January to May, a year-on-year increase of 0.6 percent, Lou said when delivering a State Council report on the final accounts for 2015 to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

The increase is below the previously budgeted growth rate of 2 percent.

Total national fiscal revenue reached 6.988 trillion yuan in the same period, up 8.3 percent year on year.

Lou said the Chinese economy is generally running steady in a reasonable range this year, and a series of policies have led to more positive economic factors. However, the economy is still facing great downward pressure.

Under the current situation, the outlook for achieving the annual national fiscal revenue target is not optimistic, and greater efforts must be made, said Lou.

Lou said the finance ministry will stabilize and improve financial macroeconomic policies, focusing on supply-side structural reform and moderately expanding demand to promote the steady and healthy development of the economy.

In the meantime, the ministry will accelerate tax system reform and fully implement the law on budget, as well as strengthen budget management to prevent risks, the finance minister said.

Lou also vowed to strengthen management of local government debt by setting limits to control the scale of the debt.

The State Council report was submitted to the NPC Standing Committee at its ongoing bi-monthly session, attended by Chairman Zhang Dejiang.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- By the end of March this year, 870 million yuan (130.9 million U.S. dollars) of poverty alleviation funding had been idle for more than one year or wasted, the country's top auditor said Wednesday.

Auditors have examined the use of poverty relief funds in 40 counties in 17 provinces, involving 5 billion yuan and 3,046 projects, Liu Jiayi, head of the National Audit Office, said while briefing lawmakers on the audit of the central government's 2015 budget.

Of the audited money, 843 million yuan, or 17 percent, has been left unused for more than one year, including some idle for as long as 15 years, according to Liu.

Around 27 million yuan has been wasted due to 29 abandoned or unsatisfactory poverty relief projects, according to an audit report that Liu submitted to an ongoing bi-monthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee for deliberation.

In addition, 151 million yuan had been fraudulently obtained, for instance, through fabricated contracts, or used for purposes other than helping the poor, the report said.

In some cases, governments failed to allocate money to poor families that needed it most, the report showed.
By Wu Qiang

KOLKATA, India, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Jayant Gandhi shares the same surname with that of India's national father, Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who preached non-violence and peace.

But Jayant, unlike the peace-loving icon, is a sad, angry man now. His photography studio called Bourne & Shepherd, which is one of the oldest in the world, had to be shut down.

The studio, located in the heart of this Indian's eastern metropolis, actually dates back to 1840 although two British photographers shifted it to Calcutta as it was known then way back in 1867.

"Business has been slumping for the last few years. Plus there were legal issues with the Life Insurance Corporation which demanded a huge amount of rent with arrears, saying it was located in a commercial area," said a dejected Gandhi.

"We could not afford such an amount and decided to close the studio down due to a lack of business. I feel frustrated, but what is the use in expressing it publicly? Will it help?"Gandhi quizzed, but his questions being purely rhetorical.

In 1964, Gandhi and his maternal uncle K. S. Ajmera took over one of the oldest photography studios located on the S. N. Banerjee Road and the premises remained there until it was shut down a fortnight ago.

"We removed our records and equipment including cameras and took them to my cousin Ajmera's home in Rajasthan, western India,"said Gandhi.

The two British photographers Charles Shepherd along with Arthur Robertson in 1862 first set up the studio in Agra in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh and called it "Shepherd & Robertson."

Another British photographer, Samuel Bourne, came to India in 1863, and had set up a partnership with an established Calcutta-based (now Kolkata) British photographer, William Howard, and established a new studio called"Howard & Bourne"at Shimla. But Howard already had a studio in the then Calcutta since 1840, 176 years ago.

Charles Shepherd moved to Shimla after Robertson left and returned to England. Shepherd joined Bourne and formed"Howard, Bourne & Shepherd,"with the business remaining as it was, until its doors closed recently.

Shepherd was a legendary photographer and led expeditions to the Himalayas and the Kashmir Valley. He would travel with a retinue of 40 Indian porters who would carry his cameras, darkroom tent and chests of chemicals and glass plates. He became one of India's greatest photographers of that era.

Through the 1860s, Bourne's work was exhibited at public exhibitions in Europe and was also part of the Paris Universal Exposition in 1867. He also wrote several dispatches for The British Journal of Photography between 1863 and 1870.

The company also became a devoted provider of photographs of Indian landscapes to the common visitors to the country and also to aficionados and customers living in Britain. They not only just survived but thrived in an era of fierce competition between commercial photographers.

In 1866, Howard too quit and went back to England and they renamed the studio"Bourne & Shepherd".

Between 1870 and 1911, the firm sent photographers to Sri Lanka and Myanmar as they're known now, as well as Nepal and Singapore, and had also become art publishers, with titles like "Photographs of Architecture of Gujarat and Rajputana" (1904-5). At that time the firm trained and began employing Indian photographers as well.

In 1911, after the British shifted the capital to Delhi as it was known then, they were the official photographers of the"Delhi Durbar"(Delhi Court) held to commemorate the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India, where they were given the title"Kaiser-e-Hind"which they used as part of their official letterhead.

During the World Wars the studio thrived on the contracts for photographing Indian, British and American defense services personnel.

"We kept doing work for the Indian Army even after independence in 1947. Senior army officers would visit our studio for portraits along with their families," said Gandhi.

"India's first Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw and the hero of the Bangladesh War of 1971 GOC-in-C Eastern Command Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora were frequent visitors to our studio. We developed and we printed several photographs of the Pakistan Army General A. K. A. Niazi's surrender to Aurora in Dhaka,"recalled Gandhi.

Gandhi also recalled that the internationally famous film director, the late Satyajit Ray and his son, Sandip Ray, who also won several international awards in film festivals too, would visit to get the still photographs of their productions developed at"Bourne & Shepherd." Another film maker with international acclaim, 94-year-old Mrinal Sen, also got his work done at the studio.

The night of Feb. 6, 1991 was a black day not only for "Bourne & Shepherd" but also the entire photographic world, as a fire broke out in the archives. All the photographs dating back to the 19th century were destroyed.

"The glass plates containing age-old photographs which we had meticulously archived were destroyed along with the negatives. The studio below was not affected by the fire, but our collections of India's history as well as photographs of historical events in Calcutta were burnt in a single night,"he said.

Eighty-year-old photographer Sunil Dutt concurred"I wept the day the studio burned. I used to get my photos done there. They had an archive which was one of the oldest and best in the world. Even senior photographers from all over the world would come down to Calcutta to visit them and seek their help."

"Even several celebrated historians of India kept visiting 'Bourne & Shepherd'. They not only had a historical archive but kept alive the tradition of photography. International magazines of repute like National Geographic and Time Magazine would seek photos from their archives and repeatedly printed them."

"They were the first to send photographers to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to photograph the tribes including cannibals like the Jarwas 60 years ago, at great risk to the photographers,"said Dutt who spent 52 years as a professional photographer.

Historians of Kolkata are reminded that"Bourne & Shepherd"were photographers of traditional, rich and famous families of the then Calcutta too. The princely family of Rabindranath Tagore, Asia's first Nobel Laureate, would often host them at family functions, including the Tagore family weddings, at which his grandfather Prince Dwarakanath Tagore would also entertain other notable British guests.

At present some of the photographs of"Bourne & Shepherd"adorn the galleries of the world's largest museums including the Smithsonian Institution in the United States, the National Gallery of Portraits in London and the Cambridge University library in Britain.

"Now people can use digital cameras and if need be erase a photograph if they don't like it. There is no longer any tension or anxiety about how a negative would develop after a photo has been shot,"Gandhi said.

"Moreover, with smart phones one can take a photo and send it using e-mail or an online app. A young man can take a photo of his girlfriend and send it to his parents for approval. So what is the need of visiting a studio?"lamented Gandhi.
NEW DELHI, June 29 (Xinhua) -- A lower atmospheric pressure around the Bay of Bengal has delayed by a few days the arrival of monsoon in the Indian capital as well as some northern and eastern Indian states, said local media Wednesday.

"The low-pressure area formed in the Bay of Bengal, adjoining Odisha, halted the moisture content from moving toward the national capital both from the north-east and south-west," Indo-Asian News Service quoted an Indian Meteorological Department official as saying.

Meanwhile, meteorological officials expect monsoon to start in the Indian capital by July 1, about three days later than expected, said Indo-Asian News Service.

"Low pressure area created around the Bay of Bengal has defused and reached around Vidarbha in Maharashtra (western India)," the news service quoted Mahesh Palawat, a private weather forecaster, as saying.

Other northern and eastern Indian states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand have received limited amount of rains so far this year, while Delhi also had some showers in the past week.
MOMBASA, Kenya, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan police on Wednesday killed a terror suspect in the coastal town of Malindi.

Regional police boss Francis Wanjohi said three other suspects were arrested during the operation when police raided two houses suspected of recruiting and plotting terrorist attacks within Breeze point area in Malindi.

Rashid Sultan Mbaraka, armed with shot gun was killed after he resisted police from accessing one of the houses.

A police officer was also shot in the left hand and had bullet lodged in his chest and rushed to Mombasa private hospital (Aga Khan) where he is undergoing treatment.

Wanjohi said the police are interrogating the three over terrorist activities.

"We had information of ongoing recruitments within Malindi and muilt-agency teams were immediately dispatched and they managed to thwart their intention. One was killed, three arrested,"Wanjohi said.

Police recovered jihadi materials, 18 photocopies of identification cards and 15 passports size photos of youth believed to have been recruited to join the Al-Shabaab group were also recovered from the house.

The police also recovered the shot gun, a pistol, 15 rounds of ammunition, six mobile phones and laptop.

Abdullaziz Ali Sultan, who hails from Majengo area in Mombasa was among the three suspects arrested, is facing attempted murder and terrorism charges.

Wanjohi said security agents have heightened security in the coastal region to deal with Al-Shabaab terrorist group that has threatened to stage attacks in the country.
JOHANNESBURG, June 29 (Xinhua) -- South African President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday extended his heartfelt condolences to the government and the people of Turkey, in particular the families of the deceased and injured, following the terror attacks on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

"South Africa shares in the grief of the Turkish people and the international community following the substantial loss of life and wishes the injured survivors a speedy recovery," Zuma said in a statement.

The attacks took place on Tuesday evening, claiming the lives of scores of people and leaving many injured.

"Terrorism in any form and from whichever quarter cannot be condoned," Zuma said.

South Africa stands firmly with the international community in condemning all forms of terrorism and stands in solidarity with the Turkish government and all countries affected as they mourn the death of their citizens,"said Zuma.
MOGADISHU, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Somalia National Army (SNA) have killed at least 10 militants and injured seven others after heavy fighting in Galgudud region in central Somalia, officials said Wednesday.

Somali Army Commander, Ahmed Mohamed in the region said the security forces later took control of the Ceel-Hareri location near Galcad town east of Galgudud region completely.

"We killed 10 terrorist members of Al-Shabaab and injured 7 others after fighting with militants. We are now in full control of Ceel-Hareri location near Galcad town in Galgudud region. Our aim was to liberate the area from the terrorists and gained military achievements, it happened on Tuesday afternoon," Mohamed said.

However, the military commander did not say whether the SNA suffered casualties in the latest battle with the insurgents who have been fighting to topple the Western-backed government of Somalia.

Al-Shabaab militants claimed victory over the battle with Somali National Army in the area, saying their fighters killed 7 soldiers during the fighting.

The allied forces have been fighting the militants in Galgudud region which is under Galmudug State in Central Somalia since early this year.
HANOI, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) attaches great importance to theoretical work and has established its own socialist theoretical system with Chinese characteristics, which guides reforms and openness as well as fortifying socialism, enhancing citizens'confidence, while strengthening the party's power, said a Vietnamese official.

Nguyen Vinh Quang, a former envoy at the Vietnamese Embassy in China and former head of the Department for China and Northeast Asia of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee's Commission for External Affairs, made the remark in a recent interview with Xinhua, in Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the CPC establishment, which falls on July 1.

Many political parties have advocated the spirit of seeking truth from facts, but only the CPC has actually realized it. "Only political parties, which are able to realize their own mistakes and do not evade problems, can develop further," Quang said.

It has been 37 years since China implemented reforms and its opening up. During the period, China has made remarkable achievements, said Quang.

China has become the second-largest economy in the world, bringing confidence and strength to its people and the party. China's position on the world arena has improved immeasurably since it carried out reforms, he said, adding that opportunities for China's development were ongoing.

However, unsolved problems and contradictions accumulated after years of rapid development, including corruption, development gaps in society and environmental degradation, which are challenges now facing China and the CPC.

"These challenges are possible to overcome," Quang said, "especially after General Secretary of CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping put forward the 'four comprehensives,' indicating that the CPC is well aware of its own problems and has planned detailed, specific and appropriate strategies to solve the problems."

Quang spent more than 30 years working in the external sector of the Communist Party of Vietnam. He has translated eight books on Chinese theory into the Vietnamese language and has been praised by Vietnamese high-ranking party leaders.

"Vietnam has also faced many challenges in its development process after renovation. Solutions to the problems in China are good lessons for Vietnam," he said.

In the 1920s when the Communist Party of Vietnam was not formed yet, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh traveled to China to find ways for national salvation, and at that time became a friend of the CPC, Quang said.

Over the years, despite existing problems and difficulties, the relations between the two parties have been well developed, helping to guide the development direction of bilateral ties, he told Xinhua.

The two parties have maintained frequent exchanges and organization of annual theory seminars. The two sides are also set to hold meetings between politburo representatives in 2016, Quang said.

"China is conducting reforms and is opening itself up, while Vietnam is also implementing renovation. In the context of that there are only a few communist parties in the world and fewer ruling communist parties, therefore such a platform of cooperation between the two communist countries will be a good lesson for other ruling communist parties in the world," Quang said.
TIRANA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- A 400 kV power transmission line connecting Albania and Kosovo has been officially switched on, the Albanian Daily News reported Wednesday.

"This is an important day for our common integration path, starting from energy and continuing through all sectors," Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said at the inauguration ceremony on Tuesday.

The 241-kilometer-long project cost 29 million euros (31.9 million U.S. dollars), and was covered by the Albanian government.

"We should together move forward to further advance our very ambitious project of creating a regional energy market," said Rama, referring to an initiative proposed by Germany in 2014 to improve regional infrastructural and economic cooperation.

Albanian Energy Minister Damian Gjiknuri said that the Albanian government will next year start to build a power line connecting Albania and Macedonia, which is expected to be completed by 2018.

The Albanian government will enable the connection through a power line of Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia with Albania and further, with Italy and Central Europe, the minister said.

Kosovo is a southern province of Serbia, which borders Albania. It unilaterally declared independence in 2008. Serbia refuses to recognize Kosovo's independence, though most leading European countries and the United States have exchanged diplomats with Kosovo.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Peter Maurer receives an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency in Brussels, Belgium, June 22, 2016. Maurer said that the ICRC is seeking to increase cooperation with China. (Xinhua/Gong Bing)

BRUSSELS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Peter Maurer told Xinhua in a recent interview here that the ICRC is seeking to increase cooperation with China.

Maurer visited Brussels last week, during which he met European Union (EU) representatives, including European Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva, and Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides, as well as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Noting that humanitarian aid must be of global concern, he told Xinhua he discussed the crises in the Middle East, Syria, Iraq and Libya and its impact on Europe and debated how aid agencies could cope with the multiple ongoing humanitarian crises.

Maurer noted he felt a lot of support during his Brussels visit for the ICRC, a non-political organization that tries to stabilize war- and violence-torn societies through humanitarian work.

"In terms of financial support, we have still a big discrepancy between financial support from European and industrialized countries. We do not yet have so much support from other parts of the world," he said.

Maurer said China, as a signatory to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, has an interest in the development of protection and application the humanitarian law.

He said as China increased its engagement in world affairs, there is also an interest in the activities of ICRC. As ICRC is an important actor in the Middle East and Africa, "we are exploring how to increase cooperation with China in those contexts," he said.

Maurer noted ICRC supported the Chinese Red Cross, livelihood programs and capacity-building programs in China. "Not to forget, ICRC is one of the many big buyers of Chinese goods. We spend a lot of money buying key elements of humanitarian goods in China for our operations worldwide," he said.

"There is a broad relationship with China from law to commerce, with the possibility to further cooperation in the future. We hope China will become a more important donor for ICRC," he added.

The ICRC chief has nominated an envoy for China affairs, and Maurer said he himself hopes to visit China for a strategic dialogue to identify joint projects and activities.

Addressing Europe's refugee crisis, Maurer felt the problem was not of migration but a lack of management of migration flows.

"We think we should work closer together to prevent migration which is due to violence. We should explore how we can work to manage migration flows because unmanaged flows cause political problems, which we have seen not only in Europe, but also in neighboring countries of those in conflict," he said.
GAZA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian authorities reopened Wednesday the Rafah border crossing with Gaza Strip for four days for the second time in June and the fourth time this year, officials said.

The Hamas-run interior ministry said in an emailed official statement that reopening the crossing point wasn't permanent and it was only to let patients and students to cross from Gaza to Egypt.

The statement also said that the crossing was reopened to the Palestinians from Gaza stranded at different airports in various Arab and foreign countries.

On Wednesday morning, hundreds of Palestinians gathered at the outside gate of the crossing in the town of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip, waiting for their turns to get into buses and travel to Egypt.

Hamas security and police officers were deployed to organize the people into the buses, which then cross through the Egyptian gate of the crossing.

Egypt reopened Rafah crossing point at the first week of June for four days, and it was also temporarily reopened in February and May this year.

According to the interior ministry, some 25,000 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip need to travel either to Egypt or to the world through Egypt.
NAIROBI, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has completed all the required preparations for hosting the 14th UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) conference, which is slated to take place from July 17 to 22, a government official said on Wednesday.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Monica Juma told a media briefing in Nairobi that government commenced the preparation for the event in December 2015 by appointing a multi-stakeholder National Preparatory Committee comprising public and private sector officials.

"The conference will reinforce Kenya's high profile status and help to cement the country's position as a global economic and trade player," Juma said.

UNCTAD, which was established in 1964, has 194 member states. The six-day event will be attended by over 7,000 delegates, including government officials, 2,000 business and civil society representatives from around the globe.

The hosting of the conference follows the decision of the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board in November last year to accept Kenya's offer to host the conference.

This is the second time Kenya is hosting the global meeting as the East African hosted the fourth UNCTAD in 1976.

"As the global community returns four decades later, Nairobi continues to shine as a beacon for UNCTAD's crucial role in promoting fairness and justice in the global economic system," Juma said.

She said that negotiations are currently ongoing between UNCTAD member states on the outcome document of the conference, which will provide the mandate and program of work for UNCTAD for the next four years.

The theme for the conference is "from decision to actions: Moving towards an inclusive and equitable global economic environment for trade and development."

This theme is founded on key global outcomes arrived at in 2015 including the 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where action is needed as part of implementation.

Juma said that the UNCTAD meeting will focus on kick starting actions to implement the SDGs as well as shaping the world in a spirit of strengthened global solidarity and for the full benefit of the global community.
By Abdul Haleem, Manan Arghand

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The old store keeper was standing behind a glass case in his dusty shop in the southern Kandahar province and bargaining enthusiastically with a customer over the price of a rare and expensive artifact.

He explained to the customer that this particular relic was worth around 3,000 U.S. dollars and in fact worth several times more than that outside of Afghanistan.

"I have countless numbers of antiques, including teapots, old rifles, revolvers, daggers, swords and precious gems here in my store," the shopkeeper told his client."Some of these items are thousands of years old and the prices of these relics differ depending on their historical importance."

There are a dozens of antique shops in Kandahar city, but interestingly none of the shopkeepers have a license to sell their artifacts openly and legally.

"The government has yet to draft a law on selling relics nor issued licenses to antique sellers," Director of The Information and Culture Department in Kandahar province, Hazrat Wali Hotak, told Xinhua recently.

However, the official claimed that antique shopkeepers were selling their treasuries to each other and therefore the business was technically considered "inter-transaction trade" between local traders.

Some 500 historical artifacts, according to local officials, are on display in the Kandahar national museum, but the old-fashioned antique shops and their owners have been holding onto thousands of costly pieces that represent a variety of civilizations over centuries, ranging from Islamic historical artifacts, to those from the Bronze Age, Bactrian and the era of Alexandra the Great.

"We have objects that cost as much as 1 million U.S. dollars outside Afghanistan, but the price on the local black market is less than the actual value," shopkeeper Mohammad Ismeal told Xinhua.

Mohammad Dad, who said his antique business had been brisk recently, told Xinhua that each of the old shops has two doors, the front door and back door, but said that the real treasures were usually stored in the "back" of the shops, a reference to the place where the shopkeeper and the relic dealers can haggle privately on artifacts, away from prying eyes.

At the front top the stores, according to Dad, some pottery, teapots, rings, coins and old guns are put on display for the public, but the bone fide treasures are generally kept near the shops'backdoors.

He added that the majority of clients are foreigners, mostly from neighboring countries.

Like other institutions, Afghanistan's historical sites and cultural properties including the National Museum in Kabul were been badly damaged and looted during factional fighting in the 1990s.

In conflict-plagued Afghanistan where the government's grasp in the countryside is particularly weak, the illegal excavation of historical sites, including lapiz, is common practice.

The ongoing Taliban-led militancy and presence of hundreds of armed groups have made the job of stabilizing security difficult for the establishment and has impacted efforts to extend its control across the war-torn country.

Cultural heritages and countless historical sites in Afghanistan can bring millions of U.S. dollars to the national budget if the establishment were able to ensure security and provide services to attract tourists, local experts have said.

Taliban militants during its reign destroyed the giant Buddhas in central Bamyan province in 2001, using dynamite, and in doing so facilitated smugglers stealing valuable relics and selling them outside Afghanistan.

Even though hundreds of priceless artifacts have been looted from Afghanistan over the past decades, some have been recovered and repatriated to the national museum recently, although most of them remain lost, local archeologists have confirmed.

"Although we are against the selling of relics and have been supporting the government to protect our historical treasures, I am sure that the present government is unable to do this job," antique seller Mohammad Khan told Xinhua.
A China Eastern Airlines plane, which is painted with Disney figures, is seen in Beijing, capital of China, April 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Pei Xin)

MADRID, June 29 (Xinhua) -- China Eastern Airways operated its first flight on its new route between Madrid and Shanghai, it was reported Wednesday.

The first aircraft to fly the route arrived in Madrid from Shanghai on Tuesday evening, before taking off on the return flight.

China Eastern Airlines will fly the route four times a week, with flights scheduled on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday in an Airbus 330-200 aircraft.

This is the fifth new route China Eastern Airlines has opened in 2016, following the start of flights to Paris, Chicago, Amsterdam and St Petersburg.

China Eastern Airways opened the Madrid-Shanghai route on the same day that Spanish national carrier Iberia also made its first flight between the two cities.

Iberia will fly the route three times a week meaning that the options for Chinese and Spanish passengers has suddenly increased from no direct flights between Madrid and Shanghai to seven a week.
BEIJING, June 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with the Republic of Korea (ROK) Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn in Beijing, capital of China, June 29, 2016. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday urged the Republic of Korea (ROK) to address China's reasonable security concerns and "cautiously and appropriately" handle the U.S. plan to deploy its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in the country.

Xi made the remarks as he met with visiting ROK Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn in Beijing.

China and the ROK should continue to work for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, work together to maintain peace and stability on the Peninsula, and push relevant parties to solve problems through dialogue and consultation, said the president.

Hwang said that the ROK is willing to maintain close communication with China about the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and relevant affairs.

Invited by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Hwang is visiting China from June 26 to 30. During the visit, Hwang attended the 10th Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin.

Praising the development of their strategic cooperative partnership, Xi called on the two countries to properly implement the consensus he and ROK President Park Geun-hye reached to constantly push forward bilateral ties.

The two sides should strengthen the leading role of high-level contact and enhance political mutual trust through consultation and dialogue, said the Chinese president.

Xi urged the two countries to integrate China's Belt and Road Initiative with the ROK's Eurasia Initiative to create new bright spots for cooperation.

Both countries should properly implement their Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and deepen fiscal and financial cooperation, Xi added.

He also called on the two sides to enhance people-to-people exchanges to consolidate a foundation for bilateral relations.

The ROK stands ready to continue close bilateral high-level contact, Hwang said, noting the country wants to forge stronger economic ties with China through the FTA.

The ROK is willing to coordinate the Eurasia Initiative and the Belt and Road Initiative as well as strengthen bilateral collaboration in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), he stressed.

Hwang also highlighted the role of people-to-people ties in ROK-China relations.

Related:

China, ROK pledge to strengthen relations

BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) should respect each other's core interests and major concern, and strengthen communication to well maintain the overall situation of their strategic partnership of cooperation, Premier Li Keqiang said Tuesday.

The premier made the remarks in his talks with ROK Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn in Beijing. Full Story

China voices opposition to THAAD deployment in ROK

BEIJING, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- China has reiterated its opposition to deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), an advanced U.S. missile defense system, in the Republic of Korea (ROK) as a special envoy visited the ROK.
LISBON, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Portugal's ministry of foreign affairs on Wednesday condemned the deadly Istanbul terror attack at the Ataturk airport which killed at least 41 people.

"The Portuguese government transmits its deep regret to the Turkish authorities and to the families of the victims for the loss of lives of loved ones, and its solidarity with those injured and with the Turkish people," the ministry said in an official statement.

"The Portuguese government reiterates its firm condemnation of terrorism of all forms and its commitment to pursuit of collective actions against atrocious terrorism," it added.

Condolences and condemnation have followed the attack in countries around the world. Turkish officials have blamed the attack on three suicide bombers linked to Daesh (ISIS) militants.
Photo taken on May 24, 2016 shows a drilling platform of Fuling shale gas project in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

LONDON, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The University of Oxford Tuesday announced that a new approach to gas exploration has resulted in the discovery of a huge helium gas field in Tanzania, which could address the increasingly critical shortage of this vital yet rare element.

Helium is critical to many things people take for granted, including MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanners in medicine, welding, industrial leak detection and nuclear energy. However, known reserves are quickly running out. Until now helium were mainly found in small quantities during oil and gas drilling.

A team of researchers from the University of Oxford and Durham University, working with a helium exploration company, has developed a brand new exploration approach. The first use of this method has led to the discovery of a world-class helium gas field in Tanzania.

Their research shows that volcanic activity provides the intense heat necessary to release the gas from ancient, helium-bearing rocks. Within the Tanzanian East African Rift Valley, volcanoes have released helium from ancient deep rocks and have trapped this helium in shallower gas fields. The team sampled helium gas and nitrogen just bubbling out of the ground in the valley.

The team found that volcanoes in the valley play an important role in the formation of viable helium reserves, and volcanic activity likely provides the heat necessary to release the helium accumulated in ancient crustal rocks.

"By combining our understanding of helium geochemistry with seismic images of gas trapping structures, independent experts have calculated a probable resource of 54 billion cubic feet (1 cubic feet = 0.028 cubic meter) in just one part of the Rift Valley," said Professor Chris Ballentine from the University of Oxford.

To put this discovery into perspective, global consumption of helium is about eight billion cubic feet per year and the United States Federal Helium Reserve, which is the world's largest supplier, has a current reserve of just 24.2 billion cubic feet, according to Ballentine.

"This is a game changer for the future security of society's helium needs and similar finds in the future may not be far away," said Ballentine.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping will deliver a speech Friday at a conference celebrating the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Xi is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

China's leading media including China Central Television, China National Radio and China Radio International will live broadcast the event.

The ceremony is scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. Friday.


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)

THE HAGUE, June 29 (Xinhua) -- An arbitral tribunal with widely contested jurisdiction will issue an award on July 12 on the South China Sea case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague said on Wednesday.

"The Tribunal will issue its Award on Tuesday, 12 July 2016 at approximately 11 A.M.," the PCA, acting as the registry of the tribunal, said in a press release.

"The Award will first be issued via e-mail to the Parties, along with an accompanying Press Release containing a summary of the Award," it said.

China has refused to participate in the proceedings and declared that it will never recognize the verdict, stressing that the tribunal has no jurisdiction because the case is in essence related to territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation.

Beijing has pointed out that territorial issues are not subject to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and that as early as in 2006 it declared -- in line with UNCLOS -- to exclude disputes concerning maritime delimitation from mandatory dispute-settlement procedures. Some 30 countries have also filed declarations of this kind.

The government of outgoing Philippine President Benigno Aquino III filed the arbitration against China in 2013, despite the agreement his country had reached with China on resolving their South China Sea disputes through bilateral negotiations.

Although Manila asserted that its submissions do not concern territorial sovereignty or maritime delimitation, the Philippine Foreign Ministry, a day after launching the arbitration, described the purpose of the case as to "protect our country's territory and oceanic area" and vowed not to "give up our country's sovereignty."

The tribunal failed to see that the Philippines' self-defeating claims were in fact over sovereignty, Michael Sheng-ti Gau, a professor of international law from China's Taiwan, said Sunday at a seminar in The Hague.

"The court should deal with the real issues of admissibility and jurisdiction existing in all the claims of the Philippines," he added.

Also speaking at the event, Abraham Sofaer, a former legal adviser to the U.S. State Department, said the tribunal's ruling "will broadly undermine the potential utility of international adjudication."

"The real-world consequences of the Philippine case have already been seriously adverse to the interests of all parties, and are likely to get even worse," said the international law expert, who also served as a U.S. federal judge.

Meanwhile, Beijing, whose stance on the arbitration case has drawn support from dozens of countries and international organizations, insists that the South China Sea issue should be resolved through negotiations and consultations between the directly involved parties.

Noting that whatever the verdict might be, it would not help ease tensions in the disputed waters, Pemmaraju Sreenivasa Rao, a former chairman of the UN International Law Commission, said at the seminar that peaceful negotiation is the best solution.

"Negotiation is the only best method for this kind of disputes, particularly with so many difficult features coming from a long background and history," added Rao, a participant in the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea from 1973 to 1982, which led to the adoption of UNCLOS.

Many in the Philippines share this view. Earlier this month, Rosario Manalo, a former Philippine foreign affairs under-secretary for international economic relations, said the best thing for both the Philippines and China is to "sit down and talk."

Related:

Quotable quotes on South China Sea issue: tribunal's arbitration not legally binding

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.
BEIJING, June 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Yu Zhengsheng (R), chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, meets with Tsetska Tsacheva, president of Bulgaria's National Assembly, in Beijing, capital of China, June 29, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng said Wednesday that China is ready to work with Bulgaria to push forward the the "16+1 cooperation."

The "16+1" refers to China and the 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries.

Yu, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, made the remarks when meeting with Tsetska Tsacheva, president of Bulgaria's National Assembly.

Yu praised the development of the all-round friendly cooperative partnership between the two countries.

Deepening bilateral pragmatic cooperation is in the interests of the two countries and their people, he said.

He expressed the hope that the two sides will continue to respect the core interests and major concerns of each other, and expand mutually beneficial cooperation and people-to-people exchanges to elevate bilateral ties.

The CPPCC National Committee is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Bulgaria's National Assembly, Yu said.

Tsacheva said it is the common will of Bulgaria's political parties to develop friendly relations with China.

Bulgaria is willing to advance all-round cooperation with China and take part in the Belt and Road Initiative, she said.

Tsacheva starts her China visit on June 26 and will leave on July 1.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (R) arrives at St. Paul's Cathedral for the National Service of Thanksgiving to mark the Queen's 90th birthday on June 10, 2016 in London, Britain. (Xinhua/Han Yan)

LONDON, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Queen Elizabeth is set to be given a 72,000 U.S. dollars a week pay rise under a formula devised centuries ago, an official report revealed in Britain Tuesday.

The Queen's income is based on a percentage of money earned by the Crown Estate, one of the wealthiest real estate owners in Britain.

In its annual report issued in London Tuesday the Crown Estate disclosed that it has delivered a record 405 million U.S. dollars to the Treasury in the past year.

Unless the current formula is altered it will mean that in 2017 the Queen's pay packet will be almost 61 million U.S. dollars, 6.5 percent higher than the 57 million U.S. dollars she is receiving this year, and representing a 57 percent increase over what was paid in 2012.

The sum is worked out by paying to the Queen 15 percent of the surplus made by the Royal Estate, paid two years in arrears.

The figure can only be changed by three royal trustees, the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and an official Sir Alan Reid, who has the title of the Queen's Keeper of the Privy Purse.

The three are currently in the process of a review which could affect the amount due to the monarch next year, a government official said Tuesday.

A senior spokesman at Buckingham Palace said Tuesday that it was too early to speculate on what the result would be or what amount the Queen would receive for 2017-18.

The report also show the monarchy cost British taxpayers 53.5 million U.S. dollars in 2015-16, with more than 21 million U.S. dollars spent on the upkeep of royal households such as Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, as well as other royal households and buildings.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip view the fly-past on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Queen's 90th birthday celebrations in London, Britain on June 11, 2016. (Xinhua/Han Yan)

The 90-year-old Queen and the royal family's official travel cost the taxpayer 5.4 million U.S. dollars in the past year, a reduction of more than 1.3 million U.S. dollars compared to 2015.

The heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, draws his private income from the Duchy of Cornwall estate. This rose three percent to just over 27 million U.S. dollars last year, with the prince paying a tax bill to the Treasury of around 708,000 U.S. dollars.

The Crown Estate owns London's Regent Street as well as the entire seabed around Great Britain. It also owns Windsor Great Park, and Ascot's famous racecourse, as well as estates and properties in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and across England.

The office of the Crown Estate was started in 1760 when it was agreed that surplus revenue from the crown's estate would go to the Government Treasury. In return reigning monarchs receive an annual payment, 15 percent of the annual surplus of the estate to support official royal duties.

A spokesman for the Crown Estate said: "Despite our modern commercial approach, the estate as a whole essentially dates from 1066, with ownership of some property tracing back to the Edward the Confessor (the Anglo Saxon King of England)."
ULAN BATOR, June 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Mongolian voters cast their votes for the parliamentary elections at a polling station in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, June 29, 2016. Mongolians voted on Wednesday for a new parliament. According to the General Election Commission of Mongolia, 498 candidates, coming from 12 parties, three coalitions or as independents, will run for 76 seats of the State Great Khural, as well as posts in local law-making councils. (Xinhua/Zheng Chuang)

ULAN BATOR, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Mongolians on Wednesday went to cast their votes for the country's parliamentary and local council elections, which will shape the country's political life in the next four years.

According to the General Election Commission of Mongolia, 498 candidates, coming from 12 parties, three coalitions or running as independents, will run for 76 seats in Mongolia's State Great Khural (parliament), as well as posts in local law-making councils.

About 450 observers from other countries and international organizations will watch the elections with 1,912,901 people in the country eligible to vote.

Any organization of public events and sale of alcohol are prohibited in the capital city of Ulan Bator on Wednesday, a public holiday to encourage people to cast their ballots amid falling voter turnout in the country.

After casting his vote at a school in the capital, Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj appealed to Mongolians to cast their votes before the 10 p.m.(1300 GMT) deadline for voting.

Main contenders for the parliament and local councils are the ruling Democratic Party of Mongolia and opposition Mongolian People's Party (MPP).

Industrialization and the foreign debt burden dominated the election campaigns of the parties, as the ruling party pledged to continue industrialization and infrastructure development projects.

The MPP blamed the ruling party for the current economic crisis and mounting foreign debt and promised to form a "professional and competent, stable" government if it wins.

Mongolian Prime Minister Chimed Saikhanbileg urged all political parties and coalitions to work together for the development of the country in the next four years.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- By the end of March this year, 870 million yuan (130.9 million U.S. dollars) of poverty alleviation funding had been idle for more than one year or wasted, the country's top auditor said Wednesday.

Auditors have examined the use of poverty relief funds in 40 counties in 17 provinces, involving 5 billion yuan and 3,046 projects, Liu Jiayi, head of the National Audit Office, said while briefing lawmakers on the audit of the central government's 2015 budget.

Of the audited money, 843 million yuan, or 17 percent, has been left unused for more than one year, including some idle for as long as 15 years, according to Liu.

Liu submitted an audit report to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee at a plenary meeting of its ongoing bi-monthly session, which was attended by chairman Zhang Dejiang.

Around 27 million yuan has been wasted due to 29 abandoned or unsatisfactory poverty relief projects, according to the report.

In addition, 151 million yuan had been fraudulently obtained, for instance through fabricated contracts, or used for purposes other than helping the poor, the report said.

In some cases, governments failed to allocate money to poor families that needed it most, the report showed.

Last year saw improvements in the living conditions of rural and urban residents nationwide, because governments of various levels increased subsidies for affordable houses in urban areas and the renovation of substandard rural houses, the report said.

However, auditors uncovered that by the end of last year, 47.9 billion yuan of earmarked fund had been idle for more than one year in 748 cities and counties, 190,000 government-subsidized houses were left uninhabited due to delayed construction of supporting infrastructure, and 6,544 houses were illegally sold or rented.

More than 14 million yuan worth of government subsidies for the renovation of substandard rural houses was deceitfully taken by 41 local-level organizations and some village and township cadres, the report showed.

Moreover, a large amount of housing subsidies have been given to ineligible households, it said.

After the audit, action has been taken to retrieve the money and improperly assigned houses. A total of 352 people have been punished, Liu said.
DAMASCUS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 40 fighters of the U.S-backed New Syrian Army (NSyA) were killed on Wednesday, by the Islamic State (IS) terror group, IS-related media outlets reported.

IS official news agency Amaq said it had killed 40 of the NSyA fighters and captured 15 others after trying to storm IS areas in the countryside of the Bukamal city in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour.

Earlier in the day, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV and activist groups said U.S coalition's aircraft parachuted fighters of the NSyA on IS-held territory near Bukamal.

It was the first airdrop of U.S-backed Syrian rebels near Bukamal.

The NSyA posted photos online, purporting to show its fighters in control of a desert area in the countryside of Bukamal.

The IS Amaq news agency said the IS fighters battled the NSyA in the Hamdan airbase west of Bukamal, adding that huge losses were inflicted upon the U.S-backed rebels, who, the IS said, came from "U.S. training camps in Jordan under the air cover of the U.S-led coalition."

he IS said it had further captured weaponry and armored vehicles from the NSyA.

The New Syrian Army is a group of Syrian army defectors founded in November 2015.

The Western-backed rebel group says it seeks to expel IS from eastern Syria, mainly in Deir al-Zour, an oil-rich province close to the Iraqi borders.

It claims that it had received training and advanced weaponry from the CIA.
HANOI, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese central bank on Wednesday requested relevant agencies to continue implementing drastic measures to deal with bad debts so as to keep the bad debt ratio at less than 3 percent in 2016.

Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBC) Le Minh Hung inked an action plan of the banking sector to improve business climate, enhance national competitiveness and support business development during 2016-2017 with vision to 2020, according to the official online newspaper of the SBV.

Specifically, the SBV governor urged improvement of credit information transparency, reviewing and finalizing legal framework on lending of credit institutions.

The plan also emphasizes the urgency of developing a project on restructuring the credit institution system in combination with handling bad debts in 2016-2020.

Vietnam's bad debt ratio stood at 2.9 percent in 2015, according to the country's National Financial Supervisory Commission.
NANCHANG, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Acquisition and company integration to form the China South Rare Earth Group has been ratified by an expert panel, authorities said Wednesday.

The group was jointly established by Ganzhou Rare Earth Group, Jiangxi Copper Group and Jiangxi Rare Earth and Rare Metals Tungsten Group in April 2015 in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, as part of measures to promote resource integration by integrating companies into larger entities.

According to Li Zhuxing, vice chairman of Ganzhou Rare Earth Group, the group's merger work passed a review by experts during an inspection conference organized by Jiangxi Commission of Industry and Information Technology Monday.

With investment of 1 billion yuan (150.5 million U.S. dollars), the group has merged 24 rare earth companies, and formed a complete industrial chain covering rare earth exploration, smelting, processing, trade and research.

The group boosts the ability to mine 43,600 tonnes of raw rare earth per year and to smelt and separate 59,200 tonnes of the minerals annually.

Zhang Fengkui, an official with the Association of China Rare Earth Industry, said the formation of the group can restructure the industry and improve the efficiency of the utilization of resources.

China is the world's largest rare earth producer and exporter, but the industry is beset by a slew of problems, such as illegal mining, smuggling and a lack of competitiveness due to weak research and development. Excessive exploration has also caused environmental damage.

The State Council, China's cabinet, issued a guideline in 2011 to improve the management of the industry, which included a crackdown on illegal mining and encouraging mergers.
KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 (Xinhua) -- A prominent Malaysian opposition leader was arrested Wednesday to face corruption charges.

Lim Guan Eng, chief minister of the northern Penang state and secretary general of the opposition Democratic Action Party, was detained by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in his office.

Lim was under investigation by the anti-corruption body over his suspected purchase of an estate from a local businesswoman below market price.

The anti-corruption body said in a statement that both Lim and the businesswoman were detained under the instruction of Malaysian attorney general's office. Lim would be charged in court on Thursday.
MOSCOW, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The restoration of relations between Russia and Turkey, which have soured following the downing of a Russian warplane by Ankara in November last year, benefits both countries, but the process will take time.

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent his apologies to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over the death of a Russian pilot of the downed Su-24 bomber. Putin had called the incident a "stab in the back."

Earlier Monday, Putin had a phone conversation with Erdogan, the first in nearly seven months since the incident, signaling acceptance of Turkey's apologies.

Azhdar Kurtov, chief editor of the National Strategy Issues journal and an expert at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, believed that there were several reasons behind Turkey's decision to apologize.

First and foremost, the interruption of economic relations with Russia has been very painful for the Turkish economy, and the country's attempts to find other markets for its products, mainly its agricultural commodities which have been banned by Russia following the incident, have failed, he told Xinhua.

Second, Kurtov said, Turkey used to be one of the popular destinations for Russian holiday-makers, and hundreds of Turkish hotels owners have suffered great losses.

Additional losses were brought by Moscow's decision to suspend the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey and the work on the Turkish stream natural gas pipeline, as well as to suspend licenses of Turkish companies involved in construction projects in Russia, the expert added.

Yet another reason which prompted Erdogan to apologize was the failure to reach some important goals he has set in his foreign policy, said Kurtov.

Erdogan has stopped receiving support in his spat with Russia from both the European Union (EU) and the United States, and has failed to persuade the EU to make Turkey a member of the bloc, which Kurtov said has seriously damaged Erdogan's image even in countries that are Ankara's allies within the NATO and other agreements.

"As a result, Turkey has found itself in an impasse and understood that stubbornness in defending its position will not lead to success, but will bring new losses," he said.

Although noting that Russia and Turkey, two neighboring countries separated only by the Black Sea, should not live in acute confrontation, Kurtov did not expect an immediate U-turn of their relations in the near future.

It would start with Turkey meeting the initial Russian demands before the restoration process actually takes shape, he said.

Moscow has repeatedly said relations between the two countries could be restored only after Ankara apologized and provided compensation to Russia for the downed aircraft and to the family of the killed pilot Oleg Peshkov.

Such issues, according to the Kremlin statement about the phone conversation, have apparently not been discussed in detail.

Moreover, the two leaders emphasized the need to boost cooperation in the fight against the common threat of terrorism.

In Kurtov's opinion, however, there is little chance of harmonizing the positions of Russia and Turkey on fighting terrorism, given that the positions of Moscow and Ankara differ greatly.

For one thing, the expert believed, Ankara labels Kurds as terrorists, yet Moscow does not. Moscow has slammed the Turkish government for aggressively waging war against the Kurdish population in southeastern Turkey.

Meanwhile, Russia has disclosed Erdogan's involvement in illegal oil trade with the Islamic State terrorist group, which the Turkish side vehemently denied, he added.
JERUSALEM, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday strongly condemned the fatal attack at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul and called for a joint effort against terrorism.

"All civilized nations must stand together to fight the scourge of terrorism," he said in a statement released on his behalf.

The gun and bomb attack on Tuesday night killed at least 41 people and wounded 230 others.

No organization has taken responsibility for the attack yet.

Also on Wednesday, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin sent a letter of condolence to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying he wishes the renewed dialogue following the Israel-Turkey reconciliation deal "will greatly aid in our joint efforts against this threat."

The deal, signed Tuesday after six years of diplomatic crisis between the two former allies, includes resumption of cooperation between Turkey and Israel.
NANJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- A cargo train departed from Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu Province on Wednesday and will arrive in Moscow in 15 days.

The new direct service provides a convenient means of getting goods from the water and land transportation hub in the Yangtze River Delta to Europe.

About 60 percent of the freight carried by the train comes from Jiangsu. The neighboring provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi have also expressed their willingness to transport goods via the route.

The freight includes household appliances, lamps, electronic products, building materials and automobile parts.

After the maiden journey, the Nanjing-Moscow cargo train is scheduled to operate every two weeks, and weekly around the beginning of next year, according to the Shanghai Railway Bureau.

The new service will boost China-Russia trade, according to the bureau.
by Ronald Ssekandi

KAMPALA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Britain exiting the European Union (EU) is a wake-up call for the East African Community (EAC) member states to critically look at the integration process, a top government official said on Wednesday.

Henry Okello Oryem, Uganda's minister of state for international affairs, told Xinhua in an interview that the happenings in Britain showed that the ordinary British people did not see the value of the EU to their ordinary lives, a similar incident that can occur to the EAC.

The EAC, a regional trading bloc that brings together Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan espouses the EU integration model in its efforts to fast track economic development.

The bloc already has a Customs Union, Common Market and is now working on a Monetary Union. Its ultimate goal is to have a political federation, a similar quest by the EU.

Oryem said the integration process should not be left to the elites but also include the ordinary citizens of each member country who should play a critical role.

He argued that until the ordinary citizens appreciate the value of the integration process, it would be a fallacy to integrate the bloc.

"They really have to understand it, believe in it and embrace it in order for us to move forward because if they don't, then the consequences would be similar to what is in Britain if a referendum is called," Oryem said.

He added, "With in the EAC, we need to go back on the ground and on the drawing board to reexamine the relationship between the citizens and the bloc."

EAC leaders have been at the forefront of fast tracking the integration process, arguing that it is the surest way of pulling millions of east Africans out of poverty.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who is seen as championing the integration process in the region, has argued that trading as bloc puts the region in a better position in international trade negotiations. It would also be easier to attract foreign direct investment in view of a bigger market.

EAC Secretariat figures show that as of 2015, the region had a population of 145 million people and a Gross Domestic Product of 147.5 billion U.S. dollars.

FEARS

As the world still grapples with the likely effects of the Brexit on the economy, some countries which keep their foreign reserves in the British pound are already at risk.

"We hold part of our foreign reserves in the British pound. Since the Brexit, the pound has had a hitting against other currencies and has fallen formidably," Oryem said.

He argued that although currently there is no need to use the foreign reserves but if the need arises and the value of the pound continues to fall, then the country's purchasing power would be reduced.

Oryem argued that Britain leaving the EU will definitely have an impact on many sectors.

Britain was a major funder of the EU which in turn offered aid to Africa, and in this case Uganda, where it is financing the construction of key infrastructure projects. With Britain's departure, the continuation of these projects may be in balance.

Uganda on June 28 called a meeting of envoys of EU member countries to among others discuss the impact of the Brexit.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Several local governments in China have not used funds raised through bond issues effectively, the country's top auditor said Wednesday.

Liu Jiayi, head of the National Audit Office (NAO), briefed lawmakers on the audit of central government budget execution in 2015. Eleven provincial-level regions, 10 city-level regions and 21 counties were audited.

For example, Liu said, the governments Beijing, Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Hunan, Inner Mongolia and Shandong had not used 13.8 billion yuan (2.1 billion U.S. dollars) worth of bonds by the end of last year.

Governments of Henan, Hunan, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Sichuan and Zhejiang borrowed money illegally, according to Liu.

Concerned agencies are studying how to improve debt management and those audited are correcting their mistakes, he added.

The audit report was submitted to the ongoing bi-monthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee for deliberation. The session will end Saturday.
TIKRIT, Iraq, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces on Wednesday freed new areas in Salahudin province from Islamic State (IS) militants in operations to flush out IS militants from Mosul, a provincial official and a police chief said.

The troops advanced in the northern part of Salahudin province which located in northern central Iraq and managed to drive out IS militants from Telol al-Baj village and surrounding areas in west of the IS-held town of Shirqat, some 280 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, said Ahmed al-Kraiym, head of Salahudin's provincial council.

The troops continued their advance northward to free the remaining areas from IS militants in the northern part of Salahudin province, before heading to free the militant-seized town of Qayyara, some 50 km south of Mosul in Nineveh province, al-Kraiym told Xinhua.

In addition, al-Kraiym called on the central government and international organizations to provide humanitarian aid to thousands of displaced people who left their homes in the anti-IS battles in Salahudin province.

"The basic needs of the displaced people are far beyond the potentials of the provincial government," al-Kraiym said.

He also said that two displaced people from Telol al-Baj area were killed and eight others wounded when IS militants fired mortar rounds on convoy of vehicles carrying displaced people near an intersection on the main road outside the area.

Meanwhile, the provincial police chief Brigadier General Khalil al-Ramul told Xinhua that the security forces found at least 35 bodies of IS militants left in Telol al-Baj area after the extremist militants withdrew from their positions in the area.

Separately, the provincial police forces repelled an attack of dozens of IS militants on a village in south of the town of Shirqat, leaving eight militants killed, including a suicide car bomber, Ramul said.

Also in the province, U.S.-led coalition warplanes bombarded the house of Ibrahim Eisa, an IS leader in central Shirqat, killing him, two of his sons and two women, Ramul added.

The operations in the province are part of a major offensive to free areas in south of Mosul, including the town of Qayyara, so as to surround Mosul from the south and east, before attacking major IS strongholds in Mosul to flush out IS militants from the city, 400 km north of Baghdad.

Iraq has witnessed intense violence since the IS controlled parts of its northern and western regions in June of 2014.
KATHMANDU, June 29 (Xinhua)-- China's Tibet Autonomous Region and Nepal have agreed to work toward resuming Lhasa-Kathmandu direct bus service after decade-long gap.

During the 9th meeting of the Joint Tourism Coordination Committee (JTCC) between Nepal and TAR that concluded here on Tuesday, two sides signed a 16-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) which included resuming direct bus service between the two cities.

The bus link between the two cities, which was launched in May 2005, has failed to move forward since 2006 due to various reasons, including visa related issues.

"Two sides agreed to resolve issues such as carrier company, stopping and starting stations, safety, ticket-sale among others so as to promote China-Nepal direct bus service," Laxman Sharma, director at Department of Tourism of Nepal told Xinhua.

As per the MoU, both sides agreed to explore possibilities of increasing frequency of scheduled flights in Kathmandu-Lhasa-Kathmandu sector with reasonable fair, and to enhance cooperation among their travel-trade associations.

They will initiate dialogue to make uniform rules and regulations regarding age limit, disabilities among others in climbing bordering mountains.

As per the MoU, both sides agreed on conducting helicopter rescue and evacuations in emergencies during mountaineering and trekking periods after securing required approval of related authorities of their respective governments.

As per the agreement, the two sides will work to develop trans-boundary tourism cooperation between Pulan County, Tibet and bordering Nepalese district Humla under the Mt Kailash Sacred Landscape Program. During the Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's visit to China in March, China had agreed to construct Friendship Bridge in bordering Hilsa over Karnali river so as to construct route for trade and other economic purposes.

The Chinese delegation from Tibet was led by Vice Director General of the Tibet Tourism Development Committee Ga Ma Ze Deng and Nepalese delegation was led by Director General at the Department of Tourism Sudarshan Prasad Dhakal.

The 10th meeting of the JTCC will be held in Tibet in 2017.

Related:

Trade recovers after port reopened between Tibet and Nepal

LHASA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Trade has been recovering since a major China-Nepal border crossing at Jilung reopened in October, local customs said. Full story

Nepal-China's Tibet economic, trade fair kicks off in Kathmandu
XINING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- A Tibetan movie director has been detained for disrupting public order after he was involved in an altercation at an airport, police in northwest China's Qinghai Province confirmed Wednesday.

Award-winning director Pema Tseden is in police custody after he trespassed into an off-limits area at Caojiapu Airport in Xining on Saturday, the public security bureau at the airport said in a statement.

Pema, who arrived in Xining at around 8:15 p.m., had been trying to locate a piece of missing luggage when he attempted to access the controlled area, the document said.

He was physically restrained by airport security staff, who called the police after Pema refused to back down, it said.

Three policemen arrived at the scene, but they could not persuade Pema to leave, despite promising that the airport would deliver his missing luggage. Pema refused to cooperate, it said.

Police took him in for questioning at around 8:49 p.m. He sustained bruises from the handcuffs due to his erratic behavior, the statement said.

He was detained for five days for disturbing the peace under the security administration punishment act, it said.

On Monday morning, Pema felt dizzy and complained of tightness in his chest. Two policemen took him to hospital, where he was diagnosed with high blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

Pema was briefly hospitalized. The police said he would complete his detention after recovery.

The detention and interrogation were both recorded on audio and video devices, police said.

Pema's detention came as a surprise to those familiar to him. "He is always friendly and happy," said Hao Jian with Beijing Film Academy, where Pema used to study. "He never even talks loudly."

Pema Tseden, born in 1969, is from Qinghai Province. He has won many Chinese and international film awards. Last year, he won the best adapted screenplay award at the Golden Horse Awards for his film "Tharlo."
RIYADH, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday the formation of an international finance and accounting academy in Riyadh in cooperation with a U.S. company, Saudi Press Agency reported.

The academy will offer training for government workers and private organizations, and design pre-graduation specialized training for students. The budget of the academy wasn't mentioned.

An agreement was signed between the Ministry of Commerce and Investment and U.S. company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), highlighting the academy will be operated by the PwC and provide professional training for Saudis to meet the goals of the recently launched economic vision 2030.

Approved in April by the Saudi cabinet for post-oil era with the focus on business reforms and investments, the vision mainly aims to make the country less-dependent on oil revenues, so as to boost economic growth and create millions of jobs.
TOKYO, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Japan's population is aging at unprecedented levels, with over 1/4 Japanese people aged 65 or older as of Oct.1 last year, creating challenges for the government and economy, showed government statistics on Wednesday.

Japan's population aged 65 or older reached 33.42 million as of Oct.1, 2015, accounting for 26.7 percent of the whole population, the highest since the survey was first carried out in 1920, according to the result of 2015 census released by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.

The survey also showed the overall population in Japan was 127.11 million as of Oct.1 last year, down 0.7 percent from that of 2010, the first decline since 1920.

Meanwhile, population aged below 15 stood at 15.86 million, down by 0.5 percentage point to 12.7 percent of the total population, recording the lowest since 1920.

In all of the country's 47 prefectures, the population of senior people aged 65 or older exceeded junior people aged below 15 for the first time since 1920.

Japan's population is likely to further decline to 83 million by 2100, with 35 percent of them older than 65, according to estimations by government and international bodies like the United Nations.
ANKARA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkey declared on Wednesday a day of national mourning over the deadly Istanbul airport attack.

Turkish national flags will be flown at half-mast across the country and in foreign representative buildings on Wednesday, the Turkish cabinet said in a statement.

At least 41 people were killed and more than 140 others injured in explosions that hit Ataturk Airport on Tuesday.

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated over the past year.

The capital city of Ankara, the most populous city of Istanbul and some other ones have been hit by a number of bombing attacks.
GENEVA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador's Foreign Affairs Minister on Wednesday urged Britain to abide by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) findings that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been "arbitrarily detained" since his first arrest in London in December 2010.

"There is, particularly in the case of the United Kingdom, a political statement saying that they will not abide to the findings of the UN WGAD," Guillaume Long told reporters in Geneva's UN headquarters.

"We are very disappointed by this particularly given that the United Kingdom and Sweden have called on so many countries on so many occasions to abide by the UN working group's findings. This is a clear case of double standards that Ecuador denounces," he added.

According to WGAD's report, Assange's "human rights infringements" were triggered by an investigation carried out by a Swedish prosecutor five years ago on allegations of sexual misconduct.

To date, the investigation has made no progress and no charges have been formally brought against the 44-year-old Australian national.

WGAD's expert panel ruled that Assange's detention is arbitrary because he was held in isolation for 10 days in the first stage of detention and because of the Swedish prosecutor's lack of diligence in his investigations which resulted in Assange' lengthy arrest.

It was during his 550 days of house arrest that the whistle-blower sought refugee status at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

The Republic of Ecuador granted Assange asylum because of the latter's fear that were he to be extradited to Sweden, he would then be sent to the United States to face serious charges including espionage and other crimes against the state.

The activist has been unable to leave the embassy since August 2012, and is subject to extensive surveillance by British law enforcement.

"The conditions in which he is arbitrarily detained are precarious ones. The Ecuadorian embassy in London is very a small space with limited light and no outside space at all. His health has deteriorated," said Long, who recently visited Assange.

In light of Assange's protracted and unjustified detention, the official said the issue should be considered a humanitarian one and dealt with as such.
SINGAPORE, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Singapore has stepped up security measures at checkpoints after Istanbul's Ataturk Airport that killed 41 people and injured many others, local media reported on Wednesday.

In response to media queries, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the country's security agencies have stepped up checks and patrols at air, land and sea checkpoints, as well as at key transport nodes.

"We will calibrate security measures according to the threat environment," the ministry added.

Following the deadly attack, Singapore's leaders, include President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have written to their Turkish counterparts respectively to convey condolences, as well as strongly condemns the terror attacks at Istanbul Ataturk Airport.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The South China Sea arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines does not hold water from a legal standpoint and will not put an end to the South China Sea disputes, but only worsen them.

It even threatens to further complicate the issue by giving certain parties in the disputes the false impression they could profit by deliberately creating chaos.

The tribunal handling the arbitration case will issue an award on July 12, according to a press release published Wednesday by its registry, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague.

Whatever the verdict might be, the basically illegal nature of the arbitration will make it null and void.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) clearly states that a tribunal will not be entitled to pass judgment on a territorial and boundary dispute.

The tribunal has distorted the UNCLOS by extending its jurisdiction and has overstepped its power to make a judgment on territorial sovereignty.

Despite all the verbal manipulations by the tribunal, which said it would not try to settle sovereignty disputes, but only determine geological features, the Philippines' claims will eventually lead to the question of who owns it.

The arbitration also infringes on China's right to refuse to accept any imposed rulings on territorial and delimitation disputes, which is ensured by the UNCLOS.

Moreover, an arbitration requires the consent of the two concerned parties. China's stance of non-acceptance of and non-participation in the arbitration not only secures its own interests, but also preserves the right of other countries facing a similar situation.

It is protecting the authority and completeness of the UNCLOS within its frame, and that's why China's position on the South China Sea issue has gained more and more countries' understanding and support.

Any just international arbitration is aimed at eventually solving disputes and conflicts and pushing forward the peace process and development. It is unthinkable a tribunal would create chaos or worsen a crisis in its own right.

The UNCLOS also explicitly rules out any infringements on the rights of relevant parties in a conflict to solve their problems through dialogue and negotiations.

China and the Philippines, along with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in 2002 signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DOC) in the South China Sea, which should serve as the political framework for solving the issue.

It's apparent that China and other relevant countries in the region have developed their own effective method by solving the problem through consultations.

By going ahead with the arbitration, Manila has deviated from the right path of putting an end to its dispute with China.

Manila fails to see that such an arbitration will only stir up more trouble in the South China Sea, which doesn't serve the interests of the concerned parties in the least.
BEIJING, June 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and other senior leaders Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli join an audience of more than 3,000 at the concert "Eternal Faith" marking the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, June 29, 2016. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and other senior leaders joined an audience of more than 3,000 on Wednesday night at a concert marking the 95th birthday of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Also present at the event were Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli, all members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

The concert, "Eternal Faith," was held at the Great Hall of the People.

Aside from songs profiling the CPC's great leadership in the past 95 years, there was also a poetry recital.

The concert concluded with the song, "Without the Communist Party, There Would be no New China," which was popularized after the founding of new China.

July 1 marks the 95th anniversary of the founding of the CPC.
OTTAWA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama arrived here Wednesday morning for a one-day visit, during which he will attend the North American Leaders' Summit and address a joint session of Canadian Parliament.

Obama promised to visit Canada during Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's trip to Washington in March.

Trudeau will host Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto for the summit, also called the "Three Amigos" summit, scheduled to be held at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

The summit will be the first between Canada, the United States and Mexico in more than two years. The last North American Leaders' Summit was held in Toluca, Mexico in 2014.

After meeting Nieto here Tuesday, Trudeau told a joint press conference that the Three Amigos summit will showcase the value of free trade and continental cooperation at a time when liberalized trade is under attack in Europe and the United States.

The Ottawa summit comes just one week after Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU) after over 40 years. The so-called Brexit vote is believed to be an important theme of the summit.

Canada has negotiated a trade deal with the EU that is slated to take effect next year. The Brexit may delay its ratification and hurt Canada's commodity-driven economy.

The Brexit is also seen as a setback to talks on a U.S.-EU trade deal. Mexico, which already has a trade deal with the EU, has prepared a draft proposal for a pact with Britain.

All the three countries are part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries, which Obama has cast as an update of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Obama wants to finalize the TPP as part of his economic legacy.

The United States is the top export market for both Canada and Mexico. In 2015, U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico totaled 663 billion U.S. dollars and 584 billion U.S. dollars respectively.

Ahead of the summit, the White House revealed that the leaders would commit to a new regional goal of 50 percent of power coming from clean energy by 2025, up from about 37 percent in 2015.
TEHRAN, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The disputes concerning the South China Sea should be solved through dialogues and direct talks, Mehdi Soli, the international deputy of Iran's Islamic Motalefeh Party, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

The recent U.S. interventions in the southeastern Asia disputes, particularly over South China Sea, have increased dramatically, which is un-constructive and source of tensions among the regional states, Soli said.

"We emphasize that the regional issues and differences should be settled by the countries of the region, and the intervention of non-regional powers is not acceptable in this regard," he said.

The Iranian political expert drew on the arbitration from an international tribunal over the South China Sea disputes and said "When two countries are at odds over a certain issue, they should firstly resort to direct talks and dialogue."

"However, if they cannot tackle the issue within the framework of international documents, and if both sides agree with the arbitration of an international tribunal, then the case can be sent to an international institution to deal with the issue," he said.

In 2013, the Philippines unilaterally filed compulsory arbitration against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague with respect to the two sides' disputes in the South China Sea.

The Chinese government has reiterated its non-acceptance and non-participation stance in the case.

On Wednesday, Iran's Islamic Motalefeh Party availed Xinhua with a statement concerning the South China Sea disputes, in which it urged the United States to "refrain from the stances which violate the sovereignty of the countries and affects their peace and stability."

"The United States should also avoid provocative measures and inflaming the differences in this regard," it read.

"This is without question that the U.S. maritime and aerial patrolling in the territorial waters of other states is not acceptable under any pretext," according to the statement.

"Within this framework and based on the international agreements and conventions, the People's Republic of China is entitled not to allow any violation of its territorial sovereignty," it said.

Direct and regional dialogue is the only means to settle the disputes over the South China Sea, the statement stressed, adding that historical facts, legal documents, international regulations, and mutual respects to the territorial sovereignty of the countries are the criteria in the dialogues to solve the issue, it concluded.
JUBA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Three UN agencies on Wednesday warned of severe food insecurity in South Sudan as about 4.8 million people are in urgent need of food, agriculture and nutrition assistance amid risk of catastrophe in some parts of the country.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP) said in a joint report that the figure in those in need of food aid represents the highest level of hunger since the conflict in South Sudan began in late 2013.

WFP Country Director Joyce Luma said there are sharp spikes of need in new areas, such as Eastern Equatoria or Western Bahr el-Ghazal, where malnutrition rates in some places are reaching dangerous levels.

"We have started ramping up food and nutrition support, but much more is needed to keep things from deteriorating even further during the lean season," Luma added.

WFP plans to assist 3.3 million people in South Sudan this year through a combination of emergency food assistance, lifesaving nutrition support for mothers and young children.

The UN agencies stressed that while the deteriorating situation coincides with an unusually long and harsh annual lean season, when families have depleted their food stocks and new harvests are not expected until August, the level of food insecurity this year is unprecedented.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Update released by the government, the three agencies and other humanitarian partners, 4.8 million people are projected to be in need of urgent food, agriculture and nutrition assistance through July, up from 4.3 million in April.

This number does not include 350,000 residents of the UN Protection of Civilians areas or other camps for displaced people, who currently are entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance.

"We are very worried to see that food insecurity is spreading beyond conflict areas as rising prices, impassable roads and dysfunctional markets are preventing many families, even those in towns and cities, from accessing food," FAO Country Representative Serge Tissot said.

FAO is planning to provide emergency livelihood support to 3.1 million people in South Sudan. It is currently distributing over half a million crop and fishing kits and is assisting livestock production through the vaccination of some 11 million animals.

Food insecurity and conflict are also forcing many families to leave South Sudan for neighbouring countries.

In the last few months alone, an estimated 100,000 South Sudanese people have crossed into Sudan, Kenya, the DRC and Uganda, and this number is expected to increase to more than 150,000 by the end of June.

Mahimbo Mdoe, UNICEF's Representative in South Sudan said the levels of malnutrition among children continue to be truly alarming.

"Since the beginning of the year more than 100,000 children have been treated for severe malnutrition. That's a 40 percent increase compared to the same period last year, and a 150 percent increase since 2014," Mdoe said.
MINSK, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Belarusian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday strongly and categorically condemned a terrorist attack at the airport in Istanbul.

The terrorist attack in Turkey and the attacks that had taken place in Europe demonstrated once again the strong threat posed by terrorism, which recognizes no borders and norms of civilization, the ministry said in a statement.

It stressed that the threat must not be overlooked by the international community.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, on behalf of the people of Belarus and himself, personally extended sincere condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the relatives and loved ones of the people killed in the terrorist attack.

Lukashenko said the news of the big number of civilian casualties in the attack has deeply saddened every person in Belarus.

"The presence of women and children among them emphasizes the inhumane essence of the masterminds and perpetrators of terrorist attacks," he said.

Three suicide bombers opened fire and then blew themselves up at the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport Tuesday, killing at least 41 people and injuring more than 140 others.

The Belarusian Consulate in Istanbul on Wednesday morning reported that according to preliminary data, there were no Belarusians among the victims of the incident.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has recommended Belarusian tourists to refrain from visiting crowded places in Turkey.

Turkey declared a day of national mourning on Wednesday over the deadly Istanbul airport attack. Enditem
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague has said on Wednesday that an arbitral tribunal with widely contested jurisdiction will issue an award on July 12 on the South China Sea case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines.

China has maintained that the tribunal handling the South China Sea arbitration case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines has no jurisdiction, a stance that has gained broad support.

Here is why:

Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the jurisdiction of an arbitral tribunal is limited to disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the convention.

But the South China Sea case is in essence about territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation.

Territorial issues are not subject to UNCLOS, but to general international law. The tribunal in the Chagos Marine Protected Area Arbitration case noted its verdict in 2015 that sovereignty over land territory is a matter beyond the scope of the interpretation and application of UNCLOS.

As early as in 2006, Beijing declared -- in line with UNCLOS -- to exclude disputes concerning maritime delimitation from mandatory dispute settlement procedures. Some 30 countries have also made similar declarations.

The Philippines has attempted to circumvent the jurisdictional hurdle, claiming that it only wants the tribunal to rule on the limits of China's maritime entitlements, the status and maritime entitlements of relevant features, and the lawfulness of China's maritime activities in the South China Sea, without deciding on the territorial sovereignty over any maritime features.

That is just Manila's smokescreen. A day after launching the arbitration, the Philippine Foreign Ministry described the purpose of the case as to "protect our country's territory and oceanic area" and vowed not to "give up our country's sovereignty."

The objective link between the Philippines' claims and the issue of territorial sovereignty over certain maritime features in the South China Sea is such that a decision on the latter is the precondition to decide on the former, the Chinese Society of International Law explained in a recent article, pointing out that the tribunal errs in treating the former in isolation from sovereignty.

Therefore, in claiming jurisdiction over the case, the tribunal is acting ultra vires: beyond the authorization of UNCLOS and in disregard of China's lawful exclusion.
BRATISLAVA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) is not in its best shape ever following the British referendum on Brexit and its institutions need to show more empathy and sensitivity towards recent developments in member countries, Slovak and Polish presidents noted on Wednesday.

Slovak President Andrej Kiska had talks with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda here on Wednesday.

"It's also very important not to shift the blame for internal problems of our countries automatically to Brussels. If someone criticises the EU, they need to make the criticism specific," stressed Kiska.

Duda's visit falls on the eve of the beginning of Slovakia's Council of the EU Presidency, whereas Poland is set to assume the Presidency of Visegrad Four group, or V4, namely the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, at the same time.

Both leaders concurred that the V4 could play an important role in the search for joint European solutions. They also believe that it's necessary to approach the British decision to leave the EU with level-headed calm.

"When I look at the EU from the perspective of the referendum, citizens want the union in the form in which it was created in the beginning," said Duda.

He went on to talk about a union that helps and provides freedom, not the union that gets in the way and issues commands. Enditem
ALGIERS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Algeria on Wednesday strongly condemned the suicide attacks that targeted Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Tuesday night, urging the international community to further combine global counter-terrorism efforts.

"We strongly condemn the triple terrorist attacks which hit Istanbul's Ataturk airport and we offer condolences to the victims' families," APS news agency quoted Abdelaziz Benali Cherif, spokesman for the Algerian Foreign Ministry, as saying.

"Algeria expresses its solidarity with the people and government of Turkey after this despicable attack," he said.

"The terrorist escalation in Turkey and elsewhere in the world urges once again the international community to further combining their actions against terrorism, which poses serious threat to world's peace and stability," the diplomat said.

Istanbul's main international airport was hit by a triple suicide bombing on Tuesday night, which left 41 people killed and more than 200 injured.

Algerian Foreign Ministry said a 22-year-old Algerian national was injured in the bombings. He has been admitted in Bagcilar Hospital in Istanbul to have medical treatments. Enditem
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Following are remarks by Hong Lei, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, on the Arbitral Tribunal's claim that it would soon issue the so-called final award of the South China Sea arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines.

The Arbitral Tribunal in the South China Sea arbitration established at the unilateral request of the Republic of the Philippines (hereinafter referred to as the "Arbitral Tribunal") claimed on 29 June 2016 that it would issue the so-called final award on 12 July 2016. I hereby once again emphasize that the Arbitral Tribunal has no jurisdiction over the case and the relevant subject-matter, and that it should not have heard the case or rendered the award.

1. On 22 January 2013, the Philippines unilaterally initiated the arbitration on the relevant disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. The Chinese government immediately declared that it would neither accept nor participate in the arbitration initiated by the Philippines, a position that has since been repeatedly reiterated.

On 7 December 2014, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China released upon authorization the Position Paper of the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Matter of Jurisdiction in the South China Sea Arbitration Initiated by the Republic of the Philippines, which comprehensively and systematically elaborates the position of the Chinese government on the matter of jurisdiction in the arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines that the Arbitral Tribunal has no jurisdiction over the case, and that the Chinese government's non-acceptance of and non-participation in the arbitration are solidly founded in international law.

On 29 October 2015, the Arbitral Tribunal rendered an award on jurisdiction and admissibility. The Chinese government immediately stated that the relevant award is null and void and has no binding force. With regard to the hearing on the merits of the arbitration held from 24 to 30 November 2015, the Chinese government reiterated its position of non-acceptance and non-participation.

On 8 June 2016, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China released the Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China on Settling Disputes Between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea Through Bilateral Negotiation, reiterating its position of non-acceptance of and non-participation in the arbitration and settling the relevant disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea through bilateral negotiation.

2. The Philippines' unilateral initiation of arbitration breaches international law.

First, China and the Philippines have agreed, through a series of bilateral instruments and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, to settle their relevant disputes in the South China Sea through bilateral negotiation. The arbitration proceeding under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) does not apply to the relevant disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea.

Second, the essence of the subject-matter of the arbitration is the territorial sovereignty over some islands and reefs in the South China Sea, which is beyond the scope of UNCLOS and does not concern the interpretation or application of UNCLOS.

Third, the subject-matter of the arbitration constitutes an integral part of maritime delimitation between China and the Philippines, thus falling within the scope of the declaration made by China in 2006 pursuant to Article 298 of UNCLOS, which excludes disputes concerning maritime delimitation, among others, from arbitration and other compulsory dispute settlement procedures.

Fourth, the Philippines, in disregard of the fact that China and the Philippines have never engaged in any negotiation on any of the subject-matter of the arbitration, distorted concepts, invented disputes, and failed to fulfill its obligation under Article 283 of UNCLOS to exchange views on means of dispute settlement.

3. The Arbitral Tribunal, established on the basis of illegal conduct and claims of the Philippines, has no jurisdiction over the relevant matters. The Arbitral Tribunal, taking no regard of the fact that China and the Philippines have chosen to settle disputes through negotiation and consultation and the fact that the essence of the subject-matter of the arbitration is territorial sovereignty, circumvented the optional exceptions declaration China has made in accordance with UNCLOS, expanded and exceeded its jurisdiction at will, and pushed forward the hearing on the relevant subject-matter. Such acts have infringed on the right of a state party to UNCLOS to choose means of dispute settlement of its own will, and undermined the integrity of the UNCLOS dispute settlement regime.

4. With regard to territorial issues and maritime delimitation disputes, China does not accept any means of third party dispute settlement or any solution imposed on China. The Chinese government will continue to abide by international law and basic norms governing international relations as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, and will continue to work with states directly concerned to resolve the relevant disputes in the South China Sea through negotiation and consultation on the basis of respecting historical facts and in accordance with international law, so as to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.

Related:

Commentary: Ill-grounded S. China Sea arbitration to only worsen disputes among neighbors

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The South China Sea arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines does not hold water from a legal standpoint and will not put an end to the South China Sea disputes, but only worsen them. Full story

Law-abusing tribunal to issue award on South China Sea arbitration

THE HAGUE, June 29 (Xinhua) -- An arbitral tribunal with widely contested jurisdiction will issue an award on July 12 on the South China Sea case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague said on Wednesday. Full story

Backgrounder: Timeline of Philippines' unilaterally initiated South China Sea arbitration case
BERLIN, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The decision of an arbitration court in The Hague on the disputes over the South China Sea would not make their settlement any easier, a German expert said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

The Philippines unilaterally initiated an arbitration case against China over maritime disputes in the South China Sea at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague in early 2013 under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The PCA said in press release on Wednesday that the arbitral tribunal handling the case will issue an award on July 12.

Stefan Talmon, director of the Institute of Public International Law at the University of Bonn, said the arbitration court in The Hague, which was formed according to Annex VII of the UNCLOS, is not responsible for territorial disputes.

"Disputes over territorial sovereignty of islands are exempt from the jurisdiction of the UNCLOS's courts because territorial disputes do not belong to those disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the convention," Talmon explained.

He noted that issues of territorial sovereignty are not governed by the UNCLOS, but by customary international law.

Speaking of possible consequences of the arbitration court's decision, the expert said he did not believe it would make the settlement of disputes over the South China Sea any easier.

"I assume that the decision will even have a counterproductive impact on the resolution of the problems. There is a danger that the decision will be misused for political purposes and ultimately contributes to a hardening of positions on both sides," he added.

On Jan. 23, 2013, one day after the arbitration process began, the Philippines issued a document that clearly stated that the arbitration was about sovereignty.

Any signatory to the UNCLOS may declare its refusal to accept compulsory arbitration with respect to disputes concerning maritime delimitation, historic bays or titles, military and law enforcement activities, thus prohibiting other UNCLOS contracting states from initiating arbitration.

As China has declared that compulsory dispute settlement procedures do not apply to maritime delimitation, it is wrong for the Philippines to have gone for arbitration, said Xu Hong, Chinese Foreign Ministry's director general of treaties and law.

If disputing parties have agreed on other means of settlement, compulsory arbitration is not an option, said Xu.

According to Article IV of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), signed between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2002, all sides, including the Philippines, agreed to settle territorial disputes through negotiation and consultation by the countries directly concerned. Enditem
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has turned 15 this month. The bloc is not only an effective regional economic cooperation framework but a new paradigm for global security cooperation.

The SCO takes a nonaligned, non-ideological and non-confrontation stance in regional and global issues. Member states respect diversity and resolve differences face-to-face, while supporting each other in common development.

The SCO reflects a new view of security cooperation without taking sides and forging alliances, said Ruan Zongze, deputy head of the China Institute of International Studies.

Real security is sustainable security and realizing one's own security at the sacrifice of others' is no longer acceptable. "It's time for a change," said Ruan.

Fifteen years on, the SCO is effective in safeguarding security, stability and sustainable development, according to the Tashkent Declaration that came out of the SCO summit last week. Its existence has contributed to the decline of terrorism, separatism and extremism in the region, Ruan said.

The organization was founded in Shanghai in June 2001 and has kept expanding. It currently has six full members -- China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan -- while India and Pakistan are in the process of gaining membership.

Observers include Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey are dialogue partners.

"Strength does not come from a single strong arm but many arms united," Ruan said.

The friendly relations and cooperation without interference are attracting more countries to the bloc, said Vladimir Evseev, deputy director of Russia's Commonwealth of Independent States Institute.

In a time of fast globalization, better global governance is needed to protect peace and promote development. The rise of SCO does not challenge current international order, but rather improves economic and security cooperation and aids progress.

A weak global economy and complicated security situation mean SCO nations must increase cooperation to contribute more to world stability and economic rejuvenation.

Related:

Spotlight: SCO leaders vow to lift cooperation to "qualitatively new level"

TASHKENT, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) vowed on Friday to raise the regional cooperation to a qualitatively new level.

The heads of state of the SCO signed the Tashkent Declaration of the 15th Anniversary of the SCO at the 16th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO, a two-day summit in Tashkent. Full story

SCO creates new model of regional cooperation: Spanish expert

MADRID, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has created a new model of regional cooperation in which "economy and security are intertwined," a Spanish expert said Thursday.

Xulio Rios, director of the Observatory of Chinese Politics, said in his article published on the organization's website: "The SCO is shaping a new model of regional cooperation ... economy and security are intertwined with a growing strategic intensity in order to increasingly influence the global order." Full story

Commentary: SCO Tashkent summit to lubricate security, economic "wheels"

by Fei Liena, Geng Xuepeng, Liu Si

BEIJING, June 23 (Xinhua) -- The 16th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit slated on June 23-24 in Tashkent will be a highlight of Chinese President Xi Jinping's Eurasia tour, and will point out the direction of the bloc's future development.
ISLAMABAD, June 29 (Xinhua) -- At least four security personnel were killed and two others injured when some unknown gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in Pakistan's southwest Quetta city on Wednesday, police said.

Deputy Inspector General police Chaudhry Manzoor Sarwar said that the militants coming on motorbike opened fire at the vehicle of paramilitary troops Frontier Corps at double road area of Quetta, the capital city of the country's southwest Balochistan province.

The militants fled the scene, following the attack and the police kicked off a search operation in the area.

The injured troops were shifted to a nearby hospital for investigations.

Sarwar said that the incident seems to be a continuation of the recent spate of target killings going on in the city.

Earlier on Tuesday, four policemen were killed in gun attack in the city.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Enditem
GENEVA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestinian official said Wednesday that now it is the right time for Israel to support a two-state solution which would see the Jewish nation officially recognise the State of Palestine based on the 1967 borders.

"The two-state solution is a win-win situation even though it is a historical compromise on behalf of the Palestinians," senior advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on negotiations, Mohammad Shtayyeh, told press in Geneva's UN headquarters.

"Today is the moment to save a two-state solution because tomorrow Israel will find itself in a South African model," he added.

Shtayyeh projected that by 2020 Palestinians will account for 53 percent of the population in historical Palestine, making Israel a de facto apartheid nation in which a Jewish minority governs a Palestinian majority.

In light of the region's demographics and growing international consensus on a two-state solution, Shtayyeh reiterated his support for the French initiative of holding an international conference for peace in the Middle East in a bid to revive talks and broker a solution to end decades of conflict.

"The way we see the French initiative is a coalition against occupation," he said, adding "it took us 50 years to reach a situation in which there is an international consensus on two states."

By moving from a bilateral system mediated by the United States to a multilateral system of negotiations, Shtayyeh hoped that the paradigm-shift will lead to the internationalisation of the solution.

"The French initiative is a breaking of the American monopoly as a shepherd of the process," he explained, while calling on U.S. President Barack Obama to recognise the State of Palestine before he leaves office at the beginning of next year.

With 23 years of direct negotiations failing to provide concrete results, Shtayyeh also urged the Israeli government to recognise the need to adopt a different approach if a lasting and acceptable solution for both parties is to be reached.

"If there is any wise man in the Israeli political elite, the moment is right to preserve two states, today is the moment for Israel to recognise Palestine," he said. Enditem
BRATISLAVA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Brexit won't have a huge impact on the agriculture and food sector, informed Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber (SPPK) spokesperson Jana Holeciova on Wednesday.

"We don't expect a great influence on foreign trade between Slovakia and Great Britain, as the number of agriculture and food products exported to Britain isn't that high. It concerns around seven products that are exported from Slovakia to Britain and vice versa," explained Holeciova.

According to Holeciova, Slovakia imports watermelons, pork, apples, pears and plums from Britain. Conversely, goods exported from Slovakia to Britain are sugar, deep frozen vegetables, and cheese.

Holeciova did stress, however, that Britain's departure would have an impact on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which is one of the biggest EU budgetary areas and sets the rules and budget for European farmers.

The SPPK spokesperson went on to say Britain was a net contributor to the EU budget. The European Commission now faces a big challenge concerning setting the rules to govern Britain's exit from the EU.

"It's said that the British will remain in the EU for two more years, but the question is whether they'll still contribute to the EU budget during this period," added Holeciova. Enditem
MADRID, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Spain's economy grew by 0.7 percent in the second quarter of the year, according to data published by the Bank of Spain.

Economic growth slowed slightly as the country's economy had grown by 0.8 percent in the first quarter of the year, economics newspaper Expansion reported on Wednesday.

According to the bank, the economic growth was fueled by domestic demand in the second quarter, especially private and public consumption. The institution also highlighted that falling fuel prices and consumer credit were helping increase domestic demand.

On the other hand, the bank said investment had slowed down, possibly due to political uncertainty. The lack of government in the country, after the second general election in six months was held three days ago, had been a major contributing factor to the slowdown.

Meanwhile, companies' investments could also have been affected by the lack of government and the uncertainty about future economic policies.

The Bank of Spain encouraged the government to increase revenue, which is considered weak, and contain expenditure in order to meet the 3.0 percent deficit target requested by Brussels. Enditem
KIEV, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian government and independence-seeking insurgents have suspended the exchange of hostages detained during the conflict in eastern Ukraine, a spokesperson for Kiev's delegate to the three-party Contact Group on Ukraine crisis said on Wednesday.

"The prisoner swap hit a stalemate. Over the past week, we have received alarming signals about the deterioration of the situation with the release of people," Darka Olifer, spokesperson for Ukraine's representative in the group Leonid Kuchma, wrote on her Facebook page.

Without giving an exact reason for the stoppage of the prisoner exchange, Olifer said that Kiev has information that several captives from the Ukrainian side were allegedly transferred from a rebel military headquarters building to a prison facility in Donetsk.

"Ukraine demands the representatives of certain areas in Donetsk and Lugansk regions to immediately clarify the whereabouts of our citizens," she said.

The prisoner swap is a key part of the Minsk ceasefire agreement, designed to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 9,300 people since April 2014.

Earlier in the day, the three-party Contact Group of Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk held talks in Minsk to discuss the current developments in eastern Ukraine. Enditem
LIVERPOOL, June 29 (Xinhua) -- A delegation from China's city of eternal spring brought a huge helping of color and dance during rain showers in Liverpool Wednesday as part of the world's biggest business festival.

Vice Mayor Li Zhigong from Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan province is heading a 40-strong delegation to the International Business Festival taking place in Liverpool.

He told Xinhua: "We are here in Liverpool to discuss business opportunities, but also to let people know more about the tourism potential of our beautiful city."

"We are known as the city of eternal spring because of our year-round climate. Most people have heard of our big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, now we want them to hear about Kunming and all it has to offer to tourists," said Li.

Musicians and dancers from Kunming Folk Song and Dance Theater are performing as part of a two-day exhibition of culture taking place in the heart of what is one of Europe's biggest shopping centers.

Thousands of shoppers braved occasional rain showers to watch the dance spectacular, while a range of cultural, business and artistic exhibits were in a specially designed marquee.

The exhibition is part of a business and cultural delegation to Liverpool from Kunming, aimed at boosting bilateral trade between the two cities.

The delegation is the largest of 25 from China attending the ongoing International Festival of Business (IFB) in Liverpool.

The performers from Kunming are regarded as cultural envoys, having performed in more than 40 countries worldwide before national leaders and foreign heads of state.

Kunming is known for its rich and diverse ethnic and cultural heritage and is at the heart of one of China's most important tourist areas.

The delegation is also holding a range of business activities and a civic reception at Liverpool Town Hall.

The delegation to Liverpool follows the signing of a Friendship Partnership Agreement between the two cities that will see them building on existing ties and working together to create a positive, mutually beneficial relationship.

The agreement is the result of dialogue between the Kunming Municipal Government and Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson in Chengdu in September 2015.

Vice Mayor Li said: "Our visit to Liverpool reflects our very positive relationship with the city and desire to create new business and cultural opportunities for companies, schools and artistic organisations both here and in Kunming."

Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said: "Kunming is one of the most dynamic city regions in China and is regarded as a gateway to southwest China and the wider southeast Asia region."

"Alongside the opportunities to further our trade links with China, there is fantastic potential to share and explore each other's diverse cultural heritage, creating a rich, vibrant dialogue and positive exchange of ideas," Anderson said. Enditem
TIANJIN, June 28, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L, rear) holds talks with business executives attending the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2016, or the Summer Davos Forum, in Tianjin, north China, June 28, 2016. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang answered questions from Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab and had a dialogue with some business leaders at the 2016 Summer Davos Forum.



Transcript of Premier Li Keqiang Answering Questions After Delivering Special Address at the Opening Ceremony And Meeting with Business Community During 2016 Summer Davos Forum

On 27 June 2016, Premier of the State Council Li Keqiang answered questions from Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab after delivering a special address at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Davos Forum at Tianjin Meijiang Conference and Exhibition Center. On 28 June, Premier Li Keqiang had a dialogue with some business leaders attending the Forum at Tianjin Meijiang Conference and Exhibition Center. Below is a transcript of the two events:

Klaus Schwab: Premier Li Keqiang, thank you for sharing with us such a comprehensive and integrated vision of China's economy. We should not underestimate the challenge related to leading such a large economy. You have graciously agreed to answer one or two questions. You described China's structural reforms and economic adjustment in your special address. And I think it is remarkable to achieve 6.7% growth. And you also shared with us this growth rate is quite stable, but there are still very substantial downward pressures. Now, my question would be: are there any special measures which the Chinese government will take to secure healthy and sustainable economic development?

Li Keqiang: In the first quarter of this year, China's economy grew at 6.7%. And entering Q2, we have maintained a steady momentum of economic development. I should point out that neither has come easily. Such a growth has been achieved when the size of the Chinese economy has reached 10 trillion US dollars. So, the 6.7% growth has generated more additional output than a double digit growth several years ago. Moreover, we have achieved such growth at a time of sluggish global economic recovery. I can also tell you that since last year, growth of Chinese exports has on the whole been in the negative territory. We have relied on our internal drivers to spur growth and our domestic market to provide the room for development. And we have achieved such growth while tackling the longstanding problems in China's development.

When the size of China's economy has become so big, if we still blindly pursue a high growth speed, it will only put more pressure on our resources and the environment, and such growth is unsustainable. The truth is, a medium-high growth is good enough for us in adding jobs, increasing personal income and improving the environment. Recent years have not seen China resort to massive stimulus measures in boosting growth. We have strived for progress while maintaining stable economic performance. We have adhered to pursuing a proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy. And we have focused on advancing structural reforms and succeeded in sustaining medium-high growth. Growth has remained within its proper range and been consistent with our anticipation. Going forward, we will maintain the stability of our policy direction.

In the meantime, we will not underestimate the "variables" in the global economy, nor the potential risks and challenges in China's economy. We have a good reserve of policy instruments to help us meet various challenges. As I said in the special address, the central government debt ratio is pretty low and there is room for us to do more in implementing the proactive fiscal policy. We have a high savings rate in China. That means there is still more that we can do to pursue financial reform, harness existing funds and enhance the transmission mechanism for the financial sector to better serve the real economy. In a word, we are prepared with a good "toolbox" of macro policy instruments to deal with greater challenges. I wish to emphasize that the market should view those short-term fluctuations in China's economy in a calm way. When viewed in the whole of the year and in the long run, China's economy will stay within the proper range and maintain steady growth, and we will be able to strike a balance between steady growth and structural adjustment and, by pursing structural reforms especially supply-side structural reforms, achieve more sustainable development.

We have confidence in a long-term, positive trend of China's economy. I hope that all the business people present here will be long-term investors in China's market and a force for boosting such a trend. We will use fine-tuning measures to address short-term problems, just as I was fine-tuning my earplug to see if the audio services at the meeting venue have satisfied your need. (Laughter)

Klaus Schwab: Maybe with the industrial revolution, in five to ten years, we will have implanted microphones. Would you allow me another question? Your mentioned the importance of the fourth industrialization for the future of China's economy. Now what policies will the Chinese government introduce to fully leverage the potential of this fourth industrial revolution?

Li Keqiang: As I said in the special address, to crack the hard nut of the sluggish global economic recovery, we must address the issue at its root. Hence the imperative to advance structural reforms. This new round of industrial revolution, however one may call it, is now booming and it is a force that no one can afford to overlook. Yesterday evening, I had a meeting with Professor Schwab and a number of forum delegates. It seems that we share such an impression among us that if you go to a place dominated by traditional companies or industries, you may see a lot of problems and find the situation disheartening, but if you go to a place or a company which has seized the opportunity of the new round of industrial revolution and where new industries are booming, you feel that the new economy and new drivers are bringing not just hope but powerful strength.

Mankind has the wisdom of embracing such new hope, hope of the new round of industrial revolution. The Chinese government has made a strong call for innovation-driven development, including both technological innovation and institutional innovation to create more room for everyone to be an innovator. We are championing mass entrepreneurship and innovation in a bid to bring out as much potential of each individual as possible. We have seen such examples in our real world that even an intellectually challenged person may demonstrate a genius' talent in certain areas. So we must cherish the creativity of each individual. This is the first point I want to make.

Second, we need to implement fiscal and tax incentives to support innovation and development of new industries. The central government has adopted a series of preferential tax measures and provided financial support. Yesterday I was briefed by the Tianjin local officials and learned that the Tianjin municipal government has provided guarantee support and risk compensation for the financing extended to innovation-oriented companies. This way, the financial institutions, venture capital and angel capital can provide stronger support for developing new industries and upgrading traditional industries.

Third, we will implement differentiated industrial policies to support the new round of scientific revolution and industrial transformation. We will upgrade traditional industries, enforce stricter environmental, safety and product quality standards to cut overcapacity and eliminate backward capacity. We will introduce supportive measures to boost the growth of new industries and provide new forms of business reasonable space for growth.

To conclude, I want to emphasize that next time when we meet again, whether you are engaged in transforming a traditional industry or developing a new one, you are all the new champions.

Feike Sijbesma, Chairman and CEO of Royal DSM: Premier Li, in recent years, the Chinese government has made vigorous efforts to pursue structural reform, including reforms of the SOEs and functions in the government, and cut in taxes and fees, etc. Could you share with us the priorities in those structural reforms and the progress China is making?

Li Keqiang: Before answering your question, I want to first express my high appreciation to the World Economic Forum for forging such a close partnership with the Chinese side. I'm also very happy to meet friends here, both old and new.

In recent years, the Chinese government has made hard efforts in advancing all-round reform to create the necessary conditions for structural reforms and use structural reform in return to underpin sustained and steady economic growth. We want to maintain balance between steady growth and structural adjustment. What happened in the past couple of years has shown that the Chinese government has not resorted to massive stimulus measures. Instead, we have focused on structural reforms, especially supply-side structural reforms to bring out the creativity of each and every individual and potential of the market. These efforts have improved China's economic structure and supported a medium-high growth of the economy.

In pursuing structural reforms, especially supply-side structural reforms, we have focused on streamlining administration, delegating government power and lifting the undue restrictions on companies and the market. In particular, we have reformed the corporate registration system and investment review system. As a result, in the last couple of years, as many as 40,000 new market entities get registered on an average daily basis. They have given strong boost to employment. Over 13 million urban jobs are added annually. All efforts for maintaining steady economic growth are aimed at ensuring employment.

The endeavor of streamlining administration and delegating power and encouragement of mass entrepreneurship and innovation have also contributed to the improvement of the economic structure. In this process, micro businesses and SMEs have been the largest contributor of new jobs, and made the service sector the biggest sector in the economy. Consumption has been on the rise, fast yet steady, and it has exceeded investment in terms of contribution to GDP growth. All these have made positive impacts on China's economic structure.

Second, we have introduced significant tax cuts and eliminated the undue administrative fees. This has opened up broad space for companies, especially emerging companies, to grow. The activity rate of newly registered companies this year is higher than last year, standing at above 70%. Our policies have paid off.

Third, we have continued to reform SOEs, including large SOEs, to make them leaner but healthier and to ensure that they focus on main businesses, cut the excessive tiers of management and introduce mixed ownership in order to enhance their core competitiveness. We are creating conditions and the environment for SOEs and private companies to compete as equals on a level playing field. This in itself is an effort of structural reform.

In one word, reform is the fundamental driving force for China's economic development, and we will stay firm on this course.

Matthew Prince, CEO of CloudFlare: Premier Li, thank you for meeting with us today. My company is investing in cloud computing infrastructure across China with our partner Baidu. I appreciate your statement in the special address on the importance of cloud to China. My question is about China's strategy to upgrade its manufacturing industry and boost its Internet development, specifically the Made in China 2025 and Internet+ initiatives. What will be the impact of these initiatives? What will be the Chinese government's next priorities in these areas?

Li Keqiang: China is the world's largest developing country and a country that is still in the process of industrialization. The manufacturing sector is still of fundamental importance to China's development. The priority now is to transform and upgrade the manufacturing sector from low-medium to medium-high level. Hence we introduced the Made in China 2025 and Internet+ action plan, which have much commonality with the theme of this year's forum - the fourth industrial revolution.

First, the Made in China 2025 and Internet+ initiatives are inseparable. To upgrade China's manufacturing sector and elevate China's 200+ industrial products, the output of which is the largest in the world, to a new level, we need to rely on the Internet, cloud computing, big data and other technologies to make China's manufacturing smarter and more digitized.

Second, in upgrading China's manufacturing sector, we need to use the Internet+ to pool intellect and resources globally to offer solutions to various problems. In my special address yesterday, I gave the example of a local Tianjin company of cloud computing which serves the manufacturing sector. I hope that CloudFlare will not just work with big companies like Baidu, but also consider partnering with new growth cloud computing companies in China.

Third, in upgrading the manufacturing sector, we must be highly responsive to the market changes. China is already a middle-income country. The middle-income class has diverse needs, so we must ensure that the manufacturing sector is customized and suited to customers' individual needs. We need to use the Internet to get a better feeling of their needs and make our products accordingly. There is also need for interactions with customers, and this will open up a broader market for the manufacturing sector and integrate products with services. We live at a time of fast changing market demands and a time when the potential of each individual can be brought out through mass entrepreneurship and innovation and Internet+. This presents a challenge to the manufacturing sector, but more importantly, an opportunity.

Klaus Kleinfeld, Chairman and CEO of ALCOA: Thank you for taking the time. I have a question that goes on the "cloud" to the heavy industry that sometimes produces a lot of clouds. You and your administration have been very clear in addressing the issue of overcapacity. This has also caused a lot of media and international attention. As China is taking massive actions to address the issue, how are you going to deal with the economic and social impact of the changes?

Li Keqiang: Just now we discussed the "cloud" floating in the sky. Now we need to turn our attention to the traditional heavy industries standing on the ground. But the truth is a close link is already taking shape between these two. Cloud computing is playing a greater role in transforming and upgrading traditional industries by collecting and analyzing massive data to find new pathways to renovate and upgrade traditional industries. And traditional industries are one of the basis for the birth and growth of cloud computing.

Heavy industry is a traditional industry. We must not turn our back on heavy industries. Without heavy industries, where do we get the materials for the cell phones and other products? What we are doing now is to cut the excess and backward capacity in heavy industries. Such excess capacity is the result of the sluggish global economic recovery and anemic growth of global trade, so it's a global issue that requires a global solution.

There is excess capacity in some sectors in China. In recent years, we have taken strong steps to phase out overcapacity. We are firm in our determination to carry on with this effort, not only to meet our domestic need, but also to do what we should for the international community as a responsible major country. I want to emphasize that China's heavy industry capacity is mainly oriented toward the domestic market, not for large exports. Exports both last year and in the first five months of this year declined.

We are now working hard to phase out the excess capacity of steel and coal. In the next few years, we plan to eliminate 100-150 million tons of excess steel capacity and 800 million tons of coal-making capacity, involving the employment of some two million people. Yet it is encouraging that with mass entrepreneurship and innovation, new industries and new forms of business have flourished and added more jobs than we expected, so we are able to ensure that the affected workers will not lose their job but will get re-employed. The central government has allocated 100 billion yuan for this purpose, and asked local governments to come up with matching funds for the re-employment and re-settlement of affected workers.

In carrying out this task, we need to be firm in the resolve, and follow a market-driven and law-based approach. We will enforce stricter environmental, safety and product quality standards to meet our goal. No doubt, the legal rights and interests of workers will be protected in this process. This is not just the responsibility of the Chinese government. I believe you all have a strong awareness of fulfilling corporate social responsibilities in your business operations.

Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce: Premier Li, it's nice to see you again. Thank you for the tremendous commitment of time you've made to the conference. China has an incredible economic success and you have depicted China's future economic blueprint on many occasions. I would like to know what are the most urgent challenges or obstacles in China's economy. As CEOs like myself and others being here, is there a way that we can partner with you and how can we help you eliminate these obstacles and challenges?

Li Keqiang: It is hard to describe the biggest challenge China's economy faces in one sentence. We now face, at the minimum, two major challenges. One is the sluggish global economic recovery, which means China's economy, one that is deeply integrated into the world economy, now confronts an uncertain and unstable external environment. The other challenge is the entwining of our own longstanding problems, the historical extensive mode of development and institutional barriers. We will focus on tackling our domestic issues and managing our own affairs well.p China needs to use reform and innovation to achieve economic transformation and sustainable, healthy development. Participation of foreign companies is needed in this process. China's reform and opening-up have been developing side by side. In many cases, opening-up could propel reform. The involvement of foreign companies will introduce new technologies and managerial experience, which can be of help to Chinese companies and industrial upgrading. Meanwhile, to heed and adopt the views of companies will help us improve our institutions and provide them with better services.

During China's economic transformation, the new economy is developing, the service sector is growing and traditional industries are going through upgrading. All these will generate tremendous market demand. We welcome more foreign companies to invest in China and will further ease market access and level the playing field. Whether making investment or working in partnership with local companies, the overwhelming majority of the foreign investors would have had reasonable or even fairly high returns when they tally the total scores. China is still the most promising investment market in the world and should be the world's most attractive investment destination.

John B. Veihmeyer, Chairman of KPMG: Premier Li, thank you for your very open, clear and direct answers to the questions. It means a lot to us. Thank you very much for that. My question relates to the capital markets. As we all know, our capital markets are very interconnected around the world. We've seen a latest example of that this past week in the aftermath of the Brexit vote in the UK, just how dependent and interconnected our capital markets are. So there is tremendous interest outside of China in the strength and continued development of China's capital markets. What can the Chinese government continue to do to strengthen and further develop capital markets and the financial system here in China?

Li Keqiang: It is true that the result of the Brexit vote has sent jitters across global financial markets. As I said in my special address yesterday, now is the time for all of us to work together to strengthen confidence, to prevent the spread of panic and to maintain stability of the global capital markets.

On China's part, it will do its best to maintain the stability of its domestic capital and financial markets. This is how China can contribute to the global financial stability. China will continue to enforce financial reforms to develop its multi-tiered capital markets, because on the whole capital markets in China are not yet well-developed, some markets are not yet mature, and the capital markets and direct financing each only takes up a small percentage in China's financial system and in total social financing. For companies, direct financing only accounts for about 15% of their access to finance. Hence, we need to develop multi-tiered capital markets.

The Chinese people have a longstanding propensity to save, and savings in China account for nearly half of the GDP. That is one cause of the high leverage ratio of non-financial companies in China. We have taken steps to gradually bring down the high ratio by developing multi-tiered capital markets, market-based debt restructuring, merging and bankruptcy. I want to emphasize that in the first five months this year, Chinese corporate profits in the industrial sector rose by 6.4%. That means there is the basis and room for us to bring down the leverage ratio of non-financial companies and raise their efficiency.

In developing capital markets, we will guard against systemic and regional financial risks and prevent cross infection of different financial markets. We will also reform and improve the regulatory regime. This should be a market-driven and law-based process. Just as China's economy, capital markets in China may also experience short-term fluctuations, which are hardly avoidable. But we will not allow rollercoaster rides of capital markets. We will follow market principles and international practices, and deal with the isolated default cases in accordance with the law. All in all, we will continue to develop the capital markets to make them more mature and better play their role in underpinning economic development.

Klaus Schwab: I would like to acknowledge the presence of such high-level government delegation, the esteemed members of government that have accompanied you. Thank you very much for your presence. Your Excellency Premier Li, when I was teaching business policy, I said a successful future has to be based on a grand vision. You presented to us yesterday your grand concept and vision. But it has also to be operationalized in the details. I think we are all impressed by the picture of China's economy you showed us yesterday and how much it is operationalized. I am personally impressed with the detailed knowledge and facts. So to summarize, I can only say there are very often, in the world, particularly in the media, doubts and questions. But I think you have given great answers to all the questions and I think we will all act as ambassadors for what we have heard here and support the development of China in any way we can. We support China's role as a very responsible actor. I think we all are living in a global community, interdependent. So it is in our interest to carry the message which you shared with us in the last two days. Thank you very much.

Li Keqiang: I want to thank you, Professor Schwab and all present for your tremendous effort in making the Summer Davos Forum this year a success. The relationship between our two sides is indeed an interesting one: you could be said to be the host of the Forum and so could we, as the Forum is held on Chinese soil. I agree with you, Professor Schwab, that we have presented both a grand vision for China's development and concrete details supporting the operationalization of this vision. I hope all the business representatives here may try the reverse way: to use the details in your respective industries to prove that China's vision can become a reality. I believe we will all emerge as winners in this process.
(L-R) Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. PresidentBarack Obamashake hands for a photo-op in front of Parliament Hill during theNorth American Leaders' Summit at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Canada on June 29, 2016. (Xinhua/David Kawai)

OTTAWA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico kicked off a summit Wednesday to explore opportunities for North America to become the world's most competitive player in a clean growth economy.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met U.S. President Barack Obama, and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at the North American Leaders' Summit.

Obama arrived in Canada aboard Air Force One, which landed at the Ottawa airport around 10:15 a.m. Wednesday. He was received by Canada's Governor General David Johnston and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion.

Trudeau greeted Obama with a handshake and a warm hug at the gate of the National Gallery of Canada where the summit is held. They then joined Mexican President Nieto, who has been here on a two-day state visit to Canada since Monday.

The three leaders are to hold a joint news conference at the conclusion of the summit Wednesday afternoon.

"Today, the leaders of Canada, the United States, and Mexico come together to address shared challenges, knowing cooperation pays off, and that working in partnership always beats going it alone," Trudeau said in a statement before the summit.

"The outcome of today's discussions will improve the lives of Canadians, Americans, and Mexicans across the continent," he said.

It is worth mentioning that Canada and Mexica have cleared away the long-standing trade and travel irritants.

Trudeau announced Tuesday that Canada will lift its controversial visa requirement for Mexicans from December this year while Mexico will end a ban on Canadian beef imports.

Both Trudeau and Nieto described the relationship between their countries as a model of political and economic cooperation, in sharp contrast to the growing strains of protectionism and isolation sweeping the United States and Britain.

After the joint news conference, Trudeau is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Obama, who will end his day-long visit to the Canadian capital with an address to Parliament. Obama is making what is likely to be his last official visit to Canada as U.S. president.

The North America region has a combined population of almost 530 million and an economy that represents more than one-quarter of the world's gross domestic product.

The three countries are among each other's largest trading partners and sources of foreign investment.

In 2015, North American trilateral merchandise trade amounted to 1 trillion U.S. dollars, and the combined GDP has more than doubled over the past two decades, rising from 8 trillion U.S. dollars in 1993) to 20.6 trillion dollars in 2015.

Related:

North American leaders vow to cooperate against rising protectionism

OTTAWA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico pledged to further their cooperation in fighting against rising protectionism at the close of the North American Leaders Summit held here Wednesday. Full story

Obama to attend North American Leaders' Summit in Canada
PYONGYANG, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un on Wednesday was elected chairman of a newly-created institution at the 4th session of the 13th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), or the country's parliament, state television reported.

Three members of the standing committee of the political bureau of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea were elected vice-chairmen of the institution, namely Hwang Pyong So, Choe Ryong Hae and Pak Pong Ju.

Eight others were appointed members of the institution, some of whom are members of the political bureau of the WPK Central Committee.

The session revised the Constitution of the DPRK.

The new state institution, called the State Affairs Commission, was set up to replace the National Defense Commission, according to the revised Constitution. Kim has led the National Defense Commission as first chairman since April 2012.

In addition, the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office and the Supreme Court were changed to the Central Public Prosecutors Office and the Central Court respectively, according to the revision.

A personnel adjustment was also made to the Presidium of the SPA, the cabinet and legal institutions. The Secretariat under the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea will be removed.

Kim was promoted from the first secretary to the chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea at the 7th party congress held in early May. He is also holding the post of the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army.

At the meeting, Premier Pak Pong Ju touched upon the five-year economic development plan, which was initiated by Kim at a rare party congress convened in 36 years.

A loyalty campaign called "200-day battle" from June 1 until Dec. 17 was rolled out nationwide to mark a starting point for implementing the plan.

Pak said that the objective of the plan was to vitalize people's economic life, ensure balance between various economic departments and lay a foundation for a sustained development of the national economy.

He stressed that the cabinet should stick to the party's line of Byungjin, or parallel development of the economy and nuclear weapons, address electricity shortage, put basic industries back on a normal track, and increase output of agriculture and light industry so as to fundamentally improve people's livelihood.

The SPA, as the country's top legislature, has the power to adopt, amend or supplement enactments to the constitution, determine state policies and budgets, and adjust the leadership. The third session of the 13th SPA was held in April 2015.
ISTANBUL, June 29, 2016(Xinhua) -- Two passengers hug each other at Istanbul's Ataturk airport in Turkey on June 29, 2016. The Ataturk airport in Istanbul resumed business early Wednesday morning with boosted security, following hours of mess and chaos that ensued from a series of suicide bombing attacks. (Xinhua/He Canling)

ISTANBUL, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkey announced a day of national mourning on Wednesday for the 41 lives lost the night before during deadly suicide bombing attacks on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, one of the busiest in Europe.

Across the country flags are flowing at half-mast for the dead, among them 12 foreign nationals from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Tunisia, Iran, Ukraine, Jordan and Uzbekistan.

A statement released by the Istanbul governor's office also said that of the 239 wounded in the attacks, 109 have been discharged from hospital.

"Everyone is shocked over such a big terror incident," said German journalist Stephen Richter, who arrived in Istanbul on Wednesday to cover the tragedy.

Turkish media reported that Turkey's intelligence units sent a warning letter to related state institutions about potential attacks by the Islamic State (IS) militants nearly 20 days ago.

Hande Firat, CNNTurk's representative in Ankara, said on a live broadcast that Ataturk Airport was listed as a potential target in the letter.

As of now, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim blamed the IS for the atrocity, though he said efforts were continuing to identify the perpetrators.

On Wednesday afternoon, the counterterrorism teams launched an operation against two addresses in Istanbul over the attacks and seized coded organizational documents, the Sabah daily reported.

Meanwhile, the public prosecutor's office in Istanbul's district of Bakirkoy revealed that three suicide bombers arrived at Ataturk Airport by the same taxi.

Two started shooting at the crowd with a Kalashnikov and a Glock rifle after forcing through the X-ray security check point at the entrance of the international terminal, while the third one went upstairs, the Hurriyet daily said.

Before they entered, they had clashes with security officials and got wounded, the daily added.

The trio detonated their explosives, and the explosions left deep scars at the airport, most visibly three large areas of receded ceiling and broken glass walls both inside and outside the arrivals section of the international terminal.

Airport employees on the morning shift were on the scene examining the damages. Some lost their colleagues and declined to make comments to reporters.

The airport resumed business on Wednesday morning following hours of mess and chaos and the suspension of all flights.

Related:

Spotlight: IS blamed for Istanbul airport attack, Turkey faces severe anti-terrorism challenge

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkey is facing severe challenges in fighting terrorism after an attack on its busiest airport was added to the list of the recent frequent terror attacks in the country. Full story

Singaporean leaders convey condolences, strongly condemn terror attacks in Istanbul
by Holitiana Randrianasolo and Eric Laperozy

ANTANANARIVO, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Madagascar celebrated the 56th anniversary of its independence from France on Sunday, when a grenade explosion was heard around 7:00 pm (GMT + 3) from the concert's podium, killing two people and injuring 84 others in the municipal stadium of Mahamasina.

The Secretary of State of the Gendarmerie General Paza Didier talked about terrorism act that targeted several people at once in a projectile explosion when he rushed to the crime scene. Some hours before the blast, two grenades also were seized by the armed forces during their checking at Madagascar's capital Antananarivo.

For his part, Madagascar's defense minister, Xavier Beni Rasolofonirina also denounced terrorism and irresponsible act. He condemned the explosion, "a vile act to shed patriots' blood for whatever reasons the authors has the same blood as the victims in their veins".

Informed immediately of the bloody explosion in Mahamasina stadium, the Prime Minister Olivier Mahafaly Solonandrasana said that face to the massacre coating of terrorism, authorities will not tolerate and promised to take drastic measures and will sanction authors of these acts.

"It was no more destabilization but a terrorist act to kill people. It is inadmissible because it exceeds the limits, and I order the army, the gendarmerie and the police to take responsibility," Madagascar's President Hery Rajaonarimampianina lamented during his visit to the victims in hospital.

The officials talked about terrorism act but actually Madagascar has always excluded the real experiences of terrorist attack as known in other countries asked by Daesh, Boko Haram, or Islamic State.

Malagasy people have rather known explosions of handmade bomb or molotov cocktail, and rarely explosion in the offensive grenade that is only owned by militaries. The head of security and investigations of the gendarmerie, General Anthony Rakotoarison himself told Xinhua on Monday in an interview that "the projectile fragments found in the stadium were those of a modified projectile, clogged with plumb. So it was a handcraft grenade."

Following the grenade explosions in a crowd fully cheering their national day celebration, rumors continue to spread about the possible cancellation of the 16th Summit of the Francophonie scheduled to be held in Madagascar from Nov.26-27 this year.

Moreover, fear of terrorism pushed local observers to think that such an international meeting would be an ideal theater for terrorists to show their acts especially insecurity is getting worse in Madagascar because of this Sunday's blast.

Fortunately, Madagascar's Foreign Affairs minister Beatrice Atallah confirmed on Monday that all the international meetings, including the meeting of French speaking parliament in July, the summit of Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in October and the French speaking countries summit (La Francophonie) in November will be on schedule though this terrorism act on the national day.

Nevertheless all these ideas of "terrorism", the leaders of current regime also qualified this blast as "a political destabilization".

"This is a heinous act! Blood flowed. Be aware, an offensive grenade is launched to innocent Malagasy people. The Independence Day is not only for the president with government members but for of all Malagasy people. There is something called political truce worldwide. But in Madagascar, the political truce is not even respected," Prime Minister Olivier Mahafaly Solonandrasana said.

The president Hery Rajaonarimampianina for his part expressed that a divergence of views can exist but acts of destabilization are inadmissible. "You cannot kill like this the population though you do not like the leader. I never tolerate destabilization," the president added.

Former presidents, including Didier Ratsiraka who presided for 21 years from 1975 to 1991 and from 1996 to 2001, Albert Zafy who led the country from 1993 to 1996 and Andry Rajoelina who led the transition from 2009 to January 2014, did not attend the military parade which is always considered as the apotheosis of the national day celebration. Marc Ravalomanana, who presided from 2001 to March 2009, attended the military parade.

For the two elected former presidents, their old age allowed them to be absent because Ratsiraka will be 80 in November while Zafy is already 89, but the absence of Rajoelina, who is still 42 years, is significant. Actually Rajoelina became opposition to his candidate to the 2013 presidential election.

The regime's leaders suspected the opposition as behind this blast because the Senator Lylison De Rene, supporting Andry Rajoelina, still teased the government by saying to come to Mahamasina stadium for the national day celebration though an arrest warrant against him was issued since June 9. The arrest warrant was issued against Lylison for flagrant offense following his public incitement to make Antananarivo a "dead city" in May 2016.

After this announcement of Lylison to come in Mahamasina, the police took a very strong security disposal during the military parade knowing that Lylison is a well known colonel of the gendarmerie who headed the Special Intervention Force during the transition of 2009-2014.

Hery Rajaonarimampianina, minister of Finance and Budget of the transition from 2009-2014 was proposed by the president of the transition Andry Rajoelina as his candidate in the 2013 presidential election when the later was banned by the international community not to be candidate. But Rajoelina became opposition of Rajaonarimampianina when the later decided to separate from his former political friends of the transition and chose to ally with Marc Ravalomanana during his swearing ceremony on Jan. 25, 2016. Ravalomanana was ousted by Rajoelina in March 2009 and still remain his political enemy until now.

After this declaration of Rajaonarimampianina, an explosion took place the evening of his swearing ceremony, killing one people and injuring several others.

General Anthony Rakotoarison told Xinhua on Monday that the investigation on this blast of Jan. 25, 2016 is still underway and not yet completed because the author was not identified.

Explosions of handmade bomb repeated in Madagascar between 2009 and late 2010, when Rajoelina took power and was challenged by Ravalomanana's supporters. Investigators have always said after their investigation that the bombs that have succeeded since 2009 in Madagascar had political below.

The bombs were calm after the signing of the roadmap in September 2011 between the crisis protagonists. Indeed the roadmap ordered Malagasy politicians to install a consensus government, where almost all political actors will have seats in the transition.

According to the expert in political analysis Raniriharinosy Harimanana, the attack of June 26 is a social fact to attract leaders' attention.

"These acts of terrorism, insecurity, came from the social discrimination checked sociologically," Professor Raniriharinosy interpreted while advancing it would be still time for dialogue to cure this destabilization desire.

"The political lesson is dialogue and the resumption of national reconciliation which is our priority and that is stipulated in the preamble of the Constitution of the 4th Republic on Dec. 11, 2010," Raniriharinosy added. Enditem
ACCRA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government has reiterated its support for Ghana in developing its Savannah zone through agriculture, infrastructure and technology development.

Opening the China-Ghana Economic Cooperation Forum here on Tuesday, Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Sun Baohong said food was critical in the development of every country.

"Food is the first necessity of the people. Agriculture is the source of people's food and clothing for survival and the foundation of national industrialization and economic development," she stressed.

In China, she said government always attached great importance to agricultural development and established the four tasks of industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization to build a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way.

"While the four tasks are complementary and form an organic whole, yet without agricultural modernization to fulfill industrialization, informatization and urbanization would be like water without a source and a tree without roots," the ambassador noted.

Sun described the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority zone as full of great potentials that needed to be harnessed for Ghana's development.

"SADA Zone abounds in natural resources, including up to 8 million hectares of land suitable for commercial agriculture, rich mineral resources such as gold, bauxite and manganese as well as inexhaustible renewable energies of solar, wind and hydro power.

"The Chinese side will, under the spirit of the forum initiatives, uphold the guideline on China's relations with Africa featuring sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith, encourage and support Chinese companies to explore cooperation in SADA Zone, and further lift China-Ghana economic and trade cooperation to a new high," she promised.

The Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) was established to bridge the developmental gap between southern Ghana and the Savannah belt comprising the Northern, Upper-East, Upper-West, Volta and Brong-Ahafo Regions.

The forum was therefore organized with the aim of promoting the joint development of SADA zone by China and Ghana to step into substantial stage, and facilitate the China-Ghana trade and economic cooperation to achieve more fruitful results.

Chinese firms operating in the various sectors of Ghana mounted desks to answer questions from potential partners.

Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Ibrahim Murtala Muhammad, lauded China's assistance to Ghana over the years.

"It is important to acknowledge that China has provided enormous technical and economic assistance within its capacity and made frantic efforts to promote the development of cooperation between the two countries. Infrastructural evidences are rife on the assistances the Chinese government has provided Ghana." Enditem
ISTANBUL, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Ataturk airport in Istanbul resumed business early Wednesday morning with boosted security, following hours of mess and chaos that ensued from a series of suicide bombing attacks.

Inside the arrivals section of the international terminal, the scene of the series of attacks which left at least 41 dead and 239 others injured, people are on the move everywhere and many are waiting for their relatives and friends as usual.

Two girls, beaming with pleasure at seeing each other, hugged one another again and again.

Meters away, an area of ceiling as large as 100 square meters was shaken off its decorations in the explosion, becoming a constant reminder of what a tragedy had befallen the night before.

Three suicide bombers arrived at the airport by taxi on Tuesday night and opened fire before blowing themselves up, making it the deadliest attack on the metropolis in recent memory and forcing the suspension of all flights for hours.

"Everyone is shocked over such a big terror incident," said German journalist Stephen Richter, who arrived in Istanbul on Wednesday to cover the tragedy.

Outside the terminal, the perpetrators left another two huge scars for the airport -- another two areas of receded ceiling, with one much larger than that inside.

At the security-check area, the most visible damage are three glass walls left cracked in the explosion.

Workers were working to erase the scars, not new to a metropolis that has come under a series of deadly attacks over the past year amid a deteriorating security situation in the country.

Some airport employees on the morning shift were on the scene examining the damages. Some lost their colleagues and declined to make comments.

"My children begged me not to return to Turkey," said a Turkish passenger, whose plane just landed at the airport from Frankfurt. "I told them not to worry, it could happen anywhere."

Neither he nor his family could have a sleep during the night trying to figure out what was going on, he added.

An Iranian couple, who have not seen their son Rashed for four years, greeted him with applause at the airport.

"After the last night attack, I thought I wouldn't see my son at all," said the mother.
ISLAMABAD, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Wednesday welcomed the latest developments in bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia.

Relations between Russia and Turkey had been tense after Turkish forces shot down a Russian Su-24 jet near the Turkish-Syrian border on Nov. 24, 2015 for alleged airspace violation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday in a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that his country is ready to launch the process of restoring its relationship with Turkey for the normalization of bilateral ties.

"We fully support the wise steps being taken by the leaders of the two countries to normalize relations," the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said.

"Normalization of relations between Turkey and Russia would be helpful in reducing tensions in the region and effectively dealing with regional and global challenges including the menace of terrorism," the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

He said Pakistan enjoys close friendly relations with both Turkey and Russia and will continue to work with Ankara and Moscow to enhance cooperation in all fields of mutual interest.

The Turkish and Russian leaders also agreed to consider the possibility of a face-to-face meeting in the near future, according to a Kremlin statement. Enditem
Passengers leave Ataturk airport in Istanbul on June 28, 2016 after explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkey's biggest airport, killing at least 41 people and injuring 230. (Xinhua/AFP)

CAIRO, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Leaders and officials from around the Arab world expressed anger and sadness following the attacks on Turkey's main airport in Istanbul that left at least 41 people killed and more than 230 injured.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday condemned the deadly attack on Turkey's Istanbul Ataturk international airport.

"Extremism and violence is a global threat, and we must tackle it together," Zarif said, expressing regret that terrorism has hit Iran's "friendly and neighboring" country.

Meanwhile, all flights from Iran to Turkey's Istanbul were suspended following the attacks, Iran's Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) announced on Wednesday.

"Following the explosions at Turkey's Istanbul airport, eight flights from the Imam Khomeini International Airport to Istanbul airport were canceled," Director of Public Relations Department of the CAO Reza Jafarzadeh was quoted as saying by Iran's private news agency Tasnim.

No flights to the Turkish airport are being operated, said Jafarzadeh.

Also on Wednesday, Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid in a statement expressed his condolences to the Turkish people as well as the victims' families, and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

The Egyptian people will stand by the Turkish people during this critical time, the statement said, adding that Egypt is urging the world to unite its efforts towards eradicating terrorism.

A mother of victims reacts outside a forensic medicine building close to Istanbul's airport on June 29, 2016, a day after a suicide bombing and gun attack targetted Istanbul's airport, killing at least 36 people. (Xinhua/AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also strongly condemned the fatal attack and called for a joint effort against terrorism.

"All civilized nations must stand together to fight the scourge of terrorism," he said in a statement released on his behalf.

Meanwhile, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin sent a letter of condolence to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying he wishes the renewed dialogue following the Israel-Turkey reconciliation deal "will greatly aid in our joint efforts against this threat."

The deal, signed Tuesday after six years of diplomatic crisis between the two former allies, includes resumption of cooperation between Turkey and Israel.

Algeria on Wednesday also urged the international community to further combine global counterterrorism efforts.

"We strongly condemn the triple terrorist attacks which hit Istanbul's Ataturk airport and we offer condolences to the victims' families," APS news agency quoted Abdelaziz Benali Cherif, spokesman for the Algerian Foreign Ministry, as saying.

"Algeria expresses its solidarity with the people and government of Turkey after this despicable attack," he said.

"The terrorist escalation in Turkey and elsewhere in the world urges once again the international community to further combine their actions against terrorism, which poses serious threat to world's peace and stability," the diplomat said.

Turkey announced a day of national mourning on Wednesday for the 41 lives lost during the atrocity at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, one of the busiest in Europe.
LONDON, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The first name was put forward at Westminster Wednesday in the search to find a new Conservative prime minister. Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb announced his candidacy for the keys to 10 Downing Street.

But across the floor of the House of Commons, the main opposition Labour benches remained in turmoil after leader Jeremy Corbyn clung onto his job, refusing more calls by senior party members to stand down.

Ed Miliband, who Corbyn replaced last fall as leader, was one of the latest to urge his successor to step down. Miliband described Corbyn's position as untenable.

Labour veteran Harriet Harman, who became acting Labour leader after Miliband quit also made a plea to Corbyn to go.

And in the first Prime Minister's Question time since Britons voted to leave the EU last Thursday, Prime Minister David Cameron also joined in the chorus of calls to Corbyn.

Cameron told Corbyn to resign as Labour leader, claiming it is not in the national interest for him to continue.

Cameron criticised Corbyn's efforts during the EU referendum, finally shouting to him across the floor of the house: "For heaven's sake man, go."

One of the likely challengers to Corbyn's leadership, former deputy leader Tom Watson announced late Wednesday that he will not mount a challenge.

Watson quit Corbyn's shadow cabinet along with virtually every other front bench Labour politicians in a determined demonstration of the opposition to Corbyn remaining in the top job.

Watson has been trying to persuade his former boss to go, insisting that the impasse was placing the Labour Party in peril.

Even a vote of no confidence by three quarters of Labour MPs was not enough to budge Corbyn, who stormed into the job last fall with massive grassroots support from Labour members across the country.

Corbyn has announced that if he is challenged he will stand again for the job, knowing that last year he garnered almost 250,000 votes, compared to the 80,000 his nearest rival, MP Andy Burnham, received.

Anti-Corbyn MPs insist that much the leader's support has diminished, mainly because many of his young supporters were supporters of Britain remaining in Europe. But Corbyn has responded by refusing to "betray" party members who backed him by resigning.

Watson's decision means that only one other senior MP remains as a front runner, Angela Eagle, MP for Wallasey near Liverpool. She stood down from Corbyn's shadow cabinet along with the twin sister Maria Eagle who had also been a front bench shadow minister.

Meanwhile in the Conservative camp, the Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb became the first to announce he will be bidding to become leader of the party, effectively the prime minister if he is successful. He said he will seek the leadership, promising a "One Nation" Conservatism.

Former London Mayor Boris Johnson is said to have the support of 100 Conservative MPs, with Home Secretary Theresa May also expected to stand.

Conservative candidates have until 12 p.m. (noon) Thursday to put their names forward.

The Conservative leadership race was triggered by Cameron's decision to stand down after he failed to persuade Britons to vote for remaining in EU in the historical referendum.

Related:

Spotlight: Crisis in Britain's Labour Party as MPs pass vote of no confidence in leader

LONDON, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party, said Tuesday he had no plan to quit after his own MPs passed a vote of no confidence in him. Full story

Spotlight: EU leaders say "no single market a la carte" for Britain
Photo taken on June 28, 2016 shows houses destroyed in an explosion in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. A person was killed and other nine were injured on Tuesday afternoon in an explosion, which damaged 25 houses in Mississauga, a satellite city in western GreaterToronto Area. (Xinhua/Zou Zheng)

TORONTO, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A huge explosion occurred Tuesday on the eastern outskirts of Toronto, Canada's biggest city, killing one person and injuring nine others.

The cause of the blast that took place at about 4:20 p.m. (2020 GMT) in Mississauga, Ontario, remains unknown. Local police said it is too early to speculate on what led to the explosion.

Garrett Brazzier, who was driving on Rathburn Road East near the blast scene, said: "I heard a loud bang, like a super-loud bang. It sounded like a bomb went off, almost. I looked in my rear-view mirror and there was debris flying everywhere. There was a huge dust cloud."

Fire crews will search the scene for clues of the cause of the blast and victims.

An official at the scene told reporters that, 25 houses were impacted by the explosion, six were heavily damaged.

Policemen block the road to the explosion site in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, on June 28, 2016. A person was killed and other nine were injured on Tuesday afternoon in an explosion, which damaged 25 houses in Mississauga, a satellite city in western Greater Toronto Area. (Xinhua/Zou Zheng)

Police have evacuated the area, and 50 to 100 people have been forced to leave their homes. A reception area was set up.

People gather near the explosion site in Mississauga, Canada, on June 28, 2016. A person was killed and other nine were injured on Tuesday afternoon in an explosion, which damaged 25 houses in Mississauga, a satellite city in western Greater Toronto Area. (Xinhua/Zou Zheng)

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said gas and power to 58 homes have been cut off. Residents were told they should expect to be away from their homes "for a significant period of time."
CAIRO, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The initial data of one of the black boxes of EgyptAir flight that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea last month confirmed there was smoke on board, the Egyptian Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee said in a statement Wednesday.

The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR) have recently been sent to Paris for repairs and Cairo received the fixed FDR Tuesday while repairing the CVR is still in progress.

"Recorded data is showing a consistency with ACARS messages of lavatory smoke and avionics smoke," the Egyptian committee said in the statement.

EgyptAir Flight MS804, an Airbus A320, went missing from radar screens on May 19 en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 people on board, including 30 Egyptians and 15 French.

"Following the successful download of the data of the FDR of the doomed A320, decoding and validation of more than 1,200 parameter is in progress in order to commence the next phase of reading and analyzing the data," the statement pointed out.

A few days after the plane went missing on May 19, the Egyptian military said it found some personal belongings of the victims and small pieces of the plane wreckage in the Mediterranean Sea 290 km north of the coastal city of Alexandria.

Later on, the Egyptian government hired French vessel John Lethbridge for deep underwater search and the vessel managed to locate several spots of the wreckage of the doomed and eventually found the two black boxes but they were damaged.

"Some recovered wreckage parts of the front section of the aircraft showed signs of high temperature damage and soot," said the committee's statement.

The investigators said an analysis will be carried out to try to identify the source and reason for those signs.

"Regarding the CVR, repairs are still under progress at the French aircraft accident investigation bureau," the statement continued.

The reason for the tragic fall of EgyptAir Flight MS804 is still unknown with all possibilities on the table, including a severe technical failure and a terrorist bomb, yet without a strong clue for any.
ISTANBUL, June 29, 2016(Xinhua) -- Two passengers hug each other at Istanbul's Ataturk airport in Turkey on June 29, 2016. The Ataturk airport in Istanbul resumed business early Wednesday morning with boosted security, following hours of mess and chaos that ensued from a series of suicide bombing attacks. (Xinhua/He Canling)

WASHINGTON, June 29 (Xinhua) -- After the deadly attack at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan warned in an interview published on Wednesday that the Islamic State (IS) wants to conduct similar attacks in the United States.

"I am worried from the standpoint of an intelligence professional who looks at the capabilities of Daesh ... and their determination to kill as many as people as possible and to carry out attacks abroad," said Brennan in an interview with Yahoo News, referring to an acronym for the group in the Arabic language.

"I'd be surprised if Daesh is not trying to carry out that kind of attack in the United States," said Brennan.

At least 41 people were killed and more than 200 others injured in explosions that hit Ataturk Airport on Tuesday.

Turkish media reported that Turkey's intelligence units sent a warning letter to related state institutions about potential attacks by the Islamic State (IS) militants nearly 20 days ago.

Hande Firat, CNNTurk's representative in Ankara, said on a live broadcast that Ataturk Airport was listed as a potential target in the letter.

As of now, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

While he did not confirm that IS was behind the attack on Tuesday, Brennan said that choosing suicide bombing as the method of attack "is usually more a Daesh technique."

Related:

Spotlight: IS blamed for Istanbul airport attack, Turkey faces severe anti-terrorism challenge

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkey is facing severe challenges in fighting terrorism after an attack on its busiest airport was added to the list of the recent frequent terror attacks in the country. Full story

Singaporean leaders convey condolences, strongly condemn terror attacks in Istanbul
Members of the Chinese military team arrive at the airport in Bamako, Mali, June 3, 2016. A specialist medical team sent by Chinese military arrived in Mali on June 3 to join Chinese peacekeepers there and help deal with casualties from a Tuesday terrorist attack. (Xinhua/Yang Zurong)

UNITED NATIONS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Wednesday decided to increase the force level of UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) to counter grave security situation provoked by armed groups in the country.

In a unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-nation council decided to increase MINUSMA's force level to 13,289 military personnel and 1,920 police personnel.

The resolution also authorizes MINUSMA to "take all necessary means" to carry out its mandate of supporting the implementation of Mali's peace agreement in "a more proactive and robust posture."

MINUSMA was established in 2013 to support Mali's reconciliation between the north and south and carry out security-related tasks.

More than one year ago, the peace agreement was reached among Mali's government, the country's main rebel coalition, pro-government militias as well as some minor rebel groups.

According to the resolution, the Security Council also extended the mandate of MINUSMA until June 30, 2017 to support and monitor the ceasefire.

MINUSMA has become a frequent target of terrorist attacks in Mali. So far, the mission has lost more than 60 lives, making it the UN's deadliest active mission.

This year in May alone, a series of attacks directed against the mission killed 12 peacekeepers and injured many more.

According to MINUSMA, terrorist groups like Ansar Dine, al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb and Al Mourabitoune continue their insurgency against MINUSMA and Malian forces. These groups get support from the local population as well as some groups that have signed the peace agreement.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has recommended the Security Council to strengthen MINUSMA's capabilities to ensure the mission forces are adequately equipped to operate in the dangerous and unpredictable environment across the country.
Turkish police block the entrance after a suicide bomb attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, 28 June 2016. (EPA/SEDAT SUNA)

WASHINGTON, June 29 (Xinhua) -- After the deadly attack at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan warned in an interview published on Wednesday that the Islamic State (IS) wants to conduct similar attacks in the United States.

"I am worried from the standpoint of an intelligence professional who looks at the capabilities of Daesh ... and their determination to kill as many as people as possible and to carry out attacks abroad," said Brennan in an interview with Yahoo News, referring to an acronym for the group in the Arabic language.

"I'd be surprised if Daesh is not trying to carry out that kind of attack in the United States," said Brennan.

Turkish police block the entrance after a suicide bomb attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, 28 June 2016.(EPA/SEDAT SUNA)

At least 41 people were killed and more than 200 others injured in explosions that hit Ataturk Airport on Tuesday.

Turkish media reported that Turkey's intelligence units sent a warning letter to related state institutions about potential attacks by the Islamic State (IS) militants nearly 20 days ago.

Hande Firat, CNNTurk's representative in Ankara, said on a live broadcast that Ataturk Airport was listed as a potential target in the letter.

As of now, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

While he did not confirm that IS was behind the attack on Tuesday, Brennan said that choosing suicide bombing as the method of attack "is usually more a Daesh technique."
ADEN, Yemen, June 29 (Xinhua) -- UN-facilitated peace negotiations aimed at ending Yemen's civil war officially halted in Kuwait on Wednesday and to be resumed in mid-July.

The UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed officially declared in a brief statement posted on Twitter that the negotiations between Yemen's internationally recognized government and the Shiite Houthi group were suspended for two weeks.

Ould Cheikh said "talks will embark on a new phase in the next weeks. Delegations will meet their leaderships in coming two weeks and will return to Kuwait on July 15."

He added that "delegations must return with practical steps based on the recommendations of the previous discussions they had in Kuwait."

Political observers said the UN-brokered peace talks that kicked off in Kuwait City on April 11 failed to reach any tangible breakthroughs after two months of negotiations.

Delegates of the government strongly insist that they represents Yemen's sole legitimate governing authority, and call for the full implementation of last year's UN Security Council Resolution 2216.

The resolution orders Houthi militias to withdraw from Sanaa and all other cities occupied earlier, hand back weapons and release political prisoners before forming new sharing transitional government.

However, the Houthis and their allies, for their part, say that they represent the country's de facto rulers and urged to form a new transitional government before discussing withdrawal from cities and the other topics

The Houthi top leaders have also reaffirmed their demand for a consensus president to lead the transition in any peace deal, but government delegation have firmly rejected and insisted on implementation of UN resolution first.

In recent days, fighting intensified across the country's war-torn provinces, leaving dozens of people killed and many others injured from both sides.

The pro-Houthi forces keep trying to make ground advances against government-controlled southern provinces despite the cease-fire that came into force on April 10 and was supposed to pave the way for the Kuwait peace talks.

On the other side, pro-government forces supported by the Saudi-led coalition mobilized hundreds of fighters in northern Marib province in an apparent attempt to storm the capital Sanaa militarily.

The civil war has drawn in Saudi-led coalition in March 2015, in response to Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's call to restore his internationally recognized government to the capital Sanaa.

The civil war has killed more than 6,000 people, half of them civilians, injured more 35,000 others, and displaced over two millions, according to humanitarian aid agencies.

Yemen's conflict began after 2011 massive popular protests that demanded an end to the 33-year rule of then President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Enditem
UNITED NATIONS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Three UN agencies on Wednesday warned that South Sudan was experiencing an unprecedented level of food insecurity, with more than a third of the population in urgent need of assistance, a UN spokesman said here.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said that up to 4.8 million people in South Sudan will be facing severe food shortages over the coming months, said Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman.

The level of food insecurity in South Sudan was at the highest since the start of the conflict two and a half years ago, the UN agencies warned.

The risk of a hunger catastrophe continued to threaten parts of the country, Haq said at a daily news briefing here.

This number did not include 350,000 residents of the UN Protection of Civilians areas or other camps for displaced people, who currently were entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance, he said.

"Food insecurity and conflict are also forcing many families to leave South Sudan for neighboring countries," he said.

In the last few months alone, an estimated 100,000 South Sudanese have crossed into Sudan, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, and this number was expected to increase to more than 150,000 by the end of June, he said.

Tens of thousands of people have fled fighting in northwestern South Sudan between government troops and a newly formed rebel group.

Nearly 70,000 people have fled their homes in the town of Wau since Friday. About 10,000 of them have taken shelter at a United Nations base in the area, where streams of displaced continued to arrive, reports said on Wednesday. Enditem
UNITED NATIONS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said here Wednesday that while this month's planned opposition talks have been postponed until July, August is still the target for a political transition for the beleaguered nation.

"I have not indicated a fixed date in July because we want to make sure consultations among (opposition) co-chairs has sufficient critical mass so that when we call the talks there is a possibility of moving forward and political transition by August is still an option," he told reporters after briefing members of the UN Security Council.

De Mistura said he was aiming for talks among the splintered opposition fighting in the Syrian civil war "within July but not at any cost and not without some guarantees ... as a period where we should be seeing something concrete so that in September we take stock."

Late September is the annual gathering of world leaders at UN Headquarters in New York.

The fighting in Syria is now in its sixth year with a toll of more than 400,000 lives and the displacement of millions of people.

When asked if August wasn't "unrealistic" in getting to political transition, he reminded that the cessation of hostilities earlier this year appeared unrealistic but held for the greatest part of two of the following four months.

"While we are talking about the talks, there is a lot of discreet diplomacy which is taking place while we are talking," de Mistura said. "I've been to St. Petersburg (in Russia), I'm going to Washington tomorrow (Thursday). We consulted with the Security Council (Wednesday). So let's see about it in August." Enditem
WASHINGTON, June 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday reaffirmed the solidarity of the United States with Turkey following the terrorist attack on Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport.

At least 41 people were killed and more than 200 others injured in explosions that hit Ataturk Airport on Tuesday.

In a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Obama expressed his condolences on behalf of the American people and said the attack, like the March attack at Brussels Airport, was an attack on the international community, according to a statement issued by the White House.

Obama offered "any and all" assistance to support Turkish authorities in their investigation and pledged to continue working with Turkey and all of U.S. partners and allies to fight terrorism, it said.

Turkish media reported that Turkey's intelligence units sent a warning letter to related state institutions about potential attacks by the Islamic State (IS) militants nearly 20 days ago.

Hande Firat, CNNTurk's representative in Ankara, said on a live broadcast that Ataturk Airport was listed as a potential target in the letter.

As of now, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Obama also commended Erdogan and his government for their leadership this week in reaching a deal to normalize relations with Israel and in taking steps to ease tensions with Russia.
DAMASCUS, June 30, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Aid convoys enter a war-ravaged town in eastern Ghouta countryside east of Damascus, capital of Syria, on June 29, 2016. Aid convoys entered on Wednesday into two besieged rebel-held areas east of the capital Damascus for the first time in four years. (Xinhua/Ammar)

DAMASCUS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Aid convoys entered on Wednesday into two besieged rebel-held areas east of the capital Damascus for the first time in four years.

The aid convoys crossed into the besieged areas of Zamalka and Erbeen, carrying aid for 20,000 people, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

Thirty-seven truckload of food parcels, and medical supplies as well as flours and other aid materials entered the aforementioned areas for the first time in four years.

The United Nations recently said that around 500,000 people are living inside the besieged towns in Syria.

Humanitarian organizations have repeatedly urged for unhindered access of humanitarian aid to all besieged Syrian cities.

Zamalka and Erbeen are both located in the sprawling Eastern Ghouta suburb, much of which fell to the armed rebellion since the first months of the country's five-year-old conflict.
STOCKHOLM, June 29 (Xinhua) -- A drop in the number of would-be terrorists' trips to Syria and Iraq could mean a rise in attacks outside conflict zones, local media reported on Wednesday.

Since 2012, an estimated 300 people have travelled from Sweden to join Islamist extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, but fewer are now going to those countries, Swedish Television quoted a report from Swedish security service, Sapo.

At the same time, Sapo and leading terrorism experts warn fewer would-be jihadists are travelling to the Middle East could mean there will be an increase in the number of terrorist activities in Sweden and elsewhere.

"Those who can't go down there themselves might decide to carry out attacks here instead," terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp told Swedish television.

"There is a very serious security situation now, with a growing terrorism threat in Europe. There are several individuals who have gone through terrorist training and who have returned to Europe and are capable of carrying out attacks. IS is also encouraging individuals to carry out attacks," Ranstorp said.

The new figures presented by Sapo on Wednesday show the number of people traveling from Sweden to Iraq and Syria for the first time was at the highest in 2013-2014 and the number of individuals returning after undergoing training or fighting with terrorists has increased since the summer of 2015. However, Sapo did not publish exact figures.

Worsening conditions in conflict zones in the Middle East coupled with increasing difficulty to enter IS-controlled areas are the main reasons why fewer people are going over there, according to Sapo.

"Previously, there were IS-controlled border controls that made it easier to enter the regions," said Sapo press secretary Simon Bynert.

Developments in Syria and Iraq, whether or not IS holds on to its territories and whether the militant group continues to appear successful are all factors that will influence whether or not the number of would-be terrorists' trips will increase or decline, according to Sapo.

At the same time, Sweden's National Center for Terrorist Threat Assessment has presented its latest report which shows terrorism threat is increasing and is now at level three on a five-grade terror-threat scale. According to the center, Sweden is likely to become a target, though other European countries are at greater risk.
MEXICO CITY, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Latin American countries were united on Wednesday in condemning the terrorist attack in Turkey.

Ecuador's Foreign Ministry issued a statement "extending our deepest condolences to the people and the government of Turkey and expressing our solidarity with the families of the victims and those wounded in this terrible event."

The ministry also reiterated "the deep bonds of friendship and cooperation that unite us with Turkey. We hope those responsible for this crime will be punished in accordance with the law."

The government of Paraguay also issued a statement, saying it condemned all "criminal acts of this nature" and "joined in the international call for world peace ... and to eradicate all forms of terrorism."

On Tuesday, three suicide bombers opened fire at random at the airport before blowing themselves up, killing at least 41 dead, including 12 foreign nationals, and injuring 239 others.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack but the Turkish government has pointed the finger at the Islamic State.

The Brazilian government on Tuesday also condemned the terrorist attack at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul, Turkey.

"The Brazilian government expresses its firm condemnation of the attacks which caused dozens of victims at the Ataturk airport," said a statement from the government, which that Brazil denounces any form of terrorism.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who was attending a summit in Canada at the time of the attack, wrote on Twitter that "Mexico laments the loss of human life in the explosions at Istanbul airport. We stand with the Turkish people."

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated over the past year. A number of bomb attacks have hit Istanbul, the Turkish capital of Ankara and other cities.

The latest attack that hit Istanbul occurred on June 7, in which a car bomb targeted a riot police shuttle bus, killing 11 people.
RAMALLAH, June 28, 2016 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (L) meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on June 28, 2016. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that those who are seeking two states and making peace must stop creating facts on the ground that makes reaching a solution impossible. Abbas made the remarks in a joint news conference with the United Nations Secretary General Ban ki-Moon after a meeting held in Ramallah on Tuesday evening. (Xinhua/POOL/Nasser NASSER)
Minister Gopee-Scoon hosts Chinese delegation

Addressing the visiting delegation, Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon said, Early on I set out to share the plans of the Ministry on the Governments trade agenda. I met with your ambassador, His Excellency Huang Xingyuan.

Our agreed imperative, coming out of that meeting, was to improve our relationship through increased investments. His Excellency expressed his commitment and Chinas willingness to assist Trinidad and Tobago in the areas of agriculture, financial services, manufacturing and tourism. During that meeting, I invited the Ambassador to lead a delegation to explore the many available opportunities in Trinidad and Tobago, particularly the Tamana InTech Park.

What started with a conversation between your Ambassador and myself, a few short months ago, has culminated in your visit here today. I thank the Ambassador and the China Building Materials Federation for their efforts in putting this delegation together. Referencing the PwCs (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) Global Construction 2030 forecast, the Trade Minister stated that the global construction industry is known to be crucial to the evolution of prosperity (and moreso it is anticipated that there will be) an 85 percent growth in construction output, with three countries expected to lead the way - China, US and India.

The growth rate of 3.9 percent per annum in the construction industry is expected to outpace global GDP growth by more than a percent per year. This growth is projected to be driven both by developed countries in economic recovery and further industrialization in emerging economies, Gopee-Scoon said. All of this translates into tremendous opportunities for cooperation between Trinidad and Tobago and Chinas building materials manufacturers.

The Trade Minister also touted the attractive benefits of Tamana InTech Park, saying that the Park is the largest Science and Technology Park in the region. This 1,100 acre park is an ideal location for high value manufacturing. There are 21 market ready lots available in this eco-friendly environment.

She concluded by saying, working together we have the ability to develop new linkages and business relationships for the betterment of both of economies and our people. Also at the brief welcome ceremony held yesterday were Imtiaz Ahamad, Chairman of eTecK; Robert Salandy, President of eTecK; and Racquel Moses, President, InvesTT Limited. The visit included tours of Portof- Spain, Chaguaramas, the Caroni Bird Sanctuary and site visits to Frederick Settlement, Tamana InTech Park and Cove Estate in Tobago.
1,500 LOSE OUT

In the judgment, five law lords dismissed the appeal of the Executive Flexible Premium Policyholders (EFPA) against both the Patrick Manning and Peoples Partnership governments statements amounting to a promise to pay in full, monies due under the EFPA policies.

Lord Neuberger, who delivered the 37-page ruling, stated that whatever political assurances were given, it had far-reaching macro-economic and macro political implications for the TT economy.

He agreed with Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Appellate Judges Rajendra Narine and Judith Jones, that they were correct in giving their own interpretation to the legitimate expectation principle.

The TT judges, the law lords opined, considered the countrys far-reaching macro-economic and macro-political factors.

The EFPA policy holders refused to accept a 30 percent reduction in the value of their policies, contending that assurances were made by both finance ministers in the PNM (in 2009) and PP governments (in September 2010), that full payments would be made. Former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj who represented 300 of EFPA policyholders at the Privy Council, described the ruling as heartbreaking. $4.5B LOST He said that the 300 policyholders stood to lose just under $1 billion.

With 1,500 such policyholders, the total losses could be in the vicinity of $4.5 billion. The judgment brings the curtain down on the 2009 CLICO fiasco, in which the Central Bank and PNM administration intervened and prevented a run by all policyholders, on CLICO and CL Financial assets and by extension, the entire economy.

Lord Neuberger stated that in 2009, the PNM administration pumped, through the Central Bank, $1.9 billion into CLICO after $5 billion was approved. The judgment quoted the then Minister of Finance, who said everyone would get their money. But the law lords went on to state that with a change in government in May 2010, then Finance Minister Winston Dookeran reacted in September of that year. Dookeran reportedly said to CLICO policyholders that government was not honouring the guarantee of payment made by the previous PNM administration.

Lord Neuberger quoted former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who said that the PP government was under no obligation to put in more money to CLICO.

Pursuant to a direction of the Finance Minister, CLICO placed a moratorium on all EFPA transactions and payments to EFPA policyholders.

This action triggered the EFPA policyholders to take legal action on the basis that both the PNM and PP governments created a legitimate expectation that the policyholders would be paid.

PROMISES WITH NO BASE Justice Joan Charles in the TT High Court agreed with Maharaj and ruled in favour of the EFPA policyholders, in which she found that Dookerans reference to guarantees made by the PNM Finance Minister amounted to promises that gave rise to a legitimate expectation.

But Lord Neuberger cited Appellate Judge Narines view of the interpretation of legitimate expectation who held that the promises made were not clear, unambiguous and devoid of relevant qualification.

Quoting Justice Narine, the law lord stated, He (Narine) noted in particular that the statements failed to specify what was being guaranteed, whether principal alone, or principal plus interest; there was no indication when the payment was to be made, and the guarantee was to be premised on the assets of CLICO being sold and proceeds deposited into the statutory fund and the restructuring of CLICO. But the assets, the judgment stated, were not sold and the proceeds put into the Statutory Fund. The then governments obligation to finance any deficit in the fund, was not triggered. Was the government entitled to renege on the guarantee? In deciding on this question, Lord Carnwath stated that the court must take into account wider policy issues, such as macro-economic or macro political. He stated that Dookeran gave consideration to the assurances given to the EFPA, before deciding not to pay.

Additionally, in deciding the weight one must place on a promise to pay which gave rise to a legitimate expectation, the law lords stated, depends on all the circumstances of the particular case. In this case, said the law lords, the assurances had macro-economic and macro-political implications and therefore, the judgment added, the Court of Appeal was correct in reaching the conclusion that appropriate attention was given by the PP government in considering the assurances to the policy holders
PM: Pray for Manning

Manning, was reportedly resting comfortably at the San Fernando General (SFGH), after being admitted to the institution for an aberration in his blood count on Monday evening.

In a post on Mannings Facebook page, his wife Hazel, under the headline - a message from Mrs Hazel Manning - stated: Mr Patrick Manning was admitted to hospital last evening for investigation concerning an aberration in his blood-count. He is resting comfortably and is in good spirits. We continue to pray for him. Among those present at the opening of the Education Tower, was San Fernando East MP Randall Mitchell.

Manning was San Fernando East MP from 1971 to 2010. Mitchell, who is also Housing and Urban Development Minister said he was aware Manning was unwell and was warded at SFGH on Monday evening.

I understand he is in good spirits and we wish him a speedy recovery. He is in our thoughts and prayers, Mitchell said.

San Fernando Mayor Kazim Hosein, said, On behalf of the Aldermen, Councillors and Administration of the San Fernando City Corporation I wish to express the great sadness we all feel following reports of Mr Patrick Mannings admittance to the San Fernando General Hospital. Describing Manning as a friend and mentor, Hosein said, I wish the Manning family, Gods strength and protection during this difficult time and I ask all well-wishers to join me in praying for his full recovery. KAMLA PRAYING TOO Prayers for Manning also came from across the political divide.

In a statement, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar expressed her good wishes to Manning. Persad- Bissessar succeeded Manning as prime minister following the May 24, 2010 general election. Indicating that the Opposition learnt about Mannings admission to hospital for medical care, Persad-Bissessar said, On behalf of all our MPs, Senators and public officials, we send our prayers to Mr Manning and his wife, Hazel for the best care and comfort in this time of his ill-health. She added, As a former prime minister and longstanding public servant, we have no doubt that the nation will join us in sending prayers and heartfelt wishes to the Manning family. Barataria/San Juan MP Dr Fuad Khan also wished Manning well. I have held nothing but respect for the man, despite our conflicting stances. Khan added, Mr Manning could have never achieved such success without the support of the people, whose prayers I am sure are with him at this time. Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh, in a Facebook post stated: I wish to extend my very best wishes to former Prime Minister Patrick Manning for a speedy recovery from his illness. May God bless, strengthen and heal him. Newsday also understands St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves reportedly visited Manning in hospital yesterday.

Manning and Gonsalves were close friends from their time as students at the University of the West Indies.

The 69-year old-former prime minister has had several health concerns during his tenure in public life. Manning had a pacemaker implant done in Cuba in 2004.

This was a follow-up to heart surgery which he underwent on the island in April 1998 when he was Opposition Leader to correct leaking valves in his heart. On December 11, 2008, Manning had surgery in Cuba to remove a malignant tumour in his left kidney.

On February 3, 2012, then Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar approved $600,000 to transport Manning to the Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington DC for additional medical treatment. Manning returned home on June 30, 2012.

On August 23, 2012, he was hospitalised again after falling ill at his Vistabella home. The former prime minister reportedly suffered a seizure on that occasion.
Law Assn not backing Anti-Gang, Bail Bill

In a signed statement, Association President Reginald Armour SC said the association has maintained a clear and consistent position on the bail and anti-gang legislation. Armour said in April 2015, the association advised then Attorney General Garvin Nicholas that given the constitutional guarantees of reasonable bail, coupled with the presumption of innocence and the right to be brought promptly before a judicial authority, it considered the proposed legislation then to be a disproportionate measure. Armour noted the association stated, last April, that even in the face of firearms and firearms related offences, the 2015 amendments to the Bail Act proposed by the PP amounted to a denial of a persons constitutional rights. He added the association called for a repeal of the bail legislation then. He said the Anti-Gang and Bail Bills this year, call for the extension of the operation of the Bail Act as amended until August 15, 2018 and the extension of the operation of the Anti-Gang Act 2011 for a further twoyear period.

Armour said in a letter dated June 17 to Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, the association does not support either of the two Bills being continued as law. He said in its letter to Al-Rawi, the association listed reasons for this position.

These included: * That neither piece of legislation, since being introduced in 2011, acts as a deterrent to the commission of serious crime.

* The pre-trial detention of people without bail for 120 days is not reasonably justifiable in a society which has a proper respect for the rights and freedoms of the individual.

* The proposed amendments to the legislation has significantly increased the number of persons on remand.

* Significant deficiencies in the forensic system result in unreasonable delay in forensic testing, meaning that people are unlikely to have matters involving the use of a firearm heard within (at a minimum) two to three years.

* No safeguards against malfeasance by police officers in a situation where the mere mention by a police complainant of suspicion of possession of a firearm (or something resembling a firearm) invokes the no-bail provisions.

Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives, Camille Robinson-Regis, has said that following todays meeting, debate on the Miscellaneous Provisions (Anti-Gang and Bail) Bill 2016 will resume in the House on Friday. The Bill requires a three-fifths majority for passage in the House and Senate.
Vincey PM visits good friend Patrick

Speaking to reporters on his departure from the hospital, a smiling Gonsalves said that he and Manning are very close...

as we say on the block, we are tight. Gonsalves referred to Manning as my pardner saying he was in New York when he was informed that Manning was hospitalized on Monday. On learning the news, Gonsalves said he immediately contacted Mannings relatives.

Gonsalves said his secretary made arrangements for a flight to Trinidad. I had to tell my Cabinet that tomorrows (today) Cabinet meeting would be put to Friday, so I can come to San Fernando to see my friend, he said.

Gonsalves said the former Prime Minister was in good spirits.

In fact, people were wondering what all the laughter was about when he and I were in the hospital room. He is in good sprits.We were talking and laughing, Gonsalves said.

During his near two-hour visit, Gonsalves said he and Manning had a very lengthy conversation.

We reminisced about the days when we were students at university.

We talked about about our families, we talked about his health, my own health situation.

We talked about politics in the Caribbean and we talked about Britains Brexit and the future of this region. We had a good conversation, the Vincey PM said.

At first I was worried, I said I wonder if is something happen and my pardner take a turn for the worse, so I was relieved to see him in really good spirits. He added that doctors are conducting a battery of tests and only they would be able to give particulars about their assessment of Mannings health.
NATUC lashes Labour Minister

He also threatened her with a laqwuit. Accusing her of undermining the authority of NATUC to appoint members to the Cipriani College Board, Annisette said, NATUC is well within the law to appoint four nominees of its choosing to the Board of the College. He said three of the four nominees were retained but his directorship was revoked.

How on earth can you as Minister retain three and refuse to reappoint the General Secretary,a livid Annisette asked.

He also slammed Government for one of its national security arms - the police - barring trade unionists from the Charlie King Junction in Fyzabad during Labour Day celebrations, which he said was strong-arm tactics in an attempt to intimidate the trade union movement. Annisette said while the intention of NATUC is to promote dialogue, it stands ready for any legal action against Government, citing a recent ruling from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in favour of NATUC, when Government rejected selection of delegates to attend a conference earlier this year.

NATUC President James Lambert supported Annisette saying a lawsuit is now being considered.
Insp Michael Seales elected PSWA President

Seales who is facing a sedition charge before the courts, yesterday told Newsday he intends to continue the dream which he and newly elected PSWA secretary Ag ASP Anand Ramesar (the former president) has for the police force.

This is not a transition for us, rather it is a continuation of our vision and commitment to the members of the PSWA Seales said. He told Newsday that as president, he will continue his effort to absorb members of the Special Reserve Police into the TTPS, enhance the grievance procedure for police officers, and to lobby for better job evaluations as well as lobbying for homes for the members of the PSWA The new president and his party, the Police Empowerment Party(PEP) made a clean sweep yesterday, as all members who lobbied for seats in the PSWA, were voted into position. Seales said the win left him with mixed emotions, since he was slapped with a sedition charge last week Wednesday.

I have mixed feelings right now, said Seales. I am coming from a low, because of the events of last week, but now I am on a high. I am just thankful to God and to my supporters for all they have done. Police officers on Monday came out in their numbers to vote for the next president of the PSWA.

Approximately 40 percent of police officers nationwide cast their ballot at 44 polling stations throughout the country. Seales and the PEP got the lions share of the votes, as 700 police officers voted in favour of PEP.

Seales is not the only member of the PEP assuming a new office.

Richard Corbett has taken the position of Vice President, Wayne Mohammed will be taking care of issues affecting First Division officers, while Cynthia Trim, a Tobago-based police officer, will handle issues affecting officers in the Tobago Division, and issues affecting women officers nationwide.

The positions of first trustee, second trustee and treasurer, will be held by Ian Carty, Raymond Thom and Joshua Pierre respectively.

Darlington Francis, leader of the Police for Police slate, could not be reached for comment.
NGO: Include children with Downs Syndrome

. They are using the word inclusion but they dont know what it means, they still practice segregation, he claimed. Niles said society has gotten used to the charity model where homes and schools are built and children are taken care of but are still separate from society. What we would like to see is the social model where our kids are included and provisions are put in place to include them and for us to remove the preconceived limits we have on what they can and cant do in order to be successful, he said.

On Saturday last, the Network held a workshop themed Creating a Culture of Inclusion at the University of Trinidad and Tobagos Valsayn campus. Niles said society was a segregated one where children who have a disability are considered special and may be segregated for their entire life.

The workshops are just to make parents aware that if they fight for their child to be included in schools how much benefit it would be to their child and as well as to the other children. They would actually get to meet and interact with other children like them. We will have a more caring society because a lot of people are not aware what Down Syndrome is they mix it up with Autism and other mental disabilities, Niles explained.

The Networks next event is a fund-raising movie premi?re of Ghostbusters at MovieTowne.

Port-of-Spain on July 19. A few days after that, Niles and another Director of the Network will be attending National Down Syndrome Congress Annual Convention, Florida where they will receive the Presidents Award in recognition of the work they have done.
Kamla vindicated by Privy Council ruling

Persad-Bissessar said she was very pleased with the Law Lords ruling as it vindicated a decision of her then government and former Finance Minister Winston Dookeran to offer bonds to EFPA policyholders, who demanded full repayment of their investments when CLICO tanked.

She said the policyholders were of the view they had a legitimate expectation to get back their investments based on assurances given by the previous Peoples National Movement government, led by Patrick Manning. Persad-Bissessar said the Privy Councils ruling held that the PP regime was entitled to act as it did in the publics interest as it sought then, to preserve and sustain the countrys economy.

About 1,500 EFPA policyholders, who expected to receive 100 percent of monies contractually owed to them by the insurance giant, had their hopes dashed as the Privy Council upheld a 2014 decision of the Court of Appeal which set aside a court-directed payout.

In their ruling, the Law Lords held a promise made by a public authority must be kept unless the authority could show good reasons to abandon it.

In judging proportionality the court will take into account any conflict with wider policy issues, particularly those of a macro- economic or macro-political kind. By that test the present appeal must fail, the London court held. The policyholders sought have the PP government make good on the 2009 PNM promise for EFPA policyholders to be fully compensated for their policies.

According to the group, promises made by the previous PNM administration amounted to a guarantee that policyholders would be paid sums that were held in the cash-strapped conglomerate. The group also claimed Governments plan was materially different from the initial offer in January 2009, during the Central Bank bailout of Clico. They contended that to receive the principal balances on their policies over a period of 20 years was unlawful, arguing that they were entitled to get full payment on their policies.
Garcia: EFCL to handle school textbooks

All textbooks for use at both the primary and secondary schools will receive a top-up of ten per cent, Garcia also said. This is because of a survey that was done in our schools by our school supervisors that reveal that there is a plethora of textbooks.

In fact, there is a huge excess of textbooks in our schools that makes it even difficult for some of our principals to secure proper storage space. We are trying our best to stamp out those practices. As a result of this we have decided to strengthen our security systems in our schools. In 2011, the EFCL issued a request for supply and delivery of textbooks to secondary schools in TT, according to its website.

Former Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh yesterday said that in 2009, under the previous PNM regime, textbook procurement was added to EFCLs responsibilities and the Peoples Partnership continued that.

At the end of a threeyear cycle new books ought to be purchased, Gopeesingh said. But books are lost and they are topped up on an annual basis.

The top-up is ten per cent of the books that were purchased. We procured over two million textbooks for the students. Gopeesingh queried reported gaps in the programme, saying Garcia was finding phantoms and shadows on the issues. All the gains we made are being reversed, Gopeesingh said.
Govt ministers praise Education Tower

Garcia said his ministry will formally move into the tower today from its former head office at Alexandra Street in St Clair. Noting that the ministry was renting several places in Portof- Spain, Garcia said some of those places are plagued with problems such as rat infestation and in some cases staffers have to wear gloves at work.

He expressed confidence that the work of the ministry would be greatly enhanced by the occupation of the Education Tower. He added that all district offices in other parts of the country will continue to function as normal.

The Urban Development Company of TT (Udecott) was the project manager for the tower. Mitchell, who is the line minister for Udecott, said the opening of the tower was testimony to the Governments commitment to get the job done. He also noted that the tower and other buildings constructed under Udecott were left unoccupied for the last five years.

Cuffie said the opening of the tower was reflective of an end to the old concept of the delivery of public service in TT. He said improvement in the public service is not just about new buildings but a new dispensation on the part of workers to better serve the public.

In delivering the feature address, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley urged staff at the Education Ministry who will now occupy the tower to give us some benefit commensurate with the output that we have made here today.
Mayor: More power for local govt

Valentine expressed his optimism as he addressed the Port-of- Spain City Corporations Civic Reception and Awards Ceremony at City Hall on Sunday.

With Local Government elections constitutionally due later this year and Government currently in the process of preparing local government reform legislation, Valentine observed, 2016 is likely to be a landmark year for local government, as we may see new Act on its way to Parliament giving to the city the enhanced responsibility. He said part of that new responsibility includes, a greater commitment to transparency, dedication and professionalism that has nothing to do with who you are but more importantly who you serve. Declaring these are things which the Corporation is already doing, Valentine said the Corporation continues to be concerned about the ineffective handling of simple matters.

He identified one of these simple matters as the vexing challenge of street dwelling. The mayor said while he believes this problem can be fixed in Port-of- Spain, part of the problem is that, too many state agencies own piece of the problem. Valentine was hopeful that local government reform can give Port-of-Spain, the power it needs to address this solvable problem. Valentine also identified sanitation and infrastructure as some of the other problems being actively addressed by the Corporation.

The mayor observed that while all is not well, all is not lost. As he outlined his vision to beautify parks and solve parking issues in Portof- Spain, Valentine hoped that through local government reform, Port-of-Spain would be empowered, be a net revenue earner, giving it the surplus cash needed to undertake not only an increasing list of capital projects but to initiate such projects that will provide increased revenue to the city. Valentine also expressed his personal view that the post of mayor should be an elected one. He said that mayoral post should be separate on the ballot for the local government election and this has been done successfully in other jurisdictions.

Amongst the persons listed for awards for their contributions to Port-of-Spain were businessman Derek Chin, Fr Clyde Harvey and fashion designer Anya Ayoung Chee
Senate Vice-President warns Ramdeen

Ramdeen noted the dismissal was done last December by Acting President Christine Kangaloo, acting on the advice of the Cabinet. He said the note from Cabinet went to Presidents House at 2 pm.

The decision to terminate was at 7 pm, Ramdeen said. If the President was simply rubber- stamping the removal of the Governor pursuant to a Cabinet decision, what was taking place between 2 pm and 7 pm? What was going on at that time? It was at this stage that Ramdeen was warned.

Senator, let me give you a little guidance, De Freitas said. You are referring to the President, the Office of the President of this country and the Standing Orders provide that you do not suggest  and this is borderline imputing improper motives. Get back to the matter before us. Stay away from imputing anything untoward from the Office of the President of this country. Ramdeen said, I was imputing no improper motives to anyone.

But in a matter that is of such importance to our country, transparency and accountability must be paramount. When something like this happens all the cards should be laid on the table so all of us can look at the process and be confident that what was done was done in accordance with the law. Later, the Vice-President ordered Ramdeen to not be irrelevant when the attorney cited the Mustill Inquiry into former Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma as an instance of past undermining of independent institutions. De Freitas also later asked Ramdeen to focus on the motion when he started to quote press clippings in relation to criticisms of the appointment of Rambaran by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Finance Minister Colm Imbert when they were in Opposition.

The Senate Vice-President said Ramdeen was close to imputing improper motives.

Move away from making very close imputations of improper motives, he said.
Wade: THA freer than Parliament

He was yesterday moving a private motion in the Senate for Parliament to be given its own financial and administrative autonomy, which would continue his work in this direction as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

He explained that the principle of separation of powers means that each State arm  the Executive (Government), Legislature (Parliament) and Judiciary  must each be independent. Mark said Parliament must not go cap in hand to beg the Government for funds to run its affairs.

His motion was based on the work of a joint select committee in the previous/Tenth Parliament (under his tenure as Speaker) and on the Governments commitment to such in the PNMs 2015 general election manifesto. Mark emphasised that Parliament is no government agency such as a ministry or a department, but must have its own resources so as to make its own decisions. Parliaments role is to hold the Executive accountable, and it needs to discharge its functions without government interference. He also lent his support to the Judiciary being granted autonomy from the Government, especially in its staff, resources and governance structure. A split Senate voted by 16 votes to 13 to next sit on July 5, even as Senate President Christine Kangaloo admitted Standing Order 13s prohibition on sittings in the first week of July is unclear. But she seemingly saw some leeway in it as it does not name a specific date.

She said it must be examined by the Standing Orders Committee.
What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames

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A healthy, 9-year old Florida girl was paralyzed by the flu shot

Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is neuro-immune disorder so rare, little is known about causation. ADEM is a result of inflammation in the myelin sheath, which is the electromagnetic coating that protects nerves in the brain and the spinal cord. Over 50% of those afflicted with this devastating diagnosis are struck while fighting an existing bacterial or viral infection. According to the Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute, ADEM will on occasion . . . occur after a vaccination . . . usually after the MMR. National Vaccine Injury Lawyer Leah Durant has reported that ADEM, although rare, can also be triggered by a flu shot.

Thats what happened to little Marysue Grivna, a vivacious, active nine year old from Tampa, Florida. On November 20, 2013, Marysue had a seasonal flu shot. Within days, she became limp, then paralyzed and, as reported by Natural News, nonverbal, confined to a wheelchair/hospital bed, [and] primarily eating via a g-tube. . . According to Myelitis.org, ADEM is a rare auto-immune disease that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks its own brain tissue, when responding to a vaccination or infection.

Television host Nancy Grace reported on this case and, surprisingly, learned on the air that pharmaceutical companies are not liable for any damages.

This protection given to Big Pharmas vaccines is a gift that keeps on giving. In the 1970s and 1980s, as reported by the Historyofvaccines.org, there were many big payouts to families damaged by vaccines, particularly from the combined diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT). These lawsuits were so successful that many pharmaceutical manufacturers stopped producing vaccines. Congress stepped in. In 1986, they removed any liability from Big Pharma and created a National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP). To this day, families like the parents of Marysue Grivna, must apply for compensation through the NVICP by first filing a claim with the U.S. Court of Claims. Since the program began, over 17,000 petitions have been filed, 14000 adjudicated, nearly 1o,ooo cases dismissed and only 4687 cases have been compensated for their vaccine injury. Since 1988, $3.3 billion has been paid to victims of vaccine injury. Compare that to the billions upon billions made by the pharmaceutical companies on the global use of vaccines.

Apparently none of that payout has been applied to little Marysue, whose family has endured this tragedy for nearly three years. Their once beautiful child, who spoke two languages, played, laughed and was fully alive, now lives in diapers, is fed with a feeding tube and is completely dependent. The family is still raising funds to provide their daughter with an accessible bathroom, bedroom and a new electric wheelchair and a wheelchair van. In an interview with Tampa Bays ABC News in February 2016, it was reported that her devoted parents refuse to put Marysue in a long term rehabilitation, but do utilize a local rehab facility for a few hours each day. Her mother Carla works outside the home, while father Steven works as the primary care giver. His daughter now weighs seventy pounds and, although he needs surgery for neck problems, hes put all that on hold to care for his daughter.

Now, more than ever, its imperative to consider healthy alternatives to build ones immune system and ever so carefully make informed choices concerning vaccines.

Sources:

My.clevelandclinic.org

Vaccinelaw.com

Naturalnews.com

Leahdurant.com

Myelitis.org

Youtube.com

Science.naturalnews.com

Historyofvaccines.org

Hrsa.gov

Abcactionnews.com

(Photo credit: Opensourcetruth.com)

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HHS decision to allow for abortion coverage on health plans in California prove why Congress needs to neuter the federal bureaucracy

(BigGovernment.news) Another day, another edict from the vast federal bureaucracy.

Whether or not you support a womans right to choose to abort her unborn child, decisions regarding health insurance coverage for the procedure has historically been made by Congress.

Not anymore, apparently.

Adding insult to injury for pro-lifers following the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning a Texas abortion regulation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a decision last week that appeared to allow taxpayer-funded abortions in California, in violation of a longtime congressional mandate.

HHS officials last Wednesday ruled that the California Department of Managed Health Care could require abortion coverage to be included in statewide insurance plans, as the state agency declared in 2014. Before that 2014 mandate, health insurance companies were allowed to exempt customers with religious objections to abortion.

The HHS decision was issued in a statement by the inter-agency Office of Civil Rights.

House Republicans quickly objected, noting that the HHS decision violates the so-called Weldon Amendment, an annually issued rule by Congress that bars federal funds from being used for abortion procedures.

A physician or other health care professional, a hospital, a provider-sponsored organization, a health maintenance organization, a health insurance plan, or any other kind of health care facility may refuse abortions, counseling or referrals, even in cases of rape, incest or medical emergency, states the rule.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy issued a strongly worded statement about the HHS decision, calling it unbelievable and said he and eight other congressmen immediately met with HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell to express outrage and bewilderment.

The California abortion mandate on its face violates the plain text of the Weldon Amendment, which protects health care entities that do not participate in abortion against government-imposed discrimination, McCarthy said.

The text of Weldon  which has been renewed and signed into law annually for over 10 years  makes it clear that a health care entity includes health insurance plans. The Department of Health and Human Services conclusion that Californias action does not violate the Weldon Amendment ignores the simple truth that requiring a health plan to cease to exist because it does not include abortion is discriminatory.

McCarthy said the HHS decision forces the House to explore all legislative options to protect the rights of health care providers in California and across our country who do not wish to participate in a practice that takes the lives of unborn children.

And, uh, just what options would those be?

Are lawmakers going to cut off funding to HHS? Doubtful. Under Article II of the Constitution Congress has the power to impeach Burwell, but of course that isnt going to happen (though a prudent question to McCarthy and the House GOP leadership would be, Why not?). Lawmakers should not have to consider more legislative options because if McCarthy is right, existing law is clear  HHS cannot legally do what it just did.

So what is next? A lawsuit? Where in the Constitution does it say, in all violations of law, the Congress shall file suit against the offending Executive Branch agency? It doesnt, of course.

Once again Obama has outfoxed his Republican counterparts with his usual game of catch me if you can. A suit, if filed, will take months of not years to resolve. By the the rule will have been incorporated into the insurance industry in California, and Obama (and probably Burwell) will be long gone. Another U.S. statute willfully violated by a rogue federal agency that belongs to an imperial, out-of-control, Executive Branch-controlled bureaucracy.

Americans are not supposed to be ruled by federal fiat. Congress has a responsibility to grow a pair at some point and take back its constitutional powers and authority. But when will that happen?

Not soon enough. But in the meantime, while the rest of us are forced at gunpoint to follow every little rule and regulation, lest we lose our liberty and our lives, the federal leviathan under Obama continues to act as though it is a power unto itself. And the elites wonder why the electorate is soBrexit.

More:

BigGovernment.news is part of the USA Features Media network. Get caught up on ALL of the days most important news and information here.

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Is Obama using infectious disease as a biological weapon? Tuberculosis-infected refugees relocated across USA

Its getting less and less difficult to understand why so many people are opposed to mass immigration taking place in America.

According to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, between 2011 and 2015, seven refugees who were infected with tuberculosis were relocated to Idaho. Their diagnoses occurred shortly after their arrivals  after they had already been brought into the country. Either government officials hadnt properly checked them for diseases, didnt care to check them for diseases, or a combination of the two. Either way, its incredibly shameful.

Its not just Idaho, either. Michael Patrick Leahy of Breitbart writes, The other states in which recently arrived refugees have been diagnosed with active TB include: Louisiana (twenty-one), Florida (eleven), Colorado, (ten), Indiana (four), Kentucky (where nine were diagnosed in one county), and North Dakota (where four refugees who resided in the United States for less than five years were diagnosed in one county).

Thats a considerable amount of people being brought into the country with a highly contagious disease, yet those who dispute it are completely berated and insulted by the mainstream media and the leftist authoritarians. These kinds of issues need to be dealt with long before potential immigrants are allowed entry into the United States. There are so many issues that can come if proper background checks are not utilized  and this isnt strictly related to terrorism. As were now learning the hard way, disease is a big issue as well.

Our government has become so politically correct and overly ambitious that its getting borderline dangerous. The Obama administration is trying to become the real-life Team America: World Police as they attempt to save everyone in the world while simultaneously risking the lives of Americans. Its absolute nonsense and deserves to receive criticism from our citizens.

There are legitimate reasons to be afraid of mass immigration into the United States. Youre not a xenophobe or an Islamophobe or a racist or whatever other buzz words leftists want to throw at you. If youre hesitant to support mass immigration into the United States, youre only one thing: logical.

Sources:

Breitbart

Natural News

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Ishq Click Movie trailer crossed 1 million views in 2 Days release on YouTube

Bollywood, Wed, 29 Jun 2016 NI Wire

Adhyayan Suman,Sara Loren and Sanskkriti Jain starrer Ishq Click trailer crossed 1 million views

The trailer of the Adhyayan Suman-Sara Loren starrer Ishq Click released on 24th June ,2016 amidst much anticipation.

The trailer of the love story is already a rage and has been lapped up by all the romantic fanatics to the extent that it has crossed 1 million views in merely 2 Days of its release on YouTube.

The trailer has met with a terrific response on the social networking sites. Adhyayan and Sara, who will be sharing the screen space together for the first time, have a sparkling chemistry which is evident in the promo.

The film buffs waiting to see a nice, romantic movie are overwhelmed with Adhyayan's new avatar and we ought to say Sara, too, has left us highly impressed.

Industry pundits and critics are of the belief that Ishq Click will be a game changer for Adhyayan and he will silence all his detractors with a superlative performance. Interestingly, the talented actor has received several compliments for his performance after watching the trailer.

The movie also stars popular theatre actress Sanskkriti Jain in a very important role.

Directed by Anil Ballani and produced by Ajay Jaiswal and Satish Tripathi under the banner of Algol Films, Ishq Click is scheduled to release 22nd July, 2016.

Ishq Click Movie Trailer Sara Loren, Adhyayan Suman & Sanskriti Jain, Satish & Ajay.

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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Researchers are learning more about the Zika virus and how it affects the development of infants in utero -- and what they're learning is painting a grim portrait of the destructive nature of the infection for the fetus.



Two studies published Wednesday in the medical journal The Lancet shed new light on the effects of the virus.



In one study, researchers from multiple institutions, including the Brazilian Ministry of Health, examined children who had been born to mothers with suspected Zika virus infections. The virus has been found to cause microcephaly, a birth defect characterized by an abnormally small head. However, researchers found of the approximately 1,500 births they studied, about 20 percent of the babies born with Zika virus had normal head circumferences. This means these infants may have developmental delays or other defects even though they do not have microcephaly.



The other study published by researchers from multiple institutions, including the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, examined the ways the virus affects brain tissue. They looked at brains of three infants who died after being born with Zika-related microcephaly and also at fetal tissue from two pregnancies that ended in miscarriage related to Zika infection.



By looking at the tissue, researchers found evidence of body deformities, cell death and abnormal calcium deposits in brain tissue related to the viral infection.



The researchers hope to be able to better understand how the virus attacks the developing brain through these studies.



Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told ABC News that the study findings show how much researchers are playing catch-up with this disease.



"Im afraid the more we learn the nastier the Zika virus is," Schaffner said. "Its quite evident that the Zika virus, if it gets into a pregnant woman, can get into the placenta and into the baby and it gets right into the brain cells."



Schaffner said other birth defects, including those that affect sight and hearing, often appear if brain development is affected in utero.



"Some of the babies will have blindness and hearing defects," if their brain development is impacted, Schaffner explained. "Some of the babies who appear normal at birth on follow-up can be found tragically later to have limitations of brain function, vision and hearing."

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The brightest area on Ceres, located in the mysterious Occator Crater, has the highest concentration of carbonate minerals ever seen outside Earth, according to a new study from scientists on NASAs Dawn mission. The study, published online in the journal Nature, is one of two new papers about the makeup of Ceres.

This is the first time we see this kind of material elsewhere in the solar system in such a large amount, said Maria Cristina De Sanctis, lead author and principal investigator of Dawns visible and infrared mapping spectrometer. De Sanctis is based at the National Institute of Astrophysics, Rome.

At about 80 million years old, Occator is considered a young crater. It is 57 miles (92 kilometers) wide, with a central pit about 6 miles (10 kilometers) wide. A dome structure at the center, covered in highly reflective material, has radial and concentric fractures on and around it.

De Sanctis study finds that the dominant mineral of this bright area is sodium carbonate, a kind of salt found on Earth in hydrothermal environments. This material appears to have come from inside Ceres, because an impacting asteroid could not have delivered it. The upwelling of this material suggests that temperatures inside Ceres are warmer than previously believed. Impact of an asteroid on Ceres may have helped bring this material up from below, but researchers think an internal process played a role as well.

More intriguingly, the results suggest that liquid water may have existed beneath the surface of Ceres in recent geological time

The center of Ceres mysterious Occator Crater is the brightest area on the dwarf planet. The inset perspective view is overlaid with data concerning the composition of this feature: Red signifies a high abundance of carbonates, while gray indicates a low carbonate abundance.

Dawns visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) was used to examine the composition of the bright material in the center of Occator. Using VIR data, researchers found that the dominant constituent of this bright area is sodium carbonate, a kind of salt found on Earth in hydrothermal environments. Scientists determined that Occator represents the highest concentration of carbonate minerals ever seen outside Earth. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/ASI/INAF

Surface of Ceres has less water ice to explain craters

Researchers modeled how deep craters would evolve over time on different areas of Ceres (as on Earth, the poles of the dwarf planet are colder than the equatorial regions). While its possible to have an icy Ceres that supports old craters near the poles, most of the rest of the planet would see the viscosity of water ice allow the interior of the crater to slowly deform. After sufficient time, even deep craters would be reduced to depths of less than 500m if water ice is the dominant material on Ceres. A 100km-wide crater would no longer be visible after just 10 million years.

They then compared that to a catalog of actual crater depths as mapped by Dawn and showed that theres a large discrepancy: many of the actual craters, including some quite old ones, are very deep. In fact, they calculate that the persistence of these craters requires that whatever comprises Ceres crust has to be over 100 times more viscous than water ice. Ceres outer layer is therefore probably relatively ice poor, with non-ice material constituting 6070 percent of the volume, the authors conclude.

The typically dark surface of the dwarf planet Ceres is punctuated by areas of much higher albedo, most prominently in the Occator crater. These small bright areas have been tentatively interpreted as containing a large amount of hydrated magnesium sulfate, in contrast to the average surface, which is a mixture of low-albedo materials and magnesium phyllosilicates, ammoniated phyllosilicates and carbonates. Here we report high spatial and spectral resolution near-infrared observations of the bright areas in the Occator crater on Ceres. Spectra of these bright areas are consistent with a large amount of sodium carbonate, constituting the most concentrated known extraterrestrial occurrence of carbonate on kilometre-wide scales in the Solar System. The carbonates are mixed with a dark component and small amounts of phyllosilicates, as well as ammonium carbonate or ammonium chloride. Some of these compounds have also been detected in the plume of Saturns sixth-largest moon Enceladus. The compounds are endogenous and we propose that they are the solid residue of crystallization of brines and entrained altered solids that reached the surface from below. The heat source may have been transient (triggered by impact heating). Alternatively, internal temperatures may be above the eutectic temperature of subsurface brines, in which case fluids may exist at depth on Ceres today

Occator crater on Ceres

Nature  Bright carbonate deposits as evidence of aqueous alteration on (1) Ceres

SOURCES- Nature, NASA, JPL, Caltech
Tesla Motors has agreed to a non-binding agreement with the Chinese state-owned company Jinqiao Group to jointly build a $9 billion factory. It is believed that Tesla will give the rights to Jinqiao Group to construct a production plant in the Chinese city of Shanghai.

Six months ago Tesla chief Elon Musk publicized his intention to pick a production facility based in China in the middle of 2016.

Tesla and Jinqiao Group will each invest $4.5 billion on the project. If the rumors are true, the Tesla Motors-Jinqiao Group deal will be significantly bigger than the Walt Disney Shanghai Resort project with cost $5.5 billion.

Many industry experts believe that Teslas decision to locate its production in China is to avoid the 25 percent import tax on electric cars shipped to China.

The latest deal was not announced to the public, so no estimated timeline regarding when the project will start was released. On the other hand, two other Chinese cities are also attempting to persuade Tesla Motors to locate its assembly plant in their respective cities. The two cities are Suzhou and Hefei.

SOURCE  China Topix
The left-leaning group MoveOn.org said Tester, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, should "should be ashamed for blocking comprehensive background checks for gun purchases".

Her move came just a day after four separate bills prompted by the Orlando massacre were voted down by the Republican majority. Senate Republicans preferred a measure that would have forced the Federal Bureau of Investigation to get a court order when officials wanted to stop a suspected terrorist from buying a gun.

The Senate rejected four separate plans, with Republican and Democrat senators voting along party lines with little cross-party support for bills including provisions that would restrict the sale of guns to people named on the USA terrorism watchlist. "I'm proud to have worked with Senator Collins to reach such a commonsense, bipartisan compromise".

Harper says the two Republican proposals would have given people wrongly accused of being a terrorist a way off the list. Collins estimated the watch list would cover 2,700 names.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 21, 2016, to unveil a new gun legislation proposal. USA citizens and permanent residence card holders who are blocked from purchasing firearms can appeal to the government.

The reality star, who expressed support for Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton last summer, also retweeted Igor Volsky, the deputy director of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, who called out each senator who voted against the measures by name. "It's time to start putting progress in front of politics". Heidi Heitkamp, of North Dakota; Martin Heinrich, of New Mexico; Tim Kaine of Virginia; Bill Nelson, of Florida; and Collins's fellow Mainer, independent Sen.

The bill comes after a gunman opened fired in an Orlando gay nightclub, killing 49 people and injuring 53 others before being fatally shot by police.

"I owe it the people of Orlando to try to get something done", said Sen. Ayotte, of New Hampshire; Jeff Flake, of Arizona; Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina; Democratic Sens. Senate Minority Leader Sen.

Collins said she hasn't spoken to the NRA about the proposal. What if you buy the damn gun? "They were common sense bills that were put forward that should have drawn strong bipartisan support that would prevent individuals who are now suspected of having ties to terrorism from being able to buy a gun", he said.

"If the NRA and their lapdogs in the Senate thought moms would feel dispirited and back down, they are sorely mistaken", Watts told reporters in a teleconference. But if you are on these lists and are denied your right to buy a gun, you can challenge it afterward.

But senators in both parties have largely stayed on the fence about Collins's proposal.
This is significant because legal experts claim that this type of action usually signals an immediate European Union statement of objections. Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. That part of its business generates the majority of the revenue for Google, which is now part of the holding company Alphabet.

There is a possibility that investigation on Google's advertising services could have a bigger impact on its revenue than the two other investigations.

The hits appear to keep on coming for Google in the European Union. Apart from this one, Google is already under two other charges from the EU.

The EU is now asking Google competitors to disclose confidential information that would support the antitrust charges, according to the report.

The concern is to find whether Google disallows or thwarts website operators from displaying ads on their websites that rival its advertising business.

Five years ago, the investigation against the company was focused on its contracts with websites that blocks non-Google advertising services and agreements with computer and software vendors that prevent them from using other search tools.

The first charges, filed the day the Android antitrust investigation began, concerned the company's comparison shopping service, and grew out of an investigation begun in November 2010.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in May "she hoped the investigation into Google's AdWords advertising service could conclude 'within a reasonable timeframe, '" Bloomberg added.

If found guilty of abusing a dominant market position, Google could face a fine for each of the charges of up to 10 percent of its worldwide revenue, which previous year totaled US$74.5 billion.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the Palestinians, who were holed up in the Al Aqsa Mosque, attacked officers with fireworks and rocks they had stockpiled inside the mosque.

The occupation forces violated an agreement with the Jordanian Waqf, which has administered the shrine since the 1967 Mideast War, to keep Al Magarebah gate closed and to not allow any incursions into the shrine during the last 10 days of Ramadan, dedicating this time for Muslim worship.

The development came only a day after Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani, the director of al-Aqsa Mosque, said at least 35 Palestinian sustained injuries on Monday when almost 250 Israeli soldiers, escorting a crowd of illegal settlers, stormed the holy site and clashed with worshipers.

The period, which began on Sunday, is the most solemn for Muslims and attracts the highest number of worshippers. He said a 73-year-old woman was lightly wounded and police arrested 16 suspects in the disturbances.

As a result, police chose to close access to Jewish worshippers and other visitors for the remainder of the week to prevent tensions with Muslim worshippers until Ramadan is over.

Israeli military forces have once again raided the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds (Jerusalem) and engaged in scuffles with a group of Palestinians there. The hilltop compound is revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, site of the two biblical Jewish temples.

The violence erupted amidst Palestinian fears that Israel is attempting to change the long-held status quo at the site, which allows Jews to visit the compound but not to pray there. Since October 2015, attacks by Palestinians have killed 32 Israelis and two USA citizens, while Israeli forces have shot and killed at least 196 Palestinians, more than half that Israel says were attackers.

Thirty-two Israelis and two visiting Americans have died in the unrest, which has led to renewed calls for peace talks, which last broke down more than two years ago.
Berit was last reported alive on July 17, 1990 and made a purchase that day at a Walgreens in Fond Du Lac.

62-year-old Dennis Brantner is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of the 18-year-old Beck.

The judge and attorneys discussed the topic and the jury was allowed to leave. At about 4:30 Tuesday, they reported they still had no consensus and asked the judge if they could go home. It took more than two decades to arrest and charge a suspect in this case - and now, a verdict may not happen.

The court heard from the jury a couple of times Tuesday morning when it requested some exhibits to review. "They have had a frustrating day", Sharpe said. Approximately five-and-a-half weeks later, her body was found in rural Fond du Lac County. "He says, 'If I did, I did, I don't know, I'm so (expletive) sorry'". A total of nine of the Racine truck driver's fingerprints were found either in the van or on items in the van. If I did it, I did it.

"His (Brantner's) own words tell you he murdered Berit Beck", Toney told the jury during closing statements. Brantner said that he was driven home by a man driving Beck's van.

Defense attorney Craig Powell addresses the jury during closing arguments of the Dennis Brantner murder trial, Monday, June 27, 2016 in a Fond du Lac County courtroom. "If I did it, I don't know", Brantner said.

Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this developing story.
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After a pounding by storms and floods, basic necessities still aren't up and running in some areas.

She runs Wallace and Wallace, one of two funeral chapels in this rain-soaked West Virginia town of 1,500 residents. Due to the record rainfall last week, any rain is likely to cause flash flooding.

He said people who don't live in the area or have loved ones there should stay away.

FEMA has set up disaster centers in two of the worst counties, free tetanus shots were administered Tuesday to residents exposed to flood waters and Proctor and Gamble is providing laundry services.

"The house in front of where my apartment used to be is turned over. The main waterway that goes through the valley of White Sulphur completely flooded its banks and took with it many houses". "My apartment is gone".

The Saints are scheduled to begin training camp in one month at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs for the third consecutive year. The PGA Tour has canceled a tournament there from July 4-10 because the course is overrun by floodwaters.

Ami Palmer, 40, hugs her nephew Landon Palmer (L), upon returning to her home after flooding damaged her home in Clendenin, West Virginia, U.S., June 26, 2016.

"We can't do it alone", she said. "And it's never been that way".

Actions taken by President Obama also allow effected residents to gain aid for housing and home repairs and receive low-priced loans to cover uninsured property losses. The priority now, he said, is locating the missing, restoring power and infrastructure, and making certain those in need of help receive it.

But some of those residents accepting federal assistance may be forced to relocate.

Clark says going to help is important to him because he feels like it's the right thing to do and would want someone to do the same for him.

President Barack Obama's signature Saturday on the federal disaster declaration lets residents in the three counties get aid for temporary housing and home repairs, receive low-priced loans to cover uninsured property losses, and qualify for other assistance for individuals and business owners. Manchin said he expected that list to grow. Tomblin declared an emergency and mobilzed the National Guard.

The president's action makes federal funding available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protective measures in Greenbrier, Kanawha, and Nicholas counties.
Swiss pioneers Bertrand Piccard, initiator and chairman, and Andre Borschberg, CEO and co-founder, are the pilots and driving force behind Solar Impulse, the first airplane propelled exclusively by the sun's energy.

After taking off from NY on Monday morning, the solar-powered Solar Impulse 2 aircraft piloted by Bertrand Piccard is nearing Seville in Spain.

Speaking to crowds of journalists and spectators on the landing strip, Piccard said: "The world of modern clean technologies, respect for the environment, innovation, pioneers - this is the world that Solar Impulse and its team would like to represent [and] promote".

I can't take it in, it is so fantastic, Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard told the plane's mission control centre in Monaco in remarks broadcast live on the Internet.

Piccard and Borschberg, both Swiss, are seasoned adventurers.

The $150 million, sponsor-funded Solar Impulse project is meant to throw a spotlight on environmentally friendly technologies, including the more than 17,000 solar cells and more than 800 pounds of advanced lithium polymer batteries that kept the plane going day and night.

The world's most traveled fuel-free airplane, Solar Impulse 2, made better time than expected and landed in Spain today, leaving only 10 percent of its round-the-world odyssey to go.

Piccard and Borschberg have been sharing piloting duties of the craft, with Piccard enjoying occasional naps in the cockpit during the Atlantic leg of the trip. It has completed more than half of its journey around the world using only solar energy and has never wasted a single ounce of jet fuel.

On the runway in Seville, Piccard's team gave him a warm reception following the landing. "The International Committee of Clean Technologies will work in this direction", commented Piccard, now at the controls of Solar Impulse 2.

The flights are planned carefully to ensure clear weather but crossing the Atlantic was still challenging, Piccard said, having crossed turbulent cold fronts and dodged clouds.

Image via Solar Impulse. The journey from Japan to Hawaii took 120 hours, and as The Two-Way noted, it broke the previous record for the longest duration nonstop solo flight.

After the Atlantic crossing, Borschberg is due to fly to Egypt, and Piccard will make the final journey back to Abu Dhabi in early July.
Amid a national debate on gun control intensified after the Orlando shooting, U.S. President Barack Obama and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton have called for reinstatement of the federal assault-weapon ban, which expired in 2004.

Kudos to the U.S. Supreme Court for declining to hear challenges to laws banning assault weapons in NY and CT.

Still, the court has not heard arguments in a Second Amendment case since 2010, and has typically shied away from the issue since its landmark 2008 ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller, which, in a 5-to-4 decision, found that the Constitution protects an individual's right to bear arms.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office released a statement on the recent Supreme Court decision in regard to SAFE Act. Scalia died in February.

A group of Second Amendment rights activists sued the state in federal court, claiming that the law violated their constitutional right to own a gun for self-defense. In addition, Minnesota and Virginia regulate assault weapons, the center said.

The laws in both states were passed after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 20 children and six educators in 2012.

When used in crimes, the rifles "result in more shots being fired, more people being shot, and more gun death". Lanza then killed himself. With the current deadlock at SCOTUS expected to continue until Antonin Scalia's seat is filled next year, we saw another example of this today. We passed one of the toughest, one of the smartest gun laws in the nation.

"We appreciate the Supreme Court's action today". While, as Vice News points out, its decision doesn't set any groundbreaking judicial precedent, it offers "tacit approval for states and local governments to enact broad gun-control laws", which is some much, much needed good news.

The decision not to hear the case, not long after the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. We can not sit idly by and watch tragedy after tragedy, horror after horror. We have the ability to act - the question is whether or not elected officials have the will. Advocates urged Congress to expand background checks in an effort to curb gun violence in the US.

The Connecticut Citizens Defense League was formed in 2009 by a small group of concerned citizens as a non-partisan organization to advocate second amendment rights in the state of Connecticut. "We were confident from the outset that our CT law was within the guidelines for respecting 2nd Amendment rights while protecting the public safety of CT citizens", Pinciaro said. A full court is considering that test in an appeal. In this case, the Court ruled, banning assault weapons can save lives.
Also Tuesday, visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that while he understood Israel's security concerns, any measures it took would not "solve the underlying causes of the cycles of violence" that have plagued the region.

Ban called on Israel to work quickly toward a two-state solution. "No solution can be imposed from the outside, it must be based on direct negotiations on the final status issues".

Ban's recognition that "refugees are people like you and me" was, in the absence of the recognition of the Palestinian struggle, a slap in the face of those who have been suffering the consequences of Israel's blockade that, according to the UN's own figures, risks to render the coastal Palestinian enclave uninhabitable within six years.

Lamenting that his previous visit to Jerusalem in October a year ago took place during the peak of the recent wave of violence, the United Nations chief highlighted that the frequency of terror attacks and clashes have decreased.

In a statement alongside Ban at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, Netanyahu thanked the UN Chief for meeting with the families of missing soldiers and asked for his help in bringing them home.

Tel Aviv University President Joseph Klafter (left) presents Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with the George S. Wise Medal. "You need a leadership that is committed to peace and a just and a lasting solution".

"We can not ignore key underlying causes of violence: growing Palestinian anger, the paralysis of the peace process, the almost a half-century of occupation", he added.

"We expect relations to be normalised in areas of politics, trade and energy", Kalin said, indicating that the pair would likely discuss the lifting of punishing sanctions Russian Federation has slapped on Turkey.

"I encourage you to take the courageous steps necessary to prevent a one-state reality of perpetual conflict that is incompatible with realizing the national aspirations of Israeli and Palestinian people", Ban said, speaking in Jerusalem alongside Netanyahu.

"The worldwide community can and must support all of these efforts", he added. About 200 Palestinians have been killed during that time, most identified by Israel as attackers.

Ban Ki-moon correctly states that nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation of Palestine hasn't bought security for Israelis.

During the press conference, Abbas blamed Israeli settlement building for stagnating peace talks with Israel and said his hands remained "outstretched for peace" but are thwarted by "continued Israeli occupation and settlements" in the West Bank.

"And I know what the United Nations can do to help". "They are enduring enormously hard living conditions". Gaza's economy has largely come to a standstill as a result of the blockade, which greatly limits the flow of people and goods in and out of the territory.

He condemned a recent wave of Palestinian attacks, which he called "terrorism", and said the Gaza blockade was "collective punishment".

"Today, some 70 percent of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance, and over half of Gaza's youth have little to no job prospects or horizons of hope", he said.
While nothing has been made final yet, the firm notes that it won't be abandoning its services or customers in the United Kingdom, however most of its earning and operations are found outside England. It said the UK's membership of the European Union has been an important factor in its growth, allowing freedom of movement of people, capital and goods, as well as the single legal framework. On the other hand, to ensure its "businesses within the European Union continue to be represented appropriately", the company said it would strengthen its public policy and other required regulatory activities in Brussels, the Belgian capital, which is considered the de facto capital of the EU. The majority of its 462 million customers, 108,000 employees and 15,000 suppliers are based outside the United Kingdom, it said, with European businesses, excluding the United Kingdom, accounting for 55 per cent of earnings.

It was too early "draw any firm conclusions regarding the long-term location for the headquarters".

Vodafone said it would take "whatever decisions are appropriate" once the outcome of negotiations is known. The company is headquartered in London and has an operating division in Newbury, Berkshire.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom government has discussed Britain's access to the single market with business leaders. The company is also to start reporting its financial results in euros, rather than pounds. But it's not just about revenue, as 108,000 employees and most of the companies 108,000 employees are found outside the United Kingdom, while just 12,391 people are employed within Britain.

"The UK's membership of the European Union has been an important factor in the growth of a company such as Vodafone", it said in a statement first sent to the Financial Times.

"Access to the emerging European digital single market should represent a significant opportunity for the United Kingdom, one of the world's leading digital economies".

Business Secretary Sajid Javid met business groups and company executives on Tuesday to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the vote to leave the EU. "In practice this means tariff and barrier free access to the single market; maintaining trade deals around the world; attracting and keeping skills; and working out the trade-offs between these three", she said.

The company noted that a large majority of its 462 million customers, 108,000 employees and 15,000 suppliers are based outside the UK.
Nebraska is facing one of the worst droughts in years. We see the effects of this drought in our everyday lives. When driving down the highway, we see our once verdant landscape replaced with yellowing and desiccated crops and plant life. This dryness provokes hardships for the economy and a
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Algerian Minister of Communication Tuesday sent a last warning to offshore media broadcasting on the Algerian territory to abide by countrys communication regulation or see their programs shut down, reports say.

Out of 45 overseas television channels broadcasting in Algeria, only four channels namely Ennahar TV, Echorouk TV, El Djazairia TV and Dzair TV are officially authorized to operate, reports say.

Hamid Grine, Minister of communication wants to force the unauthorized media to abide by the countrys communication regulation.

Grine indicated to media that the move is to regularize the domain and assert governments authority.

Grine received the support of the whole cabinet. Already in May Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal had warned the media operating without state authorization that they may face censorship if they dont respect the countrys rules.

The Governments regulatory move also covers online media, radio, newspapers and televisions.

Algiers is currently waging a war against private media. Authorities last week locked up Mehdi Benaissa, Head of critical KBC TV for recording a satiric program in what they claim is an outlawed studio.

Police last week prevented popular and critical newspaper el Watan to join its new offices despite a green-light from local authorities.
Khalifa Haftar, head of the Libya National Army, who is currently visiting Moscow held talks with Defense Minister Sergei Shigou and Russias Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev on ways to strengthen and consolidate Libya and the delivery of weapons.

He is expected to have a meeting in the foreign ministry on Wednesday according to Russias Ambassador to Libya Ivan Molotkov but he didnt reveal the officials that Haftar would be meeting. Haftar and his forces are loyal to the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR.)

Moscow acknowledges the authority of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) and Faiez Serraj as the Prime Minister-designate but has stressed that its recognition of GNA will be fully fledged only when the HoR approves the GNA and the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA.)

Meanwhile in Tobruk, Mohammed Al-Raeid, a member of the HoR said Speaker Agila Saleh shoulders the responsibility for what happened during the previous sessions when a vote of confidence for the government was on the table. The parliament has failed to hold a vote of confidence on the GNA, which divided MPs over the arrangement of the parliaments agenda. Raied said the HoR must exert huge efforts to contain the chaos that now persists in the country as he showed his support to the GNA.

Following Haftars visit, the supply of weapons by Russia could further complicate the path to peace in Libya considering that there is still a UN arms embargo on the country.

Russia could be intensifying its role in Libya as unconfirmed reports claim that Ahmed Maetig, one of Hafters outspoken opponents, would be visiting Moscow very soon.

In March, Lavrov described Libya as a black hole from which weapons and militants spread through a dozen other countries.
Odds are good California will join the list of states to legalize recreational marijuana use this November. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

To the surprise of no one who lived in or observed California back in the Age of Aquarius, the Golden State began the current U.S. movement toward legalizing cannabis products by authorizing medical marijuana back in 1996. But Left Coast weed fanciers suffered a blow when the first statewide initiative for legalizing recreational marijuana use, Proposition 19, lost by a 47-53 margin in 2010. A similar initiative will be on the ballot this November, an election official certified today.

A lot of different theories were advanced for the defeat of Proposition 19. Law-enforcement officials, both major political parties, and the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor all opposed it. Some popular impetus for legalization had been sapped by rapidly declining penalties for recreational use (it had basically become like a sporadically enforced traffic offense), and thwarted by the refusal of federal law-enforcement officials to defer to state or local laws in this area. There was also a notable lack of enthusiasm for Prop 19 in Northern California pot-growing areas, which feared a major takeover of the industry by medical-marijuana distributors or even big tobacco companies. And since no other jurisdiction had at that point legalized pot, there were a lot of fears about the legalization regimes feasibility.

Finally, and perhaps most important, 2010 was a midterm election, which invariably brings out an older, more conservative electorate.

That will not be a problem this November.

The sponsors of this new initiative have dressed it up with a lot more safeguards against minors use of pot, and a lot more provisions to make effective state regulation of the pot industry possible. Its overall message is to suggest that, this time around, legalization will be done right  the official slogan is Lets Get It Right, California  with the experience of legalization pioneers Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and Alaska taken fully into account. The draft initiative prescribes harsh penalties for marijuana sale and use not authorized by the measure, and also bans pot advertising. But sponsors were also careful to include language encouraging deincarceration of people serving time for minor pot offenses, tapping the bipartisan criminal-justice-reform movement.

What hasnt changed is the early financial lead of the pro cause, provided again mostly by Napster founder Sean Parker.

Political sponsorship has grown, too. While lame-duck governor Jerry Brown still opposes pot legalization, his lieutenant governor and putative successor, Gavin Newsom, has made himself the public face of the initiative drive.

The big question is whether public opinion has changed enough since 2010 that this new initiative  again, aided by the turnout dynamics of a presidential election year  will escape the fate of Prop 19. The latest detailed polling, from Public Policy Institute of California, suggests it has. In May, PPIC showed support for legalizing pot rising to 60 percent of likely voters (with 37 percent opposed), up from 56 percent in a March 2015 survey. Of the major demographic groups, Republicans and Latinos still opposed legalization, and theres the inevitable age gap (66 percent of under-35 voters favor it, as opposed to 48 percent among over-65 voters). But, in general, the outlook for passage is pretty bright barring some change in the overall political climate.

If California is to salvage its Summer of Love rep as a great place to get high, it needs to get a move on. Nevada, Maine, Massachusetts, and Arizona are also likely to have legalization ballot initiatives this fall. California doobie-lovers indeed need to get it right between now and November.


I know some people who wont be voting this year either.

The National Rifle Association will spend $2 million informing swing-state voters that if those killed in Benghazi were alive today, they would endorse Donald Trump.

In the gun-rights groups first campaign ad of the 2016 cycle, Mark Geist, a Marine Corps veteran and survivor of the 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, stares into the camera, eyes narrowed in contempt.

A lot of people say theyre not going to vote this November because their candidate didnt win. Well, I know some people who wont be voting this year either, Geist says, as he strolls through a cemetery. Hillary as president? No, thanks. I served in Benghazi. My friends didnt make it. They did their part. Do yours.

On Tuesday, the sister of Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador killed in Benghazi, told The New Yorker that she does not hold Hillary Clinton responsible for her brothers death.

I do not blame Hillary Clinton or Leon Panetta, Anne Stevens told the magazine, following the release of the House Committee on Benghazis report. They were balancing security efforts at embassies and missions around the world. And their staffs were doing their best to provide what they could with the resources they had.

The ad buy is one of the largest by a pro-Trump outside group this cycle, and the 30-second spot will appear on the airwaves in Colorado, Ohio, Nevada, Florida, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, USA Today reports.

Polls released Wednesday from Ballotpedia show Trump trailing Clinton in all of those states except Nevada, where no poll was taken. The RealClearPolitics average of recent national surveys puts Clinton seven points ahead. However, the Democratic nominee has enjoyed a near monopoly on the airwaves up to this point, running 105,000 ads to Trumps 33,000, according to a recent analysis by the Wesleyan Media Project.

Still, its hard to imagine that an ad shaming #NeverTrump Republicans for betraying our fallen warriors will do much to expand Trumps base of support  unless a bunch of GOP governors adopt the voting restrictions proposed by Eric Trump earlier this month.

My wife and I watched 13 Hours this weekend, and literally, I was livid after watching this movie, the Republican nominees son told Fox News, referencing Michael Bays Benghazi thriller. I think in order to vote in this next election, you should have to watch that movie.
De Blasio said the decision wont change enforcement. Photo: Spencer Platt/2014 Getty Images

Vision Zero, Mayor de Blasios citywide plan to eliminate traffic deaths, hit a bit of a snag after a Queens Supreme Court judge ruled against a key law that punishes drivers for failing to yield to pedestrians or cyclists in bike lanes who have the right of way. Known fittingly as the Right of Way law, it passed in 2014, and amounts to a misdemeanor charge. The judge, Gia Morris, argued that this law was unconstitutional because it violated the defendants due-process rights by applying a civil standard, which has a lower bar than criminal negligence. The judge wrote that the law violated  the defendants right to be presumed innocent.

This particular case involved a school-bus driver who was charged under that provision after he hit an elderly woman in a crosswalk in Forest Hills in 2014. The 85-year-old woman died two months later. The misdemeanor carries a $250 fine, or 30 days in prison, at most. The judge, in throwing out the law, also threw out the case against the driver. He faced no other charges.

This isnt the first challenge to the Right of Way law, but previous judges have upheld the laws constitutionality. This Queens Supreme Court ruling is non-binding and it conflicts with, but doesnt overrule, those other decisions. But DNAinfo points out the real sticking point with this decision: Cops were pretty slow to start applying this law, but it seems the NYPD is finally starting to crack down: The number of arrests under this Right of Way law is up 63 percent compared to this time last year. Granted that number is still only at 18 drivers total, reports DNAinfo  but there were only 20 total Right of Way arrests in 2015. (A total of 77 people were killed in traffic accidents so far this year, per Streetsblog, an 11 percent drop from 2015.) But now that the law has been successfully challenged, its possible cops may back away from making these arrests.

The Queens district attorney has the opportunity to appeal the verdict. Mayor de Blasio, who made Vision Zero a key goal of the administration, has said that he disagrees with Judge Morriss verdict, and that law enforcement will continue to investigate, enforce, and charge this law.
Adriano Espaillat declares victory.

At least some diligent New Yorkers went to the polls yesterday to decide which candidates will face off in the states 2016 congressional races. Its possible that, in between Trump being Trump and the post-Clinton-Warren girl-power session glow, you might have missed some of the primary results. Heres are quick recaps of some of the big headlines:

For the first time in four decades, Harlem congressman Charlie Rangels name didnt appear on a ballot, which meant a slew of long-waiting Democrats were vying for his seat. A total of nine candidates ran in House District 13, but two challengers garnered the majority of the votes: State Senator Adriano Espaillat and State Assemblyman Keith Wright. Espaillat edged out Wright  Rangels mentee and handpicked successor  to claim the Democratic nomination and, almost certainly, Rangels House seat come November. Espaillat will likely make history, too: He would be the first Dominican-American elected to the House of Representatives.

On Long Island, another retiring representative left an open seat and many eager Democrats ready to step up and claim it. Democrat Steve Israel is stepping down, after 15 years in the House, to spend more time on his second novel. District 3, which stretches across Long Islands North Shore in Nassau and Suffolk and includes a tiny slice of Queens, saw five candidates duking it out. Former Nassau county executive Tom Suozzi beat out his rivals with 35.5 percent of the vote, including Suffolk County legislator Steve Stern, whom Israel endorsed. Suozzi, whom you may remember from his long-shot gubernatorial primary challenge in 2006 against Eliot Spitzer, will face Republican state senator Jack Martins in the fall. The district is currently rated a toss-up, so its likely going to be a close race.

I am running for Congress to break down the doors of power in Washington.  Zephyr Teachout (@ZephyrTeachout) June 29, 2016

Most of the New York City Democratic incumbents skated through the primaries and will likely sail back to Capitol Hill in November. Carolyn Maloney (East Side of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens); Gregory Meeks (Jamaica and Southeastern Queens); Nydia Velazquez (North Brooklyn, Queens, Lower East Side); Jose E. Serrano (South Bronx); and Jerrold Nadler (West Side, Brooklyn) all won out.

And you can check out the complete election results here.
Police block the entrance of the Ataturk International Airport after an explosion in Istanbul, Turkey. Photo: Veli Gurgah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Three suicide bombers attacked Turkeys busy Ataturk Airport in Istanbul Tuesday evening, killing at least 41 people and wounding 147, according to Turkish officials. While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said initial findings suggest the men were affiliated with the Islamic State. Our first assessments of the attacks make it look like this was an ISIS attack, and an anonymous Turkish security official told the Washington Post. The target and modus operandi are similar to what weve seen during the Brussels airport attacks.

The attack took place in the arrivals area of Ataturk Airports international terminal at 9:22 p.m. Officials said two of the men began firing automatic weapons at a security checkpoint outside the airport, then blew themselves up. A third man detonated his vest in the parking lot. When asked if a fourth attacker might have escaped, Prime Minister Yildirim said authorities do not believe that was the case, but they are considering every possibility. In Turkish airports, travelers are screened at the terminal entrance and before entering departure gates; none of the attackers made it past the first security checkpoint. One of the blasts was recorded on closed-circuit TV inside the airport and posted on social media:

Emergency responders and ambulances rushed to the airport, ferrying the injured to hospitals. Pictures from news agencies and social media documented the bloody scene, with wounded people lying on the ground, and yellow police tape cordoning off the area. Others captured the chaotic, panicked aftermath of the explosions. (Warning: Some of the images are graphic.)

From Ilhas News Agency. Shows ambulances and police intervening next to injured people at the airport. Photo: Ilhas News Agency/AFP/Getty Images

An itibariyle Bakrkoy devlet hastanesi pic.twitter.com/GxFvdcQjBA  Meh (@GungormehMeh) June 28, 2016

Ataturk Havaliman'nda bombal saldrlar: En az 10 kisi yasamn yitirdi (Dakika dakika)https://t.co/drcPHgBRnX pic.twitter.com/Qrpl97uTSP  sendika.org (@sendika_org) June 28, 2016

Ataturk Havaliman ds hatlar terminalinde meydana gelen patlamada sonras amator kamera goruntusu: pic.twitter.com/sp3SLRzsI4  140journos (@140journos) June 28, 2016

Ataturk Havaliman'nda meydana gelen 2 patlamada yarallara 30'dan fazla ambulans istendi. Durum hic iyi degil! pic.twitter.com/zL1GVGfgo0  Muhalif IMAM (@imambey_) June 28, 2016

Serap Seydol, a 63-year-old Turkish Cypriot who was on an arriving plane during the attack, told The Wall Street Journal that passengers were kept on the plane for more than an hour. When we were allowed to pass the passport control after two hours wait, we saw the international arrival area almost completely destroyed. Most shops were damaged. It was chaos. People had to leave without suitcases. It was as if there had been an earthquake, she said. The airport was open again just a few hours after the attack.

Turkey has been shaken recently by suicide bombings from ISIS  including a popular Istanbul tourist spot in January and a busy street in March  and from Kurdish militants, whom Turkey blamed for a February car bomb attack in Ankara that killed 28. This month, a car bomb exploded in Istanbul that claimed 11 lives.

The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addressed the brutal terror attack, saying in a statement, Terrorists have struck again in the heart of one of our NATO allies  and all Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence.

"All Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence." Hillary pic.twitter.com/QmSccJvcV0  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 28, 2016

Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump also had some thoughts on Twitter:

Yet another terrorist attack, this time in Turkey. Will

the world ever realize what is going on? So sad.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2016

We must do everything possible to keep this horrible terrorism outside the United States.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2016

This post has been updated throughout.
Shes won the Democratic nomination and is favored to win in November, but its unclear if she can make her opponents accept her legitimacy. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

So, three weeks after the June 7 primary, the State of California is still slowly counting ballots, mostly late mail-in and provisional ballots, feeding a never-ending conspiracy theory among Bernie Sanders hard-liners that he actually won the Golden State, or that vote-counters are in the process of stealing California for Clinton. There are now 586,000 ballots left to count, an undefined (but real) number of them for the Republican presidential primary, and a majority of them provisional ballots that may well have fatal errors (voting by people not actually registered, etc.). Hillary Clintons lead remains a bit over 400,000, and her statewide margin over Sanders since Election Day has declined from a landslide-y 11 percent on Election Night to a mere big-victory 8 percent today.

As Nate Cohn reports today at the Upshot, the many communications hes getting from Bernie or Bust folk indicates they have pre-delegitimized Clintons California win anyway. If Sanders wins in the final tally or even gets close, then the media deliberately covered it up. If he loses after provisional ballots are thrown out, then his win has been stolen. Its a closed epistemic system.

Now, such conspiracy claims are not emanating from the official Bernie Sanders campaign. But the closer we get to the Democratic National Convention, the more it seems possible that Sanders could endorse and even campaign for Hillary Clinton without ever conceding she beat him fair and square. After all, the piquancy of his demand for nominating-process reforms depends on the feeling that the system this time around was indeed rigged, with the way California handled votes by pro-Bernie No Party Preference (i.e., independent) voters being part of the rigging (as always, California required indies participating in the Democratic primary to ask for a Democratic ballot, even when voting by mail. That was naturally confusing  especially to first-time voters  since all non-presidential contests involved a single ballot for everybody). After the convention is over and Bernie has raised hands with Clinton and her running mate on the final night, the whole point of making this sort of concession may become moot. So the legend of Bernie being robbed of the nomination could well live on.

So lets say late on the night of November 8, or early in the morning of November 9, Clinton is declared the winner of the general election by something less than a landslide nationally, with a close enough margin in some states to justify claims that moving around this or that small group of voters might have produced a Donald Trump win instead. How will Trump and his fans react? Think a conspiracy theory might come to mind? Will the guy who for months couldnt stop alleging that Ted Cruz stole Iowa by lying about Ben Carsons candidacy (a very minor event on caucus night, even if you believe Team Cruz was lying about Carsons possible withdrawal from the race rather than understandably misinterpreting his stated desire to take a break) is going to concede easily, or at all? Its really unlikely, when you think about it.

And so, as Nate Cohn says:

Clinton could go down as the first candidate to win both the nomination and the presidency  perhaps even decisively  without a proper concession.

Maybe it wont matter to her, but in terms of her ability to govern, the persistence of claims that she did not legitimately become president could be one of many factors making the 45th presidents job that much harder.
Recently I discovered that Google is more in touch with my emotions than I am. It was the last stage of a breakup, the coda to the relationship where you air over email your lingering doubts, demands, and disbelief. I still believed I could muster the eloquence and maturity to patch things back together. I would elaborate my feelings, the force of which would move and persuade my ex-girlfriend, and my confidence grew with every word I typed. When I scrolled again to the bottom of her email, though, Gmail suggested a computer-generated response that was shorter, clearer, and, I realized, all I really wanted to tell her: I miss you so much.

The suggestion had been generated by what Google calls an industrial strength neural network. The network had consumed the words of my ex-girlfriends email in order to produce a vector and synthesize a grammatically correct reply one word at a time. The suggestions started to appear in trios at the bottom of emails in my inbox last November, when Google announced a new Smart Reply feature that would determine if an email was answerable with a short reply, and compose a few suitable responses.

I used Smart Replies at first to swerve conversations in weird directions. Once, a friend emailed a passage from a book he was reading about the Battle of Berlin: Bits of bodies splashed against the boarded-up store front. Men and women lay in the street screaming and writhing in agony. I chose the reply Pics? He replied to my Smart Reply with another, and, as the robot answers piled up, Google forgot the initial war crime and seemed to start arranging a hookup with itself. The computer grew hungrier for photos  Can I see a pic? Did you get my pics? No pics? and eventually furnished an invitation my friend said was familiar from Grindr: Can you host?

But sometimes Smart Reply was eerily perceptive. I started to respect the service after it identified some paternal wisdom my dad had sent me. Thanks for the advice, it suggested  an appropriate-enough answer that I was tempted to pass off as my own. Now the technology had evolved beyond offering convenient replies to miming true emotion. It was the Smart Replys intensifier that stung the most. I miss you would have been a common courtesy, but I miss you so much was a cry for help. It was as though the computer could feel my frustration. Google got me.

Ever since British computer scientist Alan Turing proposed the famous Turing test in 1950, engineers have been trying to build robots that convincingly simulate human conversation. In recent years, they made a breakthrough: Rather than coding computers to follow long lists of rigid rules, they started to write more flexible programs that could learn from past experiences. Greg Corrado, a senior research scientist on the Google Brain Team, told me Smart Reply had digested a database of anonymous historical emails that Google keeps. It doesnt look in the database for similar emails or anything like that, he said. Its just that its been exposed to the patterns in the past. Its learned how these things go.

So Smart Reply had an ulterior motive. It wanted to disabuse me of heartbreaks egoism. Its because this is not the first breakup that has happened over email that it knows whats going on, Corrado said. There have been breakups in the past and there are many different ways they can go. As long as all those ways happen with sufficient frequency in the data, then thats the kind of thing the system can learn to imitate. (I wonder who inspired the other two suggestions to my exs email. What stoic hero would have answered, I understand? And were they dimwits or geniuses who wrote, So what are you doing now?)

You didnt need to be a professional writer to find this unsettling. We already live in a world where machines can figure out what movie we want to watch or food we want to eat. What happens when they start to speak for us? Two months after Google introduced Smart Reply, the company said it was already being used in 10 percent of all responses in the mobile Inbox app. Facebook, meanwhile, unveiled this month a neural network called DeepText, which it said can understand with near-human accuracy the textual content of several thousands posts per second.

These programs suggested a future where a computer figures out what we need or want or ought to say before we find the words ourselves. We feed our raw emotions to a technology company, which averages them with the emotions of others and feeds them back to us as something simpler, blander, but also more direct. Id rather be a monkey banging on a typewriter for eternity: My eloquence might be occasional and accidental, but at least it would be my own.

Corrado urged me not to fear Smart Reply technology, however. Having an original notion or a completely new idea? That is not what the system does at all, he said. What it does is enable you to focus on writing the part of the email that is really original authorship, as opposed to quick niceties or vapid small talk.

In my sadness, I was willing to accept Smart Reply as an ally, not an enemy  but not because it saved me from writing quick niceties. Rather, Smart Replys I miss you so much homed in on the subtext of my wordiness and exposed, with total neutrality, what I wanted to hide out of fear of seeming weak. In stating the obvious, Google didnt help me figure out what I really had to say. It helped me realize there was nothing left to say at all.
Photo: University of Connecticut Police Department

Last fall, Luke Gatti (then an 18-year-old student at the University of Connecticut) made headlines when he went on a violent, drunken tirade demanding that dining-hall employees make him fucking bacon-jalapeno mac and cheese. He was detained by university security and put on probation.

Now, Gatti has been arrested for battering a police officer and resisting with violence in Boca Raton, Florida. The New York Daily News reports that the charges came while he was trying to escape a drug rehabilitation center.

No word on whether his attempt had anything to do with dissatisfaction with the meal options in rehab.
Photo: ROBYN BECK/Getty Images

At a livestreamed town-hall event on Tuesday, presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton took questions from online content creators, many of them YouTube stars whove made careers out of sharing beauty tutorials and product reviews. But Chrissy Chambers, one half of the YouTube channel BriaAndChrissy, raised a far more serious topic.

In 2015 I came out as one of the first public figures who was a victim of revenge porn, Chambers said, and ever since have been trying to pursue justice for myself as well as other victims.

Chambers explained how she is currently pursuing the first civil lawsuit in the United Kingdom against revenge porn. In the U.S., 34 states have some law regarding revenge porn, but there is no federal law criminalizing revenge porn, she said.

What you will do to ensure that there is a federal passed so that justice can be pursued and gotten for victims like myself  And perpetrators can be held accountable for sexual assault, digital privacy invasion, and this horrible crime that ruins so many peoples lives and almost ruined mine? she asked Clinton.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee thanked Chambers for her bravery in speaking out about the issue and vowed, I will do everything I can as president to try and figure out how we can give victims like you the tools you need, and the rest of society should support, to be able to protect yourself and, by doing so, protect others.

Then Clinton looked to the audience and added, I would really look to all of you. Online bullying, harassment, revenge porn, and cyberstalking ruin lives, she said, but those deeply engaged in online communities have helped many victims.

Clinton added that shes exhibit A when it comes to bad things being said about a person on the internet. But when it crosses a line, when it becomes so threatening, so dangerous, we have to stop it, she said.

That line was crossed for Chambers in 2015 when her ex-boyfriend secretly recorded them having sex while she was passed out and then posted the footage on some amateur-porn sites a year after their breakup, she told The Guardian.

I had been assaulted because I was unconscious when the videos were filmed, Chambers told ABC News. Someone was posting on our channel links to the videos to our fans and we couldnt even keep up  that this person you cared about so much could betray you in such an intense way. It was horrific.

Chamberss YouTube channel BriaAndChrissy boasts more than half a million subscribers, and videos of the singing duo have been viewed more than 220 million times. It was through their followers that Chambers found out her ex had posted the video of them online.

We had these 14-year-old girls that weve been trying to inspire writing [to] us and saying: I had so much respect for you and now youre a porn star. Chambers told The Guardian. Youre such a slut. How could I respect you?

Taking legal action against the people who post revenge-porn videos online and the websites that host them can be tricky. Current laws protect websites from prosecution when the content is uploaded by users, which is the case in many instances.

Its still oftentimes really, really hard to get law enforcers to take complaints seriously and to get investigators and detectives to use their limited resources to investigate these cases, and to get prosecutors and judges to also see these cases through the end, Carrie Goldberg, an attorney who handles internet privacy and sexual consent cases, told ABC News.

There are currently an estimated 2,000 websites dedicated to revenge porn on the web.
Photo: Fadel Senna/Getty Images

First Lady Michelle Obama landed at the Menara Airport in Morocco on Tuesday with a power team of women alongside her, including Sasha, Malia, and their grandmother.

FLOTUS arrived at the airport wearing an asymmetrical black wrap dress from Proenza Schoulers pre-fall 2016 collection. The long-sleeved dress featured an all-over print of white magnolias. Sasha also wore a printed floral dress with a boho vibe, while Malia opted for a jumpsuit.

The First Lady was there as part of Let Girls Learn, an initiative to help teens worldwide get the education they may not otherwise receive.

This is the special girl-power unit of the Obama household, she said, according to Us Weekly. We left the president behind because hes a boy.

The First Lady is also set to visit Spain later in the week. We fully expect to see more classic prints and modern updates of the A-line-dress styles FLOTUS is so fond of.
He looks like Bronson Pinchot in Perfect Strangers

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Trudeau and his entire life already seems like wish fulfillment fanfic or a romance novel tbh.

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I seriously want his life lol

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Lol you just know he's loving this.

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i had a very PG dream about him the other night lmao



i bet he loves this

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i'm screaming at "very PG"

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lmao it was just so pointless. if i'm gonna dream about him at all, i'm gonna need the rating to be higher

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It's almost worse than the first one; it's astonishing really.

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Fire Bendis



In a just world.

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lmao at their security in the background I'm also super amused by this photo op todaylmao at their security in the background

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lol this is so embarrassing

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The only way one guy can keep up is on a bicycle.

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this is hot



werq that canadian-mexican relationship



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dying at their shorts tan omw

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lol!



PN is a scumbag but I'm glad Mexico and Canada are strengthening their ties

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What's his superpower? Yanking geriatrics and elbowing women?

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or perhaps ending gross bombing missions and investing in First Nations programs

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mte

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get ha

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Go in~

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/controversial-woodfibre-lng-project-wins-milestone-federal-approval/article29307746/ yea...americans have to lose the boner they have for trudeau. his environmental platform is shit..no wonder david suzuki called him a twerp.

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My god, he makes my nonexistent vagina so moist its unreal.

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he looks so evil on that cover lol

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can i just get a solo run of comics about snowbird pls

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Omg I love that our Prime Minister is so loved. <3

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Is there still a big controversy over him accidentally elbowing a woman?

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nah, at one point everyone started making fun of the people making a big deal out of it, and now I think it's blown over.

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Good, 'cause that was kind of ridiculous. It was obvious that it was an accident.

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he apologized 18 times, which is the Canadian minimum, so he was allowed to continue on

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nnnnn

otp

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for sure, it's a juicy uncut french canadian cock

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Omg is there a bigger version of your amazing icon ?

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i love everything about this prince :) except sophie.

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she's just so embarrassing, everything always has to be about her, she's loud, not funny at all, not eloquent and she can't even write french properly.







just read the comments lol.



Edited at 2016-06-28 11:53 pm (UTC)

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sophie is flawless hdu

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Lmao, what? These internet celebs be out here wildin' looking for attention. Hope this ain't true

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lolll

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I knew he was faking it for attention and was gonna comment on the last post



But people would've dragged me for saying the obvious lol

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how did you know tbh? was it the forehead selfie-crinkles where the 6 stitches were supposed to be?



Edited at 2016-06-29 04:53 am (UTC)

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Same.

I have become way cynical as far as minor media celebs pulling stunts.

Using and exploiting real issues to make it all about themselves and get more followers and whatnot.

It's sadly common but the general public is eating all up at face value. They underestimate how conniving those 'entrepreneurs' can be.

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My first instinct when I saw this was that he faked it. Something about his face & the fact that he's a internet celeb screamed opportunist to me, but I told myself nobody would do that so close to the tragedy.

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I thought he was lying too, but wrote instead that I don't think it was a hate crime because this was in WeHo: the most gay friendly place on earth. It was mind boggling.

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tbh that was my first thought too, which is horrible because you want the real victims to be believed and get justice

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What a thirsty ASS motherfucker and dead at MSN putting this on their homepage calling him a celebrity and left the youtube part out.



Not surprised at all he faked it.

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omg whaaat



also, lmao @ the advocate going out of their way to tweet the article in reply to his tweet. i admire the petty



Edited at 2016-06-29 03:19 am (UTC)

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Lord white people want to be opressed so bad!

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Not to the same extent as black though.

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you have entirely missed the point tbh

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I can't tell if you're trolling or not here lol.

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tell that to the suny albany hoaxers

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why are youtubers THE WORST? (rhetorical question, we know why). hope this isn't tru tho bc YIKES

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yikes

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I can't say I'm surprised..

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u always love comment in a lgbyt post when everyone know u r fucking homophobic and transphobic ... like get the fuck out. like what the fuck is wrong with you? im asking seriously.

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Your comment is doesn't make a lot of sense and is full of mistakes, so I take it you're either upset... or EAL... or possibly both. Still, I will answer it, despite that questionable tone of yours.



I read the post excerpt and decide to share my opinion; whether you like it or not. Nobody asks you to look for my specific comment, neither are you obligated to reply to my words. For the nth time, I am not transphobic, nor homophobic - but think what you want.

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Screaming Crying



lol

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perfect storm

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putting his ONTD thesaurus to work

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I have no words...

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What the FUCK???

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am I the only one having deja vu? this has happened before but with someone else right??? do people not learn??

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there was that man who said his cake from whole foods had a homophobic slur on it, maybe that's what you're thinking of? turned out he wrote it on the cake himself.

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Again, not surprised.



Such a disgusting behaviour from them.

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The beating up of one's self is reminding me of a show/movie.

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all i can remember is that one lady who faked an "attack" by obama supporters way back in 08. iirc she painted on a shitty eye bruise and i think a b that her "attackers" marked on her?

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http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-actress-lapd-20150828-story.html



Edited at 2016-06-29 03:44 am (UTC) There was the actress who claimed police brutality but was later exposed for lying. She claimed the police targeted her and accused her of prostitution because she was black when they actually arrested her for lewd behavior in public. She was having sex with her bf in public.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185852/Joseph-Baken-claimed-beaten-gay-admits-police-receive-video-hitting-HIS-OWN-head-flipping-curb.html unfortunately this happened in my town

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Although the vast majority of cases are real unfortunately there are a lot of people willing to fake injuries for attention.

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The lady who claimed she'd been assaulted by black men because she'd asked them to stop being rude, and then posted pics of the assault, where it was clear she had just smeared black eyeshadow all over her eyes and dribbled fake blood on her nose is what it's reminding me off. That was fairly recently.

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Wasn't that rachel dolezal wannabe black lady trying to claim she received hate mail but she was the only one with the key to her PO Box, like......?

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It happened at my college a few years ago. This kid burned himself and tried to say it was a hate crime.

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Johnny Depp/Amber Heard

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There's a french movie called "Girl on the Train" that is based on a true event that happened in France in the mid-2000s, where a white woman fucked herself up and carved a swastika onto her body then claimed a group of african men attacked her on a train because they thought she was jewish, it was a huge national story and then it turned out she made it all up. She wasn't even Jewish! It's insane lol but a really good movie.

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Why do this though?

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YT Famous

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OH god I hope he didn't fake it. I worked at a mountain resort for a few years and one of the security guards claimed she was jumped by someone while walking through the woods on duty. She was a mess and everyone was on edge and walking in pairs. For a town that's more concerned about safety from bears instead of people it really freaked everyone out for about a week because it happened to her again. In the end it came out that she was doing it to herself which honestly freaked me out way more than her getting jumped.

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yeah some student at my uni a few years before I went there reported that someone had carved swastikas on her dorm room door but it turns out she had been doing it herself. What even compels someone to seek attention in that way?

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lmaooooo

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I swear I heard this before, wasn't this on the news? Or maybe you've told the story on here before.

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Me too... Like this is so disrespectful.

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sounds like he might be dealing with a mental health issue, hope he's ok

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Why is it automatically a mental health issue? Maybe he's just an asshole

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is she actually turning 26



usually i like to throw parties (my favorite being a halloween in june party) but this year i'm so busy that i'm doing it a week late (my bday was last week) & just doing dinner out + drinks and a movie at our place

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Yes, someone posted a pic of her yearbook and she was never lying about her age

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I honestly thought she was 30ish. No shade. She just doesn't look 26

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In her defense, white people age terribly especially bc they don't wear Sunscreen regularly

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lol 26..



or if thats her actual age, then oop ha old face

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she is adorable tho!

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it's not like she has wrinkles, she just has a classic, mature-woman face.

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I like three nights of festivities for my birthday, a house party, a night of bar hopping, and a final bonfire.



And then going to the movie theater and shopping on the actual day followed by a sushi dinner

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Yea on the actual day I like to just do something simple during the day and then dinner.

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That sounds awesome. I would have to do all that alone because I'm ~forever lonely and would never be able to book anyone of my friends for three days

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i would love to invite all my former teachers to my birthday party, and just as i had suckled on the teat of their knowledge, i would symbolically breastfeed all of them two at a time.

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Have you moved on from piss to breast feeding as your kink??

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i can't help it if i'm feeling particularly fertile at this stage of my life

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I cringed at the part where her Pinocchio nose hit Jimmy in the eye & they had to stop the taping

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lol@age comments, ONTD didnt even wait lol

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lmao it's the same cycle every post.

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Ideally people just give me birthday money and leave me alone.

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havin a cosmic spacey starry birthday party this year because my sister wanted to. just gonna go full leo and stare into a mirror the whole time.

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my birthday's on friday and im going to dinner with my bf but that's it bc everyone else it out of town bc of the fourth #rip

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birthdays for me are drinks with my closest friends and sex with my boyfriend tbh

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tho for my 30th, i want a studio 54 themed party so i have a few years to plan that one

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Oh my god. That is a great idea.

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I really want a big party for my 30th but I know absolutely no people.



Also considered travelling, but I have a birthday in March, so it wouldn't fit with any of my pre-determined holidays

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I've always wanted to have a giant pool party for my birthday but I'm a december baby lol my brother is born in July though and that's usually his thing anyway.

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I tried to have a pool party once. Only two people came. /also a July baby

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only two people? I'm sorry. fuckers

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Appropriating Hawaiian culture smh.

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lol

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for my 30th next year i'm going to do an 80s prom themed murder mystery party...1987 prom, so it ties into my bday more. i did an oscars themed murder mystery last february, and it was soooo much fun. two people told me i put more effort into it than their weddings, haha. i'm excited for the 80s party, i'm going to have a ton of fun with it and i've got a lot of great ideas.

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That sounds so fun

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I wish I loved birthdays but I hate it when mine comes around. I hate the attention and as I get older I've turned more introverted lol. I love celebrating other people's birthdays tho.

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D E L U S I O N A L

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both assholes

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ikr Dana

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mte scully

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You tell em, Dana.

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Trump would probably try and hit on her and then be all 'lol look at me, hitting on a pretty man' waving his tiny hands about

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please. he wouldn't even acknowledge her presence unless she was ~for him~ which she is, so it's definitely not above him to use that to his advantage. "omg i care about the lgbt community!!!111 look!" jesus christ

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lmfao sounds about right

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lol this is so accurate tho

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Omg the dissonant use of pronouns makes this seem very real

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oh god i can totally read this in his voice

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Quoting the future, ~amazing bb





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waving his tiny hands about





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She's trash

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ROFL

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Is this gif supposed to be like this? Where's Louise?

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omg right

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Lmao

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These are the worst kind of people: the ones who can't even admit their racist asses and try to rework the past to make Trump seem like a viable candidate that isn't an absolutely explosive shitstain on America's windshield.

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this family is trash 

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She's really fucking annoying.

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Lol she can't be for fucking real

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I'm so done.



Say fucking WHAT, Caitlyn?I'm so done.

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You can tell she hasn't lived long as a woman. Or as a poor woman. She can't be this dumb, so it has to be lack of experience. Right?

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? Can't see a thing. Must be inside caitlyns head

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It has nothing to do with whether she's a man or a woman. Bruce was a Republican asshole and so is Caitlyn. Being rich, white and old trumps any of that other stuff.

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log off

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she has always been a woman, chill.

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I'm pretty sure it looks tremendous, great, beautiful

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It's a beautiful, beautiful thing, I'm looking forward to it, but it got real ugly too

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Dat apocalyptic dystopia under ha regime yaaaaas~

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He's not homophobic, he's had George Takei and Clay Aiken on Celebrity Apprentice. (If he doesn't say this, I'm 99% sure you'll see it as a Facebook comment)

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whos this

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Joe Gilgun in Preacher.

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lmao



Why do I not remember this part?



Which is an indicator of a bigger issue--Preacher is loaded with little moments that I miss. This is not a Doing Laundry Show. I either need to watch each episode twice or save it to marathon. (lbr, I'll probably go with watching it twice) All of this to say it's surprisingly nuanced.

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Joe <3

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N O T A N Y M O R E





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We get it, it`s Cambodian film.

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What I'm taking away from this post is that Sarah Gadon is Canadian. I legitimately thought she was British.

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Peggy Atwood?

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Oh my gosh, this is amazing. I'd not seen it. Now it makes sense.

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The screen cap alone makes me want to watch this video.



Also, I wondered at the "Peggy Atwood" thing too.

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QUEEN

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This may actually be the best thing I've seen all week.



Last week I met Margaret Atwood though, so my month is going pretty good.

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i want big things for sarah. this sounds like another good project

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This book made me so upset in Grade 12 English lmfao, although I'm sure I would appreciate it more now that I am older. The poor student teacher had to deal with my rants each day because I was one of the few who had actually read it and had things to say about it.



Are they going to keep in the part where the Doctor guy becomes aroused by the thought of her sewing?!



Also I was rooting for her to get with Jeremiah the Peddler which would have been a way better ending than the one we got. Our class fancasted Johnny Depp, which back in 2007 was an excellent choice even though he grosses me out now.

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Aw, Peggy. I'm loving all these Atwood adaptations in the works.

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Trudeau should make a guest appearance tbh

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in my pussy and/or anus

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this doesn't sound very canadian at all



i like this actress though, so i'm in

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Ugh I love her so much. I need her in all the things, with all my faves.

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can't hear you over the sound of my freedom

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trusty old smegma



USA  USA  USA 

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i loved her in Enemy

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margaret atwood is the best

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she's so old hollywood beautiful

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she really is

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Wow! I think I've only seen her in Cosmopolis and she was really gorgeous in that

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Lets go to the mall everybody!!!

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Theres a global helium shortage. Its not among the widely publicized problems of the world, but there is undoubtedly a helium deficit  the noble gas that most of us associate with party balloons and funny squeaky voices.

Outside parties, helium is essential in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) because it helps to cool the machines superconductive magnets. It is also invaluable in the space industry to clean rocket engines, keep satellite tools cool, and to pressurize the inside of rockets running on liquid fuel. Its also used to condense hydrogen and oxygen and turn them into rocket fuel.

Even a thing as simple as a barcode reader in a supermarket has helium in it.

Reserves, however, are not exactly abundant  helium is traditionally derived from natural gas in moderate quantities. Now, with growing use in medicine and space, helium reserves are dwindling and replacement is difficult. But a new exploration approach has revealed a potentially huge deposit of the noble gas in Tanzania, raising hopes that the shortage can be dealt with.

(Click to enlarge)

A team from Oxford and Durham universities, who worked with Norwegian exploration firm Helium One, recently announced they had come across a deposit of helium in Tanzanias Rift Valley. Reserves in this deposit may be as much as 54 billion cubic feet (bcf) and possibly even more. Global annual consumption of helium is around 8 bcf. Related: Brexit Puts North Sea Oil In Limbo

The team focused their attention on volcanoes in the Rift Valley and studied seismic images of gas-trapping rock formationsthat is, they tried to find helium away from gas deposits. The research showed that volcanic activity produces sufficient heat to release helium from rock formations and trap it in deposits nearer the surface of the earth.

The problem, explains team member Diveena Danabadan, is that these deposits are only viable if they are not too close to the volcano. If they are, the helium will be mixed with large amounts of other gases, making it very difficult to extract.

Right now the research team is working on finding precisely these viable helium deposits, so the optimistic results are quite preliminary. Still, theres cause for optimism, since the approach could be applied to other places with the appropriate geology. Related: The One Chart That Shows Why Oil Prices Have To Keep Rising

One note that needs making is that these resources are only probable, not proved, so the optimism better be cautious. Another point is that not everyone agrees the world is actually facing a helium crisis. British economic writer Tim Worstall, for instance, argues that helium is constantly generated in nature (from decaying uranium, for one) and all we need to do is liquefy more natural gas to be able to extract more of the noble gas too.

The argument is questionable, since Worstall also argues that, basically, mineral resources are infinite, which they are not, at least not on any useful human timescale. Helium is indeed extracted from natural gas through condensation, and the rise of LNG could mean a rise in helium production. However, these are small amounts of helium that are extracted from natural gas and any significant rise in natural gas liquefaction needs to be economically justifiable. Until this happensthat is, until a serious deficit of natural gas leads to a huge rise in helium productionthe world will most likely continue to worry about a helium shortage and laud discoveries as the one made by the Oxford and Durham researchers.

By Irina Slav For Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The Iranian Oil Ministry has reported that it sold a million barrels of crude to Spains energy major Repsol, in the latest demonstration that the Middle Eastern country is fast catching up with its pre-sanction oil exports.

Ever since the Western sanctions imposed on Iran in connection with its nuclear program were lifted early this year, oil exports to Europe have shot up from 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 600,000 bpd. These are expected to rise further to 700,000 bpd.

Repsol is not the only one buying crude straight from Tehran, either. Earlier this month Oilprice reported that two Italian companies, Saras and Iplom, have closed one-year deals with Irans National Oil Company to buy crude oil to refine at home.

Iran has long-term relations with the Italian energy industry, most notably oil and gas giant Eni. Now Eni is returning to the country to work on the development of the Darkhovin oil field.



Related: The Oil Price Relief Rally Has Begun

Repsol is also among the European companies eager to enter Irans oil and gas industry, and according to sources close to the company, this eagerness will pay off. Repsol, like its peers and larger rivals, has been hit hard by the oil price crisis from the last two years, and it has shrunk international operations to weather the effects of the crisis by slashing capex and selling assets.

Iran, with its new Petroleum Contract, seems like a lucrative opportunity for the embattled Spanish company amid hopes for a continuous oil demand and price improvement.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Remember the "Grexit," when people thought Greece might be better off on its own? Of course there's long been a small but vocal "Frexit" faction in France. And last week, we saw the "Brexit," in which Britons voted to leave the EU and wipe out a good chunk of my 403(b) in the process.

Now there's real talk of a "Swexit," a "Hunxit" and, depending on your preference, either a "Nethxit" or a "Dexit." Here in the U.S., there is no shortage of Texans arguing for a "Texit" (and no shortage of liberals egging them on). At this point, you're probably looking around for an "exitexit."

Still, the exits are real, and need discussion. I'll pick three.

1. The "Brexit"

Remarkably, the day after last week's vote, Britons woke up to plunging stocks, resignations galore in their government and one burning question: What have we gotten ourselves into? Very funny, Britain. Not Rowan Atkinson-funny, of course; just sad-funny.

In Britain, the "leave" vote was dominated by older voters who seem to have had a handful of reasons for wanting out of the EU. One, well documented, is the anti-immigrant, vaguely racist faction of people who think the EU's slightly more open-border policy is dragging their country down. It isn't, but as we well know in the U.S. from the rhetoric of Donald Trump and his supporters, you can't convince people otherwise.

Another common reason was that older voters may have been hoping to make Britain great again or take their country back  back, that is, to a time when British people made British laws adjudicated in British courts and so on. This kind of boorish "I make the rules" attitude explains both the erstwhile British Empire as well as the popularity of Trumpish pro-exit figures like Boris Johnson. It also explains why the "leave" team, like our own Republican Party, is fixated on dumb, inefficient light bulbs.

But the reason I worry about is the one that suggests purposeful disregard for the safety, health and well-being of anyone else, the selfish "I've got mine" attitude that infects both the "leave" faction in the UK and many American conservatives. Older voters  in last week's vote, those over 55 supported "leave" by wide margins  don't care about what will happen 20 or 30 years down the road as the UK abandons the EU. Younger voters have to live with the consequences for decades, and they overwhelmingly, by a 2-1 margin, voted to stay in the EU.

The fact is that the world is moving  has already moved considerably and inexorably  toward a broadly global economy since World War II. This has only accelerated as the pace of technological change has accelerated, everything from the transistor to the shipping container to the smartphone.

This has not happened without consequence. Offshoring of jobs, exploitation of cheap third-world labor and the way global stock markets often react more to each other than to local events have all had a serious impact on the countries that were, after the war, the economic super-powers. If there is any similarity in the campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump this year  and I bet this is the only one  it is in recognizing that globalization of the economy has had a direct and negative impact on millions of real people in this country. Their solutions are different, but their diagnosis of the discontent is identical.

The problem with isolation as a solution to global problems  isolation like building a wall, bottling up free trade, leaving the EU  is that isolation in today's world is impossible, shortsighted and irresponsible. While I do not believe that this country, or the UK or any one of a dozen other major economic players in the world, is solely responsible for working to ameliorate the negative impact of globalization, we can't do it if we're not part of the world community.

Consider climate change, as I did last week: What good does it do the world for the U.S. to pull out of the Paris Accords, or for the UK to return to incandescent light? Why shouldn't we engage China on climate and race them to see who can be the world leader in solar energy production? But an isolationist vote leaves us out of the loop and puts us in a position where the world doesn't take us seriously.

On a smaller scale, you can see the consequence of the "I've got mine" vote here in Wisconsin. Just thinking about the environment, still, this state's votes for Governor Scott Walker, elected on the promise of tax cuts and bringing back jobs just like the good old days, have had real consequence.

Republican parts of the state, where they weathered Act 10 and Walker's deep cuts to schools five years ago, are now resorting to referenda at alarmingly historic rates. And on and on.

In 2012, the single most polarizing thing that Barack Obama said on his way to re-election as president was to remind people that "you didn't build that" on your own. Everything you learned in school, every road you've driven, every toilet you've flushed  all of that came because people didn't settle for just getting their own and getting out. Instead, it's a sense of obligation to the larger community that makes America what it is.

What I'm getting at here is this: Voting without empathy, whether it's for your local assembly seat or about staying in a multi-state economic union, is destructive and wrong. We're all in this together, and once you've got yours, it's your responsibility as a human being to help others get theirs, too.

2. The "George Wexit"

Longtime Republican George Will is leaving the GOP, he said last week. His stated reason, if I can boil it down to a cliche, is that really, the party left him when it nominated Donald Trump.

Now don't get excited; this is not Will coming around to my way of thinking that the antipathy and nativist tendencies evidenced in Trump's campaign are bad for America. Will has been perfectly content over the years to lavish praise on Walker who, if Trump is conservative America's id, is conservative America's ego (it didn't hurt that Will's wife was on Walker's presidential payroll).

No, instead Will is worried that Trump will lose and, in doing so, may take down many other Republicans on the ballot at all levels. Will, like Paul Ryan, disagrees not with what Trump represents, but with how he does so. It's Trump's unpopularity  and the GOP electorate's insistence he be nominated in spite of it  that has fueled Will's exit from the party.

He still holds to everything that Trump believes, everything from opposing immigration to supporting tax cuts for the wealthy to thinking global climate change is a hoax. There's nothing in Trump's broad policy agenda that would be out of place in a George Will column. The difference is George Will wears a bow tie, and Trump wears a trucker hat, and that's just not done in Will-world.

Indeed, thinking about the "Brexit," when pro-EU MP Jo Cox was killed by a man with extremely racist, right-wing views, many people thought for sure that "Remain" would win because who in their right minds would vote for a movement that includes not just veiled nativism but outright murder in its name? Well, George Will, apparently the UK would. Give it a few weeks and then, like almost every Republican everywhere, go ahead and slink back to support Trump. He's yours; you, in fact, did build that, and you should own him.

3. The "Barexit"

Obama hasn't technically left office yet, though to listen to Republicans he hasn't been president for years now. But over the last few months, Obama has started doing exit interviews of a sort. They are fascinating to read because, despite some liberal critiques of his policy, Obama really is the anti-Trump, the anti-Boris Johnson.

Take, for example, this recent wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg Business Week. In it, Obama perfectly expresses exactly the sort of response that Brexiters and Trump voters need to hear.

"I think that the temptation ... is to resort to nativism and nostalgia and the sense that these are things that are now out of control and I want to take control back," he said. "But I continue to believe that the majority of people, whether in the United States, in Europe or certainly in rapidly advancing parts of the world like Asia  those folks recognize that the world has shrunk, and that if the rules are structured properly, this gives them more opportunity, not less, to succeed."

Throughout the interview, Obama returns repeatedly to this same theme. There is a social compact, he says, that requires all of us at all levels of society to look out for each other. There is no benefit to the country or the world if the U.S. financial sector is 40 percent of our economy. There is no benefit to the country or the world if we pull up the stakes and try to leave the global supply chain.

And, importantly, there is no benefit to the country or the world if we pretend that we don't need to look out for those left behind in a changing economy or the generations that follow us. Could we get ours, take a higher profit for today and cash out early? Sure, Obama says. "But if we are to succeed in shaping a sustainable, growing, prosperous, integrated world economy, we have to pay attention to the trends that push toward greater inequality and find ways to modify those tendencies."

No exits. No walls. No disregard of environmental detriment to benefit business, local or global. No hoping to go back to the good old days ("Because the good old days arent," Obama said).

Whether the UK goes through with its exit  as I write, there's talk of "regrexit"  this country faces a similar choice in November. I urge you, don't vote to exit the social compact and the larger community. Vote with empathy and an eye to the future.
Explore the best Milwaukee has to offer with VISITMilwaukee and OnMilwaukee this summer by "Urban Exploring." We'll be sharing parks to hike, walls to climb, rivers to paddle, trails to bike and so much more. Be a tourist in your own town and experience it with us!

Wisconsin is starting to sound more and more like an ocean state. Last week, OnMilwaukee reported on a surf shop opening in Shorewood and, earlier this year, Joe Frank opened Port Deco Divers, a full-service scuba equipment and charter store in Port Washington.

"I always thought it was something this area was missing," says Frank.

Frank has been a certified diving instructor since 2007. He moved to Mexico for three years where his beach friends there nicknamed him "TJ," which is short for "Tortuga Joe."

"Im slow on land, fast in water," says Frank, who also has a tattoo of a turtle on his arm. "They had called me a plethora of other things, so I was happy when they settled on TJ."

Frank returned to Wisconsin when a parent started to suffer health issues and after a few years of saving money from construction work, he opened Port Deco Divers in early 2016. The shop  which is made primarily from the reclaimed wood of two Germantown barns  offers scuba gear, charters and events. It is the only dive shop in Wisconsin thats on Lake Michigan.

Port Deco also features a lounge area, a retail store that sells everything from flippers to dry suits and a classroom adorned with a massive, hand-painted map on the wall which shows 15 ship and plane wrecks still intact at the bottom of the lake from Port Washington to Sheboygan that are accessible to certified divers.

"There are some really cool things at the bottom of the lake," says Frank. "Including boulders, one of which is 20-foot tall, that were dropped by glaciers in a crescent moon pattern and The Northerner, a boat that looks like a pirate ship. I have the music from The Pirates of the Caribbean going through my head every time I dive it."

Port Deco Divers offers a variety of Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI)-certified dive certifications  some of which can be completed in a weekend and others that require two weekends of classroom and water time. Once a person, who must be at least 10 years old, becomes certified in scuba, they are certified for life.

The Holiday Inn next door to the shop offers $50 off per night for anyone staying to complete a diving certification.

For certified divers, the Little Alexandria dive boat leaves from the shop two to three times a day on Saturday and Sunday for a four-hour dive experience, plus Wednesday and Friday evenings for two hours starting at 6 p.m.

The shop also offers free scuba demonstrations every Saturday through Aug. 20 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the outdoor Port Washington Harbor Park Recreation pool. Registration is required.

A couple of weeks ago, my sons and I decided to give scuba a whirl and attended one of the demos. Our instructor, David Ziegman, worked for a dive shop in Menomonee Falls for three years before joining the staff at Port Deco Divers when it opened.

Ziegman caught the scuba bug while on his honeymoon in Hawaii six years ago. He has since dived in Honduras, San Diego and locally.

We lucked out on the weather, which was almost 80 degrees and sunny, the day of our lesson. We called ahead and registered so Ziegman had all of the right-sized gear for us when we arrived. He started out by explaining how it all worked and the three basic hand signs of diving: the "OK" sign, the thumbs up sign  which can get confused for the "OK" sign but actually means time to head to the surface  and the "somethings wrong" sign.

It took us about 15 minutes to suit up and I was surprised by a few things immediately. The tank was heavy, I felt incredibly awkward in flippers and I completely trusted the equipment, especially after Ziegman explained so thoroughly how everything worked and why it was foolproof.

We practiced "diving" in the shallow end of the pool and when we felt confident, moved on to the the deep end. One of my sons did not feel comfortable in the deep water, so I spent just a few minutes exploring and then went back to the shallow area with him. My other son, however, once again made me think he is quite possibly part fish and was diving at the bottom of the deep end without a ripple of fear.

"Theres no commitment for this first dive, but a lot of people realize how much fun it is and come back for more," says Ziegman. "It can be addictive."
Reprinted from Reader Supported News



Bernie Sanders with supporters

(Image by Gage Skidmore) Details DMCA



Bernie Sanders is back on the campaign trail, despite having no illusions about becoming the party nominee. Absent an event beyond his control, he knows he will not be the Democratic Party's nominee. Sanders has even said he will vote for Hillary Clinton. He does plan, however, to force open the door of the Democratic Party and lead his movement from the inside to transform the party.

The Democratic Party establishment will have a choice: welcome them and change, or ignore them and watch them leave to form or join another political party. If the Democratic Party wants Bernie Sanders' 13 million voters, they will need to show them that they are prepared to represent their interests.

The party establishment has already shown some resistance to the movement. In St. Louis, there were plenty of 7-6 votes against proposals from the Sanders camp. What they are setting up is a floor fight at the convention on the platform. It can be avoided, when the full platform committee meets in Orlando, if the full committee adopts some of the proposals rejected in St. Louis.

Bernie gave the first of a series of speeches entitled: "Where Do We Go From Here" on Thursday at the Town Hall in New York City. Nina Turner opened with a fiery introduction: "In 1910 President Teddy Roosevelt gave a speech that was titled 'Citizen in a Republic.' In that speech he referred to the man in the arena. He said, 'It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood who strives valiantly, who errs and falls short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, but who he actually strives to be, the doer of the deeds.' I'm here tonight to tell you that we have our very own doer of the deeds. Senator Bernie Sanders is a doer of the deeds. And as he has said, elections come and go but political and social revolutions that attempt to transform society never end."





Click Here to Read Whole Article
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"In this book, Rob Kall is fueling a discussion that is long overdue, one that can perhaps shake us out of our current herd mentality, back to true community and intertwined purpose. His bottom-up discourse may serve to turn us all upside down just long enough to view our current politic from a different perspective."



Dr. Mari K. Swingle, author of i-Minds: How Cell Phones, Computers, Gaming, and Social Media are Changing Our Brains, Our Behavior, and the Evolution of Our Species
Another week, and another set of Republicans have endorsed Hillary Clinton . Is it because of existential threat of Donald Trump, or could it be because many of Clinton's potential policies conveniently line up with theirs?

Longtime Republican foreign policy stalwart and Iraq warmonger Robert Kagan became the latest neoconservative to endorse Clinton for president last week. He has even offered to host a fundraiser on her behalf, as Foreign Policy Magazine first reported on Thursday. Kagan has followed the likes of former Bush deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage and a slew of lower-profile officials in their endorsement of Clinton over Trump.

Now, it's entirely possible that these Republicans are endorsing Clinton because Trump is an unhinged maniac who has given people of all political persuasions plenty of reason to not want him anywhere near the levers of power. But here's the thing: the neocon love affair with Clinton started well before Trump was even in the discussion of Republican candidates, let alone the party's likely nominee.

Several neoconservatives have spent years gushing about Clinton's penchant for supporting basically every foreign war or military escalation in the last decade, including Kagan, who said in 2014: "I feel comfortable with her on foreign policy ... If she pursues a policy which we think she will pursue, it's something that might have been called neocon, but clearly her supporters are not going to call it that; they are going to call it something else."

Her campaign hasn't really deviated from that position, either. While she's hit Trump for being too erratic and dangerous a man to have in charge of the nuclear codes, she also promised more ground troops in the fight against Isis, expressed support for a no-fly zone in Syria (effectively a declaration of war against Assad) and called for more weapons for various rebels in the region.

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There are surely people on this site more informed about the corrupt Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) than even ourselves. But at the same time a number of people have asked for more information.

As long as we have been fighting it, the corporate interests pushing it have never relented either, and only need one moment of inattentiveness or complacency on our part to do their dirty work. Most troubling is the fact that the Democratic party platform has now given a green light blessing for its members of Congress to go rogue in defiance of the clear will of the people.

It is nothing short of despicable.

Please continue to speak out and share the action page in every possible way.

What Part Of No TPP Don't You Get? Action Page: www.utalk.us/?a=no_TPP

OK . . . let's dig in. And if you go to the action page now, we have added three ref links for more information about everything that is wrong with it.

In the first place, the TPP is for the most part not a trade agreement at all. Instead, it is a grand manifesto of corporate rights as being superior to any national interest or the people of any nation, a further escalation of the installation of business corporations as the unchallenged sovereign over the planet.

This is reflected most odiously in the extensive chapter on so-called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). The title itself has evil baked into it, presuming a priori that business corporations even HAVE sovereignty standing on a par with a nation state, such that there should even BE a dispute about whether they are bound to follow that nation's laws.

So for example, let's say a Canadian pipeline company doesn't like the fact that their proposal for a certain to leak pipeline, carrying the most foul and toxic petroleum sludge ever through pristine natural aquifers, has been rejected by our duly elected representatives. This is not some far-fetched hypothetical. They have already FILED such a suit under existing, but weaker, ISDS type provisions in previous bad "trade" agreements.

Under the TPP, the "dispute" would go to a kangaroo court tribunal of corporate lawyers with no accountability to any national judicial authority, and granted the power to override our own courts.

So Trans-Canada gets to stick their smelly pipeline up our butts whether we like it our not. And what corporate attorney wouldn't love the unilateral prerogative to do that?

But that's just the rotten core. Other provisions that have nothing to do per se with trade expand monopoly rights of pharmaceutical companies, gut food safety and environmental laws, demolish international financial regulation, further accelerate job export to the lowest common denominator wage base. You name it, if there is anything any greedy corporation has ever done to try to wreck our safety, security or prosperity, and seize all power unto themselves it's in there.

The more you know, the more you will be outraged that this is still even being considered. How dare the Democratic party platform take the non-position that there is a "diversity of views" over the TPP? This is nothing but license for the worst corporate toadies in the Democratic party to gang up with Republicans to sneak this through in the lame duck session.

That's the most despicable part of it. Those miserable duplicitous cowards don't dare bring it up now. They'd all get booted out on their ears in the coming election and they perfectly well know it. No, they're going lie to us, and lull us, and stick it to us after the election is over.

We will never have more leverage over candidate Clinton that we have right now, leading up to the convention. Do we really have to twist her arm now to adopt her OWN stated position in her OWN platform?

Apparently we do.

And we need every person who has ever spoken out on this to not only do so again, but to also recruit 10 more people to do so.

Here are the social media sharing links again. Submit EACH of them EVERY day, customize to taste, and keep it up.

And after you submit the action page, feel free to request one of our "Expressway To Trade Hell TPP" bumper stickers.

Of you can get one directly from this page for a contribution of any amount.

Trade Hell bumper stickers: www.utalk.us/?g=1:SE

(Article changed on June 29, 2016 at 15:21)

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The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) announced recently that it would soon implement more "family friendly" policies in an effort to encourage the easy reintegration of prisoners into their communities. I nearly choked when I read the news. And then I checked to make sure I wasn't reading The Onion.

Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said in a speech in Houston that the BOP had created a five-point program, announced earlier by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, which would directly aid the more than 40,000 federal prisoners who are released annually.

These programs include one that would expand video visits to all federal prison facilities. Great idea, right? Wrong. These video teleconferences are contracted out to private providers and, in many facilities, are replacing in-person visits entirely. Furthermore, the video visits are prohibitively expensive. Prison Legal News reported last year that the typical 30-minute call costs $10, an expensive proposition when so many prisoners are destitute to begin with and monthly salaries for federal prisoners average between $1 and $5. Even worse, video visits do not imply that a family member can just log onto Skype and have a conversation. In many cases, they must travel to a BOP-approved private video center and pay for the call on their end, too.

A second tenet of the program is to provide prisoners with an "individualized reentry plan" based on that person's needs and specific risks to the community. Another great idea. But it's unfunded. Congress hasn't appropriated any money to do any such thing. Indeed, there's no money in the BOP budget for anything related to rehabilitation. There are no educational opportunities, no training, no vocational classes. Nothing. So "individualized reentry program" notwithstanding, this just isn't going to happen.

Third, prisoners would be provided with "education, job-related training, or other programs, such as mental health or substance abuse." Again, great idea. But there's no budget for this, nor has there been for many years. And in an election year, no member of Congress is going to campaign on a platform of giving more money to federal prisoners.

Fourth, the program would "assess and improve the care that halfway houses provide about 80 percent of newly-released inmates." When I was released from prison after serving 23 months for blowing the whistle on the CIA's torture program, I was assigned to a halfway house in Washington, DC. Located in the worst neighborhood in the worst part of Washington, far from all public transportation, "Hope Village" was known as both "Hopeless Village" and "Abandon All Hope Village." The only employment assistance that any of the more than 140 residents got there was a bulletin board that had one job advertisement for a dishwasher position at Fuddruckers. I'm serious. When it came to immediate post-release employment, we were on our own.

The problem with halfway houses is not necessarily funding. They are private, for-profit entities. They want to send the prisoner home as quickly as possible because they can "rent" the bed to as many as six or seven people at the same time. Here's how it works: I got out of prison and was assigned to the halfway house. I signed a contract saying that I would pay the halfway house 25 percent of my gross pay for the remainder of my halfway house/home confinement period, in my case three months. So I was sent home immediately. I never spent a single night there. But there were four other men assigned to the same bed. They also were sent home, and we all paid 25 percent of our gross pay. The halfway house made good money. It was supposed to. It's a private company. But "education," "programming," and "rehabilitation" were not a part of the deal.

Finally, the Justice Department established a toll-free hotline that newly-released prisoners can call for information on government programs and services, and they rewrote the manual that all prisoners are given upon release. This last point is likely the only one that will actually help anybody. And it cost almost nothing.

Attorney General Lynch probably means well. She probably really does want to help people transition from prison back into society. But the entire Bureau of Prisons, the entire U.S. system of mass incarceration, is broken and must be scrapped and rebuilt. Dancing around the edges of the problem isn't going to help anybody. And announcing a new policy with only six months left in office doesn't help either.

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Reprinted from Paul Craig Roberts Website

Democracy no longer exists in the West. In the US powerful private interest groups, such as the military-security complex, Wall Street, the Israel Lobby, agribusiness and the extra-active industries of energy, timber and mining, have long exercised more control over government than the people. But now even the semblance of democracy has been abandoned.

In the US, Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential nomination. However, Republican convention delegates are plotting to deny Trump the nomination that the people have voted him. The Republican political establishment is showing an unwillingness to accept democratic outcomes.

The people chose, but their choice is unacceptable to the establishment which intends to substitute its choice for the people's choice.

Do you remember Dominic Strauss-Kahn? Strauss-Kahn is the Frenchman who was head of the IMF and, according to polls, the likely next president of France. He said something that sounded too favorable toward the Greek people. This concerned powerful banking interests who worried that he might get in the way of their plunder of Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. A hotel maid appeared who accused him of rape. He was arrested and held without bail. After the police and prosecutors had made fools of themselves, he was released with all charges dropped. But the goal was achieved. Strauss-Kahn had to resign as IMF director and kiss goodbye his chance for the presidency of France.

Curious, isn't it, that a woman has now appeared who claims Trump raped her when she was 13 years old.

Consider the political establishment's response to the Brexit vote. Members of Parliament are saying that the vote is unacceptable and that Parliament has the right and responsibility to ignore the voice of the people.

The view now established in the West is that the people are not qualified to make political decisions. The position of the opponents of Brexit is clear: it simply is not a matter for the British people whether their sovereignty is given away to an unaccountable commission in Brussels.

Martin Schultz, President of the EU Parliament, puts it clearly: "It is not the EU philosophy that the crowd can decide its fate."

The Western media have made it clear that they do not accept the people's decision either. The vote is said to be "racist" and therefore can be disregarded as illegitimate.

Washington has no intention of permitting the British to exit the European Union. Washington did not work for 60 years to put all of Europe in the EU bag that Washington can control only to let democracy undo its achievement.

The Federal Reserve, its Wall Street allies, and its Bank of Japan and European Central Bank vassals will short the UK pound and equities, and the presstitutes will explain the decline in values as "the market's" pronouncement that the British vote was a mistake. If Britain is actually permitted to leave, the two-year-long negotiations will be used to tie the British into the EU so firmly that Britain leaves in name only.

No one with a brain believes that Europeans are happy that Washington and NATO are driving them into conflict with Russia. Yet their protests have no effect on their governments.

Consider the French protests of what the neoliberal French government, masquerading as socialist, calls "labor law reforms." What the "reform" does is take away the reforms that the French people achieved over decades of struggle. The French made employment more stable and less uncertain, thereby reducing stress and contributing to the happiness of life. But the corporations want more profit and regard regulations and laws that benefit people as barriers to higher profitability. Neoliberal economists backed the take-back of French labor rights with the false argument that a humane society causes unemployment. The neoliberal economists call it "liberating the employment market" from reforms achieved by the French people.

The French government, of course, represents corporations, not the French people.

The neoliberal economists and politicians have no qualms about sacrificing the quality of French life in order to clear the way for global corporations to make more profits. What is the value in "the global market" when the result is to worsen the fate of peoples?

Consider the Germans. They are being overrun with refugees from Washington's wars, wars that the stupid German government enabled. The German people are experiencing increases in crime and sexual attacks. They protest, but their government does not hear them. The German government is more concerned about the refugees than it is about the German people.
Last week two momentous events (well maybe just one) occurred; both triggered by the same phenomena.

Voters in Great Britain, by a margin of fifty-two percent to forty-eight percent, elected to exit the European Union. The Saturday edition of the Wall Street Journal characterized it thusly:

Voters defied the impassioned  and unified  opposition of the leadership of all five major political parties. They rejected the advice of more than 1,200 corporate CEOs, including half of the chiefs of the FTSE 100 companies who wrote to The Times newspaper last week urging rejection of Brexit. Banks in the City of London, one of the worlds major financial centers, along with the Bank of England, the countrys central bank, and most of its influential think tanks and academic institutions, had warned of the risks to the U.K.s economic security and global financial pre-eminence if Britain did not stay in the EU. A procession of eminent foreigners, from most head of European governments to James Dimon, the CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase, had urged a vote to stay.

Even the most beloved leader of the modern free world, President Barack Obama, warned the British voters that if they didnt listen to his advice that Great Britain would move to the back of the queue in negotiating international trade agreements.

How dare they? How dare that scurvy crew of commoners ignore the superior advice of their betters? What were they thinking to ignore Mr. Obamas paterfamilias warning? What good is being an elite if no one listens to you?

Which brings us to the other momentous event. George Will, noted columnist and smug prig, resigned from the Republican Party because the great unwashed in Americas heartland ignored his superior advice and instead chose Donald Trump to be the presidential nominee for the Republican Party. (Yes, prig is a word. No, it doesnt mean what you think. Yes, it in fact describes Mr. Will to a tee.)

While the former event will have consequences, albeit not nearly as catastrophic as the elites warned, the latter fits neatly into the category of who gives a damn  with the possible exception of Mr. Wills spouse and the jury is still out on that.

Mr. Will possesses the same Brahmin pedigree (Trinity College, Oxford and Princeton) that many of the ruling elites do in both America and Europe. While small in numbers they are large in influence mostly because they (like Oregons Democrat Party) marry each other, have affairs with each other, hire each other, appoint each other, ensure their offspring are encased in privilege, and exclude virtually anyone that does not possess a similar pedigree. They are both Democrats and Republicans, Conservatives and Liberals (Progressives, or whatever the are calling themselves these days). They enter and exit government service like a revolving door. When voters change the party in power, they simply move from the majority office to the minority office  same people, different titles. Or some move from government to one of Washington, D.C.s high powered law or lobbying firms where they are paid handsome sums while they wait to reenter government (and do favors for the clients of their employers) at the next changing of the guard. And along the way they line their pockets by selling influence  none have been better at this than former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton  two bites of the apple are always better than one.

Washingtons government elites, like Mr. Will, are nearly apoplectic about the prospects of a Trump presidency in which they will have no influence. They, including the Republican elites, much prefer Ms. Clinton because, after all, she is a member of the club and while they may lose their current title and office temporarily, they will remain a member of the inner circle simply awaiting their inevitable return to high office. I mean, really, who cares if the Clintons have been brazen in their insatiable quest to enrich themselves by selling influence; havent they all drank from the same cup themselves?

It is of little consequence if the nation continues in an economic malaise, if it slides further into debt, if the march to a welfare state continues at an accelerated pace, if the prestige and influence of the nation continues to wane, or if the number of terrorist attacks from a growing Islamic jihadist cadre swells. So long as the elites remain secure in their power and influence, so long as their accumulation of wealth continues, so longs as they are protected by gun-toting security, the world will be a better place and the rest of us will just have to get used to it.

We fought a revolution to get rid of the smug aristocracy of England. Now two hundred years later we have our own inbred smug aristocracy running the show.

In the end, Great Britain and the European Union will settle on their divorce, although the Brits will be made to pay a price for ignoring the directives of their own elites and life will go on. And in America, George Will will rejoin the Republican Party after he and the other Republican elites ensure the election of Ms. Clinton, and I will leave then leave the Republican Party for just that reason.
The Central government's decision to provide a Rs 6,000 crore special package for the textile and apparel sector is a welcome move. It will boost exports and benefit the workers. The incentives are intended to create over one crore jobs in three years, attract investments of $11 billion and generate exports worth $30 billion.

Our industry has a clear disadvantage due to our main competitor Bangladesh's least developed nation status, which makes overseas buyers exempt from import duty. India used to be the leader in garment exports but Bangladesh and Vietnam overtook us in the past few years due to our competitive disadvantages.

So, the government has announced an additional 5 per cent duty drawback for garments. Also, for the first time, it has decided to refund the state levies. Drawback at 'all industries rate' will be given for domestic duty paid on inputs even when fabrics are imported under the Advance Authorisation Scheme. Of the Rs 6,000 crore, Rs 5,500 crore is for this benefit. The remaining Rs 500 crore is for additional incentives under the Amended Technology Upgradation Funds Scheme, where subsidy to garment units under the scheme is being increased from 15 per cent to 25 per cent. This will create more employment.

Earlier, under Section 80JJAA of the Income Tax Act, 30 per cent deduction on additional wages paid to new regular employees was allowed only if they were employed for 240 days. For the garment industry, this has been relaxed to 150 days for the initial three years. This is welcome considering that the business is seasonal in nature.

Similarly, the government will pay the entire employer's contribution of 12 per cent for three years under the Employee Provident Fund Scheme for new employees of the industry earning less than Rs 15,000 per month. Under the plan, 8.33 per cent will be paid through the Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana and the remaining 3.67 per cent will be given by the Ministry of Textiles.

Another path-breaking move is to allow overtime for workers. As per our local laws, workers were not allowed overtime for more than 50 hours over three months. This has been revised to 96 hours. The workers were demanding more overtime. This will help improve productivity and income.

I think with these incentives, the disparity with Bangladesh will come down straightaway by 5-6 per cent from the 11 per cent duty difference right now. The incentives will encourage existing entrepreneurs to start more units and attract new entrepreneurs to the sector. The changes can be visible in the next 6-10 months as it is easy to add a new unit in the garment industry.

The changes are sure to bridge the export gap between India and Bangladesh, as currently we export garments worth $17 billion whereas Bangladesh exports garments worth $36 billion. The decisions are sure to attract more buyers from EU, US and countries like Canada. Another advantage India has is that China is losing edge in this industry due to increasing labour and input costs and is moving to high-technology exports.

All these changes are sure to increase the profit margins of Indian exporters.

As told to P. B. Jayakumar

The writer is Chairman of NSDC's Apparel, Made-ups and Home Furnishing Sector Skill Council


The aviation sector is abuzz with action. After clearing the national civil aviation policy, the government has relaxed foreign direct investment (FDI) norms, allowing 100 per cent FDI in scheduled domestic carriers - up from 49 per cent. The policy aims to make India the third-largest aviation market by 2022. It also replaced the 5/20 rule (five years of domestic experience and minimum 20 aircraft) to settle for the 0/20 rule for international operations and put a Rs 2,500 cap on per-hour flights on specific routes.

This is the first time an integrated civil aviation policy has been brought out in India. Nevertheless, there are some misses. For instance, the prime minister could have demonstrated his commitment to "minimum government, maximum governance" by reducing the government's involvement in the sector.

At present, there are multiple government agencies regulating the sector. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), for instance, is responsible for air safety and standards and crew training, while Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) regulates tariff and other charges. There are various other authorities under the aviation ministry, too.

In fact, most airlines have found it difficult to deal with the various layers of government agencies. DGCA is guilty of functioning at a slow pace. The launch of Vistara, the Tata-Singapore Airlines airline, for instance, was delayed by four months. Recently, its new plane couldn't fly for 15 days after landing at New Delhi airport as DGCA did not give it the airworthy approval.

The policy should also have taken cues from global trends. Big aviation markets across the world, including the US, China and the UK, do not have dedicated aviation ministries. In the US, a much larger aviation market with a commercial aircraft fleet of 6,871 as compared to India's 450, aviation matters are entirely handled by one agency - the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Setting up an independent authority along the lines of FAA would have been a good idea.

The policy also did not mention the government's intent for Air India, despite the fact that the draft policy released in 2014 had talked about forming an expert committee to build a roadmap for the loss-making airline. The carrier was given a package of Rs 30,000 crore in 2012, but its performance has barely improved. The recent uptick in performance - the government says that Air India is set to make an operating profit in 2015/16 - can be largely attributed to low prices of aviation turbine fuel. Even the relaxation of the 5/20 rule does not make much difference. If an airline places an order for 20 aircraft today, the delivery of the last plane will happen four years down the line due to the huge order book of Boeing and Airbus.

There are no doubts that the government's interference in Indian aviation is less compared to other industries, but the new policy should have liberalised the sector more.


A new report from The Telegraph says that Google will be all set to manufacture it's own smartphones. Currently, Google works with phones makers like HTC, Nexus, LG and Motorola.

The report says that the company will launch the smartphone by the end of this year. With the phone Google will assume control over design, manufacturing and software. It doesn't detail much about the upcoming smartphone, cited a senior source at Google.

Majority of the smartphone market is dominated by Android, with four out of five phones using Android. Since Google doesn't have their own smartphone line, most of the phone makers modify Android before putting it in their phones but a few like Moto phones or Nexus phones come with an almost pure Android experience.

It seems highly unlikely that Google will close Android for others when it comes out with its own model. But if it does come out with its own smartphone, it will give Google an edge over others. The Google phone will help the company control how its OS can be best optimised.

At the IO conference this year, Google launched its virtual reality project named Daydream. While it's very much possible that Google may launch the VR headset simply for others to utilise, another possibility also makes sense that the company might have kept its own smartphone in mind while making Daydream.

Two of the major Android clients, Samsung and HTC, have already built their own VR headsets. And it would be poor planning on Google's part if it plans to give away its "high quality mobile VR" to smaller players in the market.

All in all, this move could possibly tighten Google's grip in the mobile software industry and compete directly with Apple.


130m ppl around the world requires aid: Maleeha Lodhi

NEW YORK: With 130 million people around the world requiring aid and an unprecedented 65 million displaced, Pakistan has called for collectively working, together with the necessary political will, to alleviate the suffering of those caught up in humanitarian crises.



"There is no one-size fit all solution," Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told the UN Economic and Social Council three-day humanitarian affairs segment on Tuesday.



But the Pakistani envoy expressed the hope that the international community's response to the world's weak and vulnerable is based on compassion and a spirit of brotherhood.



The segment, held under the theme "Restoring Humanity and Leaving No One Behind: Working together to reduce people's humanitarian need, risk and vulnerability", takes place on the heels of the World Humanitarian Summit, held in Istanbul on May 23 and 24, where governments, civil society, business and others had pledged to improve aid delivery.



The global humanitarian landscape had changed dramatically in recent years, with armed conflicts raging in so many regions and the frequency and ferocity of natural disasters ever-increasing, the Pakistani envoy said.



Despite the increase in financial assistance, she said, humanitarian financing was coming under increasingly severe strain; the funding gap had increased to $10 billion a year. Pakistan had actively participated in all the Istanbul summit's major segments and activities, Ambassador Lodhi said.



In Istanbul, the commitments across the five areas of responsibility, identified by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, included several new initiatives in the areas of better response to natural disasters, reducing vulnerability and risk, building resilience of affected communities, and enhancing international support for countries in protracted refugee situations.



"We welcome the renewed emphasis on addressing the root causes of displacement and forced migration," Ambassador Lodhi said.



"Unless we resolutely put out the fires of wars and conflicts which have caused so much suffering we will not be able to find a long-term solution to this crisis."



She noted as "positive developments" the commitment to resolve and prevent armed conflicts, strengthen disaster risk reduction in developing countries and enhance the level of financial assistance to bridge the widening gap in humanitarian funding.



Looking ahead, the forthcoming summit on large-scale movements of refugees and migrants would be an opportunity to sustain that momentum and it would enable the international community to effectively address humanitarian challenges, the Pakistani envoy said.



Among other things, it would provide a platform to make an unequivocal pronouncement against all forms of xenophobia.



Ambassador Lodhi also urged the international community to prioritize the issue of Afghan refugees and help Pakistan and Afghanistan in their repatriation and resettlement in an honourable and sustainable manner.



In this regard, the Pakistani envoy also called on the global community to better appreciate Pakistan's hospitality and its challenges in hosting the most protracted presence of refugees anywhere in the world.



She also underscored the need for addressing the most pressing humanitarian issue of recurring tragedies in the Mediterranean, saying that the shockingly high number of 'fatalities in transit' had been the most chilling aspect of the current refugee crisis.
Triple suicide bombing attack at Istanbul airport 29 June, 2016



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Ways that Players Used to Take Advantage of Slot Sites ISTANBUL: A triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport has killed at least 36 people, including foreigners, with Turkey's prime minister saying early signs pointed to an assault by the militant Islamic State (IS) group.



The attackers began spraying bullets at the international terminal entrance before blowing themselves up at around 10:00pm (1900 GMT) Tuesday, Turkish authorities said.



It is the deadliest of four attacks to rock Turkey's biggest city this year, with two others blamed on IS and another claimed by a militant Kurdish group.



Though there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday's carnage, the evidence points to Daesh, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told journalists at the scene, using another name for the militants. He said the dead included foreigners, but gave no further details. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag put the number of wounded at 147.



The attack prompted the suspension of all flights at the airport  one of Europe's busiest hubs. More than 61 million passengers travelled through the airport in 2015.



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an international joint fight against terror, as Western allies including the United States condemned the heinous attack.



Yildirim said the suicide bombers had arrived in a taxi and opened fire on passengers with automatic rifles before blowing themselves up.



Security camera footage widely circulated on social media appeared to capture two of the blasts.



In one clip a huge ball of flame erupts at an entrance to the terminal building, scattering terrified passengers.



Another video shows a black-clad attacker running inside the building before collapsing to the ground apparently felled by a police bullet  and blowing himself up.



Tuesday's attack follows coordinated IS suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a city metro station in March that left 32 people dead.



'The roof came down'

Most of those killed were Turkish nationals but foreigners were also among the dead, a Turkish official said.



Inside the airport it is terrible, you can't recognise it, the damage is big, Tekin said.



A woman named Duygu, who was at passport control after arriving from Germany, said she threw herself to the floor after the explosion. Everyone started running away. Everywhere was covered with blood and body parts. I saw bullet holes on the doors, she said.



Paul Roos, 77, said he saw one of the attackers randomly shooting in the departures hall from about 50 metres away.



He was wearing all black. His face was not masked, said Roos, a South African on his way home after a holiday in southern Turkey.



"We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting, Roos told Reuters.



He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over.



An AFP photographer saw bodies covered with sheets at the terminal, which bore heavy damage from the blasts.



Bullet holes peppered the windows and shattered glass lay on the floor, while abandoned luggage was scattered everywhere.



Somebody came and shot at us and then my sister was running, Otfah Mohamed Abdullah told AFP. I don't know which way she was running and after that I was falling down. I was on the ground till he finished... I can't find my sister.



There was panic at the nearest hospital in Istanbul's Bakirkoy district, which was inundated with relatives desperate for news of loved ones.



Security expert Abdullah Agar told CNN Turk the attack bore the hallmarks of IS. It really bears a resemblance to their methods, he said in reference to the Brussels bombings, which were claimed by IS.



The US and French consulates warned people to stay away from the area.



President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against militant groups.



The attack, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorism strikes with no regard for faith and values, he said in a statement.



The United States said it stood in solidarity with Turkey, its NATO ally, and that such attacks would only reinforce their joint determination. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the need to intensify global efforts to combat extremism.



Erdogan met with his prime minister and military chief after news of the carnage broke.



We urge the world, especially Western countries, to take a firm stand against terrorism, Erdogan said in a statement.



Despite paying a heavy price, Turkey has the power, determination and capacity to continue the fight against terrorism until the end.



Istanbul, a major tourism hub that is home to some 15 million people, has suffered a series of attacks in recent months, including a bombing in the heart of the tourist district that killed a dozen German visitors and was blamed on IS.



Two months later, three Israelis and an Iranian were killed in a bombing on the city's main Istiklal shopping street, also blamed on IS.



A blast on the tarmac at Istanbul's other international airport, Sabiha Gokcen, killed a cleaner in December.



Turkey has been hit by at least five attacks blamed on IS militants, including a blast in Ankara in October 2015 that left over 100 dead, though the group has never formally claimed responsibility for an attack in Turkey.



Ankara has meanwhile launched a sustained offensive against the outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) following the collapse of a ceasefire last year.



Hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces have since been killed in PKK attacks.



Ataturk is Turkey's largest airport and a major transport hub for travellers from around the world.



A helicopter buzzed overhead as police evacuated the building. Dozens of passengers walked back down access roads with their luggage, trying to hail cabs.



Authorities initially halted the takeoff of scheduled flights from the airport and some flights to the airport were diverted.



Yildirim said later air traffic had resumed.



Turkish Airlines said it had suspended its flights until 8:00am (0500 GMT) on Wednesday and that any bookings on flights to or from Ataturk airport could be changed or refunded without cost for the next week.



In the US, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reacted to the explosions by putting armed, high-visibility patrols at the three main airports in the New York metropolitan region.



The US Federal Aviation authority also lifted an earlier order grounding US flights to Ataturk.



Pakistan has strongly condemned the terror attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.



"It is with deep anguish and pain that we have learnt about the terrorist attack at Ataturk airport in Istanbul. We condemn this mindless act of terrorism in the strongest possible terms," Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in a statement.



Pakistan condemns terrorism in all forms and stands in solidarity with the people of Turkey in their fight against terrorism, he said.



Prime Minister Nawaz sharif while condemning the terror attack offered his condolences to the government and people of Turkey.



The US condemned what it called the heinous bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport and pledged its steadfast support for Turkey.



Ataturk International Airport, like Brussels Airport which was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind us together, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement.



We remain steadfast in our support for Turkey, our Nato ally and partner, along with all of our friends and allies around the world, as we continue to confront the threat of terrorism."



UN Chief Ban Ki-Moon also condemned the attack. He expresses his deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government and people of Turkey. He wishes a speedy recovery to those injured," and hoped that "the perpetrators of this crime will be identified and brought to justice.
US supports Indias role in global institutions

WASHINGTON: The United States strongly supports Indias role in global institutions, like the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and the United Nations Security Council, says a statement the State Department shared with Dawn.



The statement, attributed to the US ambassador in New Delhi, reinforced the US desire to continue to work constructively with the NSG members to admit India into the organisation.



At a Monday briefing in Washington, State Department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau also welcomed Indias entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), saying that the country had already demonstrated a sustained commitment to non-proliferation.



On Monday, India joined the MTCR as a full member, almost a year after it formally applied. The MTCR is an informal, voluntary association of nations which checks the proliferation of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).



Indias success with the MTCR came days after it failed to join the NSG. Last week, about a dozen nations, led by China, refused to admit India into the NSG, noting that it did not fulfil membership requirements.



The NSG guidelines require an applicant to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and both India and Pakistan that applied for membership in last weeks plenary session in Seoul have not signed this treaty. While Pakistan was ready for the refusal, it was considered a major setback in India where opposition leaders blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the failure.



We were disappointed India was not admitted during this recent session, but we will continue to work constructively with India and all the NSG members on Indias accession in the months ahead, said the statement the State Department shared when asked for comments on the development.



At Mondays news briefing, however, Indias admission into the MTCR was welcomed as a significant achievement. Ms Trudeau noted that India was admitted into the MTCR because it demonstrated to all MTCR partners a sustained commitment to non-proliferation and it has a legally based effective export control system.



This system puts into effect the MTCR guidelines and procedures and administers and enforces such controls effectively, she added.



Ms Trudeau said that all 34 MTCR members, including the United States, agreed India met the standard and that its membership would strengthen international non-proliferation.



The statement on the NSG, however, went beyond the developments in Seoul and underlined President Obamas reinforced and strong support for Indias role in global institutions, like having a seat on a reformed UN Security Council.



The United States continues to welcome Indias interest in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC); and we strongly affirmed our support for Indias accession into the multi-lateral export control regimes, it added.



The statement explained that six years ago, President Obama first expressed his support for Indias membership in the NSG and since then the United States has worked closely with India and the NSG members to help advance New Delhis case for membership.



India has a strong record, and deserves to be included in the NSG. That is why the administration, including senior White House and State Department officials, made a concerted effort to secure Indias membership in the recent NSG plenary session held in Seoul, it added.



Meanwhile, diplomatic circles in Washington point out that Indias entry into the MTCR will not automatically allow India to sell or buy missiles or other sensitive technologies from member states.



The regime coordinates a common export policy that regulates the sale of any missile or UAV systems or sub-systems. It maintains a common list of items, including dual-use technology and components, which can be used to deliver WMDs or enable the building of systems which can do the same.



The MTCR, however, is not a treaty and does not impose any legally binding obligations on its adherents and members. The regimes guidelines do not distinguish between exports to member or non-member countries. And membership does not provide any specific or special entitlement to obtain technology from member states.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza(WASHINGTON) -- On a self-described "rant" about populism, but without mentioning Donald Trump by name, President Obama Wednesday submitted that the presumptive GOP presidential nominees rhetoric is not populism, but actually "nativism or xenophobia."



They dont suddenly become a populist because they say something controversial in order to win votes," the president said, taking a moment of liberty at the North American Leaders Summit in Ottawa, Canada, after several questions at a news conference explored Trumps campaign rhetoric.



"Thats not the measure of populism. Thats nativism. Or xenophobia or worse. Or its just cynicism."



"I would just advise everybody to be careful about suddenly attributing to whoever pops up at a time of economic anxiety the label that theyre populist, the president implored at the National Gallery of Canada. Where have they been? Have they been on the front lines working on behalf of working people?



Obama said people like Sen. Bernie Sanders, who have campaigned for social opportunity, deserve the title, while someone who has never shown the same regard for workers, social issues and making sure poor kids have a shot at life does not meet the standard.



"Lets just be clear that somebody who labels us versus them or engages in rhetoric about how we're going to look after ourselves and take it to the other guy; that's not the definition of populism. Sorry, Obama deadpanned.



The president then jokingly apologized for his "rant."



"This is one of the prerogatives of when you're at the end of your term, he said. You go on these occasional rants."



Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
In his attempt to defend the car gift from the Burkinabe contractor, Kanazoe, President Mahama appears to have stirred yet another controversy. Two days after describing the criticisms on him over the car gift as baseless, President Mahama met the clergy at the Flagstaff House.



In that meeting, the president is reported as saying that he does not like American cars and that his preferred car is Toyota, which is made in Japan. The president made the statement to justify his position that the car gift given him could not have been a bribe as being alleged by his opponents.



President Mahama, as a human being and a Ghanaian, has every right to defend himself if his actions are criticised by his opponents. But in so doing, he must be conscious about the comment he makes in public, because he is not just an ordinary person, but the president of the Republic of Ghana.



The ordinary Ghanaian has every right to state in both public and private if he or she prefers Japanese cars to that of America. Unfortunately, President Mahama, because of his position cannot make such comment in public.



Since time immemorial, both American and Japanese governments have been giving massive support to our economy. This support comes from taxes paid by their citizens, including multi-national corporations such as Toyota and Ford.



If both Ford and Toyota are not making much return on their investments, it would affect their tax obligations to the American and Japanese governments.



The latter would also not get the needed taxes to tackle their domestic problems and get a surplus, which they transfer to developing countries, including Ghana, in the form of aid to support our economy. This means that both Toyota and Ford are playing political and economic roles in their respective countries and beyond.



For the president to say, therefore, that he prefers Japanese to American cars, means that he is indirectly campaigning for the purchase of Japanese cars in Ghana and not that of America. This, to us, is very dangerous, even though as a human being he is entitled to make his own choices.



The government of Japan has supported Ghana in the various sectors of the economy, especially the road sub sector. Apart from promising to provide the funds for the construction of a modern interchange at the Tema end of the Motorway, negotiations are also on-going for them to fund the construction of the second bridge over River Volta as part of the Eastern Corridor project.



The same Japanese government also funded the construction of the Adanse Praso-Bekwai Junction road. The government of Japan has also been supporting the construction of school infrastructure and a host of others in the country.



In the case of the US, they released a whopping $500 million during the reign of President Kufuor, part of which was used to construct the first class George Walker Bush Highway or the Motorway extension in Accra.



Agreement has also been signed with the current government, headed by President Mahama, for the release of another tranche of $495 million from the US government to help tackle the problems in our power sector.



From the above narration, it is clear that both the US and Japan governments are tremendously supporting the development of our economy. It is based on this that The Chronicle finds it distasteful the comment made by President Mahama from no other places but the seat of Government.



The competence of the president when it comes to communication cannot be challenged anywhere but he still needs someone who would be giving him specialised advise on the subject, because a doctor cannot perform surgery on himself.



We think political pressures are forcing our president to be making basic mistakes in terms of communication and he needs to have a second look at that.



America and Japan are both economic super powers in the world and for a president from a third world country which depends on these two giants for survival to try to knock their heads together is unfortunate development and a serious diplomat breach.



It is the hope of The Chronicle that the president would accept our criticism in good faith and try better next time. Where possible, he should render public apology for the comments he made to set the mind of America at ease.







Source: The Chronicle









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The titles and appellations that precede the name of the president of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, are a "whole poem to rehearse," renowned Ghanaian pastor, Dr Mensa Otabil, has said.



The leader of The Gambia is officially known as "His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Abdul-Aziz Awal Jemus Junkung Jammeh Naasiru Deen Babili Mansa".



He is Commander-In-Chief of The Armed Forces and Chief Custodian of the Sacred Constitution of The Gambia.



The Gambia's long-serving President had the title of "Babili Mansa" added to his string of titles in June last year. The Mandika-language phrase is loosely translated as "chief bridge builder" or "conqueror of rivers".



"It's a long poem to rehearse before you say his name," Dr Otabil said at the Accra headquarters of his International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) on Sunday June 26, as he introduced a preacher from that country, Pastor Francis Forbes, to the congregation as a guest preacher.



"I suppose if I said Mr Jammeh in The Gambia, Ill be in big trouble because he has a long appellation before his name appears. I think His Excellency Professor Dr Sheikh Alhaji Mansa " the general overseer of the Ghanaian church said, adding Mr Jammeh's proclamation of The Gambia as an Islamic Republic sometime last year, has "created a lot of problems for the Christians there, and, so, keep Pastor Forbes in your prayers as he does the work of God and raises the witness of Christ in The Gambia. It's not easy to be in such an environment and still preach Jesus, but he is soldiering on and still preaching, God is blessing him, his church is growing, lives are being transformed, people are being converted and we thank God for His grace and for His mercy."



"Africa has all sorts of leaders" the respected Ghanaian motivational speaker said. Making reference to the UK's recent referendum to exit the European Union (EU), as an example to draw a contrast between the leadership cultures of the two continents, Dr Otabil said: "You know, the British voted out of the EU and people are panicking, [but] here [Africa], we take things easy. We have all kinds of things happening [but] we just flow".



Mr Jammeh seized power in 1994 as a young army lieutenant and has won four widely-criticised multi-party elections since then. His iron-fisted government has also crushed several coup attempts. He told the BBC in 2011 that he would rule for "one billion years... if Allah says so". He has a bad image in the international community, as a ruthless dictator and autocrat, who has no tolerance for press freedom, human rights and criticism.



The 51-year-old leader, who claims to have a cure for AIDS, also imprisons alleged 'witches' and has threatened to cut off the heads of all homosexuals, because they are "anti-God and anti-human."

Source: Classfmonline









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.

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The Companys Balance Sheet Is Strengthened as Investors Agree to Forgive Accrued Interest and Exchange Debt for $1.85 Million of Convertible Preferred Stock

SANTA BARBARA, CA(Marketwired  June 28, 2016)  CloudCommerce, Inc. (OTCQB: CLWD), a global provider of advanced e-commerce services for leading brands, today announced that it has increased shareholders equity by exchanging $1.85 million of convertible promissory notes held by investors for Series B preferred stock.

As part of the exchange agreement, the investors also agreed to forgive all accrued interest.

CloudCommerce CEO Andrew Van Noy commented, This exchange reduced our debt and increased our shareholders equity and represents a heightened level of confidence by investors in our Companys plan for future growth. By strengthening our balance sheet, we are now in a better position to pursue additional acquisitions and fuel organic growth.

About CloudCommerce

CloudCommerce, Inc. (OTCQB: CLWD) provides advanced e-commerce services to leading brands. Our customers depend on us to help them compete effectively in the $1.6 trillion worldwide e-commerce market. Our comprehensive services include: (1) development of highly customized and sophisticated online stores, (2) real-time integration to other business systems, (3) digital marketing and data analytics, (4) complete and secure site management, and (5) integration to physical stores. Our goal is to become the industry leader by rapidly increasing the number of customers who regularly depend on us and by acquiring other rapidly growing e-commerce service providers. To learn more about CloudCommerce, please visit www.cloudcommerce.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this shareholder letter contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words anticipate, believe, estimate, may, intend, expect and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations of the Company and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with: the impact of economic, competitive and other factors affecting the Company and its operations, markets, products, and prospects for sales, failure to commercialize our technology, failure of technology to perform as expected, failure to earn profit or revenue, higher costs than expected, persistent operating losses, ownership dilution, inability to repay debt, failure of acquired businesses to perform as expected, the impact on the national and local economies resulting from terrorist actions, and U.S. actions subsequently; and other factors detailed in reports filed by the Company.



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U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, on Friday co-sponsored a resolution Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, introduced June 14 in support of establishing a national day of recognition for retired military personnel, according to the Library of Congress government information web site.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, was 1-1 for political action in New Work congressional primaries on Tuesday. Former U.S. Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh, was 0-2.

Stefanik, through her E-PAC political action committee, contributed $2,000 to the campaign of John Faso, who won the Republican primary for an open seat in the 19th Congressional District. E-PAC contributed $1,000 to the campaign of Steve Wells, who lost the Republican primary for an open seat in the 22nd District.

This brings Stefanik's political action score to 4-2, so far in the Republican congressional primary process.

Owens, who retired at the end of 2014, contributed $1,000 to the campaign of Will Yandik, who lost the Democratic primary for an open seat in the 19th District, and $1,000 to Steve Williams who lost the Democratic primary in the 24th District to challenge Republican incumbent John Katko.

State Sen. Kathy Marchione and other prominent area Republicans contributed to the campaign of Phil Oliva, who won the Republican primary in the 18th District to challenge incumbent Democrat Sean Maloney.
QUEENSBURY  A Washington County couple who police said sold heroin and cocaine in Queensbury have pleaded guilty to felony charges.

Philip Lyons, 46, of West Street in Whitehall, pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, a felony, for a drug sale in Queensbury in January, court records show.

Ashley A. Genier, 27, of Burgoyne Avenue in Hudson Falls, also pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance for a January drug sale in Queensbury, according to court records.

The two were indicted together in Warren County Court in March after a State Police investigation that included three drug sales to a police informant or undercover officer, one heroin sale and two cocaine sales, records show.

Lyons, who is on parole for a 2014 felony drug conviction in Warren County, agreed to a plea deal that will include a five-year prison sentence to be followed by 3 years on parole when he is sentenced Aug. 3 by Warren County Judge John Hall.

Genier was placed on interim probation for a year. If she does well, she will be sentenced to 5 years on probation. If not, she faces a jail or prison sentence.
Meeting

Kingsbury Town Board, Monday evening

Top story

The Town Board voted unanimously on Monday to approve a proposed change to the towns zoning. The change will rezone the Dix Avenue corridor from a residential area to a commercial one. Even before Mondays decision to rezone, commercial properties were permitted in the area with a zoning variance. Zoning the area as commercial simply removes obstacles to commercial development, Town Supervisor Dana Hogan said in May. Residents of Vaughn Road initially voiced concerns regarding the change. However, in the final decision, the Vaughn Road sections were removed and will remain residential areas. The measure will officially take effect after necessary paperwork is filed with the state, Hogan said.

Other news

Responding to concerns brought by local residents, the Kingsbury Town Board voted to request three speed limit assessments from the county. The streets it hopes to have evaluated are Michigan, Sunset and Divisional. Highway Superintendent Michael Graham explained that, on roads with no posted speed limit, such as Michigan Street, the default limit becomes 55 mph, regardless of the type of road. This was not the first time the speed limit on Michigan Street was called into question. At the boards June 13 meeting, the limit was discussed in relation to concerns surrounding the new Town Hall.

The Town Board will hold a public hearing July 18 at Kingsbury Town Hall to discuss the implementation of a town nuisance property law. Hogan said the town does not currently have one and the board is seeking more options and efficient ways of addressing nuisance issues.

Next meeting

7 p.m. July 11, Kingsbury Town Hall
LAKE GEORGE  After 45 years as village mayor, Robert Blais has learned a thing or two about traffic during the Fourth of July fireworks and has some advice for those coming on Monday.

Over the years, weve tried everything. People will call and say, Why dont you park cars at Magic Forest? and everything theyve suggested, weve tried, Blais said Wednesday. Weve tried to park cars and bus people in; the buses cant get in and the buses cant get out.

Its just one night of the year where there is a lot of inconveniences for the motorists and the residents, if they want to really enjoy the Fourth of July fireworks, which of course, are traditional, he said.

The best advice Blais can give is this: Come early and stay late.

We encourage them to get here; to find parking, they need to be here by 6 p.m. This is from experience, he said.

This year will be even more difficult than most.

I think this year, particularly because of the construction on Route 9 South  sometimes there are lane changes and sometimes its down to one lane, I would still like to tell folks we hope they come to Lake George and enjoy our show. It is the largest show that we do annually.

For this years show, fireworks will be shot from two barges instead of one.

Parking will be available in the Million Dollar Beach parking lot and in the countys new Westbrook lot. The village will also be using the Charles R. Wood festival space. Motorists can park at Fort William Henry and in the Beach Road parking lot.

Once the fireworks are over, Blais said, visitors should plan to spend a little more time in the village.

They should expect major delays in exiting, so they should be prepared to shop or enjoy themselves after the fireworks. Theres only three outlets out of our village, and my suggestion every year when I do this is, if theyre coming from the Glens Falls area, that they enter the village by Route 9L and then use Ridge Road or Bay Road to return, rather than use Route 9.

The fireworks are scheduled for 9:30 p.m.
FORT ANN  A weeks-old baby died early Tuesday at a home on Route 4, and police believe the child was accidentally suffocated by her mother as they slept in bed.

The death marks the second in the region in less than a month in which a mother in bed with a child was believed to have accidentally smothered her baby. State Police investigated a similar case in a Queensbury apartment complex on June 11. An autopsy led police to conclude the death was accidental and no charges were warranted.

Washington County District Attorney Tony Jordan said he spoke Tuesday with Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan about the offices getting involved in an educational program for parents to highlight the risks of what is called co-sleeping, when parents and young children sleep in the same bed.

We talked yesterday about coming up with something to do as a reminder so maybe we can prevent these tragedies, Jordan said.

Emergency responders were sent to the Fort Ann home shortly after 8 a.m., when it was discovered the 9-week-old baby was not breathing. CPR was administered to no avail.

The child had been in bed with the mother, who had been breastfeeding the baby earlier in the morning, officials said.

State Police were called to investigate, and the home was cordoned off for much of the day as a possible crime scene until an autopsy was performed at Albany Medical Center later in the day. That autopsy led to the conclusion the death was accidental and consistent with suffocation. No criminal charges were planned.

The Post-Star is withholding the familys name, because no charges were filed.

A relative of the mothers, sitting outside the home with state troopers Tuesday morning, said no one there wanted to discuss the situation, calling it a private family matter.

The region has seen two other clusters of child deaths during co-sleeping over the past decade, with at least six children dying during those periods.

An educational effort was initiated through the Warren-Washington Counties Care Center in Glens Falls after two baby deaths from accidental suffocation during co-sleeping in 2009. Glens Falls Hospital started an educational program in 2006 after four baby deaths in similar circumstances in the preceding months.

Michael Guglielmoni, executive director of the Care Center, said the center, Glens Falls Hospital, local Department of Social Services offices and the Glens Falls YMCA have all distributed educational pamphlets that were put together in 2009. His agency was in the process of updating and getting more printed before the infant fatalities of the last couple of weeks, Guglielmoni said. The risks are also covered in some prenatal educational courses.

Were just trying to get the message out there about the risks of co-sleeping, he said.

Anyone who wants pamphlets can contact the Care Center at 792-2731.
Editor:

Were horrified by acts of terrorism: Orlando, Charleston, San Bernardino, Newtown, Oklahoma City. What we see less clearly is the terrorism so interwoven in a culture it seems normal: colonialism, imperialism, slavery. Today its terrorism against women by their intimate partners  three women killed every day, 4,774,000 women experiencing extreme violence every year. American troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq between 2001 and 2012 numbered 6,488; during that same time 11,766 American women were murdered by current or former male partners.

I think of other homegrown unrecognized terrorism, our violence toward Earth, our only home. Chemical and oil spills, methane leaks, toxic waste dumped into rivers, loss of coral reefs and wetlands, the ocean used as a garbage dump. Our Defense Department declared man-made climate change our greatest terrorist threat  depletion of water causing water wars, droughts and floods destroying crops and homes, millions of refugees fleeing violence and hunger. Here record heat, intensity of storms, wildfires, floods, yet the extraordinary denial of this terrorism and its root causes.

Terrorism as not just violence but an attitude toward others; viewing women, the Earth and other beings as objects to be used, abused, exploited, a feeling of separation and superiority allowing us to justify greed, power, privilege and cruelty.

Throughout history demagogues have manipulated peoples fear, insecurity and anger, blaming another for all problems; in Nazi Germany Jews were easy scapegoats. Here its Muslims, blacks, refugees, Mexicans, women, gays, abortion doctors. Rather than real institutional changes to create economic and racial justice, these leaders offer the illusion of security and promise of power by denigrating a chosen enemy. Dialogue, compromise, peace, empathy, friendship are seen as weakness. Concealed guns, military-style assault weapons, waterboarding, barrel bombing and rage are seen as manly strength.

What really makes us safe from terrorism against us and within us?

Bernice Mennis, West Fort Ann
The US ambassador to Ghana, Mr Robert P. Jackson, made it known at a breakfast meeting organised by the Airport Residential Area branch of the Action Chapel recently.

In a speech, Ambassador Jackson said Ghanaian companies should take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA).

AGOA was signed in May 2000 and offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets.

He said: "the extension provides certainty for Ghanaian producers and US buyers regarding access to the US market. It creates a stable environment that encourages increased investments in Ghana.
Some development experts and anti-corruption campaigners have heavily criticised the move, saying SADA does not have the mandate to operate a bank, and cannot be trusted with such an operation given the Authoritys controversial financial history.

READ MORE:Prince Imoro Andani Fmr Northern regional minister launches blistering attack on SADA bank

Reacting to these comments, CEO of SADA, Charles Abugre said the SADA bank will not operate as a commercial bank, neither will it receive deposits from customers. It will be a facilitator of the Agricultural sector in the Northern part of the country.

We are proposing an institution that is not a commercial bank.that is not a deposit taker. That means, it has to find its capital from somewhere. What is the source of this capital? It is long-term capital from external capital markets like money from the IFC and other areas, which are usually raised over a medium to long term basis.

Mr. Abugri added that the SADA Bank will then disburse these monies to farmers who need it as soft loans for their farming activities.
Ghanas Trade Minister, Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah earlier revealed that the Chinese government has notified Ghana about a possible influx of Chinese industrialists heading to Ghana in 2016.

According to the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Sun Baohong more Ghanaian businesses are being enticed by Ghanas strategic position in the West African Sub-region and the convenience it provides in terms of access to the entire West African Sub-regional market.

The Chinese Ambassador also mentioned that these investors have expressed interest in non-traditional areas of Ghanas economy, as well as areas deemed to be very cost-intensive to enter, such as energy provision and agro-processing.

She stated that Chinese investors have indicated the will to venture into growing areas such as energy, cement production and agro-processing.

We need to further promote high level exchanges and keep the overall China-Ghana relationship on the right track from strategic and long-term perspective, and solve the obstacles in our ties through friendly cooperation, She said.

She emphasized that Ghana and China together present a unique opportunity for collaboration that will inure to the benefits of the two countries.
Weve stated the recruitment exercise and by the end of July, all of the drivers will be on board, Komla said.

The recruitment exercise, according to Komla, is part of the companys objective of contributing to Ghanas economic growth through job creation and honouring tax obligations.

The company has also invested

The plant will have the capacity to produce about 1.5 million tonnes of cement.

The move is part of the companys strategy to expand and meet growing demands in Ghana and across West Africa.

Owner of the company, Aliko Dangote, is planning to shift focus from cement business to oil and gas.

He plans to set up a $12 billion oil refinery with a capacity of 650,000 barrels a day in Nigeria.

Mr. Dangote told Reuters the $12bn refinery will be ready at the beginning of 2019.

"It will be ready in the first quarter of 2019.

"Mechanical completion will be end of 2018 but we will start producing in 2019," he added.

Dangote also has plans for a gas pipeline through West Africa, Reuters adds.

Dangote plans to build cement plant in eight Africa countries.

But the companys operation in Ghana has been hit by series of agitation from workers.
Between 2004 and 2014, per capita growth in Ethiopia was 8% per year. This was the highest on the continent during this period, and is impressive by any standard.

The growth has been attributed mainly to a construction boom and increased agricultural productivity. But manufacturing has also been vital. It has grown at 11% per year and manufacturing exports increased more than elevenfold. This was largely thanks to the increasing export earnings of the footwear and apparel industries. The growth represents more than a doubling of manufactured exports share in total merchandise exports, which itself more than quintupled during the period.

Nevertheless, manufacturing as a share of gross domestic product in Ethiopia remains 5%, well below the African average of 10%. The country also scores below the African average on diversification, export competitiveness, productivity and technological upgrading.

Despite this, its not a long-shot to predict that Ethiopia will catch up with countries like China and Vietnam in some low-tech manufacturing industries in the near future. These are industries for which labour costs are very important. And right now youd be hard pressed to find a country in the world that has cheaper labour than Ethiopia. Even beyond these obvious industries, there are reasons to believe that Ethiopia might be on the right track to catch up with more advanced economies.

First is the countrys developmental orientation. In many ways it resembles that of successful catch-up experiences in East Asia, such as Korea and Taiwan, with a relatively authoritarian corporatist structure and centralised economic planning.

Meles Zenawi, Ethiopias recently deceased prime minister who ruled from 1995 to 2012 and whose legacy remains strong in todays ruling political coalition, repeatedly expressed admiration for the East Asian experience. He stressed that its success was based on a prudent combination of market forces and state intervention. The state not only provided basic infrastructure and services but also a conducive environment for the private sector.

The second reason to be optimistic about Ethiopias prospects is the impressive industrial policymaking capability it has accumulated since the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front government came to power in 1991.

The quality of this capability becomes clear if you read the Growth and Transformation Plan covering 2010-2015. According to economist Kenichi Ohno the plan is unusual in its brevity, coherence and strategic direction. Priority manufacturing industries were designated based on resource availability, labour intensity, linkages to agriculture, export potential and relatively low technological entry barriers. They include apparel and textiles, agro-processing, meat processing, leather and leather products, and construction.

Supporting institutes have been set up for each industry to coordinate the value chains effectively, for example by ensuring efficient supply of inputs to manufacturers and to assist firms with technological upgrading.

Two state-owned banks, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and the Development Bank of Ethiopia, provide most credit to firms in these industries. Foreign banks are simply not allowed to operate in Ethiopia. The understanding is that they will be allowed in only when domestic banks have developed the capacity to compete.

Education and infrastructure

While the Ethiopian government is formulating policies to support specific industrial sectors, for most of the past 20 years the federal budget has been devoted to policies that are more horizontal in nature, like education and infrastructure. Results so far are impressive.

Enrolment in primary schools has increased from below 20% in the early 1990s to about 94% in 2012. The number of universities has increased from one in 1990 to more than 30.

And the government has invested massively in infrastructure development, focusing on transport and power generation. The road network expanded from 26,550km to 53,997km between 1997 and 2011. The country is set to quadruple its power generation capacity when the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile is finished in 2017/18. One of the largest hydroelectric power stations in the world, the dam will generate 6,000MW.

Cement and floriculture

Feeding on the boom in construction, cement production has grown dramatically since 1999. The average annual growth of cement production has been more than twice the world average. As a result, Ethiopia is now the third largest cement producer in Africa.

State support has been both direct and indirect. Direct measures include entry incentives for domestic firms, like long-term loans for capital investments, easy access to mining resources and the allocation of foreign currency on a preferential basis.

Additionally, government provision of transport and energy has been crucial.

Like the cement industry, the Ethiopian floriculture sector has made important contributions to overall economic development.

Cut flower exports increased from three tons in 2003/04 to more than 50,000 tons in 2011/12, substantially raising export earnings. From 2007 to 2012, the sectors employment doubled from 25,000 to 50,484. The industry grew from a single firm in 2000 to about 100 in 2014.

The industry has also created indirect jobs through the expansion of horticulture. Related activities, such as packaging production, cold chain logistics and air transport have all benefited.

While Ethiopian firms initially kicked off the floriculture industry, foreign firms have increased their investment. In 2012 they accounted for63% of all firms operating in the sector.

This foreign investment has contributed to technological development and improved market access.

Foreign investors say Ethiopia has become an attractive investment location because of natural endowments such as land and altitude, cheap labour and government incentives. These incentives include tax holidays on profits for up to five years, duty free privileges on all capital goods and the provision of construction material.

Subsidised loans have been the prime source of long-term investment financing for firms in the floriculture industry. Almost two-thirds of firms in the industry have relied on loans from the Development Bank of Ethiopia. And private banks, seeing the success of these loans, have also started lending to the industry.

Sectors destined for future success

Both the leather products and the textile and apparel sectors have been designated as top priority manufacturing industries in the recently released five-year development plan (2015 to 2020). One reason for this is because they have strong linkages with the agricultural sector as they use inputs from the livestock and cotton sectors. They are also both labour intensive, thus absorbing labour from the agricultural sector, and have major export potential and low entry barriers.

To become internationally competitive, the Ethiopian government has invited foreign investors to provide much-needed investment capital and technological capabilities. A slew of incentives has been created to induce these firms  as well as domestic ones that can meet international standards  to export. These include:

subsidised land rent in industrial zones;

generous credit schemes;

100% exemption from the payment of duties on imported capital goods and raw materials for the production of exports; and

five-year tax holidays on profits.

Export figures from the past two years indicate positive trends for both industries. But the results are not yet near where they need to be to make a significant contribution to structural change.

However, considering all the positive signs, Ethiopia might very well be on its way to become Africas industrial powerhouse.
In an image of a letter allegedly from the "consular officer" of the Embassy, the team, "Team Anchor" was denied the request for a non-immigrant visa after being found "not able to demonstrate that [their] intended activities in the United States would be consistent with the classification of the nonimmigrant visa for which [they] applied".

Though the letter from the embassy stated that the decision was final and "cannot be appealed", a letter signed by the Dean of Student Affairs of University of Ghana addressed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems to suggest otherwise.

In the letter signed by Dr. James Adomako, he indicated his support for an appeal for review of the denial by the embassy. The letter stated that the team had beat 50 other teams at the regional event in Dubai and were on course to the summer accelerator program in Boston from 27th June to 19th August 2016.

The competition which was hosted last year in five different cities (London, Dubai, Shanghai, San Francisco and Boston) sees brilliant minds come together to solve some of the worlds pressing challenges.

The Hult Prize is a crowdsourcing platform for social good, named one of the top five ideas changing the world by President Bill Clinton and TIME Magazine.

In partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative, the innovative crowdsourcing platform identifies and launches disruptive and catalytic social ventures that aim to solve the planets most pressing challenges.
This is part of efforts by the university to clear debts owed utility companies.

Proposed fees for water and electricity for non-resident students have been pegged at GHC922 and GHC2,326 for residents.

However, addressing a news conference on Tuesday, the SRC President of the University of Ghana, Esinam Afi Seade, said that the students will not pay the amounts being considered.

The SRC is standing firm and saying students are not in a position to do this so as much as possible, we will stand by students and kick against the payment of the utility bills, she said.

The student body has therefore asked government to issue a directive to all stakeholders, namely the Electricity Company of Ghana, Ghana Water Company Limited and the University of Ghana management, asking that students are spared the proposed charges.

In a response, the Deputy Minister of Power said cabinet has considered the issues surrounding debts owed the ECG by the university and took a decision that this year the Ministry of Finance should make provisions for that.

He told Accra-based Citi FM that ...the issue has to do with lecture theatres, traditional halls, laboratories and libraries. Those are the key issues. We expect that the Ministry of finance should take care of that.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Mr Agyapong reportedly said in Kumasi while addressing supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that Mrs Osei was appointed in exchange for sex.

Though she is irked by such an utterance, Mrs Dwamena-Aboagye thinks it is better for the EC boss to ignore the legislator and concentrate on how to ensure a free, fair and credible election.

Im sure she could but I would say she should just focus on her work. There is a lot at stake. Ghanaians are looking up to her to deliver credible elections. She should focus on her work and leave that for the rest of the society to handle. Why spend all this time in court? she said on Joy FMs Super Morning Show.

Mrs Dwamena-Aboagye however called on the NPP and other leaders in the country to call Hon. Agyapong to order since his remark is despicable.

I know members of this party who are honourable people, upright in society Im not the one to direct the party but I think this is the time to put their best foot forward especially for women, she noted.
The disconnection exercise has so far affected some institutions including a Police barracks at Tema Community 8, and the newly inaugurated Ayensu Starch Factory.However, a statement signed by the Deputy Minister of Power, John Abdulai Jinapor said the ECG should consider exempting health, educational and security installations from the disconnection exercise.

The Ministry of Power wishes to commend efforts currently being made by the Electricity Company of Ghana to collect outstanding bills owed it by various categories of customers complemented by the Revenue Task Force. We have also noted the ongoing disconnection exercise being carried out by ECG to retrieve outstanding bills owed by customers, the statement said.Whilst we commend ECG in that regard, we wish to bring to your attention, Governments decision to temporarily exclude certain critical categories from pre-payment metering and the mass disconnection exercise. These include critical installations in the health, security and educational institutions," the statement added.
Her comments come in the wake of remarks by Hon Agyapong that the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei was appointed in exchange for sex.

The controversial MP is reported to have made this remark while addressing supporters of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) at Asokwa, a suburb of Kumasi.

Reacting to the statement on Joy FMs Super Morning Show, Wednesday, Mrs Dwamena-Aboagye described the comments as very unfortunate especially coming from a Member of Parliament.

I think it is most unfortunate. As a woman, Im incensed. This is not only defamation, it is assassination of character. You can disagree with somebody on their policies, you can talk about what they are doing wrong rationally; but this is below the belt. Its as though we are back to the middle age where people had no respect for women. Do all women sleep their way to the top? I think its very unfortunate and somebody must call him to order.

This person is supposed to be an honourable MP and consistently, he comes up with statements that make us question how he got there in the first place. He may have his qualities but he has no right. This is totally against the human right of Mrs Charlotte Osei, she said.

Mrs Dwamena-Aboagye has therefore called on the party and religious leaders to call Mr Agyapong to order, adding that the honourable MP should admit that his utterance was in bad taste and apologise subsequently.

People are working to ensure that women are dignified and then somebody who is supposed to be a leader comes out and in few sentences, destroys all efforts done in the past. Its totally wrong.
Sources say one person on the convoy of the president was injured as a result of the attack.

The president is however expected to pay a courtesy call on the Asantehene and his traditional council at the Manhyia palace later in the afternoon.

The president earlier on Tuesday inspected work on the first phase of the new Kejetia Market being executed by a Brazilian construction firm, Contracta during his tour at Kumasi.

He indicated the budget for the second and the third phases of the $298 million project had been approved by Cabinet.

He also commissioned an entrepreneurship village for the Kumasi Polytechnic and inspected the progress of work on the Asawase Market.
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The 2016 presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, had indicated that Ghanaians will reject President John Dramani Mahama at the upcoming general elections similar to what Nigerians did to their former President, Goodluck Jonathan.

According to him, President Mahama and Goodluck Jonathan were both sworn into office accidentally after the death of their superiors.

When we look at your track-record in office and it is poor, the people of Ghana would kick you out. The case of Goodluck Jonathan is exactly the same as that of our President. Goodluck Jonathan only became President because his boss passed away. When it came to standing election for a 2nd term, the people of Nigeria decided that he was underserving of another term in office. There was no 2nd term for Jonathan. The same way in this years elections, I am confident that Ghanaians will say to Mahama No 2nd term, especially when his party, the NDC, was in fact enjoying a second successive term in office, Nana Akufo-Addo added.

But President Mahama during his Accounting to the People tour in the Ashanti Region on Tuesday, June 28, 2016 said his first term was only aimed at securing a solid foundation which will ensure a good start for his second term.

He further urged registered voters to check their names in the voters register during its exhibition next month to be sure that their names had been properly captured in order not to be disenfranchised.

The president also inspected work on the first phase of the new Kejetia Market being executed by a Brazilian construction firm, Contracta during his tour at Kumasi.

He indicated the budget for the second and the third phases of the $298 million project had been approved by Cabinet.

He also commissioned an entrepreneurship village for the Kumasi Polytechnic and inspected the progress of work on the Asawase Market.
If it is building factories that work well and jobs that last, then I respectfully ask Ghanaians to look to the one called edwumawura, Papa Kwesi Nduom.

Dr. Nduom who is often referred to as edwumawura meaning the provider of jobs said he is the best to provide factories and other forms of job for the Ghanaian populace.

He was responding to the announcement by the NPP's Nana Addo to set up a factory in every district in Ghana if he becomes president.

Dr. Nduom also chastised President Mahama for making promises cant fulfil .

John Dramani Mahama is promising millions of jobs. It can only mean one thing. So they are at it again, making promises they cannot keep. You would think they would have learnt from the mistakes of the past. But no, they believe in promising what they believe the people want to hear. So they can win votes.
"I refuse to be part of a group of people who seek to denigrate individualsI wont tell the president he is corrupt unless I have evidence against him, Greenstreet said during a question on corruption at the IEA Evening Encounter series on Tuesday.

He was responding to a question on the Ford Expedition as a gift to President Mahama when he was vice resident as a reward for awarding a contract to his Burkinabe friend according to a Joyfm report.

Greentstreet was quoted by Joyfm as saying "Ford Expedition gift doesn't feel wrong" as his response to the report.

Many saw his position as an endorsement of corruption which is out of place for a man who wants to lead the country.

But in his response at the Evening Encounter Greenstreet said they want me to jump on their bandwagon. I am not an agitator for other peoples political intentions. And weve constantly heard the refrain on radio, people are tried on radio and are found guilty even before they have the opportunity to respond"
They want me to jump on their bandwagon. I am not an agitator for other peoples political intentions. And weve constantly heard the refrain on radio, people are tried on radio and are found guilty even before they have the opportunity to respond.I refuse to be part of a group of people who seek to denigrate individualsI wont tell the president he is corrupt unless I have evidence against him, he added.

Ivor Greenstreet made this known at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Evening Encounter series on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Convention Peoples Party has petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice over the acceptance of a Ford Expedition gift by President Mahama from a Burkinabe contractor.

The petition is being championed by the youth league of the Party. The youth of the CPP earlier called for the resignation of President John Mahama following the controversy surrounding a 'car gift' given to him.

The petition was signed by the Secretary of the Partys Youth League Commander Hardi Yakubu. He cited articles 284, 287, 218 of the 1992 constitution as laws backing their request for a formal investigation into the matter.

They asked that the Commission establish whether or not accepting the gift occasioned a conflict of interest situation and to also clarify what manner of gifts given to and taken by public workers and government officials may be properly classified as bribes.
"The Church must ask forgiveness for not behaving many times -- when I say the Church, I mean Christians! The Church is holy, we are sinners!"

His comments have been described as ground breaking by certain priests and gay rights groups in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis is the only pope in the churchs history to have been this accommodating to the group who are frowned upon in the religion.

The answer came off the back from a question a German cardinal posed to him saying that the Catholic Church should apologize for being "very negative" about gays. Other questions also asked include whether Christians bear some of the blame for hatred toward the LGBT community, just like it was shown during the recent Orlando massacre at a gay night club that killed 49 people on 12 June.

He went on to add that "I believe that the church not only should apologize to the person who is gay whom it has offended," he added, "but has to apologize to the poor, to exploited women, to children exploited for labor; it has to ask forgiveness for having blessed many weapons."

Pope Francis, the head of more than one million Catholics has constantly made the news for comments he has made in favor of homosexuals. In 2013, he refused to condemn the group on a similar trip while aboard the papal plane rather he asked members to be more compassionate and tolerant to them.
Speaking exclusively to Pulse, Gbenro Ajibade said "it is overwhelming" being a new father.

The celebrity couple welcomed their little ray of sunshine on June 21, 2016. However, further details concerning the birth of the couples first child havent been released to the public.

Gbenro when asked about how he felt over the new addition to their family told Pulse Nigeria: "It is overwhelming".

Recall that, Gbenro Ajibade and Osas Ighodaro were on the May cover of they were expecting their first child. I dont want to jinx this pregnancy, Osas told the magazine on why she's keeping the news of her pregnancy low key.

And she caught us all by surprise when it was announced the former beauty queen had given birth!

In the Genevieve magazine interview, Osas Ighodaro talked about her pregnancy superstitions. "This is my first child and I do not want peoples opinions or judgement at this time. I want to take back that power from the public and enjoy my pregnancy with all its challenges. Unfortunately, I am aware that this is the industry I signed up for and people will always judge.

It is a very sensitive period for us especially with my older sister passing away from malaria when she was with child. My mum is really protective and she is on board with my keeping this pregnancy a secret" she told Genevieve Magazine.

She also stated that she would like to have 10 kids if her husband Gbenro Ajibade accepts.
According to Tony Elumelu, Africa is a land of opportunities. People in Africa are so warm, so embracing, so friendly, and they want the best things in life as their counterparts in Asia and America and Europe. From my investments, there is nowhere that yields the kind of returns on investments as what I make in Africa

On the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme and the entrepreneurs themselves and his dream for Africa, Elumelu says he dreams of an Africa that is a land of plenty, a land where there is no more poverty, income per capita is good. Poverty, inequality is low, unemployment is single digit or almost nonexistent. An Africa where there is no extremism, an Africa where were not fighting, an Africa where we have self-confidence and above all, an Africa where there is self-sufficiency. An Africa that can feed itself, and feed the world. That is my dream, and I believe that the seed we plant today through the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme will help to develop Africa in the future.
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!
According to reports, Daukaka made a song titled Gyara Kayanka, which criticised members of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC).

His song, Gyara Kayanka, which means Put your house in order in English, predicted that the APC will not be re-elected in 2019. He also mentioned that the party is corrupt.

This, according to his family, made him a political target.

Atiku Mustapha, who spoke to Agence France-Presse (AFP) said, It is obvious his disappearance is an abduction by some interests who are infuriated by his latest song which exposed corruption among legislators at the state house of assembly,

We believe they abducted him as a warning to other critics like him. They just want to muzzle critics.

Daukakas wife, identified as Hadiza Adamu, also confirmed the family's suspicion.

She revealed that her husband has no known enemy, and that his disappearance is related to the anti-corruption song, which allegedly angered some powerful people.

My husband is not known to be at loggerheads with any one. The only explanation we could provide is that he could have angered some powerful interests with his songs,

We call on whoever is behind his disappearance to have pity on us and release him unharmed, Hadiza said.
According to Punch Metro, this was her way of correcting the boy, who allegedly stole N100 from the angry aunt.

This happened in Afariogun, Oshodi, where Razak, who is a primary four pupil, lived with Saratu.

Some neighbours in the area however reported the case to Ebenezer Omejalile, the coordinator of the Child Protection Network.

Omejalile, who spoke to Punch, said, The victim is her nephew. The boy attends a private nursery and primary school around Afariogun Junction. He was accused of stealing the money in the school.

The woman brutalised the boys genitals. While we were at the police station, I also informed the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team, Alausa.

I am sure justice will be done in this matter. The boy has been taken into governments custody.

SP Dolapo Badmos, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer confirmed the incident. She alleged that suspect rubbed pepper on the boys genetials.

Badmos said, The suspect rubbed pepper on the boys genitals and started beating him.

The boy in the process fell on a burning stove and incurred burns in his private parts. The suspect has been charged to court and remanded in prison.
The accused, who is of no fixed address, is standing trial on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, wilful damage and stealing.

The prosecutor, Sgt. Cyriacus Osuji, informed the court that the accused and others at large committed the alleged offences on June 22.

According to him, the offences were committed at 2:30 pm, on Lekki-Epe expressway, Marwa, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.

He said that the accused stole a cable valued at N6.8 million.

Osuji, also told the court that the accused unlawfully and wilfully damaged the cable, property of one Lekki Concession Company.

The prosecutor also said that the accused was found loitering around when the cable was stolen.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty.

Consequently, Magistrate Mrs A. T. Omoyele, granted him bail in the sum of N250,000 with two sureties in like sum.

Omoyele said that the sureties must be gainfully employed, show evidence of three years tax payment and their addresses verified.
According to Punch, the vandals entered the estate through the creek and scaled the fence into the victims house on Michael Ajao Street.

Punch also reported that the kidnappers tried to trick Olufemi but switching off his power generator in a bid to comb him out of the house.

By instinct, the landlord sent his son out instead to restart the generator. They however forced the boy back into the house and took his father away.

The incident happened on Friday, June 24, 2016, according to a resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The incident happened last Friday night. The vandals jumped over the fence into the mans house and switched off his generator.

The man, who was surprised that the generator went off, asked his son to go check what happened. The boy went out, turned on the generator and was about going inside when the vandals held him. They asked him to lead them inside.

When they got in, they ransacked the building and took jewellery, mobile phones, laptops, an iPad, and money. They took all the valuables they could lay their hands on. After they finished, they disappeared with the man.

SP Muyiwa Adejobi, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed the kidnapping incident.
More effort is being made by the police to apprehend other members of the abduction group, according to the Benue State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Paul Okafor.

Adeyi was abducted on April 10, 2016, at Odoba Village, along the Otukpo-Enugu Road. He was on his way to mediate over a dispute, report says.

A ransom of N2 million was demanded by his abductors for his release, which his family paid.

This however did not save him from being killed by the criminals, after the sum was released to them.

His corpse was found on June 22, 2016, in his hometown of Otukpa, according to Punch.

Speaking concerning the arrest of the murder suspect, Okafor said police investigations in the case led to the arrest.

He mentioned that he would comment more on the matter as soon he gets more information.
According to Punch, Hadi was in a boat with two female passengers and the boat operator, when the militants attacked them.

They approached the victims from another boat and robbed them of valuable items such as phones and money around the Agbara Bridge.

After getting shot, the policemen attached to the Igando Police Division, rushed Hadi to a private hospital where he gave up the ghost.

During the course of the attack, the deceased allegedly pleaded with the militants to spare his life. They however killed him after labelling him an enemy.

He was shot with several bullets following this.

An eyewitness named Otunba gave a report on his side of the story.

He said, The three gunmen came in a fibre boat around 3pm. They waylaid the policemans boat around the Agbara Bridge area.

They ordered the policeman to enter their boat and he did. He begged them to spare his life. But they said he was an enemy and ordered him to lie down in the boat. They first shot at his leg.

Then they robbed the female passengers and the boat operator, collecting money, phones and jewellery.

They returned to the policeman and they rained bullets on him. The militants instructed the boat operator not to drive away until the sergeant was dead.

It was around 3.30pm that the boat got to Egan. Policemen from Igando division were here to receive the sergeant.

His commander also came to check him, but he had died. If there had been a helicopter patrol around the bridge, the militants could have been spotted and arrested.

Hadis body has been stored at a morgue for an autopsy to confirm the details surrounding his death.
Report has it that the teachers have not been paid since February 2016, based on an instruction given by the governor.

He had allegedly ordered that wages paid to teachers of primary and demonstration schools of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education and Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, be stopped.

A law suit was filed by the agitators in a bid to ensure the payment of their salaries, which has accumulated for five months.

According to Punch, the teachers appealed to the court to declare their appointments valid and subsisting, also joined Attorney-General of Rivers State (2nd defendant) and their various institutions  RSUST, IAUE and KSWP (3rd defendant) in the suit.

Also in the law suit, the claimants appealed to the court to give an injunction that will restrain the state government from terminating their contracts.
The Zika virus may be driving a surge in interest in abortions in Latin America, according to a new study published by the New England Journal of Medicine.

According to the study, requests for abortion services in the region through one non-profit provider have jumped more than a third, with increases of close to double in hard-hit Brazil and Venezuela.

Abortion is illegal or severely restricted in most of Latin America, and so there are no official data on abortion rates.

Researchers instead examined data from the organisation Women on Web, which offers access to pharmaceutical abortions for women in countries where abortion is not available.

A comparison of abortion service requests through Women on Web before and after the first public warnings about Zika six months ago showed increases of at least 36 per cent in all 19 countries surveyed.

The data help to illustrate how much Zika is worrying pregnant women in the region, said Abigail Aiken of the University of Texas at Austin, one of the study's authors.

One factor driving the surge may have been government warnings urging women in Zika-affected areas to wait to become pregnant - warnings that may have alarmed women who already were.

For women whose children were born with the virus, the uncertainty can be devastating.

At a children's hospital in the Venezuelan city of Valencia, Sodelis Balboa, 31, cried as she waited for news of her infant daughter.

The doctors just put me off."

Treatment is a "disaster," she said, amid an economic crisis in Venezuela that has led to a shortage of food and medicine.

Part of the problem is that close to five months after WHO declared Zika an emergency, much about the mosquito-borne virus remains unknown.

Doctors now know for sure that the Zika virus can cause severe skull deformations in human embryos. The deformations, known as microcephaly, result in babies born with abnormally small heads and severe disabilities.

But it is unclear why only a fraction of Zika infections in pregnant women result in microcephaly. Additionally, in Brazil there have been more than 1,400 confirmed cases of microcephaly since the outbreak began, but Zika was confirmed in only about one in seven.

In July, the U.S. and Brazil will begin a wide-ranging study of 10,000 pregnant women in countries with a prevalence of Zika, 4,000 of them in Brazil.

Tests for a Zika vaccine will begin on monkeys and mice in November, and scientists hope to have a single-dose vaccine for humans by 2018.

With 1.5 million estimated infections, Brazil is the country hardest-hit by Zika, but abortion is illegal there except in cases of rape or severe risk to the mother's health.

The crisis has sparked a public debate about a kind of "Lex Zika" - whereby pregnant women with the money to pay private clinics for abortion services get them, and poor women do not.

But the Catholic-dominated country of 200 million remains starkly divided on the issue.
Daily Post reports that Muhammad said Some good Samaritans volunteered information to us on the activities of the suspects. We immediately mobilised with about 100 mobile police and we successfully surrounded the house the suspects were living in. We were able to apprehend them and they are in our custody at our headquarters.

Adding that Only God knows their mission here in Zaria, but my chat with them revealed that the guys were notorious. There was no sign of remorse with them. They were insisting that what they were doing was the right thing to do. This is why we are urging Nigerians to be wary of the people they live within their communities and report any suspicious movement to security agencies.
The statement reads:

Troops of 121 Task Force Battalion, 26 Task Force Brigade, accompanied by a large number of Civilian JTF from Gwoza, embarked on a very aggressive patrol that dislodged remnants Boko Haram terrorists hibernating at Ngoshe and Gava villages, located close to Gwoza on the mountainous terrain.

The essence of the robust patrol which was supported by the Nigeria Air Force and Cameroonian Defence Forces who provided air cover and real time Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance, was to clear the remnants of the terrorists hiding in the mountainous area and rescue all persons held hostages by the Boko Haram terrorists.

While advancing towards their objective in Ngoshe, the patrol team encountered Boko Haram terrorists. They had to clear the delayed positions staged by the terrorists through the support of the Nigeria Air Force fighter jets.

Although the number of terrorists killed could not be ascertained, quite a number of them where seen falling over the mountains when engaged. It is equally believed several others escaped with gunshot wounds. The troops were however able to recover quite a number of arms and ammunitions.

These include 1 Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) tube, 4 RPG Bombs, 1 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), 1 Fabrique Nationale (FN) rifle and 3 AK-47 rifles.

Other items recovered include 1 Sub-Machine Gun(SMG), 1 Locally made Pistol, a locally made Double-Barrel gun, 1 Smoke Grenade, 243 rounds of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition and 1 round of 7.62mm (Special) ammunition.

They also recovered 18 rounds of MI16 rifle, 3 G3 Rifle magazines, 2 AK-47 magazines, 1 mobile telephone handset and a SIM card, as well as a pair of military desert camouflage uniform.

Other items were an address card, 3 Boko Haram terrorists flags and a Toyota Hilux vehicle painted in desert camouflage colour and motorcycles. The troops did not find any hostage in Gava.
The task force spokesman, Muhammed Dole also revealed that arms and ammunitions were recovered from the fleeing sect members.

Dole explained that they were escaping the joint military onslaught against Boko Haram in Sambisa forest.

The force spokesman also issued an official statement saying Clearing operation to flush out the fleeing Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT) from the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) Area of Responsibility (AOR) continues to yield positive results. The troop of Sector 1 with its relocated Tactical Headquarters in Makary, Northern Cameroun intensifies clearance operations along the borders between Nigeria and Cameroun to block the fleeing terrorists. Recently, the terrorists in attempt to escape the firepower of MNJTF troops were migrating to some villages adjacent to the Sector 1 AOR.

Acting on credible information, the troops successfully cleared the six villages occupied by the terrorists, seized some logistic equipment and apprehended Twenty Four suspected Boko Haram accomplices.

The cleared villages are SAGUI, KIRTA-WOULGO, GORE MAHAMAT, GORE BLANGAFE, CHAUGRY and DAMBOURE. The recovered equipment are 20 x Outboat Engines, 2 x Motorcycles, 9 x Generating sets, 1 x Solar panel, 1 x Grinding machine, 1 x Handset, Flags and some Islamic religious books. However, one soldier was killed by Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and another fatally wounded and lost his one of his lower limbs during the operation.

Addressing the troops during his operational assessment tour in Makary, the Commander, MNJTF, Major General Lamidi Adeosun commended their display of exceptional bravery and charged them to keep up the good work, while encouraging the traditional authorities in the area to set up vigilante groups to compliment the effort of the security forces.

Equally, on a similar visit to Sector 2 troops (Chad) at their temporary Harbour Area in Littri, the Commander expressed delight for their initial operational exploits, which despite difficult terrains and other operational challenges were able to clear terrorists from some villages on the Lake Chad Islands. He couraged them to maintain their high fighting spirit and keep up the momentum of the operation despite the challenges of the slow go terrains.

The police commander in charge of Zaria- Kaduna state, Muhammad D. Shehu also revealed that 10 Boko Haram members were arrested in Dogarawa town.
The president, who recalled his last meeting with the scholars during the last Ramadan period in 2015, revealed that he had similar meetings with Christian clerics before the beginning of Ramadan period.

``Im very pleased we have actually met. Before the Ramadan I met our Christians brothers, from all over the country and we exchanged ideas with them.

``Im very pleased, we realised that this is our problem; the countrys problem is our problem. Nobody will solve it for us. We pray very hard to God. We work very hard and let us continue that way.

``If we have problems, this is the only country we have. I said it more than 30 years ago. We quickly go out, we go to pray in Saudi Arabia, we go maybe to other developed countries, but this is home.

``This is where God put us and we have to stay here and pray many times per day for God to guide us so that we can leave a better country to the next generation,

President Buhari enjoined the religious leaders to continue to preach the virtues of peace, tolerance and understanding among their followers to ensure speedy transformation of the country.

Chief Imam of Zone 3 Jumaat Mosque, Imam Tajudeen Mohammad, who spoke on behalf of the clerics, reiterated their determination to continue to pray for peace and rapid development of the country.

Mohammad commended the President for taking radical measures in dealing with the numerous challenges facing the country.

``Our lamentation was on the state of the nation then, the insecurity in the country. We emphasized on this table to you, sir, that you should take radical measures towards solving the malaise and other vices facing the nation.

``Today, we are happy to be here and to thank you that God has given you the opportunity in dealing with the problems, he added.
Adegboruwa also questioned the decision of the Federal Government to clear Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai of corruption charges without a thorough investigation.

I believe it has exposed the hypocrisy of the Buhari administration as not fighting the war against corruption on a clean slate, the lawyer said according to Daily Post.

They should have allowed the agencies of government such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to properly investigate the matter. The Minister of Defence and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation have no statutory authority to undertake criminal investigation, he added.
Buratai is alleged to have used public funds to purchase properties in Dubai.

The army boss made his comments on Tuesday, June 28, 2016, during a media briefing.

I am not supposed to comment on this because the federal government has already made a statement on that through the ministry of defence, he said according to The Cable.

But if you want my take on the issue, it is that we have already defeated the terrorists and the insurgents on the land, now they have migrated to the cyberspace, they have migrated to the Internet and other electronic media and so on.

We want to assure them that these terrorists, the Boko Haram terrorists, who have migrated to the cyberspace, we will follow them to that cyberspace, and equally defeat them and clear their doubts.

We are meeting all the terrorists in the cyberspace, we have defeated them, in the battle ground. We are developing our own cyber warriors and we will defeat them as we have done in the north-east, he added.
In a recent statement, the council revealed its delight to announce a successful implementation of the customer focused initiatives prescribed by the Council to improve customer service from the Satellite pay TV company.

ALSO READ: Council orders DStv to upgrade its services

Speaking at the joint press conference, the Director General of the Consumer Protection Council; Mrs. Dupe Atoki said; The mandate of the council is to ensure that consumers rights and interests are protected. The CPC has been working with MultiChoice Nigeria in achieving this and we are confident that the issues have been addressed.

In his reaction, the Managing Director of MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe said, Over the past year, we have worked closely with the CPC, to identify our customers areas of need, and made a commitment towards implementing solutions that will resonate with our customers and lead to improved customer service.
Ishaku made the pledge on Tuesday evening in Jalingo when he hosted Muslim faithful in the state to a Ramadan breaking of the fast.

The governor told the people to embrace agriculture in order to change a situation where the state was completely dependent on the Federal Government for survival.

"I have already promised President that Taraba will meet 10 per cent of national tea demand by December 2016 and we are committed to achieving that.

"We have also committed resources to boost rice production and other crops in the state to improve the economy and feed the nation," he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Ishaku recently inaugurated modern tea processing machines at the Kakara Tea Factory in Sardauna Local Government Area of the state.

He also promised to repair the cassava processing plant which broke down recently in order to encourage massive production of the commodity in the state.

Ishaku told the Muslims faithful in the state to continue to preach peace and live in unity with their neighbours irrespective of their religious affiliations.

In his remarks, Alhaji Inua Mafindi, the state Chairman of Muslim Council, thanked the governor for the gesture, saying it would go a long way in promoting the spirit of oneness among religious groups in the state.

Also, Rev. Ben Ubeh, the state Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), urged the people of the state to eschew violence and embrace peace in their communities.
In a recent report by Nation Newspaper, the Deputy Senate President wrote the foreign missions on Tuesday, June 28, 2016.

Other foreign missions copied in the petition include the United Nations, European Union Parliament, Governments of United States and United Kingdom.

The report further revealed that Ekweremadu was moved to petition the foreign missions over what he described as attempt to truncate Nigerias democracy and silence him as the leader and highest ranking member of the opposition in the country, all in the name of prosecuting an alleged forgery case.

Ekweremadu pointed out that he wrote the international community, to decide whether or not the trial was justified, or just an act of political vendetta after it might have been perused.

The two-page petition, entitled: Re: Trumped up charges against the presiding officers of the 8th Senate: Nigerian Democracy is in Grave Danger, also had the PDP Senator attaching copies of the court summons and other relevant documents relating to the matter to his letter.

The Deputy Senate President also insisted that neither his name nor that of the president of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, featured in the petition filed by the aggrieved members of the Senate Unity Forum (SUF) or during the investigation of the petition by the police.

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He died on Wednesday, June 29, 2016, at the Good Heart hospital in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.

Vanguard reports that Wabueze Amadi, a member of the poets family confirmed that he died around 3:45pm.

Amadi was born on May 12, 1934 in Aluu community, Ikwerre local government area of Rivers state.

Speaking to newsmen on his death, the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside said Captain Elechi Amadi, certainly was a man of many parts who touched lives in many ways. And he will be remembered for good by many people who met him physically or through his books. He was a well known author, publisher, soldier and statesman who was concerned about a better society.

My generation will definitely remember him more for his great books like the Concubine, the Great Ponds, Sunset in Biafra, Estrangement, the Slave and a collection of poems.

Peterside added that It is regrettable that Amadi passed away at a time when Rivers, our dear state is still far away from the aspirations of its founding fathers like him and most sons and daughters of the state. There is no doubt that Elder Elechi Amadi and other founding fathers will be weeping in their graves at the state of Rivers State. Nigeria and the international literary community has lost a creative giant.

The departed patriot, no doubt, had a remarkable life and he will surely be remembered for serving humanity with literature and his interventions. May his soul find eternal rest in the Lord.

Notable works by the poet include The Concubine, Isiburu and Sunset in Biafra among many others.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) blocked the Ekiti Governors Zenith bank account on Monday, June 20, 2016.

The anti-graft agency also alleged that Fayoses bank account was used to launder funds meant for the purchase of arms.

The Ekiti lawmakers condemned the actions of the EFCC describing it as illegal, adding that the Federal Government is deliberately looking for ways to implicate Fayose.

According to the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Kola Oluwawole, the protest was to show that the lawmakers are in support of the Governor.

Adding that No amount of intimidation, harassment, arrest will push us to do any dirty job. We have had enough of intimidation. They should leave Governor Fayose alone, he was duly elected by the people of Ekiti state.

The frozen of his account without following due process is a high level of intimidation and we condemn it.

The Guardian also reports that the Deputy Speaker, Segun Adewumi, said If Fayose built house anywhere, it is not their business; they should wait until he finishes his tenure.

Meanwhile, Governor Ayo Fayose has said that no one can intimidate him.
The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice-Adm. Ibok-Ete Ibas, made the disclosure when he visited the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta in Warri.

Ibas said that the process of obtaining the required approval for already constructed institution was being concluded.

The naval chief said the proposed university was initially conceived as a Navy College.

''The moment the Federal Executive Council (FEC) grants the approval to commence operations, the university will start academic activities.

"It is true that the Navy is in the process of obtaining the necessary clearance to have it converted to a university that will serve the navy as well as members of the public.

"You will recall that the Navy undertakes a lot of its courses abroad in some civil institutions.

''So what the Navy has done is to go into partnership with some foreign partners who will assist us in establishing a school that will cater for the needs of the Navy in some areas we are currently deficient.

"The process of getting the university licence is still on-going, we are contacting all the relevant agencies of government for approval,'' he said.

Ibas also attributed the relative peace in the Niger Delta region in respect of insurgency to the dialogue approach adopted by various organs of the government.

''You will recall that different organs of government have been dialoguing with the militants concerned, while the military maintains its posture of ensuring that militant activities are curtailed.
The IPOB elders also said they have no pact with the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

Punch reports that the spokesman of the elders council, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, said his group will not adopt violent means to achieve their goal.

He added that The IPOB group I belong to is governed by the Supreme Council of Elders. There is a faction led by Nnamdi Kanu that abuses the elders, preaches violence and ethnic hatred.

We do not believe in that. The MASSOB led by Ralph Uwazuruike, from inception, preaches non-violence based on the non-violence philosophy of the former Indian Prime Minister, Ghandi.

Ikedife said If the militants have been blowing up pipelines, I dont see how my group that has been following legal and diplomatic process will align with them. We have quite a different philosophy and modus operandi towards the issue of self-determination.

The two factions of the Indigenous People of Biafra and two factions of MASSOB are all talking about self-determination of the indigenous people of Biafra. But their approach is not the same.

The aim may be one but the method differs. We have not and cannot depart from dialogue, legal and diplomatic process and of course you know we are in court with the Federal Government over this issue of self-determination.

Vanguard, on June 19, 2016, reported that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) issued a statement praising the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) for its activities in the Niger Delta.
The Gbaramatu Communities Chairmen Forum made the call in an open letter to President Buhari.

The chairmen also pleaded with the President to order the commencement of work on the proposed Export Processing Zone, EPZ/Gas Revolution Industrial Park and Gbaramatu Seaport.

Vanguard reports that the spokesman of the group, Demebi Johnbull (Oporoza) in a signed statement, said Buhari should engage the traditional institution of Gbaramatu kingdom on issues concerning peace and development, and also kindly direct the Military High Command to respect our traditional institution by returning the items looted during the recent military invasion of Gbaramatu kingdom."

Johnbull also said The Niger Delta Avengers and other agitating groups should sheathe their swords to engender the peaceful resolution of the logjam as no development can be achieved in a rancorous environment.

We affirm that we are ready and willing to cooperate and collaborate with the federal government to bring an enduring solution to the incessant pipelines vandalism an insurgency in the kingdom.

We assure you of our unalloyed support to ensure that your administration records sterling achievements, anchored on your administrations show of sincerity in dealing with the people and adopt participatory governance in which democracy is rooted to give the people a sense of belonging.

The chairmen also called on Mr. President to ask the multinational corporations operating in their kingdom to take care of the environment and engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Tompolo begged President Buhari to ask the military officers that allegedly invaded Gbaramatu kingdom to return his symbol of authority as the Chief Priest of Egbesu shrine.
Punch reports that the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba said that labour's next move will be determined by the outcome of ongoing negotiations.

Speaking at a press conference, Wabba said the meeting with the Director-General of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Assembly (NECA), Abiodun Oshinowo, was productive.

The labour boss also said he was being briefed about the ongoing talks by the National Union of Banks, Insurance, and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFE).

Wabba said This afternoon, we had a very productive meeting led by the DG of NECA, and his members from the banks particularly on the issue of the mass sacking and redundancy in the banks of which you are aware NLC has issued a notice to picket those banks.

All of us have come to the conclusion that such a meeting is necessary and we have also taken on board the interest of the workers as provided for by the laws especially section 20 of the trade union Act which provides for such dialogue, such consultation before such a process is concluded.

And we have looked at the pros and the cons especially the process and also the fact that our affiliate, NUBIFE, was able to also update us on how far they have gone with the process of engagement with the various banks.

We have come to an agreement and understanding that all of us will also agree to attend the tripartite meeting that is being proposed by the Federal Ministry of Labour to look at other issues auxiliary to this. And we have also agreed as NLC working with our affiliates to suspend all forms of hostilities including the picketing until that meeting takes place under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Labour, the NLC President said.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had earlier threatened to shut down banks for sacking their workers despite the Federal Government's order.
The ex-militant leader in an open letter to President Buhari, on Tuesday, June 28, 2016, also alleged that the Army arrested 10 young men who were sitting for the West African Senior Secondary School Examinations (WASSCE) and paraded them as members of the Niger Delta Avengers.

The Army denied the allegations saying the young men were pipeline vandals caught red-handed, as the military officers caught them with explosives and other equipment that are used in damaging pipelines and other critical infrastructure, before taking them into custody.

According to The Guardian, the Director of Defence Information, Rabe Abubakar, said It is the same people carrying out these crimes and sponsoring it that are carrying out the media campaigns to malign the military, brandish bold faced lies and all that. We dont get engage in such cheap activities especially during such operations, every personnel is careful not to get involved in such crime. So the allegation is completely baseless, it is completely false not rational.
Udoma made the statement while answering questions from newsmen at the 2016 Annual Public Lecture of the Nigerian Economic Society (NES) in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said: ``we already indicated that in terms of our medium term plan, we are going to have extensive consultations.

``We are going to consult the NASS (National Assembly), civil society; organised interest groups and the general public because we want to make sure that the input of all Nigerians are captured in developing our plans.

`` Some areas have been indicated that we could improve upon and so we will take all that into account as we move forward.

He explained that the strategic implementation plan had up until May 2017 to be implemented as provided in the Act by the National Assembly.

He further said that work was being done presently on a medium term plan which was expected to last for about three to four years.Udoma said the government was working at strengthening the monitoring and evaluation department within the ministry.

He said,`` we are also strengthening our linkages with all the MDAs. We have actually recruited additional people to also help us in doing that because a budget is only as good as the implementation and the implementation is strengthened by your ability to monitor.

``As I indicated, we are not going to release capital automatically every quarter, it will be based on performance and that performance can only be determined by strengthening our monitoring.

Also, Prof Mike Obadan, a Professor of Economics, University of Benin, called for proper handling of planning and budgeting procedures in the country.

He said that improper handling of these procedures were the cause of increased poverty and unemployment in the country.

``Unemployment rate today is a little less than 30 per cent, poverty incidence is still around 70 per cent, human development is very low and per capital income is also relatively low.

``This is such that Nigeria is still classified as a lower middle income country and that is even because the gross domestic product was rebased.

``If it was not rebased, the overall human development index which reflects income of the citizens, life expectancy and quality of education is very low because we havent gotten our planning and budgeting right in the country, he said.

Obadan noted that one of the major factors that had constrained growth and development in the country was the ground corruption that had existed in the past.

He explained that it had limited the achievements of national budgeting and development plan such that huge sums of money were spent annually with limited output.

He said if corruption was successfully eradicated in the country by the present administration, then planning and budgeting would result in more positive and effective outcomes.

``Poverty incidence and unemployment level will reduce, the overall human development will improve, income per head will increase and our status as a country will improve within the comity of nations.
Israeli author Amos Oz shares with Chinese readers his views on writing and global issues. He was in Beijing last week to receive an award from Chinese university students. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Israeli author Amos Oz has long been a favored Nobel Prize contender and has received dozens of literary prizes around the worldincluding the 21 University Students International Literary Award, which he received in Beijing last week.

A jury of 21 students from Renmin University's liberal arts school, ranging from undergraduates to doctoral students, selected the 77-year-old to receive the honor.

"I have received in my life maybe 40 or 50 literary prizes. All of them are from juries of professors and scholars. This is the first time I've received a prize from students," Oz tells China Daily after the ceremony.

"This is very special for me."

He jokes: "And I can assure you, if they never give me the Nobel Prize, I am not going to die an unhappy man."

Creative writing student and juror Zhang Chu quotes the citation: "With poetic language full of allusions and imagination, Mr Amos Oz pursues the hidden pains of the individual, family and the nation through his writing, depicting the intertwined fate of the state and the individual, and thereby expressing concerns for the reality of all human beings."

Oz was born in Jerusalem in 1939, nine years before Israel became a state.

His mother committed suicide when he was 12.

Two years later, he moved to a kibbutza community of collective farmerswhere he started writing.

Oz's most famous work is his autobiographical novel, A Tale of Love and Darkness, published in 2002.

He examines the trials of his youth, and interweaves his family's tragedies and kibbutz life with Israel's establishment.

The book has been translated into more than 20 languages. Its Chinese edition was published in 2007.

In 2015, it was adapted into a film directed by and starring Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman. Its Asian premiere sold out in less than a minute during April's Beijing International Film Festival.

The students asked Oz how he felt about the film. He called Portman's efforts "wholehearted".

"I am very impressed by how much of herself she put into the film," says Oz.
Directed by Jon Watts, the next Spider-Man film debuts in theaters in IMAX and 3D on July 28, 2017. Sony Pictures will finance and release the next installment of the $4 billion Spider-Man franchise on July 28, 2017."Spider-Man" is currently the most successful franchise in the history of Sony Pictures.
Rather than strive to address the major socio-economic issues weighing down Nigeria due to the confusion and lack of direction of the government in the last one year, the APC is busy creating more battlefronts and compounding the challenges of the county.

Today under APC leadership, the country has become a whole theatre of acrimony with agitations here and there with no clear sign of solution in sight forcing political watchers to question if the country is disintegrating.

Even the Boko Haram issue that was supposed to be progressing well has run into troubled waters because of the confusion in the ruling party.

Ditto the federal governments anti-corruption fight is even skewed due to insincerity as ministers already confirmed to be corrupt internationally continue to move untouched while governors with immunity are harassed daily.

Rather than confront the various challenges overwhelming the country, APC is currently bleeding soaked in its own greed and the obvious consequence is that a house divided against itself is bound to fall and the party is already falling.
The partys problems started with the appointment of Ali Modu Sheriff as chairman in February.

A member of the party revealed at the time that Sheriff had been chosen to occupy the top position because of his wealth.

He (Sheriff) has money. He is fearless and he has the capacity to galvanise the north for the PDP, the source, who was a member of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC), said.

Former aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode also hinted at Sheriffs financial prowess saying that his stupendous wealth emanates primarily from the Republic of Chad.

Fani-Kayode was one of many members of the PDP who rejected Sheriffs appointment due to allegations that he was connected to Boko Haram.

The truth is that appointing him [Sheriff] as our Acting National Chairman is like appointing Jack the Ripper as the leader of the Conservative party in Victorian England, the former minister said in February.

Kudos must go to the elders in the PDP Board of Trustees, a number of State Party Chairmen and a number of key individuals in the PDP Ministers Forum for taking a courageous and noble stand by rejecting and resisting the imposition of this abominable monstrosity. What Ali Modu Sheriff stands for and represents is utterly repugnant to every fibre of my being, he added.

The PDP is not known for its morality, so only a special kind of monster can be rejected by its members. However, despite the many warning signs, the PDP went ahead to make Sheriff chairman and effectively sealed its own doom.

His emergence at this time is the best thing in the present circumstance and those aggrieved should sheath their swords and deploy their time and resources into fighting the All Progressives Congress (APC) instead of their own party," Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose said in response to the chaos caused by the appointment.

However, after seeing that the party was about to crumble under Sheriffs weight, some members, , decided to remove him.

Sheriff was removed on May 21 during the partys national convention in Rivers State, but he refused to relinquish power and is currently running a faction of his own.

The PDP now has an angered Sheriff on its hands, and the very same wealth for which it greedily accepted him is being deployed against it. The party is like a dog that tried to swallow an oversized bone, but forgot that its throat was too small to accommodate it.
The notice of appeal filed at the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal, dated June 28 was obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The PDP in the notice of appeal expressed dissatisfaction with the decision of the lower court which declared Mr Uche Ogah as its rightful candidate for the governorship election.

The party asked the appellate court to void the consequential order by the lower court which directed INEC to issue certificate of return to Ogah, the second runner-up in the PDP primaries.

NAN reports that the appellant set out five grounds for the appeal.

It contended that the trial court erred in law when it held that it had jurisdiction to hear the suit and it also misdirected itself when it misconstrued the provisions of the PDP constitution.

The appellant said it was not given the chance to be heard and the action of the lower court occasioned a miscarriage of justice.

PDP also contended that no evidence was led that Ogah, who was declared winner, participated in the 2015 governorship elections in the state.

It therefore, prayed the appellate court to hold that declaring Ogah as winner of the elections went contrary to the express provisions of section 141 of the Electoral Act.

The party urged the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the lower court.

NAN recalled that Justice Abang Okon in a judgment on Monday ordered the sack of Ikpeazu as Abia governor.

The judge held that Ikpeazu supplied false tax information to INEC being part of prerequisite to clinch the partys nomination.

The Judge held that evidence placed before him showed that the embattled governor forged the tax clearance which he presented as statutory pre-requisite to contest the April 11, 2015 governorship election.
Punch reports that the secretary of the committee, Senator Ben Obi, also called on Sheriff's supporters to unite and move the party forward.

Obi said We expect more positive court rulings in the days ahead in favour of our party. It is time for them to face the truth and retrace their steps.

Adding that We believe that truth must be upheld; we want all hands to be on deck to chart the way forward.

The caretaker committee secretary also described the High court ruling as a welcome development.

An Abuja High court sacked Ali Modu Sheriff as the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday, June 29, 2016.
The embattled PDP chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff ordered that a fresh governorship primary election be held.

Sheriff cancelled the election that produced Osagie Ize-Iyamu as the partys governorship flag-bearer, describing it as illegal.

Reports say the fresh governorship primary election was held on Wednesday, June 29, 2016, by the factional chairman of the PDP in Edo state, Ebenezer Alabi.

Iduoriyekemwen was announced the winner of the election by the chairman of the electoral committee, Ahmed Gulak, after getting 481 votes.

Gulak also explained that 677 delegates were accredited, 502 people voted, and 21 votes were invalid.

Punch reports that the National Vice-Chairman of Sheriffs faction, Cairo Ojougboh, said I want to state for the benefit of Nigerians that this primary (election) today is the only authentic primary for Edo State. If you are in doubt, go to INEC and find our whether I have lied or not; I am a man of integrity and I dont lie.

I want to also state that the only chairman of PDP recognised by law in Nigeria is Ali-Modu Sheriff and his National Working Committee.

No official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was present at the primaries, reports say.

undefinedof the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday, June 29, 2016.
Speaking at the 4th Biennial Conference on the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-Owned Universities in Nigeria held in Ogun, Secretary General of the association, Michael Faborede said that since education was on the concurrent list in the 1999 Constitution, the federal government should be careful in making pronouncements on educational matters that would affect the states and private universities.

In his speech, Faborede urged the education minister,Adamu Adamu to understand the right of each university senate to prescribe the modality for admissions and also that education matters will affect the state and private universities.

The secretary-general called on pro-chancellors to support vice-chancellors in this effort in the interest of a credible university system.

He added that the association will hold a higher education summit in October which will enable it create a way forward for the nations higher education system.Mr. Faborede called on all state governors to use the Nigeria Governors Forum to ensure the maintenance of standard of state universities and how the could benefit maximally from the Tertiary Education Tax Fund.
In May MTN Uganda, the country's largest telecoms firm by revenue and number of subscribers, said it had secured $114 million worth of credit via a syndicated loan for spending on infrastructure.

Brian Gouldie, MTN Uganda's chief executive, told Reuters the company planned to add between 150 and 250 booster stations to its network, which so far has 85 existing 4G sites.

As popular messaging and other Internet-based applications like Whatsapp, Skype and Facebook displace traditional telephone calls and SMS text messages, MTN Uganda is betting with large-scale investments on data traffic infrastructure to boost profitability.

Internet traffic is MTN Uganda's fastest growing source of revenue, increasing 76 percent in the year to May 2016.

"We want to make sure we remain ahead of the investment curve ... drive data penetration," Gouldie said.

MTN reckons telecom markets like Uganda typically have the potential for Internet services to reach a market penetration rate of between 25 and 35 percent of the target population but that rate now stands at 9.5 percent in the east African country.

"So the reason we're investing to the extent that we are is that we are under-penetrated," he said.

With about six firms, some analysts have said Uganda's telecoms industry has too many players to be viable.

Most are small though compared with MTN, which has 8.9 million subscribers, controlling more than half of the entire market share, followed in second place by India's Bharti Airtel.

Although the global commodity price collapse has blunted growth in Uganda and other sub-Saharan African countries Gouldie said the telecoms business was more resilient and would not take a blow from the wider economic slump.

Uganda is Africa's largest coffee exporter and also ships cotton, tea and fish.

It is also looking to start exporting crude oil by 2020 at the latest.
StartUP Friday is part of the StartUP CAFE programme designed to bridge the gap between startup growth by enriching the development processes of new tech-driven businesses through meet-ups with successful entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, technology buyers and stakeholders in major tech clusters across the country.

Over the past three editions, the event has seen the attendance of 1,120 participants and 6 startups from StartUP Friday have been recommended by the Office for ICT Innovation and Entreprenuership (OIIE) to pitch at SpeedUPAfricaGhana, a one week accelerator and boot camp event to pitch before big venture capitalists and investors like Tim Draper.

The fourth edition will take place in collaboration with the Lagos Angel Network (LAN) to bring investors to the event. There will also be a focus meeting with LAN towards creating an Abuja Business Angel Network (ABUBAN).

This edition will also feature a new segment titled 'The Future Hack', which will be an open innovation segment. There will also be a 'ShowUP-to-Pitch' session which will see innovative startups pitch their products/solutions, and a 'Fireside Chat' on sourcing and investing in deals and networking sessions.
The YC Fellowship is set up to help launch startups currently in their early stage. The program lasts for eight weeks and equips startups with $20,000 (in the form of convertible security) and advice from the YC community.

Acceptance into the Y Combinator Fellowship is validation of the work we are doing at Tress and the value we strive to provide to black women, says Priscilla, according to TechCabal. We are excited to take full advantage of opportunities available in the Y Combinator Fellowship program to fulfil our mission of helping black women thrive.Black women spend 9 times more money than women of other races on their on the average and the global black hair industry is valued at over $500 billion.

Tress hopes to tap into this by providing a platform where black women can discover new hair styles, stylists, products, costs, and all kinds of information that they may need before making their hair.

The tress team will be a part of the Kick Off conference during the first week of the program. The following weeks will be conducted remotely with virtual weekly office hours and talks. The team will pitch to investors at a Virtual Demo Day. Congrats to the Tress team!
Lukashenko was giving a speech concerning the importance of technology to the economy when he made the blunder.

Reacting to this, thousands of people in the country took to the social media, especially Instagram, and posted pictures of themselves working unclad at their offices.

They however employed objects such as their laptops and any office item they could find to cover their pubic region.

The hashtag #, which means #getnakedatwork, trended on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
The prince said, While the circumstances of any one situation are unique, it is clear that many families could have been helped if they had found it easier to talk openly about mental health challenges in the home.

And I have been really disheartened to learn that even with all the progress made in recent years, many parents would still be ashamed if their children had a mental health problem, he continued.

The prince, his wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and his brother, Prince Harry, helped launch Heads Together in May, which focuses on mental health issues and eliminates the stigma associated with the conditions.

The royals have supported young people and mental health with awareness projects like the #YoungMindsMatter campaign, a series on The Huffington Post U.K. which held during the U.K.s Childrens Mental Health Week.

Research reveals negative stereotypes regarding mental health often stop people from talking about it and seeking help. It is often said that fathers can often find it hard to talk about their own feelings so theres no wonder they struggle to speak to their son or daughter about the topic, Prince William wrote on Sunday.
In a statement posted on its website, the central bank named the banks, which include Angolan Bank SA Investments and the local unit of Johannesburg-listed Standard Bank.

The banks were not immediately available to comment.

The bank currently quotes the kwanza at 166.711 per dollar, although the currency typically trades at much weaker levels in the black market due to chronic shortages.

Angola's economy has been hammered by the drop in crude prices and an acute hard currency crunch, fueling a thriving black market for the currency of Africa's top oil exporter after Nigeria whose output has dropped after attacks on its pipelines.
The Airbus A320 plunged into the eastern Mediterranean Sea en route from Paris to Cairo on May 19 and all 66 people on board were killed. The cause of the crash remains unknown.

The plane's Flight Data Recorder was repaired in laboratories belonging to France's BEA aircraft accident investigation agency late on Monday and the data files transferred to Egypt on Tuesday, Egyptian investigators said.

"The data file was transferred to Cairo today for decoding, validating and studying of data at the laboratories of the central department for aircraft accidents at the Ministry of Civil Aviation," Egypt's Aircraft Accident Investigation committee said in a statement.

Damaged memory chips from the black boxes were flown to France on Monday after Egyptian investigators had tried without success to repair them. The chips should allow investigators to begin transcribing and analysing the recordings and data which may hold key insights into what caused the crash.

The plane is believed to have crashed in the deepest part of the Mediterranean and the black boxes, recovered last week, were badly damaged.

Debris from the jet was brought to Cairo airport on Monday, where investigators will try to reassemble part of the aircraft's frame in search of additional clues.
This caused a shoot-out between security personnel and the two others before blowing themselves up at the airport which is ranked the third busiest in Europe.

Turkish police sources have attributed the attack to ISIS, but the group is yet to claim responsibility for the sad event.

An official said most of the victims in the bomb attack at Istanbul's main airport were Turkish nationals but foreigners were also among the casualties.

ALSO READ: Turkey offers condolences for 2015 downing of Russian jet near Syria

Earlier, Justice Minister, Bekir Bozdag confirmed that the airport had been attacked at 7.50pm GMT - 9.50pm local time.

"A terrorist at the international terminal entrance first opened fire with a Kalashnikov and then blew himself up," he said while speaking to parliament in the country's capital of Ankara.

Turkish airports have security checks at both at the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates. But nevertheless, the airport has long been seen as a vulnerable target, according to the BBC.

The entrance security checks for cars are limited, which left the airport exposed to what is being called a 'major, co-ordinated attack'.
BEATTY  The weather for the last weekend of October may or may not be chillier than normal, but it is certain to be chili weather for Beatty Days this weekend. The annual event runs Oct. 28-30 at Cottonwood Park.
ROCK ISLAND  Dr. Pamela Dea Johnson passed away peacefully June 25, 2016, at her home in the presence of her friends and family. Following a week of tests in January 2013 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Pam was diagnosed with Progressive Supra-Nuclear Palsy (PSP), a rare, incurable and untreatable progressive neurological disease. A service of Thanksgiving and Celebration of Pams life will be 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 26, at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport. Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, Rock Island, is assisting the family.

Pam Johnson was born Nov. 13, 1943, in Moline, to Peter and Doryse Beckwith Johnson. She graduated from Rock Island High School in 1961. Pam earned her bachelors degree in 1965 from the University of Iowa, her masters degree from the University of Northern Iowa in 1979, and her doctorate from Iowa State University in 1995. Pam was committed to education in Iowa for more than 40 years, initially as an elementary school teacher in Waterloo. She subsequently served as a member of the Iowa Talented and Gifted program design team, and then as president of ITAG from 1999-2000. She was also an administrator in the West Des Moines School District, and retired from Iowa public education as a program consultant at the Mississippi Bend Area Education Association in 2006.

Pam was a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, singing in the Chorale Choir and serving on the Church Council. Pam also served as an usher and an ALPHA facilitator. St. Paul was at the center of Pams faith life; Pam Walked the Talk!

In addition to St. Paul, she was a member of P.E.O. and Volunteers for Symphony. Pam was also one of the four charter members of the GLL, a wonderfully supportive group of gifted educators.

Pam married Jack Kindschuh in 1998 at Plymouth Congregational Church in Des Moines. Pam and Jack moved from West Des Moines to Bettendorf in 1999, returning to their Quad-City roots. Pam is survived by her husband, Jack; two children from a previous marriage, Melissa Maranda (fiance, Bard Bigelow), Bettendorf, and Jim (Stephanie) Tansey, Bettendorf; step-son, John (Cindy Traub) Kindschuh; grandchildren, Zach Tansey, Alexis Tansey, Allison Maranda, Connor Maranda, Ryan Kindschuh and Maggie Kindschuh; and a sister, Janis Judd of Boulder, Colorado. Pam was preceded in death by her father, mother and sister and brother-in-law, Shari and Nat Baird.

Her courage and grace over the last several years while dealing with PSP and the knowledge of its savage progressive nature was a source of strength for all who were close to her. Pam never complained as PSP took control of her body. She maintained a positive attitude until the very end and was appreciative of the frequent visits by family, neighbors and friends. Pam and her family are grateful for the loving care by many of the Home Instead caregivers, who became trusted members of Pams family.

In lieu of flowers (or plants), memorials may be made to the Dr. Pam Johnson Educational Foundation or St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport.

Condolences can be left at wheelanpressly.com.
Headed up to the counter at Olive Tree Cafe, Jean Morris leans her head back to read the menu and pauses.

"What should I get?" she asks to nobody in particular. "This isn't like McDonald's."

It was 56-year old Davenport woman's first visit to the Mediterranean restaurant on Locust Street, and she couldn't decide. Everything, she said, was just a little bit different than her usual.

With roughly 175 items listed  from gyros to paninis to wraps and falafels  she had plenty of options.

The cafe's owner, Aziz Talbi, happily chimed in with a stream of suggestions before she settled on a Tandoori chicken wrap.

It's past noon now, so you might think talking about the rice and hummus and stuffed grape leaves would bother Talbi, who has been fasting since around 3:30 a.m. He won't eat or drink again for roughly eight hours.

But it doesn't faze the 52-year-old devout Muslim.

In the final week of Ramadan, during which observant Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, Talbi said "it's all downhill from here."

During the holy month, which began on June 5 and ends July 5 this year, Talbi doesn't mind working in his cafe.

He's used to the reality of Ramadan  and he aims to learn from it.

"Ramadan gives you a break from the routine of breakfast, lunch and dinner," he said. "You throw the body out that routine and you're conscious of how strong the body is, and what the body is capable of."

Talbi, who came to America from Morocco in the 1990s, opened Olive Tree Cafe in Bettendorf in 2009 and the Davenport location in 2012. He worked as an engineer with Deere & Co. back then, and the menu started small with a sample of salads and sandwiches.

Now, he's hungry to open more storefronts and keep expanding the menu.

Talbi isn't not much of a foodie, but he jumped at the chance to open his own business. And he guessed versions of his mother's recipes he specifically remembers her paella  would offer something different for people in the Quad-Cities.

"They're tastes from home," he said. "Probably 99 percent of our meals were homemade; we didn't eat out at all. It was around the table, it was socializing and talking and making the meal last."

During Ramadan, his family returns to those roots.

When they see the first glimpse of light, his crew begins with soup, fruits and coffee. They pray and then dig into a main course. Sometimes, Talbi stays up all night and naps after the early-morning meal.

"What you eat during Ramadan varies culture to culture," he said. "It's totally different than the rest of the year  we only eat some of the things once a year."

As much as Ramadan is about the two meal times, it's also about what happens in between. During recent days, fasting lasted about 18 hours.

But Talbi doesn't mind the wait, saying it proves "physical and mental toughness."

"Over 11 months, if you want something like water or juice or ice cream, you go get it," Talib said. "That feeling where we can cater to our bodies  anything you feel like eating you eat  you break that feeling."

"Ramadan is about behavior, being extra understanding and listening to other people's needs and prayer," he added.

Joe and Lori Clancy, who live nearby, come to Olive Tree Cafe about two or three times per week. They usually split a plate of hummus and pita bread and drink coffees.

The retired couple was glad to see something other than a chain move into town a few years back.

"We're hoping it will stay," Lori said. "There's not a ton around here to eat  those neighborhood places."

As other customers around Talbi fill their stomachs, he smiles and fills another order. He's not distracted by people sipping soda or taking another spoonful of hummus. He looks around, and he sees his dream in motion.

"It isn't that hard for me," he said. "You want to be thankful for what you do have, and I'm thankful my customers come here  that's fulfilling."

When Ramadan, and the fasting, is over, Talbi and his family will celebrate with Eid al-Fitr, three days of prayer, giving and feasting. He looks forward to the festivities, but he's not in any hurry.

"You always have that in the back of your mind, wish you had done more, made more room for prayers or charity," Talbi said. "So you try to carry that feeling with you."
A good Tuesday to all. Patchy fog, drizzle and maybe even a little snow. It's all in the mix for today. Here's the latest forecast from the Na
Washington Elementary School third-grade students involved in the intensive summer reading program look through some of the 600 books donated Tuesday by DuTrac Credit Union to the Davenport Community School District.

The new books will be used as incentives by all of the district schools that have an intensive summer reading program.

The reading program is being offered to help bridge the literacy gap and help stem summer learning loss by focusing on reading and ensuring that students have access to as many books as possible.

Follow Kevin E. Schmidt on Twitter at @maquoketaphoto.
WASHINGTON  The possibility of the historic Delta Queen again cruising the Mississippi River and its tributaries took one step closer to reality when the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday approved a plan to allow that.

The measure now goes to the Senate for full approval and would need House of Representatives concurrence and a presidential signature to become law.

Introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio and supported by Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the bill would reinstate a decades-long exemption to allow the boat to operate from its new home port of Kimmswick, in Jefferson County, Mo.

It's not a foregone conclusion. Brown and others previously tried unsuccessfully to exempt the 88-room privately owned steamboat from the 1966 safety laws barring wooden vessels from carrying more than 50 passengers overnight. Opponents of the exemption worry that the Delta Queen and other older wooden boats are potential firetraps that could put passengers at risk.

McCaskill and Blunt said the 1920s-era wooden steamboat would operate cruises out of about 80 ports. According to a joint statement by McCaskill and Blunt, the St. Louis region would get 170 new jobs and more than $36 million in annual economic impact if the plan goes through.

The Delta Queen carried three U.S. Presidents, various other dignitaries, and thousands of other passengers through the tributaries of the Mississippi River for a good part of the last century. It also served as a naval ship during World War II, and has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

The Delta Queen was exempted from federal regulations of passenger ships carrying 50 or more passengers overnight on domestic U.S. waters, but that exemption expired in 2008. The new bill would restore the exemption but also require at least 10 percent of the wooden parts of the ship to annually be modified to adhere to federal safety standards.

Blunt called the Delta Queen a national treasure and McCaskill said the potential economic benefits would allow the Delta Queen to serve as far more than an historic landmark and tourist attraction.
The time for equity in education is now

As most are aware, the state of Illinois is without a budget for a second year in a row. Its a national embarrassment, but, worse yet, it has had a terrible effect on individuals across the state and here in East Moline.

In January, I wrote an opinion piece sharing my hope that 2015 would be the last year for our students, staff, and taxpayers to live with the most regressive school funding formula in the country. Unfortunately, we are still living under that same system.

Three years ago, there was little talk of the need for equity in Illinoiss school funding formula. In the past 18 months, that conversation has started to shift. This spring, every proposal brought forth in the General Assembly included an equity component where extra dollars would flow to schools with a high number of low-income students. There was only one proposal that advocated for the status quo, and that was from Gov. Bruce Rauner, Senate Bill 3434.

What does equity mean? It would mean school districts like East Moline schools and others in Rock Island County would receive additional funding for children that need it most. Last year, we lost $436 per child due to proration. In contrast, Gov. Rauners home district of Winnetka lost $30 per child. The states funding formula is broken, and these numbers are a perfect illustration. We are too reliant on local property tax dollars to fund education in Illinois. Thats not fair to local taxpayers or to the children that live in communities that are reliant on General State Aid.

Gov. Rauner has been barnstorming the state, pointing fingers and sharing a narrative that is divisive. The conversation needs to shift to how we can lift all children up. Gov. Rauner himself has said our funding system is broken. He too believes we need to allocate more dollars to students with the greatest need like those who live in poverty or are second language learners.

Its been 18 months since Gov. Rauner has taken office. Unfortunately, his actions have not matched his words. Although he believes the state's formula is broken, he has refused to offer a proposal to bring equity to all students in Illinois.

Children in East Moline and all across the state need his leadership on an equitable funding formula that benefits all children in the state of Illinois, not just those from affluent communities.

East Moline and all school districts across the state are still without a budget for 2016-17. For East Moline, it would mean some very difficult decisions. We hope to open our doors in August. It could leave us in a precarious financial situation, but the alternative of not serving our students and families is much worse.

We have been fighting for equity for too many years now, and we will continue that fight in 2016. I resolve to keep fighting because I see the amazing potential of students walking our halls. Our students and community deserve better from the General Assembly and Gov. Rauner.

I hope you will join me in contacting your legislators and telling them all of our children deserve great opportunities in our schools. Its time to say no to the status quo and say yes to equity for all students across Illinois.
Another shooting. Another 15-year-old dead.

Ayana Culbreath, of Davenport, never had a chance at life. Culbreath died shortly after being shot early Sunday morning at a party on the 4200 block of Warren Street. She would be just another statistic, if the U.S. bothered to measure such things.

American gun politics continues to trod along, with both factions living in completely different realities. They talk in different terms. They argue about different facts. They don't even speak the same language.

And yet, quietly, Quad-City officials mumble their concerns about becoming "little Chicago," a city racked with gun violence. Local officials rightly question the potential devastation the rampant gun violence could level on the economy. So much has been done to reinvent the Quad-Cities by local governments and organizations. But the non-stop shootings could scuttle the effort.

It would be laughable, if not so tragic, that gun violence data is, at best, completely unreliable in the U.S. For years, the National Rifle Association's lapdogs in Congress have barred the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from quantifying injury and mortality rates related to firearms. It's an absurd, yet intentional road block. There would be outrage if the auto industry enjoyed similar treatment.

Death by lightning strike: Sure, that data exists. Car accidents: No problem. Guns: Well, here's a best guess. And it's probably grossly under-reported. Sorry about that.

Even the FBI's flawed numbers paint a disturbing picture of gun violence in the U.S. The nation touts an inordinately high 37 deaths per million from gun violence. To put that into perspective, a German is equally likely to die by gun shot and plane crash, a rate of about two deaths per million. An American has about the same chances of dying by lightning strike as a Japanese citizen does of succumbing to gun violence, a rate of about one per million residents.

Gun violence in the U.S. is astoundingly out of whack when compared to the rest of the developed world. It's not as if the U.S. has a monopoly on social strife, racial inequity, rampant poverty and sheer anger, either. Rage and nativism last week drove the United Kingdom out of the European Union. Neofascists are enjoying a political rebirth on the European continent.

Countries, such as England, tout assault rates, for instance, that outpace the U.S. But, in America, assaults too often include a gun  they end in murder instead.

Every day, the U.S. gun problem becomes more apparent. Mass shootings get all the press. But Davenport police responded to 20 shots-fired incidents in January alone.

The left champions gun control. The right talks about a failing mental health network.

No assault weapons ban, while potentially effective on stemming mass shootings, would stop the seemingly random pot shots in Davenport. The country is awash in handguns and increasingly lax concealment laws.

Similarly, the right's assertion that every shooter is somehow clinically insane doesn't make sense.

Any real solution must be birthed in fact. Any meaningful policy must be rooted in study. Neither will be possible until Congress ends the NRA's information blackout and lets federal researchers do their jobs.

For whatever reason, Ayana Culbreath is dead. So is Jescie Armstrong, a 15-year-old Rock Island teen killed in March. Two people face murder charges in Armstrong's death.

Two more children are dead in the Quad-Cities. And yet, in this country, neither of them even qualify as a statistic.
SPRINGFIELD  After nearly a year of gridlock, a tentative agreement has taken shape between Gov. Bruce Rauner and the leaders of Illinois General Assembly on a spending plan that would keep state government operating through December and fund elementary and secondary education for all of next school year.

After meeting behind closed doors for several hours Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, the Republican governor and the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate have tentatively settled on a plan that reflects previously agreed upon spending for state operations and social services and newfound common ground on funding for schools.

As the state approaches the start its new fiscal year Friday without a budget in place, the question of how much additional money should go to local school districts, most notably Chicago Public Schools, has been a major sticking point in negotiations.

The apparent deal would distribute an additional $250 million to districts based on their number of low-income students. That's on top of the $235 million funding increase Rauner previously proposed. A separate bill would give the city of Chicago the authority to raise property taxes to fund its teachers' pensions.

The state would also begin picking up about $200 million of the employer's share of Chicago teachers' pensions, but only if lawmakers are able to pass a future pension reform bill. The state already pays the employer's share for all other districts.

The House and Senate were originally only scheduled to be in session Wednesday, but both chambers will reconvene today for possible votes.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed cautious optimism.

"I'm pleased that there appears to be progress," said Rep. Lou Lang of Skokie, the No. 3 Democrat in the House. "Whether there's enough agreement between the four leaders and the governor to bring a bill to the House floor and the Senate floor and get bipartisan support for it, I think that still remains to be seen. But I'm certainly more hopeful today than I was a week ago."

Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, was part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers who negotiated a budget compromise for higher education that would authorize spending $1 billion on public universities, community colleges and grants to low-income students through the Monetary Award Program.

"I don't think anybody wants to get ahead of their skis, but the leaders have had two pretty good meetings here, and it does appear that people are starting to draft what could move forward," Rose said.

The state has gone nearly an entire year without a full budget and faces the prospect of areas that have been funded, such as road construction, shutting down if a spending plan for the new year isn't approved.

Republicans say the stopgap measure is possible because it identifies specific revenue sources for its spending. Democrats say it was achievable because Rauner didn't tie it to portions of his pro-business "turnaround agenda," which they say contend is aimed at undermining labor unions and isn't related to the budget.

While a deal would allow both sides to save some face ahead of the November elections, it doesn't address the new revenue Democrats say is needed to balance the budget or the reforms Rauner and his allies insist are needed to put the state on stronger long-term financial footing.
SPEARFISH | Stuart Anderson was staying put Monday, even as smoke billowed from the slopes above his home at the eastern base of Crow Peak.

Andersons residence is one of four situated very near the 5,760-foot, pine-covered mountain. With no mandatory evacuation order, he decided to watch and hope the fire stays on the mountainsides.

Its more an inconvenience right now than anything, Anderson said.

It was a remarkably calm attitude for a man living next to a wildfire that tripled in size since Sunday night to a new estimated total of 1,000 acres, or roughly 1.5 square miles, by Monday afternoon. The number of personnel involved in the firefighting effort ballooned from 135 on Sunday night to 450 on Monday.

Crews had not contained any part of the fire at last report from the U.S. Forest Service.

Multiple columns of smoke were rising from the mountains eastern side Monday, and a larger mass of smoke was rising from the western side where the fire was sparked by lightning at about 6:15 p.m. Friday.

Belle Fourche residents likely noticed that smoke about 20 miles away. Residents who wish to contribute and donate to responders have been asked to do so by dropping off nonperishable items at the Belle Fourche Volunteer Fire Department. Items can either be left at the station, or local firefighters can be called to pick up the items.

No firefighters from Belle Fourche have yet responded to the Crow Peak fire, according to BFVFD Fire Chief Ryan Reeves Monday afternoon. Reeves has communicated with the Spearfish department and said he and his crew are available if needed.

Reeves also said no water has been taken from Belle Fourche to help fight the fire.

The best way to contribute, according to the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team Black Public Information Officer Brett Haberstick, is by donating water, Gatorade, pre-packed food items, lip balm and sunscreen to the supply unit in the parking lot in front of Jonas Hall on the Black Hills State University campus.

"There are many other aid agencies that also need help, such as food pantries and other groups, which often barely scrape by," Haberstick said in a news release.

He also encouraged people to express their thanks in written or verbal form. Notes or crafts can be dropped off at incident command at the Jonas Hall information office BHSU.

Up to date fire information is available by texting crowpeakfire to 898211 or calling 211, Helpline Center.

Donators should be cautious of phony fundraising efforts, however. The uncontrolled Crow Peak Fire is producing fake efforts to raise funds, according to Spearfish city officials in a June 28 Rapid City Journal story.

The City of Spearfish WILL NOT be using any online crowd funding mechanisms, warns a post on the official municipal Facebook page. Do not let anyone take advantage of this situation. Use caution, especially online, with fundraising events or actions.

The Spearfish Police Department stopped one alleged fraudulent fundraising attempt that listed the city as the organizer. Officials said Spearfish and nearby fire departments are not seeking donations because of the wildfire on the Black Hills National Forest landmark.

The interagency Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team reported that 11 structures are in the immediate vicinity of the fire and another five are in close proximity.

The area around Andersons home was a whir of firefighting activity Monday afternoon. Tender trucks brought water from sources including Cox Lake and filled a temporary tank in a flat clearing at the eastern base of the mountain.

Six helicopters, the biggest capable of carrying 300 gallons of water, repeatedly hovered over the tank and used a sucking hose or a scoop to collect water and then fly back into the fight.

Six tanker planes cycled in and out to drop loads of fire-retardant measuring up to 700 gallons apiece, and another plane circled far overhead to monitor the fires behavior and communicate with forces on the ground. Firefighters were digging dirt fire barriers and preemptively burning some areas to stop the spread of flames.

Higgins Gulch Road was closed Monday to all but local traffic, adding to a list of closures that already included Forest Service roads 639 and 639.1, and Beaver Ridge Road. The roads are within a closure area around Crow Peak enforced by the Black Hills National Forest to keep everyone but locals and firefighters away from the mountain, which is a popular hiking destination with a trail to the summit. A temporary flight restriction was also enforced above the mountain.

Anderson said he had been impressed by the size and effectiveness of the multi-agency response to the fire, which is being managed from a headquarters established at Black Hills State University in Spearfish.

People in the city, just a few miles east of the mountain, appeared just as calm as Anderson on Monday, as a light wind carried smoke away from them to the north. But residents were keeping a watchful eye on their biggest local landmark.

Midge Hemeyer watched the smoke rising from the mountain Monday as she sat in a pickup on a rural road.

Look at what happened in Canada, Hemeyer said, referencing the wildfire that swept through the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta, last month. Its not that far away from town.

Longer term, Anderson said he is worried about a possible continuation of dry weather that already has parts of the Black Hills suffering from moderate to severe drought conditions.

Its only June, Anderson said. Weve still got July and August. Its not even really fire season yet.
In the first months after the U.S. entered World War II, landowners in the Whitney Irrigation District sought assistance from soldiers based at Fort Robinson. Together the soldiers and local citizens made a valiant effort to prevent the failure of dams on Whitney Lake during a spring storm. Their success left George Lawrence, who served as secretary for the district for some time, believing that the outcome of the war would be a positive one for America if all of its soldiers were of the same caliber of those at Fort Robinson.

As the war continued, the irrigation district attempted to expand its relationship with the Army. Historical documents discovered at the district office this spring lay out a complicated tale of financial difficulties faced by the district and the boards attempts to entice various federal agencies to consider Whitney as the location for federal projects that would have alleviated the financial concerns. After being turned down by the Farm Security Agency and the Bureau of Reclamation, the Whitney Irrigation District turned to the War Relocation Authority, offering to sell the lands in the entire district and the town of Whitney to the agency for use as a Japanese internment camp.

Lawrences history provides minute detail of the creation and construction of the district and its attempts to sway the Farm Security Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation. Nowhere, however, does it mention the steps the district took to sell off the region lock, stock and barrel to the War Relocation Authority. Instead, an August 1942 letter addressed to the agencys offices in Denver and San Francisco discovered among the documents tells that story.

The letter is unsigned but carries lines for the president and secretary of the district to place their names.

Its clear from the August letter that the discussion started several months earlier. Quotes in the letter refer to an April 28 communication from TL Holding, the districts project manager, to the WRA letting the agency know the entire district could be purchased. The letter writer also indicates that the Farm Security Administration was willing to take over the district as a resettlement project and had assigned an engineer.

In the meantime, the war has come on and doubtless the project is out for the duration, the letter said in reference to the FSA program. Lawrences written history, however, makes it clear that while the Washington, D.C., FSA office approved such a project, the Lincoln office later terminated it without explanation.

With the idea that an FSA project was still feasible, but possibly delayed, the letter writer asked the War Relocation Authority to designate the Whitney Irrigation District as an internment camp for Japanese subjects of the United States or other groups to be selected by the W.R.A.

The district at the time included 9,500 acres and a storage reservoir with a capacity of 10,800 acre feet, providing sufficient water for the cultivation of 7,500 acres, the letter said.

Still, the district is dying a slow death from lack of settlers, there being less than 30 farmers in the district.

There has been some talk of the feasibility of selling the entire district to the War Relocation Authority as a site for interning west coast Japs for the duration. All of the land owners seemed favorable to the proposition, provided they were policed by the National Government, and Fort Robinson is only about twelve miles from the district on a paved highway, the letter reads.

According to the writer, there were plenty of positives for both sides should the district be selected as an internment camp site.

The entire town of Whitney and the rural lands of the irrigation district were available for sale, the letter says. That included: a two-story brick house, a one-story brick house, well built frame all enclosed lumber shed, a rectangular brick garage building, a two-story iron clad bank building with living quarters above, two story frame store building with living quarters above, blacksmith shop, all with electricity or power available. In addition, Whitneys two-story schoolhouse was potentially available.

The 9,500 acres of crop and pasture land would also benefit from the War Relocation purchase, the letter writer noted.

With their intensive cultivation, this land would support a great many more Japs than it would Americans.  The soil would be greatly benefited by the intensive work done by the Japs.

The purchase of the land and town would alleviate the immediate financial concerns of the landowners, allow the FSA to continue its engineering studies and assure the WRA that another branch of the government would take over the land at the conclusion of World War II. The letter extolled the locations convenience as well.

The location in Dawes County seems ideal  Chadron to the east with plenty of houses available for families of guards and other personnel; Ft. Robinson to the west; Crawford at the cross roads of the Burlington and Northern railways, and on both highways #2 and #20, giving direct access to various reclamation projects in all directions, should the Authority be inclined to work their Japs on such projects as Mirage Flats (south of Hay Springs) and Angostura (near Hot Springs, So. Dak.) as well as others in the Platte Valley and in Wyoming.

A WRA purchase would also release the landowners and their employees, enabling them to work elsewhere in the region and would solve the labor shortage in the irrigation district itself.

We know that our farmers are being called into the service (army) and that our man power, always short, has been reduced, or will be reduced one half before the start of next years farming. Unless outside labor is brought in, our district is doomed.

The district, its clear, was also in contact with elected officials on the subject of establishing an internment camp at Whitney. Congressman Harry Coffee is quoted in the letter as saying that the FSA provided him with little information about Whitney, but noted that a ruling by the Comptroller General likely precludes the purchase of the irrigation district by the FSA. Congressman Charles McLaughlin is also quoted, and his comments offered little hope to the district. His information indicated that the FSA had submitted a list of properties available as internment camps to the Army; Whitney was included on that list but wasnt considered a favorable site. McLaughlin said there was still some question about the sufficiency of the water supply  a bone of contention the district had been dealing with for some time  and for the reason that it has been the policy of the Army to place the Japanese where they will not mingle with Americans and that it is his understanding that the Japanese could not be entirely segregated from the Americans in the Whitney District.

Col. Cress, deputy administrator for the WRA, told McLaughlin that the only place in Nebraska under serious consideration was near Cambridge. Its likely the letter was written to sway the opinions of those in charge of making such decisions.

The district also turned to Sen. George Norris, who had proven influential at times with the FSA. Norris is quoted extensively in the letter to the WRA, though he appeared to be of the opinion that the internment camp should be located elsewhere.

The War Department has these Japanese on its hands and will have to place them somewhere. I note you seem to approve the location of these Japanese in Nebraska, Norris apparently said in a letter to TL Holding, the project manager for the district, which was then quoted in the letter to the WRA. If the location is temporary and will last only the duration of the war, I do not think we ought to make any objection but I do think it would be a mistake if we put this fine irrigation district in their hands for permanent occupation.

Norris continued: I have an idea there will be a feeling among the white citizens that they do not want the Japanese and I confess I have a great deal of sympathy with any protest of that kind. Nevertheless, I realize that the Japanese have to be taken from the coast to some place where the danger of their Fifth Column activities would probably not interfere with the war progress. I would hate to see this project sold to the Japanese. I would not want them to get title to the land. In my judgment, it would be a mistake if they were located there permanently.

Sen. Norris clearly hoped all internment camps would be located outside his home state, but said no one should object to such a camp in Nebraska  even at Whitney  if there was an agreement that after the war they will be taken away ... You cannot mix the white people with the Japanese without getting into serious difficulty. Our people will not be content to live with the Japanese as neighbors and history shows that, when the Japanese get into a locality, if they are permitted to expand and other Japanese come in, perhaps after the war is over, there would be a Japanese settlement in which our citizens would not want to live.

No other documents have been discovered that detail the effort to lobby the War Relocation Authority, but an internment camp at Whitney obviously never came to pass. Instead, the irrigation district struggled on without federal assistance.

An undated addition to Lawrences 1941 history reads, Despite the optimistic belief so firmly expressed in the closing paragraphs of the foregoing history and which I had sincerely hoped to state in any subsequent writings had been accomplished, it is however, becoming increasingly evident at this time and throughout the passage of the three or more years which have elapsed since the writing of those lines that strong prejudices must be overcome in certain bureaucratic circles and the tax and physical structure of the district be adjusted, or rather adapted to meet with changing conditions and to endeavor to cause a change in the attitude of various governmental bureaus where these highly erroneous prejudices seem to exist.

Lawrence cited the passing of Grant Spearman and William Hitchcock at such a critical stage as a contributing factor in the reversal of the operative program of the district; the resignation of C.F. Gund as secretary and treasurer added to the decline, as Gund had loaned the district $40,000 from his personal funds.

Other matters also contributed to the burdens the district faced:

*The initial bond refinancing, while the right move at the time, did little to alleviate the difficulties the district faced, as it increased the annual tax levies for interest and maintenance purposes; a later refinancing proved more beneficial.

*A decrease in sugar beet acreage, the scarcity of competent labor and a Holly Sugar Company policy which literally made our district a step child in so far as furnishing competent labor at the proper time all added to the challenges. Each succeeding year saw an appreciable loss of beet acreage and an increase in the various crops which require less hand labor and more of the mechanized type, Lawrence wrote.

Lawrence expressed concern that the greater Whitney community and the local school districts future continued to be tied to the success or failure of the irrigation district and vice versa.

The finances of the Whitney school district followed the downward trend of the irrigation district with much the same result, warrants issued against taxes levied but not paid, outstanding warrants accumulating until the holders of unpaid warrants eventually forced the abandonment of the accredited school program and the high school grades leaving an eight grade school. This of course has also proven highly detrimental to the community and of course our irrigation district.

Whenever the supporting families leave a community it must necessarily cause a retrogression of the local business interests with the consequent loss of one after another of these interests until the economic balance necessary to maintain the town and community with a corresponding lack of interest in both school and irrigation districts until both show a loss of physical and human assets. The nationwide trend toward the abandonment of small towns must however, necessarily be included as a contributing factor as must also the general agricultural depression, which for several years has been accompanied by virtually a total loss of crops due to grasshopper infestation, Lawrence wrote.

In a radio talk recently, one of our more noted economists stated that only by a concerted effort of the entire community involved could the life of many small towns be saved. He stated that it is a lack of a realization of just what a community would be like without local facilities of trade and it is an accepted fact that a successive abandonment of a number of small towns in an area is definitely followed by the abandonment of rail facilities and its accompanying loss of resident operating personnel.

Despite the hardships, Lawrence remained optimistic that the challenges would make the Whitney Irrigation District stronger in the end.

In a still later addition to the history  possibly done around 1950  Lawrence had come to believe the denial by federal agencies was a blessing in disguise. Any government program, he noted, would have led us into a strictly regimented program and a consequent departure from our American Way of Life.

By that update, the district had no outstanding accounts and all payments were current. A new generation of farmers was harvesting larger acreages of crops and the district was advancing, Lawrence said, finally bringing the dreams of those who came before them to fruition. It was fortunate those early pioneers did not know what was in store for them, Lawrence said.

Similarly if these men had foreseen and had been forced to face the many trials, obstacles and reverses that were subsequently encountered and that ultimately they would not be here to reap the benefits of their labors, undoubtedly their courage would have failed them, with the consequent almost immediate disintegration of the development until that time, so long before its ultimate and successful future was accomplished.

At this writing, practically all of the land which had been taken over by the district via the tax foreclosure route has been sold to operators who are developing it, and with its consequent return to the tax rolls, land values have advanced rapidly, but are still not comparable with values of land in similar districts. We are confident however that with the very substantial increase in our intensive crop acreages that values will continue their advance in this area.

The older generation, the pioneers of our district, has in nearly all cases been replaced by a younger generation which we feel and hope will continue the development of the district, possibly add to it and bring it to an even greater future than was envisaged by our pioneers and in doing so may have a greater sense of contentment than was accorded to the older generation throughout much of the previous period, he wrote.

Today, the Whitney Irrigation District serves 40 patrons, and 7,139.5 acres of land are under ditch and have water available April 15 to Oct. 1 for irrigation purposes. A $14 per acre operation and maintenance rate provides patrons with one foot of water per acre unless the lake does not reach its capacity  approximately 10,000 acre feet. The irrigation district is divided into three sub-districts, each represented by an elected member to the board of directors, all of whom serve three-year terms.

Perhaps John Neale, an early investor in the Whitney Irrigation District, summed it up best in a letter he wrote when the project began, and which Lawrence quoted:

Long after those of us who had a part in it have gone from this present scene, rains and snows shall fall upon the watershed of the White River; shall flow down that stream course to the diversion point which leads to your reservoir and shall there be stored up for the use of many succeeding generations, being thus transformed into life and living and affording greater opportunity for those who use it and profit thereby even though they know not the hands nor the hearts that were initially back of the improvement which made such changed conditions possible. Monuments out in a cemetery do not mean much to strangers, but service for the good of the human race will continue to stand forth and shall so continue, with reverent appreciation so long as the intelligence and character of free men survive upon this earth.
As the Executive Director of the Sturgis Chamber of Commerce, Heidi Kruse is a busy person.

Throughout the year, she and her staff coordinate many of the events in the Sturgis community to promote local businesses.

Kruse, a South Dakota native, is hopeful for the future of the Sturgis area, as she believes that the efforts to promote tourism and local businesses has been influential in the continued success of Sturgis. It is important to Kruse that the Sturgis community becomes more cohesive and continues to develop its uniqueness.

Kruse shared what she enjoys about the Sturgis Chamber of Commerce and the Sturgis area as part of the Five Questions Series with the Meade County Times-Tribune.

MCTT: What brought you to the Sturgis Chamber of Commerce?

Kruse: My background is in marketing and in community development and promotion. A position opened up here at the Sturgis Chamber and I thought it would be a really good fit for me.

MCTT: What do you enjoy about your job at the Sturgis Chamber of Commerce?

K: I really feel that Sturgis is in a good place now and is moving in the right direction for the future. I am happy to be even just a small part of that progress.

MCTT: What do you like about the Sturgis area and why?

K: Here in the Sturgis area, we have an incredible outdoor space that my family and I enjoy very much. Sturgis also has a fair amount of brand recognition, so it is exciting to promote the city. And, in the past five or six years, we have had a lot of diverse business open up, which really has improved our quality of living here in Sturgis.

MCTT: What is the most interesting scenario youve encountered while working for the Sturgis Chamber?

K: It was just before my first rally with the Sturgis Chamber when we got a phone call from a motorcycle dealership in Florida. They were holding a giveaway contest, trying to get someone to the Sturgis Rally. For their contest, they asked for some authentic Sturgis dirt. So, I took a shovel and dug up a little dirt, and then I mailed it all the way to Florida for their giveaway.

MCTT: What is your goal for the future?

K: My goal for the future of Sturgis is to continue the progress weve made and to have a community with greater cohesiveness. And we should continue to develop what makes us special as a town. My personal goal is just to be a good mom.
MILLER - South Dakota Ag in the Classroom is looking for donations of animal ear tags from livestock producers for a hands-on activity for FFA chapters to use in elementary classrooms.

The most requested teaching tools I get asked for are ready-to-use kits, said Ann Price, SDAITC executive director. I received a grant to put together kits that FFA advisors can use to train their chapter members. Those members then take the kits into elementary classrooms and educate younger students about livestock production.

Price plans to reissue a teaching kit based on the book "Levis Lost Calf" by Amanda Radke that used ear tags as a hands on piece for students.

"It was the most popular lesson Ive ever had, by far. Last time I did this project, livestock producers really came through for me and donated about 10,000 tags that were used in over 300 kits that went to schools all over South Dakota and surrounding states," she said.

The tags do not have to be new. They only need to be clean and in good condition. They can be blank or numbered. Cattle, sheep, goat or hog tags are all welcome. The more types, shapes, colors and sizes, the better, however fly tags cannot be used.

According to Price, I want the youth to be able to touch the tags, see how they stay in the animals ear and see how different producers customize the information on the tags to fit their operation and then take the tags home and share the info they learned that day with their families.

SDAITC is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. The value of the tags can be deducted from your income taxes as a donation. If you would like to donate ear tags, send them to South Dakota Ag in the Classroom, PO Box 402, Miller, SD 57362. Email Price at sdagclassroom@yahoo.com or call her at 605.853.6040 if you have questions or would like more information.
Wildfires continued to flare up and burn across the Black Hills region in South Dakota and Wyoming on Tuesday, thanks to thunderstorms moving through the region.

The most visible is the blaze at Crow Peak, four miles west of Spearfish. Ignited by a lightning strike on June 24, the fire grew to 313 acres over the weekend, then tripled in size by Monday. As of Tuesday, the fire continued to burn through 943 acres of hillside woodlands above the Interstate 90 community.

Lower temperatures, clouds and higher humidity slowed fire activity Tuesday. Still, the stubborn fire is defying containment efforts by 469 firefighters on the ground, bulldozers, and fire retardant and water drops by air tankers and helicopters. Aerial crews dump 125,000 gallons of water on Monday alone.

Crews contained about 5 percent along Crow Creek Road near where the fire crossed. No structures were lost but homes were threatened. Firefighters battled the flames and saved one residential structure, according to Brett Haverstick, public information officer with the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team Black, which is currently managing the Crow Peak fire teams.

No mandatory evacuation orders have been issued, although voluntary evacuations and pre-evacuation notices are in effect along Crow Peak Bench Road.

Higgins Gulch Road and the area surrounding the immediate vicinity of the fire are closed to the public. However, other recreational activities in the Northern Hills remain open, even as firefighters continue to remove timber and brush from the fires path and prepare existing roads and dozer lines for future firefighting operations.

Firefighting efforts will be reviewed at a community meeting at 7 p.m. today at the Spearfish High School auditorium.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the 12,347-acre Kara Creek Fire in Wyoming was 80 percent contained. Firefighters continued to strengthen fire lines throughout the day and break up hot areas at the edges of the blaze, which was sparked to life by a lightning strike Friday evening.

Firefighters also contained a smaller, secondary fire several hundred yards from the main fire at Kara Creek. Wyoming State Forestry Division officials believe embers thrown from the original fire started the smaller blaze.

Meanwhile, firefighters successfully contained 100 percent of the Douglas Fire in Crook County on Saturday, and on Tuesday released the area back to local landowners. Started by lightning June 21, the fire burned through 2,000 acres southwest of Sundance. Hot spots from within the containment area may continue to emit smoke over the next few days, but Incident Commander Tyler Lindholm said the fire is otherwise out.

Without the support of our local communities, we could not have been as successful as we were in containing this fire, Lindholm said in a release.

In New Underwood, firefighters from multiple agencies in Pennington County were able to contain a fire that burned through 400 acres by Monday afternoon. Firefighters also controlled a handful of smaller wildfires in the area on Tuesday, ranging in size from as little as one-10th acre to 7 acres.

Its been an extremely busy past two to three weeks, said Pennington County Fire Service Administrator Denny Gorton. Its not normal. This would be normal in late July, early August.
IGLOO | The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is installing barbed-wire fence to close off part of a defunct military depot near Edgemont, but some area residents say the move will prove ineffective at stopping potential danger from lingering explosives and toxic contamination at the remote site.

The agency hopes by the end of the year to extend a fence to fully enclose a 904-acre portion of the Black Hills Army Depot, citing potential explosive hazards. The nearly two-mile fence project comes after the Corps reviewed swaths of the roughly 21,100-acre depot, dubbed "Igloo," and decided to spend about $500,000 over 30 years on education efforts and to seal part off.

It'll be "as effective as spitting in the wind" at keeping people out, Fall River County Commissioner Michael Ortner wrote on behalf of the county board. "Hunters are well known to ignore fences," he said later.

Cindy Brunson, whose ranch includes parts of the depot, knows the spot in her fence where scrappers broke in several years ago to steal metal. In the fall, she came across a trespasser who wanted to see the old buildings, which still dot the site decades after the depot's closure in 1967.

The plan is a "waste of taxpayer's money," said Brunson, who lives at a former school in a neighborhood of abandoned wood buildings and chimneys standing in empty lots.

The depot got its nickname because of the 802 earthen igloo-like bunkers that housed the nation's arsenal near the Nebraska and Wyoming borders. The ghost town where about 5,000 base workers once lived carries the same name.

Now, Brunson puts cattle in some of the bunkers in the winter.

The Corps, charged with cleaning up formerly used defense sites, has removed buried ordnance and cleaned up contaminated land at the site for years.

The agency said in a document earlier this year that there's a risk for people, including hunters, ranchers and government employees, to come into contact with explosives within the 904-acre area of concern, which sits inside "Burning Ground 2." Those walking in the area could be hurt by munitions and explosives on the ground, if they are present.

Among the least costly options considered short of doing nothing about the hazard area, the 10,000 feet of new five-strand barbed wire fencing also includes a warning sign component.

"What do you do? If someone wants to break the law, they're going to break the law," said Taunya Howe, remedial project manager with the Army Corps, noting that officials will likely continue addressing areas around the depot.

In the document outlining the decision, the Corps said the fence would limit access to the 904 acres of public land in question, much of which is already fenced off. Officials believe, in conjunction with education efforts, it will effectively reduce hazards at a reasonable cost compared to other options.

The Corps figures it would take $120.6 million to remove munitions and explosives from the first foot of soil in the area, while partial removal options would cost from $35.4 million to $94.5 million.

The sprawling land the Corps examined includes other areas where weapons were destroyed, but where the agency concluded action wasn't required.

The "Chemical Plant Area" was used from 1949 through the 1960s for the renovation and destruction of weapons including mustard agent, cyanogen chloride and phosgene bombs ranging from 100 to 1,000 pounds.

The Corps considers the chemical area uncontaminated by munitions and explosives of concern and chemical warfare materiel. The agency said chemicals of potential concern remain in the subsurface soil.

Fall River County officials are "very concerned" about potential air and water contamination, Ortner wrote in the letter, calling at minimum for air-quality monitoring. The army should "err on the side of caution rather than doing the minimum required," he said later.

But John Tanner, a 72-year-old rancher about a mile west of the depot, dismissed the worries.

"All the damage was done while it was still a depot when they were burning their gas and all that stuff," said Tanner, who still remembers the burn and stink of the wafting mustard gas fumes. "There ain't nothing there now."
Operations of company controlled by alleged organizer of Crimean blockade suspended

MOSCOW, June 29 (RAPSI)  The Commercial Court of Crimea had suspended operations of SimCityTrans, a transportation company controlled by Lenur Islyamov, allegedly behind the blockade of the republic, for 90 days, RIA Novosti news agency reported on Wednesday citing Victoria Ivanova, the spokeswoman of Russias Federal Bailiff Service Crimea Directorate.

Islyamov owns TV company ATR, transportation company SimCityTrans, and retail chain ICom selling Apple products.

According to Crimea's Prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya, Isyamov could reregister these assets in the names of straw persons after fleeing from the peninsula.

SimCityTrans is a largest Crimea haulier, carrying out its operations in Simferopol and across the peninsula.

According to Ivanova, the Commercial Court has suspended SimCityTrans operations for 90 days on the grounds that the company committed a serious administrative offence with regard to licensing regulations.

The Bailiff Service has complied with the court ruling by attaching the companys property and placing the assets under seals. The bailiffs were to monitor that the court ruling be complied with, i.e. the company stopped its operations for 90 days, Ivanova said.

Earlier, Poklonskaya had informed that two men (Mustafa Dzhemilev and Refat Chubarov) behind the peninsula blockade were put on the international and one (Lenur Islyamov) on the federal wanted lists.
Russian Supreme Court upholds ban on Church of Scientology Moscow

MOSCOW, June 29 (RAPSI)  Russias Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a lower courts ruling to ban the Church of Scientology Moscow, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

In November, the Moscow City Court granted a motion filed by the Russian Justice Ministry and ordered the liquidation of the branch of the Church of Scientology within six months.

The Justice Ministry found during an audit that the charter of the Church of Scientology Moscow runs counter to the federal law on the freedom of religion, and that the word Scientology is a registered trademark of the US Religious Technology Center. Following the audit, the ministry requested that the Moscow City Court outlaw the Church of Scientology Moscow.

The Church of Scientology Moscow appealed against the ruling.

On June 21, the Federal Security Service (FSB) officers conducted searches in Moscows and St. Petersburgs offices of the Church of Scientology in connection with a criminal case launched against members of the St. Petersburg branch of organization suspected of engaging in illegal business activities.

Dianetics and Scientology are a set of religious and philosophical ideas and practices that were put forth by L. Ron Hubbard in the US in the early 1950s.

The scientific community never recognized it as science.

A resolution passed in 1996 by the State Duma, the lower house of Russias parliament, classified the Church of Scientology as a destructive religious organization.

The Moscow Regional Court ruled in 2012 that some of Hubbards books be included on the Federal List of Extremist Literature and prohibited from distribution in Russia.




BILLINGS  You could call it an unintended birthday present from British voters to American drivers as the long Independence Day weekend approaches.

Gas prices have started sinking, which isn't the direction they normally go headed into the Fourth of July. Analysts say markets in the aftermath of last weeks stunning Brexit vote are holding the prices down.

After United Kingdom voters chose to leave the European Union last Thursday, European and British currency weakened, strengthening the U.S. dollar and pinching oil prices.

The big question: Is this a knee-jerk reaction, or is this going to be continued losses for crude? said Will Speer, a Houston, Texas-based senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, which tracks prices.

Retail gas prices fell about 2.6 cents per gallon during the past week, averaging about $2.33 Tuesday in the Missoula area, according to Gasbuddy.com.

Prices are about 49 cents lower from a year ago. Nationwide, prices in 2016 have been far below the previous years levels, largely because of a worldwide crude-oil supply glut created by the production surges from hydraulic fracking.

Statewide, gas prices in Montana averaged about $2.34 a gallon, down from $2.79 a year ago, according to AAA.

In typical years, gas prices will start to rise with demand around Memorial Day, the unofficial kickoff of the summer travel season. Speer said prices usually peak around Independence Day, but this year has not been typical for crude oil.

This Brexit vote has not been good for the price, Speer said.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, opened at $47.60 a barrel Monday, down 6 percent since Thursday, the day of the British referendum.

For the recreation industry, the low gas prices have been a boon. AAA is estimating about 43 million will travel this weekend nationwide, or about 5 million more compared to Memorial Day weekend.

Officials at Yellowstone National Park say they saw a 15 percent increase in visitors in May and June. This is mostly due to promotional efforts to boost visitors during the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service, but low gas prices have also played a role, said Charissa Reid, a park spokeswoman.

Theres been a concerted effort  to get more people out in national parks, Reid said.

She added that big crowds mean visitors may have to wait longer for parking spaces and encounter delays traveling through the park.

Were just really hoping that as people come to the park, they pack their patience, Reid said.

This year, U.S. drivers have spent about $20 billion less on gasoline than the same period in 2015, which is boosting overall travel, according to Anna ODonnell, a Helena-based spokeswoman for AAA Mountain West.

We are well on our way for 2016 to be a record-breaking year for summertime travel. This trend is welcome news for the travel industry and a sign that Americans are taking to our nations highways and skies like never before, ODonnell said in a written statement.
A Stevensville man killed himself Sunday after leading local law enforcement on a slow-speed chase northeast of Stevensville.

The chase followed a warrant for the arrest of Chad Michael Robb, 44, on sexual crimes in Ravalli County, according to Ravalli County sheriffs press release.

The sheriffs office had been searching for Robb for several days to arrest him on the warrant and serve him with an order of protection.

Late Sunday afternoon, a Montana Highway Patrol trooper located Robb driving a vehicle in the Three Mile area northeast of Stevensville.

The trooper was joined by law enforcement members of the sheriffs office, Montana Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Forest Service in a low-speed pursuit of Robb into the Three Mile Wildlife Management Area.

When Robb reached the end of the roadway, the release said he exited his vehicle with a handgun.

Robb refused to comply with the law enforcement officers commands to drop the handgun and then took his own life.

The incident will be reviewed by the Missoula County Sheriffs Office at the request of Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman and County Attorney Bill Fulbright.
Tsetska Tsacheva, President of the National Assembly in Bulgaria, delivers a speech at the Beijing Language and Culture University, on June 29, 2016. [Photo by Bi Nan/chinadaily.com.cn]

A Bulgarian art exhibition at the Beijing Language and Culture University hosted the President of the National Assembly in Bulgaria, Tsetska Tsacheva, on Wednesday.

The President's visit to the BLCU is one of many planned in China aimed at cultural communication between China and Bulgaria, which is a major event during the China-EU high level people-to-people dialogue.

Tsetska Tsacheva said she appreciated the artwork of Professor Plamen Legkostup, Board Chairman at the University of Beliko Tarnowo's Confucius Institute, and expressed her hope to deepen the friendship and cultural exchange between the two countries.

"The Professor Plamen Legkostup's paintings have traditional Bulgarian style, while fused Chinese elements as well, which are the reflections of the communication and fusion of Chinese and Bulgarian cultures," Tsetska Tsacheva said.

The exhibition, titled "Impressions of Civilizations", has 49 paintings by Plamen Legkostup on display, including prints, computer graphics and acrylic paints. Many pieces were created by Plamen when he was travelling in China. Dedicated to art for more than 30 years, he has exhibited his works in many countries including Germany, France and Russia.

Li Yuming, the Beijing Language and Culture University's party secretary, said the art exhibition was a meaningful and effective way to bridge friendship and communication between the two countries. "We welcome more Bulgarian experts coming to China and encourage more Chinese scholars go to Bulgaria to conduct exchange programs."
daineek.com

Kathmandu, Nepal: The 13th National Paddy Plantation Day or dhan divas have been observed in Nepal with much more enthusiasm on Monday.

As Nepal is the agricultural country, people used to observe Asar 15 (the date of Nepali Calendar) as the agricultural event. The government had began to observe the day as national paddy plantation day 12 years back.

Not only the farmers but also the people from different walks of life used to observe the day. The visitors from different countries also enjoy the day by participating in the paddy plantation process.

According to the governments data, paddy contributes around 58 per cent in the total cereal crops production.
Kathmandu, Nepal: Following the agreement between the government and the main opposition party Nepali Congress about the issue of relief amount to the earthquake victims, the Legislature-Parliament has resumed from Wednesday afternoon.

Though the Nepali Congress had been obstructing the parliament demanding Rs 2,00,000 in a single installment to earthquake survivors to build their houses, the government and the Nepali Congress have agreed to provide the quake grant in two installments.

Prime Minister KP Oli informed about the government plan and the agreement with the Nepali Congress stating that the government will release Rs 150,000 in the first installment and Rs 50,000 in the second installment to the quake victims.

With the agreement, the parties have agreed to amend work plan.

The Nepali had been obstructing the Legislature-Parliament meetings since last Friday demanding that the government should release quake grant to the victims in a single installment.
Kathmandu, Nepal: The Nepali Congress, main opposition party in the legislative parliament, has welcomed the agreement with the government regarding the release of relief amount to the earthquake victims for reconstruction of their houses.

Following the agreement with the government, the Nepali Congress welcomed the agreement by issuing a statement on Monday.

In the press release issued by the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party, the Nepali Congress has expressed its belief that that the challenges that the country faces can be resolved in future also through agreement, common commitment and mutual trust.
scroll.in - 28 June 2016

Both thought it was a good remedy to resolve the communal problem in India and that transfer or exchanges of populations was inevitable and necessary.

Ajaz Ashraf

Venkat Dhulipalaas book a Creating A New Medina: State Power, Islam, and the Quest for Pakistan in Late Colonial North India a demolishes the existing scholarship on Muhammad Ali Jinnah that his demand for Pakistan was a mere bargaining chip, that it was the reason why he deliberately kept the idea of Pakistan vague, and that Pakistan was merely an obsession of the Muslim political elite.

Associate Professor of History, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and Visiting Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, Dhulipala revisits the debate on Partition from a new perspective.

Excerpts from the interview:

You have demolished existing theories about Partition. Were these theories constructed because historians wanted to portray Jinnah as modern and secular?

You need to look at the context of the historians who focused on elite politics and portrayed Jinnah as wanting to create a modern secular Republic. This context included the creation of Bangladesh, the hanging of [Pakistan Prime Minister] Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and General Zia-ul-Haqas campaign of Islamisation of Pakistan.

For Pakistani liberals, this was not the Pakistan that Jinnah wanted. They believed Jinnah was like them, a very modern figure. They started to push back against the tide of Islamisation in Ziaas Pakistan through their historiography.

Was the scholarship also influenced by the wish to convey that Muslims who stayed back in India were not keen on Pakistan?

In post-Independence India, the argument was that we are no longer imperial subjects, but citizens of a secular Constitutional Republic in which all have equal rights. It was, therefore, thought that there was no point in going into the messy things of the past.

You do think there are pitfalls in this kind of approach, donat you?

All history-writing, to some extent, responds to the present. Their concern is understandable. But what I do in my book is to show that there was an intelligent, sophisticated, and wide-ranging debate on the Pakistan question between 1940 and 1947. Ours is an "argumentative society" in which everything is debated and thrashed out. The Pakistan question couldnat have remained a vague idea. My book foregrounds a series of intra-Muslim debates on the idea of Pakistan.

To this, some might say that Indian Muslims overwhelmingly supported the Muslim Leagueas demand for Pakistan with their senses fully in place. The subtext of this could be that they were anti-national.

But I also clearly show that the strongest opposition to Pakistan came from within the Muslim community. Since the top leadership of the Congress was in prison following the 1942 Quit India movement, the only people who hit the ground and rebutted the Muslim League were the nationalist ulama [Islamic scholars] and their allies. My book shows that the question of Pakistan was not merely decided on the basis of emotional slogans like "Islam in danger" but that there was a vigorous debate on and opposition to Pakistan within the Muslim community.

Jinnah and other Muslim League leaders repeatedly asked the Muslims of United Provinces of Agra and Oudh (now Uttar Pradesh) to make sacrifices for the creation of Pakistan. This formulation should in itself have conveyed to them about the bloody consequences of Partition. What blinded them to that looming reality?

There was tension between the fact that they were being asked to sacrifice themselves for Pakistan and the fact that they were not going to be part of it. They were going to be here under a bigger Hindu majority [after Partition] a and could be crushed. The hostage population theory must have been quite believable at that point in time.

Could you explain the hostage population theory?

If you looked at the map of India and its demography, you had substantial non-Muslim populations in the east and the west [which subsequently became Pakistan], just as you had substantial Muslim minority population in Hindustan.

The Muslim League put out that in case Muslims were harassed or oppressed or deprived of their rights, retributive violence could visit the non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan. Balance of terror was therefore portrayed as the best guarantee for the security of minorities in both countries.

Just as we argue about the balance of power in international relations.

It was akin to, say, the Mutually Assured Destruction theory during the Cold War. The Muslim League emphasised the hostage population theory quite a lot in UP. It also assured supporters that there would be a treaty between the two sovereign states as far as the security and rights of the minorities on both sides was concerned. And that despite Partition, life would go on as usual. As a local functionary of the League in Bareilly said, the creation of Pakistan did not mean someone in Allahabad couldnat take the Frontier Mail to Peshawar any more.

Guess they were unable to conceive what the future could be.

They thought that the emergence of two sovereign states wouldnat affect the normal exchanges across borders. So at one level, the hostage population theory and the idea of Pakistan seemed very practical to the Muslims in UP and Bihar. However, there was also the Muslim League propaganda that it was trying to create Pakistan as the first Islamic state in history after the Prophetas creation of Medina 1300 years ago. Wouldnat you want to participate in the creation of that Islamic State, the Leaguers asked their supporters.

I suppose the metaphor of Medina must have appealed to the religious sentiments of Muslims.

Yes. But the metaphor of Medina was also used by Deobandi alim [scholar] Husain Ahmad Madani to point out that just as under the Prophet there existed a community of Jews and Muslims, similarly, Muslims and Hindus could be one single nationality.

Please also remember Jinnah offered Muslims who would be left behind in places like UP, a few options. He told them that they could continue to live where they were, or they could migrate to Pakistan, or they could live as Pakistani citizens in India.

How was the third going to happen?

They could supposedly choose their nationality a but Jinnah did not elaborate on it any further.

Did Jinnah play a cynical game as far as Muslims in UP and Bihar were concerned?

Jinnah was upfront and made speeches in UP that he would not mind the Muslims of the minority provinces being crushed for the sake of liberating their majority provinces brethren. He made it clear that they would be sub-nationals in India, that they could only get minority rights in India. I think no one anticipated the scale of Partition violence. Also, the British cut their losses and left a they simply let India go to hell.

I donat believe Jinnah was being cynical. He wanted to create Pakistan and did have high hopes of it.

Did the intense communal riotings between 1937 and 1939 influence the Muslims of UP to support the Muslim League?

It was definitely a factor.

Could this be a reason why the Muslims of UP believed the hostage population theory of the Muslim League?

Yes. But I also think the Muslim League was successful in projecting that there was Hindu Raj in UP and that would be replicated on an all India basis. The Congress made terrible mistakes. Many wonder why the Congress didnat make a coalition government with the Muslim League in UP. In hindsight, it was a bad move. What was worse, the Congress caused defections from the League. Five or six League MLAs crossed over to the Congress. One of them, Hafiz Mohammad Ibrahim, was made a minister. But it must be remembered that he resigned his seat won on the Muslim League ticket, contested again on the Congress ticket and won.

This didnat go down well with the Muslims. Remember all the Muslim Congress candidates lost in the 1937 elections. [There was a separate Muslim electorate then and only Muslims could stand in Muslim constituencies.] It seemed rich on the part of the Congress to now claim that it had Muslim support. The defectors were seen as quislings. Also, the Muslim Mass Contact Programme a MMCP a of the Congress in UP failed anda

Why did it fail?

The MMCP propaganda claimed that religious identity did not really matter. Class interests were what mattered. To say that religion does not matter, that people need to understand their true class interests and grow out of false consciousness as it were, was counter-productive. My book quotes a person asking, aBhai, you say the workers of the world unite. So, what is wrong in saying, Muslims of the world unite?a I think these "progressive" ideas simply did not gel with the sensibilities of that period.

Could this have made Muslims think that there was a conspiracy afoot?

The Muslim Leaguers did say that this was an attempt to sow divisions within the community on the basis of class and that it was also a surreptitious attempt by the Congress to slot Muslims in the Hindu caste hierarchy and try to change their religion. They pointed out that the Hindus were violently opposed to Untouchables being recognised as a community separate from the Hindus, but the same Hindus were happy to poach on Muslim turf and sow dissensions in the Muslim community.

What was the size of the Muslim electorate?

In 1937, it was about 10% of the population. In 1945-1946, it was close to 15%. It was defined by income, property, educational qualifications, service in the Army, etc.

Given that the electorate was limited and defined by property, and the Muslim League was dominated by landed and urban interests, could it have been an important factor behind Muslims voting overwhelmingly for the League because of class convergence?

Yes. If you look at the numbers, the Congress got around 30% of the votes and the Muslim League the remaining 70%. So they did win hands down.

The debates over Pakistan took place in the Urdu media which must have been owned by the rich and read by the literate middle class. It must have made it easier for the Muslim League to influence the Muslims.

It must have been definitely a factor. But remember, the Madina, a widely respected nationalist Muslim newspaper from Bijnor vigorously attacked the idea of Pakistan and the League. So arguments from both sides were available.

Could it also have been the reason why the ulama backing the Congress failed to wean away Muslims from the League?

Possibly, there is a commonality between the class interests of the electorate and the Muslim League. But remember it was also a very polarised moment in Indian history. Both the Muslim League and Congress ulama were going at each other in the Urdu press. It must have been read by literate Muslims.

To what extent this would have filtered downward is debatable. [Historian] Chris Bayly, for instance, says that while India has fairly low levels of literacy, there exist fairly high levels of political awareness and intelligence. And that this does not in any way correspond to the socio-economic status of the people. Even now, the poor and the illiterate in India are very aware and vote in maximum numbers.

Precisely this fact made me wonder while I was reading your book whether Muslims would have voted overwhelmingly for the League had there been a universal adult franchise in 1945-1946.

It is a good question, but difficult to answer. I wonder what, if a general plebiscite under universal adult franchise had been held in Bengal and Punjab and people had been asked [whether they wanted Partition], the result would have been. I am not a specialist on Punjab or Bengal, but it could have gone either way. After all, nearly 85% of the population was excluded from the 1945-46 election.

Your book also punctures the popular notion that all Deobandi scholars constituted a monolith and opposed Pakistan. Why do you think this myth was perpetuated?

There was a convenient congruence of interests between Indian nationalist historians and liberal historians in Pakistan. The Congress could claim that the Deobandi ulama opposed whole-scale the idea of Pakistan and stood up heroically for the idea of muttahida qaumiyat [composite nationalism] in India. For them Pakistan was a fraud committed by a communal League leadership in connivance with the British.

Liberal Pakistani historians on the other hand could claim that Pakistan was meant to be a secular state since the ulama, men of religion, were its biggest opponents.

What were the points of differences between the ulama on the Congress side and those backing the Muslim League?

The ulama aligned with the Congress a for example, Husain Ahmad Madani, who was the principal alim [scholar] of this side a came up with sophisticated and wide-ranging critiques of the idea of Pakistan. Madani is well known. So in my book, I have tried to foreground others who are either relatively less known or forgotten.

For instance, take Maulana Syed Muhammad Sajjad Bihari, the founder of the Imarat-i-Shariah in Patna. Within a few weeks of the Lahore Resolutionas adoption in 1940, Maulana Sajjad severely criticised this thing called Muslim India a which came to be known as Pakistan very, very quickly.

Sajjad pointed out that the hostage population theory was a mad one and had no precedent in world history. Moreover, the Shariah couldnat in anyway justify violence against the innocent in the name of justice.

He further argued that in an Islamic state, laws had to be based on the Quran and the Hadith [the traditions of the Prophet]. But Jinnah, Sajjad pointed out, wanted a European style Parliament to create laws. Jinnah had also spoken of giving political rights to Hindus, which wasnat possible in a truly Islamic state. He called Jinnah Kafir-i-Azam. Could such a man create an Islamic Republic? Sajjad saw Pakistan as a conspiracy of the British, and Jinnah as their lackey helping them in their divide and rule policy.

Your book also described the role played by Maulvi Tufail Ahmad Manglori and Maulana Hifzur Rahman Seoharvi.

Manglori raised some of the same points as Sajjad. He finally conceded that if the Muslim League wanted to create Pakistan, let them. But he wanted the separate electorates to be abandoned. He favoured joint electorate so that there could be dependency between communities, and politicians would try to build cross-community bases.

Maulana Hifzur Rahman Seoharvias critique of Pakistan was the most wide-ranging. He pointed out that Muslims would have only a slender majority in Pakistan over a very potent, substantial non-Muslim minority. In India, by contrast, the Hindus would have a substantial majority over a very feeble minuscule Muslim minority. The hostage population theory could never work in Pakistan as its minority was educated, wealthy, and powerful. Pakistan couldnat retaliate against them. He also ridiculed the idea of Pakistan becoming an Islamic State and was convinced that Pakistan wasnat economically viable. It didnat have the resources. It would have to depend on Britain or the US for its survival. He foresaw the future.

His argument was that if Pakistan couldnat stand on its own, it would collapse and return to India. And if it took assistance of the British or Americans to remain standing, it would be letting in imperialism through the backdoor.

Wasnat Maulana Sajjad and his family butchered in the Partition riots?

Maulana Sajjad died before Partition, but his family was butchered in the Partition riots. That was what the current Nazim of Patnaas Imarat-i- Shariah told me. In that sense, the nationalist Muslims lost out on both sides a they were abused and derided by those supporting Pakistan, and they suffered post-Partition as well.

What were the arguments of the ulama of the Muslim League?

Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani a the man who was responsible for the Objectives Resolutionas passage in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly and was Pakistanas first and last Sheikhul Islam a and who also presided over Jinnahas funeral ceremony a hailed Pakistan as the first Islamic State after the Prophetas Medina, and indeed used the phrase new Medina to describe Pakistan.

Usmani asked: Why didnat the Prophet create the Islamic state in Mecca, which was his home? He explained that there was significant opposition to the Prophet in Mecca and to create an ideal Islamic state, the Prophet and his followers migrated to Medina and established their base there. Medina became the focal point for Islamas rise as a great global power. Usmani said the same will happen with the Islamic state of Pakistan, which would be the leader of the Islamic world in the 20th century picking up the baton that had been dropped by the Turks at the end of World War I. Usmani endorsed the hostage population theory. He also provided a range of non-religious arguments he borrowed from the League to make his case for Pakistan. There was a close relationship between the Muslim League leadership and these ulama, something that has not been acknowledged thus far in historiography.

Did Jinnah explicitly endorse the idea of Medina?

I havenat come across evidence of Jinnah using the Medina metaphor. But he did use other Islamic metaphors. A Jamaat-i-Islami functionary once asked Jinnah to describe his idea of Pakistan. Jinnah said that currently they were agitating for a piece of land. Once the Muslims had acquired it, they were free to build their mosque on it. That gladdened the Jamaat functionary. But important Muslim League leaders did use the metaphor of Medina.

How do we explain Jinnahas speech of Aug 11, 1947, in which he said, aYou are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan.a That was quite a turnaround, wasnat it?

My take is that Jinnahas statement was made primarily keeping in mind the tremendous violence that was going on. It was, therefore, a statement directed at protecting Muslims from even greater violence in areas where they were vulnerable. It was pragmatism. After all, a few months later, when asked to open the doors of the Muslim League to all Pakistanis irrespective of their religion or creed, the same Jinnah refused saying that Pakistan was not ready for it.

Was Jinnah ever racked by guilt or repented the decision which sparked horrific violence?

I saw this very intriguing letter in the Hector Bolitho files. Bolitho was commissioned by the Pakistan government to write Jinnahas biography. Francis Mudie, the governor of West Punjab, in a letter to Bolitho described an incident in which he quoted Jinnah saying, aThis [Partition] is tragic a but very thrilling.a The American journalist Margaret Bourke-White, noted that Jinnahas adeep sunken eyes were points of excitementa when he described Pakistan as the largest Islamic State in the world. He uses the word Islamic, not Muslim.

In the same speech, Jinnah said, aA division had to take placea Any idea of a united India could never have worked and in my judgement it would have led us to terrific disaster.a Doesnat this observation, in many ways, echo Ambedkaras in his book, Thoughts on Pakistan?

On the Partition issue, Jinnah and Ambedkar were on the same page. Both thought it was a good remedy to resolve the communal problem in India. Both also agreed that transfer or exchanges of populations was inevitable and necessary. They donat seem to have considered the horrific consequences of uprooting people from their hearths and homes, or pondered over how people have a deep sense of belonging to a place and couldnat just be transferred or exchanged like objects. Most historians of Partition have ignored this critical aspect of their ideas on Pakistan. We need to also remember that Mahatma Gandhi stood steadfastly against transfers or exchanges of population.

Where did Ambedkaras formulations on Partition come from?

My reading of Ambedkar is that he believed the creation of Pakistan was good riddance. He cited several reasons. The main one was that communal virus had entered the Army, of which Muslims comprised a substantial section. He said their number was in excess of their percentage of the total population. Since most of these Muslims came from the NWFP and Punjab, Ambedkar thought their loyalty couldnat be depended upon to protect India if it were to go to war with, say, Afghanistan.

So here we have Ambedkar thinking like a conservative Hindu.

Yes, but also as a hardheaded realist. He believed the Muslim League wanted to convert the minority status of Muslims into equivalence with the majority. After all the League demanded equal share with the majority Hindus in the executive, legislatures, the judiciary, services etc. Ambedkar thought these extravagant demands adversely affected the interests of other minorities as well the Depressed Classes. Ambedkar took a similarly hardline on Kashmir and Hyderabad.

Ambedkar was furious when Dalits in Pakistan were not being allowed to cross over into India. When Indiaas first High Commissioner to Pakistan, the UP Congressman Sriprakasa, suggested that these people be allowed to visit their families in India, [Pakistanas first Prime Minister] Liaquat Ali Khan is reported to have said: Who will clean the streets and latrines of Karachi if we let them go?

Could we say Ambedkar favoured the Partition because he saw in it an opportunity for the depressed classes?

He may have seen it so. But primarily Ambedkar was a very modern figure. He believed that the Muslim Leagueas communal propaganda would militate against the rise of secular, interest-based politics in India. He, therefore, thought it was better to concede the demand for Pakistan.

But by 1956 he realised that a modern style of politics wasnat about to emerge in India and decided to cut himself off from the Hindus and converted to Buddhism.

Frankly, I havenat examined closely the process leading Ambedkar to convert to Buddhism. From 1935, Ambedkar was talking to all groups in an attempt to find out what kind of space Dalits could carve out. People like [Hindu Mahasabha leader] BS Moonje, in fact, told him it was best for Dalits to get out and convert to Sikhism.

In your book you quote one Dalit leader demanding Achhutistan [land for the untouchables].

Even Ambedkar briefly toyed with that idea. I am not sure what Achhutistan was going to look like or where it was to be located, but I have seen documents in which he is reported to have briefly supported it.

Even as I was reading the book, I couldnat help think that India under the BJP seems hell-bent on taking the same trajectory that the Muslim League did between 1937 and 1947.

There is an attempt to create a pan-India Hindu political constituency. What has happened in our neighbourhood a Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka a should be a warning to us that we ought not to create some version of Hindu rashtra.

Ajaz Ashraf is a journalist in Delhi. His novel, The Hour Before Dawn, has as its backdrop the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It is available in bookstores.
Peopleas Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)

Press Statement

PUDR demands action against the Gurgaon Gau Raksha Dal for assault and violation of fundamental rights of two cattle transporters

PUDR expresses outrage at the barbaric incident of 10th June where, in a horrific example of discrimination and violation of dignity, two men - Rizwan and Mukhtiar - accused of transporting beef from Mewat to Delhi, were forced to eat cow dung by members of the Gurgaon Gau Raksha Dal. A video has surfaced showing the two being threatened, and forced to eat panchgavya, a mixture of cow dung, cow urine and other bovine products. The members of the Dal by their own account, received information about the smuggling, chased the vehicle for seven kilometres forced the men to eat the concoction from a packet and then handed them over to the police. Injury marks and bruises visible on the faces of the accused indicate that they had been thrashed.

The policeas response in the matter has been biased in the extreme. The local police showed a zealous alacrity in taking the two accused into police custody immediately, even before the investigation into the nature of the meat was complete. On the other hand, they have denied knowledge of any such incident of the two being forced to eat dung, or any video, though it is available on You Tube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcA8c3XnKOs), and photographs have appeared in the press (India Today; Indian Express). Moroever, if any other information was needed to launch an investigation, Dharmendra Yadav, the president of the Gau Raksha Dal, has publicly boasted about his exploits, and the intention to ateach them a lessona and apurify thema (Indian Express, 28 June) .

While the form of the assault may be different, the 10th June incident is only the latest in a series. Of seventy four incidents recorded by PUDR involving assaults and intimidation over cow slaughter and beef till 10th June 2016, this is at least the 14th such in Haryana alone. Gau Raksha Dals were involved in several of these, and the police registered FIRs or took note of the complaints in most. In a mockery of assisting in upholding law and order, the fig leaf of the anti-cow slaughter laws and allegations of smuggling and illegal transportation, are being used to legitimise such attacks by cow protection bodies, and obligingly seconded by local administrations and politicians. The increasing number of assaults, the impunity with which they are conducted a the recent incident being a blatant example a indicate a frighteningly organised and powerful right wing Hindu fascism, and worse, a government that sanctions such rampant violations of the constitution, fundamental freedoms of life, liberty, equality, and rule of law.

PUDR strongly demands:

1. Investigation into and action against the Gurgaon Gau Raksha Samiti.

2. Repeal of the anti-cow slaughter acts and beef bans.

Moushumi Basu, Deepika Tandon

Secretaries, PUDR (pudr@pudr.org)

29th June 2016

original source URL: http://pudr.org/?q=content/pudr-demands-action-against-gurgaon-gau-raksha-dal-assault-and-violation-fundamental-rights-
Dawn - 29 June 2016

by Zahid Hussain

The Taliban inside Imran Khan resurfaced last week when he vehemently defended the KP governmentas decision to hand out a hefty sum of Rs300 million to a madressah notorious for its links to militancy. He proved wrong all those who had hoped that the demon had been exorcised after the 2014 Peshawar school tragedy. His logic for favouring Maulana Samiul Haq is as senseless as his previous demand to allow the Taliban to open an office.

It is, perhaps, the first time that any government is funding a privately owned religious seminary. A major argument of the PTI chief is that Samiul Haq supported him in the anti-polio campaign. But he was not the only cleric to do so. Why then is he the only one being rewarded? Even some top PTI officials find it hard to defend their leaderas strange logic.

One cannot dispute the argument that there is a need for reforming the seminaries and to bring them into the mainstream. There is, however, no known reform plan in exchange for this massive funding for a radical seminary dubbed the university of jihad. One has not even heard of any KP government move to streamline the madressah education curriculum in the province.

The KP governmentas funding of a radical seminary raises questions about the PTIas adherence to NAP.

The KP government and PTI officials should have come out with a more plausible justification for financing this extremist institution that has been the ideological breeding ground for both the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban. The proliferation of militant organisations in Pakistan over the previous three decades was the result of a militant culture espoused by seminaries such as Darul Uloom Haqqania.

I remember watching a graduation ceremony at the seminary in 2003. There were thousands of students along with their teachers and religious leaders, who had gathered inside the campus, chanting ajihad, jihada as a message from the Afghan Taliban commander Mullah Mohammad Omar was read out.

Many of the Afghan Taliban leaders including Jalaluddin Haqqani are graduates of this seminary. Their association with the institution was never completely severed. The seminary drew immense international attention in the 1990s with the emergence of the Afghan Taliban movement. Thousands of Afghan, as well as Pakistani students crossed the border into Afghanistan to join the Islamic militia.

As I have explained in my book, Frontline Pakistan: The Path to Catastrophe and the Killing of Benazir Bhutto, in 1997, the seminary was closed for many months so that the students could participate in the Talibanas war to capture the Afghan province of Mazar-i-Sharif. This was a large cross-border movement and it is debatable whether it would have been possible without the collusion of Pakistanas intelligence apparatus. The latter was known to have patronised the madressah for long.

I quote this relevant passage: aJust months before the [Sept 11] terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the school hosted a conference of Islamic parties and militant groups to express solidarity with Bin Laden and the Taliban regime. ... [S]everal Islamic leaders from Pakistan and Afghanistan congregated at the sprawling auditorium ... vowing to defend Bin Laden and to launch a holy war against the West.a

Maulana Samiul Haq took pride in having met Osama bin Laden. aHe is a great hero of Islam,a he told me a week after 9/11, showing off photographs of himself posing with the Saudi militant.

Samiul Haq who heads his own faction of the JUI never hides his sympathies with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Not surprisingly, Yousaf Shah one of his closest lieutenants, was nominated by the TTP for negotiations with the government in 2014 before the start of the North Waziristan operation. His statements during that period are a testimony to his continued ideological backing for terrorist groups. It is also a fact that the three people arrested in Benazir Bhuttoas murder case and who are facing trial came from this seminary.

Interestingly, the TTP had also nominated Imran Khan in its negotiation team, but he excused himself to avoid further public criticism. Convergence of views on reconciliation with the TTP may well have been the basis of close political association between the two.

Imran Khan actively opposed any military action against the militant group despite its ruthless killing of thousands of Pakistanis. Even after the start of Operation Zarb-i-Azb, he would often express his reservations about the operation. His sympathies with the Taliban never vanished.

Local politics too may have been a factor in this large grant for the seminary. Some senior PTI officials openly accuse the KP chief minister of protecting his own constituency that is in the same district as Akora Khattak, the location of the seminary. Recently, several PTI members of the National Assembly openly revolted against Pervez Khattak accusing him of favouring his cronies and focusing solely on a few districts. But the chief minister could not have sanctioned such a large grant to the seminary without the approval of his party chief.

Such patronage of a radical seminary also raises questions about the PTIas adherence to the National Action Plan that promises to combat religious extremism. This generous grant for a pro-Taliban seminary has come at a point when Operation Zarb-i-Azb is said to be at its concluding stage. Hundreds of soldiers have laid down their lives fighting the militants who received their ideological inspirations from institutions such as Darul Uloom Haqqania.

Such a move could reverse the gains that have been made so far in fighting militancy and extremism. The irony is that the PTI presents itself as the champion of the rule of law. But it has violated the basic tenet that public money cannot be used for patronising a privately owned institution known for espousing extremist religious views.

It is simply a political bribe and nothing to do with any professed effort to de-radicalise religious seminaries and bring them into the mainstream. In fact, favouring one group of a particular sect could encourage bigotry and fuel religious disharmony. It would have been much better had this money been spent on improving conditions of state-owned educational institutions in KP.

The writer is an author and journalist.
If Dajuan Harris Jr. is underrated, its not by those at Kansas

Hawk Zone
Independence Day Resurgence had all the makings of a mega-hit (in North America, at least): apocalyptic action, big(ish) returning stars, and most importantly in terms of what properties have netted huge returns in this decade, a nostalgia-friendly recognizable brand. So why did it crash and burn?

Well, let's start it like this: did you know "they're" remaking Big Trouble In Little China? Whoever "they" are. There's probably a smallish cadre of fans of the original that are pissed off about this, because that's part of the marketing process for all remakes and latter-day sequels now. There's probably also a good dollop of film fans in general who have, for this or some other recent example, tweeted "enough with all the remakes already, Hollywood!"

Good news for the latter group, at least: they might be within striking distance of getting their wish, at least for a little while.

The reason remakes of Big Trouble In Little China and Ghostbusters, or way-the-hell-after-the-fact sequels like Independence Day Resurgence and Jurassic World, exist, can be put down to a variety of factors, but one of the big ones should be obvious: brands are what the motion picture industry is run on now, and everybody wants one. For those unlucky enough not to have snagged a Marvel or a Star Wars or a Pixar early in the running (OK, Disney did really well at this particular short-rules game of Monopoly), there must begin an accounting of all the titles in the proverbial library, in an attempt to crom which of them could be brought back to life, Gregor Clegane style, to wander the world again. Which leads us, therefore (and to continue the Frankensteinian theme) to Universal trying to jump-start a Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe next year with Kong: Skull Island. Which, if you think about it for even ten minutes, is crazy.

But crazy = desperate in this case, and as the big rocks of beloved brands are all owned and occupied, pumping out sequels and spin-offs and prequels and reboots at a three-a-year clip, desperation is the rule of the day... which leads to some marketing turkey saying out loud, "well, they know what Big Trouble In Little China is, don't they? That'll make money." Audience familiarity is a big shortcut to marketability, and anything that's come out in our lifetimes is fair game. Independence Day is just the latest example.

Except, of course, that the summer of 2016 has done a pretty excellent job of demonstrating just how wide the gulf is between the A-list brands, in terms of being "sure things," and everybody else.

When Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, Alice Through The Looking Glass, Now You See Me 2 and The Conjuring 2 all drifted into movie theatres within a few weeks of each other, several of the top Think Piece Writers film critics wrote articles wondering if we've arrived at the death of the sequel. Wishful thinking. Sequels, and any pre-existing brands for that matter, aren't really the problem.

The problem is that none of these movies - along with Independence Day 2 this weekend, domestically at least - managed to move the middle box of moviegoers into the top box. And they didn't do that because, for the most part, those movies are awful, and everybody knew it.

(Yeah: put a pin in all the post-BvS fretting about "film criticism not mattering," while we're here. Opinion always matters. And film critics aren't weird strange artists with hard-to-understand takes on populist fare. They're people who love movies the most. Of course their opinions matter.)

What's the "middle box" I referred to? Well, when it comes to the blockbuster tier of movies, I'd say the audience can be divided into three groups:

Top box - "I'm gonna see it no matter what"

Bottom box - "I'm NOT gonna see it, no matter what"

Middle box - "I'll go if it's good."

I hope I'm not being too Pollyannaish with my name for the middle box. As film fans - jaded film fans, usually, depending on how old we are - we've seen a lot, and I mean a lot, of movies we all agreed were generally awful, which made ridiculous shit-tons of money anyway. (Paging Jurassic World... your pteranodon cage is open.)

Well, it happens. And it happens because there really are a (finite) number of properties in the world for whom the general population has a disproportionate number of people who would put themselves into the top box.

The top box is populated by the fanboys and fangirls, and is ruled by what is basically automatic behaviour, like me buying every Star Trek movie on blu-ray (even the ones I don't like). It's made up of people who are so fundamentally bought into the concept, or have such overriding curiosity or are so overwhelmed by the omnipresence of the marketing or the pop cultural conversation (guilty again!), that they're fish in the proverbial barrel: all Hollywood has to do is pull the trigger.

Put another way, Batman v. Superman was never not going to earn three quarters of a billion dollars. That's why Warner Brothers picked it, announced it, and drove it home. After Man of Steel, it was as close to a sure-thing do-over as they could grant Zack Snyder's super-franchise. And hey: in the short term anyway, they were right.

The longer-term problem, of course, is that they pushed a lot of top-box audience members for the DC Universe into the middle box, by trotting out a movie as widely disliked as Batman v. Superman. In other words, they ate a lot of their own audience's goodwill to propel themselves to that $800 million. They got there - they basically bought the number, to keep their shareholders happy, by using their audience's satisfaction as depreciated currency - but they will have to work a lot harder to get there again. So it goes.

It was Superman, actually, who keyed me into this middle-box phenomenon in the first place. Superman, or James Bond for another example, are as close to gold-standard brands as exist in Hollywood; and you'd think, Hollywood should exploit the shit out of both characters and fill their suitcases with money.

But in both brands' cases, they're also so old - audiences have been familiar with them for so long - that they're absolutely middle-box properties: the audience doesn't have anything against them in theory and will absolutely go to see their movies if they hear this one's a good one; but they also won't bust their ass to get out to the theatres if the reviews or word-of-mouth suck, because they've become like trains - another one will be along.

In Supes' case, we saw it with both Superman Returns and Man of Steel; in Bond's, we saw it with the cooling effect that hit Spectre while propelling Skyfall to the highest slot in the 50-year franchise. It wasn't that each of the films I've just mentioned didn't have their sizeable portion of top-box fans - people like me who were going to go no matter what - it's just that three of these four examples failed to convert their middle box into movie tickets, because they didn't make a strong enough case to sway the unconvinced. Only one of the four films I've mentioned (Skyfall) did.

Weirdly enough, in the blockbuster business, the bottom box almost doesn't exist. You've gotta work pretty hard at your self-delusion, from a Hollywood standpoint, to greenlight and produce a tentpole film where a large portion of the audience is firmly in the "I am never going to see this" camp. (Sorry, Ghostbusters guy.)

When Hollywood does trip over a bottom-box majority film, it's almost always an accident; or, as with Independence Day Resurgence this week and Warcraft last, because the studio is hoping - rightly or wrongly - that even if all of North America doesn't actually want a shitty sequel to Independence Day - the middle box over here didn't care, and the reviews and reactions gave them no reason to - there are enough top box audience members overseas to more than make up the difference. The jury's still out on ID42, but the gamble paid off in spades for Warcraft, as close to the definition of a "never gonna see it no matter what" blockbuster as has been made on these shores since The Golden Compass.

In the meantime, though, the knee-jerk accumulation of preformatted brands might slow, a little. We've long since started approaching the bottom of the barrel on the available brands anyway; short of a never-gonna-happen Back to the Future reboot, the last of the widely beloved audience favourites dribbles into theatres next week with Ghostbusters. The next cycle will begin eventually, but in the meantime we might get some respite in the form of a handful of "new" properties (read: adaptations of popular novels or comics) taking wind.

Hey, maybe they'll even cancel Big Trouble In Little China. They should. Even if it turns out (inexplicably) to be good, it might pull in some audience, but only if the middle box is preoccupied elsewhere that day. Being the swing vote that controls the movie industry is a big job.

Destroy All Monsters is a weekly column on Hollywood and pop culture. Matt Brown is in Toronto and on Letterboxd.


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June 29, 2016

Should more lenient treatment of alleged repeat Indiana University rapist garner even more national attention than Stanford swimmer sentencing?

The question in the title of this post is prompted by this remarkable new local story out of Indiana, headlined "Monroe County prosecutor frustrated in ex-IU student's plea deal in rape cases." Here are the basic troubling details:

The Monroe County Prosecutors Office admitted it was frustrated after a former IU student charged in two rape cases ended up spending one day in jail. John Enochs will serve one year of probation after pleading guilty to battery with moderate bodily injury as part of a plea agreement. Two rape charges against him were dismissed. The most recent incident happened in April 2015. According to court documents, a woman told police shed been raped at the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house but didnt know her alleged attacker. She said she repeatedly told him to stop, but he held her down. Eventually she was able to leave the room and get away. Security video showed Enochs entering the room with the victim. She left 24 minutes later; health officials said she suffered a laceration to her genitals. While that case was under investigation, police found a similar alleged rape from 2013. The woman involved in that case agreed to help investigators. DNA evidence and witness statements led them to Enochs. In a statement Monday, the Monroe County Prosecutors Office said the case presented a very unusual set of circumstances; law prevented a jury in either case from learning about the other allegation if the cases went to trial. Prosecutors also said there were evidentiary problems with both cases. In the oldest allegation, the one from 2013, witnesses couldnt recall some important details because so much time had passed and theyd been drinking. Photographs also existed that contradicted the assertion that the complaining witness was incapable of engaging in consensual activity shortly before the alleged assault. In the more recent case, prosecutors said DNA evidence was problematic; prosecutors also said video before and after the alleged assault did not support the assertion of a forcible rape. They said that made it impossible for them to prove that Enochs caused the womans injury. This turn of events was frustrating for us as prosecutors, due to the fact that there were two complaints against the defendant. That fact is the reason we continued to pursue accountability on his part which led to this plea agreement, Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Robert Miller wrote in a statement. Miller said Enochs originally pleaded guilty to a felony; the battery charge was reduced to a misdemeanor at the courts discretion.... Katharine Liell, who represented Encochs in the case, said Encochs was charged with crimes he didnt commit. Liell pointed out that prosecutors dismissed both rape charges and blamed the lead investigators for presenting false and misleading evidence in the probable cause affidavit charging Encochs with rape. Liell called the charges sensationalized and false, adding that Enochs did indeed admit to a misdemeanor. Liell said he was profoundly sorry for his lack of judgment.

Because I can only infer various details about this case from this press report, I am deeply disinclined to "attack" the attorneys or the judge for their handling of this case. Still, it seems in this case we have allegations of repeat rapist essentially getting away with his crimes because he only ended up with a misdemeanor conviction and thus not only will not serve any prison time, but will not have to be on a sex offender registry or suffer any other lifetime collateral consequences that go with a serious felony conviction.

I fully understand why a "perfect storm" of factors turned the Brock Turner case into the national sentencing scandal of 2016. But, relatively speaking, the ultimate (in)justice that seems to have taken place in this case out of Indiana seems to be even more scandalous and likely ought to be of even bigger concern for those deeply troubled by the problems of sexual assaults on college campuses.

June 29, 2016 at 09:31 AM | Permalink

Comments

I'm not defending anything here, but whoa whoa whoa. Doug are you really cool with using uncharged (and unrelated) alleged misconduct to identify an injustice? This has quite a bit of tension with your stated view that after a plea deal, and a sentence is up for review, we should really only look to what the guy was convicted of.

Perhaps you can explain the apparent inconsistency?

Posted by: federalist | Jun 29, 2016 10:02:14 AM

federalist, I am struggling with your description of these events here as involving "uncharged (and unrelated) alleged misconduct." As I understand these facts, DNA and other evidence connected this defendant to two forcible rapes, and he was formally charged with both. So, as I see this case (1) nothing went "uncharged" and (2) we have a (serial?) rapist with the same MO of sexually assaulting women after they refuse his advances.

This case thus uniquley concerns me because all the factors that seemingly have folks so upset about the Stanford case (e.g., a judge not affording the victim due respect for her harms and an elite college kid seeming to get off easy) are on steroids here. It is unclear if the victims were okay with this plea deal and why exactly did the judge lower the plea crime from a felony to a misdemeanor. I want more explanation so I can assess whether and why both the plea deal and judicial downgrade were done, and that is the main point of this post.

You are generally right, federalist, that I am troubled by excessive efforts to look behind plea deals years/decades later. But I always think we need to examine and judge these deals for their fairness and efficacy when first made. Do you understand this different?

Posted by: Doug B. | Jun 29, 2016 10:38:12 AM

I read too quickly--but the point is the same--the 2013 rape case (which apparently had some issues)--you think--ought to impact the sentence the guy got. Fair enough, and I am not disagreeing (or agreeing, as I don't know all the facts). Ok fine. But in cases where some criminal is getting a second bite at the sentencing apple after a plea deal, you think that the new sentence really only should take into consideration what he was convicted of. So in one case, unconvicted (and unrelated) conduct IS relevant, but in another case, it's not. It would seem to me that when a plea deal is being ripped open, limiting a prosecutor's response to the conviction alone,when it's highly likely that he/she forgoed (forwent?) proving up other bad stuff provides an opportunity for a serious windfall. So, for example, let's say a criminal is a drug-dealer and the prosecutor/defendant look at the case, and the plea deal is that he pleads to X, Y and Z and a couple of shootings are ignored because the prosecutor feels that 25 years (I am just making up numbers) is "enough"--along comes sentencing reform, and X, Y and Z only get 10 years (I know it's not that simple, but it explains the issue)---you seem to think that to use the shootings is dirty pool (and I get you have an issue with "leverage")---but if it is, then why are you so adamant that the 2013 case here (which has problems) should impact the sentence for the 2015 case?

You wanna see a ton of cases where there is way too much lenience--check out sentencing in Chicago. Pretty much every day there is a new outrage.

By the by, what's worse, the Olu Stevens sentence of probation for armed robbery or the Brock Turner sentence (keeping in mind that the victim didn't appear to want a long incarceration), and Turner gets to be on the SO registry for life).

Posted by: federalist | Jun 29, 2016 11:07:02 AM

federalist, as my post title and post prose is meant to highlight, my main point here is that all those who have given extraordinary time/energy/attention to express concern about Brock Turner getting off too easy might usefully seek to bring more scrutiny to this case. This case seems to involve two forcible campus rapes of two different women resulting in a single misdemeanor conviction.

This case could certainly be used as a springboard for a broad discussion about how plea deals may obscure more than they clarify or about whether undue leniency for armed burglary or for sexual assault is a bigger problem. But I would like you, federalist, or others to concur or contest my main point: those still worked up about the Turner case ought to do consider using their consternation energy to do some more digging into this case.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jun 29, 2016 11:56:02 AM

How is this guy getting a "second bite at the sentencing apple after a plea deal"? It looks like it's the first plea and first sentencing. Also, based on this article, it's unfair to say that evidence "connected this defendant to two rapes." The evidence linked him to two instances of sexual intercourse, and the prosecutor admitted that there's scant evidence of lack of consent (and some compelling evidence to the contrary).

This case could present an interesting issue of using conduct from dismissed cases as sentencing aggravators, but it doesn't look like the judge believed that rapes actually occurred. As a result, this looks like a typical sentence for an all-too-typical case of simple misdemeanor assault.

Posted by: Stephen Hardwick | Jun 29, 2016 12:10:12 PM

It is an interesting case, Doug. And I'm glad you highlighted it.

One of the things that made the Brock Turner case so unusual was that the assault was witnessed (and stopped) by two uninvolved bystanders. It was their testimony --- not the victim's testimony --- that led to Turner's conviction. I imagine that most campus rape cases resemble the Indiana case in that the victim is the only witness and that prosecutors are so concerned about the victim's credibility on the stand, that they offer favorable plea deals like this one.

If the prosecutors had credible evidence of this defendant's guilt --- and the video tape certainly seems to qualify as credible evidence --- then they should not have offered this plea deal. And if they didn't have credible evidence of guilt, then I am not concerned by the sentence. I'm instead concerned that prosecutors thought the judge should impose a harsh sentence based on charges that they couldn't prove.

Posted by: Carissa Byrne Hessick | Jun 29, 2016 12:16:24 PM

Doug: another pivot. You characterize this as a guy basically getting away with it--one of the facts you point to in that conclusion is the unconvicted conduct. Ok, fine. But you generally think that when sentences are re-examined, unconvicted conduct is irrelevant and we should only look at the judgment, even though the unconvicted conduct likely factored into what the prosecutor was willing to accept (see my example above). Try as you might--there is an incongruity here.

Stephen, I think you misunderstood--the second bite is a hypothetical criminal, not the IU defendant.

Posted by: federalist | Jun 29, 2016 12:40:45 PM

Why not conduct a public opinion poll on the fairness of a sentence in every controversial case and remove the judge from office if the public thinks the sentence is unfair?

Posted by: Andy | Jun 29, 2016 12:43:10 PM

I certainly get your point, Professor. But, because the sentence in the Turner case was imposed by the judge after conviction, there are fewer "moving parts" and blame targets than this case, where a plea involving prosecutors and defense attorneys is in place. I can't tell from the article whether the judge imposed the sentence or it was agreed to in the plea.

And that doesn't affect my deep-seated belief that unproven, unconvicted conduct should not enhance sentences.

In this case, as in all cases, if the government can't or won't indict, prosecute, and prove certain conduct, they're certainly not entitled to a sentence affected by it. If there's blame here, it's on "law enforcement" and not the judge.

Posted by: Fat Bastard | Jun 29, 2016 2:03:57 PM

According to the FBI a rape occurs once every six minutes in America.

https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/standard-links/national-data

which works out to roughly 86K rapes a year.

While America is a big country that still is not a minor number. So the question becomes why do some rape stories make national news? I can't help but wonder when the press will report on a rapist who--in their view--is actually over-sentenced. I simply can't believe that all the rapists get more lenient treatment and that none of them ever get railroaded. So when is the investigate press going to report on those stories?

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 29, 2016 2:17:39 PM

"And that doesn't affect my deep-seated belief that unproven, unconvicted conduct should not enhance sentences."

Honestly, that is a ridiculous position that doesn't bear any scrutiny---do you really think that a sentence for say, murder, wouldn't pick up especially cruel means of inflicting it? Judges generally have choices within a range---the particulars of the defendant's crime (which go outside the four corners of the elements) in any rational sentencing scheme have to matter. And that's not even getting into character evidence, criminal history etc. . . . . which, yet again may be unproven/unconvicted etc.

Why do people continually say dumb things?

Posted by: federalist | Jun 29, 2016 2:24:21 PM

Uncharged, unproven criminal conduct federalist. You are quite disingenuous.

Posted by: Fat Bastard | Jun 29, 2016 2:33:50 PM

federalist, despite your effort to mischaracterize much, the fact remains that I am trying to stay on-topic, not pivot. As the post title and prose seek to make clear, I have highlighted this case, in the wak of the massive hullabaloo over the Turner case, to suggest those so critical of the Turner outcome ought also perhaps look deeper into this case. (And, FWIW while you try to take up off-topic, I do not think I have every categorically asserted that long-ago unconvicted conduct is "irrelevant" when reconsidering a past sentence. To give one (high-profile) of many possible examples, I think the Nevada parole board could and probably should consider OJ Simpson's (unconvicted) prior double-murder when deciding whether to parole him in the coming years.)

Carissa usefully highlights one factor that made the Turner case distinctive as a factual/proof matter, and I am certain the compelling victim-statement and the tone-deaf Turner dad statement made the Turner case a national story. I am not asserting that this Enochs case could or should be a national story, but I suspect and fear that the case might represent a more representative example of how alleged campus rapes get minimized through subsequent actions in court and elsewhere.

Of particular interest in this case, and a fact seemingly missed by Fat Bastard and perhaps others, was the apparent decision by the sentencing judge to downgrade the offense to a misdemeanor seemingly after the defendant agreed to plead guilty to a felony. I am not aware if judges even have the power to do this in many jurisdictions, and I especially wonder how the victims in this case (after they saw charges filed based on their rape allegations) feel about the sentencing judge given Enochs this extra downgrade.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jun 29, 2016 2:47:26 PM

Doug--your position here--that somehow the 2013 allegation should inform the sentencing for the 2015 crime--is in tension with your impatience with looking behind a judgment (usually the result of a plea) when there's a drug dealer. So, in other words, you don't like a sanitized input on sentencing in the rape/assault case, but do like that in a years after the fact determination of an appropriate sentence. And I didn't say you categorically stated that unconvicted conduct is irrelevant . . . .

Sorry, just calling out some inconsistency--just because that's not the point of your post doesn't mean that I'm mischaracterizing anything.

Posted by: federalist | Jun 29, 2016 3:58:01 PM

I did indeed miss the felony/misdemeanor thing. That seems rather bizarre.

Posted by: Fat Bastard | Jun 29, 2016 5:44:41 PM

federalist, the 2013 allegation was part of the investigation and prosecuting of this case now. As I understand matters, the 2013 rape allegation was made/discovered as investigators looked into the 2015 allegation and the DA thereafter believed he had sufficient evidence to bring two formal rape charges NOW.

If a college campus drug dealer caught in 2015 was accused, say, of raping one of his customers in 2013 as police were investigating the scope of his drug dealing AND prosecutors saw a sound basis for bringing formal charges NOW for rape and felony drug dealing, I would concerned and intrigued if a plea was entered for just felony drug possession and then a judge reduced that felony charge to a misdemeanor at sentencing. Wouldn't you wonder in such a case about why that happened?

The difference is between when the charge is brought/resolved, which I hope should seem obvious. As a general matter, I favor a sentencing system that looks at some real conduct when adjudicating and sentencing a case for the first time. Trying to figure out and assess real conduct gets much harder when lots of time has passed and we are now trying to unpack what lies behind a long-ago conviction, though I still general favor some effort to look behind the charges to any undisputed facts. Indeed, I do not think I have ever asserted or even suggested that the past should be "sanitized" at a future resentencing. Can you point me to prior statements that suggest as much?

Finally, federalist, beyond the fact they you seem strangely committed to mischaracterizing my positions to trump up some kind of inconsistency, you still havent engaged with the point of this post: namely that this case seems, at least based on the press account, to be the kind that should trouble those concerned about campus sexual assault as much if not more than the Turner case. After all your misdirection, I still do not know if you agree or disagree with this notion.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jun 29, 2016 7:06:44 PM

Professor,

Sorry but I absolutely see what Federalist is on about here. you have many times argued against the use of both acquitted and uncharged conduct in forming a sentence, yet here you do an about face and seem to claim that very information is relevant in coming to an informed outcome. Federalist is absolutely right to call you on the discrepancy.

As for differences between this case and Turner, the evidence here is extremely equivocal. Much less of a problem in Turner.

I do wonder about the judge reducing the agreed charge further, that seems more than a little odd to me.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Jun 29, 2016 7:43:10 PM

Doug--you can't wriggle out of this one--first, I don't know the facts here--so how can I form an opinion? At first glance, there are issues--but what do you want me to say?

Second, this is really tiresome. You're willing to give every benefit to a criminal seeking to undo his sentence years later by tossing out lots of things that influenced what the guy got--but here, where there are obvious issues with the 2013 crime, you seem to have a different view. That's fine---but you should admit that your view re: criminals getting a second bite is basically that all doubts should be resolved against them staying in prison.

Posted by: federalist | Jun 29, 2016 9:51:33 PM

The final statement by federalist can maybe allow us all to better understand each other. I readily will state that I think all offenders --- during the first sentencing "bite" or the second or third --- should have every doubt resolved away from a lengthy prison term. This is because prison strikes me as only effective as a means of incapacitation, and it is a costly means at that both in economic and human terms. I also think that a commitment at sentencing to the import of traditional trial processes shows respect for the jury system and for various constitutional rights.

One reason I have been a bit troubled by all the criticisms/concerns in the Brock Turner case is because a lot of my procedural values were honored in the case (including giving voice to both the victim and family/friends of the defendant) and because the PO and the judge obviously focused on the limited need to incarcerate Turner for a lengthy period of time.

Now this Enochs case, which has allegations and formal charges of 2 rapes and yet is resolved through an opaque process to result in only a misdemeanor conviction. My chief point in flagging this case is to suggest that those so troubled by the Turner case ought to look deeper into this one. Of particular concern/interest for me procedurally is whether the (alleged) victims had a chance to speak at the proceeding when the felony plea was reduced by the judge to a misdemeanor conviction. I bring this up because the eloquent public victim statement in Turner turned that case into a national scandal --- whereas here we have 2 victims whose voices we have not yet gotten to hear.

For the record, if both rape charges here went to trial, and a jury returned a verdict of guilt on just a single count of the lesser charge of battery, I would be quick to complain if the judge went behind this verdict to impose decades in prison because the judge decided that Ecochs was clearly a serial rapist despite a jury verdict to the contrary. But, again, if this did go to trial this way, would you not wonder if/when a judge further downgraded a felony verdict to a misdemeanor? Even more to the point, shouldn't / wouldn't the folks worked up about the Turner case be concerned?

Posted by: Doug B. | Jun 30, 2016 7:12:20 AM

"I readily will state that I think all offenders --- during the first sentencing "bite" or the second or third --- should have every doubt resolved away from a lengthy prison term."

Well, there you have it. So when President Hillary appoints a ninth Justice and government regulation of political speech is enacted and upheld, you'll be right there to say that the incarceration should be short. Amazing--you will trade institutionalized hooking up of criminals (by twisting the law/Constitution) for our freedoms. (And, of course, nothing says freedom like releasing dangerous criminals after not too long in the pokey).

"whereas here we have 2 victims whose voices we have not yet gotten to hear." One victim. You don't know that other is a victim,.

Posted by: federalist | Jun 30, 2016 10:24:50 AM

Yet again, federalist, you mischaraterize my position to continue your bizarre and foolhardly claims that my consistent support for the appointment of a former defense attorney (my preference for a ninth Justice) poses a huge threat to "our freedoms" because of the risk of reversing of CU and a wave of SCOTUS-upheld political speech prosecutions. Especially comical here is that you continue to express silly concerns about a Sean-Hannity-imagined leftist political prosecution dystopia in a post in which I was expressing concern about the lenient treatment of a allegedly dangerous repeat criminal (Enochs) without ANY time in the pokey and without even a felony conviction.

Moreover, and especially glaring here in the wake of recent actual rulings by SCOTUS, is your silence about the majority opinion in Voisine, which arguably lays the groundwork for allowing Congress and/or states to enact criminal prohibition on the exercise of fundamental constitutional rights to any and everyone who ever has a misdemeanor conviction for jaywalking or underage alcohol possession.

Indeed, especially in the wake of Trump's statements that he wants to change libel laws to allow him to go after the mainstream press (not to mention his religion-based proposals), the potential threats posed by President Trump to our First Amendment freedoms seem far more real and worrisome that your vision of the threats posed if Prez Hillary appoints the likes of Jane Kelly or Ketanji Brown-Jackson to the High Court.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jun 30, 2016 10:55:54 AM

There are parts of this story that I do not understand (perhaps someone from Indiana can clarify). According to the story, the plea agreement was for an open plea to a felony but a judge reduced it to a misdemeanor.

In my state (and as I understand the federal rules), a defendant either pleads guilty to a charge or doesn't plea guilty to a charge. If the facts stated during the plea do not provide a factual basis for the plea, the plea is rejected and the parties can either re-work the plea agreement to a charge that the judge will accept or go to trial on the original charges.

Do judges in Indiana have the power to accept a plea agreement and then reduce the charges without the prosecutor's consent? If that is the case, I would want more details about the charge to which the defendant pleaded guilty and the factual basis for the charges. If the prosecutor established a felony and this judge reduced it to a misdemeanor when there was any evidence suggesting a sexual assault, I would be very offended at the judge.

If there was a plea to a reduced charge because the evidence was iffy on rape, that is part of the way that the system works and a jury might have reached the same verdict.

Posted by: tmm | Jun 30, 2016 11:01:26 AM

Well stated, tmm, and helpfully getting to the very heart of the reason I flagged this case and suggested is should be of particular interest/concern to all those troubled by the work of the state judge in the Turner case. After the distractions from federalist, I am pleased to see that it is possible for others to understand exactly why this story/case drew my attention.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jun 30, 2016 12:36:28 PM

I know why it drew your attention. I was just calling you out on inconsistency.

What I am pointing out with respect to the ninth justice is that you don't seem to be worried about the threat to freedom that overturning CU represents.

Trump is a blowhard--he's not the threat to freedom that the Dem party platform is. They want to criminalize speech. And they will appoint justices who would allow them to.

Posted by: federalist | Jun 30, 2016 12:44:32 PM

I hear you, federalist, but I still find strange/troubling that you were so eager to assert I was being inconsistent even before, by your own admission, you had properly read/understood the basic facts of this case/post. Moreover, your (mistaken) assertion of an inconsistency seems based on false claims that I generally say "unconvicted conduct is irrelevant" (12:40 comment) or that I favor "sanitized input on sentencing" for some (3:58 comment). I know you seem to enjoy "gotcha games," but it is frustrating that you are so quick to distract/distort discussions by going after me for inconsistencies of your own creation before you even take the time to review the basics of my posting.

That all aside, right now I do view a Prez Trump, based on his own statements and his unpredictability, to be a greater threat to US freedoms than the threat posed by a possible reversal of CU (even though, as I think you know, I do not favor a reversal of CU). But this view is based, in part, on the belief/hope that Ds excessively talking about reversing CU is a "class warfare/get money out of politics" talking point rather than a "we need to criminalize some speech" commitment. At the same time, especially writing from a college campus where the left at times seems too quick to want to punish speech they dislike, I do understand the basis for your fears of a Sean-Hannity-imagined leftist political prosecution dystopia if/when Hillary becomes Prez.

Now, still trying to stay in the reality-based world, federalast, I still remain eager to know (1) if you share my (constitutional-freedoms-based) concerns about the potential michief of the majority opinion in Voisine, and/or (2) if you have at least a bit more respect for Justice Sotomayor for her decision to join part of Justice Thomas's dissent in Voisine.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jun 30, 2016 1:21:04 PM

The PO (perhaps it shouldn't matter, but it was written by a woman) pre-sentencing report in the Brock Turner is one complication there that from some of the most emotional responses does not get much attention from the reactions I have seen. It was covered, e.g., in a NYT commentary article and other places. I think one thing that stands out in that case is emotional laden things like some of the comments by the father and the victim impact statement that (unlike in most cases) was easily available for wide perusal. Likewise, I repeatedly saw the attacker's face in news accounts, including repeatedly as a lead item in the news page that comes up when I sign in to my email. Others surely did as well. This only increased him being a negative symbol.

As with symbols of police interactions that seem to have gone wrong, it's very well possible that other cases are more egregious, but get less treatment. It's helpful for blogs like this one to examine the news etc. to add perspective here.

Posted by: Joe | Jun 30, 2016 6:09:09 PM

Do I have more respect for Sotomayor? Nope. Anyone who links ethnicity or race to quality of judging is unfit for judicial office, and her ignorance about Ginsburg's opinion in the Ricci case (in prepared Senate testimony) is unbelievable.

The majority decision in Voisine is problematic.

Your agnosticism about the threat to criminalize speech is absolutely stunning. But you gave away the game--we resolve all doubts in favor of the criminal, even if, years later, after a plea deal, the criminal gets a second bite at the apple. It's all about hooking up criminals and yapping about our commitment to freedom, as if a commitment to freedom is demonstrated by lenience to criminals.

But of course, you won't ever answer the question about Olu Stevens? Aren't you troubled by a probation sentence for an armed home invasion robbery? And aren't you troubled by the racial overtones of that case---Stevens wrongly criticizing the victims in that case?

Posted by: federalist | Jul 1, 2016 9:54:37 AM

federalist: please explain what is "absolutely stunning" about not being overly concerned about federal criminal prosecutions for political speech unless/until we see some serious evidence of serious efforts to bring federal criminal prosecutions for political speech and indications that federal judges will not preclude such prosecutions on 1st A grounds. (Notably, federal judges have struck down recently limits on sex offender on-line activities based on 1st A grounds.) I continue to fail to see a serious basis for concerns about "criminalize speech" absent belief in forthcoming a Sean-Hannity-imagined leftist political prosecution dystopia.)

And, yes, federalist, I do think we demonstrate a commitment to individual freedom by limiting/checking the power of government to punish individuals and to restrict individual freedoms. Is that really a hard concept for you to understand?

I surmise you have a quirky vision of freedom that is based on enhancing government powers to punish; but I think my vision of freedom is more in keeping with the conceptions that the Framers put into the US Constitution given that the 1st, 2d, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th Amendments all seek to advance individual freedom by limiting/checking the power of government to punish individuals and to restrict freedoms.

As for Olu Stevens, what questions have I failed to answer? I am, generally speaking, troubled by an overly lenient sentence for any violent crime with tangible victims and I am likewise troubled by any effort to criticize crime victims. Ergo, based on the press reports, I am concerned with how Judge Stevens conducted himself in that case. In addition, I see that he has been subject to a series of judicial misconduct complaints about his handling of that case and other public comments. That suggests to me that the court system is examining Judge Stevens' fitness for continued service, and I am not troubled to see such an inquiry afoot to ensure racial bias in not improperly impacting his judicial decision-making. Are there other questions you want me to address? (And do I need to worry anew that you are going to misread what I have said here to claim I am being inconsistent in some manner of your own creation?)

Posted by: Doug B. | Jul 1, 2016 7:11:46 PM

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Due to the world's obsession with San Francisco and its crazy rents, a story about one North Beach tenant's rent hike from $1,800 to $8,000 for a rent-controlled one-bedroom has made international headlines at this point. Indeed, some three-bedrooms in this city are renting for $8,000, even if this tenant's unit shouldn't be worth that, and indeed, SF's rent control laws are complicated  however the landlord may in fact have a case here, and the tenant is also facing eviction on July 21. Nonetheless, Supervisor Aaron Peskin, in whose district this eviction is occurring, tells ABC 7 he thinks the rent hike is "preposterous," and he's working with the Rent Board to try to get the tenant's appeal decision to happen before the eviction deadline.

As we learned yesterday, this is a case of a rent-controlled unit in which the master tenant moved out  a situation that would, in many cases, negate the original lease and allow a landlord to raise the rent to fair market value for any existing subtenants. 47-year-old video engineer Neil Hutchinson moved into the apartment in 2010 with two roommates, and the master tenant then moved out in July of last year. It may have taken a while for the landlord to discover this, but at some point Hutchinson was given a new lease to sign for $8,000/month, saying this was "fair market value."

Hutchinson argues that the original lease and rent-controlled rent should be extended to him, however that's going to be up to the Rent Board.

Tenants' rights are strong in San Francisco, and Hutchinson's attorney Mary Cathinewiederhold has filed a response to the eviction in superior court over what she says are "errors," and she's hoping to get a full hearing from a judge soon.

And it looks like this landlord may have a shady history dating as far back as 2007, according to this Yelp page  with a one-star rating. This image from a tenant showing landlord Sophie Lau as a defendant in small-claims suit includes a note, "Sue her in small claims! She usually loses." Other reviews cite dangerous living conditions, loss of power, poor maintenance of the property, and plenty of negative interactions with Lau.

And from one 2013 review, "Don't get fooled by the beautiful hardwood floors and the great location. This place is a hellhole!!!"

Previously: North Beach Tenant Facing Eviction After Rent Increase From $1,800 To $8,000


Hillary Clinton lands back in SF Wednesday for a fundraising luncheon co-hosted by actress and yogurt shill Jamie Lee Curtis and Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards. Perhaps because of the participation of the latter, the location for the luncheon was not publicly announced, as KRON 4 reports.

We do know, however, that a seat at the luncheon with the presumptive Democratic nominee and the star of Scream Queens is costing donors between $500 and $27,000, according to Clintons campaign.

If you're a Clinton supporter and want to help get out the vote on her behalf, you can sign up as a volunteer this weekend at the Fillmore Jazz Festival, where the Clinton campaign will have a table. Or, rather, as they explain here, "We'll set up on Fillmore St. at the South East corner of Sacramento St. Look for our ironing boards set up on the sidewalk."

The Fillmore Jazz Festival runs both Saturday and Sunday, July 2 and 3, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Also, we learned this week that President Obama will join Clinton for the first time on the campaign trail next week in North Carolina. As the New York Times reports, Clinton's campaign sees North Carolina as a possible swing state and a way to expand the electoral map won by Obama in 2012. Obama is expected to appear with Clinton in more key states, and was scheduled to appear with her in Wisconsin two weeks ago before that event was canceled in the wake of the Orlando shooting.

Previously: Video: Hillary Clinton Says 'California Counts,' Sounds Unsure About Legal Weed
Timed neatly to the crest of homelessness coverage being released this week by local outlets in an effort called the SF Homeless Project  a push to shine a brighter media light on an enduring problem  Mayor Lee unveiled the city's second Navigation Center yesterday. A program to provide shelter and services in a more comprehensive and permissive atmosphere than in years past, the flagship Navigation Center opened last year in the Mission after much ballyhoo and some delays. Further centers were also slow to arrive, and most recently, the Board of Supervisors gave the go-ahead for six new shelters earlier this month, or five not counting this second one.

The location of the second Navigation Center, a spot announced in March, is the Civic Center Hotel, a downtrodden SRO slated for redevelopment in two years to become 550 units of housing. That's an improvement on its current 156 rooms that, until the Navigation Center population began to arrive, served just 53 residents. 93 beds are being offered to homeless people there, and while some have already been filled while the SRO was being renovated according to the Chronicle's reporting, 40 more shelter rooms have yet to be filled.

Living on our Citys streets is not healthy or safe, a press release quotes Mayor Lee. Although we have housed and provided services for thousands of people already, we still have work to do. The Navigation Centers are an important piece in solving homelessness for those individuals who face multiple challenges to returning to housing.

Meanwhile, new homeless czar, or rather Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing Director, Jeff Kositsky, whom we wrote about a bit here, announced another effort to aid homelessness: an Encampment Response Team. Just like many San Francisco residents, Im concerned about the impact of encampments in our community," Kositsky said. "The camps are unsafe and unhealthy for people living in them and are highly disruptive to our neighborhoods... The new Encampment Response Team will ensure our residents living in encampments receive the shelter and services they deserve and that our neighborhoods remain safe and healthy for families and everyone."

According to the Controller's Office, the first Navigation center has been a relative success. More than 80 percent of its clients who have left its doors have gone on to supportive housing or reconnected with friends or family to stay with. As of March, a report showed that 468 clients had used the Navigation Center: 142 were placed in permanent housing after an average of 88 days, and 168 took advantage of the Homeward Bound program. The report also issued this useful chart.





Previously: Second Homeless Navigation Center Will Be An SRO At 12th And Market

Supervisors Approve Six New Homeless Navigation Centers (Without Booze Or Drugs)

San Francisco's Homeless Navigation Center Plan, By The Numbers
The U.S. Supreme Court did the right thing on Monday when it struck down unduly burdensome restrictions placed on Texas abortion providers. We agree that the restrictions have nothing to do with ensuring that abortions are safe, as their supporters argue, and everything to do with making them more difficult to obtain.

The Texas restrictions were part of a national wave of Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws recently enacted by conservative Republicans to undermine Roe v. Wade by chipping away at the rights of abortion providers. Wisconsin, in fact, enacted one of the regulations struck down on Mondaythe requirement that abortion providers have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, which Gov. Scott Walker quietly signed into law on July 5, 2013, during the holiday weekend. Last year, a federal appeals court affirmed a U.S. district courts decision to block the Wisconsin law. On Tuesday, the court refused to review the Walker administrations appeal of that decision. But a host of Walker-era restrictions meant to deny women the ability to be in charge of their health and well-being remains on the books.

If history is any guide, Mondays ruling wont stop those committed to outlawing abortion. Since the right wing needs Roe v. Wade to energize their base and doesnt have the votes on the court to overturn it, conservatives will continue striking at it with targeted hits that seem innocuous on the surface but are quite damaging in reality. But these anti-abortion legislators should take heed of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburgs warning in her separate concurrence on Monday. Ginsburg wrote that if the court respects the precedent of Roe and other court decisions on abortion, TRAP laws that do little or nothing for health, but rather strew impediments to abortion, cannot survive judicial inspection. In other words, conservatives can try to outlaw abortion, but the court and the Constitution will stop them from succeeding.
The good news is that the latest attempt by white, suburban Republicans to wrest control of Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) from the racially diverse school board that was democratically elected by Milwaukeeans, whose children actually attend those schools, seems to be disappearing into thin air.

The bad news is that decades of dishonest attacks on Milwaukee Public Schools to try to peddle a vicious, right-wing political agenda has so poisoned the educational debate that school officials rejected what appeared to be a sincere attempt to use an ill-conceived state law to provide Milwaukee students with some badly needed support services.

Supporters of Milwaukees public schools are right to be skeptical of so-called reforms that anti-Milwaukee Republicans in Madison claim will improve education in Milwaukee.

Every one of them since Republican Gov. Tommy Thompsons 1990 voucher program, which diverted tax funds to private and religious schools, has resulted in less funding for public education.

Republicans even invented a preposterous, insulting theory to pretend that slashing financial resources for Milwaukee schools would actually improve those schools: If public schools have to compete with private schools and profit-making charter schools for students and taxpayer funding, public schools will be forced to stop being bad and become good schools to attract more students and more money.

But thats just a cover for the real Republican agenda of slashing taxes for education and destroying the power of teachers unions to improve pay and benefits to attract talented teachers. Thats the driving force behind Gov. Scott Walkers scorched-earth education cuts and Act 10s destruction of collective bargaining for public employees.

OSPP Wasnt Intended to Help MPS

Theres little question the latest phony Republican reform, called the Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program, was never really intended to benefit Milwaukee schools.

Republican state Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills and state Rep. Dale Kooyenga of Brookfield introduced it without any input from Milwaukee school officials, parents or, frankly, anyone who knew anything at all about the needs and challenges of urban school districts that serve large numbers of students living in poverty.

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The obvious priority was to begin piecemeal removal of control over the citys public schools from Milwaukees own democratically elected school board.

Republicans start with the unfair assumption that Milwaukees education leadership cant possibly succeed because the citys schools are experiencing the same academic difficulties as every other urban school district in the country.

Never mind that the current school board continues to move the quality of education forward, despite horrendous state budget cuts, by hiring strong, impressive superintendents in Darienne Driver and her predecessor, Gregory Thornton.

Darling and Kooyengas contribution was to decree that three to five of the lowest performing schools should be removed from school board control each year and handed over to, surprise, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele.

Why choose Abele, since he had no known expertise or interest in public education?

Apparently, Abele was the only Milwaukee Democrat who Republicans expected do their bidding, since hed worked with Republican legislators to pass a similar law to destroy the democratically elected County Boards authority over his office by reducing supervisors jobs to part-time.

But Abele, who really doesnt like to be told what to do, wasnt so eager to roll over. The law authorized Abele to appoint an education commissioner to turn over targeted schools to those nice, non-union, profit-making charter school operators Republicans love so much.

That didnt happen because Abele chose Demond Means, superintendent of the Mequon-Thiensville School District, as his education commissioner.

Means, an African American graduate of Riverside High School, is a respected Wisconsin educator who has never made any secret of his dream to one day become superintendent of his hometown school district.

Thats why Means developed a real school partnership plan for Abele that was actually designed to try to improve low-performing MPS schools. Needless to say, it bore little resemblance to the anti-Milwaukee vision of Darling and Kooyenga.

Means would serve as consultant to the targeted schools, which would remain part of MPS. MPS teachers and staff would retain their jobs, benefits and union membership. MPS would receive per-pupil state funding at the charter school rate. The poorly drafted state law provided no specific funding at all for the schools or even the commissioners job.

The most significant innovation in the partnership is that students and their families would receive privately funded, wraparound social services such as health care, housing assistance and job training.

Anyone examining why many impoverished students perform poorly in school knows it has much more to do with everything else going in those childrens lives than with schools, teachers or administrators.

Which is why its a crying shame the well-intentioned plan was flatly rejected by MPS as just another Republican threat. If Means succeeded with his holistic approach, it could have become a model for urban education around the country.

Its too bad real educational innovation dies in the poisonous atmosphere created by decades of attacks on public schools passed off as education reform.
Local artist Elisha Ben-Yitzhak has a solo show of paintings opening Saturday, July 9 at the Frank L. Weyenberg Library in Mequon. The Milwaukee area is a bit slow on the uptake considering that Ben-Yitzhak has lived in the city since 1985 and his highly regarded work has been exhibited in prestigious shows such as the Florence Biennale in Florence, Italy, the International Art Exhibit in Ferrara, Italy, the International Biennale in Montreal, Canada and the World Tour of Contemporary Art in London.

Ben-Yitzhak was born into beauty although he didnt devote himself to art until the late 60s. Born in the small farming city of Kibbutz Kfar Blum, Israel, in 1943, Ben-Yitzhak was set on the artists path after witnessing the death of a close friend in a tragic hand-grenade accident during military training. He began his formal study of art in 1966 in Jerusalem, what he describes as the nicest city in the world. Its so beautifulin the summer, in the winter, in snow, in sun.

The solo show is entitled Imagine because, in Ben-Yitzhaks words, I depict my emotions and feelings in a very unique way. Its not as though you immediately see a house in my paintings, they require imagination. Although his work certainly stirs the imagination into action, Ben-Yitzhaks canvasses blend abstraction with representational elements. For instance, the cello is a recurring motif in the works, and it is often intertwined with representations of femininity. I love music, says Ben-Yitzhak, The shape of the instrument reminds me of the shape of a womans body.

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Differently described, Ben-Yitzhaks paintings utilize simple, suggestive shapes and a vivid, but not quite psychedelic, palette of blue, yellow, purple and orange. Ben-Yitzhak lists his central influences as Wassily Kandinsky, Georges Braquewho I think is greater than Pablo Picassoand Paul Klee. The mark of his three influences are apparent in the musical repetitions, harmonious interplay of colors (yielding an almost synesthetic experience) and the Cubistic play with perspective, yet Ben-Yitzhak remains his own distinctive artist.

When asked how his art has changed before and after his move to Milwaukee in 1985, Ben-Yitzhak identifies what is perhaps the chief characteristic of his work: My work since being in Milwaukee is happier. The style hasnt changed, but the colors have. They are much brighter and happier.

On Saturday, July 9, the Frank L. Weyenberg Library (11345 N. Cedarburg Road, Mequon) will hold a gala reception in its Tolzman Community Room from 3-5:30 p.m., during which there will be an opportunity to meet the artist from 4-5 p.m. For more information, call 262-242-2593 or visit flwlib.org.
 Expand Leon Young, FB

Wisconsin voters will head to the polls in the midst of summer, when the parties will hold their primaries on Aug. 9. In the 16th Assembly District, 24-year incumbent Rep. Leon Young drew three challengers in the Democratic primary. Since no Republicans have jumped into the race, the primary winner will take office in January. All four candidates spoke to the Shepherd about their campaigns and plans for the district, which includes the near North Side and parts of Downtown.

Brandy Bond

Brandy Bond is a volunteer and activist in the neighborhood who worked on many social justice campaigns.

I feel like its time for the district to change and if there isnt a sensible person that knows the district and is ready to put the work in to protect its current residents as well as welcoming new initiatives and people my community may get lost, Bond said of her reason for running for Assembly.

To bring jobs to the district, she said she would negotiate and partner with companies that want to build in the state and help small businesses.

I would bring in more businesses by lobbying for community efforts through different Fortune 500 companies that are already interested in coming to Wisconsin, Bond said.

She said she would look at the details of various reform efforts for the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) and work with stakeholders to come up with education plans that work for students.

I believe that the curriculum as well as leadership, allocations of funds and home life of children, especially in impoverished neighborhoods, need to be looked at and not just protested or complained about, Bond said.

On privatization efforts, she said, I dont feel like any private organization should come along and try to impede on MPS, but if another organization feels like they can offer a better education than MPS for the children in Milwaukee and theyre reputable organizations that are prepared to help the community grow and not take away from it, Im willing to look at anything.

She said shed like to provide work opportunities and quality education for the districts youth and reconnect them with loved ones who are unfairly incarcerated as part of the states mass incarceration crisis.

That would be great for them and something enriching for their lives, she said.

To learn more about Brandy Bond, go to facebook.com/votebrandybond.

Stephen Jansen

Stephen Jansen is a job developer at a nonprofit organization for at-risk youth and those with disabilities. He recently earned his masters degree from UW-Milwaukee in public administration.

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I believe the system is rigged, he said. I wanted to run to be a part of a new kind of politics thats going to give power to the people and empower communities and to pass legislation that can improve peoples lives.

Jansen said hed like to add amendments to the state and U.S. constitutions to get special-interest money out of politics.

I do not believe that we can have any of the significant reforms that we need as a state unless we can deal with this issue of money in politics, he said.

He said hed like to fully fund public education and implement reforms to shorten the summer break, reduce testing and invest in apprenticeships and internships so graduates will succeed in the workplace. He also wants University of Wisconsin students to play a larger role in shared governance and decisions about budgets and student fees. He opposes voucher schools and privatization efforts.

I work with students with disabilities and with older adults who are transitioning in the workplace with disabilities, he said. I have strong concerns about special education and how taking money out of public education is going to affect a lot of these students.

Jansen said hed like to address structural inequality in the district by ensuring that money for development helps struggling neighborhoods. He said hed like to put people to work rehabilitating boarded-up homes, which will increase the property tax base, improve neighborhoods, reduce crime and provide residents with job skills and income. Providing better access to banks, grocery stores with healthy food, and transit are key to addressing structural inequality, he said.

He said hed like to see criminal justice reforms that include treatment and not jail for low-level drug offenders, background checks for gun purchases and more support for survivors of domestic abuse and human trafficking.

There are many avenues of violence that we need to talk about, he said. We cant just talk about it in the context of guns.

To learn more about Stephen Jansen, go to jansenforassembly.com.

Edgar Lin

Edgar Lin is a former financial analyst who currently works as an attorney in the Milwaukee division of the State Public Defenders office. In 2014, he earned the Wisconsin Law Journals Up and Coming Lawyer award for his work on behalf of victims of sex trafficking and female sex workers who were unfairly prosecuted.

He said hes running because its time for a change in leadership.

There has been the status quo of inaction, he said. There is an urgent need for action in a district that is as diverse as this district, where you have the tale of two citiesyou have Downtown and you have 53206. We really need to spread the prosperity to all parts of the city.

Lin said hed work to reduce Milwaukees high mass incarceration rate, which disproportionately impacts African Americans.

This makes me very angry, Lin said. I see it every day as a public defender, when most of my clients are people of color.

He said hed like to offer treatment to those with addictions instead of jailing them for nonviolent crimes and also reform the states expungement policy so that law-abiding ex-offenders who have turned their lives around arent penalized by their criminal record.

Its the compassionate thing to do and it also gives them incentive to work hard, he said.

To bring jobs to the district he would try at the state level to tie development deals to local hiring goals, improve the states job center so job-seekers dont have to rely on for-profit temp agencies, and help entrepreneurs by making space for them in vacant office buildings and offering them utilities and access to Internet.

Start-ups are good job creators because they hire locally, Lin said.

Lin opposes education privatization and wants better funding for public schools. He supports the community schools model that offers wraparound social services within the school, as launched by MPS.

The safest neighborhoods dont necessarily have the most police, Lin said. They have the most resources.

For more about Edgar Lin, go to voteedgar.com.

Leon Young

State Rep. Leon Young has represented the district since his 1992 election. Im running for re-election because I want to continue to help uplift people in my community, Young said. I want to help people get jobs, help people be able to send their kids to great schools. I want to address issues about crime so that people can feel safe going home and playing outside.

If re-elected, he said hed fight for better wages, reduce crime and the number of guns on the street and repeal Walkers policies that harm the poor.

Young said he was very happy with last summers Bucks arena deal, especially the additional community benefits agreement, which covers the permanent jobs in the arena district. The agreement commits the Bucks to raising the minimum wage to $15, sets local hiring goals and protects workers right to unionize.

He said his biggest achievements in the Assembly date back to when the Democrats were in the majority. They include securing $1 million for job training programs via WRTP/Big Step, providing more than $10 million for energy assistance for those with low incomes, and creating a way to donate to Feeding America on tax forms. He said his work on the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) board aided developments in Milwaukee, including the Blue Ribbon Lofts, the Beerline B apartments, King Drive Commons, the Inner City Arts building and the Majestic lofts.

Im very happy about this because not only are you creating quality homes but youre creating jobs and taking back the neighborhoods, Young said.

He said it was key to elect Democratic majorities in the Legislature so that Republican polices can be replaced by legislation that helps Milwaukee.

Winning more seats would help, Young said. We even have fights with our own Democrats about Milwaukee, that Milwaukee gets too much funding. If Milwaukee does well the state does well.

Young doesnt have a website or Facebook page yet but is in the process of setting up an online presence.
SIOUX CITY | Keesha Graham remembers climbing the stairs at the Sergeant Floyd Monument as a student attending Joy Elementary School years ago.

In June, she retraced her childhood steps, and brought her sons to do the same. They came from St. Petersburg, Florida, where Graham has lived for 16 years. She's now a third-grade teacher and thrilled to share local history.

"I brought my sons back to see the history of where I grew up," Graham said as Jaxon Graham, 5, and Jayce Graham, 8, took pictures of the country's first national historic monument, a 100-foot obelisk that serves as the fourth and final burial site for Sgt. Charles Floyd, the only man who died on the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

Modern-day medical professionals believe Floyd likely died of appendicitis on Aug. 20, 1804. His body was carried to the highest bluff in the vicinity and he was buried with full military honors in a service led by Capt. Meriwether Lewis.

The burial site washed away in an 1857 flood, meaning that officials had to collect his remains and bury him again in May 1857, about 600 feet from the original burial site.

"We have record of his skull, shoulder blades, a full set of leg bones, a partial set of leg bones and some vertebrae," said Bev Hinds, a Sioux Cityan who serves as president for the Sergeant Floyd Tri-State Chapter, which operates under the umbrella of the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation.

"We do programs and have obtained grant funds that purchase the 15-star, 15-stripe U.S. flag at the monument, a flag that matches the one flown on the expedition," Hinds said.

Hinds also flies that flag at her home.

Sergeant Floyd's journal was found in 1893 and published in 1894. One year later, Sioux City leaders asked about the site of his burial. After locating the grave, his remains were placed in two earthenware urns, which were buried again on Aug. 20, 1895, the anniversary of his death.

"After that third burial, John Herr Charles decided there should be a monument for Sergeant Floyd," Hinds said.

John Herr Charles, who was president of the Floyd Association (which no longer exists), began raising funds to erect a monument. It took five years to raise $20,000, an amount that triggered the start of the monument with the pouring of a concrete base in May 1900. Workers then dug up the urns containing Floyd's remains and buried them for a final time on Aug. 20, 1900.

"He's been buried three times on Aug. 20," Hinds said. "He is under the monument."

Workers advanced on the monument some 55 feet into the air that summer and then finished the 100-foot structure in 1901. And since that time, thousands of visitors have trekked to the site, a small park that is maintained by the Sioux City Parks Department and overseen by Hinds, who changes out the guest registry every two weeks or so.

"I estimate that one or two out of every 10 people there stop to sign the registry," said Hinds, who also does programming at the Sergeant Floyd Welcome Center on Sioux City's Riverfront.

"Someone from Micronesia signed in May. We've had visitors from Japan, Germany and Holland in recent months. Last year, we had someone from Belarus stop by."

Hinds begins each new registry with her name, her city (Sioux City) and a comment about the day of her visit, often something like, "Beautiful, but windy."

"I leave a comment so that people can follow suit," she said.

They do. Recent visitors from all over Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and the rest of the U.S. have written comments that vary from, "I love Iowa," to "Awesome," to "Beautiful sunset."

"Big front," wrote a guest who listed their name as "Storm Gazers."

It really offers one of Sioux City's prime vistas, allowing one to peer miles into the distance from a bluff that overlooks Interstate 29, Lewis Boulevard and parts of Sioux City, Sergeant Bluff and South Sioux City, Nebraska -- areas that the Lewis & Clark Expedition experienced for the first time in 1804 as soldiers commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to find a route to the Pacific Ocean through this vast, new territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase.

Visitors still wind their way along that route and find themselves stopping here to remember a young soldier who gave his life in the service of his young country.

An annual program at the Floyd Monument recreates that solemn service. It always takes place on the Saturday closest to the date of Floyd's death, Aug. 20.

This year, that date falls on a Saturday. Hinds will be there, joined by dozens of others and, perhaps, several out-of-state guests and history seekers. The program begins at 6 p.m.
SIOUX CITY | Removing a financial barrier that threatened to thwart the $6.7 million project, Woodbury County supervisors approved $1.5 million Tuesday for the proposed Ag Expo and Learning Center in Sioux City.

For several months, state and city leaders had urged the county to contribute to the facility envisioned for a tract in the former stockyards, on the doorstep of downtown along Interstate 29.

Last November, the Sioux City Council pledged $2 million and 12 acres of land at the site of the former John Morrell pork plant. At the time, the city funding was contingent on a $2 million pledge from the county and $1 million from the nonprofit gaming group Missouri River Historical Development. MRHD presented a pledge in that amount last week.

By a 4-1 vote Tuesday, the supervisors pledged $1.5 million to the project over 10 years, at $150,000 per year.

"This is a unique opportunity where Woodbury County and the city of Sioux City stand ready for growth ... It is a very exciting endeavor," supervisor chairman Jeremy Taylor said.

The county money was considered crucial in the city's bid to land $13.9 million in future sales and hotel taxes from the Iowa Economic Development Authority for the ag center and two other big-ticket projects totaling $72 million. (The other pieces are a new hotel near the downtown Sioux City Convention Center and the nearby Virginia Square mixed-use development.)

The city's Reinvestment District application is awaiting final approval from the IEDA board, which at a meeting earlier this year had warned the state funds could be dependent on the county and other public bodies, such as Western Iowa Tech Community College, showing a financial commitment to the project.

The county's first payment to the ag center would come after July 2017, with the funding coming from either the county's portion of gambling revenues from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City or from tax-increment financing. That funding detail will be worked out over future months, although Taylor said he preferred the use of gambling revenues for at least the next few years.

The county annually gets from $375,000 to $400,000 in gaming proceeds.

"It will be financially responsible," Taylor said.

The dissenting vote Tuesday came from Supervisor Larry Clausen, who said he preferred tapping the county's 1 percent Local Option Sales Tax fund for the money for the ag center. Clausen said the county has used the gambling fund proceeds to pay for equipment purchases and other unanticipated costs that arise each fiscal year, so the fund could be too strapped.

"I'd love to vote for this. The money is not there," Clausen said.

Along with Taylor, supervisors Jackie Smith, Mark Monson and Matthew Ung also supported the $1.5 million plan, which will be fleshed out in a series of upcoming sharing agreements with varying entities involved.

"This is a great, great, great project ... It is all about agriculture and just about everybody in this area is involved in agriculture," Monson said.

Dennis Gann, a member of the Ag Expo and Learning Center Board of Directors, cheered the decision.

"This is is a great moment ... It is visionary," Gann said.

After months of hesitation, the county board moved toward supporting the ag center after working out a series of stipulations with the other entities. The county insisted that it will not be involved in the day-to-day operations of the center or responsible if the center experienced financial losses. The center will be run by a private management firm, rather than the city as was originally envisioned.

The county money is also contingent on Western Iowa Tech contributing $250,000 to the ag center, which would be designed with classroom space.

The center, which would host equestrian competitions, livestock shows and other farm and ag-related events, is projected to draw more than 100,000 people annually. Preliminary plans call for the complex to include a 3,000-seat arena, a warm-up arena, livestock pens and a stockyards hall of fame.

More private fundraising will be needed to finalize complete financing.

"This will allow us to charge ahead and raise the additional funds and go back to the state," city of Sioux City Economic Development Director Marty Dougherty said.

A few years ago, the county backed plans for a different version of the center that was originally planned next to the Woodbury County Fairgrounds in Moville and as primarily an equestrian center.

Gann said it was unfortunate the project never came together in Moville after sufficient funding failed to materialize. The focus then shifted to Sioux City.
ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa | Department of Natural Resources specialists monitored waters in Lyon County on Tuesday after a semi flatbed trailer rolled into a ditch, spilling soybean herbicide, soybean oil and water into a tributary of Mud Creek and the Rock River.

According to a news release from the DNR, environmental specialists from the Spencer field office reported to the scene near Iowa Highway 9 about six miles west of Rock Rapids, where a truck from Countryside Ag Service in Hawarden, Iowa, had rolled into a ditch.

The release said two containers of herbicide were intact on the truck, but an unknown amount of a soybean herbicide and parts of 150 gallons of soybean oil and 5,000 gallons of water reached the ditch, running into an unnamed tributary of Mud Creek and the Rock River.

The spill caused a milky white color in the tributary for about 150 feet, but DNR staff did not notice any stressed fish or other aquatic life, the release said.

The ditch has been dammed and was expected to be cleaned up in the afternoon.

The DNR will continue to analyze water samples and monitor the cleanup.
SIOUX CITY | Three Sioux City men are facing burglary and theft charges after police said they stole several items from a vendor tent at Awesome Biker Nights.

According to a news release from the Sioux City Police Department, three men burglarized a tent belonging to 2 Good 2 Toss, a vendor from Seabrook, Texas, located in the 300 block of Fourth Street on the night of June 18.

Following an investigation, police arrested three male suspects.

Ricardo Vital, 24, of Sioux City, has been charged with third-degree burglary, first-degree theft, possession of a dangerous weapon and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Two teenage males, a 13-year-old and 14-year-old, also of Sioux City, have been charged with third-degree burglary, first-degree theft and possession of a dangerous weapon.

The teens also face second-degree criminal mischief charges connected to an unrelated incident at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City in which construction equipment was damaged.

Vital is being held in the Woodbury County Jail on $17,300 bond.
SIOUX CITY | Not all Sioux City criminal cases reach the high-profile status as Jamal Dean's did, but his case is an example of the importance of cooperation among local, state and federal authorities in the tri-state region.

That collaboration by law enforcement in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota is crucial when working all kinds of cases, said Kevin Techau, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa.

"We work best when we work together," said Techau, who, along with U.S. attorneys Deborah Gilg of Nebraska and Randolph Seiler of South Dakota, gathered on Wednesday for the first-ever Siouxland Tri-State Law Enforcement Executive Meeting.

Nearly 80 law enforcement officials representing police and sheriff's departments from all three states, state departments of public safety and federal agencies, including the FBI, U.S. Marshal's Service, Drug Enforcement Agency and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives attended the meeting at the 185th Air Refueling Wing, Iowa Air National Guard.

The theme: getting to know each other better and stress the importance of working together, especially in the Sioux City metro area, where offenders can easily move among three states with different sets of laws.

"Criminals and drugs don't respect borders, they don't respect state lines, don't respect rivers and they don't respect jurisdictions," Seiler said. "I think the smaller districts like South Dakota, the Northern District of Iowa and Nebraska, we all work hard to coordinate outreach."

Such was the case with Dean, sentenced to life in prison in January 2015 after being found guilty in federal court of several charges in connection with two separate robberies of cash, drugs and cars from drug dealers in April 2013. Dean and his brother, Lamont Dean Jr., who was sentenced to 33 years in prison for his role in the robberies, split time between Sioux City and South Sioux City during their crime spree.

It took cooperation of several agencies to investigate those crimes and prosecute the two, as well as Jamal Dean's shooting of a Sioux City police officer and subsequent movement between Iowa and Nebraska before fleeing the area. Dean, who was eventually arrested in Texas, also is serving a 25-year Iowa prison sentence for attempted murder.

"We had so many different agencies that were involved, it was a great template to follow," Sioux City Police Chief Doug Young said of the use of Dean's case as an example during Wednesday's meeting.

Gilg said it's important for each state's law enforcement to know about gang members such as Dean. In Omaha, she said, there are 42 identified gangs, and authorities know they travel throughout the area, including Sioux City, South Sioux City and into South Dakota.

"We know they go to Iowa. We know they go to South Dakota," Gilg said.

Young said the meeting was a chance to meet people from cities as far away as Omaha, Sioux Falls and Worthington, Minnesota, all agencies that Sioux City police have contact with.

"You can always pick up the phone and talk to these agencies, but there's nothing like being able to put a face to those contacts," Young said.
SIOUX CITY | The Siouxland Chamber of Commerce and The Siouxland Initiative announced plans Wednesday to update the tri-state region's laborshed employment study.

The study, which will be updated in partnership with Iowa Workforce Developments Regional Research Bureau, will study the potential labor force from which regional companies draw their employees based upon commuting patterns in the surrounding region.

The study will help current and prospective businesses better understand where Siouxland draws its labor force and will highlight labor characteristics regardless of state borders and political boundaries.

We have always found the laborshed study to be a very helpful tool, Barbara Sloniker, executive vice president of the Chamber and TSI, said in a news release issued Wednesday. The study results will be especially important in this tight labor market, giving employers a snapshot of the available workforce. We encourage area employers to respond to the request for information.

Siouxlands laborshed boundary is based on the place of residence of individuals working in the Sioux City Metropolitan Statistical Area, or MSA. Employers in the laborshed are also asked to provide aggregate counts of their employees by ZIP code based on their place of residence, which shows where the local workforce resides and provides information on typical commuting patterns.

Once the laborshed area is determined, a confidential household telephone survey will be conducted in those areas. The questions will cover topics like employment status, wages, benefits, education and occupation.

Survey results are then applied to demographic data to develop a total potential labor force, as well as estimates for various labor force characteristics.

The study is expected to be completed within 12 to 15 weeks.

Results for each county and regional analysis will be posted at www.iowaworkforcedevelopment.gov/laborshed-studies
SPENCER, Iowa | If you're heading to the Iowa Great Lakes over July 4 weekend, you might want to take an extra second to buckle your seat belt.

The Iowa State Patrol has announced it will coordinate a special traffic enforcement effort along the Iowa Great Lakes Corridor leading up to July 4.

Extra officers will patrol during the enforcement period, addressing all types of traffic violations and assisting stranded motorists.

Iowa has seen a 36 percent increase in the number of traffic deaths this year, according to Iowa Department of Transportation data. So far, 174 lives have been lost along the roads in 2016.

ISP officials say the number of impaired driving crashes has increased, as well as lower seat belt use. Nearly 50 percent of this year's fatalities have not been belted.

The ISP recommends all motorists traveling over the holiday weekend buckle up, slow down, avoid distractions and use a designated driver if plans include alcohol.
The Journal's June 24 Cheers and Jeers opinion questioned why Congressman Steve King felt his amendment to a Treasury Department funding bill was of importance to those of us living in the 4th Congressional District.

Well, here's a thought. Maybe, he saw no good reason to fix what wasn't broken in the first place. We need to spend gazillions of dollars coming up with new currency? Really? With all of the problems America faces, surely we can allocate money to more important, vital issues. Anyone reading this could name at least a dozen.

Every so often, detractors of the congressman allege he is a grandstanding, do-nothing, too-long-in-office politician. They claim he has no legislation to his credit. They say he makes outrageous claims. Well, golly, I guess his colleagues and various independent analysts must have it all wrong, as they recently named Congressman King as the 16th Hardest Working Member of Congress. As noted by Newsmax, in its June 7, 2016, listing, Steve King deserves this distinction due to "his vigorous tours of his district nearly every weekend and his service on the House Agriculture Committee."

I would add that he is easily one of the most well-versed congressmen when it comes to what the United States Constitution is all about, and his service work for veterans' issues is unmatched.

The Newsmax article went on to note that their editorial team interviewed dozens of people who know the House of Representatives really well. Included were members of Congress (present and former), congressional staffers, reporters, lobbyists, lawyers and others.

"Importantly," the article said, "we checked with constituents across the nation, asking their views on individual members of Congress. Some of the criteria used included a House member's commitment to their job, their interest in constituent services and follow-up, their championing of issues and causes important to the national interest, their honesty and their ability to get things done." - Bill Kersting, Spencer, Iowa
Todays workplace has expanded beyond the confined, brick and mortar buildings to the entire world. Time and geographical barriers no longer pose problems in maintaining a global team of employees for businesses.

With uncompromising speed, security and access, businesses can operate from anywhere, thus bringing diversity into the equation. In the globally networked world of businesses, it has become increasingly common to have distributed teams.

Such a flexible workplace supports the working of employees from different locations. Not only does it support the rapidly evolving landscape of businesses but it is also highly beneficial from a financial standpoint.

That being said, managing a globally distributed team can be quite the challenge. How do you manage a team an entire time zone away? Lets take a look at a few ways that can make this task easy.

Tips for Managing Global Virtual Teams

Talent Acquisition



One of the major factors that restricted hiring the best talent for a company was geographical proximity. With remote workers in the radar of businesses, this is no longer a problem. The first step is to attract globally distributed candidates for the jobs. Creative hiring strategies have surfaced to make this process easy and distinctive.

Kuty Shalev, CEO and founder of a remote-based software development company pointed out, To attract top remote talent, start by rethinking your approach to job descriptions. I actually recommend making your job descriptions less descriptive. Instead, focus on using fewer words and incorporating more intrigue.

Stretching out the talent acquisition process to accommodate the employees requirements can help you achieve this.

Make the Most of Technology



To manage your globally distributed team efficiently, you will need to go all online. The money you save from investing in offices can be utilized to make use of the best technology to make collaboration with remote teams seamless.

Being tech-savvy is no longer an option or an added skill for todays workforce  it is a necessity. In fact, todays generation of employees does not switch off. With the advent of technology, employees can stay connected always regardless of the location or the time.

The BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend coupled with the easy accessibility of the Internet through WiFi facilities is highly beneficial to manage a team of remote workers. This trend has gained ground recently with 74 percent of the organizations already using this or in the process of adopting it.

Apart from that, there are numerous communication channels like video-conferencing etc. that can be used to interact with a remote team.

Global Team Building



Global team building is not much of a problem with the right tools and the right attitude in place. It is important to note that, with remote employees, the dynamics of the meetings are more social and the atmosphere is more relaxed. Conference calls and chat rooms can turn out to be quite effective in conducting these meetings. Real-time web conferencing is a boon in such situations.

One way to initiate a conversation and spark rapport is to start by asking about the weather condition or their culture or the latest news in their countries and so on.

A visual display showing each participant on the conference call along with their names and locations is an effective team building method. This allows everyone to see and get to know each other on their teams. This way, they would feel recognized.

It is important to gain the trust of your employees. In such situations, honesty and flexibility along with an interest to listen to and understand your employees doubts and queries matter considerably. Effective communication is key. That being said, you can also meet up with your team to build unison.

Keep Everything Documented



Supporting a remote staff may result in loss of valuable information unless everything is documented thoroughly.

It is advisable to make it an everyday routine to keep the records of your employees daily activities. Submission of detailed work reports will help in keeping you as well as the team informed about the progress of work while keeping the company fully operational throughout the day at all locations.

While having a worldwide network may have its fair share of challenges, it has many rewards. With these tips and a proper maintenance plan, you can easily manage a globally distributed team.
Running a business requires you to manage so many different functions at once. That often leads to businesses relying on multiple apps or tools to manage everything from invoicing and scheduling to marketing and sales.

But now theres a tool available to help more small businesses condense the amount of tools needed to manage that daily workflow.

MyBusinessGenie

MyBusinessGenie is an online platform and iPad app to manage small business workflow from beginning to end. Its not just a software program for managing invoices or scheduling appointments. You can actually use it to showcase products or services through saved photos or even websites. You can capture lead data and make notes about interactions or even assign tasks to your team members. From there, you can manage client communications, allow them to schedule meetings or appointments with your team and even collect and manage payments.

Founder and CEO of Genie Labs Venu Gooty created the tool after working on a way to improve his own workflow as a professional photographer. Because Gooty found it difficult to manage his business while out on shoots and working in ever-changing locations, he decided to create his own tool to help.

But he didnt go right to creating MyBusinessGenie. Instead, Gooty created StudioGenie, a tool meant specifically to help professional photographers manage their businesses while going out on shoots. After launching, however, he realized that a lot of what he created could also be useful to business owners in other industries.

Gooty said in a phone interview with Small Business Trends, Really soon after that I realized that people in other industries were creating accounts and they also had the same set of challenges for how to manage their businesses on the go. So we got a lot of feedback from other industries on how to simplify their experience to keep up not just with photography.

Gooty says that the tool can benefit any businesses that see team members spending significant amounts of time in the field. Instead of relying on software and programs that are made for office workers, MyBusinessGenie gives you the chance to manage all of those tasks right from your iPad. The simplification of that process is one of the main benefits. Instead of you or your team members having to remember or take down information then updating it when you get back to the office, you can update that information right in the app while you sit with the customer or client. Some of the businesses that might be able to benefit from such a tool include event planners, contractors, interior designers, landscapers and any other businesses that often meet with clients outside of a traditional office environment.

Since the entire business world is getting more mobile, a tool like this makes sense for a wide variety of businesses. There are some accounting tools and project management apps that also offer mobile versions. However, Gooty says that MyBusinessGenies ability to manage workflow from start to finish sets it apart.

Businesses interested in the mobile tool can sign up for a free account now. Free accounts cover one user and charges a fee for paid invoices. Theres also a professional plan available that includes the field app and unlimited team members. MyBusinessGenie also offers customizable enterprise solutions. So its something that can scale with your business as it grows.
Todays business world relies heavily on customer interactions. Establishing a brand online isnt just a fancy way to make your company stand out anymore  its an absolute requirement to stay relevant in the digital market. The massive evolution of the internet and the digital capabilities of our age have created the need for enterprises to provide consistent, meaningful content to their consumer bases.

In this mad rush to provide content, recent years have shown us several examples of what not to do in the race for relevancy. When it comes to publishing quality material, several factors must be carefully weighed before sending anything out into the world:

Whats the point? Anything a brand provides to its consumer base needs to reflect the needs of those individuals as well as the companys values and mission.

If content is king, quality is queen. Consumers must extract something meaningful from the content they digest; otherwise, they feel like theyre wasting their time.

Dont ignore social responsibility. We live in volatile times. Its absolutely crucial to weigh the implications a piece of content may have in light of recent events or for a particular audience.

Get the timing right. When you publish a piece is just as important as what youre delivering.

Speed should never take precedence over completeness and precision. Its better to spend the time ensuring a piece of content is factually sound rather than needing to retract and revise it later.

What Not to Do if You Want Quality Content

Recently, the world has seen a slew of multimedia faux pas that have ranged from cringe-worthy to downright tasteless. In an effort to keep with the times and build meaningful relationships with a younger generation, many marketers have made insensitive or poorly timed jokes that have resulted in heavy, heated backlash. In some cases, the article or content piece was seemingly pushed out the door as soon as it was written, and the audience wondered whether or not any of the authors supervisors bothered to check what they were publishing.

For example, a recent SB Nation piece about convicted rapist Daniel Holtzclaw was deemed a complete failure and was pulled less than 24 hours after publication. The piece seemed to sympathize with Holtzclaw, and the controversy that the article sparked was nothing if not deserved. Any content that covers sensitive subject matter must be vetted carefully before publication.

Perhaps even more scandalous was the now-discredited Rolling Stone article about a reported gang rape at the University of Virginia. The author of the original article published her story without any fact-checking, and once the article made national news, other media figures probed the case and eventually exposed that the story was entirely fabricated. Rolling Stone still employs the writer of the article, but one of the editors of the piece resigned. The magazine is facing several lawsuits as a result of the article.

Whether these stories were published with good intentions or simply for shock value doesnt really matter. In the internet age, the truth eventually comes out about everything published in the media  and these stories did real damage to both companies reputations. Such debacles should be considered cautionary tales about how important accuracy and sensitivity are in content publication.

Create a Culture That Encourages Truth and Precision

The concept of creating a strong company culture has grown dramatically in recent years. Many businesses simply publish a mission statement and their core values and call it a day, but in 2016, consumers want to know what companies do for society outside of their provided goods and services. Company culture is also one of the vital features of an organization that attracts new talent from the younger workforce.

Content is how businesses connect with their consumers, but poorly managed content publishing practices can be a death sentence for any customer-oriented business. A misworded or ill-advised tweet can result in immense media attention, but not the kind you want. A poorly timed or improperly vetted article can drastically diminish your brands credibility and may make it considerably more difficult to spread your material to potential leads.

Creating a strong company culture is the goal of many future-thinking businesses. When it comes to doing so, there are a few practices that will help your workforce feel more included and valued, which is vital for creating an inclusive and cohesive community. There are also some things you can do that will make your operations leaner and more efficient. Regardless  never neglect the things you can do to foster a sense of duty in your workforce and guarantee a commitment to high-quality content.
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
WASHINGTON

(June 29, 2016)The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced the following contract awards that pertain to local Navy activities or local contractors., is being awarded acost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide management, operation, and development services for the manned flight simulator facility in support of various platforms for the Navy, Army, and Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland (95 percent); and Lexington Park, Maryland (5 percent), and is expected to be complete by November 2017. Fiscal 2015 and 2016 aircraft procurement (Army, Navy); fiscal 2016 research, development, test and evaluation; fiscal 2016 operations and maintenance (Navy); working capital funds (Navy); and foreign military sales funds are being obligated in the amount of $8,785,946, of which $221,963 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchase for the Navy ($32,752,792; 97.24 percent); Army ($546,843; 1.62 percent), and foreign military sales ($382,302; 1.14 percent). The Naval Air Warfare Center, Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (N61340-16-C-0020)., is being awarded amodification under a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N40080-14-D-0302) to exercise option two for base operations support services at the Naval Air Station, Patuxent River. The work to be performed provides for all management supervision, labor hours, training, equipment and supplies necessary to perform base operating support services to include but not limited to facility investment, integrated solid waste, swimming pools, utilities, waste water, water, and environmental services. After award of this option, the total cumulative contract value will be $45,056,928. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and work for this option period is expected to be completed June 2017. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Fiscal 2016 operations and maintenance (Navy); and fiscal 2016 Navy working capital funds in the amount $10,643,102 for recurring work will be obligated on individual task orders issued during the option period. The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor modification P00022 under a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00421-15-C-0021), to exercise an option for the procurement of approximately 299,730 hours of technical services for command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance electronic projects in support of the Naval Air Warfare Systems, Aircraft Division Special Communications Mission Solutions Division. Work will be performed in Lexington Park, Maryland (92 percent); Fayetteville, North Carolina (4 percent); San Diego, California (2 percent); Alexandria, Virginia (1 percent); and Orlando, Florida (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2017. Fiscal 2016 operations and maintenance (Defense-wide) funds in the amount of $180,194 will be obligated at the time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor modification P00007 to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-15-D-5501). This modification provides for the procurement of additional AN/ARC-210 radios and ancillary equipment for domestic and Foreign Military Sales platforms. Work will be performed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and is expected to be completed in September 2018. Contract funds will not be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The, is the contracting activity.
PRINCE FREDERICK, Md.

(June 29, 2016)Competing against the most talented Career and Technology Education (CTE) students in the country, Calvert County Public Schools students brought home one medal and one top-ten finish from the SkillsUSA 51st Annual National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC), held in Louisville, Kentucky last week.Daniel D. Curry, Superintendent, said, "We are so proud of our students who made it to the National SkillsUSA competition. They honor their school district with the way they represent. We are especially proud of those who earned medals and other recognition. We love the way they light the future."The Crime Scene Investigation team of Britaya Gray, Wilbur Robinson and Brandon Zickefoose returned with a bronze medal for 3rd place, and Amber Tucker placed 10th in the Esthetics competition, with April Watts as her model.Annastasia Henson (Power Equipment Technology), Philip Fink (Criminal Justice), Britney Dix (Graphic ImagingSublimation) and Lynn Mockabee (Job Skill Demonstration Open) were also among the 6,500 CTE students who competed nationally after winning at the local and state levels.SkillsUSA Maryland has a statewide membership of 5,000 high school students who are completing CTE programs. Calvert students consistently perform at high levels in competition while completing coursework that leads to industry-recognized credentials, employment, apprenticeships and post-secondary certificates and degrees.
YouTube star Calum McSwiggan said he was the victim of a hate crime on Tuesday night, but police claim otherwise.

The British vlogger was with his friends in Los Angeles visiting a popular gay club, The Abbey. Later on, McSwiggan took to social media to claim he had been attacked by three men  and posted a photo of himself in a hospital bed.

According to The Advocate, Holly M. Perez of the West Hollywood Station of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department stated officers were unable to substantiate the assault and McSwiggan had no visible injuries.

McSwiggan was then arrested when deputies found him vandalizing a car, Perez added. Personnel also claimed that the 26-year-old YouTuber injured himself with the handle and receiver to a payphone inside the cell and taken to a hospital.

Thats when the star posted a photo on Instagram of him on the hospital bed. After one of the most wonderful weekends at VidCon we went out to a gay club to celebrate, and towards the end of the evening I was separated from my friends and beaten up by three guys, he wrote in the caption. The authorities should have been there to help and protect me but instead they treated me like a second class citizen.

He added: With three broken teeth and six stitches in my forehead, I've never felt so terrified to be a gay man in the public eye.

McSwiggans friend and fellow YouTuber Riyadh Khalaf was with him that night, but did not observe the attack. He took to Twitter when he found out about his friend in the hospital.

Terrifying to see this shit still goes on in todays world and to one of my closest and dearest friends, Khalaf wrote.

On Wednesday after the release of the police departments statement, Khalaf tweeted stating he would not comment until he could legally speak. He also claimed that McSwiggan didnt fake it.
Just two days before his fortieth birthday, Raymond King was killed by a hit-and-run driver. The incident occurred sometimes before 3 a.m. on June 10 near the intersection of Northeast 6 Avenue and Northeast 27 Street in Wilton Manors.

The Broward Sheriffs Office and the Wilton Manors Police Department are still searching for the driver or anyone who has information leading to an arrest. Video of King, taken at the corner of Wilton Drive and Northeast 6 Avenue before he was killed, shows him walking along Wilton Drive just before 2 a.m. In the video, King appears to be headed in the direction of where he was killed.

According to BSO, King laid hurt and bleeding in the intersection when he was run over by an unidentified vehicle. Police do not yet know how he was injured.

A large pool of blood in the middle of the street suggests that King was in the road when he was hit. Its estimated that the driver of the car that hit him was traveling at 30 miles per hour when King was hit. The impact threw King about 37 feet onto the side of the road.

In an online obituary, friends and former co-workers expressed their sorrow at Kings death.

There will never be the perfect words to convey the sense of loss we all feel over this horrific tragedy. I find, and I know you do too, a kind of peace in knowing our wonderful Ray is with your mom and dad now, smiling and having a grand ol' time! I love you all . . . Diana, wrote Diana Beckler.

So sorry to hear of this. I met Raymond a few years ago when I first moved to Florida. Such a great guy with so much life to give taken too soon. Rest in peace my friend, Kent Strunk wrote.

Anyone with information is asked to contact BSO Det. Michael Wiley at 954-321-4841. Tips can be given anonymously to Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS or online at BrowardCrimeStoppers.org. Crime Stoppers is offering up to $3,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
Michael Gongora is stepping up a level. Gongora, an attorney and former Miami Beach Commissioner, announced last week he is campaigning for a seat in the Florida Senate.

SFGN spoke with Gongora by telephone from his law offices in Miami Beach on Friday. He sounded confident for the challenge that awaits.

I have the experience and reputation of responsibility to represent the district in Tallahassee, Gongora said. Gongora paid the $1,781.82 qualifying fee to the Department of State in order to appear on Augusts primary ballot. He is running against six other Democrats for the partys nomination.

In a new release, Gongora states he will work even harder and be more effective than as a private citizen or community leader. Gongora, a gay man, was a member of SFGNs first Out 50 issue in 2014  a year after finishing a strong second to Philip Levine in the Miami Beach mayoral election.

Michael Gongora for many years has been a champion for all of South Floridas diverse communities, said Jonathan Welsh, a Miami Beach resident and head of Marketing and Development at Care Resource. He embraces diversity, works hard and has paid his dues. If one just looks at his record, the proof is in the pudding.

Gongora, 45, whose grandfather emigrated from Cuba, serves as a legal advisor for Unity Coalition, a Hispanic LGBT non-profit. Press releases announcing his campaign were e-mailed in English and Spanish.

Hes a well-rounded person, said Unity Coalition President Herb Sosa. Our community and the people of this district will be well served by Michael in Tallahassee.

Senate district 38, a Miami-Dade district, became a competitive scramble when Senator Gwen Margolis, 81, Floridas longest serving sitting legislator, decided to not seek re-election.

Joining Gongora in the field of seven Democrats for the open senate seat is current Florida Representative Daphne Campbell, 59, a social conservative who has been dogged in the past over corruption charges and health care fraud.

Shes a horrible person, said Tim Ross, a member of the Dolphin Democrats, an LGBT club in Broward County. Shes homophobic, anti-choice and corrupt.

Campbell, Ross said, co-sponsored last years infamous bathroom bill which prevented transgender people from using the restroom of their choice.

A registered nurse and native of Haiti, Campbell describes herself as a Christian Democrat. Also running for the seat are former North Miami Beach Mayor Kevin Burns, teacher Don Feste, businessman Anis Blemur, Doral resident Bruce Kaplan and former prosecutor Jason Pizzo.
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Since 6AM, lead roaster and quality manager Chris Ayers has been in Barista Parlors roasting space at Golden Sound in Nashville. Quality-control tastings for his previous roasts have been completed. The large windows flood the roasting space with sunlight, reflecting off the old tiles in the former recording studio. Ayers is now in the swing of roasting fresh batches for the masses, with tubs of green coffee lined up before their ascent into the Diedrich CR-25 roaster. Around 8:30 a.m., operations manager Tom Eisenbraun strolls in after making himself a Chemex over at the brew bar. Stirred to life, he begins bagging roasted batches of the Golden Sound blend for Barista Parlors three locations.

Since its inception in 2012, Barista Parlors artfully designed multi-roaster cafes have spotlighted coffees from Four Barrel, Counter Culture, Intelligentsia, Stumptown, and Vervea set-up we called poly-roaster Americana maximalism back in 2014. But over the past year, BPs in-house roasting program has shifted to a focus on the brands own coffees. Outsider roasters are still featuredbut now its only one or two at a time, and only when theres on that Ayers & Co. really like.

I think Nashville was ripe for the multi-roaster thing, getting [our customers] exposed, Ayers says, remarking on the transition. And once that relationship was established, it gave us an opportunity to try presenting our own interpretation.

So how does a company known for offering a plethora of choice transition into roasting their own? While Ayers handles roasting and quality control, Eisenbraun tackles everything else, including logistics, buying, and accounts. Barista Parlor has started partnering with importers such as Cafe Imports, Tiger Orchid Coffee Company, Gold Mountain Coffee Growers, and Onyx Coffee to bring in green coffee. Achieving a balance of flavors and varieties is an emphasis of the new roasting program, as well as building up partnerships. For example, the crew took a recent origin trip to Guatemala coffee farm El Cadejo, which is now one one of two components in the Golden Sound blend.

The transition from multi-roaster to roaster-retailer can be an intuitive one. Barista Parlors established relationships with several roasters has opened new doors with their importing partners. Weve found a lot more either direct or nearly direct sourcing opportunities from having our name out there, Eisenbraun says. Were only going to be growing that over the next year.

This focus on roasting feeds Barista Parlors three cafes, the newest of which opened in December 2015 in Nashvilles Germantown neighborhood. While the first took a nautical theme, and Golden Sound embraced a 1960s Space Age vibe, Germantown takes its design cues from 1970s dragster race cars, with bursts of bright orange among the warm green and wood tones across the cafe. Checkered flags mark orders, and some tables have a small tire engrained into the wood.

Work areas anchor the middle of the new space, with customer seating in the round. The register floats on an island with an array of craft chocolate, including Nathan Miller and general manager Dominick Grandas personal favorite, Dandelion.

I love our chocolate program, he says, which maintains the spirit of the shops old poly-roaster days. We have the opportunity to taste some awesome things people are doing, and to be able to pair it with our coffees is just another step in that conversation with the customer.

Another sweet choice is pastries from Five Daughters Bakery in Franklin, Tennessee. Selections include the 100 Layer Doughnut, made with croissant dough and including flavors like a decadent chocolate and cherry. A breakfast menu features Southern staples like biscuit sandwiches made with locally and intentionally sourced ingredients, according to Granda.

The shop has two Mahlkonig Peak grinders and dual matte-black Slayer Espresso machines. The brew bar operates with an under-counter Marco Uber boiler, six Baratza Forte grinders, Hario V60s, and Ginos with six Kyoto towers for cold-brew coffee. Since there are no walls, watching your drink get prepared is easy anywhere in the cafe.

As Germantown is the kid sister in the Barista Parlor family, Granda is looking forward to carrying on the standard established by the other two cafes.

Keep up the reputation, keep up the quality, give great customer service, he says. And trying to push the quality of our own coffees now, and inviting customers in to talk about what we are doing [with our roasting].

The advantage of being a multi-roaster shop is, obviously, you get to hand select the best that each roaster has, he says. There were times I would get giddy at the coffees that we were carrying. Our menu was stacked. But being able to serve our own coffee [means] being able to connect more with the customer about it. Thats definitely the best part.

Evan C. Jones is a Sprudge.com contributor based in St. Louis. Read more Evan C. Jones on Sprudge.
"The forces that arrived at the Annex shortly after the mortar attacks were able to transport all State Department and CIA personnel safely to the airport. The forces, known as Libyan Military Intelligence, arrived with 50 heavily-armed security vehicles," the report reads.

The Libya Military Intelligence (LMI) forces that arrived were not part of the "February 17 Martyrs Brigade, recommended by the Libyan Government and contractually obligated to provide security to the Mission Compound," and the report details how "the February 17 Martyrs Brigade militia, which provided interior armed security at the Benghazi Mission compound, informed the Diplomatic Security Agents two days before the Ambassador was scheduled to arrive it would no longer provide off-compound security."

It goes on to highlight that the "Libya Military Intelligence, whom the CIA did not even know existed until the night of the attacks, were comprised of former military officers under the Gaddafi regime who had gone into hiding in fear of being assassinated, and wanted to keep their presence in Benghazi as quiet as possible so as to not attract attention from the militias in control of Benghazi."
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  "My opinion is that this is an earthshaking event," University of Louvain Professor Jean Bricmont, an eminent philosopher and author, said.

The vote itself was significant because it showed a clear opposition between the people and the elites, Bricmont pointed out.

"The latter want more globalization and the former less. The fact that the people of a major European country reject the will of the elite has provoked a wind of panic among the European ruling circles," he observed.
At present, the penalty for spreading sexually explicit content and images against the will of the people involved is only six months in prison. Members of the Danish Social Democrats Party proposed a six-fold increase, as it is not enough compensation for the psychological trauma invoked.

"We would like to level the sharing of offensive pornographic images with committing milder forms of violence, which can result in up to three years in prison," Social Democrats spokesperson Bramsen told Danish Radio. "Physical wounds can heal, but images shared on the internet can haunt someone's life for years afterwards."

According to Bramsen, modern technology allows offensive images to spread far and wide, an option, which is often abused by people sharing sexual images in acts of vengeance, known as "revenge porn." Bramsen's proposal was met with approval by her cousins in the so-called 'blue bloc.'
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Thursday, they plan to address the issue at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC.

Greenpeace believes that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been insufficiently studied to assess risks and warns of "genetic pollution" their release into nature may cause.

Scientists  including medics, chemists and economists  have accused the environmental watchdog of misrepresenting risks, benefits and impacts from GMOs and supporting the "criminal destruction" of field trials.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Several suicide blasts hit the entrance, exit and a parking lot of the airport's international terminal at about 10 p.m. local time (19:00 GMT).

"President [Vladimir] Putin expressed his condolences to the Turkish people for the heinous act of terrorism. The Kremlin also considers this a terrorist attack on peaceful Istanbul. Such an event, of course, once again emphasized the urgency of consolidated efforts to combat the common threat of terrorism," Peskov told reporters.
According to the governor's office, ten foreigners and three persons of dual nationality were among the victims of the terrorist attack.

Thirty seven victims have already been identified, the Turkish authorities said.

"It was determined that 41 people lost their lives. Thirty seven people of those killed have been identified, 10 of them foreign nationals, while 3 were found to be dual citizens," the Istanbul governors office said in a press release.
ANKARA (Sputnik)  On Tuesday evening, three suicide blasts rocked the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk international airport, leaving at least 41 dead and 239 injured.

"Two of the terrorist act perpetrators were of foreign nationality, the third one had the citizenship of Turkey," the source said.
NEW DELHI (Sputnik)  He added that during the operation, NIA confiscated some 1.5 million rupees ($22,000 at the current exchange rate), two pistols and a large amount of explosive materials as well as communication devices.

"During the interrogation the detained persons admitted that high profile people were on the hit list. They had planned to target public and religious places. These peoples were in touch with each other and also their handler in Syria through a chat app National Investigation Agency with the help of intelligence agencies had been keeping a close watch on these people for the last month," Sanjeev Kumar Singh told reporters.

Daesh, outlawed in many countries including the United States and Russia, overran large areas of Syria and Iraq in 2014 and declared a caliphate in the areas under their control. The group has gained much notoriety for conducting suicide bombings and other attacks worldwide as well as for recruiting young people via social media.
Authorities say they have thwarted a terror plot masterminded by the suspects. Local police also took part in the raid, which ended up with 13 Daesh-linked men being detained. Raids were conducted in over 10 different locations.

The men were thought to be part of a larger module, which had been planning to stage attacks in the country. Foreign passports, locally made arms, explosive materials and counterfeit currency were seized when the suspects were apprehended. Two of the detainees were brothers.

All of the suspects were reported as being Daesh militants, having links to the conflict zones of Syria and Iraq, via social networking sites.

"Raids are going on at three to four places in the old city. The local police are assisting them. Searches are being conducted over some suspected terror activities that were planned to be carried out in the city," an intelligence officer, who did not wish to be identified, was quoted as saying.
According to the Bangladeshi media , the boy claimed he was trafficked by a woman named Rahima from New Delhi to Barguna, a town in Bangladesh. Rahima's family tortured the child and forced him to do all the household chores, which made their neighbors suspicious. One of them, Jamaluddin, contacted the Human Rights Commission in Dhaka, who then started looking for Sonu's family. Meanwhile, the boy was sent to a child rehabilitation center on December 22, 2015, said Assistant Director of the center Mohammad Shahabuddin, quoting court documents.

India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Tuesday that the Indian High Commission in Dhaka has obtained Sonu's custody and that he will be reunited with his mother in Delhi on June 30.
I just paid 2,000 yen ($19.4) for a catalogue of Japanese language schools which I went to asking if they would accept students from Russia. Starting this business wasnt easy but it was fun, Yelena said in Japanese.

Yelena Ivanova, who came to Japan in 1993 to study the language, had always dreamed about having as many Russian students coming to study here as possible. Im Russian and I know things about inviting students from Russia the Japanese know nothing about.

Thanks to her knowledge of psychology and Russian students motivation the company has established itself in the Russian educational services market.

There were some initial jitters about Russian students coming in. Some feared that, like their Chinese peers, they would start looking for a job and overstay their welcome. But after I invited their school representatives to come over and attend Japanese-language classes in Russia, they realized that Russian students were dead serious about their studies.

In 2002, after a series of seminars in Vladivostok, Irkutsk and Khabarovsk, the Nihon Ryugaku Center had the first ten Russian students coming to study in Japan.

In 2013 there were already 300 of them studying in Japan. However, their number has gone down quite notably the past there years due to the economic crisis in Russia.

"Only people with serious intentions come in these days, most of them as part of long-term programs. The number of those coming to study during their summer vacations is now down, Yelena said.

Gaku.ru, Nihon Ryugaku Centers Russian language website, offers information about 20 of 300 Japanese-language schools in the Country of the Rising Sun. Unfazed by the high tuition costs, Russians mostly go for prestigious language schools in Tokyo.

Just like their peers from China, South Korea, Vietnam, the US and France, Russian students spend their spare time working at local cafes, hotels before entering universities. Most of them return home. Some of them find jobs with Japanese companies doing business in Russia.
The journalist further spoke about president Erdogan and how he has been ignoring this disturbing development.

Now Erdogan is asking the West to get together and take a stance against ISIS networks. However, Erdogan has been ruling Turkey for decades and he is one person who has been overseeing Syrias policy since 2011 and all the red alarms have been going on for at least couple of years, but the Turkish authorities only started taking some real caution after the Ankara attacks.

Tanir said that instead of asking the West, Turkey should focus on fighting Daesh and according to him the country can do this because it was always a very safe country and it is still not too late.

Turkey just needs to prioritize and understand that ISIS [Daesh] is the number one threat. Not the Kurds, not Turkish nor Syrian Kurds, but ISIS, al-Qaeda and al-Nusra [Front] groups. That is the real threat. Turkey needs to start taking real steps against these networks, the journalist said.

The terrorist attack on a Turkish airport in the city of Istanbul killed 41 people. A total of 239 have been injured. Among the dead are 23 Turkish citizens and 13 foreign nationals.

The attack took place late on Tuesday when 3 gunmen entered the Ataturk airport and opened fire. After police and security officers struck back the militants blew themselves up.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  On Tuesday evening, three suicide blasts rocked the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk international airport, leaving at least 41 dead and 239 injured.

"The despicable attack at Istanbuls international airport yesterday that killed dozens and injured many more, certainly bears the hallmarks of ISILs [Daesh] depravity," Brennan stated at the Council on Foreign Relations.
The decision came from a second court appeal in a case of Japanese Muslims who argued that the broad monitoring is unconstitutional, invades their privacy, and infringes on their freedom of religion.

"They made us terrorist suspects," Mohamed Fujita, one of the plaintiffs in the case, told Al Jazeera. "We never did anything wrong  on the contrary."

Police files leaked in 2010 revealed the mass surveillance operation, and the 17 plaintiffs were awarded $880,000 for violation of their privacy. This did not, however, end the spying program, which was deemed necessary and inevitable.
The vandals spray painted the words F**k Islam on a wall outside the mosque at the Australian Islamic College in Thornlie, near Perth, before setting a car on fire with an accelerant.

After hearing the cars explode, worshippers rushed outside to see vehicles ablaze and three people fleeing the scene. Authorities believe that a gasoline bomb was used inside one vehicle, which spread and damaged four others.

Luckily, nobody was injured during the attack, which was also in a heavily populated residential area.
In short, the British people have been slapped with a brutal ultimatum, one alarmingly similar to that shoved at the Serbs in 1991 as Yugoslavia began to unravel along ethnic divides: get in line with the world order or face complete disintegration.

Disunited Britain: By incrementally increasing the pressure on the British people to capitulate before the EU, globalists have embarked on a hideous campaign designed to magnify ethnic tensions in the country. We see this in toying with Scottish nationalism, the volatile situation in Northern Ireland, and the fanning of immigrant separatist feeling in London. In all three cases, the stark warning has been delivered that should Britain refuse to step back from independence, the nation will be butchered. The EU has even sought to fracture British society demographically by offering EU passports to young British citizens in the name of saving their future.

In Scotland, the SNP has used BREXIT to demand a vote on Scottish independence on the basis that Scotland never voted to leave the EU. That much is entirely true- but it hardly justifies Nicola Sturgeons attempts to block the departure from the EU of the entire United Kingdom. This is especially so when we consider that Scotland is massively overrepresented in Westminster, that 38% of Scots actually voted OUT, that Scottish independence in 2014 was resoundingly rejected with 55.3% voting against secession, and that whereas the number of OUT voters is over 14 million- the population of the whole of Scotland is just five million.

Still, nobody objects to the right of the Scots to hold a second independence referendum.

The problem is that the EU is using Scotland as a strong arm tactic. The eurosocialists have wafer thin support in Scotland and the SNP has lied to Scots about what independence would mean for them: mass migration, market turmoil, Brussels dictating every aspect of the Scots economy and chaos as security systems that have kept the Scots safe and sound for centuries collapse overnight. Once in, as both Greece and Ireland have discovered- there is no way out of the EU no matter how injurious its policies are.

The EU is the death knell of Scottish nationalism- not its celebration.

Are the Scots really intent on joining the dying and corrupt EU, or is this the pet project of eurosocialist radicals in the Scottish parliament being patronized by an EU desperate to save face?
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The decision of the United Kingdom to exit the European Union, or Brexit, may affect the demand for oil, but the impact will likely not be significant, US Energy Information Administration (EIA) administrator Adam Sieminski told Sputnik.

"Brexit could have an impact on things like the rate of economic growth in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe The economic growth is the main driver of energy demand, and so it could impact a demand side. But from what we know so far, its not likely to have a huge impact on demand," Sieminski said.

On June 23, the United Kingdom held a referendum to determine whether or not the country should leave the European Union. According to the final results, 51.9 percent of voters, or 17.4 million people, decided to support Brexit, while about 16.1 million opposed it.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  US deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe are more logical move when the required facilities for it are built on the east coast of the United States, US Energy Information Administration (EIA) administrator Adam Sieminski told Sputnik.

"Some of the countries that have expressed a great deal of interest in buying LNG from the United States include Brazil, which got the first shipment, Chile," Sieminski said on Tuesday. "Theres always been expression of interest from Asian countries, including places like Korea, Japan, China, and even some of the European countries, although exports to Europe probably make more sense when the east coast facilities get built."

International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its 2016 Gas Report released earlier in June that global LNG supplies continue to grow despite weak demand on traditional key markets.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  On Thursday, the United Kingdom held a referendum to determine whether or not the country should leave the European Union. According to the final results, 51.9 percent of voters, or 17.4 million people, decided to support Brexit, while about 16.1 million opposed it.

"We could see some negative impact for the [Mercosur-EU trade] negotiation process. But on the other hand we really trust that the European Commission and the European Union in general will keep pushing this negotiation process forward. I dont foresee any difficulties when it comes to the bilateral trade of Brazil and UK," Daniel Marteleto Godinho said, answering a question about future of trade cooperation between Brasilia and London following Brexit.

Brazil does not feel any pressure from its Western partners in respect to the business it conducts with Russia, Brazil's secretary for foreign trade told Sputnik.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Monday, the Kremlin announced that Erdogan had sent a letter regarding the incident with the Russian plane, saying "Excuse us" and pledging to take any steps to "relieve the pain and severity of damage" caused to the family of the pilot killed during the incident.

"It's clear that the decline in Russians traveling to Turkey on holiday have pressured Erdogan to normalize the relationship with Russia and Putin. Furthermore the trade relationship between Russia and Turkey is so important that Erdogan is willing to do almost everything to be friends with Russia," Vistisen said.

There has been a 35-percent decline in Turkeys tourism industry, underlined by a five-fold drop in the number of Russian tourists visiting resorts in Turkey's Antalya alone in comparison to last year, according to Antalya's tourism department.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Brazil is working closely with the Iranian authorities in order to promote both exports and imports, Brazil's secretary for foreign trade told Sputnik in an interview.

"Iran has also been a traditional trading partner to Brazil. We are working closely to that government in order to also push exports and imports," Daniel Marteleto Godinho said.

He added that the Brazilian authorities had already established a mechanism to find specific opportunities for bilateral trade with the Middle Eastern nation.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The security situation in Libya prevents Russian companies from resuming their work in that country, Russia's Ambassador to Libya Ivan Molotkov told Sputnik.

"Unfortunately, the security situation does not allow our economic operators to resume their work. Businessmen are so far traveling to Tunisia and other nearby countries, carrying out contacts with Libyan counterparts, but it is too early to say that business has resumed," Molotkov said.

he also said that Russia's diplomatic mission was unlikely to return to Libya in the upcoming months.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The BRICS association of five major emerging national economies is a "fundamental platform" for all its member states, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Brazil's secretary for foreign trade told Sputnik in an interview.

"BRICS is a fundamental platform for not only Brazil but all our five countries to the world Definitely, this is a fundamental strategic platform again not only for Brazil, definitely for Brazil, but all our countries. And I bet its the same for Russia," Daniel Marteleto Godinho said.

Godinho noted that BRICS had been working on specific issues, such as the New Development Bank (NDB) and expressed hope that more results of organization's activities would be delivered.
Recently, Sweden's Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson said she sees good opportunities for companies to establish themselves in Sweden instead of in the UK, after the Brits decided to leave the European Union. She saw no problem with the Stockholm Stock Exchange plummeting by nearly six percent in Monday's opening trading.

"It remains, of course, to see how this initial reaction will unfold in the coming days and weeks," Magdalena Andersson told Swedish Radio.

Earlier, Stockholm Chamber of Commerce warned about devastating consequences of Brexit, as a number of Swedish provinces have Britain as major trading partner. According to chief economist Andreas Hatzigeorgiou, Brexit would unavoidably cost jobs and result in a lack of growth.

According to the Swedish Board of Trade, over 66,000 people in Sweden are engaged in export to the UK, most of them in the service sector and in various subcontractor companies, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union might bring no significant changes to the country's trade relations, including in regard to such trade agreements as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), Alan Thompson, director of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce, told Sputnik.

"The economic make-up of how the UK trades with partners outside should not change very much. I expect and believe that the economy is the driver of politics There are trade agreements that are being discussed now, like TTIP I think it will be in the interests of the new leader to maintain trade as it stands today, or as it has stood until the start of this year," Thompson said.

On Friday, US Trade Representative Michael Froman said that the United States was studying the impact of UK voters decision to exit the European Union on TTIP.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The leaders agreed to restore bilateral relations, inluding in the spheres of trade and tourism.

"We can presume that the tourist flow will recover to the pre-restrictions level within approximately three months," Gorin said as quoted by Rossiya-24 TV channel.

The Turkish tourism industry faced a decline after Russia banned organized travel to the republic in the wake of the November 24, 2015 downing of a Russian Su-24 attack aircraft by Turkey in Syria.
YEREVAN (Sputnik)  He added that the nature of the loan explained the delay in the start of the deliveries.

"More than 80 percent of the agreements have been already signed. Preparatory work for the deliveries have already been conducted. Some of them have already started," Ohanyan said as quoted by Public TV Company of Armenia.

In 2015, Moscow and Yerevan reached an agreement on a credit line to finance the purchase of military products. On April 15, the Armenian government approved the implementation of the agreement.
"However, given that this mechanism did not meet the financial interests of the Russian Federation, as well as the sharply increased financial capabilities of China, the parties reached an agreement in 2010 on the transition to the monetary form of debt repayment, involving the use of the US dollar as the calculation unit. China has on time and completely fulfilled its obligations under the agreement. Last payment was expected to be implemented in June 2022," the Ministry said.

The Tianwan NPP is considered to be the safest in the world by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It was constructed using Russian nuclear power equipment and state service export firm Atomstroyexport.

Two power plant units started operating in 2007. The third and fourth power units are under construction and their commissioning is planned for 2018.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Blinken noted the effect of the sanctions policy was "marginal," but that it does exist as does the willingness to impose sanctions.

"Companies around the world, including in the United States, have born a burden of sanctions. Economies in Europe have not done as well as they otherwise might have as a result," Blinken stated at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"We have demonstrated that we are willing to inflict some pain on ourselves in order to sustain and advance basic principles that need to be sustained and protected in order to protect the order we helped develop, and Ukraine is a good example," he explained.
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ANKARA (Sputnik)  The Russian Embassy in Turkey on Wednesday confirmed the identity of a Russian national wounded in the recent terrorist attack on the Istanbul international airport.

"The wounded Russian citizen said his name was Alexander Lubnin. We talked over the phone. His citizenship was confirmed by the hospital as well but we have no official information from the Turkish authorities. We were not able to clear the details over the phone as he was being prepared for the surgery," a representative of the embassy told RIA Novosti.

According to the embassy, Lubnin was in stable condition.
According to media reports, the majority of victims of the terrorist attack are Turkish nationals, though there are several foreigners. According to the Russian Embassy in Turkey, a Russian national was wounded in the blast. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that a Ukrainian national was killed in the attack and another one was injured.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly condemned the attack and called on the international community to enhance the fight against terrorism.

"The attack, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorism strikes with no regard for faith and values. Nor do terrorists distinguish between their victims We urge governments, parliaments, media and civil society organizations around the world, especially in Western countries, to take a firm stand against terrorism," Erdogan said in a statement.

The world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders, have condemned the attack and expressed deep condolences to the people of Turkey.

On June 29, 2014, the notorious Daesh declared its caliphate.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) said Wednesday that it would not recommend stopping regular flights to Turkey after the Istanbul airport attack.

"Rosaviatsia will not recommend that air carriers suspend regular flights to Turkey," a spokesperson for the agency told RIA Novosti.

The spokesman also noted that "there will be no need to further strengthen measures" at Russian airports, as there is already a high level of security.
ANKARA (Sputnik)  A total of 36 people have been confirmed killed in the suicide attack at Istanbul Ataturk airport and over 140 sustained injuries.

Several suicide blasts hit the entrance, exit and a parking lot of the airport's international terminal at about 10 p.m. local time (19:00 GMT).

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that three suicide bombers participated in the attack. Initial indications suggest that Daesh, outlawed in Russia, is responsible for the terrorist attack, though the investigation is still underway, Yildirim said at a press conference Wednesday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Tuesday evening, three suicide blasts rocked the Istanbul airport international terminal, leaving at least 36 people dead and 147 injured.

"The terrorist attack was directed against the attempts of the Turkish authorities to improve relations with Russia and Israel. Turkey, as it seems to be, is being warned against participation in the single anti-terrorist front that is being created first and foremost with the Russian diplomatic efforts," Kosachev said on his official Facebook account.

He expressed confidence that the tragedy will not hamper the dialogue between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan because "against all odds, today we stand in solidarity with the people of Turkey."
Speaking to media in Puumala, southeast Finland during a tour in the Finnish provinces, President Sauli Niinisto said that last week's Brexit decision will not have any significant impact on Finland's security, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported. Niinisto went on to point out that so far, Britain had not shown any special interest in European security and defense policy. According the Niinisto, the UK may in the future strengthen its role through NATO.

Also, Brexit's impact on stock markets and foreign exchange markets may be overestimated, Niinisto said, expressing hopes that the EU market will soon come back to normal and recover from the shock. Meanwhile, shares on the Helsinki Stock Exchange sank about six percent following the British referendum, reaching its lowest level in five years. At the same time, Niinisto admitted that Brexit was not to joke about.

"Brexit is a serious message that says the EU is not eternal, even though we already got accustomed to the union," President Sauli Niinisto told the Finnish newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Turkish tourism industry faced a decline after Russia banned organized travel to the republic in the wake of the November 24, 2015, downing of a Russian Su-24 attack aircraft by Turkey over an alleged airspace violation.

"The resumption of tourist relations between Russia and Turkey is now more dependent on the provision of security by the Turkish side. We see that our country has much better relations with Egypt than with Turkey, but the air service [to Egypt] still has not been resumed [because of security reasons]," Barzykin told RIA Novosti.

Later on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will have a phone conversation for the first time in more than seven months.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the Turkish people on Wednesday after the deadly terrorist attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport.

"We feel for the victims of the terrorist attack," Putin said.

Several suicide blasts hit the entrance, exit and a parking lot of the airport's international terminal at about 10 p.m. local time (19:00 GMT).
We are already witnessing the results of this policy with the Israeli-Turkish rapprochement and this letter of apology to Russia. I suppose there are certain issues to be tackled here, including regional security and the economic interests of the Turkish administration.

With relations between Russia and Turkey severely damaged by the November 24 incident with the Russian bomber, mending fences between Moscow and Ankara will hardly happen overnight.

Hasan Ozertem acknowledged this, but noted that with a resumed dialogue the two countries could talk about ongoing issues in the region and move forward on how to deal with the problems at hand.

I believe that we will have some widows of opportunity opening this autumn, but regarding business relations, these could take more time to restore. There are so many institutional things that have been damaged by the downing of the Russian jet.

With traditional Turkish fruit and vegetable imports now being replaced by food coming from other places, including Africa, Hasan Ozertem said that Turkey had big advantages here including its proximity to Russia, resulting in lower transportation costs, and that the existence of a long-term relationship between Turkish exporters and Russian importers made it easier for them to go back and restore their mutually-beneficial cooperation.

The construction sector is another important area of Russian-Turkish cooperation, and the big Turkish companies are very closely following this process of normalization, Mr. Ozertem said.

When asked about whether the Syrian issue would be high on the agenda of Thursdays telephone linkup between Presidents Putin and Erdogan, he said that hardcore issues like Syria will certainly be discussed, but not as much as the proposed normalization of between Russia and Turkey.

The sides may agree or disagree on certain issues, but some of these issues will be tackled easier than before.

Apart from its attempts to mend relations with Russia, Turkey has recently signed a reconciliation deal with Israel.

Turkey was talking about having zero problems with its neighbors already a couple of years ago and Turkey is now trying to take down the current challenges [posed by Daesh and other terrorist groups]. The primary issue that needs to be solved is to restore normal relations with neighbors, primarily with Russia and Israel.

I suppose that Turkey and Russia are now trying to go back to normal because the ongoing situation in Europe and the Middle East is bringing so many challenges for both parties, Hasan Ozertem said in conclusion.
In any case, the negative impact of this on what we have done these past 26 years to establish closer ties with the EU would be hard to exaggerate. Ive been accused of being pro-Russian and thats what I am. They also said that I was dragging the country eastwards. To this I said that the EU may be evil, but now is not the best of times to bicker about it.

Whether Serbia is prepared for upheavals Europe is facing in the wake of Britains exit, President Nikolic said that the worst would come to the worst if many countries left the EU and Britain broke up.

As long as the EU is there, no matter how large, we will be trying to join in. Those who are against this should think about who is going to compensate us for the jobs we would lose [if we walked back on European integration.] So that we are not like [pro-Brexit politicians in the UK] who were like We were just kidding, it wasnt for real, the Serbian leader warned.


In the end, Cameron's comments, in June 2015, were prescient.

"I will tell you why it is so important. The European elections showed that there is huge disquiet about the way the EU works and yet the response, I believe, is going to be wrong on two grounds. Wrong on the grounds of principle: it is not right for the elected heads of government of the European countries to give up their right to nominate the head of the European Commission  the most important role in Europe. That is a bad principle."

"And it is the wrong person. Jean-Claude Juncker has been at the heart of the project to increase the power of Brussels and reduce the power of nation states for his entire working life. He is not the right person to take this organization forward. So, I am very clear about the right thing to do."

In the end, Cameron failed to convince the British public that staying in the European Union was the right things to do  precipitating Brexit and a war of words over who takes the blame. The majority of the British public railed against the Brussels machine which Juncker so loved.

Inevitably, Juncker, pinned the blame on Cameron, saying:

"My impression is that if you over years, if not decades, tell citizens that something is wrong with the EU, that the EU is too technocratic, too bureaucratic, you cannot be taken by surprise if voters believe you."

Juncker told the European Parliament that the Brussels machine will keep rolling, despite Brexit. "Our project goes on, and although the British vote may have slowed us down a little, we must continue our course towards the objectives we share with renewed ambition."

With Cameron  the man who opposed his nomination  out of the door, following the last supper, Juncker is basking in glory. But he has little grounds for complacency.
After the worst Brexit-shock has settled, the EU friendly wing of the Conservatives is now mobilizing to stop Boris Johnson's prime minister ambitions. With Theresa May being the leader of the moderate forces in the Tory Party, competition is now rising from the same wing, as Jeremy Hunt, who earlier campaigned against Brexit, presented his own vision of Britain's future outside the European Union, dubbed "Norway Plus."

In his article in The Telegraph, Hunt advocated the "Norway Plus" option for the UK as a means to retain full access to the single market, while at the same time reaching a desired compromise on free movement rules to curb migration.

"As their biggest non-EU trading partner, it is in the European interest to do this deal with them as much as it is in our interests to secure it," Hunt told The Telegraph.
The scandal triggered huge debate about the issue of tax evasion and so-called "sweetheart" deals, which combined with the Panama leaks of earlier this year, prompted the European Union to announce greater measures aimed at improving financial transparency.

Whistleblower Protection

While the issue has triggered widespread debate about tax evasion and loopholes for multinational corporations, it has also spawned a debate about the protection of whistleblowers.

Supporters have called for Deltour and Halet to be given immunity for their parts in the LuxLeaks scandal, arguing that their intervention was in the public good.

Tense day for #luxleaks #whistleblowers, verdict expected at 3. Live updates here. pic.twitter.com/qDtQC0tyNR  Greens in the EP (@GreensEP) June 29, 2016

There is also pressure from the European parliament, with Deltour receiving the parliament's citizens' prize and was praised by the EU's competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

"Luxleaks could not have happened if it was not for the whistleblower, and the team of investigative journalists," she told the news website EurActiv earlier this year.

#Luxleaks trial verdict today: #whistleblowing is not a crime! Sentence for Deltour would strongly discourage others to publish information  ECPMF (@ECPMF) June 29, 2016

"The two worked very well together to change the momentum of the debate about corporate taxation in Europe. I think everyone should thank both the whistleblower and the investigative journalists."

However, the pair face the prospect of time in prison, accused of theft, secrecy violation and wrongfully accessing a database, with some critics calling for the whistleblowers to face punishment for their actions in accessing and releasing the sensitive documents.

The case also has parallels to that of former NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who is potentially facing a lengthy prison term after releasing documents that revealed the widespread surveillance practices of the US government.

Snowden, who is currently living in exile in Russia, has gained international support as activists are calling for him to be exonerated from any investigation and charges.
According to the author, the essential meaning of Brexit is not about nationalism and isolationism but about preserving democracy from the "imperialism of the Brussels bureaucracy."

"Britain is the birthplace of parliamentarian democracy. By voting to leave the EU, the British people stood for sovereignty and democracy," Tandonnet noted.

However, France, like Britain or any other EU nation sees the common European history and common cultural values.

"Any of these countries is interested in being united. Europeans are not again the existence of a union in Europe. They are against the dictate of regulations and norms ignoring peoples will. Brexit is a vote for democracy," he concluded.

Earlier, renowned French political thinker Bernard-Henri Levy also suggested that France would vote to withdraw from the EU if it held a referendum.

"If there was a referendum in France, they would probably vote to exit," he said in an interview with Daily Telegraph.

According to the philosopher, the integration project has been undermined by bureaucrats who have turned Europe into a place with no room for "dreams and ideas and values."

"One of the problems of Europe  which is the explanation for this populist reaction like a Brexit  is that this Europe is not desired any longer. And it does not create desire. This is because the pattern it shows is so sad, so grey, so technical and so technocratic," Levy said.
Cameron, on the other hand, had led the campaign to remain in the EU, but failed to win sufficient concessions from Brussels to convince a skeptical public that they could remain in a reformed EU. He announced his resignation the morning the referendum result was declared (June 24).

As both men faced each other, it was Cameron who got the first dig in against Corbyn. Corbyn  referring to the referendum result  said: "The prime minister has two months left. Will he leave a one nation legacy and will that one nation legacy be the scrapping of the bedroom tax, the banning of zero hours contracts and the canceling of the cuts to Universal Credit?"

In a clear reference to Corbyn's lukewarm support for the Remain campaign  him being a lifelong Euroskeptic  Cameron said:

"We all have to reflect on our role in the referendum campaign. I know the honorable gentleman says he put his back into it. All I would say is I would hate to see him when he's not trying."

'For Heaven's Sake, Man, Go!'

When Corbyn ducked the accusation  failing completely to get a jibe in on the prime minister's resignation  and went on to slam Cameron's government over child poverty. Cameron retorted by telling MPs:

"If he's looking for excuses about why the side he and I were on about the referendum, frankly he should look somewhere else. And I have to say to the honorable gentleman, he talks about job insecurity with my two months to go, it might be in my party's interest for him to sit there, it's not in the national interest. And I would say: for heaven's sake, man, go!"
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to Farage, there were "threats and bullying" coming from the international community, US President Barack Obama, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and the Bank of England against supporters of UK "independence" from the European Union.

"Who wouldve believed that British people would have had the courage to say: no no no, we are not listening, we actually want to take back control of our country, our democracy, and our lives. Thats what happened," Farage told the broadcaster RT in an interview.

According to the UKIP leader, Europe needs to trade with the United Kingdom more than the British people need to trade with the bloc, hence there should be a trade agreement reached between the sides that is beneficial for London.
The spike in attacks, of which many were targeted against foreigners or asylum hostels, came as Germany accepted more than one million refugees and migrants in 2015.

"The intensity of right-wing extremist militancy started in early 2015 and increased steadily  from threats against politicians and journalists to arson attacks on asylum seeker shelters and attempted killings," the report said.

The rise of far-right extremism in #Germany now hits a #refugeecamp in German city of #Dusseldorf pic.twitter.com/Tf6XEl6U34  Batuhan Taks (@Batuhantakis) June 7, 2016

The report, from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, also looked at the role of social media and how such networks "play an important role in agitation and radicalization," with an increase in hate speech leading to an increase in attacks.

Concerns Over Far-Left, Islamist Extremism

While far-right and anti-immigrant incidents of violence have been widely covered in the media, authorities also highlighted the increase in extreme left-wing violence in Germany.

Such incidents, often targeting far-rights groups or members of authority, such as the police, rose to 1,608 in 2015, a jump from 995 the year before.

Violence erupts as citizens storm European Central Bank in Germany. This is just the beginning!  Charl Pretorius (@freeracer01) March 22, 2015

Aside from political extremism, the government also drew attention to the threat of Islamist violence in the country, with an estimated number of 10,000 radicals living in Germany.

The report stated that the influence of such radical Islamists could push others into radicalization, amid fears that some jihadists and war criminals had managed to enter Germany during last year's huge refugee influx.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Three mountain rescue teams, police and a rescue helicopter are carrying out the search in the Brecon Beacons mountain range after the alarm was raised at 1:00 p.m. local time (12:00 GMT), the BBC broadcaster said.

Mark Moran from Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team was cited as saying the children's whereabouts were known, "but they are lost in the clouds." Two are said to be suffering from hypothermia.
Britains departure will seriously hamper the functioning of the EU mechanism where Britain used to play such a big role. The Britons decision to leave was prompted by the Big Empire ambitions of this island nation, which is trying be on an equal footing with superpowers like Russia, China and the United States, Mehdi Parsa said.

The British exit has set a dangerous precedent for the EU where many member-states are unhappy about the economic crisis in the Eurozone, the unresolved migrant crisis and other problems.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Daesh is likely responsible for a series of attacks on Istanbuls Ataturk international airport, US House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said on Wednesday.

"I believe this most likely is an ISIS [Daesh] attack yesterday in Istanbul," McCaul stated in an interview with MSNBC. "This was like a sequel to Brussels but far more deadly than Brussels was."
However, Acuto foresees a downside to a so-called #Londinidenpendence.

"Creating special economic zones is a slippery slope. When you have wholly integrated globalized cities  you get highly localized, even radicalized communities in rural areas which exacerbate the problem."

However, in order to protect London's global status, Acuto suggests the city be granted a special economic zone.

"The fortune of a city stands on how open and connected it is to other places and other markets and its cosmopolitan attraction. We run the risk of going in the opposite direction of all those things by being unwelcoming, putting up fences and not having the right economic conditions," Professor Acuto told Sputnik.

There has been somewhat of a backlash on social media to the #Londenpendence idea, with some Twitter users suggesting it would make people more London-centric than they already are.

#londependence is the biggest public childish strop for not getting your own way ever. Pathetic!  Andy Toon (@andreklmn) June 24, 2016

"I didn't get what I want so I'm going to throw a hissy fit", a summary of #londependence  Theo C (@theocrowshaw) June 24, 2016

"It's not about putting a fence around the M25 motorway  that's the wrong way to think about it  but a Brexit was the wrong way to think in the first place.

"If you ran the referendum the proper way, with all residents allowed to vote, it would have been a landslide for the Remain campaign."

At a recent press conference, London Mayor Sadiq Khan told reporters: "London doesn't want a bigger slice of the British pie  but more control of the slice of the pie we already get.

"On behalf of all Londoners, I am demanding more autonomy for the capital  right now," Khan said.

I'm demanding more autonomy for London  right now. I want to protect our city's economy from the uncertainty ahead https://t.co/2tvOf4mfRI  Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) June 28, 2016

Despite the ongoing fallout from the UK's vote to exit the EU, Acuto remains optimistic.

"I feel more optimistic because already half the things that the Leave campaign promised are not achievable. You can't maintain the same roles in the free market and limit immigration.

"Britain currently has no Prime Minister  and effectively no leader of the opposition party. We have a highly radical left  and a highly radical right.

"What's missing is the middle ground in politics, someone to say, you guys got it wrong  I'll be the moderate voice,' " Acuto says.

The petition calling for #Londindendence has so far gathered over 177,000 signatures.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Finland and Sweden will be joining the summit in Warsaw as non-aligned states. In May and earlier in June, Finland and Swedens foreign and defense ministers took part, for the first time ever, in NATO ministerial talks in Brussels.

"I want to highlight that against those global threats Finland needs to be in close co-operation with all its neighboring countries, including Russia," Veera Ruoho said.

Ruoho also noted that Finland "is not under threat from any country in the world," and stressed that "security challenges come more from uncontrolled migration crisis, extremism and terrorism."
MINSK (Sputnik)  He noted the importance of the latest agreement in view of continuing hostilities along the contact line separating Ukrainian government forces from pro-independence militia.

"Todays Contact Group meeting yielded certain results, despite the difficult situation in the Donbas. The Contact Group agreed on new steps to withdraw the sides from the line of contact," Gryzlov told reporters.

Gryzlov added that the group's work facilitated resumed rail freight traffic along the separation line despite humanitarian and economic difficulties in the region.
Under title "Dumb British Blonde F***s 15 Million People At Once," a video of Johnson's post-Brexit speech was uploaded onto the Pornhub site, with the clip mocking the impacts that a Brexit from the EU could have on the UK.

Boris Johnson was uploaded to pornhub. Amazing. pic.twitter.com/gG0Tw8OXyY  Tori (@TORItheGIRAFFE) June 29, 2016

Unlike most videos on the site, Johnson did keep his clothes on during the 6:58 minute clip, which featured the Leave campaigner speaking passionately about his affection for outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron, and his commitment to maintaining an open, flexible relationship with the EU.

'Boris Johnson' and 'Pornhub' are both trending. Anyone want my lunch? I'm not hungry anymore.  VivoLife (@vivolifeuk) June 29, 2016

The video was uploaded by a user called "BrexitVote" and seems to have been a hit with viewers, notching up more than 32,000 views already.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, Cameron rejected a request of Labour legislator Yvette Cooper to pass a motion clarifying the status of EU nationals in the United Kingdom before the parliament's summer recess.

"I think if this [negotiations with Brussels over residency] were to happen, the answer would be to guarantee the status of anybody here now. And we can say that while we are in the European Union. But I think that [it] is for the future Prime Minister to make this decision," Cameron stated during a tense session of Prime Minister's Questions.

On June 23, a nationwide referendum was held in the United Kingdom, in which 51.9 percent of voters supported the country withdrawing from the European Union. After the official results were revealed, Prime Minister David Cameron, who led the Remain campaign, said he would resign in October.
ROME (Sputnik)  As many as 26 out of 31 members of the council voted in favor of the resolution.

The resolution authorizes the chairman of Liguria's regional council and the head of the region to cooperate with the government and the parliament of Italy, as well as with EU institutions in order to reconsider Brussels-Moscow relations and promote establishment of a committee to collect signatures to lift anti-Russia sanctions.

In early May, the regional council of the northern Veneto region became the first to adopt a resolution urging the national government to condemn the EU policy toward Crimea and to work toward lifting the sanctions against Russia. The councils of the Liguria and Lombardy regions were to vote on similar resolutions earlier but the voting procedures in both councils were postponed due to technical reasons until June 29 and July 4, respectively.
London club, Boujis, once a favorite haunt for Princes William and Harry, was recently served with an application from the police to shut it down after a clubber was left with a suspected fractured cheek bone after being assaulted outside.

A report from Kensington and Chelsea council's licensing committee said residents groups had claimed that the club had failed to stop violence from escalating.

A fight involving several people outside Boujis nightclub was caught on camera.  Welcome to London #Boujis #London pic.twitter.com/Ya74N9V2Zd  Kunaal Tailor (@kunaaltailor_) October 30, 2015

Escaping closure, the club now selects its guests and charges a membership fee to the likes of celebrities including Lady Gaga and Lewis Hamilton.

Since the violent incident in March 2015, the club told the resident's committee that staff have received more training to deal with violent incidents  and the fight on March 6 was "extremely rare."

Meanwhile researchers at the University of Nottingham are calling for improvements in data collection of violent incidents from nightclubs.

"There needs to be a better way of recording what happens in clubs. Sometimes, the data we analyzed from the clubs were incidents that hadn't been reported to the police.

"So there needs to be someway of promoting good practice and finding a way to solve problems in problem venues where punters are exposed to more crime," Professor Tseloni told Sputnik.

"We need to make sure that club venues and their surroundings are safe places to be."

The study also found that people who take cannabis  and are separated or divorced are seven times more likely to be a victim of violent crime  than someone who is married, doesn't go to nightclubs and doesn't take cannabis.

"We found that violence between strangers mostly erupts in or around pubs and clubs  more so than between acquaintances," Tseloni told Sputnik.

"Cannabis use is another risk factor; people who use cannabis are roughly twice more frequently victimized than people who do not use cannabis  by people they know  or strangers."

Violent incidents in pubs and clubs across England and Wales account for nearly a quarter of all crimes recorded in England and Wales. The cost to the UK tax payer is thought to be US$17 billion a year.

Researchers hope that the findings from this latest study could be used to inform police, pubs and clubs in order to better prevent violence and drug abuse across England and Wales.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  An opinion poll, published on Wednesday by the market research firm Meinungsraum, showed the nation split down the middle on EU membership, with 51 percent saying Austria should remain in the European Union and 49 percent wanting to quit.

"We will not expose Austria to a referendum," Kern told journalists after the second day of European Council deliberations in Brussels, as quoted by Austrian newspaper Kurier.

"The trust in the EU is equally showing cracks in Austria, and we too are facing a divided country," the companys research director Christina Matzka said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On June 23, a nationwide referendum was held in the United Kingdom, in which 51.9 percent of voters supported the country withdrawing from the bloc.

"We dont expect an exodus, but we will be making the argument very strongly that we remain a committed member of the European Union," Murphy told The Wall Street Journal.

The minister stressed that Ireland was "absolutely open for business," attracting companies through its taxation system, English language and eurozone affiliation, as well as readiness to "provide the stability of membership and certainty of where we will be in five, 10, 20 years time."
In an interview with Sputnik, leader of the so called Italian movement of Five Stars (M5S) Carlo Sibilia explained why he and his adherents have repeatedly called for a referendum on the country's withdrawal from the euro zone.

"From the moment of its entry into the euro zone, Italy has been experiencing one of the most difficult periods in its history from an economic point of view. Over 30% of Italian industrial enterprises which were actually keeping the whole country afloat  namely small and medium-sized enterprises  shut down. Our currency is too strong for the type of economy we now have. And it has forced us to buy products that we no longer produce in Italy, abroad because they are cheaper there," Sibilia told Sputnik.

The politician explained that if a country has a currency stronger than its economy, its manufacturing industry gradually slows down, and then is impossible to revive. According to Sibilia, the European currency is one of the reasons behind the poor economic situation in Italy, and therefore he and his movement call for the country's withdrawal from the euro zone.
Austria's Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz called the current refugee crisis one of the main reasons for the current European division. In an interview with German media group Funke, he described the current migration policy as a "dramatic failure" of the EU and called it a decisive factor behind the outcome of the recent British referendum.

Following the victory of Eurosceptics, everyone's wondering: Who will be next? Last year, a petition to withdraw from the EU gained 260,000 signatures in Austria. Leader of the Austrian Eurosceptics Norbert Hofer earlier warned that the country might organize its own referendum, following Britain's example.

"It is important how our eastern neighbors  Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary  will behave. It is yet unknown and will depend on the EU's behavior. If the European Union dictates its terms to the distribution of illegal migrants and if the European Commission takes coercive measures regarding TTIP and CETA in order to implement these agreements, at least temporarily, and thus make them already inevitable for voters, the tendency to move away from Brussels will increase on the European continent, including Austria," Hubner stated.
Of course for the remainder of the year we will not be able to achieve the high levels that had been recorded in 2014. But this is only the beginning; the main thing is that it was marked by an important positive development in this direction, Ayik said.

He further said that he expects tourism the sector to see an improvement in general. We are confident that Russian tourists want to regain the freedom to visit our resorts. We expect that the negative trends caused by the crisis between the two countries will be overcome in the foreseeable future.

Ali Kzldag the Head of the POYD Hotel Managers Association also shared his views with Sputnik. He said that the improvement of relations between Russia and Turkey is not only a positive thing for the tourism sector but for all the reasonable citizens of both the countries.

The crisis that started in the relations between our countries as a result of this tragic incident, led to a depressing situation, which neither side deserves in all spheres, economic, social or cultural.

He further said that for the improvement of relations his organization which is a public organization did everything possible by meeting with representatives of various organizations. We met with our guests at every opportunity, saying that we are not enemies, but friends, Kzldag said.

Industry experts have stated that based on expectations, the number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey this year amounts to zero.

However, the head said that as soon as the bureaucratic difficulties between the two countries are overcome they will start sending airplanes from all regions of Russia to Turkey. The same applies to other commercial and economic activities.
While the UK as a whole voted to leave the EU by a narrow 51.9%, Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain, with 62% of the vote. Since the referendum, the Scottish Government  led by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon  has sought high-level talks with European officials, with an eye to keeping Scotland in Europe.

 Lorna Gordon (@bbclornag) June 29, 2016  ellie (@eatsleeplaugh) June 29, 2016 The rally took place outside of Parliament, in the shade of Edinburghs iconic Salisbury Crags, and featured a number of speakers with one uniting message: Keep Scotland in the EU. Many of the banners and chants from those present illustrated the renewed desire for Scottish independence, which has been reflected in a slew of post-Brexit polling.  Sputnik UK (@SputnikNewsUK) June 29, 2016  Sputnik UK (@SputnikNewsUK) June 29, 2016  Sputnik UK (@SputnikNewsUK) June 29, 2016 As well as speeches, a piper and a full choir led the crowds in a rendition of Ode To Joy, the official anthem of the European Union.  Sputnik Pro-EU rally Pro-EU rally  Sputnik

Our first minister is in Brussels right now, arguing on our behalf, putting our arguments forward, [and] standing up for Scotland, Christina McKelvia of Parliaments Equal Opportunities Committee said during the event.
RIGA (Sputnik)  A Latvian parliament commission has refused to consider the initiative to demolish the Memorial to Soviet Liberators in the countrys capital Riga as part of a plan to restore the pre-war Uzvaras (Victory) Square, a source in the commission told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

"The commission has rejected a collective initiative, citing the opinion of the country's foreign minister and Riga Duma," the source said.

The Latvian Foreign Ministry said that Russia and Latvia had reached an agreement on monuments' preservation.
The post-Brexit hate crimes extend well beyond slurs, rhetoric and simple physical assault. More concerning attacks include a petrol bomb being launched into a Halal food store in Walsall that left one person injured, and an incident on a Manchester light-rail train where three men repeatedly struck and poured beer on a passenger while yelling "get back to Africa."

"The atmosphere on the street is not good," said Baroness Warsi, the first Muslim woman elected as a cabinet minister in the UK. She decried the leaders of the Leave effort for conducting a "divisive" and "xenophobic" campaign that sacrificed the safety and wellbeing of the country for the sake of political expediency.

"Ive 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, its time for you to leave,'" said Warsi.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The EU Commission reasserted its support for a visa-free regime with Ukraine following a June 27 meeting, but the final decision is still in the hands of individual member states, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told Sputnik.

"The Ukrainian president [Petro Poroshenko] made a very strong plea for the visa liberalization, which we support from the commission," Malmstrom said of the recent EU-Ukraine talks on Wednesday.

Malmstrom, who attended the Monday talks between EU and Ukrainian leaders in Brussels, explained that the final creation of the visa-free regime "is in the hands of member states now."
'Yes, in the current circumstances, yes. Year ago, I would say  no, this [the creation of humanitarian corridor] was impossible. At the moment, [it is] possible. Possible to create the humanitarian corridors under the protection of the Russian Aerospace Forces," Jarba stressed.

Humanitarian corridors need to be created particularly in the regions near Damascus, and in the eastern provinces of Syria, he added.

Moreover, the group needs support of the Russian Aerospace Forces in its fight against Daesh.

"Our armed people are present on the ground on the territories controlled by the IS [Daesh], especially in eastern Syria. We need support of the Russian Aerospace Forces to move forward," Jarba said.

Syrias Tomorrow emerged in March in a new bid to unite liberal opposition forces under one umbrella organization.
DAMASCUS (Sputnik)  The area in which the airport and the village are located was liberated from Daesh terrorist group.

"The New Syrian Army supported by the United States took over the Hamdan airfield near the town of Albu Kamal in the province of Deir ez-Zor after fighting with Daesh," the source said.

Prior to the war raging in Syria, Hamdan airport was used for transporting farm products, but was transformed to helicopters and military tanks base.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The US-led coalition against Daesh carried out 32 airstrikes against targets in Syria and Iraq on Monday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a press release.

"In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 15 strikes using bomber, attack, ground-attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL [Daesh] targets," the release stated on Wednesday. "Additionally in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 17 strikes coordinated with and in support of the government of Iraq."

In Syria, the airstrikes were waged near Abu Kamal, Manbij and Mara, and destroyed two Daesh vehicles, two fighting positions and a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to the Dogan news agency, one of the explosives was found in a bag believed to have belonged to one of the suicide bombers.

On Tuesday evening, three blasts hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk international airport, leaving over 40 people dead and more than 200 injured.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the preliminary evidence suggested that the Islamic State extremist group, outlawed in Russia, was responsible for the terrorist attack, although the official investigation was still underway.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  US Special Envoy for the anti-Daesh coalition Brett McGurk said on Tuesday the military operation taking place in Manbij, which began on May 31, is setting the groundwork for retaking Daeshs stronghold of Raqqa.

"We have US-trained opposition forces near the Mara lineand we have provided advice, assistance and training to the Syrian Democratic Forces that are conducting the Manbij operation," Garver told reporters.

Manbij, located between Daesh's de facto capital of Raqqa and the Syrian-Turkish border, is a strategically important area for the terrorist group.
After all, our specialists with their participation provided with the greatest assistance to the Iraqi Army and the People's Militia of Hashd al-Shabi in their fight against terrorism, in particular, Daesh.

But the statements of John Kerry also have a second point which according to the journalist is an attempt to take an offensive.

By such remarks, Kerry wants to show the world community that Daesh is the US and Irans enemy.

Thus, he seems to be trying to distract the public and move their attention from the fact that the US played a backstage role in the formation, support, sponsorship, financing and supplying of weapons to Daesh, to make it sound like the US was doing that because Daesh is the US greatest enemy, the journalist said.

Thus, the Pentagon expects to receive approval within the United States and beyond, to strengthen its military presence in Iraq, by sending troops and equipment.

Hassan further said that Hillary Clinton also mentioned the US role in the formation of Daesh in her book.

During those years, when she took this position (Secretary of State), Clinton made many trips to different countries and met with representatives and leaders of various countries behind closed doors, of course, she informed them of what was happening in Syria, Iraq and West Asia, in fact, she was presenting documentary evidence, the journalist said.

Since then, John Kerry, has set the task to refute the validity of the evidence and conceal or destroy all photos, video confessions of Daesh terrorists proclaiming the US support for the terrorists in Syria and Iraq.

"Kerry launched a campaign for public opinion that suggested that all of that was fabricated material, nothing more than that, Hassan said.

Hence, the recent statement by Kerry must be viewed keeping these two points in mind, Hassan stressed.

But in any case, participation of the Iranian military advisors and specialists in Iraq over the past 2 years has been organized at the request of the central government and the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. Within the framework of military cooperation of the Iranian military advisers in Iraq and Syria, a crucial role was played in fight against Daesh.

According to the journalist, the liberation of the important Iraqi city of al-Fallujah would have been impossible without the active participation of the Iranian military experts and intelligence officers who were able to help the Iraqi Army and people's militia Hashd al-Shabi get closer to the goal and to defeat the terrorists and take this strategically important point back.
DAMASCUS (Sputnik)  According to the source, the attack was carried out by militants of al-Nusra Front and other extremist groups.

"The terrorists suffered losses, including influential field commanders," the source added.

The source noted that the terrorists managed to take control over just one village in the province, but the Syrian army was trying to liberate it.
CAIRO (Sputnik)  Investigators of the crash of EgyptAir Flight MS804 in the Mediterranean have successfully recovered data from flight recorder in a special lab in Cairo, Egypt's Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee said in a statement Wednesday.

"Preparation and check-up of 1,200 in-flight parameters for further analysis is underway," the statement says.

According to the statement, "the entire flight is recorded" and "data is showing consistency with ACARS messages of lavatory and avionics smoke."
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Ban during his visit to Israel to assist in the return of Avera Mengistu and an Arab-Bedouin whose name has not been disclosed, connection with whom was lost in 2014 after they crossed into the Palestinian enclave.

"Prisoners in Gaza that Netanyahu mentioned to Ban Ki-moon I heard about that, but I think this question is not with Ban Ki-moon to solve it, its with other groups, fractions in Gaza," Nofal said.

He added that it was unclear if Ban contacted Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on the issue during his visit to Palestine on Tuesday.
DUBAI (Sputnik)  Two citizens of Saudi Arabia were killed by a terror attack in the Istanbul airport on Tuesday, Saudi ambassador to Turkey Adil Murad said Wednesday.

"After checking documents of victims of the attack, four people killed turned out not to be Saudi citizens  so, the number of the killed kingdoms citizens decreased to two. A total of 25 Saudi citizens are injured  they are in Turkish hospitals in satisfactory condition," Murad told Al-Ekhbariya TV-channel.

He said that four people, who were missing, have been found. Saudi authorities are trying to find one more missing citizen.
In an attempt to blunt the controversy surrounding the decision, Ban Ki-moon declared that the redaction was temporary measure meant to ensure the reports accuracy. The Saudi government, however, contradicted this statement by insisting the removal was permanent.

Several days later, the UN chief went public about the circumstances surrounding his decision, hinting that Riyadh had used extortion to secure the result.

"The report describes horrors no child should have to face, but at the same time, I also had to consider the very real prospect that millions of other children would suffer grievously if, as was suggested to me, countries would defund UN programs," Ban Ki-moon said. "Children already at risk is Palestine, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen and so many other places would fall further into despair."
Speaking during a retirement ceremony last week, Welsh said that the US Air Force is going to need to dramatically increase its number of personnel in order to successfully accomplish future missions.

While the Air Force plans to increase its staff from 317,000 in 2017 to some 324,000 in 2019, this is still not enough to ensure that all programs are operating at full capacity.

"We've been talking about adding new capability when we weren't being allowed to divest old capability. We've been talking about expanding space, cyber, [remotely piloted aircraft] capability and someone asked me, Well, how many airmen would it take to be able to do all that?' and I said, I don't know  40,000 to 60,000 would be a guess," Welsh said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Construction of the Russian Navys Pacific Fleet base on Matua in the Kuril Islands chain will begin as soon as this year, a high-level military source told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

"The decision to establish a Pacific Fleet naval base on the island has been made, construction will start this year," the source said.

The Russian Defense Ministry was considering building the base on Matua, which hosts three World War II-era airstrips, Commander of the Eastern Military District Col. Gen. Sergei Surovikin said in May.
Lukanin mentioned that the US Navy's ship broke both written and unwritten rules of the maritime code of conduct. He singled out the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) that was signed by 21 nations in 2014. CUES is meant to reduce the risk of maritime incidents, but the agreement is not legally binding.

"There is also the 1972 US-Soviet Incidents at Sea agreement meant to prevent dangerous encounters at open sea and airspace above. The deal does not provide specific distance requirements, but it stipulates that ships must maintain a safe distance so that they are not in each other's way," he detailed.

Lukanin pointed out that ships are incapable of changing course easily due to inertia. This is why these agreements were signed in the first place. "In this case these agreements were flagrantly violated," he noted.
Moreover, NATO continues to bring up to the military alliances standards the military facilities close to the Russian border, Shoigu said.

"Work continues on the modernization and bringing to the standards of the alliance of a number of military facilities in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic countries," Shoigu said.

He voiced particular concern with the deployment of US missile defense systems in Romania and Poland.

At the same time, NATO could bolster its military activity along the Russian border after its summit in Poland next month.

"We do not exclude that after the NATO summit, the scale of NATOs military presence and the activity of the alliance armed forces near the Russian border can significantly increase," Shoigu said at the ministry board's field meeting.

Thus, NATO's increased military activity near the Russian border undermines strategic stability in Europe and forces Russia to take retaliatory measures, Sergei Shoigu added.

"These actions by Western colleagues tend to undermine strategic stability in Europe and force us to take retaliatory measures, primarily in the Western strategic direction," Shoigu said at the ministry boards field meeting.
Xi made the comments when he met with South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn in Beijing, the agency said.

Washington consultations with Seoul on the deployment of the THAAD system in the country began on March 4.
KUBINKA (Sputnik)  More than 2,000 pieces of military equipment will be delivered to the Russian Western Military District in 2016, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday.

"A lot of attention is being paid to the provision of modern weaponry, military and special equipment to the units of the [Western] district. This year the Western Military District will receive over 2,000 pieces of new and modernized equipment," Shoigu said.

He added that the increased NATO military build-up had forced Russia to take measures to neutralize the potential threats in the Western Military District.
In a major step towards Make in India, India produced a domestically made torpedo called Varunastra, raising the country to be one of the eight countries in the world to have the capability to design and build such a weapon.

Varunastra is capable of targeting quiet and stealthy submarines, both in deep and shallow waters in intense countermeasure environments.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The United States decries the monstrous terrorist attacks at Istanbuls Ataturk international airport, the White House said in a press release.

"The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms todays heinous terrorist attack at Istanbuls Ataturk International Airport in Turkey, which appears to have killed and injured dozens," the release, issued on Tuesday, stated.

"We remain steadfast in our support for Turkey, our NATO ally and partner," the release, issued on Tuesday, stated.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  EU leaders recognize that UK's exit from the European Union is in all sides' interests and especially in London's interests, European Council President Donald Tusk said.

"Respecting the will of the British people we all recognized that the process of [Brexit] was in everyone's and especially in the UK's interests. Prime Minister Cameron undertook that the decision to trigger article 50 of the [Lisbon] treaty on the European Union would be taken by the new leadership in Britain," Tusk said at a press conference after the EU summit in Brussels.

According to Tusk, "Brexit means substantially lower growth in the UK with a possible negative spillover all over the world".
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik)  Italy and the Netherlands reached an agreement on Tuesday to split the two-year term on the United Nations Security Council after both states had received 95 votes each following five rounds of voting in the General Assembly.

"We had an agreement that we proposed to the General Assembly to serve in the Security Council one year each. I think that this is also a way to show from two European countries a message of unity, it is also a diplomatic solution We know that the formal implementation of this agreement should be decided tomorrow, in the next days, especially by our regional groups We have no doubt that this agreement will be implemented," Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told reporters.

In accordance with the agreement, Italy will take the Security Council seat for 2017 and the Netherlands for 2018.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The European Union is unlikely to change its stance on sanctions against Russia following the United Kingdom's withdrawal, Russia's Permanent Representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov told Sputnik.

"There are no expectations. I don't believe that this position will change," Chizhov said.

Russia has no plans of engaging in talks with the European Union on a gradual lifting of sanctions, he added.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Turkey's problems in relations with the European Union are "inevitable" and they are growing, Russia's Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov told Sputnik.

"Turkey has problems with the European Union, they are inevitable, and not only with Germany, but also with other EU member states. These difficulties are growing in course of time. There are many factors," Chizhov said.
Arabic scholar Leonid Isaev of the Carnegie Moscow Center singled out three main opposition groups in Syria, based on the capital where they were created  the Riyadh group, the Moscow group and the Cairo group. They all were formed following the same logic: foreign-based opposition groups viewed as legitimate by the international community have been paired with forces located in Syria.

"Both sides needed each other although they did not really trust each other," he added. "Various committees and councils of Syrian expat politicians were trying to receive backing from groups who are taking part [in the war] and hold certain areas under control. The latter were also interested in having someone to represent them at the Geneva talks."
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) should not be able to deprive national delegations of their rights, Russian parliament speaker Sergei Naryshkin said Wednesday.

"The possibility of depriving any national delegation of its powers should be removed from the Parliamentary Assembly's practice. PACE should not have a mandate to recognize or not recognize or limit the rights of national delegations," Naryshkin said at a meeting with PACE President Pedro Agramunt.

The Russian delegation was deprived of its voting rights in April 2014 following Crimea's reunification with Russia. Russian lawmakers were barred from participating in PACE's three key bodies  its bureau, presidential committee and standing committee.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Monday, the Kremlin announced that Erdogan had sent a letter regarding the incident with the Russian plane, saying "Excuse us" and pledging to take any steps to "relieve the pain and severity of damage" caused to the family of the pilot killed during the incident.

"I believe the apology by the Turkish President to the family of the Russian pilot is a good initiative, independently from all legal disputes that may still exist concerning the exact circumstances of the downing of the Russian military jet," Fleckenstein said.

He said it was possible that the Turkish president was hoping to annoy certain European leaders with his effort to restore ties with Russia amid souring Turkish-EU relations over the visa waiver issue, but added the move could not upset the European Union.
Western partners will not be able to help Ukraine until its government starts implementing reforms.

"The Ukrainian government is doing nothing to help Western partners help Kiev. How can anyone be so indelicate to propose to replace Britain with their country in the European Union like one of the Ukrainian lawmaker did?" an author of the German media outlet Handelsblatt wrote.

According to the article, Berlin should strengthen its criticism of the Ukrainian government because "Kiev has not kept its promises on reforms." Moreover, Ukraines refusal to make constitutional changes on decentralization undermines the Minsk agreements.
ANKAR (Sputnik)  An official written statement on the outcome of the talks is expected later, sources close to Erdogan said, as cited by Turkey's NTV television.

On Monday, the Kremlin announced that Erdogan had sent a letter regarding the incident with the Russian plane, saying "Excuse us" and pledging to take any steps to "relieve the pain and severity of damage" caused to the family of the pilot killed during the incident.

The Russian Su-24 attack aircraft was shot on November 24, 2015 by a Turkish F-16 fighter near the Turkish border over Syria. Following the incident, Moscow imposed a number of restrictive measures on Turkey and has repeatedly said that Ankara should apologize for downing the plane and cover any material losses to the country and the pilot's family.
In other words, Daesh, according to the lawyer, is merely a "convenient enemy" whom some use to pin the blame for everything that went wrong in the country instead of naming those who are truly responsible for Libya's current state.

The terrorist group "turned Sirte into its stronghold in 2015," he noted. "It follows then that the militants could not have been able to spark the anarchy that has ravaged Libya since 2011. Salafist groups from Tripoli and Muslim Brotherhood from Misrata" are to blame for this.

The forces that are trying to push Daesh out of Sirte were ok with the terrorists present in the city for a long time, he added, saying that these groups "have been sponsored by Ankara, Doha, the European Union and Washington."
ANKARA (Sputnik)  Putin additionally expressed condolences to Erdogan with the deadly terrorist attacks on Istanbul Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the office said.

The phone talks, earlier reported to last 40 minutes, also covered normalizing relations between Russia and Turkey and stressed the importance of bilateral cooperation.

Moreover, the two presidents agreed to take necessary steps to restore bilateral relations, the Turkish presidential office said.
"Although this announcement is being made amid growing terror threat, we [Russia] will lift the administrative restrictions in this sphere [tourism], and I am asking the government of the Russian Federation to begin the process of normalizing trade and economic relations with Turkey," Putin said at a government meeting.

Putin and his Turkish counterpart Erdogan underscored the need to bolster international cooperation in the fight against terrorism, the Kremlins press service said.

"Both sides emphasized the need to intensify international cooperation in the fight against a common terrorist threat."

The Russian and Turkish presidents agreed to hold a personal meeting in the near future, according to the Kremlin.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the say, PACE President Pedro Agramunt held a meeting with Russian parliament speaker Sergei Naryshkin in Moscow.

"He [Agramunt] confirmed that, first of all, there were major changes in the leadership of the political groups. At the moment, the leaders of all political groups [in PACE] support return [of Russia]," Pushkov noted.

According to Pushkov, the PACE president stressed that the positions of the leading states in the organization, including Germany and France, had evolved as majority of the delegates believed that conflict between Russia and the European Union needed to be settled.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  UK Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday lashed out at Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn for putting little effort into the Remain campaign of the United Kingdom's EU membership referendum.

"To try to pretend that last Thursday's vote was a result of the state of the British economy is complete nonsense We all have to reflect on our role in the referendum campaign, I know the honorable gentleman says he put his back into it, all I'd say is that I hate to see him when he's not trying," Cameron said during Prime Minister's Questions in the country's parliament.

Both Cameron and Corbyn supported the Remain camp of the referendum.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The leaders agreed to restore bilateral relations, inluding in the spheres of trade and tourism.

"It was arranged that the ministers of foreign affairs of the two countries will meet in Sochi on July 1 during a meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. During this meeting, both the regional situation with the focus on the Syrian settlement and further development of bilateral relations will be discussed," the statement said.

On Monday, the Kremlin announced that Erdogan had sent a letter regarding the incident with the Russian plane, saying "Excuse us" and pledging to take any steps to "relieve the pain and severity of damage" caused to the family of the pilot killed during the incident.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The leaders agreed to restore bilateral relations, inluding in the spheres of trade and tourism.

"A permit to create organized tourist trips can be received within 10-14 days. Turkey can get Russian tourists already this season," Morozov told RIA Novosti.
In June, the French Senate passed by overwhelming majority a resolution calling on the government to ease sanctions against Russia. The National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, adopted a similar resolution in April.

Relations between Russia and the West deteriorated amid the 2014 crisis in Ukraine. The European Union, the United States and their allies have introduced several rounds of anti-Russian sanctions since the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014, accusing Moscow of meddling in the Ukrainian conflict, a claim Russian authorities have repeatedly denied.

NATO Summit in Warsaw

The French top diplomat also said that the upcoming NATO summit in Warsaw should not be a summit of confrontation with Russia. Lavrov said that Russia will closely monitor the NATO summit, including alliance's decisions on the activity near Russian borders.

"I think that transparency and openness will dominate our relations, and we have a lot of work to do in this respect," Ayrault stressed.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  A permanent secretary was appointed to head the new EU unit within the UK Cabinet Office, set up to carry out civil service work on Brexit, the UK government said in a statement Wednesday.

"Oliver Robbins has been appointed as the head of the new EU Unit in the Cabinet Office. Oliver will have responsibility for supporting Cabinet in the examination of options for our future relationship outside the EU, with Europe, and the rest of the world as well as responsibility for the wider European and Global Issues Secretariat," the statement read.

The unit was created on Monday in response to the June 23 vote to leave the European Union.
As reported by Focus Online, Poland, Bulgaria and other East European countries have repeatedly called for strengthening NATO's eastern flank.

"For us this is a matter of safety  in the Balkans, in the Baltic States," said Polish President Andrzej Duda, cited by the magazine.

Nearly 60,000 soldiers of NATO and allied countries have been participating in four series of maneuvers in the Baltic countries, Romania and Poland. Russian authorities stated that military activities near its borders pose a threat to the country's national security.

However, the newspaper called a statement of the Kremlin about military exercises near its borders "too kind" taking into account NATO's current state.

"Groans and creaks  these are the noises that NATO made during its large-scale exercise Anaconda in Poland," the author wrote.

On June 6-17, NATO held the 2016 Anaconda drills with the involvement of troops from over 20 member states of the Alliance, bringing together some 31,000 servicemen, 100 aircraft, 12 vessels and 3,000 vehicles. According to US Army Europe Commanding Gen. Ben Hodges, the exercises showed that the Alliance had several problems and was too slow compared to the Russian military.

In an interview with German media, Hodges reported numerous shortcomings which have been revealed during the exercises. One of them was the fact that heavy equipment can't be relocated from Western to Eastern Europe fast enough and that "Russia could conquer the Baltic States faster than we would be there to defend them."
In response to the downed aircraft Su-24, Moscow banned all charter flights to Turkey. In addition, it introduced an embargo on Turkish food which can now be withdrawn.

"What Turkey can expect now it the growing number of Russian tourists to its resorts," German newspaper Das Bild wrote.

The sanctions imposed by Moscow against Turkish products have more severely affected the country's economy than Ankara wanted to admit. The restrictive measures concerned not only food exports, but also tourism, a massive sector in which Russia has always played a main role.

"The Kremlin brought the proud, stubborn Erdogan to his knees," Spiegel noted.

Before the relations between the two countries deteriorated, about four million Russians spent their holidays in Turkey every year. In 2016 the number of trip bookings to the country decreased by 92 percent.

The decreasing inflow of Russian tourists has had serious consequences for the Turkish economy and also because visitors from other countries preferred to stay away from Turkey. The number of German tourists fell by 31.5 percent in the first half of 2016, in particular due to domestic instability and an increasing number of terrorist attacks in the country.
After the mass walkout of the shadow cabinet, Labour Party parliamentary members overwhelmingly backed a vote of no confidence in Corbyn on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, more than 230,000 people have signed a petition to back Corbyns leadership of the party in a bid to prevent his resignation. Corbyn has so far refused to resign.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russia has been targeted by Western sanctions since 2014 amid the crisis in Ukraine. Brussels, Washington and their allies have introduced several rounds of anti-Russia restrictions since Crimea reunified with Russia in March 2014 and the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict.

"I would risk considering a more optimistic scenario in the area of inter-parliamentary cooperation for the fall-winter of 2016-2017. I think that the lifting of sanctions against lawmakers can also occur throughout 2016, in early 2017," Pushkov told journalists.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) barred the Russian delegation from participating in PACE three key bodies  its bureau, presidential committee and standing committee.
GENEVA (Sputnik)  Quito will be ready to reconsider diplomatic relations with Brasilia if the Brazilian lawmakers vote to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, Ecuador's Foreign Minister Guillaume Long said Wednesday.

"We will reassess the situation if Rousseff impeachment is announced," Long said.

Long reminded that as soon as Brazil began legal proceedings against Rousseff, Ecuador recalled its ambassador for consultations. At present, Ecuador has no ambassador in Brazil, although the diplomatic relations are maintained.
The bombings came hours after Ankara decided to mend its relations with Russia and Israel, but the two events are not necessarily linked, Turkey's former envoy to Jordan Oktay Aksoy told Radio Sputnik.

"Turkey has joined other countries in their anti-Daesh efforts. Not everyone is happy about it," he said. "These terrorist acts could be viewed as a sort of a punishment for Ankara's decision to drastically limit its assistance to Syrian rebels and to join a campaign against Daesh," since these efforts weakened the group in Syria.

Turkey is not restoring its ties with Russia and Israel to fight against Daesh, he noted. It main motive is to pursue a "realistic foreign policy" once again. The terrorist group is "clearly" against these developments.

"By normalizing ties with Russia and Israel, Turkey is trying to ensure stability in the region. This is in Turkey's interests, but those who benefit from instability and chaos are not happy with this decision," he added. At the same time "these terrorist acts will not affect positive trends in relations between Russia and Turkey."
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Tuesday, Picardo and Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Garcia headed to London for a number of meetings, including talks with First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, on the possibility of Scotland and Gibraltar remaining in the European Union. Picardo and Sturgeon agreed that technical experts from the two governments should meet and review the situation.

"We are assessing all aspects for now and will not be making further comment at this stage," Picardo said when asked what possible options for the territory after Brexit were.

As the overall number of Brexit supporters in the United Kingdom was 4 percent larger than the number of those opposing the move (52 percent versus 48 percent), in Gibraltar, the support for EU membership reached 95.79 percent.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Members of the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, are ready to resume dialogue with the Turkish parliament, Speaker Valentina Matvienko said Wednesday.

"We are ready to restore parliamentary relations with Turkish parliament, we are considering now how we can do that," Matvienko told reporters in Moscow.

"Miracles do not exist, Russian-Turkish relations have changed in the past seven months, and it will take time to improve them," Matvienko stressed.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Tuesday, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon asked Scotland's parliament to support the resolution on the country's refusal to agree with the results of the referendum on EU membership.

"The discussion with Europe will be with the United Kingdom, and it will be in this context that some solutions, which might be relevant to Scotland can take place but no decision can be made ahead of these negotiations," Hollande said.

Scotland, London and Northern Ireland voted in favor of remaining part of the European Union at Thursday's referendum on the United Kingdom's membership in the bloc, while the majority of voters in Wales and England voted in favor of Brexit.
ANKARA (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, the two presidents had a 40-minute telephone conversation, after which Erdogan's office confirmed that the leaders had agreed to a personal meeting. In parallel, Turkish media reported that the presidents could meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China on September 4-5.

"The two leaders agreed to meet, but the situation is so fresh that it would be too early to talk about the details. Both sides do have this intention, and I personally believe that there will be positive developments in the situation. However, no precise information on the date and the venue can be given," the spokesman told RIA Novosti.

The shift in Ankara-Moscow dialogue comes shortly after the Kremlin announced that Putin had received a letter from Erdogan expressing readiness to resolve the bilateral crisis caused by the downing of a Russian plane last year.
At the same time, in northern Syria Kurdish forces backed by the United States and Russia are making advances against Daesh and have regained grounds. Ankara fears that Kurds will establish autonomy and then intensify their activity in other countries.

Another major reason is Russia's sanctions imposed against Turkey after the aircraft was shot down. They affected a number of joint projects between Ankara and Moscow as well as the energy, trade, investment and especially tourism industry.

There are several reasons for Ankaras decision to start normalization with Russia, Turkish political analyst Oya Akgonenc Mugisuddin told Sputnik Radio.

"First, the Russian sanctions have seriously damaged the Turkish economy. Before the sanctions, the two countries expanded cooperation in different fields. Moreover, Russia and Turkey are the two powers which maintain regional stability. Destabilization in the regions affects both countries," she explained.

The expert also noted that normalization was possible due to overall changes in the Turkish foreign policy.

Previously, new Turkish Prime Minister Binaly Yildirim said that Ankara will conduct a foreign policy course aimed to increase the number of friends and normalize relations.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  A terrorist attack at the Ataturk Airport on Tuesday left at least 41 people dead, and injured more than 240, according to official reports.

"Attacks such as the one in Istanbul will become more common as the group shifts its targets to match its capabilities," the report stated. "Unable to seize territory, the group will attack soft and symbolic targets. Turkeys proximity to Syria ensures that it will be a prime target for the foreseeable future."
The North Atlantic Alliance is ready to do just that. The upcoming summit in the Polish capital will see the bloc taking measures to increase its military capabilities and enhance its capacity to "project stability," as NATO calls it.

These policy decisions will come at a time when the US has put the first Aegis Ashore missile defense complex online in Romania. The second base is currently under construction in Poland.

Russia has been extremely concerned with NATO's increasing assertiveness on the bloc's eastern flank. Things will hardly improve following the summit. The North Atlantic Alliance could well drastically increase its military presence and activities close to Russia's borders after Warsaw, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu warned on Wednesday.

The military and political situation in Eastern Europe and the Baltic region "remains unstable," he said at the ministry's offsite meeting. "The United States and other NATO members continue to build up their military capabilities, primarily in countries neighboring Russia."

Apparently, even these activities are not enough for NATO. At least this is an impression one gets from a piece in Die Zeit.

"Even after almost 20 years of joint foreign deployments, the western alliance still doesn't manage to operate like a single set of troops. It remains a pact of national and technical islands," the German national weekly noted. It also compared the bloc to a house that "is still standing only because wallpaper holds up the walls."
Differences of opinion over the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad should not prevent Russia and the United States from working on other areas in the crisis-torn country, Kislyak said.

"We do not have consensus on this matter, but that does not mean that we should not work together on much more, meaning the fight against terrorism, but a real fight so that we can reinforce each others capabilities in this regard," Kislyak said.

The Russian envoy echoed Moscows and the UN Security Councils longstanding stance that the fate of the Syrian leadership rests with the will of the Syrian people.

"What we and the Americans can do is to help remove this cancer of terrorism, to help find common ground in the talks between the conflicting parties," Kislyak reiterated, adding that constitutional and other political decisions are up to the Syrians themselves.

Kislyak added that holding a new International Syria Support Group (ISSG) session "for the sake of a meeting" was unnecessary unless it gave an impetus for progress.
"Russia will concentrate on building good, mutually beneficial relations with the European Union  while preserving all differences [within the EU]  and with member states of the European Union separately," Peskov underscored.

Commenting on the issue, French journalist Hildegard von Hessen am Rhein of Boulevard Voltaire called attention to the fact that in contrast to Washington and Berlin, Russia has never interfered in Britain's domestic affairs.

"From the height of his arrogance and Russophobia that has put down its roots in Europe under Washington's influence, David Cameron claimed that President Putin "might be happy" with Brexit. By this remark he purportedly wanted to scare Britons. However, that had not worked. While Obama allowed himself to interfere in Britain's affairs, and Merkel threatened the English, Putin did nothing of the kind. One might wonder on whose side is democracy today?" the journalist asked.

Von Hessen am Rhein quoted the Russian leader who stressed that Moscow did not interfere in the UK's referendum, did not try to influence the process and never discussed the issue.

"Prior to the vote in the United Kingdom and after the vote, I have already said that we have never interfered, never discussed this, we acted very properly in my opinion. Of course, we closely followed what was going on, but did not influence this process and did not even attempt to do so," Putin stated at the SCO summit in Tashkent.

"Statements made by the UK Prime Minister Mr. Cameron, before this plebiscite, before this referendum, on Russia's stance, have no basis and never have," the Russian President underscored.

According to the French journalist, Eurocrats and their backers should take a glance in the mirror before accusing Russia of influencing the results of the recent British referendum.

She believes that Putin has just nailed it when he linked the Brexit vote with the excessively high concentration of power within the administrative body of the EU and compared the European Parliament with the High Council of the USSR.

"The percentage of mandatory decisions made by the European Parliament is larger than that of mandatory decisions made by the High Council of the USSR in regard to its member-republics. This means that the powers are highly concentrated within [the administrative body of the EU]," Putin underscored, adding that the referendum indicated that Britons are not satisfied with the EU-led dissolving of national borders.
Replying to the question of whether the Patriotic Party (Vatan Partisi) has made a contribution to the normalization of Turkish-Russian relations, Perincek said:

"Of course, we have made efforts in this direction, because our party has supported the need to normalize relations between Turkey and its neighbors. On that day, when the Russian plane was downed, we were the only ones who protested against this step of Turkey," the politician stressed.

Turkish-Russian relations deteriorated after a Turkish F-16 fighter shot down the Russian Su-24 combat jet near the Turkish border in Syria on November 24, 2015. The jet was carrying out anti-terrorist operations in Syria. The crew of the plane ejected and one of the pilots, Oleg Peshkov, was killed by ground fire, while the second pilot survived.
YEREVAN (Sputnik)  On Tuesday evening, three suicide blasts rocked the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport. According to the Turkish Justice Ministry, the attack has left 41 people dead and more than 200 injured.

"The Armenian president most strictly condemned the terrorist act and expressed his deep condolences to the relatives of the victims and wished a quick recovery to those injured," the press service said in a statement.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The communication between Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov and US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland on Ukraine is useful as it provides an opportunity for the sides to better understand each other, Russia's Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak said in an interview with Sputnik.

"Of course, interaction on the Nuland-Surkov line makes it possible to understand each other better, to better understand the possibility of what the Americans can do, want to do or do not want to do. In this regard, it is useful," Kislyak said.

However, the United States joining the four-party Normandy format to resolve the Ukrainian crisis does not solve existing issues, Sergey Kislyak said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On June 23, the United Kingdom held the referendum, in which the majority of Northern Irish voters cast ballots in favor of membership in the European Union. Despite this fact the vote across the United Kingdom decided to leave the bloc with a narrow majority of 51.9 percent.

"The EU rules are very clear  membership is at member state level, its a national question. This decision has been made  the people of the UK have voted to leave the EU. That decision is going to be respected. Thats what the government will take forward," Theresa Villiers said, speaking at Stormont House, Belfast.

After the referendum the Northern Irish republican party Sinn Fein said it would push for a referendum on the province's secession from the United Kingdom and subsequent reunification with the rest of Ireland, which is a member of the European Union.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to the ambassador, whenever the US side is ready to jointly seek a solution on this issue, they will be welcome.

"We would be happy, but so far I do not see it [willingness of the US side]," Kislyak said.

"There is no dialogue It was the decision of the US administration to suspend the [US-Russia Bilateral] Presidential Commission's work, which had a large number of working groups, including on the issue of disarmament and [on issues] of military-political nature. Everything has been stopped, there is no dialogue. It was their choice," Kislyak said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Tuesday evening, three suicide blasts rocked the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk international airport, leaving at least 36 people dead and 147 injured.

"Of course, Turkey should address its domestic problems on its own. But it could undoubtedly rely on Russia's support in the fight against terrorism. I think that cooperation in this sphere will allow to clear debris off the road of cooperation in other areas," Franz Klintsevich told reporters.

Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a 40-minute telephone conversation, first since the relations deteriorated amid Turkey's downing of a Russian plane, which was on an anti-terror mission in Syria. Following the talks, Erdogan's office confirmed that the leaders had agreed to a personal meeting.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The website of Sputnik's Turkish bureau was blocked on April 14 by the Turkish telecommunications regulator. Turkey's Golbasi District court backed the decision. The chief editor of Sputniks Turkish bureau, Tural Kerimov, was denied entry to Turkey, stripped of his accreditation and residence permit in the country.

"The decision to block Sputnik in Turkey was obviously wrong, violating the principle of media freedom, and evidently politicized. We hope that the agreement between Russian and Turkish leaders will lead to the restoration of good relations between our countries and journalists will be able to work normally again," Simonyan told Sputnik.
GENEVA (Sputnik)  Ecuador is disappointed at the UK's decision not to follow UN's WGAD ruling, a move that reflects a double standards policy, disapproved by Quito, Long told reporters in Geneva, on the sidelines of a Human Rights Council session.

A UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) ruled in February that Assange was "arbitrarily detained" in London and should be released. The United Kingdom and Sweden defied this decision. London has reiterated that Assange would be arrested in case he left the embassy.

In May, the Stockholm court upheld the arrest warrant for Assange suspected of sexual assault in Sweden. The lawyers said they would file an appeal against the verdict.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The document creates a framework for the collaboration between the two agencies on crimes related to international money laundering, international asset recovery, and Ukrainian high-level official bribery and corruption, the release added.

"On June 29, 2016, Acting Deputy Assistant Director Mathew S. Moon of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Director Artem Sytnyk of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen existing cooperation between the agencies as they pursue anti-corruption initiatives," the release said.

In April, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk as well as five other ministers decided to resign amid the crisis in the countrys economic development and pervasive government corruption.
A recent poll showed that the public has positively reacted to Erdogan's attempts to normalize relations with Israel and Russia.

According to Uslu, normalization of political relations with Israel has not particularly affected the mood of Turkish voters. However, the situation with the Russian-Turkish relations is developing quite differently.

"75% of Turks believe that the crisis in relations with Russia is a serious blow to the country's economy," the expert stated. "Normalization of Turkish-Russian relations will have a positive impact on the mood of voters," the expert stated.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On June 25, the Slovak far-right party Kotleba  People's Party Our Slovakia launched a petition to hold an EU membership referendum, following the Brexit vote.

"SaS foresee future of Slovakia in the European Union and perceive that there wont be neither successful referendum nor political party initiative which may lead Slovakia to leave European Union," Klus said.

On Saturday, along with Slovakia, the Finnish nationalist Finns Party launched a petition to hold a referendum on Finland's EU membership. In France, National Front party suggested holding a similar vote, but its leader Marine Le Pen said French President Francois Hollande had rejected the possibility of a Brexit-style referendum.
WASHINGTO (Sputnik)  Russia launched airstrikes against terrorist groups in Syria in September 2015 at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad. On March 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to withdraw most of Russia's military contingent from Syria after objectives of the operation had been accomplished.

"The Russians play a critical role in this," Brennan stated at the Council on Foreign Relations. "There is going to be no way forward on a political front without active Russian cooperation, as well as true and genuine Russian interest in trying to find a political path."

The Russia-US brokered ceasefire in Syria came into force on February 27. Al-Nusra Front and Daesh terrorist groups, which are outlawed in Russia, are not part of the ceasefire deal.
The Bahrain Royal familys crackdown and repression of a pro-democracy movement continues but the regime is backed by the US and Britain. The US 5th Fleet trumps democracy.

Matthieu Bowla-Reba, the General Secretary of the CGT Union of Railroad Workers in Versailles talks about how for over four months French workers have shown such endurance in the face of stubborn politicians, brutal cops and a hostile mainstream media. Will the power of the people force President Francois Hollande to give in?

The leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United States are meeting today in Ottawa for the annual North American Leaders Summit. TPP is on the agenda but the politicians dont want the public hearing them. TransCanada, the Canadian corporation behind the infamous Keystone XL pipeline, is using a provision of NAFTA to sue the U.S. government for refusing its permit. Will corporate profit trump the environment and democracy? Joining Becker to discuss the issue is Dr. Margaret Flowers, a longtime environmental activist running as the Green Party candidate in Maryland for the U.S. Senate, and Bill Waren, senior trade analyst at Friends of the Earth.
Also, International Business Times reporter Brendan James stops by to discuss the latest Never Trumpers, including a former bigwig Republican who has turned toward Hillary Clinton. Should Democrats worry about warmongers and corporatists supporting their candidate?

And finally, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is taking a stand against Senators who want to expand the surveillance power of the NSA. He claims a certain measure under consideration in the upper chamber would allow the feds to spy on our thoughts.
Current estimates place the total death toll at 36 dead and 147 injured according to the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. The casualty figures are expected to grow over the next few hours based on video imagery of the attacks.

Turkish police indicate that Daesh has claimed responsibility for the attacks according to reports by Dogan News Agency. The attacks were carried out by four attackers in a coordinated fashion using Kalashnikov automatic rifles. At least three of the attackers detonated suicide vests before police could detain or kill them.

The attack took place in the airport's international terminal indicating that the terrorists were targeting tourists travelling from abroad. The international terminal is located in a separate building from where domestic flights depart and arrive.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, Putin visited the school of the German Embassy in Moscow, where he met with participants of the first Russian-German students' meeting. The Moscow meeting is a part of the project "Work for Peace  Reconciliation Above the Graves".

"I think it is important that Russian and German students talk about the past to move forward. But there is also an important thing: we should know about the past but we should not let it grab us and hold us back," Putin said.

"Work for Peace  Reconciliation Above the Graves" is a Russian-German youth project which is coordinated by the National Union on German War Graves Care, the German Embassy to Russia and the German-Russian Youth Exchange Fund.
Earlier in the day, Fedotov said he urged the Federation Council to reject the anti-terrorist legislation draft and establish a commission with Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament, and finalize the draft after parliamentary elections in the country scheduled to take place in mid-September.

"We have not received such a request through any channels," the source said.

Last week, the draft anti-terrorist laws were passed by the lower house of the Russian parliament. According to the legislation, the providers, messengers and social networks will be obliged to keep information about their users' calls and chats on Russian territory for three years, while the contents of the calls and chats should be kept for six months.
The poll also revealed that 72 percent of respondents support the overall development of technologies to prevent the transfer and procession of Russian consumers' data abroad, while only 11 percent do not support the idea.

The poll was conducted on June 21-23 among 1,600 people aged above 18 years.
There are also other concerns about suggesting friends in this manner. People could be presented with someone who has been harassing them at a bar, or women who have been to Planned Parenthood could be suggested to an unhinged protester.

To stop the social media platform from including your location in this algorithm, access your phones privacy settings, select Facebook, and switch your share location from always to never.

If Facebook were using smartphone location that way, it may well have violated its agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, which requires that the company get affirmative consent from its users to use their information in new ways and requires the company to protect the privacy and confidentiality of consumers information. Outing users identities to strangers because they were near each other for an extended period of time might be frowned upon, Fusion reported.

On Monday evening, the company walked back the claims in a statement to Fusion, insisting that using location data was only part of a temporary test, and was not used on the general public.

Were not using location data, such as device location and location information you add to your profile, to suggest people you may know. We may show you people based on mutual friends, work and education information, networks you are part of, contacts youve imported and other factors.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russian space agency Roscosmos is ready to begin the development of a flying prototype of a reusable first stage of a carrier rocket.

"The department for reusable space launch vehicles has been restored. It happened just a month ago. We invited the people who used to work on the Buran [space shuttle]. The department is headed by Pavel Lekhov, one of the designers of the Energia-Buran system," Roscosmos General Designer Alexander Medvedev was quoted as saying by the Russian Izvestia newspaper.

It is planned that the first stage of the carrier rocket will be winged to enable it to return to a spaceport like an ordinary plane, according to the news outlet.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, following the telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Putin ordered the government to prepare to lift administrative restrictions against Turkey in tourism field.

"The Russian market is really important for Turkey. The restrictions on Russians travelling to Turkey have been very significant in terms of contributing to [Turkeys] tourism sector problems. So we would welcome the announcement of the President Putin that restrictions have been lifted," Olivia Ruggles-Brise said.

The Turkish tourism industry faced a decline after Russia banned organized travel to the republic in retaliation for the downing of a Russian Su-24 attack aircraft by Turkey in Syria in November 24, 2015.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Daesh is likely trying to stage Istanbuls airport-style attack in the United States, US Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan said in an interview released on Wednesday.

"Id be surprised if Daesh is not trying to carry out that kind of attack in the United States," Brennan stated in an interview with Yahoo News.

The CIA director added that the attack, which has not been claimed by any terrorist group yet, was likely carried out by Daesh.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  On Tuesday, a coordinated terrorist attack at Istanbuls Ataturk International Airport left at least 41 people dead and more than 240 injured.

"We stand in very strong solidarity with our friends in Turkey," Blinken stated. "And I know that our thoughts are with so many of those friends and colleagues across the water."
On Sunday, ten people were stabbed and several others injured at a rally organized by the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP). The group believes that European-American identity is under constant attack by members of American institutions such as the state, education, culture and even churches.

TWP had planned to hold a rally at the California State Capitol, but when word got out, a counter-protest was organized by an anarchist group known as Antifa Sacramento.

Shortly before the event was scheduled to begin, blood was spilled on to the sidewalk as the two groups clashed with sticks, fists, and, eventually, knives.
Approximately 54% believe that trade deals like the TPP were to blame for disappearing manufacturing jobs in the US, as opposed to "natural changes in the economy." Nearly 60% think Wall Street is a hurtful institution for most Americans, while 56% believe the US should break up banks that are "too big to fail."

"The truth is, we have a rigged economy. It is unsustainable. It is not moral. And it's not the economy we need to be a great nation," Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders tweeted last month. "The fact of the matter is trade agreements pushed by corporate America are very good for CEOs, but disastrous for American workers."

Capitalizing on the popularity of the Sanders campaign, presumptive nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have become more progressive in their economic rhetoric, despite their own histories of collusion with corporations.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russias flagship airline Aeroflot has cancelled flight to and from Istanbul's Ataturk international airport due to a terrorist attack, the company said in a statement.

On Tuesday evening, three suicide blasts rocked the Istanbul airport international terminal. According to a preliminary data, at least four people could participate in the attack. Local media reported that the airport would be closed till 17:00 p.m. (14:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

"Due to the closure of Istanbul Airport, Aeroflot cancels the following flights: 28 June 2016 SU 2134 / SU 2135 Moscow  Istanbul  Moscow, 29 June 2016 SU 2136 / SU 2137 Moscow  Istanbul  Moscow. All the passengers from the above mentioned flights are free to refund the tickets or change the departure date free of charge," the statement reads.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Obama spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier in the day to offer condolences, Earnest said as quoted by ABC News.

Moreover, Barack Obama has offered assistance to Recep Tayyip Erdogan in probing the deadly attack at Istanbul airport, Earnest added.

The president [Obama] placed that phone call to express his deep condolences on behalf of the American people. In the context of that call he will offer any support that the Turks can benefit from as they conduct this investigation and take steps to further strengthen the security," Earnest said on Wednesday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to The Independent, Daesh propaganda bulletin Al-Naba praised the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union as it "threatened the unity of Crusader Europe."

Daesh, outlawed in Russia and many other countries, hailed "shock in political and economic circles" provoked by the Brexit referendum outcome, the newspaper added.

On June 23, British nationals across the United Kingdom decided to leave the bloc with a majority of 51.9 percent. The Brexit decision caused turbulence in financial markets, the drop of the UK stock indices and devaluation of the pound sterling.
NEW YORK (Sputnik)  The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is hopeful that Iran will join the international community in contributing to anti-terrorist obligations in Syria and Iraq, CIA Director John Brennan said at the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday.

"Im hopeful that maybe with the growing influence and ascendance of some of the more modern elements within the Iranian government and President Rouhani that we may see Iran truly move toward rejoining the community of nations and fulfilling its role and responsibility," Brennan stated.
The UN-African Union mission in Darfur, western Sudan, was also extended for a year. The number of forces used in the mission remained unchanged in comparison to the previous year.

The Security Council also prolonged the mandate of UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in Golan Heights for six months until December 31, 2016. The Council called on all parties of the Syrian conflict  especially armed opposition groups  to abstain from military activities in the UNDOF area.

The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) is leading 16 peacekeeping operations with more than 118,000 military, police and civilian personnel deployed.
Fresh off a Canadian record performance in the Armbro Flight, Hannelore Hanover headlines the second leg of the Miss Versatility on Fridays Canada Day card at Mohawk Racetrack.

A group of 13 older trotting mares have been split into two $30,000 divisions for the second leg of this years series. The first leg, which was contested on May 23 at Mohawk, saw Jewels In Hock and Rockin With Dewey draw first blood, but this time around the hottest trotter in the division will make an appearance.

Ron Burke trainee Hannelore Hanover will start from post five in the six-horse first division Friday. The four-year-old daughter of Swan For All has won seven of eight starts this season, including a Canadian record 1:51 victory in the Armbro Flight two weeks ago.

Hannelore Hanovers six-plus length victory in the Armbro Flight was a loud statement to the older trotting mare division. Racing under the radar in the Indiana Sires Stakes last season, Burke always believed she belonged in the conversation as one of the top trotters in her division.

Ron has been telling me how good she was since last year, said Yannick Gingras after driving Hannelore Hanover to victory in the Armbro Flight elimination. He believed she was the third best trotting filly behind Mission Brief and Wild Honey.

With Mission Brief sidelined this season, Hannelore Hanover has stepped into the spotlight and quickly risen the ranks to elite status.

Owned by Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC and Frank Baldachino, Hannelore Hanover will team up with driver Sylvain Filion for the first time in Fridays race. The first division also features leg one winner Rockin With Dewey and Rules Of The Road, who finished third in the Armbro Flight after winning an elimination.

Jewels In Hock will aim for another Miss Versatility leg victory in Fridays second division. The Linda Toscano-trained four-year-old has won two of four starts this season after winning nine and over $350,000 last season. The daughter of Credit Winner will start from post five in the field of seven with driver Jack Moiseyev.

Local trotters Elegant Serenity, Stormont Kate, Bax Of Life and White Becomes Her will look to protect home turf in the second split.

Following Fridays leg, the Miss Versatility will make its next stop at The Meadowlands on Saturday, July 16. The second leg divisions have been carded as Races 2 and 6 on Fridays 12-race program. First race post time Friday night is 7:30 p.m.

Here are the fields for Fridays Miss Versatility divisions.

Race 2: Miss Versatility Division 1  Purse: $30,000

PP/Horse/Driver/Trainer

1. Missys Ga Ga (Trevor Henry  Richard Moreau)

2. Charmed Life (Jody Jamieson  Dave Menary)

3. Harley Momma (Rick Zeron  Ake Svanstedt)

4. Rockin With Dewey (Mario Baillargeon  Ben Baillargeon)

5. Hannelore Hanover (Sylvain Filion  Ron Burke)

6. Rules Of The Road (Paul MacDonell  Charles Connor Jr.)

Race 6: Miss Versatility Division 2  Purse: $30,000

PP/Horse/Driver/Trainer

1. Elegant Serenity (Roger Mayotte  Roger Mayotte)

2. Stormont Kate (Bruce Richardson  Bruce Richardson)

3. Sky Hanover (Rick Zeron  Ake Svanstedt)

4. Classical Annie (Sylvain Filion  Ron Burke)

5. Jewels In Hock (Jack Moiseyev  Linda Toscano)

6. Bax Of Life (Chris Christoforou  Jerry Duford)

7. White Becomes Her (Mario Baillargeon  Ben Baillargeon)

To view the full entries for Mohawk's Canada Day card, click the following link: Friday Entries - Mohawk Racetrack.

(with files from WEG)
The Virginia Harness Horse Association would like to invite all Standardbred horsepeople to attend the inaugural race meet at the newly renovated Shenandoah Downs, formerly known as Woodstock, in northwestern Virginia.

The track and grounds have been completely renovated. The half-mile track has been widened to accommodate eight horses with banked turns and there are stables for more than 100 horses.

With the demise of Colonial Downs after the 2014 race meet, the VHHA board made a commitment to continue racing and grow its industry in Virginia. In 2015, the VHHA was only able to secure four days of racing at Oakridge while it was looking for a more permanent home. With the cooperation of the Shenandoah County Fair, the Virginia Equine Alliance and the VHHA, a five-year lease has been secured with three five-year options at Shenandoah Downs.

Racing in 2016  subject to the approval of the Virginia Racing Commission  will be 10 days in September and October. Racing will be on Saturday and Sunday starting September 10 and ending October 9 with a purse average of $50,000 per day.

There are plans to expand the eligibility rules for Virginia-breds to encourage greater participation by Virginia residents.

The VHHA is continually growing and needs your support, so please feel free to contact them for more information.

Stall applications are on the VHHA website (vhha.net) and the group will post condition sheets as soon as they are available.

(With files from the VHHA)
Officials with the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency have informed Trot Insider that it has approved a change that will affect all Wednesday post times for the rest of the year at Inverness Raceway.

First-race post time for Inverness Wednesday programs had been 7:30 p.m., but all of the Wednesday programs will now see the first race head to post at 7:00 p.m.

To view a list of the 2016 race dates at Inverness, click here.
UPDATE: Dr. James Dobson on Donald Trump's Christian Faith

Contact: Paul Hetrick, 719-531-9415COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., June 29, 2016 / Standard Newswire / -- Dr. James C. Dobson, broadcaster, author, family counselor and founder of Family Talk, joined with nearly 1,000 other evangelicals and Christian social conservatives in New York City on June 21 to participate in a conversation with Donald Trump.Dr. Dobson was also invited to participate in an ongoing evangelical advisory committee for exchanging views and information on social conservative issues with the presumptive presidential nominee.While at this event, Dr. Dobson was asked for a brief interview by Michael Anthony of Godfactor about his impressions of Mr. Trump and the exchange of views that had just occurred with him and members of the committee. That interview has been widely heard and read, and has been the nexus of much discussion in new stories and commentaries, primarily because of Dr. Dobson's brief personal reflections on Mr. Trump's beliefs and positions pertaining to the Christian faith.In response to significant interest and inquiries Dr. Dobson has received about his observations in that interview, he has issued further comments which can be seen here:

drjamesdobson.org/news/dr-james-dobson-on-trumps-christian-faith James Dobson's Family Talk, Colorado Springs, CO 80907 Phone: 877.732.6825 website: drjamesdobson.org
Clinton Email Update: Judicial Watch Releases Former Clinton Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin Deposition Testimony

Contact: Jill Farrell, Judicial Watch , 202-646-5172WASHINGTON, June 29, 2016 / Standard Newswire / -- Judicial Watch today released the deposition transcript of Huma Abedin, former deputy chief of staff to Hillary Clinton throughout her four years as secretary of state and who also had an email account on the clintonemail.com system. The deposition transcript is available here Abedin testified it was Clinton's decision to use her non-state.gov email; to her knowledge that only Hillary Clinton, Abedin and Chelsea Clinton had accounts on the clintonemail.com system; and that the clintonemail.com system may have interfered with Mrs. Clinton's ability to do her job.Abedin is among seven depositions of former Clinton top aides and State Department officials that Judicial Watch has questioned under oath. Under Secretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy testified today, Wednesday, June 29.This discovery arises in a Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit that seeks records about the controversial employment status of Huma Abedin, former deputy chief of staff to Clinton. The lawsuit was reopened because of revelations about the clintonemail.com system. ( Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:13-cv-01363)). Judge Sullivan ordered that all deposition transcripts be made publicly available.MORE: www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/clinton-email-update-judicial-watch-releases-former-clinton-deputy-chief-staff-huma-abedin-deposition-testimony
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SWFWMD matters Our present political mindset has carried us away from a rational appreciation for the irrefutable relationship between a healthy natural environment and economic wellbeing. It is fundamental that one will not survive without the other. SWFWMDmatters is a Blog about the intentional trashing of Florida's environmental conscience by today's conservative politics and what can happen if we don't become newly refocused upon promoting, protecting, and preserving a healthy natural Florida. The state's economic future is at risk.



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Vietnam Helicopter Crews

"Helicopter casualties constitute a very high representation, percentage-wise, of ANC (Arlington National Cemetery) Vietnam War burials. According to the CoffeltGroup database there are 2,590 Vietnam War KIAs buried in this sacred cemetery, and of those KIA, pilot casualties make up over 9 percent. If one assumes non-pilot crewmember internments possess the same ratio, some 20 percent of Vietnam KIAs buried in Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) died while serving in rotary-wing aircraft."



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VHPA Aviator - Issue 34-01 ~ January/February 2015





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PolitiFact
On the first day of his clients trial for intimidating a judge, Phil Lovingfoss lawyer argued that the Monticello Hotel owner totally fell off a cliff emotionally due to a toxic combination of alcohol and six psychotic medications.

In opening arguments Tuesday, attorney James Morgan told jurors that his clients girlfriend is going to be telling you about what life was like with him. In a nutshell, shes going to be saying that he was falling apart. That his stress level ... went up and his behavior had become bizarre, Morgan said.

Lovingfoss, 51, is charged with intimidating District Court Judge Ed Putka on July 11, when he made allegedly drunken comments to police officers in his office about wanting to harm Putka. Putka presided over Lovingfoss DUI and hit-and-run case stemming from an arrest in March 2015 in front of the Monticello.

The defense is not disputing that Lovingfoss made threatening remarks; rather, it questions whether Lovingfoss had the mental capacity to understand that they were a true threat, Morgan said.

Jurors also will hear recordings of calls Lovingfoss and others made to police July 11. Lovingfoss eventually asked police to come to his office on 12th Avenue. Three Longview police officers responded and eventually took him to St. John Medical Center for a mental health evaluation.

In his opening statement, Deputy Prosecutor Eric Bentson reviewed the timeline of events on July 11 and recapped the threats police reported Lovingfoss made against Putka in their presence. Bentson said Lovingfoss told officers he was going to slap down Putka and take a can of gasoline and a match and send em straight to hell.

According to police, while at the hospital, Lovingfoss also stated When I get out of this, Im going to take my 35-carat diamond ring and backhand the (expletive) out of Judge Putka.  You better put Putka in protective custody.

Tuesday, Bentson told the jurors: What the evidence will show is that because the judge made a ruling in the defendants case the defendant directed threats to the judge.

Morgan is claiming diminished capacity, saying that Lovingfoss had been improperly prescribed six psychotic medications, including antidepressants. Morgan told jurors that they will hear from psychiatrists and doctors who will testify that a combination of alcohol and psychotic medications caused a state of delirium July 11, essentially meaning that Lovingfoss was not making valid threats.

Morgan told jurors in his opening statement that other coworkers and friends also noticed clear indications of the decline Morgan described.

When you hear those tapes you are not going to believe what you hear, Morgan said. You can tell that hes gone, but you can see over time as hes calling hes getting worse and worse and worse.

After opening arguments, Putka testified and was cross examined, though he only spoke to why he set certain pre-trial conditions on Lovingfoss after he was arrested in March 2015 for DUI and hit-and-run charges.

Lovingfoss recently finished jail time in Wahkiakum County after pleading guilty to DUI and negligent driving charges from 2013 and 2015. Hes on probation for the next five years, and was required to complete chemical dependency treatment and a DUI education program.

Despite Morgans renewed request for a change of venue (Cowlitz Superior Court Judge Stephen Warning previously denied it) due to newspaper publicity, it took only half the day to whittle the jury pool from 56 people to 12. Warning is presiding at the trial.

The trial is expected to end Friday. On Wednesday, the prosecution is expected to call the three Longview police officers who responded to Lovingfoss calls July 11.
The US space agency NASAs Curiosity that has been exploring Martian surface since last four years has confirmed presence high levels of manganese oxides in the rocks of Red Planet that suggests that Mars was not always like it is today. Scientists believe that Mars was previously Earth-like and somehow it lost its atmosphere and became a deserted place as it is today.

Finding traces of manganese oxide in the Martian rocks mean high levels of oxygen was present in the atmosphere in the past which raises the doubt whether water once flew on our neighbouring planet or life once existed on the Red Planet.

Nina Lanza, a planetary scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, revealed that formation of manganese oxide requires two basic ingredients  atmospheric oxygen and microbes. Thus, Mars had oxygen and microbes in the past to form such a high amount of manganese oxides. Also, enough water should be present to aid the chemical reaction.

Curiosity rover boasts the Los Alamos-developed ChemCam instrument which was used to examine the chemical composition of martian rocks. Scientists say that they have observed more than 1,500 samples of rocks and soil samples in the past four years and were astonished to find such high amount the manganese oxide.

These high-manganese materials cant form without lots of liquid water and strongly oxidising conditions, said Lanza.

Here on Earth, we had lots of water but no widespread deposits of manganese oxides until after the oxygen levels in our atmosphere rose due to photosynthesising microbes, she said.

According to previous studies, Earth didnt have much oxygen during its early stages but something strange happened which caused bump in oxygen levels which also lead to the evolution of species.

NASA scientists believe that water flow could have brought oxygen into the Martian atmosphere when the Red Planet was losing its magnetic field. Without magnetic protection, radiation must have broken water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen due to which oxygen got into the atmosphere.

More detailed research is required to confirm the finding and lead to an inference. The mystery whether Mars once had water or life is very huge and it will require Curiosity to spend few more years collecting samples on the Red Planet and bring it back to Earth for research.
tech2 News Staff

A 19-year old lad from UK has created a bot thats succeeded in overturning over 160,000 parking tickets and effectively saving British motorists from $4 million in fines.

The bot, called DoNotPay, asks questions about the parking ticket, such as where the incident happened and whether parking signs were prominently visible. The bot will then walk you through the appeals process, automating a task that would normally require a lot of running around and a lawyer. DoNotPay will also help you file compensation claims for delayed and canceled flights.

So far, the bot has managed to overturn 160,000 parking tickets with a success rate of around 64 percent.

So focused on keeping DoNotPay from crashing that I just got my own parking ticket pic.twitter.com/JXsZkeTbFj  Joshua Browder (@jbrowder1) June 28, 2016

The bots creator, Joshua Browder, was born and brought up in London, and as Fortune points out, hes had a bit of a rich past. At 13, he reportedly built an app for Pret a Manger, a British sandwich chain. The app wasnt commissioned by the company and a direct violation of their copyright, but it was so successful that it was later adopted as the official app.

Browder went on to study at Stanford and was already experimenting with bots by the time he joined. A course in machine-learning apparently put him on the right path and as a direct result of that, DoNotPay was born.

VentureBeat reports that Browder is also working on a bot that will help people with HIV understand their legal rights. Hes also creating a bot to help refugees seek asylum using IBM Watson to translate Arabic to English. VentureBeat also quotes Browder as expressing his disappointment in the current state of bots. I feel like theres a gold mine of opportunities because so many services and information could be automated using AI, and bots are a perfect way to do that, and its disappointing at the moment that its mainly used for commerce transactions by ordering flowers and pizzas, he tells them.

DoNotPay has now made its way to New York and is expected to hit soon hit other American cities.
tech2 News Staff

Health and fitness tracking app Google Fit has seen a design overhaul thanks to the latest update. The new version 1.57 has started rolling out and includes a more colourful look along with a new timeline feature and a new goals feature both of which help in tracking your health better.

To be honest, Google fit hasn't been a popular app among consumers who track their fitness, but the new update might change their minds. The new interface looks much better than previous versions integrating artwork similar to what we saw on the recently updated Google Calendar app. The main screen now shows a lot more information than just big round rings, as you now get daily steps, active minutes, and progress over the week all in one page. You also get a card below that which shows your weight progress. All of these can be edited easily including your daily goals.

There is also a timeline section similar to Google Maps, where it shows your daily routine progress which further expands to give an analysis of what all activities were done. The app also brings a feature to add custom goals where users can create a goal by selecting from an extensive list of activities and then add specific metric for the goal selected.

The new update is currently rolling out and should be available on the Google Play Store.
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Japan's Line Corp on Tuesday set a price range for a Tokyo share sale that could value the messaging app operator at up to $6.57 billion, indicating strong demand for a firm that pitched itself as a stable investment rather than quick-growing startup. Line, owned by South Korea's Naver Corp, set a tentative range of 2,700 yen to 3,200 yen a share. At the top of the range, Line could raise 129 billion yen ($1.26 billion) from the sale of as many as 40.25 million shares.

That would make the initial public offering (IPO) the largest in the global tech industry this year. Line's announcement comes at a time of volatility in global financial markets as investors fret about economic uncertainty after Britain on Friday voted to leave the European Union. The company had delayed the announcement on Monday to assess global stock market reaction throughout the day. But its bullish pricing on Tuesday ran counter to any fear of volatility prompting firms to postpone or even shelve IPO plans.

The top of Line's price range, when compared with the 2,800 yen reference price released earlier in June, suggests investors warmed to an IPO pitch that emphasized value and steady returns in its core markets of Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan. While that pitch might suit the current period of uncertainty, playing down chances of explosive growth had blunted interest from some domestic investors.

Some fund managers said Line should have listed when it commanded more value during its period of rapid growth - from a makeshift communications tool born in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami to Japan's dominant mobile messaging app. But local retail investors and international investors expressed high interest in the listing, brokerages in Tokyo and a person involved in the listing told Reuters.

"There are fewer companies around with short-term profit outlooks that can be increased," said Mitsushige Akino, executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management, which oversees 140 billion yen worth of assets. "So it's probably been easy (for Line) to attract interest." Line plans to list in New York on July 14 and in Tokyo the following day. It has hired Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Nomura to manage the listing.

Reuters
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Britain's tech start-up scene was having a bumper year in terms of new company creation, fresh funding and acquisitions by global tech players before voters decided to leave the European Union in Thursdays referendum. Now high-profile companies are threatening to pull out or slow down plans to enter the UK market, international employees are second-guessing their immigration standing and investors could cut new funding that is the lifeblood of young tech firms.

Market researchers are predicting a sharp slowdown in UK technology and advertising spending and the longer-term threat that sizeable portions of these budgets will move to the continent. "Nothing's changed yet but everything's changed," said Taavet Hinrikus, the Estonian CEO and co-founder of cross-border money service Transferwise, which is based in London. London has become a magnet for tech entrepreneurs looking to do business in the European Union and a global launch pad for firms aiming to compete with U.S. and Asian web giants. Half the founders of London's top tech start-ups come from outside Britain.

One-third of recent European investments by venture capitalists, who are often drawn to tech startups, were made in Britain. In the first quarter, UK firms drew in $1.3 billion (984 million pounds) in funding, while the rest of Europe took $2.2 billion, according to research firm CBInsights. "The two main benefits of being part of the EU are access to talent because of the free movement of labor and the fact that you can 'passport' regulation so if you're regulated in the UK, you're regulated across the EU," said Hinrikus.

"We don't know what's going to happen with either of those." The Transferwise CEO now says "it's too early to say" what the company may do but said before the referendum that his company could scale back further investment in London and consider moving its headquarters if Britain voted to leave the EU.

BODY BLOWS

Number26, a Berlin-based start-up offering Internet banking services over smartphones in eight European countries, is now reconsidering its planned entry into the UK market. "We are probably going to consider other markets first," said co-founder and chief executive Valentin Stalf, citing separate bank licensing requirements likely to be required once outside the EU. "The UK market suddenly became a much more expensive proposition."

Detached from the EU, London could lose some key advantages: its status as a world financial center, European talent, and the uniformity of regulations that allowed London-based companies to cater to the European market. Its international employee base may leave the city amid uncertainty about future immigration laws, creating shortages in retail, hospitality, healthcare and financial services, Forrester Research analyst Laura Koetzle said. Questions about who will have the right to stay "will both drive footloose talent to look for jobs abroad and dissuade others from coming," she said, as employers likely face tougher work visa regimes.

Berlin, London's biggest rival for new tech firms, is likely to become more attractive as a European base, nearly a dozen entrepreneurs told Reuters. Aspiring fintech hubs including Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Dublin and Switzerland also could see more investment shift in their direction, financial services players said. Matthias Kroener, head of Munich-based Internet bank Fidor, which entered Britain only last year, said: "Fintechs with the European market in their sights, may pull the plug on London because as young companies with the smallest roots they can react fastest and move first."

The vote requires Britain to file a two-year notice of plans to leave Europe, creating a period of uncertainty that will have immediate effect on overall technology and advertising spending, as well as fragile start-ups, analysts and entrepreneurs said. Number26 is likely to focus on other countries in Europe before expanding to the U.S. or Asia starting in 2018, although it has not ruled out the UK market completely, Stalf said.

"The decision weakens Britain but it is not good for Europe altogether. Suddenly, the common market has shrunk by 60 million people," the Berlin-based executive said. The decision is a setback for Europe generally, which in recent years has been out-gunned by five-fold in tech funding by the United States and twice over by Asia, as its bids to build world-class firms capable of taking on Apple, Google, Amazon and Uber.

BUDGETS AT RISK

Technology spending for both Britain and Western Europe will turn negative both this year and next due to uncertainty caused by ongoing political volatility, said John Lovelock, chief forecaster for global technology market research firm Gartner. UK spending will sink by 0.3 percent in 2016 and 3 percent in 2017, the world's largest corporate technology advisory firm now estimates, while expected tepid growth of 0.2 percent across Western Europe will fall to an unspecified level below zero. Gartner previously saw UK tech spending growing 1.7 percent in 2016 and 2.0 percent in 2017.

The tech sector accounts for around 10 percent of British gross domestic product. Frost & Sullivan, another research firm, said start-ups face steeper funding and credit hurdles, with the big question mark whether the European Investment Fund (EIF), the largest investor in UK venture capital firms, will continue to invest there, and for how long.

But not everyone thinks Brexit will harm London start-ups. "People are going to continue to live in London, the world's hippest city. Whether or not the UK is part of the European Union, it still has a super business environment," said Mark Tluszcz, co-founder and CEO of Mangrove Capital Partners, a Luxembourg-based venture capital firm with $750 million under management. With 15-20 percent of his portfolio in Britain, he's still looking for fresh prospects. Oleg Fomenko is a Russian-born London entrepreneur whose latest company, Sweatcoin, is a fitness app which pays people to be more active. He said entrepreneurs adapt quickly. "The whole country turned around 180 degrees," Formenko said. "If anyone knows how to get through this, it's us."

Reuters
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Chinese internet conglomerate LeEco on Tuesday garnered Rs 78.6 crore by getting purchase orders of over 61,000 units of its "superphones" Le 2 and Le Max 2 in its flash sale on Flipkart and LeMall.com, LeEco's own marketplace e-commerce platform. LeEco, which is also the first brand to release two flagship phones with Qualcomm processors in the same day, had over six lakh registrations for Le 2 and Le Max 2 in eight days.

"Nearly 40 per cent of the six lakh registrations for the devices were done on LeMall.com. Also, 80 per cent people registered for Le 2 while remaining 20 per cent registered for the LeMax 2 device," Atul Jain, COO - Smart Electronics, LeEco India, told IANS. Jain attributed the buyers' response to lossless music with Continuous Digital Lossless Audio (CDLA) technology, "supertainment" with a complete content ecosystem and membership programme, design and features of the devices and affordability,

"The entire LeEco family is overwhelmed at the response from our users. The digital lossless technology will bring an unparalleled audio experience to our fans, thereby ushering in an era of lossless music in India and the globe. This is going to become the new industry standard," Jain added. LeEco also gave away a free CDLA earphone worth Rs 1,990 to all Le 2 and Le Max 2 buyers in Tuesday's flash sale.

While Le 2 is available for Rs 11,999, Le Max2 4GB+32GB model is priced at Rs 22,999 and the 6GB RAM and 64 GB ROM variant is available for Rs 29,999. The next flash sale for Le 2 and Le Max 2 would start on July 5 and the registration would commence from June 28.

IANS
Pranjal Kshirsagar

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis recently expressed the state government's intention to develop Pune as the startup hub for Maharashtra. He went on to say that Pune could be the startup hub of the country.

A seemingly tech savvy minister and a proponent of the government's Digital India, Make in India and Make in Maharashtra initiatives, Fadnavis has already seen his state bring in investment from Silicon valley giants. Microsoft has already started providing key technology and infrastructure for ideas like 'smart villages' and other citizen services.

In addition, the Redmond giant set up data centres in Mumbai and Pune, thus launching its public cloud locally. At the recent AWS Summit, Fadnavis also welcomed Amazon's announcement of the availability of Mumbai as a new AWS Region. The company said that the new Mumbai Region is currently available for multiple services, including Amazon Amazon EC2, Amazon S3 and Amazon RDS, and is the sixth AWS Region in Asia, thirteenth worldwide.

Coming back to the Pune leaving behind Bengaluru as the startup hub of India, we dig in a little deeper to see if there is really some merit in the claim. Shobhit Srivastava, Research Associate  Mobile Devices and Ecosystems at Counterpoint Research tells Tech2 that there are a number of factors to be considered for a city to be a startup hub. These include talent pool, available investment and a healthy audience or market for the product the startup is offering.

"Bengaluru has been spearheading in all three domains with 311 startups getting funded since 2011 to 2015. Delhi NCR is still undoubtedly at second spot with a huge population, having high disposable income and a number of investment firms based in the capital makes it an ideal place. In the same period 236 startups raised funding in NCR region," explains Srivastava.

He highlights that Telangana government has also been pro-active in attracting a number of MNCs and startups to Hyderabad, setting up a startup incubator THub, to promote technology innovation in the region. He adds that companies are always keen on taking advantage of government offerings when it startups. Srivastava feels that Pune surely has the potential to be in the top of list of preferred cities by startups as its boasts of a vast IT talent pool and cheap real estate. According to this report, Pune already has approximately 322 startups and the number is climbing steadily.

Having said that, Srivastava also believes that the city has a long way to go to catch up with Bengaluru, Delhi/NCR and Mumbai purely due to lack of investment opportunities. "Startup incubators can be setup in collaboration with the government to encourage startups willing to go ahead in Pune," Srivastava says, talking about what he believes should be the next step that Maharashtra should take to actually live up to the prophecy.

Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst & CEO, Greyhound Research believes that Pune as a startup hub is actually a logical idea. He feels Bengaluru is saturating. The cost of living, office rentals or purchase prices, extensive travelling distances within the city (from an office space to the airport, for instance) is a becoming a put off for startups.

"Pune is an attractive prospect as it has a massive talent pool which is of good quality and it has fairly decent infrastructure. The Mumbai-Pune connectivity is also a strong factor that would attract startups," says Gogia listing out the pros. Also, there are major datacentres set up in and around Pune, which is one of the most enticing factor for startups. "Connectivity and Internet access are things which startups thrive on and Pune can offer that," believes Gogia.

Pune is also seeing interest from industry mentors and startup accelerators. Singapore-headquartered Govin Capital recently entered into an agreement with Pune based Seed Infotech to launch the Pune chapter of its Startup Accelerator India. IIM-As Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) and SAP Labs are now planning to replicate the region-focused Gujarat Accelerator in Pune.

NASSCOM, under its 10,000 startups program has launched startup warehouses in Pune, along with Navi Mumbai. The startup warehouses will be set up by NASSCOM in association with MIDC and establish Navi Mumbai and Pune as emerging destinations for global businesses and entrepreneurial ventures. They will provide physical infrastructure, offering space to early stage IT start-ups and incubation centres at a nominal rent with all necessary amenities and affordable co-working space conveniently located in the centre of the city, says NASSCOM.

Maharashtra CM Fadnavis also said recently that the land of the Pune International airport would be finalised soon, further fuelling the city's desire to be top notch industrial and startup hub. As Gogia puts it, it's a very real possibility and Pune has all the ingredients to make a playing field where startups can flourish.
SAP SE announced that Indian companies have selected SAP S/4HANA to run live and become model digital enterprises.

Companies operating in diverse industries, represent examples of how customer, regardless of industry or line of business, can achieve success at an unprecedented speed and scale. SAP S/4HANA delivers innovation in mission-critical business processes to support improved decision making embedded with real-time analytics. A significantly redesigned and award-winning user experience simplifies implementation and increases user adoption as well as productivity.

The following companies have chosen SAP for their digital expertise to transform their business and run live:

DCM Shriram: DCM Shriram Ltd. a leading business conglomerate with a portfolio comprising primarily of agri-rural business, chlor-vinyl business, and value added businesses, implemented SAP S/4HANA Finance along with the SAP HANA Live analytics. With the core objective of creating ONE single unified platform, the company aims to facilitate an online real time reporting, fast system response time, high productivity as well as several process improvements. DCM Shriram is running the SAP S/4HANA on the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC) service, allowing the IT team to focus on partnering with the business, indirectly realizing the value of their SAP investments.

Mangalam Cement Limited (MCL) : Mangalam Cement is one of Indias biggest cement manufacturing companies and is a part of B.K. Birla Group of Companies. MCL aims to enhance its operational efficiencies and productivity with SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management, backed by an integrated IT platform. The implementation was led by Ernst & Young.

Vectus Industries: Vectus is Indias leading and fastest growing water storage and transportation solutions company. The company has reduced operational costs by as much as 15% with their SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management portfolio enhancing customer service and on-time delivery. Implementation partner vCentric Technologies completed the implemented within a span of four months, immediately delivering total ease in managing business operations.

Shriji Polymers: Shriji Polymers, a pharmaceutical packaging company, worked with SAP to streamline their Material Requirement Planning and Capacity Requirement Planning processes. Post going live, SAP S/4HANA has helped them plan and evaluate capacity requirements, considering the required machine combination availability, resulting in accurate planning and execution of production to meet customer needs.

Ichiban Crop Science Limited: ICHIBAN, one of Indias most promising start-ups in agro-chemical industry, aims to bring the finest Japanese technology in the field of agriculture to the Indian farmers. Leveraging the SAP S/4HANA solution implemented by CorporateServe as their IT backbone, ICHIBANs strategy is to enhance product quality and timely product availability while remaining cost effective, thus boosting trust and confidence among its key stakeholders in India.

Grey Orange: A multinational robotics firm that designs, manufactures and deploys advanced robotics systems for automation at warehouses, distribution and fulfilment centers, Grey Orange chose SAP S/4HANA as the go-to business platform to help in real time reporting, useful decision making and seamlessly integrate multiple teams including R&D, manufacturing and sales. With the SAP S/4HANA solution, the award-winning enterprise has real-time visibility into its operations and has the capability to fast track its international expansion.

Digital Transformation is the next generation industrial revolution that will aid Indian companies to reimagine their business models. said Claus Andresen, Chief Operating Officer, Indian Sub-Continent. SAP S/4HANA gives businesses the ability to predict the future instead of reporting the past, thus going beyond real time to a new world of live business.

@Technuter.com News Service
Istanbul Ataturk airport attack: 36 dead and more than 140 hurt

Getty Images Image caption Turkey said early signs suggested so-called Islamic State was behind the attack

A gun and bomb attack on Istanbul's Ataturk international airport has killed 36 people and injured more than 140 others, officials say. Three attackers began shooting outside and inside the terminal late on Tuesday and blew themselves up after police fired at them, officials say. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said early signs suggested the so-called Islamic State was behind the attack. Recent bombings have been linked to either IS or Kurdish separatists. Tuesday's attack looked like a major co-ordinated assault, says the BBC's Mark Lowen. Ataturk airport has long been seen as a vulnerable target, our Turkey correspondent adds, reporting from a plane stuck on the tarmac in Istanbul. There are X-ray scanners at the entrance to the terminal but security checks for cars are limited. Pictures from the airport terminal showed bodies covered in sheets, with glass and abandoned luggage littering the building. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against militant groups. "The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world," he said. The US called the attack "heinous", saying America remained "steadfast in our support for Turkey". German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: "We grieve for the victims. We stand by Turkey". Speaking several hours after Tuesday's attack, Mr Yildirim said at least 36 people were killed and many wounded, some seriously, with foreigners likely to be among the victims. He said the attackers had arrived at the airport in a taxi. Footage on social media shows one of the attackers running in the departure hall as people around him flee. He is shot by police and remains on the ground for about 20 seconds before blowing himself up. All three attackers were killed. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag put the number of injured at 147. Taxis were used to rush casualties to hospital after the attack. Desperate relatives of those missing later gathered outside a local hospital where many victims were taken. Some expressed anger about the lack of information. Flights in and out of the airport were suspended after the attack. The US Federal Aviation Administration initially grounded all services between the US and Istanbul but the stoppage was later lifted. Flights have now resumed at the airport, but information boards showed about one-third had been cancelled, with many delays. Paul Roos, who was due to fly home to South Africa, told Reuters he saw one of the attackers. "He was wearing all black. His face was not masked. We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting. "He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator. We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over." Charles Michel, the Prime Minister of Belgium whose capital city was targeted by bombers in March, tweeted from the EU summit in Brussels: "Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul's airport. We condemn these atrocious acts of violence." #PrayforTurkey began trending on Twitter after the attack. In December, a blast on the tarmac at a different Istanbul airport, Sabiha Gokcen, killed a cleaner. That attack was claimed by a Kurdish group, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK).  BBC Online
Division, confusion as EU rethinks future without Britain

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britain\'s un

AP, Brussels :EU leaders met Wednesday without Britain for the first time to rethink their shaken union, make it more relevant to citizens and keep it from disintegrating after Britain's unprecedented vote to leave - but conflicting visions of Europe's future are complicating the high-stakes summit.British Prime Minister David Cameron left Brussels on Tuesday night without any clear divorce plan, fending off pressure for a quick exit and punting the complex departure negotiations to his successor.In Britain, nominations opened Wednesday for a new Conservative leader to replace him after his devastating political miscalculation in calling last week's referendum.With Britain's fate in Europe uncertain, the 27 remaining presidents, chancellors and prime ministers meeting in Brussels are focusing Wednesday on what to do about the rest of the continent. There's a widespread sense that the post-war project to foster peace via trade has become a bureaucratic, undemocratic behemoth with little meaning for its 500 million citizens."We all need to wake up and smell the coffee," Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said."We have to show that Europe brings a real added value that can be felt by our fellow citizens," Belgian's Prime Minister Charles Michel said.They all seem to agree that something must change after frustrations built up to the point that Britain quit, but disagree about how. The initial EU founding nations in the west lean toward a tighter, closer union while newer nations in the east want to keep more control with national governments - notably of their borders.Other EU countries are now facing calls, especially from the nationalist far right, for referendums on quitting the bloc. Popular French far-right leader Marine Le Pen pressed unpopular President Francois Hollande in a weekend meeting for such a vote in France, but his government has rejected the idea.The 27 remaining EU members are especially divided over how to deal with migration, a major issue in Britain's vote last week. Central European nations led by Hungary refuse to accept imposed EU refugee quotas, and countries further north have all tightened border controls in response to the arrival of more than 1 million migrants last year.
UN recognizes Green Delta Ins MD as a 2016 local SDG Pioneer

Economic Reporter :

At the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2016 in New York, Farzana Chowdhury, Managing Director and CEO of Green Delta Insurance, was announced as one of ten 2016 Local SDG Pioneers , according to a press release.

Chowdhury was recognized for her efforts that align with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on Gender Equality.

Launched in 2016 as part of the UN Global Compact's Making Global Goals Local Business campaign, the Local SDG Pioneers programme seeks out individuals who are demonstrating how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can enable business to unlock economic, social and environmental gains for the world. Over 600 nominations were received from 100 countries between February and April 2016.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at an historic UN Summit - officially came into force on 1 January 2016.

Over the next fifteen years with these new goals that universally apply to all, countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.

"Each of the 2016 Local SDG Pioneers exemplifies how business can be a force for good in addressing the challenges we face as a global society," said Lise Kingo, UN Global Compact Executive Director. "Chowdhury has made it her mission to work for the improvement of women in society, and through her company is empowering women irrespective of their income, occupation or vocation - making her a pioneer for women's economic security."

The Pioneers are made up of entrepreneurs who are championing sustainability through their business models and change makers who are mobilizing the business community broadly to take action in support of the SDGs.

A Pioneers Selection Group, comprised of experts from the UN, academia, civil society and the private sector, ranked the nominees based on a set of criteria, resulting in the ten 2016 Global Compact Local SDG Pioneers.

In the years to come, the Global Compact's Pioneers programme will become a vital part of the organization's priority to make global goals local business.

"I am proud and privileged to be selected as part of the inaugural class of 2016 Local SDG Pioneers by the UN Global Compact for being recognized for Green Delta's continuous efforts in promoting gender equity in Bangladesh," said Chowdhury.




Rubel Aziz, President of Dhaka Boat Club Limited congratulates the newly elected President of the club Benazir Ahmed on Monday. Executive Committee members were also present during the occasion.
Family planning is supportive to future planning

Kelli Rogers :

In Kenya, the "Future Fab" teen lifestyle brand is taking off. Around the world, young people are rallying around the term "future planning." And in West Africa, youth ambassadors are mobilizing their peers to encourage their governments to invest in contraceptive security.

They're diverse projects in different contexts addressing unique communities' needs, but they're all focused on making contraceptive use more accessible for youth. And in each, the term "family planning" has been purposefully set aside.

Today, the two words that have so long acted as the umbrella term for women's ability to choose the spacing and timing of their births are no longer serving young people who aren't managing their reproductive health in the context of marriage. Adolescents view their need for access to contraception not just as a way to decide when to become pregnant, but as a path for them to plan their education, their relationships, their finances and their futures as a whole.

Many people have "really tried very hard to undo this conundrum of words," Jill Sheffield, president emeritus of Women Deliver, told Devex after the 2016 Women Deliver Conference. "I think that one of the challenges we need to issue to young people is to help the world come up with a new label for the concept of avoiding unintended pregnancy."

But different, yet still succinct, sets of words often "get more medical," Sheffield said.

There is an ongoing dialogue in the development community about how to refer to these issues - some want to revert back to simply using "contraception" rather than family planning, but others question whether that term communicates everything it should.

Though a new term has yet to be coined, the development community should follow the lead of program design, and adopt a more human-centered approach, driven by the needs of local communities. In fact youth are already taking on the issue - and Sheffield's challenge - as they focus not just on when and how they'll have children, but on what their futures look like.

Words enshrined

What Laura Hoemeke remembers most from her work in family planning education in Ethiopia several years ago is a conversation with one young girl.

"When she said 'I'm not planning a family, I'm planning to go to university,' it really struck me," said Hoemeke, director of communications and advocacy for IntraHealth International, which empowers health workers to better serve communities in need.

The "family planning" language was not only affecting the way young women viewed contraceptive use, but also determined who service providers felt comfortable offering contraceptives to - typically, women who were planning families within the context of marriage.

The usage of family planning has also deeply influenced the way local government ministries, district mayors and hospitals think and talk about contraceptive use, Hoemeke noted.

The term family planning was the political outcome of a very long discussion in the early '60s about how to change the language from "population control" to something warmer and more approachable. At the time, it was a win. The notion of population control was the antithesis of what family planners wanted to be able to capture in very few words, Sheffield told Devex. Family planning encompassed sexual and reproductive health and needs much more successfully.

And the term isn't going anywhere - partly because it is still effective as a way to define contraceptive use within marriage and partly because it's so ingrained in development work around the world. Gates Foundation has a family planning division, and the U.S. Agency for International Development's budget line may be called "population," but all project language refers to family planning.

"It would take a revolution to change it at this point," Hoemeke said.

Youth unites

Youth around the world are taking on the challenge, and helping to redefine the language used to describe their sexual and reproductive health needs.

In the past 20 years, Hoemeke's work has changed greatly thanks to increased youth involvement: "It's work driven by youth ambassadors, they've been promoting [contraceptive use] themselves, they're the ones active on social media, they've adopted their own terms"

Nothing demonstrates that more than 2013 International Conference on Family Planning in Ethiopia, when youth chose the theme for the pre-conference: "Future planning." It was there that youth ambassadors came together to form the International Youth Alliance for Family Planning, an alliance of young individuals with the common mission to support provision of comprehensive reproductive health care services.

"Imagine 20 young, keen advocates in a room at the largest family planning conference in the world," Jillian Gedeon, 25-year-old IYAFP co-founder, told Devex. "Within that week, we created the [IYAFP], wrote a constitution, created a website, secured partners and funding."

Today, IYAFP has 56 country coordinators - youth between the ages of 15 and 30 who are passionate about family planning as a human right - leading projects and campaigns relevant to their own communities. Nigeria's IYAFP country coordinator, for example, is creating a peer education network so that rural youth can have sexual and reproductive health curriculum in their schools, Gedeon shared.

Future planning is a "safe phrase that can give a space for people to have discussions, talk about various needs and concerns," Gedeon explained. But in creating the alliance, founders made the choice to use "family planning" in the name in order to align themselves with the language used by the development community and "avoid backlash from policymakers or country governments that aren't on board with provisions of comprehensive sexual education," Gedeon explained.

Development community responds

A united, energetic and louder youth voice hasn't been lost on the larger development community. In response, more organizations are focusing on human-centered design, deeply rooted in empathy and understanding the end user's needs.

Silicon Valley design firm IDEO, for example, has eschewed large market research studies for spending a few weeks in the field with handful of girls, their influencers and others in their lives.

"The first things that always comes up is that 'family planning isn't for me, it's only for married women,'" Jessa Blades, director of IDEO.org's Health XO program, told Devex. "A lot of [our work] is trying to shift the mindset and the language."

A lot of the design challenge is rooted in how to make contraception feel relatable and accessible for teenagers - and make it feel that way for influencers in their lives as well, she explained.

Often, introducing a less familiar term creates an opportunity to build new understanding and new connotations with that word. IDEO's work in Kenya, for example, is called Future Fab. The program uses posters, magazines, fashion shows and parties that avoid leading with contraception and instead spark dialogues about the bright future for girls.

"Even if we said, 'There's free contraception over here for 15 to 19 year olds!' - no one would come near it," Blades explained. "Instead we're trying to give contraception a makeover and associate it with things that teens care about."

And the term "family planning" isn't the only hangup when addressing the needs of adolescents.

In general, women tend to only learn about bodies and reproductive health upon menses, upon marriage and upon motherhood.

"Between those life events, it's a desert," Pam Scott, a philanthropist whose work focuses on the intersection of design and impact, told Devex. "There's no information."

Rather than concentrating so much on the language for a development project's target audience, it's important to consider the unintended consequences that language may have on people outside that target audience, according to Scott, who is focused on the issue of unintended teenage pregnancy in Tanzania.

In April, Devex attended a "design immersion" in the East African country hosted by Population Services International, where designers from California and development professionals from Tanzania wore T-shirts reading "Kuwa Mjanja," Swahili for "be smart," as they presented a movement that starts with girls at menses and continues with them to marriage.

The words represent the idea of not derailing one's life by getting pregnant unintentionally, and the products bearing the phrase speak to both the girls who might be using the products - pads, condoms, and birth control packs - and also to service providers, Scott explained.

So is there one phrase - about choice, contraception and planning - that works for everyone?

Probably not. And it appears that youth, in conjunction with development practitioners around the world, are working toward a new language, or perhaps many different phrases, that meet young people where they are.



(In her role as associate editor, Kelli Rogers helps to shape Devex content around leadership, professional growth and careers for professionals in international development, humanitarian aid and global health).
Fake registered SIM cards on sale

22 including 2 Airtel staff held in city: Concern over taking fingerprints by foreign cos

M M Jasim :As the sale of fake registered Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards was detected on Wednesday, people expressed concern whether their biometric registration along with fingerprints are being used properly or not.They expressed their concern as police yesterday arrested 22 people, including distributors and officials of international mobile operator Airtel, from different parts of the city for their alleged involvement in selling falsely registered SIM cards. At the same time, if the fake registered SIM cards are being sold there is a high risk that the database can be leaked to the international criminal network, people apprehended. Of the 22 arrestees, the police identified two as Airtel distributors Moumin Mia and Shafiqul Islam, and another one identified as Mohammad Wahid, a territory sales manager of the same telecom operator. Deputy Commissioner (Tejgaon Zone), Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Biplob Kumar Sarker told The New Nation yesterday that the arrestees belong to an organised crime gang and they have planned to commit crimes in the country using the fake registered SIM cards. "Thousands of SIM cards have been registered and re-registered by the underhand dealings between the officials of the mobile phone companies and employees of distributors and retailers. The distributors and the retailers took fingerprints for several times (4-5 times) from thousands of people during recently concluded biometric re-registration. Later, they used the finger impressions again to register SIMs in others' name apparently to commit criminal activities," he said. DC Tejgaon Zone also said that the three staffs of the Airtel have already admitted their involvement in the fraudulence activities (fake registration of the SIM cards). "We are quizzing all the arrestees and trying to know who have remained behind the scene as masterminds," he said. Meanwhile, the Airtel has acknowledged the issue. Airtel's Chief Service Officer Rubaba Dowla, also spokesperson of the organisation, told the media that they were preparing an official statement in this regard. "The company will do everything to ensure compliance," she added. After conducting raids to bust out the criminals' den yesterday, police went to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and asked the Airtel authorities to meet.Several people expressed their utmost dissatisfaction over the latest SIM forgery and said that they were in doubt whether their biometric registration along with fingerprints would be used properly or not. "Our doubt has become truePersonal security of thousands of people who registered their SIM through biometric are now at risk. What the government will say now?" Shamsul Kabir, a private jobholder told The New Nation on Wednesday. Earlier many people expressed concerns that biometric data, provided to some foreign companies, might violate their privacy as well as be used for criminal activities. Besides, they alleged the collection of such information might hamper the security and safety to the country's people. "It is very much risky to register a SIM in biometric system as the mobile operators are all outsiders. How secured are our fingerprints with these companies?" Kamrul Hasan, works at a private company, said raising a question. "I don't want to deliver my fingerprint to any private telecom company. If the government was collecting the fingerprints, there is nothing to say. But why am I asked to give my data to a foreign company?" also questioned Rahat Raihan, a student of University of Dhaka. Alami Nihat, an engineer of an IT firm, told this correspondent, "Biometric information of our citizens is not secured with any multinational organisation. Only the state can collect and store these types of information. If any company or organisation stores the data, they can use it to commit criminal offense. Government should ensure that the state protects the information. If the fingerprints are obtained by any outsider the information might be misused. With such information one can personify anyone."Realizing the matter the BTRC directed all the mobile telecom operators to assure protection of the data given by their respective subscribers on March 4 this year. It also directed the operators to preserve mobile phone users' biometric data only to Operators Biometric Verification Platform and to Central Biometric Verification Monitoring Platform. But some of the mobile telecom operators did not follow the BTRC's direction properly. They collected the information and completed registration and re-registration through thousands of retailers and agents. In order to register a SIM card through this system, the subscribers have to give fingerprints, personal information according to their national identity cards to their respective mobile phone operators. The dissatisfaction comes to such a level that, a Supreme Court lawyer Md Humayan Kabir Pallab recently served a legal notice on behalf of Khairul Hasan Sarker seeking a halt to biometric registration for SIM cards of mobile operators claiming it violates privacy and has a potential unethical intention. However, Tarana Halim, State Minister for Post and Telecommunications, assured that, "Thumbprints taken for registration and re-registration of mobile-phone SIM cards under the biometric method will not be preserved at any level. They are only to match with the fingerprints kept at the central database." The government made mandatory for SIM re-registration with biometric finger prints which started from 16 December last year and concluded May 31 this year. According to official figures, 116 million of over 130 million subscribers across the country had completed the biometric re-registration of their SIM cards until June 4.
Traffic gridlock in city ahead of Eid

Inefficient monitoring, poor enforcement of traffic rules blamed

City people experienced massive traffic gridlock across the capital as Eid shoppers rush to the shopping malls and wayside shops to buy their choices ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. This photo was taken from Motijheel area on Wednesday.

Sagar Biswas :The residents of Dhaka city are now experiencing severe traffic gridlock not only in the busy day-time, but also at night due to heavy shopping by the city dwellers ahead of Eid-ul Fitr, the largest festival of the Muslim community. Traffic Department of Dhaka Metropolitan Police [DMP] although had taken several steps to improve the city's traffic situation, it did not work due to poor enforcement of laws and inefficient monitoring of concerned department, sufferers alleged.The unplanned movement of vehicles has been causing immense sufferings to the dwellers at Motijheel and other areas including Naya Paltan, Purana Paltan, Bijoy Nagar, Dilkusha, Shahbagh, Kakrail, Syedabad, Jatrabari, Firmgate, Mohakhali, Airport, Banani, Gulshan and Uttara from early morning till mid-night every day.Vehicular movement in these areas virtually comes to a halt for hours together causing untold suffering to commuters, Eid-shoppers, home-bound city dwellers and travellers of the long routes outside Dhaka.Syedul Haque, a private university teacher, said, "It is killing unlimited work hours and sapping commuters' energy and working ability every day. The financial losses are beyond measure though informal studies estimate it for billions of taka."There is a widespread allegation that the traffic police take little action against the lawbreakers for fear of backlash from influential people or for bribe. Besides, most of the electronic signals are not operating now. Not only that, the DMP Traffic Department also could not enforce the pedestrians to take footpath, footbridge and underpass. The scenario at city's New Market, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar and some other areas is simply miserable."The road spaces have been reduced due to illegal occupation of roads and road-sides by the makeshift shops and hawkers. Besides, illegal parking of vehicles is also causing traffic congestion ahead of Eid," requesting not to be named, a high official of DMP told The New Nation on Wednesday. "At present, more than 30 per cent of road has been illegally occupied by the hawkers, salesmen and shopkeepers. The pedestrians also use roads due to lack of spacious footpaths that increase the problem of congestion. Apart from the office goers, the rush is now heavy as all types of motorized vehicles are rolling back to streets at a time. Usually, the shopping malls and other installations experience more than normal rush in this month," he also noted.
Date for submission of probe report deferred again

Court Correspondent :

A Dhaka court on Wednesday again deferred the date for submission of probe report in the Sagor-Runi murder case to August 18. The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) failed to submit the report on Wednesday, like many other previous dates.

Magistrate Mazharul Islam of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court of Dhaka fixed the latest date.

Sagor Sarowar, News Editor of private TV

channel Maasranga, and his wife Meherun Runi, a Senior Reporter of TV channel ATN Bangla, was killed at their rented flat in West Rajabazar area of the city more than four years ago on February 11, 2012.


Photo by Billy Hathorn/Wikimedia

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  While Louisiana's law requiring abortion doctors to have hospital admitting privileges may be jeopardized by this week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling, more limitations on the procedure are planned in the state.

Lawmakers enacted a half-dozen new abortion restrictions in the regular legislative session that ended earlier this month, lengthening waits for the procedure, toughening criteria for doctors who perform abortions and limiting second-trimester abortion options.

The new laws take effect Aug. 1.

Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, supported the provisions, describing himself in a statement as a "pro-life governor who wants to do everything we can to provide women with quality health care and reduce the number of abortions performed in Louisiana."

On Monday, the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Louisiana has had a similar regulation since 2014 that has been on hold by a federal judge and appears threatened by the Supreme Court ruling.

Abortion rights groups have said they expect the latest regulations passed by Louisiana lawmakers to prompt court challenges. No lawsuits were immediately filed as the governor signed the bills, but they might be more likely after the provisions begin later this summer.

"Legal strategy is still being weighed about how and when to challenge the new restrictions, but no official decisions have been made," lawyer Ellie Schilling, who represents several of Louisiana's abortion clinics, said Tuesday in an email.

Lawmakers who sponsored the new laws and anti-abortion groups expressed confidence they could withstand court challenges.

Benjamin Clapper, executive director of Louisiana Right to Life, said officials with his organization "keep in mind that there is a court process" as they work with legislators on crafting abortion restrictions.

"It doesn't end in the Legislature. When the governor signs a bill, that's not the end of the day. You've got to have something that will withstand the judicial process," Clapper said.

Among the latest regulations, women in Louisiana will have to wait 72 hours after consulting with a doctor and get a mandatory ultrasound, joining at least five other states with the longest wait time in the country. The current 24-hour wait will stay in place for women who live 150 miles or more from the nearest abortion clinic.

Second-trimester abortion options will decrease, because Louisiana is banning the procedure called dilation and evacuation  unless it's deemed necessary to prevent "serious health risk" to the mother.

Also starting in August, doctors who perform abortions will be required to be either board certified or certifiable in obstetrics and gynecology, or family medicine. Abortion providers will have to bury or cremate fetal remains.

And Planned Parenthood is threatened with loss of its Medicaid financing if the organization starts performing abortions in Louisiana.

Federal health officials have warned such defunding efforts may violate the law, and a federal judge has blocked previous Louisiana efforts to cut off Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood clinics. Organization leaders say they still will seek a license from Louisiana's health department to offer abortions at Planned Parenthood's new clinic in New Orleans.

"While the climate for Planned Parenthood in Louisiana is a hostile one, we refuse to allow politicians to take us back. We will keep advancing," Melaney Linton, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said in a statement.
Louisiana landman-turned-whistleblower Dan Collins was featured on Mike Stagg's local podcast "Where the Alligators Roam" as the programs first guest after being picked up by KPEL News 96.5 FM.

Whistleblower Dan Collins outside of the Downtown Lafayette office of Oats and Marino law firm, which received a controversial multi-million dollar contract from DNR in connection with what Collins says was a phony environmental project in the Atchafalaya Basin.

Photo by Robin May

Louisiana landman-turned-whistleblower Dan Collins was featured in late June on Mike Stagg's local podcast "Where the Alligators Roam" as the programs first guest after being picked up by KPEL News 96.5 FM.

Collins and Stagg spend the hour discussing and dissecting the lawsuit that Collins is currently entrenched in as well as his ongoing efforts to expose what he says is the environmental corruption that threatens the Atchafalaya Basin.

As The IND has previously reported, Collins has been waging a legal battle to hold accountable some current and former state officials who were involved in an elaborate scandal that involves the funneling of millions of taxpayer dollars in apparently phony environmental projects by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, which was headed by then-Sec. Scott Angelle  now running as a candidate for Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District  who decided to give an unauthorized multi-million dollar contract to local law firm Oats & Marino for the controversial project at the center of Collins complaint.

Collins asserts that the scheme earned a small group of lawyers, landowners and oil and gas companies across the state a small fortune while illegally dredging in the Atchafalaya Basin under the pretense of water quality.

In December, a jury sided with Collins in his whistleblower lawsuit against DNR and awarded him $750,000.

Collins' appearance on Where the Alligators Roam can be streamed or downloaded here.

And read more of our coverage of Collins' legal skirmishes with DNR here and here.
On Thursday, nola.com posted an open letter from Gov. John Bel Edwards that was both a note of gratitude to lawmakers who supported his agenda over the course of three sessions beginning in February and a poke at the Jindal Caucus  namely Tea Party-inclined House Republicans  whom he accuses of playing political games.

The letter:

I am sure many of you have heard, read about and followed the ongoing state budget crisis that has been unfolding in Baton Rouge. In the past six months, my administration has been tasked with assembling an honest, comprehensive budget while battling historic deficits and massively depleted financial resources. Eight years of tricks and gimmicks were used by my predecessor to mask the states budget problems, but we are determined to fix them.

In February, I asked the people of Louisiana to come together and solve our states problems. Never before had the state faced a financial crisis of this magnitude. I called the Legislature into two special sessions to address these issues. These extraordinary challenges we faced called for extraordinary leadership in the Legislature. However, a small group of legislators and state officials were determined to block progress. They did not raise needed revenues, nor did they offer any type of alternative plan to stabilize our state and fund our priorities, like TOPS, K-12 education, higher education and health care. Do not be fooled, our budget problems were not simply a matter of wasteful government spending. In many cases, the budget crisis literally meant the difference between life and death.

While some elected officials chose not to act, others went above and beyond to put Louisiana first. People like Reps. Helena Moreno, Walt Leger, Jimmy Harris, Gary Carter, Joseph Bouie, John Bagneris, Robert Billiot, Stephanie Hilferty and Bryan Adams stood up to those members in the House who were more interested in playing political games than solving problems. Sens. Karen Carter Peterson, J.P. Morrell, Wesley Bishop, Troy Carter, Gary Smith and Danny Martiny and President John Alario provided much-needed leadership and guidance in the Senate to compromise and get our state on a solid fiscal foundation. The decisions these courageous leaders made will make our state stronger. Brighter days are ahead for Louisiana because they chose to rise above partisan politics. I cannot thank them enough for working with me in these first six months to bring stability to our state.

This bipartisan coalition not only looked out for the interest of their constituents, but for the entire state. The unique sights and sounds of the Crescent City serve as our states gateway to the world. In addition to being the states largest city, New Orleans is our commercial, financial and cultural capital and has a major vested interest in what goes on in Baton Rouge. This group worked as hard as possible with me to protect TOPS, to ensure each patient was cared for, and that our children had an opportunity to succeed, and I cannot thank them enough for their work on behalf of the people of Louisiana.

Gov. John Bel Edwards
Donald D. Trexler is taking the helm at Acadia General Hospital in Crowley, according to press release from David Callecod, president of Lafayette General Health.

Trexler previously served as CEO of Cypress Pointe Surgical Hospital in Hammond. Prior to that he served as a health care strategy consultant and served as CEO at TAP Group New Orleans and Southern California Orthopedic Institute. Trexler also served in a senior management position at the Trover Clinic Foundation.

The new chief executive is already active in the Crowley community. Past professional and community involvement includes serving on the board as well as chairing the Academic Excellence Committee at Saint Scholastica Academy in Covington, the Tangipahoa Parish Chamber of Commerce and the United Way of St. Tammany Parish.

Trexler earned a BS in health management information and dual masters degrees in health care administration and business administration at the University of Pittsburgh.

I am dedicated to growing Acadia General and exceeding its potential, Trexler says in the release. In addition to working with our medical community, my main focus will be to bring financial stability to AGH.
Political blogger Dayne Sherman has some advice for Gov. John Bel Edwards: Pull out the veto pen, inflict some payback and let voters across the state know just who was responsible for the Legislatures abject failure to enact real budget reform to protect higher education and TOPs.

The prolific writer, novelist and professor of library science at an unnamed Louisiana university has clearly had enough of the ideological carpet bombing happening mainly in the state House of Representatives. But he acknowledges in a recent post on his blog, Talk About the South, that diagnosing a problem only does so much toward repairing the damage.

Instead, Sherman encourages Edwards to put away the scalpel and pull out the sledge hammer:

First, veto the front-loading of TOPS. In other words, spread the current funding between semesters, which is the most responsible thing to do. Theres no reason to give students a false hope with full funding in the fall and 40 % funding in the spring term... Second, take the veto pen to all of the pet projects in the districts of the most delusional and spiteful representatives... (Click the link below to see his list of the "saboteurs.") If these mossbacks really want small government, as they claim, then certainly theyll be happy to lose taxpayer-funded capital outlay pork slated for their backyards. Third, go to House districts and explain to citizens exactly how boneheaded legislators backed the Louisiana Association of Business and Industrys agenda instead of the needs of the people living in the region... Last, visit every college and university campus in the state and explain to the remaining students, parents, staff, and faculty how the obstructionists fought plans to save TOPS and protect higher education...

Read the full blog here.
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.
BENTON  Tempers flared at the Franklin Hospital Board of Directors meeting Tuesday evening as the board opted to hold off on a vote on a proposal by the facilitys former chief of medical staff.

The small conference room thronged with hospital employees, local community members and supporters of the proposal for a new hospital by the facilitys former chief of medical staff, Dr. Tim Morthland.

Last month, Dr. Morthland announced his intention to build a not-for-profit, $40 million hospital facility in Franklin County, with or without the assistance of the Franklin Hospital board. The proposal to manage the current hospital and begin a process to privatize it has been under review by the board.

Were worried about our hospital. Were worried about the sustainability of its model, Dr. Morthland said, addressing the board.

He said the hospital lacks the basics of general surgery and that its infrastructure precludes fiscal growth.

Theres no hospital here right now. Its an emergency room, he said. We are ready to help, and the community deserves that.

Board member Debbie Ricci made a motion for Morthland College Health Services to take over management on Aug. 1, saying she had had enough. The board ultimately determined that the item could not be voted on, as the proposal was not signed and was missing some exhibit items.

The board also unanimously voted to accept the resignation of CEO Hervey Davis, who will retire June 30.

Among those who participated in public comments was Benton Mayor Fred Kondritz, who warned that taxpayers would be on the hook for the hospitals debt should the facility go under. Kondritz cut his comments short in frustration after being repeatedly interrupted by a medical provider at the facility.

Asked about the hospitals debt, Chief Financial Officer Jim Johnson put the figure at $5.7 million. Rocky Morris, organizer of a grassroots watchdog group known as Pointman, said the hospitals debt has swelled to $10 to $12 million according to audit reports.

The board will reconvene in a special meeting on July 26 at 6 p.m.
South Carolina State University Board Vice Chairman James E. Clark has been named president of the university for the next four years.

Trustees announced Wednesday that Clark had resigned from the board and soon after appointed him president on a voice vote.

James Clark has precisely the skills, experience and character we need to lead S.C. State today, Board Chairman Charlie Way said in a release.

Clark, a retired AT&T vice president, begins the job Friday.

Trustees decided in February to have a president in place by December. Even this month, they have continued to give the impression they were looking to hire a search firm to help it find the best candidate.

Rumors that S.C. State President Dr. W. Franklin Evans would be stepping down began yesterday.

After Wednesdays decision, Rep. Jerry Govan said We have protocols in place in terms of a search process. Considering the history, why not follow that search process?

What you have done is create a cloud of suspicion.

In the release, Way said To fulfill the commitments we made in securing accreditation and strengthening further SC States financial condition, we need a leader with proven success in meeting these kinds of challenges.

James Clark knows how to build and lead teams to success. He has had an outstanding career in business, a long-time involvement with higher education in South Carolina and a close association with S.C. State.

A resident of Columbia, Clarks business career includes being vice president of a $1- billion division of AT&T which he converted from a money-losing division into the most profitable division in AT&Ts computer business. A graduate of M.I.T. and the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management, Clark also worked with General Electric, Gillette and Exxon International.

Clark served on the Benedict College Board of Trustees for 18 years, and he has been chair of the University of South Carolina Research Foundation for three terms. He has also been an S.C. State board member during the past year.

James Clark did not seek the job of president, Way said. But it became increasingly clear to our board that we had in our midst the ideal individual to lead S.C. State at this critical time. This was a decision made unanimously and with great enthusiasm.
Russel Maynor

In a parade of sequins, feathers and fringe, the titular busyes, she is christened Priscillamakes its way through the Australian outback toward the promise of a casino, a drag show and a reunion in Alice Springs. With pit stops both intentional and accidental, Priscilla and her occupantsTick, Adam and Bernadette, three performers departing Sydneynavigate a desolate physical journey and despite all its campy exuberance, a metaphorical journey that bears real emotional weight. In the first regional production of the musical, The DollsAlbuquerque's most prestigious and well-loved drag troupetake on this mammoth journey to the heart of fabulous.

When I first saw the movie back in 1994 with my partner, Matt, who has since passed away, it definitely inspired us to start The Dolls. It was so revolutionary for drag, said Ken Ansloan, who is directing and producing Albuquerque's stage adaptation of Priscilla Queen of the Desert along with Jessica Osbourne, and is also one of the founders of The Dolls. And what was so revolutionary about the story is that it shows the scope of the lives of its characters, beyond the narrow margins of their sometimes roles as drag queens. A lot of people think this is a drag show. It is not a drag show. It is a story about life, that happens to have drag queens, Chris Wright, who plays Tick, was quick to point out. It was one of the first stories to show [drag queens] beyond a funny scene in a comedy  to show the pain they endure, [that] they're human, Ansloan elaborated.

If you've seen the film then you know that the core sagas of the individual characters explore pain and alienation, but ultimately find triumph, in all its glitz and exultation. Its a story of fabulous outcasts navigating difficult emotional terrain that will likely resonate with viewers from all walks of life. Anyone that's lived with prejudice  will relate to this story because it shows the journey you go through and how you can come up on top, said Phillip Arran, who plays Bernadette on the stage this time around, and has a tremendous history with the show, even in the original West End production. Particularly in light of the recent horrors in Orlando, telling this story takes on new weight and importance. One of my favorite lines, Wright said is 'No matter how tough we become, no matter how immune we are, it still hurts.' There've been shootings upon shootingsbut it still hurts. I hope this music [of Priscilla] will create a bridge between the gay community and the straight community. Osbourne continued on, The message is live and let live. And love. Love is love, Ansloan summed it up, and my God, how many problems could we solve if we lived by those words? That is what Priscilla is about.

On top of all that Priscilla Queen of the Desert is unabashedly fun, all about the color, its about the spectacle. Every single scene has different costumes, has a different theme. Every single scene change is an explosion of color. It's massive. Absolutely massive, Arran explained. When I asked the group to elaborate some of the things that they have planned when the show opens at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (1701 Fourth Street SW) on July 1, the answers came in cryptic, terse examples: dancing cake slices and paintbrushes, showgirls, features, turquoise and silver, lots of sequins, the Village People in various guises and all manner of exotic animals. Plus a surprise visit from a Teletubby as well, Osbourne added. That's not even mentioning that the whole show is sung through with a full orchestra on hand.

In a gesture of the tenderness and support that lies near the heart of Priscilla, a portion of all the proceeds will go to New Mexico AIDS Services. Terrible things might and do happen  but always know that there will be somebody there to pick you back up, to help you through it and give you love when you need it most, Nicholas Handley, who plays Adam, said of the show, but it just as well speaks to the entirety of the efforts of everyone involved in The Dolls' production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. There was a lull in the conversation after Handley's statement before Arran noted, There's that word again: Love. And that's really what it is all about. Get in on this giant group hug every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through July 24.
The latest national polls show Donald Trump in dire shape. In the RealClearPolitics average, Trump has dropped below 40 percent -- 39.1 percent, to be precise -- while Mitt Romney, in the entire losing 2012 campaign, never fell below 43 percent. In a nation roughly evenly divided, the thinking goes, even an unpopular candidate should be able to muster 40 percent support, and yet Trump is falling short.

At this point four years ago, Romney trailed Barack Obama by 2.2 percentage points nationally, according to the RealClearPolitics average. Trump is 5.8 points behind Hillary Clinton. The gap has led to predictions of catastrophe in November. "The Republican Party's Coming Trumpian Disaster," read the headline of a recent George Will column in National Review Online.

But remember the lesson of 2012, which has also been the lesson of every other election: The presidency is won by winning states, and therefore the condition of the race in key states tells more about the campaign than any national poll.

"This isn't a national vote contest where you can be on cable news every day and dominate national coverage," Mitch Stewart, battleground states director for Obama in 2012, told the Associated Press recently. "This is literally going state-by-state and coming up with a plan in each."

What is notable now is that in some key states Trump is trailing Clinton not by staggering, historically disastrous margins, but by margins that look remarkably like the Obama-Romney race in 2012.

Look at the polls in Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, four states Trump will likely need to win (or at least win three) if he is to capture the White House.

Some of the most recent polling in those states has been done by the Democratic firm PPP, which has done fairly reliable work in the past. In the most recent Florida poll, from PPP, Trump leads Clinton by a single point, 45 percent to 44 percent. In the RealClearPolitics average of polls, which includes surveys going back to late April and might be less accurate than PPP, Clinton leads Trump by 1.6 percentage points.

In June 2012, the RealClearPolitics average had Obama with a miniscule 0.2 percentage point lead in Florida. On Election Day, Obama won by just under 1 point. The bottom line is that Trump appears to be roughly even with Clinton in Florida, much the way Romney was roughly even in Florida at the same time in 2012 before going on to lose by a narrow margin.

In Virginia, the newest poll, taken by PPP in the second week of June, has Clinton ahead of Trump by 3 points, 48 percent to 45 percent. (The RealClearPolitics average, which contains some old polls, has Clinton up by 4 points.) At the same time in 2012, the average had Obama up by 3 points, and Obama went on to win by 3.9 points. So today looks pretty similar to back then.

In Pennsylvania, a PPP poll from the first week in June has Trump and Clinton tied at 44 percent. The RealClearPolitics average isn't of much value, since after the PPP survey, the most recent poll is two months old. So if PPP is correct, the race is even.

That's much better than Romney's position in Pennsylvania in 2012. In June of that year, the RealClearPolitics average had Obama ahead of Romney by 8 points, and Obama went on to win by 5.4 points.

So Trump today appears significantly stronger in Pennsylvania than Romney was at the same point in the 2012 race. And indeed, Pennsylvania has for months seemed the best candidate for a Trump win in a big blue state. On the other hand, Pennsylvania has often seemed within the grasp of Republicans, but the last time a GOP presidential candidate actually won was in 1988. Unless there is a big shift in the race, it's not a bad bet that Trump will end up losing, because Pennsylvania always slips away.

In Ohio, all the polls in the RealClearPolitics average are at least a month old. In the average, Clinton leads Trump by 1.4 points. At the same time in 2012, Obama led Romney by 1.8 points. That's pretty close to today. Obama went on to win Ohio by 3 points.

The bottom line is that the Clinton-Trump numbers in some critically important states are more in line with the Obama-Romney race than they are with some sort of doomsday blowout suggested by the national poll numbers. And that suggests that after all the noise and drama and weeping and gnashing of teeth, Trump could be headed for a loss that looks, not like a party-ending calamity, but an ordinary Republican defeat. Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush might have lost in much the same way.

The Electoral College numbers are what they are; Democrats have a real, long-term advantage in states that by themselves approach a winning total of 270. That could be more important than any Trump controversy, or even all of them put together.

-----

Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner.
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/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

The next round of talks on Azerbaijans accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) scheduled for July 21-22 in Geneva is of great interest for WTO member countries.

Director of the Accessions Division at WTO, Chiedu Osakwe announced about this while talking to Trend, further adding that Azerbaijan is an important country in the region with the largest economy, which is extremely attractive for WTO members.

Osakwe noted that during the negotiations the sides will discuss changes occurred in the economy, as well as reforms in the agriculture sphere.

"WTO member-states plan to hold meetings with Azerbaijan, where the country will respond to the questions given at the last meeting in 2015, Osakwe emphasized. The participants will be interested in how the government supports the economy amid the low oil prices, whether Baku has strategic plan for economic development in this situation.

Commenting on the possible terms of Azerbaijan's accession to the WTO, Osakwe said that the process is entirely different, and much depends on the government.

It is difficult to say how long Azerbaijan's joining the WTO will take. Negotiations started in 2004. For example, negotiations on the membership of Kazakhstan to the WTO took 19 years, China became a member in 15 years, while Russia in 18 years, he explained.

So far three countries including Russia, Saudi Arabia and Norway have offered to the Azerbaijani government to start bilateral negotiations in the framework of the countrys accession to WTO.

Since regaining its independence, Azerbaijan has constantly been pursuing opportunities to expand its foreign trade. Some was argue that an effort to help may be if Baku becomes a member of the WTO. Azerbaijan began the accession process in 1997 but submitted the required memorandum on its foreign trade regime in 1999.

Experts say joining the WTO, Azerbaijan can increase its integration into the world economy, achieve more liberalization in foreign trade, and simplify customs supervision procedures, among other things. Moreover, the accession will also give Azerbaijan greater access to international financial institutions, something that should by means of careful negotiation boost the countrys economic well-being.

Currently, the country is in the process of holding negotiations with 19 countries.

Azerbaijan has accomplished negotiations and signed protocols with Turkey, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.
/By Azernews/

By Nigar Abbasova

Kazakhstan has been elected the United Nations Security Councils non-permanent member for 2017-2018, Ria Novosti reports.

The country became a non-permanent member representing Asian-Oceania region for the first time in its history being elected in a second round of the voting, following the election of Ethiopia, Bolivia, and Sweden.

Kazakhstan won support of 138 out of 193 votes of the United Nations member countries and outrun Thailand which scored 55 votes.

The candidacy of the last member of the UN Security Council representing West-European group for the next two years will be determined in the course of the third stage of the UN General Assemblys voting.

Kazakhstan announced its bid to secure a seat as a non-permanent member in September 2013. The country became a member state of the United Nation on March 2, 1992.

UN Security Council non-permanent membership gives a country a number of privileges. Regardless the fact, that only permanent members of the Council have a veto power over decisions, the non-permanent members may participate in decisions mandate cease-fires during conflict and impose economic penalties on countries.

The non-permanent membership is considered to be a recognition and appreciation of the countrys contribution to the promotion of the global security and peace by the international community.

The non-permanent membership also gives an opportunity to raise a countrys own issues and represent it to the international community should nine of the 15 members agree to bring it up for discussion.

Kazakhstan will replace Malaysia in the United Nations Security Council on January 1, 2017.

3 out of 7 candidates including Bolivia (representing the Latin American group), Ethiopia (from the African group) and Sweden (The Western European group) obtained the required majority of votes. Italy and Netherlands are competing for the fifth vacating seat.

The UN Security Council is composed of 15 members with 5 being permanent and 10 non-permanent members elected by the UN General Assembly.




/By Azernews/

By Fatma Babayeva

The recent terror attacks on Turkey's Ataturk airport had a shock effect making many to believe that there is not a fortuity that the bloody attacks coincided with the normalization of the country's relations with Russia and Israel.

Although ISIS claims responsibility for the event, according to the preliminary information, some say not only Daesh is involved.

Some analysts assure that definite external forces are interested in disbanding Turkey.

The terror attack is said to have a certain message, while the worlds major intelligence services and financial or political institutions may stand behind the attack as well, they believe.

Terrorist attacks have become frequent in both eastern and western parts of the country, which is host to over 3 million refugees, mainly from war-torn Syria. They prove that there are social, political and economic reasons causing this.

On the other hand, planning a terrorist attack takes months, sometimes years. Thus, there are also supporters of the idea that the happened incident is only a coincident.

Arzu Nagiyev, expert on security and geopolitical issues told milli.az that ISIS is not the only one to be blamed for the incident. He believes the way the terrorist attack was planned  firing guns and explosion  is not the style of religious radical groups who prefer suicide bombing. Thus, there can be a hand of other states special service agencies or terrorist groups in what happened, he added.

Even some among the representative of the political parties in the Turkish parliament bolster the terrorist groups, the expert underlined.

Then, a question arises why ISIS claimed the responsibility for the attack, if it did not commit it.

Nagiyev went on saying that ISIS is weak now, and it is just a way to prove it still exists. Additionally, it is also beneficial for special service agencies that someone is taking on the responsibility.

Some even claim that the recent terrorist attack is devoted to the second anniversary of the ISIS declaring Islamic State Caliphate.

Also, Turkeys improving relations with ISIS foes - Russia and Israel bothers the terrorist group as joint combat may be implemented against it.

As a result of the terrorist attack occurred at Turkeys Ataturk Airport on June 28, lives of 36 people were claimed and 147 were wounded.

As a country encountering terrorist attacks on the regular basis, Turkey needs to apply better preventive measures and enhance its security system.
/By Azernews/

By Fatma Babayeva

Russia began taking measures for the normalization of relations with Turkey after receiving Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans letter on the SU-24 incident.

In a telephone call to his Turkish counterpart Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed lifting the restrictions on Russian tourists visiting Turkey, according to the press service of Kremlin, reported Ria Novosti.

The Russian president noted that he will instruct governmental authorities to enter into negotiations with the relevant Turkish agencies in order to restore mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation in trade, economic and other spheres.

In this regards, it is desirable that the Turkish government will take extra steps to ensure the security of Russian citizens in Turkey.

President Putin also underlined that Turkish leaders letter created prerequisites to turn over a crises page in the bilateral relations and begin the process of resuming collaboration on international and regional issues, as well as, developing entire range of Russian-Turkish relations.

Relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber on November 24, 2015. Turkey said the bomber entered its airspace, while Russia denied its warplane flying into the Turkish skies.

Following the incident, Moscow imposed a wide-range of sanctions against Turkey starting in January, including the end of visa-free travel and a ban on Turkish food products. Moreover, Russia called on its citizens to boycott Turkey as a tourist destination. Economic relations between the two countries saw decline as well.

Recently, Turkish President Erdogan sent a letter to his Russian counterpart, where he expressed regret over the incident with Russian SU-24 jet and condolences to the family of the deceased pilot.

In addition, Turkey agreed to pay compensation according to the countrys officials.

Commenting on the improving relations with Russia, Turkeys Prime Minister Binali Yildrim thanked Azerbaijan for its assistance in normalizing the countrys relations with Russian Federation.

Azerbaijan is also going to benefit from the ice-melting in Russian-Turkish ties as the country does not need any more to prefer one ally over another.

The recent developments between Turkey and Russia are also anticipated to positively affect the process of resolving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.




Investcorp is seeking more opportunities in Saudi Arabia, aiming to capitalise on the kingdom's plans for a significant reform of its economy, the co-chief executive of the alternative investment specialist said on Wednesday.



Under Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 initiative the kingdom is targeting greater diversification of its economy away from hydrocarbon revenue, including measures to improve private investment flows and privatisations of state assets, most notably state oil giant Saudi Aramco.



"Vision 2030 has definitely led us to focus more on Saudi Arabia. We believe the market now will offer more opportunities," Investcorp's Mohammed Al Shroogi told Reuters on Wednesday.



Among the sectors Shroogi considers to be "very attractive" are health, education and food. The company has already invested in the oil and gas sector in the kingdom.



Asked if it Investcorp is working on any specific transactions, Shroogi said it is looking for a company in the healthcare sector but declined to elaborate.



Sources told Reuters this month that Investcorp was one of three private equity firms competing to acquire a minority stake in Saudi Arabia's Al Borg Medical Laboratories.



Shroogi's comments were made on the sidelines of a listing event for jewellery company L'azurde, which began trading on the Saudi bourse on Wednesday after raising 477.3 million riyals ($127.28 million) from its initial public offering this month. Investcorp was part of the consortium that offered shares in the float.



The investment was part of its first Gulf Opportunity Fund and Executive Chairman Mohammed al-Ardhi told Reuters in November that Investcorp was planning a follow-up to the $1 billion fund.



When asked on Wednesday on the second fund's progress, Shroogi said it is still concentrating on completing sales of assets within the initial pool.



"When we complete a few more exits, then will be the time to go to the market and raise a second fund," he said.-Reuters
Saudi Arabia has moved up the rankings to finish in the Semi-Transparent category for the first time in the JLL and LaSalle Investment Managements 2016 Global Real Estate Transparency Index (Greti).



The index compiled by global property expert JLL ties transparency to real estate investment, business activity and living standards.



Strong advances over the past two years have seen Saudi Arabia (63rd) and Egypt (65th) move into the dynamic Semi-Transparent group, which is largely dominated by large emerging markets, including the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and all four of the fast-growing MIST economies (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey).



Dubai (48th) has retained its position as the most transparent real estate market in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, with Abu Dhabi (59th) following closely behind, according to the report by JLL.



This is very good news for Saudi Arabia, remarked Jamil Ghaznawi, the national director and country head of JLL Saudi Arabia.



Moving into this category for the first time shows the advances the kingdom is making and is an indication of the focus the country has on strengthening corporate governance, transparency and market data, he stated.



The 10 countries identified as Highly Transparent by Greti account for 75 per cent of global investment into commercial real estate, highlighting the extent to which transparency drives real estate investment decisions.



A number of key factors are driving progress and frame the broader issues raised by both high and low transparency:



 Capital allocations to real estate are growing. JLL forecasts that within the next decade in excess of $1 trillion will be targeting the sector, compared to $700 billion now. This growth means investors are demanding further improvements in real estate transparency, expecting standards in real estate to be on a par with other asset classes.

 There is a growing recognition that transparent real estate practices play a significant role in capital formation, municipal finance, and as a foundation to improve the quality of life in many communities. This foundation includes security of property ownership, safe housing and workplaces and the ability to trust agents to act honestly and professionally.

 Technology is both a driver of the digitisation of all kinds of real estate data and also an enabler in disseminating and analysing this data; improvements in data capture techniques are allowing a more granular and timely assessment of real estate markets.



According to JLL, the formation of real estate committees in the kingdoms chambers of commerce has highlighted the issue of low transparency in the market and encouraged more action towards addressing the issue.



As a result, there has been some mild improvement in open data platforms such as registering property transactions with the Ministry of Justice which is then shared publicly on its website, stated the property expert.



Saudi Arabia is now positioned in a very dynamic tier, which is considered the most improved transparency group, and a category which is seeing growing middle classes mobilising against corrupt practices, remarked Ghaznawi.



The JLL report highlights a number of factors which will influence real estate transparency in the next several years:

Revelations of the Panama Papers in early 2016 have led to mounting pressures for greater real estate transparency and put the fight against corruption decisively on the international political agenda.

As new data capture techniques get adopted, the pressure mounts for real estate to raise the bar and achieve even higher levels of transparency.

The mounting intolerance of corruption within the worlds growing middle classes will force the pace of change, especially amongst the 'Semi-Transparent' countries, and social media will help people mobilise around this issue.

Technology will continue to advance and will allow some countries to leapfrog the traditional route to transparency; we are already seeing this happen in places like Kenya, Ghana and Ecuador.

There will be greater emphasis on regulatory reform, but also on enforcement, particularly in semi-transparent markets where the greatest disconnect currently exists.



JLL said it was committed to working with government agencies and other stakeholders to further improve the level of market data available in the real estate sector.



To this end, the real estate expert had recently signed MoUs with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jeddah, the Eastern Province, and Makkah to improve transparency in the real estate market.



As an independent consultant, JLL said it will assist the chambers of commerce to improve the quality and accuracy of data being collected and shared in the market by collaborating directly with major retailers and developers in both the residential and hospitality sectors, along with government body representatives and other professionals in the market.-TradeArabia News Service
Bahrain police have arrested a group of 47 illegal workers as part of a clampdown on violations, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.



To read further, please visit GDNonline.






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
Hapag-Lloyd AG approved a plan to acquire all shares of United Arab Shipping Company, paving the way for the second merger in two years to bolster the position of Germanys biggest container-shipping line in an industry plagued by excess capacity.



The main investors of both companies still need to agree to commitments in a business-combination agreement to proceed with the deal, reported Bloomberg citing a company statement.



The Hamburg-based carrier, however, did not specify a transaction value or other terms.



UASCs shareholders are scheduled to meet later in the day in Dubai to clear the deal, the German company said. Hapag-Lloyd shares surged the most in two months.



Shipping lines worldwide have been plagued by depressed freight rates as trade slowed following the global recession of 2008, and as larger vessels ordered before the crisis enter companies fleets. Thats prompted deals ranging from route-sharing to full-fledged takeovers as container shippers struggle to survive.



Hapag-Lloyd, which counts German billionaire Klaus-Michael Kuehne as one of its biggest owners, bought the container business of Chilean rival Cia. Sud Americana de Vapores SA in 2014.



The UASC deal would boost Hapag-Lloyds global industry ranking by capacity to fifth-largest from sixth.



Following the UASC takeover, Hapag-Lloyd will account for 72 per cent of the combined entitys value and the Dubai-based shipper for the remaining 28 per cent, the German company said in April.



A Hapag-Lloyd spokesman declined on Tuesday to give an update on the shareholder structure.



UASC is owned by several sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, including majority shareholder Qatar Investment Authority, which holds 51 per cent of the company.



Smaller investors include Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund with 36 percent. The company is run by Danish managers. It has 200 million shares issued in Egypt, with 97.7 million trading in Cairo, for a market capitalization of 144 million Egyptian pounds ($16.3 million).-Bloomberg
Abu Dhabi Ports and Agthia Group recently signed a lease agreement aimed at expanding the groups existing Grand Mills Flour and Animal Feed facilities at Zayed Port.



The new agreement was signed by Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi Ports and Iqbal Hamzah, chief executive officer of Agthia Group at Abu Dhabi Ports headquarters.



The contract between the two parties incorporates a 25-year agreement for an 85,700-sq-m plot of land, which when fully developed by Agthia will include dedicated bulk grain silos, logistics warehousing and onsite bagging facilities.



The expansion in capacity will allow the Agthia Group to increase their current capacity of 930,000 tonnes per annum to 1.5 million tonnes when fully developed.



Al Shamisi said: This agreement is an important addition to our list of partnerships that will contribute towards driving the investment, growth and development of the trade and maritime sectors. This expansion undertaken by Grand Mills, a subsidiary of Agthia is an important economic boost that will support the growth and progress of the food and beverage sector, which will cater to the needs of the local consumers.



Abu Dhabi Ports is very pleased to be part of this expansion of Agthia Group. Since the very beginning, our top priority has been to support our customers and the development of their business. Therefore, we are keen to work with various institutions on an ongoing basis to ensure meeting their operational needs by investing in the equipment available at Zayed Port, which will in turn be beneficial to the Abu Dhabi economy, he added.



Our current production capacity utilization rate at Grand Mills is at around 90 per cent levels. When combined with our business growth projections, this necessitates an expansion in both our milling and storage capacity beyond 2017, said Hamza.



In this regard, Agthia has already started undergoing the construction of an additional 50-thousand-ton capacity grain silos on Abu Dhabi Ports existing plot. This agreement will secure supplementary land essential for future expansion right adjacent to Agthias current facilities.  TradeArabia News Service
Aramex, a leading global provider of logistics and transportation solutions, has joined hands with UK firm What3words for an innovative addressing system to boost its global e-commerce operations.



To date, Aramex has already invested in a number of mobile-based start-ups to improve its last-mile delivery solutions, including Grab and Logisure in India, Shippify in South America and CashBasha in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, said a statement from the company.



The company has invested about $2.94 million in the What3words, a multi-award winning addressing platform, it stated.



What3words is an address system based on a global grid of 57 trillion 3mx3m squares, where each square has a unique pre-assigned three-word address. The solution helps everyone who needs to find or share a location - whether they are navigation apps, governments, logistics firms, travel guides or non-governmental organisations (NGOs), it added.



Aramex said it will use the address system in its e-commerce fulfilment operations across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia (MEA) to further enhance its last-mile delivery solutions, said a statement.



Hussein Hachem, CEO of Aramex, said: We are pleased to be partnering with what3words. By integrating three-word addresses into our e-commerce operations across the MEA, we are now better able to reach more consumers worldwide, even those in difficult to access locations.



The partnership is also perfectly aligned with our commitment to becoming a technology-based enterprise. We are always looking for new and innovative solutions to enhance our operations, and for new opportunities to invest in mobile-based start-ups with last-mile delivery capabilities, he said.



Not finding the right delivery point, for example, is frustrating for consumers, and costs businesses a huge amount in failed deliveries and delays. The last-mile deliveries account on average for 28 per cent of all delivery costs, said a statement.



According to the UN, 135 countries dont have an adequate address system. This puts huge pressure on the logistics industry to find effective and efficient solutions to deliver parcels to consumers, it stated.



Already available in 10 languages and used in more than 170 countries, what3words will use the new investment to launch its voice recognition product in the smartphone, wearables, and automotive sectors and develop its three-word address system in several Asian languages. The investment will also support the growth of its team and further global expansion, it said.



Chris Sheldrick, CEO and co-founder of what3words, said: We are on a mission to change the way people communicate location, to make the world a more efficient, less frustrating and a safer place with three-word addresses.



Aramex is recognised as one of the most innovative logistics providers in the world, and our partnership will help to propel us toward our goal of becoming a global addressing standard, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
UK-based Balmoral Tanks, a specialist contractor for the construction of anaerobic digestion (AD) tanks, recently won a multi-million pound contract to design and supply 14 tanks to be used in a major AD plant in England.

The company has a product portfolio that includes digestore concrete tanks and efusion epoxy coated tanks, which have a high level of success in such projects, a press release said.

Balmoral sales director Jonathan Smith commented: Our client chose Balmoral because of our depth of experience in terms of engineering design and end-to-end service. We have a proven track record of performing on projects of scale, from concept to commission, and are very much looking forward to delivering another milestone project for the UK AD industry.

Balmoral Tanks - a division of Balmoral Group Holdings, an international multi-discipline engineering company - focuses on adding value and how it can support clients through each stage of the tank design, manufacture, installation and commissioning cycle, the press release added.

Much of these efficiencies are derived from early project meetings with the client and the consulting engineers. There is no substitute for structural understanding of tank behaviour and the ability to analyse and calculate detailed design aspects to accepted design codes and standards. Thats where we differentiate ourselves and thats how we help our clients make significant time and money savings, Smith added. TradeArabia News Service
The UAEs Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) will launch the 2nd TRA Innovation Camp next month aimed at spreading innovation and creativity culture among young students, through a set of activities and targeted events throughout the UAE.



The event will take place from July 17 until August 18.



The camp, which will receive children from age six years to 17, aims to spread the culture of innovation and creativity especially in communications and information technology (ICT) as well as promoting a reading culture among them through a set of group activities, said a statement from TRA.



These activities are aimed at training and disciplining them on how to handle their emotions and different feelings, help them earn self-confidence, gain emotional intelligence and become more flexible, it said.



The events are also focused on training the participants to acquire a positive behaviour towards their families, friends and colleagues  learn how to communicate and organise themselves as well as develop the desire to innovate, learn and engage in creative work.



These skills will help the students build a bright future for them, in line with the countrys sustainable development plans, it added.



The camp activities will include information technology (IT), creative and life skills, sports, personality evaluation and planning the future in addition to field trips.



The students will also be assisted in implementing what they have learned to gain a practical experience through collaborative and creative projects, as well as organising a cultural meeting to discuss a set of chosen books in support of the Year of Reading.



Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, director general, TRA, said: The success of the first summer camp has prompted us to list the event as an annual activity especially that it was highly appreciated by Emirati families and residents.



In addition, the initiative falls into one of TRAs key strategies which support and promote the innovation culture in information technology (IT) and telecoms among the Emirati youth, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary warned on Tuesday of a two to three-year economic downturn if Britain votes to leave the European Union.



Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary warned on Tuesday of a two to three-year economic downturn if Britain votes to leave the European Union and said that Brussels has been given a "wake-up call" regardless of the result of Thursday's UK referendum.



Speaking at an aviation conference in Paris, the head of the Irish budget carrier -- Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers -- said that economic and political disruption could weaken the rest of the 28-nation bloc if UK voters back a so-called Brexit.



"If Brits vote to exit, I think the European Union as a project is doomed," O'Leary said. "I think they will inevitably be followed by others. I think you would have a two or three-year economic downturn with huge uncertainty that would be very bad, not just for the UK economy but for the European economy, which is already struggling."



The Irish entrepreneur is one of the most vocal business leaders urging voters to back continued European Union membership in Thursday's referendum. Both sides in the closely fought contest claim significant business support.



"In my business it depends very much on what the exit looks like," O'Leary told the Paris Air Forum, hosted by La Tribune.



But he suggested that a vote to leave would penalise a generation that grew up on cheap connectivity to the rest of Europe and put at risk a system of unrestricted routes on which Ryanair and other budget airlines have built rapid growth.



Analysts say it is still unclear whether Britain, Ryanair's biggest single market, would continue to have unfettered access to EU airports under complex aviation rules.



O'Leary was speaking before travelling to London to join the climax of the campaign, alternating between defending membership of a reformed EU and criticising its bureaucracy.



"Even if Britain votes to remain, Europe and certainly Brussels has had a wake-up call," he said, adding that a clear message has already been sent to the EU's bureaucracy.



"If you guys in Brussels don't ... start improving the single market and improving the lives of Europe's citizens, this thing is going to fall apart."



Ryanair has often clashed with the European Commission over passenger compensation, taxes and other issues.



It is now lobbying for a clampdown by European authorities on repeated air traffic controller strikes.



Willie Walsh, head of British Airways owner IAG, has been more cautious about the impact of a Brexit, saying that it would "not have a material impact" on his business.  Reuters
Three suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up in the main international airport in Istanbul on Tuesday, killing 28 people and wounding dozens more, the provincial governor and witnesses said.



Police fired shots to try to stop two of the attackers just before they reached a security checkpoint at the arrivals hall at Ataturk airport, Europe's third-busiest, but they blew themselves up, a second Turkish official said.



Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin told reporters that 28 people had been killed and around 60 wounded. Several witnesses reported two explosions but Sahin said authorities believed there may have been three suicide bombers.



A Turkish official said the vast majority of those killed were Turkish nationals but foreigners were also among the dead.



"There was a huge explosion, extremely loud. The roof came down. Inside the airport it is terrible, you can't recognise it, the damage is big," said Ali Tekin, who was at the arrivals hall waiting for a guest when the attack took place.



A German woman named Duygu, who was at passport control entering Turkey, said she threw herself onto the floor with the sound of the explosion. Several witnesses also reported hearing gunfire shortly before the attacks.



"Everyone started running away. Everywhere was covered with blood and body parts. I saw bullet holes on the doors," she said outside the airport.



There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest in a string of suicide bombings in Turkey this year, but the Dogan news agency said initial indications suggested Islamic State may have been responsible, citing police sources.



A Turkish official said it was too soon to assign blame.



The attack bore some similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March which killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital.



Paul Roos, 77, described seeing one of the attackers "randomly shooting" on the departures floor of the terminal.



"He was just firing at anyone coming in front of him. He was wearing all black. His face was not masked. I was 50 metres (55 yards) away from him," said Roos, a South African on his way back to Cape Town with his wife after a holiday in southern Turkey.



"We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Roos told Reuters.



"He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over."



"COULD HAVE BEEN ANYWHERE"



President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in his country's fight against militant groups.



"The attack, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorism strikes with no regard for faith and values," he said in a statement.



"The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world," he said, urging all governments to join forces against terrorism.



Speaking in parliament earlier, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said initial reports suggested one attacker had initially opened fire with a Kalashnikov then detonated explosives.



The state-run Anadolu agency said six of those wounded had sustained serious injuries, while broadcaster NTV said the number of injured had risen to 106.



Ataturk is Turkey's largest airport and a major transport hub for international travellers. Pictures posted on social media from the site showed wounded people lying on the ground inside and outside one of the terminal buildings.



A helicopter buzzed overhead as police evacuated the building. Dozens of passengers walked back down access roads with their luggage, trying to hail cabs. The U.S. embassy urged U.S citizens to avoid the area.



A witness told Reuters that security officials prevented his taxi and other cars from entering the airport at around 9:50 pm (1850 GMT). Drivers leaving the terminal shouted "Don't enter! A bomb exploded!" from their windows to incoming traffic, he said.



Television footage showed ambulances rushing to the scene. One witness told CNN Turk that gunfire was heard from the car park at the airport. Taxis were ferrying wounded people from the airport, the witness said.



FLIGHTS HALTED



The head of Red Crescent, Kerem Kinik, said on CNN Turk that people should go to blood donation centres and not hospitals to give blood and called on people to avoid main roads to the airport to avoid blocking path of emergency vehicles.



Authorities halted the takeoff of scheduled flights from the airport and passengers were transferred to hotels, a Turkish Airlines official said. Earlier an airport official said some flights to the airport had been diverted.



In the United States, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reacted to the explosions by putting armed, high-visibility patrols at the three main airports in the New York metropolitan region.



Turkey has suffered a spate of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State, and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group.



In the most recent attack, a car bomb ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul during the morning rush hour, killing 11 people and wounding 36 near the main tourist district, a major university and the mayor's office.



Turkey, which is part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, is also fighting Kurdish militants in its largely Kurdish southeast.



One person was killed on Dec. 23, 2015, when an explosion hit Istanbul's second airport, Sabiha Gokcen, located on the Asian side of the city. That attack was claimed by a Kurdish militant group.  Reuters
Apartment-sharing startup Airbnb is in talks for a new round of funding that would value the company at $30 billion, a source close to the company said on Tuesday.



Airbnb intends to use the financing to support new investments and growth opportunities, the source added.



The New York Times first reported the news on Tuesday.





Airbnb, which expects to achieve profitability in 2016, raised over $100 million in a round of funding late last year that valued the company at $25.5 billion.



The San Francisco-based startup, which operates in nearly 200 countries, also secured a $1 billion debt facility in June from some big U.S. banks to finance its expansion plans.



The rise of Airbnb and other such startups have increased the pressure on the hotel bookings business of established travel companies such as Priceline Group Inc and Expedia Inc.  Reuters
Turkish Airlines suspended its flights until 8 am (0500 GMT) on Wednesday, the company said in a statement, after suspected Islamic State bombers killed 36 people at Istanbul airport late on Tuesday.

Normal flight operations have resumed after a brief suspension over the horrific tragedy at the airport, said a statement from the Turkish national carrier.



Turkish Airlines' whole scheduled roundtrip flights also including the US ones have been restarted to operate, it added.



The flag carrier said in another statement any bookings on flights to or from Istanbul Ataturk airport between June 28 and July 5 would be changed or refunded without any cost, provided the passenger requests this by July 31.

It is applicable to all passengers who have bookings on all flights departing from, arriving at, or connecting in Istanbul Ataturk Airport or Sabiha Gokcen Airport between June 28 to July 5 (ticketed on/before June 28), providing that their tickets are revalidated by 31 July 2016 (inclusive), it stated.



For these passengers, the airline will provide the following facilities:

Rebooking and rerouting: It will be carried out free of charge. This applies to all reservation booking classes only if at the same compartement.

Refund requests: Refund of unused tickets will be issued free of charge. For tickets which have been partially used (but the entire journey has not been completed), refunds will be issued after deducting the fare for the used portion, with no penalties being applied.

Extension of validity: Validity of a ticket can be extended until July 31, 2016 (inclusive) with no fare difference or deduction.-Reuters and TradeArabia News Service
Abu Dhabi Airports has begun its Beat the Heat campaign advising staff and contractors on how to cope with extreme weather conditions over the summer.



The company is holding lectures in Arabic, English, Urdu and Hindi, and displaying multi lingual posters and dehydration awareness charts, to equip workers with all the information they need to be able to understand and recognize heat related issues and safeguard against them.



The sessions highlight the importance of workers taking more breaks in extreme humidity, drinking water frequently, monitoring their own physical condition and that of their co-workers, and wearing light-colored, loose-fitting and breathable clothing in fabrics such as cotton.



Safety bulletins on mandatory health and safety requirements are also being issued to all participants, along with sun hats, water bottles, neck cooling bandanas, sweat bands and protective arm sleeves.



We remain deeply committed to the well-being of our employees, many of whom are exposed to the extreme heat of the summer while on duty, said Mohammed Al Katheeri, acting chief operations officer at Abu Dhabi Airports. Heat stress can cause a range of health issues, however heat related illnesses are preventable and through this initiative we want to ensure that our staff members have the knowledge and equipment to be able to deal with the high temperatures that we will see over the coming months.



The awareness sessions are being delivered by the Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies (GCAS), the training arm of Abu Dhabi Airports, and are being held at Abu Dhabi International Airport, Al Ain International Airport and Al Bateen Executive Airport.



In coordination with the Environment, Health & Safety team at Abu Dhabi Airports, GCAS is also training some staff and contractors to deliver these important heat awareness sessions themselves, so that they can then enforce the message and explain best practices to control heat stress to the teams they are working with.



The Beat the Heat campaign was initially launched in May 2012 in line with the Abu Dhabi EHSMS regulatory framework, the Working in Heat Codes of Practice, and Abu Dhabi Airports internal policies and procedures. - TradeArabia News Service
Global travel technology leader Sabre Corporation has given travel consultants and suppliers across the airline, hotel, rail, cruise and car rental industries a sneak peek at its game-changing Sabre Red Workspace.



The software solution will harness the changes in the industry and provide both retailers and suppliers with a content rich marketplace, intelligent decision support tools and predictive data insights that enable agents and suppliers to more easily create personalised experiences for travellers.



Developed on Sabres merchandising platform providing access to its award-winning GDS, travel consultants around the world will benefit from a more intuitive way to book travel, while airlines, hotels and other industry suppliers are now empowered to market their brands in the same way they market in other channels.



Data, analytics, personalisation and mobile have been trending in the marketplace for some time and offer exciting opportunities for buyers and suppliers to meet changing traveller needs, said Sean Menke, president of Sabre Travel Network. Travellers want more than an itinerary; they want to feel confident about their purchases and expect a trip built around choice. Thats why in addition to a superior user experience, our new Sabre Red Workspace provides travel consultants with data insights, relevant offers and price transparency. Data and analytics are critical assets to increase productivity and efficiency in the retail world, and our travel insight engine will help drive decision-making, revenue optimisation and true personalisation.



Sabre will begin upgrading travel agency customers in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to the new solution in early 2017, after a pilot later this year.



Europe, Middle East, and emerging regions like Africa may have very different growth rates and characteristics, but they are united by a desire to make better use of technology in their business operations and for their travellers, said Harald Eisenaecher, senior vice president, Sabre Travel Network, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Our new Workspace is a step change for agencies and suppliers looking to strengthen their retail capabilities.



Agents and suppliers who have been involved in the development of the innovative solution have helped drive the user interface of the new travel marketplace solution, combining the look and feel of a consumer-focused website with insights, tools and features that help drive more personalised offerings to sell travel more effectively.



Traveller attitudes are changing, and theres now much higher expectation to provide unique value, whether thats remembering how many bags they usually take on their London to New York monthly trip, or giving instant hotel recommendations based on their preferences and activities, said Julie Oliver, managing director, Business Travel Direct. Sabres new solution addresses all these things, putting data insights, customer profiles and merchandising capabilities right at our agents fingertips, making it much easier and more efficient to provide that something special at every stage of the travel lifecycle. Sabres made great strides with their new Sabre Red solution, and were very excited to roll this out.



Whats New?



 The combination of data-driven booking trend information with intuitive design and a consumer-grade user interface, smart product differentiation for air extras and Branded Fares, and inspirational shopping are among the many new features enabling agents to deliver personalised experiences and invaluable consultancy to their customers.



 The new Sabre Red Workspace intelligent platform features innovative integration of Sabre Dev Studio APIs, to equip travel consultants with a unique Decision Support Bar providing market data and intelligence services for fare trend and range, travel seasonality and alternate airports. Just imagine if a travel consultant could advise on the best time to book to get the best price, predict the best days of travel, or even offer more options to choose from including alternate airports displayed in interactive maps. Thats travel consultancy at its best, with simplified comparison shopping to cleverly serve the specific needs of travellers.



 The user-friendly interface of the new end-to-end solution also integrates revenue maximisation tools, including unique indicators that alert the travel consultants about opportunities to increase sales and commissions while offering differentiated options that cater to the travellers preferences. The enhanced product information, especially for air extras and Branded Fares, simplifies the shopping experience and reduces training times for newly hired travel consultants.



Value for Suppliers



The new Sabre Red Workspace is also an enhanced platform for suppliers. The Sabre platform features advanced merchandising capabilities with enhanced product information through images, video and more, enabling airlines, hotels and other travel providers to leverage the Sabre travel marketplace for an omni-channel marketing strategy. The graphically-rich workflow supports ancillary and branded fares sales, and enhanced hotel capabilities.



Sabre Red Workspace was designed with both supplier and agent needs in mind. Suppliers can count on improved consistency across channels while agents can work wherever and however they want, moving seamlessly between command and graphical interfaces, said Menke.



The new Sabre Red Workspace will provide a consistent user experience across multiple operating systems and devices, including desktop, Sabre Red Mobile for consultants while on-the-go, and Sabre Web Services powering the worlds leading online travel agencies. The new merchandising platform is an upgrade that proves continuous innovation to provide stability, speed and performance in travel commerce transactions. - TradeArabia News Service


Fady Atwan has been named the new area director of sales and marketing for IHG's Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi Yas Island and Staybridge Suites Abu Dhabi Yas Island.



Joining from the InterContinental Hotel in Abu Dhabi as the director of sales and marketing, Atwan brings with him 14 years of experience in hospitality. Fady started his hospitality career in finance and shifted to sales and marketing for the last 10 years.



Atwan's area role will focus on assisting and leading the Abu Dhabi properties, showcasing his extensive background in commercial sales and marketing.



"We are excited to have Fady join us as our new area director of sales and marketing for Abu Dhabi," said Rami Serhal, general manager of Crowne Plaza and Staybridge Suites Yas Island, "Fady comes with a great commercial background that will definitely have a great impact on business for our Yas Island properties and the rest of IHG's Abu Dhabi hotel portfolio." - TradeArabia News Service
The Mills town treasurer pleaded not guilty Wednesday to multiple embezzlement charges.

Authorities say Lisa Whetstone embezzled more than $64,000 by pocketing town money that she was supposed to deposit into a government bank account. She pleaded not guilty in Natrona County District Court to felony theft and failing to account for public property.

Whetstone faces up to 15 years in prison. She is free on bond pending trial.

Mills Mayor Marrolyce Wilson placed Whetstone on administrative leave last month following the filing of charges against her.

Investigators also believe Whetstone used a town credit card for personal expenses.

Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agents began looking into the alleged thefts after a 2015 state audit of town funds discovered discrepancies, according to court documents. Auditors found that cash receipts did not match the amount of money being deposited into the towns bank account. Instead, the deposit slip would have a decreased amount of cash, or no cash at all.

Town employees told state agents that Whetstone had access to the cash that came into the office, that she made the deposit slips and that she entered the amount of the deposit into accounting software called QuickBooks, the court documents state.

A DCI agent who testified at Whetstones preliminary hearing said the cash shortages stopped after authorities began investigating the missing funds. The agent also said Whetstone paid a large balance on her town credit card. When the agent reviewed a statement for Whetstones card, he found several expenses that appeared to be personal, such as purchases at Petco, Hancock Fabrics, Regal Nails, Js Pub and more.

The agent testified that when he told Wilson that Whetstone might have embezzled, Wilson covered her ears with her hands. The agent also said Wilson and Whetstone discouraged town employees from cooperating with the investigation into Whetstones actions. One employee told DCI she was placed on probation after she allowed agents into the building with a search warrant.

In a news release sent after Whetstone was charged, Wilson said she has cooperated fully and will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation and charges brought against Mrs. Whetstone.

Wilson also said her office has enacted procedures with checks and balances to prevent this from happening in the future.

Other Mills employees had access to the money collected by the town of Mills, defense attorney Keith Nachbar said at Whetstones preliminary hearing. He argued there was no correlation between the money missing from the town and the money deposited into Whetstones bank account, and that no direct evidence, such as video surveillance or witness statements, exists against Whetstone.

Futher, Nachbar argued the audit discovered poor accountability practices by the town and that mistakes by town employees could explain the missing money.
LARAMIE  Six men and women face federal charges of using counterfeit credit cards to defraud Wyoming and Colorado fast-food restaurants.

The six, who are all from New York, are charged with conspiracy to commit access device fraud.

Federal court documents accuse them of using counterfeit credit cards to purchase gift cards.

According to the documents, officials with the McDonald's Corp. say more than $10,000 in gift cards were purchased from restaurants in the Denver, Wellington, Loveland and Fort Collins areas with fake credit cards.

The six were arrested after police were called by the McDonald's in Laramie on June 15.

Authorities say they have confiscated more than 1,000 gift cards, a credit card reader and a machine used for printing credit cards.
BOISE, Idaho  Authorities say a 53-year-old man who exchanged gunfire with Boise police died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Ada County Coroner's Office says an autopsy on Wednesday found Alan Amundson of Kuna shot himself and listed the manner of death as suicide.

Authorities say a police officer struck in the chest during the Tuesday evening confrontation was likely saved by his bulletproof vest. He was treated and released at a hospital.

Authorities say another man shot before police arrived is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.

Police say they responded to a 911 call shortly after 11:30 p.m. near Bridlewood Circle and North Glenwood Street and that a man standing outside the residence fired at officers.
GREAT FALLS, Mont.  Montana environmental regulators have fined a Great Falls refinery more than $55,000 for violating emissions limits.

Department of Environmental Quality officials said in a statement Wednesday that Calumet Montana Refining has paid the fine and corrected the violations.

DEQ officials say the refinery exceeded nitrous oxide limits during a test conducted in March 2014. The company also did not adequately monitor sulfur dioxide emissions during that same period.

John Rasmann of the DEQ said the agency initially proposed a $100,000 fine, but lowered it after Calumet provided additional information.

The newspaper reports that Calumet produces gasoline, asphalt and other products that are sold in Washington state, Montana, Idaho and Alberta, Canada.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D.  Gov. Dennis Daugaard is backing a proposed constitutional amendment that supporters say will help South Dakota's technical schools address the state's skilled worker shortage.

Boosters launched their campaign Tuesday to convince South Dakota residents to vote for Constitutional Amendment R at the polls in November. Supporters say the measure gives the technical schools a seat at the political table and changes the constitution to reflect current workforce demands.

"This amendment is about strengthening our technical institutes," Daugaard said. "We need to modernize our state laws so that technical institutes can be as nimble as possible and remain on the cutting edge of job creation and job training."

Becoming enshrined in the state constitution is advantageous to the technical schools, said Greg Von Wald, executive director of the Skilled Workforce Advocacy Council.

The changes would elevate them from an "afterthought" to a position equal with the state's K-12 schools and public universities during the legislative budgeting and policymaking process, he said.

"If you're not in the constitution and you have no direct input into the budget, what happens to you?" Von Wald said. "You're the red-haired stepchild."

The amendment also is meant to make it clear that South Dakota's four technical institutes in Watertown, Mitchell, Sioux Falls and Rapid City are independent from the state Board of Regents, said Republican Rep. Mark Mickelson, who ushered the measure through the Legislature during the 2015 session.

The uncertainty has been a concern for the tech institutes in the past, he said. The amendment specifies that publicly funded technical institutes, which had an enrollment of about 6,300 students during the 2015-16 school year, would be separately governed in a manner to be set by the state Legislature.

Tech Schools for South Dakota, the ballot question committee supporting the constitutional amendment, had raised roughly more than $200,000 for the campaign at the end of the most recent finance disclosure deadline. The group must educate the public on the "amorphous" idea to get them to support it, Von Wald said.

The constitutional amendment requires a simple majority of votes to be approved.

"Yes on 'R,' for technical education and workforce development," Mickelson said. "It has no opponents."
BILLINGS, Mont.  A woman who was beaten, choked and set on fire on Montana's Crow Indian Reservation has died.

FBI spokeswoman Sandra Barker said RoyLynn Rides Horse died early Tuesday.

Rides Horse was being treated in a burn unit at a Salt Lake City hospital following the April 17 attack.

Two people were charged in the case last week.

Authorities say Rides Horse got a ride home from a Kirby bar with 18-year-old Dimarzio Swade Sanchez and 23-year-old Angelica Jo Whiteman.

Investigators allege Sanchez and Whiteman beat and tried to strangle Rides Horse before dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire in a field east of Crow Agency.

Barker referred questions about any additional charges for the defendants to the U.S. Attorney's office, which declined immediate comment.
PHOENIX  The prices on two grocery staples are finally returning to normal in Arizona.

Shoppers for the Arizona Farm Bureau Federation found they can now buy eggs for $1.69 a dozen. Thats pretty much half of what it cost just a year earlier.

And a gallon whole milk, which was running close to $3 a gallon a year ago, now is, on average, running about a dollar less.

So what gives?

Some of it is the price of gasoline and diesel, according to Peggy Jo Goodfellow.

The cost of transportation is down because fuel costs are down, said the organizations marketing manager.

She said it starts with the cost of getting things like feed to the producers. And for dairy, theres the cost of transporting the milk itself from individual farmers to the processors.

But theres something else, too.

The price of eggs skyrocketed last year amid the avian flu scare, with producers, particularly in the Midwest, killing tens of millions of laying hens.

Fewer chickens translated to fewer eggs. And, supply and demand being what it is, those who still wanted them had to dig a little deeper into their wallets.

And some people simply decided they didnt need them, at least not at that price.

It made me not make egg salad for quite a while, Goodfellow said.

Overall, the market basket of 16 typical items the federation prices on a quarterly basis came in at $49.26. That is down $1.62 from the same time a year earlier.

Beef prices are a bit higher than they were a year ago. But they actually have been higher in the interim and have dropped back a bit from where they were even three months ago.

More noticeable is the cost of chicken, which is up sharply, with boneless breasts up more than a dollar a pound in the past year. Goodfellow said she had no good explanation for that.

The prices in the survey are based on what federation shoppers find at markets throughout the state. They include whatever weekly specials are available, but do not take into account coupons or discounts that are available to those with any chains affinity cards.
Marlo Paipa was driving home to Tucson with two friends after visiting the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge when their trip took a twisted turn.

Border Patrol agents pulled them over in Three Points and placed them in handcuffs without explanation, the ACLU of Arizona said in a June 28 letter to the Office of Professional Responsibility at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the Border Patrol.

Paipa was held overnight on May 7 in a frigid cell at a Border Patrol station in Tucson, the letter stated. She was not charged with a crime, but she forfeited her car by signing documents she didnt understand in the middle of the night.

The next morning, agents dropped off Paipa and her friends at a Circle K gas station. When she tried to recover her car the following week, she found all her belongings in the car had been thrown away and she could only get the car back if she signed a document saying she would not pursue legal action against the Border Patrol.

The ACLU asked the Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate whether Paipas ordeal and nine other incidents in Southern Arizona in the last year were civil rights violations.

Most of the 10 complaints involve unlawful search and seizure at checkpoints or through roving patrols, James Lyall, ACLU staff attorney, wrote in the letter to Matthew Klein, assistant commissioner of the Office of Professional Responsibility.

However, several go much further: they describe local residents swept up and detained for days in deplorable conditions in Border Patrol detention facilities before being released without charge, explanation, or apology, Lyall wrote.

Lyall asked for an investigation by Kleins office, rather than local Border Patrol offices, citing CBPs Integrity Advisory Panel finding that past oversight efforts have not deterred Border Patrol abuse and corruption due in part to long delays in investigations, among other problems.

When asked for comment on the ACLUs letter, a Border Patrol spokesman said it is agency policy not to comment on pending litigation.
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.
TEMPE, Ariz.  Pieces of a small asteroid that left a fiery trail in the sky over a big chunk of Arizona earlier this month have been found by researchers, Arizona State University says.

A team of meteorite hunters recently located 15 meteorites on tribal lands after getting permission to search, ASU spokeswoman Beth Giudicessi said Wednesday.

Working in partnership with the White Mountain Apache Tribe, scholars spent more than 130 hours searching the White Mountains.

The findings offer a "piece of that giant puzzle about where did we come from, said ASU Center for Meteorite Studies curator Laurence Garvie.

The tribe will have ownership of the meteorites but ASU will curate them.

Dozens of people reported seeing a fireball in the early morning hours of June 2.

A Tucson motorist captured video that shows the fireball lighting the sky over Tucson.

NASA says it was a small asteroid that had broken apart
FORESTHILL, Calif.  The Latest on a wildfires burning in the U.S. West (all times local):

7:40 a.m.

Firefighters are bolstering lines around a blaze that had forced evacuations and the intermittent closure of a major interstate in central Arizona.

Crews were mopping up Wednesday after the blaze came close to homes in the Cordes Lakes area.

Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Dolores Garcia says crews hit the fire hard from the ground and with water-dropping helicopters and air tankers to keep the flames contained on the east side of Interstate 17.

It's considered halfway contained. The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office lifted evacuation orders overnight, and most of the interstate was open.

In the Tonto National Forest, officials are monitoring a few small lightning-sparked fires. Crews also made progress on several blazes caused by lightning in the Coronado National Forest earlier this week.

___

7:30 a.m.

At least 100 homes in Northern California have been evacuated as a wildfire charged through inaccessible terrain and climbed out of a steep canyon along the middle fork of the American River.

People living in a rural subdivision 50 miles northeast of Sacramento fled Tuesday as firefighters braved triple-digit temperatures to battle the blaze.

Placer County sheriff's spokeswoman Dena Erwin says homes near Todd Valley between the cities of Foresthill and Auburn were evacuated as the fire quickly grew to roughly 300 acres.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant tells Sacramento station KCRA-TV (http://bit.ly/299QJlK ) that the evacuations were called because the community only has one way in and one way out.
Fans Watch College World Series

Fans watch as the game slips away from University of Arizona Baseball team in their second meeting with Coastal Carolina in the College World Series finals. UA went on to lose 5-4 setting up a third game on Wednesday night.
Help India!

By IANS,

London : Indian-born engineering student Kafeel Ahmed fought off bystanders who attempted to put out a fire in a failed terror attack on Glasgow airport last year, according to prosecutors who have shown dramatic CCTV footage of the incident.

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The footage was shown at a trial of two accomplices of Ahmed, who died of burn injuries after the July 30 attack in which he drove a burning Jeep Cherokee into the main terminal of the airport.

Iraqi-born doctor Bilal Abdulla, who was a passenger in the car, and Jordanian neurologist Mohammad Asha, also an alleged accomplice, are being tried for their suspected role in the attack.

Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told the jury in a London court Monday that Ahmed and Abdulla lit and threw petrol bombs  in retaliation for what they see as the mistreatment of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq by Britain and the US.

Kafeel Ahmed was also seen to pour and shake fuel from a can out of the window on his side of the vehicle. He threw another petrol bomb into that pool of fuel before getting out of the Jeep, Laidlaw said.

He said Ahmed was engulfed in flames as he got out of the Jeep.

As police and members of the public gathered in an attempt to extinguish the fire, Ahmed, even though he was alight, tried to obstruct them by punching and kicking out.

Laidlaw said Abdulla too lashed out violently, breaking one mans leg and knocking out his tooth.

The CCTV footage shows dozens of travellers running away as the car, laden with gas cylinders and petrol, crashes into the terminal.

Fortunately for those within the building, the Jeep became caught against the right-hand side of one of the entrance doors. Undeterred and in a very determined attempt to penetrate the building, the driver then reversed the vehicle out, Laidlaw said.

With the engine revving and the tyres screeching, he made the first of a number of attempts to crash through the airport doors. He repeatedly struck the pillars or door frame until the vehicle became trapped, he added.
Help India!

By Asif Khan, TwoCircles.net

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After Iftar, Danish was explaining the importance of interpersonal behaviour to one of the employees at his upmarket multi-utility store in the central part of Lucknow.

Beyond Namaz and Roza, he turned around to continue, it is how we behave with others thats most important. This was important not just because of being in a customer facing profession, but also because it dictates how one ends up being perceived in society. It doesnt end there, because thats something Allah has decreed as being outside the purview of his pardon. An affront against another human will have to be forgiven by the same person.

Ramadan is a wonderful time of the year, and Danish feels it would be even more beautiful if people gave as much importance to observing the deeper spirit of the month, instead of focusing on maintaining physical appearances.

TCN series: Ramadan 1437
Help India!

By Masood Peshimam for TwoCircles.net,

After 14 years of sweat and toil A SIT Court held a mirror to reality by terming the Gularg society massacre in Gujarat the darkest day in the civil society and awarded the life terms to 11 convicts for burning alive 69 people, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, in one of the worst riots of post Godhra violence of 2002.

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However, the judgement left Jafris widow Zakia and civil rights activists red faced because they found the said sentences lenient considering the brutality and scale of violence in the residential colony of Gujarats capital.

However notwithstanding the controversy over the quantum of punishment the paradox of the judgment is not understood as in one stroke the massacre of Gulberg society in Gujarat is accepted as the darkest day and in the same stroke the conspiracy angle is ruled out with the assertion that firing by Ehsan Jafri provoked the mob into a killing frenzy with the further emphasis that the firing cannot condone the acts of the mob. The question arises as to what for the huge mob gathered at the Gulberg society? Did the huge mob gather at the Gulberg society to distribute sweets to Ex MP Ehsan Jafri and other victims? The audacious and frenzied mob was well equipped with the arms, gas cutter and other weapons as a fall out of the Godhra outrage in which 59 people were killed. The facts and circumstances of the Godhra outrage have also run into controversy as to whether the inflammable material was poured from outside or from onside or what are the circumstances leading to the occurrence of the most condemnable carnage. The Godhra carnage has swept the wave of shock and anger across the state. Those responsible for Godhra carnage deserve the maximum punishment. The train carnage at Godhra is bound to smell conspiracy hatched by the mob and there is no other explanation. In the given scenario did the mob gather at Gulberg society to distribute the sweets to late Ehsan Jafrey and other victims?



A horrible scene from 2002 infamous Gujarat riot in which thousand of Muslims were killed [Outlook photo]

First of all there is no direct evidence to support the theory that Ehsan Jafri fired at the mob thus infuriating it as it is said. There was no witness or the finding of the gun. If at all it was used then it was done in the self defence. The police perspectives in such situations are open to question as the paralysis of the law enforcing machinery has always encouraged the spread of communal violence.

Sri Krishna Commission in Maharashtra has stood testimony to the inaction or partisan role of the police. Sri Krishna Commission has indicted the police personnel who are allegedly participated in the worst ever communal violence in Mumbai. The so called secular government in Maharashtra promoted the police officers indicted by the Sri Krishna Commission.

What is more that a good number of top cops with the end of their tenure have joined the rank and file of communal organisations. Their communal or prejudiced inclinations would have been reflected in their performance. The hard fact is that as to what sorry mess these government officers must have done while on job and authority.

It is in the teeth of the questionable performance of the police that the Gulberg society continued to burn throughout and there was the total failure of law and order and there was no police force objectively deployed to restrain the mob fury. What was the merit in the presence of the police force when it allowed the situation to turn ugliest? In the teeth of the turbulent times Jafrey kept phoning to good many a bigwigs but to no avail. His own party failed to save Jafrey and others.

It is in the wake of the escalating turmoil the Muslim judges were asked to leave the court premises with the fear to their lives.

In the circumstance it is worth to recall the waxing eloquence by the former chief justice Ahmadi at Islam Gym Khana in Mumbai about the virtues of the ideals of secular democracy prevalent in the country and the credentials of secular democracy ensuring all round safety. Justice Ahmadis tall talk of the virtues of secular democracy sounded hollow when someone from the audience referred to the news of the Muslim judges fleeing from the court premises with the fear of being targeted kept hounding them.

Concerning Gulbarg the special S.I.T. Judge did not stop at Jafris firing claiming one life thus provoking the mob but went a step further giving the reasons why he thought this was not fit case for capital punishment. He said no previous antecedent has been placed on record. He further said that after the massacre 90 percent of the accused were released on bail and yet no complaints against them have been given even by victims or they committed any offence when they were on bail. Reflecting on the comments of the Judge it can well be said that the people swelling the mob in the riots are different from other criminals as they are swayed by the religious bigotry and bellicosity. It is not necessary that such elements have the criminal antecedents. What is not to be ignored is the fact that the victims are not fool enough to make complaints to trigger another communal backlash. An incident of the communal violence in 2002 rocking the Kalyan city in Maharashtra is worth quoting. A Bohra Muslim was seen in the Kalyan Court premises during the course of the hearing of the 2002s riot in Kalyan. He had come to bail out the person who was allegedly involved in burning his shop in predominantly majority area. He reasoned his action stating that he is to live in that area.

The verdict of the Gulberg makes one smell some sort of softness. The flaw many a time cant be attributed to the judges as the judges decide on the basis of the facts and circumstances placed before it by the prosecution. Still the satisfaction of the better standards of justice is expected as the judiciary is the only ray of hope in the otherwise alarmingly darkening scenario.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the verdict on Gulberg society massacre in Gujarat the wife of former Congress M.P. Ehsan Jafri who was among the 69 killed in that society said that court did injustice to her. The lack of satisfying the standards of justice is never personal. The lack of satisfying the standards of Justice defines the injustice to the very concept of Justice.

Zakia Jafrey is the tenacious fighter for the cause of Justice with her challenge to the political bigwigs. In the relentless dedication for the cause of Justice in the Gujarat massacre the other names like Teista Stalewad, Sanjeev Bhatt, Malika Sarabhai are also to be reckoned.

Their fight is a beckoning light in the otherwise alarmingly gloomy scenario and a rebuff to those Muslim sycophants whose only talent is sycophancy promoting their fortunes at the cost of Justice and Truth.

(Author is an advocate by profession and a social activist)


What is your business philosophy?

Our philosophy is to offer a better opportunity to the massage therapists we work with than what is commonly found in the local area for our industry and to offer the clients a better customer service experience.

What significant changes have you implemented recently?

In the last two years we have completely remodeled everything about Por Vida Therapeutics. Originally it was a private practice that just had myself as a mobile therapist. We started to find a niche for chair massage at events and corporate settings. Some to these chair massage events required more than one therapist. This is how the network was started. We came up with a new logo for the new focus of the company. Recently I have been able to focus on more of the business development role which has already shown growth both in the amount of corporate accounts and the number of therapists that network with us. We also have changed our marketing and networking tactics to be more along the lines of the new direction we are heading.

What successes in the past year are you most proud of accomplishing?

This year we have seen numbers we have never seen before. Our current high marks that were set this year are: doing chair massage at 8 locations at the same time, having 20 massage therapists doing chair massage at one location at the same time, finding a therapist in the Denver area to accommodate the Denver office for one of our corporate accounts based out of Albuquerque and being named an honoree in the Albuquerque First's first ever Innovation New Mexico Award event for innovative service to come out of New Mexico in the last two years.

What is your company's greatest asset?

Our greatest asset would have to be the massage therapists we work with. They go above and beyond at each event. Their willingness to adapt to each situation and to work with the different locations, times, wants and needs of the clients we is have truly something to be appreciated.

What do you offer that the competition doesn't?

We offer a network of therapists that clients are able to contact and schedule with directly. Clients can go to the network page on our website and find a therapist they are looking for based on: what side of town the therapist has an office on, if they are a mobile therapist, massage modalities, availability and any other focus one could think of when choosing the therapist that would best suit their individual needs. The network page also has links to the massage therapist's website to help clients make the best informed choice. We also offer a discounted rate for the employees of the companies to do chair massage when they want to purchase gift certificates or schedule their own massage with one of the therapists in our network.

For the massage therapists we offer a chance to build their own clientele through chair massage events where they are paid for being there and can hand our their own business card to the people they work on. The discounted rate that is offered to the staff also benefits the therapist in our network. It keeps the therapist working under their own practice without having to spend money on advertising expenses or their time on attending networking events to find these clients.

What are your growth goals?

We would like to have at least 50 LMTs in the network by the time the year is over. We would also like to have enough chair massage events throughout the week that we can provide each therapist with enough work to help them pay for their office while we help them build their own clientele.

What's your favorite quote or saying?

If you want to go fast, go alone. Of you want to go far, go together.

What do you look for in prospective employees?

We look for therapists who want to have their own clientele. What stage they are in in their career isn't important. I would rather work with a therapist that is very new to the industry, doesn't have equipment, doesn't have an office, doesnt know how to market themselves but is willing to listen and learn. Willingness to show up on time to as many events as possible and really listen to their clients, someone that wants to grow with the therapists around them is also important. Basically, have something to bring to the table. Even if it's just a good attitude and a strong work ethic. I once heard someone say, Hire character, train talent.
Juno was launched 4 and some months ago and each day is getting closer to reaching its objective --Jupiter. The Spacecraft is travelling at approximately 265,500 km (165,000 miles) per hour and as of today, only 6 days before arriving on Jupiter. Once in the gas giant planet, Juno will study it in detail.

Mission

Juno is currently on a journey to Jupiter that started back on August 5, 2011. On the date of its orbital insertion around Jupiter, the spacecraft will have travelled nearly 2.8 billion km (1.74 billion miles) or 18.7 AU. At its closest approach with the planet, Juno will have to reach a speed of 57.98 km (36.02 miles) per second.

Relative to Jupiter. On July 4, Juno will fire up its principal engine to a suitable speed that will allowed it to be pulled by Jupiters gravity.

Polar orbit

Juno will be placed on an orbit that travels over Jupiters poles. This orbit allows for a better mapping of a planet and detailed observation of the poles and auroras, which are some of the objectives in this mission. The 14 day orbit of the spacecraft and the 10 day rotation of Jupiter will allow Juno to obtain a complete mapping of the planet.This orbit also protects Juno from the damaging energetic particles in the equatorial belt, which could cause serious damage to electronics.

Jupiters mysteries

Its not really known how much oxygen is contained within the planet.

Jupiter has a very strong magnetic field --14 times stronger than the earths field; however, its not really known how it is produced. Although, there are surface features, such as the Great Red Spot, its not known how deep inside the clouds this spot is. Scientists still dont know what powers auroras at the poles of the gas giant.

Junos destiny

After the mission is complete, Juno will be directed into the planets deep interior, where it will pass through the thick mass of Jupiters atmosphere, pushing against the dense clouds of gas and burning up. This measure is to prevent Jupiters potentially habitable satellites from contaminating with microbes, presumably hidden within the spacecraft structure mechanism.

The mission will make it posible to acquire a better understanding of the processes of formation of Jupiter, the other gas giants and will provide a better insight into the evolution of planetary systems beyond the realm of the solar system. This advancesscientists comprehension of Astronomy as a whole.
Although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, the Turkish government looks to the Islamic State (ISIS, its acronym in English) as responsible for the slaughter.

What happened?

On Tuesday, police identified two suspects near the floor of the airport from which passengersaccess the arrivals area of the international terminal.Their intention was to pass the security control that gives access to the building.One of them opened fire with a Kalashnikov and the officers responded with gunfire to try to "neutralize." Then one of the suspects set off the explosive charge he was carrying.

A third bomber detonated explosives in airport parking. The governor of Istanbul, Vasip Sahin, said in his briefing to media yesterday that at least three suicide bombers detonated their explosives.

Initial confusion

The attack sparked confusion. At first, the AP agency (Associated Press) raised the death toll to 50, quoting Turkish officials. Subsequently, they corrected and reduced to 31.Hours later, the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed the figure of 36 dead, plus the three bombers, and 147 wounded. The Prime Minister also assured that the injured are in serious condition, the death toll could rise in the coming hours.

Who were the attackers?

For the moment, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

However, the Prime Minister has suggested that early indications point to ISIS. "The evidence points to Daesh" (pejorative acronym in Arabic which is also used to refer to the ISIS). The Turkish prime minister has reported that the terrorists arrived by taxi to the airport.The authorities continue to try to identify the attackers.

More than 60 million people pass each year by the Ataturk Airport, which occupies the 11th position in the world ranking by passengers.

During the past year, Turkey, an important NATO ally, has suffered a wave of bombings in Istanbul and Ankara. In a latest series of attacks both the jihadists of ISIS and Kurdish nationalists armed groups have caused more than 250 deaths. Turkey has gone from being an oasis of peace of the Middle East to a hub of tension.
GPL Results, Standings, and Schedule After Summer Series Heat IV: Montreal and Moscow Stay in Front

June 29 2016 Martin Harris

Welcome to the weekly rundown of the Global Poker League here on PokerNews. In this space, all of the past week's results from the GPL will be listed, followed by league standings and a look at the following week's schedule.

As seen on Poker Central, the GPL has already raced through another summer "heat" featuring interconference heads-up matches in "The Cube." "Summer Series Heat IV" saw the Americas Conference and Eurasia Conference win three matches a piece, with little movement resulting in the standings of either conference.

Anatoly Filatov got things started in Heat IV in a good way for the Eurasia-leading Moscow Wolverines, taking two of three games from the New York Rounders' Bryn Kenney. Then it was the L.A. Sunset's Fedor Holz  current leader of both the 2016 Global Poker Index Player of the Year race and the GPI's overall rankings  winning two of three over Igor Kurganov of the London Royals.

Scott Ball next grabbed a 2-1 win for the Las Vegas Moneymakers in three hard-fought games with Dominik Nitsche of the Berlin Bears. Then it was Dario Sammartino of the Rome Emperors taking two of three as well from Pascal Lefrancois of the Americas-leading Montreal Nationals, with all three games being relatively quick ones.

Fabrice Soulier returned to the Cube for the second half of Sunday's doubleheader, winning two of three games for the Paris Aviators versus the Sao Paulo Metropolitans' Joao Bauer. The heat then wrapped up yesterday with Faraz Jaka of the San Francisco Rush sweeping Randy Lew of the Hong Kong Stars three games to none.

Those results mean both Montreal and Moscow remain atop their respective conferences again, with the only shift in the standings coming over in the Eurasia Conference where the London Royals nudged ahead of the Hong Kong Stars into second position.

Here are those results from GPL Summer Series Heat IV, with the standings heading into Heat V listed down below:

Summer Series Heat IV Results

Player Team Wins Points Match 99 Heads-Up Anatoly Filatov Moscow Wolverines 2 6 Bryn Kenney New York Rounders 1 3 Match 100 Heads-Up Player Team Wins Points Fedor Holz L.A. Sunset 2 6 Igor Kurganov London Royals 1 3 Match 101 Heads-Up Player Team Wins Points Faraz Jaka San Francisco Rush 3 9 Randy Lew Hong Kong Stars 0 0 Match 102 Heads-Up Player Team Wins Points Scott Ball Las Vegas Moneymakers 2 6 Dominik Nitsche Berlin Bears 1 3 Match 103 Heads-Up Player Team Wins Points Dario Sammartino Rome Emperors 2 6 Pascal Lefrancois Montreal Nationals 1 3 Match 104 Heads-Up Player Team Wins Points Fabrice Soulier Paris Aviators 2 6 Joao Bauer Sao Paulo Metropolitans 1 3

Standings

Place Team Points Wins Americas Conference 1 Montreal Nationals 130 13 2 L.A. Sunset 122 12 3 Sao Paulo Metropolitans 109 9 4 New York Rounders 99 8 5 San Francisco Rush 93 9 6 Las Vegas Moneymakers 86 6

Place Team Points Wins Eurasia Conference 1 Moscow Wolverines 110 10 2 London Royals 103 10 3 Hong Kong Stars 103 7 4 Paris Aviators 101 10 5 Berlin Bears 83 5 6 Rome Emperors 81 5

This Week's Schedule (Summer Series Heat V)

Date Time (ET) Match June 28 2 p.m. San Francisco Rush vs. Berlin Bears June 29 2 p.m. New York Rounders vs. London Royals June 30 2 p.m. Las Vegas Moneymakers vs. Rome Emperors June 30 4:30 p.m. Montreal Nationals vs. Paris Aviators July 1 2 p.m. Moscow Wolverines vs. Sao Paulo Metropolitans July 3 2 p.m. L.A. Sunset vs. Hong Kong Stars

To watch Global Poker League matches, head over to Poker Central where each and every match can be watched live. Check out as well the official GPL website for full season's results, statistics, match replays, and more.

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IPO market cools in first half, pick-up possible: Report Updated: 2016-06-29 14:24 By He Yini(chinadaily.com.cn)

Initial public offerings in the A-share market have been pacing down this year, as the Chinese government looks to tame the flow and stabilize the capital market, a recent Ernst & Young report shows.

The country's two mainland bourses saw 63 new listings in the first half year, down 66 percent from a year earlier, raising a total of 31.7 billion yuan ($4.77 billion), according to the report released on Tuesday.

Average funds newly raised stood at 530 million yuan during the same period, a record low since 2008, with small and medium-sized firms dominating the listings.

Terence Ho, director of EY's Greater China Strategic Growth Markets, said the securities regulator is tightening control of IPO activity on the Chinese mainland in order to maintain stability of the capital markets.

Pressure remains in the market as the country's economy is entering to an "L-shaped" recovery and concerns of yuan depreciation persist, he said.

"However, across the market, investor sentiment for A-share IPOs remains overwhelmingly positive as they continue to make healthy returns," Ho added. "Each IPO rose by the 44 percent maximum permitted on the first day of trading.

According to the report, this year's largest mainland IPO so far was Shandong Linglong Tyre Co Ltd, which is expected to raised $399 million, followed by First Capital Securities with $359 million in May and China Nuclear Engineering Corp Ltd with $278 million in early June.

There are now over 800 companies ready to go public in the Chinese mainland, so with the pipeline building there is no shortage of potential IPOs," said EY Assurance Partner Vivien Zhang.

"In the short term, however, the regulator will continue to keep a close eye on market conditions and modulate new listings accordingly, she said. "Emphasis of the market reform is shifting to risk prevention and multilevel capital market building."

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has postponed a long-awaited transition to a registration-based system for IPOs from the current one involving lengthy reviews, as it's been studying details before the launch.

In contrast, the Hong Kong IPO market is expected to heat up throughout this year, after a tepid performance in the first half, as there is a strong pipeline of companies waiting for the right window to open including a number of large listings.

Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges were the two most active bourses globally by number of deals by far this year, the report shows. And Hong Kong led the world by capital raised.

Brexit has been rattling the global capital markets, but "we have yet to observe its impact on IPO activity in both Hong Kong and the mainland," said Ho.
US extends ZTE reprieve from sanctions over alleged violations Updated: 2016-06-29 09:55 (Agencies)

Visitors check out products at the ZTE stand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Feb 24, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

The US government has extended through to Aug 30 a reprieve of tough export restrictions imposed on the Chinese smartphone maker ZTE in March for allegedly breaking sanctions against Iran, the Commerce Department said on Monday.

The renewed Commerce Department license allows ZTE to continue exporting equipment containing US technology. The agency said in March that its first reprieve could be extended if the company cooperated with the government.

Experts said US export restrictions were some of the toughest ever applied and would have caused disruption across ZTE's sprawling global supply chain.

The restrictions would have banned US companies from exporting to ZTE any technology, software or equipment such as chips and processors made in the United States. The decision would also have prevented software makers from selling typical office applications like Microsoft Windows - or even providing updates.

But soon after imposing the restrictions in March, the agency offered the company a three-month relief from the restrictions, which was set to expire June 30. The Commerce Department announced the extension in a notice posted Monday.

In an emailed statement, ZTE Chairman Zhao Xianming said the extension shows that the company is improving its compliance and cooperating with the US government's investigation. The reprieve will allow ZTE to maintain its "relationships with hundreds of American companies and our continued investment in the US," he said.
AEE goes beyond making cameras to new products Updated: 2016-06-29 10:48 By Hezi Jiang In New York(China Daily USA)

AEE Technology showcases its new unmanned aerial vehicle at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Hezi Jiang / China Daily

Shenzhen AEE Technology, a contract manufacturer of action cameras since 1999, is going beyond production and focusing on innovative design, signature products and brand identity.

Search for action cameras on Amazon, you will find over a thousand products that look almost the same. If you want to stand out, you have to become a brand. You have to spend money on marketing and branding, said Zeng Desen, senior vice-president of AEE who oversees foreign markets.

Our job used to be effortless. We stay in the factory and just make the products, he said. But the company realized that staying in the factory as a contract manufacturer for others was risky because it has no control over distribution. Any change in the supply chain could affect our deadline. If a distributor changes their mind, everything could be gone, Zeng said.

In 2010, the manufacturer started its own brand, AEE, selling action cameras and drones to the global consumer market, and body-worn cameras and high-end unmanned aircraft for police departments and agriculture and mining industries.

The companys products are available in Asia, Europe and 55 other countries. About 70 percent of AEEs total revenue comes from foreign sales, with about 30 percent from the US.

AEE opened its first international office in Los Angeles in 2014 to help the company penetrate the US market. There are eight employees at the office, in sales, marketing and customer service.

Every company in our category is making the US their main battlefield. If we win here, the rest will be easier, he said. For foreign sales, we plan to get 50 to 60 percent from the US, 30 to 35 percent from Europe, and about 10 percent from the rest of the world. That's a healthy distribution.

AEE has partnered with major retailers  including Wal-Mart, Frys and COSTCO  to sell action cameras and drones, and is hoping to break into Best Buy stores this year.

The company also entered a strategic partnership with Red Bull, supporting the energy drinks annual video campaign with its action camera and drones.

The US action camera market is currently led by the American brand GoPro, but Chinese companies control the drone market, said Zeng.

He acknowledges that AEEs main competitor, DJI, another Shenzhen-based drone maker, has successfully put together the advantages of innovation and low manufacturing costs in China with Western marketing strategy. AEE is trying to do the same, and Zeng sees AEEs opportunity in the drone market in the lower price range.

DJI is the No 1 in drones priced between $600-$3,000, but nobody knows who will lead the $200-$600 market yet, he said. We will announce a product in September, and maybe well have an answer then.

The company employees 1,200 people at its headquarter in Shenzhen, of which 300 work on research and new product development.

Chinese manufacturers are embracing the opportunities, said Zeng. We have good products, great quality, and if we can combine that with Western design and marketing strategy, we could do better than the Western brands.

AEE has also partnered with American video systems brand Pro-Vision to sell body-worn cameras to US police departments. Demand for such equipment, which clips onto officers' uniforms to record interactions with citizens, has risen amid a series of incidents of police killing unarmed black men. The Obama administration has been providing grants to local police departments to purchase the cameras.

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com
Taiwan blamed for suspension of cross-Straits communication Updated: 2016-06-29 15:46 (Xinhua)

BEIJING -- Taiwan side should take full responsibility for suspension of communication mechanisms between the Chinese mainland and the island, a mainland spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Taiwan's current administration has not recognized the 1992 Consensus which endorses the one-China principle, shaking the political foundation for cross-Straits interaction, said An Fengshan of the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office at a press conference.

Suspended communication mechanisms include both the regular mechanism between cross-Straits affairs departments and the consultation mechanism between the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF).

Both operated on the basis of the 1992 Consensus. An said, "Peaceful development of cross-Strait ties since 2008 did not come out of the blue."

The mainland has not changed in its stance, An said. "It was the Taiwan side which changed the situation."

The key to ensuring negotiation and contact is whether the SEF will be authorized to confirm adherence to the consensus, An said.

"On such a fundamental question, ambiguity is of no avail," An said.
The answer to China's energy challenges, as the song goes, may be blowin' in the wind.

According to a new study from MIT, China has the opportunity to massively increase its use of wind power - if it can properly integrate wind into its existing power system.

Only 3 percent of China's electricity demand was provided by wind power in 2015. The study forecasts that it could provide as much as 26 percent by 2030, which would be good news for the global effort to transition to renewable energy, since China produces the most total greenhouse gas emissions of any country in the world.

The promising projection comes with a counter-intuitive caveat, however. To make it happen, China should not put more wind turbines in its windiest places, but rather in places where they can more readily be integrated into the existing grid.

A "wind [turbine] that is built in distant, resource-rich areas benefits from more favorable physical properties but suffers from existing constraints on the operation of the power system," said Valerie Karplus, an assistant professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and director of the Tsinghua-MIT China Energy and Climate Project. The constraints are higher transmission costs and the cost of "curtailment," when available wind power is not used.

The study - Integrating Wind into China's Coal-Heavy Electricity System - is in the current issue of Nature Energy and is co-authored by Karplus and students and professors at MIT and Tsinghua University who are part of an academic collaboration focused on tackling energy and climate issues in China. Co-existing with coal appears to be step one.

There's no argument that China has been investing heavily in renewable energy in recent years, but still more is needed if the country is serious about meeting its pledged goal of having 20 percent of its energy consumption come from non-fossil fuels by 2030 - part of the Paris climate pact of 2015, the study says.

Plenty of studies have been made sizing up China's wind-energy potential based on the country's natural environment - its windiest valleys, plains and mountainsides. The new MIT study, however, is the first to take at look at how China's wind energy production could expand based on simulations of its existing power system operations.

Taking the limitations of the operations into account, the MIT team found, China may only be able to use 10 percent of its physical potential for wind power. But even that 10 percent would be enough to surpass the 20 percent goal and reach 26 percent by 2030.

The key challenge, the team says, is integrating wind power into a system that has been geared to coal since day one. Coal can be tapped with the light of a match. But wind, by its very nature, is intermittent and sporadic, so any grid it ties into has to be flexible enough to accommodate its on-again-off-again contribution.

And that, in turn, requires flexibility from the coal-fired power plants, which accounted for more than 70 percent of electricity generated in China in 2015.

The study suggests that since China already has regulations setting minimum output levels for coal-powered plants (to ensure their profitability), reducing these thresholds and employing more flexible production schedules would open the door for more wind power.

"Renewable energy plays a central role in China's efforts to address climate change and local air quality," Da Zhang, a post-doc at MIT, explained. "China plans to substantially increase the amount of wind electricity capacity in the future, but its utilization - and ultimately its contribution to these environmental goals - depend on whether or not integration challenges can be solved."

The researchers call for new policies but acknowledge the inherent challenges to implementing them. As co-author Michael R. Davidson put it: "Establishing regulatory structures and policy incentives to capture these benefits will be difficult in China because of legacy institutions."

Karplus puts it another way: the regulations now in effect were designed to ensure profitability for power producers, not encourage them to compete to lower costs.

"Existing policies prioritize sharing benefits equally among participants rather than facing strict price competition," she said. "As electricity demand growth has slowed in recent years, the limited size of the pie means sharper conflicts between wind and coal."

Karplus pointed to government planners in China are experimenting with using energy markets that encourage competition and create additional markets for flexible operation. Such markets could be a boon to renewable energy, especially wind and solar.

For China to tap its wind capacity to the fullest, Karplus concluded, "our work shows the value of continuing these reforms, including introducing markets and relaxing administrative constraints."

Contact the writer at chrisdavis@chinadailyusa.com.
PLA Navy fleet off to Pearl Harbor for drills Updated: 2016-06-29 10:48 By Chen Weihua In Washington(China Daily USA)

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy fleet is scheduled to sail into Pearl Harbor on Wednesday to participate in the Rim of the Pacific naval exercises, known as RIMPAC 2016.

The Chinese fleet consists of five ships, the missile destroyer Xi'an; missile frigate Hengshui; supply ship Gaoyouhu; hospital ship Peace Ark; submarine rescue vessel Changdao; three helicopters, a marine squad and a diving squad, including 1,200 officers and soldiers.

The Chinese task force members left Zhoushan in East China's Zhejiang province on June 15. They were joined in the west Pacific on June 18 by the USS Stockdale and USS William P Lawrence in the so-called "group sail" to Hawaii.

The group sail gives the ship crews the chance to operate together and conduct basic training, such as tactical maneuvering drills and communication systems checks, before the more complex RIMPAC begins, according to Stars and Stripes, a US military newspaper.

The RIMPAC 2016, which carries a theme of "Capable, Adaptive, Partners", will be held from June 30 to Aug 4. The PLA Navy will take part in drills including gunfire, damage control and rescue, anti-piracy, search and rescue, and diving and submarine rescue. Chinese officers and soldiers also will participate in a range of sporting events.

It is the second time China is participating in the biennial RIMPAC. China took part for the first time in 2014, when it sent a fleet of four ships with some 1,100 personnel. The Chinese contingent this time is said to be the third largest, trailing only the US and Canada.

After Brazil dropped out at the last minute, 26 nations, 45 ships, five submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel will participate in RIMPAC 2016 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. It's the 25th year of exercises in the series, which began in 1971.

Three nations, Denmark, Germany and Italy, will participate in RIMPAC for the first time.

Military-to-military exchanges between China and the US have warmed up in recent years despite some tensions. US laws still bar its military from providing or engaging in combat-related training with China's military. There has been talk in the US Congress opposing China's participation in RIMPAC.

"To say the argument is ill-advised is an understatement," said Jonathan Pollack, a senior fellow of John L. Thornton China Center of Brookings Institution.

Pollack said "it's good that China is going. You know this may cause some unease for some Americans who are very skeptical about China, but China is as much a stakeholder in the Asia-Pacific security environment as anybody else."

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
Anti-Brexit protest in London, Labor leader hit with no confidence motion Updated: 2016-06-29 03:49 By Angus McNiece in London(Chinadaily.com.cn)

Over a thousand protesters assembled in Londons Trafalgar Square aimed at showing London's solidarity with the European Union following the recent EU referendum. Photo/Angus McNeice

Over a thousand protesters assembled in London's Trafalgar Square in pouring rain on Tuesday evening to protest Britain's pending exit from the European Union.

A lively crowd of Londoners braved the rain and protested the result of the EU referendum, despite organizers having announced the event was cancelled earlier in the day. An hour into the event several protesters broke the news to the crowd that Labour legislators had passed a motion of no confidence in Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, instigated after what many viewed as a lacklustre performance on the Remain campaign trail.

Analysts said in the country, nearly 70 percent of Labour voters had opted for the Leave vote, despite the fact the remaining in the EU was official party policy.

In the ballot, MPs voted 172-40 against Corbyn, following a slew of resignations in his shadow cabinet and calls for him to resign.

Over a thousand protesters assembled in Londons Trafalgar Square aimed at showing London's solidarity with the European Union following the recent EU referendum. Photo/Angus McNeice

Corbyn said the vote had "no constitutional legitimacy" and did not plan to resign from a post gained in 2015 in a landslide victory. While the vote is not binding, Labour MP Wes Streeting told the BBC that Corbyn's continued leadership was "untenable" following an "unprecedented" vote of no confidence.

Britain may now face the prospect of dual leadership contests in both its main parties, following Prime Minister David Cameron's resignation on Friday.

Many commentators said disruption in what is Britain's official opposition party means the system is malfunctioning.

In Trafalgar, many waved anti-Brexit signs and flew the Flag of Europe while chants of "EU we love you" regularly rang out across the busy square.

"I'm here because on Friday I felt like I woke up in a completely different place from where I'd gone to bed," Tessa Qiu, 21, a British Chinese woman from London, told China Daily. "I think that everyone, whether they voted Leave or Remain, has been lied to. And people are feeling very worried about the future."
Perth mosque targeted in petrol bomb attack Updated: 2016-06-29 10:46 (Xinhua)

SYDNEY - The Western Australian (WA) police were investigating a racist firebomb attack at a mosque in Perth while hundreds did evening prayers, Perth Now reported on Wednesday.

No one was injured in the attack on Tuesday night, during which a parked car burst into flames outside the mosque.

It is believed petrol or a fire accelerant was used in the blaze.

Anti-Islamic graffiti was also spotted on a wall near the Australian Islamic College, close to the mosque.

Perth Now reported Australian Islamic College Yahya Adel Ibrahim wrote on Facebook that worshippers finished their prayers despite the unfolding chaos outside the mosque.

Ibrahim said the Perth community had been "visited by hate" but "wouldn't start playing blame games and singling out groups of people in our society."

"Despite what just transpired, everyone stayed to finish their prayers, refusing to give in to the terror that had just occurred."

Police were calling for witnesses to come forward.
Geopolitical reality main driver behind Israeli-Turkish reconciliation Updated: 2016-06-29 11:08 (Xinhua)

A Turkish flag flutters atop the Turkish embassy as an Israeli flag is seen nearby, in Tel Aviv, Israel June 26, 2016. Picture taken June 26, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

JERUSALEM - After six years of animosity, Israel's reconciliation with Turkey was announced on Monday. The deal, which marked the beginning of a new geopolitical reality in the region, enables the two countries to normalize relations, but the road ahead could be bumpy.

The agreement, which still remains to be ratified by Israel's cabinet and Turkey's parliament, is the epitome of realpolitik on both sides and it is perhaps exactly what is needed in the volatile Middle East, observers here say.

The Israeli government is hailing the agreement as a success. Its terms do show achievements for the Jewish state.

Israel and Turkey used to be close allies. In 2010 when a Gaza bound flotilla originating in Turkey tried to break Israel's blockade on the territory, a forceful Israeli intervention killed nine Turkish citizens and created a huge rift in the relations between the two countries.

The agreement was greeted by many but questioned as well. Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said they received all what they had asked for. The truth is somewhere in the middle -- this way each leader can capitalize politically.

As part of the deal, the countries will restore full diplomatic relations which were downgraded immediately after the incident.

Israel will pay 20 million US dollars in compensation to the families of the Turkish victims.

Turkey will be allowed to begin aid projects in the Gaza Strip and deliver goods to the impoverished territory through an Israeli port in the south of the country.

Throughout the negotiations, Turkey had insisted that the blockade on Gaza be lifted and sees this as a sign of Israel essentially doing just that.

Speaking in Rome after announcing the deal, Netanyahu said the blockade is still in place.

Turkey will be allowed to send goods into Gaza through an Israeli port, which means Israel still controls what goes into Gaza. In addition, perhaps more importantly, Israel still controls the traffic of Gazan residents -- most of them not allowed out of the impoverished territory.

Raphael Ahern, a diplomatic correspondent for the Israel Times said the agreement "allows both sides to save face."

Israel had already in the past issued an apology for the incident and had agreed to compensate the families. Some in Israel believe such compensation is unprecedented.

In a Facebook post, Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog called the financial settlement "unfathomable," saying "every Hebrew mother should know that right wing leaders will compensate your son's attackers."

A poll conducted by Israeli Channel 10 hours before the agreement was announced showed that the majority of Israel's were unhappy with the deal. About 56 percent were against, 33 percent were in favor and the remaining 11 percent did not know.

For many Israelis, the compensation is a difficult pill to swallow, as expressed by Herzog.

In addition, Israelis expected to receive the remains of two missing soldiers who were killed two years ago during the last war Israel fought with Hamas in Gaza.
Turkey says dialogue best means to solve South China Sea dispute Updated: 2016-06-29 11:26 (Xinhua)

ISTANBUL - China and the Philippines should engage in "constructive" dialogue to solve their dispute in the South China Sea as conflicts are "destructive" to all sides, Turkish analysts said.

In the view of Altay Atli, a research fellow with the Asian Studies Center of Bogazici University in Istanbul, Manila's resort to an international tribunal over the dispute may not help produce a solution.

In 2013, the Philippines unilaterally filed compulsory arbitration against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague with respect to the two sides' disputes in the South China Sea.

The Chinese government has reiterated its non-acceptance and non-participation stance in the case.

"I think instead of waiting for the international tribunal to solve the problems by itself, China and the Philippines should enter a constructive dialogue, discuss their issues together, and jointly decide on a solution that would protect both sides' interests," said Atli.

He was echoed by Kamer Kasim, vice-president of the International Strategic Research Organization and dean of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences with Abant Izzet Baysal University.

"The parties need to engage in peaceful solutions regarding the South China Sea dispute," said Kasim.

Tensions are running high in the South China Sea as the United States and Japan, among others, have opted to engage in the disputes.

"I think that the involvement of countries from outside the region only serves to complicate the situation," observed Atli.

"None of the countries who has a stake in this region, neither China nor the other countries, have anything to gain from rising tension and possible conflicts," he said.

Referring to the fact that almost all of the East Asian countries are going through a process of "serious" economic transformation and restructuring, Atli stressed that "In such a period, what they need is not tension and conflict, they need greater cooperation and integration."

In Kasim's view, it is in the interests of both Washington and Beijing to keep "peace and security" in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The last thing that China and the US needs is any kind of interruption of the trade in Asia-Pacific," he said.
Cambodian PM sees 'collusion' Updated: 2016-06-29 08:36 By Zhang Yunbi(China Daily)

Any ASEAN statement supporting ruling in arbitration would be opposed, he says

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned that his party sees the upcoming ruling in arbitration concerning the South China Sea as "the worst political collusion in the framework of international politics".

The top Cambodian leader spoke out as more than 60 countries or organizations, according to China Daily's count, have echoed China's commitment to direct negotiations for settling disputes rather than using arbitration.

Countries voicing support include Russia and South Africa, and regional organizations include the Arab League and Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Hun Sen, also president of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, said in Phnom Penh at an event marking the 65th anniversary of the party's founding that the CPP "does not support, and more so is against, any declaration by ASEAN" to support the ruling. Cambodia is one of 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The Arbitral Tribunal appointed by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is expected to rule soon.

China has refused to be part of the case.

Some countries outside the region have pressured ASEAN members ahead of the ruling, and the result could "lead to division among ASEAN members themselves and between ASEAN and China", Hun Sen said.

Liu Huawen, a researcher on international law studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that since the Philippines sought unilateral arbitration and "abused" the legal proceedings, similar "malicious arbitrations" could be raised in the future to target other countries.

"If the Arbitral Tribunal comes to a ruling that is not in accordance with the facts, such law-breaking logic could be abused in the future for other territorial or maritime disputes among other countries," Liu said.

Dogu Perincek, chairman of Turkey's Patriotic Party, said earlier this month that "it seems that the arbitration from an international tribunal will be used for military purposes".

Perincek described the arbitration by the tribunal as "an obvious intervention into the regional countries' sovereignty", saying China as an independent and sovereign country "has no obligation to obey the decision of the international tribunal".

Zhu Feng, professor and executive director of the China Center for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea at Nanjing University, said, "Behind the case are the motives and tricks of Manila and manipulation by some major countries. These have made the arbitration a wild brawl by the US and its allies against China."

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn
China 'strongly condemns' terror attack in Istanbul Updated: 2016-06-29 20:15 By Wang Qingyun(chinadaily.com.cn)

China "strongly condemns" the terror attack in an airport in Istanbul on Tuesday evening, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a news conference on Wednesday.

"China strongly condemns this terror attack that targeted civilians. China is against all forms of terrorism and calls for the international community to strengthen coordination in the field of counter-terrorism," Hong said.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi has sent a telegram of condolence to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Hong said.

According to China's Consulate-General in Istanbul, there have been no reports of Chinese citizens hurt or killed in the terror attack in Istanbul, Hong said.

There were about 90 Chinese passengers in the airport waiting to board when the explosions happened, and the consulate-general has got in touch with the Chinese people stranded in the airport, Hong said.

"They are all safe," he said.

He said the Foreign Ministry as well as its diplomatic and consular missions in Turkey is again warning Chinese citizens to be cautious about traveling to Turkey and calling for Chinese in Turkey to remain highly vigilant over their own safety.

Shootings and explosions broke out in Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday evening. The Associated Press quoted Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim as saying 36 people as well as three suicide bombers died. Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag was quoted as saying 147 were wounded.
Xi urges caution over US missile deployment in South Korea Updated: 2016-06-29 20:36 By An Baijie(chinadaily.com.cn)

China hopes South Korea handles the deployment of the advanced US THAAD missile system in a prudent and proper manner, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday.

The Republic of Korea should pay attention to China's legitimate security concerns over the deployment of THAAD - Terminal High Altitude Area Defense - US military's sophisticated missile defense system, Xi said.

The Chinese president made the remarks while meeting with ROK Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn in Beijing.

China and ROK should be dedicated to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, jointly maintain the peace and stability of the peninsula, and push forward the relevant parties to resolute problems through peaceful dialogue, Xi said.

Xi also called on the two countries to deepen political trust, enhance communications through multiple channels including government, legislature and political parties, and make full use of the mechanisms of bilateral strategic dialogues.

Hwang said that the ROK would like to keep close communication with China over issues including the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula.

The ROK would like to establish closer economic ties with China under the framework of ROK-China free trade agreement, he said.
Terrorist attack in Turkey reinforces need for unity Updated: 2016-06-29 20:37 (chinadaily.com.cn)

That the barbarity took place during the holy month of Ramadan may make it particularly unacceptable to the Islamic community.

A terrorist attack is intolerable no matter when it happens, who it targets.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan was correct in observing "terrorism strikes with no regard for faith and values". But not so much in saying the attack on Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport, which killed dozens and injured more than 200, had no objective.

By targeting innocent passengers, both Turkish and international, at one of the world's busiest aviation hubs, the plotters behind Tuesday's attack  whether the Islamic State group or not  had an obvious objective: to send, and amplify a message of terror, and create a sense of horror.

Through choosing that specific airport as the venue of coordinated suicide bombings, their message was meant not only for the government and people of Turkey. They wanted to create the impression that no one is really safe, or beyond their reach.

Turkey's commitment to the global campaign against terror has been doubted. But the country's recent vulnerability to terrorist threats should be a wake-up call for any Turkish politicians who may have entertained the naive illusion that they are different in the eyes of terrorists.

The Turkish president has expressed hope that the "international community, especially the Western countries, including their administrations, parliaments, media organs and civil societies, will take a firm stand against terrorism".

But that should have been an appeal to all countries. Not just Western ones. An international "united front", as the governments of China and Russia just stated in a joint declaration, is essential for the fight against terrorism.

Almost 15 years into the international "war on terror", which started in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept 11, 2001, the world appears just as vulnerable, if not more, to terrorist threats, precisely because countries have their own perspectives and calculations. Countries have even found it difficult to agree on what qualifies as terrorism.

There have been calls for and attempts at cooperation and coordination between countries, which has helped with information sharing. But as the recent terrorist attacks in different countries show, that is far from enough. An international safety net against terror will remain out of the question unless countries work out at least a loosely unified stance on the matter.

However, that will be easier said than done.
Hague tribunal to issue South China Sea ruling July 12 Updated: 2016-06-30 01:12 By ZHANG YUNBI(chinadaily.com.cn)

An arbitration court hearing the dispute between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea said on Wednesday that it will deliver its decision on July 12.

China responded to the announcement by saying the tribunal in the Hague "should not have heard the case" or "issue a decision".

China has refused to be part of the arbitration since the proceedings were launched in 2013 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Hague made its announcement in a release posted on PCA's website.

The tribunal's decision "will first be issued via e-mail to the parties"and "there will be no in-person meeting or ceremony for the rendering of the Award," said the release.

Later on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a written statement that the Philippines' unilateral initiation of arbitration "breaches international law.

"The Arbitral Tribunal, established on the basis of illegal conduct and claims of the Philippines, has no jurisdiction over the relevant matters,"Hong said.

The Arbitral Tribunal "circumvented the optional exceptions declaration China has made in accordance with UNCLOS, expanded and exceeded its jurisdiction at will, and pushed forward the hearing on the relevant subject-matter, Hong said.

"Such acts have infringed on the right of a state party to UNCLOS to choose means of dispute settlement of its own will, and undermined the integrity of the UNCLOS dispute settlement regime,"Hong added.

Earlier this month, an international group of legal experts and lawyers signed a legal opinion document questioning the tribunal's jurisdiction.
Online shoppers rush to buy as pound plunges Updated: 2016-06-30 02:28 By MENG JING(China Daily)

Online shoppers in China are cashing in on falls in the British pound to buy expensive foreign luxury goods after the UK voted to leave the European Union.

The pound plunged to a three-decade low after Britons voted on Thursday last week to leave the bloc, making the country's goods and services cheaper for overseas buyers.

The pound has dropped by more than 10 percent against the renminbi since the referendum.

Evonne Shen, a white-collar worker in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, bought a handbag for 3,000 yuan ($450) from a British online shopping site on Tuesday, saving more than 300 yuan compared with the price a week ago.

While Shen, who is in her early 20s, may still have to pay tariffs when the package arrives in China, she decided to buy after the pound weakened. "The tariffs have been here for a long time, but how often do you get a chance like this," she said.

After the pound fell, some Chinese online shoppers bought goods on UK e-commerce sites or asked dai gou  overseas shopping agents  to help them with purchases in brick-and-mortar stores and to ship the packages to China.

According to ymatou.com, a cross-border e-commerce site in China, daily sales of European products have doubled since the UK referendum, mostly driven by sales of British products.

The company, based in Shanghai, said on Wednesday: "Shopping malls in Europe are now holding their annual summer sales. Combined with the fall in the pound, it couldn't be a better time to buy British products."

High-end products with prices ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 yuan are among the best-sellers on ymatou.com. About 70 percent of the online buyers bought luxury handbags, including a Hermes Kelly bag costing 98,000 yuan.

According to the Baidu Index, which gauges changes in the popularity of search requests, the number of searches for "UK dai gou" rose by 175 percent between June 17 and June 21, peaking on Friday, when the referendum result was announced.

Mo Daiqing, an analyst at the center, said: "The short-term fall in the pound is attracting more online shoppers to shift their attention from Japanese and Korean products to British ones..
More Kenyan students to study in China Updated: 2016-06-30 04:01 By LUCIE MORANGI(chinadaily.com.cn)

Chinese ambassador to Kenya Liu Xianfa is delivering a speech at a pre-departure gathering of 40 students who are leaving tomorrow for China. Photo/Liu Hongjie

China announced on Wednesday that it will increase the number of scholarships offered to Kenya to 1,000.

Chinese ambassador to Kenya Liu Xianfa made the announcement at a pre-departure gathering of 40 students who are leaving on Thursday for China. It follows a fruitful discussion between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta late last year during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"China is willing to share its experiences with other countries through capacity development," Liu said, adding that the move will enable implementation of the 10 overarching plans proposed by Xi during the FOCAC summit. While announcing a $60 billion investment package, China plans to partner with Africa on industrialization, agricultural modernization, infrastructure, financial services, green development, trade and investment facilitation, poverty reduction and public health and security improvement.

Speaking on behalf of the Principal Secretary in the public service, youth and gender ministry, Grace Otieno, the principal administrative secretary, urged the beneficiaries of scholarships to adopt the mind set and attitude of the Chinese, besides gaining conventional knowledge in class.

"Chinese are good in time management, they are diligent and have high integrity. These are values that can accelerate the achievements of our national strategies if applied in public service," she said. "We need to go an extra mile for our experiences from China to be visible here."

China has been offering full scholarships to Kenya annually since 1982. According to China's economic and commercial office in Kenya, 2011-15 saw 2,065 Kenyans attend short-term training seminars in China. This ranks the east African country second in the continent after Ghana and fourth globally in the total number of students studying in China under full scholarships.

Otieno also said that she was excited that 21 police officers have been selected to attend a short seminar in counter-terrorism in China, saying that this will enormously boost the country's security and buoy investors confidence.

Lucymorangi@chinadaily.com.cn
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HA NOI  A minister said the British vote to leave the European Union (EU) would not have immediate impacts on Viet Nam, but long-term impacts must be taken into account.

We have preliminarily analysed how the Brexit influences the world and Viet Nam. The event is yet to have any significant impacts on Viet Nam, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said during a dialogue on investment policies in Ha Noi yesterday.

According to Dung the UK and the EU are currently not very big partners in terms of trade and investment with Viet Nam. However, the Brexit will affect currency developments in many countries, including trade partners of Viet Nam, and thus affect the country in indirect ways.

Experts agreed with this point of view as they discussed the issue during an online talk held by investment forum BizLive yesterday.

Nguyen Mai Phuong, a director of analysis with brokerage firm VNDirect, pointed out that Viet Nams trade revenues with the UK accounted for 3-4 per cent of Viet Nams total foreign trade values.

The value of Vietnamese exports to the UK represented about 2.3 per cent of Viet Nams gross domestic product, according to another director of analysis, Nguyen uc Hung Linh, from Sai Gon Securities Inc.

Here are expert answers to some major questions discussed during the online round table:

How will Brexit affect Viet Nams finance and its foreign investment influx?

Vo Tri Thanh, the former deputy director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), said Viet Nam might face disadvantages in the trade balance because of possible depreciations in the currencies of a number of its trade partners.

But appreciations in some other currencies, such as the Japanese yen, would help improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese exports.

UK direct investments in Viet Nam are not too great, but capital flows pouring into Viet Nam via the UK are significant. These inflows may slow in the short term due to the UK and EUs struggling situation, he said.

Capital flows will also seek safe havens. If Viet Nam can prove a more stable economy and a better business environment, investors may be more interested in its market. This will depend on macro-policy responses and reforms of the country, he added.

Le ang Doanh, the former director of CIEM, said the announcement last week that the domestic stock market lost US$1.1 billion since the Brexit vote was quite a heavy loss.

Thanh said that because foreign investors play an important role in the local stock market, the loss is understandable. After overshooting investors reactions, the market is likely to reach a new balancing point that is based on global economic developments and reforms.

What should Vietnamese policymakers do now?

Macro policies must be more flexible, although it is not always easy to choose between policy flexibility and economic stability. The co-ordination of monetary and fiscal policies needs special attention, and assuring discipline in State budget operations is necessary for effective monetary policies, said Thanh.

The market is interested in the European Union  Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), whose progress is likely to slow, said Can Van Luc, a member of the National Financial and Monetary Advisory Council.

The top priority of the EU and the UK now is to deal with Brexit consequences, so Viet Nam will have more time for legal reviews with the EVFTA. Viet Nam may also negotiate an FTA with the UK, according to Luc.

In the meantime, the banking and finance sector should intensify risk management. The Government should establish a derivatives market and use it as a tool to manage risks, Luc said.

Banking expert Nguyen Tri Hieu said the State Bank of Viet Nam should closely observe fluctuations of the Chinese yuan for timely adjustments of the Vietnamese ong, since China is the largest import market of Viet Nam.

What is the future for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which was established just late last year?

Huynh The Du, Director of the Fulbright Economic Training Programme, said there are big gaps between Southeast Asian nations in their economic development levels. It will take a very long time for the AEC to become lively, he said.

Nguyen Mai, Chairman of the Viet Nam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises, reportedly told the dialogue on investment policies that members of the ASEAN community will have to work to reach a consensus on economic policies, especially those related to the law, taxes and administrative mechanism.

This is needed for the region to avoid a Brexit ASEAN, he said.

Nguyen Bich Lam, the head of the General Statistics Office, reportedly told a press conference yesterday that it would review UK investment projects in Viet Nam.

This agency would assess possible changes in investment policies when the UK exits the EU, and scrutinise taxes applied for relevant import and export goods, he said.  VNS
HA TINH  Ha Tinh Province has planned different solutions to preserve and promote the Phuc Giang Schools woodblocks, following their recognition in May as UNESCO World Heritage at the seventh Memory of the World Committee for Asia and Pacific summit.

The Phuc Giang Schools woodblocks were created by scholars of the Nguyen Huy family in Ha Tinh Province in the 18th century. The blocks were used to print text books for the Phuc Giang School, which was located in the old Truong Luu Village, Can Loc District of Ha Tinh.

The director of Ha Tinh Museum, Nguyen Tri Son, said it would cooperate with the National Library of Viet Nam and the Institute of Literature to organise exhibitions of the woodblocks, translate them into Vietnamese and print them into books.

The Peoples Committee of Can Loc District also plan to make Truong Luu a tourist cultural village, helping tourists to find out more about the villages rich history and culture.

The Phuc Giang Schools woodblocks comprise of 379 well-preserved blocks to print textbooks, said Son. The total set used to number 2,000 blocks, but many have been damaged or destroyed over time. The blocks are rare, unique and contain valuable content. The two-century-year-old set of woodblocks form the heritage of the Nguyen Huy family, that has been preserved by the familys descendants, he noted. They are the only ancient woodblocks created by a family for education preserved today in Viet Nam.

In 1732, well-known scholar Nguyen Huy Oanh, built a local school in Truong Luu village to teach students. He also founded Phuc Giang library with thousands of books that he and his family collected over many years.

Thanks to Oanhs deep knowledge, his teaching methods and the rich library, the school attracted a great number of students from different regions.

The contents of the woodblocks were composed by five cultural scholars of the Nguyen Huy family, who were teachers at the Quoc Tu Giam University, the countrys first university.
QUANG NAM  The moss-covered walls of a humble fishing village have been brightened up with murals following an extensive art project.

Trung Thanh Village in Tam Thanh Commune by the seashore at Tam Ky City in the central province of Quang Nam is now full of art thanks to the Korea Foundation Community Art Exchange Programme that finished a project yesterday.

Five artists from South Korea and 12 volunteers from both Viet Nam and South Korea joined the programme. Even locals struggled to contain their excitement, as they volunteered to help clean and paint the walls.

The project involved turning the old walls of 100 houses in the village to colourful murals, depicting portraits of villagers and local scenes and more regional panoramas, said Tran Dieu Ly, co-ordinator of the project.

Trung Thanh Village was selected for this programme because its population density was high, said Ly.

The houses are close to each other and that makes it easy to create a special effect like an art gallery.

His face lit up when Vo Ngoc Lien, 72, looked at the fresh paintings on his walls.

I couldnt imagine that my old-fashioned house can be brilliant like this, he said.

Our village is filled with a blaze of colours. All the villagers are so happy and proud of living in an artistic space. Colourful paintings bring positive perspectives for all of us. Under the cruel heat of summer, we just look at the murals to find solace.

Children are especially excited as they are portrayed in the murals. Happy childhood moments are also preserved in these artworks.

The Korea Foundation has introduced wall paintings to Viet Nam in an effort to contribute to life with art and culture in the international community, joining forces with the UN-Habitat Viet Nam which has helped the countrys cities develop sustainable urban environments, said Park Kyoung-chul, director of Korea Foundation in Viet Nam.

Its a chance for experts on community art and urban development from the country and South Korea to get together to share ideas, experiences, and expertise to find ways of implementing community art in Viet Nam, he said.

Artist Oh Ye-seul, 25, has participated in many village mural projects in South Korea. When the programme called artists to join, she immediately registered to have a chance to come to Viet Nam.

In the summer sunlight, she ignored the sweat dripping from her brow as she finished painting a wall with a picture of Olaf, the beloved character from the Frozen animated film. She expects that the image and sparkling snow will delight local children.

We want to bring new vitality and a jubilant atmosphere to the village, said Oh.

Nguyen Thanh Binh, chairman of Tam Thanh Commune Peoples Committee, said the project helps improve the landscape and raise peoples awareness of protecting the cultural environment.

Fine arts impact positively on peoples attitude. Living in a beautiful house and village, the people will feel proud and happy to be surrounded with art.

The new face of Trung Thanh Village will boost local tourism as this is the first mural village in the country, said Binh.

Photographers from South Korea, the Philippines and Turkey visited Tam Ky to take photos of the beautiful scenery and create a visual record of the wall painting process. The photos will be exhibited in Seoul and other international cities later this year.  VNS
President Tran ai Quang (R) receives President and CEO of Japans Sojitz Corporation Yoji Sato in Ha Noi yesterday.  VNA/VNS Photo Nhan Sang

HA NOI  President Tran ai Quang hopes that Japanese businesses will increase investment in Viet Nam, especially in developing high-quality infrastructure and support industries.

At a reception for visiting President and CEO of Japans Sojitz Corporation Yoji Sato in Ha Noi yesterday, the State leader urged Japanese firms to provide more support for Viet Nam in human resources training, agricultural development and climate change response.

Viet Nam will continue perfecting the legal framework and policies to create a favourable business climate for foreign investors, President Quang noted, adding that Japanese enterprises successful operation in Viet Nam would contribute to promoting the intensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

He hailed Sojitz Corporation  one of the largest trading groups in Japan  for its contribution to Viet Nams socio-economic development since the country started its renewal process.

Japan is now the largest official development assistance (ODA) provider, the second investor and the fourth trade partner of Viet Nam, he said, adding that the economic cooperation with Japan is crucial for the Southeast Asian countrys development.

The two countries see great potential to boost collaboration in the fields of economy, trade and investment, especially when Viet Nam is integrating deeper into the regional and global economy by joining in a number of new-generation free trade deals such as Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal, the President highlighted.

For his part, Yoji Sato said Sojitz Corporations two industrial parks in the southern province of Dong Nai are welcoming Japanese investors in the support industry, warehousing, seaport, airport and electricity.

As a general trading company, Sojitz Corporation has engaged in a wide range of sectors like automobiles, energy, mineral resources, agricultural and forestry resources, consumer goods and industrial parks.

The group has some 400 subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. It set up its first representative office in Viet Nam in 1986 and became the first foreign company to receive the countrys Friendship Order in 2006 for significant contributions to local socio-economic development and Vietnam-Japan friendship relations. VNS
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc meets with delegates a conference held yesterday to review the Peoples Public Security forces performance in the first half of this year.  VNA/VNS Photo Thong Nhat

HCM CITY  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked the Peoples Public Security force to focus on enhancing capacity in controlling, analysing and forecasting security situations to give timely advice to the Party and State on policies and measures to protect social security and socio-economic development.

Addressing a conference held yesterday to review the forces performance in the first half of this year, the PM urged police at all units and localities to actively implement plans to ensure security and order, and avoid falling into a passive position during any situation.

It was necessary to guarantee security in strategic areas such as the northwestern, Central Highlands, and southwestern regions, he requested.

The PM directed the force to hold regular raids on criminals to eliminate social vice hot spots, reduce dangerous crime types and prevent the increase of crimes.

Noting the forces tough tasks in the rest of the year in the context of a complicated world, region and domestic situation, he directed the force to update itself on the new Partys orientations on security and public security force building stated in the 12th Party Congress resolution.

Along with speeding up the judicial reform, the force should apply breakthrough solutions to prevent and combat organised, trans-national, high technology and other types of crimes.

The Government leaders also asked for more efforts in improving the effectiveness of State management over security in line with the administrative reform towards openness and transparency.

The force should conduct synchronous measures to ensure traffic safety and prevent fires and explosions, while assisting people during natural disasters, and coordinating closely with other sectors and forces to protect security, he said.

Particularly, he stressed the need to optimise the operational efficiency of communal police, as well as the stronger responsibility of organisations, schools, enterprises and families in protecting social security and order.

The PM also requested the Party Committee of the Public Security Ministry to continue realising the resolution on Party building in association with the building of the force.

According to Public Security Minister, General To Lam, in the first six months of this year, the Peoples Public Security force proposed to the Party and State a number of strategic policies as well as specific solutions to safeguard national security and social safety and order.

The force effectively and timely foiled all hostile schemes, while actively resolving emerging social security problems and ensuring absolute safety for the countrys major political events, including the 12th Party Congress and the general election in May, he said.

He also noted that the prevention and fight against criminals showed effective signs, with decreased numbers of criminal cases and traffic accidents.

Efforts made by the force contributed to protecting the countrys independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as national security and interests, serving the countrys socio-economic development, he said.  VNS
Patients at the Viet uc Hospital in Ha Noi. Ha Nois healthcare system needs thorough plans for infrastructure and human resources, or it will lag behind other modernised cities.  VNA/VNS Photo

HA NOI  Ha Nois healthcare system needs thorough plans for infrastructure and human resources, or it will lag behind other modernised cities, Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Nguyen uc Chung said.

Chung chaired a meeting last weekend with the citys Health Department, representatives of local public hospitals and foreign health experts to discuss goals to improve heath services in the city.

Participants agreed that healthcare services in Ha Noi have inadequate hardware, or infrastructure and technology, and software, the human resources.

Yamamoto, a Japanese health expert, said Viet Nam lacks healthcare facilities with only 2.9 beds per 1,000 people and 0.7 doctors per 1,000 patients.

Patients in Viet Nam overcrowd upper-level hospitals because they have better-quality doctors. As a consequence, two patients have to share a bed and beds can even be seen placed in hospital hallways, he said.

According to Director of Ha Nois Health Department Nguyen Khac Hien, there are currently 41 public hospitals and 29 private hospitals in Ha Noi. Only four of them, including Gia Lam, uc Giang, ong Anh and Soc Son hospitals, have been rebuilt. The construction of new hospitals is limited due to a lack of funding.

"The most urgent thing is to apply information technology to avoid waste and errors in the medical sector," Director of Ha Noi Heart Hospital Nguyen Quang Tuan said.

He said he hoped the city would invest in a joint healthcare management system for all hospitals in the city to thoroughly manage health staff and improve the citys health sector.

Yamamoto suggested clarifying the function of each healthcare unit to avoid overcrowding in central level hospitals while enhancing the capacities of health workers, which is most important in improving examination and treatment quality.

Chairman Chung asked the citys Health Department to compile a report to thoroughly review the operations of local hospitals.

Local authorities would invest in a citywide technology system in both Vietnamese and English to not only link domestic hospitals, but also connect them to healthcare centres in the region and the world, he said.

The city would also invest in a high-tech medical centre at Saint Paul Hospital, standardised by Europe, and then expand that network to connect the centre and domestic and foreign hospitals.  VNS
Four Chinese nationals were arrested for alleged swindling and misappropriation of assets.  Photo tuoitre.vn

HCM CITY  Four Chinese nationals were arrested for alleged swindling and misappropriation of assets, the city police said.

Those arrested are Guan Zao, 46, Ke Qinying, 52, Xie Yuqiong, 44, and Zang Huamei, 47.

They came from Chinas Guangdong Province and lived on Ong Ich Khiem Street, District 10 in HCM City.

According to the police, the gang of four were on a visit to Viet Nam and by chance met a Vietnamese man named Chau, who has not been found yet.

Chau asked the Chinese nationals to take part in his illegal business, in which he offered naive people a mysterious and spiritual treatment for their diseases.

Zang Huamei and Guan Zao were assigned to look for prey and befriend them, while Xie Yuqiong and Ke Qinying were responsible for introducing the the godly therapist.

On June 25, they found a woman in District 5 and asked her to pay VN5 million (US$220), 30 teals of gold (equivalent to 825g of gold) and a gold lace bracelet in exchange for a bottle of holy water.

Upon realising she had been cheated, the woman reported the incident to the municipal police.

The four immediately admitted to their crime following their arrest.

The police are continuing their search for Chau.  VNS
HA NOI  Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh has requested ministries, agencies and localities to work together more closely to reduce traffic accidents, deaths and injuries this year by 5-10 per cent.

The official called for greater efforts to ease traffic jams and prevent serious traffic accidents while presiding over a teleconference held yesterday by the National Committee for Traffic Safety.

The Deputy PM said ensuring traffic safety requires the involvement of the entire political system.

To meet national safety goals, localities nationwide were asked to monitor the operation of transport companies specialising in road and internal waterways, especially passenger services.

Deputy PM Binh also called for closer coordination between agencies and localities in designing traffic safety projects for 2016-2020.

The committee reported that from December 16, 2015 to June 15 this year, 10,227 traffic accidents occurred nationwide, leaving 8,939 people injured and 4,362 dead, a drop of only 2.59 per cent in the number of deaths.

The number of traffic accident deaths in May and June were at higher levels than for the same period last year. The two worst accidents were reported in the central province of Binh Thuan and in the Central Highlands province of Lam ong, with a combined total of 20 deaths and many others injured.

Internal waterways also witnessed a number of serious accidents. The latest incident involved a boat which capsized on the Han river in the central city of a Nang on the night of June 4, leaving three dead.  VNS
HAI PHONG -- Police in the northern city of Hai Phong have broken up an online gambling ring, according to the Ministry of Public Securitys Hi-tech Crime Prevention Police Department.

Ten people suspected of involvement in the gambling were arrested, the police said.

The arrested persons are Luong Quoc Khanh, 24, Mac Thi Huong, 23, Tran inh Xuan, 24, and ang Thanh Tuan, 26, as well as agn Tuan Tu, 22, Nguyen Cong Duong, 22, and Nguyen Tung Duong, 22, all of whom reside in Hai Phong City.

The others, who are from Ha Noi and HCM City, are Nguyen Minh Tuan, 34, Nguyen Quang Ha, 33, and Bang Tu Manh, 29.

The police reported that the ring organised the gambling through the websites https://cmd368.com and https://cmd368.net, which have their servers placed overseas.

During the investigation, the police found that some people overseas had cooperated with the arrested persons to organise gambling in Viet Nam, with the host named cmd368.

The gamblers set up accounts at cmd368 and then transferred money to the banks designated by cmd368.

To escape detection by the police, the ring heads used many devious methods, including transferring money to many different intermediary banks.

The gamblers would use the money to bet with the host.

The websites lured thousands of gamblers with total money worth hundreds of billions of ong.

Upon searching the houses of those arrested, the police also reportedly confiscated 51 ATM cards, nine mobile phones, two computer hard discs, more than dozens of telephone SIM cards and other documents related to gambling.

The case is under further investigation.  VNS
A strengthened co-operative mechanism between the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and other State anti-corruption agencies is needed to better oversee and detect corruption.  Photo thanhtra.com.vn

HA NOI  A strengthened co-operative mechanism between the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and other State anti-corruption agencies is needed to better oversee and detect corruption, participants said at a conference yesterday to review results of Anti-Corruption Law 2005 over the last 10 years.

The conference was co-organised by the Institute of Public Policy and Law, and Towards Transparency, the national branch of Transparency International, a global civil society movement working to stop corruption.

By the end of this year, the National Assembly is expected to discuss revisions to Anti-Corruption Law 2005, and the revised law is expected to be approved late next year, Van said.

Towards Transparency Executive Director ao Nga said the Anti-Corruption Law and relevant legal documents should include regulations that encourage civil societies and people to combine efforts against corruption.

As the Viet Nam Fatherland Front (VFF) was proactive in connecting other agencies, corruption cases were expected to be detected and monitored more effectively, she said.

Under the Law of VFF 2015, the VFF is a political alliance and voluntary union of political, socio-political and social organisations as well as overseas Vietnamese and prominent individuals representing their class, social stratum, ethnicity or religion.

Its key responsibilities include rallying and building the national unity bloc; exercising democracy and promoting social consensus; and issuing public information and mobilising the people to implement laws and polices of the State.

Many corruption cases in Viet Nam were discovered and punished swiftly thanks to the contribution of civil societies, media and citizens, she said, adding that the country needs a whistle-blowing mechanism.

Ta Thi Minh Ly, former head of the Legal Assistance Department under the Justice Ministry, said Viet Nam issues fines too frequently instead of harsher punishments, which in turns makes it difficult to monitor and punish corruption cases.

The Law on Handling of Administrative Violations allows violators to pay fines if their violations are deemed too minor to be considered crimes, Ly said.

She said violators have taken advantage of this loophole in the law.

Dr Nguyen Quoc Van, deputy head of the Legal Affairs Department under the Governments Inspectorate, said shortcomings in the Anti-Corruption Law were revealed throughout the 10 years it was in effect.

For example, under the law, all Government officials, from deputy manager of a department to higher-ups, have to make an annual declaration of their assets and income. But in reality, most of the declarations are just a formality.

We hardly control assets and incomes of high-ranking officials, Van said. Current regulations fail to address situations in which their assets are increased without being clearly accountable for their origin.

Van said that petty corruption was quite common in Viet Nam, particularly among State employees at grassroots levels.

They did not have much power, but their poor performances and poor attitudes towards public service users were signs of corruption, Van said. He added that clearer and stricter punishment to such violators should be regulated in the revised anti-corruption law.

Van said that ministries, agencies and sectors have completed their own 10-year review of the Anti-Corruption Law and a national summary meeting would be organised by the Government next month.  VNS
HA NOI -- Deputy Prime Minister Vu uc am has asked the Viet Nam Social Insurance and Ministry of Health to take action and ensure that at least 90 per cent of the population is covered by health insurance by 2020, as per the Prime Ministers goal.

The Deputy Prime Minister made the request at a conference held yesterday in Ha Noi to boost the implementation of the health insurance programme for the period 2016-2020.

He said it was especially important that the Government bravely adjusted the health insurance target set by the National Assembly from 80 per cent to 90 per cent.

Deputy PM am also stressed the importance of a solid insurance scheme, saying it was the foundation of a powerful social welfare system that would help consolidate a progressive nation.

Viet Nam Social Insurance should authorise its local health insurance units to co-operate with local peoples councils and peoples committees in implementing the national health insurance programme to meet its target, am said.

If the number of people joining health insurance system reaches 100 per cent of the population and insurance rates rise, it would help boost the financial reform of the health insurance system as well as the whole health care system, he said.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the Government, Viet Nam Social Insurance and Ministry of Health agreed to provide a management service package with the application of basic information technology in healthcare facilities nationwide to help boost the connection in healthcare activities.

He said all hospitals must be computerised so as to fundamentally improve healthcare services. Connecting healthcare data and the verification information system is an important step towards complete computerisation, he said.

Data system goes online

A health care data portal and an information system for health insurance eligibility verification were launched yesterday, a move to computerise the medical sector in Viet Nam.

Director General of Viet Nam Social Insurance Nguyen Thi Minh said her sector has worked with the Ministry of Health to pilot a system connecting the data of medical facilities at the central, provincial, district and communal levels in Thai Nguyen Province, Bac Ninh Province and Hai Phong City.

The computerisation of medical examinations, treatment management, health insurance eligibility verification and payments has seen initial positive results. It has created a breakthrough in administrative procedure reforms, helping to better ensure insurance buyers interests.

She said almost all medical facilities serving health insurance buyers in the 63 provinces and cities have connected with the information system for insurance eligibility verification on a trial basis.

The online system helps search for information about health insurance card holders and their treatment records, thus saving time and expenses, Minh noted.  VNS
HA NOI  Many private healthcare clinics in Ha Noi are skirting waste regulations and dumping medical waste  some of it toxic  into streets, according to recent reports.

Under the Ha Noi Healthcare Departments regulations, private healthcare clinics that dispose of medical waste every day are only granted operation licences if they prove they have contracts with authorised waste collectors.

However, an investigation by Lao ong (Labour) newspaper revealed that many clinics let their waste collection contracts expire after a one-year period in order to save money.

The medical waste must be properly classified for special treatment. Untreated waste left in public areas poses high risks of disease infection to community members and regular garbage collectors who are not prepared to handle medical waste.

Dr Nguyen Duy Thinh, an expert on the environment and community health, told Lao ong that littering medical waste and mixing it with daily garbage is very dangerous to peoples health and the environment.

Packages of medical waste, including used needles with blood and disease specimens that were littered in the streets, were disease infection sources likely to spread throughout the community, he said.

The root of the problem is the clinics lack of awareness of community health and environmental protection, as well as authorities loose management and inspections, Thinh said.

Bui Chi Binh, vice director of the Environment and Urban Company  Urenco 10, told the paper, In fact, the quantity of medical waste the company collected from private clinics was not much.

The companys statistics showed that the medical waste we collected every month was about six tonnes, said Binh. Our main clients are big clinics - those that really care about the environment.

Medical waste collectors were refused by clinics for nonsensical reasons, Binh said.

Nguyen Van Thu, a garbage collector of Urenco 10, told the paper that many clinics refused to let him collect waste on the first day of the lunar month.

They said that discharging waste on the first day of the lunar month would be bad luck for business, Thu explained.

Binh told the paper that most private clinics hired brokers to sign contracts with waste collection companies. They needed the contracts to complete their clinic operation applications, but they didnt know or care whether the contracts were valid, said Binh.

Therefore, many clinics have contracts with us, but have not called to collect medical waste every day, he said.

Loose management

To Tu Anh, deputy head of private clinic management at the citys healthcare department, said, The healthcare department is responsible for granting licences to private clinics and managing their operations.

And the responsibility for discharging and treating medical waste belongs to clinic owners, he said.

He did not respond to a question regarding clinics that fail to extend their waste collection contracts after one year.

He did not know what proportion of the 2,400 clinics have medical waste collection contracts with environmental companies, the paper reported. -- VNS
BRUSSELS - Prime Minister David Cameron told EU leaders yesterday they should consider reforming rules on freedom of movement, a Downing Street source said, after Britain voted to leave the bloc.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said Cameron told a leaders dinner in Brussels that Britain and the EU should "have as close an economic relationship as possible and that the key to staying close is really to look at reform to free movement".

A British government source speaking anonymously added that Cameron believes free movement was "one of the driving factors in people voting to leave".

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would travel to Brussels today for talks to defend Scotlands place in the European Union after a vote by Britain as a whole to leave the bloc.

Sturgeon said she was "utterly determined" to protect Scotland as she obtained a formal mandate for direct talks with the European Union institutions at an emergency session of the Scottish parliament.

"Tomorrow I will make an initial visit to Brussels to set out Scotlands position and interests" to European Parliament leaders, Sturgeon said.

"Through all of this I am determined, utterly determined, to preserve Scotlands relationship and place within the EU," said Sturgeon, head of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP).

Britain as a whole voted by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave the EU but Scotland voted strongly for Britain to remain -- by 62 per cent to 38 per cent.

However, European Council President Donald Tusk has refused a meeting with the first minister, according to a source in the group of EU leaders.

"Sturgeon requested a meeting with president Tusk, but Tusk thinks its not the appropriate moment," the source said.

Scotland is to draw up legislation for a new independence referendum to ensure it could be held during any negotiations for Britain to leave the EU, which would last a maximum of two years unless all EU member states agreed to extend them.  AFP
UNITED NATIONS, United States - Italy and the Netherlands agreed yesterday to split their term on the UN Security Council after a tie in voting forced them to reach a compromise.

In the vote for five non-permanent seats, Kazakstan was elected for the first time, joining Bolivia, Ethiopia and Sweden which won spots during the secret balloting at the 193-nation General Assembly.

But five rounds of voting ended with the Netherlands and Italy neck and neck at 95 votes each, far short of the two-thirds majority needed to win the seat.

Announcing the compromise deal, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders told UN delegates that the outcome was "a clear signal that you appreciate both our countries".

Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said that given the "perfect parity", the shared term on the council was a "way to show from two European countries a message of unity".

Under the agreement which will be put to a vote, Italy will serve on the council in 2017 and the Netherlands will follow in 2018.

Italy had lobbied fiercely for a council seat, portraying itself as a crossroads country in the Mediterranean and touting its experience dealing with the refugee crisis.

The European country is also seen as a player in efforts to pull Libya out of chaos.

The Netherlands, home to the International Criminal Court and other world tribunals, has played up its commitment to international justice.

If approved by the assembly, the split term would be a rare but not unprecedented occurence in UN history.

Turkey and Poland set a precedent when they shared a Security Council term in 1960.

Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrissov said "we are very proud to be the first central Asian country to serve on the council" and pledged to focus on nuclear non-proliferation and development.

The five newly-elected countries will take their place alongside the five permanent council members -- Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States.

The other five non-permanent members are: Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay.

The new members will begin their stint on January 1, just as the next secretary-general takes the helm following an October election to replace Ban Ki-moon. - AFP
SEOUL - North Korea was to convene a session of its legislative assembly on Wednesday, with observers looking for more details to emerge of a new economic plan announced at a party congress in May.

The Supreme Peoples Assembly (SPA) meets only once or twice a year, mostly for day-long sessions to rubber-stamp budgets or other decisions made by the leadership.

The SPA usually meets in April but was postponed this year amid fevered preparations for what was the first full meeting of the ruling party congress for nearly four decades.

The congress saw leader Kim Jong-Un unveil a five-year economic plan.

While full of rhetorical ambition about boosting production, the plan was short on any detail, and there are hopes that the SPA session might shed more light on what policy changes -- if any -- are in the pipeline.

"This SPA session is really a follow-up," said an official with South Koreas Unification Ministry.

"It is expected to follow through with decisions made at the congress, approve personnel and organisational changes and underscore Kims one-man rule," the official said.

At the beginning of this month, Pyongyang kicked of a "200-day battle"  a mass mobilisation campaign aimed at boosting productivity to jump-start the new economic plan.

North Koreans are used to such mandatory campaigns, with participation rigorously monitored and used as a measurement of loyalty to the regime.

"Kim Jong-Un has made all the necessary legal and institutional preparations for prolonging his power, but he still needs to impress the people with tangible economic progress," said Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean studies in Seoul.

The SPA could approve a structural re-organisation of the powerful National Defence Commission, appointing Kim head of a new state organ to oversee the NDCs operations. - AFP
ISTANBUL - A triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbuls Ataturk airport has killed at least 36 people, including foreigners, with Turkeys prime minister saying early signs pointed to an assault by the Islamic State group.

The attackers began spraying bullets at the international terminal entrance before blowing themselves up at around 10:00pm (1900 GMT) yesterday, Turkish authorities said.

It is the deadliest of four attacks to rock Turkeys biggest city this year, with two others blamed on IS and another claimed by a militant Kurdish group.

Though there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesdays carnage, "the evidence points to Daesh", Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told journalists at the scene, using another name for the jihadists.

He said the dead included foreigners, but gave no further details. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag put the number of wounded at 147.

The attack prompted the suspension of all flights at the airport -- one of Europes busiest hubs.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an international "joint fight" against terror, as Western allies including the United States condemned the "heinous" attack.

Yildirim said the suicide bombers had arrived in a taxi and opened fire on passengers with automatic rifles before blowing themselves up.

Security camera footage widely circulated on social media appeared to capture two of the blasts. In one clip a huge ball of flame erupts at an entrance to the terminal building, scattering terrified passengers.

Another video shows a black-clad attacker running inside the building before collapsing to the ground -- apparently felled by a police bullet -- and blowing himself up.

Tuesdays attack follows coordinated IS suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a city metro station in March that left 32 people dead.

I cant find my sister

An AFP photographer saw bodies covered with sheets at the terminal, which bore heavy damage from the blasts.

Bullet holes peppered the windows and shattered glass lay on the floor, while abandoned luggage was scattered everywhere.

Hundreds of police and firefighters including forensic officers were at the scene.

"Somebody came and shot at us and then my sister was running," Otfah Mohamed Abdullah said.

"I dont know which way she was running and after that I was falling down.

I was on the ground till he finished... I cant find my sister."

There was panic at the nearest hospital in Istanbuls Bakirkoy district, which was inundated with relatives desperate for news of loved ones.

Brussels airport, itself the scene of suicide bombings just months ago, tweeted condolences, saying: "Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at @istanbulairport."

Security expert Abdullah Agar told CNN Turk the attack bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group.

"It really bears a resemblance to their methods," he said in reference to the Brussels bombings, which were claimed by IS.

The US and French consulates warned people to stay away from the area.

Erdogan call

Erdogan met with his prime minister and military chief after news of the carnage broke.

"We urge the world, especially Western countries, to take a firm stand against terrorism," Erdogan said in a statement.

"Despite paying a heavy price, Turkey has the power, determination and capacity to continue the fight against terrorism until the end."

Istanbul, a major tourism hub that is home to some 15 million people, has suffered a series of attacks in recent months, including a bombing in the heart of the tourist district that killed a dozen German visitors and was blamed on IS.

Two months later, three Israelis and an Iranian were killed in a bombing on the citys main Istiklal shopping street, also blamed on IS.

A blast on the tarmac at Istanbuls other international airport, Sabiha Gokcen, killed a cleaner in December.

Turkey has been hit by at least five attacks blamed on IS jihadists, including a blast in Ankara in October 2015 that left over 100 dead, though the group has never formally claimed responsibility for an attack in Turkey.

Ankara has meanwhile launched a sustained offensive against the outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) following the collapse of a ceasefire last year.

Hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces have since been killed in PKK attacks.  AFP
India is ranked at 105th position globally on a worldwide Human Capital Index, which measures countries ability to nurture, develop and deploy talent for economic growth. The list was topped by Finland.

India ranks much below Chinas 71st position, while Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka are also placed higher on the index, released on Tuesday by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) in this Chinese city at its Annual Meeting of New Champions  also known as Summer Davos summit.

Pakistan ranks further lower at 118th place.

Giving India 105th rank out of the total 130 countries included in the index, WEF said the country had optimised only 57 per cent of its human capital endowment, placing it in the top of the bottom quartile of the index.

India was ranked 100th last year out of total 124 countries included in the 2015 index.

India also ranks poorly on labour force participation, due in part to one of the worlds largest employment gender gaps (121st).



On the positive side, India has got better rankings on quality of education system (39th), staff training (46th) and ease of finding skilled employees (45th) indicators. This suggests a primary avenue for improvement for the country consists of expanding access to its numerous learning and employment opportunities.

The report also showed that India had the largest share in the global distribution of tertiary degree holders at nearly 78 million while it was second largest after China on global distribution of recent graduates in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) at about 2.5 million.

Globally also, an average of only 65 per cent of the worlds talent is being optimised through education, skills development and deployment during peoples lifetimes, WEF said.

Finland, Norway and Switzerland hold the top three positions, utilising around 85 per cent of their human capital. Japan leads when it comes to 55 year-olds and over.

Todays transition to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, combined with a crisis of governance, creates an urgent need for the worlds educators and employers to fundamentally rethink human capital through dialogue and partnerships, said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of WEF.

The adaptation of educational institutions, labour market policy and workplaces are crucial to growth, equality and social stability.



On the global index, Japan and Sweden have moved up to 4th and 5th places and are followed by New Zealand, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada and and Belgium in the top 10.

Among BRICS countries, India is ranked lowest as against Russias 28th, Chinas 71st, Brazils 83rd and South Africas 88th.

Countries ranked below India include Nepal, Myanmar, Haiti, Malawi and Burundi while Mauritania, Yemen, Chad, Nigeria and Mali are placed in the bottom-five with below 50 per cent talent optimisation.
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!)
India has voiced concern over the insufficient international humanitarian response to the crises around the world, saying many of the armed conflict situations are "chronic" as not enough attention has been given to facilitate politics in resolving them.

"Any humanitarian crisis involves both short term and longer term aspects to it. Our efforts must focus on all such aspects including risk reduction, improving response measures and sustainable recovery efforts to achieve success," India's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Tanmaya Lal said at the ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs segment general debate here.

He said while adequate funding for emergency response remains a significant challenge, emphasis on longer term planning to help build resilience in countries, where needed, is also necessary.

"Many of the armed conflict situations are chronic, where insufficient attention has been given, including by the Security Council, to facilitate politics in resolving the conflicts," he said yesterday.

Lal noted that the magnitude, geographical expanse and frequency of humanitarian crises around the world requiring international assistance is becoming unparallelled but the international humanitarian response in many cases is falling "significantly short" of the challenges posed.

"We must reflect on ways to address the challenges in terms of mobilisation of resources required for emergency assistance and also the more longer term strengthening of resilience in individual countries to plan for and manage the crises when they arise," he said.

"The efforts must be to complement the efforts and help them build capacities to meet with the crises themselves over longer term," he said.

He noted that in recent times, there have been attempts to blur categories of those impacted by crises such as the refugees, migrants and the internally displaced persons (IDPs).

"The international frameworks drawn up by the international community are also distinct for different categories, especially the refugees and migrants, which require international cooperation in view of the implications of their cross-border mobility. The IDPs are, and must remain the priorities of the jurisdiction," he said.

He noted that another issue of contention appears to be the humanitarian and development divide, especially in the context of resource allocation as international assistance.

"Improving development levels invariably leads to situations where individual countries are able to manage the crises better themselves. Therefore, it is in everyone's interest, including the providers of assistance whether for development or for humanitarian relief, to retain focus on financing for development for more effective and sustainable efforts," he said.

He outlined the measures taken by India to build its and local capacities to plan for and manage disaster situations, adding that the government adopted a National Plan that seeks to strengthen ways to prevent, mitigate and manage disaster situations.
Since February, import of gold for domestic consumption (as opposed to that done for export, after value addition) has taken a big hit. That is, through official channels; unofficial imports have increased significantly.
Potential retrial as judge discharges Higgins jury The jury in the rape trial of Bruce Lehrmann has been discharged more than a week after deliberations begun over juror misconduct with the judge flagging a retrial date.

So wrong: Ley responds to Chalmers mishearing power bill question The Deputy Opposition Leader has criticised Jim Chalmers' apology to a journalist after he "misheard" a question, arguing the Treasurer should be saying sorry to struggling Australian families.

Socceroos release landmark statement on Qatars human rights record ahead of FIFA World Cup The Socceroos have published a ground-breaking video to social media ahead of next month's FIFA World Cup, calling for Qatar to improve its disastrous human rights record.

Gina the camel saved from floodwaters in comical rescue mission An unlikely fugitive has been saved from rising floodwaters near the New South Wales and Victoria border after emergency crews answered a distressed owners cry for help.
JANESVILLE, Wis. -- Blains Farm and Fleet, which operates a store in Cedar Falls, has been nominated by the American Heart Association and chosen as one of three companies nationwide to be honored by the National Retail Federation at the NRF Protect 2016 Loss Prevention Conference for the Loss Prevention Volunteers in Action Award for their partnership with the American Heart Association, Janesville-based Blains announced Friday.

A video was created and presented at the Grand Finale to the 2016 NRF Protect Loss Prevention Conference. Blains Farm & Fleet, Gap and Dress Barn were recognized for their exceptional volunteerism. This is a great honor for the company and I am proud to be a part of it. said Gary Hilt, Vice President of Loss Prevention, Risk Management & Government Relations.

Blains recently has worked with the American Heart Association in lobbying efforts to Wisconsin legislators to pass a bill requiring all high school students to take one hour of hands only CPR in order to graduate. On April 26th, the governor or Wisconsin signed that bill into law- creating roughly 56,000 potential life savers in the community every year.

AED machines have been placed in each of Blains Farm and Fleet stores, along with training of the units for all management personnel. Five lives have been saved since this implementation, the company said.
WATERLOO  An open house is being held noon to 4 p.m. Thursday to celebrate the opening of the Additive Manufacturing and Design Center, a collaborative of the University of Northern Iowa Metal Casting Center and Hawkeye Community College, at the Cedar Valley TechWorks campus.

In addition to the partnership with HCC, UNI is partnering with Mediacom Business to get high-capacity broadband connections at TechWorks.

Our goal is to make the design center at the UNI Metal Casting Center the go-to place in Iowa, if not the Midwest, to expand additive manufacturing training of this kind. This is a game changing initiative for Iowa., said Randy Pilkington, director of UNI Business and Community Services.

The Metal Casting Centers Advanced Manufacturing Lab has considered TechWorks Campus its home since 2013 but the addition of the Design Center will allow for greater capabilities and outreach, officials said.

Tours and demonstrations will be given every 30 minutes beginning at noon.
WATERLOO  Gerald Jerry Nicely, 78, of Waterloo, died Friday, June 24, at Covenant Medical Center; services 10:30 a.m. today, June 29, at Hagarty-Waychoff-Grarup Funeral Service on West Ridgeway, 233-3393, with burial in Orange Township Cemetery, where full military rites will be conducted by Waterloo AMVETS Post 19, Evansdale AMVETS Post 31 and the Marine Honor Guard; memorial fund to be established at a later date.
Hydrants to be flushed Thursday

WATERLOO -- The Waterloo Water Works will flush hydrants Thursday in the area from Independence Avenue to Newell Street, from East Fourth Street to Idaho Street, including the City View area.

Customers are urged not to plan wash day on a Thursday.

Cedar Falls streets closed Thursday night

CEDAR FALLS -- State Street between East 18th and East 21st streets and East 21st between State and Main streets will be closed 5 p.m Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday for resurfacing, city officials said.

Fourth 2016 Friday'loo on tap

WATERLOO -- Main Street Waterloo will be hosting its fourth 2016 FridayLoo 5 to 9 p.m. Friday with happy hour from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Music will be provided by Lotus and sponsored by Greenwood Family of Pharmacies.

Additional dates can be found on Facebook and www.MainStreetWaterloo.org.

Admission is free thanks to sponsors.

Fireworks fest to be held at NCC

WATERLOO -- The Cedar Valley Jaycees 2016 Fireworks Festival will be Saturday at the National Cattle Congress.

The celebration will start at 5 p.m., and the fireworks show will begin around 10 p.m. Synchronized music can be heard on radio station KCVM 93.5 The Mix for the fireworks.

The Jaycees and NCC will provide family-friendly pre-fireworks activities and free, live music by WildCard and Lotus before and after the fireworks.

A coloring station, a balloon artist and face painting will be at the festival grounds and will serve as many children for free while supplies last. Bouncy houses will be on site.

The festival is paid for through sponsorships and donations, which are still being accepted and can be sent to P.O. Box 245, Waterloo, IA 50704 or can be deposited at any Farmers State Bank in Waterloo or Cedar Falls.

More information is avaiable at www.CedarValleyJaycees.org.

Candidate forum set in Waterloo

WATERLOO -- Candidates for the Waterloo Ward 1 city council seat have been asked to participate in a forum from 7 to 8:30 p.m. July 7 in council chambers at Waterloo City Hall.

The public will be able submit written questions. The forum is sponsored by the Black Hawk/Bremer League of Women Voters.

Library to close for the Fourth

WATERLOO -- The Waterloo Public Library will be closed Monday for the Fourth of July holiday. It will reopen Tuesday.
CEDAR FALLS  There was a steady recitation of names as the Governors Volunteer Award recipients walked to the stage, received their certificates, paused for a photograph and then returned to their seats.

That is, until the emcee got to Johnny Heinze.

Thats when a small cheering crowd interrupted the otherwise quiet ceremony at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center to voice their own appreciation to the man who volunteers his time at the Northeast Iowa Community Action Head Start.

After the awards ceremony Tuesday afternoon, which recognized 72 individuals and 16 groups for their volunteer efforts throughout northeast Iowa, his cheerleaders explained their enthusiasm.

He is always coming in and helping: reading stories, tying shoes, playing games with all the kids, said Carrie Kostohryz, a teacher at the Head Start. Every day, we could count on him being there.

Fellow teacher Amy Moore said Heinze  who began helping last September and is continuing throughout the summer term  also has a knack for bringing the young students out of their shells.

He spends about three to five hours a day helping out in the classrooms.

Heinze also helps with Oelweins Meals on Wheels program.

As for how Heinze felt about getting the award, he said simply, Happy.

Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, started the volunteer awards 33 years ago, when he first served as governor, to recognize those who do so much in their communities but often dont receive accolades for their service. It continued after he left office, and hes kept the awards going since he returned to the governors office.

Its been a way that we can say thank you, and in a small way, express our appreciation to all of the Iowans that give so much of their time, talent and energy to help others and to make this state such a special place, Branstad said Tuesday.

There have already been awards ceremonies in Ottumwa, Pleasant Hill, Storm Lake and Cedar Rapids to honor volunteers in those regions.

There will be one more ceremony following the Cedar Falls stop, in Council Bluffs.

The ceremony also gave Branstad a chance to promote the Whats Your 50? initiative to encourage Iowans to participate in 50 hours of service per year.

University of Northern Iowa Provost Jim Wohlpart stressed that the Cedar Valley excels at volunteering. He said 25 percent of Americans do volunteer service each year; in the Cedar Valley, its 32 percent.

At UNI, about 6,700 students volunteered within the community for more than 500,000 hours.

The full list of award recipients and more information about how to volunteer is available at https://volunteeriowa.org.
CHARLES CITY -- A Charles City man is accused of shooting his roommate in the chest with an arrow from a crossbow.

Devin Hundley, 19, is set to appear in court Wednesday on a charge of felony willful injury.

He is accused of shooting his roommate, Corbin Gast, on June 23 while attempting to kick him out of their residence in the 600 block of Second Street in Charles City, according to court documents.

Police say Hundley pulled the armed bow on Gast, who then grabbed for the weapon and was shot.

Gast suffered a non-life-threatening wound to the upper right chest.

He called police to report the alleged incident while walking to the police station on Milwaukee Mall Street, said Charles City Police Capt. Brandon Franke.

An ambulance met Gast at the police station and took him to the hospital.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo man on parole for robbery has been arrested for allegedly breaking into a business Tuesday morning.

A resident called police after hearing glass breaking at about 2:45 a.m., and officers found a broken window at Morgan & Myers, a communications firm at 1005 Stratford Ave. Police waited outside and detained Lucas Raymond Thompson as he left the building.

Thompson, 31, was arrested for third-degree burglary and public intoxication. He was also arrested for possession of oxycodone after officers found a bag of pills in his pocket.

Authorities said Thompson used a rock to break a window and enter the business and took $12 in cash.

According to the Iowa Department of Corrections, Thompson was released from prison June 21 and is currently on parole for a second-degree robbery charge in connection with a December 2006 hold up at a check cashing business on University Avenue.

Thompson had been released from prison in 2014 but returned following an arrest for allegedly stealing a vehicle.

He also has a prior conviction for allegedly breaking into the Hancock Fabrics store on University Avenue in 2007.
MANCHESTER (AP)  An eastern Iowa judge is accused of throwing a water bottle at her husband and hitting him.

According to court records, Judge Stephanie Rattenborg of Manchester is charged with domestic assault in Delaware County.

According to court documents, a sheriffs deputy responded to a 911 call from Rattenborgs husband Friday evening. Randall Rattenborg told the officer his wife threw the water bottle and then began hitting him because she had learned he was having an extramarital affair.

Randall Rattenborg suffered a minor lip injury, according to court documents.

Stephanie Rattenborg in the documents admitted throwing the water bottle but denied hitting her husband.
WAVERLY -- Two defendants in separate, drug-related criminal cases pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon in Bremer County District Court.

Bailey Bantz, 18, of Fairbank, admitted to Judge Peter Newell he distributed rice cereal treats laced with marijuana.

According to court documents, the incident happened at Wapsie Valley High School.

Authorities charged Bantz with three counts of delivery of a controlled substance and one count of possession of marijuana. As part of a deal with the Bremer County Attorney's Office, Bantz pleaded guilty to one count of delivery and the remaining charges were dismissed.

The criminal offense, a felony, is punishable by up to five years in prison. County Attorney Kasey Wadding, though, recommended the prison term be suspended and Bantz serve two to five years of probation.

In the second case, Patrick Powell Jr., 30, of Clarksville, admitted he altered a prescription presented to the Wal-Mart pharmacy in Waverly.

The forgery charge is a felony.

Wadding recommended a suspended, five-year prison term for Powell and from two to five years of probation.

Judge Newell set sentencing for Powell and Bantz on Aug. 30.

Defense attorney Linnea Nicol represented both men.
CEDAR FALLS  A Waterloo man has been arrested for allegedly attacking a woman Monday night.

Police arrested Christopher Stephen Finn, 32, for assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and public intoxication. He was taken to the Black Hawk County Jail, and his bond was set at $10,000.

Officers were called to University Studios, 4711 University Ave., at about 11:40 p.m. Authorities allege Finn entered an apartment and began groping a female acquaintance and unhooking her bra. He allegedly became more aggressive when she pushed him away, court records state.

The attack ended when a man outside heard the woman yelling and intervened, according to court records.

Finn is currently on probation on a firearm charge stemming from a July 2014 incident where he allegedly carried a handgun at a bar.
WATERLOO  Childrens Cancer Connection and the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Cedar Valley are partnering to host a day camp July 6-8 at the Boys & Girls Clubs Waterloo site.

The camp is for youth ages 5-12 who have a cancer diagnosis, or have a sibling with a cancer diagnosis. Activities will be held at the Boys & Girls Club in the morning and in the afternoon kids will experience the Cedar Valley on daily field trips. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.
WATERLOO  Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Rod Blum challenged Democratic opponent Monica Vernon to a series of 10 debates across the 1st District starting in August.

Blum, a Dubuque businessman, proposes two debates in both the Cedar Rapids area and the Cedar Valley; one debate each in Dubuque, Marshalltown, Grinnell and Decorah; and two debates in rural communities to be determined.

The 1st District is made up of 20 counties in Northeast Iowa.

This election should be an honest contest of ideas, and I hope youll accept this offer to give voters of the 1st District an opportunity to hear for themselves about our differing visions for America, Blum said in the letter to Vernon.

Blums campaign said it would work closely with Vernons to organize the 10 debates. He proposed debating before live audiences and airing the events on television and radio.

Vernon, a former Cedar Rapids City Council member, responded by proposing two televised debates in keeping with the precedent set in the 1st Districts 2012 and 2014 general elections.

I am eager to debate Congressman Blum so I can explain to him what real people need right here in Northeast Iowa, Vernon said in a statement. Instead of focusing on how we create more economic opportunities, we have a Congressman who has embarrassed us by calling for a recession, has voted to dismantle Social Security and Medicare as we know it, and is against funding that would allow more of our kids to go to college.

She proposes debates in Cedar Rapids and Dubuque in October. The election is Nov. 8.

Blums Campaign Communications Director Jeff Patch called Vernons counterproposal disappointing.

Contrary to Vernons claims, eastern Iowans expect more than the precedent set of two debates in the 1st District during the 2012 and 2014 cycles, Patch said. Hopefully, she will reconsider our offer to truly allow voters an opportunity to hear directly from the candidates.

Vernon is making her second bid for the seat after losing the 2014 primary to Dubuque Democrat Pat Murphy. Blum, in first term, narrowly beat Murphy in the general election.

Challengers typically propose a number of debates against incumbents. Earlier this week, for example, Democrat Patty Judge proposed four televised debates with long-time incumbent U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

The number of general election debates varies, though often fewer than five are held.

In 2014, Blum and Murphy debated just twice. Two debates also were held in 2012 when incumbent U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley faced a challenge from Republican Ben Lange.
WATERLOO  Black Hawk County is planning to lose less money at the Country View care center next year.

Members of the county Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve a fiscal year 2016-17 budget for the county-owned nursing and mental health care center showing a $430,000 deficit.

The projected shortfall is less than the $1.1 million in losses racked up in the current fiscal year based on several staffing changes and the elimination of private staffing agencies which have been filling gaps in nursing coverage.

Country View Administrator Dennis Coleman said he expects to completely end the use of outside employment agencies, which cost $650,000 this year, by hiring four part-time nurses aides to cover shifts during emergencies.

First and foremost (the move is) for the cost savings, but secondly for the care of our residents out there, Coleman said. When you have the agency, they dont know them like our own people do.

While the adopted budget also called for the layoff of a full-time building cleaner and a part-time recreation aide, the supervisors encouraged Coleman to evaluate whether the latter position could be retained.

Janice Walker, a full-time recreation assistant, told the supervisors any reduction in staff would cut down on the quality of life for residents, many of whom have no family.

We deal with them so much on the family level, Walker said. We take them out, we provide recreation for them and we become family.

Meanwhile, Coleman said he is projecting to grow the number of clients at Country View from 149 to 157 residents this year, which would boost operating revenue by $552,000.

I think its commendable youre trying to raise that number, replied Supervisor Linda Laylin. I know it might be optimistic to expect that.

While the budget does not include funding for some $850,000 in identified capital equipment and building needs, Coleman said he expects a state program will begin contributing $1.4 million to Country View this year for non-operating improvements.

Those projects, ranging from new flooring to air-conditioning improvements, are contingent on the receipt of the state dollars.

Black Hawk is one of two counties still operating nursing homes in Iowa and has struggled historically to keep the 168-bed Country View center from requiring property tax subsidies.

The center has higher-than-average wage and benefit levels for the industry, gets a higher level of mentally ill clients, and lacks more profitable skilled nursing and private pay clients than many privately run care centers.

Country View was placed in its own enterprise fund separate from the county general fund in 2011, but the tax dollars transferred in to serve as the fund balance have dwindled from a high of $4.8 million to less than $1.6 million due to annual operating losses.

The budget for the fiscal year starting Friday projects the reserves to fall below $1.1 million by the end of next year.
Q: Does Waterloo plan to put the former Logan School site up for sale?

A: A public hearing has been set for 5 p.m. July 11 at the Education Service Center for proposed sale or disposal of the northeast corner of the former school site. A Waterloo Community Schools official said there have been a couple inquiries about the property, leading the Board of Education to set the public hearing. In the past, officials have said the property would remain in district hands as green space. The land that is subject to the public hearing accounts for only a portion of the Logan property. Part of the property was used for landscaping along U.S. Highway 63.

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Q: Is the mansion being built at the corner of Oster Parkway and Green Creek Road in Cedar Falls in foreclosure? There has been no activity on building it and the weeds around it are 4 to 5 feet high.

A: Cedar Falls city building official Craig Witry responds: I think the house they are questioning is 4615 Prairie Court. The project has active permits, they are installing the interior trim. The contractor will mow the weeds ASAP.

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Q: When will the Black Hawk County delinquent tax list be printed in The Courier?

A: It was printed on June 7.

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Q: There is an old beat-up vehicle parked on Laurinda Drive in Cedar Falls with broken windows and no license plates and has been parked there for five months. Do I call code enforcement?

A: Public Safety Director Jeff Olson replies: A notice has been sent to the owner requesting that they repair and license or remove the vehicle from the driveway. You may call code enforcement at 268-5186 with any code violations or questions.

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Q: Would the city of Waterloo consider canceling its Monday night council meetings until they have a seventh council person? It seeks like there are three joined at the hip and nothing gets accomplished.

A: You could ask them to cancel meetings but that would be very impractical. Issues that result in a tie vote are extremely minimal compared to all of the other business accomplished each night on a unanimous vote. Bills payments, liquor licenses and dozens of items of routine business which require council approval happen each week.

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Q: Have Steve Schmitt and Tom Lind ever voted differently on anything?

A: Yes, several times. Most recently, Schmitt voted against a hotel-motel grant for a youth jobs program which Lind supported. Lind voted against merging two east-side tax-increment financing districts while Schmitt supported the measure.

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Q: Is there anyone who accepts functional analog TVs? If not how do we dispose of them?

A: The Black Hawk County Solid Waste Management Commission holds events in April and September where residents can dispose of up to two electronic devices with cathode-ray tubes at no charge. A-Line Iron and Metals in Waterloo accepts e-waste, although charges may apply for CRT devices.
By The Associated Press Jun. 28, 2016 | 04:22 PM | ISTANBUL, TURKEY

Turkey's prime minister says 36 people and three suicide bombers have died in the attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says that so far all indications point to the Islamic State group being behind the attack. He says the attackers arrived at the airport in a taxi and blew themselves up after opening fire.

Asked whether a fourth attacker might have escaped, he says authorities have no such assessment but are considering every possibility.

He says the victims include some foreigners and that many of the dozens wounded have minor injuries but others are more badly hurt.

He says the attacks come as Turkey is having success in fighting terrorism and trying to normalize ties with neighbors like Russia and Israel.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the United States condemns in the strongest terms possible the attacks.

Earnest says the Istanbul airport, like the Brussels airport that was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind nations together.

He says the U.S. sends its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured.

Earnest says the United States remains steadfast in its support for Turkey, a NATO ally and partner, "along with all of our friends and allies around the world, as we continue to confront the threat of terrorism."
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EDF and MHI consider collaboration

28 June 2016

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French utility EDF and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) have today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for collaboration in civil nuclear power, including MHI taking a stake in Areva NP and joint development of the Atmea reactor design.

The MOU was signed today in Paris by EDF chairman and CEO Jean-Bernard Levy and MHI president and CEO Shunichi Miyanaga.

In a joint statement, the companies said the signing of the MOU "is a strategic move to strengthen the links between the French and Japanese nuclear power industries, recognizing the strategic interest to combine in certain fields of civil nuclear energy the strengths of EDF and MHI."

In late July 2015, EDF and Areva announced they had signed an MOU setting out the principal terms and conditions for EDF to take a majority share in Areva's reactor business, Areva NP.

Under the MOU signed today, EDF and MHI will look at "the potential participation of MHI as a partner in the French nuclear landscape reorganization with the acquisition of a minority equity interest in Areva NP."

EDF and MHI also plan to establish an updated cooperation framework regarding the Atmea partnership between Areva and MHI, "including the involvement of EDF in Atmea's business operations".

The Atmea joint venture was established in September 2007 to develop, market, license and sell the Atmea 1 reactor design: an 1100 MWe pressurized water reactor combining technologies of both companies.

Under the MOU, EDF and MHI said they will seek the "smooth execution" of Atmea 1 projects, particularly in Turkey and Vietnam.

Turkey's second nuclear power plant, at Sinop on its Black Sea coast, is proposed to feature four Atmea 1 reactors supplied by Areva and MHI. Ownership of the 4800 MWe plant is to be split between a consortium of Japan's Mitsubishi and Itochu, and France's Areva and GDF Suez, with 65%, and Turkey's state-run power producer EUAS, with 35%. Construction of the plant is expected to start in 2017, once an environmental impact assessment has been approved.

The MOU between EDF and MHI also covers a "potential broader range of collaborative ties leveraging the respective technologies and special expertise in the global market."

Following the signing of the MOU, Levy said: "With this MOU paving the way to a global and strategic agreement, EDF and MHI intend to strengthen their own long-standing experiences and skills in building and operating safely nuclear generation plants. I am fully confident that this opportunity will lay the foundations for a joint and successful promotion of new nuclear projects in the global market and will also benefit the entire nuclear energy industry in France and in Japan."

Miyanaga added, "It is a significant step to have EDF's involvement in Atmea, allowing the future development and promotion of this competitive technology in the global market. We look forward to cooperating with EDF in the civil nuclear fields comprising the development of the first Atmea project, Atmea 1, which will become one of the most advanced nuclear power plants in the world. This agreement also increases cooperative ties between our two countries, and I am confident that this will lead to the further enhancement of nuclear power technologies."

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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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.

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Gabina VOA is designed to be an infotainment youth radio show broadcasting to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Amharic language. The show brings varied perspectives on issues concerning young people in the Horn of Africa region. Gabina in the Amharic language is a front row taxi ridesymbolic of the shows content as a fun ride that takes audiences from point A to point B. Gabina VOAs main goal is Enlightening young people, introducing them to cutting-edge technological innovations, exposing them to new processes and ideas so they can be productive, informed and self-governing citizens.
Bradley Noel Jacobs strives to achieve operational excellence across the group in order to lead the company's continuing expansion plans.

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND, June 29, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Bradley Noel Jacobs, Network Director for The Coffee Club Franchising NZ, has been recognized for showing dedication, leadership and excellence in the food & beverage industry.



Worldwide Branding, the world's leading international personal branding organization, is proud to endorse the notable professional efforts and accomplishments of Bradley Noel Jacobs. A member in good standing, Bradley Noel Jacobs parlays 19 years' experience into his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership abilities, and the credentials he has provided in association with his Worldwide Branding membership.



About Bradley Noel Jacobs:

Bradley Noel Jacobs strives to achieve operational excellence across the group in order to lead the company's continuing expansion plans. He also plays a pivotal role in managing leasing & franchising, negotiating & securing new sites for the company and recruiting new franchises. Additionally, he oversees the construction of all new stores, as well as branding. He is very passionate about The Coffee Club brand, the franchising industry and the retail market.



About The Coffee Club Franchising NZ

The Coffee Club Franchising NZ is a food and beverage franchising company that recently celebrated 26 years in Australia and 10 years in New Zealand providing "Good Food, Great Service and Excellent Coffee." From a single store, which opened in November 1989 at Brisbane's Eagle Street Pier, to more than 300 cafes throughout Australia, 60 in New Zealand, 21 in Thailand, 4 in Egypt, 3 in Maldives, 2 in Malaysia, 2 in Indonesia and now 5 in the UAE, The Coffee Club has established itself as an iconic household name and preferred venue for millions of coffee drinkers throughout the Asia Pacific region. The company now employs more than 6,000 employees and serves more than 40 million coffees annually in their 390 plus cafes globally. The Coffee Club offers two types of dining experiences; a fully licensed, extended hours cafe bar restaurant with full table service and an extended menu, and a club store, which is typically located in high pedestrian areas and shopping centres and focuses on all-day light meals, breakfasts and snacks with counter service. As well as a comprehensive menu, The Coffee Club also offers a large variety of impossible-to-resist sweets including cakes, slices, muffins and biscuits and, of course, excellent coffee with The Coffee Club Signature Blend.



Bradley Noel Jacobs serves as chairman of the Franchise Association of New Zealand Inc. Under his direction, The Coffee Club Franchising NZ was named the Food and Beverage Franchise System of the Year by the Franchise Association of New Zealand Inc. in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Additionally, the company was named the Supreme Franchise System of the Year in 2013 and 2014.



Worldwide Branding has added Bradley Noel Jacobs to their distinguished Registry of Executives, Professionals and Entrepreneurs. While inclusion in Worldwide Branding is an honor, only small selections of members in each discipline are endorsed and promoted as leaders in their professional fields.



About Worldwide Branding

For more than 15 years, Worldwide Branding has been the leading, one-stop-shop, personal branding company, in the United States and abroad. From writing professional biographies and press releases, to creating and driving Internet traffic to personal websites, our team of branding experts tailor each product specifically for our clients' needs. From health care to finance to education and law, our constituents represent every major industry and occupation, at all career levels.



For more information, please visit http://www.worldwidebranding.com.



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Jun 29, 2016 | By Tess

In a world where most things are becoming increasingly digital, there is an important question that keeps arising: how does the digital turn effect children and their social, physical, and mental developments? Though some parents have made the decision to keep tablets, laptops, and digital toys out of reach from their children, preferring more old school hobbies and toys, the question of how to make digital technologies better and more suitable for children has perhaps become more important, especially as the technologies are not about to disappear. In an effort to combine physical and digital playtimes for the young Generation Z in a productive way, a joint Belgian research team from KU Leuven, iMinds, and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) has been studying how children interact with both online and physical toys.

The research, which is part of the World of Online/Offline Personalized Interactions (WOOPI) project, has not only focused on how children between the ages of 4 and 6 interact with both digital and physical toys, but has introduced a solution to the growing conundrum through hybrid toys, which include custom 3D printed toys based off of digital and video game childrens characters.

Professor Bieke Zaman, research coordinator of the WOOPI project explains, The world of childrens toys is changing rapidly. Tablet computers, for instance, have become very successful, but children still want to play with something tangible as well. They see a character in a comic book and want to play with a figurine of that character at school. And when they come home, they turn on the computer to play with the online version of that same character.

Of course, one of the biggest concerns about childrens use of digital technologies, is that parents do not want their growing children to sit statically in front of a screen for hours on end. By introducing hybrid 3D printed toys, the research team is hoping to present an appealing way for children to integrate physical play into their favorite digital games.

This idea is not entirely new, however, as video games like Skylanders have based themselves on a toys-to-life idea, where kids can turn their favorite toys into animated video game characters. The WOOPI projects approach effectively reverses this process, where digital characters are themselves turned into physical toys through technologies like 3D printing. Flemish digital research center iMinds has even created a software for this process capable of transforming 2D video game characters into 3D printable models.

According to the research team, hybrid toys can offer a number of benefits in terms of stimulating and educating children, especially when it comes to increasing their digital literacy. Zaman explains, More and more often, tangible toys are integral to online game experiences. The opposite is true as well: online gaming becomes a richer experience when tangible elements are added to the mix.

Naturally, with the extensive possibilities afforded by 3D printing technologies, there is little doubt that additive manufacturing has STEM education potentials. For instance, weve seen Root, a 3D printed robot that helps teach children about coding and robotics, as well as a number of other innovative efforts. The WOOPI project for its part has found an innovative way to turn digital playtime into a physical activity as well.

Adults make a clear distinction between their online and offline activities, adds Zaman. But for todays children, the distinction between online and offline is much fuzzier. WOOPI hopes that by 3D printing models of a childs favourite digital characters they will be encouraged to spend as much time playing with the physical toy as in front of the screen. Plus, imagine how much easier it would be to tear your kid away from a tablet if there was a 3D printed replica of the character he or she was playing!

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Jun 29, 2016 | By Kira

As 3D printing technology infiltrates into more and more industries, from consumer to automotive to medical, so too will the associated risks. And as risk is the insurance industrys primary business, it is imperative that insurance companies around the world become familiar with 3D printing technologies and applications to better protect their clients.

Swiss Re Group, a leading wholesale provider of reinsurance and insurance, has recognized this, and is working with its clients to leverage their knowledge about 3D printing, and, when the need arises, to develop intelligent and appropriate 3D printing insurance solutions.

First and foremost, Swiss Re acknowledges that additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping are truly working their way into every major industry in every part of the world. The main question they consider is therefore which industries will be most affected by 3D printing technology, and how.

In the aerospace/automotive sector, for example, 3D printing (3DP) is reducing costs by allowing for new and experimental prototypes to be built faster, and for complex end-use parts to be made from cheaper, lighter weight materials. Other primary sectors where 3D printing is making a significant impact are construction and engineering, the food and drug industries, medical devices, and home-use applications.

On the geographical side, North America remains the biggest market with 3D printing, with Europe coming in second. Meanwhile, the Japan, China and South Korea currently account for 21% of the 3D printing market, and the Asia Pacific region on a whole is expected to soon dominant the global scene, with a US$20 billion 3D printing industry forecasted by 2020.

The industry consensus is that 3DP has evolved beyond the hype, prototype and novelty stage and must be recognized as a mainstream technology, says Swiss Re. And yet, they continue: there is no specific federal framework that would apply specifically to 3DP. Specialized insurance forms or wordings are not present (yet) and this exposure remains in the realm of product liability. The key underwriting message is understand and underwrite, not ignore.

So what are the key 3D printing-related risks that underwriters, risk professionals, and indeed, anyone using or investing 3D printing should be aware of?

According to Swiss Re, they fall into a few categories: risks at the product design stage, risks at the construction/production stage, new product distribution channels; product performance, and finally, disposal and recycle.

At the product design stage, the primary risk is that of IP rights infringements and professional indemnity exposures. Moving into production, counterfeit products will also be much easier to 3D print, and as we have seen, even restricted or illegal items, such as 3D printed guns and 3D printed keys, are already all-too-easy to design and to make.

Finally, once the 3D printed object has been designed and produced, its usage could also lead to significant risksthough the question for risk professionals to address is who should be liable in the case of misuse or malfunction:

"From a re/insurance perspective, perhaps the biggest uncertainty is the long-term durability of the product, says Swiss Re. We know quite well what to expect in terms of performance for products manufactured by traditional methods. Products made with 3D printers are certainly subject to various types of testing, but only time will tell how well they will perform in real life applications. This is especially important for products used in critical safety applications. 3DP might also challenge the lines between product and service; if different parties are involved in the supply chain, the liability landscapes may shift.

For example, they provide the scenario of a 3D printed plastic lampshade that is made at home with a different type of plastic than at the manufacturer. The plastic could react differently to the heat of the bulb, melt, or even cause a fire. 3DP processes blur the lines between design and production, modification and post processing. Attribution of liabilities might not be the same as with traditional manufacturing processes.

These are just a few of the risks. Others include potential health hazards, as 3D printers are known to emit tiny particles into the air; and environmental concerns, as some materials may be toxic or non-biodegradable.

At the end of the day, Swiss Re is encouraging its risk professional experts, as well as other insurance companies, to recognize the need for a strong understanding of 3D printing technologies, and to develop a consistent collaboration between underwriting, risk engineering services, and claims, to best protect clients needs and interests.

Navigating the new risk landscape that 3DP presents to re/insurers will be a challenge, but it is one that the industry has consistently done throughout history. As with any innovation involving products, processes or operations, it is the well-informed and prepared re/insurer that will not only successfully manage this new technology, but also benefit from the opportunities that are presented.

On the filp side of risk, 3D printing is being recognized by the insurance industry as both a money-saving solution, and covered healthcare expense. Last month, we also covered Scott Klososky on what risk professionals need to know about 3D printing.

Posted in 3D Printer Company

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Laila Lalami in The Nation:

Whats the purpose of your visit? the officer asked. The epaulets on his blue button-down shirt hung over his narrow shoulders. His eyebrows joined above the bridge of his nose.

Im here to give a reading. I had come to Palestine with a group of poets and writers for a literary festival, with scheduled stops in Ramallah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nablus, and Haifa.

The officer glanced at the line behind me. How many are in your group?

I dont know.

How many US passports?

I dont know.

He raised a suspicious eyebrow. Everything is I dont know ?

But I really didnt know. I had met the other writers at a hotel in Jordan the night before, and it hadnt occurred to me to count their number while we were on the bus from Amman to the Allenby border crossing, nor to ask how many were American. He swiped my blue passport in the machine, then looked up at me with surprise. You were born in Morocco?

Here we go, I thought. It had taken me 20 hours to travel from California to Palestine. I dreaded being deported by Israeli immigration, as had happened to some of my Arab friends. Yes, thats right.

More here.
Don't trust a brilliant idea unless it survives the hangover. Jimmy Breslin







Neighborhood Late Night Menu at MINA Test Kitchen

Starting Wednesday night, MINA Test Kitchen will be offering a new late menu for night owls looking for dinner, cocktails, and bar bites. From 10:30 p.m. until after midnight every Wednesday through Sunday, patrons can dine on BBQ steamed buns, BBQ Thai shrimp, and BBQ burnt-ends pork sandwiches, and wash it all down with a beer and shot combo (whiskey + pickle back) or a banana horchata spiked with Zaya rum. // 2120 Greenwich St. (Cow Hollow), michaelmina.net





Queer as Fourth Rent Party at El Rio

Nationwide, half of homeless youth identify as LGBTQI, and locally, up to a third of all homeless cases could have been prevented with access to temporary rental assistance. Local nonprofit MYREM (Make Your Rent Event Management) is hosting a fundraiser on July 4th at El Rio to aid qualified San Francisco and Alameda County applicants in need of rental assistance to prevent evictions. Expect $7 palomas at the bar, a BBQ on the back deck, DJs, gogo dancers, and drag performances. The party starts at 3 p.m. and tickets are available online and at the door: $10 suggested donation. // 3158 Mission St. (Mission), myrembayarea.com





Bluestem Brasserie Launches Summer Vacation Cocktail Menu

Bluestem Brasserie could have celebrated their five year anniversary with cake, but we're grateful that they've opted for cocktails instead. The Summer Vacation cocktail menu debuts on July 4th, featuring seven seasonal drinks that will make even the most jaded San Franciscans believe in summer again. Our favorite is the Maui Margarita, made with Casamigos Reposado, Cointreau, coconut milk and cream, lime juice, lime zest, and a salt rim. // 1 Yerba Buena Lane (Mid-Market), bluestembrasserie.com





Free Film and Booze at Top of the Mark

Enjoy a free movie and beverage tasting in posh surroundings every Tuesday night this summer at Top of the Mark. This week's Summer Movie Nights film is A League of Their Own, starring Geena Davis, Rosie O'Donnell, and Madonna. Arrive at 5:30 p.m. for a complimentary tasting of wine or spirits, and stick around for the show, which starts at 7 p.m. Seating is first come, first served with no reservations required. Future Summer Movie Nights titles include Bullitt (July 12), Vertigo (Aug. 2), and Airplane (Aug. 23). // InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, 999 California St. (Nob Hill), topofthemark.com





Drink to Support Mission Fire Victims

Since you're planning to drink anyway, you might as well do it for a good cause. The recent five-alarm fire on Mission Street near Cesar Chavez displaced dozens of residents, burned six buildings, and gutted at least two businesses. Several nearby bars and restaurants are offering drink specials and hosting fundraisers to generate donations for their neighbors, which means the more you drink, the more you help. Participating businesses include El Rio, Old Bus Tavern, Front Porch, Rock Bar, and several other local establishments. // Various locations in Bernal Heights and the Mission
We hope you didn't drive to work today. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is currently holding a luncheon in San Franciscoand traffic is going to be baaad.





The fundraising luncheon, which starts at 11 a.m., will feature special guests including actress Jaime Lee Curtis and Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards. Tickets ranged between $500 and $27,000.





UPDATE: According to various tweets, it looks like the fundraiser is being held at the Nob Hill Masonic Center.





The luncheon marks Clinton's first visit to the Bay Area since campaigning prior to California's primary elections earlier this month. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is on the campaign trail in Maine.
Myer (ASX:MYR) is Australia's largest department store group and has been synonymous with style and fashion for over 100 years. With a valuable footprint of 67 stores in prime retail locations across Australia, generating total sales of over A$3.2 billion in FY2010 (including sales by concession operators), Myer is a leader in Australian retailing. Myer has a strong connection with its customers, with one of the most reputable retail brands in Australia. It is known for its welcoming, familiar, trusted, stylish and fun shopping environment as well as its strong culture of philanthropy and local community engagement.Myer caters for a large number of Australian households, offering more than 600,000 product lines, comprising 2,400 brands sourced from over 800 suppliers globally. Myer's offering comprises eleven core product categories including womenswear; menswear; youth fashion; childrenswear; intimate apparel; beauty, fragrance and cosmetics; homewares; electrical goods; toys; fashion accessories; and general merchandise. The broad appeal of Myer's offering is evidenced by its strong store patronage, with 185 million visits in FY2010.
AUSTIN, Texas  Texas A&M announced Tuesday the creation of a Hispanic health institute aiming to boost Latino participation in clinical research trials  increasing its footprint in the Rio Grande Valley as rival University of Texas inaugurates a new medical school there.

Unveiled at the state Capitol, the program will be the only one of its kind in Texas, is starting with $2 million in initial funding and will be housed at the Driscooll Childrens Hospital in Corpus Christi. But it will also work through the hospitals specialty clinics along the Texas-Mexico border, including in Brownsville, Harlingen, McAllen and Laredo.

Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp said Hispanics disproportionately suffer from hypertension, diabetes and cancer, but are some of the worlds most underrepresented people in clinical trials that help doctors test the effectiveness of medications and treatments. An often-cited, 2011 Food and Drug Administration study found that while Hispanics represented 16 percent of the countrys then-population, they made up just 1 percent of clinical trial participants.

We are going to save a bunch of lives right here, Sharp said.

About 19 percent of Texans lack health insurance, the highest rate in the nation. And having limited access to quality health care is an acute problem in heavily Hispanic South Texas, where poverty rates remain high and a booming population has outpaced medical infrastructure.

Dr. Scott Lillibridge, Texas A&Ms director of health initiatives, said clinical trials help show how the effectiveness of treatments can vary greatly for different segments of the population. He said that, after being advised by a physician, patients are statistically twice as likely to participate in clinical trials  but a lack of health care access means many South Texans never get that advice.

The impact of clinical trials is absolutely and fundamentally necessary for the advancement of medicine and bringing new therapies to populations, Lillibridge said.

Tuesdays announcement came as orientation begins for medical students at UT-Rio Grande Valley, which combined the existing schools of UT-Pan American and UT Brownsville. But Lillibridge said theres no rivalry when it comes to making people healthier.

The expansion of health care anywhere is a plus for the population, he said. Wed like to be part of the fabric of increasing access to health care, and its going to require a lift by all of us.
New Mexico native Zora ONeill, a travel and food writer, went to the Middle East to refresh her Arabic and wrote a book about her adventure, All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures in Arabic and the Arab World. (courtesy of Christine Han) Fresh herbs stashed in bundles in a open market in Lebanon. Herbs for tagine or other Moroccan dishes, clockwise from lower left: ginger, tumeric, black pepper, cumin, salt, cinnamon and sweet paprika. Cookies and mint tea in Rabat, Morocco. Courtesy of Zora ONeill A woman prepares and sells food in a Qatar market. Prev 1 of 5 Next

Food and language were writer Zora ONeills tickets to the Arab world.

ONeill, who first studied Arabic in college in the 1990s, decided it was time to put her language skills to the test in a tour through the Middle East and wrote a book about her experiences, All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures in Arabic and the Arab World, (June 2016, Houghton Mifflin, $25).

The New Mexico native, who grew up in the East Mountains, will read from her book at 6 p.m. at Bookworks on Rio Grande NW.

When I first started to think about this book in 2009, I knew I wanted to write about peoples everyday lives to show a side of these places that never makes it into the news. Conveniently, those topics  jobs, boyfriends and girlfriends, what people had for lunch  are just about my skill level in Arabic, she says. I absolutely love food and its an easy way to connect with people. In any language I always learn the food words first. Although I didnt focus on food in this book, the subject certainly crept in a lot, as its a natural topic of conversation for me.

ONeill has written and published more than a dozen books, including the 2009 cookbook, Forking Fantastic: Put the Party Back in Dinner Party, a book she wrote with Tamara Reynolds.

She says she chose countries to visit to represent different Arabic dialects and cultures: People talk about the Arab world as if it is one place, but its a quilt of cultures and traditions, sewn together with a (kind of ) common language.

Because she traveled alone, she also picked countries for personal and practical reasons  Egypt, because she went to graduate school there. The United Arab Emirates because she could not travel alone in Saudi Arabia. She went to Lebanon, because Syria was already getting too dangerous for extended travel and she wanted to see the new, cool Beirut.

She says she could eat breakfast all day in Lebanon and Syria. She recalls manousheh, a round, chewy bread, sprinkled with zaatar (oregano-sesame spice), oil and cheese. A dessert, knafeh, crispy semolina and cheese can become breakfast when its encased in pita and dolloped with apricot jam. She thinks foodies of the world are ready for labneh, thicker and more sour than the popular Greek yogurt.

She says shes sorry she couldnt spend more time in Syria as a casual tourist, because the food culture there is unrivaled. She remembers a 2007 trip. You could not have imagined a less terrorizing country. A lot of the feeling I got there had to do with the food and the people who prepared it. It is some of the most refined in the Arab world, especially in Aleppo. People are extremely particular about ingredients and preparation and wont eat food out of season. There are a lot of sweet and sour combinations.

She especially favors muhammara, an intense red pepper paste, walnuts, pomegranate molasses and hot chile.

Having some language skills gave me the confidence to take these trips in the first place, says ONeill, who now calls Queens, New York, home. Traveling as a middle-aged, white American woman is one of the more fortunate positions to be in across the globe. In the Middle East, it gave me special perks. I was often welcome in traditional mens zones, just because I was such a novelty. Because people there rarely do anything solo, I think some people just felt a little sorry for me sometimes and treated me extra well.

She ended her journey in Morocco because of her parents travels there in the 1960s. She credits them and their adventures for her love of Arabic culture. Her name, Zora, honored a Moroccan woman her mother admired for her independence.

Our house was filled with lots of little things from their trips, including clothing and dishes from Morocco, and a cassette of Arabic music that I listened to over and over when I was really little. All the Morocco stuff sort of primed me to think of Arabic as not that foreign. Just that little exposure to Arab culture as a kid had given me a way in.

During her five years researching and writing the book, she often found herself invited into the homes of new acquaintances and their extended family, who invite you in as if youre an old friend and cook you enough delicious food to put you in a coma. Overall this is a book about everything but politics. I went back to study Arabic again precisely to reconnect with the culture I remembered before. Even if there is some political unrest in a country, daily life goes on. As I learned in Cairo, trouble is extremely localized. Just look at a map and remember that the human ability to maintain normalcy is very strong.

MUHAMMARA (SYRIAN RED-PEPPER-AND-WALNUT DIP)

This is short work if you have a food processor. Many Syrian cooks would use a mortar and pestle. The average Syrian home cook also uses prepared red pepper paste (Turkish brands are imported to the U.S.; look for those that contain only salt and peppers). It is more convenient than roasting fresh peppers, and more intensely flavored.

Serves 6-8 as an appetizer

2 red bell peppers

1 red jalapeno

 cup shelled walnuts, chopped fine

 cup fresh bread crumbs

1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

1 tablespoon tahini (optional)

Approximately  cup cold water

 cup olive oil

 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Dried Turkish or Aleppo pepper flakes (optional)

 teaspoon sugar (optional)

Juice from 2 lemons

Over an open flame, char the red peppers and the jalapeno. Let rest in a covered container, then slip off charred peel and pull out seeds. Chop coarsely and place in the bowl of a food processor.

To the food processor, add the walnuts, bread crumbs, garlic, pomegranate molasses and tahini. Pulse until only a cohesive paste forms; it does not have to be completely smooth.

In a bowl, combine the paste with cold water, stirring energetically, until the texture is soft but not flowing; the amount of water depends on your bread crumbs. Whisk in the olive oil. Then add the cumin, salt and lemon juice, as well as optional sugar and pepper flakes, tasting as you go. You want a mixture that is sweet, spicy and sour, with richness from the walnuts and tahini.

Ideally, let the mixture sit for at least a couple of hours, for the flavors to combine, and taste again before serving. Drizzle with additional pomegranate molasses and serve with toasted thin pita bread.

MOROCCAN LENTILS

This is a staple in Moroccan restaurants and homes, quick and easy and much more flavorful than the simple preparation suggests. You can add more liquid and serve it as a soup, though the traditional way is as a side dish or appetizer, with nice chewy bread. The flavor improves further with a day of sitting.

2 cups brown lentils, rinsed

1 red pepper, coarsely chopped

1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste

3 teaspoons each cumin and sweet (not hot) paprika

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon turmeric

 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons kosher salt

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 bunch each parsley and cilantro

1/3 cup olive oil

To a heavy-bottomed pot (or a pressure cooker, as Moroccans use), add the lentils, red pepper, tomato paste and spices.

Chop the garlic and herbs together, very fine, and add this to the pot, followed by the olive oil. Finally, add water until to a depth of roughly one inch above the surface of the lentil mixture  just above the first joint in your finger.

Cover the pot, bring to a boil, then turn to low and simmer until tender, stirring occasionally. This can take an hour or so, depending on the lentils; you may want to add more water. (If using a pressure cooker, prepare as you would other lentil recipes; you may need to add additional spices after cooking.)

 recipes by Zora ONeill

If you go

WHAT: Food and travel writer Zora ONeill reads from her new book, All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures in Arabic and the Arab World

WHEN: 6 p.m. today

WHERE: Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande NW
Albuquerque police are trying to identify three people caught on surveillance footage leaving a car connected to a recent homicide.

Larry Sanchez, 49, was found dead of a gunshot wound in a quiet cul-de-sac on Casa Feliz NE near Wyoming and Academy the morning of June 20. Police believe his body was dumped there and that the crime occurred elsewhere.

Over the weekend, police released photos of a black BMW they said was involved in the crime in the hopes of finding it. Officers later found the BMW, which had been stolen before the homicide, according to police spokesman Tanner Tixier.

He said a tip from an alert citizen led officers to the car, but he didnt say where or when the car was recovered.

Surveillance footage shows three people leaving the stolen car several days after Sanchez was found dead. Tixier said police are looking for information on those people.

He asked anyone with information to call 242-COPS.
FULSHEAR, Texas  Authorities on Tuesday released 911 calls that capture the panic in the home of a Houston-area mother before she killed her two daughters, as well as in the home of a neighbor after the shootings.

The Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office released recordings of two 911 calls from Christy Sheats home and one from a neighbors home. Sheats fatally shot her two daughters before an officer killed her.

In the first call, a woman is heard crying, Please! Forgive me! Please! Dont shoot! After a scream, she cries, Please! Im sorry! and Please! Dont point that gun at her! Another woman is heard saying, I promise you, whatever you want, before the call is disconnected.

In the second call, a woman is heard saying, weakly, She shot em.

In the third call, a neighbor describes 17-year-old Madison Sheats and 22-year-old Taylor Sheats, apparently still alive, lying in the street in front of their house. The neighbor describes Christy Sheats kneeling over her eldest daughter and shooting her dead. Madison Sheats later died at a hospital.

An officer killed Christy Sheats after she refused demands to drop her gun.

A Facebook profile consistent with Sheats biographical details included a pro-gun post, alongside posts about how much she loved members of her family.
Ive written about this subject before but, last night, I noticed something that seemed to support my opinion even more.

Last night, I watched The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Ive seen this movie before, but there was something I noticed this time.

During the gun scenes, the vast majority of the FBI agents were carrying revolvers. I did see what appeared to be a submachine gun in one scene and a couple of wooden stock bolt action sniper rifles. But I did not see one single AR-style rifle.

Granted, this isnt actual footage, its a Hollywood movie, but my point is, back in 1991  just a few years shy of President Bill Clintons assault weapons ban  AR-15s were not all that popular.

According to Wikipedia, In 1963, Colt started selling the semi-automatic version of the M16 rifle as the Colt AR-15 for civilian use. So the rifle has been available for a long time. Longer than Ive been alive.

Ive been shooting since the early 70s. Got serious in 1988 when I purchased my first Colt 1911 pistol.

It became such an enjoyable hobby, there for a while it was gun after gun. But I dont recall ever seeing an AR-15 at the range prior to around 1992.

If I did, it didnt draw my attention.

I distinctly remember talk in the early 90s of an assault weapon ban that Bill Clinton was proposing. I was an NRA member so, undoubtedly, I read about the issue in the American Rifleman magazine.

My friend had recently bought an AR-15 and let me shoot it. What a fine rifle it was.

So I started saving my money. In 1992, I paid $900 for a very lightly used Colt AR-15 A2 HBAR Sporter. I bought five 30 round magazines, 1,000 rounds of ammo, a nice case and sling.

The sole reason I bought the gun was because of the proposed legislation coming down the pipe. I simply didnt want to miss my opportunity to get one.

As we know, I wasnt the only one that did this.

A virtual buying frenzy ensued.

But something else happened, as well. I realized what a fine and versatile rifle it was. I shot it more.

More and more of my friends bought them. Pre-ban guns were all over the place.

American capitalism did what it does and the market began to see new accessories. Gun manufacturers worked around the ban. The rest is history.

It is now the most popular rifle in America. Even the police realized how useful a tool it really is.

While Clinton may not be entirely responsible for the popularity of the AR-15, he sure gave it a lot of advertising.

Thank you, Bill Clinton. We might never have known.

With regard to recent mass shootings, I will say what Ive always said.

We didnt have this many mass shootings when I was young. Something in the country has changed, and its not the gun.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

The former contract provider of medical care for state prison inmates has settled claims by inmates for nearly $4.6 million, according to information released Tuesday by a law firm representing the provider, Corizon Health.

The claims against Corizon were filed by 59 inmates at two prisons where a physician allegedly sexually assaulted some inmates during medical examinations.

Responding to an Inspection of Public Records Act request by the Journal, the law firm of Chapman and Charlebois, representing Corizon, released a spreadsheet showing settlement amounts for each of the claims from inmates at the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa and the Northeast New Mexico Detention Facility in Clayton.

The settlements ranged from $7,130 to $192,400. There were 21 settlements of more than $100,000 each.

The law firm said it needed additional time to provide the settlement agreements.

The spreadsheet didnt specify the nature of the claims made by the inmates, making it impossible to know whether all the claims were the result of alleged sexual assaults by Dr. Mark Walden, who reportedly was known among inmates as Dr. Fingers for his inappropriate rectal and other exams.

Corizon, a national company based in Tennessee, began providing medical care for New Mexico inmates in 2007 under a contract with the state Corrections Department. It was recently replaced with Centurion, based in St. Louis.

Under its contract, Corizon  not the state  had responsibility for dealing with lawsuits alleging improper medical care.

More than 75 inmates have alleged in lawsuits that they were sexually assaulted by Walden, with at least three others claiming he provided inadequate medical care. Walden, Corizon and The Geo Group, which operates the Santa Rosa and Clayton prisons, denied the allegations in their court responses to the lawsuits.

Walden, whose medical license has been suspended by the New Mexico Medical Board, lost his job after an inmate complained to the Clayton County Sheriffs Office in July 2012.

Many of the inmate lawsuits alleged Corizon and Geo were willfully blind and dumb to what was occurring or at least should have known that Walden was abusing his patients.

The lawsuits said Walden spent longer than he should have with inmates in the examination room. He was accused of performing twice as many digital rectal exams per month as other doctors and using a privacy screen with nearly every patient.

Medical records allegedly showed that one inmate went to Walden for an eye problem and got a rectal exam. One 18-year-old inmate was allegedly ordered to have prostate exams monthly.

The lawsuits alleged civil rights violations, medical malpractice and negligence. Walden said in court records that he never sexually abused or fondled anyone.

Walden worked at the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility from 2010 to 2012. He transferred to the Northeast New Mexico Detention Facility, working there from February 2012 to July 2012.

The Geo Group, based in Florida, operates both prisons under a contract with the state Corrections Department.

Prosecutors reportedly have been building a criminal case against Walden since early 2013.
Gov. Susana Martinez is expected to announce today that the expansion of a DNA testing law named after a college student whose killers Martinez once prosecuted is implicating a growing number of suspected felons in unsolved crimes.

Martinez plans to host a news conference in Carlsbad this afternoon to discuss an 83 percent increase in DNA matches as a result of a law that requires DNA testing for all people arrested on felony charges.

The testing law, named Katies Law after 22-year-old Katie Sepich, has matched 746 felony suspects to 764 cases, including crimes like murder, rape and sexual assault, breaking and entering and burglary, according to a news release from the governor. Sepich was raped and murdered, and Martinez, when she was the 3rd Judicial District Attorney, prosecuted and convicted the killer.

The man was identified with DNA evidence after being convicted of a different crime.

DNA evidence is an absolutely indispensable tool for our law enforcement professionals to hold criminals accountable and get justice for victims and their families, Martinez said in a news release. Im proud that New Mexico continues to be a national leader in collecting DNA samples from felony (suspects), and I will continue to do all I can to encourage other states to make use of these tools to help make families and communities safer.

The original law, passed in 2006, required DNA samples from suspects arrested for violent felonies such as murder, kidnapping, robbery and sex offenses. A 2011 revision expanded the testing requirement to all felonies.

Sepichs mother, Jayann Sepich, thanked the governor, law enforcement officials and forensic investigators for enforcing the law.

Its such an important tool for New Mexicos law enforcement community, and victims and their families as well, and progress like this will help save more innocent lives and put more violent criminals behind bars, she said in a statement.
SANTA FE  Vote recounts in two New Mexico legislative primary election races with narrow margins are on tap for later this week, after being ordered Tuesday by the State Canvassing Board.

State-paid recounts are required under state law if the final margin between legislative candidates is less than 1 percent of votes cast in a race.

The two races fitting that description are House races in southwestern New Mexico in seats that do not have incumbents  because neither Rep. Dona Irwin, D-Deming, nor Rep. Dianne Hamilton, R-Silver City, is seeking re-election this year.

In a Republican contest in House District 32 marked by a barrage of hard-hitting campaign mailers from a deep-pocketed outside political group, Vicki Chavez holds a 16-vote lead over fellow Deming resident Scott Chandler, the target of the mailers, with a total of 1,768 ballots cast in the race.

The other race is a Democratic face-off between Mary Hotvedt of Pinos Altos and Karen Whitlock of Mimbres. Hotvedt held a 29-vote lead in the House District 38 contest, according to unofficial results, with 3,493 ballots cast.

The vote recount will be conducted Friday by county clerks in four counties that are either fully or partly encompassed by the two districts: Grant, Hidalgo, Luna and Sierra.

It will likely be completed in one day, though the results from the two races wont be certified until the State Canvassing Board meets again next week, Bureau of Elections Director Kari Fresquez said Tuesday.

However, Blair Dunn, the attorney for Chandler, said hes still seeking more information about exactly how the vote recount will be conducted and the names of voters who cast provisional ballots in the race. Under state law, paper ballots are generally exempt from the states Inspection of Public Records Act until 45 days after a recount.

A record-high 328,792 New Mexicans cast ballots in the June 7 primary election as interest in the Democratic presidential primary race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders appeared to drive many voters to the polls.

Overall voter turnout was 34.1 percent of those eligible to vote in the primary election, according to official results approved Tuesday. Turnout was higher among registered Democratic voters than it was among registered Republicans, as slightly more than 216,000 ballots were cast in the New Mexico Democratic presidential primary race, which Clinton narrowly won.

The Canvassing Board is made up of Gov. Susana Martinez, Secretary of State Brad Winter and Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Daniels, via the positions they hold.
LAS CRUCES  A physician and nurse practitioner testified Tuesday that Ross Flynn, the man at the center of a police brutality case involving two former Las Cruces police officers, sustained a number of injuries, including fractures to his skull and cheek bone, a brain hemorrhage and facial contusions  all of which had been caused by blunt force trauma.

The accounts of Flynns injuries were given on the second day of trial for former officer Richard Garcia in Las Cruces District Court.

Garcia, 35, and another former officer, Danny Salcido, 26, are each facing aggravated battery charges in connection to the use-of-force incident that unfolded inside a holding cell at the Las Cruces Police Department headquarters on Dec. 23, 2014.

The incident, which was captured on surveillance video, began when Flynn, now 49, was taken into custody after he was accused of threatening a woman with a firearm at an apartment complex in Las Cruces. He was detained after a combative encounter with several officers that culminated with him being shot with a Taser and he was later taken to LCPD.

There, while still handcuffed with hands behind his back, he was placed inside a holding cell, where he made repeated complaints about back pain caused by the hand restraints. In one part of the video, Flynn, who had been outfitted with a belly chain in order to alleviate his back pain, can be seen kicking the door. Moments later, and after a brief exchange of words with Garcia and Salcido, the officers entered the cell.

According to Flynn, who testified Monday and Tuesday, Garcia grabbed his right bicep and Salcido charged at him, slamming him against a concrete wall. Flynn said he then received as many as five knee strikes on the right side of his body from Garcia. He said he also was punched and struck in the neck with an elbow.

On the opening day of the trial, special prosecutor Nicholas Gilbert, of the New Mexico Attorney Generals Office, said Garcias actions were brutal and unwarranted.

But Garcias attorney, Jess Lilley, of Las Cruces, said Flynn had caused the situation to escalate, forcing Garcia and Salcido to use force that was in compliance with protocol.

Flynn on Tuesday testified that he had grayed out after he was face-planted against the wall. He told jurors he could not recall much of the incident itself, including when responding medical technicians had gathered inside the cell to evaluate him. He said he regained consciousness while he was being transported to a Las Cruces hospital. He was then taken to University Medical Center in El Paso because of the severity of his injuries.

At UMC, Flynn was examined by Bertha Vasquez, a nurse practitioner, who testified on Tuesday. Vasquez described Flynn as a level three patient, the lowest designation of critical trauma, she said. Flynn also had swelling and bruising near his eyes and month, and he complained of abdominal and back pain, she said.

He told me that he had been punched and thrown against a wall, Vasquez said. Later during the examination, she said, she noticed that one of Flynns pupils was larger than the other, which she said was a result of a brain injury.

During cross-examination by attorney Jerome OConnell, who also is representing Garcia, Vasquez said Flynn had told her that he never lost consciousness during the incident, which contradicted his testimony.

Through a series of X-rays and scans, Agnieszka Solberg, a physician who specializes in radiology, testified Tuesday that she reviewed Flynns injuries when he was hospitalized at UNM. But because the scans that Solberg reviewed were not made available for the trial, she drew two large-scale diagrams of the Flynns injuries.

On one picture of a skull and brain, she depicted a small hemorrhage near the right side of the skull and brain tissue, as well as a mildly displaced bone in Flynns zygomatic bone, near his cheek bone.

These injuries, she told jurors, are the result of blunt force trauma.

She also said she reviewed a CT scan that showed an extra vertebra on Flynns lower back, which she called degenerative condition that would likely cause pain but could not have been cause by recent blunt trauma.

Solberg, however, did not testify to any rib fractures, which OConnell pointed out during cross-examination. Flynn has contended that his some of his ribs were broken during the incident.

When questioned by OConnell, Solberg also noted that the zygomatic bone is a thin bone that could break with relatively less force than it would to break a femur, she said.

Flynn wrapped his testimony shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday, after about three hours. A majority of that time was spent on cross-examination by Lilley. The testimony and questioning during the time was often repetitive and sometimes argumentative.

Lilley tried on several occasions to get Flynn to admit that he become irrationally irritated during the time leading up the incident with Garcia and Salcido. But Flynn was unflinching and said he never became irritated at any point during his encounters with police that evening.

Flynn told Lilley that after he kicked the cell door, he was in a daydream and did not know why Garcia and Salcido had approached the door. But on Monday, he testified that there had been an exchange of words between him and the officers. One of the officers told Flynn to shut up or Ill be chained to the bench. And Flynn responding by saying, Go ahead and chain me.

The defense is arguing that Garcia and Salcido were trying to chain Flynn to the bench, but he resisted, and they responded with force.

In an interview with a New Mexico State Police agent, Garcia said the knee strikes were used as a distractionary technique to assist in chaining Flynn to the bench, according to the agent, Joshua Armijo, who testified on Tuesday.

In May 2015, however, about three months after the video of incident became public, Garcia and Salcido were fired for violating LCPD policy, city officials reported.

If convicted as charged, Garcia could be sentenced up to three years in prison.

Salcido, who is being representing by a public defender, will stand trial next month, also before Judge Macias in Las Cruces District Court, court records show. He also faces up to three years in prison if convicted as charged.

Flynns lawsuit against the city and LCPD is pending in federal court. He is seeking a multimillion-dollar settlement.

Carlos Andres Lopez can be reached 575-541-5453, carlopez@lcsun-news.com or @carlopez_los on Twitter.



2016 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.)

Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at www.lcsun-news.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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FARMINGTON  Two people were charged separately Monday in unrelated drug trafficking cases.

Jeromy Davis was charged in Aztec Magistrate Court with trafficking crack cocaine. Dallas Nix was charged in Farmington Magistrate Court with methamphetamine trafficking.

Both offenses are second-degree felonies.

A cash-only bond for Davis, 29, of Farmington, was set at $11,000. The bond for Nix, 24, of San Juan County, was set at $10,000.

Nixs attorney, Arlon Stoker, said he has not yet seen evidence in the case and therefore could not comment.

Davis has not yet retained legal representation, according to court records.

The San Juan County Sheriffs Office was notified June 22 that a towing company employee found two syringes in a vehicle towed to their lot after a traffic stop, according to arrest records.

Deputies seized the vehicle, which belonged to Davis, and searched it, records state. The deputies located the two syringes and a small plastic bag containing about 9 grams of crack cocaine, according to records.

One of the syringes contained a brown liquid, which tested positive for cocaine, records state.

A piece of crack cocaine was also located on the passenger side floorboard of the vehicle, records state.

Deputies noted in the complaint that one-tenth of a gram of crack cocaine typically sold for between $10 and $15. Nine grams of the drug was worth between $900 and $1,200, according to the records.

In a police interview, Davis denied the drugs and paraphernalia belonged to him, according to the affidavit, and claimed he purchased the vehicle only an hour before it was seized by deputies.

Nix was arrested March 10 after she was stopped while operating a stolen vehicle near mile marker 165 on U.S. Highway 550, according to arrest records.

Agents from the Region II Narcotics Task Force searched the vehicle and located 28 grams of methamphetamine, a cell phone, $71 in cash and a small ledger book, records state.

Police obtained a search warrant for the phones records, which included text messages, according to records.

Several of the text messages appeared to be related to drug transactions, records state.

Steve Garrison covers crime and courts for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4644.



2016 The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.)

Visit The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) at www.daily-times.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Rob M

This is my first car bomb! I say excitedly to the young, blond boy standing to my left. His cornflower blue eyes widen and he replies, This is my first any kind of bomb! We smile at each otherbig, giddy, childish grins of the sort that can only come from blowing something up. We're in a shelter 2,500 feet away from a test pad at New Mexico Tech's Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center (EMRTC) in Socorro. Sitting on that seemingly far away test pad is a battered and decrepit Ram truck peppered with splotches of rust and 300 pounds of ammonium nitrate plus two neon green explosive boosters lying in the truck bed. The ammonium nitrate is a commercial explosive and takes the form of six brown paper sacks of tiny white pearls. A school bus of kids, a van of local journalists and I are minutes away from witnessing the detonation of a car bomb as part of an education and media dayapparently Tech no longer wants to be the state's best kept secret.

Earlier in the day, we learned about the type of work that Tech and EMRTC perform for both the government and commercial enterprises. While Tech has a lot to do with education, being one of the top universities in the USparticularly for their engineering programEMRTC offers a range of services from ballistics, ordinance and curtain wall reaction testing to computer simulations to training for first responders, SEAL teams and Special Ops forces. The condensed version is that they serve national interests through research, development, testing, evaluation and training, as well as acting as the nation's only university to do testing of such a magnitude. The main question they seek to answer is: What are the effects of new mathematical and technological threats on people and national assets? So while this is all very serious scientific stuff, it also happens to be a great excuse to rain destruction in the mountainsa lot. According to a Tech staff member, you can pretty much set your watch by the regular explosions in the mountains just west of Socorro.

When we were young, my cousins and I used to love blowing up anything we could get our hands on with red M-80s and strings of Black Cats, so this sounds like a blast (get it? haha), but one EMRTC employee says that after a while, the explosions are just another day at work. The bearded journalist next to me, just as excited as the children, dismisses such apathy, muttering, What the hell am I doing in journalism when I could be doing this?he nods toward the soon- to- be- scrap- metal truck. The idea of witnessing the detonation of a car bomb is exciting enough, but on the bumpy ride into the 42-square miles of test land comprising 75 specific test sites, our imaginations have been amped up as we passed bits of aircraft that have been annihilated and dusty tanks waiting for their next target.

A ring of gray dust ripples out from the test site and thick grey smoke mushrooms up, boiling hundreds of feet into the air. It seems too quiet, then I hear a sharp crack and the drumming of thunder barreling up toward the shelter. The shock wave roars through ustaking my breath away and making my ears pop. The bearded journalist next to me barks out a surprised curse word.

A call goes out for quiet, Stand by for count! Five! Four ... We all stare out the tiny, thick glass windows, and I feel a nudge of surrealist disappointment that I'm not actually watching the real thingrather, I'm watching a reflection of a reflection of the real thing. I'm looking at a mirror that blocks my view in case of rogue debris. Clearly this precaution is not for nothing as I note a few cracks and scratches in the large squares of glass. The countdown continues, and we all chant the numbers, staring intensely at the tiny speck that is our vehicular victim. Three! Two! One! We see the explosion first, a fiery golden ball of energy that is gone in a flash, then everything seems to slow down.

A ring of gray dust ripples out from the test site and thick grey smoke mushrooms up, boiling hundreds of feet into the air. It seems too quiet, then I hear a sharp crack and the drumming of thunder barreling up toward the shelter. The shock wave roars through ustaking my breath away and making my ears pop. The bearded journalist next to me barks out a surprised curse word. The kids scream. Then it's over, and all that's left is a quickly dissipating nebula of haze. On the test pad, I expect to see burning wreckage, but there is nothing. Lying in the dirt are a few larger chunks of the retired truck, but that's it. I feel oddly empty now that it's over, but I imagine the cells in my body crackling and sparking as chaotic energy bounces off the cell walls.

The media van trundles back down to the test pad and the full effect is now visible. As soon as I step out of the van, I note the change in the earth beneath my feet. There is a fluffy layer of soft, powdery dirt, and my footprints stand out on the newly settled ground. The buzz of cicadas drones in my ears. I take in the particles of twisted metal entrails that are strewn about, reaching 200-300 feet into the surrounding hills. A shallow crater testifies to where the truck once was, and 20 feet away from it is all that remainsa modern sculpture, a pretzel of pipes, an axle and the engine block. I realize how silly the action movies are with beefy heroes who never turn back to look at explosions.

More importantly, I realize how very far removed my experience is from the lives of people in war-torn areas the world over, where bombs like this go off all the time, with no safety bunkers or mandatory 2,500-foot boundaries. There are crumbling cities in Syria and Iraq where car bombs elicit fear in children, not excitement. Staring out at the shrapnel littering the dirt, I feel an unnerving mixture of sadness and gratitude, because about 7,000 miles away, someone else in the Middle East is probably looking at the same view, but for a whole different reason.

This homeland sure isn't perfect, but I just got to witness the awesome destructive powers of a bomb, the study of which will be used to save lives rather than demolish. In researching air blasts from explosions, EMRTC is creating a generic curtain wall to protect embassies and the lives of those who are working to spread peace and cultural understanding. In a true show of better living through chemistry, they are creating paints that will bolster substandard buildings in foreign countries so as to withstand the pressure of bombs without crumbling and killing those within. They are preparing paramedics and police to understand bomb situations so as to both keep themselves safe and properly treat bombing injuries. On top of all that, through interaction with children on educational outreach days like this, Tech and EMRTC are constructing the dreams of future scientists in New Mexico. Now, that's the bomb!
WASHINGTON  Hoping to make amends for a tragic accident, the United States has provided a wide range of compensation to a Cameroonian family whose child was killed by a vehicle in U.N. Ambassador Samantha Powers motorcade. The package included everything from cash to cows, U.S. officials said.

The incident occurred in April as Power visited the front lines in the war against Boko Haram. Traveling near the remote, northern Cameroon city of Mokolo, an armored jeep in her caravan struck 7-year-old Birwe Toussem at high speed after he darted into the road, killing him instantly.

Power returned later that day for a tense and emotionally fraught gathering with Birwes family and community members. She promised to compensate them for their loss.

State Department officials said the cash payment was 1 million Central African francs, roughly $1,700. Cameroons GDP per person is about $1,300.

Cameroons government, aid organizations operating in the area and the U.N.  which also had officials in the convoy  contributed another 5 million francs, bringing the total cash payout to more than $10,000.

In addition to money, officials said the U.S. government provided a pair of cows; hundreds of kilograms of flour, onions, rice, salt and sugar; and cartons of soap and oil. Still to come: A well that will provide the village with fresh drinking water.

State Department spokesman Jeffrey Loree called it a compensation package commensurate with local custom, as well as the needs of the family and village.

This package included a potable water well in the boys community that will serve as a lasting memory and some monetary, food, and other support, Loree said. U.S. diplomats have visited the family on several occasions following the accident and will continue to provide all support possible.

Power was on the first leg of a weeklong trip through West African countries bearing the scars of Boko Harams Islamist insurgency. Traveling through territory that had witnessed previous Boko Haram attacks, Powers motorcade was moving at a fast clip, at times exceeding 60 mph. Villagers lined up along the sides of the road to greet the ambassador as U.S. and Cameroonian special forces ensured her security.

But when Birwe darted onto the two-lane highway, perhaps distracted by a Cameroonian helicopter monitoring overhead, there was no time for the sixth vehicle in Powers convoy to react.

The vehicle that hit the boy initially stopped, only to be ordered by American security forces to continue traveling through the unsecured area. An ambulance in the caravan immediately attended to Birwe, but it was apparent his condition was hopeless.
FARMINGTON, N.M.  Two New Mexico residents are facing charges for allegedly defrauding an Arizona-based health care program of nearly $2 million.

Federal prosecutors say Cory Werito and Rosita Toledo of San Juan County were arrested Tuesday and made their initial court appearances in Farmington on charges outlined in a 10-count indictment.

It wasnt clear if Werito and Toledo had attorneys.

The fraud charges stem from the defendants role in creating and operating a company that provided non-emergency medical transportation to Arizona Medicaid recipients.

Prosecutors allege that over two years the company collected more than $1.9 million in Medicaid reimbursements from an Arizona-based Medicaid agency.

They say the company submitted more than 18,000 claims for reimbursement, the majority of which were wholly or substantially false and fraudulent.
The city has a new way to promote its Albuquerque Rapid Transit project during neighborhood meetings  a virtual reality tour of one of the bus stations.

Its like stepping into a rendering. With a smartphone inserted into a cardboard headset, viewers can now get a 360-degree look at what its like to stand in a new ART station in the middle of Central Avenue.

Brandon Garrett, an associate with Dekker Perich Sabatini, which is working on the rapid transit project, said the goal is to help people see for themselves what designers envision.

Its hard to imagine yourself in that space, he said of architectural renderings. Virtual reality is a powerful tool.

The city will show off the virtual tour at meetings with neighborhood associations. Groups that want a presentation on Albuquerque Rapid Transit can call the project hotline at 505-398-4ART.

The virtual-reality project is aimed at helping people grow comfortable with the concept of bus stops in the middle of the roadway. The traditional setup is to have a curbside stop on each side of the road.

But the Albuquerque Rapid Transit design calls for putting most stations in whats now the median of the roadway. People would use crosswalks to get to the stations  where they can buy tickets and wait for the ART bus to arrive.

Bus-only lanes run on each side of the station, so people heading in either direction wait for the bus at the same spot.

Altogether, the $119 million project would create a nine-mile network of dedicated bus lanes and canopy-covered stations along Central Avenue, between Louisiana and Coors.

Construction on the project could start in August.

Opponents, however, are asking a federal judge to order a halt to the project, and the city has not yet received final approval for a crucial federal grant that would pay for most of the work.

A court hearing is scheduled in late July.
PHOENIX  The city of Phoenix is considering closing its popular hiking and biking trails when temperatures get dangerously high in an effort to prevent heat deaths and injuries.

The Parks and Recreation board will consider a proposal by staff on Thursday to close down the citys 41 trailheads in extreme heat.

Parks and Recreation spokesman Gregg Bach said the department is proposing to post signs that indicate the trails are closed for people when the temperature hits 110 degrees and for pets when it hits 100.

Bach said staff started seriously considering the proposal in the past week, after there were several rescues and at least one death within city limits. A 28-year-old fitness instructor died after being rescued while mountain biking on June 19 in Phoenix during a record-breaking 118-degree day. Six people in Arizona died that day of heat-related causes, including two German men who were visiting Tucson and went on a hike.

City firefighters responded to over 200 rescue calls at Phoenix trails in the past year.

Weve certainly seen some incidents and just kind of felt that we needed something a little bit more, Bach said.

The board is scheduled to discuss the issue on Thursday at a public meeting.

Bach said the department hasnt come up with a cost estimate for the new signage if the measure is approved.

He said people who ignore the signs could face a misdemeanor charge and fines. Park rangers already monitor the more popular trails on a regular basis. If the measure were approved, theyd already be on hand to turn people away or ticket those who violate the new policies.

The city has launched an educational campaign on hiking safety and has partnered with local resorts and hotels to educate staff on how to warn tourists about the dangers of excessive heat.

Phoenix has about 200 miles of trails within city boundaries.
ARANSAS PASS, Texas  Officials say a South Texas firefighter has killed himself after fatally shooting his wife and 11-year-old stepdaughter at their home.

Aransas Pass Assistant Police Chief David Perkins said Wednesday that the Tuesday night shooting was prompted by a domestic dispute between 46-year-old Steven Dolan and his 47-year-old wife, Brenda Dolan.

Perkins says Steven Dolan was found with a gunshot wound to the head and with a handgun beside him.

Perkins says Dolans stepson and other stepdaughter were also in the home at the time of the shooting. Police found the surviving stepdaughter hiding by a boat and the stepson trying to help his mother.

Robert Rocha, the Corpus Christi fire chief, said Steven Dolan had worked for the fire department for 19 years.
ACAs library of educational tools help members improve their business practices. ACA also holds the most popular industry conferences and offers credentialing for collectors, attorneys, and more. ACAs Training Zone subscription gives agencies access to almost all of our education for one low cost.
Members of the 55th Contracting Squadron, along with Col. Mark Williamson, vice commander of the 55th Wing, gathered in the Ronald L. King Dining Facility June 24 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Kings death.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Ronald L. King lost his life, along with 18 other Airmen, in the Khobar Towers attack on June 25, 1996, while serving his country in King Abdul Aziz Air Base in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

The dining facility was named after King in 2001.

Sgt. King was the definition of service before self, said Senior Master Sgt. Jeremy Swistak, superintendent of the 55th CONS. With only five months to retirement, he decided to postpone his plans and answer his nations call one more time. He even promised his wife and children it would be the last time he would ever leave them.

While temporarily assigned at King Abdul Aziz AB, King worked to purchase materials and supplies for the fitness center renovation. Just days before returning home to his family, he was killed in a terrorist truck bomb explosion at Khobar Towers.

Swistak opened the memorial by speaking of Kings accomplishments in the Air Force, and the legacy he left behind. Attendees were also free to share stories and reminisce.

The memorial of Kings passing was all the more meaningful because his widow, Yvette King, attended, Swistak said.

Its got to be tough, but its important for her to come because it connects the family piece to service, he said. Its important to mark these anniversaries so we dont forget our great Airmen who sacrifice everything in defense of our freedom.

Yvette King said she was equally intent on keeping her husbands memory alive.

Every year, it seems fresh  like hes passed away for the first time, she said. This helps all of us keep the memory alive. Of course I will do it naturally, but for everyone in contracting to do it  it means so much to me.

Offutt isnt the only base working to preserve Kings legacy. The 9th Contracting Squadron at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., recently dedicated their commanders conference room to King.

It says a lot about my husband, Yvette King said. Im still learning things about him  things he had accomplished but hadnt told me.

King was the definition of an American Airman, Swistak said.

Staff Sgt. King clearly demonstrated with his sacrifice that he was committed to the ideals and principles shared by all in uniform, he said, quoting Maj. General Casey Blake, the deputy assistant secretary for contracting in the office of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition in Washington, D.C. The cause of freedom is much greater than ones self and the cost of liberty is never free.

Swistak ended his comments by presenting Yvette King with a bouquet of flowers.

Mrs. King, he said, You are forever part of the contracting and Air Force family.

In addition to the dining facility named in his honor, Kings name is attached to the Staff Sgt. Ronald L. King Award for Outstanding Contingency Contracting, given yearly to the top contingency contracting officer in the Air Force.
The Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS) and the CPA Endowment Fund of Illinois recently announced the recipients of their yearly academic scholarships for accounting students across the state. Students earning scholarships are set to complete their accounting studies and pursue the CPA licensure.

Each year, the Illinois Society and the CPA Endowment Fund provide approximately $185,000 in financial aid to qualifying students studying to become CPAS. The ICPAS scholarship program is funded by contributions from the CPA Endowment Fund of Illinois and aid in expenses ranging from tuition, to textbooks and CPA Exam fees.

It was another great year for our scholarship program, and on behalf of the Illinois CPA Society, I am proud to honor these impressive students, said Todd Shapiro, president and CEO of the ICPAS, in a statement. As leaders on campus and in their communities, these students have a great potential for success in the accounting profession. We are truly grateful to the many donors who make it possible for us to recognize their achievements.

The 2016-2017 ICPAS scholarship recipients, in alphabetical order, are as follows:

Babatunde Adediran (DePaul University)

Eric Barnes (DePaul University)

LeRone Branch (Dominican University)

Susan Chun (DePaul University)

Greta Ciuksyte (Benedictine University)

Kaitlin Ehlers (University of Illinois)

Ashley Epping (Bradley University)

Amy Farley (Governors State University)

Thomas Fisher (Northern Illinois University)

Vincent Greco (Illinois State University)

Samantha Humphrey (Southern Illinois University)

Danny Li (Southern Illinois University)

Yuchu Lo (DePaul University)

Andrew Lopez (Northern Illinois University)

Anthony Maggitt (Northern Illinois University)

Daniel Manrique (DePaul University)

Michael Moskos (DePaul University)

Cassidy Neal (Southern Illinois University)

Paola Negrete (Benedictine University)

Sheila Nevarez (Robert Morris University)

Donna Nguyen (Northern Illinois University)

Jacob Nowotarski (Elmhurst College)

Connor Obermeier (Southern Illinois University)

Nayely Ortiz (DePaul University)

Shirley Paredes (University of Illinois at Chicago)

Janice Sova (Southern Illinois University)

Cortesha Spencer (McKendree University)

Kathryn Swerdlick (College of DuPage)

Steven Ta Southern (Illinois University)

Erick Tapia (Aurora University)

Krishna Thaker (University of Illinois)

Sharon Tucker (Northern Illinois University)

Thanh Vo (University of Illinois at Chicago)

Yvette Zavala (Robert Morris University)

For more information on the CPA Endowment Fund of Illinois and the ICPAS, head to the Society's site here.
Does My Child Have ADHD? Signs and Symptoms of ADHD in Kids

Common signs of attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD) in children include:

difficulty focusing

difficulty controlling impulses

inability to make friends

habitually disorganized and running late

overly energetic

Your child will not (and should not) receive a formal ADHD diagnosis just because he is distractible or restless.

He or she must meet the criteria for ADHD symptoms in children outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which also specifies where and how often signs of ADD must be exhibited and the extent to which they must interfere with daily life before a diagnosis is warranted.

[Interactive Screener: Could Your Child Have Signs of ADHD?]

ADHD in Children: A Symptom Self-Test for Kids

Check off each of the following statements that applies to your child in the following ADHD test for kids:

NOTE: This ADHD test for kids is not intended to diagnose or to replace the care of a health care professional.

What Are the Signs of ADD Distractibility? Symptoms of ADHD with Inattention

The first part of the ADHD test for kids covers signs of distractibility. These signs are sometimes called inattentive symptoms, or previously, ADD symptoms in children.

My child has trouble paying attention. My child makes careless mistakes. Its very difficult for my child to stay focused on homework or other tasks. My child rarely completes an activity before moving to the next activity. Even when spoken to directly, my child seems to not listen. My child is disorganized and even with my help cant seem to learn how to become organized. My child loses things necessary for tasks or activities, such as toys, homework assignments, pencils, books, and so on. My child tries to avoid activities or does them grudgingly when they require sustained concentration and a lot of mental effort. My child frequently forgets to do things, even when constantly reminded. Even the smallest distractions throw my child off task. My child has trouble following instructions and finishing tasks.

If you checked off five or more symptoms  and these symptoms have been a persistent problem interfering in your childs life at home and at school  he or she may have inattentive type ADHD. It would be prudent to talk with a physician or a licensed mental health practitioner.

[Download: In-Depth Guide to Inattentive ADHD]

What Are the Signs of ADHD Hyperactivity in Kids?

The second part of the ADHD test for kids covers hyperactivity and impulsivity.

Sometimes my child acts as if she/he is driven by a motor and is constantly on the go. My child always seems to be squirming in the chair or fidgeting. No matter how hard he/she tries, my child has problems remaining seated even when she/he is supposed to  he/she gets up, runs around, or climbs during class or in other situations where one should stay seated. My child talks a lot, even when she/he has nothing much to say. My child often interferes in the classroom because she/he has difficulty engaging in quiet activities without disturbing others. In class or at home, my child blurts out answers to questions before they are fully asked. My child has difficulty waiting patiently to take turns, and frequently butts ahead in lines or grabs toys from playmates. Sometimes my child seems intrusive. She/he interrupts constantly other peoples activities, conversations, and games.

If you checked off five or more symptoms  and these symptoms have been a persistent problem interfering in your childs life at home and at school  he or she may have attention deficit disorder. It would be prudent to talk with a physician or a licensed mental health practitioner.

Take this form with you to the doctors office. Treatments are available for ADHD in children that can reduce substantially these neurologically based behaviors.

What To Do Next:

1. Download The Parents Guide to ADHD Medications

2. Take This Test: Does My Child Have ADHD / ADD?

3. Take This Test: Oppositional Defiant Disorder in Children

4. Take This Test: Sensory Processing Disorder in Children

5. Understand How ADHD is Diagnosed in Children65. Find an ADHD specialist nearby in our ADDitude Directory

6.Listen to Dr. William Dodson Explain How ADHD Shapes Perceptions, Emotions & Motivation

7.Consult Our Treatment Guide for Children
Is it attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD or ADD)? A learning disability? Maybe its a mood disorder or anxiety, a mild form of autism  or chronic fatigue resulting from a sleep disorder. Maybe its a combination of things.

Getting an answer to the question What is wrong with my child? can be harder than many parents expect. So can arranging appropriate treatment. In fact, experts say, the process of resolving a childs behavioral and academic problems is relatively straightforward for only about one in five families.

Glenn Bevensee, of Northfield, New Jersey, counts himself among the lucky few. When the 47-year-old father of two began to suspect that his 12-year-old daughter, Kristin, had ADHD, he consulted her pediatrician. As luck would have it, the doctor knew how to diagnose ADHD in children, in part because he had it himself. He was able to make an immediate diagnosis. The pediatrician talked to my daughter for 10 seconds, Glenn recalls. He said, Yep, those of us with ADHD can spot others like us almost instantly.'

Fortunately, the ADHD medication prescribed by the pediatrician proved to be highly effective. Kristin was better within an hour.

Off medication, my daughter was obstinate and very loud, says Glenn. She raced around the house like a bull in a china shop. But once Kristin was on medication, her grades improved, she got her homework done, and she was much more pleasant to be around.

[Free Expert Resource: Common Diagnosis Mistakes]

Diagnosing Children with ADHD is Seldom Easy

Glenns experience is by no means typical. When he was in kindergarten, I knew my son, Robb, had speech problems and immature social skills, says Kristen Wheeler Highland, a mother of three living in Bloomington, Minnesota. By fourth grade, Robb was struggling socially, emotionally, and academically. He had trouble staying on task and got caught up in minutia. Homework was a monumental problem every night.

Since Robb had scored high on aptitude tests, his teachers felt that his academic difficulties meant nothing more than a bad attitude. Kristen knew better. I sought help repeatedly, she recalls, but my district special education department told me they didnt screen for ADHD. Robbs high scores also meant that testing him for a learning disability was a low priority  even though his academic performance was dismal.

Months passed, as Kristen sought help for her son. Months turned into years. One day, when Robb was 10, Kristen reached her breaking point. Exhausted and monumentally frustrated, she walked into her bosss office, sat down, and burst into tears. I told her I was too tired to keep doing my job all day and then go home to teach my son his schoolwork at night, she recalls.

Multiple Diagnoses for Children with ADHD

One reason its difficult to cope with a childs behavioral and academic problems is that there is often more than a single diagnosis.

Fifty percent of the kids diagnosed with ADHD also have a learning, language, or motor skills disability, says Larry Silver, M.D., clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School in Washington, D.C., and the author of The Misunderstood Child: Understanding and Coping with Your Childs Learning Disabilities (#CommissionsEarned). Approximately the same percentage of these children have a comorbid disorder, such as anxiety, a mood disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, or a tic disorder.

Given how common multiple diagnoses are, its unrealistic to think that medicating a child will solve all his problems  at least not all of them at once.

[When Its More Than ADHD]

Parents need a realistic perspective about what medication can and cannot do, says Susan Ashley, Ph.D., of Northridge, California, author of The ADD & ADHD Answer Book (#CommissionsEarned). ADHD medication is presumed to be effective, so parents have excessively high expectations. If your child doesnt respond well to medication, try another type of intervention, such as behavior modification, social skills group therapy, tutoring, 504 accommodations, or special education.

Most kids do best with a combination of drug and non-drug interventions  the so-called multimodal approach. For some children, non-drug interventions are all it takes; they require no medication at all.

Making the Most of Medication

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, at least 80 percent of children will respond to one of the stimulant medications if they are tried in a systematic way. What if your child happens to be in the other 20 percent?

You must work with a doctor with expertise in ADHD and related disorders. The doctor should have significant experience with various ADHD medications and dosages, including some that are nontraditional, or off-label  that is, those that lack specific approval for treating ADHD. The blood pressure drugs clonidine (Catapres) and guanfacine (Tenex), for example, are often highly effective against impulsivity, hyperactivity, and sleep disturbances. They were prescribed off-label for years but have since been approved to treat ADHD by the FDA.

Assembling a Team to Diagnose ADHD in Children

Dont hesitate to consult a specialist if traditional treatment isnt working, or if you suspect your child has a complex form of ADHD, says Brock Eide, M.D., of Edmonds, Washington, co-author of The Mislabeled Child (#CommissionsEarned). Your pediatrician or family doctor may not be up-to-date on the latest and greatest cutting-edge diagnostic and treatment approaches.

Dr. Eide says that a child with ADHD who is also affected by a mood disorder, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) should be seen by a child psychiatrist. If a child is experiencing social or emotional difficulties, a psychologist can be helpful. And if a child develops tics or has chronic headaches, its a good idea to consult a pediatric neurologist.

How can parents keep track of it all? John F. Taylor, Ph.D., the Monmouth, Oregon-based author of The Survival Guide for Kids with ADHD (#CommissionsEarned), urges parents to keep a written log detailing their childs symptoms and difficulties, as well as the steps taken to address them. Write down all your concerns, your childs symptoms, abnormalities, and anything else that marks your kid as different from other kids. Pay particular attention to what changes as a result of medication or behavioral interventions, and what doesnt.

Dr. Taylor knows from personal experience how valuable a treatment journal can be: Three of his eight children have ADHD.

What About Misdiagnosis?

Some children diagnosed with ADHD, in fact, dont have the disorder. Ask Shelly Niemeyer, a 38-year-old mother of two, living in Chesterfield, Missouri. When my son, Luke, was in third grade, the teacher found out that both his older brother and I have ADHD, she says. Immediately, it became Lukes problem, too. Our doctor read the teachers report and put Luke on medication.

My older son had improved when he started taking medication, but my younger son didnt. So I decided, after two months, to stop Lukes meds. As it turned out, Luke doesnt have ADHD  or any other psychological problem. Hes merely an active, creative-minded nine-year-old, says Shelly.

When you start a child on ADHD medication, you should see substantial improvement very quickly, even with the first dose, says Dr. Eide. If the improvement in behavior is marginal, despite trying several medications at various doses, its a clear signal to start looking for conditions other than ADHD.

Another factor to consider, says Fernette Eide, M.D., Brock Eides wife and collaborator, is the possibility of a look-alike.' By that she means a disease or disorder whose symptoms resemble those of ADHD.

By the time Adam Colbert, of Westford, Massachusetts, was in preschool, everyone had noticed his speech problem and his inability to pay attention. We were concerned, says his father, Jim. Thinking that Adam might have ADHD or a learning disability, Jim and his wife had Adam assessed  and were surprised to learn that Adam has a significant hearing loss. Now wearing a hearing aid, Adam is doing great.

There are many possible misdiagnoses. A child who seems to meet the diagnostic criteria for attentional impairment might actually be suffering from sleep apnea, a condition that interferes with restful sleep. A child who is having trouble focusing at school may merely be bored  intellectually gifted but not stimulated by the curriculum.

Some children misdiagnosed with ADHD are showing the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. An extremely traumatic event, such as a death in the family, a severe physical injury or illness, or even an abusive home environment, can cause an inability to attend and focus, says Alessia Gottlieb, M.D., co-medical director of the UCLA Child and Family Trauma Center and staff member at the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress in Los Angeles.

Coping with Comorbidities

Ten-year-old Matt Moncovich, of Wilmington, North Carolina, had done well in preschool and kindergarten. But soon after starting first grade, he began to get in trouble on a daily basis. A few weeks into second grade, Matts mother, Yvonne, discovered that he was far behind his classmates academically. Matts teacher suspected that he had ADHD.

A psychological evaluation confirmed the teachers suspicions. But it also suggested that Matt might also have an anxiety disorder, and possibly OCD, in addition to ADHD. Fast-forward two years: After trying every stimulant on the market, says Yvonne, weve finally found one that works. Unfortunately, my sons hair-twirling and lip-sucking havent lessened.

Yvonne now suspects that OCD and anxiety are Matts primary problems  not secondary to ADHD. She plans to state her concerns at Matts next doctor visit.

Dr. Taylor urges parents to do their homework. Read all you can, not only about your childs diagnosis, but also about similar or related diagnoses, he says. You may recognize symptoms that dont indicate ADHD alone.

Never Give Up!

The road you follow may have its twists and turns  but eventually youll get there.

Not all kids fit neatly into the diagnostic categories that have been created by the field, says Dominic Auciello, Psy.D., a clinical neuropsychologist at the New York University Child Study Center in New York City. He says some children never get a clear diagnosis, much less a treatment regimen that solves all their problems. Yet, he says, there are always ways that parents can help their children learn to live with  and work around  their problems.

Remember Robb Wheeler? He was ultimately diagnosed with ADHD, along with a form of mild mood disorder known as dysthymic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and dysgraphia, which is an inability to process written language. Oh, yes, and his I.Q. falls within the superior range. Now a high school senior, Robb takes a mix of special-education and honors classes, plays sports, works part-time, and has a girlfriend. This fall, he plans to attend a technical or community college, and, after that, go on to earn a four-year degree.

Robb is doing well now  but only because his mother, Kristen, never stopped fighting for the services and academic accommodations he needed to succeed. I know the journeys not complete, says Kristen. I anticipate more bumps in the road, more tears and more sleepless nights. But Im confident that my son is turning out to be the lovable nerd I always knew hed be!

[4 Bad Reasons to Delay an Evaluation]

Piggyback Problems from Comorbid Disorders

If medication, behavior therapy, and other ADHD treatments dont significantly reduce your childs symptoms, consider the possibility that ADHD isnt the whole story.

He or she may be affected by one or more additional, or comorbid, disorders. Here are several common ones:

Anxiety

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Bed-wetting

Mood Disorders

Learning disability

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Oppositional defiant disorder

Pervasive developmental disorder

Sensory integration dysfunction

Tourettes syndrome
Micromax Informatics has embarked on a massive 360-degree campaign that challenges the notion of proficiency in English being an integral part of success. The campaign, themed Angrezipanti Ko Dikhao Angootha, draws inspiration from the fact that a lot of heroes in real life come from diverse cultural and regional backgrounds and have done exceedingly well in areas of sports, reality shows, and music, amongst others.

Conceptualised by Creativeland Asia, the campaign has been launched for the latest entrants in Micromaxs Canvas Unite Series - Unite 4 and Unite 4 pro, which enable the users to use their mother tongue with just a Swipe. As part of the entire campaign, Micromax has launched a TVC, which went on air on June 28, 2016, and a digital film with actor and comedian Kapil Sharma. In addition to this, the company has also associated with the upcoming Salman Khan starrer, Sultan.

With the thought that language will no longer be a communication barrier and colonialistic hangover or, as the brand has termed it, Angrezipanti is not a prerequisite to being successful, the new TVC defies the stereotype of regional language speakers. It strongly stands for embracing Indian languages and more importantly, empowering Indians to keep up with the rest of the world through new innovations in the mass smartphone category.

Kapil Sharma features in a digital film, wherein he takes pride in his preferred language  Hindi. The film, with a pinch of humour, very strongly sends across a message about breaking through the un-coolness that is often associated with Indian languages over English.

As part of the association with the movie Sultan, a 30-second promo has been unveiled which features Anushka Sharma encouraging Salman Khan in the movie to not struggle with English and embrace his own language. The promo ends with subtle humour stating, Toh pachad do iss angrezipan ko, Naye Micromax Unite 4 series aur Sultan ke saath, Aurangrezipanti ko dikhao anghootha.

India is multi-lingual and multi-cultural country where English is one of the many languages spoken. Most smartphones had English as primary language of interface and hence, Micromax Unite (developed in 2014) series was designed with the vision to empower the non-English speaking India (using feature phones) and bringing them in-line with countrys initiative of Digital India. So far, over 2.5 million smartphones have been sold till date.

Shubhajit Sen, Chief Marketing Officer, Micromax Informatics, commented, Micromax is an early mover that was quick to realise that language is a massive roadblock in the adoption of latest technology in the smartphone market. We decided to develop the Unite series after observing smartphone users in India, who often struggle with an English user interface, and an absence of language support in a pro consumer way. Hence, taking ahead the legacy of our most successful smartphone series  the Unite Series, Micromax Unite 4 and Unite 4 pro  are designed to enable users to break free from the language barrier in being part of the digital revolution of the country.

He further said, English has become a prerequisite for anyone who wants to make it big in life. This is the basis of our idea, Angrezipanti ko dikhao angootha. We want to enable people to communicate and express themselves in any language they are most comfortable with. Were truly proud of our diversity, and this campaign is all about celebrating our Indian-ness. Our two new smartphones truly resonate the same message of empowerment, celebration, simplicity and confidence!

Speaking on the campaign, Sajan Raj Kurup, Founder and Creative Chairman, Creativeland Asia, said, Apart from being very sharp of the product proposition, the Micromax Unite 4 TVC demonstrates the versatility of the Micromax brand theme - Nuts Guts Glory. It unravels another shade in the strong and audacious personality we are building for Micromax as a whole. And just like the phone, its TVC shows Angootha to anyone who thought the new brand personality for Micromax is not language agnostic.

Watch the ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcvCRHYoQzg

Campaign credits:

Client: Micromax Informatics

Brand: Canvas Unite 4 and Unite 4 pro

Creative agency: Creativeland Asia

Gaurav Kackar - Head of Brand Marketing, Micromax

Anish Rajan - Senior Brand Manager, Micromax
Ola, Indias leading mobile app for transportation, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Haryana, to create over 10,000 entrepreneurs in the state. As part of the MoU, Ola will invest Rs. 350 crores over the next five years to skill and train thousands of men and women and help them take their first step towards entrepreneurship. Ola will also work with the state government to introduce innovative and customised mobility solutions like Ola Auto, Ola Bike, Ola Share and Ola Shuttle across the state. Ola will further build for local mobility needs using its technology to serve citizens across Haryana, giving them instant access to reliable and convenient mobility.

Shri Sudhir Rajpal, Managing Director, HSIIDC said, Haryana is developing at a rapid pace. Our government recently introduced the enterprise promotion policy for ease of doing business here. Ola's commitment to building mobility for citizens by using cutting edge mobile technology and by enabling entrepreneurship and skilling will be invaluable for the states growth. We are confident that our partnership with Ola will further accelerate governments efforts of pumping the economic development of the state with a focus on skilling and creating entrepreneurial opportunities for tens of thousands of men and women across the state.

One of states with the highest per capita income in the country; Haryana is banking on technology and skill development amongst the youth for further development in the region. It is through focused training and skilling initiatives with the involvement of the Government and private enterprises like Ola, that men and women in the state can realise their entrepreneurial dreams. Once trained, these individuals stand to benefit from Olas technology platform. Driver partners working with Ola across India have seen their incomes grow by as much as 40%. In fact, more than 70% of the drivers associated with Ola are entrepreneurs themselves.

Pranay Jivrajka, Chief Operating Officer at Ola said, We are proud to partner with the Government of Haryana to create more than 10,000 entrepreneurship opportunities across the state. To this end, we are planning to invest over Rs. 350 crore in Haryana over the next 5 years. We will work with the government to train and provide the right skill set to thousands of men and women across Haryana and help them take their first step towards entrepreneurship. Pranay further added, We will also improve access to mobility in cities across the state by bringing on-board innovative transportation use cases like Ola Auto, Ola Share, Ola Shuttle, Ola Bike and many more, to complement the existing urban transportation system in Haryana.

Ola is currently present in five cities in Haryana including Gurgaon, Faridabad, Panchkula, Kurukshetra and Ambala and plans to expand its services in the region further. Olas portfolio of smart commuting solutions including multiple options in cabs, Ola Auto, Ola Bike and shared mobility solutions like Ola Share and Ola Shuttle are immensely popular amongst citizens across the state.
Rohit Tugnait, former National Revenue Head at Zoom, has joined youth-focused content portal 101India.com as Business Head. Tugnaits mandate would be to consolidate and grow the sales operations and build out 101Indias branded content agency.

Prior to his appointment at 101India.com, Tugnait was in charge of the revenue functions at Zoom. He has worked with several broadcast networks such as Times Television Network, Star TV and MTV, to name a few.

With over 14 years of extensive media experience, Tugnait has been a part of different genres of media selling, from print to TV and digital.



Commenting on Tugnaits appointment, Cyrus Oshidar, MD & CCO, 101India.com, said, Rohit is immensely talented and brings with him extensive experience in sales, branded content and youth marketing through his experience at Zoom and MTV. With 101Indias rapid growth, he will add a unique business focus to match its creative strengths and help take our brand forward.

Elaborating on his new role, Tugnait said, Its a really exciting time for me. It is not just 101Indias vision of creating a distinct and robust youth content platform, but also that it has Cyrus at the helm that had me hooked. Marketers today are constantly looking for avenues to create content around their brands to take their messaging out more effectively to their TG. This phenomenon is becoming a rage with new media and 101India is on the cusp to ride out this wave. We are going to use our creative expertise to provide brands a voice that resonates stronger with the youth.

101India.com is a youth content portal aimed at urban Indian audiences through stories that connect them all.
The Air Force is looking for qualified civilian medical professionals to work with the Air Force Medical Service.The AFMS operates and manages a worldwide health care system capable of responding to a full spectrum of health requirements and provides an integrated health care system with an emphasis on prevention of illness and injury.At 75 facilities, civilian medical professionals work alongside uniformed health care providers. Air Force civilians receive competitive pay, ongoing education and training, opportunities to advance and work-life balance.While there are civilian opportunities for all medical specialties such as dermatology, family medicine, ophthalmology, psychiatry and more, the Air Force medical team also offers civilian opportunities in fields like environmental protection, human resources, procurement and information technology.For more information about applying for these and other civilian service positions with the Air Force, go to the Air Force Civilian Careers website Air Force civilian job opportunities are also listed on USAJOBS.gov
(This feature is part of the "Through Airmen's Eyes" series. These stories focus on individual Airmen, highlighting their Air Force story.)With many liberties now being afforded to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender service members, people are finding it valuable to look back at the times when personnel had to serve in silence.Dr. Daniel Hohman of the 377th Medical Group gave his perspective of service prior to "don't ask, don't tell" and during its reign as law at a pride month presentation here on June 17.Before Hohman spoke, Col. Eric Froehlich, the 377th Air Base Wing commander, said its essential to love one another and be more inclusive in todays military."It is important to reflect on the values of diversity," Froehlich said.Hohman, now retired from the military, started service in the Navy before the implementation of DADT, which was repealed in 2011.After graduating high school, he turned down a U.S. Naval Academy appointment out of fear of his sexual orientation being discovered. Instead, he attended the University of Michigan, studying cellular and molecular biology."Armed with the student loan debt, I decided to apply for the Navy," Hohman said.He was accepted and went to Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida."You had to live your life in the closet," Hohman said.He was assigned to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, after completing his pilot training. That's when the problems started.As he was assigned to his first aviation squadron, he was also given orders to sing at the White House during an inauguration. Singing did not fit with what his squadron commander thought a naval aviator should do."He gathered everyone in the squadron and had me sing to them. Not exactly a great way to introduce the new guy," Hohman said.Shortly after that, the squadron was activated for Operation Desert Shield. While Hohman's top secret clearance was being renewed, it was discovered that he had smoked marijuana in college.He had never failed a drug test in the Navy, but his squadron commander tried to charge him with falsifying a government document and added charges of conduct unbecoming of an officer and fraternization.Two years later, Hohman was exonerated and the Navy then sent him to medical school."I spent all day in classrooms and all night in the library," he said.He was one of the older students. It didn't seem like an advantage until they started clinicals."Being older earned me more trust from my patients. I guess it's because I didn't look like Doogie Howser," he said, jokingly.After graduating from medical school, Hohman was accepted into residency at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland, the flagship for Navy medicine."I had to live, act and appear as the naval officer I should be. I went deeper into the closet under DADT while at Bethesda," he said.When he completed residency, Hohman was assigned to Okinawa, Japan, as the group surgeon for Marine Aircraft Group 12. During that time, 9/11 occurred and six months later he was reassigned to the USS Carl Vinson in the Persian Gulf.He spent 37 months aboard the ship after hesitantly volunteering for the extension. He was the senior medical officer, yet had less time as a medical officer than some of those serving under him."The challenge was the squadron of aviators assigned to the ship also knew the background of the case in Norfolk and the probable cause of why it came about due to my orientation," Hohman said.After his tour on USS Carl Vinson, he spent 15 months in Pensacola and then was sent to Okinawa again.In Okinawa, rumors about Hohman's sexual orientation once more spread among Marines there. What finally ended the rumors was a general's comments on how Hohman was a great medical asset.Hohman said it became hard to hide his orientation as he approached the 20-year service mark. He was terrified when a colonel at the wing summoned him to his office and said, "My wife, Gina, knows you're gay.""You can't shine when you're paralyzed with fear," Hohman said.He said LGBT service members learned that they needed to be a little better at their jobs than their peers to avoid the risk of getting kicked out under DADT."We have come so unbelievably far. Never before did I think that I would be speaking to a room full of service members as an openly gay man," he said.
The Ministry of Health in Uganda in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) organized a guided tour for development partners to the Entebbe and Mulago Ebola Treatme
This time it was the turn of BJP leaders to skip the function held by Shiv Sena and BMC.

BJP leaders skipped the inauguration function of Britannia pumping station at the hands of Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray in Reay Road. The saffron party activists protested against Sena outside the pumping station and held the latter responsible for rising potholes in the city. Thus, the tug of war between both the parties has intensified ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls scheduled to be held in February 2017. Earlier Sena leaders had protested at the inauguration of Kandivali overhead ticket booking office over BJPs failure to invite them for the event. This time it was the turn of BJP leaders to skip the function held by Shiv Sena. BJP Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar had boycotted the function as he is unhappy over the recurring comments made by Sena against its alliance partner. Even though BJP leaders skipped the function but its Deputy Mayor Alka Kerkar had attended the event. Thus a question arises here is whether Alka is endorsing the function boycotted by BJP?

Alka Kerkar said, During monsoon several areas of Mumbai witness waterlogging incidents that causes huge inconvenience to citizens. The Britannia Pumping station will flush out water and prevent flooding. This station has six pumps with the total capacity of discharging water at 36,000 liters per second. Mumbai has not witnessed waterlogging incidents this year so we have to appreciate the work done by civic body officials.

Uddhav Thackeray said, At a time when we have worked hard for keeping Mumbai free of flooding political parties are raising their fingers against potholes. They have every right to pass comments but it must be made in the right spirit. Citizens must laud the efforts taken by the BMC to make the city free of flooding this monsoon.

Several nullahs exist in the city and it is a huge challenge for the civic body to desilt them ahead of the rainy season. Citizens should refrain from throwing plastic and other waste in the drains as it results into flooding. Two years back the Irla water pumping station had stopped functioning as we found that large amount of waste was thrown in the nullah which caused water logging, he added.

The tussle between both the parties had increased after Sena had installed posters mocking BJP president Amit Shah and setting afire the effigy of the partys city unit chief Ashish Shelar in South Mumbai. BJP warned Sena of giving a befitting reply if it fails to rein in its cadres.

A source from BJP said on the condition of anonymity, Since the inauguration function was organised by BMC hence Deputy our Mayor Alka Kerkar had attended it. People are simply blowing this issue out of proportion.

Constructed at a cost of Rs 106 crore, this pumping station has successfully started flushing storm water from 10 major chronic flooding spots, particularly B R Ambedakar Marg, BDD Chawals, Sardar Hotel, Kala Chowki, T B Kadam Marg and Burhani College, and reduced the chances of flooding in these localities.
Amit Shah blames Jawaharlal Nehrus Historic Blunder for Kashmir issue. Then who has stopped BJP, why cant the saffron party set it right or at least starts working towards setting it right? Like many, I also voted for this party assuming that Mr. Modi will perform. However, its getting a bit tedious listening to the rhetoric speeches and blame game. BJP needs to be serious and understand the fact that Nehru is no more, and after independence even RSS, Jansangh to BJP, never raised this issue. Now, they are passing the buck. I feel sorry for them; they have an absolute majority government after 30 years. They should stop legacy arguments. Whole nation voted for BJP after understanding complete political history during general election rhetoric in 2013-2014. They should take some solid steps to resolve this issue now. Otherwise, even my great grandchildren will be listening to their politicians blaming BJP and Amit Shah for present inaction. Please do not equate them to Nehru.

Referring to the declaration of truce when Pakistan-backed tribal raiders in 1948 were being repulsed in Kashmir, he said if such a decision was not made, the Jammu and Kashmir problem would not have existed today. He claimed that this decision was taken to improve ones (Nehrus) personal image, and lamented that because of this, a part of Kashmir is now with Pakistan. He also raised questions over the circumstances that led to Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjees death but he forgot that Mookerjee was INC member then.

Mookerjee was a politician, who served as the Minister for Industry and Supply in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehrus cabinet. After falling out with Nehru, Mookerjee quit the Indian National Congress and founded the right wing nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which later evolved into BJP. Mookerjee was given platform in politics by Congress and Nehru gave him position in the party but his ambitions led him to turn rebel.

Mookerjee joined the Hindu Mahasabha in 1939, becoming its president in 1944. He became the leader of the opposition when the Krishak Praja Party  Muslim League coalition was in power from 193741 and joined the Progressive Coalition Ministry headed by Fazlul Haq as a Finance Minister. On 11th February 1941, Mookerjee told a Hindu rally that if Muslims wanted to live in Pakistan they should pack bags and baggage and leave India wherever they like. He also supported the partition of Bengal in 1946 to prevent the inclusion of its Hindu-majority areas in a Muslim-dominated East Pakistan.

His views were strongly affected by the Noakhali genocide in East Bengal, where mobs belonging to the Muslim league massacred Hindus in large numbers. Shyama Prasads hate speeches invited many riots between Hindus and Muslims.

Mookerjee resigned from the Cabinet on 6th April 1950 over a disagreement about the 1950 Delhi Pact with Pakistani Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. He was firmly against Nehrus invitation to the Pakistani PM, and their joint pact to establish minority commissions and guarantee minority rights in both countries. He wanted to hold Pakistan directly responsible for the terrible influx of millions of Hindu refugees from East Pakistan, who had left the state fearing religious suppression and violence aided by the state. Mookerjee translated and propagated Nehrus actions as appeasement, and was hailed as a hero by the people of India.

After consultation with M. S. Golwalkar of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Mookerjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) on 21st October 1951 in Delhi and he became its first President. In the 1952 elections, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh won three seats in the Parliament of India including Mookerjees own seat. He had formed the National Democratic Party within the Parliament, which consisted of 32 members of parliament and 10 members from the Rajya Sabha, which, however, was not recognised by the speaker as an opposition party. The BJS was ideologically close to the RSS and widely considered the political arm of Hindu Nationalism. It favoured a uniform civil code governing personal law matters for both Hindus and Muslims, and wanted to ban cow slaughter and end constitutional autonomy given to the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir. The BJS founded the Hindutva agenda, which became the wider political expression of Indias Hindu majority. His legacy still remains influential among the conservative members within the BJP and that is what we can smell from Amit Shahs speeches.

Mookerjee was arrested after entering Kashmir in 11th May, 1953. Thereafter, he was jailed in a shattered broken house. He had suffered from dry pleurisy and coronary troubles, and was taken to hospital. He was administered penicillin, despite having informed the doctor-in-charge of his allergy to penicillin, and he died on 23rd June, 1953. His death in custody raised wide suspicion across the country and demands for an independent enquiry were raised, including earnest requests from his mother, Jogamaya Devi, to Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru declared that he had inquired from a number of persons who were privy to the facts and, according to him; there was no mystery behind Mookerjees death. Atal Bihari Vajpayee claimed in 2004 that the arrest of Mookerjee in Jammu and Kashmir was a Nehrus conspiracy. The BJP president claimed that Mr Mookerjee was kept in an inadequately equipped safe house near Srinagar and then not provided medical facilities as he was admitted to a gynaecological ward even though he had a heart ailment.

Even though more than 69 years have passed since independence, but BJP still lingers on the past but never dared to correct the present.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
In a joint operation, the Hyderabad police and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials picked up eleven youngsters from Old City of Hyderabad late on Tuesday night. These youngsters were, the police said, were getting ready to join terror outfit Islamic State.



NIA sources told that they had information that 5 of those detained on Wednesday were involved in terrorist activities. An FIR was registered against them on June 22.

Those five people were identified as Mohammad Illiyas Yazdani, Mohammad Ibrahim, Habib Mohd, Mohammad Irfan, Abdullah Bin Ahmad, according to the NIA.

Acting on specific intelligence inputs, the NIA teams, assisted by Hyderabad police and Telangana Counter Intelligence sleuths, conducted searches in Mirchowk, Mogulpura, Bhavani Nagar, Barkas and at a few other places in the Old City of Hyderabad on Wednesday morning.

Rs 15 lakh cash, a 9 mm pistol, an air gun and chemicals used in highly explosive devices were recovered from the suspects. Officers found ammonium nitrate and hydrogen peroxide stored in the homes of four youths. The NIA also seized a few training materials during the searches. The module is believed to be involved in recruiting ISIS inclined youths to work as Jihadis for the Iraq and syria based global terror outfit.

The raids come at a time when parts of the city are virtually under siege, with advocates and lawyers intensifying a strike that has been on for over three weeks.

Prohibitory orders are in place in the entire area.

The members of the module were under watch for over four months after which the NIA decided to raid their hideouts here.

NIA sources said that popular public spots and religious places were their main targets. The detained ISIS sympathisers were in direct touch with their suspected handler in Syria, the NIA sources further said.

According to official sources, searches are reportedly being conducted in Bengaluru as well, from where NIA had arrested alleged ISIS suspects earlier this year. This is unusual that during the holy month of Ramzan, Daesh (ISIS) is planning and executing terror strikes across the world including India, said an officer on condition of anonymity.

The fresh operations by the NIA come even as suspected Islamic State terrorists attacked Turkeys Ataturk airport in Istanbul on Wednesday, killing at least 36 people and wounding 147.
Pakistani police have arrested at least 500 Afghan refugees in a northwestern border province and deported them as a security risk, officials said on Wednesday, a day before the expiry of a refugee registration deadline.



Pakistan has the worlds second largest refugee population, with more than 1.5 million registered, and about a million unregistered, refugees from Afghanistan, most of whom fled the Soviet occupation of their country in the 1980s.

Registration cards allowing temporary legal stay to Afghan refugees got a six-month extension from the government after they expired in December.

The government has not yet announced a decision to renew the refugees legal status beyond June 30, although, in the past, it has extended deadlines at the last minute.

There are only 100,000 registered refugees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the site of Wednesdays arrests, said the provincial information minister, Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani.

We dont suggest any aggressive campaign against Afghan refugees, but we have been hosting them for the past 35 years and it is time they should go back to their country, Ghani said.

Unregistered Afghans had become a major security issue for the government, he said, urging the federal government to revisit its policy on the refugees.

If Pakistan wants to host them, then it needs to register them and bring them under a proper network, he added.

More than 2,000 refugees have been arrested in the last month, and 400 were deported to Afghanistan, Pakistans Dawn newspaper reported.

The number of Afghans voluntarily returning home has plunged this year as violence worsens in Afghanistan, where the government and its U.S. allies are fighting a stubborn Taliban insurgency.

About 6,000 Afghans have chosen to return home from Pakistan so far in 2016, well below last years 58,211 voluntary repatriations, the United Nations refugee agency has said.

Many Afghans have lived in Pakistan for decades and contribute significantly to its labour force.
Eid is the greatest festival of the Muslims community. All over the world, Muslims celebrate it with great pomp and show, zeal and gusto. They observe fast for a full month after sighting the moon of Ramzan (or Ramadan). When the month of Ramzan (or Ramadan), is over and the moon of Eid is sighted, they end their roja (fast). The next day, the festival of Eid is celebrated.

During Ramzan, Muslims observe a fast for 30 days, starting with the sighting of the new moon and end it after seeing the new moon, the next month. Not even a glass of water is drunk during this holy month, however hot the weather may be or however thirsty one may feel.

It is believed that fasting in the month of Ramzan (or Ramadan) purifies the soul and prayers. It also opens the doors of heaven for them. So during the month of Ramzan, they lead a pure and holy life. They observe fasts, offer regular prayers in the form of namaz, read the holy book, feed the hungry and give alms to the poor. Charity is the greatest virtue to be practiced during the month of Ramzan. Fasting comes to an end when the new moon of Eid is sighted. The sight of the new moon of Eid is considered very pious and holy by the Muslims. It is a signal for the celebration of Eid the very next day.

On the day of Eid, Muslims wake up early in the morning. They take a bath and put on their best clothes. They visit the mosque and offer prayers in the form of namaz. Muslims embrace one another and exchange Eid greetings. Sweets are distributed, gifts are given and delicious dishes are prepared at home. Kheer is the most popular dish cooked on this day. At some places, Eid fairs are also held. Eid is a festival of love and goodwill. It gives us a message to love all and hate none. It teaches us to embrace all men and women as brothers and sisters. Eid exhorts us to bid goodbye to hatred, jealousy and enmity and bring in an era of love, sympathy and brotherhood.

Great importance is attached to Eid or Eid-ul-Fitr in India, as it is an important public holiday. All schools, colleges and public institutions remain closed on this day to mark its significance. Also, there exists a considerably large population of the Muslim minority, which adds to the cultural demographics of India. With time, these traditions have strengthened their interaction and intermingling with the Indian culture. Eid or Eid-ul-Fitr has, thus, seeped into Indias cultural milieu and is looked forward among people of all communities.

Jubel DCruz

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
South Korea, Japan and the United States held an unprecedented trilateral missile defence exercise on Tuesday, aimed at countering the growing threat from nuclear-armed North Korea which denounced it as a military provocation.

The drill in waters off Hawaii came less than a week after North Korea flight-tested a powerful new medium-range ballistic missile that leader Kim Jong-Un hailed as a strike threat to US military bases across the Pacific.

The trilateral exercise included a ballistic target tracking operation to test the Aegis anti-missile systems used by the United States and its two key Asian allies.

While there were no missiles fired, all participants strengthened interoperability, communication channels, data collection, and capabilities assessments, the US Pacific Command said in a statement.

The drill was significant for the participation of both South Korea and Japan, who are still emerging from an extended diplomatic freeze that had undermined US efforts to present a united front against Pyongyang`s nuclear weapons programme.

As well as rehearsing responses to a North Korean missile attack, the drill enhanced the already strong relationship of all three nations participating, said Vice Admiral Nora Tyson, commander of the US Third Fleet.

North Korea`s Foreign Ministry condemned the drill as another military provocation perpetrated by the US and reiterated strategic willingness to carry out a pre-emptive nuclear attack if threatened.

The participation of all three countries revealed their hegemonic scenario for disturbing regional peace and security, a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.
Patriarch Aphrem, head of the Syrian Orthodox Church. (AINA) -- Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II Karim of the Syriac Orthodox Church issued a statement on the assassination attempt on his life last week. On June 19, while the Patriarch was leading a commemoration service for the Turkish genocide of Assyrians in World War One, a suicide bomber attacked the service but was stopped by the Assyrian Sutoro military forces in Qamishli, Syria (AINA 2016-06-19).

Here is the text of the statement.

After returning safely to the Patriarchate in Damascus following his pastoral visit to the city of Qamishly, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, offered prayers of thanksgiving and condemned the suicide bombing which took place during His Holiness' visit. On Sunday June 19, 2016 following the celebration of the feast of the Pentecost and after the inauguration of a monument for the Syriac Genocide Sayfo which His Holiness presided over, the faithful were gathered inside the auditorium of St. Gabriel School to celebrate the 101st annual Sayfo commemoration when a suicide bomber set himself off a short distance from the place. Two members of the Sutoro Protection Units fell martyrs and several were injured. This terroristic act is planned and executed by people who want to spread hatred and create division among the people of the region. Such acts cause great suffering to the people and aim at destroying the unity of our beloved country Syria.

His Holiness gives thanks to God Almighty for protecting him and all the others who participated in the said event, by His divine care.

He prays for the souls of the martyrs, especially the two young people who lost their lives as a result of this act of terrorism, and offers condolences to their families. He likewise prays for the quick recovery of the injured. His Holiness expresses his thanks and gratitude to their Holinesses and Beatitudes the Patriarchs of the sister churches, as well as different governments and community leaders who offered their sympathies and prayers for His Holiness' safety by calling or writing. He, likewise, thanks the hierarchy, members of the clergy, and the entire faithful of the church who offered their prayers and expressed their concerns through phone calls, emails or text messages.

His Holiness prays the Lord to bless Syria with peace and security so that these difficult times come to an end and life returns to normal in this dear country Syria.
DHL has transported a female eastern black rhino called Eliska from her birthplace in the Czech Republic to her natural homeland in Tanzania.

Three-year-old Eliska, weighing 900 kg, was moved to a natural park in Tanzania as part of an ongoing conservation project run by the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust, aimed at helping endangered animal populations to grow and prosper in their natural habitat.

Eliskas move was overseen by an international DHL team, comprising around 40 specialists in areas ranging from ground transportation and aviation to customs clearance and certification across more than five countries.

She was transferred from Zoo Dvur Kralove in the Czech Republic, where she was born in 2012, to the main DHL European Hub in Leipzig, Germany.

She was then loaded on to a dedicated 28-ton Boeing 757-200 freighter, specially modified for animal transport, and flown more than 6,500 km directly to Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania, from where she was transferred by truck to her new home.



Along the way, she was accompanied and monitored by a team of support staff, including Dr. Pete Morkel, one of the worlds leading black rhino veterinarians. Five containers of food and water supplies were also loaded for the journey.

The delivery of Eliska to Tanzania continues a proud tradition at DHL Express of supporting international animal conservation efforts, said Ken Allen, chief executive of DHL Express.

We were very excited to have the opportunity to transport this beautiful animal home to Africa and to play our part in these critical efforts to help revive endangered Eastern black rhino populations.

Complex projects like this, where failure is simply not an option, also allow us to showcase the power of the DHL global network and the expertise of our certified international specialists.



Eliska has a new home

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June 27, 2016

CAIRO  The Egyptian Foreign Ministry recently accused the media of exaggerating the dispute between Egypt and Sudan over the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle, arguing that the issue does not represent a crisis between the two countries, which share good relations.

However, the ongoing debate in Egyptian political circles about the possibility of reinstating the Nile Valley Parliament, a body comprising parliamentarians from both countries, reveals deep political tension between the two.

The chairman of the Egyptian parliaments Arab Affairs Committee delivered a speech in the Sudanese parliament demanding the reinstatement of the Nile Valley Parliament, and conveyed the same message to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry June 5. Some Egyptian politicians did not welcome the call, considering that Sudans politics toward Egypt have shifted.

The Nile Valley Parliament was established under the Charter of Integration between Egypt and Sudan, signed in 1982. It agreed to equal treatment for citizens, providing for freedom of movement, residency, acquisitions, labor and trade exchange between the two countries, as well as a joint unified policy at the level of international relations and diplomatic representation.

Hatem Bashat, the chairman of the Committee for African Affairs at the Egyptian Parliament, told Al-Monitor, Efforts to revive the Nile Valley Parliament are essential to break the ice in the Egyptian-Sudanese relations and bring views together regarding the contentious issues between the two sides.

According to the Charter of Integration between Egypt and Sudan, the Nile Valley Parliament comprises 60 members: the Egyptian and Sudanese parliament speakers, 19 members from the Egyptian parliament, 19 members from Sudans regional councils of people, and 21 qualified members who are interested in the integration affairs between the countries, appointed by the president of each country.

However, the work of the Nile Valley Parliament came to a halt after the integration charter was suspended in the wake of the 1985 popular uprising in Sudan. The uprising overthrew the presidency of Jaafar Nimeiri, whom Egypt granted the right to political asylum.

Commenting on the role the Nile Valley Parliament could play in resolving the Halayeb triangle crisis, as well as the split in visions over the Renaissance Dam, Bashat said, The parliament expresses the views of the representatives of the people in both countries and not that of the governments. Such issues are highly sensitive."

He added, Parliament will be a channel [of communications with people] with positive feedback with regard to such crises, most importantly the revival of the historic relations between the two countries."

Khaled al-Odaisi, a specialist in Sudanese affairs, told Al-Monitor, Current relations between the two countries are very tense and cannot be solved through the Nile Valley Parliament.

There are differences in the countries political and security perspectives, he said. Also aggravating the situation is Egypts claims that its border with Sudan is a port for infiltrators and illegal weapons trafficking, in addition to the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle problem.

Odaisi added, Calls for the revival of the Charter of Integration between Sudan and Egypt abound from time to time, while this necessitates rebuilding of confidence first. This will happen only once the disputed issues are resolved. Although the relations between the two sides have historical roots, [they were not built] on mutual benefits and interests.

Commenting on the Egyptian Foreign Ministry statements that the media is behind the escalation of the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle issue and that relations are actually still sound, Odaisi said, This is half of the truth. He said the media in both countries have indeed escalated the situation, but to claim that relations are sound is far from realistic.

There is clear tension and differences in vision with respect to cross-cutting issues, including the Renaissance Dam, he added.

The Halayeb and Shalateen triangle crisis has started to overshadow even the Renaissance Dam negotiations among Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia  especially in light of Khartoums stance in support of Ethiopia against Cairo. Sudan believes the dam brings benefits, while Cairo says it will have severe negative impacts on its water share and will deteriorate the quality of the Nile downstream.

Ahmed Imbabi, the undersecretary of the Egyptian Parliaments Arab Affairs Committee, stressed that attempts to revive the Nile Valley Parliament are to no avail, because Sudans political stances regarding Egypt are volatile.

However, Kamal Omar, a leader in Sudans Popular Congress Party, told Al-Monitor by phone that he is in favor of reviving the parliament between Egypt and Sudan and that some political figures also welcome this move.

This is the right time for the leaders of both countries to settle matters of dispute, Omar said, adding that the parliament is a good channel of communications capable of easing escalation or the prospect of war between the two countries. The relations that bind the Egyptians with the Sudanese prevent us from pointing a gun in the face of one another because it would kill both of us.

He added, The issue of the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle and the Renaissance Dam are at the basis of the current escalation, due to lack of understanding on both issues.

Reviving the Nile Valley Parliament as a means to solve the current issues between Cairo and Khartoum could be meaningless, given the full suspension of the integration charter between them. But the charter could hold solutions for the most complex issues. First, per the charter, the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle would turn into a common area on the borders. The charter also provides for unifying stances related to the Nile waters, including the Renaissance Dam.
June 27, 2016

CAIRO, Egypt  In July 2015, I applied for permission to travel at the Abu Khadra government complex  the official application center for all those who want to travel from the Gaza Strip through Rafah  in Gaza City, and found myself as number 10,962 in line.

Every time Egyptian authorities announced the reopening of the Rafah crossing, I knew that my turn was unlikely to come up due to the painfully slow movement through the crossing. But on June 1, the Egyptian authorities announced that the crossing would be opened and published the numbers of travelers permitted to pass. My turn was to come on the fourth and last day of the crossings opening: Sunday, June 5.

Exiting Gaza now is dependent on luck and the convergence of many factors. Not all the buses scheduled on the first and second days of the crossings opening were permitted to leave due to obstacles set by Egyptian authorities, which pushed back my slated departure time, and only luck would determine whether I would be able to leave on the fourth day.

June 5 arrived. At 5:30 in the morning, I started my journey south. It was clear that the Hamas-led security forces were trying to maintain order in facilitating the passage of tens of thousands of travelers attempting to pass through the bottleneck.

My number assigned me to the first bus, which I boarded at 7. Meanwhile, talk spread among the waiting crowd that another class of buses carrying people who paid Palestinian middlemen up to $3,000 each had been permitted to bypass the line and leave.

Felesteen reported June 7 that since the beginning of 2016, the independent operators of those buses had amassed $5.4 million during the nine days the crossing was open this year.

Through the years, I have seen many people bidding farewell to loved ones at the Rafah crossing, but this time, the goodbyes seemed different to me, more final. Since Egypt's former Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohammed Morsi was deposed in July 2013, the Egyptian authorities have kept the crossing almost completely closed  to punish Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and is considered an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood  and allow it to reopen every few months for only a couple of days.

In October 2014, 34 Egyptian soldiers and officers were killed and dozens were wounded after armed men attacked a military checkpoint. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared a state of emergency in some regions in North Sinai to last three months, and has been extending this period ever since.

Gaza is currently going through some of the hardest days of the siege ongoing since 2007, with strict travel conditions imposed on travelers who want to cross the Erez/Beit Hanoun crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The Rafah crossing is nearly always closed while the delayed reconstruction process faces delays, poverty rates increase and prices skyrocket.

The mother of 19-year-old Mosleh al-Darbi stood beside us, bidding farewell to her son with tears streaming down her cheeks. He was not going far  only Egypt's Minia University to attend medical school. The bus had barely advanced a few meters when a voice cried out Mosleh, Mosleh. It was his mother, who ran after the bus and jumped on to give him one last hug, knowing full well that it will be virtually impossible for him to return or for her to leave Gaza to visit him anytime soon.

Moslehs mother was not alone, and tearful goodbyes were the norm around us.

Our bus stopped at the Palestinian border control terminal, where we debarked and waited an hour. Palestinian staff members attempted to make our wait comfortable, distributing free water bottles. Finally, a Palestinian officer explained, The Egyptian authorities demanded that the bus carrying holders of Egyptian passports pass first.

There were smiles all around as we returned to the bus. We moved forward a few meters, but the bus stopped again under some cinchona trees. We disembarked and waited another hour, toddlers wilting in the heat as their mothers doused their faces with water.

It was now 11 a.m., 10 a.m. Egyptian time. Passengers began to get acquainted, among them journalists taking pictures. We all got back onto the bus, where the engine noise had become the sound of hope. We moved forward another few meters before stopping once again, this time opposite an Egyptian tank that guarded the main gate. We remained in the heat for another two hours as other buses piled behind us under the cinchona trees.

Despair filled our hearts as the hour neared 1 p.m. Finally, an Egyptian officer in civilian clothing approached, stood in front of the tank and motioned the bus forward amid screams of joy from the passengers. We lurched forward and entered the Egyptian border terminal. The Palestinian mobile network signal was lost and everyone breathed a sigh at leaving Gaza  but our relief was short-lived.

Inside the Egyptian terminal, there was no semblance of organization or cleanliness. Piles of dirt lay everywhere and garbage containers overflowed. Hundreds of passports, including mine, had been surrendered the previous day and were stacked in empty chairs as we waited for our names to be called.

Surrounded by her three daughters, Umm Yara told me, We slept here last night because they lost our passports, which they now promised to look for. Until then, we wait.

The terminal was overcrowded and the noise unbearable. An Egyptian officer yelled at one of the mothers and another threatened to bar a young man from traveling. Insulting the travelers seemed intentional, though no one was brave enough to complain.

I waited to be called. Most of those ahead of me were barred entry into Egypt and transported directly to the airport as they held foreign visas and residency permits allowing them to travel to other countries; others were permitted entry into Egypt proper. All was the sole discretion of the officer in charge and his acceptance of the travelers' paperwork and pleas for understanding.

Most families and youths who have foreign visas, residencies and passports are taken directly to the airport for transit to these countries. They are then put in small rooms like jail cells with guards until it is time for their flights. Those non-Egyptians who are not in transit to somewhere outside Egypt need someone to specially coordinate their entry into Egypt. Without such coordination, they are taken back to Gaza.

After another few hours wait, my name was called. I finally exited the Egyptian terminal at around 5 p.m. and endeavored to find a car that would take me out of North Sinai before the 7 p.m. curfew came into effect.

I thought that my ordeal was over, but the usually seven-hour trip to Cairo took 12 hours due to the many roadblocks manned by the Egyptian army and other security forces. My luggage was searched many times, and my passport inspected so often I lost count. At the Maydan roadblock, west of el-Arish, soldiers fired into the air, scaring us to death. The driver, who lives in el-Arish, explained, They fear attacks by armed factions, especially at night.

My tired feet aching in my shoes, I waited for the ferry to arrive and transport the cars to the opposite bank of the Suez Canal to Ismailia, where, according to my driver, there were no more roadblocks and the danger would be over.

Aboard the ferry, even the breeze seemed different. Most of those who took that first bus out of Gaza were there, and we greeted each other, congratulating our fellow travelers for successfully maneuvering through the maze.

Standing on the deck, young Mosleh gazed into the shimmering waters, perhaps reminded of his mothers tearful eyes as she wept over his escape.
June 28, 2016

TUZ KHORMATO, Iraq  The security situation in Tuz Khormato continues to deteriorate. On June 18, a car bomb exploded just outside the local headquarters of the largest Kurdish political party in the area, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, leaving three people dead.

The city's chief of police, Col. Mustafa Hassan Naseif Amerli, told Al-Monitor in an interview in late May that only two Sunni Arabs had been kidnapped in Tuz Khormato over the previous two months, presenting the figure as a sign of improved security.

A few weeks later, Amerli would be dead as well.

The restive area around Tuz Khormato has long been disputed between the Kurdish Regional Government-administered north and the Iraqi central government.

Relations between various ethnic-religious groups have been severely strained since the surrounding area was retaken from the Islamic State in late 2014 and Turkmen Shiite civilians took up arms as part of the Shiite Popular Mobilization Units.

Amerli, a Shiite, was ambushed late in the evening of June 16, reportedly by IS fighters, on his way to Sunni Arab villages outside of Tuz Khormato. Most of these villages remain uninhabited, their residents in camps for the internally displaced scattered around the surrounding area, almost two years after they were retaken from IS, due to restrictions placed on them by the Popular Mobilization Units. The villages were briefly taken by IS only to be retaken by peshmerga forces, according to local sources.

On June 16, several police officers as well as members of the Popular Mobilization Units who seem to have been traveling with them and peshmerga soldiers some kilometers away all died in what appear to have been near-simultaneous attacks at two locations on the same road.

Since June 19, reports of extrajudicial killings of Sunni Arab prisoners  with one tribal leader claiming that some 50 Sunni Arabs were executed by the Popular Mobilization Units in the Amerli prison  and the targeting and burning of homes of the same ethnic group have aggravated tensions.

A rash of kidnappings  almost 300, of whom 95% were Sunni Arabs, the Kurdish mayor of Tuz Khormato, Shallal Abdul Ahmed, told Al-Monitor, while some media outlets report more  had brought the town under public scrutiny. Most of the Kurdish inhabitants of the city Al-Monitor spoke with said the Arabs have mostly fled to camps in the nearby provinces of Kirkuk or Diyala, where they are protected by the peshmerga, or elsewhere in the KRG area.

Over $2.7 million has been paid in ransom so far, according to Abdul Ahmed. He said that it was clear that the Popular Mobilization Units were behind many of the kidnappings, noting, They have even joked about it to me, saying, 'How else are we supposed to fund our operations?'

Sheikh Thaer al-Bayyati, the tribal spokesman for Salahuddin province and head of the prominent Albu Hassan clan, told Al-Monitor in an interview in Erbil that Amerli had been extremely sectarian and that members of the Albu Hassan clan had once saved Amerlis life when IS was in the area in 2014.

Bayyati said, He was traveling in a convoy of eight national police cars toward Amerli, a Shiite-majority town in the area the police chief was born, and would have ended up at an IS checkpoint if we hadnt stopped him and shown him another route out.

And now, he noted bitterly, most members of the Albu Hassan clan  which he said accounts for about 10,000 of the approximately 85,000 members of the al-Bayyat tribe across Iraq  are living in camps almost two years after their areas in Tuz Khormato and other parts of Salahuddin province were retaken from IS.

Even I cant go back, or I will be killed, he said. We know exactly how many of our tribe have joined IS: 263 people. We have their names and at least 3,600 members of the tribe have been arrested.

Although there is no reliable data on the ethnic composition of the city prior to the problems with IS and subsequent arming of Shiite groups as part of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistanis fatwa to take up arms shortly after IS took Mosul in June 2014, Amerli had told Al-Monitor in the May interview that most of the population in the city was Shiite Turkmen.

Amerli claimed that many Sunni Arabs remained and that those who left were from the surrounding villages that had been under IS and who had come to the city afterward. He went on, Then there were retaliatory acts and so they left, implying that the actions against the Sunni Arabs were because of perceived support for IS but refusing to comment further.

The mayor instead insisted that almost half of the citys original inhabitants were Kurdish and that both Shiite Turkmen and Sunni Arabs had been minorities, but admitted that no exact figures are available.

We have to rely on food ration cards and election results to even get a general idea, he said.

Abdul Ahmed, like other Kurdish officials in the area who spoke with Al-Monitor in recent weeks, is wary of what the increasing power of the militias will mean. Nevertheless, he said, We need the peshmerga and the PMU [Popular Mobilization Units] to stay until an ethnic balance is reached in the police force.

An agreement between the peshmerga and the Popular Mobilization Units calls for the central government to recruit and train Kurdish police officers to address a current imbalance in favor of Shiite Turkmens.

No one that Al-Monitor spoke with  including the police chief, mayor and other local officials  had any idea when the agreement would be implemented.

The head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan for the province, a man known to the local population as Mullah Kareem, spoke to Al-Monitor about security concerns, including the kidnappings of several hundred mostly Arab residents over the past year. He said that there are 1,500 members of the police force" in the area, adding, "So if this many kidnappings, specifically of Sunni Arabs, are happening, not only do they know about it, but they are involved in it.

The Popular Mobilization Units' spokesman for the northern part of Iraq, Ali Hashem al-Hosseini from the Shiite Badr militia, instead insisted to Al-Monitor in an interview that Kurds and the PMU are like brothers.

He went on, We were both armed opposition forces during the time of Saddam Hussein, he said, adding, And even if there are problems, its like problems within a family. Its normal. But in any operation we take part in, we are accused of burning, kidnapping, looting. Hosseini claimed that Gulf states had accused them of taking part in atrocities in Fallujah.

Everyone knows that the PMU are exposed to a fierce media campaign to ruin their reputation, he claimed.

Editors note: This article has been updated since its initial publication.
June 29, 2016

Jordans decision to close its borders with Syria and Iraq in the wake of a suicide attack against a border post on June 14 in the Ruqban border area with Syria was likely driven by economic pressures in addition to security concerns. Seven security personnel were killed and 15 were injured when a vehicle broke through a sand barrier and exploded in a military post, a humanitarian aid delivery point for refugees. According to a Jordanian army statement, the vehicle originated from inside the refugee camp on the Syrian side of the border. It took the Islamic State almost two weeks to claim responsibility for the attack.

This was the first major attack against a Jordanian border post since the eruption of the Syrian conflict in 2011. Jordan was criticized last year for not allowing thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing atrocities in northern and eastern Syria to cross into the kingdom. At that time, the government said that it was unable to vet the refugees who came from IS-controlled territory.

The refugees, now estimated to number 70,000, gathered in a makeshift camp on the Syrian side of the border. Jordan, under international pressure, has allowed humanitarian agencies to provide them with food and water under army supervision.

Jordan has expressed frustration that donor countries were not delivering on promises of aid to help the government meet its humanitarian obligations toward more than 600,000 registered Syrian refugees settled in three camps inside Jordan. In total, there are about 1.3 million Syrians in Jordan today, making up roughly 20% of the population. In a February 2016 report, the World Bank said Jordans estimates show that each refugee costs the Jordanian government $3,750 per year. The influx of more than 630,000 Syrian refugees is thus estimated to have cost Jordan over $2.5 billion a year, the report read.

In response to Ammans decision to close its borders with Syria and Iraq and stop receiving additional refugees, King Abdullah told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on June 24 that Jordan will not allow any circumstance to threaten the security of its borders and stability, urging the international community to take responsibility in dealing with the refugee crisis, which he said is a world problem, according to a royal court statement.

A few days earlier, on June 21, the king was quoted by the Jordan Times as saying, Jordan will respond with an iron fist to assaults or any attempts to tamper with the kingdoms internal or border security.

While there has been no official reaction from donor countries over Jordans latest decision, Amnesty International said in a June 22 statement that the iron fist security response pledged by Jordanian authorities in the wake of the car bombing must not descend into closing the border and denying humanitarian aid to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing armed conflict. The statement went on, Jordan has a duty to protect civilians from armed attacks  but its security measures must not violate its international legal obligations to provide protection and assistance to refugees who are desperately fleeing the very same type of violence.

In response, Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammed al-Momani, speaking for the Jordanian government, said June 24, The groups stationed on the northern border are not a Jordanian problem, but an international problem, and international organizations should find a way to help them. He added, Jordans security and stability are above all other considerations.

On June 22, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told the ambassadors of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and the European Union, in addition to representatives of the UNHCR and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jordan has always warned from the increase in Syrians numbers at the borders, especially since it has amounted to 100,000 people, most of whom are from northern and northeastern Syria, where [IS] members are located. 

He urged international organizations to find alternative means to deliver humanitarian aid to the displaced.

But more than a week after Jordan closed its borders and suspended aid delivery to the makeshift camp in Ruqban, news reports and international organizations spoke of a deepening humanitarian crisis there. Around 60,000 people are currently without food, water or health care. They have nothing, Hala Shamlawi, spokesperson at the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in remarks to Al Jazeera on June 23.

On June 25, the New Arab newspaper reported that tribal leaders representing residents of the informal Ruqban refugee settlement near the Syrian-Jordanian border have appealed to the Jordanian government to help deliver water and food into the camp. There has been no official reaction to pleas to resume delivery of humanitarian aid.

The conflict in Syria has compounded the kingdoms economic problems. The closure of borders with Syria and Iraq is believed to cost the local economy $2 billion annually, according to the first deputy of the Jordan Commerce Chamber, Ghassan Khirfan. He told Al-Monitor that border closure with Syria has stopped all land transit trade with Europe, Turkey, Lebanon and Russia. He added that closing the borders with Syria and Iraq has had a direct effect on banks, exporters and labor.

Jordan has faced difficult economic conditions for almost a decade now. Its foreign debt has more than doubled and its state budget suffers from endemic deficit while the kingdoms debt-to-GDP ratio is about 90%.

Head of the Jerusalem Studies Center and political columnist Orieb al-Rintawi told Al-Monitor that following the Ruqban attack, the government is right to review its open border policy regarding Syrian refugees. Turkey has closed its borders and Europe is building barriers to stop the flow of migrants. Jordan is doing what Europe has failed to do. Why should we keep doing this?

He added, Jordan should work directly with the Syrian government through Russia to create safe zones, and this should include all southern Syria after liberating it from terrorists.

The governments decision to stop receiving Syrian refugees has been welcomed by most Jordanians. And despite international pressure the government is unlikely to change its position. On the contrary, it may well open communication channels with the Damascus regime to pacify southern Syria and pave the way for the creation of safe havens for refugees, many of whom may be repatriated from Jordan.
June 28, 2016

RAMALLAH, West Bank  The article by Jihad al-Khazen in the London-based Al-Hayat published June 12 and titled A Gulf Opinion on Obama and the Palestinian Cause has provoked silent controversy between the Palestinian Authority and the United Arab Emirates. Khazen quoted a Gulf official, without mentioning who he was, saying, The PA ought to retire because it is a mixture of failure and corruption and is unreliable.

Khazen continued, quoting the same official, The UAE has stopped all aid to the PA because the latter had accused it [the UAE] of money laundering through an association in the West Bank, run by former Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The UAE demands an apology from the PA for such accusations."

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa attacked Khazen on June 14 in an article titled Jihad al-Khazen, the eyes and ears of indecency." It reported, The Gulf official mentioned in the article is Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, whom the agency [Wafa] called upon to categorically deny the statements of the [Al-Hayat] article.

In a June 15 statement, Fatah demanded Zayed take an explicit stance on Khazens article in Al-Hayat, yet Zayed did not issue any response or explanation.

Meanwhile, the semi-official Palestinian newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reported June 18 on the visit of Khaled Islam, a former Palestinian official wanted for corruption, to Jerusalem to meet with Israeli officials. The newspaper said that Islam accompanied one of the Israeli officials to the Nahariya hospital to meet a former leader of Jabhat al-Nusra who is currently a leader in the Ahrar al-Sham movement.

The UAE is well informed of Islams moves, especially now since he has been moving between Erbil and Abu Dhabi, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reported.

Islam is a close associate of former Fatah member Mohammed Dahlan. The report is an indirect reference to the Palestinian dispute regarding the good ties between Israel and the UAE, which Islam serves, and the UAE role in supporting and communicating with radical groups.

Some Palestinian officials have remained silent and refused to comment on the crisis. However, an official source in Fatah who spoke on condition of anonymity told Al-Monitor, There are old disagreements between Palestine and the UAE, but I cannot discuss them as we do not wish to worsen the relations between the two sides.

This is a highly sensitive issue and we do not seek to further deteriorate relations. Thus, the PA chose to remain silent, leaving media outlets to respond, he added.

The crisis between the PA and the UAE is not something new. It started when Fatah expelled Dahlan on June 11, 2011. Dahlan then moved to the UAE as a result of his strong ties with the ruling family, particularly Zayed, whom he serves as security consultant. In the same context, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected UAE mediation to halt legal proceedings against Dahlan before his dismissal and to heal the rift within the Fatah movement.

The dispute gap widened when on June 15, 2015, Palestinian Attorney-General Abdul Ghani Oweiwi confiscated the funds donated to the association Palestine Tomorrow for Social Development, headed by Fayyad, based on charges of money laundering and managing funds for political purposes. This has raised the ire of the UAE, especially since most of the support to the association is provided by the UAE Red Crescent. On July 8, 2015, the Palestinian Supreme Court decided to release the funds.

Sufian Abu Zaida, a dismissed member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council and a close associate of Dahlan, told Al-Monitor, The crisis between the UAE and the PA started when Abbas foiled the attempts by Sheikh bin Zayed to heal the rift with Dahlan. Abbas promised Zayed to halt legal actions against Dahlan, but reneged on his promises and dismissed the latter from the movement, which angered the UAE.

Abu Zaida added, The crisis deepened when the PA has involved the UAE in several issues, which was seen by the latter as distorting its image, especially following accusations [against the UAE] of money laundering through Fayyads association. The PA also involved the UAE in the issue of dismissing Yasser Abed Rabbo as secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organizations Executive Committee on June 30, 2015. The PA also fell silent on the investigative report that was published by the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper on May 27, 2016, accusing the UAE and Palestinian figures such as Dahlan of buying houses and selling them to settlers in Jerusalem.

For his part, Muwaffaq Mattar, the executive director of the Office of Information and Culture in Fatah and member of the movements Revolutionary Council, told Al-Monitor, We are not concerned with any dispute with any Arab country. However, Dahlan  who serves as a security consultant in the UAE, which contributed to strengthening his ties with Egypt  has been seeking, since he sought refuge to the UAE, to stir sedition between the PA leadership and the Arab countries, namely the UAE, by inciting against the PA.

It is not a personal dispute between Abbas and Dahlan. We, in the Fatah movement, reject such labeling because Dahlan is wanted for murder and corruption. However, the pertinent question is how the UAE receives and supports him, knowing that he is wanted by the Palestinian judiciary, he said.

He added, Dahlan is doing security business within an international system [American and Israeli] to strike the PA and disturb its relations with the Arab countries, taking advantage of their concerns and fears vis-a-vis armed Islamic terrorist groups, given his security expertise in the Gaza Strip.

For his part, Hani al-Masri, director general of the Palestinian Center for Policy Research & Strategic Studies - Masarat, told Al-Monitor, The dispute between the PA and the UAE is not something new. However, sometimes it takes a more difficult turn. This dispute will continue to exist as long as the UAE continues to endorse Dahlan.

He added, The PA has to separate between the dispute with the UAE regarding Dahlan and establishing strong UAE-Palestinian relations."

It seems the dispute between the PA and UAE is likely to persist as Fatah and the PA leadership are not making amends with Dahlan, accusing him of corruption and demanding that he be brought to justice. Dahlan enjoys official UAE support and has good relations with the heads of some Arab countries, such as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
June 28, 2016

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could not have hoped for more: Within less than a week, two high-ranking leaders publicly sided with him. First, President Reuven Rivlin joined the ranks of the prime ministers spokespeople. The popular Israeli president joined the campaign against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Netanyahu would have been hard pressed to articulate his opposition to the French peace initiative better than Rivlin did in his June 22 speech to the European Parliament in Brussels.

Five days later, Netanyahu completed the reconciliation deal with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Israels partner in the fight against the European Union. The end of the crisis with Turkey came just in time for the start of the long summer vacation. Masses of Israelis  Jews and Arabs alike  can once again flock to the all-inclusive Antalya resorts. It's the surest way to make them forget or forgive the price of the luxury hotels of which the Netanyahus are particularly fond and the controversy over the prime ministers residences. Who remembers the critical comments made last week by former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon against Netanyahu at the Herzliya Conference and the combative appearance of former Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Channel 2?

The deal with Turkey includes an easing of the closure on Gaza, an important achievement for Hamas with serious implications for Abbas shaky standing. Let us focus here on the meeting that wasnt between Rivlin and Abbas.

Its hard to overstate the importance of their failure to meet. First of all, Rivlin, as everyone knows, is not Netanyahus yes-man or mouthpiece. The prime minister, after all, spared no efforts to prevent Rivlin from being elected president. The relationship between the two is somewhere between frosty and hostile. Therefore, theres no suspecting the president of serving as the prime ministers envoy of recalcitrance. Second, his views on equal rights, freedom of expression and Israels foreign relations have made him the darling of Israels liberal camp. Declarations that theres no Palestinian partner by leaders considered moderate, such as Rivlin and opposition leader Isaac Herzog, are different from when the words are said by Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. I heard quite a number of leftist Israelis expressing disappointment in recent days over Abbas' refusal to meet with Rivlin.

Thus, with one meeting that did not materialize, Rivlin became a priceless diplomatic asset for the right wing. Abbas, who accused Israel of a heinous crime, supplied the icing on the cake that Rivlin served Netanyahu. He concluded his Brussels speech with a fabrication: "Just a week ago, a week, a group of rabbis in Israel announced, in a clear announcement, demanding their government, to poison, to poison, the water of the Palestinians. (However, certain extreme rabbis have expressed that the killing of Palestinian babies can be permissible, and just this month Netanyahu celebrated Jerusalem Day alongside Rabbi Dov Lior, who preached in favor of expelling Israeli Arabs from their homes.)

Even after Abbas apologized for his remarks, the judgment of the Palestinian leader remains in question. Netanyahu may be missing opportunities for peace with the Palestinians, but you will never see him pass up an opportunity to lash out at them. "In Brussels, Abu Mazen showed his true face, the prime minister announced. Someone who refuses to meet President Rivlin and Prime Minister Netanyahu for direct negotiations and spreads  libel in the European Parliament falsely claims that his hand is extended in peace.

Lets assume that Abbas had agreed to shake Rivlins hand in front of the reporters and cameras. Would Netanyahu have said that the Palestinians were extending their hand in peace? After all, Abbas and even PLO leader Yasser Arafat have been meeting with Israeli leaders for 23 years. Even if Rivlin had adopted the views of his predecessor, Shimon Peres, he has no authority to offer the Palestinians a thing.

For years the Israeli public has been force-fed the idea that the importance of meeting with Palestinian leaders is in its very occurrence. Today, one can say that the importance of the meeting is in its non-occurrence. Such meetings with the Palestinian leadership, just as with other regional leaders, are not intended to advance a diplomatic arrangement as a substitute for the occupation. Such an arrangement is not in keeping with the Greater Land of Israel dogma that Rivlin openly espouses and with the positions that Netanyahu conceals behind hollow speeches. Meetings for the sake of photo ops convey a message of business as usual, as if to say that occupier and occupied can clearly co-exist.

And if it aint broke, why fix it? You can see clearly, opponents of such an agreement would say, Abbas is even willing to meet with an Israeli president who the day before declared before the European Parliament that theres no effective Palestinian leadership and that negotiations on a permanent agreement are doomed to fail.

Its too bad that a president who dedicates himself to preserving democracy within the State of Israel is lending his prestige to perpetuating Israels rule over millions of people under occupation. Surely he knows that if Israel does not annex the West Bank territories, it will cease being a democratic state, and if it does annex them it will no longer be a Jewish state.

As I have written previously, Rivlins moral authority in preserving Israels democratic values has been priceless. When I urged him, Run, Ruvi, run. The people of Israel are behind you, I did not mean for him to run into the arms of those who oppose peace with the Palestinian neighbors. If he wishes to meet effective leaders, Erdogan will surely be pleased to host him at his palace. With him, we have already reconciled.
June 28, 2016

Its long-term implications aside, Britains vote to leave the EU will have little immediate impact on Turkish-EU ties, which were on a downward spiral anyway before this referendum.

The scheduled meeting of Turkish and EU officials in Brussels on June 30 to negotiate financial and budgetary provisions with regard to Ankaras membership bid does not belie this. Those talks amount to no more that flogging a dead horse for many.

Brexit has nevertheless prompted a lively debate among Turks. The general assumption is that the already difficult road to membership for Turkey is much harder, if not downright impossible, to traverse now.

Metin Munir, a veteran columnist from the internet news portal T24, believes that Brexit has closed the topic of Turkeys EU membership. Those who want to leave the EU successfully used the possibility of Turkish membership to scare the people. The same fear exists in other EU countries, Munir said in his commentary piece on the topic.

It is no surprise, therefore, that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his supporters  who have little, if any, sympathy for the EU or enthusiasm for Turkeys membership  should be gloating over the outcome of the British referendum.

I always told them if you are going to admit us, say so; if not, then tell us not to bother. But they always tricked us and acted dishonestly, Erdogan said in his first reaction to the Brexit victory.

Referring to Prime Minister David Camerons attempt to disarm the Brexit campaign by claiming that Turkey would not be an EU member before the year 3000, Erdogan did not conceal his resentment.

Look at what happened! You [meaning Cameron] didnt last three days yourself, he said, adding, Its not possible for the EU to hide its double standards anymore.

The resentment toward Europe and the jubilation over Brexit was also discernible in the pro-government media.

Ibrahim Karagul, the fanatically anti-Western editor-in-chief of the Islamist daily Yeni Safak, for example, argued that Brexit meant the end of the Atlantic as the center of the world.

Global traumas have always come from this geography and maybe this will happen again. The idea behind the EU was to prevent World War III. They succeeded for a while, but it seems we are at the end of the road now, Karagul wrote exaggeratedly after the majority of British voters voted to leave the EU.

On the other hand, Yasin Aktay, a deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party who also writes for Yeni Safak, claimed the EUs deliverance would come from Turkey.

Turkey is the only country that can save the EU from this chaotic situation, give practical life to its values and inject confidence to people in the EU, Aktay argued somewhat fantastically.

If, however, the current attitude toward Turkey continues, then there might not be a European Union in a few years.

Erdogan is also happy over the outcome of the referendum in Britain because it represents a victory for the people against a hated elite, a populist approach he has always promoted in Turkey. He is currently pushing hard for a new constitution that will make him Turkeys directly elected leader who is unconstrained by any constitutional system of checks and balances.

Arguing that he has always considered the national will the basis of his democratic outlook, Erdogan  in his initial remarks on Brexit  also expressed his hope, insincerely some might say, that this result will benefit the British people.

Reflecting his anger at Europe, Erdogan hit at the EU with its own weapon a day before Britons went to vote, saying that Turkey might hold its own referendum to decide whether or not it should continue with its EU bid.

Lale Kemal, a veteran diplomatic and military analyst, also believes that the Brexit victory will do little to change the current state of Turkish-EU ties, in which Turkey appears to be the perpetual candidate for membership. She says, however, that the topic will be misused in Turkey.

Ankaras reactions, as soon as the official results of the referendum were announced, provide clues as to how this issue will be abused in the domestic political domain, Kemal argued in her column in the daily Yarina Bakis.

But Murat Yetkin, the editor-in-chief of the English-language Hurriyet Daily News and a prominent commentator on political matters, believes that Brexit will not necessarily be bad for Turkey.

Ankara now has to reposition itself in line with a new set of political circumstances brought about by Brexit. Erdogan and the ruling Justice and Development Party government see new opportunities in an EU weakened by Brexit, but not in the same way as Putin. As a member of NATO, Turkeys weight in regional politics could be increased by the vote, Yetkin argued.

Ozdem Sanberk, Turkeys former ambassador to the United Kingdom in London (1995-2000), believes the negative way in which Turkey was used in the Brexit campaign will not harm ties between the two countries.

We already have good relations with Britain in the economic sphere. Other than that, the two countries have always had close consultations on strategic issues, Sanberk, who currently heads the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization, told Al-Monitor.

Sanberk agrees that ties between Turkey and Britain could get stronger because of Londons need for strategic partners after it exits the EU. He argues that this will be contingent on Ankaras regaining the trust it has lost in the West.

Britain is an important strategic partner for Turkey, too. But for this partnership to gain full fruition, Turkey will have to improve its international image, Sanberk said. He added that the breakthrough in Turkish-Israeli ties and Ankaras current efforts to improve ties with Russia could represent a fresh start in this respect.

There are also indirect negative implications for Turkey in the Brexit victory. One concerns the rise of nationalism, racism and Islamophobia in Europe. There is also the drive for separation that Brexit will fuel, as exemplified by Scotlands situation.

Britain has shown that separatism in multicultured societies can be fueled by ballot box victories that come at the expense of pluralism. Kurdish politicians in Turkey will no doubt want to highlight this in the coming period.

There is also the broader issue of security. Despite Turkeys strained relations with the West, it still relies on NATO for its security. A weakened Europe of many voices that has to confront threats from Russia will hardly enhance Turkeys security needs.

Broader long-term considerations like this will be taken up later, though. Ankara is more interested today in gloating over Brexit and the manner in which this has left the whole EU  which has been less welcoming toward Turkey  in turmoil.
June 28, 2016

During his 20-plus years in various political offices, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been both the hero and the goat. It remains to be seen which role he will assume now that Turkey and Israel have announced the conditions of their reconciliation after 16 years.

As prime minister, Erdogan's silencing of Israel's then-President Shimon Peres with his now-historic one minute demarche at Davos 2009 accrued him vast prestige and delighted many people in the Middle East. In 2011, on the walls of three Palestinian camps I visited in Lebanon, I saw posters saluting Erdogan as a hero.

In 2010, had Turkey crashed through the Israeli blockade of Gaza with the Mavi Marmara flotilla, Erdogan would have been lauded as the long-awaited leader by the Islamic world. But it didnt work out that way. Israel raided the boat and killed nine people on board (one more person died of injuries four years later). Turkey responded by saying it would take five measures against Israel:

Lower the level of diplomatic relations.

Suspend military agreements.

Refuse to recognize the Gaza blockade and lodge a complaint with the International Court of Justice.

Work to ensure freedom of navigation in the eastern Mediterranean.

Initiate legal action for the victims.

Then Erdogan listed three conditions for normalizing relations with Israel: Israel must apologize, compensate victims' relatives and lift the Gaza blockade.

But behind the cloak of tension and friction, affairs were not all that bad between Ankara and Tel Aviv. In 2010, Turkey removed its veto on Israels membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That was followed by abolishing the veto on Israels participation in NATO exercises. Military cooperation continued behind the scenes. Trade with Israel mushroomed. Both countries were committed foes of the Syrian regime.

But for Islamists, Erdogan was still the lead fighter for Palestine.

Now, as events in Syria have not gone as planned, Erdogan was forced to say in January, Israel needs a country like Turkey in the region. We also must accept that we need Israel.

Turkey, which entered the regional scene with the slogan of zero problems with neighbors, quickly ran out of friendly neighbors. Considering the problems it also had with the United States and European Union, Turkey realized that reconciliation with Israel was imperative. To get Turkey out of isolation, Erdogan had to revert from using accrued prestige to the classical diplomacy he resents so much.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already apologized in 2013 for the Mavi Marmara incident under pressure from US President Barack Obama, and an agreement was reached for $20 million compensation. The only remaining condition was the lifting of the Gaza blockade. But this condition was not fulfilled and Israels conditions prevailed. Finally, a reconciliation agreement was made public June 27 and signed June 28.

Under the agreement, Turkey will be able to provide humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. However, Israel, which has never agreed to lift the blockade, demanded the humanitarian assistance must first go to Israels Ashdod port for security inspections. Israel thus got what it wanted and Ankara had no choice but to concede.

Another issue Israel was concerned with was Turkeys legal cases against Israeli soldiers and officials responsible for the attack on the boat. Turkey agreed to scrap all such cases.

What else did Israel get?

Turkey didn't mention the stipulations that favor Israel, but the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth listed them:

Turkey will do all it can to find an Israeli civilian who disappeared in Gaza in 2014 and to find the bodies of two soldiers killed in earlier operations.

Hamas will not use Turkey as a base of anti-Israel activities.

Parties will refrain from actions that might impair their interests in international platforms such as the United Nations and NATO.

The two states will discuss a natural gas pipeline for exporting Israels reserves via Turkey. Turkey would receive the Israeli gas and carry it to European markets.

The agreement is subject to ratification by the Turkish parliament and approval by the Israeli Cabinet.

While defending the agreement with Turkey, Netanyahu noted that Hamas activities, including collecting donations, will be banned in Turkey. He emphasized the energy-related aspects of the arrangement, saying they will have enormous benefits for Israel's economy.

Although the Israeli right wing is complaining of major concessions to Erdogan, who had just welcomed Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, Netanyahus lofty expectations overrode them all.

The only stipulation that will facilitate the "sale" of this agreement to the Turkish public is Israels permission to allow Turkey to build a water purification system, a power station and a 200-bed hospital in Gaza and industrial parks at the Jenin and Erez crossings.

So Turkey is volunteering to pay for a humanitarian disaster that Israel inflicted. But as it is a humanitarian issue, nobody can oppose it. Palestinians have no choice but to say they're happy with it.

Will there be a political cost for Erdogan, who until now played with the emotions of his constituents by saying things like Israel and Turkey cannot normalize relations until cruelty ends?

The reality is that although Islamists might not be happy with it, the governments public relations mechanism is capable of spinning a story of victory from all of this. Look at how Erdogan handled it: He first hosted Hamas leader Meshaal and then telephoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about the developments, giving the impression that he had the blessings of the Palestinian side. A clever move!

According to Turkeys pro-government media, which presented the deal with Israel as Gaza can now breathe, there are no conditions about Hamas.

But as we saw when Turkey deported Hamas notable Saleh al-Arouri, measures against Hamas were already in progress as the negotiations with Israel were continuing. To make life easier for Erdogan, Hamas had no choice but to do its duty and express its gratitude.

In his first assessment, Erdogan evaded addressing the blockade and presented the easing of the embargo as the end of the blockade. Erdogan announced the good news that 14 tons of humanitarian relief will reach Gaza before the Eid al-Fitr holidays marking the end of Ramadan, saying, Our Palestinian brethren will celebrate a second holiday. We did all this in consultation with Meshaal and Abbas.

Nobody remembered that Abbas had asked for the coordination of Turkeys relief efforts not with Hamas, but with the Palestinian Authority.

As if primed by someone, the pro-government media of Turkey began penning analyses on how an alliance of Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar was being shaped for the stability of the Middle East.

But what about the victims? Turkeys IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, which collaborates with the Syrian government and had organized the Mavi Marmara flotilla, bluntly declared its opposition to the deal with Israel. IHH issued a statement saying, This agreement means Turkeys recognition of the Gaza blockade. The court cases [against Israel] were not only by the families of martyrs, but 37 other victims. These cases wont be dropped. We hope that the parliament will not approve such an agreement, which would mean amnesty for murderers."

It concluded its statement with the Palestinian saying Those who cover themselves with Israel will end up naked.

Nevertheless, except for a narrow segment that truly identifies with Palestine, Erdogans devoted constituent base is ready to listen with pride to the saga of success he has drafted for them.
June 29, 2016

Over the past 12 months, 298 people have been killed and about 1,000 wounded in 17 terror attacks in Turkey. The attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on the evening of June 28 was the sixth major terror attack in 2016.

What made this attack different from the others was its location. This is the third airport attack in Turkeys long history of combating terror. In 1982, the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia attacked Ankara Esenboga Airport and killed nine people, and the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, which is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), fired mortars at Sabiha Gokcen Airport in Istanbul in December 2015.

Last night's attack was the bloodiest and Turkey's first suicide attack at an airport.

In 2015, Ataturk Airport handled 62 million passengers. Its security measures make it one of the best-guarded airports in the world. However, the security perimeter, which had been recently expanded, created a severe breach in security, worsened by round-the-clock heavy traffic close to the arrival and departure terminals.

According to official reports, around 8:45 p.m. local time, three terrorists came to the airport in two taxis and easily reached the entrance of the international terminal. However, Al-Monitor spoke with security sources who claimed on condition of anonymity that seven people had been involved. Roughly 10 minutes after their arrival, they split into two groups and moved toward the security checkpoint at the terminal entrance. One of the attackers shouted in Turkish, There is a bomb. It is going to explode," triggering panic among the large crowd waiting for the security checks. Then the attackers started firing randomly with their automatic rifles. The police responded. One of the attackers was wounded and blew himself up at the entrance of the terminal. Another did the same at the entrance to the parking lot across from the terminal. In the clashes and explosions that lasted about three minutes, 41 people were killed, 18 of them foreigners, most of them Saudis, Iranians and Ukranians. A total of 239 people were wounded.

Although investigations are ongoing, officials including Prime Minister Binali Yildirim have pointed to the Islamic State as the perpetrator.

A pattern is emerging in the terror attacks executed by the PKK and IS. The Jan. 12 attacks in the Sultanahmet district and in Taksim Square on March 19, both targeting popular tourist areas in Istanbul, suggest that IS prefers high-profile attacks that will attract international attention by directly targeting foreign civilians, while the PKK and its proxies are more interested in influencing the Turkish publics perceptions by attacking military-security targets. Another important distinction has been the PKKs use of female militants.

Recently, the PKK and its proxies have refrained from using car bombs in the clashes with security forces. In addition, following a PKK attack, those responsible usually reveal their identity within 24 hours, whereas IS takes much longer to claim responsibility for an attack and give details of the operation, suggesting that last night's attack was an IS operation.

Who were the perpetrators of the latest attack in Istanbul that coincided with the second anniversary of the declaration of the IS Caliphate on June 28, 2014? Two options are plausible. One is that the attackers were members of a special team sent directly from Raqqa in Syria. The other option is that the attackers were part of a semi-autonomous Turkish network linked to IS.

Security sources told Al-Monitor that at least two of the attackers were of Central Asian origin, most likely from Uzbekistan. This group's motive could have been to intimidate Ankara because of its Syrian policy choices and sharp U-turns in relations with Russia and Israel, sending Ankara the message: "Watch out. If you push us, you will pay a high price."

Over the past year, IS has carried out about 10 terror attacks in Turkey, and its first attacks against civilians  instead of specific opposition groups  took place in Suruc on July 20, 2015, and more than 100 people died in Ankara on Oct. 10, 2015. There seems to have been a major change in IS' strategy against Turkey.

It seems most likely that IS, which is under increasing pressure in Syria and Iraq, will shift its focus and actions to Turkey. When an attack is carried out by semi-autonomous networks that are not fully under the hierarchical command-control chain of IS, the decisions on the location, type and timing of the attack are delegated to the local network. This decentralization makes detection and prevention much more difficult for security forces.

Turkish security and intelligence bodies striving to cope with these serious developments will also be subject to public criticism, which may trigger even harsher countermeasures.
The president of Dynetics Technical Services in Huntsville is stepping down.

Jonathan Whitcomb. (Courtesy)

DTS President Jonathan Whitcomb is retiring from his position July 1 after two decades with the business. Stephen Cook, vice president of Dynetics Corporate Development, will serve as acting president of DTS when Whitcomb leaves the company.

"We wish Jonathan all the best," said David King, Dynetics CEO. "We greatly appreciate his leadership and integrity in helping build and grow our automotive, IT and cybersecurity businesses. Jonathan epitomizes the type of servant-leadership that Dynetics strives for, and he will be missed."

Whitcomb, formerly with Teledyne Brown Engineering, has held several senior and executive management roles at Dynetics since starting with the company in 1995. He was vice president of enterprise solutions before becoming president of DTS, a subsidiary of Dynetics.
The Economic Development Partnership of Alabama will honor companies from across the state during the 2016 Alabama Innovation Awards.

The awards, which recognize innovative accomplishments, will be delivered Aug. 30 at the sixth-annual Alabama Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center in Birmingham. Venture for America CEO Andrew Yang will be the keynote speaker.

"These awards reflect EDPA's commitment to encourage and celebrate innovation-based economic development across Alabama, " EDPA President Steve Spencer said.

This year's winners are:

Corporate Innovator of the Year (small company, 1-50 employees)

IllumiCare, Birmingham, which provides a non-intrusive ribbon of information that hovers over a hospital's electronic medical record, giving physicians real-time, patient-specific cost and patient risk data. IllumiCare helps hospitals improve clinical and financial outcomes.

Corporate Innovator of the Year (large company, 50+ employees)

CFD Research Corporation (CFDRC), Huntsville, which develops software, hardware concepts, designs and prototypes for the aerospace and defense, biomedical and life science, energy and materials and other industries, including the spinout

Outstanding Achievement in Innovative Manufacturing

Horizon Shipbuilding, Bayou La Batre, a shipyard recognized for its GORDHEAD collaboration software aiming to revolutionize the way shipbuilders and other manufacturers conduct business by improving communication more easily by sharing problems and quickly arriving at collaborative solutions.

Outstanding Public-Private Partnership for Innovation

HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and iCubate, Inc., Huntsville. iCubate is a privately held molecular diagnostic company with a diagnostic test that would identify gram-positive bacteria such as staphylococcus, which are common bacterial blood contaminants. The company is housed in the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, a nonprofit institute dedicated to innovating in the field of genomic technology and sciences across a spectrum of biological challenges.

Lifetime Achievement in Innovation

Joel Anderson, chairman and director of Anderson Cos., Florence, is recognized, among other things, for his major influence on Florence-area startups, as well as industries nationally and internationally, including pyrotechnics and wholesale distribution industries. He was an innovator of the use of computer technology in the magazine and book distribution business and is credited in making consumer fireworks safer through the American Fireworks Standards Laboratories.

Winners were nominated and vetted by a panel chaired by ADTRAN CEO Tom Stanton. Other judges include: Billy Harbert, CEO of BL Harbert International; Ralph Hargrove, president and CEO of Hargrove Engineers + Constructors; Harris Morrissette, president of China Doll Rice & Dixie Lily; Peggy Sutton, founder and president of To Your Health Sprouted Flour Co.; and Neill Wright, executive vice president of Liberty Bank.
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James Cameron, above, on the set of his 2009 blockbuster "Avatar." (20th Century Fox)

We understand friends defending friends, but James Cameron just brought it to a new, possibly maniacal level.



In a random recent video interview with Hannah Litchfield (which The Hollywood Reporter pointed out), the Oscar-winning "Avatar" and "Titanic" director finally shared his thoughts on what J.J. Abrams did with his "Star Wars" revival in "The Force Awakens."



"George Lucas is a friend of mine and he and I were having a good conversation the other day about it," he says in the interview. "I don't want to say too much about the film cause I also have a lot of respect for J.J. Abrams, and I want to see where they're taking it next, to see what they're doing with it.



"I have to say that I felt that George's group of six films had more innovative visual imagination, and this film was more of a retrenchment to things you had seen before, and characters you had seen before, and it took a few baby steps forward with new characters."



He even adds, "For me the jury's still out...I want to see where they go with it."



So...George's "group of six films" would mean he's lumping in the "Star Wars" prequels. And that makes Cameron, like, super wrong...right?



Of course, it shouldn't surprise us that the director of something as computer-generated and artificial as "Avatar" dug the visual design of the prequels, whose special effects are still rendering.



Nobody doubts James Cameron as a cinematic pioneer in his own right, but this just feels like he's looking out for his buddy George Lucas. Everyone, including the director of "Aliens" and the first two "Terminator" movies is entitled to their opinion, but we're a little dumbfounded here.



Cameron supposedly has a couple of "Avatar" sequels in the works, but the jury's still out on when we'll get them, if ever. We'll always love Cameron the filmmaker thanks to the aforementioned titles and their lasting contributions to the medium, but we'll opt to disagree with Cameron the critic this time.



Watch the full Cameron interview, and then by all means, watch the "Force Awakens" trailer below in all of its lacking in visual imagination glory.




Church of the Advent, the cathedral for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama in Birmingham, has a new worship and liturgy minister.

Breaking with tradition, he's not an Episcopal priest, or even an Episcopalian. He's a Presbyterian minister. He'll hold the staff title of Canon for Worship and Liturgy.

The Rev. Zac Hicks served as pastor of worship at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., from 2013-2016. He went from being blocks away from the beach to an urban church in downtown Birmingham.

"I really do love this city and I think Advent's excited to be part of downtown," Hicks said. "Our unique contribution is to speak into people's spiritual lives."

Hicks joined the staff at Advent Cathedral earlier this month.

"Advent believes in the gospel, forgiveness and grace and those are the catalysts by which people grow and a town is renewed," Hicks told AL.com. "We want to be a voice for that."

Hicks was ordained in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. He earned a bachelor's degree with an emphasis in classical vocal performance from the Biola Conservatory of Music and a master of divinity degree from Denver Seminary.

He's a preacher, musician and writer. He recently produced the recording, "Come and Make Us Free," and has a book coming out, "The Worship Pastor."

Advent will continue its schedule of Sunday morning worship services at 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., but is considering adding a contemporary service led by Hicks, according to the church's web site.

The church defended its hiring of a Presbyterian minister as Canon, a title at the cathedral usually reserved for Episcopal priests on staff.

"Let me assure you that this does not lessen our Anglicanism at The Advent," wrote Dean Andrew Pearson. "In fact, it is Zac's commitment to Anglican theology and heritage that made this arrangement possible."

Hicks and his wife, Abby, have four children.

Zac Hicks and his wife, Abby, have four children.

Hicks posted a Q&A on his web site, answering questions he's heard since he took the new job.

What's your official title?

Canon for Worship & Liturgy. It's pretty awesome. It makes me sound like a big deal. For those not familiar with Church of England-style lingo, a "Canon" is basically an "Associate Pastor." "Canon" sounds strong and powerful, but the reality is I will need another "n" before I'm going to be able to blow anything up.

Are you wearing all the bling?

Yes, I'm sporting a collar on occasion--mostly on Sundays and for hospital calls. Yes, I don robes and vestments on Sunday mornings when I'm leading the liturgy. Daily, no. I wear downtown-y clothes during the week. :) For me, I'm all about doing what's best for the flock, what helps me to minister well. It honestly feels a little uncomfortable for me, but that will fade with time, and it doesn't feel uncomfortable for everyone else, which is what really counts. All things to all people!

Did your theology change?

Not at all. Actually, becoming a part of this very Reformationally-conscious Episcopal parish makes several aspects of the theology I've always been convicted of feel more at home, rooted, and centered. Advent, as a part of the Anglican communion, is very aware of its historic theological identity--its roots in the theology of the 39 Articles and the original Prayer Books of the Church of England--and it actually thinks (as I do) that the gospel articulated, prized, enacted, and preached therein is worth dying for.

Yes, many (well, most) other Episcopal parishes conceive their identity very differently. Advent is a place that chooses to take its historic roots seriously, engaging (and believing in the contemporary relevance of) the streams of Luther and Calvin that flowed into the Church of England at the time of its formation. Advent believes in all the evangelical (in the best sense of the word) essentials that I do.

What about your ordination?

For some, this will feel like yawn worthy TMI. I'm ordained in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), and when I was at Coral Ridge--a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)--I was serving in what Presbyterians call an "out of bounds" capacity. It makes me sound like a deviant. All it really means is that I retained my ordination in the EPC even as I served in a non-EPC church. I regularly attended regional EPC pastors' meetings for support/accountability, even as I completely and passionately invested myself in the local church.

I'm doing the same thing in Birmingham. I'm transferring my ordination into the regional EPC body here and serving in an out of bounds capacity. It's less-than-usual configuration, for sure. But it appears that my whole ministry to this point has been less-than-usual. I'm just following God's lead. Though I readily conceive of myself in relation to the Church catholic, and in relation to denominations, movements, and tribes within the universal church, I've always felt that my sense of call must first and foremost be to a local church--to flesh-and-bone humans who do life together and pour out their gifts for one another and for the world. God has made my call to Advent crystal clear, and I'm excited to be rolling up my sleeves.

As the dust settles over the summer, I hope to resume a more regular rhythm of posting. It's very life-giving for me. I imagine, given my new context, that I will be thinking different thoughts. I only and always find my best posts springing from reflections that happen in my local context. I'm excited for the release of the book and the conversations and new thoughts it will stimulate. The Worship Pastor might end up raising more questions than answers, but, as others have told me: That's what second editions are for.
A civil rights group based in northeast Alabama is offering consulting services to police departments seeking better community relations.

The Justice and Civil Rights Initiative, a group based in Calhoun County, has worked with police departments in Jacksonville, Anniston and Talladega, and the Calhoun County District Attorney's office. At a news conference this afternoon, JCRI founder Ed Moore III announced the Law Enforcement Assistance and Improvement Package, or LEAIP.

Moore said the program can be offered to any police department and employs techniques the group has used with other departments.

"This is a difficult time for law enforcement agencies, and this package can help alleviate some of their burdens," he said. "We've worked in this area for three years, and we think we know exactly what law enforcement agencies need. We want to be the organization that can provide these resources.

LEAIP, as Moore described it, involves the JCRI working with the department to identify citizen needs and concerns that police may not be aware of outside the scope of daily law enforcement duties. That work can include doing community surveys and coordinating outreach activities.

The aim is a healthy relationship between police and their communities, Moore said, in order to avoid public conflict.

Moore said the JCRI can offer general consultation, public forum planning, surveys, and working to put the results of those surveys into practice. The services provided will be confidential, he said.

Why confidential? Moore said the work would be similar to a doctor/patient relationship, which would allow the agency and the JCRI to work more closely on finding solutions to problems.

The group's news conference took place at Oxford City Hall. Oxford Police Chief Bill Partridge said he thinks the services would be valuable to some agencies.

"I think there's plenty that will definitely take a look at it," he said.
Authorities have released the name of one of two people killed earlier this week in a fiery crash in Tuscaloosa County.

Alabama State Troopers today identified one of the victims as Ascencion Marcelo Roque Jimenez of Moundville. He was 36.

The crash happened at 3:30 p.m. Monday on Alabama 69 near the 135 mile marker. A GMC Envoy collided with a Dodge Charger and the Envoy caught fire, said Senior Trooper Reginal King. Jiminez was a passenger in the Envoy. Authorities have not yet released the name of the driver, who was also killed.

The driver of the Dodge Charger, 38-year-old Derrick Maurice Lucy, was taken to DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa. His passenger, whose name hasn't been released, was also transported to DCH.

The crash remains under investigation by troopers.
Sam Woods.png

Samuel Woods III

(Shelby County Jail)

A Helena teen is yet again back in the Shelby County Jail, now facing a total of four counts of second-degree rape after two more underage girls have come forward.

Samuel Woods III, 19, was charged by Alabaster police on Tuesday with two counts of second-degree rape. He was arrested earlier this week by Helena police on the same charge, and by Alabaster police more than a week ago, also on a charge of second-degree rape.

In the latest cases, police said they can't release the ages of the victims but both are under the age of 16. According to arrest warrants in the newest cases, the alleged incidents happened April 17 with one of the girls, and April 20 with the other girl. Alabaster police Chief Curtis Rigney said he couldn't release any additional information because of the ages of the victims.

Woods was arrested by Helena police on Saturday, according to court records made public today. He remains in the Shelby County Jail with bond set at $30,000.

According to Alabama law, a person commits the crime of rape in the second degree if:

(1) Being 16 years old or older, he or she engages in sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex less than 16 and more than 12 years old; provided, however, the actor is at least two years older than the member of the opposite sex.

(2) He or she engages in sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex who is incapable of consent by reason of being mentally defective.

In Alabama, the age of consent is 16 and only leads to criminal charges if there is an age difference of two calendar years. Also, 16 and 17-year-olds are charged as juveniles, but those 18 and older are charged as adults.

A Class B felony is punishable by two to 20 years in prison and up to $30,000 in fines. A person convicted of statutory rape could be required to register as a sex offender, depending on the conviction and terms of sentencing.

According to his arrest warrant in Helena, Woods had sexual intercourse on June 6, 2015 with a girl who was 15 years old at the time. He was booked into the Shelby County Jail Saturday on that charge, and released on Tuesday. Later Tuesday, he was arrested again by Alabaster police and remains in jail today with bonds totaling $60,000.

In Alabaster's first case, they arrested Woods June 18 for allegedly having sex in September 2015 with a girl who is now 14.

Efforts to reach Woods or his family weren't immediately successful. Several investigations regarding Woods are ongoing
Food stamp sign.jpg

File Photo Stan Diel

The owner of a Bessemer grocery store was sentenced this week to three years and 10 months in federal prison and was ordered to forfeit $5.2 million to the government for defrauding the food stamp program, structuring cash transactions and laundering money to hide the illegal profit, and evading federal income taxes, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

Hasan F. Ahmed, 50, owner and operator of Associated Discount Foods on Ninth Street South in Bessemer, pleaded guilty in March to one count each of food stamp fraud, tax evasion and structuring currency transactions, and four counts of money laundering.

U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor sentenced Ahmed and ordered the $5.2 million forfeiture at a hearing on Monday, according to a joint statement from U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Veronica Hyman-Pillot and U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, Investigations, Special Agent in Charge Karen Citizen-Wilcox.

"For several years, this defendant misused thousands of dollars' worth of food stamp benefits every day, enriching himself at the expense of American taxpayers and food stamp recipients," Vance stated. "The SNAP program provides assistance for those who need help to feed their families. We will not allow criminals to corrupt that program so they can feed their own greed."

Hyman-Pillot stated that Ahmed intentionally abused the SNAP program and lined his pockets with taxpayer funds. "His actions ultimately reduced the amount of benefits available to families in need of nutrition assistance. IRS-CI and our law enforcement partners will continue to work together and investigate similar schemes. We will trace every penny of illicit proceeds and return the funds to the United States Government."

Ahmed's attorney, Michael Hanle, responded to the sentence in an email to Al.com.

"Although his initial actions were intended to help the community following the April 2011 tornado, in the long run he ended up taking from the very people he was trying to support," Hanle wrote. "For that Mr. Ahmed is truly sorry. He looks forward to the day when he can once again serve the Bessemer community in a positive way."

Ahmed is a U.S. citizen, but had an interpreter who speaks Bengali at his plea hearing in March. He has a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Ahmed was not among the 17 people arrested in the Birmingham area in a sweep last year by law enforcement that was the biggest food stamp fraud investigation in Jefferson County's history.

The Food Stamp Program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - or SNAP, is a federally funded, national program established by the United States Government to alleviate hunger and malnutrition among lower income families. Under that program retailers may only accept SNAP benefits in exchange for eligible food items, according to Ahmed's plea deal. SNAP benefits may not, in any case, be exchanged for cash - a practice commonly referred to as "trafficking" - or other forbidden items such as alcohol, tobacco products, lottery tickets or fuel.

SNAP program clients use Electronic Benefit Transfer - or EBT - cards in order to access their benefits. This system allows the U.S. Department of Agriculture to electronically track how much a specific retailer is redeeming in SNAP benefits per month and to track the SNAP redemption funds deposited in a specific retailer's bank accounts due to SNAP redemptions.

According to Ahmed's plea deal:

Ahmed incorporated Maisha, Inc., doing business as Associated Discount Foods (ADF), in 2005.

From January 2007 through December 2010, midsized, neighborhood grocery store had average monthly SNAP redemptions of $4,196. In January 2011, the store's redemptions increased significantly to $17,457. By April 2011, the store's monthly SNAP redemptions surpassed the average monthly redemptions of five other medium sized grocery stores within a fourteen mile radius of the store.

ADF's redemptions increased dramatically in 2011 because Ahmed began illegally trafficking in SNAP benefits or exchanging SNAP benefits for cash.

For example, Ahmed would accept $65 in SNAP benefits in exchange for $50 in cash. He would retain the additional $15 as profit. Ahmed personally conducted all the SNAP benefit for cash transactions, according to the plea deal. He also allowed customers to purchase ineligible items such as alcohol, paper products, household items, diapers, and toiletries using SNAP EBT benefits, according to the plea deal. For example, on or about May 22, 2014, Ahmed purchased $168 in USDA food stamp benefits from a cooperating witness for $100 in cash and approximately $24 in eligible grocery items and a six pack of beer.

Ahmed also allowed individuals to borrow on credit against their SNAP benefits, according to the plea deal. And he allowed individuals to redeem SNAP benefits that were not in their name. He understood that these transactions violated SNAP regulations and were illegal.

In 2013, ADF's average monthly SNAP redemptions totaled $195,809. By comparison, similarly sized stores in Alabama had average monthly redemptions totaling $12,099 and the national average totaled $9,567. Moreover, the 2013 average monthly SNAP redemptions for ADF exceeded the 2013 average monthly SNAP redemptions for one large grocery store and four supermarkets within a ten mile radius of the store.

Based on ADF's total SNAP redemptions and comparison analysis, the Ahmed acquired an estimated $5,243,866 in SNAP benefits from July 2011 through June 2014 in a way that was contrary to law, according to the plea deal.

Ahmed also was charged with tax evasion for reporting that his total taxable income for 2013 was zero when it was really $210,926 for that year, according to the plea deal.

The money laundering charge involved Ahmed moving money from the grocery store's business accounts into a personal checking account that was in another person's name "in whole or in part to conceal or disguise that this money was the product of the food stamp fraud he had committed through ADF," according to the plea deal.

The structuring charge involved Ahmed making deposits or withdrawals just under $10,000 to avoid banking rules that require identification in order to conduct such transactions of $10,000 or more.

Ahmed is represented by attorneys Michael P Hanle and Kathryn Lippert.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erica Williamson is prosecuting the case.

Updated at 8:30 a.m. June 30 with comment from Ahmed's attorney
Manila, Philippines  The Philippines controversial president-elect, Rodrigo Duterte, will assume his post on June 30.

As mayor of the Philippines second largest city, Davao, Duterte was accused of employing death squads to rid the streets of drug dealers and lower the crime rate.

He has vowed to bring back the death penalty so that he can legally execute drug traffickers, rapists and murderers. On June 1, Duterte said that corrupt journalists were legitimate targets for assassination. He once commented on the 1989 gang rape and murder of an Australian missionary during a prison riot: I was mad she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first.

Despite all of this, Duterte wristbands are a common sight among poor Filipinos.

The slums of Manila and Cebu remain impoverished, despite a 5.8 percent GDP growth rate in 2015.

This is juxtaposed with data showing that the collective wealth of the 40 richest Filipino families grew by $13bn during the year 2010-2011, to $47.4bn  an increase of 37.9 percent.

The country has a history of oligarchic dictatorships, but the people have now elected an outside-the-box candidate. Many impoverished Filipinos say they voted for Duterte because they believe he can reduce crime and create a more just society.

These photos explore some of the disparities in the country today.
The danger is that further fragmentation could be formalised by minority groups calling for a referendum worldwide.

Ahmed Rashid is a journalist and the author of five books on Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia.

The success of the referendum in Britain will not just inspire more countries to use referendums to leave the European Union, but also motivate ethnic and minority groups around the world to possibly demand a referendum to seek independence and statehood, thereby causing chaos in the states system that has existed since 1945.

So quite apart from the social and economic consequences of the referendum for Britain and Europe, the idea of a referendum will have a global spill-over effect, encouraging extremist populism and Islamism and thereby potentially further fragmenting already vulnerable states and societies.





As long as referendums preserved the status quo they did not damage the body politic of nation states.

Yet Britain has demonstrated that the status quo of economic and political unions and long-held ideas of nationhood can be broken up when governments come under populist public pressure to change political direction by using a referendum as its main political means to achieve it.

Long running tensions

Scotland is likely to hold a second referendum to see if it will become independent of Britain and stay in the EU.

Elsewhere in Europe, Spain is in particular danger.

READ MORE: Britain and the Arab world post Brexit

The Catalans are likely to pressure the Spanish state to speed up giving them independence, possibly through a second referendum. Separatists lost an earlier referendum. The Basques in the north west still have a strong left-wing nationalist movement.

As long as referendums preserved the status quo they did not damage the body politic of nation states. by

Belgium, the base of the European Union, is itself vulnerable. It is home to two main linguistic groups, the Dutch-speaking Flemish community and the French-speaking Walloons.

There is long-running tension between them and a separatist movement among the Flemish community has emerged. It took 18 months after the June 2010 federal election to form a government in Brussels. Belgiums split communities now may see a referendum as a means to separate.

The whole of Europe has been infected with the British disease. Right-wing populists in France, the Netherlands and Denmark are already pushing for a British-style referendum that would take them out of the European Union.

The British people have taught us a resounding lesson in democracy, said Marine Le Pen, leader of the French right-wing National Front. I think the UK has initiated a movement that will not stop, she added.

Deprived ethnic and religious groups

And what about further afield in Asia and Africa, where former European colonies were given statehood after World War II  often by forcing together competing ethnic groups, tribes and religious minorities to forge new countries that are still fragile. Will some of these groups now demand a referendum to split and fragment existing states?

South Asia is riddled with deprived ethnic and religious groups who are seeking various forms of freedom.

Separatists in Pakistans Balochistan province have been fighting a ten-year-long insurrection seeking independence, while Kashmiris in both India and Pakistan are demanding a separate state.

The Nagas in northeast India and other tribal groups are also seeking independence. Many of these groups have demanded a referendum to determine their future.

In recent years, with the help of Islamic extremism, the Middle East has seen the destruction of borders in Syria and Iraq and escalating sectarian conflicts.

READ MORE: Why Brexit will disappoint Brexiters

There are now multiple centres of power in the failed states of Yemen and Libya and vibrant Kurdish independence or autonomy-seeking movements in several states  Turkey, Iraq and Syria. The danger is that further fragmentation could be formalised by minority groups calling for a referendum.

Clearly the idea of a referendum is only feasible if there is a government willing to allow its people such political choices, just as Britain did.

Authoritarian or weak governments in the developing world will never allow such a freedom of choice or willingly let minorities opt out of their nation state.

However, that does not preclude the idea of a referendum becoming a political demand or a tool in the arsenal of militant nationalists, separatists and right-wing populists to force their government to hold one.

More dangerous still, separatist groups could start appealing to the United Nations or other international bodies to support their demand for a referendum on the grounds of human rights.

We are on the cusp of a dramatically changing, shifting world. British people have no idea what they have unleashed on the rest of the world when they voted to leave the European Union. We will all bear the consequences.

Ahmed Rashid is the author of five books on Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. His latest book is Pakistan on the Brink.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Modern humanitarianism is struggling to keep pace with rapid developments in the tactics of modern conflict.

James Denselow is a writer on Middle East politics and security issues and a research associate at the Foreign Policy Centre.

Forgotten somewhat in the shadow of the seismic fallout from Britains decision to leave the European Union, the conflict in Syria continues to worsen. Bereft of a functioning peace process and beset on all sides by armed actors, Syrias civilian population faces the further challenge of being increasingly trapped in the centre of a deadly storm.

They cant travel south. In late June, following an attack on their forces, Jordan declared its border region with Syria a closed military zone, while announcing that no additional refugee camps would be built or expanded.

A humanitarian disaster is on the horizon as no food and little water has reached some 64,000 Syrian refugees stuck on the border.





Speaking at a recent conference on migration, Professor Dawn Chatty, of the Oxford Refugee Studies Centre, described Jordan as preventing Syrians from coming into the country and deporting people back.

Meanwhile, the Kingdoms foreign minister said the countrys security outweighed humanitarian concerns.

Pushing back refugees

Travelling north, the single most popular route out of the country is becoming increasingly fraught.

Earlier in June Turkish border guards killed at least eight Syrian refugees, including several children, as families were reportedly fired on indiscriminately after attempting to cross into the country.

READ MORE: The death of the Syria peace process

Bill Frelick, Human Rights Watch Refugee programme director, shared another story that suggested that Turkey was looking to build automatic shooting gun towers every 300 metres along the border, in addition to more fences.

Inside the country there are now 6.6 million internally displaced Syrians, including nearly 850,000 people in hard-to-reach areas and more than 330,000 in besieged locations. by

Turkish towns on the border are increasingly pushing back against allowing more Syrians in.

The nearby regional hub of Gaziantep has suffered several attacks and following the major attack on the Ataturk Airport Turks are calling for further security measures to protect against security threats from Syria

To Syrias west, the Lebanese army continues to fortify the infamously permeable border and is in active conflict with extremist groups near the town of Arsal.

The security concerns emanating from Syria were put into sharper focus towards the end of a June when eight suicide bombers attacked a Christian town in the Bekaa Valley.

Finally, to Syrias east are ISILs heartland and the fires of the Iraqi conflict.

Inside the country there are now 6.6 million internally displaced Syrians, including nearly 850,000 people in hard-to-reach areas and more than 330,000 in besieged locations.

Thread all of these trends together and it becomes clear that increasingly Syrian civilians are trapped by the conflict within the country and by the actions of the neighbouring states encouraged by European countries fearful of the migrant crisis.

Humanitarian agencies wanting to help Syrians trapped inside this cage face huge challenges of their own.

More than 50 humanitarian, human rights and civil society groups backed a report from the Syria Campaign that accused the UN of giving in to demands not to help rebel-held areas.

Threat of aerial aid drops

The threat of aerial aid drops suddenly allowed UN convoys into many hard-to-reach areas, but often this access was accompanied by a subsequent heavy bombardment.

There is a $16.1bn shortfall in this years UN humanitarian funding appeal, and one wonders what the price will be for such seeming indifference to this conflict of a generation.

READ MORE: Can the world provide Syrians with aid from above?

The decision by armed actors, primarily the regime, to treat aid access as a means of war has huge implications for the principles of humanitarianism and makes a mockery of the once powerful notion of responsibility to protect.

Modern humanitarianism is struggling to keep pace with the rapid developments in the tools and tactics of modern conflict and there is an urgent need for thought leadership as well as technological innovation in the fields of humanitarian technology to address these challenges and help reach those civilians inside Syria.

The notion of seeing Syria as a security problem to defend against rather than a conflict with a vast humanitarian consequence that needs to be addressed for moral and legal as well as strategic reasons has to be challenged.

The country cannot be sealed off to civilians looking to survive a war that has killed a quarter of a million of their countrymen and women and set back Syrian life expectancy 20 years.

Murdered British parliamentarian and former aid worker Jo Cox once wrote: Syria is our generations test, our responsibility.

With Europe in flux and a new US president in the White House in the new year, there is another chance for some of the worlds biggest powers to step up to this biggest of challenges.

James Denselow is a writer on Middle East politics and security issues and a research associate at the Foreign Policy Centre.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Rob M

Spoiler Alert: New Mexico is going down like the Hindenburg on Ambien. The old-school Burquenos tell me that everyone they went to high school with has moved on or died. I've been to more going-away parties in the last year than in my whole life. And the place has gone to crap for those of us still here. Our funds are shrinking, our kids are poor and dumb, and our people are moving away.

It's not easy to admit, but New Mexico is on the fast track to becoming Nowheresville. Meanwhile, our neighbors to the north, Colorado, are experiencing huge tax revenues, improved schools and a raging real estate market. All because of that silly decision two years ago to legalize cannabis.

Those aren't the only improvements, either. The latest statistics from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation say that overall crime was down 1% in 2014. According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, marijuana-abuse in teens is below the national average and lower than it was before legalization. And a public that's not worried about going to jail over a bag of dope tends to have a better opinion about the police in their community.

But even if you're one of those scaly bastards (politicians) who doesn't care at all about the societal benefits of cannabis, and would rather count your money all day while you prop your feet up on the arched back of some poor jerk from the wrong side of the tracksget this: There are way more important numbers to consider here. I'm talking cash, baby.

New Mexico is in the middle of a revenue crisis. State revenue collections are 11 percent less for the current fiscal year than they were at this time last year. A massive drop in oil and gas prices caused much of the damage, and we're seeing budget cuts to state programs as a result. And just recently, the USDA accused the state of renewing SNAP food benefits for people who were no longer qualified, meaning we might owe the federal government millions in back-pay. The bottom line: We need money.

It's not easy to admit, but New Mexico is on the fast track to becoming Nowheresville. Meanwhile, our neighbors to the north, Colorado, are experiencing huge tax revenues, improved schools and a raging real estate market. All because of that silly decision two years ago to legalize cannabis.

Colorado, on the other hand, is swimming in it. In 2015, the still-new cannabis market brought in $996.2 million in legal sales of medical and recreational marijuana, a marked improvement on the $699 million from the year before. The taxes and license fees from those sales came out to a whopping $135 million. That's a lot of dough. Dough that gets turned into community centers, patched-up roads, funds for homeless charities, you name it.

$35 million of those tax dollars were earmarked specifically for renovating public schools, and one county used some of its pot money to help send 25 kids to college. There's even a brand-new playground in the works for the city of Pueblo, thanks to excess marijuana tax dollars. Yes. Excess.

That should make your ears twitch if you've been paying attention to the local news, and you're a parent (or anyone who's concerned with child welfare in general). Because once againthree years in a row, woot woot New Mexico was rated 49th in the nation for child well-being in the Annie E. Casey Foundation's annual Kids Count assessment. We were 48th in the nation for economic well-being and 50th for education. The amount of fourth and eighth graders unable to read at a proficient level was above 78%. CBS News straight up told people not to raise their children here.

Which is probably a major reasonother than pure economic declinethat people are getting the fuck out. The state's population only grew 1.3% since 2010. That might not sound too awful, but that increase only happened thanks to a bunch of new babies. Meanwhile, 27,000 more people moved out than moved in at the same time. Compare that to the 101,000 people who moved to Colorado in 2015, an increase that was more than double the national average.

With new people come new businesses and new jobs, something Colorado saw a boom in during the initial months after legalization. And all those people need places to sleep, turning the housing market into a golden-egg-laying monster.

The news coming from our toasted neighbors is so good, it seems crazy that earlier this year, our state senators voted down a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed people 25 and older to buy and smoke marijuana. Earlier this month, as one of her reasons for not supporting former Governor Gary Johnson's presidential campaign, Governor Susana Martinez denounced the Libertarian's pro-legalization stance, making me wonder if perhaps she isn't privy to the information, so readily available, about the great experiment happening to the northmaybe the previously mentioned budget cuts included the removal of wi-fi from state offices. When faced with the facts, even she would have to admit that we have nothing to lose, right?

In fact, the only people I can think of who would gain anything from the continued support of prohibition are drug dealers. Legalization means less returns for black market dealers, whose price markups depend on the danger inherent in trafficking illegal substances.

Otherwise, it's just numbers. Put aside any bizarre moral code you've inherited where cannabis is an evil substance that turns brown people into rapists and white people into killers, and just look at the actual stats. Numbers. Why do I feel like I'm yelling into a vacuum? Godammit, everybody wins. Don't you want New Mexico to win?
Brigadier-General Hameed al-Qushaibi was captured by Houthis in July 2014 and later killed.

The assassination of a prominent Yemeni brigadier-general by Houthi fighters was ordered by high-ranking rebel commanders, according to audio recordings recently obtained by Al Jazeera.

Brigadier-General Hameed al-Qushaibi, who was head of the Yemeni armys Brigade 310, was captuerd in July 2014 and shot dead by eight Houthi gunmen in Amran, a city situated around 50 kilometres north of Sanaa.





The recordings include phone conversations believed to be between several influential Houthi military leaders, including field commander Youssef al-Madani and military commander Abu Ali al-Hakim.

Both Madani and Hakim were reportedly killed in air strikes launched by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen in 2015.

During the phone conversations, it is revealed that the Houthi rebels viewed Qushaibis assassination as revenge for the 2004 killing of the groups founder, Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi.

In one conversation which appears to be between Houthi commander Abdullah al-Hasani and Madani, the former informs the latter that fighters had already killed Qushaibi.

READ MORE: Who are the Houthis?

Madani asks Hasani if he was certain that the man they killed was Qushaibi, to which he replies: Weve cut him into pieces.

Explaining that they also shot several of Qushaibis fighters, Hasani adds, I knew him.

The conversations show that the Houthi leadership decided to conceal the truth about who killed the general, instead planning to claim he committed suicide.

A coalition of Arab countries launched an air campaign in March 2015 to push back the Houthis, but the rebels still control the capital and many parts of the country.

The Houthis, who claim to champion the interests of the beleaguered Zaidi Shia community, say they are fighting to defend themselves against marginalisation.

READ MORE: The road to Sanaa

About 9,000 people have been killed in Yemen since the intervention began, the majority of them civilians, according to United Nations figures. The fighting has also driven 2.8 million people from their homes.

At least 14 million Yemenis, more than half of the countrys population, are in need of emergency food and life-saving assistance in order to prevent impending famine in almost half of Yemens 22 provinces, according to a report this month by the UN and the Yemeni government.

The 15-month conflict has taken a horrifying toll on the countrys youth, with UNICEF warning that an estimated 320,000 children face life-threatening malnutrition.
Ban Ki-moon calls blockade collective punishment during final visit to Palestine before his tenure expires.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has criticised Israels blockade of the Gaza Strip during a visit to the Palestinian territory.

Ban said on Tuesday that the closure of Gaza suffocates its people, stifles its economy and impedes reconstruction efforts.

Its a collective punishment for which there must be accountability, he added.

He pointed to the electricity shortage in Gaza and the unemployment that hit 50 percent among the coastal enclaves youths.

We must speak openly about the unacceptable hardships faced by the people of Gaza in light of the humiliation, occupation and siege, as well as the division between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Ban said.

After visiting Gaza on his final trip to Palestine before his term of office expires in December, Ban held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

READ MORE: UN concerned about Israels excessive use of force

Speaking alongside Netanyahu at the prime ministers office in Jerusalem, Ban called for efforts to keep alive the possibility of a two-state solution.

I encourage you to take the courageous steps necessary to prevent a one-state reality or perpetual conflict that is incompatible with realising the national aspirations of the Israelis and Palestinian people, he said.

We cannot ignore key underlying causes of violence: growing Palestinian anger, the paralysis of the peace process, the near half-century of occupation.

Ban condemned a recent wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks since October, which he called terrorism.

Since October 1, Palestinian attackers have killed at least 28 Israelis, mostly in stabbing attacks.

Israeli forces or settlers have killed more than 200 Palestinians, including unarmed demonstrators, bystanders and attackers.
Data from one of the black boxes recovered from EgyptAir plane showed smoke alarms sounded on board, investigators say.

Data recovered from one of the black boxes from the EgyptAir plane that crashed last month showed smoke alarms had sounded on board, while soot was found on the wreckage, an Egyptian-led investigative committee has said.

Flight MS804 was en route from Paris to Cairo when it crashed in the Mediterranean Sea on May 19, killing all 66 people on board.

Recorded data is showing a consistency with ACARS messages of lavatory smoke and avionics smoke, the committee said on Wednesday.

Investigators had previously announced that the planes automated Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) sent signals indicating smoke alarms on board the plane before it went down.

Parts of the front section of the aircraft showed signs of high-temperature damage and soot, the committee statement added.

TIMELINE: Major air disasters

Egyptian investigators had said that the plane turned 90 degrees left, then a full 360 degrees to the right, plummeting from 38,000ft to 15,000ft before disappearing at about 10,000ft.





The aircraft had been cruising normally in clear skies on an overnight flight when it crashed.

The aircrafts flight data recorder, along with the second component of the black box containing sound recordings from the cockpit, was found two weeks ago.

The device had been found broken into several parts and suffered serious damage, but salvage experts managed to retrieve the recorders memory unit, Egypts civil aviation ministry had said.

The committee statement said the search remained for the remains of the passengers and crew.

It will continue till the full recovery of all the remains at the crash location, it said.

READ MORE: EgyptAir Flight 804  Sisi says all scenarios possible

Overall, 40 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, two Canadians and one person from each of Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Chad, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan were on board the Airbus A320.

Both Egyptian and French judiciary have opened investigations into the mysterious incident, without ruling out that it had been deliberately downed.

The crash followed the bombing of a Russian passenger over Egypts restive Sinai Peninsula last October, killing all 224 passengers and crew.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group has claimed responsibility for that attack, but there has been no such claim linked to the EgyptAir crash. The group has usually been quick to claim responsibility for large-scale attacks.

Egypts aviation minister had initially said an attack was the more likely explanation, but President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said there was no theory being favoured yet.
Politicians denounce suicide bombings that killed 41 people and wounded dozens more at Istanbuls largest airport.

Politicians around the world have expressed shock and condemnation after three suicide bombers attacked Istanbuls largest airport, killing at least 41 people and wounding many more.

Turkish officials said Tuesday evenings attack at Ataturk Airport was likely to have been carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq of the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

There has been no claim of responsibility.





The attack, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorism strikes with no regard for faith and values, Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement.

If states, as all humanity, fail to join forces and wage a joint fight against terrorist organisations, all the possibilities that we dread in our minds will come true one by one.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the terrorist attack and called for the perpetrators to be identified and brought to justice.

In the United States, White House spokesman Josh Earnest expressed Washingtons steadfast support for Turkey following the attack, while US Secretary of State John Kerry said: This is daily fare and thats why I say the first challenge we need to face is countering non-state, violent actors.

"All Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence." Hillary pic.twitter.com/QmSccJvcV0  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 28, 2016

Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said that all Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence.

Todays attack in Istanbul only strengthens our resolve to defeat the forces of terrorism and radical jihadism around the world, she said. And it reminds us that the United States cannot retreat.

Her rival Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, said the threat of attacks has never been greater.

We must take steps now to protect America from terrorists, and do everything in our power to improve our security to keep America safe.

Saudi Arabias embassy in Turkey said at least seven Saudis were wounded in the attack and all were in stable condition.

European Union leaders on Tuesday held a summit on Britains departure from the bloc in Brussels, where two suicide bombs ripped through the Belgian capitals airport in March, killing 16 people.

ISIL claimed responsibility for that attack, as well as a subsequent explosion at a Brussels metro station that killed 16 more people.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted from the meeting:

Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul's airport. We condemn these atrocious acts of violence #Istanbul  Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) June 28, 2016

Dalia Grybauskaite, president of Lithuania, wrote:

Despicable terror attack in #Istanbul airport. Stand together with people of #Turkey  Dalia Grybauskaite (@Grybauskaite_LT) June 28, 2016

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he was deeply saddened by the attack on Istanbuls biggest airport.

The people of Afghanistan feel the pain and suffering of the people of Turkey more than others, as we have been the victim of terrorism for years, Ghani said in a statement, reiterating that joint action by all countries was needed to tackle security issues.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was shocked by the news.

We grieve for the victims and with the relatives. We stand by Turkey.

Jean-Marc Ayrault, Frances foreign minister, condemned the attack as odious and cowardly.

Offering condolences, Ayrault said that France is at Turkeys side in the fight against terrorism.

Pakistans foreign ministry also denounced the attack, offering heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the bereaved families and to the brotherly people and government of Turkey.
Gaza Strip  Palestinians in Gaza are sharply divided over the reconciliatory deal signed between Israel and Turkey on Tuesday. While some, including Hamas officials, have described the deal as an opportunity for a Turkish role to end the siege on Gaza, others said it was unlikely that the deal would have a profound impact on ending the siege.

Turkey, motivated by moral and ethical principles, dedicated its efforts to lifting the siege [on Gaza], wrote Saleh al-Naiami, a Gaza-based political analyst, a few hours after the deal was announced. Even after the reconciliation [deal] theres a significant downgrading of ties with Israel compared with before Erdogan ascended to power.

Others, such as Palestinian writer and activist Refaat Alareer, disagreed. He believes that the Gaza blockade has been used to whitewash the deal.

For the past nine years, Israel has imprisoned and policed Gaza via what Palestinian analysts describe as 19th-century colonisation policies, keeping nearly two million civilians spatially contained with neither a present nor a future. The blockade has prevented the reconstruction of thousands of homes, schools, hospitals, power plants and water networks destroyed during successive Israeli military offensives in 2008 to 2009, 2012 and 2014.

Israel also keeps effective control over entry and exit into Gaza, its air space and sea, as well as its population registry, telecommunications networks and many other aspects of daily life and infrastructure.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon criticised Israels blockade of the Gaza Strip during a visit to the Palestinian territory. Ban said that the closure of Gaza suffocates its people, stifles its economy and impedes reconstruction efforts.

Its a collective punishment for which there must be accountability, he added.

INTERACTIVE: Gaza  life under siege

The deal ends a six-year rupture that was brought about after Israeli marines stormed a Turkish aid ship in May 2010 and killed 10 Turkish activists on board.

The by Omar

food.]

According to the deal, Israel offered its apologies for the 2010 raid on the Mavi Marmara activist ship  one of Ankaras three conditions for a deal. It also agreed to pay out $20m to the bereaved and injured.

Under the deal, Turkey is required to pass legislation protecting Israeli soldiers against related lawsuits. Also, Turkey has waived a demand for the removal of the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip. Israel would enable Turkey to set up infrastructure projects in Gaza, including the construction of a hospital, a power station and a desalination facility. All the materials for these projects would be transported via Israels Ashdod Port.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that the Israeli embargo on Gaza has been largely lifted as part of the reconciliation deal.

A first shipment of 10,000 tonnes would be sent next Friday, he said, and work would begin immediately to tackle Gazas water and power supply crisis.

Our Palestinian brothers in Gaza have suffered a lot and we have made it possible for them to take a breath with this agreement, Yildirim told a news conference in Ankara.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday the deal would improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, sources in Erdogans office said.

But for Gaza residents such as Omar Ghraieb, a blogger, lifting the siege on Gaza means freedom of movement, not more food or aid. The siege on Gaza has crushed dreams, killed patients, separated families, destroyed businesses, defeated ambitions. Its not just about aid [and] food, he said, adding that having the siege lifted means self-efficiency and an air and sea port for Gaza. Is this too ambitious? He asked.





Following the announcement of the deal, a Hamas statement praised the Turkish president for a long history of support and solidarity with Palestine, and hoped for a Turkish role that ends the siege on Gaza and stops Israeli incursions.

Last week, Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshal confirmed, during a press briefing in Doha, that lifting the siege on Gaza was still a Turkish condition for normalising relations with Israel, adding that Turkish officials have assured Hamas in this regard.

Hamas builds its ties based on how much the other party embraces Palestinian rights, explained Hazim Qassem, a Hamas activist. Turkey is very supportive of Palestine and stood against Israel on several fronts, and as such Hamas regards its relationship with Turkey highly.

Another Hamas official, and an adviser to the former prime minister in Gaza, Ahmed Yousef echoed Qassems sentiments. [Turkey] is a country that has stood with us, and we feel it protects our interests, including during the aggression [and wars] on Gaza. Its aid has never ceased, Yousef told Al Jazeera. But it was forced into this agreement, to ease the sanctions. This is the best it could get from Israel. They promised to continue their efforts to lift the sanctions. We, in the Hamas movement, do not welcome any normalisation with Israel from any country  especially Turkey, that is currently heading the Organisation of Islamic Conference. This puts it in an awkward position with regards to this normalisation. But it knows its interests better. We do not interfere in Turkish affairs, and we thank them for what they offer the Palestinians, he added.

Other Palestinian factions have sat on the fence regarding the deal. While Fatah spokesman Fayez Abu Aita refused to comment on the particulars of the deal, saying: The deal is a Turkish affair. We do not intervene in Turkish matters, the Islamic Jihad said in a statement that while they reject any Arab or Muslim move to normalise relations with the Zionist enemy, they welcome any effort to relieve the suffering of the Palestinian people.





But for some Palestinians, Israel stands to gain more out of this deal and comes out on top. Israel paid $20m [in compensation] in order to pass a deal that will earn it billions in trade. said Izz El-deen Al-Akhras, a Palestinian activist.

The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation IHH, which operated the flotilla of ships that Israel attacked in 2010, expressed fear that the agreement conditions will lead to international recognition rather than lifting of the blockade.

An agreement foreseeing the using of Ashdod port would not weaken the blockade but rather it leads to official recognition of it, IHH wrote on Twitter.

Blockade is different from embargo. The agreement should be based on the conditions of abolishing the blockade, not the embargo, IHH continued, stressing that the fundamental problem of Gaza is related to freedoms, not humanitarian relief.

Ibrahim Al-Madhoun, political analyst and manager of the Gaza-based Future Political Studies Institute, says that political obstacles and international pressures prevented Turkey from reaching a deal that could significantly lift the siege on Gaza.

The Turks cannot confront Israel alone and, at the end of the day, they have to pursue their interests, al-Madhoun told Aljazeera. An important outcome, he added, is that Turkey has elevated the issue of the Israels siege on Gaza to the forefront of world politics.

Perhaps the most important outcome of the deal is that it will most likely defer a much-feared upcoming confrontation between Hamas and Israel for few years now.
ISIL has recaptured a strategic border crossing between Syria and Iraq just hours after losing it to US-backed rebels.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has pushed back an offensive led by US-trained rebels targeting a key route linking eastern Syria to Iraq, according to a monitor and rebel sources.

The New Syrian Army, backed by US-led coalition air strikes, had made significant advances into ISIL-held territory near the al-Bukamal border crossing, seizing the al-Hamdan airbase in the process, but ISIL fighters had recaptured the area out by Wednesday afternoon.

The attack failed. They lost control of the airport, said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The observatory chief said that US-backed rebels were still inside Deir Az Zor, but had been forced to give up the recently gained territory.

READ MORE  Syria: Kurdish-led forces edge into ISIL-held Manbij

An anonymous rebel source told Reuters that ISIL fighters had surrounded the US-trained fighters in a surprise ambush, inflicting heavy casualties and seizing weapons.

The news is not good. I can say our troops were trapped and suffered many casualties and several fighters and even weapons were taken, he said.

The ISIL-affiliated Amaq news agency reported earlier in the day that the group had killed 40 rebel fighters and taken at least 15 prisoner during a counteroffensive at the Hamadan airbase northwest of the city.

The New Syrian Armys offensive aimed at capturing al-Bukamal was coordinated with Iraqi government forces who were advancing towards the crossing on the other side of the border.

A spokesman for the Pentagon-sponsored rebels told the Associated Press that fighters had been dropped from coalition helicopters on al-Bukamals southern edge to assist in the operation.

The US-led coalition said it had conducted eight air strikes near al-Bukamal and five near al-Qaim, on the Iraqi side of the border.





ISIL seized the border crossing in mid-2014, as it overran swaths of the oil-rich Deir Az Zor province, effectively erasing the demarcation line between Syria and Iraq.

A rebel takeover of the border crossing would be a heavy blow to ISILs self-declared, cross-border caliphate, effectively splitting its territorial holdings in two and preventing the transfer of fighters and weapons between the two countries.

The US-led coalition has stepped up its campaign against the hardline group this month. An alliance of US-backed militias, including the Kurdish YPG, launched a separate offensive against the group earlier in the month on the ISIL-held city of Manbij in northern Syria.

The Iraqi government declared victory over the weekend in its fight against the group in Fallujah, taking control of the city after nearly two years of rule by ISIL, also known as ISIS.

The New Syrian Army has received military training in US-run camps in Jordan, but according to rebel sources, most of their training is now being conducted at a base in al-Tanf, a border town southwest of al-Bukamal, which the rebels captured from ISIL earlier this year.

Al-Tanf was hit twice earlier this month by Russian air strikes.
Police and military accused of raping and torturing women during detention and arrest.

Mexican police and armed forces have been routinely torturing and raping women during detention and arrest, rights group Amnesty International said in a report.

The groups account  published on Tuesday  was based on interviews with 100 women in federal prisons, all of whom said they were subjected to some form of sexual harassment or psychological abuse while in police custody.

Mexican authorities have yet to officially respond to the allegations.

The alleged mistreatment included rape, groping, beating, near-asphyxiation, electric shocks to the genitals, and threats of rape directed at them or their families.

Four out of 10 of the women that were interviewed said they had been subjected to near-suffocation with a plastic bag or similar object placed on their heads.

Mexicos federal police were responsible for most of the arrests, Amnesty said, with the rest being conducted by state-level police, the army, and the navy.

WATCH: Mexicos war on drugs

The alleged incidents took place across the country, in at least 19 different states, according to Amnesty.

The report said that victims of ill-treatment were often forced to confess to being part of a drug cartel or other crimes, with security forces planting evidence on them in order to obtain information about drug cartels or to incriminate other detainees.

Police appear to be using them as easy targets for arrest to boost figures and show society that the governments security efforts are yielding results, Amnesty said.

The women subjected to such violence are mostly young and from low-income backgrounds. The multiple and intersecting discrimination these women face because of their gender, age and socioeconomic situation increases their risk of being arbitrarily arrested and tortured or ill-treated.





In Mexico, women are perceived as the weakest link in the trafficking chain by authorities, the report said.

Drug cartels often recruit women from vulnerable backgrounds to execute the most dangerous tasks for the gangs, and they are often considered expendable if arrested.

About 150,000 people have died since former President Felipe Calderon put the army on Mexicos streets as part of the countrys war on drugs a decade ago.

President Enrique Pena Nieto announced a proposal to relax some of the countrys drug laws in April. The plan would see medicinal marijuana legalised and increase how much cannabis people can carry.
Scottish leader says Scotland is determined to stay in the bloc despite Brexit vote after meeting senior EU officials.

Scotland is intent on remaining in the European Union despite the UK voting to leave the bloc, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has told EU officials in Brussels.

Sturgeons short-notice visit to the Belgian capital on Wednesday came a day after the outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron told European leaders that his country would be leaving the union following last weeks referendum.

Scotland is determined to stay in the EU, Sturgeon said after a morning meeting with European Parliament President Martin Schulz.

READ MORE: UN urges UK to end xenophobic attacks after Brexit vote

Scotland overwhelmingly voted to stay in the European Union in last Thursdays vote, and Sturgeon has previously threatened to veto a British exit, or Brexit, hinting that her government may use legal means to try to block Britains departure from the EU.

That may also require a second referendum on Scottish independence after a previous one failed in 2014  a prospect that throws the future of the UK into question.





Sturgeon is expected to meet Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, later on Wednesday afternoon.

But Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council who chairs EU summits, turned down a request for a meeting, his spokesman said.

Diplomats said there was a risk that the high-profile welcome for the Scottish National Party leader could be seen in London as encouragement for secession, although EU officials denied any such intention.

Second meeting

Later on Wednesday, EU leaders will meet for a second day in Brussels to discuss the fallout from Brexit, in a session that will not be attended by a British representative for the first time.

Cameron flew back to the UK after his last EU summit, where he told EU leaders that Britains future relations with the union could hinge on the blocs willingness to rethink free movement of workers, which he blamed for the Leave vote in the referendum.

People recognised the economic case for staying, but there was a very great concern about movement of people and that was coupled with concern about issues of sovereignty, Cameron, a Remain backer, said.

READ MORE: Brexit  What does it mean for the rest of the world?

Britains Leave leaders hope that the nation can still enjoy many perks of the EU internal market for business, while being able to deny EU citizens entry to the UK to address concerns about immigration.





But German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that London could not cherry pick the parts of EU membership that it liked  a view echoed by French President Francois Hollande and other European leaders.

If they dont want free movement, they wont have access to the single market, Hollande said.

At a tense summit, the 27 remaining EU members agreed on Tuesday to give Britain some breathing space, accepting that it needs time to absorb the shock of the Brexit vote before triggering Article 50  an EU treaty clause that begins a two-year withdrawal process.

Yet, Juncker warned that Britain did not have months to meditate and set a clear timetable for triggering Article 50 after Camerons successor takes office in early September.

If someone from the Remain camp will become British PM, this has to be done in two weeks after his appointment, he said. If they are from the Brexit camp, then it should be the day after.

Officials in Brussels are concerned that giving Britain favourable divorce terms will spark a domino effect of others leaving

Some think that Britain needs more time. I hear this, yes, but I think it strange. Its a type of surrealism, said Belgiums Prime Minister Charles Michel.
Mayor known as The Punisher to become the 16th president, promising to get rid of drug pushers and corrupt officials.

Rodrigo Duterte, a city mayor popularly known as The Punisher, is set to become the 16th president of the Philippines, riding high on a populist agenda and a promise to get rid of crime and corruption.

Duterte, who easily won an election last May, is to serve a six-year term starting on Thursday.

He will inherit from President Benigno Aquino a mixed bag  solid economic gains, a dysfunctional bureaucracy tainted with corruption, and unfinished talks with both Muslim and communist rebels.

At 71, Duterte is the oldest person to ever assume the presidency. He is also the first candidate from the southern island of Mindanao to win the post.





He was propelled into the presidency with huge social media support, and his presidential inauguration will be the worlds first to be broadcast on Facebook Live.

Duterte is an advocate of federalism, which he has said could prove the solution to ending a Muslim rebellion in the countrys south. He is also in initial talks with leaders of a communist rebel group.

A lawyer and former prosecutor, Duterte earned the ire of human rights groups during the campaign when he admitted to having killed suspected criminals. After his victory he also promised to give cash rewards to citizens who have shot and killed drug dealers.

Despite many controversies, Dutertes loyalists have stuck with him, pinning their hopes and dreams on a southern mayor who has never held a national position.

Still, his outbursts against local media and statements about women have left many scratching their heads.

Given the sheer quantity of his statements, and the dizzying trajectory of his outbursts, it is often difficult to pin him down, Richard Javad Heydarian, political analyst and professor at De La Salle University in Manila, told Al Jazeera.

Duterte is one of those bolt-from-the-blue populists who could spell either salvation or disaster.

Team of rivals

After a rough start post-election, when he was panned for saying that some journalists were legitimate targets for assassination, and that the former leader Ferdinand Marcos deserved a heros burial, Duterte recently gained praise for his cabinet appointees.

Among his cabinet members are prominent women, including an anti-mining activist and environmentalist as well as a top-rank economist and educator.

A self-proclaimed leftist, Duterte also appointed people seen as progressives to top labour and land reform positions.

Heydarian said the appointments showed that Duterte was serious about getting things done, as he did when mayor of Davao.

His cabinet selection is a curious team of rivals, Heydarian said. He clearly is a man who means his words and dedicates himself to achieving goals he sets upon himself.

Duterte, however, broke with tradition by refusing to give a post to Vice President-elect Leni Robredo, who is from a rival party. Robredo narrowly defeated Dutertes preferred candidate, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

As someone who ran on an anti-corruption platform, Duterte has also been criticised for saying he would release former President Gloria Arroyo, who is in jail facing multiple corruption charges. Arroyo is a Duterte ally.

Auspicious start

But it is in the areas of media freedom and anti-drug and corruption campaigning that he faces the closest scrutiny.

After facing off with journalists following his victory, Duterte has decided to bar them from his inauguration at the Malacanang Palace. Only state television will be allowed to cover the ceremony live.

On Wednesday, journalists came together to draw attention to what they called the incoming presidents disturbing messages on the media.





Regrettably, the conversation between President-elect Rodrigo Duterte and the news media has turned sharp and shrill, the editorial said.

Duterte has also repeatedly locked horns with human rights groups, calling them stupid for questioning his all-out war on drugs.

When you kill someone, rape, you should die, he said on Monday, at a farewell event with local staff in Davao.

During the campaign, Duterte promised to do everything he could to solve the countrys drug problem within the first three to six months of his presidency.

During Dutertes time of more than two decades as mayor of Davao, the New York-based Human Rights Watch group reported that an estimated 1,000 people were killed by armed vigilantes known as the Davao Death Squad (DDS).

Duterte has denied any links to the group. But during the campaign, some of his supporters referred to themselves as DDS, to mean Duterte Diehard Supporters.

Heydarian said it was extremely important for Duterte to advance his anti-crime agenda within the boundaries of law and to respect the countrys long tradition of democratic freedoms.

For now, with the majority of Congress and his supporters behind him, as well as a chance to shape the Supreme Court, Dutertes ascent to power looks unstoppable.

The key to his success is not to overreact and intelligently deploy his political capital for much-needed reforms within the boundaries of constitution, Heydarian said.
Moscow is lifting travel restrictions on Russian tourists visiting Turkey after a period of diplomatic tension with plans to resume mutually advantageous trade relations.

Russias President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he asked his government to begin the process of normalising general trade and economic ties with Turkey, fixing badly strained relations since Ankara shot down a Russian warplane taking part in Moscows military campaign in Syria last year.

I want to start with the question of tourism  we are lifting the administrative restrictions in this area, Putin told government ministers in televised comments.

Russian tourism to Turkey last month was down more than 90 percent year on year, according to figures by Turkeys Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Overall tourism in Turkey was down about 35 percent last month compared with the same period last year, the ministry said.

Sorry

The development came days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed regret for the downing of the Russian jet in a letter this week to Putin.

The Russian leader said the letter created conditions to close this crisis chapter in bilateral relations.

On Wednesday, Putin and Erdogan held a constructive telephone conversation, according to the Kremlin.

Putin told Erdogan he hoped that a criminal case launched against a Turkish citizen accused of killing the Russian pilot of the downed warplane would be an objective one.

READ MORE: Erdogan sorry for downing of Russian jet

Ankara has said it acted lawfully in shooting down the plane, saying it had crossed from Syria into Turkish airspace; Moscow denied that happened.

Turkish presidential sources called the conversation very productive and positive. They said Putin and Erdogan were expected to meet before and during a G20 summit in September in China. But Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian Interfax news agency that the meetings time and place have yet to be arranged.

They also agreed that their foreign ministers would meet on the sidelines of a regional summit in Russias Black Sea resort of Sochi this week to discuss the situation in Syria and further development of bilateral ties.

In Syria, Russia backs President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey, with its Western allies, supports rebel forces seeking to unseat the Syrian leader.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has called for religious reforms to counter extremists in a speech to Muslim clerics.

Sisi on Wednesday urged scholars from Al-Azhar, the highest centre of Sunni Muslim learning, to rethink religious discourse and purge it of flaws that negatively affect Islam.

I fear that we have not until now found the real path to confronting fanaticism and extremism by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt's president

I fear that we have not until now found the real path to confronting fanaticism and extremism: look at the map of extremism in the world, he said in the televised speech.

We are on a mission, during one of the most difficult periods not only for Egypt, but for Egypt and all Arab and Muslim states.

Sisi also questioned the standing of the Muslim countries on womens rights.

If you found that the flaw was only in Egypt, wed say OK. But I wonder, in how many of these 50 [Muslim] countries is this situation present? he asked.

He said early Islamic scholars confronted sayings and traditions wrongly attributed to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. Islamic law is partly based on Muhammads sayings.

READ MORE: Why does the West need Sisi?

Sisis calls for reforms in Islamic thought have been met with scepticism by opponents who accuse his security services of extensive human rights abuses.

More than 1,000 supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi have been killed in clashes since Sisi overthrew him on July 3, 2013. More than 600 of them were killed in a single day when police dispersed a Cairo protest camp.

Thousands have been jailed, and critics say the crackdown has helped radicalise more people.
Tens of thousands of people have fled fighting in northwestern South Sudan between government troops and a newly formed rebel group, as food shortages in the country hit their highest levels in two years.

The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Wednesday that nearly 70,000 people have fled their homes in the town of Wau since Friday. About 10,000 of them have taken shelter at a United Nations base in the area, where streams of displaced continue to arrive.





We dont yet know how many people were killed, but dead bodies are still lying in the streets, said MSF deputy medical coordinator David Kahindi.

The government has blamed the violence on a new hardline rebel group that includes former government troops, fighters from the Ugandan-led rebel group the Lords Resistance Army and a Sudanese militia known as the Janjaweed.

Government spokesman Michael Makuei said Tuesday that the rebel group was being led by Muslim veteran politician Ali Timi Fartak. Fartak has not yet commented on the governments claims.

The UN warned on Wednesday that up to 4.8 million people in South Sudan face severe food shortages in the coming months, the highest level since conflict erupted more than two years ago.

READ MORE: Fleeing famine in northern South Sudan

Clashes between warring factions in South Sudan have continued to flare despite a peace deal signed in August last year aimed at ending violence that began in December 2013.

The deal has been slow to take hold, allowing the countrys economic crisis steadily to worsen. Heavy rains and ongoing conflict mean that many of South Sudans farmers have been unable to access their crops.

The deteriorating situation coincides with an unusually long and harsh annual lean season, when families have depleted their food stocks and new harvests are not expected until August. The level of food insecurity this year is unprecedented, three UN agencies said in a joint statement.

The UN World Food Programme said it was planning to assist 3.3 million people this year with emergency food assistance, life-saving nutritional support and other aid.

We are very worried to see that food insecurity is spreading beyond conflict areas as rising prices, impassable roads and dysfunctional markets are preventing many families, even those in towns and cities, from accessing food, said Serge Tissot of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

At least 100,000 people have fled South Sudan in recent months to the neighbouring countries of Kenya, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, according to the UN agencies. They expect this number to rise to 150,000 by the end of June.
Tokyo, Japan  Mohamed Fujita used to host religious study groups at his home that were open to all Muslims. But today hes afraid to invite strangers, in case theyre police informants.

Extensive surveillance has put many people of his faith on edge, he says, sowing mistrust.

A native of Japan who converted to Islam more than two decades ago, Fujita was one of 17 plaintiffs in a lawsuit that challenged blanket monitoring of the countrys followers of Islam. His name has been changed in this story to protect his identity, after police documents labelling him a possible security threat were leaked online.

They made us terrorist suspects, he says. We never did anything wrong  on the contrary.

Islam in the Land of the Rising Sun

Fujitas wife first noticed the couple was being followed by law enforcement in the early 2000s. He says he would go out of his way to cooperate with officers when they would occasionally approach him. But they eventually asked that he report on other members of his mosque and he refused.

Then came the leak in 2010 of 114 police files, which revealed religious profiling of Muslims across Japan. The documents included resume-like pages listing a host of personal information, including an individuals name, physical description, personal relationships and the mosque they attended, along with a section titled suspicions.

The files also showed by the time the 2008 G8 summit was held in Hokkaido, northern Japan, at least 72,000 residents from Organisation of Islamic Conference countries had been profiled  including about 1,600 public school students in and around Tokyo.

Police in the capital had also been surveilling places of worship, halal restaurants, and Islam-related organisations, the documents showed.

Within a few weeks of the leak, the data had been downloaded from a file-sharing website more than 10,000 times in more than 20 countries.

Fujita and the other plaintiffs, many of whom were originally from Middle Eastern or North African countries, sued in the hope the courts would deem the police practices illegal. Their lawyers said police had violated their constitutional rights to privacy, equal treatment, and religious freedom.

After two appeals, the Supreme Court dismissed the case on May 31.

The justices concurred with a lower court that the plaintiffs deserved a total of 90 million ($880,000) in compensation because the leak violated their privacy. But they did not weigh in on the police profiling or surveillance practices, which a lower court ruling had upheld as necessary and inevitable to guard against the threat of international terrorism.

We were told we dont have a constitutional case, says Junko Hayashi, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. Were still trying to figure out, how is it not constitutional?

Law enforcement mostly ignored the case. One of the few public statements they made came at a United Nations human rights committee hearing on the matter in 2014. An official from the National Police Agency said details of information-gathering activities to prevent future terrorism could not be disclosed, but that police collected information according to the law, according to UN records.

Japans rich Muslim past and present

Some have defended the surveillance of Muslims, including Naofumi Miyasaka, a professor at the National Defense Academy of Japan. He describes the data leak as the biggest failure in the history of Japans counterterrorism because it would have hurt the ability of law enforcement to gather intelligence on potential threats through mutual trust and cooperation between police and informants.

The Supreme Court decision generated few headlines and little public debate in Japan. Local media outlets had covered the legal proceedings by focusing on the leak of information, tiptoeing around the police surveillance issue.

The most prominent public figure to comment on the Supreme Court decision was NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who spoke via video linkup at a symposium on government surveillance in Tokyo on June 4.

People of the Islamic faith are more likely to be targeted  despite not having any criminal activities or associations or anything like that in their background, simply because people are afraid, said Snowden, who once worked in western Tokyo at a liaison facility between American and Japanese intelligence services.

But in Japan, lets look seriously at that. The Aum Shinrikyo was the last significant terrorist event in Japan, and that was over 20 years ago, he added, referring to the 1995 sarin gas attack on a Tokyo subway that killed 13 people and injured 6,000 others.

This wasnt a fundamental Islamic extremist group, this was a crazy doomsday cult that wanted to make their founder the new emperor of Japan.

Other observers have also questioned whether monitoring a particular religious group en masse is an effective counterterrorism strategy.

Germany had a similar programme, and they investigated and maintained files on 30,000 Muslims in Germany and didnt find, apparently, a single terrorist among them, says Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University in Tokyo. So its not clear that this indiscriminate surveillance is useful.

Hiroshi Miyashita, a law professor at Chuo University whos an expert on privacy issues, says he believes the lawsuit was the first major legal case in Japan to focus on mass surveillance. However, he adds that a state secrets law that came into force in 2014 would shield the issue from scrutiny by the public and the courts in future.

Even judges cannot access information about police practices under the new law, he says.

Japans newest and largest mosque opens its doors

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police and the National Police Agency declined a request to comment on the court decision, and would not confirm whether they continue to profile and monitor Japans Muslim community.

But the plaintiffs lawyer, Hayashi, who is Muslim, says she believes the surveillance has only intensified.

Its a really, really difficult thing to deal with, especially for the kids growing up here, she adds. The police have been dealing with them as future terrorists.

While the lawsuit wasnt successful, Fujita says he has learned from the experience. To him, the top courts unwillingness to weigh their constitutional arguments shows that Japans judiciary isnt an independent branch of government.

And years after the police surveillance came to light, he says it continues to rob many Muslims of a sense of trust, which he describes as the foundation of human relationships.
PM Binali Yildirim says suicide bombers who killed at least 41 at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport likely linked to ISIL.

Turkey has declared a day of national mourning after three suicide bombers attacked Istanbuls Ataturk Airport, killing at least 41 people and wounding 239.

The attackers arrived at Ataturk, Europes third-busiest airport, late on Tuesday evening where they opened fire before blowing themselves up.

The Turkish government ordered flags to be flown at half-mast on Wednesday, as investigators pored over video footage and witness statements.

Turkish officials said that 23 of the dead were Turkish, and 13 were foreign, including five Saudis and two Iraqis. Citizens from China, Jordan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Iran and Ukraine were also among the 13 foreigners killed.

The Istanbul governors office said 109 of the 239 people hospitalised had since been discharged.

READ MORE: World unites in condemnation of Ataturk Airport attack

This attack, targeting innocent people, is a vile, planned terrorist act, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters at the scene in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The findings of our security forces point at the Daesh organisation as the perpetrators of this terror attack, he said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and Yildirim said efforts to identify the attackers, who arrived at the airport in two taxis, were continuing.

The attackers opened fire at airport guards at the terminal entrance, and a shootout erupted before they blew themselves up one by one at around 10pm (19:00 GMT), authorities said.

TIMELINE: Attacks in Turkey

Security camera footage shared on social media appeared to capture two of the blasts. In one clip, a huge ball of flame erupts at an entrance to the terminal building, scattering terrified passengers.

Another video shows a black-clad attacker running inside the building before collapsing to the ground  apparently felled by a police bullet  and blowing himself up.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a joint fight against terror after the attack.

If states, as all humanity, fail to join forces and wage a joint fight against terrorist organisations, all the possibilities that we dread in our minds will come true one by one, he said in a statement.

It is clear that this attack is not aimed at achieving any result but only to create propaganda material against our country using simply the blood and pain of innocent people.

OPINION: The wrong mindset to fight terrorism

One of the attackers randomly opened fire as he walked through the terminal building, shortly before three explosions, a witness told Reuters.

We came right to international departures and saw the man randomly shooting. He was just firing at anyone coming in front of him. He was wearing all black. His face was not masked. I was 50 metres away from him, said Paul Roos, 77, a South African tourist on his way back to Cape Town with his wife.

We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting, Roos said.

He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator  We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over.

Ataturk Airport is one of the busiest ports in the world, serving more than 60 million passengers in 2015.

There has been a string of bombings around Turkey over the past year, some of them blamed on ISIL, others claimed by Kurdish groups.

Earlier in June, at least 11 people were killed in central Istanbul following a bombing attack targeting a police vehicle.

The armed group Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, also known by its Kurdish-language acronym TAK, claimed responsibility for that attack.
EU leaders say the UK will have to make concessions on free movement if its to access to the blocs single market.

European Union leaders have told the UK that it cannot access the unionss single market without first accepting the blocs rules on freedom of movement.

There will be no single market a la carte, EU President Donald Tusk told a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday after the unions 27 leaders met without British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Leaders [have] made it crystal clear today that access to the single market requires acceptance of all four freedoms including freedom of movement, Tusk said.

Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to lead the Conservatives following Camerons resignation on Friday, has repeatedly insisted that the UK could still have access to the single market.

However, in a clear rebuttal to the former mayor of Londons claims, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Tuesday that free access to the single market would mean losing some degree of control over immigration  a move that would anger many Brexit voters.

Brexit: What does it mean for the rest of the world?

The former Polish premier stressed that negotiations on Britains future relationship with the EU cannot start until it formally triggers the two-year process leading to a divorce.





Tusk also said that the 27 EU leaders will hold a summit  without Britain  in Bratislava on September 16 to discuss further the fallout from Britains decision to leave the bloc.

This was a first exchange so it is too early to draw conclusions. This is why we started a political reflection with 27 states and well meet on September 16 in Bratislava to continue our talks, Tusk added.

The summit will come just days after Britains ruling Conservative party is due to choose a successor to Cameron, who resigned on Friday after his country voted in a referendum to leave the EU by 52 percent to 48.

Why Brexit will disappoint Brexiters

On Tuesday, Nigel Farage, a British MEP and a leader in the Leave movement, was booed and jeered when he urged Europe to give Britain a good trade deal when the so-called Brexit takes place, saying jobs in Germanys car sector might be at stake otherwise.

Why dont we just be pragmatic, sensible, grown-up, reasonable  and cut a sensible tariff-free deal? he asked.

In a speech interrupted several times due to the noise, Farage warned: The UK will not be the last member state to leave the European Union.

When Juncker mentioned the Brexit vote in a speech, Farage cheered, to which the EU Commission president joked, and quipped: The British people voted in favour of the exit  why are you here?

But bearing out his words, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen called the British vote an extraordinary victory for democracy  a slap for a European system based more and more on fear, blackmail and lies.
Thousands of former residents of the Chagos Islands, who were forcibly removed by Britain to make way for a US military base, have lost their latest legal bid to return home at the UKs highest court.

Judges at the UKs Supreme Court dismissed the islanders appeal by a majority of three to two on Wednesday, dashing their hopes of returning to the tropical paradise they were forced to flee exactly 50 years ago.

More than 2,000 people once lived on the islands in the Indian Ocean, which had thriving villages, a hospital, a church, and a railway, before Britain in 1966 leased the main island of Diego Garcia  then part of British-controlled Mauritius  for 50 years to the United States in return for a discount on buying Polaris nuclear missiles.

Today, Diego Garcia is believed to be one of the largest US military bases in the world, and home to an estimated 4,000 US troops.

Richard Gifford, a lawyer representing the Chagossians, told Al Jazeera that the battle for the islands former inhabitants to return home was far from over.

READ MORE: Chagos: The heart of an American empire?

In reality all five judges have said, in different ways that they should never have had their right of abode taken from them, and that should all now be reconsidered by the government.

The judges highlighted a study commissioned by the government in 2015 that concluded that it would be possible and affordable to return the islanders.

Olivier Bancoult, the President of the Chagos Refugees Group and the man who brought the legal challenge, told Al Jazeera that the ruling highlighted the need for the UK to shoulder its responsibilities.

There is a very strong signal given to the UK government to shoulder its responsibilities towards the Chagossians. I think well move now to the next direction, a political way which is approaching the prime minister to ask him to make as soon as possible the resettlement taking place on Chagos, Bancoult said.

Hundreds of families were forced to leave the archipelago in the early 1960s, with many Chagossians herded into cargo boats and ditched in Mauritius and the Seychelles, where they were forced to live in dilapidated shacks and slums.

READ MORE: UK govt pressed over allegations CIA used Diego Garcia as black site

In 2000, the UKs High Court ruled that the islanders could return to 65 of the islands, but not to the main island of Diego Garcia. But in 2004, the government nullified the High Courts decision by invoking the royal prerogative. But this in turn was overturned three years later when judges rejected the governments argument that the royal prerogative was immune from scrutiny.

In 2008, the government won an appeal in the House of Lords, which ruled that the exiles could not return.

In recent years, the US has been accused of using the base, whose lease expires this year, for acts of illegal rendition during the so-called War on Terror.

In 2014, sources told Al Jazeera that British authorities were in full cooperation with US intelligence to use the island as a black site prison to detain high-value suspects, secretly operated by the CIA.

Since 9/11, CIA black sites have been set up all over the world, with suspected terrorists subject to brutal abuses including sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, auditory overload, rectal rehydration, waterboarding and stress positions, as well as other forms of treatment designed to humiliate and degrade.
UNICEF says more than 200 million children will die or live in poverty within the next 15 years if they do not get help.

The UNs children agency, UNICEF, is warning world leaders that if they do not address global inequality, 69 million children under the age of five will die from preventable causes by 2030.

The UN report paints a bleak picture for the prospects of disadvantaged youngsters.

UNICEF says 167 million children are expected to be living in poverty by 2030, and by that time 750 million women will have been married when they were children.

Invest in children now, or allow our world to become still more unequal and divided, says the director of UNICEF.

Education is critical to ending recurring cycles of poverty, says UNICEF. About 124 million children do not go to primary or lower-secondary school now.

Some progress is being made. Global mortality rates for under fives have halved since the 1990s. And boys and girls attend primary schools in equal numbers in 129 countries.

What needs to be done to save the worlds children?

Presenter: Martine Dennis

Guests:

Hussaini Abdu  country director of Plan International in Nigeria

Jennifer Kaberi  child development specialist at Children Agenda Forum Kenya

Kevin Watkins  executive director of the Overseas Development Institute
           2005     ..        
Ever since the financial crisis, starting a bank from scratch has been hard. But opening a digital-only de novo bank is an especially tall order.

Don Allen Price, a longtime industry executive, left Comerica in November with a plan to start the first nationally chartered, digital-only bank, similar to the challenger banks of the U.K. But discouraging signals from regulators and a lukewarm reception from prospective investors have made the process slow going.

His struggles highlight a larger issue in an industry famously resistant to change: Everyone complains that banks don't innovate fast enough, but facts on the ground often make it hard to do so.

Price, who most recently served as the chief financial officer for the retail and wealth management units at Comerica, has a similar goal as many of the fintech startups that have proliferated in the last few years: create a digital, customer-oriented experience. Unlike startups such as Moven or Simple, he didn't want to partner with a legacy banking institution, since doing so would undermine the benefit of starting fresh.

"The fintechs were good at disrupting certain aspects [of banking] but to be at the center of the customer's universe you really have to own the core transactions account," Price said.

A major reason why banks have trouble innovating "is not due to the cost of new technology, but the cost of replacing legacy technology with new technology," said Price, who also worked at Barclays and Bank One.

So Price set out to build a bank from the ground up using the new technology, along with new values. He was inspired by being part of a team at Comerica that was chosen to brainstorm and figure out how the bank of the future might look.

"Comerica, like many regional banks, suffers from a lack of relevance from the new generation, who are digital natives and digitally savvy," he said. "So I was part of a team that was tasked with trying to find out how to solve this. I think we came up with a pretty good plan, but it was too much of a change for a legacy company. Then it kind of got put on the shelf when Comerica went through some issues that have been widely publicized." (Comerica, based in Dallas, declined to comment for this story.)

Price called his new venture Antithesis Holdings  "because we want to be the antithesis of what banking currently is," he explained. "We want to reimagine banking, building from the ground up." Price added that while Antithesis is the name of the holding company he incorporated in January, it will ultimately not be the name of the bank itself.

After promising initial talks with local regulators late last year and early this year regarding a full bank charter, Price was later informed that regulators in Washington would be taking a step back, instead focusing on examining a specific parts of fintech, namely online lending and cryptocurrencies. So there would not be much use in even applying for a charter for a while.

"It sounds like they are biting off one chunk at a time, so it may be a ways out until they look at an FDIC-insured digital bank," he said.

You could count on one hand the number of de novo banks approved since 2010, and those that did make the cut had more traditional models. One glint of hope for Price's team is that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently said it was open to the idea of extending limited-purpose charters to fintech firms.

"If the OCC does move forward with idea that has been floating around of extending special purpose banking charters to certain fintech companies  in payments and lending for example   and see that the sky didn't fall, they might then say, Now let's do it with a depository institution," said Brian Knight, senior research fellow for the Financial Markets Working Group at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

In the meantime, Antithesis  currently made up of three full-time employees and six part-time or unpaid team members  is not twiddling its thumbs. It has a tech and ops team actively building out its infrastructure while the company continues to court investors.

The latter has also been a challenge. Investors in de novo banks and in fintech startups tend to be two different classes, said Carla Brooks, a managing director at Commerce Street Investment Management in Dallas, which is working with Antithesis on finding investors. Also, getting investors in a new bank without yet having a bank charter can be somewhat of a hard sell, and leads to a kind of "chicken and the egg" scenario, she said.

"Finding that right investor that understands the whole package of what [Antithesis] is doing, those people are few and far between," she said. "But it's doable."

Price said he is confident that finding investors won't be a great obstacle; the company is about halfway through its capital raise, and expects to be done within the next 60 days. He would not say how much money Antithesis seeks. Price said he wants to be ready as possible when regulators are prepared to extend a charter to a digital startup bank.

"We're building out our infrastructure as if we're going to be regulated like any other bank, or even more so," he said.

Price's resume should help in the process. If U.S. regulators welcome digital startup banks as their counterparts the U.K. and Germany have done, they may be more likely to do so for a startup with former bankers in leadership roles, said J. Brennan Ryan, an attorney with Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough in Atlanta.

"Without question I think regulators would want a number of key management personnel to have prior banking experience," he said. "I think when it comes to this there is still a bit of a learning curve for the regulators; I think it [a digital-only bank getting a charter] will happen. It's just a question of how quickly."

For Price, the future of banking is about more than computer systems, and involves changing the relationship between bank and customer.

"It's not just technology. Innovation can be about how you communicate with customers and what you communicate to them," he said. "A lot of people want to differentiate on products and services, but banking is not that kind of industry; it's about user experience and values."

The "mass marketing" approach in banking, as Price puts it, will no longer work for millennials and future generations. Instead, "everything has to be customized; it has to be the right place and the right time with the right offer delivered in a way that's easy to comprehend." Millennials, he said, also want the companies they do business with  including banks  to share their values and social concerns.

Without giving away the "secret sauce" behind Antithesis, Price said it would start with consumer deposits and focus on establishing trust and providing convenience to its customers, more so than the existing banking industry.

Price noted that banks, like airlines, often rank high on lists of most hated brands by consumers, and that perception is ultimately what he is trying to change.

"If a bank right now tried to do what we are planning, they would be thought of as disingenuous," he said. "We don't even think of legacy banks as our competition, but the other challenger banks."


Dime Community Bancshares in Brooklyn, N.Y., is set to have its first new chief executive in 27 years.

The $5.5 billion-asset company said in a press release Wednesday that Vincent Palagiano, who has been its CEO since 1989, will retire at the end of this year. Kenneth Mahon, Dime's president and chief operating officer, will succeed Palagiano, who will remain chairman.

Palagiano, who joined Dime in 1970 as a loan appraiser before becoming its longest-serving CEO, agreed to provide consulting services to the company for three years after his retirement.

Palagiano's "extraordinary leadership has guided Dime for nearly three decades to its position as one of the top multifamily lenders in New York," George Clark Jr., the company's lead director, said in the release.
Iberiabank in Lafayette, La., has added a retired investment banker to its board.

The $20 billion-asset company said in a press release Tuesday that Rick Maples, who once was head of investment banking at Stifel Financial, had become a director.

Maples retired from Stifel's broker-dealer unit in January, though he remains a senior adviser to the company. His investment banking background includes work in the banking and financial services sectors.

Maples became co-head of global investment banking at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods after Stifel bought its former rival.

Maples' "investment banking experience and relationships, as well as his extensive insight into market conditions, mergers and acquisitions, and other topics impacting the financial services industry, will provide significant value to our company," Bill Fenstermaker, Iberiabank's chairman, said in the release.

Iberiabank also added Eli Jones, dean of Mays Business School at Texas A&M University, to its board.


Executives at Synovus Financial realize that they should likely aim for a single rather than a home run when they return to the M&A game.

The Columbus, Ga., company bought dozens of banks as it became a formidable Southeastern regional before it was largely sidelined by the financial crisis.

Chairman and Chief Executive Kessel Stelling, who is eager to resume making acquisitions, has recently been focused on internal operations and capital management. But he hopes his companys much-improved capital position and stock price, along with the time management spent focusing on internal issues, have prepared it to start buying again.

I think hopefully we have benefited from [a pause in M&A] and now have a currency that would certainly allow us to look at opportunities through a different lens, Stelling said during call Tuesday to discuss the companys third-quarter results. Were seeing a lot of opportunities.

For its first deal, the $28.2 billion-asset company would look for something with a very high probability of execution success that wouldnt distract management from its daily core operations, Stelling said. That long-anticipated deal is unlikely to be a game changer, he added.

Timing for a potential deal is difficult to gauge, though it seems as though Synovus would closely scrutinize anything that it comes across, said Emlen Harmon, an analyst at Jefferies. Theyre not in a rush  and the due diligence would be fairly drawn out, he said.

Stelling also noted that deal activity had reached a pretty brisk pace across the Southeast.

Bank of the Ozarks in Little Rock, Ark., agreed on Monday to acquire Community & Southern Holdings in Atlanta. A day later, Renasant in Tupelo, Miss., said it would buy Keyworth Bank in Johns Creek, Ga.

Still, Synovus is willing to wait for the right acquisition, he said.

Ive often said patience has been our friend in the M&A world, Stelling said. I see other transactions that are interesting and that's great, and I applaud those that are doing them. But we've got a very disciplined approach to how were going to look at those, and if they fit, they fit. If they don't, that's okay.

Stellings remarks make sense in the context of Synovus long history of acquisitions, said Chris Marinac, an analyst at FIG Partners. As the companys price-to-tangible book value rises, M&A could become more appealing, from an earnings perspective, than stock buybacks, he said.

Synovus should be able to create value by removing back-office expenses and adding products at any bank it buys, Marinac said. This is already being done by other Southeastern acquirers such as Bank of the Ozarks; BNC Bancorp in High Point, N.C.; and United Community Banks in Blairsville, Ga.

The company has excess capital and has to deploy it wisely, Marinac said. I think small acquisitions, at moderate premiums, can make a solid incremental impact to earnings and increase its return on assets.

Synovus stock trades at a modest premium to other similarly sized banks, while its tangible book value is closer to the groups mean, Harmon said. A smaller deal would make sense because Synovus could pay the consideration with a high percentage of cash.

They arent in the catbird seat, but they arent in the penalty box anymore, Harmon said.
Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives from the Republican Party have joined a chorus of colleagues raising major concerns over a provisional agreement between Boeing and Iran involving a multi-billion dollar purchase of a hundred commercial airliners. Lawmakers on the Hill are sounding alarm bells over possible significant national security repercussions in this regard.

U.S. companies must not play a role in weaponizing the regime ruling in Iran is the core of a strong joint statement made recently by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), a member of the Ways and Means Committee.

We strongly oppose the potential sale of military-fungible products to terrorisms central supplier, the two lawmakers wrote in a damning June 16th letter to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg, citing the major implications of such a deal. The U.S. State Department has in fresh reports -- most recently on June 2nd -- once again designated Iran as the foremost state sponsor of terrorism and emphasized Tehrans support of terrorism has not diminished at all.

If this deal receives a green light, it would represent a major contract and breakthrough between a U.S. firm and Iran following nuclear implementation day back in January when sanctions began to ease on the regime in return for the mullahs curbing a controversial and clandestine nuclear program engulfed in major suspicions of involving a drive to obtain nuclear weapons.

In light of recent reports that a deal is imminent, we seek information to assist the U.S. Congress in determining the national security implications of a potential sale of Boeing aircraft to Iran," Hensarling and Roskam continued in their strongly-worded letter.

Iran is also claiming to be on track to a parallel purchase from Airbus, Boeings European rival, according to various news reports. The Washington Times, however, raised doubts over Iran boasting success in this regard.

The Airbus deal to sell more than 100 planes to the Iranians made headlines in January but still hasnt been finalized. And one of the reasons is that Airbus has had a terribly difficult time finding a private financial institution to bank the deal, The Times wrote, citing Eric Lorber, a former attorney in the U.S. Treasury Departments office of foreign assets control.

The risks associated with doing business with Iran havent changed, The Times went on to quote Chip Poncy, former head of the Treasurys office of strategic policy for terrorist financing and financial crimes through 2013.

Despite all this, U.S. president Barack Obama, continuing his so-far failed appeasement policy vis-a-vis Iran, is strongly backing the possibility of a lucrative Boeing-Iran deal. This has only fueled growing concerns over Irans nature of remaining a significant source of funds and banking services for leading terrorist groups wreaking havoc across the globe.

While Obama may be lobbying for the deal, a potential kink will definitely stem from outstanding U.S. sanctions that continue to cast a heavy shadow on Iran and ban the use and access to the U.S. dollar for any party possibly interested in doing trade with Tehran. If such sanctions remain intact, as seems to be the case up to this point, any thinkable Boeing-Iran deal will be forced to seek non-U.S. financing. This is one hurdle Iran simply cannot surpass, and Boeing will suffer huge losses in such a challenging endeavor.

Boeing has been asked to respond by July 1st to ten serious questions raised by U.S. lawmakers. Members of Congress are currently dissatisfied, saying the Chicago-based plane manufacturer is refusing to relieve the concerns raised by lawmakers over their ongoing discussions with Iran. This will naturally not play well in Washington and place even more obstacles before the Obama administration in its promotion of the deal.

Hensarling and Roskam continued in further concerns over the arrangement, saying Irans commercial aviation sector has been deeply involved in supporting hostile actors.

Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) has sought to target the Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Mahan Airline in Iran, describing the company as a terrorist airline or airways.

"[Irans] largest commercial airline is the number-one state sponsor of terrorism," The Hill cited Senator Cornyn saying. "This airline has repeatedly played a role in exporting Iran's terrorism."

Saudi Arabia took a similar approach in banning Mahan from using its airspace, Bloomberg reported on May 25th.

Irans military, especially the Revolutionary Guards and its terrorist-designated extraterritorial wing, the Quds Force, are known to frequently dispatch troops, send weapons and even rocket and missiles across the globe by way of commercial airliners. This notorious effort has procured the arms needed for groups such as the Lebanese Hizballah and the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad in Syria that has leveled his own country for over five years now, leading to over 400,000 deaths, according to some estimates, scores more injured and the largest refugee crisis since World War II. This onslaught has rendered millions displaced inside the country and seeking refuge abroad, with no end in sight. With the international community failing to respond, Iran has successfully developed and cemented deep-seated terror across the region, leaving barely any room for optimism.

Iran is looking to modernize its aging fleet by replacing a gigantic number of 400 planes. As far-fetched as the extent of this effort remains considering Irans disastrous economic conditions three years into the tenure of the so-called moderate President Hassan Rouhani, such an initiative will most definitely further fuel Irans support for international terrorism and boost the mullahs effort to continue inflicting mayhem in conflicts plaguing the Middle East, from Iraq to Syria, Yemen, and beyond.

At a time when the Obama administration is continuously failing to rise to the occasion against such deeply hazardous enterprises, the efforts of Congress might by the last chance to spearhead the incorporation of a vital, universal concept to halt Tehrans dangerous campaign aimed at solidifying its means of spreading absolute terrorism, ushering in growing extremism and Islamic fundamentalism.
I like and respect George Will, and over the years I've been one of his fans. With the rise of Donald Trump, Will has decided to resign from the GOP, along with Mitt Romney and the other folks we might call "decorative conservatives" -- the people who look good on the outside, but who have none of the fire in the belly that marked Teddy Roosevelt or Lincoln -- not to mention the Founders, who were pretty robust and argumentative.

I believe Mr. Will has a genuine distaste for what may become Trump Conservatism. Trump represents a kind of happy warrior style of American politician, similar to Harry Truman and Rough Rider Teddy Roosevelt. It's obviously too low-class for Will, Romney and Jeb Bush, who are all too delicate for the political blood sport that the Left has imposed on our politics. Nothing is too low for the Left. Literally nothing.

The national GOP has been in decline for years, running decrepit candidates like Bob Dole, John McCain, and Mitt Romney -- who actually did flinch in the last debate with Obama, as Trump points out. Candidates like Dole and McCain were picked for their seniority, which is what made them weak and doddering candidates.

On the other side, the hard Left is back in charge of the Democrats, and they are killers. Their purpose is to destroy their opponents. In response, the GOP has run certain losers.

But then we see the killer thugs of the Washington Post and New York Times hiring a decorative conservative like George Will for "balance." Balance, my foot. George Will is protective coloration for the WaPo's inner mafia. The WaPo doesn't play by any rules except its own. You may not see the glint of the daggers they all carry into the fight, but come election time, every honest conservative gets the shaft.

This is going to be a nasty, vicious election, and winners have to give as good as they get. I'm sorry. Reality.

The WaPo has carried off the complete myth of Watergate to destroy a Republican President who was no worse than LBJ or Robert Kennedy, or Carter, Clinton and Obama. American journalism is now based on a deliberate lie, the false mythology of Watergate -- actually a power struggle between the Permanent Government in DC and an elected President, Richard Nixon. Watergate's Deep Throat (Mark Felt, the Assistant Director of the FBI) plotted with the Washington Post to destroy Richard Nixon. That's all there was to it. Everything else is lies.

Nixon was destroyed because he was an anti-Communist, and today, the Democrats have racialized Communism just like Dixiecrat Huey Long did long ago. They have placed one of their own in the White House, and the policy results are disastrous. People are dying in Syria and Libya because Barack Obama is still steeped in the phony socialism of Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya. But Kenyatta was too practical to be a Marxist in an underdeveloped country like Kenya. Obama Sr., Barack's father he never knew, preached radicalism and world revolution, so Kenyatta threw him out. Barack Obama is therefore playing out a childhood drama in his mind, a drama that lost any practical relevance half a century ago.

It's strange how the Left always repeats the past, time after time after time, all in the cause of "Progressivism."

Now George Will knows all that. If he is as smart as he seems, he understands perfectly well that Obama is a total fraud who has been immensely harmful to the United States and the world. George Will understands the merry ride of Bonny and Clyde Clinton, who introduced lethal transnational corruption into the capital, which is now riven with Muslim Brotherhood money and a morally compromised establishment. George Will knows all that, but when a clean broom like Trump comes along Mr. Will can't tolerate it.

It's not Trump's substance that bothers Mr. Will. It's his lowbrow style. (But Trump's everyday style is his ace in the hole -- it shocks the establishments, and draws the media to Donald Trump like flies to horse droppings. The media can't stay away. He holds 'em by the nose and kicks 'em in the rear.)

Anglo-American conservatism has never been a single thing. That was the whole point about conservatism, beginning with the British Glorious Revolution of 1699, which helped to define English rights and liberties against a power-grabbing royal house.

This is the drama we just saw play out again in Europe when the Brits revolted against the absurd new Juncker Class, trying to exert Franco-German power over Britain. That Sovietized political machine is not going to give up its drive to dictate the size of cherry tomatoes in Scotland: That is its only mission in life. Without those forty thousand regulations from Brussels, the Euro Soviets would have no function at all.

They are parasites. They do not produce anything useful, anymore than the Soviet Apparat did before the crumbling of the State. Vladimir Putin just pointed out the eerie similarities between the end of Soviet dominance and the end of the EU. That similarity is not an accident. It represents the eternal fight between self-serving power freaks and ordinary people trying to live their lives.

Ordinary Europe has wandered into the ancient trap of deceptive political con artists talking people into giving up their rights and powers. Obama has tried to do the same thing to us.

But Mr. Will and his fellow pundits can't see the obvious.

The Clinton-Obama years have turned DC politics into piracy, but for the first time in years there is a convincing alternative. Nobody knows whether Trump will justify those glowing embers of hope, or whether he will turn out to be a big disappointed. Nobody knows. But Trump looks like the real thing.

Well, Will, Romney and Paul Ryan can't stand it. Trump drives them nuts, and you can see it on their faces. Their hollowness has been exposed, which is already a win as far as I'm concerned. The convenient back-scratching game between the GOP-e and Marxist-e has been exposed, and no sane American will ever believe them again. They are the enemy.

Mr. Will's outraged decision to walk out helps to clarify the real drama going in DC. Trump has been winning by telling truths that have been lied about for far too long. Trump talks the truth about Jihad while Hillary just sells out her country. Trump is already undermining the Left's narrative, and the chattering classes are only chattering.

Obama's sly effort to sexualize the military -- and school children's bathrooms -- are not going to survive if Trump takes over. Obama's betrayal of our moral values to ISIS and Saudi Arabia will not last, if Trump takes over. There is a good chance for our judiciary to correct its shameful abandonment of principle if Trump wins. Apparently Mr. Will cannot see that.

Trump isn't perfect, and Americans will keep a wary eye on anybody in power. But it's hard to see any worse than Carter-Clinton-Obama. Somehow the GOP establishment has become inured to the stench of corruption and self-dealing that we are seeing in the capital today. I believe it is much worse than we can even imagine.

We need a good purge, and I'm not choosy about the label on the box.

Let the exodus begin.
Years ago, in another lifetime, I flew the mighty F-4S Phantom II in the jet route structure. Several times I flew high enough for the engine exhaust to condense in the minus 60F atmosphere. At 30,000 feet, Id look in the mirrors on the canopy bow and watch a pair of thick contrails swirl behind me, laying down a set of unmistakable tracks proving that I was no longer just turning jet fuel into jet noise but I was leaving a trail visible for all to see for miles and miles. Some people on the ground, primarily those on the political left, have suggested my contrails were actually chemtrails, that they were some wild Petri dish concoction consisting of chemical or biological agents that were being deliberately sprayed for some sinister purpose, like a Bond villain, on an ignorant general public. I was shocked to learn that somehow the enlisted guy who refueled my jet with JP-5 was in on the conspiracy and was dispensing some nefarious additional chemicals from his R-11 fuel truck. When I became aware of the chemtrail controversy years later, it proved there are some strange people in America. That when you dont have enough facts or understanding of the basic science of condensation, I guess you make up something. Who doesnt love a good conspiracy when the facts are just boring?

Jack Cashill has his second book coming out on Flight 800, TWA 800: The Crash, the Cover-Up, and the Conspiracy. Former FBI Special Agent John F. Piccianos fine novel Liam's Promise, suggests there was an international terrorist conspiracy and massive government cover-up of Flight 800. In my book, Shoot Down, the president knew aircraft were threatened, that they were warned, and they did nothing about it until it was too late. Sort of like what happened on September 11th in Benghazi, Libya.

For Misters Cashill and Picciano and myself, there has always been something wrong with the reported circumstances surrounding the loss of the TWA 747. When you look at all the evidence behind the tragedy of Flight 800, it was very difficult not to conclude that the governments investigation was faulty and scripted, and that the probable cause of the incident was some fuel cell problem was completely unbelievable. It was July 17, 1996, and Flight 800 occurred right in the middle of the sweet spot of a string of terrorist attacks on America, on American interests, on President Clintons watch. The three authors came to the same conclusion, by different means, that someone used a man-portable, shoulder-launched, anti-aircraft missile. How was this not a terrorist attack? Terrorists, primarily al-Qaeda, were having a field day attacking Americans.

A truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. On December 11, 1994, a bomb was planted on Flight 434, a Philippine Airlines Boeing 747, by the master terrorist Ramzi Yousef. The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was bombed in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. The failed Bojinka plot was a large-scale attack to assassinate Pope John Paul II and blow up 11 airliners from Asia to the United States during January 1995. It was planned by Islamists Ramzi Yousef and a current orange-jumpsuit-0wearing occupant of Guantanamo Bay, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. A pair of United States embassy bombings on August 7, 1998 killed over 200 people in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and in Nairobi, Kenya. And on 31 October 1999, there was EgyptAir Flight 990, where the aircraft plunged into the Atlantic Ocean about 60 miles south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. The flight data and cockpit voice recorders were recovered and proved the relief first officer deliberately crashed the jet into the water while repeating some nine times in Egyptian Arabic, "Tawkalt ala Allah," which roughly translated to, "I rely on God." The United States Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Cole (DDG-67) was bombed on 12 October 2000 while it was harbored and being refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden. September 11, 2001.

President Clintons time in office saw the highest level of terrorism activity directed at American interests: buildings, embassies, a Navy warship, and over a dozen high-capacity aircraft were targeted or attacked. Other commercial aircraft had been shot down and that news was ignored. These were spectacular operations. And according to the National Transportation Safety Board Flight 800 was just a jet with a bad set of wires in a fuel tank. The only airplane in the history of flight to have exploded in flight because of a possible short circuit in a fuel tank. The NTSB must have been watching the Magic Loogie episode of Seinfeld when they submitted their Flight 800 report, for that was one incredible magic wire.

Sometime after 2003, I was teaching the aircraft accident investigation course for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas. My graduate students were seasoned USAF instructor pilots from across the Air Force -- they flew fighters, cargo aircraft, and helicopters. I'm an old USMC F-4 pilot, and intuitively we knew what had happened to the TWA 747 was an obvious act terrorism, that the declaration that it was probably just bad wiring was an expedient political deflection to a White House intern problem while jets and buildings were being blown up all across the globe, and that it didn't explode during departure because of some defective fuel cell wiring or overheated fuel vapors. Military and commercial pilots know fuel systems dont work that way.

It was a good exercise for my students to look into what other reasons there could be to explain the government's handling of the case and determine a better or more rational probable cause. One of my students found an interesting newspaper article, where a couple of congressmen were stopped as they were leaving a closed-door session on the proliferation of MANPADS, Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems. Those are shoulder-launched, anti-aircraft missiles. French Mistrals, Russian SA-18s, British Blowpipes, and the U.S. Stingers. I will always remember my reaction to what was reported, when my student said, One of the congressmen said, they were looking into the problem of the proliferation of MANPADS to prevent another Flight 800. It was a curious statement at best. An inadvertent admission? Someone who had wandered off script and forgot to maintain the governments message? Sometime after the Flight 800 incident, some 14 pieces of legislation were introduced related to MANPADS were introduced to the U.S. Congress. The timing of the proposed legislation was a conspiracy theorists wet dream.

As an adjunct, also immediately following the downing of Flight 800, there were hearings on Capitol Hill to force DOD to install heat-seeking missile countermeasures on commercial aircraft. It wasnt until 2005 that Fred Smith, FedEx CEO/Chairman, volunteered some of his aircraft to be fitted with directed infrared countermeasures equipment (DIRCM) to thwart shoulder-launched heat-seeking missiles. Were these MANPADS really a threat? Were they responsible for Flight 800? Consider this: between 500 to 750 thousand MANPADS are believed to have been produced, thus far. Reportedly, at the date of that report up to 27 militia and terrorist groups possess shoulder-fired SAMs. Yet it was one magic wire that brought down that jet.

The EgyptAir Flight 990 case demonstrated that a government can manipulate the outcome of an investigation. Egyptian government officials rejected the interpretation of the actions of the first officer, they asserted that it was culturally impossible for [the relief pilot] Batouti to have done what the NTSB believed; second, that the NTSB lacked the cultural sensitivity to understand what was on the cockpit voice recorder. Despite the data from the recovered black boxes, the Egyptians blamed Boeing for an inoperative elevator system. They blamed everyone else except their guy.

What happens when you -- an accomplished investigative reporter, an FBI Special Agent, and an old accident investigator -- know youre not being told the truth? The investigators of Flight 990 capitulated on reason, genuflected and tested the myriad ridiculous Egyptian theses that the Boeing 767 suffered a hidden mechanical malfunction. There is a psychological impact on subordinates when high ranking government officials reject the obvious evidence for their own narrative. The normal first inclination is not to be confrontational even as the available evidence, like a finding compass, continually points in the same direction.

President Lincoln ran through a half-dozen generals before he found one who could do the job. When the government wants to maintain or foster a certain message, they are in the power position to reject those that do not get it, that there is a message and that message is to be maintained. Those investigators and witnesses that do not play well with others are cast off to the Island of Misfit Toys. Flight 800 went through a crazy number of investigators. Many dynamic witnesses were ignored. The CIA was even brought in. The government went overboard to prove what it wasnt, not what it was. The message was, It wasnt terrorism. It definitely wasnt a missile -- ignore all those witnesses who say they saw a missile launch. Were pretty sure it was only a broken wire.

What do you do when you know you are not being told the truth on Flight 800? Some of us write a story that is tangential to the cover-up and the government lies. I know I cant wait to read Jack Cashills new book.

Mark Hewitt is the author of the espionage thrillers Special Access and Shoot Down.
Monday's decision in Whole Woman's Health v. Texas demonstrates that the U.S. Supreme Court, as currently constituted, is committed to uphold the right to abortion, no matter what.

Even though the Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade had determined that a state has a "legitimate interest" in seeing that an abortion "is performed under circumstances that insure maximum safety for the patient," those have proved to be just empty words. In a 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, the Court crafted an "undue burden" test to determine whether health restrictions have the "purpose or effect of presenting a substantial obstacle to a woman seeking an abortion." As with all such balancing tests invented by the Court, this test has allowed the justices to reach whatever decision they personally prefer. In this case, the personal preferences of the justices was, again, revealed to be overwhelmingly pro-abortion.

The Texas law at question in this case imposed two restrictions on abortion providers: first, that the physician-abortionist have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion facility, and second, that the abortion facility meet at least the "minimum standards ... for ambulatory surgical centers" in Texas. The Court swept aside all of the evidence as to the danger of abortion for the women involved and focused only on the evidence offered by pro-abortion physicians and medical groups. As a result, abortion was declared "much safer, in terms of minor and serious complications, than many common medical procedures not subject to such intense regulation and scrutiny."

The rationalizing principle here is that the law that applies to abortion cases is very different from the law the court applies when it addresses less favored rights.

We filed an amicus curiae brief in this case on behalf of Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund, U.S. Justice Foundation, Institute on the Constitution, and Southwest Prophecy Ministries, which set out the fraudulent nature of abortion jurisprudence, contrasting that with a dozen Scripture verses  laying out the view of our Creator drawn from the Holy Bible. We argued that "[t]he Roe v. Wade decision can only be understood as being grounded jointly on (i) the atextual notion of 'privacy' ... and (ii) the judicially invented doctrine of substantive due process." Even though the majority paid no heed to our arguments, or the arguments of the other pro-life briefs, one of the two dissenting opinions expounded on how lawless Supreme Court abortion decisions have become.

The Thomas Dissent

Indeed, in what may go down as his best dissent ever, Justice Thomas began with Justice Scalia's famous observation in his 2000 dissent in Stenberg v. Carhart about the fraudulent nature of Supreme Court abortion jurisprudence: "the Court's troubling tendency to bend the rules when any effort to limit abortion, or even to speak in opposition to abortion, is at issue." Justice Thomas ripped the majority opinion from one end to the other, explaining why it is corrupt, mangling even the subjective "undue burden" test of Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Accusing the Court of further perpetuating a "habit of applying different rules to different constitutional rights  especially the putative right to abortion," Justice Thomas concluded: "Our law is now so riddled with special exceptions for special rights that our decisions deliver neither predictability nor the promise of a judiciary bound by the rule of law." Concluding with a frontal assault on balancing tests, Justice Thomas warned: "As the Court applies whatever standard it likes to any given case, nothing but empty words separates our constitutional decisions from judicial fiat[.] ... If our recent cases illustrate anything, it is how easily the Court tinkers with levels of scrutiny to achieve its desired result."

This brilliant dissent should be required reading for every law school student, who is increasingly unexposed to reasoning from fixed principles and instead trained in the techniques of judicial balancing  as if the latter were all that law is about. Justice Thomas took his constitutional law lesson back to the beginnings of where the Court's jurisprudence went astray  discussing, inter alia, the famous Footnote 4 of the Court's 1938 decision in United States v. Carolene Products as an excuse to issue decisions that favored unenumerated rights, setting the Court at large.

Justice Thomas pulled no punches, observing:

The Court has simultaneously transformed judicially created rights like the right to abortion into preferred constitutional rights, while disfavoring many of the rights actually enumerated in the Constitution. But our Constitution renounces the notion that some constitutional rights are more equal than others. A plaintiff either possesses the constitutional right he is asserting, or not  and if not, the judiciary has no business creating ad hoc exceptions so that others can assert rights that seem especially important to vindicate[.]

In his concluding paragraph, Justice Thomas returned to Justice Scalia, observing that "[t]he majority's embrace of a jurisprudence of rights-specific exceptions and balancing tests is 'a regrettable concession of defeat  an acknowledgment that we have passed the point where "law," properly speaking, has any further application.'" Brilliant. Let us hope that this clear statement of judicial error will constitute a turning point, as the curtain is ripped back on the techniques of judicial fiat. 25Justice Scalia would have been pleased.

The Breyer Majority Opinion

Justice Breyer's entire legal analysis of the two Texas restrictions, really, is as simple as uttering his conclusion: "Each places a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a previability abortion, each constitutes an undue burden on abortion access[.]" Based on that, the Court rules that "each violates the Federal Constitution. Amdt. 14 section 1." (As they say, the right to an abortion was found hidden between the penumbras and the emanations of the Fourteenth Amendment.)

Making up law as he went, Justice Breyer rejected the Fifth Circuit's deference to the Texas legislature: "The statement that legislatures, and not courts, must resolve questions of medical uncertainty is also inconsistent with this Court's case law." There you have it: the Supreme Court usurps not just the exclusive right to determine what is constitutional, but also matters of medical policy.

Justice Ginsburg filed a short concurring opinion relying heavily on the amicus briefs of pro-abortion groups. As with Justice Breyer, Justice Ginsburg scarcely mentioned the Constitution  but viewed herself as making health care policy for the people of Texas.

Of course, if you ask the wrong question, you invariably get the wrong response. Supreme Court pro-abortion jurisprudence is so well established that the Court never even thinks to reconsider whether there really is a right to an abortion to be found in the Constitution  to say nothing of the right to an abortion at a relatively unregulated abortion mill. Rather, applying their corrupt precedents, Justice Breyer seemed glad to report that in Texas, the number of abortions has run about 15-16 percent of the pregnancy rate  for a total of 60,000-72,000 abortions annually, a number that he did not want to see diminished as a result of the Texas law.

The Court's final vote was 5-3. Joining Breyer were Kennedy, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan. Thus  again  the key pro-abortion vote was provided by Reagan-appointed "Republican" Kennedy. Dissenting were Thomas, Alito, and Roberts. Had Scalia lived, the restrictions on abortion mills would still have been struck, but on a 5-4 vote. If the Republicans in the Senate had confirmed Merrick Garland, undoubtedly the vote would have been 6-3.

Many observers thought this case would be held over until the next term and reargued before a full Court. That would have been true only if Kennedy had not joined the majority. And since Kennedy joined the plurality decision in Casey in 1992, and in the aftermath of decisions like last year's Obergefell v. Hodges, it seems that there was really no reason to have held out that hope.

The Future of Abortion

This case raises the question of how abortion can be resisted in the future. There is little reason to have confidence that any governor in the country would do his job as a "lesser magistrate" and "interpose" himself to protect unborn children from murder against a murderous Supreme Court. For the future, one of the shortcomings in the Texas legislation that the Supreme Court pointed to was that there were no "explicit legislative findings" as to the benefits of the law. However, there is little reason to believe that the Court would have cared even if there had been such findings. Why should it, given its penchant for advancing the "pro-choice" movement, no matter how Dr. Gosnell and other like him are exploiting desperate young women?

Regardless of the Supreme Court's embrace of a culture of death, it continues to fall upon the rest of us to speak truth. As just one useful strategy, this is a good time to remember the advice of Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress: when anyone says he is for "a woman's right to choose," complete his sentence for him  "to murder her child." We have the continuous decisions of U.S. Supreme Court over twoscore and three years for establishing that murder of the innocent unborn continues to be protected from state prosecution, or even regulation, by the modernists' Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Truly, the U.S. Supreme Court has once again uttered lawlessness masquerading as a judicial decision.

William J. Olson and Herbert W. Titus are attorneys with William J. Olson, P.C. of Vienna, Virginia. E-mail wjo@mindspring.com, visit www.lawandfreedom.com, or follow www.Twitter.com/OlsonLaw.
South Carolina Republican Congressman "Trey" Gowdy (R. 4th Dist.) led the House Benghazi Committee into a black hole.

In a CBS Face the Nation video of an interview back on October 18, 2015, Gowdy aimed to fend off criticism of the committees efforts saying that he has a message for his Republican colleagues and friends: Shut up talking about things that you don't know anything about. Unless you're on the committee you have no idea what we've done, why we've done it, and what new facts we have found.

The CBS reporter interpreted his language as an effort to fend off criticism that his committee was created to discredit Hillary Clinton.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R. CA.) helped fuel that criticism when he stated that Clintons poll numbers had been declining since the committee was formed.

On June 28, 2016, the House Republicans on the Benghazi Select Committee issued their report. The PDF files of each section can be read here. The pages are not numbered consecutively, so the total is obscured. Its a lot.

And, as was the case with the Affordable Care Act (AKA: ObamaCare), no elected official in the federal government may ever read it all.

In the meantime, two Republican Congressmen (Jim Jordan, Mike Pompeo) provided a 51-page summary of the final report. Here are the highlights of their short version:

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS I. The First Victim of War is Truth: The administration misled the public about the events in Benghazi Officials at the State Department, including Secretary Clinton, learned almost in real time that the attack in Benghazi was a terrorist attack. With the presidential election just 56 days away, rather than tell the American people the truth and increase the risk of losing an election, the administration told one story privately and a different story publicly. They publicly blamed the deaths on a video-inspired protest they knew had never occurred. II. Last Clear Chance: Security in Benghazi was woefully inadequate and Secretary Clinton failed to lead The State Department has many posts but Libya and Benghazi were different. After Qhaddafi, the U.S. knew that we could not count on host nation security in a country where militias held significant power. The American people expect that when the government sends our representatives into such dangerous places they receive adequate protection. Secretary Clinton paid special attention to Libya. She sent Ambassador Stevens there. Yet, in August 2012, she missed the last, clear chance to protect her people. III. Failure of Will: America did not move heaven and earth to rescue our people The American people expect their government to make every effort to help those we put in harms way when they find themselves in trouble. The U.S. military never sent assets to help rescue those fighting in Benghazi and never made it into Libya with personnel during the attack. And, contrary to the administrations claim that it could not have landed in Benghazi in time to help, the administration never directed men or machines into Benghazi. IV. Justice Denied: The administration broke its promise to bring the terrorists to justice After the attacks, President Obama promised justice will be done. There is no doubt our nation can make good on that commitment. Yet, almost four years later, only one of the terrorists has been captured and brought to the United States to face criminal charges. Even that terrorist will not receive the full measure of justice after the administration chose not to seek the death penalty. The American people are owed an explanation. V. Unanswered Questions: The administration did not cooperate with the investigation Despite its claims, we saw no evidence that the administration held a sincere interest in helping the Committee find the truth about Benghazi. There is a time for politics and a time to set politics aside. A national tragedy is one of those times when as a nation we should join together to find the truth. That did not happen here. So while the investigation uncovered new information, we nonetheless end the Committees investigation without many of the facts, especially those involving the President and the White House, we were chartered to obtain.

And, below is the final paragraph of the short version:

CONCLUSION In the end, the administrations efforts to impede the investigation succeeded, but only in part. The minority members and their staffs efforts to impede the investigation succeeded also, but again only in part. And although we answered many questions, we could not do so completely. What we did find was a tragic failure of leadershipin the run up to the attack and the night ofand an administration that, so blinded by politics and its desire to win an election, disregarded a basic duty of government: Tell the people the truth. And for those reasons Benghazi is, and always will be, an American tragedy.

Lines in the abridged document are blacked out on pages 2, 12, and 33. Here is the hidden content:

(p.2) everybody takes a position to support what we have in store, which we don't know what it is at this point. We are not sure. We don't know if the fight is over or if it is going to be longer. (p.12) No. There was nothing out there up until, well, up until there was. I had been out of the gate at 8:30 that night. We had had personnel leaving the compound, and they drove away from our compound and didn't report anything, and I spoke with them subsequently, there was nothing out there.23 That same witness updated officials in Washington every 15 to 30 minutes throughout the night (p.33) wild east.

Looking back on Congressman Gowdys comments in October 2015 about members of the House not on the committee having no idea what weve done, he can now add much of America to the not-knowing ones.

When public officials fail to hold each other accountable for negligence, incompetence, and corruption, the entire nation is the victim.

And in this case, Benghazi is, and always will be, an American tragedy  enhanced by an inconsequential investigation.
Like so many demographic groups, homosexuals refuse to grasp that Islam has it in for them.

Most recently, Kyler Smitz, a gay man who was apparently miffed that gun control measures didnt pass in the wake of the Orlando terror attack, threatened to shoot Senator Roy Blunt. He followed up that threat with a tweet directed to other members of Congress stating that he couldnt wait to shoot them in the face one by one. (here)

Oh the irony of yearning for gun control while threatening to shoot people.

The lesbian gay bisexual transgender queer intersex asexual ally poly community, or LGBTQIAAP for short (no kidding), has a long history of being unable to appreciate the irony of their positions. They are traditionally leftists and, as such, sympathize with the presumed plight of Muslims. They dont appear to understand the awful truth that Islam mandates that homosexuals be killed.

This murderous mandate is not just some theoretical idea floating around out there. Homosexuals are being murdered at the hands of devout Muslims all the time. Now. In the 21st century. Muslims do God awful things to them. They throw them off of tall buildings, beat them, shoot them, arrest them, stone them, hang them, burn them, whip them, and cut them. (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here)

Devout Muslims have been murdering gay people for centuries. And not just in God-forsaken hellholes like Afghanistan. But in places like Orlando, Florida. And if these devout Muslims cant carry out their mission using guns, theyll use anything they can get their hands on.

Hat tips: The Blaze and Atlas Shrugs
Writing over at Slate (h/t Joel Pollak), Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit states that he no longer desires the application of the United States Constitution within the American legal system:

And on another note about academia and practical law, I see absolutely no value to a judge of spending decades, years, months, weeks, day, hours, minutes, or seconds studying the Constitution, the history of its enactment, its amendments, and its implementation (across the centuries  well, just a little more than two centuries, and of course less for many of the amendments). Eighteenth-century guys, however smart, could not foresee the culture, technology, etc., of the 21st century. Which means that the original Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the post  Civil War amendments (including the 14th), do not speak to today. David Strauss is right: The Supreme Court treats the Constitution like it is authorizing the court to create a common law of constitutional law, based on current concerns, not what those 18th-century guys were worrying about. In short, let's not let the dead bury the living.

This isn't the first time Posner has embarrassed the judiciary, but it is certainly his most irresponsible public statement. It also proves, since he was appointed by former president Ronald Reagan, that conservatives have a terrible track record  perhaps worse than liberals  when it comes to the quality of their judicial choices.

How Posner has escaped impeachment this long remains a mystery, since his ongoing commentaries while remaining on the bench are a textbook example of bringing the administration of justice into disrepute.

In 2012, he said he has "become less conservative since the Republican Party started becoming goofy." This, of course, openly mixes partisan politics with the judiciary, which is a very immature move. Furthermore, it should cause individuals who are known members of the GOP to feel that Posner will be biased against them if he is to preside over their case. For a sitting judge to declare a mainstream political party as "goofy" is truly reprehensible.

His pro-authoritarian police state views on the power of the government to intrude into all aspects of private life is frightening:

I think privacy is actually overvalued[.] ... Much of what passes for the name of privacy is really just trying to conceal the disreputable parts of your conduct. Privacy is mainly about trying to improve your social and business opportunities by concealing the sorts of bad activities that would cause other people not to want to deal with you. ... Congress should limit the NSA's use of the data it collects  for example, not giving information about minor crimes to law enforcement agencies  but it shouldn't limit what information the NSA sweeps up and searches. If the NSA wants to vacuum all the trillions of bits of information that are crawling through the electronic worldwide networks, I think that's fine. ... I'm shocked at the thought that a company would be permitted to manufacture an electronic product that the government would not be able to search.

His admiration of a police state absent any serious counterbalance from the public became even more clear when he uttered the following: "I'm always suspicious when the civil liberties people start telling the police how to do their business."

Posner has also argued for a ban on hyperlinks or the paraphrasing of copyrighted material, thereby taking a position against free speech and the ability of the public to have reasoned discourse on important issues:

Expanding copyright law to bar online access to copyrighted materials without the copyright holder's consent, or to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder's consent, might be necessary to keep free riding on content financed by online newspapers from so impairing the incentive to create costly news-gathering operations.

On their own, each of these prior statements should have brought Posner's position on the bench into question, but in now claiming that judges should not spend even a few seconds "studying the Constitution, the history of its enactment, its amendments, and its implementation," the judge has crossed a line.

It is the Constitution that sets the framework for the rule of law, and under 28 U.S. Code 453, one presumes  as Pollak noted at Breitbart  that Posner had to take the following oath, whose application continues without diminishment in any form while he sits on the Court of Appeals:

Each justice or judge of the United States shall take the following oath or affirmation before performing the duties of his office: "I, ___ ___, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as ___ under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God."

Despite significant contributions to the academic study of law over the decades that are widely respected across the West, Posner's statements at Slate  especially when coupled with his previous stated views on free speech, privacy, and police powers  would suggest that he has formally abandoned, or seeks to abandon, the rule of law and other afforded protections under the U.S. Constitution.

Litigants appearing before him would have reasonable grounds to believe that his courtroom is a Constitution-free zone, and that is clearly unacceptable . In fact, it is illegal. It is time for Posner to step down, or for efforts to be undertaken in order to effect his removal.
Pregnant women in South America have a profound concern about the health of their babies. Zika -- a mosquito-borne viral disease -- has been spreading quickly there. The main agent of transmission is the Aedes mosquito.

The mosquito is abundant, especially in South and Central America, Africa, and Asia, but also lives in parts of the southeast United States, northern Australia, and the Mediterranean.

The disease may affect the fetuses of infected mothers, causing some to be born with underdeveloped brains. Although the link between microcephaly and Zika has not been confirmed, the World Health Organization (WHO) says it is "strongly suspected" and is positively affirmed from documented cases since 2015.

As a result, state authorities in infected regions of South America have advised women to delay getting pregnant. Among those who do get pregnant, some abort their babies, fearing Zika.

Abortion is illegal in many parts of the infected South American continent, yet recent research suggests Zika-induced panic has driven abortion rates there up by 33 to 100 percent. As abortion is illegal in many of these countries, many women opt for abortion at unsafe centers or use unsafe abortifacients, increasing their risk of serious infection and fatality.

If it spreads greatly in Africa and India, Zika could cause unprecedented damage. WHO predicts as many as four million Zika cases across the Americas over the next year. 46 countries are experiencing a first outbreak since 2015, with no previous evidence of circulation, and with ongoing transmission by mosquitos.

In a country like India, abortions can be performed legally only during first the three months of pregnancy, with a number of qualifiers. Two-thirds of abortions in India take place outside authorized healthcare facilities, and every two hours a woman dies because of an unsafe abortion. An outbreak of Zika would increase the number of abortions and abortion-related womens deaths.

Abortion rates are already increasing across the globe, driven by international agencies and governmental institutions, which adopt the false Malthusian view that population growth causes famine. As a result, large sums of taxpayer money are directed towards population control without due consideration of the impact on the future social structure in the less-developed East. These antisocial elements will use the Zika outbreak as another reason to advocate abortions.

Efforts against Zika will have significant impact only if they use proven scientific methods to combat the primary Zika-transmitting agent -- the Aedes mosquito. But fearmongering environmental radicals, using faulty science, have persuaded the developed West to oppose DDT, which has proven the most affordable, safe, and effective method of controlling malaria-carrying mosquitos and should be used to control Zika carriers as well. Other modern scientific methods, such as genetically modifying Aedes aegypti mosquitos to reduce their breeding levels, should also be encouraged.

But the environmentalists focus on secondary (preventing mosquito bites by use of nets and repellants) and tertiary (contraception and abortion) methods of preventing Zika-induced birth defects, leaving billions across the globe in real danger.

The financial and human cost of allowing unrestricted breeding of these disease-transmitting mosquitoes far outweighs the cost of preventing it. Developing nations must make utmost use of scientific methodologies that prevent the breeding of disease-transmitting mosquitoes. As for the West, it is time the governmental institutions realize the urgency of the issue and approve the use of DDT and genetic modification.

Its not human population we need to reduce, but the population of disease-carrying mosquitos.

Vijay Jayaraj (M.S., Environmental Science, University of East Anglia, England), Research Associate for Developing Countries for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, lives in Udumalpet, India.
Turkey is on a knifes edge, split between its modernists, who embrace a secular society and want integration into Europe, and its pious Islamic population, who seek a return to a life guided by sharia. The former tend to be concentrated in cities -- particularly the mega-city of Istanbul that straddles Asia and Europe  while the rural populace tends to support the more traditional Islamic-guided life. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power on the basis of rural, pious Muslim support, and has done his best to ensure perpetual control in the hands of pious Muslims.

The urban modernist Turks largely depend on the fruits of trade and tourism, and the attack on Istanbuls Kemal Attaturk Airport (named after the secularist founder of modern Turkey) was an attack on their livelihood. That airport (code: IST) is a mega-hub for Turkish Airlines, which has expanded aggressively and become a pillar of the modernist economy, bringing in tourists, and employing thousands of Turks depending on cosmopolitanism.

Turkish Airlines actually flies to more countries than any other airline in the world, and in recent years has built a reputation for very high levels of cabin service. It also prices fares aggressively, winning connecting traffic, often with longer itineraries and lower prices. Last summer, I priced tickets from San Francisco to Rome and found Turkish Airlines had the lowest fares, despite Istanbul being two and half hours farther east, requiring five hours additional flying time. Many North Americans (and people all over the world) discover the same bargains, and use connections in Istanbul, enabling Turkish Airlines to buy and fill a large fleet of hundreds of modern aircraft, many built in the United States.

Photo by Sergey Kustov via Wikimedia Commons

Earlier terror attacks in Turkey have already depressed tourism to that country, but the attack on Attaturk Airport will be even more devastating to Turkish Airlines, because it will disrupt the connecting traffic its business model relies on. So successful ahs the airline been that IST is bursting at the seams, and is slated to be supplemented by a brand new mega-hub airport that it is claimed will be the largest in the world. This, in the eyes of Islamists, is a poisonous facility guaranteed to expose Turkey to even more foreign, non-Muslim influences. So the attack on IST is aimed at destroying the economic basis behind the airport.

Erdogan, whose government is constructing the new airport and which depends on prosperity brought by Turkish Airlines, is reaping the consequences of his Islamism.
From the always worth reading Caroline Glick:

The most devastating, and at this point clearly premeditated, outcome of Obama's refusal to name the cause of the violence is that he has made it illegitimate to discuss it. He has made it controversial for Americans to talk about Islamic supremacism, extremism, violence and war for world domination. He has made substantive criticism of his policies tantamount to bigotry. And he has rendered the public debate about the most salient strategic threat to American lives, liberty and national security a partisan issue.

Glick points out Obama has succeeded among Democrats in making honesty on Islamic jihad a forbidden topic. Only Republicans can think about and say jihad or Islamic terrorism. (See Pamela Geller on Orlandos massive intel failure  under Obama, the FBI and Homeland Security are forbidden from naming Islam or jihad, which might explain why they didnt follow-up on the co-worker and gun shop reports of Mateen as a jihadi risk.)

Referring to the jihadist attack as "a public health crisis," caused by "gun violence," (Democratic Senator from Connecticut) Blumenthal alleged that fifty people who went dancing in Orlando Saturday night never made it home because Republican Senators oppose Obama's bill to limit gun ownership rights. This sort of talk, which makes opponents of leftist policies and ideology illegitimate, is arguably Obama's dangerous legacy.

Hat tip: Real Clear Politics
Covering the Senate hearings on Islamic terror, Tuesdays HuffPo headline read: Witness At Ted Cruz Hearing Accuses Congress Two Muslim Members Of Muslim Brotherhood Ties.The teaser read: This doesnt normally happen on the Hill. The teaser should have been: Its about time.

I rarely venture over to the HuffPo, but I couldnt resist reading their coverage:

In explosive testimony Tuesday, a witness before a Senate panel about Islamic terrorism accused the two Muslim members of Congress of having attended an event organized by the Muslim Brotherhood. The charge was leveled by Chris Gaubatz, a national security consultant who has moonlighted as an undercover agitator of Muslim groups that he accuses of being terrorist outfits, and it was directed at Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Andre Carson (D-Ind.). At the heart of his accusation is the attendance by those two members at a 2008 convention hosted by the Islamic Society of North America  a Muslim umbrella group, which Gaubatz claims is a front for the Muslim Brotherhood.

HuffPo was eager to smear Chris Gaubatz, whose impressive undercover work inside CAIR is chronicled in his book Muslim Mafia. (To learn more about him, The Clarion Project has a short interview, here.) The Huffpo continues:

I attended a convention in Columbus, Ohio, in 2008, organized by Muslim Brotherhood group, ISNA, and both the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons had recruitment and outreach booths, Gaubatz said in his testimony. Both Congressman Keith Ellison, MN, and Andre Carson, IN, spoke at the Muslim Brotherhood event. Allegations that Ellison and Carson are secret Muslim agents with extremist leanings are usually found among fringe groups online, often discussed in dire tones on poorly designed websites. Rarely, if ever, do such sentiments get read into congressional testimony, with the imprimatur that offers.

Wow, this is why, as a rule, I dont read the HuffPo. But seriously, the excerpt noted above highlights how behind the curve we are regarding the Muslim Brotherhood. The MB should have been declared a terrorist organization ions ago. Instead, they have been operating through countless front groups that are legitimized and lauded by leftist politicians and the media. As a result, no red flags are raised about anyone affiliated with these groups.

Responsibility for this rare instance lies with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who oversaw the hearing as chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts and whose staff likely saw the testimonies of the witnesses.

Oh, well. Leave it to Ted Cruz to invite someone associated with fringe groups that operate online using dire tones on poorly designed websites.

An aide to Ellison confirmed that he did attend the 2008 ISNA convention. Hes gone to a few of the groups conventions, in fact. Carsons office didnt return a request for comment. But news reports show that both he and Carson led a discussion at the 2008 convention on how to mobilize Muslims politically. President Barack Obama has addressed the group as well, though only via a video recording.

Mobilizing Muslims politically. Hmm. Im sure thats perfectly innocent, right? And who can forget Obamas video recording where he praised ISNA, Muslims, the fabulous halal food in his hometown of Chicago? (Warning: Dont look in his eyes for too long.)

Critics of ISNA have insisted that these politicians have either turned a blind eye to  or explicitly embraced  the groups affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, an affiliation that is based on ties some of the founding ISNA members have allegedly had to the hard-line religious organization. ISNA has long insisted that no such connection has ever existed. I can definitely tell you we are not Muslim Brotherhood. We are not affiliated with them at all and never were, said Faryal Khatri, an official with ISNA. That much I can reassure you.

Well if an ISNA official has gone on record to assure everyone that the organization is not affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in any way, thats good enough for me! Mr. Khatri wouldnt lie, would he?

ISNA is not the only group targeted by Gaubatz. In 2009, he told Talking Points Memo that he obtained an internship with the Council on American-Islamic Relations as part of an effort to secretly collect evidence against the group to be used in a book written by his father. The book, Muslim Mafia, alleged that CAIR, a Muslim advocacy group that works to combat Islamophobia, was a front for the Muslim Brotherhood.

In case there is any confusion, CAIR is a front group for the MB. Now if we could all stay focused on facts such as these, we might actually get somewhere.

And to those who think I might be a fringe person using a dire tone (surely AT isnt one of those poorly designed websites to which HuffPo referred), Im not just making this up. The MB told us who their front groups were in their Explanatory Memorandum during the Holy Land Foundation trial. Heres the list. ISNAs right on top.

Cruzs office did not respond to a request for comment on Gaubatzs allegations against Ellison and Carson or whether it had given either member a chance to respond. But the senator has displayed a tolerance for these kinds of conspiracy theories in the past.

Oh my goodness! I am kicking myself for reading through the entire HuffPo piece. Conspiracy theories? Anyone who thinks any of this is a conspiracy theory is on the fringe of reality. Dire, desperate, and dumb. (Whether they are affiliated with a poorly designed web site, or not, I couldnt say.)

Before he suspended his presidential campaign, Cruz appointed known Islamophobe Frank Gaffney to his team of national security advisers. Gaffney, now head of the Center for Security Policy, has objected to Ellison and Carson serving on the House Intelligence Committee because he believes their Muslim faith could compel them to leak information to the Muslim Brotherhood. He has also accused Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, and conservative heavyweights Grover Norquist and Suhail Khan of being closeted Muslim Brotherhood members. When asked about his controversial selection, Cruz defended Gaffney as a serious thinker focused on fighting jihadism across the globe.

Frank Gaffney is a tireless warrior trying to inform the idiot masses on the looming threat before us. His work, and the work of his colleagues who sound the alarm day in and day out might one day save the lives of those who smear him as an Islamaphobe (a fabricated word that has no actual meaning).

God bless Ted Cruz, Frank Gaffney, and everyone on the front lines of this fight of the ages.
It is a sure sign of warmist desperation in the wake of the abject failure of global warming climate models to accurately predict the future. Michael Mann, one of the leading touts of warmism, yesterday told the Democratic Platform Drafting Committee:

Fundamentally, Im a climate scientist and have spent much of my career with my head buried in climate-model output and observational climate data trying to tease out the signal of human-caused climate change. What is disconcerting to me and so many of my colleagues is that these tools that weve spent years developing increasingly are unnecessary because we can see climate change, the impacts of climate change, now, playing out in real time, on our television screens, in the 24-hour news cycle....

Please allow me to translate: The best tool we have to scare people into supporting carbon taxes and regulations that would empower the ruling elites to control every aspect of wealth generation is propaganda pretending that bad weather, like hurricanes and floods are caused by an increase in carbon dioxide, and essential atmospheric ingredient that promotes higher crop yields necessary to feed the earths burgeoning population. Most people do not realize that catastrophic weather events have been apart of human history forever, so we can fool them into believing that we can prevent them in the future by limiting the combustion of hydrocarbons.

Valerie Richardson of the Washington Times notes:

His comment drew hoots from climate skeptics, including the website Greenie Watch, which posted his comment under the headline, Scientist Michael Mann says there is no need for statistics: You can just SEE global warming. Unsurprising. The statistics are pretty doleful for Warmism, the site said in a Monday post. (snip) Skeptics have hotly challenged the link between rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and extreme weather events, noting, for example, that hurricane activity is on the decline. A nine-year hurricane drought of Category 3 storms starting in 2006 beat the previous mark of eight years from 1861-1868, the longest such streak since such recording began in 1851, according to a May 2015 study by the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

But the Democrats, the party of statist control over the economy, are a natural audience for arguments that suggest the use of panic propaganda, not data, to make the case for more government control.
On June 9 Lenovo held their Lenovo Tech World event in San Francisco. There was a number of announcements which came through as part of the event, although it was clear that the biggest and most noteworthy of the announcements was the introduction of the Lenovo PHAB2 Pro smartphone. While this was one of three PHAB phones which were introduced at the event, the unique selling point with the PHAB2 Pro is that it is a Tango-enabled smartphone. In fact, it is the worlds first consumer-ready Tango smartphone.

Project Tango as it was originally known, is technology built inside a device which essentially allows the device to become more spatially aware. This unique ability means that Tango-enabled devices are able to gauge the distance and space around them more effectively and accurately. A skill which is likely to have a direct consequence for a number of app-related industries like home improvement, retail, information and of course, gaming. As a result and with the first consumer-ready Tango smartphone now launched, it is expected that the technology will make its way to more smartphones in the near future.

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A likelihood which Qualcomm is well prepared for as the chip manufacturer has today confirmed they are committed to the Tango platform. As a result of todays announcement, Qualcomm is confirming that their two major mobile chipset lines, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 series and the Snapdragon 800 series, will both play a pivotal role in pushing Tango forward in the future. The PHAB2 Pro is a smartphone which already comes running on a Snapdragon 600 series processor (Snapdragon 652) which means the company has already laid the groundwork. As their 652 processor had been in development with a view to being readied as the brains beneath the Tango functionality on the the PHAB2 Pro, the 600 series is already a Tango-ready processor line and is well-positioned to continue expanding its presence within the Tango mobile ecosystem and is adequately prepared for the specific needs, requirements and demands that are associated with a Tango device and all from within the same processor, which ensures devices will not need additional processors to utilize Tango. Todays announcement looks to confirm that the 600 series will continue to be Tango-ready with the next-generation 600 series processors that come through also sporting support for the platform.

Of course, the 600 series of processors are largely considered to be mid-to-high range processors but still second to the companys high-end processor line, the 800 series which features in many of the major flagship smartphones each year. As part of todays announcement, while Qualcomm has also confirmed that their 800 line of processors in the future will be Tango-ready, the company is also confirming that their current flagship processor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, is actually Tango-ready. As part of the commitment to the Tango platform the 820 was prepared and readied with Tango functionality in mind. Which means that while there is no current Snapdragon 820-equipped Tango flagship smartphone on the market, the Snapdragon 820 was future-proofed during the manufacturing process to be able to accommodate Tango functionality as and when needed. As will be the case for the 600 and 800 series processors going forward.
Internet giant Google has launched a new portal which its users can use to personalize the ads they will see. All Google users will soon be getting a notification from the company via Gmail or Chrome, prompting users to check their security settings. The prompt includes an option to give Google access to all the information associated with the Google account, such as YouTube, Chrome and such. Google were nice enough to let its users to opt out from having this feature enabled. If a user opts in with this new feature, they will have the ability to enable Googles search engine and other Google-related services to block certain ads from appearing on every device that they log into, instead of having to make a special request on each individual device.

All the info which is collected from users will go to Googles new My Activity site. My Activity acts as a link hub for Googles various data-collecting services which users can choose to turn on or off such as location history and browser history. All of Googles Services which are used will now be displayed in neatly arranged cards on the My Activity site. However, all activity displayed can only be viewed by the user and not anyone else, thus maintaining privacy. Whats even better is that users can delete anything on the page.

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Googles business has been built on a practice of monitoring its users behavior online in an effort to learn more about their interests so it can display ads that will better suit their taste. These customized ads are usually shown alongside Googles search results and on websites. This has turned Alphabet Inc., which is Googles corporate side, into one of the most profitable companies. With the new My Activity site, Google plans to further minimize complaints about invading its users privacy. Google isnt the first to introduce something like this, as Facebook recently introduced something similar, except Facebook doesnt give its users the choice to opt in unlike Google. All one billion of Googles users will soon receive the notification, so be on the lookout for it on Gmail and Chrome. Data in My Activity may not show for everyone in every country yet but eventually, all users will get the feature.
Its no secret that Google is heavily investing in the development of artificial intelligence (AI), and the Mountain View-based tech giant just made some more progress on that front. At this weeks Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, the companys scientists and researchers revealed what theyve been up to recently. More specifically, theyve demonstrated their accomplishments with computer vision systems which theyve taught to describe key features of images. Among other things, their latest AIs are capable of determining the most important person in a video, detect and track specific body extremities, andbest of alltell us about what theyve seen!

Speaking of its extremities-detecting system, Googles researchers demonstrated it by presenting a system that detects legs of tigers which theyve developed in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh. Theyve explained that the same technology can also be used for not only tracking individual parts of peoples bodies but also machines and basically any other object. The implications here are potentially pretty huge as this system could theoretically analyze footage with the goal of singling out  say  people with weapons in their hands. Yes, this type of technology could also allow for some pretty effective spying, but from a technological standpoint, its incredibly impressive.

The feature which determines events and key actors was developed by Google in collaboration with Stanford and creates the so-called attention mask for each frame of the analyzed video footage. After determining whats in focus during most of the frames, it can relatively reliably rate the relevance of each person and object present in the footage. Thats much more impressive than playing Atari games, right?

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Last but not least, Googles scientists presented an AI system capable of accurately describing images in great detail. While that accomplishment could potentially be useful to people with seeing disabilities, it has even greater implications when you look at it in opposite terms. For example, the fact that an AI can see and explain that there are three hats on the round coffee table is cool but the potential of you telling your futuristic robot companion to grab you the white hat from the round coffee table is potentially revolutionary. At the moment, the system Google presented in Las Vegas is capable of the former and hopefully, itll soon make the latter a realistic possibility.
It is clear that the carriers in the U.S. are looking for new ways to attract customers. For instance and as part of their latest uncarrier move, T-Mobile has started offering a number of freebies like video rentals, pizzas and rides with Lyft to their customers via their T-Mobile Tuesdays app. While this is a more novel approach, other carriers have looked to revamp their plans and introduce better deals. The latest of which could be Verizon.

A screenshot from a Verizon promotion test site is now doing the rounds and if correct, details a number of fundamental plan changes which could be taking effect soon. The biggest aspect is the screenshot suggests Verizon will introduce a new Carryover Data offer. If this sounds familiar then it should as the basis of this one seems to be much in line with other similar plan benefits like AT&Ts Rollover Data. According to the information, Your data is yours to keep. Carryover Data automatically rolls over your unused gigs to the end of the following month. The promo also notes that this deal will be available with all plans. Another new detailed feature is Safety Mode. It seems this one is designed for those who end up close or using up their monthly data allowance as Safety Mode will allow users to continue using data and without being charged, but at a reduced speed. According to the details this will come packaged with Verizons XL and XXL plans and will cost users $5 per month on S, M or L plans. Last but not least, it seems free roaming in Canada and Mexico will also be coming to Verizon customers. At least to Verizon XL and XXL plan customers for free. S, M and L customers will also be able to take advantage of the roaming, but at an additional charge.

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It is important to stress that at the moment none of these details are confirmed. However, the screenshot does certainly look to be one which seems legitimate. The screenshot comes with the suggestion that these deals are due to be announced this Friday. If that is the case, then it wont be too long before the announcement comes through. In the meantime you can check out the screenshot below.
It is clear that Microsoft has made a push of late for Android by the sheer number of Android-focused apps that have now come through from the company. Most notably, those associated with their Office suite including the likes of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. However and in fairness to Microsoft, they also seem to be making a clear push when it comes to updates and the Office apps in question seem to receive extremely frequent updating, the latest of which now looks to be arriving this week.

Microsoft is now in the process of updating Word, Excel and PowerPoint and while the changes are not anything too grand, one of the included features will likely be of use to those who use the apps regularly. The feature is the ability to now add files to a devices home screen. Essentially, creating a shortcut to specific files which will inevitable lead to an easier and quicker file launching experience. This particular feature seems to be available on all three of the mentioned apps, while another feature worth noting for Word in particular, is that the app is now able to open plain text (.txt files), although it seems to be the case that you can only open these files and not edit and/or save in the same format. While another universal feature (applies to all three apps) now rolling out is the ability to view IRM-protected documents. Beyond those features much of the rest of the changes are relatively small. For instance, PowerPoint now allows users to customize slides by adding a different background color, while Excel sees the inclusion of a wider selection of colors to make use of for fonts, shapes and formatting purposes.

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As mentioned, the updates are all in the process of rolling out and the respective Google Play Store listings have all now been updated to reflect the new features and detailed changelogs. So if you do already have these apps installed, you should see the updates arriving very soon. If you have yet to download the apps then you can head through the links below to grab an updated copy or just check out the updated changelogs in more detail.
It hasnt even been a week since the U.K. voted to opt out of EU membership, but the effects are already being felt by people across the British Isles. While the FTSE 100 has recovered somewhat from the massive sell-off in the aftermath of Brexit, the Pound has pretty much been on a free-fall against every major currency since the announcement of the referendum results. Although it has shown some strength today, rising 1.2% against the U.S. Dollar, the recovery is still being described as modest by analysts and traders across the board. If fears of a recession still looming large over the nations economy isnt bad enough, consumers in the country may be hit even harder by the falling currency that will only make imported products more expensive going forward.

That being the case, the first salvo has already been fired by Chinese smartphone vendor, OnePlus, whove now announced that it might be forced to raise prices of its products in the country if the Sterling falls any further than it already has over the past few days. According to a post on its official blog by OnePlus staff member and blog administrator, Mr. David S, the worrying downward trend of the GBP may make it difficult to maintain our current pricing structure in the UK. He, however, reassured would-be customers that the company would put a lot of thought before making any decision to increase the prices of its products in the country, saying that, it will not be a decision that we take lightly.

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While thats small consolation for customers if indeed things come to that, the larger issue of economic turmoil, budget cuts, austerity measures and increased taxes are apparently very real possibilities if economists, business leaders, politicians, newspaper columnists and television pundits are anything to go by. While the doom and gloom predicted by supporters of the Remain campaign may or may not materialize in the coming months and years (and indeed decades), the fact still remains that the strong Pound that has allowed an entire generation of Britons to afford cheap holidays abroad may well be a thing of the past. Whats even more worrisome is that ordinary citizens may have to learn to live with increased prices of gadgets, automobiles, clothing and other everyday necessities in the foreseeable future as a fallout of the Brexit vote.
T-Mobile started something that we had never seen before in the wireless industry. Which was an effort to eliminate customer pain points, which they branded as being the Un-carrier. The reasoning behind the Un-carrier, according to CEO John Legere, was to fix a stupid, broken, and arrogant industry. In March 2013, T-Mobile started with a bang. Getting rid of contracts, although they werent actually getting rid of them. What they were doing was separating the cost of your smartphone from your bill, and having you pay off your phone each month, like you would a car. If you decided you wanted to leave T-Mobile, the cost of your phone would become due  sort of like a contract. This was a good thing for those that did buy their phones unlocked, or at full retail, as their bills would be cheaper each month, instead of paying for a subsidy on a phone they didnt buy. Under T-Mobiles (and other carriers) old plans, that was not the case.

Since the very first Un-carrier move, T-Mobile has unleashed a bunch of others, which have mostly helped eliminate customer pain points. Including the ability to upgrade sooner with JUMP and JUMP On Demand, instead of having to wait two or more years. The ability to stream music and video without it counting against your data cap. Other moves included Data Stash  allowing you to store your unused data  as well as Simple Global, which gives you the ability to roam in over 140 countries without incurring roaming fees. All of these were great Un-carrier initiatives and definitely helped to solve customer pain points. But with Un-carrier 11 which was unveiled in early June, T-Mobile is giving away free things with the T-Mobile Tuesdays app, which seems to be having issues every week. Making it appear that T-Mobile has run out of ideas for their Un-carrier moves. And Un-carrier 11 seems to be just a big gimmick for T-Mobile to gain more customers.

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While yes it is cool to get free pizza every Tuesday, or a free ride on Lyft, or even a free Frosty from Wendys, its not really something that was a pain point for customers. T-Mobile Tuesdays have been going for almost a month now, and each and every week, the company has had problems with the app. And a few weeks ago, Dominos ran out of pizzas, leading them to pull out of their partnership with T-Mobile (which was supposed to last through the end of June). Which shows that T-Mobile Tuesdays is just one big headache for customers as well as T-Mobile. Something that could have been avoided too, which makes the case even worse for T-Mobile.

This leaves us wondering, what can T-Mobile do next? Well there are still some customer pain points out there that could be solved. Of course, the big one is their network. Now, T-Mobile is working on their network, and anyone that has been using T-Mobile for the past few years will definitely know that is the case, but theres still a ways to go. Another pain point would be offering unlimited data to everyone. Where T-Mobile already doesnt count music and video towards your cap  the two biggest data hogs  it would seem that T-Mobile is giving everyone unlimited data (were talking high-speed, not throttled 2G speeds). When it comes to traveling, another pain point that could be eliminated is being stuck on slow 2G speeds in many countries. T-Mobile has already changed that to 4G LTE in Mexico and Canada (Europe for the Summer), so we may see this work for the other countries included in Simple Global. Otherwise, theres not much that T-Mobile can do, other than giving their customers free service. And as a publicly traded company, that wouldnt be a good idea.

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With some of these Un-carrier moves, weve seen T-Mobiles competitors implement some of them to compete with the Un-carrier. Although this has mostly been in terms of getting rid of contracts and doing early upgrades. The real question here is whether other carriers will turn to these gimmicks as well? Probably not. Unless these gimmicks really help T-Mobile gain a boatload of new subscribers  which it has so far, adding over 1 million customers in 12 straight quarters (or three years)  Verizon, Sprint and AT&T likely wont turn to gimmicks like this to bring in customers and revenue.

Gimmicks like T-Mobile Tuesdays have worked for some companies  even outside of the wireless industry  but they dont net long term benefits for many companies. Which is something that is going to hurt T-Mobile in the long-run. While weve had 11 Un-carrier announcements already, itll be interesting to see if we get another one, especially after how bad both Un-carrier 10 and Un-carrier 11 have been, in the press. Un-carrier 10 was for Binge On, where T-Mobile would downgrade the quality of your video and it wouldnt count against your data cap. Many claimed that it was a net neutrality issue, seeing as only some video services were included in Binge On and not all. But they have since worked that out, and made the FCC, customers and video services happy with Binge On. Now with T-Mobile Tuesdays, it looks like T-Mobile is having an even bigger issue. Itll likely be worked out over time, but it is a bit surprising to see that the company didnt expect to have this much trouble with their app, especially since its happening each and every week.

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The Un-carrier movement has turned T-Mobile from a company that was losing about a million subscribers per quarter, to now adding that many each and every quarter. It has helped the company create a pretty big turnaround, pretty quickly. Of course, the majority of that is due to Deutsche Telekom  T-Mobiles parent company  installing John Legere as T-Mobile USAs CEO in 2012, and then purchasing MetroPCS. T-Mobile has jumped from being well into fourth place in the US, to now being far above Sprint for the third largest carrier in the US. Still quite a ways behind Verizon and AT&T, but they are holding their own. T-Mobile has made such a huge turnaround that Deutsche Telekom isnt shopping T-Mobile around to sell them, like they were in the early 2010s. In fact, part of T-Mobiles turnaround could be attributed to AT&Ts failed buyout of T-Mobile. When the deal fell through, T-Mobile picked up a big chunk of spectrum from AT&T, as well as gaining $3 billion in cash. While that wasnt the biggest reason for this turnaround, it definitely helped.

T-Mobile has single-handedly changed the way the wireless industry works in the US. In fact, customers on every carrier have seen their bills drop over the past 3-4 years, even on AT&T and Verizon, which are notoriously the highest in the country. Not to mention the fact that users are actually able to upgrade their phone sooner than once every two years, without having to pay an arm and a leg for a new smartphone  especially since most flagships are around $500-700 each. This is all due to their Un-carrier approach, but the Un-carrier approach may be about over. As theres not much left for T-Mobile to do, without taking money out of their shareholders pockets. And thats not something that would keep them in business for long.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 was announced back in August last year. This is still the companys flagship phablet, at least until its successor arrives. Speaking of which, the next Galaxy Note phablet will be called the Galaxy Note 7, at least according to various reports that have been arriving lately. The company allegedly plans to ditch the Galaxy Note 6 naming in order to bring the Galaxy Note series to the Galaxy S level (S7 and Note 7 instead of S7 and Note 6). Anyhow, weve been seeing some Galaxy Note 7 rumors and leaks lately, even the companys new TouchWiz UI variant leaked in a video quite recently.

That being said, a new Galaxy Note 7-related rumor just surfaced, and it comes from the Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin. He claims that the Galaxy Note 7 will ship with a 3,600mAH battery, and that the device will be able to squeeze out 20 hours of video playback despite that. Now, he has also mentioned that the Galaxy Note 7 will launch on August 2nd during the companys next Unpacked event. As it usually goes with such rumors, you should take this particular piece of info with a grain of salt, as we cannot confirm it. Do keep in mind that Eldar Murtazins predictions are rather uneven, so it could go either way basically.

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Chances are that the Galaxy Note 7 will resemble the Galaxy S7 devices in terms of the design, though rumors say that the company plans to release only the Edge variant of the Galaxy Note 7, which is quite interesting. This essentially means that well only get a variant of this phablet with a curved display on both sides, which might not be the best idea by Samsung considering that many people still enjoy regular displays, and Galaxy S7s sales numbers prove that. The Galaxy Note 7 will certainly ship with a new and improved S Pen stylus, and you can expect this phablet to be made out of metal and glass. The companys Exynos 8890 64-bit octa-core SoC will fuel the Galaxy Note 7, and chances are Samsung will also release the Snapdragon 820 / 821-powered variant of their new phablet. The Galaxy Note 7 will ship with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM on the inside (the second option is more viable), and you can expect quick charging here, as well as (quick) wireless charging, same as in the Galaxy S7 devices.
Have a look at the phone in the image above. That is the Sharp AQUOS Crystal, a gloriously-built phone packing a strange and innovative design. Although the phone itself flopped in most territories, held back mostly by its low-end specs, that sort of design is just one thing that Japanese OEMs are getting right, and the rest of the world should take note. While many trends, like water resistance, came from Japan and are beginning to find a worldwide foothold, there are many more trends from Japan that global smartphone makers may do well to adopt.

For starters, as stated above, Japanese phones tend to have pretty nice designs. Why is this? Because theyre designed with a purpose. Japan is a practical land, mostly full of practical people. Even a smartphone made to be beautiful, like the one above, is still practical. For example, the ultra-slim bezels allow more screen to go in a smaller space, while the bottom front-facing camera captures a more flattering upward angle for selfies. Otherwise, the phone is rather square and Spartan, and thats not a bad thing. HTC is playing around with their metal build formula. Samsung is putting edges on just about everything. LG is messing around with modular design. Motorola is sacrificing beauty in the Moto Z line for the ability to swap in mods, and their other lineups are continuing to ape mostly the same look made famous by the likes of the original Moto X and the Nexus 6. While some on that list may be creating concepts or filing trademarks with things like foldable displays, innovation in design has seriously slowed, and when its there, its not refinement, its an attempt to change smartphones at their core. Japanese phones, by and large, avoid these trends.

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On that note, lets talk about flip phones. Go ahead and Google Android Flip Phone. If youre a power user, want something thin or want something with massive developer support, its fairly doubtful youll find something you like. Japanese companies are working toward changing that, and everybody else should too. Not for the few people who already love Android flip phones, but to push for them to become mainstream. Everybody spurred candy bar phones without a keyboard at one point, and now that same crowd is mostly all pointing at the BlackBerry Priv and laughing as it languishes into obscurity. Meanwhile, theres a somewhat sizable crowd that either wants a vertical keyboard but doesnt want the locked-down Priv or the keyboard attachment for Samsungs latest and greatest. Where do these people get their flagship fix? Sure, they could grab a Bluetooth slider kit for the Galaxy S5 and rock a soon to be obsolete device at twice its normal thickness and have to charge the keyboard separately, but why should that be the only option? There are also no more cute square phones like the Motorola FLIPOUT, which became outdated and didnt sell well mostly due to its exclusivity, though some may have been turned off by its quirky form factor. There are no more dual-screened phones like the Kyocera Echo, either, despite the fact that the Echo flopped mostly due to underwhelming specs and battery life so poor that Sprint sold it with an extra battery. The people who want these types of phones should have high-end options. Manufacturers may be staying away from experimentation because it may not be profitable, but if you make an amazing device that just happens to have a weird form factor, people may just come to love that form factor. Pointing again to the Galaxy S line, people scoffed at the original Galaxy S, were mildly impressed by the wonderfully-received S2, and by the time the S3 hit the market, people were so in love with it that they were ready to accept the death of their beloved hard keyboard. The same could happen in reverse, or for any form factor.

The third big point to touch on, also somewhat related to design, is thickness. While Japanese phones are getting more and more slim, just like the rest of the worlds devices, Japanese OEMs dont tend to shy away from a bigger battery in favor of a slimmer form factor. After all, who cares if your phone is thinner than a pencil if that means that two hours of YouTube or one intense gaming session is enough to send you scrambling to an outlet? There is a compromise to be found that balances thinness, handling, and battery, and it seems like Japanese OEMs are very close to finding it. On that same token, the batteries that they are putting in these thicker phones are not only bigger, they charge rather quickly and manufacturers put the average charge times right on the spec sheets. Imagine if, rather than having to find out what phones are available to you and read reviews, you could walk into your local carrier store or cell outlet and read the battery life and charge time on the spec card.

To round out the discussion, lets talk for a minute about the smaller features often found in Japanese handsets that see varying levels of worldwide adoption. For one, an FM radio is a good talking point. A lot of phones either have it or support it, but its deactivated in certain territories. An FM radio means music without eating data, and the choice to listen to radio stations without using an app like iHeartRadio. Dual sim capability is less prevalent in some countries than others, but the utility is undeniable. From the use of a burner SIM in a daily driver phone to a data plan from one carrier and voice from another, many people in many countries could benefit from a larger number of dual-sim devices. Between these small changes and some of the bigger ones listed above, the worldwide market adopting some trends common in Japan would very likely be a win for everybody involved.
Twitters latest hire might be a bit of a surprise to many people. The company picked up former Apple employee, Alessandro Sabatelli, who is now their director of AR and VR. This hints at the fact that Twitter is about to join the companies that are in augmented and virtual reality already. Both augmented and virtual reality appear to be the next big thing in the world of technology. Twitter is a bit behind in the AR and VR space right now, especially where Facebook has Oculus under their wing after purchasing them in 2014 for around $2 billion. Snapchat is also exploring AR right now, and of course Google has a slew of VR products under their wing with the latest being Daydream announced at Google I/O. Not to mention YouTube supports 360-degree videos.

Sabatellis LinkedIn page lists his work at Apple, which included being a user-interface designer for iOS, OS X (this has been renamed to macOS since Sabatelli left the company) and watchOS. Sabatelli left Apple in January of 2015, and headed over to VMNetworks and IXOMOXI, where he worked for 8 months and 6 months respectively. The most interesting company on his resume is IXOMOXI, because they are targeting millennials at music festivals with augmented and virtual reality. Thats likely the experience that Twitter looked at before hiring him for this new position.

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Twitter has been behind the curve on a few products as of late. Including #Stickers which they just announced earlier this week. Stickers is something that many other social networks already have  and actually make money off of  including Facebook, Snapchat, Path and many others. Social media platforms see VR as the next step for users consuming content from their sites, in fact Facebook is already working on a Facebook app that can be used inside Oculus Rift. Imagine being able to scroll through your news feed without having to touch a display at all. Thats the future well be living in.

While Sabatelli became head of AR and VR at Twitter this month, itll likely be a while before we see what hes actually up to at Twitter. As things like this take some time to be developed, tested and then become public. Just like with apps and app updates.
In yet another tragic and gruesome reminder that the threat of mindless violence is a clear and present danger anywhere and everywhere at all times, terrorist attacks at the Ataturk International airport in Istanbul, Turkey, on Tuesday, claimed the lives of dozens of innocent people while wounding dozens more; many of them critically. While most people based elsewhere around the world can only offer their thoughts and prayers for those affected directly, some companies are doing their bit to ease the stress of bereaved relatives and concerned friends by responding with gestures that not only show their humane face, but also help their corporate image in the increasingly PR-driven society in the twenty-first century.

As is often the case with natural disasters and terrorist attacks in recent past, all major U.S. carriers have now announced that they will be waiving off charges for all calls and texts to Turkey from the United States. Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have all now decided to do the honorable thing and show their solidarity with those affected by offering free calls and texts to the Mediterranean country. T-Mobile has waived off charges for all calls and texts to Turkey from the United States for a whole week from the 28th of June to the 5th of July. According to a post on the companys official blog, all customers on T-Mobiles Simple Choice prepaid and postpaid plans are covered by the offer, as are MetroPCS, GoSmart Mobile and Walmart Family Mobile subscribers.

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Meanwhile, other major carriers have also announced similar concessions, but not for as long. While Sprint has made all calls and texts to Turkey free for all its postpaid and prepaid customers until July 5th, Verizon and AT&T have also announced free outgoing calls and texts to Turkey from their respective landline and wireless networks (taxes will still apply, though). One thing to note here is that AT&Ts offer is valid for just the two days (June 28th and 29th), but Verizon will allow free calls and texts until the 30th of this month. While it is small consolation for those who have lost their loved ones in the brutal carnage, it is nice to see such companies, often rebuked for putting profits before all else, are at least trying to reach out to communities that have made them the multi-billion dollar enterprises they are.
Asset backed securities, issued by banks and sold by private parties in most cases, are normally backed by something either tangible or legally binding, such an annuity payment, mortgage or even a vehicle or business. While mobile contracts technically fall into these criterion, their use in the ABS market is unheard of in the United States, mainly due to the uncertainty of the wireless market. Not only do carriers balance sheets rise and fall, but there is always the chance that a customer, if given sufficient reason, will simply jump ship from a contract, opting to pay the early termination fee to buy themselves out or in some cases just deciding to take the credit hit. Despite all of this, it seems that Verizon has drummed up enough trust within the finance industry to recruit a few banks to help them get securities backed by cell phone contracts out the door for the first time in US history.

The benefit to Verizon here is that they can get some extra cash in their pockets and issue loans based on these securities, which could turn into a large payday for them upon maturation. Although Verizon will be getting banks on board to help back the securities to investors and to sell and issue them, Verizon will play the role of junior in the transactions, while the banks will be seniors. This simply means that, should everything fall through for whatever reason, Verizon would have to be drained absolutely dry for the banks to be liable for a single cent, despite their names being on the contracts. Given Verizons deep pockets and large number of long-term subscribers, the involvement of the banks is largely a formality, but a necessary one to get into the market.

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The initial transaction will be valued at about $1.169 billion and is projected to be rated triple-A by rating authorities. Verizon has, however, personally hired Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings, two of the biggest in the business, to check out the deals and ensure theyre up to snuff before execution. The banks on hand are set to be Bank of America, who is currently restructuring under Merrill Lynch, along with Barclays and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. Investor road shows will be putting the goods on display for the next few weeks, after which Verizon is expected to jump feet-first into the ABS market.
Not long ago, ZTE was allegedly caught getting device components from the U.S. and then selling their own devices with those U.S.-made components to Iran, which is against U.S. laws. Being a matter of national security, the breach was taken seriously and ZTE was effectively cut off from further use of U.S. goods, which caused massive backlash and a falling out of sorts between American and Chinese authorities. After tensions simmered into negotiations, it took two weeks from the day that the restrictions were imposed before they were temporarily lifted, effective until June 30. An order handed down today from U.S. authorities says that the restriction lifting will be extended until August 30.

The order comes with word of active and constructive talks with a cooperative ZTE, who is reportedly making their best efforts to comply with the investigation and conditions laid out for the restriction to continue being held up, potentially until it gets dropped entirely, so long as ZTE continues to cooperate. While the ban was technically just a need to acquire a special license that would generally be denied, the Department of Commerce could simply have begun approving those requests, though that would have caused a bit of administrative overhead that did not come with this solution. The way that lifting the restriction was handled could also be seen as an appeasement to both ZTE as a maker of consumer goods and to China, to make up for the international tensions caused by the initial blocking.

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The incident that brought on these restrictions was not ZTEs first brush with U.S. import and export laws concerning Iran. Allegedly, the OEM had deals in place at one point with the Telecommunication Co. of Iran, the largest telecoms provider in the nation. While ZTE could simply cooperate while the investigation is underway and then go back to doing business with the Iranian carrier after the smoke cleared, chances are fairly good that a worse punishment than a simple administrative lockout would await them, should the U.S. ever find out. For the time being, ZTE is on track to keep the restrictions lifted until the case reaches a conclusion.
(ANSA) - Gorizia, June 28 - Italy has expelled a Bangladeshi national on suspicion of sympathizing with the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group, officials said Tuesday.

The 30-year-old suspect named only by the initials M.H. was married and a legal resident. He was notified of the expulsion order at Venice airport, where he had just landed on a flight from Dhaka via Istanbul.

The suspect "constitutes a threat to State security," according to the order signed by Interior Minister Angelino Alfano.

The man, who owns a bijouterie shop in the small Friuli-Venezia Giulia town of Grado, is also banned from re-entering Italy for 15 years.

The suspect associated only with fellow Bangladeshi and did not attend any prayer halls, officials said. Anti-terror police monitoring found evidence he adhered to ISIS and proselytized for the terror group on the Web.

"This brings to 96 the expulsions carried out since the beginning of 2015. Of these, 30 were carried out in 2016," Alfano said.


Imagine, if you will, Cast Away crossed with Weekend at Bernies. ... Now forget that entirely, because it doesnt get you nearly close enough to the kinetic, off-kilter oddness that is Swiss Army Man. This seriocomic feature is the unique (to say the least) work of short comedy filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who have contributed to Childrens Hospital, NTSF:SD:SUV and Funny or Die Presents.... (They also directed DJ Snake and Lil Jons bawdy video Turn Down For What.) Their debut film hits theaters after a polarizing debut at this years Sundance Film Festival, and its reception among the general public will fall into one of two camps: great amusement or deep befuddlement.

The film stars master indie film emoter Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood, Little Miss Sunshine, Love & Mercy) as a seemingly hopeless man stranded on a deserted island. Hank is at the end of his ropeliterally. Hes about to hang himself. At that fateful moment, however, he spots a body washed up on the beach. Thinking his isolation is at an end, Hank forestalls the suicide attempt and rushes to meet his new best friend and savior. Unfortunately, Manny (Daniel Radcliffe) turns out to be an excessively flatulent corpse. But wait. Manny is no ordinary dead body. He's a magical stiff, which Hank discovers when he harnesses Mannys bloated, gassy body to race across the ocean like a jet ski. No, really. And this is all before the opening credits.

Hank and Manny wash up on the coast of what looks like the Pacific Northwest, but Hanks still got to make his way to civilization. Naturally, he turns to his dead friend for assistance. In due time Manny comes in handy as a canteen, a fire starter, a gas-powered grappling hook, a hammer and even scuba gear. Yeah, its pretty much impossible to describe. You just have to be there. Eventually, and for just as logical reasons as the other stuff, Manny starts talking to Hank. This leads us to believe that Manny is either the grossest miracle ever, or our pal Hank has gone irredeemably bonkers.

Weird as it sounds in concept, Swiss Army Man is an unexpectedly touching exercise in true friendship

Weird as it sounds in concept, Swiss Army Man is an unexpectedly touching exercise in true friendship. Over the course of their adventure, Hank confesses the string of hardships and self-doubts that led him to flee his life back home and become stuck, starving and dehydrated, out in the middle of nowhere. In his various attempts to restart dead Mannys memoriesand as byproduct, provide more magical abilitiesHank delivers a crash-course in what it means to be a living, breathing human being. He hums the theme song to Jurassic Park. He reminisces about the sense memory of cheese puff dust on his fingertips. He attempts to explain the concept of masturbation. He recreates illusion of civilization with empty milk cartons and abandoned water bottles. Its about mortality and communication and love and simple human connectedness. At the same time, the film pelts us with an unending barrage of punchlines about farts, poop and boners. Its like the worlds most existential filthy joke. And it would be easier to dismiss if it werent so earnestly and skillfully assembled.

The Daniels, Kwan and Scheinert, treat the whole rude affair with a straight-faced sincerity. The actors really give it their all. Radcliffe is confusingly good in a role that doesnt allow him to, you know, move or blink or anything. Dano plumbs the depths of his consistently hangdog personality to deliver one sad sack of a lost soulthe exact sort of loser who would come to think of a rotting corpse as his best friend. The cinematography throughout is gorgeous, all luminous and green and earthy. The production design shows great fits of imagination. For the most part, were lost in endless, trash-strewn forestswhich afford our protagonists plenty of opportunity to bodge together all sorts of bizarro, Gilligans Island creations. Swiss Army Man has got the surreal, hermetically intellectualized feel of a Spike Jonze movie (Being John Malkovich or Adaptation. or Where the Wild Things Are). Only with a much dirtier sense of humor. Its The Aristocrats, as told by somebody with a Ph.D.

Things take a turn for the darker and more realistic (eh, sort of) toward the end. At that point its debatable whether Kwan and Scheinert really stick the landing. The twisty resolution is a bit confusing and the allegory about communication and connection loses a bit of its earlier, magical realist punch. Still, it continues to score points for originality and pure, let-it-all-hang-out ballsiness. Swiss Army Man may not be this years best creation, but its certainly one of the craziest.
Prague remains a popular destination for our passengers in the GCC. We also look forward to providing those in Europe with more choice and more opportunities to visit Dubai and beyond on our network, said Ghaith Al Ghaith, chief executive officer, Flydubai.

The carrier launched flights to Prague in 2014 as part of its services to Central and Eastern Europe.

With the start of daily flights to Prague we are offering greater convenience and the value for money that our passengers expect, said Jeyhun Efendi, senior vice president, Commercial, Flydubai.

Economy Class return fares from Dubai to Prague start at AED 1,399 (USD380), including 20kg checked baggage, and Business Class fares start at AED 5,500 (USD1496), including 40kg checked baggage.
The satellite has passed all tests and is ready to be launched aboard SpaceXs Falcon 9 Rocket.

It was developed by Emirati students from AUS, under the supervision of engineers and specialists from MBRSC under a partnership between the two.

This achievement reflects the determination and commitment of MBRSC to develop Emirati talent specialised in satellite manufacturing and space science, said H.E. Yousuf Hamad Al Shaibani, director general, MBRSC.

Satellite technologies are destined to become an important part of the future of the country and we are pleased to see our students and faculty play their due role in making it happen, said Dr. Bjorn Kjerfve, chancellor, AUS.

Nayif-1 is characterised with a number of advanced features, most notably that its programmed to transfer messages in Arabic. It also contains an active control system that works accurately to determine the satellites position and direction in space in order to maintain its balance attitude during operations, said Ibrahim Al Qasim, Project Manager of Nayif-1 at MBRSC.

The knowledge transfer program and the project were in partnership with Innovative Solutions in Space.
The software provides retailers and suppliers with a content marketplace, decision support tools and predictive data insights to provide travellers with personalised experiences.

Travellers want more than an itinerary; they want to feel confident about their purchases and expect a trip built around choice. Thats why in addition to a superior user experience, our new Sabre Red Workspace provides travel consultants with data insights, relevant offers and price transparency, said Sean Menke, president of Sabre Travel Network.

Europe, Middle East, and emerging regions like Africa may have very different growth rates and characteristics, but they are united by a desire to make better use of technology in their business operations and for their travellers, said Harald Eisenaecher, senior vice president, Sabre Travel Network, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Sabre will begin upgrading travel agency customers in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to the new solution in early 2017.
Le CBD, cette molecule active du cannabis a aujourdhui le vent en poupe. Et cela est en grande partie du au fait quil permet...
YEREVAN, JUNE 24, ARMENPRESS. Pope Francis has arrived in Yerevan.

President Serzh Sargsyan and Catholicos of All Armenians His Holiness Garegin II welcomed the Pope in the Zvartnots Armenia International Airport.

The welcoming ceremony was held by a special protocol. The Pope was welcomed by a childrens choir, and upon arrival was offered the Armenian symbolic apricot and lavash.

A brief conversation will be held with President Sargsyan and Catholicos Garegin II in the Presidential Terminal of the airport. Afterwards Pope Francis will depart to Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, where a welcoming ceremony will be held, followed by the official launch of the state visit.

Afterwards Pope Francis will arrive in the Presidential Palace, where a private meeting with President Serzh Sargsyan will be held. Then, President Sargsyan and Pope Francis will deliver announcements addressed to officials, foreign diplomats and representatives of the society. Then the Pope will return to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiatsin  his official residence during the visit.

Photos by Mkhitar Khachatryan

Pope Francis will visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial on June 25. Later on the same day, a mass will be held in Gyumris Vardanants Square. A number of other events are scheduled to take place in Gyumri, after which the Pope will return to Yerevan, where the most important and most open event for the society during his visit will take place in the Republic Square.

A peace prayer will be delivered, which will be preceded and followed by a joint festive concert of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra and the State Choir  dedicated to Pope Francis visit to Armenia.

In the morning of June 26, a mass will be held in Mother See of Holy Etchmiatsin, which will be delivered by His Holiness Catholicos Garegin II with Pope Francis.

Several events will be held in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiatsin, after which Pope Francis and Catholicos Garegin 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.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. According to the Turkish Hurriyet Daily, a plane carrying the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was landing at Istanbul's Ataturk airport when the June 28 terror attack occurred. He was arriving on an official visit. The prime minister and his entourage were safely taken to the governmental reception hall. Later he departed for Ankara.

PM Edi Rama wrote on twitter saying terrorists have no religion.

Earlier Reuters reported three suicide bombers opened fire then blew themselves up in Istanbul's main international airport on Tuesday, killing 36 people and wounding close to 150 in what Turkey's prime minister said appeared to have been an attack by Islamic State militants.

One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover and trying to flee, before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below, witnesses and officials said.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said: "This attack, targeting innocent people is a vile, planned terrorist act."

"There is initial evidence that each of the three suicide bombers blew themselves up after opening fire," he told reporters at the airport. Yildirim said the attackers had come to the airport by taxi and that preliminary findings pointed to Islamic State responsibility.

Two U.S. counterterrorism officials familiar with the early stages of investigations said Islamic State was at the top of the list of suspects even though there was no evidence yet.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. First Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia Davit Tonoyan received the delegation led by Brigadier-General Martyn Gamble, commander of the 160th Infantry Brigade of Wales of the UKs Armed Forces.

During the meeting possibilities of strengthening cooperation and new fields of cooperation were discussed.

The 160th Infantry Brigade of Wales is cooperating with the Armenian Armed Forces for already two years and is implementing experience exchange programs.

The UKs delegation visited the training venue of the junior commanding staff of the Armenia-Kansas State Partnership joint program.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. More than 1,000 protesters rallied in central London's Trafalgar Square on Tuesday to show their opposition to Britain's leaving the European Union, after a demonstration planned earlier was called off on safety grounds because too many people wanted to attend, Reuters reports.

London voted in favor of remaining in the EU in last Thursday's referendum, but 52 percent of Britons overall cast ballots in favor of leaving.

An event organized on Facebook under the initial banner "London Stays" but changed to "Stand Together" was called off when around 50,000 people said they would attend, exceeding the safe capacity of the square close to the Houses of Parliament.

Tom Stoker, a 22-year-old filmmaker from Wales, said he still wanted to make his voice heard.

"We are with Europe, and not separate," he said. "The vote doesn't reflect the whole country's view."

The referendum result has stunned global financial markets and thrown British politics into turmoil. Prime Minister David Cameron resigned and opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn lost a vote of confidence held by Labour lawmakers.

It has also splintered Britain along the lines of age, location and education, according to polls. Scotland and Northern Ireland wanted to remain in the EU; England and Wales voted to leave.

Young protesters said they felt upset and betrayed by a vote that saw many older people turn their back on Europe after more than 40 years.

"It feels like the worst breakup, like when I broke up with a boyfriend when I was 16," Carmel Dann said. "It's a tragedy that it's come to this."

Leave campaign leader and former London mayor Boris Johnson was the focus of many protesters' anger. One of many homemade placards had a picture of Johnson and the words: "This is the real threat".

Edward Till, aged 43 from London, said the referendum should never have happened.

"We're a parliamentary democracy, not a direct democracy," he said. "The issues were complicated and subtle, but the vote was not decided on the realities of the EU."
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. The extraordinary session of the Parliament has kicked off. 110 MPs have registered.

Previously on June 28, Armenian lawmakers debated the bill on making amendments in the Electoral Code.

The bill will be put to voting during todays session.

The agreement on forming a joint Air Defense system between Armenia and Russia will be discussed after the vote.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. The blasts at Istanbuls airport are aimed against the attempts of Turkeys leadership to repair relations with Russia and Israel, Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday, TASS reports.

Kosachev, who heads the upper houses foreign affairs committee, said the theory of the Turkish authorities that the Islamic State terrorist group could have been behind the deadly attack "looks as the most plausible one."

"The terrorist attack is apparently directed against the attempts of the Turkish leadership to mend relations with Russia and Israel," Kosachev stressed. "It seems that Turkey is warned against the participation in the single anti-terrorist front being created by the Russian diplomacy in the first place," he added.

The lawmaker said the tragedy at Istanbuls airport will not "estrange but will more likely move closer" the dialogue of the Turkish and Russian leaders. "As in spite of everything today we feel solidarity with the people of Turkey," he said.

First Deputy Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee of Russias Federation Council Franz Klintsevich believes that terrorists want to sow chaos and completely destabilize the situation in Turkey. The senator also did not rule out interrelation of the Istanbul airport explosions and counteraction to attempts to smooth the Russian-Turkish relations.

"Terrorist attacks are always an intimidation method. In Turkey terrorists want to sow chaos, completely destabilize the situation, something that naturally worries Russia," the parliamentarian has told TASS commenting on the blasts that rocked the Istanbul Ataturk airport on Tuesday. "Attempts to stir up Turkey from inside undoubtedly wreak havoc on the Middle East region as a whole," he added.

Klintsevich also does not rule out that "certain forces in Turkey are dissatisfied with even small steps taken by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan aimed at normalizing the Russian-Turkish relations." "He is literally forced to switch to other problems," he added.

"Russia strongly condemns the events that have occurred at the Istanbul airport," the senator said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday, TASS reports.

The Kremlin will inform mass media about the outcome of the conversation later, he added.

It is the first conversation between the two leaders since Turkey shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 aircraft in the sky over Syria last November.

According to the spokesman, the compensation for Russia's Su-24M bomber downed by Turkey depends on the agreement following today's conversation.

"I invite you to be oriented exclusively towards the results of the contact between the heads of state," Peskov told the media.

Later Reuters reported citing its sources that the conversation was productive.

He recalled that there have been "many statements from Turkey on that score." Asked for a comment on Prime Minister Binali Yildirims remark Ankara was not considering the issue of compensations Peskov replied that he had heard the prime minister make "a different statement on that score."

He refrained from answering the question if the two leaders would touch upon the issue of lifting economic restrictions Russia imposed on Turkey, adding that the conversation was still in progress.

Yildirim told the media on Tuesday that the issue of a compensation to Russia was not on the agenda. Turkey merely expressed regret to Russia, he said after a speech in parliament.

In the meantime, in his main statement Yildirim said that the stage of normalization between Russia and Turkey had started and the ice in relations was beginning to melt. And speaking on the TRT television channel on Monday he said that in Erdogans message to Putin the Turkish side expressed regret over the incident and said that it would pay a compensation, if necessary for the killed air pilot Oleg Peshkov.

Putins call is his answer to Erdogans letter in which the Turkish leader apologized for the downed aircraft and expressed interest in resolving the situation. The message was sent to the Kremlin seven months after the Su-24 incident.

Relations between the two countries sharply deteriorated after a Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jet downed a Russian Su-24M bomber in the sky over Syria on November 24, 2015. Pilot Oleg Peshkov was killed by militants from the ground after ejecting. Ankara claimed the bomber violated the Turkish airspace near the Syrian border. The Russian Defense Ministry said the warplane was flying over Syrian territory and had never violated Turkeys airspace.

On November 28, Putin signed a decree imposing special economic measures against Turkey. On January 1, 2016, the bulk of sanctions against Turkey came into effect. Russia imposed a ban on imports of fruits, vegetables, poultry, flowers and white salt from that country. Besides, some business activities and services of Turkish companies, employment of new staff from Turkey were either banned or restricted. At the same time, Russia introduced visa restrictions and banned sales of package holidays to Turkey.

Peskov said on Tuesday that Erdogans apologies were an important step, but a great deal is still to be done for the normalization of bilateral relations.

Peskov recalled Putins repeatedly declared intention to maintain a good relationship with Turkey and the Turkish people, the absence of alternatives to such kind relations, and the conditions that must be created for them.








YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. Defense Minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan says all agreements with Russia within the framework of military-weaponry cooperation are being implemented properly.

Our military-technical cooperation is developing. Regarding the intergovernmental loan, it is implemented within the framework of this development- a document, which firstly gives the opportunity to have modern and compatible weaponry and implement it within the framework of Russia and CSTO internal prices, as well as have contact with different organizations, he said.

According to him, all preparatory works on the intergovernmental loan are completed.

The minister said 80 percent of the intergovernmental agreements are already inked, and the remaining 20 will be signed soon.

The Parliament of Armenia had ratified the 200 million USD loan agreement to be provided by Russia on July 7 , 2015. Under the agreement Armenia will buy defense weaponry from Russia.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. Because of domestic and foreign issues, Turkey has appeared in a serious condition. As a result, Ankara is not only unable to reach its goal, but the positions of the country are also being weakened, due to the current situation. And it is no accident, that Turkey started the process of normalizing ties simultaneously with both Russia and Israel, says Ruben Safrastyan, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of Armenia.

The apology letter to Russia wasnt only Erdogans step, it was discussed with the Russians through diplomatic routes. Meaning Russians also have the desire to normalize ties with Turkey. I dont find a coincidence last years announcement of Russias SberBank Manager Herman Gref about the normalization of ties with Turkey in 2016. This announcement was not a coincidence, Safrastyan said.

First of all the two are interested in the context of economical cooperation, because both Turkey and Russia are getting harmed in the current situation. Let me say that despite the two countries are interested in cooperation in the economic sense, however I think they remain enemies in the geostrategic sense. The interest of Russia and Turkey do not coincide neither in Southern Caucasus, nor in Syria, he said.

According to him, the normalization of ties between Turkey and Russia will not have significant impact on the Nagorno Karabakh issue.

When the Turkish-Russian relations were in pretty good condition, it didnt particularly impact the Russian policy on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. If the normalization of ties begins, it wont have a particular impact on Russias position on the Nagorno Karabakh issue. The two countries are competitors in the geostrategic sense, their interests do not coincide, he said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. Free internet access will be provided to remote villages of Armenia, which have population less than 1000 and are located on mountainous or bordering terrain.

This initiative is implemented through the memorandum of understanding between Ucom, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development and the Enterprise Incubator Foundation.

On June 29 the memorandum was signed by Economy Minister A. Minasyan, First Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Development Vache Terteryan, EIF director Bagrat Yengibaryan and Ucom director Hayk Yesayan.

According to Economy Minister A. Minasyan, this format of state-private sector cooperation can boost the implementations of similar projects.

Ucom expressed willingness to provide internet access via wireless router devices free of charge in rural areas which have 3G coverage.

EIF director B. Yengibaryan said: We hope the number of villages included in the program will increase, which will boost the development of technologies and e-society.
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday he had given instructions to the government to start talks with Turkey on the resumption of trade and economic cooperation, reports TASS.





"The Russian leader said he had instructed the government to enter into negotiations with the relevant Turkish authorities to restore mutually advantageous bilateral cooperation in the trade and economic and other spheres," the Kremlin press office said in a statement.

Putin told the government after the conversation that the process of normalizing Russia-Turkey relations is beginning.

"After the Turkish presidents letter to us we have decided to begin the process of normalization of relations with the Turkish partners," Putin said, opening a meeting with the Russian government members. "At the beginning of the conversation I, certainly, expressed condolences to the countrys president, to the whole Turkish nation over the terrorist attack that has happened in Istanbul," Putin said.

"As for our bilateral relations, I would like to begin with tourism issues, although this is said against the background of intensified activity of terrorists Nevertheless, we lift the administrative restrictions in this sphere," Putin said. "And I ask the Russian government to begin the process of normalization of trade and economic relations with Turkey in general," the Russian president added.



The Kremlin added Putin, Erdogan agree to lift restrictions on visits to Turkey by Russian tourists.

"It was noted that lifting of restrictive measures regarding visits of Russian tourists to Turkey was meant. It is desirable in such case the government of Turkey undertakes further steps aimed at supporting security of Russian citizens in Turkey," the press service said.



The Russian and Turkish presidents stressed the necessity to boost international counter-terrorism cooperation.

"Both sides underlined the necessity to intensify international cooperation in the fight against common terrorist threat," the Kremlin said.

"The Russian president has offered deep condolences over the terrorist attacks, which killed dozens at Istanbuls airport, expressed sympathy with the families of the victims and wished the soonest recovery to all injured," the Kremlin said.

At least 41 people were killed and 239 injured in the deadly terrorist attacks at the international terminal of Istanbuls Ataturk airport where three suicide bombers blew themselves up late on Tuesday.



The presidents have agreed in a phone conversation to consider the possibility of holding a personal meeting shortly.

"The presidents of Russia and Turkey agreed to consider the possibility of holding a personal meeting in the near future," the statement said.

"In general, the conversation had a business-like and constructive character and was aimed at restoring the traditionally friendly character of a multi-faceted bilateral cooperation," it said.

The leaders also agreed that the foreign ministers of the two countries will meet in Sochi on July 1 at the session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). They will discuss the situation in the region with the focus on the Syrian settlement and topical issues of further development of the Russian-Turkish ties.








YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. The French Government has presented the text of the bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide. Armenpress reports, citing Nouvelles d`Armenie, the text of the bill criminalizing the denial of genocides and crimes against humanity goes in line with the text of the bill on Equality and Citizenship under discussion in the National Assembly.

The Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations in France hailed the Government initiative, that is in accordance with the commitment assumed by the French President.

We hope that the bill will be adopted this year. We praise the consistent activities of all the figures who supported the Armenian community during the previous years. We call on all the parliamentary forces to consolidate over this multilaterally agreed text, reads the statement issues by the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations in France.
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Marketing is a major component of business management. Basically, it includes activities and processes of creating relationships with customers. Businesses do this by developing and implementing plans that raise awareness of their brand. Advertising is a subset of marketing. It is a form of communication that attempts to influence and convince a target audience to take a specific action, such as buying a product or service.

Today, it is estimated that over 40 percent of the worlds population has access to the Internet. That is an equivalent 4.083 billion users, and there is no sign that its stopping or going down any time soon. Therefore, any marketing strategy that does not address digital channels is incomplete. The Internet offers direct access to these billions of global users, and most probably, to more than half of any targeted audience. Moreover, it provides multiple channels on which to advertise, offering marketers the flexibility to reach their audiences in a variety of ways, in several simultaneous fronts, at a range of budgets.

Number of people with access to the Internet

What tool can I use to increase my online presence?

SEMrush is an online marketing toolkit that helps users efficiently facilitate strategy planning, and understand what is happening in their niche and market. It is a research and business intelligence software that provides data and analysis on paid and organic search, social media, mobile data, and link-building activities worldwide. In short, it is an all-in-one application that provides customers with valuable data to gather a deep understanding of competition and market trends, help them develop content strategy, and enable them to conduct website analysis.

What is Paid Search Advertising?

All search engines (ex. Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Yandex, Ask.com, etc.) have their own paid advertising. Businesses of any size can use and benefit from paid search ads. Pay-per-click, or PPC, involves bidding on keywords and placing ads at the top or sides of search results.

To better understand paid search advertising, we have to understand first about the search engine results page (SERP). When we type something in a search engine (ex. Google), it responds with a list of web pages that are relevant to the words we typed. This page is the SERP. A big part of that list is made up of web pages that Googles algorithm determined to be the best match of our search. This is also called organic results.

However, we can also see results that appear at the top and sides of the SERP. These are paid search ads, and they look similar to the organic results or listings, except they are labeled as an Ad or Ads. Paid ads or PPCs are powerful because they give the advertisements a prime spot and in front of people already searching for the same topics.

What is Social Media Advertising?

Social media advertising is simply serving advertisements to users on social media platforms. The number of social media users worldwide in 2019, according to Statista, is about 2.77B. By 2021, it will be about 3.02 billion. That is why social media platforms offer the option to sponsor or boost posts. Ads placed on their platform puts the companys message in front of their target audience. They can easily encourage users to engage, click-through, and buy. It is also noticeable that social media sites are now prioritizing ad space over organic content to help them bring in more revenue.

The good news is that any business or brand can benefit from social media advertising. With the growing number of social media users worldwide, it can be the only channel that can consistently bring sales from day one. It serves a double purpose of advertising products or services, as well as promoting the social media page to grow its following. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter each have their own version of ads placed on their page. For instance, Facebook has different types of ads, from simple Marketplace Ads, to Page Post Ads, Sponsored Stories, and Promoted Posts.

What is Native Ads and Sponsored Content?

Sponsored content and native advertising are examples of paid media strategies. They are made to fit the form and function of the surrounding editorial content on a webpage. Thus, it appears native to the page. The main difference is that native advertising is more like a traditional ad, while sponsored content is more like a media placement.

Native ads contain a headline and description to encourage users to click on the link. Users are then led to an article on a brands website or to other sponsored content. Sponsored content is a piece of brand journalism that lives on a publishers website. Its usually written by the publishers staff so the article matches the tone and voice of rest of their content. Sponsored content is a great way to promote a brand in content the audience is already familiar with. Each type serves a different purpose and will be most effective depending on what the brand hopes to achieve.

What is Banner and Display Ads?

Display advertising is usually defined by banner ads, graphical or text, that appear in specifically designated areas of a website or social media platform. Digital display comes in a variety of sizes, and forms, such as static images, GIF ads, or animated HTML5 ads. Banner ads usually appear as horizontal boxes on top of a web page. Display ads are usually smaller and shown on the side.

Usually, there are 3 main types of display advertising, based on the role they fulfill. They are 1) retargetting, 2) acquisition, and 3) brand awareness. The main goal of a retargetting campaign is to get customers to re-engage with the companys products. The goal of an acquisition campaign is to acquire new customers. It is also the most difficult of all, because of adblockers, the habit of online users to ignore banner ads, the cost, and others. Brand awareness through display ads focuses on reaching as many relevant people and influencing them to get interested in ones brand, rather than completing a sale.

However, in recent years, native ads have become more popular. According to a study, they are viewed 52 percent more than display ads, contributing to higher brand lift. Also, native ads spending is increasing, at 56 percent share of online ads in 2016 in the US. Spending is projected to reach 74 percent by 2021.

Conclusion

The advantages of online advertising are numerous. Business owners can target their desired customers by putting ads where their target market spends its time. For small business owners whose every dollar counts, online advertising allows them to set a specific budget. Another advantage is that online ads allow tracking from start to finish, informing them how many times their ads were placed, how many people saw it, how many times the ad was opened, and more. Business owners can even take two different ad strategies and compare results (A/B testing).
At the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis talks about the two apostles who brought the faith to Rome. They still want to carry Jesus, his merciful love, his consolation, his peace. The pontiff welcomed the ecumenical delegation from Constantinople, as well as Chinese Catholics. Sharing the sorrow, he prays for the Turkish people after the Istanbul airport attack.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis marked the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul with an Angelus Prayer after celebrating Mass in St Peters Basilica in the presence of delegates from the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Speaking about the latter, Francis said, "This presence is a sign of the fraternal ties between our Churches. Let us pray for stronger bonds of communion and common witness."

Before the prayer, the pontiff expressed his thoughts about the Apostles Peter and Paul, whom he called "two pillars and two great lights that shine not only in the Roman sky, but [also] in the hearts of believers in East and West".

Speaking about their mission, to whom the city of Rome is indebted, he said, "If here in Rome we know Jesus, and if the Christian faith is a living and vital part of this places spiritual heritage and culture, it is due to the apostolic courage of these two sons of the Near East.

They, for the love of Christ, left their homeland and, regardless of the difficulty of the long journey and the risks and suspicions that they would meet, landed in Rome. Here they became heralds and witnesses of the Gospel among the people, and sealed with martyrdom their mission of faith and charity.

Today, Peter and Paul ideally return among us to walk the roads of this city, knocking at the door of our homes, but above all of our hearts. They still want to carry Jesus, his merciful love, his consolation, his peace. Let us welcome their message! Let us treasure their testimony."

"To the Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani, let us entrust the entire world, in particular the city of Rome, so that it can always find the spiritual and moral values that enrich the foundation of its social life and its mission in Italy, Europe and the world."

After the Marian prayer, before thanking the pilgrims from all over the world, including China, Francis expressed his closeness to Turkey, which was hit by a terrorist attack last night.

"Last night, a heinous terrorist attack was carried out in Istanbul that killed and wounded many people. Let us pray for the victims, their families and the dear Turkish people. May the Lord convert the hearts of those who are violent and sustain our steps on the path to peace."

The Holy Father then invited all those present to share a moment of silence and then recite a Hail Mary.

Finally, the pope invited everyone to participate in the "fireworks display that will take place tonight in Piazza del Popolo, with proceeds going to support works of charity in the Holy Land and the countries of the Middle East."
At least 36 people are dead and 140 wounded. Attackers began shooting before blowing themselves up at the terminal. Critics point to poor security measures.

Istanbul (AsiaNews/Agencies)  A suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport has killed at least 36 people, including foreigners, and wounded more than 140 others.

Yesterday, at around 10 pm (local time), three attackers began shooting at the terminals entrance before blowing themselves up.

For Prime Minister Binali Yidirim, evidence so far points to the Islamic State (IS) group, towards which Turkey has had an ambiguous attitude, favouring it sometimes, cracking down at other times.

Istanbul airport is one of the busiest in the Middle East with more than 61 million passengers. According to some travellers however, its security standards tend to be loose.

Turkey has been hit by at least five attacks blamed on IS Jihadis, including a blast in Ankara in October last year that killed more than 100 people.

In recent months, Istanbul has been hit by a series of attacks attributed to IS or Kurdish militants.
On the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Pope Francis greeted the delegation sent by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. He expressed hope to see things go from "division to unity". He blessed the pallia for new major archbishops, a sign of communion with the See of Peter. Christian communities must be Churches going out through prayer to overcome fear and "Herod's complex", the feeling of persecution that drives inward when faced with dangers and Gods surprises.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis presided over the Holy Mass on the Solemnity of St Peter and St Paul. In his homily, he focused on the themes of closing and opening.

Prayer is the way to revive a Church that is going out, he said, rather than one that turns inward-looking out of persecution and fear. Prayer can allow the Church to go from closure to openness, from fear to courage, from sadness to joy. And we can add: from division to unity.

Following a well-established tradition, a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople took part in the liturgy. It was led by His Eminence Methodios, Metropolitan of Boston, accompanied by His Excellency Job, Archbishop of Telmessos, and the patriarchal deacon Nephon Tsimalis.

Several metropolitan archbishops were also present. Francis blessed their pallia, symbol of communion with the Bishop of Rome. Unlike the past, the pallia will be given to each archbishop in their sees by the local pontifical representative.

In these three examples of closing, prayer appears as the main way out. It is a way out for the community, which risks closing in on itself out of persecution and fear. It is a way out for Peter who, at the very beginning of the mission given him by the Lord, is cast into prison by Herod and risks execution. While Peter was in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him (Acts 12:5). The Lord responds to that prayer and sends his angel to liberate Peter, rescuing him from the hand of Herod (cf. v. 11). Prayer, as humble entrustment to God and his holy will, is always the way out of our becoming closed, as individuals and as a community.

Speaking about todays readings, the pope cited Pauls imprisonment (2 Tim 4, 6-8.17.18). The Lord stood by him and gave him strength to carry out the work of evangelizing the nations (cf. 2 Tim 4:17). But Paul speaks too of a much greater opening, towards an infinitely more vast horizon. It is the horizon of eternal life, which awaits him at the end of his earthly race. We can see the whole life of the Apostle in terms of going out in service to the Gospel. Pauls life was utterly projected forward, in bringing Christ to those who did not know him, and then in rushing, as it were, into Christs arms, to be saved for his heavenly kingdom (v. 18).

In Simon Peter's life, prayer led him "to go out of himself, leaving all his human supports behind, especially his pride tinged with courage and generous selflessness. In this, his process of liberation, the prayer of Jesus is decisive: I have prayed for you [Simon], that your own faith may not fail (Lk 22:32). Likewise, decisive is the compassionate gaze of the Lord after Peter had denied him three times: a gaze that pierces the heart and brings tears of repentance (cf. Lk 22:61-62). At that moment, Simon Peter was set free from the prison of his selfish pride and fear, and overcame the temptation of closing his heart to Jesuss call to follow him along the way of the cross.

Francis focused on the account of Peters release from prison (12.1 to 11). "When Peter finds himself miraculously freed from Herods prison, he goes to the home of the mother of John called Mark. He knocks on the closed door and a servant by the name of Rhoda comes. Recognizing Peters voice, in disbelief and joy, instead of opening the door, she runs to tell her mistress. The account, which can seem comical, makes us perceive the climate of fear that led the Christian community to stay behind closed doors, but also closed to Gods surprises. Indeed, thus began Herods complex, the perception of being persecuted, he added.

This detail speaks to us of a constant temptation for the Church, that of closing in on herself in the face of danger. But we also see the small openings through which God can work. Saint Luke tells us that in that house many had gathered and were praying (v. 12). Prayer enables grace to open a way out from closure to openness, from fear to courage, from sadness to joy. And we can add: from division to unity.

Yes, we say this today with confidence, together with our brothers from the Delegation sent by the beloved Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to take part in the celebration of the Holy Patrons of Rome. Today is also a celebration of communion for the whole Church, as seen by the presence of the metropolitan archbishops who have come for the blessing of the pallia, which they will receive from my representatives in their respective sees.

May Saints Peter and Paul intercede for us, so that we can joyfully advance on this journey, experience the liberating action of God, and bear witness to it before the world.
by Melani Manel Perera

The names of the missing are still unknown, by a high ranking official admits that a list exists. In the final stages of the civil war thousands of young Tamil fighters handed in their weapons. Many of them are missing, presumed dead in extra-judicial killings.

Colombo (AsiaNews) - Seven years after the end of Sri Lankas three-decade long civil war, the countrys Armed Forces might release the list of names Tamil Tiger rebels who surrendered but are missing.

Back in February, a high ranking official mentioned the list, but nothing more was said. Relatives of missing fighters who surrendered are still waiting to know more.

For the Campaign for Peace & Justice, "Many questions remain unresolved. What happened to the thousands of Tamil Tigers who surrendered? What about the civilians held by the military in the final stages of the war?

On 24 June the Association of families of the disappeared protested near the bus terminal in Vavuniya, northern Sri Lanka. They accuse the military of being "eyewitnesses" to the disappearance of their loved ones.

In February 2009, as the Civil War reached its final stage, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and then Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, currently Skills Development and Vocational Training minister in President Maithripala Sirisenas administration, offered rebel Tamil youth an amnesty if they surrendered and handed in their weapons.

Hundreds of young fighters are thought to have laid down their arms and voluntarily surrendered. Many thousands of civilians were taken into army-run refugee camps for interrogation and "rehabilitation".

"We lost track of many of those who ended up in military custody, Campaign for Peace & Justice activists said. Families are still searching for answers to what happened to them.

However, There is strong evidence suggest that many of those who did come under the control of the Sri Lankan armed forces at the end of the war were extra-judicially killed.

For activists the revelations in February by Major General Chanayaka Gunaratna, head of the 58th Army Division, are very important.

At a court hearing, he stated that none of the missing people in question were on a list of names held by the army.

The revelations have sparked fresh hope in families of the more than 24,000 missing people since it is the first time ever that a government representative admits to the existence of rebels who crossed over.

"We no longer call our children 'disappeared because of the conflict', but 'disappeared by the army and other security forces, P Jeyawanitha, secretary of the Association of Families of the Disappeared, told AsiaNews.
Canadian mining companies are jittery of a promised overhaul of laws and permits in The Philippines by incoming president Rodrigo Duterte, who wants to ensure

their operations are not destroying the environment.

Duterte has also offered the post of Environment secretary to Gina Lopez, chairperson of ABS-CBNs charitable arm Lingkod Bayan Foundation and an outspoken critic of mining. Lopez, who campaigned against mining in Palawan, has accepted the post.

A day after Duterte announced his offer to Lopez, mining and oil stocks fell by more than 4 percent, a development attributed to investors anxiety over the next administrations policies.

Dutertes spokesman Ernesto Abella, however, maintained that the next president is not anti-mining.

There are more than a dozen Canadian companies with projects in the Philippines.

Asked if Duterte is keen on having the mining sector grow, Abella said the incoming administration is committed to promoting a robust and dynamic economy, with every sector contributing to its growth.

Responsible mining plays a key role in the Philippines, Abella said in a press conference in Davao City. The key word here is responsible. And our president has made his position very clear: You have to do it right. If you cannot do it right, then get out of mining, he added.

Abella said Duterte wants the standards of responsible mining in developed countries like Canada and Australia applied in the Philippines to ensure the protection of the environment.

He (Duterte) supports each and every venture that contributes to the health of the economy but he is clear that for whatever venture we go into, it should be in a responsible manner. He is not anti-mining. Definitely not, the incoming presidential spokesman said.

When asked how he can reconcile his pronouncement with the potential appointment of Lopez, who has been staunch critic of mining, Abella said: The fact that she accepted it (post) means that she is willing to adjust her positions.

In an earlier interview, Lopez said she is ready to dialogue with mining firms and to cleanse the ranks of the Environment department of people who accept bribes.

Duterte also defended his chosen Environment chief. He said Lopez is an ardent (advocate) for responsible mining.

Duterte announced that there would be a comprehensive review of all mining concessions to ensure that their operations are not destroying the environment.

He also asked mining firms to plant trees and wash away the chemicals they leave behind to avoid destroying the environment.

If you dont do it, I will cancel the permit, Duterte said.

When youre spoiling the land, Ill cancel it (permit) without hesitation. Thats the bottom line, he added.

Duterte stressed that the mining players have to do it right because the precious metals belong to the Filipino people.

If you cannot do it right then get out of mining, the tough-talking leader said.

Regina Lopez, an environmentalist who on June 21 accepted president-elect Rodrigo Dutertes offer to head the department of environment and natural resources, could set her on a collision course with the mining industry

Open-pit mining as in the use of explosives is horrific for the environment. Its a cheap way to extract. And for the top-most country vulnerable to climate change its madness to even consider it, Lopez said in a text message to the news agency.

We must stop killing our future for the interests of a few.

The Philippines sits on mineral reserves worth US$1.4 trillion, but mining accounts for less than 1% of GDP, as policy bottlenecks and an anti-mining lobby hamper development.

The biggest stalled venture is the $5.9 billion gold-copper Tampakan project on Mindanao island, an unstable region that has battled for years with Islamic and communist insurgencies.

Glencore last year quit the project which has failed to take off after the province where Tampakan is located banned openpit mining in 2010.

The central government in Manila allows openpit mining, but in recent years has delegated more power to regional bodies in a bid to win popularity.

While not saying she would stop any form of mining, Lopez said we will not allow any activity that causes suffering".

The country has been hit by mining disasters in the past. In 1996, a tunnel leak at the Canadian-owned Marcopper Mining Corps copper mine in Marinduque dumped 1.5 million cubic metres of tailings into surrounding waters, contaminating rivers.

Duterte, who starts his term on June 30, has warned he will cancel mining projects causing environmental harm.

Risk management consultancies have described the Philippines as high risk for miners.

Now, it looks to be even higher risk, they said.

Canadian Ambassador Neil Reeder said commercial ties between Canada and the Philippines continue to grow, with new Philippine investments in Canada including in the property and food retail sectors by Ayala and Jollibee.

Reeder said there were more than 10 incoming trade missions from Canada bringing high quality Canadian goods and services to the Philippines in the past 12 months.

More than 100 Canadian companies participated in these missions, he said. This, in addition to two outgoing investment missions to Canada in the past year led by the Canadian chamber of commerce.

He said high Canadian technologies are being marketed here in infrastructure, aerospace, defense, renewable energy, ICT, agri-food, education, life sciences, and disaster management.

We also continue to see new Canadian direct investments in the Philippines which will create new opportunities and jobs for Filipinos, he added.

Reeder also said Canadas development assistance will be targeted on the poorest and most vulnerable, including support for the women, the youth and for child health care.
Guest Commentary

By Hugh Stephens

A paper I just released by the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy debunks much of the hyperbole regarding the impact of climate change in the Arctic on the imminent opening of the Northwest Passage as a major shipping route to and from Asia.

I examine the impact of climate, shipping trends and market developments on both the Northern Sea Route across the Arctic regions of Russia and the Northwest Passage, and conclude that a multitude of factors present challenges that far outweigh the major advantage of the polar routes, namely the significantly shorter distance from ports in Asia to ports in Europe and the eastern seaboard of North America.

In other words, though passages are opening up due to climate change, they won't be as big a boon as once expected.

Offsetting challenges include unpredictability of ice conditions at different times of the year and from year to year, inadequate charts, shallow drafts on some routes, lack of icebreaking capacity, difficulties in obtaining maritime insurance, weak or non-existent search and rescue infrastructure in Canada's north, world trade and shipping trends, and lower fuel costs.

The general decline in global trade and cargo shipping is also an important factor making this risky, unpredictable route an unlikely choice, along with expanded capacity at both Panama and Suez.

All the excitement around the great possibilities that the opening of the Northwest Passage could offer the shipping industry  and Canada  could not last. Just a few years ago, as sea ice in the North seemed to be steadily melting away, observers were eagerly tallying up the savings in time, fuel and costs that a reliably ice-free route across the top of the planet would provide for cargo shippers. A couple of well publicized trial runs only confirmed that for shipments from Asia to Europe or North America, or the other way around, the route could shave thousands of kilometres off the normal routings through the Suez or Panama canals.

Now in hindsight the regular use of either northern route seems neither imminent nor inevitable. The retreat in sea ice may persist, but it is evident that due to regular fluctuations in ice coverage, the Northwest Passage in particular will not be reliably ice-free for many, many years, if ever. Moreover, Canada lacks much of the infrastructure in the North that would make Arctic passage a strong competitor, including multiple ports en route and sufficient icebreaking equipment. Of the two northern routes, the Northern Sea Route is more likely to see a growing volume of shipping but traffic has fallen significantly on this route since the high point of 70 ships in 2013.

There are still factors that might favour some specialized shipping uses of the northern passages, notably the movement of Arctic resources directly from the north to growing Asian markets. Despite the necessary adjustment in expectations of a surge in shipping, there is still an opportunity for Canada to build and strengthen its relationship with its Asian trading partners, especially China, by leveraging its unique geographic assets in the Arctic. Canada and governments in Asia share a number of priorities regarding the Arctic, including environmental protection, safer navigation and resource development.

The Arctic Council is a forum where Canada has a permanent seat at the table, unlike some forums in Asia Pacific where it is still knocking at the door. Interest by China, Japan, Korea and others in the long term potential for northern shipping provides opportunities for more bilateral dialogue and engagement. To be able to use our northern assets to best advantage, however, Canada will need to invest in the necessary infrastructure to exercise sovereignty and be a credible Arctic power, from improved search and rescue capabilities to better navigation and ice breaking resources to enhanced commitment to scientific research.

While the Northwest Passage may not become the important trans-shipment route to Asia once imagined by enthusiastic observers, the most meaningful impact that the route may provide is to alter, and improve, the course of Canada's relations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Hugh Stephens is Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, Executive Fellow at the School of Public Policy of the University of Calgary and a Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
Photo caption: Columnist Fred Maroun argues that the niqab and the burka should be banned in public places.Photo Credit: NCM Stock Image by Elvira Truglia

Commentary by Fred Maroun,

Special to The Post

Immigration played a role in the Brexit campaign, reported The Wall Street Journal.

Since there were only four percentage points between the winning side (to leave the European Union) and the losing side, it is likely that this factor was decisive.

Concerns over immigration have lately been widespread across the West. They seem to have played animportant role in Donald Trumps success in the Republican primaries, and seem to be fuelling the growing popularity of hard right-wing parties in Europe.

These concerns represent a mixed bag. There is undoubtedly some xenophobia, but there are also valid concerns about the risk that immigration places on our liberal values.

I emigrated from Lebanon in 1984. My main motivation was to live in a society that shared my liberal values, where women and gay people are treated more fairly, and where freedom of expression is guaranteed.

Sharing liberal values

Many of the newcomers do not share the Wests liberal values and do not easily change their outlook once they arrive. As reported in The Guardian in 2009, a Gallup Poll found that None of the 500 British Muslims interviewed believed that homosexual acts were morally acceptable.

France fared better in the same poll, and 35% of French Muslims found homosexual acts to be acceptable.

Both Britain and France have since then legalized same-sex marriage, a step well beyond simply tolerating homosexuality. If Muslims were in the majority in Britain and France, it is unlikely that same-sex marriage would have become the law.

Canadian Muslim reformer, Raheel Raza, wrote in reference to the niqab, In the 25 years I have called Canada home, I have seen a steady rise of Muslim women being strangled in the pernicious black tent.

Another Canadian Muslim reformer, Farzana Hassan, wrote in her book Unveiled, To live strictly according to sharia is the goal of conservative Muslim families in Canada. These are the values they are imparting to their young children.

Equality of cultures

Interestingly, our liberal values often discourage us from fighting back against attacks on these very same values. The politicians who raise concerns about immigration tend to be demagogues, such as Trump and hard right-wingers such as Frances Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National.

If those politicians come to power, however, we cannot trust them to protect our liberal values. Demagogues pander to whatever political stand will get them elected, and hard right-wingers do not favour equal rights for minorities, a core principle of liberal values.

A claim often made by some liberals is that all cultures are equal and, therefore, we have no right to impose our culture on others. Even assuming that this claim is true, it only means that we should not forcefully go into other countries and impose our values there.

It does not take away our right to protect our own culture.

For example, extreme conservative Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia expect visitors to comply with their cultural practices, such as women covering up in public, yet we allow visitors and even immigrants to our countries to disregard our values by wearing the niqab in public.

This is not a relationship of equals. It is a relationship of subservience.

Cowering on the sidelines

Moderate Western politicians must protect our liberal values by taking reasonable measures that respect human rights. For example, many Syrian refugees have been welcomed in the West and many more are expected to arrive.

Yet, as noted by Amnesty International, Gulf countries including Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain have offered zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees. The West should demand more participation from rich Muslim countries to ensure that refugees find homes that match their social values.

Another reasonable measure might be screening potential migrants based on their existing values and their ability to adapt to Western norms such as respect for LGBT rights and womens rights. Once they have immigrated, there should be restrictions on some cultural practices.

As both Raheel Raza and another Canadian Muslim reformer Tarek Fatah have demanded, the niqab and theburka should be banned in public places.

Those of us who believe in liberal values have a right and even a duty to protect them. Centrist and left-wing politicians should be at the forefront of this battle rather than cowering on the sidelines, leaving the floor to illiberal politicians.

Defending our values is important not only for the West, but also to potential immigrants who wish to leave oppressive societies. Refusing to fight for our values is dangerous for us and a disservice to new immigrants.

Fred Maroun is a Canadian of Arab origin who lived in Lebanon until 1984, including during 10 years of civil war.

This piece was originally appeared in New Canadian Media (newcanadianmedia.ca).

See http://test.newcanadianmedia.ca/item/37045-defending-western-values-in-brexit-s-wake
By Victor Ing,

Special to The Post

Canada welcomes tens of thousands of workers every year to become permanent residents under its Economic immigration program.

These programs focus on attracting the best and the brightest from around the world to bring their skills and experience to Canada.

Often, many of these workers already have job offers in Canada in managerial, professional or technical positions.

However, there is currently no federal pathway to permanent residence for low or semi-skilled workers other than the Caregiver class.

Under Canadas immigration program, low and semi-skilled workers do not qualify to apply for permanent residence under Canadas Express Entry System, leaving it to Canadas provinces and territories to attract and retain these overlooked but important workers.

In British Columbia, the Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP) offers two pathways for low and semi-skilled workers to address the regional labour and economic needs of the province.

Interested employers and applicants make a joint application to the BCPNP to nominate these workers for Canadian permanent residence through the programs Skills Immigration Registration System (SIRS).

The first immigration pathway is the Entry Level and Semi-skilled category for applicants who are already legally working in Canada for at least 9 months in select jobs in the tourism and hospitality, long-haul trucking and food processing industries.

These occupations reflect the economic needs of British Columbia and include hotel front desk clerks, bartenders, janitors and long-haul truck drivers.

Secondly, the BCPNP also operates the Northeast Pilot Project (NEPP) as a pathway to permanent residence for low and semi-skilled workers employed for at least 9 months in the Northeast region of British Columbia, which encompasses the Northern Rockies and the Peace River Regional District (specifically, Chetwynd, Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Hudsons Hope, Pouce Coupe, Taylor and Tumbler Ridge).

This program is rare among provincial nominee programs. Whereas other provincial nominee programs generally focus on strategic initiatives to attract workers in industries considered essential in a particular province or territory, the NEPP directly encourages immigration to support economic growth in smaller communities in Northeastern British Columbia where there is a need for permanent workers.

Originally introduced in April 2012 as a two-year pilot project, the NEPP was later extended to March 31, 2016 and has since become a fixture in the BCPNP portfolio of immigration programs.

The statistics published by the BCPNP, however, suggest that the NEPP is underused or not widely known to the general public as an immigration pathway to permanent residence for foreign workers.

Since the introduction of the SIRS system earlier this Spring, the BCPNP has only granted four invitations to apply on April 8, 2016 to applicants under the NEPP category.

There may be many applicants who would be interested in both the Entry Level and Semi-skilled and NEPP categories.

For instance, we are often approached by international students in Canada interested in obtaining Canadian permanent residence after graduation; however, they are unsure of the right path because Canadas immigration programs generally prioritize applicants with higher skilled work experience, labour market impact assessment based work permits, and high salaries, none of which students straight out of college or university are likely to have.

For these applicants, the Entry level and Semi-skilled and NEPP categories may provide alternative paths to immigration for those who may be willing to relocate for employment opportunities and those willing to obtain training in the high-demand sectors in British Columbias tourism and hospitality, long-haul trucking and food processing industries.

Foreign workers in British Columbia should become better educated about these alternative immigration options, in addition to the traditional skilled immigration pathways offered by Canadas federal economic programs.

Victor Ing is a lawyer of Sas & Ing Immigration Law Centre. He provides a full range of immigration services.

For more information go to www.canadian-visa-lawyer.com or email victor@canadian-visa-lawyer.com.
Photo caption: Sisterhood: Members of the Thorncliffe Park Women's Committee have their photo taken with indigenous dancers who also happen to live in one of Toronto's most dense and multicultural neighbourhoods at an event in March that traced its evolution over the decades.Photo Credit: Ranjit Bhaskar, @Ranjit17, Toronto

By Maria Ikonen,

Special to The Post

National Aboriginal Day celebrated its 20th anniversary on June 21. The nation-wide day of celebration is culturally significant as a time when Aboriginal groups celebrate their heritage as well as the summer solstice.

For Canadians, National Aboriginal Day celebrations are an opportunity to learn, to join in appreciation of Aboriginal culture and to engage with others, says Trina Mather-Simard, executive director of Aboriginal Experiences, Arts & Culture, which produces the Summer Solstice Aboriginal Festival.

Mather-Simard emphasizes that organizers were happy to see so many Canadians in attendance and engaging with their nations history.

History of First Nations in Canada

Aboriginal peoples is used as a collective name to refer to the original peoples in North America and their offspring. According to the Canadian constitution, First Nations, Metis and Inuit are recognized as Aboriginal peoples, and the 2011 National Household Survey indicates that over 1.4 million people in Canada identify as part of an Aboriginal group.

The earliest signs of Aboriginals in Canada date back 15,00020,000 years ago, but in Aboriginal perspective, they have been here always, says George Nicholas, Simon Fraser University professor and director of the Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage Project (IPinCH).

Historians grouped the First Nations according to the six main geographic areas of Canada: Woodland First Nations, Iroquoian First Nations, Plains First Nations, Plateau First Nations, Pacific Coast First Nations and the First Nations of the Mackenzie and Yukon River Basins.

Residential schools and colonialism

In recognition of National Aboriginal Day, Historica Canada revealed its latest Heritage Minutes, which explore the history of Aboriginal residential schools and the aftermath.

Aboriginal residential schools were part of a program to remove children from the influence of their families and assimilate them into Canadian culture. The schools, which housed roughly 150,000 First Nations children, were heavily criticized for the significant harm they caused the children, such as by exposing them to physical violence and depriving them of their culture and heritage.

It brings back my own memories of experiencing, of having to watch a child being beaten to death. So when I see that, it brings back those horrors. I hope I don't have a nightmare tonight," said a Cree educator and residential school survivor Doris Young of the videos.

Despite an apology given in June 2008 by former Prime Minister Harper for the residential school program and Prime Minister Trudeau's announcement of new funding for indigenous mental health services, representatives feel there is still work to do regarding the treatment of Aboriginal peoples in Canada.

David Zimmer, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, says that the current challenge is to encourage non-Aboriginal communities to work with Aboriginal communities.

John Rustad, B.C.s Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, writes, Reconciliation comes in many forms. To me, reconciliation means to respect, to be aware and to acknowledge each other as equals. Its about teaching our children about their past, and its about creating understanding and better opportunities for Aboriginal people.

In keeping with the days focus, Nicholas highlights the need to remember First Nations challenges with colonialism, which has resulted in their loss of access to their land, language and heritage.

He says that the reconciliation is very much needed, but also very problematic, It requires fundamental changes on how things are done. The government has to make up new ways to work with the First Nations, not only consult them. First Nations must have more power in the decision-making process.

First Nations in modern Canada

While Minister Zimmer is very hopeful that the challenges faced by Aboriginals will lessen as more people become aware of their situation, Nicholas highlights how difficult it can be for First Nations to become a part of greater Canadian society.

Sam Mukwa Kloetstra, a representative from the Mattagami First Nation in northern Ontario, told CBC Newsabout his transition from his small community to the big city of Toronto: You go from a community that is so tight-knit, where everyone is family, your doors arent locked, you know all the dogs by their first name. Then you move to a city where people just seem so closed off  theres lots of people, but not lots of interaction.

According to the CBC News, living away from their familiar surroundings, Indigenous youth risk losing their connection to their home and their culture. Many face discrimination. Some turn to alcohol or drugs to numb the pain and loneliness.

Brock Lewis, Anishinaabe (Odawa, Pottawatomi) from Wikwemikong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island, offered advice to First Nations youth on retaining their heritage: Dancing, singing, painting, art or ceremonies  if you're able to grasp onto any of that stuff, really take it and go with it as far as it'll bring you.

For Nicholas, the National Aboriginal Day is an opportunity for all Canadians to reflect on the importance of First Nations for the country.

If we want to promote Canadian multiculturalism we should acknowledge and respect other voices. We can't forget that the First Nations were the founding people of this country, and therefore to be acknowledged for who they are, he states.

He continues, Things are changing. I am very optimistic. First Nations are gaining more control of their affairs and gradually there are more opportunities.

Festivities related to National Aboriginal Day will continue in Ontario until July 1.

This piece was originally appeared in New Canadian Media (newcanadianmedia.ca).

See http://test.newcanadianmedia.ca/item/36967-national-aboriginal-day-reminds-canadians-of-need-for-reconciliation
Photo caption: Members of Force 136 were trained by British forces to practice guerrilla tactics in Southeast Asia.Photo Credit (all): Chinese Canadian Military Museum

By Dustin Godfrey,

Special to The Post

A new exhibit at a Vancouver museum is exploring the experiences of a lesser-known group of combatants in the Second World War, who were major contributors to Chinese-Canadian civil rights, according to experts.

The Chinese Canadian Military Museums Rumble in the Jungle exhibit looks at Force 136, a team of Chinese-Canadians trained by British forces to practice guerrilla tactics in Southeast Asia.

Borrowing tactics from the French resistance to Nazi occupation during the Second World War, the team fought against the Japanese advancements in the area,

Local historian and lecturer Judy Lam Maxwell, who wrote her masters thesis on Chinese-Canadian war veterans, conducts tours of historic spots in Vancouvers Chinatown. She said the reason for using Chinese-Canadians as guerrilla fighters in the region was largely due to appearance and language barriers faced by Caucasian Allied soldiers.

They were British subjects and they were going into territories that were colonized by the British, but all through Southeast Asia is a sprinkling of Chinese, she says. That gave them power that they visually fit the part, whereas here, being in society here, they stood out.

Launching the exhibit

The museums curator, Catherine Clement, says the exhibits launch in May was the biggest the museum had ever seen; in attendance were nine living veterans of Force 136.

Cynthia Fung-Sunter attended the launch with her three sisters and her two sons. Her father, Henry Fung, was the among the first group sent into the war with Force 136. She says she has had to piece together her fathers experience through external sources.

I did ask, clearly, at different points, and he just would not give details, she recalls, noting that the silence on the subject may have been due to post-traumatic stress disorder.

She did a fine job, says Fung-Sunter, commenting on Clements work in the exhibit. I honestly feel that Force 136 became alive in that exhibit.

Force 136s impact on civil rights

Clement says the impacts of Force 136 extend much further than the context of the war; its existence acted much like a civil rights movement in its own way.

A lot of the [Chinese-Canadian men] who served in the war were actually not considered Canadian citizens, says Clement, referring to the denial of citizenship to Chinese Canadians, including those born in Canada, under theChinese Immigration Act of 1923.

It denied [them] the right to vote, she says. It means that even if you obtain a university degree, you cannot practice medicine or law, engineering, accounting  any of the really important professions.

According to Lam Maxwell, after the war, many countries looked introspectively at their own racially driven policies.

There was also the realization that all these countries were racist in their own way, said Lam Maxwell, pointing to segregation in America and Canadian treatment of the Chinese community. They were fighting for rights on many different levels.

Clement notes that it was the contribution of Chinese-Canadians to the war efforts that gained the community a great deal of popular support for civil rights.

The war ended in 45, and two years after, Chinese are finally granted the right to full citizenship, says Clement. A lot of it had to do with their service in the war."

In that same year, 1947, the Chinese Immigration Act was repealed. Ten years later, former Force 136 member Douglas Jung was the first Chinese-Canadian voted into parliament as the representative of Vancouver Centre.

The importance of remembering

Due to Force 136s clandestine nature, Clement says it was difficult to garner information about the group.

It took about five months of full-time work to put the exhibit together, during which time she interviewed soldiers children like Fung-Sunter, whose knowledge of their fathers experiences was often fragmented.

Clement said she was interested in doing the exhibit on Force 136 now because there had never been one dedicated to the group and because of the shrinking number of living Chinese-Canadian Second World War veterans.

There was this one last window of opportunity to do something to celebrate what they did while they were still alive, she states. And its an excuse to ask them more questions about what that experience was like.

For Clement, there are lessons that todays Canadians can learn from the history of the Chinese involvement in Force 136.

For Chinese people, its understanding history, she says. How did we get here? This is not by accident; this is by things that people did for us, of [whom] there are still a few [. . .] around.

Regarding Canadians as a whole, Clement says the lessons come back to the issue of immigration, which has come up in recent years in Vancouver.

What do we learn from that? Its that [. . .] making people feel different and isolated actually works against us as a community, she concludes.

"Rumble in the Jungle" will be featured at the Chinese Canadian Military Museum in Vancouvers Chinatown until fall of 2016.

This piece was originally appeared in New Canadian Media (newcanadianmedia.ca).

See http://test.newcanadianmedia.ca/item/36455-rumble-in-the-jungle-remembers-chinese-canadian-militants-rumble-in-the-jungle-remembers-chinese-canadian-militants
Kosrae Nautilus Island Resort

Trending News: This Paradise Island Resort Could Be Yours For Under $50

Why Is This Important?

Because it's at least as worthwhile as playing the actual lottery.

Long Story Short

A couple is giving away their tropical island resort in a raffle  and all you have to do is pay US $49 (about 37) to enter.

Long Story

Your chances of living that paradise island dream are now higher than you think. Thanks to Australian couple Doug and Sally Beitz, everyone has the chance to win their very own resort on the Micronesian island of Kosrae.

Kosrae Nautilus Island Resort is a 16-room complex with a private beach, swimming pool, restaurant and scuba diving facilities. And as if that wasnt enough, the island of Kosrae is also home to sandy white beaches, tropical waterfalls, beautiful coral reefs and candy coated flowers with gumdrop smiles (that last one is a maybe).

Related: Coming Soon: A Private Island Where Married People Can Cheat

But remember, running a resort is as much a business operation as it is an office workers wet dream. Luckily, the 100% share of Nautilus will be presented to the winner debt free, plus US $10,000 in the bank. And if you dont feel like running it yourself, youre free to appoint someone else to do it for you while you recline in a hammock drinking pina coladas for eternity.

OK, we know youre thinking Whats the catch? There really doesnt seem to be one. Sally and Doug quit the corporate rat race 24 years ago, setting in Kosrae with their young children. According to their site, theyre now keen to return to Australia to be closer to their grandchildren, and are simply excited by the idea of Enabling the average everyday working person.

If you want to win your own goddamn island resort, you can enter here and the raffle will be drawn on the 26th July. Good luck and have a wonderful life!

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Kosrae Nautilus has a 4 and a half star rating on TripAdvisor.
Explosions, Gunfire Bombard Istanbul Airport

Trending News: Istanbul Airport In Chaos Amid Gunfire And Explosions

Why Is This Important?

Because the world has gone mad.

Long Story Short

Reports are coming in of gunfire and explosions at Istanbul's Ataturk airport in Turkey. The attacks appear focused on the international terminal.

Long Story

Welp, here we go again. Unlike the last attack in Germany, where the only casualty was the lone gunman, shit appears to be going down on a massive scale at Istanbul's Ataturk. The BBC reports that after a hail of gunfire coming from the parking garage, two explosions rocked the airport's international terminal.

Heavy explosions at Ataturk Airport in #Istanbul Ataturk Havaliman pic.twitter.com/IjqSCyVTDw  MineParis81 (@MineParis81) June 28, 2016

Lan havalimanna nasl girdi bu amk pic.twitter.com/rplGY2zg0X  Hikmet bin Ziyad (@hichmet) June 28, 2016

ANF News is claiming that the blasts were the work of suicide bombers. According to CBS, the suicide bombers detonated their devices before making it to security scanners, while others say the blasts were after a skirmish with police (hence the gunfire).

Suspects reportedly detonated explosives before passing security X-ray at Istanbul airport https://t.co/x0P7cRea63 https://t.co/WNIMSiDBf2  CBS News (@CBSNews) June 28, 2016

There's no body count as of now, besides reports of "several" wounded. Istanbul has been dealing with a string of terrorist attacks recently, the most recent being a car bomb that killed 11 and injured 36, reports Reuters. Turkey is part of the US-lead coalition fighting against ISIS, who claimed two of Turkey's earlier attacks. Kurdish militants, whom Turkey is also fighting, claimed responsibility for two others.

Update: The number of wounded is believed to be 40, according to Turkish newspaper Haberturk.

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Turkey has been a candidate for EU membership since 1999.
NASA Tests The Rocket Booster That Will Take Us To Mars

Trending News: NASA Successfully Tests The Rocket That Will Get Us To Mars

Why Is This Important?

Because we keep getting closer to sending humans to Mars.

Long Story Short

NASA has taken a big step towards sending astronauts to Mars with the successful final test of one of the boosters that will power the Space Launch System.

Long Story

Sooner or later humans are going to reach Mars, and in the middle of the Utah desert NASA may have just tested the rocket that will get us there. The final Space Launch System will be the most powerful rocket ever built and its two boosters will create 75% of the necessary thrust to allow Orion to break through Earths gravitation field and get to Mars.

Last March, NASA successfully tested one booster for two minutes at the top of its temperature range (32 degrees Celsius or 90 degrees Fahrenheit) and today it also worked at its lowest temperature of 4 degrees Celsius or 40 degrees Fahrenheit after being chilled for several weeks.

The whole explosive test lasted two minutes as the 154-foot booster demonstrated its awesome power and produced close to 3.6m pounds of rocket thrust, wowing crowds that had come to watch nearby.

NASA engineers are looking through the data from over 530 measuring devices to see if all is in order, but the booster seems to have passed the test with flying colors.

Seeing this test today, and experiencing the sound and feel of approximately 3.6 million pounds of thrust, helps us appreciate the progress were making to advance human exploration and open new frontiers for science and technology missions in deep space, said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASAs Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.

In 2018 NASA will launch an unmanned mission to Mars from Floridas Kennedy Space Center, and the aim seems to be to put boots on Mars before 2030. However, the new space race is heating up and SpaceX is believed to be aiming for a 2024 manned mission while the slightly sketchy Mars One may be the same year, if we believe it will happen at all.

There have also been claims that nuclear fusion could one day send a rocket to Mars in just 30 days with Russian teams said to be exploring that option, but for the time being the focus seems to be on a less controversial route.

After decades of relative inactivity, the thirst for space exploration has returned and it seems that the red planet is getting closer and closer.

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Is it worth focussing on getting to Mars or is it a waste of money?

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So excited at the idea of a human landing on Mars during my lifetime, just hope they watched The Martian and learned from Matt Damons experience.

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Mars One claims that it had 202,586 applications from normal people volunteering to embark on a one-way trip to the red planet, which has now been whittled down to 100.
Divestitures of assets in the oil and gas sectors are expected to rise in 2016 according to a report from law firm Eversheds and financial analysis group Mergermarket.Australia has led the way in oil and gas asset sales from 2014 to the first quarter of 2016 accounting for 54 per cent by value and 30 per cent by volume. China was second with 17 per cent by value and 24 per cent by volume.There were 44 oil and gas asset sales in 2015 totalling U$17 billion, down from 60 deals valued at $30.2 billion in 2014. In the first quarter of 2016 there were 11 deals with a total value of $1.6 billion.Global banking group Barclays has announced that 140 firms will make up its new legal roster, which begins on 1July.Firms including Ashurst Hogan Lovells and Simmons & Simmons are among those that have made the cut, but other big names including DLA Piper have not.Barclays current roster is almost 400 firms so the new look list is far smaller. This is part of a stated aim of the banking firm which wants deeper relationships with our panel of law firms.Incumbent law firms were consulted last year to help shape the approach to Barclays legal panel review. The engagement was based on a set of clearly documented expectations centered on four key areas: legal advice, thought leadership, collaboration & teamwork and value for money.French law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel has closed its office in Hong Kong in favour of an alliance with local firm Howse Williams Bowers. However, Gide is not pulling out of the region, with Shanghai, Beijing and Ho Chi Minh City locations remaining. Existing clients will be managed through the new alliance.Unregulated providers of legal services have been the subject of a study by a legal profession super-regulator in a bid to further understand the sector and why clients use them.Research by the Legal Services Board in the UK found that the size of the unregulated sector is smaller than believed and that it was less problematic than believed too.Unregulated providers of legal services amount to just 5 per cent of those paid to give legal advice, although in family law it is 10 per cent. However, client satisfaction is broadly in line with regulated providers, the LSB report says.The main reasons for choosing unregulated providers are lower and more transparent pricing; and higher levels of innovation and service differentiation.The LSB chairman Sir Michael Pitt said that most consumers check if their choice of provider is regulated but many do not and therefore have less consumer protection.
Boys who display high cognitive empathy levels  the capacity to comprehend the emotions of another person  attract an average of 1.8 more female friendships than low empathy counterparts, according to a study of almost 2000 Year 10 students in Queensland and NSW published in the Journal of Personality (http://tinyurl.com/zdgmnkj).

The study, led by Prof Joseph Ciarrochi of the Australian Catholic University, is the first to examine the extent that adolescent males and females select empathetic classmates as friends. It found that girls are more likely to nominate empathetic boys as friends.

In contrast, girls with empathetic qualities did not attract a greater number of opposite sex friends. Despite this, these girls reported an overall feeling of friendship support.

The more friendship nominations a boy received from either boys or girls, the more they felt supported by their friends; the number of friendship nominations received by girls, in contrast, had no effect on their felt support by friends, Ciarrochi said. Regardless of the quantity of friendship nominations, empathy was linked to more supportive friendships for both males and females.

The researchers asked students to nominate up to five of their closest male and five closest female friends in the...
Over the past 12 months there has been a significant rise in awareness in Australia of the impact of perfluorinated chemicals on ground and surface water, soils, food and human health.

Perfluorinated chemicals have a wide range of industrial applications because of their resistance to heat, water and oil. Since the middle of the 20th century the compounds have been used for a myriad of industrial functions and consumer products, including carpets, clothing, upholstery, food paper wrappings, non-stick cookware (e.g. Teflon), photographic materials, Scotchgard and related goods used to protect fabrics, firefighting foams and metal plating.

Perfluorinated chemicals are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. They have been found at low levels in the environment, in human populations and wildlife in distal parts of the globe such as the Arctic. As a result, a number of national and international government agencies and industry bodies have banned or limited their use.

Although perfluorinated chemicals are both persistent and pervasive, specific human exposure pathways are not well understood and require further research. In fact, the safe or hazardous level of exposure and its specific causal link to human health outcomes remain under debate.

In Australia, a Senate inquiry earlier this year identified significant contamination issues at a...
Its relatively unusual for scientists to be keenly interested in election results, but CSIRO scientists will have been watching closely on 2 July as Australians votes are counted. Earlier in the year, hundreds of jobs were lost in CSIRO as the CEO demonstrated his hostility to public good science.

In the election campaign, Opposition leader Bill Shorten promised to reverse the cuts in CSIRO funding and provide extra money for research related to climate change, a particular target of the recent sackings. A Shorten Labor government will invest $250 million in CSIRO to reverse the Liberals cuts and ensure the future of key national science infrastructure, he said. Shorten emphasised that this funding would be additional to the $50 million promised earlier in the campaign to CSIRO, money earmarked for research on climate change and its impacts on the Great Barrier Reef.

His statement recognised that 20% of CSIRO jobs had been lost after the 201415 Budget cuts. Shorten said that the 2016 round of redundancies have undermined our national research capacity in critical areas like climate science, manufacturing and food security, and argued that a well-resourced CSIRO is critical for Australian innovation. That should have persuaded scientists to take off their white coats and start handing out ALP election material.

Apart from that specific...
By Andrew Holmes, President of the Australian Academy of Science, Laureate Professor Emeritus, University of Melbourne

Shutterstock/argus

Nobody can yet predict exactly what the ramifications will be now the United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union but UK science commentators are already foreshadowing Brexit Mark 2  a Brain Exit of researchers.

Brexit has created incredible uncertainty. The potential disruption that it may cause to the many international collaborative research programs involving the UK is something the international scientific community could certainly have done without.

Whatever form the Brexit negotiations take, and however long the timeline, the disruption is real. It will be more so if Brexit causes still wider political and economic instability.

Aftershocks in Australia

There will likely be some aftershocks felt here too for some considerable time given the extent that Australian researchers engage in collaborative programs with both the UK and the rest of Europe.

Firstly some facts. UK researchers are among the most internationally collaborative in the world. Around 60% of the roughly 120,000 research articles published each year by UK-based authors are co-authored with international collaborators. More than half of these are in the EU.

According to the 2013 report on International Comparative Performance of the UK Research Base, more than 70% of UK researchers working between 1996 and 2012 published papers while affiliated with non-UK institutions.

Unsurprisingly, the more internationally collaborative researchers are significantly more productive than those researchers who stayed at home and were more inwardly focused.

About 28% of academic staff in UK universities are non-UK citizens. Again, more than half of these are from the EU.

If, as has been suggested, the UK ramps up restrictions on mobility and work entitlements, it is possible that many of these researchers will choose or be forced to leave.

Until now, Britain has been a very significant net beneficiary of EU research funds. It received an estimated 8.8 billion funding between 2007-2013 on the strength of an estimated 5.4 billion contribution. This made it the second most successful nation behind Germany.

Looking forward, it is estimated that UK research could be 1 billion worse off each year as a consequence of the decision to leave the EU.

Beyond the horizon

The most significant impact could potentially be felt by research programs funded through the Horizon 2020 program.

This 30-year collaborative research and innovation framework is by far the largest research funding mechanism in Europe, and one of the largest in the world. In the current funding cycle that runs from 2014-2020, an estimated 80 billion funding would flow to researchers in EU member states and associated nations.

While some non-EU members have negotiated eligibility to apply for Horizon 2020 funding, eligibility is conditional upon the free movement of people. In the UKs case, continued access to the Horizon 2020 program may need negotiation.

Australia may participate in Horizon 2020 projects as a non-associated industrialised third country. But projects are not automatically eligible for funding. Accordingly, much of Australias access to European research and research funding is leveraged through collaborations in the UK.

Potential benefits for Australia

We should also note that there are large numbers of research students from EU member nations studying in the UK, a significant proportion of the research workforce. There are concerns that these students might now be categorised as international students and face significant fee increases to study in the UK.

If this does take place and the UK does become a more expensive destination for European research students, it is likely that higher education institutions in Australia, the United States and Canada will all benefit as alternative English-language study options for European students.

There are strong natural links between Australia and the UK. It is possible that the UK decision to leave Europe may actually provide new opportunities for Australian researchers.

The UK will now be potentially more open to the rest of the world. Having the UK as part of the EU has often meant that there was preferential access to positions, resources, collaborations and so on for those who were part of the EU. The lifting of that restriction may well provide new opportunities for Australia.

The Australian Academy of Science is recommending the expansion of Australias bilateral and multilateral collaborations with a variety of partner countries in regions including Asia, East Asia, the Americas and the EU.

Andrew Holmes is the President of the Australian Academy of Science. He has been the recipient of a number of research grants from the European Commission.

Cheryl Praeger is the Foreign Secretary of the Australian Academy of Science.

Professor Les Field is the Secretary of Science Policy, Australian Academy of Science.

Originally published in The Conversation.
Hello All! Question on submitting an EOI:



I received the email today concerning my skills assessment. AITSL requested my university diploma, after I submitted my skills assessment at the beginning of April. I finally got a new diploma from my university and mailed the certified copy to AITSL last week. Today, I received the confirmation email from AITSL stating: "Your assessment will be completed within 10 weeks from the date of this email."



It has been 10 weeks already, but now I'm afraid they reset the clock on the assessment. I'm not worried about passing my skills assessment, only that they may take yet another 10 weeks to finish it. That will put me at September 5th. I need to apply for my 189 by September 17th, or will have to leave, as that's my 3 month window on my ETA. Looks like the last round of invitations that I could possibly get an invite would be September 14th. That is really pushing it!



So, can I submit my EOI earlier, before I receive my skills assessment in the mail (if they decide to take another 10 weeks)? I do not know how long it will take to receive an invitation to apply for a 189 visa as a Secondary Teacher and I've seen some people waiting a month or so for an invitation (engineers, etc.). Thoughts?



Backup plan: To apply for partner visa, instead of skilled visa. But obviously prefer the skilled visa.
PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Reel World Yo Soy Groot The South Broadway Cultural Center (1025 Broadway SE) rounds out its Spanish language Marvel superhero series with a screening of the smash hit 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy this Friday, July 1. The space-spanning action comedy screens from 2 to 4pm. Admission is free. The film will be dubbed into Spanish with English subtitles, making it perfect for Spanish speakers, English speakers and everyone inbetween. Personally, I cant wait to hear what Bradley Coopers Rocket Racoon sounds like en espanol. For more info go to cabq. gov/ south- broadway- cultural- center View in Alibi calendar

Submit to Santa Fe The increasingly essential Santa Fe Independent Film Festival returns to the City Different this October 19 through 23. But the late deadline for submitting films hits this Friday, July 1. Shorts will run you $50 to submit now, while features are running $75. Organizers are looking for films/videos in the following categories: Animated, Art, Documentary, Experimental, International, Narrative Feature, Narrative Short, New Mexican, Mountain and Student Film. You can submit your complete work through Film Freeway, Without a Box, Reelport and Film Festival Life. For a complete list of rules and guidelines as well as a submission form, go to santafeindependentfilmfestival. com.

Hollywood History The historic KiMo Theatre in Downtown Albuquerque (423 Central NW) is firing up its projector for two more classic film series. July 1 through Aug. 5 its 50s Hitchcock Hits. Buy a pass ($20 general admission, $15 students/seniors) and you can check out 1950s Stage Fright (July 1), 1953s I Confess (July 8) and 1955s To Catch a Thief (Aug. 5). All films have two screenings, one at 6 and one at 8:30pm. You can also purchase individual tickets for $8 general admission and $6 students/seniors. Also starting this week is the third round of the venues American Film Institute Top 100 Countdown. For $20 general admission and $15 students/seniors, you get to watch 1957s Bridge on the River Kwai (July 2 and 3), 1952s Singin in the Rain (July 23 and 24), and 1954s On the Waterfront (July 30 and 31). All of them screen at 2 and 6pm on Saturdays and 2pm on Sundays. Individual tickets are available for these films as well ($8 general admission, $6 students/seniors). For more info, or to purchase passes/tickets in advance, go to kimotickets.com.
HP

The French automaker has succeeded in creating a car that looks amazing, and committed to matching the interior with fantastic design.As we previously noticed by observing the 2017 Citroen C3 WRC model, the front grille has a new shape, and has become a slim element that has been braided with the headlamps. The latter is also thin, leaving the rounded-off shape of the previous generation well behind.The front bumper reminds us of the C4 Cactus , the C3s big brother, while the Airbumps on the side of the car show us that the French automaker is serious about this technology.Moving on to the side, the photo set provided by the brand shows a beautiful set of alloy rims, matched with black body cladding for the wheel arches and the inferior parts of the bumpers.Meanwhile, the roof of the new C3 comes in a contrasting color, matched by the side mirror caps and foglight ornaments. The front A-pillars are blacked out, just like the B-pillars, while the C-pillars are split into two colors and a touch of black. The refined look is completed at the back, with an all-new design for the rear end.On the inside, Citroen went full throttle, and created a stylish look for their best-selling model. The steering wheel has a new shape, while the dash is tastefully designed. The multimedia touchscreen has a diagonal fo seven inches, and is used to eliminate as many physical buttons as possible.Naturally, like in the case of its brother from Peugeot, the 208, Citroen has kept a few controls with analog switches, just so users do not look for the volume knob, hazard function, door locking switch, or windscreen defroster.We admit we are not exactly pleased with the positioning of this screen, as it sits lower than in other cars and requires the driver to look down to use it, but we believe this concession was made out of technical reasons.The interior looks like it is available with a multitude of ornament options, so customers will be able to customize the 2017 C3 to their preference. Several upholstery patterns have been created, and they can be matched with steering wheel trim, as well as ornaments fitted to the dash and door cards.Concerning technology, Citroen has integrated a camera into the central mirror, while the infotainment unit now supports Apple CarPlay, Mirror Link, and Android Auto (available starting early 2017). The 2017 C3 features a multitude of driver assistance systems, which are employed to make driving easier and to help prevent accidents.The French brand has also introduced an industry-first connected camera, which records the road ahead when the car is in motion. Thanks to this, the driver can record the driving experience, take photos while driving, and even shoot short films and share them online. In the case of a vehicle impact, the Citroen ConnectedCam is set to memorize the footage as evidence, with the ability to save 30 seconds before the impact and 60 seconds after it occurred.Citroen offers the new C3 with a contemporary range of PureTech gasoline engines and BlueHDi diesels. Three petrol units are available, and they provide 68, 82, or 110 Hp. In the diesel range, two engines are offered, and they deliver 75 or 100At first, manual transmissions will be the only ones offered, but automatic transmissions are in store for Citroen C3 customers. Market launch is set for spring 2017, while the production car will be presented at this years Paris Motor Show.
FWD

The French venue is expected to host the debut of the 2017 Honda Civic in hatchback form , which has been previewed by a concept car at the Geneva Motor Show. Be that as it may, the Civic X variation were looking forward to the most is the 2018 Honda Civic Type R.Our spy photographers got up close and personal with it on the Nurburgring in the past, but now we have video evidence that the all-new Civic Type R goes like a bat out of hell. Sorry for that, I hate Meat Loaf too.Coming courtesy of YouTube channel Nordschleife-Video, the 25-second clip below features the 2018 Honda Civic Type R beating its VTEC Turbo heart out in full attack mode. The front-wheel-drive blunderbuss is expected to get the same 2.0-liter four-banger as the current model. Is isnt known if were supposed to expect more than 310 PS and 400 Nm (295 lb-ft), but dont forget that the Civic X is a tad lighter than its predecessor.As you can see from the stills captured from the video, the 2018 Honda Civic Type R plays its aerodynamics card well. The extremely aggressive bumper, the in-your-face lip spoiler, the hood scoop, the gills right next the front wheel arches, the over-the-top rear spoiler, and the three-exit exhaust system, just about everything about the Civic Type R oozes Get out of my way, mortal... or else face the wrath of VTEC!In remains to be seen if Honda will bring the next-gen Civic Type R to the U.S., especially when you consider that the competition boasts performance-oriented all-wheel-drive systems. If it were your money on the line, what would you choose between thisbrawler and the fan-bleeding-tastic 2016 Ford Focus RS
Well, the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed has brought us the answer and, thankfully, we're dealing with an overly positive outcome. To be more precise, the Ferrari 458 MM Speciale took part in the UK's velocity celebration, with Ferrari tearing apart its rear tires in the process. And when such a machine is rumored to cost north of $3 million, this is no small feat.While the naturally-aspirated wonder was hooned on the 1.12-mile Hillclimb course, the part that drew our attention the most has to do with the tire-smoking moments visible in the piece of footage at the bottom of the page.While the drift-turn performed by the driver wasn't the sharpest one out there, seeing such a Prancing Horse being hooned in such a fashion feels overly satisfying. As for the accolade mentioned in the previous sentence, we'll remind you that, in our book, the Koenigsegg One:1, which used the Porsche 918 Spyder as its drifting cone, grabbed that title.Returning to the 605 PS Maranello machine in the clip below, the driver also went for a burnout, to the obvious delight of the audience. It was simply impossible to miss this Ferrari during the FoS, especially given its color scheme. We'll remind you the MM is dressed in a shade of White dubbed Bianco Italia, with the colors of the Italian flag becoming thin longitudinal stripes.P.S.: If the motorized Italian flag thing got your heart pumping, you should also check out this LaFerrari, which likes to remind Americans where it was built.
TDI

Elzbieta Bienkowska, Europes Industry Commissioner, believes that Volkswagen should replicate its $14.7 billion plan in the European Union, for each of its customers who have bought a vehicle with a defeat device. In other words, Bienkowska told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that she thinks that Volkswagen should voluntarily provide the same compensation to its European customers.The EU Industry Commissioner believes it would be unfair of Volkswagen to treat European customers differently because of a different legal system.However, this difference in legal systems allows Volkswagen not to be bound to compensate its customers as long as it repairs their vehicles and brings every car sold to the homologated standard.Treating customers in Europe differently than US customers is no way to win back trust, says Elzbieta Bienkowska, Europes Industry Commissioner, Germanys Welt reports.However, Volkswagen is not obligated by any European law in sight to pay compensation to the customers that acquired vehicles fitted with defeat devices, an element which is used to trick emission testing procedures to believe theengines were as clean as the company stated.Bienkowska admits it is not her job to give Volkswagen advice on how to deal with the matter, but she sees a difference in how the German company treats its clients depending on the laws applicable in each market.During the same statement, Europes Industry Commissioner criticized fellow member states for not reforming the type-approval system for new cars, and claims she has requested transport ministers in the primary markets to rush the process.Bienkowska has proposed a change in the authorization process for new types of cars. However, she has not received approval from all EU member states on her plan, while other EU Commissioners are seeking solutions to improve emission testing procedures.
But if this isn't a great plot line for an anime, nothing ever is. Momoka, the Drifting Schoolgirl. Of course, no self-respecting car dealer would hand the keys over to a teen still wearing her uniform. So our anime hero would need to know martial arts or carry a laser pistol.Ever since its launch last year, the Honda S660 has been praised by nearly everybody in Japan for what it brings to the kei car market. It's only got a 660cc engine with 54 horsepower, but that is placed in the middle for optimal balance. The roof folds like on the Murcielago Roadster , while the body looks like a shrunken NSX.The ad starts with the usual paperwork you have to sign for a test drive. After they get in the car, the salesperson starts to chat and asks how long she's been driving for, to which she answers that she recently got her license.That's when you know something is up because there's no way a newbie driver shifts a manual like that. Zero engine stalls later, they've left the city and arrive at a local track, where the high schooler demonstrates her killer driving.As the salesman is hanging on for dear life, she is grinning from ear to ear. Eventually, they return to the dealership, where everybody bows politely.The funny thing is that this really is a teenager girl, 18-year-old racer Miki Koyama. She and her purple car currently compete in Formula 4. She's good, and we don't mean Danica Patrick good.
From 1945, the year it was founded as Saab AB, to 2012, the year the peeps at Spyker sold the carmaker to NEVS, Saab manufactured lots of timeless machines. This is a teeny-weeny story about six of the most significant Saab cars ever made, as chosen by the editorial team of autoevolution.Before anything, it should be mentioned that NEVS continues to make the 9-3. NEVS doesnt have the right to use the name, nor the Griffin logo. The latter, however, continues to be used by truckmaker Scania.Be that as it may, the automobile division of the Saab Group will always be remembered for thinking outside the box. You could even say that Saab is the Swedish equivalent to Lancia. On the surface, Saab may appear to be a more adventurous automaker than Volvo. But to be frank, Saab is an oddball that, in its madness, produced an assortment of high-performance cars that also happen to appeal to family drivers.Having said these, lets take a trip down memory lane. Here goes:Genesis is the word that best describes the Ursaab. Also known Project 92 or X9248, Saab built four prototypes of the thing. What Saab had learned from its first effort as an automobile manufacturer morphed into the Saab 92, the first production vehicle from the Swedish carmaker.Why did they go with Project 92 and not, well, anything else? Ah, good question! The answer to it is that the Trollhattan factory in Sweden built two passenger planes during WW II, christened 90 and 91, respectively.Because the Swedish market was awash with motorcycles, trucks, and large cars after the closure of World War II, Saab AB decided that it would be best to come up with a small, affordable car. This, then, was the niche Project 92 and the subsequent Saab 92 were gunning for.Before full-scale production of the Saab 92 started in December 1949, the Ursaab prided itself on a drag coefficient of Cd 0.32. To put that figure into perspective, thats the same as a Ferrari F40 . Thats mighty impressive for 1947. Heck, its even more impressive if you take into consideration that the 16 engineers behind the Ursaab had no prior experience in designing cars and only two of them had a driving license.After amassing more than 530,000 kilometers (330,000 miles) with the Ursaab, the Swedish automaker started producing the Saab 92 in 1949. The 93 dropped by in 1956 and, for what its worth, its a major update over the Saab 92. Other than it being superior to its predecessor, the 93 is also worthy of being remembered chiefly because it was the first Saab to go the way of the export through official channels.Saab announced the Ninety-Three in August 1955 amidst speculation regarding a three-cylinder two-stroke engine. This engine shouldnt be confused with the transversally mounted unit based on a DKW design that motivated the 92. The 93's engine is a different design, boasts 748 cc instead of 764, and, for a change, it is mounted longitudinally.Until model year 1967, the second type of two-stroke engine found its way under the hood of the 93, the first two Sonett generations, 95, 96, GT750, Formula Junior single seater, and the Quantum prototype racers. To properly understand what makes this little engine so great, just type Saab two-stroke in the YouTube search bar.When all is said and done, the Saab 93 and the two-stroke three-banger were a match made in heaven. Believe it or not, rally-prepped 93s won the Finland Rally (1957) and the Swedish Rally (1959). As if that wasnt impressive enough, the 93 also finished 1st in its class in the 1957 Mille Miglia and 2nd in its class in the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans.Ah, the Sonett! Legend has it engine developer Rolf Mellde and three of his buddies designed the first incarnation of the Sonett in a barn. With a budget of 75,000 Swedish kronor, the four men managed to deliver the Sonett just in time for the 1956 Stockholm Motor Show. Amusingly, the name comes from a Swedish phrase that translates to so neat they are.The Sonett I is the red-painted vehicle in the featured photograph. It sort of looks like a hybrid between a C1 Corvette and the AC Ace, doesnt it? If you look even closer, youll observe that the Sonett I is RHD and has its gear lever located to the right of the steering wheel, just like a Ford GT40 has. Sweden, however, drives on the right, so whats the catch?The catch is that all six units of the Sonett I were built before September 3, 1967, the day Sweden switched to driving on the left-hand side of the road as a result of the Swedish driving side referendum of 1955. Based on design concepts from the aeronautical industry, the Sonett I weighs just 600 kilograms (1,323 pounds). The aluminum chassis, for example, tips the scales at just 70 kilos (150 pounds). Impressive stuff, alright!As for the Sonett II and Sonett III, Saab developed these machines with us mortals in mind. Also known as the Saab 97, the Sonett II bid farewell to the two-stroke engine in 1967, when the 1,498 cc Ford Taunus V4 was adopted. The final iteration, dubbed the Sonett III, weighs just 880 kilos (1,940 lbs) and can hit 103 mph (165 km/h) thanks to its 1.7-liter V4 mill.The 70s is the decade when Saab really took off as a manufacturer [no aeronautical pun intended]. After hitting the 500,000th car milestone in 1970, Saab celebrated the one-millionth car to come off the line at its Trollhattan plant in January 1976. The Saab 99 was one of the most, if not the most momentous Saab of its epoch, for a multitude of reasons.Compared to its forerunners, the 99 was a larger car, fitting nicely in the compact executive segment. Under its hood, the Saab 99 hides a four-stroke four-cylinder engine designed by Triumph. All things considered, the carbureted unit was half of the V8 Triumph produced in the 1970s.Saab equipped 48 units of the 99 with the Triumph-developed V8, yet that didnt go through. Instead, Saab introduced the 99 Turbo in 1978, boasting a 2.0-liter B series engine and a Garrett turbo. The first force-fed Saab produced 143 horsepower (145 PS) and could hit 62 mph (96 km/h) in 9.2 seconds. The top speed? Just shy of 124 mph (200 km/h).In consequence, the Saab 99 Turbo was an instant hit when it went on sale and immediately became an instant classic. The final reason why the Saab 99 is worthy of being inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame is the fact that this is the last model Saab campaigned as a rally car. With Stig Blomqvist behind the wheel, the Saab 99 EMS and Saab 99 Turbo won the International Swedish Rally in 1977 and 1979.Based on the 99 and developed with the American consumer in mind, the Saab 900 was the misfit of the compact executive car during its era. Whys that? Firstly, the engine delivers its power from the crank at the front. By way of explanation, the engine is installed backward.Then theres the transmission, which is conjoined to the bottom of the engine, a technical artifice inspired by the original Mini. Up front, the Saab 900 brags with double wishbone suspension. From a design standpoint, the extremely curved windshield provides great visibility.Once you step inside, the most impressive shenanigan is that all the controls are placed on the dashboard according to their frequency of use. Thats forward thinking for 1978, the year Grease is released to worldwide acclaim and Spain becomes a democratic state.There a lot to like about the Saab 900, regardless if youre an out-and-out gearhead of Mr. Sensible Pants in the market for a nice car. Other than what was presented in the paragraphs above, the Saab 900 also set the stage for the cabin air/pollen filter, an essential consumable for modern cars. On the other hand, Nash Motors was the first to develop the disposable air cabin filter for passenger vehicles, way back in 1938.The 2010 to 2011 Saab 9-5 , internally referred to as the YS3G, will be remembered as the last heartbeat of an already diluted carmaker. By diluted, I am referring to the involvement of General Motors. Ever since the second-generation 900, all Saabs were built with GM underpinnings.The second-generation Saab 900, for example, was an Opel Vectra in drags. As fate would have it, the 900 NG helped Saab earn a profit in 1995 for the first time in seven years. From then on, though, everything went downhill for the Swedish manufacturer. The Saab 9-5, on the other hand, shares its backbone with the Opel Insignia, Buick Regal and LaCrosse, Cadillac XTS, Chevrolet Malibu and Impala. Dreary cars, to be brutally honest. The thing is, the Saab 9-5 is far from dreary.Not does it only follow the turbocharged tradition that put Saab on the map, but the second generation of the Saab 9-5 is critically acclaimed for being a better car than the sum of its parts. The Haldex all-wheel-drive system, unmistakably Scandinavian design, the aircraft-inspired cabin, the real-time damping control, an extremely rare wagon body style, theres a lot to like about the 9-5.For Saabophiles, this is one of the most attainable collectors items out there. For people who know better, the Saab 9-5 is inferior to the Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, and Mercedes-Benz E-Class. I dont want to know better because the 9-5 catches me off-guard every single time. I mean, who needs Apple CarPlay when you have green-lit dials and a button that reads NIGHT PANEL and kills all interior illumination save the speedo?The 2010 to 2011 Saab 9-5 is far from perfect, but its the perfect car to stand out in the crowd.
Almost a week after the election, everybody is wondering what kind of deals will the EU make with the United Kingdom , and the countrys car industry is also on its toes.In the case of Sunderland , the city where Nissan has invested billions of euros in a car factory, 61.3 percent of the voters chose to leave the European Union, but some fear that the 6,700 jobs are at risk.As Financial Times reports, workers are worried about the result of the vote, even if some of them admitted to being supporters of Brexit.Workers admit being surprised by the popularity of Leave, and feel that Nissan might consider downsizing its factory over the years.While not in danger in the next few years, Nissans Sunderland facility might become uncompetitive if the European Union will tax products made in the UK. Last year, the factory exported 55% of its output to the EU, so there is a reason for workers to worry.The Renault/Nissan alliance has openly stated that it would be in their best interest for Great Britain to remain in the EU. Unfortunately, Brits have voted to leave in their consultative referendum.If the UK government decides to follow the course and activate the Lisbon clause, all products made in the UK might be faced with import duties in European countries. Considering the price of an automobile, this would affect sales for all automakers with factories in Great Britain.According to the quoted Nissan employees, who spoke to Financial Times under the cover of anonymity, they have feared about the competitivity of their plant for years, as the Renault/Nissan Alliance opened other sites in Europe and ACEA markets with lower wages.With the whole Brexit situation, the corporation could decide not to introduce new models in the Sunderland factory, or even to shift production of some cars to other facilities.At this point, we must note that Nissan has not issued a statement regarding the aftermath of the vote. The Japanese automaker will probably wait until the EU and UK strike a trade deal to decide what to do with its Sunderland facility, a plant which builds one in three cars made in the UK.Closing this facility is probably not on the list for Nissan, but it would mean losing approximately 26,000 jobs in the area, as supplier jobs were not included in the 6,700 employees of the facility.
The first of the recalls affects 1.43 million Toyota Prius and Lexus CT200h compact hatchbacks. Toyota wants to replace the curtain air bag inflators of these cars, as they could develop cracks if the cars are parked and unoccupied for an extended period.The issue is that the airbag inflators might already have a small crack, which could eventually lead to inflating the safety device. If an occupant is inside the vehicle at the time of the incident, Toyota believes there is an increased risk of injury.Contrary to recent expectations when an airbag recall is announced, no Takata components are involved here. In the case of the vehicles affected by this potential issue, Toyota Motor Corporation says that they were built between October 2008 and April 2012. Toyota is not aware of any crashes, injuries or deaths related to this defect.The second recall campaign announced by Toyota Motor Corporation will affect 2.87 million units worldwide, including the Prius and Corolla. In the case of this service campaign, Toyota has explained that the fuel emissions control canisters could crack.As Bloomberg notes, when the vehicles have a full tank of gas, leaks could appear because of the potential issue described above. The affected cars were built between April 2006 and August 2015, and the automaker stated that it is not aware of any wounds, collisions, or casualties caused by the problem.At this point, we must note that the 1.43 million units and the 2.87 million vehicles which must be recalled add up to more than the 3.4 million cars we mentioned in the title of this article. However, Toyota Motor Company has explained that approximately 932,000 vehicles are targeted by both recalls.If you own a Toyota or Lexus model with the model years listed above, we suggest checking the automakers website and go to the recall section and enter your VIN to make sure your car is not involved in an active recall.
Courtesy of Wikimedia.

Auto Europe, a global car rental aggregator, has conducted a survey to find out more about the preferences of North Americans planning to travel to Europe.

According to the survey, 40% of North Americans planning to visit Europe in the next 12 months do so as part of an annual trip, while 30% travel to Europe multiple times a year and 24% travel to Europe every two to three years.

When it comes to the top destinations in Europe, 53% of North American travelers plan to visit Western Europe, 20% plan to visit the U.K., 13% will travel to Eastern Europe, 7% said Ireland, and 2% will go to Iceland.

The majority of travelers will go to Europe with 2 to 3 people in their party (70%) while only 5% plan to travel in a group of 5 or more, according to the survey. Most travelers plan to visit Europe with family (74%) while 13% plan to travel with friends.

When booking a rental car, 56% of travelers will book two or more months in advance. According to the survey, they book in advance because they want the best price and like to feel relaxed leading up to their trip by booking early. Only 2% plan to wait to book their rental vehicle within 72 hours of their trip.

We were not surprised to hear that so many of our customers are frequent travelers to Europe, said Imad Khalidi, Auto Europes president and CEO. Our expertise in the European market helps ensure clients have a smooth rental experience, and we go to great lengths to ensure that we have the types of vehicles they are looking for even in peak travel months.
29 June 2016 14:36 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

A round-table entitled The Armenian terrorism and Azerbaijani multiculturalism supported by the Baku International Multiculturalism Center (BIMC), Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, the Knowledge Fund under the Azerbaijani President, the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations, the Science Development Fund under the President of Azerbaijan and the State Committee on Work with Diaspora of Azerbaijan was held in Baku on June 28.

The round-table was organized as a part of the Terror Against Multiculturalism project.

Along with the local experts, the event was attended also by the foreign scientists, investigators of the Armenian terrors.

BIMC head, Professor Kamal Abdullayev, opening the event, stated that the aim of the event is to show the world that the Armenian terror is directed against the humanity.

The state counselor noted that to capture the Azerbaijani lands, Armenian terrorist and separatist groups developed a multi-vector and complex doctrine entitled "Armenian terrorism ". He said that Armenian terrorism begins to act on a fertile ground, that lacks multicultural environment, ethnic and religious diversity.



In the early 20th century, Armenian nationalists invented myths about "Great Armenia" and "Armenian genocide", and carried out policy of genocide in the area from eastern Anatolia to Fergana against the innocent civilian population, regardless of language, religion, age and sex. Millions of people including Anatolian Turks, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Persians, and peoples living in Azerbaijan - Azerbaijanis, Lezgins, Tats, Jews, Kurds, Germans, Russian, Georgians and even Armenians themselves became victims of Armenian terrorism. On hearing this, I was surprised, but the fact remains. Based on it, we can say that the Armenian terrorism is the systematic activities against humanity as a whole, Kamal Abdullayev said.

He further went on to speak about traditions of multiculturalism in Azerbaijan, saying that multiculturalism, as a way of life of the Azerbaijani people, has come a long historical path and become one of the major policies of the state.

But this path of development has historically faced a "black bar" - terrorism. Armenian terrorism became the main bloody obstacle on the way of multiculturalism. Until 1965, Armenian terrorists have not talked about the reasons for Armenian terrorism perpetrated throughout the 20th century, then as its reason, they showed the fictional "Armenian genocide" and under this pretext, they continued their crimes, he said.

Armenians say allegedly some 1.5 million of their people were killed in a genocidal campaign by Ottoman forces ordered by Minister of War Enver Pasha and other top officials to wipe them from Anatolia.

Ankara, in turn categorically, denies the term "genocide", insisting that the Turks and the Armenians both suffered in the clashes, when Armenians joined forces with invading Russian troops in the hope of carving out their own state.

Director of the History Institute, Professor Yagub Mahmudov, addressing the event, highly appreciated the importance of the "Terror Against Multiculturalism" project, describing the round table as a successful step towards finding an answer to a number of issues.

Mahmudov reminded the participants that the Armenian nation was settled in the Caucasus by decision of the Russian Emperor Peter I for occupation purposes.

"Founded in 1918, the first Armenian state put forward territorial claims to Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Before Armenians settled in this region, peoples here had coexisted peacefully," the professor stressed.

Speaking at the event Michael Gunther, Professor of the Sociology and Political Sciences Department of the Tennessee Technology University (USA) also blamed Armenian terrorism.

Armenians accuse Turks and other Turkic-speaking peoples living in the region, in commitment of genocide. Most Armenians believe in this fiction because they do not know their own history, he voiced.

Russian political analyst Oleg Kuznetsov, in turn, called modern Armenia the product of terrorism.

Armenian terrorism has special specific features, and its hallmark is transnationality -- it is when statehood borders and the principles of humanity are not taken in the account, the political analyst noted.

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29 June 2016 11:21 (UTC+04:00)

By Richard N. Haass

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Washington, DC, in June garnered little public attention outside of India. Yet diplomats and military professionals in Asia and beyond were certainly watching closely. For good reason: the rapprochement between the worlds two most populous democracies could shape the worlds future.

It is worth noting that in his address to the US Congress, Modi invoked the word partner or partnership no fewer than 15 times. The official joint statement released by the two governments described India as a Major Defense Partner of the United States, eligible for advanced technologies with military applications.

The relationship between India and the US has evolved from one of cool distance to strategic proximity in a generation  lightning fast for geopolitics. The factors underlying this shift merit attention, for many of them are likely to bring the two countries even closer.

The Cold Wars end was a significant part of the bilateral rapprochement, because it eliminated the possibility of Indias continued association with the Soviet Union, as well as its rationale for embracing non-alignment.

A second factor is Pakistan. For a long time, the US pursued an even-handed policy toward South Asias two most strategically important countries. Nonetheless, during most of the Cold War, Pakistan was seen as a friendly country, whereas its great rival, India, was viewed as difficult. This view was reinforced when Pakistan became the essential conduit of weapons to Afghans fighting the Soviet occupation of their country.

But the bond between the US and Pakistan weakened when Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989. Relations suffered further from Pakistans development of nuclear weapons, its provision of sanctuary and support to the Taliban, and its willingness to extend hospitality to some of the worlds most dangerous terrorists, including Osama bin Laden. As a result, US ties to India were no longer constrained by fear of complications in Pakistan.

China is also animating the improvement in India-US ties. The motivation is far more fundamental than the fact that India and China still have an unresolved border. Chinas rise has created a strong incentive for countries with a stake in Asia to increase their cooperation with the US, as well as with one another, to ensure that they can stand up to Chinas political, military, and economic might.

Domestic politics also loom large in the relationships development  on both sides. The decline of Indias Congress party reduced the influence of the political force most associated with maintaining distance from the US. Meanwhile, there are now more than three million Indian-Americans, and, as with many other immigrant populations, they have become ever more prominent and powerful. Supporting closer ties with India has become a rare example of bipartisan US foreign policy, and it can be expected to continue regardless of which party controls the White House or Congress after this Novembers elections.

The breakthrough in bilateral ties came a decade ago, when the US lifted sanctions introduced in response to Indias nuclear weapons program and then signed an accord paving the way for US involvement in Indias civil nuclear energy program. India, unlike both Pakistan and North Korea, is seen as a responsible nuclear power, a country the US now supports for membership in various groups designed to stem the further spread of nuclear materials and weapons.

Economic ties are also growing, along with Indias economy. Bilateral trade has increased to more than $100 billion a year. High-level visits have become commonplace. Closer economic ties and large-scale collaboration on clean energy are a high priority. One can also predict increased cooperation between the two countries military and intelligence establishments.

Indeed, joint efforts to keep the Indian Ocean open and safe are already a reality. The US and India need not be formal allies for their relationship to have the desired effect on Chinese strategic calculations.

Challenges remain, of course. Bureaucracy, corruption, and poor infrastructure continue to hold back Indias economy. Indian leaders must also be careful not to do or say things that could alienate the countrys large Muslim minority. And they must still ensure that close ties with the US are not simply the policy of one prime minister or party. This means getting the Congress party fully on board and overcoming the resistance of career officials to new ways of thinking and acting.

It is difficult to overlook the irony in much of this. More than a half-century ago, in the early years of the Cold War, many in Washington saw India as a potential model of non-Communist political and economic development. For many reasons, things did not work out that way, as India became economically statist, for a time politically authoritarian, and geopolitically closer to the USSR than US officials liked.

Now, however, India is emerging as a successful example of a market-oriented democracy with close ties to the US. Second chances are rare in life, but both India and the US may be getting just that.

Copyright: Project Syndicate:

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29 June 2016 10:55 (UTC+04:00)

There are no Azerbaijani citizens among the victims and injured in the terrorist attack at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport according to the preliminary data.

Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for the Azerbaijani foreign ministry, told Trend on June 29.

Earlier Hajiyev stated that Azerbaijan's Consulate General in Istanbul is reviewing whether there are any Azerbaijani citizens are among those injured and killed in the terrorist attack committed in the Ataturk Airport.

Three suicide bombers launched a major attack at the Ataturk Airport last night, spraying bullets into crowds of terrified passengers and security personnel before blowing themselves up, injuring more than 147 people and killing at least 36.

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29 June 2016 10:52 (UTC+04:00)

The mobile group of Allied Joint Forces Command in Brunssum (Netherlands) is conducting training courses at the Military Academy of Azerbaijani Armed Forces on "Strategic Communications and Public Relations.

The courses are held in accordance with the Individual Partnership and Cooperation Program between Azerbaijani Defense Ministry and NATO for 2016 ", the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported.

During the courses, NATO's mobile group will present to the military personnel the lectures on the following topics: "NATO Military Structure", "NATO Military Partnership", "Public Affairs Operations", "Target Audiences of Strategic Communication", "Means and Results of PR" "Preparation of a plan for strategic communications and public relations".

Discussions and exchange of views will be held within the working groups.

The courses will last until July 1.

NATO and Azerbaijan are actively cooperating on democratic, institutional, and military reforms, as well as conducting practical cooperation in various areas.

Azerbaijan aspires to achieve Euro-Atlantic standards and get closer to Euro-Atlantic institutions. In this regard, supporting the security sector reform and establishing democratic institutions are the key elements of the NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation.

The Azerbaijan-NATO cooperation is carried out within the "Partnership for Peace" program. Earlier, NATO adopted a document of the fourth stage of the Individual Partnership Action Plan for 2015-2016.

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29 June 2016 10:42 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan strongly condemns the bloody terrorist attacks committed at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport June 28, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry reported on June 29.

"We express our deepest condolences to the families and relatives of the victims, the fraternal Turkish people, the message said. We wish speedy recovery to those injured in the terrorist attack."

"As a country suffering from terrorism, Azerbaijan firmly condemns all the forms of terrorism, and expresses solidarity with fraternal Turkey in the fight against terrorism, the message said.

A terrorist attack occurred at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport June 28 as a result of which 36 people were killed and 147 injured.

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29 June 2016 10:46 (UTC+04:00)

A new print edition of the AZERNEWS online newspaper was released on June 29

The new edition includes articles about: Two counties interested to start negotiations with Azerbaijan in WTO, Baku can switch to F1 night race in future, Shahdag enters Top 3 most popular resorts for trekking in CIS, date set for first int'l Dolma Festival etc.



AZERNEWS is an associate member of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

The online newspaper is available at www.azernews.az.
29 June 2016 11:28 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Baku and Budapest have expressed satisfaction with the level of development of bilateral political dialogue, as Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has met with Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister of Hungary Peter Szijjarto in Baku.



The Hungarian delegation led by Szijjarto visited Azerbaijan to join the sixth meeting of the joint Intergovernmental Economic Cooperation Commission held on June 28.

During the meeting, the ministers stressed the steady development of cooperation in the context of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Mammadyarov noted that the 6th meeting of the Joint Commission provides favorable conditions for the promotion of cooperation in economy, transport, energy, pharmacy, information and communication technologies, agriculture and others between the two countries.

The Azerbaijani minister commended the support of Hungary to the development of strategic partnership relations between Azerbaijan and European Union.

He briefed his counterpart about the large-scale transport and energy projects, as well as North-South, East-West transport corridors and TAP and TANAP energy projects implemented with the initiation and engagement of Azerbaijan.

Touching upon the negotiation process on the settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, Mammadyarov emphasized that all international community, including OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair at the level of heads of state admit the fact of unacceptability and unsustainability of the current status-quo.

Peter Szijjarto, in turn, informed that during the 6th meeting of the commission the sides discussed the practical cooperation projects in the spheres of mutual interest.



Furthermore, Szijjarto added that Hungarian companies are interested in cooperation with partners from Azerbaijan.

The sides also noted the successful cooperation and mutual support of Azerbaijan and Hungary within the international organizations. The Hungarian minister congratulated Azerbaijan on the occasion of being elected to the membership of ECOSOS for the term 2017-2019.

The ministers also exchanged their views on the issues of international agenda and ongoing processes within the EU.



On the same day the Hungarian minister was received by Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, who said that Azerbaijan and Hungary enjoy excellent mutually beneficial cooperation.

The Azerbaijani Premier hailed the fact that the Hungarian government has always stood by Azerbaijan in all international events and supported its just stance.

Pointing to broad prospects for cooperation between the two friendly countries, Rasizade noted that building cooperation in the non-oil sector and paying special attention to culture, tourism, trade, transport, agrarian sector, pharmaceutics would be beneficial for the Azerbaijani-Hungarian Intergovernmental Commission.

On behalf of the delegation which included Hungarian businessmen, Szijjarto praised rapid development of modern Azerbaijan.

He highlighted work done since the last meeting of the intergovernmental commission and planned joint projects aimed at expanding the bilateral cooperation.

The sides hailed the importance of further strengthening regional and international relations, maintaining peace and stability in the region, as well as settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the framework of international legal norms based on the principles of territorial integrity and inviolability of borders of Azerbaijan.

Members of Hungarian government, business structures and companies operating in industry, agriculture, consulting and banking service got together in Baku on June 28.

During the meeting the two sides inked a Memorandum on Understanding. In accordance with the document, goods manufactured in Azerbaijan, but not having certificates of origin issued by the relevant authorities of the country, will not be admitted by Hungary.

Hungary, in turn, will inform its legal entities and individuals, so that they refrain from investing or providing any service in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

The memorandum also provides for the expansion of cooperation in several spheres including trade, investment, industry, energy, transport, ICT, health, education, culture, tourism, agriculture, the environment, youth, sport and science.

The sides also signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park and the Association of Industrial, Scientific and Technological Innovation and Hungary parks.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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29 June 2016 11:01 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev expressed condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on June 29 over the terrorist attack at the Ataturk airport.

The message reads:

Dear Mr. President,

Dear brother,

We were deeply saddened by the news of a ruthless terrorist attack that killed and injured scores at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul.

We are extremely outraged by this horrible tragedy and consider it important and necessary to mobilize forces and carry out a joint and resolute struggle against terrorism which has grown into a global evil.

On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my deep condolences to you, the bereaved families, the loved ones of those who died and the brotherly people of Turkey, and wish the injured the swiftest possible recovery.

May Allah rest the souls of the dead in peace!



Three suicide bombers launched a major attack at the Ataturk Airport last night, spraying bullets into crowds of terrified passengers and security personnel before blowing themselves up, injuring more than 147 people and killing at least 36.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that initial indications suggest the Daesh terror group was behind the attack but the investigation is still underway, Daily Sabah reported.

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29 June 2016 11:06 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan has stepped up security measures following a deadly terrorist attack that hit Istanbuls Ataturk Airport. Security measures have been tightened in airports, railway and bus stations of the country.

AZAL press service head Pasha Kesamanski, talking to Trend, said that the security measures at Bakus Heydar Aliyev International Airport, as well as at Azerbaijans regional airports have been enhanced in accordance with internal procedures.

Enhanced screening at the entrance to the airports terminals, inspection of facilities and planes have been organized, said Kesamanski.

Azerbaijan Railways has also switched to enhanced mode of security following the recent developments in Turkey, said Nadir Azmammadov, the companys spokesman.

The company has made a decision on strengthening of patrolling and inspection procedures at the territories of railway stations and platforms, as well as trains and railroad bridges of the country.

The changes are made to ensure security and comfort of the citizens.

Three suicide bombers launched a major attack at the Ataturk Airport last night, spraying bullets into crowds of terrified passengers and security personnel before blowing themselves up, injuring more than 147 people and killing at least 36.

The Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group stands behind the attack, according to preliminary information.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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29 June 2016 15:22 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev has made a phone call to Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on June 29.

Azerbaijans president has offered deepest condolences to Turkeys president, the family members of those killed and Turkish people over the heavy losses as a result of the heinous terrorist attack at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport.

President Aliyev strongly condemned the dirty deeds of terrorists and pointed out that as always, Azerbaijan stands by Turkey in these hard times.

Turkeys president, for his part, expressed gratitude for the attention and condolences.

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29 June 2016 16:36 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Romanian envoy to Baku, Daniel Cristian Ciobanu delivered a speech at the summer session of NATO International School of Azerbaijan within the panel NATO partnerships and indivisibility of security in the Euro-Atlantic area as a common response to regional security challenges on June 29.

The other panelists were Dr. Bartek Nowak from Transatlantic Academy and Dr. Tracey German from Kings College in London.

Ciobanu underlined that Romania is fulfilling for the fourth time in a row the mandate of NATO Contact Point Embassy in Azerbaijan.

This is the only current case of such a long involvement of a country as a Contact Point Embassy. In this capacity Romanian Embassy managed to build excellent and productive ties with Azerbaijani authorities and non-governmental organizations, contributing to raising public awareness about the Alliance and strengthening NATO-Azerbaijan political dialogue and cooperation, he said.

The ambassador further said that at the Warsaw Summit (8-9 July 2016), NATO will deliver important decisions to boost security in and around Europe. He stressed that to safeguard the security at home, North Atlantic Alliance must also project stability beyond its borders.

NATO is facing a very complex and fluid security environment with many challenges. North Atlantic Alliance is responding with strength, resolve and readiness. Modern challenges require a modern Alliance, he added.

Ciobanu also highlighted that relations between NATO and Azerbaijan are developing strongly and they have a strategic value, noting that NATO-Azerbaijan partnership is based on active political dialogue and substantial practical cooperation.

Azerbaijan has a pivotal role to play in increasing European energy security and has, in the same time, huge opportunities in the field of freight transport, he said. Its important that NATO and its partners maintain strategic awareness regarding the new risks that could affect the security of energy infrastructure and vital energy supplies.

Ciobanu emphasized that as a NATO and EU member, Romania is determined to further promote and actively support Azerbaijans efforts to enhance its relations with the European and Euro-Atlantic institutions.

NATO and Azerbaijan are actively cooperating on democratic, institutional, and military reforms, as well as conducting practical cooperation in various areas.

Azerbaijan aspires to achieve Euro-Atlantic standards and get closer to Euro-Atlantic institutions. In this regard, supporting the security sector reform and establishing democratic institutions are the key elements of the NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation.

The Azerbaijan-NATO cooperation is carried out within the "Partnership for Peace" program. Earlier, NATO adopted a document of the fourth stage of the Individual Partnership Action Plan for 2015-2016.

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29 June 2016 13:22 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

Azerbaijan and Iran will begin swapping electricity in the near future.

Irans Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian, addressing a meeting with a group of senior directors of the Ministry on June 28, said that necessary grounds have been prepared for electricity swap with Azerbaijan and the project should be operational this summer, IRNA reported.

He said that the power grids for exchange of energy with Azerbaijan are completed and Iran will swap as much as 600 megawatts of power with Azerbaijan.

Irans power infrastructure (a power transmission line and pole) for electricity export to Azerbaijan is completed, according to the minister.

Current volume of electricity trade between Tehran and Baku, which stands at 10 MW, will increase as power grids of the two countries have already been synchronized.

Electricity trade between the two neighbors will enable power exports to a third country like Russia and Georgia as well.

Experts believe that Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia will benefit from linking the electricity networks. Additionally, Azerbaijan will get dividends for transmission of electricity as a transit country by carrying out electricity export-import operations between Russia and Iran.

Earlier this year, Azerbaijani Minister of Energy Natig Aliyev said that Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia are working on the establishment of the North-South energy corridor among the three countries.

Enjoying the relevant infrastructure for electricity transmission, Azerbaijan's electricity production capacities also allow the country to be an electricity exporter.

Earlier in February 2016, a framework agreement on the sale of electric power was concluded between the two neighbors, which envisaged the construction and operation of new hydro plants (Khoda Afarin and Qiz Qalasi) and hydroelectric complexes on the Araz River.

Moreover, Azerbaijan signed a MoU on electricity swap with Iran at the end of the last year to link the two countries' power networks and swap of electricity.

Azerbaijan has a very little share in Iran's annual 10.24-billion kWh electricity energy export, according to the annual report of Iran's Energy Ministry.

The country's share from Iran's 4.1 billion KWh electricity energy import stood at 0.1 percent in last Iranian fiscal year (ended March 20).

Overall, the Islamic Republic exports over 11 GWh of electricity to regional countries per year.

Iran also eyes synchronizing its electricity grid with those of European countries

Iran plans to increase its capacity for generating electricity to 100,000 MW by 2020 from the current 74,000 MW.

---

Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva

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29 June 2016 15:40 (UTC+04:00)

The Azerbaijani and Hungarian sides have discussed ways of developing agricultural cooperation as Agriculture Minister Heydar Asadov met with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto in Baku, Azertac reported.

Minister Asadov hailed economic relations between the two countries, further highlighting his May visit to Hungary in developing the bilateral relations in agricultural sphere.

Speaking at the event, Szijjarto praised dynamic development of economic relations between the two countries. He expressed confidence that agreements signed between the President of Azerbaijan and the Hungarian Prime Minister would contribute to the expansion of agricultural cooperation.

He highlighted the creation of a joint seed fund, Hungary`s technical assistance to sheep breeding, expansion of cooperation between agricultural research and educational institutions, import of cattle from Hungary to Azerbaijan.

Szijjarto also stressed the importance of cooperation in the sphere of food safety.

He invited the rector of Azerbaijan State Agricultural University to Hungary with the aim of developing relations in the fields of science and education.

The Hungarian delegation led by Szijjarto visited Azerbaijan to join the sixth meeting of the joint Intergovernmental Economic Cooperation Commission held on June 28.



As part of the two-day visit, the delegation held meetings with Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Prime Minister Artur Rasizade and Executive Director of the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) Shahmar Movsumov.

Enjoying advantageous geographic location, Azerbaijan has every opportunity to increase export of high quality agro products, which are in great demand in neighboring countries.

The agricultural sector is important in Azerbaijan not only to increase export potential, but also to restore and protect the countrys food security.

Moreover, Azerbaijan seeks to achieve an economy driven by the non-oil sector, but not petrodollars. That means putting more effort to develop local production and more support to agriculture, one of Azerbaijans best non-oil sector development options.

The country achieved 6.6-percent growth in the volume of agricultural production in 2015.

---

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29 June 2016 16:09 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

The next round of talks on Azerbaijans accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) scheduled for July 21-22 in Geneva is of great interest for WTO member countries.

Director of the Accessions Division at WTO, Chiedu Osakwe announced about this while talking to Trend, further adding that Azerbaijan is an important country in the region with the largest economy, which is extremely attractive for WTO members.

Osakwe noted that during the negotiations the sides will discuss changes occurred in the economy, as well as reforms in the agriculture sphere.

"WTO member-states plan to hold meetings with Azerbaijan, where the country will respond to the questions given at the last meeting in 2015, Osakwe emphasized. The participants will be interested in how the government supports the economy amid the low oil prices, whether Baku has strategic plan for economic development in this situation.

Commenting on the possible terms of Azerbaijan's accession to the WTO, Osakwe said that the process is entirely different, and much depends on the government.

It is difficult to say how long Azerbaijan's joining the WTO will take. Negotiations started in 2004. For example, negotiations on the membership of Kazakhstan to the WTO took 19 years, China became a member in 15 years, while Russia in 18 years, he explained.

So far three countries including Russia, Saudi Arabia and Norway have offered to the Azerbaijani government to start bilateral negotiations in the framework of the countrys accession to WTO.

Since regaining its independence, Azerbaijan has constantly been pursuing opportunities to expand its foreign trade. Some was argue that an effort to help may be if Baku becomes a member of the WTO. Azerbaijan began the accession process in 1997 but submitted the required memorandum on its foreign trade regime in 1999.

Experts say joining the WTO, Azerbaijan can increase its integration into the world economy, achieve more liberalization in foreign trade, and simplify customs supervision procedures, among other things. Moreover, the accession will also give Azerbaijan greater access to international financial institutions, something that should by means of careful negotiation boost the countrys economic well-being.

Currently, the country is in the process of holding negotiations with 19 countries.

Azerbaijan has accomplished negotiations and signed protocols with Turkey, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that initial indications suggest the Daesh terror group was behind the attack but the investigation is still underway, Daily Sabah reported.

A health official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to restrictions, said to the media that six injured were in a critical condition.

The blasts occurred at the entrance of international flights terminal, domestic flights terminal, and the parking lot.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said that one of the terrorists opened fire on people with an AK-47 automatic rifle and then blew himself up.

PM Yldrm said the air traffic has returned to normal after the attack.

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29 June 2016 12:26 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Uzbekistan has launched construction of the textile training and research techno park in the territory of Tashkent textile institute.

The total worth of the project amounts to $15 million.

The project is implemented by Ozbekyengilsanoat JSC jointly with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea.

The completion of the techno park construction is scheduled for 2018.

Main objective of the techno park construction is introduction of the brand-new South Korean innovations and conduction of joint research works in the sphere of material science, dyeing and finishing production, fabric design as well as development of alternative energy sources.

The project is aimed at development and implementation of international training and research programs as well as exchange of experience to develop textile industry.

Group of buildings with the territory of more than 10,000 square meters is expected to be constructed within the framework of the project. The complex will include experimental-scientific laboratory with the textile machinery, finishing and sewing equipment.

Primary contractor of the project is South-Korean IL Kwan E&C Company. Financing of the project will be provided by the grant funds of the official development assistance program of the Korean government.

The establishment of the techno park is expected to raise the Uzbek light industry to a qualitatively new level of development and improve the training system for the sector.

Textile industry of Uzbekistan is considered to be one of the most dynamic and socially important sectors and ranks high among export-oriented industries of the countrys economy.

The Uzbek textile industry is mainly focused on cotton, silk and wool. Traditional crafts like carpet weaving and silk dying are also playing an important role in the growth of Uzbek economy. Cotton crop is considered to be the main agricultural product of Uzbekistan which contributes to a major portion of the countrys total exports.

--

Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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29 June 2016 14:57 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

As Turkeys relations with its biggest gas supplier  Russia worsened, many thought that the country needs to reduce dependence on Russia and diversify away from Russian gas.

It is the right time for Turkey to diversify gas import sources, Agata Loskot-Strachota, a senior fellow on energy policy at the Polish Center for Eastern Studies (OSW) told Trend on June 28.

She noted that now, it is quite good time to look for new suppliers, as the international price of gas is low, there are abundant gas supplies in the market and more LNG is coming, which boosts gas competition.

In order to benefit from the existing situation in the global market, Turkey needs to act quickly and effectively in developing new infrastructure  LNG terminals, pipelines and storage facilities, added the expert.

Nevertheless, Agata Loskot-Strachota thinks that Turkey will unlikely succeed in the realization of the most important factor  expansion of gas storage capacity  in order to improve security of supplies.

Additionally, Turkeys capability to import LNG is also limited, said senior fellow, emphasizing that it hinders the country to take advantage from emerging new LNG volumes from the U.S., Australia and Qatar in the market.

There are several options for Turkey to diversify gas supply routes and decrease reliance on Russian gas in the future.

Loskot-Strachota went on saying that Turkey needs to solve a number of questions in order to realize gas imports from other sources.

The expert believes that the normalized relations between Turkey and Israel will enable gas export from Israel to Turkey. However, it is unclear how it will happen and under which circumstances.

Plus, Turkey will receive additional volumes from Azerbaijan via Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP)  Turkish leg of the Southern Gas Corridor that envisages transporting gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe.

In this case, Loskot-Strachota expects Turkey to compete with European consumers.

She further added that there is also a slim possibility of purchasing natural gas from Turkmenistan. However, the issue on constructing the optimal route to deliver Turkmen gas to Turkish market has to be solved  either via the Caspian Sea or Iran.

As Irans relations got better with the West, it increases Turkeys chance to export more volumes of gas from Iran in the long run. Nevertheless, it requires to resolve the complicated relations of two neighboring countries and to make huge investments in Irans gas sector, said Loskot-Strachota.

She also believes that more effective diversification of gas suppliers in Turkey could contribute to reforming and liberalizing Turkish gas market, which in turn, will lead to a genuine competition between already existing and potential gas suppliers in this market.

On the other hand, there are signals demonstrating Turkeys interest in resuming cooperation with Russia and reviving Turkish Stream project, which cast doubts whether Turkey wants to reduce its dependence on Russian gas or bets on the increase of gas interdependence, said Loskot-Strachota.

BPs estimates show that Turkey imported 43.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2015.

Some 5.3 billion cubic meters out of this volume was purchased from Azerbaijan (via the South Caucasus Pipeline or Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum) 26.6 billion from Russia (via Blue Stream and Trans-Balkan pipeline) and 7.8 billion from Iran.

Additionally, Turkey imported 7.5 billion cubic meters of LNG last year. Most part of this volume (3.8 billion cubic meters) was bought from Algeria. The remaining part was imported from Qatar (1.7 billion cubic meters) and Nigeria (1.5 billion cubic meters).

---

Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva

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29 June 2016 17:24 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

The recent terror attacks on Turkey's Ataturk airport had a shock effect making many to believe that there is not a fortuity that the bloody attacks coincided with the normalization of the country's relations with Russia and Israel.

Although ISIS claims responsibility for the event, according to the preliminary information, some say not only Daesh is involved.

Some analysts assure that definite external forces are interested in disbanding Turkey.

The terror attack is said to have a certain message, while the worlds major intelligence services and financial or political institutions may stand behind the attack as well, they believe.

Terrorist attacks have become frequent in both eastern and western parts of the country, which is host to over 3 million refugees, mainly from war-torn Syria. They prove that there are social, political and economic reasons causing this.

On the other hand, planning a terrorist attack takes months, sometimes years. Thus, there are also supporters of the idea that the happened incident is only a coincident.

Arzu Nagiyev, expert on security and geopolitical issues told milli.az that ISIS is not the only one to be blamed for the incident. He believes the way the terrorist attack was planned  firing guns and explosion  is not the style of religious radical groups who prefer suicide bombing. Thus, there can be a hand of other states special service agencies or terrorist groups in what happened, he added.

Even some among the representative of the political parties in the Turkish parliament bolster the terrorist groups, the expert underlined.

Then, a question arises why ISIS claimed the responsibility for the attack, if it did not commit it.

Nagiyev went on saying that ISIS is weak now, and it is just a way to prove it still exists. Additionally, it is also beneficial for special service agencies that someone is taking on the responsibility.

Some even claim that the recent terrorist attack is devoted to the second anniversary of the ISIS declaring Islamic State Caliphate.

Also, Turkeys improving relations with ISIS foes - Russia and Israel bothers the terrorist group as joint combat may be implemented against it.

As a result of the terrorist attack occurred at Turkeys Ataturk Airport on June 28, lives of 36 people were claimed and 147 were wounded.

As a country encountering terrorist attacks on the regular basis, Turkey needs to apply better preventive measures and enhance its security system.

---

Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva

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29 June 2016 17:36 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

Russia began taking measures for the normalization of relations with Turkey after receiving Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans letter on the SU-24 incident.

In a telephone call to his Turkish counterpart Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed lifting the restrictions on Russian tourists visiting Turkey, according to the press service of Kremlin, reported Ria Novosti.

The Russian president noted that he will instruct governmental authorities to enter into negotiations with the relevant Turkish agencies in order to restore mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation in trade, economic and other spheres.

In this regards, it is desirable that the Turkish government will take extra steps to ensure the security of Russian citizens in Turkey.

President Putin also underlined that Turkish leaders letter created prerequisites to turn over a crises page in the bilateral relations and begin the process of resuming collaboration on international and regional issues, as well as, developing entire range of Russian-Turkish relations.

Relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber on November 24, 2015. Turkey said the bomber entered its airspace, while Russia denied its warplane flying into the Turkish skies.

Following the incident, Moscow imposed a wide-range of sanctions against Turkey starting in January, including the end of visa-free travel and a ban on Turkish food products. Moreover, Russia called on its citizens to boycott Turkey as a tourist destination. Economic relations between the two countries saw decline as well.

Recently, Turkish President Erdogan sent a letter to his Russian counterpart, where he expressed regret over the incident with Russian SU-24 jet and condolences to the family of the deceased pilot.

In addition, Turkey agreed to pay compensation according to the countrys officials.

Commenting on the improving relations with Russia, Turkeys Prime Minister Binali Yildrim thanked Azerbaijan for its assistance in normalizing the countrys relations with Russian Federation.

Azerbaijan is also going to benefit from the ice-melting in Russian-Turkish ties as the country does not need any more to prefer one ally over another.

The recent developments between Turkey and Russia are also anticipated to positively affect the process of resolving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

---

Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva

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29 June 2016 10:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan is a miraculous country with its rich natural resources, and ancient culture, history and people, whose lifestyle presents a unique and harmonious combination of the traditions and ceremonies of many different cultures and civilizations.

But for many, the greatest resource of Azerbaijan is its welcoming people, who are proud of their culture, and willing to share it with others.

The country with rich ancient history has thousands of places to visit  starting from the capital to the unique villages lost in the clouds. Visitors are attracted by the shores of Absheron. Water of the Caspian Sea, the largest lake in the world, is not that salty as seawater; it is both: pleasant to swim and healing for the skin.

Tourism has already turn to the priority of Azerbaijans economy, which makes any efforts to improve this field.



Secretary General of the Azerbaijan Tourism Association Muzaffar Agakarimov said that for the past several years inbound tourism is gaining momentum in the country. If in the late 20th century and early 21st century, outbound tourism was higher, then now tourist companies reported more inbound and domestic tourism.



Agakarimov believes that the increase of the tourist flow become noticeable after development of infrastructure, creating new forms of tourism. The secretary general noted that more tourists are coming from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan. Its because they are closer to Azerbaijan from a geographical point of view. In addition these countries have free visa regime, he said.

The expert also explained the reason why Russian tourists prefer Azerbaijan as their holiday destination.



The majority of Russian tourists prefer to visit the countrys Gabala and Sheki regions. They also have big interest in winter tourism. And we have mountain tourism such as Tufandag and Shahdag. In summer Russians like beach tourism. Earlier, they prefer Middle East, Egypts Sharm el-Sheikh and Turkeys Antalya, but after the recent processes in the region, closed Russian tourists ways to these countries. Thats why they are looking for another warm places. And Azerbaijan is ideal place for this, Agakarikov explained.

Moreover, more Arab tourists have become to interest in the Land of Fire.



The Culture and Tourism Ministry reported that the number of Arabs increased by 30 times, from 99 people last May to 3,000 people this May.

The ministry notes that this growth is associated with promotion of Azerbaijan in Dubai and opening of tourism office in this country. In addition, facilitation of visa regime with this country earlier last November also stimulate the increase.

Vugar Shikhmammadov, Head of Information and Public Relations Department of the Culture and Tourism Ministry, said that the Parliament is discussing new draft law On Tourism.

He said in the upcoming autumn session of the Parliament, the draft law will be widely discussed. Moreover, Tourism Development Plan for the next 10 years has been submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers, aiming to improve the sector.

Now, visiting Azerbaijan has become even easier since the recent presidential order on facilitation of issuance of electronic visas and the establishment of ASAN Viza system aimed to make life easier for many foreigners.

Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfaz Garayev said that the launch of the ASAN Visa system in the near future will develop tourism in Azerbaijan, as foreign citizens will be able to get visas in three days at the latest.



He noted that the tourism industry is one of the priority areas of Azerbaijans economy and great progress has been made in this sphere in recent years.

Garayev pointed out that currently, citizens of a number of countries can get visas right at the airport. Moreover, the citizens of other countries can visit Azerbaijan by getting online tourist visas, he added.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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29 June 2016 15:47 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Turkey, which has turned into a must-see destination for every Azerbaijani tourist, still remains indispensable in the sphere of outbound tourism of Azerbaijan.

Chairman of Azerbaijan Tourism Association (AzTA), Nahid Bagirov said that regardless the terror attacks that hit the brotherhood country, Turkey remains one of the priority destinations for Azerbaijani tourists.

Majority of our tourists chose Turkey as a main destination. Coastal areas including Antalya, Bodrum, Kusadasi are among the most popular destinations. he told Trend.

But some tourists planning their vacations choose other countries due to threat of terrorism and recent developments that occurred in Turkey and other European countries, he said.

Terror attacks occur in most of the countries. Today, we may not say that any country is totally secured against the threat of terrorism. The process has also influenced the tourism sphere of the most European countries, he said.

Touching upon the issue of decrease in outbound tourism Bagirov mentioned that the reduction is also observed in the number of tourists travelling to other countries.

Azerbaijani tourists often travel to Turkey for vacation in July and August. Turkey which provides high-quality and inexpensive vacation for many international tourists has long ago become one of the most favorite destinations for many Azerbaijanis. Recent developments in Turkey have shaken the countrys tourism sector in some ways.

Other popular destinations of Azerbaijanis include Georgia and European countries.

--

Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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New to the market, the Crone is an ice cream cone made using Camden-based Dum Dum Doughnuts baked croissant doughnut dough.

Sold with a choice of artisan ice cream, homemade sauces and a selection of unique toppings, the Crone comes from the worlds first artisan baked doughnut brand, Dum Dum Doughnuts.

With successful London outlets in Brick Lane, Box Park and Harrods, the Crone will launch this week exclusively at the capitals Camden Market.

Paul Hurley, Dum Dum Doughnuts chief executive and founder, said: As Camden Markets vision is to encourage and promote young British brands of the future, it made it the obvious place to launch The Crone.

The Crone is the latest in a series of innovations from the brand, including the Dubai Doughnut  a baked croissant dough filled with Karak Chai Tea, coated in rosewater glaze and dusted in cinnamon and ground pistachio.

The first 50 customers in line at Camden Market, at 11.30am on 30 June will get a free Crone.
A large law enforcement presence will be in downtown Tampa today as part of homeland security training.

National Homeland Security Association conference in Tampa



Mock rescue missions taking place in downtown Tampa Wednesday



Hillsborough River closed between 11 am and 2 pm for training

The National Homeland Security Association is hosting its annual conference the next few days in downtown Tampa and local law enforcement is getting in on the training.



Tampa police, Hillsborough County deputies, Tampa Fire Rescue personnel and deputies with Hernando and Citrus counties will take part in mock rescue missions during the training.



Crews will perform missions on the river, using a helicopter as part of hostage rescue training on a cruise ship near the convention center. Onlookers likely will see officers rappelling from helicopters, armed training and will likely hear faux gunfire.



Tampa police have been practicing exercises already this week. On Wednesday, the Hillsborough River will be shut down to boat traffic between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.



Homeland Security officials say the training provides a direct bridge to connect and share best practices to keep America safe.



Officials said these practices take on added importance in the wake of recent attacks in Orlando and Istanbul.


Democrat Hillary Clinton has a small lead over Republican Donald Trump in Florida, an exclusive statewide News 13/Bay News 9 poll shows.

In a survey of 1,678 likely voters, our Florida Decides poll found Clinton had 46 percent to Trump's 42 percent, if the election were held today.

Libertarian Gary Johnson took 2 percent of the vote and Green Party candidate Jill Stein took 1 percent.

Four percent chose other and 5 percent are undecided.

The results closely match other recent Florida polls taken in the last few days. Clinton is holding Trump to a narrow lead in key battleground states and Florida and its 29 electoral votes is no exception.

Clinton and Trump largely split the demographics of voters, with notable exceptions. Trump and Clinton have some what equal percentages of male and female voters, with Trump taking 46 percent of male voters and Clinton taking 48 percent of female voters.

The two presidential candidates also split the results when you break the voters down by age, with one notable exception: 51 percent of voters age 18-34 support Clinton, while only 28 percent support Trump.

Clinton also takes 76 percent of the black vote and 61 percent of the non-Cuban Hispanic vote. Trump takes 45 percent of the Cuban vote compared to Clinton's 34 percent. Eleven percent of Cuban voters are undecided. Trump also has a small lead over white voters, 47 percent to 41 percent.



Clinton is finding her foothold in the more progressive southeastern part of the state: Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton.

Trump is leading in Northwest, Northeast and Central Florida. Trump has a slight edge in Tampa with 45 percent of the vote, while Clinton leads in Orlando with the same slight edge of 45 percent.

Florida voters named the economy the top issue facing the presidential candidates, followed by National Security and Immigration.

The margin of error for the poll is +/- 2.4 percent.



Join us for more exclusive poll results Wednesday afternoon starting at p a.m., to find out whether Florida voters would legalize medical marijuana if the election were held today.

Detailed poll results

Q: If the November election for president were today, and you were filling out your ballot right now, would you vote for Republican Donald Trump, Democrat Hillary Clinton, Libertarian Gary Johnson, Green Party candidate Jill Stein or another candidate?



All Gender

Age

Male

Female

18-34

35-49

50-64

65+

Donald Trump (R)

42%

46%

37%

28%

39%

44%

48%

Hillary Clinton (D)

46%

43%

48%

51%

45%

44%

45%

Gary Johnson (L) 2% 2% 2% 2% 3% 2% 1% Jill Stein (G) 1% 1% 1% 4% 1% 1% 0% Other 4% 3% 5% 8% 3% 4% 3% Undecided 5%

4%

7%

8%

8%

5%

3%

Composition of likely/actual

November voters

100%

48%

52%

15%

25%

30%

30%



Race

White

Black

Asian/

Other

Cuban Non-

Cuban Hispanic Composition of likely/actual

November voters

80%

13%

7%

5% 6% Donald Trump (R)

47%

10%

36%

45% 26% Hillary Clinton (D)

41%

76%

46%

34% 61% Gary Johnson (L) 2% 1% 4% 5% 3% Jill Stein (G) 2% 0% 2% 2% 0% Other 4% 4% 9% 3% 9% Undecided 5%

8%

4%

11% 1%

Party Affiliation

Strong

Rep. Republican Ind. lean

Rep. Independent Ind. lean

Dem.

Democrat

Strong

Dem.

Composition of likely/actual

November voters 18% 15% 12% 9% 11% 19% 17% Donald Trump (R)

89%

77%

71%

35%

12%

9%

1%

Hillary Clinton (D)

5%

9%

15%

34%

63%

81%

95%

Gary Johnson (L) 1% 2% 5% 7% 1% 2% 1% Jill Stein (G) 1% 1% 1% 2% 5% 0% 1% Other 1% 5% 3% 12% 8% 4% 2% Undecided

3%

6%

6%

9%

11%

5%

0%



Ideology Tea Party Very Conserv. Conserv. Moderate Liberal Very Lib. Yes No Composition of likely/actual

November voters 16% 23% 31% 16% 9% 11% 80% Donald Trump (R)

72%

74%

31%

10%

4%

75%

35%

Hillary Clinton (D)

20%

19%

54%

79%

79%

19%

51%

Gary Johnson (L) 1% 1% 3% 3% 2% 0% 2% Jill Stein (G) 1% 0% 1% 3% 5% 2% 1% Other 3% 2% 4% 4% 7% 2% 4% Undecided 3%

3%

8%

2%

3%

2%

5%



Abortion Gun owner

Pro-life

Pro-choice

Yes No

Composition of likely/actual

November voters 38% 57% 40% 54% Donald Trump (R)

65%

26%

56%

27%

Hillary Clinton (D)

25%

60%

34%

58%

Gary Johnson (L) 1% 3% 2% 2% Jill Stein (G) 1% 2% 1% 2% Other 4% 4% 3% 5% Undecided 4%

6%

4%

6%



Education Income High School Some College 4-yr College < $40K $40K - $80K > $80K Composition of likely/actual

November voters 16% 33% 51% 27% 38% 35% Donald Trump (R)

48%

45%

36%

40%

39%

44%

Hillary Clinton (D)

40%

43%

50%

46%

48%

44%

Gary Johnson (L) 1% 2% 3% 1% 2% 3% Jill Stein (G) 1% 1% 1% 1% 2% 0% Other 4% 5% 4% 6% 4% 3% Undecided 6%

4%

6%

5%

5%

6%



Surveyed: 1,678 likely November voters

Margin of sampling error:  2.4%



Q: What's the biggest issue facing the 2016 candidates for president? The economy? Immigration? Education? National security? Health care? Climate change? Or something else?



All Gender

Age

Male

Female

18-34

35-49

50-64

65+

Economy

38%

40%

36%

39%

40%

38%

37%

Immigration

18%

18%

17%

17%

14%

14%

25%

Education 4% 4% 4% 9% 5% 2% 3% National Security

25% 23% 26% 22% 29% 28% 19% Health Care 6% 5% 8% 6% 4% 8% 6% Climate Change 3% 4% 3% 5% 2% 3% 4% Other 4% 4% 3% 1% 5% 4% 3% Not Sure

2%

2%

3%

1%

1%

3%

2%

Composition of likely/actual

November voters

100%

48%

52%

15%

25%

30%

30%



Race

White

Black

Asian/

Other

Cuban Non-

Cuban Hispanic Composition of likely/actual

November voters

80%

13%

7%

5% 6% Economy

37%

51%

27%

32% 36% Immigration

19%

10%

26%

17% 26% Education 4% 6% 2% 12% 6% National Security

25% 17% 31% 27% 25% Health Care

6%

6%

9%

8%

7%

Climate Change

4%

2%

2%

2%

0%

Other 3% 6% 4% 2% 1% Not Sure

2%

3%

1%

0% 0%

Party Affiliation

Strong

Rep. Republican Ind. lean

Rep. Independent Ind. lean

Dem.

Democrat

Strong

Dem.

Composition of likely/actual

November voters 18% 35% 12% 9% 11% 19% 17% Economy

35%

24%

33%

44%

39%

43%

38%

Immigration

29%

2%

26%

16%

9%

11%

11%

Education 3% 30% 2% 4% 10% 5% 4% National Security

27% 3% 30% 19% 18% 25% 20% Health Care

3%

1%

3%

7%

5%

7%

13%

Climate Change

0%

3%

1%

4%

5%

4%

8%

Other 2% 3% 3% 5% 11% 2% 3% Not Sure

1%

3%

3%

1%

2%

4%

2%



Ideology Tea Party Very Conserv. Conserv. Moderate Liberal Very Lib. Yes No Composition of likely/actual

November voters 16% 23% 31% 16% 9% 11% 80% Economy

39%

39%

40%

40%

31%

37%

39%

Immigration

28%

24%

15%

11%

9%

27%

16%

Education 3% 3% 3% 5% 9% 5% 4% National Security 24% 26% 28% 20% 22% 26% 24% Health Care 3% 3% 7% 10% 13% 3% 7% Climate Change 1% 0% 2% 10% 9% 2% 4% Other 1% 2% 4% 2% 5% 1% 4% Not Sure

1%

3%

1%

2%

3%

0%

2%



Abortion Gun owner

Pro-life

Pro-choice

Yes No

Composition of likely/actual

November voters 38% 57% 40% 54% Economy

40%

38%

36%

40%

Immigration

23%

14%

19%

15%

Education

3% 5% 4% 4% National Security

26% 23% 29% 22% Health Care 3% 8% 5% 8% Climate Change 1% 5% 3% 4% Other 2% 5% 3% 4% Not Sure

1%

2%

1%

3%



Education Income High School Some College 4-yr College < $40K $40K - $80K > $80K Composition of likely/actual

November voters 16% 33% 51% 27% 38% 35% Economy

37%

38%

38%

38%

38%

38%

Immigration

22%

21%

15%

20%

16%

18%

Education 2% 4% 5% 3% 6% 3% National Security

25% 25% 25% 23% 24% 27% Health Care 7% 7% 6% 8% 6% 5% Climate Change 2% 2% 5% 2% 5% 3% Other 2% 3% 5% 3% 3% 5% Not Sure

4%

2%

2%

3%

2%

1%



Surveyed: 1,678 likely November voters

Margin of sampling error:  2.4%



This Florida Decides Exclusive Statewide Poll was conducted by SurveyUSA from June 25-27. Research began as soon as names on the primary ballots were finalized June 24. Most interviews were completed after the results of the British vote to leave the European Union were announced. Of the 2,000 adults interviewed, 1,873 were registered to vote. Of the registered voters, 555 were determined by SurveyUSA to be eligible and likely to vote in the Aug. 30, Democratic primary, and 618 were determined by SurveyUSA to be eligible and likely to vote in the Aug. 30, Republican primary. Only voters eligible and likely to vote in each primary were asked the Senate primary horse-race questions. This research was conducted using blended sample, mixed mode. Respondents reachable on their home telephone (66 percent of likely November voters) were interviewed on their home telephone in the recorded voice of a professional announcer. Respondents not reachable on a home telephone (34 percent of likely voters) were shown a questionnaire on their smartphone, tablet or other electronic device.
Eric Williams ericwphoto.com

You know those moments when youre alone with some food product and find yourself thinking, I really hope no one walks in right now. Like when youre pregnant and pouring honey on a tamale, or eating that piece of chocolate cake you dropped icing-side-down on the floor, or sitting there with a spoon and a big tub of hummus with sumac powder and olive oil smeared all over your chin?

If you have any scruples about the first scenario, I suggest using contraceptives. If you have scruples about the last scenario, I suggest you avoid San Pedro Mart, the grocery/Middle Eastern bakery and cafe with possibly the best hummus youve ever eaten. Ever.

Mohammad Abdeljalil, the Palestinian owner of San Pedro Mart, says his hummus takes 48 hours to make from start to finish. Whatever hes doing in those 48 hours, its worth it. The end result is a mousse-like, rich and rabbit-hole-deep version of everyones favorite chickpea condiment.

Mohammad Abdeljalil, the Palestinian owner of San Pedro Mart, says his hummus takes 48 hours to make from start to finish. Whatever hes doing in those 48 hours, its worth it.

It would be easy to imagine yourself going to San Pedro Mart just to load up on hummus, but I wouldnt recommend it. Theres so much more going on there.

Eric Williams ericwphoto.com

If you know whats good for you, youll also sit down and have lunch or dinner. The small restaurant section by the front windows is divided from the grocery by a tentlike structure of ropes, Persian-style carpets and a draped ceiling. The makeshift look of the entire complex only serves to enhance the aura of street-food authenticity.

Alquds might be rough around the edges, but its heart is grand and the food is golden. The family that runs Alquds (Alquds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem) are wonderfully hospitable, helpful and proud of their work.

Menu highlights include the hummus, shawarma sandwiches, the dolmes, foul mudammas and the hareesa dessert.

My friend and I tried the lamb shawarma ($6.49) pita sandwich. This is your answer if you want your whole meal in your handsavory, dripping meat with the usual garnish of pickles, fresh cucumbers, tomato and red cabbage.

The dolmes (stuffed grape leaves) too, were remarkable ($2.99 for six). These are not your typical, firm, Greek-deli dolmas; these are deliquescent, very lemony, almost creamy and completely saturated with flavor.

Order a side of lebneh ($2.99) if you like yogurt for dipping. Theirs is thick and dressed with olive oil and zaatar (a thyme-heavy Middle Eastern herb mix available by the bag in the store).

Order the foul mudammas ($2.99, aka ful medames, which is probably more palatable to the English eye) if you want to try one of the more antiquated dishes. Fava beans hearken back to ancient Egypt, and foul mudammas (warm, garlicky mashed fava beans, soaked in lemon juice and oil) have served as the food-of-the-people since time immemorial.

Eric Williams ericwphoto.com

Everything else is good in the standard Middle Eastern deli way: the baba ghanouj, rich and smoky; the falafel, moist and of a happy green hue; the tabouli salad, chromatically brilliant and refreshing; the grilled meat, well-spiced and tender.

Dessert options are plentiful, if somewhat redundant and mostly structural variants on nut and honey-soaked pastries. Its all good, but the hareesa dessert ($1.49, also called basbousa), a wet semolina crumb cake soaked in simple syrup and smattered with peanuts, is the one that might embed itself in your canon of cravings, more for its grainy-cake texture than anything.

The disappointments at Alquds are negligible. The homemade, puffed white pita is perfectly fine, but kind of vapid as far as bread products go. (The upside of this is the pita serves as a perfectly neutral hummus delivery device.) Many of the side salads are refreshing but not anything to write home about. (Though your mom would be thrilled to get an actual handwritten letter from you). But really, Im only mentioning these very minor critiques as a sort of review requirement; none of it diminishes my enthusiasm for the excellent food coming out of this kitchen.

So eat lunch, stock up on hummus and load up on rose water, ghee and pickled eggplant. Olives are cheap here, as are sesame seeds.

You can also purchase embroidered handicrafts, keffiyehs, manger scenes from Bethlehem and t-shirts advocating for peace in Palestine and Palestinian rights.

Most ethnic restaurants prefer soothing travel brochure decor to reminders of political realities. But I like thinking about where the food Im eating actually comes from to humanize it and ground it in an actual, real-time place.

San Pedro Mart is grounded, all right. But once the hummus hits the table, who knows what ethereal state youll end up in.
PHIL FITZPATRICK

Steamships Trading Company 1918-2008: A History by James Sinclair, Alan Caudell and Associates, Palm Cove Qld., 2008, 468pp. Around $300 or K450 if you can find a copy. I understand Bill Mcgrath at Pacific Bookhouse has one for sale

THIS MASSIVE BOOK is not commercially available and it has taken me a while to lay my hands on a copy.

It weighs 2.8 kilograms and measures 346x250x37 mm. It is a sort of personal indulgence on the part of past Steamies directors and board chairmen.

Lugging it from Steamies head office on Champion Parade to the airport in my backpack worked up quite a sweat.

Having read it, I would urge Steamies to consider bringing out an abridged version in a cheaper paperback.

It is a book well worth reading because the history of the company runs parallel to that of Papua New Guinea. The numerous crossovers are both fascinating and enlightening.

A paperback would also mitigate the aching arms that you will inevitably experience reading the present version.

Jim Sinclair is no Shakespeare but he is a very deft master wordsmith. He is also meticulous with a capital M.

He has been producing these sorts of commissioned volumes for some time now and they are building up to be a unique reflection on Papua New Guineas past. He is currently working on a commissioned history of Edie Creek.

He told me that when he was posted to Port Moresby just before independence as a district commissioner with a vague portfolio and not a little spare time on his hands, that he noticed the Australian administration diligently junking what they thought were irrelevant records.

Jim managed to insert himself between the dumpers and the dump and this material now forms an important resource for his writing.

He got a scare in this years floods in Queensland but fortunately it all survived. He plans to leave it all to a selected institution when he finally runs out of steam.

But back to Steamies. The company kicked off around 1918

but a serendipitous event in 1924 was the impetus for its remarkable rise. The Steamies website tells the story.

The company's history began in 1919. Retired sea captain Algernon Sydney Fitch was growing apples in Tasmania for a living when he read about a barge named the Southern Cross going aground in the Bass Strait. He decided to salvage it and travelled to Melbourne to raise 5,000 Pounds sterling and find a suitable ship for the salvage operations. He discovered a 90 ton coal burner, built in 1855, called the SS Queenscliffe. A group of businessmen backed Fitch and together formed a company which they appropriately called Steamships Limited. Fitch's plan had no connection with Papua and New Guinea. But what happens next was not in the scheme of things. The Southern Cross sank beneath the waves. To make matters worse the syndicate ran out of money whilst making the veteran Queenscliffe seaworthy. Fitch proposed that he sail the ship to Port Moresby and earn some money by trading along the Papuan coast. In 1924 the Public Company was formed.

Steamies had many competitors over the years, including the mighty Burns Philp, but it outlived them all and is still thriving.

There are some good reasons for this, not the least being its long held policy of training and employing Papua New Guinean staff wherever possible.

Coupled with this were a commitment to Papua New Guinea in general and a refreshing aversion to the profit-at-all-cost mentality. It supported many charitable and other causes in Papua New Guinea, mostly in the background and without undue fanfare. It has been a strong supporter of the Crocodile Prize since its inception.

Throughout its history, Steamships scrupulously followed the letter of the law, albeit sometimes reluctantly when it perceived the law as inappropriate.

In other words, while it could be a ruthless and intimidating adversary it was and still is an honest and ethical company. Its environmental credentials are a credit to it. And, no, I havent got shares.

When you mention Steamies in Port Moresby, people in the know will tell you that it has been taken over by Swires, the big British trading company based in Hong Kong, and is no longer the Steamies of old.

This is technically correct but, as Jim Sinclair explains, Swires has had a very long history in Papua New Guinea and beginning in 1952 has had many active partnerships with Steamies. That it now holds a majority shareholding is more luck than anything else.

The diversification of Steamies from the original shipping company into a multitude of businesses and then its retreat to its current core businesses of shipping, transport, manufacturing and hotels is an intriguing and mind-boggling journey which must have come close to driving Jim Sinclair nuts when he was writing the book.

Through it all, however and as Chairman Bill Rothery said in 2008, Steamies has been proudly Papuan New Guinean for 90 years. He adds, This is a testimony to the determination and strength of its owners and managers over these years and to the growth and resilience of the country and its people.

Steamies founder, Captain Algernon Fitch, had an uneasy relationship with Sir Hubert Murray, the famous Papuan Lieutenant-Governor, but they eventually came round to appreciate each others point of view.

Sinclair suggests that it was probably Hubert Murrays enlightened views eventually rubbing off on Captain Fitch rather than the other way around.

In any event, the good captain steered Steamies out of the total devastation wreaked by World War II and set it on a healthy course of expansion. He was gone by the time of the equally devastating reign of Prime Minister Bill Skate.

Skate managed to wreck the Papua New Guinean economy in a very short space of time and also came close to wrecking Steamies and many other companies like it. Despite the valiant efforts of his successor, Mekere Morauta, the Skate effects are still felt today.

Unfortunately Michael Somare in his second incarnation as Prime Minister failed, or wasnt interested, in keeping up the momentum that Sir Mekere had generated.

It is not until you read the history of Steamies that you realise how bad Skate was and how many of Papua New Guineas chronic problems started with him. If Somare founded Papua New Guinea, Bill Skate came close to sinking it.

A lot of people worked for Steamies over the years. A lot were dedicated but unassuming. Some, like the bean counters, were downright tedious but there were also some delightful mavericks, rogues and eccentrics who gave the company an exciting flavour.

Jim Sinclair had access to most of the surviving managing directors and a lot of the current and retired employees. He sprinkles their histories and views liberally throughout the text. Some of the most colourful were the sea captains that Steamies trained and employed and who lent their names to the company ships.

Sinclair also consulted board minutes, including those from the very first formal meeting in 1924, which not only survived the war but two conflagrations of the company headquarters in the 1970s, annual reports, old newspapers and numerous other sources. How he is still sane is nothing short of a miracle.

It is a history well worth sharing with a much wider audience. How about it Steamies?
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Although those who come across double-parked cars are typically advised to call authorities, one Corpus Christi Home Depot patron took matters into their own hands, using a zip tie and a shopping cart.

RELATED: Photo showing worst parking job in Texas at Canyon Lake high school goes viral on Reddit

According to Jerry Davila's now-viral Facebook post, the incident took place at a Corpus Christi Home Depot in the 5000 block of South Padre Island Drive.

The zip-tie user must have been inspired by the do-it-yourself store, because the individual used minimal tools to send the double-parked culprit an ingenious message in inconsiderate parking.

"You take two spaces... You get your car tie wrapped to a basket!" the post said.

RELATED: Viral Facebook photo proves parking is a headache in San Antonio

While it was initially suggested that Davila did the deed, Davila came forward after the story had been shared.

"My dad and I parked to the left of the car in the picture," Davila wrote. "I noticed the basket up against the white car. I walked over to move the shopping cart away from the car when I saw it was tie-wrapped to the door handle. I didn't get it until i stepped back and saw the car used 2 parking spaces to park."

Less than a week after the images had been posted, Davila's photo set was shared more than 6,000 times and had been posted to various social media outlets including Imgur, Ebaums World.

RELATED: Worst places for parking in San Antonio

Calls to the Corpus Christi Police Department were not immediately returned, however, Facebook users shared stories of their own including leaving harsh notes on vehicles and "idiot parking" cards.

While it's unclear if the individual acted criminally, others commented on the post saying they intend on purchasing zip ties to follow Davila's lead.

This story has been updated to reflect Davila's comment identifying himself as having photographed the zip-tied shopping cart, but not the individual who carried out the act.

MMedina@mySA.com

Twitter: @MariahMedinaaa
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The Galveston Restaurant Group's diverse portfolio no longer lacks a Tex-Mex presence.

Earlier this month the hospitality group helmed by Danny Hart and brothers Johnny Smecca and Joey Smecca, opened Taquilo's at 2101 Postoffice St. in the space formerly occupied by longtime Island outpost The Stork Club.

Hart, who also owns Ben & Jerry's on the Seawall, says they weren't looking to open another restaurant, but when this space became available, he instantly knew they'd be debuting a Tex-Mex concept.

RELATED: Houston burger-joint king puts down roots on the Stand in Galveston

"Everybody kept saying there's no good Tex-Mex downtown," Hart explains.

The dishes at Taquilo's were thought up, in part, by the company's new corporate chef, James Lundy. Prior to joining this team, he was the corporate chef at Landry's. Lundy consults with Galveston Restaurant Group principal Joey Smecca  Hart refers to Joey Smecca as the trio's "menu guy"  to decide on food offerings.

Together they've written up a menu of Tex-Mex staples  nachos, quesadillas, fajitas and burritos  including small bites, with ingredients sourced from Galveston seafood purveyor (and Island restaurant favorite) Katie's Seafood Market, along with Houston-based Freedman Meats.

Among the snacks are the "Shrimp Besos," jalapeno and bacon-wrapped shrimp served with roasted peppers and drawn butter; and cilantro cream salsa-topped chicharrones (fried pork skins). Ceviche options vary from a spicy ahi tuna bowl to other iterations  shrimp, fish and crab  marinated in jalapenos or habanero peppers.

Cocktails include fruit-filled concoctions like the signature watermelon margarita and the blueberry lime margarita, served with an oversized straw for the fresh blueberries. Jose Cuervo is the restaurant's house-level tequila.

SEE ALSO: There's a new seafood restaurant by the Galveston Seawall

"I really have my blood, sweat and tears in this one," Lundy says, explaining that the group had only six weeks to debut this restaurant, including completely renovating the space.

Taquilo's loteria-themed, 80-seat space includes an adjoining patio and is a stark departure from Stork Club's low-key interior. Amber Felts, the company's decorator, brought in bold details. Exposed brick peeks through plaster and vibrant hues show through with Mexican artesania-style tiles and artwork.

Opening for lunch

"I just wanted to start slow, but we were full within 30 minutes," Hart laughs, saying that they've already had people lining up outside the door.

Hart acknowledges, though, that he will have to attract Island residents who work downtown when Galveston's summer tourist season ends. To encourage traffic, the restaurant will have daily lunch specials during the week.

ISLAND TOURISM: Galveston tourism industry continues to gain momentum

"The locals at work want to eat out every day," he says. "But if you're too expensive and you don't have fresh product, they're not going to come support you."

The Galveston Restaurant Group's other establishments include downtown eateries Sky Bar Steak & Sushi; Little Daddy's Gumbo Bar; Nonno Tony's Seafood Kitchen and Saltwater Grill. Its Seawall restaurants are Mario's Seawall Italian Restaurant, Papa's Pizza and The Gumbo Diner.

The group's presence stretches to League City, where Little Daddy's Gumbo Bar offers the same menu as its Galveston Island counterpart.

"Come to Galveston," Hart says. "We keep growing."
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The Miss Texas Organization will kick off its annual Miss Texas pageant in North Texas at 7 p.m. Tuesday with the first of its three preliminaries.

Judges will crown a winner on Saturday, July 2, at the Eisemann Center in Richardson.

RELATED: Newly crowned Miss Texas celebrates win at San Antonio Whataburger in true Lone Star State fashion

The winner of the pageant will not only receive a $15,000 scholarship and the use of an Infinity during her reign, but she will also go on to compete against representatives from across the nation in the Miss America pageant which was broadcast live on ABC in 2015.

This year, three of the 56 Miss Texas participants will represent San Antonio  Miss San Antonio, Julia Bush, Miss Bexar County, Lauren DeFillippo and Miss Alamo City, Ashley Sneed.

RELATED: Former Miss Texas lists $2.4 million waterfront home near Dallas

Shannon Sanderford was crowned Miss Texas in 2015 and will surrender her crown to the incoming Miss Texas following her appointment on Saturday.

Sanderford finished among the top 10 in the Miss America pageant.

The 2016 Miss America competition is scheduled to take place on September 11 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

RELATED: 10 things to know about Miss Texas, Shannon Sanderford

It has been more than 40 years since a Miss Texas winner was crowned Miss America.

The Miss America Organization is unrelated to the Miss United States pageant.

Their most significant difference is in the founding of the two groups. The Miss America pageant was created as a scholarship competition, meanwhile the Miss United States pageant was created as a Catalina Swimwear marketing tool, which was partially owned by Donald Trump until 2015.

Both continue to operate today.

Click through the slideshow above to see who could potentially represent Texas in the Miss America pageant.

MMedina@mySA.com

Twitter: @MariahMedinaaa
I am personally convinced that there would be significant economic benefits via the facilitation or enhancement of trade, investment, and movement of people between the west and the east of the island of New Guinea.

From the outset, I want to emphasise that I acknowledge the cultural, political, and security arguments involved. I restrict my arguments to the economic benefits that are likely to arise from opening up the island of New Guinea.

I PUT out for public discussion, especially within Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, the idea of opening up the Island of New Guinea.

If you like the excellent map by cartographer Daniel Feher you can see more at his website here

The island of New Guinea is divided almost equally between PNG and Indonesia. The original inhabitants are of Melanesian descent. The total population is estimated to be 12.2 million people: 4.4 million on the Indonesian side and 7.8 million in PNG. The island is rich in natural resources: minerals, oil, gas, timber, and fertile agricultural land, and tourism opportunities.

Together, the island can be an economic powerhouse located strategically between Australia and New Zealand to the south and Asia, the fastest developing region in the world, to the west and north.

At present, the island is not economically or physically integrated, neither internally nor externally, especially with the rest of the region. PNG, in particular, is so physically isolated that trade with the rest of the world is a critical challenge for the nation.

For instance, Jacksons International Airport in Port Moresby is the only international airline gateway to the rest of the world. Connections between Port Moresby and the rest of the country remain expensive and difficult.

Likewise, Lae and Port Moresby are the main ports that facilitate the bulk of international trade. Internal maritime and land transport linkages between these two ports remain difficult and costly. This fragmentation remains a significant constraint to broad-based, sustained economic growth and development in PNG.

PNGs sustained growth and development as a nation is dependent on its ability to facilitate domestic and international trade. Improving transportation and communication systems are needed to reduce the costs of goods and services and improve access to markets for local products.

It will also improve the capability of the government to deliver and for people to access basic services such as health and education. It is these considerations that have motivated me to put the case for the opening up of the island of New Guinea.

The proposal for opening up the island of New Guinea foresees Indonesia and PNG working collaboratively along the international border. As a start, I propose, in a very crude way, the idea of four cities and three highways as the core elements of the proposal to open up the island of New Guinea.

The four cities that I envisage are:

One Port or Maritime City on the South side of the border to the west of Daru, on the Indonesian side, largely because the PNG side of the border is mostly swampy. The exact location of this city, however, would be dictated by the engineering soundness of a substantial port that could serve as the foundation of trade between South East Asia, Australia, PNG, and Indonesia. Two port cities on the north side of the island: Vanimo on the PNG side and Jayapura on the Indonesia side. These are existing towns, but they will need to be developed and expanded significantly. One hinterland city situated halfway between the north and south of the island of New Guinea, along the international border between PNG and Indonesia. This city has to be strategically located with the view to connecting by road to the east of the island, making a connection to the existing highlands highway, and to the western end of the island. A maritime city could be developed in the west end by Indonesia at a location like Timaka.

Likewise, PNG would need to ensure that the road connects to the port cities of Lae and Madang, with the road running through the existing city of Mt. Hagen.

The three highways, critical for linking the four cities and making the idea of opening up the island of New Guinea a reality, are:

North-South Highway: this highway would connect the south port city with the two northern maritime cities, passing through the hinterland city. This super-highway along the international border will be critical for connecting trade links with the Asian countries to the north through the two port cities. Likewise, this highway will connect trade links with south east asian countries, Australia, and New Zealand through the south-based port city. East-bound Highway: this highway would connect the hinterland city with the highlands highway through Mt Hagen. This highway would connect with the existing maritime city of Lae and the township of Madang. West-bound Highway: this highway would connect the hinterland city with a port township to the west of the island of New Guinea, which Indonesia could develop.

The exact locations will need to be subjected to detailed feasibility studies, taking into account the geography, topography, and soundness of the marine base for a port city. Collectively, the four cities and the three super highways comprise the core elements of the project that would open up the island of New Guinea.

There are engineering, financial, social, cultural, political, economic, and security considerations for all who would be affected by this proposal.

While acknowledging that taking these issues fully into consideration is important, the premise on which this article is penned is the significant economic gains from trade and interconnectedness, especially for the inhabitants of the island of New Guinea.

The economic impact of this proposal would be significant for both PNG and Indonesia. This proposal links both economies to the fastest growing and/or strong economies of the world: Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The proposal has the potential to develop an integrated economic community within this part of the world and place PNG and Indonesia, especially West Papua, on a path to sustained, broad-based growth and development.

This proposal complements two other major projects: the Maritime Silk Road being advanced by China and the Northern Australia Policy proposed by the Australian government for the development of the northern half of the Australian continent.

If this idea is progressed by PNG and Indonesia, it could be a good candidate project for the newly-established Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

In ending this paper, I invite genuine discussions with a view to progressing this project because the potential economic gains for all inhabitants of the island of New Guinea, and more specifically for the broader PNG community and Indonesia, in my view is significant.

Hence, I sign off with the question: Why not open up the island of New Guinea?

Read the full paper by Charles Yala here: http://www.nri.org.pg/images/Downloads/Publications/2016_publications/Spotligt_Opening_up_New_Guinea_280616.pdf
The Illinois Department of Insurance approved Aetna's acquisition of Humana, which is valued at $37 billion, according to St. Louis Business Journal.

Here are four key points:

1. Specifically, Acting Director Melissa Dowling approved the payer merger, pending federal government approval.

2. The Illinois regulator claimed the merger will not limit the number of payers operating in Illinois that offer Medicare Advantage plans. Additionally, those who have MA coverage can shift to a traditional Medicare plan if they are not satisfied with their MA plan at a later date, the order states.

3. In May, a Missouri Department of Insurance order blocked the insurance companies from selling different insurance policies in Missouri if Aetna and Humana complete the merger.

4. Missouri Department of Insurance's order claimed the merger violated Missouri's competitive standards law in both the small group and individual marketplaces.

More articles on coding & billing:

Anthem exec. indicates plans to buy Aetna assets; is the payer bowing out of its Cigna deal? 5 key thoughts

Pennsylvania 'medical homes' cut costs for Medicaid patients by $4k+: 5 takeaways

Pharmaceutical industry attacks payers over drug prices  5 things to know




Earlier this year, physicians in Florida filled a hole in the healthcare landscape. Brandon, Fla.-based Select Physicians Alliance along with Compass Surgical Partners saw an opportunity to provide Tampa residents ENT services in the ambulatory setting and opened Select Physicians Surgery Center.

As the ASC's administrator, Laura Smith has seen the center grow from the ground up, with the surgery center performing its first case in January. The center currently has 14 physician owners, and is in the process of adding more investors. The ASC is equipped with three operating rooms, which Ms. Smith remarks are "larger than any other hospital's outpatient ORs we've visited."

Well-seasoned in the ASC industry, Ms. Smith joined Select Physicians Surgery Center after working at another surgery center in Pinellas Park. Her years of administrative experience have taught her a center's success is intertwined with its staff members. While experience is a valuable skill, a center may be better off hiring individuals with personalities that coincide with the ASC's values and mission.

"The core team I originally hired had an ENT background, but as we are going along, I have added team members that haven't had that ENT-specific experience," Ms. Smith says. "When you are looking for someone that will fit with your center, there are so many people with personalities that make them teachable. It is better to get someone like that than someone who has more experience but bad habits."

Patients take note of the center's staff, which leads to the ASC's high patient satisfaction scores. Since the center opened, Ms. Smith's notes she has not received a negative patient satisfaction score, even with the center giving a survey to each patient. When obtaining care at your center, a patient's experience encompasses much more than the surgical procedure and centers therefore should ensure the entire patient experience exceeds patients' expectations.

"If one staff member is struggling, we are all struggling," Ms. Smith says. "Patients see how well everyone works together."

At Select Physicians Surgery Center, the staff members work to make sure patients have a personal experience. The staff members sit down with the patients before procedures and guide the patients through their procedure and recovery process. After the patient leaves the center, the ASC sends thank-you cards to each patient.

"Everybody grabs a stack of cards and signs them," Ms. Smith says. "We have received more responses from patients due to our thank-you card rather than just calling them. With us growing, I don't know how long we can keep that up, but while we can, we are going to. We are going to do it because everyone absolutely loves it."

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Coordinated Care Oklahoma, a health information exchange, is using Cerner technology to share data with the Department of Defense.

By connecting with the DOD, active duty military personnel receiving care at hospitals participating in CCO will have their healthcare information made available to DOD facilities, and CCO members can access DOD records in their own EHRs.

"In Oklahoma we have a high number of active-duty military and retired military personnel," said Brian Yeaman, MD, chief administrative officer of CCO. "We wanted to bridge the gap and serve this group. CCO provides the link between hospitals, clinics and private physician practices statewide with this patient base of 45,000."

CCO's technology platform is a joint venture between Cerner and Browsersoft, an HIE solution provider.

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Terika Richardson has been appointed president of Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago.

Here are five things to know about Ms. Richardson.

1. Prior to joining Advocate, she was CEO of Retreat Doctors' Hospital in Richmond, Va., since May 2014.

2. At Retreat Doctors' Hospital, she guided the 227-bed facility to positive earnings within the first two quarters of her tenure, grew outpatient surgery by 48 percent within two years and implemented a robotic surgery program to drive inpatient volume growth, Advocate said.



3. Ms. Richardson also previously was COO of Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center in Fredericksburg, Va., where she developed key service lines including orthopedics, oncology and cardiovascular programs. She also served as the medical center's interim CEO.



4. She earned a master's degree in public health and a bachelor's degree in biopsychology and cognitive science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

5. She serves on the American College of Healthcare Executive's Young Careerist Committee.




"Physician champions"  physician leaders who coordinate improvement efforts between fellow clinicians and administrative staff  are increasingly called upon to address the issue of physician "alignment."

Various industry-wide factors have contributed to the rise of the physician champion as the driver of efforts to increase cooperation between fellow physicians and hospital executives. The main reason: as independent providers increasingly seek hospital employment, achieving buy-in is critical for building successful care teams and managing population health under a value-based care delivery system.

The physicians selected to undertake this important responsibility are typically those who already possess respect and credibility among their peers, have demonstrated a capacity to lead and seem intrinsically motivated to effect change.

But many physician champions fail  though often to no fault of their own. Physician champions who fall short of the expectations imposed upon them are often not set up for success by their organizations.

There are five common reasons physicians champions fail.

1. The champions don't have a formal job title or description. Dr. Tom Smith*, a hospitalist with Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine, serves as a physician champion at one of the system's community hospitals. There, he is responsible for helping create and implement programs to improve quality and patient satisfaction and reduce the rate of hospital-acquired infections, among other objectives. However, Dr. Smith says not having a formal job title reflecting his physician champion duties or an explicit description of his responsibilities creates an environment of ambiguity and directly impacts his motivation.

"When there is no formal job description or expectations," says Dr. Smith, "the motivation to carry out your own ideas or try anything new is pretty low."

Ed Howell, professor of public health sciences at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and the former vice president and CEO of University of Virginia Medical Center, agrees.

"The question that should begin every institution's consideration of physician alignment and physician leadership is, 'What do we want the champion to do?'" says Mr. Howell. "Every physician champion either succeeds or fails based on the clarity of their role that the organization establishes."

Physician champion roles may be formal or informal, depending on the organization's objectives. Regardless, hospital leadership must define and communicate the responsibilities and expectations of the champion.

2. The champions don't have the proper support and mentorship. While it is increasingly popular for physicians to seek management or administrative degrees along with their medical education, most physicians have never received formal leadership training. As a result, when it comes to building a team or rallying clinicians to make a change, a physician champion may find him or herself at a loss. What's more, hospitals often lack adequate support and resources to guide physician champions or answer their questions.

"There is really no structure of guidance or support," says Dr. Smith. "If you come up with a new idea, you're kind of on your own to figure out a way to implement it."

Without a mentor or advisor to help with questions, a physician champion's responsibilities transform into added stress  a dangerous thing in a profession already plagued by high rates of burnout.

"I have questions on a daily basis on the implementation of the ideas I come up with, but there is no clear structure for who I would go to if I have a problem," says Dr. Smith. As a result, much of the initial enthusiasm with which physician champions enter their roles dies down, further depleting their motivation to succeed.

3. The hospital fails to address the conflict between clinical workload and physician champion duties. Most physicians who pick up leadership duties maintain their full clinical workloads and add physician champion functions on top. However, in cases like Dr. Smiths, there is no compensation for the additional leadership role. Ultimately, this means physicians work more hours without more pay.

"The biggest challenge for me personally is the dilemma between picking up more clinical work  which pays now  or taking on more leadership work  which isn't guaranteed to pay off at all," says Dr. Smith.

Even if physician champions are interested in enhancing leadership expertise, they may not have the means to do so. For instance, Dr. Smith attended healthcare leadership conference in Chicago this past spring, but the five days he spent away from the hospital came out of his personal vacation days. "There is no separate time in my job that gives me elbow room to attend these meetings," he says.

According to Mr. Howell, if an organization wants its physician champion to succeed, the leadership must be prepared to offer adequate compensation to make up for the reduction of clinical income.

"Failure will result if the organization is not sensitive to their clinical workload," he says. Some organizations have implemented creative solutions to ensure physician champions are compensated for their leadership duties, such as creating RVUs for administrative work.

4. Champions don't have a say in decision-making. An important part of a physician champion's job is serving as a liaison between the clinical and administrative staff. However, a champion should not only act as a mouthpiece to relay information from one team to the other; instead, he or she should have a seat at the table during decision-making processes for changes that affect care delivery.

When it comes to including physician champions in the decision-making process, leaders must clarify from the outset what kind of input they expect, according to Mr. Howell.

"Physician champions must have full access to [communication with] the top leadership," says Mr. Howell. Depending on the situation, "leaders should be cognizant on when to draw the line during deliberations of strategic initiatives, but they should err on the side of inclusion." In other words, physician champions have a unique perspective and valuable insight to offer when it comes to care delivery. The rest of the clinical team will be more willing to accept changes if they feel their interests are fairly represented from a clinical leader.

5. You have the wrong physician champion. Of course, one cannot ignore the possibility that a physician champion will fail because he or she is simply not cut out for the job. Mr. Howell said the physician champions he's seen struggle most lacked leadership experience and the common characteristics that so often distinguish leaders from their peers.

"The idea that you can take a raw piece of cloth and develop a leader out of it  there is not much evidence that this will be successful," says Mr. Howell. And while formal leadership training can provide physician champions with valuable insight on how to be an effective leader, Mr. Howell contends the term "leadership development" is ill-founded: "These courses might be better titled 'leadership refinement,'" he says.

The characteristics of a physician champion with high success rates include having the respect of their clinical colleagues; the ability to communicate effectively and concisely; and a strong drive to solve problems.

*Dr. Tom Smith is a pseudonym to protect the physician's anonymity.

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Monday's midnight closure of the comment period for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act  which determines how physicians will be paid under Medicare was met with many comments and suggestions from across the healthcare industry.

Here are seven curated MACRA comments from industry leaders.

1. CMS should adjust the implementation timeline. The final rule is expected this fall, on or around November 1, and data collection will begin in 2017. In a letter to CMS, Donald Fisher, the president and CEO AMGA, a national organization representing medical groups and integrated delivery systems, suggested CMS delay the start of the 2017 performance year, perhaps to July 1, rather than January 1.

2. MACRA needs to measure for value. AMGA's Mr. Fisher also called for CMS to measure outcomes in relation to spending under MACRA. "If value is left unaddressed in the final rule, it will be difficult at best for the agency to meet MACRA and the Secretary's overarching goals," Mr. Fisher said, referring to CMS' and HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell's goals to tie an increasing percent of Medicare fee-for-service payments to value.

3. The scoring methodology and health IT measures should be more stringent to accelerate care transformation. The Consumer Partnership for eHealth, which represents consumer, patient and labor organizations, suggested CMS do away with the "one patient" threshold under Meaningful Use  which calls for a minimum of one patient to view, download or transmit their health information to a third party over a reporting period  that was broadened to apply to all measures under MACRA. This "undermine[s] CMS's commitment to make patients and family caregivers true and equal partners in improving health through shared information and shared decision-making. It sends the wrong signal  to the nation's patients and families, and to clinicians," CPeH wrote in its comment letter.

4. MACRA's Merit-Based Incentive Payment System must be aligned with hospitals' meaningful use programs. The American Hospital Association wrote to this specifically, requesting that CMS "offer a quality and resource use measure reporting option in which hospital-based physicians can use CMS hospital quality program measure performance in the MIPS," as well as "ensure alignment between the hospital meaningful use program and the ACI category of the MIPS."

5. MIPS also needs to be more streamlined. This is something the American Medical Association called for in its letter to CMS. To do this, AMA President James Madara, MD, wrote that CMS should "align the different components of MIPS so that it operates as a single program rather than four separate parts, such as creating a common definition for small practices," and that it should "simplify reporting burdens and improve chances of success by creating more opportunities for partial credit and fewer required measures within MIPS."

6. CMS should establish a pathway between MIPS and the Alternative Payment Model system, as well as expand what qualifies as an APM. The AMA suggested CMS simplify and lower financial risk standards for Advanced APMs, among other suggestions, to ease the transition between stages of MACRA.

7. The AMA called on CMS to provide an interim final regulation. The association felt the law had room for continued improvement and refinement. "By working together and maintaining an open dialogue, we believe we can make changes that allow physicians to achieve better care for their patients while reducing administrative burden and costs on practices," Dr. Madara wrote.

Editor's note: This article was updated June 29 at 8:55 a.m. CT to reflect that the comment period closed at midnight, not 5 p.m. We regret this error.

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Legislators and consumer advocate groups have voiced criticism over business ties between multiple members of a Connecticut healthcare steering committee and contractors seeking grants through a $45 million healthcare reform initiative, according to the Hartford Courant.

Critics say the links between committee panelists and contractors present unchecked conflicts of interest.

The healthcare innovation steering committee is leading an effort to improve medical care and allow physicians to eventually share in the insurance savings that result from healthier patients, according to the report.

In question is the business relationships between two steering committee members and vendors sharing a roughly $600,000 technical assistance contract. Two other members, both of whom are physicians, worked for two of the first four medical practices selected to receive the free technical assistance.

The steering committee's ethics standard is different from other public agencies in that its members do not have to disclose relationships with vendors, except for when they work with state officials in awarding contracts. Then they have to sign the more stringent code of ethics that applies to public officials and state employees, according to the report.

State officials say the steering committee members are "insulated" from the awarding of contracts, though they do participate in the review and selection of contractors.

"At the steering-committee level, we set out the criteria and what we want the program to look like  but we don't decide who gets chosen," said Robert McLean, MD, an internist, according to the report. Dr. McLean is a steering committee panelist and a member of Northeast Medical Group, part of Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health and one of the first practices selected to receive technical assistance from the two vendors. "The question is: are the committee members getting preferential treatment or not? We are not."

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Colleen Deacon is ready for a fight.

Deacon, D-Syracuse, won the Democratic primary in the 24th Congressional District Tuesday to set the stage for a general election campaign against U.S. Rep. John Katko, a Republican.

With all but one election district reporting from Cayuga, Onondaga, Oswego and Wayne counties, Deacon received 49 percent of the vote in the three-way primary. Eric Kingson was the runner-up with 32 percent and Steve Williams finished with 19 percent.

"We worked really, really hard on this race," Deacon said in a phone interview. "We have a great team in place. We built a really good infrastructure. Obviously that paid off with the win tonight. And we feel really good about where we are and transitioning tomorrow to focus on the general and take on John Katko in November."

Deacon, who served as U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's central New York regional director prior to running for Congress, received several Democratic endorsements in the months leading up to the primary. She was backed by her former boss and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, both of whom joined Deacon for a press conference earlier this month in DeWitt.

Locally, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, Auburn Mayor Michael Quill and the Democratic Women of Cayuga County were among those who supported Deacon's campaign.

Looking ahead to the general election, Deacon said her campaign will continue to work hard in an attempt to unseat Katko, R-Camillus, who is seeking a second term in Congress.

She also offered a preview of one of the topics she will address in a race against Katko.

"Jobs and the economy is the No. 1 issue and Congressman Katko hasn't done anything to address that issue in Washington," she said.

Republicans are confident that Katko can win in a presidential election year. In the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, the GOP lost the Syracuse-area congressional district race.

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, thinks Katko has put himself in a good position to win re-election.

"John Katko has been one of the most effective members of Congress having 13 bills pass the House of Representatives, including two that were signed into law by President Obama," Walden, R-Oregon, said. "Thanks to John's hard work, our airports are safer and central New York will have hundreds of millions of dollars in much-needed highway and infrastructure funding.

"John Katko knows how to put politics aside to break the gridlock in Washington, and that is why I am confident voters will reward his hard work by sending him back to Congress."

Democrats, though, have a different opinion of the freshman congressman.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which supports Deacon and views the 24th District race as a top target, released a memo Tuesday night outlining the case against Katko. The memo notes that political prognosticators have rated the race a toss up and Katko is considered one of the most vulnerable House members.

U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, the DCCC's chairman, said Katko pledged to be a moderate in Congress, but his voting record "has proven anything but."

"From repeatedly voting to defund Planned Parenthood to refusing to block suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms, Katko has eagerly embraced the Trump-Republican agenda in Washington," Lujan said. "I congratulate Colleen Deacon on her hard-fought win; she will bring the leadership central New Yorkers so desperately need."

As Deacon shifts to the general election, she will have the support of both of her primary opponents.

Kingson has previously said that he'll support Deacon in any way he can. Williams echoed that sentiment in a phone interview Tuesday.

"I think it's so important that we come together as a party," Deacon said. "I feel that we will all come together to make sure that we're focusing on getting this seat back in the hands of a Democrat."
A nurse sued Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System on grounds the system required her to work through her lunch break without pay, The Houston Chronicle reported.

In the lawsuit filed Friday to the U.S. District Court in Houston, Meghan Stewart claims she and more than 4,000 Memorial Hermann workers were not paid for care they provided during lunch breaks.

The lawsuit states that while employees were required to clock in at the start of a shift and clock out at the end, they did not have to clock out for lunch. However, Memorial Hermann still withdrew 30 minutes of pay from their workdays, The Houston Chronicle reported.

Similar claims were made in Texas in 2014 when a nurse filed a lawsuit on behalf of more than 5,000 workers alleging Houston Methodist Hospital required employees to work during their lunch breaks. The suit was settled Friday, though no terms were disclosed.

Another nurse at North Cypress (Texas) Medical Center filed a lawsuit claiming she had to work without pay during lunch breaks. The hospital paid an undisclosed amount of overtime and back wages to its nurses, The Houston Chronicle reported.

The Memorial Hermann case involves nurses who have worked the past three years at Texas Medical Center and other hospitals in Memorial City, Houston and The Woodlands.
A patient who was shot last August by an off-duty police officer at St. Joseph Medical Center in Houston is suing the hospital and its parent company Franklin, Tenn.- based IASIS Healthcare as well as the City of Houston and four of its police officers.

Alan Pean had a history of manic depressive and anxiety disorders and checked himself into St. Joseph Hospital Aug. 26 amid a severe panic attack. According to a 51-page CMS report, Mr. Pean grew confused during his hospital stay and repeatedly left his room naked. Unable to get Mr. Pean to stay in his room, nurses called hospital security  two off-duty Houston Police Department officers.

According to investigators, Mr. Pean attacked the officers with a piece of furniture when they came to his room. In response, the officers initially used a Taser on the patient, but when that had no effect, one of the officers shot Mr. Pean.

"Those officers responded to the room with overwhelming force, and instigated an attack on Alanwho was trapped in a mental health crisis at the time," Mr. Pean's lawyer Joseph Melugin told KPRC news.

The lawsuit claims the officers weren't properly trained to de-escalate a mental health crisis.

The lawsuit seeks more than $1 million for Mr. Pean's pain and suffering as well as legal and medical expenses, according to the report.

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The U.S. Supreme Court struck down bids Tuesday from Mississippi and Wisconsin seeking to put restrictions on physicians who perform abortions, according to Reuters.

The restrictions in the Mississippi and Wisconsin laws were identical to those in the Texas law struck down by the High Court earlier this week. They would have required physicians to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic where they perform abortions.

These privileges are hard to obtain, according to Reuters, and would have shuttered Mississippi's only abortion clinic. A similar requirement pending in Alabama was dropped after the Supreme Court ruling Monday, according to the report.

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As the American healthcare landscape continues its tectonic shift, safety-net hospitals remain essential, providing vital healthcare services for millions of medically vulnerable Americans. Safety-net hospitals provide care to a vast swath of Medicaid beneficiaries, patients who require special services and the uninsured.

This list is an ongoing project at Becker's, as there are many safety-net hospitals deserving of recognition.

Here are five more safety-net hospitals in major U.S. cities to know, listed in alphabetical order. To see parts one and two of this list, click here and here.

Christian Hospital (St. Louis). Christian Hospital's community roots stretch back to 1903 when the hospital first opened its doors. The hospital has grown into a 485-bed acute care facility, staffed by more than 600 physicians who provide vital healthcare services to their St. Louis community. In addition to general healthcare services, the hospital provides community outreach programs that include hundreds of wellness courses, health screenings and educational opportunities that enroll thousands. Christian Hospital is led by President Ron McMullen. Mr. McMullen is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and serves on the board of the Missouri Hospital Association. The hospital is a founding member of St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare.

Denver Health Medical Center. Denver Health was established in 1860 and has since grown into one of Colorado's busiest hospitals. DHMC is a 525-licensed bed acute care hospital that incurs more than 25,000 annual admissions. Among leading academic hospitals, DHMC has been ranked in the top 10 percent for inpatient survival for seven years in a row. U.S. News and World Report ranked DHMC as one of the top 10 best hospitals in Colorado in its 2015-16 rankings. Effective July 1, Bill Burman, MD, will become the interim CEO for Denver Health. He is a graduate of the Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minn., and has served the Denver Health system as an infectious disease physician since 1995.

Hennepin County Medical Center (Minneapolis). HCMC houses Minnesota's premier Level I adult and pediatric trauma centers. The hospital places serious emphasis on creating diverse, inclusive and culturally competent environments for both employees and patients. For four consecutive years, HCMC has been recognized as a leader in LGBT healthcare equality in the Healthcare Equality Index. The hospital has been led by CEO Jon L. Pryor, MD, since 2013. In addition to being a urological surgeon by training, Dr. Pryor holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

Highland Hospital (Oakland, Calif.). This 236-bed hospital opened its doors in 1927 and is now the flagship hospital of Oakland-based Alameda Health System. The campus offers community residents healthcare services in a number of centers of excellence including maternity services, trauma, orthopedics and senior care. This spring, the hospital opened a $440 million acute care tower that offers patients state-of-the art private rooms and peaceful family visiting areas. Highland Hospital is led by Alameda CEO Delvecchio Finely. He is the past-president of the California Association of Healthcare Leaders and, in 2013 Gov. Jerry Brown named Mr. Finely to the board of the California Health Profession's Education Foundation.

Mercy Hospital and Medical Center (Chicago). Mercy Hospital has been serving Chicago since the 1850s and is the city's first teaching hospital. Mercy took in more burn victims than any other hospital in the city after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Along with essential healthcare services, Mercy offers Chicagoans sophisticated minimally invasive surgical options including robotic assisted, 3-D and scarless surgery. Mercy has been led by CEO Carol L. Garikes Schneider since 2013. Ms. Schneider carries more than 30 years of healthcare leadership experience and is also a professor at Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill., where she teaches courses in healthcare leadership, management, quality and business ethics.

Do you know a safety-net system that should be profiled on our next safety-net hospitals and health systems list? Email Brian Zimmerman at bzimmerman@beckershealthcare.com and it could be included in a new installation of this list.
Tire marks at an intersection across from Iowa City, Iowa's Mercy Hospital show the trajectory of a driver who lost control before crashing into the hospital entrance early Tuesday afternoon.

The car lost control after hitting another vehicle around 1 p.m., according to a report from the Iowa City Press-Citizen. The car crashed into the hospital near its entrance and cafeteria. Other damages to surrounding shrubs and traffic signs also occurred.

A report from KWWL says at least one person had to go to the hospital after the crash.

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Amid continuing questions surrounding its acquisition of Cigna, Anthem insists its completion of the deal is its No. 1 concern, according to the Hartford Courant.

Most recently, a coalition of Democratic Connecticut senators wrote a letter to the Department of Justice, asking it to block the merger. Among the group was Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who claimed that after meeting with Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini and Cigna CEO David Cordani, he's not convinced the mergers are necessary.

"I think it's fair to say, without telling you [exactly] what they said, none of the chief executives who met with me said, in effect, 'We need this merger in a struggle to stay alive,'" Sen. Blumenthal said, according to the report.

Calling the merger "the highest priority," Anthem is still holding on to hope that the deal will go through.

"Anthem and Cigna are not in discussions regarding a termination of the merger agreement or the payment of a break-up fee," said Anthem spokeswoman Jill Belcher. "Anthem continues to be in ongoing dialogue with the Department of Justice and state regulators regarding the compelling combination of our two companies to increase consumer access to high-quality, affordable healthcare."
The U.S. ranks 51st globally for infant mortality rates. That's on par with Croatia  a country with a GDP a third of the size of the U.S. economy.

The U.S.'s high infant mortality rates can't be chalked up to one factor, instead a plurality of reasons seem to contribute to the disparity, according to group of researchers who explore U.S. infant mortality rates in an economic paper published by the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy.

Here are five other potential reasons that could explain the U.S. infant mortality rate, according to the paper.

1. The U.S. uses a more comprehensive reporting system for infant deaths. Different countries count deaths differently. For example, what constitutes a stillbirth in the U.S. might be different than in other countries. This cannot provide a complete explanation, but it can help explain part of the inflated American infant mortality rates. To help account for reporting differences, the researchers compared micro data from the U.S. with micro data from Finland and Austria, which have comparable reporting systems. They also compared U.S. rates to those of the U.K. and Belgium.

2. Health at birth is a factor, but not the No. 1 driver of infant mortality rates. While this is widely cited as the major driver of poor infant mortality rates in the U.S., the researchers beg to differ. They found that birth weight can explain some differences  for example it explains around 75 percent of the difference between U.S., Finland and Belgium infant mortality rates  but not others. As in the case of Austria and the U.K., birth weight only accounts for 30 percent of the U.S. infant mortality disadvantage.

3. American babies are much more likely to die between the first month and first year of life. While the U.S. has a higher infant mortality rate at all ages, the researchers found the rate accelerates dramatically after the first month of life in the U.S. compared to the other countries in the study.

4. Mortality differences in the U.S. are due largely to socioeconomic differences. When comparing data between countries, the researchers found the infant mortality gap between the U.S.,Finland and Austria widened among lesser educated populations. In other words, babies born to disadvantaged mothers in the U.S. were more likely to die than any other group in the study, even compared to disadvantaged populations in the other countries. "Effectively, either across countries or across regions within the U.S., we see that the observed geographic variation in postneontal [after the first month of life] mortality is heavily driven by variation in health gradients across socioeconomic groups," the authors wrote.

5. Policies prevalent in European countries could also account for differences in mortality rate. The researchers note both Finland and Austria, and much of the rest of Europe, have home nurse visit policies to bring healthcare professionals into babies' homes in their first year of life. These policies help provide checkups, but more importantly can provide information and support for mothers. The researchers note some of these programs exist on a small scale in the U.S. and were expanded somewhat under the Affordable Care Act, but there is still room for them to grow.

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When news of the Elizabethkingia outbreak first hit in March, it was described by media outlets as a mysterious bloodstream infection. Now many Wisconsinites and other Midwesterners are well-acquainted with the cumbersome moniker. Still, mystery surrounding the nature of the infection and the outbreak persist.

Even though WDHS has been investigating the outbreak since the winter of 2015, the original infection source remains unknown. Elizabethkingia occurs in the natural environment and has been detected in soil, river water and reservoirs. The bacterium rarely makes people ill. Morbidities most commonly associated with infections are neonatal meningitis or meningitis and infections of the blood and respiratory system in individuals with weakened immune symptoms.

As of Tuesday, there have been 63 confirmed cases of the infection in the state of Wisconsin. There are four additional cases in individuals who tested positive for Elizabethkingia, but those strains cannot be confirmed as being associated with the outbreak because specimens are no longer available for testing. In total, there have been 19 deaths associated with Elizabethkingia in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services recently took time to answer some questions via email for Becker's regarding the Elizabethkingia outbreak.

Note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Question: The outbreak of Elizabethkingia across the state has stabilized? When did this stabilization begin and how was it achieved?

Wisconsin Department of Health Services: In Wisconsin, there are currently no cases under investigation. These are the same results that were reported [during the week of June 19], which is good news, but this investigation is ongoing, and we'll wait to see if this trend continues. Awareness and quick action by our partners, especially healthcare providers, is helping to identify and treat Elizabethkingia anophelis.

Q: What has been the most challenging aspect of the investigation into the origin of the outbreak? Will it be possible to detect the source?

WDHS: Since Elizabethkingia anophelis was first reported, our team of disease detectives has been working diligently to find the source, and that has proved to be the greatest challenge. While it may be that a source is never determined, DHS and our partners will continue to be vigilant about testing and treating the infection caused by the bacteria. At this time this remains a full-scale investigation.

Q: How many more confirmed cases will Wisconsin likely see before the outbreak comes to an end?

WDHS: That's impossible to predict. As long as healthcare providers are aware of the possibility for Elizabethkingia anophelis, and test for it, there is always a chance that a case will be confirmed.

Q: What is the risk of additional cases being detected in other states as they previously were in Michigan and Illinois?

WDHS: That's impossible to predict. Elizabethkingia bacteria (Elizabethkingia anophelis and Elizabethkingia meningoseptica) are not unique to Wisconsin, and are commonly found in the environment worldwide. According to the CDC, there are typically five to 10 cases reported in each state in the U.S. each year. We have been sharing information with health officials in Michigan and Illinois to determine if there are any commonalities between our cases and those reported in those states, but again, we can't predict if there will be other cases in other states.

Q: Do you feel that the public is well-informed regarding this outbreak?

WDHS: We do. In addition to the press release announcing the outbreak, we update weekly case counts on the WDHS Elizabethkingia webpage every week. We also provide updates to the local and tribal health departments and other partners to keep them informed about the investigation and any new developments so that they can effectively communicate with their communities and clients.

Q: Has media coverage proved distracting or disruptive regarding the investigation in any way?

WDHS: We understand that an outbreak of any kind is news, and we appreciate the assistance of the media in helping us inform the public about it. Because of the media's continued interest in the Elizabethkingia anophelis infection outbreak, we made reporters aware that case counts are updated weekly on the DHS Elizabethkingia webpage and created an image library to provide them with pictures to use in their reports. Both have been mutually beneficial and allow us to provide current information in an efficient manner.

Q: What would you like people to know about Elizabethkingia and the current state of the outbreak and the investigation?

WDHS: It's important to remember that Elizabethkingia bacteria are rarely reported to cause illness in humans, and those who have been diagnosed with the infection in Wisconsin are, for the most part, over the age of 65 and have at least one underlying serious illness. There have been no children infected as part of this outbreak. DHS and our partners will continue to investigate this outbreak and search for the source of the bacteria that caused it. DHS will also continue to keep the public informed of weekly case counts and any new developments associated with this outbreak.

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A study conducted at Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has produced promising results in Zika-infected mice dosed with a purified, inactive of the virus, The Guardian reports.

The researchers tested two versions of experimental vaccine, the first made of genetic material taken from the Zika virus circulating in the Brazilian outbreak. The second was made from an inactivated version of the virus found in Puerto Rico. Although the injection gave the mice complete immunity from the virus, that doesn't mean it can be easily converted into a human vaccine.

Lead researcher Dan Barouch, MD, PhD, told The Guardian that the trial is a significant step forward, but it's important to be cautious about extrapolating the results of an animal model to people.

"We were very surprised and quite impressed that a single shot of either one of these vaccines provided complete protection," Dr. Barouch said.

One concern the researchers must contend with, according to The Guardian, is recent research that showed a link between dengue virus and Zika, both of which circulate in similar parts of the world. Imperial College London researchers demonstrated that previous exposure to one could potentially worsen symptoms of the other. Because vaccines work by exposing an individual to an innocuous version of the virus, there's a risk that dengue infections could become harder to fight off for those living in areas where both are common.

The researchers are now investigating how long the vaccines remain effective in mice and whether a booster shot of the inactivated virus would extend protection.

"Taken together, our findings provide substantial optimism that the development of a safe and effective [Zika virus] vaccine for humans will likely be feasible," the authors concluded in the Nature paper.
The World Health Organization plans to use fractional doses of the yellow fever vaccine in certain areas when it conducts an emergency immunization campaign in July to combat the worst yellow fever outbreak seen in parts of Africa in decades, according to the Los Angeles Times.

WHO spokeswoman Sarah Cumberland told the LA Times via email that lowered doses are only being considered for Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with more than 10 million residents, at this stage in the epidemic.

"The outbreak is still in early stages and it could be an effective way of containing spread with the vaccine doses available," Ms. Cumberland said. "Logistical considerations, such as obtaining suitable syringes and training health workers in this method, mean that dose-fractioning may be easier to implement in an urban setting."

According to the WHO, there have been a 1,106 suspected cases of yellow fever reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 68 confirmed cases and 75 deaths. In Angola, there have been 3,294 suspected cases reported, 861 cases confirmed and 347 deaths.

The global vaccine stockpile has been depleted three times since the beginning of the outbreak in December. Thus far, 15 million vaccines have been given to Angola, 3 million to the Congo and 800,000 to Uganda which is experiencing a surge of yellow fever unrelated to the outbreak that began in Angola.

According to health officials, one-fifth the normal dose of the yellow fever vaccine grants immunity for at least 12 months.

"If we don't respond fast, this has the potential to be a big outbreak with the risk of international spread," said Ms. Cumberland. "The focus is on getting this under control as fast as possible."

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Colleen Deacon cleared the first hurdle Tuesday in her attempt to unseat U.S. Rep. John Katko.

Deacon, D-Syracuse, won the Democratic primary in the 24th Congressional District, defeating fellow Democrats Eric Kingson and Steve Williams in the three-way race.

For those who have been following the race, especially over the past month, the result wasn't surprising. Deacon had three ads running on broadcast and cable TV stations before the primary. She also built a strong campaign infrastructure that not only prepared her for the primary election, but the general election as well.

Here are five reasons why Colleen Deacon won Tuesday's primary:

(1) Key Democratic support. We'll get to U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's support later on. But it helped Deacon to have several key endorsements from local officials. Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner endorsed her. Auburn Mayor Michael Quill did the same. The four county Democratic committees in the district  Cayuga, Onondaga, Oswego and Wayne  all supported her. (Onondaga endorsed her outright. Cayuga, Oswego and Wayne split the endorsement between Deacon and Williams.)

That helped, especially in a primary with low voter turnout.

(2) U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Deacon's former boss  she was Gillibrand's central New York regional director before running for Congress  has been a major asset to her campaign. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., was the first to support Deacon and contributed where she could, whether it was by sending a fundraising email or joining Deacon for a press conference in the Syracuse area.

Expect Gillibrand to play an even bigger role now that Deacon has won the primary and is shifting her attention to Katko, R-Camillus, in the 24th District race.

(3) Her campaign. You could make the case that this primary was won months ago. Deacon's campaign seemed to be more organized than the rest. Did the establishment support help? Sure. But there also appeared to be more excitement about her candidacy. That makes a difference. She not only had a strong volunteer base, but she had a lot of young people involved.

That will help her going forward as she prepares to challenge Katko in the general election.

(4) Her story. Deacon has shared her personal story many times on the campaign trail. The summary: She was working as a waitress 13 years ago when she became pregnant with her son. Her employer didn't offer paid leave, so she had to quit her job shortly before she delivered her son, Adrian.

After her son was born, she relied on food stamps, Medicaid and WIC before being hired by then-Syracuse Mayor Matthew Driscoll.

It's a story that resonates with voters. Many people in the district can relate to that experience.

(5) Onondaga County. The three candidates spent a lot of time in their home county, and with good reason. That's where the most voters are. Very few yard signs could be spotted in Cayuga County. In a primary with low turnout, Onondaga County was the key battleground.

Deacon locked up the nomination with a strong performance in Onondaga County. She received 4,731 votes there. Kingson and Williams needed to pick up votes in other counties in order to win, but that wasn't going to happen on Tuesday. Deacon won Cayuga and Oswego counties, too. (Kingson won Wayne  a small consolation prize.)

Onondaga County will be important in the general election, as it always is. Deacon and Katko will fight for votes in the city of Syracuse and towns throughout the county. But with more voters expected to head to the polls, Cayuga, Oswego and Wayne counties can play a bigger role in determining the outcome. You'll likely see both candidates spend a lot of time in those areas leading up to the November election.
Britain's decision to leave the European Union is causing regulatory uncertainty for drug companies as the London-based European Medicines Agency  equivalent to the U.S.' Food and Drug Administration  will have to relocate to a city in the EU, according to Reuters.

While most drug companies will not see an impact in their global profits thanks to strong markets for prescription medications in the U.S. and Asia, the EMA's upheaval does hold implications for the EU's drug industry. The move could pose challenges to future investment, research and jobs, according to the UK pharmaceutical trade association.

Industry executives worry the EMA's relocation will cause inefficiencies in the drug approval process, whiles scientists are concerned that funding for academic research and crucial UK-European research partnerships will be jeopardized.

While Britain could remain under the EMA's regulatory umbrella if it stays in the European Economic Area agreement, many of the individuals who supported leaving the EU oppose this option. If Britain forms its own regulatory entity, British patients could be placed on the backburner for access to new medicines as drug companies focus their efforts on the larger EU market. Some medicines could also be stalled in regulatory limbo.

Healthcare officials and drug company executives in Sweden, Denmark, Italy and Germany have expressed interest to be the new home of the EMA.

More than 70,000 people work in the UK's pharmaceutical industry, which accounts for 25 percent of all business research and development spending in the country.

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Thomas H. Lee, MD, of Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital, spoke on patient loyalty during the Healthcare Financial Management Association's 2016 National Institute in Las Vegas, according to Physician's Money Digest.

Here are five things to know:

1. Dr. Lee suggested physicians focus on meeting their patients' needs, because without patients, a practice will fail.

2. Dr. Lee and his colleagues conducted a study that revealed most patients want to like their physicians and will favorably rank and recommend their healthcare organizations.

3. The study pinpointed specific factors influencing patients' view of their providers, including confidence in their physicians and the ability of the staff to communicate empathetically.

4. He noted many patients are concerned about healthcare communication problems or gaps in care. Patients want to feel like their physicians are actually listening to their problems.

5. Dr. Lee said the ultimate factor in securing patient loyalty is "peace of mind."
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Stormont is due to hold an emergency meeting of business groups next week to discuss the impact of the UK's decision to leave the EU.

A letter from the Department for the Economy's permanent secretary, seen by this paper, invites some of Northern Ireland's main business leaders to an event on July 4 to discuss the potential crisis facing industry here.

The letter, sent by Dr Andrew McCormick, reads: "I am writing to invite you to a discussion on the implication of the Brexit referendum result for Northern Ireland. I would like to take advantage of the meeting already organised with a wider group on Monday, July 4."

The event will be held at the Park Avenue hotel in east Belfast, following the laying out of the Executive's Programme for Government.

Northern Ireland's politicians have already raised concerns over what the business landscape will look like here following a Brexit.

It is understood the majority of business leaders and groups are being invited to the event, including the CBI and the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as those representing manufacturing and other sectors.

It comes as Agriculture Minister Michelle McIlveen said she would "ensure that farmers and processors are not disadvantaged by leaving the EU".

"Just because we will be out of the EU does not mean that we will not be trading with the EU," she added. "I want to ensure that we retain a strong relationship with Europe, and in particular our neighbour the Republic of Ireland. I want to make sure we get the best deal possible for the industry in Northern Ireland."

Ms McIlveen and colleague Simon Hamilton, the Economy Minister, met a number of groups from the farming community yesterday, including the Ulster Farmers' Union, NI Meat Exporters Association, NI Grain Trade Association and Dairy UK.

After hearing concerns about farm subsidies and cross-border trade, Ms McIlveen said she was "establishing a senior team" to tackle the issues.

"I will be having discussions with Whitehall, the European Union and the Republic of Ireland to ensure that the rights of Northern Ireland farmers are protected," she explained.

Simon Hamilton said: "We will act in the best interests of Northern Ireland to ensure the industry here is able to thrive. While there will undoubtedly be change, we are presented with many opportunities."

Ulster Unionist MLA Steve Aiken called on the Executive to "urgently enact discussions and legislate to help recover confidence for our business sector, especially for our manufacturing sectors, agri-business, tourism, retail, and above all, our many small and medium enterprises".

"However, more than that, we are putting forward positive suggestions on how the Northern Ireland economy should be stimulated in this new age of uncertainty," he said.

News of the meeting next Monday came after Business Secretary Sajid Javid's first engagement with the UK's top business leaders since the shock EU referendum result.

The event was attended by the UK's leading business trade associations, including the CBI, Institute of Directors, EFF and the British Chambers of Commerce.

Mr Javid said the number one issue raised had been maintaining access to the single market. "My number one priority will be just that in the negotiations to come," he added.

The CBI's director in Northern Ireland, Nigel Smyth, said the group's director general, Carolyn Fairbairn, had been briefed on the issue that Northern Ireland's big business concern is maintaining a soft border with the Republic.

Meanwhile, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said that Britain should not hold a second referendum and that the Government should instead act quickly to provide businesses with certainty and to prevent jobs being moved overseas.

Mr Khan explained that the vote to leave the European Union must be respected.

His intervention came as figures showed that UK shop sales began to slow down ahead of last week's historic vote on the UK's membership of the EU.

That is according to the latest survey from the CBI, which said growth slipped to "plus five" in June.

The survey was conducted between May 26 and June 14, before the Brexit referendum was held on June 23.
The sale of CS300 aircraft is a huge boost to the firm

Bombardier has signed a deal with Air Canada to sell it up to 75 of its CSeries passenger jets - worth more than 400m to the Belfast workforce.

The aerospace giant landed an order for 45 of its CS300 aircraft - which are part-made in Belfast - along with the option for a further 30.

The entire deal is worth around 4.7bn, based on the aircraft's list price.

The completion of the sale comes four months after Bombardier received a letter of intent to buy the jets.

The agreement follows an order for 75 of its CS100 planes to Delta Airlines, with the potential for a further 50.

Stormont Economy Minister Simon Hamilton said the new order would "strengthen Northern Ireland's place as a global leader in aerospace technology". "This latest deal will be very much welcomed by Bombardier and by other local suppliers to the aerospace industry in Northern Ireland," he added.

Bombardier boss Alain Bellemare welcomed the deal and said Air Canada was "an innovative operator that was admired for successfully reinventing itself and, like Bombardier, was based in Quebec".

"This order is a major statement of support for Canada's aerospace industry and will help support thousands of CSeries related jobs," he explained.

"It also serves as an important catalyst for renewed interest and subsequent orders."

Calin Rovinescu, chief executive of Air Canada, said "finalising the CS300 order is a key element to Air Canada's strategy to build one of the world's youngest and most fuel efficient fleets".

He added that "following a rigorous evaluation of its capabilities" he was confident the aircraft's "superior range, economics and seating capacity" would help "contribute significantly to our development".

The delivery of the aircraft is expected to begin in late 2019 and extend to 2022.

Just last week, Bombardier secured a long-awaited $1bn bailout from the Quebec regional government to help boost its CSeries project.

One aerospace expert said this summer was the Canadian company's "time to shine" and secure further orders for the aircraft.

The regional government in Quebec, where Bombardier is based, ploughed the money into the CSeries programme in return for a 49.5% equity share in the project.

Speaking about the Brexit referendum, the company, which employs nearly 5,000 people in Northern Ireland, said: "It is too early to speculate on the potential outcomes/impacts of the UK now having voted to leave the European Union."

Bombardier revealed in February that it was cutting 1,080 staff here over the next two years.

An aviation expert warned that leaving the European Union would lead to "great uncertainty for Belfast workers and their actual and potential customers in Europe".

The plane-maker could be hit, as with many other firms, by currency fluctuations and the weak value of the pound.

Earlier this month, 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.

Bombardier has also just received certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration, as well as the European Aviation Safety Agency, that its CS100 model meets safety requirements. That certification is needed before the newly developed aircraft can enter operation.

The CSeries planes are scheduled to have their first commercial flight next month.

The number of planes Air Canada has agreed to purchase, with an option for a further 30. Delta Airlines has also signed up to buy 75 jets, with an option for another 50
British banks are failing to keep pace with their international rivals after seeing their profits slip by more than a fifth, a report has found.

The UK's banking giants have seen their combined profits drop by 22% between last year and this year, while French lenders boosted their financial performance by 30%, according to The Banker's latest ranking of the Top 1,000 banks.

The study said the British fall was driven by a "weak performance" from Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland.

It also warned that the outlook for UK banks now looked "even more uncertain" following the vote to leave the European Union. It said that UK banks now provided 2.6% of world banking profits, compared with 10% a decade ago. China, meanwhile, has seen its contribution soar, stepping up from 4% to 32% over the past 10 years.

Brian Caplen, editor of The Banker, said: "While the advent of challenger banks is a healthy sign, they are still very small.

"The real story of UK banks this year is restructuring, downsizing and falls in profits.

"They are much less significant in global terms than before the global financial crisis."

The research revealed that HSBC, which was the world's second largest bank 10 years ago, was now the only British bank in the global top 10, placing ninth.

RBS has now lost money for eight years on the trot, falling from third place in 2008 to 19th this year.

Barclays also slipped from 13th to 17th.
Mark Stockdale said the decision had wider implications for the entire renewables industry.

A new support structure is required for renewables in Northern Ireland as the subsidy scheme for small-scale wind projects closes, it has been claimed.

Economy Minister Simon Hamilton this week announced that the Northern Ireland Renewables Obligation (NIRO) for funding small wind projects would shut on Thursday.

Mark Stockdale, an associate partner and energy expert at law firm A&L Goodbody, said the decision had wider implications for the entire renewables industry.

He claimed there had been fears that Northern Ireland Renewables Obligation Certificates (NIROCs) could have ceased to be tradeable in Great Britain if the programme was kept open after the end of this month.

"The decision therefore should ease concerns around the future value of NIROCs and help provide some much-needed certainty for the renewable industry generally into the final years of the scheme," he explained.

The NIRO was closed last year to all forms of renewable generation, apart from onshore wind. It was closed to large onshore wind in April - a year earlier than planned, leading to a backlash against the then-Enterprise Minister, Jonathan Bell.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) had announced it was closing its scheme - creating pressure for Northern Ireland as the DECC had said the continuance of a scheme here would have to be paid for locally.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment held a separate consultation on the NIRO for small wind projects, which led to Simon Hamilton's decision on Monday.

The Ulster Farmers' Union, Simple Power, Renewable NI and Wind NI welcomed Mr Hamilton's announcement.

A spokeswoman for the group said it was disappointed the scheme was closing a year earlier than expected due to DECC's decisions, but said it welcomed the "clarity and certainty".

"Many involved in the small-scale wind industry have invested on the strength of the availability of the NIRO," the spokeswoman added. "They can now move forward with greater confidence that their investment has been protected if they meet the eligibility criteria."

And she said that NIE Networks now needed to work on ensuring eligible parties were able to connect to the grid.

"Our sector looks forward to working with Government and other bodies in developing a new renewables support structure, post-NIRO, to ensure an even playing field," she added.
Retail space prices Princes Street are predicted to rise as a result of the St James Centre being closed temporarily

The price of retail space in Glasgow has jumped by 8% in a year as international chains vie to secure prime locations in Scotland's top shopping destination, according to a new report.

Colliers International found the supply of retail space in Scotland's biggest city is struggling to meet demand, with many brands still prepared to pay top dollar for a good locations.

Their 2016 Midsummer Retail Report recorded a mixed picture across the country, with rents increasing in places but stagnating or decreasing in other centres.

The real estate services company surveyed 27 town and city centres across Scotland.

Of those, three recorded increasing rents, nine saw a decline and the remaining 15 were stable.

Perth had a 10% rise over the last year - proof, the report's authors said, that small city-centre shops can be desirable if the right clientele can be attracted.

Edinburgh saw an increase of 3% but the report said the market for retail space is being distorted in the short-term by plans to rebuild the St James Centre, which has left many occupiers seeking a temporary home.

Colliers predicted that prices on nearby George Street and Princes Street will rise as a result.

In Dundee, the rate of vacant shop premises has been increasing since April 2014, with more than 18% of units now unoccupied.

The "gravitational pull" of Glasgow and its big shopping centres was also thought to be having an impact on some smaller town centres. Of the nine centres with deteriorating rents, five are located in the west of Scotland - Ayr, Cumbernauld, Greenock, Hamilton and Irvine.

Overall, the report found, average rents in the sector north of the border have hardly moved over the last 12 months, down 0.2% since June last year.

John Duffy, director of in-town retail with Colliers International in Scotland, said: "Glasgow is by far the strongest shopping destination in Scotland and supply is struggling to keep up with demand, even as new space is created.

"While many retail brands are very selective, they will still pay top dollar for a prime destination.

"Smaller high streets have stagnated in recent years and some have moved backwards as retailers leave for larger, out-of-town destinations."
Vodafone says the UK's membership of the European Union has been "an important factor" in its growth

Telecoms giant Vodafone has warned it could move its headquarters out of the UK following the Brexit vote.

The group - one of the UK's largest companies - said its decision would depend on whether Britain's negotiations to quit the European Union would restrict free "movement of people, capital and goods".

It said: "The UK's membership of the European Union has been an important factor in the growth of a company such as Vodafone.

"Freedom of movement of people, capital and goods are integral to the operation of any pan-European business."

The group said it was too early to "draw any firm conclusions regarding the long-term location for the headquarters", b ut added it would " take whatever decisions are appropriate in the interests of our customers, shareholders and employees".

Vodafone employs more than 13,000 people in the UK and has headquarters in London, with offices in Newbury, Berkshire.

It made 11% of group profits from the UK in the last financial year, with more than half - 55% - coming from its European operations.

It is the latest firm to sound the alarm over the Brexit vote and impact of leaving the single European market.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid met business groups and company executives on Tuesday to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the vote to leave the EU.

He sought to assure industry leaders that the UK is "open for business" and announced moves to calm fears about the impact of Brexit.

Mr Javid said the biggest issue raised at the meeting was the need to secure continued access to the single market.

"My number one priority will be just that in the negotiations to come," he said.

He announced that he will be leading a series of trade missions to meet inward investors while trade minister Lord Price will be visiting countries including China and Brazil.

Business Department officials will also be visiting businesses across the UK to answer any concerns.

It is understood Vodafone's warning relates to its head office in London and not the offices in Newbury.

The group added it would be boosting its regulatory and public policy activities in Brussels to "ensure the group's substantial businesses within the European Union continue to be represented appropriately".

While it is one of the biggest groups listed on the FTSE 100 Index in London, the majority of its 462 million customers, 108,000 employees and 15,000 suppliers are based outside the UK.
Volkswagen has agreed a record $14.7bn (11bn) settlement in America over its diesel emissions scandal that will see owners paid up to $10,000 (7,500) each in compensation.

The scandal-hit car giant will spend $10bn (7.5bn) either buying back or repairing around 475,000 affected diesel vehicles, while it will compensate US owners with an extra $5,100 (3,800) to $10,000 (7,500) on top.

Terms of the settlement, revealed in court orders filed with the US District Court in San Francisco, showed that VW - now headed by Matthias Muller - will also pay governments $2.7bn (2bn) for environmental mitigation and spend another $2bn (1.5bn) for research on zero-emissions vehicles in the US.

It is understood to be the largest consumer class-action settlement against a car company in US history.

Volkswagen, based in Wolfsburg, Germany, is still facing billions more in fines and penalties, as well as possible criminal charges.

While this settlement relates to two-litre diesel engines, lawyers are still working on settlements for another 80,000 vehicles with three-litre diesel engines.

The two-litre settlement requires a judge's approval before it can go into effect, and owners can choose to decline Volkswagen's offer and sue the company on their own.

Volkswagen may also be forced to buy back all the two-litre vehicles unless it can find a fix that will bring the cars into compliance with US pollution regulations.

The company has already earmarked 12.7bn to cover recalls and other costs for the 11 million cars that were sold with the software globally.

The scandal was exposed last year when US regulators revealed that Volkswagen had fitted many of its cars with software to cheat emissions tests.

Investigators found that the cars emitted more than 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxide, which can cause respiratory problems.

Profits at Volkswagen fell almost a fifth at the start of the year as it dealt with the fallout.
The students of the Auburn High School class of 2016 have completed their time with us. They have taken their walk across the stage at Holland Stadium in front of family, friends, community members and teachers, and they have gotten their diplomas. This wonderful event signifies the end of the school year not only for them, but also for the majority of the staff of the Auburn Enlarged City School District. The children are gone from the classrooms and teachers have packed up their rooms for the summer. This may give the impression to many that everything at the school district has gone dark until September, when the next academic year begins. This could not be further from the truth. There are many things happening in the district during the weeks and months that our children are away. The work of the district definitely continues.

About 100 year-round district employees, including administrators, maintenance staff, clerical workers and others, come to work in the months of July and August just as they have throughout the school year. These people do not miss a beat after the final grades have been posted and the classrooms go quiet; they continue their work like any other day. There is a lot that goes into keeping the buildings in working order and preparing for the return of the students in the fall. Our maintenance staff works hard on not only the day-to-day tasks that need to be completed, but also on the bigger projects that are impossible to complete with buildings full of students and staff. Our superintendent and his senior staff work together looking at the previous school year to identify the things that went well and those things that could use improvement. They develop new programs and initiatives that they will bring to the board of education for consideration.

There are also the kids that require a little more time in the classroom to move forward with their friends and keep pace with the rest of their class. These children attend the various summer school programs that the district makes available to them. In order for these opportunities to exist (they do not exist in all districts), we need to have dedicated staff willing to work over the summer in the various positions required. We need teachers, of course, but also principals and other administrators along with counsellors, nurses and support staff. Summer school is a very ambitious undertaking that we are lucky to be able to provide for our kids. It is a way for us to all work together in service of the overall goal of giving every student a chance to succeed.

Lets not forget the board of education, the nine people elected by the district residents to provide oversight and guidance to the superintendent of schools in all his endeavors. This is not a job that ends when the weather gets warm, as there are many things that the board continues to do over the summer. We will be meeting in the first week of July for our reorganizational meeting to elect leadership and staff the various committees. From there, we develop a plan for the year, evaluate our own performance and set goals for the coming school year. We continue to have our meetings that the public is welcome and encouraged to attend, where we conduct the ongoing business of the district, pay the bills and work with the administration to ensure that everyone has what they need when things kick back into high gear in September.

The Auburn Enlarged City School District is a large machine with a great number of moving parts. Keeping it running smoothly requires constant attention and the care of many people, from the administrators and teachers to the clerical staff and custodial workers, nurses, support staff, the community and, of course, the students. Everything that we do all year long is to support our children. It is not something that any of us take lightly, and it certainly does not take a summer vacation.
Jennifer Saunders (right) and Joanna Lumley (left) are appearing in an Absolutely Fabulous film

Comedy duo Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley brought some champagne glamour to London's Leicester Square for the premiere of the long-awaited Absolutely Fabulous Movie.

A gang of screaming fans in Eddy and Patsy masks and hot pink Ab Fab t-shirts lined the sparkling gold carpet to greet the star-studded cast.

Saunders and Lumley were joined by other Ab Fab favourites including Julia Sawalha (best known as Saffy), June Whitfield and Bubble, played by Jane Horrocks, at the European premiere.

When asked about the 25 years fans have had to wait for the film, Saunders said: "We have had some TV in between, it's only been four years since the last TV and I think now because we just fancied it."

Lumley added: "We were sitting together and said 'where would we like to go?' and said the south of France and that's what started the whole thing off."

She said killing off Kate Moss was Saunder's idea and joked: "She's got a savage nature."

Lumley revealed at the beginning of the week that Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch had declined a cameo because he was too busy.

"He told me he was going to be in it and I said 'when?'," she added.

"Then he wasn't - he thought he was in it but he wasn't."

She added: "No one else said no, Jennifer was beating them off with sticks

Director Mandie Fletcher said the cast, which included dozens of A-list cameos, had "great fun" during filming.

"Everyone wanted to be in it so of course everyone was having great fun with it," she added.

"There's certainly enough women in this film. I think we've made up for a lot. The nice thing is it's women of a certain age - no one is hot in it. It's just funny so it's good."

A lot of the filming took place in the south of France and Fletcher said Brexit will be "dreadful" for the industry.

"We got tax breaks for filming in the south of France, this will all be over now.

"Seriously, it's the most dreadful thing because all those tax breaks enabled us to go to a location that we wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise. What a shame."

The big screen version of the popular TV series sees Eddy (Saunders) and Patsy (Lumley) embroiled in a PR nightmare after accidentally "killing off Kate Moss".

An unfortunate accident at a trendy launch party sees them pushing model Moss into the Thames.

The pair are then forced to flee to the French Riviera to escape the media storm surrounding her disappearance.

The film sees stars like Mad Men's Jon Hamm, Pitch Perfect's Rebel Wilson and Spice Girl Emma Bunton all making cameos.

:: Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie opens in UK cinemas on July 1.
Keith Richards will curate a weekend of films and live performances for BBC Four in September

Rolling Stone Keith Richards will swap concert arenas for the streets of Kent for a new BBC documentary about growing up in post-war Britain.

The guitarist will journey back to his formative years in the hour-long film, Keith Richards - The Origin Of The Species, directed by punk film-maker Julien Temple for BBC Two.

The documentary will be the centrepiece of the broadcaster's year-long My Generation season charting the history of pop music across the decades, and will air in July.

Richards will also curate a weekend of films and live performances for BBC Four in September.

Keith Richards' Lost Weekend will feature an introduction by the rocker - filmed by Temple - talking about his selections and inspirations.

Temple's documentary will show Richards "reclaiming for the first time on film his suburban roots" and "explore the impact he has had on how we all live our lives today", according to the BBC.

Richards, from Dartford, says in the documentary: "There was a feeling late 50s/early 60s that there was a change coming.

"Harold Macmillan actually said it - 'The winds of change' and all that - but he didn't mean it in quite the same way. I certainly felt that my generation and what was happening and the feeling in the air was it's time to push limits. The world is ours now and you can rise or fall on it."

The film details how Richards narrowly avoided being killed by a bomb in the Second World War, when his cot was sprayed with bricks and mortar before he could walk or talk.

Temple, who has previously made a concert film with the Stones, and directed David Bowie film Absolute Beginners as well as music videos for Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson and Luther Vandross, said: "Listening to the early Stones as a kid changed everything for me. I felt a new way of living emerging, a new kind of person becoming possible - something I wanted to be a part of.

"And without a doubt I thought Keith Richards was the origin of the species. This film sets out to explore how both he and the 60s in England came about."

The film will cover rationing, austerity, the beginning of the National Health Service and the end of National Service, e nding at the point the Rolling Stones began.

Cassian Harrison, channel editor at BBC Four, said: "Keith Richards is undoubtedly one of the key icons of our age.

"His film for BBC2 will be a fascinating exploration into the post-war years, how they impacted both his life and others and influenced the 60s and the decades that followed.

"And his curated weekend of programmes for BBC4 will be a thrilling musical journey for viewers - giving an extraordinary and unique insight into Keith's passions and inspirations."

Jan Younghusband, head of music TV commissioning, said: "Keith Richards is an outstanding talent and an inspiration to us all.

"We are thrilled to be able to bring his unique and entertaining insights to our audience, in this special collaboration with Julien Temple. I know it will be a totally original experience."
Icelandic budget carrier WOW air has announced low-cost fares from Dublin to New York from 129 each way.

The new route will have one stop (a one hour and 20 minute layover in Reykjavik), and will commence during the airline's winter schedule on November 25.

Flights will operate five days a week on Airbus A321 aircraft.

WOWs latest one-stop route follows the launch of transatlantic services from Dublin, via Iceland, to Boston, Washington D.C, Montreal and Toronto in 2015, and to L.A and San Francisco earlier this year.

"Our Dublin Reykjavik route has been going extremely well and we are confident that this new route will further contribute to the success of WOW's Dublin route network, said Skuli Mogensen, founder and CEO of WOW air, announcing the service.

New York "will now be more affordable than ever" he added.

WOW air began flying direct from Dublin to Iceland in June 2015. It now flies to Reykjavik five times a week, with advertised fares from 69 each-way.

Despite its low fares, however, baggage fees are among the highest in Europe.

The airline allows one cabin bag of up to 5kg free, with an additional 7kg charged at 38.99 per leg on connecting flights between Europe and the US East Coast.

Checked 20kg bags cost from 54.99 each-way.

By contrast, Aer Lingus and other carriers offering direct transatlantic flights from Dublin to New York typically offer one 23kg bag for free in economy class.

Irish Independent
First Minister Arlene Foster says she has no regrets over her decision to back Brexit.

While the UK voted in favour of Leave in the recent referendum, the majority of Northern Ireland voters opted for Remain.

The DUP was the only major party in Northern Ireland that backed the Leave campaign.

Asked on Wednesday whether she believes she can continue in a power sharing government with Sinn Fein on a common platform following the result, Mrs Foster said we have to.

That's what we have been elected to do. To represent the concerns, the wishes and the hopes and aspirations of the people of Northern Ireland.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness described the pair as cohesive, despite Thursday's Referendum outcome but blasted the result as disastrous.

Ms Foster was speaking as she joined the Sinn Fein MLA at the opening of the offices of children's television production company, Sixteen South.

No I don't regret backing Brexit," she said.

"If you look at the votes here in Northern Ireland, and you look at my election back in May of this year, and the fact that 30% of the electorate backed my leadership at that time, the only mainstream party to stand for a Brexit, and 44% of the people backed that, Ms Foster said.

So I have absolutely no regrets to my position on the referendum campaign. But, as I say, the campaign is now over.

It is regrettable that some parties have set their face against the decision of the UK electorate, however, after a while they will realise we will have to get on and we have to do the things that we were elected to do, and that was to represent the people of Northern Ireland.

And Martin McGuinness said the number one priority was to maintain our relationship with Europe.

All of these problems we are facing have been foisted upon us by a decision to hold the referendum which I think was a huge mistake, as he [David Cameron] toddles off into the sunset, will come to recognise...it was a disastrous thing to do.

The UK's exit from the European Union is expected to dominate the talks agenda in ministerial and cross-border meetings at Stormont later.

Asked how she can represent Northern Ireland with her counterpart and many others vehemently opposed to Brexit, Mrs Foster said: The campaign is over, the decision has been taken and now it is our job to go and represent the people of Northern Ireland in terms of the negotiations that are going to take place.

That is certainly my focus. To get the best deal for Northern Ireland.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has held her last ever meeting at a Brussels summit with David Cameron (AP)

Angela Merkel has said there is no way to reverse the UKs decision to vote for Brexit, calling it wishful thinking to suggest there is any way Britain can stay in the EU.

The German Chancellor was speaking ahead of the second day of an EU summit, which will continue without David Cameron on Wednesday.

Ms Merkel held what will be her last ever meeting with the UK Prime Minister at a Brussels summit on Tuesday, but insisted it was not a time for either sadness or anger.

Describing the talks as serious but friendly, she called on the rest of Europe to take the opportunity in the coming days to move on with the situation it finds itself in.

Asked if she saw any possibility for Britain to U-turn on its EU decision, Ms Merkel said: I want to say very clearly tonight that I see no way to reverse this.

We all need to look at the reality of the situation. It is not the hour for wishful thinking.

Early indications suggest many EU leaders appear keen to get Brexit over and done with now the UK has decided to leave.

Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka said: "The EU must now demonstrate unity and stability - calmly and objectively dispense with the UK, focus on growth, employment, social solidarity and security."

Lithuania's president Dalia Grybauskaite said Brexit was "sad, (and a) challenge to all - no choice but to overcome".

Also on the agenda will be a meeting between SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels as she attempts to keep Scotland in the European Union.

The First Minister is also expected to meet European Parliament president Martin Schulz and Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister and leader of the Liberal group at the European Parliament.

It is understood European Council president Donald Tusk has no plans to meet Ms Sturgeon because he does not consider it to be the right time.

The meeting with Mr Schulz is expected to be the most high profile of the First Minster's meetings but Margaritis Schinas, chief spokesman for Mr Juncker, tweeted:

The First Minister's visit comes after MSPs voted to give her a "mandate" to hold discussions with EU institutions, as well as the UK Government and other devolved nations.

On Tuesday Mr Cameron sat at the oval EU summit table and called for the UK to be given the best possible conditions for its exit in the coming months.

But Ms Merkel said it was not up to Mr Cameron to cherry-pick the terms of the negotiations and agreed with other EU leaders that there would be no informal talks before Article 50 was triggered.

Earlier in the day, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker told a plenary session of the European Parliament that he banned any talks between EU officials and the UK government until that condition was met.

EU Council President Donald Tusk said: Europe is ready to start the divorce process, even today.

Independent
One of the most high-profile Catholic priests in Belfast, Fr Gary Donegan, has revealed that a relative fought at the Battle of the Somme. And the Fermanagh-born cleric, who received death threats from dissident republicans in recent weeks, has said that his family ties to the Great War resonate profoundly with him.

Fr Gary said he was proud of his great-grand-uncle Bob West, who served with an Irish regiment at the Somme and was later decorated for his courage.

The priest said that honouring the sacrifices of the men who fought and died at the Somme was a must.

He added: "When you look back and see the slaughter of so many young men in such horrific battles like the Somme I think the least that people can do is to remember them."

Fr Donegan, who's been rector at the Holy Cross church on the Crumlin Road since 2008, said he had attended a dinner in Belfast City Hall on June 24 to commemorate the battle and its casualties.

The priest also went to a civic dinner a few weeks ago to mark the Easter Rising.

It was an event that grabbed the headlines after Irish President Michael D Higgins, who was due to be the guest of honour, pulled out of the dinner after unionists boycotted it.

But Fr Donegan said: "I think it's important for people like me to be seen at all these things."

Bob West, like Fr Donegan, was from Newtownbutler. He survived the Great War, but died before the priest got a chance to meet him.

Fr Gary said he thought he was typical of thousands of people across Ireland whose family backgrounds were complex.

"I have a Protestant aunt and uncle and cousins, and there are many people like me on this island who are a mixture of everything."

He said the civic dinner had been a great way to mark the centenary of the battle.

"It was done through music, words and plays and was very interesting.

"Our history is so complex, if you research it at any stage you will finds parts of that history which will surprise you."

He said that, unlike many nationalist families who shunned mention of relatives who fought for the British Army, he had always been told about his great-grand-uncle. "Not only did he fight at the Somme, but a nephew of his was in the Second World War," he explained.

"That was a part of our extended family which was always recognised.

"Bob was always remembered with great fondness.

"Whatever he witnessed, he never spoke to anyone about it. Obviously, he was so traumatised by those events he did not want to recall them, if possible. However, we never felt that we should shy away from what he did. In fact, it was the opposite.

"I would have loved to have heard about his experiences first-hand.

"At my dinner table in the City Hall, many of the guests recalled that their ancestors had also refused to talk about what happened to them, or what they saw.

"It seems to have been a common thing among those who survived the war.

"They were so affected by the horror of it all, particularly the Battle of the Somme.

"Any war has its difficulties and those who serve in them can end up with conditions like post-traumatic stress.

"It is particularly sad that men who were affected in that way during the Somme were later accused of cowardice and taken out and executed. In fact, they were simply ill."

He says his "road to Damascus" moment as regards realising the horror of war came during a trip to France with schoolchildren from Scotland.

"When you are a child growing up, most of your imagery of war is black and white," he said.

"But, as we drove through a certain area, there were fields of poppies which were so colourful. I realised that could have been the last thing that so many of those who died at the Somme and elsewhere in the First World War would have seen.

"It was real and raw for them and I suppose the contrast between the beauty of something in nature like a flower and the horror of war struck home to me.

"Each of those flowers represented someone's father, husband or brother who perished there."

Fr Donegan said that he hoped to visit the battlefield, either this year or in the near future.

"Another moment that struck home with me was watching the Blackadder series on television. There you had those Oxbridge-educated geniuses in the programme, trying to invent ways to stop having to go over the top, and then you realise that, in reality, men flung themselves out of the trenches at the sound of an officer's whistle knowing they could well be cut down within moments, and they would do that time after time.

"It was the contrast between the hilarity of the programmes and the pathos of what actually happened that struck a chord with me.

"Many of those men who joined the Army may have done so because of poverty at home, or for adventure, or just to see the world. What happened to them is almost beyond comment. As has often been said, war is old men sending young men out to die."

Fr Donegan said he welcomed the greater appreciation nowadays of the role played by both Catholics and Protestants in events like the Somme.

"I attended a lecture given by the Ulster GAA at Queen's University, which outlined how former players were involved in various wars. It was a real eye-opener for many of the people in the room," he explained.

"In many cases these men were shunned in their home cities and towns and villages when they returned from the war in spite of what they had gone through.

"We all come from a complex background and I am very proud of my great-grand-uncle Bob West and what he did. As a priest, or pastor, I don't agree with war, but he went and did what he did, and I am the last person to deny what he did.

"His courage was immense. And I also remember that the devastation of what he experienced was so great that he could not comment on it."
A young boy gazes in awe at a bonfire in the Roden Street area of south Belfast. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press.

Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press.

Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press.

Haidee de Sesto and Linda Ritele pictured as they wait for the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn to be lit for the 11th of July celebration. William Cherry/Presseye.

Haidee de Sesto and Linda Ritele pictured as they wait for the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn to be lit for the 11th of July celebration. William Cherry/Presseye.

Haidee de Sesto and Linda Ritele pictured as they wait for the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn to be lit for the 11th of July celebration. William Cherry/Presseye.

Haidee de Sesto and Linda Ritele pictured as they wait for the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn to be lit for the 11th of July celebration. William Cherry/Presseye.

Preparations begin around Belfast ahead of this year's annual Eleventh Night bonfire night celebrations. Jonathan Porter/Press Eye.

Bonfire builders take a rest in the New Mosley area of Belfast. Niall Carson/PA Wire.

The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

A man lights the controversial Chobham Street Bonfire on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

Firefighters hose down the houses after smoke begins to rise from the roof of a property near the Chobham Street bonfire. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

One of the huge bonfires that towers over the houses and looks over the city of Belfast in preparation for the 11th of July celebrations when the bonfires are lit in many Protestant, unionist and loyalist areas of Northern Ireland. Photo: William Cherry / Presseye

Iain McFarland, an Orange bandsman, plays his flute during the 11th night bonfire at the New Mossley housing estate on July 12, 2015 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press.

The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Pictured are Kayie Curry with Ryan Morgan Maddox Glass and Kai McNurnan.

Police water canon on stand by at the Grosevnor Road police station in Belfast, Northern Ireland as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

The Shankill bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

Firefighters hose down the houses in the area after smoke begins to rise from the roof of a property next to the Chobham Street bonfire. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

The controversial Chobham Street Bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

The controversial Chobham Street Bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

A man playing the flute as the Ballymacash bonfire burns in Lisburn. William Cherry/Presseye.

The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

Bonfire builders get to work lighting the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn. William Cherry/Presseye.

The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

11th July 2015 ?William Cherry/Presseye A man playing the flute as the Ballymacash bonfire burns in Lisburn for the 11th of July Celebrations when the bonfires are lit in many Protestant, unionist and loyalist areas of Northern Ireland.

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is the Donegall Road bonfire in South Belfast, as seen from the King Billy mural in sandy row as the 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye.

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is firefighters using a jet hose on a building at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye.

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is firefighters using a jet hose on a building at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye.

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is firefighters using a jet hose on a building at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye.

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is Fire Fighters at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast as the intense heat begins to melt objects and forces the crowds back as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye.

Elliott Ross and Ryan Ashwood with Matthew Dixon and Gary Ashwood. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker press

Photographer ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com 10th July 2015 The scene in East Belfast's Chobham Street where more than 50 homes have been boarded up to protect them from a 11 July bonfire.

The New Mossley bonfire, one of the largest in the province is seen on the outskirts of Belfast. AFP PHOTO / PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images.

Local youths burn palets next to the New Mossley bonfire, one of the largest in the province is seen on the outskirts of Belfast. AFP PHOTO / PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images.

A youth fixes a flag onto a bonfire on the lower Shankill area of Belfast. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images.

A youth stands on top of a bonfire on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images.

A man sits on a bonfire on the lower Shankill area of Belfast. AFP PHOTO / PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images.

Houses are evacuated and protected at Chobham Street in east Belfast, Northern Ireland, as one of the biggest bonfires in east Belfast grows in size, ahead of the traditional 11th night bonfires. AFP PHOTO / PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images

A man stands on top of the bonfire as houses are evacuated and protected at Chobham Street in east Belfast. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images.

Houses are evacuated and protected at Chobham Street in east Belfast. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images.

A youth fixes a flag onto a bonfire on the lower Shankill area of Belfas. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images.

Pacemaker press 11/07/2013: The Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast the 12th of July celebrations began at midnight across the province. Picture By: Arthur Allison.

A statue of our the Virgin Mary placed on a loyalist bonfire at Lanark Way PACEMAKER

Preparations get underway at the Bonfire in Lanark Way in Belfast, ahead of the 12th of July annual Orange celebrations Pic Pacemaker

Young loyalists scale the huge face of the bonfire on Lanark Way, off the Shankill

Election posters of Alliance member Anna Lo on the Bonfire in Carrickfergus ahead of the 12th of July annual Orange celebrations Pacemaker Press 7/7/2014

The huge bonfire on Lanark Way July 2014

The memorial from which statue was stolen

Preparations get underway at the Bonfire in Lanark Way in Belfast, ahead of the 12th of July annual Orange celebrations Pacemaker Press 7/7/2014

Election posters of Alliance MLA Anna Lo and Sinn Fein's MEP Martina Anderson were placed on a bonfire in the Bloomfield estate in Bangor

An image posted on the Ballycraigy bonfire Facebook page claiming to be an effigy of Gerry Adams

Youths climb a bonfire in the New Mosley area of Belfast. Niall Carson/PA Wire.

The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye.

An image posted on the Ballycraigy bonfire Facebook page claiming to be an effigy of Gerry Adams

A bonfire builder at work in the New Mosley area of Belfast. Niall Carson/PA Wire.

Fears are growing for the safety of residents and their homes as another potentially huge bonfire is being built near Chobham Street in east Belfast.

Last year, residents had to be evacuated from their homes, which were boarded up as a massive bonfire was lit on the Eleventh Night.

The Fire Service hosed down properties at risk of going up in flames as the 50-foot pyre was set ablaze dangerously close to houses.

Pledges were made that such scenes would not be repeated this year, with a play park being built on the wasteground where the bonfire had been located.

Expand Close Fire wood being collected at the east Belfast site yesterday Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook

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Whatsapp Fire wood being collected at the east Belfast site yesterday

However, last night loyalists were stacking pallets on land, owned by the council, right beside the new park.

The Belfast Telegraph has been told that hundreds more pallets, in storage nearby, will be added in the coming days.

The material is being stacked around 15ft from houses in Lena Street, which runs next to Chobham Street.

Local people have contacted the council demanding that they remove the material immediately. However, council sources said they did not believe this would happen because there would be a difficulty in finding contractors willing to do the job.

They said they hoped that this year's bonfire would be smaller.

Ulster Unionist councillor Jim Rodgers said: "We cannot have a repeat of the scenes we witnessed last year.

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Ballycraigy estate, Antrim - Bobby Sands, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness 11th July Bonfires. Lower Shankill 11-07-2015 11th July Bonfires. Isis flag Ballysillan North Belfast. Pictures of Gerry Kelly, Alban Maginness 11th July Bonfires. Isis flag Ballysillan North Belfast. Pictures of Gerry Kelly, Alban Maginness 11-07-2015 11th July Bonfires. Ballycraigy estate, Antrim 11-07-2015 11th July Bonfires. Ballycraigy estate, Antrim - Bbby Sands, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness on the bonefire 11th July Bonfires. Ballycraigy estate, Antrim 11-07-2015 New Mossley 11-07-2015 Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is Fire Fighters at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast as the intense heat begins to melt objects and forces the crowds back as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The huge bonfire on Lanark Way July 2014 Election posters of Alliance MLA Anna Lo and Sinn Fein's MEP Martina Anderson were placed on a bonfire in the Bloomfield estate in Bangor Preparations get underway at the Bonfire in Lanark Way in Belfast, ahead of the 12th of July annual Orange celebrations Pacemaker Press 7/7/2014 Ballyduff bonfire in Newtownabbey July 2014 Election posters of Alliance member Anna Lo on the Bonfire in Carrickfergus ahead of the 12th of July annual Orange celebrations Pacemaker Press 7/7/2014 Mount Vernon North Belfast Young loyalists scale the huge face of the bonfire on Lanark Way, off the Shankill Preparations get underway at the Bonfire in Lanark Way in Belfast, ahead of the 12th of July annual Orange celebrations Pic Pacemaker Sandy Row South Belfast A statue of our the Virgin Mary placed on a loyalist bonfire at Lanark Way PACEMAKER Bonfire on Shankill Road 2012 Bonfire on Shankill Road 2012 Pacemaker press 11/07/2013: The Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast the 12th of July celebrations began at midnight across the province. Picture By: Arthur Allison. PACEMAKER BELFAST 11/07/2013 Young men pictured enjoying the Bonfire in King George Playing Fields Upper Newtownards Road Belfast. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press 12.07.13. PICTURE BY DAVID FITZGERALD The 12th night bonfire celebrations get underway in Erinvale Estate in Finaghy Road South last night. The bonfire fell over close to people watching. A man runs as the bonfire starts to fall Pacemaker press 11/07/2013: The Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast the 12th of July celebrations began at midnight across the province. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker press 11/07/2013: The Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast the 12th of July celebrations began at midnight across the province. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Press Eye - Belfast - Thursday 11th July 2013 General view of at the bonfire in the loyalist Highfield Estate in west Belfast. In Northern Ireland, the Eleventh Night or 11th Night refers to the night before the Twelfth of July, an annual Protestant commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. Pacemaker press Young men from the Shankill area of Belfast put the finishing touch on their bonfire's on the 11th of july. picture mark marlow Pacemaker press Young men from the Shankill area of Belfast put the finishing touch on their bonfire's on the 11th of july. picture mark marlow Pacemaker press 11/07/2013: The Bonfire at Belvoir, South Belfast the 12th of July celebrations began at midnight across the province. Picture By: Arthur Allison. PACEMAKER BELFAST 11/07/2013 Katie-Leigh Bain,Curtis Johnston and Cherene Grundmann pictured enjoying the Bonfire in King George Playing Fields Upper Newtownards Road Belfast. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press Pacemaker press 11/07/2013: The Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast the 12th of July celebrations began at midnight across the province. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker press 11/7/13 The Bonfire in Ballyduff on the outskirt's of Belfast on the 11th of july. picture mark marlow Pacemaker press Young men from the Shankill area of Belfast put the finishing touch on their bonfire's on the 11th of july. picture mark marlow Pacemaker press 11/07/2013: The Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast the 12th of July celebrations began at midnight across the province. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker press 11/07/2013: The Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast the 12th of July celebrations began at midnight across the province. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker press 11/07/2013: The Bonfire at Belvoir, South Belfast the 12th of July celebrations began at midnight across the province. Picture By: Arthur Allison. General view of the bonfire on Lanark Way off the Shankill Road in west Belfast. Presseye Northern Ireland - 10th July 2013 Mandatory Credit - Photo-William Cherry/Presseye Youths tend the bonfire at the Ballymacash, Lisburn ahead of the Twelfth of July celebrations. ?William Cherry/Presseye Presseye Northern Ireland - 10th July 2013 Mandatory Credit - Photo-William Cherry/Presseye Youths tend the bonfire at the Ballymacash, Lisburn ahead of the Twelfth of July celebrations. ?William Cherry/Presseye Presseye Northern Ireland - 10th July 2013 Mandatory Credit - Photo-William Cherry/Presseye Youths tend the bonfire at the Ballymacash, Lisburn ahead of the Twelfth of July celebrations. ?William Cherry/Presseye Presseye Northern Ireland - 10th July 2013 Mandatory Credit - Photo-William Cherry/Presseye Youths tend the bonfire at the Ballymacash, Lisburn ahead of the Twelfth of July celebrations. ?William Cherry/Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is Fire Fighters at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast as the intense heat begins to melt objects and forces the crowds back as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is Fire Fighters at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast as the intense heat begins to melt objects and forces the crowds back as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is firefighters using a jet hose on a building at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is firefighters using a jet hose on a building at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is firefighters using a jet hose on a building at the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is the Sandy Row bonfire in South Belfast, as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast - Northern Ireland - Saturday 11th July 2015 - 12th Night Bonfires Pictured is the Donegall Road bonfire in South Belfast, as seen from the King Billy mural in sandy row as the 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland to mark the victory of King William over King James Picture by Kevin Scott / Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye 11th July 2015 ?William Cherry/Presseye A man playing the flute as the Ballymacash bonfire burns in Lisburn for the 11th of July Celebrations when the bonfires are lit in many Protestant, unionist and loyalist areas of Northern Ireland. ?William Cherry / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye 11th July 2015 ?William Cherry/Presseye A group of women take a selfie as the Ballymacash bonfire burns in Lisburn for the 11th of July Celebrations when the bonfires are lit in many Protestant, unionist and loyalist areas of Northern Ireland. ?William Cherry / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Bonfire builders get to work lighting the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The Shankill bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The Shankill bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Bonfire builders get to work lighting the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye Bonfire builders get to work lighting the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye A man playing the flute as the Ballymacash bonfire burns in Lisburn. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye A young man celebrates as the Ballymacash bonfire burns in Lisburn. Pic: William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street Bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street Bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Firefighters hose down the houses in the area after smoke begins to rise from the roof of a property next to the Chobham Street bonfire. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye A group of women take a selfie as the Ballymacash bonfire burns in Lisburn. Pic: William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye The Shankill bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Police water canon on stand by at the Grosevnor Road police station in Belfast, Northern Ireland as 12th of July celebrations get under way across Northern Ireland. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Pictured are Kayie Curry with Ryan Morgan Maddox Glass and Kai McNurnan. The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. A group of women take a selfie as the Ballymacash bonfire burns in Lisburn. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye Locals from the Village area of south Belfast enjoy watching their local bonfire as working class Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Hundreds of people watch on as the 11th night bonfire collapses at the New Mossley housing estate on July 12, 2015 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images Hundreds of people gather for the 11th night bonfire as it is set alight at the New Mossley housing estate on July 12, 2015 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. New Mossley is widely recognised as the largest bonfire in the province. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images Hundreds of people gather for the 11th night bonfire as it is set alight at the New Mossley housing estate on July 12, 2015 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. New Mossley is widely recognised as the largest bonfire in the province. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images A Loyalist youth carrying the Union Jack flag walks past the 11th night bonfire at the New Mossley housing estate on July 12, 2015 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. New Mossley is widely recognised as the largest bonfire in the province. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Locals from the Village area of south Belfast enjoy watching their local bonfire as working class Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Pictured are Matthew Dixon with Ryan and Gary Ashwood in south Belfast. Pic: Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Pictured is Jaxon Washington-Powell. Pic: Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Pictured are Matthew Dixon with Ryan and Gary Ashwood in south Belfast. Pic: Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. A couple walk past the 11th night bonfire at the New Mossley housing estate on July 12, 2015 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. New Mossley is widely recognised as the largest bonfire in the province. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images A Loyalist youth carrying the Union Jack flag walks past the 11th night bonfire at the New Mossley housing estate on July 12, 2015 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. New Mossley is widely recognised as the largest bonfire in the province. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Iain McFarland, an Orange bandsman, plays his flute during the 11th night bonfire at the New Mossley housing estate on July 12, 2015 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. One of the huge bonfires that towers over the houses and looks over the city of Belfast in preparation for the 11th of July celebrations when the bonfires are lit in many Protestant, unionist and loyalist areas of Northern Ireland. Photo: William Cherry / Presseye ?William Cherry / Presseye Iain McFarland, an Orange bandsman, plays his flute during the 11th night bonfire at the New Mossley housing estate on July 12, 2015 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images Hundreds of people gather for the Eleventh Night bonfire at the New Mossley housing estate near Belfast. New Mossley is widely recognised as the largest bonfire in the province. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Firefighters hose down the houses after smoke begins to rise from the roof of a property near the Chobham Street bonfire. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye A man lights the controversial Chobham Street Bonfire on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye The controversial Chobham Street bonfire being lit on the Eleventh Night in Belfast. Kevin Scott/Presseye. Kevin Scott / Presseye Bonfire builders take a rest in the New Mosley area of Belfast. Niall Carson/PA Wire. PA Preparations begin around Belfast ahead of this year's annual Eleventh Night bonfire night celebrations. Jonathan Porter/Press Eye. Haidee de Sesto and Linda Ritele pictured as they wait for the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn to be lit for the 11th of July celebration. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye Haidee de Sesto and Linda Ritele pictured as they wait for the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn to be lit for the 11th of July celebration. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye Haidee de Sesto and Linda Ritele pictured as they wait for the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn to be lit for the 11th of July celebration. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye Haidee de Sesto and Linda Ritele pictured as they wait for the Ballymacash bonfire in Lisburn to be lit for the 11th of July celebration. William Cherry/Presseye. ?William Cherry / Presseye Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. Loyalist area's across Northern Ireland get ready to kick off the 12th of July celebrations with the traditional bonfires. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. A young boy gazes in awe at a bonfire in the Roden Street area of south Belfast. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker Press. A bonfire builder at work in the New Mosley area of Belfast. Niall Carson/PA Wire. PA Youths climb a bonfire in the New Mosley area of Belfast. Niall Carson/PA Wire. PA Houses are evacuated and protected at Chobham Street in east Belfast. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images A man stands on top of the bonfire as houses are evacuated and protected at Chobham Street in east Belfast. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images Houses are evacuated and protected at Chobham Street in east Belfast, Northern Ireland, as one of the biggest bonfires in east Belfast grows in size, ahead of the traditional 11th night bonfires. AFP PHOTO / PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images A youth stands on top of a bonfire on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images A youth fixes a flag onto a bonfire on the lower Shankill area of Belfas. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images A youth fixes a flag onto a bonfire on the lower Shankill area of Belfast. AFP PHOTO/PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images A man sits on a bonfire on the lower Shankill area of Belfast. AFP PHOTO / PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images A resident of Chobham street boards up his windows to protect his home from the bonfire built nearby as people make final preparations for the Eleventh Night bonfire. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images Local youths burn palets next to the New Mossley bonfire, one of the largest in the province is seen on the outskirts of Belfast. AFP PHOTO / PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images The New Mossley bonfire, one of the largest in the province is seen on the outskirts of Belfast. AFP PHOTO / PAUL FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images. AFP/Getty Images Bonfire builders at Mount Vernon in north Belfast. Photo: Matt Mackey/Presseye ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com Photographer ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com 10th July 2015 Bonfire builders at Mount Vernon in North Belfast. ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com Photographer ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com 10th July 2015 Bonfire builders at Mount Vernon in North Belfast. ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com Photographer ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com 10th July 2015 The scene in East Belfast's Chobham Street where more than 50 homes have been boarded up to protect them from a 11 July bonfire. ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com Matthew Dixon and Gary Ashwood in south Belfast. Pic: Mark Marlow/Pacemaker press Elliott Ross and Ryan Ashwood with Matthew Dixon and Gary Ashwood. Mark Marlow/Pacemaker press Ryan Ashwood from south Belfast. Pictures: Mark Marlow/Pacemaker press Photographer ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com 10th July 2015 Bonfire builders at Mount Vernon in North Belfast. ?Matt Mackey - Presseye.com / Facebook

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Whatsapp 11th July Bonfires. Ballycraigy estate, Antrim - Bobby Sands, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness

"A number of residents have been in contact with myself and my council colleagues expressing fears that they'd either have to move out of their homes or have their windows blocked up in the same way as last year.

"These people cannot be put through all that again. There are old people living in flats in Ravenscroft Avenue and we are also concerned about damage the bonfire may do to the new play park."

Mr Rodgers, who was born and bred in the area, said he was not opposed to bonfires. "People should be free to express their culture, but it must be done in a responsible fashion," he added.

"This should be a time of celebration and festivity, not one in which residents face such worries. I will continue talking to council staff to see what can be done."

SDLP councillor Declan Boyle called for swift action from the authorities. "We spent more than 10,000 hoarding up houses last year, and it took six fire appliances and 35 firefighters to monitor the bonfire and hose down properties," he said.

"That was a terrible waste of resources, and at a time when public funds are already over-stretched, any repeat would be unacceptable.

"The situation was allowed to drift last year and we must not meander into allowing a dangerous bonfire to be staged again.

"Nobody objects to a safe celebration but, if it is clear that material being gathered will pose a risk to people or property on the Eleventh Night, it must be removed - and removed now.

"It would be ludicrous to risk damaging a play park just built with public money."

Alliance councillor Michael Long expressed serious concerns about the situation and called for the PSNI to take action.

"Last July, some people were forced out of their homes and a ridiculous level of protection had to be taken to stop other properties burning down," he said. "We were told back then that would be the end of it, but now residents appear to be facing the same inconvenience again.

"I visited the bonfire last Eleventh Night and saw election posters of my wife burning on it. I reported that to police as a hate crime. It is time the police took action against these kind of people."
Peachtown Elementary is a school that fosters creativity and a healthy dose of nonconformity. Creativity is encouraged by fewer rules and restraints, and the time and opportunity to explore. Nonconformity, by definition, requires acceptance of not just different styles of learning, but also different outcomes. So how does an educator create a free and open environment, while still teaching a cohesive curriculum in a classroom that is well-managed, and which addresses the diverse needs of students? The answers to that question are at the heart of most of our curriculum planning and pedagogical discussions.

One approach is what our Upper Classroom teacher calls Creative Academy. When, as a group, the students select the Creative Academy as a portion of their annual curriculum, each student takes time to select an area of study of interest to them and to design a project that will demonstrate that learning. While the students select their own project and outline their year-long plan, regularly scheduled meetings throughout the year with their teacher provide the necessary structure, and sometimes restraint, which will allow them to successfully complete their goals or deal with their failures.

This years projects were examples not just of how independent learning projects can be vehicles of creativity, but also examples of successful time management and self-discipline. The projects included filmmaking, photography and sculpture, wheel-thrown pottery, graphic novel writing, musical composition and scoring, Rube Goldberg constructions and in-depth research of historical figures.

The final presentation of student projects was impressive: from the eighth-grader who hung a series of professional-quality photographs to the fifth-grader who studied the life and work of Nikola Tesla, composed and performed an elegant and complex piano composition based upon his life and built a model of a Tesla water turbine, to boot. Each student learned a great deal about how grand plans may need to be scaled back, and how much perseverance is required to execute a plan  but each student was successful.

At Peachtown, there are no special projects for the gifted and talented. Every student has the opportunity to fully participate. Such opportunities not only foster creativity, they insert personal interests and personality into learning, allowing students to create something original. The final products of this year-long process say it all.

Building independent learning into the school curriculum not only offers students the opportunity to dream, to build, to fail and to redesign, it also teaches discipline and confidence. Successful learners do not need to get a grade, they recognize their own achievements and disappointments. They take ownership of their learning. If there is something new they would like to learn, they know they can do it on their own, but they also know where to go for help.

A healthy learning environment is always a balanced blend (or maybe a teeter-totter) of instruction and structure, and freedom and personal initiative: a shared responsibility between the teacher and student. The Creative Academy was about imagining, planning, executing and making something new and different. As Einstein said, Imagination is everything. It is the preview of lifes coming attractions.
Victims of the Troubles could be hit hard by the UK's exit from the EU, it has been warned.

The future of a programme designed to pump 17m (14.1m) into victims' groups in Northern Ireland is now in doubt, it has been claimed.

Wave - one of the major groups dealing with victims' issues - has raised concerns that funding will be frozen following the decision to leave the EU.

Wave said the result could affect its trauma training programme imminently and revealed that youth work provision had already ended.

The group demanded that Stormont ministers find out whether the planned Peace 4 money will be forthcoming.

Chief executive Sandra Peake said: "As far as we are aware, 17m had been earmarked for the victims' and survivors' sector, but there is very real concern over whether this will happen.

"For us, it was to be a five-year programme, which was very welcome, but if the UK is to pull out after the next two years the funding may be only for that period."

In the past, money from the EU would have funded up to 50%, and at times 60%, of Wave's budget.

"We have no EU money now but had been in the process of applying for the Peace 4 funds.

"In the past, EU money allocated to us would have paid for our development work."

Belfast centre manager Alan McBride added: "We are far from the only organisation in the community and voluntary sector which is seeking answers, but solutions at the moment seem thin on the ground.

"It isn't that we were certain of gaining access to these funds, but given our track record we were fairly confident that we would qualify and now there is a huge amount of uncertainty.

"A big question mark has been put over all of this and no one seems to have any answers.

"None of those who were in support of the withdrawal from the EU seems to know what is going to happen."

Mr McBride, whose wife Sharon and father-in-law Desmond Frizzell were among the victims of the IRA's Shankill bomb in October 1993, said: "We are working with very vulnerable people. There is a lot of fear and trepidation out there."

The board of Wave, a voluntary cross-community organisation initially formed to support people who lost spouses as a result of violence, is meeting later this week to discuss the potential funding gap.

After it was formed in 1991, the group was expanded to include children, young people and anyone injured or traumatised during the Troubles.

It now has offices in Armagh, Ballymoney, Londonderry and Omagh.

Europe has paid 1.3bn since 1995 to support peace in Northern Ireland and the border counties in the Republic of Ireland through both the PEACE and Interreg initiatives.

It has also helped build a peace bridge linking mainly Catholic and Protestant communities in Londonderry and also the Skainos Centre in East Belfast.

While she backed a Brexit, First Minister Arlene Foster previously praised the PEACE scheme.

Communities Minister Paul Givan told MLAs yesterday he had asked officials to take action to "scope out the impact" of EU withdrawal across the range of community groups.

"Uncertainty can create anxiety, and we need to make sure that we give them the best support that we possibly can," the DUP man explained

Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Secretary will today say that the bond between the UK and Ireland can survive a Brexit.

In a speech at Stormont House, Theresa Villiers, who campaigned to leave the European Union, will say she looks forward to strengthening the relationship between the two neighbouring countries.

The Secretary of State will add: "We have seen all too well how history can divide.

"Our ambitious goal throughout this decade is to seek to use history to unite.

"To build on the political progress that has been made here, to strengthen further the strong bilateral relationship that exists between the United Kingdom and Ireland... a relationship that will endure long beyond the UK's exit from the EU.

"And to bolster the special ties that exist throughout these islands as we look forward to our next century of co-operation, partnership and friendship."

The speech comes as the UK and Irish Governments prepare to discuss the likely fallout from the Brexit vote for the first time today.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan and Ms Villiers will talk about the impact of the referendum on cross-border relations when they meet in Belfast.

Meetings will also take place with the First and Deputy First Ministers and other parties.
Mrs Lemmon's husband Joseph was among 10 textile factory workers murdered when their minibus was ambushed

The 93-year-old widow of a man killed in the Kingsmill atrocity has made an impassioned plea to press on with a long-awaited inquest.

In a heartfelt letter to the coroner, bed-ridden Jane Lemmon said she wanted to see the "wicked" gunmen held to account before she died.

She said: "I would just like to emphasise that some of us don't have that long left on the Earth and I would certainly like to see this inquest over before I leave to be with the Lord.

"I know the fight for justice will continue... but I would just love to hear the names of those people who committed this terrible act.

"I'd very much like to see those responsible held accountable for what they have done."

Mrs Lemmon's husband Joseph was among 10 textile factory workers murdered when their minibus was ambushed near the Co Armagh village of Kingsmill on January 5 1976.

Those on board were asked their religion and the only Catholic was told to flee.

The gunmen, who were hidden in the hedges, ordered the rest to line up outside the van and then opened fire.

Details of the letter were read out by lawyer Neil Rafferty during a preliminary inquiry at Belfast's Laganside Court complex.

Mr Rafferty, who represents a number of the bereaved families, said "This brings into very, very sharp focus the reality that the people who have suffered most are the people who are asked to endure the delay, a delay not of their causing and not of their making.

"It beholds those who caused that delay to act speedily."

The inquest has been dogged by delay since police revealed they had matched a palm print found on the getaway vehicle- a week after the case opened.

While she accepted that police should be given time to investigate the significant new lead, Mrs Lemmon claimed it should not be "open ended" adding some families could not wait much longer.

Coroner Judge Brian Sherrard said he was mindful of the issues raised and indicated he would reply directly to the widow.

But he told the court: "My priority is to conduct an appropriate and proportionate investigation."

Meanwhile, it was also revealed that the PSNI plan to brief the Kingsmill families on the "history" of the palm print.

The presentation will first be made to the coroner, possibly on Thursday, the court heard.

Judge Sherrard said he would be seeking an explanation for the emergence of the palm print at such a late stage but would focus on where the development takes the inquest.

"My principal focus is where this goes, not where it has been," added Judge Sherrard.

He has also ordered police to provide monthly updates on the progress of their investigation.

The 10 who died at Kingsmill were John Bryans, Robert Chambers, Reginald Chapman, Walter Chapman, Robert Freeburn, Joseph Lemmon, John McConville, James McWhirter, Robert Samuel Walker and Kenneth Worton.

One man, Alan Black, survived, despite being shot 18 times.

No-one has ever been convicted over the massacre.

The inquest has been adjourned until September.
An Irish Guards piper wounded in Afghanistan is to play a lament at the end of an all-night vigil and service at Westminster Abbey commemorating the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.

Lance Corporal Richie Spence (24) from Newtownards will play Flowers In The Forest by the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in London at 7.30am on Friday.

It marks the moment in 1916 when thousands of British soldiers met their deaths as they went "over the top" in the first wave of the attack.

The young soldier - shot by insurgents while serving in Afghanistan in 2011 aged just 18 - said it was a huge honour and privilege to play on the anniversary of Britain's bloodiest battle.

"It is such an important day," he said.

"It was a truly horrible war with terrible casualties.

"You had lads as young as 15, who'd lied about their age to join up, dying fighting for a better cause for their country.

"I have the utmost respect for those men and boys.

"Everyone should know how special a day it is and realise what they went through for us.

"No one can imagine how grotesque it must have been.

"I've experienced war, but I had the benefit of decent personal equipment and weaponry they never had."

L Cpl Spence, who has completed operational tours in Cyprus and the Falklands, and been on training exercises in Kenya and Oman, said he was proud and honoured to be taking part in the commemorations.

"The pipes were used back then just as they are today to fire up soldiers' morale before they go to face their enemy," he said.

"The lament is a tribute to all who fought."

On Friday, 100 years to the minute, at precisely 7.25am in Parliament Square, The Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery will fire three First World War era 13-pounder guns for 100 seconds, with four seconds between each round.

The salvo will commemorate the end of the artillery bombardment at the Somme and the beginning of the doomed infantry assault on the still intact German lines.
The Kincora home is at the centre of allegations about a group of abusers involving high-profile political and military figures

There was no evidence of paedophile or prostitution rings involving members of the establishment at Kincora boys' home in Northern Ireland, a retired detective has said.

The east Belfast home has long been at the centre of allegations about a group of abusers involving high-profile political and military figures in the 1970s.

There are also claims that security services covered up the abuse in order to use the perpetrators for intelligence purposes.

Retired Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) detective chief superintendent George Caskey said: "There was no paedophile ring or prominent figures involved in abusing boys at Kincora."

However children were often legitimately moved between homes as part of normal care arrangements and an individual working at another premises may have advised a paedophile convicted of abuse about his targets, the former senior officer told retired judge Sir Anthony Hart's Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry.

He traced half the residents at the notorious establishment over a 22-year period from 1958. Three workers were convicted.

Mr Caskey said none of the residents or former residents he interviewed made allegations involving a high-profile sex ring to him.

William McGrath, Raymond Semple and Joseph Mains were senior care staff at Kincora. They were jailed in 1981 for abusing 11 boys.

The detective added: "We gained the impression that they operated as individuals.

"They knew what each of them were doing but there was no question of running a party in the home and ending up with boys being sexually abused."

Mains worked at the home for many years. He seemed to be a competent social worker, the social service had every confidence in him and he exuded confidence to people, Mr Caskey told the public inquiry.

Semple was the "weak link" amongst the criminals who spoke to officers when they investigated.

McGrath was the most recent arrival at the home.

Mr Caskey said he found no evidence of sex offences being facilitated for intelligence purposes.

"No boy or man ever claimed anything like that.

"There was no evidence of an individual or organisation trying to cover up that," he said.

Mr Caskey was unable to complete his investigation because he wanted to interview a liaison between the secret services and the army about Kincora.

He submitted 30 questions he wanted to answers to. Former RUC chief constable Sir Jack Hermon, reviewer Sir George Terry and the legal adviser to the security service were all at different times involved.

The detective never received a response to his questions.

He also dealt with Colin Wallace, a former Army captain who claimed to have information that MI5 was blocking attempts to expose child abuse.

Mr Caskey said: "I formed the opinion that he was not going to cooperate in any way."

Mr Caskey said the then chief constable Sir Jack Hermon told him to leave "no stone unturned".

He led the Kincora inquiries from 1980-1985.

Six people were imprisoned for sexual abuse as a result of his team's work, including three at other homes.

The HIA is examining allegations of child abuse in children's homes and other residential institutions in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1995.
New statistics revealing that around a quarter of children in Northern Ireland are living in poverty are shocking, the Children's Commissioner has said. File image

New statistics revealing that around a quarter of children in Northern Ireland are living in poverty are shocking, the Children's Commissioner has said.

More than 100,000 youngsters here are affected - and the number is on the rise.

New figures from the Northern Ireland Poverty Bulletin show 25% of local kids were living in poverty in the year 2014/15.

This in an increase of two per cent compared to the previous year.

Koulla Yiasouma, Commissioner for Children and Young People, said the statistics should act as a significant "wake-up call" to Stormont.

"I find this shocking and unacceptable that there are so many children whose lives are blighted by poverty on a day and daily basis," she said.

"It is simply not acceptable that more than one in four children is living in poverty in Northern Ireland. This means that 122,000 children are living in households where their parents are struggling to provide basic necessities for their children.

"The Executive must do all in their power to end child poverty."

The report by the Department for Communities determines that an individual is considered to be in relative poverty if they are living in a household with an income below 60% of UK median income in the year in question.

It also revealed that the average household income was 420 a week, or 21,900 per year - which is a three per cent increase on the previous year.

Of working-age adults, 226,400 were in poverty, which is an increase from 20% to 21% on the previous year.

Meanwhile, 22% of individuals were in poverty in 2014/15, which is approximately 395,100 people.

The number of pensioners living in poverty has decreased.

A total of 59,200 (20%) were in poverty in 2014/15, which is a drop from 21% in the previous year.

Commenting on the figures, Peter Bryson from Save the Children said it was unacceptable that more than a quarter of young children in Northern Ireland are growing up in poverty.

"We know that children under five are more likely to live in poverty than their older peers. The legacy for these children starts in the early years and will be lifelong," he said.

"Every child deserves the best start in life. But in Northern Ireland too many young children are going without the support they need to reach their potential.

"They're falling behind before they even get to school and that puts their life chances at risk.

"The Executive must focus on early investment in children's futures, by offering better support to parents and ensuring all early years staff have what they need to deliver world-class services for children."
The first day of the Battle of the Somme was the bloodiest day in British military history, with nearly 20,000 killed

The country will hold a two-minute silence to honour those who fought in the Battle of the Somme 100 years on, Prime Minister David Cameron said.

The Queen and senior royals will lead the nation in remembrance to mark the centenary, which falls on Friday.

Events across the UK and in France will commemorate the start of the battle on July 1 1916, a day that became the bloodiest in British military history with almost 20,000 dead.

Mr Cameron told MPs during Prime Minister's Questions: "This week marks the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.

"There will be a national two-minute silence on Friday morning. I will be attending a service at the Thiepval Memorial near the battlefield, and it's right that the whole country pauses to remember the sacrifices of all those who fought and lost their lives in that conflict."

By the end of the four-month battle in northern France, more than a million soldiers had been killed and wounded on both sides of the fighting. The First World War would drag on for another two years.

At Westminster Abbey in London, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh will join the congregation for an evening vigil on Thursday, the eve of the anniversary of the start of the battle. Other overnight events will take place in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will attend evening events at the Thiepval Memorial in France, where 70,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave are commemorated.

The events include a climb to the top of the huge, newly renovated structure, which will be lit for the first time, to view the killing fields. There is to be a military vigil and a meeting with representatives of nations involved in the battle.

On Friday they will be joined by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall and 10,000 members of the public, including hundreds of schoolchildren, chosen by ballot, for a service of commemoration.

Charles and Camilla will then attend ceremonies for Northern Irish and Canadian victims of the battle at the nearby Ulster Tower and Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, respectively.

Camilla will also lay a wreath at the grave of her great-uncle, Captain Harry Cubitt, who was killed on the Somme in September 1916 while serving with the Coldstream Guards. He was the eldest, and the first, to die of three brothers killed serving on the Western Front.

Beginning on July 1 1916, the Battle of the Somme was intended to achieve a decisive victory for the British and French against Germany's forces.

The British Army was forced to play a larger than intended role after the German attack on the French at Verdun in February 1916.

The first day of the Battle of the Somme became the bloodiest in British military history with more than 57,000 casualties recorded - of these 19,240 were fatalities.

Among the worst hit were the Pals battalions, volunteer units of limited fighting experience. Many were told to walk slowly across no man's land, resulting in massive numbers of dead as they headed straight into German machine gun fire.

The 2,000 men of the 1st and 2nd Bradford Pals, both part of the West Yorkshire Regiment, suffered 1,770 casualties in the first hour of the offensive as they attacked the heavily fortified village of Serre.
AUBURN  Auburn officials are accepting public comments through early July on plans to revamp about a quarter of South Street.

City and engineering representatives hosted an information meeting Tuesday to detail early conceptual plans for the reconstruction of Route 34 from Metcalf Drive to the city line into the town of Fleming. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2018, while public input will be accepted until July 8.

The state Department of Transportation moved in 2015 to commit $2.6 million to the project's design and construction phases. Project funding was restored for South Street that September after the DOT had pulled state financing in 2013 in favor of other projects.

City officials are now in the process of gathering public input on the project scope, which will see that part of South Street widened and reconstructed with both dedicated bike lanes and sidewalks built along the roughly 3,000-foot project area.

"This is not set in stone," said Bill Lupien, the city's superintendent of engineering services. "This is a working project."

Jeff Reina, project manager with C&S Engineers, said the road section is currently around 25 feet wide, noting that the pavement is in rough shape while the area is not particularly friendly for pedestrians.

The current design would see the street widened with two 11-feet-wide driving lanes and two 5-feet-wide bicycle lanes, with 8-feet-wide parking lanes in certain sections along the newly installed sidewalks.

To make the widening possible, Reina said engineers will work with state DOT representatives to acquire small stretches of property from affected property owners. The evaluation and pricing of these property acquisition typically takes a year to evaluate, he said.

Another change that engineers are evaluating is the addition of a left-turn only lane outside of the Harriet Tubman Home. Reina said engineers anticipate increased traffic to the property with its designation as a national park.

Further, Reina said city and engineering representatives will be reaching out to Fleming officials about the prospect of relocating a speed zone further into the town from the affected South Street road section to slow down drivers sooner. He said speed studies show that while the area is zoned at 30 miles per hour, drivers are still averaging 40 miles per hour past the Tubman property.

Among those who attended Tuesday's input session at the Tubman Home administrative building were Mark Farrell, county legislator and propreitor of the White Chapel Funeral Home on South Street; Karen Hill, president and CEO of the Harriet Tubman Home; Interim City Manager Jeff Dygert and Ofc. Greg Gilfus, traffic enforcement coordinator with the Auburn Police Department.

South Street resident Nancy Sheehe also attended Tuesday's meeting, saying she is happy for the addition of dedicated bike lanes. Sheehe said she usually takes to the Onondaga Lake Parkway partly because she does not feel safe riding her bike along South Street, even with the addition of the shared bike lanes.

"It's suicidal to drive your bike there," she said.
Charlie Flanagan and Theresa Villiers will talk about the impact of the referendum on cross-border relations when they meet in Belfast

The UK and Irish governments are set to discuss the fallout from the Brexit vote for the first time on Wednesday.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan and Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers will talk about the impact of the referendum on cross-border relations when they meet in Belfast.

Meetings will also take place with the First and Deputy First Ministers and there will be separate discussions on the divisive issue with SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, who has vowed to block any attempts to drag Northern Ireland out of the European Union against its will, and David Ford MLA, leader of the Alliance Party - another advocate of the Remain campaign.

In Northern Ireland, 56% of people voted for Remain.

Speaking ahead of the visit, Mr Flanagan said: "It is also my first visit since last Thursday's referendum and I want again to reassure people that the Irish Government in its contacts with EU partners continues to emphasise that the Northern Ireland and all-island dimensions will be an area for priority attention in all post-referendum negotiations processes, including in relation to the status of the border."

The implementation of the Stormont House and Fresh Start Agreements as well as the ongoing work on the legacy of the past and the Irish Government's commitments to north-south infrastructural development will also be on the agenda.

Mr Flanagan added: "My meetings are a welcome opportunity to demonstrate the continuing priority the Government attaches to the ongoing work to support stability, reconciliation and prosperity in Northern Ireland, through the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements."

Ahead of the discussions, Ms Villiers said: "It is important that the UK Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Irish Government continue to work together on the challenges we share.

"We will review the significant progress since our last meeting, including the response to tackling paramilitary activity and new legislation passed in Westminster to implement the Fresh Start Agreement. I am also determined that we consider together how best to make early progress in implementing the legacy institutions in the Stormont House Agreement.

"This is also an important opportunity to discuss last week's United Kingdom vote to leave the EU and to see how we can ensure that the interests of Northern Ireland are fully protected and advanced."
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has described the Parliamentary Labour Party as "like a lynch mob without the rope".

Addressing crowds of Jeremy Corbyn supporters at London's School of African and Oriental Studies, Mr McDonnell claimed the current turmoil in the party was "a battle for democracy".

Mr McDonnell has stuck by the embattled Labour leader since he lost a confidence vote among MPs by 172 to 40 but refused to resign, insisting he still has a "people's mandate" to lead following his landslide victory in the Labour leadership elections last summer.

A defiant Mr McDonnell said: "Jeremy won a mandate last summer and there are a handful of MPs who couldn't accept that mandate - we've been expecting a coup any time since then.

"They said we couldn't win parliamentary seats but in every parliamentary by-election we have increased the Labour majority.

"The Parliamentary Labour Party meeting - it's not a meeting to enjoy. It was like a lynch mob without the rope.

"MP after MP was getting up telling Jeremy to resign."

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He added: "If Jeremy had walked on water during the (referendum) campaign he would have been blamed for the loss. What we are watching is a leadership coup.

"We have been trying to explain to some members of the PLP there's a recent Greek invention and it's called democracy.

"What democracy means is that people come together with each having a vote, and when that vote has a majority, that decision should be abided by - this is a battle for democracy."

More than 60 MPs have resigned since Mr Corbyn sacked shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn in the early hours of Sunday morning, after Mr Benn told him MPs had no confidence in his ability to win an election.

His party have accused him of leading a lacklustre Remain campaign for the party in the lead up to the EU referendum.
Ibrahim Halawa has been held for three years without trial in Egypt

The family of a 20-year-old Irish man jailed in Egypt over political protests are to reapply for a presidential decree to secure his freedom after his trial was delayed for another three months.

Ibrahim Halawa was imprisoned aged 17 in Cairo in 2013 during unrest over the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood and has been held without trial for three years as hearings were adjourned more than a dozen times.

He had been expected to learn his fate today but the court put the case back until October 2 to examine video evidence.

Mr Halawa's sister Somaia said the latest delay was deeply troubling.

"To say we are devastated by today's outcome is an understatement," she said.

"There comes a time, when enough must be enough. Ibrahim continues to be detained indefinitely. In light of today's development, we feel we have no alternative but to reapply for Ibrahim's release under the presidential decree."

The Halawas insist Ibrahim has been jailed without a fair trial and no adequate access to a lawyer, and claim he has been tortured, received electric shocks, beaten, spat on and moved without his family's knowledge.

He is also facing a possible death penalty.

Mr Halawa was arrested in August 2013 in the Al Fath mosque near Cairo's Ramses Square where his family said he was taking refuge as a "day of rage" was held over the removal of president Mohamed Morsi.

His sisters were released on bail.

Ms Halawa said Egyptian law is expressly clear and allows the Government to deport a citizen to his home country.

She said the family were seeking an urgent meeting with the Irish Government to discuss the next steps.

The family also accused the Egyptian courts of reopening the case and reassessing video evidence that has always been available.

Darragh Mackin, of the Belfast-based KRW LAW, which represents Mr Halawa and his family, said the latest adjournment was an appalling surprise.

"For the trial to be reopened, and adjourned to October, is entirely insupportable," he said.

"It is no secret that we have serious concerns and reservations about the criminal justice process in Egypt. These concerns have manifested themselves in today's decision.

"Power does not appear to listen to reason."

Amnesty International Ireland, which describes Mr Halawa as a prisoner of conscience, said the court in Cairo was told that video evidence is being referred to a technical committee who will report back in three months.

"This is a devastating blow for Ibrahim and his family who have spent almost three years campaigning for justice," executive director Colm O'Gorman said.

"This young Irish citizen has now spent more than 1,000 days living in truly horrific conditions in an Egyptian prison cell, without access to proper medical care."

Amnesty called on the Egyptian Government to intervene to secure Mr Halawa's release through the use of pardons and presidential decrees.

"Our expectation is that the Irish Government will continue to use every diplomatic and political mechanism to secure Ibrahim's immediate and unconditional release," Mr O'Gorman said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said the latest adjournment is a particular source of concern and frustration.

"I will continue to use every possible opportunity to underline our concerns about this case to Egypt, both directly and bilaterally, and also with EU and other international partners and friends," he said.

Mr Flanagan, who met Mr Halawa's father Hussein on Tuesday, said he would make his concerns known directly to the Egyptian government.

He also said he was seeking more information on the review of evidence ordered by the court.

"This case remains a key priority for me," Mr Flanagan said.

The Irish ambassador to Egypt, Damien Cole, was in court for the hearing and Irish diplomats last visited Mr Halawa in prison at the end of May.

Mr Halawa's hearing took place in the court in Wadi Natrun prison, where he has been held since being transferred earlier this year without his family or Irish diplomats being told.

Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at the Reprieve organisation, said: "For the last three years, the Egyptian authorities have made a mockery of justice by dragging out this mass trial.

"Ibrahim and hundreds of other alleged protestors have been detained at length, horribly mistreated, and threatened with execution.

"Today's delay - and the suggestion that this Kafkaesque ordeal will start again months from now - is utterly unacceptable. Enough is enough - the Irish Government must take urgent steps to secure Ibrahim's release, and his return to his family in Ireland."
Enda Kenny said he is "very sorry" the UK has voted to leave the EU

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has intervened on behalf of the Scottish government in their bid to stay in the European Union.

Mr Kenny said that Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon asked him to raise the Scottish referendum result - which saw people vote to remain in the EU by 62pc to 38pc- at last night's European Council meeting.

He said that he met Ms Sturgeon at the recent British Irish Council meeting in Glasgow and that she asked him in the case of an overall leave vote in the United Kingdom to raise her country's "very strong belief that they should not be dragged out of the European Union having voted to stay".

Mr Kenny said he spoke to her again yesterday and that "she wanted that repeated which I said on her behalf last evening".

He was meeting with the 27 other EU leaders, including British Prime Minister David Cameron who was there to officialy explain the Brexit vote to other EU member states.

Ms Sturgeon is in Brussels today where she met European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

She said she is there to "make sure Scotland's voice is being heard".

She said she welcomed Mr Kenny's intervention on behalf of Scotland and that she is "very grateful" to him.

"Ireland is a great friend to Scotland," she added.

Irish Independent
The first day of the Battle of the Somme was the bloodiest day in British military history, with nearly 20,000 killed

The UK will hold a two-minute silence to honour those who fought in the Battle of the Somme 100 years on, Prime Minister David Cameron said.

The Queen and senior royals will lead the nation in remembrance to mark the centenary, which falls on Friday.

Events across the UK and in France will commemorate the start of the battle on July 1 1916, a day that became the bloodiest in British military history with almost 20,000 dead.

Mr Cameron told MPs during Prime Minister's Questions: "This week marks the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.

"There will be a national two-minute silence on Friday morning. I will be attending a service at the Thiepval Memorial near the battlefield, and it's right that the whole country pauses to remember the sacrifices of all those who fought and lost their lives in that conflict."

By the end of the four-month battle in northern France, more than a million soldiers had been killed and wounded on both sides of the fighting. The First World War would drag on for another two years.

At Westminster Abbey in London, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh will join the congregation for an evening vigil on Thursday, the eve of the anniversary of the start of the battle. Other overnight events will take place in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will attend evening events at the Thiepval Memorial in France, where 70,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave are commemorated.

The events include a climb to the top of the huge, newly renovated structure, which will be lit for the first time, to view the killing fields. There is to be a military vigil and a meeting with representatives of nations involved in the battle.

On Friday they will be joined by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall and 10,000 members of the public, including hundreds of schoolchildren, chosen by ballot, for a service of commemoration.

Charles and Camilla will then attend ceremonies for Northern Irish and Canadian victims of the battle at the nearby Ulster Tower and Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, respectively.

Camilla will also lay a wreath at the grave of her great-uncle, Captain Harry Cubitt, who was killed on the Somme in September 1916 while serving with the Coldstream Guards. He was the eldest, and the first, to die of three brothers killed serving on the Western Front.

Beginning on July 1 1916, the Battle of the Somme was intended to achieve a decisive victory for the British and French against Germany's forces.

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Whatsapp Lost lives: thousands of brave men died during the Battle of the Somme

The British Army was forced to play a larger than intended role after the German attack on the French at Verdun in February 1916.

The first day of the Battle of the Somme became the bloodiest in British military history with more than 57,000 casualties recorded - of these 19,240 were fatalities.

Among the worst hit were the Pals battalions, volunteer units of limited fighting experience. Many were told to walk slowly across no man's land, resulting in massive numbers of dead as they headed straight into German machine gun fire.

The 2,000 men of the 1st and 2nd Bradford Pals, both part of the West Yorkshire Regiment, suffered 1,770 casualties in the first hour of the offensive as they attacked the heavily fortified village of Serre.
Tony Blair "misrepresented the facts" when he told MPs about Iraq's chemical weapon capabilities, former UN inspector Hans Blix has claimed.

The former prime minister is also accused of being "dishonest" in the lead up to the invasion in 2003, in a BBC Panorama programme to be aired on Wednesday night.

Iraq: The Final Judgement interviewed former weapons inspector Mr Blix and former Labour minister Claire Short - who stepped down as international development secretary in protest at the war in 2003.

The programme comes a week before the Chilcot Inquiry into the war, and the lead up to it, is due to release its findings.

Mr Blix told the programme that what Mr Blair told MPs "did not represent the reality", but that did not suggest he acted in bad faith, adding: "Many people bring themselves to believe something that they want to believe."

The Swedish diplomat and politician added: "I think Blair had a feeling that this was an evil regime and that it was a moral thing to do away with it.

"And I don't think that's an evil thought, but I think it was a presumptuous thought that the UK and the US alone should do that."

Sir John Chilcot's inquiry was set up in 2009 by then prime minister Gordon Brown after the withdrawal of the main body of British troops earlier that year.

The British presence in Iraq, named Operation Telic, resulted in the deaths of 179 service personnel.

The inquiry examined the lead up to the 2003 invasion, and the years up to the 2009 withdrawal.

The report's long-awaited publication follows 130 sessions of oral evidence, and the testimony of more than 150 witnesses.

The inquiry has analysed more than 150,000 government documents, as well as other material related to the invasion.

Giving evidence in 2010, Mr Blair said he was convinced by the intelligence reports he was receiving that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein did have weapons of mass destruction.

He acknowledged some of the reports he was given warned some of the intelligence was "sporadic and patchy", but said throughout the build-up to the invasion, advice from the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) - the UK's most senior intelligence body - was that Saddam was continuing his WMD programmes.

"It is hard to come to any other conclusion than that this person is continuing WMD programmes," he said at the time.

"When you are the prime minister and the Joint Intelligence Committee is giving you this information, you have got to rely on the people doing it, with the experience and with the commitment and integrity as they do.

"Of course now, with the benefit of hindsight, we look back on the situation differently.

He also strongly defended his claim in the Government's Iraq dossier, published in September 2002, that the intelligence had established "beyond doubt" that Iraq had WMD.

Ms Short, Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 to 2010, told Panorama that the invasion would be Mr Blair's "legacy".

She told the programme "what was known, which was very little indeed, was then exaggerated way beyond to give this imminent threat", adding; "I mean that's just dishonest. There's no question about it."

She went on: "I think he'd [Tony Blair] made up his mind to be with [George] Bush. And we were massaged and deceived to get us there when it was a manipulation of us - that is us, the parliament, the cabinet, British public opinion, American public opinion by people who were determined to take military action from the beginning."

:: Panorama - Iraq: The Final Judgement, is on BBC One at 9pm on Wednesday.
Demonstrators including Labour MP Diane Abbott (2L), British singer Charlotte Church (C) and General Secretary of Unite Len McCluskey (2) hold a banner as they march to protest against the British government's spending cuts and austerity measures in London on June 20, 2015. The national demonstration against austerity was organised by People's Assembly against government spending cuts. AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLISJUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

The British Government's austerity policies are a breach of international human rights, a new report by the UN has warned.

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has expressed serious concerns about growing inequality in the UK following six years of austerity policies under the current Conservative Government and the Coalition which preceded it.

Based on evidence provided by charities and campaign groups, the body concluded that the regressive nature of policies such as universal credit and the bedroom tax meant they breached the UKs international human rights obligations.

The review is the first of UK policy since 2009, making it the first time Conservative policy has come under scrutiny.

The reports authors said they were deeply concerned about the various changes in the entitlements to, and cuts in, social benefits which it says disproportionately affect women, young people, ethnic minorities and disabled people.

The study found the new living wage of 7.20 per hour still did not provide an adequate standard of living - especially for people living in London - and that the Government was not doing enough to stop people having to rely on foodbanks.

The Government should take steps to reduce the number of people in part time work and relying on zero hours contracts, it suggested.

The report also highlighted a rise in VAT coinciding with a fall in inheritance and corporation tax, meaning the poor are paying comparatively more tax and the rich less.

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The Committee recommended the UK adopts a socially equitable tax policy and clamps down further on tax avoidance.

It also voiced concerns about persistent discrimination against migrant workers.

The report was completed before the UK voted to leave the European Union last week.

Since the vote there has been a 57 per cent spike in the number of reported incidents of hate crime against migrants and ethnic minorities, according to the National Police Chiefs Council.

Several people have reported being ordered to go back where they come and taunted with shouts of Out! Out! Out! following the vote.

In Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, there were reports of leaflets saying Leave the EU, no more Polish vermin posted the letter boxes of Polish families on the day of the vote.

Simon Duffy, the director of the Centre for Welfare Reform, which contributed to the report, said: "The past six years of austerity have seen the UK Government intentionally diminish the rights of its own citizens.

"The Centre for Welfare Reform welcomes the news that the United Nations has strongly criticised the UK Government for these policies - policies that have harmed immigrants, asylum seekers, disabled people and those living in poverty.

"There is no good reason for these ongoing attacks; instead it seems likely that these groups have been targeted simply because they are convenient scapegoats for problems they did not cause."

Independent
Suicide attackers armed with guns and bombs killed 42 people and wounded hundreds at Istanbul's busy Ataturk airport, apparently targeting Turkey's crucial tourism industry.

The government blamed the attack on Islamic State (IS) extremists but there was no immediate confirmation from the group.

Scenes of chaos and panic unfolded on Tuesday night as gunfire and explosions sent crowds fleeing in all directions.

Airport surveillance video posted on social media appeared to show one explosion, a ball of fire that sent terrified passengers racing for safety.

Another appeared to show an attacker, hit by a gunshot from a security officer, blowing himself up seconds later.

A growing stream of travellers, some rolling suitcases behind them, fled down a corridor, looking fearfully over their shoulders.

"Four people fell in front of me. They were torn into pieces," said airport worker Hacer Peksen.

The victims included at least 13 foreigners and several people remained unidentified on Wednesday. The toll excluded the three bombers. The Istanbul governor's office said more than 230 people were wounded.

It was not clear if any attackers were still on the loose.

The attackers arrived by taxi, officials said.

"When the terrorists couldn't pass the regular security system, when they couldn't pass the scanners, police and security controls, they returned and took their weapons out of their suitcases and opened fire at random at the security check," said Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

All three attackers arrived together at the lower-level arrivals hall; one went inside, opened fire and then detonated his explosives, according to an Interior Ministry spokesman and another official.

During the chaos, the second attacker went upstairs to departures and blew himself up.

The third man waited outside during the whole episode and detonated his explosives last as people flooded out of the airport, the officials said.

Separately, a senior Turkish security official said the three attackers were not Turkish nationals. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

Paul Roos, a South African tourist who was due to fly home with his wife, said he heard shots while coming up the escalator.

"There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a handgun."

Funerals for some of the victims began on Wednesday as Turkish authorities tried to piece together how the attack happened, going through surveillance footage and interviewing witnesses to establish a preliminary timeline.

As dawn broke over the destroyed terminal, workers began removing debris.

The airport reopened on Wednesday morning, in sharp contrast to the 12-day complete shutdown in Brussels after the deadly airport bombing there in March.

An information board inside showed about a third of scheduled flights were cancelled and a host of others were delayed.

By evening, the IS group had not claimed responsibility for the attack, although it did issue an infographic celebrating two years since announcing a caliphate. It claimed to have "covert units" in Turkey, among other places, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

"So, what can we think? We cannot think anything," said Ali Batur, whose brother died. "A terror attack might happen everywhere, it happens everywhere... If God permits, we will get over this in unity and solidarity."

Mr Yildirim said it appeared that the IS group, which has threatened Turkey repeatedly, was responsible.

"Even though the indications suggest Daesh, our investigations are continuing," Mr Yildirim said, using shorthand for IS. He also suggested the attack could be linked to steps Ankara took on Monday towards mending strained ties with Israel and Russia.

US President Barack Obama pledged to dismantle "organisations of hate" after the bombing.

He said the gun and bomb attacks show how little these "vicious organisations" have to offer.

Mr Obama offered his condolences to the Turkish people, and has spoken with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences for the Istanbul attack, and sought to begin a process of improving relations with Turkey.

Belgian PM Charles Michel said on Twitter: "Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul's airport. We condemn these atrocious acts of violence."

AP
Rep. John Lewis was 20 when he took his first stand. On a Tuesday in May 1960, Lewis walked into a Woolworth's and sat down at a lunch counter for whites only. Police arrested him. Lewis served jail time for attempting to order lunch.

A year to the day, Lewis took his second stand. This time, he got firebombed.

Lewis boarded a chartered bus on May 10, 1961, filled with Freedom Riders, white and black volunteers sitting together when Southern laws forbad doing that. Their driver had pulled into a small Trailways bus station in Anniston, Alabama, when they were met by local citizens  who torched the bus. Lewis, along with everyone else, escaped through bus's windows because the white mob held the doors shut as the interior filled with acrid smoke.

Lewis came back on the next Freedom Ride. That's when he had his head cracked open. He found himself in a Birmingham Greyhound bus station, surrounded by a white mob. Lewis, then 21, survived and rode again. And again.

Fifty-five years later, Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts emailed John Lewis, now 76, and suggested they organize a sit-in of Congress. She wanted to protest Speaker Paul Ryan's commandment that no gun control legislation reach the House floor for a vote. Lewis jumped at it. She organized; he would lead.

Previously, the Republicans found time  more than 60 times, actually  to vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. On the night that Lewis and Clark (couldn't resist) marshaled 125 Democrats for their historic sit-in, Republicans found time to vote to override Obama's veto of a bill that would enrich financial advisers. (They failed).

"No bill, no break," they shouted, meaning until Ryan allowed a vote on a bill to stop a terrorist from buying a gun, they would not break their sit-in. Reuters reported that Ryan said he would not let the House vote on the anti-terrorist bill "that would take away Constitutional rights." Such as the right to live?

While sitting representatives filled the well of the House, Ryan both recessed Congress and shut down C-SPAN's access. He pulled the plug so that Lewis, Clark and 125 members of Congress couldn't be seen on home television screens.

Banning the cameras was a mistake. "It was a telling move," wrote the Boston Globe. "Censorship is not something that politicians who are confident of the righteousness of their beliefs bother with."

Rep. Scott Peters of San Diego came to the rescue. He downloaded Periscope, an app that allowed him to broadcast from his smartphone. Someone contacted C-SPAN, and a free press being what it is, fed Peters' cellphone broadcast to its viewers.

There's nothing like suppressing something to make a person determined to read or see it. So when Ryan brought the House back from recess, the nation, Twitter, Facebook, and overseas news agencies were glued to Peters' and C-SPAN's bootleg coverage of the sit-in.

"Sometimes you have to do something out of the ordinary." Lewis dryly told The Associated Press. Ryan told CNN's Wolf Blitzer the sit-in was a "publicity stunt."

Lewis said to the House, "We have lost hundreds of thousands of innocent people to gun violence. Tiny little children. Babies, students and teachers. Mothers and fathers. Sisters and brothers. Daughters and sons. Friends and neighbors. And what has this body done?"

Ryan adjourned the House. At that moment, Rep. Ted Deutch tweeted, "From a Republican colleague of mine as he walked off the floor: 'We're going to have a drink and a cigar. Enjoy your protest.' Really." Deutch added, "Our sit-in isn't about partisan politics. The members here represent diverse Americans nationwide who want us to act."

When Ryan gaveled the House back into session at 10 p.m., Democrats shouted "No bill, no Break." Veteran political reporters in the House press gallery were both excited and stunned.

John Bresnahan, the veteran Capitol bureau chief for Politico, tweeted, "I came to Capitol Hill today and the '60s broke out," observing "a virtual carpet" of lawmakers sitting on the floor, while Rep. Don Young "was being physically restrained from trying to grab (the) mic from Dem lawmakers."

Huffington Post correspondent Matt Fuller tweeted, "The House gallery is screaming right now. I've never seen anything like this." The chief of correspondents for the McClatchy newspaper chain, Mark Seibel, called the Democrats' protest "an unprecedented day."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren walked over from the Senate with coffee and donuts. An unidentified person from California spent $324 dollars to send pizzas to the sit-in.

Rep. Adam Schiff spent his 56th birthday literally on the House floor. "Whether you agree with us or not," Schiff told CBS, "the American people want to have a vote."

The Democrats' sit-in empowered the nation. Polls show a historic majority want a bill to keep assault rifles out of the hands of a terrorist. But at 3 a.m., Speaker Ryan managed to adjourn the House. At least Ryan and the GOP majority were being forced to do a lot in order to avoid doing anything about gun violence.

Lewis quoted an old saying to CBS, "Sometimes you gotta turn things upside down in order to turn them right side up." To the House, Lewis said, "It is always right to do right."

I agree.
An entrance of the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul after explosions, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing at least 10 people and wounding around 20 others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. (DHA via AP)

In this image taken from DHA TV, a police cordon is set up outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday June 28, 2016. Two explosions rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Tuesday evening, according to a Turkish official. (DHA TV via AP)

Medics and security members work at the entrance of the Ataturk Airport after explosions in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (IHA via AP)

An injured person sits in an ambulance outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. AP Photo/Emrah Gurel

Security and ambulances block the road outside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, after it was hit by a suicide bomb attack on June 28, 2016, Turkey. (Photo by Mehmet Ali Poyraz/Getty Images)

Security and ambulances block the road outside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, after it was hit by a suicide bomb attack on June 28, 2016, Turkey. (Photo by Mehmet Ali Poyraz/Getty Images)

Twenty-eight people have been killed and 60 injured in an attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport, the city's governor said.

Vasip Sahin also told Turkey's NTV television that three suicide bombers carried out the attack.

Officials had previously said one or two attackers had blown themselves up at the entrance to the international terminal at the airport after police fired at them.

AP
EU leaders have spelled out stark conditions for a new relationship with departing Britain, warning that if UK businesses want to keep their access to Europe's single market, the country must accept European workers too.

The leaders produced no clear route forward for their shaken union after an unusual and emotionally charged summit, but agreed they must make it more relevant to citizens and keep it from disintegrating after Britain's unprecedented vote to leave.

The 27 remaining presidents, chancellors and prime ministers said they are "absolutely determined to remain united", European Council president Donald Tusk said.

They met without Britain for the first time, but the UK was top of the agenda.

The leaders emerged insisting that the "four freedoms" central to European unity are indivisible: the free movement of people, services, goods and finances.

There is a widespread sense that the post-war project to foster peace via trade has become a bureaucratic, undemocratic behemoth with little meaning for its 500 million citizens.

The initial EU founding nations in the west lean towards a tighter, closer union, while newer nations in the east want to keep more control with national governments - notably of their borders.

"We all need to wake up and smell the coffee," Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite said, citing immigration as being a key reason for Britain's departure.

Other EU countries are now facing calls for referendums on quitting the bloc. Popular French far-right leader Marine Le Pen pressed unpopular president Francois Hollande in a weekend meeting for such a vote in France, but his government has rejected the idea.

Mr Tusk has convened a special EU summit on September 16 in Slovakia to work out a plan forward to keep the EU united.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the lesson from Britain's departure is not necessarily either deeper integration or returning more powers to national governments.

She said: "This is not about more or less Europe as a principle, but about achieving results better." Combating youth unemployment, for example, could involve both scrapping EU directives and deepening European co-operation, she added.

Mr Hollande said one measure he wants considered in Bratislava in September is making it possible for all young people in the EU to have the option of studying or spending time in another member country of the bloc.

"The coming weeks will be decisive," Mr Hollande added. "Europe must show its solidity."

Italian premier Matteo Renzi added that the EU should provide young Britons with provisions to continue to feel "part of the great European family", despite Britain's vote to leave.

He said these provisions could include special "ad hoc" citizenship measures that, for example, would enable them to study in EU universities.

He added the EU leaders agreed Europe cannot allow negotiations on the British exit to drag on forever and cannot "pretend like nothing happened".

He said: "There is a significant part of public opinion and Europe's ruling political class that has understood that we have to strongly relaunch the Europe that we believe in, the one that wants to talk about values, that wants to talk about more than just procedures and rules."

AP
Take a deep breath again as this time beckons reflection on the emotional and physical pain, or regrets we had over the last year. Past hurts, injustices, jealousies, broken relationships, along with the ebb and flow of life can knock the air out of anyones happiness balloon. We can recognize we made poor choices, or felt embarrassed by the one that mistreated you, and feel there is simply no justice.

We need a positive view of the future as we look forward. Yesterday will keep you hung up. While youre stuck, you never see any happiness or progress. Find the way is hard Doctor Judith Sills offered in Psychology Today. She defined what letting go really means for us in life a New Year or not.

Its about breaking down emotional barriers, and allowing awareness to settle in when fighting against it. It means challenging irrational, unproductive thinking until you get your head on straight; it means facing up to your fear and then calling on your courage and your character to face it down, and it means confronting your passionate attachment to a past love and reducing it from a boulder to a pebble. Put the pebble in your pocket as a cherished reminder, and leave room in your heart for something new.

If we want anything new we need to let go of the pain, or the person you believed you should be. I know it is really scary, we hate change due to the fear of the unknown, but if we dont you will wake up one day feeling you missed out due to fear. Walking away from our comfort zone allows us to grab a hold of something new. Remind that you have a lot of blessings and stop focusing on how unlucky you are, and remind yourself about how blessed you are, there is always that one other person or many other people who have it so much worse, Author Dr. Hyder Zahed wrote.

1. We need to stop being perfect, and expecting life to be perfect as there is no such thing. People disappoint. Relationships fails, money, and dreams disappear. We have no control over what others are doing or thinking. We have no control over circumstances. When we stop expecting life to be perfect, for people to be the best they can be, we are no longer holding ourselves down with things that are out of our control, we have grown and matured enough to appreciate both life and the people in our lives for what and who they are.

2. Let go of old thoughts and failed plans. If it is not working, change it up. Start with you. Write it down of things you need to discard in life. Bad influences, disorganization, or bad habits, can be taken care of one step at a time. Begin smallyour nightstand drawer? As you get into the spirit, the "keep" pile will shrink. Prepare to feel anxious, energized, sad, overwhelmed, regretful, and nostalgic. It doesn't matter how you feel, as long as you keep discarding, said Sills.

3. Forgive for you! Letting go is also forgiving your boss, co-worker, or anything that didnt work out in your life. Start with you. Dont allow it to poison your mind, and health.

4. Let go of the unknown. Moving forward into a new job or gig can be tricky, but you are in control of you. Passivity breeds depression, and stress. You fail? Oh, well!

5. If you are worrierknow your triggers of when you feel worry coming on.

If people or browsing social media sites make you feel worried after youre on them, stop it. Change your perspective, and this will also change the way the body reacts to the stress and worry.

6. Create a vision braids and keep new goals ahead of you. Dream up the word and post so you can remain focused to travel, or go back to school.

7. Stop limited thinking with negative self-talk. Stay focused on the positive, or you will make the I cant achieve this into a reality.

8. I love this one on INC.com regarding avoidance, and confrontation in a healthy matter.

If you're avoiding the truth, you're probably avoiding other things as well. Things rarely get better all on their own. Create a plan and face the things you need to face. You'll ask yourself why you didn't do it sooner.

Corine Gatti is a Senior Editor at Beliefnet.com.
Music is a powerful force. The late Robin Williams described music best as, Gods little reminder that theres something else besides us in the universe; harmonic connection between all living beings, everywhere, even the stars.

No matter what culture youre from, theres a form of music that speaks to the soul and resonates with your spirit. And that is exactly what Michael Tyrrell discovered when his mother fell ill. Tyrrell was always passionate about music but during a trip in Jerusalem he met a Christian piano player, named David who performed Christian songs of worship in a Jewish Orthodox coffee house. When David finished playing, he handed manuscript copies of the psalms and told Tyrrell that he would know what to do with them. After reviewing the psalms, Tyrrell realized that the tones were in a different key and after analyzing the manuscript Tyrrell was able to translate the works into modern musical tones and afterwards he began experimenting with several other tones and frequencies.

The revelation assisted Tyrrell in developing Wholetones: The Healing Frequency Music Project. And soon those healing properties would hit Tyrrell even closer to home and change his and others views on the power of music forever.

In 2005, doctors detected a lump near Tyrell's mothers' pancreas. Doctors estimated that Tyrrells mother would have to endure a four hour surgery to remove the potential tumor. Tyrrell and his wife were by his mothers side during the entire process. In addition, Tyrrell brought along his guitar and the night before she had her operation he played in the 741Hz frequency and placed the guitar, while playing, on the distal portion of her pancreas.

His mother recounted the experience by saying:

"Michael felt like the Lord would have him play his guitar over me and I was more than willing. He said for me just to close my eyes  and I did  As I did that, I don't remember...I asked him how long afterwards how long did he play and he said approximately 20 minutes I don't remember that at all-all I remember is when I closed my eyes, probably 2 or 3 minutes after my eyes were closed I could see this...this thing...this black, round looking thing with tentacles and I just kept my eyes closed and as he played and played that mass that I assumed was what they'd seen on their diagnostic test in me, is what I was seeing in my mind's eye. It began to fade. And it got less and less dark. Less and less and all of the sudden  everything went green. And it was the brightest green I ever saw in my life. And I said I'm healed."

When the doctors took Tyrrells mother in for surgery, they were astonished and after 45 minutes the surgeon proclaimed that there was no cancer and everything was clear. Nine years later, Tyrrells mother is still tumor free.

Tyrrell believes that these healing frequencies were passed down to King David from by God himself. And through natural happenings the divine intervention was placed into Tyrrells hands because he knew what to do and the true capability. Tyrrell has entered the studio and recorded these tuned frequencies, in hopes that they will provide comfort to others and save lives. When we started playing, we all simultaneously felt the hand of God guide us through each songin the end, its the healing frequencies that matter  the music is merely the vehicle.

For more information on Wholetones click here .
Being mindful is more than just sitting in silence, or a pretty picture. Mindfulness transcends beyond emotions into daily decisions, and can help with our increased stress levels. Mindfulness combats illness, distractions, anxiety, and helps when we are depressed. What really are the benefits of engaging in mindful practice?

And can we do this during time crunches? Yes, but you need to read on!

First let's define what "mindfulness"since we hear this word a lot online.

The American Psychological Association explained that the term mindfulness, is a state of awareness and the practices promote this awareness. This is a way we process information. We define mindfulness as a moment-to-moment awareness of one's experience without judgment. In this sense, mindfulness is a state and not a trait. While it might be promoted by certain practices or activities, such as meditation, it is not equivalent to or synonymous with them.

The APA suggested that research proves it is beneficial to people. Health is one of them. Practicing mediation boosts the immune system, the memory, intuition, helps with fearalong with helping relationships. This is not just limited to sitting still. Yoga and tai chi can also help you achieve these benefits. It is about attaining focus and clarity to help bring the body/mind under control or a better state.

Researchers theorize that mindfulness meditation promotes metacognitive awareness, decreases rumination via disengagement from perseverative cognitive activities and enhances attentional capacities through gains in working memory. These cognitive gains, in turn, contribute to effective emotion-regulation strategies.

There is no right or wrong way to get started. You can begin by slowing down the mind for example, by unplugging from the world for five minutes to help listen and focus better. Try it and cut back social media. Take a walk, or just go sit in the car listening relaxing music. Being consistent doing this is better than gauging on success on how long youve been sitting there, or looking at the clock.

Try something like this up to five times a day, even if it is on a short walk, or eating on a lunch break. Exercises can also help you do a body scan. A body scan can help you release tension throughout the body. For example you can lie down for 10 minutes and become aware of the body and were tension resides. Mentally go to the spot like the neck or back where you could be feeling pain. Then, release the pain, and see the body healed.

Working on breathing will help you relax, and help the body, too. Find a place where you can relax. Focus on breathing the Mayo Clinic explained, and feel your breath move in and out of the body.

Let your awareness of everything else fall away. Pay attention to your nostrils as air passes in and out. Notice the way your abdomen expands and collapses with each breath. When your mind wanders, gently redirect your attention to your breath.

Practice paying attention to details like the ridges on the trunk of a tree, the pattern of the leaves, or the uniqueness of the clouds and their formation. The lesson here is to appreciate the small things, and embrace life without judgment and fault. Taking this approach will help you with people to be more patient. The more awareness, the more appreciation you offer to others and yourself!

Walking mindfulness is another way to get acquainted with slowing down. This can happen anywhere at the office, home, or at the airport. We talked about breathing. Pay attention and slow down your breathing, and breathe in and out. Gaiam Life shared:

Walking on this planet is a joy. Mindful walking allows us to be aware of the pleasure of walking. We can keep our steps slow, relaxed, and calm. There is no rush, no place to get to, no hurry. Mindful walking can release our sorrows and our worries and help bring peace into our body and mind.

There are judgments here. Try the above and find what works with you and your schedule. Try a little at a time, to see how you feel. But you need to make the commitment to your health and mind, it is worth it.

Corine Gatti is a Senior Editor at Beliefnet.com.
Many of us have plants in our homes or offices to bring nature indoors or add much needed color to a room. But houseplants do more than beautify a space. Research shows that indoor plants offer a host of physical and mental health benefits. They can reduce stress and lower blood pressure, alleviate headaches, fight colds, andbelieve it or noteven make you happy. Heres how.

The Ultimate Room Refresher

One of the major benefits of indoor plants is they improve the quality of an indoor environment by filtering out pollutants and toxic airborne chemicals. In a 1989 National Aeronautic and Space Agency (NASA) study on air-purifying plants, researchers found that houseplants were able to remove up to 87 percent of air pollutants in 24 hours.

Plants such as English ivy (the number one plant to grow indoors), Golden Pothos, Florists Chrysanthemum, and Peace lily pack a major air-cleaning punchbanishing toxic emissions from formaldehyde (present in rugs, grocery bags, vinyl), benzene and trichloroethylene (both found in inks, solvents and paint). Benzene is often found in high concentrations in rooms filled with books and printed papers. These toxic chemicals can contribute to headaches, allergies, eye irritations and a host of other health problems.

NASA recommends placing 15 to 18 good-sized houseplants

Houseplants should be in 6-to-8-inch diameter containers for an 1,800 square foot home or office. Of course, fewer plants are required for smaller spaces. Just make sure that whatever plants you use arent poisonous if eaten. They can be dangerous if you have pets or toddlers. Follow here learn more about NASAs recommendations.

Anti-Stress Elixir

Not only can plants clean the air, they can create a more relaxing, restful ambience in any room. In a 2008 Dutch study, researchers found that hospital patients who had plants in their rooms reported less stress than patients who didnt. Other studies have been conducted that indicate indoor plants can reduce stress levels in work environments. A 1996 Washington State University study published in the Journal of Environmental Horticulture found that productivity increased 12 percent when people performed a stressful task on a computer in a room with plants compared with workers who performed the same task in the same room without plants. The people tested in the presence of plants were also less stressed and had lower blood pressure. This study confirms that common house plants can contribute to lower stress levels, said Dr. Virginia Lohr, who led the study.

Additional studies show that the mere presence of plants in an office can boost an individuals ability to concentrate longer. According to a 2011 study conducted by a team of researchers from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, natural elements, such as potted plants, can help to prevent fatigue when individuals complete tasks that demand high levels of attention.

Bedtime Blooms

Of course, a stress-filled day can affect your ability to unwind and enjoy a restful nights sleep. But before you reach for the sleeping pills, consider adding a Gerbera Daisy plant to your nightstand. While most plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen during the day, these colorful daisies continue releasing oxygen throughout the night which helps you breathe and sleep better.

Or try placing a jasmine plant in your bedroom. Researchers at Wheeling Jesuit University (WJU) found that jasmine has a soothing, feel-good effect on the body and mind. For three nights, study participants were exposed to the scent of jasmine, the scent of lavender and no scent at all. The sweet jasmine scent led to a better quality sleep, reduced sleep movement, and participants reported lower anxiety the next day.

Research shows that odors have significant effects on the human nervous system, even in the absence of attention and awareness to these odors said Dr. Bryan Raudenbush, professor of psychology at WJU. Therefore, it was reasonable to expect that the human body may respond to odors presented during sleep.

Breathe in Health

According to a small 1998 University of Agriculture in Norway study, indoor plants can reduce the incidence of colds, sore throats and dry coughs by more than 30 percent, partially by increasing humidity levels and reducing dust. In addition, plants can help individuals to heal after surgery. A 2009 controlled study conducted at Kansas State University found that surgical patients in rooms with plants had lower systolic blood pressure and reported less pain, anxiety and fatigue than those without plants in their rooms. Another study reported that patients who had their appendix removed used fewer painkillers if they had plants in their hospital rooms.

There is also some research suggesting that flowers and plants make people happy. A series of clinical trials in a Korean hospital found that hospital patients had shorter stays and significantly less need for post-operative pain medications if their bedside windows overlooked trees rather than a brick wall. And according to experiments conducted in large commercial offices in the Netherlands and England, employees in buildings with plants were more productive and happier than those in bare offices.

If you are interested in adding mood-lifting, health-giving houseplants to your home or office, dont worry if you think you dont have a green thumb. Many varieties of indoor plants dont require a lot of attention or upkeep.

Some of the best plants that purify air, ease stress and are supposedly impossible to kill are the Rubber Plant (grows quickly in dark, cool environments and doesnt need a lot of direct sunlight); Aloe Vera (it stays small if you put it in a smaller pot, but grows much larger if you put it in a larger one); Bamboo Palm (needs indirect bright sunlight and plenty of water); the Peace Lily (likes cooler temperatures and not overly bright places); the Snake Plant (doesnt require much light or water to thrive); English Ivy (likes part sun and part shade, occasional waterings); Golden Pothos (a good starter plant for people who havent had much indoor-gardening experience), and Dracaena (tolerates low light and low humidity).
Myth: The More Expensive the Product, the Better It Is

Why it's not true: It's not about the cost, says Dr. Downie, it's about products having a lot of science behind them. "Products tested in double-blind clinical trials typically work better then the ones that have a lot of fluff behind them," she says. Are those products more expensive? Sometimes, but not always. "Many inexpensive products found in the drugstore are good," says Dr. Farris. "Stick to major consumer brands like Neutrogena, Roc, and Eucerin for good products that are backed by good science." And, say both physicians, pay attention to ingredients and how the products are formulated. If you don't know what to buy, talk to your dermatologist and ask for product recommendations or ask what ingredients and formulations you should be looking for, so you can compare products.
Men are dying too young the founders of the Movember Foundation cited on the state of mens health. With so much focusing on breast cancer awareness, and rightfully somen are dealing with cancer as well. The numbers are disheartening as prostate cancer and testicular cancer is the second largest cancer in men and according to the Movember Foundation, an estimated 1.7 million men will be diagnosed by 2030.

Movember was born after two friends in Melbourne, Australia decided to grow mustaches and enlisted 30 others to grow facial hair in 2003. They didnt raise any money, but the following year, checks were being sent to support Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, and continued to flood in.

By 2006, they were granted Australian charity status, and has grown all over the world. People from Czech Republic, Ireland, United States, Netherlands, Canada and South Africa all participated in the cause by 2010.

Today Movember has raised $650 million and helped fund 1,000 breakthrough mens health programs in 21 countries.

The site also offers tips on how to take care of the Mo using wit, and wisdom. Here are some Mo tips.

This is a good one: Nurture it and keep it clean. Look after your Mo, and your Mo will look after you.

 Decide what mustache style is for you.

 There is no vanity here, so sign up.

 Have courage. It will take time to grow your new friend.

 Ignore the itching

 Learn proper grooming techniques

Co-founder Adam Garone said we need to keep the conversation going in regards to mens health.

Movember itself started with friends getting together, growing Mos and having fun. This friendship has been essential to help create conversations and change the face of mens health."

Join the cause of Movember this November.

Corine Gatti is a Senior Editor at Beliefnet.com.
If the recently-concluded legislative session is remembered for one thing, it should be this: 2016 was the year the Legislature and Governor took significant steps to improve the overall quality-of-life for all of our residents.

Lets start with passage of the 2016-17 state budget. At the insistence of Senate Republicans, it included a $4.2 billion middle-class income tax cut the Empire Center for Public Policy called the states biggest and broadest personal income tax cut since the mid-1990s.

By reducing middle-income tax rates by 20 percent, it will ensure taxpayers can keep, save, and spend more of their hard-earned money, and allow cash-strapped parents to more comfortably provide for their families. In short, a better quality-of-life for hardworking taxpayers.

Senate Republicans were the driving force in providing back-to-back unprecedented increases in aid to education, and this year our schools will see a $1.5 billion increase and an all-time record level of total funding. The budget completely eliminated the Gap Elimination Adjustment, or GEA, an unfair funding scheme created by New York City Democrats that hurt our schools. Over time, these resources will clearly help lower the property tax burden on our residents and improve the quality-of-life for todays students.

When it comes to transportation funding, Senate Republicans re-established parity so Upstate, the Hudson Valley, and Long Island will once again get its fair share. This will result in the vast improvement of roads and bridges throughout those regions, safer conditions for motorists and their families, and more construction-related jobs that boost the economy and help our families  further increasing New Yorkers quality-of-life.

In addition, we passed a landmark Paid Family Leave bill that reinforces the balance that should exist between work and family in all of our lives. When fully implemented, eligible employees will receive up to 12 weeks of paid leave to bond with a newborn or care for a sick family member without worrying about whether or not they will have a job to come back to. Definitely an improved quality-of-life for anyone with a family.

And, Senate Republicans also reached a number of signature agreements with our partners in government over the last few weeks of session.

The Legislature acted on a strong package of anti-heroin bills that will enhance coverage for those seeking treatment, expand access to addiction treatment opportunities, and extend the length of time someone can receive life-saving services. This agreement builds on $189 million in related funds we secured as part of the budget and previous legislation already approved by the Senate and Assembly.

This overall effort is designed to combat the scourge of heroin that has torn apart many of our communities, and to give people help and hope, and a better quality-of-life.

Before we finished our business for the year, we passed legislation requiring school water to be tested for lead to protect the health of our kids, and made breast cancer screening, treatment, and care more affordable and accessible for millions of women across this state. Better quality-of-life? Check.

And finally, we took action to address so-called zombie properties, the prevalence of abandoned and decaying homes that lead to blight and depressed property values. This was a priority for Senator Jeff Klein, our majority coalition partner and leader of the Independent Democratic Conference. His work on this issue, and our partnership in getting it done, will improve the quality-of-life in each and every one of our communities.

When the book is written on the 2016 legislative session, major victories will be touted and celebrated. Above all, we worked together to improve the quality-of-life for millions of hardworking New Yorkers and their families. Thats a legacy we can all be proud of.
We all know what its like to wait for in the physicians office. Yes, it borders on ridiculousness, especially if the practice operated by a major hospital. American Medical News reported that the average was over 16 minutes, and expected to surge in the future with the Affordable Care Act.

Patients are not the only ones tired of the systemdoctors are feeling the pressure to get clients in and out. Adding to the mounting stress of the profession itself, there could be shortage of good doctors.

Over the years more doctors have become more disenchanted with their profession. The new health care system, lack of time with patients, fear of lawsuits, and exhaustion, and nine out of 10 physicians would not recommend becoming a doctor.

The percentages of suicide rates are higher than police officers at 1.87 percent compared to 1.37 percent. The more than 30 million newly insured coming into the system by next year is also cause for alarm as there is already shortage of doctors to go around.

The projected growth of the population in the US will grow from 316.5 million to 347.3 million, the Association of American Medical Colleges reported in March.

With medical professionals already tapped outthe future is uncertain. The numbers are staggering-- according to the article, as the shortage could reach a shortage of 90,400 doctors. Its not only doctors, but nurses are burned out, depressed, and have lost the drive to remain in the field.

Mom MD has been following story and asked readers to chime in.

Most of the doctors I know are frustrated being in the profession. Many would leave if they found a way to support their current lifestyles, wrote one doctor. Most are so locked into their earnings that they cannot conceive of leaving medicine, despite the unhappiness. It's a shame.

But the alternatives for those with big student loans are limited, where many doctors are seeking management positions to get out of hands-on care, or just retire early. The trend will lead to a shortage, and future generations will opt for another field without the added stressors of the medical profession.

Dr. Donald J. Palmisano was the president of the American Medical Association and told the Doctors Company, an insurance company serving physicians, that the news is not surprising. 'The Calling' to become a doctor is no longer a factor as it once was in prior years.

For years, the medical profession has been predicting a shortage of health care professionals. Today, we are perilously close to a true crisis as newly insured Americans enter the health care system and our population continues to age. Unfortunately, we may be facing a shift from a calling, which has been the hallmark for generations among physicians, that could threaten the next generation of health care professionals.

Corine Gatti is a Senior Editor at Beliefnet.com.
There is no easy answer on coping with a loved one who suffers from Alzheimers at any stage of the disease. As a family caregiver who recently lost my loved one to the complications of Alzheimers dementia, I can say with conviction that without my Moms loving and nurturing long-distance caregiver, my Mom wouldnt have been able to live at home with dignity until her dying day. But other caregivers before Yvette had no clue how to meet her needs. This filled me with anxiety. I was living in another country at the time. I could only hope and pray that things would get easier. I cried almost every night.

Caretakers would come and go until I had no choice but fly to the States and put in a request for twenty four hour care. Her teeth rotted. She wore a diaper. She told her case worker, I dont need any extra help. Im fine! while her sleeve rested in the tuna fish salad. The Caregiver who would change everything One day, in 2000, after a slew of different caregivers, the agency sent Yvette Mascary, a first generation American from a town near Haiti. From the first day, she looked at me straight in the eye and said, "Your Mom understands everything. You just need to talk to her." Before Mom fully lost her ability read, write, speak and walk, she and Yvette would go on long walks alongside the Hudson River.

Yvette would take Mom to get a haircut and they would go shopping to buy fresh fruits and vegetables that would find their way into Yvette's spicy and zesty home cooked dishes. It was hard to not fall in love with this brown skinned, plump and young looking cheery woman of 55 years who had a robust laugh, enjoyed preparing foods and kept an engaging conversation going. One day, Yvette fished through an old shoebox of Mom's recital and concert tapes back in the days when Mom was in her prime piano playing years as she was a classical pianist of note. In that shoebox was a tape of Mom playing Argentinian tangoes at Carnegie Hall in New York City in the 1960's. I had never heard that tape before. "

She knows what's going on." Yvette said. "She understands everything. You have to talk to her! You have to play these tapes for her!" Yvette held up the shoebox. She popped one in the cassette player and exclaimed, Hello Carmelita (nickname for Carmen). How are you? Dont you remember this piece? Its you! Yes, you played it. Why dont you play it for me again? Yvette taught me how to emotionally connect with my mother and the evidence of those lessons are outlined below.

1. Know there is no shame in talking to a loved one who no longer has the verbal ability. Even if they cannot verbalize their emotions, wishes and desires, they are often well aware of what they need. In moms case, she would often nod her head or soften her eyes as a way to communicate. Its important to talk as much as possible with your loved one to help stimulate the brain. Even though the brain activity degenerates over time, those who suffer from Alzheimers need to be in a loving environment where there is constant communication. Educating your caregiver on how to work with the disease Many caregivers from agencies may be loving and understanding, but very few know how to work with Alzheimers. Our Yvette was prepared to find ways to work with our mom at all stages of the disease. It was also because of Yvettes high level of care and skill that our mother was able to stay at home without being admitted to a nursing home.

1. Have a friendly but helpful conversation with the new caregiver on how you see the needs of your loved one. What does s/he need? If you dont want your loved one to be propped up in front of the television, explain that music and talking are the two ways to stimulate the brain. Explain how important it is for your loved one to be stimulated. This means joyful interaction and not being ignored half the day. For example, Yvette would often talk while she would prepare food or prepare my mom for her bathtime or she would help my mom recount some earlier memory. Making this extra effort can also build a caregiving-family team effort.

2. If its hard to get the caregivers to play music, suggest the idea of humor-related activities. Using different kinds of funny humor with Alzheimer's patients to help reconnect them to that pleasurable sensation or trigger off an emotional rection.

When Ronald Regan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, people became more aware of the importance of seeking out resources to get help while caring for someone with Alzheimer's. Humor can often play a big role in care. Caregivers have joined laughter clubs for Alzheimer's in order to feel more comfortable with their own inhibitions about dealing with this difficult disease.

Final Words It is no secret that by providing stimulating and nurturing activities for an Alzheimer's patient, one can actually see the love and build a connection, which is so vital and critical as the loved one progresses from one stage to another.

Dorit Sasson is the creator of Giving Voice to Your Story global radio show and website. She helps and coaches writers find and express their authentic voice whether its through copywriting memoir writing or blogging. Shes a regular writer for The Huffington Post and guest posted for Live, Write, Live and The Write Life. Her cultural memoir Accidental Soldier: What My Service in the Israel Defense Forces Taught Me about Faith, Courage and Love is a heroines journey of finding her voice while serving in a foreign militaristic society.She can be reached at sassondorit@gmail.com
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's bribery conviction has high-paid defense lawyers for public officials giddy over the idea that it may get a lot harder to put their corrupt clients in jail.

The scary part is they're right  unless the federal government and states, certainly corruption-happy New York, make some changes to clarify ethics laws and impose tougher restrictions on pay-to-play activities.

The core issue in the McConnell case was whether the $165,000 in gifts and loans from a wealthy businessman to the governor, who then arranged for special access to other public officials to help that businessman, constituted illegal bribery.

The Supreme Court said it did not, overturning lower court findings.

It didn't take long Monday for Steven Molo and Joel Cohen, lawyers for convicted former New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, to put out their talking points. They said the decision "makes clear that federal government has gone too far in prosecuting state officials for conduct that is part of the everyday functioning of those in elected office."

That everyday functioning, they and others argue, is simply helping constituents.

"The Supreme Court again has again restricted the Justice Department from its ever-expansive theories of prosecuting public officials because it recognizes that we are in a system in which public officials take a lot of day-to-day actions on behalf of people, ideas and causes," said Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for New Jersey state Sen. Robert Menendez, who's facing bribery charges of his own.

The problem with that line argument, and ultimately with the Supreme Court ruling, is that it fundamentally ignores that other part of the equation. That these "day-to-day actions on behalf of people" shouldn't be limited to those who can lavish their elected representatives with gifts and money and jobs and other perks.

Nevertheless, the highest court has spoken, which means that laws need to be more precise.

In New York state, good-government watchdogs have long called on the reduction, or outright elimination, of outside income for elected state officials.

We had hopes that the convictions of Silver and Skelos would lead to a dramatic improvement in this flaw with how Albany is structured. Sadly it did not.

Perhaps the threat that Silver and Skelos could actually never serve a day in prison and have their convictions overturned is enough to movitate action.
Bangladeshi police stand guard during a nationwide crackdown on militants, June 13, 2016. A report by Transparency International Bangladesh claims that three out of every four people face corrupt practices when dealing with immigration and law enforcement officials.

Three out of four people in Bangladesh who seek immigration services or who deal with law enforcement agencies have to bribe officials, according to a report published Wednesday by the Bangladeshi chapter of anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International.

The countrys Department of Immigration and Passports and its various law enforcement agencies were the most corrupt of public sector agencies last year, according to results of a survey of national households conducted in 2015 by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), which it released in Dhaka on Wednesday.

People paid a staggering 88.2 billion taka (U.S. $1.1 billion) in bribes to public servants in 2015 alone, according to TIB.

The matter of concern is people are the victims of such corruption, TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman told a press conference in Dhaka.

The survey found that 78 percent and 75 percent of people, respectively, had to bribe officials at the Department of Immigration and Passports as well as the police and other law enforcement agencies. The department and the other agencies all fall under the home ministry.

Bribery of officials who handle education, public utilities, roads, transportation, land administration, judicial services, and other matters was also rife in Bangladesh last year, the TIB reported.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal criticized the report, saying that TIB researches had compiled incomplete data for their survey.

The report is based on data collected in early 2015. They should have prepared the report through an extensive verification of the data, he said.

The TIB is a credible organization, Badiul Alam Majumder, general secretary of Sujon, a rights group campaigning for rule of law and social justice, told BenarNews.

And I think the TIB findings are the reflection of the ground reality. The government should take the report seriously, Majumder said.

Collectors for the police

The data was collected from November 2014 to October 2015, according to TIB.

In its countrywide survey, TIB garnered responses from all of Bangladeshs 64 districts to determine the extent of corruption and bribery in the top 16 public sector agencies.

Possibly you will not get a single person who would say that he received any public service without a bribe or harassment. The public servants harass people to collect extra money, Khandker Abdul Baten, a businessman, told BenarNews.

He said he had to bribe officials in the passport department in obtaining passports for his wife and two daughters.

[T]wo separate police officers telephoned me to verify my address and other information. They met me at my office and asked for money. They gave a good report to the passport office without going to my house as I gave them 1,500 taka [U.S. $19] for each of the passports, Baten said.

Dhaka resident Mohidul Islam complained that he had to pay a broker, or middle-man, 200 taka (U.S. $2.50) outside a police station in order to expedite his case of a lost identity card.

At every police station, brokers wait to collect such payments from ordinary people, particularly illiterate ones, Islam alleged.

They collect money from the people for whatever service they seek from them. Cant the police evict the brokers? The middlemen are the collectors for the police, he told BenarNews.
A guard stands outside the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in New Delhi, Jan. 12, 2016. NIA officers arrested five suspected Islamic State sympathizers on Wednesday.

After police arrested five suspected Islamic State (IS) sympathizers in the southern city of Hyderabad on Wednesday, Indian security observers said the government should take the threat seriously and not shrug off warnings of attacks.

The five arrested men, including a software engineer and his brother, were among 11 Indian Muslims held for questioning after raids conducted across Hyderabads old quarters early Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said. Firearms, ammunition, bomb-making material and currency were seized in the raids.

The agency claimed that with these arrests it uncovered an IS cell independent of the 30-odd previous IS-linked arrests. The cell allegedly was plotting attacks across Hyderabad.

The government has to realize that there is clearly something wrong. Nationally adverse activities are taking place and IS is making inroads. Internal systems and policies need to be fixed, retired Adm. H.C. Malhotra, a security analyst, told BenarNews.

Despite recent threats directed at India through propaganda apparently disseminated by IS, along with previous arrests, including those of some alleged recruiters, New Delhi consistently has dismissed the possibility of the Middle East-based extremist group gaining a foothold in the country.

In India, religious fanaticism is not the problem. [The government] needs to first explore and attempt to understand the reasons for the increasing allegiance of Indians to such terror organizations and nip the problem in the bud, Malhotra said.

Ample proof

The pre-dawn raids in Hyderabad followed four months of surveillance, an NIA source told BenarNews.

All of the 11 people picked up for questioning were grilled, and subsequently five of them were officially placed under arrest, the source said, adding that Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani, a software technician, and his brother, Mohammed Ilyas Yazdani, a computer applications graduate, were the alleged leaders of the cell.

The source said the other six detainees likely would be freed later.

The operation was primarily carried out by the NIA. The police only provided them with support. The raids were conducted in the southern part of the city. And we believe they [those arrested] were involved in activities related to the IS, N. Koti Reddy, additional deputy commissioner of police (Hyderabad Task Force), told BenarNews.

We have ample proof to show that the suspects were working for ISIS and also had direct connection with Syrian leaders, an unnamed NIA official told Reuters, using another acronym for IS. Another official, NIA Inspector Gen. Sanjeev Kumar, said the men were recruited by an IS handler operating outside of India, without naming the country.

We cant afford to neglect it anymore

The arrests follow an apparent kill list of more than 4,500 individuals, including 285 Indians, purportedly released on June 23 by IS. In its propaganda material, it openly declared Hindu-majority India as an enemy country.

At least 23 Indians have left for Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the IS, according to Indian intelligence agencies. Of them, six have died in battle. About 30 others have been prevented from leaving the country to join the group, and more than 150 are under surveillance for showing leaning toward the outfit, officials said.

Public affairs commentator Amit Khemka described the situation as a worrisome trend.

The Indian establishments have neglected (a growing support for IS) so far, but we cant afford to neglect it any more. And the only long-term solution to this problem is to create a causative mechanism that enables you to understand the socio-economic and psychological aspects of these misguided youth who are supporting terror groups, Khemka told BenarNews.
The daughter of Siddik Turgan, who was killed in the attack on Istanbuls international airport, reacts as her fathers coffin passes during his funeral in Istanbul, June 29, 2016.

Asian governments Wednesday joined a worldwide chorus of condemnation against Tuesday nights terrorist attack at Istanbuls international airport, which killed at least 41 people and injured 239 others and which Turkey blamed on Islamic State, according to the latest reports.

As the Turkish people began to bury loved ones who were killed at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Europes third busiest airport, when three suspected IS suicide bombers opened fire and blew themselves up, condolence messages poured into Turkey from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Bangladesh, and many other countries.

The attack ripped humanity, Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo said in a message posted on Twitter.

My deep condolences for all the victims of suicide bombing in Istanbul Ataturk Airport. The world is united against terrorism, added Jokowi.

Indonesia sends its deepest sympathy to the government and People of Turkey, especially to the bereaved family of the victims #prayforturkey, Indonesias foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, tweeted separately.

Jokowi leads a nation with the worlds largest Muslim population that, along with Malaysia, has been grappling in recent years with a threat of radicalized young Muslims traveling through Turkey to join the extremist group Islamic State in neighboring Syria and Iraq.

Findings by our security forces indicate that this terror attack was carried out by Daesh [Islamic State], Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildrim, told reporters Wednesday, according to Reuters.

The attack came a little more than three months after IS claimed responsibility for a suicide attack at the international airport in Brussels and a metro station in the Belgian capital, which killed 35 people and injured more than 300. However, according to the latest news reports, IS had not yet claimed responsibility for Tuesdays attack in Turkey. Earlier reports had put the death toll at 36 people killed.

Heinous

No Indonesians were killed in the attack at the airport, but officials were trying to verify this information with Turkish authorities and the Indonesian expat community, Indonesias consulate in Istanbul said in a statement.

Some 728 Indonesian citizens live and work in Turkey, including about 300 who are studying there, the consulate said.

In Malaysia, officials said there were no reports of Malaysian citizens killed or injured in the attack. But the foreign ministry urged citizens traveling to Turkey to watch out for security threats.

My deepest condolences to the people of Turkey, especially to the families and victims of this senseless attack on innocent lives. Malaysia condemns this heinous act in the strongest terms, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a Facebook posting. He called on Muslim nations to unite and cooperate in combatting acts of terrorism conducted in the name of Islam.

Abdul Hadi Awang, the president of Malaysias faith-based Pan-Islamic Party (PAS), also condemned the attack in conveying his partys condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish people.

Such heinous acts are against the teachings of Islam, which prohibits any cruel actions involving innocent civilians, the PAS leader said in a statement.

In neighboring Singapore, officials expressed shock as they deplored Tuesdays suicide attack in Istanbul.

Singapore strongly condemns this act of terror against innocent civilians and stands united with Turkey in its fight against terrorism, President Tony Tan Keng Yam said in a letter to his Turkish counterpart.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama called Erdogan to offer American support in investigating the attack and strengthening security in its aftermath, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday, the morning after the U.S. government condemned the airport attack.

In South Asia, Indian and Bangladeshi officials sent similar messages.

Attack in Istanbul is inhuman & horrific. I condemn it strongly. My thoughts are with bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said via Twitter.

Terrible news from Istanbul. Our thoughts and prayers are for the victims and their families, Bangladeshi State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said on Facebook.

Alam, who returned on Wednesday from an overseas tour, noted that he had traveled through Istanbul Ataturk Airport three days ago and had the option to pass through the Turkish hub on Tuesday.

Blow back

Tuesdays attack was the sixth carried out this year alone in Turkey by suspected IS militants or Kurdish rebels.

Since 2013, the country at the crossroads of Europe and Asia has been rocked on multiple fronts by deadly terrorist attacks, according to news reports. On Oct. 10, 2015, 103 people were killed and more than 500 were wounded in the worst-ever terrorist attack, when twin suicide bombings targeted a pro-Kurdish peace rally in Ankara, Agence France-Presse reported.

The airport attack was an act of blowback against Turkey for originally backing groups such as IS against the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, according to Ajai Sahni, a counter-terrorism expert who founded the New Delhi-based think tank Institute for Conflict Management.

For a long time, Turkey was supporting terror or radical groups like the IS. [Turkey] was the principal route for Islamic radicals. It had even set up medical facilities for terror groups, Sahni told BenarNews.

Basically, every country that has sought to exploit terrorism as an instrument of state policy has eventually suffered a blowback, and Turkey cannot be an exception. It has been a political asylum for terrorists who came from other countries, and now it is finding it difficult to contain radicals spreading violence, he said.

Tia Asmara in Jakarta, Razlan Rashid in Kuala Lumpur, Kamran Reza Chowdhury in Dhaka, and Amin Masoodi in Srinagar, India, contributed to this report.
Navy police officers escort sailors from Tugboat Charles 001 after it arrived at a navy base in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, June 25, 2016.

On that sweltering afternoon, June 20, 2016, Tugboat Charles 001 was sailing at normal speed in the waters between Jolo and Tawi Tawi in the southern Philippines, pulling the barge Robby 152 after making a coal delivery at Cagayan De Oro, Philippines.

Indonesian sailor Rudi Kurniawan was at the helm, keeping an eye on the tugboats coordinates and speed. Three crew members were with him in the wheelhouse.

It was almost time for a crew change. I was tired after being at the helm all day, Rudi told BenarNews in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, on June 26.

His sleepiness vanished when two speedboats pulled up on either side of the tugboat and a dozen men pointed rifles in their direction.

It crossed my mind, they are Abu Sayyaf. Theres been piracy before in the waters off Tawi-Tawi, he said. Fourteen Indonesian sailors were snatched in two separate incidents in March and April, then released in May after being held by Abu Sayyaf, a group known for taking foreigners hostage and killing some of their captives.

Rudi and his three colleagues rounded up the nine other crew members, and all of them crowded into the wheelhouse. Meanwhile, armed men were getting on board.

Some of them had already gotten on the boat, pointing their guns at us. We couldnt do anything but put our hands up in a sign of surrender, said Rudi, who still appeared exhausted.

Where are the engineers?

By Rudis count, seven pirates boarded the tugboat. One of them, using a Malay dialect, began asking for the tugboats engineers. They tied up the tugboat captain Ferry Arifin, chief engineer Muh Mahbrur Dahri and engineer Edi Suryono.

They were looking for machinists. Where are the engineers, where are the engineers! said Andi Wahyu, another crew member, imitating the pirates.

Edis hands were immediately tied with rope. Then they grabbed Ferry and Mahbrur, pointing their guns at them.

The three were loaded onto a speedboat, along with most of the tugboats communications equipment.

One of the sailors started crying as the three most senior members of the crew were led away.

Seeing our mate cry, the pirate who spoke Malay said we didnt need to worry because they are only after money from the owner of our boat, Andi said.

In Jakarta on Monday, Indonesian Armed Forces chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo told reporters that the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of 200 million Philippine pesos, the equivalent of almost 65 billion Indonesian rupiah (U.S. $4.9 million).

He said the hostages were likely being held on Jolo, in the Sulu archipelago of the southern Philippines. Authorities believe two different groups are behind the snatchings, one of them led by Abu Sayyaf figure Al Habsyi Misaya.

The other one we dont know yet, and were looking into it, Gatot said, adding that Indonesias government was in close contact with counterparts in the Philippines.

A navy police officer stands on the dock as Tugboat TB Charles 001 pulls in to Semayang Port in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, June 25, 2016. (Gunawan/BeritaBenar)

Second attack

As soon as the pirates took off, the remaining crew set a rapid course away from Jolo, while trying to get a signal on a cell phone a crew member had managed to hide from the hijackers, Andi said.

Our panic had not even subsided, we had just started up again, when another speedboat with armed men appeared, he said.

The crew tried to outrun this boat, abandoning the barge to increase their speed.

We werent as fast as them even after we let the barge go. In the end the armed men boarded the boat, Andi said.

The second group, wearing brown camouflage uniforms and bullet-proof vests, looked even more terrifying than the first.

With no senior crew left to snatch, this group tied up four members of the crew.

Without saying too much, they took our four crew mates, Andi recounted.

Deeply shaken, the six remaining sailors started their journey once again, heading for Kalimantan.

For 35 hours, we took turns driving the boat out of Jolo waters until we reached Berau [Kalimantan] and immediately called the [shipping] company on the remaining cell phone, Andi said.

Indonesia had announced a moratorium on coal shipments to the Philippines after the earlier kidnappings, but shipping companies did not comply.

Plans by Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to mount joint patrols in waters along their shared borders to prevent more maritime hijackings have not yet materialized.

The release of the 14 sailors in May was secured through diplomatic efforts and not ransom payments, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said at the time.

Malaysia acknowledged that 12 million ringgit (U.S. $2.94 million) was paid to unnamed organizations in the Philippines to obtain the release earlier this month of four Malaysian sailors kidnapped in April. But the money was not ransom paid to Abu Sayyaf, Deputy Prime Minister Adhamd Zahid Hamidi said.
N. Surendran (center), a lawyer for late truck driver N. Dharmendran, shows an image of injuries on a computer tablet as Dharmendrans widow (right), Marry Mariaysusay, holds up a copy of her husbands post-mortem report during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, June 1, 2013.

A Malaysian high court on Wednesday acquitted four policemen of charges of causing the death of a detainee, just two months after a government commission found the officers responsible for torturing and killing the man in 2013.

The prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers caused the death of N. Dharmendran sometime between May 18 and 21, 2013, Judge Kamardin Hashim ruled.

A pathologist at Kuala Lumpur Hospital determined that had Dharmendran died of soft-tissue injuries brought on by blunt force, including having his ears stapled while he was alive.

The prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence that did not point to the guilt of the four accused, Hashim said.

The four policemen, Inspector S. Hare Krishnan, Sgt. Jaffri Jaafar and corporals Mohd Nahar Abd Rahman and Haswadi Zamri Shaari cried and hugged each other following Wednesdays verdict, according to media reports.

The verdict did not surprise human rights lawyer Syahredzan Johan.

The burden of proof in criminal proceeding is higher than that of a commission investigation, he told BenarNews, adding, What the family can do now is to pursue a civil suit against the police officers and the government.

The four were charged with killing Dharmendran, a truck driver, at the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters. Dharmendran was arrested on May 11, 2013, on a charge of the attempted murder of two people in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, and died 10 days later.

In this case, the judge held that there were doubts, lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, who represented Krishnan, told BenarNews.

The policemen were acquitted even though the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) reported on April 28 that Dharmendran had suffered 52 bruises while in police custody, which led to his death.

Following the release of the commissions report into the case, Police Inspector-General Khalid Abu Bakar said the EAIC should not have made the announcement because the case was sub judice  meaning it was under judicial consideration and therefore prohibited from public discussion.

EAIC was formed in 2011 to handle complaints of misconduct against 19 enforcement agencies including police, immigration and customs.

An EAIC spokesperson declined to comment on Wednesdays verdict, telling BenarNews that it was not appropriate to do so because the case was just decided.

Acquittals repeated

Wednesdays ruling marked the second time that the four officers were acquitted in the case.

On Dec. 12, 2014, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur cleared the four officers, ruling there was no prima facie evidence to support the case against them. At the time, Judge Hashim stated the prosecution had failed to prove a motive and had provided only circumstantial evidence.

An Appeals Court overruled the acquittal and ordered the four to present their defense following an appeal by the prosecution.

Dharmendran family attorney N. Surendran said his clients would continue to seek justice for their loved one, who was a husband and father.

He said his clients wanted an explanation from Khalid and Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali on their failure to secure any conviction for the crime.

Dharmendrans widow and family members are disappointed and saddened by this verdict. The feeling of Dharmendrans family is indescribable, Surendran said, according to Free Malaysia Today.
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CUB wins back Corona and Stella Artois from Lion

Carlton United Breweries (CUB) has won back the right to import Corona and Stella Artois beer into Australia.

CUB used to import the beers until it was acquired by South African brewer SAB Miller in 2011. A condition of the acquisition was that it had to give up importation rights to Corona and Stella Artrois.

Lion has since been importing the beers but this week its parent company, Japans Kirin Holdings, confirmed it would no longer be importing the beer into Australia due to the recent acquisition of SAB Miller by Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev).

Lion expects to receive a payment between AUD $250 million  AUD $300 million for giving up its importation rights.

AB InBevs acquisition of SAB Miller was approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in May 2016.

AB InBev is the worlds largest brewer and SAB Miller is the second largest. Details of the acquisition are still being arranged however it is expected to cost AB InBev US $108 billion.

Coopers keen to pick up new brands

Meanwhile, Australias largest independent brewer, Coopers, has signaled it would potentially like to pick up a few brands itself due to the AB InBev acquisition of SAB Miller.

Speaking to The Australian newspaper, Managing Director of Coopers, Glen Cooper, said Coopers was well placed to pick up any extra brands due to its spread across Australia and its history of teaming up with foreign brands such as Carlsberg.
In honor of Asteroid Day on Thursday, June 30, Meteor Crater will host an all-day celebration featuring arts and crafts, a costume contest, an educational movie screening and other family activities.

Established as the result of the 1908 Tunguska event in Siberia, the most recent large asteroid impact to hit earth, Asteroid Day is intended to raise awareness of asteroids and develop solutions to protect people and the planet from future asteroid impacts. For more information, visit asteroidday.org

Meteor Crater's Asteroid Day activities will be from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. From 8-11 a.m., attendees can build their own 3D model asteroid and earth in the arts and crafts center. Then, from 11-noon, guests can put on their best space-themed costume and participate in the Cosmic Crater Costume Contest. The top three winners will be announced at noon with prizes including a $100 Visa gift card, a $50 Visa gift card and a Meteor Crater gift basket. From 1-4 p.m., families and children of all ages can create a What Asteroid Day Means to Me, illustration while enjoying an afternoon snack. The top illustrations will win prizes to take home.

In order to educate the public about asteroids and to support Asteroid Day and its mission, Meteor Crater will also host a screening of the film "51 Degrees North," which can be observed in the movie theater throughout the day.

Admission is $18 for adults, $9 for juniors and free for children age five and younger. Meteor Crater is located at I-40, exit 233 on Meteor Crater Road, Winslow. For more information, visit meteorcrater.com/

Century Ride to benefit the Taylor House

Registration is open for the 16th annual Pepsi-Cola Taylor House Century Ride. The ride begins at 7 a.m. on Saturday, July 16. Proceeds benefit the Taylor House, a service of Northern Arizona Healthcare. The Taylor House is a place to call home for people receiving outpatient treatment at NAHs Flagstaff Medical Center or for families who have a loved one in the hospital.

The 95-mile route, which begins at FMC, takes riders through Flagstaff and Wupatki and Sunset Crater national monuments, and then back to FMC. Loops of 65-, 45- and 30-miles are available to those who wish to ride shorter distances. All routes wind through historic Flagstaff, then loop through the cool pines and high desert of northern Arizona. Riders will be served a catered lunch at the end of the ride.

Registration is $60 per person. On a first-come, first-served basis, cyclists will receive a 2016 commemorative t-shirt and water bottle. Donors who give $150 will receive a $35 Absolute Bikes gift certificate, commemorative t-shirt and water bottle; donors who give $500 will receive a $75 Absolute Bikes gift certificate, commemorative t-shirt and water bottle; and donors who give $750 will receive a $100 Absolute Bikes gift certificate, commemorative t-shirt and water bottle.

For more information and to register, visit absolutebikes.net/community/events/taylor-house/ or call NAH Foundation at 877-527-5291. Entry forms are also available at the FMC Foundation office, 1050 N. San Francisco St., in Flagstaff; and at both Absolute Bikes locations at 200 E. Route 66, in Flagstaff and 6101 Highway 179, in the Village of Oak Creek.
A New Mexico man will spend more than 12 years behind bars for robbing a bank in Chinle on the Navajo Nation.

U.S. District Judge Steven P. Logan on Tuesday sentenced Kristopher Andrew Jaramillo, aka Cristobal Andres, to 151 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, according to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona. Jaramillo, 39, of Albuquerque, had previously pleaded guilty to bank robbery. U.S. marshals took him into custody after sentencing.

According to the official complaint filed in U.S. District Court, the FBI arrested Jaramillo after he robbed the Wells Fargo Bank located northwest of the intersection of U.S. Highway 191 and Indian Route 7 in Chinle on Oct. 26, 2015.

Bank surveillance video showed a man entering the bank and then standing in line for the teller windows. When it was his turn, he approached one teller window, placing a small piece of paper and a bag on the counter.

The teller told police the paper instructed her to put money in the bag and told her not to sound any alarms or notify the police. The teller then placed approximately $1,800 in the bag. The suspect then walked quickly out of the bank.

After a series of vehicle switches, Jaramillo was found by Navajo Nation Police Department officers, lying in a patch of brush near U.S. Highway 191 at approximately 6 p.m. He had $200 in his possession.

Officers also found an additional $960 lying on the ground near the property. It had not been there when police originally searched the area. They found another $200 near where Jaramillo was found. He was arrested and booked into the Coconino County Detention Facility.

Jaramillo told an FBI agent an unidentified person had given him the note he presented at the bank. He said he did not know he was robbing the bank. He changed his story when he pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery May 16 of this year.

Initially, Jaramillo gave a fake name to the court and law enforcement. His detention report said he had an active warrant at the time of his arrest, as well as a history of drug and mental health problems. He had prior convictions for robbery and attempted robbery in New Mexico.
Newly released AzMERIT standardized test results show Flagstaff Unified School District students are making higher gains than statewide scores, but passage rates in most grades still fall below state passing rates.

FUSD officials discussed the districts passing rate on the test Tuesday, the day after the Arizona Department of Education released preliminary statewide data. More detailed data for the state, district and local charter schools will be available in August, Charles Tack, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Education, said in a press release.

In FUSD, where the majority of Flagstaff students attend school, the only grade and subject where FUSD had a higher passing rate than the state was in fourth grade English. In all other subjects and other grade levels, FUSD fell below the state in passing rates.

Robert Hagstrom, the district director of research and assessment, said the district only had three areas with a decline in passage rates, including eighth grade in both tests, which Hagstrom said could indicate a problem with that grade levels test, because the state showed steep declines in eighth grade passing rates as well.

Hagstrom said a significant difference is a change of three percentage points in any direction. A change of six percentage points in any direction was either a very significant difference or an anomaly, he said.

At some grade levels, it seems like this test is not reliable, Hagstrom said. We should only see a change between 3 and 4 percent based on instruction alone. If a change is bigger than 5 percent, there could be other issues at play there, like a systematic problem with the test.

FUSD also saw a decline in passing rates for third grade English.

Hagstrom said, despite the districts passing rates generally falling below the states, the districts scores indicated faster growth than the state in most categories.

In 11 out of 18 categories, FUSD showed better growth than the state as a whole, Hagstrom said. In some places where the state lost percentage points we made significant gains.

Middle school performance

Hagstrom pointed out both sixth and seventh grades made significant gains, much larger than the state, in both subject areas. He said these increases can possibly be attributed to an increased focus on remedial work at the middle school level.

Two years ago, the district implemented a policy that if a student was receiving a D or an F in a core class by the end of the first semester, the student would, instead of going to an elective class, receive increased intervention in that subject area to try to improve the students performance.

The program began in 2014, so the first group of students subject to the policy were seventh graders when they took the AzMERIT in April. The policy continued last school year, so both sixth and seventh graders had received extra remedial help under the rule. That years eighth graders, who did not show increases in performance, were not subject to the policy.

We think thats why were seeing increased growth there, Hagstrom said. Theyre getting more time to learn the material.

Third grade English

Hagstrom said the ranking given to each student for the English and Language Arts category is a combination of their scores from the reading and writing portions of the test.

However, under Arizonas Move on when Reading law, the states lowest performers in reading in third grade are required to be held back a grade. The law only examines a students reading score, not the combination that is given to the district, Hagstrom said.

Hagstrom said the districts four-percentage-point drop in third grade English scores was a concern for the district because of the law, but said out of all third grade students in the district, less than 1 percent were in danger of being held back under the law.

Even those who fall below the threshold might not be held back, he said. English language learners and special education students are not subject to being retained in a grade.

He said other students in danger of being held back were notified during the school year and encouraged to participate in the districts summer reading camp, which could help improve their reading level.

Hagstrom said out of all students notified that they feel below the requirement, it was possible only one could be retained in third grade under the law.

However, Hagstrom said steps are being taken to make the test a little easier for third graders in FUSD. He said after this years round of tests, third grade teachers suggested moving the third grade test later in the testing window than the fourth and fifth grade students.

By moving the test, third grade students, who have never taken AzMERIT before, will have more time to get acquainted with the online testing format, which they might not have used many times before.

Third graders are taking the test for the first time, but the third grade reading score is really important, Hagstrom said. By moving the third grade test to the end of April, we add two weeks of instruction time and more time to take practice tests.

When will scores level out?

Hagstrom said, as of now, the test is not a reliable indicator of how much a student is learning in class. He said he does not expect the test to be an accurate measurement for about five years, when teachers and administration have had time to adjust methods and tailor instruction more closely to Arizona College and Career Ready standards.

This is still a new test, its only the second year taking it, he said. If the test becomes more reliable over the years, I would expect passing rates in FUSD and the state to be 50 percent or higher with this particular test.

Hagstrom said the states previous standardized test, called the AIMS, took ten years after it was implemented before some grades had a majority of students passing the test.

Our goal every year is to make more and more students pass the test, or even get better, he said.
The 2016 monsoon swept into the Flagstaff area with a bang Tuesday and weather forecasts show it could get more intense later this week before it lets up.

The National Weather Service station in Bellemont recorded 1 to 2 inches of rainfall in most neighborhoods, with some areas receiving sporadic dime-sized hail.

This has really been the most active day (of the monsoon season) so far," said NWS Meteorologist Robert Rickey. "Its a little early. June is our driest month. The average start for the heavy rain showers in Coconino County typically occurs around the Fourth of July.

The heaviest precipitation fell at about 10 a.m. in the central part of the city. It quickly caused street flooding between the Northern Arizona University campus and Downtown Flagstaff.

A trio of NAU students on DuPont Avenue found themselves and their neighbors knee-deep in flood waters Tuesday morning.

This happened in about 10 minutes, said Jacob Goodenough, an NAU senior who is renting part of a triplex on DuPont. He gestured toward the street in front of the house which was covered in water up to the foot high step to his front door.

In the street, it was up to the tops of tires on smaller sedans and two-thirds of the way up the tires of a small SUV parked outside of Goodenoughs home. Overturned trash cans clustered around the back bumper of one car, their contents slowly drifting away.

It was kind of scary, but hey, it makes for great swimming, said Goodenoughs friend, Rohan Bathwater.

Health officials, however, strongly recommend against any avoidable body contact with floodwaters, which can contain a range of bacteria, chemicals other hazards. If exposed, wash yourself, your pets and your clothing immediately.

No flooding was reported in the unincorporated parts of Coconino County, according to Lucinda Andreani, deputy County Public Works director. Andreani also said that the rain gauges that were installed in the area of the Schultz Fire on the east side of the San Francisco Peaks havent sent out any alerts, which would be a first notice of flooding issues in that area.

Goodenough said he wasnt surprised that his street flooded. A roommate sent him photos of the street flooding last August. While this part of the street floods with almost every rain, it only gets this bad every once in a while, he said, nudging a trash bag out of the way. The landlord keeps them supplied with sandbags, but a trio of Flagstaff Public Works employees and a couple of firefighters, stopped by with a truck with a pile of full sandbags to help the residents out.

He said he and his roommates are lucky because they have a front step that prevents most of the water from coming in their portion of the triplex. The other two apartments in the triplex dont have steps. The sidewalk from the driveway slopes directly into their doorways.

They havent had water in their side of the house yet, but theyve had problems in the past, Goodenough said. I wish we had more storm drains on the street.

City spokesperson Kim Ott said the city is aware that that section of DuPont Street is prone to flooding.

Its a really low street, she said. The water from the Rio de Flag pools there nearly every monsoon. Its not a really a street drain problem. Its something that happens when we get a concentrated amount of water in very short amount of time in that area. Once the Rio de Flag project is completed it will channel that water away from that and other areas that are prone to flooding.

In order to combat the flooding, city crews clean out the storm drains each year and stash barricades near the streets, such as DuPont Avenue, that are most prone to flooding, she said.

Rickey said flash floods will continue to be a concern as isolated to scattered thunderstorms linger in the Flagstaff area every day, growing in intensity by the end of the week.

Theres a potential for very heavy rainfall Thursday and Friday, he said.

Outside Flagstaff, the NWS is carefully watching areas recently burned by wildfires, which are prone to flash flooding.

Ott recommended that Flagstaff residents whose streets have flooded call the citys Public Works Department at 213-2100. Residents who have flooding on private property should call the citys Stormwater Management Section at 213-2470.

Residents can also pick up sandbags on Aztec Street near Frances Short Pond. Youll have to bring your own shovel to fill the bags with sand.

NWS forecasts show the monsoon could bring a lot of pea-sized hail and strong winds heading into the weekend. High temperatures should stay in the upper 70s to low 80s for most of the week. Rickey said it is tough to predict how the monsoon weather will develop but there is a possibility storm activity could drop off late Sunday into the July 4 holiday.
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For Immediate Release, June 29, 2016 Contact: Randy Serraglio, (520) 784-1504, rserraglio@biologicaldiversity.org Lawsuit Launched to Protect Home of America's Only Known Jaguar From Copper Mine U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ignored Its Own Scientists in Approving Sprawling Rosemont Copper Mine TUCSON, Ariz. The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act for its approval of a controversial open pit copper mine in the heart of the home territory of El Jefe, Americas only known jaguar. The Service issued a formal biological opinion in April that would allow the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine in southern Arizona to harm or kill El Jefe and destroy his home, despite the fact that its located in protected critical habitat on public land thats essential to the recovery of jaguars in the United States. Photo of El Jefe the jaguar by Conservation CATalyst and the Center for Biological Diversity. This photo is available for media use. Video of El Jefe is available for media to embed from our Facebook page or by download. If we want jaguars like El Jefe to roam wild again in the mountains of the American Southwest, we must protect places like Rosemont, said Randy Serraglio, conservation advocate with the Center. Rosemont is not only prime jaguar habitat  as El Jefe proved by living there the past few years  its also a critically important movement corridor for all jaguars that attempt to return to ancestral territories in the U.S. The Rosemont mine would blast a mile-wide, 3,000-foot-deep open pit in the heart of El Jefes home territory and bury thousands of acres of surrounding public land with more than a billion tons of toxic mine waste. The mine would also pump a vast amount of groundwater, which threatens to dry up springs and creeks in the area that are critically important to jaguars and several other protected species. In draft biological opinions, Fish and Wildlifes own scientists concluded that the mine should not be permitted, but the agency ignored their findings in issuing its approval. The Rosemont mine would be a fatal blow for an array of plants and animals already teetering on the brink of extinction, said Serraglio. Jaguars cant survive without water and neither can the endangered fish and frogs living in the areas creeks and springs. The fact is, theres no way theyll be able to escape Rosemonts destruction. Independent studies have shown that the Rosemont mine will likely do far more damage to southern Arizonas dwindling water sources than was originally claimed, and theres no guarantee the companys mitigation plan will offer any benefits at all. With a glut of copper on the global market and the industry in a free fall, theres no rational argument for this mine, said Serraglio. Were long past the bad old days of trading short-term economic benefits for permanent environmental destruction. In the 21st century, southern Arizonas economy is driven by scenic vistas, outdoor recreation, and the thrill of visiting places where jaguars and an amazing diversity of other plants and animals live. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.


For Immediate Release, June 29, 2016 Contact: Michael Robinson, (575) 313-7017, michaelr@biologicaldiversity.org Texas, Oregon, Minnesota, California Top List of States Where Most

Black Bears, Mountain Lions, Wolves Killed by USDA's Wildlife Services in 2015 New Map Shows Kill Data in All States WASHINGTON Texas, Oregon, Minnesota and California are the states where the U.S. Department of Agricultures Wildlife Services killed the most black bears, mountain lions, wolves and bobcats in 2015, according to a new Center for Biological Diversity analysis. The secretive federal program killed 3.2 million animals throughout the nation last year, mostly on behalf of the livestock industry and other agribusinesses. View an interactive map of state-by-state 2014 and 2015 Wildlife Services kill data for black bears, mountain lions, wolves and bobcats, four key species of carnivores. Despite increasing calls for an end to the senseless slaughter of our wildlife it continues unchecked with no oversight, said Michael Robinson of the Center. This outdated, shortsighted killing scheme defies reason and science  when Wildlife Services massacred more than 600 bobcats and almost 17,000 coyotes in Texas last year it simply increased the number of rodents. Wildlife Services also killed 23 mountain lions in Texas last year even though the number of these big cats in the state may be declining and a border wall now separates Lone Star cougars from those in Mexico. Oregon also made the shortlist of states in which Wildlife Services kills rare carnivores, largely on the basis of the killing of 193 black bears and 91 mountain lions. While mountain lions are killed on behalf of the livestock industry, black bears die because timber companies resent that they sometimes strip the bark off trees to feed on insects or sap. In California, Wildlife Services killed 121 bears, 80 mountain lions and 15 bobcats. Minnesota led the field in the number of wolves killed by Wildlife Services last year: 220. The agency killed 70 wolves in Idaho, 54 in Wyoming and 31 in Montana. Wolves remain on the endangered species list in Wyoming, though with a loophole allowing for their destruction on behalf of the livestock industry, and are a threatened species in Minnesota.

Its repugnant that taxpayers throughout the country have to pay for the cruel destruction of animals on behalf of special interests, said Robinson. Wildlife Services resists reform and day by day is proving its incompatibility with conservation. Background

USDAs Wildlife Services program began in 1915 when Congress appropriated $125,000 to the Bureau of Biological Survey for destroying wolves, coyotes, and other animals injurious to agriculture and animal husbandry on national forests and other public lands. By the 1920s scientists and fur trappers were robustly criticizing the Biological Surveys massive poisoning of wildlife, and in response, in 1928, the program officially renounced extermination as its goal. Nevertheless it proceeded to exterminate wolves, grizzly bears, black-footed ferrets and other animals from most of their remaining ranges in the years to follow. The program was blocked from completely exterminating these species through the 1973 passage of the Endangered Species Act. In 1997, after several other name changes, the deceptive name Wildlife Services was inaugurated in place of Biological Survey. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia
The African Union Commission (AUC), through the Infrastructure and Energy Department, in collaboration with the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology of Kenya, has launched the Kenya Internet Exchange Point of Presence in Mombasa.

Image by 123RF

Through the African Internet Exchange System (AXIS) project of the African Union Commission, member states with internet exchange points have increased from 18 to 32. The Commission has further provided grants to six internet exchange points to be supported to become regional internet exchange points.

Under the grant awarded to the Kenya Internet Exchange point, the following four areas are to be supported: Capacity Building, the KIXP Site in Mombasa, the GSM Regional Exchange (GRX) and promotion of KIXP as a regional internet exchange In the context of celebrating 50 years, the AU heads of state and government agreed to develop a Continental Agenda 2063.

The overall objective of Agenda 2063 is to chart Africas development trajectory over the next 50 years. One of the envisaged activities is putting in place an intra-African broadband terrestrial infrastructure, said Dr Elham M.A. Ibrahim, African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy.

As access to information and knowledge is a prerequisite to achieving development goals set by Africa, I call upon the public sector, private sector and civil society to partner and find effective and innovative ways to put the potential of ICT at the service of African citizens, added Ibrahim.

Africa is currently paying overseas carriers to exchange intra- continental traffic on our behalf. This is both costly as well as an inefficient way of handling exchange of local Internet traffic.

The launch was officiated by Ibrahim and Victor Kyalo, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology of Kenya, and attended by leaders of the Industry.

We are keen on enhancing local and regional connectivity to make Africa technologically competitive, concluded Kyalo.

*For more information on the African Internet Exchange System Project of the African Union, visit: au.int/axis
Zambian police said they had arrested two senior editors of the country's largest independent newspaper that was shut last week over alleged unpaid tax.

Image by 123RF

The daily Post newspaper has rejected the tax-collecting agency's claims that it owes millions of dollars and says the shutdown is an attempt to silence it ahead of highly-contested August elections.

Editor-in-chief Fred M'membe and deputy managing editor Joseph Mwenda are yet to be charged, police officials and newspaper staff said.

They were arrested early Tuesday at the paper's offices in Lusaka.

Source: AFP.
Ann Nurock spoke with Standard Bank Group's senior manager of brand creative Greig Jerling at the recent Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity about the importance and effectiveness of creativity in more than just marketing and branding but also in business as a whole, as well as how he'll implement those learnings.

Nurock: From a Standard Bank perspective, why are you at Cannes Lions?

Greig Jerling

Jerling: Standard Bank accepts the importance and effectiveness of creativity in marketing and branding. Its something that we as a brand and a marketing team have been doing for a number of years, and its always delivered learnings and insights and a different perspective of what we have back home in South Africa. Its important for us to keep our minds open to learning from some of the great minds, from some of the great brands, from some of the great agencies around the world, to see whats happening in a world thats much larger than just Standard Bank and just South Africa. So its about trying to find learnings, insights and opportunities for us as a brand, and to take them back home and find ways to implement them. Sometimes subtly, and sometimes perhaps slowly, but nevertheless to keep pushing the agenda of creativity within the branding and within the South African landscape, so that our brand maintains its edge and grows, gets better and more relevant and more interesting and engaging with our consumers.

Nurock: You have also brought a team here from Standard Bank Nigeria to Cannes

Jerling: Yes, two years ago we implemented an internal creative awards incentive programme within Standard Bank group globally. Its about expanding the reach and influence of creativity on all of our marketing teams, so not just South Africa and not just head office but all of our markets. So this is the second year that we have brought other marketing professionals, from other parts of Africa, and other disciplines within marketing, and its about giving them the opportunity to get the same knowledge first-hand, and to experience it first-hand, and then to take that into their market. So for instance, last year was a team from South Africa and a team from Mozambique, and this year is a team from Nigeria. Slowly but surely, what we should be able to do is to plant the seed of creativity in multiple marketing teams across the continent, which will ultimately raise the bar of creativity across all of our offices and all of our operating markets, so that its not just a head office South Africa initiative, its something that were spreading across all of our marketing teams.

Nurock: How have you found Cannes this year?

Jerling: Ive found Cannes very busy and very overwhelming. What I have experienced even in the four short years Ive been coming to Cannes, is that the Festival has become somewhat more commercialised, and its overwhelming in terms of the number of brands, and the number of sponsors, and the number of media owners, and the number of agencies, all vying for your attention and trying to get a message across. So I found that quite intimidating to some extent, in that you dont necessarily know where to focus. Whats really important is to have a mission when youre here, and to know what youre looking for and then to go and find it. Because if you dont have that sort of mission or purpose, it can become a bit of a blur.

Nurock: What have been the most exciting talks that youve listened to?

Jerling: For me personally, Ive gotten the most out of the Procter & Gamble Global talk, as well as Under Armour. I also enjoyed listening to the founder of Airbnb, who brought a different perspective  not necessarily a marketing perspective, but a business perspective. Thats something that I find quite interesting, that Cannes is not about creativity in advertising, its about creativity in business. So the mix of speakers, and the mix of things you can hear and see and learn makes you a better, more rounded business person, not just a marketer necessarily. At the end of the day, all businesses are brands and the brand is everything. Hearing from leaders and innovators and people who have founded or started new companies and have built massive brands  to understand what drives them, and how they see the world, is universally useful. Its something that I can take with me, not just in marketing but in any business endeavour. It makes good business.

Nurock: What are you going to do with all the insights and the learnings when you get back to Standard Bank?

Jerling: Theres a number of things. Firstly theres personal change, so Im going to try and behave differently, even if its marginal and even if its incremental, to how I behaved before Cannes this year. The second thing then is to try and influence people around me in each and every interaction. To try and get certain messages across to all of our marketing team and to all of our agency partners in terms of the kind of vision that we want to have, for marketing the Standard Bank brand.

Of course Ill do a formal review and share that with our global marketing teams so that hopefully everyone can take one or two things from and apply in their daily marketing lives. I also intend to have quite deep conversations with our senior marketing leadership, and try to tackle some of the ongoing marketing and branding and agency challenges we all have, and try to make some core decisions about how we as a client and a brand want to behave differently and better. I want to influence some of the decisions and practices and processes we have back at the brand and start to see an improvement  that is something that every brand wants.
A panel of judges - including Gordon Cook, the competition's principal curator and founding member of Vega School of Brand Leadership - has selected 15 South African art students as finalists in the Nestle Art Project.

Nestle Art Project - Creatives Awards Judge, Maria McCloy

The Art Project is part of Nestle South Africas centenary commemoration as the nutrition, health and wellness company celebrates 100 years of its contribution to the economy of South Africa.

Nestle South Africa believes that the youth have a huge role to play in the future of our country and company. 100 years of doing business in a country is a great milestone, which we wanted to celebrate with all South Africans  including youth. We wanted to offer young people an opportunity to express how they see our company and products. With 95% of our products being manufactured locally with unique packaging designs, we challenged art students to use our packaging innovatively through the Nestle Art Project, said Ravi Pillay, Nestle South Africas Corporate Affairs Director.

Tertiary and high school students were briefed to consider South Africas social, cultural, historical and environmental contexts as well as Nestles contribution to the local economy when creating their work. The company received more than 70 entries from art students in Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West provinces.

The judging panel was made up of South African art luminaries including gold Loeries recipient Ngkabiseng Motau and art gallery curator Sanele Manqele.

Additionally, two special panels of judges, the first comprising arts and culture journalists and the second comprising creative industry players such as SABC 1 presenter Lunga Shabalala, award-winning rapper Gigi Lemayne, and entrepreneur and pop culture commentator, Maria McCloy, will make special selections for the Media and Creatives Choice awards.

The winners will be announced on 26 July 2016 with each secondary and tertiary student walking away with a cash prize of R25,000 and R50,000 respectively. Certificates of merit will also be awarded to deserving students for their outstanding performance.

The Nestle Art Project finalists are:

High School finalists:

1. Shahzaadee Valli  Crawford College Sandton 2. Zoe Edwards  Crawford College Sandton

3. Emma Louren  Lebone II College of the Royal Bafokeng

4. Jiaao Yu  Sacred Heart College

5. Astrid Khun  Sacred Heart College

6. Elizabeth Leong Sacred Heart College 7. Caitlin Shroder Beneke  Pretoria High School for Girls

Tertiary institutions finalists:
The internet is becoming more accessible to South Africans, but it will be a while before the local e-commerce sector feels the benefits, as there remains a grave mistrust of online transactions.

Internet retail sales in SA totalled R6.6bn in 2015. But by global standards, online shopping is still in its infancy. Compared to China, SA is decades behind. Chinas e-commerce market was worth about $603bn in 2015 and is forecast to grow to $892bn by 2018. Online purchases in SA will climb to R10bn by the end of 2016.

Bradley Elliot, MD of digital firm Platinum Seed, said while cheaper data and smartphone penetration were aiding e-commerce, local consumers were wary of transacting digitally.

"The mistrust around online payments stems from two main reasons: the phishing methods that crime syndicates use, and education around the security of online payments, which is often too technical for normal consumers to understand.

"There are simple things to check before conducting online transactions, although where general consumers remain ignorant, online retail remains risky in the eye of the consumer," Elliot said.

Debit and credit card companies have tried to use additional innovative steps to increase trust about online payment, 3D Secure being an example. But their execution has been poor and "made it more of a hassle for end users to transact. The main issue here is that were trying to use developed market solutions for developing market consumers, and need to think up new ways that make it easy for local users."

A Euromonitor report on internet retailing in SA said another factor holding back consumers from transacting online was the long delivery time. Retailers have had to be innovative by introducing more delivery options for consumers.

"Makro rolled out locker-based collection services for its online customers in 2014. This service is expected to supplement the companys home delivery and in-store click-and-collect services. In 2015, Makro took this idea one step further by partnering with McDonalds SA on a pilot project to test collection lockers located at McDonalds fast-food outlets," the report outlined.

In sub-Saharan Africa, mobile penetration is expected to rise to 48.7% by 2020, with the population gaining access to mobile devices, which means consumer spending habits are likely to shift.

SAs internet penetration lies at 34%, while mobile penetration is at 86%, according to data from World Wide Worx.

Elliot said as the internet of things becomes more of a reality, there will be more opportunities for retailers and consumers.
The usual airport book fare of easy reading thrillers or romances with glitzy covers are not necessarily top of the list for tourists who frequent Exclusive Books' airport stores.

Book stacked for distribution at an Exclusive Books holding warehouse in Cape Town. Exclusive is fighting to hold on to its stores in the OR Tambo and Cape Town airports.Picture: BDlive

They are more likely to buy Justice Malalas We Have Now Begun our Descent, or RW Johnsons How Long Will SA Survive, both among the bestsellers at Exclusives stores in the OR Tambo, Cape Town and Durban international airports.

"We sell a lot of South African nonfiction and fiction in our airport shops, though about 50% of their sales are magazines," says Exclusives Benjamin Trisk.

He said the stock profile of the airport stores differed from the groups other stores, with travellers keen to read "a lot of African politics and policy".

But Exclusive is fighting to hold on to its stores in the OR Tambo and Cape Town airports, as it prepares for another round of litigation with the Airports Company SA (Acsa).

In June 2014, Acsa awarded the tender for the Exclusive store at OR Tambo International to a company, Amger Retailing, which had been set up just two days before Acsa issued its request for bids in December 2013.

Exclusive lodged an application to review Acsas decision, and successfully challenged Acsa when it sent notices to vacate the store in July. Then, the High Court in Johannesburg found this to have been an illegal eviction.

The Airports Company took the judgment on appeal and the appeal is due to be heard by the Supreme Court of Appeal in mid-September.

Meanwhile, Exclusive is pressing ahead with applications to review Acsas decisions to award the stores at the OR Tambo international terminal, and Cape Towns international and domestic terminals, to the rival bidder, Amger Retailing.

Exclusive still has the contract for the Durban airport stores, and the one in OR Tambos domestic terminal.

It derives about 15% of its turnover from its airport stores.

Trisk said the Exclusive chain had returned solidly to profitability after Global Capital, Trisk, and Mark Barnes  CE of the Post Office and Business Day columnist  bought the business from Times Media in 2013.

The number of stores in SA has been reduced from 52 to 41, and Trisk said the new owners benefited from having "the best staff in retailing".
Hopes for a colony on Mars took a step forward after scientists proved it was possible to grow edible food in Martian soil.

Researchers in the Netherlands have been attempting to grow crops in soils created to simulate conditions on the Red Planet and also the Moon.

Scientists at Wageningen University & Research Centre were concerned that even if food grew it would contain metals which would be toxic to humans. But experiments growing tomatoes, peas, radishes and rye proved that the crops were not only safe but possibly healthier than those grown in Earth soil.

"For radish, pea, rye and tomato we did a preliminary analysis and the results are very promising," says Wieger Wamelink. "We can eat them."

The research showed that only radishes had high levels of aluminium, iron and nickel. They also grew significantly less well in lunar soil.

But scientists think that the problem may just be on the outside and washing away the soil would make them safe for eating.

The researchers are now planning tests on green beans, rocket and spinach and potatoes and are due to carry out further testing on vitamins, flavonoids, and alkaloids in the crops.

Nasa has said that it wants to establish a Mars colony by the 2030s. - The Daily Telegraph

"The project is being crowd-funded. To donate, go to crowdfunding.wageningenur.nl/project/planten-kweken-op-mars

Source: The Times
Last week the Government of Lithuania adopted unanticipated amendments to the law pertaining to nationality. No longer requiring documented proof of persecution or of imminent threat, the descendants of Lithuanian Jews who left before 1990 can now qualify for Lithuanian dual citizenship - including those living in South Africa.

The revised law will now allow descendants of Lithuanians living in Israel, South Africa and other countries to apply for a European passport, according to Gary Eisenberg, Immigration Lawyer at Eisenberg & Associates, an expert in Lithuanian citizenship and himself a Litvak. This amendment to Lithuanian legislation will drastically decrease the onus of proof on the part of the applicant and encourage more South African Lithuanian Jews to apply for what is lawfully their right.

The result of unrest in Europe between 1868 and 1914, and economic hardships and cultural restrictions after Lithuania became independent in 1918 to June 1940, when the Soviet army assumed hegemony, caused thousands of Lithuanians to flock to South Africa in search for peace and political stability. Today 80% of South African Jews are of Lithuanian descent, making this country the third largest Lithuanian diaspora community in the world, says Eisenberg.

Before the amendment, legislation stated that a Lithuanian citizen can hold dual citizenship if he or she is a person who fled the Republic of Lithuania before 11 March 1990 and acquired citizenship of another state.

Eisenberg explains: In order to qualify, it had to be proven that the ancestor fled Lithuania, on the basis that exceptional circumstances existed which led to the forced departure, between 1918 and 1990 to reside permanently in another state. A strict approach taken by the Lithuanian Constitutional Court in 2013 led to many dual citizenship applications being refused by the Migration Department. This in turn meant that South Africans had to renounce their South African citizenship to be eligible for Lithuanian citizenship by reinstatement. This is no longer the case.

These amendments have substituted the word fled with left, which means that applicants no longer have to prove that their ancestors had to flee Lithuania because of some immediate danger or personal risk. In the past the overwhelming majority of cases such documented evidence was impossible to obtain, therefore dual citizenship for Litvaks was not granted.

Lithuania is also part of the European Union making it extremely beneficial for South African passport holders to hold a Lithuanian Dual Citizenship.

Citizenships of the European union are eligible for Visa-free travel and right to live in the European Union and certain non-EU countries such as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland as well as visa-free travel to the United States, Canada and Australia," says Eisenberg. In addition, unlike international students, Lithuanian passport holders generally pay local tuition at European universities.

Eisenberg reminds the local Jewish community of their Lithuanian heritage and encourages eligible South Africans to apply for their dual citizenship. Lithuania, generally, prohibits dual nationality, but this provision is the exception to the general rule. Once Lithuanian citizenship has been reinstated to the former citizen, their immediate relatives become eligible to apply for Lithuanian citizenship by descent, concludes Eisenberg.
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: Google faces fresh EU anti-competition charges, this time targeting the search engine giant's advertising business, sources close to the matter said on Tuesday, 28 June 2016.

Margrethe Vestager, the powerful EU Competition Commissioner, could open two new in-depth investigations against Google as early as August, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

The first case would involve the Silicon Valley giant's lucrative advertising business, while the second would deepen an existing case targeting online shopping practices.

The EU in 2014 accused Google of abusing its dominance in the Internet search market to steer European consumers to its own shopping service.

A spokesman for the European Commission refused to comment on the report. In April, Brussels also charged Google with abusing the dominance of its Android mobile phone operating system.

The Android operating system accounts for about 80% of the world market for mobile phones, far ahead of Google's closest rival, Apple.

The EU has accused Google of obstructing innovation by giving unfair prominence to its own Android apps, especially its search engine, in deals with mobile phone manufacturers such as Samsung and Huawei.

If found at fault, Google risks a fine equal to up to 10% of worldwide global sales for one year, which would amount to a $7.4 billion on the basis of 2015 revenues.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge
SA's listed property companies have struggled to find well-priced acquisition opportunities, and takeovers are becoming more difficult to achieve now as there are no easy targets.

The majority of property companies that listed in the past two years have grown organically, and not many are valued at less than R3bn.

Private developers have been hesitant to sell some of their properties, waiting for higher prices. This has seen many of the large listed funds turning their attention to assets abroad in Europe and Australia.

A number of South African property companies are hunting for deals in the US for the first time, especially in light of the uncertainty around investing in Europe after the Brexit vote.

Maurice Shapiro, the head of Ma'alot Investments, said on Tuesday, 28 June, he expected more consolidation to happen between medium-sized property companies as opposed to the absorption of the small ones by large companies.

A few underperforming real estate companies could also be the targets of other funds who feel they can manage the assets better.

Emira Property Fund last week became the first real estate investment trust (Reit) to forecast negative distribution growth in the coming results season. Its CEO, Geoff Jennett, said in February that it had reached a size at which it could pursue takeovers. But it may itself be a takeover target.

Emira has a market capitalisation of R6.4bn. In February, it was about R8bn. On a year-todate basis, the diversified property group's share price has lost just less than 21% of its value.

The company, nevertheless, has a pipeline worth about R2.5bn and owns a stake in Growthpoint Australia, worth just less than R800m.

The company's bosses had a mandate to increase Emira's Australian exposure in 2015 but decided not to. In September 2015 Jennett said the prices of Australian Reits had gone up so high that the sector had become too expensive.

Redefine Properties, one of the top five Reits on the JSE, already owns about 11% of Emira, and may try to gain a more significant stake.

Redefine has been one of the few property companies on an acquisition hunt, having done a multibillion-rand deal in Poland in April.

Tower Property Fund, with a market capitalisation of about R2.6bn; and The Pivotal Fund, whose market capitalisation is about R5.bn, have also been touted as buys.

Source: Business Day
LONDON: Engine maker Rolls-Royce said on Tuesday it was still committed to Britain after the shock EU exit vote, but that the long-term impact would depend on future relations with the rest of the world.

moleshko viw Pixabay

Britons voted on 23 June in favour of quitting the European Union following a bitterly-fought referendum campaign, sending shockwaves through world financial markets.

"Although this is not the outcome the company would have chosen, Rolls-Royce remains committed to the United Kingdom," read a statement from the firm that employs more than 23,000 staff in Britain.

"The UK's decision will have no immediate impact on our day-to-day business.

"The medium and long term effect will depend upon the relationships that are established between the UK, the EU and the rest of the world over the coming years."

The British company, which makes engine systems for aircraft and sea vessels, also confirmed its financial targets for 2016.

Rolls-Royce chief executive Warren East had written to employees in June, during the referendum campaign, to stress the importance of staying in the EU bloc. He had also warned that the London-listed company could put crucial investment decisions on hold in the event of an EU exit.

Source: AFP
Africa House, research and consulting specialists, is set to lead a business delegation to Lamu, Kenya in June. The delegation will explore infrastructure development opportunities for South African business in order to take advantage of a projected development boom in the area.

Paul Runge, director projects & development finance at Africa House, says Africa Houses ongoing research and fact finding missions have identified Kenyas Lamu region and the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (LAPSSET) East African trade corridor as a future development hotspot, due to oil and gas discoveries and an associated need for infrastructure and port development in the area over the next few years.

On the back of decades of experience in leading business missions to key development nodes across Africa, we have refined our formula for success, says Runge. It is crucial to get in early and meet the primary decision-makers in government and industry, as early as possible in the planning phase.

Prime business destination

Kenya is regarded as a prime African business destination, with significant growth potential for transport and logistics development in the north. Among the massive infrastructure upgrading and extension projects envisaged by the Kenya Investment Authority are redevelopment of the Northern Corridor and development of the LAPSSET Corridor.

Runge, who has just returned from a fact finding and preparatory trip to Kenya, has identified significant opportunities in Lamu and the LAPSSET Corridor for enterprises involved in port development, access roads, oil refinery supply, oil pipeline, ports infrastructure, airport infrastructure and ancillary services. Opportunities extend to services around a coal-fired power plant, a planned wind farm, a rail transport system and even commercial property development, accommodation and resorts that will be required in these areas, he says.

Travelling as a temporary consortium to meet the authorities and key decision-makers in Nairobi as well as operations authorities on the ground in Lamu, allows the Africa House business mission delegates to form partnerships that give weight to their business propositions. The mission strategy is very much about vertical integration  you have the suppliers, contractors, consultants and pre-feasibility teams, then overarching everything, you have legal, financial and logistics services.

Networking and business collaboration

The five-day mission will take South Africa-based business development managers and senior strategic executives to Nairobi and Lamu for exploratory meetings and site visits. Africa House hosts two to three successful business missions per year to key development regions across Africa, says Runge. The group mission format takes care of complicated logistical arrangements for delegates, as well as allowing delegates to be taken more seriously because they are part of a formal mission supported by the Kenyan and South African authorities. The programme also supports networking and business collaboration among the members of the mission themselves.

South African enterprises have to look across the border for growth, but logistical challenges and concerns about the unknown can stand in the way of their taking the first steps into pan-Africa. By participating in group experience, and representing various capabilities, businesses start from a position of strength and gain access to the right decision-makers, Runge says.

Africa House will lead the Nairobi/Lamu/LAPSSET mission from 1015 July 2016. The mission will meet facilitators and diplomats, LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority, the Kenya Ports and National Highways Authorities, African Development Bank, Tullow Oil Kenya and other stakeholders.

For more information, go to www.africainfo.co.za.
On the next Biz Takeouts Marketing & Media radio show on Thursday, 30 June 2016, from 9-10am, show host Warren Harding takes a look at the upcoming Marketing Mix Conference, Shopper Path to Purchase 2016 event happening on 20 and 21 July at the Bryanston Country Club in Johannesburg.

We chat to Terry Murphy, publisher and managing director of Marketing Mix Conferences about the upcoming event and the history of the Marketing Mix conferences, and the events we can expect for the rest of 2016.

Get all the info on the upcoming event here.

Tune into Biz Takeouts every Thursday from 9am-10am live from the 2oceansVibe Radio studio in Cape Town as we discuss the topics that matter in Marketing & Media.

How to listen

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A podcast of the show will be available in the Biz Takeouts special section on Biz later during the week.
South Africa has the third highest unemployment rate in the world between the ages of 15 and 24, according to the World Economic Forum Global Risk 2014 report . Statistics South Africa also recently revealed that the general unemployment rate in South Africa reached 26.7 % in the first quarter of 2016 from 24.5 % in the previous quarter, making unemployment the highest it has been since September 2005.

With the aim of tackling youth unemployment in South Africa, Chevron SA has revised its current partnership with the Amy Biehl Foundation to invest in its Entrepreneurial, Enterprise and Vocational Skills Development (EESD) programme.

We interviewed Shashi Rabbipal, chairperson of Chevron South Africa, to find out more about the EESD programme, its primary goals, and the role of CSI in driving youth development.

Shashi Rabbipal, chairperson of Chevron South Africa

Tell us a bit about the EESD programme - what does it entail?

The Entrepreneurial, Enterprise and Vocational Skills Development (EESD) programme is a sustainable and holistic youth development programme, focusing on the attainment of soft skills, vocational skills and experience, thereby ensuring our youth succeed by becoming economically active and contributing to society.

EESD is aimed at school leavers, unemployed youth, as well as past attendees of the Amy Biehl After School Programmes, and is based at Amy Biehls premises in Sybrand Park, Cape Town. Chevron South Africa recognises that through credible partnerships like the Amy Biehl Foundation, we can offer targeted programmes that focus on youth development, and help build success stories.

What are the programme's primary goals?

EESD aims to empower participants with confidence through structured training and hands-on experience, then introducing them to development partners for employment opportunities. Chevron South Africa opted to support the Amy Biehl Foundation in this initiative because we firmly believe in making a difference in the communities in which we operate  and through this programme, we want to assist the youth to become economically active so that they can contribute to society. The training provided ranges from beauty, hospitality, and soft skills to sewing and fashion design.

Could you share a notable success story from the programme with us?

In the programmes first full year of operation, we have seen close to 108 youth find part-time or full-time employment.

L-R: Kevin Chaplin (MD of the Amy Biehl Foundation), Lulama (participant), Jill Koopman (Policy, Government and Public Affairs Manager at Chevron South Africa), and Stew (participant)

Beyond the current partnership with the Amy Biehl Foundation, what is Chevron doing to tackle youth unemployment in SA?

The high unemployment rate is an obstacle to the socio-economic development of South Africa. With this in mind, Chevron South Africa revised its current partnership with the Amy Biehl Foundation to invest in their EESD programme, with the aim of tackling youth unemployment head on. In addition, according to an independent study conducted by Econex, Chevron South Africa and its network of Caltex service stations sustain 106,670 direct, supplier and contractor jobs in the country, with its refinery contributing 13,500 and the lubricants plant in Durban 609. Chevron South Africa has further recruited 31 black unemployed learners living with disabilities who are currently undergoing skills development programs that will assist in their absorption into the industry. This also supports youth and gender development as the unemployed learners are an average age of 28 years old, with 65% being women.

What is the role of CSI in driving youth development? Could you elaborate on Chevron's transformation agenda?

South African youth are faced with a number of social challenges that cannot be addressed by government alone and require collective effort. Corporate social investment is a strategic necessity in order to help plug the socio-economic gaps in communities. Chevron South Africa reaches more than 85 000 people from disadvantaged backgrounds annually through its CSI programmes that are focused towards education, health and enterprise development. These investments are aligned with government priorities and our partnership with the Amy Biehl Foundation through EESD aims to achieve this purpose.

As a proud level-four B-BBEE contributor against the revised B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice, Chevron South Africa has an unwavering commitment to mutually beneficial stakeholder relationships. For instance, we believe that our transformation agenda already reflects our commitment to governments imperative on socio-economic transformation and more specifically, the creation of black industrialists. A mutually beneficial and strategic partnership with key stakeholders is important to Chevron South Africa in delivering competitive results the right way. We recognise that the country needs a reliable and strong refining industry to ensure security of supply and be an enabler of economic transformation in the country.

40 years later, what is the significance of Youth Month in 2016?

In 2016, the youth face different challenges which require interventions from all sectors of society. Young people in South Africa and abroad are faced with poverty and unemployment and in this regard, Chevron South Africa is committed to enhancing its focus on empowering young people and encouraging their participation in the countrys socio-economic activities.
Millions of South Africans today depend on social media to keep in touch with the information and people that matter to them - whether they're watching the Twitter war between DJ Zinhle and AKA, keeping an eye on running commentary about President Zuma's state of the nation speech, or simply sharing personal photographs with their friends and families.

More than 36% of South Africa's people (13 million-plus users) are active on Facebook today, giving just one illustration of social media's growing reach. In addition to the fact that social media is starting to rival television and radio in terms of its reach, it also drives levels of engagement that make it an exciting platform for speaking to customers.

Yet, despite its prominent role in our customers' lives, many brands and marketers are struggling to come to grips with how they measure their return on investment from social media campaigns and strategies. Part of the complexity comes from the fact that social isn't just about audience numbers, circulation, clicks or conversions - it's also about trust and relationships.

That means we need to measure social media results by quantitative metrics as well as qualitative outcomes. But before deciding which tools to use to measure social media results, marketers should decide what their business objectives are so that they can determine how they will measure the results.

Measuring what matters

Brands that invest in social media - whether we are talking about paid social media ads or owned social media channels - need to decide how they will use it to further sales, marketing and branding objectives. For example, is the aim to nurture customer relationships and improve service? Drive prospects to an e-commerce website? Gain insight into customer needs or build brand awareness?

Once a marketer has decided on the goal, he or she can start thinking about which social media channels are the best fit and decide how to measure success. It's worth remembering, for example, that Twitter can be a powerful tool for disseminating news and addressing customer service queries, while Facebook can be good for direct marketing.

It's wise to keep these metrics simple: for example, increase web traffic by five percent, improve share of voice in a topic, or improve SEO rankings for brand keywords. In addition to these hard numbers, remember to look at more qualitative elements such as how well you're doing in building trust and relationships. These may be harder to measure, but they'll also have a positive result on the quantitative elements you are tracking.

The tools of the trade

Luckily, marketers have a range of powerful tools today to help measure social media's business results. You can use Google Analytics to track how your social activity is driving people to your site, as well as which social content is helping to increase engagement with your brand. You can see, for example, how visitors from different social sources behave on your site, which blog and social posts attracted the most traffic and how social media is impacting on your conversion goals.

Most social media platforms - including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - also offer marketers powerful tools they can use to track user engagement with their content. For example, you can easily see which Twitter posts attracted the most views or retweets. Many social media sites also give you a wealth of demographic information about your followers.

In addition, more and more marketers are using social listening tools such as BrandsEye to get a wider perspective on how their social media efforts are building the company's brand and reputation.

Social Listening tools can also listen to sources like blogs, forums and news, in addition to social media. They can enable marketers to track their share of voice compared to competitors and customer sentiment about their brands, products, services and campaigns.

And they can also alert brands to specific social media topics and conversations that need their attention. For example, an airline can see if a passenger on a delayed flight is tweeting a complaint, and respond with advice. Making things right at the moment a customer has a problem can build loyalty and create positive sentiment for the brand.

Closing words

Social media isn't just about sales and direct return on investment, so marketers should focus on the value of the relationships they build with customers. It's hard to measure trust directly, but one can see it reflected as metrics such as customer survey results, social media sentiment, and sales improve. Social media isn't a short-term campaign - it is a long term strategy for building customer relationships and growing the business.
This week, we find out what's really going on behind the selfie with Kgomotso G Mautloa, the young entrepreneur on both Forbes Africa's Top 30 Under 30 list and Mail & Guardian's Top 200 Young South Africans, while also owner and creative director of Green Robot Design.

Green with envy

1. Where do you live, work and play?

Mautloa: I live in JHB, and work within the heart of the creative district, Newtown, with the rest of my awesome Green Robot Design (GDT) team. Play time involves spending time with my family, who make me tick and inspire me in many ways. Its always good to create memories with them. I guess you could also say I play in the office  which is one place where I can be my authentic, creative self.

2. Whats your claim to fame?

Mautloa: Ive yet to have that one big thing Im known for. Id say Im just a good man, trying to do good. Recently, I was named as one of the Mail & Guardians Top 200 Young South Africans, which is an accolade I hold dear.

3. Describe your career so far.

Mautloa: A rollercoaster of incredible opportunities. And while I have had my fair share of bumps along the road, I've been blessed to have a career filled with highlights, and even more lessons. You can never stop learning, and learning new ways of creating.

4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.

Mautloa: My daughter; my family; my friends; the team I work with each and every day at Green Robot  they've carried us to where we are today with their passion and creativity. Most people who know me will tell you Im a serious sneaker-head  I genuinely cant get enough of really awesome sneakers. I think Ive done well in putting a great sneaker collection together. Gadgets are another big favourite for me.

5. What do you love about your industry?

Mautloa: The ever-evolving and constantly changing landscape. No two days are alike, which suits me just fine and keeps things interesting. There's always a new brief, a new challenge, a new opportunity to push your creativity  which is a big focus for Green Robot. The constant change and rapid evolution of the industry, which provides the opportunity for agencies, like GRD, to evolve and adapt to the environment and stretch into new avenues and expertise.

6. What are a few pain points your industry can improve on?

Mautloa: Education and support structures for young talent looking to get into the industry. The high cost of education for people to start off with when wanting to get into the industry can be an extremely limiting factor and stunts the creative talent that enters the industry. If we could create a system that would allow for more people to afford to study and learn the basics thatll allow them to get a foot in the door, we'd definitely see a big change. I also feel there arent enough support structures for new talent within the industry.

7. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.

Mautloa: I can definitely say an average work day does not exist within Green Robot! Every day brings new things and new changes. Email is one constant factor of each day for me as I wake up, then go off to the gym, look through my diary and commitments for the day, then head off to the office. The office day is never the same. Sometimes it's about sitting with the team, sometimes being out seeing clients or pitching  theres always something different.

8. What are the tools of your trade?

Mautloa: Pen, paper, pencils, more paper, discussions and brainstorming, and a RAM-fuelled Apple Mac.

9. Who is getting it right in your industry?

Mautloa: There are a lot of agencies and individual creatives getting it right  and each in their own way, with their own unique style and flavour. The new and young guys on the block are the ones to watch out for  Im confident that theyll be the ones to revolutionise things.

10. What are you working on right now?

Mautloa: We are designing the new JOOP website; working on the new Momentum Unclaimed Benefits websites. We're also working with a client in Zambia on the Cavmont Bank visual communication collateral. We are looking at our new internal strategy and the company's new rebranding strategy. We are slowly moving into the digital space as a company, which is exciting for us and were eager to see what the possibilities are in this ever-evolving market. This will broaden our reach and service base to all our clients. Digital is a big focus at the office now.

11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.

Mautloa: Digital  this buzzword will likely be around for a while. And then theres: Video content, content creation, trends, hashtags, reporting, social media.

12. Where and when do you have your best ideas?

Mautloa: A lot of the time, the best ideas pop up when I should be focusing on anything BUT a good idea! In the shower and in the car  probably the two times that Im most alone and have the opportunity to reflect on ideas. But I suppose youre never truly 'alone' when you have a smartphone

13. Whats your secret talent/party trick?

Mautloa: I tequila very well. It's not a trick, its something I know because its been tried and tested!

14. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?

Mautloa: Lots of apps, my to-do list, half-written mails and my notes.

15. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?

Mautloa: When it comes to making inroads into a career, your work ethic and skills need to be impeccable and must surpass everything. Research of/on the industry and your particular field is another big thing to place importance on.

Simple as that. Find out more about Green Robot Design here and follow them on Twitter or via their website. You can also interact with Mautloa via Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.
Perspective Publications, a South African company, has launched the first in a global series of quarterly journals covering humanitarian-related news on issues impacting the continent of Africa.

Image by 123RF

Perspective: Africa includes content by renowned writers and photojournalists, as well as previously non-published writers, to expand the interest base in humanitarian media. Content includes essays, photojournalism, art, interviews with thought leaders, cultural reviews and vox populi on a diverse range of subjects, including civil and human rights, economic, social, and environmental issues.

For too long, the world has only seen the dark side of Africa. Perspective: Africa aims to present a more holistic and balanced view of the wide diversity of an often overlooked continent, said executive editor, Leigh Barrett.

Barrett, a South African journalist whose media experience includes television production, newspaper columnist, and radio production and presentation in South Africa and America; has also worked with New York-based journal, MIPJ: Media, Information, International Relations, and Humanitarian Affairs as an editor, contributor, and producer/host of the critically-acclaimed MIPJ Podcasts.

Perspective: Africas goal is to dispatch sacred cows to the outer limits by presenting well-researched arguments which might serve to change long-held beliefs, such as issues facing homosexuals in Africa, female genital mutilation, and the all-important cost of education. We welcome feedback and constructive debate, says Barrett.

Perspective: Africa is a multimedia endeavour, with a print and digital journal, and with audio podcasts being introduced in 2016. Print content is currently distributed by Ingram, the worlds largest and most trusted distributor of content, with over 39,000 retailers, eRetailers, libraries, educational institutions and other distribution partners, via its partnership with MIPJ, and digital editions are available across all global Amazon.com sites.

The next in the series, Perspective: Europe and Middle East will be launched in August, and submissions for content for both Africa and Europe and Middle East are being accepted now, with guidelines posted on the website.

One goal of Perspective Publications is to provide a platform for all voices, and Barrett welcomes non-professional writers and photographers, with every effort made to assist budding journalists in getting their work published.
Finding billing common ground among peers in the public relations industry is set to become a little easier with a second PR-Net meeting around the topic, to be held on Thursday, 28 July at 11am at Richard's Supper Stage in Sea Point at a fee of R200.

"This 90-minute session, aimed at business owners or office managers, will be an opportunity to further explore the takeouts from the previous meeting which included noting the different methods currently used to bill for public relations expertise and practice; getting a better sense of what peers bill for similar line items; investigating tools to evaluate actual time your business spends on particular tasks and to consider adopting a standardised evaluation metric," says PR-Net founder Brian Berkman.

Tickets and additional information from www.pr-net.co.za.
Got a question or tip? Contact us at bizmojoidaho@gmail.com.
Kristina: Which businesses stand to benefit most from the SECs new funding rules for businesses?

John Swanciger, CEO, Manta: Those businesses with an innovative or disruptive concept may be able to successfully leverage sites such as Kickstarter and Fundable to reap the most benefits from the SECs new crowdfunding rules. For this reason, the regulations arent a silver bullet for ordinary small businesses. Entrepreneurs and small business owners who are able to tell a compelling, unique story that resonates with consumers will likely find the most crowdfunding success.

As weve seen in the past, nonprofits and charities will likely benefit from equity crowdfunding. For this sector, crowdfunding has already proven to be an effective way to solicit and manage donations while raising awareness for important causes.

Kristina: What do the SECs JOB rules for crowdfunding mean for small businesses?

John: The JOBS Act will allow a higher percentage of private startups to receive investment capital. For popular local community businesses, the new crowdfunding rules could mean receiving significant financial help from loyal customers who want to keep their companies open. For the first time, entrepreneurs wont need to rely solely on traditional banks or investors to raise capital for their business  theyll be able to accept money from individual, accredited investors through crowdfunding platforms. When armed with the right marketing plan, small businesses have the opportunity to raise money from the general public without having to become a publicly traded company.

Kristina: With the crowd funding changes, what options do SMBs have to increase funding opportunities?

John: Rather than going the traditional route and borrowing money from a bank, the crowdfunding changes offer a wide variety of new options for raising capital. Some options include crowdfunding venture firms like Brightspark, platforms like AngelList and general tools like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Since not all crowdfunding platforms are created equal, small business owners should fully examine the pros and cons of each site before launching a campaign.
A teacher in a Czech school welcomed students dressed in an Arab garb. He has been forced to leave his teaching post

29. 6. 2016

cas cteni < 1 minuta





Antonin Kolar, a teacher of Czech and History at a secondary school in Pilsen, a city in West Bohemia, welcomed his first year students dressed in an Arab garb. He spoke to them about the need to show humanity and tolerance to people from other cultures. The school management was displeased and Mr. Kolar has now offered his resignation.

The school management told him that he has damaged the good name of the school and that some parents are complaining that an islamist is teaching in the school.

The headmistress Olga Matejkova is particularly displeased that a video featuring Mr. Kolar's class where he speaks about the need to be tolerant to people from other cultures is available on YouTube. She has complained that "students have been featured in the video without permission", but only the backs of their heads are visible, the video is of Mr. Kolar's lecture.



Source in Czech: ZDE

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Landmark of Thanbyuzayat Township

(Photo: MNA) Landmark of Thanbyuzayat Township(Photo: MNA)

The household documentation project is part of the union governments 100-day project and primarily aimed at Barmar ethnics from Pegu and Irrawaddy divisions as well as other central regions in Burma.

Household documents, as per the 100-day project, are issued to those who have settled from other areas. There are two kinds of household documents. One is for permanent residency and the other is for temporary residency. We only gathered a list of temporary residents. However, we will issue household documents to those who have settled here, said U Soe Min Latt, chief of Immigration Department in Thanbyuzayat Township, in a recent interview with MNA.

The migrants in question depend on their daily wages for living, and therefore wont be able to travel home with their Form 10. The immigration department will contact respective township immigration departments inquiring whether the migrants have their documents or whether they have lived there. If the migrants dont have household documents but have legitimately lived in the area, the [Thanbyuzayat] Immigration Department will issue them documents, according to Thanbyuzayat Townships Immigration Department.

In this area, most migrants are from Irrawaddy and Pegu divisions. For example, if a family or individual from Myan Aung Township comes to live here, we then collect their records. After gathering their personal data, we contact the La-Wa-Ka office in Myan Aung Township. The call will confirm whether the migrants [from Myan Aung Township] have household documents. If they fail to display documentation, we will ask them whether they have resided. If they said yes, we will issue them documents, said U Soe Min Latt.

On June 10, about 16 Mon associations, Mon monks and various individuals sent a signed petition letter to the Mon State Chief Minister demanding a review and withdrawal of the household documentation project.

Also, on June 20, the Mon National Party (MNP) submitted an open letter to the Mon State Chief Minister to withdraw the project in the state.

Recently, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) stated that it will report to the Hluttaw conference regarding its opposition to the migrant documentation project during July. The question remains as to whether this documentation program is NLDs approach to win the elections again.

In addition, Kachin News Group reported on June 20 that on behalf of Kachin people, the Kachin National Consultative Assembly (KNCA), also known as WMR, urged the Kachin State Chief Minister to suspend issuing household documents to migrant workers and foreign settlers. This stance evolved from potential future problems regarding land ownership and instability in implementing the governments national peace program.
According to the resident of Mong Yaw sub-township, who wished to remain anonymous, a unit of Tatmadaw [Burmese military troops] pulled into the village of Long Mon in about five trucks and suddenly opened fire.

They fired near the maize fields while villagers were still working, said the source. When people heard the sound of shooting, they tried to run away.

He said that three female villagers were injured by gunfire, and were taken to the local hospital in Mong Yaw.

After unloading their guns, the soldiers began stopping and questioning drivers as they passed by, he said. One man was shot dead at the check point. However his body is still missing.

The Burma Army allegedly ordered farmers who were trying to run for cover to line up by the side of the road for questioning. Most were later allowed to go home, but five villagers were reportedly taken into custody. They were named as: Aik Hseng, 23; Aik Lod, 39; Aik Maung, 27; Sai Mon Awn, 17; and Sai Aik Maung, 23.

The eyewitness said that the shooting happened at about 2 p.m. He said that the battalion responsible was from Lashio, and that they sported a logo of a gun and sword on their uniforms, with the words Ja Ma Ya 10 on the other side.

Reached for comment by SHAN, Sai Wan Leng Kham, an Upper House representative from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), said that it was reported to him that fighting took place in that area on 25 June. Therefore, he said, his team went to investigate the area the following day.

Sai Wan Leng Kham said he had reported news of the five arrests to a senior level of the Burmese military. However, he had not received a response to date.

The Mong Yaw source said: The Burma Army has apparently denied arresting those people. They said they released everyone, but those villagers have still not returned home.

A number of armed groups are actively operating in the Mong Yaw area, among them: Manpang Peoples Militia led by Bo Mon; the Kachin Defence Army (KDA) Peoples Militia, led by Matu Naw; the Kachin Independence Army (KIA); the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA); and the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA).
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SeaHake. Photo: Atlas Elektronik.

NEW DELHI (PTI): India is likely to go in for a government-to-government deal with Germany for heavyweight torpedos after having scrapped plans to purchase them from a subsidiary of chopper scam-tainted Italian defence conglomerate Finmeccanica.



Defence sources said the government had written to various countries looking for options.



The two torpedos that were of interest were F21 from France and SeaHake from Germany's Atlas Elektronik.



Sources said the French wrote back saying they are willing to provide F21 but only for French submarines or those built with French help.



This meant that in case the French don't make the cut in future submarine contracts with India, the government will have to look for options.



As per the plans, the torpedos that were to be fitted on the six under-construction Scorpene submarines being built in collaboration with France's DCNS, would have eventually made it into the next project called P75 I and others.



Torpedoes are self-propelled weapons with explosives packed in their nose and are submarine's primary weapon.



All alternatives are being worked out since we will not be going in for the Italian torpedos, defence sources said, adding, Atlas Elektronik is the front-runner.



The ministry had carried out a detailed study looking into various options before deciding to scrap the plans to procure Black Shark torpedoes, made by Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei (WASS), a subsidiary of Finmeccanica.



The company had emerged the lowest bidder during the UPA era to arm the Scorpene submarines the first of which will be handed over to the Navy by September this year.



However, the proposal to acquire it had been stuck for long time. Various controversies surrounded the deal which former Defence Minister A K Antony had not signed on.



The deal eventually got embroiled in the VVIP chopper scandal, sources said.



The Navy had been pushing for it citing "operational necessity".


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Early this morning police, recovered a vehicle on Assiniboine Avenue that had been reported stoled Tuesday night.

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A Tuesday night roadwatch led police to arrest a 33-year-old Melita man who had two countrywide driving prohibitions.

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This article was published 29/06/2016 (2310 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Gilbert Plains company was handed a $20,000 fine for its part in a 2014 workplace incident that left one of its employees without part of his right arm.

Dauphin provincial court Justice Donald Slough ordered Plains Industrial Hemp Processing to pay the fine within one year, according to the Dauphin Herald.

Chinese businessman and plant manager Robert Jin pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to ensure a machine had safeguards to prevent contact with moving parts under the Manitoba Workplace Health and Safety Act.

File photo In this February 2014 photo, Kiefer Lynxleg lays in a hospital bed in Winnipeg following a workplace incident at a hemp plant in Gilbert Plains. The company was recently ordered to pay a $20,000 fine in Dauphin court.

The charge stemmed from an incident on Feb. 2, 2014, when then-21-year-old Kiefer Lynxleg had his right arm sucked up into a machine known as a hemp grinder.

At the time of the incident, Lynxleg told the Winnipeg Free Press that he was assigned to work at the only machine in the plant without a guardrail.

I tried to stop the machine from being clogged. But it was just too late. My fingers were wrapped up inside (it). The thing just picked me up like a rag doll, Lynxleg said just days after the incident from a hospital bed in Winnipeg.

The machine sucked Lynxleg in to the point where his feet were dangling off the ground. Another employee stopped the machine and braced Lynxlegs feet to take the pressure off his arm.

He kept yelling at us to get the machine off him  (The machine) is like a bunch of gears, said Ernest Brass, one of four workers at the plant. We had to take the bolts off, but the gears were heavy, about 100 pounds each, and we had to take five or six of them off him.

Lynxleg was recruited from Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation. Reports from the time said he underwent two surgeries in Winnipeg and lost his right arm to the elbow.

Speaking through teleconference, Crown attorney Tim Chudy said Lynxleg was never interviewed during the course of the investigation, according to the Herald.

That doesnt usually happen, but this is one of those cases where it did happen, he said. It wasnt for lack of trying. The investigators did make attempts to speak with Mr. Lynxleg, but were unsuccessful in doing that.

Defence attorney Jamie Jurczak said the small processing plant had not been in operation for a long period of time before the incident.

There are currently no workers, as the plant is not currently in production. And in fact, it had been closed in late 2014, due to financial reasons, she said.

By the end of 2015, the company had accumulated an operation loss of more than $1.2 million, according to Jurczak. The company is hoping to re-open the plant.

The plant received $5.275 million in federal and provincial funding to help get set up and become operational.

The majority of that money was federal funding in the form of $4.775 million, with an additional $500,000 through the provincial government via the Rural Economic Development Initiative, according to reports in The Brandon Sun.

Jurczak said Jin has invested personal equity to help the plant avoid bankruptcy.

There has been significant money both on the part of Mr. Jin and the company, as well as government dollars invested, Jurczak said, confirming there is interest in seeing the plant re-opened.

As a result of the guilty plea, seven other charges against the company were stayed.

Slough noted that despite Lynxleg not providing a victim impact statement, the incident had a profound effect on his life.

Its obvious that this has been a horrific, life-changing incident for him, he said.

 ctweed@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @CharlesTweed
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/06/2016 (2310 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The man described as the right-hand man in the physical abuse of children at a southern Manitoba Old Order Mennonite community has been sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Justice Robert Cummings delivered the sentence in Brandon Court of Queens Bench on Tuesday morning  the lengthiest jail sentence yet received by any accused in the disturbing case.

The actions of the accused and his co-accused were contrary to what the community stood for, Cummings said. They destroyed the love the young children should have felt for their parents, and replaced it with alienation, both from the parents and their community.

The 32-year-old offender had previously admitted to assaulting three boys and two girls, aged five to 15 years, and a 21-year-old man.

The assaults were committed between January 2010 and May 2013.

They were part of the widespread obsessive and systemic physical abuse of children that led Child and Family Services to apprehend 42 children from the insular, religious horse-and-buggy community.

Crown attorney Jim Ross has previously described how zealous adults mistakenly believed that most of the children in the community had sex with their parents and siblings.

The grown-ups conceived of punishments to save the children from sin. Children were strapped, punched, kicked, made to stand still for days with little food, whipped and shocked with a cattle prod.

They were punished for impure thoughts, masturbation, failing to stand straight or eat fast enough or for not thinking right.

The Brandon Sun isnt naming the offenders or their community in order to protect the identity of the young victims.

Altogether, a dozen adult community members were charged with assault and assault with a weapon. Of the 59 children interviewed by police, 25 gave statements that alleged excessive discipline.

Eight accused had their charges dropped in exchange for taking counselling, and one woman received three years probation.

That left four core accused men. One received six months in jail, and another received one year.

The offender sentenced on Tuesday took part in counselling sessions in which children were interrogated and assaulted until they falsely admitted to sexual acts and thoughts.

As he entered his pleas in February, he told court that hed mistakenly acted in the belief that the false allegations of sexual impropriety drawn from the children were true, and apologized.

Ross has described the beating and interrogation of the children as brainwashing.

Cummings said CFS workers reported that apprehended children were focused on impure thoughts and worried that no one was correcting them. They either feared the church, or the community.

Cummings said a doctor assessed two of the victims and concluded that they felt unworthy due to their false confessions.

Children were removed from their parents homes and kept in others on the community. The doctor concluded that the two children he assessed had damaged relationships with their parents due to their removal, Cummings said, and both children were psychologically isolated.

A forensic pediatrician reviewed the childrens statements and medical reports and found that the sort of stress experienced by them could lead to a higher likelihood of health problems.

Theyre also at risk for high-risk behaviour when they reach adolescence, and the pediatrician noted that innocent children who are abused often question why a higher power didnt protect them. That can lead to depression, hopelessness and bitterness, Cummings said.

The offender, assessed as a low risk to reoffend, no longer lives at the Old Order Mennonite community and lives with his wife and five children elsewhere in Manitoba. Cummings said CFS reports that the family has built a safe and loving relationship through hard work.

Defence lawyer Scott Newman had asked Cummings to impose a sentence of six to 12 months in jail.

However, Cummings concluded that the mans involvement was greater than prior accused who received jail, and sentenced him to 18 months in jail.

His father  accused of being the ringleader of the abuse  is the only accused to remain before the courts.

He has pleaded guilty to assaulting seven children and one young man.

However, he has pleaded not guilty to allegations that he assaulted a community woman and sexually touched a 13- to 15-year-old girl. Those matters have been set for trial in September, and sentencing or the physical abuse will be held at the end of that trial.

 ihitchen@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @IanHitchen

Account of abuse:

The following is an account of the offenders abuse of his six victims, as described in court by Crown attorney Jim Ross and Queens Bench Justice Robert Cummings:

 The first victim was 11 and 12 years old. Hed been sent to live with a co-accused for counselling. The offenders father would ask questions, and if the boy didnt admit to the acts suggested, then the interrogator, the accused and another man would strike him with a leather strap. He was often strapped 40 to 50 times, up to three times per week, and his back was left purple and blue. He was also made to stand for long periods, and the offender struck him with a hammer handle. In addition, the offender lay on the boy with his full weight for half an hour, which injured the boys arm and he had to attend hospital and a physiotherapy session. The boy initially told police that hed had sexually impure thoughts, and it was only after several days away from the community that he told what really happened.

 A 21-year-old man was counselled for impure thoughts during abuse that stretched over four years. This offender was the most aggressive of three adults who assaulted him. The offender poked him with an iron poker, twisted his ears and punched him. He also banged the victims head off a wall and the ground. The boy ran away and returned to an Old Order Mennonite community from which the Manitoba community had previously split.

 Another girl was 14 to 15 years old when the offender strapped her on the back of her legs, leaving bruises. He also forced her to stand in her fathers cellar for 11 hours.

 A 13- to 14-year-old boy was falsely accused of having sex with his mother and touching his siblings in a sexual manner. The offender and two others strapped him until he was black and blue. The boys father noted that at one point, his son was bruised from his side down to the back of his knee.

 A girl of 13 to 14 years of age was strapped by the accused and three other adults. The accused also kicked her on numerous occasions. She later told police that she was so afraid of being punished that there were times that she didnt want to live. She was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Shed come to believe the things she was forced to admit, and that she deserved the punishment.

 Several adults disciplined a five- to eight-year-old boy by spanking him on 10 to 12 occasions, but the boy described this offender as particularly rough.

 The Brandon Sun
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/06/2016 (2311 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Members of the Brandon University Students Union will make a 300-kilometre road trip east on July 9 to join in the first-ever Pride parade held in Steinbach  a small city of about 14,000 that has found itself in the spotlight for its handling of LGBTTQ* issues.

Several local politicians have said they wont attend the parade. The areas school division faces acomplaint to the Manitoba Human Rights Commission filed earlier in June, stemming from a policy that forbids teachers to discuss sexual orientation in elementary and middle-school classes.

BUSU president Nick Brown said council approved the rental of a van to make the trek to Steinbach. Brown and other leaders will attend the parade in their capacity as BUSU representatives.

While BUSU reps travel across Canada for meetings and conferences, this is the longest distance Brown recalls travelling specifically for an advocacy event. He figures the cost will be about $100, which will come out of the unions outreach budget line.

About nine seats have been filled, with a few more still available.

BUSU representatives were active in several Pride events in Brandon in recent weeks, including a vigil following the Orlando shooting.

Brown, who identifies as bisexual, said he has noted nothing but support for that activity and he expects nothing different for the Steinbach day trip.

This is a celebration, its not a riot. Were not angry  were going to have fun, he said.

If you want to be a super right-wing conservative Christian, then go and do that, but dont spread the hate. Just accept that everyone is going to do their thing and accept that if people want to host a big parade with a bunch of rainbows, then they are going to do that.

 The Brandon Sun
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The inaugural flight from Brandon to Torontos Pearson International Airport was scheduled to leave McGill Field today at 5:15 a.m.

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Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 29/06/2016 (2310 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Its right there in her mandate letter. As minister of justice, you have a key role to play in making Manitoba the national leader of open governments, through the sequential adoption of legislative measures designed to enhance openness, transparency and accountability.

Those were the marching orders given to Justice Minister Heather Stefanson when she took over the job as top sheriff in the province.

So when will the justice minister put the heat on jails in Manitoba to provide detailed statistics on the use of segregation? And when will Manitoba follow the lead of other provinces and order a review into its practice?

The use of segregation has been widely denounced both within Canada and worldwide. In 2012, the United Nations committee against torture called on Canada to limit the use of solitary confinement and to only use it as a last resort. It suggested, if it is used, it should be for as short a time as possible, under strict supervision with judicial review, and it not be used on prisoners who are suffering physical or acute or serious mental-health issues.

There are two types of segregation in use in Canadian prisons. The first is disciplinary segregation, which is punitive and cannot be used for longer than 30 days. Critics suggest solitary confinement for longer than 15 days is a form of torture and can cause serious mental and physical side-effects.

The second and more commonly used type is administrative  both voluntary and involuntary.

On paper, this type of segregation is supposed to be used as preventive rather than disciplinary. For example, it may be used to protect inmates or staff, and there is no time limit on its use. But too often, its used on inmates who are mentally ill.

In Manitoba, nearly one in 10 prisoners is kept in segregation  the highest rate in the country. But the details of why they are segregated and for how long are not readily available.

Debra Parkes, the associate dean in the faculty of law at the University of Manitoba, says its a struggle to get consistent or detailed data. Theres no accountability, and theres no oversight. This is where Ms. Stefanson should be stepping in.

Meanwhile, the Trudeau federal government has directed its justice minister to implement recommendations that stemmed from the 2007 death of Ashley Smith, sent to a youth facility for a month for throwing crabapples at a postal worker.

She was almost immediately placed in segregation, where she remained as she was moved to different facilities until she killed herself four years later.

In 2014, after two inquests, a number of recommendations were made. Last November, in keeping with those recommendations, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would push for a ban on long-term solitary confinement for federal inmates.

Saskatchewan is also reviewing its practice of segregation.

In Ontario, the ombudsman has called for a ban to protect vulnerable inmates with developmental, behavioural and mental-health challenges.

As Ms. Parkes says: There is ample evidence that solitary confinement is harmful and inhumane  It is incumbent on Manitoba Justice to be open and accountable to Manitobans about the extent and nature of solitary confinement in Manitoba jails.

Thats part of the mandate for this new justice minister  to be open and accountable. The time has come to look at our provincial jails and end this cruelty.

 Winnipeg Free Press
Dublin City Councillors are calling on the Government to ensure all new Luas trams could have the ability to drive themselves.

The call follows 12 days of strike action which brought the service to a halt over recent months.
Update 6.36pm: There are calls for the Charities Regulator to be given extra powers in the wake of allegations of bad governance at Console.

The founder of the charity, Paul Kelly, his wife and son Tim are being accused of running up credit card bills of almost 500,000.

Other spending on the credit cards controlled by #Console CEO Paul Kelly, his wife and his son were:#rtept pic.twitter.com/rAwrYOGQdl  RTE Prime Time (@RTE_PrimeTime) June 28, 2016

There remains some confusion about whether they three have resigned or not, although the charity's board has insisted that they are no longer involved with Console.

Ivan Cooper from charity representative body The Wheel said that draft laws would greatly enhance the Regulator's powers.

The Regulator currently doesnt have a full set of teeth, he said.

A section of the Charities Act hasnt been commenced by the Minister  weve called on the Minister to complete that, and when its done, itll mean the regulator will be able to go in, itll be able to compel people to appear before it, itll be able to replace trustees if it deems thats what needs to happen, and in actual fact it will be able to seize the assets of the charity concerned and take them into responsible custodianship.

Sinn Fein TD and Mental Health and Suicide Prevention spokesperson Pat Buckley TD also called on the Government to do more to regulate charities.

The government must do more to  identify past abuses and to bring them to light so that people can again have faith in the charities to which they donate, he said.

Update 11.10am:

Fundraisers for Console have said they are looking at withdrawing their support for the charity after serious issues were raised about governance and spending.

Charlie Bird, who had planned to donate the royalties of his latest book to Console, said he is reviewing that decision in the wake of revelations about the management of the charity.

Mr Bird said: "We're not going to take any decision to give any money to Console at the moment. In the light of what has transpired, it is not our intention to make any fast decisions about where the (royalties) are going."

Earlier:

The founder of the Console charity, his wife and son Tim are being accused of running up credit card bills of almost 500,000.

The money was spent by the three on groceries, designer clothes and foreign trips, according to a draft copy of the HSE audit into finances at the charity, as seen by the RTE Investigates team.

Details of a HSE audit of the Console books revealed on Prime Time last night show company credit cards were used for trips to Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

They were also used to pay for dental work, tickets to rugby matches and designer brands like Hugo Boss and Ralph Lauren.

The audit shows console founder Paul Kelly (pictured) his wife Patricia and their son Tim received a further 500,000 in salaries and cars between 2012 and 2014

The three held 11 of the charity's 20 credit cards. During the period under review, nearly 90,000 in cash was withdrawn on the credit cards; 66,000 of it by Paul Kelly himself. However, there is no documentation to show how the cash was used.

Paul Kelly resigned as chief executive of Console last week and has denied allegations of mismanagement. He arrived at the charity's Dublin office on Monday and is reported to have told staff it was "business as usual".

A HSE audit into Console, which provides bereavement counselling to those who have lost loved ones to suicide, found there were serious governance concerns at the charity, revealing widespread failings in proper standards in management.

The audit notes there were inadequate governance structures during the period examined.

Console was controlled and dominated by Paul Kelly. He was responsible for the full running of the charity, it said.

It found he continued to operate as a shadow director even after he resigned as a director in 2013.

The report states that auditors encountered significant difficulties obtaining information and explanations, and explanations, when received, were inconsistent and vague.

For example, the report found that Mr Kelly and his wife Patricia were/are directors of at least 12 companies.

Inconsistencies in names, signatures, and dates of birth were identified by the audit on statutory documents with the [Companies Registration Office] in relation to these 12 companies, it states.

Information contained in some statutory declarations filed with the [Companies Registration Office] was incorrect. For example the number of directorships held by the CEOs wife.

Ms Kelly also signed using her maiden name of Dowling when filing details of her directorships of some of the companies.

According to the draft report, Mr Kelly was and is a director, company secretary, chair, and cheque signatory of Console.

However, throughout the audit Mr Kelly described his wifes role as a volunteer and not employed by the organisation, when in fact she was a key officer of the company.

Other financial issues raised by the report include whether the issue of expense claims not being signed had been approved.

Controls around receipting donations and fundraising were lax and non- existent. Console did not maintain a receipts book, there was no record listing all amounts received, and money received was not lodged intact into Consoles bank account, the report stated.

Helplines:

In relation to Consoles helplines, between 2012 and 2014 Console reduced the number of helplines from six to two. The report states that Console informed the audit team that the cost of running its two helplines in 2014 was 346,560, of which the HSE provided 294,000.

During the audit no documentation was provided to the audit team to support this costing.

Console UK:

In May 2012 Mr Kelly and and his wife established a separate company in England to operate Console UK.

Significant issues were identified in relation to Console Ireland and Console UK.

Console Ireland incurred expenditure in excess of 140,000 in relation to Console UK between 2012 and 2014. This was not disclosed in either Console Irelands audited financial statements or in Console UKs accounts.

In essence Irish funders and donors are funding a UK charity.

As director of services [at Console UK], Tim Kelly [their son] is paid a salary of stg31,300. This is paid by Console Ireland directly to him at a rate of 600 per week and it is not taxed, states the report.

It found that between 2012 and 2014, Paul Kelly received consultancy payments totalling 218,586, Ms Kelly received salary payments of 67,149, while Tim Kelly received 93,924.

Additional reporting by the

Read More:
A Dublin glamour model has been given a two-month suspended sentence after she admitted she jumped on her ex-boyfriend's new partner and began to bite and scratch her.

Bridget Byrne (aged 26), who works under the name of Ava Van Rose, appeared before Judge John Cheatle at Dublin District Court today to have her case finalised.

Byrne had pleaded guilty earlier to assault causing harm to Helen Guinan her at a house at Wheatfield Avenue in Clondalkin, in Dublin, on Oct. 20, 2013.

The judge noted from a victim impact statement that Ms Guinan now lives in constant fear and after the assault the defendant had made threats to her.

The court also heard there have been on-going issues which both women have been reported to gardai.

Defence counsel Anna Bazarchina said that this related to phone calls and Byrne, who did not address the court, has not been involved in any further violence.

Pleading for leniency she asked the judge to note that her client is remorseful and her guilty plea spared the victim from facing cross-examination in court.

She said a conviction could leave her client jobless and Byrne is suffering from depression.

A medical report was also handed in to the judge. The court has heard she hopes to study to become a personal trainer.

The judge also noted that a favourable pre-sentence report on her had been furnished and she had engaged with the Probation Service in relation to employment and training.

The model, who also starred in the short-lived reality show Infectious, had initially indicated she would contest the case on the grounds that she acted in self self-defence.

However, admitted the offence and accepted she caused the injuries.

Garda Gerard Clifford of Ronanstown station told Judge Cheatle that Ms Byrne has a child with Helen Guinan's partner.

There had been a row over their arrangements for the child to be collected.

Gda Clifford said that mother-of-three Byrne, who has no prior criminal convictions, turned up at Ms Guinan's home.

Gda Clifford said that when the door was opened Byrne jumped on Helen Guinan in the front hall and put her fingers in her eyes, she was biting her left had and scratching her face.

The woman suffered cuts to her face and the skin on her hand was broken.

A medical report was handed in and Gda Clifford agreed with the defence that the injuries were superficial and that it was a minor assault.

Gardai received a complaint two days later and they interviewed Ms Byrne, who now has an address at An Luasan, Ballybrit, Co Galway but is from Clondalkin in west Dublin.

Gda Clifford also agreed that Byrne did not have any prior criminal convictions and has not come to garda attention since.

The garda agreed that that the row was over family matters.

A district court conviction for the assault could result in a fine and a possible sentence of up to one year's imprisonment.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said the Brexit vote has highlighted the crisis in confidence in the European Union and politics in general, writes Elaine Loughlin, Political Reporter in Brussels.

Speaking after a meeting between all EU leaders apart from David Cameron in Brussels this morning, Mr Kenny said the other heads of State are very aware of Irelands unique position and ties to Britain.

But he said there were different perspectives among European leaders on how quickly Britain must leave the EU.

Mr Kenny said he used the EU council summit to point out the very long history between both countries but said that relations are stronger than ever before

He added the closer the relationships the EU are going to have with Britain the better for us.

I think Prime Minister Cameron appreciated that and members around the table understand our position there.

But also I made the point that we have had a common travel area since 1922 and also that the European Union itself is an evolving peace process."

He pointed out the importance of the peace process in Northern Ireland and the open border, Mr Kenny said.

He said issues around the future of the border would be discussed at the North South meeting of ministers on Monday.

Mr Kenny said: The outcome of the referendum in the UK has highlighted the crisis in confidence not only in the European Union but also in politics in general across the western world.

He said both meetings  last nights summit which included David Cameron and the breakfast meeting this morning without him - had been very calm and very considered and very measured.

He said there was clear agreement that there should be some little time given to the Conservative Party to elect a new Prime Minister.

There can be and will be no negotiations until the British trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which would start an official exit, he said.

There were different perspectives about how quickly this should take place, people did feel that a new Prime Minister should have some little time to review his or her situation and to make their views known."
The Immigrant Council of Ireland has said it is monitoring the situation here closely after a spike in racism in the UK following Brexit.

The fallout from the British vote to leave the EU has triggered an increase in racist incidents with eyewitnesses taking to social media to describe abuse they have encountered.
Ireland and Scotland have been urged to play a key role in providing the "ethical leadership that is so needed at this moment in our history".

Irish President Michael Higgins highlighted the importance of immigration to the two nations as he addressed MSPs at the Scottish Parliament.

His speech comes at a time when the UK is still coming to terms with last week's vote to leave the European Union (EU), which Ireland remains a member of.

Meanwhile, continental Europe has been dealing with a stream of refugees fleeing from the conflict that has engulfed Syria and the Middle East.

President Higgins described Scotland and Ireland as being countries of "intermixed migrants whose shared existence owes more to the transience of our migrations than to the sedentary experience of possessions or property".

He told MSPs: "If we imagine ourselves in the position of those currently fleeing war-torn Syria, or trapped in an unending cycle of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or in the position of future generations living in toxic and hostile environments, we could not acquiesce to inaction.

"For a long time, the Irish and the Scots found that our own people were forced to seek sustenance abroad.

"The strength and vitality of our diasporas today can be attributed to the bravery and indomitable spirit that motivated our ancestors to seek not only better lives for themselves and their families, but also to recognise the value of community and to appreciate the welcome they received on foreign shores.

"Perhaps, then, with our traditions and values, we might both be expected to play leading parts in showing the ethical leadership that is so needed at this moment in our history."

He stressed that elected politicians "must be unafraid to challenge outdated policies" and speak out against "inequalities which have ceased to shock us by how widespread and familiar they have become".

A failure to do this could "leave a vacuum that will be exploited, usually by dangerous populisms in the street", the President warned.

He added: "We are challenged to do democracy better rather than resile to old and divisive myths based on exclusion and often what is thinly-veiled hate or racism."

President Higgins recalled the death of Labour MP Jo Cox, saying she "exemplified the very best of principled public representative politics".

He added: "All of us who share her fearless commitment to principled and respectful political debate owe it to her memory to work harder than ever at this crucial moment to strengthen our democratic system and make it work to meet the needs of our people, and not to surrender to fear or bend before the politics of fear."

President Higgins also used his speech to highlight the "enormous potential for partnership and co-operation" between Scotland and Ireland, saying this was "grounded in the values that we share".

He continued: "As two small, in population terms, yet highly-skilled countries with highly-skilled workers on the periphery of Europe, we share a belief that our combined resources, expertise and experiences can create a dynamism that is greater than the sum of our two separate economies.

"Today we see great progress in trade and co-operation in areas such as the creative industries and information technology, as well as in areas such as renewable energies and, of course, in the agri-food sector and in tourism.

"We are both committed to deepening this bond. In the past year alone, Ireland has grown its diplomatic representation in Edinburgh and the Scottish Government has established a representative office in Dublin.

"The potential for growing our work together is, I believe, endless - in culture, in economic and social development, and in promoting the peace, stability and prosperity that have marked the transformative recent decades between these two islands."
Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said that no criminal investigation into the sale of Nama's Northern loan book by Gardai is underway.

Minister Noonan has rejected a call in the Dail for a Commission of Investigation into the sale of 'Project Eagle, despite the fact that the UK's National Crime Agency is conducting a criminal investigation.
President of the European Council Donald Tusk has ruled out free EU trade access for UK without also allowing freedom of movement.

He said the remaining 27 nations are "absolutely determined" to stay united after Britain's departure.

Following the conclusion of the summit, Mr Tusk said the 27 leaders had agreed that Britain would have to accept freedom of movement if it wants to maintain access to the single market as a non-member.

Donald Tusk warns the UK: "There will be no single market a la carte." https://t.co/6kRuP9wRII  Zoe Catchpole (@mazoe) June 29, 2016

"Leaders made it crystal clear that access to the single market requires acceptance of all four freedoms - including freedom of movement," said Mr Tusk. "There will be no single market a la carte."

Mr Tusk added that the EU wanted to keep the UK as a "close partner" in the future.

No negotiations on the future relationship would take place until the UK formally applied to withdraw through Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, he said.

"There will be no negotiations of any kind until the UK formally notifies its intention to withdraw," he said.

"It is up to the British Government to notify the European Council of the UK's intention to withdraw."

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker dismissed critics who have blamed him for the referendum result.

He said that he did not intervene in the UK referendum at the request of the British Government.

Mr Tusk defended Mr Juncker against critics, saying that the reforms to the terms of UK membership negotiated with Mr Cameron ahead of the Brexit campaign were "the maximum - more than maximum - of what was possible" within the terms of the EU treaties and what member states could accept.

He acknowledged that many people across Europe were "unhappy with the current state of affairs", and said Mr Cameron had warned during yesterday's discussions that concerns over immigration were driving opposition to the EU.

But Mr Juncker said that while reforms were needed, there would be "no treaty change".

The 27 states are to meet again to discuss their approach to Brexit in Slovak capital Bratislava on September 16, but Mr Cameron's successor as British PM is not expected to be invited.

Meanwhile back in the UK, Brexit campaigners were booed and heckled in the Commons as angry Remain-backing MPs took out their frustrations following the historic vote to leave the European Union.

At Prime Minister's Questions, Ukip MP Douglas Carswell was booed while pro-Brexit Tory Bernard Jenkin was accused of being "guilty by association" as he criticised Nigel Farage.

Pressure on Boris Johnson intensified as one Tory former minister referred to him as "Silvio Borisconi" and Labour MPs could be heard shouting "where's Boris?"

Mr Johnson has faced criticism for failing to set out what happens next despite being the figurehead for the Brexit campaign and favourite to succeed David Cameron as Tory leader and prime minister.

'No great clamour for divorce'

Out-going Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted there is no "great clamour" from European leaders for the UK to start its divorce from Brussels "straight away".

Mr Cameron said contrary to some reports the "overwhelming view" of the European Council is that the UK should "take some time" before triggering Article 50 after the nation voted for Brexit on June 23.

The Prime Minister told MPs "everyone wants to see a clear blueprint" setting out Britain's proposed relationship with the European Union before any final decisions are made.
Update 12.29am: A senior Turkish official said tonight nearly 50 people had been killed in the attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport and initial indications were that the so-called 'Islamic State' group was behind the atrocity.

Update 10.16pm: A total of 28 people were killed in attacks on Istanbul's airport with 60 wounded, the Turkish city's governor said.

Earlier, Turkish justice minister Bekir Bozdag said that according to preliminary information, "a terrorist at the international terminal entrance first opened fire with a Kalashnikov and then blew himself up".

Update 8.58pm: Ten people have died in two explosions at Istanbul's Ataturk airport.

Two attackers blew themselves up after police fired at them, an official said.

The state-run TRT television said an explosion hit a control point at the international arrival terminal of the airport.

Other media reported the sound of gunfire at the scene.

Eyewitness Ercan Ceyhan told CNN-Turk that he saw some 30 ambulances enter the airport.

The private DHA news agency said the wounded, among them police officers, were being transferred to Bakirkoy State Hospital.

Turkey has suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or so-called 'Islamic State' (IS) militants.

The bombings included two in Istanbul targeting tourists - which the authorities have blamed on the 'IS' group.

Earlier:

At least two explosions have occurred at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, causing multiple injuries, a Turkish official has said.

An official said it was unclear whether the blasts were caused by bombs or a suicide attack.

Turkish media reported the sound of gunfire at the scene.

BREAKING: Turkish justice minister says 10 dead in Istanbul airport attack https://t.co/oLY0jvPufC  Reuters World (@ReutersWorld) June 28, 2016

UPDATE: Around 40 people wounded in Istanbul airport blast being transported to hospital: broadcaster Haberturk  Reuters (@Reuters) June 28, 2016

Turkey has suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or Islamic State group militants.
A UK High Court judge asked to make decisions about the welfare of three traveller children says tolerance must be shown for the traditions of different communities.

Mr Justice Mostyn said the children, aged between two and nine, had not been cared for in a conventional fashion and there had been incidents that went beyond "robustness" and into the realm of neglect.

But he said the children's progress had been "broadly satisfactory".

He said a local authority had not asked a judge to rule that the youngsters should be taken into care and social workers wanted to continue to work with their parents.

Details of the case have emerged in a ruling by the judge following a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

Social services staff had been supervising the parents for more than two years and had asked the judge to allow supervision to continue.

Mr Justice Mostyn approved the extension of an order which would allow the parents to continue caring for the youngsters under the supervision of social workers.

"I have always been strongly of the view that tolerance must be shown, in a spirit of diversity, to the traditions of different communities," said the judge.

"The parenting in this case has certainly been far more, one might say, robust ... than one would expect in the conventional nuclear family."

He added: " (The parents) must understand very clearly that even though the court is tolerant of their different traditions, their fundamental obligation is to care properly for their children and they must do so."

No one involved was identified in the ruling.
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Amid plans for the city to transition away from power provided by Nebraska Public Power District, Omaha energy company Bluestem has proposed building a new power plant to serve the Beatrice area.

Weve been working with Bluestem for a number of months now and they have been reviewing a number of options for us," Tobias Tempelmeyer, general manager of the Beatrice Board of Public Works, said at Wednesdays BPW meeting. "A couple of months ago they came up with a new proposal that weve been looking into and that is having Bluestem build, own, and operate a natural gas power plant here in Beatrice.

Tempelmeyer explained that Bluestem would own and operate the plant on its own. The plant would supply electrical capacity for the city, a factor that needed to be accounted for after the city decided to leave NPPD for an Ohio energy provider.

As you know we have a contract with AEP to purchase energy, but we still need to find capacity, Tempelmeyer said.

The difference between energy and capacity is an important distinction in providing electricity, and both are important.

Energy is what you have when you turn the lights on. It is the amount of electricity customers use over time.

Capacity, on the other hand, is the physical capability of a power plant to produce the amount of energy required at any particular moment, and deliver that energy to consumers. In other words, capacity measures the maximum amount of electricity that can be supplied throughout the entire service area at once, and it must be enough to meet peak demand.

The city of Beatrice has an agreement with AEP to receive energy that will extend through 2023, but the city must also find a source for capacity.

The incentive to use Bluestem as that source, said Mayor Stan Wirth, is that the company would entire fund the construction of a new local power plant.

Its all on their dime, Wirth said.

All the company is asking from Beatrice is that the city buys its capacity once the plant is built.

The power plant would creat 8-10 jobs to operate in Beatrice, Tempelmeyer said. It would pay property taxes and be supported on its own.

To help represent the city's interests in further discussions with Bluestem, BPW on Wednesday agreed to bring in JK Energy Consulting.

Tempelmeyer said that it will cost about $9,000 to hire JK Energy Consulting based on the number of hours they are estimating for the work.

Im comfortable bringing on (JK Energy) to do the consulting work, Tempelmeyer added. Whats going to happen next is that Bluestem is going to bring us an MOU (memorandum of understanding) to start moving forward, to know that is something they are going to spend money on.

A representative of Bluestem will be at the Beatrice City Council meeting Tuesday, July 5 to give more details about the potential power plant.
Stratton's views and opinions are probably better known in this country than the oeuvre of Scorsese. It is something of a paradox.

Over the years, Stratton would have seen countless filmmakers, actors and movie trends come and go, and reinvent themselves. So a season of the work of Martin Scorsese, one of the best filmmakers of the last 50 or so years, curated by Stratton, is an especially happy coincidence of film buff critic and film buff director. It would be great to see them go head to head, but we have instead a season of 17 films from the oeuvre of Scorsese. Scorsese by Stratton is on at Arc Cinema at the National Film and Sound Archive during July.

When he notched up 18 years as director of the Sydney Film Festival, David Stratton became a founding father of movie culture in this country. He needs no introduction. While he was a TV film critic opposite Margaret Pomeranz for the next three decades, their opinions mattered to people across the generations and it is likely they are still missed.

Robert De Niro as one of Martin Scorsese's infamous characters, Travis Bickle, in Taxi Driver.

The name Scorsese stands as a shorthand for the violent, masculine drama that lets rip in Casino and Goodfellas, yet the diminutive and softly spoken Italian-American is a far more versatile filmmaker than he is generally thought to be. We may think we are pretty familiar with movies. Who hasn't heard of his infamous protagonists, Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Johnny Boy in Mean Streets and Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street? We certainly know the Scorsese name and that his films are about what it means to be a man in the modern world, but when it comes down to it, how well do we know his body of work?

It's not so much that his films have pulled in massive crowds, either. It's that he happens to make the landmark movie, a sort of summary statement, or first telling observation or last word. And everyone recognises the quality of his work, the thought that has gone behind it, the knowledge of cinema that supports it, and the skill and sensitivity that has gone into his images, choice of music and use of sound, or silence, as in Raging Bull. Scorsese is the filmmakers' filmmaker. He has received the most Academy Award nominations for best director of anyone else alive, and has won once, for The Departed in 2007.

Two films by Scorsese, Kundun, a drama about the Dalai Lama and The Last Temptation of Christ, deal directly with religion. Not exclusively, as religion comes up in his films again and again. The former altar boy and trainee priest still seems to be working things through. You can't miss the crucifixes and other religious iconography in films from Raging Bull (one of his best ever), to Cape Fear (not included in the program), but you can expect to find recurring allusions to religion scattered everywhere throughout in his work. And Scorsese's latest film, Silence, due for release this year, concerns Jesuits in Japan.

Since being engrossed in the theatricality of church ritual, Scorsese seems to have been ruminating on the difference between good and evil for his entire career. "Like the character played by Harvey Keitel in Mean Streets, Scorsese is torn between the sacred and the profane," writes Stratton in his accompanying film notes.
A childcare worker who forcibly grabbed three children by the wrists was caught in the act by the mother of one of the children during the "worst" incident, a court has heard.

Rajani Gautum, 50, pleaded guilty and was convicted on three charges of using inappropriate discipline, in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Rajani Gautum leaves court after she was convicted on three counts of of using inappropriate discipline on children at an ACT childcare centre. Credit:Clare Colley

Gautum was among four workers police charged last October over allegations of excessive force on up to 20 children aged between one and four at North side Community Service's Civic Early Childhood Centre.

She initially pleaded not guilty to four common assault charges and was set to fight the allegations in November.
Telstra customers may soon get a free subscription to Presto streaming service, potentially increasing its subscriber base to millions of people.

An exclusive dealing notification lodged with the competition watchdog earlier this month requests permission "to offer consumers complimentary subscriptions to their Presto service, on the condition those consumers acquire wholesale and/or retail goods and services from Telstra Corporation Limited". The offer would last for two years from July 1, 2016.

Presto's offering includes Boardwalk Empire and Girls.

A Presto spokesman told BusinessDay "we are currently working with Telstra Wholesale and there will be an offer in market, however timings and particulars are still being worked through so there's nothing further I can share at this time".

A Telstra spokesman confirmed on Wednesday evening the offer would not be available to retail customers.
Benefits to injured motorists will be slashed under proposed changes to the NSW Green Slip scheme that lawyers warn are potentially harsher than controversial changes the state government made to the workers compensation scheme.

The NSW scheme is moving from an at-fault scheme towards a partly no-fault scheme, which is similar to the one operating in Victoria, Tasmania, Northern Territory and New Zealand.

Gary Ulman, president of the Law Society of NSW, says the new Compulsory Third Party scheme would reduce benefits for up to 95 per cent of injured motorists in NSW. Credit:Jessica Hromas

Law Society of NSW president Gary Ulman said the new Compulsory Third Party scheme would be similar to the workers compensation scheme and reduce benefits for up to 95 per cent of injured motorists in NSW.

"To pay for the government's CTP scheme, even people with severe injuries, which stop them from doing their jobs, will be forced to rely on welfare or family when their benefits are cut off after five years," he said.
Bill Shorten has told The Sydney Morning Herald's Peter Hartcher that he thinks Australia is not immune to the populist forces behind Brexit and Donald Trump, and that Turnbull will exacerbate them. I didn't know about Shorten's comments to Hartcher when I interviewed Chris Bowen on Facebook yesterday. He had a very different take which you can watch back below (about five minutes in). . This is a great comment piece from News Corp columnist Niki Savva, who says Shorten has failed to make the final change from opposition leader to prime minister. But she says he shouldn't blame himself because "if blame has to fall somewhere, it should be on genetics." <<sharp intake of breath>> Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Shadow Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen Credit:Alex Ellinghausen If Labor loses Bill Shorten will automatically have his leadership thrown open under Kevin Rudd's rules imposed in 2013. So get ready for another Anthony Albanese vs Bill Shorten leadership contest.

3. 'For heaven's sake man, go' I seriously shake my head wondering just how upside down, inside out and topsy turvey British politics can get. After choking back the tears announcing his own resignation on Friday after the referendum result, David Cameron well and truly exemplified the British stiff upper lip in Parliament overnight. If he's faking it, you can't tell. The lame duck prime minister's cheery, straightforward and matter-of-fact approach was on display in Prime Minister's Questions when he once again laid into Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. This brilliant, devastating line carried so much more meaning, because Cameron himself was able to recognise when it was time to call it a day and duly did so. Maybe its because as an Australian I have such a low threshhold when it comes to competent political leaders but I suspect when Cameron, a statesman, goes, many (Brexiteers included) may end up regretting his demise.

Corbyn is still refusing to go. This is despite Ed Milliband and the Labour European Parliamentary caucus calling for him to resign Then there was another dreadful media event that went wrong. Not only did Corbyn's office ban a Sky News reporter for asking about the leadership crisis, but a Corbyn staffer literally grabbed the leader away from the media pack. Also note that Deputy Leader Tom Watson's poker face is improving at a rate of 0.01 per cent. It's so bad Watson has gone on the BBC to apologise for the state of Westminster at the moment and revealed Corbyn is refusing to speak to him about the farce that is his hold on the leadership. 4. Murdoch and Gove not completely on Team Boris Boris Johnson and Michael Gove following the results of the EU referendum. Credit:WPA Pool

Nominations have opened for the Tory leadership - the final result is expected September 9. Liam Fox and Stephen Crabb are declared contenders. All eyes are on Boris Johnson who is reported to be advised by Australian strategist Lynton Crosby. But in a very intriguing development Sky News has obtained an email sent by Sarah Gove (or Sarah Vine as she is also known by readers of her column in The Daily Mail), the wife of Michael Gove - the other major Brexiter on the Vote Leave Campaign and supposed biggest backer of the former London mayor. The email suggests Michael Gove is not necessarily completely on Team Boris just yet and there are very valid doubts about whether the party membership will back him. There is also a delicious revelation about Rupert Murdoch's views on Boris. Sarah Vine's column today revealed Leave's victory took the Gove household by surprise, which furthers fears the Brexiteers had no idea what to do if they won which they clearly weren't expecting. Theresa May, with Labour's fallen shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn. Credit:Getty Images

Johnson's fiercest competition is likely to be the Home Secretary Theresa May. 5. Markets rebound but is it the eye of the storm? The FTSE 100 has rebounded to pre-Brexit levels and the pound has strengthened but at least one analyst believes its only the eye of the storm. 6. 100 years on from the Battle of the Somme The Royal Family will lead Centenary commemorations in France and Britain marking the start of the Battle of the Somme.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has attempted to clear up growing confusion about a national plebiscite on same-sex marriage by saying he wants a vote held by the end of the year and expects it to be compulsory.

But Mr Turnbull appeared to open up a new front of uncertainty by saying for the first time that he wants the plebiscite process to be modelled on a referendum vote.

He also indicated he will not put any pressure on his colleagues to vote according to the public's verdict, saying the decision is a "matter for them".
A Beatrice man serving 26 to 41 years in state prison for beating and raping a woman in 2011 was given a three-year federal sentence Friday in a child pornography case.

Joseph Buttercase, 34, pleaded guilty in March to production and transportation of obscene material in an agreement with prosecutors, who dropped three child pornography charges.

Between October 2003 and November 2004, prosecutors say, Buttercase produced five videos and about 900 obscene images with the intent to distribute them across state lines.

Authorities arrested him in Beatrice in 2011 for beating and raping a 29-year-old woman. In the course of the the investigation, they seized his computer and found pornography, U.S. Attorney for Nebraska Deborah Gilg said in a news release.

He is serving the state prison sentence after being convicted in Gage County for the 2011 rape.
"It's a team business and you have to keep the team together," Mr Turnbull says when asked if he is more open to compromise. "And when people say to me that I should just do whatever I like as though I'm some kind of dictator, they don't get it."

Over homemade passata and a glass of red with Annabel Crabb, the Prime Minister answers those questions with some of his most expansive answers to date. And the thrust? Many of his critics just "don't get it".

The nature of Malcolm Turnbull's leadership has been among the evergreen themes of this election campaign. Can he control his party? Has he sold out his principles? Or did we misunderstand him all along?

The issue is a vexed one for the PM, a Liberal moderate, who took the chair in September with lukewarm support from many conservatives in the Coalition. After all, he lost the party leadership to Tony Abbott in 2009 when he refused to give in to colleagues who wanted to oppose the Rudd government's emissions trading scheme.

Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull host the ABC's Annabel Crabb on Kitchen Cabinet.

These days he emphasises the value of collective decision making. "Our system is a collegiate system. I think that's good, by the way," he says. "So you have to be able to work with the team and you've got to be able to find compromises."

It is a relaxed and reflective Malcolm Turnbull who fronts this episode of Kitchen Cabinet, to be aired Thursday night following a similar rendezvous with Labor leader Bill Shorten on Wednesday. Joined briefly by wife Lucy, daughter Daisy and grandson Jack, he concocts his signature passata, riffs on the musings of Winston Churchill, and with great animation declares that being Prime Minister is "the best fun I have ever had in my life".

On the more divisive matters, the Prime Minister concedes one of his critics' arguments: that he could have more adeptly handled the issue of tax reform after taking the top job. Labor has used a series of policy thought bubbles  hiking the GST and granting states the power to levy their own income taxes  to portray the Prime Minister as hapless and adrift.
The future of offshore detention would be central to any post-election negotiations with the ALP in the event of a hung parliament, Greens leader Richard Di Natale has said.

But he would not say if any deal would be dependent on the closure of offshore detention centres during a press conference with his inner-Melbourne candidates and local MP Adam Bandt.

Asked if offshore detention was "make or break", Senator Di Natale said it was "the starting point for any negotiation".
So we asked the teachers what they needed "to be better."

Potential kingmaker Nick Xenophon has said he will drag both parties to the centre if he holds the balance of power after the election. And one part of Senator Xenophon's negotiations will be how each party would "empower teachers to be better."

"Where is the support?" asked John Hattie, director of the Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne. Professor Hattie said there should be a movement towards placing highly accomplished teachers in every school to improve the system and inspire others. This would work towards promoting collaboration within the workplace.

Bill Cohen, a secondary school teacher and librarian in Sydney's north, recalled a lesson he taught last week on population geography in which he enlisted the help of a maths teacher at his school to explain the mathematical concepts behind the topic.

"The very best teaching, in terms of collaboration, is when you see teachers reaching out across faculties and working together," Mr Cohen said.

"Students pick up so much of what is modelled for them by their teachers. So if students see teachers actively collaborating, that is going to have an immediate and enduring effect on their own desires to collaborate."

2. Increased parent engagement
"It's a great time to be in Brisbane, the first month of spring, the weather is perfect, it's a great time for a festival," Berthold says.

After programming his first festival in 2015, Berthold has stepped things up a notch in 2016 and offers a blend of dance, circus, burlesque, cabaret, theatre and contemporary music and all celebrated during one of the nicest times of the year in Brisbane.

The annual party that stops the city, Brisbane Festival, rolls into town from September 3 to 24 bringing with it arts events from around the city, around Australia and around the globe.

While arts festivals can often be a hodge podge of mixed and rarely matched events, Berthold has something of a theme running through various elements of the festival.

From events that involve audience participation like the fully participatory You Should Be Dancing in Queens Park, which is a mega-mix of dance that the audience can get involved in, to a variety of secret pop-up shows, audience involvement is big this year.

Then there is the local music theme which will see bands like George and Custard perform while The Go-Betweens co-founder Robert Forster will play his only Brisbane show after a European tour on the back of his first solo album in seven years.

But most interestingly is the Irish theme which Berthold has very specifically programmed after a trip to Dublin introduced him to some very rare theatre experiences.

"Every now and again you do some across a company that really unsettles all you think you have known about theatre, for me Dead Centre has been one of those companies," he said.
Outgoing MP Clive Palmer says he plans to have his defunct Queensland Nickel refinery up and running again by March next year.

The controversial Member for Fairfax told the ABC he had a dedicated team working around the clock after finding new money.

Clive Palmer says he wants to reopen Queensland Nickel's Yabilu refinery. Credit:Bradley Kanaris

"We're focusing on reopening the refinery," he said.

"We've got 50 new jobs planned out there.
Pilot Lachlan Smart has made a massive change to his aircraft just days before he attempts to become the youngest person to fly solo around the world.

The 18-year-old has removed the rear seats in his leased Cirrus SR22 single-engine aircraft to make way for a 680-litre fuel tank.

Sunshine Coast teenager Lachlan Smart will attempt to become the youngest person to fly solo around the world. Credit:wingsaroundtheworld.com.au

It will allow him to fly up to 16 hours on each leg of his record attempt, which starts on Monday from Sunshine Coast airport, with his first stop being Fiji.

It took more than two days to fit the new tank and it has allowed him to reduce the number of stops on his eight to 10-week journey from 26 to 24.
Opposition to a controversial planned development at West End, on the old Absoe furniture site, has ramped up with a court challenge and calls for the state government to call the project in.

Stage one of the West Village development, which had Brisbane City Council approval, would include two 15-storey towers.

An artists' impression of the plan for West Village at West End.

But local Greens councillor Jonathan Sri has written to Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, urging her to use her ministerial powers to scuttle the project.

Ms Trad, as the member for South Brisbane, was also West End's local state MP.
Emma Hawkins, the wife of Geelong star Tom Hawkins, never thought she would see her wedding gown again after it was stolen, along with her car, just days after their March wedding.

But on Wednesday, she finally received some good news.

Geelong player Tom Hawkins and his wife, Emma, are celebrating the return of Emma's stolen wedding dresses. Credit:Chris Hopkins

"Smiles all around, I have my dresses back! Long and very strange story, but they are back and I couldn't be happier," Hawkins, who runs a lifestyle blog, wrote on her Instagram account, along with a photo of the couple smiling on their big day.
A Beatrice man was sentenced to a year in prison after striking a plea deal with prosecutors in a theft case.

Michael K. Kopf, 56, was sentenced for stealing around $2,000 from a disabled man while staying in the same residence for around a week.

The victim, who relies on a wheelchair, was being cared for by Kopf, according to Gage County Court documents.

District Court Judge Paul Korslund said probation would depreciate the seriousness of the crime before handing down the sentence.

As far as the facts of this case, that was a pretty low thing to do to a disabled person, take their money like you did, Korslund said. Youre getting a little long in the tooth to keep committing crimes like this at your age.

In April, the victim woke up on the floor and was unsure how he got there. He noticed cash, a money clip, cellphone and bank card were all missing, court documents state.

Kopf was later observed by witnesses to have a large amount of money.

Officers learned Kopf had a room at the Travelers Lodge. More than $700 was recovered from his person, in the room and on top of a fire extinguisher box.

Gage County deputy attorney Calynn Schuck pointed out Kopfs lengthy criminal history before recommending the one-year sentence.

The state feels that probation is not an option in this case based on the lengthy criminal history from 1983, she said. Hes been convicted of multiple felonies.... He has a pattern of crimes with money.

Kopf pleaded guilty to the charge Wednesday before sentencing. As part of a plea agreement, Kopf will be required to pay the victim $1,200 in restitution and serve an additional year of post-release supervision after leaving prison.
A mother accused of murdering her three youngest children sobbed in the dock as she heard how a surviving daughter couldn't believe that she'd never see them again.

The court has heard from the teenage daughter's teacher that she had warned, months before the tragedy, that "mum should not be driving," because she had lost vision and become dizzy behind the wheel.

Melbourne Magistrates Court Court heard that Akoi Chabiet, the dead children's elder sister, told her teacher that their mother, Akon Guode, had dizzy spells. Credit:Jason South

Akon Guode, 36, drove her car into Lake Gladman in Wyndham Vale on the afternoon of April 8, 2015, with baby Bol, 16 months, four-year-old twins Hanger and Madit, and six year old Aluel inside.

The three youngest died by the lake but Aluel survived, along with three older sisters fathered by a deceased husband  including eldest Akoi Chabiet, 18, who were not in the car.
Western Australia will not join the other states and allow pokies in pubs but the state government is divided on whether to allow an expansion of other gambling products as part of its sale of the TAB.

Both Premier Colin Barnett and Racing and Gaming Minister Colin Holt firmly ruled out allowing pokies to be operated outside of James Packer's Crown casino on Tuesday.

WA Premier Colin Barnett rules out more pokie locations for the state Credit:Philip Gostelow

Mr Holt sparked speculation this week that there might be a relaxing of those rules when he said the government could allow an expansion of gambling products as part of the TAB sale.

He denied he was talking about pokies, saying he merely expected potential bidders for the government-owned betting agency such as Tatts and Tabcorp to request they be allowed to also operate Keno and virtual horseracing games at TABs.
Despite the "violent, horrible lunacy" of an apparent hate crime outside a Perth Islamic school on Tuesday, the principal says the community will strengthen their determination to befriend their enemies.

The peace of evening prayers at the Thornlie mosque and Australian Islamic College campus on Tuesday night, in its quiet suburban setting, was shattered by the bangs of cars catching fire.

Police suspect an accelerant was used to start the fire, which gutted one car and damaged three others. Anti-Islamic graffiti was painted nearby and police are looking for three men seen fleeing the area.

Australian Islamic College executive principal Abdullah Khan said despite there having been multiple attacks on Islamic places of worship in Perth, this was the most serious attack to ever touch his community and he was disheartened.
"Perth traffic has absolutely s--t itself tonight."

Just one of the responses to Perth's traffic nightmare on Tuesday night after a truck jack-knifed on the Mitchell Freeway, near Mounts Bay Road, causing six hours of chaos on the city's roads.

The large truck blocked all lanes heading south on the freeway from 3pm, leaving commuters faced with major diversions as Main Roads, WA Police and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services desperately tried to clear the truck and its spilled diesel.

The Department of Environmental Regulation, Department of Transport, Department of Parks and Wildlife and Water Corporation were involved in cleaning up a localised sheen of oil that reached a drain into the river, blocking the drain until the oil was cleaned up.
But while the barrage was still underway, evidence of the grim toll began rolling in, noted by dispatchers in entries sprinkled with abbreviations like "c" for caller and "cadv" for "caller advises."

The gunfire paused for 30 seconds or so, until at 2.08am, the first police officers on the scene attempted to enter the building and engaged in a shootout with Mateen, who then retreated to a bathroom where people were hiding. Just before 2.19am, about the time the city's SWAT team was called out, the shooting stopped as suddenly as it had begun, and the killer hunkered down for almost three hours with his hostages.

Hours after the shooting, the city's fire marshal, Tammy Hughes, sent a text message to the fire chief, Roderick Williams, saying that a code enforcement official "showed me a picture where the club owner had blocked the exit with a coke machine." Fire Department officials said Tuesday that the photo was taken on the day of the shooting, but that no exits had been blocked. A lawyer for the club, Gus R. Benitez, also insisted that all public exits had been clear.

Hughes and Williams also traded emails on the day of the shooting about a May 27 inspection showing that "an exit was blocked." But Tuesday, officials refuted information contained in city records and said that there had been no blocked exit doors and that the only infractions were minor, nothing more serious than a nonworking light bulb in an exit sign.

Hughes wrote on June 12 that the Fire Department had planned another inspection to make sure the problem was corrected, but it had not yet taken place at the time of the shooting.

During the nightclub siege, officers went into Pulse several times to bring out stranded survivors, while callers reported that they were still hiding or trapped in various bathrooms, an attic, an office, a dressing room. The incident log shows that they called repeatedly to report casualties and gunfire, warn that their phone batteries were dying, and express their dread at sounds indicating that the gunman may have been approaching. Some even called from the bathroom where the gunman was holed up to tell police what he had said and what he looked like.

"Subj in restroom whispering please help," a dispatcher wrote. A few times, callers went silent or their calls went dead, leaving dispatchers no way of knowing if they were still alive.
Passengers who survived from the suicide bomb attack cry as they leave Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk. Credit:Getty "It's a jigsaw puzzle ... The authorities are going through CCTV footage, witness statements," a Turkish official said. The Dogan news agency said autopsies on the three bombers, whose torsos were ripped apart, had been completed and that they may have been foreign nationals, without citing its sources. Relatives of the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack victims wait outside Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Credit:Defne Karadeniz Broken ceiling panels littered the kerb outside the arrivals section of the international terminal. Plates of glass had shattered, exposing the inside of the building, and electric cables dangled from the ceiling. Clean up crews swept up debris and armed police patrolled as flights resumed.

"This attack, targeting innocent people is a vile, planned terrorist act," Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. Passengers leave Istanbul's Ataturk airport after a terrorist attack killed dozens. Credit:Getty "There is initial evidence that each of the three suicide bombers blew themselves up after opening fire." The attackers had come to the airport by taxi and preliminary findings pointed to Islamic State responsibility. A relative of a victim at Ataturk Airport following the terror attacks in Turkey. Credit:Getty Images

Two US counterterrorism officials familiar with the early stages of investigations said Islamic State was at the top of the list of suspects even though there was no evidence yet. No group had claimed responsibility more than 12 hours after the attack. Relatives of the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack victims wait outside Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital. Credit:Getty Istanbul's position bridging Europe and Asia has made Ataturk airport, Turkey's largest, a major transit hub for passengers across the world. The Istanbul governor's office said 109 of the 239 people hospitalised had since been discharged. "There were little babies crying, people shouting, broken glass and blood all over the floor. It was very crowded, there was chaos. It was traumatic," said Diana Eltner, 29, a Swiss psychologist who was travelling from Zurich to Vietnam but had been diverted to Istanbul after she missed a connection.

Delayed travellers were sleeping on floors at the airport, a Reuters witness said, as some passengers and airport staff cried and hugged each other. Police in kevlar vests with automatic weapons prowled the kerbside as a handful of travellers and Turkish Airlines crew trickled in. The national carrier said it had cancelled 340 flights although its departures resumed. Paul Roos, 77, a South African tourist on his way home, said he saw one of the attackers "randomly shooting" in the departures hall from about 50 metres away. "He was wearing all black. His face was not masked ... We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Mr Roos told Reuters. "He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over."

The attack bore similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March that killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital. Islamic State militants also claimed gun and bomb attacks that killed 129 people in Paris last November "In Istanbul they used a combination of the methods employed in Paris and Brussels. They planned a murder that would maximise fear and loss of life," said Suleyman Ozeren, a terrorism expert at the Ankara-based Global Policy and Strategy Institute. Turkey needs to work harder on "preventative intelligence" to stop militants being radicalised in the first place, he said. The two US officials said the Istanbul bombing was more typical of Islamic State than of Kurdish militant groups which have also carried out recent attacks in Turkey, but usually strike at official government targets.
While possible changes to negative gearing have dominated the property-related headlines in recent months, there is another important legislation change that is set to come into effect this week that those in the property investment sector should be aware of.From 1 July 2016, accountants in Australia will no longer be permitted to provide advice around establishing a self-managed superannuation fund ( SMSF ) unless they hold an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence.The requirement for accountants to hold an AFS licence before providing SMSF advice is a directive from ASIC and is one that is supported by those in the industry, such as David Shaw, director at accounting firm WSC Group.I think its a really good move and its a culture change for the industry, Shaw told Australian Broker's sister publication, Your Investment Property.Accountants will feel that theyve been advising clients for many, many years on this and all of sudden theyre not compliant from the first of July, so its a real culture change for the industry but its a necessary one, he said.In particular Shaw believes the licensing requirements will help prevent accountants from joining forces with developers to set up an SMSF for a property purchase when it may not be an appropriate course of action.It stops certain parts of our industry from teaming up with property groups or developers to set up funds without due consideration and the best interests of clients, he told Your Investment Property.Theres now a best interest clause, youve now got to consider the best interests of clients when setting up an SMSF.In Shaws opinion the move to make AFS licences compulsorary for those providing SMSF advice also comes at the right time given the fact that the sector has become more complicated to navigate in recent times.Were very much in agreement with ASIC and the ATO that a self-managed super fund shouldnt be set up with a balance of less than $200,000. We use to say $150,000, but now with the banks tightening up on the requirements of liquidity in funds its almost mandatory to have $200,000 now.Some of the banks are requiring 30% liquidity in your fund. So if you had a $200,000 fund, youve got to have $60,000 in cash at the end of the transaction.Last year ASIC issued advice to SMSF advisers and accountants that it believed setting up an SMSF with a balance of less than $200,000 was not suitable.Shaw also said changes to superannuation contribution limits mean its now even more important investors are getting qualified advice.Weve always thought that when youre going to have a property [in an SMSF] that you shouldnt have more than a 65% loan to value ratio. The reason being is that the whole purpose of buying a property in a self-managed fund has to be to pay down the balance so it provides an income stream.Theres particularly a danger now that contributions are now being limited. From the first of July 2017, no matter who wins the election, we believe its going to be $25,000, so a couple will only be able to put in $50,000 per year anyway.If you looked at say $10,000 for insurance, thered only be $40,000 to service the property. If you had more than two or three properties it would be very difficult to pay down the loan and thats where we think trustees are going to get into trouble in the future.While accountants have known about the impending licensing requirement for some time, Shaw said it is likely some in the industry may operate outside the requirements and he encouraged investors to make sure theyre receiving SMSF advice from somebody who is qualified to provide it.There will be an element of the profession that will continue to [provide advice without an AFS licence] because its a grey area where the taxation advice ends and the financial planning advice starts.The big thing people need to do is just ask whoevers giving advice if they have a licence. If youre talking to somebody about an SMSF its the first question you should ask.
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It will be a blast!

Fourth of July is almost here and Macys will again launch its display of colorful fireworks on the East River, giving Brooklyn the best view of the pyrotechnics. Make a plan early so you can pick the perfect spot along the water to celebrate the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Americas

front yard

Pack up a blanket and picnic basket and grab a spot on the grass at Brooklyn Bridge Park to watch the rockets red glare light up the sky. Pier 1, Pier 6, and Pier 5s promenade will be open to the public, but be sure you head over early  all local streets will close to cars at 4 pm. Enter through Old Fulton and Furman streets, Joralemon and Furman streets, or Old Dock and Furman streets.

Brooklyn Bridge Park [334 Furman St. in Dumbo, (718) 2229939, brook lynbr idgep ark.org ]. Free.

Prominent spot

Right above Brooklyn Bridge Park is the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights, which will offer some of the best views in the borough. Spots along the skyline walkway will fill up quick, and police will block the entrances to avoid overcrowding, so stake out your bench as early as you can.

Brooklyn Heights Promenade [Enter at Montague Street at Montague Terrace, or along Columbia Heights between Pierrepont Place and Cranberry Street in Brooklyn Heights, (718) 7223214, www.nycgo vpark s.org ]. Free.

Stars and stripes

Head on over to Northern Territory in Greenpoint for an eyeful  and earful  of the fireworks. The patriotic pyrotechnic display is so close to the bars rooftop, you may have to cover your ears. The bar, though Australian, will show its love for all 50 states with red, white, and blue drinks and a special menu filled with American grub. The 200-person rooftop fills up quickly, and the bar will abandon its usual reservation system for a first-come, first-served policy, so get there before the sun goes down.

Northern Territory [12 Franklin St. between Meserole Avenue and N. 15th Street in Greenpoint, (347) 6894065, www.north ernte rrito rybk.com ]. $40.

Cuatro de Julio

If you crave Mexican food while you celebrate Americas independence day, reserve a spot on Almas rooftop bar near the waterfront, where the fireworks are sure to illuminate the skyline. The restaurant offers a prix fixe menu on its main floor for $50  but youll want to splurge for the roof, at $75. For that price, you will get a three-course meal and unbeatable views.

Alma [187 Columbia St. between Degraw and Sackett streets in the Columbia Waterfront District, (718) 643-5400, almar estau rant.com ].$50$75.

All day

and all night

Williamsburgs McCarren Hotel and Pool will host a rooftop fireworks party with a fancy raw bar and DJs Sleepy and Boo spinning live sets. A general admission ticket for $25 will get you into the bar, with a view of fireworks out of its retractable roof. And for $75, you can get to head up to the terrace for passed food, a champagne toast, and panoramic views of the East River as the fireworks fall into the water.

McCarren Hotel and Pool (160 N. 12th St. between Bedford and Berry, (718) 2187500, www.mccar renho tel.com ). $25$75. 7 pm to midnight.
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The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed its first casualties  of the Park Slope Food Co-op.

The iconic Union Street store  where members have been warring for eight years over whether they should boycott Israeli products to protest the countrys occupation of Palestine  recently suspended four long-time shoppers, who it found guilty of interrupting a meeting more than a year ago.

The exiled members acknowledge they literally pulled the plug on a presentation about the sale of an Israeli-made product by the pro-boycott bloc, but at least one contends that they should be praised for standing up to what she believes is a faction of fascists dedicated to spreading lies about Israel.

I didnt go up there to be a hero, but I am a hero, said Rhudi Andreolli, a 43-year-long member of the co-op now serving her year-long suspension. I stood up against tyranny and propaganda. This is so serious when you take a group of people and boycott them because you make up these vicious lies  in a co-op!

The co-ops members already voted to keep the stores then four Israel-made goods in a high-profile 2012 referendum, which received national media attention with the likes of conservative commentator Glenn Beck and a bevy of politicians all weighing in.

But the boycott movement  whose ranks also include many Jewish members  continued, and tensions boiled over at meeting in April last year, where hundreds of members from both sides showed up for a presentation about the sale of Soda Stream, a make-your-own seltzer device which at the time had factories in the West Bank.

The presentation was reportedly proceeding amicably until the boycotters displayed a slide of an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian man, which the Zionist members took to be as an unconscionable propaganda piece, leading several of them  including the four who were suspended  to rush to the front of the auditorium and yank out the cords connecting a laptop to the co-ops projector.

The [boycott] people put up a number of very proactive photographs, said Alan Ettlinger. I jumped up on the stage and tried to get them to take down the photographs.

One presenter claims the co-op has never seen such a chaotic scene in its 43-year history.

It was totally outrageous, said pro-boycott member Thomas Cox, who has admittedly only been privy to five years of co-op proceedings. We expected that there would be people who were upset, but we didnt think it would be anything like that.

Two months later, co-op leaders contacted Ettlinger, Andreolli and her sister, and another woman and notified them that they would have to face a disciplinary hearing  a process usually reserved for shoplifters and members who dodge their mandated work duties  and in April this year, a jury finally found them guilty of uncooperative behavior and sentenced them to the year in Key Foods purgatory.

Ettlinger believes the jury was stacked with pro-boycott faction members, though a co-op honcho maintains that the stores scales of justice are as well balanced as those in its produce department.

We did it in a very fair and deliberate way, said co-op coordinator Joe Holtz. It took a full year.

But many of the co-operative grocerys 16,500 members say they couldnt care less about either side of the fight, and just want to shop for cheap organic bananas in peace.

Its a co-operative, isnt that a political statement in and of itself? said 39-year co-op member Arthur Johnson. Boycotts and stuff I cant pay attention to and I dont.
In this episode of Scream, Dawn of the Dead, Emma is caught with an incriminating piece of evidence, Noah is concerned by Audreys erratic behavior and the killer makes another appearance.

The school is in utter chaos immediately following Jake Fitzgeralds mutilated body falling from a banner during the assembly announcing the Lady of the Lake finalists.The Sheriff has put the school on lockdown, meaning nobody gets in or out (except the police and the coroner and whoever else manages to get through the doors).

Scream: 6 Reasons to Be Suspicious of Stavo from Happy Birthday to Me >>>





Let the Games Begin

Poor Brooke is part of the crime scene since her exs body landed right on top of her. Emma and Audrey are eager to comfort their gal pal, but Maggie cant let them anywhere near their friend since they could compromise evidence.

Sheriff Acosta gets right down to business by questioning Noah. Noah admits that he hadnt seen Jake in five days but assumed Jake was going to great lengths to get Brookes attention after their fight. Noah shares his theory with the Sheriff that now that Emma is home, Pipers accomplice is finishing the job.

Emma is the subject of stares and whispers, and she seeks solace from Kieran. He apologizes for not believing her when she claimed she was attacked, but all Emma wants to do is hug it out. A boyfriend that hot is almost worth getting murdered for.

Brooke is finally allowed to clean herself up, and Audrey is babysitting the fragile blonde. Brooke is in shock, especially since Jake just texted her yesterday. Wake up, Brooke. Obviously, it wasnt Jakie-poo. The same thought occurs to Audrey, who reads Jakes last text to Brooke promising she would see him tomorrow. Well, that much is true. Audrey has to point out to Brooke that the cryptic message may have come from Jakes killer. Brookes remorse is tempered by the fact that the only clothing for her to wear is a cheerleading uniform. (Her dress is in police custody.) While Brooke changes, Audrey uses her phone to send a text to the killer that states, YOURE GOING STRAIGHT TO HELL! Its all in caps, so you know Audrey means business.

The text finds its way to Emma. As she freaks out, Eli, Stavo, Noah and Kieran discuss the possibility that the police didnt lock the killer out so much as lock him or her in. Remember When a Stranger Calls? The call is coming from inside the house.

Emma pulls Kieran aside and shows him that she found Jakes phone in her backpack. Emma remembers emptying the bag out at home the previous evening, which can only mean that someone slipped it in at school. Kieran (aka Captain Obvious) points out that the only person who could have had Jakes phone is the killer.

Brooke is ushered away into solitary confinement under the care of Miss Lang the psychology teacher, and Audrey joins the rest of the gang in the library. Em and Kieran fill her in on the phone. Emma is ready to go to the cops, but Audrey doesnt want her to. Her logic is a bit sketchy and scattered. The killer is trying to play them, and while its a game to him/her/them, its life or death to the Lakewood Six  make that Five. What the hell that has to do with turning over the phone to the Sheriff is beyond me, but it could simply be Audrey covering her own ass or overthinking that the killer wants Emma to reveal to the cops that she has the phone.

Locked Down and Loaded

Things are awkward between Noah and Zoe. She gave him the boot, convinced that his complicated relationship with Audrey made dating a bad idea. Zoe doesnt feel like talking about the G-rated three-way or the mangled body in the auditorium, but she agrees to let Noah bend her ear anyway. Noah loves to share his theories, and he believes Jakes very public reappearance was the killers coming out party and the end of act one. Its now act tw and everybodys got a bullseye on their backs.

Zoe admits that shes a fan of Noahs podcast. She thinks hes got a gift for making the morbid beautiful. She also thinks he does it because it helps Noah sublimate his feelings about mortality and turn his friends deaths into a puzzle that he can solve without dealing with it.

Word gets out that the police are searching everyones locker, which is bad news for Kieran. He admits to his friends that theres something in there hed rather they not find. As bad as that sounds, Kieran doesnt offer any details; hes just determined to get to it first. Noah, Audrey and Zoe offer to help.

Audrey and Zoe distract one cop while Noah and Kieran make a beeline for Kierans locker. Just as he retrieves his bag from his locker, Kieran is intercepted by a deputy. Noah hides around a corner, and the officer searches Kierans bag and finds a gun.

Sheriff Acosta doesnt believe that Kieran has anything to do with the murder. Kieran admits that the gun was his dads, and he carries it to protect both himself and his friends. The Sheriff finds this explanation understandable given everything Kierans been through. Acosta takes the gun and promises to let Kieran off the hook if he will agree to let the Sheriff keep an eye on him. Acosta says cops look after their own. Kieran appreciates Acosta not carting him off to jail but isnt buying the whole good cop routine. He wants to know what the Sheriff is really after. Acosta wants an in, and Kierans going to get him there or hell be arrested, put on probation and kicked out of school.

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know

Eli knows all about the phone because he conveniently overheard Emma discussing her dilemma. He advises that Emma wipe her prints off the phone and ditch it where someone is bound to find it. Sensing that Emma isnt the dial and ditch type, Eli offers to do it for her. Just as shes about to hand it over, Acosta and Kieran enter the library. Acosta approaches Emma and tells her that he hears theres something she wants to show him. Shes got no choice but to give him Jakes phone.

Emma does a perp walk out of the library and passes unknowingly by Noah, whos still trapped in the hallway.

Once again, Emmas sanity is called into question. She tells the Sheriff shes being targeted, but given her PTSD and trip to the psych ward, hell only concede that he believes that she believes what shes saying to be true. He lets her go, for now.

Emma returns to the library and cant help but notice that everyone is giving her the side eye, especially Hayley (the girl who pulled the prank on Audrey in the move theater). Emma decides to confront Hayley, telling the girl that they have every reason to be scared, just not of each other. But Hayley is scared because everyone who comes around Emma dies, and Emmas friends should be scared too since theyre all going to die.

Hayley points out that Piper butchered eight people but didnt touch a hair on Emmas head, which isnt entirely true. Hayley announces to the entire library that Emmas family is crazy, and any time theres a killer on the loose, somehow theres always a crazy Duval left standing. Despite Audreys efforts to pull Emma away, the waif-y blonde punches Hayley in the face. This leads to a chick fight, which ends with Emma being escorted away by Miss Lang.

Lang tries to talk Emma off of the ledge. Shes sympathetic and soothing. Lang tells Emma to take a breather while she checks back in at the library. She locks Emma in the office, which could just be a way to protect Emma, but the look on her face hints at a more sinister motive. Could Piper have a sister?

Scream Recap: A Surprise Party Takes a Dangerous Turn >>>

Audreys Paranoia Grows

Audrey is on the phone with Noah, who has managed to remain both alive and undetected in a stairwell. Audrey is still suspicious of Stavo. He was the one handing out the trippy tequila shots and likes to draw pictures of their friends being brutally murdered. Noah tells Audrey that Stavo is one of them, a horror fan and a friend. While theyre talking, Audrey discovers that the emergency exit has been disarmed and suggests that Noah sneak back in via the service hallway.

Women on the Verge of Nervous Breakdowns

After accidentally implicating her father in Jakes murder by telling Sheriff Acosta that her dad wasnt a fan and intentionally implicating Seth Branson, stating that he was stalking her, Brooke goes to see Jakes dead body. Hes zipped tightly up in a body bag, with Maggie crying over his remains. Brooke wants to know how long Jakes been dead, and Maggie tells her that its been at least three or four days.

Emmas attempts to dial down her emotions are thwarted when she gets a phone call from the killer, who promises hes coming for her. She cant get out but hears a scraping at the window. When she pulls open the blinds, the killer is there. Emma flips out and begins smashing the window with a chair, but once she succeeds in breaking the glass, Ghostface/Brandon James is gone. Or was he ever really there to begin with? One thing is certain: Emmas not going to play the killers reindeer games anymore.

Audrey is coming undone. Noah finally manages to slip back into the library undetected and finds his bestie doing a lousy job of spying on Stavo. She inadvertently lets it slip that shes been getting calls and that people are dying. She tries to cover her tracks, but Noah is unnerved by Audreys weirder than usual behavior.

Audrey decides to confront Stavo and grabs his computer. She reveals to everyone in the library a series of very grisly drawings. Stavo defends himself, saying that its for a comic book, but the crowd turns ugly. Suddenly, hes attacked by a group of boys. His dad comes to his rescue, but all eyes turn to Emma, who arrives in the library with blood dripping from her hand.

Bi-Curious Gets Busted

The lockdown is over, and everyone is free to go. Emma is getting stitched up  she cut herself when climbing through the broken window  and questioned by the Sheriff. He and Miss Lang are concerned about her mental state. Emma says she had a panic attack but fails to mention the details. She does cast a knowing look Miss Langs way. I dont think these two will be having any heart to heart chats anytime soon.

Emmas still upset with Kieran for snitching on her. Audrey tries to apologize to Stavo but gets rebuffed. Noah swipes Audreys phone and discovers the video of Audrey with Jakes body in the storage unit.

I know its a stretch, but Im starting to question if Emma could be the killer. Crazy does run in the family.

Scream airs Tuesdays at 10pm on MTV.

(Image courtesy of MTV)
Your colleagues

Five engineers receive $2.4M in NSF CAREER awards

By CORY NEALON

(These awards) are highly competitive, and to have secured so many in a single round is a strong indicator of the excellence of our faculty. 

Five UB engineers recently received prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER awards, an indication that the university is attracting some of the worlds brightest young researchers to the Buffalo-Niagara region.

The grants, awarded between February and May, total $2.4 million. They will support research and educational outreach in cyberinfrastructure, drug delivery, clean coal technology, next generation Wi-Fi and how data mining can help improve various industries.

Recipients of the grants come from four departments  Computer Science and Engineering, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering  within UBs School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

These prestigious awards recognize some of our finest early-career faculty for their outstanding and innovative research and educational work. They are highly competitive, and to have secured so many in a single round is a strong indicator of the excellence of our faculty, says Liesl Folks, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She adds that these five faculty members are each on a trajectory to have profound impacts on their fields of expertise.

The CAREER award, NSFs most significant for early-career academic researchers, provides the five UB engineers with the means to grow their research programs.

These awards illustrate exciting and meaningful research underway at the University at Buffalo, with early-career investigators being recognized for innovative and promising approaches that address a wide array of societys most challenging problems, says Venu Govindaraju, vice president for research and economic development. In addition, CAREER awardees must propose an innovative but feasible education plan, and thus our students will also benefit from these faculty who will effectively integrate their research and education activities.

UBs new CAREER awardees are:
News / Africa

by Stephen Jakes

The editor-in-chief of independent Zambian newspaper The Post was arrested trying to enter his newspaper's offices today, after authorities closed it in a dispute over allegedly unpaid taxes.According to a story emailed by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalist, Fred M'membe, his wife Mutinta, and his deputy managing editor Joseph Mwenda, were released on bail, but face charges of breaking into a building, according to reports.The charges come after the Revenue Appeals Tribunal overturned an order for The Post's property to be seized by the Zambia Revenue Authority, according to reports. M'membe and his co-accused were arrested at around 1 a.m. today when they tried to enter the headquarters of The Post after the tribunal's ruling, according to news reports. Police said the order allowing the paper to resume publishing had not been signed by the revenue authority. All three are due to appear in court next week, according to Reuters."By disregarding the orders of the Revenue Appeals Tribunal, Zambian authorities make clear that shutting down The Post was not about procedure, but rather a politically motivated attempt to silence criticism," said CPJ Senior Africa Research Associate Kerry Paterson. "Authorities must drop the charges against Fred M'membe, Mutinta Mazoka-M'membe and Joseph Mwenda immediately, and respect the order that all control of Post property be returned to the paper from the Zambia Revenue Authority."
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.
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."
OLD HISTORY, NEW GEOGRAPHY

Bifurcating Andhra Pradesh

Jairam Ramesh

Rupa

242 pages; Rs 500



In anger over their jobs being usurped by outsiders, the people demanded separation from the Union. No, we are not talking about citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) in 2016 but people of Telangana in the state of Andhra Pradesh in 1968. The people of the UK sought refuge under nationalism and culture to retaliate against perceived loss of jobs to people from other nations in the European Union (EU). The state of Telangana has the same culture, language and nationhood as the state of Andhra Pradesh. Yet, the people of Telangana demanded secession from Andhra Pradesh for very similar reasons as the UK from the EU, one of perceived unequal opportunities. It is a sobering reminder that demands for secession are mere manifestations of a deeper economic malaise. Former Union minister and Member of Parliament from the Congress party, Jairam Rameshs new book Old History New Geography is a fascinating chronicle of the why and the how of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into two states.
Two and four-wheeler makers are expecting to see a surge in purchases from government employees when the benefits of the Seventh Pay Commission start trickling in.
Brand Capital, the investment arm of Bennett, Coleman and Co Ltd (BCCL), which owns The Times of India and The Economic Times newspapers, has invested Rs 150 crore ($25 million) in Meru Cabs.
The UKs decision to leave the European Union (EU) is not holding back Tata Steel from pursuing the sale of its plants in Britain.
Essar Oil, the top Indian buyer of Iranian oil, has this month cleared $500 million of a debt owed to Tehran, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Essar, which operates a 400,000 barrels per day oil refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat, owed about $3 billion to Iran for oil purchases made when tough Western sanctions had choked banking channels.

Some of the sanctions were lifted earlier this year after Iran met all the conditions to curb its disputed nuclear programme. That helped Iran in unlocking billion of dollars frozen overseas.

Indian refiners have been settling oil debts in euros via State Bank of India and Germany-based bank Europaeisch-Iranische Handelsbank AG (EIH).

No comment was available from Essar.
FarEye, a leading logistics management software, has raised $3.5 million (Rs 20 crore) as growth funds from Saif Partners and completed its Series A round of funding.

Established in 2013 by Gautam Kumar, Gaurav Srivastava and
Senate will not consider House-passed measure canceling HOT lanes project north of Charlotte

An aerial photograph of Interstate 77 at Exit 31 in June 2015 shows rush-hour traffic. (CJ file photo)

RALEIGH Managed-lane opponents in Mecklenburg and Iredell counties aren't giving up after hearing the news that the Senate will allow the General Assembly to adjourn without taking up House Bill 954, a measure canceling the Interstate 77 high-occupancy or toll lanes project.said Kurt Naas, a spokesman for Widen I-77, a group opposing the project.North Carolina citizens will elect a governor as well as all 170 seats in the General Assembly this November. Incumbent GOP Gov. Pat McCrory's administration has backed the I-77 HOT lane project.Naas noted that canceling the contract will get more difficult as the project advances.Naas said.Naas acknowledged that the Cintra, the Spain-based company that has the contract, already has initiated work on the I-77 project, noting that some vegetation clearing is underway.Naas added.He said he doesn't understand how the bill, which passed the House overwhelmingly, could not get taken up in the Senate.Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said during an April news conference that he had not seen any information leading him to believe that canceling the project was the right thing to do.During a committee meeting earlier in June when the House was taking up the bill, Transportation Secretary Nick Tennyson said that N.C. Department of Transportation could be liable for penalties if the project were canceled and a court sided with Cintra in a potential lawsuit. While no one could cite definite potential liability figure, some lawmakers estimated it could be as high as $250 million.Tennyson also said if lawmakers canceled the contract with Cintra, he had no idea when I-77 would be widened to alleviate congestion.Plans call for Cintra to construct HOT lanes on a 26-mile stretch of I-77 from the Brookshire Freeway in Charlotte to the N.C. 150 interchange in Iredell County. The construction would leave four lanes going in both north and south directions.Two lanes in each direction would remain standard lanes and not require a toll. Motorists could ride on the other two lanes either by paying a toll or having at least three people in their vehicles.Naas said that he expects other grass-roots organizations in the Lake Norman area to make the I-77 project an issue in the 2016 elections.
Flipkart, the countrys largest e-commerce company, said it was capitalised well and not looking for now to raise funds.
Financial year 2015-16 was challenging for the natural resources sector due to falling commodity prices, said Navin Agarwal, chairman, Vedanta Ltd (earlier Sesa Goa), while addressing its 51st annual general meeting on Wednesday in Goa.
Two-wheeler major (HMSI), which completed expansion of its scooters-only plant at Gujarat's Vithalapur by 6,00,000 units per annum, is planning to add another 6,00,000 units pa capacity at its Karnataka facility by mid-next year. Further, with expanded capacity now in Gujarat, the company might also look at export prospects from this site post the festival period, around October-November.

This expansion increases HMSI's total annual production capacity to 5.8 million units, including 1.6 million units at first plant (Haryana), 1.2 million units at second plant (Rajasthan), 1.8 million units at third plant (Karnataka) and another 1.2 million units at the fourth plant (Gujarat).
In one of the biggest hiring exercises by a foreign firm in the country, the worlds largest furniture retailer is going to hire 15,000 people to run the 25 stores it plans to open.
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to stay an order of the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) that directed a group of state electricity distribution to pay around Rs 1,050 crore to Reliance Power's Sasan Power Ltd (SPL).
Despite being aware of the several lapses at the National Spot Exchange (NSEL), the capital markets watchdog, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), could not intervene in the matter as the commodity spot market did not come under its jurisdiction, the regulator clarified in a letter to NSEL investors.
Angel investors seem more supportive of start-ups in India than venture capital firms. Funding at the seed stage has suffered less than the squeeze in funding at Series-A, B and C stages for start-ups.
want the Turkish government to take urgent measures to bolster security as the terrorist attack at Istanbul airport could lead to cancellations of trips.
Defence Expert Qamar Agha on Wednesday said China being a permanent member of the Security Council has extra responsibilities and thus should come forward and support India in its bid to enter the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

"The people in this country are quite annoyed because of the Chinese-Pakistan stance on the issue. In fact, if you look at the whole process China is the only country which is opposing India's move to get into . So, therefore, the anger is there among the people. China is a permanent member of the Security Council. It should have been responsible because being a member of the Security Council they have extra responsibilities," Agha told ANI.

Agha stated that the other four permanent members of the Security Council are supporting India in its bid, except China.

"I think the time has come China should realize that it's not only the members of the NSG who are supporting India's move into NSG, but the other countries also, who are not part of the process they want India to become a member of the NSG and they also want to sign with India the Civil Nuclear Cooperation agreements," Agha told ANI.

"China knows very well that if India becomes a member of the NSG, they would play a very major role in the global field. So, therefore, it is preventing. But the Chinese will not be able to prevent India's membership for a very long period of time because once the international community decides it becomes difficult for any country," he added.

The mouthpiece of the Chinese Government, "Global Times ", has strongly criticized India for attempting to seek admission to the 48-member NSG without being a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Reacting to New Delhi's failed bid to seek NSG membership at a plenary meeting of the grouping in Seoul, South Korea, last week, an editorial in the state-run Global Times described some Indians as too self-centered, self-righteous, and added that "nationalists in India should learn how to behave themselves" rather than criticizing Beijing for blocking the bid on what it termed justifiable grounds.

The article pointed that, "India's nationalists should learn how to behave themselves. Now, that they wish their country could be a major power, they should know how major powers play their games."

Justifying China's role, the editorial pointed that that "India is not a signatory to the NPT, but is the most active applicant to join the NSG."

The article said the Indian media played up the prospects of New Delhi's bid and some even claimed that among the 48-members of the NSG, 47 have given it a green light, except China.

It added: "Since its foundation in 1975, all NSG members shall be NPT signatories. This has become the primary principle of the organization. Now India wants to be the first exception to join the NSG without signing the NPT. It is morally legitimate for China and other members to upset India's proposal in defense of principles."

The article highlighted that due to Beijing's role in stopping New Delhi's bid a few Indian media outlets started vilifying China's position and some Indians even called for a boycott of Chinese-made products and a withdrawal from the BRICS group.

In a veiled attack, the article read that the US role in backing India's admission to the NSG actually serves to contain Beijing.

"US backing adds the biggest impetus to India's ambition. By cozying up to India, Washington's India policy actually serves the purpose of containing China," the article read.

"The US is not the whole world. Its endorsement does not mean India has won the backing of the world. This basic fact, however, has been ignored by India," it added.

Asserting that the Western world has been giving too many thumbs up to India and thumbs down to China, New Delhi is spoiled today.

"Although the South Asian country's GDP accounts for only 20% of that of China, it is still a golden boy in the eyes of the West, having a competitive edge and more potential compared to China. The international "adulation" of India makes the country a bit smug in international affairs," it read.

Highlighting India's absorption in the MTCR earlier on Monday and denial to China's access in the 34-nation MTC now 35th, the article read that New Delhi's news of admission didn't even make a ripple among the Chinese public and added that Chinese have become more mature in dealing with these setbacks caused by international relations.
The secretary of the Union ministry, reversing the stand of his subordinates, and going existing regulations, has said that forestlands can be diverted for mining and other industrial purposes if no claims have so far been lodged for community ownership by tribals and other forest-dwellers under the Forest Rights Act.
The government, while staking a membership claim to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), had claimed that nuclear power would constitute nearly a third of Indias clean energy capacity by 2030. But the publicly stated and aspirational target of 63-Gw nuclear power it referred to makes for less than 15% of the total clean energy capacity India plans to build by 2030 to meet its Paris climate change commitments.
Around 200 judges from Telangana, who are on a mass leave in protest against suspension of 11 judicial officers amid ongoing stir over the provisional allocation of judicial officers from Andhra Pradesh to courts on Wednesday did not attend work.

"Around 200 judges who had gone on mass leave yesterday did not attend courts protesting suspension of 11 judicial officers...The protest is going on," a member of the Judges Association told Press Trust of India.

The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad has so far suspended 11 judicial officers on disciplinary grounds following the agitation against the provisional allocation of judicial officers.

Protesting the action of High Court, about 200 judicial officers working in lower courts across the state had decided to go on "mass" leave for 15-days from on Wednesday.

The suspension of 11 judges came close on the heels of over 100 judges under the banner of ' Judges Association' taking out a procession here on Sunday in protest against the allotment of judges who are natives of AP to the subordinate courts in Telangana.

Meanwhile, agitating members of Telangana advocates Joint Action Committee (JAC) continued their protests outside court premises in different parts of the state on Wednesday, raising slogans and holding demonstrations seeking withdrawal of the list of provisional allocation.

"Police, who put up barricades on roads leading to High Court, took around 40 members of the JAC into preventive custody when they marched towards the High Court as part of 'High Court Bandh' call," ACP (Charminar Division) K Ashok Chakrawarthy told Press Trust of India.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday wrote to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh urging the Centre to expedite the process of division of the present high court here, saying the provisional allocation of judicial officers has created a discontent among them and lawyers belonging to the state.

He requested that appropriate notification to take up the exercise of allocating judicial officers and staff be issued only after the high courts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh start functioning separately.

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.
The Cabinet on Wednesday approved recommendations of the on pay and pensions in a decision that will boost consumption by putting extra disposable income in the hands of the central governments 4.7 million employees and 5.3 million pensioners.
The Cabinet's nod to the recommendations of the would create an impact of Rs 24,325 crore on the Indian Railways (IR) in the current financial year ending March 2017. The amount constitutes 45 per cent of the railways total wage bill of Rs 53,000 crore for this financial year.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday described the decline in the number of weak companies and deleveraging of stressed companies as a positive development for the banking sector as it increases th ability to pay back loans.
The government recently disowned its draft National Forest Policy, raising a stink. It intends to now come up with a new draft at some later stage for public consultations. But the draft, widely floating around by the time it was withdrawn, has given a good sense of the direction forest-related policy is poised to take.
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 fourth of an 11-part series looks at the state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh.





A display board in the chief executive officer's (CEO) rather modest chamber says "99 days to go". There is a map outside, a glimpse of what is to come. The CEO proudly signals commencement of the second phase, the first being on schedule and a trial run for it to begin in a few months.

The project is the Agra-Lucknow expressway, one of the most ambitious launched by the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Connecting the tourist hub of Agra to the state capital through Ferozabad, Kannauj and Etawah, the 302-km expressway can boast of several accomplishments - from hassle-free land acquisition to speedy execution.

Nearly 3,400 hectares, involving 30,700 farmers, were acquired in a record time of six months, with very little resistance. Construction commenced in January 2015 and is nearing completion. The trial run is set to begin in October and the expressway will be opened to the public in December, informs Navneet Sehgal, senior IAS officer and CEO of Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority.

He lists several "transformational" impacts, from better connectivity to greater market access to people of the region. There are plans to build an information technology city, wholesale markets, integrated townships and dedicated freight depots along the stretch.
The Department of Posts is planning to set up a board and appoint chief executive officer and chief operating officer of the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) in the next 45 to 60 days and has already written to some public sector (PSBs) to nominate their executive director level or board members for the same.
The expansion of security for the Beaufort County Courthouse has been in the works for almost two years. The talks began under the supervision of Interim County Manager Ken Windley. Mr. Windley asked the Sheriff how many deputies would be needed to secure the courthouse if we went to one entry point. The Sheriff responded to Mr. Windley by stating that the addition of a minimum of four deputies would be needed to secure the courthouse for all operational hours. Later in the budget process, Mr. Windley informed the Sheriff that the four personnel were added in the upcoming budget (2016). Later it was found that four salaries were added, no additional funds for equipment, training, uniforms or anything else was funded. The Sheriff questioned Mr. Windley about the lack complete funding. Mr. Windley advised the Sheriff that he (Sheriff) did not have to completely equip the personnel that would provide security for the courthouse. The Sheriff disagreed with Mr. Windley and stated that he would not enter into a project like this without the full support and funding of the initiative. The Sheriff stated that he would not be subject to an unfunded mandate that was not thought out and ill conceived.Some of the confusion between select commissioners, other officials, as well as many people in the public is related to the issue of who is responsible for courthouse security. The Sheriff is attached to courtroom security by North Carolina General Statute 17E-1, which states the Sheriff is "the only officer who is responsible for the courts of the state, and acting as their bailiff and marshal." That provision codifies a common-law understanding of the duties of the Sheriff. The Sheriff therefore must provide security for court (rooms). The Sheriff is not necessarily responsible for the security of the courthouse. The Office of the Sheriff is funded by the County. At the time, newly appointed county manager Brian Alligood presented the commissioners with three options in relation to courthouse security expansion. Option 1 was to add four fully funded deputies and add cameras and other equipment that would be needed to secure the building. Option two was to enter into a contract with a private security company, the unarmed security would not have any powers of arrest. Option three was to do nothing. A motion passed to enter into a contract with a private security company.The Sheriff attended the meeting that the security expansion was voted on and spoke against proceeding, not because he felt that additional security was not needed, but because the options had not been fully explored and he did not want the county to waste tax dollars because of lack of planning. The Sheriff also spoke about the gap in services that were being discussed. Without powers of arrest, the security personnel would need law enforcement support. The bailiff's in the courthouse, because of their statutorily required duties to provide security for courtrooms, would not necessarily be available to assist the security officers. A bailiff cannot leave a court that is in session to take care of a law enforcement action outside of the courtroom. The Sheriff explained that additional law enforcement would have to be added to fill in this gap in services. As of today, nothing has been added to take care of this problem.On Friday, June 24th, 2016 the Sheriff spoke with Stacy Drakeford, Director of Public Safety for the City of Washington. The Sheriff informed Director Drakeford of the expansion of courthouse security and advised him that if the private security needed assistance from law enforcement that the call would be transferred to the Washington Police Department. This process is no different than if a call for law enforcement services came from the Department of Social Services, The Beaufort County Health Department, or the Beaufort County Administrative Office, all of which are located inside the Washington city limits. The Sheriff told Director Drakeford that if there was an emergency that was being reported, an event that there was information that people could be harmed, then the Sheriff's Office would respond with the Washington Police Department. Director Drakeford thanked the Sheriff for the call and said they would help however they could.The purpose of this press release is to provide the public with enough information to form an opinion of what is going on with this matter based on fact, not speculation. The Sheriff encourages anyone that is interested or concerned about this issue to make contact with County Manager Brian Alligood or any or all of Beaufort County Commissioners if they have questions. You can also contact Sheriff Ernie Coleman or Chief Deputy Charlie Rose at any time if you have questions or concerns about anything that is related to the Sheriff's Office.Chief Deputy Charlie RoseBeaufort County Sheriffs Office210 North Market St.  Washington NC 27889
The Department of Posts is planning to set up the board and appoint CEO and COO of the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) in the next 45 to 60 days and has already written to some public sector to nominate their executive director and board members for the same.
A Seminar on 'Indian Army's Fuelling Needs' was conducted today on 29 June 2016 at Manekshaw Centre, Delhi Cantonment jointly by the Directorate General Supplies and Transport and the Petroleum Federation of India. The seminar was inaugurated by Lt Gen RV Kanitkar, the Quarter Master General of the Indian Army and was attended by Defence officers, academia and industry representatives by invitation. .

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The daylong session was addressed by eminent speakers and experts from the Army, Petroleum Federation and the oil company majors. The seminar gave an insight into current energy security scenario, trends on fuels and oils, eco-friendly-energy conservation measures, best practices followed by the industry and feasibility of adopting these to meet Army's future fuelling needs. .

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Important logistical issues including the Indian Army's ware housing needs, safety mechanisms and a supply chain that enables real-time visibility and increases velocity were deliberated upon in three technical sessions that comprised the seminar. The seminar was also a platform for generation of valuable ideas from the industry in meeting the Indian Army's peculiar requirements that could pave a way for indigenisation in this field in due course. .

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Manoj Tuli.

APRO (Army)
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the development of four laning of Aurangabad-Telwadi Section of NH-211 in Maharashtra. .

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The cost is estimated to be Rs.2028.91 crore including cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road to be developed is approximately 87 kms. .

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This work will be done under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-IV on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (BOT/DBFOT) basis in Build-operate-Transfer (BOT) (Toll) mode. .

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The project will help in expediting the improvement of infrastructure in Maharashtra and in reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic, plying between Aurangabad and Telwandi. The development of this stretch will also help in uplifting the socio-economic condition of this region in the State. .

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It would also increase employment potential for local labourers for project activities. It has been estimated that a total number of 4,076 mandays are required for construction of one kilometre of highway. As such, employment potential of 3,54,090 (approx.) mandays will be generated locally during the construction period of this stretch. .

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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the development of four laning of Phagwara-Rupnagar Section of NH-344A in Punjab. .

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The cost is estimated to be Rs.1444.42 crore including cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road to be developed is approximately 80.820 kms. .

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This work will be done under the National Highways (Others) on Hybrid Annuity Mode. .

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The project will help in expediting the improvement of infrastructure in Punjab and in reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic, plying between Phagwara-Rupnagar section. The development of this stretch will also help in uplifting the socio-economic condition of this region in the State. .

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It would also increase employment potential for local labourers for project activities. It has been estimated that a total number of 4,076 mandays are required for construction of one kilometre of highway. As such, employment potential of 3,30,000 (approx.) mandays will be generated locally during the construction period of this stretch. .

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Background: .

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The Phagwara-Rupnagar section is recently declared as NH-344A. Presently, the proposed project highway is 2-lane with paved shoulder (68.820 km) and four lane (15.8 km). The proposal is for four laning of road section which will serve as high speed link between NH-1 and NH-21. .

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The project starts from Phagwara town and passes through Banga Town, proposed Nawashahir bypass and will be terminated near Rupnagar. This road will join Phagwara to Rupnagar via Nawashahir and will be the shortest route for movement to Amritsar from Chandigarh side and vice-versa. .

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The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC), Bhutan. .

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The MoU will strengthen the existing relationship between RCSC and UPSC. It will facilitate sharing of experience and expertise of both the parties in the area of recruitment. .

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The draft MoU between UPSC and RCSC, Bhutan will be signed to develop institutionalized linkage between the Public Service Commission of both the countries, which share the common ideals. The areas of cooperation include the following: .

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a) Sharing of experience and expertise in Civil Service matters such as recruitment and selection, exchange of resource persons and development of professional skills of the officers and staff of the parties through attachment and training programs. .

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b) Sharing of expertise on use of Information Technology (IT) in examination processes, Computer Based Recruitment Tests and Examinations, sharing of experience in Single Window System for expeditious scrutiny and speedy disposal of cases, building merit based staffing system, etc. .

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c) Sharing of experience on the modalities adopted on audit of processes and procedures followed by various Government agencies in recruitment for posts under the delegated powers. .

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d) Digitization of records, storage and display of historical records. .

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Background: .

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In the past, UPSC had signed MOU with Public Service Commission of Canada and Bhutan. .

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The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Revised Cost Estimates for establishment of eight New IITs at Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Mandi, Patna and Ropar. The revised Cost Estimate is Rs. 13,990 crore for establishment of eight new IITs over a period of 11 years from 2008-09 to 2018-19. The original project cost was Rs. 6080 crore. The increase in expenditure due to escalation in both time and cost overrun is Rs. 7910 crore. .

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The student strength in each IIT at the end of the project will be 2360. The total student capacity would be 12880 in these eight IlTs by the end of the 11th year i.e. March, 2019. .

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The direct beneficiaries in terms of numbers would be about 12880 students. However, indirectly the eight new IITs would be expected to bring about quantitative and quality growth in the areas of research, publication of books and research papers, registered patents / trademarks / designs, quality improvement programmes. These institutes would also meet the emerging needs of the industry and the economy as a whole, for skilled technical manpower is expected to be met from the talent pool of trained personnel of these new institutions. Apart from this, these institutions will provide research and development atmosphere with sizeable infrastructure which will contribute to new innovations and good faculty for premier technical educational institutions in the country. .

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IITs are institutions of national importance and have a brand name across the world, the products of IITs have been highly rated and have already brought reputation to the nation. A large number of alumni have contributed to the nation in terms of employment generation, wealth creation, and technology development. Apart from this, the IITs through research & development, technology innovations and entrepreneurial spirit have contributed to the economic growth of the nation. .

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Background: .

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The Cabinet in its meeting held in July, 2008, had approved establishment of eight new IITs at Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Mandi, Patna and Ropar as per the DPR and Cabinet approval, each institute was to be established with a total outlay of Rs. 760 crores amounting to Rs. 6080 crores for all eight new IITs. .

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Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) today entered into a strategic partnership with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) for two years. The MoU was signed between the two parties in the presence of Union Minister of State (IC) Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy, Shri Piyush Goyal here today. .

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As per MoU , both organizations have decided to enter into an agreement as Strategic Partners, to work jointly for the achievement of common goals and objectives related to energy efficiency in India and abroad. .

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Speaking on this occasion, Shri Piyush Goyal said, This alliance of simultaneous policy and market development will provide a larger platform to boost the national energy efficiency programmes in international markets. This collaboration is an ambitious step towards achieving environment sustainability which is the need of the hour." .

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With this partnership, the main focus of TERI will be on working with governments, regulatory bodies, industry organizations, and utilities to create a policy environment for clean energy technologies. EESL will emphasize on implementing projects and programmes to promote clean energy technologies through innovative policy based business model to end users. The agreement will also bring in people and institutions who work on the policy side into the market based interventions. It will also enable cross country and global linkages so that there is an exchange of information and replication of interventions. .

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The collaboration will provide comprehensive turnkey solutions where TERI will use its expertise to create energy efficiency projects through audits, etc. and EESL will bring in its business models to implement them. .

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This model of collaboration will primarily be used in countries of Africa and East Asia and will further investigate its use in Latin America and other developing countries. In developed nations like Europe and USA, the role of TERI will be to create market awareness about the business opportunities that EESL can potentially unlock. .

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RM/PS
Extension of Addendum IX and renewal of MoU between India and Canada by way of signing supplementary addendum X .

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its ex-post-facto approval for extension of Addendum IX for the period from 1"' April, 2011 to 31st March, 2016 and renewal of Memorandum of Understanding between Government of India and Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute (SlCI) by way of signing supplementary Addendum X to the Memorandum of Understanding signed in November,1968. .

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The approval would pave the way of following activities to be undertaken: .

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A. Shastri Research Fellowship & Mobility Programme .

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i. Shastri Research Fellowships.

- Doctoral Research .

- Postdoctoral Research .

- Institutional Collaborative Research.

ii. Shastri Mobility Programme .

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B. Faculty-ln-Residence Programme (New) .

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C. Faculty Development Programme for Vocational Education (New) .

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D. Library Programme .

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Online journals for Indian scholars and institutions.

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E. Facilitation cum Information Services (New).

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i. Resource Centre (To Provide Access & Linkages to Institutions in both Countries) .

ii. Seminars, Conferences & Consultations .

iii. Publication of Research Materials, Documents & Reports .

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SICI shall also undertake such other activities, which will be recommended by Ministry of Human Resource Development based on new programmes and areas of cooperation between the two countries. .

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The SICI would undertake a number of programmes of the HRD Ministry requiring international engagement like Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN), Impacting Research, Innovation & Technology (IMPRINT), National Digital Library programme etc. The institute also carries out programmes as laid out in the MoU signed on Higher Education Cooperation between the two countries in 2010 and under consideration for renewal for a further period of five years. .

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Ministry of HRD has approved an expenditure of Rs.33.176 crore for the period from 1st April, 2016 to 31st March, 2021 for the entire five years period of Addendum X. .

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Background: .

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SlCI, a bi-national organization, was established in 1968 through a Memorandum of Understanding between Government of Republic of India and SlCI signed on November 29, 1968 for an initial period of three years. Since then, with the approval of the Cabinet, the MoU with the Institute has been renewed from time to time by signing Supplementary Addenda. The last of such Supplementary Addendum called Supplementary Addendum IX signed for a five year period, expired on 31st March 2011. .

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Named after Late Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, former Prime Minister of India, the Shastri Indo-Canadian institute (SlCI) was established with an aim to promote understanding between India and Canada through facilitation of academic activities between the two countries. The Institute maintains offices in both India and Canada. The role of SlCI is of facilitating fellowships and collaborative research initiatives that focus principally on the aspects that bring advantage to Indian-Canadian institutions and academics. SlCI, in the past, had focused in the fields of Humanities and Social Sciences but expanded its area of interest from 2001 onwards into the fields of Law, Management, Information Science, Science and Technology and Human Interface of Science. .

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The membership of SlCI has expanded from the original four founding members to 35 Canadian Universities and 54 Indian Institutions including some of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Indian Institutes of Technology (lITs), National Law Schools, National Museum institute, apex bodies & institutions of research and premier Central and State Universities. .

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The SlCI is governed by Executive Council, formerly known as Board of Directors, which has three representatives each of Canadian and Indian Member Councils and representatives of Government of Canada and Government of India. The Government of India provides financial assistance to SICI for maintenance of its Delhi office and for the promotion of Indian Studies in Canada. The Institute also receives assistance from the Government of Canada, Canadian institutions and organizations. .

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The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has signed an MoU with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), a policy research institution, to launch a new Initiative on Solar for Healthcare. The collaboration will focus on providing effective health care delivery at the last mile by reducing uncertainty in critical infrastructure, particularly electricity supply via cost effective solar-based solutions. .

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Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Director General, ICMR said: The collaboration with CEEW will bring together synergies between the objective of time to care as mandated in the National Health Mission (NHM) and clean energy as outlined under the National Solar Mission (NSM). Under this collaboration, on a pilot basis, we will install solar systems at select PHCs in partnership with three state governments and evaluate its impact on healthcare delivery and health outcomes. The aim of the collaboration is to create resilient health systems in rural India, benefitting primarily women and children." .

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As of 2015, nearly 35 million citizens in rural India rely on un-electrified PHCs for primary health services. In the absence of electricity, services catered by health institutions such as institutional deliveries, paediatric emergencies, and administering of vaccines get severely affected. Electricity access in health centres is also imperative as a means to facilitate communication services, tele-health applications and to retain skilled health workers. Dr. Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, CEEW, said, The collaboration with ICMR supports the systematic and productive advancement in national policies, regulations and actions to leverage solar energy for a social purpose: enhancing the quality of healthcare delivery at various levels of governance." .

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The synergy between health and energy are the two specific goals of this initiative, and the efforts within this collaboration advances on both fronts. .

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National Institute of Animal Welfare (NIAW) and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (JNU) have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to conduct academic programmes that will focus on development of Animal Welfare Sciences. The MoA was signed by Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Prof. M Jagdish Kumar, and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Shri Anil Sant, here today. The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Minister of Human Resource Development, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, and Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Shri Prakash Javadekar. The Secretaries of the two Ministries were also present on the occasion. .

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On the occasion, Smt. Irani said that JNU is a university that has name and credibility in academic activities and launching of this course is a good beginning for expanding its academic activities. .

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Shri Javadekar said that such courses were being conducted in countries like Australia and New Zealand and now will be conducted by JNU in NIAW campus. He said that the introduction of this course will help in preparing competent manpower to man various posts in zoos, municipalities, slaughter houses and veterinary hospitals. He said that the MoEFCC has sought JNU as an academic partner to help the Institute in developing academic programmes according to national needs and global standards in the field of animal welfare. He further hoped that this endeavor will go a long way to meet the objectives and mission of NIAW. .

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The total cost of the project for the first year is Rs.88 lakh. More than 200 students are expected to be enrolled for diploma and certificate courses in the first year. These courses are aimed at providing a direction to the youth for employment in the sector. .

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A website for NIAW will be in place, illustrating information on the programmes, resources available and facilities such as animal shelter/ houses, OT Labs etc. .

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The National Institute of Animal Welfare (NIAW) was set up to meet the education and training needs of the Animal Welfare sector across the country. The Institute had launched short term courses in 2005, which has so far trained more than 1000 personnel, already engaged in Animal Welfare and those handling animals in the formal and non-formal sector. .

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On the workshop of State-level Environment Impact Assessment authorities held today, the Environment Minister said that all processes for granting environmental and forest approvals have been made online. He also emphasised that along with transparency, 100 days time has been given to complete all processes. Shri Javadekar also said that the governments effort is to bring in more transparency and avoid delays. .

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SANDERS 1 OF 69 DEMOCRAT SOCIALISTS IN CONGRESS

A little dated, but not much. If you check the names of the jackasses currently sitting on the floor of the Congress protesting your 2nd Amendment right to defend yourself, you will find that many are included in a list of Democratic Socialists, which I've appended at the end of this email. It is the most current full list of socialists masquerading as Congressional "Democrats," I could find.The Democrats were once a respectable political party in the United States.John PizzoNational Committee awkwardly struggled to answer and then ducked a question from MSNBC about the difference between a socialist and a Democrat.The exchange occurred when "Hardball" host Chris Matthews asked Debbie Wasserman Schultz about the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist who is running for president as a Democrat.While Sanders has not been shy about his affinity for socialism, the exchange between Schultz and Matthews may betray a relationship the Democratic Party has taken great pains to hide.The forgotten history revolves around the central role played by the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, in founding the Congressional Progressive Caucus, or CPC, the largest membership organization within the Democratic Caucus of Congress, currently with 69 declared members.The DSA is the largest socialist organization in the United States and is the principal U.S. affiliate of Socialist International, the worldwide organization of social democratic, socialist, communist and labor parties.The CPC is currently co-chaired by Reps. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Keith Ellison, D-Minn. It was founded in 1991 by six member of Congress, including Sanders and Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Ron Dellums, D-Calif.An early CPC member was Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the HouseThe Democratic Socialists of America's chief organizing goal has been to work within the Democratic Party and remove the stigma attached to "socialism" in the eyes of most Americans.explains an organizing document of the DSA.An online definition of socialism calls itIt also is described asTongue-tied DNC chief suffers socialist stutter on MSNBCAs WND reported Friday , Matthew asked Wasserman Schultz, "What is the difference between a Democrat and a socialist?"Wasserman Schultz was unwilling to offer an answer, only saying that the bigger issue is the difference between a Democrat and a Republican.Matthews had first asked,she said.When Matthews presses about whether the speech should be in prime time or when nobody is listening, she waffled.she said.she said.Matthews left her struggling for words. He asked: "What is the difference between a Democrat and a socialist? I used to think there was a big difference. What do you think it is?"Wasserman Schultz laughed nervously. Then she moved on to "uhm."she finally explains.Matthews pressed for an answer:she insisted.The DSA openly helped to establish and found the CPC.In 1998, the January/February issue of Chicago DSA's New Ground publication identified Sanders and Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts as leaders of the Progressive Caucus in Congress, which, the publication related, the DSA "helped to organize."Until November 2002, the website of the CPC was openly hosted by the DSA, demonstrating the close ties between the two likeminded groups.Following negative publicity about the CPC website being hosted by the socialist organization, the list of CPC names was moved to Sanders' own website and was later relocated to its own site.It was reported as early as 1998 on the DSA and the progressive congressional faction. The DSA website even featured "The Internationale," (the worldwide anthem of communism).Another song on the site was "Red Revolution," sung to the tune of "Red Robin." The lyrics include:The issue of the CPC being hosted on the DSA website rose again in June 2000 in connection with a heated dispute on the House floor among Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif.; Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.; and David R. Obey, D-Wis., over the "merits of the F-22 fighter plane."When Cunningham stood to defend himself, he included in his argument the fact the DSA website had a link to the CPC, which DeFazio then led.In 2000, the relationship between the CPC and DSA became an open secret.In an Aug. 10, 2000, letter to the editor published in the Kentucky Post, it was reported that then-Democrat Rep. Ken Lucas had received campaign funds from Democrat Reps. Marcy Kaptur, John Lewis, George Miller, Nancy Pelosi and Charles Rangel, "among others on the far-left." The writer remarked that "those five names stand out because they are all members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus - a group closely aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America."The CPC still had not moved to its own website on April 23, 2002. Author and political philosopher Balint Vazsonyi responded thusly in the Washington Times to the hypothetical question:Dozens, dear reader, dozens. And they make no secret of it. Although of late it has been refurbished and the address altered, they have their own Web site. They call themselves members of the Progressive Caucus, until recently an arm of the Democratic Socialists of America, itself an arm of the Socialist International. The Progressive Caucus may be a separate entity now, but the details of its program, as advertised on the website, are indistinguishable from that of the Socialist International.To their credit, they make no secret of it. Only the rest of us prefer not to believe it.In a follow-up article in November 2002, Vazsonyi dug deeper into the continued presence of the CPC on the DSA website. He discussed the issue of constitutionality and the ramifications of the relationship:The Socialist International carries the torch for Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, V.I. Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Josef Stalin. Pay no attention to the desperate attempts by socialists to distance themselves from Stalin. For our purposes, it suffices to observe that every single tenet of the Socialist International is the exact opposite of the principles upon which America was founded, and which define the U.S. Constitution.For our purposes, it suffices also to observe that members of the U.S. Congress are required to furnish an oath whereby they will preserve, protect, and defend said Constitution.In divining the early DSA-CPC ties, it is instructive to review the case of CPC co-founder Sanders.In fact, the ties between Sanders and the DSA go back to at least 1988 and continued openly until recently, WND has found.On Oct. 24, 1988, The Nation magazine, identifying Sanders asreported he had been endorsed for Congress by both the Democratic Socialists of America and the progressive founders of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.The DSA endorsed Sanders for every one of his subsequent elections and has openly helped to raise funds for him over the years.In 2006, for example, the DSA boasted in its literature about the socialist group'sIndeed, the DSA held "Elect Sanders" house parties in Atlanta; Boston; Detroit; Portland, Maine; Boulder, Colorado; Indianapolis; Columbus, Ohio; Ithaca, New York; Springfield, Massachusetts; Washington, D.C.; and New York City.wrote one senior DSA activist in the socialist group's July 2006 newsletter.That same year, Sanders spoke at a Detroit fundraiser for DSA's Political Action Committee. The fundraiser was connected by telephone link to a simultaneous DSA fundraising event in Atlanta.DSA literature notes that in January 2006, DSA Detroit Chair David Green "took Bernie Sanders to tour Stan Ovshinsky's United Solar Ovonics plant in Auburn Hills northwest of Detroit."added the DSA.In the fall of 2006, Sanders was the featured speaker at several DSA "urban parties" also meant to garner support for his senatorial run while raising awareness about the DSA and recruiting new members to the group.One New York City event was held Sept. 19, 2006, at the home of DSA activists Gene and Laurel Eisner on Manhattan's Upper West Side.reported the DSA.DSA reported the Sanders events helped to recruit new members to the socialist organization."Sanders support work provides a natural vehicle in any locality for DSA to reach out to - and potentially recruit - unaffiliated socialists and independent radicals."Sanders is not the only former CPC member openly affiliated with the DSA.WND reported in 2010 former Ohio Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy was listed in DSA literature as a member of the U.S.-based socialist organization.Obama connected to socialist groupTop Democratic Socialists of America members have been closely linked for years to Obama.Obama himself spoke at a forum organized by the group at the University of Chicago in early 1996 called "Employment and Survival in Urban America," WND previously found.Quentin Young, considered the father of the U.S. single-payer health-care movement, is a longtime Democratic Socialists of America activist. Young has had a relationship with Obama, particularly in the 1990s, when he reportedly advised Obama on health care.Young was reportedly present at a 1995 meeting at the home of former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers, who was said to have launched Obama's political career.Young has been active in Chicago socialist circles and was previously accused of membership in a communist group. In 1992, Chicago's branch of the Democratic Socialists of America awarded Young, a member, with their highest honor - the Debs Award.In a 2008 article in the official Communist Party USA magazine, Young noted Obama previously expressed support for a single-payer universal health-care program, although he later waffled when asked about his position.As an Illinois state senator representing a mostly black district on the South Side of Chicago, Obama publicly supported universal health care. He also co-sponsored the Bernardin Amendment, which did not pass but would have amended the Illinois State Constitution to add health care to the list of basic rights for residents.Meanwhile, Obama spoke at the March 29, 1998, memorial service for Chicago Democratic Socialists of America member Saul Mendelson, DSA literature documented.Timuel Black, a member activist, mediated political disputes on behalf of Obama in the 1990s and was reportedly involved in Obama's campaign committee during his successful 2004 Senate race.Longtime member activist Arnold Wolf was a member of "Rabbis for Obama" and has held fundraisers in his home for Obama, including a function in 1995 that was aimed at introducing Obama to the Hyde Park activist community.Eliseo Medina, international executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, has been honored by Democratic Socialists of America. During the most recent presidential campaign, Medina served on Obama's National Latino Advisory Council.WND reported Medina, speaking at a 2009 Washington, D.C., conference, declared granting citizenship to millions of illegal aliens would expand the progressive electorate and help ensure a progressive governing coalition for the long term.Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/07/sanders-1-of-69-democrat-socialists-in-congress/#aEEMZs4sQ7tkTKAM.99Here are the names......how many of these people are sitting on floor in the House today?[Socialists....these are the worst of the worst]Co-Chairs: Raul Grijalva, ; Keith EllisonFirst Vice Chair: Mark PocanVice Chairs: Matt Cartwright David CicillineRuben GallegoMichael HondaSheila Jackson LeeJan SchakowskyMark TakanoBarbara LeeBernie SandersAlma AdamsKaren BassXavier BecerraDon BeyerSuzanne BonamiciCorrine BrownMichael CapuanoAndre CarsonJudy ChuKatherine ClarkYvette ClarkeSteve CohenBonnie Watson ColemanJohn ConyersElijah CummingsDanny DavisPeter DeFazioRosa DeLauronbsp; Debbie DingellDonna EdwardsSam FarrChaka Fattah - convicted of corruption yesterday.Lois FrankelMarcia FudgeAlan GraysonLuis GutierrezJanice HahnJared HuffmanHakeem JeffriesEddie Bernice JohnsonHank JohnsonJoe Kennedy IIIWm. Lacy ClayBrenda LawrenceJohn LewisTed LieuDavid LoebsackAlan LowenthalCarolyn MaloneyJim McDermottJames McGovernGwen MooreJerrold NadlerGrace NapolitanoRick NolanEleanor Holmes NortonFrank PalloneChellie PingreeJared PolisCharles RangelLucille Roybal-AllardJose SerranoLouise SlaughterMark TakaiBennie ThompsonNydia VelazquezMaxine WatersPeter WelchFrederica WilsonJohn Yarmuth
The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has congratulated His Excellency Mr. Rodrigo Duterte on his election as the Republic of the Philippines. .

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In a message to His Excellency Mr. Rodrigo Duterte, the President-elect of the Republic of the Philippines, the President has said, On behalf of the Government and people of India and on my own behalf, it is my pleasure to convey to you hearty congratulations on your election as the President of the Republic of the Philippines. As you prepare to assume that high office, I wish you success in all your efforts to fulfill the aspirations of the people of the Philippines. .

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India and the Philippines traditionally share warm and cordial relations, based on mutual respect and goodwill. Our relationship has deepened and we have, today, a rich agenda of cooperation for achieving our common developmental goals. I am confident that our partnership will continue to strengthen in the years to come. .

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I take this opportunity, Excellency, to convey to you my best wishes for your personal well-being, and for the continued progress and prosperity of the friendly people of the Philippines". .

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The Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar today handed over Varunastra a Ship Launched Heavy Weight Torpedo", also known as underwater missile to the Indian Navy in a befitting ceremony here today. .

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Speaking on the occasion, Shri Manohar Parrikar congratulated DRDO for the achievement and appreciated the efforts made in this regard. He asked the DRDO to ensure its participation in the production process and to keep adequate quality control of their products so that it can meet the international standards. The Minister also stated that in these high technology areas, DRDOs contribution with 95 per cent of indigenous content is an apt example of Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) category. .

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The Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba termed the occasion as momentous and described it as yet another feather in the DRDOs cap. He applauded DRDO and Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) for rendering yeomen service to the nation in achieving self-reliance in defence and underwater technologies. He said the Navys partnership with DRDO laboratories has strengthened and matured over the years. The fact that three of the premier DRDO labs NPOL, NMRL and NSTL carry the prefix Naval in their names highlights the close relationship between the Indian Navy and the DRDO in our joint efforts, Admiral Lanba stated. .

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Secretary, DD R&D and DG DRDO Dr. S Christopher in his address described the induction ceremony of Varunastra as a proud moment for the nation as India has joined in the elite group of only a handful of countries. He commented that the development of submarine launched heavy weight torpedo is in advanced stage for user trials. Dr. Christopher mentioned that Varunastra, the shipborne anti-submarine torpedo has got the goodwill of Navy as a user which has decided to produce 73 of them, immediately. He briefly mentioned that last year Mareech Advance Torpedo Defence System was handed over to Indian Navy. He also highlighted the DRDO developed LCA Tejas, the first Squadron of which is being raised by IAF on July 01, 2016. The AEW&C is also striding towards induction into IAF this year. Recently, another milestone has been achieved by BrahMos, a Joint Venture of DRDO which successfully demonstrated captive trials with Su30 aircraft, he stated. .

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Varunastra has been developed by NSTL, a premier DRDO laboratory based at Visakhapatnam. M/s Bharat Dynamics Ltd has been associated as a production partner in concurrent engineering mode. .

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Varunastra, a versatile naval weapon which can be fired from the Rajput class destroyers, Delhi class and all future Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) ships capable of firing heavy weight torpedoes and is capable of targeting quiet and stealthy submarines both in deep and littoral waters even in intense countermeasure atmosphere. .

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The function was also attended by Defence Secretary Shri G Mohan Kumar, Secretary, (Defence Production) Shri AK Gupta, Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri Dr. G Sateesh Reddy and senior functionaries of Ministry of Defence, Indian Navy, DRDO, Production & Industry partners. .

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NAo/NM/RAJ
Statistics Day" is celebrated every year on 29th June to mark the birth anniversary of late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, the Father of Indian Statistics, in recognition of his valuable contribution in the fields of statistics and economic planning .

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The objective of this Day is to create public awareness, especially among the younger generation about the role and importance of statistics in socio-economic planning and policy formulation. Every year one particular theme of current national importance is selected for intensive and focused efforts are made throughout the year to fill the data gaps, improve timeliness and quality of data related to it. .

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The 10th Statistics Day 2016 was celebrated all over India on the theme Agriculture and Farmers Welfare by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. This will complement the focus on farmer centric programmes of the Government of India and promote the development of relevant agricultural and rural statistics. State Governments, Offices of National Sample Survey spread throughout the country, Indian Statistical Institute, Universities/Departments also participated by organizing Seminars, Conferences, Debates, Quiz Programmes, Lecture Series and Essay Competitions. .

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On this occasion, National Award in Statistics, constituted in the Honour of Prof. P. V. Sukhatme was conferred on Dr. T. J. Rao, former Professor Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) Kolkata and currently Adjunct Professor, C. R. Rao, Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science (AIMSCS), Hyderabad for his contribution to theoretical and applied Statistics as well as contribution to the Official Statistical System. .

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Dr. R.B. Barman, Chairman, National Statistical Commission, in his address, stressed upon the need to focus on farmers welfare through use of statistics, as the data gives insight on input, output, yield, estimation, global standards and efficiency of various schemes. He also called upon to act on the challenges faced by the agriculture labourers and to address them sincerely. .

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Dr. T C A Anant, Secretary, Statistics & Programme Implementation and Chief Statistician of India while welcoming the Guests, focused on the increased attention towards agricultural productivity and statistics being instrumental in making well informed decisions about policies, programmes and projects and the intention to work in consultation with Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare towards strengthening the Agriculture database. .

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Gen.(Dr.) V.K. Singh, Honble Minister of State, Statistics & PI(IC) and Ministry of External Affairs mentioned about agriculture being the single largest provider of employment and UN also recognizing its importance and making sustainable agriculture as one of the 17 SDGs. .

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In his inaugural address, Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Honble Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare stressed upon the need for increasing the agricultural productivity. He called upon that the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation being nodal in the field of statistics, the Ministry should work closely with State Governments so that agriculture statistics is available on timely manner which can be used for decision making and planning. He also mentioned about initiatives of Modi Government for making special efforts to increase the income of farmers through blue revolution be keeping national forestry etc. schemes. .

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Donald J Trump vowed on Tuesday to rip up trade deals and start an unrelenting offensive against Chinese economic practices, framing his contest with Hillary Clinton as a choice between hard-edge nationalism and the policies of "a leadership class that worships globalism."



Speaking in western Pennsylvania, Trump sought to turn the page on weeks of campaign turmoil by returning to a core set of economic grievances that have animated his candidacy from the start. He threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement and pledged to label China a currency manipulator and impose punitive tariffs on Chinese goods.
Italy and the Netherlands squared off for a UN Security Council seat after Kazakhstan was elected to the powerful council for the first time and Bolivia, Ethiopia and Sweden won spots.

Five non-permanent seats were up for grabs yesterday in the vote by the 193-nation UN General Assembly, three of which were filled in a first round of secret ballot voting.

Kazakhstan beat out Thailand in a second round, picking up 138 votes against 55 for Thailand and winning a council seat for the first time since its 1991 independence from the Soviet Union.

But after five rounds of voting, the Netherlands and Italy both fell short of the required majority, standing neck and neck at 95 votes each.

It remained unclear how many rounds would take place to fill the remaining council seat.

In 1979, UN delegates voted 154 times in a contest between Colombia and Cuba before finally electing Mexico as a compromise candidate in the 155th round.

Italy has lobbied fiercely for a council seat, portraying itself as a crossroads country in the Mediterranean and touting its experience dealing with the refugee crisis.

The European country is also seen as a player in efforts to pull Libya out of chaos.

The Netherlands, home to the Criminal Court and other world tribunals, has played up its commitment to justice.

Applause rang out at the assembly hall after Sweden's victory was announced.

Among the world's top aid donors, Sweden garnered 134 votes, scoring an outright win.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said she was "happy and proud" to see her country join the UN's top table, pledging to focus firmly on conflict resolution.

"With 40 conflicts and 11 full-blown wars, it is a very, very worrisome world that we have to take into account," Wallstrom said.

Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrissov said "we are very proud to be the first central Asian country to serve on the council" and pledged to focus on nuclear non-proliferation and development.

Close to Russia, Kazakhstan gave up its nuclear arsenal after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Turkish forensic police officers work inside Istanbul's Ataturk airport. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them.
A triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport has killed at least 36 people, including foreigners, with Turkey's prime minister saying early signs pointed to an assault by the Islamic State group. .

The attackers began spraying bullets at the terminal entrance before blowing themselves up at around 10:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) Tuesday, Turkish authorities said.

It is the deadliest of four attacks to rock Turkey's biggest city this year, with two blamed on ISIS and another claimed by a militant Kurdish group.

Though there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday's carnage, "the evidence points to Daesh", Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told journalists at the scene, using another name for the jihadists.

He said the dead included foreigners, but gave no further details. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag put the number of wounded at 147.

The attack prompted the suspension of all flights at the airport -- one of Europe's busiest hubs.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an "joint fight" against terror, as Western allies including the United States condemned the "heinous" attack.

Yildirim said the suicide bombers had arrived in a taxi and opened fire on passengers with automatic rifles before blowing themselves up.

Security camera footage widely circulated on social media appeared to capture two of the blasts. In one clip a huge ball of flame erupts at an entrance to the terminal building, scattering terrified passengers.

Another video shows a black-clad attacker running inside the building before collapsing to the ground -- apparently felled by a police bullet -- and blowing himself up.

Roads around the airport were sealed off for regular traffic after the attack and several ambulances could be seen driving back and forth. Hundreds of passengers were flooding out of the airport and were sitting on the grass. Hevin Zini, 12, had just arrived from Duesseldorf, Germany, with her family and was in tears from the shock.

"There was blood on the ground," she told The Associated Press. "Everything was blown up to bits... If we had arrived two minutes earlier, it could have been us."

South African Judy Favish, who spent two days in Istanbul as a layover on her way home from Dublin, had just checked in when she heard an explosion followed by gunfire and a loud bang.

She says she hid under the counter for some time.

Favish says passengers were ushered to a cafeteria at the basement level where they were kept for more than an hour before being allowed outside.

The private DHA news agency said the wounded, among them police officers, were being transferred to Bakirkoy State Hospital.

An AFP photographer saw bodies covered with sheets at the terminal, which bore heavy damage from the blasts.

Bullet holes peppered the windows and shattered glass lay on the floor, while abandoned luggage was scattered everywhere.

Hundreds of police and firefighters including forensic officers were at the scene.

Tuesday's attack follows coordinated ISIS suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a city metro station in March that left 32 people dead.
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has said the terror attack in Turkey is a reminder that the US can't retreat from this part of the world and needs to deepen co-operation with allies in the Middle East and Europe to take on this threat.

"Today's attack in Istanbul only strengthens our resolve to defeat the forces of terrorism and radical jihadism around the world. And it reminds us that the United States cannot retreat," Clinton said in a statement yesterday.

"We must deepen our cooperation with our allies and partners in the Middle East and Europe to take on this threat," she said adding that such cooperation is essential to protecting homeland and keeping the country safe.

"Yet another terrorist attack, this time in Turkey. Will the world ever realise what is going on? So sad," Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump tweeted.

"We must do everything possible to keep this horrible terrorism outside the United States," Trump said.

In a statement, the Trump campaign said the terrorist threat has never been greater.

"Our enemies are brutal and ruthless and will do anything to murder those who do not bend to their will. We must take steps now to protect America from terrorists, and do everything in our power to improve our security to keep America safe," the Trump campaign said.

Former Republican presidential candidate and Florida Senator Marco Rubio said the US stands with ally Turkey in condemning this attack.

"We stand ready to assist them as we learn more about the perpetrators responsible for this," he said.

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer said the attack in Istanbul was a heinous assault on a key US ally, and the Turkish people should know with certainty that the American people stand in solidarity with them in this difficult hour.

"Whenever terrorists attack a major global transit point, as they did a few months ago in Brussels and again today in Istanbul, they seek to erect barriers of fear that divide the free nations of the world. But we will not be divided," Hoyer said.

"We will stand together to meet the challenge of groups like ISIS, which represent the antithesis of our most important values - democracy, individual freedom, and opportunity for all," he said.
Obama's legacy will be his disastrous foreign policy, his rejection of Christianity, and his disassociation from traditional American values. When he promised to "transform" America, he wasn't kidding. Unfortunately, when voters were attracted to that promise, they naively believed that there was an element of patriotism and respect for the foundations that have made our country great and the people before us who have laid the greatest of foundations. But Obama implied no such respect; in fact, he used the term "transform" to mean the most liberal of definitions: "to make a thorough or dramatic change in the form and character of." Our country used to be "a melting pot," where people of all backgrounds, races, places of origin, religions would live together with a certain level of respect and shared values, mostly appreciating that this country sinks or swims together for all our futures, and for the future of our children and grandchildren.Obama exploited every division among the people of this country to create disharmony, distrust, hatred, social upheaval, erosion of values, and erosion of age-old rights. He's planted in the minds of certain people that personal ambitions and personal agendas are more important than the preservation of a free society. He's sold the country on the promises of entitlement and the benefits of victimhood. To advance his narrative and his plans for "transformation," as well as plans to further the interests of Islamic groups, he has had to reject Christianity, which he has done at every instance. True transformation requires the destruction of former foundations and one of our greatest foundations was our belief in and our reliance on God, his laws, and the teachings of Jesus Christ. Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States and looked at our institutions and our people, and he spent time in our churches, and he remarked: "America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." (Democracy in America). He was struck by how strongly Americans incorporated the teachings of Christ in their national fiber. But Obama's most serious legacy will be what he has done on the international stage. He has surrounded himself with members of the Muslim Brotherhood as advisors. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood advise Homeland Security and matters of international policy. With the Muslim Brotherhood having the ear of this morally weak president, Obama has used his power to remove leadership in Egypt and Libya, has encouraged and welcomed the Arab Spring, has proposed the removal of Syrian leadership, and has directly provided the opportunity for ISIS to establish itself. All of these have had a DEVASTATING IMPACT ON THE European Union (EU).The disruption of all these countries, the exposure of minority sects, the barbaric violence, and the rise of Islamic terrorism and violence has resulted in civil wars and turmoil in otherwise traditionally peaceful EU capital cities, as well as resulting in massive Muslim refugee immigration throughout the EU, disrupting cultural identities that have extended back through antiquity. We see violent crime and bombings where none had existed before. We see the restriction of long-held civil rights because of "political correctness" (and the fear of terrorist retaliation), and we see self-censorship and pandering for the same reason. We see chaos. THIS IS THE LEGACY OF OBAMA AND CLINTON. He has used the full resources of the US government and the US media to force globalization, to force diversity, and to force cultural transformation. The EU experiment will die a violent death and that will be a good thing. Sovereignty before Globalism!! How on earth can Obama, and even Hillary, claim ANY SUCCESS. Lets see what Holland, Denmark, and Sweden do next. As Briton goes  so do they. Whats left for the socialist EU experiment? Will Germany be content to fund the remainder of EU? Don't bet on it. As Germany goes, so does the Euro. Socialism has once again showed itself as the failure it will always be.The disasters of Obama MUST be reversed by a leader who puts AMERICANS first and who puts AMERICA first. I wonder who is pushing that message?
A top US Congressman has opposed the decision of the House of Representatives to increase American aid to Pakistan from $700 million to $900 million alleging that Pakistan continues to support terror groups that target US troops in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan cannot be trusted. It has played us now for a total of $33 billion of our money since 2001," Republican Congressman Ted Poe, chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade of the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote yesterday in an op-ed in US News.

Poe's move to retain the US aid to Pakistan to $700 million for the fiscal 2017 as for 2016 was voted down by the House of Representatives.

Poe said he is disappointed by House's decision.

"For 15 years we have been asking Pakistan to go after terrorists within its own borders and for 15 years not only has Pakistan not done so in any significant way, but it has actually supported those very terrorists who kill our service men and women in Afghanistan. It is time to call it like it is," he said.

"We do not need to give Pakistan a raise to betray us. They will do it for free. And that's just the way it is," Poe said.

The House of Representatives recently gave Pakistan a $200 million raise. In all, it was a $900 million payday for a country that to this day is supporting terrorist groups that kill US service men and women in Afghanistan, he said.

"It is well known by now that Pakistan gave safe harbor to Osama bin Laden. Before he met his maker in one of the greatest US military raids ever conducted, bin Laden was living in a big house in a bustling military town in Pakistan," he added.

"Less known is that after that raid our CIA station chief in Pakistan was poisoned: Both he and the CIA suspect he was poisoned by Pakistan's version of the CIA called the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency or 'ISI'," Poe wrote.

"The ISI is infamous for its support for terrorists. In February 2012, a NATO report confirmed that it was supporting the Taliban and other terrorist groups with resources, sanctuary and training," Poe said.

"A year before the NATO report, in 2011, Adm Mike Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before Congress that "the Haqqani Network acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency. No terrorist organisation is responsible for more American deaths than the Haqqani Network," he alleged.
Criticising the current US trade policies that has wiped out American manufacturing, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has threatened to take punitive actions against China's illegal trade activities while promising to herald a US economic resurgence if elected.

"If China does not stop its illegal activities, including its theft of American trade secrets, I will use every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes, including the application of tariffs...," Trump said in his remarks on economy in the Monessen township of Pennsylvania.

In his seven-point action plan on economic independence, Trump devoted considerable speech on China.

In fact, his last three action plans are all directed against China.

"I'm going to instruct my treasury secretary to label China a currency manipulator, which should have been done years ago. Any country that devalues their currency in order to take unfair advantage of the United States, which is many countries, will be met with sharply. And that includes tariffs and taxes," Trump said.

"I'm going to instruct the US trade representative to bring trade cases against China, both in this country and at the WTO," he said.

Noting that China's unfair subsidy behaviour is prohibited by the terms of its entrance to the WTO, Trump said he intends to enforce those rules and regulations.

"And basically, I intend to enforce the agreements from all countries, including China," he said.

The business tycoon from New York said if elected the US under his administration would pursue right away to bring back jobs.

"I am going to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has not yet been ratified,"he said.

Trump said he will appoint "the toughest and smartest trade negotiators" to fight on behalf of American workers.

"I am going to direct the secretary of commerce to identify every violation of trade agreements a foreign country is currently using to harm you, the American worker," he said amidst applause.

The Republican leader said he would then direct all appropriate agencies to use every tool under American and law to end these abuses.

In his speech Trump said globalisation has benefited only the rich and not the poor.

"Our politicians have aggressively pursued a policy of globalisation, moving our jobs, our wealth and our factories to Mexico and overseas. Globalisation has made the financial elite, who donate to politicians, very, very wealthy. I used to be one of them," he said.

Globalisation, he alleged has left millions of workers with nothing but poverty and heartache.
The US should adopt a policy of "total isolation" against Pakistan to send a signal that it faces the prospect of becoming a "second North Korea" if it continues destabilising Afghanistan by supporting the Taliban and Haqqani network, a former top American diplomat has said.

"In the aftermath of the US drone attack killing Taliban leader Mullah Mansour, this is the time to increase the pressure by suspending all assistance to Pakistan -- military and civilian -- and move towards isolating Pakistan internationally, including not supporting IMF renewal of financial support," Zalmay Khalilzad, a former top American diplomat in the Bush Administration said.

Khalilzad, who played a key role America's policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iraq after 9/11 terror attack, said the US should adopt a policy of "total isolation" against Pakistan.

Such a policy, he argued would send a signal to Pakistan that it faces the prospect of becoming a "second North Korea" unless it changes its course on Afghanistan.

Khalilzad was the highest ranking Muslim American in the history of the United States. He was the US Ambassador to the United Nations under President George W Bush. He also served as the US ambassador to Afghanistan and headed the country's diplomatic mission in Iraq.

"If Pakistan truly changes course, then the US should be willing to be supportive in a significant way. But we have to substantially escalate the cost of Pakistan's hostile policy in Afghanistan," he said.

Khalilzad also called for retaining the current level of forces in Afghanistan and more flexible rules of engagement for US forces until the next President reviews the situation in Afghanistan and decides on a new policy.

"While there are some potential risks in isolating Pakistan, there are real risks with continuing the current course in Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said and called for having a contingency plan to deal with the nuclear scenario risks.

"In fact (US forces) being in Afghanistan would help in addressing such challenges promptly," he said.

"The choice we have made hasn't really worked for the last 15 years in terms of changing Pakistan's two-faced policy. The time has come to adjust that policy. In my view a better option is isolation of Pakistan," Khalilzad argued.

"The role that Pakistan has played....Is that of a double game. It has signalled on the one hand that it wants to be helpful to the United States in fighting terrorism and stabilising Afghanistan. But on the other hand, in reality, it has been energetically supporting the Taliban and the Haqqani network to achieve the very opposite. That has been the essence of the Pakistan policy on Afghanistan," he said.
Egg prices have been moving up and the trend is expected to continue till the Shravan months commencement on July 20, when the demand falls; it recover after the festival season is over in late November. Farm-gate prices were at a record high this month and farmers have been earning an average of Rs 4 an egg. On the flip side, the escalating prices of feed ingredients, particularly maize and rape seed, have created holes in the pockets of poultry farmers.
India's equity fund managers have significantly slowed their investment in stocks this month, with the ongoing global uncertainties. However, inflow from investors into funds through systematic investment plans (SIPs) are steady. As of June 27, overall net investment by fund managers in the month has been only Rs 81 crore. It was nearly Rs 7,200 crore in May.
The Metropolitan Stock Exchange (earlier MCX-SX) plans to seek compensation of over Rs 800 crore from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on account of losses it made due to zero-pricing strategy adopted by the former in the currency derivatives segment.
Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan Dr. Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal met Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan and conveyed his concerns over alleged harassment of Afghan refugees in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where the party is in power.

Zakhilwal also called for ending tensions and removing mistrust between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"We agreed that tensions and mistrust is not in the interests of either side," the Express Tribune quoted Zakhilwal as saying after the meeting.

"It was hoped that the recent meeting between the presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan in Tashkent will have positive results for bilateral relations as the meeting was aimed at lowering tensions and enhancing trust," he added.

Zakhilwal said the issue of harassment of Afghan refugees in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by the police was also raised during the meeting and stressed that they should not be made a scapegoat.

He demanded that the PTI chief direct his party's government in K-P region to show respect for Afghan refugees and PTI chairman in return promised that he would talk to the chief minister and the police chief and ask them to stop harassment of the refugees.

Meanwhile, according to reports, Pakistani police force has detained over 2,000 unregistered Afghan refugees in Peshawar yesterday.

Pakistani officials said they set June 30 as a deadline for Afghan immigrants to get themselves registered in Pakistan.

Approximately, three million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and 1.5 million of them are unregistered refugees.
Condemning the terrorist attack on Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport that left scores of people dead and dozens wounded, Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani today expressed solidarity with the people of Turkey and called on leaders to be united in their fight against terrorism.

"President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani was deeply saddened by the terrorist attack at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey that killed and injured a number of innocent people last night," Khaama Press quoted statement released by Ghani's office, as saying.

"Condemning the terrorist attack, the President said that the people of Afghanistan feel the pain and suffering of the people of Turkey more than others as we have been the victim of terrorism for years," a statement by added.

Asserting terrorism as great threat for the security of the region and the world, Ghani called for joint action by all countries against the heinous phenomenon.

"President Ghani offers his deep condolences and sympathies to the people and government of the Republic of Turkey, families of all the victims, and wishes speedy recovery for those injured," the statement added.

The Turkish officials had earlier said at least 36 people were killed and over 140 others were wounded after a group of suicide bombers attacked the airport last night.

Though no group has so far claimed responsibility behind the attack , Turkish officials said that Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group could possibly be behind the attack.
Raleigh, N.C. Governor Pat McCrory announced today that the North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority (RIA) approved 31 grant and loan requests totaling $10,433,899. The requests include commitments to create a total of 622 new jobs.said Governor McCrory.The RIA reviews and approves funding requests for grant and loan programs. The programs are operated by the Rural Economic Development Division at the N.C. Department of Commerce, which is led by Secretary John E. Skvarla, III, and Assistant Secretary Dr. Patricia Mitchell. Grants support infrastructure development, building renovation and site improvements. Since its creation by Governor McCrory and the North Carolina General Assembly in 2013, the Authority has approved approximately $106 million in awards.The RIA approved three requests under the state's Industrial Development Fund - Utility Account program.: A $949,750 grant to assist with water, sewer and a 500,000-gallon storage tank at Tarboro Commerce Center. The 185-acre industrial park is being developed by the Town of Tarboro and Edgecombe County. The infrastructure will ready the property for new businesses and jobs. The grant supports a total capital investment of nearly $1.2 million.A $568,769 grant to improve sewer service in support of the retention of West Fraser Timber Co. The company is upgrading its production equipment and requires additional wastewater capacity. West Fraser Timber is one of the largest lumber manufacturers in North America. The company plans to invest almost $18 million in upgrades. The county is pursuing the funds in partnership with the Town of Seaboard.: A grant of $708,000 to assist with providing sewer and industrial access to a new industrial property off Highway 74. The access will open the property up to at least 60 developable acres. The improvements will ready the site for the arrival of new businesses and jobs. Scotland County is partnering with ElectriCities in marketing the property at the national and global level.Utility Account provides grants to units of local government of the 80 most distressed counties in the state. Funds may be used for publicly-owned infrastructure projects that are reasonably expected to result in the creation of new jobs. IDF - Utility Account funding is derived from set-asides of Job Development Investment Grants (JDIG) awarded in Tier 2 and Tier 3 counties.The RIA approved eight loans under the state's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program:: A $750,000 loan to support the reuse of a vacant building by Kaufman Trailers of North Carolina, which is creating 38 new jobs. The company, which manufacturers car haulers and utility trailers, has operated in Denton for 20 years. The building has been vacant for over a year. Funds will be used to improve roofing, electrical, plumbing, exterior walls and HVAC systems. The loan will support a total capital investment of $1.5 million.: A $750,000 loan to support the reuse of a vacant building by Construction Implements Depot Inc., a manufacturer of skid steer and tractor implements whose expansion is creating 38 new jobs. The company has operated in Denton for 13 years. The building has been vacant for over a year. Funds will be used to repair roofing, electrical, plumbing, HVAC systems and overhead doors. The loan will support a total capital investment of $2.5 million.: A $500,000 loan to support the reuse of a vacant building by Westport Bay, a bathroom-cabinetry manufacturer whose expansion is creating 25 new jobs. The building has been vacant for 10 years. Funds will be used to improve roofing, electrical, plumbing, HVAC system and lighting. The loan will support a total capital investment of $1 million.: A $500,000 loan to support the redevelopment of two vacant downtown buildings for use by Spoon River Art Works and Market. The company will expand its existing restaurant space and open a retail operation for locally produced goods, anticipating the creation of 10 new jobs. Funds will support a new HVAC system, roofing, electrical, plumbing and handicapped-accessible bathrooms. The loan, which supports a total capital investment of $910,000, is a collaborative solution between CDBG and the Downtown Redevelopment Fund of the North Carolina Main Street Center.: A $500,000 loan to support the renovation of a 64-room boutique hotel. Hotel Hinton will create 69 jobs, positions ranging from sales and marketing to food service and management. Renovation of the vacant building will include new HVAC systems, electrical work, new roofing, window restoration and accessibility improvements to its stairs and bathrooms. The loan, which supports a total capital investment of $12 million, is a collaborative solution between CDBG and the Downtown Redevelopment Fund of the North Carolina Main Street Center.: A $322,830 loan to support the renovation of a vacant building for use as Caroline's Diner, which is creating four new jobs. The business will help serve the community's eco-tourism industry. The project replaces the building's HVAC, brings electrical systems up to code, installs new roofing and creates handicapped-accessible bathrooms. The loan, which supports a total capital investment of $365,737, is a collaborative solution between CDBG and the Downtown Redevelopment Fund of the North Carolina Main Street Center.: A $500,000 loan to support the renovation of the vacant New Southern Hotel. The building, which has been unoccupied for the past 30 years, will house a new 50-room hotel that will create 50 new jobs. The renovation includes bringing electrical systems up to code, repairing damaged windows, installing new roofing and HVAC, and making bathrooms handicap accessible. The loan supports a total capital investment of $11.2 million. The loan is a collaborative solution between CDBG and the Downtown Redevelopment Fund of the North Carolina Main Street Center.: A $500,000 loan to support the renovation of a vacant grocery store for use by Thomas Drug Store and Home Medical Supply. The project includes removal and replacement of asbestos-based flooring and walls, installation of new HVAC and electrical systems, and upgrades to bathrooms that will make them handicapped-accessible. The loan supports a total capital investment of $1,115,289. The loan is a collaborative solution between CDBG and the Downtown Redevelopment Fund of the North Carolina Main Street Center.The Community Development Block Grant program is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program administered in part by the North Carolina Department of Commerce. CDBG's economic development funds provide grants to local governments in Tier 1 and Tier 2 counties for creating and retaining jobs. Project funding is based on the number of jobs to be created and the level of economic distress of applicant communities.The Downtown Redevelopment Fund of the North Carolina Main Street Center supports efforts to correct code deficiencies in underutilized downtown commercial buildings.The RIA approved a total of 14 grants under the state's Building Reuse program:A $500,000 grant to support the renovation of four buildings in Hildebran that will facilitate a 50-job expansion at Peds Legware. The company makes legware products for sale to major retailers such as Walmart, Target and Payless. The project renovates HVAC, renovates bathrooms, repairs walls and expands office space. The buildings were constructed in 1967 and occupied by Peds since 2011. The grant is part of a total capital investment of $2,939,932.A $222,450 grant to support the expansion of a building in Granite Falls to support Jordan-Holman Lumber's 23-job expansion. The company processes timber and manufactures plywood. Its building was constructed in 1984. The project adds 7,500 sq. ft. to the building, enabling the company to meet demand for stock lumber products by the furniture industry. The grant is part of a total capital investment of $444,901.: A $90,000 grant to support a nine-job expansion by Thermo Products, a manufacturer of high-quality furnaces under the Thermo Pride brand name and other private labels. The project adds 5,000 sq. ft. to the building, which was constructed in 1957. The grant is part of a total capital investment of $298,348.A $500,000 grant to expand a building in Reidsville that will house an expansion by Unifi. The manufacturer of multifilament polyester and nylon textured yarns will be creating 87 new jobs. The project will add 80,000 sq. ft. to Unifi's facility, which was constructed in 1970. The grant is part of a total capital investment of $2,701,199.A $190,000 grant to expand a building in Yadkinville that will house an expansion by Unifi. The manufacturer of multifilament polyester and nylon textured yarns will be creating 19 new jobs. The proposed project will add 47,000 sq. ft. to the current facility, which was constructed in 1997. The grant is part of a total capital investment of $3,535,000.A $100,000 grant to support the reuse of a vacant building in Roxobel by Baker's Southern Traditions. The female-owned peanut processing company will create eight new jobs. Upgrades include wall installation, electrical, plumbing, HVAC and flooring. The building was constructed in 1984 and has been vacant for seven months. The grant is part of a total capital investment of $353,895.A $150,000 grant to support the reuse of a vacant building near Morganton by Fonta Flora Brewery. The company, which will brew, bottle and package its products at the historic Whippoorwill dairy farm adjacent Lake James State Park, will create 12 jobs. Upgrades include HVAC, plumbing, electrical, flooring and doors. The building was constructed in 1940 and has been vacant for 10 years. The grant is part of a total capital investment of $504,500.A $49,250 grant to support the reuse of a vacant building by Bella Torte Bistro & Bakery. The female-owned full service restaurant and bakery will create 10 jobs. Upgrades will be made to the electrical system, doors, windows and entryway. The building was constructed in 1913 and has been vacant for two years. The grant is part of a total capital investment of $98,500.A $125,000 reuse grant for a building in Youngsville that will support a 10-job expansion by Network South. The company sells and services business telecommunications and security systems. The building was constructed in 2000 and has been vacant for one year. The renovation will include upgrades to electrical systems, HVAC and office space. The grant is part of a total capital investment of $806,074.A $50,000 reuse grant for a building in Swan Quarter that will support a five-job expansion by Courthouse Cafe, a full-service restaurant. The building was constructed in 1954 and has been vacant for 13 years. Renovations will include HVAC, electrical, plumbing, flooring and painting. The grant is part of a total capital investment of $186,000.A $60,000 reuse grant for a building that will support Uptown Brewing Company, a full-production brewery and tap house that is creating 12 jobs. The company's product will be distributed to bars and restaurants across eastern North Carolina. The building was constructed in 1930 and has been vacant for 30 years. The renovation will include HVAC, plumbing, electrical and flooring. The grant is part of a total capital investment of $465,528.A $180,935 reuse grant for a building in Salisbury that will support the 15-job expansion of Aldo Products. The company manufactures a full line of roof coatings for use by commercial builders. The building was constructed in 1998 and has been vacant for eight months. The renovation includes HVAC, electrical system and cabinetry. The grant supports a total capital investment of $1,511,074.A $180,000 reuse grant for a vacant building in Clinton that will support a 36-job expansion by Farm Fresh Produce Distribution. The company will operate a year-round sweet potato curing, storing, sorting, packaging and distribution facility. The building was constructed in 2010 and has been vacant five years. Renovation includes flooring, walls, doors, electrical, plumbing and HVAC. The grant supports a total capital investment of $3,983,000.A $150,000 reuse grant for a vacant building in Henderson that will support a 12-job expansion by Hoyle's Tire & Axle. The company refurbishes, sells and services used axles. The building was constructed in 1976 and has been vacant for seven years. Renovations include lighting and electrical systems. The grant supports a total capital investment of $1,235,392.The Building Reuse Program provides grants to local governments to renovate vacant buildings, renovate and/or expand buildings occupied by existing North Carolina companies, and renovate, expand or construct health care facilities that will lead to the creation of new jobs in Tier 1 and Tier 2 counties and in rural census tracts of Tier 3 counties.The RIA approved a total of six grants under the state's Economic Infrastructure program:A grant of $297,600 for water and sewer service to support the arrival of A&A Transfer. The Virginia-based company provides full-service rigging and transfer services for large-load commercial and industrial customers. It is creating 24 new jobs. The project builds 300 linear feet of 16" water line and 1,400 linear feet of 8" sewer line. The grant supports a total capital investment of $3.85 million.A $250,000 grant for water service and a $250,000 grant for sewer service in support of Novo Nordisk's current expansion. The Denmark-based bio-manufacturer is a global supplier of insulin and diabetes treatment solutions. One project will construct 2,020 linear feet of 8" sewer line. The other makes improvements to the Clayton #2 Booster Pump Station serving the company's site. The two grants support a total capital investment of $1.23 billion.: A $150,000 grant to support the demolition and clean-up of an abandoned industrial building. The project enables local leaders to redevelop and market an amenity-rich 15.3-acre site for new businesses, facilitating job creation. The grant supports a total capital investment of $900,000.: A $292,425 grant for sewer service to support the start-up of Carolina Innovative Food Ingredients. The company, which produces fruit and vegetable juices, is creating 36 new jobs. The project constructs a 30" sewer line that will allow the abandonment of a lift station currently operating at full capacity. The grant, which increases a $157,575 infrastructure award made in November 2014, supports a total capital investment of $20.9 million.: A grant of $96,890 to support sewer service to Tryon Fairways, LLC - Cleghorn Inn and Restaurant. The company is developing a 70-room hotel, restaurant and banquet hall that will create 20 new jobs. The project creates 2,125 linear feet of 8" gravity sewer line. The grant supports a total capital investment of $9 million.The Economic Infrastructure Program provides grants to local governments to assist with infrastructure projects that will lead to job-creation. Water and sewer lines, wastewater treatment plants, natural gas lines, public broadband infrastructure, roadways and rail spurs are examples of infrastructure covered under program guidelines.In addition to reviewing and approving funding requests, the N.C. Rural Infrastructure Authority formulates policies and priorities for grant and loan programs administered by NC Commerce's Rural Economic Development team. Its 15 voting members are appointed by the Governor, Speaker of the House and Senate President Pro Tem. The North Carolina Secretary of Commerce serves as a non-voting member of the Authority.said Commerce Secretary Skvarla.Sec. Skvarla, Dr. Mitchell and other team members are now completing a 22-stop "NC Competes for Jobs" tour across all regions of the state. The presentation showcases job-creation programs and strategies for local business, governmental, educational and community leaders. The tour concludes at Appalachian State University on Monday, June 27th. For more information contact: info@nccommerce.com.Crystal Feldman
Defence Minister on Wednesday asserted that there has been an increase in the number of encounters taking place in the border areas.

The Defence Minister, however, downplayed a poser when asked about the increase in terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

Parrikar's remark assumes significance in wake of the militant attack on a CRPF convoy in Pampore, Jammu and Kashmir, in which eight security personnel were martyred.

In the fierce gun-battle that took place on June 25 evening, 24 CRPF jawans were also injured.

According to a recent intelligence review, 73 terrorists have been gunned down till date while the number was 34 in the corresponding period last year.
Actor Hrithik Roshan actually escaped death by inches as he was there at the Instanbul airport a little before three suicide bombers attacked, killing 36 and injuring close to 150 people.

The 42-year-old actor took to his Twoitter handle to share the news and said, "missed connecting flight at Istanbul n wer stuck at airport next flight ws next day,but took economy n flew out earlier. #Prayers4istanbul."

"Ws helped by d kindest staff at Istanbul arport hours ago. Shocking news. Innocents killed 4 religion.V must stand united against terrorism," he added.

The 'Bang Bang' was on a vacation in Spain and Africa with his sons Hrehaan and Hridhaan and was on way to India via Istanbul.

The attack on Europe's third-busiest airport is one of the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in Turkey, which is struggling to contain the spillover from neighbouring Syria's civil war and battling an insurgency by Kurdish militants in its southeast.

One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover and trying to flee, before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below, witnesses and officials said.
Hours after the deadly attack which left 41 people dead, Istanbul's Ataturk Airport resumed its service.

Turkish Airlines says, it has resumed all flight operations, and Washington lifted a stoppage of flights between the US and Istanbul's Ataturk airport.

Iran, however, suspended all flights to Istanbul today.

According to CNN, three terrorists attacked the arrivals hall and a nearby parking lot with gunfire and explosives, killing 41 people.

Of the 239 people injured Tuesday night, 128 remained hospitalized Wednesday, officials said.

Witness Laurence Cameron who saw and survived the carnage, said that despite the horrors of the day, everything was quite calm at the present, which was a little surreal.

"I was in the airport this morning looking for my lost luggage. They were sweeping up debris, and someone had hung up a big Turkish flag, pretty much right at the spot where (a) bomb had gone off -- sort of an act of defiance, which was quite moving," he said.

At least 14 of the 41 killed were foreign nationals. The attack killed six Saudis and wounded 27 more, the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry said.

The other victims killed included two Iraqis, one Tunisian, one Chinese, one Iranian, one Ukrainian, one Jordanian and one person from Uzbekistan, a Turkish official said. Three of the foreigners had dual Turkish citizenship.
Actor Mark Hamill recently took to social media to assure fans that his character Luke Skywalker would not die in 'Star Wars

The 64-year-old actor, who is busy shooting Episode VIII, tweeted, "I meant "out of work" because #Ep8 is wrapping soon, OK? #DontOverThinkEVERYTHING #ParsingHamill #WaitForVIII," reports Channel.24.

Speculations were rife that Skywalker might die in the latest Star Wars installment after the 'Empire Strikes Back' actor said, "I finish Episode VIII and then I'm out of work" at The Big Issue event in London.

'Star Wars: Episode IX' is scheduled to be released on 23 May, 2019.
MobiKwik - the largest independent mobile payments company in India with over 32 million users and a network of 100000 merchants has launched cash pick up in Surat. With this launch, MobiKwik users in Surat can now load their wallet with cash from the convenience of their homes or offices. Upon request, a MobiKwik representative will reach user's location within 30 minutes and load user's wallet with cash instantly.

Speaking on this launch, Upasana Taku, co-founder, MobiKwik said, "Cash pick up by MobiKwik is a unique service that helps us serve those who want to load their wallets with cash, instead of cards or net-banking. The service is also extremely helpful for unbanked users, who can now convert their cash into mobile money"

MobiKwik is the only wallet in India that allows cash pick up for wallet loading. The company launched cash pick up service in September 2015 in New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Since then, the service has been registering 75% month-on-month growth. In May 2016, MobiKwik launched cash pick up in Jaipur.

"There were two major reasons why we chose Surat to launch. The first reason is that the market is promising and we have a significant users base here and second was that I have spent 12 years of my life in the city and have a special connection with it." Upasana added.

MobiKwik wallet is powering payments for IRCTC, Uber, Meru Cabs, Big Bazaar, OYO Rooms, Zomato, PVR, Archies, WHSmith India, BookMyShow, Grofers, Big Basket, Domino's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, eBay, ShopClues, Myntra, Jabong, Pepperfry, Barista, Food Panda, nearbuy, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Louis Phillips, GoDaddy, MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, and Yatra.

THis is how MobiKwik works: An agent arrives -> User hands over cash to the MobiKwik agent -> Agent initiates the cash transaction -> User receives OTP on his mobile phone -> Shares OTP with the MobiKwik agent -> Agent keys in the OTP on his app -> User gets confirmation of updated wallet balance.

The user also gets to view on the app, the name and photograph of the agent responsible for the pickup. All MobiKwik cash pick up agents are dressed in uniform, which further helps in identification.

MobiKwik was founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, the company has raised three rounds of funding from Sequoia Capital, American Express,Tree Line Asia, MediaTek, GMO Payment Gateway and Cisco Investments. MobiKwik aspires to be the largest source of digital transactions in India.
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari is likely to visit India in August. Talks are on between the two nations to reschedule her visit after her trip in May was cancelled because of political turmoil in and also because the Cabinet did not approve it.

She was invited by her Indian counterpart President Pranab Mukherjee.

Indian Ambassador to Ranjit Rae has said that President Bhandari's India visit would be fixed soon, reports the Kathmandu Post.

After her visit, reports say that President Mukherjee will be visiting Nepal.

According to reports, officials in Kathmandu have said that New Delhi has proposed that President Bhandari undertake her state visit before the fourth Joint Commission meeting, and following its conclusion, facilitate a reciprocal visit by President Mukherjee.
Stating that Pakistan is lagging behind economically, senior journalist Zahid Hussein pointed out that Islamabad has become isolated which is why there is a need for re-examining the country's foreign policy.

Speaking at a seminar titled "Is Pakistan Isolated? Regional Challenges and Opportunities' hosted by the Institute for Policy Reforms (IPR) yesterday, Hussein presented examples of India and China, saying the two countries have progressed, have focused on their economies and added that Islamabad has to change its course.

"The current government has made policies for economic development, but they are yet to be implemented because Pakistan's foreign policy is driven by national security. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor could be a game changer," Dawn quoted him as saying.

He also compared Pakistan's economic growth with that of India and China saying Islamabad's rate has been 3pc for the last 10 years with that of India the economy of which has been growing by 8pc.

"Pakistan has been left far behind, even by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh," he added.

However, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi disagreed with Hussein's observation and said the current foreign policy is relevant to the needs at the time.

Fatemi said that no foreign policy can be called a complete success or failure.

"The PML-N's manifesto said that the foreign policy will focus on the economy. We have tried to have good relations with Afghanistan because we believe there will be no peace in Pakistan until there is peace in Afghanistan," he said.

Asserting that Pakistan wants good relations with India and that the PML-N led government wanted to resume relations from how they were in 1999, he said that the sentiment has to be reciprocal for this to work.

"We have good relations with Arab countries and 100,000 Pakistanis will be sent to Qatar for employment. As far as the Nuclear Supplier Group is concerned, Pakistan has been working on this for months and though the application was given at the last moment, 11 countries supported Pakistan. This was all because of diplomacy," he added.

Meanwhile, eminent historian and author of 'Pakistan, a Hard Country', Prof Anatol Lieven was of the opinion that though the U.S. hostility has increased, China continues to support Pakistan and warned that this support must not be taken as a carte blanche.

"No country wants Pakistan to cross the line between sheltering the Afghan Taliban and arming them. Pakistan will forfeit all goodwill if this were to happen. It is desirable to revive the peace talks," he said.
Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement where he placed the onus of stalled talks on Pakistan, Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz asserted that New Delhi was avoiding dialogue with Islamabad to avoid negotiations on crucial issues such as Kashmir.

Quoting Radio Pakistan, the Dawn reported that Aziz stressed that it was India, not Pakistan who was backing away from holding dialogues.

He said that Pakistan had plans for extensive talks with India on issues such as Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, economic cooperation, trade, visas and the detainment of fishermen, amongst others.

Aziz also alleged that the Indian Army had rejected an earlier agreement regarding Siachen between the two governments, as they had "stakes" in the glacier.

In a recent interview to Times Now, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that due to his diplomatic efforts, India was not reluctant to engage with Pakistan.

"Our approach has created difficulties for Pakistan, and they find it hard to respond on the matter in the international community," he said.

The Prime Minister also claimed there are "different types of forces operating in Pakistan", and asked in a rhetoric fashion if one has to draw a line or set conditions for dialogue, will it be "with the elected government or other actors?"

Dialogue between the hostile neighbours hit a major roadblock after the attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in January.
A Pakistan Ministry of Religious Affairs delegation has left for China to determine the reported reason for the Chinese authorities to ban fasting in Muslim-majority Xinjiang province during Ramazan.

A ministry official was quoted by the Express Tribune, as saying that Beijing has formally requested Islamabad to send a delegation to Xinjiang to ascertain the facts.

The delegation includes the Director General (Research), Noor Islam Shah, and Faisal Mosque chief cleric Ziaur Rehman. They will ascertain facts regarding the reported ban on fasting.

It was earlier reported that Chinese authorities had marked the start of Ramazan with a customary ban on civil servants, students and children in the mainly-Muslim region to fast, the report clearly rejected by Chinese government as baseless.

Chinese officials refuted the reports saying the country's constitution guarantees religious freedom.

Approximately, China has 20 million-strong Muslim population, and the far-western region of Xinjiang is home to 10 million Uighur Muslims.
Infuriated with Uddhav Thackeray's comparison with comedy actor Asrani's famous character as a jailor in Bollywood film 'Sholay' by the BJP, the on Wednesday issued a stern warning to its alliance partner and said that such comments would not be tolerated.

BJP chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari had in a write up dared the to take 'divorce' from power and compared the party chief with comedy actor Asrani's famous character as a jailor in 'Sholay'.

Speaking to ANI, leader Manisha Kayande said neither the party's mouthpiece Saamna nor Uddhav have made any personal remarks regarding any of the central or state BJP leaders.

"Uddhav ji and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis share a very good relationship and somebody is trying to spoil this deliberately," Kayande said.

"It is certain leaders of Mumbai BJP who are hell-bent to attract attention of their central leaders. Probably, they want to be in the ministry or they want to become MLCs or demand certain post from the party. The personal comment regarding Uddhav ji like comparing him to the character of movie 'Sholay' will not be tolerated by Shiv Sena," she added.

Bhandari, in an article published in BJP's mouthpiece 'Manogat' compared Uddhav to Sholay's jailor (played by Asrani), a character that provides comic relief with shades of buffoonery.

Bhandari's Asrani jibe prompted Shiv Sena corporator Kishori Pednekar to compare BJP president Amit Shah with Gabbar.

"Shah is running his party like Gabbar, and you know what happens to Gabbar at the end of the movie," she reportedly said on Friday.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party also put up posters of Amit Shah and set afire the effigy of the party's city unit chief Ashish Shelar in South Mumbai.

Escalating the confrontation, the Sena cadres put up posters depicting Shah and BJP chief spokesperson Madhav Bhandari dressed in attires of characters from Bollywood movie 'Sholay'.
Kathy Manos Penn

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Prague and our river cruise through Germany, Austria and Hungary. The small towns were charming and the ship a dream, but it's the history of these countries, particularly over the last 100 years, that has stayed uppermost in my mind and served to remind me how fortunate I am to live in America.Imagine for a moment living in a country torn asunder first by WWI, then again by WWII a mere thirty years later. Then layer on top of that the fate of the Czech Republic and Hungary, both occupied first by the Nazis in WWII and then the Soviets immediately after. It was not until 1989 that both were freed from Communism.For us, our first sobering experience came in Prague during a WWII walking tour. We visited tunnels used by the resistance fighters, saw a film on the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich and the subsequent Nazi retaliation, visited the Jewish Quarter, saw the KGB building from the Communist era and the square where Russian tanks rolled into end the Prague Spring in 1968.We encountered the stumble stones, bronze plaques embedded in the cobblestones and sidewalks to memorialize the Jews who were sent to concentration camps and never returned. Today in the Czech Republic and in Germany, children are required to visit a concentration camp during their school years in the hope that recognizing the past will prevent such atrocities in the future.Soon after the Nazis abandoned Prague, the Russians arrived and established Communist rule. Our guide was told as a child that Americans did nothing to help the Czechs, that the Russians were their saviors. When a child saw photos with American soldiers and asked who they were, parents knew to lie and say the figures were Germans dressed up as Americans, lest they be arrested for acknowledging that the Americans had any part in the war.Our visit to Budapest continued our education. First, we experienced the Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial , created to honor the Jews who were killed on that riverbank during WWII. Men, women and children were ordered to remove their shoes and were shot as they stood at the edge of the water so that their bodies would fall into the river to be carried away. The 60 pairs of bronze shoes on the bank represent the shoes left behind by just a fraction of those killed by the Nazis.We followed that heart-wrenching experience with a visit to the Terror Museum with its focus on life under the Communists. Films of Hungarians relating their experiences were grim. The story of a family of eight being taken from their home and transported to a barn to live in a single stall for 18 months has stayed with me. These stories coupled with propaganda films showcasing happy factory workers and laborers while touting their productivity gave the day an eerily somber cast.This historical perspective makes me increasingly grateful to live in America, an ocean away from the horrors suffered by so many. I am thankful our founding fathers had the courage to stand up for their beliefs and that our leaders and our military have preserved that hard-won freedom ever since. In the midst of July 4th parades, cookouts, and fireworks this year, my mood will be a bit subdued as I reflect on these words from Ronald Reagan:
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Pakistan's Gujranwala city has sentenced two Christians and a Muslim to death over charges of blasphemy.

The Anti-Terrorism Court Gujranwala Judge Bushra Zaman pronounced death penalty to Anjum Naz Sindhu, Javed Naz and Jaffar Ali for committing blasphemy, reports Dawn.

Apart from 35-year imprisonment to Javed Naz and Ali, the judge has also imposed a fine of Rs. eight million each on both.

The judge has also imposed a fine of Rs. five million on Anjum.

According to reports, Anjum Naz filed a complaint with the police that Javed Naz and Jafar Ali had blackmailed him and forcibly taken Rs. 20,000 and both of them were demanding Rs 50,000.

After police took the two into custody, it was learnt that Javed Naz had recorded a blasphemous conversation of Anjum Naz.

Javed had given a copy of the recording to Jafar Ali and they were now blackmailing Anjum.

According to police, the recording suggested that Anjum Naz had said something blasphemous which was recorded by Javed Naz.

All the three were arrested by the Gujranwala city police an year ago.
DLF jumped 8.61% to Rs 145 at 11:15 IST on BSE after reports suggested that promoters, KP Singh and his family have decided to wipe out company's debt in a two-step transaction.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 136.85 points or 0.52% at 26,661.40.

High volumes were witnessed on the counter. On BSE, so far 17.17 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 11.20 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 146.50 in intraday trade, which was also a 52-week high for the stock. The stock hit a low of Rs 139.10 so far during the day. The stock had hit record low of Rs 72.50 on 12 February 2016. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 28 June 2016, gaining 3.49% compared with Sensex's 0.48% fall. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 25.29% as against Sensex's 6.24% gains.

The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 356.75 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

As per reports, KP Singh and his family will pump Rs 10000 crore into DLF by purchasing shares in a preferential issue by DLF with funds raised from the sale of their stake in the company's rental unit.

The Singh family plans to sell its 40% stake in DLF Cyber City Developers (DCCDL) for Rs 12000-13000 crore and will use the money to retire the parent company's debt. Separately, DLF will raise about Rs 3000 crore from institutional investors to ensure that the stake of the promoters doesn't breach the 75% threshold after the purchase of the preferential shares.

DCCDL is 60% owned by DLF. DLF had a consolidated gross debt of Rs 25623 crore as of March 2016. Net debt, after adjusting cash in hand of Rs 3421 crore, was Rs 22202 crore and this included Rs 12325 crore of DCCDL's dues, report added. The residual debt on DLF's books would be about Rs 10000 crore. Singh and family are in advance discussions with sovereign and pension funds and private equity firms to sell 40% ownership in DCCDL, DLF arm that develops and leases commercial property.

GIC of Singapore, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Qatar Investment Authority, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Blackstone Group, Temasek Holdings, Warburg Pincus and Brookfield Asset Management are among the sovereign and pension funds and PE firms that have submitted bids for the stake in DCCDL. Once promoters enter a binding agreement with the successful bidder, DLF will start the process of raising funds through the fresh issue of equity shares to the promoters and institutional investors.

DLF's consolidated net profit fell 22.9% to Rs 132.39 crore on 19.5% growth in net sales to Rs 2335.56 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015.

DLF's primary business is development of residential, commercial and retail properties.

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Early announcement on Rajan's successor

The risks to global economy and its spin off to India from Brexit are emerging out to be much larger than initially perceived, making it imperative for the Indian government to heighten the watch on the unfolding political-economic scenario in Europe , by setting up a high level monitoring group comprising inter-ministerial and agency representatives, the ASSOCHAM said.

Given the increased global risks, it would be quite prudent for the government to announce successor of Dr Raghuram Rajan as the RBI Governor sooner than later, the chamber added.

After a brain-storming assessment by its leadership based on the fast moving developments in EU headquarters in Brussels , UK, Germany, France and Italy after the Brexit vote of June 23, the ASSOCHAM has come out with a status paper , suggesting much greater watch on the situation, than just being complacent , taking solace from strong fundamentals of the Indian economy.

The chamber has suggested formation of a high level monitoring group comprising senior officials of the ministries of Finance, Commerce, Information Technology and the Reserve Bank of India. Active involvement of Indian High Commission in London and missions in several European capital be sought in getting the real time information with a proper perspective from ground zero. Constant inputs should be sought from the Indian firms with base with Britain and across the European continent.

The damage is not limited to the global economy and the stock market sentiment. The trouble lies in a widening political divide between Britain and the rest of the EU leadership on the one hand and then within UK, on the other. With this kind of charged up political environment, the damage to the world economy would be much more than just a few sectoral gains or losses, the ASSOCHAM Paper highlighted.

The paper analysed the situation well beyond the currency movement of the Pound Sterling and Euro against Dollar and the arbitrage impact on the Indian firms doing trade in Europe.

There are clearly two big takeaways, as assessed by the ASSOCHAM top policy making leadership, from the Brexit. First, there would certainly be a damage to the market sentiment, leading to disruption in the investment flows alongside an impact on the currency valuations. Secondly, the way political relations evolve between the EU and the British leaders would be the key , because those would determine the terms of divorce. Any harsh and bitter outcome would be disastrous for the world trade and investment,. Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty on terms of breaking away from EU membership is likely to be triggered soon , as EU leaders, including UK Prime Minister David Cameron converge in Brussels to chart out further roadmap.

ASSOCHAM Secretary General Mr D S Rawat who has been reaching out to the chamber's offices in London, Paris and Spain has said though the RBI has been doing professional job par excellence, extra-ordinary situation may emerge as different trading giants like China might tweak their currency valuation, making going tough for the Indian exports to the EU, India's largest trading partner. An eagle eye must be kept on China, he said. As it is, India's exports have slowed for more than 18 months in a row, and any rise from here would largely be on account of a very low base impact.

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CSIR- Centre Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CSIR-CIMFR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Coal Supplying companies and Power Utilities for quality analysis of coal being supplied to power utilities by coal companies. The MoU was signed in presence of Dr. Harshvardhan, Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences and Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy. The collaboration will enhance energy efficient use of coal by power sector.

While addressing the audience, Dr. Harshvardhan said that Energy has always been a top priority for Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and this MoU embarks a historic moment for the energy production chapter of the country. He further said that CSIR - CIMFR has been assigned a very crucial task and I assure you to deliver best possible results in a transparent environment for quality maintenance in coal sector of the country.

Shri Goyal said that it is a very important day, reflecting the team India spirit where three ministries are working together as one to serve the people of India. He added, I am sure that this initiaive will help consumers of India significantly by giving them cheaper more affordable power in the years too come.

The Minister further said that we have been talking about a robust mechanism to have an inspection and proper grading of coal for several months now and I am delighted that committee consisting of NTPC, CIL and others have drawn out a complete mechanism of coal quality testing.

Emphasisng the importance of maintaining coal quality, Shri Goyal said, In last two years, by and large we have seen a significant improvement in the quality of coal that is being supplied to the consumers. Infact, NTPC has reported a reduction of nearly 20% in the cost of coal, largely by reducing the imports of coal and equally important- the quality of coal, that is supplied by the coal companies. The Minister also informed that Coal Controller of India has started the process of revisiting the coal grades of each coal mine and 22 mines have been verified till date.

As a part of this MoU, CSIR-CIMFR would make use of its knowledge based support in maintaining the quality of coal at national level for the entire power sector. It is estimated that about 300 million metric tons of coal samples would be analyzed for quality per year. The contract value of the project is around Rs 250 crore per annum at minimum. It is also expected that this project will result in improvement in performance of power plants besides levaraging benefits to the consumer in particular and society as a whole. The endevour would help the nation in sustainable energy supply and security planning for future as it may reduce import of thermal coal.

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After extending gains in morning trade, the two key benchmark indices trimmed gains in mid-morning trade. At 11:18 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 88.20 points or 0.33% at 26,612.75. The gains for the Nifty 50 index were higher than those for the Sensex in percentage terms. The Nifty was currently up 34.75 points or 0.43% at 8,162.60. Gains in global stocks aided the upmove on the domestic bourses. World stocks rose on speculation that central banks in the UK, Japan and the European Central Bank will boost monetary stimulus to counter a potential drag on the global economy from the UK's vote to leave the European Union known as Brexit.

The Sensex rose 81.76 points or 0.3% at the day's low of 26,606.31 in mid-morning trade. The barometer index jumped 176.22 points or 0.66% at the day's high of 26,700.77 in morning trade, its highest level since 23 June 2016. The Nifty rose 29.80 points or 0.36% at the day's low of 8,157.65 in mid-morning trade. The index rose 58.70 points or 0.72% at the day's high of 8,186.55 in morning trade, its highest level since 23 June 2016.

In overseas stock markets, Japanese stocks led gains in Asian markets following overnight rally on Wall Street as jitters eased after the UK's vote to leave the European Union (EU) spurred global sell-off. The Nikkei 225 Average was currently up 1.89%. Latest data showed that Japan's retail sales fell more than expected in May in a third straight month of annual declines. Retail sales fell 1.9% in May from a year earlier, data released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed. US stocks registered strong gains yesterday, 28 June 2016, as investors looked for bargains after the Brexit fueled sell-off.

Closer home, the broad market depicted strength. There were nearly three gainers against every loser on BSE. 1,631 shares rose and 546 shares declined. A total of 118 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.72%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.96%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

Bank stocks edged higher on renewed buying. Among public sector banks, Canara Bank (up 1.58%), IDBI Bank (up 1.54%), Bank of India (up 0.7%), Corporation Bank (up 0.48%), Punjab National Bank (up 0.43%) and State Bank of India (up 0.39%) gained. Bank of Baroda (down 0.16%) edged lower.

Among private sector banks, Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 0.76%), IndusInd Bank (up 1.17%), ICICI Bank (up 0.62%), Yes Bank (up 0.54%) and Axis Bank (up 0.18%) edged higher.

The Reserve Bank of India has said in its biannual publication Financial Stability Report (FSR) June 2016 that its macro stress tests suggest that under the baseline scenario, the gross non-performing advances (GNPAs) ratio of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) may rise to 8.5% by March 2017 from 7.6% in March 2016. Under the baseline scenario, the GNPA ratio of public sector banks (PSBs) may go up to 10.1% by March 2017 from 9.6% in March 2016. Under the baseline scenario, the GNPA ratio of private sector banks (PVBs) may increase to 3.1% by March 2017 from 2.7% in March 2016, which could further increase to 4.2% under a severe stress scenario i.e. when the macroeconomic scenario deteriorates. Under a severe stress scenario, the GNPA ratio of PSBs may increase to 11% by March 2017 from 9.6% in March 2016. Under such a severe stress scenario, the CRAR (capital to risk-weighted assets ratio) of SCBs may decline to 11.5% by March 2017 from 13.2% as of March 2016.

Index heavyweight HDFC Bank was off 0.03% at Rs 1,167.45 as the stock turned ex-dividend today, 29 June 2016, for dividend of Rs 9.50 per share for the year ended 31 March 2016. Before turning ex-dividend, the stock offered a dividend yield of 0.81% based on the closing price of Rs 1,167.85 on BSE yesterday, 28 June 2016.

A strong buying interest was witnessed in realty stocks. Unitech (up 7%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (up 4.46%), Sobha (up 3.95%), D B Realty (up 2.73%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 2.17%), Godrej Properties (up 2.2%) and Oberoi Realty (up 1.27%) edged higher. Prestige Estates Projects (down 0.11%) edged lower.

DLF surged 8.76% on media reports that promoter KP Singh and his family have decided to wipe out the company's debt in a two-step transaction. According to reports, the promoters will pump Rs 10000 crore into the company by purchasing shares in a preferential issue with funds raised from the sale of their stake in the company's rental unit. The Singh family plans to sell its 40% stake in DLF Cyber City Developers (DCCDL) for Rs 12000-13000 crore and will use the money to retire the parent company's debt, reports suggested. Separately, DLF will raise about Rs 3000 crore from institutional investors to ensure that the stake of the promoters doesn't breach the 75% threshold with the purchase of the preferential shares, as per reports.

Promoters currently hold 74.96% stake in DLF (as per the shareholding pattern as on 31 March 2016).

Index heavyweight and cigarette major ITC fell 0.91% at Rs 365. The stock hit a high of Rs 370.35 and a low of Rs 364.55 so far during the day.

Kesar Terminals & Infrastructure rose 2.16% at Rs 517.80 after the company scheduled a board meeting on 1 July 2016 to consider stock-split proposal. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 28 June 2016. On 24 June 2016, Kesar Terminals & Infrastructure's board had recommended issue of one bonus share for every twenty five shares held.

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At least 36 persons were killed and over 145 others injured gun and bomb attack on Istanbul's Ataturk international airport, Turkish authorities said.

Witnesses described deadly carnage and crowds in a panic as the attackers struck one of the world's busiest airports on Tuesday night, CNN reported.

The casualties were confirmed by Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. A total of 147 people were wounded, Turkey's Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said.

Out of the three bombers that carried out the attack, two were at the international terminal, and the third was in the nearby parking lot, a Turkish official told CNN.

"The terrorists came to the airport in a taxi and then carried out their attacks," Prime Minister Yildirin said.

"The fact that they were carrying guns added to the toll. Preliminary findings suggest all three attackers first opened fire then detonated themselves."

Yildirim said signs pointed to the Islamic State (IS) being responsible for the the attacks.

However, no group has claimed responsibility.

The airport was closed overnight for several hours, and flights into the airport were diverted to the capital of Ankara and other cities.

The airport reopened at around 2 a.m.

Yildirim told reporters that the airport was opened for incoming and outgoing flights early Wednesday.

Pictures from the airport terminal showed bodies covered in sheets, with glass and abandoned luggage littering the building.

A video from inside the terminal showed people fleeing and the bright orange flash of fire from one of the explosions. Victims staggered and some fell from the blood-covered, slick floor.

Another video showed a man walking with a gun, which he drops when he was apparently shot by a security officer. The man slumps to the ground and the officer briefly stands over him before running. About 10 seconds later, there is an explosion.

Traveller Laurence Cameron described what he saw after he stepped off a plane.

"It was just a massive crowd of screaming people. Some were falling over themselves," he said, adding "Where you normally hail a taxi, that is where the attack happened. The ground is just kind of shredded. There are bloodstains on the floor as well."

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a unified international fight against .

"Make no mistake: For terrorist organisations, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago or Antalya and Rome," he said.

"Unless all governments and the entire mankind join forces in the fight against terrorism, much worse things than what we fear to imagine today will come true."

--IANS

ksk
A court here on Wednesday granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Dinesh Mohaniya, who was arrested on the charge of "sexual harassment". He has denied the charge.

Additional Sessions Judge Neelam Singh granted bail to Mohaniya after asking him to furnish a personal and surety bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the magistrate concerned .

"Since investigation is almost complete and the fact that the accused is in judicial custody since June 25, no purpose would be served by keeping him in judicial custody anymore," the court said.

The court asked the legislator not to tamper with evidence or hamper investigation in any manner.

It also asked him to join the probe as and when required by the case's investigating officer.

Earlier, defence counsel H.S. Phoolka told the court that Mohaniya is an MLA and has deep roots in society.

Phoolka said Mohaniya is ready to face trial and follow every condition imposed by the court.

However, Delhi Police opposed the plea and said the allegations against the Aam Aadmi Party leader are serious.

Police said Mohaniya is a influential person and there are chances that if released on bail he can tamper with evidence and win over witnesses.

Mohaniya, an MLA from Sangam Vihar in south Delhi, was arrested on Saturday while addressing a press conference at his residence in Sangam Vihar.

This followed a complaint from a woman who visited him along with others to complain about irregular water supply.

Earlier, his bail plea was dismissed by the court and he was remanded in judicial custody till July 11.

In his bail plea, Mohaniya said he was a legislator and would not flee from justice. He also said he had been falsely implicated in the case.

The Delhi Police booked him on charges of misbehaviour, manhandling and touching a woman inappropriately.

--IANS

akk/tsb/bg
With just a day remaining for Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan to retire, the race for the next top bureaucrat in Uttar Pradesh has picked up.

Sources say that while there was no unanimity in the 'first family' on who could be the "best bet" for the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP), a decision is likely to be taken by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav next week after his return from London.

Yadav is leaving for the UK on a five-day vacation on Wednesday night. Close aides to the Chief Minister told IANS that Agriculture Production Commissioner (APC) Praveer Kumar is the choice of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav, still smarting under the embarrassment of QED merger being set aside, is pitching for his long-standing aide Deepak Singhal. The official has been the Principal Secretary of Irrigation for the past four years and is seen in bureaucratic circles as "quite a manager".

He also in the good books of Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh, who made a comeback to the party after six years of ignominy. Singhal, however, has a "negative image" which does not work well with plans of Akhilesh to come across as heading a government with non-controversial names.

Praveer Kumar, the present APC, is a suave man and known to be an honest official. But his low-profile image, many suggest, could be the stumbling block for the present dispensation, especially in an election year. "He is too meek, quiet to take up the baton from Alok Ranjan, known to be quite a darling of the media and officials," says a close aide of the Chief Minister.

Another man in contention, sources say, is senior IAS official Rohit Nandan, who is currently on central deputation. A doer by-the-book and extremely popular official with the media, 1982-batch official Nandan could be the dark horse, especially since the Chief Minister is known to prop up surprises these days.

He is also seniormost in the batch of 1982, which is under the contention for the top job. "Nandan is a fine officer and could fit in both the 'Mr Clean' image and that of a proactive official, and he is credited with the near turnaround of the Air India," opines a senior bureaucrat, not wishing to be named.

Nandan served for over four years as the CMD of national carrier Air India and is now serving as secretary at the Skill Development ministry. Mohd Azam Khan and Shivpal are also likely not to oppose his candidature, sources say.

Azam Khan, an important man in the ministry, has been sulking for many reasons for the past few weeks and does not like either Singhal or Praveer Kumar.

Will Akhilesh chose merit over connections? With the Chief Minister heading for a holiday and no clarity on the Chief Secretary, state's bureaucracy for now is keeping its fingers crossed.

(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)

--IANS

md/bim/vm
Musician Joi Barua, who hails from Digboi in Assam, has released a song titled "Riders of the mist" that focuses on the ponies and the racing tradition in the northeastern state.

The song, a part of his album "PRIDE", also closes his sister and filmmaker Roopa Barua's documentary "Riders Of The Mist".

"We had launched a song 'Pitol soku' which was a promo for the documentary about three years ago. The documentary itself took a while to complete. It was only since last year that it started travelling to festivals. It had its run, so now we are bringing the song out," Joi, now Mumbai-based, told IANS.

For close to 130 years, the ponies from across the Brahmaputra river have come to race at The Gymkhana Club, Jorhat, Assam. It's a moving story of the solitary ponies, the Mishing riders and the tea plantation owners who have kept the tradition of pony racing alive.

Talking about the song and the video, he said: "This song closes the documentary and this is where the ponies head back to their island across the river. This comes after a carnival of a week, races and glory.

"The ponies are taken to the river, where they slowly swim across to their quiet solitary lives. This was the footage that existed. And it was the perfect untouched video, in my mind. A real look at those final minutes."

"I had been looking at the footage of the video for nearly three months. It was my sister's documentary and they were editing from home. During that time and from before, a lot of our conversations were around the ponies, the riders, their minds and all the legends around it. So you could say, I was in the 'method' for a while."

Joi, who often sings in Assamese if he is not working for Bollywood, has sung this particular track in English. Any specific reason?

"Since the documentary was doing a whole round of festivals abroad, we wanted to close this in a language which could connect to a global audience, in a simple way. And also, it was instinctive. Here was a place, and a window, which we could turn into a different thing," he said.

"I wanted this to be like a very simple soulful hymn, in which I sing to the creator, of love, longing and a desire to see the other side, where some things missing, may dwell. The question also was - Does the horizon bind us? Is it a beautiful deceptive end?"

While he is doing his bit by making a song highlighting the ponies, the musician, who has worked in films like "Margarita With a Straw" and "Udaan", would like the government to help the ponies and those associated with them.

"They (the horses) have become the mascots of an integral part of Jorhat heritage. The Mishing bareback riders, the real heroes here, could do with the assistance. They have selflessly kept this sport going for generations... even the tea planters community, who have kept this heritage alive. A 130-year-old tradition is not the easiest thing to maintain," said Joi.

--IANS

nn/rb/bg
"Tragic", "heartbreaking", "saddened" were some of the words that Bollywood stars like Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan and Huma Qureshi used to condemn the Istanbul airport attack. The stars urged the people of Istanbul to "stay strong", adding that the world needs to stand united against .

An attack carried out by three suicide bombers on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Tuesday evening killed 36 people and injured over 145 others.

Pakistani actress Mahira Khan, who will be debuting in Bollywood with "Raees", also expressed shock over the incident.

Here's what they tweeted:

Hrithik Roshan: Was helped by the kindest staff at Istanbul airport hours ago. Shocking news. Innocents killed for religion. We must stand united against . Missed connecting flight at Istanbul and were stuck at airport next flight was next day, but took economy and flew out earlier. #Prayers4istanbul

Abhishek Bachchan: Stay strong Istanbul. Thoughts and prayers with you.

Anupam Kher: #IstanbulAttack is again an act of cowardice by terrorists. My heart goes out to the innocent victims and their families. I pray for the injured.

Vivek Oberoi: Heartbreaking to see innocent people killed #IstanbulAttack is cowardly not heroic! Prayers for the lost souls and their families!

Huma Qureshi: Killing people is not part of any religion... With a heavy heart I pray for Istanbul .. #sehri #prayers #sad

Shekhar Kapur: Once again. Violence and Tears. And now just prayers. Tragic. How can killing innocents be part of any religion @Elif_Safak #istanbul

Lisa Ray: Terribly disturbed by the reports of yet another bomb and loss of life in an airport in #Turkey. We were not birthed to take lives #Humanity

Celina Jaitly: I transited through #Istanbul airport last month on my way to Miami to be honoured by @HMilkFoundation. Shocked to hear about terror attack

Ayushmann Khurrana: #Istanbul attack is again a recurring reminder that we need to do a lot to change this world. Reconciliation from local to global level.

Vivek Agnihotri: So so sad.

Esha Gupta: In the name of religion let's take human live, duno which religion they follow. Rip #TurkeyAttack

Mahira Khan: Have run out of words to describe these continuous acts of hate.

Sophie Choudry: They target innocent lives and families yet again... Angry and saddened to hear about the terror attacks in Istanbul... All my prayers

Mallika Sherawat: Deeply saddened by news of yet another terror attack in Istanbul.

Shibani Dandekar: Feel like sending thoughts and prayers to families of terror attacks has become a part of life now and that makes me so sad #prayingforistanbul

Ashoke Pandit: Condolences to the families of all those who lost their lives in this dastardly, inhuman attack. #RIP. #istanbulblast

--IANS

sug/rb/vm
The producer, director and lyricist of the new music single "Befikra" have clarified that there is no similarity between their song and director Aditya Chopra's movie "Befikre", starring Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor.

While there is only a singular-plural difference in terms of the name, the single and the film have both been shot in the city of Paris. The lead actors of the film -- Ranveer and Vaani -- are seen locking lips in the posters that have been revealed, and similarly, Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani are also seen kissing several times in the single.

At the launch of the song, when asked about the similarity, director Sam Bombay said: "We had decided nine months ago that we will shoot in Paris. There was no coincidence in it. It is going on since that time."

Bhushan Kumar of music label T-series, that has produced the song, said: "That time I think 'Befikre' was not launched, not even the title of the film was launched."

Lyricist Kumaar said: "When I started writing (the song), I didn't even know that another film was coming up. We have written it on our own. That title ('Befikre') came up later."

Bhushan added: "There is similarity, it is not the same. This is 'Befikra' and that is 'Befikre'."

"Befikra" is the third single Tiger is starring in for the same music label, after "Zindagi aa raha hoon main" and "Chal wahan jaate hain".

--IANS

iv/rb/vm
The West Bengal Board of Madrassa Education has proposed to the state government to start 'vocational madrassas' for students class eight onwards, an official said.

"The vocational madrassa would run parallel to the general education imparted in these institutions. From class eight students would be provided vocational training so that they can take up a suitable means of livelihood. We have just sent a proposal to the state government," Fazle Rabbi, president of the state madrassa education board, told IANS.

Rabbi said the board runs 'English medium madrassas' and 48-hour 'bridging courses' where students who have had no education are brushed-up on basics in reading and writing in two days before joining mainstream madrassa curriculum in class five.

"Many students who join in class five do not know how to read and write. The teachers will complete the syllabus in time but then the students will suffer as they don't know basics. So in 48 hours we try to expose them to the basics and take them to a standard level before they jump into the mainstream," Rabbi added.

--IANS

sgh/ssp/py/
The SIT investigating the infamous Bihar toppers scam on Wednesday requested banks concerned to freeze the bank accounts of all the arrested accused, including kingpin Bachcha Rai, police said on Wednesday.

The other arrested in the case are former Bihar Education Board Chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad and his wife and former Janata Dal-United legislator Usha Sinha. Former board Secretary Harharnath Jha, Visheshwar Prasad and others are also allegedly involved in the case.

A police official said the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had written to the regional managers of the banks concerned on the matter.

The SIT had moved a local court for issuance of arrest warrants against Bihar's Class 12 Arts 'topper' Rubi Rai, who was arrested on Saturday after failing a re-test at the board's office.

Ruby told police during preliminary questioning that it was 'Bachcha chacha' and her father who helped her to top the exam. On the basis of her statement, the SIT will now arrest her father, police said.

So far, over 20 persons have been arrested in the case, police said.

The scam surfaced after Aaj Tak TV channel showed a sting in which two Class 12 toppers could not answer even elementary questions about the subjects they 'topped' in.

--IANS

ik/tsb/vt
Brazil has launched an awareness campaign designed to foil terror plots during the Rio Olympics in August.

"It's a simple, informative campaign without calling for hysteria," defence ministry official Luiz Felipe Linhares said in a statement on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The South American country is not a traditional terrorist target and the government hopes the initiative will reduce Rio's vulnerability to possible attacks.

The campaign involves the distribution of brochures, posters and booklets explaining how to identify people engaging in suspicious activity, officials said.

"Our country has never faced this type of threat so we need to make sure that people are more alert," Brazilian defence force anti-terrorism chief, Mauro Sinott said.

"The message that we want to pass on is that if you think a certain situation is suspicious, it is because it is in fact suspicious."

Earlier this month the government said Brazil's intelligence agencies were working alongside counterparts in the US, Britain, France, Israel and Russia to counter the threat of terrorism.

Brazil will also deploy tens of thousands of troops in Rio's streets to ensure the safety of athletes, officials, residents and an estimated 600,000 foreign visitors during the August 5-21 Games.

In total, there will be 85,000 security personnel - including armed forces, police and security agents - patrolling the city.

--IANS

pgh/
The union cabinet on Wednesday approved the Seventh Pay Commission Report's recommendations hiking salaries of central government employees as well as pensions, official sources said.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The recommendations will impact the some 47 lakh employees in the central government and 52 lakh pensioners.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will announce the details in the evening.

The Commission has reportedly recommended a minimum pay of Rs 18,000 per month, with the upper ceiling at Rs 225,000 a month.

The recommendation for the Cabinet Secretary and others at the same pay level is Rs 250,000 a month.

The government had set up an Empowered Committee of Secretaries under Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha in January to look into the Pay Commission recommendations.

The date of implementation for the recommendations is January 1, 2016.

The total financial impact of implementing the recommendations in the 2016-17 fiscal is likely to be Rs 102,100 crore as per official estimates.

Of this, increase in pay will account for Rs 39,100 crore, increase in allowances will take up another Rs 29,300 crore while pensions will entail an expenditure of Rs 33,700 crore.

--IANS

bns/mr
British Prime Minister David Cameron's exit speech, with his quivering lower lip, won praise from some in the social media. Very quickly, however, sentiments changed with the recognition that it was his disastrous decision, coupled with bad timing and strategic misreading of sentiment, that plunged global markets into turmoil and uncertainty. Across the globe, the reaction quickly moved from shock and horror to ridicule and contempt.

Through the years that the UK has been part of the EU, it has, at best, done so in a half-hearted and hesitant manner. In Churchill's admission to General de Gaulle, the UK preferred the open sea to Europe if it was forced to make a choice. That sentiment has never wavered. Indeed, even though the European Coal and Steel Community [ECSC] was set up in 1951, through the Treaty of Paris, after World War II to unify a devastated Europe, it was only in 1961 that Britain applied to join the European Economic Community that the ECSC had evolved into. It took over a decade, thereafter, for Britain to join the EEC.

Even at that time, the British were not convinced of the gains of joining and it was only through a referendum, in 1975, that Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson renegotiated and won Britain's membership. Cameron hoped to emulate his illustrious predecessor but failed to read the innumerable warning signs.

Indeed, in October last year, The Economist magazine, in an article titled "The Reluctant European", predicted that thanks to Europe's migration crisis and the euro mess, there was a realistic possibility of a majority of Britons wanting out if a referendum was held.

The real reasons behind the exit vote are yet to be fully analyzed and understood, though three things are clear: first, 58 percent of those who wanted to leave were 65 years old and more; second, Northern Ireland and Scotland want to stay in the EU; and third, London voted against Brexit.

Those who wanted out, as per statements published in social media, are reported to have blamed the influx of migrants, especially from Islamic countries and the on-going Syrian crisis; the volatile euro; the deepening financial crisis in several European countries such as Greece and Portugal; the aggressive Brussels bureaucracy and the loss of sovereignty.

The full implications of Brexit are yet to be fully understood and would, in large part, need to be negotiated between London and the EU member states. However, in the aftermath of the vote, the immediate consequence is one of significant uncertainty and hence confusion.

Northern Ireland and Scotland have already voiced views about breaking away from the UK. Bizarrely, lobbying has started within the UK for London to remain a part of the EU! To confound confusion, there is talk of a second referendum!

Ultra-rightest lobbies are likely to capitalize on the vote and given how emotive the migration issue is, there is genuine fear that disintegrative forces would be unleashed. A gloating Marine Le Pen of France has already said that the UK has started a movement that will not stop. There is credible anxiety of the contagion spreading and threatening the very idea of European integration and unity.

The exit vote, as per Article 50 of EU Law, requires that within two years, a new relationship between the EU and the UK has to be negotiated. This is not as simple as it sounds. Will a post-Brexit Britain be excluded from the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership? Does the UK go it alone in the WTO? What happens to EU nationals working in the UK and vice versa? These are only some of the multiple questions that have been thrown up.

The annoyance at the vote is considerable and though Cameron has said that he will step down only later in the year, when the party elects a new Prime Minister, there is pressure to commence the negotiations immediately and begin the process of clarity.

German Chancellor Angela Merket, known for her sagacity and far-sightedness, clearly anticipated this and, immediately after the vote, convened a meeting of the six founding states -- Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands -- to gauge the sentiment on next steps. She cautioned against a quick divorce and said that while there needs to be clear roadmap, rushing into an exit was unwarranted. This was in sharp contrast to the position taken by the EU president, who wanted the UK out and fast.

These are difficult times and once again, all eyes will turn to Merkel's cool head to steer the dangerously damaged EU ship. What an extraordinary development that it is Germany, post-World War II, that has emerged as the ultimate European!

Perhaps the most remarkable tragedy is not that Britain is isolated or that the global economy is in turmoil but rather that when the majority of persons who voted for out were senior citizens, it is the young in the UK who would be denied the opportunity of taking advantage of the opportunities that EU offers. They would be the biggest losers. Perhaps the British Prime Minister ought to have gauged the implications with greater sobriety.

Cameron might have hoped to go down in history. He will, most certainly, do so but it is least likely that the biographies would be kind. As democracies, we are aware of the importance of respecting the will of the people. But democratic governance is also responsible governance. If anything, the timing of the referendum was an irresponsible and strategic blunder. Cameron didn't just let down the UK, he let Europe and the global community floundering. This surely was not the mark of statesmanship.

(29.06.2016 - Amit Dasgupta, a former Indian diplomat, served in Brussels and Berlin. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at amit.dasgupta2013@yahoo.com <mailto:amit.dasgupta2013@yahoo.com>)

--IANS

amit/vm/ky
A two-judge Supreme Court bench on Wednesday declined to hear a fresh petition by high profile celebrities challenging criminalization of consensual gay and lesbian sex and the matter was referred to Chief Justice T.S. Thakur.

The petitioners have challenged the constitutional validity of Section 377 of IPC.

Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice Ashok Bhushan said the petition by Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee Navtej Singh Johar and celebrity chef Ritu Dalmia should be placed before the Chief Justice to decide if it can be heard along with a batch of curative petitions on the same issue pending before the court.

Besides Johar and Dalmia, other petitioners are Sunil Mehra, Aman Nath and Ayesha Kapur.

The curative petitions seeking to cure "gross miscarriage of justice" by top court in its December 12, 2013 judgment and rejection of the review petition on January 28, 2014 were referred to a five-judge constitution bench on February 2, 2016.

The top court by its December 12, 2013 verdict had upheld the validity of Section 377.

Referring the curative petitions to the constitution bench on February 2, the bench of Chief Justice Thakur, Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar had said that since several constitutional issues were to be agitated in these petitions, the matter should be heard by the five-judge bench.

Senior counsel Arvind Datar told the court that the earlier petitions challenging the validity of Section 377 were filed by NGOs. But it was the first time that lesbian, gay and bisexual citizens had filed a writ seeking to quash the colonial era law that criminalises homosexuality.

Initially as the bench of Justice Bobde and Justice Bhushan said that they could hear the petition only after the verdict by a five-judge bench, Datar urged the court to order tagging of the petition by Johar and others with the curative petitions to be heard by the constitution bench.

Thereafter, the bench said that let the matter be placed before the Chief Justice Thakur.

Asserting that they were lesbian, gay and bisexual, the petitioners have contended that their rights to sexuality, sexual autonomy and choice of sexual partner were infringed by the Section 377 of IPC.

--IANS

pk/mr
A Mumbai Special Court on Wednesday ordered Vijay Mallya, head of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines, to appear before it on July 29 regarding money laundering cases filed against him.

Special Judge P.R. Bhavake told Mallya, now in Britain, to appear before him at 11 a.m. on July 29.

In the Proclamation Order published in Mumbai newspapers, Judge Bhavake said Mallya had committed an offence punishable under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

Attempts to serve an arrest warrant on Mallya failed as he "cannot be found" at a care of address of Kingfisher Airlines office in south Mumbai.

The Special Court was satisfied that Mallya had "absconded and is concealing himself to avoid the service of the (arrest) warrant" as per the order.

Earlier this month, the court declared him a proclaimed offender.

Mallya, 60, owes over Rs 9,000 crore to various banks. He left India on a March 2 using a diplomatic passport and is currently in the UK.

The Enforcement Directorate is also seeking to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to extradite Mallya.

--IANS

qn/mr
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday announced a school reform programme titled -- "Chunauti 2018" -- to enable students studying in government schools, especially Class 9, to overcome the adverse effects of the "no detention policy".

"The idea behind 'Chunauti 2018' is that by the year 2018, all students enrolled in Class 9th in the academic year 2016-2017, regardless of their learning levels at this point, will be trained and mentored to successfully appear for Class 10 examinations in 2018," Sisodia said adding, "No child will be left behind."

"Due to 'no detention policy' the percentage of student failing in Class 9 has increased in the last few years. In the academic year 2013-14 as many as 44 per cent students failed in Class 9 while in 2014-15 the figure became 48 per cent. In the academic year 2015-16 nearly 49 per cent students failed in Class 9 exam," Sisodia said.

He added that it was the result of "no detention policy" in which teachers were not allowed to fail students between Classes 6 and 8 even when they were not fit to be passed to the next class.

"This policy is weakening the foundation of the students in Classes 6, 7, and 8," he said.

Sisodia said that through this programme, the government aims to build a strong foundation among all students in reading, writing, arithmetic, bridging the gap between current learning levels and the academic demands of their class.

In order to achieve this, the government has decided to regroup all students from classes 6 to 9 based on a base line assessment, which will be conducted in the second week of July, he said.

Sisodia, who also holds the portfolio, said students who have failed twice or more in Class 9 would be provided the option of appearing for Class 10 exams through the Modified Patrachar Scheme of Examinations (MPSE).

The MPSE is especially proposed to ensure retention of children and to minimise the possibility of dropout. On clearing Class 10 exam through Patrachar Vidyalaya (correspondence school), the children will be re-enrolled in regular Class 11 in the same parent government school, Sisodia said.

--IANS

am/rn/vt
University of Delhi (DU) on Wednesday released its first cut-off for the academic session 2016-17 with Lady Sri Ram College (LSR) keeping the highest cut-off for Psychology Honours at 98.5 per cent, an increase of 0.5 percentage point.

The LSR set the cut-off for English Honours and B.Com (Honours) at 98.25 per cent and 98 per cent, respectively, same as previous year.

The cut-off for B.A. Honours (Journalism) was set at 97.5 per cent, a dip of one per cent as compared to last year.

The cut-off for Economics Honours at the prestigious Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) was 98.25 per cent, same as previous year while for for B.Com. (Honours) it was set at 98 per cent, an increase of 0.65 percentage point.

The cut off set for B.Com (Honours), Economic Honours, History Honours and English Honours at Hindu college was 97.75 per cent

Another prestigious college in north campus, Kirorimal College set its percentage for Economics Honours, B. A. (Honours), Physics Honours and B. Sc. (Honours) at 98 per cent, while for B.Com (Honours), it was 97.5 per cent.

For English Honours, the cut-was set at 94 per cent, as against 96.75 per cent last year.

Indraprashta (IP) College for Women decided 97 per cent cut-off for - Computer Science, English, Economics, Psychology and B. Com (Honours) while for political science it was set at 96 per cent.

Another sought-after college for girls, Miranda House set 97.75 per cent threshold for Economics, 97.5 per cent for English, 97.25 per cent for History and 97 per cent for Geography and political science.

Hansraj College had 97.75 per cent for B.Com (Honours) while it was 98 per cent for Economics. The cut off for English was 97 per cent, while it was 96.5 per cent for History.

The cut off for B. Com. (Honours) at College of Vocational Studies is 98 per cent, same as previous year while for History Honours it was increased by two percentage point to 94 per cent.

Among other South Campus colleges, Sri Venkateswara fixed its cut-off marks for Economics at 97.5 percent and 96.75 percent for English Honours.

For History and Political Science it was set at 96 percent while for B. Com and B. Com (Honours), the cut-off was set at 96.75 percent.

The university received 2,50,220 applications for the university's 54,000 seats across 61 colleges.

English Honours was the most applied for course with 1,15,786 applications, followed by BA (Bachelor of Arts) with 98,294 applications and BA (Honours) Political Science with 90,195 applications.

--IANS

av/pgh/
The Egyptian authorities on Wednesday reopened the Rafah border crossing with Gaza Strip for four days, officials said.

The Hamas-run interior ministry of Gaza said reopening the crossing point, which was for the second time in June and the fourth time this year, was not permanent and it was only to let patients and students to cross from Gaza to Egypt, Xinhua newsd agency reported.

It said the crossing was reopened to the Palestinians from Gaza stranded at different airports in various Arab and foreign countries.

On Wednesday morning, hundreds of Palestinians gathered at the outside gate of the crossing in the town of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip, waiting for their turn to get into buses and travel to Egypt.

Hamas security and police officers were deployed to organise the people into the buses, which then cross through the Egyptian gate of the crossing.

Egypt reopened Rafah crossing point in the first week of June for four days, and it was also temporarily reopened in February and May this year.

According to the interior ministry, some 25,000 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip need to travel either to Egypt or to the world through Egypt.

--IANS

py/vt
Social networking giant Facebook activated its safety check feature for users after the a suicide attack killed 36 people at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Tuesday night, a media report said.

The bombing dominated social media on Tuesday, with #Istanbul trending worldwide on Twitter, along with #terorelanetolsun (a cursing condemnation of terrorism in Turkish) and Ataturk Havalimani'nda ('at Ataturk airport' in Turkish). #PrayforTurkey was also trending, Fox News reported.

The feature allows people to notify their friends if they are in the affected area and mark themselves as safe.

A click or tap on the "I'm Safe" button lets friends and loved ones know straight away. Users can also check to see whether their friends are safe too.

Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim blamed the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group for the bombing attacks.

Addressing the press at the airport, the premier said the attacks were carried out by three suicide bombers and all blew themselves up. US officials said the attack bears the hallmarks of IS because of the target and method.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against militant groups.

"The bombs that exploded in Istanbul could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world," Erdogan said.

Facebook's Safety Check feature, launched in October 2014, has now been deployed on several occasions, including the November 2015 Paris attacks.

Earlier this year, Facebook activated its Safety Check feature for users in the aftermath of the the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Florida in which 50 people were killed.

In March, Facebook had to apologise after a bug turned its "safety check" feature into a breaking news alert for all users after a powerful blast ripped through a public park in Lahore, killing 69 people.

In the case of Lahore terror attack, people nowhere nearby, or even near Pakistan, received notifications.

In fact, people as far as New York city, South Africa, Nepal and Canada tweeted about receiving the "Safety Check" notification activated after the Lahore bombing.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has inked an MoU with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) to launch Solar for Healthcare, an initiative focusing on supply of solar power in government medical institutions, said an official statement.

The collaboration will help in providing effective healthcare delivery at the last mile by reducing uncertainty in critical infrastructure, particularly electricity supply.

"The collaboration with CEEW will bring together synergies between the objective of 'time to care' as mandated in the National Health Mission (NHM) and clean energy as outlined under the National Solar Mission (NSM)," said Soumya Swaminathan, Director General of ICMR.

CEEW is a policy research institution.

Swaminathan said that under the collaboration, on a pilot basis, both the organisations will install solar systems at select primary health centres in partnership with three state governments and evaluate its impact on healthcare delivery and health outcomes.

"The aim of the collaboration is to create resilient health systems in rural India, benefitting primarily women and children," said Swaminathan.

As of 2015, nearly 35 million citizens in rural India relied on un-electrified primary health centres for primary health services. In the absence of electricity, services catered by health institutions such as institutional deliveries, paediatric emergencies, and administering of vaccines get severely affected.

--IANS

rup/rn/vt
India's chef de mission for Rio Olympics Rakesh Gupta on Wednesday dismissed fears of Zika virus that has forced many international players to withdraw from the upcoming summer Games in the Brazilian capital.

Gupta said the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has taken enough measures to educate the athletes about the virus and have taken all the preventive measures.

He said so far there has been no objection from any of the participating athletes.

"IOA has taken all possible measures to inform the athletes about the virus. So far, none of the athletes have objected to their participation in the Olympics. We are in constant touch with the organising committee in Brazil," Mehta told reporters here.

"We will not take any chance and so each of the kits for the Olympics contain three full sleeve shirts which will protect them from the virus," he added.

Deputy chef de mission Anandeshwar Pandey urged the media not to spread any fears about the virus which may discourage the athletes from taking part in the Rio Games.

Referring to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Pandey said during that time there was widespread reportage of dengue in the national capital but that did not deter the athletes.

Due to the fear of the Zika virus, many international stars have withdrawn from what will be the maiden Olympics in South America.

More than 100 athletes from India are expected to take part in the quadrennial extravaganza, slated from August 5 to 21.

--IANS

tri/bg
India is expected to be among the top five markets for Tourism Australia by 2025, said officials on Wednesday during an event here to celebrate the issue of the 150,000th visa in the last 12 months.

"By 2025, we expect India to be among the top five markets for Tourism Australia," said Tourism Australia country manager Nishant Kashikar.

This is the first time the Australian mission here has issued 150,000 visas in 12 months.

"It is a significant and a momentous occasion for Tourism Australia today because we are celebrating this huge number of 150,000 visas. Within a year, we've achieved a remarkable 50 per cent increase in visa applications," Kashikar told IANS.

"We also have Indians spending and contributing significantly to the Australian economy that went up by almost 38 per cent and touched 1.1 billion Australian dollars. Indian tourists have contributed around Rs 5,500 crore to the Australian economy over the last 12 months," he added.

There has been extraordinary interest in the Visitor programme from the Indian market, which has led to this achievement.

"It is a landmark achievement. This is the first time ever that we have reached the 150,000-mark in visitor visa approvals in India for a year," said Australian High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu.

"More and more Indians are travelling to Australia for business, tourism and to study in our universities, as well as visit family," she added.

--IANS

mg/rn/vm
In a boost to battered European unity, Italy and the Netherlands agreed to share the two-year Security Council term for a non-permanent West European seat Tuesday after five rounds of balloting failed to break a deadlock in the General Assembly.

When the fifth round leveled out the Netherlands' slight lead to an even 95-95 split, the two countries agreed to split the term, with Italy taking the first turn next year.

Coming soon after Brexit, the momentous British referendum verdict to leave the European Union, the foreign ministers of both the countries hailed their agreement as a show of unity.

Calling the diplomatic deal a "signal of European cooperation", Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said it was a "show of unity for a complex time for Europe".

Asked by reporters about its symbolism, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said it was "not anti-Brexit, but pro-unity".

He added that it was a way for two European countries to show unity saying: "We have much in common."

Of the two West European seats that were at play, the other was taken in the first round ballot by Sweden with 134 votes to exceed the needed two-thirds majority.

For the Asia-Pacific slot, neither Thailand nor Kazakhstan got the two-thirds majority in the first round but the Central Asian nation raced ahead with 138 votes in the second ballot to become the first former Soviet country in Asia to serve on the Council.

Ethiopia was unanimously proposed by the African group and Bolivia by the Latin American-Caribbean bloc and were elected in the fist round.

Half of the 10 non-permanent seats with two-year terms come up for election every year.

The elections used to be held in October but the General Assembly moved them to June starting this year to give the new members more preparation time before they take their seats on the Council on New Year's Day.

The winds of change blowing across the UN parting in its wake the veils of secrecy led to the candidates for the contested seats participating in campaign debates held for the first time at the UN.

It was sponsored by the World Federation of UN Associations (WFUNA).

The two-thirds requirement for election to the non-permanent Security Council seats can lead to almost interminable rounds of voting when there isn't a consensus in the regional groups.

The last time two countries formally agreed to split their terms was during the cold war in 1960 when Poland and Turkey agreed to split the 1960-61 term after 52 rounds.

Also in 1956, after 36 rounds between Yugoslavia and the Philippines, Manila agreed to withdraw on the understanding that Yugoslavia would step down after the first year and the Philippines would run uncontested for the remainder of the term.

The longest deadlock was a 155-round standoff between Cuba and Colombia in 1979. The exhausted adversaries gave up and Mexico was elected in a compromise.

Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft, who helped broker the Italy-Netherlands deal, announced that the 193-member body would take up formal approval of the arrangement after West Europe and Others Group approved it.

--IANS

al/mr
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal won't visit Gujarat on July 9-10, the Aam Aadmi Party said on Wednesday, accusing the state's BJP government of forcing a Surat university to cancel the booking of a hall where he was to attend an event.

The Aam Aadmi Party said this forced Kejriwal to axe his two-day visit to Gujarat during which he was also scheduled to visit Somnath in Saurashtra region.

AAP leader and Delhi legislator Gulab Yadav and state party president Kanu Kalsaria said the Gujarat Chief Minister's Office directed the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University in Surat to cancel the booking of the hall on the campus.

Alleging "this is nothing but political vendetta", Yadav told the media that Kejriwal was to be the chief guest at the July 19 event, which was not an AAP function.

The AAP said Kejriwal was invited by some leading businessmen in Surat to attend a function of traders from across the state.

"It also shows how much they fear Arvind Kejriwal," Gulab Yadav said. He added this was "cheap political tactics" and it would not deter Kejriwal from visiting Gujarat any time during the next two months.

Confirming the development, Surat Vividh Vepari Mahamandal (Federation of Various Trader Bodies) President Jay Lal told IANS: "Yes, we had invited Kejriwal to be the chief guest at an all-Gujarat traders meet here on July 10 but now the event has been postponed and not cancelled."

Jay Lal said: "We were not adequately prepared for the meet and so we had to put off the function. The university authorities have been intimated in writing about it and asked to refund the deposit for the hall."

Asked why there was such a tearing hurry to cancel the booking, as was evident from the way the letter to the university was written, he said: "I know what you are driving at. I will not make any comment on . Our even was non-political."

Lal said local rules barred goods trucks older than 15 years from entering Delhi because of air pollution.

"So I took up the matter with Kejriwal who agreed to meet us and promised to personally come to Gujarat to meet us. He was very cooperative. So,m we organised the traders meet."

Meanwhile, state BJP President Vijay Rupani ridiculed the AAP's claims that the ruling party had got the programme cancelled.

"The fact is they are trying to rustle up something here but soon realized this is Gujarat when they didn't get any support," he said. "This is nothing but a stunt for which AAP and its leader are known for."

--IANS

desai/mr/vt
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday held a round of meeting with Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at his residence.

"The BJP chief held a meeting with Prime Minister for about 20 minutes," a party source told IANS here.

The two leaders were later also joined by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, he added.

"Various issues concerning the party and government figured in their discussions," the source said, refusing to divulge details.

While there was no confirmation if a possible "reshuffle" of the union council of ministers figured in their meeting, party sources earlier indicated that Modi and the BJP leadership could consider "additional representation" from poll-bound states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab in the union ministry.

A senior party leader, however, said, "cabinet expansion or reshuffle is essentially a prerogative of thed Prime Minister".

--IANS

bns-nd/ahm/vt
Nicolas Cage may have found love again following his separation from actress Alice Kim. The actor was seen getting cosy with a mystery woman in the Studio City neighborhood here.

In some photographs, Cage is seen kissing his female companion and caressing her cheek while they were sitting at a sushi bar at a restaurant here, reports dailymail.co.uk.

Cage donned a suit while the woman wore a traditional Japanese kimono during the date night.

Cage split from Kim after more than 11 years of marriage. They have a 10-year-old son named Kal-El.

Before Kim, Cage was married to Patricia Arquette and then Lisa Marie Presley. He also has another son, 25-year-old Weston, from his relationship with Christina Fulton.

--IANS

sas/rb/vm
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday said that there were no reports of any Indian among the casualties in the attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Tuesday evening that killed 36 people and injured over 145 others.

MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said that the Indian Consulate and Embassy tweeted the emergency contact numbers for Indians requiring assistance.

"No report so far of any Indian among the casualties. Consulate has been in touch with Istanbul Governorate and the Turkish Health Ministry hotline desk," an official statement said.

"Turkish Air flights to Delhi and Mumbai departed Istanbul last (Tuesday) night as scheduled. Both left Istanbul at around 8 p.m. Ataturk Airport operations have resumed but long delays are likely," the statement added.

The attack was carried out by three suicide bombers.

--IANS

rn/ksk
The US is committed to India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and one country cannot stop international consensus on this, a senior Barack Obama administration official said here on Wednesday.

"We are committed to having India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group," Thomas Shannon, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, said in an interaction with diplomats and officer trainees of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) here.

"India's recent entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) highlights that India is a responsible and important player in non-proliferation," he said.

His comments came after China, at the NSG plenary in Seoul earlier this month, stymied international consensus to include India in the 48-member group on the ground that a country needed to be a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) for this.

India formally applied for membership in the NSG earlier on May 12.

"We regret that in Seoul, we were unable to open the space necessary to have India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group at this moment," Shannon said.

"We understand that in a consensus-based organisation, one country cannot stop international consensus."

Earlier in his address to the gathering, Shannon said that civil nuclear cooperation was a "very important symbol" of the India-US relationship.

"Where the nuclear question once divided us, today it brings us together," he said.

"Just a few weeks ago, President Obama and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi welcomed the start of preparatory work on a site in Andhra Pradesh for six AP 1000 reactors to be built by an American company.

"This is expected to provide jobs in both countries and bring clean, reliable electricity that will help meet India's growing energy needs while reducing reliance on fossil fuels."

Shannon also referred to US Secretary of State John Kerry's remark that the US might not have another partnership that was so wide-ranging as the one with India.

"A key factor has certainly been the connection between our two peoples," he said.

"The three million Indian Americans are some of the most successful people in the United States. They have started 15 percent of Silicon Valley companies, become governors and Members of Congress, and won the Miss America pageant."

The US official also pointed out that 130,000 Indians were studying in his country and more than a million Americans visited India last year.

As for bilateral trade ties, Shannon said that "US and Indian business leaders and young entrepreneurs have shown their own ambitions to work together".

"Annual trade between our countries is now over $107 billion a year, five times what it was a decade ago," he said.

He also said that US-India defence cooperation was much broader, as both countries now looked to each other as "priority partners" in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean region.

"In fact, we see India as an anchor of stability in this dynamic region, and were pleased to finalise the text of a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Understanding (Lemoa) this month," Shannon said.

He said both the US and India stood united against terrorism and violent extremism.

"We work together bilaterally and multilaterally to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorism anywhere in the world, and dismantle infrastructure that supports them," he stated, adding that both sides recently finalised a new arrangement to share terrorist screening information.

Apart from terrorism, the other global threat the two countries were addressing together was climate change, the US official said.

"Climate change is a key challenge our leaders have committed to, including through the historic Paris Agreement," he said.

"Our leaders pledged to work towards full implementation of the Agreement and to seeing it enter into force as early as possible."

Shannon also said the US-India partnership was "indispensable" for peace and prosperity in Asia.

"That is why President Obama and Prime Minister Modi signed a Joint Strategic Vision Statement for the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean Region last January," he said.

"We affirmed the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea," he added.

--IANS

ab/bg
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday condemned the terrorist attack at the Istanbul airport that left at least 36 people dead.

The explosions hit the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday evening, forcing the suspension of all flights.

Sharif also condemned in all its forms and manifestations, a statement from his office said.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said in Ankara that three terrorists opened fire at random and then blew themselves up at the airport.

--IANS

mr/
With the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on top of the government's agenda, Parliament's monsoon session will be held from July 18 to August 12, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu announced here on Wednesday.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, attended among others by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

At the meeting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said if members raise issues concerning the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and matters concerning foreign trips of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others, she is willing to make a statement, Naidu informed.

"The session will begin from July 18... There will be 20 working days," Naidu told reporters.

"One important bill we would like to bring is on the GST," Naidu said, adding the pending legislation is "important" in the larger interest of the country particularly "in view of the volatile situation of the world's economy".

He also said in the given situation of the world economy, "India has a great opportunity and if we are able to get the GST passed, Indian economy will grow further".

"Keeping that in mind I appeal to all the political parties to cooperate in passing the bill. We have spent enough time on this," he said.

The government wants to pass the bill "by consensus".

"We are working in that direction and talking to all the parties," he said, adding the government otherwise has enough numbers on the GST.

Naidu said that there are 11 Bills pending in Lok Sabha and 45 Bills pending in Rajya Sabha.

He said that the Ministers have been asked to take necessary action in respect of the pending and new Bills to be introduced by the third of next month so as to ensure that about 20 to 25 Bills could be taken up for introduction, consideration and passing.

The 11 Bills pending in Lok Sabha include Factories (Amendment) Bill,2014, Electricity (Amendment) Bill,2014, Lok Pal and Lokayuktas and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Bill,2014, Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Bill,2015, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill,2015, Consumer Protection Bill,2015, and Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill,2015.

Some of the 45 Bills pending in Rajya Sabha include Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 1987, Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill,2015, Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2016 and Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill,2016.

The CCPA meeting also decided that "all the ministers" should conduct internal meetings and discuss proposals, if any, from the respective departments to be brought in the form of legislation.

"We have told them that they have to be ready by July 3 because the rule says you have to give 15 days notice to the Lok Sabha Speaker or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha," Naidu said.

Naidu said 45 bills are pending in the Rajya Sabha while 11 legislation are before the Lok Sabha.

"Some of them are referred to the Standing Committees. The committees have completed their studies, some of them have come back."

Naidu said as Parliamentary Affairs Minister he has asked all the ministers to "find out latest position vis-a-vis their respective bills" and prepare to give notice to the chairs on the concerned bills.

In addition to these, three Ordinances would need to be passed, he said.

These include the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, the Medical Council of India and the Dental Council of Indian ordinances.

--IANS

sk/rn
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday accused the BJP and its President Amit Shah of betraying promises made in the election manifesto.

Kejriwal claimed that for the Aam Aadmi Party, a poll manifesto document has the same sanctity as a holy book like the Bible, Quran or the Gita.

Addressing a group of small hoteliers in the beach village of Calangute in North Goa as part of his Goa Dialogues, Kejriwal also said that he keeps the party's manifesto for the 2014 Delhi assembly elections saved on his mobile phone and reviews it with his team every day.

"In an interview, BJP President Amit Shah said the promise of black money worth Rs 15 lakh deposited in everyone's account was a pre-poll 'jumla'. For some parties it can be a 'jumla', but for Aam Aadmi Party our manifesto is Bible, Quran and Gita," Kejriwal said.

"One way to put together a manifesto is by hiring some experts. They can give you a good-looking manifesto. There are many symptoms of high command culture. When manifestos are made in the air-conditioned rooms, then that is also high command culture. Today the people of Goa are preparing a manifesto, not Kejriwal," the AAP national convener said.

"I keep our manifesto saved in my mobile phone. We check (it) every morning, ticking everything which is done. What we promised, what we delivered," Kejriwal added.

--IANS

maya/bim/vt
He may be touching 90 and may be the country's oldest serving chief minister, but Punjab's Parkash Singh Badal is not willing to give up just yet -- politically speaking.

Badal, who has seen electoral from the year when the country got its independence in 1947, is readying himself for another electoral battle as Punjab votes for a new assembly next February.

The wily chief minister had, in the run-up to the January 2012 assembly polls, termed them his last political campaign. But, with his Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) facing a challenge as it seeks a third term in office, Badal is again leading it from the front.

Badal, who turned 88 last December, has increased the frequency of his 'Sangat Darshans' meetings with the public for which he travels to villages and towns to listen to grievances of people at their doorstep. Under this programme, Badal has travelled across the state a few times.

"Unlike other politicians who become inaccessible to the people after coming to power, I have always reached out to people through the Sangat Darshan programme. The rush at these events shows people's faith in our government," Badal claims.

In the 2012 assembly polls, Badal's son and deputy in the government, Sukhbir Singh Badal, emerged as the chief strategist, leading to speculation that he could be appointed the next chief minister. But Sukhbir remained content with being Deputy Chief Minister, even though there is no doubt in anyone's mind in Punjab's power corridors that it is he who calls the shots.

The SAD, along with alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had created history in Punjab's in 2012 by returning to power for a second consecutive term, winning 68 seats in the 117 member house. The main opposition Congress, which was quite sure of capturing power, had to face electoral humiliation.

But it is not the love of alone that Badal senior is readying for another electoral innings.

The political fight between traditional rivals, the SAD-BJP alliance and the Congress, has now been spiced up by the entry of a new challenger -- the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The AAP, which has made inroads in Punjab's political scene and had even won four Lok Sabha seats from the state in the 2014 general elections, has thrown its hat in the fray.

The confidence of the AAP leadership, and the fact that political surveys have given it a clear edge over the SAD and the Congress so far, has caused worry in the camps of both mainline parties here, causing them to sharpen their attacks on the AAP in recent weeks.

Born on Dec 8, 1927, at Abul Khurana village near Malout in southwest Punjab in an agriculturist family, Badal forayed into politics by getting elected as a village headman in 1947.

He was elected to the assembly for the first time in 1957 on the Congress ticket.

Leaving the Congress soon after, Badal ended up opposing its policies and governments.

Well-known for his witty one-liners and memory of people and events, Badal has always remained centre-stage in Punjab's politics in the past over six decades. He has been chief minister of Punjab five times -- 1970-71, 1977-1980, 1997-2002, 2007-2012 and 2012 onwards. He briefly became a union minister in 1977 in the Morarji Desai government.

Many of Badal's close family members are in the government.

Badal's daughter-in-law Harsimrat Badal (Sukhbir's wife) is the union minister for food processing. His son-in-law Adaish Pratap Singh Kairon is a cabinet minister in his government as is Harsimrat's younger brother, Bikram Singh Majithia.

Badal, who certainly does not fit into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's earlier comment that politicians should retire at the age of 75, is showing no signs of retiring just yet.

(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in <mailto:jaideep.s@ians.in>)

--IANS

js/vm/hs
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the gas price for Ukraine in the third quarter will be based on the formula under a contract signed between the two countries.

"According to preliminary estimates, the prices for gas won't be above the market prices. Therefore, there is no need for discount on gas for Ukraine," Novak said in an interview with TV channel 24 on Tuesday.

Earlier, energy firm Naftogaz of Ukraine refused to buy Russian gas at a price of $177 per thousand cubic metres, referring to the fact that this price is higher than the offer in Europe, Xinhua news agency reported.

Novak said the pricing formula involves the valuation of oil and petroleum products over a period of several quarters.

"The relevant calculations for the third quarter will be made in the end of the month," he added.
Bollywood actor Salman Khan's reply to notices by women's panels over his "raped woman" comment has not gone down well with either the National Commission for Women (NCW) or the Maharashtra State Women's Commission (MSWC).

While the NCW on Wednesday said it was mulling further action against Salman Khan as the commission was not satisfied with his reply, the state women's panel has summoned him in person on July 7.

"Salman Khan has replied to our notice. We are not going to reveal the contents of the letter; it would suffice to say that the letter does not sound apologetic," NCW Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam told IANS.

"We are seeking legal advice for further action as we are not satisfied with his reply. We hope to finalise it by tomorrow," she added.

According to sources, the NCW did not like the tone and tenor of Salman's letter.

The Maharashtra commission rejected Salman's contention -- submitted through his lawyer -- that since the matter is already before the national panel, it should not be pursued by the MSWC to avoid duplication.

"We have concurrent powers just the way the NCW has. This matter can be heard at the state level too. Therefore, his version is invalid," MSWC Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar said.

She said the actor has been summoned on July 7 at the MSWC office along with his lawyers.

"We have asked him to put forth his views in an affidavit," Rahatkar added.

During a media interaction last week, Salman said he "felt like a raped woman" after shooting for a gruelling wrestling sequence for his upcoming film 'Sultan'. He plays a wrestler in the film.

When Salman was asked how difficult it was to shoot wrestling scenes for the movie, he said: "While shooting during those six hours, there was so much of lifting and thrusting that it was unbelievable. If I was lifting a 120 kg person and dropping him down, I had to do it 10 times."

"(I did it) 10 times from five different angles. So, six-and-half or seven hours. Either, I was picking him and throwing (him) or else, he was picking me up and throwing me... so it was like the most difficult thing."

"When I used to walk out of the ring, I used to feel actually like a raped woman walking out... I couldn't take steps," he added.

Women's groups protested the remark and demanded an apology. The actor's father, Salim Khan, has apologised on behalf of his son.

--IANS

mak/tsb/vt
The Supreme Court will examine to what extent courts can look into Muslim personal law, including triple talaq, if they violate the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.

An apex court bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said on Wednesday that it was an important issue concerning a large number of people and there were divergent views on the issue.

"We have to hear all of them and take a call to what extent courts can interfere in the Muslim personal laws if courts find they are in violation of the fundamental rights," the bench said.

Describing the matter as serious and directing the next hearing on September 6, the court asked the parties to frame the issues.

The bench asked all the contesting parties, the central government included, to file their responses.

The court order came as it was told that the central government had not filed its response.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Thakur is hearing a PIL on the rights of Muslim women in the context of alleged arbitrary divorce by pronouncing triple talaq.

A bench of Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goal had on October 16, 2015 issued notice to Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi and the National Legal Service Authority as it directed the separate listing of a PIL addressing the question of the rights of Muslim women.

Appearing for two petitioners, senior counsel Indira Jaisinh told the court that the personal laws should be subject to the regime of the fundamental rights.

The question that the court should address is "Whether the personal laws are subject to the regime of fundamental rights", Jaisinh told the bench.

Senior counsel Anand Grover backed the position taken by Jaisinh. Grover had appeared for interveners Zakia Soman and Noor Jahan. He said triple talaq had no sanction in Islam.

Opposing the plea urging the court to examine the question of gender discrimination in Muslim personal law in the context of fundamental rights, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board said that most of the issues being agitated before the court have already been settled.

The Board said the Muslim personal law were from the holy Quran and Ahadith of the Prophet and were not covered by Article 13 of the constitution. Thus it could not be tested on the touchstone of fundamental rights.

The bench on Wednesday refused to restrain the AIMPLB from speaking on the subject and the media from reporting them.

Appearing in person, advocate Farha Faiz had urged the court to restrain the AIMPLB from issuing "misleading statements" which were causing confusion and the media from carrying them.

The bench said that for now it would not restrain any one.

Farha Faiz runs an NGO Muslim Women's Quest for Equality and is national president of the Rashtrawadi Muslim Mahila Sangh, which is associated with the RSS.

Assailing the AIMPLB, Farha Faiz wondered how a registered society could become the custodian of Muslim personal law.

"They say that Supreme Court can't interfere in their matters even if they are wrong," she told the bench, asking if that was so, where then was need for a constitution and constitutional courts.

--IANS

pk/mr
BJP National President Amit Shah on Wednesday said that Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee never got the due place in history which he deserved.

Speaking at an exhibition titled 'Shyama Prasad Mukherjee-A Selfless Patriot' at Nehru Memorial Museum here, Shah said: "If anyone writes the history of India impartially and neutrally then he (Shyama Prasad) will find an important place. But he didn't find the place in history which he deserved."

He further said that its the "responsibility of the historians to analyse the stature of a person on the basis of the work done by him for the country.

"Earlier the British and later the Leftist historians twisted the history of the country which is an inexcusable crime," Shah said.

Attacking the Congress for the Partition, Shah said: "No country should be divided on the basis of religion, but the Congress accepted the Partition on the basis of religion."

Highlighting the contribution of Shyama Prasad, the BJP president said: "If today Jammu and Kashmir and Bengal are an integral part of India then its all due to him, whose foundation were laid down by his sacrifices."

--IANS

aks/bim/bg
Amid falling prices of commodities, Vedanta Ltd generated a free cash flow of over Rs 11,000 crore in the last fiscal, which reduced the company's net debt by over Rs 6,000 crore, a top company official said on Wednesday.

"The year was challenging for the sector with falling commodity prices. During FY2016, driven by opex and capex optimisation, the company generated free cash flow of over Rs 11,000 crore, which is around three times higher than last year. This helped us reduce our net debt by over Rs 6,000 crore," said Company Chairman Naveen Agarwal.

"The liquidity for the group remains strong with over Rs 52,000 crore in cash and cash equivalents," he said while addressing the shareholders at the company's 51st Annual General Meeting.

Agarwal said cost discipline and improved productivity led to robust results in a volatile market. The company contributed Rs 20,600 crore to the exchequer in the last fiscal.

"In line with our focus on simplifying our corporate structure, the completion of the Vedanta Limited and Cairn India merger remains a strategic priority," he said.

For Cairn India, the enhanced oil recovery project at Mangala oil-field has been very successful, Agarwal said.

"We see significant potential to increase gas production from the upcoming Raageshwari deep gas project," the company chairman said.

During the last fiscal, the company started ramp-up of its aluminium smelting capacity at Jharsuguda and Balco.

"We also continue to work towards a phased ramp-up of the alumina refining capacity at the Lanjigarh refinery," he said.

The company's subsidiary Hindustan Zinc made progress towards the transition of Rampura Agucha mine from open pit to underground, which is the world's largest zinc mine.

The company continues to work on its next phase of growth, enhancing capacity of Zinc-Lead to 1.2 million tonnes per annum and silver capacity to 500 tonnes, he said.

Referring to Gamsberg Zinc project in South Africa, one of the world's largest undeveloped zinc deposit, he said: "Given the strong fundamentals for Zinc and our ramp-up plan, we expect the first ore production in 2018, at an optimized capex of $400 million."

With the resumption of iron ore mining last year in Goa after the lifting of the ban by the state government, the company expects iron ore business will contribute more.

--IANS

bdc/tsb/vt
Drawing a parallel between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS with Hitler and his idea of nationalism, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday warned against the metamorphosis of a "secular democratic republic of India into a rabidly intolerant fascistic Hindu Rashtra".

Delivering a lecture on 'Neo-liberalism, Communalism and Intellectual Resistance' at the 77th Foundation Day of the National Book Agency here, Yechury cited the Jawaharlal Nehru University controversy as well as "Love Jihad" and "Ghar Wapasi" as a bid by the BJP and the RSS "to replace India's inclusiveness with the exclusive concept of Hindu Rashtra".

"In a chilling similarity to Hitler's concept of 'purifying' the German nation, the RSS's ideology involves replacing nationalism of Indian inclusiveness to the exclusive concept of Hindu Rashtra, where Hindus and Hindus alone are the true inhabitants of the country," Yechury said.

"Anybody else who practices any other religion or refuses to get subsumed under the Hindu way of life, are but foreigners and anti-nationals," he said.

Accusing the Modi government of juggling statistics to paint a rosy picture of the Indian economy which actually was "sluggish", Yechury also lambasted the Centre over Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

"Much like they found a messiah in Hitler, national and international corporates were looking for a messiah in India who will deliver for them and allow the opportunity for profit maximisation."

"That is exactly what Modi did in his visit to the US, where he signed all the instruments for opening everything to FDI, including the defence sector," he said.

Yechury called for building "intellectual resistance against the fast approaching fascism".

"What we are having in the country today is not yet fascism. Fascism means replacement of parliament democracy by a naked terrorist dictatorship. We have not yet allowed them to jettison parliamentary democracy."

"But efforts are on to jettison democracy," the Marxist veteran said, pointing to the imposition of President's Rule in Uttarakhand.

"It is not that we wait for fascism to arrive and then fight because there will be very few to fight," he said.

"Fascism will succeed only if they succeed to replace Indian history with Hindu mythology, replace Indian philosophy by Hindu theocracy."

"That is why building up intellectual resistance holds the significance. It's the battle of reason against unreason. We need to strengthen reason so that it triumphs over the unreason," he added.

--IANS

and/ssp/rn/vt
The UK is currently the fastest growing major economy in the European Union (EU). After the result of the June 23 referendum, and the uncertainties created by Brexit, it is questionable how long this growth momentum will last. Most economic analysts, including the International Monetary Fund, had earlier forecast adverse consequences of a divorce from the EU. After last Friday, British Prime Minister David Cameron, who has announced his intention to leave in the next few months, must be ruing the decision to call for a vote. As recently as February he had negotiated for Britain, an "opt out" from the commitment to "ever closer union" incorporated in the Treaty of Rome (1957), the starting point of the European Project. Cameron then thought that this "opt out", along with some other changes on economic/financial issues, was a satisfactory package and he was confident of winning the June referendum.
Italy is the first country to exploit the European Union's new-found weakness. Rome is pushing for a suspension of Brussels' state aid rules to help it bail out its banks, reports say. It has leverage: if it doesn't get some slack, the resulting mess could upend the euro zone.
By voting to leave the European Union, Britons have delivered a potential windfall to tourists eager to snatch up Burberry trenchcoats, Harrods Stilton and Liberty scarves on the cheap. The outcome of the June 23 referendum sent the British currency plunging, making the country's goods and services cheaper for foreign buyers. Consumers reacted immediately: Searches by Chinese for UK holidays "skyrocketed" on Ctrip.com International Ltd's travel booking app, the company said, while Chinese news site Phoenix implored visitors to London to "Buy, Buy, Buy." A ...
With reference to Archis Mohan's report, "New Rajya Sabha math emboldens govt to make renewed push for GST" (June 29), the development is interesting on the eve of the monsoon session in the Rajya Sabha.
The government is increasingly confident of the support of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on the goods and services tax (GST) Constitution amendment, and the quid pro quo is likely to be in the shape of central assistance to the state government to help out with Tamil Nadus mounting power dues.The government is sure of the arithmetic in favour of the key reform legislation, hopeful that the AIADMK would not align forces with the Congress to oppose the GST Bill during the monsoon session of Parliament. According to governments assessment, the AIADMK is likely to stage a walkout at the time of voting on the Bill. Jayalalithaa had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 14 in New Delhi.The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs on Wednesday finalised the dates for the monsoon session of Parliament. It will be held from July 18 to August 12, and will have a total of 20 sittings over 26 days.The passage of the GST will constitute the key element of governments proposed legislative agenda for the session. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the government will try and build consensus on the GST Bill. At a time when observers have commented at the governments cupboard on proposed legislations being empty, Naidu said ministers have been asked to be prepared with Bills that concern their ministries by July 3. This, he said, will ensure that 20 to 25 Bills could be taken up for introduction, consideration and passing during the session.

Currently, there are 11 Bills pending in Lok Sabha and 45 in Rajya Sabha, including the GST Bill.
A man from Jharkhand was today arrested with 228 bottles of liquor in Barachatti police station area of Gaya district, police said.

A car coming from Ranchi was intercepted by the police and 228 bottles of whiskey, meant for supply to the paramilitary forces, seized, City Superintendent of Police Avkash Kumar claimed.

As liqour has been banned in Bihar, the police arrested one person, identified as Bhola Singh, under the Excise Act for illegal possession of liqour bottles.

Singh was travelling from Ranchi by the car with the liquor bottles on way to his native place in Aurangabad district of Bihar, Kumar said.
Implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations will give a much-needed boost to demand in the consumer durables sector, which has witnessed sluggish sales in the last couple of years, industry players said.

Terming the Seventh Pay Commission as key to boosting demand especially when the global economy is reeling under the Brexit impact, Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) President Manish Sharma said consumer spending is expected to rise.

"We strongly believe that consumer spending will be on the rise owing to an increase in income levels by 23.55 per cent.

"With the rise in disposable income and scaling of e-commerce, the consumer durable industry is expected to grow by 15 per cent in this fiscal," Sharma said in a statement.

Echoing similar sentiments, South Korean manufacturer LG said that both urban as well as rural sales will improve.

"Certainly Seventh Pay Commission implementation will have a positive impact. We expect people will upgrade their consumer durables post increase in disposable income," LG India Corporate Marketing Head Niladri Datta said.

According to Sony India Sales Head Satish Padmanabhan, the hike would have a quite positive impact as more money would come into the market.

"Overall sentiment is looking quite good because of on par monsoon and all in all, it would be a good bonus for the business," said Padmanabhan.

Panasonic India Head, Sales and Service, Ajay Seth said, "With the festive season approaching imminently, we have already channelised our businesses to meet the heavy demand for consumer durables and smartphones."



Videocon COO C M Singh said that the pay panel recommendations would favor 50 lakh central government employees and 58 lakh pensioners, which in turn will trigger purchases.

"This will certainly have an impact on the sales and trigger purchases. Favoring a tilt in demand for premium products, we expect the new age technologies segment to boost our business," said Singh.

Whirlpool of India Managing Director Sunil D'Souza said, "This is great positive for the consumer durables industry since this will definitely spur demand for discretionary and aspirational products".

"We look forward to this contributing to good growth in the later part of this year," he added.

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South Korean consumer electronics maker Samsung said, "The implementation of Pay Panel's proposal is a welcome step as it will enable increased purchasing power and drive accelerated growth of the economy in the coming days.
An RSS-affiliated labour union today raised a banner of revolt against the Centre's decision to hike the pay of its employees on 7th Pay Commission's recommendations, saying it will hold country-wide protests on July 8 against the move.

Rejecting the pay hike, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) said government has "disappointed" the employees and it may lead to industrial unrest.

BMS also rejected the Model Shops and Establishments Bill, alleging that by approving it the government has gone back on its word of coming out with a draft bill and getting it approved at the tripartite consultations with labour unions.

The union charged the Centre with increasing disparity between minimum and maximum pay and demanded that there should be a uniform minimum pay of Rs 18,000 across the country, including in the private sector.

"Government has disappointed us by ignoring the objections raised by employees on recommendations of 7th Pay Commission. This will lead to industrial unrest for which the government will be responsible.

"The fitment formula should be 3.42 instead of 2.57 as approved by the government. Similarly, annual increment should be 5 per cent instead of 3 per cent given. The disparity between the minimum and maximum pay has also been increased," BMS general secretary Virjesh Upadhyay said in a statement.

He said, the Sangh will organise protests across the country in all districts on July 8 and will discuss at its national executive in August the alternative of going on a strike.

In a bonanza, one crore government employees and pensioners will get a 2.5 times hike in basic pay and pensions under the 7th Pay Commission recommendations that will cost the exchequer annually Rs 1.02 lakh crore, which the government says will have a multiplier effect on economy.

The new scales of pay provide for entry-level basic pay going up from Rs 7,000 per month to Rs 18,000, while at the highest level i.E. Secretary, it would go up from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh. For Class 1 officers, the starting salary will be Rs 56,100.
Nine out of 20 universities in West Bengal do not have permanent vice-chancellors also there is low interest among qualified people to take the principal's post in government colleges, state Education minister Partha Chatterjee told the Assembly today.

The government is trying to fill up the vacancies, he said adding the universities which do not have vice-chancellors include Calcutta University, Kalyani University, West Bengal State University, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Institute of Technology, Diamond Harbour Women University, Raigunj University and Sanskrit College and University.

Also there is low interest for the post of principals and out of vacancies in 42 colleges Public Service Commission has received only 27 applications in the last two attempts, the education minister said in a reply.

He said there will be government interventions whenever required as it provides funds and has the responsibility to prevent financial misuse as public funds are involved.

Opposition, Chatterjee said, always made hue and cry about whatever steps the government takes in respect of education, even if it investigates misappropriation of Rs 800 crore in universities.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Manas Bhuyian said higher education on the state had hit the bottom and the government interventions were indirect control on educational institutions.

The government is unable to find vice-chancellors for university and college principals due to disruption in the campuses, which prevent qualified people take responsibilities, he told reporters outside the Assembly.

Not just foreign Universities in India, the paper also



says that Indian institutions will also be allowed to set up campuses abroad, if required, through suitable legislations/ amendments in the relevant Acts or statutes.

"A panel under former Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanian had given its report on drafting a New Education Policy, the policy paper put out today is based on several recommendations of the Subramanian panel," a senior HRD ministry official said.

Among other key recommendations, it has been suggested that for science, mathematics and english subjects, a common national curriculum will be designed. For other subjects, such as social sciences, a part of the curricula will be common across the country and the rest will be at the discretion of the states.

A framework and guidelines for ensuring school safety and security of children will be developed and will be made a part of the eligibility conditions for a school education institution for recognition and registration, the draft says.

It also says that schools will engage trained counsellors to confidentially advise parents and teachers on adolescence problems faced by growing boys and girls.

Another suggestion is setting of a task force of experts will be set up to study the recruitment, promotion and retention procedures, followed by internationally renowned universities and institutions and suggest measures to promote intellectual and academic excellence in higher education institutes.

A national campaign will be launched to attract young talent into the teaching profession, has also been suggested.

The paper, however, does not contain much suggestion to curb politicisation, which was one of the key points in the Subramanian panel report. The panel in its report had even suggested that it should be examined if units of political parties should be allowed on campuses.

Another key suggestion contained in the HRD ministry



draft relates to the high failure rate in class-X examination which is attributed to a large extent to poor performance in three subjects: Mathematics, Science and English.

In order to reduce the failure rates, class X examination in Mathematics, Science and English will be at two levels: Part-A at a higher level and Part-B at a lower level. Students who intend to join courses/ programmes for which science, mathematics or English is not a prerequisite or wish to shift to vocational stream after class-X will be able to opt for Part-B level examination, the paper says.

At present Central and State Boards of Education conduct examination for class X and XII.

It will be mandatory for the students to take class X board examination conducted by the Board to which their school is affiliated, it added.

The paper has also suggested that an expert committee will be constituted to study the systems of accreditation in place internationally and will suggest restructuring of NAAC and NAB as well as redefining methodologies, parameters and criteria.
Air India's Dreamliner aircraft is set to make its US debut with the flag carrier proposing a flight to Newark from Ahmedabad via London in August.

As of now the Government-owned airline, carries out its most of European operations with Boeing 787-800 (Dreamliner) aircraft besides servicing some of the domestic routes.

Air India has a total of 21 B787-800 planes in its fleet of 132 aircraft.

Air India will connect Newark with Ahmedabad via London from August 15, airline's chief Ashwani Lohani told reporters at the sideline of a tourism event here today.

The new service will be catered by Dreamliner plane, he said adding that Ahmedabad-London-Newark service will operate three times a week.

"After this, we plan to connect two capital cities, New Delhi and Washington DC," he said.

Air India currently operates flight services New York, San Francisco, Newark and Chicago from New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

The San Francisco flight, launched last December, was airline's first non-stop service connecting India with America's West Coast.

Besides seeking to expand in the US market, Air India has plans to spread its wings further in the European region, where it currently operates to eight destinations including the UK, France, Germany and Italy.
Accusing RSS of 'appeasing' Muslims by organising an 'Iftar' party for them on July 2, a Hindu outfit has sought cancellation the event and an apology from the Sangh.

The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, a lesser-known Hindu organisation, has said that Keshav Hegdewar had founded RSS to serve the interests of Hindus but the Sangh is now serving Muslim interests instead, for which it should apologise.

"Now, the Sangh has abandoned pro-Hindu tasks and is serving the Muslim interests instead. Iftar parties are being organised for Muslims...But Sangh never organises Navratra fasts and festivities.

"It will be construed that the Sangh has diverted from the path shown by its founders. RSS is urged to cancel its Iftar party and it should seek an apology from Hindus for this mistake, or else the Hindu Mahasabha will oppose any such move," a statement by general secretary Munna Kumar Sharma and Viresh Tyagi, Office Secretary of the Mahasabha said.
Ambedkar University has received thrice the number of applications than last year for its various undergraduate courses this year.

The admission process concluded earlier this week with 26,777 applications for its undergraduate programmes - a substantial increase from last year's 9,778, the varsity said.

The university begins new campus at Karampura with 200 seats this year, bringing the total seats to 445. But the number of applications has increased by over 173 per cent in one year.

For the Kashmere Gate campus, which has 245 seats, the university received 15,823 applications; for its new Karampura campus, it has received 10,954 applications.

For its postgraduate courses with a total of 480 seats, the varsity has received 7,885 applications against last year's 5,687.

This year, the university has also waived fees for SC, ST and PwD (persons with disability) categories for undergraduate classes.

B R Ambdekar University, which was established by Delhi Government in 2008, is a state funded varsity with a student strength of 1800. The university offers various undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral programmes.

The admission process for undergraduate courses offered by the nine departments at the varsity began on May 9 and the last date of application was June 24.
BJP President Amit Shah today met Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid reports of a reshuffle in the Union Cabinet.

There was no official word on what transpired in the meeting, and party sources played down its significance, saying such an exercise, which is also attended often by Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj, happens almost every month.

Top party leaders take stock of political affairs in the meet.

There has been a strong buzz in the party for some time about a reshuffle.

Uttar Pradesh, which goes to the polls early next year, is likely to get more representation and besides Assam, whose Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal was a Union Minister before he returned to lead the state government.

Some state ministers could also be elevated to Cabinet rank, sources said.
The armed forces seems to be unhappy with the cabinet approval of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations saying the anamolies that they had highlighted has not been taken care of.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar admitted that "some" of the recommedations that he had strongly pushed on behalf of the armed forces have "not" been accepted.

We are still awaiting finer details to come out but on the look of it there are "not bright spots" as of now, defence sources said.

They said that the fact that the government has set up a committee to look into anomalies arising out of implementation of the Commission's report is itself an indicator that their concerns have not been taken into account.

The only good feature is that instead of creating one committee like all previous government's have done, this government has set up multiple ones to look into anamolies, allowance and others, the sources said.

Sources said the demand for uniform pay matrix has not been taken into account and that the allowances have not been brought at par with civilian employees.

Non implementation of common pay matrix means that defence pay matrix will be restricted to 24 pay levels even though the bureaucratic pay level is 40.

Another issue of concern is the non-implementation of Non Functional Upgradation (NFU) which would have allowed armed forces personnel to get upper grade of salary even when not promoted like their civilian counterparts.

One of the main grudge that the armed forces have is with regard to risk-hardship matrix. The officers say that a soldier posted in Siachen Glacier, which has the highest degree of both risk and hardship, gets an allowance of Rs 31,500 per month.

In contrast, a civilian bureaucrat from the All India Services draws 30 per cent of his salary as "hardship allowance" when posted anywhere outside the comfort zone.

Under the new scale, a senior IAS official posted in a city in northeast will draw much more as "hardship allowance", compared to the Rs 31,500 per month drawn by military officers in Siachen.
Assam Governor P B Acharya today condoled the death of NSCN(IM) leader Isak Chisi Swu who passed away in a New Delhi hospital yesterday.

"It is with great shock that I learnt of the passing of Chairman and Co-founder of NSCN(IM) Isak Chisi Swu. He was a person with a combination of all experiences who proved himself well practically," the Governor said in a condolence message here.

"It is indeed a great loss for all to have lost a dedicated, devoted and a committed leader, but the Nagas have lost an influential and courageous leader," he said.

"He spent all his life for the Naga cause and his contribution to the frame work agreement signed between the Centre and NSCN(IM) has been enormous. His guidance and contributions will remain vital," the Governor said.

"It is unfortunate that he is not in our midst to participate in the talks for the final agreement between the Centre and NSCN(IM), which is heading towards the final stage.

"The vacuum caused by his departure will be very hard to fill and I along with my wife offer our deepest condolences to Swu's wife and children," he added.
The Kerala Assembly today decided to pass a unanimous resolution against the proposed merger of State Bank of Travancore (SBT) with State Bank of India.

Replying to a Calling Attention Motion of K Suresh Kurup (CPI-M), in the assembly, to urge the Centre to take steps to withdraw the merger decision, Finance Minister Thomas Issac said SBT has over 8,000 branches in Kerala and disburses maximum loans to farmers and small traders.

It also plays an effective role in government's treasury related matters, he said.

If the merger becomes a reality, Kerala would suffer, he said and suggested that the house pass a unanimous resolution against it.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said he agreed with the Minister's views.

Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to move the resolution.

Last month, SBI had cleared a proposal for merger of subsidiary banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank. It had sought the government's approval for the same.

The country's largest lender has five associate banks - State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad.
In an apparent hate crime, a mosque in Australia has been targeted with a firebomb and sprayed with anti-Islamic graffiti while hundreds of Muslims were inside for evening prayer, prompting the Prime Minister to condemn the incident.

The attack occurred last night near the Australian Islamic College in Perth.

Localpolice said that accelerant was used to set the vehicles alight outside the Thornlie Mosque.

A car was gutted andfour other vehicles were alsodamaged by heat, according to media reports.

"This, undoubtedly is a criminal act of hate, but it is the act of a person or group not the greater whole," a teacher at the Australian Islamic College said on Facebook.

An offensive anti-Islam message was also sprayedon a nearby wall but was laterremoved.

Three men were seen fleeing the area after the attack, police said.

Police have released CCTV footage of the men wearing hooded jumpers, who were last seen running through an alley.

According to the Imam of the mosque, hundreds ofworshippers were praying inside at the time of the suspected petrol bomb attack, however no-one was injured.

The incident was condemned by the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who said,"[Australia is] founded on a fundamental, a foundation of mutual respect. It's the golden rule... I deplore and I cannot condemn strongly enough any attacks of that kind."



Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the incident appeared to be politically motivated.
Australia today condemned the terror attack at Turkey's Ataturk International Airport that left 36 people dead, saying such assaults are reminder that Islamist terrorists seek to destroy and divide people.

"This is a very sad day for the people who love freedom, as we do and the Turkish people do," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters in Sydney.

"It is very important in times like this Australians stay united and recognise that our successful multicultural society is built on a strong foundation of mutual respect."



The bombings were a reminder Islamist terrorists sought to "destroy, divide and kill" Muslims, Christians and others of non-Muslim faith, he said.

Turnbull promised to 'work relentlessly' with security agencies to keep Australians safe, while renewing his commitment to destroying the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

AustralianForeign Minister Julie Bishop also condemned 'what appears to be a coordinated terror attack' in Istanbul.
The Australian High Commission in Delhi has granted over 1.5 lakh visas to Indians during the 2015-16 program year, underlining the fast expanding links between the two countries.

Australia's High Commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu, said, "It is a landmark achievement. This is the first time ever that we have reached the 150,000-mark in visitor visa approvals in India for a year."



He said the development is a sign of the growth of the relations between our two countries.

"I welcome it as a positive milestone. The achievement underlines the fast expanding links between Australia and India. More and more Indians are travelling to Australia for business, tourism and to study in our universities, as well as visit family," Sidhu said.

There were a record 2,33,000 arrivals from India during 2015, a growth of 19 per cent, which represents the highest growth in the past seven years. India's ranking improved from eleventh to eighth largest inbound tourists destination for Australia.

By 2020, Indian tourist arrivals are expected to be around 3,00,000. Tourism Australia expects India to feature in the top five inbound markets for Australia by 2025.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said a "pro-people" exercise like Sangat Darshan was not every chief minister's "cup of tea", branding AAP's Arvind Kejriwal and state Congress chief Amarinder Singh as "complete misfits" for such programmes.

Addressing public gatherings in Mohale, Vehra, Bhiddi Aulakh Khurd and other villages during his Sangat Darshan programme in Rajasansi Assembly segment here, he said, neither Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal nor former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder had "bothered about public welfare" when they were voted to power.

He claimed there was no chief minister in the country who visited every village in the state in scorching heat or spine-chilling cold, adding he undertakes this exercise to ensure well being of every strata of the society.

Badal said Kejriwal too had tried his luck in conducting his Janta Darbar events in Delhi on the lines of Sangat Darshan. However, it proved to be a "total disaster" as the Delhi Chief Minister was not able to undertake the exercise even for a single day, he claimed.

"Ultimately, Kejriwal ran away from his words and never conducted the exercise," he added.

Badal also hit out at Amarinder claiming he had "never bothered" to meet the people during his tenure as chief minister, adding that now, "in the false hope" of becoming chief minister again after the 2017 Assembly polls, he has announced to hold 'darbars' in every constituency.

He alleged that in these "imperial darbars", Amarinder only indulges in "self glorification and bashing of political rivals" without even thinking about public welfare.

He termed it a "futile exercise" as the senior Congress leader "neither has the will nor interest" to undertake public welfare activities.

"Captain (Amarinder) is a king who wants to attain power for enjoying rather than serving the people," said Badal, asking the people if they have seen Amritsar MP Amarinder after the 2014 general elections.

He said it was a "habit" of Amarinder to go into a "hibernation" after assuming power, adding that voters of Amritsar were repenting the decision to elect Amarinder as he never returned back to his constituency.

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Badal claimed it was on record that the Congress had



planned and executed SYL canal to rob waters of the state.

Likewise, he said it was equally true that Amarinder had welcomed then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to lay foundation "of this sorrow" of Punjab.

"People are well aware of track record of Congress leaders and they would never forgive them for this heinous crime," he added.

The chief minister said AAP and Congress were two faces of same coin and both of them don't have any sympathy with Punjab or Punjabis.

He said that both the parties just want to plunder the wealth of state for their vested political interests.

Quipping on Kejriwal, Badal said the AAP chief was totally "ignorant" about history, topography and culture of state.

He said that though Kejriwal was dreaming to assume power in state but the AAP supremo was not even aware of location of Tapa and Barnala.

Badal cautioned that if such ignorant people assume power in the state then it would be "very fatal" for the state.

He hailed the NDA government for allocating prestigious projects like All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and Post Graduate Horticulture Research and Educational Institute, major road infrastructure projects besides including holy city Amritsar in Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojna (HRIDAY).
Delhi High Court today directed AIIMS to inform it whether Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) was required to treat brain tumor of Nitesh Bhardwaj, facing trial for allegedly killing his billionaire father and BSP leader Deepak Bhardwaj.

Justice I S Mehta asked All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Fortis hospital here to inform it by July one on Nitesh's plea seeking a month's interim bail to undergo brain tumor treatment at a hospital of his choice.

Taking note of the accused's contention, the court said the Tihar jail superintendent may take the inmate to AIIMS and Fortis and inform it whether the inmate requires to undergo SRS operation.

"In the meanwhile, his interim bail petition is kept pending," the court added.

The police, however, opposed his plea saying that Nitesh might escape if he gets out on bail.

SRS is a non-surgical radiation therapy used to treat functional abnormalities and small tumors of the brain.

Nitesh, 36, Deepak Bhardwaj's younger son, was arrested in April 2013 for his father's murder at a Delhi farmhouse on March 26, 2013.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader was gunned down by contract killers Sunil Mann alias Sonu and Purushottam Rana alias Monu, at his 35-acre farmhouse in south Delhi.

He was one of the richest candidates in the 2009 Lok Sabha election, having declared assets worth Rs 600 crore.

The six arrested individuals in the case so far are Nitesh, Shehrawat, a lawyer-cum-property dealer, Purshottam Rana alias Monu and Sunil Mann, the two shooters, Amit, driver of the car used by the alleged killers, and Rakesh, the car owner.
A special court here today framed charges against 12 members of Ravi Pujari gang in connection with a plot to attack veteran film producer and director Mahesh Bhatt.

Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) judge V V Patil framed charges against the accused under eight counts.

"All the accused pleaded not guilty and said they will face the trial", Special Public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said.

The 12 accused are among the 14 Pujari gang-men, who were arrested between November 15 and 21, 2014.

Following their arrest, the city police had claimed to have thwarted a plot to kill Bhatt and also cracked the case of firing in the air outside the residence of Karim Morani, producer of Bollywood film "Chennai Express".

Pujari, who reportedly operates from outside the country, wanted to create fear in Bollywood so that he could extort money from the celebrities, police had said.
Sharpening its attack on the Naveen Patnaik government over attack on the convoy of two Union Ministers at Bargarh allegedly by BJD workers, BJP today staged state-wide demonstrations accusing it of failing to take action against culprits.

Amid slogan shouting, BJP workers held demonstration in all the blocks of the state alleging that the attack on the convoy of Union Ministers Santosh Gangwar and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti on June 24 was "pre-planned" and it was perpetrated at the "behest of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik".

The BJP has also planned an agitation near Raj Bhavan in the state capital Bhubaneswar on July 4 and a party delegation is expected to meet the President to apprise him of the violence perpetrated by BJD workers at Bargarh, senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra said.

Terming the administrative inquiry ordered into the incident as a "mere eyewash", BJP's state unit President Basant Panda held the BJD government responsible for the "violent" incident and its failure to take action against those involved.

Hitting out at the BJD government, Panda said no arrest has been made for the Bargarh episode even after five days, while immedite action had been taken against those who had demonstrated near the Chief Minister's cavalcade in the past and they were booked for attempt to murder.

Instead of adopting democratic means, BJD workers and leaders indulged in violence and stone throwing when the union ministers and senior BJP leaders were on way to attend the 'Vikas Utsav' to celebrate completion of two years of Narendra Modi Government, Panda said.

Speaking in similar vein, another senior leader and former Odisha BJP President Suresh Pujari claimed no action has been taken against those involved in the "murderous" attack whereas attempt to murder charge had been slapped against people for pelting eggs at CM's cavalcade.

The BJP leaders alleged that the attack on the convoy of the Union ministers had been unleashed at the "behest" of the Chief Minister as the ruling BJD was worried over the rising popularity of BJP in the state.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today addressed a rally to ban liquor in Jewar here and alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states are "not opting for prohibition".

He claimed that following imposition of complete ban on liquor, accidents and crime have declined in Bihar and said after the ban other sources of revenue have increased in the state.

The Bihar chief minister also said liquor should be banned in Uttar Pradesh too.

Janata Dal (United) Bihar chief Vashisth Narain Singh, MP R C Singh and MLA Shyam Rajak were among those present in the rally.
Defence firms that have committed corruption-related offences will face action under a proposed blacklisting policy but the government will not hesitate to buy a product from another company even if any equipment or software manufactured by the blacklisted entity was embedded into it.

"Globally, many products have components from various companies. While a company which falls under the blacklisting purview will face action, we will also ensure that the policy does not affect any procurement from another company not related to the blacklisted one," Parrikar told PTI here today.

He said the government is taking into consideration global trends and practices while finalising the blacklisting policy to ensure that it does not affect the procurement process.

The USD 750 million planned procurement of M777 ultra light howitzers from the US under the Foreign Military Sales route illustrates the government's stand.

The guns use a fire control system of a subsidiary of the scandal-hit Italian firm Finmeccanica.

The government has already started the process of blacklisting Finmeccanica and all its subsidiaries, including AgustaWestland, over the VVIP chopper scam.

Parrikar had earlier made it clear that there would be "no relaxation" for those who had already been blacklisted and that "bribe givers" would be punished.

He had said existing blacklisted firms would be allowed to appeal before a vigilance committee of the Defence Ministry for delisting under the new policy.

Parrikar said the blacklisting of defence suppliers was not the only solution to root out corruption and hinted at going for heavy penalties against erring firms.
A public servant accused of criminal breach of trust cannot claim protection of lack of sanction for prosecution as the offence is not connected with his official duty, the Supreme Court today said.

A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh aired this view while setting aside the acquittal of a government official accused of misappropriating 11 gunny bales worth Rs 38,841 from the godown of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation in 1989 and tampered with the records.

"No official can put forth a claim that breach of trust is connected with his official duty," the bench said while setting aside the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which had held that sanction was necessary for launching prosecution for criminal breach of trust.

The apex court observed that it was clear from past verdicts on the issue of sanction for prosecution that there has to be a "reasonable connection between the omission or commission and the discharge of official duty".

"If the acts omission or commission is totally alien to the discharge of the official duty, question of invoking section 197 (sanction for prosecution) Criminal Procedure Code does not arise," the apex court said.

It concluded that the person acquitted in the case by the High Court was "not entitled" to the "protective umbrella" of section 197 CrPC and the High Court had "erred" in setting aside his conviction on the ground of lack of sanction.

It allowed the appeal and referred the matter back to the High Court to be decided in accordance with law.

The court said it was "extremely difficult" to appreciate



reasoning of the High Court which had observed that under normal circumstances the offences under sections 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of IPC do not warrant obtaining of sanction, but when they are linked with criminal breach of trust, then sanction was required.

"The approach and the analysis are absolutely fallacious. We are afraid, though the High Court has referred to all the relevant decisions in the field, yet, it has erroneously applied the principle in an absolute fallacious manner. No official can put forth a claim that breach of trust is connected with his official duty," the bench said, adding that "High Court should have been more vigilant in understanding the ratio of the decisions of this court".

The apex court came to the conclusion that the person acquitted in the case by the High Court was "not entitled" to the "protective umbrella" of section 197 CrPC and the High Court had "erred" in setting aside his conviction on the ground of lack of sanction.

It allowed the appeal and referred the matter back to the High Court to be decided in accordance with law.
A bus conductor was thrashed by two police constables at Kashmere Gate ISBT in north Delhi today following a dispute over transporting a parcel on behalf of one of them.

Both police constables involved in the incident were later sent to the district lines for their conduct, an official said.

The incident, which occurred in the morning, came to light after a seven-second video clip went viral over media. In the video, the two police constables could be spotted assaulting a bus conductor.

No case was registered in connection with the matter as the police claimed to have received no formal complaint.

The police came to know about the matter in the morning and an inquiry was initiated into it, police said.

It later emerged that a constable, identified as Neeraj, posted at Kashmere Gate Police Station, had an argument with a bus conductor at the ISBT over the latter's refusal to carry a parcel without any passenger on behalf of Neeraj.

Following the argument, Neeraj, along with another constable (also identified as Neeraj) posted in the same police station, thrashed the bus conductor.

"The constables have been sent to district lines and we are looking into the matter," DCP (North) Madhur Verma said.
A model law that allows shops, malls and cinema halls among other establishments to run 24x7 throughout the year got the Cabinet approval today -- a move aimed at boosting job creation and consumption-led growth.

The law also provides for women to be employed on night shifts with adequate security and calls for better working conditions for employees such as drinking water, canteen, first aid, lavatory and creche.

"The main aim of this bill is to increase employment generation. Like in the case of malls, which operate all seven days in week and they don't have any (fixed) working hours. All those shops where number of workers is 10 or more should be allowed to choose timings and days," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said addressing a press meet on Cabinet decisions.

In a meeting held this morning, the Union Cabinet approved Model Shops and Establishment (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Services) Bill 2016.

The law, which covers shops and establishments employing 10 or more workers except manufacturing units, will not require Parliament's approval.

Jaitley said that "Since it is a model bill on a state subject, it will be sent to the states," adding, the bill also prescribed for compulsory holidays and provides for a provision for permitting women to work in night (shifts).

"The employment generation was less as there was protective discrimination. We used to protect them (women) but they were discriminated. Besides there are provision for transportation and other amenities," Jaitley said.

The model law also makes provisions for online one common registration through a simplified procedure.

It will help in generating additional employment as shops and establishments will have freedom to operate for longer hours, thereby requiring more manpower.

It also provides exemption to highly-skilled workers like those in IT and bio-technology from daily working hours (9 hours) and weekly working hours (48 hours), subject to maximum 125 over-time hours in a quarter.

The law is designed to bring in uniformity in legislative provisions, making it easier for all the states to adopt it and ensure uniform working conditions across the country.

The Centre has been receiving suggestions to enact the model law, which the states could consider for enforcement either by adopting the central law or necessary modifications by the state law.
Union Cabinet today approved signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India and Tanzania for bilateral co-operation in water resources management and development.

The areas of enhanced co-operation include techniques in water harvesting, surface and groundwater management and development and aquifer recharge, an official statement said.

"Collaboration and sharing of expertise on the areas mutually agreed will benefit the country in techniques in water harvesting, water conservation, surface and groundwater management and development and aquifer recharge," the statement said.

The Government shall encourage exchange of experts, organisation of training programmes, study tours and other such activities including demonstrative pilot studies, in order to build capacities in the areas mentioned above.

A Joint Working Group shall be formed to monitor the activities under the MoU.

The enhanced cooperation comes in the wake of the visit of Minister of Water Resources, Government of Tanzania to New Delhi on July, 16, 2014.

The two sides had discussed the issue of water harvesting and management practices and decided to have a MoU after mutual consultations.
The Centre has asked four Naxal-hit states to frequently hold Unified Command meetings for formulating a strategy to tackle the menace effectively.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh told governments of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal to hold the Unified Command structure meetings more often so that anti-Naxal strategies could be constantly reviewed and formulated for better results.

Singh conveyed this at the Eastern Zonal Council meeting held in Ranchi on Monday, official sources said.

The Unified Commands are headed by respective Chief Ministers and the Chief Secretaries, DGPs, IGPs of paramilitary force are members. This security structure is created in each Maoist-hit state for coordinated action and intelligence sharing.

The Home Minister told the four state governments to hold regularly meetings of Unified Command as irregularity could lead to a let down in the progress of the two-pronged strategy of action and development going hand-to-hand, sources said.

Singh also cited the example of Jharkhand where splinter groups of Maoists have been active and tackling them required coordination among forces and better strategy.

The Zonal Council meeting took stock of various development schemes carried out in Naxal-affected areas and found that Bihar lagged in construction of fortified police stations.

Out of the 45 sanctioned fortified police stations in Bihar, 40 are yet to be constructed. However, progress in Jharkhand is better. In Jharkhand, out of 73 sanctioned fortified police stations, only two are yet to be completed, in Odisha, out of 52 sanctioned fortified police stations, 18 are yet to be constructed and in West Bengal, out of the 17 police stations, one is yet to be completed.

In 2011, the Centre had announced that it would fund construction of 400 fortified police stations in 83 worst Maoist-hit districts in the country at a cost of Rs two crore each.

The main objective of the such police stations is to check the chances of Naxals easily storming into the police stations or carrying out a direct gunfire attack from outside.

Setting up double-storey building, high boundary walls, sophisticated control room and even watch towers are the fortification measures prescribed under the scheme.
China has 1,341 vocational colleges for higher education catering to 10.48 million students last year to sustain manpower requirement demand for its massive manufacturing sectors.

These colleges were attended by 10.48 million students in 2015, accounting for 41.2 per cent of all college undergraduates, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said today.

These vocational institutes also provided on-the-job training to 20 million people in 2015.

Vocational colleges offer occupational courses and are important to transforming higher education from an elite area to one for the masses, said Ge Daokai, director of the Department of Vocational and Adult Education with the MOE.

As of 2015, all the provincial regions in China had established financial support systems for vocational colleges.

Annual financial subsidies on each student should be no less than 12,000 yuan (USD 1,806) in 2017, the MOE said.

A budget of 5 billion yuan from the government is also expected from 2016 to 2020, to promote the combination of production and study and build a modern vocational education system, state-run Xinhua agency reported.
China has replaced its internet regulator Lu Wei, the hard-liner responsible for leading the government's efforts to tighten control over domestic cyberspace and export the ruling Communist Party's philosophy of web control.

Lu wielded expansive powers as head of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs since 2014, dictating what 700 million Chinese internet users may view online and acting as gatekeeper for technology firms wishing to do business in China.

His successor will be his deputy, former propaganda official Xu Lin, the official Xinhua Agency reported today.

The departure of Lu, one of the Communist Party's rising stars and an ambitious ally of President Xi Jinping, had been rumored for months and is not expected to alter the broad direction of China's internet policy. Xinhua did not mention a new post for Lu, who will keep his concurrent position as deputy head of the party's propaganda department. He could be in line to lead the department or take over a provincial post, according to political analysts and speculation in Chinese media.

But the reshuffle likely means a new face will greet foreign executives like Apple's Tim Cook and Microsoft's Satya Nadella who have been dealing with thorny cybersecurity and trade issues on their visits to Beijing.

Although the outspoken and gregarious Lu has visited tech firms in the U.S., where has been pictured joking with the likes of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, he has also taken a hard line in demanding tough security checks on imported foreign tech products and keeping out social networks like Facebook in the name of preserving social stability.

Lu assumed his job at a time when China's government was reeling from widespread online criticism, and promptly launched a massive social media crackdown including detentions of online celebrities that quickly chilled China's once-freewheeling Weibo microblogging platform.

Under Lu's watch, China has been codifying a series of cybersecurity and national security laws that gives the government legal powers to control online content and speech.

With his success taming China's internet, Lu has gone overseas to preach China's vision of "internet sovereignty," a world order in which every government could dictate limits to their cyberspace and how their citizens access the web. Last week he delivered a speech on the subject in Moscow, where he told an audience that "freedom is not a right, but a responsibility" and warned that unlimited freedom could spawn terrorism.
In an effort to attract the best talented persons from across the globe, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has said that if elected she will launch a "start-up" visa and staple Green card with masters and PhD degrees in science and technology category.

Unveiling a comprehensive technology and innovation agenda to build an economy that works for everyone, Clinton outlined several innovative and path breaking ideas including deploying 5G Wireless and Next generation wireless systems.

In her major policy speech in Denver, Clinton said her administration would help young people become entrepreneurs by letting them defer their federal student loans for up to three years; provide every student in America access to computer science education before graduation; and connect every household in the US to high-speed internet service by 2020.

Releasing a comprehensive plan to keep America on the cutting edge of technology and innovation, 68-year-old Clinton said it is one of biggest assets of the US and she wants it to be democratised. "I want more people in more places to feel that their future lies in STEM, in technology, in helping to create the jobs that we're going to attract," she said.

As part of the comprehensive immigration solution, she would "staple" a green card to STEM masters and PhDs from accredited institutions - enabling foreign students who complete degrees in these fields to move to green card status.

Given that more than 100,000 Indian students come to the various US universities every year and they constitute largest number of STEM field, Indian students are likely to benefit the most from this.

"Hillary will support 'start-up' visas that allow top entrepreneurs from abroad to come to the US, build companies in technology-oriented globally traded sectors, and create more jobs and opportunities for Americans," the plan said.

Immigrant entrepreneurs would have to obtain a commitment of financial support from US investors before obtaining the visa, and would have to create a certain number of jobs and reach performance benchmarks in order to pursue a green card, it said.

Aimed at investing in world class digital infrastructure, Clinton announced her intent to create a $25 billion Infrastructure Bank that will create a new competitive grant program to give cities, regions, and states incentives to create a "model digital community."



Clinton will "help foster the evolution to 5G, small cell solutions, and other next-generation systems that can deliver faster wireless connections," it said.

Widely deployed 5G networks and new unlicensed and shared spectrum technologies, are essential platforms that will support the Internet of Things, smart factories, driverless cars, and much more - developments with enormous potential to create jobs and improve people's lives, the plan said.

As per the plan, Clinton will oppose efforts to block or degrade internet access or to shutdown social media, and she will stand with likeminded countries against efforts by countries like China or Russia to create a balkanised internet run by governments.

Clinton's plan promised to deliver high-speed broadband to all Americans, hook up public places like airports and stations- and enable them to offer free WiFi - and lay the groundwork for the next generation of the mobile internet and the Internet of Things.

Her agenda promised to ensure America remains the global leader in technology, by promoting more high-tech exports and ensuring the free flow of data.

"Her plan will establish rules of the road to support innovation - rules that foster healthy competition, reduce barriers to entry, and effectively protect intellectual property - while safeguarding privacy and security," her campaign said.

"Her plan will make our government smarter, more efficient, and more responsive, using new technologies to deliver real results for Americans," it added.
Opposition Congress in West Bengal today alleged that its suggestions were ignored in the Business Advisory Committee meetings and said it, along with ally CPI(M) is likely to boycott the panel.

"It's a painful experience as none of our submissions or suggestions were heard in the BA Committee. We had demanded discussion and debate on important departmental budgets like Agriculture, Backward Classes Welfare, Minority affairs and Madrasa Education, but the suggestions were disregarded," Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Abdul Mannan said.

CPI-M MLA Sujan Chakraborty and Forward Bloc MLA Ali Imran Ramz were also with Mannan.

The Congress has shot a letter to the Speaker Biman Banerjee informing him of their decision.

"We have written a letter to the Speaker. But we have not mentioned the word boycott because that will be an insult to the Speaker," Mannan explained.

"We are not going to participate in the BA Committee only to have tea and snacks. We are not here to oblige everything the state government says," Mannan added.

Asked if they would boycott the BA Committee for the ongoing session, Mannan said, "We will observe things and then decide on our next course of action.
The district consumer forum has directed an insurance company to pay close to Rs two lakh to a woman suffering from brain tumour, after she was denied a claim by it.

Rs 1,71,332 with eight per cent interests along with additional Rs 15000 should be paid to the woman, counsel for the complainant Devendra Mohan Mathur quoted the forum as saying.

Archna Gupta had presented her case before the forum in 2012, complaining she was not compensated by the company after suffering from the disease.

She had purchased a policy from Apollo Munich Health Insurance company.

She had told the forum that she was detected with brain tumor and was operated in a private hospital and incurred an expenditure of Rs 1,71,332.

She said when she filed papers to reimburse the amount, the company rejected the claim on the grounds that she had been ill for two years before the policy and as a rule was not entitled to the claim.

After hearing the matter, Chairman of the forum, R S Kulhari and member Srichand Kumawat has passed an order on June 17.
A man pleaded not guilty today to charges he fatally shot his firefighter friend while they were drinking alcohol and playing with a handgun.

Patrick Riccardi-O'Connor, 23, was arraigned today in Woburn District Court on charges of involuntary manslaughter and related crimes in the death of David Atherton, 24, a Stoneham firefighter and National Guardsman.

Police found Atherton dead Tuesday night inside his Stoneham home.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said a preliminary investigation shows that Riccardi-O'Connor and Atherton were drinking with a third man. Riccardi-O'Connor and Atherton childhood friends began passing a gun back-and-forth and pointing it at each other.

"It appears the fatal shooting may have been an unintended consequence of this behavior," Ryan and Stoneham Police Chief James McIntyre said in a statement.

Police said Riccardi-O'Connor originally told them Atherton had shot himself but later admitted shooting Atherton while the two were "fooling around with the gun."



Riccardi-O'Connor told police he didn't think the gun was loaded.

Riccardi-O'Connor's attorney didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.

Atherton received a single gunshot wound to the chest.

The gun was registered to Riccardi-O'Brien. Both men were military police officers in the Massachusetts Army National Guard.

Judge Michael Brooks set bail at USD 25,000 cash. The next court hearing in the case is scheduled for August 3.
Terming the Left Front-Congress alliance in West Bengal Assembly polls as "disastrous", All India Forward Bloc today accused CPI(M) of "forcing" the adjustment on its allies and said it must now accept the tie-up was "opportunistic".

AIFB also accused CPI(M) of not consulting other Left Front members before making the deal with Congress and said it should "rectify" its stand in the interest of Left unity.

Speaking to reporters after the AIFB central committee meeting here, party general secretary Debabrata Biswas said an AIFB delegation will call on the CPI(M) central leadership to share its concerns with them.

AIFB had contested 26 seats in the Assembly election held during April-May and could win only two seats in the 294-member House. The Left Front managed to win only 32 seats and was relegated to third position after TMC and Congress.

"The tie-up was disastrous... It is CPI(M) which initiated and finalised the alliance and seat-adjustment with the Congress. The leading party of the Front didn't consult other Front parties before making the adjustment... Other parties were forced to accept the adjustment in order to avoid division when the elections were at doorstep," he said.

He charged the CPI(M) leadership with creating confusion by its "double standards" with some of its leaders sharing platform with Congressmen while others refusing to do so.

He said that in an "immature campaign" some CPI(M) leaders supported the alliance publicly, while some refused to do so.

"By doing this immature campaign and acts, CPI(M) has virtually abandoned the Left unity, confused the voters and depended on Congress for electoral gain. The Visakhapatnam Party Congress of CPI(M) had declared it will work for Left unity as an alternative. But in the polls, it has totally gone against the letter and spirit of the resolution," he said.

Biswas said the tie-up helped Congress more than the Left Front which lost the post of Opposition leader to Congress.

He admitted that AIFB was part of the "mistake" of going with Congress in the polls.

He also expressed disappointment over the Front's dismal show in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Assam Assembly elections held around the same period.

He expressed concern over the growth registered by BJP in Kerala.

Asked about AIFB's decision to support Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala, Biswas said his party will "rectify" the stand and work for Left unity.

Biswas said the committee has decided to rejuvenate the entire organisation of AIFB "from top to bottom" by making changes in the leadership by December this year to expand party base.
CPI(M) today said it would hold demonstrations in all district head quarters across Tamil Nadu on July 15 to protest the Narendra Modi-led government's 'failure' to check rising prices of essential commodities and unemployment.

The party's State Executive Committee decided to hold public meetings for one week beginning from July 10, as the Modi government had 'failed' to bring down the prices and also provide employment to lakhs of youth, CPI(M) State Unit Secretary G Ramakrishnan told reporters here.

Alleging that the wrong policies adopted by the BJP-led government had led to the current situation in the country, he demanded that the Centre convene a meeting of central trade unions and discuss the issue, in view of the strike.

On the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu, he alleged that the situation has gone from bad to worse after AIADMK came to power for the second term.

The displeasure expressed by Madras High Court over the progress in the Swati murder case was an indicator of the worsening situation in the state, which has witnessed several murders, he said.

Ramakrishnan demanded that the Tamil Nadu government take immediate steps to prevent increasing incidents of murder and robberies.

On the lawyers' stir demanding immediate withdrawal of amendments to the Advocates Act, he opined that the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court should hold talks with them and find an amicable solution to the issue.

He also requested the Election Commission to take steps to prevent alleged distribution of money during the coming local body polls.
Actor Daniel Craig is in negotiations to star opposite Halle Berry in independent drama "Kings".

The film is set against the backdrop of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, reported Deadline.

"Mustang" helmer Deniz Gamze Erguven is directing the project from her own script. The film will be her English-language debut.

If Craig, 48, comes on board, he will portray a loner who lives in South Central Los Angeles and falls in love with Berry's character.

When the riots erupt, he will help Berry in protecting her children from the violence.

The riots happened a few hours after a jury in suburban Simi Valley acquitted four Los Angeles Police officers of use of excessive force in the videotaped arrest and beating of Rodney King in 1991 following a high-speed chase.

A total of 55 people died during the riots amid looting, assault and arson causing more than USD 1 billion of property damage.
Actor Daniel Radcliffe says he is open to returning as "Harry Potter" if the script is exciting.

The 26-year-old actor became famous after he landed the role of the child wizard in the popular movie franchise based on the book series written by JK Rowling, reported Contactmusic.

"It would depend on the script. The circumstances would have to be pretty extraordinary. But then I am sure Harrison Ford said that with Han Solo and look what happened there!," Radcliffe said.

"So I am saying 'No' for now, but leaving room to backtrack in the future," he added.

"Harry Potter" remains popular as a new play in London's West End from writer JK Rowling, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is running housefull. However, the actor is unlikely to attend the show.

"It would be a weird one. I could be completely wrong in this but I feel like if I went to see it, there's going to be a lot of Harry Potter fans there and would that then become a thing?



"I would never want to do anything that would distract or take away from the show.
Jammu and Kashmir government today said it was not feasible at this stage to disband the Village Defence Committees (VDCs), but their role is reviewed periodically and it would be lessened once the situation improves.

Given the security situation in the state and the role played by the VDCs, it may not be feasible to wind these up at this stage, the Minister for Roads and Buildings and Parliamentary Affairs, Abdul Rehman Veeri, told Legislative Council here.

The minister was replying to a question of opposition National Conference (NC) MLC Bashir Ahmad Veeri during the Question Hour in the House.

The NC legislator wanted to know whether the government had any plans to disband the VDCs.

The minister said the role of the VDCs is reviewed every six months and it would be lessened once the situation improves.

He said 4,125 VDCs are existing in the state and their objective is to ensure safety and security of the identified villages along the borders as well as in interior areas, infrastructural installations in and around them.

Their role is also to supplement the ongoing efforts of the security forces and police to deal with militancy, acts of subversion and trans-border movements, the minister said.

He said a total of 14 militants have been caught or killed by the VDCs in Jammu region of the state.

The legislator said since the VDCs had no role to play now as the situation has improved and the government has admitted it, they should be disbanded.

He also said there were many complaints against these VDCs but the government was not acting against them.

However, the minister said whenever there is a complaint against any member of such committees, the government inquires into the matter and takes action.

The minister's reply, however, did not satisfy the opposition legislator and he staged a walkout from the House.
DMK MP Tiruchi Siva today met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here and sought her intervention for the release of 29 Tamil Nadu fishermen lodged in Sri Lankan prisons.

During the meeting, the Rajya Sabha member from Tamil Nadu urged Swaraj to ensure release of 104 boats which were seized and berthed by the Sri Lankan Navy.

"The berthing of boats results in their total damage which in turn will affect the livelihood of the fishermen from the state," Siva said, adding that families of the jailed fishermen were undergoing starvation and suffering due to the absence of their breadwinners.

The DMK MP led a delegation of representatives of the fishermen community from Puducherry and Nagapattinam, Pudukkottai and Rameshwaram districts of the state and met the Union Minister and discussed issues faced by the community while being engaged in their livelihood.

The legislator also demanded the retrieval of Katchatheevu island from Sri Lankan Navy and said that the island had been ceded by the Centre unilaterally, without taking into confidence neither Parliament nor the Tamil Nadu government.

"Hostile nations can easily take advantage of our lack of jurisdiction over Katchatheevu which lies just 18 nautical miles off the Indian coast," Siva added.

Earlier on June 14, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, in her memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had also demanded the retrieval of the island and the restoration of fishing rights to Tamil Nadu fishermen in the area.
'Gods in Shackles', a documentary on the cruelties against temple elephants, was screened at the Kerala assembly today.

The film, produced and directed by Sangita Iyer, a multiple award winning journalist and film maker from Kerala, was screened in the banquet hall of the legislature complex this evening.

The feature length documentary portrays the hideous stories behind the veil of Kerala's prestigious temple festivals. 'Gods in Shackles' was nominated by the prestigious International Elephant Film Festival at the United Nations General assembly and has won seven international film festival awards, including the Los Angeles Cinefest Award, Hollywood International Independent Documentary Film Festival Award, The IMPACT Docs - Award of Merit, Golden Award at the World Documentary Awards.

After the public screenings in Boston and Los Angeles, this is the first time the documentary is being screened in India.

There will be public screenings in Thrissur, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, a press release said. As a part of the production of the documentary, the crew followed the lives of four celebrity elephants for over a year. A fifth male elephant named "Sundar" who is featured in the film had made international headlines. "By exposing the abhorrent torture suffered by India's heritage animal, Gods in Shackles will touch the hearts of people and empower them with knowledge, hope and confidence that will propel them to take positive actions and protect the endangered Asian elephants", according to Sangita, who is the first film maker to ever visually record the sufferings of elephants in the temples of South India. As many as 156 elephants had died during 2012-14, as per the official data. In 2015 alone, more than 53 elephants succumbed deadly injuries. The death toll stands at 11 elephants and nine humans in 2016.

The crew has gathered 200 hours of footage for the production of the documentary. Kerala'a own poet laureate Sugathakumari and renowned priest Akkeeramon Kalidasan Bhattathirippad, and 12 eminent personalities have been interviewed.

Sangita was the host, executive director and producer of the Bermuda Environmental Alliance's six part series, Bermuda - Nature's Jewel, which received the 2012 Bermuda National Trust award for environmental awareness. The series is currently being used as an educational aid in Bermuda's schools.
Union minister Vijay Sampla today said strict action will be taken against private educational institutions if the government receives complaints of discrimination against Dalit students or mis-utilisation of funds for post matric scholarships scheme for SCs and STs.

"We have been receiving complaints against some private educational institutions about discrimination against Dalit students, which include roll numbers not being given to them or they being not allowed to sit in exams for non-payment of fees," he said here.

"We will take strict action against such educational institutions if we receive complaints in future," the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment said.

Under the Post Matric Scholarships scheme for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students, their entire fee is paid to the college by the government, he added.

Sampla also said he had come to know that some private educational institutions were mis-utilising the scholarship schemes by making "fake" entry of the students.

"We have received complaints in which we found some institutions were making double entry or fake entry of the students. We warn them not to indulge in such illegal practice otherwise strict action, which include suspension of their recognition, would be taken," he said, adding such complaints have come from across the country.

Sampla, who is also Punjab BJP President, said in Punjab about Rs 60 crore has been surrendered by the educational institutions under the scholarship scheme.

He said state have also been asked to set up 'fee fixation committee' to bring in uniformity in the fees to be charged by educational institutions.

"We have witnessed a big difference between the fee charged by a government-owned institution and private institution. The respective state's 'fee fixation committee' will tell us about the fees charged by the government institution and to what extent private ones can charge," he said.

Sampla informed that his ministry had released a sum of Rs 173 crore under Post Matric Scholarships scheme for Scheduled Caste students in Punjab.

"With this, backlog of fees for the year 2014-15 has been cleared and 30 per cent of the total fee for 2015-16 has been cleared," he said.
Ecuador's foreign minister voiced suspicion today that British intelligence was perpetually spying on his country's embassy in London, where Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is camped out.

"There are cameras everywhere. It is one of the most spied on embassies in the world," Ecuador's top diplomat Guillaume Long told reporters in Geneva, on the sidelines of a Human Rights Council session.

"You are very fortunate if you can even make a phone call from inside the embassy. Internet collapses all the time. Everything is hacked. It is a pretty hostile context for Mr. Assange, every day," Long said.

Asked if he believed British intelligence was responsible for the espionage, Long said: "I have my suspicions."



Assange, 44, is wanted for questioning over a 2010 rape allegation in Sweden but has been inside Ecuador's UK mission for more than four years in a bid to avoid extradition.

The anti-secrecy campaigner, who denies the allegation, walked into the embassy of his own free will on June 18, 2012, with Britain on the brink of sending him to Stockholm, and has not left since.

Long said Assange's health was deteriorating, mentioning a serious arm problem without providing details.

The minister said he came to the rights council during a European diplomatic tour partly aimed at resolving the Assange saga.

A UN panel in February issued a non-binding legal opinion that Assange had been subjected to arbitrary detention by the Swedish and British governments.

Stockholm and London have both rejected that ruling, with Britain calling for an official review.

Long accused Britain of demanding compliance with UN human rights rulings in various contexts around the world, while dismissing such opinion when they hit close to home.

"This is a clear case of double standards which Ecuador denounces."



Long restated Ecuador's position that it did not want to interfere with Sweden's rape investigation.

Quito would support Assange's transfer if Stockholm could provide guarantees that he would not be sent to the United States for prosecution over WikiLeaks' release of 500,000 secret military files.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today sought to downplay the recent spurt in violence in Jammu and Kashmir, saying "encounters" have increased in that state and not the attacks by militants.

"There is an increase in encounters," he said when asked about the spurt in the number of terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

Eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 injured when militants ambushed a CRPF convoy in Pampore in Kashmir on June 25. Two terrorists were also killed by security forces.

Parrikar had termed the killing of CRPF personnel at Pampore as an act of "frustration" on the part of Pakistani terrorists, several of whom were killed by Indian forces in the past one year.

Yesterday, an unidentified militant was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Lolab area of north Kashmir's Kupwara district. PTI SAP SMJ PAL



Downplaying the recent spurt in violence in Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said "encounters" have increased and not attacks by the militants.
The Environment Ministry held a two-day consultation to provide hands-on training to states for submitting proposals for accessing climate change finance.

"The workshop has been organised with a view to provide hands-on training to state government officials for formulating and submitting proposals for accessing climate change finance under the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC), Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Adaptation Fund Board (AFB).

"In addition to providing an overview of the national policy framework, the workshop gave a platform to deliberate upon and identify avenues for mainstreaming climate change concerns into development planning at the state level and explore possibilities of sharing budgetary resources to support adaptation and mitigation activities," an official statement said.

The statement said that the consultation was to support state governments to proactively pursue climate change adaptation, mitigation and building their capacity for accessing climate change finance from domestic and international sources.

The two-day workshop was organized in Lucknow on June 27-28 in collaboration with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

Union Environment Secretary Ajay Narayan Jha said that states are important partners for implementing the climate change vision of the country and have to play a proactive role in project development and implementation.

He further emphasized that climate change issues cannot be seen in isolation and require effective stakeholder engagement to pursue its goals and support the long term implementation of climate change policies.

Till date, 12 projects submitted by state governments have been approved under NAFCC at a total cost of Rs 235.17 crore.

"At the end of the workshop, the participants acquired the knowledge and expertise for preparing good quality adaptation and mitigation projects for NAFCC and GCF for their respective states which is to be submitted by July 15, 2016," the statement said.
After winning the first-ever auction of a gold mine in India in February, Vedanta Ltd today said the process of exploration would begin after the monsoon.

"We were successful with gold auction in Chhattisgarh. The gold reserve that was there at the time of auction was probably small for Vedanta," Vedanta Ltd Group chief executive officer Tom Albanese told PTI here.

"But our geologists suggested that may be there will be more (reserve) there. So we have decided to take up more exploration and deep drilling. We are hoping as we come out of the wet season we start some deep drilling," he added.

The company won the auction of Baghmara gold mine in Chhattisgarh in February.

Albanese said the company would start using some new technologies which will help find deeper reserves which were never explored before.

"I would always consider gold and steel as next generation investment option," he said.

In many ways the investment in gold is consistent with Indian government's objective of encouraging more private investment in exploration, he said.

"We want to do more deeper drilling, bring more GI sciences into the picture," he said.

To a question, Albanese hailed NDA government's initiatives in mining but said it should encourage exploration of bauxite.

"In the long term, we do need to find assured supply of captive bauxite for aluminium business from India. This is something we are working for over ten years and we continue to be working," he said.

"India is blessed with bauxite resources which are feed stock for aluminium business and for us to be importing bauxite from Africa, when we have it at backyard, is probably not the best economic solution nor it is sustainable," he added.
A fire today broke out in the engine of Pathankot-Delhi Dhauladhar Express near Bahadurgarh in Haryana's Jhajjar district.

No casualty was reported in the mishap.

"The fire broke out in the engine of the train soon after it left Sampla Railway Station near Rohtak. It was stopped at Asodha Station in Bahadurgarh," a Government Railway Police official said, adding the train was coming from Pathankot side.

He said fire tenders were pressed into service and the flames were doused after a few minutes.

The passengers and driver are safe and the cause of fire is being investigated, the official said.

He said while the train got delayed, rail traffic on the route was not affected.

The train was halted for about half an hour to replace the engine, the official said, adding it later left for Delhi.
The Kerala Travel Mart (KTM), the largest gathering of tourism stakeholders in the state, hopes to substantially augment its appeal by leveraging a unique Spice Route Culinary festival to commemorate the shared legacy of the over 2,000-year-old maritime trade way.

The culinary festival, to be hosted here by UNESCO, Kerala Tourism and the Tourism Ministry from September 23-26, will witness leading chefs from the 31 countries, on the historic spice route, converging in 'God's Own Country' to discover the famed gastronomic delights of the state, a release here said.

The festival, the first-of-its-kind celebration of flavours and friendship, is a prelude to the ninth edition of the KTM, to be inaugurated on World Tourism Day, on September 28.

"The festival will promote the KTM 2016 theme: 'Muziris and Spice Route'. There will be a competition in which an expert panel and invited dignitaries will rate dishes and select the best chef," said KTM Society President Abraham George.

Leading chefs from across the Spice Route countries will sample Kerala's cultural and gastronomic offerings, participate in cooking demos and culinary discussions and showcase the choicest cuisines from their homelands in a tasting competition.

The festival will culminate in a public tasting event.

"With the Spice Route festival expected to bring in a substantial number of foreign tourists to Kerala, the KTM is hoping to benefit from and augment the state's destination pull," George said.

"The Chief Minister, Finance Minister and Tourism Minister have extended full support for the upcoming KTM edition," he said, adding, "The government has plans to bolster the development of the tourism sector."



The ninth edition of KTM, organised in partnership with the Department of Tourism, will also focus on 'Responsible Tourism'.

KTM will be a platform for B2B networking, bringing together business entrepreneurs from Kerala that offer a range of various tourism products and services, including tour operators, hotels, resorts, home stays, houseboats, Ayurveda resorts and cultural art centres.

As many as 265 stalls for Kerala-based exhibitors will be featured at the venue.

"We have been receiving great response from international, as well as domestic buyers. Around 350 international and 900 domestic buyers have registered. We are planning to close the buyers' registration by July," George said.

The event, to be held at Willingdon Island, will go on till September 30, the release said.
Britain's outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron today asked opposition Labour party's embattled leader Jeremy Corbyn to step down in the national interest, saying "for heaven's sake man, go".

Criticising Corbyn's role in the EU referendum campaign, Cameron during a regular weekly exchange in Parliament said, "It might be in my party's interest for him to sit there, it's not in the national interest and I would say, for heaven's sake man, go."



Achallenge to Corbyn's Labour leadership is expected following a no-confidence vote by MPs and the two possible candidates for the post including the party's deputy leader, Tom Watson, and former shadow business secretary Angela Eagle.

Labour MPs voted against Corbyn in the no-confidence motion by 172 to 40 after dozens of members of his frontbench team stepped down in recent days.

Despite most of his shadow Cabinet resigning and the no-confidence vote, the Labour leader has refused to step down, saying quitting would betray all the members that back him.

The UK's vote to leave the European Union last week led Labour party MPs to question Corbyn's leadership as they felt he did not do enough to campaign for a Remain vote in line with the party's view.

In Parliament, Cameron ceased upon this and said Corbyn should "reflect on" his role in the campaign, adding: "He said he put his back into it, I would hate to see him when he wasn't trying."



Corbyn's predecessor Ed Miliband and former deputy leader Harriet Harman have also urged Corbyn to step down.

The former Indian-origin shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Seema Malhotra, who had also resigned from the shadow cabinet earlier, said: "The Labour Party is bigger than any one individual. My decision is about the future of the party and how we best focus on achieving our purpose.

"I believe we now need to move forward under a new leader to rebuild confidence in Labour and start to look like a government in waiting."



Corbyn, however, has pointed to his backing among the party's grassroots, insisting that the vote by MPs had "no constitutional legitimacy".

"I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60 per cent of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning," he said.

On Monday, he had announced a reshaped shadow cabinet to replace those that had walked out but several positions in his top team remain to be filled after the mass resignations.

The shadow cabinet walkouts - in a bid to oust Corbyn - came after the sacking at the weekend of shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, who told Corbyn he had lost confidence in his leadership.
: Four persons have been arrested for allegedly cheating a browsing centre owner here by issuing a fake Demand Draft for Rs nine lakh, police said today.

They said Yathu Jaffer, Munir Ahamed, Bayas Khan and Kannan from Chennai had approached one Mahendran, running a browsing centre in S S Colony and had expressed interest in buying furniture and other electronic items that were up for sale.

They offered to buy all the goods for Rs nine lakh and gave him a 'Demand draft' for the same.

However, officials of the bank found the DD to be fake and impounded Mahendran's savings account.

Later, the bank informed him that he had been cheated, following which he lodged a complaint with police, who arrested the four at a lodge here last night.

They also seized the equipment used for making fake DDs.

The gang was remanded to judicial custody last night, police said.
Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut never shies away from speaking her heart out and the "Queen" star feels it is something which is extremely important for her.

Kangana says it means a lot to her to just be herself and not live for any materialistic goals in life.

"There are all kinds of people out there. Few live for admiration, few live for money, few just for the sake of living. I live for my freedom. And its very important to me," Kangana told reporters here.

"It means a lot to me to be able to say what I feel is the right thing to say and bring able to do what I want to do basically. Just being my own person means a lot to me. That's the only thing I live for, nothing else," she added.

The 29-year-old "Tanu Weds Manu Returns" actress was speaking at the launch of "Grazia" magazine.

Recently, Kangana was mired in a controversy with actor Hrithik Roshan. The two actors have been at loggerheads since the "Queen" star called Hrithik her 'silly ex'.

The feud between Hrithik and his "Krrish 3" co-star turned nasty after they slapped legal notices on each other.

When asked how she used her 'superpower' to defeat a 'superhero', Kangana said, "Please ask a decent question if you want to. You are 'toh' completely into scandals."



The actress last week unveiled Bollywood Director Shirish Kunder's short film "Kriti", which has been accused of being a copy of another short film "Bob", made by a Nepali filmmaker.

Asked about this, Kangana said, "I don't know anything about that.
In order to expedite installation of speed governors in commercial vehicles to check accidents, a ministerial panel will soon discuss the issue for effective nationwide implementation of the plan.

As far back as 2002, the Supreme Court had issued directions for fitting speed governors in vehicles, but that is yet to be implemented fully.

"Delay in installation of speed governors in commercial vehicles by states will be taken up in a meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) of states," National Road Safety Council Member Kamal Soi said after meeting Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari today.

He said the minister has assured that the issue will be taken up on an urgent basis with states and stringent technical and other specifications will be made to ensure that quality governors are installed.

"The installation of speed governors could not be implemented in the states due to lack of enforcement despite Supreme Court in the year 2002 issuing directions for fitment of speed governors to save lives to all the states," said Soi who is a global road safety expert.

As per a notification, all new transport vehicles such as trucks, buses and dumpers will need to install the gadget to limit their speed to 80 km per hour.

"As per a recent survey it is evident that commercial vehicles on highway with high speed are one of the main reasons for road accidents and deaths accounting for over 40-50 per cent of road accidental deaths," Soi said at a press conference.

"We are pleading with the state governments that the only way to ensure the effective state-wide implementation of the speed control is to install speed governors regime," he said.

The accidents could be curbed to a reasonable extent if the speed governors, mandated by the apex Court, are installed through a tender/eligibility criteria process, he said.

Some of the states have started working in this direction, he said, adding that while Karnataka has invited applications from manufacturers and has started the implementation, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have constituted committees for selecting bidders. Jharkhand, Haryana and Odisha too have invited applications from manufacturers.

Soi said he visited 14 states recently and discussed the issue with the officials concerned.

Centre had constituted a Group of Ministers, headed by Rajasthan Transport Minister Yunoos Khan to ensure stricter penalties in the proposed Road Safety Bill.

India accounts for about 5 lakh road accidents annually in which 1.5 lakh are killed and another 3 lakh are crippled.
Confident of garnering support of some opposition parties for the GST Bill, the government today asserted it has "enough" numbers for passage of the crucial legislation in the Monsoon Session of Parliament which will commence on July 18.

After a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA), chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said, "We have a wider support and we have enough numbers for GST but we would like to have all parties on board because it will have an effect on states."



The session will conclude on August 12 and there will be a total of 20 working days during it. Naidu said the session could also be extended or curtailed by two-three days depending on requirement.

He said that the government wants to get the bill passed by consensus and is making efforts in that direction but asserted that even if consensus is not there, "we must get it approved in this session".

Since GST is a Constitution Amendment Bill, support of two-third of Rajya Sabha members is required for its passage. It means the government will require 164 votes.

Speaking separately, BJP sources said that after the recent Rajya Sabha polls, the scenario has tilted in favour of the ruling alliance.

A source said BJP's strength has now risen to 54 from 46 and the total strength of pro-GST members from the ruling alliance, supporting independents and nominated members, will be about 81.

Besides, the ruling alliance is also confident of support of around 76 members from parties including SP, Trinamool Congress, JD(U), BJD, BSP, NCP, DMK, RJD, TRS, INLD, IUML, JMM, Kerala Congress, JD(S) and YSR Congress.

The party believes 22 other members from parties including AIADMK, CPI-M and CPI would support the measure after pressing some amendments or abstain.

If BJP's calculations work, votes in favour of the bill could go up to 179, more than the required 164.

"In these circumstances, the GST Bill may be passed without the support of 60 members of Congress, if it does not create din in the Rajya Sabha," a party functionary said.

BJP sources said even if the 13-member AIADMK abstains, the number of the 245-member House will be reduced to 232 and the government will require the support of only 155 members to pass the bill.

Naidu said voting on the bill will be the last option, suggesting that the government would like to avoid any trial of strength on this issue and will strive to take all parties along.
India has initiated a probe into dumping of non-woven fabric from five countries including China, Malaysia and Indonesia to protect the domestic industry from cheap imports.

The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) has found "sufficient prima facie evidence" of dumping of the products from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and China.

Global Nonwovens Ltd has filed an application before the DGAD to initiate an investigation regarding the same.

"The authority hereby initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping and consequent injury to the domestic industry ...To determine the existence, degree and effect of alleged dumping and to recommend the amount of anti-dumping duty, which



if levied, would be adequate to remove the injury to the domestic industry," the DGAD said in a notification.

The period of investigation covers July 2015 to March 2016.

Countries start anti-dumping probe to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in below-cost imports. As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of WTO.

The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters.

India has already imposed anti-dumping duty on several products to tackle cheap imports from some countries, including China.

According to a WTO report, India, the US and Brazil were the leading initiators of anti-dumping investigations in 2015.

The WTO members initiated 107 new anti-dumping investigations from January-June 2015, slightly up from 106 in the same period in 2014, the report said.
E-commerce major Flipkarttoday expressed concern over a clause relating to taxcollection at source in the Goods andService Tax (GST) Bill.

"We believe that TDS process that has beenrecommended about holding some tax and paying that onbehalf of the seller, that I think is something that will bevery difficult for us to implement in practise," FlipkartExecutive Chairman Sachin Bansal told reporters here.

Flipkart had earlier said that the said clause would prove detrimental to lakhs of small and medium sellers who dobusiness on e-commerce platforms.

This clause, which is not applicable to offlinesellers, would hurt the working capital requirement for these sellers as they work on small margins to provide affordablerates to consumers, it had said.

Bansal was speaking after meetingIndustries Minister R V Deshpande here.

Calling it a courtesy meeting Bansal said, "I wanted totell him about the activities in the internet space, especially in Karnataka as Bengaluru is at the centerof the Internet revolution that is happening in India."



"I have made some broad suggestions, broad thoughtswere discussed and we have exchanged ideas," he added.

He also clarified that Flipkart's tax issues with thestate government were not discussed in the meeting today.

To a question, Bansal said Flipkart would continue to invest in Karnataka.

"Absolutely... We have about 5,000 peopleworking here right now, our head count is growing and we will continue to grow over here. We have lot of presence here; we have warehouses inthe state. So we will continue to invest."



On his lessons as a Chairman, Bansal said:"Definitely it has become more external focused, but I am verymuch involved in the day-today operations as well."



"I am alsolooking after mentoring of senior leaders in the company, as well as creating a positive ecosystem around Flipkart andsome new partnership that you will hopefully see in the comingdays."



He said the key partnerships would be in seller as well as investor front.

To a question on the overall trend in e-commerce with pull back in investment and challenges lying ahead, Bansal said "overall these are financial cycles that happen."



"In thewhole world I think the internet sector itself is going through adown cycle, but as the positive cycles do not last for ever,the down cycle also do not last for ever, so it will comeback," he said.
Gujarat government today said it would have to incur an extra burden of Rs 6000 crore per year if it were to apply the Seventh Pay Commission even as state employees union sought immediate implementation of the award.

The Union Cabinet today accepted the recommendation of of Justice A K Mathur headed panel, which would benefit around one crore government employees and pensioners across country.

"If we implement the 7th Pay Commission for government employees, we will have to shell out Rs 6000 more per year on their salaries. Finance and General Administration Department will study the recommendations in detail," Gujarat Government Spokesperson and Finance Minister Saurabh Patel said.

He said an appropriate decision will be taken in this regard on directions of Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.

Welcoming the implementation of the Pay Commission, state unit BJP president and Transport Minister Vijay Rupani said, "I am happy that our government at the Centre has accepted the demands of employees. In Gujarat, our CM and Finance minister would deliberate on this and then take an appropriate decision".

Gujarat State Employees Co-ordination Committee (GSECC), the apex union body representing over 4.5 lakh state government employees, demanded swift implementation of the pay award.

"We welcome the Centre government's decision to accept 7th Pay Commission recommendation. Now, we want that state government should implement it here without any delay, as we learned that Uttar Pradesh Government has already announced to give the hike as per the commission's recommendations. This should be followed here too," said GSECC spokesperson R A Patel.
A court here has dismissed a suit seeking a ban on the sale of a Gujarati book in which author Jayesh Shah, a Congress leader, has allegedly mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Civil court judge A M Dave cited Article 19 of the Constitution and dismissed the suit on Monday, holding that banning the book, titled "Fekuji Have Dilli Ma (Fekuji is in Delhi now)", would violate the fundamental right of freedom of expression.

The book dwells on a list of promises made by Modi during his campaign for 2014 Lok Sabha polls and claims that he has failed to deliver on them.

The suit demanding ban on the book was filed by a social worker Narsinh Solanki, who contended that the book is meant to "defame" Modi.

Solanki alleged that the contents and the title of the book are defamatory and derogatory in nature and they would spoil the image of the Prime Minister.

According to Solanki, Modi came to power just two years back, a time-frame too short to fulfil all the promises he made during the poll campaign.

Solanki sought the court's intervention to put an immediate ban on the sale of the book, which is in the market since last few months.

However, not convinced with the arguments of Solanki, the judge said that India is a democracy and people have all the right to express their personal views through a book. The court held that banning the book would violate the right of freedom of expression.
Gujarat Government was going to recruit 17,500 candidates for the post of police constable soon, a senior official said here. The process would start within a week.

Inspector General G S Malik, who is the chairman of Police Constable Recruitment Board, told PTI that it was for the first time in the state's history such a large police recruitment drive would be undertaken.

The process would start within a week, he added.

Talking about the rape case against Jayesh Patel, founder trustee of Parul University here, Malik said the police would seek his further custody as his remand ends tomorrow.

A special prosecutor would be appointed in the case, he added.

Patel is accused of raping a girl studying in the second year of nursing college in the university.
Four Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were today killed by gunmen on a motorcycle in Quetta, a day after four policemen were gunned down in the troubled Baluchistan province.

Frontier Corps soldiers were patrolling the double road area in Quetta when unidentified gunmen opened indiscriminate firing on their vehicle.

In the firing, four of the FC soldiers sustained multiple gunshot wounds and died later on their way to hospital, an official said.

Baluchistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri condemned the attack on the security forces and said such terrorist attacks will not deter them from their war against terrorism.

Zehri said the spate of attacks on security forces in the last 48 hours was an attempt to spread fear and panic in the city ahead of the Eid festival.

Four policemen were yesterday killed in two separate attacks in Quetta.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks on the FC personnel but there have been several targeted attacks on security personnel including policemen in Quetta and other parts of Baluchistan in last two years.

Mineral-rich Balochistan of which Quetta is the capital has been plagued for decades by separatist insurgency and sectarian killings.
Not paying heed to appeals by the BJP government in Haryana, thousands of employees of state power distribution companies today began a two-day strike to protest the "outsourcing" of operation and maintenance of 23 power sub-divisions in the state.

The decision to proceed with the strike came after talks with state government remained inconclusive yesterday.

The Joint Action Committee of power employees unions proceeded on strike late last night, Committee's General Secretary Subhash Lamba said today.

The government was adamant on its decision of "privatisation", he said, alleging it had forced them to go on strike.

Around 23,000 employees of electricity department in the state have stopped work, he said.

"The matter can be resolved still if chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar himself intervenes in the matter and the government rolls back the decision of privatisation of 23 sub divisions," Lamba said.

He added the strike shall be peaceful and no power employee shall indulge in any attempt to disrupt power supply.

"The privatisation will not benefit the government in any manner. It will create financial burden on the government," he claimed.

At various places in the state today, the employees raised slogans against the state government for its "outsourcing" decision and invoking ESMA.

Taking precautionary measures in view of the strike call, prohibitory orders under Section 144 have been imposed at several places, particularly in areas close to the power sub stations.

The government has recently invoked Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) in the state for six months to prevent disruption in power supply.

Employees have been protesting against the government's decision of outsourcing of operation and maintenance of 23 power sub-divisions in the state.

Besides, they are demanding filling up 30,000 vacant posts, inquiry into "sharp rise in losses and debt" of power distribution companies.

Khattar had appealed to the agitating employees to withdraw their strike call and said his government was open to talks with them and their genuine grievances will be redressed promptly.

However, the talks between government and protesting employees had "failed to yield result".

The strike has been called jointly by the All Power Corporation Workers Union and Haryana State Electricity Board Worker's Union.
Social activist Anna Hazare today launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Smart City Mission, saying it was against the Gandhian philosophy of village-centric development and would lead to environmental catastrophe.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Hazare also noted that even after two years in power, the government was yet to appoint Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in the states.

Speaking to PTI at Ralegan Siddhi, Hazare said he wrote the letter after Modi said while launching schemes under the Smart City Mission in Pune four days ago that urbanisation should not looked upon as a problem but as an opportunity.

Like Gandhi, Modi was also born in Gujarat, he said, adding, "the question that I have now is whether what Modi said was right, or what Mahatma Gandhi used to say is right."



The letter said that according to Gandhi, the urban development achieved by exploiting the nature is not sustainable.

The urban development was producing more and more carbon dioxide which was leading to illness, overcrowded hospitals, and the rise in temperatures which presents a threat to the very existence of all living things, it said.

The global warming was leading to melting of ice, rise in sea levels, posing threat to coastal towns. "This is what the scientists say. Still, you say 'urbanisation is not a crisis but an opportunity'," Hazare said in his letter.

In an agrarian country like India, water needed for farming was being diverted to the cities, the letter said, adding that "it is a disaster".

While the water need of cities is growing, the dams are getting filled with silt, which reduces their capacity, he said.

Due to the lack of effort to prevent soil erosion in the catchment areas, all dams would "die" due to silting in 200-300 years if not sooner, he said.

Hazare said even after 68 years of independence,



improving the economy of cities has not helped in improving the economy of the country and cited Gandhi's stress on development of village economy.

"Although I know that you (Modi) do not reply to my letters, I am writing this letter to you. Because this country does not belong to any individual...Every voter is the owner of this country. It is the right of the owner to say that this is my country and no harm should be done to it when the servant of the country is indulging in something that is causing harm to the country," the letter said.

"Just as you show keen interest in smart cities, you should have also shown equal interest in the appointment of Lokpal and Lokayuktas....Two years have passed but the common man is utterly fed up with corruption. Nowhere does work get done without bribing. This is the reality of the nation. Therefore laws like Lokpal and Lokayukta are made. It is necessary to implement them," said Hazare, whose agitation for Lokpal bill caught the nation's fancy during the UPA regime.

The social activist said Modi's remarks that urbanisation was not a crisis but an opportunity "caused my mind much distress".

"You have said many times that true democracy will not be established unless there is real power in the hands of the people through decentralisation of power. You talk but you don't act. This is what the people think....When I spoke words of truth for the good of the society and country, you got upset and hence perhaps could not even reply to my letter. Please excuse me if you think I have erred," Hazare said.
The Madras High Court today upheld the life sentence awarded by a lower court to a man who murdered a traffic Sub Inspector in January 2013 after he intervened to stop a fight here and directed Tamil Nadu government to pay Rs three lakh to the next of kin of his family.

Confirming the life sentence given by III Additional District and Sessions Court, Tiruvallur, a division bench, comprising Justices S Nagamuthu and V Bharathidasan, dismissed the appeal of Veeramuthu against the March 19, 2015 order and directed the DGP to pay the amount to the dependents of the SI's family.

The court said Veeramuthu's intention was clear from the obscene words he uttered when he attacked the SI. His act would squarely fall within Section 300 IPC for having caused death of the deceased, it said, adding the trial court had imposed only minimum punishment, not warranting any interference.

The SI Kathiresan was on duty on January 17, 2013 at a traffic signal when Veeramuthu and another person entered into an argument, leading to fisticuffs. The SI rushed to the spot shouted at them and separated the duo.

Veeramuthu went away but later came back, mouthed profanities at the SI before hitting him on the head with a wooden log, seriously injuring him.

The SI succumbed to his injuries on January 28 2013.

The trial court sentenced Veeramuth to life against which he moved the High Court.

Dismissing his appeal, the bench noted that the trial court had unfortunately not made any recommendation for paying compensation to the SI's dependents.

"Having regard to the pitiable condition of the family on account of the sudden demise of the deceased while he was discharging his duty, we are of the view that the dependents of the deceased should be adequately compensated as per the victim compensation scheme under section 357-A of code of criminal procedure."



The bench then directed the DGP to pay Rs three lakh as compensation from the 'Victim compensation fund' within six months from today.
Members of a Hindu group today accused Acharya Pramod Krishnam, who submitted a report on the alleged Hindu migration in Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh, of being anti-Hindu and staged a protest outside his house in Rajendra Nagar here.

They raised slogans and burnt banners of saints.

Addressing the protesters, Hindu Raksha Dal president Pinki Chaudhary alleged that Krishnam was working as an "agent" of the Uttar Pradesh government and thus, he has submitted a "false" report which was "anti-Hindu" and "pro-Muslim".

She was referring to the report of the five-member panel of saints, led by Krishnam, on the Kairana issue. The panel, constituted by the state government, denied reports that Hindus were migrating due to threats from Muslims and pointed towards a "dangerous conspiracy" to disturb the communal atmosphere of the state.

Krishnam said the definition of Hindutva has changed in the Narendra Modi regime. "Threatening saints, burning effigies are anti-social acts and attempts at creating anarchy in the name of Hindutva," he told PTI.

Till date, no Hindu outfit has gone to Kairana in Shamli district to ascertain the facts behind the alleged "exodus", said Krishnam and accused Prime Minister Modi and BJP of "trying to destroy the peace and harmony of Uttar Pradesh".

"BJP is planning to flare up communal riots in UP and exploit the feelings of Hindus in an attempt to encash their votes," he said, adding that the saints community will not tolerate such activities and will table the truth behind the "concocted story of exodus".
"Inglourious Basterds" star Diane Kruger has revealed that she was called difficult for speaking up about gender pay disparity in Hollywood.

"I have yet to be paid the same amount as a male costar," the 39-year-old actress told Town & Country in an interview.

"I've been labeled.... Or difficult to work with, when I've spoken up about something. Or it's 'She doesn't really know what she's talking about'," Kruger said about her experiences.
There is immense scope for promoting Ayurveda globally, prominent Indian doctors said today at the first international event hosted since India and Singapore decided to encourage the development of traditional herbal medicines.

Eight renowned Ayurvedic doctors from India gave an in-depth presentation at the first international event hosted by the Ayurvedic Practioners Association of Singapore (APAS) and India's Ministry of Ayush attended by about 200 delegates.

"We have a resounding response to the first international ayurveda conference from Indians and non-Indians here showing strong interest in ayuvedic medicines," said Dr R Indusekhar, president of APAS.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had called for an international conference to promote Ayurveda in November last year.

Joint Secretary Anil Kumar Ganeriwala outlined Ayush Ministry's capabilities to promote Ayurvedic medicine globally.

"There is immense potential of promoting ayurvedic medicines around the world. And today's conference has set that tone for putting Ayurveda on the global map," said Inusekhar, elaborating on the Ganeriwala's presentation.

In Singapore, there are over 250,000 people already using Ayurvedic medicine.

"We have 34 Ayurvedic practitoners and 14 clinics, each on average serving 5,000 new patients a year here," he said.

The conference was opened this morning by Singapore's parliament secretary Dr Faishal Muhammad Ibrahim.

India's High Commissioner to Singapore Vijay Thakur Singh felicitated specially invited Ayurveda speakers from India.

Ayurvedic medicine use in Malaysia is also increasing, said Swami S W Ramaji, founder and spiritual head of Hindu Sevai Sangam.

There 60 clinics in the Malaysian capital city of Kuala Lumpur, up from about 10 five years ago, he said.

Ayurveda is also popular among three million Hindus, including the youths, in Malaysia, said Ramaji who came from Kuala Lumpur to attend the conference at Singapore.
India is the only nation where a majority of people think US is more powerful today than it was a decade ago, according to a new multi-nation survey which also found that Donald Trump's ability to manage foreign policy if he were to become President was "strongly negative."



The survey released today by the Pew Research Center said that overall there's no strong consensus about the trajectory of American power over the past decade. But when asked if the US plays a less, more or equally important and powerful role as a world leader compared with 10 years ago, respondents in most countries were fairly divided.

"Japan is the only country in which a majority thinks the US is less important and powerful than it was a decade ago, while India (57 pc) is the only nation with a majority saying the US is more important and powerful (than it did a decade ago)," Pew said.

The survey also said in the nearly half of the 15 nations polled, the share of public confidence in Trump was in single digits.

Pew said less than a quarter of people surveyed expressed confidence in Trump - the presumptive Republican nominee. The views of respondents on him were strongly negative, it said.

Overwhelming majorities in most of the countries surveyed have little or no confidence in his ability to handle international affairs. This distaste was especially strong in Sweden, where 82 per cent have no confidence in him, Pew said. Most Australians (87 pc), Canadians (80 pc) and Japanese (82 pc) also lack confidence in Trump.

In India, 67 per cent do not offer an opinion on Trump, while 18 per cent Indians have no confidence in him as against 14 per cent having confidence in him.

In China, there was a split between those who have no confidence in Trump (40 pc) and those who do not offer an opinion (39 pc), it said.

It said most Australians and Japanese gave Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton a positive rating.

According to the poll, only 28 per cent of Indians showed confidence in Clinton's ability to manage world affairs. 16 per cent said they have no confidence in her. Surprisingly, a majority (56 pc) in India has no opinion of her.

Clinton got positive marks from Canadians (60 pc), Australians (70 pc), and from the Japanese (70 pc).

Views on her among the Chinese were mixed, with 37 per cent saying they have confidence in her, 35 per cent saying they do not have confidence and 28 per cent with no opinion.

Still, ratings for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee were consistently lower than President Barack Obama's, it said.

In the four Asia-Pacific nations surveyed - Australia, China, India and Japan - Obama receives relatively positive marks. Obama enjoys high ratings from Canadians (83 pc) and Australians (84 pc).

Obama is viewed positively by majorities in Japan (78 pc) and India (58 pc). In China, 52 per cent have confidence in his abilities to handle international affairs.
The Indus Water Treaty (IWT), under which Pakistan has got control over all the major rivers of Jammu and Kashmir, has resulted in huge losses to the state and the extent is being assessed, the government said today.

"It is a fact that the state is facing huge losses due to the IWT," Minister of State for Public Health Engineering, Irrigation and Flood Control, Farooq Andrabi told the Legislative Council.

He was replying to a query of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legislator Zafar Iqbal Manhas.

The Indus Water Treaty, signed in 1960, governs control of water of six common rivers between India and Pakistan. Under this, control over Indus, Jhelum and Chenab, all flowing through Jammu and Kashmir, has been given to Pakistan while control over Beas, Ravi and Sutlej, all flowing through Punjab, is with India.

The minister said the department has not done any study to assess and quantify the losses caused to the state due to the Treaty, but the matter of compensation would be taken up with the Centre.

He, however, said an audit is being done to find out how much exactly the losses have occurred.

When asked by Manhas as to why the state government had not pursued the matter with the Centre, Andrabi said IWT is an issue between India and Pakistan.

The minister's reply could not satisfy Manhas, after which Minister for Roads and Buildings and Parliamentary Affairs, Abdul Rehman Veeri, intervened.

Veeri said the state has sought compensation for the losses due to IWT and the matter has been taken up with the Centre.
Insurance sector regulator Irdai has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Max Life Insurance Company Ltd for violating norms related to outsourcing and file & use clause.

"In conclusion, as directed under the respective charges, the penalty of Rs 10 lakh shall be remitted by the life insurer by debiting shareholders' account within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of this order", Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India said in an order today.

The case is pertaining to an onsite inspection of Max Life Insurance during February 25 to March 7, 2013.

Irdai charged the company with a penalty of Rs 5 lakh for adjusting balance premium of policyholders without their consent.

"Adjustment of balance premium without consent of the policy holder is a violation of terms and conditions of the policy. Any excess amount of deposit at the time of taking out the policy shall be refunded to the proposer in accordance with extant laws on refund of premium", said the order.

This indicates the life insurer's casual approach towards adhering to the said regulatory requirements.

"Hence as per the powers vested on the Authority, a penalty of Rs 5 lakh is imposed on the life insurer."



Another penalty of Rs 5 lakh was imposed for violating outsourcing norms by remunerating brokers in the name of contests.

"Insurance brokers were remunerated in the name of contests, the payouts of which are above the prescribed brokerage. The life insurer also made payouts to related party of a broker under the guise of an agreement", said the order.

"With regard to contest to broker, the life insurer by floating contests, encouraged the broker to sell the company's products to the prospective customers which may not be at their best interests. Hence, Irdai levies a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on the life insurer", read the Irdai order.

The regulator also asked Max Life Insurance Company to be vigilant going forward to ensure non-recurrence of such lapses.

In a total of 17 charges, Irdai pressed on these two charges against Max Life; warnings were in six cases, while in rest of the cases, no charges were pressed.
Islamophobic abuse and attacks in Britain's public areas registered a whopping 326 per cent rise in 2015 with women in Muslim outfits emerging as the most vulnerable group, a new report claimed today.

Women were disproportionately targeted by mostly teenage perpetrators and more than one in 10 of all incidents took place in educational establishments and public transport and in city centres, another cluster area, Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) monitoring found in its research.

"We simply cannot have such hatred fester in our communities and in our societies. With a 326 per cent increase in anti-Muslim hatred reported to us in 2015, we have to deal with this issue. Now is the time to redouble our efforts to tackle such hate from all extremist groups," Tell MAMA founder Fiyaz Mughal told the 'Guardian'.

According to the report, the ability of Muslim women to travel on public transport free of fear and intimidation is being curtailed.

Women wearing the hijab or niqab were found to be especially "vulnerable".

"The largest proportion of incidents involve Muslim women, usually wearing Islamic garments, facing attacks from young white males," said the report.

Tell MAMA, which was founded in 2012, uses data from more than 15 police forces plus reports from victims and members of the public to compile a picture of Islamophobic activity in the UK annually.

The organisation directly received 1,128 reports of abuse and attacks in 2015, of which it verified more than 800.

"The statistics paint a profoundly bleak picture of the explosion of anti-Muslim hate both online and on our streets, with visible Muslim women being disproportionately targeted by cowardly hatemongers," said Shahid Malik, chair of Tell MAMA and former Labour party communities minister.

Workers in customer service roles, such as catering, security and taxi drivers, were also disproportionately targeted, according to the report.

Earlier this week, London Mayor Sadiq Khan directed Scotland Yard to be "extra vigilant" as racist incidents against all immigrants was feared to be on the rise following Britain's vote to leave the European Union (EU) last week.
Israeli cabinet ministers today approved a deal reached with Turkey at the weekend on normalising relations after years of acrimony over a deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

The security cabinet approved the deal seven to three after four and a half hours of debate, giving it final Israeli government approval, a spokesman said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others have promoted its economic benefits, with talk of building a pipeline to Turkey to export Israeli gas, and the need to find allies in the turbulent Middle East.

But there have been objections over Israel agreeing to pay USD 20 million in compensation to families of the Turkish activists killed in the raid.

There were also allegations that the agreement does not do enough to push for the return of four Israelis missing in Gaza, two of them soldiers who have been declared dead and two of them civilians believed held alive by Hamas.

Turkey will be allowed to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza as part of the deal, but Netanyahu has stressed that Israel's blockade on the enclave will remain in place.

Turkey has been seeking to restore its clout in the region after a diplomatic crisis with Russia and other foreign policy difficulties.

Ankara said yesterday that the two countries would begin the process of exchanging ambassadors this week. It was unclear if last night's attack at Istanbul airport that killed 41 people would affect the process.

Previously close relations between Israel and Turkey were downgraded significantly 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 the Gaza Strip.

Nine activists aboard the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara ferry were killed, with a 10th person later dying of his wounds.
The Italian navy has raised from the seafloor the migrant ship that sank off Sicily last year with an estimated 700-800 people aboard in one of the worst known tragedies of the Mediterranean migrant crisis.

The navy said it had had successfully recovered the boat from a depth of 370 meters (1,214 feet) using a complicated pulley system fixed to a support frame that attached onto the shipwreck.

Now resurfaced, the wreck is being kept in a refrigerated transport module for the trip back to port in Sicily, where forensic experts will begin trying to identify the dead.

A press conference to explain details of the operation is scheduled for Thursday, the navy said.

The April 18, 2015 wreck remains one of the deadliest on record, though the real number of drownings will never be known. On that night, the boat carrying between 700 and 800 migrants, most of them African, capsized as a civilian freighter approached.

Most passengers were locked below decks; only 28 survived.

The sinking sparked renewed outrage and soul-searching in European capitals, which agreed to send in EU naval reinforcements to cast a wider safety net to try to rescue the waves of migrants leaving Libya on smugglers' boats.

While tens of thousands have been rescued, thousands of others have drowned: During one particularly deadly three-day period last month, an estimated 700 migrants died, including those aboard a huge, overcrowded fishing ship that capsized as rescuers filmed the horror.

The UN refugee agency estimates that from April 19, 2015 to today, some 4,927 people have perished making the sea crossing to Europe.

Most of the migrant boats that sink are never recovered, and the dead are never exhumed or identified. Soon after the 2015 tragedy, though, Italy pledged to recover the wreck and is hoping that the exercise will help create a European network to identify victims by cross-checking data.

The navy launched the complicated recovery operation this past spring; navy divers over the previous months had already recovered some 169 bodies found near the wreckage, located some 85 miles (130 kilometers) off Libya's coast.

The navy submerged a giant yellow-framed rectangular apparatus to stabilize the wreck and affix support legs to its hull. Pulleys then raised the frame and vessel to the surface for the tow operation into port.
Sending a message of unity post-Brexit, Italy and the Netherlands have agreed to share a two-year term on the UN Security Council for a non-permanent seat after five rounds of balloting failed to break a deadlock in the General Assembly.

The 193 members of the UN General Assembly yesterday elected Sweden, Bolivia, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan to serve on the world body's Security Council for a period of two years, starting from January 1, 2017.

Ethiopia got 185 votes, while Bolivia got 183, Sweden garnered 134 votes and Kazakhstan 138.

In a highly-contested campaign, Italy and the Netherlands were vying for a seat on the 15-member UNSC in the Western Europe category. However after five rounds of voting, neither Italy nor the Netherlands met the required two-thirds majority for election and as a result, they announced a proposal whereby they would divide the term, with each serving one year on the Council.

In the first round of voting, the Netherlands had got 99 votes while Italy got 92. After the fifth round of voting, the two countries were tied, having garnered 95 votes each, less than the 127 required majority.

In announcing the proposal - requiring endorsement by the Western European and Other States Group, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands Bert Koenders said Italy would serve from 2017 to 2018, with his own country serving out the balance from 2018 to 2019. Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said that by that proposal, his country and the Netherlands hoped to send a message of unity between two European States.

The newly elected non-permanent members will fill seats to be vacated on December 31 by Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela.

Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay will remain elected Council members during 2017, completing the second year of their respective terms at the end of that year.
Jammu and Kashmir government has sought the Centre's help in upgradation of courts in small towns of the state.

Besides this, a wide range of issues were discussed during a meeting between Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh and the Jammu and Kashmir's Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Law and Justice Minister Abdul Haq Khan here yesterday.

Singh assured Abdul Haq Khan that the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to provide every possible assistance and cooperation to the state government in Jammu and Kashmir to ensure good governance and equitable development of all its regions.

He said, in the last two years the Central government provided an unprecedented Rs 80,000 crore package for J&K and also made liberal financial allocations for construction of roads and expansion of rail networks.

Abdul Haq Khan made a strong plea to Singh for renovation and upgradation of the courts in smaller towns of the state like, for example, Reasi and Katra in Jammu region and Kupwara and Qazigund in Kashmir Valley and sought Centre's assistance for the same, a press release issued today by Personnel Ministry said.

He said that a request for financial assistance has been made for the purpose to the Centre and sought Singh's intervention to pursue it with Union Law Minister Sadananda Gowda.

Khan also requested the Minister to take up with the Railway Minister the issue of further expansion of railway network in the state, including the laying of 30 km of track from Baramulla to Kupwara.

He urged Singh to pursue road construction work in peripheral parts of the state with the central government.
Earthmoving and construction equipment (ECE) maker JCB India is eyeing at a sales revenue growth of 20 per cent during the current calendar year, a top company official said today.

To a question on the Brexit, he said it would not have any major impact on JCB India's business.

"The ECE industry is now having a very good growth of 40 per cent. We expect our sales revenue to grow at 20 per cent in calendar year 2016", MD and CEO of JCB India, Vipin Sondhi said here.

Since April 2012, the industry had been witnessing a degrowth. "During October to December 2015, the growth was flat. Growth had started to pick up from January 2016", he told reporters.

In 2015, the company's turnover was Rs 5,000 crore, he said.

The ECE industry's growth has been driven primarily by roads and highways, he said, adding in some states digging of village ponds and canals had also contributed to some extent.

Sondhi said that growth in the eastern region's West Bengal was around 40 per cent.

"Such high levels of growth is not a steady state. It should stabilise at a lower level at some point of time", he said.

From its Pune components manufacturing plant, JCB India was exporting 60 per cent of the produce to its mother plant in UK.

JCB India was exporting its equipment to the countries of South East Asia, Middle East and Africa, he said.

"Exports of machines was 20 per cent of overall revenue of the company", he said.
The Bombay High Court today deferred till July 11 the hearing of a petition filed by Rabia Khan seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the death of her actor-daughter Jiah Khan.

A bench of justices Naresh Patil and Prakash Naik also asked Rabia to file on the next hearing her rejoinder to CBI's affidavit in the case.

Rabia's lawyer Subhash Jha sought adjournment of the hearing on the ground that petitioner had gone abroad and said he wanted to argue in her presence.

Jiah's boyfriend and actor Sooraj Pancholi is facing the charge of abetting her suicide.

The special court had last month adjourned the trial after Rabia moved the high court seeking stay on the trial, pending hearing of her petition demanding the SIT probe.

In her petition in the high court, Rabia sought SIT probe alleging that CBI, which is currently investigating the case, had concurred with the findings of Mumbai police that it was a suicide case and not homicidal death.

She had earlier moved the Supreme Court seeking a SIT probe, but the apex court asked her to move the high court.

"The trial in the lower court is not proceeding in a proper manner and there is likelihood of accused (Sooraj) being discharged in the case," Rabia's petition said.

According to her, the CBI, "due to reasons best known to it", has been vehemently opposing appointment of special public prosecutor in the case by the Maharashtra government.

Rabia's lawyer Subhash Jha had argued that investigation should be handed over to the SIT as CBI has also in its charge sheet said the death was not homicidal, despite forensic evidence suggesting otherwise.

The actress's mother had petitioned the high court against CBI categorising Jiah's death on June 3, 2013, as suicidal and not homicidal. She prayed for setting up a SIT to probe the case afresh.

Sooraj was arrested on June 10, 2013, for abetting Jiah's suicide, but released on July 2 that year, after the high court granted him bail.

On June 3, 2013, the body of 25-year-old Jiah was found hanging from the ceiling of her house by her mother. According to the charge sheet, Jiah had returned from Sooraj's house that morning, where she had been staying the previous two days.
The Supreme Court today said that judicial power cannot be used on the basis of "individual perception" of judges who have to function within the two "golden virtues" of discipline and restriction.

The court's observation came as it set aside an order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court which had held as illegal Gujarat government's decision declining benefit of premature release to a man sentenced to life term under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA).

The high court had also directed Gujarat government to release on parole for three months convict Lal Singh, who was transferred from central prison of Ahmedabad to Jalandhar central jail on the ground that his family was in Punjab and their financial condition was precarious.

However, the Gujarat government had challenged the August 2012 order of the high court.

Allowing the appeal of Gujarat government, a bench of justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh said an "abrupt direction" was issued by the high court to release Singh on parole for three months.

"The impugned order, as we notice, is gloriously silent and, in fact, an abrupt direction has been issued to release the first respondent on parole for a period of three months. It is well settled in law that a Judge is expected to act in consonance and accord with the legal principles," it said.

"He cannot assume the power on the basis of his individual perception or notion. He may consider himself as a candle of hope, but application of the said principle in all circumstances is not correct because it may have the potentiality to affect the society," the bench said.

"While using the power he (judge) has to bear in mind that 'discipline' and 'restriction' are the two basic golden virtues within which a Judge functions. He may be one who would like to sing the song of liberty and glorify the same abandoning passivity, but his solemn pledge has to remain embedded to Constitution and the laws," the apex court said.

The bench granted liberty to Singh to submit a representation before the competent authority of the Centre within eight weeks on the issue.

It said the competent authority would consider the representation expeditiously in accordance with law and the guidelines framed for premature release of convicts.

Singh, along with others, was convicted by an Ahmedabad court for offences punishable under the provision of TADA and the IPC.
Amid ongoing stir by lawyers and judges in Telangana against provisional allocation of judicial officers hailing from Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today called upon Governor ESL Narasimhan here.

Though there was no official word on the meeting immediately, it is understood that the ongoing row figured in the talks.

Rao had yesterday urged the Centre to expedite the process of division of the high court here (in the wake of bifurcation of undivided AP).

In a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, he requested appropriate notification to take up the exercise of allocating judicial officers and staff be issued only after the high courts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh start functioning separately.

He said in the letter that the tentative allocation of subordinate judicial officers has created a discontent among the judicial officers and advocate community belonging to Telangana as many officers of Andhra Pradesh were allocated to Telangana.

TRS MP K Kavitha, daughter of Rao, said yesterday that her father proposes to hold a dharna in Delhi against the alleged insensitivity of Centre in bifurcating the HC, though they don't want things to "escalate to that level".

Union Law Minister D V Sadandanda Gowda had said that the Centre has no role in creation of a new High Court for Telangana, rubbishing the ruling TRS' charge that the Narendra Modi dispensation is being "insensitive" on the issue and dragging the matter under political pressure.

Holding that the state government's stand on the issue is "unacceptable and intolerable," Gowda said the creation of a new HC is in the hands of the Chief Minister and Chief Justice of the common high court for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Meanwhile, the TDP's Telangana unit demanded Narasimhan to use his good offices to see that the matter is resolved amicably.

Advocates and judicial employees across Telangana have been protesting since June 6 against the provisional allocation. On Sunday, over 100 judges had submitted a representation to the governor on the issue.

Telangana Advocates JAC had claimed that out of the 21 judges at the Hyderabad High Court, 18 are natives of Andhra Pradesh and only three are from Telangana.

They are 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 their entry into service based on the guidelines on bifurcation of lower judiciary and under AP Reorganisation Act.
A fresh row erupted today with AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal's scheduled visit to Surat being cancelled after a trade body withdrew its invitation, which the party alleged was at the behest of state BJP government and came out with a "sting operation" to back its claim.

AAP's Delhi MLA and party observer for Gujarat, Gulab Singh Yadav claimed, "the sting operation (by AAP) proves the (South Gujarat) university authorities have buckled under the pressure exerted by Gujarat government".

The varsity's hall was booked for the AAP function by the Surat Vehapari Mahamandal.

Earlier in the day, AAP state chief Kanu Kalsaria said that 'Surat Vehapari Mahamandal' had invited the Delhi Chief Minister for felicitation and speech on July 10.

"Kejriwalji was to start his 2017 election campaign for Gujarat by visiting Somnath temple on July 9 and Surat the next day," he told PTI.

He claimed the trade body had booked a hall of (Veer Narmad) South Gujarat University for the function after proper written invitation, to which Kejriwal had given a date of July 10.

"However, the trade body comprising small traders of Surat buckled under pressure and has withdrawn the invitation. The hall booking has also been cancelled by the South Gujarat University," Kalsaria said.

He said AAP tried to convince the trade body but "they told us that it was hard to sustain the pressure exerted by the state government".

"The South Gujarat University told us that they have withdrawn the permission to hold the function in their premises on July 10 as they have another function on the same day. We don't know how true is that," Kalsaria said.

Meanwhile, Yadav claimed the sting video "proves" AAP's charge of political interference.

"In the sting video, university officials can be heard telling AAP workers that the varsity hall will not be given if Kejriwal attends the event. In another video, president of traders body, Jay Lal can be seen admitting that he was under pressure and asked to cancel the event by some leaders in Gandhinagar.

"This shows that BJP and it's leaders are afraid of AAP's entry in Gujarat. This is sheer arrogance and dictatorial approach of CM Anandiben Patel. People of Gujarat will give a befitting reply to BJP in coming elections," Yadav told reporters.

He said the sting operation was conducted by AAP workers on Monday itself.

However, refuting the AAP charge of arm-twisting by government, state BJP said the Surat event was cancelled after the trade body realised that AAP wanted to use its platform to further their political agenda.
Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya was today understood to have expressed his ministry's readiness to bring an amendment to Maternity Benefit Act to revise the duration of maternity leave from 12 weeks at present to 26 weeks.

The development comes after Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister Maneka Gandhi discussed the issue with Dattatreya who is learnt to have expressed his "readiness" to take up the matter.

The WCD ministry had mooted the proposal in September last for extending the maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks which, if implemented, will benefit all working women including those in private sector.

However, the matter is with the Group of Ministers (GoM) after being forwarded by the Cabinet for further consultation.

The two ministers met on the sidelines of a meeting of various ministries with the World Bank where Maneka once again made a strong push for revising the duration of maternity leave.

"Labour Minister said he is all ready to bring it to the Parliament session in the form of an amendment," a senior WCD official said.

Once approved by the Cabinet, the Labour Ministry will move a proposal in Parliament for an amendment to Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.

The proposal received support from various ministries but a final call on the matter will be taken by GoM.

WCD has been demanding eight months of maternity leave in pursuance of WHO's recommendations for six months exclusive breastfeeding to infants for healthy growth and development.
Sri Lankan Cabinet today extended the term of the country's anti-corruption panel, which is probing serious graft charges against former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family members.

The Cabinet approved the proposal to continue the operations of the Anti-corruption Committee Secretariat (ACCS) until a new institutional structure is introduced, Minister of Information Gayantha Karunathilake said.

The ACCS was established on a decision made by the Cabinet in 2015 to receive and facilitate complaints on serious fraud and corruption.

It was proposed to restructure the anti-corruption institutional structure of the country and to establish a fully-powered Serious Fraud Office which is similar to the Serious Frauds Office in UK.

The move to set up ACCS, which was a major election pledge of the President Maithripala Sirisena, was criticised by the opposition backers of Rajapaksa.

The opposition alleged that the secretariat as well as the police's special Financial Crimes Investigation Unit (FCID) had not been legally constituted.

The Rajapaksa family members and its associates have faced allegations of corruption since the advent of Sirisena, who has also set up a special presidential panel to probe corruption.

The second son of Rajapaksa and his younger brother Basil who functioned as the powerful economic development minister was arrested and later released on bail.

The senior Rajapaksa has also been quizzed by the presidential probe over unpaid bills at a state television on his election propaganda during the presidential election of January 2015 which he lost to Sirisena.
The CPI(M)-led LDF government today said it was not opposed to Goods and Services Tax, but the state did have some concerns.

"We are not opposing GST. But there are some concerns which will be raised by the state at the appropriate fora," Finance Minister T M Thomas Issac said.

The minister was replying to questions in the assembly in this regard.

The long-pending GST bill, which is aimed at overhauling the taxation system in the country, is expected to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha during the coming Monsoon session due next month.

Issac said the Kerala government also proposed to introduce a new version of the 'Lucky VAT' scheme, which would be sans coupons.

Steps would be taken to plug loopholes in leakgage in tax collection.

Checkposts would be made corruption free, he added.
London's Pakistan-origin mayor Sadiq Khan today announced an India-born millionaire as his deputy for business to champion the city's financial interests amid the fall-out of the EU referendum.

39-year-old self-made millionaire Rajesh Agarwal grew up in humble surroundings in India and went on to London toset up foreign exchange giant RationalFX, which had a turnover of more than 1.3 billion pounds last year.

The businessman who has also founded international money transfer service Xendpay is featured in the 'Sunday Times' rich list with a fortune of 90 million pounds.

"The mayor and I are determined to build a coalition that ensures the needs of business and financial services are at the fore over the coming months of negotiations with the EU.

"My first priority will be to listen and engage with businesses, to hear their concerns and deliver reassurance," said Agarwal, who will step down from his businesses to focus on his new role at City Hall in London.

He added: "I stepped on a plane for the first time 15 years ago to make the journey to London, and found a city that welcomed me with open arms and didn't make me feel like a stranger.

"This openness to talent and enterprise must not change as a result of the referendum. I share Sadiq's belief that a thriving economy is critical to ensure that all Londoners can share in our great city's future success."



Agrawal was Khan's business adviser during his mayoral campaign.

Khan, the son of a Pakistani bus driver, took charge as London's first Muslim mayor last month.

"Having arrived in London equipped with the ambition to succeed, Rajesh has created a multi-million-pound businesses from scratch and knows first-hand the challenges that our business leaders face, and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

"I know that Rajesh is the best person for the job of protecting jobs and growth in London as we deal with the fallout of the referendum," said Khan.

Khan has called on the UK government to give London an equal voice in negotiations with the EU after London had voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining within the economic bloc, in stark contrast to the country-wide result in favour of Brexit.
A 59-year-old diplomat from Madagascar was found dead at his apartment in south Delhi's Chhatarpur area today.

Rabenja Oliva was posted here as the second counsellor at the Embassy of Madagascar. Prima facie it is a case of natural death but the exact cause could not be ascertained yet, police said.

A call was received around 10 AM, following which a police team was rushed to the African diplomat's second floor apartment in Phase II of Chhatarpur enclave. The embassy officials were informed and the body will be sent for postmortem examination tomorrow, police said.
Maharashtra is ready to implement uniform electricity tariff in Mumbai and its suburbs for select consumers, but private utility Reliance Energy is not agreeable to the idea, a minister said today.

The government is ready for uniform tariff for consumers utilising up to 100 units in Mumbai and its suburbs, served by different firms (both private & public who have their own rates), said Minister for Energy Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

While civic-run utility BEST, Tata Power Co and Mahadiscom (a government entity) are ready for uniform tariff, Reliance Energy is not ready, he said.

"The Reliance's argument has been that it will incur a loss of Rs 150 crore (under uniform structure). However, the government, if needed, will instruct Reliance Energy to make its tariff rates uniform," he said.

Bawankule said uniform power tariff rates will be implemented in the next two to three months.

"The Government is keeping a close watch on power outages being faced by people in some parts of western and eastern suburbs due to tripping of a 220Kv power transmission tower of Tata Power at Airoli (Navi Mumbai)," he said.

Bawankule said rotational load-shedding is being done in the affected regions and was hopeful of the supply being restored at the earliest.

Several localities in eastern and western suburbs of Mumbai like Saki Naka, Borivali, Versova and Mira Bhayandar have been facing power outages since last evening when the TPC transmission tower collapsed.

The minister said TPC is constructing a 1,600 MW power plant at Dherand in Raigad district which will substantially augment Mumbai's growing power requirements.

Bawankule said in the last decade or so (when Congress NCP alliance was in power) no efforts were made to augment the power supply to the metropolis.

By 2019, Mumbai would be facing a power shortage of 3,000 MW, Bawankule said, adding the BJP-led Government has ensured addition of 1,300 MW for the financial capital.

Replying to queries over demands for reduction of rates for low-end consumers in Mumbai, he said the Government has already held four meetings with the distribution companies - TPC, BEST, Reliance and Mahadiscom - over the issue.

"The Government has already agreed for reduction in power tariff rates for consumers consuming less than 100 units," he said.
Nobel Laureate and her family have become millionaires as a result of income from her memoir describing life under Taliban rule in Pakistan's picturesque Swat valley and appearances on the lecture circuit around the world.

The 18-year-old Pakistani teenager who survived a shot to the head by the Taliban had relived the incident and her life in the Swat Valley in I am Malala, co-written with Sunday Times journalist Christina Lamb.

A company set up to protect the rights to her life story had 2.2 million in the bank by August 2015 and made a pre-tax profit of 1.1 million.

Malala, her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, and her mother Toor Pekai are joint shareholders of the company, Salarzai Ltd, The Times reports.

They are now based in Birmingham, where Malala - who became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 - attends Edgbaston High School for Girls.

Her autobiography, which documents her experiences growing up in Pakistan's Swat Valley under Taliban rule and being shot while travelling home from school on the bus with her friends, was published in October 2013 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK in a deal reported to be worth about 2 million pounds.

It has sold at least 1.8 million copies worldwide, according to Neilsen Book Research, including 287,000 copies in the UK, earning 2.2 million in Britain in paperback and hardback sales.

According to research by the US-based Institute for Policy Studies, Malala is also one of the higher-earning Nobel laureates, bringing in 114,000 per speech, compared with 64,000 for Desmond Tutu.

Her father, an educator and human rights campaigner who resisted Taliban attempts to shut down his own school in Swat, also gives lectures.

Salarzai Ltd, set up in August 2013 and based in London, operates separately to the Malala Fund, a charitable organisation inspired by Malala and set up by the Vital Voices partnership to help girls complete secondary education in safety across the world.

Most recently, Malala spoke in London last week to pay tribute to Jo Cox, the British MP whowas stabbed to death earlier this month in her constituency.
Malayalam TV journalist Sanil Philip died here early today following injuries suffered in an accident last week.

Sanil (33) was critically injured on June 20 when the autorickshaw in which he was travelling turned turtle after its driver lost its control on a road near Mundakkayam in the district.

He was rushed to a private hospital in Chemmanakari near Vaikom for advanced medical care. But his condition became serious last night and was put on ventilator support.

Sanil, a bachelor, died at 2 am, police said.

He was working as senior reporter of a newly launched Malayalam channel in Kochi. He had earlier worked as reporter of various Malayalam channels in various places including New Delhi, Kottayam, Idukki and Kochi.
A man in the US city of Los Angeles has married his smartphone in a church ceremony in Las Vegas, taking his cellphone love to a whole new bizarre level.

Aaron Chervenak, an artist-director, drove 365 kilometres from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to take part in a typical Las Vegas wedding.

The normal wedding had one deviation - the groom Aaron donned a tux while the bride wore a protective case.

"Do you, Aaron, take this smartphone to be your lawfully wedded wife, and do you also promise to love her, honor her, comfort and keep her, and be faithful to her?" Michael Kelly owner of the Little Las Vegas Chapel told the groom.

"I do," Aaron said, and then the groom placed his wife on his left ring finger, since the wife had a nifty little ring attached to her plastic cover, Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Kelly, who has married a lot of strange couples, said, "At first it was like what? And then I was like... Alright let's do it."



Kelly said Aaron's symbolic gesture to marry his smartphone was because he wanted to make a point about how dependent people are on their phones.

"People are so connected to their phones and they live with them all the time. They go to sleep with their cell phone. They wake up with their cell phone, sometimes it's the first thing they check," Kelly said, adding that it sounds almost like marriage.

"My smartphone has been my longest relationship. We connect with our phones on so many emotional levels. We look to it for solace, to calm us down, to put us to sleep, to ease our minds," Aaron said in a YouTube video.

"To me, that's also what a relationship is about," he said.

The marriage is not legally recognised by the State of Nevada.
A week after India failed to get entry into Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) due to China-led opposition, the US on Wednesday said one country can break consensus in the atomic trading bloc and insisted that such member should be held accountable.

US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Tom Shannon asserted that the US is committed to ensuring India's entry into the while expressing "regret" that Washington was unsuccessful in making India a member of the bloc in its pleanary in Seoul last week.

"We understand that in a consensus-based organisation, one country can break consensus. But in order to do so it must be (held) accountable not isolated," he said.

"I think what we need to do going forward is, for both of us India and the US, sit down and take a call what happened in the Seoul, take a close look at the diplomatic process which is significant and see what more we can do and how we can ensure that next time we are successful," he said during an interactive session at the Foreign Service Institute.

Calling India an "anchor of stability" in the Asia Pacifc region, US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Tom Shannon also said what China was doing in South China Sea is "madness" and it wants New Delhi to play a major role in the Indian Ocean.

Shannon said managing the rise of China was a major challenge and that the US wants to work with India to have a strong and comprehensive presence in the Indian Ocean.

Describing India a responsible and important player in the sphere of nuclear non-proliferation, Shannon said, "We are committed to having India join the Nuclear Suppliers Group. We believe that through the kind of work we have done, the civil nuclear agreement, the way India conducted itself, it is worthy of this."



On India's bid, he said the US would continue to work for India's inclusion in the group.

Shannon, who met Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar earlier in the day, said India's recent entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) highlighted that the country is a "responsible and important player in the road to non- proliferation."



"We regret, in Seoul we and India, were unable to open space necessary to allow India to move into the at this moment," he said.

When asked whether he thinks India will ratify the Paris climate deal before Obama administration's tenure got over and, at the same time, it will become a member of the NSG, he said "I hope so".

He said India has given a commitment to ratify the climate deal.

Shannon said that Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation was a very important symbol of friendship between the two countries.

"Just a few weeks ago, President Obama and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi welcomed the start of preparatory work on a site in Andhra Pradesh for six AP 1000 reactors to be built by an American company.

"This is expected to provide jobs in both countries and bring clean, reliable electricity that will help meet India's growing energy needs while reducing reliance on fossil fuels," he said.
Mongolians travelled to the polls today to elect a new national government as the country struggles to monetise its vast natural resources amid slumping demand for commodities from its largest trade partner China.

The contest largely comes down to a choice between the ruling Democratic Party and the opposition Mongolian People's Party.

On both sides campaigns have been heavy on bromides about economic development but light on concrete proposals for tackling voter concerns, including improving the country's educational and health care systems.

In the lead up to the election, voters expressed their frustration with the country's poor governance and weakened economy, and many said they feared a repeat of 2008 riots that followed claims of election tampering.

"(Politicians) have to fulfil all their promises. There are so many things to demand," said Ganbaatareen Jargal, a 25-year old construction worker, as he watched a campaign rally Saturday in a slum district bordering the capital city Ulan Bator.

Although a trained mining engineer, Jargal said he has been forced to work on building sites due to the government's failure to expand the resource sector.

Slowing growth in China, by far Mongolia's biggest trade partner, have sent commodity prices collapsing, while political disagreements about who should own the country's resources -- and at what price -- have stymied project development.

China's economy grew 6.9 percent last year, the worst since 2009, meaning less demand for raw materials such as coal and copper.

Outside the capital, trucks with mobile ballot boxes crisscrossed the vast steppe delivering the polls to voters - often sick or elderly - unable to make the trek themselves, while herders and others streamed to gers - traditional Mongolian homes - set up by the government for country dwellers.

But although Mongolia has made enormous efforts to ensure participation in even the most isolated areas, enthusiasm for voting has waned in the 26 years since the young democracy threw off the yoke of Soviet influence.

Turnout has declined each election cycle, a trend that experts attribute to increased skepticism of the country's political class.

"As the economic crises persist, there's considerable mistrust in the political system," Morris Rossabi, an expert on Mongolia at Columbia University, told AFP, adding that voters are "facing increasing disillusionment with political parties.
Government on Wednesday asserted it has "enough" support for passage of the GST bill in the session of Parliament that will commence from July 18 till August 12.

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh recommended the schedule for the session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters that the session could also be extended or curtailed by two-three days depending on requirement.

The session will have 20 working days for now.

Emphasizing that the GST bill is in the larger interest of the country, Naidu said, "We have a wider support and we have enough numbers for GST but we would like to have all parties on board because it will have an effect on states."



He said that the government wants to get the bill passed by consensus and is making efforts in that direction but asserted that even if consensus is not there, "we must get it approved in this session".

He said that voting on the bill will be the last option, suggesting that the government would like to avoid any trial of strength on this issue and will strive to take all parties along.

However, since it is a Constitutional Amendment Bill, voting will have to take place.

Replying to questions on whether Government will step up efforts to bring Congress on board, which has been opposing the bill on some conditions, he said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is ready to hold further discussions with all parties including Congress.

Naidu also referred to the recent interview of the Prime Minister in which he sought the cooperation of Opposition parties for passing GST.

In the meeting, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told Naidu that she was ready for a discussion on the recent foreign visits of the Prime Minister in view of issues like India's membership to NSG, if members want it.

Rajnath Singh, who chaired the meet, pushed for early passage of Lokpal and Lokayukta (Amendment)Bill while Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said there was a need for an early passage of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill. Both are pending in Parliament.

Naidu said besides GST, the government will push for passage of three bills replacing ordinances on Combined Entrance Exam for medical and dental colleges as well as the one seeking amendments to the Enemy Property Act.

Naidu said while 56 bills are pending --11 in Lok Sabha and 45 in Rajya Sabha, he has also asked ministries to come up with at least 25 new bills.

The ministries will have to give notice for bringing the new bills by July 3.

Naidu said once Parliament passes GST, the Indian economy will grow further.

"Keeping that in mind I appeal to all political parties to cooperate in passage of the bill. We have spent enough time. We have done enough study. There have been detailed discussions with state finance ministers...Concerns have been addressed," he said.

Claiming that the government has been continuously engaging with all parties including Congress on the issue, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said, "We will continue to have a dialogue with them also and try to convince them that House should be in order, which is a must to pass a constitutional amendment bill."



He said political parties, while formulating their stand, will keep the ground realities in mind. "That is my hope as Parliamentary Affairs Minister... I hope it should get approved in the next session of Parliament," he said.

The contentious Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-second Amendment) Bill, 2014, known as the GST Bill was moved in the Upper House in August last year after being passed by Lok Sabha.

The government is hopeful of the passage of the GST bill in this session amid indications that a number of regional parties have broken ranks with Congress on the issue and are willing to extend their support to this crucial economic reform measure.

After the CCPA, Naidu also held a separate meeting with Union ministers during which he asked them to submit their bill proposals by July 3, a fortnight before the session begins.

The session comes at a time when the ruling BJP's morale is high after its maiden victory in Assam Assembly polls and its performance in Kerala and West Bengal elections.

Another key bill is the Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015, which was moved in December last year but the discussion on it had remained inconclusive. In the Budget session this year, this bill could not be taken up.

In Lok Sabha, important bills pending include the Consumer Protection Bill 2015 and the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015.

The last few sessions of Parliament have seen sparrings between the government and the opposition even though the second part of the Budget session recorded a relative improvement as far the completion of government business was concerned.
A 21-year-old woman, who was allegedly gangraped in Motihari in Bihar's East Champaran district, was subjected to a two-finger test despite a ban by the Supreme Court, the National Commission for Women is believed to have said in its report.

The women body today shared the report with the Prime Minister's Office and also sought an appointment with Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss its concern about the Bihar police administration.

While the NCW Chairperson did not divulge the details of the report, a source said it mentions that the alleged rape survivor had to undergo the two-finger test, which was banned by the Supreme Court in 2013 holding that it violated the right of rape survivors' to privacy.

The report also questioned the role of doctors, alleging that they deliberately brush aside cases of rapes by meddling with test reports, the source claimed.

NCW is also expected to discuss with the Home Minister its concern about the Bihar police administration, the source said.

The Commission had instituted the inquiry into the gangrape and one of its members had visited the town as part of a fact-finding mission.

Two Union ministers from Bihar, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Minister of State for Human Resources Development Upendra Kushwa, who had met the woman's family last week, compared the case with the December 16 gangrape incident.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too has come under Opposition fire over "increasing lawlessness" in the state.

The incident had taken place nearly a week ago. Five men who had stormed into the woman's hut, dragged her out and gangraped her in front of her parents and neighbours. The accused had allegedly inserted a pistol and a wooden stick in her private parts.

Five persons have been arrested in connection with the case and two policemen suspended for dereliction of duty.
Motorcycle touring firm Motoziel and Austria's Edelweiss Bike Travel today announced a joint venture company to offer bike touring packages in domestic as well as international destinations.

The joint venture firm -- Motoziel Edelweiss Pvt Ltd -- will offer bikes from brands like Harley Davidson and Triumph for tours ranging from few hours to 14 days, priced between Rs 5,500 to Rs 2 lakh for a 14 day trip.

"Motorcycle enthusiasts in India or tourists seeking big bike travel experience through the sub-continent terrains, can now opt for a big bike of their choice, a pre-designed tour package or customise it as per their preference and enjoy the thrill under guidance of international experts," Motoziel Co-Founder and Managing Director Kalyan Mazumdar told reporters here.

The JV firm has 74 per cent equity coming from Motoziel and the rest from the Austrian partner. In the first round of funding since its inception last year, Gurgaon-based Motoziel had raised USD 2.6 million.

"Being from India, we bring terrain knowledge while Edelweiss brings in their knowledge of the industry and operations to the joint venture entity," Motoziel Co-Founder and Executive Director Biswaroop Banerjee said.

He added that the company, in the first phase, would focus on North and North East parts of the country, and later go to organise tours in South India as well as neighboring countries.

"Besides, we will also focus on Rajasthan during the winter months and later South India too. With Edelweiss, we will begin bike tours for Europe. They will take care of the service part there. We are also looking at neighboring regions like Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and also Tibet" Banerjee said.

The company will offer bikes, hotels, food and expert guidance during the tours. It has a fleet of 18 bikes from brands like Harley Davidson, Triumph, BMW, Honda, Suzuki, Ducati and Kawasaki.

The company has also tied up with partners to offer Royal Enfield bikes at certain locations.

Edelweiss Bike Travel Managing Director Rainer Buck said: "There is immense potential in the motorcycle tourism in India and its neigbbouring countries, and we are aiming at the untapped market opportunity that is available."



Mieming-based Edelweiss is one of the leading bike touring companies in the world.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday left for Delhi to get the nod of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s central leadership for the much-awaited expansion of state cabinet and formation of 'Happiness Ministry'.

Sources close to the chief minister said the announcement of cabinet expansion and formation of a new ministry may come in a day or two as he was expected to return by late this evening.

Chouhan had a closed-door meeting with BJP vice-president and in-charge Vinay Sahastrabuddhe, state BJP president Nandkumar Chouhan and BJP state organising secretary Suhas Bhagat here yesterday.

Chouhan-led Government, in its third term now, has 18 cabinet ministers and four ministers of state since 2013. Expansion was expected in 2014 and 2015, but it did not happen. As per the Constitutional provision, 11 more ministers can be appointed.

On June 17, the Chief Minister had said at the state BJP executive meeting that there would be a cabinet expansion. He also announced proposal to form Happiness Ministry, inspired by Bhutan which has the concept of gross happiness index.

The Happiness Ministry might be helmed by the Chief Minister himself, sources said.
Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu today met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and discussed the issue of the upcoming Med Tech Zone at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu, the Urban Development Minister said that the meeting was regarding the sanctioning of funds for the 270 acre project.

"Met FM Sri Arun Jaitley regarding sanction of funds for Andhra Med Tech Zone being established at Visakhapatnam," he said in a tweet.

Naidu, in another tweet, said that the project will promote Visakhapatnam as a medical devices manufacturing hub.

Andhra Med Tech Zone aims to emerge as a hub for medical device manufacturing. Once completed, it will put the country on the global map of high end medical equipment production, and is expected to make health care products affordable and accessible.

Naidu also tweeted that he met Jaitley along with Union ministers Ananth Kumar and Y S Chowdary as well as Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas.
The logjam in Nepalese parliament over mismanagement of the post-earthquake reconstruction today ended after an agreement between the ruling and the opposition parties over the release of NRs 200,000 aid to the survivors, leading to the resumption of discussion on this year's Budget.

The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) had been disrupting House proceedings for the past a few days demanding immediate release of the financial package to the victims of last year's devastating quake that killed nearly 9,000 people.

The NC had also alleged a lack of transparency in the distribution of the compensation to the victims of the quake.

Following the agreement between the ruling alliance and the main opposition Nepali Congress, Parliament today resumed discussion on the budget announced a couple of weeks ago.

Clarifying his government's position,Prime Minister KP Oli said his government was serious about reconstruction and providing relief to the survivors of the 7.8 magnitude quake.

He told the House that the Nepal Reconstruction Authority (NRA) started work soon after the required act was formulated.

He, however, acknowledged its work was delayed "for some time" due to the blockade of border checkpoints with India by Madhesis, who share strong cultural and family bonds with Indians, over a range of demands including that the new Constitution was discriminatory against them.

Oli also countered Opposition charges that his government has politicised the NRA, saying there was no political bias in the work of the NRA and that it was a transparent body.

Responding to Nepali Congress's demand to provide NRs 2,00,000 in one instalment to quake survivors to build their houses, Oli said that it was not possible.

But he said if themain opposition party agreed then the existing procedure can be amended to provide an additional NRs 1,00,000 in the second instalment to those who have already received NRs 50,000.

The government has agreed to provide the amount in three instalments, Oli said, adding that that was the agreement.

The NC welcomed the agreement regarding the release of the financial aid.

Issuing a statement after Oli's Parliament address, the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party said that it believed that the challenges Nepal faces can be also be resolved in future through agreement, common commitment and mutual trust.

As per the agreement, the statement said, the earthquake survivors would get Rs 150,000 in first instalment and the remaining Rs 50,000 support in the second instalment.

But those who have already collected Rs 50,000 as first instalment would get Rs 100,000 immediately.
Scientists claim to have developed a new framework which may be able to accurately predict future terrorist attacks by recognising patterns in past strikes.

Government agencies are having difficulty tracking potential attacks, since terrorists have developed new ways to communicate besides social media, researchers said.

Using data on more than 140,000 terrorist attacks between 1970 and 2014, Salih Tutun and Mohammad Khasawneh from Binghamton University in the US developed a framework that calculates the relationship between select features of terrorist attacks (for example attack time, weapon type).

The framework identifies the characteristics of future terrorist attacks by analysing the relationship between past attacks, researchers said.

Comparing the results with existing data shows that the proposed method was able to successfully predict most of the characteristics of attacks with more than 90 per cent accuracy, they said.

These results support the previous findings that terrorists tend to emulate the behaviour of other terrorist groups and learn from their mistakes and successes, researchers said.

"They are learning, but they do not know they are learning. If we do not have social media or other technologies, we need to understand the patterns. Our framework works to define which metrics are important," said Tutun.

"Based on this feature, we propose a new similarity (interaction) function. Then we use the similarity (interaction) function to understand the difference (how they interact with each other) between two attacks," he said.

"For example, what is the relationship between the Paris and the 9/11 attacks? When we look at that, if there is a relationship, we are making a network. Maybe one attack in the past and another attack have a big relationship, but nobody knows," he added.

Previous studies have focused on understanding the behaviour of individual terrorists (as people) rather than studying the different attacks by modelling their relationship with each other, researchers said.

Terrorist activity detection focuses on either individual incidents, which does not take into account the dynamic interactions among them; or network analysis, which gives a general idea about networks but sets aside functional roles of individuals and their interactions, they said.

"Predicting terrorist events is a dream, but protecting some area by using patterns is a reality. If you know the patterns, you can reduce the risks. It is not about predicting, it is about understanding," said Tutun.

He believes that policymakers can use these approaches for time-sensitive understanding and detection of terrorist activity, which can enable precautions to avoid against future attacks.
Three children were reunited with their maternal uncle in Dohad, about 160 kms from here, with the efforts of an NGO, after they fled from their house to escape assault from their alcoholic father.

"Three children boarded the Ratlam-bound MEMU train from the Vadodara railway station on Monday evening," NGO Anandi Child Centre coordinator Seema Shah told PTI.

"They ran from their house after their father, a habitual drinker, threatened to thrash them. Their mother left the house, for Balvasa village in Madhya Pradesh, following a tiff with their father," she said.

Their father, who hailed from Charal village of Madhya Pradesh, had come here in search of work, Shah said, adding the family settled at Somatalav area.

A passenger in the train informed the Railway Police Force (RPF) at Dohad railway station about these children, who were travelling alone.

After failing to get satisfactory reply from the children, Assistant Police Sub Inspector Raja Ram at the station called me on Monday late night, Shah added.

Shah along with some workers of the centre rushed to the station and took their custody from the RPF.

The children were handed to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) yesterday.

During counselling, one of the child informed her that their maternal uncle stays in Rajpur village in Dohad tehsil, Shah said.

"After the NGO contacted the uncle, he yesterday came to Dohad. The children were handed over to the uncle by the CWC," she added.
Morgan Stanley's Chief Global Strategist Ruchir Sharma today said no "great" economic reforms are expected from the Modi government as the best time for major policy initiatives is the first two years of a new government.

"If you look at pattern of other countries, typically the best time to carry reforms happens to be in first year, especially first two years of a new government.

"And longer a leader stays in power, the more are the diminishing returns to power... So, in that way, first two years is sweet spot for when things are carried out by any government, because then focus begins to turn on getting re-elected," he told PTI citing his research.

Even in the case of the Modi government which assumed office in May 2014, he said, "the first year, until the Delhi election took place, there was no opposition. The government could have done what it wanted to do, according to me. After Delhi election opposition got galvanised..."



Aam Admi Party swept Delhi Assembly elections and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party BJP could win only three seats.

On what he hopes from the government, he said: "I have no expectation of any great reform any more. I think that whatever big reform could have been done, should have been done in first year or may be in the first two years."



Sharma is Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. He is in India to promote his latest book, titled 'The Rise and Fall of Nations: Ten Rules of Change in Post-Crisis World.'



Stressing his point, he said even if one look at stock market prospective, 90 per cent of outperformance of market happens in the first two years of new government.

While he does not expect any major economic reform, Sharma said there may be some further liberalisation in FDI norms or changes in taxation front and "if we get lucky then we will get Goods and Services Tax (GST)".

He opined that major reforms like privatisation of public sector banks or labor reforms should have been done by the government in its first two years.

Building further on his point that reforms should be carried out by government in its initial years, Sharma said "and if government comes back to power a second time, the odds are that in second term government does not that much energy that it had in first term."



To a query whether India's election calender makes it difficult to carry out economic reform, he said, "its an excuse" because during elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu no central issues were being discussed but only local ones.
US President Barack Obama said today he is "confident" that Britain's vote to leave the European Union will not harm the the global financial system, as markets rebounded from post-Brexit losses.

"Given the vote of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, our economic teams are going to continue to work together so that we remain focused on keeping our economies growing and making sure that the global financial system is stable, something I am confident that we can do," Obama said at a summit with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts in Ottawa.
President Barack Obama today offered US security assistance to Turkey after 41 people were killed in a suicide assault on Istanbul airport, the latest in a string of attacks to rock the US ally.

Obama telephoned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "to express his deep condolences on behalf of the American people," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters traveling with the US leader to a summit in Ottawa.

"In the context of that call, he will offer any support that the Turks can benefit from as they conduct this investigation and take steps to further strengthen the security situation in their country."



"Any information that we obtain that could be useful to the Turkish investigation, we will certainly share that information," he added.

Earnest did not indicate whether Turkey had officially sought US assistance following the latest attack.

The United States earlier condemned as "heinous" Tuesday's bombing and gun assault on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport and pledged steadfast support for its NATO ally.

The assault, which comes at the start of Turkey's crucial tourist season, was the latest in a wave of attacks in Istanbul and the capital Ankara blamed it on Islamic State (IS) jihadists or Kurdish rebels.

Earnest, like Turkey, pointed the finger of blame at IS for the newest atrocity.

"We've made important progress in Iraq and in Syria against ISIL," he said using an alternate acronym for the group.

"But we continue to be concerned by the ability that ISIL has to carry out these kind of terrorist attacks, not just in Iraq and Syria but in other places."



Earnest said Obama would have a chance to meet with Erdogan "in some setting" when he travels to Warsaw for the upcoming NATO summit on July 8-9.

He said the attacks were certain to be raised Wednesday in Ottawa, where Obama joins Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto for a so-called "Three Amigos" summit.

"This is something that will certainly be on the minds of all three North American leaders," Earnest said.
The leaders of the United States and Mexico warned against isolationism at a summit in Ottawa today, making a pitch for unity as Donald Trump calls into question the free trade agreement that has bound them together with Canada for two decades.

"All too often we're hearing rhetoric that ignores the enormous contributions that have been made by Mexican Americans and the enormous strengths we draw from the relationship," Obama said, without naming the Republican billionaire who hopes to succeed him as president.

At the start of the so-called "Three Amigos" summit hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto offered a clear warning: "Isolationism is not a road towards progress," he said.

"We are neighbors, we are friends," he added, announcing that he would soon visit the White House. "This friendship is based on strong cooperation and teamwork."



Yesterday, Trudeau urged people to resist the temptation of "turning inward," warning of the high economic cost for nations that choose to go it alone.

Trump has promised to build a wall on the US border with Mexico to stem the flow of illegal migrants into the United States, and rails regularly against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed by his rival Hillary Clinton's husband Bill when he was president.

In a speech in Pennsylvania yesterday, Trump said he intended to renegotiate the 1994 accord that unites 530 million consumers and represents more than one-quarter of the world's gross domestic product (GDP).

"If (Canada and Mexico) do not agree to a renegotiation, then I will submit notice... That America intends to withdraw from the deal," he began.

While arguing for greater North American integration as the key to the continent's economic prosperity, Trudeau also warned of a growing backlash against globalization and rising protectionism.

The three nations at the Ottawa summit also announced a collaborative strengthening of their efforts to fight climate change.

The aim is to produce 50 per cent of the continent's overall electricity from "clean energy," including from solar and wind, nuclear and hydroelectric generation, by 2025.

"The Paris Agreement was a turning point for our planet, representing unprecedented accord on the urgent need to take action to combat climate change through innovation and deployment of low-carbon solutions," the leaders said in a joint statement calling for the accord to come into force before the end of the year.
An opposition MP today showered praise on the Narendra Modi government, saying "the ministers are very supportive and cordial" as far as matters related to his constituency are concerned.

"To be frank, I am very happy with them. I have great expectations from this government," Mohammed Faizal P P of NCP today said, listing development programmes being implemented by the NDA government for overall development of his island constituency, Lakshadweep.

The MP said whatever genuine demand he had raised in Parliament or directly with the ministers, they had extended a cooperative style of functioning. "Ministers are so cordial. They are very supportive," he said.

"In all aspects, the government shared a good view with us especially for Lakshadweep," Faizal told a press meet here.

He thanked ministers, including Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, HRD Minister Smriti Irani, Health Minister J P Nadda and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari for extending assistance to improve amenities in key sectors like health, education, transportation and tourism.

Faizal said his focus was on five areas -- health, education, tourism, telecommunication and transport.

"I got good support from the NDA government," Faizal said.

He said an MoU has been signed between New India Assurance Co Ltd and Lakshadweep administration to implement a Health Insurancepackagefor the residents of Lakshadweep.

Noting that this is a milestone in health care delivery system in the Lakshadweep Islands, he saidthe scheme provides cashless treatment for 33 per cent of those who are poor.

The scheme would be extended to all sections, he said.

Faizal said the main aim of the scheme was to provide quality medicalcare for those requiring specialised treatment up to Rs two lakh per year per family for ordinary diseases and Rs three lakh per year per family in certain critical illness in any empanelled hospital in Ernakulam, Kozhikode and Mangalore.
Opposition National Conference today raised questions in the Assembly over security situation in Kashmir, seeking to corner the government which said the state was facing proxy war from Pakistan rather and not an ordinary law and order problem.

Raising the issue against the backdrop of last week's terror attack on CRPF convoy, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah demanded a statement from the government about the steps being taken to ensure safety of people in the Valley.

Responding to Omar's demand, Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh assured the House that a detailed statement would be made tomorrow.

"It is not just a law and order problem. It is a proxy war from across the border," Singh said.

"We are in touch with the Centre over the matter. We want to ensure a peaceful and incident-free Amarnath yatra and tourist season," the Deputy Chief Minister said.

Omar said while it was good that government was concerned about the safety of Amarnath pilgrims and tourists, it should also think about the safety of the people living in the state.

"The Amarnath Yatra will be over in a month and the tourist season will finish in two months but what about the safety of people living in the state throughout the year, especially those living in the border areas," the former Chief Minister asked.

He said although the Assembly has been in session, the government has maintained silence over the security issue.

"Today we come to know about various things through the media. Media reports say the infiltration is up or down, another report says CRPF will be withdrawn from road opening duty and another one says BSF will be recalled for counter-insurgency duties. What is the truth? The government should make a detailed statment on this," Omar said.

Launching a scathing attack on Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, he said "she chooses a question and intervenes during the Question Hour. That makes up for the press release and then she is not here. Please tell the Chief Minister to come to the House and make a statement on the issue tomorrow."



Tomorrow is the last day of the Budget session.

Earlier, National Conference MLAs Ali Mohammad Sagar and Devender Rana, supported by CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami, said that while everyone was concerned about the security issue, the state government was "silent".

"The Prime Minister is concerned, the Defence Minister and Home Minister are concerned about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The team from Centre is here and DG CRPF is also here. But the state which is affected, its government is silent," Sagar said.
Pakistan today allowed the nearly three million refugees from Afghanistan to stay in the country for an additional six months while tasking authorities to take up the issue of their return with Afghan and UNHCR officials.

The announcement in this regard by Pakistan was made a day before the deadline of the return was to expire on June 30.

Pakistan had set the deadline to put pressure on the about 3 million Afghan refugees - 1.5 million registered and about as many undocumented - to return to their homeland.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif granted the six month stay till December 31, 2016, an official said.

Radio Pakistan and Pakistan TV reported that Sharif has extended the stay of the refugees in the country and asked authorities to discuss the issue of their return with Afghan officials and UN High Commission for Refugees.

Sharif said that Pakistan will supply free wheat for three years to refugee camps set up in Afghanistan to accommodate those returning from Pakistan.

Afghanistan had earlier asked to extend the stay for two more years so that it could prepare to receive the refugees. According to UNHCR there are 1.6 million registered and another 1 million unregistered refugees in Pakistan but local official of Pakistan put their total number to more than 3 million.

Pakistan wants early return of the refugees as they have become a security problem as militants use their camps to hide, according to Advisor to the Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz.

The deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan meant that between January and June only 7,000 Afghans have returned to their homeland, according to UNHCR Pakistan.

Pakistan last week called for international support as it warned that without help, the flow of those fleeing Afghanistan's decades-long war to Europe could increase.

Next month Pakistan will host a tripartite meeting with Afghanistan and the UN to discuss the situation.

Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, an estimated five million Afghan refugees crossed over to Pakistan, and many still remain in camps in the poorest rural areas of the country.
Islamabad granted Afghan an extra six months to remain in Pakistan on Wednesday as authorities stepped up efforts to work with the UN and Kabul to relocate camps to Afghanistan.

Pakistan is home to 1.5 million registered and about as many undocumented Afghan refugees, with growing insecurity in Afghanistan impeding voluntary return programmes.

"The stay of Proof of Registration (POR) card holder Afghan shall be extended for a further period of six months only, till 31st December, 2016," a statement issued by the Pakistan Prime Minister's office said.

Registered Afghan will be liable to deportation after this date, but an earlier deadline was extended by six months last December and analysts say the upcoming deadline could also be put back.

Unregistered refugees are also liable to deportation, but their repatriation is likely to take years.

The worsening security situation in Afghanistan meant that between January and June this year only 7,000 Afghans voluntarily returned to Afghanistan, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Pakistan.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also ordered government ministries to engage with the United Nations and the Afghan government to aim for the "gradual relocation" of refugee camps from Pakistan to Afghanistan, his office said.

Pakistan would supply wheat to the relocated camps for three years free of charge as a gesture of good will, the office said.

Next month the country will host a tripartite meeting with Afghanistan and the UN to discuss the situation.

Home for decades to millions of Afghan refugees, it last week called for the support of the community as it warned that without help, the flow of those fleeing Afghanistan's decades-long war to Europe could increase.

After the Soviet invasion in 1979, five million Afghan refugees came to Pakistan, according to Pakistani officials, and many remain 37 years later.

Afghan refugees living mainly in camps in the poorest rural areas of Pakistan exist in administrative uncertainty because of the short duration of residence permits issued by the Pakistani authorities, who regularly threaten to deport them.
Indicating that the deadly blast at the Central Ammunition Depot in Maharashtra last month that claimed 19 lives could be the result of defective anti-tank mines, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today ticked off the DRDO for "not properly hand-holding" production agencies.

He said the anti-tank mine is under discussion because of the Pulgaon incident.

"Probably that product did not go as expected mainly because DRDO did not handhold the production agency, Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) until they were quite comfortable and sure of them. Producing and developing agency should tie up with each other," Parrikar said.

He was addressing top naval and DRDO officers here at an event.

He said DRDO should not behave like a hospital where a baby is born and leave the rest to the parents. He said DRDO should stay around to ensure the child at least gets up and walk.

At least 19 defence personnel, including civilian staff, were killed in the massive fire on May 31 that broke out at one of Asia's biggest ammunition depot in Maharashtra's Pulgaon which houses the largest stockpile of weapons in the country.
Defying ESMA, thousands of employees of state power distribution companies today began a two-day strike to protest the outsourcing of operation and maintenance of 23 power sub-divisions in Haryana even as the state government claimed power supply was normal.

Protesting employees raised slogans against the state government at various places for its decision of privatising the job of maintenance and operation of 23 sub-divisions.

Describing the decision of the employees to go on strike as unjustified, the government said power supply in "the whole state was normal".

The decision to proceed with the strike came after talks with state government remained inconclusive on Monday.

The Joint Action Committee of Haryana power employees unions proceeded on strike late last night, Committee's General Secretary Subhash Lamba said today.

The government was adamant on its decision of "privatisation", he said, alleging it had forced them to go on strike.

Around 23,000 employees of electricity department in the state have stopped work, he said.

"The matter can be resolved still if Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar himself intervenes in the matter and the government rolls back the decision of privatisation of 23 sub divisions," Lamba said.

He added the strike shall be peaceful and no power employee shall indulge in any attempt to disrupt power supply.

"The privatisation will not benefit the government in any manner. It will create financial burden on the government," he claimed.

Haryana government had already invoked ESMA to prevent disruption in power supply due to strike.

Meanwhile, Haryana Chief Secretary D S Dhesi said despite the strike by a "section of employees" of the power utilities, the consumers were getting 8,000 MW of power today by noon as compared to the average supply of 7,200 MW in the last one week at the same time.

The Chief Secretary, who was accompanied by Additional Chief Secretary, Power, Rajan Gupta, told reporters here "the power supply in the whole state was normal. About 36 per cent of total employees remained absent. The supply, however, was maintained by the officers with the help of remaining employees. All the officers of the department are on duty round the clock. Special emergency teams are working to attend to the complaints promptly."



He said district magistrates and officers in the field have been given specific instructions to ensure that power supply is not disrupted.

Those found trying to disrupt the supply of power would invite stern action against themselves, he warned.

Dhesi said the number of absentees is more in districts of Hisar, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ambala and Kurukshetra. He added that two incidents of causing disruption in supply of power have been reported from Hisar and Bahadurgarh, where the supply was restored.

Dhesi said the government was committed to ensure



uninterrupted supply of power to all categories of consumers in urban as well as rural areas and it was also taking steps to ensure that the people are not put to any inconvenience.

He said that the government would not take any step which would adversely affect the employees.

He added that the government was of the view that the present strike by power employees was "unjustified" and uncalled for.

Dhesi further said the state government is also committed to ensure that the employees of Haryana Power Utilities are properly looked after and their interests are fully protected.

Gupta said a reference has been made to the Labour Tribunal for conciliation of the dispute. All other legal measures have been taken to ensure discipline.

"In case an employee indulges deliberately in sabotage of power supply, strict action as per law will be taken against such person," he said.

Gupta said the agitation being resorted to by a section of the employees is totally unjustified.

The employees are agitating against the policy decision of the state government of engaging service providers in 23 sub-divisions for undertaking maintenance works and redressing complaints of the consumers relating to interruption of power supply.

Justifying the decision of outsourcing of maintenance, Gupta said that it was a pilot project and its results would be visible in next three-four months.

"This is a win-win situation for both the government and the employees as the consumers shall get good service at low cost," he said and hoped the employees of the utilities would cooperate to continue it.

The service providers have been asked to arrange sufficient manpower and equipment so that the complaints of breakdowns received from consumers are addressed in a time bound manner.

They have also been asked to carry out preventive maintenance to avoid breakdown in supply of electricity.

He said the service providers have been engaged to supplement the existing infrastructure of DISCOMs. The decision to engage companies is not intended to adversely affect any employee of the Nigams in any manner. It will rather further facilitate their functioning, he said.

He stated that a requisition has been sent to the Haryana Staff Selection Commission for filling up of 5000 posts for managing sub-stations of the Power Utilities efficiently.

In the last two years more than 200 sub-stations have been augmented or commissioned. An investment of nearly Rs 10,000 crores has been planned in the next three years, he said.

Engaging service providers in 23 sub-divisions is one of the steps in the direction of greater consumer satisfaction.
A powerful improvised explosive device planted by Maoists in an insurgency-hit pocket of Gariyaband district was today recovered by security forces, police said.

"The explosive, weighing 15-20 kg, was unearthed by a joint team of District Force and Central Reserve Police Force's 65th battalion from the forested Mainpur-Kulhadighat Road under Mainpur police station limits," Gariyaband Additional Superintendent of Police L David told PTI.

He said the IED was planted with an intention to harm the troopers who had launched an anti-Maoist operation towards Kulhadighat, located around 120 kms away from here.

"When the security personnel were cordoning off the route, they spotted theIEDplaced in a steel container under the ground, about one km ahead of Kulhadighat village," the officer said, adding, the explosivewas neutralised by the bomb disposal squad.
Probe agencies do not follow investigation protocols despite being aware of the gravity of narcotics-related offences, a court here has observed while pulling up Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for framing an African national in a case involving 10 kg heroin.

Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar, while absolving African national Samson Ongera Omoro of the charges of possessing over 10 kg heroin, observed that intelligence officer of DRI R Roy had deliberately tried to mislead the court.

"This Court is conscious of the fact that offences under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act have been considered very serious in nature, which is evident from severe punishment provided on conviction in such cases. But the court always feels a constraint when evidence, which is required to prove the prosecution case, does not come through.

"Knowing fully well the gravity of the offences under the NDPS Act, investigating agencies do not follow protocol of the investigation. A transparent investigation is the need of the day, which should be carried out diligently and in a scientific manner," the judge observed.

The judge further said that in the absence of such an investigation, benefit of doubt would always go to the accused, as has happened in this case.

The court came down heavily on DRI, saying it has "serious doubt about recovery of contraband from the possession of the accused. The very story of DRI/complainant that recovery of 10.4 kg heroin was effected from the accused in the presence of independent witnesses, has turned out to be unreliable."



"Therefore, despite being an official witness, who carry a great respect from Courts, I am constrained to observe that Roy has deliberately tried to mislead the Court while deposing in the case," the judge said.

The court noted that the probe agency named a fictitious 'panch' witness (a witness before whom police seals or opens case-related materials at a crime scene) which cast doubt on the complaint.

"The complainant/DRI joined panch witnesses but dropped them. One of the witness Raju is found to be a fictitious person which causes a serious doubt on the entire version of the complaint. Second panch witness Rakesh is unavailable at the given address...

"Therefore, it was incumbent upon Roy to ascertain the identity of the witnesses as well as their addresses. I need not comment further whether this omission on the part of Roy is deliberate to avoid the production of panch witnesses in court or lack of diligence on his part," the judge said.

The court also said it is expected from official



witnesses to maintain standard of investigation and credibility as they carry the same command, respect and treatment from the Court as any other witness.

According to prosecution, a complaint was filed by Intelligence Officer of the DRI that he received information on July 29, 2010 that a 40-year-old man of African origin would be standing at a bus stand near Burari in south Delhi who would be in possession of drugs.

A raid was conducted by DRI team and the accused was caught possessing around 10 kg of heroin, it said.

The accused claimed that he was falsely implicated and some persons in civil clothes forcibly took him to the DRI officer when he was standing outside his house.

He claimed he was illegally kept and also threatened, pressurised and beaten by the officers, who forced him to write a dictated statement and sign certain blank papers.

The court, while acquitting him, also said, "false plantation of contraband substance when the recovery is heavy may be rare, but is not impossible.
Days after a city-based couple claimed to have successfully scaled Mount Everest, a probe has been ordered to verify their claims after a group of mountaineers approached Pune Police alleging that the two have faked their expedition by morphing photographs at the peak, a senior police official said today.

Tarakeshwari and Dinesh Rathod, who are serving as constables in Pune Police, had claimed on June 5 that they became the first Indian couple to scale the Everest on May 23.

"Based on a complaint from some mountaineering organisations, an inquiry has been ordered, and till date the couple has not reported to duty," Pune Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla told PTI.

Asked whether the police will get in touch with Nepalese authorities to verfiy the couple's claims, she only said, "a probe has been ordered" and refused to elaborate further.

Surendra Shelke, one of the complainants and secretary of a city-based mountaineering association, had alleged that the couple had morphed pictures and there were several discrepancies in their version given about the summit, which can prove that they were making fake claims.

"If you see the individual photos of Dinesh, he is wearing a red and black down jacket at the summit and in the couple photo at the top, both are wearing orange down jacket and yellow and black shoes.

"It is next to impossible to change clothes and boots mid-climb as there is a danger of frostbite and we are cent- percent sure that photographs were taken either at a base camp or at a studio and later it was meticulously morphed or cropped," Shelke said.

He added they even inquired with the mountaineers who were at the expedition between May 19 and May 24 and according to them nobody saw the couple beyond any of the base camps en-route to the summit.

Shelke further said they have nothing personal against the couple. However, if the issue is not brought to light, a wrong message will go and young aspirants in the mountaineering field will resort to such tactics.

Meanwhile, constable Dinesh Rathod told PTI that they have submitted all the certificates received from the Nepal government upon completion of the summit, along with other proofs to the investigating officer of Pune Police.

"Since, the matter is under probe, I would not like to



comment on the issue. However, I am sure that the truth will come out," Rathod said.

He also said he along with his wife had already sent a complaint copy to Pune Police alleging that the group of mountaineers is defaming them.

"We have sought action against these people who are trying to defame us by lodging such baseless complaints with the department."



While clarifying on not reporting to the job, he said that they have given a leave application to the department.
Russian President and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan today sought to heal ties in their first phone call since Ankara downed one of Moscow's jets in Syria last year.

A statement from the Turkish presidency said Erdogan and Putin "highlighted the importance of the normalisation of bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia."



The November incident froze relations between the two nations and saw Moscow slap sanctions on Ankara.

Putin also condemned the "heinous" attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport Tuesday that killed at least 41 people and offered condolences to the Turkish people, the statement said.

"Reiterating their commitment to reinvigorate bilateral relations and fight terrorism together, the two leaders agreed to remain in contact and meet in person," Erdogan's office said.

The Kremlin confirmed that the conversation took place and said a statement would be released.

The breakthrough phone call by Putin came after Erdogan on Monday sent a letter to the Kremlin leader that Moscow said contained an apology.

The downing of the plane in November ruptured relations and saw Moscow impose a raft of sanctions, including an embargo on Turkish food products and a ban on charter flights and the sale of package tours to the country.

It also sparked a bitter war of words between the leaders with Putin calling it a "stab in the back" and demanding an apology from Erdogan.

Ankara has said Erdogan expressed his "regret" over the incident in Monday's letter to Putin and asked the family of the pilot who died to "excuse us", but has not explicitly confirmed he apologised for shooting down the plane.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday described the letter as an "important step" but warned that "there is no need to think that in several days it will be possible to normalise everything."



Turkey has argued that the Russian plane strayed into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings, but Russia insisted it did not cross the border and accused Turkey of a "planned provocation."



The countries are on opposing sides in the Syrian conflict, with Ankara backing rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad while Moscow is one of his last remaining allies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin today extended to the end of 2017 Moscow's embargo on food items from the West imposed in retaliation for sanctions over Ukraine.

A decree posted in the official government database states that the existing embargo on produce, dairy, meat, and most other foods will be extended to December 31, 2017.

Russia has since August 2014 banned most foods imports from the European Union and other countries, inlcuding the United States, which imposed sanctions on Moscow over its 2014 annexation of Crimea and support of east Ukraine's separatists.

The food embargo was extended for a year in 2015 and the Russian government said in May that it had drawn up a plan to extend them again until 2018.

EU ambassadors last week agreed to roll over their economic sanctions against Russia to January 2017 due to the lack progress on a peace process to end the fighting in east Ukraine.

The sanctions, as well as Moscow's own embargo, have impacted the Russian economy, with the embargo pushing food prices up and quality down, but also giving a boost for some domestic producers.
A selfie clicked by the member of State Commission for Women with an alleged rape victim courted controversy prompting the chairperson of the commission to seek a written explanation.

Interestingly, the Chairperson Suman Sharma is also in the selfie along with the member Somya Gurjar.

The selfie was clicked by Gurjar yesterday when she along with chairperson had gone to meet the rape victim in Mahila police station (Jaipur North).

"I was talking to the victim when the member of the commission clicked these selfies. I am not aware when she (Somya Gurjar) clicked. I do not favour such act and has sought a written explanation from her. She has been asked to submit the explanation by tomorrow," Sharma said.

Interestingly, two pictures, in which Gurjar is seen clicking the selfie, got viral on WhatsApp today.

Both Gurjar and Sharma are in the frame of the selfie and the pictures of the act were clicked by someone standing near them in the chamber of the police officer.

In the pictures, Gurjar is seen holding the mobile device and the Chairperson is also looking in the frame (of the selfie).

In a shocking incident in Alwar district, a 30-year-old woman was allegedly raped by her husband and his two brothers who tattooed expletives on her forehead and hand for not giving Rs 51,000 as the dowry.

On Monday, an FIR was registered under sections of 498-A (Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act), 376 (punishment for rape)and 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) of IPC and an investigation in the case has been initiated.
To ensure maximum participation of people in monitoring of Public Distribution System (PDS), Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today directed the concerned officers to reconstitute all vigilance committees from depot to the state level.

The Chief Minister was presiding over a review meeting of Food and Supplies Department here today, said an official release here.

These committees have been constituted at various levels that is depot, sub division, district and State level with an aim to monitor the distribution of essential commodities that are being distributed through the PDS.

While reviewing the progress of the department, the Chief Minister also directed to launch awareness campaign so as to apprise the people about various activities of the department.

He said open darbars and camps should be organized in the entire state to provide information about availability of ration, quality and its distribution.

Also, the grievances of the people concerning the Department should also be redressed. He also suggested that training programme of depot holders should be carried out by the department.

The Chief Minister also suggested to prepare a scheme for increasing the income of depot holders in the state.

Minister of State for Food and Supplies Karan Dev Kamboj informed that central Government has fixed a target of 9.5 lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) capacity for construction of steel silos in the state.

Out of the total, five LMT capacity steel silos would be created by Food Corporation of India and remaining of 4.5 LMT capacity would be constructed by the state government.

The state has identified the areas where different state procurement agencies will set up these silos.

The department and other procurement agencies were also constructing scientific storage for a capacity of 2.2 LMT, he added.

It was informed in the meeting that digitization and verification of beneficiaries data has been completed.

Digitization of 9,352 Fair Price Shops and 479 godowns had also been completed by the department. Apart from this, supply chain management would be implemented in the entire state from next month.
Legendary artist K G Subramanyan, credited with being one of the pioneers of Indian modern art, passed away in Vadodara today at the age of 92.

"The Kerala-born artist, who had been recovering from a hip surgery conducted over four weeks ago, suddenly took ill and passed away around 3 am. It is a huge loss for us," Naveen Kishore, publisher Seagull books, told PTI over phone.

Kishore has published over 40 books of the late artist, fondly referred to as 'Mani Da' and the Seagull Foundation For The Arts has been organising exhibition of the master's works in cities across the country.

"He lived a full life and was famous for saying that for him each day is a day of celebration. He had a wonderful support system and we will miss him," Kishore said.

In a career spanning over six decades, the multifaceted artist, who lived and worked in Baroda, had been a painter, sculptor, muralist and print maker besides an author of children's books. He was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 2012, Padma Bhushan in 2006 and Padma Shri in 1975.

He was renowned for his outdoor murals, terracottas, and toys and also experimented with weaving. In the 1970s, he began experimenting with reverse painting, an 18th century craft tradition where the artist paints on a sheet of glass and reverses the glass to view the final image.

Subramanyam is survived by his only daughter Uma and son-in-law. His wife Sushila predeceased him a decade ago.

Subramanyan studied under the tutelage of Benode Behari Mukherjee, Nandalal Bose and Ramkinkar Baij at Santiniketan. His style inspired by rich folk art traditions and also refers to the Modernism's cubistic styles of the West.

Artists and art fraternity members expressed their grief at the of his demise.

Rajeev Lochan, director National Gallery of Modern Art said, "The country has lost one of its legendary artists, pedagogue, theorist and scholar with the demise of K G Subramanyan. The NGMA mourns the loss of this noted personality whose contribution to the art world would be always remembered."



A retrospective exhibition of his work was held in 2003 at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and Mumbai.

"I got to know about his demise from friends and it is a great loss," Ranjit Hoskote, art curator, poet and cultural theorist, told PTI from Goa.

Hoskote also took to Twitter and said, "Artist, teacher, wise storyteller, inspiration to several generations of Indian artists: he will be missed."



Baroda-based artist Rekha Rodwittiya expressed sadness at the artist's demise. "Indian contemporary art has lost its icon," she said.

Subramanyan graduated from Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati



University in 1948 after receiving his bachelor's degree in economics from the Presidency College in Chennai, where he participated and led his college in the Quit India movement of 1942 and was later imprisoned.

He joined the Kala Bhavan at Viswa Bharati in Santiniketan in 1944. In 1951, post his Santiniketan training, he was invited to teach at the Department of Fine Arts in Baroda, along with N S Bendre and Sankho Choudhary.

In 1955, he received a British Council Research Fellowship to the Slade School of Art at the University of London.

His works are in many collections around the world including the V & A (London), Birla Academy of Art & Culture in Kolkata and the Musee de l'Art in France.
Retailers today welcomed the government's decision to allow shops, malls and cinema halls to run round-the-clock, saying it will lead to a new level of retailing in the country.

The move will also add 'thousands' of additional skilled jobs, besides providing flexibility and convenience to customers, they said.

The Cabinet's decision to clear the Model Shops and Establishment Bill will bring parity in laws across India, the retailers said, but added its success will depend on states adopting it.

"This will definitely help in improving efficiency and a new level of retail can open up... I will call it the end of permission raj," Shoppers Stop Managing Director and Customer Care Associate, Govind Shrikhande told PTI.

He said the policy will bring clarity in regulations across India and will also take away hassles of seeking permissions.

Expressing similar views, Walmart India president and CEO Krish Iyer said, "It is a welcome step and we hope all the states will adopt it."



With flexibility available to retailers to open their establishment 24x7, not only will it add thousands of skilled jobs but will also make the retail markets across the country more vibrant, giving customers flexibility and convenience to shop anytime, he added.

Iyer further said 24x7 policy for retail stores in other developed economies has given significant boost to their growth in the past. A vibrant retail environment is critical to the economic growth.

Retailers Association of India CEO, Kumar Rajagopalan said this step is a win-win for everyone, including businesses, consumers and government.

"With government clearing Model Shops and Establishment Bill, a model has been created which will have to be adopted by states. Some states like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have already adopted retail policy. This will benefit not just businesses but also consumers and government in the form of taxes and higher employment. Retailers will experiment for sure," he said.

Agreeing with Rajagopalan, Lacoste India Managing Director and CEO Rajesh Jain said it is a good step from the Centre.

"For us, we don't keep all our stores open for 24 hours, but we look at strategic locations. Extended hours will definitely help. This move will be very good, particularly for food and beverage industry," he said.

When asked if Shoppers Stop would look at opening stores round-the-clock, Shrikhande said: "We would do cost benefit analysis to see whether it is feasible to keep stores open round-the-clock... One can look at opening stores at few catchment areas or extend working hours."



The Seventh Pay Commission hike will give a big boost to consumption in the retail sector, he added.

Pacific India (Pacific Mall) Executive Director, Abhishek



Bansal, said the move will also enable level playing field for brands in online as well as offline retail platforms.

"At Pacific Mall, currently shops that close by 9 pm can now remain open till about 11 pm which will be good for customers who only get a chance to shop after they return home from work or people working late shifts," he added.

On security aspect, Bansal said: "We have invested in security management service and surveillance systems and will have to look into hiring and training more people, according to their job profiles post this change."



Welcoming the government's decision, DLF CEO (Rental Business) Sriram Khattar said, "We shall first study the new Act and then work out the logistics, as for us, customers' safety, security and experience are of utmost importance."



The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), however, said the decision is bound to pose several threats to the trading community.

The CAIT has suggested that before implementing the decision, states should run a pilot project in any one big market of a city for impact assessment, the traders' body said.

A study must be undertaken to understand the quantum of increase in footfalls in markets if shops are open in the night, viz-a-viz establishment expenses, it added.

(REOPENS DCM73)



Welcoming the government's move to allow shops to run round-the-clock, fast food restaurant chain KFC said it would boost the industry.

"This is a welcome development as it will provide a definite boost to industry and the economy," KFC India Managing Director Rahul Shinde said, adding "We will evaluate its implications, basis various factors such as trade area and our business policies."



Jubilant FoodWorks, which operates Domino's Pizza and Dunkin Donuts chains, termed it as "progressive decision" and said it will benefit the service providers as well as the users and has the potential to generate additional employment opportunities.

"For us, the new law opens up greater avenues for reinventing our service offering for customers and catalyse growth," said Jubilant FoodWorks CEO Ajay Kaul.

(REOPENS DCM86)



Hailing the Cabinet's approval to a model law that allows shops, malls and cinema halls, among other establishments, to run 24x7, industry chamber Ficci said it is a very progressive move.

It would enable states to choose to keep shops and other such establishments open 24x7 all through the year, it said in a statement.

"This would give substantial boost to employment generation and will also benefit the consumers in terms of more convenience and accessibility," it added.
Rich tributes were paid to Isak Chishi Swu, chairman of Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), in a condolence service held at Nagaland House here today.

National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval laid a wreath on the coffin of the 87-year-old Naga insurgent leader,who died yesterday following multi-organ failure at a private hospital in South Delhi where he was undergoing treatment for almost a year.

NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah, interlocutor in Naga peace talks R N Ravi, former Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, Swaraj Kaushal, Nandita Haksar and many others also paid tributes to the leader.

Remembering his 52-year-old association with Isak, Muivah said, "We understood each other and having trust and confidence faced the challenges."



Drawing upon his two-year-long contact with Isak, Ravi termed him as a "deeply religious man and a remarkable statesman" who knew what was "best" for the Naga people. A leader of Isak's Sumi tribe heralded him as "pride of the community" and "Mahatma" of Nagaland.

Isak's eldest son Ikato addressed the gathering on behalf of the bereaved family. The late leader's wife, Eustar Chishi Swu, and his sons and daughters were present. Bible passage reading and condolence choir by Tangkhul Church were part of the service.
Actor Riteish Deshmukh will soon be seen hosting a Marathi game show "Viktaa Ka Uttar".

It is for the first time that the 37-year-old actor is hosting a Marathi quiz show, which will be telecast on 'Star Pravah'.

"It's a quiz show where common people can participate. There will be prize money as well. It is too early to reveal the format of the show but it is not on lines of 'Kaun Banega Crorepati'," sources said.

Riteish has earlier judged dance reality show "India's Dancing Superstar".

The actor is actively promoting Marathi cinema by producing films like "Balak Palak", "Lai Bhaari".
: The Tamil Nadu government today announced a relief of Rs three lakh each to the families of 14 policemen who had died of natural causes recently.

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa condoled the death of the 14 police personnel from different parts of the state, including Salem and Villupuram, and expressed her sympathies with the families of the deceased.

She said in a statement she had directed a relief of Rs three lakh to each of the cops' families from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund.
The 'security officer' of Ram Vriksh Yadav, the cult leader whose supporters had encroached upon Jawahar Bagh here leading to clashes with the police that left 29 people dead, has claimed that an RSS volunteer trained the squatters.

"Viresh Yadav, the security officer of Ram Vriksh Yadav, has claimed that one Rajvir Singh of Agra, who has links with the RSS, used to impart training to the inmates of Jawahar Bagh," SSP Babloo Kumar told a press conference here today.

"We are trying to locate this person (Rajvir Singh) and his alleged RSS links are being investigated," he added.

Viresh, who was carrying a reward of Rs 15,000 on his head, was nabbed from Balaji Puram Colony under Sadar Bazaar police station last night along with his wife Lalita Devi and two children, the SSP said. Lalita is being questioned by the police.

Kumar said five police teams had been in hot pursuit of Viresh who fled from Jawahar Bagh after scaling the boundary wall on June 2.

Clashes between police and encroachers at Jawahar Bagh here left 29 people dead, including two police officers, on June 2. Ram Vriksh, who too was killed in the clashes, was the leader of the group that had been encroaching upon a 270-acre government plot for more than two years.

The SSP said some of the statements of Viresh corroborated those of Chandan Bose, the right hand man of Ram Vriksh arrested earlier.

Viresh has told the police that Ram Vriksh had set up 12 outposts at Jawahar Bagh which were manned by 200 volunteers who worked on six-hour shifts. After the police started carrying out reconnaissance of the area, the strength of these outposts was increased from 200 to 300 volunteers, said the SSP.

Besides, Ram Vriksh had appointed 'darogas' (inspectors) for patrolling and there were 19 squads each with a strength of 15-20 young boys who were "great fighters", he added.

Viresh has also told the police that Ram Vriksh would collect jewellery from women and cash from men in the name of Baba Jai Gurudev. The cash and jewellery were kept with a person known as 'Doctor' from Hardoi, said Kumar, adding that another Doctor Upen was in charge of medical requirements of the inmates at Jawahar Bagh.

Ram Vriksh's charred body was identified by his lawyer Tarani Kumar Gautam who demanded that it be handed over to his daughter who resided in Delhi. The Police though had refused to handover the body to the woman.

Viresh has told the police that the woman, identified as Gudiya, was not Ram Vriksh's biological daughter but was treated like daughter by him, said the SSP.
Russia's defence minister today rebuked NATO for bolstering its military presence in eastern Europe and vowed Moscow will take countermeasures.

"The US and other NATO members continue to build their military potential, first and foremost in countries neighbouring Russia," defence minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying by Russian agencies.

"Such actions by our Western colleagues will undermine Europe's stability and force us to take countermeasures, first of all, in the western strategic direction."



Shoigu said that "more than 2,000 units of new and modernised equipment" would be deployed in Russia's western military district this year.

This latest warning comes nearly two months after Shoigu said Moscow was poised to set up three new military divisions in the west and south of the country to counter NATO forces close to its border.

Relations between NATO and Russia have soured over Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and eastern European countries worried that they too might be targets of Russian aggression.

In response, NATO has deployed additional military resources on its eastern flank. At its previous summit in 2014, the alliance decided to reinforce its presence along the Russian border, angering Moscow.

Russia has repeatedly accused the US-led military alliance of trying to contain it ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union opened up the former Eastern Bloc.

Shoigu today claimed that the intensity of NATO's activities along the Russian border had "more than doubled", claiming that up to 30 NATO warplanes and some 1,200 pieces of military equipment are stationed on a rotational basis in eastern Europe.

The minister warned that the intensity of NATO activity in the region could "considerably increase" after the alliance's next summit, which is taking place in Warsaw July 8-9.
Information management solutions company Saksoft is looking to acquire an additional 25 per cent stake in ThreeSixty Logica Testing Services.

"The Board of Directors at their meeting held today has approved to acquire a further 25 per cent stake in ThreeSixty Logica Testing Services Pvt Ltd, subsidiary of the company," the Chennai-based company said in a BSE filing.

The board said it has authorised Saksoft's Chairman and Managing Director Aditya Krishna and Chief Financial Officer, Nirajkumar Ganeriwala to take up acquisition process.

"The cost of acquisition involved in acquiring 25 per cent stake is Rs 8 crore plus the proportionate share of Net Current Assets at the time of closing," the company said.

Earlier this year, Saksoft had picked up 51 per cent stake in Noida-based ThreeSixty Logica for an undisclosed sum aiming to strengthen its testing and quality assurance services.

Saksoft said the demand for independent testing services was growing at a phenomenal rate in current social, mobile, analytics and cloud and e-commerce segments.

"Saksoft focus on digital space and information management combined with the expertise in independent testing make the company a niche technology provider," it added.

The transaction is expected to complete by first week of July.

ThreeSixty Logica registered revenue of Rs 29.67 crore for the financial year 2015-16.
Bollywood actor Salman Khan today did not appear before Maharashtra State Commission for Women to explain his "rape" remark, inviting dispeasure of the panel which issued fresh summons to him for his appearance on July 7.

The superstar's reply to the National Commission for Women's notice to him over the same remark, failed to satisfy the panel, which said it found Salman "not apologetic".

Citing double jeopardy, a procedural defence that forbids a defendant from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges in the same case, the actor had sent a letter to the MSCW through his lawyer that since the matter was being heard by the NCW, it cannot be taken up by the state Commission.

"The Commission and its members today went through the letter given by the actor and we found it unsatisfactory. The letter says that case is already being heard by NCW and hence it would amount to a case of double jeopardy.

"But we are of the view that our state commission has been conferred with concurrent powers and the case can be heard at both the places simultaneously," MSCW Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar told reporters in Mumbai.

The Commission has now summoned the actor to appear before it on July 7, she said.

The state panel had sent him a notice asking him to appear before it today and explain his position on the matter.

When asked what steps the Commission would take if Khan failed to turn up again on July 7, Rahatkar said, "That would be decided that day."



In Delhi, NCW chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam said in his reply Salman was "not apologetic" and that the panel was examining its mandate to deal with such instances and the legalities involved.

"Salman Khan has sent a reply and it is not apologetic in tenor. We now need to decide what we are going to do next. We have to look at both what comes under our mandate and what are the legalities involved...

"We are not going to give out the details of Salman Khan's reply now. We need to first go through it in detail, along with our lawyers. Only then will both his reply and what we are going to do next will be made public," she said.

The reply was e-mailed to NCW through Salman's lawyer last evening, while the NCW notice was sent directly to the actor's residence.

"The reply has come from his lawyer, which means it is a legal reply. So we can't just reply off the cuff," Kumaramangalam said.
The Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW) has issued a fresh summons to Salman Khan asking him to appear before it on July 7 over his rape remarks after the Bollywood superstar failed to turn up today.

The actor had sent a letter to the panel yesterday through his lawyer stating that the case is already being heard by the National Commission for Women (NCW) and the matter cannot be heard simultaneously at two places.

After considering his response, the panel expressed dissatisfaction over the actor's argument.

"The Commission and its members today went through the letter given by the actor and we found it unsatisfactory. The letter says that case is already being heard by NCW and hence, it would amount to a case of double jeopardy.

"But we are of the view that our state commission has been conferred with concurrent powers and the case can be heard at both the places simultaneously," MSCW Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar told reporters.

The Commission has now summoned the actor to appear before it on July 7, she said.

The state panel had sent him a notice asking him to appear before it today and explain his position on the matter.

When asked what steps the Commission would take if Khan failed to turn up again on July 7, Rahatkar said, "That would be decided that day."



Salman had compared himself with a raped woman when quizzed about the gruelling shoot for the movie "Sultan".
is "not apologetic" over his rape remark in his reply to the Commission for Women, its Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam said on Wednesday, noting the panel is looking into it.

" has sent a reply and it is not apologetic in tenor. We now need to decide what we are going to do next. We have to look at both what comes under our mandate and what are the legalities involved.

"We are not going to give out the details of Salman Khan's reply now. We need to first go through it in detail, along with our lawyers. Only then will both his reply and what we are going to do next will be made public," she said.

The reply was e-mailed to NCW through a lawyer last evening while the NCW notice was sent directly to the Bollywood actor to his residence.

"The reply has come from his lawyer, which means it is a legal reply. So we can't just reply off the cuff," Kumaramangalam said.

The NCW chief had earlier said that if the actor did not give a satisfactory reply then he could be asked to appear before the Commission.

Calling the comment "callous and condemnable", NCW had issued Salman a notice last week, giving him five days to reply, over a comment he made comparing himself with a raped woman when quizzed about the gruelling shoot for the movie "Sultan".

"We have sent him a letter asking for explanation in seven days. We have said that he should give a public apology," the NCW chief had then said.
The constitutional power of the executive to grant pardon to convicts cannot be exercised by the apex court unless there is a violation of fundamental rights, the Supreme Court held today.

A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh said that Article 32 can only be invoked when there is violation of any fundamental right or in the "realm of public interest litigation".

"The argument that when a pardon or remission can be given under Article 72 (by President) or 161 (by Governor) of the Constitution by the constitutional authority, this court can exercise the similar power under Article 32 of the Constitution, is absolutely based on an erroneous premise.

"Article 32, as has been interpreted and stated by the Constitution Bench and well settled in law, can be only invoked when there is violation of any fundamental right or where the Court takes up certain grievance which falls in the realm of public interest litigation," the bench said.

The observation came on the pleas of some persons convicted under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act who were seeking grant of remission of their 10- year sentence as the relief was not available to them under the New Punjab Jail Manual of 1996.

The convicts had said that the relief was denied to them as section 32-A of the NDPS Act bars entitlement to such remission.

The apex court said the factual matrix of the case "does not remotely suggest" that there has been violation of any fundamental right of the petitioners and thus, their plea to invoke Article 142 (enforcement of decrees and orders of Supreme Court) of the Constitution, along with Article 32, was "absolutely fallacious".

"The petitioners have invoked the power of this court to grant the benefit of remission in exercise of power under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. Speaking plainly, the prayer is totally misconceived," the bench said and dismissed their petition.
The leaders of Gibraltar and Scotland discussed remaining within the European Union after a British vote to leave the bloc, a statement said.

Gibraltar, a rocky outcrop on Spain's southern tip that was ceded to Britain 300 years ago, voted overwhelmingly to remain within the EU.

Scotland also returned a majority to stay, but it wasn't enough to sway the overall British vote to pull out of the 28-member bloc.

"The Government is now exploring all the options in order to determine how to best protect the position of Gibraltar in the future," a statement from Gibraltar read.

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo spoke to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, it added.

The two discussed "giving effect to the possibility of Scotland and Gibraltar remaining in the EU, in line with the views of their respective people."



"They agreed that technical experts from the two Governments should meet in order to review the situation," it added.

Sturgeon is due to travel to Brussels on Wednesday to seek to defend Scotland's place in the EU in a series of meetings with leaders.

"Through all of this I am determined, utterly determined, to preserve Scotland's relationship and place within the EU," Sturgeon told an emergency session of the Scottish parliament yesterday.
The second BRICS Youth Summit will begin here from July 1 with the city leaving no stone unturned to mesmerise the international delegates.

According to an official release, Guwahati - the gateway to the North East - is getting ready to host the prestigious second BRICS Youth Summit, India 2016.

The three-day summit with the theme 'Youth as bridge for intra-BRICS exchanges' will focus on enhanced people-to-people contacts of BRICS members - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

70 foreign delegates, including ministers and head of executive authorities on youth affairs from BRICS nations, are expected to participate in the summit.

To take forward the initiatives of first BRICS Youth Summit held in Russia in July 2015 for creation of a permanent platform for development of youth cooperation, interactive and stimulating discussions on various aspects related to youth development will take place here, the release said.

The BRICS Youth Summit will focus on skill development and entrepreneurship, social inclusions, youth volunteerism and youth participation in governance.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has asked all officials of the departments concerned to leave no stone unturned to make the event a grand success.

"Assam's resplendent culture must be projected in full splendor before the visiting distinguished dignitaries," Sonowal said.

He asked the officials to extend warm hospitality to the visiting dignitaries in traditional manner, for which the state is well-known since ages.

"When they go back home, they must carry with them fond memories of Assam and its warm, generous and hospitable people," he added.

The Government of Assam will host a dinner in the honour of the visiting foreign dignitaries on July 2.

The inaugural session will witness addresses by BRICS members, agenda to work out for the working sessions, followed by cultural programme from India.

On the second day, there will be four working sessions, followed by banquet dinner with cultural exchanges and performances from participants of BRICS nations.

On the last day, a presentation of working session reports will be followed by finalisation and adoption of the Guwahati BRICS Call to Action on Youth, the release added.
Western Railway (WR) has decided to extend the services of Bandra Terminus-Jabalpur Superfast Special Train to clear extra rush of passengers.

The limited period train will now be fully reserved and run on special fare, said a WR statement.

The train (01705/01706) will have eight trips. It will leave Bandra Terminus (Mumbai) at 8.30 PM on Friday and reach Jabalpur at 6.55 PM the next day. The extended trips will run on July 8, 15, 22 and 29.

On return journey, the train (No. 01706) will depart from Jabalpur at 2.20 PM on every Thursday and reach Bandra Terminus at 11.15 AM the next day. The extended trips will run on July 7, 14, 21 and 28.

It will halt at Borivali, Vapi, Surat, Vadodara, Ratlam, Ujjain, Bhopal, Habibganj, Hoshangabad, Itarsi, Pipariya and Narsinghpur stations in both directions.

The booking for extended trips will open from June 30, it added.
BJP President today blamed late Jawaharlal Nehru accusing him of having committed a "historic blunder" on Kashmir and the criticised the then Congress leadership for the partition.

Referring to the declaration of truce when Pakistan-backed tribal raiders in 1948 were being repulsed in Kashmir, he said if such a decision was not made, the Jammu and Kashmir problem would not have existed today.

"Suddenly, without any reason....The reason is not known even today, truce was declared. Never has any leader of the country made such a historic blunder. If Jawaharlalji had not declared a ceasefire at that time, the Kashmir issue would not have existed," Shah said speaking at an event in the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) here.

He claimed that this decision was taken to improve "one's (Nehru's) personal image," and lamented that because of this a part of Kashmir is now with Pakistan.

The event was to commemorate Bhartiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee, where Governor of Tripura Tathagata Roy gave a lecture. In his lecture, Roy also raised questions over the circumstances leading to Mookerjee's death in Kashmir in 1953 where he had gone to participate in a protest and raised questions about Nehru's handling of the events and the decision not to conduct an inquiry into it.

Shah said that a "large section" believes that Mookerjee's death was in fact "murder" and if a probe had been conducted, truth could have come out.

Lauding the Jan Sangh founder's role, Shah said that he had played a key role in raising the concerns of Hindus in Bengal and "If Kolkata is a part of India, and one person has to be given credit for it, it is Syama Prasad Mookerji."



Shah claimed that if the Congress leadership at the time of independence had not got into a hurry, the division of India could have been prevented.

"When at the time of independence, the entire Congress leadership was anxious to become independent.... All of them were ageing, if it gets delayed was also worrying them. But at that time a young leader thought that a mistake should not happen and Bengal was saved," Shah said.
Pritam Singh Jauhal, a 95-year-old World War II veteran and a prominent figure in the Sikh-Canadian community who fought and won a high profile battle to allow Sikhs wearing turbans into the Royal Canadian Legions, has died.

Lt-Col Pritam Singh Jauhal passed away peacefully in Surrey on Sunday, his daughter was quoted as saying by The Globe and Mail newspaper.

Jauhal spent 38 years in the Indian Army and Central Reserve Police Force, retiring with the rank of lieutenant-colonel before immigrating to Canada to be with his children in 1980.

He shot to prominence in 1993 when he was prohibited from entering the Newton Legion on Remembrance Day. At the time, the establishment would not allow turbaned Sikh veterans on the premises.

Legion officials insisted that Jauhal and other Sikh veterans who had served the British Empire in the Second World War could only come in after removing their turban as rules forbade veterans from wearing headgear.

This was despite the fact that female veterans from England were allowed to go in wearing their berets.

He wrote an open letter listing turban wearers who had won the British Empire's highest military decoration. "Good enough for the Victoria Cross. Not good enough to earn a seat among the heroes of the Newton Legion," he wrote.

But the national headquarters of the Royal Canadian Legion issued a formal apology and condemned the actions of the local officials.

Sandhra, who co-authored Jauhal's 2013 memoir, 'A Soldier Remembers', said he was a proud man who insisted that he wouldn't have launched his campaign but for the fact that he had been invited to the Legion then turned away.

The foreword of the book was penned by a reserve army officer who is now Canada's Defence Minister, Harjit Singh Sajjan.

"(Jauhal) could have just gone home and tried to forget the insult, but instead he readied himself for another battle; a battle that he fought with his wits by attacking the ignorance with education," Sajjan, an Indo-Canadian Sikh, wrote.

Jauhal was the eldest of the four children of farmers in the Jalandhar district of Punjab. He is survived by his son and a daughter.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today launched a helpline number to guide traders who are starting out new business and also assist other traders in filling up VAT-related forms.

The helpline number, 155055, will function from 8 AM to 10 PM.

According to the department, this is the first helpline for the traders in the country which is fully backed by professional call centre.

Thirty telephone lines have been provided with sufficient manpower at the back to receive the call, the department said.

"It will facilitate the traders in guiding them in starting new business, guide in filing various forms and availing various services provided by Department of Trade & Taxes apart from answering the queries on various services, policy matters and system issues," Sisodia said at the launch.

He said the helpline will also provide information on legal issues.

At a function, Sisodia advised VAT commissioner SS Yadav to further improve the helpline by instructing the officers, who are executing the helpline to randomly check the telephone calls on the helpline at least 5 times in a day for ascertaining about its better implementation.
Slovenia today invited Indian companies to invest and set up projects in that country, saying it is an ideal investment destination.

Jozef Drofenik, Ambassador of Slovenia to India said this while interacting with industry members at a session organized here.

Showcasing Slovenia as an ideal investment hotspot for Indian companies from Chandigarh region, Drofenik invited the industry from this region to collaborate, invest, partner and build business ties with their counterparts in Slovenia, extending full support.

"Slovenia is a perfect investment platform for Indian companies due to its excellent infrastructure, a well-educated work force, and a strategic location between the Balkans and Western Europe," said Drofenik.

"We have a lot of small and medium sized companies having high technology and skilled work force. Slovenia has signed an agreement with the Indian Air force for hundred high-end planes which can cover maximum distance in one fuelling. Slovenia has one of the highest per capita GDPs in Central Europe," he added.

Maja Segota, First Counsellor, Trade and Economic Affairs, Embassy of Slovenia in India, said, "Investors wishing to build a customer network in Europe's east and southeast can benefit from expanding their business through Slovenia with its supportive environment, pro-business infrastructure and technically-savvy workforce."



Speaking on bilateral trade between India and Slovenia, CII Chandigarh Council Chairman, Dinesh Dua, said, "The economic and commercial relationship between India and Slovenia, particularly investment relationship, has grown in recent years.

FDI flows from Slovenia to India between April 2000 and June 2015 are about USD 8.49 million, making it the 79th most important investor in India."



The sectors that attracted maximum investments from Slovenia include manufacturing, pharmaceutical products, computer software & hardware, green technology, electrical machinery and organic chemicals, he added.
The Delhi government today conveyed its strong concern to the BSES Chairman over frequent outages in several pockets of the city and sought a concrete roadmap from the discoms for ensuring uninterrupted supply in the national capital in a time-bound manner.

In a meeting at the Delhi Secretariat, Power Minister Satyender Jain also raised the issue of BSES owing "over Rs 8,000 crore" to various power entities with the company's chairman Lalit Jalan.

"We have sought a concrete roadmap from BSES and timeline for supplying uninterrupted power, considering Delhi has surplus power. We have put our concerns strongly as the city expected world class facility after the privatisation of the sector," a senior government official said.

The official said BSES, which supplies power to nearly 70 per cent of the city through its discoms BYPL and BRPL, was likely to submit its proposals by early next week and that the two sides will again meet in another two weeks.

The meeting came following the exchange of a number of letters between the government and the discoms. Jain had reprimanded BSES over its "atrocious performance" and its "failure" to augment the distribution network.

The discoms also put its side on the table, including difficulty in getting land and the issue of rampant power theft in certain areas of the national capital.

Sources said the government "assured" it of help in this regard, provided a plan is prepared. BSES is owned by the Reliance-ADAG headed by Anil Ambani.

BSES entities BRPL (BSES Rajdhani Power Limited) and BYPL (BSES Yamuna Power Limited) supply electricity to around 12 lakh and 16 lakh customers, respectively. The city's power sector was privatised in 2002.

The national capital had on May 20 recorded its peak power demand of 6,188 MW. It had crippled the power infrastructure and led to outages in many parts of the city, which officials said was due to the inability of the distribution network to handle "overload".
Sugar mills have paid Rs 48,675 crore to sugarcane farmers and owe about Rs 4,225 crore for the current marketing year ending September, the government today said.

Of the total cane arrears, the maximum amount pertains to Uttar Pradesh at Rs 1,975 crore.

The cane price payable and arrears have been calculated on the basis of Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP), which is the minimum price, fixed by the Centre, to be paid to farmers. For the 2015-16 marketing year, FRP for sugarcane has been fixed at Rs 230 per quintal.

"During the current sugar Season 2015-16, about 230 million tonnes of sugarcane was procured from the farmers by the sugar mills across the country.

"Out of the total cane price dues payable of Rs 52,900 crore, on the basis of Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP), only Rs 4,225 crore are pending as cane price arrears for current sugar season," the Food Ministry said in a statement.

Sugar mills have paid about 92 per cent of their cane dues so far, it added.

"Out of the total pending cane price arrears for current sugar season, about Rs 1,975 crore pertains to Uttar Pradesh which is about 14 per cent of its dues payable," the statement said, adding that a major portion of the pending arrears about Rs 1,600 crore belongs to five sugar group companies namely, Bajaj, Mawana, Modi, Simbhaoli and Rana.

Maharashtra being the major sugar producing state has cleared almost 96 per cent of sugar cane dues payable and only Rs 5,90 crore are pending as arrears.

Other major sugar producing state like Karnataka have also paid 94 per cent dues to farmers.

During the sugar season 2014-15, the cane price arrears had peaked at Rs 21,800 crore in April last year and this has now come down to just Rs 684 crore.

"Central government has been consistently monitoring the position of cane price arrear and advising the state governments for speedy liquidation of arrears," the ministry said.

Sugar production of India, the world's second largest producer after Brazil, is estimated to decline to 25 million tonnes in the 2015-16 marketing year, as against 28.3 million tonnes in the previous year. The annual domestic demand is pegged at 26 million tonnes.

For the next 2016-17 marketing year, the government has forecast further decline in output at 23-24 million tonnes, although it has maintained that there would be no shortage as the country would have 30-31 million tonnes of sugar supply taking into account the carry-over stocks.
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today compared Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress with the 'East India Company' and accused them of "stooping so low" to the extent of practicing "narrow politics".

Comparing both the parties with the 'East India Company', he said, "the sole agenda of these parties is centered on robbing Punjab of its prosperity for which they can go to any length."



He further said keeping in view the "destructive agenda" of these "power hungry parties", the people of Punjab should stay cautious and thwart any "nefarious design of these anti-Punjab forces".

Speaking during the second day of Sangat Darshan Programme at Nihal Singh Wala, the Deputy Chief Minister said Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is the only party working "tirelessly" round- the-clock to ensure development and prosperity of the state.

He expressed hope that the SAD-BJP alliance would score a hatrick in 2017 thus continuing the legacy of serving the people selflessly.

Sukhbir said the work on new road from Delhi-Amritsar via Moga would begin soon for which the process has commenced with Union government.

He said the work on 4-6 laning of roads in Punjab is going on in full swing and by the next year every city and town of the state would have connectivity with 4-6 laned roads.

He castigated Punjab convenor of AAP Sucha Singh Chhotepur for giving a statement regarding levying of power bills on farmers.

He said Congress and AAP are "willfully defaming" Punjab just to further their electoral prospects.

Taking on Amarinder Singh, Sukhbir said the PPCC President has still not come out clean concerning the acceptance of honour from "extremist elements" in Dixie Gurudwara in Canada.

Terming the politics being practiced by Amarinder as only centered on "making merry", he said the former has got "no developmental agenda" regarding Punjab to showcase before people.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda today met Chief Justice of India T S Thakur to iron out differences between the Executive and the Judiciary over key clauses in the draft memorandum of procedure to appoint judges to the higher judiciary.

Sources in the government said Swaraj, who headed the group of ministers which drafted the memorandum, and Gowda met Justice Thakur at his residence this evening.

The meeting comes at a time when government decided to press ahead with the draft memorandum despite objections by the Supreme Court collegium on some of the key clauses.

After feedback from the CJI, the government will now draft its response to the objections raised by the collegium.

On May 28, the collegium had returned to the government the revised MoP -- a document which guides appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the 24 high courts -- suggesting changes in certain clauses. It had questioned the government's right to reject its recommendation on grounds of national interest.

It had also asked the government to change certain other clauses.

The clause on right to reject a recommendation on national interest is contrary to the current practice where government is bound to accept a recommendation by the collegium, comprising the CJI and four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, if it reiterates the same.

According to precedent, while the Executive drafts the MoP, both the government and the Judiciary have to agree on the provisions before it is operationalised and put in public domain.

While the government and the collegium are on the same



page to have secretariats in high courts to process judicial appointments, the judiciary has opposed defining the role of the proposed secretariat.

The revised MoP further provides that once the Centre has rejected a recommendation it will not be bound to reconsider it even after reiteration by the collegium which has raised objections on this.

The other clause which the collegium is learnt to have objected to is that the attorney general at the Centre and advocates general in the states should have a say in recommending candidates for appointment and elevation of judges to the Supreme Court and high courts.

This clause gives the Centre as well as the state governments an indirect say in naming candidates for the post of Supreme Court or high court judges.

The collegium is also learnt to have sought ways to shorten the present time-line where it takes around three months to appoint a judge after a recommendation is made.

The memorandum was revised after a Supreme Court bench asked the government to rewrite it in a bid to make the collegium system more transparent.

The memorandum was sent to the CJI by Gowda in March.

Addressing a press conference on April 24 after the joint conference of chief justices and chief ministers here, the CJI had said the core of the document, based on a Supreme Court judgement, will remain "unaltered" that the collegium will make recommendations.

"Things like the number of judgements a candidate has delivered are contributory in nature," he had said.

Parliament had enacted the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act to overturn the over two-decade old collegium system where judges appoint judges. The law was struck down by the apex court on October 16 last year.

The collegium had also objected to introduction of 'merit-cum-seniority' as the sole criterion for elevation of judges and involvement of retired judges in the vetting process.

The collegium had instead said the MoP should mention 'seniority-cum-merit' as the criteria for appointment to higher judiciary.

It had also rejected the government's suggestion to set a cap of 10 per cent or a maximum of three senior advocates who can be elevated directly from the Bar as judge of the Supreme Court. The collegium had said it is free to appoint as many it finds deserving and the proposed cap was unwanted.
A Muslim father was fined in Switzerland for refusing to allow his daughters to take swimming lessons at school, in the latest case exposing the challenges of integration in the Alpine country.

The unnamed 40-year-old man was ordered to pay 4,000 Swiss francs (USD 4,000, 3,700 euros), the ATS agency said in a report.

He had also refused to allow his daughters to go to camps and other school events, insisting they ran counter to his religious beliefs.

The Altstaetten district court in the northeastern Swiss canton of St Gallen found the father guilty of among other things violating the law on obligatory schooling and of disobeying previous orders by the authorities, ATS reported



The court reached its verdict after the father appealed a previous ruling faulting him last December.

The prosecutor had requested that the man be sentenced to four months behind bars, in addition to a fine, maintaining that the Bosnian national who has been living in Switzerland since 1990 had resisted integration and had no respect for Swiss legislation.

The family has reportedly been in conflict with the local authorities for years.

Last year, the parents were sentenced by a lower court for refusing to allow their daughters go to school unless they were permitted to wear an Islamic veil.

But the country's highest court overturned that verdict, ruling that the eldest girl should be allowed to wear the veil to school in the name of freedom of religion.

Yesterday's ruling came after a high-profile case involving Muslim pupils refusing to shake hands with their female teachers caused uproar across Switzerland.
Tata Power Solar today said it has commissioned a 100 kW rooftop solar project for Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts near Bengaluru.

The project, completed in 21 days, is the fastest rooftop installation by Tata Power Solar. Located at Bidadi industrial estate, the project is built on the administrative office building of the auto parts manufacturing unit and will be used for captive consumption, the company said in a statement.

The 340 modules manufactured by Tata Power Solar used for the project will generate 1,46,000 units of power and offset nearly 117 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

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USGBC launches multi-disciplinary course LEED lab in India * The US Green Building Council (USGBC) today launched LEED Lab in India, which is a multi-disciplinary course to educate students about green buildings.

LEED Lab, which is being offered at universities in Latin America, the Middle East and Greater Asia, has now been adopted by The Knowledge Institute of Technology (KIOT) at Salem, Tamil Nadu, USGBC said in a statement.

KIOT will begin its LEED Lab sessions this month. This course is targeted largely at students studying civil engineering, mechanical engineering and architecture.

"LEED Lab is a key educational tool to make students highly competitive in the 21st century green jobs market," said Mahesh Ramanujam, COO, US Green Building Council, and president, Green Business Certification Inc (GBCI).

LEED Lab, an initiative by USGBC, was launched in the US in 2014 at The Catholic University of America in Washington.

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ItzCash Card appoints Bahvik Vasa as Chief growth officer * Payment solutions provider ItzCash Card today said it has appointed Bahvik Vasa as chief growth officer and Ravi Singh as chief business officer to drive growth.

The company said these appointments have come soon after a series of strategic partnership announced by it.

These partnerships are designed to ensure a strong foundation to foster growth across emerging business, a burgeoning startup ecosystem, evolving digital solutions and consumer trends, the company said in a statement.

Both Vasa and Singh will report to ItzCash Managing Director Naveen Surya. The company has annual payment volume of over USD 2 billion.

Societe Generale firm launches accelerator programme



* Societe Generale's subsidiary Societe Generale Global Solution Centre (SG GSC) has launched an accelerator programme 'Catalyst' to leverage the startup ecosystem in India.

In partnership with Nasscom 10,000 Startups, SG GSC has created a platform to promote collaboration and open innovation for entrepreneurs, it said in a release.

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Gati Kausar launches warehousing facility near Delhi * Gati Kausar, the temperature controlled supply chain solutions vertical of distribution and supply chain management firm Gati, today launched its first warehousing facility near Delhi.

The new facility is spread over 4 acres, and currently has a capacity of more than 5000 pallets. It has multiple chambers that cater to temperature requirements ranging from -25 to +25 degrees C.

This facility will serve the needs of varied industry sectors including dairy, pharmaceutical, frozen foods, quick service restaurants, ice creams, confectioneries and fruits and vegetables.
Around 200 judges from Telangana, who are on a mass leave in protest against suspension of 11 judicial officers amid ongoing stir over the provisional allocation of judicial officers from Andhra Pradesh to Telangana courts, today did not attend work.

"Around 200 judges who had gone on mass leave yesterday did not attend courts protesting suspension of 11 judicial officers...The protest is going on," a member of the Telangana Judges Association told PTI.

The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad has so far suspended 11 judicial officers on disciplinary grounds following the agitation against the provisional allocation of judicial officers.

Protesting the action of High Court, about 200 judicial officers working in lower courts across the state had decided to go on "mass" leave for 15-days from yesterday.

The suspension of 11 judges came close on the heels of over 100 judges under the banner of 'Telangana Judges Association' taking out a procession here on Sunday in protest against the allotment of judges who are natives of AP to the subordinate courts in Telangana.

Meanwhile, agitating members of Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee continued their protests outside court premises in different parts of the state today, raising slogans and holding demonstrations seeking withdrawal of the list of provisional allocation.

"Police, who put up barricades on roads leading to High Court, took around 40 members of the JAC into preventive custody when they marched towards the High Court as part of 'High Court Bandh' call," ACP (Charminar Division) K Ashok Chakrawarthy told PTI.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao yesterday wrote to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh urging the Centre to expedite the process of division of the present high court here, saying the provisional allocation of judicial officers has created a discontent among them and lawyers belonging to the state.

He requested that appropriate notification to take up the exercise of allocating judicial officers and staff be issued only after the high courts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh start functioning separately.

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.
The Bombay High Court today said there should be more police personnel at government-run hospitals to provide security to resident doctors who often become target of attacks by kin of patients.

A division bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka, which was hearing a PIL, said there should be at least two armed and two unarmed policemen at the hospitals.

Acting Advocate General Rohit Deo said the government had decided to post a total of 28 police personnel at the hospitals in Mumbai, which would include at least two armed policemen at each place.

But the HC said there should be at least four policemen as the police presence should be felt by the people.

As per the affidavit submitted by the government today, J J Hospital, Sion hospital, St George's Hospital, G T Hospital and Nair Hospital in the city have two policemen each. The KEM Hospital has four police personnel.

"This means there is a lack of security and doctors are attacked because of this. If this is the situation in Mumbai, then it would be worse in rest of Maharashtra. If something is not done immediately, then we will direct the Mumbai Police Commissioner to increase police deployment," the court said.

The AG said the government would consider the suggestion.

Adjourning the hearing to next week, the HC asked the government to inform about the exact number of policemen it proposes to post at the hospitals.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by Afak Mandaviya about frequent strikes of doctors at government-run hospitals. Most of the times, attacks on resident doctors by disgruntled relatives of the patients prompt these strikes.
Actor Tom Hiddleston's mother Diana was really happy after meeting his new girlfriend Taylor Swift.

The pair and "Thor" actor's mother recently spent a day together in his homeland following Hiddleston's meeting with Swift's parents in Nashville.

"Tom's mom is just gushing about Taylor. She thinks Taylor is the loveliest. She was so happy to meet her," a source said.

Diana, Swift, 26, and Hiddleston were spotted walking arm-in-arm together and also visited Covehithe beach for a stroll, reported People magazine.

"Taylor was almost immediately part of the family. She was very easy to get to know and to speak with. Tom's family sees him as a big celebrity, but Taylor is clearly on another level," the source added.

The new couple is currently in Rome enjoying their European getaway.
Travel and tourism sector in India has the potential to grow much faster and support 46 million jobs by 2025, provided the right investments and policies continue to be implemented, US Ambassador Richard Verma said today.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the travel and tourism sector contributed USD 120 billion or 6.3 per cent to the country's GDP, which supported approximately 37 million jobs in 2015.

"If the right investments are made, tourism has the potential to support 46 million jobs in India by 2025," Verma said.

His remarks came while delivering the keynote address at a conference organised by Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) on the theme 'Travel and Tourism as a means to achieve USD 500 billion trade between India and USA'.

"... India's tourism industry is growing, but it has the potential to grow even faster if the right investments and policies continue to be implemented," Verma said.

One of the areas that will help increase this potential is "timely and efficient" air connectivity, which is vital to any strong tourism relationship, he added.

Highlighting the close ties between the two countries, Verma said, "In 2015, the US was India's largest source of foreign tourists. Over 1.2 million American visitors came to India, accounting for 15 per cent of the total foreign travelers."



On the other hand, the US last year welcomed more than one million Indian visitors, who contributed nearly USD 11 billion to the American economy, he added.

Verma also welcomed the recently announced National Civil Aviation Policy and the 100 per cent FDI in the civil aviation sector.

"We look forward to increasing passenger traffic between our countries as India takes steps to facilitate greater regional connectivity and implement growth enabling measures," he said.

In 2015, for the first time in history, the US Mission in India processed more than 1 million non-immigrant visa applications in a single year, Verma noted.

Highlighting the role of tourism in economic development, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, "Tourism is very very critical for India because India needs to create more jobs and there is no other sector which has multiplier effect of creating jobs."



The tourism and travel sector has huge potential to grow if the country further opens up the civil aviation sector, improves civic governance, enhances communication strategy and focusses on consistency of policies, capacity building and community participation, he added.
Toyota today announced it is recalling 1.43 million vehicles for defective air bags and another 2.87 million vehicles for faulty fuel emissions controls.

Toyota Motor Corp said it has not received any reports of injuries or fatalities related to either recall. Some 932,000 vehicles are involved in both recalls, so the total number of affected vehicles is 3.37 million.

The first recall for defective air bags affects Prius hybrids, Prius plug-ins and Lexus CT200h vehicles produced between October 2008 and April 2012, 743,000 vehicles in Japan, 495,000 in North America, 141,000 in Europe, 9,000 in China and 46,000 in other regions.

The faulty air bags are not related to recent massive recalls of Takata air bags that have ballooned to millions of vehicles and affected nearly all major automakers.

In today's recall, Toyota said a small crack in some inflators in the air bags on the driver and passenger sides may expand, causing the air bags to partially inflate.

The air bag manufacturer, Autoliv Inc based in Stockholm, Sweden, said it is cooperating fully with the recall. It said in seven incidents, side curtain air bags in Prius cars partially inflated without a deployment signal.

All of the cars were parked at the time with no one in them and there were no reported injuries, Autoliv said. The cause of the defect is still under investigation. Autoliv estimated the cost of the recall to it at USD 10 million to USD 40 million.

The second recall affects various Prius models, the Auris, Corolla, Zelas, Lucas and Lexus HS250h and CT200h produced from April 2006 through August 2015, 1.55 million vehicles in Japan, 713,000 in Europe, 35,000 in China and 568,000 elsewhere, but none in North America.

Toyota said cracks can develop in the coating of emissions control parts called the canister, possibly leading to fuel leaks.
Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy was today given additional charge of Arunachal Pradesh during J P Rajkhowa's absence on leave.

"The President of India has been pleased to appoint Roy to discharge the functions of the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, in addition to his own duties, during the absence, on leave, of Rajkhowa, Governor of Arunachal Pradesh," a press release issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

It did not, however, mention the period of leave of 72-year old Rajkhowa, who was yesterday admitted to a private hospital in Coimbatore for treatment.
Criticising the current US trade policies that has wiped out American manufacturing, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has threatened to take punitive actions against China's illegal trade activities while promising to herald a US economic resurgence if elected.

"If China does not stop its illegal activities, including its theft of American trade secrets, I will use every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes, including the application of tariffs...," Trump said in his remarks on economy in the Monessen township of Pennsylvania.

In his seven-point action plan on economic independence, Trump devoted considerable speech on China.

In fact, his last three action plans are all directed against China.

"I'm going to instruct my treasury secretary to label China a currency manipulator, which should have been done years ago. Any country that devalues their currency in order to take unfair advantage of the United States, which is many countries, will be met with sharply. And that includes tariffs and taxes," Trump said.

"I'm going to instruct the US trade representative to bring trade cases against China, both in this country and at the WTO," he said.

Noting that China's unfair subsidy behaviour is prohibited by the terms of its entrance to the WTO, Trump said he intends to enforce those rules and regulations.

"And basically, I intend to enforce the agreements from all countries, including China," he said.

The business tycoon from New York said if elected the US under his administration would pursue right away to bring back jobs.

"I am going to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has not yet been ratified,"he said.

Trump said he will appoint "the toughest and smartest trade negotiators" to fight on behalf of American workers.

"I am going to direct the secretary of commerce to identify every violation of trade agreements a foreign country is currently using to harm you, the American worker," he said amidst applause.

The Republican leader said he would then direct all appropriate agencies to use every tool under American and international law to end these abuses.

In his speech Trump said globalisation has benefited only the rich and not the poor.

"Our politicians have aggressively pursued a policy of globalisation, moving our jobs, our wealth and our factories to Mexico and overseas. Globalisation has made the financial elite, who donate to politicians, very, very wealthy. I used to be one of them," he said.

Globalisation, he alleged has left millions of workers with nothing but poverty and heartache.
A Tunisian killed in the Istanbul airport attack blamed on the Islamic State group was in Turkey to secure the release of his son detained for joining the jihadists, diplomats said today.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim quickly pointed the finger at IS, although there has been no claim of responsibility for Tuesday's attack which killed at least 41 people and wounded 239.

One of them was a Tunisian identified as Fathi Bayoudh, a doctor who had reportedly been in Turkey for several weeks in an attempt to repatriate his son with the help of diplomats.

Bayoudh's son was accused of having joined IS in Syria, a foreign ministry source was quoted as saying by Tunisia's private Mosaique FM radio station.

A defence ministry source in Tunis said Bayoudh was at Ataturk Airport to meet his wife when the triple suicide attack struck.

Contacted by AFP, the head of consular affairs at Tunis' foreign ministry, Faycal Ben Mustapha, confirmed the Tunisian consulate in Istanbul had been in contact "with the Bayoudh family since December".

"It was to do with their son. We don't know exactly what he did, but he went to Iraq and then Syria and ended up in detention in Turkey," he said.

A defence ministry spokesman said a Tunisian in Turkey on private business was killed in yestreday's attack.

The Islamic State group has carried out a string of bomb attacks across Turkey since last year.

Tunisia has also been the victim of attacks claimed by IS, and it is thought that thousands of Tunisians have travelled to join jihadist organisations in Syria, Iraq, and neighbouring Libya.
The process of having airports in Malda and Balurghat, two towns of north Bengal, has started with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) agreeing to hand over airport land and runway to the state government.

Transport department officials said AAI has agreed to hand over 132.66 acres and 114 acres of airport land including runway in Balurghat and Malda airport respectively for use by the state government initially for a period of 30 years at a token cost of Re 1.

A cabinet decision in this regard has already been taken while an MoU for this purpose was signed today with AAI at 'Uttar Kanya', the state secretariat in the north Bengal.

PWD will take up the development work of existing runway at Balurghat airport immediately, officials said, adding development of Malda airport will also be taken up as soon as possible.

Efforts will be made to establish fixed wing aircraft service at Malda and Balurghat airport with AAI help.

The issue of development of different airports in the state was raised by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a meeting with the civil aviation minister last year.
The Supreme Court today disapproved the tendency among unaffiliated colleges and other educational institutions admitting students, saying such conduct has become a "disease" which is a "disastrous phenomenon".

The remarks came as it dealt with the issue of admission of students by a Uttar Pradesh college, whose three-year provisional affiliation had expired last year and it had failed to get permanent affiliation within the stipulated time frame to induct students for the 2015-16 academic session.

The college's plea against rejection of affiliation was dismissed by Allahabad High Court's single judge bench and a division bench.

The apex court bench of justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh refused to interfere with two orders of the high court with a critical observation.

"The controversy does not end here. The stand of the University is that the appellant College has admitted students without having the necessary affiliation for the academic session 2015-16. This kind of conduct has become a disease, and when the conduct becomes a disaster, it is a disastrous phenomenon," the bench said.

The apex court observed that university had not granted affiliation to the college as scheduled time for it was over.

However, the bench said that if the university has not already considered the plea of Anuragi Devi Degree College for affiliation, it should do so within four weeks.

In 2012, the state government had granted permission for provisional affiliation to the college for three years for imparting education in Arts faculty after which the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University had allowed it to admit students.

In March 2015, the college applied to the university for constituting an inspection panel for granting of permanent affiliation but the report was not received within the time schedule prescribed by the state government.

The university did not grant permanent affiliation to the college for academic session 2015-16 due to lack of required inspection report.
The Confederation of Central Government Employees today rejected the pay hike announced by the government and threatened to go on a strike next week, a decision which got support from the central trade unions.

The Confederation said the pay hike approved by the Cabinet on the 7th Central Pay Commission's recommendations is "not acceptable".

RSS affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and other trade unions also rejected the hike, saying this is the lowest increase in the past 17 years that would increase disparity between the minimum and maximum pay.

Central trade unions have also sided with government employees and have given a call to hold nationwide demonstrations against the pay hike.

"In the prevailing economic conditions, the proposed hike as per the Pay Commission is inadequate. It is not acceptable to us," M Duraipandian, General Secretary, Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers, Tamil Nadu, said.

He added the Confederation will be forced to advance the indefinite strike call to July 4 instead of July 11, if the government does not heed to its demand of revising the hike.

Earlier in the day, its members staged a demonstration at Rajaji Bhavan in Chennai, home to several state government's offices.

All India Trade Union Congress Secretary D L Sachdev said: "It is the lowest increase in last 17 years. Central trade unions will support the strike call given by central government employees."



While, BMS said it will organise country-wide protests on July 8 against the decision, adding the government has "disappointed" the employees and it may lead to industrial unrest.

"The formula should be 3.42 instead of 2.57 as approved by the government. Similarly the annual increment should be 5 per cent instead of 3 per cent given. The disparity between the minimum and maximum pay has also been increased," BMS General Secretary Virjesh Upadhyay said.

In a statement, he said the Sangh will organise protests across the country in all districts on July 8 and will discuss on the alternative of going on a strike at its national executive in August.

BMS also demanded for a uniform minimum pay of Rs 18,000 per month to all the workers including the private sector.
Union Cabinet today approved the signing of a MoU between the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and its Bhutanese counterpart that will facilitate cooperation include sharing of experience and expertise in civil service matters such as recruitment and selection.

The Memorandum of Understanding will strengthen the existing relationship between UPSC and Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC), an official statement said.

In the past, UPSC had signed MoUs with public service commission of Canada.

The draft MoU between UPSC and RCSC, Bhutan will be signed to develop institutionalised linkage between the public service commission of both the countries which share the common ideals.

The areas of cooperation include sharing of experience and expertise in civil service matters such as recruitment and selection, exchange of resource persons and development of professional skills of the officers and staff of the parties through attachment and training programmes, it said.

Besides, it will also help in sharing of expertise on use of information technology in examination processes, computer- based recruitment tests and examinations, sharing of experience in single-window system for expeditious scrutiny and speedy disposal of cases and building merit-based staffing system.

The agreement will help in digitisation of records, storage and display of historical records and sharing of experience on the modalities adopted on audit of processes and procedures followed by various government agencies in recruitment for posts under the delegated powers, the statement said.
The US today asked China to protect religious freedom and allow citizens to worship freely amid reports that the Communist country had banned fasting in its Muslim-dominated Xinjiang region.

"We call on Chinese authorities to protect freedom of religion and allow citizens to worship freely in accordance with China's international human rights commitments," a State Department Spokesperson told PTI when asked about the reported Chinese ban.

"Freedom of religion is critical to a peaceful, inclusive, stable and thriving society," the spokesperson said.

The American reaction came after reports said that China had banned civil servants, students and teachers in its Muslim-dominated Xinjiang region from fasting during Ramadan.

The reports said that restaurants were ordered to stay open.

A four member delegation of Pakistan is visiting Xinjiang to "observe" fasting ban in the Muslim-dominated region of China.
The United States (US) is committed to ensuring India's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a top American diplomat said on Wednesday, expressing "regret" that his government was unsuccessful in making it a member of the grouping at its pleanary in Seoul last week.

Calling India an "anchor of stability" in the Asia Pacifc region, US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Tom Shannon also said what China was doing in South China Sea is "madness" and it wants New Delhi to play a major role in the Indian Ocean.

During an interactive session at the Foreign Service Institute, he also said managing the rise of China was a major challenge and that the US wants to work with India to have a strong and comprehensive presence in the Indian Ocean.

Describing India a responsible and important player in the sphere of nuclear non-proliferation, Shannon said, "We are committed to having India join the Nuclear Suppliers Group. We believe that through the kind of work we have done, the civil nuclear agreement, the way India conducted itself, it is worthy of this."



In an apparent refernce to China opposing India's NSG bid, the official said one country can break consensus in a consensus-based organisation while asserting that such member should be held accountable.

"We understand that in a consensus-based organisation, one country can break consensus. But in order to do so it must be accountable, not isolated," he said.

Last week, India had failed in its bid in getting entry into the elite atomic trading bloc in the face of strong China-led opposition.

Shannon, who met Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar earlier in the day, said India's recent entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) highlighted that the country is a "responsible and important player in the road to non- proliferation."



"We regret, in Seoul we and India, were unable to open space necessary to allow India to move into the NSG at this moment," he said.

He said both countries will have to work to ensure that India's bid is successful next time the issue is taken up by the NSG.

"I think what we need to do going forward is, for both of us India and the US, sit down and take a call on what happened in Seoul, take a close look at the diplomatic process which is significant and see what more we can do to ensure that next time we are successful."



When asked whether he thinks India will ratify the Paris climate deal before Obama administration's tenure got over and, at the same time, it will become a member of the NSG, he said "I hope so".

He said India has given a commitment to ratify the climate deal.
Strongly condemning the attack on Istanbul airport, American Ambassador Richard Verma today said the US would continue to work with partners, including India, to defeat terrorism.

"Let me take a moment to discus the horrendous event that took place in Istanbul last night. The United States condemns in the strongest terms the attack on the Ataturk International Airport," Verma said.

"Our heartfelt condolences go out to the victims and their loved ones and we wish a swift recovery to those injured," he added.

"The global bonds between our citizens are more powerful than the gun or bomb of any terrorist and we will continue to work with our partners, including India, to confront and defeat this challenge," Verma said.

His remarks came while delivering the key note address at a conference organised by Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) on the theme of "Travel and Tourism as a means to achieve USD 500 billion trade between India and USA".

He added: "As the White House stated, airports are a symbol of the international connections and ties that bind us together. I think that's exactly right."



At least 36 people have been killed and nearly 150 wounded at the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport in a terrorist strike last night.
With time lag in agri-data hindering the policy making process, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today asked the Statistics Ministry to use modern technologies like remote sensing to generate "timely and accurate" data related to farm sector.

He also asked the ministry to ensure the National Sample Survey (NSS) to "assess the economic situation of farmers" is conducted once in five years instead of 10 years so that the government can frame timely policies based on the data.

"We are aiming to double farmers' income in five years, for which timely and accurate data is required for making right policies," Singh said addressing an event organised by the Statistics Ministry to commemorate 10th Statistics Day.

In order to address time lag in agri-data, there is a need to use modern technologies like remote sensing, he said, adding that such technologies are now being promoted in his ministry for collecting horticulture data.

"Not only timely data, quality data is also required. Our policies are based on data. If data is wrong, then such policies will not yield any results," Singh said.

The minister also shared how the agri-data helped the government to put in place contingency plan in the last two drought years and envisage various agriculture schemes like Gokul Mission.

On NSS data on economic situation of farmers, Singh said: "This data comes once in 10 years. Can we wait for 10 long years to get this data and then make policy for farmers? What will happen to our small farmers? How do we make schemes to raise their income. I request you to provide such data once in five years."



Stating the data is backbone of the policy making, Statistics Minister V K Singh said, "The biggest contribution that statistics can give is assist the planners and policy makers with timely and accurate data."



He also emphasised on using modern technologies for this purpose. "Ensure use of technology not only for survey but for data analysis and producing data," he added.

For timely and efficient agri-data data, Statistics and Planning Implementation Secretary T C A Anant today announced the plans to start a pilot project to evaluate feasibility of scientifically incorporating the satellite information into the traditional agriculture yield estimates.

"This pilot is simply a method to see if we can achieve data and information. Based on the pilot study, we will speak to states. I hope in future we will be able to get more accurate data," he added.

(REOPENS DCM52)



Emphasising on role of data in successful implementation of agricultural programmes, the agriculture minister said the data is imperative for removing regional disparity and achieve economic and social development.

"It is high time that statistics methodology should be utilised to sort out the problem for providing credible and assured data on lower level. This challenge may be used through the use of sophisticated technology for the compilation of data related," he said.

State governments should take active initiative to strengthen their methodology for agri-statistics, he added.

The minister further said the availability of credible data related to output utilisation along with agricultural production is not only significant for agriculture and allied sector but also important to assess the potentiality related to farmers' income.

The government has rolled out several important agri- schemes, for which the agricultural statistics has to play an important role so as to improve the condition of the farmers and to increase food security, he added.
Delhi High Court today allowed the income tax department to go ahead with its penalty proceedings against telecom major Vodafone, but asked the agency not to give effect to its final order till the next hearing in July.

A vacation bench of V Kameswar Rao and I S Mehta passed the order on Vodafone's plea seeking stay on the penalty proceedings that were initiated against it in December last year in connection with an assessment order for the year 2011-12.

"..Penalty proceedings initiated would be allowed to continue and any final order issued (by IT department) will not be given effect to till next date of hearing on July 7," the court said.

It also issued notice to the Centre and the IT department on Vodafone's plea and listed the matter for further hearing.

During the hearing today, told the court that the final order was expected to be passed tomorrow and pursuant to that the department would raise a demand of Rs 1,500 crore which would have to be deposited within 30 days.

The company raised apprehension that the tax department may not give it the stipulated 30 days and could initiate recovery proceedings within a week.

In response to this, the department said normally, the recovery proceedings are initiated after completion of the stipulated period. In the instant case, no recovery proceedings would be started till the next date, it submitted.

also told the court that another division bench of the high court on December 23 last year had directed the department not to give effect to its assessment order, but despite that, the penalty proceedings were initiated on December 29, 2015.

The company said the penalty proceedings emanated from the assessment order, which was not to be given effect to as per the court's order.

Vodafone's application to stay the penalty proceedings was filed in its main petition challenging a decision of a dispute resolution panel, set up under the Income Tax Act, to disallow exemptions amounting to over Rs 2,800 crore and also proposed adding of the amount to its taxable income for the assessment year 2011-12.

The dispute resolution panel (DRP), set up as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, had disallowed exemptions under various heads, including network site rentals, annual license fee, unaccounted income, depreciation on 3G spectrum and transfer pricing adjustments on advertisements and marketing expenses, has said in its petition.

The company has also claimed that the panel gave no reasons for dismissing the objections.

"Huge additions have been proposed solely on a complete and prima facie non-application of mind...," Vodafone has alleged in its plea against the DRP order.
Notwithstanding the chill in the ties over terror attacks, Pakistan today insisted that there is "no hostile environment" with India and expressed confidence that the two countries "will talk".

Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit made the remarks to reporters at an Iftar party hosted by JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav which was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Union Ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Harsimrat Kaur Badal besides Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Naqvi, Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, left immediately after Basit walked into the venue.

"There is no hostile environment, for God's sake. We are two neighbours. We have to talk and we will talk," the Pakistan envoy said while responding to questions over terror attacks in Kashmir in which Pak-sponsored terrorists are allegedly involved.

India-Pakistan relations have been witnessing a chill over terror attacks like one on Pathankot Air Base.

Senior Congress leader Ghulab Nabi Azad took on Basit soon after he made these comments and said Pak-trained terrorists were killing soldiers in India.

"Despite this, Pakistan has complaints? This (India) country has a complaint that it is not acting against ISI, its army...," he told reporters.

CPI General Secretary Sudhakar Reddy and its MP D Raja besides Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav were also present.

Congress is sharing power with JD(U) and RJD in Bihar.
President Barack Obama today reaffirmed US' "strong commitment" to partner with ally Turkey to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group, saying he would "not rest until we have dismantled these networks of hate."



In a call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from his Air Force One, Obama expressed his condolences over death of 41 people in the suicide terror attack at the country's largest airport, which has been blamed on the Islamic State (IS).

"We will not rest until we have dismantled these networks of hate that have had an impact on the entire civilised world. We stand with the people of Turkey," Obama said after meeting his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto on the sidelines of the North American Summit.

"I had a chance to speak to President Erdogan earlier today to discuss with him not only how heartbroken we have been by the images of the injured and those killed, but also to reaffirm our strong commitment to partner with Turkey, with NATO, with the broad-based alliance that we have structured around the world to fight ISIL,"



"It's an indication of how little vicious these vicious organizations have to offer beyond killing innocents," he added.

"They're continually losing ground, unable to govern those areas that they have taken over. They're going to be defeated in Syria, they're going to be defeated in Iraq," he asserted.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Obama placed that phone call to express his deep condolences on behalf of the American people to the Turkish people for the lives that were lost in yesterday's terror attack at the Istanbul airport.

"In the context of that call, the President will, in addition to expressing his condolences, offer any support that the Turks could benefit from as they conduct this investigation and take steps to further strengthen the security situation in that country," Earnest said.

As of now there is no change in plans of Obama's travel to Europe next week.

In the context of that travel to Warsaw, the President will have an opportunity to meet with our NATO allies, including Turkey, he said.

Earnest says the President will have an opportunity "in some setting" to meet with the Turkish president and he expects that the attacks will be discussed at today's summit as well. "This is something that will certainly be on the minds of all three North American leaders," he said.

"We've made important progress in Iraq and in Syria against ISIL," Earnest said adding that there's been "notable progress" in Iraq recently, pointing to the recapture of Fallujah.

"This was obviously a significant gain by Iraqi forces and we obviously were pleased by that progress. But we continue to be concerned by the ability that ISIL has to carry out these kind of terrorist attacks, not just in Iraq and Syria but in other places," he said.
A woman and her paramour were today arrested for murdering her husband and injuring her father-in-law a few days ago, police said today.

Property dealer Dheeraj, 37, was killed while his father Jagvir, 65, was injured in indiscriminate firing at their office in Sadarpur village on June 26.

Initially, the police suspected that the duo were attacked over some financial dispute, however, it has now emerged that Dheeraj was murdered by his maternal cousin Varun and his two accomplices, said Superintendent of Police (city) Salman Taj Patil.

"The firing was captured by CCTV camera in the deceased's office. During checking near ALT trisection, police nabbed Varun and recovered two 9mm pistols and a bike from him," said Patil.

"During interrogation, Varun admitted that he had illicit relations with the deceased's wife, Preeti. The husband and wife had heated arguments many times over the issue. Varun and Preeti conspired to kill Dheeraj, grab his property and then marry each other," said Patil.

Varun hired the killers luring them with the promise to give half share in the property.

The other two assailants, Jaideep Sirohi and Monu are still at large and are being pursued by the police.

The police have arrested Preeti as co-conspirator in her husband's murder.

Meanwhile, the suspects in the case - Naresh, Beekar and Babbal - who were named by Dheeraj's uncle, have been given clean chit.
The worst seems to be over for the commodities market, provided there are no "negative surprises" from China, Vedanta Resources CEO Tom Albanese said today.

"In my view, provided we don't see any negative surprises coming out of China, the worst should be over for commodities," Albanese told PTI here.

Over the past several months, there has been rebound in commodity pricing, he said.

"That rebound corresponded with the slightly improving Chinese economy. In addition, during that period, US dollar has weakened a bit. Two macro factors have probably reduced the negative sentiments that have been there for commodities.

"We have seen some tightening in supply demand characteristics. It is most evident in zinc, where we have seen a reduction of zinc mines around the world and reduction in treatment charges, which indicate there are more buyers and sellers for zinc right now. So we see increase in zinc pricing," he said.

He said the situation was similar in the copper segment as well.

"To some extent, there is same type of trend for copper but not as evident as in zinc. Some stockpiles have been reducing and we have seen Chinese buying copper whenever prices drop low.

"I think over next two to three years, we will see decrease in production from south American mines which will probably help the prices of copper," Albanese added.

About aluminium, he said "there is lot excess Chinese capacity" and hence risk of price drop.

"There is risk for aluminiumthat prices could drop depending on what Chinese would do with their excess capacity.

"For aluminium what is helping us is that there are lot of new applications for it. More and more aluminium is going into automobiles, phones and lots of industrial and consumer products," he said.
President Xi Jinping was today hailed as a top world leader by China's official media, crediting him for a host of ambitious initiatives including the multi-billion dollar Silk Road project that has enhanced the Communist nation's diplomatic reach.

"A major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics has taken shape since Xi became the top leader in late 2012," state-run Xinhua agency said in a commentary titled "A to Z of China's diplomacy under Xi's leadership".

63-year-old Xi's initiatives included the Silk Road officially called One Belt and Road initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a new development bank proposed by China to finance infrastructure projects in Asia and backing Paris Agreement on climate change under which China has committed to cutting carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60 to 65 per cent by 2030 from the 2005 levels.

Xi has emerged as the most powerful leader holding all three important power centres of General Secretary of the ruling-Communist Party of China (CPC), Presidency and the head of the military since he succeeded former leader Hu Jintao in the end of 2012.

While his initiatives gave China a major diplomatic push, tensions with neighbours and the US escalated over maritime disputes with Japan and in the South China Sea region.

Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan contest China's claims over all but most of South China Sea.

India-China border dispute too remained in the limelight with periodic transgressions by Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), though both countries have evolved a number of mechanisms to defuse tensions.

Highlighting Xi's achievements, it said Xi proposed a new philosophy of neighbourhood diplomacy featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness.

Also a "grand free trade strategy" took shape under him with free trade agreements (FTAs) between China and South Korea and between China and Australia, it said.

China has signed and implemented 14 FTAs covering 22 countries and regions across Asia, Latin America, Oceania and Europe, it said.

China will host the 2016 G20 Summit in the eastern city of Hangzhou on September 4-5, under the theme "Building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy".

Xi also worked out major power relationship with the US, it said.

In 2013, President Xi and his US counterpart Barack Obama agreed to build a new type of major-power relationship between the two countries, it said.

Xi also pointed out that China must develop a distinctive diplomatic approach befitting its role as a major country, so that diplomacy will show salient Chinese features -- style and confidence, it said.

"China's relations with the outside world have started new chapters. Some foreign media outlets believe that China's diplomatic stance sends a signal -- Xi-style diplomacy has taken shape," it said.
Toyota Motor Corp has recalled 3.37 million cars worldwide over possible defects involving airbags and emissions control units.

The automaker on Wednesday said it was recalling 2.87 million cars over a possible fault in emissions control units. That followed an announcement late on Tuesday that 1.43 million cars needed repairs over a separate issue involving air bag inflators.

Some of the automaker's gasoline-electric hybrid Prius models contain both of the potential defects, taking the total number of vehicles affected by the recalls to 3.37 million.

No injuries have been linked to either issue.

Toyota on Wednesday said evaporative fuel emissions control units in models produced from 2006 to 2015 including the Prius, Auris compact hatchback and its popular Corolla models were prone to cracks, which could expand over time and lead to fuel leaks.

Late on Tuesday it recalled Prius models and Lexus CT200h cars made from 2010 to 2012 over air bag inflators that could have a small crack in a weld, which could lead to the separation of the inflator chambers.

The inflator could partially inflate and enter the vehicle interior, increasing the risk of injury, Toyota said.

Sweden-based auto safety gear maker Autoliv Inc confirmed on Wednesday that it supplied the airbag inflators involved in the recall.

The company said it was aware of seven incidents where a side curtain airbag has partially inflated in parked Toyota Prius cars, but no injuries were reported.

Autoliv has benefited from an early recall involving faulty airbag inflators made by Japan's Takata.

The company said in a regulatory filing in April that it was investigating six incidents related to its airbags and a possible recall could cost it between $10 million-$40 million, net of expected insurance recoveries.

Autoliv said on Wednesday it expected the cost of recall to be at the lower end of the range.

The company's U.S.-listed shares were down 4.7% at $105.00 in premarket trading. The stock fell as much as 16 pct to 765 Swedish kronas on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, their lowest since December 2014.

Toyota Motor's U.S. listed shares were down 1.2% at $98.69 in premarket trading.
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Maryland is home to more than 618,000 small businesses, including science and tech startups.

Marylands tax rates and cost of living are higher than the national average but lower than or similar to those of big cities in neighboring states.

The unemployment rate is slightly higher than the national average, and the labor market is not overly competitive.

This article is for entrepreneurs who are thinking about starting a business in Maryland.

Located in the middle of the U.S. East Coast and next to the nations capital, Maryland has historically been a hub for research, trade and businesses of all kinds. In particular, small businesses are central to the states economy.

The state of small business in Maryland

Here are some quick facts about small businesses in Maryland:

As of 2021, small businesses constitute 99.5% of Marylands overall business landscape, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy.

The states 4% unemployment rate is slightly higher than the national average but still fairly low, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While the labor pool is sizable, the hiring process is still competitive.

Maryland has more than 618,000 small businesses that together employ nearly half of the states workforce, per the SBA Office of Advocacy.

Maryland felt the economic strain brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the overall attitude among business owners is optimistic. Over 62% report that their business is recovering, according to research from Bank of America. In fact, many sectors of Marylands economy are steadily recovering from the pandemic. The states 2021 GDP was $364.24 billion, the 15th highest in the country, according to Statista, and up 3.2% from 2020.

What can entrepreneurs expect in Maryland?

What opportunities and challenges are business leaders encountering in Maryland? We spoke with Maryland-based entrepreneurs and small business owners to find out the states current business landscape. Heres what they had to say about the upsides and challenges of doing business in Maryland.

1. Maryland has a booming science sector.

Scientific research and technology flourish in Maryland due partly to the states highly educated workforce; 40% of Maryland residents hold bachelors degrees, and almost 20% have additional professional or graduate degrees.

Many of the regions most innovative startups are supported by  or emerge from  Marylands acclaimed universities. Heres more about the role of Marylands prestigious academic institutions in the states booming science and tech sectors:

Maryland is home to highly regarded educational institutions. Maryland boasts almost 60 accredited colleges and universities, including Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, and Loyola University. Plus, the state leads the nation in Ph.D. scientists.

Maryland boasts almost 60 accredited colleges and universities, including Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, and Loyola University. Plus, the state leads the nation in Ph.D. scientists. University connections encourage innovation. Sherrod Davis, chief operations officer and co-founder of EcoMap, a startup dedicated to providing businesses with customized ecomaps of relevant data and resources, explained that the company began as a student-led startup. CEO Pava LaPere started the company as a research project while still a data science student at Johns Hopkins. The companys head of business development also worked at the Johns Hopkins startup accelerator at the time, and that expertise was vital to the companys success.

Sherrod Davis, chief operations officer and co-founder of EcoMap, a startup dedicated to providing businesses with customized ecomaps of relevant data and resources, explained that the company began as a student-led startup. CEO Pava LaPere started the company as a research project while still a data science student at Johns Hopkins. The companys head of business development also worked at the Johns Hopkins startup accelerator at the time, and that expertise was vital to the companys success. Universities foster scientific talent and resources. Tristan Ford, CEO and founder of Vectech, which uses advanced AI technology to monitor and control disease-carrying insect populations, further emphasized the benefit of nearby universities for science-based companies. Most of our employees are recruited from local universities, so the proximity is helpful, Ford said. Many of our research collaborators are located in the region, including labs at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and National Institutes of Health.

Did you know?: In addition to having a prestigious scientific sector, Maryland is an emergent tech hub. The state is home to myriad cybersecurity and IT companies, as well as venture capital-funded startups in digital health, telecommunications and more.

2. Maryland has a supportive community for small businesses.

Maryland entrepreneurs report consistent community and government support for small businesses, including the following resources:

Main Street Maryland. Main Street Maryland is a program operated by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. It encourages people to explore and shop at small businesses throughout the states historic communities. This effort taps into the states robust customer base that values shopping locally and supporting the businesses they love.

Main Street Maryland is a program operated by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. It encourages people to explore and shop at small businesses throughout the states historic communities. This effort taps into the states robust customer base that values shopping locally and supporting the businesses they love. Robust support infrastructure. Businesses outside the retail sector will also find valuable resources in Maryland, said Chris Tomseth, co-founder and chief marketing officer of SkySquad, which assists travelers who are struggling to navigate airports. The support infrastructure in terms of getting good office space, marketing help and services from vendors like law firms is fantastic, Tomseth said. Though SkySquad works in airports across the country, it received an especially warm welcome at its home airport, Baltimore/Washington International (BWI), which encouraged them to get more involved in the BWI community.

Businesses outside the retail sector will also find valuable resources in Maryland, said Chris Tomseth, co-founder and chief marketing officer of SkySquad, which assists travelers who are struggling to navigate airports. The support infrastructure in terms of getting good office space, marketing help and services from vendors like law firms is fantastic, Tomseth said. Though SkySquad works in airports across the country, it received an especially warm welcome at its home airport, Baltimore/Washington International (BWI), which encouraged them to get more involved in the BWI community. TEDCO. The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) is one of several programs designed to nourish entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses. TEDCO provides new tech companies guidance, resources, networking opportunities and more. Davis said TEDCO was an early EcoMap client; together, they developed the Maryland Entrepreneur Hub, which entrepreneurs can access to explore the states tech ecosystem. [TEDCO is] always promoting us and giving us opportunities to get in front of their stakeholders, as well, Davis said. I cant say enough good things about what the state has invested to try to catalyze economic and entrepreneurial growth here. TEDCO has helped us immensely, echoed Tomseth. [It was] an early investor and also provided resources such as executive coaching and consulting that saved us money.

Networking opportunities. Maryland also offers emerging professionals many opportunities to grow their professional networks through showcases, business incubators and social events.

Tip: When you pitch business ideas to potential investors, prepare an engaging, clear and memorable elevator pitch. Youll be ready to court potential investors whenever you encounter them.

3. Maryland is a convenient business location.

Marylands prime spot on the mid-Atlantic seaboard offers entrepreneurs a strategic location for their new businesses, for several reasons.

Proximity to Washington, D.C. The states proximity to Washington, D.C., means increased access to government small business grants and research resources. However, access to clients and skilled employees in the D.C. area may be more appealing to small business owners. Theres a ton of potential customers in the area and a great pool of talent, too, Tomseth said.

The states proximity to Washington, D.C., means increased access to government small business grants and research resources. However, access to clients and skilled employees in the D.C. area may be more appealing to small business owners. Theres a ton of potential customers in the area and a great pool of talent, too, Tomseth said. Easy access to the regions big cities. People can easily access the regions big cities from Maryland by traveling the I-95 corridor or taking a train. This provides businesses with infrastructural travel advantages, thus making it easier to ship and purchase supplies.

People can easily access the regions big cities from Maryland by traveling the I-95 corridor or taking a train. This provides businesses with infrastructural travel advantages, thus making it easier to ship and purchase supplies. Attractive place to live. According to the Sperling cost of living index, Maryland has a high cost of living, ranking in the top 10 most expensive states. However, its cities are significantly more affordable than other major cities in the region, making it an attractive option for young professionals who are looking for less-costly city living. Davis said EcoMap has hired young people from Dallas; New York; Washington, D.C.; and Boston who are delighted to find that their money goes much further in Baltimore; some have even bought homes. Its a significant economic advantage for [the employees] but also for the company because were able to recruit folks who are looking for something different, Davis said. Then they get to Baltimore and fall in love with the charm. Its really done wonders for our company, culturally.

4. Maryland tourism has slowed due to COVID-19.

Tourism has long been a mainstay of Marylands economy, with beaches such as Ocean City and attractions like the National Aquarium drawing millions of tourists yearly. Tourism benefits the hospitality industry, including hotels, retail, dining and nightlife.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic hit Marylands tourism sector hard. In 2020, the states visitor volume decreased by 40.5%, and travel spending dropped 43%, according to the Maryland Office of Tourism.

COVID hit the hotel industry particularly hard. The state lost 42,631 hotel-supporting jobs and 13,640 direct hotel jobs, per data from the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Retail stores and restaurants also struggled, particularly in cities and beach towns typically bolstered by travelers during the summer.

State and city authorities have poured millions of dollars of grant funding into rebuilding and strengthening pandemic-affected sectors. Still, new business owners may not want to enter the tourism industry during this tumultuous period; they should also be wary of other recovering industries.

5. Maryland has a relatively high cost of doing business.

Businesses operating in Maryland should be prepared to pay fairly steep taxes. Here are some financial factors you should consider when doing business in Maryland:

Corporate income tax rate. The states corporate income tax rate is 8.25%, which is significantly higher than the rates for some of its neighbors to the south. While Marylands corporate income tax rate is lower than the 9.99% in bordering state Pennsylvania, Maryland small business owners can still expect taxes to eat up some of their profits and should plan accordingly.

The states corporate income tax rate is 8.25%, which is significantly higher than the rates for some of its neighbors to the south. While Marylands corporate income tax rate is lower than the 9.99% in bordering state Pennsylvania, Maryland small business owners can still expect taxes to eat up some of their profits and should plan accordingly. Sales tax rate. The states 6% sales tax rate is in line with the rates of Marylands East Coast neighbors, but its a full percentage point higher than the national average. However, individual localities in Maryland cant charge additional sales taxes, so overall sales tax may remain relatively low in some regions. Entrepreneurs should still study other local taxes before opening their businesses.

The states 6% sales tax rate is in line with the rates of Marylands East Coast neighbors, but its a full percentage point higher than the national average. However, individual localities in Maryland cant charge additional sales taxes, so overall sales tax may remain relatively low in some regions. Entrepreneurs should still study other local taxes before opening their businesses. LLC taxes. When it comes to LLC taxes, limited liability companies face a moderate personal income tax. Maryland utilizes an eight-bracket system to determine income tax rates ranging from 2% to almost 6%, depending on income levels.

When it comes to LLC taxes, limited liability companies face a moderate personal income tax. Maryland utilizes an eight-bracket system to determine income tax rates ranging from 2% to almost 6%, depending on income levels. Marylands minimum wage. In January 2022, Maryland increased its minimum wage to $12.50 an hour. Its on track to continue going up over the next few years, reaching $14 by 2024. Aspiring entrepreneurs should take the higher wages into consideration. While Tomseth noted that the change affects wages for hourly employees, each of our sources agreed that the minimum wage increase hasnt significantly affected their businesses or bottom lines.

Key takeaway: Marylands small business taxes< are somewhat higher than those of other states in the area; owners should be prepared to pay employees based on a higher-than-average minimum wage and to offer excellent employee benefits.

6. Its challenging to find early-stage funding in Maryland.

Despite Marylands burgeoning startup scene, the states tech-sector entrepreneurs often struggle to find early-stage funding because investors are wary of new companies. Most people will tell you that theres a bit of risk aversion in the area when it comes to pre-seed funding, especially relative to other similarly sized ecosystems, Davis said.

EcoMap successfully raised its pre-seed round by working with an accelerator Techstars brought to Baltimore. However, the process did have challenges. The biggest barrier is more early-stage funding opportunities, Davis said, but it seems like were on the right track.

Finding early-stage funding in Maryland isnt impossible, but it might require networking and creativity. Ford also suggested that Maryland businesses that are struggling to find early-stage funding take advantage of remote works prevalence to expand their funding horizons.

Remote work and meetings through Zoom are now normal, so theres no reason not to engage with investors that were traditionally limited to major startup hubs like Silicon Valley or New York City, Ford advised.

The founders we spoke with also benefited tremendously from local and city-level resources, like UpSurge Baltimore, which focuses on supporting local startups with diverse leaders per the Equitech model. Tapping into resources like this can help connect small business owners to funders who invested in their specific community.

Frequently asked questions about starting a business in Maryland

Heres what you need to know about starting a business in Maryland:

How do you start a business in Maryland?

Starting a business in Maryland requires selecting a business structure and filing the appropriate tax and employer identification documents.

Here are resources for getting started:

Do you need a business license in Maryland?

Maryland state and local governments require many, but not all, businesses to have a business license. Visit the Maryland OneStop Portal to find out if you need to apply for a business license and file any applications and documents.

How do you register your business name in Maryland?

Registering a trade name or business name in Maryland begins with registering your business with the state. Visit Maryland Business Express to register your business name and learn more about the requirements. The filing fee is $25.

Do you need business insurance in Maryland?

Regarding small business insurance in Maryland, businesses with at least one employee must provide workers compensation insurance. If a business uses vehicles during its operations, it is also required to maintain a commercial vehicle insurance policy. Learn more about insurance requirements from the Maryland Business Express insurance page.

Resources for small businesses in Maryland

If youre a small business owner in Maryland and youre looking for resources to help you move forward, here are a few organizations to consider.

Maryland SCORE

SCOREs volunteer business professionals and expert business mentors give counsel and guidance to entrepreneurs who are looking to start or expand their businesses. The services are entirely free and volunteer-driven. Here are some of the chapters in Maryland:

U.S. Small Business Administration District Offices

The SBA offers financing, grants, consultations and counseling services. There are also opportunities to apply for federal government contracts through the SBA and avenues for obtaining assistance in the wake of natural disasters. Learn more by visiting the U.S. SBA District Office.

Maryland Small Business Development Centers

Maryland hosts several small business development centers. Each is dedicated to supporting the development and retention of small businesses and to helping entrepreneurs craft business plans and navigate the states tax code. Find your regions small business development center via the Maryland SBDC Network.

Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO)

TEDCO provides new technology and life-science startups with various resources, including funding, entrepreneurial development and coworking spaces. It offers grants, pitch guidance and executive training, and can help early-stage companies build support networks.

Doing business in the Free State

Despite having somewhat high business costs, Maryland is a supportive home for new companies. While it may take some time to find early investors, the active and welcoming tech scene can help you build your startup, and the community is eager to support small businesses. Your business can succeed in Maryland, especially if you tap into state and local resources.

Adam Uzialko contributed to the reporting and writing in this article.
Cloud war is now a full-throated battle cry. Microsoft has launched an advertisement heavy media blitzkrieg about its Azure cloud offering in response to Amazon Web Services (AWS) announcement on Tuesday that it has set up data centres in India to serve the local market.

AWS, Amazon's cloud offerings, is also having its annual summit to woo customers, analysts and media in Bengaluru on Thursday and has flown in its big guns including Andy Jassy, the chief of this division.

AWS has been on a roll since it started in 2006 as a small division of Amazon providing hosting services like compute and storage. Over the years, AWS has registered spectacular growth with addition of nearly 70 new services to its portfolio like networking, messaging, machine learning, application services and IoT.

Looking at the numbers, AWS alone is expected to bring in more than $10 billion in revenues this year and is said to be the most profitable division of the company. For most start-ups looking to host applications or services in cloud, AWS has almost become a default choice.

Microsoft was a bit late in getting onto the cloud bandwagon. It's understandable as its enterprise server business was incumbent and there would have been a degree of cannibalisation. But eventually Microsoft found religion and jumped in with gusto.

However, a direct comparison between AWS and Microsoft's Cloud offerings is difficult because Microsoft doesn't report its standalone cloud revenues and clubs it with revenues from server products and services.

In its last quarterly numbers, Microsoft had said its commercial cloud business revenues exceeded an annual revenue run rate of $10 billion and said it was looking at a target of $20 billion by 2018. Most independent analysts though aver that without disclosing Azure-only revenues, it would be difficult to make a fair comparsion with AWS. All of them, however, do say that Microsoft has been growing its cloud revenues at a very fast clip and seems determined to overtake AWS.

This is where India comes in.

AWS says it has more than 75,000 India-based customers and is seeing tremendous growth here. AWS was also quoted by a financial daily as saying that it was planning a 'pop-up-loft' (which offers workspace, networking services and other assistance to start-ups) in India to further cement its standing in the fast-growing Indian start-up eco-system.

Microsoft, which has had deep relationships with Indian enterprises, is hoping that transition to cloud would happen on its platform Azure. Thus both AWS and Microsoft are keenly wooing entrepreneurs - big and small. Other competitors like NTT of Japan and Rackspace are also keen on having their share of the fast-growing Indian market.

In this war for cloud domination in India, there is likely to be one clear winner: The customer.


Chinese smartphone firm Oppo is looking to invest Rs 1,000 crore to setup a manufacturing unit in Andhra Pradesh, which is likely to create 25,000 jobs in the state.

"An Oppo delegation, led by its Vice-President (mobile) Eric, held a meeting with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in Guiyang on the fourth day of his trip to China and showed interest in setting up a unit in the state with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore," a CMO statement said.

The chief minister told the company to present a detailed proposal, it added.

Oppo, which entered India in 2014 and has a manufacturing plant at Noida, said the facility would create employment for 25,000 people.

The statement added that Naidu also apprised the delegation about the growing demand for hardware and various initiatives launched by his government in IT sector.

The minister and members of the state delegation held a breakfast meeting with Zong Wen, Mayor of Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, and Guizhou's Vice-Governor Qin Ru Pei.

Vice-Governor Qin Ru Pei explained about the governance structure in Guizhou while Naidu enquired about the green initiatives in the province.

Both Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh and Guizhou produce a special red chilli on which Naidu suggested that both sides could collaborate to boost production.

The mayor conducted a city tour for the visiting delegation that included a visit to Foxconn manufacturing facility and the biggest data centres run by China Unicorn.

Naidu and delegation members visited local universities, besides the GICC Industrial Park and medical data centre, it added.
Prakash Kumar, a resident of Pokhaira village, has filed a case against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly insulting the national flag on International Yoga Day.

He filed a case in a court of the Cheif Judicial Magistrate of Muzaffarpur district of Patna, claiming that Modi used the flag like a mere piece of cloth by sitting on it and using it to wipe his hands and face.

The petitioner also submitted a series of pictures downloaded from the internet as evidence in support of his peition.

Lawyer Ratan Kumar, who will be representing the petitioner, said that the court case will be heard on July 16

Not the first case

Earlier in April, another complaintant, Ashish Sharma, claimed that Modi insulted the national flag more than 20 times on International Yoga day last year, during his visit to the United States.

He alleged that Modi disrespected the national flag by wiping his sweat off his body and face.

Sharma has also sought the registration on an FIR and the court has fixed the matter for hearing on July 30.


The government has lifted a ban on trade of specified items with Iran after some western sanctions against the Persian Gulf nation were lifted earlier this year, the government said in a notification on Wednesday.

"Direct or indirect export to Iran or import from Iran is now permitted subject to UN Security Council Resolution... and IAEA specified documents," the notification added.
Kerala has backed out of its commitment to support the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Minister Amit Mitra said on Tuesday.

"Finance Minister of Kerala Thomas Issac had supported the bill in the recent meeting held in the city, but now they said they were trying to arrive at a consensus," Mitra, who is also the West Bengal's finance minister told the State Assembly.

Speaking to reporters outside the House, he said that looking for consensus meant things were in 'doldrums'.

He alleged that there was a state of complete contradiction and confusion in the Left Front on the issue.

In the June 14 meeting of the empowered committee of the state finance ministers, all states except Tamil Nadu had agreed to support the GST Bill.

The BJP government was confident of clearing the bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament and the draft GST bill had also been circulated for public comments.
"Who said to US Cong on 13/3/13 the US should act against India to defend US pharmaceuticals interests? Arvind Subramanian MoF !! Sack him!!!"

- Subramanian Swamy, tweets targeting Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian, after ensuring RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's exit

"Opening up sectors like retail, defence and pharma to FDI and by relaxing norms is 'betrayal' to people of the country"

- Ashwani Mahajan, National Co-convener of RSS-affiliate body, Swadeshi Jagran Manch, on the Centre's decision to relax FDI norms in nine sectors

India in Top 10

FDI inflows 2015

Flash in a PAN

To cripple and check the activities of wilful tax defaulters, the Income Tax department has decided to block their PAN, get their LPG subsidies cancelled and take measures to ensure they do not get loans - hitting them where it hurts most!

Wal-SMart

E-commerce giant Wal-Mart sold its Chinese online grocery store, but bought a 5 per cent stake in the country's no. 2 e-commerce firm and Alibaba rival, JD.com Inc, for $1.5 billion. The US company is also shutting down some of its 400-plus underperforming brick-and-mortar stores in China

Pay Scale Tilts Towards China

India might have pipped China as the fastest growing economy, but only 16 per cent of the Chinese are not satisfied with their salaries compared to 28 per cent Indians, says the Michael Page Job Confidence index survey
Two years after Japanese pharmaceutical major Daiichi Sankyo acquired controlling stake in Ranbaxy Laboratories, India's biggest pharma company of the time, another small, yet significant transaction happened between the two parties (Ranbaxy was still listed as a separate company then). On July 2, 2010, Daiichi Sankyo and Ranbaxy announced that the latter's New Drug Discovery Research had been transferred to Daiichi Sankyo India Pharma Private Limited, and rechristened Daiichi Sankyo Life Science Research Center in India (abbreviated to RCI).

The move, which the company said was "part of the strategy to strengthen the global Research and Development (R&D) structure of the Daiichi Sankyo Group", effectively ended Ranbaxy's journey with drug discovery research -- a journey that had begun in 1994 under the leadership of then CEO and pharma veteran Parvinder Singh. Equally important, it signalled the Japanese major's intention to focus on creating promising new drugs out of India. That was a leap of faith for an organisation that was known for innovative products created at its research labs largely in Japan - like for instance, blockbuster broad-spectrum antibiotics Levofloxacin and Ofloxacin.

Today, the research centre in Gurgaon remains the last remnant, in terms of a direct physical presence and arguably a positive highlight, of around $10-billion (986.4 billion yen) Japanese pharma major's misadventure in India. It began with the acquisition of Ranbaxy in an over $4-billion deal (around Rs 20,000 crore then) in June 2008 with the promise of utilising Ranbaxy's resources to become a "global pharma innovator". This was followed by several run-ins with the US FDA over drug quality and what some saw as challenges around cultural differences between the two companies. Daiichi's India dream with Ranbaxy finally ended when it divested Ranbaxy to Sun Pharmaceuticals in April 2014. In fact, in the Daiichi Sankyo Group IR Report for 2015, CEO Joji Nakayama explains the rationale behind the decision to divest Ranbaxy: "We decided to shift our focus from a global hybrid business model, under which we developed both our innovative and generic business worldwide, to a business model under which we will concentrate on our innovative business. Reflecting this decision, in April 2015, we sold all of our Sun Pharma shares that we obtained in return for Sun Pharma's acquisition of Ranbaxy."

The RCI is now an integral part of this professed move to focus on innovation, and leads Daiichi's research in two main areas - infectious diseases and pulmonary diseases. Its other research centres - mainly two in Japan and one in Germany among others - focus on areas such as oncology, heart and kidney and other areas. However, infectious diseases, pulmonary and inflammation are not new areas of research for the company with a long history in drug discovery. But after the centre was set up in India, the company is learnt to have redesigned its other research centres - some of the work related to RCI's core areas that used to be undertaken elsewhere, including at its impressive four-storied building in Tokyo - and now prefers to let that happen in India.

Understandably, Daiichi Sankyo is rather chary about discussing details. After much persuasion, Yoshio Uchida, Vice President and Head, Operations and Management at Daiichi Sankyo India Pharma, sent in some answers to BT'S queries over email. "Currently, RCI is taking a role in therapeutic areas different from Japan's research activity," said Uchida. On Daiichi's vision and hope from its research centre in India, he says: "Daiichi Sankyo expects new drug candidates continuously coming from RCI in the areas of infectious disease and pulmonary disease."

In other words, for infectious diseases, the centre in India is to continuously feed the company's drug discovery pipeline with clinical candidates for new drug development. While Uchida would not reveal more, this would need to be seen in the context of how it has been trying to rationalise its R&D efforts in other geographies. For instance, this February, Daiichi Sankyo had announced its decision to close down one of its development subsidiaries, UK-based Daiichi Sankyo Development Limited, soon after its announcement last December about closing down a research subsidiary in Germany.

Daiichi has been extending both financial and technical support to RCI. Apparently, soon after the takeover of the centre from Ranbaxy in 2010, Daiichi retained its 200-odd employees and added a few based on project needs, but rebuilt and redesigned the centre to meet Japanese regulatory standards. Though Uchida would not share more, BT gathers that the centre in India still has 200-odd scientists - 100 in chemistry, around 60 in biology and the rest divided between areas like pharmacokinetics and toxicology.

"Infectious disease and pulmonary disease are major unmet medical needs in India. It is natural to focus on the research for the therapeutic area with unmet medical needs in the country, then expand globally," explains Uchida. Daiichi Sankyo's Japan research, he says, focuses on oncology, pain, CNS disease, heart and kidney disease, and rare diseases.





BT learns from other sources that the company is mainly looking at solutions for the third world and in particular for the Asian region. In fact, in infectious diseases, it is looking at areas like malaria, for instance, which may not be of much significance in Japan but would be highly relevant for India, Africa and other regions. The Indian market is of not much significance to Daiichi. The company remains in India largely because it seems to see the talent capability here, plus this region has a serious problem of antibiotic resistance. So, the bacterial population required for the company's study is higher here and perhaps there are some cost advantages, too.

At a time when few global companies are involved in research involving new antibiotics, Daiichi Sankyo, with its long history of innovation in infectious disease, wants to continue this work out of India. Other than products in this space, Daiichi has a track record of being an innovator company with products in the market from its own drug discoveries. In recent years, some of the important revenue earners for the company have been major drugs like Benicar (branded for Olmesatan) used to treat hypertension; Lixiana in some markets and Savaysa in others (edoxaban) is an anticoagulant or a clot buster; Efient or Effient (prasugrel) is an antiplatelet drug.

"Daiichi Sankyo has more than 100 years of scientific expertise and provides innovative products and services around the world," points out Uchida. "Our company draws upon a rich legacy of innovation and a robust pipeline of promising new medicines to help patients. We know it is a challenge, but it's our mission."

The company will hope the research centre will work out better for it than Ranbaxy did in generics
In a massive clean-up effort, the stock market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), is mulling the delisting of companies that have remained suspended and not traded for seven or more years due to various penal reasons.

Stock exchanges suspend the trading of shares of a company in the event of any non-compliance with the listing conditions. More than 4,000 suspended companies are under the SEBI lens and could be delisted. This includes over 1,200 companies on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), besides over 3,000 companies on the various regional stock exchanges that have become defunct.



The process of compulsory delisting can be initiated by a stock exchange if a company has been suspended for a period of over six months, or its shares have remained infrequently traded during the preceding three years. "Therefore, while the press release after the SEBI board meeting in March this year only dealt with 'encouraging delisting of suspended companies', the regulator and the stock exchanges are well within their rights to seek delisting of companies that have been suspended or not traded for over seven years," says Yogesh Singh, Partner, Trilegal. The move is aimed at safeguarding the interest of investors. "The shareholders of these companies do not get the benefit of a liquid market that the stock exchanges offer. The benefit to these shareholders from this proposed move by SEBI and the stock exchanges is that it provides them with an exit should they so choose," adds Singh.



The regulator has to ensure that listed stocks are actively traded, point out experts. "We boast of having the largest universe of listed stocks, but it means little in the absence of meaningful trading," says Alok C. Churiwala, Vice Chairman of BSE Broker Forum, who agrees that it's time to bite the bullet. There are two sets of suspended companies - some of which are operational and not trading but don't want to delist, and others that are defunct. "The regulator should explore all the possibilities before closing all the doors," says C. J. George, Managing Director, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

The action, however, has already begun and the BSE is considering compulsory delisting for suspended companies in a phased manner. In the first phase, letters have been sent to 509 companies advising them to initiate the process of revocation of suspension. "Follow-up letters have also been sent out in this regard. So far, 52 companies have sought revocation of suspension in trading of shares and one company has sought delisting, in response to this communication. The exchange has subsequently issued a showcause notice to the companies, which have not responded to the earlier letters, informing them about the provisions of SEBI Regulations 2009 (delisting regulations), and what the process of compulsory delisting would entail," says a BSE spokesperson.

A scan of BSE-listed companies based on the data from ACE Equity throws up interesting insights. There were 1,021 companies that have remained suspended for a period of seven years or more as on June 1, 2016. Of these, over 900 companies have remained suspended for more than a decade and a little over 1 per cent has remained inactive for more than two decades. And just threedozen companies have remained suspended for less than a decade. A majority of these companies - around 86 per cent - is penny stocks that have traded below Rs 10 and more than half of the companies have traded below their face values. Most of these companies have weak balance sheets - more than onethird of the lot is loss-making and 67 of them have 'zero' revenues.

Around 4.1 million institutional and non-institutional investors are stuck with these companies, and going by the information available, nearly Rs 45,000 crore of shareholder's value is waiting to be unlocked (this estimate is based on the public shareholding of these companies multiplied by their latest prices available). This, however, is just a threshold number. "The worth of those defunct companies would be hard to estimate, but it can be safely assumed that a substantial portion has evaporated with the vanishing of the promoters," says Jimeet Modi, CEO, SAMCO Securities.

Independent valuers have been empanelled by the BSE to compute the fair value of companies that are to be delisted. "Various valuation parameters are taken into account for the determination of the value at which the promoter is required to acquire the shares from the public shareholders. These include the book value, comparable trading multiples and other customary valuation parameters. This is clearly the toughest part and given the implications of compulsory delisting, we would expect the promoters to litigate, to delay, if not avoid the consequences of such a step," says Singh of Trilegal.

"...SEBI and the stock exchanges are well within their rights to seek delisting of companies that have been suspended or not traded for over seven years"

In line with regulations, the exchange would issue a public notice giving the names and details of the companies sought to be delisted. Any person, including the company aggrieved by the proposed delisting, would be given a time of 15 working days to argue its case and make a suitable representation. The timeline for the delisting and purchase of shares by the promoters from the public depends upon a few factors - whether the relevant company seeks revocation of suspension on trading or promoters seek to delist the company. Above all, the promoters should be identifiable and traceable. Singh of Trilegal says: "An important consequence of the compulsory delisting is that the company, its promoters, wholetime directors and companies promoted by any of them are not permitted to directly or indirectly access the securities market or seek listing of any equity shares for 10 years from the date of the delisting. Given this implication, one cannot rule out substantial litigation that could delay completion of the process."

"We boast of having the largest universe of listed stocks, but it means little in the absence of meaningful trading"

But here is the trickiest part. "The biggest challenge would be to track the vanishing companies and their promoters and how to force them to acquire the shares (delist) when in reality they never intend to do it. Getting this done through the whip of the law is a long-drawn journey," says Modi of SAMCO Securities.

The delisting process may not impact the exchanges in a very significant way, but there could be some short-term impact in terms of the listing fees if they (exchanges) have been receiving it, says Churiwala.

BSE has sent out letters through registered post AD to companies on the addresses available on exchange records. Letters were also sent out on addresses available in Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) records. "However, it seems that some of the companies have changed their registered office addresses without intimating the same to the exchange or MCA. On account of that, some communications have been returned undelivered," says a BSE spokesperson.

Singh of Trilegal believes that for companies that do not respond to the stock exchange communications, or where promoters cannot be traced, the entire process is likely to be fairly long drawn out. However, if a promoter fails to purchase the shares held by the public shareholders, it could lead to stern action by the exchanges and the regulator. It could include imposition of a Rs 25 crore penalty by the regulator - failure to pay up could mean imprisonment of up to 10 years for promoters.

All said and done, it will be a daunting task for SEBI and the exchanges to clean the decade old mess.
Ahead of its initial public offer, staffing firm Quess Corp today raised Rs 180 crore from anchor investors, including Kuwait Investment Authority.

The company allotted shares to around 15 anchor investors at a price of Rs 317 apiece - upper end of the price band fixed for the Rs 400-crore IPO opening tomorrow.

Apart from Kuwait Investment Authority, Fidelity Investments, ICICI Prudential MF, HDFC MF, Nomura, Harvard Management Co, DSP BlackRock, Wasatch, Pictet and Grandeur Peak were among the anchor investors.

ALSO READ: Should you subscribe to Quess Corp IPO?

Quess Corp allotted 56.78 lakh shares to anchor investors at the price of Rs 317 per scrip, according to a filing to the stock exchanges.

Promoted by Ajit Isaac and Thomas Cook (India), Quess Corp's IPO has a price band of Rs 310 317 per equity share having face value of Rs 10 each.

The IPO, which would open tomorrow and close on July 1, comprises fresh issue of equity shares aggregating Rs 400 crore.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company plans to use the proceeds towards incremental working capital, acquisitions and other strategic initiatives, debt repayment and other general corporate purposes.

Set up in 2007, Quess Corp offers comprehensive solutions, including recruitment, temporary staffing, technology staffing and IT products and solutions.
The government on Wednesday approved three highway projects each in Maharashtra, Odisha and Punjab to be implemented at a cost of Rs 5,965 crore.

The CCEA in its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the projects for widening of Aurangabad-Telwadi section of NH 211 in Maharashtra, Angul-Sambalpur section of NH-42 (New NH-55) in Odisha and Phagwara-Rupnagar section of NH-344A in Punjab.

"The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)...has approved the development of four laning of Aurangabad-Telwadi Section of NH-211 in Maharashtra. The cost is estimated to be Rs 2028.91 crore including cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation," Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement.

The total length of the road to be developed is approximately 87 kms. The work will be done under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-IV on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (BOT/DBFOT) basis in BOT toll mode.

Besides uplifting socio economic development, the project would generate employment potential of 3,54,090 (approx) mandays.

The project in Odisha will be taken up at a cost of Rs 2491.53 crore including cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road to be developed is approximately 151 kms.

This work will be done under NHDP Phase-IV on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis.

It would increase employment potential for local labourers for project activities. Employment potential of 6,16,600 (approx.) mandays will be generated locally during the construction period of this stretch, the statement said.

In Punjab, the four-laning of the section will be done at an estimated cost of Rs 1,444.42 crore. The total length of the road to be developed is approximately 80.820 kms.

"This work will be done under the National Highways (Others) on Hybrid Annuity Mode," the statement said.

The government said employment potential of about 3,30,000 mandays will be generated locally during the construction period of Phagwara-Rupnagar section in Punjab.

The section has recently been declared as NH-344A.

Presently, the proposed project highway is 2-lane with paved shoulder (68.820 km) and four lane (15.8km).

This road will join Phagwara to Rupnagar via Nawashahir and will be the shortest route to Amritsar from Chandigarh and vice-versa.

All the three projects will help expedite the improvement of infrastructure in the respective states besides reducing time and traffic.
Shopo, an app-based marketplace launched by Snapdeal in 2015, has added 1 lakh sellers in last three months and now has 2 lakh registered sellers on its platform, the company informed in a press release on Wednesday. The company claimed that it has now a product offering of over 4 million products.

The company also informed that geographical spread of its sellers has also increased from 800 to 1,200 towns and cities during the three months. Currently, 47 per cent of Shopo sellers are from tier-1 cities - New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune, while the rest are from tier-2 and tier-3 cities, it added.

Speaking on the development, Sandeep Komaravelly, Senior Vice-President, Shopo said: "The rapid adoption of Shopo by our 2 lakh seller-strong base is a validation of our efforts to become the platform of choice for small and micro entrepreneurs. The strides we are making to grow the C2C model in India, closely follows similar trajectories in global markets."

Shopo initially was an online marketplace for handicraft products but after its acquisition by e-commerce giant Snapdeal in 2013 the company went through a makeover and was re-launched as an app-only marketplace. Shopo allows users to set up an online shop in its space free of charge to sell their products. The sellers and buyers can also interact with each other and bargain the price.

The marketplace's model of the app makes it a close competitor of Gurgaon-based Shopclues.com besides other marketplaces sites like Flipkart, Amazon. ShopClues too issued a press release on Wednesday and said that it has grown to half a million sellers on its platform.

Shopclues had about 3 lakh sellers in 2015 which has now grown to 5 lakhs, the company informed. The company is targeting 1 million sellers by the end of this year on its platform.
Shelbourne House in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 has come onto the market at a guide price of 31m.

Shelbourne House is a mixed use building comprising of both office and residential units. The accommodation is let to high calibre tenants including; An Post, the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the Malaysian Embassy.

The property currently generates in the region of 1.6 million per annum, across approximately 64,286 sq ft over seven floors.

Domhnaill OSullivan of Savills commented on the property, "Given the central location of Shelbourne House within Ballsbridge, the high calibre of tenants, in conjunction with an investor appetite to undertake some refurbishments if tenants vacate and increase value through rental growth, we anticipate a strong level of interest in the property from both international and local investors."

The nearby Ballsbridge Hotels site sold last July to Joe OReillys Chartered Land and the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund and is also to be redeveloped to accommodate 568 top-end apartments, a 152-bedroom hotel and associated retail and commercial space.

www.businessworld.ie
The Digital Marketing Institute has signed a strategic partnership with the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP).



This partnership will see AA-ISP offer the Digital Marketing Institutes new Professional Diploma in Digital Selling to its 11,000 members, member companies and the larger community of Inside Sales professionals as part of its Inside Sales Academy.

Last month saw the Digital Marketing Institute open up its professional certifications to a network of over 1,000 accredited education partners worldwide following another deal with EXIN, the leading global independent certification institute for ICT professionals.



Institute was founded in 2008 by Irish entrepreneurs Ian Dodson and Anthony Quigley. Strong international growth in recent years has resulted in it producing the most widely taught digital marketing certifications in the world.

Its diploma, degree and masters level certifications are delivered through a global network of education partner institutions, in workplaces via corporate clients and directly via online learning.



Founder and Chairman of AA-ISP, Bob Perkins today commented, "The importance of digital and social selling as part of an organisations digital transformation is significant. As sales continue to rapidly evolve, todays professionals must become skilled in all aspects of this new digital world."

He added, "AA-ISP is committed to developing the skills of Inside Sales professionals across all industries and adding the Digital Marketing Institutes Professional Diploma in Digital Selling to our portfolio will help our community to stay ahead of this new digital selling requirement."



Source: www.businessworld.ie

About us
Understanding the Brexit outcomes

Published on June 29, 2016

Story by Marta Pacheco

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After years of caveats and months of campaigning the British people voted to leave the European Union. This represents an unprecedented move in the history, even though the relationship between the two has always been difficult.

The expectations were high on both sides  Remain or Leave - and during the vote's counting Nigel Farage's UKIP leader has even said the Remain camp had edged it. After all the votes were assembled, the Leave counted approximately 52% of the electorate's vote against 48% for the Remain side.

The outcome of the EU referendum came as a shock for many British  even the ones who voted Brexit. While this may be ridiculously confusing, we have come to understanding how uninformed the British people were about the significance of the referendum itself, let alone the consequences of what a leave vote could bring about. According to Google Trends, one day after the EU Referendum, the top questions registered in the UK were What does it mean to leave the EU?, What is the EU?, and Which countries are in the EU?. This displays an enormous lack of sensitivity to such an important political decision.

Who voted to Leave?

However, when dissecting the electorate of this plebiscite, we come to the conclusion that the vote to leave was mainly supported by the elderly sector of the population. The faction that is not paying taxes any longer and living off on guaranteed pensions. The majority of the youth voted to Remain and are now in shock and apprehension towards the future.

Many leave voters have admitted had never believed the UK would actually leave the EU, others regretted their vote. In the meantime, an online petition in the UK  with nearly 4 million signatures - is calling on a new referendum but constitutional experts consider it very unlikely. Life might become a bit more bureaucratic for all the EU citizens living in the UK as well as for British living in the EU.

In any case, both campaigns were not informative rather a propaganda machine to support the credos of each side. Even if that implied lying, this was the case of the Leave side, supported by Nigel Farage. Apparently, one day after the referendum, the 350 million which used to be sent to the EU and were intended to go to the NHS, was a "misunderstanding". Probably one of the most captivating arguments of the Leave campaign was a big and despising lie.

European reactions

Overall, it was a sad day for the European Union. British citizens living in Brussels and elsewhere are devastated by this outcome. European Commission's and European Parliament's presidents Juncker and Schulz are incredibly irritated with the aftermath of the referendum.

EU leaders are now pressing for the UK to call on the article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, founding the legal principles how a Member State leaves the Union. However, the UK is delaying the official call on article 50 and Europe is getting anxious and afraid of the enthusiasm of extremist parties in the EU with the same convictions as UKIP and Front National.

Media on Brexit

Due to the enormous consequences of this political decision, Brexit made the front cover of each newspaper or magazine and every opening of breaking news across the globe. What has the media been saying?

For example, The Financial Times expectedly focused on the economic and financial impact of Brexit asking "What will Brexit mean for the city of London?". POLITICO accused British voters of unleashing an economic and political tsunami and added that its going towards the US, where GOP candidate to the White House Donald Trump, praised the Brexits aftermath. The Canadian based Global Research focused on the social triggers of this political decision taken by the British people writing that "The UKs Brexit Vote Is Actually a Referendum on Xenophobia".

Conclusions

Given the Brexit outcome, the UK must now reorganise its grounds. David Cameron has already announced its resignation, though by October, and the most likely future PM will be Boris Johnson. A series of resignations were presented to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is struggling to keep the party alive and united. The political turmoil must be replaced by an orderly restructuration of both Conservative and Labour parties.

After stability is settled, focus should be put on the NHS and on the British social security system. Moreover, the UK must fortifies its ties with future strategic international players and reinforce trade agreements with its counterparts. When debating a Brexit case scenario, many analysts were considering several approaches such as the Swiss or the Norwegian model, both wealthy non-EU countries with trade agreements with the EU and the rest of the world.

Nevertheless, each case is a single case and even if the UK tries a transition  which might well be successful  the first stages of experiment and implementation will be harsh.

Story by Marta Pacheco
When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas
Douglas Corrigan, the pilot who grew up in Aransas Pass, became famous for making a navigational error that landed him in Dublin, Ireland, instead of California. But friends said he knew exactly where he was going.

"Isn't this Los Angeles?" the flier asked. "Los Angeles! This is Dublin, Ireland!" That was July 18, 1938. The flier was Douglas Corrigan, who had filed a flight plan from New Jersey to California. When he landed in Ireland, he said he had flown the wrong way. From then on, he was known as Wrong-Way Corrigan, the man who flew from New Jersey to Ireland, across the Atlantic, on his way to California.

Douglas Corrigan grew up in Aransas Pass. His father was an engineer on the Aransas Pass ship channel work. When Douglas was 15, his mother died and his father was killed in a train accident. Corrigan took flying lessons and worked as an airplane mechanic. He helped build Charles Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis."

In July 1938 Corrigan asked permission to fly across the Atlantic to Ireland. He was turned down; authorities said his plane was not airworthy. So he traveled without official permission. He had no parachute or radio. His Curtiss Robin monoplane, named "Sunshine," cost $325. He made the trip on $62 and 26 cents. That was for gas and oil. For himself, he had a quart of water, two packs of fig bars and two bars of chocolate. When he landed in Ireland and asked, "Isn't this Los Angeles?" it was all blarney. He knew exactly where he was. But from then on he stuck to the script and kept the "Wrong Way" joke going.

Others knew better. He was not some lost clodhopper but an experienced pilot who knew where he was going. Barbara Erickson London, a pilot and friend, said he was too good a pilot to make such a mistake. "It's unfortunate that the buffoonery was played up instead of recognizing the fabulous feat he accomplished." They made a movie of the spectacular flight in 1939 called "The Flying Irishman." Corrigan ended up in California after all, where he bought an orange grove. He died in 1995 and was buried in Santa Ana. To the end of his life, he stuck to his story  with, it was said, a twinkle in the eye and the trace of a smile. But those who knew him well insisted that he was never lost.

Wolf-bit man

In the 19th century, rabid coyotes, skunks, dogs and cats were always a danger on the remote ranches of South Texas. A mad coyote, it was said, would run among the pack biting and infecting every other animal.

The danger from rabid animals increased during a drought, when wild game came in closer to the ranch houses in search of food and water and the coyotes followed them. It was a drought year in 1888. Will Chamberlain, usually called Willie, was bitten by a mad coyote. Chamberlain was taking a nap on the porch of his ranch house near Brownsville when a mad coyote bit him on the cheek. At the time, this meant an almost certain and painful death.

But Chamberlain was very lucky. Word was sent to his half-sister, Henrietta King, the matriarch of King Ranch, who sent Dr. Arthur Spohn in her buggy to treat her brother. Spohn had just read of a medical breakthrough in the treatment of rabies by a French doctor.

Spohn took his patient to Galveston and from there they sailed on a fast clipper ship across the Atlantic. In Paris, Willie Chamberlain, bitten by a rabid coyote on a ranch in South Texas, became the first to be saved from the horrors of a death by rabies by the vaccine developed by Louis Pasteur. Pasteur himself administered the vaccine, one shot each day for 14 days.

Chamberlain died 47 years later. He was always known as the wolf-bit man.

A cloudy title

A legal dispute over who owned the land on which Corpus Christi was built caused a lot of distress in the 1870s.

Henry Kinney established his trading post in 1839 in what would become Corpus Christi. He was a squatter, without rights to the land. Two years later, the owner, or so it was thought, showed up. He was a Mexican army officer, Capt. Enrique Villarreal, and he brought some 200 Mexican cavalry soldiers with him to reclaim his land. Kinney offered to buy the land, giving Villarreal $3,000 for one league of the 10-league Rincon del Oso. Kinney later bought nine more leagues from Villarreal's heirs for 21 cents an acre.

Levi Jones, a land speculator, did not believe Villarreal had clear title. He located two men, Jose Bargas and Miguel Bosquez, who held patents issued by the Republic of Texas to tracts of land on which the city was later built. Jones acquired these patents for a few dollars.

In 1849 Jones sold part of this land to J. Temple Doswell and the two men took the case to court. The case was shunted around for two decades. In 1873, long after Kinney's death, the case reached the Supreme Court, which sent it back to the U.S. Circuit Court in Galveston where the Doswell-Jones claim was upheld and the Kinney-Villarreal title ruled faulty.

This was shocking news for Corpus Christi. Most homeowners and businessmen purchased their land from Henry Kinney. After the court ruling, they no longer owned the land on which their homes and stores had been built. Jones and Doswell established a firm  the Corpus Christi City and Land Company  to resell property, lot by lot and tract by tract, to the erstwhile owners. A great deal of Corpus Christi money was transferred to Jones and Doswell. Some who could not buy back their land were evicted.

Anna Moore Schwien said her friend "Uncle Dempsey" owned two lots on Tancahua Street but as a result of the Jones-Doswell victory in court he had to repurchase both lots. "His friends counseled him not to pay, as he had already bought the lots once, but he thought he had better pay. He did and later events showed his wisdom, as many other people had to pay many times what he did to secure title to their property."

Probably the three most hated men in Corpus Christi in the 1870s were land speculators Levi Jones and J. Temple Doswell and the town's founder, Henry Kinney.
County government is not where you ordinarily look for innovation.

Yet in moves that would have astonished all those former county commissioners who spent their days cleaning weeds from drainage ditches and overseeing county road crews, Nueces County government is making some bold changes.

One of those is changing how jury duty, that bane of citizenship, is handled. We all want to do our duty. But every citizen who was ever called for jury duty only to sit idle for hours in the Central Jury Room has thought "There has to be a better way."

Well, it turns out there is.

The other big initiative, if it all works out, is aimed to make things simpler and more convenient for voters.

Who would have thought it? Government making things easier for citizens. There's a refreshing thought.

County government has always been closer to the people if only because so many officials who have to run for re-election reside at the courthouse. City government always seemed to be in the middle of the action.

But county government of late has been showing some real signs of progress. One of those signals is the decision, at long last, by county commissioners, judges and county officials to change the jury call system.

Here's how it has worked since time eternal. Tom Citizen gets his jury notice in the mail. Citizen says choice words about getting called yet again, or so it seems. Citizen shows up at courthouse on the appointed day with requested information on card filled in. Citizen gets sworn in. Then the big shuffle occurs. Clerks assign each potential juror a number, seat those called by jury panel and then Citizen waits. And waits. And waits.

No wonder less than half of all summoned potential jurors actually show up. The number of citizens called has gotten larger and larger just so the actual number of folks who show up can satisfy the required jury panels for trials.

Under the new system, the bulk of jury impaneling would move to an electronic format. Citizens receiving summons will be able to respond by website. The website will give summoned citizens the opportunity to provide emails and phone numbers. Those would be used to inform citizens where they stand in regard to jury impaneling.

The jury impaneling by in-person appearance will remain for those who don't have access to a computer. But I will venture that portion of the population is getting smaller just as the number of smartphones explodes.

Choosing jury panels for capital cases will also remain a face-to-face process.

So proud of the change is County Commissioner Mike Pusley that the word is being sent out to top county employers.

"Why? Because it keeps employees at work and it's a huge timesaver for the corporations in the city."

The other change, consolidating voting precincts, is growing out of a crisis.

That crisis is that the huge majority of precincts don't meet Americans With Disabilities federal law. Bringing those precincts up to standards is prohibitively expensive, both for the county and for other governments whose facilities are used to house precincts.

So the county is embarking on a plan drawn up by County Clerk Kara Sands to consolidate voting precincts. Not just a few, but as many 83 voting precincts. The plan has to be approved by August if change is to be made by the November general election.

A public hearing on the plans was held Monday night at the courthouse.

The county is taking advantage of a change made by the Texas Secretary of State. The change would give county residents the option to vote at any polling location on Election Day, regardless of their designated polling place.

Hasn't it seemed odd that during the early voting period, a vote can be cast at any number of polling locations  the courthouse, a restaurant, a building supply house  but on Election Day itself you can vote only at one designated location?

Since the idea was aired, local representatives of both major political parties have supported the move. Voter advocacy groups endorsed the move as a possible way to increase voter turnout. And who doesn't want less hassle on Election Day anyway?

The Nueces County Courthouse is a happening place.

Nick Jimenez has worked as a reporter, city editor and editorial page editor for more than 40 years in Corpus Christi. He is currently the editorial page editor emeritus for the Caller-Times. His commentary column appears on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Caller-Times file Cactus & Vine closes its doors Wednesday.

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By Esther Hackleman, Esther.M.Hackleman@caller.com

Sangria sanctuary Cactus & Vine announced it is closing Wednesday through social media posts.

The casual bar and venue nestled at the intersection of Bonita and Ayers streets has closed its doors after three years.

Owner Amy Felan, who opened the wine bar in August 2013, announced the closing and her move to Houston on Wednesday morning via Facebook.

"But now it's back to the big city of Houston where there'll be new doors to open, new creative endeavors to put my energy into and of course new beginnings," Felan said in her post.

Twitter: @Caller_Esther
By Libby Averyt

Our system failed Noemi Villarreal.

Dead at age 45, Noemi easily could be written off as a stripper with a history of failed, abusive relationships, drug use and trouble with police. Some may say she was partly responsible in her own death because of the choices she made. We express polite dismay that she'd been strangled, her naked body stuffed in a bin and burned like trash. Then we move on with our lives, and not much changes.

Caller-Times journalists Natalia Contreras, Krista Torralva and Rachel Denny Clow reminded us Sunday that stories are rarely that simple. Here is the timeline of Noemi's final days as detailed by police reports and interviews with police, Noemi's family and friends:

Thursday, June 2  Noemi calls police and is connected to the telephone reporting unit about 2:30 p.m. She states her boyfriend, Lance Taylor, held her captive for two weeks starting the week of May 16, beat and choked her and that she wants to press charges. She says he threatened to harm her. The call taker likely submits the report to a supervisor for approval.

Friday, June 3  The supervisor likely approves the report and sends it to the family violence unit lieutenant.

Saturday and Sunday, June 4-5  The police department's family violence unit is closed on the weekends. No action is taken on Noemi's report.

Saturday, June 4  Noemi's friend notices she has bruises and a busted lip; she won't say how she'd been injured.

Monday, June 6  Still no police action on Noemi's report. Noemi texts her sister and says she's going out of town with Taylor.

Tuesday, June 7  Noemi's case is assigned to a detective. The state's parole department issues a warrant for Taylor's arrest. Noemi texts her sister that Taylor had slapped her and she won't leave with him. She agrees to move to Dallas with her sister, who plans to pick her up June 10.

Wednesday, June 8  Noemi texts a friend at 9 a.m. and asks for help, saying Taylor was around. Late that night, Noemi's burned body is found inside a trash bin near Oso Bay.

Thursday, June 9  A standardized letter the family violence unit sends to victims is prepared for Noemi.

Tuesday, June 14  The letter, delivered to Noemi's apartment, is postmarked.

That sequence of events outrages me. What outrages me more is that so little is being done to protect women, despite more than a year of Caller-Times reporting that included more than 100 stories, photos, videos and editorials.

Our newsroom started investigating the issue in its Behind Broken Doors series after learning that more than half of local homicides in 2014 were the result of family violence. Noemi is at least the third woman in two years to be killed after seeking help, and is among the 28 lives lost because of domestic violence since 2014.

Police arrested Taylor on June 20 on a murder charge, and his case likely will go to a grand jury for possible indictment. His attorney, Fred Jimenez has said they will contest the charges. Taylor had been on parole for drug and illegal firearm possession charges.

He also was on probation for a misdemeanor family violence assault charge involving another woman, our reporting showed.

We must remember that Taylor has not been convicted in Noemi's homicide. Regardless of the outcome of the case, it's clear that Noemi reported being abused and threatened. And it's clear we didn't respond to her pleas for help.

Despite the Caller-Times' extensive reporting on how other communities have successfully addressed domestic violence, Corpus Christi still has a family violence unit that is closed on weekends. Corpus Christi still has a system that allows a victim who reports being beaten, strangled and held hostage for two weeks to tell her story only to a call-taker, with no investigator assigned to the case until five days later.

Corpus Christi still has a system that allows a domestic violence report to be taken  naming a suspect with a previous family violence assault charge  and nothing happens for another five days. Nothing.

What will it take for the city and police department leadership to address this issue with urgency and action? Where is the real leadership from the mayor, City Council and police chief? How about the district attorney, Nueces County sheriff and Commissioners' Court? For God's sake, will someone please step up and lead?

One glimmer of hope is that the number of domestic violence fatalities has decreased from 14 in 2014 to 11 in 2015, as have all homicides for the same period. To date in 2016, three people have lost their lives in such situations.

A positive step is the training of officers to assess the lethalness of a situation when called to a family disturbance. Officers in those instances work with the Women's Shelter of South Texas to provide immediate support if needed. But what about victims who aren't being abused at the moment police are called?

The family violence unit's lieutenant described a heavy caseload and the necessity to assess the immediate threat in such cases. Because Noemi made her report after she was no longer held captive, the police apparently believed the threat had passed.

That rationale is flawed. Domestic violence experts stress that victims often are most at risk when they make an outcry. Noemi did what we tell abused women to do  she called for help. She got no meaningful answer.

A Corpus Christi Police Department tweet on Tuesday raises more concerns: "More than 624 arrests by CCPD so far this year for family violence charges. We cannot arrest our way out of this problem." Victims could interpret that as: Don't bother to make a report because an arrest isn't going to solve anything. While no single agency shoulders all responsibility for the problem, such defensiveness is not productive.

Some people may say Noemi couldn't have been helped because by June 5 she had reconciled with her boyfriend. Again, domestic violence experts tell us that's not unusual. It requires tremendous courage for a victim to finally reach out to authorities. It's imperative to help an abuse victim as soon as she or he asks for help  not five days later because the family violence unit is closed on weekends or through a form letter postmarked 12 days after the initial call.

Some people may shrug this off as something that could never happen to them. If that's true, consider yourself blessed and then consider your extended family, friends and co-workers. Domestic violence knows no economic boundaries, no preferences in race, religion or geography. It can happen anywhere and everywhere, and it does.

Before we judge Noemi's choices, we might pause and ask ourselves whether we've ever done anything we regretted  spoken too harshly in anger, acted out of fear, had too much to drink and violated our own values or told ourselves taking prescription painkillers was OK long after an injury warranted their use. Before we judge Noemi because she didn't leave, we might ask how our lives may have been different if we'd been born in different circumstances and consider, "There but for the grace of God go I."

Our community needs to demand more, and everyone can help. As individuals, we can share information about resources with someone who may need answers. If able, we can donate to organizations that address domestic violence and addiction. We can insist upon instant and more compassionate communication with victims who file reports instead of standardized letters mailed 12 days after filing a report. We can contact our elected officials and let them know family violence should be a priority through action, not just talk.

We can pursue an interagency task force on family violence so all related local agencies contribute to the solution, communicate across departments and find ways to answer calls for help in quick and meaningful ways. We can push local governmental agencies to work together without concern for who gets credit. We can demand that our local governmental leaders get the right people in the room  people with influence, authority and budget responsibility  and fix the system.

It takes leadership  someone to step forward and say, "No more," and then act collaboratively.

Elected and law enforcement leaders: Please, we're begging you, do something.

LIVES LOST

Corpus Christi has lost 28 lives because of domestic violence since January 2014.

Among the victims are Jennifer Herrera, Patricia Askew, Susanna Eguia, Heather Coglaiti, Juan Joseph Hinojosa Gonzalez, Noemi Villarreal, Pamela Freeman Clark, Xadrian Martinez, John K. Wilson, Stephanie Cortina, Krystal Perales, Denise Delgado, Kimberly Hill, Pedro Molina, Mario Colchado Garcia, Ramona Ramirez, Benny Vela and Lanny Gonzalez.

The death toll also includes two fetuses that were miscarried because of abuse.

Two lives - David Hernandez and Jonathan Del Alto - were lost in what were deemed self-defense killings.

In six instances the killers took their lives, including David Askew, Joseph Carrillo, Patricio Peralta Ramirez, Jose Calderon, Luis A. Nieto and Jacob Vela.
SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Port Commission vice chairman Wayne Squires (left) and commission Chairman Charles Zahn (right) pose with Xu Lirong, who heads the Cosco China Shipping Group. Cosco owns the first vessel to sail through the expanded Panama Canal.

By Chris Ramirez of the Caller-Times

The Panama Canal is nearly 2,700 miles from Corpus Christi, but officials say its historic expansion will have a direct affect on the Coastal Bend's largest port, which is gearing up for increased vessel traffic.

Port Authority chairman Charles Zahn led a delegation from the Port of Corpus Christi to Panama last week to witness the opening of the expanded Panama Canal.

The $5.4 billion effort to transform the 102-year-old canal took nearly 10 years and 40,000 workers to complete. The new set of locks now allows ships carrying up to 14,000 containers, known as neo-Panamax ships, to sail a quicker path between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Zahn attended a ceremony Sunday to celebrate its completion. He was joined by port authority vice chairman Wayne Squires and secretary Barbara Canales.

Port officials feel the canal's expansion will open more opportunity for the port, which has been ramping up efforts to accommodate new growth.

Handysize and supramax vessels most commonly visit the port, and are capable of carrying up to 30,000 tons and 60,000 tons respectively. Larger "mini" capesize vessels, which can haul 85,000 to 120,000 tons, have recently docked on the San Patricio County side of the port, where they don't have to navigate the Harbor Bridge.

State transportation officials have scheduled an Aug. 8 ground breaking for a yearslong, $898 million project to replace the bridge with a more modern cable-stayed span, one with a clearance high enough to allow taller vessels.

The port also is in the final stages of a $28 million expansion of its railroad system, and also is building several new docks. Last year, the port authority also issued $115 million in revenue bonds to both buy land and to help finance a variety of capital projects over the next decade.

"As our region continues its current growth ... the Panama Canal expansion will allow greater opportunity for global trading opportunities," Zahn said.

The Cosco Shipping Panama  a Chinese container ship  was the first vessel to pass through the locks. The expansion project has already received 170 reservations for vessels to traverse the locks.

U.S. Reps. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, and Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, recently added new language to the Fiscal Year 2017 House Energy and Water Appropriations Bill. Their hope was to improve the port's chances at securing money for its plans to deepen and widen its channel to 52 feet from its current depth of 45 feet.

Twitter: @Caller_ChrisRam
This is the money President Jacob Zuma took from public funds to upgrade his Nkandla private residence.

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South Africas National Treasury has asked President Jacob Zuma to pay back the sum of 509,000 U.S. Dollars part of the public funds he is accused to have siphoned to upgrade his private residence at Nkandla in the rural eastern province of KwaZulu- Natal, BBC reported. The presidency made no immediate comment on the treasury's calculation, which will now be reviewed by the Constitutional Court.



The amount Mr Zuma would have to repay follows the instructions the countrys Constitutional Court gave the national treasury in March 2016 to determine the value of non-security upgrades installed at the Nkandla Zumas traditional homestead. The refurbishing of the homestead included works such as a swimming pool, which was claimed to be a fire-fighting facility, a chicken run, a cattle enclosure, an amphitheatre and a visitors' centre, Mail Online said. The Constitutional Court earlier ruled that President Zuma should pay back a total of 23 million U.S. Dollars of public funds spent on his residence in 2009. The 509,000 U.S. Dollars demanded by the national treasury is just about three per cent of the initial amount, BBC reported.



The anti-corruption body known as the Public Protector, rules in 2014 that President Zuma had "unduly benefited" from the non-security renovations to his rural home in Nkandla. The treasury stated after declaring the amount Mr Zuma has to pay back that it hired two independent quantity surveyors to conduct separate investigations to come up with the figure.

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Tuesday, June 28, 2016 at 9:04PM

It seems the partnership between Sony and Ustream is now over. Sony has announced that starting August 1st, PlayStation 4 players will now only be able to live stream games on Twitch, YouTube, and DailyMotion. Aside from that, you wont be able to view Ustream videos from the Live from PlayStation portal on the console, mobile PS app, and PS Vita. It wasnt explicitly specified why the support has ended. But Ustream hasnt really been making news when it comes to game live streaming. The last we heard from them was when they were bought by IBM to power enterprise broadcast services.

Source: Engadget
It's not so much that his films have pulled in massive crowds, either. It's that he happens to make the landmark movie, a sort of summary statement, or first telling observation or last word. And everyone recognises the quality of his work, the thought that has gone behind it, the knowledge of cinema that supports it, and the skill and sensitivity that has gone into his images, choice of music and use of sound, or silence, as in Raging Bull. Scorsese is the filmmakers' filmmaker. He has received the most Academy Award nominations for best director of anyone else alive, and has won once, for The Departed in 2007.
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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.

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The counselling process for the ComedK's Under-Graduate Entrance Test (UGET) began yesterday on June 28, 2016 at 8.30 am. The process was said to be really slow due to disruptions in the seat selection process. The delay in the COMEDK's counselling process left students and parents uncomfortable situations. Students and parents from out ot stations were irked the most, the delay in the process forced these students to cancel their flight and train tickets.

The first day of the counselling process was supposed to end at 5.45pm but it is said to have continue late into the night. The process was expected to be over by midnight.

Students and parents from across country had travelled to reach the counselling centre, NMKRV College for Women. The counselling began on time but mobed at a snail's pace. The DAY 1 of Comedk counselling was for students with rank number between 1 and 3,000, but candidates with ranks beyond 3,000 also turned up created confusion among them.

A parent from Uttarakhand told TOI, ""My son's counselling was scheduled for 4.30pm, but even after 6pm, they didn't approach us. Till 6pm, ComedK authorities conducted counselling for only 1,000 students. My flight is at 10.45pm, but I have cancelled the tickets. Now we have booked a hotel room. Who will reimburse us?"

The DAY 1 of COMEDK counselling also saw heated arguments between parents and the officials, as the officials at the counselling centres were blaming the private agency which provided the software for the counselling process, which delayed the counselling process further.

"We are paying so much fees and getting this in return. Can't they conduct a mock process a day before the counselling? This is ridiculous," said a parent.

An exasperated Sabyasachi Behera, a student from Madhya Pradesh, said he had no option but to miss his train, which was supposed to depart at 7.30pm. "I will not get a single rupee back. It's very frustrating."

Many were irked by the lack of facilities at the counselling centre. Participants had to brave the rain as there was no proper shelter. Students and parents were seen sitting on the footpath. Amitabh Sinha, a parent from Delhi, said, "ComedK is very inefficient. It is causing so much inconvenience to everyone", he rued.

"The least they could have done is made basic arrangements for outstation parents. We couldn't find a drinking water facility. It's a shame that our parents have to sit on the pavement," said Pratik Singh, a student from Rajasthan.
French carmaker Citroen inaugurated its revamped building in the centre of Paris. Located at 42 Avenue des Champs-Elysees, the C42  C for Citroen, 42 for the building number incorporates a series of displays that are open to the public. Standing 30m high, the 5-storey building is the work of French architect, Manuelle Gautrand. The C42 features a glass latticework exterior which is dominated by soaring chevrons that assert the buildings Citroen identity. For the opening, the models on display include Citroens pioneering Traction Avant, the 2CV, DS, C6 and futuristic concept car, the C-Metisse.

According to Citroen, a panoramic elevator carries visitors from the atrium to the top floor where they can enjoy views of some of Paris most recognised landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Place de la Concorde. As visitors walk down from the top floor they can get closer to each of the exhibits, which will change in a series of planned, seasonal exhibitions, and use the touch-screen displays to learn more about them. -More images after the jump
Oftentimes life is stranger than fiction, but this one seems to be coming straight out of a Hollywood film script. Kind of a Mr. and Ms. Smith story, only Mr. Smiths sole profession is that of a NASCAR driver.



Kurt Busch, a NASCAR racer, has testified in the Kent County Family Court on Tuesday, January 13, that his ex-girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll, had told him that her profession was killing people for a living!

Everyone on the outside can tell me Im crazy, but I live on the inside and say it firsthand, Busch reportedly said answering a question from his own attorney, Rusty Hardin.

Furthermore, according to Autosport, he recounted certain incidents when Driscoll returned from her missions, sometimes with bruises. On one particular occasion, Busch claimed, the pair was in El Paso, Texas. Driscoll went out in camouflage and boots and returned wearing a blood-splattered night dress under a trench coat.

During the trial Driscoll did not refute the charges, although outside of court she told Associated Press I find it interesting some of the outlandish claims come straight from a fictional movie script Ive been working on for eight years.

The hearing concerned Driscolls request for a no-contact order. Meanwhile, theres another investigation going on about whether Busch had physically assaulted Driscoll, as she claims.

Photo Source: Facebook/Kurt Busch

Correction: A previous version of this story erroneously mentioned Kurt Busch as Kyle Busch in the title

Photo Gallery
It also allows users to easily manage animation sequences, which can be exported as single frames or sprite sheets (PNG/JPG):

As far as software goes, it performs a fairly niche function, but with the prevalence of both rotoscope and pixel art projects in contemporary animation projects, its not hard to imagine artists thinking up different uses for it.

For now, Dunin says hes focused on creating a stable version for Windows, though ports to other operating systems may happen at some point.
Photo: Getty Images

Study finds clues to future cognitive impairment

As our population gets older and rates of age-related conditions like Alzheimers climb, we are working hard to learn more about what causes dementia and how we can prevent it.

We still have a lot to learn about this frightening condition, but research may be giving new insight.

A study of more than 1,500 individuals aged 70 and older has discovered a link between non-psychotic psychiatric symptoms and later mild-cognitive impairment.

Mild-cognitive impairment (MCI) refers to impairment in one or more domains including executive function, memory, language or visuospatial while still maintaining normal daily functioning. Usually, concerns about MCI are self-reported or brought up by a loved one or physician.

MCI is important because it is considered an intermediate stage between normal aging and the development of dementia. Those who experience this mild impairment as they age have a 10-15 per cent chance per year of developing dementia compared to only a one to two per cent chance per year among the general population.

It seems to be an important link in our understanding of how and why more serious dementias develop.

This study discovered that non-psychotic psychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety, agitation, apathy and irritability increased risk for later mild cognitive impairment.

Further analysis on a smaller group of subjects also showed euphoria, disinhibition and nighttime behaviours were linked with non-memory-related cognitive impairment whereas depression was linked with memory-related impairment.

More research will be necessary to determine the mechanism for this link between earlier mental health symptoms and later impairment.

It will also be interesting to learn whether treatment of psychiatric conditions does anything to slow or prevent future cognitive impairment.

Increased understanding of risk factors is helpful in equipping us for better early intervention and prevention strategies.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: Contributed

Kelowna motorists are getting hosed every time they fill up at the pumps.

That according to Dan McTeague, spokesman for the industry watchdog GasBuddy.com.

In an interview with Castanet News Tuesday, McTeague said gas retailers are pocketing a tidy profit of about 18 cents per litre, unheard of in the gas industry.

"These are among the most generous margins in Canada," said McTeague.

"It shows a complete lack of willingness to compete."

He called the current margins excessive.

Taxes in, McTeague said retailers are paying about 97 cents a litre from suppliers in Kamloops.

Factor in the cost of transportation (two to three cents a litre), and business costs, he said the price should be about $1.08 or $1.09 a litre, not the $118.9 currently being charged at most pumps.

Putting it all in perspective, McTeague said the wholesale price is 61 cents a litre. Federal and provincial taxes are another 31.17 cents  and multiplying everything by five per cent, the total is 97.3.

"If I'm looking at Vancouver today, the cost of real estate is far greater, and yes, there may be higher numbers of people driving through there, retail margins are nine to 10 cents a litre which are considered very good.

"Toronto, nine, 10 cents a litre. Montreal, sometimes four, sometimes 10, sometimes 12. Victoria today, about 11. How do you get away with 18."

Since June 10, McTeague said the wholesale price has dropped nearly 15 cents a litre, while the price at Kelowna pumps has fallen just five cents.

"There is a lot of money being made, and it's consumers that are being held to the highest prices in the province considering the wholesale price of gasoline."

McTeague said Kelowna is crying out for more competition, perhaps from a big box retailer such as Costco, to ensure there is at least some discipline in the retail margins.

"They tend to maintain their enthusiasm when it comes to driving prices up, usually because they want to match the other competitor in Kelowna. As a result, consumers are left holding the bag," he said.

McTeague said it just means people have to dig a little deeper into their pockets.

Vernon ($117.9) and Penticton ($118.9) are also on the high end of the scale.

The average price for gas in the province Tuesday was $118.9 while the lowest price was $103.9.

The higher pump prices may mean Okanagan motorists will avoid the yearly price bump in advance of the Canada Day long weekend.

While the Okanagan endures higher pump prices, McTeague said overall, prices are lower than they have been in several years.

A report from GasBuddy in the United States predicted gas prices south of the border will reach its lowest levels since 2005.

It also projects a return of a sub-$2 per gallon national average as soon as early November.

In Canada, McTeague said a slumping Canadian dollar will prevent our prices from getting that low.

"What's driven prices down in the United States is, of course, lower crude prices.

"But, the trade off is, that while crude has dropped, so too has the Canadian dollar. Purchasing power is taking a hit. We don't get the advantage the Americans get."
Photo: Contributed

Okanagan Falls resident Alan Whitman has been honoured by having an asteroid named after him.

Whitman joins Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory scientist Ken Tapping and Osoyoos amateur astronomer Jack Newton, who shared the distinction earlier.

"Since I have a 20-kilometre-wide flying mountain in perpetuity, this will save my heirs the expense of buying a gravestone," said Whitman.

Official astronomical designations are made by the International Astronomical Union, which issued the announcement that the asteroid was to be named (21330) Alanwhitman.

The mountain-sized rock, which orbits between Mars and Jupiter in the main asteroid belt, was discovered at Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona on Jan. 11, 1997, by astronomer Robert Jedicke who was raised in Niagara Falls, Ont.

The nomination was made by Jedicke and his brother Peter Jedicke of London, Ont., who is a former president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

The award citation noted that: Alan Douglas Whitman is a Canadian amateur astronomer and former weather service officer. He is a skillful observer and has written and lectured widely."

Whitman is a contributing editor for Sky&Telescope magazine of Boston.

In 1980, he founded the predecessor club that in 1996 became the Okanagan Centre of RASC, which now has meeting groups in Penticton, Kelowna and Vernon.

In 1984, Whitman was the founder of the Mount Kobau Star Party, held every August on the mountain near Osoyoos.

Further information on the Okanagan Centre RASC can be found here.

Details regarding the Okanagan Observatory can be found here.
Photo: Contributed An RSS student cleans up a mess left by partiers.

Instead of celebrating the end of another school year, a group of Kelowna teens were left fearing for their safety.

A "passing of the torch" bush party turned violent Saturday night when several people showed up with batons, brass knuckles and knives looking for a fight.

Someone who attended the event, held in the Greystokes area off Highway 33, spoke to Castanet on condition of anonymity and said the party for Rutland Secondary students was going well until the sun went down.

They said a group of people started doing drugs and "going crazy."

I had some friends who were walking out of the bushes after peeing and they were attacked by four people with batons. One guy just got the crap beat out of him.

While they didnt see anyone get stabbed they did notice a person with a large hunting knife.

Several students left the party while others hid in their tents. However, that didnt stop the attackers who were allegedly both current students and former graduates.

They ran out of guys to fight so they started hitting girls, the party-goer said.

The group allegedly started to jump on tents while people were inside and trash the Greystokes area, which is protected.

Police were called to the party, however, Const. Steve Holmes says they were not able to find the suspects or any weapons.

Police stopped some vehicles leaving the area and found that a 17-year-old male had been hit in the nose with what was described as a baton. Other than swelling and some dried blood, the intoxicated male required no medical treatment and just wanted to return home, said Holmes, adding the teen was in the care of his older brother.

Officers disposed of some liquor and many of the teens decided to stay overnight, according to Holmes. Police left the area when everything was quiet.

The party-goer says that isnt quite true, as things heated up again when the attackers jumped on tents at about 4:30 a.m.

An ambulance is also reported to have attended for a drug overdose, after a girls drink was spiked.

I wish everyone would just respect everyone else. Everyone was trying to have a good time, (the party) was the grads' year end celebration and now they are leaving with these terrible memories.

There were about 200 teens reported to be at the event and while a mess was made, several RSS students returned the next day to clean up the garbage.

Cynthia Coats with the Regional District Waste Reduction program says if the students didnt pick up after themselves the RDCO would have tended to the mess.

They are on Crown land and so it is part of the Conservation officers' jurisdiction, but typically they dont have the resources so we help them with the illegal dump cleanup, she explained.

While the RDCO has not been called to the land, Coats hopes that means the students did their part.
Photo: Okanagan Military Museum Society.

Captured as a trophy of war by Canadian forces almost 100 years ago, a large First World War gun has a new home at the Okanagan Military Museum in Kelowna.

The German 77-mm field gun was in use during the first global conflict of the 20th century and snatched from the theatre of war by Canadian troops on Sept. 2, 1918.

The gun was displayed in City Park until the early 1970s when it was moved to the front of the HH Angle Armoury.

However, its exterior had deteriorated significantly over the century, with rusting metal, fading paint and rotting wheels and seats. The barrel itself was plugged with decades of debris, according to Tom Wolf, president of the Okanagan Military Museum Society.

He said for the past several years society members have fundraised and actively worked on the restoration of the gun.

Now it is ready to be unveiled at its new home in front of the Okanagan Military Museum, using some of the stones from Kelowna's original 1920 Cenotaph.

A ceremony will be held at the museum on Canada Day, July 1, at 11 a.m.

The gun will retake its place as an historic artifact as well as a tribute to those who have served, said Wolf.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

A man and woman involved in a kidnapping in Penticton in 2015 entered guilty pleas in Penticton court on Tuesday.

Scott Andrew McArthur, who uses a wheelchair, and Angel Violet Dyck are facing charges of kidnapping stemming from the incident on Oct. 18, 2015.

In McArthur's case, the pleas were entered to charges of kidnapping and using an imitation firearm during the incident.

Dyck entered her plea to the kidnapping charge.

However, with some facts being disputed in the case, the victim was called to testify after a sobbing Dyck entered the plea.

He told the court that McArthur arrived at the residence he was at and pointed what the victim thought was a pistol at him. He was then ordered to get into a vehicle over what he said was a drug debt.

He said he believed Dyck was the driver once they were inside the car and travelling to different locations to get money, including his grandparents' home.

At the last stop, an apartment building on Skaha Place, police officers showed up, and cleared everyone out of the vehicle.

While the victim recalled Dyck being the driver, he didn't have any recollection of her saying anything.

His dealings were with McArthur, who he claims pistol whipped him at one point, and his main focus was on his dog which was also in the vehicle, he said.

The case is expected to go over to Wednesday.
Photo: Contributed

The bear cub that perused downtown Kelowna on Saturday had to be euthanized by conservation officers.

The animal caused quite a stir at the time and prompted pursuit by the Kelowna RCMP.

Spotted first on the Pauls Tomb trail, the cub ended his excursion on Richter Street after climbing up a tree.

Conservation officers were forced to tranquilize the bear, causing it to fall out of a tree it had climbed.

In what Conservation calls the "non-bear smart community of Kelowna," the bear had become habituated to humans and conditioned to non-natural food attractants such as garbage and bird seed, forcing its euthanization.

Officers warn bears should never get their paws on human food, pet and livestock feed, or garbage. Bears that eat these foods may become aggressive towards humans or cause property damage.

To protect people, these bears may have to be destroyed, say officers.

Bears account for approximately 20,000 calls to the B.C. Conservation reporting line every year. Garbage is the number one bear attractant cited.

Moving the animals rarely works with bears, according to officers. Bears often return to their original home territory or become problem animals in other communities.

Relocated wildlife often fail to adapt to their new habitat and, as a result, may starve to death or be killed by the animals that already occupy the area.

Each year in B.C., nearly 950 black bears and 50 grizzly bears are killed due to conflicts between people and bears.

Managing bear attractants at home, work site or campsite can keep bears from being euthanized.

Click here to find out how to keep bears and people safe.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Scientists have deployed a buoy 22 miles off the coast of New York's Fire Island to monitor several species of great whales in "near real-time." The high-tech acoustic device will eavesdrop on the songs of the whales to better understand and safeguard their movements near two busy shipping lanes entering New York Harbor.

"We know they're there, but we know very little about them," said Dr. Howard Rosenbaum, director of Wildlife Conservation Society's Ocean Giants Program. His New York-based organization, in collaboration with the New York Aquarium, has teamed with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts on the research project.

Scientists last week deployed the buoy, which is four feet in diameter with a mast standing six feet above the sea surface south of Long Island. The buoy is connected by "stretch hoses" to a weighted frame that sits 125 feet below on the sea floor. The frame features high-tech listening devices connected to an underwater microphone.

The devices will focus on obtaining data on the sounds of several species of baleen whales because they are endangered, said Dr. Mark Baumgartner of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The data will be transmitted back to scientists in near real-time, for analysis within about two hours, Rosenbaum said.

The buoy also will collect the sounds of other whales, but that information will be archived in the listening devices at the bottom of the sea and analyzed when the buoy is retrieved after a year, Baumgartner said.

The scientists noted that all whales rely on their acoustic environment to socialize and navigate, and they are vulnerable to underwater noise, ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements.

The research collected could help prevent ship strikes, and may be helpful as the federal government and New York state consider placing a massive wind energy farm offshore in the coming years.

The buoy has been placed inside what is called the New York Bight, which features busy shipping lanes and lucrative fishing grounds. The Bight is home to seven species of great whales, including the humpback whale  known for its acrobatics and long, haunting songs  and the blue whale. The highly endangered North Atlantic right whale  one of the world's rarest whale species  migrates through New York waters, and fin, sei, minke and sperm whales also have been seen or heard, the scientists said.

Similar buoys were deployed off the coasts of Massachusetts and Maine earlier this year, and a Cornell University project has deployed near real-time buoys in shipping lanes near Boston to help protect the animals from ship strikes in that area, Baumgartner said.

Scientists around the world deploy listening devices to study whales, but the projects off New York and New England are the only known projects that relay information in near real-time, he added.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

UPDATE: 11:15 a.m.

Power has been restored to most customers in Penticton.

Some properties on Marine Way, however, are still without electricity. Crews are on site.

The cause of the outage at Power Street and Churchill Avenue was an equipment malfunction.

ORIGINAL

According to Penticton communications officers Tina Lee, the city is aware of power outages in the 500-700 block of Churchill Avenue, as well as the 700 block of Lakeshore Drive W.

The lower part of Ellis Street, Abbott Street and Marina Way have also lost power.

Multiple city crews are attending on scene and working to have power restored as soon as possible.

Castanet will provide more details as they become available.
Re: Grow up Canada Post

First of all, we do not go on strike every other year. The last time there was a labor disruption, employees were locked out.

Second of all, we are not negotiating with Canada Post for just a cost of living increase. Go to cupw.ca to inform yourself on what is really going on.

Third, employees of Canada Post do not walk a few blocks to deliver parcels. On average a walking route is two kilometres.

Finally, employees at Canada Post can count well past 10. We are mostly educated people that chose this job because we love it, not because we are morons like you describe.

Jason Volk
Photo: Getty Images

Penticton RCMP got more than they bargained for while trying to serve a document and now two women are facing a variety of charges.

Members of the Penticton Targeted Enforcement Unit (TEU) visited an address in the 1400 block of Penticton Avenue in the early afternoon of June 22 to serve a document on a male.

As TEU members were speaking to an unidentified man on the deck of the residence, 23-year-old Natasha Clifton left the home.

TEU members knew Clifton was on court-ordered conditions not to be in Penticton and arrested her for the breach.

During the arrest process, police said they discovered methamphetamine and heroin packaged for sale.

Later in the evening TEU executed a search warrant on the same residence and arrested 30-year-old Jennifer Montgomery.

TEU seized a quantity of methamphetamine, heroin and prescription medication.

"I am encouraged by the success of our Targeted Enforcement Unit in this case," said Supt. Kevin Hewco. "All drug dealers in this community should be nervous that TEU will be on their doorstep next."

Clifton faces two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, one count of possession of a controlled substance and four counts of breach of recognizance.

Montgomery faces one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking, two counts of possession of a controlled substance and three counts of breach of recognizance.
Photo: NewsKamloops.com

More staffing is key to addressing resident aggression in long-term care facilities, the Hospital Employees Union says.

The union responded Wednesday to a report by B.C. Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie, who recommends a review of staffing levels for residents with more complex care needs.

There is no "major fix," the report states, but there is a need for more accurate reporting.

Key findings focus on high-incident reporting facilities, where four or more incidents of resident-to-resident aggression occurred in the last year. Many residents in those facilities have higher care needs, including more diagnosed aggression behaviours, psychiatric diagnoses, and higher rates of antipsychotic drug use.

The report finds there were slightly fewer funded direct-care hours at the high-incident facilities.

While we would expect more complex residents translates to more care hours, unfortunately we dont see this  and this concerns me, said Mackenzie. Even in facilities with the most complex residents and highest incidence of aggression, some fall below the minimum provincial guideline of an average of 3.36 care hours per resident per day and we must look more closely at what appropriate care hours are in these facilities.

Health Minister Terry Lake acknowledged the issue and has called for a provincial review of care hours, she noted.

The union holds up the report as proof of longstanding issues. Understaffing has been a continual issue within the Interior Health region, it says. And resident-to-resident aggression has led to injury and death in some cases.

"The seniors advocate established earlier this year that four out of five care facilities are not funded to meet the province's minimum staffing guidelines," said HEU secretary-business manager Jennifer Whiteside.

"We agree with the advocate that a further review is required to establish what level of staffing is needed to provide safe and dignified care for residents."

Mackenzie also recommended more training for staff who work at these facilities.

HEU represents about 20,000 members working in seniors' care.

A 2014 survey of HEU care aides found that:

More than half said they didn't have enough time to meet residents' needs.

More than 70 per cent reported they did not have the time to comfort or reassure someone who may be confused, agitated or afraid.

Nearly three-quarters said they're forced to rush seniors through basic care routines, including toileting, bathing, grooming and feeding.

Mackenzie's report recommends that resident-to-resident aggression be defined and tracked the same way across all residential care facilities and at a provincial level. In addition, the Office of the Senors Advocate (OSA) recommends a review of the adequacy of staffing for residents with more complex needs, specifically during busy times like dinner hours, when there is a noted spike in incidents.

 News Kamloops.com
Photo: Contributed

A TV-movie production company has found a studio in Vernon and will be shooting a project in the building starting in mid-July.

This is a huge deal for us, said Jon Summerland, Okanagan Film Commissioner.

The prairie-based movie company will be using the former Far West Industries building, 1701 Kosmina Rd. as a studio, according to Summerland.

However, the film commissioner was cagey about the name of the company and its plans for the huge building which sits upon a four-acre lot, explaining the firm didn't want a lot of publicity at this time.

It's being used as a studio, but it requires a lot of work, Summerland said.

There are bulkheads and holes that have to be filled but they are going to shoot around the bulkheads. It's going to be great.
Saudi Arabia: Wartsila power plant for Yamana Cement

ICR Newsroom By 29 June 2016

Yamana Cement Company have awarded Wartsila an EPC contract for the supply of a 161MW Flexicycle power plant. In addition to the EPC contract, the companies have also signed a five-year operation and maintenance management agreement as well as a 10-year spare parts supply agreement. The value of the order stands at approximately EUR115m (US$127m).

The power plant will be delivered in four phases, with the first phase estimated to be delivered by the end of 2017. The complete plant is scheduled to be handed over during 2Q19. The delivery schedule has been aligned with the construction schedule of the new 20,000tpd Yamama cement plant.

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Chuys Tex-Mex restaurant opened its doors to the public for the first time on Tuesday at 2771 Gunbarrel Road.

The Austin-based restaurant has been using recipes from South Texas, New Mexico and Mexican border towns to prepare made-from-scratch dishes for the past 34 years. They offer authentic food and homemade sauces, ranging from mild to spicy.



The atmosphere of the new restaurant is colorful, fun and friendly, with hubcaps decorating the ceiling and a build-your-own nacho station made to look like the trunk of a car.



The menu includes 12 burritos Big As Yo Face made with hand-rolled flour tortillas, tacos, enchiladas, chile rellenos, chalupas, chicken flautas and a variety of other Tex-Mex dishes.



Chuys also does its part to give back to the local community. In Chattanooga, they have teamed up with the Chambliss Center for Children and McKamey Animal Shelter.



Bringing Chuys bold flavors and personality to Chattanooga has been a goal for years, said Chuys owner and operator Christine Bailey. From the way Chattanoogans embrace fresh food and community involvement, we see our Gunbarrel location as only the beginning of a long and successful partnership with both the people of Chattanooga and the Chambliss Center for Children.



Location: 2771 Gunbarrel Road, Chattanooga, Tn 37421



Hours: M-Th 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.



F-Sun 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.
The Chattanooga Heroes Run/Walk, presented by Erlangers Level One Trauma Center, will take place on Saturday, July 16 beginning at 8 a.m. The event features a five mile run or walk that begins on Amnicola Highway at the Naval Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center, follows part of the path that EMS took last July 16 down Amnicola Highway, connects to the Tennessee RiverPark, winds through University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus, ending on 5th Street just south of the Challenger Center."Last July 16, Chattanooga was changed forever following the tragic shootings at the Armed Services Recruiting Center on Lee Highway and the U.S. Naval Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center on Amnicola Highway. One year later, supporters will participate in the Chattanooga Heroes Run/Walk to honor and remember those who lost their lives as well as the hundreds of responders who worked to protect our city," organizers said.Following the five mile run/walk, there will be a one mile kids run beginning at 10 a.m. through UTC's campus. Participants and spectators are also welcome to gather at the Challenger Center for an expo the whole family will enjoy.Participant and spectator busing begins at 6 a.m. across from Challenger Center at the corner of Palmetto and Fifth Streets.Volunteers are needed to assist with pre-run bag packing, set up, race activities, kids run, and post run clean up.For more information about the Chattanooga Heroes Run/Walk, how one can volunteer, or to register for the event, visit www.chattanoogaheroesrun.com The families of Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, Sgt. Carson Holmquist, Lance Cpl. Squire K. Wells, and Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Randall Smith have chosen to use the proceeds from this event to fund the construction of a permanent memorial at the Tennessee RiverPark.Erlanger officials thank the following for their time, manpower, and support of this heroes tribute: City of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Rock Creek, and LIFE FORCE Event Medicine.
Celebrating jailhouse recovery Audio Article Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle Sears paid a visit to the Chesterfield County Jail last week, meeting with over 50 of the men and women participating in the HARP (Helping Addicts...

An icons legacy memorialized Audio Article Enon Library was dedicated in memory of the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker on Friday, Oct. 21. Board of Supervisors Chair Chris Winslow, right, was joined by Walkers daughter, Patrice Walker...
A new federal lawsuit claims Grubhub misclassified its delivery drivers as independent contractors across the country, the latest salvo in a legal battle that has spread across the gig economy.

The Chicago-based food ordering and delivery company is also involved in a similar federal case in California that was filed last September. Boston-based attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, of Lichten & Liss-Riordan, is representing plaintiffs in both cases against Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB).

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Liss-Riordan recently settled a case with gig economy giant Uber for up to $100 million over alleged worker misclassification, representing about 385,000 drivers in California and Massachusetts. She has also represented workers in cases against Lyft, Instacart, DoorDash and others.

"In recent years, there have been a number of companies that call themselves part of the on-demand economy  that dispatch their workforce using an app," Liss-Riordan said. "They somehow think that using an app to dispatch their workers allows them to avoid all the responsibilities of being an employer."

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Liss-Riordan said she has noticed more sharing economy companies choosing to classify their workers as employees rather than independent contractors, like Instacart, Shyp, Luxe Valey, Munchery, Eden and Honor.

The new suit seeks class-action status. Liss-Riordan said she doesn't know the potential size of the Grubhub class, which could include drivers from all over the U.S. excluding California, but that she expects there could be tens of thousands of them.

The cost to Grubhub, she said, could be "quite substantial"  though she doesn't expect the case to match the scale of the Uber case.

Six plaintiffs from Illinois, Oregon, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut alleged that they were treated as employees by Grubhub but denied overtime pay when they worked more than 40 hours a week. They also said they didn't make minimum wage when they factored in the cost of fuel; the cost of owning, leasing and maintaining vehicles; and the cost of cellular data.

"Grubhub has misclassified its delivery drivers as independent contractors and, in so doing, has committed wage and hour violations under a variety of federal and state statutes," the plaintiffs' lawyers wrote in a complaint, which was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court's Northern Illinois District.

The suit requests permission to notify other Grubhub delivery drivers of the class action, compensation including all wages owed, costs and attorney's fees and an order that Grubhub comply with the Fair Labor Standard Act and appropriate state labor laws.

Plaintiff Thomas Souran, of Chicago, alleged he was mistreated by Grubhub while he was driving for them from December 2014 until August 2015. He said Grubhub should have paid overtime and expenses; that he was bitten by a dog while delivering, wasn't covered by insurance and lost several days of work; and that he was forced out of a contract and terminated without notice.

"Grubhub treated the drivers as outsiders, while they used corporate money (shareholder money) to throw parties, buy lunch and dinner for all employees and the drivers were the ones that were out in the cold and heat delivering and making it happen," Souran told Blue Sky Innovation in an email.

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Souran said he hopes all of Grubhub's independent contractors will be reclassified as employees and that the company will pay overtime and expenses.

Grubhub declined to comment specifically on the lawsuit, citing company policy against talking about pending litigation. However, in an emailed statement, a company spokeswoman said Grubhub works "around the lives of our delivery drivers."

"We believe that the delivery partners who decide to contract with Grubhub value the ability to earn income while enjoying the freedom of a flexible work schedule," the statement said. "Additionally, while our delivery business is rapidly growing  we're currently in 50 markets  most restaurants on the Grubhub platform manage their own delivery operations."

aelahi@tribpub.com

Twitter @aminamania
Shareholders of PrivateBancorp, parent company of Private Bank, approved the sale of the bank to Canada's CIBC for $4.8 billion. (Handout)

The Chicago-based parent of PrivateBank will be acquired by Toronto-based CIBC for $3.8 billion, further opening the Canadian bank's door to the lucrative U.S. wealth management market in one of the biggest bank deals so far this year.

If approved by regulators and shareholders, the acquisition of PrivateBancorp will be for $47 per share  a 31 percent premium to its Tuesday closing price. PrivateBank's bread and butter has been commercial banking, private banking and wealth management services, which will help expand CIBC's reach in North America and give its customers access to U.S. banking services. PrivateBank had $17.7 billion in assets as of March 31.

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PrivateBancorp has about 1,200 employees, with about 1,000 in Chicago, and a presence in 11 U.S. markets in addition to its Chicago headquarters and operations here. It will retain its Illinois state banking charter, and CIBC will continue PrivateBank's community investments and charitable programs, according to a news release announcing the deal.

Larry Richman, PrivateBancorp CEO, and his executive team will continue to head the bank, which has roughly 20 offices in the Chicago area.

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A name change, however, isn't being ruled out. A "frequently asked questions" filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission addresses a query about a possible name change. "We will use the time between now and closing to work on the specifics," PrivateBancorp said of whether its name will change. The deal is expected to close early next year.

Richman said no decisions have been made on whether The PrivateBank Theatre, which is hosting "Hamilton" this fall, will be renamed to reflect the bank's new parent. "We haven't made any decisions," he said.

On a Wednesday conference call, CIBC President and CEO Victor Dodig called Chicago one of the most attractive banking markets in the United States, noting that its high net-worth market is larger than CIBC's Canadian market.

PrivateBancorp has been among the few publicly traded midsize banks based in the Chicago area. With its expected purchase by a Canadian company, rivals such as MB Financial, First Midwest and Wintrust can claim they  not PrivateBank  are truly local banks.

PrivateBank's purchase by CIBC will mark the entry of another Canadian bank into the Chicago market. PrivateBancorp ranks eighth in market share in the Chicago area, holding 3.1 percent of deposits, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. figures as of June 30, 2015.

It's unclear what impact the buyout will have on PrivateBancorp's local employees. On the conference call, CIBC's Chief Financial Officer Kevin Glass mentioned the company did expect "certain expense synergies" as a result of integrating support operations, but in a regulatory filing, PrivateBancorp said "there are no plans for significant headcount reductions" and no plans to close any offices.

Both companies are publicly traded. CIBC has $368 billion in assets.

Richman said the deal will help provide more resources for PrivateBancorp clients and give the bank greater product capacity and financial strength.

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PrivateBancorp's assets, which consist mostly of loans, have grown from about $5 billion before the financial crisis to more than $17 billion today. While the company has made at least one acquisition over the years, it also grew rapidly after the 2007 acquisition of LaSalle Bank by Bank of America. Dozens of LaSalle commercial lenders, including Richman, joined PrivateBancorp, and rapid loan growth ensued.

PrivateBancorp's investors under Richman at one time or another have included private equity firm GTCR, Ariel Investments and Mesirow Financial, all based in Chicago.

Last month, Terry McEvoy, an analyst with Stephens Inc., hosted investor meetings with top PrivateBancorp executives, including Richman.

McEvoy said he was "no doubt surprised" with news of PrivateBancorp's acquisition.

Still, "every Midwest bank has talked about loan competition for years," McEvoy wrote in his report.

Top executives at the two banks have gotten to know each other over the past few years, and a decision to merge had been made six to eight months ago, they said in an analyst call Wednesday.

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"We are surprised regarding this sale," Lana Chan, a BMO Capital Markets analyst, wrote in a report. PrivateBancorp "has an attractive middle-market commercial banking franchise in Chicago, and CIBC was likely attracted to its wealth management platform.

"Foreign banks still see the United States as offering opportunities for growth that are not found at home, and we expect more interest from both Canadian and Japanese banks," Chan wrote.

byerak@tribpub.com

crshropshire@tribpub.com

Twitter @beckyyerak

Twitter @corilyns
Mega-poultry producer Perdue says it will change the way chickens are treated before they are slaughtered. Here, chickens are seen at a private farm in Odessa, Texas. (Jacob Ford / Odessa American)

Animal activists have shuddered for years at how supermarket chickens meet their end. Across the industry, they are hung upside down, often breaking their bones, bruising their legs and causing hemorrhages. Workers then cut their throats to kill them, before they're plunked in boiling water.

Now, America's third-largest chicken producer is introducing changes that animal rights groups are championing as a major step forward in animal welfare.

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Perdue, which processes nearly 700 million chickens every year at nearly 3,000 farms, announced this week that it will begin killing chickens using carbon dioxide or argon gas, so they can avoid being hung upside down. With an estimated revenue of $6 billion, according to IBISWorld, they are the first major company to announce that it will use this procedure, which is called controlled-atmosphere stunning.

The new guidelines also said Perdue will expose chickens to more natural light, boost their activity levels and reduce the expectations for how fast chickens must grow. Today, chickens are bred to be so large and produce so much meat that their weight can crush their limbs and immobilize them, said Leah Garces, U.S. director for Compassion in World Farming.

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Compassion in World Farming, Mercy for Animals and the Humane Society of the United States worked alongside Perdue for the initiative, culling ideas from smaller organic companies that Perdue had acquired. They follow a rise in consumer demand for better slaughterhouse practices.

"We are seeing from our consumers more questions that are being raised about where their food comes from," Perdue spokeswoman Julie DeYoung said.

Brett Hundley, agribusiness analyst for BB&T Capital Markets, said the initiative could increase costs by 5 to 15 percent, but it appeals to consumers who are increasingly worried about animal welfare.

Rod Wubbena of Phil's Fresh Eggs talks about the original mission of his father, Phil, who put his labor of love into feed and nutrition for his cage-free birds. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune) (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

"A lot of people have been focused on what this could add to your cost profile," Hundley said. "But at the same time, it allows you, at the retail level, to market some of your packaging with the humanely raised assertion. A move like this that goes above and beyond and caters to what consumers care about today - it ideally allows both the companies and customers to differentiate and charge higher prices for their product."

Hundley said Tyson Foods, Pilgrim's Pride and other major poultry companies will "certainly" look into some of Perdue's new intiatives, but it may be years until they adopt them. "They truly care about animal-welfare, social issues, but they also care about producing chickens at the lowest cost for consumers."

Ron Kean, poultry production and management specialist at the University of Wisconsin, also foresees the issue of increased costs. "I think that it will add costs and be less efficient, so they will have to market that claim for a niche market."

Perdue will probably be more appealing to a number of restaurants, retailers and individual consumers, Hundley said. KFC Canada said it will source exclusively birds killed by controlled-atmosphere stunning by the end of the year, and Wendy's, Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Whole Foods Market, Bon Appetit Management and other major restaurants source, though not exclusively, those birds. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has advocated for the practice since 2002.

This year, Whole Foods announced it would shift to exclusively selling slower-growing chickens by 2024.

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This would not be the first time Perdue incited industry-wide change. Perdue was the biggest company to begin limiting antibiotics in 2002. It ceased growth antibiotics in 2007 and then totally eliminated them from their hatcheries by 2014.

"It's safe to assume that the rest of the market chases" Perdue, Garces said. The company is "leading the market in innovative problem solving."

Last year, Tyson Foods, which is the largest chicken-processing company in the United States, said it would eliminate human antibiotics. Pilgrim's Pride, which trails Tyson in chicken production, announced that it would cut back on antibiotics the same month as Tyson.

Still, it will take time for slower-growth chickens killed by controlled-atmosphere stunning and sunlight-bathed coops to be the industry norm. The poultry industry was sluggish in rolling back on antibiotics. The National Chicken Council, a poultry trade group, said as late as 2007 that antibiotics were not proven to be harmful to humans. It did not support Food and Drug Administration bans on antibiotics in 2012, but last year the group said it approved phasing out human antibiotics in chickens.

Eliminating antibiotics makes chicken production pricier, but it also reduces health risk for the people who eat it. Although it's legal in the United States, administering certain antibiotics on otherwise healthy animals is banned in the European Union, Canada and other countries.

In response to whether they will implement policies to limit fast-growing chickens and traditional slaughtering methods, Tyson spokesman Worth Sparkman said the company has ongoing efforts to address animal well-being, such as third-party audits.

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"We work hard to be better in everything we do, including animal well-being, and we're making progress," Sparkman wrote in an e-mail.
The Supreme Court will hear an appeal from Visa and MasterCard seeking to throw out a lawsuit accusing the credit card companies of illegally fixing ATM prices. (Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images)

Washington  The Supreme Court will hear an appeal from Visa and MasterCard seeking to throw out a lawsuit accusing the credit card companies of illegally fixing ATM prices.

The justices on Tuesday agreed to review an appeals court ruling that said the antitrust case against the companies and three major banks could go forward.

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A group of consumers and independent ATM operators argue that payment processors illegally coordinated with Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. to adopt anticompetitive fees.

A federal judge dismissed the case in 2013, but a federal appeals court revived the claims last year.

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The lawsuit claims the companies impose contract terms that prevent independent ATM operators from charging lower fees when consumers use debit cards that access cheaper processing networks.

Associated Press
United Airlines empoyees picket outside the United terminal at O'Hare International Airport on June 16, 2016, in Chicago. The protest was one of many staged worldwide calling for a unified contract for United employees. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

United Airlines and its flight attendants have tentatively agreed to a new contract that would boost top pay rates by as much as 31 percent and, for the first time, cover all of the airline's flight attendants under a single labor agreement.

A council of elected local union leaders with the Association of Flight Attendants unanimously approved submitting the agreement to United's 25,000 flight attendants for ratification, the council said in a letter posted on the union's website Tuesday evening.

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It was just last Friday that United and the union announced they had agreed on the terms of a new contract that would bring all flight attendants under a single labor contract for the first time since the 2010 merger between United and Continental Airlines.

If ratified, the contract "will set new industry standards that push our careers forward as United Airlines seeks to restore our premiere status in the industry," the council members wrote.

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Base pay rates for flight attendants at the top of the pay scale would rise by 18 to 31 percent, with double-digit percentage-point increases throughout the pay scale, said union spokeswoman Taylor Garland.

The tentative deal also includes profit-sharing, continuation of a flight attendant-specific health care plan with new medical plan options, and maintained and improved retirement plans.

United confirmed that the Association of Flight Attendants' leadership council approved the tentative agreement in a notice on a company website.

A timeline for when the vote will occur was not immediately available. If the contract is ratified, some changes would take effect immediately, with the rest becoming active in September, Garland said.

If approved, a joint contract would help United "finally put the last pieces of its merger together," said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group.

Flight attendants from United and Continental would no longer operate under different work rules. Currently, flight attendants from each pre-merger airline can work only with flight attendants from the same airline on aircraft assigned to their airline.

The inability to mix flight crews and aircraft makes it tougher for United to recover when it faces delays, said Brian Karimzad, director of MileCards.com.

"Basically, they've been running two airlines under the hood when it comes to flight crews and assigning flights," Karimzad said. "This could help United be a more reliable airline."

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A single contract should also improve the workplace culture, Harteveldt said. "When you have separate groups with separate rules, compensation structures and cultures, it's hard to create harmony," he said.

At the company's annual meeting this month, United CEO Oscar Munoz said the airline's labor issues remain a top priority. The airline recently negotiated separate deals with its pilots and dispatchers. United employees, including airport workers and security officers, ratified a new contract in April.

United is still working on a deal with its 9,000 mechanics. Mediated discussions between United and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are scheduled through Thursday, according to United.

lzumbach@tribpub.com

Twitter @laurenzumbach
More than a third of U.S. voters see the U.K.'s decision to leave the European Union as damaging to the American economy and four in 10 of those who have stock market investments say it will hurt their portfolios.

A Bloomberg/Morning Consult national poll on fallout from the Brexit vote on the western side of the Atlantic also shows deep concern about damage to the global economy and a general souring on stocks of companies outside the United States.

Despite evidence of underlying anxiety about it, the British action doesn't seem to be weighing too heavily on American consumers so far, with 50 percent of voters saying it will have no impact on their purchasing decisions. About a fifth say it will have a minor influence, while a tenth say it's likely to affect their spending in a major way.

The online survey found most Americans are following Brexit news, with 28 percent of voters saying they've read, seen or heard "a lot" about the decision and another 36 percent answering "some" to that question.

"With financial markets taking a dive worldwide, U.S. voters by wide margins say the United Kingdom's decision will hurt the U.S. economy, the U.K. economy and even the global economy," said Kyle Dropp, co-founder and chief research officer at Morning Consult, a Washington-based media and technology company.

A majority of U.S. voters -- 57 percent -- say they don't expect the U.K. verdict will influence their vote in the presidential election. For the roughly quarter who say it will, almost half say it will make them more likely to support Democrat Hillary Clinton, while 35 percent say Republican Donald Trump.

Among U.S. voters with investments in the stock market, 41 percent say they think the Brexit decision will hurt their portfolios, while 17 percent see it as a positive.

Many in that pool of people -- voters with investments who see the outcome having either good or bad consequences -- are considering increasing their cash or gold positions. Both are traditional safe havens amid uncertainty.

Four in 10 of those investors say they're inclined to buy more in gold, while a third say they're likely to hold larger cash positions. After closing Monday at its highest level since July 2014, gold slipped lower on Tuesday as global markets recovered some of the ground they had lost in the previous two trading sessions.

Roughly half of investors who think Brexit will have an impact on their portfolios -- 51 percent -- say they're less likely to invest in international stock markets. Views on U.S. stock markets are more mixed, with a third saying they'll invest less in that asset class, 30 percent saying more and 29 percent saying about the same.

The poll was conducted Friday through Monday, starting the day the outcome of the vote became known and as the U.S. and global stock markets recorded significant drops.

The survey used a nationally representative opt-in panel of 2,003 registered voters, including 898 with money in the stock market through direct investment or retirement accounts. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points on the full sample, and plus or minus 3.3 percentage points for investors.

Those with higher levels of education and incomes are more likely to say that the Brexit vote will hurt the U.S. economy. Democrats are also more likely than Republicans or independents to hold that view.

Opinions are mixed on whether the decision will strengthen or weaken the "special relationship" that the U.K. and U.S. have traditionally enjoyed. Just less than a third say it will strengthen it, while 26 percent say it will weaken it and 42 percent said they don't yet know or have no opinion.

America's voters generally have a favorable view of Britain, with 62 percent saying they have a very or somewhat favorable view of the island nation. That's a larger proportion than the 51 percent who say that of Germany, another close American ally.

The European Union is viewed favorably by 39 percent of voters, with 29 percent viewing it unfavorably and 31 percent having no opinion.

While almost two-thirds of U.S. voters are at least casually following Brexit news, understanding of the issue and election's outcome aren't universal. Two-thirds of those in the survey correctly selected that the U.K. had voted to leave the European Union, while 7 percent thought the outcome was the opposite of what happened and 26 percent said they didn't know.

The level of awareness jumped in the second half of the survey period. During Friday and Saturday, 57 percent said they were at least casually following the situation, while that number jumped to 68 percent by Sunday and Monday.

Given a menu of possible reasons for the vote outcome, 46 percent of U.S. voters picked concern about immigration, with other top selections being excessive regulations from the European Union and economic insecurity, both at 42 percent, and general anger with the state of affairs at the EU, at 41 percent.

Less than a quarter of U.S. voters in the survey said they've visited the U.K. Those with household incomes above $100,000 were more likely to have made the trip across the Atlantic, with 38 percent of that group having been to the U.K.
Giuseppe Tentori is getting a lot of attention for his GT Prime steakhouse, but his seafood restaurant, one of the best places for oysters in the city, remains one of the most consistent fish houses in Chicago.
(Down from 44) Chef Ashlee Aubin calls his menu "Midwest inspired by Spain," which gives him wiggle room for dishes such as sea-salt-sprinkled shishito peppers. No worries; there are plenty of pintxos, sherry-cured mackerel and grilled octopus for the rest of us.

MORE: Phil Vettel's full review of Salero

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Tribune rating:   

Address: 621 W. Randolph St.

Phone: 312-466-1000

Website: www.salerochicago.com

Open: Dinner daily

Price: Entrees $25-$38

Credit cards: A, DS, M, V

Reservations: Strongly recommended

Noise: Conversation-challenged

Other: Wheelchair accessible; valet parking

Ratings key:     outstanding;    excellent;   very good;  good; no stars: unsatisfactory. The reviewer makes every effort to remain anonymous. Meals are paid for by the Tribune.
Lagunitas founder Tony Magee, pictured here at the Chicago brewery in 2014, says he plans to seek out more breweries to invest in. (Redeye)

With a series of deals announced Wednesday, Lagunitas Brewing aims to transform itself from a large craft beer company with global ambitions to a large craft beer company with global ambitions and many local footprints.

The distinction is important, Lagunitas founder Tony Magee said, because "craft brewing has never been about anything but making relationships."

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The deals include buying stakes in three smaller breweries that betrays a distinct regional strategy: Southend Brewery and Smokehouse in the historic section of Charleston, S.C., which will be rebranded as a Lagunitas brewpub; Austin, Texas' Independence Brewing Co.; and Moonlight Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa, Calif., a 24-year-old Bay Area icon that distributes only draft beer in a small regional footprint.

RELATED: WHINER BEER GOES FOR SOURS, BUCKS IPAS

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Lagunitas, which built a brewery and taproom (pictured here) in Chicago in 2014, is buying stakes in three smaller craft breweries around the country. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

Terms were not released. All three equity stakes will be held by a new LLC called Lagunitas U.S. Holdings  or LUSH. (Har, har.)

Lagunitas also announced it will open spaces in two of the nation's brewing hotbeds  Portland, Ore., and San Diego  to be used exclusively by nonprofit agencies for fundraising. Lagunitas will provide the space, beer and staff for free, as it already does two nights a week at its Chicago and Petaluma, Calif., taprooms, Magee said.

Though Magee sold a 50 percent stake in his company last year to Heineken in a deal worth an estimated $500 million, he said the moves announced Wednesday were executed by Lagunitas alone. With large breweries in Chicago and Petaluma, Calif., plus one more opening outside of Los Angeles in spring, Lagunitas was the nation's sixth-largest craft brewer in 2015.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 9 People watch operations in progress after a tour Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015 at the Lagunitas Brewery. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

In a phone conversation, Magee discussed the strategy behind these deals and what's ahead. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What's the overarching reason behind these moves?

A: Craft is becoming increasingly local in focus. There will always be room for a number of brands to be national  with Lagunitas, that's what we're aiming for, as well as what we're pursuing with being international  but as a way to become more local, some breweries are building remote brewpubs, like 10 Barrel (in San Diego and Denver, owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev) and Goose Island (in Toronto, owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev) and others. After a while, that turns into Applebee's or something. I'm not sure if it really promotes your brand, plus it competes with your local retailers who are otherwise happy to sell your beer. What we want to do instead is partner with these different breweries around the country.

Q: And what's the idea behind this nonprofit model in two very craft beer-oriented cities?

A: If I don't want to go into cities and open up a taproom  it's a big expense, and there's the risk of not being in the right neighborhood, and the question of whether retailers will rebel because you're invading their territory  I thought: what do our taprooms in Chicago and Petaluma do best? It's handing the taprooms over two nights a week to nonprofit groups. We're just expanding that concept into total facilities. We won't even have liquor licenses at them. We're just renting the space to make it available. We'll provide the staff and the beer and the room for free. If things go right, they'll be open 250 to 300 days per year.

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Q: Doesn't a Charleston brewpub conflict with your idea about remote brewpubs?

A: It does. But we're going to focus on the nonprofit fundraising there, too, and be part of the community, rather than just be a suction on the market.

Q: What's the common theme here? It seems Lagunitas is in a transformation from being just a brewery to something bigger in the industry.

A: There's a challenge for bigger, older brewers to stay relevant. You see a lot of breweries trying different things  building new breweries across the country, running festivals and brewing different styles. But affinity is an important thing, and being close to the people you want to have relationships with matters. I learned that when I opened the Chicago brewery (in 2014). This is an attempt to see how far down the tree of scale can we work, and find the ability to make relationships. Craft brewing has never been about anything but making relationships.

Q: Do you find irony in large companies trying to establish local relationships in the name of craft beer? It used to be effortless in an industry that was inherently small and local. Now major companies are trying to pull it off, yourself included.

A: To me, it's evidence of good judgment. You're responding to your environment, and not being a dinosaur and assuming that just because you're big, you're going to be part of the future.

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Q: What will become of the breweries you're buying a stake in?

A: In Texas, we're not touching their identity. This is just the next step of hybridization. This allows us to directly engage with the community of Austin and the Lone Star State, and we'll learn from them about the brewing culture in Texas. And we'll help them. The road they're walking right now, from production to marketing to sourcing raw materials, we walked down a long time ago. So we can help make their future easier. The investment we're making in them, they will use for capacity expansion.

Q: Is growth a key component for all these breweries you're investing in?

A: They all want to grow, and I'm in a position to fuel it. I also expect to learn a ton. This isn't like, "Based on our insights and our market research, now we are going to act thusly." There are opportunities out there, and we just have to step into them. Anheuser-Busch investing in Goose Island was very similar to that. I don't think they really knew what they wanted to do with the brewery once they bought it. They knew there was stuff to be done, and Goose Island clearly was an energetic place they could participate in, so they stepped in. They sat on Goose for a couple of years, just trying to learn the business and learn what the world was about, and I think that paid dividends for AB by looking at it as a learning experience rather than a top-down management decision.

Q: So you think they handled it well?

A: It's a drag, but yeah. (Laughs.)

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Q: Would you call these deals an example of the consolidation of the craft beer industry?

A: I would call it expansion. In consolidation, you're looking for synergies and bringing efficiencies and trying to shrink the pool of competitors. This is really about all of us expanding our experience base, our understanding of things and growing our businesses at the same time.

Q: To what degree are your moves a response to the changes we've seen in the industry, such as Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors and Constellation Brands buying breweries, and your own partial sale to Heineken? Plus there's the looming merger of the world's two largest beer companies, Anheuser-Busch InBev and SAB Miller.

A: There's no urgency, but it is important to constantly be in motion. Most beer lovers see craft beer as the thing that it was when they first observed it and when that changes, they're like, "Aw, that's crap." But the truth is that craft has never not changed. When Lagunitas was coming up, the biggest brands were Red Hook ESB, Full Sail Amber and Mendocino Red Tail Ale. All those brands have receded from the light a little bit. Anything that anyone sees as permanence is a mirage. Being in motion is central. We've never not been in motion.

Q: But it seems the motion is faster.

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A: It's changing as it always has, but the changes are more visible now. They used to be changes like malt would double in price and never go down or hops would double in price and never go down. That's not the same as Goose Island selling to Anheuser-Busch. Things have never not changed on the inside. The changes are just more visible now.

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Q: Any interest in buying breweries outright? Or are you mostly interested in what you call partnerships?

A: Partnerships. Because there's so much learning that has to be done. We never stop learning about how people are feeling about beer and how retailers are reacting and distributors are behaving. You never stop learning. In my mind, the more smart people we have working on it the better. The people in these breweries, I want them there, and I want to learn from them. And honest to God, that's not spin. The reason Lagunitas has done well is the smart people I've been able to attract to the business. Now, I want to take that strength and leverage it to make relationships outside the brewery.

Q: Will you talk to other breweries about more partial acquisitions?

A: Oh yeah. I want to do a lot more than three. I want to make a bunch of these relationships. This is a beginning, not an end point of anything.

jbnoel@tribpub.com

Twitter @joshbnoel






Tired of Illinois' budget impasse? "The Daily Show" recommends residents win the lottery and leave the state.

The Comedy Central series revisited Illinois' budget problems in a six-minute segment that aired Tuesday. In October, the show featured a piece about Oglesby resident Danny Chasteen, who won $250,000 on an Illinois scratch-off ticket in July 2015 but wasn't immediately paid his winnings because of the state's budget woes.

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On Tuesday's episode, correspondent Jordan Klepper met with Chasteen, who said he got his money -- but Illinois is still embroiled in a budget mess.

Klepper met with state Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) and state Rep. Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove) to find out why the state doesn't have a budget. They pointed fingers at each other.

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"Well, of course Illinois is screwed with bickering muppets running the state," Klepper said.

"The Daily Show" airs 10 p.m. weeknights.

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Watch the latest movie trailers.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
There's a lot not quite right and even flat-out wrong with "The BFG," and we'll get to that. There's also a lot that's very, very right, starting with Mark Rylance's astonishing performance-capture portrayal of the Big Friendly Giant created by author Roald Dahl. The right stuff makes it worth seeing.

Like millions of other kids, I cherished the droll wish-fulfillment sadism of Dahl's earlier works "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "James and the Giant Peach," though my relationship to "The BFG" (published in 1982) is strictly after-the-fact. (I read it after seeing the movie.) Director Steven Spielberg, 69, and screenwriter Melissa Mathison, who wrote "E.T." and "The Black Stallion" and who died in 2015, struggled for years to figure out how to film "The BFG." The director claimed he needed to wait for digital cinematic technology to catch up with the story's fantastical demands.

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Ruby Barnhill and Mark Rylance star in "The BFG," adapted from a Roald Dahl story and directed by Steven Spielberg. (Walt Disney Studios)

While the results on that score are mixed, the actor born to play the resident sweetie of Giant Country, who befriends the 10-year-old orphan, Sophie, turns out to have been fully worth the wait. Rylance, a supremely versatile stage and screen actor, is Spielberg's new favorite guy. They collaborated on "Bridge of Spies," for which Rylance's performance as Russian spy Rudolf Abel won a supporting actor Oscar. They have two more joint projects on the runway: "Ready Player One," science fiction, followed by the historical drama "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara."

What Rylance accomplishes in "The BFG" is akin to what Andy Serkis achieved as Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, or what Serkis brought to the "Planet of the Apes" remakes. But there's something new going on here, more dimensional and interesting. For one thing, they finally got the teeth and eyes right. For another, the digital completion of the performance feels more like performance capture than performance erasure. Rylance is not defeated by the technology.

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In this sort of motion-capture assignment, the actor wears a heavily wired bodysuit and performs the scenes, which later get filled in and fleshed out visually by other means, other creative artists. The actor is the line drawing; the finished product, the digital animation/live-action hybrid, becomes the full-color illustration.

The lanky 24-foot giant at the heart of Dahl's story has enormous, sensitive ears as well as a fantastically creative penchant for malaprops and parallel-universe verbiage. My favorite: "telly-telly bunkum box" for TV set, though in a few years, we'll have to explain a TV set to the young people.

Ruby Barnhill plays the bespectacled insomniac Sophie, who spies the BFG one night skulking around her English Midlands village. Worried she'll tell on him, the giant plucks Sophie from her orphanage bed and whisks her off to Giant Country. Like the book, the movie gets right to it, no exposition or horsing around, and everything about the way Spielberg and his team imagine the first 20 minutes is just about perfect, especially the degree and the tone of the scariness, which never feels harsh or assaultive.

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The plot has been streamlined and softened by Mathison, who stripped it of Dahl's gleefully patronizing colonialist wisecracks (references to Greece, Iraq and other nations plagued by child disappearances and apparent kid-munching). It stays close to Sophie's perspective. Through her eyes we learn the BFG's profession (dream catcher), and his lot in life (bullying victim of the nine "cannybull" giants who torment him, voiced and motion-captured by Jemaine Clement and Bill Hader, among others). Sophie sticks up for him, and he for her, and together they pay a visit to the Queen of England (Penelope Wilton) to convince her that giants exist, and that the horrible nine must be dealt with.

Is it enough for a satisfying screen fantasy, particularly when so much of the book's appeal relies on Dahl's exquisite verbal flourishes? This is where Spielberg's film seems destined to become a splitter, with restless audiences on one side, charmed audiences on the other. Watching "The BFG" I spent time in both camps.

The action sequences, where Sophie scurries out of sight in the BFG's cottage to avoid being seen by the cannybull giants, favor elaborate, extended Rube Goldberg physical comedy. They're fun for a while, and then they go on, and then on some more. In this regard "The BFG" is the precise opposite of "The Adventures of Tintin," Spielberg's 2011 motion-capture extravaganza; in that picture, the chases were the only scenes that clicked. In "The BFG," you keep waiting for the character stuff to take center stage again, because it actually matters, and works.

Spielberg tips his hat to all sorts of earlier filmmakers, usually on the fly, from Hitchcock (a close-up of Sophie's eyeglasses recalls a shot from "Strangers on a Train") to Kubrick (not one but two musical selections come from the same classical songlist "Barry Lyndon" used). Most of the music is original, composed by John Williams, writing some of his most delicate and intriguing material in a while. Yet the sheer volume of scoring works against the magic.

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The best scenes take their time: I loved the massive brunch prepared by the queen's staff for the BFG's introduction to the highest high society, though the fart jokes (the book had them, more selectively) recall the live-action "Flubber" and I don't mean that as a compliment. Up and down, down and up the movie goes, and inarguably it's 20 minutes longer than Dahl's compact story requires. Yet I was so tickled and moved by Rylance's interpretation, highly emotional in surprising ways, the problems didn't matter much to me. For once, underneath all the motion capture folderol, the key performance really does feel like a full, real, vital performance.

Michael Phillips is a Tribune Newspapers critic.

mjphillips@tribpub.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

MPAA rating: PG (for action/peril, some scary moments and brief rude humor)

Running time: 1:57

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"The BFG"  3 stars

Opens: Thursday evening

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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 126 Woody introduces the gang to a homemade spork toy with self-esteem issues in "Toy Story 4." Read the review. (Pixar / AP)
There are easier whales to see. The humpback, for example, puts on acrobatic displays annually in Maui. Along their 6,000-mile migration between Mexico and Alaska, gray whales can be spotted from shore. Curious sperm whales in the Caribbean have been known to approach whale-watching boats. Orcas, it turns out, are much less predictable quarry.

Orcas move mysteriously. Even so-called "resident" pods are elusive. But SeaWorld was not what he meant when my son  no new bike or video game for this millennial  asked to see an orca for his 16th birthday.

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Two years after the 2013 documentary "Blackfish" that investigated orcas in captivity, including the 2010 death of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau during a performance, SeaWorld vowed to end its theatrical "Shamu" killer whale shows. In March it announced it would no longer breed orcas in captivity, allowing the current populations to live out their lives peacefully in its pools in San Antonio, San Diego and Orlando, Fla.

But if conscience prohibits viewing them in captivity, what does it take to see orcas in the wild? Seth and I decided to find out.

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According to researchers, one of the best places to see orcas is British Columbia, specifically the Johnstone Strait, a 68-mile channel between the Canadian mainland and northern Vancouver Island. Most orcas are transient and feed opportunistically. But in British Columbia, resident pods return each summer, late July through September, roughly coinciding with the rich salmon runs in the rainforested region. Scientists believe the area draws over 200 orcas, more than twice as many as the southern residents in Washington's San Juan Islands.

Despite its remote locale on northeastern Vancouver Island, the tiny former fishing village of Telegraph Cove is orca central. Charter operators listen via radio to scientists monitoring the animals in the strait and send tourist-packed boats racing in the direction of sightings.

Seth and I arrived in Telegraph Cove to join a four-day camping trip with ROW Sea Kayak Adventures. The outfitter supplies all food and gear, in the service of adventurous but unequipped paddlers (from $1,220 per adult; www.seakayakadventures.com). We filled our cargo hold with groceries, and snapped our spray skirts around the cockpits of our tandem red Passat G3 kayak. With two guides and nine guests we made a six-boat fleet, setting out southward along the coast where red pine and hemlock picketed steep, rocky banks.

"This is orca highway, but we like to lower expectations right away," said our otherwise optimistic guide Quy Le. "We see orcas 95 percent of the time, but there's always the 5 percent we don't."

Wild, but not empty, the Johnstone Strait serves as a marine highway for sailboats, trawlers, ferries, cruise ships and, of course, whale-watching boats. On a still and sunny day, we stroked flat water while our attention drifted to bald eagles in the trees, purple sea stars gripping submerged rock walls and Dall's porpoises swimming sine-wave patterns.

Blisters swelled by the time we reached camp, 5 miles down-channel, on one end of a broad scalloped cove where wave-smoothed rocks piled like dunes. While the guides set up a makeshift kitchen, we paddlers dashed to claim tents already erected in the woods, complete with lanterns and cots.

At "appie hour," the first of a daily ritual of appetizers and boxed wine, Le demystified orcas. The largest members of the dolphin family, orcas, he said, were historically demonized as killer whales by fishermen who feared their competition. The erect dorsal fins of males can grow to over 6 feet. Curved dorsal fins mark the females. Both genders display unique white or gray saddle patches behind their fins, the cetaceous version of fingerprints.

Mid-lecture, we heard a distant cry: "Orcas!"

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Twenty feet from our granite headland, a tall, black fin knifed through the water, preceded by several smaller, swept-back fins. They were heading down the channel at an even pace when the smallest among them, a baby, stopped and poked its head up, levitating out of the water to get a better look at us  something I'd only seen at SeaWorld  before swimming on. The magical mental video looped throughout the evening, making the baked salmon richer and the sunset spectrum, illuminating the pod as it passed again, blusher.

Successful on day one, we eagerly scanned for activity the next morning during a nearly three-hour paddle to Robson Bight Ecological Reserve, an orca sanctuary. Boats, including kayaks, are banned in the bight where the animals purportedly haul themselves onto the rocky shores known as rubbing beaches.

"It's like going to a spa and getting a back massage," said Mike Rutter, a Robson Bight warden, who arrived in a Zodiac boat at the closest beach to the preserve where we'd landed for lunch.

If the orcas were at the spa, we had no way of knowing. As the sky clouded, we paddled back, encountering our first rain, light at first, then steady and persistent for the next two days. Sodden but cheerful, the guides assured us this was good. Rain, they said, swells the streams, which elicits the salmon, which draw the orcas, making orca watching a sometimes-soggy proposition.

Carrying on, we spent one morning crossing the strait to reach a moss-slicked hiking trail that ended at a towering 1,100-year-old red pine. We ate Dutch-oven lasagna under sheltering trees and sang "Happy Birthday" around a damp, smoky fire. We never stopped scanning for orcas and saw humpbacks and sea lions and heard, in the hush of the mornings, Dall's porpoises exhaling as they surfaced. We eventually struck camp, compared calluses and headed back to Telegraph Cove with survivor's pride and soaking-wet laundry.

Rounding the final corner before port, still searching for whales, we encountered not an orca, but a brown bear. Emerging from the brush beside a waterfall, he sniffed his way along a rock ledge, plucked berries from salal bushes and scaled the nearly vertical hillside, bestowing a lasting birthday gift by teaching my son to never stop looking.

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Elaine Glusac is a freelance writer.

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Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, shown in 2015, says he is considering running for Chicago mayor. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Mayor Tom Dart.

Not Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, but Mayor Tom Dart.

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You might want to get your mind around it, now that Mayor Rahm Emanuel's political future in Chicago isn't as shiny as it once was. And Sheriff Dart is thinking about making a move.

He told me so during the taping of "The Chicago Way," my podcast on WGN Plus.

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"This time I am," Dart said. "Before, I would have told you, categorically, that my kids were still way too young. They're young, but there are sacrifices we all make in life. So I'm willing to look at some of those."

There couldn't be a greater contrast than that between Emanuel and Dart. Emanuel has coveted the image of a ruthless inside player. He's a man once feared, but no longer. Rahm has a huge likability deficit. But mention Dart's name, and an odd thing happens. People don't cringe. Dart is considered to be compassionate.

So, except perhaps for the guards' union at the jail, with which he's at odds, most of Chicago has a good feeling about Dart.

Have the mayor's changing political fortunes caused Dart to reconsider?

"He's not the issue," Dart said. "Whether he ran or not, if I'm ready to go, I'm going. If he's in office, I don't really care. It would be because I feel I can make a difference and I'm willing to put everything into it and set aside some things with my family maybe. So I haven't had to make that decision yet I guess.

"I'm open more (to a mayoral campaign) than I would have been two years ago for sure. But have I completely said, 'This is right for me and my family?' I haven't. But I also think that a year from now, I will have a better idea where my kids are at."

The supershort list of politicians who could be mayor include Cook County Board President Toni "Taxwinkle" Preckwinkle, who'd be a favorite if she runs.

But others out there, besides Dart, include City Treasurer Kurt Summers, public schools boss Forrest Claypool and reform Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, leader of the progressive caucus at City Hall.

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So if the mayor is interested in keeping his job, he might consider saying so, loudly and clearly and soon.

I don't think Dart is playing games here. I think he's trying to think this one out. If it makes sense for his family, he might. If it doesn't, he won't.

Dart isn't some millionaire. He and his wife have five children ranging in age from 6 to 14. He lives on his salary.

Unlike other politicians, Dart has no side business going, no real estate office, no consulting, no law practice reducing taxes. The oligarchs never reached down from the snowy peaks of Olympus to make Tom Dart a few million. It happened for Rahm, but then, Rahm was once gatekeeper to the Clintons and a top fundraiser and was selected as former Mayor Richard M. Daley's successor.

In 2011, when Daley surprised Chicago (but not Emanuel) by resigning from office, Dart thought about it. And then he stopped thinking about it, and Emanuel waltzed in.

"Back then, when I was trying to put a (mayoral) campaign together, it was tearing apart the thing that I value more than anything else, which is the family," Dart said. "If I stopped in politics tomorrow, I wouldn't shed a tear, except that I think I could do things to help people. But if I ever thought I was being a bad dad, I couldn't live with myself, especially (since I'm) someone frankly who sits around talking about dysfunctional people I see in and out of my jail and the people that walk away from their kids and the rest of it.

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" Because of my politics, could I walk away from my family and come up with some twisted, contorted logic to sit there and say, 'Oh, this (politics) is better for our family?' What's better? 'You're no longer around, we don't see you, we don't hear from you,'" Dart said. "So for me (2011) was really just a really bad time for me to do it."

What's changed, at least politically, is that Rahm Emanuel is in serious jeopardy.

Emanuel is caustic, yes, but he's a brilliant political analyst. A combination of disasters inherited from Daley and Rahm's own never-ending supply of hubris has led him to this.

He knows his own weaknesses and would attack them without mercy if they belonged to an opponent.

Chicago's finances are imploding, pushing the city closer to bankruptcy. Rahm is now reduced to playing hide-the-pea finance, as a broke City Hall seeks to lend money to a broke school district. The number of street shootings and homicides continues to skyrocket, and Rahm is weak among African-American voters.

And his desperate reach for a feel-good distraction, that fantastical Lucas Museum, fizzled and finally, mercifully, died.

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"In part he created this himself, because he's always made it a point of letting people know that he's master of the agenda and that he's 'Win the media for the day' and things like that," said Dart. "So I think people get a little bit jaded, and so I think that bites the mayor sometimes."

Agreed: Reality, and politics, bite.

The next scheduled mayoral election is only three years away.

Get ready, Chicago.

Listen to "The Chicago Way" with John and Jeff Carlin and guest Tom Dart at www.chicagotribune.com/kasspodcast.

jskass@tribpub.com

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Twitter @John_Kass
Garrison Keillor, with singer Heather Masse, stroll through the crowd before a live performance of "A Prairie Home Companion" at Ravinia Festival on June 11, 2016. (Andrew Johnston / Chicago Tribune)

Among the many Donald Trump denunciations that have inflamed the internet in these chronically outraged times, few have been blessed with a rhetorical gusto equal to Garrison Keillor's.

"It is the most famous ducktail in America today, the hairdo of wayward youth of a bygone era," he wrote recently in a hugely popular piece published in the Tribune.

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He goes on to call Trump a bully and a braggart, summing him up as "the C-minus guy who sat behind you in history and poked you with his pencil and smirked when you asked him to stop."

And that's just the first paragraph.

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If you know Keillor only vaguely, as that avuncular storyteller on public radio, the sweet, sometimes crotchety sage of a mythical Midwest, a man fond of powdermilk biscuits and mandolins, you may not know what a clever, biting, lyrical writer he can be.

But before he was a radio host important enough to make the cover of Time magazine, back when the cover of Time was the apotheosis of fame, Keillor was, above all, a writer.

This week, at the age of 73, after 42 years of hosting his live variety show, "A Prairie Home Companion," he's giving up radio and returning full-time to the thing the loner in him has always loved best.

"I'm going to get back to what I intended to do in the first place," he said in a recent CBS-TV appearance, "which is to be a writer."

For years, I've carried around some of Keillor's thoughts on writing, not only from reading him but from interviewing him. I met him in 1983 when my editor at the Orlando Sentinel gave me my first out-of-town assignment: Go to Minnesota and interview the strange creator of this strange show that has bizarrely become a hit.

I requested an interview. I was told Mr. Keillor hated interviews. I could come to the show but not talk to him.

"Get on the plane," my editor said when I informed him the story wasn't going to work out. "Make it work."

By then, Keillor's parents had moved from his Minnesota hometown to an Orlando suburb, so in an attempt to keep my job, I looked them up in the phone book. His dad answered.

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"Success of that kind isn't everything," he said, musing on his son, sounding a lot like a character in Keillor's fictional small town of Lake Wobegon. "And some of the shows I don't go along with. Some of the music I don't care about, and that's because it seems like it never ends."

Nevertheless, when I asked if there was anything he'd like me to take to his son in St. Paul, he thought for a moment, then said, yes, yes, there was.

A couple of days later, he appeared in the Sentinel lobby with a 25-pound bag of Florida oranges slung over a shoulder.

I lugged those oranges to the airport, wrestled them into the plane's overhead compartment, dragged them into the St. Paul theater and when I was told again that I couldn't interview Mr. Keillor, I pointed to my heavy mesh bag.

"But I have some oranges for him from his dad."

For half an hour, I sat with him backstage, and though he rarely looked at me, he talked.

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I interviewed Keillor again four years later when he was quitting his show  for the first time  and moving to Denmark because, he said, fame had intruded on his ability to live normally and write honestly.

"I always feel like various forms of bulls--- and cheap maudlin effects and cheap humor and gross sentimentality are anxious to be my friends and earnestly trying to get into my work all of the time," he said in that interview. "And they are saying, 'Like us. Let us help you. We can make you a more effective writer and people will like you more.'"

He went on.

"You have to keep them out, and you have to be wary of saying things that you really do not mean."

And yet, he said, "in the field of comedy, if you are afraid of sentimentality, to me that's a weakness."

It helped me, a young writer, to hear someone older and successful struggle that way.

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Keillor's radio fans, people who counted on him to talk and sing to them every Saturday night around dinnertime, will miss him dearly. Even if you listened only sometimes, it was nice to know that he and the show were always there, as reliable as the coming of the evening. (The show will continue with mandolinist Chris Thile as host.)

Thanks, Mr. Keillor, for the stories, the songs, the jokes, the poems and the writing still to come. And for cementing these ideas in my brain:

Don't be afraid of sentiment but beware of cheap maudlin effects and cheap humor. Be wary of saying what you don't mean.

When in doubt, bring oranges.

mschmich@tribpub.com

Twitter @MarySchmich
A high-ranking Chicago Fire Department official who resigned following a crash off Lake Shore Drive is being charged with misdemeanor drunken driving after prosecutors rejected felony charges, a police spokesman said Wednesday.

Then-Deputy Commissioner John McNicholas wasn't given a Breathalyzer test by internal Fire Department investigators until 4:32 a.m. April 20, more than 3 hours after the crash on LaSalle Drive just west of Lake Shore Drive, according to documents obtained by the Tribune last month. McNicholas' blood-alcohol level was 0.154 percent, nearly twice the legal limit, according to documents obtained under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

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McNicholas, who was in an official vehicle but off duty at the time of the crash, resigned his command post and then agreed to leave the department soon after the crash, a Fire Department spokesman said at the time.

It was unclear why the Fire Department didn't test McNicholas for so long after the crash or why Chicago police did not perform a Breathalyzer test and instead issued only a ticket for failure to reduce speed.

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After police heard back from the Cook County state's attorney's office Monday, declining felony prosecution, police, "based on the investigation, including the blood-alcohol levels that were obtained by CFD," decided to charge McNicholas with misdemeanor DUI, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in an email.

Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson "ordered an internal affairs investigation into the handling of the incident, and that is nearing completion," Guglielmi said.

Fire officials also launched an internal investigation, but updated information about that probe wasn't immediately available.

McNicholas' next court date in the original traffic case is set for Aug. 12.
Peter J. Bertolini worked in broadcast operations at WBBM-Ch. 2 for more than 30 years, traveling alongside anchorman Bill Kurtis to Africa and the Vatican and manning one of the cameras during the 1960 debate between presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

"He was one of those rock-solid pillars in the newsroom that you build a team around," Kurtis said.

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Bertolini, 88, died of complications from pneumonia and congestive heart failure on May 27 at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, said his daughter, Julie Murtaugh. He had been a longtime resident of Niles before moving to Arlington Heights in 2003.

He was born in Chicago to parents who ran a restaurant, Bertolini's, at Racine Avenue and Hubbard Street, his daughter said. Bertolini had an interest in photography, and after attending Crane High School on the West Side, he took photography classes at Wright Junior College. He also served in the Army during the Korean War in the early 1950s.

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After leaving the Army, Bertolini signed on with WBBM as a cameraman in 1952.

"He was a terrific cameraman," said retired Ch. 2 videotape supervisor Bud Marcus, who began working at the station in 1949. "Pete was a hell of a cameraman ,and he was very zestful. Getting things done was what Pete was all about."

On Sept. 26, 1960, WBBM's now-demolished studios at 630 N. McClurg Court  a onetime horse stable  was the site of the first of four televised Kennedy-Nixon debates. The debate highlighted the differences between a handsome Kennedy and a haggard Nixon and is credited with transforming the role of TV in politics. Bertolini later said it was clear to him who the winner was.

"As soon as it was over, we all knew Kennedy won," Bertolini told the Tribune's Eric Zorn in 1985. "But we had no idea it was that big a deal."

Bertolini continued working for many years as a cameraman at WBBM. He often worked with a partner, Peter Janin, and the duo earned the moniker "Pete and Re-Pete" by their many colleagues.

Bertolini began working closely with Kurtis, including accompanying him on overseas assignments. The duo traveled to Vatican City in 1978, after the death of Pope Paul VI. Kurtis recalled the pair spending an hour shooting images inside the Sistine Chapel.

Kurtis also remembered, during a 1976 reporting trip in Africa, encountering a massacre committed by the Pokot people against the Turkana in Kenya.

"He had great character, great fortitude and integrity," Kurtis said. "I called him a pioneer because he was at Channel 2 all his career and in many ways helped build local television. He was one of those guys that you always love working with."

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Bertolini later became the supervisor of the station's minicam unit, which entailed overseeing crews and equipment.

He retired from Ch. 2 at the end of 1991.

Bertolini also is survived by his wife of 60 years, Elena; a son, Peter; four grandchildren; and two sisters, Livia Krumsee and Joy Maier.

Services were held.

Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
Eva Zimmerman, 9, plays a game of checkers at the Orland Park Public Library. The library is home to more than 300,000 items in its collection. (Steve Zimmerman / Daily Southtown)

I'm never short of reminders of how times of changed since I grew up in the 1970s and 80s. Gray hairs. Fewer hairs. My new-found preference for movies with happy endings instead of action adventure.

But it seems that moving to the suburbs has ramped things up a bit. Case in point, a simple trip to the library the other day. I took my 9-year-old daughter there, partly out of obligation to get her out of the house and reading more, but also because I've heard great things about the one by our house. And to be honest, the sheer mass and newness of the Orland Park Public Library has intrigued me. It's a library, but appears to be the size of an IKEA.

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It turns out, it has others interested too. When we stopped by to register for library cards, the woman behind the counter mentioned that people have mistaken it for other buildings, including a banquet hall and some have inquired about weddings inside, unaware that it's actually a library. The outside has an attractive white lattice-style covered entry that resembles a museum and the inside feels like a wide-open, light-filled oasis.

The Tinley Park Public Library, just six miles away, is just as impressive, with a more modern look and commuter appeal. Inside it resembles a boutique hotel or upscale cathedral.

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"The exterior was purposely designed for that Frank Lloyd Wright prairie-style, and the inside was meant to follow suit to give that very warm, comfortable, traditional feel, yet employing modern features as well," said Anthony Andros, assistant administrator at the library. "The color and wood trim inside was meant to provide that warmth."

I found myself shaking my head at the changes. Growing up in Milwaukee, I remember the drudgery of card catalogs, dimly lit corridors, uncomfortable unpainted wooden benches and usually one copy of the one book you wanted to check out. When I lived in Chicago, the public libraries weren't much better.

I reminded my daughter during our visit, "This is not what I had growing up." Her response was a confused look. She was too busy to humor me, instead she fired off "Ooos and Ahhhs" as she rifled through the books in the juvenile fiction section.

Why didn't anyone tell me things changed so dramatically?

Let's start at the front of the buildings where thumb-tackled bulletin boards have been replated with flat screen video monitors of upcoming events. And not just book clubs and literary meetings. The Orland Park branch was blanketed with information on events with a modern twist: Lego workshops, movie nights, crafts, all events that made my daughter's eyes grow big at the thought of rewriting the family calendar on our refrigerator.

Inside at the Tinley Park branch, it feels like you've stepped into an Ethan Allen showroom with mahogany furniture and stained glass accents. I imagine it's what Bruce Wayne's estate must be like. Beyond the usual stacks of fiction and non-fiction are rows of recently-released DVDs, audio books, newspaper and magazine racks that resemble the old Borders book store that used to sit on 153rd and La Grange Road.

At both libraries there's even drive-thru drop-off access for when you realize your kids' books are overdue. I'll be sure to be that guy in about three weeks when our first books are due back. Actually, maybe not. My daughter was so energized by the first visit (28 items checked out), we went back for more (six) the next day.

Honestly, its hard to believe they don't charge admission for everything they're offering inside. Full seasons of "CSI" and "Breaking Bad" at the library? Goodbye Netflix.

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What made our visit even more memorable were the extras touches, like the oversized checkerboards placed out throughout the children's area in Orland Park. So smart. Now, I've tried several times to get her to play checkers and but have always lost out to some other game or device. But on this day, checkers was the one thing she couldn't resist. As soon as she saw them she wanted to learn how to play, and wouldn't let us leave until we picked sides and got started. The first game ended in a draw, but on that second visit, less than 24 hours later, she begged to play again. And now we have a book on other games to play with checkers.

When I moved to the Southland, I was cautioned that there was an air of one-upsmanship in the suburbs and that people are competitive with just about everything. I didn't realize that extended to libraries. The ones we visited seemed to validate what I was told. And visitors get to be beneficiaries at no cost.

No cost. Boy, times really have changed.

Steve Zimmerman is a copy editor/designer for the Chicago Tribune who moved to the south suburbs from Chicago's northwest side in May. His email address is sazimmerman@tribpub.com.

Orland Park Public Library

14921 Ravinia Avenue, Orland Park, IL 60462. 708-428-5100

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Size: 93,000 square feet.

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Collection: 316,500 items, including more than 103,196 downloadable ebooks and audiobooks.

History: Formed in 1937, current location opened in 2004.

Tinley Park Public Library

7851 Timber Dr, Tinley Park, IL; 708-532-0160

Size: 58,600 square feet.

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Collection: 147,183 books; 12,423 videos/DVDs; 1,241 video games; 71,137 children's holdings.

History: First dedicated in 1956, current location opened in 2004.
A judge set bail at $1 million for a man who an off-duty Cook County deputy sheriff shot after seeing him and another man fire shots at a car Sunday evening in Marquette Park on the Southwest Side.

Eleazar Ramirez, 18, was charged with a felony count of aggravated discharged of a firearm, a felony count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and a felony count of aggravated assault with a weapon of a peace officer, according to the Chicago Police Department.

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Authorities also charged David Alvarez, 23, with a misdemeanor count of aggravated assault on public property.

Ramirez and Alvarez were allegedly outside arguing with someone in a car in the 7000 block of South Kanst Drive when an off-duty deputy sheriff saw them start shooting at the car, police said at the time.

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The officer, who was eating while sitting in his vehicle, got out and announced that he was a police officer.

At that point, the two men pointed guns at him. The officer, a 44-year-old who is assigned to the Leighton Criminal Court Building, then pulled out his weapon and fired shots, said Sophia Ansari, a spokeswoman with the sheriff's office. The officer has been with the office for nearly 11 years, since August 2005, Ansari said.

The 18-year-old was hit in the right leg, and the 23-year-old was shot in the ankle, police said. Both were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, and they were listed in good condition. Their injuries are considered non-life-threatening, Ansari said.

No one else was injured during the shooting.

A judge set bail at $1 million for Ramirez on Tuesday. Ramirez, of the 6200 block of South Francisco Avenue, is scheduled to appear in court next on July 5.
Chicago police are searching for a man who sexually assaulted two females at gunpoint recently on the South Side.



On June 26, the females were walking on the 8400 block of South Stony Island Avenue at 3:40 a.m. when they were approached by a male, according to police.



The male engaged them in conversation and then followed them as they walked away, police said.



The females then entered a vehicle and at that point the male took out a gun. The male then entered the vehicle and ordered the females to drive to another location where he forced them to perform sex acts, said police.



The male is described as black, with a dark complexion and hair worn in dreadlocks. He is believed to be 23 to 25 years old, about 5 feet 5 inches tall and between 150 and 170 pounds, police said.



Anyone with information is asked to call the Area South Detective bureau at 312-747-8271.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, shown in March, is sponsoring a couple of symbolic anti-violence proposals at the June 29, 2016, board meeting. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield.

Topspin

The scourge of gun violence will be a central topic when the Cook County Board meets Wednesday, with five items on the agenda addressing the issue.

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The county can't do much to stop the street violence that's on the rise in Chicago this year, so much of what's planned is symbolic, a way for County Board President Toni Preckwinkle to reiterate her backing of the American Medical Association's declaration that gun violence is a public health crisis.

One resolution likely to be approved commends the AMA and urges Congress to end the ban on research aimed at preventing gun violence. In case that's not clear enough, the board also is expected to call for Congress to repeal the so-called Dickey Amendment that established the ban in 1996.

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Preckwinkle is a sponsor on those two resolutions. Commissioner Richard Boykin, D-Oak Park, and Luis Arroyo Jr., D-Chicago, also will ask their colleagues to call on the state to enact an assault weapons ban, and Boykin will call for the Cook County Health and Hospitals System to establish a gun violence research consortium.

In a more substantive move, the board will consider granting $800,000 to four local groups that work with youth and young adults to prevent violence through counseling, mentoring, intervention and job training.

Also up at the board meeting: consideration of a referendum proposed by Commissioner John Fritchey, D-Chicago, that could lead to combining the offices of county clerk and recorder of deeds; and the introduction of a proposal  which is still very much a work in progress  by Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, D-Chicago, to require employers to provide paid sick leave. The City Council just passed an ordinance on that issue. (Hal Dardick)

What's on tap

*Mayor Rahm Emanuel is scheduled to attend the launch of the Greater Chatham Initiative, a public-private effort to create jobs around the South Side neighborhood. Also there will be U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and Michael Sacks, a top Emanuel adviser and political donor who helped Rush with fundraising during the primary campaign.

*Gov. Bruce Rauner will meet privately with legislative leaders in Springfield.

*The Illinois House and Senate are in, trying to pass a stopgap budget and an education spending bill.

*Four Democratic U.S. representatives plan to appear at a morning rally in Federal Plaza as part of a national day of action on gun violence prevention.

*At the City Club of Chicago lunch, it's Joseph Szabo, the executive director of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

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What we're writing

*Rauner, Democrats remain far apart on education spending bill.

*Chicago police union chief Angelo blasts 'disrespect' for cops, 'anti-police correctness.'

*Judge orders state to authorize medical marijuana for PTSD.

*Union leader rips McCormick Square neighborhood name.

*Illinois State Museum reopens Saturday with admission fee.

What we're reading

*The right-wing Supreme Court that wasn't.

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*Thanks for that one Super Bowl victory, Buddy Ryan.

*Taste of Chicago food preview.

From the notebook

*Kirk airs radio ad on Duckworth settlement: Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth and the state may have settled a potentially politically problematic lawsuit alleging workplace retaliation last week, but Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk's campaign is trying to make voters feel very unsettled about it.

A one-minute radio ad that Team Kirk said will air in Chicago and Springfield goes on the attack against Duckworth, calling her a "partisan pawn."

"The crooked Democratic machine in Springfield spent tens of thousands of tax dollars to defend Duckworth in court, so you paid the price," a female narrator says. "The Democratic machine protected Tammy, not the whistleblowers  and not our veterans. Haven't we had enough of Blagojevich's corruption?"

On Friday, Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office announced the case, which had gone on for years, had been settled for the "nuisance value" of $26,000 and "no finding of a violation of the law."

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The case stemmed from allegations raised by two workers at the Anna Veterans Home during Duckworth's time as head of the state Department of Veterans Affairs. She was appointed to the job by now-imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Kirk had made the lawsuit an early theme of his campaign for re-election, particularly by trying to link Duckworth to Blagojevich. (Rick Pearson)

*Is Duckworth getting comfortable?: Duckworth sent out a fundraising email Tuesday  something that shouldn't seem too surprising since she's taking on first-term Sen. Kirk in a costly statewide contest.

But the Duckworth fundraising email wasn't for her campaign. Instead, it was an appeal to help former Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, who is trying to unseat Republican Rep. Bob Dold in the North Shore 10th Congressional District.



"When I leave the House at the end of this term, I would feel a whole lot better if Brad was there defending Illinois families," Duckworth, a two-term congresswoman from the northwest and west suburban 8th District, says in the email. (Rick Pearson)

*New state senator appointed: Northwest Side Democrats on Tuesday appointed Omar Aquino to take over for retiring state Sen. Willie Delgado when he steps down at month's end.

Aquino won the March primary with 52 percent over opponent Angelica Alfaro, so he was going to be sworn in come January anyway. Following the appointment, Aquino issued a statement blasting Republican Gov. Rauner.

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Delgado served in the House starting in 1999 and moved over to the Senate in 2006.

Follow the money

*The Illinois Road Builders political fund gave $40,000 to the Illinois Republican Party ahead of a potential vote on a road construction bill this week at the Capitol.

*Track campaign contribution reports in real time with this Tribune Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ILCampaignCash

Beyond Chicago

*House panel on Benghazi ends after two years, finds no new Clinton fault, NYT says.

*The 5 most serious accusations in GOP Benghazi report, according to WaPo.

*Trump vows to rip up trade deals, go toe-to-toe with China.

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*Britian's Labour Party leader dumped in no-confidence vote.

*Triple suicide bomber explosions rock Istanbul airport, dozens dead.
SPRINGFIELD  State lawmakers on Thursday hope to vote on a last-minute budget compromise Democratic leaders are negotiating with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, a plan that would keep state government going for the next six months, make sure schools open this fall and provide Chicago Public Schools a measure of financial relief.

Both sides continued hammering out the details in private late into the night Wednesday, fueled in part by mutual distrust in which each sought to ensure that the other wasn't laying trap doors into the plan. The governor remained out of sight, and his aides wouldn't comment, citing the ongoing nature of the talks. Leading Democrats dished out a form of cautious optimism.

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"There are numerous ways that things can get sidetracked around here, so until it's soup, it isn't soup," warned Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, a top deputy to House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Still, the offers and counteroffers were a stark departure from the long-standing pattern of brief and unproductive meetings between leaders of the two political parties, and a sign that neither wants to risk taking the blame for schools failing to open or government services shutting down as the Nov. 8 election nears. If no deal is reached before Friday, state spending authority for schools and a number of government operations will run out, and Illinois will earn the dubious distinction of entering a second financial year in a row without a budget.

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But if a deal is struck, it would be the broadest compromise to date between Rauner's Republicans and the Democratic majority led by Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton.

Both sides had been in general agreement that a short-term spending plan was in order, but the Democratic leaders, who hail from Chicago, had been pushing for more than $650 million in relief for CPS. Rauner, who is trying to appeal to areas outside of Chicago in the hopes of cutting into the Democrats' House and Senate majorities this fall, spent recent months railing against the idea, saying he won't ask suburban and Downstate taxpayers to "bail out" the city's chronically mismanaged school district.

What emerged Wednesday was a three-part plan to send money to public schools statewide in time for the upcoming school year while granting some of the extra financial help for CPS.

First, the state would add about $250 million in spending intended for school districts with low-income students. About $100 million of that would go to CPS. Second, lawmakers would approve a bill to allow Chicago to raise property taxes to help pay for CPS pensions.

For nearly a year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been pushing Springfield to give him the authority to restore a property tax levy that would be dedicated to teacher pensions, and what's being bandied about at the Capitol would generate an additional $250 million for the district. Lawmakers could try to claim some political cover by voting for a measure that did not directly raise property taxes but only gave the Chicago City Council the ability to do so.

And third, the state would start picking up about $200 million of CPS' pension costs, but wouldn't start doing so until next year. The delay in part is meant to allow the legislation to pass with just a simple majority. That's because the threshold to enact bills with an immediate effective date jumped to a three-fifths majority after May 31.

The pension spending also could be tied to lawmakers sending Rauner separate legislation to help relieve the state's pension troubles, with Rauner reserving the right to reject the pension help for CPS if the statewide pension legislation doesn't materialize.

"I feel good," said state Sen. Heather Steans, a Chicago Democrat who chairs an appropriations committee. "I think it's a high likelihood that this is real. I've heard support from both Democrats and Republicans on this."

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But the framework also had its detractors on both sides of the aisle. Democratic Rep. Jack Franks of Marengo, who is leaving to run for McHenry County board chairman, said the plan amounted to "kicking the can down the road." Franks said the proposal would spend more than the state takes in and add to the multibillion backlog of bills, noting it does nothing to overhaul public employee pensions or how the state doles out money to schools.

"This is not business as usual, it's much worse," said Franks, who contended lawmakers in both parties were more concerned with appeasing voters than finding a real solution. "It's not a solution. It's a cop-out, it's cowardly."

Chicago Public Schools parents and students picket in front of Gov. Bruce Rauner's Winnetka home on June 29,2016, to protest his handling of the city's school budget crisis. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune) (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

Rep. David McSweeney, a Republican from Barrington Hills who opposes higher property taxes, questioned why Rauner would agree to a proposal that would allow Chicago to get more from businesses and homeowners.

"I don't favor a property tax increase, and I thought the governor didn't, either," said McSweeney, who added he would vote against the legislation. "I am a 'Hell, no.'"

It was unclear was whether the potential compromise would have the backing of Emanuel and CPS. The money being talked about would cut into  but not completely eliminate  a deficit the district has pegged at more than $1 billion.

CPS had no comment. District CEO Forrest Claypool was supposed to be at the Capitol on Wednesday for an event with school superintendents to urge action from lawmakers. But it was canceled at the last minute, a decision some considered wise given that Claypool has spent months ripping Springfield and Rauner as he tried to turn up the pressure for CPS financial help.

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The district's financial woes are in large part the result of skyrocketing teacher pension payments after CPS skipped them for years under Mayors Richard M. Daley and Emanuel. The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund says it is owed a gargantuan payment of $669 million on Thursday. That tab is forecast to jump beyond $700 million next year.

Meanwhile, Emanuel and the City Council would have to approve yet another property tax hike after last year's record $543 million increase over four years. Chicago homeowners are expected to see the first effects any day now as Cook County mails out property tax bills.

What remains to be seen is how the legislature's moves, if they materialize, would affect contract negotiations between the Chicago Board of Education and Chicago Teachers Union.

House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, right, and Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, left, head into Gov. Bruce Rauner's office at the state Capitol on June 29, 2016. (Seth Perlman / AP)

"It all depends on the details," said CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey when asked if the outline of the deal would allow schools to open or clear a path to a labor contract. So far, he said, the union's position is "pretty much unchanged."

"We're not going to turn up our noses at revenue," Sharkey said. "We need revenue, because there cannot be cuts."

But Sharkey again dismissed the idea of the CTU agreeing to end the district's practice of paying for the bulk of teacher pension fund contributions, while repeating that city officials needed to do more to generate local revenue.

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"We're not taking cuts," Sharkey said. "They have massively cut out of the people who deliver education year after year after year. If that's their plan for how they're going to make this work, then they don't have a plan at all."

mcgarcia@tribpub.com

kgeiger@tribpub.com

jjperez@tribpub.com
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush on Wednesday launched an organization aimed at job creation in South Side neighborhoods, made possible in large part by the mayor's top campaign contributor.

The two politicians were joined by a couple hundred people to unveil the Greater Chatham Initiative, the culmination of a two-year study looking at ways to combat street violence by creating more jobs in the Chatham, Auburn Gresham, Grand Crossing and Avalon Park neighborhoods.

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The effort was led Rush, who has grown to be a key African-American ally of the mayor's, and Michael Sacks, Emanuel's close confidant and No. 1 donor to his mayoral campaigns.

Inside a theater at the Studio Movie Grill on West 87th Street, Rush touted the initiative, though he offered few specifics on how it would work beyond the hiring of a few staff members and interns. Rush, though, thanked Sacks at length for underwriting the new program and the study that identified industries to attract to the neighborhoods.

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At one point, Rush said the organization should hold an awards ceremony in a year and give Sacks its first one for service and then name another award after the wealthy businessman. "I want to ask Michael Sacks, who doesn't like to get out in public on nothin', to stand," Rush said in urging a round of applause for the CEO of GCM Grosvenor, a large Chicago hedge fund firm.

The veteran congressman then explained how the initiative grew out of a meeting he held two years ago after special education teacher Betty Howard was struck and killed by a stray bullet near his office in 2014. The gathering featured various elected officials and business leaders.

That included Sacks, who is best known as a behind-the-scenes operator and a mega contributor to Emanuel's campaign funds. Since 2010, Sacks, his family and his company's employees have given $3.6 million to the mayor's campaign and Emanuel-aligned political funds.

During his remarks, Sacks noted that City Treasurer Kurt Summers had urged him to attend Rush's meeting. At the time, Summers worked for Sacks at Grosvenor before Emanuel appointed him to the treasurer post in late 2014, giving him a leg up for the 2015 election.

"He said you have to be in Congressman Rush's office tomorrow at 10 in the morning," Sacks said of Summers, noting that he had a full schedule that day. "I called Mayor Emanuel and said, 'I just got this call saying I have to be at this meeting and wipe out my calendar,' " Sacks said, "And the mayor said, 'I got the same call, and I'm doing it, so you're doing it.' "

Sacks described the meeting of business leaders and elected officials as "incredible," noting that it was a real discussion with no TV cameras in the room. He said it motivated him to cut a couple checks to back a "very serious planning effort" and said the organization would "pull together and enhance disparate efforts" from neighborhood organizations, government and philanthropists.

Sacks did not immediately respond to a request for how much money he contributed to the effort. Exelon announced Wednesday it will kick in $300,000 over three years and ComEd would set aside another $90,000 over two years. Nedra Fears has been named as the group's executive director and will coordinate 30 neighborhood organizations to improve housing, business development, public safety and support services, the group announced.

Rush began working with Sacks on the effort in 2014, as Emanuel was ramping up his re-election bid. The congressman later endorsed the mayor, which he did not do when Emanuel first ran in 2011.

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In March, the Tribune reported that Sacks and 16 other top Emanuel supporters contributed more than $64,000 to Rush's campaign fund as the congressman was caught in a heated re-election battle. The money accounted for most of Rush's individual contributions, and came almost entirely from donors who had never written checks to the congressman before.

The donations also were recorded a little more than one month after Rush flanked the mayor at a public event and turned aside calls for Emanuel's resignation in the wake of the Laquan McDonald police shooting controversy, the Tribune reported. Rush said at the time it was "absurd" to imply any connection between his public stance and the campaign contributions.

Wednesday's event marked a rare public appearance for the mayor with Sacks. The two sat a chair away from each other. Emanuel did not mention Sacks in his remarks, but he honored the slain Howard's family and predicted the new initiative would be focused on the "dreams and aspirations" of the neighborhoods, not just fighting crime.

bruthhart@tribpub.com

Twitter @BillRuthhart
Different strains of pot are displayed for sale at a marijuana dispensary in Denver in 2013.

Reporting from Sacramento  An initiative that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in California officially took its place on the Nov. 8 ballot on Tuesday as its campaign took a commanding lead in fundraising to battle the measure's opponents.

The Secretary of State's Office certified that a random sample showed sufficient signatures among the 600,000 turned in to qualify the measure. The initiative is backed by a coalition that includes former Facebook President Sean Parker and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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"Today marks a fresh start for California as we prepare to replace the costly, harmful and ineffective system of prohibition with a safe, legal and responsible adult-use marijuana system that gets it right and completely pays for itself," said Jason Kinney, a spokesman for California's Adult Use of Marijuana Act.

The initiative would allow adults ages 21 and older to possess, transport and use up to an ounce of cannabis for recreational purposes and would allow individuals to grow as many as six plants.

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California would join Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon as states that allow recreational use of marijuana. Eight other states also have marijuana measures on their ballots this year.

More than $3.7 million has been raised so far by the leading campaign for the initiative, Californians to Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana While Protecting Children. Leading contributors so far have included former Facebook president Sean Parker, legalization advocacy group Drug Policy Action and a committee funded by the firm Weedmaps, a firm that helps consumers locate pot shops.

Opposition is led by the Coalition for Responsible Drug Policies, made up of law enforcement and health groups including the California Police Chiefs Assn., the California Hospital Assn. and the California State Sheriffs' Assn. The groups warn legalization will lead to more drugged-driving and allow dealers of harder drugs to have a role in the new industry.

The coalition has raised about $125,000 so far from groups including the Assn. of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs State PAC and the Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Assn.

A similar coalition helped defeat the last legalization measure in California, Proposition 19, in 2010.

"This campaign will be very similar to that of Proposition 19. They have the money and we have the facts," said Tim Rosales, a spokesman for the opposition coalition.

Rosales noted that under current law, convicted methamphetamine and heroin dealers are banned from being involved in the medical marijuana industry, but the initiative overturns that ban and lets those felons obtain licenses to sell recreational marijuana.

"The proponents were specifically advised by numerous law enforcement groups during the comment period about this huge flaw, but they deliberately chose to keep it in, and you have to ask 'Why?'" Rosales said. "Who is that provision for? They got it wrong. Again."

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At a conference last week hosted by the National Cannabis Industry Assn. in Oakland, business people and activists were upbeat about the chances of the initiative passing, even though a similar measure in 2010 was defeated, with 53% of voters casting "no" ballots.

Advocates say the new measure has a better chance because it adds more regulation at the state level rather than letting locals dictate what happens, and comes after the state has approved a regulatory system for medical marijuana growing, transportation and sales.

In addition, the presidential election is expected to draw more young, progressive voters than the 2010 midterm election, according to Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Assn.

It also helps that recreational use has already been approved in other states, she said.

"This is six years later. We've already seen legalization pass and be successful in other states. So it's a different world in talking about his issue than it was," said West, an activist who helped host the Oakland conference.

West said "there needs to be real funding behind [the measure] and there needs to be a lot of work" to overcome opposition from law enforcement groups.

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"We think voters in California are ready to end marijuana prohibition and replace it with a more sensible system," said Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, which has about 200,000 supporters nationwide.

Tvert is confident this year's measure will do better than past attempts.

He expects activists from all over the country will get involved in the California campaign, either through campaign contributions or working phone banks to get out the vote.

"We are moving to mobilize our supporters," Tvert said. "There are folks throughout the country who recognize the importance of making marijuana legal in the largest state in the nation. There are a lot of folks who recognize that passage of these laws in other states will make it easier for their state to move forward."
MADRID  First lady Michelle Obama has arrived in Spain on the final leg of a three-nation tour to promote her global girls' education initiative.

Obama, accompanied by daughters Sasha and Malia, flew into Torrejon air base outside Madrid on Wednesday from Morocco. She started the tour in Liberia.

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She is due to give a speech on her "Let Girls Learn" initiative Thursday to a group of girls and young women in Madrid. Spain's Queen Letizia is also to address the conference and later meet with Obama.

President Barack Obama and the first lady launched the initiative last year to address the barriers that keep more than 62 million girls around the world out of school.

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The first lady is scheduled to leave Madrid on Friday.

Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss.  A state representative told a Mississippi woman she should earn money for the insulin and supplies her diabetic 8-year-old daughter needs to survive, instead of asking for state help.



Nicole Nichols of Richland told The Clarion-Ledger she was "flabbergasted" by the email from Ocean Springs Republican Rep. Jeffrey Guice.

Nichols said she emailed all 122 state representatives after calling 23 suppliers without finding one covered by Medicaid and in the approved network for the Medicaid-covered supply company she has used for the past three years.

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She wrote, "Is there someone in the legislature that can and will help these children stay healthy? They must have these medications and supplies which administer the medications to stay healthy and, quite honestly, alive!"

Guice's response, which Nichols posted on her Facebook page, said, "I am sorry for your problem. Have you thought about buying the supplies with money that you earn?"

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The representative initially declined to comment, telling the newspaper he doesn't do interviews, but issued an apology Tuesday night.

"I realize my remarks to Mrs. Nichols were completely insensitive and out of line," Guice said in an emailed statement. "I am sorry and deeply regret my reply. I know nothing about her and her family and replied in knee-jerk fashion. I'd like to think the people of Mississippi and my constituents know that I'm willing to help where I am able."

Nichols said Medicaid paid for her daughter Bella's medication for three years, until the supplier began outsourcing products and shipping six months ago. The subcontractor that now provides the pump supplies and insulin is not covered by Medicaid, she said, so she has been paying more than $2,000 a month.

Bella inherited Type 1 diabetes from Nichols' husband, Nathan. He's a transportation company inventory specialist and also works a second job in a restaurant.

Nichols said they "work their tails off" to make ends meet, but still live "paycheck to paycheck."

Associated Press
Presumptive Republican candidate for president Donald Trump speaks to guests during a policy speech during a campaign stop at Alumisource on June 28, 2016, in Monessen, Pa. (Jeff Swensen, Getty Images)

Donald Trump is not a professor, but for years he will be yielding insights to every student of economics. His Tuesday address on trade did a masterful job of combining antiquated fallacies with misinformation and ignorance to create an encyclopedia of error. Instructors have never had so much free help constructing their lesson plans.

The vision Trump conjures is one of alluring simplicity. He promises to achieve "economic independence" by abandoning globalization, instead using American workers to produce American goods. This change, he said, would "create massive numbers of jobs" and "make America wealthy again."

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It's a scam, skillfully pitched to fool the gullible. His framework is a house of cards built on sand in a wind tunnel. Its most noticeable feature is a total divorce from basic economic realities.

He scoffs at those who warn he would start a trade war. "We already have a trade war, and we're losing, badly," he said. But what he objects to is everyday global commerce, which is not a form of war. It's a form of peaceful cooperation for mutual advantage.

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In a war, the Japanese drop bombs on Pearl Harbor that we don't want. In trade, they sell us TV sets and cars that we do want. See the difference?

In war, both sides lose, because their people get killed. In trade, buyers and sellers in each country win  which is why they trade with each other. What's true of individual consumers and producers is also true of nations.

Trump, however, thinks our economic troubles stem from the destruction of manufacturing production and employment, which he blames on foreign competitors. He's wrong on every point of this addled argument.

In the first place, the expansion of manufacturing jobs is not synonymous with prosperity. As countries grow richer, manufacturing's share of employment declines. South Korea, singled out by Trump for killing American jobs, has seen it shrink by nearly half since 1991. Japan and Germany have followed a similar path.

But U.S. manufacturing output is 54 percent higher today than in 1994 and 27 percent higher than in 2001. Those years are pertinent because 1994 was the year NAFTA took effect and 2001 is the year China gained entry to the World Trade Organization  events Trump portrays as catastrophic for American industry.

Manufacturing jobs have vanished not because we don't manufacture anything but because companies have learned to produce more goods with fewer people. Higher productivity is what eliminated most of the jobs Trump mourns. He's no more capable of restoring them than he is of bringing back the dodo.

"NAFTA was the worst trade deal in the history of this country," he exclaimed. But he gives no sign of knowing what it actually did.

The main provision was removing import duties among the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Before, the average tariff on Mexican goods coming here was 4.3 percent  while the average tariff on U.S. goods going there was 12.4 percent.

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So under NAFTA, Mexico had to cut its import duties much more than we cut ours. Even by Trump's logic, how could that have been bad for Americans?

Trump would have us believe that producers abroad succeed only because they have a free hand to cheat. "When subsidized foreign steel is dumped into our markets, threatening our factories, the politicians have proven ... they do nothing," he charged.

Wrong again. At the moment, the U.S. government is punishing allegedly unfair trade practices with special duties on 338 different imports  nearly half of them steel products.

Blaming Mexico and China for the fate of our steel industry is like blaming email for the decline of telegrams. The biggest reduction in steel jobs came before the globalization of the past two decades. The number fell from 450,000 to 210,000 in the 1980s.

The total today is about 150,000. Even if Trump could manage the impossible feat of doubling the number of steelmaking jobs, it would be a blip in the overall economy  which adds more jobs than that every month.

All he would achieve by putting up trade barriers, imposing tariffs and treating our trading partners as enemies is to inflate the cost of imported goods  which would lower the living standard of every American household.

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A Trump presidency would be useful for economists because it would serve to refute his misconceptions about trade  just as a massive mudslide in Los Angeles is useful to physicists in dramatizing the power of gravity. But everyone else is advised to flee.

Steve Chapman, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at www.chicagotribune.com/chapman.

schapman@tribpub.com

Follow Steve Chapman on Twitter @SteveChapman13 and Facebook.
Whenever I hear the words "immigration reform" I want to hop on a bus for El Paso and start laying bricks for the wall that Donald Trump proposes to keep out illegal immigrants. It's my share of the street-level anger that provoked British voters to say goodbye to the European Union, and made Trump the most unorthodox candidate ever to become the presumptive presidential nominee of a major American political party.

Lots of us, like our English cousins, have had it with politicians and academics who not only are out of touch with the average Joe and Jill, but don't speak the same language as an ordinary citizen. (Which reminds me to send a note to my editor: "DO NOT change 'illegal immigrants' to that cockamamie phrase 'undocumented immigrants.'" Of course, they're undocumented. That's why they are illegal.)

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This doesn't mean I'm unsympathetic to the plight of immigrants from Mexico  or anyplace, for that matter  who lack the legal papers to protect them from deportation. My grandparents came here seeking refuge from the Russian czar's cruel regime. Thank God they made that decision, and God bless America for taking them in.

I dearly hope that today's refugees from poverty and violence find assurance they won't be sent back to the evils they fled. But I can't see what calling for "immigration reform" accomplishes, except for raising my hackles  and, I suspect, I'm not the only one.

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Reform implies correcting a wrong  in this case, the rules governing those who want to join those of us already here. Roughly, those rules say that a foreigner can just show up here, but must ask and receive permission. What could possible be wrong with that?

In fact, it's immigrants without visas who are in the wrong. I may empathize with them, knowing the dire circumstances they hoped to escape. But I'm not going to cede the ethical high ground by agreeing that it's our laws that need reforming and that they have a right to legal status simply because they are here.

Ask me to support their cause out of the goodness of my heart, and I will. Lay a guilt trip on me, with that immigration reform mantra, and you lose me.

When the problem was addressed in earlier decades, the remedy was called "amnesty," which means forgiveness for wrongdoing. Between then and now the moral burden on illegal immigrants was shifted to our country for having immigration regulations that need "reform." That corresponds with a tendency of some liberals to picture America not for its virtues but for its faults. But it's not the way I see our country.

The wonder is that, in a nation obsessed with product testing, I didn't get a phone call asking me to choose between "immigration reform" and "amnesty" as a label for a program to regularize the status of illegal immigrants. As far as I know, nobody did.

And therein lies the key to understanding Brexit and Trump.

Our pundits and politicians haven't been listening to the people. They haven't checked their thinking with ours. Essentially they have forgotten the words of our Declaration of Independence, whose wisdom we will celebrate Monday, as we do every Fourth of July.

It observes that: "Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

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Could it be put any more clearly? Our government owed me a phone call before the hyping of immigration reform began. It also owed Americans some sort of town hall meetings to express their feelings before issuing a memo giving transgender students the right to use a bathroom or shower of their choice rather than according to their anatomy. That was a big change in the way things have been done since time immemorial. Didn't it rate something more than a mandate? Like giving citizens some explanations and time to digest them?

In England, the problem was that politicians mesmerized themselves with their explanations. The need for a European Union seemed self-evident after two brutal world wars. But it didn't seem so to lots of ordinary Brits  producing topsy-turvy election results. A majority of parliament supported remaining in the EU, and a majority of voters were for leaving. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair attributed the fiasco to populism  as if the people's mistake was to think for themselves, rather than heeding the counsel of their betters.

In the U.S., the corresponding issue to Brexit is international trade agreements, which opinion makers and business leaders tout as good as gold. But many working-class voters don't buy that. They see abandoned factories as globalization's signature.

That dichotomy enabled Trump to attribute the plight of blue-collar Americans to an inept leadership class. "They don't know what they are doing," he says over and over again. The votes that he won, plus the votes Brexit got, witness the troubling gap that has opened up between the elite and workaday folks in both countries. To close it, one or another has to make the first move.

I vote for assigning the elites that responsibility, since their tin ears caused the problem. To get a handle on how to solve it, let me recommend to them a casebook study: the 19th century French politician, Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin.

A hero to the masses early in his career, he was less so later on. Pointing to a crowd of demonstrators, he reportedly said: "There go my people. I must catch up with them, for I am their leader."

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rgrossman@tribpub.com
Illinois representatives gather on the House floor during session at the Illinois State Capitol Tuesday, May 31, 2016, in Springfield, Ill., as lawmakers press ahead on the last day of the spring legislative session. (Seth Perlman,AP)

Last week, the Chicago Teachers Union organized protests mainly focused on demanding more funding for Chicago schools, but they also wandered into other topics. For example, one demonstration site was chosen because a particular businessman is "helping fund the governor's campaign to change Illinois voting maps that would weaken the black and Latino vote."

This claim will probably be repeated often over coming months if the proposed Independent Map Amendment survives legal challenges this week to appear on the November ballot.

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The amendment would transfer legislative redistricting authority from the General Assembly and governor to a putatively independent commission. Would such a commission really be likely to design legislative maps reducing the odds of minority candidates winning election? In a word, no. The argument is supported by neither logic, the jurisprudence, nor the experience of other states around the country.

Currently, Illinois does somewhat better than most other states at matching its proportion of black legislators with its proportion of black citizens. Indeed, at present, African-Americans are slightly over-represented in the Illinois House and Senate. On the other hand, as in most states, our legislature is less Latino and Asian than our population. Some of the differences across races and across states originate in how much races are residentially clustered. Dispersion makes construction of majority-minority districts harder. High levels of segregation in the Chicago area are one reason why the General Assembly has such a large black caucus.

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But, critically, states with redistricting commissions do no worse in achieving racial and ethnic parity than states where legislators draw their own maps.

The jurisprudence on race and redistricting is complicated and has shifted subtly over time. But a critical and persistent point is that the courts have interpreted the federal Voting Rights Act as not allowing redistricting to dilute the influence of racial and ethnic minorities. This obligation applies no matter the process or mechanism of redistricting. And the courts have been quite aggressive in policing redistricting and forcing the redrawing of maps that they find wanting.

Since Illinois has never used an independent commission to draw electoral districts, we can't be sure exactly how the maps produced by such a commission would differ from those drawn through the legislative process. Promoters of the Independent Map Amendment, which is supported by Gov. Bruce Rauner but did not originate with him, have stated that they hope to increase the number of competitive districts. The design of the commission makes that outcome rather likely, though its promoters  unsurprisingly  may be a bit overoptimistic. But there is no reason to think that a commission formed by the proposed process would be hostile to minority representation or unconstrained by ample judicial precedent.

Despite the CTU's fears, then, no one who sees merit in putting more distance between legislators and the creation of their districts should balk at supporting the Independent Map Amendment out of fear that it would set back minority representation.

Brian J. Gaines is a professor of political scientist at the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs.
As Turkey counts the death toll from the horrific terrorist attack at the Istanbul airport Tuesday, a Turkish government that has sometimes dragged its feet on U.S. counterterrorism policies appears to be standing firmly on the side of its Western allies in combating jihadist terrorism  a welcome sign for Washington.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said evidence suggests that the attack was the work of the Islamic State  which would put Turkey on the same side as Western governments that have struggled with the recent wave of Islamic State-inspired attacks in Paris, Brussels and Orlando, Fla. The Istanbul assault tactics  use of multiple bombers and explosives at a busy airport  were eerily similar to the Islamic State attack on the Brussels airport three months ago.

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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses people gathered for a traditional "Iftar" feast at his palace in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday, June 27, 2016. (Murat Cetinmuhurdar, AP)

This terrible attack could mark a change if it brings Turkey more firmly into the camp fighting the Islamic State  a battle in which it has sometimes been a passive observer. The attack on Istanbul, a symbolic crossroads for the Muslim world, also underscores that Western and Muslim nations alike are targets of jihadist violence.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed solidarity with Western countries in his statement about the attack, saying it could have happened anywhere and showed that there was "no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin." That's the kind of unified message the United States has wanted to hear more from Turkey.

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Because the Islamic State hasn't issued any public statement asserting responsibility for the attack as of Wednesday afternoon, assessing the terrorists' motive is largely speculation at this point. But some little-noticed recent events might explain why the jihadists could have decided to strike now.

For more than two years, the Obama administration has been cajoling and pleading with Turkey to close a roughly 70-mile hole in its border with Syria, west of the Euphrates River, which has been a superhighway for extremist fighters, cash and supplies. The Turks have made counterdemands and complained about U.S. reliance on a Syrian Kurdish militia called the YPG, which the Turks claim (largely correctly) is an arm of the Kurdish nationalist group called the PKK that they claim is terrorist.

Just over a month ago, President Barack Obama delivered an ultimatum to Erdogan: If you don't close the border, we will. And in late May, the United States did indeed launch an offensive by about 3,000 fighters from a coalition known as the Syrian Democratic Forces against what's known as the "Manbij pocket," south of the Turkish-Syrian border. This attack, directed by U.S. Special Forces advisers on the ground, featured a mixed assault force that included Syrian Kurds from the YPG and Syrian Arab forces, partially answering Turkish complaints.

The assault against the Islamic State's key gateway has been largely successful, U.S. commanders say. Manbij is surrounded, cutting the jihadists' access between Turkey and Syria and the flow of what had been tens of thousands of foreign fighters, who in recent years have initially come through Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport, the same spot that was targeted Tuesday. American sources say that more than 1,000 Islamic State fighters have been killed so far in the Manbij campaign.

The Turks have been uneasy about Manbij but they haven't publicly complained, and they've allowed the United States to fly daily bombing missions against Islamic State positions by A-10 "Warthog" ground attack aircraft, based at Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey.

The Turks, in short, may have grumbled in public, but behind the scenes they have been fairly cooperative allies. Now they have gotten a gut punch in Istanbul, perhaps in retaliation against the Manbij operation. Again, they haven't complained so far and have instead stressed Turkish solidarity with other nations fighting violent extremism.

The terrorists must have hoped their attack on a symbol of Turkey's modern, interconnected economy would bring backbiting and recriminations. They were trying to drive a wedge. But so far, the split they may have wanted hasn't happened.

David Ignatius is a Washington Post columnist.

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WASHINGTON  Watching Hillary Clinton beaming sidewise on stage as Elizabeth Warren taunted Donald Trump brought the Wrigley twin ditty to mind: Double your pleasure, double your fun, with double good, double good, Doublemint gum.

Instead of two happy twins riding a tandem bicycle to celebrate chewing gum, the Clinton-Warren '60s sister-clones  wearing blond bobs and shades of blue  rode Trump with a gobsmacking double-punch.

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Railed the petite senator from Massachusetts: "Now, Donald Trump says he'll make America great again. It's stamped on the front of his goofy hat. You want to see goofy? Look at him in that hat."

This was her way of topping Trump's repeated use of "goofy" to insult her.

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Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton hugs Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, during a campaign stop at the Cincinnati Museum Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 27, 2016. (Mark Lyons, EPA)

And: "When Donald Trump says 'great,' I ask: 'great for who, exactly?'" she said. "When Donald says he'll make America great, he means make it even greater for rich guys just like Donald Trump. That's who Donald Trump is. And watch out, because he will crush you into the dirt."

And so the Twitter wars between a noncandidate and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will likely continue. Doesn't Trump realize that he's the one running for president?

Clinton's rally, the first to feature Warren, was followed by a sisterhood hug that only women can exchange. That simple embrace signified a new benchmark in women's and American history and changed the political narrative for all time. Not only can a woman win a major party's nomination  it's also possible that two women can team up as running mates.

The idea that Warren might become Clinton's vice presidential pick has been floating around for a while and is appealing if only for the prospect that two women could fill an entire presidential ticket.

Warren certainly is as qualified as many men who have filled the role. She obviously doesn't mind serving as the attack dog for Clinton. And Warren may be the one grinding Trump into the dirt, invective for invective. In a word, she's fearless to his careless.

Warren and Clinton haven't always been so cozy but, for the eternal record, women differ from one another in as many ways as men do. Warren is farther to the left than Clinton ever meant to be. And she comes far more naturally to a populist message. While Clinton was being forced leftward by Bernie Sanders, Warren was continuing her yearslong progressive crusade.

Her endorsement of Clinton and her new role as a rowdy, crowd-warming act constitute a bridge between Sanders supporters and the presumptive nominee they never wanted. Warren captures the anger and anti-1 percent angst of the liberal left and lays it like a wreath at the feet of the woman who would become the first female president.

Warren is a peace offering who aims to wage war on Trump. And she's on to his greatest weakness. He can't take a ribbing, and he can't stand being challenged by a woman. It gets under his skin like nothing else. Thus, when Warren says he looks goofy in a hat, he calls her Pocahontas (a reference to her Native American blood).

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What's clear is that Warren won't back down, no matter what Trump tosses her way.

Speaking strictly as an observer, it seems that Trump may be losing his ranking as top draw in the political circus. If Warren stays on the stage, it's nearly assured that all eyes will be on her  which might cause Clintonites some concern.

Like Trump, Warren has that certain something that fills arenas and draws people to their feet. That's where the similarities end. A Harvard law professor before she ran for the U.S. Senate, Warren is smart, eloquent on consumer protection issues and passionately committed to well-defined principles. One needn't agree with her to appreciate her vigor, as well as a steely-eyed softness that comes across in person.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 77 Hillary Rodham, second from left in the back, poses with the Maine South High School debate team in her 1965 school yearbook. Photo courtesy of Maine Township High School District. (Handout, Main Township High School District 207)

Unlike Trump, she's in possession of an agreeable personality. Even when yelling across a surging crowd, she manages to avoid sounding strident. Close up, she's warm, engaging and nonthreatening.

Most important, she allows Clinton to step back from the fray and gives everyone a chance to imagine what a two-woman ticket could look like. Too much the same? Too soon for two? For whom?

It may be true, as someone wrote me, that Clinton's greatest virtue is her opponent. But it's also plain that Warren is her greatest asset.

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Talk about a twofer.

Kathleen Parker is a syndicated columnist.

Washington Post Writers Group

kathleenparker@washpost.com
I was in Jamaica last week to attend a friend's wedding. I'd previously lived there for five years while I was pursuing my medical degree. Because I once lived there, I still consider myself a local when I visit, and like some local people, I didn't use mosquito repellent. My comfort level overruled my judgment, and now I have Zika.

Maybe you've used some of these excuses, though likely not about Zika: "No need for this smelly bug spray" or "I lived here for years and never got chikungunya, why would I get Zika?" or even, "It's not like I'm planning to have a baby any time soon."

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Zika is usually a mild virus, and people rarely die from it. For pregnant women, though, it's more serious, as Zika can cause microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects.

I thought I was invincible, even though I should have known better. I work at the American Council on Science and Health, after all, where we have been way ahead of most media on reporting about Zika.

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Now I have Zika. I came into the office the morning after I returned from Jamaica, and by the end of the day I had a headache that felt something like my brain oozing slowly out of my ear canals. Then came the general malaise. I brushed it off. By the time I got into bed that night the soreness had started.

The following day the headaches continued. I chalked it up to a fleeting 24-hour bug and was sure I'd feel better soon. I took a warm shower thinking that was all I needed to revive me.

And that's when I noticed it. The rash.

A fine, red, maculopapular rash spread across my abdomen. By the next day it had spread to my extremities and brought with it itching like I had never experienced in my 29 years.

I began to level with myself. It's probably Zika, I self-diagnosed. The next thing I did was to go to the ACSH website, search "Zika" and start reading. I had read all of the articles before, every single one of them.

As early as January, our organization had highlighted the severity of the virus. I had read about its clinical features, consequences and complications. I knew the preventive measures I should have taken  and I also knew I had chosen to ignore them.

I was too cool for DEET. Now I am a Zika statistic. Don't think it can't happen to you.

The American Council on Science and Health

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Krystal Alexander is a research associate at the American Council on Science and Health.
The House committee report makes clear that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton knew almost immediately that the Benghazi attack was the planned work of terrorists, not a spontaneous mob action. (Andrew Harnik / AP)

Two years in the making, 800 pages long, gripping in tone, the report of the U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi  released Tuesday  is the definitive account of the Sept. 11, 2012, Libya attacks that killed four Americans: Ambassador Chris Stevens, foreign service officer Sean Smith and CIA contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.

Parts read like a Tom Clancy thriller, but it's the sections that mirror "House of Cards"  you know, the behind-the-scenes political stuff  that give "Benghazi" its immediate significance. That's because in this drama the role of secretary of state was performed by Hillary Clinton, the now-presumptive Democratic nominee for president. So the voting public wants to know how Clinton fares: Does the report cast her as a villain or a more nuanced character?

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Probably you thought you knew a little, or a lot, about this document. In some ways it's a sequel, or even a reboot, given the fact that there already have been multiple, narrower investigations. A preliminary Select Committee report was published a year ago. Last October Clinton testified in public for 11 hours. Many Democrats have viewed all of this as a Republican-led attempt to undercut her campaign.

But when packaged as a complete volume, the report delivers on its promise to analyze the entire debacle so the risk of a future disaster is reduced. On the question of how Clinton and the Obama administration reacted, we see more than enough evidence to reaffirm our opinion that the secretary of state failed a crucial chance to show decisive, principled leadership.

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The crux of it is that during and well after the chaos of the attacks on the State Department's outpost and nearby CIA annex in Benghazi, Clinton and the Obama administration promoted a false narrative for public consumption: that the violence came from a spontaneous outburst of mob anger. Although Clinton confided to her daughter, Chelsea, in an email that night that an al-Qaida faction was responsible, for two weeks she let fester the story that mob action, not a planned assault her department might have anticipated, killed her employees.

The supposition Clinton and others held to was that the attacks were related in nature to political protests the same day outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. Those demonstrators were angry about an anti-Islam video. With the Benghazi attacks still unfolding, Clinton released the administration's only statement on the evening of Sept. 11, and she focused on the video. But the next day, Clinton told Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil, "We know that the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack  not a protest."

What she told Kandil was true, the report confirms: The Americans came under sudden attack at their compound by a force of about 70 heavily armed men. The only warning: the sudden disappearance of a Libyan police vehicle. Attackers approached the building, invaded and set fire to it. Stevens and Smith died in the fire. Doherty and Woods were killed in a subsequent attack on the CIA annex.

As hours and days passed, the report shows, inaccurate accounts of the Benghazi timeline inexplicably endured. On Sept. 14, White House spokesman Jay Carney said: "We have no information to suggest that it was a preplanned attack. The unrest we've seen around the region has been in reaction to a video that Muslims, many Muslims find offensive."

The administration looked for an official to go on the Sunday morning talk shows Sept. 16. Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser, sent a request to Clinton but never heard back. The thankless job fell to Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Rice had little knowledge of the events. She relied in part on background information from Rhodes.

Here the report gets at the politics of Benghazi, because it shows that among Rhodes' talking points to Rice was this specific goal to communicate to the viewing public: "To underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy."

In other words: In mid-September 2012, in the wake of a terrorist attack in Libya, with Obama up for re-election in two months and Clinton's own presidential aspirations at risk, the White House sent a lesser representative in front of the cameras. Armed with bad information, she insisted that four Americans died as the result of a spontaneous protest  not because of Washington's failure to anticipate a terrorist attack on an isolated U.S. compound in unstable Libya on the anniversary of 9/11.

According to the report, several Libya experts at State flipped out when they heard Rice peddling the demonstration story. "Off the reservation on five networks!" wrote one. "WH (White House) very worried about the politics. This was all their doing," wrote another.

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Obama, too, went uncorrected publicly by Clinton when, in several public appearances, he conflated Arab world protests about the video with the terrorist attack in Benghazi. In a Sept. 25 speech at the U.N., Obama cited the video six times.

The Benghazi report offers evidence of Clinton's lapses, but not a lot of pathbreaking information. That's good in a way. We never thought there would be some smoking gun proving that four brave Americans might have been saved. Instead, we looked for evidence that Clinton managed a terrible ordeal and its fallout with exemplary skill and integrity. Unfortunately, we didn't find that either. It will be up to American voters to make the final judgment on her performance.

Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Drector George Sheldon speaks with one of the attendees after a town hall meeting held Tuesday in Aurora. (Linda Girardi / The Beacon-News)

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director George Sheldon came to Aurora to get input on changes for caring for vulnerable children and families.

In the spring, state officials announced a reform plan for DCFS that includes extensive worker retraining, expanded access to mental health services and a substantial reduction in the number of juvenile wards in residential treatment centers.

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Gov. Bruce Rauner announced that the changes involved having a system of "coordinated and community based supports" for vulnerable children and families.

"On its best day, the state is not the parent," Sheldon said.

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Sheldon said the plan involves government and private agencies working together rather than DCFS working separately.

About 90 people attended the meeting at North Island Center Tuesday where details of a newly-released draft of the Illinois Child Welfare Strategic Plan 2016-2020 were presented and input was encouraged.

Various partners of the child welfare service communities were represented, including private agencies and nonprofit organizations as well as birth parents, foster parents and guardians.

Sheldon told them any transformation has to be embraced by the child welfare community.

"The knowledge," he said, isn't in the DCFS offices in Chicago and Springfield, but with people across the state.

Rauner in 2015 named Sheldon DCFS director, a post he held in Florida. Sheldon has been at the center of the development of the transformation plan, state officials said.

"We can't look at it as only child welfare," he said, adding the transformation plan is looking to an "interagency collaboration" to develop ways that ultimately integrate services and move plans forward.

He said representatives from 13 agencies, including the Department of Health and Family Services, Department of Juvenile Justice, Illinois Department of Corrections, Illinois State Board of Education and Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority have been meeting for the past several months. Among the topics have been how to integrate mental health and substance abuse services.

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"This is the first time I have seen a Health and Human Services agenda where corrections has been involved," he said.

Sheldon said it is only logical the state correctional department be involved since people who are incarcerated will ultimately return to civilian life. He said an estimated 60 percent of people who are incarcerated have at some point in their lives received DCFS services.

Sheldon said he wants to intercede in the lives of children at a younger age than is being done today. He said one of the major elements they have identified is the impact behavioral health has on agencies.

"If you look at what drives children coming into care, it is mental health and substance abuse (issues with parents)," he said.

Health care is an important part of the initiative, he said.

"Our transformation puts a strong new focus on prevention and public health," he said.

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He said the transformation, in part, "moves individuals from institutions to community care to keep them more closely connected with their families and community."

"We recognize some residential facilities will always need to exist, but there ought to be therapeutic interventions that would bring youth to community settings where possible," Sheldon said.

The attendees were able to participate in live polling through a text messaging survey using their smart phones to share concerns and challenges inherit with change.

"What we have presented in this plan is a heavy lift," Sheldon said. "But we have to get started and pull together in order to eliminate some of the old suspicions of this agency and start working together as a team."

The plan is scheduled to be finalized in August, but DCFS officials said it will be a "working and living" document that will change with time.

Sheldon plans to hold four other town hall meetings in July in East St. Louis, Mt. Vernon, Chicago and Springfield. People can submit comments about the plan to dcfs.strategicplan@illinois.gov through Aug. 31.

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Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
Among the 17 community leaders who signed a letter sent earlier this week to Gov. Bruce Rauner calling for better state funding for education was Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner.

Weisner joined with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and 15 others who said they represent communities with children who are penalized by the state's current funding system.

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They called for a change in the formula that puts Illinois near the bottom  ahead of only Mississippi and Alabama  in state funding for public education, they said.

"We are mayors who believe that our children's future should be determined by their hard work and talents  not by their zip codes," the letter read. "Unfortunately, our current school-funding system penalizes the children from our communities. Many of them come from families in poverty. This is both morally indefensible and a threat to the future of Illinois."

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Weisner said he signed the letter because the failure of the state to fund public education properly is a long-standing problem, and only getting worse. It has been left to the local school districts to increase local property taxes to fund education, and "people are upset about the local property taxes," he said.

"They are blaming the local school districts, but it's not the fault of the local school districts," Weisner said. "It's the state's fault."

The letter said that the school-funding situation is not Rauner's fault, but that it is time to correct the situation because many school districts "have reached a tipping point."

Other mayors and village presidents who signed the letter were: Barbara Piltaver, village of Schiller Park; Wayne Motley, city of Waukegan; Jerry Bennett, village of Palos Hills; Dan McLaughlin, village of Orland Park; Eugene Williams, city of Lynwood; Charles E. Tokar, village of Chicago Ridge; John A. Ostenburg, village of Park Forest; Robert Kolosh, village of Thornton; Rod Craig, village of Hanover Park; Don A. De Graff, village of South Holland; Sam Pulia, village of Westchester; Domingo F. Vargas, city of Blue Island; Beniamino Mazzulla, village of Stone Park; Vernard Alsberry Jr., village of Hazel Crest; and Stephan K. Pickett, village of Sleepy Hollow.

slord@tribpub.com
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The emergence of China as an economic giant has boosted Africa's economies by enabling the continent to diversify its sources of investments, a think tank said here on Tuesday.

"China's investment is expanding Africa's horizon and this is good for Africa as its total stock of investments are increasing," Kenya's Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) CEO Kwame Owino said during the China-Africa round table, a trade forum.

The day-long event brought together participants to review the role of China in Africa's economies.

Owino said that there is a positive relationship between China's capital inflows into Africa and the growth of incomes in the continent.

He noted that Africa has an investment deficit which is complicating the region's ability to create jobs.

China accession into the World Trade Organization in 2001 is widely seen as the beginning of its integration to the global economy.

IEA said that one of the biggest beneficiaries of China's economic expansion has been the African continent.

"In fact, the increasing trade and investment between China and Africa has made China to become one of the continent's biggest trading partners," Owino said.

Kenya government data indicates that Sino-Kenya trade has grown by an average of 27 percent annually between 2011 and 2015.

Chinese exports to Kenya constitute about 35 percent of Kenya's total imports.

Owino said that previously most of the machinery and equipment imports in Kenya was from the UK, but the African nation now sources them from China.
For countries facing unrest or terrorist threats, China's largest land armaments maker is offering a deterrentthe VN-4 armored vehicle.

More than 300 VN-4s have been sold overseas. [Photo/Xinhua]

More than 300 of them have been sold to five nations in Asia, South America and Africa since 2011, when the armored vehicle was exported to its first user, an Asian country.

This is according to a publicity officer at China North Industries Group Corp, known as Norinco, who spoke to China Daily in an exclusive interview.

Han Xiaoxin, publicity head at Chongqing Tiema Industries Group Co, a Norinco subsidiary that specializes in armored vehicles, said these contracts earned nearly 330 million yuan ($50.3 million) for the State-owned defense company.

"Since the beginning of this year, we have signed contracts with foreign clients for VN-4 deals with a total value of 4.7 million yuan.

"We have also reached cooperation agreements on the VN-4 with several countries in Asia and Africa," he said, adding that Chongqing Tiema is helping an Asian nation to build an assembly line for the vehicle, which will soon start operating.

The VN-4, which weighs 9 metric tons, is suitable for quick-response deployment and can travel in all types of terrain.

A wide variety of weapons can be installed on the vehicle at the buyer's request. It can be used to control riots, rescue hostages, for armed escorts, border patrols, and for counterterrorism and peacekeeping operations, Han said.

According to Chongqing Tiema, the VN-4 can carry 10 people, can conduct amphibious operations and is able to resist 7.62-mm bullets fired from assault rifles.

Han said, "The capability and performance of the VN-4 has been recognized by our clients. One of them, a South American country that has faced social unrest in recent years, bought a large number of VN-4s for its National Guard, which used them for many security tasks.

"Another buyer in Africa uses VN-4s to patrol and guard important outposts. It also wants to buy more of the vehicles."

He declined to identify the buyers, citing Norinco's confidentiality policy.

According to IHS Jane's Defense Weekly, the latest VN-4 buyer is Kenya, which commissioned 30 of the vehicles in February for its police force. The report also said Venezuela bought 141 VN-4s in early 2013.
For the left-behind children surveyed by a non-profit organization named "On the Way to School", 7.7 percent have not got a chance to meet their parents within a year and 2.7 percent even did not have any contact with their parents for an entire year.

A child weeps as her parents didn't show up on time to meet her in Dongguan city of South China's Guangdong province on July 30, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

In 2013, the All-China Women Federation said that there were 61,025,500 left-behind children in China. According to the surveyed result listed above, there should be about 4,700,000 left-behind children who do not meet their parents within a year and 1,650,000 left-behind children who make no contacts with their parents for a whole year.

7,432 rural students from 14 provinces are involved in the survey on the psychological conditions of left-behind children.

For this organization, children are defined as left-behind children as long as one or both the parents leave their hometowns and go to other places to live. Thus, they discover that the ratio of left-behind children amounts to 38.8 percent among all those considered in the surveyed as a whole.
Taiwan side should take full responsibility for suspension of communication mechanisms between the Chinese mainland and the island, a mainland spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Taiwan's current administration has not recognized the 1992 Consensus which endorses the one-China principle, shaking the political foundation for cross-Strait interaction, said An Fengshan of the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office at a press conference.

Suspended communication mechanisms include both the regular mechanism between cross-Strait affairs departments and the consultation mechanism between the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF).

Both operated on the basis of the 1992 Consensus. An said, "Peaceful development of cross-Strait ties since 2008 did not come out of the blue."

The mainland has not changed in its stance, An said. "It was the Taiwan side which changed the situation."

The key to ensuring negotiation and contact is whether the SEF will be authorized to confirm adherence to the consensus, An said.

"On such a fundamental question, ambiguity is of no avail," An said.
Two days ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's unprecedented state visit to China on June 25, 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the significance of the two countries' further strategic cooperation when meeting with Putin in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the signing of "the Sino-Russia Treaty of Friendship" and the 20th anniversary of the Sino-Russia Strategic Partnership of Cooperation.

The relationship between China and Russia can be considered one of the best models among the major countries in the world. As two important members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), they have worked closely while fighting against three vicious forces, namely, terrorism, secessionism and extremism, and have almost completely solved their historical disputes.

Aside from that, the two countries have both faced the challenges derived from geopolitics. Russia, a country that spans Eurasia, has seen the incessant expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which keeps heading into its territory; also, the hotspots of Ukraine and Syria have made Russia susceptible to immense criticism from the Western world. Meanwhile, China has also been prone to the grim sea territorial disputes as a result of the "Rebalancing" strategy launched by the United States, instigating China's neighboring countries to constantly challenge their neighbor's sovereign rights over the isles and reefs in the East and South China Seas.

The United States, in name of navigation protection, has deployed time and again aircraft carriers and fleets around the isles and reefs within China's territory, imposing the challenge that has therefore complicated the situations of the two countries in the Asia Pacific Region.

The relationship between China and Russia, which is built on bilateral cooperation with the respect of mutual interests, has been different from the alliances that the United States has sought in the Middle East and the Asia Pacific Region.

Sino-Russian relations are centered on the word "partnership" and can better elaborate the win-win strategies between the two countries, if not among the entire world, as China is willing to become partners with every country in the world. That may explain the reason why the two countries have never lost their independence in support of each other in the international community.

Economic cooperation between China and Russia, in addition to the traditional political ties which were considered superior to any other forms of relations, is also expected to garner great momentum in the post-global economic crisis era.

On the one hand, the "Belt and Road" (B&R) initiative proposed by China focuses on exporting productive capacities and investments to the countries along the strategic routes to ameliorate their infrastructure and amenities and upgrade their industries. On the other hand, Russia has made a strategic plan called "the Eurasia Economic Union" to echo the B&R initiative. In addition, the "Union" also involves Russia's development in the Far East, where China's capital and labor force can play a significant role in Russia's exploration.

However, the strategic plans of the two countries remain parallel which means that they have not yet formed a joint force. It would be a great achievement if the two countries choose to cooperate in economic and trading sectors. With the falling of energy prices which resulted in diminishing fiscal revenues, devalued currencies and uncontrollable financial risks, Russia and the middle Asian countries are in need of China's capital support as well as the exports of industrial capacity to help them upgrade their industries, and, more importantly, the improvement of infrastructure.

It cannot be ruled out that the two countries may carry out comprehensive cooperation considering the funds of the BRICS Group or Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) during their strategic partnership.

The recent state visit of Russian President Putin brought in more than 30 deals concerning the finance, tourism, nuclear energy and trade sectors.

The docking of the two major economies in the world will probably be conducive to breeding a win-win situation between them, which can also be instrumental to the countries in Eurasia by deepening economic cooperation.

The regional free trade also will offer a promising prospect corresponding to the tendency of globalization, which will benefit China, Russia and the rest of the countries in the region.

Although Russia and the countries in middle and western Asia currently may not be in need of free trade zones because of their less diversified industrial structure, falling energy prices and global economic uncertainty will eventually force them to transform their growth model from focusing on energy exports to manufacturing.

In view of this, the B&R initiative and "the Union", sharing the same goals, can render strategic support for regional free trade cooperation. Economic and cultural exchanges in the region will better balance the regional economies and work out the conundrum caused by the clash of civilizations among peoples from different races holding different religious beliefs.

As the two major countries in the region, China and Russia should contribute to building a shared community across Eurasia.

The author is a researcher from the Charhar Institute.

The article was first published in Chinese and translated by Wu Jin.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) rebels have killed 11 individuals in fresh clashes, raising the total number of casualties to dozens from both sides in recent days, reported local media on Tuesday.

IRGC commander in Iran's Kurdistan province, Brigadier General Mohammad Hossein Rajabi, said that forces have identified an 11-member team of "counter-revolutionary" rebels attempting to illegally cross into Iran through its border city of Sarvabad in Kurdisan, reported Tasnim news agency.

Once the rebels entered Iran, IRGC in Kurdistan placed them under surveillance, eventually leading to clashes and their death, Rajabi was quoted as saying.

Three IRGC troops were also killed, he said, without specifying the date of the clashes.

On June 16, the IRGC said its forces busted two terrorist cells in the north west of the country, killing twelve terrorists.

Three further IRGC members also lost their lives in clashes with "counter-revolutionary terrorist groups," it said.

Reports revealed that the "terrorists" were members of the outlawed "counter-revolutionary terrorist groups," including the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI).

The KDPI is a Kurdish political party located in Kurdistan, claiming to be fighting to secure Kurds' national rights.

The "counter-revolutionaries" in Iran's Kurdish region have for long been unsuccessfully opposing the 1979 Islamic revolution, according to Press TV.

Recently, the west of Iran has witnessed an increase of clashes between armed rebels and Iranian security forces.

On Sunday, IRGC's Ground Force Commander, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, said that troops will target terrorists and armed rebels both within the country's borders and beyond.

Pakpour's remarks referred to the recent clashes between the IRGC's forces and the Kurdish rebel groups in the north west of Iran.

The commander added that since these groups' headquarters are located in northern Iraq, the country's authorities must assume responsibility to prevent the rebel groups' operations which pose a threat to Iran's security.

Iran will target the terrorist groups' headquarters anywhere, he reaffirmed.

Subsequently, a Kurdish security source said that Iranian artillery struck Iran's Kurdish rebel posts located along the border within Kurdistan, the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq, wounding five people on Sunday.

"Iranian artillery pounded the border regions 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.

Iran's attack also targeted the villages of Alana, Kuna Re and Harman, in Haj Omran which is beside the Iranian border in the Chorman area of Arbil province, the source said.

No casualties were reported following the shelling against the villages, however several families were forced to leave their homes for safer areas, the source added.

Furthermore, a Press TV coverage dated June 13 revealed that Iranian security forces killed five members of the Jaish-ul-Adl terrorist group in the south east provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan.

The terrorists were allegedly planning terrorist attacks, police spokesman Saeed Montazer-al-Mahdi said, specifying that Iranian security forces confiscated substantial amounts of ammunition from the group.

Al-Mahdi said the terrorists were killed during clashes with the police forces, adding that a policeman was also killed during the clashes, the report quoted him as saying.

Jaish al-Adl, which translates from Arabic into the 'Army of Justice,' is the Sunni rebel group fighting for the rights of Sunni Muslims in the Iran's provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, and had repeatedly attacked Iran's border posts.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani accused Saudi Arabia of inciting unrest within Iran on Tuesday as well as its ongoing efforts aiming to cast doubt upon Iran's prowess, reported Press TV.

"The Saudis contacted some abject terrorist cells in Iran's east to cause trouble," Larijani said, adding that counter-revolutionaries also contacted terrorist groups in the country's west.

He urged increased vigilance in the face of such subversion.
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The Syrian government on Tuesday accused the Turkey-backed rebels in northern Syria of dismantling a key electricity station, and moving its parts and components into Turkey, according to the state news agency SANA.

The Turkey-backed Ahrar al-Sham Movement, and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front have plundered the components of the Zayzun Thermal Station for Generating Electricity in the countryside of the northwestern province of Idlib, smuggling them into the Turkish territories, said SANA.

SANA said the terror groups must have had external help from experts, as dismantling the components of the thermal station couldn't be done by normal people with no concerned knowledge.

The report said the authorities evacuated the station last year after repetitive attacks by the Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham.

The station used to feed hundreds of thousands of Syrian homes in the provinces of Latakia, Tartus and Hama with electricity.

Meanwhile, a source at the Ministry of Electricity was cited by SANA as saying that the rebels have opted to sabotage the infra-structure in Syria over the past years of crisis, to hit the economy of the war-torn country.

It added that the rebels, using high-tech machinery, have started stealing the components of the station of Zayzun a couple of months ago.

It said the current cost of the station is half a billion U.S. dollar.

The national TV went on to accuse the administration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of being responsible for the plundering of the station and other Syrian factories in northern Syria, mainly in the northern province of Aleppo, near Turkey.

The Syrian government repeatedly blamed the conflict on the Turkish support to the rebel groups in Syria.
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The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Tuesday that an aid convoy on Monday delivered much-needed supplies for 30,000 beneficiaries living in the town of Qudsaya in rural Damascus.

This is the second convoy to reach the city's residents this year after a first delivery was completed in May.

Latest OCHA data reveal that 900,000 civilians living in hard-to-reach and besieged Syrian areas have received life-saving assistance since relief operations kicked off earlier this year.

A breakdown of the figures shows that almost 57 percent of civilians living in besieged areas have received aid in 2016, while 12 percent of those living in hard-to-reach areas have been reached.

A total of 16 out of the 18 besieged areas have received vital humanitarian supplies, though aid convoys poised to reach Arbin and Zamalka in rural Damascus have yet to be granted access.

"The UN continues to call for unconditional, unimpeded, and sustained access to the nearly 5.5 million Syrian men, women and children in hard-to-reach locations," OCHA concluded in a statement.
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A U.S. destroyer moved dangerously close to a Russian warship in the Mediterranean, violating international and bilateral agreements, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

"On June 17, U.S. guided missile destroyer Gravely made a close encounter with a Russian frigate Yaroslav Mudry in the eastern Mediterranean at a distance of 60-70 meters on the port side and crossed its course at the bow (of the Russian ship) at a dangerous distance of 180 meters," the ministry said in a statement.

It said the Russian warship was sailing in international waters, maintaining constant course and speed without any dangerous maneuver towards the U.S. ship.

The ministry accused the U.S. destroyer's commander and crew of a "gross violation" of International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea and a Russia-U.S. intergovernmental agreement on avoiding incidents at sea signed in 1972.

"This incident shows that U.S. naval sailors allow themselves to forget about the fundamental principles of navigation security and give no thought to the consequences of such dangerous maneuvers in areas with heavy sea traffic," the ministry said.

The Russian side in April refuted media reports about dangerous maneuvers by Russian aircraft when encountering U.S. warships and military aircraft.

The Russian Defense Ministry then denied its acts were aggressive and insisted all flights were held in accordance with international law.
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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned strongly the terror attack at Istanbul Ataturk Airport in a statement late on Tuesday, urging the world to take a firm stand against terrorism.

"This attack once again revealed the dark face of terrorist organizations targeting innocent civilians." Erdogan said in the written statement.

"It is obvious that this attack does not aim to attain any results but merely aims to produce propaganda material against our country by shedding the blood of and causing pain for innocent civilians." He added.

Erdogan stated that the attack, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorism strikes with no regard for faith and values.

He appealed governments, parliaments, media and civil society organizations around the world to take a firm stand against terrorism.

Meanwhile, the Turkish president offered his condolences to the victims' families and Turkish nation in the terror attack.

The statement was issued after the meeting which President Erdogan chaired at the Presidential Complex, attended by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar.

At least 36 were killed and more than 140 injured in the bombing attacks at Ataturk international airport on Tuesday night.

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated over the past year, with Istanbul, the national capital of Ankara and other cities having already been hit by a number of bombing attacks.
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Pakistani Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali said that sustainable development will only happen if poverty is tackled and the environment is protected. The Minister of State made these remarks during the G20 Conference on Energy Access being held in Beijing from June 29-30. Minister Abid Sher Ali is leading the Pakistan delegation at the Conference convened to discuss the role of energy access in poverty alleviation and regional economic growth.

In his speech, Mr. Abid Sher Ali highlighted the importance of access to energy and sustainable development as a main challenge for developing countries. He stated that rapid expansion of clean and sustainable energy offers a win-win solution for the poor and the environment. Growth of renewable energy is necessary to provide energy services and to create the economies of scale necessary for global expansion of renewable energy.

The Minister of State shared the measures being taken by the Government of Pakistan to ensure energy security and sustainable development. Vision 2025 aims to ensure uninterrupted access to affordable and clean energy for economic growth and security of Pakistan to have good quality of life and high living standard for all citizens, increasing dependence on domestic resources and job creation, he said.
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European leaders have urged Britain to act quickly to resolve the political and economic chaos and speed up the Brexit process during a European Union (EU) summit held for the first time since Britons voted to leave the EU.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told a press conference mid-night the British should trigger the article 50 "as soon as possible."

"I hope the notification by the next British government will arrive as soon as possible. We want the article 50 to be triggered as soon as possible that is what the three Presidents want," Juncker said.

"It has to be speed up. We don't have months to meditate. We have to act," he added.

European Council President Donald Tusk, during the same conference, said he expected the intentions of the British government to be specified as soon as possible.

"Respecting the will of the British people, we all recognized that a process of orderly exit was in everyone's, and especially, in the UK's interest," said Tusk.

"Leaders understand that some time is now needed to allow the dust to settle in the UK. But they also expect the intentions of the UK government to be specified as soon as possible," he underlined. "This was a very clear message which I believe Prime Minister Cameron will take back to London," he added.

In a separate press conference, British Prime Minister Cameron outlined the results of the referendum Thursday last week and underlined the divorce talks will not only be triggered by his successor.

Britain will discuss with the EU and examine all the ways following the historic referendum but the incumbent British government will not initiate Britain's exit procedure, Cameron told the press.

London and Brussels will negotiate on how to deal with the vote and the decision to trigger a British exit may only be made by "next cabinet" and "next prime minister," he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a national press conference at the end of the first day of the EU summit that she believed the British decision to leave the EU can't be reversed.

"I want to say very clearly tonight that I see no way to reverse the decision. We would do well to accept this reality," Merkel said, when asked about the the possibility of a British U-turn on Brexit.

She added that this is not a time for "wishful thinking", but to see things as they are.

During the first day of the summit, European leaders also considered the post-Brexit economic situation in the presence of the European Central Bank president, who reassured about the good and constant cooperation of central banks.

"However, it was also made clear that Brexit means substantially lower growth in the UK, with a possible negative spillover all over the world," said Tusk.

Juncker also told reporters that the European Commission will do everything to prevent "bank run."

"The banking sector in Italy and elsewhere in Europe will be protected in the best way as possible," said Juncker.

In addition to the fallout of the referendum, European leaders also discussed and took important decisions on the single market, the digital market, the capital markets union, on stemming irregular migration and on closer cooperation with NATO.

"We agreed to step up work with African countries on returns of irregular migrants, and on measures that would stabilize the situation in Libya," said Tusk.

He said EU-NATO co-operation was discussed in the presence of NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg ahead of the Warsaw Summit, with participants pledging to enhance EU-NATO ties given unprecedented challenges from the South and East.

"We decided on steps to deepen the Single Market further, especially when it comes to the digital market. We will also continue to develop the capital markets union despite the recent turmoil," Tusk added.
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Workers pack dog food at a factory in Qingdao, Shandong province. The growth rate in the value of fast-moving consumer goods in China was 3.5 percent in 2015. [Yu Fangping/For China Daily]

The growth rate in the value of fast-moving consumer goods in China reached a five-year low of 3.5 percent in 2015, according to an industry report.

The fifth annual China Shopper Report, issued by Bain & Company and Kantar Worldpanel, suggests that the rise of the service sector in China and its higher paying jobs has helped boost growth among brands in premium categories, such as yogurt and pet food. It also says that foreign brands are continuing to lose battles to local brands in this sector.

Brands in categories that traditionally cater to blue-collar workers are suffering as many manufacturing jobs move to lower-cost countries. For example, in 2015, sales of instant noodles declined by 12.5 percent and beer by 3.6 percent.

Last year, local companies' sales grew by nearly 8 percent and continue to gain share over their foreign rivals. Their biggest advance occurred in skin care, baby diapers, hair conditioners, toothpaste and shampoo.

Foreign companies generated their greatest share increase in fabric softener, infant formula, instant noodles and beer. However, foreign brands overall declined by 1.4 percent in 2015.

"Local companies have wider distribution networks particularly in lower-tier cities where growth is higher. They can make faster decisions and are more adaptable in the digital environment than their foreign peers, achieving a higher growth rate," said Jason Yu, general manager of Kantar Worldpanel China.

For example, Shanghai Jahwa uses its knowledge of Chinese herbal beauty therapy to win over consumers.

The country's retail landscape has also evolved with smaller formats continuing to gain momentum. Notably, convenience stores generated 13.2 percent growth in value last year, catering to cash-rich and time-poor urban consumers.

Online shopping continues to define the modern retail environment in China. Over the last four years, e-commerce in China has grown at an annual rate of about 37 percent and generated revenue of nearly 4 trillion yuan. The report has found that baby-related categories and skin care continue to dominate the e-commerce market.
A clerk counts money for a client at an Agricultural Bank of China branch in Hainan province. [Photo/IC]

China's 16 listed banks have cut their dividend payouts for past year amid slowing net profit growth.

According to the National Business Daily, the 16 listed banks plan to return 356.2 billion yuan to shareholders as cash dividends in 2015, a decrease of 8.3 billion yuan from the previous year.

The banks' ability to return money to shareholders have declined. The slowing earning growth, high nonperforming loans and required deposits on the reserve have placed pressure on the banks in regards to capital supplement, said Guo Tianyong, director of the China Banking Research Center at the Central University of Finance and Economics.

The banking industry has been experiencing a low profit growth period and will be for a long time, the National Business Daily reported, citing an expert. He said the banks' yearly profits growth reached 35 to 40 per cent in the past dozen years, but now the growth had slowed to less than 1 per cent, with some banks even recording a loss. Influenced by the current economic situation, and resource relocation in China's financial market, the banking industry is away from the high-speed growth period, the expert added.

Although the banks' dividend to shareholders is shrinking, it still accounted for half of the combined dividends of all public companies in China. The banks' earnings also made up 52 per cent of the total profits reported by these listed companies.

Some of them still give high return to their shareholders, paying out 30 per cent of their net profits. China Merchants Bank is generous; its dividend reached 30.16 per cent of its net profits.

According to the financial data provider Wind Information Co Ltd, listed companies in China's A-share market earned 2.47 trillion yuan in profits last year. Of those listed companies, 2000 plan to pay out 700 billion yuan to their shareholders.
BEIJING - The pace of decline in China's national rail freight volume, an indicator of economic activity, narrowed in the first five months of 2016 as the economy showed signs of stabilization, according to official data.

Rail freight volume for the first five months of 2016 fell 7.7 percent year on year to 1.318 billion tons, compared with a 7.9-percent drop in the first four months, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Railways carried 270 million tons of cargo in May, down 7 percent year on year, said the NDRC.

China posted its weakest economic growth since the global financial crisis in the first quarter, weighed down by weak demand both at home and abroad, industrial overcapacity and faltering investment.

Although downward pressure persisted, economic indicators suggested some stabilization.

In the first five months, industrial output grew 5.9 percent from one year earlier, up from 5.8 percent registered during the January-April period.
UNITED NATIONS - Over the past decades, China has had a good record in aviation safety while developing the industry at a high speed, the head of the UN specialized agency for civil aviation has said.

Its experience in this regard needs to be shared by other countries, particularly the developing ones, Liu Fang, secretary general of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), told Xinhua in an interview.

Liu said that China is the second largest country in the world in terms of total volume of passengers and cargo carried by air transportation behind the United States.

Statistics from the Civil Aviation Administration of China showed it was estimated that passengers made a total of 440 million trips in 2015, up 11.4 percent year on year. International routes also registered an explosion, increasing to 660 international routes.

"At present, China is a major power in world civil aviation," Liu said. "Its experience in this regard should be shared by other countries."

Cooperation for security

"It is our hope that ICAO and China will further their cooperation so that more countries can share China's experience," she said. "This is conducive to the development of global civil aviation."

She said that her agency is a very good platform to share China's relevant experience with the other 190 member states, particularly those developing nations.

Liu said that governments of the member states, including China, attach great importance to the safe and secure air transport systems. "I would like to see all member states, including the Chinese government, to enhance their cooperation and collaboration," she said.

"We also would like to see strengthened cooperation between ICAO and China in the field of technical assistance and technical cooperation," she said.

A challenge in global civil aviation lies in the uneven implementation among all member states of international standards, she said.

"We set a global target for this global implementation, for now, that is 60 percent. However, some States are still unable to reach this target," she said, adding that ICAO would like to raise this rate to 80 percent or even 90 percent in the coming years.

"So, clearly, there is a need for the States which are really in need to get proper support and assistance in terms of expertise, in terms of funding resources, to help them establish national regulatory system, to help them get proper capacity in terms of expertise and to help them establish a technical system to do the job."

To reach the target, the Montreal-based ICAO has put forward the "No country left behind" initiative, she said.

Contribution to China's Belt and Road Initiative

Meanwhile, Liu said that aviation can also play a very active role in boosting efforts to carry out China's Belt and Road Initiative, put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, she said.

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.

"We know China has the Belt and Road Initiative. I think one of the important components is infrastructure development for a lot of our member states," she said. "I think this is what they really need. For that part, aviation safety and security is one of the important components."

"I think ICAO can contribute to this initiative through our technical expertise, through our technical advice to that endeavor," she said. "Through the strengthened cooperation, we would like to assist countries in this region, and also in developing countries at large which are in need to effectively implement our standards."

"We hope we can strengthen this cooperation with the Chinese government to enhance these states' effective implementation level of our standards to ensure the safe and secure operation of air transport around the world," she said.

At the same time, Liu noted that nowadays more and more Chinese are travelling abroad by air.

"So it is hoped that the Chinese citizens wherever they fly on whatever airline, they will be safely and securely transported to the destination they are looking for," she said.

"For ICAO, we would like also to take a balanced approach to aviation security and facilitation of passenger and cargo flow through the airports," she said.

"When you go through every airport as a passenger, you will go through the security procedure, that is to ensure the aircraft operation and airport to be operated in a safe and secure manner," she said.

"Meanwhile, we will try to get this process to be efficiently managed and handled, to be user friendly and we will encourage our member states, when implementing these security standards, to think of facilitation -- to facilitate the cargo and passenger flow to ensure our air transport is speedy and efficient. That is one of the most important characters of the air transport," she said.

Liu was at UN Headquarters in New York to brief the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the UN Security Council on the challenges in the global aviation security and how to strengthen cooperation in this regard.

In March 2015, Liu, a Chinese national, was appointed as the secretary general of ICAO for a three-year term, beginning on Aug. 1, 2015.

She becomes the first woman ever to head the UN specialized agency for civil aviation, and only the second ICAO secretary general from the Asia Pacific region.
Workers at a construction site in Yichang, Hubei province. [ZHOU JIANPING / CHINA DAILY]

The economic growth rate in the second quarter stood at 6.7 percent, which is consistent with the first quarter, according to a report by the National Academy of Economic Strategy and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

Experts pointed out that in the end of May, broad money's growth rate was more than 10 percent lower than that of narrow money, given that substantial capital flew into housing loan, which can harm long-term economic sustainable growth.

Guo Kesha, CASS director for the Center for Economic Policy, said that the sign of economic stability at this stage is contributed by government investment. The downward investment pressure will show in the next stage.

"The biggest risk is that the real estate bubble might burst," he said.

Wang Hongju, deputy director at the National Academy of Economic Strategy, said that the economy is expected to grow 6.7 percent; CPI is expected to increase by two percent in the second half of this year. The economic structure shows a weak balance, while both domestic and overseas market demand shows weak signs.

"Even though the overall pessimistic expectations towards downward economic pressure have turned around, enterprises still lack confidence," Wang said.

"We expect to see private and real estate investment as well as infrastructure investment slow down."
Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group, speaks during the opening ceremony of MYbank in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, June 25, 2015. [Photo/VCG]

MYbank, the internet-bank backed by e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group, said on Wednesday it had offered loans to 1.7 million small and micro businesses during its first year of operation.

According to a statement released by the Hangzhou-based MYbank, it has a balance of loans of 23 billion yuan$3.46 billion) so far.

As one of the first private banks in China, MYbank, which started its operation on June 25 last year, has been focusing on providing financial services to small and micro businesses, young entrepreneurs and those in rural China.

MYbank announced last year it would provide a special loan worth 1 billion yuan every year for the next three years to encourage college graduates to innovate and start up their own businesses.

In China's rural areas, it has provided a service called Wangnongdai, offering small loans to business owners. The service has covered 4,852 villages across China's 25 provinces.
Visitors walk in front of the ZTE stand at the Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona, Spain, Feb 22, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Given the capacity and performance bottlenecks of the existing 4G networks and 5G's commercial use still four years away, ZTE unveiled a solution that aims to eliminate the frustration.

As the first vendor to propose Pre5G technology concepts and series solutions, the company released a white paper named "Pre5G: Building the Bridge to 5G" on Wednesday at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Shanghai.

According to Xiang Jiying, ZTE's chief scientist, as the bridge from 4G to 5G, Pre5G focuses on the following three fields: enhanced mobile bandwidth, IoT and cloud networks.

Compared to 4G, Pre5G achieves a six-fold increase in system capacity, a five-fold increase in average bandwidth and 100 times the number of connections per unit area.

"Pre5G networks will begin with IaaS (virtual-network-based function), gradually developed to PaaS (open and programmable network), and finally achieve XaaS (fully open network capability) to support end-to-end 5G sliced networks and service innovation," Xiang said.

According to the company, ZTE Pre5G involves not only the application of key 5G technologies with commercial capabilities (for example, Massive MIMO) on 4G networks to provide 5G user experiences on existing commercial 4G terminals, but also the enhancement of LTE-A Pro technologies in 3GPP architecture.
Photo taken on Jan. 29, 2016 shows the UK and EU flags outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.[Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - Britain's decision to leave the European Union (Brexit) could have important implications for the country's exchange rate and monetary policies, according to a senior J.P. Morgan economist.

Brexit was a major shock to the global financial market and economy, with its full impact still unfolding, J. P. Morgan China Chief Economist Zhu Haibin said in a research note.

It will lead to more volatility in the global foreign exchange market, and to avoid sharp exchange rate fluctuations, the Chinese central bank may have to fine-tune its foreign exchange policy as it maintains the current market-based exchange rate regime, Zhu said.

He forecast that the exchange rate of the yuan would weaken to 6.75 against one US dollar by the end of 2016, but said this is more likely to be driven by a strong dollar rather than the depreciation of the yuan.

After Brexit, as major economies favor additional monetary easing or slower pace in monetary policy normalization, China's monetary policy will stay neutral rather than shift towards tightening, Zhu said.

China's monetary policy could have a slight easing bias if the macro economic situation weakens again, the economist predicted.
video video video

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai kicked off on Wednesday at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. This year marks the 5th anniversary of the Asia's biggest mobile industry event.

The event is organised by the GSMA and held each year in Shanghai. It brings together Asia's mobile industry executives to tech-savvy consumers to experience a connected life full of new technologies and products, such as virtual reality, Internet of Things and 5G implement applications.

This year, the organizer also introduces two startups events, Four Years from Now (4YFN) and YoMo: The Youth Mobile Festival for mobile enthusiasts aged 10-18.

The three-day exhibition (from June 29 to July 1) runs alongside a two day industry-leading conference, and is expected to attract more than 50,000 attendees and decision makers around the world.
The central government has spent less on its daily operations for three successive years, according to the National Audit Office on Wednesday.

The anti-corruption campaign, launched more than three years ago, has resulted in reduced spending by government officials on overseas travel, the use of office cars and entertaining guests  known as the "three public expenses".

This is according to the office's annual report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top lawmaking body.

The audit report said a general improvement was seen in the way budgeted spending was compiled by 42 departments and their 241 subordinate bodies under the State Council.

The report said budgeted spending on the "three public expenses" fell by 11.7 percent last year from the previous year.

This was after the same types of spending fell by 27 percent in 2014 and by 11 percent in 2013, when measured against actual spending.

The report also said there was a sharp decline in the illegal use of public funds. However, Liu Jiayi, China's auditor general, said there were still breaches of clean-government rules.

Spending on purchases of official cars exceeded the budget in 20 government bodies, involving 6.23 million yuan ($937,615).

Three offices supervised by the Ministry of Land and Resources overshot their budgets by 1.26 million yuan, while two bodies with the Ministry of Civil Affairs overspent by 598,000 yuan.

On overseas travel, four central government departments and 11 subordinate bodies were more than 3.84 million yuan over budget, including 1.14 million yuan by the China Banking Regulatory Commission and 924,600 yuan by the All-China Women's Federation.

The General Administration of Customs and the Cultural Palace of Nationalities overspent on receptions, the report said.

Many of the problems reported are being corrected by government bodies, Liu told national lawmakers.

Zhu Lijia, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Governance who specializes in public management and anti-graft studies, said improved central government budgetary discipline is largely due to increasingly rigorous efforts in the anti-corruption campaign.

"But it's still not good enough," he said, adding that the public will need more detailed reports about the use of the government budget.
A worker adjusts the logo at the stand of Huawei at the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover, Mar 15, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

Chinese technology company Huawei told the British government on Tuesday that its planned investment in the country would go ahead despite its voting to leave the European Union, business minister Sajid Javid said.

"Investors have reaffirmed their commitment to the UK. For example just today Huawei confirmed to the government that its planned 1.3 billion pound ($1.73 billion) investment in the UK will go ahead as planned," he told a news conference.

Securing access to the European Union's single market is the top goal in Brexit negotiations, Javid said on Tuesday, as a business group warned the government was a long way from having a clear plan for its future ties with the bloc.

The minister hosted a meeting of business organizations and representatives from Britain's largest trade sectors to seek to reassure them after last week's shock referendum vote to leave the EU sparked a meltdown in financial markets.

"The biggest issue raised was the need to secure continued access to the single market. While I am not in any position to make promises, I assured everyone that my number one priority will be just that in the negotiations to come," he said after the meeting.

Javid, who had campaigned for Britain to remain in the bloc, is seen as a candidate to become the next finance minister in a new government after Prime Minister David Cameron announced he would step down by October.

Business groups have urged the government to explain how the world's fifth largest economy will extricate itself from a bloc it joined in 1973. Economists have already warned Britain could tip into recession, hitting the stock prices of sectors such as housebuilders, holiday groups and airlines.

The government invited representatives from some of Britain's largest sectors, including aerospace, defense, automotive, oil and gas, steel, rail, tourism and food and drink to the meeting, which it said would be the first in a series.

Cameron is also due to meet business leaders later in the week to discuss the impact of the referendum result.
Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, speaks at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2016 during the World Economic Forum 2016 Summer Davos in Tianjin, June 26, 2016.[Photo/IC]

TIANJIN - Ride-hailing firm Uber is looking to expand further into China's lower-tier cities, where business has been growing faster than in top-tier cities, CEO Travis Kalanick has said.

"We are seeing second- and third-tier cities grow far faster than the first-tier cities, so we are really excited about expanding there," said Kalanick in an exclusive interview with Xinhua during a meeting of the World Economic Forum, which is being held through Thursday in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.

Uber has announced plans to expand its ride-hailing service to 100 Chinese cities this year. It now operates in nearly 60 cities, including many lower-tier cities also targeted by domestic rival Didi.

Uber has secured over $6 billion in its latest funding round. Liu Zhen, Uber China's head of strategy, said this month that most of the money raised will be used to fund Uber's operations in China.

While the company has generated over $1 billion in profits from its top 30 cities, Kalanick said it has not yet made money in any Chinese cities where the company operates, even though it provides more trips in China than any other country.

The strong demand for better transportation in lower-tier Chinese cities also gives Uber more breathing room than in bigger cities, where Didi dominates.

"I lose half an hour of sleep every night because of competition for China," Kalanick said.

A growing number of automakers are placing bets on ride-hailing firms. Toyota has invested in Uber, while Volkswagen has bought a stake in Gett in Europe and General Motors has backed Lyft in the United States.

To keep up with rival Didi, Kalanick said it must continue investment in China.

"We have to invest right now because we have a competitor that's also investing," he said.

Earlier this month, Didi announced $4.5 billion in equity financing, including $1 billion from Apple.

However, Kalanick would love to see the funding race end sooner.

"We all have to be sustainable at some point, and I can't wait till that happens. But for the time being, we are going to keep investing."
Premier assures foreign firms and says more will be done to tackle financial risks

Premier Li Keqiang meets with representatives of business leaders attending Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin on June 28.[Photo/Xinhua]

Premier Li Keqiang promised wider market access for foreign investment and intensified efforts to tackle financial risks when he addressed a roomful of corporate executives in Tianjin on Tuesday.

"The participation of foreign firms is needed in China's efforts to push economic transformation and upgrading through reform and innovation, and to realize healthy and sustainable growth," Li said.

He was taking part in a question-and-answer session on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos.

Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, a California-based company, asked Li about the biggest challenges facing the Chinese economy.

The premier said these included impeding the county's reform and transition, where foreign businesses can play a role.

He said foreign technology and managerial expertise will help Chinese companies and the country's industrial upgrading.

Li said the country will further ease market access for foreign investment and it is committed to building an environment for fair competition.

He did not specify the areas for more relaxed access, but at the opening of the Summer Davos on Monday, Li said the country would open the service and general manufacturing sectors wider and treat Chinese and foreign companies equally.

"China has the biggest potential for investment and should become the world's most appealing destination for investment," he said.

Li added that despite difficulties or even friction that foreign investors may experience when doing business in China, the vast majority of these companies could earn a high return on investment.

"Vast majority means possibly 99 percent (of them)," Li said.

He thanked KPMG for its support and expertise in improving China's accounting system.
Huo Liangyu (right), a crop grower in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, talks with Ge Zhongkui, head of a local crop enterprise, about cooperation in wheat processing this month. Unfavorable weather conditions in the province have caused a significant decrease in crop yield. Ji Chunpeng / For China Daily

China's summer crop yield is set to drop for the first time in six years as a result of a reduction in acreage, unfavorable weather conditions and adjustments in the crop structure, according to analysts.

The country's total crop harvest this summer is estimated at 121.8 million metric tons, according to a report by the CropWatch research team, the country's leading crop monitoring system.

The drop in yield is mainly the result of a 1.8 percent decrease in summer crop acreage in 2015, with a large number of rapeseed farmers opting to rotate their crop or switch to wheat as a result of sluggish domestic prices.

It also comes as the country's agricultural authorities push supply-side reforms to cope with a massive surplus in the country's grain reserves, estimated to be about 600 million metric tons as of May.

The CropWatch team is part of the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It assesses national and global crop production using remote sensing and ground-based indicators.

China's summer crops are mainly wheat, corn, barley, broadbeans and peas.

The decrease in acreage was most significant in Jiangsu province, where the summer crop planting fell 8.6 percent from the previous year, according to CropWatch.

However, the fact that many farmers switched from rapeseeds to wheat has helped increase per-unit yield, and thus helped mitigate the impact of the acreage decrease.

Cao Hui, a senior researcher at the Ministry' of Agriculture's Research Center for Rural Economy, predicted that the country's wheat production would decrease this year for the first time in 12 years.
Gao Yunfu (with eyeglasses) introduces his cultivating edible fungus business to officials of Huichang county.

A series of training workshops for government officials has been initiated in Huichang county, Jiangxi province, by its top official, Cai Xiaowei.

In December, the first group of 166 cadres began their training.

In addition to reading books and listening to lectures, Cai asked the officials to conduct six field studies over a two-month period, covering poverty relief, countryside tourism, rural e-commerce and waste treatment in villages.

As it often rains in Huichang, Cai said he sometimes had to wear wellington boots while paying these visits to rural households.

Most recently, Cai visited Leishi village, where he met Gao Yunfu, a young innovator and pioneer in cultivating edible fungus.

"Gao is a promising entrepreneur, knowing and enjoying what he is doing," Cai told fellow officials and business executives he brought to visit Gao's company.

"He has some brilliant ideas and possesses the know-how to produce high-quality edible fungus."

Gao is known for growing bamboo fungus, which is considered a delicacy. Last year, he offered free training and consultation for at least 4,000 people from all over the country.

The problem for Gao is that he has more ideas than he can translate into products, due in large part to his lack of money and manpower. Cai encouraged business executives to invest in Gao's company.

"The angel investment in this startup will help turn Gao's ideas into products; not all of them will be successful in the market, but some of them will be," Cai said. "This is the so-called incubator I plan to set up in Huichang."

Cai said he was impressed by the spectacular success of a high-tech and science incubator in Shenzhen's Nanshan district, Guangdong province. After visiting the Nanshan facility, Cai decided that Huichang should also have one to encourage startups to grow.

"Huichang is endowed with natural beauty and abundant natural resources, such as minerals and rivers, but residents here have comparatively less knowledge about advanced things and cutting-edge technology," Cai said.

Reading and field studies are the best way to accumulate knowledge, improve people's morale and their ability to solve problems, Cai said, as he changed shoes.

He was planning to visit a seedling base and a vegetable cooperative next.
Cai Xiaowei, the top official in Huichang county, Jiangxi province, places a wreath at the county's cemetery for revolutionary martyrs.Photos By Zhang Xiao / China Daily

Huichang is the first place in China to pilot the ISO9001 anti-corruption system

Editor's Note: Cai Xiaowei, the top official in Huichang, leads a county of about half a million people by drawing on the vision and wisdom he receives from intensive reading and field research. An interview with Cai offers a glimpse into how Chinese officials at the grassroots level strive to ensure exemplary government and sound economic growth.

Cai Xiaowei needs a lot of shoes and even more books to live and work in a far-flung county in East China's Jiangxi province.

The top official of Huichang, about 450 km from the provincial capital of Nanchang, usually has four pairs of shoes in his car, stored alongside his favorite books, such as The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman.

"When you walk on dirt roads, you need flat shoes; when navigating through hilly areas, you need to wear hiking boots," the 46-year-old said.

As for the books, "I need to read them all the time, any time I'm free."

Cai, who was promoted to lead the mountainous county 18 months ago, is a typical example of how Chinese officials at grassroots levels can benefit from both hands-on experience and deriving ideas from the printed page.

Looking at the path Cai has taken may also offer some clues about how Chinese authorities groom young officials.

From age 24 through 44, Cai worked as a police officer, township chief, public procurator and deputy county magistrate in different parts of Jiangxi province.

Based on his merits, he was appointed Party chief of Huichang county - at 2,700 square kms, roughly the size of urban Miami - in October 2014.

The first few months were difficult and even dangerous for the novice official.

His predecessor, Fu Chunrong, was placed under investigation for "grave violation of discipline and regulations", a euphemism for corruption, in February that year, and almost all the county's major projects were halted due to depleted funds.

"I started with educating cadres; as for the development projects involving massive investment, I reviewed them one by one, shutting down some of them for good and wooing investors for others, " Cai said.

He initiated a "Lanshan Reading" activity in late 2014, requiring all government officials to read two books a month, and write a review on one of them.

"In my case, I finished all the designated books in the first half of the year," Cai said.

Most on the book list are bestsellers, such as The Governance Of China by President Xi Jinping, and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.

"You are what you read, and chances are that a genuine book lover is a problem solver and innovator," Cai said.

In every region of China, a force of well-educated, disciplined cadres is the key to sound social and economic development, he said.

Within half a year of taking office, the situation in Huichang had stabilized. Cai then pushed for a pilot of the ISO9001 anti-graft system, which seeks to identify hazards, assess risks and offers ways to control them for clean government.

"Every government employee is required to pinpoint the hazards or risks he or she may face," Cai said.

"For me, the greatest risk is how to exercise the power of approving and appointing officials. I'm well aware of the perils."

Part of the ISO9001 system is a "Smart Anti-Corruption App", which had been downloaded by at least 4,300 officials and 12,000 residents in Huichang by March.

It alerts officials to what they should refrain from doing.

It also offers a way for residents to report violations of rules and regulations.

"We are cooperating with the China Quality Mark Certification Group to improve the ISO9001 system, which is assessed by a third party, the Standardization Administration of China," Cai said.

"If it works well in Huichang, the pilot anti-corruption mechanism could be disseminated nationwide."

Huichang literally means 'will prosper'

Huichang, a county of about half a million people in East China's Jiangxi province, is thought to have got its name by accident.

The naming took place in 982, the same year that Viking Erik the Red discovered the world's largest island and named it Greenland, despite its abundant ice, in a bid to attract settlers.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, authorities in China's Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) wanted to create a county in what is today's Jiangxi province, but could not think of a name.

According to legend, several workers digging a well in what is now the county seat found 12 ancient bricks, each bearing the characters for hui chang, which literally means "will prosper".

Satisfied that such a name would augur well for the county, the officials declared it would be henceforth known as "Huichang", and the name has been used ever since.

zhaohuanxin@chinadaily.com.cn




China launched a national water rights exchange on Tuesday, allowing for the trading of water between different areas and users.

It's part of a stepped-up effort by the authorities to encourage water conservation nationwide.

The China Water Exchange will enable the trading of rights to use water between users, and will provide consultation, technical evaluation and intermediary services, according to a statement released by the body.

Water to be exchanged via the platform must be certified as legally merchantable by county-level authorities or higher, according to Zhang Bin, general manager of the exchange.

"There must also be corresponding projects that require the diversion of water, as well as methods to meter the flow," he said at a news briefing on Tuesday.

He said holders of water rights can seek potential buyers through public listings on the platform or may negotiate private agreements before seeking authorization and monitoring.

Under a regulation issued by the Ministry of Water Resources, the transfer of water rights will be conducted in three forms: the transfers between different administrative areas, including county-level government or above; transfers of user rights linked to a specific water source; and the transfer of irrigation rights.

In one of the deals reached on Tuesday, an irrigation area in Zhongwei, the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, agreed to sell 2.19 million metric tons of water to a local power plant for 0.93 yuan ($0.14) per ton.

Zhang said the earnings from the trading of water rights in all forms will be mainly devoted to upgrading water conservation facilities and to further improve efficiency in water use in the source area.

The launch of the water exchange is aimed at balancing water resources and usage nationwide, as well as enhancing the conservation efforts, said Chen Mingzhong, head of the ministry's water resources department, in a news briefing on Tuesday.

"The country's water shortage will get worse in the future. We need to give full play to market allocation to help solve the problem, beyond the allocation by authorities," he said.

In 2010, the country completed the allocation of water resources available to different provincial areas and different industries, looking ahead to 2030.

The trading of water began between Dongyang and Yiwu, Zhejiang province, in the early 2000s. Since then, there have been water trading programs in seven provincial areas in North and Northwest China, according to the ministry.

xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn
BEIJING - There were 1,341 vocational colleges for higher education in China in 2015, according to the Ministry of Education (MOE) Tuesday.

These colleges were attended by 10.48 million students in 2015, accounting for 41.2 percent of all college undergraduates.

These vocational institutes also provided on-the-job training to 20 million people in 2015.

Vocational colleges offer occupational courses, and are important to transforming higher education from an elite area to one for the masses, said Ge Daokai, director of the Department of Vocational and Adult Education with the MOE.

As of 2015, all the provincial regions in China had established financial support systems for vocational colleges. Annual financial subsidies on each student should be no less than 12,000 yuan (1,806 U.S. dollars) in 2017, according to the MOE.

A budget of 5 billion yuan from the government is also expected from 2016 to 2020, to promote the combination of production and study and build a modern vocational education system.
More than 87 million members of the Communist Party of China will face punishment if they are disloyal or corrupt, or if they fail to perform their duty, under a new rule passed at a top-level Party meeting on Tuesday.

An intra-Party accountability regulation was adopted by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee - the country's top decision-making body. President Xi Jinping presided over the meeting.

"The new regulation is a powerful tool to tighten the overall management of the Party," according to a statement issued after the meeting. It said being loyal, clean and willing to undertake responsibility are requirements for Party members, particularly leaders and officials.

Those whose dereliction of duty leads to serious consequences, whose behaviors hamper the political foundation of the Party or triggers strong public complaints will be held accountable, the release said.

Details of the regulation, including what kind of punishments would be applied, were not made public.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the top disciplinary watchdog, said on its website on Tuesday that, as of the end of May, 290 people in East China's Fujian province had been held accountable in an inspection that started late last year.

Problems named ranged from equipping officials with luxurious cars to leaving a piece of land designated for industrial use idle for years. Punishments for those responsible included disciplinary warnings, demotions and firings.

CCDI chief Wang Qishan said early this month that formulating the regulation would send a strong signal to the entire Party that the CPC is serious about the accountability of its cadres.

The Party "must hold people accountable for the transformation from lax and soft to tight and rigid," he was quoted as saying by Xinhua News Agency.

Li Yongzhong, former vice-president of the China Academy of Discipline Inspection and Supervision, said the central government's accountability regulation mainly targeted officials back in 2009, but the new rule is now binding for the more than 87 million Party members nationwide.
The rape victim is helped out of a suitcase by students passing by. [Photo/Sina Weibo]

The latest rape case in which a young woman was raped by her flat mate puts the safety of women under the spotlight.

The woman was found locked up in a suitcase, naked, near a lake in Xiangtan, Central China's Hunan province, on Monday evening. A group of college students opened the case and dressed her.

After police investigation, it was revealed that she had been raped by a 23-year-old man, surnamed Pan, who shared a flat with her. The perpetrator put her into a case and intended to get rid of it after the woman passed out in the assault.

Pan abandoned the suitcase and jumped into the lake near where the victim woke and her cry for help drew the attention of passersby.

The escaped perpetrator was later arrested in the lake by police.

After a video clip about the woman's rescue was uploaded onto China's micro blog site Sina Weibo, the news hashtag #naked woman locked up in suitcase# attracted more than 100 million views. It outraged many netizens and sparked calls for women to raise their safety awareness.

Some expressed sympathy for the victim. "Heart broken. Girls should well protect themselves," said Weixin 11733.

Others called for the harsh punishment on violators. "Death penalty on rapists would greatly improve women's safety," remarked Li Anna.

In China, offenders in a sexual assault face at least three years in prison and the death penalty if the violation is serious.

Related: How to protect yourself from assault
Duan Haijun from Chongqing Normal University and his painting. [Photo/People's Daily Online]

A senior named Duan Haijun from Chongqing Normal University recently became an Internet sensation thanks to his photo-like drawings painted using ballpoint pens, Chongqing Economic Times reported on Monday. Duan's amazing drawings astonished many netizens.

According to Duan, shocked by a vivid blue rose drawn by ballpoint pen, he started his artistic creation efforts during the last year of high school. However, having zero experience with such drawings, he had to devote a large amount of time practicing. A 10-hour practice was usual back then.

Duan has a callus on the middle finger of his right hand. It was formed during his practice. His works, including those portraits, landscape painting or paintings of animals, are all vivid and detailed.

By now he has finished more than 50 pieces of works. Duan would spend at least 10 hours on one piece of work. One of his works even took him a month.

During his three years of college life, some offered to buy his drawings. But Duan refused all of them, saying his works are a demonstration of his growth. Sometimes he gave his drawings to his friends as gifts, but never sold them.

Duan's teacher Professor Xiang Huiling also praised his student, saying that they greatly encourage those who innovate within their artistic creations.
BEIJING -- Taiwan side should take full responsibility for suspension of communication mechanisms between the Chinese mainland and the island, a mainland spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Taiwan's current administration has not recognized the 1992 Consensus which endorses the one-China principle, shaking the political foundation for cross-Straits interaction, said An Fengshan of the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office at a press conference.

Suspended communication mechanisms include both the regular mechanism between cross-Straits affairs departments and the consultation mechanism between the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF).

Both operated on the basis of the 1992 Consensus. An said, "Peaceful development of cross-Strait ties since 2008 did not come out of the blue."

The mainland has not changed in its stance, An said. "It was the Taiwan side which changed the situation."

The key to ensuring negotiation and contact is whether the SEF will be authorized to confirm adherence to the consensus, An said.

"On such a fundamental question, ambiguity is of no avail," An said.
Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde tests his Smog Free Tower, a giant electronic vacuum cleaner, in the yard at his studio in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Photo provided to China Daily

A Dutch artist and environmentalist is planning to bring to China a project inspired by a visit to Beijing that demonstrates how tiny invisible smog particles can be made into jewelry such as rings.

Daan Roosegaarde is attempting to raise public awareness about cleaning the air.

He has made a Smog Free Tower, which began to operate in September in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and he plans to bring it to China in September.

The pollutants are collected from the 7-meter-high tower before being processed and condensed into cubes measuring 4 mm to 5 mm.

The cubes, which can be used to make rings, are not for sale but have been presented as gifts to supporters at Kickstarter, a large crowdfunding platform where Roosegaarde collected more than 110,000 euros ($122,000) for his tower project.

"I'm going to bring the project to China, as Beijing is where I got the inspiration," he said.

He said he visited the city years ago and saw the huge difference in environmental conditions at the China Central Television tower on good days and smoggy days, which gave him the inspiration for the project.

"But it's more than just cleaning the air. I hope the project develops public awareness of environmental protection."

He said his tower project will travel the world, visiting cities such as Beijing, Paris, Los Angeles and Mexico City.

Roosegaarde said his tower sucks in polluted air like a giant vacuum cleaner, before filtering it and returning clean air through the tower's vents.

It can purify particles as small as PM2.5, which have a diameter of less than 2.5 microns, and clean 30,000 cubic meters of air per hour.

"It has performed well in reducing airborne pollutants by 75 to 80 percent in a surrounding area," Roosegaarde said.

Liu Guozheng, secretary-general of the China Forum of Environmental Journalists, which invited Roosegaarde to China, said the Smog Free Tower is designed to be abandoned eventually, because the ultimate goal is to improve air quality to the extent that the tower will be useless.

"The tower works as a warning and reminder for people to engage in smog control efforts," Liu said, adding that its visit to China is aimed at attracting wider public attention to air pollution.

Beijing residents have seen severe air pollution in recent years.

Last year, the capital had 186 days with good air quality, accounting for 51 percent of the total, according to the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau.
Herdsmen compete in horse racing during a local traditional festival in the West Ujimqin Banner, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, June 28, 2016. Local herdsmen gathered together to celebrate the festival. Activities including wrestling, archery and Mongolian chess will be held. [Photo/Xinhua]
Inner Mongolia opens its first high-speed railway tunnel

(chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2016-06-29

Work on Inner Mongolias first tunnel for high-speed passenger trains was completed on June 28, paving the way for the laying of the line that will connect the region's city of Hohhot with Zhangjiakou, in Hebei province.

Putting the final touches on the approach to the tunnel. [Photo/Xinhua]
This file photo shows a woman walking past a billboard with an advertisement against illegal prenatal gender tests. [Photo/IC]

THE STANDING Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, discussed a draft of the general provisions of Civil Code on Monday, which includes articles protecting the rights of embryos. A comment on Beijing News calls for further legislation to prohibit abortion of embryos of 3 months or older:

It is good that the top legislature has been protecting the rights of embryos. However, the right to life of embryos, which is the basis to all other rights, is not under protection yet and that's something that needs to be improved.

Many countries prohibit abortions after an embryo is 3 months old. However, there is no such restriction here, as a result of which many abortions are done when an embryo is older than 3 months, which has occasionally been at the cost of pregnant women's lives.

A main cause of the absence of such a ban is the objection of family planning committees, which require the abortion of embryos that are "not within the family planning policy".

In some cities, local officials have even hung slogans such as "Abort with medicine or surgery; never let them be born", which is anti-human.

If the law makes it clear that embryos have the right to life, these family planning officials might face problems, but the law should be drafted in the interests of all.

Some people oppose the legislation, claiming that pregnant women should have the right to opt for an abortion. That depends on whether embryos are considered independent human beings after three months. If they are, the pregnant women have no right to abort them because such a deed is tantamount to murder.

Some medical experts propose to set three months as the standard, because a 3-month-old embryo has some characteristics of a human being. Besides, a woman should be able to decide within three months whether to have an abortion or not.
A security guard walks past a waste incineration plant in Mentougou district, Beijing, Dec 16. [Photo/IC]

THE MAYOR OF XIANTAO in Central China's Hubei province announced on Monday that the construction of a household waste incinerator in the city would not continue after many local residents had taken to the streets to protest against it. Beijing News commented on Tuesday:

That Britons voted on Friday to exit from the European Union, in essence, has a lot in common with Xiantao's protest against the construction of a waste incinerator over the weekend.

It is fair to say the former was a folly fueled by irresponsible populists only focused on short-term personal interests.

The waste incineration plant, on which construction started two years ago, with its completion due by the end of this year, is believed to have gone through all the required procedures, ranging from an environmental impact assessment to public disclosure.

It is therefore a bit strange that the Xiantao government called an immediate halt to the project after residents later protested.

Incineration has proved to be one of the most effective means of dealing with the increasing household waste. Potential environmental hazards can be reduced to a minimum with proper planning.

Yet, many local residents, especially those in the neighborhood of the incinerator, still have little confidence in the plant, fearing that their health may be at risk.

In Brexit's case, despite being a staunch advocate of his country's EU membership, British Prime Minister David Cameron failed to help citizens fully understand the pros and cons of leaving the European Union. As a result, they ended up making a rash decision, which many have already begun regretting.

Likewise, the "burst" of public complaints about Xiantao's waste incineration plant is a result of insufficient communication between the authorities and local residents.

It should not come as a surprise as the Xiantao government carried forward the project without responding to all residents' questions in time.
President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, June 23, 2016. [Photo by Rao Aimin/Xinhua]

At the meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group in Seoul last week, at least 10 members, including China, opposed India's membership, as it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Prior to the meeting in Seoul, Indian media claimed that all the 48 members of the NSG had agreed on India's accession except China.

But since its founding in 1975, all NSG members have been signatories to the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, and this is a basic principle for NSG membership.

Given that India has not signed the treaty, it is reasonable for the existing members of the NSG to deny the country access to the group. China has been singled out by the media in India, with some Indians calling for a boycott of Chinese goods and some even proposing India's withdrawal from BRICS.

The backing offered by the United States seems to have fuelled India's self-confidence in its bid for NSG membership. But the US does not represent the whole world.

There is no reason for some in India to feel frustrated at China voting against India's membership bid. China's stance is based on established international norms and it is India that wants to make itself an exception.

Due to excessive support from the West in recent years, a mood of excessive self-confidence has been fostered in India and any failure to satisfy its demands by other countries tends to be over-interpreted in this Southeast Asian nation.

Indian nationalists may be eager to see a greater presence of their country in international organizations, but they should be aware that for their country to be a "great power" it needs to adhere to international norms.
Li Feng / China Daily

Britons voted in Friday's referendum to leave the European Union, with the "Leave" camp securing about 4 percent more votes than the "Remain" camp. In 1975, just two years after the UK was granted European Economic Community membership, nearly two-thirds of Britons had voted in a similar referendum to stay in the bloc.

The "Leave" vote, not surprisingly, has divided British society. Some in London have even proposed to launch a campaign to separate London from the country and make it a European Union member.

The social division will almost certainly reshape the country's public agenda and political priorities. It may also have an impact on British integration. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday that the Scottish Parliament could consider vetoing legislation on the UK's exit from the EU.

The EU referendum has drawn a great number of British families, communities, companies and organizations into a debate over their country's future now that the social order is about to change. It has also turned the UK's market-oriented integration with Europe into a political issue that has everything to do with British sovereignty.

Letting a referendum, rather than systematic and orderly governance, decide the fate of a country that has reached a historic crossroad may not be the best option. In the UK's case, the "Leave" camp's narrow victory shows the country's future as a EU member depended on a few swing voters, as many in the "Remain" camp are yet to give up their pursuit despite having lost.

In other words, a primitively designed referendum like the one Britain just held, is in essence about swing votes, and may easily expose the country to a world of uncertainties. Technical changes, if not an overhaul, are thus needed to keep the divisions in British society under control.

For one, implementing a rule that requires at least two-thirds, not half, of the vote to pass a decision, should be considered to prevent some swing voters from deciding a country's future. Appointing one representative in each precinct and adding their votes to the final results is another feasible choice that can effectively combine the division in voters nationwide and the cohesion among individual communities.

Further changes in the timing of the vote should also be made, if need be, to avoid divisions created by vested interests.

Such a referendum based on direct votes, with a simple majority principle, can easily divide a society and make it a toy in the hands of populists and force the people to swallow the result of such ill-conceived referendums.

The author is a professor of public governance at Renmin University of China.
Leading international law experts said any verdict by the Arbitral Tribunal on the South China Sea will be of no legal validity, at a seminar on the South China Sea Arbitration and International Rule of Law in the Hague on Sunday. [Photo by Fu Jing/chinadaily.com.cn]

The Philippines has filed a case against China in the The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration over the South China Sea dispute. But on June 26-27, just days before the court is expected to give its ruling, a group of scholars and experts of international law from China, the United States, the Netherlands, India and other countries participated in a seminar in a hotel just blocks away from the PCA in The Hague to discuss the South China Sea arbitration case and international rule of law. The discussion was organized by Leiden University's Grotius Center for International Legal Studies and the Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies of Central China's Wuhan University.

Five of the legal experts, including Abdul Koroma, former judge of the United Nation's International Court of Justice, held a press conference to question the PCA's questionable acceptance of Manila's case.

The experts, some of whom have worked as legal advisers to governments and, on some occasions, as arbitrators in the international disputes, agreed that the arbitral tribunal on the South China Sea was not set up with the consent of the disputing parties even though it claimed to have followed the rules of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Emphasizing that the issue is about territorial and boundary dispute, Beijing has rejected the initiation of Manila, which believes the dispute is about maritime entitlement. Under UNCLOS, the Permanent Court of Arbitration has no jurisdiction on sovereign disputes. And China and the Philippines have never entered into an agreement authorizing the PCA to set up a tribunal to act as an umpire. So, the experts said, China has taken the right measures to safeguard its interests and they are in the spirit of international rule of law.

The experts also warned against the dangerous trend of playing up the role of the PCA. Established more than 100 years ago, the PCA is not a court but an organizer of arbitral tribunals to resolve disputes among member states, and even private parties can file a case in contractual disputes.

As to the tribunal on the South China Sea, there are five arbitrators, four of whom are from Europe. Some experts have questioned why nearly all of them are Europeans and how they can be expected to play a fair role. Since many mistake the PCA as a real court and China has not agreed to appear there, some are under the wrong impression that China has defied international law. But the fact is that the current United Nations legal framework cannot help resolve sovereignty disputes and therefore China doesn't need to turn up for the case.

This was highlighted in the papers the experts especially wrote for the seminar, which also said the international law has its limits in resolving differences between states.

Observers have also warned against another harmful trend-that of some powers using international law to serve for their own purposes and point the finger at their competitors or rivals. Some have even named the United States, blaming it for the escalating tensions in the South China Sea and urging it to play a constructive role by engaging stakeholders in peaceful talks.

As the arbitration has hit a dead end, the experts have urged Manila to withdraw the case and return to the negotiation table with Beijing and other parties in the region. Some of the mare cautiously optimistic that the Philippines would do so, because it is a wise and the best possible way of resolving bilateral disputes. China has always been saying that.

The author is deputy chief of China Daily European Bureau. fujing@chinadaily.com.cn
Leading international law experts said any verdict by the Arbitral Tribunal on the South China Sea will be of no legal validity, at a seminar on the South China Sea Arbitration and International Rule of Law in the Hague on June 26. [Photo by Fu Jing/chinadaily.com.cn]

From the onset, the conclusion of this international farce was already a given. The Hagues stubborn insistence to hear this case is enough to tell its motive and agenda.

An international court of jurisdiction is expected to be impartial, to uphold the law under its constitution if it wants to be respectable and seen as respectable as an international court of justice.

Without the consent of China, a party to a territorial dispute, the decision of the Court is meaningless, illegal and irrelevant. It has no legal status and is not binding.

The judicial committee has done wrong to the reputation and credibility of this Court. It undermines the reason for its existence when it crumbles to political pressure to hear a case it was not supposed to hear.

The Permanent Court went ahead despite objections by China and with China stating clearly that it would not acknowledge its arbitration and decision.

Why would this Court continue with this farce knowing that China did not give its consent to hear the case? It is political. Yes, the Court is making a political statement, not a decision based on law, in which it has no jurisdiction.

And ironically, as a key participant in this plot, the Americans are not even a signatory of UNCLOS, in other words, saying that they dont respect the rules and regulations of UNCLOS, but are demanding China accept an illegal political opinion from the agency?

So it is only right for China to ignore it as another political statement, or even tear it to pieces like the Americans did in the past. To China and the world, the whole drama is as good as a hoax, theater engineered and promoted by its perpetrators.

The pro-Western media would have a field day trying take down China as a rogue and recalcitrant nation, not playing by the rule of law. Western leaders are expected to make their political speeches to compel China to accept a farcical judgment that they too did not believe is legal. Some ASEAN states may want to believe that the Philippines had won a legal battle in the international court when it has not.

This theater has come to an end, with an applause and encore from the conspirators but nothing more. It is rubbish, not binding and an act of desperation to make something illegal, be legal. And the American camp can beat the war drum but nothing will change the status of the islands in the South China Sea.

Independent countries in the international community must stand up to this farce. They must stop it from becoming a precedent to decide the fate of their future that may be imposed on them by the abuse of power and trust of the international court beyond its jurisdiction.

The author is a political observer from Singapore.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and don't represent views of China Daily website.
* 47 Chinese citizens evacuated, some with minor injuries, a few still trapped

* Suicide bombers target Turkey's biggest airport

* No immediate claim of responsibility for attack

An injured woman covers her face as she is carried by paramedics into ambulance at Istanbul Ataturk airport, Turkey, following a blast June 28, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

ISTANBUL - Three suicide bombers opened fire then blew themselves up in Istanbul's main international airport on Tuesday, killing 41 people and wounding close to 150 in what Turkey's prime minister said appeared to have been an attack by Islamic State militants.

One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover and trying to flee, before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below, witnesses and officials said.

The attack on Europe's third-busiest airport is one of the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in Turkey, which is struggling to contain the spillover from neighboring Syria's civil war and battling an insurgency by Kurdish militants in its southeast.

Police fired shots to try to stop two of the attackers just before they reached a security checkpoint at the arrivals hall, but they detonated their explosives, a Turkish official said.

"It became clear with this incident again that terrorism is a global threat. This attack, targeting innocent people is a vile, planned terrorist act," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters at the airport.

"There is initial evidence that each of the three suicide bombers blew themselves up after opening fire," he said, adding that they had come to the airport by taxi and that preliminary findings pointed to Islamic State responsibility.

The vast majority of those killed were Turkish nationals but foreigners were also among the dead, the official said.

"There was a huge explosion, extremely loud. The roof came down. Inside the airport it is terrible, you can't recognize it, the damage is big," said Ali Tekin, who was at the arrivals hall waiting for a guest when the attack took place.

A woman named Duygu, who was at passport control having just arrived from Germany, said she threw herself onto the floor with the sound of the explosion. Several witnesses also reported hearing gunfire shortly before the attacks.

"Everyone started running away. Everywhere was covered with blood and body parts. I saw bullet holes on the doors," she said outside the airport.

Almost seven hours after the attack, which started around 9:50 p.m., no group had claimed responsibility.

The attack bore similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March which killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital.
SYDNEY - The Western Australian (WA) police were investigating a racist firebomb attack at a mosque in Perth while hundreds did evening prayers, Perth Now reported on Wednesday.

No one was injured in the attack on Tuesday night, during which a parked car burst into flames outside the mosque.

It is believed petrol or a fire accelerant was used in the blaze.

Anti-Islamic graffiti was also spotted on a wall near the Australian Islamic College, close to the mosque.

Perth Now reported Australian Islamic College Yahya Adel Ibrahim wrote on Facebook that worshippers finished their prayers despite the unfolding chaos outside the mosque.

Ibrahim said the Perth community had been "visited by hate" but "wouldn't start playing blame games and singling out groups of people in our society."

"Despite what just transpired, everyone stayed to finish their prayers, refusing to give in to the terror that had just occurred."

Police were calling for witnesses to come forward.
ISTANBUL - China and the Philippines should engage in "constructive" dialogue to solve their dispute in the South China Sea as conflicts are "destructive" to all sides, Turkish analysts said.

In the view of Altay Atli, a research fellow with the Asian Studies Center of Bogazici University in Istanbul, Manila's resort to an international tribunal over the dispute may not help produce a solution.

In 2013, the Philippines unilaterally filed compulsory arbitration against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague with respect to the two sides' disputes in the South China Sea.

The Chinese government has reiterated its non-acceptance and non-participation stance in the case.

"I think instead of waiting for the international tribunal to solve the problems by itself, China and the Philippines should enter a constructive dialogue, discuss their issues together, and jointly decide on a solution that would protect both sides' interests," said Atli.

He was echoed by Kamer Kasim, vice-president of the International Strategic Research Organization and dean of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences with Abant Izzet Baysal University.

"The parties need to engage in peaceful solutions regarding the South China Sea dispute," said Kasim.

Tensions are running high in the South China Sea as the United States and Japan, among others, have opted to engage in the disputes.

"I think that the involvement of countries from outside the region only serves to complicate the situation," observed Atli.

"None of the countries who has a stake in this region, neither China nor the other countries, have anything to gain from rising tension and possible conflicts," he said.

Referring to the fact that almost all of the East Asian countries are going through a process of "serious" economic transformation and restructuring, Atli stressed that "In such a period, what they need is not tension and conflict, they need greater cooperation and integration."

In Kasim's view, it is in the interests of both Washington and Beijing to keep "peace and security" in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The last thing that China and the US needs is any kind of interruption of the trade in Asia-Pacific," he said.
EU steps up cooperation on emissions trading with China: new 10 million project announced

The European Commission is to step up its collaboration with China on emissions trading, with a new 10 million EUR (more than 70 million yuan) cooperation project, according to the Delegation of the European Union to China announced on Wednesday.

EU Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete made the announcement during a visit to China, where he is meeting Chinese officials as well as EU industries and businesses.

The three-year project, which starts in 2017, will enhance EU-China cooperation on emissions trading and coincide with the launch of a nationwide carbon market in China. It will build on the existing cooperation project, which started in 2014 and has supported the roll-out of seven pilot schemes across the country.

Commissioner Arias Canete said: "China is sending an important signal as we embark on our journey to implement the new global climate change agreement: that emissions trading is a cost-effective way to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The world's second largest economy will be using emissions trading to reach its Paris pledge  and not in the distant future, but next year. With more than a decade of experience with the EU emissions trading system, the EU is well placed to support China. Cooperation between the two largest emissions trading systems in the world will send a strong signal to other countries as they prepare to implement their Paris commitments."

As well as addressing challenges related to thethe challenge of setting up of a national emissions trading system, the new cooperation project will also establish a regular dialogue to discuss developments on emissions trading in China and the EU.
Any ASEAN statement supporting ruling in arbitration would be opposed, he says

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned that his party sees the upcoming ruling in arbitration concerning the South China Sea as "the worst political collusion in the framework of international politics".

The top Cambodian leader spoke out as more than 60 countries or organizations, according to China Daily's count, have echoed China's commitment to direct negotiations for settling disputes rather than using arbitration.

Countries voicing support include Russia and South Africa, and regional organizations include the Arab League and Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Hun Sen, also president of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, said in Phnom Penh at an event marking the 65th anniversary of the party's founding that the CPP "does not support, and more so is against, any declaration by ASEAN" to support the ruling. Cambodia is one of 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The Arbitral Tribunal appointed by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is expected to rule soon.

China has refused to be part of the case.

Some countries outside the region have pressured ASEAN members ahead of the ruling, and the result could "lead to division among ASEAN members themselves and between ASEAN and China", Hun Sen said.

Liu Huawen, a researcher on international law studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that since the Philippines sought unilateral arbitration and "abused" the legal proceedings, similar "malicious arbitrations" could be raised in the future to target other countries.

"If the Arbitral Tribunal comes to a ruling that is not in accordance with the facts, such law-breaking logic could be abused in the future for other territorial or maritime disputes among other countries," Liu said.

Dogu Perincek, chairman of Turkey's Patriotic Party, said earlier this month that "it seems that the arbitration from an international tribunal will be used for military purposes".

Perincek described the arbitration by the tribunal as "an obvious intervention into the regional countries' sovereignty", saying China as an independent and sovereign country "has no obligation to obey the decision of the international tribunal".

Zhu Feng, professor and executive director of the China Center for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea at Nanjing University, said, "Behind the case are the motives and tricks of Manila and manipulation by some major countries. These have made the arbitration a wild brawl by the US and its allies against China."

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn
File photo of South China Sea. [Photo/Xinhua]

A seminar on the South China Sea Arbitration and International Rule of Law was held on Sunday in the Hague, the location of the Permanent Court of Arbitration's arbitral tribunal. At the seminar hosted by both Chinese and Dutch academic institutions, experts from various countries warned that the unilateral filing of the South China Sea arbitration case by the Aquino administration of the Philippines and the arbitral tribunal's overreach and abuse of power is a desecration of the spirit of the rule of law and pose a threat to current international order.

With this move, the Philippines is just adorning itself with borrowed plumes. First of all, estoppel is a basic principle of international law. As is known to all, China and ASEAN countries, including the Philippines, signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in 2002, in which all sides agreed to settle disputes over the South China Sea through friendly negotiation and consultation by parties directly concerned.

In 2011, the Philippines and China issued a joint statement, reiterating their respect and observation of the DOC. However, just two years later, the Aquino administration unilaterally submitted the South China Sea case for arbitration in spite of its previous commitments.

Secondly, the Philippines ignores basic historical facts by presumptuously claiming that the Chinese people never lived or conducted activities in the South China Sea region, thus bearing no sovereignty over the islands in the region.

Yet no one can deny the historical fact that those islands have been part of China's territory since ancient times. Successive Chinese governments have continued to govern the islands through multiple approaches including setting administrative divisions, military patrols and conducting salvages at sea.

Respecting historical fact is an important principle of international law. Through its lack of respect for the facts, the South China Sea case violates this principle.

Moreover, the Philippines' interpretation of the legal status of the islands and reefs in the South China Sea is not in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS) and other international laws.

The Southeast Asian nation claims that the Huangyan Island and the Nansha islands cannot be considered islands as such no one can establish exclusive economic zones or claim the continental shelves there. Such an argument flies in the face of objective reality.

The Philippines deliberately misrepresented factual information about the islands and reefs in the South China Sea during the trial and carelessly negated the integrity of the Nansha islands as well as the island status of Taiping Island and other large islands in area. However, its claims are not only inconsistent with reality, but also incompatible with UNCLOS and other international laws.

The legal representatives of the Philippines also withheld necessary information concerning other islands in the South China Sea (not included in its arbitration request) on purpose, and refused to present them to the court. It is safe to say that the Philippines' argument concerning the South China Sea islands and reefs lacks basic credibility.

Taking this into consideration, the arbitral tribunal has clearly violated UNCLOS, abused the UNCLOS settlement procedure and exceeded its jurisdiction by accepting the unilateral request of the Philippines and even trying to deliver a verdict on the South China Sea issue. Its self-proclaimed "jurisprudence" and "normative power" demonstrate great irony.

The core of the South China Sea issue between China and the Philippines are territorial and maritime delimitation disputes. Territorial issues do not fall within the scope of UNCLOS authority. Additionally, as early as 2006, China has excluded compulsory settlement procedures from maritime delimitation disputes in accordance with Article 298 of UNCLOS.

As a temporary institution founded on UNCLOS, the tribunal has zero jurisdiction over this case. Arbitration and other international judicial methods to resolve disputes means resorting to third-party settlement. However, this option has already been excluded by internationally binding bilateral agreements between China and the Philippines.
European Council President Donald Tusk speaks with media as he arrives at the EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium, June 28, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

European Council President Donald Tusk has warned that lower growth in the UK due to Brexit may lead to a "negative spillover all over the world."

Tusk made the remarks after British Prime Minister David Cameron reported on the outcome of the EU referendum and European leaders discussed the post-Brexit economic situation at the summit of 28 EU countries late Tuesday night.

Without the UK, the remaining leaders of 27 countries join Tusk and other European Union representatives to discuss the future of Europe today in Brussels. This is the first time the UK has been absent from such a meeting since its accession to the block in 1973.

"We also considered the post-Brexit economic situation in the presence of the European Central Bank President, who reassured us about the good and constant cooperation of central banks," said Tusk.

"However, it was also made clear that Brexit means substantially lower growth in the UK, with a possible negative spillover all over the world."

According to Tusk, after Cameron outlined the results of Thursday's referendum, the leaders agreed that an orderly exit was in the interests of everyone involved, especially the UK.

"Leaders understand that some time is now needed to allow the dust to settle in the UK. But they also expect the intentions of the UK government to be specified as soon as possible," said Tusk.

"This was a very clear message which I believe Prime Minister Cameron will take back to London."
China "strongly condemns" the terror attack in an airport in Istanbul on Tuesday evening, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a news conference on Wednesday.

"China strongly condemns this terror attack that targeted civilians. China is against all forms of terrorism and calls for the international community to strengthen coordination in the field of counter-terrorism," Hong said.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi has sent a telegram of condolence to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Hong said.

According to China's Consulate-General in Istanbul, there have been no reports of Chinese citizens hurt or killed in the terror attack in Istanbul, Hong said.

There were about 90 Chinese passengers in the airport waiting to board when the explosions happened, and the consulate-general has got in touch with the Chinese people stranded in the airport, Hong said.

"They are all safe," he said.

He said the Foreign Ministry as well as its diplomatic and consular missions in Turkey is again warning Chinese citizens to be cautious about traveling to Turkey and calling for Chinese in Turkey to remain highly vigilant over their own safety.

Shootings and explosions broke out in Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday evening. The Associated Press quoted Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim as saying 36 people as well as three suicide bombers died. Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag was quoted as saying 147 were wounded.

A Chinese of Turkish nationality was killed in the attack, according to the Foreign Ministry's Department of Consular Affairs.
Online shoppers in China are cashing in on falls in the British pound to buy expensive foreign luxury goods after the UK voted to leave the European Union.

The pound plunged to a three-decade low after Britons voted on Thursday last week to leave the bloc, making the country's goods and services cheaper for overseas buyers.

The pound has dropped by more than 10 percent against the renminbi since the referendum.

Evonne Shen, a white-collar worker in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, bought a handbag for 3,000 yuan ($450) from a British online shopping site on Tuesday, saving more than 300 yuan compared with the price a week ago.

While Shen, who is in her early 20s, may still have to pay tariffs when the package arrives in China, she decided to buy after the pound weakened. "The tariffs have been here for a long time, but how often do you get a chance like this," she said.

After the pound fell, some Chinese online shoppers bought goods on UK e-commerce sites or asked dai gou  overseas shopping agents  to help them with purchases in brick-and-mortar stores and to ship the packages to China.

According to ymatou.com, a cross-border e-commerce site in China, daily sales of European products have doubled since the UK referendum, mostly driven by sales of British products.

The company, based in Shanghai, said on Wednesday: "Shopping malls in Europe are now holding their annual summer sales. Combined with the fall in the pound, it couldn't be a better time to buy British products."

High-end products with prices ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 yuan are among the best-sellers on ymatou.com. About 70 percent of the online buyers bought luxury handbags, including a Hermes Kelly bag costing 98,000 yuan.

According to the Baidu Index, which gauges changes in the popularity of search requests, the number of searches for "UK dai gou" rose by 175 percent between June 17 and June 21, peaking on Friday, when the referendum result was announced.

Mo Daiqing, an analyst at the center, said: "The short-term fall in the pound is attracting more online shoppers to shift their attention from Japanese and Korean products to British ones..
(Photo : YouTube) It is unclear when the LeEco Lex720 smartphone will be released.

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LeEco maybe joining fellow Chinese smartphone maker Huawei in selling devices with dual cameras. A recently leaked photo of a LeEco branded device is making rounds on several tech websites. The photo shows the back part of the device with two slots believed to house two separate cameras. There are rumors that the photo is of the LeEco Lex720.



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The idea of putting two cameras on the rear of a phone is not entirely new since a handful of smartphone manufacturers have already used it. However, tech analysts believe that this year the design will become a trend of not only among niche smartphone makers but in the mainstream market.



Aside from the dual camera setup, the LeEco Lex720 is also expected to sport an iPhone-like antenna design. The phone is also rumored to have a fingerprint scanner.



The LeEco Lex720 is likely to have a Snapdragon 823 chipset from Qualcomm. It has a processor clocked at 2.5GHz, and will reportedly have at least 4GB of RAM.



An Antutu benchmark result recently shed some light on the specs of the upcoming LeEco Lex720. It appears that the smartphone will run on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box. It has an Adreno 530 graphics processing unit and 32GB of storage space. The smartphone has a 16-megapixel rear facing camera and an 8-megapixel front facing shooter.



The LeEco Lex720 scored 154,000 on the Antutu benchmark, which is already an impressive feat.



Although still unconfirmed, there are speculations that a premium version of the LeEco Lex720 will also be released. The premium version is expected to have an upgraded camera and will sport 6GB of RAM.



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TagsLeeco, LeEco Phone, leeco news, leeco smartphone, LeEco dual camera phone, LeEco update, LeEco latest phone, LeEco LEX720
(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) Hong Kong officials showcasing the 95-kg of cocaine confiscated.

(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) The 95-kg of cocaine confiscated by Hong Kong authorities.

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United Nations is calling China's attention to its production of new kinds of synthetic drugs, which are allegedly proliferating way faster than can be controlled, Al Jazeera reported.



During a press conference on Sunday, Hong Kong police exhibited 95 kilograms of cocaine they recently confiscated in the city. The drugs were estimated to be worth over $13 million.



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"This is the largest seizure of cocaine in a single police case since the year 2013," Ma Ping-Yiu from Hong Kong Narcotics Bureau said.







Over the last three months, cases of cocaine apprehension in Hong Kong skyrocketed to 120 percent compared with that of in 2015.



However, cocaine is not the only drug making rounds the Hong Kong market these days, Karen Joe Laidler from the University of Hong Kong revealed.



"Over the past twenty years there has been a dramatic shift in the types of drugs that people use. The market place for drugs in Hong Kong is much more diverse now," she said.



This is because most of the chemicals needed to create these synthetic drugs come from China. Drug experts warned that Chinese chemists are now reportedly making new synthetic drugs at a faster rate than police can handle, and the narcotics are too new to be banned internationally.



The United Nations also said that Chinese syndicates are smuggling these drugs to high-end markets worldwide.



For instance, a new form of a synthetic painkiller called Fentanyl, which is believed to be 100 times more potent that heroin, is now being sold within Chinese market at a relatively cheap price.



"When you control one derivative of Fentanyl, another derivative comes out, which is not on the control list," Tun Nay Soe, UN Office on Drugs and Crime coordinator, said. "Criminals are always one step ahead of law enforcement people."



According to the European Union, China has also surpassedEurope, becoming the fastest-growing new synthetic drugs wholesaler as well.



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Tagschina, United Nations, Hong Kong, cocaine, synthetic drugs
(Photo : Xinhua) Zhongguancun Science Park

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China is investing some $608 million to build a new integrated circuit (IC) industrial park inside the Zhongguancun (Haidian) Science Park in Beijing starting 2017. Construction of the new complex is expected to be completed in 2018 with the first tenants beginning operations this same year.



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The new IC industrial park is expected to house 150 firms, mostly Chinese IC manufacturers, plus at least eight international IC firms. Beijing expects the IC park to have an annual output worth some $4.5 billion. Other firms expected to locate to the IC park are those in the IC packaging and testing sectors.



Beijing said the IC park will be a one-stop supply chain for IC markets, including firms into the IoT (Internet of Things) and smart devices. The park serves China's aggressive focus on self-sufficiency in the semiconductor industry.



Established in 1988, the Zhongguancun Science Park where the new IC industrial park is located spearheads China's technological innovation. It is home to over 9,300 high-tech firms whose total revenue in 2015 hit $623 billion.



Zhongguancun hosts the world's second-largest number of most valuable tech startups. There are over 40 unicorn firms (or tech startups valued at over $1 billion) Zhongguancun, a number second only to Silicon Valley in California.



Over the next five years, Zhongguancun will support Beijing's evolution into a national technological innovation center.



"Intel Corp, Microsoft Corp and Siemens AG have established subsidiaries, R&D center or incubators here. More than 200 companies among the Fortune Global 500 firms have set up branches," said Liu Hang, a member of the Administrative Committee at Zhongguancun.



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(Photo : Getty Images) In this photo illustration, an Apple ipad tablet displays newspaper and magazine apps on February 17, 2011 in London, England.

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China tightened its belt on mobile app developers in an attempt to monitor and crack down fraud, pornography, and spread of "malicious" rumors over mobile platforms, the Cyberspace Administration of China announced.



"A small number of apps have been exploited by criminal types to spread violence and terrorism, pornographic material, rumours and other illegal information," the regulator revealed.



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Under the newly-published guidelines issued on Tuesday, app stores and providers must now establish users' identity with real-name registration, keep track of users' activities for 60 days, monitor and report banned content postings, and secure users' consent before obtaining personal information, location, and contact lists.



Furthermore, legitimacy of developers uploading apps should be verified as well.



"The regulations have been in the pipeline for some time and it's an exacerbation of the existing controls," Willy Lam, adjunct professor at the Center for China Studies, University of Hong Kong, said. "This is in the wake of an increase in the number of communications, which are seen as critical of the regime."



According to Bloomberg, draft laws over China's institutions and cyber-infrastructures have been submitted to the top legislature on Monday. Search-engine operators including Baidu were also required to clearly label and check advertisers before posting paid-for search results.



"There should also be a limit on the number of paid-for results on a single page. Moreover, the practice of blocking negative content concerning advertisers has been banned," according to the regulations.



The new policy will apply to both local and foreign developers, including Apple.



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Tagsmobile app developers, cyberspace, Cyberspace Administration of China
(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) Chinese people trying to break the pane of the world's longest and highest glass bridge.

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Tourists were invited to smash sledgehammers into the highest and longest glass bridge in the world, which is suspended 300 meters above a canyon at Zhangjiajie's Tianmen Mountain National Park, to test its strength and safety on Saturday.



Some 30 local citizens and tourists were asked to swing the 12-pound hammers at the structure to test its durability.



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According to 9news, one glass panel was repeatedly struck by visitors to ensure that it could safely hold its tourists, even when compromised. Then, after several blows from the public, a two-ton SUV vehicle, which can hold up to 11 people, ran over it as well. However, there were still no breaks, although a few cracks were left on the topmost layer.



"Even if the glass cracks, it will not break into pieces. Pedestrians can still walk on it," Chen Zidong, an official from the park told the South China Morning Post.



The bridge is made up of 99 panes of three-layered tempered glass, each three by 4.5 meters and 15 mm thick. Destroyed pieces can also be replaced with new ones.



The event was intended to assuage fear and brush off rumors over the risky-looking glass bridge. Last year, many tourists panicked after they discovered some cracks in a glass bridge at Yuntain Mountain.



The 430 meter long bridge is a creation of Israeli architect Haim Dotan. The glass bridge, which can hold up to 800 individuals, reportedly costs 250 million yuan (around $37.57 million) to build. It is scheduled to open to the public next month.







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Tagsglass bridge, china, Tianmen Mountain National Park, Haim Dotan, architecture
(Photo : US Navy) LaWS

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The U.S. Navy has decided to massively boost the power of its ship borne laser by five times and plans to see the first demonstration of this new weapon by 2018.



The Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) will perform a shipboard test of a 150 kilowatt solid-state laser weapons system, said Admiral Bill Moran, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, at a recent meeting in Washington, D.C.



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ONR coordinates, executes and promotes the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.



The upshift to a 150 kW solid state laser marks a huge leap from today's testing regime begun in 2014 where the Navy began firing a 30 kW prototype Laser Weapon System, or LaWS, aboard the USS Ponce at sea trials. LaWS, which has been used operationally in the Persian Gulf, gives the U.S. Navy precision accuracy at a low cost.



Once accepted into service between 2017 and 2021, the 30kW LaWS will enable the Navy to effectively neutralize aerial drones, swarm boats and other threats by destroying or crippling them with an intense beam of laser heat that melts internal circuitry and machinery.



In operation, the 30 kW LaWS can be aimed accurately at targets by a U.S. Navy warship's Phalanx close-in-weapons-system (CIWS) radar. LaWS has an effective range of 1.6 kilometers.



LaWS uses a solid-state infrared laser beam that can be tuned to high output to destroy a target or to a low output to warn or cripple the sensors on a target. Its power output is estimated between 15kW to 50kW for engaging small aircraft and high-speed boats.



The LaWS being tested aboard the USS Ponce isn't designed to engage incoming missiles, large aircraft, surface warships or submarines, however. This capability will be left to the 150 kW LaWS whose development the Navy has just decided to speed-up.



LaWS is finding favor within the US armed forces because its laser light "ammunition" is cheaper than conventional explosive rounds. It laser light beams can be fired for as little as one dollar per shot, while conventional rounds and missiles cost thousands of dollars each.



The U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force all plan to deploy laser weapons by the next decade. The Army intends to have lasers deployed by 2023, with tests of lasers mounted on attack helicopters taking place this summer.



The Air Force will test its first airborne combat lasers on AC-130 gunships and modified C-17 Globemaster cargo aircraft by 2021. This will be a prelude to deploying smaller but powerful lasers on jet fighter aircraft such as the F-35 and F-15 and on aerial drones.



The Marine Corps, along with the Navy, is also developing truck-mounted lasers to protect Marines.



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TagsU.S. Navy, 150 kilowatt solid-state laser, Laser Weapon System, USS Ponce
(Photo : Getty Images.) Canada has pressed China to look into reports that Canadian-Chinese dual citizens are facing problems in in obtaining visas to visit China from Hong Kong.

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Canada has asked China to look into media reports that Chinese officials are no longer allowing Canadian nationals born in Hong Kong to visit China on 10-year visas, Canada's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.



Reports in local Chinese media claim that since June this year, several first generation Hong Kong-born Canadians are being specifically told that they can no longer apply as Canadian citizen for travelling to China. In past, they were given the option to travel as Canadian or Chinese citizens.



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"Canada is aware of recent reports of challenges for Canadian-Chinese dual citizens in obtaining visas to visit China from Hong Kong. We are looking into the issue and are following up with the Chinese authorities," said Felix Corriveau, a spokesman for Immigration Minister John McCallum.



The Chinese embassy in Ottawa said in its official statement that it has not received any notification in changes to Visa policy.



Jenny Kwan, a member of the Canadian Parliament, told reporters that she has already written a letter to foreign minister Stephane Dion on the visa issue, urging the minister to tackle the issue at the earliest.



The issue of visa problem assumes immense importance for Canada, as more than one million Canadian citizens of Chinese descent live in Canada. Experts say that if the reports of Canadian descents facing visa problem are indeed true, then it is a complete encroachment of Hong Kong's autonomy.



Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to visit China in late August. The Prime Minister is likely to take up the issue with Chinese leadership during his visits, if the issue remains unresolved.



Earlier this month, the diplomatic relationship between China and Canada became strained after Foreign Minister Wang Yi publicly scolded a Canadian journalist in Ottawa. Wang was reportedly infuriated by the journalist's repeated questions on human rights issues in China. Following the incident, the Canadian Prime Minister castigated the Chinese foreign minister.



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TagsCanada, china, Canada-China relations
(Photo : Reuters) Huawei has received praise for supporting Kenya's information technology sector.

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Huawei will soon build a $350-million regional research and development center in Bangkok, Thailand.



This plan aims to serve small and medium-sized companies as well as start-ups in Thailand. It also wants to develop the digital economy and smart cities nationwide, starting with Bangkok.



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Thailand's deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak stated that the government and the executives of Huawei have discussed a partnership between the Thai government and the Chinese company. The agreement also plans to help build up Thai agriculture and tourism.



During the deputy prime minister's visit to China earlier this week, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Huawei, the National Science and Technology Development Agency, and the National Innovation Agency on cooperation in several areas, such as IT training, technology transfers, and job creation, seeking to transform Thailand into a regional ICT hub.



Huawei has closed a three-year framework deal with the Science and Technology Ministry of Thailand. The research and development center is expected to be established later this year, along with the hope of offering about 80 local jobs.



Zhao Hongjin, president of overseas business at China Fortune Land Development, said that aside from Thailand, Huawei is interested in investing in a smart city in the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam) region.



Presently, Huawei employs more than 1,800 employees in Thailand, and 90 percent of them are Thai. In Thailand, the Chinese tech company has established one training center, one regional solution innovation center, 15 spare parts service centers, 23 regional offices, and over 60 device service centers.



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TagsHuawei, Thailand, Bangkok, Research and Development, research and development Thailand, research and development Huawei, digital economy, smart city
(Photo : Getty Images) More than 50 people are feared dead following a deadly terror attack at Istanbul's main international airport on Tuesday night

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Dozens of Chinese nationals were evacuated from Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport following a deadly terror attack that left more than 50 people dead and 160 wounded on Tuesday night.



Reports indicate that at least three suicide bombers started spraying bullets into crowds of terrified passengers before blowing themselves up, killing more than 50 people and injuring over a hundred others.



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The suicide bombers detonated their suicide vests at the terminal entrance and the car park, according to Turkish officials.



Three explosions rocked the airport, sending the passengers into a panic as security officials tried to wrestle one of the terrorists to the ground before he could blow himself up.



According to Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, the terror attack, which he described as 'major and coordinated,' appeared to have been the handiwork of Islamic State militants.



Turkish nationals



He said that although a majority of the casualties were Turkish nationals, some foreigners were also killed.



Chinese state media have reported more Chinese nationals may still be trapped inside Europe's third busiest airport and efforts to evacuate them are underway.



Istanbul authorities are yet to identify the fatalities in the deadly suicide attack while the injured have been taken to the nearest hospital.



Unharmed



China's state-run news agency, Xinhua, has reported that the 47 Chinese, who have been evacuated from the airport, were unharmed.



Chinese workers and tourists, who were in the airport when the attack took place, were among those who were saved from the suicide bombings.



About 20 of those evacuated are Chinese workers from China's three provinces while the rest were tourists from two cities.



A task force has been created by the Chinese Consulate General in Istanbul to conduct rescue operations and provide assistance to Chinese companies operating in the city.



So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the terror attack.



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TagsAtaturk International Airport, Chinese nationals, Turkey Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, islamic state militants, suicide bombers, china
(Photo : Northrop Grumman ) TERN, a long-endurance and armed unmanned air system that will transform forward-deployed small ships of the US Navy into mini-aircraft carriers.

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TERN, a new vertical-take-off-and -landing (VTOL) aerial combat drone from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), might be the key weapon that helps validate the U.S. Navy's new warfighting concept called "distributed lethality."



This concept is the Navy's answer to the anti-access, anti-denial (A2/AD) strategies being developed by China and Russia to negate much of the striking power of the Navy's 11 Nimitiz-class nuclear aircraft carriers.



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China's A2/AD strategy in Asia, for example, relies on its much ballyhooed but as yet unproven DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) to keep Navy carriers outside the disputed South China Sea.



Transforming practically all Navy warships into mini-aircraft carriers will largely invalidate China's and Russia's A2/AD strategies by saturating their defenses with missile-armed aerial drones and kamikaze drones to be launched from different classes of Navy ships and not only carriers.



The only technologically feasible way to transform Navy ships into mini-aircraft carriers is to dispense with a runway. VTOL attack drones will bring about this transformation and the real world iteration of this aircraft is called TERN.



TERN stands for the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) program. It's also the name of the VTOL drone that might one day equip Navy warships to help bring about distributed lethality along with other combat drones being developed by DARPA and other contractors.



TERN is a proposed flying wing helicopter powered by two 10 feet long, counter-rotating rotors. This drone is triangular in shape and measures 40 feet on a side.



TERN will initially be designed for reconnaissance missions but will ultimately be turned into a weapons system carrying the Navy's full range of air-to-ground missiles and guided bombs.



TERN envisions using smaller ships as mobile launch and recovery sites for medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It will make it much easier, quicker and less expensive for the U.S. military to deploy persistent ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and strike capabilities almost anywhere in the world.



DARPA recently awarded over $110 million to Northrop Grumman that won the program's Phase 3 segment to "design, develop, and demonstrate enabling technologies and system attributes for a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned air vehicle and shipboard-capable launch and recovery system allowing operations from smaller ships."



Northrop Grumman will use the funding to build a second TERN VTOL aircraft. Phase 3 envisions a tail-sitting, flying-wing aircraft with twin counter-rotating, nose-mounted propellers.



The propellers will lift the aircraft from a ship deck; orient it for horizontal flight and provide propulsion to complete a mission. They will then reorient the craft upon its return and lower it to the ship deck. The system will fit securely inside the ship when not in use.



The TERN demonstrator aircraft will resemble the Convair XFY-1 Pogo, an experimental ship-based VTOL fighter designed by the Navy in the 1950s to provide air support for fleets.



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TagsTERN, Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, Northrop Grumman
(Photo : Getty Images.) Reports in Chinese media suggest that Chinas top internet regulator, Lu Wei, is likely to step down soon.

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China's top internet regulator, Lu Wei, is likely to step down soon and will be replaced by his current deputy, Xu Lin, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.



Lu Wei, director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, is solely responsible for regulating online content for world's largest internet audience. He is widely considered responsible for bringing many tough regulations that have vehemently curbed online criticisms against Chinese government.



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The 56-year-old Lu has publicly defended China's tough internet regulations on several occasions. A big section of China's internet users solely blame Lu for curbing their online freedom, but many have praised him for contributing to social stability by streamlining public opinions on several important social issues.



Experts say that Lu's departure signals an important shift in an organization that is considered to be critical in the eyes of Chinese President Xi Jinping.



The Cyberspace Administration of China has still not issued any official statement about the report.



The Cyberspace Administration of China was formed by Xi nearly two years back, in order to keep close tabs on China's internet users and online content. Many analysts claim that China's strict internet censorship is owing to the deep-rooted fear that internet may be used as a potential weapon by its enemies.



Many years ago, American internet giant Google shut down its operations in China, citing that it could not operate under strict censorship regulation. Even social media gaint Facebook has been banned in China for several years now.



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Tagschina, Lu Wei, Xu Lin, Cyberspace Administration of China, Internet censorship, China censorship
(Photo : Getty Images) The Philippines incoming government will put more priority on fighting Islamic terrorism than the South China Sea dispute.

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Defeating Islamic insurgents in the Philippines will assume more importance than addressing the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Philippines incoming Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana said on Wednesday.



Speaking in an interview with foreign media, Lorenzana claimed that violent and terrorist acts of Abu Sayyaf rebels are hurting the Philippines' reputation abroad, and incoming president Rodrigo Duterte is frustrated by the government's failure to rein in the group.



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"These illegal activities, including kidnapping, must stop," Lorenzana said. "I share the frustrations of the president and our people. We have to end this once and for all. This problem is giving us a very bad image abroad."



Since its formation in early 1990's Abu Sayyaf has been involved in a series of terrorist attacks, including the bombing of Superferry 14 in 2004, which killed 116 people. The bombing is widely considered the worst terrorist attack in the Philippines' history.



Lorenzana added that Philippines new government would invest more money in acquiring military hardware to flush out Islamic militants from Southern Jolo island, rather than diverting the fund to beef up maritime security around South China Sea region.



Lorenzana's statement about the new government's defense priorities is likely to add uncertainty to Duterte's position on South China Sea. Critics have accused the Philippines incoming president of flip-flopping on the sensitive issue of the South China Sea.



The relation between China and Philippines is currently at a critical stage, with the International Tribunal in The Hague all set to deliver a verdict in the case brought by Manila that could undermine China's claim to the South China Sea.



Beijing has already stated that it would not accept the verdict. Beijing claims that more than 40 countries are supporting its refusal to accept the verdict. Earlier this week, a top Chinese diplomat visited Vietnam to garner more support ahead of the verdict.



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TagsPhilippines, Islamic militant, South China Sea, China and Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte
(Photo : NASA) Space internet: the Delay & Disruption Tolerant Networking system

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NASA is currently testing a new communications protocol on the International Space Station (ISS) that will ultimately lead to a future "interplanetary internet" system connecting human outposts and spacecraft in the entire solar system.



This protocol goes by the very military sounding name of the "Delay & Disruption Tolerant Networking" or DTN. It's also called Disruption Tolerant Networking.



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NASA described DTN as the first step towards an interplanetary internet or solar system internet system. The DTN protocol is being developed by NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems DTN project. NASA said DTN is the key internet engineering technology needed for interplanetary networking.



NASA is now testing messages sent between the ISS and ground stations using delay- and disruption-tolerant networks that temporarily store data during signal interruptions because of the constant movement of spacecraft and the planets.



When it's much improved, DTN will result in more reliable and efficient data transmission and more usable bandwidth. It's also more secure and allows many priority levels for different types of data to ensure the most important information is received first.



"DTN works by providing a reliable and automatic 'store and forward' data network that stores partial bundles of data in nodes along a communication path until the parts can be forwarded or retransmitted, then re-bundled at the final destination -- either to ground stations on Earth, robotic spacecraft in deep space, or, one day, humans living on other planets," said NASA.



"This differs from traditional Internet Protocols that require all nodes in the transmission path to be available during the same time frame for successful data transmission."



The internet protocols we currently use are spread through a series of communication points that must be clear and available for information to make it from one point to another. In space, these nodes usually aren't lined up because of movement.



NASA said DTNs are beneficial because they can improve electronic communications by storing data whenever a connection is interrupted and forwarding it to its destination with relay stations. The current technology aboard ISS has established a long-term communications test bed that sends test messages between the space station and stations on Earth.



DTN will also prove useful to earthlings in the future. Experience with DTN on the ISS is expected to lead to additional terrestrial applications, especially for mobile communications where connections are erratic and discontinuous.



DTN is a suite of experimental protocols developed by members of the Delay & Disruption Tolerant Networking Research Group operating under the Internet Research Task Force as Requests for Comment administered by the Internet Engineering Task Force.



Communications between the Earth and voyaging spacecraft face problems of delayed arrival of data and discontinued communication due to disruption of radio waves. DTN allows for a communication network that is tolerant to communication delay and disruption through development of a communication protocols to be used for space-to-earth and space-to-space communications.



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TagsNASA, space internet, interplanetary internet, Delay & Disruption Tolerant Networking, DTN
(Photo : Getty Images) The Permanent Court of Arbitration in Holland will deliver a ruling on the South China Sea case on June 12.

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The Permanent Court of Arbitration in Hague, Netherland is set to deliver a verdict on the South China Sea case between the Philippines and China on June 12, the court said in a statement released on Wednesday. The eagerly awaited verdict, which is expected to go against China, is certain to increase tension in South China Sea region.



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The case was filed by the Philippines in 2013 to challenge China's claim over 80 percent of the waters of the South China Sea. China has already stated that it would not accept the verdict of the court. Experts say China has carried out a special public relation exercise to garner the support of prominent countries.



Philippines incoming President Rodrigo Duterte has called on China to comply with the verdict but said he is open to open dialogue if the Chinese government does not comply. Most western nations - including U.S. - have been attempting to pressurize China into accepting the verdict.



Last month, several world leaders, who assembled in Japan to participate in the annual G7 summit, called on China to respect the verdict. Despite the growing pressure from all quarters, Beijing's stance on the verdict remains unchanged.



China is claiming sovereignty over a large portion of the South China Sea. China's claims, however, is being challenged by several neighboring countries including Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. Experts claim that after the verdict, China may become more assertive in protecting its sovereignty over the disputed maritime territory.



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TagsSouth China Sea, Arbitration Court in Hague, china, China and Philippines
Divided Supreme Court rejects family pharmacy's religious claim 29 June, 2016 by Reuters , |

WASHINGTON (Reuters)  A divided U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday turned away an appeal by a family-owned pharmacy that cited Christian beliefs in objecting to providing emergency contraceptives to women under a Washington state rule, prompting a searing dissent by conservative Justice Samuel Alito.

The justices left in place a July 2015 ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a state regulation that requires pharmacies to deliver all prescribed drugs, including contraceptives, in a timely manner.

Three conservatives among the eight justices argued that the court should have agreed to hear the appeal by the Stormans family, which owns Ralph's Thriftway grocery story and pharmacy in Olympia.

If this is a sign of how religious liberty claims will be treated in the years ahead, those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern.

Alito, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas, said the court's decision not to hear it is "an ominous sign" for the future of religious liberty claims.

"If this is a sign of how religious liberty claims will be treated in the years ahead, those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern," Alito added.

The court may be less likely to rule in favor of people making such claims following February's death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, especially if he is replaced by a liberal appointee.

The American Civil Liberties Union praised the court's action.

"When a woman walks into a pharmacy, she should not fear being turned away because of the religious beliefs of the owner or the person behind the counter," said Louise Melling, the group's deputy legal director.

Evolving American social attitudes and changes in the law relating to issues such as gay marriage and birth control coverage in health insurance have spurred numerous court challenges by individuals, businesses and nonprofit employers who say their religious liberty has been violated. The U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protects freedom of religion.

Washington state permits a religiously objecting individual pharmacist to deny medicine, as long as another pharmacist working at the location provides timely delivery. The rules require a pharmacy to deliver all medicine, even if the owner objects.

The Supreme Court in 2014 allowed certain businesses to object on religious grounds to the Obamacare law's requirement that companies provide employees with insurance that pays for women's contraceptives. The court in May sent a similar dispute brought by nonprofit Christian employers back to lower courts without resolving the main legal issue.

The Stormans family is made up of devout Christians who associate "morning after" emergency contraceptives with abortion. Two individual pharmacists who worked elsewhere also joined the lawsuit.

"The dilemma this creates for the Stormans family and others like them is plain: Violate your sincerely held religious beliefs or get out of the pharmacy business," Alito said.

Thirty-eight state and national pharmacy associations had urged the court to take up the case, saying pharmacies generally get to choose what products they stock.

Alito said there is evidence the state's regulation was adopted because of "hostility to pharmacists whose religious beliefs regarding abortion and contraception are out of step with prevailing opinion in the state" and designed "to stamp out religious objectors."

The appeals court said the rules rationally further the state's interest in patient safety. Speed is particularly important considering the time-sensitive nature of emergency contraception, that court said.

"Americans should be free to peacefully live and work consistent with their faith without fear of unjust punishment, and no one should be forced to participate in the taking of human life," said Kristen Waggoner, a lawyer with the Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative Christian legal group representing the Stormans.

*Reporting by Lawrence Hurley
'Inclusive' group calls for openly gay Methodist bishops 29 June, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

CHICAGO (Christian Examiner)  A group of Methodists dedicated to advancing the cause of inclusiveness for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in their denomination is encouraging the election of three openly gay bishops to help lead the church.

The group, Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN), claims that the time is right for the election of the bishops following the denomination's 2016 General Conference. At the gathering in traditionally liberal Portland, Ore., in May, Methodists voted to table several pieces of legislation that would have changed the denomination's stance on homosexuality.

However, the door was left open to further dialogue when Methodists voted narrowly (428-405) to establish a special commission to study the inclusion of members of the LGBT community as ordained priests and to recommend whether or not the church should bless same-sex marriages.

Homosexual activists have a long history of trying to overturn scriptural teachings on homosexuality in the denomination, but since 1972 church doctrine has regarded homosexuality as "incompatible with Christian teaching."

We believe the new creation has begun??it's time for The United Methodist Church to move boldly forward into the future and elect its first openly gay bishops to the glory of God and for the unfolding of a new future together.

Now, RMN's Executive Director Matt Berryman claims "the Spirit of God is now raising up three openly gay candidates for the office of bishop for election at the meetings of the Western and North Central Jurisdictions in just a few weeks."

Berryman said the three ministers  Rev. Dr. Karen Oliveto, Rev. Frank Wulf, and Rev. David Meredith  have been courageous in sharing their vision for full inclusion "for years as preachers of the gospel."

"The vote to establish a commission to examine and offer revision to anti-LGBTQ policy united a majority of delegates around the common desire to end discrimination and division. The vote, an expression of the Spirit's leading, inaugurates a new moment in the life of The United Methodist Church that continues to grow and grow as Annual Conferences around the US resolve to ordain openly LGBTQ clergy, to affirm the image of God in our transgender siblings, and to publicly declare an unwillingness to conform with all aspects of anti-LGBTQ policy," Berryman writes.

According to Berryman and RMN, members of the LGBT community have been marginalized for decades and the three ministers who will be nominated as bishop have been ministering to marginalized "as gay preachers of the gospel."

"They know what it means to follow Jesus into futures yet unknown and what it means to live in the promise and hope of a new creation whose reality is an unfolding dream. They have comforted the poor, the afflicted, and those in need while challenging the powerful and the privileged to grow more deeply into the full stature of Christ," Berryman writes.

He adds that the church will demonstrate true discipleship if it begins the work of restoring and reconciling by electing what he called "qualified" leaders.

"We believe the new creation has begun??it's time for The United Methodist Church to move boldly forward into the future and elect its first openly gay bishops to the glory of God and for the unfolding of a new future together," Berryman writes.

At the General Conference, discussion turned to a possible special assembly to debate how the denomination could be divided among pro-gay and biblical Methodists. But the denomination may unravel long before any such meeting occurs. Several regional conferences are already rebelling.

Despite the fact their moves do nothing to change national policy and church doctrine, the Desert Southwest Conference and California-Pacific Conference decided last week to askew any discussion of sexual orientation or traditional doctrine when ordaining ministers.

That decision came after the New England Conference voted "not to conform or comply with the provisions of the (Book of) Discipline which discriminate against LGBTQIA [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual] persons."
PEW: Christians, Jews most oppressed by elected officials and police worldwide 29 June, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

PRINCETON, N.J. (Christian Examiner)  Governments the world over don't like religion very much it seems, and Christians rank highest among the groups that are most often oppressed by elected officials and police, a new study from the Pew Research Center claims.

Although the level of religious hostility on the part of governments declined slightly in 2014 (the last full year for which data was available), Christians have seen marginalization and outright persecution in 108 of the world's 198 countries, the report said.

They are not, however, alone. The report also claims that Muslims suffer harassment in at least 100 countries.

While levels of harassment for Christians and Muslims have fluctuated up and down since the survey data was first reported in 2007, the number of countries where Jews suffer persecution has steadily increased since  by 63 percent.

In 2007, Pew logged cases of harassment against Jews in 51 countries. That number rose to 81 in 2014, indicating a rising tide of anti-Semitism the world over.

All three of the major monotheistic faiths saw losses in good will at an increasing rate as "social harassment" increased for all three. The survey defined social harassment as conflict brought about by sectarian differences in which people of faith were assault or displaced from their homes "in retailiation for religious activities considered offensive or threatening to the majority faith in their country, state or province."

Government restrictions on religion were defined as the prohibition of religious practice, as well the killing, physical abuse, imprisonment of displacement of adherents to a particular religion.

Not surprisingly, North Africa and the Middle East had the highest levels of both government restriction on religion and social harassment of the regions named in the report. It documents incidences of violence there, such as the brutal beating and murder of a woman in Egypt who was pulled from her car because Muslims saw a crucifix hanging in it.

China ranked highest among individual countries in government restrictions on religion, while the highest level of social hostilities among religious minorities occurred in Pakistan  where Christians repeatedly suffer from honor killings and suicide bombings.

That sort of terrorism related to religious persecution increased significantly in 2014. The study notes:

"Of the 198 countries included in the study, 82 (41%) had religion-related terrorist activities in 2014, up from 73 (37%) in both 2012 and 2013. In 22 of the 82 countries, the terrorist activities were limited to recruitment or fundraising. But in 60 countries, religion-related terrorism led to injuries or deaths, up from 51 countries in 2013 and 40 countries in 2012."

Pew defined religion-related terrorism as acts of violence carried out by "subnational groups" motivated by religion  groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and the Islamic State. It also included terror attacks carried out by those acting as lone wolves against other religious groups or individuals, such as clergy.

Several of those attacks were carried out by ISIS and other religious extremists outside of the Middle East, in countries like Australia and Turkey.

Surprisingly, the United States fell into the "moderate" category when it came to government restrictions on religion while Japan, fiercely traditionalist, had the best record. Ironically, the U.S. also ranks "high" in the area of social hostility to religious groups, the Pew study claimed.

North Korea is not included in the report. While the study acknowledges that North Korea's government is "among the most repressive in the world, including toward religion," the lack of access to the country makes obtaining actual survey date impossible.
The 2014 CCC Summer Conference, hosted every year by Campus Crusade for Christ in Korea, was held in Pyeongchang, Gangwondo province in South Korea, where over ten thousand college students, and student leaders gathered from all over Korea and even around the world to worship and praise the Lord. The theme for this years conference was Reset In Christ.

Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC or Cru) was founded in 1953 by Dr. Bill Bright and his wife Vonette Bright. Dr. Bright was already a successful businessman and owner of a corporation, but after a calling from God to start a Christian ministry targeting college students, founded the first CCC ministry at UCLA witnessing many souls coming to Christ and great revival.

Five years later, Dr. Jun-gon Kim founded KCCC in Gwangju, South Korea, which became Crus first overseas branch. To this day, KCCC has seen great revival in Korea especially during the 1980s through their summer conference ever since they had their conference in the woods with all the students sleeping in tents. Since 2009, the conference was held at the Phoenix Park Ski Resort, which is also where the 2018 Winter Olympics will be held.

For several years, as well as 10,000 Korean college students, many guests were invited from countries all over the world. This year, all the regions of KCCC USA (LA, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston) and Canada were invited. A total of 300 Korean-American students were present as well as members of the Philippines, Columbia and Russia CCC ministries.

The main purpose of the CCC Summer Conference, also commonly referred to as the Korea Conference by KCCC USA, is to envision students to become the next generation of spiritual leaders of the world as well as Korea and the U.S. Staff also challenge students to spread the Gospel in mission fields abroad as well as on their college campuses.

Dr. Sungmin Park, the director of CCC in Korea explained about the theme for this years conference. He talked about how the youth of the 21st century are often referred to as the Reset Generation. In a nutshell, students these days would literally reset their lives as if they were living in a video game in times of great hardship instead of trying to solve the root of the problem. To this generation Dr. Park asked the question, Would things be different if you start over? Without the grace of God, failures would repeat and habitual sins would reoccur.

According to 2 Corinthians 5 : 17, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (ESV). Dr. Park explained how he hoped the students would literally reset their lives in Christ and recommit their lives to Him as His servants.
I had the privilege or reading a pre-release version of "God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church." Here are 20 quotes from the book, which you should pick up.
(UPDATE) Putin signs new restrictions that limit where and how Christians share the gospel.

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The State Duma building in Moscow

Update (July 8): This week, Russian president Vladimir Putin approved a package of anti-terrorism laws that usher in tighter restrictions on missionary activity and evangelism.

Despite prayers and protests from religious leaders and human rights advocates, the Kremlin announced Putins approval yesterday. The amendments, including laws against sharing faith in homes, online, or anywhere but recognized church buildings, go into effect July 20.

Though opponents to the new measures hope to eventually appeal in court or elect legislators to amend them, they have begun to prepare their communities for life under the new rules, reported Forum 18 News Service, a Christian outlet reporting on the region.

Protestants and religious minorities small enough to gather in homes fear they will be most affected. Last month, the local police officer came to a home where a group of Pentecostals meet each Sunday," Konstantin Bendas, deputy bishop of the Pentecostal Union, told Forum 18. "With a contented expression he told them: Now they're adopting the law I'll drive you all out of here. I reckon we should now fear such zealous enforcement.

There are potentially very wide-sweeping ramifications to this law, Joel Griffith of the Slavic Gospel Association said in a Mission Network News report. It just depends on, again, how it is going to be enforced, and that is a very huge question mark.

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Earlier reporting (June 29): Christians in Russia wont be allowed to email their friends an invitation to church or to evangelize in their own homes if Russias newest set of surveillance and anti-terrorism laws are enacted.

The proposed laws, considered the countrys ...
home US 'Jesus' bus bench ads by Colorado pastor could be removed for including the name 'Jesus'

A pastor's advertisement contract on transit benches in Colorado Springs may no longer be renewed because they contain the name "Jesus."

The Mountain Metro Transit, which carries the bus bench ads, informed Pastor Lawson Perdue that he can no longer put up ads with the name "Jesus" because a person complained to the company about it.

"I asked the city person, 'Why are you not allowing me to advertise the name of Jesus?' She said, 'Because if you use name of Jesus in ads, then we must allow hate messaging,'" Perdue said, according to Charisma News.

Perdue, who heads Charis Christian Center, told the city officer that Jesus' name does not in any way represent hate speech. On the contrary, he said, Jesus' name "is a very positive message of faith."

He considered the officials' move as an attack on his First Amendment Rights and an attack against those who profess Jesus as their Savior.

Perdue has been advertising on transit benches for three years in a row, and all his ads have the name of Jesus in them. Last year, the ads read "Experience Jesus," and two years ago, they read "Celebrate Jesus."

This year, Perdue had the words "Jesus is Lord" in the ads, which are painted on 20 benches scattered all over the city. His contract will expire on July 10.

When Mountain Metro Transit refused to renew his advertising contract, Perdue approached the city officials.

The city's official statement released Monday said that it is "carefully reviewing the advertising policies of Mountain Metro Transit" to check if they comply with the law and to determine if Perdue's ads need to be changed.

The statement also said that Mountain Metro Transit acknowledged that it acted "hastily" on the complaint regarding the ads.

"During this review, no action will be taken and Mountain Metro Transit will continue Pastor Perdue's advertisement as they currently appear," city officials said. They also said they take violations of the First Amendment "very seriously."

Perdue has enlisted the help of an attorney from the organization Alliance Defending Freedom, but he has filed no lawsuit so far.
home US Immigration reform news 2016: Justice Dept. reviewing Supreme Court decision on immigration, says A-G Loretta Lynch

The Obama administration is looking into whether it can challenge the Supreme Court's decision to block President Barack Obama's plan to spare millions of illegal immigrants from deportation, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Tuesday.

"We will be reviewing the case and seeing what, if anything else, we need to do in court," Lynch told Reuters in an interview.

Lynch did not say what legal options the Obama administration may pursue following a split decision by the Supreme Court justices last week that left in place a block on the executive action by a lower court.

She said any future executive actions Obama may take on immigration would be left to the White House.

In a wideranging interview on topics from gun control to the effect of the planned exit of Britain from the European Union, Lynch identified espionage from foreign nationals on U.S. companies as a "tremendous problem."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reported a 53 percent increase in cases of economic espionage between 2014 and 2015 and the majority of cases involve Chinese nationals as culprits.

Most recently, Xu Jiaqiang, 30, was charged with economic espionage and theft of trade secrets, for stealing software source code from his U.S. employer with the intent of benefiting the Chinese government.

"It is a matter of priority for us," Lynch said. "When companies or industries are preyed upon by others, be they individuals, be they state actors who literally steal the fruit of their intellectual labors, essentially they are stealing from future generations also."

Asked to comment on the impact of Britain's decision at a referendum last week to leave the European Union, Lynch said the law enforcement relationships between the United States and both Britain and the European Union would remain strong.

"We have very strong and positive relationship with law enforcement in the United Kingdom and, as of now, I do not see that changing in respect to the United Kingdom or the European Union," Lynch said.

Asked about changes that should be made in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando on June 12, Lynch did not say if the Justice Department or the Obama administration was working on more executive actions on gun control but would continue research on "smart-gun" technology.

A smart gun is one that can only be fired by the authorized user, often by requiring a palm print, in order to prevent gun theft or accidental shootings.

"That's going to be a longer-term project. One of the things that we want to make sure is that people who do own guns lawfully have a way to make sure that their family members are safe in the house with them,"

Lynch said the Justice Department is looking to see if the federal government can move smart-gun research forward, including on technology that can be used by the military.

Lynch also said that it was important for the Justice Department to look at individuals in the ongoing criminal investigation into the Volkswagen emissions scandal.
home World ISIS-inspired twins attack family, kill mother in Saudi Arabia after she told them not to join terror group

Twin brothers in Saudi Arabia who took inspiration from the Islamic State terrorists killed their opposing mother and severely wounded their father and older brother Friday, June 24.

According to Gulf News, Saudis are left in utter shock and confusion how the 20-year-old well-provided twins with good academic standing managed to attack their own flesh and blood.

The spokesperson for the Interior Ministry announced that Khalid and Saleh Al Areeni committed the heinous crime early Friday morning. Investigations revealed that the twins pre-meditated the murder using a cleaver and sharp knives that they brought from outside.

The twins first stabbed their 67-year-old mother, Haila, whom they lured into a storeroom. They then moved to stab their 73-year-old father before chasing to stab their 22-year-old brother Sulaiman. The twins' father and brother are being treated in a hospital while their mother died on the spot.

Officials arrested the twins 100 kilometres southwest of Riyadh after fleeing their home in a stolen vehicle.

Hundreds of mourners turned up on the mother's funeral held Saturday evening. Local reports said she had already suspected her sons' plan to join ISIS and warned that she would report them to authorities.

Saudis took to social media to call for death penalty for the twins and other terrorist sympathizers.

The grand mufti and chairman of the Council of Senior Scholars, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh, also denounced the twins' act.

"The twin brothers are misled by Daesh which incites killing even Muslim relatives after labeling them as infidels. This incident shows that Daesh militants have totally deviated from the right path and have nothing to do with Islam," said the grand mufti on Al-Watan, as reported by Saudi Gazette.

He cited that even the prophets of the earlier times did not kill their relatives who did not share their faith. He stressed that Islam calls for respect and service to parents is next to worshipping Allah.

"However, these Daesh terrorists came with a false ideology that allows the killing of Muslim relatives after labeling them as infidels," he said.
home World Istanbul airport suicide bombings leave 41 dead, ISIS emerges as prime suspect

Turkish investigators pored over video footage and witness statements on Wednesday after three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers opened fire and blew themselves up in Istanbul's main airport, killing 41 people and wounding 239.

The attack on Europe's third-busiest airport was the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings this year in Turkey, part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State and struggling to contain spillover from neighbouring Syria's war.

President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against terrorism, which he said had "no regard for faith or values". U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned it in separate phone calls with Erdogan, his office said.

Five Saudis and two Iraqis were among the dead, a Turkish official said. Citizens from China, Jordan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Iran and Ukraine were also among the 13 foreigners killed.

One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover and trying to flee, before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below, witnesses and officials said.

Video footage showed one of the attackers inside the terminal building being shot, apparently by a police officer, before falling to the ground as people scattered. The attacker then blew himself up around 20 seconds later.

"It's a jigsaw puzzle ... The authorities are going through CCTV footage, witness statements," a Turkish official said.

The Dogan news agency said autopsies on the three bombers, whose torsos were ripped apart, had been completed and that they may have been foreign nationals, without citing its sources.

Broken ceiling panels littered the kerb outside the arrivals section of the international terminal. Plates of glass had shattered, exposing the inside of the building, and electric cables dangled from the ceiling. Cleanup crews swept up debris and armed police patrolled as flights resumed.

"This attack, targeting innocent people is a vile, planned terrorist act," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters at the scene in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

"There is initial evidence that each of the three suicide bombers blew themselves up after opening fire," he said. The attackers had come to the airport by taxi and preliminary findings pointed to Islamic State responsibility.

Two U.S. counterterrorism officials familiar with the early stages of investigations said Islamic State was at the top of the list of suspects even though there was no evidence yet.

No group had claimed responsibility more than 12 hours after the attack, which began around 9:50 p.m. (1850 GMT) on Tuesday.

VICTIMS OF MANY NATIONALITIES

Istanbul's position bridging Europe and Asia has made Ataturk airport, Turkey's largest, a major transit hub for passengers across the world. The Istanbul governor's office said 109 of the 239 people hospitalised had since been discharged, but the health minister said 41 were still in intensive care.

"There were little babies crying, people shouting, broken glass and blood all over the floor. It was very crowded, there was chaos. It was traumatic," said Diana Eltner, 29, a Swiss psychologist who was travelling from Zurich to Vietnam but had been diverted to Istanbul after she missed a connection.

Delayed travellers were sleeping on floors at the airport, a Reuters witness said, as some passengers and airport staff cried and hugged each other. Police in kevlar vests with automatic weapons prowled the kerbside as a handful of travellers and Turkish Airlines crew trickled in.

The national carrier said it had cancelled 340 flights although its departures resumed after 8:00 am (0500 GMT).

Paul Roos, 77, a South African tourist on his way home, said he saw one of the attackers "randomly shooting" in the departures hall from about 50 metres (55 yards) away.

"He was wearing all black. His face was not masked ... We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Roos told Reuters.

"He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over."

AIM TO MAXIMISE FEAR

The attack bore similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March that killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital.

Islamic State militants also claimed gun and bomb attacks that killed 129 people in Paris last November

"In Istanbul they used a combination of the methods employed in Paris and Brussels. They planned a murder that would maximize fear and loss of life," said Suleyman Ozeren, a terrorism expert at the Ankara-based Global Policy and Strategy Institute.

Turkey needs to work harder on "preventative intelligence" to stop militants being radicalised in the first place, he said.

The two U.S. officials said the Istanbul bombing was more typical of Islamic State than of Kurdish militant groups which have also carried out recent attacks in Turkey, but usually strike at official government targets.

Yildirim said it was significant that the attack took place when Turkey was having successes in fighting terrorist groups and mending ties with some of its international partners.

Turkey announced the restoration of diplomatic ties with Israel on Monday after a six-year rupture and has been trying to restore relations with Russia, a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

One of the U.S. officials said there had been a "marked increase" in encrypted Islamic State propaganda and communications on the dark web, which some American officials interpret as an effort to direct or inspire more attacks outside its home turf to offset its recent losses on the ground.

Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the probe, which they said is being led by Turkish officials with what they called intelligence support from the United States and other NATO allies.
home Faith Ken Ham: Christians who support evolution are following a 'religion of death'

Creationist Ken Ham condemned Christians who support the theory of evolution as following what he referred to as "religion of death."

Ham took to Facebook Saturday, June 25 to publicly condemn Christians who do not share his belief in the Biblical or creationist theory.

"Christians who accept millions of years are mixing the religion of death with the religion of life--death came after sin, Jesus conquered it," wrote Ham.

"Evolution requires death over millions of years, death is a 'friend' that produces life and death ends it all," he continued.

He explained that the Bible already foretold of death's defeat through Jesus' dying on the cross and resurrection. It is on the same vein that Ham postulated that "creation is a religion of life" while "death is a result of sin" because the "Creator" already assumed the consequences of the sins and replaced it with the gift of life. He further tried to simplify his explanation by saying that the contrast between Christianity and secularism is really the contrast "between the religion of life and the religion of death."

Ham also previously criticized the scientific community as they reported that their search for "Earth 2.0" remained elusive despite discoveries of more than a thousand exoplanets.

Among the scientists, though, world-renowned theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku believes he discovered a proof of God's existence and that the universe is a Matrix.

"I have concluded that we are in a world made by rules created by an intelligence," Kaku said in an article published by Geophilosophical Association of Anthropological and Cultural Studies.

"This means that, in all probability, there is an unknown force that governs everything," said the physicist, as quoted by Nano Evolution in 2015.

Ham, the president of the Answers in Genesis (AIG) and the Creation Museum, is set to launch his Ark Encounter project on July 7. He promised that the Ark will be just as the Biblical Noah's Ark used to be. That means this would be 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high.
home Faith Naghmeh Abedini found Jesus as a Muslim immigrant in America

Naghmeh Abedini, wife of former Iran detainee Saeed, shared how she was introduced to the love of Jesus while living in the U.S. as a Muslim immigrant many years ago.

Abedini said in a Facebook post that she and her family fled to America more than three decades ago to escape the difficult conditions brought about by the war between Iran and Iraq. While in the U.S., she felt the "tender heart of Jesus" through the people who welcomed them.

"I was a Muslim immigrant," she wrote. "When we came to America more than 30 years ago I was treated with love and acceptance by the Christians."

She said that the U.S. allowed her the freedom to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

Abedini said other family members, including her parents, siblings, cousins and even her 95-year-old grandmother encountered Jesus when they transferred to the U.S.

Although some of her relatives have clung to Islam to this day, most of them have been given great opportunities to pursue higher levels of education and to land high-level positions in large companies, Abedini said.

"Others have their own small businesses Including my uncle and my dad who have started small businesses here in Boise that now employ close to a 100 people many of who are refugees from all over the world," Abedini said. "This is the America I know and love."

This America, she explained, built its foundations on Christian values like love and compassion.

Abedini noted, however, that her post had nothing to do with issues involving illegal immigration of Muslims in the U.S. She said she does not possess the expertise to determine how to best protect the citizens of the country, something that only experts should decide on.

"This is not a political statement," she clarified, adding that it was a simple statement to remind Americans of the opportunity to show the love of Jesus to others.

The entry of Muslim immigrants in the U.S. has become a hotly debated topic particularly after the Orlando shooting took place on June 12, where Muslim shooter Omar Mateen killed 49 people in a gay nightclub.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump commented that the tragedy was an immigration issue and called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S., which can be lifted when the U.S. develops the capacity to screen them properly.

"They're pouring in and we don't know what we're doing," Trump said, according to Time.

In a recent statement, however, Trump appeared to have changed his mind about the proposed ban. His spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said Trump is now proposing that a ban be imposed on those who are coming from places with "tremendous terrorism," The Washington Post reported.
home Faith Pope Francis: Church must say sorry to gay community, seek forgiveness for discriminating

The Church should say sorry to the gay community and ask forgiveness from God for discriminating against homosexuals, Pope Francis said on Sunday, June 26.

While aboard a flight traveling from Armenia to Rome, the pope addressed reporters' questions that touched various subjects from the Orlando shooting to the possibility of having female deacons in the future.

A reporter asked him if he agreed with what Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who heads the German Bishops' Conference, said that the Catholic Church needs to apologize to homosexuals for taking part in their marginalization in society.

"In the days following the shooting in Orlando, many have said that the Christian community had something to do with this hate toward these people. What do you think?" the reporter asked, according to Catholic News Agency.

Francis, who looked visibly pained when the Orlando shooting was mentioned, said the Church must not only apologize but also ask God for forgiveness for the way it has treated the gay community, for being hostile toward them and discriminating against them.

The pope added that the Church should also say sorry to the poor, to exploited women and to children being used for labor. He added that the Church must ask forgiveness "for having blessed so many weapons."

"The church must say it is sorry for not having behaved as it should many times, many times a when I say the 'church,' I mean we Christians because the church is holy; we are the sinners," the pope said, Catholic News Agency reported.

Francis emphasized that the homosexuals must not be discriminated against and they should be "respected and accompanied pastorally" because this is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches.

Repeating a similar line he had made famous three years ago, the pope said that for a gay person "that has good will and who seeks God, who are we to judge?" Francis first spoke these words in 2013 during an in-flight press conference while he was traveling to Rio de Janeiro for the World Youth Day.

Expounding on his statement, Francis admitted that there are priests who attack people like clubs instead of welcoming and consoling them.

However, the pope said, there are also many good priests and "mother Teresas" out there, although they often go unnoticed because holiness is "modest" and "hidden."
home US Texas Mom who shot daughters dead in front of dad had history of mentally illness

A Texas mother who shot her two daughters dead Friday, June 24 had a history of mental illness, authorities said.

Officials identified 42-year-old Christy Sheats as the mother who killed her two daughters, 22-year-old Taylor and 17-year-old Madison.

According to People, Caitilin Espinosa, a spokeswoman for the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office, revealed that Christy had a history of mental illness. Sheriff's records also indicated that the deputies visited the Sheats' home on more than one occasion. However, they couldn't tell why the Sheats asked for the deputies in those instances.

Espinosa also said that the police found the daughters' bodies lying on the street outside their residence along 6000 block of Remson Hollow Lane. The girls fled away from their mother who had already began firing shots inside the house. Taylor already sustained a gunshot wound from inside the house and then another as the mother chased the girls outside. Christy shot Madison but a Fulshear city police officer, who responded to a 911 call, shot Christy dead before she could shoot at Madison again.

Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls told Houston Chronicle that a family altercation escalated into the gun violence. However, Nehls admitted that they're still trying to "put the pieces together."

According to People, Christy avidly took to Facebook to express her thoughts and sentiments, including her support on gun rights.

"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," wrote Christy in March.

In September, Christy expressed her motherly love.

"Happy Daughter's Day to my two amazing, sweet, kind, beautiful, intelligent girls," she posted on Facebook. "I love and treasure you both more than you could ever possibly know."

The sheriff reported that the father, Jason, stayed inside the house uninjured when the shooting happened. They also checked him in to a local hospital because "he is going through a very difficult time."

"[The husband] loved his daughters," a family friend told ABC13. "They were like best friends for sure. It crushed him. I know it's hard for the family."

Neighbors also told KTRK-TV that Christy and Jason separated but just reunited recently and that Friday happened to be Jason's birthday.
home World Alarming human rights report should make UK rethink its relationship with China, group says

The United Kingdom should rethink its "golden" relationship with China in the light of a critical human rights report launched Tuesday, June 28, a rights group said.

According to The Guardian, a critical report called "The Darkest Moment" set to be launched in Westminster by Conservative peer Lord Patten, reveals the deplorable situation of human rights in the communist state where human rights lawyers, activists, dissidents, bloggers, and journalists are abducted by Chinese authorities and extorted to confess.

"China is not what it was five years ago," said China expert Christopher Hancock in a statement, as quoted by The Guardian. "It has undergone a 180-degree turn in its political ethos."

Fiona Bruce, chairman of the Conservative party's human rights commission, revealed a widely-held belief that one of the most intense political crackdown in the country's history happened under the government of President Xi Jinping who rose to power in 2012.

Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, still living under house arrest, managed to release outside China a memoir detailing of the abuses he suffered under the government.

Almost a year ago, the Chinese government rounded up more than 300 activists in its crackdown against human rights defenders. Most of these are still held up in detention and accused of subversion.

"Outsiders should not attempt - and will always fail - to change China's political and social behaviour," said Hancock. "However, British citizens can, and must, attempt to change their government's hitherto misguided response to it."

The Conservative party human rights commission also said in a statement that although they recognize the strategic and economic benefits gained from China, it believes the U.K. should not choose to remain silent "publicly, on human rights, in light of such a grave deterioration."

Analysts like Nick Bisley, professor of international relations and the executive director of La Trobe Asia, think that the so-called "golden relationship" between the two countries may have just been undermined by the recent Brexit outcome.

"Brexit condemns the golden thing to history, I think," said Bisley. "Britain's stock has declined and Britain will be less important to China in its view of the world."
Being positively Christian in a poisonous climate

Jesus said: "Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." (Mark 9:50)

You don't have to spend long online to discover how poisoned much of the culture in which we live now feels.

Here in the UK, where I write, the storm after the Brexit vote has made me feel literally, physically sick. I read of Remain voters being called "retards" while Leave voters were "racists". Some suggested whole segments of the population were either too stupid or too old to vote and should be disenfranchised. Others suggested that all Muslims should now be packed off to other countries.

It's much the same, I believe, in the US. The hostility between Clinton and Trump supporters seems without parallel. Congress has been disrupted by an unprecedented sit-in as cross-party relationships break down.

That's just the West. In many other parts of the world, of course, it is far worse. We might think of horrific violence in the Middle East; the erosion of liberty in Turkey and Russia; the ongoing gulag that is North Korea.

How, then, as Christians can we live as "salt" in a poisonous culture, whatever form it takes? As so often, Jesus offers no easy answers, but gives us a picture suitable for all cultures and centuries in order to provoke us to think.

"Salt," Jesus says, "is good. But if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it?" It's a metaphor easily understood. As Alan Cole says: "Christians are to be the moral preservative of the world; they are to 'salt' life, to purify it, and to stop it becoming utterly corrupt." But what does that mean in practice? Here are just a couple of possible examples from my own setting at the moment:

1. Doing distinctive Christian things. For example, following the murder of British MP Jo Cox, I invited our own Member of Parliament to a service this last Sunday. Five hundred households in our local community were e-mailed and invited. The aim was to show genuine non-partisan support, love and encouragement  and to pray for her. Who else is going to do all that, I wonder, apart from Christians? Not many, I think.

In the town near here, Christians are hard at work doing positive, distinctive things. There is a Christian employment advice service; there are Street Pastors; a volunteer team patrolling a notorious suicide spot; a chaplaincy in the major shopping precinct; a group providing hot meals to vulnerable people; a winter night-shelter for homeless people; a cafe for international students and immigrant families. And that list could go on.

2. Trying to be different on social media. I say "trying" because sometimes I get it wrong; sometimes my well-meant efforts have sounded a bit preachy, I think. One man I know does it better: he posts an amazing sunrise-over-the-sea photo (which he takes afresh each morning) almost every day. It's so different from much of the corrosive stuff we often see! Perhaps we all need to remember the "4P" rule of social media: Pause, Pray, then Post Positively.

3. Above all else, preaching the gospel. Most importantly, being "salt" means proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ  the gospel of who he is, his cross and resurrection, and why it is vital people listen and respond (as Jesus himself sets out in the preceding verses). At our church here yesterday we reflected at some length on the Brexit referendum, and prayed for our MP  but at the heart of what we did was the centrality of the gospel and its preaching.

Being salt is not easy. It will be different for you in your own particular context, no doubt. But even in North Korea it seems possible, as I have reported for Christian Today previously. And we need to remember Jesus' warning about salt losing its saltiness  it becomes useless. As Jesus continues: "Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." The context is that his disciples had been arguing about who was the greatest (v34)  a sure-fire way of losing Christian distinctiveness in the eyes of a watching world.

And so I pray: Lord, I get many things wrong, and so often fail to be appropriately distinctive. But help me to be a salt-like presence: inspiringly, interestingly, even inspirationally different, for Your sake. Amen.

David Baker is a former daily newspaper journalist now working as an Anglican minister in Sussex, England. The Rough Guide to Discipleship is a fortnightly devotional series.
Church pastor accused of seeking sex with minor commits suicide

A pastor charged with seeking sex with a minor committed suicide on Monday.

David James Brown, 46, a pastor from Jeffersonville, Indiana, was caught arranging a sexual encounter with a minor by an undercover investigator.

Brown travelled to Frankfort on June 15 to meet with who he thought was a minor, but was the undercover officer who had spoken to Brown online via the KIK messenger app.

He was arrested and booked into Franklin County Regional Jail that day.

He had been due a second preliminary hearing Tuesday June 28 at 1pm, but he reportedly hanged himself on Monday evening. He died of asphyxiation according to the Cobb County Medical Examiner's Office.

The case has now been dismissed with prejudice due to Brown's death.

Brown was the head pastor of First Christian Church, which released a statement following his arrest saying it was "a sad day for our church".

"We learned of criminal allegations against our Senior Pastor, David Brown, that cut to the heart of the trust placed in the church. We take these allegations seriously," the statement said.

The church had placed Brown on administrative leave and relieved of ministerial duties as the investigation was undergone.

There will be a prayer service on Thursday, June 30 at 7pm in the Sanctuary of the First Christian Church, with regional staff and a grief counsellor leading the service.
Duterte vows to promote birth control in the Philippines, says he's a Christian but believes 'in one god Allah'

Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Dutertewho is set to begin his six-year term on Thursday, June 30has pledged to promote contraception, just a month after downplaying reports that he would pursue an aggressive family planning programme, the Catholic Herald reports.

Speaking in Davao City on Monday, the tough-talking incoming leader vowed to oppose the Roman Catholic Church's stand on the issue, saying that three children should be the maximum number for families.

"I will reinstall the programme of family planning. Three's enough," Duterte said. "I am a Christian, but I am a realist and we have to do something about our population," he added.

Last month, Duterte was quoted as saying: "I cannot force the people to follow. We are just suggesting that you are in good hands if you just limit the number of your children."

As mayor of Davao City, Duterte vigorously promoted birth control and even paid men to undergo sterilisation.

In his speech, Dutertewho claims to be a Christianalso declared, "I believe in one god Allah. Period," the Philippine Star reports. Allah is the name of the god worshipped by Muslims.

He also made fun of the practices of the Roman Catholic Church, joking about the Catholic practice of venerating saints.

Duterte recalled that when he was a child, his mother would punish him by asking him to kneel before an altar inside a Catholic church.

"I told Jesus, help me. He said I can't help a naughty boy," he said in jest.

He said in the Catholic faith, there are about 5,000 saints to choose from.

"You choose your saint: San Tiago, Santo Isabelo, Santo Roman, Santilmo, Santo Rodrigo," the incoming president said, drawing laughs from the audience.

"St. Peter himself loves cockfighting," he said once again in jest, referring to the apostle whose symbol in art is the rooster.

Duterte also warned members of crime syndicates: "If you resist, show violent resistance, my order to police (will be) to shoot to kill. Shoot to kill for organised crime. You heard that? Shoot to kill for every organised crime."

Duterte has also clashed with the country's bishops over his manner of speech and the death penalty, which Duterte wants to reintroduce.

Some Filipino bishops have been vocal in their opposition to Duterte's declared policies. Archbishop Ramon Cabrera Arguelles of Lipa, for instance, has vowed to volunteer to die in place of those condemned to the death penalty.

Mgr. Oliver Mendoza, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Lingayen, whose archbishop is the president of the bishops' conference, has said the Church would speak out against policies which contradicted Catholic teaching: "Because if we fail to do that, if we close our eyes, if we close our lips, we close our ears, what will be the role of the Church?"
Iceland: Iraqi teen dragged out of church by police, now faces deportation

A 16-year-old Iraqi was among the asylum seekers forcibly removed from a church in Iceland by police, and is now facing deportation.

The Icelandic church opened its doors to two Iraqi asylum-seekers, Ali Nasir and Majed, on Monday evening, hoping to prevent their deportation.

Police and immigration officials entered the building at 4 am. The two men were standing behind the altar accompanied by several churchgoers standing and praying in solidarity with them.

They were dragged out of the church and handcuffed. When Nasi was handcuffed, a man stepped forward, protesting that he was only 16. The man was then punched in the face.

The two men were put in separate cars outside the church building.

There is a long-standing tradition of sanctuary in churches, where asylum-seekers have protection while in the building.

Toshika Toma, the Lutheran church's minister for immigrants, and Kristin orunn Tomasdottir, the parish priest for Laugarneskirkja church, had hoped this tradition would be respected by the police. This was not the case.

The two men are set to be deported to Norway initially. It is likely that from there, they will be sent back to Iraq.

Despite international recognition of the dangers of Iraq, Norway sends refugees from Southern Iraq back to the country, claiming they will be safe there.
Istanbul attack: Pope and Archbishops condemn 'evil of violence' as death toll rises to 41

Senior Church figures have restated their commitment to peace and eradicating terrorism in the wake of a gun and suicide attack in Istanbul that killed 41 and injured more than 200.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby wrote in a Facebook post: "Our hearts cry out in prayer for the victims and families of the terrible attack in Istanbul.

"In prayer and faith we also commit to resisting the evil of violence and religious extremism."

Pope Francis, meanwhile, branded the attack "brutal" during Mass in Rome this morning.

"We pray for the victims, for their families, and for the beloved people of Turkey," he said. "May the Lord convert the hearts of the violent, and sustain our feet on the way of peace."

Head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, also expressed his horror at the attacks.

"My heartfelt condolences for all those who died and were injured following the gun & bomb attack on Istanbul's Ataturk international airport," he wrote on Twitter.

"This atrocity has shocked the world and all who hold that respect for human life is an essential foundation for every society.

"May God grant strength & enduring faith to all who are bereaved, injured & traumatised, & welcome into his merciful presence all who died."

Turkish investigators today poured over video footage and witness statements in the aftermath of the killings in Istanbul's main airport, the third-busiest in Europe.

The attack was the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings this year in Turkey, part of the US-led coalition against Islamic State and struggling to contain spillover from neighbouring Syria's war.

In addition to the 41 who died, 239 people were wounded. The Istanbul governor's office said 109 had since been discharged from hospital.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against terrorism, which he said had "no regard for faith or values".

Five Saudis and two Iraqis were among the dead, a Turkish official said. Citizens from China, Jordan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Iran and Ukraine were also among the 13 foreigners killed.

One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover and trying to flee, before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below, witnesses and officials said.

Video footage showed one of the attackers inside the terminal building being shot, apparently by a police officer, before falling to the ground as people scattered. The attacker then blew himself up around 20 seconds later.

The Dogan news agency said autopsies on the three bombers, whose torsos were ripped apart, had been completed and that they may have been foreign nationals, without citing its sources.

"This attack, targeting innocent people is a vile, planned terrorist act," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters at the scene in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

"There is initial evidence that each of the three suicide bombers blew themselves up after opening fire," he said. The attackers had come to the airport by taxi and preliminary findings pointed to Islamic State responsibility.

Two US counterterrorism officials familiar with the early stages of investigations said Islamic State was at the top of the list of suspects even though there was no evidence yet.

No group had claimed responsibility more than 12 hours after the attack, which began around 9:50pm (6:50pm GMT) on Tuesday.

Victims of many nationalities

Istanbul's position bridging Europe and Asia has made Ataturk airport, Turkey's largest, a major transit hub for passengers across the world.

"There were little babies crying, people shouting, broken glass and blood all over the floor. It was very crowded, there was chaos. It was traumatic," said Diana Eltner, 29, a Swiss psychologist who was travelling from Zurich to Vietnam but had been diverted to Istanbul after she missed a connection.

Delayed travellers were sleeping on floors at the airport, a Reuters witness said, as some passengers and airport staff cried and hugged each other. Police in kevlar vests with automatic weapons prowled the kerbside as a handful of travellers and Turkish Airlines crew trickled in.

The national carrier said it had cancelled 340 flights although its departures resumed after 8:00 am.

Paul Roos, 77, a South African tourist on his way home, said he saw one of the attackers "randomly shooting" in the departures hall from about 50 meters (55 yards) away.

"He was wearing all black. His face was not masked... We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Roos told Reuters.

"He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over."

Aim to maximise fear

The attack bore similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March that killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital.

Islamic State militants also claimed gun and bomb attacks that killed 129 people in Paris last November

"In Istanbul they used a combination of the methods employed in Paris and Brussels. They planned a murder that would maximize fear and loss of life," said Suleyman Ozeren, a terrorism expert at the Ankara-based Global Policy and Strategy Institute.

Turkey needs to work harder on "preventative intelligence" to stop militants being radicalised in the first place, he said.

The two US officials said the Istanbul bombing was more typical of Islamic State than of Kurdish militant groups which have also carried out recent attacks in Turkey, but usually strike at official government targets.

Yildirim said it was significant that the attack took place when Turkey was having successes in fighting terrorist groups and mending ties with some of its international partners.

Turkey announced the restoration of diplomatic ties with Israel on Monday after a six-year rupture and has been trying to restore relations with Russia, a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

One of the US officials said there had been a "marked increase" in encrypted Islamic State propaganda and communications on the dark web, which some American officials interpret as an effort to direct or inspire more attacks outside its home turf to offset its recent losses on the ground.

Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the probe, which they said is being led by Turkish officials with what they called intelligence support from the United States and other NATO allies.

Additional reporting by Reuters.
Pakistan: Two Christians, one Muslim sentenced to death for blasphemy

Two Christians and a Muslim have been sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan.

Anjam Naz and Javed Naz, both Christians, and Jafar Ali, a Musilm, have been found guilty for insulting Prophet Muhammad by the Anti-Terrorism Court in Gujranwala, Punjab province.

The three men were found to have insulted the prophet in an audio recording.

"When police arrested Javed and Jafar on May 15, they recovered an audio recording of Anjam committing blasphemy," said Mohammad Tanveer a senior police official, according to Newsweek Pakistan.

"We also recovered the recorded audio from Jafar's possession and found that he and Javed were blackmailing Anjam by threatening to release the audio to the public if he did not pay them."

The two Christians have also been sentenced to a 35-year life sentence in prison.

"They will now be permitted to appeal the verdict before a higher court," said Tanveer.

Attacks on Christians and Christian institutions are common in Pakistan, ranked as one of the worst countries in the world for Christian persecution by Open Doors.

The misuse of Pakistan's notorious blasphemy law is common and it is often used to settle private scores. Among other high-profile cases is that of Asia Bibi, who has been in prison for six years for insulting the prophet Muhammad, an allegation she has always denied.
Ted Cruz accuses Obama administration of 'willful blindness' to threat of radical Islam

Ted Cruz accused President Obama's administration of a "wilful blindness" to the threat of radical Islam at a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

The former Republican presidential hopeful said the Obama administration had under-emphasized the "threat of radical Islam". He pointed to the initial redaction of references to the leader of Islamic State in partial transcripts released by the FBI and US State Department of the 911 call made by Orlando shooter Omar Mateen.

They later reversed their decision and released the unredacted version after a wave of criticism.

Obama has refused to use the term "radical Islam" in reference to terror attacks. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump gave a national security speech a day after the Orlando massacre, insisting it was "time to tell the truth about radical Islam".

In his own remarks, Obama said America stood united in the face of "an act of terror and an act of hate" and would not give in to fear.

"In the face of hate and violence we will love one another," he added. "We will stand united as Americans to protect our people, defend out nation and take action against those who threaten us."

Administration officials insist that focusing on the use of the phrase 'radical Islam' is a political distraction and gives fuel to Islamic State propagandists who say the United States has waged war against all of Islam.

Absent from Tuesday's hearing before a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee were the two top Justice Department counter-terrorism officials whom Cruz had invited to testify.

"The Obama administration of course has declined to appear and explain its policies," Cruz said at the hearing, titled "Willful Blindness: Consequences of Agency Efforts To Deemphasize Radical Islam in Combating Terrorism". He noted that the officials had not provided any reason for staying away.

Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi said in an emailed statement that the department is "focused on aggressively and successfully pursuing terrorist adversaries" and on denying them "unchallenged recruiting platforms to spread their messages of hate and intolerance."

Democratic members of the subcommittee said national security policies more targeted at Muslims, such as Trump's call for a ban on Muslim immigrants, would be unconstitutional and counter-productive.

"We cannot fight radicalisation with further radicalisation," said Democratic Senator Christopher Coons of Delaware, adding at the end of the hearing that he did not think "arguing over semantics" for three hours had helped improve American national security.

Experts from Muslim and Arab advocacy groups as well as former government national security officials testified at the hearing, representing both sides of the debate over whether the administration emphasises Islam too much or too little in its counter-extremism policies.

Protesters with Code Pink, an anti-war advocacy group, offered Cruz packs of gum labelled "Islamophobin" as he entered the hearing room, telling him it could cure Islamophobia.

Additional reporting by Reuters.
US Episcopal Church leadership calls for repeal of North Carolina transgender law

Leaders of The Episopal Church in the United States have spoken out against laws that restrict access of transgender people to public bathrooms and other facilities.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry says in a letter to The Episcopal Church that a new law in North Carolina, the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, has "decimated the civil rights and God-given dignity of transgender people."

In the letter, written jointly with Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies, he cites Matthew's Gospel: "Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbour as ourselves, and he tells us over and over again not to be afraid."

Instead, laws such as this one, known as House Bill Two or HB2, is an example where fear has got the better of people, he says.

"This age-old cycle of fear and hatred plays out again and again in our broken world, in sickening and shocking events like the massacre targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Orlando, but also in the rules we make and the laws we pass," he writes.

"North Carolina is not the only place where fear has gotten the better of us. Lawmakers in other jurisdictions have also threatened to introduce legislation that would have us believe that protecting the rights of transgender people - even a right as basic as going to the bathroom - somehow puts the rest of us at risk."

The official title of HB2 is An Act to Provide for Single-sex Multiple Occupancy Bathroom and Changing Facilities in Schools and Public Agencies and to Create Statewide Consistency in Regulation of Employment and Public Accommodations. It was passed earlier this year. Supporters regard it as "common sense" while critics complain that it is anti-LGBT.

The law stipulates that in government buildings, individuals may only use restrooms and changing facilities that correspond to the sex on their birth certificates. In North Carolina this rules out all transgender people who have not had sex reassignment surgery.

In response to the widespread criticism, some North Carolina lawmakers have been considering revisions, according to the Charlotte Observer reports.

The executive council of The Episcopal Church is among the critics of the law, having passed a resolution backing laws that prevent discrimination based on gender identity or gender expression.

Bishop Curry, who is calling on North Carolina to repeal HB2, says: "The need is urgent, because laws like the one in North Carolina prey on some of the most vulnerable people in our communities - some of the very same people who were targeted in the Orlando attack."

In a 2011 survey, 78 per cent of transgender people said that they had been bullied or harassed in childhood, 41 per cent said they had attempted suicide, 35 per cent had been assaulted, and 12 per cent had suffered a sexual assault.

"Almost half of transgender people who responded to the survey said they had suffered job discrimination, and almost a fifth had lost housing or been denied health care due to their gender identity or expression," he writes.
'We will send jihadists straight to hell': Lebanese Christian women take up arms after deadly suicide bombings

Christian women in Lebanon are arming themselves in the wake of a series of devastating suicide attacks on Monday.

Five people were killed and more than two dozen wounded after eight bombers blew themselves up in the predominantly Christian village of Qaa, a few kilometres from the border with Syria, on June 27. At least two of the attacks took place in the evening outside the Mar Elias church, where mourners had gathered for a vigil in honour of those killed earlier in the day.

According to Arabya English, the bombings "triggered fear and panic among Qaa's residents", and photos released by Reuters on Tuesday showed Christian women holding guns to protect themselves from future attacks.

"We will not allow Lebanon to become a new Iraq. We will not flee, we have weapons and are ready to protect ourselves," one woman from Qaa told Assyrian campaign group A Demand for Action (ADFA).

She said that all women in the village have decided to arm themselves. "Jihadists think they go to hell if they are killed by women, we will send them straight to hell," she added.

The priest of Mar Elias church, Rev Elian Nasrallah, told the New York Times via telephone on Monday that the residents of Qaa were "living in terror".

"People are stuck in their houses, not daring to go out and fearing more suicide bombers," he said.

Melkite Catholic Archbishop Elias Rahal of Baalbek told Catholic News Service: "We pray, we pray, we pray for the dead, for the injured... We are here for the families and for their children".

The Archbishop travelled to Qaa after the first suicide bombing on Monday, and insisted that Christians would remain in the region "despite all that has happened".

"We are here and we are here to stay," he added.

President of the Syriac League of Lebanon, Habib Afram, told ADFA the world needed to wake up to "the growing Islamic anger against Christians.

"This is not the first time and not the last time," he said. "For how long is the west going to ignore the fact of the ongoing genocide in Syria and Iraq that terrorists now also try to extend to Lebanon?"

No group has yet claimed responsibility, but officials suspect ISIS was behind the attacks.
Word of Life: Church beating survivor 'confesses to inappropriate touching of children'

The young man who survived a mass church beating that resulted in the death his brother has confessed to having "inappropriately" touched his half-sister's children, CNN reports.

Christopher Leonard, now 19, testified on Tuesday in the trial of Sarah Ferguson, who is among eight members of the Word of Life church in New Hartford, upstate New York, to be charged in connection with the death of Lucas Leonard.

Christopher Leonard told the court that Ferguson found out about the touching during a so-called "counselling session" at the church in October last year.

It was during this 10-hour session, allegedly initiated because Lucas Leonard wanted to leave the church, that the two teenagers were severely beaten. Christopher Leonard survived the attack but was hospitalised for blunt-force injuries.

A videoed testimony of Grace Leonard, the 16-year-old sister of the two teens, showed her telling the court yesterday that her brothers had touched her inappropriately.

New Hartford police chief Michael Inserra told CNN on Tuesday: "The investigation did not disclose any indications of Lucas or Christopher sexually abusing any child. To the contrary, the investigators were told it would have been impossible for either of these boys to commit any inappropriate acts.

"Other than Chris stating he had 'bad thoughts' there is nothing to indicate he committed any crime. In [New York], we cannot convict anyone on an admission alone."

Earlier this month, the teens' father, Bruce Leonard, pleaded guilty to first- and second-degree assault.

Their mother, Deborah Leonard, pleaded guilty in December to assault charges.

A former member of the church described the Word of Life church as a "cult" in an interview with People in May.

"There were a lot of good things that had been going on at the church, but it slowly and increasingly got controlling," Nathan Ames, 26, said.

"People were being mentally abused over time and they'd become sheltered from the outside world as a result. It got to the point where, if you watched television, you shut the commercials off because you didn't want any external influences."

Ames added: "We were told we couldn't talk to anybody. You'd go to church, but you couldn't talk to anyone. They'd use manipulation and mind games to control people."
Zimbabwean Bishop calls for Mugabe resignation after torture reports

A senior church leader in Zimbabwe has urged President Robert Mugabe to resign over reported incidents of torture, harassment and abduction of civilians.

Bishop Ancelimo Magaya used the United Nations day against torture on Sunday to say it was shocking the African nation had not signed the Convention on torture nor officially recognised it, despite being a member of the UN. He also criticised the church for its failure to stand up Mugabe's regime.

Churches had lost their way, said the leader of Zimbabwe Divine Destiny church. It has misunderstood its role as only to preach on Sunday, heal the sick and bury the dead. He accused church of being too scared to stand up to Mugabe's harassment and said some church leaders were corrupt.

"I don't also want to rule out the fact that some of us within the church have received certain gifts, possibly from the government, possibly in the form of land and so on," he said.

"And I have always said that a dog with bones in its mouth can never bark."

Magaya went on to say Mugabe had released Zimbabwe from [Ian] Smith's colonial regime but urged him not to "eat into your legacy".

In a press conference he said: "If I was given five minutes or less to talk to President Mugabe I would say, 'Your Excellency Sir, you have done very well in leading Zimbabwe into liberation and independence....But we are in a Solomonic era of building, we are long past the Davidic era of fighting.

"'Your anointing is fighting. Now it is development and building and you need not to eat into your legacy. The Lord will require that you know when to rest.'"

Mugabe has been President in Zimbabwe since December 1987. He was elected as leader after being one of the leaders to oppose white rule of Zimbabwe but is now widely considered the most brutal dictator in Africa.
This royal treasure produced in the court workshops is one of only four 17th-century pashmina carpets that remain in private hands
Galileo: The great disruptor

The life and times of a giant of intellectual and scientific history, as told through six rare first editions from the auction of the Giancarlo Beltrame Library of Scientific Books

In 1633 the great Renaissance scientist Galileo Galilei was forced by the Roman Inquisition to recant his assertion that the earth rotated around the sun, and accept the view based on Holy Scripture that the earth was fixed in place. Legend has it that even in the moment of recanting, he muttered the words eppur si muove (and yet it moves)  a phrase that has come to stand as a symbol of the unshakeable truths of the new age of science. On 13 July, Christies will offer six key first editions of Galileos works from the Giancarlo Beltrame Library of Scientific Books, works which collectively trace the remarkable life of one of the great disruptors of intellectual and scientific history.

1

Galileos first printed work

Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa in 1564, and became a professor of mathematics at the citys university in 1589  aged 25. Initially, he didnt show much interest in astronomy, devoting himself instead to discrediting Aristotles views on the physics of motion. When his three-year contract in Pisa expired, Galileo moved to become the chair of mathematics at Padua, at the time one of the most important intellectual centres in Europe. It was here in around 1597 that he began to develop an interest in the astronomical model developed by Nicolaus Copernicus, which made the then-extraordinary proposition that the sun was at the centre of the universe with the earth and other planets rotating around it.

It was also in 1597 that Galileo began production of a mathematical instrument  the sector, or proportional compass. Not dissimilar to the humble compass still used by schoolchildren worldwide, it was ingeniously transformed into an elaborate calculating instrument that revolutionised and democratised practical mathematics in the same way that the pocket calculator has done in our own time. It is this compass which is the subject of Galileos first published work, Operazioni del compasso, privately printed in 1606 in an edition of only 60 copies. This extremely rare work by an obscure 42-year-old university professor gave little indication to the reading world that one of Europes greatest intellectual figures was taking his first steps in the public arena.

2

The invention of modern astronomy

In 1609, Galileo learned of the invention by Hans Lipperhey, a Dutch lens-grinder, of an ingenious device for making distant objects appear closer  what we now know as the telescope. He set out to construct his own instrument, and within a few months had produced a device that was capable of magnifying objects by a then unthinkable 30 times. In early January 1610  one of the turning points in mans relation to our universe  Galileo first directed his telescope to the heavens. The results were startling. Not only was the moon revealed to be mountainous, but the Milky Way was seen to be a disorderly scattering of individual stars. Also, and contrary to the Aristotelian principles which had been accepted as the basis of science for two millennia, a host of new fixed stars and four satellites of Jupiter were discovered.

Galileos announcement of these extraordinary findings, published with remarkable speed only two months later, in his work Sidereus nuncius [An announcement about the stars], exploded upon the scientific world with the force of an intellectual bombshell. Everything that had been believed since the most ancient times about the structure of the universe was proved to be false.

3

Galileos first published endorsement of the Copernican model

Galileos work immediately came under attack from all sides, but he had not yet openly associated himself with the Copernican model, which placed the sun at the centre of the universe. However in 1613 Galileo published his Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle macchie solari (Letter on Sunspots), a work in which he proposed that, rather than being tiny satellites of the sun, sunspots actually appeared on the surface of the sun, and that the sun rotated on a fixed axis. Crucially, the work also included his explicit endorsement of the Copernican system.

In a few short years, Galileo had moved from the status of an obscure university professor with an interest in calculating machines to being at the epicentre of an intellectual storm. He was by now the leading standard-bearer of the Copernican model, and at the centre of the debate over whether the Bible or scientific findings could provide the most faithful representation of the universe. Two years later he travelled to Rome in order to argue, in vain, against the official suppression of Copernican theory. On 26 February 1616 a papal commission under Pope Paul V outlawed Copernicanism, and ordered Galileo to abandon his defence of the doctrine.

4

The debate on comets

In 1618 the appearance of three comets attracted attention in Europe and became the subject of numerous pamphlets and books. Comets were a significantly problematic phenomenon for the traditional model of the universe, since Aristotelian orthodoxy dictated that objects beyond the moon could not change shape or state.

Suffering from ill health, and perhaps cautious after his unsuccessful challenge to papal authority, Galileo entered the debate somewhat tangentially, dictating his views to his pupil Guiducci in the form of a critique of a work on the comets by the leading Jesuit mathematician, Orazio Grassi.

5

Il saggiatore: One of the most celebrated polemics in science

Although Grassi was not named in Galileos critique, he still responded with a savage attack on Galileo. It was this attack which provoked Galileos great polemic, Il Saggiatore [The Assayer], published in 1623.

Galileo had been forbidden since 1616 from defending Copernican theory and therefore could not take on Grassi in any direct discussion on the earths motion. Instead, he chose to establish a general scientific approach to the investigation of celestial phenomena  namely that no theory of comets should be advanced unless it was proved that comets were concrete moving objects and not solar-generated optic effects. In essence, Galileo was asserting the primacy of the scientific method  that nature was to be approached through mathematical tools, rather than through biblically-inspired scholastic philosophy.

6

The open defence of the Copernican view

In the year of the publication of Il Saggiatore, the short-lived papacy of Gregory XV gave way to that of one of the great Renaissance figures, Urban VIII. One of Galileos closest friends and patrons, Virginio Cesarini, became the new pontiffs chamberlain. Encouraged by what seemed to be a more favourable intellectual climate, Galileo began to believe that he could finally expound openly the heliocentric structure of the universe.
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Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

1001 Bissonnet; mfah.org

THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD: After King Richard the Lionhearted is taken captive and his duplicitous brother, Prince John, seizes power, Robin Hood leads his Sherwood Forest merry men in an action-packed adventure to restore order. 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM: A romance fantasy film of William Shakespeare's play about the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors, who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest. Noon Saturday

RAM: The tale of two sheep farmers whose decades-long feud is interrupted by a contagious disease threatening their flock. 5 p.m. Sunday, 1 p.m. Monday

River Oaks Theatre

2009 W. Gray; landmarktheatres.com

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD: Scott Pilgrim must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes in order to win her heart. Midnight Friday and Saturday

Houston Museum of Natural Science

5555 Hermann Park; hmns.org

GALAPAGOS: 3-D adventure in the volcanic islands of Galapagos archipelago, learn about the remarkable collection of plants and charismatic animals that have all adapted to this unique environment. Multiple screenings daily.

DINOSAURS ALIVE: 3-D adventure follows paleontologists around the world as they uncover evidence that the descendants of dinosaurs still walk or fly among us. Multiple screenings daily.

NATIONAL PARKS ADVENTURE: Join world-class mountaineer Conrad Anker, adventure photographer Max Lowe and artist Rachel Pohl as they bike, hike and climb their way across America. Multiple screenings daily.

Miller Outdoor Theatre

6000 Hermann Park Drive, milleroutdoortheatre.com

STAR WARS, THE FORCE AWAKENS: Three decades after the defeat of the Empire, a new threat arises as the First Order attempts to rule the galaxy, and only a ragtag group of heroes can stop them, along with the help of the Resistance. 8:30 p.m. Thursday

JURASSIC WORLD: A new theme park is built on the original site of Jurassic Park. Everything is going well until the park's newest attraction, a genetically modified giant stealth killing machine, escapes containment and goes on a killing spree. 8:30 p.m. Friday

Market Square

301 Milam, marketsquarepark.com

RUSHMORE: Max is applying for early admission to Oxford, even though he is also one of the worst students in his school. Threatened with expulsion, Max begins a new pursuit, falling for a first-grade teacher. But when Max's tycoon mentor starts an affair with the teacher, it triggers a war between Max and his friend. 8:30 p.m. Wednesday
UNIVERSAL/HO

THE BFG: Steven Spielberg reunited with his "E.T." screenwriter, the late Melissa Mathison, for this adaptation of Roald Dahl's fable about a little girl (Ruby Barnhill) and a big friendly giant (Mark Rylance). (PG)

THE LEGEND OF TARZAN: After spending time in the civilized world, a domesticated Lord Greystoke (Alexander Skarsgard) returns to Africa for a visit with his wife, Jane (Margot Robbie), and ends up having to resort to his old vine-swinging ways. (PG-13)
It's only summer, but this year has already seen a slew of restaurant openings and closings.

From a decades-old hamburger joint to a stalwart in Houston's fine-dining scene, the shutdowns are shifting where locals go to eat out.

In May, chef Mark Cox announced that he would be shuttering his restaurant, Mark's American Cuisine. Cox is renowned in this city for guiding and inspiring several high-profile Houston chefs who have gone on to open successful restaurants from River Oaks to the Galleria area. (Story continues below.)

May also brought the unexpected closing of the original Christian's Tailgate at 7430 Washington. "The restaurant and bar business is changing," owner Steve Christian told the Houston Chroncle. "It is time to go." This was a surprise to many Houston diners, since the establishment had a crowd of regulars and never seemed short of business.

RELATED: Houston's oldest restaurants

A more recent loss is The Durham House, which suspended service Friday evening. Owner Raj Natarajan Jr. told the Houston Chronicle that he was closing the place due to his executive chef's departure. "The food that's come to define the Durham House comes from Mike. I don't want to run the concept without him," he explained. "We'd rather walk off the field with our head high."

SEE ALSO: Famed Tookie's Burgers now has a seafood counterpart in Seabrook, Tookie's Seafood

On Tuesday we learned that The Corkscrew in the Heights would be closing that same day. A post on its Facebook page reads, "The Corkscrew wishes to extend our appreciation for all the support over the years and have grown very, very close to so many of our customers/friends. This break up is temporary and we want you to know it's not you, it's us."

The next day a post on the page read, "We will not be open tonight as we will be drunk and crying!"

Which place are you sad to see go? Leave your comments below.
A man is in the hospital after he was wounded late Tuesday in a shooting at a motel along U.S. 59 in southwest Houston.

The shooting happened about 11 p.m. at the Symphony Inn & Suites on the Southwest Freeway near Wilcrest, said Lt. Larry Crowson of the Houston Police Department.
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A man is in custody after a homeowner spotted him nude in his backyard and fired a gunshot at him late Tuesday night in southwest Houston.

The incident happened about 11:50 p,.m. Tuesday in the 15900 block of Rosebriar Drive near Bazelbriar Drive, said Lt. Larry Crowson of the Houston Police Department.

Crowson said officers were sent to the scene when residents reported seeing a nude man climbing over fences into backyards in the neighborhood. As the officers were headed to the area, they heard reports of gunshots in the vicinity.

When the officers arrived at the shooting scene, a homeowner told them he had seen a nude man in his backyard. The homeowner grabbed a gun and confronted the man, who moved toward the resident. Fearing for his safety, the homeowner fired a gunshot, missing the man.

Crowson said the nude man kicked out several boards in the homeowner's fence and dashed out into the street, where officers confronted him. They told the man several times to get on the ground but he was uncooperative and appeared to be under the influence of a substance.

The officers, Crowson, shocked the man with a Taser to subdue him and then took him into custody. He was taken to a hospital to be evaluated. His condition was not released.

The man likely will be charged with criminal trespass.
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A photo showing a bride breastfeeding her baby, and no one appearing to be bothered by it, is making the rounds online and have thrust a Canadian woman into Internet stardom.

Christina Torino-Benton's hungry 9-month-old daughter, Gemma, started crying during the June 18 ceremony, and the mother did what she felt she had to do, in the middle of her wedding in Quebec, the woman told the Huffington Post.

The bride took a seat, lowered the top of her strapless wedding gown and fed her child.

"I tried for maybe two minutes to allow some family members to calm her down, but having missed her nap, and in that heat, it wasn't going to happen," Torino-Benton, a mother of two, told People magazine.

The wedding carried on with no interruption. Neither the groom, named Danny, nor anyone else in the church seemed to mind, according to reports.

RELATED: See photos of breastfeeding celebrities

Wedding photographer Lana Nimmons had her camera ready, and snapped a photo of the mom in action, People says. Torino-Benton told the magazine's website she was glad to have the "special" moment captured.

The photo ended up on the Facebook page Breastfeeding Mama Talk, and as of Tuesday night, it received more than 340 shares and more than 6,000 likes.

It included the caption: "Talk about feeding anytime & anywhere. That moment when you're getting married and your baby gets hungry."

Comments included several photos of other brides breastfeeding their babies.

Breastfeeding in public continues to spark debate across the country. Just last month, a "nurse-in" was planned in Fort Worth to protest treatment of a restaurant customer who was breastfeeding her child.

A manager who reportedly asked the woman to cover up drew social media outrage.
The former South Texas College of Law is prepared to defend its new name in court, college officials said Tuesday.

The University of Houston is suing the former South Texas College of Law, contending the 93-year-old downtown Houston law school changed its name in an effort to ride UH's "substantial reputational coattails."

"The city's name does not belong to the University of Houston," the newly named Houston College of Law said in a statement Tuesday. "Nor does Houston College of Law intend to market its services in any fashion that suggests affiliation with the University of Houston Law Center."

Leaders at the downtown Houston law school said Tuesday that the name change has nothing to do with UH. The South Texas name was confusing, because the school is not located in South Texas, the statement said.

"Houston College of Law is making this name change to avoid confusion," J. Ken Johnson, chairman of the Houston College of Law board of directors, said in the statement. "In fact, creating market confusion would be in direct conflict with the mission of our 93-year-old, private, independent law school. For many years we've dealt with misunderstanding surrounding 'South Texas,' which is not descriptive of our historic location in downtown Houston."

Houston College of Law leaders also say they aren't changing their school colors, as UH contended in its lawsuit. The law school's archives show use of crimson as a primary color in its official communications, advertisements, graduation hoods, and former logos dating back to the 1960s, the statement said.

"Houston College of Law's reputation is distinct and stands alone," the statement said. "It is a private, independent law school, and it is the largest, oldest, and only law school in downtown Houston, where it was established in 1923."
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GALVESTON  A Jacinto City man was released from LBJ Hospital on Tuesday, days after his leg was amputated following an infection from "flesh eating" bacteria contracted while swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.

Brian Parrott, 50, spent five nights in the hospital and underwent two surgeries, the first on Thursday to remove his right leg below the knee. A second surgery Friday removed an additional two inches infected with gangrene, said his mother, Donna Dailey.

Doctors told Daily at one point that they could not guarantee that her son would survive. A hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday that Parrott was in good condition.

KNOW YOUR RISK: What you need to know about 'flesh-eating' infections caused by bacteria in Texas waters

"I'm just glad he is well enough to come home," said Dailey, who later confirmed his discharge Tuesday evening.

Doctors told Dailey that her son had suffered from a "flesh eating" bacteria, a name commonly given to an infection caused by the Vibrio bacteria. The bacteria causes an infection known as Vibriosis.

Vibrio lurks off beaches nationwide and thrives in warm weather. The bacteria can be found anywhere there is brackish or salt water.

Parrott is diabetic, a condition that weakens the immune system and made him susceptible to Vibrio. The hook-shaped bacteria can enter through the slightest break in the skin. Officials advise anyone with a wound, no matter how small, to avoid salt water or use a waterproof bandage.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are about 80,000 cases of Vibriosis a year. About 52,000 cases are caused by eating contaminated food, such as uncooked shellfish, the CDC said.
The father of a Houston teen actress who chose a vacation in Cancun over a quinceanera ended up dancing the traditional father-daughter waltz with her when they were cast in a Coca-Cola commercial that's now playing on television, at the movies and on airplanes.

"I did not have a quinceanera, and I did, at the same time. Pretty neat," said Diana Alejandra (Perez), 17, who graduated in May from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Montrose.

Jose Armando Perez, 49, said he didn't know producers were considering him for the role when he peeked over Diana's shoulder during her Skype interview in early March.

"I didn't expect to be discovered," said Jose. "When they called back, Diana said, 'They want to see us in New Orleans.' I said, 'See us?' She said, 'They want to see you, too.' "

More Information Want to see? The commercial can be viewed at www.ispot.tv/ad/Afyy/coca-cola-share-a-coke-and-a-song-dance-song-by-prince-royce. See More Collapse

Jose and Diana drove to the Crescent City and auditioned, then waited for three days before getting the call to return and film the commercial in late March.

"We went, 'Mom, you should come, too,' " said Diana, so her mother, Mirna E. Perez, joined them on the trip and got to participate in the commercial, too. For a split second, she can be spotted in the quinceanera scene.

The commercial begins with Jose and Diana portraying a father and daughter practicing a partner dance in their kitchen.

When the daughter misses a step, she gets frustrated.

To the tune of Prince Royce's 2010 cover of the late Ben E. King's "Stand By Me," the father tries to cheer up his daughter with a bottle of Coca-Cola; its label says "stand junto a mi" or 'stand by me' in Spanish.

Next, as the song continues, we see the pair dancing perfectly at her quinceanera, where Diana wears a strapless, princess ball gown with rhinestone-embellished bodice and a light green, full-flowing chiffon skirt.

"They had, in total, three dresses," said Diana. "The second one, I think the director could tell from my face I really loved it, and that's the one he picked."

Jose, who wore a tuxedo, soldiered on even though he had the flu the day of filming.

"I had fever and I was feeling bad, but anything for my daughter," he said.

Jose was born in Mexico but moved to Texas to attend the University of Houston, where he graduated with a business degree in 1994.

A friend introduced him to Myrna, who had immigrated to Houston from Honduras when she was about Diana's age.

Relatives in Honduras saw the Coke commercial air there in April, when Diana had only seen it online.

"People have told me they've been showing it in movie theaters, and one friend saw it flying back from Washington over and over," she said.

Ispot.tv reports that as of mid-June the commercial has had almost 1,500 national airings.

The commercial can be viewed at www.ispot.tv/ad/Afyy/coca-cola-share-a-coke-and-a-song-dance-song-by-prince-royce.

A Coca-Cola spokesperson, Yunice Emir, said, "Apparently, (Diana) had a lovely experience (filming the commercial) especially since her father and mother were both featured."

Diana is represented by Pastorini-Bosby Talent Agency in Bellaire.

She has been modeling since she was 6.

Once, for a Sonic Drive-in print ad, she said, "I had to pretend to drink an 'ice cream shake' which was really mashed potatoes because they wouldn't melt."

Diana has filmed other commercials, but she said, "For this one, a lot of people notice. It's big."

She was awarded $5,000 in merit and music scholarships to attend Loyola University in New Orleans this fall and major in music industry studies and popular/commercial music.

Both of her parents work in real estate. The couple also has a 13-year-old son, Allan Perez, who acts and models. He attends Harmony School of Fine Arts and Technology near NRG Stadium.

The family lives in southwest Houston.
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A Texas Medical Center park created in the early 1980s recently received an update.

Katharine Randall Schweppe Park received several improvements.

Its entry plaza and walkways were redeveloped, new playground equipment and park furnishings were installed, trees were planted, and the irrigation system was updated.

The $582,121 improvement project was paid with city Park and Recreation Dedication Funds.

The department unveiled the improvements during a May 5 ribbon-cutting program.

Houston City Councilman Dwight Boykins pushed for the refurbishment project.

"This is a momentous occasion, and we are happy to be cutting the ribbon on this newly renovated park in the center of Houston's Medical Center," he said during the unveiling.

The park, 1801 El Paseo Road, was originally purchased with money from Dr. Irving Schweppe and his wife, Laura. The couple wanted to create a park in honor of their daughter, Katharine Schweppe.

Katharine Schweppe, a graduate of Kinkaid School and a sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin, was 19 when she died in a car accident in 1979. According to the department, her parents wanted to create a park for children and for it to represent Montgomery County, Port Aransas, and the family ranch in Kendall County - places Katharine spent most of her life.

"It's got Austin limestone from the Texas hill country and open areas that lend to that feel, even though it sits in Houston," said Joe Turner, Parks and Recreation director.

The family also has ties to Houston's Medical Center.

Dr. Schweppe, Turner said, had a "pretty amazing career" at the medical center.

The city received a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department grant matching the Schweppe family's donation when the park land was purchased in the early 1980s.

Turner said the recent renovation project had been on the parks department's to-do list for four or five years, but the funds were not available then.

"The playground was outdated, the plaza needed cleaning," he said.

"It was a general cleanup and renovation. We wish we could do more."

The new playground equipment, which includes swings, should last 15 to 20 years, Turner said.

The park serves a large community of apartments and housing for medical students.

"There are lots of grandparents with their grandkids at the park," Turner said.

Schweppe attended the unveiling of the renovated park.

"My family and I are delighted to see this phase of the park completed," he said.

Those visiting the park probably don't know who it is named after.

Turner said a planned plaque will inform visitors about Katharine Schweppe.

The plaque, to be installed in the park's plaza, is to feature a QR Code. Abbreviated from Quick Response Code, it is a type of barcode embedded with information and readable by smartphone programs. Visitors will be able to scan the code with their mobile phones to access information about Schweppe and see her picture.

"It should be up within a couple of months, at most," Turner said.

The QR Code at Schweppe Park will be similar to codes the city utilizes on 91 municipal art pieces in 24 parks.

The codes act as a virtual tour guide to provide information about the artists behind the art pieces.

Turner said he is pushing for more QR Codes at city parks as a means of conveying the history of the public spaces.

The city's parks department manages more than 37,859 acres of parkland and green space.

There are several parks named for those who have donated funds or property to create them.

One of the city's most visited is Hermann Park, located on 445 acres and home to several institutions including the Houston Zoo, Miller Outdoor Theatre, the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Hermann Park Golf Course.

The land was given to the city in 1914 by George H. Hermann, the wealthy businessman whose name also graces Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Turner said Houston's park system has always been supported by Houstonians who have given generously to create parks such as Hermann Park and Schweppe Park.

"We hope that Katharine Randall Schweppe Park has fulfilled the family's original vision and that the sight of so many happy families enjoying this park brings them joy," said Turner during last month's ribbon-cutting ceremony.
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Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels has received a $2,500 grant from Meals on Wheels America to support its Feeding Our Furry Friends program.

The grant will help qualifying homebound seniors in Fort Bend and Waller counties feed their pets.

"If we provide food for seniors' pets, the seniors are less likely to jeopardize their own nutrition by sharing their meals with their pets," said Manuela Arroyos, chief executive officer of the Fort Bend group. "This grant will help Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels reach our goal of distributing more than 7,500 pounds of pet food in 2016."

To help, contact sara@fortbendseniors.org or 281-633-7023.

County officials work to manage mosquitoes

After recent flooding, Fort Bend County's Road and Bridge Department has been monitoring the mosquito population with the expectation of an increase due to standing water.

As a preventative measure, the department is spraying within a three-mile area of the Brazos River twice a week.

"I'm very pleased that our local efforts to control mosquitoes are showing great results," Fort Bend County Judge Bob Hebert said. "We'll keep monitoring our traps and are prepared to aerial spray the area if we see a spike in population."

Residents of unincorporated areas of Fort Bend County can call 281-342-4513 with questions. Those living within a local jurisdiction should call their city for more information.

Fulshear ordinance to preserve trees

Fulshear city council has appointed a citizen advisory committee to draft regulations for a tree protection ordinance.

The Tree Preservation Committee expects to complete its work this summer. The city will hold a town hall meeting to gather public input on the proposed ordinance before council consideration.

For details, contact Assistant City Manager Michael Ross, mross@fulsheartexas.gov.

Hospital receives AHA award

Houston Methodist West Hospital has earned the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

The award recognizes the hospital's work to provide stroke patients with the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

Recommendations focus on appropriate use of guideline-based care for stroke patients, including aggressive use of medications, preventive action for deep vein thrombosis and smoking cessation counseling.

For information on stroke prevention and treatment, call 832-522-5522.
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Brick Fiesta 2016, a pop culture convention devoted to Lego building block enthusiasts, will be held July 7-10 at The Westin Galleria hotel at 5060 W. Alabama St.

The Lego convention consists of two events, a four-day convention for Adult Fans of Lego members and a two-day public exhibition open to Lego fans of all ages.

During the private convention for fan community, guests are invited to socialize and share building tips; attend lectures, workshops and discussions; participate in games, contests and other activities; display their original Lego creations; compete in a Lego sponsored Celebrate Friends Building Competition; and shop a variety of vendors.

The convention's keynote speaker is Alice Finch, whose Lego buildings have been featured in books, articles, online features, as well as in video, film and radio segments. She is a featured builder in the movie, "A Lego Brickumentary," a documentary in which filmmakers Daniel Junge and Kief Davidson look at the global cultural impact of Lego.

During the two-day public exhibition, the public is invited to view custom-built Lego creation displays; shop vendors selling an array of current, retired and custom Lego sets, parts and minifigures; meet model builders; and take part in hands-on building activities. Guests are allowed to bring their cameras to take photographs.

Public exhibition passes are referred to as memberships. Single-day individual passes are $8 for either 10 a.m.-4 p.m. July 9 or 10 a.m.-3 p.m. July 10. Two-day passes are $12 per person.

A family of four may attend either July 9 or 10 for $20. At least one person must be an adult. Families who have more than four members may purchase an additional single person add-on membership for $5. A Family Two-Day pass costs $32. Add-on admission for the Two-day Family membership is $10 per person. Children three years old and younger may attend for free.

To purchase tickets, visit www.brickfiesta.com. Parking is free.

Brick Fiesta is run by volunteers from the Texas Lego Users Group. Each year, the event moves among four major Texas cities. Brick Fiesta began in 2011. According to the convention's website, the purpose of Brick Fiesta is to present creations constructed by Lego fans to inspire others to build their own conceptions.

rice village

French wine tasting planned for July 2

French Country Wines, a winery and wine shop near Rice Village, is hosting a free pre-July 4 wine tasting from noon-6 p.m. July 2 in celebration of France's role in helping America gain its independence from Britain.

Wines available for tasting include reds, whites and several Rouge-Bleu (wines produced in Rhone Valley). French Country Wines is located at 2433 Bartlett St.

The event is open to the public and may come and go during the tasting's hours.

The wine shop carries hard-to-find French wines.

For information, call 713-993-9500, email info@frenchcountrywines.com or visit www.frenchcountrywines.com.

spring branch

Dance studio's owner overcomes paralysis

Successful studio's owner overcomes paralysis

Alex Moore's Danceworks, a dance studio in the Spring Branch area, is celebrating its anniversary, while its owner celebrates continued recovery from a physical paralysis that nearly ended his career five years ago.

Owner Alex Moore has been dancing professionally since 1969 and teaching dance since 1981. He competed as an amateur before going pro and moving into teaching.

Moore has Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a neurological condition that produces weakness and diminished reflexes. In November 2011, he nearly fully recovery from paralysis after spending 11 days in the neurologic intensive care unit at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital.

Before hospitalization, the paralysis affected his legs, arms and produced double vision.

"He still fatigues a bit more easily than before the Guillain-Barre, but otherwise, is able to return to his dance teaching profession full time," said his wife, Kathleen Archer-Moore, in an email.

The studio offers private and group instruction in ballroom, country-western, swing and salsa. Danceworks is located at 1760 Blalock Road.

For more information, visit www.alexmooresdanceworks.com or call 713-305-9712.

westside

CityCentre hosts July Fourth festivities

CityCentre, a mixed-use development on Houston's Westside, is hosting four nights of free concerts leading up to its annual July 4 fireworks show.

The concert lineup includes:

7-10 p.m. July 1, Soul Infinity, performs Motown and classic rock

7-10 p.m. July 2, Cypress Republic Band performs classic rock and country

7-10 p.m. July 3, Sunday Night Live plays inspirational music

7-11 p.m. July 4, People's Choice Band performs country and rock followed by a fireworks show at 9:30 p.m.

For more information, visit www.citycentrehouston.com.

bellaire Resident's public relations career is recognized

Bellaire resident Deborah Buks was recently acknowledged by the Houston chapter of the Public Relations Society of America for her lifetime of work in the communications industry.

Buks, founder and president of Houston-based communications firm Ward, received the 2016 Legacy Award during this year's PRSA Houston Excalibur for Excellence Awards Gala June 23 at the Rice Lofts' Crystal Ballroom.

The Legacy Award acknowledges a member's leadership, expertise and service to their company and community.

Buks said she is honored to receive the Legacy Award.

"In my 35 years in the industry, I've seen a lot of changes in both the philosophy and technology of communication," she said in a news release.

"The one constant has been the countless number of people who teach, inspire, support and encourage me every day. Any accomplishment I can claim has been a result of shared efforts with my team, other PR professionals in our community and around the globe, and the clients who allow me to be part of their missions. I'm so very grateful to each of them, and especially to PRSA Houston for this wonderful honor."

Buks, who also is founder and president of Ward's sister company, OnwardU, has 35 years of experience in all areas of public relations working for local, national, and international clients in a number of industries.

Before establishing Ward in 1990, Buks used to work for top local and international agencies, including Burson-Marstellar, Vollmer (now Edelman), Rives Carlberg and Hill and Knowlton, where she was the then-youngest female vice president in the company's history.

At Ward, Buks led her team to hundreds of awards including the PRSA Houston Grand Excalibur Award in 2013.

In 2014, Buks was named one of 70 Top Women in PR by PR News.

She was the only Houston public relations professional to receive the inaugural award. Buks regularly lends her expertise to nonprofit organizations in Houston and globally.

She serves on the boards of Congregation Beth Israel and AVDA, Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse.

As a survivor of sarcoma, a rare cancer, Buks has volunteered her skills to advance drug research and produce patient campaigns to encourage treatment compliance with board positions for Sarcoma Foundation of America and SARC.

An avid supporter of advancing the communications profession, Buks currently serves on The University of Texas Moody College of Communication Dean's Advisory Council.
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Houston Methodist West Hospital has earned the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

The award recognizes the hospital's work to provide stroke patients with the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

The recommendations focus on appropriate use of guideline-based care for stroke patients, including aggressive use of medications, preventive action for deep vein thrombosis and smoking cessation counseling.

For information on stroke prevention and treatment offered at Houston Methodist West Hospital, call 832-522-5522.

Cross Creek Ranch wins 2016 Arbor Award

Trees for Houston has named Cross Creek Ranch a recipient of its 2016 Arbor Award.

The Fulshear development was the only community to receive an Arbor Award this year; other winners include attorney Amy Dinn, Buffalo Bayou Park, Mandell Park, Phillips 66 and Klean it Up, Green It Up. Houston Parks and Recreation Department Director Joe Turner won the Jim Rylander Award.

"Our 2016 winners represent a strong dedication to planting, protecting and promoting trees," said Barry Ward, executive director of Trees for Houston. "Their efforts in the past year have gone a long way to making Houston a greener city."

Visit www.crosscreektexas.com for information.

3-D imaging speeds cancer screenings

An upgraded breast tomosynthesis system at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Breast Care with Memorial Hermann-Katy aims to ease the mammogram process for patients.

Breast tomosynthesis is an imaging technology that combines data from a series of low-dose radiation, 2-D images to create a single 3-D image of the breast. Advantages over conventional digital mammography include improved diagnostic and screening accuracy, fewer recalls and greater radiologist confidence. In addition, the new technology can produce higher quality images in a shorter period of time.

Call 877-40-MAMMO or visit www.memorialhermann.org/locations/breast-care-center---katy/ to schedule a 3-D mammogram.

Harris County teams up with Microsoft

Microsoft has invited Harris County Public Health to participate in Project Premonition, a research project aimed at reducing mosquito-borne diseases using cutting-edge technology.

Project Premonition has been piloted outside the United States, but this is the first time a U.S.-based mosquito control program will test the computerized mosquito traps.

The traps are able to detect and transmit a range of data, such as the time each mosquito was trapped, as well as the temperature, barometric pressure and humidity at the moment of capture. The system will allow Harris County Public Health entomologists to track specific mosquitoes that could carry harmful diseases.

"This will allow us to proactively fight disease-carrying mosquitoes in a targeted manner, increasing our capability to protect our residents from mosquito-borne illnesses like Zika," said Dr. Umair A. Shah, executive director of Harris County Public Health.

Ten traps were to be placed in the Houston and Harris County area in June. In addition, the Project Premonition team will be working on ways in which drone technology can be used to detect mosquito hotspots as well as deploy and collect the traps.

For information, visit www.hcphtx.org.

Fort Bend working to manage mosquitoes

Following recent flooding, Fort Bend County's Road and Bridge Department has been monitoring the mosquito population with the expectation of an increase due to standing water.

As a preventative measure, the department is spraying within a three-mile area of the Brazos River twice a week.

"I'm very pleased that our local efforts to control mosquitoes are showing great results," Fort Bend County Judge Bob Hebert said. "We'll keep monitoring our traps and are prepared to aerial spray the area if we see a spike in population."

Residents of unincorporated areas of Fort Bend County can call 281-342-4513 with questions. Those living within a local jurisdiction should call their city for more information.

Meals on Wheels wins grant for pet project

Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels has received a $2,500 grant from Meals on Wheels America to support its Feeding Our Furry Friends program.

The grant will help qualifying homebound seniors in Fort Bend and Waller counties feed their pets.

"If we provide food for seniors' pets, the seniors are less likely to jeopardize their own nutrition by sharing their meals with their pets," said Manuela Arroyos, chief executive officer of the Fort Bend organization. "This grant will help Fort Bend Seniors Meals on Wheels reach our goal of distributing more than 7,500 pounds of pet food in 2016."

To help the Feeding our Furry Friends program, contact Sara Adams, sara@fortbendseniors.org or 281-633-7023.
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Lindsey Schechter is on a mission to bring the best Texas cheeses to local plates.

That mission has been a resounding success, birthing a charming little brick-and-mortar cheese shop, the Houston Dairymaids, 2201 Airline Drive.

Schechter's shop is a retail link between small cheese producers and the local market. She seeks out small dairy farmer cheese makers and brings their product to their shelves.

Since she's already brought cheese from farm to table, Schechter is now taking the Dairymaids' offerings from "farm-to-pub."

"You hear about cheese and wine, but actually wine has tannins which can battle cheeses, whereas beer has a sweetness to compliment the flavors of the cheese," Schechter said. "The effervescence of beer also cuts through the thickness of cheese, allowing the full spectrum of flavor to really touch the palate."

In a partnership with Houston's own Saint Arnold Brewing Company, the Dairymaids host a beer and cheese pairing every fourth Friday during the brewery's Pub Night.

Dairymaids representative Nicole Buergers said many of the complimentary cheese and beer pairings offer a surprise, such as her personal favorite: Pure Luck Chevre from Dripping Springs, Texas, served alongside a pint of Saint Arnold's Weedwacker.

"The brightness of the chevre cuts through the hefeweizen nicely and creates an extremely pleasant third flavor," Buergers said.

She said it's common and yet unexpected, the flavors a beer and cheese might bring out in one another.

She said a pairing will sometimes give a new take on a familiar beer.

"I really didn't like Weedwacker, but since having it with the Pure Luck Chevre, I now find myself craving a pint sometimes," Buergers said.

Buergers said the beer and cheeses are skillfully matched by the Dairymaids, and the pairings are always changing, just as artisan cheeses change, so no two Pub Nights with the Dairymaids will be the same.

"Every time you open a wheel of cheese, it's going to be a new experience," she said. "Cheese is seasonal, and each wheel is different, so what worked six months ago may not work now."

To keep the beer and cheese pairings fresh, the Dairymaids go to Saint Arnold's before each Pub Night event to sample their current cheeses with the beer and decide on what will be offered.

They typically serve five to six cheeses with a flight of beer samples.

Some cheeses are paired to beer with similar flavor profiles, like Beehive Cheese Company's Barely Buzzed Cheddar which is rubbed with espresso and lavender, and has been paired with a Coffee Porter; or Dallas' Mozzarella Company's Cella, whose lemon-grass wrapped goat-and-cows milk blended cheese has been paired with the lemon-hinted sour wheat Berleiner Weisse.

Buergers said a litany of Mexican and Spanish cheeses have been a hit with the fan-favorite Kolsh-style Santo.

Saint Arnold Brewing Company representative Lennie Ambrose said the brewery has a long-standing history with the Dairymaids, which began in 2007 when owner Brock Wagner went for a run near Rice University's Farmers Market.

Wagner spotted the Dairymaids' stand and stopped to chat and share his love of cheese with Schechter. Wagner began integrating the Dairymaids cheeses into some of the food menu items at Saint Arnold's, and bringing the Dairymaids in for private party tastings and special events.

Echoing a nationwide trend of beer and cheese pairing partnerships emerging in craft breweries, the Dairymaids began their beer and cheese pairings with Saint Arnold's in 2015.

At each event, the Dairymaids bring their cheeses along with their staff, and give a little background on the featured cheeses and pairings for patrons.

And just to add a hint of sweetness to the partnership, local pastry chef Rebecca Masson of the Fluff Bake Bar incorporates the Dairymaids cheeses into a dessert on occasion.

"We're probably a little biased, but we think beer and cheer pair better than cheese and wine," Ambrose said. The Houston Dairymaids beer and cheese pairings are featured every fourth Friday Pub Night, from 5-10 p.m, at Saint Arnold Brewing Co., 2000 Lyons Ave.
Five people were taken to hospitals Wednesday after a BMW hit an AMR ambulance transporting a patient in Laurel.

The crash happened shortly before 11 a.m.

According to Montana Highway Patrol trooper Daniel Schuler, the driver of the BMW sedan was northbound on Highway 212 and ran a red light, hitting the front end of an ambulance at the intersection of the westbound offramp from Interstate 90.

Four people were in the ambulance  two American Medical Response employees along with an 84-year-old patient and the patient's daughter.

The ambulance was on a private call and did not have lights or sirens on.

All four people in the ambulance, along with the driver of the BMW, were taken to Billings hospitals.

MHP trooper Ben Kecskes said the driver of the BMW will likely be cited, but the investigation is ongoing.
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This week in 1928, the Democratic National Convention was held in Downtown Houston inside the hastily built, wooden Sam Houston Hall at 801 Bagby.

It would be the first convention in the South since the Civil War, marking a point of healing in some sense. Houston had a population of just 250,000, and the national gathering would once and for all put it on the map.

VINTAGE COOL: This is how Houston partied 100 years ago

After opening June 26, the three-day session resulted in the selection of New York Governor Al Smith as the Democratic presidential nominee. Joseph T. Robinson was tapped as his running mate.

Among the other names up for nomination was Jesse H. Jones of Houston. Texas delegates held onto their support for Jones, refusing to give up their 43 votes to help push Smith's numbers over the nomination threshold. But Ohio and other states shifted their votes to make Smith's selection official.

Story continues below...

As it turned out that November, Herbert Hoover was elected president, marking the first time that a Republican would carry Texas. Hoover took 40 of the then-48 states in the Union, even taking Smith's own home state.

During the convention, delegates took time to argue about Prohibition, which was then the law of the land.

THE GREAT WAR: 100 years ago, the United States entered World War I

Hoover and the country would have tough times in the near future as the Great Depression loomed just a year away. One of the convention speakers was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, just four years from being elected President of the United States himself in 1932.

On June 20, 1928, just days before the first conventioneers hit town, a gang of white vigilantes lynched a black man on a bridge near what is now the intersection of Interstate 10 and the 610 West Loop.

Robert Powell had been suspected of killing a local police officer, Detective Albert "Worth" Davis, and had been dragged out of a hospital bed by the mob. He was being treated for a gunshot wound to the abdomen after a firefight with police.

It was the first reported lynching in the county in a half-century.

That next afternoon a Houston Chronicle editorial said this of the gruesome incident, happening at just the time that the city would be under a national microscope.

"Houston has been shamed before the nation. This revolting crime which has been committed in our midst comes to blacken the day of our pride and joy," the paper wrote.

Seven suspects were apprehended by police within four days.

The Houston Police Officers Union's website tells the story of the events leading up to Powell's lynching on their site.

As for the Sam Houston Hall it didn't last even another decade. It hosted the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo from 1932 until 1936 before it was torn down in 1936 to make way for the Sam Houston Coliseum and the adjoining Houston Music Hall.

THE RODEO'S BEGINNINGS: A downtown lunch helped spark Houston Rodeo

The rodeo wouldn't return until 1938 when it was held in the Sam Houston Coliseum.

Both venues would host legendary classic rock concerts from the likes of the Beatles, The Doors, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and the Rolling Stones.

The coliseum and hall would each be torn down in 1998 to make way for the Hobby Center five years later.
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For the second time this year, a Houston funeral home was found negligent for confusing the remains of two elderly women in 2014 and ordered to pay damages to a second set of adult children.

A Harris County jury last week determined that Bruce Lawson and Karen Lawson should receive $33,000 each for the mishandling of their deceased mother, Edna Lawson, by Mabrie Memorial Mortuary.

Mark Grace, the eldest sibling, reached a confidential settlement before trial that he's "pleased with," according to his lawyer Marcus Spagnoletti.

Attorneys for Bruce and Karen Lawson could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

Nearly two years ago, the body of 89-year-old Pearlie Jean Deason was buried at Houston National Cemetery with 81-year-old Edna Lawson's late husband, a World War II veteran.

Funeral home officials discovered the error when they found Lawson's remains while preparing for Deason's funeral. Both women died in July 2014.

An August 2014 statement from the mortuary admitted mixing up the bodies and extended apologies to the families.

The children of both women sued in October 2014. Both trials were held in the courtroom of Harris County Civil Court Judge Sylvia Matthews.

At least one relative from the Lawson family viewed and approved Deason's remains before she was buried in their mother's grave. Edna Lawson's remains eventually were placed in the correct final resting place after a service that was less elaborate than the initial funeral.

In February, a jury awarded Deason's four children $35,400 - or $8,850 each - after hearing about their emotional suffering at trial. The siblings experienced having their mother's body retrieved from another woman's grave and were forced to hold a funeral with "decayed remains" that had been wrongly interred in the heat for two days.

In that trial, Mabrie funeral director Cynthia Jones said the mistake happened when another undertaker failed to carefully check the ID tags on the decedents.

She testified earlier this year that Mabrie had no written policies for employees and operated under verbal directives. Jones also took the witness stand in this month's trial.

Bruce Lawson said he was not satisfied with the decision rendered during the four-day trial that began on June 20 because he doesn't feel that the funeral home has made policy changes that provide greater protection for consumers for the "iron-clad" identification of corpses.

"That's the main reason why I feel like the verdict should have been higher," the 55-year-old said Tuesday, adding that legal fees will be deducted from his award.

The Texas Funeral Service Commission sanctioned Mabrie in December 2014 with a warning letter, but did not impose a fine.

The agency found that the funeral home was negligent by not checking the ID tags on both women but also determined that two of Lawson's children viewed what was presented as her body "several times" and never notified undertakers that the decedent was not their mother.
Graphic 911 calls captured the violent argument that erupted in a Fort Bend County home just minutes before a mother and her two daughters lay fatally wounded in the street in their quiet, suburban neighborhood:

"Please don't point that gun at us," father Jason Sheats can be heard screaming on the 911 recordings. "Please. Please, don't shoot my family."

The calls reveal the harrowing back-and-forth between Christy Byrd Sheats, her husband and their two daughters, Taylor, 22, and Madison, 17, before the shooting Friday afternoon near Fulshear.

RELATED: Shooting started with a 'family meeting'

The sisters and their father can be heard begging the woman to put down the gun. Instead, Christy Sheats, 42, opened fire on her daughters then chased them into the street before she eventually was shot dead by law enforcement officers.

Madison Sheats died at the scene. Taylor Sheats, who was set to be married Monday, died later at a local hospital. Jason Sheats, 45, escaped into the cul de sac and was not injured.

Recordings of the three calls - placed by Taylor and Madison Sheats and an unidentified neighbor - were released Tuesday by the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.

The first call, which authorities said was placed by Madison, begins with a woman's voice, apparently Christy Sheats, shouting.

FAMILY TRAGEDY: Officials ID slain daughters, mom shot by officers

"I told you ...," she says, before a man's voice can be heard shouting, "Please forgive me, I'm sorry."

The father and daughters can all be heard apologizing to Christy Sheats without explaining why.

"Wait ... please don't shoot," one of the girls said.

"Don't do it. Please don't do it," says another.

Jason Sheats can then be heard saying, "I promise you, whatever you want, I'll ..." before the call drops off.

The second call came from Taylor Sheats' phone, authorities said. It captured more screams and shouts, but the words are indiscernible.

A third 911 call from a neighbor provided a second-by-second account of the mother chasing the daughters outside the home then standing over them trying to fire more shots.

"There's a lady with a gun," the caller said, peering outside the window of his home. "They're lying in the street, in the middle of the street."

She apparently stopped only when the gun was empty, then went inside to reload, he said.

"She's trying to shoot again," the neighbor said, his voice shaking. "She don't have any more bullets."

She returned to fire another shot into Taylor Sheats.

"Oh," the witness groaned. "She shot her again. She shot her again ... She shot her from the back."

The neighbor said he heard more gunshots, then told the dispatcher that the woman had fallen to the ground. He quickly realized that law enforcement officers had arrived.

"It doesn't look like she's moving anymore," he told the 911 dispatcher.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, sir," the dispatcher said.

A family friend, Madison Davey, 21, said Tuesday she knew that Christy Sheats had a history of mental illness, and had been "in and out of mental hospitals."

She didn't like people coming to the house while she was there, Davey said.

"I do want people to know the truth," Davey said. "Christy did not have a motive. Christy was not mentally stable, and mental illness is a serious issue."

Fort Bend County sheriff's officials said they had received 14 calls for help from the home over the past four years, including three attempted suicides. But they would not identify which member of the family was suicidal.

Christy and Jason Sheats had been separated in the past, Davey said, but had never divorced.

"I know that Jason and Christy were fighting about several different issues but I'm not sure what the final thing was that made her snap," she said.

Taylor was a student at Lone Star College-Cy Fair and was engaged to be married Monday to her boyfriend of four years, Juan Sebastian Lugo, according to a Facebook post from her grandmother. Madison was an incoming senior at Seven Lakes High School, Katy Independent School District officials confirmed.

Davey said her friend Taylor as a passionate and talented artist who was thinking of pursuing a career in teaching.

"The thing I enjoyed most about Taylor was her attitude towards life," Davey said. "Taylor never complained. She was always laughing and smiling."
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A top cat who lives in a Texas library is catching worldwide attention after being voted out of his home earlier this month.

Browser, who was brought to the White Settlement Library six years ago to keep mice from nibbling on books, was voted to be relocated on June 14 by the White Settlement City Council.

Browser has since then caught attention from people all over the country and around the world.

RELATED: Why you should own a cat, according to science

"I've gotten 387 negative emails about this from California to Malaysia to Ontario (Canada)," said Ron White, mayor of White Settlement.

The City Council is having a meeting again Friday, 4:30 p.m. at City Hall to again discuss the future of Browser. It's not completely clear what they'll decide but the mayor has some idea why the special meeting was called.

"My opinion is, the pressure has been too much for them," White said. "I don't think they realized what they were doing."

White said he even received an email from Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner in support of keeping Browser in the library.

City Councilman Elzie Clements said he's heard from people in the city that they don't want to see the cat in the library.

SEE ALSO: Westport crews rescue cat from cars

"City Hall and city businesses are no places for animals," Clements said during the June 14 City Council meeting.

Calls to the City of White Settlement requesting an interview with council members were not immediately returned.

White Settlement is about 10 miles west of Fort Worth.

RELATED: Take your cat on an adventure

People familiar with Browser say he's being removed for a different reason.

"We've heard that a city employee made a complaint about not being able to take her dog to work, so she mentioned Browser," said Lillian Blackburn, president of the Friends of the White Settlement Public Library board. "Browser was brought in to control the mice. The benefit of that is he's loved by children and adults who come to the library."

White said prior to Browser living in the library, exterminators were used to spray for mice. White said the chemicals from the spraying would end up on the books, eroding pages and posing a health risk to library patrons. Since Browser's been brought in, the library hasn't had an issue with rodents, according to White.

SEE ALSO: Nine famous people who loved cats

Blackburn said all of Browser's food and veterinarian bills are paid for by donations and fundraisers. Should patrons have an issue with allergies, Blackburn said library staff will relocate Browser to keep people from itching and sneezing.

Former city councilman Alan Price finds the removal of Browser ridiculous, especially since the cat has been at the library for six years, longer than some city council members have been on City Council.

"That cat never bit or scratched anyone," Price said. "It was brought there when it was six months old and there has never been an issue with him."

RELATED: Drinking with your pet now possible with cat wine, dog wine

White, Price and Blackburn aren't sure what the City Council will decide on Friday for Browser's fate, but they have some inclination that the City Council may have regretted its choice.

"For me it was a wrong decision. They put the city in a negative light," White said.
A disgraced former Houston policeman was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday for using his badge to provide guns, body armor and sensitive law enforcement information to criminals connected to the Zetas drug-cartel.

Noe Juarez was convicted in New Orleans in January in a federal drug conspiracy case that included a secretly recorded video of him making deals while in uniform outside a Houston night club where he was in charge of security.
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Five days after a Katy mother shot and killed her two daughters before being gunned down by police, another Texas town is going through a similar family tragedy.

In Aransas Pass, about 195 miles south of Katy, near Corpus Christi, police are investigating a shooting that began as domestic violence that left a man, his wife and 12-year-old stepdaughter dead Tuesday night, according to Aransas Pass Assistant Police Chief David Perkins.

RELATED: Transcript of the 911 calls in the Fort Bend family shooting

Steven Dolan shot himself after shooting his 47-year-old wife Brenda and stepdaughter in their home in the 1700 block of West Highland Avenue in Aransas Pass, Perkins said. Dolan's wife was pronounced dead at the scene. Dolan and his stepdaughter were taken to a nearby hospital where they died later that night, according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

Dolan was found next to the garage of the house with a gunshot wound to his head and a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun laying next to him, Perkins said. He said it looks like Brenda suffered from gunshot wounds to her upper torso, hand and forearm, but that the investigation is still ongoing. The 12-year-old suffered a gunshot wound to her upper torso and leg.

Perkins said there is not indication at this time that Dolan had any mental health issues. However, Perkins said, there might be some history of family violence.

He could not confirmed if Dolan was a licensed gun owner.

Corpus Christi Fire Chief Robert Rocha told MySA.com Wednesday that Dolan was a firefighter for the department for 19 years.

RELATED: Fort Bend County shooting that left three dead started with 'family meeting'

"We have no past history that we identified that could have predicted this type of behavior," Docha said. "If so, we would have done everything in our power to try and prevent it."

The fire chief said Dolan's wife had relatives who worked for the department and that "many" are feeling "confused" and "upset" about the incident.

"Thoughts and prayers are with all of the families involved in this tragic situation," he said. "We're just all upset about the loss of life that took place."

In Katy, the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office responded to a family meeting that ended with a mother and two daughters fatally shot in the street on Friday, June 24. Investigators said Christy Sheats called a family meeting Friday when an argument escalated out of control when she lifted a five-shot, .3-caliber handgun and opened fire on her two daughters, Taylor, 22, and Madison,17.

RELATED: BCSO investigating apparent suicide at the Bexar County Jail

Both daughters and their father managed to leave the house, where Madison fell down and died. Taylor ran into the street and her mother shot her again, went back inside to reload the gun, and then shot her daughter again. Taylor later died at the Texas Medical Center.

Christy Sheats was shot by police after she refused to drop her gun.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and other Republican leaders in Congress on Wednesday blasted Democrats for blocking a $1.1 billion plan to fight the Zika virus, an issue that has now become embroiled in battles over birth control, pesticides and the Confederate flag.

The GOP offensive came a day after Democrats successfully filibustered a spending bill that they said would limit funding for birth control, suspend a federal ban on spraying near water sources, and strip language barring the display of Confederate flag imagery in VA cemeteries.

Cornyn, speaking to Texas reporters, called the Democrats' objections "fabricated" and "exaggerated."

Given the public health threat presented by mosquitoes which carry the virus  which are believed to be present in Texas  Cornyn questioned the political motives behind the Democrats' filibuster. "Unfortunately, our Democratic friends have underestimated what they're toying with," Cornyn he said. "The threat is literally at our doorstep."

Democrats have charged that a GOP measure directing contraceptive dollars to community health centers was designed to limit funding to women's health providers like Planned Parenthood, a frequent Republican target.

Language that emerged from recent House-Senate negotiations also temporarily suspends restrictions on spraying pesticides to control mosquitoes, which Cornyn said "makes a lot of sense." More controversial are the Confederate flag restrictions, which were stripped out the House-Senate conference report.

Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada called the final version of the bill "shameful" and called on GOP leaders to work on a bipartisan plan that Democrats can support. The White House, which originally called for $1.9 billion in Zika funding, has threatened to veto the measure, which is part of a military and veterans funding bill.

Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, called the Democratic objections a calculated distraction to undermine Republican leaders. "It is to try to disrupt the orderly functioning of Congress in order to serve their political narrative that we're unable to get our work done," he said.

He was particularly dismissive of the Confederate flag issue: "I have to say, give me a break. That's the reason why $1.1 billion in funding for the Zika virus was voted down? I think it's grasping at straws. I know people have their own opinions on the Confederate flag. But to use that as an excuse to deny funding to avoid birth defects in these children is ludicrous."

Cornyn also argued that Planned Parenthood is not mentioned in the bill, and that there are no restrictions on access to birth control. He called the bill the only way to immediately target the Zika virus, though he said the impasse makes it unlikely the Senate will meet its deadline of appropriating funds by July 1.

Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called it "the last chance we have to get Zika control funding to the president's desk for weeks."

Said Cornyn: "To just shut it down over some of these tangential and relatively minor issues I think is just irresponsible."
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz.  Grand Canyon officials say they'll likely cite visitors who thought they were rescuing a baby deer by wrapping it in a T-shirt and bringing it to rangers  another instance of well-meaning tourists putting wildlife at risk.

Park ranger Della Yurcik said the couple who picked up the fawn last week said it walked up to them near a creek and its mother was nowhere in sight.

Yurcik, fearing for its survival, took the deer back to the creek. She says rangers saw its mother return, and they were seen together again two days later.

There was no happy ending for a bison calf scooped up in Yellowstone National Park last month by tourists worried about its welfare. The animal had to be euthanized because it couldn't be reunited with its herd.
AUSTIN -- Texas state health officials once again are delaying a massive data project that has struggled to get off of the ground for more than a decade.

The state Health and Human Services Commission informed lawmakers Tuesday it was pausing the "Enterprise Data Warehouse" project, a plan for an elephantine database housing dozens of information sets about everything from welfare benefits to Medicaid.

"HHSC and the other Health and Human Services agencies are going through a transformation process..." the commission explained to the lawmakers. "Therefore, we are reevaluating our long-term data needs and want to ensure the best investment of state resources."

In a separate letter to the company that was set to run the project, the state officials said they would "revisit this necessary project after the transformation process has been substantially completed."

The commission said it was canceling the contractor solicitation process altogether, which means that even if officials decide to restart the project, it will be years before a vendor is chosen.

The decision is the latest twist in a project that has experienced an almost-comical series of setbacks and controversies.

First discussed in 2005, the project was envisioned as a way to improve services and spur savings through better data analysis. Lawmakers funded the project in 2007, calling for it to be operational by February of 2009.

Over the years, state budget writers have set aside more than $100 million for the project -- money that could not be used elsewhere -- and spent more than $12 million, mostly on consultants.

After a slew of delays caused by both the state and federal governments, the health commission thought it finally had gotten the project on track in the spring of 2014, when officials began negotiating a contract with Truven Health Analytics of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Then came the eruption of a contracting scandal over alleged favoritism by commission officials toward another data company, 21CT of Austin. In a meeting in August of 2014, commission lawyer Jack Stick, who already had steered a Medicaid fraud detection project to 21CT, seemed to imply in a meeting that that company could do the Enterprise Data Warehouse for less money than Truven.

Two weeks later, negotiations with Truven were over. The commission blamed the company's asking price and said there had been a leak that led Truven to learn about Stick's comment.

Stick and four other commission officials eventually resigned in connection with the 21CT scandal, and the Medicaid fraud project was canceled.

The data warehouse project was put out for bid again in November of 2014.

This February, the health commission disclosed that Truven once again had emerged as the winning bidder and would be given a $104 million contract -- nearly $35 million less than what was being discussed in 2014, said the spokesman, Bryan Black.

"The Health and Human Services Commission is excited the contract is signed and we are moving forward," Black said in February.

The fate of the contract may have shifted when former Executive Commissioner Chris Traylor retired last month. His replacement, Charles Smith, opted for the new approach, records show.
Officials identified a man found deceased in a car north of Livingston on Tuesday as Robert Lee Bishop, 78, who was reported missing on June 17.

At about 5:20 p.m. Tuesday, a crash was reported near 70 Adair Creek Road. The caller said a deceased man was in a silver vehicle with Washington plates, and the wreck was not visible from the road, said a news release from Lt. Thomas Totland of Park County Sheriffs Office.

The 911 caller told responding officers the wreck was discovered by a person they had hired to spray weeds, and the vehicle was in a ravine that hid it from view.

The release said the vehicle traveled through a dirt ranch road, tall grass and a fence. It drove over a ledge and dropped about 15 feet before coming to rest on the passenger side. One of the fences posts was not secured to the ground but was still attached to barbed wire. When the vehicle traveled through the fence it broke the bottom strand of wire from the post but the rest of the fence remained in place and appeared normal and undamaged after the crash.

The vehicle was about 350 yards from the dirt road and was not visible until walking within 10 to 15 yards of the wreck.

Trooper Blaine Heavnor of Montana Highway Patrol told the Gazette a property owner reported seeing a vehicle driving through nearby hay fields 12 days before Bishop was found. The wreck was discovered about a half mile from where the vehicle was first seen on the property.

The incident remains under investigation by Montana Highway Patrol.
-- Despite abortion ruling, damage already done, by me and Andrea Zelinski. The ruling also highlights what has become an increasingly common occurrence in Austin, where the overwhelming Republican majority forces through laws over the strenuous objections of Democratic legislators and expert witnesses only to spend years and millions of taxpayer dollars defending them in court, not always successfully.

-- TXLEGE 2017: Fiscal hawks pounce on next years budget, per The Dallas Morning News Bob Garrett . ($) A coalition of 13 fiscal hawk and anti-tax groups on Tuesday laid down a marker about next year's state budget. Some might say it's a choke hold. The groups said that next year, Texas lawmakers must spend less than $218.5 billion, including federal funds, for the next two-year budget to qualify as conservative.

-- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appears to be deeply dissatisfied with how Land Commissioner George P. Bush's office handled a recent lawsuit over historical items at the Alamo , according to an internal memo. The June 20 memo, which was written by Abbott Chief of Staff Daniel Hodge as part of the process of approving the settlement, called the deal regrettable and avoidable, writes the Chronicles Brian Rosenthal.

-- The Statesmans Sean Collins Walsh has a must read this morning: In his first meeting as chairman of the Travis County Republican Party, conspiracy theorist Robert Morrow walked in wearing khakis, a blue shirt and a three-pointed jesters hat  one point each, he explained later, for three covered-up murders by prominent U.S. politicians.

Morrow worked the room for a while before moving to the podium carrying a stack of books he would cite in his opening remarks. He began his speech by assuring the crowd of precinct chairs that he did not want to disrupt the partys functions before moving on to a 45-minute rundown of his political research, including graphic descriptions of rapes, murders and pedophilia committed by major U.S. politicians over the last half-century. **You have to see this pic, from Jay Janner

>> Gasoline prices falling for Fourth of July and beyond, Houston Chronicle

-- Bernie fans: Dont despair, organize, by the Texas Observers Chris Hooks. Change begins not at the very top of the national political hierarchy but in the many layers below. The place where government power most often meets the working class is in state legislatures, which oversee the provision of education, welfare and health care. A Sanders-style campaign, driven by personality and media coverage, isnt possible for a statehouse seat. Down-ballot races depend almost entirely on the popularity and strength of the state and local party apparatus. Republicans get that. Right now, a Republican governor presides over a Republican legislature in 23 states. Democrats have seven.

CAPITOL DAYBOOK  no meetings scheduled

SPEED READ

Falkenberg: Courts decision on abortion clinics should have stopped disingenuous crusade, Houston Chronicle

Cap Metro sued over media muzzle for employees, Austin American-Statesman

Problem-plagued Texas data project delayed again, Houston Chronicle

Tilove: This year, Wendy Davis Day was observed on a Monday, Austin American-Statesman

DPS hiring more Hispanic state troopers and border surge is big reason why, The Dallas Morning News

Cruz clashes with Democrats over Obama and radical Islamic terrorism, Houston Chronicle

North American leaders confront rising tide of protectionism, Associated Press

Justices to hear dispute over deaf driver education in Texas, Associated Press

The right-wing Supreme Court that wasnt, The New York Times

Zika funding stalls in Senate amid partisan rift, The Washington Post

41 dead in Istanbul airport attack; Turkish government blames IS, Associated Press

RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE

-- Donald Trump fired back at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, a day after the business-oriented lobbying organization picked apart his trade-focused speech that ripped into international trade agreements like NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, per Politico.

-- NEW from the battleground, from Politico: Hillary Clinton is polling higher than Donald Trump in seven swing states, holding leads ranging from four to 17 percentage points, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

Of the seven states polled by Ballotpedia, Clintons lead was smallest in Iowa, where registered voters who responded to the poll preferred her by just four points. The former secretary of states largest lead came in Michigan, a traditionally Democratic-leaning state where Trump has said he could compete in November. Clinton leads the Manhattan billionaire there by 17 points, 50 percent to 33 percent.

Clinton also holds double-digit leads in Florida (14 points), Pennsylvania (14 points) and North Carolina (10 points) over Trump. Respondents preferred her to Trump by nine points in Ohio and seven points in Virginia.

>> WashPost: Trump promised million to charity. We found less than $10,000 over 7 years

-- Whatever you think of Donald Trump, it is clear that this election has the potential to reshape the allegiances of many white working-class voters who have traditionally sided with the Democrats, and many well-educated voters who have sided with the Republicans.

Mr. Trump on Tuesday laid out a radically different economic message than Republicans have advanced, and it holds considerable appeal to white working-class Democrats. He supported renegotiating or withdrawing from Nafta, cracking down on Chinese currency manipulation, and using United States steel for domestic infrastructure  which he promises to rebuild, writes The New York Times Nate Cohn.
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.
MISSOULA  Wind and high temperatures doubled the size of a wildfire burning in southwestern Montana, prompting authorities to pull firefighters from the line and to warn some residents to prepare for possible evacuations.

The Ravalli County Sheriff's Office issued a Stage 1 alert on Tuesday, meaning there is a high probability for evacuations. The largely rural area where the fire is burning in the Bitterroot National Forest includes the Gold Creek and Lost Horse Road areas near Lake Como.

It was not immediately clear how many homes were potentially threatened.

The lightning-caused fire was discovered Friday about 10 miles southwest of Hamilton. Tuesday's hot weather and high wind helped double the size of the blaze to just about 1 square mile as of Wednesday morning, U.S. Forest Service officials said.

More than 110 firefighters had to be pulled off the line Tuesday because of the fire's quick spread through the rugged terrain. The wind grounded at least one helicopter, leaving one fire tanker to drop retardant over the flames. More air tankers were ordered.

Fire crews on Wednesday tried to secure the southern edge of the fire to keep it away from Lost Horse Road. The fire danger was elevated to high as the temperatures continued to rise.
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...
CHEYENNE, Wyo.  A nonprofit organization supported by major players in Wyoming's energy industry is spending more than $200,000 to renovate the kitchen and bar at the Governor's Residence in Cheyenne.

The Governor's Residence Foundation is paying for the work, which includes more than $97,000 for the bar and nearly $96,000 for new kitchen cabinets, countertops and other improvements.

Gov. Matt Mead mentioned the project to state lawmakers last week when he announced more than $240 million in budget cuts to state agencies for the coming two-year fiscal cycle. Downturns in the state's energy revenues have prompted the cuts.

"We try to leverage private funds, for example work on the public side of the governor's mansion being made with private foundation dollars, versus public dollars," Mead said.

First lady Carol Mead is president of the residence foundation. "I can tell you that it's all privately raised funds," she said of the renovation project in an interview.

Carol Mead said the foundation has existed for decades. She said corporations and individuals who donate to cover the cost of governors' inaugurations are informed that any leftover funds will go to the foundation.

Donors to Mead's inaugurations have included heavyweights in the state's energy industry, including Encana Oil and Gas USA, Arch Coal and Cloud Peak Energy. At the end of 2014, the foundation, a registered nonprofit, reported it had $479,000 in assets, according to its federal tax return.

Carol Mead said she wasn't sure of the individual donors for the current renovation project at the residence.

In response to a request to inspect records associated with the renovation, Carol Statkus, general counsel to Gov. Mead, responded that the Governor's Office wasn't the custodian of records of the renovation project. She stated that the foundation, a private, nonprofit organization, had contracted for the work.

However, Statkus provided a copy of the contract between the foundation and Edwards General Contractors of Cheyenne. The contract states that work on the project started in April and set for substantial completion by July 14 at a total cost of $202,664.

The foundation has made past improvements at the residence including installing bathrooms that comply with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Carol Mead said. She said it also has replaced carpet and other elements of the building which have become worn over the years.

Wyoming's governors have lived at the residence since 1976. In addition to housing the Mead family, the residence accommodates receptions for state functions for visiting government and industry officials.

"We have delegations come from Taiwan and China and all over this country, all kinds of places," Carol Mead said. She said that if their first impression of the state is a residence that lacks ADA compliant restrooms and has a worn and dated decor, "I don't think it sends a message that really sets us where we want to be as a state."

With state budget cuts going on, Carol Mead said contributions from the foundation allow the state to make improvements at the residence without cutting funds that go to state programs.
Britons and Other EU Citizens Look to Canada After the UK Votes to Leave the EU CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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After Brexit, Canada may become the immigration destination of choice

On June 23, voters in the United Kingdom (UK) took the remarkable decision to leave the European Union (EU) in a national referendum. The implications of the UK exiting the EU, a step that has become known as Brexit, could be enormous, particularly with respect to immigration and residency.

With its currency in freefall and uncertainty around the future of free trade and free movement, British citizens  as well as Europeans currently living in the UK or thinking of doing so  are looking beyond the European continent for new opportunities. For many, Canada is the country that represents a positive vision for the future.

As the results began to come in last week, and as it became clear that the Leave option was edging out Remain, Google reported an enormous spike in the UK for the search move to Canada.

The good news for individuals looking to move to Canada, either permanently or temporarily, is that Canadas reputation as an open-minded country that welcomes newcomers is generally justified. Earlier this year, Canadas Liberal government announced plans to welcome record numbers of new immigrants this year, with more expected to follow over the coming years.

Permanent immigration to Canada

For Britons and other EU citizens alike, permanent immigration to Canada is most likely to be achieved through one of two broad categories: economic immigration and family reunification. The latter requires the applicant to have a close family connection to Canada; this may include a son or daughter residing in Canada, or having a spouse or common-law partner who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. (Individuals who come under either of these scenarios may fill out a free online assessment form to learn more about their Canadian immigration options through family reunification.)

Economic immigration to Canada

Most new immigrants to Canada arrive under one of its many economic immigration programs. Compared with other economic immigration systems in the developed world, such as those in the USA and in the UK itself, Canada has a highly decentralized economic immigration system. There are programs for skilled workers at the federal level and in each of the provinces. A major advantage for English-speaking candidates is that English proficiency is deemed to be a highly desirable commodity for these programs, many of which are points-based, requiring candidates to reach a point threshold in order to become eligible.

These programs aim to be responsive to labour market needs and typically attract applicants who are educated, relatively young, proficient in English or French, and who have work experience. In many cases, skilled worker applicants can arrive in Canada with full permanent resident status within a few months.

Individuals who have already done some research may be familiar with Canadas Express Entry immigration selection system and the Provincial Nominee Programs, as well as immigration to the province of Quebec. Through these programs, hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have been able to realise their Canadian immigration goals. Skilled worker immigration to Canada, however, is a constantly changing and dynamic phenomenon that requires potential applicants to keep up to date on the latest trends in order to be able to make a successful application. Therefore, it is encouraged that individuals fill out a free economic immigration assessment form to learn more about their options.

For entrepreneurs and investors, Canada and its provinces offer a broad suite of business immigration programs that come under the economic category. These programs typically require applicants to start or invest in a business in Canada. Entrepreneurs and investors can fill out a free online Canadian business immigration assessment form to learn more about their many options.

Working and/or studying in Canada

For people who want to test the waters before potentially immigrating later, working or studying in Canada may be an option.

Of the 32 participating countries in the International Experience Canada (IEC) program, 20 are EU countries. Through the IEC program, young citizens from these countries have the opportunity to live and work in Canada across three categories: Working Holiday, Young Professionals, and International Co-op. The Working Holiday category, which is by far the most popular, allows individuals to obtain an open work permit for up to 24 months. With this, an individual can work for any employer in Canada.

Other options for working in Canada include being hired by a Canadian employer and obtaining a temporary work permit, or coming to Canada as an intra-company transferee. Many people who eventually settle in Canada permanently initially arrived with temporary work status.

For people who may be interested in continuing their education, studying in Canada presents some huge advantages. Not only do international students in Canada get a quality education, but they can also work while studying and remain in Canada after graduation. CICNews.com recently ran an article outlining all of the advantages of studying in Canada.

Choosing opportunity over fear

This is something of a Rubicon moment for Britain and the EU, which now has to take a long, hard look at the whole concept of free movement within its borders and partner countries. Naturally, many Europeans, including Britons, are scared about the implications of this vote and what the future may hold for themselves, their families, and their careers, says Attorney David Cohen.

I was not surprised to see that online searches surrounding immigration to Canada have spiked over recent days. Canada enjoys friendly relations with Europe and has deep historic ties with the UK as its largest ally in the Commonwealth. The UK also is one of Canadas largest export markets.

Canadas two official languages, English and French, reflect its European roots, and the country has a diverse, multicultural population spread across some incredible towns and cities. Our strong economy is buttressed by a world-class education system, and Canadians, much like Britons, enjoy universal healthcare. New immigrants to Canada are welcomed, and the people understand that immigrants play a large role in building the country, as they always have done.

To find out if you are eligible for any of over 60 Canadian immigration programs, please fill out a free online assessment today.

 2016 CICNews All Rights Reserved




Canada to Lift Visa Requirements for Mexican Citizens CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Canada will remove visa requirements for citizens of Mexico as of December 1, 2016. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement following bilateral talks with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Ottawa on Tuesday.

The two major consequences of this agreement for Mexicans will be that it will be easier and cheaper to visit Canada temporarily, and it will be more straightforward to apply for Canadian work permits.

Canada and Mexico previously had a visa-free arrangement, but this was ended by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2009, principally due to the relatively high number of refugee applications being made by Mexican citizens in Canada. Since then, the visa issue has been a longstanding irritant in Canadas relationship with Mexico, with Pena Nietos government pushing hard for a resolution. Since Canadas new government took office late last year, it has said that it was open to removing the visa requirement as long as its concerns were allayed by the Mexican government.

Canada is pleased to deliver on the governments commitment to lift the visa requirement for Mexican nationals. We look forward to the social and economic benefits that lifting the visa requirement will bring to both countries, especially to the middle class here in Canada, said Prime Minister Trudeau.

The government of Canada believes that lifting the visa requirement will deepen the ties between Canada and Mexico and will increase the flow of travellers, ideas, and business between both countries.

Visiting Canada

As of December 1, Mexican citizens will no longer require a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) in order to visit Canada temporarily. Instead, they will have to apply for an electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) if travelling to Canada by air, or simply have their travel documentation (i.e. passport) checked at a Canadian Port of Entry if travelling by land or sea. The process of applying for and obtaining an eTA is cheaper and typically far quicker than obtaining a TRV.

To learn more about the eTA process, click here.

Working in Canada

Whereas previously Mexican citizens intending to work in Canada had to apply for a work permit at a Canadian Visa Office, they may now apply for one at a Canadian Port of Entry. Mexican citizens with the authorization to work in Canada typically arrive in Canada under one of the following initiatives: the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Intra-Company Transfer Program, or as a foreign worker with a temporary work permit supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).

A positive realignment

This weeks news no doubt comes after months of diplomatic negotiation, and in the end I think it will be worth it. Mexican citizens have proven themselves over many years to be exemplary visitors and workers, says Attorney David Cohen.

It is refreshing to see that the government of Canada is prepared to make these sorts of agreements with other countries, particularly a large North American partner like Mexico.

To enquire about obtaining a work permit for Canada, please contact the Campbell Cohen work permit team an email at wp@canadavisa.com. Please include information about any job offer you may have.

To use the Visiting Canada Tool and determine what you need to do to visit Canada, click here. If you have any questions or concerns about the process of obtaining an eTA and gaining entry to Canada, please send a detailed email to eta@canadavisa.com.

 2016 CICNews All Rights Reserved
CASPER, Wyo.  The Mills town treasurer pleaded not guilty Wednesday to multiple embezzlement charges.

Authorities say Lisa Whetstone embezzled more than $64,000 by pocketing town money that she was supposed to deposit into a government bank account. She pleaded not guilty in Natrona County District Court to felony theft and failing to account for public property.

Whetstone faces up to 15 years in prison. She is free on bond pending trial.

Mills Mayor Marrolyce Wilson placed Whetstone on administrative leave last month after charges were filed against her.

Investigators also believe Whetstone used a town credit card for personal expenses.

Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agents began looking into the alleged thefts after a 2015 state audit of town funds discovered discrepancies, according to court documents. Auditors found that cash receipts did not match the amount of money being deposited into the towns bank account. Instead, the deposit slip would have a decreased amount of cash, or no cash at all.

Town employees told state agents that Whetstone had access to the cash that came into the office, that she made the deposit slips and that she entered the amount of the deposit into accounting software called QuickBooks, the court documents state.

A DCI agent who testified at Whetstones preliminary hearing said the cash shortages stopped after authorities began investigating the missing funds. The agent also said Whetstone paid a large balance on her town credit card. When the agent reviewed a statement for Whetstones card, he found several expenses that appeared to be personal, such as purchases at Petco, Hancock Fabrics, Regal Nails, Js Pub and more.

The agent testified that when he told Wilson that Whetstone might have embezzled, Wilson covered her ears with her hands. The agent also said Wilson and Whetstone discouraged town employees from cooperating with the investigation into Whetstones actions. One employee told DCI she was placed on probation after she allowed agents into the building with a search warrant.

In a news release sent after Whetstone was charged, Wilson said she has cooperated fully and will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation and charges brought against Mrs. Whetstone.

Wilson also said her office has enacted procedures with checks and balances to prevent this from happening in the future.

Other Mills employees had access to the money collected by the town of Mills, defense attorney Keith Nachbar said at Whetstones preliminary hearing. He argued there was no correlation between the money missing from the town and the money deposited into Whetstones bank account, and that no direct evidence, such as video surveillance or witness statements, exists against Whetstone.

Futher, Nachbar argued the audit discovered poor accountability practices by the town and that mistakes by town employees could explain the missing money.
RAWLINS  A Wyoming woman has received a suspended prison sentenced for sexually abusing a minor.

Candice Cortez, 20, was sentenced Monday to a suspended sentence of three to eight years. Cortez pleaded guilty in February.

According to court documents, a 5-year-old boy that Cortez babysat for told investigators that Cortez touched him inappropriately in the shower on multiple occasions. The incidents occurred in 2015 and possibly 2014.

Cortez was pregnant when the charges against her were filed and asked the court if she could remain free to raise her daughter.

The judge told her that Cortez relationship with her probation officer would be critical to her future. She must also register as a sex offender.
Audio Transcript

Brian Anderson: During the 1960s, demonstrations, sit-ins, and student occupations were a permanent feature on many American college campuses. The unrest was, perhaps, understandable. The United States was embroiled in an unpopular war in Vietnam and the culture was undergoing a radical change. The spirit of protest has been revived on American college campuses in the last few years, only this time the targets are less well-defined. Murky allegations of systemic racism, unsafe spaces, and micro-aggression have taken center stage. What does it all mean and how did we get here? In 1968, student protestors at Southern California's Pomona College shut down the Air Force's efforts to recruit on campus. Future City Journal contributing editor Harry Stein was one of the ring leaders of the protest, as he described in his latest feature for the magazine, "How My Friends and I Wrecked Pomona College." He joins me today to discuss the lasting effects of that era on both the campus culture at our colleges and universities and on America culture at large. In addition to his long affiliation with the magazine, Harry is the author of numerous books including "No Matter What... They'll Call This Book Racist." Harry Stein, thanks for joining me on 10 Blocks.

Harry Stein: My pleasure, Brian.

Brian Anderson: When did you arrive at Pomona College and what did you find when you first got there? What kind of place was it at the time?

Harry Stein: Well, I came in the fall of '66 and it was a small, very conservative, very quiet campus. Of course, Pomona is one of five colleges in the Claremont Consortium, but they were all that way. And actually I was very disappointed because I was kind of an activist kid myself.

Brian Anderson: And you were coming from the East Coast.

Harry Stein: I was coming from the East Coast and I was a red diaper baby, so I had participated in all kinds of demonstrations against the war, including, you know, marching in New York shouting "Hey, hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?" And "Ho Ho Ho Chi Ming, NLF is gonna win." And I'd picket at the White House, but there was nothing like that going on at Pomona when I arrived.

Brian Anderson: You write in the piece about an entrepreneurial friend that you met not long after you first arrived on campus. Tell us about this guy's bright idea, Andy, his name was, to make a few bucks of the growing antiwar sentiment on campus.

Harry Stein: Yeah, well the strange thing was Andy was pro-war, but he lived across the hall from me. His father worked on Wall Street and he was an entrepreneurial type himself, and he was aware of all these candlelight vigils going on on campuses across the country. So one day he said to me why don't we do one of those here? We can scoot into L.A., buy a bunch of candles wholesale, sell them at double the price and make some money on this. And that was the basis under which he took it although he was for the war, until the day before the event we were interviewed by the local paper, the local Claremont paper, not school-affiliated, and there was a young, very attractive reporter who was delighted that we were doing this demonstration. She was against the war herself. And she asked when we turned against the war. And I said well I've been against it for quite awhile and Andy gave me this look of absolute terror because he was for the war and he said well, basically I've been thinking about it lately. In other words, he turned against the war at that moment, during the interview.

Brian Anderson: As I mentioned in my introduction, you were involved in this protest against the Air Force when they came to recruit at Pomona. Could you give some details about how that played out?

Harry Stein: Yeah, well in short order, starting with the candlelight vigil, the campus moved increasingly to the left and increasingly to an antiwar position, partly because that was just the ethos of the time. It was really the zeitgeist. Kids all across the country were demonstrating against the war and it was on the one hand very serious because we genuinely opposed it. On the other hand there was a kind of antic element to it, where it was a lot of fun and socially it was certainly the way to be connected. So what happened at Pomona was a number of us took over the [inaudible] student paper at Pomona. It had been replaced by a five-college paper covering all five colleges. And we turned our paper into a little kind of antiwar rag and had a lot of fun doing it. I mean we werewe kidded around a lot in the paper. But in any case the big issue at Pomona as on many other campuses was the use of the college's placement facilities. We objected to representatives of what we considered pro-war companies like Dow Chemical, as well as the American military recruiting on Pomona's campus. And what we did, since the president of the school announced that the placement office at Pomona was nonpolitical and open to all, we had one of our group contact the Communist Party of Northern California and had them request use of the placement facilities. We got a copy of their letter the same day the administration got it and we ran it on our front page with the headline "Communists May Recruit Here," and the sense of the article was Pomona would be the first college in the nation to allow communists to actively recruit students on their campus. We then sent copies of this to every prominent alumnus we could find, and we had our issue. The administration immediately denied that communists would be allow to recruit on campus, we said that was discriminatory, where they were picking and choosing who to recruit, and by the time the Air Force representatives came a couple of months later the whole campus was split, the antiwar movement was galvanized, and 75 of us actually sat in and blocked the Air Force from being able to recruit.

Brian Anderson: Now did you get in trouble for this?

Harry Stein: We had been threatened with expulsion so we were pretty nervous. We felt, in the grandiose way that a lot of antiwar kids thought of themselves at that time, we were really putting our lives on the line, we were putting our bodies on the line, we were as brave as you could be. Soon the other hand, the administration at that point and certainly most of the faculty was against the war, so we had some sense that maybe the punishment wouldn't be all that severe. Maybe we would only be suspended. So initially we were put on trial in a big, banked stadium, all of us, and we turned that into a show trial. The kid who was representing us, one of our number, was a future radical lawyer as a matter of fact, and he, of course, put the war on trial. So that collapsed pretty quickly, and they began bringing us in one by one before the judiciary committee. And of course we were all guilty so all we could do was acknowledge that we had been there and sign a statement to that effect, and then the verdicts came. And the verdict was suspended suspensions, which was of course a joke and we laughed about it and felt very relieved, but at the same time I think we also felt a kind of contempt for these ostensible grownups in the administration who didn't even have enough faith in their own values and traditions to stand up to us. Because we knew we were kids. We knew, even serious as we were against the war, we knew we were essentially kids pushing the boundaries and they didn't have the gumption to stop us. And that was a real kind of psychological break with the past and I think for Pomona a very important moment, because it's been all downhill from there.

Brian Anderson: Let's speak a bit about that. If we flash forward to today, at Claremont McKenna College, which along with Pomona is part of the five-school Claremont Coalition you mentioned, was involved in a very high-profile controversy having to do with race and political correctness. Describe what happened and how, in a way, that does link up with your experience back in the 60s.

Harry Stein: Well this was this past fall when of course in the wake of the protests in Missouri and at Yale there were similar protests at schools around the country. And it happened in Claremont as well. There were actually a couple of distinct incidents. One involved the president of theor the vice president, of the junior class at CMC, Claremont McKenna, as it's now calledit used to be Claremont Men's CollegeClaremont McKenna, who was found posing with a couple of students who were dressed in sombreros, Mexican garb for Halloween. And although she wasn't in costume herself, there were demands that she resign her position, which she, in short order she did, with a kind of pathetic apology. I mean it was really something out of the Cultural Revolution, saying she hoped others could learn from her experience. But the more important issue also at CMC involved an administrator who was trying to write a sympathetic letter to an Hispanic girl and said toward the end of her letter something to the effect that we want to make kidsI wish I had the exact phrase in front of mebut who are not normally part of the CMC community feel welcome. And that phrase was taken out of context and used to bludgeon her. And she also resigned in a kind of pathetic, [inaudible] way, at which point students at all five of the colleges started making demands on their respective administrations and . . .

Brian Anderson: And how did the administration respond?

Harry Stein: As they invariably do in these cases, they tried to placate, they felt the students' pain. In the case of Pomona they were demanding a new department of people with disabilities, disabilities studies department and another departmentit escapes me at the moment exactly what it was, but theand all kinds of other really quite ludicrous and extreme demands, and essentially the administration took the position that they would consider these demands, they were legitimate, they were authentic, they had real compassion for the students' suffering, and it was left at that. I don't think there's been any resolution to date of any of that, but it calmed the protests for the moment.

Brian Anderson: Do you think it's going to be possible to restore the ideals of free and open debate in the academy, or has that battle already been lost? I guess it began to be lost in the 60s when you were there.

Harry Stein: I don't think it can be won unless there's an entire new breed of administrators and probably faculty as well. Of course, faculties tend to be self-perpetuating. At schools like those in Claremont, senior faculty tend to pass judgment over who gets hired in their departments, and those departments in the liberal arts are almost uniformly on the left now. And not merely the left, in many cases the very hard left. These are people who do not brook dissent, who do not book open conversation. So it's hard to envision exactly how that would change. The administrators are certainly inclined to placate. And those schools are simply not welcoming to those who would challenge that system. They believe in it. I mean basically they are on the left themselves. They believe that America is all the things that the hard left believes America is, which is essentially exploitative. They do not honor the traditions that we as conservatives embrace. So I don'tI really can't see it.

Brian Anderson: It may come down to the creation of new institutions entirely.

Harry Stein: Or the actual bankruptcy and closing of enough of these other institutions that they begin to learn some lessons. You know one hears, for example at Missouri, that applications are way down. That's a very good sign in the wake of those protests. I've read on various blogs and websites about Pomona that parents were upset about some of the things that were going on and prospective students in some cases chose not to apply, following the events of last fall. On the other hand, these schools are very highly rated. Pomona has been named by Forbes the top liberal arts college in the country, which I must say I have mixed feelings about. I'm kind of proud of it on the one hand. On the other hand I'm kind of startled by it. What kind of criteria are they using?

Brian Anderson: Right.

Harry Stein: That is toand I must say I do feel a little bit that one, you know I'm kind of betraying my school, my alma mater and all my friends who went there, and so in the spirit of being true to my school I will say that there are still some very, very good things at Pomona, particularly if you get away from the liberal arts.

Brian Anderson: That's all the time we have to read Harry Stein's fascinating article, "How My Friends and I wrecked Pomona College." Visit our website, www.City-Journal.org, or check out our Spring issue. We would love to hear your comments about today's episode on Twitter @CityJournal with the hashtag #10Blocks. Also, if you like our show and want to hear more, please leave ratings and reviews on iTunes. Thanks for listening and thanks for joining us, Harry.
The ill-fated prosecution of six Baltimore police officers for the accidental death of Freddie Gray in April 2015 was the spawn of the Black Lives Matter movement. The preposterously unjustified charges against the officers grew out of the BLM conceit that cops are racist murderers. On May 1, 2015, states attorney Marilyn Mosby invoked Al Sharptons extortionist chant of No Justice, No Peace as a motivation for her charging decisions, after rioters had destroyed the livelihoods of dozens of Baltimores workers and small businessmen.

It is therefore fitting that Mosbys vendetta is collapsing all around her, based as it is on an ideology composed of demonstrable lies about law enforcement. Judge Barry Williams handed Mosby her third and most devastating defeat on June 23, acquitting Officer Caesar Goodson of all seven counts against him, including the ludicrous second-degree murder charge.

Gray, a 25-year-old drug dealer with a long criminal record, had been arrested for possession of an illegal knife on April 1, 2015, after running from a bike patrol officer who had made eye contact with him. During transport in a police van driven by Officer Goodson, Gray suffered a spinal cord injury that led to his death a week later. The exact timing and cause of that injury are still in dispute.

A hostile crowd was forming at the site of Grays arrest, so the arresting officers put Gray in Goodsons van and instructed Goodson to drive to another location where they could complete the paperwork without interference. Goodson would make five more stops thereafter; he never spoke to Gray. Grays injury occurred at some still unknown point during that journey. At stop two, the three arresting officers removed Gray from the wagon, placed leg shackles and flexicuffs on him, documented the arrest, put him back in the wagon on his stomach, and left. Gray had been going limp and passively resisting the officers during that second stop; once they left him in the van he began screaming, kicking, and throwing himself around so violently that outside observers saw the van rocking. At stop three, Goodson went to the back of the van for less than 11 seconds, and then called for assistance. Judge Williams found that there was not enough time at stop three for Goodson to actually check and assess Gray. Officer William Porter answered Goodsons call for assistance at stop four. Porter asked Gray, who was on the floor on his stomach as at stop two, how he was doing; Gray answered: Help. Porter asked him what he wanted help with, and Gray responded: Help me up, according to Porters testimony. Porter helped Gray get on the bench inside the van. Porter asked Gray if he wanted to go to the hospital; Gray answered yes. Porter did not believe that Gray was in need of medical treatment, but told Goodson after stop four that he did not think that Gray would be admitted to Central Booking, and that for purely administrative reasons they should take him to the hospital instead. Goodson did not call for medical assistance but proceeded to stop five to pick up another arrestee, Donta Allen. At stop five, Porter saw Gray kneeling on the floor and leaning on the bench. Porter again asked Gray if he wanted to go to the hospital; Gray again answered yes. Gray seemed lethargic but was otherwise breathing normally and showed no other signs of distress. By the final, sixth stop, Gray was unconscious, not breathing, and in visible need of urgent medical care. Goodson called for help and took him to the hospital.

Donta Allen, the arrestee picked up at stop five, told the police the day of the incident that he heard Gray banging his head against the metal like he was trying to knock himself out or something. The head-banging suggested to Allen that Gray was a dope fiend. Allen also said that it was a smooth ride. Allen would subsequently deny to the media his initial statement to the police.

Medical experts for the prosecution and the defense differed sharply on the timing and consequences of Grays spinal injury. The timing is critical to determining when Goodson should have been on notice that Gray was seriously injured. The state argued that Gray was hurt sometime between stops two and four, but that the consequences of that spinal injury would only have slowly manifested themselves, allowing Gray to continue speaking and using his muscles. The defense argued that the injury was so catastrophic that it could only have happened after stop five, since as an anatomical matter, Gray would not have been able to talk or get himself onto the bench, even with assistance, at stops four and five. The states position is internally contradictory, since it holds both that the catastrophic injury occurred early, creating criminal liability on Goodsons part for not responding, and that it was not so severe as to manifest itself immediately in outward symptoms. The judge rejected the states theory. Even if Grays injuries occurred early in the ride, Williams said, they were not so obvious as to put Goodson on notice that he needed immediate medical care. The prosecutors in effect wanted to make it a crime not to take a prisoner to a hospital every time he asks to go there, Williams said, demurring from such a rule. Williams did not mention in his verdict that Gray reportedly had a history of deliberately injuring himself for the purpose of collecting cash settlementsa practice common enough among criminals to have earned a nickname, crash-for-cash. The prevalence of malingering and other faked or self-inflicted medical injuries among arrestees underlines the wisdom of Williams decision not to impose blanket criminal liability on officers for failure to honor every non-supported claim of injury by someone in his custody.

The judge also eviscerated the governments theory that Goodson had maliciously given Gray a rough ride. The state claimed that video evidence showed Goodson rolling through a stop sign after stop two; the judge found that the video was inconclusive as to whether Goodson halted or not, but that in any case, Goodson was not travelling at excessive speed. The prosecutors also pointed to a wide right turn that briefly crossed the yellow line after stop two, but nothing in that turn demonstrated malicious intent, according to Williams. The rough ride charge was inflammatory, Williams said, but the state had failed to provide any evidence to support it.

The states final effort focused on making Goodsons failure to belt Gray a crime. The judge found that a duty on Goodsons part to belt Gray would only have arisen at stop four; before then, other officers at the scene were responsible for Gray. But there was no evidence that Goodson knew that failing to belt Gray would cause a lethal injury. Failing to seat belt a prisoner is not inherently criminal, Williams said.

Williamss conclusions regarding the alleged rough ride, the likely timing and visibility of Grays injury, and the failure to belt Gray disposed of all the murder and manslaughter charges against Goodson. But the lesser charges in Mosbys previous failed or flailing cases reveal the same agenda of criminalizing ordinary policing. Mosby had accused Officer Edward Nero, who was present during the initial arrest, of engaging in second-degree assault. Because Grays arrest was allegedly unlawful (the officers contest that allegation), the states attorneys argued, any contact that Nero had with Gray amounted to an assault. Such a theory was an unprecedented extension of the law. Williams pointedly asked the prosecution during Neros trial if every arrest without probable cause would therefore become a criminal act. The judge ultimately ruled more narrowly, finding that Nero had not touched Gray during the arrest, and threw out the case against him.

The prosecutors behavior during the Freddie Gray litigation was as unprofessional as the initial rushed charges. They repeatedly held back relevant evidence from the defense teamnot disclosing, for example, that Donta Allen had restated to them his initial description of Grays head-banging. Though Judge Williams denied the defense teams motions to throw out the case in punishment for the prosecutorial misconduct, he did allow in otherwise inadmissible hearsay evidence, such as a detectives testimony that the coroner had twice told the police that she thought Grays death was a freakish accident, not a homicide. (The coroner would subsequently deny making that statement.) Prosecutor Jan Bledsoe, who had defended Gray in a 2012 heroin case, had referred to Baltimore officers jacking up ordinary citizens, a gratuitous smear on the department. Police detectives investigating the Gray death had learned that the deceased had a history of deliberate self-injury but were told by Bledsoe not to pursue the information, since that would do the defense attorneys jobs for them, according to defense counsel. Mosbys grandstanding announcement early on that her office would conduct its own investigation of the Freddie Gray death, independent of the Baltimore police department, unjustly impugned the departments integrity, as the Baltimore Sun has editorialized.

Bloodshed has enveloped Baltimore since the riots in April 2015. Under the relentless hostility directed at them in the streets and in the media, officers have backed off of proactive policing. Drug arrests plummeted in the aftermath of the riots, and shootings soared. In May 2015, 45 people were killed, 43 of them black. Baltimores per capita homicide rate in 2015 was the highest in its history, taking the lives of ten children under the age of ten. The anarchy continues today. On June 11, a gang member with a long criminal history fatally shot a 13-year-old boy who just happened to be standing near a gang rival of the shooter; the murderer, Anthony Jerome Clark Jr., AKA Trouble, opened fire at officers the next day as they tried to arrest him. On June 16, a 14-year-old boy stole a Jeep, fled from officers, and sped through an intersection against a red light, killing a nine year-old girl outside her elementary school. The day before Goodsons acquittal, a Freddie Gray associate, Donzell Canada, was fatally shot in West Baltimore, a far more likely outcome for black males in Baltimore than death in police custody or death by police shooting.

Black Lives Matter agitators have not protested against this mayhem. Instead, they continue to claim that Freddie Grays death represents an epidemic of homicidal assault by the police against blacks and that the officers involved in his arrest should be in prison. Activist Duane Shorty Davis groused to the New York Times after the Goodson acquittal: Black lives dont matter to white America. Never mind that the judge was black, as was Goodson and two other indicted officers. The Reverend Cortly C.D. Witherspoon released a statement after the acquittal: Its sending a message that [the] lives [of poor people, people of color] dont matter. Never mind that the police are the one government agency most dedicated to the proposition that black lives matter; police officers put their lives on the line every day to remove gun-toting felons from the streets before they mow down more innocents.

Judge Williams was under enormous pressure to deliver guilty verdicts. That he scrupulously analyzed the evidence and carefully applied the statutory law is a triumph for disinterested justice. Had Williams agreed with the prosecutions strained theories, proactive policing in Baltimore and the rest of the country would have taken another severe blow. But the poisonous ideology that drives this ongoing prosecution remains as dominant as ever, resulting in a national disengagement from discretionary, proactive enforcement. Homicides rose 17 percent in the nations largest cities last year, with homicide spikes between 50 percent and 90 percent in cities with large black populations. It is long past time for politicians to adopt the same analytical skepticism toward the lies of the Black Lives Matter movement that Judge Williams showed toward the prosecutors case in Baltimoreand to stand up for the truth about policing.

Photo by mrdoomits/iStock
Uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage typically involves three classes of insureds. The named insured, including residents of the household, typically qualify for Class I insured status. Class I insured status is a portable type coverage and is not dependent upon vehicle occupancy. Class II insureds are those insureds who are occupying a covered vehicle at the time of the accident. Class III insureds are individuals who take coverage derivatively because of injuries to Class I or Class II insureds. The question of whether a foreign exchange student could qualify for coverage as a Class I insured was recently considered by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in Serra v. Estate of Broughton, 2015 WL 8154964 (Okla., filed Dec. 8, 2015).

In Serra, a foreign exchange student, Sandra Vilarrubias Serra, from Spain was injured while riding as a passenger in a friends vehicle. Serra filed a claim for her injuries against the UM/UIM and medical payments provisions of an automobile policy that was issued to Serras host family. When the claim was denied Serra sued.

Under the facts of the case, Serra was living with a host family as a foreign exchange student from Spain who was attending high school for one year in the Oklahoma. The host family was insured by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm). When Serra was involved in the car accident she presented her claim to State Farm which was denied. State Farm asserted that Serra did not qualify as an insured under the policy definition of resident relative which included a ward or foster child. In order to qualify as a resident relative, Serra needed to be a ward or a foster child of the named insured.

The Court quickly determined that Serra was not a foster child of the named insured. Therefore, the analysis focused on whether Serra could be considered a ward of the named insured. The term ward was undefined in the policy. The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals had held that Serra was not Robertsons ward after reviewing various cases in the country and affirmed the trial courts summary judgment in favor of State Farm. However, the Oklahoma Supreme Court reversed and remanded for further findings.

The Court of Civil Appeals used a definition of ward that involved the individual being under the care and protection of the insured and within the domestic circle of, and [was] economically dependent on the named insured was not applicable to the situation involving Serra. The Supreme Court disagreed. First the Court noted that it was undisputed that Serras parents had the ultimate responsibility for her support, education, and her physical care and well-being. At the time of the accident Serra was 18 years old. Although Serra did not live independently, she was assigned to a host family where she could be integrated into the home life of the host family, and on a larger scale, the culture of the United States. Within the context of the foreign exchange program, the policy insured, the host family, was designated as the person in the United States to whom Serra and her parents looked to provide care and protection while Serra attended high school. Although Serra had not severed her dependent relationship with her parents in any way, for a period of time, Serra had become a member of the named insureds household and, by doing so, received indirect economic benefits from the named insured as well as the intended educational and cultural benefits for which the Mutual Education and Cultural Exchange Program was enacted.

The Court found that there was no technical definition of ward specified by the policy. Notwithstanding the short time that Serra lived with the named insured, she was under the named insureds care and protection while she lived under their roof. Serra understood that she was to follow the named insureds rules and looked to the named insured for guidance and supervision. Serra did not consider herself to be under her own care and protection as an adult at the time of the accident.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court held that the terms used in the insurance policy were ambiguous as to a definition of ward and, therefore, the Court could not determine, as a matter of law, that summary judgment was properly entered in favor of State Farm. The Court reached its conclusion of ambiguity from the fact that the term ward was not defined in the policy and was found in close proximity to the term foster child. Therefore, reference to ward was ambiguous and needed to be interpreted in favor of insured status. The case was then remanded to the trial court for further proceedings.
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An Akron man was arrested early Tuesday following a nearly 10-minute-long chase with Akron police that began after he stole his girlfriend's car and cell phone, police said.

(cleveland.com file photo)

AKRON, Ohio - An Akron man was arrested early Tuesday after he was accused of stealing his girlfriend's car and cell phone, and then leading Akron police on a chase through the city.

As he drove, he recorded the pursuit on his girlfriend's phone, authorities said.

Jessie M. Smith, 27, was arrested after a chase that lasted nearly 10 minutes, Akron police said Tuesday. He is being held in Summit County Jail on charges of willful fleeing and obstructing official business, records show.

Police initially responded about 2 a.m. to a shots fired call in the area of Sunset and Clinton avenues, police said. When officers arrived, they met with a 27-year-old female victim.

The woman told police that she was riding with Smith in her 1995 Honda Civic when they began to fight. She said she got out of the car, but Smith took the keys and her cell phone and drove away, police said.

As the victim was speaking with officers, Smith rode past in the Honda, police said. Officers began to follow Smith and tried to pull him over. When Smith refused, the pursuit began.

Smith took police from Firestone Park, got onto the highway to North Hill, re-entered the highway to west Akron and was eventually stopped on Euclid Avenue. At one point in the pursuit, Smith ran a red light and nearly smashed into an ambulance, police said.

Police learned that Smith filmed the entire chase on his girlfriend's cell phone. You can watch a portion of the chase below.

Warning: graphic language

At the time of his arrest, Smith had an outstanding probation violation warrant out of California on a weapons charge, as well as a Summit County Sheriff's Office warrant for violation of a protection order, police said.

He is scheduled for arraignment in Akron Municipal Court at 9 a.m. Wednesday, court records show.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Randy Lacey was a line cook for years before working as a warehouse department supervisor, but the bottom line was he wanted a career, not another job. A tech career seemed so far out of reach - at least not without more student loans.

Then he heard about Cleveland Codes. It's a brand new 16-week tech bootcamp that's based on the successful training model at Edwin's Leadership and Restaurant Institute on Shaker Square. The big difference is that while Edwin's is aimed at ex-offenders who deserve a second chance, this new coding camp at Cuyahoga Community College is aimed at low-income and underemployed people who have high scores on a coding aptitude test.

The idea for Cleveland Codes is to offer training that leads directly into a 12-week-paid internship - training opportunities for high-tech jobs. Tonight, Lacey will be among the first 14 graduates who will participate in a demo day for friends, family and program developers. His internship will be at Third Federal. Only three more students need placements.

"I jumped right into Cleveland Codes ... I quit my job," said Lacey, 29. "Software development is something I've wanted to do for a while, and with a bootcamp, you're basically taking two years of lessons and condensing it into to four full-time months - 8 to 10 hours a day."

Most of the graduates come from Cleveland's low-income neighborhoods. Tuition is being covered through OhioMeansJobs and workforce scholarships from the Cuyahoga Community College Foundation. Students also received a laptop, plus lunch vouchers and a bus pass to reach campus.

Fifteen students were accepted into the first session of Cleveland Codes: The Tri-C Software Developers Academy. Only one student dropped out within the first few days. Classes began in March at the College's Advanced Technology Training Center. The program grew out of the winning presentation by Matthew Fieldman at the Cleveland Leadership Center's Accelerate 2015 competition.

"In my research, I found a small handful of programs nationwide that are similar, but nothing exactly like this, with a program specifically offering free training to low income adults in the inner city," Fieldman said.

Fieldman added that he learned from helping to develop Edwin's that by including a holistic approach -offering intensive training and caring support - under-served communities will rise to the challenge.

"I think it really proves the model. We had 120 applications for 15 spots. We have more than that for the next session and we haven't even announced it yet," he said.

Entry-level software developers in Ohio can expect to earn a median income level of approximately $54,000 a year, with experienced developers earning $78,000 annually.

Project coordinator Seth Pinckney, said the average cost for a similar type of bootcamp in this region for a 12-week program would be $12,000, and nearly double that cost in markets such as California.

Participants in the first class include two veterans, a former police officer, two young mothers and five black women, according to Pinckney. The first session ends June 30.

"This model has been out for 10 years and can cost as much $22,000," Pinckney said. "The idea for bootcamps is not necessarily new, but making this type of education available to all people in a nonprofit model is what makes it different."

This evening's demo-day celebration will include students showing off how they built an app that helps public health workers better assess, communicate and hopefully mitigate the risk of infant mortality. The project builds upon the "NEO+Natal" proposal that finished second at the 2015 Cleveland Medical Hackathon, held at Cleveland's Global Center for Health Innovation. The hackathon sought solutions to health issues plaguing society.

Fieldman said he's encouraging more companies to join Cleveland Codes by offering internships to students who successfully complete the program.

"We've been actively recruiting," Fieldman said. "Tech companies are looking for diversity in their workforces and that's exactly what we have to offer."

A second session of Cleveland Codes: The Tri-C Software Developers Academy is planned for this fall.

For more information on the program, go to Tri-C and to Cleveland Codes website.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Cleveland Division of the FBI are executing a search warrant at a house near East 66th Street and Lucerne Avenue in the city's Hough neighborhood as part of an investigation into auto thefts, officials said Wednesday morning.

Troopers on scene said the investigation is a joint operation with their agency, the FBI and the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. They said the warrant was approved by a state court judge.

Highway Patrol Sgt. Rob Gabel said investigators are still in the area and that more information would be released later Wednesday.

FBI spokeswoman Vicki Anderson confirmed in a text message that the FBI is "conducting activity" in the area. She said the court documents are associated with the case are under seal and that she could not provide more details.

A spokeswoman for the BMV did not immediately return a phone call.

On the street outside the house, several old cars were parked. Car parts could also be seen strewn around the garage.

Investigators were seen carrying out parts of a disassembled car from the garage.

Check back for updates.

Cleveland.com reporter Cory Shaffer contributed to this report.

If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Wednesday's crime and courts comments section.
Steven Iobst, deputy superintendent at Yellowstone National Park, received the Department of the Interior's Meritorious Service Award during a recent event at Old Faithful.

The award is the second highest honor bestowed by the Secretary of the Interior, given to employees who make exceptional and continuing contributions to DOI or one of its bureaus.

National Park Service Director Jonathon B. Jarvis noted that Iobst, Made significant and ongoing contributions to both facility and park management issues ... and led efforts to improve the visitor experience while protecting the resources of the park.

Iobst began his career as a student engineer in 1971. He practiced engineering at Yellowstone beginning in 1979 in maintenance and concessions management and worked directly for the superintendent overseeing planning and development. He left Yellowstone in 1988 to take the position of chief of facility management for Rocky Mountain National Park. In 1997 Iobst returned to the greater Yellowstone area as assistant superintendent at Grand Teton National Park and served as acting superintendent at Grand Teton from November 2000 to February 2002.

Iobst was appointed deputy superintendent of Yellowstone National Park in 2011. He directs day-to-day operations of the 2.2 million acre park, supervising the largest park operations program in the National Park Service. Operations include emergency medical, law enforcement, search and rescue, science and research, business management, resource education, youth programs, wildland and structural fire programs, as well as contracting, property control, and human resources.

During his tenure at Yellowstone, Iobst has led partnerships with leadership in the Federal Land Highways Program and with local and state governments in order to develop park road improvements, including the Beartooth Highway.

In conjunction with the Yellowstone Park Foundation and their corporate donors, Iobst improved operations and sustainability for park facilities, including the installation of a micro-hydro plant.
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Cuyahoga County Council has agreed to use casino tax revenue to award grants for community development projects.

(Karen Farkas, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cuyahoga County Council has agreed to set aside $1 million a year in casino tax revenue to provide grants for community development projects.

Council voted Tuesday to create the Community Development Supplemental Grant program. The program would provide grants of up to $50,000 for projects such as community master plans, streetscapes, parks and senior centers.

Council has discussed the grant program since January, when it was introduced by council member Dave Greenspan.

The county, which receives about $7.3 million a year in casino taxes, has primarily used the money to provide multi-million-dollar loans for economic development projects.

From July 2012 to December 2015, the county has collected $23.7 million in the fund and loaned about $17.8 million thus far. Most are loans that must be repaid, officials said.

Since July 2015, council has been able to grant loans to projects outside Cleveland.

The new community development grants would be available to all municipalities and eligible community development corporations.

"This is an excellent opportunity to meet the need for more community-based development projects," Greenspan said in a statement after the council meeting.

"Casino revenue is a flexible funding source that should be used to improve quality of life throughout the county. This program is uniquely positioned to provide targeted benefit to residents in collaboration with our urban neighborhoods and suburban communities."

Councilman Anthony Hairston co-sponsored the legislation along with council members Sunny Simon, Chuck Germana, Michael Gallagher, Yvonne Conwell and Shontel Brown.

"Organizations are developing creative, small-scale projects that will have a big impact on the neighborhood level," Hairston said in a statement.

Grant applications will be evaluated by the county's department of development, which will then make recommendations for approval to council.

The program is intended to complement or otherwise enhance projects funded through other sources and will be administered in conjunction with and using the same process as the federally funded Community Development Block Grant program.
LORAIN, Ohio -- A Lorain County grand jury returned an indictment against several suspected gang members and associates that police think are responsible for a spike in violent crimes in Lorain during the past several months.

Jorge Diaz, 22, of East 20th Street and Alonzo Harrison, 24, of Denver Avenue where taken into custody Monday by the Lorain Police Department Community Impact Unit and U.S. Marshal's Violent Fugitive Task Force.

Both are charged with participating in a criminal gang, according to a Lorain police news release issued Tuesday.

Officers arrested Aalijah Rico, 21, and Anthony Rowley, 19, at Berkshire Apartments, 1625 E. 29th St., during the weekend. The apartment complex has become a haven for gang members and a central location for their criminal activity, police said.

Rico is charged with participating in a criminal gang and aggravated riot, according to police records. Riley faces the same charges, in addition to counts of felonious assault and carrying a concealed weapon.

Jared Tillman Jones, Robert Turner and Joshua Stewart were also arrested during the sweep.

Stewart is charged with aggravated riot. Jones is charged with possession of cocaine, fentanyl and drug abuse instruments, and aggravated riot.

Turner was arrested on an unspecified warrant out of the Lorain County Sheriff's office.

Six people charged -- Brandon Williams, Nicholas Latorre, Rudolpho Garcia, Demarus Harrison, Davonta Harrison and Anthony Harrison -- were already in jail for other crimes they committed the release said. All are charged with participating in a criminal gang, except Garcia. Garcia is facing a charge of aggravated riot.

More arrests are expected in the gang sweep, police said.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A family's grief over a young woman's death resulted in one of Cleveland's most beautiful Victorian Age buildings, the Florence Harkness Memorial Chapel.

The soaring arches, Tiffany stained-glass windows and castle-like mien of this neo-Gothic structure, located on the Case Western Reserve University's campus, commemorate the brief life of Florence Harkness Severance.

Florence Harkness, as she was known before her marriage, was born into a prominent Cleveland family and grew into an independent-minded woman devoted to charity work for the poor. She married Louis Severance (son of John L. Severance, who built Severance Hall) in 1894. Less than a year later, the bride was dead. She was only in her early 30s. The cause of death remains uncertain.

Her heartbroken family donated $121,000 to build and endow a chapel in her memory on Bellflower Road in University Circle.

"Those were enormous costs for that time period," said Cleveland historian John Grabowski, who recently toured the Florence Harkness Memorial Chapel, also called Harkness Chapel.

Endowing an expensive building to his daughter's memory was no hardship for Florence Harkness Severance's father, Stephen Harkness, who made part of his fortune as a silent partner in John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil.

"It's second-hand Rockefeller money," Grabowski said of the bequest that make Harkness Chapel possible. "You can see it all over the city."

Architect Charles F. Schweinfurth, known for designing Millionaires' Row mansions, created a grand, yet intimate space graced with a soaring 55-foot ceiling decorated with arched Georgia pine beams and paneled walls.

"We got a gem of a building instead of a common chapel," said Grabowski. The project broke ground in 1899 and the building was dedicated on Easter Sunday in 1902.

Florence Harkness Severance's religious devotion is remembered in the religious motifs decorating a large Tiffany window on the chapel's rear wall, and again in the Bible verse carved into the chapel's sandstone exterior that says, "Her works praise her in the gates."

When it was built, Harkness Chapel was part of the campus of the College For Women (later renamed Flora Stone Mather College), a female-only college inside Western Reserve University. Mather College was among the institutes of higher learning that came together to eventually form Case Western Reserve University, according to the university archivists.

Check here and here to read more detailed histories of the various institutions that combined to form Case Western Reserve University.

Harkness Chapel is among the oldest buildings at Case Western Reserve University, but it was rarely used for religious services. Rather, it was a gathering place for lectures, musical programs and traditional ceremonies, including the Freshman Convocation that welcomed new students, university archives show.

It's unclear whether men and women used Harkness Chapel when it was new. We do know that male professors conducted classes in Biblical Studies in a classroom/bible library next to the main assembly area.

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Chapel programs were considered a vital part of college life that brought students and faculty together at the start of the 20th century. In 1901, students were expected to attend daily morning services at Harkness, and Sunday Vesper services were held there. In the 1920s, all students were required to attend chapel programs four days a week, according to the student handbook.

But by 1960, times had changed. The programs had dropped to once a week. The archives said chapel programs aren't mentioned at all in the 1970 student handbook.

Today, the 500-seat chapel hosts concerts and recitals for the CWRU music department. Concertgoers enter through a two-story tower; the tower's interior looks like a medieval foyer with a large pendant light fixtures and stained-glass windows surrounded by carved sandstone.

When visitors push through wooden double doors on massive hinges, they are inside the breathtaking main concert hall, where sunlight sparkles through Tiffany stained-glass windows. A spacious stage faces the room's largest Tiffany window on the opposite wall; its individual panes are decorated with Christian motifs and landscapes.

"The more you look, the more you see," Grabowski said.

Harkness Chapel has retained its functionality with the help of renovations. In 1990, work was done to enlarge the stage and update the lighting and audio recording equipment. The organ's keyboard was removed because it needed expensive repairs, but the beautiful organ pipes were retained, according to CWRU's music website.

More renovations took place in 1998, when a classroom/Bible study library next to the concert hall was converted into a multimedia classroom, retaining the old library's Tiffany windows. The stage was expanded, climate control was installed and stained glass windows were refurbished at that time.

Grabowski is pleased that CWRU has made the preservation of Harkness Chapel a priority.

"This university is very proud of its long history and seeks to keep those things that are a reminder of its history," he said.
Cleveland Schools, Issue 107

A room waits to be filled with supporters of Issue 107 and a 15-mill tax increase for Cleveland schools at Tower City Center on Election Night Nov. 6, 2012. The district is seeking a renewal of that tax this November.

(Lisa DeJong/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland school board made its request official Tuesday night for a four-year renewal of 2012's 15-mill school tax.

Cleveland voters will decide in November whether to continue that tax and have your tax bills stay mostly the same for four years, or whether to vote it down and lower your taxes.

Here are the basics of the finances of the tax and answers to a few likely questions about it.

We'll have extensive coverage later about the what changes the 2012 tax have brought to the schools and what the district's plans are for the money.

What does the tax cost a homeowner?

According to Cuyahoga County, you're already paying $459 a year for this tax for every $100,000 in house value. It costs businesses $525 per $100,000 value because business property does not qualify for a few state discounts available to homes.

The average Cleveland house is valued at $50,311, so the levy costs the average Cleveland homeowner $231 a year.

If we vote yes, will my taxes go up?

No. This renewal will not increase your tax rate at all, only continue the tax that voters passed in 2012.

Your tax bill will change if the value of your house changes. You'll pay more if your house value goes up.

You'll also pay less if your house value goes down, which happened for many homeowners since 2012.

There's also a complicated cap on how much bills for this tax can go up if property values citywide rise by about six percent. See below for more.

Will taxes go down if we vote no?

Yes. The tax will expire and your tax bill will fall.

This isn't my whole school tax bill, is it?

No. This is just one of several taxes that go to the schools.

Altogether, you're paying a little more than $1,400 a year per $100,000 value for Cleveland schools or $700 if your house is worth $50,000.

Didn't we just pass a $200 million school tax?

In 2014, voters passed a $200 million bond issue that can only be used for school construction and repairs. It cannot be used for operating expenses like salaries, books, electricity, and supplies that this tax helps pay for.

How much money does this tax give the schools?

About $65 million a year, though that amount is falling, according to Cuyahoga County's fiscal office.

That money covers a little less than 10 percent of the district's $700 million annual operating budget.

See the chart below showing the maximum amount of money the levy could have brought in each year for the schools, what the collection rate was on the tax and how much money the tax actually provided to the schools.

Collection Year Maximum possible Collection rate Money to schools 2013 $73.9M 89% $65.4M 2014 $74.4M 87% $64.5M 2015 $75.4M 86% $65.1M 2016* $69.7M 70%* $49.1M*

* Collections are still ongoing for 2016.

Why is the amount falling?

Because there's close to $300 million less taxable property in Cleveland today than in 2012.

There was $4.93 billion worth of taxable property in Cleveland in 2012 and there's now $4.65 billion. According to the county, that's largely because the Cleveland Clinic had more of its property declared tax exempt because the hospital is non-profit.

It's also because house values have dropped. In 2012, the average value of a home in Cleveland was just below $58,000 but it's down to $50,311 today. In 2012, the average homeowner would pay $264 a year on this tax, not $231 like today.

That all means less property value to tax and less money going to schools.

Altogether, these changes mean that the maximum this tax can give the schools is $69.7 million now, instead of the $75.4 million maximum when it was passed in 2012.

At current collection rates, that will give the district about $60 million a year, down from the $65 million the tax brought in at first.

If property values rise or new construction adds more value, collections could rise up to the old levels.

Isn't some of this money going to charter schools?

Yes. Charter schools - public schools that are privately-run - receive 1/15 of this levy. See the chart for how much of the tax has gone to the district and how much to charter schools.

Cleveland is the only district in Ohio that shares local property tax dollars with charters, who are mainly funded with state tax money. Sharing the levy money is part of Cleveland's plan to treat selected charter schools as partners in educating the city's children.

Year District Dollars Charter Dollars 2013 $61M $4.4M 2014 $60.2M $4.3M 2015 $60.8M $4.3M 2016* $45.8M $3.3M

What charter schools receive levy money?

There are 18 charter schools that split money from this tax, based on how many students from Cleveland attend each school: Citizens Academy, Citizens Academy East, Citizens Leadership Academy, Cleveland Entrepreneurship Preparatory School, Entrepreneurship Preparatory School-Woodland Hills, Near West Intergenerational School, Promise Academy, Village Preparatory School, Stonebrook Academy, Citizens Academy Southeast, Village Prep Willard. The Intergenerational School, Stepstone Academy, Village Preparatory School-Woodland Hills, Cleveland College Preparatory School, Northeast Ohio College Preparatory School, Lakeshore Intergenerational School, Menlo Park Academy.

What is this cap on any increases?

The state since the 1970s has blocked property taxes from costing homeowners more just because property values rise. With most tax levies, if values go up after they're passed, the state requires the county to bill you for a proportionally lower rate - a lower "effective millage."

If taxable property values drop, as happened here, you keep paying the original rate.

But if values rise again, you'll keep paying that 15-mill rate until all the taxable property in the city rises by about $300 million, or six percent.

Once the city's taxable valuation again reaches the $4.93 billion it had when the tax first passed, the cap will activate. From there onward, your "effective millage" will fall as values continue rising.
WILLOUGHBY, Ohio -- The iconic Arabica coffeehouses vanished from Cleveland and the Heights years ago but survive in far-flung spots from Wadsworth to Willoughby.

The owner of one of the oldest surviving Arabicas expects to leave a 19th-century building in Willoughby's historic downtown soon and open a month or so later in another 19th-century structure 42 feet down the block.

Other Arabicas continue to percolate in Wadsworth, Amherst, North Ridgeville, Chesterland, Cuyahoga Falls (inside Western Reserve Hospital), and Elyria (a Rubin's Restaurant/Arabica). Several other local restaurants offer Arabica coffee.

Scott Hagg, who owns Arabica's name and logo, says he has opened a Caruso's cafe in New Cairo, Egypt, and an Uncle Al's American Cafe in El Harhoura, Morocco. Both serve Arabica coffee blended by the same Caruso's Coffee of Brecksville that blends it for the Arabicas in Greater Cleveland.

Coffeehouses serve up much more than coffee. "You can make coffee at home," says Frank Suponcic, who owns the Arabica of Willoughby. "You come to Arabica for the experience."

Like owners of other Arabicas, Suponcic says coffee shops are community hubs. "You'll see people having job interviews here, studying for college tests. We've had business deals close here. We've had people get engaged here."

Customer Maureen Driscoll says of the Willoughby shop, "I come here all the time. The people are really nice. It's a really chill environment."

Customers say similar things at other Arabicas. "It's nice to have a community place at the heart of town," says Marie Jagodnik, who was at Arabica in Chesterland.

The region's first Arabica opened in 1976 on Coventry under the charismatic, driven Carl Jones. The place became known for poetry, music, games, politics, philosophy and more. Top chess players waged loud games at five minutes per side, slamming pieces and clocks while onlookers kibitzed.

Jones added shops at Shaker Square and in the Old Arcade, but debts forced him to sell the group in 1985. He later founded the Phoenix Coffee Company and C. Jones Books & Tea. Phoenix survives in other hands, with four locations in busy pedestrian neighborhoods: East Ninth Street, Bridge Avenue in Ohio City, Coventry and Lee Road in Cleveland Heights.

Meanwhile, new owners quickly opened Arabicas in Parma Heights, Lakewood, Brecksville, Fairmount Circle, Hudson, Kent, Westwood Town Center, University Circle and Columbus. In 1996, there were 14 Arabicas, says The Plain Dealer.

Suponcic calls Arabica "Cleveland's Starbucks before there were Starbucks."

Competing with various chains and independents, the Arabicas have passed many hands and locations over the years. Hagg said recently by email, "We're trying to diversify our business as the Cleveland market is very competitive. The last few locations we opened did not work out well." He mentioned possibly opening more kiosks and selling products outside the Arabica family.

Each Arabica is independently owned but shares liquids from Caruso's and Cleveland's Dairymens. Most Arabicas serve sandwiches, soup, pastries and other food made independently. Most offer a cozy mix of tables, armchairs, couches and patios. Many post copious bulletins about local activities. Suponcic also displays photos of Willoughby past.

In 1992, David Anderson became Willoughby's mayor and promptly recruited a coffee shop for his downtown, which has Lake County's densest cluster of 19th-century buildings. Arabica balked at first, but an independent shop called Thinkers opened the next year at the key intersection of Center St., Euclid Ave. and Erie Street, across from West Point Park, better know as the Triangle. The store became an Arabica about 20 years ago.

Anderson, still mayor after 24 years, says the shop greased a slide in downtown vacancies from about 40 percent to none. Besides, "It's a great place to meet." He often sips there with other political leaders on Saturday mornings. "It's a very comfortable atmosphere. The coffee's great."

For the past 10 years, Willoughby's Arabica has belonged to Suponcic, a former Willowick councilman and county auditor, now a private accountant and pending Lake County grand jury foreman. He and his landlord, Ken Godnavec of Godnavec Properties, disagree about which of them chose not to renew the lease, which expires June 30.

Suponcic's retail space is two stories tall, but parts of the second floor are vacant. Godnavec says he and partners plan to put a combination ice cream parlor and diner on both floors, which total about 4,000 square feet.

Suponcic plans to move halfway down the block, from 4148 Erie St. to 4134, taking half of the Art Gallery's current space. He'll end up with about 2,500 square feet, roughly 200 fewer than now.

Customers say they were surprised to learn about the move, but most think Arabica will continue to thrive.

Says Hank Brass, "They're going down the street, and I'll just go down there."
Cleveland police tape 3

Cleveland police are investigating after three people were shot at Dove Park.

(File photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 21-year-old former honor student and graduate student at Cleveland State University is one of three bystanders shot Saturday at Dove Park.

NaShalya Thomas is recovering from a gunshot wound to her jaw. She was scheduled to undergo major jaw surgery Wednesday and is expected to make a full recovery, her mother Tyshia Bulger said.

"She's a determined child," Bulger said. "This is devastating to me because she'll be changed for life because some stupid people were shooting at a child's park."

Thomas was with friends about 10 p.m. Saturday at the park on East 102nd Street and Dove Avenue. An argument broke out and a man fired at least eight gunshots, police reports say.

Bullets struck Thomas and two other bystanders, according to police reports.

A bullet grazed a 17-year-old girl's forehead as she was sitting in a friend's car. She was taken to University Hospitals.

A 22-year-old man told police that he was getting into a car when the gunfire erupted. He was shot in the upper left leg and was treated at South Pointe Hospital.

All three told police that they didn't know the people who got into an argument or the man who fired gunshots.

Cleveland police found eight bullet casings at the park and collected two cellphones found in the aftermath of the shooting, according to police reports. Police are still searching for the shooter.

Bulger said her daughter was an honor student at John Hay Early College High School and graduated at 16. She went to Walsh University and later graduated from Cleveland State University. She's now taking online law classes to become an attorney, Bulger said.

Bulger said she's been unable to speak since being shot. She is alert and is communicating by writing.

"Anytime a child is shot or injured, to me it's devastating," Bulger said. "But this is most devastating because it's my child. It's a tragedy for us and for her but it could have been worse."

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LEBANON, Ohio -- A man serving a prison sentence for murder is now facing more charges after officials say he carved a cinder block out of his cell's wall and used it to kill his cellmate.

Casey Pigge, 28, of Chillicothe, is accused of killing his cellmate, Luther Wade, 26, in February while serving a 30-years-to-life sentence at Lebanon Correctional Institution, the Chillicothe Gazette reports.

Pigge was indicted Monday on charges of aggravated murder and possession of a deadly weapon. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life without a chance of parole.

"Pigge is accused of carving mortar out of his cell wall like something out of Shawshank, extracting a cinder block from the wall, and using the cinder block to strike Wade multiple times in the head ultimately causing Wade's death," Warren County Prosecutor David P. Fornshell said in a statement, according to nbc4i.com.

Pigge was convicted in 2009 in Ross County of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated arson and tampering with evidence. He murdered the mother of his girlfriend in September 2008, investigators said.

The Gazette reports Pigge avoided the death penalty because a psychologist determined he was "mentally retarded."

Pigge has been transferred to Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

According to nbc4i.com, Pigge was discovered in 2008 using homemade tools to dig the mortar out in his cell in the Ross County Jail.

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Lola.JPG

Restaurateurs, including famed Cleveland chef Michael Symon, says increasing the minimum wage in the city, while the rest of the state remains at $8.10 an hour, could destroy Cleveland's restaurant industry.

(John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Some of your favorite Cleveland restaurants and bars would struggle to keep their doors open if a proposal to set the city's minimum wage at $15 an hour prevails, restaurateurs told members of City Council Wednesday.

During the fourth council hearing on the voter-driven minimum wage initiative, Cleveland restaurant owners testified that imposing a $15 minimum wage only in Cleveland, while the rest of the state remains at $8.10, would devastate their already slim profit margins and would bring Cleveland's renaissance to a screeching halt.

"If this passes, we'll all remember this as the moment in time when Cleveland's momentum fell off a cliff," said Sam McNulty, who co-owns five restaurants in the Ohio City neighborhood. "And to quote our hero LeBron James, we'll see our businesses taking their talents elsewhere."

The minimum-wage proposal, which is pending before City Council, was the result of a petition drive headed up by Raise Up Cleveland, a newly formed organization backed by the Service Employees International Union.

The group had collected enough signatures to compel council to introduce legislation on the topic last month.

If council rejects the proposed ordinance or adopts an amended version, the petitioners have the option of taking the original language to voters.

Council President Kevin Kelley opposes the issue, arguing that a minimum wage increase should be handled on the state level to avoid disinvestment in Cleveland.

Kelley said he plans on scheduling a hearing on the issue nearly every week until council makes a decision on the legislation.

Council members on Wednesday heard from some of Cleveland's most prominent names in the restaurant business, including McNulty, Zack Bruell, Tony George, Mack Danzey and Sam Lindsley, the director of operations for Michael Symon.

Lindsley said that the higher minimum wage would "dramatically change our business model" and add between $880,000 to $1.5 million in labor costs at Symon's numerous Cleveland restaurants, including Lola Bistro, B Spot Burgers and newly opened Mabel's BBQ.

Despite Symon's national acclaim as a chef and TV personality, the restaurants run relatively slim profit margins of about five to 15 percent, Lindsley said.

Symon's restaurant Lolita, which was destroyed in a kitchen fire in January, is slated to reopen at its Tremont location under a new concept next year. But Lindsley said Wednesday that those plans could get scrapped if the minimum wage issue passes.

"If this goes through, I'm not 100 percent convinced we'll be in a position to open a restaurant," Lindsley said. "It's a fragile industry. And it's part of the fabric of this city. ... We're all in this together. We all care. But we want to pick the right path toward what's best for our city as a whole."

George, who owns the Barley House, Harry Buffalo and TownHall restaurants, accused the SEIU of using Cleveland to test out its national populist agenda.

"The SEIU blindsided the Cleveland business community with this," George said. "If the SEIU were serious about this, they would take this to a national campaign. I'm all for higher wages, but not on the kill-the-city level. We should not let the SEIU use Cleveland as a sounding board to make their point nationally, and in the meantime destroy Cleveland."

Councilman Jeffrey Johnson, who has submitted an alternative proposal to raise the city's minimum wage incrementally over a five-year period, asked the restaurant owners if they could get behind such a plan.

The consensus among the group was that any increase imposed exclusively on Cleveland would disadvantage businesses in the city.

"It reduces the pain but delays the inevitable - the city of Cleveland cratering out again," McNulty said. "We won't be falling off the cliff. But we'll be rolling down the hill, and it will pick up speed. Businesses will say, 'Why should I open up here if I know what's coming down the pike?'"

Joel Ratner, president and CEO of the community development nonprofit agency Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, also testified against the proposal.

Ratner argued that the Cleveland-only minimum wage would stunt development in the city, create a surge in unemployment, destabilize neighborhoods and leave thousands of residents without nearby grocery stores.

He said his organization has played a role in the development of nearly every grocery store in the city, and he knows of two grocery chains that continue to operate some stores at a financial loss because they are committed to meeting the needs of the neighborhoods.

"If this were to pass, there would be a wholesale closing of grocery stores in Cleveland," Ratner said. "In fact, we think most grocery stores in the city would close, because their margins are already so narrow. ... And I would expect that it would create a huge spike in hunger and demand on emergency food systems."

Ratner said Cleveland Neighborhood Progress is willing to join a coalition to push for a statewide minimum wage increase to appear on the ballot in 2018.

"You have my commitment that we will be very involved in that," he said.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A federal task force here charged with hunting down violent fugitives on Tuesday walked back an announcement that said a murder suspect had been captured.

Carlos Garcia-Toro, who also goes by Peter Marquez-Marquez, was not arrested on Sunday. Cleveland police actually arrested Garcia-Toro's relative, Jose Garcia-Toro, according to the U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force and Cleveland Municipal Court records.

Jose Garcia-Toro is charged with carrying a concealed weapon after Cleveland police stopped him about 5:30 p.m. on West 47th Street because he matched the description of a homicide suspect, according to an affidavit filed late Monday.

The affidavit does not specify which suspect Jose Garcia-Toro resembled.

Jose Garcia-Toro "made a furtive movement" toward his back, and officers found a loaded .38-caliber pistol tucked into his pants, records say.

The U.S. Marshals said in a Tuesday release that their department received information that Carlos Garcia-Toro was taken into custody, and it wasn't until Tuesday that they learned the man arrested was actually Jose Garcia-Toro.

Cleveland police had Jose Garcia-Toro listed under the correct name on the department's jail log Monday morning.

Carlos Garcia-Toro, who is accused in the March killing of 22-year-old Jose Reyes the same neighborhood, remains at large, the U.S. Marshals said.

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Strongsville police pursued a Chevrolet HHR over a 25-mile span to Cleveland's East Side on Saturday, June 6, 2015.

Evan MacDonald, cleveland.com

Examining police pursuit policies in Northeast Ohio

By Evan MacDonald

June 29, 2016

Police chases have long been the hot-button issue in Greater Cleveland and across the U.S. Cleveland.com reviewed policies in Cleveland and its suburbs to compare how they are alike and how they differ.

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Evan MacDonald, cleveland.com

Taking a closer look at chase policies

While proponents argue police chases allow officers to pursue and arrest dangerous criminals, critics counter by saying some chases, such as the high-profile Nov. 29, 2012 one that ended in the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, show a need for reform.

The Ohio Attorney General's Office has cited the safety of other drivers and pedestrians as a primary reason it has formed an advisory group to review pursuit policies at law enforcement agencies statewide. The group will develop a list of useful policies that it will recommend to agencies around the state, the attorney generals office said.

State law requires each of the dozens of police departments in the Greater Cleveland area to implement a pursuit policy. And while many of those policies implement best practices taken from the same sources, there are also many differences that can mean the rules for one police department might be different from another police department just miles away.

Cleveland.com has reviewed pursuit policies from the city of Cleveland and more than a dozen area suburbs to determine how they are already alike and how they are different.

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Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has formed an advisory group to review existing chase policies for law enforcement agencies. The group will also recommend best practices for pursuits.

John Minchillo, Associated Press

Reviewing existing pursuit policies

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine last month announced the formation of an advisory group that will review police pursuit policies and recommend best practices for chases.

The group is partly a response to innocent bystanders being killed during police pursuits. Just last month a driver struck and killed a 50-year-old man during a high-speed chase in Huber Heights, he said.

Lots of people lose their lives that are totally innocent, he said in an interview with cleveland.com. They have nothing to do with the chase.

The advisory group cannot force the more than 900 law enforcement agencies in Ohio to adopt its recommendations. But DeWine is confident that the groups work will at least force departments to examine their existing policies.

I wouldnt want to be in a situation where I had a policy that was fundamentally different from what this group recommends, he said.

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Adam Ferrise, cleveland.com

Developing statewide best practices

The advisory group has been instructed to best practices for law enforcement pursuits. Those best practices will likely be released in three months, DeWine said.

The task force will determine best practices by studying pursuits in Ohio and comparing local policies to those in other states, DeWine said.

Im a great believer that if you can get enough facts the answer becomes much easier, he said.

The inherent differences between urban and rural communities mean the recommendation may not be a one-size-fits-all policy. But the recommendation will include some uniformity, DeWine said.

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Cleveland City Council member Mike Polensek has expressed his frustration with police pursuits entering Cleveland from the suburbs.

Gus Chan, The Plain Dealer

Cross-jurisdictional pursuits a concern

Cleveland City Council member Mike Polensek has voiced a need for change following several chases that began in the suburbs and ended in crashes in the city.

Polensek  who represents Ward 8 in the northeast section of the city  said many drivers exit Interstate 90 in an attempt to evade officers on the streets of Cleveland.

Drivers think they can dump off into these areas and lose their pursuers, he said. The problem is that nine time out of 10 they end up hitting something.

Its unclear if the Attorney Generals Office advisory group will develop best practices for multi-jurisdictional pursuits, DeWine said.

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Evan MacDonald, cleveland.com

"Common sense has to rule the day"

Polensek believes police departments must use better judgment when determining whether to pursue a driver into another municipality.

Im pro-police, but there comes a point when sanity has to rule over insanity, he said.

Polensek believes suburban communities would be angry if Cleveland Division of Police officers were involved in chases that ended in crashes in the suburbs.

Common sense has to rule the day, Polensek said. Do you want to apprehend the bad guys? Of course you do. But in the process you have to make sure innocent civilians arent being put in harms way.

Polensek has spoken out against chases like the April one from Macedonia to Cleveland. Officers stopped the driver for several traffic and equipment violation, but he sped off. The 17-mile chase ended in a crash at a Cleveland high school.

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Chanda Neely, cleveland.com

How departments develop pursuit policies

Language used in police pursuit policies comes from a variety of sources. One of the most common is The International Association of Chiefs of Police, police said.

While Ohio law states that a law enforcement agency must adopt a pursuit policy, it does not offer any guidelines or recommendations. Local agencies have incorporated state traffic laws that apply to emergency vehicles, such as ambulances, in their pursuit policies.

The Shaker Heights Police Departments policy incorporates standards from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, the Model Pursuit Policy from the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Ohio Peace of Training Commissions courses the Police Executive Research Forum, among other sources, Commander John Cole said.

Departments also review best practices from other agencies across the state to determine if their own policy should be updated, Lakewood Police Chief Timothy Malley said.

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David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com

Can a driver be pursued?

Certain law enforcement agencies prohibit their officers from engaging in pursuits unless the driver is a suspect in a violent crime or is believed to be intoxicated.

Cleveland, Lorain, Mentor and Shaker Heights all include such language in their pursuit policies.

Other police department pursuit policies say that officers should use their best judgment to decide whether they need to arrest the driver outweighs the potential risk that a chase poses to the officer, the driver or bystanders.

Even chases that follow those guidelines can be dangerous. On April 13, 2015, a Medina County Sheriff's deputy chased a car at speeds of more than 100 mph after the driver fled a traffic stop. The driver, who had been seen with a bottle of whiskey between her legs, died after crashing into a Medina house.

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A driver who led Wickliffe police on a high-speed chase smashed into the back of a Cleveland home Oct. 7, 2015. The SUV smashed into a home in Cleveland's North Collinwood neighborhood shortly after Wickliffe police called off their pursuit, officials said.

Ryllie Danylko, cleveland.com

"Use Your Best Judgment"

Each pursuit policy reviewed by cleveland.com includes language that allows officers to use their judgment to decide if a chase presents to great a danger to the officer or the public. Officers are required to terminate a chase if it is too dangerous.

The policies include specific examples of conditions that could make a pursuit too dangerous. Those conditions include the volume of traffic or pedestrians in the area, weather conditions, street conditions and whether the area is residential or commercial.

The policies do not give explicit examples of when pursuits should be terminated, which is why its important for police departments to hire officers who have good instincts and judgment, Lakewood Police Chief Timothy Malley said.

It starts with the proper selection of officers you hire, Malley said. You want to hire someone who has good judgment.

Earlier this year, a Westlake man filed a lawsuit claiming Avon and Westlake officers failed to use their best judgment during a 2014 chase that ended when a suspect crashed into a bar. The man was among 13 injured in the crash, his attorney said.

The lawsuit claims Avon officers pursued the suspect car at an unsafe speed and that Westlake officers failed to receive a supervisors permission before using stop strips. The case is ongoing in federal court.

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Video shows a recreation of the Nov. 29, 2012 police chase that ended in the shooting deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. Six Cleveland officers were fired and six were suspended for their roles in the deadly chase and shooting.

Jane Morice, cleveland.com

Prohibited acts

Some suburban police departments prohibit officers from using specific tactics to stop a car.

In Bedford, Parma and Westlake, officers are prohibited from firing a gun from their own car under any circumstances. Many other departments that might follow the same rule do not have it specifically outlined in their chase policies.

Nearly all departments forbid officers from driving in the wrong direction on a one-way street.

Each policy also prohibits departments from using deadly force  such as ramming a suspect car  unless it is a last resort to prevent imminent danger to others.

The Parma Police Department also forbids officers from creating complete roadblocks. Instead, officers are instructed to form a path for a suspect car to travel through at slow speed.

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Evan MacDonald, cleveland.com

Calling off a chase

Each pursuit policy reviewed by cleveland.com allows a supervisor to call off a chase at any time. The supervisor can end the chase if he or she decides it is too dangerous.

Officers are also told to end chases if they can identify the driver and feel that person can be apprehended safely at another time.

Every pursuit policy reviewed by cleveland.com includes a provision allowing supervisors to terminate the chase at any time. Supervisors can be more objective than officers involved in the pursuit, Euclid Police Chief Thomas Brickman said.

Sometimes when youre actually in the moment your adrenaline takes over, Brickman said. Its easier for someone who is removed from it to terminate the chase.

Calling off a chase doesn't always ensure safety. In April, East Cleveland officers called off a chase less than a minute before a driver caused a crash that left him and another man dead.

Don't Edit

Dashboard camera video shows a high-speed chase that ended in the death of a Tallmadge woman who crashed her car into a Medina house on April 13, 2015.



Evan MacDonald, cleveland.com

Technology's effect on pursuits

Technology, like dashboard cameras, has changed pursuits and resulted in changes to department policies, police said.

Dashboard cameras provide a clearer picture of the suspect car and its license plate. Having that information makes it more plausible for an officer to end a chase, Lakewood Police Chief Timothy Malley said.

By and large, we solve a lot of the pursuits we terminate, Malley said. Most of the time we have the license plate. If the car isnt stolen we can often find the driver.

New equipment has not affected the substance of the Shaker Heights Police Departments policy. It has added another tool for reviewing chases, though.

Dash and body cameras did provide our management team, our officers and our community members an additional tool to view and review the application and administration of department procedures, Commander John Cole said.

Don't Edit

Tracking technology developed by Virginia-based StarChase fires a GPS tag that attaches to a car and allows officers to track suspects after the pursuit has been called off.

StarChase

The future of police pursuits?

New technology being adopted by a handful of law enforcement agencies across the county is being considered by at least one police department in Northeast Ohio.

The Euclid Police Department is in the early stages of reviewing tracking technology developed by Virginia-based StarChase. The device fires a GPS tag that attaches to a car and allows officers to track suspects after the pursuit has been called off.

"Lots of potential customers have calling because we're proving our technology can reduce risk for officers," StarChase president Trevor Fischbach said. "It's a tool they can use in todays 21st century police environment."

Officers typically deploy the tag during a traffic stop. It uses an adhesive that does not damage cars, Fischbach said.

The technology costs approximately $5,000 per system, according to data from the companys website.

Fischbach said he feels StarChase can fill the gap in pursuit policies and increase safety.

To date weve had no injuries and no deaths in instances when StarChase is being used, Fischbach said. Its a tool that doesnt involve adrenaline, high speeds and tragic outcomes.

Don't Edit

Evan MacDonald, cleveland.com

StarChase in Ohio

The Lucas County Sheriffs Office became the first law enforcement agency in Ohio to use StarChase when it equipped five cars last month, according to The Toldeo Blade. The department is now among roughly two-dozen agencies in the U.S. using the StarChase technology.

Its too early to say if Euclid officers will be using the technology. But the department is doing its due-diligence to determine if it might be a worthwhile investment, Chief Thomas Brickman said.

Were going to follow up and at least get an education on this to see if this is something worth investing in, he said.
TOLEDO, Ohio - A Canadian schooner bound for Toledo sank nearly 150 years ago, and the shipwreck has now been discovered off the southern shore of Lake Ontario.

Shipwreck explorers Jim Kennard and Roger Pawlowski found the Royal Albert this month, thanks to a grant by the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo. The team found the ship using a high resolution sonar system.

"Our collaboration with Jim Kennard and his team have produced some of the most important discoveries on Lake Ontario," Christopher Gillcrist, executive director of the museum, said Wednesday in a statement.

Bound for Toledo in rough water

The Royal Albert sailed from Oswego, N.Y., on Aug. 9, 1868, laden with 285 tons of railroad rails. It was headed for the Welland Canal at the western end of the lake. From there, it intended to pass into Lake Erie and sail on to Toledo.

In rough water off of Fair Haven, about 35 miles northwest of Syracuse, the load shifted on the 104-foot schooner, causing the seams to burst. According to the museum, the ship sank quickly, stern first. The crew barely escaped in a small boat.

Lake Ontario has an average depth of about 280 feet. But the waters off Fair Haven are in the deepest part of the lake, an area that at one point reaches more than 800 feet deep.

The discovery

In mid June, volunteer explorers Kennard and Pawlowski - who between them have several decades of experience diving on shipwrecks - came across the wreck.

They used a high resolution side scan sonar to analyze the wreck from several viewpoints. A remote operated vehicle also was sent to the wreck site to video the shipwreck.

Identifying the wreck

The story of the Royal Albert was known because its crew escaped as the vessel sank.

From the museum's database of more than 600 ships that sank in Lake Ontario, the ship was identified based on its location, size, shape and type, according to the museum.

Over time the masts have fallen, with the forward mast resting off the schooner's starboard side and the main mast lying off of port. The boom of the main mast lies across the cabin roof.

The railroad rails, the cargo that broke the ship open, can be see to the aft of the ship. Other rails can still be seen in the hold.
riot gear.JPG

TASER has agreed to loan Cleveland police 300 mounting units that allow officers to attach the devices to the riot gear during the Republican National Convention.

(Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland police officers dressed in riot gear will wear body cameras during the Republican National Convention after all.

Taser confirmed Wednesday that the Arizona-based company will loan 300 mounting units to the city to allow its officers to attach body cameras to their riot gear suits during the RNC.

Taser's offer was not solicited by the city, a company spokeswoman said.

The move comes nearly a month after cleveland.com reported that Cleveland's officers did not have the equipment to attach the cameras the city already owns to the riot gear purchased for the convention.

The city and police officials had said the department planned to deploy a "video unit" to record interactions between officers and the public.

The American Civil Liberties Union questioned whether the department's plan would have been robust enough to ensure that every interaction was filmed.

Taser confirmed that it will loan Cleveland police 300 Molle Mounts for body cameras during the Republican National Convention.

The four-day convention begins July 18 and is expected to draw tens of thousands delegates, dignitaries, and reporters from around the world, as well as thousands of protesters.

The city plans to bring in thousands of officers from police departments across the country to help with security. Whether those officers wear body cameras will be up to their department, Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said.

Cleveland's police force will wear "softer" uniforms at the beginning of the RNC, rather than adopting a military-style approach that might inflame tensions. Tampa police took a similar approach during the 2012 RNC.

The officers in softer uniforms will wear their body cameras, which cost the city $2.4 million in 2015, and be required to follow the department's recording policy, Ciaccia said in an emailed statement to cleveland.com.

Should protesters clash with police, officers will dress in riot gear and administer crowd control tactics.

Until Taser stepped in, Cleveland police said that the department would rely on other means of filming, including officers using hand-held cameras and filming from police helicopters, to capture interactions if protests escalated.

Chris Link, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, criticized the previous arrangement.

Steve Loomis, president of the police union that represents rank-and-file officers, praised Taser's offer.

"The body cameras will serve to protect our officers from false allegations as well as serve as a deterrent to anyone seeking great chaos during an otherwise peaceful event.

If you would like to comment on this story, please visit today's crime and courts comments section.
stellan.jpg

A British poetry professor (Ewan MacGregor, left) gets roped into a dangerous international plot by a Russian gangster (Stellan Skarsgard) in "Our Kind of Traitor."

(Allstar/Studiocanal )

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- With Britain and Europe bumping through the aftershocks of the Brexit vote, the British spy thriller "Our Kind of Traitor" seems almost quaint. Here, the bad guys are the Russian mafia, and their nasty plot involves setting up a shell bank in Britain for laundering their ill-gotten gains - all with the covert help of corrupt British politicians.

At this point, it's hard to imagine anyone, even the Russian mafia, having an interest in starting a British bank. But never mind. "Our Kind of Traitor," based on a 2010 novel by John le Carre, feels tame and by-the-book in so many ways, the bank business hardly matters.

The film, directed by Susanna White, follows a classic Hitchcock plot: An ordinary guy gets thrown by happenstance into a criminal underworld filled with secrets and danger. Our ordinary guy, university poetry professor Perry (a dullish Ewan MacGregor), is on a holiday in Morocco, trying to revive his damaged relationship with his wife (an underused Naomie Harris). Before he knows what's happening, he's been pulled into the orbit of a big, boisterous Russian, Dima (Stellan Skarsgard), who insists on taking him to a bacchanalian party featuring naked women on horseback and any drug one might desire.

Everything about Dima, from his tattoos to his Diane Arbus-esque family, says bad things are about to happen. But it turns out he's the one who is in danger. He works as a money launderer for the Russian mafia, but a new godfather is celebrating his promotion by murdering the old guard. Dima - and his family - are next.

Dima, hoping to trade secrets for safe harbor in Britain, presses Perry to be a go-between with the British Secret Services. Of course, one step leads to the next, and both Perry and his wife end up enmeshed in a deal-making web spun by an officious, vengeful British official (Damian Lewis) bent on bringing down a rival.

Despite scene shifts to a handful of exotic locations, a couple of shoot-outs and plenty of gimlet-eyed thugs on hand, "Our Kind of Traitor" tends to saunter when it should sprint. It never quite overcomes its central implausibility, that the Brits would bring civilians into an operation, or that this staid couple would agree to it. Added to that, the crime at the core never feels particularly important.

The only thing that brings the film to life is Skarsgard's fantastic performance, by turns jubilant and despairing, and always absolutely riveting.

REVIEW

Our Kind of Traitor

Who: With Stellan Skarsgard, Ewan MacGrgor. Directed by Susanna White.

Rated: R (for violence, language and brief nudity).

Running time: 107 minutes.

When: Opens Friday.

Where: Cedar Lee Theatre, 2163 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights.

Grade: B-
swiss-2.jpeg

Daniel Radcliffe as the farting corpse, Manny, watches Paul Dano as the castaway Hank in "Swiss Army Man."

(A24)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers," author Mary Roach spends a lot of time with dead people and the scientists who study them, looking into all the ways that our bodies behave once we depart them and this life.

Among her many findings is this: "... as a matter of record, it can be said that dead people fart," she writes. "It needn't be, but it can."

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the writer-directors of "Swiss Army Man," disagree with Roach's delicate restraint. Dead people fart? Excellent! That definitely needs to be said! Let's make a movie about a farting corpse. And the more the corpse farts, the better, because fart jokes never get old.

Kwan and Scheinert, who are known for their viral music videos and credit themselves as "The Daniels," somehow came up with an entire narrative based on this one concept. As hard as that is to believe, what followed is even harder: They enticed two very good actors to star. They got the movie into the Sundance Film Festival. When it screened there, a lot of people walked out in disgust, but the Sundance jury gave them the directing prize.

"Yes, we are the film that has the dead farting corpse, and yet we still won this award," Kwan said when they accepted. I have to believe that the two were flabbergasted that their prank actually worked, and that a distributor bought it.

"Swiss Army Man" follows the growing madness of desert-island castaway Hank (Paul Dano) who, on the brink of suicide, sees another human being wash up on the beach. Trouble is, he's dead. Or is he? When the corpse (Daniel Radcliffe) emits that very first fart, Hank's (named, perhaps, for Tom Hanks in "Cast Away"?) delusions begin. He saddles up and rides the farting corpse like a jet ski, landing at another deserted beach. But this one is not on an island; it promises civilization is near.

Hank discovers that the corpse, whom he names Manny, has as many uses as the handy tool of the title, among them providing a source of water that (somehow) gushes from his mouth. Hank drinks from this fountain, and it was at this point that my gag reflex kicked in. It never stopped kicking, through the introduction of Manny's magical boner (it's a compass!), a deep kiss and a strongly implied act of necrophilia.

Along the way, Manny also begins speaking and having feelings. But death made him a complete innocent, apparently, because he needs Hank to explain everything from Netflix and iPhones to masturbation and Hank's unrequited crush on a woman he once saw on a bus. This allows the Daniels to get into some very shallow philosophizing as Manny questions Hank about love, sex, parents, shame and living a completely truthful life.

That the last item involves farting openly, rather than trying to hold it in, serves as a terrific metaphor for "Swiss Army Man." A lot of talented people went all in on this movie, including Dano and Radcliffe, as well as the inventive scene designers and whoever did Radcliffe's makeup. They committed to the Daniels' ridiculous junior-high-school concept. And when the Daniels let it rip, they looked the other way and pretended it didn't smell.

REVIEW

Swiss Army Man

Who: With Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano. Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

Rated: R (for some language and sexual material).

Running time: 95 minutes.

When: Opens Friday.

Where: Cedar Lee Theatre, 2163 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights.

Grade: D
NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio -- North Ridgeville has earned an award as one of the "20 Safest Cities in Ohio."

SafeWise, of Salt Lake City, Utah, a community-focused security organization committed to increasing safety education, awareness and preparedness, named the city #15 in the list of the 20 safest cities in Ohio.

As a whole, SafeWise determined that Ohio is "about as safe as most states, but its 20 safest cities are much safer than the national average."

According to the latest FBI crime report, SafeWise determined only one of the 20 cities cited more than one violent crime for every 1,000 residents and one city reported no violent crimes at all. Also, each city on the list reported less than 10 property crimes per 1,000.

To compile the report, SafeWise used the most recent FBI crime data from 2014 to analyze and rank the cities, which all have a minimum population of 8,000 people.

From there, SafeWise noted, they narrowed down the cities based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) and property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft) in each city. To further level the playing field, they calculated the likelihood of these crimes occurring out of 1,000 people in each city.

To compare, the national average for property crime was more than 25 per 1,000. Looking at the FBI data further, SafeWise discovered that none of Ohio's 20 safest cities reported a murder and five also reported no rapes or robberies.

North Ridgeville Mayor G. David Gillock said, "We are very proud of our consistent rating as one of the safest cities in Ohio and truly thank our police department and residents for making this possible."

The 2016 rankings, from first place to twentieth place, were Broadview Heights, Brecksville, Olmsted Falls, Brunswick Hills Township, Poland Township, Hudson, New Franklin, Olmsted Township, Seven Hills, Dover, Clearcreek Township, Hamilton Township (Warren County), Sagamore Hills, Twinsburg, North Ridgeville, Solon, Springboro, Powell, Brunswick and Marysville.
House sit-in ends

From left, Democratic Reps. Paul Tonko of New York, House Assistant Minority Leader James Clyburn of South Carolina, John Lewis of Georgia, Joseph Crowley of New York, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Charles Rangel of New York sing "We Shall Overcome" on Capitol Hill after ending their sit-in protest last week.

(Carolyn Kaster, Associated Press)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- After last week's sit-in, House Democrats are pumped about keeping up the gun-control pressure. So one week later, back in their districts, they're holding rallies and calling today a "National Day of Action for Commonsense Gun Violence Prevention" to demand in very public ways that anyone on the federal no-fly list be banned from buying a firearm.

In Northeast Ohio, there is no action. Congress members from the region are sitting this one out.

Reps. Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights, Marcy Kaptur of Toledo and Tim Ryan of Niles had previous plans.

It's not as if Congress members have a deadline to do something today specifically. The Senate is in session, but the House started its July 4 holiday a week early, with most members returning to their districts.

Yet House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi declared today important. Her office has issued a steady stream of announcements on all of the congressional protests or meetings today across the country. And there are a whole lot of events -- Roll Call listed 29 of them, many involving multiple Congress members, from a sit-in in a New York park to a rally in Boston to round-table discussions in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Memphis.

But none are in northeast Ohio.

What's so special about today?

Here's how Pelosi's office described it:

"Following last week's sit-in on the House floor calling on Speaker (Paul) Ryan to hold a vote on common sense gun safety measures, this day of action will keep the pressure on Republican leadership to listen to the vast majority of Americans who have had enough of the carnage caused by gun violence in America."

So is today mostly about symbolism?

In a way, yes. It's been more than two weeks since a gunman who once was suspected of having ties to terrorists slaughtered 49 people at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub. There is no specific deadline for the gun-control demands that swiftly followed. The Senate has voted down four gun measures just since the Orlando shootings and is stalled on another. House Democrats lack support to get any of their gun measures to the floor for a vote.

But Democratic leaders want to keep up the pressure.

About the public relations: That was Republican House leader Paul Ryan's very point last week -- that Democrats held their sit-in for show. He called it a publicity and political stunt. Democrats responded that they were about action, not just show, and that the protests would continue.

"Wednesday marks a National Day of Action on gun violence prevention, as Democratic Members of Congress from across the country will take the fight for commonsense gun safety to the streets," said one announcement from Pelosi's press shop Tuesday.

Americans will no longer tolerate gun violence. That's why tomorrow they'll make their voices heard to #DisarmHate. https://t.co/OiVNmr9hWZ  Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) June 28, 2016

Aren't the Ohio Democrats for gun control?

Without question they are. Just before they joined the sit-in last week, Kaptur tried to get a gun amendment in a bill before the House Appropriations Committee. It would have barred anyone on the no-fly list from legally buying a firearm.

Her proposal was shut down in a voice vote, without a record of how each member voted.

So why aren't Democratic House members from northeast Ohio joining the protests today?

They all said other obligations precluded their participation.

Tim Ryan's spokesman, Pat Lowry, said his boss had already made previous plans but hopes to hold an event in the near future.

Kaptur's office noted Kaptur's involvement in legislative efforts last week but said that due to a prior commitment she was unable to host an event today. Nevertheless, her office said, she "intends to work with law enforcement and those affected by gun-related crimes to advance the cause."

Fudge's office said that although "previously planned events precluded Rep. Fudge from holding an event, gun violence is an important issue to her."

"Rep. Fudge was proud to stand with her colleagues last week and keeps gun safety legislation on the top of her policy agenda," her spokeswoman, Lauren Williams, said in an email. Williams noted two gun bills Fudge has cosponsored: the Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2015, and the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2015.

She said Fudge "joins House Democratic leadership in keeping pressure on her Republican colleagues and urges Ohio and nation-wide participation in today's National Day of Action for Commonsense Gun Violence Prevention."
Rob Portman

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, speaks to a reporter during the Queen City Mobile Summit at Union Hall, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016, in Cincinnati.

(John Minchillo, The Associated Press)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio Sen. Rob Portman has endorsed Donald Trump for president.

But you'll be hard-pressed to find examples of him saying it, at least in those exact words.

"I'm supporting Donald Trump for president," Portman told a Toledo TV station on May 6.

"I've been a Republican all my life, I'm going to support the nominee," Portman said on the Today Show on May 12.

"I said all along that I intended to support the Republican nominee and I have strong views about the direction our country is in right now," Portman said in a May 17 conference call with reporters.

And so on.

Portman is among GOP senators facing competitive re-election bids who are wrestling with the "E word" when it comes to Trump. The real estate mogul, who has dropped precipitously in the polls since clinching the Republican nomination in May, has proven vexing to Republican politicians trying to calibrate how to avoid getting sucked into Trump-related controversies while not alienating Republican voters.

"Every candidate must first ensure his own political survival," said Mark Weaver, a longtime Ohio Republican political consultant. "Sometimes, that means standing shoulder to shoulder with your party's candidate. Sometimes it means standing a few feet away. The language choice -- endorse, support, voting for, etc., reflects that positioning."

This campaign cycle's verbal gymnastics award goes to a spokeswoman for New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who told Politico in early May that Ayotte will "support the nominee" but "isn't planning to endorse anyone" in 2016.

Sharing in the honors is an adviser to Sen. John Hoeven's campaign, who likewise told Politico the GOP North Dakota senator "is not endorsing in the presidential race and that he will support the nominee of the party."

Michawn Rich, a spokeswoman for the Portman campaign, said in an email that Portman isn't trying to parse words.

"Over the past year, Rob has said on numerous occasions that he would support and endorse the Republican nominee and that hasn't changed," Rich said.

Asked to provide an example of Portman using the word "endorse" vis-a-vis Trump, Rich shared an exchange in which a reporter asked during a May 10 conference call whether Portman would be endorsing Trump.

"I already have," Portman said.

So what's the difference anyway?

Lauren Copeland, a political scientist at Baldwin Wallace University, said the "support" versus "endorse" reflects degrees.

"You could argue it's just semantics, right? But I think it's really a degree of endorsement. The people who 'endorse' Trump are much more enthusiastic supporters, while people saying they support him are less enthusiastic about their support."

"I guess the question is whether that distinction really matters a lot to the average person," she said.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, facing a tough re-election campaign, explored the semantic divide during a June 19 appearance on CNN's "State of the Nation."

Shortly after Trump was declared the presumptive nominee in May, Johnson said he would endorse Trump. But Johnson later downgraded to a mere "support." Meanwhile, a pair of June polls show him trailing former senator Russ Feingold by at least 9 percentage points.

"To me, 'endorsement' is a big embrace," Johnson said on CNN. "It basically shows that I pretty well agree with an individual on almost everything. That's not necessarily going to be the case with our nominee. I'll certainly be an independent voice. Where I disagree with a particular nominee, I'll voice it. Whether it's Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump or somebody else, I'll voice those disagreements."

Rob Zimmerman, a Cleveland-based attorney and Democratic lobbyist, said he doesn't think the public makes those distinctions.

"These are politicians trying to split a hair that I frankly don't think can be split," Zimmerman said. "Voters look at this, throw up their hands and say, these are just politicians giving political double-speak."

Ohio Democratic Party Chair David Pepper said Portman will fail if he tries to insulate himself from Trump by qualifying his support.

"I think the decision of how to respond to Donald Trump says a lot about the political courage of the individual...and when you see people flocking away from Donald Trump, that will become very challenging for Sen. Portman," Pepper said.
Joe Biden, Matthias Gromeier, A. Eugene Washington, John Sampson

Vice President Joe Biden speaks with doctors in a laboratory at Duke University School of Medicine in February. Biden plans to speak about cancer treatment and prevention at a Cleveland Clinic facility on Thursday.

(AP Photo/Ben McKeown)

Joe Biden to visit Cleveland Clinic facility, hold Ohio fundraisers: Vice President Joe Biden plans to speak about cancer prevention and treatment at the Langston Hughes Community Health and Education Center in Cleveland at 3 p.m. The VP is also slated to headline fundraisers in Columbus and Cleveland for Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Ted Strickland.

Budish to tout Public Square upgrades: Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish has called a 9:30 a.m. news conference at Cleveland's Public Square to discuss the impact of the $50 million, 15-month renovation of the square.

DeWine, others to unveil anti-human trafficking campaign: Attorney General Mike DeWine, law enforcement officials and anti-human trafficking activists plan to hold a 10:30 a.m. news conference in the Cuyahoga County Courthouse Atrium to unveil a new human trafficking awareness campaign ahead of next month's Republican National Convention.

Jim Jordan to headline fundraiser for NE Ohio wrestling group: U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Champaign County Republican and former NCAA champion wrestler, is scheduled to speak at a $200-per-plate Cleveland luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Proceeds will benefit the Northeast Ohio Regional Training Center, the club affiliate of Cleveland State University's wrestling team.

Federal campaign finance reports due for the second quarter: If you've noticed a flurry of urgent fundraising pleas from candidates in your inbox, it's because June 30 is the end of the second-quarter campaign reporting period for federal candidates.

It's Rockin' Fiscal Eve: In what's become a tradition for legislative staffers and other Statehouse regulars on the last day of the state's fiscal year, the 20th annual Rockin' Fiscal Eve party is set to start at 5 p.m. at Miller's Ale House in Columbus.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Four-star defensive end Jordan Williams of Virginia Beach (Va.) Frank W. Cox is a top-rated prospect who has Ohio State as a finalist and has a decision date set.

Rated the No. 12 weakside defensive end in the 2017 recruiting class in the 247Sports composite rankings, Williams will choose between Ohio State, Clemson, Tennessee, Virginia and Virginia Tech at his high school on Aug. 6.

The Buckeyes probably won't be the 6-foot-5, 260-pound prospect's choice.

It's been well-documented that Ohio State's 2017 class is tight on numbers, and Urban Meyer is still pursuing other top-rated defensive ends in the class like five-star Chase Young of Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic.

Williams is coming off a recent unofficial visit to Virginia and he'll take one to Clemson on July 22, only a few weeks before announcing his decision.

At one point Williams said he planned to come to Ohio State's Friday Night Lights camp in Ohio Stadium in late July, but it's unclear whether that's still happening.

According to the 247Sports "Crystal Ball" -- a tool that polls recruiting experts to project a prospect's college destination -- Tennessee got four of the five votes.
Cleveland City Hall

Cleveland officials on Wednesday voted to quintuple the city's so-called 'protest insurance' associated for the Republican National Convention.

(Scott Shaw, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland officials on Wednesday voted to buy a $50 million "protest insurance" policy for the Republican National Convention -- a five-fold increase over what was previously approved -- in a tangible sign that city officials now believe the risk of hosting the event is larger than what was initially believed.

The city Board of Control, a panel composed of top aides to Mayor Frank Jackson, without discussion approved paying a $9.5 million fee to AON Risk Services Northeast. That's compared to a $1.5 million fee city officials approved in March, and the $1.7 million officials in Tampa, Fla. spent in 2012 when they hosted that year's GOP convention.

The payment will cover both the city's insurance premium, and a fee to the firm for brokering the $50 million policy.

The policy would protect the city and its employees against any claims resulting from hosting and providing security for the convention. So-called "protest insurance" recently has become standard for cities hosting major political conventions.

Finance Director Sharon Dumas said the larger coverage amount was recommended by AON following a study that she said polled 40 different insurance providers. The initial insurance amount was required by the Republican National Committee, under the terms of the nonpartisan Cleveland 2016 Host Committee's bid for the event.

While the city self-insures its own property and employees, the extra policy will apply to any damage of public property, out-of-town police and their equipment, and any other legal claims made by people arrested during the four-day GOP convention, scheduled to begin on July 18.

"They just kind of evaluated the risks they believed to be associated with the convention," Dumas said in an interview. "They analyzed the national trend of conflicts and the risks associated with the convention, and we concurred."

Cleveland.com on June 7 requested a copy of a "comprehensive risk assessment report" AON was required to provide under its original agreement with the city. City officials have not responded to that request.

Various campaign events this year involving controversial presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump have resulted in violence and in a few instances, arrests, after scuffles between Trump supporters and anti-Trump demonstrators.

Chicago officials on March 11 canceled a planned Trump rally after thousands of anti-Trump demonstrators flooded the area. Scuffles broke out afterward, with four people arrested, including a CBS News reporter, according to the Chicago Tribune.

On March 19, a Trump supporter was arrested and charged with assaulting a protester during a rally in Tuscon, Ariz.

And media outlets described anti-Trump demonstrators assaulting several Trump supporters at a June 3 rally in San Jose, Calif. One police officer was assaulted, although police said no "significant property damage" was reported, according to the Washington Post.

The groups that have said they will travel to Cleveland for the convention include Trump supporters, anti-Trump demonstrators, a white nationalist group, the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church and others.

Dave O'Neil, a Republican National Convention spokesman, said Cleveland did not consult with the GOP while researching its insurance coverage options.

Dumas said the city will apply for the $9.5 million policy to be reimbursed through a federal $50 million security grant approved in December to pay for security for the event. This would require the city to reallocate money that had been budgeted elsewhere for personnel, equipment and other costs.

The city earlier this year estimated it would spend $30 million on personnel -- the city is recruiting thousands of law-enforcement officers from across the country to work the convention -- and $20 million on supplies and equipment.

However, a recent report from the city's fiscal department said the city has reduced its budget for "supplies and equipment" to $6.9 million, with another $5 million budgeted for "capital equipment."

While the city has not provided a breakdown of grant spending, the financial report, which tracked city spending through May, said Cleveland at that time had spent $8.1 million on the convention.

Cleveland.com has tracked about $5.6 million in city spending on convention-related supplies and equipment, including vehicles, motorcycles, "personal protective" riot gear, steel fencing and bicycles. That number does not include expenditures less than $50,000 each -- the city has sought to pay for pepper spray, medical equipment, tools and busing for officers, among other costs -- which do not require approval from the Board of Control.
An interim committee reviewing the states economic development tax incentives will begin its review of a pair of bill drafts today as a decision in pushing either to reform and beef up or to eliminate the angel fund investment tax credit draws near.

Members of the interim Political Subdivision Taxation Committee also will question officials with various angel fund groups that will be attending the meeting in the Roughrider Room of the state Capitol.

Committee chairman Rep. Jason Dockter, R-Bismarck, said the committee has two directions its considering.

The first bill draft would eliminate the angel fund tax credit and expand the states seed capital investment tax credit. A second option is to develop more rigid reporting and certification requirements for angel funds similar to that of other states; the committee compared North Dakota reporting requirements to Minnesota at its last meeting in April.

Were planning to look at which one is more viable, Dockter said.

The angel fund investment tax credit was created during the 2007 session and has been modified repeatedly since.

The North Dakota angel fund investment tax credit is available to all income taxpayers. A taxpayer can claim 45 percent of the amount to each angel fund each taxable year, capped at $45,000 per year with a lifetime limit of $500,000 in credits.

Criteria for being granted the credit includes that an angel fund must be organized with the intent of investing in at least three primary-sector non-publicly traded businesses with strong growth potential.

Prior to its creation, the seed capital investment tax credit was a popular program but had more requirements to meet, Dockter said. Investors began to flock to the angel fund following its creation likely due to its more lax requirements.

During the course of the interim study of incentives, lawmakers have increasingly begun to question the effectiveness and the return on investment to North Dakota through angel funds. The issue of investments being made in out-of-state companies that may not be providing a return for North Dakota has also been a concern.

We have learned quite a bit, Dockter said. This has really opened the eyes of the legislators. We need to make sure we have a rate of return.

Dockter said a firm decision on which bill to move forward wont be made today but he expects one to be made at a future meeting. He plans for the committee to hold two or three more meetings this interim.

Im hoping we get some really good testimony from angel fund investors, Sen. Dwight Cook, R-Mandan, said.

Cook said hell start to make up his mind on which option for the angel fund he favors during the discussion with angel fund investors, adding that the seed capital investment tax credit already has many of the more stringent requirements in place.

We have to start being smarter with our money. Were in a competitive society, Cook said.

Also today, the committee will review four other draft bills, all of which would do away with little or never-used tax incentives that have been on the books for decades. Decisions on at least some of them may be made at todays meeting. Those under consideration for elimination include a microbusiness income tax credit as well as a wage and salary tax credit.
CNBC & CNBC Digital Present Coverage with Special Correspondent Scott Cohn Revealing the 2016 America's Top 5 States for Business Throughout CNBC's Business Day Programming and Online on Tuesday, July 12th

Special Reports on the Changing Competitive Landscape over the Past Decade in Celebration of the Study's 10th Year on Wednesday, July 13th

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., June 28, 2016 America's most authoritative study of state business climates  the CNBC America's Top States for Business  is back for a tenth consecutive year. CNBC began scoring all 50 states for competitiveness in 2007 at the height of the housing bubble. America's Top States for Business reports continued through boom and bust and beyond. This year's tenth annual study  in the midst of a heated campaign not just for president but also in a dozen gubernatorial races  could be the most important of all.

Starting Monday, July 11th through Wednesday, July 13th, CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, will broadcast the results of its tenth annual study of America's Top States for Business. The network will build a special event around this CNBC exclusive study with the complete rankings being revealed, along with the winning state, on Tuesday, July 12th, throughout the network's Business Day programming. The complete ranking for all 50 states will be available on CNBC.com and include an in-depth look at each of their respective rankings.

CNBC Special Correspondent Scott Cohn will broadcast live from the top-ranked state starting Monday, and will count down CNBC's 2016 list of America's Top States for Business Tuesday, beginning on "Squawk Box" (6AM-9AM ET) with the top state being revealed on "Closing Bell" (3PM-5PM ET).

CNBC Digital will reveal, in conjunction with on-air, the complete list of America's Top States for Business rankings on Tuesday, July 12th. In addition, topstates.cnbc.com will feature a wealth of coverage about each state including economic snapshots (employment, budget, tax and housing data) and exclusive stories and slideshows delving into the various top-ranking categories including Technology & Innovation, Quality of Life and Workforce.

On Wednesday, July 13th, in celebration of the study's tenth year, CNBC will also have special reports on the changing competitive landscape over the past decade. In addition to revealing America's Top States for Business for 2016, the network will also reveal which states have performed best over the course of the CNBC exclusive study. It takes a special state to be Top State in any given year, but only a select few can do it year after year after year.

Follow us on Twitter @CNBC and take part in the social conversation using hashtag #TopStates.

To determine the rankings for America's Top States for Business, each state was scoredusing publicly available dataon more than 60 different measures of competitiveness. We developed our methodology with input from a broad and diverse array of business and policy experts, official government sources, the CNBC Global CFO Council and the states themselves. A full list of sources that were used for this year's data can be found here. States received points based on their rankings in each metric, which were then separated into ten broad categories. The categories are weighted based on how frequently it is used as a selling point in state economic development marketing materials. That way, we grade the states on the criteria they use to sell themselves.

So what makes a state great for business? The ten broad categories and the maximum possible points for each:

Workforce ( 400 Points )  Many states point with great pride to the quality and availability of their workers, as well as government-sponsored programs to train them. We rate states based on the education level of their workforce, the numbers of available employees, and the states' demonstrated abilities to retain college-educated workers. We measure workforce productivity based on each state's economic output per job. We look at the relative success of each state's worker training programs in placing their participants in jobs. We also consider union membership and the states' right-to-work laws. While organized labor contends that a union workforce is a quality workforce, that argument, more often than not, does not resonate with business.

Cost of Doing Business ( 350 Points )  Cost is a major consideration when a company chooses where to do business. We look at the competitiveness of each state's tax climate, as well as state-sponsored incentives that can lower the cost of doing business. Utility costs can add up to a huge expense for business, and they vary widely by state. We also consider the cost of wages, as well as rental costs for office and industrial space (rental cost information furnished by CoStar Group).

Infrastructure ( 350 Points )  Access to transportation in all its modes is a key to getting your products to market and your people on the move. We measure the vitality of each state's transportation system by the value of goods shipped by air, waterways, roads and rail. We look at the availability of air travel in each state, the quality of the roads and bridges, and the time it takes to commute to work. We also consider the condition of each state's drinking water and wastewater systems.

Economy ( 340 Points )  A solid economy is good for business. So is a diverse economy, with access to the biggest players in a variety of industries. We look at economic growth, job creation, consumer spending, and the health of the residential real estate market. We measure each state's fiscal health by looking at its credit ratings and outlook, as well as its overall budget picture. Because of their own economic impact as well as the ripple effect, we consider the number of major corporations headquartered in each state.

Quality of Life ( 325 Points )  The best places to do business are also the best places to live. We score the states on livability including several factors, such as the crime rate, inclusiveness including anti-discrimination protections, the quality of health care, the level of health insurance coverage and the overall health of the population. We evaluate local attractions, parks and recreation, as well as environmental quality.

Technology & Innovation ( 250 Points )  Succeeding in the new economyor any economytakes innovation. The top states for business prize innovation, nurture new ideas, and have the infrastructure to support them. We evaluate the states on their support for innovation, the number of patents issued to their residents, and the record of high tech business formation. We also consider federal health, science and agricultural research grants to the states.

Education ( 200 Points )  Education and business go hand in hand. Not only do companies want to draw from an educated pool of workers, they also want to offer their employees a great place to raise a family. Higher education institutions offer companies a source to recruit new talent, as well as a partner in research and development. We consider the number of higher education institutions in each state as well as long-term funding trends for higher education. We look at several measures of K-12 education including test scores, class size and spending. We also look digital and life-long learning opportunities in each state.

Business Friendliness ( 160 Points )  Regulation and litigation are the bane of business. Sure, some of each is inevitable. But we grade the states on the freedom their legal and regulatory frameworks provide for business.

Cost of Living ( 75 Points )  The cost of living helps drive the cost of doing business. From housing to food and energy, wages go further when the cost of living is low.

Access to Capital ( 50 Points )  Companies go where the money is, and capital flows to some states more than others. We look at venture capital investments by state, as well as small business lending on a relative basis.

About CNBC:

With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, CNBC World and CNBC HD, CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to approximately 386 million homes worldwide, including more than 100 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries.

CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms including: CNBC.com; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides live access to CNBC programming, exclusive video content and global market data and analysis; a suite of CNBC mobile products including the CNBC Apps for iOS, Android and Windows devices; and additional products such as the CNBC App for the Apple Watch and Apple TV.

Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBCUniversal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc.

For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit http://www.NBCUniversal.com.
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Del Seymour grew up on the streets of San Francisco, where he spent 12 years of his life homeless yet determined to do something about it. He was tired of "all talk and no action," so Seymour took it upon himself to create a solution to a problem that plagued his youth. Seymour's idea of a solution to homelessness isn't centered around finding immediate housing or a source of food, contradicting the "housing first" mentality that many people in the city believe is the answer, he said. Seymour's solution is employment. "A lot of people want to stick it on mental illness, which is a part of it," Seymour said in an interview. "They stick it on social issues, and that's a part of it. They stick it on criminal background, and that's a part of it. But the real deal is employment. ... You cannot go and rent a decent house without employment. You have to pay for that house." Last September Seymour formed Code Tenderloin, an incubator that takes participants through either a job readiness program, where students build a resume and prepare for job interviews, or a coding bootcamp, where students are taught front-end web development. Since its launch, Code Tenderloin has sent more than 60 people back to work by way of partnerships with tech companies such as Zendesk, Airbnb, Dolby and Uber. Instead of viewing the tech companies as the "bad guys," Seymour said he was thinking of ways to work with them  ways to form relationships that would benefit everyone in San Francisco  as they flocked to the city around 2012. The gap between the rich and the poor intensified quickly as the offices of Spotify, Square, Twitter and Yammer flooded San Francisco's Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods, some of the city's poorest and most underdeveloped areas at the time. Seymour saw an opportunity to bridge the divide and has worked ever since to bring the two parties together.



Code Tenderloins mission: Crossing Market

A poster at Code Tenderloins headquarters in San Francisco Lauren Thomas | CNBC

"Most people don't know the tech campuses  only 70 percent of the jobs in the tech campuses are tech-centered," Seymour explained. "The rest are front office, facilities maintenance, culinary, security, customer service, shipping and receiving. ... So we're trying to fill some of those jobs immediately when they open up to us." Code Tenderloin calls its mission "Crossing Market," after Market Street, since most of the tech community is situated south of Market St., and most of San Francisco's unemployed men and women reside north of Market. "We went viral in the Tenderloin," Neil Shah, a lead volunteer at Code Tenderloin, said in an interview. "Our job is to now scale this to other neighborhoods, to go into the hardest-hit areas and be a disruptor." Today, Code Tenderloin has placed its students at companies such as Dolby, Lending Club , WeWork, Google , Macy's , Target and Dropbox. Retention is also important for Seymour, who said "my job begins the day they start theirs." More than 85 percent of Code Tenderloin participants have kept their jobs, Seymour said, and he continues to visit graduates after they leave his program, ensuring they have the resources they need to go to work every day. Without more programs like Code Tenderloin, Seymour doesn't see the city being able to reduce homelessness in the future. "I have not seen an aggressive enough plan to deal with [homelessness]," Seymour said. "There are too many silos. People are working in silos and not coming together on the issues."



Homelessness: A growing problem in San Francisco

In January 2015, 564,708 people across the U.S. were homeless on any given night, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD. Homelessness declined nationwide by 2 percent between 2014 and 2015, and by 11 percent since 2007, the report said. California accounted for 21 percent of the nation's homeless population in 2015, or 115,738 people. Between 2014 and 2015, 17 states experienced increases in homelessness. New York had the largest increase, followed by California, HUD said. In conjunction with the nationwide count, the city of San Francisco conducts its own Homeless Count & Survey. The number of homeless in San Francisco's streets and shelters in 2015 was 6,686, an increase of 250 individuals compared with 2013, the latest report found. A 10-year analysis found a 7 percent increase in the number of people living without a home in San Francisco between 2005 and 2015. Based on 2015 data, 57 percent of the unsheltered homeless population was located in District 6, which includes the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods, and 25 percent of respondents reported job loss as the primary cause of their homelessness. Many individuals surveyed by the city said that employment and income were not enough to meet their basic needs. The unemployment rate for homeless respondents in San Francisco was 89 percent, up from 62 percent in 2013. Of those who were unemployed, the primary barriers to employment included a lack of a permanent address, clothing and showers. Twenty percent of respondents in San Francisco cited a dependence on drug or alcohol as an obstacle, the report said. Seymour said he's studied the stats, and he sees unemployment as the biggest the problem, so that's where he's targeting his efforts today  toward creating jobs.



Twitter, other tech companies show support

Code Tenderloins coding classes Source: Code Tenderloin
Hillary Clinton may still be deciding on a running mate, but CNBC readers voted narrowly in favor of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to join Clinton on the Democratic ticket in 2016.

Warren trailed Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine earlier in the day but pulled ahead Wednesday afternoon. The two spent most of Wednesday running neck-and-neck with Kaine holding a slim lead in the CNBC reader poll as they emerged from a field of 12 to turn the contest into a two-person race.

Warren received the most positive votes of any candidate, but trailed Kaine earlier in the day due to the high number of negative votes weighing her down.



Warren has proven to be extremely popular among the party's progressive wing and a potent critic of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, and she'd likely help the presumptive Democratic nominee make inroads with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' voters. Clinton and Warren campaigned together in Ohio on Monday, fueling speculation that Warren could be Clinton's vice presidential pick.

However, Warren could be detrimental to Clinton's efforts to raise money and gain favor with voters in the financial sector.

Kaine, on the other hand, is relatively moderate, and offers Clinton help in winning his swing state of Virginia. He is also a former governor of that state and would be a relatively safe pick.

Trailing Kaine and Warren were New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, and Sanders, who traded places throughout voting.

The rest of the list was rounded out by Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Labor Secretary Tom Perez and California Rep. Xavier Becerra.

Last month, CNBC readers chose former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as their top choice for Trump's Vice President. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich finished second and third in the poll.

Vote for who you think should be Hillary Clinton's running mate:


China's strength has manifested via a 2.7 percent rally in the Shanghai composite and multiple positive days for the Baltic Freight index. This suggested to Cramer that China is importing raw goods. The rally in oil and rebound in copper also indicated that China has increased demand.

As the world's No. 2 largest economy, China matters a heck of a lot more to Cramer than the U.K., which is the fifth largest economy.

"We've got a crouching tiger, hidden by Brexit scenario  strength that has been ignored as investors focused on all of the Brexit related capital destruction," the " Mad Money " host said.

With the world distracted by a Brexit this week, Jim Cramer has watched China suddenly gain amazing strength.

A man closes his umbrella designed like the British flag as he enters a taxi with his companion during a downpour in Hong Kong on June 28, 2016.

There were two additional reports on Tuesday that translated to Chinese strength for Cramer. The results from both Carnival and Nike were evidence of acceleration in Chinese consumer spending.

Both companies have brands that typically cost more than most Chinese people could have afforded five years ago. Sale were spurred by a migration out of the country into the city, Cramer explained, where consumers could make more money. This was also the catalyst for Apple sales in China.

On the company's conference call, Carnival CEO Arnold Donald confirmed China was the strongest region for the company.

Nike also confirmed that its leading growth maker was China, as it experienced a 44 percent increase in Chinese direct-to-customer sales.

"There is no denying that the global financial system is in worse shape ever since the U.K.'s Brexit vote  but the same apparently cannot be said for China," Cramer said.

The data all added up to China being up, not down for Cramer, as he speculated that this could be the reason why the blow of a Brexit seems to have softened.
A standard housekeeping procedure garnered keen interest Tuesday as the Bismarck City Commission reassigned the budget and public safety portfolios, vacated by former City Commissioner Parrell Grossman who was defeated June 14, just weeks before the 2017 budget process begins.

Commissioner Steve Marquardt, who voted against several downtown incentive programs, including extending the Renaissance Zone and a new tax increment finance district to back the FiveSouth project, was assigned the budget and finance portfolios in Grossman's place. "First I need to visit with department heads as far as finance and get together with them and see what we come up with," he said of his goals after the meeting.

"We'll have to see what those numbers look like." Marquardt also will be involved with the pension review board, Vision Fund, public works/utility operations, water and sewer, intergovernmental relations and the Burleigh County Planning and Zoning Commission.

Commissioner Josh Askvig will assume Grossman's former public safety portfolios of police and fire. "I'm super excited to take on the public safety role. There has been heightened interest in it. We'll take a look at some of the things going on in town and try to get a better handle on them. They have been doing a fantastic job, but we'll see what additional supports we can give. It's a new challenge for me and something different."

He said he supports Police Chief Dan Donlin's efforts to adjust shifts and looks forward to the training facility for firefighters being completed. Askvig will also hold the airport, Bismarck Event Center, Renaissance Zone Authority and Strategic Plan Liaison portfolios.

Newly elected Shawn Oban will oversee the engineering portfolio, formerly Askvigs duties as well as the combined communications portfolio. "A lot of it will be learning, meeting with all of the groups and talking about what I can do to help. I was really happy with being on the mayor's committee of employment of people with disabilities."

Both Oban and Marquardt were sworn into office by City Attorney Charlie Whitman. Askvig, now the most senior city commissioner, was named vice chairman of the commission.

As the board transitioned into a new commission, Grossman received several words of praise for his two four-year terms that he served on the commission. Grossman did not attend Tuesday's meeting.

Mayor Mike Seminary thanked Grossman for serving 16 years -- eight on the Bismarck School Board and eight on the city commission, describing him as a "remarkable public servant," particularly for his dedication as budget and finance director.

Marquardt said Grossman represented the city well. "I appreciated what I learned from him for the two years I served with him on the school board and worked with him two years on the city commission. Parrell you will be missed. Hopefully, I can do the portfolio as well as you did. It's a big shoe to fill, but we'll get through it."
Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) shares rose 2 percent on Wednesday after the company officially pulled out of a $33 billion merger deal with the Williams Companies .

ETE terminated the deal after a Delaware Court of Chancery ruled in favor of the company saying it had the right to end the agreement.

The Williams Companies appealed the Court's decision on Monday stating that ETE "breached the Merger Agreement by failing to cooperate and use necessary efforts to satisfy the conditions to closing."



In the case of ETE, it originally wanted to do the deal at that price and was willing to do so because it needed to secure future cash flows to plug holes in what will be cash flows that are coming down as contracts roll off in 2017, 2018 and 2019.



Williams stockholders approved the merger transaction with ETE following the ruling.



ETE shares have fallen 54 percent in the past 12 months.

Energy Transfer Equity 12-month performance
European stocks soared by Wednesday's close as global markets realized that any change to the status quo in the European Union (EU) after the Brexit vote is unlikely to change in the short-term. The pan-European STOXX 600 jumped 3.1 percent at Europe's close, with all sectors except autos closing sharply higher. London's FTSE index jumped 3.6 percent by the close, erasing all of the losses it made after the Brexit vote. Meanwhile, the domestically-focused FTSE 250 popped 3.2 percent provisionally, while the French CAC jumped 2.6 percent and the German DAX trailed behind, up 1.75 percent.

Cameron speaks

European markets



Europe continued its market rally from Tuesday's sessionafter at two-day sell-offdespite uncertainty over the U.K. and European Union's future relationship, after a majority of the British public voted last Thursday to leave the bloc. On Wednesday, outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron addressed parliament saying that the U.K. economy faced turbulent times ahead, following its decision to leave the EU. Cameron went on to add that the new prime minister could begin negotiations with the bloc about its exit before the "Article 50" process is triggered. This comes after he met with his European counterparts in Brussels on Tuesday, whereby pressure was applied to the U.K. to trigger Article 50 which sets in motion the process of withdrawing from the EU.

Sterling recovers

Despite the higher European markets, one analyst said that "mediocre global growth" and the European political crisis mean uncertainty will continue, and it's unlikely stocks will continue their upward trajectory.

"We have seen obviously a major sell-off on the back of this uncertainty and we haven't resolved anything. That's very important to understand and we have seen this in the past, solving issues like this in the European content takes a long time, and that means the uncertainty will be with us for a long periods of time, and in that period I cannot really see European equity markets or the U.K. advance in any major form," Sonja Laud, investment director of the Global Multi Asset Group at Baring Asset Management, told CNBC Wednesday. Sterling recovered some of its losses seen in recent sessions, trading up against the dollar, at $1.3516 at Europe's close. Overseas, a sharp rise in oil prices helped boost U.S. stocks, while in Asia, markets closed higher, as Brexit concerns eased.

Banks edge higher

The banking sectorwhich has been beaten up in recent monthsfinished 2.5 percent up, despite some negative news for the sector. Moody's changed its outlook on 12 U.K.-based banks Tuesday, after the country's referendum on European Union membership. Eight of the 12 banks, including Barclays , HSBC , Santander UK and TSB Bank , were downgraded to negative from stable. Shares of Barclays however jumped 4.9 percent, while HSBC also closed higher. Italian banks were in focus after Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he was talking to European institutions about how to support the country's lenders, and reports on Tuesday suggested that government money could be injected into the firms. However, on Wednesday, an EU official told Reuters that while the European Commission was ready to support Italy's banking sector, it had not given its backing to Rome's plan to prop up the country's banks, in light of the Brexit turmoil. During the session, Italian banks pared some of their gains, including Mediobanca, closing up 3.5 percent, and Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit closing off their session highs.

Other stocks to watch

In individual stock news, Prudential shares popped 5.5 percent after Barclays said the firm was the one true large-cap growth stock in the European insurance industry. And Amec Foster Wheeler shares rose 6.7 percent after the company announced a 75 million five-year contract with the U.K. Ministry of Defence to supply independent nuclear propulsion safety and technical advice for the Royal Navy's submarine flotilla. Shares of France's Alstom jumped over 6 percent after Goldman Sachs raised its outlook on the stock to "buy" from "neutral". Meanwhile Weir Group was one of Europe's best performer, up 9 percent, after Goldman Sachs and UBS raised their target price on the stock. A whole host of luxury stocks however finished lower, including Swatch Group , Salvatore Ferragamo , and Luxottica , after Goldman Sachs cut its price target on each of the stocks.

Travel stocks in focus
A woman walks past the IBM logo Sean Gallup | Getty Images

IBM Watson Health has unveiled a new partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs to dramatically improve access to cutting-edge cancer care for U.S. veterans. The goal is to help doctors deliver so-called precision medicine to 10,000 American veterans diagnosed with the disease over the next two years. Veterans suffer disproportionately high cancer diagnosis and mortality rates. As such, the VA delivers treatment to 3.5 percent of U.S. cancer patients  the largest group of cancer patients in the nation. "I think that is huge," said Steve Harvey, Watson Health vice president. "It is using technology to help those that really need it the most."



IBM's cloud-based Watson for Genomics technology combines data from research papers, clinical trials and other sources with patient data to recommend individualized treatment plans. "The technology is useful for identifying the particular drug that is useful for a specific patient, based on the changes in genes that we find in that patient's' tumor sample," said Dr. Michael Kelley, VA national program director for oncology. "It is individualized, personalized treatment decisions that are informed using the Watson technology." The application of artificial intelligence to vast oncology data sets delivers drug recommendations and treatment options in minutes, often eliminating the need for lengthy board discussions requiring panels of experts to convene on individual cases. Using this technology, the VA's physicians are expected to be able to treat almost 30 times more patients than could previously be served.



Precision medicine, also known as targeted therapy, has been around for over a decade but the treatment decisions have become so complex that no individual, or group of individuals, is able to synthesize all the data needed to make the best decisions for patients, said Kelley. With Watson's help, doctors are able to greatly improve how well patients respond to treatment and how long they live.

"We need these tools to help us," he said. Here is how VA doctors will use this new technology: 1) DNA sequencing is done to create a file which includes the areas that are mutated 2) Doctors upload the file to Watson's data crunching software in the cloud 3) Watson delivers the results to an interactive dashboard a few minutes later.


Homelessness is a big issue in San Francisco right now. As the tech community grows, people are moving from everywhere into the city, and that's driving up rents. People with good jobs, who make in the neighborhood of $150K in salary, tell me that it's getting so bad that they are spending 50 percent of their income on rent.

The backbone of the city's workforce  teachers, nonprofit folks, police, firefighters  can no longer afford to live in San Francisco at all, and even Oakland's getting too pricey. Meanwhile, according to San Francisco's last homeless count, there were about 6,700 people living on the streets, in tents, and city shelters. These numbers are up about 4 percent since 2013, and growing. And because San Francisco is geographically a relatively small city, the situation is particularly bad. In fact, there are more homeless people per square mile here than in any other city in the country except New York, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.







It's an overwhelming issue. Lots of good people want to do something about this to turn things around. And there are plenty of ideas out there. More emergency shelters with beds and nurses and counselors for those with medical and psychological issues. More mobile restrooms. Even giving people homes or the funding and support to find one on their own, which has seen some real success.



Can we invent our way out of the problem? I don't think so. In tech, we forget that fancy gadgets and apps don't put food on the table, or put a roof over that table. Me, I'm an old-school nerd, and 20 years ago was focused on new, shiny tech. However, I made a commitment to use tech to help people with everyday needs. More specifically, I started craigslist, where people helped each other find a job or a place to live. People helping each other out was a way to make a real impact on lives, and I still see that up close and personal every day in my customer service work.

Realizing that most folks need to keep their cash, maybe relying on low-speed internet access, that's why the site is mostly free, and very fast. As a means of civic engagement, it's been very effective and successful.



However, that leaves out people who need help in the here-and-now, maybe lacking the funds or connections to get a place to live affordably, or a job. For over a decade, people have approached me, mostly in San Francisco, who remind me that the downside of a successful tech industry includes housing scarcity and hunger.



The best thing I can do, from my perspective, is to find and support grassroots organizations that are getting the job done, now, and also for the longer-term. We're talking about getting behind groups in SF that excel at helping people out, while also acting as a support system and providing resources for people to help themselves. We can make a conscious effort to help these groups help the people who need it in SF most by donating money and volunteering our time.



There are plenty out there that are really effective. For instance St. Anthony's, which does a great job feeding and housing people. And the Tenderloin Technology Lab, which helps people put together resumes and conduct job searches. And the Women's Building, Salvation Army Harbor Light, the San Francisco Marin Food Bank, and Swords to Plowshares, which provides housing to veterans. I try to help all of them with funds, and fundraising, and general outreach, much of which is via social media.



Like Kevin Spacey says, if you're lucky enough to do well, send the elevator back down.

Commentary by Craig Newmark, the founder of craigslist and craigconnects, his online initiative to promote philanthropy and civic engagement. Follow him on Twitter @craignewmark.



For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
Global investor Mark Mobius discussed Brexit's impact on emerging markets, China and Brazil on CNBC on Wednesday. "The biggest beneficiaries [of Brexit] will be first of all China because more and more trade will go in that direction," Mobius said. "Any of the consumer plays in Brazil look very very cheap." Mobius is the executive chairman of the Templeton Emerging Markets Group. To watch the broadcast interview in its entirety, you must be a CNBC PRO subscriber .

Global investor Mark Mobius discussed Brexit's impact on emerging markets, China and Brazil on CNBC on Wednesday.

"The biggest beneficiaries [of Brexit] will be first of all China because more and more trade will go in that direction," Mobius said. "Any of the consumer plays in Brazil look very very cheap." Mobius is the executive chairman of the Templeton Emerging Markets Group. To watch the broadcast interview in its entirety, you must be a CNBC PRO subscriber.
After the shock result of last week's referendum which saw the U.K. opt to leave the European Union, Prime Minister David Cameron announced he would step down in the fall, paving the way for a new leader to negotiate Britain's potential European exit.

In a rather complicated process, the Conservatives will open nominations for the position Wednesday. If there is a big field of candidates - the final two will be chosen by lawmakers and the leader will be picked in a ballot of party members from around the country and declared in early September.



CNBC takes a look at the runners and riders, with odds supplied by betting firm William Hill:


The U.K.-based engineering firm RollsRoyce says you can expect to see a fleet of 'drone ships' on the high seas by 2020. A white paper published by the engineering firm and partners is detailing how remote and autonomous shipping will soon become reality.



Rolls Royce

Speaking at an Autonomous Ship Symposium in Amsterdam, Rolls-Royce Vice President of Marine Innovation, Oskar Levander said the technology is already in place. "This is happening. It's not if, it's when. The technologies needed to make remote and autonomous ships a reality exist. We will see a remote controlled ship in commercial use by the end of the decade." Levander said testing is underway in Finland and the group has already created a simulated autonomous ship control system. The 6.6 million euro ($7.3 million) project is due to run until 2017 and has drawn on smartphones, aviation drones and driverless cars to help develop unmanned ships. Highlighted advantages of an autonomous ship include the weight, space and cost saving of removing accommodation quarters. It's suggested the extra space created would be given up to allow increase cargo load.



Ships would be controlled from an onshore control room. Rolls Royce

The white paper, titled 'Remote & Autonomous Ships  the next step', says the next step is to focus on safety, maritime insurance compliance and technology development in order to achieve 'rapid commercialization'. The paper describes how a ship could be guided out of a busy port area by an on-shore operator in a control room using a joystick. On-board sensors would inform the controller of any potential risks or obstacles. In open sea conditions Rolls-Royce suggests the ship could run on fully autonomous settings, guided only by satellite connection and on-board sensors. However within the report safety issues are highlighted such as how an emergency situation could be resolved at sea if this ship had reduced or absolutely no crew. Boredom for land-sited control room operators is also cited as a concern and reaction times are seen as a potential issue if satellite connection delays occur.



An option to have two people on board is under consideration Rolls Royce
While many Western nations have well-developed addressing systems so we can get parcels or letters delivered to our door, there are large swathes of the world that don't. This is a problem for logistics companies in many emerging markets which have to rely on descriptions of roads in order to deliver packages.

Imagine typing three random words into your satnav rather than a zip code and street name. Start-up what3words is hoping to get you to do just that as it looks to overhaul the world's addressing system.

Global logistics giant Aramex, which operates in 60 countries, invested $2.94 million as part of the round, with existing investors Intel Capital, Force Over Mass Capital and Mustard Seed also participating in the round.

Instead of road names and zip codes, What3Words has divided the earth into 57 million three-by-three meter squares and assigned each square a three word identifier such as "dog. cat. stick".

In this way, Sheldrick said, any delivery person can locate an exact point on the world's map even when a country does not have an adequate addressing system.

Aramex will integrate the what3words technology so that customers checking out on an e-commerce site can use their three-word address and get the parcel delivered to their door.

"In a lot of the Middle East, there are no address systems in place. People say that their office is the second office near the lamppost, even in affluent countries, infrastructure is a problem. If a driver is working out where this address is, it will take far too long to make that delivery. This is a huge pain point," Chris Sheldrick, chief executive of what3words, told CNBC by phone.

The company does not create its own navigation software, instead it integrates its technology with other systems such as Navmi, a mapping tool. What3words is on a push to internationalize and scale. Earlier this year it signed a deal with Mongolia's state-owned postal delivery service Mongol Post for what3words to be the national addressing standard.

But the challenge for the company is to get people to adopt the three-word addresses and use them instead of traditional ways they have communicated, which will mean effective marketing.

Sheldrick said the company is using the funding round to launch what3words in other languages as well as creating a voice product integrated with the car or smartwatch. This would allow people to just speak their address into their car navigation system.
Crowds demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament during a protest aimed at showing London's solidarity with the European Union following the recent EU referendum, in central London, Britain June 28, 2016.

Trade between the United Kingdom and the European Union is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and businesses across Europe want it to continue uninterrupted. The sticking point: The British have made the Europeans really, really mad.

In the wake of the U.K.'s vote last week to divorce itself from the world's largest trading bloc, a debate is flaring about what commerce between the U.K. and EU should look like. On the one hand, well-entrenched business interests want it to continue with as little disruption as possible. But leaders in Europe are strongly motivated to punish the U.K. for the Brexit.

"The politics are going to be really messy," said Scott Miller, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, "and there's going to be an urge to punish."

The U.K. is the EU's second-biggest economy, and the fifth largest economy on earth. Its exports to the EU were worth 226.7 billion pounds ($305.7 billion) in 2014, and its imports from the bloc came in at 288.3 billion pounds ($388.7 billion) that year, according to data from the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics.

Big European companies don't want to lose the U.K. as a market, but their worries run deeper than that. EU trade rules make it possible for firms that make complex products  automakers, aircraft manufacturers, chemical companies and the like  to source components from multiple countries at once. They don't want to see that system begin to fall apart, because it would force them to redesign very complicated supply networks.



The German Association of the Automotive Industry, the trade group that represents Volkswagen , BMW , Audi and others, was already voicing its worries on the Friday following the Brexit vote.

Declaring that it would be in "nobody's interest to make the international flow of goods more expensive," the association said in a statement that German car companies operate roughly 100 facilities in the U.K., a number that has risen 30 percent since 2010. The U.K. automobile market reached an all-time record volume of 2.6 million new cars in 2015, and half of them were German.

The U.K. wants to hold onto those trade relationships, too. Its government does not, however, want people from EU member states to have the right to work and live in the U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, meeting with 27 EU heads of state Tuesday night, suggested that the EU should be flexible on the freedom of movement rule if it wants to maintain trade with the U.K..
The "Fast Money" traders spotted opportunities in some stocks after the markets sold off following last week's U.K. vote to leave the European Union. They said that there were some companies that were down several percent, despite the fact that the referendum was unlikely to have a material impact on their businesses in the long term.

Trader Pete Najarian explained he was "looking for specific names" that he thought were getting sold off for the wrong reasons. He said he ended up buying Cisco and TJX .

Trader Karen Finerman said that she used a similar strategy and saw that Facebook was being pressured and followed the trend of the market, which she said was "ridiculous."

Trader Tim Seymour said that there was a "great opportunity for relative value" in the energy sector, especially in names like Valero Energy . He said that the refiners have performed well while the rest of the sector got hammered.

Trader Dan Nathan said he took a bullish position on Target on Tuesday. He said, it's a stock that "trades much cheaper to the market and to its peer, Wal-Mart ." Nathan added that not only is it a dividend yielding stock, but it's also a defensive play since 100 percent of its sales come from the U.S.
Officials representing charities say granting North Dakotas five American Indian tribes exclusive rights to host online gambling could effectively end charitable gambling in the state. The tribes want Gov. Doug Burgum to approve the idea under tribal-state agreements known as compacts. The current compacts expire at the end of this year and only Burgum can approve them. The tribes argue that their casinos have been hurt by the explosion of the charities Las Vegas-style pull tab machines. Burgum heard arguments from the charities and tribes on Friday. He says the terms of the compacts are still being negotiated and should be completed next month.
According to Federal Election Commission records, Trump donated $1,000 to Parker's campaign to unseat Sessions at a 2002 fundraiser held in Trump Tower on New York's Fifth Avenue.

But Trump hasn't always been such a close ally of Sessions: Federal filings show the New York billionaire supported Sessions' opponent in Sessions' 2002 reelection campaign, Alabama State Auditor Susan Parker. Parker is a Democrat and was the first woman in Alabama to be nominated for a senate seat.

Donald Trump touts Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as a possible vice presidential running mate, and Sessions was the first sitting U.S. senator to endorse Trump for the presidency.

Among the Democrats who were expected to attend that event? Hillary Clinton, then a New York senator.

Democratic luminaries named on the invitation to the event  a copy of which was obtained by CNBC  included Sen. Charles Schumer and current Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. Also listed on the invitation were political figures who later faced ethical troubles: Sen. Jon Corzine, who led financial firm MF Global into bankruptcy and was forced to admit in a congressional hearing that he did not know where more than a billion dollars of the firm's money went; and Sen. John Edwards, who was indicted on felony campaign finance charges after his own presidential campaign.

The fundraiser to benefit "Friends of Susan Parker" was held on Friday, October 4, 2002  and due to the contentious debate then roiling the Senate over the Iraq War resolution, many of the DC-based politicians listed on the invitation did not attend. But one person who was in the room at the time recalls that Melania Trump  who was not yet married to Donald  approached event organizers to hand over Trump's check. "No one knew who Melania was at that time," the person recalls. "She came in and she was so beautiful, everyone was in shock. You don't see many like her in Alabama."

Spokespeople for Trump and Sessions did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump has said he was long an avid contributor to political campaigns. Over several years, he even wrote campaign checks to Clinton, who he will likely face in November.
Trump has been trying to appeal to what he calls the shrinking middle class by criticizing globalization. He wants to scrap the Trans-Pacific Partnership involving 12 Pacific Rim countries. That's the same position held by Sanders, who said he would do all he can to ensure Trump loses but has not dropped out of the Democratic race. Trump also wants to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was pushed under Bill Clinton's administration.

U.S. presidential contender Donald Trump has a new strategy: He's labeling Democrat Hillary Clinton a Republican. In a speech Tuesday, the real-estate mogul who won the Republican primaries blasted trade deals with Mexico and Japan and accused the former secretary of state of supporting pacts that hurt American workers. That puts Clinton more in line with the GOP. It's an attempt to woo voters on the other side of the fence who still back Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The strategy could resonate with voters in key swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. Those regions have been hurt more by the 5 million manufacturing jobs that have been lost in the United States over the last 15 years. Unemployment rates are higher than the national figure of 4.7 percent, with Ohio at 5.1 percent and Pennsylvania at 5.5 percent. Trump gave his speech in the rust belt of Pennsylvania, citing the loss of steel jobs in nearby Pittsburgh to China.

Clinton has been more supportive of trade. Besides backing NAFTA, she also supported TPP until Sanders made it an issue in the Democratic primaries. Other liberals like Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren reject the deal, which is supported by most Republican lawmakers and President Barack Obama. Trump threw Sanders's words back at Clinton, quoting him as saying she has voted "for virtually every trade agreement that has cost the workers of this country millions of jobs."

Trump's trade stance puts him at odds with a central tenet of the Republican establishment. Indeed, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce  a pro-business organization that almost always backs the GOP  publicly rebuked his position on Tuesday. That follows moves by prominent Republicans like former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to publicly back Clinton. The pressure by Sanders has already forced Clinton to backtrack on her support of TPP. Trump is simply carrying the baton in Democratic fashion.

Commentary by Gina Chon, contributor, Reuters BreakingViews.



For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
The two vaccines protect the body in different ways. One involves injecting specialized DNA sequences into the body, while the other works by injecting an inactive form of the Zika virus. However, both triggered the same response in mice: they caused the rodents to produce antibodies that target specific proteins in the virus. This gave the mice complete protection when exposed to a Brazilian strain and a Puerto Rican strain of Zika. The mechanism is similar to how some working vaccines combat other types of flavivirus  the family of mosquito-borne viruses that includes Zika.

"These two vaccine candidates both provided complete protection against Zika virus challenge in mice," said study author Dan Barouch, a virologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School. "To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of Zika virus vaccine protection in an animal model. The protection was striking."

Scientists have found two potential vaccine candidates that may help combat the Zika virus. A single shot of each vaccine was shown to completely protect mice against two strains of the mosquito-borne disease, according to a new paper published in the journal Nature. These shots still need to be tested on humans, but the researchers are hopeful that either could eventually prove to be a safe and effective Zika vaccine.

A banner on Zika virus outbreak is pictured on the opening of the World Health Assembly, with some 3,000 delegates from its 194 member states on May 23, 2016 in Geneva.

The news is promising as researchers have been scrambling to find a way to combat the ongoing outbreak of Zika in Central and South America. The problem has grown so bad that the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency in the region on February 1st. Brazil, which has been hit hardest by the epidemic, reported more than 90,000 likely Zika cases between February and April of this year, according to Reuters.The country is thought to have had more than 1.5 million cases since the onset of the outbreak in April 2015, according to WHO.



Meanwhile, the epidemic has also coincided with a spike in microcephaly cases  a condition in which babies are born with abnormally small heads. Growing research has shown that expectant mothers who are infected with the Zika virus early on in pregnancy are at high risk of giving birth to babies with these brain defects. And in April, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded that Zika does indeed cause microcephaly. For most adults, Zika only causes a fever and other minor symptoms; however, the CDC is also investigating a link between the virus and Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological auto-immune disease that can cause paralysis and death in people of all ages.

The vaccine candidates described in today's study are not the only Zika vaccines being developed. This month, the US Food and Drug Administration gave the go ahead for an experimental Zika vaccine, manufactured by Inovio Pharmaceuticals, to be tested on humans. The company claimed the vaccine, called GLS-5700, produced "robust antibody and T cell responses" in animals, though Inovio did not specify if the vaccine provided complete Zika protection like these vaccines did.

ut as promising as these vaccine candidates are, there are still a number of unknowns. Scientists will need to see how the vaccines work on larger animals, before moving on to human clinical trials. But given how effective the shots were in mice, Barouch is optimistic. "Clinical trials should proceed as quickly as possible," he said.


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The U.K.'s housing market is seen taking a knock in the wake of the Brexit vote, but the forecast depreciation in sterling may spur investment in luxury and commercial real estate, say realtors. S&P Global Ratings forecast on Monday that U.K. house prices would fall by a mid-to-high single-digit percentage over the next year, with a decline in consumer confidence, economic output and possibly growth in new households hitting the market. However, foreign investors play a big role in the top-end of London's expensive property market and a decline in the British pound may prove a draw, real estate agency Knight Frank said. "We believe over the longer-term, London will still provide value to many investors and, indeed, the devaluation of the pound provides some opportunities for those overseas investors," Nicholas Holt, head of research, Asia-Pacific, at Knight Frank, told CNBC on Sunday.





Peter Zelei | E+ | Getty Images

Sterling tumbled against the U.S. dollar and other currencies on Friday through Monday, after the surprise victory of the "leave" vote in the U.K.'s referendum to leave the European Union (EU).

"We have had buyers coming to us over the weekend, saying, we want to pile in now; we think that currency devaluation is good news for us," Miles Gibson, head of U.K. research at commercial realtor CBRE, told CNBC on Tuesday. The pound has since pared some losses, but analysts and investors say the rout may have further to run. For instance, Mike Amey, head of sterling portfolio management at PIMCO, told CNBC on Tuesday sterling could decline to $1.20 or $1.25, below the 31-year low of $1.315 reached on Monday. Meanwhile, Julius Baer economist, David Meier, saw the euro rising to 0.93 versus sterling over a three-month horizon, with parity possible within the next 12 months.

"House prices will likely fall in some areas as market confidence falls, but could rise in others due to the massive discount now available to foreign buyers," Andrew Teacher, managing director of Blackstock Consulting, which works with construction companies, said in a note on Friday.

Rob Stothard | Getty Images

FTSE 100 -listed real estate firms were among stocks hardest hit on Friday, with stocks like Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon knocked by as much as 27 percent.

Teacher warned Brexit might damage the perception of London property as a "safe-haven" investment, driving international investors' "golden bricks" elsewhere. On Wednesday, the CEO of BLP Insurance, which specializes in property, highlighted that the decline in sterling versus euro would make construction materials from Europe more expensive. "Coupled with the uncertainties of access to free movement of labor and the fact that London may not prove as attractive a location to financial services businesses should we lose our passporting rights, there is a considerable challenge to the continued growth of residential and commercial construction sectors in the U.K.," Kim Vernau said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Terror attacks are spreading in part because the enemies of the Islamic State group are playing defense rather than offense, the former director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center said Wednesday.

Michael Leiter, now head of integration at defense company Leidos, made the assessment one day after a terror attack at Istanbul Ataturk Airport killed 41 people. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the Islamic State is a prime suspect, though the Syria-based militant group has not claimed responsibility for the assault.

The strike in Turkey follows deadly ISIS-orchestrated attacks in Paris and Brussels, as well as mass shootings in San Bernardino, California, and Orlando, Florida, carried out by individuals inspired by the Islamic State.

"There is no silver bullet on this front. There are no walls to build. There is no instant change that we will do on any front. This is a multifaceted problem, and like most hard problems, it requires a lot of focused effort on a lot of different fronts," Leiter told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

He laid out four of those fronts Wednesday.

First, the United States must take a more aggressive stance in Iraq and Syria, where the Islamic State has established a self-proclaimed caliphate.

In April, President Barack Obama announced he would send more special forces troops to Syria and additional soldiers to Iraq. Still, Leiter said the U.S. has been slow in accelerating its involvement.



Second, NATO must remain "incredibly strong" in order to protect Turkey's borders and screen people effectively, even as the European Union faces challenges.

Third, the U.S. must continue to protect real targets, particularly by expanding security perimeters at airports.

Lastly, America must be deeply engaged with the Muslim world and its own Muslim population. Law enforcement should continue to form partnerships with American Muslims, as it has since the Sept. 11 attacks, Leiter said.
Promises by the architects of the U.K. campaign to exit the European Union (EU) to speedily re-negotiate trade deals appear set to disappoint, according to analysts.

Observers point to a confluence of factors that are likely to prolong what expect to be testy negotiations and heighten uncertainty following the shock vote.

For one, the U.K.'s relationship and communication with the EU has deteriorated this week.

"The relationship is not that good," Fariborz Moshirian, director of the Institute of Global Finance at UNSW Business School, told CNBC's "The Rundown."

On Tuesday, Nigel Farage, leader of the U.K. Independence Party, a member of the European Parliament since 1999 and a main architect in the campaign to leave the EU, was greeted with "boos" as he stood to speak at a special meeting of European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday.

At the meeting, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker addressed Farage head-on.

"You were fighting for the exit, the British people voted in favor of the exit. Why are you here?" Juncker said.

That came as the U.K. remains in political chaos after Prime Minister David Cameron submitted his resignation in the wake of the Brexit vote.

There was a risk that the will on both sides to meet in the middle would be lacking, noted John Woods, chief investment officer for Asia Pacific for Credit Suisse Private Banking.

The worst-case scenario was that the U.K. could be completely locked out of the EU, he said on Tuesday, but added that it wouldn't be in the EU's best interest to shut out its largest trading partner.

Political animosity aside, there were other signs that the U.K. won't be able to negotiate a solid trade deal, not just with the EU, but with other trading partners.

"The onerous exercise of trying to renegotiate a bilateral trade agreement with every single major trading partner clearly is quite a large exercise, not least because, to be fair, there are not many experienced trade negotiators in the U.K.," Woods said. "It's Brussels that have been doing that for the last 40 years. So there's a learning curve."

That learning curve would be steep: Once the U.K. invokes Article 50 to begin the process of extricating itself from the EU, it only has two years to negotiate a deal.

At least one leave pundit, Roger Bootle, executive chairman of Capital Economics and a member of the eight-strong Economists for Brexit, had speculated prior to the referendum that the U.K. could begin the talks, wait until a deal was close and then invoke its right to exit, stretching the period of negotiations to longer than two years, possibly into a decade.
In this photo, the AN/TPQ-53 radar is mounted on a five-ton truck. Lockheed Martin workers in Salina; Owego; Moorestown, New Jersey; and Clearwater, Florida perform work on the Q-53 radars. Photo credit: Lockheed Martin Corp.

The Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) AN/TPQ-53 counterfire radar recently demonstrated its ability to identify and track unmanned aerial systems and transmit the data to a command-and-control node

The Bethesda, Marylandbased defense contractor views the radars performance as a key capability as the battle space rapidly becomes more crowded with emerging air threats.

Lockheed Martin workers in Salina; Owego; Moorestown, New Jersey; and Clearwater, Florida perform work on the Q-53 radars, the company said in a news release issued Monday.

The demonstration showed that the Q-53 radar can provide soldiers in combat real-time awareness of air threats, Rick Herodes, director of Lockheed Martins Q-53 program, said. The inherent flexibility of the Q-53s active electronically scanned array (AESA) hardware architecture allows us to constantly evolve the Q-53s software to deal with emerging threats. This demonstration provided further verification that the Q-53 enables the war fighter to stay ahead of changing global threats.

The demonstration was part of the U.S. Armys maneuver and fires integration experiment (MFIX) at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

The annual MFIX exercise brings together military, industry and academia to assess options for future war fighting needs in a live environment, the company said.

In the demonstration, the Q-53 radar identified and tracked several unmanned-aerial systems and provided data to Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD C2).

Simultaneously, the Q-53 radar performed its original mission by providing accurate targeting data on rockets, artillery and mortars, providing a multimission radar (MMR) capability.

Lockheed Martin is manufacturing multiple Q-53 radars per month, the firm said.

Since Lockheed won the development contract for the Q-53 radar in 2007, the company has won five additional contracts for a total of more than 100 radars.

It has delivered more than 60 systems to the U.S. Army. The company expects the Army to award a full-rate production contract this year, bringing the system total to more than 170.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
When a wire service story a decade ago mistakenly indicated ALL 1943 cents were worth tens of thousands of dollars, coin dealers nationwide were inundated with people hoping their 1943 cents had immense value. One dealer had to ask,Lady, how can they be rare? Youve got a whole roll! when a woman brought in a roll of the circulated cents and demanded $30,000 per coin.

Guest Commentary from July 11, 2016 issue of Coin World:

Thank you to Coin World Managing Editor William T. Gibbs for taking the time to work with mainstream general and personal finance news media to answer their questions for upcoming stories.

After working in newsrooms for 30 years, I know editors and reporters are sometimes under great time restraints to meet deadlines, but it is often crucially important that outside news media get accurate, expert information. I sincerely appreciate when Bill and other numismatic experts take the time to help nonhobby media.

As noted in his editorial in the June 27, 2016, edition of Coin World, coverage of coins in the general media can be beneficial and harmful to the hobby, with an example of the harmful being inaccurate reporting about the value of common, zinc-coated 1943 steel cents.

Connect with Coin World:

I was personally involved, along with prominent hobby experts Ed Reiter and Scott Travers, in trying to correct a wire service story a decade ago that mistakenly indicated ALL 1943 cents were worth tens of thousands of dollars. The reporter who wrote the story refused to issue a correction, and the wire services national desk did nothing for days after I contacted an editor there.

In the meantime, coin dealers nationwide were being inundated with people claiming to have valuable 1943 cents. One dealer told me a woman brought in a roll of circulated steel cents and screamed that the dealer was trying to cheat her by not meeting her demand for $30,000 per coin. In frustration, the dealer told her: Lady, how can they be rare? Youve got a whole roll!

Ed, Scott and I finally got a corrected story from the wire service after I did an end run by contacting a friend who was then editor of the trade publication Editor & Publisher. Within a day after an E&P reporter called, the wire service issued an updated story.

However, it was only issued regionally, while the original incorrect story was distributed nationwide.

Thank you, Bill, and all other numismatic writers and editors for your efforts to prevent these kinds of erroneous stories from occurring.

Donn Pearlman is a retired newsman, formerly with CBS Radio News in Chicago. Now from Las Vegas, he has been a publicist for the numismatic community for years.
Willem IV's death was marked by a 41-millimeter silver medal by Johan Georg Holtzhey, presenting a bust in cuirass and the robes and George of the Garter under a crown of stars and title Hereditary Ruler of all the Free Netherlands.

Willem IV was declared hereditary Stadholder in May 1747, holding the title until his death on Oct. 22, 1751.

The Research Desk column from the July 11, 2016, Weekly issue of Coin World:

Many Americans may recall a few names from the heroic era of the Dutch War for Independence: William the Silent, Spanish King Philip II and the Duke of Alba. Religious and worldly disputes and involvement in the wars of more powerful neighbors filled long years of struggle. Dutch medals can clarify this tangled age.

The United Provinces of the Netherlands, the Dutch Republic, evolved under an elected Stadholder into a de facto monarchy under branches of the Houses of Orange and Nassau. Attempts were made to abolish the position of Stadholder, including the Eternal Edict of 1667, but the post was always recreated to provide strong leadership against foreign attack and internal discord that sapped Dutch strength.

Ultimately the Dutch grew close to Britain despite colonial war losses that saw New Netherland become New York. A British alliance was needed to repel French attacks that intensified under Sun King Louis XVI and his Dutch agents who styled themselves the Patriot Party.

When Willem Carel Friso of Orange-Nassau became Willem IV to succeed the childless Willem III, the stadholdership was gradually restored, province by province, as the wars continued.

In recognition of the alliance, Britains King George II named the young Stadholder the 549th Knight of the Garter. He then appeared on his medals wearing the George insignia of this great Order around his neck. Willem IV was declared hereditary Stadholder in May 1747, holding the title until his death on Oct. 22, 1751.

His death was marked by a 41-millimeter silver medal by Johan Georg Holtzhey, presenting a bust in cuirass and the robes and George of the Garter under a crown of stars and title Hereditary Ruler of all the Free Netherlands.

This likeness was not flattering, showing an exceptionally short neck that portrait painters had generally tried to minimize. The reverse bears a cherub supporting two shields atop a baroque tomb under a crowned mantle. The tomb, inscribed GEN.5 V.24, refers to the death of Enoch in the Bible book of Genesis, and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. A separate inscription around translates to May he live in Eternity among God and all Good Men.

Under his successor Willem V, the French revolution finally flowed over the Netherlands, leading to the countrys union with Napoleons French Empire in 1810.
June 28, 2016

 NASA's past and future came together in Utah on Tuesday (June 28) for the test fire of the world's largest human-rated solid rocket motor.



The space agency and its contractor, Orbital ATK, ignited the booster  which was assembled in part out of casings that had previously launched on 40 space shuttle missions  in a ground test supporting the development of NASA's next heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS).



The test, which fired the horizontally-mounted rocket for a full two minutes at the Orbital ATK facilities in Promontory, Utah, was the second and last demonstration before two of the solid rocket motors are used to launch the SLS's first uncrewed test flight in late 2018.



"What an absolutely amazing day!" said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations. "It's not just a test fire, it is really a qualification for a sequence that essentially says this design is ready to go fly and go do the mission for which it is designed to do."





Before the 11:05 a.m. EDT (1505 GMT) ignition, the rocket booster was chilled to 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 degrees Celsius), to the colder end of propellant's accepted range. When ignited, the temperature inside the 154-foot-long (47 meter) motor reached nearly 6,000 degrees F (3,315 C).



During the firing, the booster produced 3.6 million pounds of thrust, which is more than 14 Boeing 747-400 jumbo jets generate at full takeoff power. The flame exited the booster at three times the speed of sound, or Mach 3, and instantly converted the desert sand in its path to glass.



The Qualification Motor-2 (QM-2) test provided NASA with data on 82 design objectives that will support certification of the booster for flight. Engineers will evaluate the results, as captured by more than 530 instrumentation channels on the vehicle.



"The immense roar from the booster was really a delight," said Charlie Precourt, general manager and vice president of Orbital ATK's propulsion systems division. "They asked me what would signal that [the QM-2 test] was a complete success and I said, 'So long as you see flames for the two minutes and six seconds... we've done the vast majority of the work,' because that is what we need when we power crew on out beyond low Earth orbit."







The flight and use history for Orbital ATK's QM-2 rocket booster.

Prior to going to work for Orbital ATK, Precourt personally experienced the power of the company's boosters, riding atop four four-segment pairs as a NASA astronaut. His first launch, on the space shuttle Columbia's STS-55 mission in 1993, included the same capture feature cylinder as was in place as part of the middle segment used on Tuesday.



The same cylinder also flew on Precourt's fourth and final shuttle mission, STS-91, lifting off with orbiter Discovery in 1998. The flight marked the last time that a NASA shuttle visited Russia's Mir space station, setting the stage for the International Space Station.



The full heritage of the QM-2 motor includes components that launched all five orbiters in NASA's now-retired shuttle fleet, on missions as early as STS-51F in July 1985 and as late as STS-134, the penultimate flight of the space shuttle program, in May 2011.



Not that NASA and Orbital ATK simply reused the shuttle- era hardware without modifications.



"In simple terms, the outside of the car looks the same, but when you lift up the hood of the vehicle, almost everything else has changed," said Alex Priskos, manager of NASA's SLS Boosters Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.



In addition to using a fifth segment to produce the needed extra energy to launch the larger SLS, the rocket boosters also feature a different grain configuration, a new state-of- the-art digital avionics system and a strengthened forward skirt.



"For performance and cost reasons, and how we are going to evolve this program, we don't have a recovery system on these boosters," added Priskos, referring to the drogue and main parachutes that enabled the shuttle-era boosters to be recovered and reused. "We have plenty of assets to do what we need to do."







During a Space Launch System (SLS) flight, two boosters like QM- 2 seen here, will provide more than 75 percent of the thrust needed to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Orbital ATK's inventory of space shuttle-era hardware will support eight SLS launches. By the time those 16 motors fly, NASA expects to replace the five segment solid rockets with upgraded boosters.



The QM-2 booster also tested a new joint sealant on its nozzle. The carbon fiber rope used to hold the two parts of the nozzle together for Tuesday's test will be compared to the previous performance of an o-ring tested as part of the first qualification motor (QM-1) in March 2015. The carbon fiber rope and o-ring are potential alternatives to the RTV caulk used during the shuttle program.



To date, Orbital ATK has casted three of the rocket booster segments that will launch the first SLS flight, Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), in the fall of 2018. The flight will loft an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a trajectory out beyond the moon and back.



The two solid rocket boosters will operate in parallel with four RS-25 main engines  also shuttle legacy hardware  for the first two minutes of the SLS's ascent, providing more than 75 percent of the thrust needed for the rocket to escape the Earth's gravity. The boosters and main engines will produce 15 percent more thrust than the Apollo Saturn V, enabling SLS to fly more than three times the payload of the space shuttle.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving two North Dakota men and a Minnesotan makes sense. The court decided last week that refusing a blood test during a drunken-driving arrest cannot be a crime, but refusing a breath test can. The decision struck down a North Dakota law criminalizing refusal of a blood test.

In their decision, justices said blood tests are more invasive than breath tests. A blood test involves extracting part of a person's body, and the sample contains other biological information. The information from the sample could be used for other purposes unrelated to the drunken driving case. The court, however, held that a breath test is part of a normal search of a person during an arrest.

The ruling affects North Dakota, Minnesota and 11 other states with laws criminalizing refusal of a blood test. Law enforcement can still impose civil penalties, such as license suspensions, for refusing a blood test. The rulings actual impact on law enforcement appears minimal, especially since steps were taken in advance to deal with the possible decision.

"We knew this was coming," state court administrator Sally Holewa told reporter Caroline Grueskin. "We weren't sure the extent."

The state is developing a plan where each judicial district will have an on-call judge. If theres a need for a search warrant to get a blood test, the judge can use email and e-signatures to sign warrants electronically. The North Dakota Supreme Court will receive the plan soon for review.

Bismarck Police Chief Dan Donlin noted that his department already avoids using blood tests. They have been used as a last resort and thats a wise policy.

Blood tests are invasive  a part of your body is being removed. Some people are reluctant to have blood tests and other procedures done for any reason. We might not agree with them, but they are entitled to their beliefs.

The ruling clarifies the issue and its unlikely well see many requests for blood tests. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem pointed out that breath tests will likely become the standard in the state.

Thats disappointing to Tom Murtha IV, a Dickinson attorney representing one of the plaintiffs in the case. Murtha believes breath tests are more intrusive than the court stated in the ruling. So, as often is the case, no one got everything they wanted in the decision. The public did have their rights clarified and thats a big victory.
Its just commonsense  if someone is too dangerous to board an airplane, theyre too dangerous to buy a gun. But right now, our laws are permitting that to happen. Thats a serious problem.

The shooting in Orlando, Fla., was a terrible tragedy for our country, for LGBT communities, and for the families and loved ones of those who didnt come home that night. The American people want responsible action to make sure our communities are safe and free from terrorism.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins from Maine and I, as well as other Republican and Democratic senators, came up with a compromise bipartisan solution that strikes a needed balance to accomplish that goal. It would both protect the Second Amendment  a critical right in our constitution and for North Dakotans  and help keep guns out of the hands of potential terrorists.

Collins and I have worked together on a variety of bipartisan bills over the past several years. I greatly appreciate that she reached out to me to join in this effort and Im proud to be part of it.

Our compromise legislation would prevent those on the governments No-Fly list or the so-called selectee list, for people who are subject to heightened screening before boarding a plane, from purchasing firearms. There are just 2,700 American citizens or green card holders on these lists  making up just 2.5 percent of the lists.

The legislation would also require the government to immediately notify the U.S. Attorney General and federal, state, and local law enforcement if someone who appeared on either of the lists in the previous five years attempts to purchase a firearm. According to news reports, Omar Mateen, the shooter in Orlando, was on the selectee list for 10 months.

Our bipartisan legislation addresses concerns about placing restrictions on the rights of Americans incorrectly placed on the No Fly and selectee lists. The legislation gives those identified on the lists due process rights, as guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, by allowing citizens or green card holders on the lists who are blocked from purchasing firearms to appeal and get an answer from the federal government within 14 days. If they are successful, they receive attorneys fees. To make millions of American families safer, we developed a mechanism that both prohibits potential terrorists from purchasing weapons and secures the rights of a very small group of Americans improperly placed on the governments lists.

In light of the very real concerns of North Dakotans about how the FBI compiles the No Fly and selectee lists, I met with officials at the U.S. Department of Justice to find out more about how people get put on these lists in the first place. I learned that the federal government uses much stronger information than it did 10 years ago to determine who is on the lists, which prevents far fewer incorrect names from appearing on them today.

Recently, the U.S. Senate voted on a series of proposals that failed to strike this needed balance between public safety and Second Amendment rights, and which didnt have any chance of actually passing. North Dakotans are tired of Congress lack of leadership, and so am I. Keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists deserves more than partisan bills  it deserves honest action.

We had an initial vote on our compromise proposal, where it received the support from a majority of U.S. senators  a good first step  and well keep building bipartisan support for it. Our legislation also was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by group of Republican and Democratic members and received the strong backing from a group of retired top military and intelligence leaders.

But we need Congress to actually act and pass our legislation.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, who helped introduce our compromise proposal, explained it this way: We can fix the problem with the innocent person. Once the gun is bought, you dont fix that.
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Eli Drinkwitz revealed the condition that's sidelined Chance Luper

Drinkwtz said that Luper is currently on blood thinners and that he will be reevaluated in three months. He will miss the rest of the regular season.
MOORHEAD -- A fire that heavily damaged a south Moorhead home Tuesday afternoon, June 28, is being treated as suspicious after officials found the burned remains of a human body inside, police said.

First responders did not immediately find any victims inside the residence 1019 11 Ave. S. after the fire was reported around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, but a subsequent search of debris uncovered a body, which has yet to be identified, Moorhead Police Lt. Tory Jacobson said in a written statement released Wednesday morning, June 29.

Police and fire officials said both the death and the fire are being treated as suspicious and the scene is being processed by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension as well as the Minnesota State Fire Marshals office.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiners Office is working to positively identify the remains, Jacobson said.

Assistant Moorhead Fire Chief Joe Gaughan said officials arent sure if anyone was living in the home at the time of the fire.

Moorhead Fire Department Capt. Benton Hicks said Tuesday that the fire charred the single-story, wood-paneled home, burning so hot that a neighboring homes shingles started to buckle, though flames were contained to the one home, which Hicks said will likely be a total loss.

Check back later for an update on this developing story.
Great strides have been made in promoting the Red Rivers recreational potential in the past two decades.

Amenities ranging from new boat ramps to canoe and kayak rentals now are available, but its a safe bet a large segment of people who live along the river still dont realize or fully appreciate the resource that flows through their communities.

From a fishing perspective, at least, theres plenty going on when it comes to the Red River. In Manitoba, researchers in a University of Nebraska-Lincoln study recently implanted radio-transmitters in more than 90 catfish near Winnipeg and Lockport, Man., and cats tagged in Manitoba continue to show up hundreds of miles away.

Stateside, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recently completed reports on fish population and creel surveys along the river, the Scheels Boundary Battle catfishing tournament wraps up today, and the Cats Incredible Catfish Tournament is ready to roll the last weekend in July.

Heres a quick rundown on whats happening -- or on the horizon -- with fish and fishing along the muddy river as June hits the homestretch.

Catfish on the move

A tagging study of catfish on the Manitoba portion of the Red River launched in 2012 continues to shed light on how far these fish can move, and the tracking of more than 90 cats implanted with radio-transmitters this spring will provide even better information.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is coordinating the Manitoba study in partnership with the Manitoba Fisheries Branch. Mark Pegg, a fish ecologist and instructor at UNL, is faculty advisor for the tagging and radio-transmitter studies.

Pegg, who recently returned to Nebraska from Manitoba, helped implant transmitters in 91 catfish -- 67 below the St. Andrews Lock and Dam in Lockport and 24 upstream from the dam in Winnipeg.

We finished up the surgeries last week so are now starting to track the fish, Pegg said Tuesday. The fish are definitely moving but no large-scale movements yet.

More than 14,000 catfish have been tagged as part of the tagging study, with more than 700 returns reported from anglers, Pegg said.

The Manitoba Fish and Wildlife Enhancement Fund has provided funding support for the study, Pegg said, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada is providing some of the equipment used in the study.

Hey, I know that fish!

Grand Forks catfish guide Brad Durick might just have the edge when it comes to cool tag returns. To date, 34 catfish from the Manitoba study have found their way into Duricks boat.

In one case, the same fish even showed up twice.

It all started May 14, when Harold Randall of Grand Forks caught an 18-pound channel cat with a tag while fishing with Durick near Drayton, N.D. The fish had been tagged in August 2015 below the dam in Lockport.

The same catfish showed up in Duricks boat again June 11, when Richard Swanson of Galesburg, Ill, caught the fish in Grand Forks -- 94 river miles from Drayton and about 270 miles from where the catfish was tagged.

Info from the tag confirmed the cat was the same fish.

I think its exciting to see how the fish and the river evolve and repopulate, Durick said. It also tells a great story that catch and release of trophy fish really does work.

Catfish tournaments

Four catfish tournaments are either underway or on the horizon in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks.

The Scheels Boundary Battle catfish tournament started Saturday and wraps up today, with final weigh-in about 3 p.m. at the LaFave Park boat landing in East Grand Forks. About 30 teams were signed up to fish the tourney.

Looking ahead, the Drayton Rod and Reel Rally Catfish Tournament is set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 16 on the Red near Drayton, the Cats Incredible Catfish Tournament is July 30-31 on the Red in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, and four evenings in the Wednesday night Red River Valley Catfish League remain -- this week, July 6, July 13 and July 20 -- before the year-end tournament Aug. 13 in Grand Forks.

For info on the Drayton tournament, call (701) 454-FISH; Cats Incredible info is available online at catsincredibletournament.com; and info on the catfish league can be found at rrvcatfish.com.
June 27, 2016 - New Memphis Postmaster Reginald Capers, shown here at the Main Post Office on B.B. King, started his career as a mail carrier in New York City. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)



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By Wayne Risher of The Commercial Appeal

New Memphis postmaster Reginald Capers waxes philosophical when he ponders the Postal Service's future in an age of ever-faster delivery.

E-commerce and packages are where the growth is, but Capers sees no letup on the "sacred portion" of U.S. mail: a solitary letter carrier going door to door.

Capers spoke with The Commercial Appeal on the eve of his installation Wednesday as the 39th postmaster of Memphis. He talked about being chief postal officer in FedEx's hometown, the size and scope of the Memphis post office and his views on the future of mail.

"We'll use more technology as millennials are engaged in our process," Capers said. "It will be more about packages and more about the speed of delivery and the speed of access. We will have a smaller footprint when it comes to people but we'll have more technology and we'll be faster than ever."

"I still think that we are fabric of the United States," particularly in times of crisis, he said. "Obviously we protect our employees, but we want to be out first, get back in the community, because when we deliver mail, when the eagle rolls, when the flag goes up at the post office, there's always a sense of recovery, and I think it's important for the economy. It sounds kind of corny, but I do believe that."

Capers, 53, is a 31-year USPS veteran and third-generation postal worker. He was postmaster of Mobile, Alabama before coming to Memphis last year as officer in charge. He succeeds Jennifer T. Vo, who became Philadelphia postmaster.

Capers takes over in Memphis at a time when USPS is on a bit of a roll, having posted a profit last year for the first time since 2011. However, it still faces serious challenges and political headwinds regarding pensions and other benefits.

Capers is in charge of 860 employees who cover 540 routes and move about 30,000 packages and 100 million letters a day, not including peak season volumes. The Memphis post office covers postal stations in Memphis and the Germantown Post Office.

Capers said he expects to continue to manage the operation to handle more business with fewer employees, although he believes the physical footprint is stable, with downsizing not on the table in the foreseeable future.

An exception is an airport post office on Louis Carruthers Drive that is closing later this year because airport officials have other plans for the property.

Capers also said he also hopes to open a new retail unit in the Hacks Cross-Winchester area, to fill a gap between Hickory Hill and Collierville.

The Peabody Place retail unit, which was on a hit list for closing several years ago, has stabilized, he said.

"It holds its own on revenue. It's in a prime location. It's pivotal to the development of Downtown Memphis. It's a beautiful facility. We've invested the money in it. So there's no intention on my part or organizationally to lose it or give it up. As Downtown Memphis continues to revitalize and grow, we like to keep a presence in the middle of that."

The Crosstown station's automated kiosk is a low-performer, he said, "but we've got this multi-million dollar complex (Crosstown Concourse) right across the street that's going in. Trying to hold tight, because it's going to happen."

Capers said his admiration for Memphis-based FedEx grew after he saw the sheer size of the company's hub at Memphis International Airport. He also heard from the workers who deliver FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith's mail.

"I quickly learned when I went to my White Station office on Park Avenue, one of my carriers was telling me, 'Well, you know, Fred Smith lives here.' A lot of times carriers will tell you that if they have major executives who live on their routes, congressional representatives, mayors, governors. They take a lot of pride in that," Capers said.

FedEx is both major supplier and major customer for the postal service. FedEx has a longterm contract to provide air freight service for the post office, and that mail keeps workers busy at the FedEx hub during daytime hours. The post office provides last-mile delivery for FedEx SmartPost and UPS ParcelSelect products, which have claimed growing shares of the e-commerce delivery market.

One of the big changes that happened during Capers' three years in Mobile was the advent of Sunday postal deliveries for AmazonPrime in late 2014.

"That was a major organizational change for us," Capers said. "We had to look at staffing. We had to look at our hiring. We had to hire more non-career employees, not only for carrier operations but distribution. The fortunate thing is we added more technology in our offices. It was a major undertaking," he said.

Packages and Priority Mail have been identified as growth sectors for the post office.

"During our peak season months, which starts around October and peaks obviously through the holidays, Christmas, our packages this year probably tripled," Capers said. "We're slowly shifting our business model into the package delivery product as mail pieces -- letters and flats -- continue to decline, especially the First-Class product. We shift that business model to something that's more profitable."

Capers left a job as a steel construction inspector at age 22 to give the postal service a two-year trial run. His mother and father were postal workers in New York, and his grandfather was a letter carrier in tiny Mt. Carmel, South Carolina. His mother urged him to take the postal service entrance test.

Like many older post office facilities, the Memphis Post Office headquarters at 555 S. Third has an old-school open face letter board that displays names of important people.

"I never thought I'd have my name on the board," Capers said. "I told my mom, 'Hey, I made the board.' "
June 22, 2016 - Saint Francis Hospital in Bartlett. (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal)

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By Kevin McKenzie of The Commercial Appeal

A small for-profit hospital on the outskirts of Memphis has the highest rate of doctors who took payments from the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, out of more than 2,000 hospitals across the nation.

Federal disclosures show 59 out of 62 doctors at Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett  or 95 percent  received payments for speaking engagements, meals, gifts, travel, consulting or other interactions with the industry in 2014, the most recent year of information available.

While there's nothing illegal about taking such compensation, doctors with financial ties to pharmaceutical and device companies are more likely to prescribe expensive brand-name medications than those without relationships, studies have found. Even doctors who received just one meal from an industry representative prescribed a higher proportion of brand names, according to a study published this month in JAMA Internal Medicine.

What Percentage of Doctors at Your Hospital Take Drug, Device Payments?

Where a hospital is located makes a big difference in how many of its doctors take payments from drug and medical device companies. See how your state compares below.

Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; ProPublica analysis

Credit: Fan Fei and Sisi Wei / ProPublica

"I think there has absolutely been this idea or fear from the consumer perspective that part of the reason physicians prescribe certain drugs is because of payments made by pharmaceutical manufacturers," said Deborah Farringer, assistant professor of law at Belmont University College of Law.

Limiting that influence was one goal of Vanderbilt University Medical Center's revised conflict of interest policies, which in 2014 yielded the lowest share of doctors taking industry payments statewide.

Still, interaction between the industry and clinicians is necessary for innovation as well as understanding the effects of treatments, experts said. Hospital administrators should develop policies that improve care while keeping physicians unbiased in their prescribing habits, Farringer said.

Two doctors receiving payments at the 196-bed Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett said paid meals, travel or other industry compensation does not influence medical decisions.

Dr. Kashif Latif, an endocrinologist, had 235 payments in 2014 that totaled $14,132, the second highest among doctors who see patients at the hospital. Latif said drug company representatives provide food for his staff when they visit him during lunch hours, the only time he can squeeze in meetings. The lunches "don't sway anything that we do," he said.

Under the Sunshine Act, which mandates financial disclosures as part of the Affordable Care Act, pharmaceutical and medical device companies report their payments to physicians. Doctors then have a chance to dispute the records. The data is available on public websites such as Dollars for Docs, a project by the nonprofit investigative news organization ProPublica.

Another doctor at Saint Francis, Dr. John S. Gardner, a cardiologist, questioned the accuracy of the data reported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. He planned to dispute a roughly $10,000 grant listed under his name from Boston Scientific Corp.

Saint Francis administrators had no comment, other than a statement expressing support of the Sunshine Act, which opens records to public view. With the financial disclosure, they said, patients "can discuss that information directly with their physician."

In Memphis, where medical device companies generate nearly 17,000 jobs in advance manufacturing and other well-paying occupations, industry players are especially sensitive to perceived conflicts of interest.

When companies including Smith & Nephew and Medtronic Spine joined to launch the Greater Memphis Medical Device Council in 2014, the bylaws made clear that the group's discussions would address only workforce issues. They wouldn't stray into anything "that has any hint of impropriety," including marketing or pricing, said John Threadgill, president of the Bartlett Area Chamber of Commerce.

Some hospitals have restricted industry interactions  from receiving free trips and frequent flier miles to using company tchotchkes such as branded pens and notepads. Requirements are more stringent for academic medical institutions and other hospitals that take federal grant money from agencies including the National Institutes of Health.

Reporters at ProPublica recently matched doctors to Medicare hospital records, to provide a glimpse into each hospital's industry relationships. ProPublica released the analysis and an online lookup tool Wednesday. In the data, doctors are assigned to a primary hospital  either through their own designation, or by the volume of their Medicare claims associated with that hospital. Many of the doctors see patients at the facilities but are self-employed or work for a third party.

The share of doctors taking industry payments varies widely among medical centers, depending on their region and ownership type. In Tennessee, the average hospital had 71 percent of doctors accepting some form of payments, compared with a national average of 66 percent. For-profit hospitals had the highest share nationally.

In Nashville, three for-profit hospitals owned by TriStar Health, a subsidiary of Hospital Corp. of America, had the highest proportion of doctors receiving payments from the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. TriStar's Southern Hills Medical Center, Centennial Medical Center and Skyline Medical Center all topped 79 percent.

"Many of our physicians are among the top specialists in their areas, and their experience, expertise and perspective can play a significant role in the refinement of therapies and devices," said a written statement attributed to TriStar Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jeffrey Guy.

TriStar requires doctors to disclose their industry relationships, according to Guy. Then, administrators check the disclosures against the ProPublica website or other public tools.

Stricter policy

Drug or device representatives are barred from giving doctors promotional items with company logos at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said Dr. David Raiford, chief of clinical staff and senior associate dean for faculty affairs. Vanderbilt revised its conflict of interest policy in 2014, and that year it had the lowest share of doctors receiving payments in the state  and among the lowest in the nation, at 38 percent.

Raiford said Vanderbilt takes a "principled partnership" approach to the industry as it tries to manage the competing interests of manufacturers and vendors  who are trying to make money  and health care professionals who have committed to unbiased and effective patient care.

"We want to recognize their priorities are necessarily and appropriately different from our own priorities," Raiford said.

This story was reported and written by Mike Reicher and Holly Fletcher of The Tennessean and Kevin McKenzie of The Commercial Appeal.

Top 5 Tennessee hospitals These hospitals had the highest share of doctors receiving payments from drug and device industries. Includes payments for speaking, consulting, meals, travel and royalties  but not research or ownership interests.  Saint Francis Hospital, Bartlett: 95%  Indian Path Medical Center, Kingsport: 85%  University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville: 85%  Laughlin Memorial Hospital, Greeneville: 84%  Bristol Regional Medical Center, Bristol: 84% Bottom 5 Tennessee hospitals  Gateway Medical Center, Clarksville: 63%  Southern TN Regional Health System, Winchester: 63%  Harton Regional Medical Center, Tullahoma: 63%  Cumberland Medical Center, Crossville: 58%  Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville: 38% Source: ProPublica; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services  Physician Compare, Open Payments
First Tennessee Bank, based in Downtown Memphis, has named Duncan Galbreath commercial banking manager in the Memphis area. (Photo by Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal).

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By Ted Evanoff of The Commercial Appeal

First Tennessee Bank has promoted Duncan Galbreath to commercial banking manager in Memphis.

The Memphis bank announced the move Wednesday. It follows the earlier decision to name executive vice president Louis Allen Jr. overall head of the bank's Memphis region.

Allen will succeed longtime banker Bruce Hopkins on Thursday. Allen previously managed First Tennessees commercial banking business in West Tennessee and business banking in Northern Mississippi.

Galbreaths unit will focus on lending to companies with annual revenue of at least $20 million. He had been Mid-South business banking manager, a position that will now be filled by First Tennessee veteran Jake Adams.

Adams has served on numerous projects internally, the bank said in a statement released Wednesday.

First Tennessee, which reports about $27 billion in loans and assets, operates across Tennessee and in recent years has opened commercial banking offices at Charleston, South Carolina; Houston; Jacksonville, Florida; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Richmond, Virginia.
Frontier will scrap its Memphis-Atlanta flights Sept. 4, but add another Denver flight. In this Feb. 22, 2010 file photo, Frontier Airlines jetliners sit stacked up at gates along the A concourse at Denver International Airport.

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By Wayne Risher of The Commercial Appeal

Cheap airfares to Atlanta will prove shortlived as Frontier Airlines grounds the flight Sept. 4 after five months.

But the Denver-based carrier will add more frequencies to its flight from Memphis to Denver, going to seven days a week Aug. 12.

Memphis International Airport officials said Memphis is one of 12 cities losing Atlanta service by Frontier due to low passenger demand.

When Frontier started the Memphis-Atlanta flight April 14, it was hailed as important competition for a route monopolized by higher-priced Delta Air Lines. Frontier offered regular one way fares of $59, compared to a previous Delta average of $243.

We are disappointed to lose a route that added competition to one of our most popular destinations, said Scott Brockman, president and chief executive officer of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority.

Brockman added, A primary goal of our air service recruitment is to provide options for our passengers. While these three weekly flights apparently did not create enough demand, we remain steadfast in our relentless pursuit of frequent and affordable air service. We will continue to work to add destinations and frequencies.

Airport officials said the Denver flight has historically been popular, with occupancy as high as 89 percent. The flight has been offered four days a week.

Brockman said, The positive development in these service changes is the return to daily service of one of our most popular flights, Frontiers MEM-DEN service. These flights are routinely full, and this should be welcome news to westbound passengers.

Frontier will upgrade the aircraft used for Memphis-Denver in September, going from an Airbus A319 to an Airbus A320 that seats 180 passengers, airport officials said.
By Katie Fretland of The Commercial Appeal

A prosecutor is seeking the transfer of a juvenile charged in a fatal shooting outside an IHOP to adult court, records show.

Shelby County Assistant District Attorney General Christopher West filed notice Wednesday seeking the transfer of the teen, Sebastian Vaughn.

Vaughn is charged with killing 35-year-old Marlo Williams.

Officers responded at about 4:27 p.m. Monday to a call of a man down at the IHOP in the 1600 block of Sycamore View. Williams was bleeding and unresponsive in the driver's seat of his car. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Vaughn was arrested and gave a statement admitting he and the victim were meeting for a drug transaction, West wrote in court records.

"Vaughn advised during the transaction he shot Williams and prior to leaving the scene he took the money off of Williams' person," according to the prosecutor's filing.
By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal

A grand jury has indicted two suspects in the killing of an Iowa man visiting Memphis earlier this year, officials said Wednesday.

Devonta Vaughn, 18, was arrested Tuesday night; he is in the Shelby County Jail with no bond set. DeMarco McKinley, 19, is in custody in Dallas and will be extradited back to Memphis. Police believe at least two other suspects were involved, but they are not in custody yet.

Both suspects have been charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and using a firearm during a felony. The break in the case came with a CrimeStoppers tip that named Vaughn, officials said Wednesday. From there, police tied McKinley to the crime.

Lonnie Ludvigson of Iowa was driving across the country for an Internet shipping company when he stopped in Memphis on Jan. 9. Four masked men in a blue Mazda approached his truck on South Prescott Street near Highland. They robbed and shot him to death.

"You can imagine that the frustration that we felt at the beginning when we wondered if anyone would be caught for Lonnie's murder, that frustration has ended. It's a big relief to know that the police have done their job. We really appreciate the CrimeStoppers group," said Donna Ludvigson, Lonnie's mother.

Vaughn has at least one prior arrest. On Jan. 4, 2016, police were looking for suspects in a home invasion in the Whitehaven area when an officer found Vaughn, breathing hard as if he'd just been running. The officer patted Vaughn down and found a gun, but Vaughn took off running. The officer caught Vaughn almost immediately and took the gun, which had been stolen about a month earlier. Vaughn was charged with theft and unlawful possession of a gun, but was released on a $3,000 bond. Vaughn waived his preliminary hearing, meaning the case will likely be transferred to Criminal Court at some point.

Vaughn was also arrested for an incident the next day involving shots fired and an auto theft, but officials later determined he was still in jail at the time of that incident and dropped those charges.

McKinley was also arrested last Dec. 9 after police found him carrying a weapon. That case remains active.
March 24, 2016 - The Hickory Hill Funeral Home at 5270 Knight Arnold Road had no utilities or licensed personnel present according to Memphis Police Department spokesman Louis Brownlee after police were called to the location. (Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)

By Kayleigh Skinner of The Commercial Appeal

Aspiring funeral director and embalmer Ternisha Thompson was shocked to see her name and license number on nearly 100 death certificates before she even landed her first job.

According to a Shelby County Circuit Court judgment, Hickory Hill Funeral Home has been ordered to pay Thompson $100,000 for using her embalmer's license without her knowledge or consent.

"I was hurt," Thompson, 25, said. "I felt like I was being betrayed."

The Whitehaven High School graduate attended mortuary school in Nashville and returned to Memphis to work in an apprenticeship at a Memphis funeral home. It was there that another employee told her Hickory Hill was hiring, Thompson said.

According to the judgment, she applied in November 2014, and funeral home manager Dwight Crayton told her to bring a copy of her embalming license with her to the interview. She was offered the job on the spot, she said.

"I was informed I had the position, that they would keep in contact with me about the openings and all the works of the funeral home, but I never heard anything back from them," Thompson said. "I tried contacting them several times and I just kept getting the runaround."

She moved on and searched for other job opportunities until her boyfriend's father told her some unsettling news. In June 2015, he mentioned to a friend who worked in the industry that she was looking for work, but "the guy he spoke with said I was already employed with Hickory Hill as a licensed embalmer," Thompson said. Confused, Thompson had a friend call the funeral home and ask for her by name.

" ... The receptionist told her I wasn't in at the moment. I was furious," Thompson said. "My friend left her name and her number for the apparent Ternisha to call her back. Not even five minutes later the office manager called her back and told her that I no longer worked there."

The next day, June 16, 2015, she filed a complaint with the State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers in Nashville and contacted the Shelby County Health Department to request copies of any death certificates with her name and license number attached. They eventually found 91 certificates filed by Hickory Hill with her name and license number, according to the judgment. Someone from the funeral home tried to file one on the same day she reported the issue to the health department, the judgment said.

"I felt robbed of my first opportunity to see my name and license number (on a certificate)," she said. "It was all taken from me."

On September 21, 2015, Thompson filed a complaint alleging fraud, conversion, unjust enrichment and numerous violations of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act. The funeral home never responded, the judgment said.

Hickory Hill Funeral Home was found guilty of fraud and unjust enrichment on June 24. The funeral home was ordered to pay Thompson $100,000 and $33,333.33 in attorney fees, although she will need to take further legal action to sort out how and when she can collect.

"Our community should be able to trust their funeral homes that they're doing the right thing with people's loved ones," said Laura Bailey, Thompson's attorney with the Crone Law Firm. "It's a position of trust and they breached that trust."

Hickory Hill was also under investigation this spring after two former employees called police in March to say two bodies were abandoned inside the building with no working power for an extended amount of time after the funeral home shut down.

Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance spokesman Kevin Walters said no further action will be taken against the funeral home since both bodies have since been put to proper rest, but Crayton is set for a formal hearing to address allegations of falsifying death certificates.

"We require high standards of professional and ethical conduct from the industry," Walters said. "When there is negligence or maleficence in the death care industry, it creates a very emotional and distressful time for the families involved and we work daily to try prevent these instances."

Crayton's hearing is set for Aug. 9 in Nashville, where the state board will decide what actions to take and whether to permanently revoke his funeral director's license, Walters said. It was summarily suspended on March 8.

"After seeing everything that happened on the news, I'm glad that I stepped in beforehand to clear my name of anything that could have happened," Thompson said.

Attempts to reach representatives from the funeral home were unsuccessful.
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By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal

West Memphis police are investigating after a 16-year-old boy was shot to death Tuesday evening.

The incident happened a little after 5:30 p.m. in the 700 block of South Avalon.

Police said the youth was found with gunshot wounds. Police have made no arrests yet, Captain Joe Baker said.
June 29, 2016 - U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (left) shakes hands with Martin Croce, M.D., the Medical Director at the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center, after a public meeting in Memphis about preventing gun violence.

(Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)

SHARE June 29, 2016 - Martin Croce, M.D. (left) the Medical Director at the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center, speaks on a panel including Stevie Moore, right, leader of the 'Stop the Killing' movement, about gun violence during a public meeting with U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen. (Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)

By J.T. Mullen, joseph.mullen@commercialappeal.com

Standing up and voicing her concerns was emotional for Tara Thomas, but she needed to be heard.

Thomas, who lost her 22-year-old son to a fatal shooting last year after an automobile accident, made a promise to him that she would stand up against gun violence in Memphis.

She was one of the at least four family members of victims of gun violence who were given a chance to speak Wednesday at a 90-minute gun violence prevention meeting hosted by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen at the Clifford Davis-Odell Horton Federal Building.

"People are opening their eyes and people are tired of the crime," Thomas said. "Some people are just afraid to speak out or do anything because they don't think it is going to make a change. I thought that at first, but then I had to do something so my son's death wouldn't be in vain."

The meeting came just a week after House Democrats began a 26-hour sit-in demanding a vote on stricter laws for purchasing guns. Cohen hosted the meeting on the National Day of Action for gun violence prevention to get a better understanding of local views on Congress' debate and what measures might help prevent gun violence in the city.

"I think we succeeded in what we wanted to do in getting the community engaged and getting some good ideas to share with the city administration, the police and other relevant individuals," Cohen said.

Cohen's 11-person panel, made up of government officials, Memphis Police Department representatives and leaders of concerned citizens groups, discussed the causes of gun violence, including easy accessibility to weapons, the amount of illegal weapons on the city's streets and a lack of knowledge among Memphis' youth on how to use guns safely.

The meeting generated several ideas that Cohen said he would take back to Washington, including stricter laws and harsher penalties. He also praised community outreach programs led by prominent Memphis figures to keep youth off the streets.

"Part of the answer is more community policing and police activities," Cohen said. "With more police there is an opportunity, if they have illegal guns, to arrest them. Possession of illegal guns should be a felony. The Tennessee General Assembly passed that a second offense is a misdemeanor, but a second offense should be a felony."

MPD Deputy Director Mike Ryall said events like Wednesday's forum help bring needed changes.

"In my 33 years on the job, when I see situations like (this forum) I do see change," Ryall said. "Sometimes it's slow. Sometimes we have to go through big hurdles, but I think when we grab hold of groups that are willing to work together I do see change."

One concerned citizen said there are often times when people are too scared to report crimes in their communities to the police, out of fear of what could happen to them. Ryall acknowledged this fear and added public forums are necessary for the department to gain a better knowledge of citizens' concerns.

"It gets the people to give a voice and that's what we need to hear," Ryall said. "We have to hear from the community, so we can change our patterns. If we don't hear from them and if they are scared and they need to talk, if a forum like this brings that voice out it gives them a better option and an opportunity for us to change for the better."
SHARE Brian Kelsey

By David Royer, david.royer@commercialappeal.com

State Sen. Brian Kelsey won a Republican straw poll for the Eighth District House seat over the weekend.

The Germantown Republican was the top choice for 25.5 percent of respondents Saturday during state Rep. Andy Holt's HogFest & Turkey Shoot.

"My message of proven conservatism is catching on throughout West Tennessee," Kelsey said in a news release on Holt's Web page. "Voters want a Congressman they can trust to protect the 2nd Amendment, life and our West Tennessee economy, and that's what I've done in the State Senate."

Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood followed closely with 22.5 percent and Jackson businessman Brad Greer rounded out the top 3 at 16.5 percent. Other Shelby County candidates in the poll included George Flinn (9.5 percent), David Kustoff (6.25 percent) and David Maldonado (1 percent). Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, who Holt said did not make it to the event, failed to receive any votes.

Holt said 500 people attended the HogFest & Turkey Shoot fundraiser at his Dresden farm. The event, which Holt called "a fantastic celebration of the 2nd Amendment, God, and country," generated controversy when he announced shortly after the Orlando nightclub shooting that he would give away two AR-15 assault rifles at the event.

The Eighth Congressional District seat is held by Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Frog Jump) who announced he would not run for re-election. The heavily Republican district covers most of rural West Tennessee outside of Memphis, but includes the eastern suburbs of Shelby County and a slice of East Memphis within the Poplar corridor.

The primary election is Aug. 4 and the general election is Nov. 8.
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By Jennifer Pignolet of The Commercial Appeal

Two charter schools got the green light from the Shelby County School Board to open for the 2017-18 school year, but another eight have to go back to the drawing board.

The board Tuesday night approved the administration's recommendation to authorize the opening of Memphis Business Academy Elementary and Middle Schools in the Hickory Hill neighborhood. The additional schools will expand the charter network's footprint across Memphis from four schools to six.

The recommendation received support from seven board members. Board member Stephanie Love abstained and board member Shante Avant voted no.

The other eight applicants  including Crosstown High School, in which Christian Brothers University is a partner, and Southwest Early College High School, a partnership between Artesian Schools and Southwest Tennessee Community College  will have to make revisions to their applications in the next 30 days and resubmit them for approval.

The school board then has 30 days to vote, or else the applications are automatically approved. Superintendent Dorsey Hopson said the board would hold a special meeting in August to approve or deny the revised applications.

"Just because a school doesn't get approved today doesn't mean it's over," Hopson said before Tuesday's vote.

Also rejected Tuesday were applications from Gateway University Schools of Applied Sciences, Inc., The LeFlore Foundation, Green Dot Public Schools Tennessee, Legacy Leadership Academy, Kaleidoscope Schools and Tennessee Pathways in Education.

Pathways' Director Anne Thomas said she had already met with SCS administrators to review her school's application to identify its deficiencies.

"We have a really unique program so breaking it down onto paper is difficult," she said.

Thomas said they are already in the process of revising it to meet the school district's expectations.

"We feel good about it," she said.
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By Jennifer Rubin

WASHINGTON  There is plenty of evidence that the Obama administration less than two months before the November 2012 election tried to come up with a less damning explanation for the attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. Ben Rhodes was the author of a memo that sought immediately to elevate the anti-Muslim video as the official narrative. The president stuck to that cover story up through his Sept. 25 speech at the United Nations, long after we understood this was a planned attack, the outgrowth of the chaos festering in the wake of the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi.

Republicans investigating the Benghazi attack soon got lost in the weeds of the debacle, although their basic understanding was correct: It was far better for the White House politically to attribute all this to a fluke, a video, than to acknowledge that its Libya policy was a disaster, and moreover, that Islamic jihadism was spreading, not retreating.

The Benghazi Select Committee report, as the Washington Post's Josh Rogin points out, reveals little in the way of new information other than that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was planning a trip to Benghazi: "Republicans see the revelation that Clinton was planning a trip to Libya and that [Ambassador Christopher] Stevens wanted to make the Benghazi mission permanent as evidence that she was trying to cement her legacy as a major proponent of the intervention to topple Moammar Gadhafi, but ignored several signs that the facility was unsafe." Well, yes, but Republicans already made the point that Clinton wanted Libya to be part of her legacy. So?

The newest revelation actually suggests Clinton was unaware of how serious the security situation was. (Otherwise, why go?) And here is an illustration of how the Republicans have repeatedly missed the key failures at the heart of the Libyan episode:

- The president had no interest in dedicating forces and preparing an after-victory plan in Libya, where he never wanted to act. This was the exact error Democrats accused Republicans of making in Iraq.

 Clinton was at best a negligent manager, too removed from the situation in Libya and lacking a system to elevate critical issues (e.g. Ambassador Stevens' requests for help.) Her insistence on isolating herself within a close-knit cadre of advisers has its dangers, and this is a perfect illustration of the risk this management style entails.

 The entire administration was willfully indifferent to evidence contradicting their boast about putting al-Qaida on its heels. Islamist terrorism was spreading, and the lead-from-behind notion that we could retreat and retrench without endangering our security was wrong.

That would have been hard for Democrats to dispute. It's a damning indictment of the president's policies, and Clinton should have been obliged to explain whether, as she did on Syria, she recognized at the time the developing disaster on their hands and advocated a course correction in Libya and elsewhere.

In the primary, Republicans including Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as well as Donald Trump, preaching to the neo-isolationist corner, got the argument wrong again. They rewrote the history of the Libyan civil war, leaving out the critical facts that the country was already in revolt, mass killings were underway and if Gadhafi remained, there would be no end to it, leaving the country a terrorist playground. (Some even went so far as to insist falsely Gadhafi was a good ally of the West.)

The mistake was not our minimal effort to speed up Gadhafi's ouster by his own people, but in our negligence after he was gone. Paul, Cruz and Trump were essentially playing the same lead-from-behind game as Obama. We shouldn't have gone in. Everything was fine before we got involved. Things go wrong when the U.S. acts. This had once again the effect of letting Obama and Clinton off the hook for the real mistake: Lack of follow-through and unwillingness to recognize the metastasizing Islamic threat was going to require more, not less, of an American presence.

Perhaps this was all too complicated for Republicans to explain. All of this doesn't fit nicely the requirements of a made-for-talk-radio scandal. It does not put Clinton in the role of deliberately denying support for her personnel. But it is the truth, and Republicans should have stuck closer to it, making the big-picture case about the failure of the Obama administration to deal with a growing Islamic threat that manifested itself at a politically inconvenient time.

Jennifer Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for the Washington Post.
A Plan for Unity and Opportunity

David Cameron has been a great Prime Minister. One of the greatest this country has seen. It has been a huge privilege to have served in his Cabinets  as Secretary of State for Wales and, currently, as Secretary of State for Work & Pensions.

What David Cameron achieved in the wake of the biggest financial collapse in recent history was nothing short of remarkable. He fired up the engines of our economy, he rebuilt our countrys reputation across the world, and he has governed as a modern, compassionate, reforming Conservative

And in doing that, he changed the Conservative Party and he changed the country  for the better.

Today  right now  we face a set of challenges the likes of which we have never seen before. A set of problems of almost mind-boggling complexity.

And there is no play-book available that will explain all the manoeuvres and steps that need to be taken to get us through this; there is no manual waiting on anyones shelf ready to be dusted down that provide instructions on the way forward. And there is no certainly no candidate in this race who can stand up today and provide all the answersso we may as well all take an honesty check on that right from the start.

And people ask me why on earth would you want to put your name forward at this precise moment? You have age on your side, plenty of opportunities to come, plenty of time, keep your powder dry, whoever wins its an almost impossible task. Why do it?

So heres why I am standing

Because I look at those maps that flashed up on our screens last Friday morning showing the geographical split in our nation  the blue bits and the yellow bits  and I really worry about the future of our divided United Kingdom

A United Kingdom without Scotland is not the United Kingdom; a Great Britain without Scotland is not Great Britain. And then of course there is the question of Northern Ireland.

And I also think back to all the conversations I have had with people all over the country in recent years about Europe and immigration and I just cant ignore the fact that what has struck me the most is that the poorer the community or neighbourhood, the more angry people felt about these issues, and the more likely they were to vote Leave. And I think about this and I worry about our divided society and about the breakdown in trust among those who are really struggling, who look at us all in Westminster and they see nothing to believe.

And I reflect on what has gone on in our party in recent months, the insults, the accusations, the bad blood, and I really worry about how we are going to stitch this all back together. When youre the governing party, disunity has wider implications.

And when I look around for who in our Party is going to work all this out, and give us the best possible chance to mend these divisions, to provide the strongest possible platform from which to deliver on the expectations of that majority of people who voted to leave the European Union, I dont see anybody who provides a compelling answer.

And today I am standing to become the Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister because I love my country, and I love this Party (for all its quirks and faults) and I genuinely believe that what I stand for  the values I represent  and the strengths I have to bring, both politically and in terms of those inner qualities that actually really matter when it comes to overcoming challenges  these equip me for what is an incredibly difficult job, especially at this time.

For those of you who dont know much about me, I was born in Scotland, grew for a short time there but mainly in Wales; I had a fabulous education at a really good comprehensive school across the road from the council house where I lived; I had an amazing role model in a mother who overcame massive difficulties and worked incredibly hard for us; she took us to the public library every Saturday where I soaked up books and learning; I worked every week from the age of 12  starting at the local corner shop, graduating to the Tesco shop floor, and paid my way through university working on building sites in various parts of the country.

Now I count myself very blessed to have had the upbringing I did. I was brought up to believe no-one was better than me and I was no better than anyone else. I was brought up to believe that no-one is a self-made man or woman  we are all shaped and formed by our families and communities. And I was brought up to understand that nothing gets handed to you on a plate. On the rainy rugby fields of West Wales I learnt that its not a question of just waiting for the ball to pop out from the back of the scrum. If you want it, you do whats required.

And the blend of qualities I bring are exactly those that are needed if we are to get through the difficult circumstances we are in: resilience, optimism, humility, strength.

the ability to form a team, bringing together smart and talented people, and to provide good decision-making and direction for others to follow.

And I am delighted that my good friend Sajid is backing me in this leadership race. He has one of the finest minds in government; he has two decades of experience in international finance & business; he is already deeply involved in working with the international business community in managing the fall-out from last weeks vote; and he is actually the best, the very best, negotiator we have around the Cabinet table  he is sharp, fast-thinking and hes tough  exactly what we need for what lies ahead. And he will be an outstanding Chancellor of the Exchequer.

We are both optimists. But we both understand the size of what is front of us. And we both understand that what is required now is the determination to get on and deliver the negotiated exit from the European Union while demonstrating that Britain is open for business  and to make it work.

We are also joined in the team by our campaign Chairman Jeremy Wright, the Attorney General whose expertise speaks for itself.

So what is our approach to implementing the referendum result?

Firstly, lets face the facts  we had a clear result from the referendum. And the result was for the UK to leave the European Union. There can be no stepping back from that clear instruction to the Government; there can be no attempt to dilute it or side-step it. And there will be no second referendum.

The answer to the question of instability is not to create further uncertainty.

Secondly, there is a clear duty on us in government at Westminster to seek to bring together all the constituent parts of the United Kingdom to craft a coherent negotiating strategy. That will involve the creation of an advisory council comprising the First Ministers of the devolved nations, along with the Mayor of London, and a team of UK government Ministers who will form a majority on the council and who will share a total commitment to implementing the outcome of the referendum.

The negotiations itself will be led by a full-time Chief Negotiator who will have Cabinet rank and who will work with myself and the Chancellor to secure the very best possible deal for UK economic interests.

Thirdly, to build trust and clarity with the British people that we are implementing their instruction, we are explicit in the principles that will underpin our negotiation:

1. Controlling immigration. And for us this is a red line. Because one message that came through louder than any other in the vote last week is that the British people want to take control of immigration.

2. It is vital that we seek to achieve as close an economic relationship with the EU as we have now.

3. The end of the supremacy of EU law.

No-one pretends this will be anything other than very difficult. But these are the three driving principles that give us the best chance of delivering on the instruction given to us last week by the British people.

Brexit needs to do what it says on the tin.

Meanwhile there is an enormous task facing us on day one to forge and rebuild trading relationships around the world. In the past we have set ourselves export targets that stand no chance of being met and we have been slow to reform our principal structures for boosting overseas trade. The path that we are now on requires  no it demands  that we become the very best nation in Europe at doing global trade.

And, of course, discussions about free trade agreements do not need to wait until the day we leave the EU. They must start now. All across government we must embark on the enterprise of creating Britains new place in the world.

I talked earlier about the division we have seen in our party in recent months over our membership of the European Union. We know from our history just how damaging this issue can be for us, and just how deep the split can run. If this leadership contest is defined by labels like Remain or Leave then we risk never getting past this. Every day that goes by when those labels are being used by colleagues to describe each other, the greater the wound in our party.

So my message to colleagues is that there can be no Continuity Remain campaign to subvert the process that we will now undertake.

The truth is that there is a duty on all of us to now get on and work together and deliver on the referendum vote last week.

The Cabinet team that I will put together will embody that approach.

The circumstances of this leadership election demand that the focus is on the European question that faces us here today. But it is also a choice about the future of our Party. Its not a choice just for a period of months or a few years. This has to be the right choice for the next election and beyond that.

Its about continuing on a path of reform and renewal. Delivering on our commitment to rebalance the economy, to see a fairer distribution of wealth creation right across our nation.

Its about our ability to speak to, and speak for, whole sections of society who feel we have no understanding of the lives they lead.

I came into politics to see peoples lives improve. To do my bit to break down the barriers to opportunity. To give more people a better chance of reaching their full potential  yes a better job, a higher wage, the chance to own their own home, to take your family on holiday once a year, decent schools for their kids and, yes, lets end the scandal of the appalling rates of children on free school meals who cannot read or write at the age of 11.

I believe in a society where it should not matter where you were born, it shouldnt matter what kind of school you went to, what street you grew up on, or what your mum or dad did for a living  a society that provides a fairer set of opportunities for all. Thats the kind of society I believe in. And I joined the Conservative Party under John Major because thats what the Conservative Party represented for me.

And my overriding goal in this leadership race is to ensure that this vision  this One Nation vision  should become the beating heart of the next Conservative government.
MOORHEAD, Minn. -- The Dakota skipper butterfly has a sad, secretive story to tell.

Once free to flit over millions of acres of unmolested prairie, the humble Dakota skippers range has been drastically reduced over time.

It was relatively easy in the 1970s for Robert Dana to find the Dakota skipper, a pollinator that clings to scattered remnants of native prairie that provide its habitat.

It wasnt difficult to find, he said. If you could find the prairies you could find the butterfly.

Dana, an ecologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, shifted his attention from butterflies to plant species for about 20 years, ending in the mid-2000s.

As recently as 2008, when Danas studied gaze returned to the Dakota skipper, he still found large numbers of the butterflies.

But in the years since, for reasons nobody knows for certain, the Dakota skipper has become an elusive grassland insect, considered threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and endangered by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The shrinking size of its natural domain helps explain the butterflys population losses, but its not the whole story.

Is something else going on in addition to this habitat loss? said Marissa Ahlering, a prairie ecologist for The Nature Conservancy. Thats kind of the big unknown. Whats happening?

Maybe theyre gone

The skipper is listed as present in 93 scattered remnants of native prairie -- a third of the locations the skipper previously was known to inhabit. Its range extends from western Minnesota up to Manitoba and the southeast corner of Saskatchewan, then into North Dakota and South Dakota.

A naturalist with the Minnesota Zoo, which is working to help preserve the Dakota skipper, last week found 41 Dakota skippers on the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyates Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota, which is supplying eggs for a captive breeding program. One Dakota skipper also was spotted last week in McHenry County in northcentral North Dakota.

But those scattered, paltry sightings are a mere fraction of what could be logged even a decade ago, as the skippers surviving populations have dwindled.

One of the most reliable sites for finding the Dakota skipper has been a patch of native prairie less than an hours drive east of Fargo-Moorhead. Conservationists asked not to disclose the location, fearing collectors might try to bag some of the few remaining skippers.

The site is less reliable than it once was. On a recent summer morning, Dana began his second day of surveying for the Dakota skipper and had yet to find one.

Early in his vigil, a butterfly flitted by, but it was an alfalfa butterfly, which Dana dismissed as a classic weed butterfly. He added: There are plenty of moths out.

Although tipped that the Dakota skipper was in flight in some locations, upon arriving at his destination he found that a wildflower called the purple coneflower -- the Dakota skippers main source of nourishing nectar -- wasnt quite blooming.

On the patch of prairie east of the Red River Valley, Dana is eager to learn how plentiful the Dakota skipper remains.

Were waiting with baited breath to see if the population here takes the same path as everywhere else, which is to decline or disappear. Most places its disappeared, he said.

The Dakota skipper favors high ground, and can often be seen fluttering around certain plant species they use for food, especially the purple coneflower. The sun was shining -- skippers like to warm themselves in the sun -- but the mornings stiff breeze hampered efforts, since the butterflies tend to hug the ground in windy conditions.

The adult stage for a Dakota skipper is fleeting, a two-week fling during which they take flight, mate, then die.

I checked a lot of flowers, Dana said, discouragement creeping into his voice. Its a bit too early. Either that or maybe theyre gone.

Similar paths

The plight of the Dakota skipper largely parallels the decline of the native prairie that once blanketed the nations midsection. In pre-settlement Minnesota, 10 million acres of prairie provided abundant habitat for an intricate web of grassland species.

Weve reduced the prairie acreage in Minnesota by more than 99 percent, Dana said. Only a few fragments untouched by the plow remain as public or private preserves.

The vast roaming herds of buffalo and elk are long gone from the prairies, leaving naturalists to track the smaller mammals, birds and insects that remain.

Detailed record-keeping of butterflies in Minnesota began in the early 1960s, and monitoring of the Dakota skipper began in the mid-1970s, when Dana was beginning his career.

Dana and others involved in prairie butterfly conservation fear the Dakota skipper could go the way of species that have disappeared, including the Poweshiek skipper, named after a county in Iowa that in turned was named after an Indian chief.

The Poweshiek skipper, also limited to native prairie remnants, now can only be found in four populations located in lower Michigan, Wisconsin and extreme southern Manitoba, said Phil Delphy, a fish and wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It once also could be found in Iowa and Minnesota as well as southeastern North Dakota and northeastern South Dakota.

Its completely disappeared from all these sites that appeared to be in pristine condition, Delphy said.

Biologists worry it could be a portent of what awaits the Dakota skipper.

For reasons nobody has a clue about, the Dakota skipper seems to be going down a similar path, Dana said.

Pesticide theory

Although the reason for the sharp decline of the Dakota skipper remains a mystery, suspicion falls heavily on pesticides, which drift onto remnants of native prairie from surrounding cropland.

The Minnesota Zoo, for instance, has tested grasses from several native prairies and found pesticide residue.

Another culprit could be climate change. Also, the dwindling size of the scattered surviving populations of Dakota skippers leaves them vulnerable to shocks of any kind that interfere with the success of a mating season.

The Dakota skipper isnt an impressive butterfly. It lacks the bright colors and dramatic migrations of the Monarch, for example. Theyre very small, fairly cryptic-looking butterflies, Ahlering said. Theyre not exactly charismatic megafauna.

Yet the Dakota skipper, because it requires biologically diverse native prairie to survive, is an important barometer of the health of the remaining patches of native grassland.

Its kind of emblematic of high-quality prairies, Delphy said. Every time we lose a species we lose a part of that greater prairie ecosystem. Its obviously part of our national heritage.

Finds spur hope

After a bit more searching, Dana was surprised to find a single young male Dakota skipper perching on a purple coneflower head that had blossomed last year. He marveled at the butterflys ability to maintain its perch in the wind.

He kept looking for more than an hour, but didnt find another skipper. A colleague came to the same spot early this week and spotted a dozen Dakota skippers. A modest beginning to their survey, but enough to give Dana hope that the Dakota skipper is still fluttering over the last remnants of unspoiled prairie.
In an ideal world it would go without saying, but our world falls short of that standard, so Ill say it: the racist attacks widely reported in recent days are utterly disgusting. Thugs yelling abuse at people in the street, poison pen writers slipping vile notes through letterboxes, people in cafes and children in schools telling Poles and Romanians to go home  any and all of it is vile, hateful and must be defeated.

As is the way, people rush to identify a trend and then to explain it by allocating a general cause. Sometimes theyre right, sometimes theyre journalists doing so because a trend makes a story more interesting and long-lived, and sometimes, sadly, people seek to try to prove a view which they already hold. Often it may be a mix of all three.

In this instance, it is all apparently to do with the EU referendum  so much so that the hashtag #PostRefRacism has been established.

Is that true, or fair? In some cases, it certainly seems that racists have seized on the referendum as an opportunity to put across their poisonous views. Some of them may well believe  wrongly  that the phenomenon of 17.4 million people voting to leave the EU is a popular expression of support for those opinions. Neither of those things can  or should  be denied.

However, before accepting the most extreme implication of this theory  that such incidents demonstrate that a vote to Leave was in itself a bad thing or, even worse, that Leave voters are therefore racists  its worth looking at what we actually know, rather than what we might assume. By definition, each instance of #PostRefRacism has taken place since the referendum. Thats the point of the hashtag. But the reality isnt as straightforward as attributing the existence of all racism, or every incident of its expression, to the referendum. Correlation, after all, is not the same as causation.

Take, for example, the now-famous photo of four National Front knuckle-draggers at the Monument in Newcastle, my home town, with a banner reading Stop immigration/Start repatriation. They were out with their banner and their rather damp flag two days after the referendum. Its entirely possible they felt emboldened by the result. However, we should also consider that, sadly, Newcastle city centre has been a site of such fascist appearances for some months. The UK branch of PEGIDA, the German EDL-style organisation, hoped to use the city as a recruiting base  indeed, 400 of its supporters converged there back in February at the organisations first public event on British soil. They have, happily, found the area to be largely unfriendly territory. The National Front, similarly, has tried to struggle on in Tyneside since the 1970s  in 2011, it stood in the North East for the European Parliament, reaping a mere 640 votes.

This isnt to say that we shouldt be disgusted by those four damp skinheads on a rainy Saturday. But it is a reminder that racism  in the form of them in particular, but also more generally  existed in the UK before last Thursday. We shouldnt be surprised that it still exists a week later  and we certainly shouldnt use it to invalidate the perfectly legitimate views on the EU expressed by the majority of voters last week. We should fight it, just as we had a responsibility to fight it before. We shouldnt commit the injustice of deciding we have 17.4 million racists to fight.

Are we really to believe that the process of having a referendum on the EU made the people featured in these reports into racists? You dont go from watching an ITV debate with Gisela Stuart to waving a National Front banner or wearing a send them back t-shirt in a matter of days. Furthermore, those who call people p*ki or post up swastika stickers announcing a white zone in Glasgow have by definition a more wide-ranging and deep-seated racism than even the most virulent opposition to migration from Poland or Bulgaria would require.

Nor is it true, as has become fashionable, to attribute the referendum result itself purely to concern about EU immigration. In Lord Ashcrofts 12,000-voter poll, 49 per cent of Leavers said democracy was their primary reason for voting as they did. Thirty-three per cent said regaining control over immigration and borders was their top motivation. The ComRes poll for the Sunday Mirror found very similar results  53 per cent of Leavers said the ability of Britain to make its own laws was their top reason, with 34 per cent citing immigration. In addition, of course, it would be wrong to suggest that wanting the power to democratically decide Britains immigration policy, or to use that power to reduce overall immigration, is in itself racist  or that thinking so makes someone likely to launch racist abuse at a person on a tram, in a bus or on a street.

Theres still a reasonable question, though, about whether the referendum result has made people who harbour such views feel bolder and more entitled to act on them.

In the case of the man in Romford, his send them back t-shirt began with the words Yes! We won!  he evidently held these views last Wednesday, but its undeniable that a few days later he felt justified in hitching them to the referendum result and asserting that it was a victory for him and his ilk. Thats an uncomfortable truth for the vast majority of Eurosceptics who find such views repellent  and, it must be said, its a painful reminder as to why we should challenge things from our own side, like Farages Breaking Point poster, which seek to appeal to such people. As Douglas Carswell wrote recently, such actions are morally indefensible as well as politically counter-productive.

On that theme of uncomfortable truths, Channel 4s Ciaran Jenkins tweeted on Monday: It is becoming abundantly clear a certain number of people believe they voted to deport migrants already living in UK. We may debate what that certain number might be  and whether its fair to tar all opposition to the EU by association  but there evidently are some people out there who see this as an opportunity to demand exactly that. How should we deal with them?

During the referendum itself, some EU migrants in the UK felt fearful for their future. Would they be allow to stay here after Brexit? British Future, led by Sunder Katwala, asked the major participants in the referendum to commit that EU migrants already resident in the UK would keep that right in the event of a Leave vote. Vote Leave themselves responded extremely clearly: There would be no question of EU citizens being removed from the UK because of the referendum result. UKIP did the same: British Future are right to say present EU citizens will be allowed to stay in UK post Brexit. All the other major Leave groups held that position, to their credit.

Just because the referendum is now over, though, doesnt mean we should stop repeating it  if some people are out there claiming, falsely, that this is what the referendum means then we, the vast Leave movement, should be shouting them down. Doing so would be good for the coherence and happiness of our society  that it would help to preserve the reputation of our cause is a side benefit.

Others must acknowledge their responsibility to stamp out this claim, too. Shamefully, while Leave campaigners were happy to make clear that these fears were baseless, the Stronger In campaign was deliberately reluctant to do so. Its head, Will Straw, tweeted ominous rhetorical questions asking what would happen to EU migrants living in the UK. He even went on national television to speculate that if we left we would be sending people home. He must have known that his opponents were proposing no such thing  Peter Bone pointed it out to him live on air  but was still willing to raise that spectre (though he did later acknowledged in a tweet that they [Leave campaigners] want to keep existing migrants).

The Government also played its part in allowing such ideas to persist. Not only did they fail to guarantee existing residents rights when pressed to do so by British Future, but in May a Government Minister deliberately left the question unanswered in Parliament.

It is therefore quite rich that some of those from Stronger In and the Government are now wringing their hands about the idea that some people may have thought existing migrants could be sent home after a Leave vote. The Leave campaign was very clear they would not  but prominent members of the Remain campaign deliberately claimed and implied that they might be, and passed up opportunities to reject the idea out of hand. That was dishonest and irresponsible, spreading fear among migrants resident in the UK and encouraging bigots to think their hateful fantasies might come true, all in order to try to win some votes.

Sad to say, the Government still hasnt fully clarified its view on the issue, even though the campaign itself has ended, preferring to talk only of offering stability for the next two years, leaving an ominous silence hanging over the period beyond that point. By contrast, Boris Johnson was extremely clear on Monday: EU citizens living in this country will have their rights fully protected, and the same goes for British citizens living in the EU.

All sides of the EU debate must now confirm this to be the case. We should also hear a lot more, as soon as possible, about exactly what the detailed status and extent of those rights will be. It seems that the issue breaks down largely into three types of right: the right to reside and work, the right to access the UK welfare system and the right to bring dependents to the UK.

The first ought to be entirely uncontested. Those living and working here on referendum day have an acquired right to do so which we must maintain  as the pledges of Leave campaigners, as well as common sense and common decency, would dictate.

The second was already planned to be subject to some changes, as the 2015 Conservative manifesto proposed the requirement to work for four years before gaining access to benefits. That policy will presumably remain the basis for reforms once we leave the EU and regain the power to make such changes without permission from Brussels. If anyone seeking the leadership intends to change it, they should make that clear up front, and present their case to Party members.

The third will, I foresee, prove much more controversial. Voters would be concerned if a back door to the immigration system was opened, but there are also some well-publicised and understandable complaints about the existing, extremely stringent, requirements on non-EU migrants who seek to bring their dependents to the UK. As the leadership race progresses, I would not be surprised if it became a hot topic of debate for the rivals hoping to become the next Prime Minister.
The Tory press won its fight with the Government over the EU referendum. Now it is about to enter the lists for the Conservative leadership election  on which its view is rather less united.

The Sun is lining up behind Johnson. See a monster column from Trevor Kavanagh in todays edition, unambiguously titled Boris Johnson and Michael Gove WILL honour their promise to Sun readers. It is illustrated with a picture of a the former London Mayor holding up a vow-type scroll with five pledges on it. But note the Justice Secretarys name in the headline. This campaign is being presented as a joint and team ticket.

The Daily Mail seems to be keeping its powder dry. There is a column by Sarah Vine, a.k.a Mrs Michael Gove, about the night of the results  and what happened in the Gove household. But otherwise there is no sense of the paper throwing its weight behind a candidate or (just as importantly) against one. And when the Mail is against something you tend to know it. Paul Dacre, the papers editor, will choose between a politician who he has a history of distrusting (Boris Johnson) but who agreed with the Mail over Brexit, and another with whom he disagreed, (Theresa May), but to whom he has been less antipathetic. Unless, that is, he takes an interest in another pro-Leave candidate.

There will be no such hesitancy about the Daily Telegraph. It carries a piece by Stephen Crabb. But it is bound to throw its weight behind its columnist  Johnson  whose immediate pre-referendum piece was powerfully projected on the papers front page. The former Mayor made his journalistic name as the Sunday Telegraphs man in Brussels, went on begin his column for the Daily Telegraph as long ago as the 1990s, and has kept it on ever since. As a former Assistant Editor of the paper (I was its Comment Editor during part of this period), and as a former Spectator editor to boot, Johnsons right-of-centre media connections are formidable.

Revealed, its online front page declares this morning. Boris Johnson only candidate who can ensure Tories will win next General Election, polling suggests. Expect plenty more where that came from. Its true that the importance of endorsements by newspapers and blogs is grossly exaggerated. They dont matter all that much. But the tone and flavour of coverage does  what stories are selected; how they are written; how they are projected.

The paper edition of the Telegraph is many Party members Fleet Street reading of choice, so its reporting and analysis are likely to matter very much if Johnsons name is one of the two that is put before the members.

P.S: Some of you will be wondering about the Times and the Daily Express. The former has been very pro-Conservative at times (during the Thatcher years, for example), but traditionally has a more cross-party flavour. The latter is now UKIPs paper.

P.P.S: This site will doubtless set out its stall before the final round in which MPs vote, but we want to take a good look at the programmes of the various candidates (whoever they may turn out to be) before taking a view.
A former government official of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation accused of accepting bribes and kickbacks from a construction contractor has pleaded guilty to federal charges in North Dakota. Randall Phelan was an elected representative of the governing body of the Three Affiliated Tribes from the end of 2012 to the middle of 2020. Investigators say Phelan used his official position to help the contractors business by awarding contracts, fabricating bids and managing fraudulent invoices. His trial had been scheduled to begin Tuesday. Phelan and two others were originally charged with receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the bribery scheme on the oil-rich Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The contractor has pleaded guilty to bribery.
Amidst raging controversy on how "tame" Times Now interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi was, especially when it was taken by its aggressive editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, a well-known Dubai-based journalist has revealed that arranging an interview with Modi is a "long drawn and cumbersome process", ending up with a "handshake" and "a written script" prepared in advance. Boby Naqvi, who met Modi ahead of the latter's United Arab Emirates (UAE) visit for an interview with "Gulf News", giving a first-hand experience of his meeting with Modi on August 16, 2015 in a Facebook post , says he had requested interview on bilateral relations between the two countries and India's role in the Arab world.After he applied for an interview with Modi, Naqvi says, he received news from a foreign office bureaucrat that the interview was arranged in the presence of two other publications, Naqvi says, "I had no option but to grudgingly accept it."Worse, Naqvi says, "I was told to send my questions for prior approval by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).Saying that he though he received several requests for security clearance about the name of the driver, car registration number, the photographer's details, etc., Naqvi adds, "Till the last moment I had no clue about the venue and time of the meeting.""All I was told was that it could be anytime after his Red Fort speech on the Independence Day. After frantic calls on August 14, I was given the phone number of my point of contact in Delhi. This person asked me to be in the capital before noon and said the exact time and venue would be provided later", Naqvi says.When he was about to board the flight on August 14, Naqvi says, he got a "strange phone call" from a prominent Muslim personality, considered close to the PM, revealing that he knew of the interview, even though he is not part of the government.On reaching Delhi, he was told his photographer would not be allowed and that pictures would be taken by the Prime Minister's official photographer." But when he decided to put his foot down, a few hours later the photographer was "allowed" on the condition that he would spend only five minutes inside.Driving down on the rainy day, "at the first checkpoint at 7 Race Course Road we faced another trouble. A huge flashlight almost blinded us when a heavily armed man in a raincoat approached the car. The sound of heavy downpour made it impossible to hear him. All he could understand was that we are 'from Dubai'," Naqvi says.After security checks, his card was escorted inside. On reaching the spot, he says, an officer again took our details and radioed them to his superiors inside the office-residence complex. After several minutes, he said the photographer had no security clearance. But after some hassle, they were allowed inside".On reaching in, a PMO official told Naqvi, "After photos and handshakes, the prime minister will look at you, and then you start your conversation", adding, this was followed by "another shocker... that I can ask only one question and answers to my remaining questions would be provided in writing after the meeting."Naqvi says, "The meeting went as per the script. After a warm handshake, we spoke in Hindi about my late night flight and his Red Fort speech earlier that day. Another journalist who was scheduled to speak next (he came from US and picked up a gift for the PM from duty free) spoke in English via a translator.""An hour or so after the meeting was over", Naqvi says, "I was given printed transcripts of the conversation and answers to my questions that I couldn't ask."Naqvi comments, "I wasn't surprised when I read that questions for Times Now interview were sought in advance and that the interview was scripted."
Take a look around this creepy abandoned retreat house in West Kingsdown

Take a look around this creepy abandoned retreat house in West Kingsdown

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An abandoned ruin in the Kentish countryside, now strangled by ivy and originally inhabited by priests in the 1940s  Stacklands Retreat House has all the ingredients for a horror movie.

And now the old building, which has been the source of many a legend and rumour in West Kingsdown, is set to be knocked down after closing 12 years ago.

A section 106 agreement was approved by Sevenoaks District Council on December 21, 2017, which said planning permission would be issued within 10 days for six new houses at the site.

Several people have posted online about their experiences visiting the derelict house in School Lane and speculating on urban myths, claiming it is haunted by priests who were sacrificed nearly 80 years ago after the owner turned satanic.

Krissy Valentine wrote: "We had some terrifying goings on in [Stacklands Retreat House], including my a friend's sister being shut in the basement as a joke, only to start screaming and not being able to get out and when they finally managed to get back in to let her out.

"She was out cold on the floor and couldn't remember what happened. Her nails were broken and she was terrified.

"I was unsure at first whether all the stories about it were true as it's a bit of a local ghost story. I'm convinced it is, but since I last went there it has burnt down.

"Many people I knew told stories of how on the night it burnt down, lights turned on and off in their homes and friends' homes, and how doors open and closed and kids woke up screaming, as if by burning the building down something was unleashed that night."

'One of the scariest places'

The retreat house reached national attention last year after ghost hunting team and YouTube sensation Ghostech Paranormal Investigations spent a night there to collect evidence of supernatural spirits.

"Someone from our team said it was one of the scariest places they have been to," said lead investigator and presenter Jeff Young, "And we have been to hundreds of places across the country.

"He said it didn't feel right and the evidence we caught there did suggest there was something there.

"We don't necessarily believe the stories we read about the house, but being told to f*** myself by a voice was shocking."

Ghostech used equipment including digital recorders, electronic voice phenomena and cameras with colour spectrums which the eye cannot see, to track ghosts, spirits and disembodied voices at the derelict house overnight, when the traces are supposedly stronger.

'I believe there was something there'

In his evidence Mr Young was told the name of two of the spirits  Abraham and Esmee  and was also told to "go away" and "f*** himself".

"I actually did read out a prayer book from the olden days and it was pushed  like an invisible gust of wind caught it," said Mr Young, who is from Croydon, "But there was no wind at all that night.

"I believe there was something there.

"I asked for them to leave, but they said, 'I cannot leave this place right now.'

"So whatever was there, is still there. It might be the man who allegedly sacrificed these priests.

"It was a good investigation and we may go back there again in years to come  if it hasn't been demolished."

Background to the retreat house

The house was built by the Society of Retreat Conductors, a group established in 1924 as a group of Anglo-Catholic priests who were dedicated to studying spiritual exercises, training retreat leaders, giving retreats in the Ignatian tradition and running retreat houses.

Work on the building was completed in 1940 and was intended to be an escape for priests who needed some head space and rest, particularly during the war.

The retreat house closed in 2005 after limited use and fell into disrepair, and was repeatedly vandalised and covered in graffiti. Wildlife is also said to have flourished at the site.

Photographer Nicola Beykirch, who took the pictures featured in this story, wrote on her website: "Across an abandoned golf course, up another steep mound, through meadows with horses, cattle and working farms we reached the eerie building I couldn't wait to photograph.

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"Through thick shrubbery and trees I could just see Stacklands Retreat House, a haunted derelict at West Kingsdown: three large buildings close to each other sprayed with graffiti and strangled by ivy. Watch out for the broken glass, tiles and asbestos littered all over the grounds."

Developer Brookworth Homes has submitted a planning application to demolish the existing retreat house and outbuildings and build six detached homes with double garages in its place.

The application has not yet officially been approved, but it is set to be next week.

An application for four new houses to be built was originally accepted in 2016, but a new application including the extra two dwellings was submitted early last year.
Aimee Blume / Special to The Courier & Press Papa T's tamales are served with chips and your choice of chile, cheese sauce, jalapeno peppers, corn salsa or hot sauce.

SHARE Aimee Blume / Special to The Courier & Press Tom Martin of Papa T's Tamales loads up an order of nacho chips for a customer during Thursday Night Thunder on Franklin Street. Aimee Blume / Special to The Courier & Press Tom Martin and Emily Dwyer at their brand new tamale cart on Franklin Street. Stop in for tamales or nachos for a quick snack or hang out and people-watch for awhile.

By Aimee Blume

The romance of Tom Martin  the man behind Papa T's Tamales  and fiancee Emily Dwyer is a tale of love and street food carts. You might have even seen a picture of Martin proposing to Dwyer on social media last fall in front of another food cart  River City Dawgs, a hot dog cart that was on Franklin Street at the time and is owned by his friend Kent Greathouse.

That hot dog cart was the inspiration for Martin and Dwyer to put together their own fragrant wheeled food endeavor.

The couple met in August of last year and were engaged in November.

"I go to church with Kent and Jennifer Greathouse," said Dwyer. "A couple years ago Kent said he was thinking about building a hot dog cart and I kept looking at him like he was crazy, but he did build it and people from church would come down here to Franklin Street and hang out and help."

Martin continued the story. "After I met Emily, she said 'Hey, I have a neat place for us to go sit out at a hot dog cart,' and so we sat out there and hung out with the gang and one thing led to another. We started helping out with the hot dog cart; when Kent was working at Lowe's we'd take it out and run it for him, and everybody kept coming up and asking if we had tamales. After a period of time he started trying to encourage me to build a tamale cart."

Since Greathouse had just gone through the process of building a cart to the health department's specifications and getting all necessary permissions to run it, his experience and construction skills made Martin's entry into the world of street food smooth.

"We are eternally grateful for his help and guidance," said Martin.

Now you can find the pretty green and turquoise Papa T's tamale cart all over town with a limited but savory menu of goodies.

The tamales come from Farm Boy and have a nice balance of filling to corn masa wrap. They're soft and moist and full of a flavorful beef and mild chile mixture. Choose one tamale for $3 or two for $5. They come with a handful of tortilla chips and any or all toppings of your choice: chile, nacho cheese, jalapeno peppers, sweet corn salsa or hot sauce.

You may also purchase an order of nacho chips with the listed toppings.

"It's a good time," said Martin. "That's the whole thing. We want to have fun with it; we didn't want it to be a business that controlled us. We like meeting so many people."

"I love talking to people," added Dwyer. "We had some customers that came from Texas, and they said the tamales are better than the ones they got at home."

"We're pleased with the response we've had, everybody is very welcoming," said Martin.

Papa T's often teams up with Greathouse's River City Dawgs cart, but in the future look for them to begin offering hot dogs in addition to tamales when they are on their own at a location.

Find Martin, Dwyer and their hot tamales outside the Franklin Street Tavern every Thursday evening through the first week of September beginning at 6 p.m., for Thursday Night Thunder, Franklin's weekly motorcycle events night. They will also be on Franklin with their friends the Greathouses Friday and Saturday nights, weather and schedules permitting, at the Franklin Street Bazaar every Saturday morning between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., downtown on Main Street or near the Court building for some weekday lunches and will be making appearances at Berry Plastics and other local companies for shift lunches. Keep up with their locations on Facebook by searching for Papa T's Tamales on Facebook. They are also available to come to your private event or party. Contact them at 812-589-8496 for more information.
SHARE Wayne Bunnage

By Len Wells of the Courier and Press

Nationally acclaimed professional tractor-pull competitor Wayne Bunnage has been formally charged with aggravated battery and criminal damage to property.

The 46-year-old Golden Gate, Illinois resident is accused of ramming a pickup truck into the side of a truck owned by his brother and pulling partner Steve Bunnage during a dispute earlier this month.

According to a complaint filed with the Wayne County Sheriff's Department, Steve Bunnage, 43, was apparently trying to prevent Wayne from driving off his property with some family-owned farm implements. The report stated the brothers had stopped farming together in 2015, but disagreements over property rights have lingered. The incident happened June 20.

Steve Bunnage told police he attempted to block the roadway leaving his property when Wayne rammed his truck twice, causing him to be thrown across the cab of his vehicle.

On Monday, a Wayne County grand jury indictment was unsealed, charging Wayne Bunnage with aggravated battery and criminal damage to property. Wayne Bunnage turned himself in at the Wayne County jail, posted $500 cash bond and was released pending a court appearance.

The Bunnage brothers are slated to compete in the upcoming Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League circuit with their super modified class tractors.
SHARE

On the night of Sept. 11 and morning of Sept. 12, 2012, U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers in Benghazi, Libya, came under attack by terrorists armed with automatic weapons, mortars and fuel to start fires. By the next morning, four brave Americans lay dead  Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens; his aide, Sean Smith; and two former Navy SEALs providing security, Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty. It was a horrific crime whose perpetrators remain for the most part unidentified and unpunished  and a setback for U.S. foreign policy in the wider Middle East.

As if all of that weren't bad enough, the Benghazi attacks mutated into yet another of the partisan dramas that U.S. politicians  in this case Republican politicians  generate in lieu of constructive policymaking. Unable to turn the events to their advantage when they occurred, during the 2012 election campaign, Republicans have persisted in attempting to milk the "scandal" for the past four years. They have done so even though repeated previous investigations  including by a GOP-led House intelligence panel  found nothing to contradict Barack Obama's administration's basic account. Diplomatic security, intelligence and other preparation were inadequate in hindsight; but the violence in Benghazi was over before any effective U.S. military intervention could have been organized. Government failures before, during and after the attacks, such as they were, resulted from a combination of understandable confusion and good-faith mistakes  not conspiracy, coverup, politics or deliberate "abandonment" of U.S. personnel, as the Republican right has so often and so feverishly insinuated.

And now, after two years and $7 million, comes Tuesday's final report of a Republican-led House select committee, which adds exactly nothing substantial to the story. It's true that the panel's investigation did, along the way, help trigger the revelation of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server, which is a real issue. On the most sensitive point, however  Clinton's personal culpability for what happened in Benghazi  the committee came up empty. Its report contains dozens of pages on the now-famous early statements from the administration implying the attacks were motivated by Arab-world reaction to an anti-Islamic video on the Internet. But even this exhaustive review produces no proof that this messaging resulted from a politically motivated attempt to play down terrorism, as opposed to a genuine factual dispute among State Department and CIA officials, compounded by faulty verbal formulations by then-Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice and other hastily briefed administration spokesmen.

There's much to be learned from the fiasco in Benghazi and from the wider breakdown in Libya that followed the U.S.-aided overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi in 2011. President Obama did contribute to this mess by his refusal to support the new post Gaddafi government's attempt to build security; he and his administration, Clinton included, can rightly be held accountable for this mistaken policy. Yet for reasons best known only to themselves, Republicans have insisted on pursuing their own more inflammatory and conspiratorial version of events. Maybe someone should investigate that.
The brokenness of Americas criminal justice system is not just an urban issue. Working class defendants in small towns across America are vulnerable to system that does not protect them from government negligence.

For example, New Yorks state legislature approved new indigent defense measures last week that finished an almost decade long battle over statewide indigent defense problems. The case began with a 2007 lawsuit by the NY Civil Liberties Union on behalf of several indigent defendants (Hurrell-Harring et al. v. State of New York). The Hurrell-Harring case was settled in 2014, but only brought indigent defense reform to 5 of the 57 counties in New York. The New York state senate unanimously approved to extend the reforms statewide and will take effect once it is signed by Governor Cuomo. The new measures will take the burden of paying for indigent defense services off counties and place them entirely on the state. The bill has received praise from around the state because it will help many counties provide better services for indigent defense in the future.

New York, like many other states, does not have a statewide system of indigent defense. In New York, each county provides the resources for indigent defense which results in some of the poorest counties falling far short of providing just trials for defendants. If the quality of defense differs from one county to another the system would seem to be providing adequate defense to some indigents. Before Hurrell-Harring, a 2006 New York State Commission on the Future of Indigent Defense Services report found that, nothing short of major, far-reaching, reform can ensure that New York meets its constitutional and statutory obligations to provide quality representation to every indigent person accused of a crime or other offense.



St. Lawrence Countys public defender, Steven G. Ballan, told New Yorks Watertown Daily Times that, the measure should lead to more equitable indigent defense around the state and provide some fiscal relief for poor counties because the costs will spread over the entire state. The bill will save local taxpayers money and help counties provide the same quality of defense for indigents. The article further quoted Mr. Ballan saying, Theres a large disparity now between what indigent defense services are offered in wealthy counties compared with poorer countiespublic defenders in some more affluent counties have lower case loads and have funds to hire support staff including investigators, social workers, caseworkers and substance abuse counselors. This problem in New York is the same as it is across the U.S.; the richer the area, the more likely defendants will receive a better defense.

Without a proper defense and the proper resources to decided cases, many cases in the poorest counties suffer from a lack of proper information about a criminal case. This leads to a higher chance of conviction for innocent defendants and a higher chance of acquittal for those that are actually guilty. With the new measures approved and taking effect over the next seven years, New Yorks new system will allow for counties to receive the same funding and provide the same quality of defense for those that need public counsel.

Heres the big problem: is shifting the burden to counties necessarily any better?
In early June 2016, Matthew Bergman, 15, allegedly admitted to police that he killed his aunt and stabbed his mother in Davidson County, Tennessee near Nashville. When teens commit crimes in the suburbs or in urban areas, experts are ambivalent about what to with them because of the long-term consequences of youth incarceration. Low income communities get hit the hardest.

Since the 1980s juvenile incarceration rates have increased steadily creating a phenomenon often referred to as the school-to-prison pipeline. There are many reasons for the increased numbers of incarcerated youths and there are often implications for juvenile delinquents as they become adults. It is no secret that those imprisoned in their teens have a higher likelihood of spending time in prison at some later point in their lives. The Kirwan Institute at Ohio State University published an article titled The Devastating, Long-Lasting Costs of Juvenile Incarceration examined the long-lasting effects of juvenile imprisonment and the problems surrounding the current system.



The article found that the, school-to-prison pipeline, or imprisonment of students for minor offenses, often targeted minority students  especially Black and Latino youths. The increased policing of schools is partially to blame with a 30 percent increase in school resource officers over the past 20 years, making school arrests more and more common. While the 2010 data the article uses seems to point towards a decline in juvenile and school arrests in the coming years, the racial gap is widening. In 2010, 127 out of every 100,000 White youths were incarcerated, compared to 605 per 100,000 Black youths, making black youths 5 times more likely to be locked up before they were adults. The numbers are just as staggering for Latino and Native American youths: two and three times more likely than White youths to be incarcerated.

The costs of incarceration are immense, and besides the obvious social implications towards the impacted minority populations there is a growing financial problem as well. A 12 month stay in a juvenile detention center costs $88,000 a year, while the average cost to educate the same student for a year in public school is only $10,259. The article puts that number in perspective by naming Harvards tuition cost  $59,959  almost $30,000 less than a year in juvenile detention.

The punishment they receive by way of juvenile detention not only costs taxpayers dearly, but harms their future. Many cannot find jobs or continue their educations with their criminal records. This leads to high recidivism: 70 to 80 percent of them will be rearrested within two or three years of release. Only 12 percent are incarcerated for violent crimes while the majority are punished for minor offenses. As far as social loss goes, the youth lose the opportunities they could have had, and society loses their potential influence, creativity, and other contributions. They gain only the psychological trauma that often accompanies time in detention centers, and some are even sent to adult prisons where they face even greater risk of trauma.

Without ending the school to prison pipeline and the targeting policing at schools, the problem of the overcrowded juvenile detention system continues to feed overcriminalization problem in United States.

The articles conclusion only partially gets at the problem. While policies towards restorative justice and away from over-policing will help end the pipeline, there is still a danger in over-regulating a solution. Much of the problems have been created by a system already burdened by too much State and Federal control over local schools. If local communities are allowed to deregulate school discipline they could better treat juveniles who are misbehaving. The article is right that prison is not always the best solution for misbehaving youths, but more regulation and policy regarding discipline from the top down is what created the inequalities and problems in the 80s and 90s. Giving control over discipline back to local communities, civil society institutions, and parents will yield better results towards creating young men and women who are prepared to have an impact on the outside world instead of spending their teenage years in a cell.
C.S. Lewis is probably best known for his work in childrens literature and Christian apologetics. Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain and The Abolition of Man are among his most popular works, but he has many more valuable essays regarding truth and Christianity which are not as widely read. A favorite lecture of mine, titled The Poison of Subjectivism, is found in his collected essays, Christian Reflections.

After leaving Malvern College in June 1913, Lewis (or Jack as he preferred to be called) traveled to Great Bookham Surrey where he studied under a former tutor of his fathers, W.T. Kirkpatrick (who later served as the inspiration for Professor Digory Kirke in The Chronicles of Narnia). Kirkpatrick was the former headmaster of Lurgan College and drilled into Lewis an understanding of and appreciation for the reasoning and logic which continued to serve Lewis throughout his career. Lewis was given a scholarship to attend University College, Oxford in 1916 and later went on to become an Oxford don where he gave lectures on philosophy and reasoning.

The Poison of Subjectivism addresses the root of humanist philosophies which have given way to encroachments in democracy, namely subjectivism. It is out of this apparently innocent idea that men propose to have developed a better and more modern morality, claiming to have paved the way to Utopia. Samuel Gregg explained in his course on Christian Anthropology at Acton University earlier this month the danger in believing man can shape perfect order on earth: Human nature is flawed: there is a radical disorder that runs through the core of every persons existence. This has immense implications for the social order. It rules out utopian-ism and produces the attitude of Christian realism. It is out of subjectivism which fascism and totalitarian regimes rise. If men believe that truth is as fluid as present trends in culture, then of course ideologies themselves cannot be better or worse than one another.

Based on our human experience we know this to be false; throughout history, many ideologies have failed and resulted in wars and destruction. The French Revolution and National Socialism stem from ideologies which are humanist. The dependence on a system separated from freedom understood through the lens of truth results in relying on flawed human solutions.

Subjectivism erodes our understanding of the principles of who we are, or our anthropology. We are thereby trusting our own reason so far that we ignore the Fall, and are retrogressively turning our absolute allegiance away from a person to an abstraction. Goodness must be a fixed value. If good is a fixed point, it is at least possible that we should get nearer and nearer to it; but if the terminus is as mobile as the train, how can the train progress towards it? The canon with which goodness is measured, including the goodness of ideas, must be found outside man. In 1877, Lord Acton stated in his address to the members of the Bridgnorth Institute (found in The History of Freedom) that the great question is, to discover not what governments prescribe, but what they ought to prescribe; for no prescription is valid against the conscience of mankind. Goodness comes from God alone and is written on the heart of every person.

Subjectivity is disastrous when it creeps into politics and culture.

Many a popular planner on a democratic platform, many a mild-eyed scientist in a democratic laboratory means, in the last resort, just what the Fascist means. He believes that good means whatever men are conditioned to approve. He believes that it is the functions of him and his kind to condition men; to create consciences by eugenics, psychological manipulation of infants, state education and mass propaganda.

Lewis proposes freedom which does not originate apart from objective truth. The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which over arches rulers and ruled alike. Subjectivism about values is eternally incompatible with democracy.
Editorial

The anti-worker state

In 1834 the six Tolpuddle martyrs were transported from Britain to Australia for the crime of attempting to form a trade union. However, the idea of unionism spread world-wide and now, millions of workers are members of trade unions. Workers, experiencing the savage exploitation of capital know that they have to become a collective if they are to improve their living and working conditions.

But the ruling class and the employers never gave up their hostility to the organised working class, first displayed in the penalty imposed on the Tolpuddle six.

Laws were enacted to limit and control the organisations that workers formed. When workers withdrew their labour and went on strike the ferocity of the employers knows no bounds. Workers and their leaders are jailed and sometimes shot.

The collective power of workers united is always a threat to the interests of capital. Capitalists know that their profits come from the labour of workers. The more they can reduce the wages and other provisions going to workers the higher their profits.

The ongoing accumulation of private profits and successive mergers and takeovers has resulted in the formation of ever bigger companies and the giant transnational corporations that dominate whole industries, with demands to get rid of trade unions and backed by governments willing to help them achieve their aims.

The Turnbull/Abbott government is one such creature of the corporations and Employment Minister Michaela Cash is their instrument. Strikes are essentially outlawed with courts ready to order a return to work, backed by threats of heavy fines on unions and workers alike as part of a raft of anti-union laws (see Vote for workers rights).

This is the anti-worker state in action  the laws of governments, the courts to enforce the laws, the money bribes of the employers, the police to protect the employers interests: Let it be recalled that the army has been used in Australia  during the Miners strike in 1949 and later in the airlines dispute in 1989.

Employers want to return to the days when there were no unions to challenge the power and interests of capital.

The way they have gone about doing this is to introduce individual work contracts, exclude unions and eliminate any form of collective agreement. Employers are even prepared to pay a price by offering a higher wage to some, provided the worker resigns from his/her union.

Initially it might be higher wages for those who sign up, while others lose their jobs. Individual contracts leave workers on their own with no one to defend them as wages are later reduced, hours of work extended, holidays cancelled, health and safety measures abandoned.

Above all, employers fear the collective strength of the working people and BHP is out to destroy the workers collective now. They, of course, still need workers, but on a one-to-one basis, without organisation and without any power to defend themselves.

The workers who are standing up for the collective are the real heroes of our time. And, as the CFMEU sticker says, It takes GUTS AND PRINCIPLES to stay collective. Touch one, touch all.
A message from the national president:

Lets defeat the Abbott/Turnbull government

Put the Liberals last!

The Communist Party of Australia campaigns for Socialism and working class power in Australia. The CPA represents and shares the interests of workers, their families and other exploited social strata in our society.

We understand the limitations of the Parliamentary struggle but believe it is important to put forward working class policies before the Australian electorate.

In the current political environment the choice for workers is limited. The two-party system promotes the idea that workers only choice is between the two major parties despite both of them expressing the interests of monopoly capitalism, the banks and the big end of town.

The CPAs statement, Defeat the Coalition (Guardian 22-06-2016), on the upcoming elections is clear about the urgent task of breaking the two-party system. This is a first step in the strengthening of the democratic process aiming at electoral reform allowing smaller parties including the CPA to broaden the choice for workers at electoral ballots. The CPA advocates for more democratic, progressive, trade unionists, independents and communists in Parliament capable of implementing meaningful reforms in the interest of the working class for a new type of government, a Peoples Government.

With a strong mass movement this first step can defeat monopoly capitalism and move towards a deep transformation of the Australian society into a Socialist future.

A Socialist government will guarantee jobs for all, universal access to education and health. It will put the main means of production and natural resources in public hands for the benefit of the people. It will also ensure that transnational corporations and big business pay their taxes through a progressive tax system in the benefit of society.

We will equip our Australian Defence Forces with the necessary means to defend our borders pursuing an independent foreign policy. We will not participate in imperialist wars and will end all agreements that allow foreign bases on our soil which are also a significant cost burden for the Australian tax payer. With bipartisan support billions of dollars are being wasted on war preparations, money that could be spent on public education, health and humanitarian aid.

We must stop the privatisation process of our health system and as a first step remove the huge private health insurance rebate. Equally we must stop the draining of resources from public education. Workers rights must be upheld and all draconian anti-union legislation repealed. The reintroduction of the ABCC must be defeated.

We recognise the importance of the upcoming election and campaign for the defeat of the Abbott/Turnbull government. On July 2 the CPA recommends preferencing those candidates whose policies can provide some benefits for working people and their families and put the Liberal-National Coalition last in the House of Representatives.

The balance of power in the Senate is of extreme importance regardless of who forms government (see Put the Coalition last in the Senate). The CPA recommends voting 1 to 6 above the line with the Australian Greens in number 1 followed by left and progressive parties; do not preference the Liberals and Nationals at all.

In solidarity,

Vinnie Molina

National President, CPA
Our people deserve much, much better

Redfern Statement demands a more just approach

We will not be ignored any longer. That was the message dozens of peak Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations delivered in Sydney this month.

Indigenous Leaders with the signed Redfern Statement. (Photo: NITV News)

The Redfern Statement sets out a series of demands to all political parties, calling for a more just approach to Indigenous Affairs.

National Congress of Australias First Peoples co-chair Jackie Huggins said Indigenous Affairs had barely rated a mention in the current federal election campaign and politicians needed to be reminded that First Nations people continue to experience isolation and disadvantage, because successive governments have failed to grasp opportunities for major change.

We are tired of being marginalised, tired of being ignored, and we have come here today to present a united front in terms of all our very present issues that will not be denied, she said. Our people deserve much, much better than what we are seeing at the moment and what is being delivered to us at present.

Dr Huggins said Indigenous organisations had taken the unprecedented step of standing together and lobbying during the election because they were frustrated at years of being ignored by government.

Ignore us at your peril because we vote too and it is our people who are the most severely disadvantaged people in this country, she said.

The Redfern Statement was compiled by Congress, and peak Indigenous health, legal, disability and childrens organisations, including the First Peoples Disability Network, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), National Aboriginal and Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) and the Secretariat for National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC).

It calls on the next federal government to commit to restore $534 million funding to Indigenous Affairs that was cut in the 2014 Budget; commit to working with Indigenous leaders to establish a stand-alone Department of Indigenous Affairs that is managed and run by Indigenous public servants; fund Congress and other peak bodies and meet regularly with them; reform the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) and secure national funding agreements that emphasise accountability to Indigenous people and drive national strategies and support a treaty-making framework.

Coalition Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion released a statement that highlighted exactly the issues and problems the Redfern Statement set out.

Senator Scullion repeated the federal governments Indigenous Affairs mantra  jobs, education and safe communities  and, in direct contradiction to the experience of grassroots Indigenous organisations, said the Turnbull government had a track record of working with Indigenous people and organisations.

The 2014-15 Indigenous Affairs budget did not contain savings of $534 million, he said. After money was redirected to new priorities, the amount of money saved was less than half that  out of a Budget of $4.9 billion. Since then, additional funds have been put into the Indigenous Affairs budget, including $48 million to support land tenure measures through the Developing Northern Australia White Paper and $14.6 million for constitutional recognition.

The Developing Northern Australia White Paper has been widely criticised by Indigenous organisations from the Top End, for being developed with little to no input from them. Labors Indigenous Affairs spokesman Shayne Neumanns response supported almost all of the Redfern Statement  but stopped short of supporting a treaty.

The Liberal government has sidelined the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, he said. They have been excluded from the biggest changes and decisions this government have made and the devastating impact of that is demonstrated no more clearly than in the disastrous Indigenous Advancement Strategy.

Labor has supported the National Congress of Australias First Peoples as the national representative body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and denounced the cruel and unnecessary funding cut inflicted by the Liberal government.

Greens spokesperson on Indigenous Affairs Rachel Siewert pointed out that most of the Redfern Statement was already supported by long-standing Greens policy.

The Greens support National Congress and 55 Aboriginal organisations in their calls to address the unfinished business of reconciliation that includes both treaty and constitutional reform, she said.

It has long been Greens party policy to ensure a move towards meaningful reconciliation that encompasses substantive constitutional recognition as well as sovereignty and treaties.

Healing Foundation (an organisation that helps Stolen Generations members and their families) chief executive Richard Weston said the continual sidelining of Indigenous solutions by government had real and tragic effects.

Many of our people are dying in despair and we cant allow that to keep happening, he said.

NACCHO chief executive Pat Turner pointed out that, as well as direct funding cuts to Indigenous organisations, some policies  like the Medicare rebate freeze announced by the Coalition  had harsh consequences for Indigenous people.

Our Aboriginal Medical Services are being squeezed to an unacceptable level, she said. We need new thinking and a clear national strategy that looks at health in a holistic manner and considers redress of the social determinants of health.

Antoinette Braybrook, chief executive of the Victorian Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Service, called for action on domestic violence and its effects.

She said more than 90% of Aboriginal women in prison were family violence victims. Aboriginal women are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised because of family violence and 10 times more likely to die from a violent assault, Braybrook said.

Our womens lives are being lost and our children are being taken and our government needs to work with us to make this right.

First Peoples Disability Network chief executive Damian Griffis said there was a lot of we hear you but not enough action, while Victorian Aboriginal Legal Services chief executive Wayne Muir said the gathering was evidence of the frustration Indigenous people feel about not being heard.

Aboriginal people in this country are getting organised and we will stand together and we will stand united  we wont be divided and we will make a difference to election processes, Muir said. Its time the politicians of this country learn the lesson.

Congress co-chair Rod Little said that while the Redfern Statement was born from a lengthy period of frustration, it also represented how powerful Indigenous organisations could be when they speak as one voice.

We are calling on government to develop a relationship with us based on meaningful respect and to start developing policy with us, rather than doing things to us, he said.

Congress is already set up for us to be the conduit  the government needs to let us.

The Redfern Statement calls on the next Federal Government to:

Commit to resource Indigenous-led solutions, by restoring the $534 million cut from Indigenous Affairs in the 2014 Budget;

Reform the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS);

Commit to better engagement with Indigenous people by funding the National Congress of Australias First Peoples and other peak bodies and regularly meeting with them;

Recommit to Closing the Gap in this generation and add targets for justice, family violence, disability and out-of-home care;

Secure national funding agreements that emphasise accountability to Indigenous people and drive national strategies;

Commit to working with Indigenous leaders to establish a stand-alone Department of Indigenous Affairs that is managed and run by Indigenous public servants; and

Address and implement the recommendations of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, which includes an agreement making framework (treaty) and constitutional reform in consultation with Indigenous communities.

Koori Mail
Culture & Life

The Election and after

Whether he wins the 2016 federal election or not, Malcolm Turnbull and his LNP colleagues have a program of undisguised hostility towards the working class and its organisations. For Turnbull, a rich merchant banker, the working class are not just scum beneath his expensive shoes; they are the enemy  his class enemy.

All the Libs  and their chums the Nats  Turnbull, Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce and the rest of them (and lets not forget Premier Baird in NSW), are openly engaged in class warfare. They have put in place fascist-style legislation in preparation for crushing any resistance displayed by working people, farmers, students  any of the potentially troublesome elements in society.

Key to their plans is their determination to smash the unions and to return workers to the situation that prevailed 200 years ago, the time of master and servant, of saying yes sir and doffing your cap to your betters. The employers regard every concession and benefit bosses have given to workers in all that time as having been stolen from them by ungrateful employees who wouldnt have a job at all if it wasnt for their generous boss.

In fact, every one of those concessions and benefits was only won through determined struggle. None of them was the consequence of employer generosity!

Nevertheless, the boss class defends the fiction that organised labour is union thuggery and that working people safely depend on the boss to give them their appropriate share of the economic cake (after all, doesnt he pay them a fair  even generous  wage without demur? Sure he does!)

When Bob Hawke was manoeuvred into the leadership of the ACTU, he promised employers to deliver a docile, co-operative workforce and to achieve this he persuaded the unions to accept the notorious prices and incomes Accord. Workers were fed the usual malarkey that we all shared a single cake, so no one could be greedy and want too big a slice!

What he deliberately ignored was that the workers actually made the whole cake, so they were in fact entitled to take all of it. Leaving a share  the lions share, in fact  for a parasitic boss class was what was patently unfair.

Despite the best efforts of Hawke and the rest of the right-wing of the ALP, the workers learnt by their own experiences to see through the lies that underpinned the Accord, but not before several manifestations of the Howard Liberal government had inflicted yet more indignities and constraints upon the labour movement.

Eventually the Your Rights at Work campaign dislodged Howard but the Labor leadership still courted the Big End of Town and made numerous concessions to the bosses. This was hardly surprising, when you considered the origins of the ALP.

It had begun as a party formed by the union movement to represent workers interests in parliament. The employers, however, soon realised how useful such a party could be to them if it were brought under their influence and control. Thanks to the opportunism too frequently seen in Australian politics, the employers goal was achieved relatively quickly, as ALP leaders were seduced by the prospect of political power if they just accommodated their principles to the needs of the business world. The ALP became a party for the workers provided by the ruling class, an on-hand alternative ready for whenever it was needed.

When, in subsequent years, occasional Labor governments sought to actually implement pro-worker policies  the Lang government in NSW, the Whitlam federal government  the ruling class took appropriate steps to restore the status quo, actually removing the troublesome government when other less obvious methods failed.

While the discernible differences between the promises of the ALP and the LNP might not be great, it would be a mistake to assume there is no difference between them.

The ALP is more susceptible to pressure from its electoral base than are the Libs and the belief that it is the workers party still resonates with many working class people.

The move by the CPA to secure registration with the Electoral Commission for participation in federal elections was unfortunately thwarted when the election was called early (the registration process ceases from the calling of the election until after it is over, leaving our application in limbo). Unregistered, if we stood candidates their names only would appear and not the name of their Party. This would be essentially an exercise in futility.

As I write this, the 2016 federal election is a few day away, and the most pressing task for the working class is to get rid of Turnbull and the rest of his LNP crew, even if that means nothing more radical than replacing the Turnbull LNP government with a Labor government led by Bill Shorten.

Shorten is from the right-wing of the ALP and he makes no secret of his willingness to do the bidding of big business. Nevertheless, the ousting of Turnbull and Co would be a serious defeat for reaction in this country.

With no CPA candidates, however, the choice before left and progressive voters has been limited to candidates generally lacking in working class ideology. The prime issue for Communists in Australia continues to be the breaking of the oh-so cosy two-party system. As long as the ALP and the LNP play Im in, youre out with one another in elections, a genuinely democratic expression of the will of the people is out of the question.

We need the opportunity to elect candidates genuinely committed to progressive positions on industrial relations, on public enterprises vs private profit, on protecting the environment, on preserving and extending Medicare, on reducing the obscene amounts spent on the military (and redirecting it to meet public needs) etc.

Most importantly for CPA members and supporters, the struggle to defeat the anti-worker, anti-union campaign being waged by the corporate sector does not end with the election. It continues afterwards, and indeed we can expect it to intensify, especially if Turnbull (and the resurrected Tony Abbott) actually win! Defending trade union rights then will be more important than ever!
Networking News

Partners Weigh In On Google Fiber Impact As The Telecom Industry Arms Itself For Disruption

Gina Narcisi

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Google has become aggressive in the fiber arena, and partners say its latest plans for rapid geographic expansion could start eating the incumbent telecommunication providers' lunches.

Google last week acquired Webpass, a San Francisco-based internet provider that offers gigabit internet speeds in five major U.S. cities. The acquisition will help Google Fiber expand its geographic reach more quickly in key markets, including Boston, Chicago, Miami and San Diego.

Webpass will also give Google's wireless internet capabilities a boost. The Webpass technology can help Google deliver internet to properties without wires, a capability that most of the large incumbent carriers don't have.

[Related: Solution Providers Poised To Pounce On Gigabit Internet Opportunities ]

Carriers should absolutely be concerned about Google Fibers impact in the fiber space, according to Vince Bradley, CEO of WTG, a master agent that partners with the large carriers and is in talks to partner with Google.

Agent partners are already asking Malibu, Calif.-based WTG about Google Fiber, primarily as a backup option to primary networks, Bradley said.

"It will likely take quite some time, but once [Google] penetrates markets, they will be very disruptive," he said.

Google Fiber, which is a part of Google's/Alphabet's Access Group, has a beta channel program in place with a select group of managed service providers. But the internet giant may be looking to open up its program to more partners soon. Google last week posted an open channel account manager position to its Google+ page. The latest position calls for the channel manager to work with IT partners to grow the Google Fiber subscription base.

Until now, Google has been enlarging its fiber footprint at a relatively slow pace. Now that the internet giant is pushing its fiber network strategy to the front burner, many of the large, incumbent carriers seem to be feeling the heat and are taking action to compete against Google with their own fiber-based services, partners said.

"It would make sense that the carriers would move faster in light of the acquisition," WTG's Bradley said. "Since Google typically goes to market pretty quickly, the carriers will need to act swiftly to keep their business flowing."

AT&T is taking its fiber-based internet strategy up a notch. The Dallas-based carrier Monday revealed that it is planning a massive rollout of its AT&T Business Fiber service to a number of markets in Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina and Oklahoma.

The carrier added that it plans to further extend its Business Fiber offering -- a service that provides gigabit internet speeds -- to additional cities in which Google Fiber has or will also have a presence, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego as well as Miami and Louisville, Ky.

Comcast Business last week said it will be committing more than $9 million to a major fiber expansion in Virginia, which will reach more than 3,000 businesses, according to the Philadelphia-based carrier. Faster that Google Fiber in some locations, Comcast's Business Ethernet service can deliver up to 100 Gbps of network, and is in 18 U.S. markets.

Google Fiber could also give Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Verizon and Monroe, La.-based CenturyLink a run for their money. However, Verizon's February acquisition of Herndon, Va.-based XO Communications' fiber-based IP and Ethernet networks will allow Verizon to reach into 40 more U.S. markets with 1.2 million fiber miles. CenturyLink, for its part, said Tuesday that it too is growing the footprint of its business fiber service, which boasts 1Gbps broadband speeds in Grand Junction, Colo.

The impact to the channel is yet to be seen, but some partners -- such as Andrew Gregoire, CEO of Fairhaven, Mass.-based solution provider ACE Consulting Group -- said they don't believe Google Fiber will immediately threaten fiber sales for the incumbent providers.

Google Fiber -- available in some markets in six states: Georgia, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Utah -- is a relatively new service with a limited geographic reach.

"I haven't had one business customer ask about Google Fiber yet," Gregoire said. "I don't see [Google Fiber] making a significant impact in the small business space."

ACE Consulting is a partner with large carriers including AT&T, Verizon and Comcast. The solution provider builds IT, voice, data and cloud solutions for its business customers, based on the client's needs as well as the geographical availability of carriers near the client.

Because Google Fiber still has a small footprint compared with the fiber footprints of other providers, as well as a limited channel presence on the fiber side, Google Fiber won't be an option for many businesses customers right now, Gregoire said.

"For us, it's based on the territory and any special requests from clients," Gregoire said. "Customers let us know what they are looking for and we put the solution in front of them. If a provider's geographical presence is limited, we usually take them out of the equation."
P&O Cruises Australia has launched its first dedicated travel agent site: Flagship.

Developed specifically for Australian and New Zealand agents, Flagship provides a central hub for information on P&O Cruises' product, as well as a range of agent marketing tools and an image and video gallery, according to a statement.

The website  flagship.pocruises.com.au  will also host a new online education program, Flagship College, aimed at streamlining agent training.

Focussing solely on P&O product information, the mobile-friendly education program will offer an annual Flagship Master Class, which will take just over an hour to complete and will earn agents 10 Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) accreditation points.

P&O Cruises Director of Sales Ryan Taibel said Flagship had been developed in response to the cruise line's continued fleet expansion.

"With more P&O cruises on offer than ever before, we wanted to make it really easy for our key partners, the travel agents of Australia and New Zealand, to access all the tools they need to sell our cruises," Taibel said.

"Flagship is simple to use and packed with great information, so agents can feel confident they have everything they need to know about P&O at their fingertips, including our great new education program which makes it very easy to learn about our product."
Besides the fact that there is no other way to really test your network, The PCI Security Standards Council finally released version 3. 2 and it now states, To ensure resilience, service providers are now required to perform penetration testing on segmentation controls at least every six months," according to a new sub-requirement 11.3.4.1. The PCI SSC also added a testing procedure 11.3.4 to ensure that penetration testing is performed by a qualified internal or external third party.

So the once a year PEN test is gone and rightly so, some PEN testers like ShoreBreak Security offer continuous PEN testing. Shore Break CEO Mark Wolfgang says "PEN testing once a year is like mowing your lawn once a year, it does not keep up with reality."

Wolfgang says he developed their continuous penetration testing service Lifeguard to provide his customers with a continuous risk snapshot, rather than a once-a-year view of risk.

I asked him his definition of a Pen test to which he answered..A penetration test is a security test where a specific threat actors and threat actions are emulated to determine the risk to specific assets, and the resultant impact to the organization.

We like to rephrase VERIS, who did what to what (or whom) with what result?, to who could do what to what (or whom) with what result?.

A good penetration test emulates a variety of threat actors and threat actions, targeting specific assets, and answers questions like:

How secure is my network/application/data from my partners that have internal network connectivity? my remote employees? my employees? my system and network administrators? physical intruders? my users or customers?



Risk can be evaluated at multiple layers, but here are the most common layers we evaluate.

Risk to assets  what is the risk posed to my assets?

Risk to data  what is the risk posed to my data?

Risk to organization or business  what is the risk posed to my business or organization?

A good penetration test team will seek to understand the organization or business drivers so they can properly determine and convey business risk.

The result of a penetration test is an enlightenment of sorts. The client will know the risk posed to their assets, data, and business at the time of testing.

They will know how their networks, computers, and applications withstand and detect real-world attacks. It does not necessarily feel good for those on the receiving end, but it shines a necessary light on organizational weaknesses and results in improved security.

Lets use the PCI DSS model to explain a few important things about pen testing. Even if you are not required to be PCI DSS compliant; its a great data security standard to base your pen testing on as long as you are not in the US DoD or other environment that has mandated other specific frameworks for your organization.

[ RELATED: Pen testing tool or exploit? 6 samples of ways hackers get in ]

PCI DSS is a well-documented data security standard to help secure the retail credit card environment, the losses from credit card theft and breaches have been huge. Just think about the Target, Home Depot, Neiman Marcus data breaches to begin to see the scope of losses. PCI DSS understands the importance of a pen test and therefore mandates it.

You might say if its a good standard then why all the losses? First No Compliance framework will prevent all breaches, its the foundation for security, it wont replace dynamic, intelligent and proactive security. Second according to the Verizon PCI DSS report in 2015, 80 percent of companies required to be PCI DSS compliant fail their interim assessment. Verizon further states: Of all the companies investigated by our forensics team over the last 10 years following a breach, not one was found to have been fully PCI DSS compliant at the time of the breach.

PCI DSS is well documented and could apply to a non card holder environment, just replace card holder environment with your companys most confidential data. If your company is required to be FISMA, or HIPAA compliant you use that framework, but to do some short and sweet risk analysis you could start with PCI DSS as an initial assessment. A PCI DSS rule for all to live by is:

Three simple rules about confidential data:

If you dont need it, dont store it.

If you really need it, protect it when stored.

If you do store it, securely delete it when youre done with it.

The following are the basics of PCI DSS and good data security framework.

Penetration Test vs a Vulnerability Scan

There is a huge difference in running a vulnerability scanner and actually having the hacking skills to pen test and break applications and networks, all without disrupting the business or its operations.

We see too many clients that either dont pen test due to cost or they think internal or external scanning alone is the same. As mentioned above pen testing requires lots of skill and experience and each network and application is different. Lets now look more closely at a pen test. Pen testing is organization and system specific. Ask yourself what is my company trying to protect? How is it all connected? How could a potential cyber-criminal get to our data? A good pen tester can answer these questions better than anyone else in the world. Some areas a pen tester looks at are:

web application penetration testing

network penetration testing

application penetration testing

hardware penetration testing

modem war dial penetration testing

social engineering

physical penetration testing

What are the core competencies of a professional pen tester?

My colleague and CEO of Shore Break security states it like this:

Expertise in at least one operating system

A pen tester must be knowledgeable in as many operating systems as possible, but must be an expert in at least one. What good would it be for the tester to compromise a Solaris server and not know what to do with it? Or if he doesnt understand where the passwords are located, how services are managed, where the log files are, etc. Expertise in one operating system will provide a solid foundation for others.

A competent penetration tester is the master of at least one operating system but can find his way around all of them.

Expertise in networking and protocols

It seems obvious that a pen tester must be experts in networking and protocols, as those are the mediums on which he conducts his attacks.

A competent penetration tester should know the service that operates on pretty much any port, on every protocol. They should be intimately familiar with all layers of the stack. They should be equally comfortable analyzing layer 2 and layer 7 traffic, and everything in between.

They should have a solid understanding of Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems, routing, and firewalls.

A competent penetration tester is an expert in networking and protocols.

Expertise in information security

Operating systems and networking are the foundational elements for information security. Without this solid foundation, a penetration tester could not be competent.

A pen tester must be an expert in Information Security. Not from an attackers perspective, but from a defenders perspective. After all, how could a pen tester make a recommendation if he cant relate to the defenders job? From specific technologies to best practices, a proficient pen tester must be a master of his field.

Expertise in information security testing tools

Perhaps the easiest skill to develop these days is competency in penetration testing tools. Long ago, before exploit frameworks and GUI tools for everything, one had to know how to find reliable, trustworthy exploit code. Then read it, compile it, test it, and run it from the command line.

Not so, any more. Just about anyone can download and run Kali linux, metasploit, and fire away.

Compromising vulnerable systems is easy  its what comes after thats the hard part.

Compromising systems without wreaking havoc on the target systems/network requires the foundational knowledge and specific tool expertise.

They will know the effectiveness of their policies, procedures, and training.

They will know how their security staff respond to real-world attacks.

They will know the impact of any particular vulnerability, and will know the path forward to greater security.

So whether you fall under PCI DSS, HIPAA, FISMA, or NIST Audit frameworks, If you have valuable data on site or in the cloud, in one or multiple locations, are a billion dollar a year business or an SMB, you need a pen test. Its the one test that will tell you more than any other activity or test you could ever do on your own. Its also the one test that will verify all security and audit functions that relate to unauthorized access via internal or external networks and systems.

After all you are hiring the best ethical hacker available, he or she will likely get in, but the good news is that they wont actually steal your data. In fact they will give you the plan to prevent the most likely intrusions into your organization and that should help you sleep better at night, especially if you are the CIO or security manager.
A U.S. senator has stalled an intelligence budget bill over concerns that it would expand surveillance while limiting oversight of it.

Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has placed a hold on the 2017 Intelligence Authorization Act, saying the bill would allow the FBI, without a court order, to demand U.S. residents' email and Internet records from ISPs and other communications providers.

The bill would allow the FBI to obtain new records through the controversial National Security Letter program, which allows the FBI to collect phone and financial records through administrative subpoenas.

The FBI has said it would be "convenient" if the NSL program could be expanded to include email and Internet records, Wyden said on the Senate floor Monday. "But convenience alone does not justify such a dramatic erosion of Americans' constitutional rights," he added.

The FBI can go to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to get orders for Internet records, noted Wyden, a long-time critic of U.S. government surveillance efforts.

"I certainly appreciate the FBIs interest in obtaining records about potential suspects quickly," he said. "But Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judges are very capable of reviewing and approving requests for court orders in a timely fashion."

Representatives of the FBI and Senator Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican and chief sponsor of the intelligence bill, didn't immediately respond requests for comments on Wyden's hold.

Senate rules allow senators to use parliamentary procedure to place a hold on bills and prevent them from coming up for a vote.

In addition to the concerns about the NSL program, Wyden objected to provisions in the intelligence bill that would "erode" the power of the independent Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) to investigate U.S. surveillance practices.

Provisions in the bill would end the PCLOB's oversight of the privacy impact of surveillance programs to people living outside the U.S. Right now, the board has jurisdiction to investigate the privacy impact of surveillance on both U.S. residents and people living outside the country.

The limit on the PCLOB's jurisdiction is "concerning because in the digital domain individuals U.S. or non-U.S. status is not always readily apparent, and restricting the board in this way could discourage or even prevent the board from examining programs whose impact on U.S. persons is not clear at first glance," Wyden said.

The PCLOB was created after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's revelations of widespread surveillance practices.
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TRUMBULL  Cyrus had all the trappings a dedicated public servant deserves at a memorial service.

There was the honor guard of police officers, the first selectman and town officials, a phalanx of cop cars lining Main Street in front of Town Hall, speeches, a plaque and town employees taking their lunch break to pay their respects.

Officers and their canines representing police departments from Seymour, Shelton, Fairfield, Bridgeport, Westport and Fairfield University attended the brief ceremony Wednesday morning at the gazebo.

A poster-sized photo of Cyrus on duty was on an easel at the front of the stage.

That Cyrus was a police dog mattered not a whit to anyone there. The 8-year-old German Shepherd served the town and the region for seven years with Officer R.J. Carlson, his partner in the police department.

The dog died unexpectedly June 13 at Carlsons home, where he lived with the officer and his family.

Cyrus was recently credited with locating 12.5 kilos of heroin during a motor vehicle stop, together with the State Police, said Chief Michael Lombardo. The drugs had a street value of $1 million, the chief said.

Carlson said he enjoys being part of a K-9 unit and is looking forward to training with a new dog.

Basically its fun and enjoyable. Ive always been into dogs and we assist in finding missing people and preventing things from happening, the officer said. We work side by side and, its hard to explain, but you have a bond.

First Selectman Tim Herbst said that when he came into office in 2009 he restored the police departments K-9 program.

Cyrus was the first dog, and he has really proven the worth of the program.

Area canine officers are a close-knit group, Lombardo said, and memorial services like the one for Cyrus on Wednesday are held whenever a dog dies.

Herbst said a dog has been selected to replace Cyrus on the force and although fundraising continues, were going to fund it no matter what.
DOMINICK REUTER / AFP/Getty Images

STORRS  The University of Connecticut Board of Trustees voted Wednesday to revoke the Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree conferred upon comedian Bill Cosby two decades ago.

Dozens of women have accused the comedian of sexual misconduct and in sworn depositions, Cosby has admitted to conduct the board says is in conflict with its requirement that honorary degree recipients represent the highest intellectual and moral values.
BRIDGEPORT  A politically connected bartenders bid to re-open his shuttered North End package store was thwarted this week by zoning officials.

In a close three-to-three vote, the Zoning Commission rejected Michael DeFilippos controversial effort to amend the regulations for liquor sales to allow his business  Vitros  to reopen.

The establishment has been shuttered since January when a Superior Court Judge struck down the zoning variance that allowed Vitros to open within 1,500 feet of houses of worship and a daycare.

DeFilippo and his attorney, Charles Chuck Willinger, had sought to convince zoning officials to halve that 1,500-foot-rule for businesses within 100 feet of the city border.

Vitros is located on Brooklawn Avenue along the Fairfield border, just across from Bridgeport Democratic Chairman Mario Testas pizza restaurant. DeFilippo slings drinks for Testa there and at Testas larger Italian restaurant in Bridgeport.

With two big strikes against him, it would seem DeFilippo might either find a new location or to give up on Vitros entirely.

But Chuck Willinger, DeFilippos attorney, insisted Wednesday the fight is not over and there are still some viable options for Vitros to do business where it is.

Menu of options

DeFilippo could reapply to the zoning commission after a year, but Willinger said we really dont intend to wait.

DeFilippo could submit another proposal which is different enough for the commission to take it up.

But Willinger saw a third way forward -- the Zoning Commission independently deciding to amend what he considers archaic booze rules.

He noted three members were absent from this weeks meeting and did not have the opportunity to vote for or against his client.

We did point out many inconsistencies in the existing regulations, Willinger said. We intend to see if theres any further dialogue between the commission members themselves, then well act accordingly.

DeFilippos troubles began last spring after he obtained his original zoning variance.

A nearby liquor store in Fairfield challenged the variance, and in January Judge Dale Radcliffe overturned it.

Radcliffe at the time acknowledged concerns about DeFilippos connections with Testa and other prominent Democrats, concluding: The parade of preening politicians endorsing this application may have the unintended consequences of convincing the already cynical that the fix was in, even if the record does not conclusively establish that finding.

Spot zoning

Rather than appeal Radcliffes decision, Willinger sought to alter the so-called 1,500 foot rule. When opponents, from community leaders, including at least one of DeFilippos original supporters, to other package stores, argued against citywide changes, Willinger came back with the latest proposal tailored for Vitros.

Zoning Commission Chairman Mel Riley voted no arguing it was an example of spot zoning -- changing the rules for one person or business.

Picking out 100 feet from a border is arbitrary and capricious, Riley said Wednesday. Why not 200 feet? I thought it was too obviously trying to (help) one spot. ... And based on the history of this site, I dont want our commission embarrassed again by another judges ruling."

Willinger unsuccessfully countered that at least three other possible sites would have been impacted.

Zoning Commissioner Anne Pappas-Phillips backed DeFilippo. Pappas-Phillips on Wednesday said she had a problem with the fact that DeFilippos opponents were either from outside of the North End neighborhood or from Fairfield.

She also argued there is plenty of room for DeFilippos business. She noted the state would allow a maximum of 57 liquor permits in Bridgeport, based on census data, but has issued just over 40.

To turn down a small retail store thats not going to hurt anybody (or) overwhelm the other liquor stores in town, sends out a message to other people that you cant get in, Pappas-Phillips said.

But asked if she envisioned the commission unilaterally revisiting the liquor rules as Willinger suggested, Pappas-Phillips was skeptical.

Rich Augustynowicz, of Bridgeport-based Discount Wines & Liquors, helped rally opposition against Vitros. Augustynowicz Wednesday was grateful zoning commissioners saw through Willingers and DeFilippos razzle-dazzle.

If he wants to come back (with another proposal), this is America, thats up to them, Augustinywicz said. Well be there.

The laws are in place and we all went into business under these laws, he said. We went in under certain circumstances and want to live under them.
HARTFORD  A Connecticut radio personality, who is accused of posting a racist video online after Hartford's Latino Fest, will not be on air for the rest of the week.

WFSB reports Gary Craig, of 96.5 TIC-FM, was not on air Wednesday and will not be for the rest of the week, according to station manager Steve Salhany.
Paul Schott / Paul Schott

WESTPORT The death of a town police officer has been ruled a suicide and the mans family is looking to use his death to raise awareness about the stress on cops.

Westport Police Sgt. Robert Myer, 48, died May 4 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and his widow, Elizabeth, in an effort to support the American Society for Suicide Prevention, will walk in the "Out of Darkness Westport Walk" which seeks to reduce the suicide rate 20 percent by 2025.
Special Session

House Speaker Phillip Gunn opens a special session at the Capitol, Tuesday, June 28, 2016 in Jackson, Miss. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant could get permission to take as much as he needs from financial reserves to cover a multimillion-dollar deficit as the budget year ends.

(Justin Sellers/The Clarion Ledger)

JACKSON, Mississippi -- Mississippi House members will return Wednesday to finish giving Gov. Phil Bryant permission to take as much as he needs from financial reserves to cover a deficit of up to $75 million for the budget year ending at midnight Thursday.

Senators voted 33-14 Tuesday for a one-time removal of the $50 million limit on how much a governor can pull from the rainy day fund in a budget year.

Representatives might have voted on Senate Bill 2001 and gone home as well on Tuesday, but Democrats used a procedural vote to block this same-day consideration, complaining that Republicans had denied them detailed information about the budget process.

"It's been a pure dictatorship, from the top down," said Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville.

House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, said the Democrats have only themselves to blame for extending the special session for another day, costing taxpayers another $33,000.

The Republican governor already made two rounds of cuts in the current year's $6 billion spending plan, and taken $45 million from the rainy day fund, which has a remaining balance of about the $350 million.

Sen. Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, said agencies can only spend what the Legislature appropriates, so any rainy-day money not needed to balance the 2016 budget will be waiting for lawmakers when they return in January.

Bryant excluded discussion of the 2017 budget during the special session, despite complaints from Democrats, who blame the shortfall on cuts in business taxes.

"It's impossible to take up the 2016 budget without affecting the 2017 budget," said Sen. Hob Bryan, D-AmBory.

Rep. John Hines, D-Greenville, said Republicans also underfunded health care and ignored the need to fix highways and bridges.

"The state has gone amok," Hines said. "The budget is out of control."

The funding of most state agencies is being cut for 2017, and Republican legislative leaders are moving to sweep some special accounts into the general budget, saying the change will make spending more transparent.

Several agency leaders say it's creating a legal mess that could put programs at risk.

Republicans stood by Bryant's decision to exclude discussion of the 2017 budget.

"Whether we're going to have in issue in fiscal year 2017, nobody knows, because we're going to have to determine if we have revenue growth," Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said.

State Republican Party chairman Joe Nosef said "these same Democrat legislators who are now criticizing tax cuts actually voted in favor of them in prior legislative sessions."

House Minority Leader David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, said he offered to debate the bill Tuesday after Democrats received budget information. Republicans, though, said Baria didn't make that offer clearly or early enough.
There is no starker commentary about Connecticuts insolvency than the development that the remains of the unknown dead will be left to an unceremonious end because the state has run out money to store them.

Citing budget constraints and an increased workload resulting from the opioid epidemic, the states Chief Medical Examiner will stop collecting the bodies of those who die without family or friends starting in the new fiscal year, which begins Friday.

The price tag to the municipality per corpse is estimated at about $200, the amount it would have to pay a local funeral home to pick up and transport the body. As municipalities complain about more bucks being passed on by the state, the reality is that the financial setback will be primarily absorbed by private funeral homes. The average taxpayer wont feel the shift, but paying customers at funeral homes could start getting higher bills.

Traditionally, the chief medical examiner has taken possession of some 100 unclaimed bodies a year. Some are turned over to state medical schools, though supply apparently surpasses demand. In some cases, these are people who died penniless; now, even their deaths have been compromised by a lack of cash.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) and the Council of Small Towns are now asking the medical examiner to press state Attorney General George Jepsen to definitively declare who holds the responsibility for unclaimed bodies.

Chief Medical Examiner James Gill says the practice has been a courtesy since county morgues were eliminated half a century ago. The system merited reconsideration long before this crisis, since there could be more practical and dignified solutions than transporting and passing on the bodies to Farmington.

Bureaucracy can be merciless, but the declaration of this transition was made in the most graceless of manners. Gill delivered the news in an email, which some political leaders in the state read as political gamesmanship.

The intent doesnt matter. The problem is that this decision should not have been made in a vacuum, without an appropriate transition period to evaluate the readiness of municipalities to assume such a profound responsibility. The end of a persons life should not be settled in such a cavalier manner.

Nor should Jepsen be expected to come up with the answer. This shouldnt be a matter of legality, but of management, and the handling of this issue puts Gills leadership into question.

He suggested municipalities work with the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association and police. Regardless of whether the problem is addressed by the funeral directors, the attorney general or groups such as CCM, the wheels of bureaucracy will grind up even more financial resources.

The MEs office should continue to handle these cases until an appropriate solution is identified, even if its simply a matter of buying time for towns and cities to develop workable systems.

This cant be the only case of severe cuts causing a backlash of inefficiencies. In many fictional murder mysteries, the corpse in the room is often a clue to broader societal malfeasance. This Dante-esque scenario may merely be a grim way of revealing that there is costly dysfunction in state operations.
Cuba and Finland sign debt regularization agreement

Ricardo Cabrisas, Vice-president of the Cuban Council of Ministers, and Peter Stenlund, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Finland, signed on Monday the agreement that regulates the debt of Official Development Assistance between the two states.

On March 17, 2016, the two parties signed the Agreement for the regularization of commercial debt, which leaves completely normalized the financial relationship between Finland and Cuba, offering the possibility of reestablishing financial facilities in the medium and long term, reports the Granma daily.

As part of the implementation process of the Multilateral Agreement signed between the island and the Ad-Hoc Group of Cuba Creditor Countries in the Paris Club, Cabrisas and Secretary of State Stenlund confirmed the willingness to work to increase economic and commercial exchanges, investment and cooperation between the two nations.
TUPELO, Miss. - A Tupelo family, backed by a Moss Point native, Attorney Carlos Moore, is calling for legal action against a Tupelo police officer and other city officials following the death of a man in a police encounter.

Antwun "Ronnie" Shumpert, 37, died June 18. According to Moss Point attorney Carlos Moore, Shumpert was pulled over while driving a car owned by his friend Charles Foster, who was a passenger in the vehicle at the time. According to Moore, Foster said that Shumpert looked as if he had seen a ghost, said that he was going to run, and then jumped out of the car and fled on foot before the officer approached the car.

According to Moore, Foster remained in the car while the officer pursued Shumpert. Foster reportedly saw the officer running after Shumpert with his hand on his gun and two minutes later, Foster heard gunfire.

According to WTVA in Tupelo, the Tupelo Police Department stated in a press release on June 19, "A search for the suspect led officers to the suspect's hiding place under a house. The suspect emerged from hiding and attacked the K9 unit and officer. During the struggle, the suspect was shot."

Next, according to WTVA, the police department released the following timeline of events detailing what happened the night Shumpert passed:

9:38 p.m. - vehicle is pulled over. 9:47 p.m. - request for medics. 9:48 p.m. - ambulance dispatched. 9:50 p.m. - medics on the scene. 10:03 p.m. - Shumpert transported to North Mississippi Medical Center.

According to a report in the Clarion-Ledger, Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton said the city stands behind its officer and believes the use of force was justified but extended condolences to Shumpert's family. Shelton also has said the shooting will be investigated by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.

Moore said that Officer Tyler Cook allowed his K-9 officer to cause significant injury to Shumpert's groin, and pictures acquired by the Mississippi Press also shows a swollen eye and teeth pushed into the back of Shumpert's throat. An eyewitness according to Moore saw Shumpert surrendering when Officer Cook walked up to Shumpert and fired three shots into his chest and one into his abdomen.

Officer Tyler Cook of the Tupelo Police Department is accused of killing Ronnie 'Antwun' Shumpert on June 18. Cook is currently on paid administrative leave.

"The family wants the city of Tupelo to immediately terminate Tyler Cook, we want him to be arrested immediately and charged with murder," Moore said.

"The family would also like for the police chief to resign and for the Mayor to issue an apology and retraction of premature statements calling the shooting justified," Moore said. "The family is also calling on the United States Department of Justice to review to entire Tupelo Police Department similar to their actions in Ferguson, Missouri, and the family is demanding the city of Tupelo takes down the Mississippi state flag that bears the Confederate emblem from all city property. Lastly, the family is calling for the K-9 officer to be suspended immediately and to undergo a temperament evaluation to determine if he should be euthanized."

According to a WVTA report, Moore said at a Monday press conference that he was giving the City of Tupelo 72 hours "to come to grips with what I announced." He said that if a settlement was not reached by Thursday, he would file a federal lawsuit.
Many of the dogs rescued today from a suspected animal cruelty situation in Jefferson County, Ark., have mange and skin, ear, and eye infections. Most are emaciated. Photo by Meredith Lee/The HSUS

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The HSUS Animal Rescue Team and local law enforcement officials descended this morning on a horrific sight on a property in Jefferson County, Arkansas  yet another animal crisis situation in the Natural State. In a darkened house, littered with filth, feces, urine, and junk, lived 46 dogs. Most were severely emaciated, with bald patches where fur should have covered them. The dogs were of all ages, and many appeared to have mange and skin, ear, and eye infections. The smell of ammonia was so overpowering that our rescuers struggled to breathe, even with respirators strapped on.

The dogs were essentially living in their own waste in every area of the house, said Chris Schindler, director of animal crimes at The HSUS. There were thousands of flies all over the placethe sound was unreal.

There was no food or water in sight. The owner of the property had been rationing food out to the dogs, and because they had so little, the dogs had been fighting each other for the insufficient scraps provided.

The dogs have been removed from the property by the Jefferson County Sheriffs office, pending the disposition of this case. They are being taken to a temporary shelter where they will be thoroughly examined by a team of veterinarians and receive any necessary immediate medical treatment. Responders from RedRover and the Humane Society of Saline County are assisting with the temporary caretaking of the animals, and other groups, including Greater Good, Rescue Bank, Halo, and PetSmart Charities are providing food and financial support for the temporary shelter. The dogs are fairly unsocialized but we believe that with some work they will come around and be ready for adoption. But that will take time.

Our Animal Rescue Team is often on the ground, helping local law enforcement rescue dogs from puppy mill and dogfighting situations. But we also take on cases of neglect, general cruelty, and large scale neglect cases, like this one. The blend of animal cruelty and neglect can be a challenge: with the laws as they exist, theres often little that we can do to prevent defendants from acquiring animals again and putting them at risk. Law enforcement and animal welfare organizations end up bearing the long-term costs of medical care and sheltering for the animals, and the animals pay the biggest price.

It is important that animal cruelty charges that result in meaningful penalties are in place as a necessary part of an effective response from the judicial system. In cases of hoarding, we ask that the courts impose a period of long-term probation, a ban on animal ownership for these individuals, and psychological counseling. If we are to break the cycle, we must have multiple agencies play a role, including those specializing in psychiatric treatment.

Thanks to the members of our team, our partnering organization, and law enforcement personnel who pulled the dogs out of this nightmarish situation. Well provide updates on humanesociety.org.
Hear from Pa. voters who say they support Oz but can't back Mastriano
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.
A pink obsessed rock journalist who loved her punk look agreed to have a makeover after a friend urged her to revamp her wardrobe.

Aggy, 25, who lives in Nottingham, is a self-confessed 'pinkoholic' and loved to team the girly colour with her alternative style.

As she appeared on 5Star show 100% Hotter wearing a pink latex crop top and frilly mini skirt, she said she thought she looked 'fabulous'.

Aggy said she thought she looked 'fabulous' in her favourite pink shades as she appeared on 5Star show 100% Hotter after being nominated for a makeunder

The stylists toned down her hair and makeup and dressed her in black, with Aggy approving of her new image

But she revealed not everyone agreed with her as she used to get bullied at school because her peers in the Scottish village of Kirkcaldy were she grew up found her 'different' look intimidating.

The daughter of a punk, she started dying her hair bright pink from the age of 15 and got a wardrobe to match.

She accessorised with wristbands she'd collected from numerous rock music festivals and wore pink platforms and boots and ripped tights.

But the 100% Hotter style team - made up of fashionista Grace Woodward, hair designer Daniel K Palmer and makeup artist Melissa Sophia - said it was time for Aggy to overhaul her image.

They said she needed to stop modelling herself on the 'girly Marilyn Manson' vibe she'd created for herself as a teenager and go for something more grown-up.

Aggy appeared on the show with her friend Paula, left, who wanted her to learn there are more colours to wear than pink

Aggy with fashion stylist Grace Woodward who told her to she look like a sexy rock chick with the right outfit

Grace told her: 'I think the idea in your had isn't quite coming out in the outfit. You need to become a grown up hot, sexy, rock chick.'

Daniel agreed: 'She was going for Courtney Love but it was more scarecrow. Her hair look like the hair of a schoolgirl who is just trying out bleaching her hair at home for the first time.

'But she's a school girl anymore, she's a confident woman.'

'I think the idea in your had isn't quite coming out in the outfit. You need to become a grown up hot, sexy, rock chick

Aggy was nominated to appear on the show by her best friend, Paula, who wanted her to discover there is more to style than pink.

She said: 'When I first saw Aggy she walked into the room head to toe in pink including her hair.

'I think she is beautiful and it would be lovely to see her with her natural beauty. We all love pink but Aggy there are other colours you could look good in.'

Aggy said she was reluctant to give up her image as she thought she looked good but she was up for seeing what the experts recommended.

She said: 'I just love pink, it is the best colour, isn't it? When I was growing up my bedroom was completely pink, pink curtains, pink bedding.'

She added: 'I am very happy with the way I look.'

The team asked Aggy to take to the streets of London to confess she is a 'pinkoholic' in the hope of helping her shake off her penchant for the shade.

Aggy said she was happy with her look before, left, but also loved her makeunder and said she would keep the brown hair, toned down makeup and more understated clothes

They also asked people to rate her look and she scored a low average score of three out of ten.

But Aggy was not deterred by their views saying of the people who judged her: 'No offence to them but they were all very boring looking so my look is going to be extreme.'

However, she added that even though her mother is into alternative style, she is also keen for her to tone down her image.

'She is worried about weird guys perving on me,' Aggy admitted.

She said it would be 'interesting' to see what makeunder the stylists would give with, with Grace telling her she needs to 'grow up, cover up and lose the latex.'

Grace dressed Aggy in an all black ensemble with a gold bee brooch and allowed her to keep wearing her beloved festival wristbands, but said she could cover them with a gold bangle on some occasions.

Daniel dyed her hair brown and gave her big waves, while Melissa toned down her make-up using tones that better complemented her skin tone.

Despite saying she still thought she looked 'fabulous' before, Aggy said she was delighted with her new image.

She said: 'I don't look like me at all. It is totally different to what I would usually wear but I love the hair and makeup. I totally love it it, it is like a different face but in a nice way. I love it thank you so much.'

Paula agreed saying her friend now looks 'classy and 'beautiful'.

Aggy said: 'I am so glad I came on the show and so grateful she nominated me.

'I am going to keep this look. I look like a woman now, grown up but not too grown up.'

The 100% Hotter team achieved her objective as her new look was rated 8.9 out of 10 by the public.

Aggy said of the score: 'The public seem really hard to please, I think I looked fabulous before and fabulous now. I think 8 is a bit offensive, I think I am a ten!'
There's no doubt that Kylie Jenner is the worldwide queen when it comes to lips.

But achieving your own plump, full lips may not be too far away thanks to a new beauty technique - lip tattooing.

Australian beauty vlogger Rachael Annear, from Sydney, has put the tattoo technique to the test, undergoing the treatment in search of lip perfection and sharing the process online.

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Lip tattoo: Beauty vlogger Rachael Annear underwent lip tattoo treatment and recorded the process on video

In a video of the process posted to her YouTube page, Ms Annear admits that she is slightly nervous before beginning her $800 treatment.

She tells viewers that in a previous consultation she chose her lip colour, opting for a 'natural pink'.

'We came up with a combination that I like (in a previous consultation) and Im not going to lie, Im a little bit nervous,' she said.

Price of beauty: The lip tattoo treatment generally costs anywhere from $700 to $900 and involves three consultations

'I really want it to be quite natural and look like my lips, but better.'

Lying down on the bed, the beauty therapists apply a numbing cream to her lips before the procedure gets underway.

After outlining her lips it's on to colouring them in with her chosen shade, a process that appears quite painful.

Once completed, Ms Annear's lips instantly swell up, but she says the pain wasn't unbearable.

'Honestly, it didnt hurt too bad,' she said.

Painful process: Beginning by outlining her lips the procedure then involves tattooing the whole lip

End goal: Ms Annear shows how she expects her lips to look (bottom lip) once the swelling (top lip) has gone down

'It just felt a lot of the time like pushing really hard with a little bit of a scratchy feeling at the end, as if someone was using a pin.'

Over the coming days the beauty vlogger sees a progression from her initially swollen lips to dry, cracking lips and then eventually peeling lips.

So Im not going to lie, yesterday afternoon it was pretty painful once all the anaesthetic wore off,' Ms Annear said the day following her procedure.

'It definitely had a kind of burning feeling and was definitely very uncomfortable.

Side effects: Ms Annear experienced intense swelling in her lips post-procedure before they began to dry out and crack

Ouch! 'It looks kind of gross but I'm assured this is all normal and they will go back to looking really nice really soon,' Ms Annear said

'It looks kind of gross but I'm assured this is all normal and they will go back to looking really nice really soon.'

Ensuring that she kept her lips hydrated, eventually after a few weeks the swelling and flaking goes away.

Two months post operation Ms Annear's lips finally reach the colour she'd intended and appears happy with the results.

'Its been about two months since I got my lips tattooed and the colour has settled pretty much to where it's supposed to be, a kind of neutral pink colour,' she said.

Success! 'Im really happy with the colour and overall I'm really happy with the process,' Ms Annear said

With her lips now properly healed it's time for Ms Annear's second round treatment, a small touch up.

The second-time around Ms Annear said the pain was reduced 'a thousand times' and was 'nothing that a bit of nurofen and ice couldn't fix'.

Again some six weeks after her touch-up the swelling and side-effects of the procedure had gone away and the beauty vlogger was thrilled with the results.

'Im really happy with the colour and overall I'm really happy with the process,' Ms Annear said.

'Definitely make sure your tattooist is reputable. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.'
Her mother is one of the most stylish women on the international stage, but she certainly has stiff competition emerging.

Princess Iman of Jordan, 19, Queen Rania's lookalike daughter is fast emerging as a style icon in her own right.

And it's no surprise that the young royal is taking inspiration from her mother's chic choices, mirroring her outfits when the pair step out in public together.

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The Princess attended the Grand Opening of the Medef Summer Conference in Jouy-en-Josas, near Paris last summer with her mother in a very similar ensemble

Even at the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden to Daniel Westling back in June 2010 the 13-year-old was already showing signs of following her mother's fashionable footsteps

As well as sharing her mother's fashion sense, Princess Iman - the second eldest child of Queen Rania and King Abdullah of Jordan - certainly takes after her mother in looks.

Sharing the same brown eyes and flowing locks, the pair could be mistaken for sisters.

The sporty young royal graduated from International Academy Amman in 2014 and was awarded top female athlete in her class.

She is now studying at Georgetown University in Washington where her older brother Crown Prince Hussein is majoring in international history.

The stunning royal pair can pull off casual looks as well as dressing up for formal events

Queen Rania with three of her children (left to right) Princess Iman, Prince Hashem and Pincess Salma

Iman is currently studying in Washington DC but joins her mother on royal engagements during breaks from her studies

However, on her breaks from university she joins her mother on official engagements, giving her the opportunity to show off her sartorial prowess.

The Princess attended the Grand Opening of the Medef Summer Conference in Jouy-en-Josas, near Paris last summer with her mother.

And the pair looked like they could be sisters in white dresses, nude shoes and cream handbags.

Queen Rania looked elegant in a cream knee-length dress that had billowing sleeves with slits to the elbow and a neck-tie detailing.

She carried a pale pink box-style bag by Kate Spade and wore high-heeled pointed courts with a tie-fastening.

Even when the one is dressed up and the other is casual, they still look co-ordinated (left). The pair step out in matching black dresses (right)

Princess Iman has adopted her mother's modest sense of style

Iman on her high school graduation day with (left to right) her brother Crown Prince Hussein, sister Princess Salma, mother Queen Rania, father King Abdullah

Meanwhile young Princess Iman bint Abdullah looked smart in a white dress with a bold red pattern around the waist, caged beige sandals and a white crochet cardigan.

Even at the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden to Daniel Westling back in June 2010 the 14-year-old was already showing signs of following her mother's fashionable footsteps.

Queen Rania stunned in a deep purple gown with a cowl neck, while her daughter wore midnight blue.

Princess Iman (right) pictured with her sister Princess Salma shares the same brown eyes and flowing locks as her mother Queen Rania (left)

Princess Iman (center) and her mother (right) could be mistaken for sisters

The pair can pull off casual looks with equal aplomb.

For a meeting with community groups who promote good citizenship, Princess Iman was refreshingly casual in blue jeans and a simple white t-shirt, while her mother was elegant in black ankle skimming trousers and a white polo neck blouse.

Queen Rania is a devout Muslim and always respects the modesty guidelines of her religion, choosing midi skirts, long sleeved tops and loose fitting cuts.

And her daughter also sticks to modest looks, without sacrificing style.

They have been spotted in Jordan in matching black dresses, but even when the one is dressed up and the other is casual, they still look co-ordinated.
Chelsy Davy, Prince Harry's on-off girlfriend for the best part of seven years, has embraced her African heritage by launching an ethical jewellery line inspired by the continent.

The 30-year-old, who was raised in Zimbabwe before moving to Chelsea, West London, even gave up her job as a lawyer in magic circle law firm Allen & Overy to fulfil her design dream.

And the result is a collection of delicate gold pieces studded with jewels all hand-picked by the socialite, who is still close to members of the royal family.

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Back in the spotlight: Chelsy Davy, now 30, who dated Prince Harry for seven years on and off has revealed that she found the media intrusion into her relationship with the young royal 'crazy and scary'

In a statement on her company Aya's website, Chelsy wrote: 'Africa has always been an integral part of my life and will always be my home.

'It is an absolutely fascinating continent and I was inspired by its rich culture and the bold and vibrant nature of African design.

'I wanted to do something a little different and showcase these beautiful coloured gemstones in modern and contemporary designs.

'The gemstones in the pieces are so magnificent on their own that they dont need diamonds.

'After studying coloured stones at GIA, I am now obsessed with all the different gemstones out there and would love to work with gemstones from all over Africa.'

Aya means 'fern' in African Adinkra symbology - visual symbols that represents concepts or theories.

AYA has a focus on ethical jewels, therefore no diamonds are contained in the company's opening series. Pictured left: Kayila Earrings with emeralds (690) and right: Chete Ring, also with emeralds (690)

In a statement on AYA's website, Chelsy wrote: 'Africa has always been an integral part of my life and will always be my home'. Pictured: Nyami Nyami Necklace with tanzanites (990)

Chelsy was inspired by Africa's rich culture and the bold and vibrant nature of African design'. Pictured left: Toka-Leya Ruby Necklace (1,690) and right: Mosi-oa-Tunya Emerald Earrings (650)

Speaking about her company, she added: 'AYA is not a charity, it is a luxury brand of beautiful top quality stones and solid gold'. Pictured: Matusadona Ruby Ring (480)

A fern can grow in unusual places, needs very little water and can withstand tough climates, and the company hopes that their gemstones will also show endurance and durability.

Aya has just launched the Zambezi Collection - named after the river Zambezi which runs through six countries in Africa.

Items range from tusk-inspired earrings studded with emeralds for 690 and a tanzanite necklace for 990 up to a 1,500 pair of emerald earrings and a 1,690 ruby necklace.

Chelsy now divides her time between Zimbabwe, where her family - her former Miss Rhodesia 1973 mother and millionaire safari operator - is based, her jewellery mine in Zambia and her West London home.

Chelsy said: 'I wanted to do something a little different and showcase these beautiful coloured gemstones in modern and contemporary designs'. Pictured: Cahora Bassa Necklace with a ruby (1,350)

AYA means 'fern' in African Adinkra symbology - visual symbols that represents concepts or theories. Pictured: Sanyati Earrings with emeralds (1,500)

She founded Aya after studying finance law for three years before revisiting Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi, Madagascar and Uganda - the places she loved in her youth.

Her interest in coloured gemstones grew and she began studying at the Gemological Institute of America before deciding to launch her African-based jewellery firm.

Each 18-carat gold piece in the collection has been sourced through ethical mining - from emeralds in Zambia to rubies in Mozambique and tanzanites in Tanzania.

Each 18-carat gold piece in the collection has been sourced through ethical mining - from emeralds in Zambia to rubies in Mozambique and tanzanites in Tanzania

Chelsy said: 'After studying coloured stones at GIA, I am now obsessed with all the different gemstones out there and would love to work with gemstones from all over Africa'

Chelsy has yet to start working with diamonds that fit the company's approach.

'Aya is not a charity, it is a luxury brand of beautiful top quality stones and solid gold,' said Chelsy. 'But it won't neglect the communities from where they are sourced.'

Each piece of jewellery is hand-crafted and every gemstone is hand-selected.

As Chelsy promotes her new line, she has also given a glimpse of what it was like to date a royal.

Last week, Chelsy was joined by her longtime pal Eugenie for the launch of her jewellery range AYA at Baar and Bass in London

When Harry and Chelsy split in 2010, she says she retreated once again to her native Zimbabwe unable to handle the break-up headlines. 'It was nuts,' she told The Times. 'That's also why I wanted to go back to Africa. Now it's calm, it's fine.'

She says she'll always 'be good friends' with Harry and indeed remained so much a part of the royal circle that she was invited to William and Kate's wedding in 2011.

An Aya pendant: Chelsy now divides her time between Zimbabwe, where her family is based, her jewellery mine in Zambia and west London

Last week Chelsy was joined by her longtime pal Princess Eugenie for the launch of AYA at Baar and Bass in London.

The pair were clearly delighted to be reunited, ignoring the cameras completely as they shared a long hug at the fashion boutique in Chelsea.

This weekend, the blonde wore a striking red dress with Hunter wellies to attend Glastonbury festival alongside Princess Eugenie and another of Harry's ex-girlfriends, Cressida Bonas.

Glasto gal: The 30-year-old lawyer turned businesswoman rocked a dressed down look at Worthy Farm in a simple red dress and a pair of classic Hunter wellies

Chelsy appeared in high spirits as she happily chatted to friends while walking around before heading to one of the stages this weekend

Chelsy looked as glamorous as ever, dazzling in a white playsuit complete with lace detailing showcasing her trademark tan and blonde locks.

The businesswoman also revealed that attending Cheltenham Ladies College as a teenager was like being plunged into a different world where schoolgirls wore make-up and grew up 'more quickly'.
Whats worse, finding out your partner slept with someone else, or was in love with someone else?

How you answer that question still depends very much on who you are: a man or a woman.

A new study designed to test whether traditional gender stereotypes on infidelity are holding true has come back with a resounding yes.

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A recent study has shown that men and women react to certain types of infidelity differently

Men are still more upset by physical betrayals and women are upset by both physical and emotional infidelity.

Researchers asked 354 US university students to complete an online questionnaire on infidelity (results published in the journal Sexual and Relationship Therapy).

They were given a list of acts ranging from sexual deeds like kissing and intercourse to emotional actions like falling in love but not acting on it and fantasising (including watching porn).

The students then rated each activity on a scale from 1 (definitely not infidelity) to 4 (definitely infidelity).

The results found women were more likely to classify both sex-based and emotion based acts as cheating while men were more likely to say only sexual acts constitute infidelity.

Which is pretty much exactly what another, much larger study of 64,000 Americans (of all ages and sexuality) found last year (this one published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior).

Tracey Cox says men and women view infidelity very differently

Straight men continue to be the ones most likely to be upset by sexual infidelity (more on why below).

Fifty-four percent of heterosexual men were more upset about sexual physical infidelity than ANY emotional connection their girlfriend or wife had made.

Only 35 per cent of the straight women were bothered more by the physical infidelity than the emotional.

Younger people were more upset about physical straying though, interestingly, bi-sexual and gay men and women are less bothered than heterosexuals about both!

Heres how each gender stacked up.

What counts as cheating: men vs women?

PHYSICAL ACTS

Full sex

Pretty much everyone agrees that having intercourse with someone else while in a committed, monogamous relationship is cheating.

Foreplay

This is where the human double standard kicks in big time: if its you having a play around youre likely to say its not as bad as having intercourse  especially if youre a man.

If your partner does it, it almost always counts as cheating.

Kissing

A drunken kiss with a stranger is seen as more forgivable than a kiss with a significant ex and a stolen kiss at the start of a relationship is more likely to be forgiven than when the two of you are established.

EMOTIONAL BETRAYALS

Falling in love but not acting on it. More men consider a one night stand with a stranger cheating than their partner falling in love with someone.

Most of the men in the recent study said only sex acts count as infidelity.Nearly all women see this as a betrayal.

Just friends 

What about those work husbands and work wives  the people we see every day and spend lots of time with, often confiding all our deep, dark spousal secrets?

Again, its mostly women who count this as cheating (justifiably it seems: the incidence of people leaving their partners for their best friend at work is high, even if nothing physical happens until afterward).

Men are still more upset by physical betrayals and women are upset by both physical and emotional infidelity

Sexting

In one survey (commissioned by a law firm dealing in divorce) almost half of women (49 per cent) and 34 per cent of men considered sending or receiving suggestive texts or photos to be cheating.

Sexting and jealousy caused by flirting via social media is one of the biggest issues to cause arguments for young couples today.

Fantasising

Fantasising about someone else or watching porn was an area where gender didnt made a difference and both sexes scored low.

Which is surprising since women have always been far more likely to consider porn as cheating than men have (virtually none do).

Mind you, we are talking passively watching porn, rather than interacting with a person onscreen or having webcam sex.

Being attracted to other people

While no-one particularly wants to hear about it, both men and women tend to agree this isnt infidelity.

The world doesnt cease to be full of handsome or pretty people when youre in love; its whether you act on these feelings thats important.

Having opposite sex friends (or same sex friends if youre gay)

This seems to depend more on the history between the two people and how open and included in the friendship you feel (and on whether you have similar friendships yourself) than gender.

Almost half of women (49 per cent) and 34 per cent of men considered sending or receiving suggestive texts or photos to be cheating

WHY THE MALE/FEMALE DIVIDE?

So why do men react more to physical betrayal? It all goes back to evolution and the fact that men face something women will never have to face.

Are they the real father of their children? Paternity uncertainty  conscious or innate - could be the reason why physical infidelity triggers such a threat for men.

Even if there arent children to suddenly view suspiciously or the potential of future offspring, lots of experts believe the instinct is primitively ignited.

There may also be a very simple explanation as to why women are disturbed by both emotional and physical betrayals.

This study (and others) show women care more about relationships than men do, so anything that undermines them is seen as a threat.

Despite their differences, both sexes did agree on two fundamentals.

We might all have different definitions of infidelity and tick different boxes in a survey, but on an intuitive level, we know what our partner would consider crossing the line.

Also, while sexual infidelity tends to make people feel angry and emotional cheating makes people feel wounded, both types of betrayal hurt both sexes.

What counts much more than gender in all this is individuality. The bottom line, say the researchers of this most recent survey, is (as always) communication.

It isnt what most men or most women think; its what your partner thinks. And the only way youll find that out is to talk to them about their personal definition of infidelity and spell out whats acceptable and whats not to you.
The gowns have appeared on Gray's Online as part of a liquidation auction

She was accused of owing more than $1 million to the Tax Office

For Australian brides-to-be on the hunt for an affordable gown, you may be in luck.

A number of couture wedding gowns from Australian designer Johanna Johnson's Sydney showroom have appeared on online retail and auction company, Gray's Online, with a starting price of just $9.

Hundreds of gowns, which retail for up to $15,000, were placed on the site by an insolvency company on Tuesday as the designer's empire was pushed into liquidation earlier this year.

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Business troubles: Popular Australian designer Johanna Johnson (pictured) saw her business pushed into liquidation earlier this year after being accused of owing more than $1 million to the Tax Office

Liquidation: A number of wedding gowns from Australian designer Johanna Johnson's Sydney showroom have appeared on online retail and auction company, Gray's Online, with a starting price of just $9

The liquidation auction, which comes after Ms Johnson was accused of owing more than $1 million to the Tax Office, is made up of single evening pieces and bundles of five gowns - some of which can be purchased for less than $300.

There are also shift dresses, ivory floor length gowns, mini dresses, capes and fur coats on sale.

The pieces are described as being used 'for demonstration and fitting purposes' and some may 'be soiled and contain areas of fabric damage, blemishes and general wear and tear.'

Bargain: Hundreds of gowns, which retail for up to $15,000, were placed on the site by an Insolvency company

Auctioning off the showroom: Many of the items have already been bid on by several punters wishing to get their hands on the popular designer clothing

Many of the items have already been bid on by several punters wishing to get their hands on the popular designer clothing.

A spokesperson for Johanna Johnson told Daily Mail Australia that the items listed on Gray's online are sample gowns - 'not exclusive stock.'

'All customers who ordered dresses under Johanna Johnson Pty Ltd [Ms Johnson's previous company] were offered the continuation of their gown orders if they wished,' she said.

'It has been an extremely challenging time for Jo personally and professionally. Her focus continues to be on the wellbeing of her young family and maintaining the commitment she made to her brides to ensure they receive their wedding dresses as promised.

Ms Johnson would has also thanked all 'loyal Australian and international clientele for their support through this process.'

Not a smooth run: Supreme Court Justice Paul Brereton originally gave the Sydney-based designer time to convince the court she had a plan in place to pay off her debts, but she failed to do so

Lawyers for Johanna Johnson are in the process of negotiating with the liquidator of Johanna Johnson Pty Ltd and hope to resolve all outstanding matters in the following weeks.

Earlier in the year, Supreme Court Justice Paul Brereton gave the Sydney-based designer time to convince the court she had a plan in place to pay off her debts, but it appears she fell short as her business later fell into liquidation.

When approached by A Current Affair in May, the designer denied that she owed over $1 million.

'I've got nothing to hide,' she told the program.

'Sorry, sorry that figure ($1.1 million) is incorrect and unsubstantiated, If you want to talk to me I'm happy to talk to you properly.'

When pressed by the reporter on ignoring attempts to be contacted, she said she was not in a position to legally comment.

According to court-appointed liquidator Tim Cook, who placed the items on the site, Ms Johnson's assets would be sold as a result.

Addressing the masses: Ms Johnson shared a post to her large following on April 14, saying her business is being moved to the United States, but that 'all manufacturing and local client sales will remain in Sydney'

Not impressed: Over the past few months, Ms Johnson's Facebook page has been inundated with comments from brides-to-be questioning the future of their wedding dresses

Over the past few months, Ms Johnson's Facebook page has been inundated with comments from brides-to-be questioning the future of their wedding dresses, with some claiming Ms Johnson has 'not even bothered to send any kind of email'.

'Imagine being 12 weeks out from your wedding with no idea whether you would have a dress to wear on your big day,' one distressed woman wrote.

'The only assurance I have is from comments on Facebook from a director who has not even bothered to send any kind of email or letter informing of what is going on'.

One customer, who did not want to be named, told The ABC after voicing her concerns she was told to 'just breathe'.

Another said she paid $2,500 for her dress, but has started to search for a new gown for her August wedding after finding out the company was pushed into liquidation.

Update: She later said she would be reaching out to each client personally to address their issues

Beloved by the stars: Johanna Johnson has dressed some of Hollywood's biggest stars including Maria Menounos (left) and Chrissy Teigen (right)

In April, the court also heard Ms Johnson's company had 'failed to pay employee superannuation entitlements over many years, with one employee claiming she was owed more than $35,000 in contractual damages and penalties.

Ms Johnson shared a post to her large following on April 14, saying her business is being moved to the United States, but that 'all manufacturing and local client sales will remain in Sydney'.

'To facilitate this expansion the Australian company will undergo a process of administration as the management operations are transitioned to the US head office,' the statement read.

'This is simply an internal process and we are very excited for the possibilities this will bring for both the brand and our treasured clientele as we continue to deliver our "Made in Australia" product to the world.'

'We aren't going anywhere': The designer's Facebook page has been relatively active since, with Ms Johnson posting snaps of dress fittings and weddings to give a 'business as usual' feel

Popular designer: Delta Goodrem's gold fringe outfit worn on The Voice Australia left Ms Johnson inundated with calls for the $5,000 fringed cape and camisole combo

A-list interest: Madonna's stylist has told Johnson the star wants to work with her on pieces

Ms Johnson, who has had her clothing and jewellery worn by many Hollywood stars including Madonna, Delta Goodrem and Pink, also took to Facebook in May saying she had been 'unable to comment' due to legal proceedings.

She assured followers that she was working towards being able to deliver 'all orders concerning my former business as previously assured' and advised clients that she would be reaching out to them personally.
When your elderly father emails you while on holiday, you dont expect to open the message to find pictures of a young Thai girl draped over him, in various stages of undress.

You do expect some words, though  perhaps he might ask about his grandchildren, or send his love. You dont expect the two words your 75-year-old father types to be: Thai Adventure.

While my father, Dennis, now 81, has always been something of a character  determined, energetic, fearless  even by his standards this so-called adventure was astonishing.

Polly's father, Dennis, and his new wife Ta who he met on one of his holidays to Thailand and is more than 40 years his junior

It would also have worrying consequences, longer term. My life with husband, Mark, a retail manager, and our two children, Daisy, 30, and Jack, 28, was comfortingly stable.

But this visit to Thailand would ultimately lead to the fracturing of my extended family and to me spending many nights awake, worrying for the wellbeing of my much-loved Dad. One consolation, I suppose, is that none of this affected my mother, Jennifer.

She was long immune to anything Dad did. They had married in 1956, but it was a tempestuous relationship and they split up when I was just 18 months old.

I was my parents only child, and despite the breakdown of their marriage I saw Dad regularly and we stayed close. Quite simply, I adored him.

He was always so affectionate. When hed drop me off at Mums after an access visit, hed cry even more than me.

He was also larger than life. A charismatic character who relished the risk inherent in his occupations as a diver and then a trawlerman, he was exhilarating company.

As a result, it wasnt long before he found love again, marrying a wonderful woman called Babs with whom he went on to have two children. My newly extended family functioned well  although I still lived with Mum at the time, I was delighted when Babs gave birth to my two half-siblings.

She and Dad remained married for 24 years, but sadly divorced in 1991.

Dad then met Celia, who had three children of her own, and they went on to marry. They were incredibly happy and I know Dad thought he would live out his years with her  but it wasnt to be. After 15 years together, Celia died from breast cancer in 2006 at the age of 60. Dad was 70 by then, and bereft. Hed lost his soulmate.

Again and again, hed say how hed always expected Celia to be the one whod look after him when he was dying, not the other way around. His grief was overwhelming, but all his children assumed hed marry again eventually, including me. Hes never been happy on his own.

After some time, Dad started dating again, but quickly ruled out all the women he met, dismissing them as too wrinkly. He never seemed to realise he was pretty wrinkly himself.

And while Babs and Celia had been some 10 years younger than him, none of us foresaw what would happen next.

Claiming a friend  who Ive never met  had bullied him into it, Dad flitted off on holiday to Pattaya, Thailand, a spot well known for its wild nightlife.

Three weeks later, Dads shocking email arrived. I was stunned, expecting to see pictures of beautiful Thai landscapes, not images of my elderly father with a young woman draped over him, sitting in his hotel room wearing just a dressing gown.

Admittedly, Dad had always been frank about his love life, but this was on another level. I was so taken aback that I had no idea how to react, other than to ask the age of the girl.

At 32  although she looked even younger  she was more than 40 years Dads junior. They met while she was working in a bar, though he insisted this didnt make her one of Thailands notorious bar girls, many of whom effectively work as prostitutes while selling drinks to foreigners.

On his return to the UK, Dad was cagey whenever I brought up the subject, insisting that this girl was genuinely in love with him and maintaining contact with her through occasional phone calls and Skype.

I couldnt help but feel uncomfortable that my father was dating someone barely older than my daughter.

But the irritation I caused whenever I suggested that his new girlfriend might be more motivated by financial expediency than love made me reluctant to bring up the subject.

After losing his wife, Polly's father flitted off on holiday to Pattaya, Thailand (pictured) - a spot well known for its wild nightlife

I didnt want to fall out with Dad, although I was concerned that his usual hard-headed realism seemed to have deserted him, along with his sense of humour.

Since then, Dad has visited Thailand again over the years and had several Thai girlfriends, all much younger than him. Whenever family members expressed concern for him, he would instantly become defensive.

But while he may have felt patronised by our worries, they soon began to seem well founded.

Suddenly, Dad seemed short of money and had ceased using almost all the rooms in his three-bedroom detached house to save on fuel.

Meanwhile, hed occasionally mention sending money to Thailand to pay for a seemingly endless series of funerals for girlfriends relatives, or to replace dead cows.

Im not a bloody idiot, he said, whenever anyone questioned him.

It got worse. Dad started talking about marrying first one, and then another of his girlfriends, to give them access to his pension. Our anxiety levels soared when he mentioned selling his house.

I tried hard to talk him out of that, worried hed move to Thailand, then run out of money and end up broke and homeless there  which isnt as unusual as you might think.

Hed never been rich, but the home he and Celia had worked so hard to buy was worth almost 200,000.

And while Id never expected to inherit anything from him  Id prefer Dad to spend his money on whatever he pleases  I was concerned that he had made Celia a solemn promise on her deathbed that the proceeds of their house would be shared equally between their children when he eventually died.

It seemed a fair promise  one that Dad had insisted he would honour.

That is, until he met a Thai woman called Ta during a trip in 2014. In contrast to his previous girlfriends, Dad really enjoyed telling me that he was dating an older woman now.

How old is she? I asked.

Same age as you, he smirked  which is 56.

As ever I tried not to react to Dads provocations but, inside, I felt profoundly depressed.

Ta, said Dad, was different from the others, because she really loved him. (Hed said the same about both his previous Thai girlfriends, until those relationships ended.)

And yes, Ta was certainly different in terms of how much contact she expected from Dad.

Each and every day, hed Skype her three times. If he was due to call her while I was visiting him from our home in Norwich, he would encourage me to leave the house.

He became isolated, visiting friends less often. If anyone came to see him, he wasnt as welcoming if their presence interfered with phoning Ta. And he lived like a pauper in one room.

His hobbies dwindled, too. He lost interest in the boat hed built and stopped singing in the male voice choir hed joined shortly after Celias death. He even stopped coming to visit my family, as he said he couldnt afford the petrol.

The only thing he seemed to do was wait for visits to Thailand, going two or three times a year for several months. He would stay in hotels, or rent an apartment, and move his girlfriend in. I had no idea how much it must have cost.

Id usually Skype him when he was there and was always shocked by how unwell he looked. He found the heat hard to endure. Sometimes hed even return home earlier than planned, saying hed become homesick and bored.

Polly said: 'Dad has visited Thailand again over the years and had several Thai girlfriends, all much younger than him'

The latter wasnt really surprising, as he and Ta seemed incapable of having a meaningful conversation.

Her English was virtually non-existent, as was Dads Thai, and whenever I overheard one of their laboured chats on Skype it sounded as if Dad was speaking to a three-year-old.

I was baffled. Dads an extremely articulate and witty man, the star of the show at social events, but he clearly didnt care about conversation now. It seemed more important to him to have a pretty younger woman to love, to be physically affectionate with, even if he barely understood a word she said.

Perhaps naively, I clung to the fact that as long as Dad had his own home in the UK, and he and Ta remained unmarried, he did retain some security. And maybe Ta really did love him? Then in April last year, Dad went off to Thailand for a brief holiday. My husband and I were house-sitting for him, and although Dad seemed unusually bouncy when he waved goodbye, we had no inkling of what was coming.

Unknown to us, the day after he arrived in Thailand, Dad married Ta. The following day, he had a stroke. By the time he arrived back in the UK a few weeks later, he needed life-saving surgery.

It was only after the operation, when I phoned Dad to ask how he was, that he told me he and Ta were married.

Im fine, he said. Im more worried about getting back to my new wife in Thailand as soon as possible. Cue stunned silence on my part. It turned out that Dad hadnt told anyone of his plans to marry Ta  not one of his six children and stepchildren, his grandchildren, nor his oldest friends.

He couldnt understand my hurt reaction.

Ive found you a new stepmother. What more dyou want? he said, somewhat mystifyingly. Id already had more stepmother figures than I knew what to do with, so when I proved unable to think of a suitable answer, he changed the subject. A week later, Dad was released from hospital but, instead of taking things easy, he put his house on the market. Ta continued to Skype him three times a day, urging him to hurry up.

By December 2015, the house was sold  for how much, I dont know  and Dad moved to Thailand.

He returned to the UK briefly in April this year to meet his visa requirements, and I called him a few days before he flew back to Thailand. He said hed been given permission to live there permanently, so he would never need to return to the UK again.

Does that mean I may already have seen you for the last time ever, without even realising? I said, in disbelief.

Looks that way, he replied.

Novelist Polly and her father who she has only heard from once since he moved to Thailand in April this year

I was speechless. He seemed so unconcerned. Indeed, he left every photograph of me and my family behind  all the pictures of him with my children when they were young and the few shots of him and me together.

As the child of divorced parents who have both remarried, you always feel slightly surplus to requirements  as if you never properly belong. But Dads willingness to dispose of the only records of our shared history made me feel totally irrelevant.

Now hes not around to bind his three children and three stepchildren together, the family seems even more fragmented. My kids may be grown-ups now, but they always loved Dads youthful zest for life. They still cant quite believe they may never see their beloved Grandad again.

Maybe Dad didnt realise he was so loved, but he was  and is.

In some ways its been wonderful to have a father as charismatic and unpredictable as mine. And Im glad Dads still living his life to the full, instead of going gentle into that good night. But I do wish hed never gone to Thailand.

Hes 82 next month, his health is failing, and I cant help worrying about how vulnerable he must be. Is he being bullied? Would he feel he could ask for our help if he was? What will he do if he needs another major operation? What will happen if he and Ta split up and hes left with no money and no home?

I miss him, too. Someone like Dad leaves a big hole when he disappears from your life. Since he moved there in April, Ive only heard from him once  to tell me how happy he is.

I guess everybodys reasons for marrying a Thai person are different, he told me, but I suppose the biggest one for most people is loneliness. The countrys lovely, and so are the people.

He does admit that he is worried about his health, but says of his new wife: Shell take care of me  Ive no worries about that  but no matter how loving your wife is, all she can do if your heart packs up is to nurse you.

I just hope hell be happily raging against the dying of the light for many more years  preferably from a comfortable house by the sea, and still with money in his pocket.
As a parent encouraging your child's dreams is crucial.

Whether they're sporting, academic or artistic, positively pushing your kids to achieve their life goals is key to it one day happening.

But few can say they have gone as far as Scot Claus, whose son Spencer is an aspiring make up artist.

In an act of outstanding encouragement to his son's goals, Scot, from Scottsdale, Arizona, teamed up with Spencer on Father's Day to create a series of identical make up selfies.

Like son, like father...? Spencer Claus and his dad Scott posed together to take make up selfies on Father's Day

Selfie sensation! The selfies have been a hit online, shared and liked more than 40,000 times

Showcasing chiseled lips, sculpted eyebrows and some on-point hair, the father and son duo look incredibly fierce in the four identical photos.

But this isn't the only time Spencer's talents have been supported by his parents.

The 16-year-old and his mum did a similar photoshoot earlier this year and said taking make up selfies was just like any other day in the Claus household.

'It was kind of both my idea and theirs,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'I had no money to get my mom a Mother's Day gift so I gave her a makeover instead - being a farm girl she rarely gets glammed up - and she was totally up for it.

'As soon as we were done with her, we knew my dad was next and we were like, "Well, that's just going to happen!"'

Looking good! Showcasing chiseled lips, sculpted eyebrows and some on-point hair, the father and son duo look incredibly fierce

Encouragement: Spencer posed for a similar photoshoot with his mother earlier in the year and said his parents had always been supportive of his make up dreams

Before the transformation! Spencer (pictured middle) poses for a photo with his two parents who have both now taken make up selfies with their son

After sharing the four split-selfies of him and his father, Spencer's Twitter account exploded.

The dad and son duo's fierce selfies were an instant hit online, shared and liked more than 40,000 times.

'THIS IS AMAZING! Wish my dad was this awesome,' one Instagram user said.

'OMGGGG CUTEST THING ON THE NET, THIS SHOULD GO VIRAL,' another commented.

While social media praise is a boost, more importantly, Spencer said he had always had the support of his parents to achieve his goals.

'They've been unbelievably supportive of just about everything from theatre to school and makeup, literally everything,' he said.

Loving family: Taking make up selfies is just another day for Mr and Mrs Claus and Spencer

Golden glow: Spencer began working with make up two years ago and has posted many of his colourful creations on social media

On point: His amazing contouring has included him showing off a female look and a 'purple rain' tribute to Prince

Trailblazer: The male make up artist has more than 8,000 followers on Instagram and hopes to one day make a living in the make up industry

The aspiring make up artist has more than 8,000 followers on Instagram and says he hopes the future of men's make up is as bright as some of his creations.

'I've been working with make up for about two years and I think that we are heading in the right direction (with men's make up),' he said.

'Brands with male leaders like Marc Jacobs and Too Faced are also super important in the sense that they bring a male perspective to the makeup industry.
I's shocked reading this post of alarming, by Harvard Professon Larry Ho, member of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. Chinese American parents: Your thought?

(My view: At least,  ! Read their newspapers and talk with  - ). Nothing new under the Sun - Chinese Americans just do the same stuff, too human!)

(My view: At least,  ! Read their newspapers and talk with  - ). Nothing new under the Sun - Chinese Americans just do the same stuff, too human!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

College Admission for Chinese American Students 

 3268  2016-6-25 05:21 |:  |: 

For new readers and those whorequest to be 



good friends please read my





first.

I wrote the article below primarily for Chinese American parents concerned about college admission question for their children. I post it here for information purpose only for my Chinese blog readers.

Yesterday the US Supreme court (SOTUS) re-affirmed the U.of Texas affirmative action decision which allows race and ethnicity as afactor in determining US college admissions. This means Asian-American applicants to US colleges (particularly Ivy League colleges) may at the discretion of the universities required to climb a higher threshold for admission than other applicants  an issue of great concern to AA parents. This is because many colleges already have a large (compared with population averages) Asian-American student population reaching 20-40%. In the name of diversity, they want to limit the AA student ratio (see the latest from thecollege point of view

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/06/affirming-whole-person-admissions/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=06.24.2016%20%281%29

). In other colleges where financial issue comes into play, rich mainland Chinese students that can pay full tuition have an advantage over local Chinese-American applicants who may need scholarship help for admission

http://www.economist.com/news/china/21644222-yearning-american-higher-education-has-driven-surge-overseas-study-georgia- their

.All these reasons, now supported by the SOTUS decision, cause undue anxiety/stress for parents and students.

Id like to say something about this issue from the viewpoint of someone who has served on the Harvard Admission Committee and has experience with educating students for 50+ years.

1.

The US is the land of opportunity. Admission to prestige undergraduate colleges is only one of many factors for future success in life. How many President of the US went to Ivy league colleges for undergraduate studies?

2.

If you know you are going onto graduate school, then where you did your undergraduate matters far less. Do you know the UG school Clinton, Bush, andObama went to? Of course you know they went to Yale Law School, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law School respectively for graduate studies. In fact , for Harvard graduate school admission, being a Harvard undergraduate is actually a disadvantage. because in the name of diversity, Harvard graduate schools bentover backwards to admit students from other colleges and limit the Harvard UG applicants.

3.

For college admission, the saying is The Chinese are the Jews of yesteryears In early 20th century, Jews were discriminated in Ivy League college admission (in fact, geographical diversity in admission was originally invented to limit admission of Jewish applicants who were mostly concentrated in NYC).However, through integration and organizing for political power, discrimination against Jews in admission disappeared in mid 20th century. Harvard even had a Jew-American President coupleof decades ago. As the saying goes you dont necessarily get what you deserve, you get what you can negotiate.Asians must learn the same lesson to gain equality in treatment.

4.

Decades ago, Asians were the beneficiaries of Affirmative Action hard fought and won by African-Americans. Now it seems to work in reverse against Asians in college admission. If you did not do much in enjoying the benefit, you have less of an argument when it is applied against you and when African and Hispanic Americans feel AA students are taking places of applicants of their race. This is a give-and-take issue.

5.

I have also written about college admission from an insider viewpoint. See

http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-621163.html

, http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-951994.html , and more generally about life, career,and success based on my 66 years of experience living in the US. and more generally about life, career,and success based on my 66 years of experience living in the US. http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=1565&do=blog&id=274536

.This may be of help to recent immigrants young and old alike.


Many women constantly worry that they're bad mothers. With a seemingly endless list of rules to follow, it's easy to feel inadequate.

But one mother-of-two from Melbourne has refused to let it get her down, embracing her flaws as a person and a mum in a tongue in cheek way.

Olivia White, who blogs at House of White, has written about her 20 'crappy mum confessions' to try and break the stigma...

Oops: Mum and blogger Olivia White (above) has written about her 'crappy mum confession' in a hilarious post

Something smells fishy: She admitted that sometimes she smells poo, but waits until her husband (above) notices it so she doesn't have to change her daughter's nappy

We are all trying to do our best, and be the best mothers we can be. But sometimes, its just about getting to the end of the day alive  right?!

Here are some of my not-so-perfect mum confessions Im sure you can secretly relate to a few! (Or Im just a really crappy mum)

1. I didnt take my daughter to her swimming lesson because it was cold and I didnt want to get in the pool myself.

2. I smelt poo, but I waited till my husband noticed it so I didnt have to change it.

3. Sometimes I fantasise about getting in my car and running away, or at least going to get McNuggets.

4. I feed the baby packet puree because I didnt have time/couldnt be bothered making it.

5. I gave my toddler Phenergan on the plane so she would sleep the whole flight. (It was awesome)

Snoozing: The mum-of-two also said she gave her toddler (above) Phenergan just so she would sleep for an entire flight

Sorry darling: Another 'crappy mum' confession was that she told her daughter an annoying toy was broken when she just removed the batteries

6. I leave the house with spew on my shoulders because I figure its just going to get spewed on again anyway.

7. I dropped my toddler off at daycare without breakfast because I was late for work and I knew they would feed her.

8. I accidentally clipped my babies finger when cutting her nails and made it bleed (I was pretty upset about this one).

9. I told my daughter her annoying phone toy was broken when really I just removed the batteries.

10. I force the kids to take a nap at midday so I can watch Ellen in peace.

'Sorry babe, the babies are really sick': The mum admitted to using her children as an excuse to not go to a social engagement

Bedtime: Ms White said she forces her kids to take a nap at midday so she can watch Ellen in piece

11. I fed my kids baked beans for dinner because there was nothing easy in the house to cook.

12. I skip pages in the book when reading to my kids at bedtime.

13. I use my kids to get out of social engagements all the time. 'Sorry babe, the babies really sick so were gonna stay home.'

14. I claim my forgetfulness is because I had a shit night sleep, but really my kids slept through, I just suck at remembering things.

15. I put the baby down crying, then walked out the room and shut the door to save my sanity.

Relateable: She has a wine allowance in her weekly grocery budget and sits in the car for too long before going anywhere to check Facebook and Instagram

Plot holes: Ms White also admits to skipping pages when reading her children books at bedtime

16. I let my toddler eat from the bag of grapes while were shopping just to keep her quite.

17. I claimed the kids were high maintenance and crying all day just so I didnt have to cook dinner.

18. I ask my MIL to watch the kids for an hour but then come back in three.

19. When I pull up in the driveway, I sit in the car for ages with the kids strapped in just so I can reply to texts/make phone calls/Snapchat/check Instagram.
Speaking out about the loss of her unborn baby helped Joan Bremer to heal.

The Californian woman lost her first child seven weeks in to her pregnancy after experiencing cramps and bleeding.

The 31-year-old told Today that she got a tattoo in honour of her child, and said the inking helped open up the channels of conversations.

Sharing her experience: Joan Bremer shared a photo of her miscarriage tattoo on Imgur and said it was healing to talk about it

'Losing a baby, even if it's early in pregnancy, is just so difficult,' Mrs Bremer told Today.

'For me, it was healing to be able to speak about it. I know there is a certain silence about miscarriages and pregnancy losses, but I am not ashamed that this happened to me.

'That was one of my motivations for getting the tattoo in the first place - I really think it's healing to be able to talk about it.'

Always remembered: Other women have shared their own miscarriage tattoos, including this image of a baby's feet adorned with a halo and angel wings

Heart-felt: One tattoo read: 'I carry your heat with me, I carry it in my heart, I am never without it'

'I still carry you': Mrs Bremer said miscarriage is common, but often not spoken about

Her tattoo shows a single line in the shape of a woman's body that connects two hearts.

Mrs Bremer shared a photo of her inking to Imgur, and it has since gone viral.

She said while miscarriage is common it is not something people want to talk about, and she hopes by speaking out she can help change that and heal from the pain.

Never forgotten: One woman shared her tattoo of a baby being cradled by their mother, along with a beautiful message

Little angel: A tiny angel behind her ear allowed this woman to keep her baby with her always

Heart beating: One tattoo showed a heart monitor line, which ended in a tiny foot topped with a halo

The 31-year-old is not the only woman to get a tattoo to remember their lost baby.

Other women have shared their meaningful inkings online, including heart-felt messages and tiny footprints.

'God holds you in His arms, I hold you in my heart,' one tattoo read.

Printed on their heart: Many parents chose footprints to remember the baby they had lost

Forever together: Other women had their baby's name tattood on to their skin, or an baby with angel wings

Other women had their baby's name tattood on to their skin, or an baby with angel wings.

'I carry your heart with me, I carry it in my heart, I am never without it,' another read.
Tess Holliday has shared an intimate photo breastfeeding new newborn son Bowie Juniper to normalise breastfeeding.

The plus-sized model from the US, who is engaged to Australian artist and designer Nick Holliday, is seen laying on her side, her hand supporting Bowie's tiny head.

The photo was originally posted by Nick, who spoke out in support of his fiance.

A mother's love: Plus-sized model Tess Holliday shared this photo breastfeeding her son Bowie Juniper

'A lot of people seemed to get upset that @tessholliday posted a photo hashtagged "#normalizebreastfeeding" which didn't actually feature the act of breastfeeding,' he wrote.

'So here you go. She actually looks really sexy here - but it isn't always like that.

'Sometimes it's stressful and messy and nothing goes how you want it to. But sometimes it's bliss.'

Speaking out: The model and new mother has spoken out about normalising breastfeeding

Baby on board: Tess's fiance said breastfeeding can be 'stressful and messy', but 'sometimes it's bliss'

Showing support: She has the support of her fiance Nick Holliday, who praised breastfeeding mothers

Nick went on to say that women should not let anyone make them feel bad about breastfeeding.

'And for the women out there who can't breastfeed, don't let anyone make you feel bad about that either,' he continued.

The photo has been praised by Tess's followers, who went on to share their own breastfeeding tips with the new mum.

'It's truly a wonderful moment between mama and child': Tess received overwhelming support from her Instagram followers for sharing her breastfeeding photo

Tootsies: Tess shared a sweet photo of her son Bowie's feet on Instagram as she gushed about 'all the amazing places they will take him'

'So cute! It's truly a wonderful moment between mama and child,' one person wrote.

'Congrats! @tessholliday .. Breast feeding can be so overwhelming ... Especially when it takes them a while to latch on right,' another person wrote.

'Glad you kept at it. That moment when they and you finally do it right... Is everything.'

Total talent: Tess welcomed her second son on June 6, and has since shared adorable snaps of the newborn on social media

Take that! Tess shared this photo in April as she insisted that she and her baby are healthy

Tess, who is 30 years old and a size 22, and Nick welcomed their son on June 6, and have since shared adorable snaps of the newborn on social media.

At the time of his birth, Bowie weighed 3.9 kilograms (8lbs, 10oz) and measured 55cm (22 inches) long.

The baby's name is presumably inspired by the late musician David Bowie, whom Tess publicly mourned on social media after his death in January.

Tess previously shared a black-and-white photo of her young son curled up on her chest.

Proud of her body: Tess, recently posed for a naked photoshoot while seven months pregnant, taking to Instagram a few weeks ago to share one of her nude portraits

'Mondays are a dread by all, sometimes even the self employed like myself,' she captioned the photo.

'Now I find that the days blur together of breastfeeding, sleeping when I can, tears of happiness (& sometimes fear), & no longer having a case of "The Mondays".

'Because every day is a new adventure when you see it through your little ones eyes #motherhoodrising #normalizebreastfeeding.'

Tess also has a ten-year-old son, Rylee, whom she had with a previous boyfriend she no longer speaks to, and on June 19 she posted a photo of her fiance Nick Holliday holding Bowie as she thanked him for being a father to both of her sons.

Doting dad: Tess also has a ten-year-old son, Rylee, whom she had with a previous boyfriend, and on Father's day Nick shared photos of himself with Rylee (left) and Bowie (right)

Unforgettable day: The couple, pictured at their baby shower in May, hit back at critics who said her baby's health was in danger because of her size

Throughout her pregnancy Tess became an even more vocal body advocate, sharing plenty of candid photos of her growing baby bump as well as nude photos to celebrate her changing body.

The plus-size model would often take to Instagram to hit back at critics who insisted that her baby's health was in danger because of her size.
A Swedish model who's made it her life ambition to look like curvaceous cartoon character Jessica Rabbit has revealed her disappointment after being told that having even more surgery would leave her looking 'deformed'.

Pixee Fox, 25, is originally from Stockholm but now lives in North Carolina and had appealed to surgeons in LA to help her look even more 'cartoonish'.

Despite already having multiple operations including removing six ribs, three nose jobs, four boob jobs, liposuction and a Brazilian bottom lift, the tiny-waisted model says she's addicted to the idea of more procedures.

Scroll down for video

Pixee Fox, 25, who is originally from Sweden but now lives in North Carolina, has already had multiple operations to transform her figure including having six ribs removed

The former electrician has a stack of operations and procedures on her wish-list including buying bum fillers

Make me curvy! Fox tries a hip implant for size...but she's on course for disappointment

In a bid to look like her animated idol, Fox already wears a training corset every day and has spent $135,000 (100,000) transforming her body.

Determined to achieve a full hourglass figure with implants in her hips and bottom, Fox travelled to Los Angeles to see the surgeons behind cosmetic surgery television show Botched, Paul Nassif and Terry Dubrow.

However, her consultation with the skilled surgeons didn't go to plan and after they examined her body, she was delivered the bad news that more surgery would leave her looking like the worst kind of cartoon.

The most dramatic surgery the former electrician from Sweden has had so far is to get six of her lower ribs removed in a bid to shrink her waist to a record-breaking 14 inches.

She told Nassif and Dubrow that her life was all about getting more surgery, saying: 'This is my thing. I really like it and I want to create my life around it [surgery]'

Botched! doctors Paul Nassif and Terry Dubrow get to grips with the models tiny waist

We need to be honest here: The cosmetic surgeons tell Fox how it is when it comes to more work

Getting the tape measure out...but Fox is told that she'll be left with a figure that will look 'deformed'

Pixee says that people look up to her because of her complete devotion to what she calls 'the bimbo life'

'People often come up to me and say, "Don't take this the wrong way, but you look like a cartoon". she says. 'But for me that's a compliment, that's what I want to achieve.'

Pixee cites her inspirations as Jessica Rabbit, Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and Holli Would from Cool World.

'The living cartoon', as she likes to be called, has 219,000 followers on Instagram and insists she is a good role model for them.

ABOUT RIB REMOVAL SURGERY Doctors may approve the procedure in several situations, such as the risk of a fractured rib puncturing a vital organ. Excess pressure in the thoracic cavity can be relieved by rib removal. Sometimes major surgery to the thoracic cavity requires rib removal to allow access to the organ that's being operated on. Ribs may also be removed to stop cancer spreading in the bone. The surgery is not recommended for cosmetic reasons, as complications can include collapsed lung, pneumonia, nerve damage, fracture to one of the other ribs, tearing of the diaphragm muscle and heavy scarring. Also, the surgery is irreversible and comes with the risk of infection associated with any major operation. Advertisement

'Those cartoon characters represent the idealisation of the female body,' she explains.

'I want to have the tiny waist, the butt, big boobs, big eyes and a really pretty face.

'Having my ribs removed was just another step in achieving that ideal.'

Pixee, underwent the extreme five-hour keyhole surgery to have her ribs removed in Indianapolis last month after Dr Barry Eppley agreed to perform the procedure.

The operation, which is irreversible, is usually performed for medical reasons, but it can be done for cosmetic purposes after extensive consultation.

'Getting my ribs removed has always been a dream of mine,' Pixee says. 'But it was really hard, almost impossible, to find a surgeon to do it.

'The only reason I have been able to do it now is that doctors finally started taking me seriously.

'They they can see I'm not a crazy person and that I know what I'm doing.'

Pixee's recovery from the $9,000 (6,000) operation was supposed to take six weeks.

However, she was already back into her normal routine of wearing a corset 24/7 just two days later.

'I can see the results and feel the difference,' she says. 'Before the corset would push against the ribs, which makes it harder and more painful to wear.

Pixee had hoped for butt and hip implants, eyelash implants, and fat removal to help make her cheeks 'pop' more

Tiny waist: The inspiration behind her look is cartoon characters such as Jessica Rabbit, Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and Holli Would from Cool World. Right, Fox takes a selfie; the model admits she works out in heels

Fox admits she's addicted to surgery, pictured above after one of her breast augmentation operations

Boob jobs and a Brazilian butt lift has given Pixee the rounded posterior she desired...but she's still not happy

Before she became surgery obsessed, Pixee was a fresh-faced beauty

Pictured before her transofrmation, Pixee still had a stunning figure, but she said she was inspired to go under the knife because she wants to look like Jessica Rabbit

Pixee's fans on social media are helping to fund her surgical procedures

'Now I can wear it even tighter without any pain. I think I am pretty close to the world record for smallest waist.

The current record holder is American Cathie Jung, 78, who has a 15-inch waist.

'If I just get time to heal and workout and continue my lifestyle I'm going to go down to 14 inches,' says Pixee.

The procedures have taken 5ft 4in Pixee's measurements from 30-24-34 to an eye-watering 38-16-39.

In a bid to shrink her waist even further, she works out daily for up to four or five hours.

Eating substantial food such as bread or meat is a struggle, as it's uncomfortable because of her restrictive corset.

So she mainly eats vegetables, fruit and nuts, which she blends into a smoothie, as well as taking extra vitamins.

The blonde has always been self conscious about her nose, and has had four separate rhinoplasties

A former boyfriend encouraged PIxee to have her first boob job

Pixee believes she's an inspiration to fans to be true to the person that's inside

Now that so many of her ribs have been removed, Pixee's lower internal organs, including the liver, have lost some of their natural protection.

However, she isn't worried about the risk to her health if she's in an accident.

'Before if I was in a car crash I would have broken my ribs,' she said. 'If that happened now I'm probably going to break my spleen instead.

'But I'm not concerned as I have my corset as my artificial ribcage now and I wear it 24/7.'

In her younger years, Pixee lived a much less glamorous existence living with her parents and older sister in a small rural town outside of Stockholm.

'Sweden is a very egalitarian country which does not encourage you to stand out.

'I didn't feel like I fitted in. I was a tomboy. I worried about my nose, I didn't date and I felt vulnerable.'

After leaving school she trained as an electrician and saved up for a nose job.

Her boyfriend at the time then encouraged her to have two boob jobs that took her from an A to a C-cup.

But it was after splitting from him in 2013 that her obsession to become a real-life cartoon really picked up.

In total, she's had four rhinoplasties to sculpt the perfect nose and four breast augmentations to inflate her cleavage to a J-cup.

Her upper eyelids have been operated on and she's had two round of liposuction.

She's had injectable fillers to plump up her cheeks and lips, and a Brazilian butt lift to give her a more rounded derriere.

The aspiring model has even had a labiaplasty - a so-called 'designer vagina' operation that reduces excess tissue from the labia.

She's also had CoolSculpting, a non-invasive treatment to freeze fat.

Her corset makes it uncomfortable to eat full meals, so Pixee often survives on vegetables and fruit whizzed into a smoothie. She also takes extra vitamin supplements

The rib removal operation, which is irreversible, is usually performed for medical reason

The current record holder for the smallest waist in the world is American Cathie Jung, 78, who has a 15-inch waist. Pixee is hoping to steal her title

She paid for 11 of the procedures out of her own earnings and savings.

The rest, including her fourth breast augmentation, were paid for by fans who have been following her transformation on social media and praising her for being an 'inspiration'.

'Your Instagram is very inspiring,' a fan called dollproject_net wrote. 'Not only because your style is so unique and sexy, but also because of the way you share your passion with us. Thank you.'

Margaritacakes echoed the sentiment, saying: 'Your body is what motivates me to go to the gym and save up for the surgeries I plan to do!

'Thanks for being so rad and sharing your transformation! It's so inspirational!'

However, kelly_het_wilhelm was less than impressed, writing: 'Gross rib removal. I just puked in my mouth.'

But another fan reminded Pixee to ignore any negative feedback.

'It's not anyone's business what you do to your body,' he wrote.

'I will never understand these people thinking they have the right to tell you how you should do things.'

On seeing pictures she posted while recovering in hospital after surgery, a fan wrote: 'You are so brave and so beautiful.

'I can't believe you are so angelic having just had major surgery. Good luck healing.'

Annemarchner added: 'I hope you feel better now.

'I've been following your transformation. I hope you are happy. You look amazing.'

Botox injections are also part of Pixee's beauty routine. She's had injectable fillers to plump her lips and cheeks too

Her unnatural proportions are not unlike those of a Barbie doll

However Pixee insists that she's not aiming to inspire people to get plastic surgery.

'What I want to do is get a message out there that whatever you decide to do, you should dare to be yourself and surround yourself with people that support you for who you are inside.

'There are so many people out there - for example transsexual people - who feel like one person inside and it doesn't reflect their outside.

'For me who I was on the outside was not who I was on the inside.

'I get a lot of positive feedback from girls and many guys who want to have a change in their life, like a transformation, or just get more fit, more healthy.

'Everyone needs inspiration, and for me to be that inspiration really makes me feel really good.'

Pixee believes that people look up to her because of her complete devotion to what she calls 'the bimbo life'.

'There are many beautiful women who have transformed themselves in various ways, and I admire all of them,' she says.

'But most have only changed a few things or exaggerated one thing,'
Sitting alongside Prince Harry at one of his most important events of the year their easy companionship was clear to see as they laughed and shared easy silences.

And with his mop of red hair, the older man could easily be mistaken for the royal's father.

Mark Dyer, 50, has been a key figure in the Prince's life since childhood and his position alongside Harry at last night's concert in aid of his charity Sentebale showed just how deep their bond is.

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Mark Dyer, 50, (left) has been a key figure in the Prince's life since childhood and his position alongside Harry at last night's concert in aid of his charity Sentebale showed just how deep their bond is

Indeed, Sentebale may never have come about if it weren't for Dyer.

The charity supports orphans and vulnerable children in Lesotho, many of whom are affected by the HIV and AIDS.

Harry spent two months in the landlocked country during his gap year at the invitation of Prince Seeiso, a friend of Dyer.

The experience made a lasting impression on the royal, then aged just 19, when he worked with orphaned children with Aids and met other traumatised youngsters.

Harry and Mark watch England v Ireland play in the RBS Six Nations at Twickenham in 2010

Mark shares a joke with Harry at the launch of the 16th Air Assault Brigade

And when he returned to the UK and told Prince Charles he wanted to start a charity, Dyer was the driving force behind its foundation alongside Harry and Prince Seeiso, according to royal author Penny Junor.

Cheltenham College educated Dyer, known as Marko to friends, became a steadying big brother figure to the princes in the mid-Nineties when he worked as an equerry to the Prince of Wales for 18 months.

Prince Charles appointed Dyer to keep an eye on his sons and was brought in as a male counterpart to former royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke.

Prince Harry, pictured in Sydney with Mark Dyer at the start of his gap year. The aide later intervened when media intrusion became too much for the Prince to handle

Harry was an usher at the 2010 wedding of Mark to Amanda Kline at St. Edmund's Church in Abergavenny, Wales

Dyer enjoyed a brief romance with ex-royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke but wed Texan heiress Amanda Kline in 2010

During the first half term after Diana's death, when the boys would have been with their mother, Prince Charles was committed to a five day visit to Africa.

He took Harry along and while the Prince carried out engagements, Harry went off on safari in Botswana, organised by Mark.

From then on he was a key guiding figure as Harry and William tried to come to terms with the loss of their mother.

The pair enjoy Harry's Sentebale concert. It was Mark who arranged the trip to Lesotho that inspired Harry to set up his charity

Harry has turned to Mark for advice in situations when he can't approach his father

Tthe former Welsh Guards officer, then 34 would drive to Eton to take William out for lunch and talked to Harry about Sandhurst and even helped plan their gap years abroad.

When Harry admitted to smoking cannabis as a teenager and Prince Charles insisted he spend a day at a residential centre for drug users in Peckham, South London, meeting recovering cocaine and heroin addicts, it was Dyer who escorted him along with his royal protection officers.

However, after his spell as an employee to the Prince ended he remained a mentor to Harry.

Prince Harry with Mark Dyer (left) and Charles Pettifer, smoking cigarettes. Dyer has been wrongly branded a bad influence on the Prince in the past, but sources say nothing could be further from the truth

Mark Dyer was hired as a male counterpart to royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke and the boys looked up to him like an older brother

Dyer stepped aside from an official role when Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton took on the job of Private Secretary to William and Harry. But he remained a steady presence in their lives, especially Harry's

Rather than being a stern father figure, Mark was a friend to the young Prince.

He was reportedly fond of the Prince's former girlfriend Chelsy Davy and sneaked her out to the ranch where Harry was staying in Argentina during his gap year before starting his Army training at Sandhurst.

The pair travelled together to Australia, Lesotho and Argentina during Harry's gap year.

He intervened, begging the Australian media to give the 19-year-old Prince some privacy when he was hounded by photographers and TV crews as he learned skills such as herding and branding at a remote cattle station in the outback.

Prince Harry talks to Mark Dyer at his passing-out Sovereign's Parade at Sandhurst Military Academy in 2006

Around the time Harry started at Sandhurst, Mark had been with William and Harry as a part-time aide for around eight years.

He stepped aside from an official role when Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton took on the job of Private Secretary to William and Harry.

But he remained a steady presence in their lives, especially Harry's.

'Mark Dyer had been invaluable; he had done a superb job in supporting and guiding both Princes through their adolescence and showing them something of the world - also introducing them to Africa,' Penny Junor wrote in her biography Prince Harry: Brother, Soldier, Son.

Mark Dyer arranged Harry's gap year, which included time in Sydney, and travelled with him before he entered Sandhurts

'He's a very straightforward, hard-living adventurer and a great soldier. He was also somebody the Princes could relate to at that age; and they remembered him from their childhood when he'd shown them guns and tanks and things and taken them rock climbing.

'The press thought he was a bad influence but he did a bloody good job for them. He had huge integrity, and he was around when they needed advice that didn't come from their father.'

Speaking of Dyer's influence on Harry, she explained: 'Mark Dyer is incredibly good for him because he's one of the the few people who talks some sense into him at times.

Dyer was said to be fond of Chelsy Davy (pictured right) and sneaked her into the ranch where Harry was staying in Argentina during his gap year before starting his Army training at Sandhurst

'One of the most absurdly inaccurate things that's ever been written is that Mark Dyer is in some way a bad influence on him.'

In 2009 Mark founded the management company MDM Bars and Pubs and runs two pubs The Sands End and The Brown Cow, in south-west London which are both frequented by Prince Harry.

When Harry began wooing Cressida Bonas in 2013, Mark did his bit to ensure the royal romance ran smoothly.

Dyer is said to be one of the only people who can make Harry see sense at times

Rugby fan Dyer (pictured to Harry's right) has been a steadying influence on the Prince

While Harry was in Afghanistan, it was reported that Dyer was among the close circle of friends he entrusted with keeping the romance alive while he served in Afghanistan.

Dyer and his circle worked strenuously to welcome Cressida into the tightly knit group in Harrys absence.

When rumours circulated that Harry Wentworth-Stanley, Cressidas boyfriend while at Leeds university  whose stepfather, George Milford Haven, is a cousin of the Queen  was determined to win her back while his love rival was out of the way, Dyer and Harrys coterie stepped in.

Suddenly, Cressidas name topped the list of must-have invitations to intimate house parties and exclusive get-togethers.

On his way back from Afghanistan Harry made a detour to meet up with his affable pal before travelling to Highgrove to be reunited with his father on his return to Britain.

Dyer enjoyed a brief romance with ex-royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke but wed Texan heiress Amanda Kline in 2010.

Prince Harry was an usher at the ceremony at St Edmunds Church at Crickhowell, in Powys, Wales.
Former Marine dismembered her body and dumped it in military backpack

The heartbroken parents of a woman who was stabbed and dismembered by her 'monster' ex-Marine boyfriend have said they feel as though they let their daughter down.

James Faust, 72, and stepmother Lillian, 59, who live in California, have revealed how they miss 'beautiful and talented' Yvonne Baldelli, 42, every day, after she was brutally murdered by lover, ex US Marine Brian Brimager, in 2011  but her body was not found until 2013.

In their first UK interview, the pair have shared the horrifying details of how, after he dumped her body in the jungle, Brimager bought drinks for girls with her credit card and made a toast about he fashion designer, cheering 'Thanks Vonnie'.

James Faust, 72, and stepmother Lillian, 59, who live in California, have revealed how they miss 'beautiful and talented' Yvonne Baldelli, 42, every day

Mr Faust told how Yvonne met Brimager in 2009 in a Californian nightclub. 'She was immediately infatuated,' he recalled. 'He was good looking and an ex-Marine. She was besotted'

Mr Faust said he blames Brimager for the death of both his daughters after Yvonne's sister Michele, 45, died in 2014 after suffering breast cancer. She had hunted for her sister's remains for years.

Mr Faust told how 'beautiful' Yvonne 'vanished without a trace' just months after moving to Panama with Brimager.

For two years they spent thousands of dollars trawling dense jungle for her body. But it was not until a Panamanian fisherman searching for firewood stumbled across a rotting duffle-bag in a remote swamp in the South American country, that she was found in 2013.

Forensic tests revealed she had been strangled  and then hacked to death with a machete which Brimager subsequently tried to sell online.

'I only dismembered one stripper with it  it's hardly used,' the 40-year-old, of California, had joked on a social networking site.

Horrifically, Brimager also texted a pal after he had killed Yvonne and boasted he had 'ditched the bitch'.

After the killing, Brimager also texted a pal after he had killed Yvonne and boasted he had 'ditched the bitch'

Yvonne was murdered by her partner in her home (pictured) and he then dismembered her body and dumped it in the Panama jungle

Following his crimes Brimager spun a web of lies to his girlfriend's worried family  telling them she had left him for another man and was travelling around Costa Rica.

However, they did not believe him, hiring a private investigator to trace the whereabouts of her phone, after a series of messages purporting to be from her were sent to them.

But it took them five more years to get justice.

At federal court in San Diego, California, in May, Brimager admitted murder, obstructing the investigation into a murder, killing her two dogs, accessing her email account after her death and impersonating her, withdrawing money from her account after her death and providing false statements to an FBI agent.

He was jailed for 26 years.

'When we heard what had happened to Yvonne we were devastated,' retired Mr Faust said. 'But we were also relieved that she had been found.

'Leaving Panama without her time and time again was so difficult. We felt as though we had let her down.'

Mr Faust, who previously lived in Panama and Rochester, New York, last saw his daughter in 2008 at a farewell party for him and his wife.

Yvonne's body was discovered in a military style duffle bag in a remote swamp two years later

After their daughter went missing, Brimajer tried to convince her parents that she had left him for someone else, but they didn't believe him travelling to the county to search for Yvonne

At that time he and Lillian were moving from California to Panama, although they had left the sun-drenched island by the time Yvonne and Brimager moved there in August 2011.

'She was so happy at that party,' he recounted. 'Bubbly, vivacious, beautiful and full of life. It breaks my heart to think that was the final time I saw her.'

He told how his other daughter died of breast cancer in November 2014.

'In my mind, Brimager killed both my daughters,' he added. 'I firmly believe stress worsened the prognosis for Michele.

'Michele spent years looking for her sister. She organised search parties and went to Panama. It's devastating that she never saw Brimager admit what he did.'

Mr Faust told how Yvonne met Brimager in 2009 in a Californian nightclub.

'She was immediately infatuated,' he recalled. 'He was good looking and an ex-Marine. She was besotted.

James consequently blames Brimajer for his other daughter, Michele's (right) death, who lost her battle with cancer after years of searching for her sister

Yvonne's family became concerned after she stopped calling home, and later didn't attend a family reunion. Pictured: Yvonne with her parents, sister Lillian and brother Giovanni when they were growing up

'We were surprised as she'd not long been divorced from her husband John who the family liked.'

In August 2011, Yvonne and Brimager decided to move to Panama. 'But by that stage we'd already moved to Rochester, New York, so we missed her,' Mr Faust said.

'Michele drove her to the airport but was worried.

'I remember she said to me, "I believe this will be the final time I'll see Yvonne". She had a premonition of her death.'

For a time Yvonne and Brimager enjoyed their Panamanian life.

We didn't believe him. We started receiving messages from Yvonne's phone but were suspicious. A family friend said they were being sent from elsewhere in the country  not Costa Rica

'Yvonne would call us and tell us about early morning runs on the beach,' Mr Faust added.

'She loved life with her dogs Georgia-Mae and Monique. But by October the calls were drying up.

'We were worried. We were a close family. It was not like her not to call.'

From early November 2011 her family did not hear from her again. Terrified for her safety, they contacted her boyfriend. He said she was just busy.

Yvonne was last seen at a steakhouse in the town of Bocas del Toro with Brimager on November 26, 2011, according to the US Attorney's office, which also said he physically abused her before she went missing.

In November, Brimager began sending fake emails to a hotel manager, friends and family from Baldelli's account.

Then, on his way back to California, he made a two-day layover in Costa Rica and used her ATM card to make it look like she was withdrawing money.

This was to back up the retired Marine's story that had she had 'broken up with Brimager and was headed to Costa Rica with a man named Tony Gonzales.'

In February this year Yvonne's family attended court to see Brimager admit murdering their daughter

After murdering Yvonne Brimajer used her card to buy drinks for other women, toasting 'thanks Vonnie'

Despite Brimager's attempt to deceive Yvonne's family, their fears intensified when she failed to attend a family reunion in California in January 2012.

'Brian told us she'd left him for another man and they were travelling in Costa Rica,' Mr Faust recounted.

'We didn't believe him. We started receiving messages from Yvonne's phone but were suspicious. A family friend said they were being sent from elsewhere in the country  not Costa Rica.'

Brimager returned to the US and married. Meanwhile, Yvonne's family headed to Panama to find her.

In mid-2012 they reported her missing to the US and Panamanian authorities  telling police they suspected she had been murdered.

'For a while we wondered if she'd been targeted by a copycat of Wild Bill - a serial killer who had prowled Panama,' Mr Faust continued. 'But then our suspicions turned to Brimager.'

The brutal attack also saw Yvonne's beloved dogs killed. Pictured: Yvonne with her cavalier

Mr Faust, who never met the ex-Marine, told how police named Brimager a person of interest in February 2012.

A reward was offered for information about her whereabouts. Brimager was interviewed by the FBI  but lied and told them she was with another man.

The family fundraised and spent hours searching the Panamanian jungle for her, having heard rumours she had been dismembered and buried.

'But it was fruitless. It was not until August 2013 that she was found. He'd dumped her like a piece of trash,' said Mr Faust.

'We were heartbroken. How could anyone do that to her? Her hands had been cut off and thrown over a cliff. It was disgusting.'

In February this year, Yvonne's family attended court to see Brimager admit murdering their daughter. He was jailed in May.

'We had justice,' Lillian, who has been married to Mr Faust for 25 years, said. 'But we feel he should have got a longer sentence.

'He's an incredibly dangerous man. After killing Yvonne he cut her up in the shower. He only thought of himself.

'He also killed her beloved dogs. He accessed her bank account and lied to us time and time agin. It's sick. He's a monster.

'He broke her teeth and nose and stabbed her multiple times before dragging her lifeless body to the shower, where he mutilated her.

'I can't believe anyone would do that. I want the public to know what he's like.'

Attorney Laura Duffy said: 'Not only did he show a callous disregard for Yvonne Baldelli's life by viciously beating, stabbing, dismembering and dumping her in the jungle, but his words and actions in the hours, days and months following his horrendous crime exhibited an extreme lack of remorse.
How good are you at finding your friend in the crowd, recognising a semi-famous person in a pub or spotting your neighbour in the background on the news?

Put your eagle-eyes to the test with the latest quiz from Playbuzz - but Disney fans will certainly have an advantage.

In this crowded scene, princesses Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas,and Ariel are all hidden. But how quickly can you spot them?

Scroll down for the reveal!

In this crowded scene, princesses Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas,and Ariel are all hidden. But how quickly can you spot them?

This quiz is certainly a tricky one.

Although some princesses - including Belle and Pocahontas are fairly easy to spot, Snow White, Ariel, Jasmine and Cinderella are a little bit trickier.

Some Playbuzz users have even noticed that there are more princesses than the six you have been challenged to find - Auroa from Sleeping Beauty can be spotted in the top and centre, as well as Kida from Atlantis and Mulan.

How many did you spot? Some Playbuzz users have even noticed that there are more princesses than the six you have been challenged to find - Auroa from Sleeping Beauty can be spotted in the top and centre, as well as Kida from Atlantis and Mulan

Last week, a puzzle put film buffs to the ultimate test with a dense crowd scene in which every image references a movie.

The challenge is whether you can identify the clues and name the cinematic work that inspired it. Take the test to see how many you get right...

The crowded scene created by Playbuzz is set on a tarmac foreground with buildings to the left and right and a backdrop of the Hollywood sign, over which birds wheel through the sky and starships appear to be fighting each other.

This crowd scene is filled with clues but can you identify them and name all 50 films it references?

A lone turret is up in flames, while a chasm appears to be opening up in the hillside while the rest of the image appears to depict chaos.

Some clues are more literal than others, for instance a man playing a violin atop a building brings to mind the famous musical starring Topol.

Fingers tightly closed around some US currency, also accurately depicts a classic US film.

In fact, the test will appeal to those with a wealth of knowledge about Hitchcock films (five clues) and famous directors Martin Scorese hits (three films) and George Lucas (two).

Three cartoons pop up, along with two classic Second World War flicks, musicals also have a place, while a Audrey Hepburn film is included along with one of Patrick Swayze's most loved works.

Ridley Scott films are also featured, with one of them providing one of the easiest visual aids.

HOW MANY DID YOU SPOT? 1 Cat On A Hot Tin Roof 2 The Towering Inferno 3 The Birds 4 Star Wars 5 Breakfast At Tiffany's 6 Fiddler On The Roof 7 The Piano 8 Ghost 9 42nd Street 10 Jamaica Inn 11 Gone With The Wind 12 The Last Picture Show 13 School of Rock 14 The Dam Busters 15 Chariots of Fire 16 Gaslight 17 Mean Streets 18 A Fistful Of Dollars 19 The Sting 20 Blazing Saddles 21 Wall-e 22 The 39 Steps 23 Dances With Wolves 24 The Graduate 25 Singing' In The Rain 26 Batman 27 Seven Brides For Seven Brothers 28 Lady And The Tramp 29 Guys And Dolls 30 Toy Story 31 The Black Dahlia 32 Clockwork Orange 33 North By Northwest 34 Gladiator 35 Blade Runner 36 Jaws 37 Shakespeare In Love 38 Bad Santa 39 The Lion King 40 American Pie 41 Top Hat 42 Happy Feet 43 Shane 44 Raging Bull 45 Taxi Driver 46 The Eagle Has Landed 47 All About Eve 48 American Graffiti 49 The Queen 50 Edward Scissorhands Advertisement

This ultimate film test is just the latest in a slew of optical illusions that are driving the internet wild.

Another brain teaser revealed how even photographs are not always what they seem.

A picture emerged this week that appears to show a beautiful scene of a lake, with mountains in the distance. But can you spot what is really going on?

The image appears to show a beautiful scene of a lake, with mountains in the distance. But can you spot what is really going on?

If you look extremely closely you'll see that the landscape doesn't include any water at all.

What appears to be a the lake is in fact a concrete wall obscuring part of the scenery, with the shrub growing on the other side.

It is one of the trickiest optical illusions on the web, that baffled many who simply couldn't spot what was really being pictured in the image.

If you look extremely closely you'll see that the scene is not, in fact, of a lake. Instead, the photograph is showing a concrete wall

Back in 2015, the infamous 'dress' divided internet users, who simply could not agree over whether it was black and blue or gold and white - with even Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift joining in on the debate.

One year later, the Adidas jacket did the same, with people saying that they saw numerous colour combinations, including blue and white, green and gold, black and brown, and green and brown.

And this week a new colour spectrum illusion emerged to frustrate the nation, proving once again that our perceptions of colour can be very different from each other.

Is this colour blue or green? When asked to name the colour above, 64 per of respondents said that it was green, with 32 per cent believing it to be blue

Optical Express surveyed the UK public with the seemingly simple task of identifying shades of blue and green, as part of a study into our perception of colour.

When asked to name the colour, 64 per of respondents said that it was green, with 32 per cent believing it to be blue.

However, when asked to name the same colour adjacent to two distinctly blue images, many changed their minds - with 90 per cent then stating that it was green.

The shade is indeed more green than blue. According to the RGB colour spectrum, the values of the colour are 0, 122 and 116.

However, when asked to name the same colour adjacent to two distinctly blue images, many changed their minds - with 90 per cent then stating that it was green

Back in 2015, the infamous 'dress' divided internet users, who simply could not agree over whether it was black and blue or gold and white - with even Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift joining in on the debate. One year later, the Adidas jacket (right) did the same

WHY DO WE SEE COLOURS DIFFERENTLY? Every single person is unique and as a result, our brains process information differently. Depending on how you interpret colours, one person might see it one way, while the very next person who looks at it might see it differently. Light enters the eye and hits the retina, which is the light sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. The light is converted to an electrical signal which travels along the Optic Nerve to the Visual Cortex in the brain. The brain makes its own unique interpretation of this electrical signal. It is not surprising that many respondents changed their mind when seeing the colour in contrast to the two blue shades, as we perceive an objects colour based on a comparison to its surrounding shades, not on the actual colour itself. Assessing colour vision is just one of the myriad of examinations that can be undertaken during a routine sight test. Its possible for colour blindness to go undetected depending on severity - as its impossible to see the world through another persons eyes. Conditions such as protanomaly, deuteranomaly and tritanomaly can range from inconvenient to quite dangerous - often preventing those inflicted from pursuing certain careers. If you have any concerns about your colour perception, you should seek an appointment with a registered optometrist. Stephen Hannan, Clinical Services Director at Optical Express Advertisement

People also had their brain tested by the 'perception test', that challenged quizzers to answer a series of quickfire questions.

The test began by setting out the rules: 'Answer the following questions loudly and as quickly as possible. Don't think too much and don't cheat!'

The challenge, tjhat was also created by Playbuzz, went through a series of animal pictures, asking you to name what each one is.

Internet users are being challenged to test their brain power in a new quiz - which the majority of people will fail

The quiz goes through a series of animal pictures, asking you to name what each one is

Quiz takers are required to answer the following questions loudly and as quickly as possible

The rules stated at the beginning of the quiz add: 'Don't think too much and don't cheat!'

The test surprises the quiz taker by throwing out a completely different question: 'Name one city in the USA'

The photographs feature a cute-looking cat, a guinea pic and a cow.

The test then surprises the quiz taker by throwing out a completely different question: 'Name one city in the USA.'

So what did you say?

According to the creators of the quiz, 92 per cent of people answer New York under pressure.

But if you're one of the few people that named a different city, it shows you've got a creative and innovative mind.

Riddle number one - how quickly can you answer it?

Riddle number two is 'What is the ancient invention that allows people to see through walls?'

A series of riddles posted on Bored Panda also sought to test lateral thinking as well as general knowledge.

Five conundrums included: 'What was the largest island in the world before Australia was discovered?' and 'What can you hold in your right hand, but not in your left?'

Riddle number three: Which room is the safest out of one full of raging fires, another with assassins with loaded guns and another with lions who haven't eaten in years?

And riddle number four asks 'What rock group has four met that don't sing?'

And the fifth riddle is 'What can you hold in your right hand, but not in your left?'

Riddle number one is 'What was the largest island in the world before Australia was discovered?'.

While riddle number two asks 'This ancient invention allows people to see through walls. What is it?'

A third question asks: 'Which room is the safest out of one full of raging fires, another with assassins with loaded guns and another with lions who haven't eaten in years?'.

And the fourth riddle reads: 'What rock group has four men that don't sing?'

Riddle number five is: 'What can you hold in your right hand, but not in your left?'.

Scroll down to read the answers and to see how many you got right.

Number 1: The answer to 'What was the largest island in the world before Australia was discovered?'

Number 2: 'What is the ancient invention that allows people to see through walls?' - a window

The answer to riddle number three, 'Which room is the safest out of one full of raging fires, another with assassins with loaded guns and another with lions who haven't eaten in years?', is the third one, as the lions died of starvation

Answer 4: The riddle 'What rock group has four men that don't sing?' has 'mount Rushmore' as the answer

The answer to 'what rock group has four men that don't sing' is a pun on the faces carved into Mount Rushmore. They are indeed a group of men in a rock group, but they definitely don't sing!

And the answer to the fifth riddle, 'What can you hold in your right hand, but not in your left?', is 'Your left hand'

Answer one is that the island was still there, just undiscovered, while number two is a window, number three is the third room as the lions couldn't survive without food, the fourth answer is Mount Rushmore, while the fifth riddle's answer is your left hand.

The answer to 'what rock group has four men that don't sing' is a pun on the human faces carved into Mount Rushmore. They are indeed a group of men in a rock group, but they definitely don't sing.

Sometimes the easiest-sounding brain teasers are the most difficult ones.

And one of the latest puzzle to sweep the web certainly plays by those rules.

Created by a PlayBuzz user, this colour photo depicts a grey car seat with a mysterious object hidden on it that it's up to you to find

At first, the secret object is impossible to find. However, after a more detailed search you can spot a grey iPad lying flat on the back on the seat

Created by a PlayBuzz user, this colour photo depicts a grey car seat with a mysterious object hidden on it that it's up to you to find.

At first, the secret object is impossible to find.

However, after a more detailed search you can spot a grey iPad lying flat on the back on the seat.

The iPad is well-camouflaged because it's the same colour as the seat, with similar markings.

Another brainteaser to have swept the web depicts a happy-looking holiday scene.

The latest brainteaser to have swept the web depicts a happy-looking holiday scene

A dad can be seen peacefully reading a newspaper while his two children fish beside him - one successfully managing to reel in a big one.

But within the scene, six holiday-themed words have been hidden, and the challenge is to spot them all.

Four of the six words, including 'tree' and 'boy' are relatively easy to spot.

However, the other two are slightly more difficult.

The version of the picture with rings around the words shows how many you got right - or simply failed to spot.

Within the scene, six holiday-themed words have been hidden, and the challenge is to spot them all

Year five pupils at a primary school in Glossop, Derbyshire, were left as stumped as their parents by a question which asked them to 'calculate the perimeter of these composite rectilinear shapes'.

One dad, 43, was so baffled that he turned to social media, appealing for help in solving the question.

As the Manchester Evening News reported, he wrote on Facebook: 'My sons grandma had spent a while helping him with his homework and most of it was straightforward but this one question left her stumped.

The maths puzzle was given to year five pupils at a school in Glossop, Derbyshire

'I then spent an hour or so trying to work it out but found it impossible.

'I really do think it is impossible and it is certainly not something a ten-year-old can answer.'

On social media, many have claimed that the answer is 44cm for both - but not everyone is in agreement.

Another puzzle recently swept the internet, with many trying to solve it using advanced mathematics then kicking themselves when they realised the real solution.

Antley Lamont Staten posted this brainteaser on Facebook, which has been shared more than 370,000 times.

The puzzle shows a grid of nine numbers and a sign next to it asking people to share the image when they find the error.

Yet another puzzle is sweeping the internet, this time boggling the minds of everybody with its deceptively simple answer, above

Lots of people have been trying but failing to solve what they think is a mathematical equation on the right side.

One wrote: 'It' s 4 and 5. 3 + 6=9 2+5=7 not 8 and 1+4=5 not 7. That's how I looked at it.'

However, the answer is that 'mitsake' is spelled wrong.

Theodore O'Connell II wrote: 'This is funny. Most people will pay more attention to the numbers and not the spelling of the sign.'

Pat Ireland said: 'Just shows that it's true - most of us only see the first and last letter of a word.'

Many have been trying to solve the riddle with advanced mathematics, but were probably left kicking themselves when they realised the real solution. The answer is that 'mitsake' is spelled wrong

It came after another very tricky puzzle challenged the internet to find a gherkin hidden among a whole host of burger ingredients.

The brainteaser features a solitary gherkin mixed in with beef burgers, fries and other tasty-looking garnishes.

The challenge is made even more difficult because of all the other green items featured, including salad leaves, cucumber and avocado slices.

The brainteaser features a solitary gherkin mixed in with beef burgers, fries and other tasty-looking garnishes

The visual puzzle was created by illustrator Sally-Ann Heron for food delivery service Deliveroo.

The 25-year-old said: 'I kept forgetting where it was myself, while I was drawing it. I was really hungry by the time I'd finished it.'

The gherkin is actually hidden towards the bottom left of the image, behind an onion ring and a beef burger.

It's not the only food-themed puzzle to have internet users scratching their heads in recent weeks.

The gherkin is actually hidden towards the bottom left of the image, behind an onion ring and a beef burger

In April, popular high street bakers Greggs posted a pasty puzzle that showed a lone cheese and onion bake in a pile of steak slices.

The brainteaser was inspired by the Where's Wally-style puzzles challenging people to spot animals amongst throngs of creatures that have been sweeping the net in recent months.

For those not familiar with the baker's offerings, picking out the pasty proved difficult.

This optical illusion has had pasty lovers scratching their heads - and rubbing their stomachs

The eagle-eyed spotted that the difference lies in the patterns of the pasties.

While the steak bakes feature diagonal lines, the cheese and onion bake is scored with a V-shaped design.

The lone cheese and onion bake is hidden at the bottom right corner of the puzzle.

The cheese and onion bake is tucked away in the bottom right hand corner (circled in red)

Optical illusions have also been messing with people's heads, playing with the way that the brain processes colour.

This psychedelic pattern appears to show green, blue and pink swirls - but not all is as it seems.

The blue and green spirals are actually exactly the same bright green colour, as shown by a close-up picture.

If you test it out yourself on Photoshop, you will find the colour's RBG code is R=0, G=255, B=150.

The optical illusion was created by Akiyoshi Kitaoka, a Japanese professor of psychology.

Most of us think the spirals are blue and green because of the Munker Illusion. Simply put, our brains process an object's colour based on what's next to it.

It is not the only optical illusions that has been taking the internet by storm in recent weeks.

The geniuses at Playbuzz have challenged brain teaser boffs to see if they can solve four colour-based puzzles.

The second puzzle shows a list of colours, written in five different colours. The words do not correspond with the colour they are written in, for example 'green' is written in blue

But all is not what it seems and, as the creators say, 'only the keenest eyes can pass!'.

The first optical illusion shows 12 coloured squares.

Participants are asked how many different colours they can see - excluding white.

They are asked to solve the challenge in fewer than seven seconds.

The second puzzle shows a list of colours, written in five different colours.

The words do not correspond with the colour they are written in, for example 'green' is written in blue.

Participants are asked how many colours are named, and have to solve the challenge within nine seconds - which is far less straightforward than it seems.

The big reveal: Participants are asked how many colours are named, and have to solve the challenge within nine seconds

In the third puzzle, brain teaser boffs are given an image of 25 black squares, with a white space between them - and asked how many colours they can see

In the third puzzle, brain teaser boffs are given an image of 25 black squares, with a white space between them - and asked how many colours they can see.

Some challengers may see grey marks at the intersections between the squares.

However, the grey is an optical illusion and the only colours there are black and white.

Some challengers may see grey marks at the intersections between the squares

The task in the fourth and final puzzle seems simple enough - to ascertain which orange dot is bigger

The task in the fourth and final puzzle seems simple enough - to ascertain which orange dot is bigger.

At a first glance, it appears as though the dot on the right-hand-side is larger than the one on the left.

However, this brain teaser is all about perspective and in fact the dots are exactly the same size.

At a first glance, it appears as though the dot on the right-hand-side is larger than the one on the left. However, this brain teaser is all about perspective and in fact the dots are exactly the same size

This is the latest brain-teaser taking the internet by storm, inviting people to take on the challenge in fewer than five seconds

Internet users were also challenged to see if they could spot what was wrong in this sentence, above, that listed a colourful series of numbers above - in fewer than five seconds.

Reading both text and numbers at a quick pace can result in skipping bits out - which many people who failed to spot the mistake have fallen foul of here.

The numbers, which are in colour, attract the eye and the reader may automatically find themselves checking those for a mistake.

In fact, the error is hidden in the text informing you that there is a mistake to spot.

The results, circled in red, show that the mistake is the fact that the word 'the' has been written twice

Those with a keen eye for detail, and practised in the art of speed-reading, will have noticed that the word 'the' is written twice.

The puzzle is a slight detour from the current trend of Where's Wally-style quizzes.

After a spate of illustrations in which a panda was hidden amongst snowmen, Star Wars figures, elephants.

The craze was sparked by Hungarian illustrator Dudas in December 2015 with he drew a group of snowmen and sneaked in a lone panda amongst them.

Six months later the craze for puzzles shows no sign of abating,

Dudas, or Dudolf as he is known when drawing, spawned the Where's waldo-style internet puzzle craze back in December last year when he asked fans to find the panda hidden in these snowmen

The image of the panda was shared hundreds of thousands of times as it captivated internet users who eventually found him here

Dudolf followed up with a series of wide-eyed owls and challenged viewers to spot the cat hidden amongst them.

The birds are depicted in bow ties, and top hats and they're drawn looking in a variety of directions.

With their big eyes and pointy feathers it's almost impossible to locate the lone feline in the group.

Capitalizing on his new-found fame, Dudolf quickly followed up with this image of wide-eyed owls, this time challenging people to find the cat concealed among them

The key to tracking the elusive feline down proved to be the difference between the owls' beaks and the cat's Y-shaped mouth (pictured)

Reddit user Oneste stuck with the panda theme, but this time drew the fuzzy creature hiding among a group of Stormtroopers to mark the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

There amongst Imperial troops including Stormtroopers, Speeder Biker riders and Snowtroopers, is a single panda with the same black and white colouring as the other figures.

Then, in February this year to mark Oscar season, illustrator Michael Rogalski hid a golden statuette among a group of C3PO droids from the Star Wars films and drove the internet mad looking for it.

Reddit user Oneste also got in on the act by hiding another panda in among this group of Stormtroopers
Philip Schofield may be known for keeping a level head but today the presenter had to step in as a debate over cleavage became heated on This Morning.

The presenter cried: 'Ladies ladies please stop, all of you', as the discussion between Dr Leah Totton, relationship expert Emiliana Silvestri and Holly Willoughby became increasingly personal as Emiliana accused the Apprentice star of posting pictures with her 'boobs out' and her 'dress falling off'.

The angry round table took place after a French study found that women wearing low cut tops were 19 times more likely to get a job.

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A heated debate on This Morning saw Philip Schofield intervene as guests Emiliana Silvestri (left) Leah Totton (second left) discussed whether women should show their cleavage to get a job

Leah - who selected a high-necked top for her TV appearance - initially made it clear she wasn't in favour of women using their curves to get ahead.

She said: 'It's 2016 this is not something that really should be coming in to play. Emphasis should be on a credible CV and valuable experience.'

Phil then stepped in to argue that there was no disputing the fact that revealing clothing did encourage a hiring.

Leah said that the study had not yet been peer reviewed adding that the women were 'hindering' themselves by dressing unprofessionally that would 'undermine their credibility.'

The pair were invited on to discuss the topic after a study in France revealed that women were 19 times more likely to secure a job if they wore a low cut top

Leah says that it would be a digression for women's equality to do so but Emiliana argued that women should do what they have to to get a job

However, despite Leah's convincing argument, Emiliana completely disagreed, launching a personal attack on Leah.

She said: 'I'm shocked by your reaction actually because on your Twitter profile picture your boobs are out. And in your most recent selife your dress is falling off.'

Leah snapped back: 'I'm not against women dressing in a feminine way but there is a time and a place. This is my personal profile.'

Emiliana also bough Leah's social media photos into the argument saying that her 'dress was falling off' in her most recent selfie

She also added that Leah's profile picture was displaying cleavage but the doctor argued this was a personal account

Many viewers took to Twitter following the show to debate the topic further with many agreeing with Leah

She later added: 'If i had been shortlisted for a job based on provocative attire I would not want the job.

'I have been allocated positions based on my ability and by being best candidate and I would be ashamed of myself if I had flirting my way in.'

At this point Emiliana once again brings up Leah's photos shared on social media prompting the pair to get into a squabble.

Phil tried to gain control, calling: 'Ladies ladies please stop, all of you' in a bid to get the programme back on track.

Defending her argument Emiliana says: 'Men work with visuals, a man is a visual creature, I'm saying sex sells. I don't think that it's wrong or right, I'm just saying that's who we are we're animals.

Lauren Hughes even gave an example of how she had been in this very position while job hunting

'If it's gonna get you the job, wear what will get you the job' adding 'If I want a jobI'm going to do what it takes.'

It wasn't long before viewers of the show were taking to Twitter to debate the subject themselves using the hashtag #cleavagedebate.

Charlotte Williams tweeted to congratulate Leah writing: 'Well done @DrLeahTotton #CleavageDebate incredibly professional that's what it's about professionalism not getting ur cleavage out.'

Alicia Sims agreed: 'It lines you up for sexual harassment, you don't flirt your way into a job? How disgusting.'

A handful of people did agree with Emiliana's view that 'sex sells'

Kim Sturgeon questioned what kind of workplace you would be walking into adding: 'If hired on sexual attraction you're likely to then work in a sexualised environment. Is that somewhere you'd like to work?'

Lauren Hughes recalled a time she was in this situation tweeting: 'In an old job I was told I got the job over another candidate as my boss said I was easier on the eye.'

A handful of people did, however, share the opinion of the opposing team.

Jackie tweeted to say: 'The fact that men notice and appreciate appearance is a good thing and to be celebrated. Not downgraded to 'objectification'.'
Left Moscow ballet school with the highest grade in all her academy exams

A British ballerina is enjoying a stratospheric rise in the world of dance - going from Barnsley to the Bolshoi Ballet in just one year.

Talanted Tala Lee Turton, 20, from Wombwell, Barnsley. is only the third British female to graduate from the elite Russian ballet academy in its 243-year history.

However, it almost didn't happen as Tala and her mother Sara Turton were forced to scrape together money to meet the high costs of the school.

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A British ballerina, Tala Lee Turton, 20, above, is enjoying a stratospheric rise in the world of dance

Tala was offered the chance to train at the Moscow ballet school when she was 16 and mum Sara Turton, a single parent, had just three months to raise 15,000 towards the 20,000 costs for her first year.

The pair sought sponsorship and held money-raising events so that Sara could find the 15,000 needed each year to give her daughter the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

After four years of intensive training Tala 'graduated' at a ceremony on Tuesday after achieving the highest grade in all her academy exams, including dancing and academic studies.

She is only the third British female to graduate from the elite Russian ballet academy in its 243-year history

She began dancing at Fearons-Middleton School of Dance in Barnsley when she was four and went on to attend programmes at the Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Yorkshire Ballet Scholarship Centre before securing a place at the Bolshoi academy.

At the academy her weekly timetable was made up of classes in gymnastics, character, historical dance, make-up, modern dance, acting, repertoire and pointe work, which is the act of standing on the tips of the toes.

Also slotted in were Russian language and other academic classes.

Tala 'graduated' at a ceremony on Tuesday after achieving the highest grade in all her academy exams

She began dancing at Fearons-Middleton School of Dance in Barnsley when she was four and went on to attend programmes at the Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Yorkshire Ballet Scholarship Centre before securing a place at the Bolshoi academy

Her hard work paid off with Tala achieving top marks in all her dance exams as well as Russian language and academic tests.

She has now secured a job with The Royal Moscow Ballet and is returning to Barnsley over the summer to hold master classes for young dancers.

Tala will return to Moscow in September to join the touring company and could end up dancing anywhere in the world.

At the academy her weekly timetable was made up of classes in gymnastics, character, historical dance, make-up, modern dance, acting, repertoire and pointe work, which is the act of standing on the tips of the toes

Tala was offered the chance to train at the Moscow ballet school when she was 16 and her mother Sara Turton, above, a single parent, had a mere three months to raise 15,000 towards the 20,000 costs for her first year

'We have had fantastic support from the community,' said Sara, a training manager. 'We've been so fortunate that people have been incredibly generous'

'This last year, leading up to exams, has definitely been the toughest by far.' said Tala.

'Every day we had to run through our dance exams and those rehearsals are expected to be as good as performance in the actual exam, so the pressure was really tough.'

'It is incredibly competitive trying to get a job as a young dancer, so I feel lucky to have this opportunity.

Tala's ultimate dream is to dance the role of Odette in the ballet classic Swan Lake

'It's a relatively small company, which means I'll be given opportunities to dance a lot and get some brilliant experience.'

'The best thing about the Bolshoi is simply the amazing opportunity to learn in every form of life and dance.The worst thing is the cold, sometimes I can't feel my hands when I'm shopping.'

'We have had fantastic support from the community,' said Tala's mother, a training manager. 'We've been so fortunate that people have been incredibly generous.

She has now secured a job with The Royal Moscow Ballet and will return to Moscow in September

'It was all about writing letter after letter to try and find sponsorship and donations from businesses, planning events and just constantly thinking of ways I could raise the money when Tala was awarded the scholarship.

'We've done everything from bag-packing in supermarkets to cake sales and raffles.'
She has killed a lion and doesn't care if people don't like it

Encourages her children to hunt as believes it better than video gaming

American Rebecca Francis said she has no regrets about killing a giraffe

Viewers of last night's Channel 4 documentary The Women Who Kill Lions have taken to Twitter criticising both the hunters on the show and the network for giving them airtime.

The hour-long documentary on Wednesday night saw Croatian-Canadian Jacine Jadresko and American Rebecca Francis attempt to justify their actions.

One the show, the women shared their pride at killing wild animals saying it makes them feel 'wonderful' and 'alive' and a skill they are happy to teach to their children.

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Following last night's Channel 4 documentary The Women Who Kill Lions, viewers have taken to Twitter to criticise both the women on the programme and the documentary makers. Pictured: Rebecca Francis with a lion she has slain

Despite their attempts to reason with their mass audience, the two women left a bitter taste in the mouths of the British public, with thousands taking to Twitter to share their opinion.

Presenter and animal lover Julia Bradbury led the way in criticism, tweeting a sarcastic comment to vent her anger.

She tweeted: 'Better kill that beautiful bug lion before hunting them becomes illegal. And don't forget to do a little jig.'

Julia Bradbury lead the way for the criticism clearly appalled by the women's actions on the show

Her outrage was shared across the social network with many aghast as to what the purpose of the women's hunting is.

Deezee commented: 'How they can gain such enjoyment from killing beautiful and endangered species is beyond understanding #TheWomenWhoKillLions'

Lisa Walls agreed adding: 'If you're not gonna eat it or wear it because you need to survive then why kill it?!'

Many questioned why the women felt the need to kill the endangered animals as they appeared to serve no purpose once hunted

Liam Stallard was also baffled by their hobby adding: 'Hunting for meat is one thing. But hunting for selfies with the corpses of endangered animals? That's messed up.'

Other tweeters said that they found the programme too much to take, going as far as to target Channel 4 for producing the documentary.

Account Purss Full of Love said: 'Could only watch 10 minutes of #thewomenwhokilllions Absolutely vile humans & teaching their kids to hunto too. Pink guns really? #feelsick'.

Several viewers were angry with Channel 4 for allowing the programme to be aired

Rebecca Francis faced on online backlash after Ricky Gervais shared a picture of her posing with a giraffe she had hunted and killed

Priya Madahar slammed the show tweeting: 'Why are we giving these people airtime? Absolutely disgusting! @Channel4'.

User Samantha Davies questioned the mental state of the women adding: 'If a child kills an animal for fun they are deemed "mentally unwell" if an adult does the same they're a "hunter"???'

Married mother Rebecca has previously faced an online backlash after a picture of her posing beside a giraffe she killed was shared with condemnation by comedian Ricky Gervais on Twitter.

User Samantha Davies questioned the mental state of the women adding: 'If a child kills an animal for fun they are deemed "mentally unwell" if an adult does the same they're a "hunter"???'

He criticised the 36-year-old from Wyoming for killing the wild animal writing: 'What must've happened to you in your life to make you want to kill a beautiful animal and then lie next to it smiling?'

On the Channel 4 show, Rebecca, who lives on a ranch with eight horses, said she 'did not regret the hunt at all' and claims she was doing the local Africans a favour as they were able to eat the giraffe after she shot it.

She said she was within her rights to kill the animal which was 'past its reproductive years' and had been outcast from its herd after being replaced by a new bull.

The comedian and animal lover condemned Rebecca's actions but she claims she was doing the right thing as many people were able to eat the giraffe meat

Francis maintains she is a conservationist and that killing animals is a means of preserving species and helping local economies

On a new Channel 4 documentary, Rebecca, pictured with some of the kills up in her home, said she has no regrets about killing a giraffe

She said: 'The local people used all the meat, every drop was used, the bones, the tail, it was a good thing.'

Explaining why she chose to pose with a beaming smile beside the animal's corpse, she said: 'I made a lethal shot and it didn't take long to die. I remember being in awe of the size of the animal and I wanted to show how its neck was the same size as I am.'

She added: 'I think people took it as a form of disrespect that I was smiling but I would still smile about it as it was a celebration and a wonderful moment. I was excited, it was great and everyone around me was happy, no one was upset.

The mother said killing the giraffe was 'a wonderful moment' but she now wishes she hadn't shared a picture of it online after it led to a barrage of abuse and death threats

'I don't regret the hunt at all. I regret posting the picture in a spot where someone could find it.'

After Gervais' condemnation of Rebecca was retweeted more than 47,000 times Rebecca found herself facing the wrath of animal lovers.

But the giraffe killer insists she herself is an animal lover.

She said: 'I want people to understand hunters are not bad, we are doing the right thing, we are the true conservationists of the world.

'We are the ones who care the most about wildlife and put time money and effort towards wildlife. We want there to be an abundance of wildlife for our children and grandchildren.'

On this note, she said she is glad her own teenage son and daughter are following in her footsteps and hunting animals with bows and guns, as that's better than them staying in playing computer games.

Rebecca beside a bear her husband killed in their home. She said she is happy her teenagers also hunt as it is better for them to be outdoors than playing computer games

She said: 'If you get mums and dads out hunting you will get kids out.

'There is so much to it that is positive. It is way better to have kids out there in the outdoors learning things than sat in front of a computer all day.'

However, while she insists she doesn't regret killing animals, she does wish she had kept her hobby to herself instead of posting trophy snaps online.

As a result of finding infamy on the web, she said she receives daily death threats to her and her family and the stress has taken its toll on her health.

'I have had comments from people who have said they want to rape me, skin my children, put my mum's head on a hood ornament on their car... I got pneumonia during the Ricky Gervais thing as my immune system was down when all that happened from the stress, it has been a pretty stressful year.'

Croatian-Canadian Jacine Jadresko is proud to have killed a lion and a bear

Although she invited Channel 4 cameras to film her on a deer hunt, she later told programme makers she couldn't contribute further after she faced another barrage of abuse when Miley Cyrus tweeted her condemnation of Rebecca's actions.

The popstar tweeted that she was in tears looking at pictures Rebecca had shared of her posing with delight beside the bodies of animals she has slain.

Rebecca told the programme makers she couldn't comment further on her behaviour as she was suffering from ill-health.

Meanwhile, single mother Jacine Jadresko is another unrepentant female hunter who appears on the show.

Jacine's son, pictured here shooting a bird, when on his first hunt at the age of four

The daughter of a millionaire property developer, she has also gets abuse from people aghast her behaviour, and thousands of people have signed a petition calling for her to be banned from hunting in Croatia.

Jacine, who has killed numerous wild and game animals, boasts her proudest moment was killing a lion.

'I am so passionate about animals and hunting is part of it. We eat meat. I am a carnivore and a hunter, it is natural for me

She recalls on the show how her family encouraged her to go on a lion hunt 'before it is banned' and funded her $16,000 trip to Africa.

Describing the moment she killed the king of the jungle, she said: 'I put three rounds into the lion. I hit him the chest and he was spinning trying to find out where it was coming from.

'On the next shot he was down and 100 percent dead.'

She said she 'doesn't care' if people don't approve of her hunting and has no shame in admitting she ate some of the lion she killed.

She said: 'I am so passionate about animals and hunting is part of it. We eat meat. I am a carnivore and a hunter, it is natural for me. I did eat some of it.'

She is encouraging her son, Diesel, to hunt, even though he has told her he hates blood and the sight of an animal being skinned makes him want to vomit.

'You'll get used to it,' she tells him, saying that hunting makes her feel 'free and alive'.
She also finished a Double Cheese Burger, six Chicken Nuggets, a large chocolate shake, and a large caramel sundae,

Nela Zisser is living the dream. A pretty, size six model from New Zealand, the 23-year-old manages to maintain her slim figure  while gaining fame as a competitive eater who scarfs down ridiculous amounts of food in record time.

Most recently, the blonde stunner scarfed down an impressive meal of 4,825 calories worth of McDonald's in one sitting, finishing enough food to feed a family of six in just 11 minutes and 35 seconds.

'I'm doing an epic McDonald's menu challenge,' she says in a video of the massive scarf-down, which begins with the food spread out in front of her and a timer on her computer ready to go.

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Dual roles: New Zealand native Nela Zisser is a size six model  who also happens to be a competitive eater

Scarfing it down: In a new video, she eats 4,825 calories worth of McDonald's in under 12 minutes

Wow! Her meal includes a Big Mac, a Quarter Pounder, large fries, a Crispy Chicken Snack Wrap, a McChicken, a Double Cheese Burger, six Chicken Nuggets, a Filet-o-Fish, a large shake, and a large sundae

Go ahead, time her! The 23-year-old eats at an impressively speedy rate

So what's on the menu? Nela has picked up one Big Mac, one Quarter Pounder, large fries, one Crispy Chicken Snack Wrap, one McChicken, one Double Cheese Burger, six Chicken Nuggets, one Filet-o-Fish, a large chocolate shake, a large caramel sundae, and, somewhat inexplicably, a large Coke Zero, which is calorie-free.

'It smells really delicious,' she says before eating.

The camera then captures her starting with a sandwich, washing it down with a bit of Coke. She finished that in less than a minute before moving on to the Crispy Chicken Snack Wrap, followed by what appears to be the Filet-o-Fish  and some of that chocolate shake, which, at 850 calories, is the most caloric item in her line-up.

Craving: She methodically works her way through the extensive meal, remarking that she was just int he mood for McDonald's

Thirsty: She occasionally washes down the food with her soda or chocolate shake

Favorite: Previously, Nela showed off her skills eating 22 Big Macs in under an hour

Amazing: The slim Kiwi has explained her methods for downing so much food at a time, though she can't seem to explain how she remains so thin

She eats a burger and some McNuggets, too, stopping to remark that 'this is a very delicious challenge'  surprisingly not yet sick from all of the food she'd consumed.

The nuggets are followed by the McChicken, another burger  and then, finally, the fries, which she dips into the caramel sundae.

'If you haven't dipped your fries into your sundae, you haven't lived,' she says.

These two items, though, seem to take the most time to eat. She starts in on them eight minutes into the meal, and together, they take about three and a half minutes to finish.

'I'm gonna be honest here, I wasn't really going for speed,' she says. 'I just wanted to eat a lot of McDonalds. 'Tasted really good.'

Last year, the McDonald's fan shared a video in which she ate 22 Big Macs in less than an hour, consuming a whopping 12,386 calories.

Amped up: On July 4, she will be competing in Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York

Interseting... She said she loves dipping her fries in her sundae as she demonstrated on camera

Good to the last drop... She finished off with the final sips of her low-cal Coke Zero

Girl's got skills: She regularly shows off how much she can eat at a time on YouTube

Nela has attempted to explain her scarfing skills in the past, saying on The Morning Show in Australia: 'Basically you just need to eat enough the day before to kind of get your stomach stretched, and then you just go into it with a good technique and hope you win.'

[When youre doing a competition] you just have to zone out a little bit and just try to eat it as quickly as possible so you just put yourself into a kind of zone where youre trying to get it down as fast as you can.'

In her new video, Nela also revealed that she's traveling to the US to compete in the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island, which is set to take place on July 4.
So many people swarmed the website to order the wine-infused delights that the website crashed before the first run of 4,000 cubes sold out

If you like the sound of rose gummy bears, there is some good news and bad news for you.

Popular gourmet candy-makers Sugarfina recently launched a line of the perfectly pink confections on Tuesday, but they proved so popular that their first batch sold out in just two hours in presale - leaving a waiting list of hundreds.

In fact, customers rushed in such numbers to buy the candies that the Sugarfina website crashed.

Summer treat: Sugarfina's new line of rose gummy bears and roses proved so popular that customers crashed the website during a presale on Tuesday

Perfectly pink: The first batch of the product contained 1,000 pounds of candy, adding up to 4,000 small cubes for sale

The brand's latest line of wildly popular gummies include the classic gummy bear shape, which are called 'Rose All Day', and roses, titled 'Yes Way Rose'.

The gummies come in their own clear boxes with blue labels bearing their name, and the candies in color match the summer sipper perfectly.

The first batch produced for the presale was made up of 1,000 pounds of candy, adding up to 4,000 small cubes. It took just two hours for them all to be snatched up.

Sugarfina told Refinery29 that since then, the waiting list for the candies has extended to over 1,000 wine-loving customers.

Pretty in packages: The gummies come in clear cubes, as with most of the company's products

The shapes of things: The line also include rose gummies twisted into the shape of little roses

All together: The candies, which come in sweet blue packages, now boast a waiting list of more than 1,000

The next batch of the popular treats will be for about 5,000 pounds and customers can get on the list by emailing roseallday@sugarfina.com.

Sugarfina, which was launched by Rosie ONeill and her fiance Josh Resnick in Beverly Hills, set themselves apart from other candy shops early on for their clean, white displays and neatly-packed and organized products,

Their stores are stocked with candy that can't be found almost anywhere else, imported from gourmet candy makers around the world.

The founders - who were inspired to open the shop after going to an outdoor screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on their third date - hand-pick the items themselves, which include Rainbow Kyoto Blossoms from Japan, ice cream cone gummies from Germany, and white-chocolate dip sugar cookie balls made in the US.

All in the name: The gummy bear shape candies are called 'Rose All Day', and the roses are titled 'Yes Way Rose'

More of the same: The brand are famous for their many booze-infused treats, though most of them, including the rose treats, don't contain actual alcohol

And the brand's new rose treats aren't their first foray into booze-flavored candies. They have previously become well-known for their champagne gummies as well as other alcohol-tinged delights.

However, with the alcohol mostly burning off during the cooking process, the rose bears and roses won't do much for those looking for a buzz.

In fact, the only one of the brand's boozier varieties that has been proven to get their consumers drunk are the Scotch Cordials, which have a liquid center of five per cent alcohol, making them illegal to be bought by those under 21.
They're a disgusting creepy crawly that many find hard to kill. But would the addition of chocolate and icing be enough to entice you to eat a cockroach?

Katherine Dey, a baker from Rochester, New York, has designed a cake that looks from the outside to be a real life version of the disgusting pest.

However once you cut into Ms Dey's creation it looks far more appetising, with the Madagascar hissing cockroach cake setting tastebuds watering worldwide with more than 600,000 people watching a how-to video of the cake online.

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Real or cake? New York baker Katherine Dey has created this cockroach inspred cake

The decadent creation begins with a pair of round chocolate cakes, before Ms Dey cuts one oblong shape from each.

She then begins to partially hollow out the inside of the cake, before filling them back up with a smooth chocolate icing.

To ensure the cockroach cake tastes nothing like the real life pest, a bevvy of boston icing is added a top the chocolate icing of both cakes.

Sweet treat: While from the outside it may look like a disgusting pest, inside the cake is a whole lot of chocolate and sweet icing

Ms Dey then flips one cake on top of the other to create the body of the cockroach.

Covering the combined cakes in chocolate icing, again, the baker extraordinaire then coats the entire cake in white frosting.

Ms Dey then adds additional layers of frosting in specific areas before scoring the icing to create an effect that looks worryingly like coackroach scales.

Body double: Ms Dey combines the two separate oblong cakes to create the cockroach body before covering it in chocolate icing

It's not real! The cockroach is then covered in white frosting with scores made across the cake to create the realistic appearance of an insect shell

Finished product: Using a mixture of brown and yellow food dye, Ms Dey colours the body and legs of the roach to complete the delicious insect cake

Adding further to the precise look of the sugary treat, she then creates legs out of the thick frosting before adding antenas to it's head.

Finally, using a mixture of brown and yellow food dye, Ms Dey colours the body and legs of the roach to complete the delicious insect cake.

If you can get it into you're mind that you're not actually eating a cockroach, the end product looks like something to savour.
They've been hailed as the reason why Finland has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world.

Now Finnish-style 'baby boxes' will be given to new mothers in England for the first time as part of a pilot aimed at reducing levels of cot deaths in the UK.

The sturdy cardboard boxes - which come complete with a foam mattress, waterproof mattress cover, cotton sheet and other baby essentials - are designed to be a baby's first bed.

The cosy boxes are designed for babies up to eight months old.

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Finnish-style 'baby boxes' will be given to new mothers in England for the first time as part of a pilot aimed at reducing levels of cot deaths in the UK

They will be handed to women who have their babies at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in London.

In Finland, the baby boxes were introduced in the 1930s when cot deaths were high - and it is thought their introduction contributed to the reduction in the infant mortality rate in the country.

The rate fell from 65 infant deaths per 1,000 births in 1938 to 2.26 per 1,000 births in 2015.

Initially the boxes were only given to low income mothers - before the scheme was expanded to include all families.

Mothers can choose between the boxes - which contain clothes, a sleeping bag, bathing products, nappies and a small mattress - or a cash grant.

Most opt for the box as its value is higher than the money.

The UK has some of highest rates of infant mortality in Europe, ranking 22nd out of 50 European countries, with 4.19 deaths per 1,000 births.

Replacing the need for the traditional Moses basket or cot, it is thought the small size of the baby box prevents babies from rolling onto their stomachs - which experts think can contribute to sudden infant death syndrome.

The sturdy cardboard boxes come complete with a foam mattress, waterproof mattress cover, cotton sheet and other baby essentials and are designed to be a baby's bed up until they are eight months old

In Finland, the baby boxes were introduced in the 1930s when cot deaths were high - and it is thought their introduction contributed to the reduction in the infant mortality rate in the country. They contain clothes, a sleeping bag, bathing products, nappies and a small mattress

Imperial College Healthcare Trust, which runs Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital will distribute 800 baby boxes to women on a first come first serve basis at the end of June.

Mothers will also be given education materials with advice from top experts on how to further reduce the risk of infant mortality.

WHAT THE BRITISH BOX CONTAINS A baby grow

Teething ring

Hat and booties

Wash cloth

Thermometer (probably one of the most important items as a raised temperature can a be an indicator something is wrong with the baby)

Nappies

Baby wipes

Baby wash

Membership to the 'Baby Box university' a unique online platform where new mothers can get advice from doctors and nurses they have come into contact with during their birth journey. Advertisement

As part of the pilot, the babies with the boxes will be monitored by the Trust until they are eight months old and their parents asked to fill out a questionnaire.

Dr Karen Joash, the consultant obstetrician at Imperial College Healthcare Trust, who is leading the baby box trial, said: 'For too many years the UK has fallen behind its European counterparts when it comes to reducing infant mortality.

'These boxes and the education resources that sit alongside them have been proven to help reduce the infant mortality rate in Finland.

'We hope these results could be replicated in the UK.'

The baby box team at the Trust is made up of specialist midwives, breastfeeding consultants, psychologists and obstetricians.

The team will work with health visitors and other professionals to ensure the educational materials are tailored to the needs of the local population, it said.
Living proof of the enormous potential of genomics is Aurea Yenmai Smigrodzki, a happy and healthy two-year-old girl from Clemmons, North Carolina. Aurea was the world's first PGT-P baby, meaning she has been scientifically selected for her genes, and is statistically less likely to develop a genetic disease or disorder in her lifetime. She is pictured left with her father Rafal Smigrodzk. PGT-P - preimplantation genetic testing for polygenic disorders - is conducted in conjunction with IVF and allows prospective parents to actively select which of their own embryos to take, based on the strength of its genes. The difference between PGT-P and other screening tools is that PGT-P can screen for more genetically complex diseases, ie, those that are influenced by genetic variants in more than one gene. This may include heart disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity - all of which do not have a single genetic cause, but develop due to multiple genetic factors in combination with lifestyle and environmental factors, such as exercise, diet or pollution. Becoming a parent for the first time is a major moment for anyone - but for Laura Gayton, right, giving birth to a healthy, crying baby boy felt nothing short of a 'miracle'. Laura, a swimming teacher from Kettering, Northants, is one of around 10,800 people in the UK with cystic fibrosis (CF), a progressive genetic disease that claims the lives of half of those affected before the age of 40. When she was diagnosed at just two months old, Laura's parents were told their daughter would be lucky to make it to her 30th birthday. But today, Laura, 31, has never felt fitter, thanks to a pioneering new treatment - and after four years of trying, she and her husband Nicholas, 33, a fire station commander, now have a 13-month-old son, Louis.
Scientists claim to have cracked why people with autism are around five times more likely to develop anxiety disorders.

Anxiety is one of the most common reasons why those with the condition seek support from health professionals.

Until now, it wasn't clear what triggered it - but a new study claims to have found an answer.

Researchers say high levels of anxiety can be explained by autistic people's difficulty in identifying and understanding their own emotions.

As a result, they suggest activities such as mindfulness could be particularly effective - and even revolutionise the treatment of anxiety in autism.

Anxiety is one of the most common reasons why those with autism seek support from health professional

Autistic spectrum disorders are a class of neuro-developmental conditions affecting around one in 100 children.

They are characterised by difficulties with social interaction, communication and language impairments, as well as stereotyped and repetitive behaviour.

People with autism have varying degrees of cognitive skills - ranging from people with significant delays to those of above-average intelligence.

Previous research suggests three main factors often contribute to people developing anxiety.

These include:

* difficulties coping with uncertainty

* problems in accepting emotional experiences

* alexithymia - the inability to recognise emotions in others and struggling to put feelings into words.

Earlier studies into anxiety in autism had focused on the first two of these factors - and the researchers on this paper say it is the first to consider the importance of alexithymia.

The personality trait - which can be found in the general population - is common in people with autism with around half also having the condition.

People with alexithymia are often unable to understand both their own emotions and those of others.

Social stigma towards people with autism has seen people with the condition described as 'cold, antisocial, and disinterested in others,' the scientists said.

The trait was the focus of research published earlier this year, which found people with autism are just as emotionally caring as everyone else but alexithymia stops them feeling empathy.

People with alexithymia are often unable to understand both their own emotions and those of others

In the new study, to explore how the personality trait might impact on anxiety in autism, they recruited 151 adults.

Of these, 76 people had been diagnosed with autism, while 75 had not.

Everyone completed a number of questionnaires that measured core autism symptoms.

These included anxiety, emotional acceptance, alexithymia, and intolerance of uncertainty.

And as expected, the questionnaire results confirmed people with autism experienced significantly higher levels of anxiety than people without the condition.

AUTISM IS NOT JUST A DISORDER OF THE BRAIN, RESEARCH SUGGESTS Until now, it was believed autism was cause by abnormal brain development. Now, scientists believe some aspects of the disorder may occur as a result of problems with nerves found in the arms, legs, hands, fingers and skin that send sensory information to the brain. Symptoms including being sensitive to touch, having difficulties with social interaction and anxiety might be caused by defects in the sensory nerves that run through the body. Harvard Medical School experts believe that in people with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), these sensory nerves are defective due to gene mutations. This means the 'volume' is turned up all the way in these nerve cells, meaning touch is felt at an exaggerated, heightened level - and this can lead to anxiety and behavioural problems. Advertisement

The researchers then developed a statistical model to examine which factors could explain this relationship between anxiety and autism.

They say the model clearly showed that alexithymia, emotional acceptance and intolerance of uncertainty played a critical role.

In fact, these factors together accounted for 64 per cent of the relationship between autism and anxiety.

This suggests people with autism experience anxiety because they are more likely to react badly to their emotional experiences, while finding it difficult to identify and understand their emotions.

The research was a collaboration between academics from City University London, Newcastle University and Brigham Young University, Utah.

Co-author Dr Sebastian Gaigg, of City University, said: 'Our study is the first to show alexithymia and emotional acceptance could explain the high rates of anxiety in autism.

'Anxiety is one of the most common reasons why individuals with autism seek support from health professional.

'[Therefore] and our work has important implications for how anxiety might be treated effectively in those with the condition.

'In particular, we think mindfulness-based interventions may prove effective for alleviating anxiety in autism.

'Rather than worrying about the past or future, mindfulness-based therapies are designed to foster an individuals' awareness of moment-by-moment experiences, including current thoughts and experiences such as emotions and sensations.

'We therefore think such techniques would be effective in alleviating anxiety in autism by improving people's ability to identify, understand, and accept their emotions.'
Women who go to church are five times less likely to commit suicide, according to new research.

Compared to the women who attended services once a week or more, those who rejected religion were more likely to take their own lives, the study found.

Church attendance may lower the odds of mental health problems because it gives people a sense of community and meaningful social participation, they said.

And it is also known that the major world religions all have traditions prohibiting suicide.

Women who go to church are five times less likely to commit suicide, according to new research (file photo)

Researchers analysed almost 90,000 women to look at the associations between going to church and suicide between 1996 and 2010.

Among the women, who were mostly Catholic or Protestant, more than 17,000 attended church more than once a week while 36,488 attended once per week and 21,644 had never attended.

The researchers, from the Harvard School of Public Health, found that compared to the women who attended services once a week or more, those who rejected religion were more likely to commit suicide.

Dr Tyler Vanderweele and his co-authors admit that the study involved mostly white Christians and female nurses which limited the participants' variability.

Following up their research the authors found that 36 had committed suicide, a leading cause of death worldwide and prohibited by many religious traditions.

Dr Vanderweele said: 'Our results do not imply that health care providers should prescribe attendance at religious services.

'However, for patients who are already religious, service attendance might be encouraged as a form of meaningful social participation.

'Religion and spirituality may be an underappreciated resource that psychiatrists and clinicians could explore with their patients, as appropriate.'

Compared to the women who attended services once a week or more, those who rejected religion were more likely to commit suicide, researchers found

In an editorial on the study Dr Harold Koenig, director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center, said it is important for doctors to ask patients about their spiritual history when they evaluate them for psychiatric conditions.

He said: 'This may identify patients who at one time were active in a faith community but have stopped for various reasons.'

The research, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, builds on a wealth of evidence linking religion and church to better mental health.

Last year British and Dutch researches declared that going to church is an effective way of keeping depression at bay.

People who join a religious organisation - whether it is a church, synagogue or mosque - have better mental health than those who join a community group or political party.

Membership of a religious group is also more beneficial than taking part in sport, education or charity work, their study suggested.

The four-year study monitored 9,000 people aged over 50, from countries across Europe.
An electrical current could restore the sight in a condition that affects millons of people, scientists claim.

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness, according to the World Health Organization.

It occurs when fluid is not properly drained from the eye, causing damage to the optic nerve which connects the eye to the brain.

Many patients have blurred vision as if they were seeing through dirty glasses which gets progressively worse as they age.

There is currently no cure for the devastating condition.

An electrical current could restore sight in using a technique known as alternating current stimulation (ACS) It involves attaching four electrodes around patients eyes and send currents directly to the brain

Now, however, scientists have shown that administering pulses of electricity into the brains of glaucoma patients massively improves their sight and quality of life.

After just ten days, many were able to walk unassisted, see distant objects and read small writing in books.

This is the first treatment capable of reversing damage and restoring vision  currently the only options available for patients are to prevent future blindness.

The technique is known as alternating current stimulation (ACS) and involves attaching four electrodes around patients eyes.

Doctors then switch on the current for approximately 50 minutes and it travels directly to their brain.

The treatment works by making the brain more powerful so it is better able to decipher the information which travels down the damaged optic nerve.

A team of researchers at the Magdeburg University in Germany studied 82 patients, of whom 45 underwent alternating current stimulation treatment for ten days.

Afterwards, tests showed their vision had improved by an average of 24 per cent and many said their sight was less blurred and they were able to read small writing again.

HOW SIGHT WAS RESTORED The technique is known as alternating current stimulation (ACS) and involves attaching four electrodes around patients eyes. Doctors then switch on the current for approximately 50 minutes and it travels directly to their brain. The treatment works by making the brain more powerful so it is better able to decipher the information which travels down the damaged optic nerve. Afterwards, tests showed their vision had improved by an average of 24 per cent and many said their sight was less blurred and they were able to read small writing again. Advertisement

Dr Bernhard Sabel, lead researcher of the study published in PLOS One, said the technique was so effective it should be routinely offered by hospitals.

He said: This can partially restore vision in patients with stable vision loss caused by optic nerve damage.

ACS treatment is a safe and effective means to partially restore vision after optic nerve damage probably by modulating brain plasticity, re-synchronizing brain networks, which were desynchronized by vision loss.

This is the first ever large-scale multi-centre clinical trial in the field of non-invasive brain modulation using electric currents and suggests that visual fields can be improved in a clinically meaningful way.

Age, suffering from diabetes, ethnic origin and a family history of the disease can all cause glaucoma.

At the moment patients with the condition can have treatment to prevent future sight loss, but there is nothing available to repair damage that has already occurred.

Many use eye drops which contain a drug to help the eye properly drain fluid.
A number of compounds found in cannabis could prove effective as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease, experts suggest.

Early findings show tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the key mind-altering element of the drug - promote the removal of amyloid beta from the brain.

The toxic protein is the main component of plaques that form in the brain - widely considered a signature of the disease, and as such its presence and build-up is indicative of the most common form of dementia.

Furthermore, the new research has offered insight into the role inflammation plays in triggering Alzheimer's.

And experts at the Salk Institute in California, said they hope the discovery will provide clues to developing new therapies to treat the condition.

The main active ingredient in cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinoid (THC) could form the basis of new treatments for Alzheimer's, scientists at the Salk Institute believe

Professor David Schubert, senior author of the paper, said: 'Although other studies have offered evidence that cannabinoids might be neuroprotective against the symptoms of Alzheimer's, we believe our study is the first to demonstrate that cannabinoids affect both inflammation and amyloid beta accumulation in nerve cells.'

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, and is a progressive brain disorder that leads to memory loss.

The disorder can have a catastrophic impact on a patient's life, seriously impairing their ability to carry out previously simple, daily tasks.

More than five million Americans are battling the condition, according to the National Institutes of Health, and it is a leading cause of death.

In the UK, the charity Alzheimer's Research UK estimates 850,000 people are living with the disorder - but note by 2025 that number is expected to reach one million, rising to two million by 2050.

Scientists have long known that amyloid beta accumulates in the nerve cells of the aging brain, well before the appearance of Alzheimer's symptoms and the telltale plaques.

Although other studies have offered evidence that cannabinoids might be neuroprotective against the symptoms of Alzheimer's, we believe our study is the first to demonstrate that cannabinoids affect both inflammation and amyloid beta accumulation in nerve cells Professor David Schubert, Salk Institute

Amyloid beta is a major component of the plaque deposits that are a hallmark of the disease.

The presence of plaques on the brain, is an indication that can lead to a diagnosis of Alzheimer's.

However, the precise role of amyloid beta and the plaques it forms in the disease process still evades scientists.

Exploring the subject, Salk researchers studied nerve cells that had been altered to produce high levels of amyloid beta, to mimic aspects of Alzheimer's disease.

They found that high levels of amyloid beta were linked to inflammation within cells, and subsequent higher rates of neuron - a type of cell - death.

The team were able to demonstrate that exposing the cells to THC reduced amyloid beta protein levels and eliminated the inflammation from the nerve cells, which was caused by the protein.

As a result they were able to show that THC helped allow the nerve cells to survive.

Antonio Currais, a postdoctoral researcher, and first author of the paper, said: 'Inflammation within the brain is a major component of the damage associated with Alzheimer's disease, but it has always been assumed that this response was coming from immune-like cells in the brain, not the nerve cells themselves.

'When we were able to identify the molecular basis of the inflammatory response to amyloid beta, it became clear that the THC-like compounds that the nerve cells make themselves may be involved in protecting the cells from dying.'

Brain cells have switches known as receptors that can be activated by endocannabinoids, a class of lipid molecules made by the body that are used for signalling between cells in the brain.

The precise role of amyloid beta and the plaques it forms in the disease process still evades scientists. However, the team were able to demonstrate that exposing the cells to THC reduced amyloid beta protein levels and eliminated the inflammation from the nerve cells, which was caused by the protein

The psychoactive effects of marijuana are caused by THC, a molecule similar in activity to endocannabinoids that can activate the same receptors.

Physical activity results in the production of endocannabinoids and some studies have shown that exercise may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Professor Schubert emphasized that his team's findings were conducted in exploratory laboratory models, and that the use of THC-like compounds as a therapy would need to be tested in clinical trials.

In separate but related research, his lab found an Alzheimer's drug candidate called J147 that also removes amyloid beta from nerve cells and reduces the inflammatory response in both nerve cells and the brain. It was the study of J147 that led the scientists to discover that endocannabinoids are involved in the removal of amyloid beta and the reduction of inflammation.
Within a few years testing yourself for cancer could be as simple as testing your blood sugar or taking a home pregnancy test, experts believe.

Chemists at The Ohio State University are in the process of developing paper strips that detect a number of diseases, including cancer and malaria.

The strips, which cost around 50 cents per strip, require just a drop of blood.

Once the blood is applied to the paper strip, the idea is that people would send the strips to a laboratory on a regular basis.

It would mean people would only have to see a doctor if a test comes out positive.

Within a few years tests for cancer and other diseases could be as simple as testing your blood sugar level or taking a home pregnancy test, scientists at The Ohio State University believe. They hope the paper strips, pictured above, will offer a cheap alternative to current diagnostic tests

The researchers, led by Dr Abraham Badu-Tawiah, were accurate even a month after the blood sample was taken, proving they could work for people living in remote areas.

Dr Badu-Tawiah came up with the idea as a way to get cheap malaria diagnoses into the hands of people in rural Africa and southeast Asia.

In those regions of the world, the disease kills hundreds of thousands of people and infects hundreds of millions every year.

But, Dr Badu-Tawiah says the test can be tailored to detect any disease for which the human body produces antibodies, including ovarian cancer and cancer of the large intestine.

The patent-pending technology could bring disease diagnosis to people who need it most - those who do not have regular access to a doctor and can't afford regular visist.

'We want to empower people,' he said. 'If you care at all about your health and you have reason to worry about a condition, then you don't want to wait until you get sick to go to the hospital.

'You could test yourself as often as you want.'

Experts say the test can be tailored to detect any disease for which the human body produces antibodies, including ovarian cancer (depicted) and cancer of the large intestine

The technology uses wax ink to trace the outline of channels and reservoirs on the paper strips.

The wax penetrates the paper and forms a waterproof barrier to capture the blood sample and keep it between the layers.

One 8.5-by-11-inch sheet of paper is capable of holding dozens of individual tests that can then be cut apart into strips, each a little larger than a postage stamp.

Dr Badu-Tawiah said: 'To get tested, all a person would have to do is put a drop of blood on the paper strip, fold it in half, put it in an envelope and mail it.'

The strips, though similar to home pregnancy kits, do differ.

Pregnancy tests are coated in enzymes or gold nanoparticles to make the paper change color.

In the case of the strips, the paper contains small synthetic chemical probes that carry a positive charge.

It is these 'ionic' probes that allow ultra-sensitive detection by a handheld mass spectrometer.

'Enzymes are picky,'explained Dr Badu-Tawiah.

'They have to be kept at just the right temperature and they can't be stored dry or exposed to light.

'But the ionic probes are hardy. They are not affected by light, temperature, humidity - even the heat in Africa can't do anything to them.

'So you can mail one of these strips to a hospital and know that it will be readable when it gets there.'

He and his colleagues, postdoctoral researchers Suming Chen and Qiongqiong Wan, successfully demonstrated they could detect protein biomarkers from the most common malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, which is most prevalent in Africa.

They also successfully detected the protein biomarker for ovarian cancer, known as cancer antigen 125, and the carcinoembryonic antigen, which is a marker for cancer of the large intestine, among other cancers.

After confirming the tests worked, the researchers stored them away and retested them every few days to see if the signal detected would fade over time.

They discovered the signal was just as strong after 30 days as on day one, meaning the disease proteins were stable and detectable even after one month.

In the case of malaria, the human and financial costs are high, especially in Africa, researchers say. The strips could cost as little as 50 cents, less if they are mass produced, offering a cheap way to test for malaria, which UNICEF estimates costs the continent $12 billion a year in lost workforce

Dr Badu-Tawiah said the fact the tests survive more than long enough to reach a lab by mail, mean they could open up a new world of medical care for people in rural areas.

And they could even have real benefits in places like the US, allowing people living in cities to test themselves without incurring the cost of seeing a doctor.

In the US the tests could prove particularly useful for people with a family history of cancer, or those who have undergone successful cancer treatment.

We want to empower people. If you care at all about your health and you have reason to worry about a condition, then you don't want to wait until you get sick to go to the hospital. You could test yourself as often as you want Dr Abraham Badu-Tawiah, The Ohio State University

Instead of waiting to visit a doctor every six months to confirm they are still in remission, past patients could test themselves at home more frequently.

In the case of malaria, the human and financial costs are high, especially in Africa.

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by parasites.

The infection starts with flulike symptoms that can develop into kidney failure or other complications.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there were 214 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2015, and 438,000 people died--mostly children in Africa.

'In Africa, malaria is so common that whenever you get feverish, the first thing you think is, "Oh, it's probably malaria",' Dr Badu-Tawiah said.

While the prototype test strips at Ohio State cost about 50 cents each to produce, those costs would likely go down with mass production, he said.

The greatest cost of using the strips would fall to urban medical facilities, which would have to purchase mass spectrometers to read the results.

Model portable instruments can cost $100,000 but less expensive handheld mass specs are under development.

Researchers hope to be able to test the strips in a clinical setting within three years. In the meantime they are working to make the tests more sensitive, in the hope one day they could require either saliva or urine to produce the same result

Still, Badu-Tawiah pointed out, an initial investment in mass specs would be more than offset by the potential boon to Africa's economy.

UNICEF estimates that malaria costs the continent $12 billion in lost worker productivity every year.

In the United States, where mass spectrometers are more common, the cost savings would come in the form of reduced insurance use and fewer out-of-pocket expenses from going to the doctor less often.

'Although this approach requires an initial investment, we believe the low-cost paper-based consumable devices will make it sustainable,' Dr Badu-Tawiah said.

'We can set one small instrument at a grocery store, then sell the paper strips for just 50 cents per test. The same for Africa, and perhaps much cheaper there.'

Dr Badu-Tawiah hopes to be able to test the strips in a clinical setting within three years.

In the meantime his team are working to make the tests more sensitive, in the hope one day they could require either saliva or urine to produce the same result.
A 21-year-old woman from Salem district in Tamil Nadu has taken her own life after morphed images of her dressed in scanty attire were posted on a Facebook page.

Vinupriya, the daughter of a weaver, felt driven to the devastating step even though her parents had filed a complaint about the Facebook page and asked for it to be taken down.

The sluggish pace of the investigation left ample time for the culprits to upload further fake pictures of the girl - and in the latest update on Sunday the victim's image was posted alongside her father's contact information.

Vinupriya, 21, allegedly killed herself after morphed photographs altered to look like her were posted on social media, along with her father's telephone number.

This shameful act left the girl with no hope of getting justice, and feeling that her life had been ruined.

We have lost our child; there is nothing more we can do. If officials had taken down the page when we complained about it, this day may never have come for our child, lamented Annadurai, Vinupriyas father.

Police officials found a suicide note in the young woman's room. It stated that Vinupriya could no longer deal with the humiliation she was facing. Worse still, she was not sure whether her parents believed in her innocence.

On June 23, after being alerted by a few friends, Vinupriya was shocked to discover that a fake profile had been made on Facebook featuring obscene pictures, altered to look like her.

Her family lodged a complaint with the superintendent of police (SP), Salem district, Amit Kumar Singh, urging him to take action against those responsible.

Soon, the complaint was forwarded to Magudanchavadi police by the SP. However, the victim's family has alleged that timely action was not taken by the officials.

On June 26, another semi-nude image purportedly of Vinupriya was uploaded, and this one included her fathers mobile number.

Traumatised by the development, the girl committed suicide while her parents were out meeting police officials. She was declared dead at Salem Hospital.

After the horrifying death of their daughter, Annadurai and his family are adamant that justice must be done for their child. The family initially refused to receive the young woman's body from the hospital after the post-mortem.

Till the police arrest the culprit we wont budge, said Annadurai.

On June 28, close to 24 hours after Vinupriya's death, her family agreed to receive the body after assurances from the Salem SP that whoever was behind the pictures would be caught within the next two days.

The tragedy that this family has faced highlights many layers of poor administration in Tamil Nadu. First, the police officials allegedly acted in a sluggish manner. Secondly, it is being alleged that a police official demanded a bribe from the family on the phone in order to proceed with the investigation.
Muneer Ahmed, who pumped more than a dozen bullets into NIA officer Mohammad Tanzil and also murdered his wife, says he wants to kill every policeman who crosses his path.

Always armed with at least three guns, he gave the police the slip five times - but a two-month-long chase finally ended on Tuesday.

I have no remorse on killing Tanzil Ahmed. I will kill more officers, Muneer said soon after his arrest.

Police said Muneer Ahmed "started shooting indiscriminately" when he was cornered near Bisrakh

The police who were on his tail were reportedly wary of the aggressive moody killer.

Each member of three raiding teams always wore a bulletproof jacket as Muneer had decided to shoot anyone who stopped him, said a source.

Over 100 buses were searched at Delhis ISBTs, India Gate, Bikaner House and Dhaula Kuan as the police got a tip-off that Muneer would escape to Ahmedabad via the bus route.

He started shooting indiscriminately on a police team when he was intercepted near Bisrakh, said Amit Pathak, senior superintendent of police, special task force (STF).

National Investigation Agency officer Tanzil Ahmed and his wife Farzana were shot dead in Uttar Pradeshs Bijnor district on the night of April 2. Tanzeel died on the spot with over 12 bullet injuries, while Farzana succumbed to her gunshot injuries at a Delhi hospital 10 days later.

NIA officer Mohammad Tanzil was shot dead on April 2 along with his wife, while on the way home from a wedding

No terror link

The STF so far has found no links with terror organisations and says central agencies will question Muneer in connection with the killing of Tanzil, who busted several jihadi modules.

After killing the NIA officer, the accused travelled across the state, shifting locations between 12 districts including Azamgarh, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lucknow, Bijnor, Ghaziabad, and Aligarh, said sources. He also reportedly went to Nepal, Ahmedabad and Mumbai, constantly changing his hideouts.

He is a sharp criminal and a master of going underground. Soon after killing Tanzil, he went to his residence and stayed there for two days. Then he started changing his location. During our raid at Azamgargh, we arrested his close associate, but after the raid we got to know that we missed Muneer who left the house just 15 minutes before the search, police said.

STF officers claim that tracking Muneer became a wild goose chase as he left no electronic footprint behind.

Muneer was an avid social media user but stopped in 2012 and two years later he also stopped using a mobile phone, said officers. He did this on the instructions of his role model, Ashutosh Mishra, who was caught earlier.

Muneer believed that Tanzil played a role in Ashutoshs arrest.

Muneer decided to eliminate him and for six days, he did a recce of Tanzils house in Delhi. He thought Tanzil will also pass-on information about him and he would be arrested, police said.

Police said they had to rely on informers as there was no way to electronically track Muneer.

He never called his associates. He simply visited them and offered them large sums of money each time. Close to 20 people helped him go underground and also assisted him in buying property and his monetary transactions. Muneer has made over Rs 3 crore from robbery and loot, officers said.

Mastermind

Ashutosh was the mastermind of a Rs 1.5-crore heist at Delhis Kamala Market area on November 29, 2014.

He and Muneer were part of the robbery. Ashutosh was arrested last year and Muneer again thought that Tanzeel was behind his arrest. He even approached Tanzeel earlier this year and sought help in getting Ashutosh out of jail, said Pathak. However, Tanzeel refused.

Muneer and Tanzeel were from the same village. Muneer knew him, and his gang associate Rayyan is Tanzeels cousin. Rayyan had a property dispute in his village where Tanzeel allegedly helped his opponents. Muneer was also irked by the incident, said sources.
Late-running flight crews are among a host of factors that delayed Air India flights over the past five months, forcing the cash-strapped airline to pay Rs 3 crore in compensation.

About two lakh passengers complained after they were left stranded at airports for hours.

The national carrier also fares worst when it comes to the number of travellers hit by lack of punctuality.

Every 30 minutes a flight scheduled from Delhi Airport is delayed

The situation is so bad that Air India accounts for nearly 80 per cent of the total compensation paid by Indian carriers.

These are some of the findings in a report by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). On average, other airlines end up paying Rs 2-3 lakh every month, while Air India shells out Rs 60 lakh.

The state-owned carrier, threatened by losses and bloated costs, has ceded significant market share since the country liberalised commercial aviation in the 1990s.

Last month, Air India ended up paying Rs 72 lakh to passengers affected by delays. In addition to the compensation, the airline also had to arrange meals, accommodation, transit, and refunds, which makes the amount much higher.

According to reports, Air India has about Rs 28,000 crore in accumulated losses.

The development comes against the backdrop of the carrier facing criticism from Union minister Venkaiah Naidu this week, following a flight delay triggered by the pilot not turning up on time as he was apparently stuck in a traffic jam.

The furious minister expressed his disappointment in a series of tweets.

Naidu said he reached the Delhi airport at around 12.30pm for his flight to Hyderabad, which was scheduled to take off at 1.15pm, only to be told that the pilot had not shown up.

When Mail Today contacted Air India, the company refused to comment.

The fact that AI is paying huge amounts shows that the airline is following rules and compensating passengers, said an official on condition of anonymity.

Air India accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the grievances registered with civil aviation regulator DGCA. However, other airlines are not in the clear. Every thirty minutes, a flight taking off from Delhi airport is delayed, caused by either the crew coming in late or hold-ups in crew rotation.

According to Air India, the pilot of the flight that Naidu was to travel in reported to work in his own car after the fleet service couldnt get there promptly.

The company said two drivers were dispatched on time but got stuck in traffic snarls. By then, Captain GPS Gill had already left for the airport in his own vehicle.

Airlines have to provide refreshment, refunds, accommodation and compensation caused due to delay, cancellation etc. But, carriers rarely follow rules and dawdle in providing such facilities. If any airline is paying a large amount as compensation, this shows that it has poor services and delays are making a hole in the pocket, a senior airline official explained.

According to the DGCA, it received 782 complaints in May, of which 303 were from Air India passengers.

In April, the national carrier topped the chart of complaints. Of the 674 complaints received by DGCA, 228 were from Air India passengers. These grievances, according to the regulator, were related to matters like customer service, baggage, and assorted in-flight issues.

Air Indias chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani has blamed the companys woes on the ill-thought merger with Indian Airlines, and burgeoning bureaucracy.

Earlier, I always believed that the great Indian Railways was the mother of all bureaucracies but not any longer. Here, at the national carrier, the ridiculousness of the process and the die-hard belief therein has been carried to a mind boggling extent, he wrote in a blog post last month.
The prospect of the much-delayed GST (Goods and Services Tax) Bill finally being passed in the forthcoming Monsoon session of Parliament has considerably brightened over the past few days.

This is on account of informal consultations between the Government and the Congress party.

The discussions between the two main parties are at an informal stage, and will intensify as the Monsoon session draws closer.

The prospect of the GST Bill being passed in the Monsoon Session appears to have brightened

While the final decision on the Congresss position will be taken by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the government has discerned a change in the Congress partys stance.

Sources in the government and in the Congress party say that the two sides' differences over the Bill have narrowed.

There is speculation that the Congress party will agree to soft pedal its demand for a cap on the percentage of tax that can be levied, and the government will drop its proposal for a one per cent additional tax in addition to changes in the composition of the GST council.

The Bill has been stalled in the Rajya Sabha on account of objections from the Congress, the Left parties and the AIADMK.

The government has managed to convince some of the regional parties like the Trinamool Congress, JD-U, SP and BSP. However, since its a Constitutional amendment Bill, it has to be passed by a two thirds majority in both houses.

The Bill sailed through the Lok Sabha, where the government has the numbers, but was stuck in the upper house because of the governments inability to muster up numbers.

The Government needs the Congress to support the Bill for it to get past the two-thirds majority.

In addition to trying to persuade the Congress, the government has also been simultaneously working on parties like the AIADMKN, which has 13 MPs in the upper house, to either vote for the Bill or at the very least lend indirect support by abstaining from voting against it.

The government has also been encouraged by the attitude of the new CPI(M) government in Kerala which has indicated that it is in favour of the Bill.

For Parliament to pass the Bill, it will have to be ratified by at least 50 per cent of the state legislatures.

Both the Congress and the BJP have from time-to-time changed their stance on the Bill. The GST Bill was first introduced in 2009 when Pranab Mukeherjee was Finance Minister. However, the UPA government was unable to get the Bill passed on account of opposition from the BJP.

Narendra Modi, then the Chief Minister of Gujarat, was instrumental in getting his party to oppose the Bill.

After the BJP came to power in 2014, it changed its position on the GST and introduced the Bill in Parliament.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal was due to hold a meeting with traders. His party activists believe the BJP intervened to get the meeting cancelled.

Elections are a year away in Gujarat, but junior spies are already working to incriminate their employers' political rivals.

Activists from the Aam Aadmi Party have secretly filmed the registrar of Surats Veer Narmad South Gujarat University in a bid to prove the states BJP government forced the cancellation of Arvind Kejriwals planned meeting with city traders.

The Delhi chief minister was due to hold a meeting at a university hall on July 10, in a programme hosted by the Vividh Vyapari Mandal. But his visit has been called off.

Now supporters of Kejriwal have mounted a sting operation at the university, clandestinely recording their purported conversation with its registrar.

Mr Kejriwals event has been cancelled, the university official is heard telling AAP activists in the video, which was released by the partys Gujarat unit.

Its not cancelled. Hes coming, says an AAP supporter.

Then, its not possible, replies the registrar.

AAPs Gujarat supervisor Gulab Singh Yadav says the party's supporters conducted the sting three days ago.

The idea behind the secret recordings, he says, was to show that the state government pressured the university not to allow Kejriwals engagement on its complex.

You bring the payment receipt, well reimburse the amount. We will write the cheque, the registrar is heard telling the visiting AAP activists.

Okay. Well meet the vice-chancellor tomorrow, says an Aam Aadmi Party loyalist.

Listen to me. This matter is disputable. Its better you cancel it, advises the university official.

Earlier in the day, Jailal, who had apparently invited Kejriwal for the July 10 meeting of Surat traders, dismissed AAPs accusations of pressure. But the Aam Aadmi Party produced another video where he is heard saying he had indeed been forced to call it off.
A state-run polyclinic in Haryana has been working overtime for almost a fortnight now, as ambulances transport young men, one after the other.

They are being brought in from a police recruitment camp, a ten-minute drive from the healthcare centre.

Many of the men display alarming symptoms - dilated pupils, psychotic behaviour, frothing at the mouth, vomiting, and acute breathlessness.

Doctors suspect many candidates may have taken cheap performance-enhancing drugs to help them pass the tough physical test

Shortly before one batch were brought in, they participated in a 5-km race as part of the ongoing recruitment drive for constables in Haryanas police force. But their symptoms suggest more than just regular fatigue from a gruelling drill.

Doctors suspect many of them may have taken cheap performance-enhancing drugs to pass the tough physical test, timed to 25 minutes on a sweltering June day.

Sourav Kaushal, a doctor at the Kurukshetra polyclinic, told India Todays Special Investigation Team (SIT): "We did recover pills from their pockets in a couple of cases. We have those pills with us as a sample for testing, but we can't take any risk. We know what type of steroids they would have consumed to enhance performance. We then treat them accordingly.

Two young hopefuls have already died of suspected drug overdoses during the current, month-long exercise.

Two young hopefuls (not pictured) have already died of suspected drug overdoses during the recruitment process

One of the men has been identified as Somvir of Bhiwani district, and the other as Jitendra from Hisar.

Jitendras relatives deny he took drugs. But doctors at the hospitals have blamed their deaths on substance overdoses.

As many as five lakh applicants are expected to try their luck in the police headhunting exercise.

The India Today SIT travelled to Kurukshetra to investigate rumours of doping by candidates. The team found that the citys government polyclinic was ill-equipped to test for drugs. But clinically, many in-coming patients show signs of drug use, says Dr Kaushal.

His colleague at the same hospital shares the suspicions.

He got hyper before. Now, he looks better. But you never know when he may get hyper again, said the doctor, attending to an unconscious patient.

Its (the use of drugs) possible. Chances are high. None of them will admit it, the doctor said.

Government selectors are conducting fitness tests as part of their police recruitment process in the middle of the city. Some 10,000 applicants show up every day to take part in the arduous race for 10,000 posts.

India Todays investigative reporters also visited the site, where emergency crews and medical practitioners estimated that at least a third of those who fainted may have been suffering from the effects of dope.

Eight to 10 runners collapsed because of drugs and 20 because of hot weather, claimed one doctor.

Police forces across the country suffer from a chronic deficit of manpower. The problem is equally acute in Haryana.

According to a national audit report filed last year, shortage of personnel below the IPS and HPS ranks ranged between 21 per cent and 26 per cent from 2009 to 2014.

Faced with crippling unemployment, the prospect of a government job serves as the sole motivation for many candidates applying for vacant constable positions.

But fitness, officials and doctors say, often becomes a hurdle in the vigorous multi-stage selection process. And thats why candidates may be resorting to low-cost but potentially hazardous doping, they say.
Voters and party workers from several communities and regions are unhappy with the manner in which CM Siddaramaiah handled the cabinet reshuffle

Karnataka's Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was under the impression that the rebellion in the Congress party over his cabinet reshuffle would simmer down, but actually it has increased.

As many as 45 legislators are expressing their displeasure with the senior Congress leaders for ignoring them.

All 45 are now rallying behind former CM S M Krishna and demanding a change in the leadership.

This is not what Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi expected when he entrusted the task of a state cabinet reshuffle to Siddaramaiah.

Voters belonging to several communities and regions are unhappy with the manner in which the reshuffle was handled.

In all likelihood, it will affect the partys preparations for the 2018 Assembly elections, as disgruntled Congress leaders are being wooed by the other political parties.

When Siddaramaiah was in New Delhi two weeks ago to seek the approval of the Congress High Command for a reshuffle, he was made to visit senior leader Mallikarjuna M Kharges home twice for his approval.

While the Congress leaders in Karnataka and the ministerial aspirants were under the impression that Kharge and Siddaramaiah were working out a favourable combination, none expected the inclusion of Priyank Kharge into the Cabinet.

This came at the cost of senior Congress leader and Dalit representative V Srinivasa Prasad.

Two other ministers Baburao Chinchansur and Qamar-Ul-Islam, who hailed from Gulbarga in north Karnataka (same district as that of Kharge), were also dropped.

All three sacked ministers accused Kharge of nepotism, as his son was given the plum portfolio of the IT/BT ministry.

While Srinivasa Prasad said that he was made a sacrificial goat to accommodate Kharges son in the cabinet, Chinchansur and Islam alleged that Kharge got them removed from the cabinet because he did not want their presence to overshadow Priyank.

Both Islam and Chinchansur are heavyweights with a mass following in their respective communities, and they have vowed to defeat Kharges family in the next elections.

Kharge may be maintaining that he had no role to play in the inclusion of his son in the cabinet, but it is a fact that he gave his nod for the reshuffle.

This will affect the Congresss prospects in north Karnataka, where SCs/STs and Minorities are present in significant numbers.

In south Karnataka also, the Congress has made a new enemy in the Vokkaligas (the second largest community in the state, with a 13 per cent share in the population) by dumping popular film star-turned-politician M H Ambarish.

Shockingly, it did not announce any replacement.

Senior Congress leader M Krishnappa (Vokkaliga) was humiliated after he was dropped at the last minute. Supporters of Ambarish and Krishnappa went on a rampage in Vokkaliga-dominated districts in the Cauvery basin following the reshuffle.

Another Vokkaliga leader, Kimmane Ratnakara, was also sacked as part of the reshuffle.

Siddaramaiah has left a vacancy in his Cabinet, and he may accommodate a Vokkaliga at a later stage.

The immediate task for Siddaramaiah is to win over the rebels by taking them into his confidence. If he allows the situation to aggravate further, it could be dangerous for the Congress in the long-term.

The intervention of senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes has not helped the party end the rebellion.

Though Siddaramaiah appointed lesser-known rebels as chairpersons of Boards and Corporations, it is the Dalits and Vokkaligas vote-bank that he has to take care of.

If Siddaramaiah does not complete the task in the next week, the rebellion will continue to persist with his rivals within the party having the edge over him.

The writer is chief of bureau, Bengaluru

JDS woos rebels

The Janata Dal (Secular), which lost eight legislators because of rebellion, did not waste time in wooing the disgruntled Congress legislators, who were unhappy with the Cabinet reshuffle, to make up for the loss.

The JD(S) leaders met M H Ambarish and V Srinivasa Prasad, who were dropped from the Cabinet, and Congress MLA Malikayya V Guttedar and former minister Dr A B Maalakaraddy, who failed to make it to the Cabinet.

All four are reportedly keen on joining the JD(S) at the time of elections. If JD(S) founder H D Deve Gowda gets his calculation right, then it could be an advantage for his party.

IT pros form union

30 per cent of IT professionals suffer from disorders

Do IT professionals need a workers union?

The question comes up whenever Indian and MNC firms lay off their employees citing several reasons, including poor performance.

Now, professionals in the tech sector are joining hands to form what could be Indias first Union of IT employees.

The All India Information Technology Employee Association (AIITEA) is holding its first meeting in Bengaluru on June 30 to frame laws and rules.

Of late, the demand for a forum has increased because the scene is no more the same.

The pay hikes are no more in double digits, candidates recruited from campuses are made to wait for several months while fresh recruitment is rare in the IT sector because of stunted revenue growth in recent times.

A study conducted by Nimhans revealed that 30 per cent of the IT sector employees suffer from psychiatric disorders because of enhanced work pressure.

It also revealed that one out of 20 IT professionals contemplated suicide.

The AIITEA is keen to protect the interests of the IT professionals.

Steely mess in Bengaluru

These days the IT capital of the nation is witnessing a heated argument between urban planners and the officials of the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) over the construction of a 7-km long elevated road (flyover) to ease vehicular traffic moving towards the Kempe Gowda International Airport.

The BDA has proposed a steel flyover estimated to cost Rs 1,350 crore to connect High Grounds (city centre) with the Hebbal flyover, which provides connectivity to the international airport.

The proposed steel flyover is estimated to cost in the region of Rs 1,350 crore

But urban planners and architects are of the view that the steel structure could spoil the aesthetics of the city, which is known for its greenery.

The proponents of the steel flyover contend that it takes shorter time and costs less when compared with concrete elevated roads. But construction engineers estimate 60,000 tonnes of steel to be used for the flyover, which could look like a mess if not planned properly.

Leading urban experts and architects have urged the government to drop the steel flyover plan, as it goes against the character of the city.

Some of the existing flyovers, such as the one located at the Richmond Circle and the National College junction, have already spoiled the citys aesthetics because of their poor planning and construction quality.
A series of lapses resulted in the killing of eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in the terrorist attack in Pampore on Saturday, according to top sources engaged in counter-terror operations in J&K.

The area where Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists struck has been used by terrorists to attack convoys earlier as well.

The Jammu-Srinagar highway and the Srinagar-Baramulla highway are considered very sensitive, especially now with Amarnath Yatra round the corner.

Eight CRPF men were killed and 22 injured after terrorists ambushed a convoy at Pampore on June 25

The road domination should have been very active. But where was the road opening party and why was this bus isolated? Why was it not a part of a convoy? questions a top officer, part of the overall management in J&K.

India Today TV has accessed a video of the encounter, which shows two terrorists firing indiscriminately into the bus. Two Army mine protected vehicles (MPVs) are then seen rushing to the spot from either sides of the road.

The Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of 50 RR was the first to respond along with the mobile bunker of the CRPF. From the cupola, the CRPF soldier fired. The Army QRT got out of the MPV and started firing at the terrorists neutralising them, sources told India Today TV.

The mobile gypsy of the CRPF is then seen rushing towards the bus, but it doesnt engage the terrorists in these shots.

This is not the first time a CRPF convoy has come under attack. In February too, a CRPF bus was ambushed by terrorists in Pampore. The terrorists then ran into the EDI building and the Army lost two brave officers of Special Forces while neutralising the terrorists. The CRPF needs to improve its training, tactics and response techniques under fire, sources added.

In Anantnag, South Kashmir, early in June, a BSF convoy came under fire resulting in the deaths of three security force personnel.

"The highways are the arteries but also the Achilles heel if not protected well. And fool proof corridor security remains a nightmare, said an official.

Force strength is being looked into for highway security ahead of the Amarnath Yatra, K Durga Prasad, Director General CRPF said.

As of now, south of Pir Panjal, there is a company deployed at every 11 kilometres and at every 4.5 kilometres, north of Pir Panjal.

"The CRPF is now working on increasing not just the force strength for the Yatra but also working on increasing the number of mobile bunkers along the highway. The force is also re-looking deployment along the highway, he said.

K Durga Prasad complimented his force personnel for firing back at the two terrorists despite being in the line of fire.

Our effort is now to ensure the QRT response time is reduced further, he added.

He refused to comment on lapses, insisting it would be premature to comment ahead of the inquiry.

The Army  after the 2013 Hyderpora highway killing of its soldiers  made a series of changes in its convoy movement. The changes included deploying additional highway domination teams (HIDOTs), deploying troops at vulnerable roads, and occupying high ground to prevent terrorists from launching a stand-off attack.

The Army also altered the timing and dates of their convoy movements.

Additional counter-measures were taken in terms of convoy protection vehicles not just in the front and rear, but also in the middle of the convoy.

Troops inside were also given weapons to respond to a threat. Training was rejigged to ensure troops could immediately retaliate and neutralise the treat, sources added.

The Central police organisations the BSF and CRPF  need to train officers and men together and ensure standard operating procedures, the official added.



Days of zero-infiltration are over

With the frequency of encounters between the security forces and militants increasing in the valley, top security officials claim that the days of zero-infiltration are over.

The Army had described 2015 as a zero-infiltration year.

According to a senior Army official, infiltration takes place along the LoC, but most of the militants are killed during these attempts.

However, he said some of them do manage to slip in and are then targeted in the hinterland by the Army and other security agencies.

A senior official of the State Home Department said that this year there was no claim of zero-infiltration from any of the security agencies.

Day in and day out, encounters are taking place and militants are being killed along the LoC in north Kashmir and in various districts of north Kashmir. It indicates movement in the LoC has increased and it also indicates that there is a drastic change in the situation as compared to last years.

A senior police official posted in a sensitive north Kashmir region said 40 to 50 militants might have infiltrated this year. This has increased the total number of militants in north Kashmir to nearly 70.

The officer said that since 2011, the militants infiltrating would be fewer in number and the strong anti-insurgency grid would keep the number in check along the LoC and in the hinterland.

However, he said, a large number of militants have crept in during the past three months. He said two Pakistani militants have been arrested in north Kashmir in recent times.

In comparison to 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and especially 2015, things have changed drastically and infiltration is taking place, the official said.
BJP President Amit Shah cancelled a scheduled trip to Chhattisgarh, sparking rumours

BJP President Amit Shah cancelled a scheduled trip to Chhattisgarh on Tuesday, setting off speculation about the impending Cabinet reshuffle.

The buzz in the partys 11 Ashoka Road, which is undergoing renovations, stayed alive for the entire day but there was no confirmation.

Eid e-greeting card contest launched

The government has launched a contest inviting participants to create e-greeting cards for Eid-Ul-Fitr, which is round the corner.

The contest was launched on mygov.in, a citizens engagement platform.

The top entries will be suitably awarded in the competition, which will close soon.

The website has emerged as the most interactive platform for the public, who can freely state their suggestions or complaints about the governments initiatives.

Prabhu's food for thought

Always eager to improve the performance of the railways, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has invited senior officials to lunch on June 30 and asked them to come up with fresh ideas to make the service better.

The minister had recently reviewed the functioning of the service and pulled up many senior officials.

The minister is eager to push Prime Minister Narendra Modis pet projects and complete them in time.

MGNREGA touches a new high

The Government is often under attack for allegedly mishandling the MGNREGA scheme.

On Tuesday, it claimed the average number of days' employment generated per household last fiscal was the highest in eight years at 49 days.

There was also improvement in the timely payment of wages under the livelihood programme.

The government claimed that a total of 235 crore days work were generated last year.

Swamys complaint reaches Home

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy refuses to leave the news. On Tuesday his complaint about the alleged breakdown of governance in Delhi was forwarded to the Home Ministry by the Presidents Secretariat.

The President's Secretariat conveyed the same to Swamy.
Property mogul Alex Dellal's self-assured appearance before the Treasury Select Committee yesterday clearly riled MPs, as he explained his lucrative property deals with BHS owner Dominic Chappell.

Bedales-educated Dellal, 32, has certainly led a gilded existence far removed from his hard-working inquisitors, flitting between homes in London and Rio de Janeiro.

Now married to sultry Italian actress Elisa Sednaoui, ex-squeezes include rock star model Lizzie Jagger and Princess Caroline of Monaco's elegant daughter Charlotte Casiraghi.

An acquaintance who visited his sprawling former office in London's Knightsbridge compares it to something out of 1980s gangster flick Scarface.

Genial restaurateur Jeremy King, whose swish central London trough spots The Wolseley and The Delaunay are a favourite with business high rollers, is moping about Brexit saying: 'I've not met anyone who seems happy about the outcome of the referendum.'

At least King, 62, has just appointed a sparky chief financial officer, Elizabeth Hogg, to keep things buoyant.

Dainty mother-of-one Hogg, 34, also has impeccable city contacts. Her sister-in-law is the Bank of England's pin-sharp chief operating officer Charlotte Hogg.

Cheering news for anyone who's suffered misery at the hands of Ryanair this summer: The airline's money-grabbing boss Michael O'Leary's 3.8 per cent stake in the firm has nosedived 130million since last Thursday. Poor fellow. Into every life a little rain must fall, I suppose.

Midland Bank's old headquarters opposite the Bank of England, arguably the City's grandest building, will re-open next spring as a modish hotel from Soho House Group. Called The Ned, it will boast a rooftop swimming pool, gym and luxury pampering spa. Bet metrosexual governor Mark Carney, 51, can't wait to pootle over and try out one its invigorating, all-over body scrubs.

Grouchy Amstrad tycoon and Remain supporter Lord Sugar responds testily to a Twitter user suggesting he stop moaning about the referendum result, barking: 'Get stuffed I will say what I want and I don't need t***s like you telling me what I can or can't do. Get lost.'
A loophole in banking rules could allow financial giants based in the UK to keep trading in the EU after Brexit.

Two little-known parts of legislation look set to be used by the big lenders to ensure they can keep doing business as they do now.

It had been feared that British banks, and large multinationals from outside the EU such as American and Swiss lenders, would be barred from doing business in Europe after Brexit, unless they moved an office inside the EU.

Worst-case estimates from consultancy PwC suggest overseas banks could look to move 115,000 people away.

This was because any bank based in an EU country has a passport that allows it to do business in another member state. So a bank with a head office in the UK could offer services in Spain or Germany, even if they didnt have an office there, and vice versa. After Brexit banks based in the UK would have this passport taken away, experts had suggested.

But many believe that under articles 46 and 47 of the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (Mifid), banks outside the European Union could be given a passport provided the rules in their home nation were as good as those inside the EU.

And a second glimmer of hope may also apply. EU banking reforms called Mifid II are set to be introduced by 2018 which could also allow the UK banks to stay trading in the EU.

These rules will allow banks to do some cross-border business with EU states if they are judged to be in a well-regulated environment  and the UK would likely pass that test.

Economist Gerard Lyons, a key voice in the Brexit camp, believes this will give UK institutions access even if the nation stays out of the common market.

PwC financial services expert Andrew Kail isnt so sure.

In principle it might work, but its not as simple as that  Mifid only covers a certain amount of products in certain ways, he said.

Passporting is essentially the right to offer financial services in any EU country if your business has a company based anywhere in the union.

This is what makes the City attractive to American banks such as JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, or Japanese lender Nomura.

They can have a UK headquarters that handles all their business on the Continent, staying outside the restrictive and bureaucratic eurozone but still selling into it.

Ideal position: American banks such as JP Morgan have a UK headquarters that handles all their business on the Continent, staying outside the restrictive and bureaucratic eurozone but still selling into it

BANK THREATS TO MOVE STAFF

The Citys passporting rights depend on access to the single market  and if that is cut off, experts have warned there could be an exodus of workers.

Before the referendum, HSBC said 1,000 staff might move to Paris and JP Morgan claimed 4,000 employees could go. However, no decisions have been made yet.

Morgan Stanley was rumoured to be immediately moving 2,000 people abroad but it has strongly denied the claims. The reason the banks would move jobs is so that they can set up a new office inside the EU and gain a passport this way.

City insiders said most banks were currently waiting to see what comes up in negotiations.

If possible, people would rather keep their employees here, one said. Theres not immediately a rush to the door. It all depends on the detail of the deal.

BIG NAMES WHO THRIVE IN LONDON

Some lenders already based in Europe, such as German firm Deutsche Bank, would retain passporting rights because they have operations elsewhere.

And just because some threaten to move staff abroad does not necessarily mean relocating entire corporate headquarters.

The City remains a key part of world financial markets due to top-flight secondary services such as the accountancy and legal industries.

It is a global insurance hub and the only place in Europe where the international language  English  is also the native one.

On top of that, most bankers like living in London and would prefer not to move away if it can be avoided. There are already signs that banks which look beyond Europe are likely to emerge relatively unscathed however negotiations turn out.

Standard Chartered and HSBC, which are both predominantly focused on Asia, have seen far smaller share price movements in the recent market turmoil than peers.

HSBC decided not to shift its headquarters to Hong Kong earlier this year after a consultation, and said at the time that this decision would not change if Britain quit the EU.

HOW THE LOOPHOLE WOULD WORK

THE simplest answer to the passport problem would be to remain in the single market.

This would allow passporting to continue unchanged and would mean the City emerged virtually unscathed.

It is something bankers are likely to lobby very hard for in the weeks and months ahead  but it would mean accepting free movement of labour, which is unlikely to be agreed.

More likely is the possibility that banks in London may use loopholes in EU rules to keep their passports.

Articles 46 and 47 of the Markets and Financial Instruments Regulation, and a reform called Mifid II, could all prove a window for banks to continue trading.

In essence, banks with a passport already may be able to keep it, even if the UK is outside the EU, provided the UK can prove it has a well-regulated environment  and the UK would almost certainly pass that test.
ROLLING ALONG Rolls-Royce said it was business as usual after Brexit and pledged to invest in Britain.

The engineer said there was 'no immediate impact to its day-to-day business'.

And the fall of sterling against the US dollar may even boost the engineering group because it will be cheaper to buy its goods.

Shares rose 2.7 per cent, or 17.5p to 669.5p.

VW PAYOUT Volkswagen has agreed a record 11billion settlement in America over its diesel emissions scandal, which will see owners paid up to 7,500 each in compensation.

The scandal-hit car maker will spend 7.5billion either buying back or repairing around 475,000 affected diesel vehicles, while it will also compensate US owners with up to 7,500 each.

AIRPORT BACKING The Government is committed to airport expansion in South East England despite the result of the EU referendum, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said.

It has been suggested David Cameron's resignation could mean a hold-up in the delayed decision on whether to expand Heathrow or Gatwick.

SERVICE DEAL Interserve has won a 60million contract to manage facilities at 18 shopping centres.

The outsourcer will team up with commercial property service firm JLL to provide cleaning, security, pest control, window cleaning and repairs at sites across the UK.

Shares fell 1.9 per cent, or 5p to 259.75p.

PUB DEAL Shepherd Neame, the Kent-based brewer, has bought seven pubs from Enterprise Inns and expects to take over an eighth.

The sites are in Kent, Sussex and Surrey. Shepherd Neame now owns 335 pubs as well as the brewery in Faversham which dates back to 1698.

CRISP JOBS British crisp maker Tyrrells is creating 120 jobs in Australia with the opening of a base there.

It bought Melbourne-based organic snacks firm Yarra Valley Snack Foods last year. Tyrrells was founded in 2002 by Herefordshire farmer Will Chase. It is controlled by investment firm Investcorp.

MINER TAX Miner Rio Tinto paid 3.5billionn in taxes and royalties last year with an average corporate income tax rate of 29.9 per cent.

It said it spent 13.5million on goods and services and made a 28billion 'economic contribution'. Shares rose 2.25 per cent, or 47p to 2132.5p.

STORE BID The owner of fashion chain Store Twenty One is trying to avoid falling into administration. It employs 1,000 in the UK.
Online broker Hargreaves Lansdown topped the blue-chip leader board as the FTSE 100 index broke its post referendum slump by staging a 2.6 per cent rally.

Although yesterday City stockbroker Numis lowered its Hargreaves Lansdown price target to 1308p, it upgraded the shares to 'buy' from 'hold'.

James Hamilton, an analyst at Numis, said: 'Whatever Brexit brings it is unlikely to stop people saving and it is also unlikely to stop what we believe to be the structural shift to online platforms and self investment where Hargreaves Lansdown is the market leader.'

Online broker Hargreaves Lansdown topped the blue-chip leader board as the FTSE 100 index broke its post referendum slump by staging a 2.6 per cent rally

As a result, Hargreaves Lansdown  whose founder Peter Hargreaves donated to the Leave campaign  jumped almost 9 per cent, or 94p to 1150p.

Overall, the FTSE 100 leapt 158.19 points to 6140.39 and the FTSE 250 surged 3.58 per cent, or 535.20 points to 15,503.06. Some market participants described yesterday's gains as a 'dead cat bounce'.

Mike Van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said: 'Bargain-hunting may be helping as opposed to the emergence of genuine support as markets adjust to a new normal and the prospect of the UK outside the European Union.'

Other brokers had a different view. Jernej Omahen, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, argued in a note to clients yesterday that last Friday's referendum result just wasn't a 'Lehman moment'.

Insurance companies peppered the leaderboard after Legal & General tried to reassure investors that its balance sheet is 'resilient' following the turbulence caused by the EU referendum.

Legal & General advanced 7.9 per cent, or 13p to 178p while Prudential perked up 7.7 per cent, or 85.5p to 1190.5p.

In the retail sector, Primark owner Associated British Foods, downgraded last week by Morgan Stanley, climbed 8.7 per cent, or 205p to 2555p, as Berenberg argued the current share price offers the 'best entry point in nearly three years'.

Other retailers, though, didn't fare as well. Citigroup downgraded several businesses and cut its forecasts to take into account Britain's decision to leave the European Union which is likely to hit economic growth and the cash flow of British households.

For example, Halfords  which Assad Malic, an analyst at Citigroup, downgraded to 'sell'  slipped 2 per cent, or 6.7p to 319.7p. Malic, though, upgraded car dealer Inchcape to 'buy'. The shares gained 4.9 per cent, or 28.5p to 609.5p.

Elsewhere in the retail sector, Goldman Sachs argued that against a backdrop of lower growth and increased uncertainty, it continues to prefer exposure to online retailers, such as Just Eat and Asos. Just Eat put on 3.8 per cent, or 16.1p to 421.1p while Asos advanced 7 per cent, or 245p to 3709p.

G4S rose 8.1pc, or 13.3p to 177.3p after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to 'outperform' as it will be a 'significant beneficiary' of sterling weakness.

Other businesses likely to do well out of the pound's massive fall include mining companies. Broker Goldman Sachs said: 'With yields continuing to push lower, our strategists expect equities to remain a preferred asset class, especially dividend payers.

'To that end, we believe mining is well positioned versus other sectors given revenues are in dollars, Europe exposure is small and anecdotal client feedback over the past few months has suggested that they have been underweight mining.'

BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, advanced 4.4 per cent, or 37.2p to 879.1p.

Goldman Sachs also said it saw the pound's weakness as a 'slight benefit' for British oil exploration and production companies, such as Genel Energy and Tullow Oil.

Tullow perked up 3.6 per cent, or 8.2p to 238.7p while Genel ticked up 6.2 per cent, or 7.5p to 127p

Among the smaller companies, consumer cyclicals rallied hard as worries about the domestic economy receded.

For example, Car dealer Lookers jumped 13.5 per cent, or 12.5p to 105p and Laura Ashley gained almost 7 per cent, or 1.5p to 23p.

Property giant Land Securities made it onto the blue-chip index leaderboard after a leading broker tipped the shares.

In a note entitled When To Catch A Falling Knife, JP Morgan analyst Neil Green said: We could be approaching oversold levels for Land Securities, Derwent London and Hammerson.
The Brexit vote sent the stock market yo-yoing last week, creating chaos for savers' retirement plans.

With probably months of share price swings ahead, it's easy to panic. But that's the worst thing to do.

Instead, the message from expert investors is to keep calm and carry on. Stock markets will always move up and down, and investing for the long term means you can ride out the bumps.

And if you're expecting to tap into your funds soon, there are steps you can take to boost your income.

Here's our guide to making the Brexit market turmoil work for you and your pension.

Brexit jitters: With probably months of share price swings ahead, it's easy to panic. But that's the worst thing to do

Boost your savings if you're working

No matter how worrying the stock market lurches look, remember that there's plenty of time for your fund to bounce back.

The golden rule is to stick to your guns and keep making contributions to your pension.

Savers who are 15 years or more away from retirement have ample time for their savings to recover.

In fact, these type of dips just provide an opportunity to buy shares at cheaper prices, then watch them soar over the long term.

Jason Hollands, managing director at advice firm Tilney Bestinvest, says: 'You have to think very, very carefully about panic selling in this market. It makes sense to do nothing. You are not a trader  you could get things terribly wrong.

'Much of the volatility we are currently seeing is because the stock market expected Britain to stay in the EU and then got a shock when it was wrong.'

The FTSE 100 listing of Britain's biggest firms plunged by 7 per cent on Friday after the vote  although later in the day, it bounced back to finish 3 per cent down.

WHY BREXIT WILL KEEP OUT ROGUE SALESMEN Brexit could spell the end for rogue financial firms in Europe selling dubious investments to Britons. A legal loophole lets unscrupulous firms set up in a country where watchdogs are less exacting than those in the UK  then flog risky investments, mortgages and loans to British customers online or by phone. Customers do not have the protection of the UK's Financial Ombudsman Service, which can make firms pay compensation if they mis-sell. Instead, they must rely on financial watchdogs in the country where the firm is based. Last year, Selfcert.co.uk, founded by a British businessman, started to offer banned self-certification mortgages to UK borrowers, from the Czech Republic. Buyers declare their income themselves and don't have to back up their claims. And many, including payday lenders which charge huge rates of interest on loans, and financial advisers pushing risky investments at vulnerable elderly customers, may give the impression of being British when they call customers, but there is little comeback if you are ripped off by an overseas-based operation.

Yesterday, it finished almost 3 per cent up on the previous day at 6,140. That just shows how unpredictable the movements are. It's likely we will see similar jumps and drops over the coming months.

But savers should take heart from the fact that there have been plenty of other bigger falls in the past and the market has always recovered.

For example, at the height of the financial crisis on October 10, 2008, the FTSE 100 fell 8.85 per cent to finish at 3,932. Yesterday, the stock market was still above 6,000, having fallen as low as 5,537 as recently as February.

Remember that most workplace pensions will be heavily invested in FTSE 100 firms.

More than 70 per cent of these firm's earnings are from outside Britain.

Brexit may actually cause their profits to jump, rather than plunge, as a result of the weaker pound.

That's because profits made in dollars, euros and yen are worth more once you convert them into pounds.

A weaker pound also makes a UK firm doing business overseas look cheaper among competitors, which can increase export sales.

For savers in their 50s and younger, it's absolutely crucial to keep paying into your pension.

If you stop, you'll miss a boost called tax relief. With this, the Government adds money you have paid in income tax to your pension pot.

So if you want to put 1 into your pension, a basic-rate taxpayer need only save 80p, because the Government will give back the 20p income tax it has taken from you.

A higher-rate taxpayer will only need to save 60p as the Government will hand over the extra 40p.

With workplace pensions, your employer will also pay in, often matching your contribution. So you'll be missing out on free extra money.

Crucially, drip-feeding savings into your pension through regular contributions will also mean you can take advantage of any dips in the price of company shares.

These bargains should dampen the impact of falls your pension suffers.

To shelter your nest egg further, make sure your pension cash is invested in different assets in different parts of the world.

If you don't expect to withdraw the cash for 15 years or so, you can afford to take larger risks in areas such as emerging markets and shares in smaller companies.

You could consider the Fundsmith Equity Fund. It is up 29 per cent over the past year and is exposed to firms such as computer giant Microsoft and U.S. drinks companies PepsiCo and the Dr Pepper Snapple Group.

Mr Hollands also recommends Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, run by investment firm Baillie Gifford, for those looking for more risk.

Its name might suggest otherwise, but it is invested in a host of U.S. tech firms such as Facebook and Amazon, plus Chinese internet firm Baidu. It is down 4.62 per cent over the past year, but over three years is 56 per cent up.

Pick a retirement date carefully

Short of the 2008 financial crisis there probably hasn't been a worse time to start taking your pension. If you can delay and work for a few more months, it's probably best to shelve your retirement plans for now.

If you are in your 50s and within ten years of taking your pension, watching your nest egg fall in value can be incredibly stomach-churning.

But experts say a decade should still be long enough for your pension to recover from any losses. So, again, don't make any rash investment decisions or stop contributing.

With five years to go to retirement and a stock market-linked pension, you have less time on your side.

Market worry: Short of the 2008 financial crisis, there probably hasn't been a worse time to start taking your pension

If you haven't already done so, you should consider moving your savings into assets that are not as risky as shares, such as company and government bonds and even cash.

Many workplace schemes will also automatically start to move your pension into less risky assets as you move closer to retirement. This process is known as lifestyling.

It's worth talking to your scheme administrators to check whether this is the case with your fund.

However, remember that the markets behave unpredictably and even this option is not without risk.

If you're considering becoming one of the 60,000 a year who turn their pension pots into an income for life through an annuity, you may want to rethink for now.

With an annuity, you don't have to worry about running out of money in retirement: it lasts as long as you do. Payouts have been falling over the past year  and the Brexit vote has added to the woes. They are currently at their most paltry ever levels, after several providers slashed rates by just over 3 per cent over the past week.

Scottish Widows has cut some of its payout rates by 157 a year on a 100,000 pot, while Retirement Advantage has slashed 3 per cent off all its rates since the vote.

It means a 65-year-old with a 100,000 pot buying an annuity now will receive 150 less a year in income on their pot than if they had taken their pension just before the vote.

The amount savers receive from an annuity is based on returns on government bonds, known as gilts.

Returns on gilts, called yields, have plunged as a result of the market chaos. The yield on ten-year gilts has fallen below 1 per cent for the first time.

Even annuity salesmen are warning investors to steer clear of the deals.

Billy Burrows, an independent annuity adviser for more than 25 years, says: 'This is possibly the worst time to buy an annuity. You are buying at an extreme point in the market and it's unlikely you'll get a good deal.'

If your retirement date is set in stone, consider taking the 25 per cent tax-free lump sum to help tide you over. Or have you got cash in savings that will buy you a year or two?

If you really must buy an annuity now, don't delay. Experts believe that rates may fall further before they improve.

GOLD PRICE SOARS TO A 12-MONTH HIGH Gold prices hit a two-year high after Thursday's referendum result rocked the markets. Bullion soared to US $1,366 (1,033) an ounce on Friday, up from $1,256 (949) the previous day, as investors looked for a safe place for their cash. By Monday, though, it had fallen to $1,321 (999)  still a 12-month high. Gold is popular in uncertain times, as it keeps its value. The Royal Mint allows customers to buy and sell gold bars through royalmint.com/bullion. You can now save the bars directly into your personal pension as part of a new service. Or try a gold fund. This will invest in mining companies that extract the metal. BlackRock's Gold and General Fund is up 75 per cent over the past year, turning 10,000 into 17,500. Or consider an exchange-traded fund that tracks the gold price.

Each annuity quote you get is valid for around three to four weeks. At the time of writing, some firms had not yet cut their rates  so shop around.

Other savers have taken advantage of new pension freedoms introduced last year to keep their nest eggs invested and withdraw cash as and when they need. This process is known as drawdown.

Doing this might seem daunting in the current environment but, again, there is no need to panic.

If you have some time to go before retirement, try to find ways of boosting the pot you plan to invest.

This will give you some wriggle room as to how much you can take from your fund if Britain's economy struggles to adapt to Brexit and your returns stagnate.

When planning the make-up of your portfolio, ensure it contains a wide range of investments to give you the best chance of not denting your fund.

Russ Mould, investment director at pension firm AJ Bell, recommends choosing a global equity fund for some of your cash. This should be packed with firms that will get a profit boost if the pound keeps falling.

He suggests Lindsell Train Global Equity, which has returned 14.53 per cent over the past year, turning 10,000 into 11,453. He also likes Fundsmith Equity, which has increased 10,000 to 12,900, in the same period.

You may also want to consider so-called equity income funds.

With these, your cash is invested in big companies that routinely make hefty annual payouts to savers in the form of dividends.

Mr Mould suggests the Invesco Perpetual European Equity Income. With this fund, your cash is ploughed into a range of big Continental companies  for example, Swiss pharmaceutical giants Novartis and Roche, and Dutch financial firm ING. It also includes French oil major Total and German insurer Allianz.

However, the downside is that, if the euro takes a plunge as a result of Brexit, your nest egg could be hit.

The Invesco Perpetual European Equity Fund is down 6.58 per cent over the past year, but returned 24.59 per cent over three years and 44.38 per cent over five, turning 10,000 into as much as 14,380.

An alternative is the Artemis Global Income Fund, which invests across international markets.

It is down by 0.23 per cent over the past year, but is up more than 37 per cent over three years.

Snapping up bonds is another good way of shielding your pension pot from stock market volatility.

Mr Mould recommends the Aviva Investors Strategic Bond Fund and Fidelity Strategic Bond, which have turned 10,000 into 11,608 or 11,669 in the past three years, respectively.

It may be worth getting a professional to evaluate your choices. Find an independent adviser at thisismoney.co.uk/find-an-adviser.

If you are among the lucky savers with a final salary pension, you are in a solid position. Your employer is responsible for covering all payouts, so the amount you receive does not rely on the stock market.

However, around 1,000 of these schemes are at risk of closure, according to research body the Pensions Institute.

If this happens, your entitlement may end up being ring-fenced and you could receive a new stock market-linked plan.

If turbulent shares and falling government bond returns cause firms or their schemes to collapse, 90 per cent of your payout will be covered by the Pension Protection Fund lifeboat, up to a maximum 37,420.

Take out no more than 4 per cent a year

Most savers already drawing a workplace pension need do nothing, because their payouts are fixed.

But tens of thousands have chosen to keep their money invested and withdraw regular sums to live on.

If this is you, don't be too concerned if your pension fund dips in value as a result of Brexit.

Legendary investor Warren Buffett's advice is to 'be greedy when others are fearful'  but this isn't the time to start gambling on making a quick buck, unless you have plenty of spare cash to play with.

Tom Selby, senior analyst at pension firm AJ Bell, says: 'It will be tempting for people in retirement to buy and sell shares on the back of all this uncertainty. But trying to make money when everything is so unpredictable is a mug's game.'

Mr Hollands says: 'The best thing is to go and make a cup of tea and just observe how your portfolio is doing every now and then.'

With drawdown savers, the goal is to try to live off your investment returns without touching much of the capital sum you originally invested.

It's vital to resist dipping into capital  or, if you must, as little as you can  during tumultuous periods such as this one.

If you do this when the stock market plunges, you could be left seriously out of pocket. With less cash in your pot, it will be hard to recover the same level of income.

As a rule of thumb, you should not withdraw more than 4 per cent of your fund each year. That means 4,000 on a 100,000 pot.

However, some pensions experts believe that it pays to be even more cautious than this.

Research carried out by investment analyst Morningstar concluded that savers should take out no more than 3.2 per cent , or 3,200 on a 100,000 pot, to be genuinely safe.

Once the dust has settled post-Brexit, you may want to consider whether your fund is invested in the right way. You shouldn't be chopping and changing your funds around very much in retirement.

And seeking financial advice on drawdown investments can pay huge dividends in time.

The sort of funds you should be considering include Steady Eddie options. Troy Asset Management's Trojan Fund is one example. It is invested in safe haven areas that include gold, government bonds as well as tried-and-tested industries, such as tobacco firms.
South African President Jacob Zuma should pay back $500,000 (385,000) of public funds spent upgrading his private residence with facilities including a state-of-the-art chicken coop and a swimming pool, the treasury said.

The figure is just three per cent of the $16million (12million) total.

In March, the country's highest court found that the president had violated the constitution by defying an order to repay some of the money in one of several scandals that have dominated his presidency.

South African President Jacob Zuma should pay back $500,000 (385,000) of public funds spent upgrading his private residence (pictured) in the rural eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal, the treasury said

Work carried out on Zuma's home included a swimming pool, which was claimed to be a fire-fighting facility, a chicken run, a cattle enclosure, an amphitheatre and a visitors' centre

The Constitutional Court asked the national treasury to determine the value of the non-security upgrades installed at Nkandla, Zuma's traditional homestead in the rural eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal.

The work included a swimming pool, which was claimed to be a fire-fighting facility, a chicken run, a cattle enclosure, an amphitheatre and a visitors' centre.

The treasury said in a statement that Zuma, head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, should pay back 7,814,155 rand ($509,000).

The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, said the sum was too low but was still a damning indictment of the president.

'The president should pay back 100 per cent of the non-security upgrades - previously we determined that amount to be up to 52.9 million rand ($3.4 million),' DA spokesman Mabine Seabe told AFP.

'Zuma paying is an admission of guilt. The next step is criminal charges,' the EFF party said

'This (the treasury's report) sends out a clear message to those involved in corruption, especially those in the ANC, that you will be held accountable for your actions, even if you are the president.'

The presidency made no immediate comment on the treasury's calculation, which will now be reviewed by the Constitutional Court.

After the court's ruling in March, Zuma was urged to step down by several ANC veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle that brought liberation icon Nelson Mandela to power in 1994.

But he retains widespread loyalty in the party, and ANC lawmakers have regularly rallied to his defence.

In April, they easily defeated an opposition move to impeach the 74-year-old who has been in power for seven years.

He has been wounded by months of scandals, including his sacking of two finance ministers in four days last year, which rocked the markets and saw the rand currency plummet.

South Africa holds local elections in August and, if the ANC suffers a major drop in support, Zuma could lose backing within the party and not serve out the last three years of his final term.

As well as the DA, the radical leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party hopes to attract voters frustrated by record unemployment and lack of progress since the end of white-minority rule.

'Zuma paying is an admission of guilt. The next step is criminal charges,' the EFF said in a text message.

Last week, a separate court threw out Zuma's attempt to appeal against a ruling that he should face almost 800 corruption charges that were dropped in 2009 shortly before he came to power.

The charges relate to alleged corruption, racketeering, fraud and money laundering over a multi-billion dollar arms deal.

The Nkandla scandal became a symbol of alleged widespread corruption and greed within the ANC party.
Blac Chyna's father has spoken out for the first time - saying he's overjoyed to become a grandfather again and gives his daughter and fiance Rob Kardashian his 'full blessing'.

He also told how the 28-year-old model, who is expecting a baby with Rob, has always been ambitious since she was a young girl - and is not surprised by her meteoric rise to fame.

Chyna appeared over the moon when she announced she was engaged to Rob in April - then just a month later revealed she was pregnant his baby.

Blac Chyna's father, Eric Holland, 49, of Maryland, told Daily Mail Online that he's overjoyed to become a grandfather again

Holland told Daily Mail Online that he gives his daughter and fiance Rob Kardashian his 'full blessing' for their future together

The Kardashians, however, were slow to offer their congratulations.

But unlike the lukewarm reception the curvy model has received from her future in-laws, Chyna's family appear to have fully embraced Rob.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Online, Eric Holland, 49, from Maryland said he was really 'happy' that his daughter was engaged and expecting her second child.

'Oh yeah I'm happy of course - she knows that,' he said. 'As soon as I found out I was all happy for her - they're having a baby and everything - she's got my blessings.

'I met Rob he seems like a nice man - he was nice with me and everything so I'm happy for her.'

And although Chyna has been accused by some of being a gold-digger, Eric said his daughter always worked hard to achieve her goals and will take her new-found fame in her stride.

'I don't think that all this has hit her by surprise,' he added. 'She was always a little different you know - I always knew that she was gonna end up somewhere.

'She liked change she never liked to stay the same. She was always doing something different and wanted to achieve things - she was this way since she was 13 or 14 years old.'

Despite the model being about to join one of America's most famous families, dad Eric says she still makes time for her large extended family - including two half brothers and nine half sisters, who are mostly based in the Maryland and Virginia areas.

He added: 'She was at my little daughter Summer's birthday party two weeks ago and she took some pictures with everyone. It was really nice she made the effort for her sister.

'She's still in touch with all her family she's never forgotten her roots.'

Holland, pictured above with Chyna, said he was really 'happy' that his daughter was engaged and expecting her second child.

Chyna is pregnant with Rob's child and the couple are expected to marry later this summer. Chyna also has a child with Tyga, the on-again-off-again boyfriend of Rob's half sister, Kylie Jenner

Eric says that despite staying out of the limelight, he has always been there for his daughter and always given her advice on how to live her life.

He continued: 'People might think that she is from a broken home but I know that's not true. I always told her it's not how you start - it's how you finish.

'That's the most important part of life, you know. We all have our ups and downs but it's how you deal with them.'

And although he is pleased his daughter has found fame and fortune - he would rather stay out of the spotlight, unlike Chyna's mother Shalana Hunter who has given numerous interviews - and has even taken to social media to vent her feelings towards the Kardashian family.

None of the Kardashian family have been publicly supportive of Chyna and Robert's relationship.

Chyna's former fiance Tyga, who she has a three-year-old son King Cairo with, is the on-again-off-again boyfriend of Rob's half-sister Kylie Jenner, leading to a feud between the model and the Kardashian-Jenner family.

Khloe even kicked Rob out of her home after learning of their romance, noting he'd 'burned his last bridge'.

Even when Chyna and Robert first announced their engagement, none of his famous sisters publicly congratulated him.

But since the loved-up couple announced their pregnancy news, the celebrity family seems to have come round - with Kim describing the news as 'exciting'.

Throughout it all dad Eric has always stayed out of the drama - preferring to keep a low profile.

He said: 'Yeah her mother has spoken but me, I'm a person who likes to stay out of the limelight so I haven't. It's her life and I'm happy for her but I have always stayed out of the whole thing.

'She kind of introduced me to the situation by taking a picture of me and saying "this is my father", and it kind of put me out there. But I always told her that's not who I am - I don't like all the attention.'
British students enrolled at European universities may be granted EU citizenship, Italy's prime minister has revealed.

Matteo Renzi said EU leaders had discussed moves to hand students European passports if they are spending up to four years learning on the continent.

The plan, which emerged after Britain voted to leave the EU last week, was examined at a meeting of European socialist leaders in Brussels yesterday.

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Matteo Renzi said EU leaders had discussed moves to hand students European passports if they are spending up to four years learning on the continent

He said: 'If a British student decides to spend two, three, four years in a European university, we are studying now if it is possible to give him a European passport (..).

Renzi said the plan was also on the table at a meeting he attended on Monday in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.

The move could be welcomed by British students on the continent who are uncertain about their future rights in EU countries after Britain's June 23 EU referendum.

An opinion poll taken shortly before the referendum found 73 per cent of eligible voters under 25 in favour of remaining in the EU.

The eventual national margin on June 23 was 52 to 48 percent in favour of leaving.

Renzi said that no decision has been made yet on whether the plan can be carried out.

Renzi said the plan was under discussion because Brexit could disadvantage Britain's younger generation (file picture)

'For the moment nothing is sure,' he said on his way to a European summit in Brussels where the leaders of all EU countries will discuss on Tuesday and Wednesday the implications of the Brexit referendum.

Legal hurdles might make the plan impossible, though. Granting EU citizenship to British students may force EU countries to do the same with students from other non-EU countries to avoid illegal discrimination.

Renzi said the plan was under discussion because Brexit could disadvantage Britain's younger generation.
Case of Gilad Shalit, captured in Gaza, led to public debate about the policy

Amnesty says the directive led to 135 Palestinian civilian deaths in 2014

The directive allows enemy to be fired upon even if it risks life of colleague

Israel's army chief has revoked a decades-old directive that allowed troops to use massive firepower to prevent soldiers being captured alive, the army said on Tuesday.

The so-called Hannibal Directive allowed soldiers to fire at enemy forces attempting to abduct their colleagues, even if that risked killing the Israeli soldier.

'The chief of staff has ordered to cancel the procedure,' an army spokeswoman told AFP.

Israeli soldiers take part in a military exercise, which includes infantry, tanks and artillery units, in the northern part of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights near the border with Syria on June 23

Amnesty International last year accused Israel of activating the directive, with 'strong evidence' of war crimes, after the capture of a soldier in Rafah during its 2014 war in the Gaza Strip - charges Israel denies.

Amnesty said heavy Israeli bombing in 'retaliation' for the capture of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin had killed at least 135 Palestinian civilians, including 75 children. Goldin was later declared dead.

The case of Gilad Shalit, who was captured in Gaza by militant group Hamas in 2006 and released in 2011 in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, triggered intense public debate about the policy.

Asa Kasher, an Israeli expert on military ethics, welcomed the 'long due' decision to re-write the directive, formulated during Israel's 1980s war with Hezbollah in south Lebanon.

He said soldiers and commanders had for decades misunderstood the directive as ordering the execution of a soldier to prevent his abduction.

Amnesty International last year accused Israel of activating the Hannibal Directive and killing 135 Palestinian civilians during bombing carried out in 'retaliation' for the capture of Hadar Goldin. Pictured is an Israeli tank on maneuvers in open fields

Hannibal instructs soldiers to prevent a comrade falling into enemy hands, 'even at a certain risk to the soldier's life,' said Kasher, who headed the committee that formulates the Israeli army's code of ethics.

But they cannot use arms in such a way that would certainly kill the soldier, or even most probably kill him, he said.

'The value of a soldier's life is greater than that of preventing an abduction.'

Kasher said he was not aware of a case in which Israeli soldiers killed others to prevent their abduction.

Newspaper Haaretz reported in 2011 that Israeli commanders were telling combat units to 'do their utmost' to avoid 'becoming another Gilad Shalit' -- although it said the policy had been out of use for a decade.
Lauri Love, who has Asperger's Syndrome, is accused of stealing data from US agencies

An autistic man accused of hacking into US government computers would be at 'high risk' of killing himself if he is extradited to America, his vicar father told a court.

Lauri Love, who has Asperger's Syndrome, is accused of stealing 23,000 personal details of government employees from US agencies including the Federal Reserve, the army, the FBI and Nasa.

American authorities want Love, 31, who lives with his parents in Suffolk, to stand trial in a US court over charges of cyber-hacking.

His lawyers say he could face a sentence of up to 99 years in prison if found guilty.

Love's family and health experts told a court yesterday that US legal proceedings and a possible long jail term could cause his health to deteriorate and lead to a mental breakdown or suicide.

Instead they want him to face legal proceedings in the UK, where he can be close to his parents, who were described in the hearing as his 'life support'.

His father, a prison chaplain, said his son 'would be at risk of suicide' if he was removed from family.

Love, an electrical engineering student at the University Campus Suffolk, is accused of working with others to carry out a series of sophisticated cyber attacks on computer networks in the US from the UK in 2012 and 2013, breaking in via the 'back door' to access personal information and credit card details of thousands of government staff.

Westminster Magistrates' Court heard that as well as Asperger's, which was diagnosed quite late in his life, Love has suffered from depression, anxiety, psychosis and suicidal thoughts - including voices telling him to kill himself - as well as asthma and extremely bad and painful eczema.

During the hearing Mr Love, who is wanted in three US jurisdictions - New York, New Jersey and Virginia - sat in the dock making origami models of roses and an intricate geometric star.

His father Rev Alexander Love, who works at High Point prison in Suffolk, told the court his son was 'exceptionally gifted' but developed mental health problems while still at school that crippled him socially.

He said his son now puts his hacking skills to good use but that this would crumble without family support.

Rev Love said: 'The thing I have discovered over the last year is that if he has a support network at home he can flourish. But if he is taken away from that he cant cope.

'Ive seen the worse case scenario and been to the funerals of young men and their families dont see it coming, but we see it coming thats the difference.

'When we come home we check he is still alive, we dont know what we are going to come home to.

Westminster Magistrates' Court (pictured) heard that as well as Asperger's, which was diagnosed quite late in his life, Love has suffered from depression, anxiety, psychosis and suicidal thoughts

'Sometimes during meals he will say "life is not worth living, its pointless". We can see him scratching and his face bleeds, blood comes from his finger as he is always scratching at his despair, it looks so awful.

'Hes told me, and I believe him, "that if it wasnt for you and mum Id be dead". He could take his own life if we were not a presence in his life, it would be almost as it we werent there.

'If he is taken away for decades to face a trial in three different states we may not see our son for years.'

Love's mother Sirkka, who works at the same prison, said: 'He is in constant pain from scratching, in the first two years of his life I had to put mittens on him to stop him scratching

'It is my believe he would commit suicide if he was sent to solitary confinement.'

Peter Caldwell, representing the Crown Prosecution Service on behalf of the US authorities, said the hacks had 'caused harm' by misusing people's personal data, and that Mr Love had bragged about it in online hackers' chat rooms under aliases such as 'Peace' and 'Root'.

But his lawyer Ben Cooper said Mr Love's case was 'almost identical' to that of Gary McKinnon, another alleged cyber-hacker with Asperger's who was eventually spared extradition after a decade-long battle when the Home Secretary intervened.

Theresa May introduced a 'forum bar', which allows courts to block extradition if it is in the interests of justice to have the person tried in Britain instead.

Mr Cooper, who said the US justice system pressured people into pleading guilty, added that Mr Love's case was 'almost identical' to Mr McKinnon's, telling the court: 'If ever there was a case for the forum bar to succeed, this would be it.'

Autism expert Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, from Cambridge University, said: 'He doesn't want to die, but his mental health is so dependent upon being at home with his parents that being detained for an indefinite period in an American prison system he would experience a deterioration in his mental health so much that he would no longer be able to impose any restraint on his behaviour to stop him committing suicide.'

Prof Baron-Cohen warned that Mr Love had already discussed taking his own life, and had even thought-up ways to prevent his methods being detected by authorities.

Dr Thomas Kucharski, an American forensic psychologist and expert on mental health in the US prison system, warned of the impact of being kept in isolation - a likely result of Mr Love being extradited.

He said: 'It is widely recognised that isolation is a very detrimental process for people without any psychiatric condition, it is only magnified in someone with a psychiatric disorder.'

He added that Mr Love would likely become 'highly victimised', and it was 'not likely' he would get the care he needs in the American correctional system.

And Professor Michael Kopelman, a psychiatrist who has assessed Mr Love, added that there was a great risk that he would become unfit to plead.

He said: 'If his depression gets worse, if he becomes psychotic, if his eczema and asthma get worse, it may well affect his mood state to think rationally and instruct lawyers and be fit to plead.

'There is a real risk, I cannot say that it will definitely happen. He will need to be continually monitored.'
Shanika Minor, 24, is wanted in connection with the March murder of her mother's pregnant neighbor

A woman accused of killing a pregnant woman is now on the FBI's '10 Most Wanted Fugitives' list.

Shanika Minor, 24, is wanted in connection with the March 6 shooting of her nine-months pregnant former high school classmate and neighbor of her mother, Tamecca Perry, 23, for playing loud music at night in her Milwaukee, Wisconsin apartment.

Minor was added to the infamous list on Tuesday.

A reward of up to $100,000 is being offered for information leading to her capture.

She is currently the only woman on the list. A total of 10 women have only ever made it.

Perry was within a week of giving birth when Minor's mother told her daughter that Perry had been disturbing her with loud music at unreasonable hours, according to the FBI.

'Apparently Minor believed that the victim had somehow disrespected her or her mother,' said Special Agent Chad Piontek, who is investigating the case from the FBIs Milwaukee Field Office.

'It is a fairly violent neighborhood. Unfortunately, there is sometimes a street mentality about solving problems.'

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Wanted: Minor was added to the FBI's Most Wanted list on Tuesday, authorities believe she is being harbored as a fugitive by friends. She also has an alias: Ida Jackson

Rogues' gallery: Shanika Minor is the only woman on the FBI's list currently; a total of 10 women have featured on the list over the years

Tamecca Perry (above), 23, was nine months pregnant and allegedly shot by her neighbor's daughter and former classmate, Shanika Minor, in an argument over playing loud music

Minor is said to have confronted the victim on the sidewalk with a gun and fired a warning shot into the air, and then left the scene in her car. Neighbors thought that would be the end of the altercation.

However, the FBI says that Minor then returned around 3am, gained access to the building where her mother and Perry lived, and confronted the victim again.

Minor's mother is said to have heard the commotion and inserted herself between her daughter and the victim, trying to calm the situation.

But her infuriated daughter reached around her mother with her gun and allegedly shot the pregnant Perry point blank in the chest. The victim staggered back to her apartment, where she and her unborn child died in front of her two young children, said the FBI.

Minor fled the scene and has not been seen since.

Authorities believe that the suspect, who has never held down a job for any length of time, is being assisted by a 'network of friends,' possibly people in Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, Ohio, and Georgia.

Police also believe she is still armed and dangerous, as the weapon was not recovered.

Shanika Minor, 24, above, allegedly shot her mother's neighbor, Tamecca Perry, 23, who was due to give birth any day. Minor fled the scene and has been on the lam since March 6. She is the only female currently on the notorious FBI's 10 Most Wanted List

Piontek stressed that anyone helping Minor is not only committing the crime of aiding and abetting, but could be in danger too.

'She killed someone who was not a stranger to her - a family acquaintance,' he said. 'This was a senseless crime and we believe Minor is capable of more violence. We need to capture her so that no one else is harmed.'

Police say they hope whoever is helping Minor will find the large reward 'more attractive' than assisting a suspect in a first degree murder.
The hacked Gmail account of one of Hillary Clinton's volunteers shows how the campaign surveils journalists who might get too close to the candidate.

Emails phished by Guccifer 2.0, who's dumped caches of documents from the Democratic National Committee onto the internet, show Clinton aides telling volunteer Sarah Hamilton to 'keep an eye' on certain reporters.

Hamilton's Gmail account was hacked using a spoofed Gmail log-in page, according to the Smoking Gun, which released a handful of email conversations today.

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Another leak at the hands of hacker Guccifer 2.0 has revealed how Hillary Clinton aides and volunteers try to keep the press away from the candidate

During a February event in Las Vegas, where Clinton appeared alongside husband Bill and daughter Chelsea, the movements of both a CNN reporter and a French reporter were tracked by those assisting the campaign

In mid-March during Hillary Clinton's tour of Chicago in advance of the Illinois primary, a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times was watched by the campaign, in case she sought access with the candidate

In one, an email chain from February, aides and advance staffers discussed how to keep Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton safe from he crowd of reporters on hand to cover the trio at a Las Vegas rally.

With all three Clintons expected to work the crowed after the speaking portion of the event had concluded one campaign operative suggested that the rope line be 'covered with staff bodies to make sure the crowd can get to the ropeline and you stay in front of the cameras,' according to documents given to the Smoking Gun.

National Press Advance Desk aide Sarah Pollack wrote that while 'press have been politely yet firmly asked to stay in press areas ... we should expect press and cameras to move forward for ropeline.'

Clinton hasn't had an official press conference in 207 days and generally does not answer questions from the press that are hollered at her during these types of events.

At the Las Vegas event, Clinton's people exchanged emails about the movement of journalists, zeroing especially in on CNN's Dan Merica, a producer for the network that has been embedded with the campaign.

At one point in the conversation an aggressive French journalist was 'at stage right,' at another, Merica was at 'center right.'

Clinton aides didn't want CNN's Dan Merica (right) too close to Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton (left), according to exchanges found in a volunteer's hacked Gmail account

Eight minutes later, according to the emails, an advance team member noted, 'Dan Merica stage left.'

A minute later, Hamilton told her colleagues that 'French journos and dan merica heading to stage right.'

An advance team member then reported that 'Dan America is on backstage bleachers,' the aide said, misspelling the reporter's name.

That staffer then wrote, 'I'm with dan America on back stage bleachers,' again messing up the CNN producer's last name.

In Chicago in mid-March in the run-up to the Illinois primary, Clinton had a full day of events and was followed around her hometown by a packed bus of political reporters.

Here it was Chicago Sun-Times columnist and D.C. bureau chief Lynn Sweet who was viewed as the threat.

Reporters, including Sweet, Merica and DailyMail.com, were allowed in especially close proximity to Clinton when she stopped by the Kids Off The Block Memorial to pay tribute to the more than 500 children lost to gun violence in the city of Chicago.

Clinton greeted a number of mothers whose kids died from gunfire.

When reporters got too close to the candidate they were shooed away.

In other instances during the day, reporters were only allowed in a venue for several minutes, or were kept in a roped off area in the back.

In an email to Hamilton with the subject line 'Lynn Sweet,' from Clinton's traveling press secretary Nick Merrill he wrote, 'Let's keep an eye on her.'

Hamilton responded with, 'Yes, I'm sitting next to her on the bus.'

Merrill has yet to reply to a request for comment.

Hamilton's emails were leaked in what was the latest dump by Guccifer 2.0, which the hacker gave exclusively to the Smoking Gun.

Previously, Guccifer 2.0 used his blog to release documents he grabbed from the Democratic National Committee.

Investigators looking into the DNC hack have said that Guccifer 2.0 is an operative of the Russian government, which the hacker denies.

Instead, he says he's a Romanian 'hacktivist' and a solo player who dubbed himself after the original hacker Guccifer, also a Romanian.

Guccifer notably burrowed into the AOL account of Dorothy Bush Koch, the sister of President George W. Bush, revealing the former president's painted self-portrait to the world.
The legalize Marijuana campaign in Arizona has taken a patriotic turn.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol says legalizing the drug would mean Arizonans would be able to 'Buy American and Support Schools, Not Cartels.'

A billboard with the slogan will appear in the city of Tempe and a retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agent who investigated Mexican drug cartels has backed the scheme.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol says legalizing the drug would mean Arizonans would be able to 'Buy American and Support Schools, Not Cartels'

Michael Capasso, who retired in 2015 following more than three and half years as chief of the DEA Financial Crimes Unit said: 'I know from personal experience that the illegal status of marijuana in the United States helps to fuel demand for marijuana produced by drug cartels in Mexico.' Pictured: Two soldiers watch 134 tonnes of marijuana burning on October 20, 2010 in the border town of Tijuana, Mexico

During his tenure at the agency, Capasso spearheaded a task force comprised of Phoenix-area police officers targeting Mexican cartels trafficking drugs into the U.S. Pictured: Mexican soldiers pull up marijuana plants found amid a field of blue agave

Michael Capasso, who retired in 2015 following more than three and half years as chief of the DEA Financial Crimes Unit said: 'I know from personal experience that the illegal status of marijuana in the United States helps to fuel demand for marijuana produced by drug cartels in Mexico.'

During his tenure at the agency, Capasso spearheaded a task force comprised of Phoenix-area police officers targeting Mexican cartels trafficking drugs into the U.S.

He also directed operations in Sierra Vista, one of the DEA's front-line posts along the U.S.-Mexico border.

'If we truly hope to eliminate the criminal element associated with marijuana, the only solution is to make marijuana legal and tightly regulate its production and sale,' Capasso said.

'I am supporting the Arizona initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol because it will make our communities safer. Marijuana should be sold by licensed businesses, not drug cartels.'

The campaign, which has not yet turned in the 150,642 signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot, announced the plans Monday.

The initiative would allow adults of 21 years of age and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and consume marijuana in private. Pictured: Manager at 3D Cannabis Center in Denver, makes labels in the grow room as he gets for the first of the year in 2013

Arizona could see as much as $113 million in new revenue for recreational use and imposed a 15 per cent levy on the drug. Pictured: Marijuana shop signs in Colorado

The billboard reads: 'If Arizona regulates marijuana,adults could buy American,' instead of buying marijuana that has been illegally smuggled across the Mexican border into Arizona.

It also points out taxes collected from marijuana sales would 'support schools, not cartels.'

According to the non-partisan group Tax Foundation, Arizona could see as much as $113 million in new revenue for recreational use and imposed a 15 per cent levy on the drug.

The initiative would allow adults of 21 years of age and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and consume marijuana in private.

It would also legalize the growing of up to six marijuana plants at home and would allow a limited number of licensed marijuana retail stores to sell marijuana to adults 21 years of age and older.

A Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control would also be established to oversee a 'tightly controlled system of licensed marijuana retail stores, licensed cultivation facilities, licensed product manufacturing facilities, and licensed testing facilities'

The department would include a law enforcement unit that will be responsible for enforcing regulations, conducting compliance checks, and investigating violations.

The campaign, which has not yet turned in the 150,642 signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot, announced the plans Monday. Rep. Ruben Gallego (right) speaks at a campaign event on June 20

While Mexico remains a major supplier of marijuana to the U.S, according to the LA Times, its market share is thought to have declined significantly.

Alejandro Hope, a security and drug analyst in Mexico City, told the site that Mexican marijuana now accounts for less than a third of the total consumed in the U.S.

But the drop in production is most likely down to the loosening of marijuana laws across the US.

And while for years the US and Mexican governments have looked at ways to reduce culitvation in the Central American country - including paying farmers to produce less-profitable legal crops - it has been the relaxed legal environment in the US that has achieved this.
Political hopeful Pauline Hanson believes Donald Trump is copying her because he's been speaking about the same issues she has for the past two decades.

Ms Hanson, 62, a far right politician from Queensland, is campaigning to enter the state's senate in the double dissolution election, and she's also happy to be compared to the U.S. businessman turned presidential candidate.

'Donald Trump is comparing himself to me because I've been speaking about these issues [for] 20 years,' she told the Sydney Morning Herald.

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One Nation party leader Pauline Hanson (pictured), from Queensland, believes U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump is copying her

Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally earlier in June

Ms Hanson believes Trump is comparing himself to her because he's been discussing the same issues she has talked about for the past 20 years

Ms Hanson is 'quietly confident' of her chances of returning to politics in 2016, and an election analyst says she has a 'realistic' chance

Both are running in upcoming elections, and Ms Hanson, the leader of the One Nation party, is 'quietly confident' of success.

ABC election analyst Antony Green told the Sydney Morning Herald Ms Hanson's hopes were 'realistic'.

It's been nearly 20 years and eight failed attempts to secure a seat since she was last in politics in 1998.

But the double dissolution election means she only requires half the normal numbers to get into Queensland's Senate.

It's been nearly 20 years since Ms Hanson was last in politics in 1998 and she has attempted to secure a seat again eight times. Pictured is Parliament House in Canberra

Senate voting reforms and the dramatic decline in support for the Palmer United Party are also likely to work in her favour.

Ms Hanson shares similar views on immigration and foreigners as Mr Trump.

She believes Muslim immigration to Australia should be stopped and is concerned by Asian influence on the country, but doesn't want to be labelled a racist, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Her other priorities include stimulating the economy in the regions, ridding the streets of methamphetamine and getting people into jobs.

Ms Hanson has travelled far and wide on the campaign trail in every state recently, as One Nation has about 30 candidates running across the country.

Due to the double dissolution election, Ms Hanson only requires half the normal numbers to get into Queensland's Senate
A gunman walked into a busy downtown Denver office building and shot a woman multiple times before turning the gun on himself, police said.

The gunman was found dead when SWAT officers arrived at the Alliance Center in the 1500 block of Wynkoop Street at around 2.45pm on Tuesday.

The female victim was critically injured and taken to a nearby hospital, where she is undergoing surgery.

'Officers quickly entered the building and found the suspect was down from a possible self-inflicted gunshot wound and he was pronounced deceased.' police spokesman Doug Schepman said.

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A gunman walked into a busy downtown Denver office building and shot a woman multiple times before turning the gun on himself, police said

Denver Police Department officers confer near the scene of a shooting in a downtown office building

Schepman said the gunman targeted the victim, and detectives are trying to determine the connection between the two. Police have not released any names.

Officers went floor-by-floor to clear the Alliance Center, a building that houses several environmental organizations and provides shared workspaces.

Other buildings were locked down, and people were asked to stay away from the area.

Nicole Arnone, who works for the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute on the third floor of the building, said she was listening to a conference call with earbuds when a co-worker tapped her on the shoulder and said: 'We just heard a few loud bangs and some screaming, and I think we need to go.'

'We debated whether to hide in the corner or run,' Arnone said, and they decided to flee.

Doug Schepman, left, spokesperson for the Denver Police Department, said the gunman targeted the victim, and detectives are trying to determine the connection between the two

Investigators walk through the intersection of 15th Street and Wazee near the scene of the shooting

Officers went floor-by-floor to clear the Alliance Center, a building that houses several environmental organizations and provides shared workspaces

She smelled smoke and thought it was either a fire or gunpowder, she said. Arnone spotted a shell casing in the stairwell as she fled.

Once outside the building, she ran away and flagged down an officer, who took her to a bus where witnesses were being held.

Jordan Peters, who works nearby and was having coffee next door at the time of the shooting, said she saw a swarm of people running from the area.

'They were yelling that there was a man with a gun, that there was a shooter,' she said. 'I got my stuff and ran in the opposite direction.'

Office workers in the Alliance Center streamed out of a door with their hands in the air as armed officers secured the scene.

Andy Ortolans, who works in a building across the street from the Alliance Center, said he saw people lining up at the window and then a woman being carried out on a stretcher.

'It looked like there was blood on her upper torso,' Ortolans told the Denver Post. 'I had the cynical thought that maybe I should be more surprised by this, but I'm not.'

He added: 'People were walking out of the building with their hands raised over their heads,' he said. 'The police had guns so everyone was cautious.'

The Alliance Center is steps from the 16th Street pedestrian mall in the trendy LoDo neighborhood near a major transit hub and about four blocks from Coors Field.
Bill Shorten has been accused of doing a backflip on a same-sex marriage plebiscite with a video showing he once supported the nationwide vote.

The Opposition Leader offered his backing in mid-2013 when he told religious leaders and Christian voters he was 'completely relaxed' about having some form of plebiscite on same-sex marriage.

In video footage obtained by The Australian, Mr Shorten outlined a position which is at odds with his most recent claims that a plebiscite would be a taxpayer-funded platform to give a green light to homophobia and hate.

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Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has been accused of doing a backflip on a same-sex marriage plebiscite after a 2013 video emerged in which he supported the vote

In the video Mr Shorten is heard telling a gathering of religious leaders he was 'completely relaxed' about a plebiscite on the issue of same-sex marriage

Mr Shorten said in the video he backed a plebiscite allowing the Australian people to make politicians aware of where they stood on the issue.

'I'd be wary of trying to use a referendum and a constitutional mechanism to start tampering with the Marriage Act,' he said at the time.

Fast-forward three years and it's a different story.

'Community attitudes have moved on and most Australians are confused why we are arguing about the matter,' he told the Nine Network on Wednesday.

Mr Shorten argued his change of view was based on previous examples of plebiscites overseas having become a platform for 'hateful advertising campaigns'.

The Opposition Leader has pledged to immediately table legislation to legalise same-sex marriages, if he is elected on July 2.

'The first piece of legislation I introduce into the 45th Parliament will be a bill to amend the marriage act, a simple change,' he told the National Press Club.

Claims of a backflip by the ALP leader come as two of the Turnbull government's most senior figures refuse to say how they would vote in parliament if the plebiscite passed.

Bill Shorten has been accused of doing a backflip on the issue of a same-sex marriage plebiscite - the Opposition Leader was caught on video supporting a feedback-based vote back in 2013

Mr Shorten told a church group ahead of the 2013 federal poll that he was 'completely relaxed' on plebiscite but the ALP leader now fears a vote would provide platform for a 'hate campaign'

Treasurer Scott Morrison has refused to say how he would vote in parliament if a plebiscite passed

Treasurer Scott Morrison, when quizzed six times by Leigh Sales on ABC-TV's 7.30, said he would 'respect the outcome'.

'My view is, if the plebiscite is carried nationally, then the legislation should pass,' he said.

In contrast to a referendum which is a vote on a likely constitutional change, a plebiscite is a nationwide vote designed to provide feedback for politicians on a proposal.

Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop, in a separate interview on Lateline, said she would look at the plebiscite's overall result, as well as votes in individual electorates, states and territories.

She also would 'respect the outcome'.

Mr Shorten's change of position comes as he struggles to explain why he used out-of-context remarks by Malcolm Turnbull to accuse him of making a defining gaffe that marked the end of the prime minister's credibility.

He claimed Mr Turnbull had been caught out when he said: 'What political parties say they will support and oppose at one time is not necessarily what they will do.'

But Mr Shorten overlooked a related passage, that linked it to Labor's opposition to coalition budget measures including the school kids' bonus.
Police are staking out fast-food outlets including McDonalds, souvlaki and kebab shops to catch drink-drivers who try to ease their hangovers with greasy food.

Figures show 2,400 motorists in Melbourne were fined between 6am and midday across a three-year period, reported the Herald Sun.

This comes as police deliberately locate early morning breath tests at locations where motorists are most likely to be drunk.

Police are targeting drink-drivers by staking out at fast-food outlets such as drive-thru McDonald's

Those being caught for drink driving are generally motorists who are unaware they are still affected by the alcohol consumed a few hours earlier.

'While we encourage the separation of the two actions, you really can't tell how long alcohol will stay in an individual's system,' Victoria Police's Clair White said.

'People often think that just because they've slept, or the sun has risen, that the alcohol they consumed during the night has disappeared. This is not always the case.'

Although figures have dropped from 10,804 in 2014 to 8,352 in 2015, police still believe more needs to be done.

Drunk motorists Where they were caught Melbourne - 48 Northcote - 35 St Kilda - 34 Brunswick - 29 Shepparton - 24 Wodonga - 24 Mildura - 23 Benalla - 21 Kew - 19 Southbank - 19 Targeted locations Souvlaki outlets McDonald's Hamburger shops Nightclubs Pubs Car parks Petrol Stations Source: Victoria Police Advertisement

2,400 motorists in Melbourne were fined between 6am and midday across a three-year period as police deliberately locate early morning breath tests at fast-food outlets




But Plumlee instead received a Silver Star, which is considered to be two ranks lower

Plumlee ended up facing most of the Taliban attackers alone because his fellow soldiers were wounded and one got locked in the truck

They thought their truck was armored but found out it was lined with plywood while taking fire

Army Sergeant First Class Earl Plumlee and other soldiers rushed to the site of a car bomb explosion in Afghanistan in August 2013

A Special Forces soldier who was denied the Medal Of Honor after fending off Taliban suicide bombers in Afghanistan said the awards system in the military might be broken.

Army Sergeant First Class Earl Plumlee rushed to the site of a massive explosion in August 2013 after a car bomb went off, about 85 miles southwest of Kabul, the Washington Post reported.

Plumlee ended up facing about ten Taliban attackers, several of whom were wearing suicide vests, practically alone as his fellow soldiers became wounded and one got locked inside their truck.

Senior commanders recommended Plumlee for a Medal Of Honor, the highest military honor in the United States, two months after the battle.

But the award was never approved and Plumlee instead received a Silver Star, which is considered to be two levels lower.

Army Sergeant First Class Earl Plumlee (pictured right receiving his Silver Star) fended off about ten Taliban attackers, several of whom had suicide vests, in Afghanistan in August 2013

Plumlee, who is now deployed in Okinawa, Japan, spoke to the Washington Post on Monday for the first time since the denial.

He told the newspaper the situation had seemed 'kind of odd' but that he did not 'lie awake every night burning up with anger'.

'I kind of have mixed emotions about it,' Plumlee told the newspaper. 'I kind of have a lot of trust in the system, but if somebody says it's broken, maybe it is. But I'm always leery of decisions like this getting reversed.'

Plumlee accepted his Silver Star in May 2015, almost two years after the attack that killed one of his fellow soldiers.

Plumlee (pictured receiving his Silver Star in May 2015) was recommended for a Medal Of Honor, the highest military honor in the United States, but instead received a Silver Star, considered to be two grades lower

The team at Forward Operating Base Ghazni rushed to the site of the explosion in a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck which was originally armored, the Washington Post wrote.

But according to the newspaper, Plumlee and the others realized the doors were lined with plywood instead of metal as they began taking fire.

Plumlee was originally sitting in the passenger seat at the front of the truck and was armed with a sniper rifle and a handgun.

He eventually got out of the truck because he couldn't maneuver his rifle inside the vehicle.

Outside, Plumlee took enemy fire and threw a hand grenade towards one of the insurgents, who did not move and instead kept firing at Plumlee.

The man turned out to be wearing a suicide vest, which detonated.

'There was just a tremendous explosion. It scared the s**t out of me,' Plumlee told the Washington Post. 'I thought a tank had hit him with its main gun, or something. I actually looked around to see if the Polish tanks had showed up.'

Plumlee kept firing at the attackers and ended up facing them practically alone. Three other service members, including the driver of the pickup truck, got shot.

Another soldier named Busic, who had been sitting in the back seat, remained stuck inside the truck after a round from the Taliban hit the child-safety locks, Plumlee told the newspaper.

A massive car bomb exploded in August 2013 south of Kabul. Pictured, Polish soldiers secure an area after the attack on Forward Operating Base Ghazni

Plumlee and other soldiers rushed to the scene and Plumlee ended up facing the Taliban practically alone that day. Pictured, a building located in a village near Forward Operating Base Ghazni is left in ruin after the attack

Several other suicide vests detonated during the attacks, sending shrapnel and body parts towards Plumlee and Busic.

Sergeant Michael Ollis died after another insurgent's suicide vest detonated.

Plumlee applied tourniquets after the attack and told a civilian and another US soldier to drive the wounded to see a surgical team at the base, the Washington Post said in a previous report.

Senior commanders in Afghanistan recommended him for the Medal Of Honor but the Army's Senior Decorations Board recommended the Silver Star instead, Plumlee told the newspaper.

Army Secretary John McHugh approved the Silver Star, according to the Washington Post.

Other soldiers got a Silver Star, including Ollis, who received it posthumously.

Defense Secretary Ashton B Carter and Representative Duncan D Hunter requested an investigation by the Defense Department inspector general to determine why Plumlee didn't receive the Medal Of Honor.

The investigation found that one of the three voting members said he had made his decision based on the fact that Plumlee was not a young soldier but an experienced veteran.

Some of Plumlee's friends had a 'bitter' reaction when they heard he had been denied the Medal Of Honor, Plumlee told the Washington Post.

'I think there are plenty of Medal of Honor recipients out there whose actions surpassed mine,' Plumlee said.

'But I think a downgrade to the Distinguished Service Cross wouldn't have got everyone stirred up.'

The Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest military honor in the US, is considered to be one level below the Medal Of Honor - and one level above the Silver Star.

The Distinguished Service Cross is one level below the Medal of Honor. It was unclear why the Army's leadership did not select that award for Plumlee, the Post added.
A woman who was allegedly examined by a 'fake' gynaecologist has spoken out about how she grew suspicious of his qualifications as he faces 88 charges of rape, sexual penetration and fraud.

Raffaele Lorenzo Di Paolo, 59, from Ken, east of Melbourne, is accused of passing himself off as a properly registered and qualified doctor, gynaecologist and IVF specialist.

The female patient saw Di Paolo  who allegedly provided IVF treatment to women for a decade without qualification  about three times a week over 10 months about fertility issues.

On Tuesday, she told the Melbourne Magistrates Court she believed he was a doctor, but over time became suspicious about his expertise.

Accused 'fake' gynaecologist Raffaele Lorenzo Di Paolo faces charges of rape, sexual penetration and fraud

The Melbourne man (pictured) is accused of passing himself off as a properly registered and qualified doctor, gynaecologist and IVF specialist

The woman was also warned by someone who knew of Di Paolo 'that he's charming and not all he seems to be'.

Di Paolo is facing a string of charges including multiple counts of rape, sexual penetration and fraud.

The complainant gave evidence on Tuesday that Di Paolo talked a lot about his personal life during her consultations and 'some of it didn't add up'.

She also did an online search and found information about Di Paolo being taken to court over medical-related matters in Italy where he had practised previously, which worried her.

'I was too scared to approach him after that,' the woman told the court.

'That's when I went to the medical board.'

The 59-year-old  who allegedly provided IVF treatment to women for a decade without qualification  spotted leaving the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday

The female patient told the Melbourne Magistrates Court (pictured) how she grew suspicious of his expertise

The woman said she would not have let Di Paolo draw blood from her arm, had she known he wasn't a doctor

The woman said she would not have let Di Paolo inject her or draw blood from her arm, had she known he wasn't a doctor.

She said she was also seen by another man at the clinic - who she knew as a professor named Bruce  but he didn't seem to know what he was doing when Di Paolo wasn't there.

'Bruce was really confused and he didn't know what to do,' she said.

'I had to tell him how to use the ultrasound machine at one stage, because he couldn't work it out.'

Between 2006 to 2015, Di Paolo is alleged to have duped patients out of more than $342,000 by offering fertility treatment under the guise of being a medical practitioner.

His charges relate to the mainly adult women he treated at his Brighton and St Kilda Rd clinics.
A Mississippi mother appealed to a state representative for help after Medicaid stopped funding her eight-year-old daughter's Type 1 diabetes drugs.

But she was dismayed after the lawmaker simply replied that she should be earning enough money to cover the $26,000 annual fee.

'I am sorry for your problem. Have you thought about buying the supplies with money that you earn?' State Rep Jeffrey Guice wrote in an email to Nicole Nichols on Monday.

Outrage: This (left) was the email Jeffrey Guice (right) sent to a mother who asked for help funding medication for her daughter who has Type 1 diabetes. The drugs, which run $2,000-a-month, is no longer on Medicaid

Struggle: Nicole Nichols (right) with her daughter Bella, eight, who needs the medication to live on

MEDICATIONS NICHOLS BUYS FOR HER DAUGHTER PER MONTH Humalog insulin  $400 Lantus insulin  $150 per vial Test strips  $300 Insulin pump supplies  $375 Dexcom CGM sensors  $300 Glucagon syringe  $450 Ketone strips  $80 Glucose gels, alcohol swabs, other - $150 TOTAL: $2,205 (or $26,460 a year) Advertisement

Nichols' husband, who also has Type 1 diabetes, works two jobs - one in a transportation firm, one in a restaurant. Nichols is a stay-at-home mom, but they qualified for Children's Medicaid.

'We work our tails off' to make ends meet, she said, but still live 'paycheck to paycheck'.

However, after three years of subsidized medication, the supplier began outsourcing products and shipping six months ago.

It means the family is now set back an extra $2,205 a month - $26,460 a year - for a monthly life-saving supply of Humalog insulin, Lantus insulin, Test strips, Insulin pump supplies, Dexcom CGM sensors, Glucagon syringe, Ketone strips, glucose gels and alcohol swabs.

The email exchange came after Nichols contacted all 122 state representatives on Monday.

She told them she had called 23 suppliers, but none of them were covered by Medicaid.

In a bid for help or guidance, she wrote: 'Is there someone in the legislature that can and will help these children stay healthy? They must have these medications and supplies which administer the medications to stay healthy and, quite honestly, alive!'

Guice's response, which Nichols posted on her Facebook page, said, 'I am sorry for your problem. Have you thought about buying the supplies with money that you earn?'

Nichols responded outlining the costs.

She added that she does not earn enough, writing: 'While you may, my husband and I, unfortunately, do not. We are working individuals, with college degrees, a small home, older but reliable vehicles, and without Medicaid to cover the LIFE SUSTAINING medications and supplies that my child needs, we would be homeless.'

Guice did not respond - but his abrupt message went viral online.

Eventually, on Tuesday night, Guice emailed an apology statement to the Associated Press: 'I realize my remarks to Mrs. Nichols were completely insensitive and out of line.

'I am sorry and deeply regret my reply. I know nothing about her and her family and replied in knee-jerk fashion.

After receiving Mr Guice's response, Nichols replied outlining the exact costs that her family now faces

She explained that they are living paycheck-to-paycheck even though her husband works two jobs

Nichols' attempts to be recognized have gone viral, but she has yet to receive another response from Guice

'I'd like to think the people of Mississippi and my constituents know that I'm willing to help where I am able.'

Nichols said of the 122 state representatives, three replied, but only Guice did so aggressively.

She told the Sun Herald: 'It was an effort to reach someone who is knowledgeable and would have the heart to help us navigate the situation.

'I wasnt asking for a handout. I wasnt asking for something to be given to us.
Ronald Seth was one of the most colourful figures working for the British secret service or Special Operations Executive  and probably one of its least conventional

He was known by his spymasters as Blunderhead  and judging by his wartime exploits, never was a secret agent more appropriately named.

Ronald Seth was one of the most colourful figures working for the British secret service or Special Operations Executive  and probably one of its least conventional.

Seths career was outlined by bestselling historian Max Hastings at the Chalke Valley History Festival, which is sponsored by the Daily Mail.

The Mail writer entertained a festival audience with a lecture on his book, The Secret War: Spies, Codes and Guerrillas 1939-1945, focusing on exploits of lesser-known spooks, code-breakers and guerrillas.

From a Japanese spy dubbed Lawrence of Manchuria to a Stalinist assassination plot using exploding chocolates, Sir Max hailed the wartime impact of men and women who never fired a shot.

Seths fabulously bizarre career began with him parachuting into occupied Estonia to help destroy shale oil refineries. Swiftly captured, he offered to work as a Nazi double agent and was next seen wandering about Paris in Luftwaffe uniform.

He engineered a return to Britain, claiming to bear peace proposals from SS chief Heinrich Himmler, telling interrogators he expected to be viewed as a hero and recounted unlikely feats including shooting two Nazis on the Metro.

But although British handlers were sure he had turned, they deemed there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the distinctly unbalanced character.

Seth later began to author a string of pamphlets with eyebrow-raising titles, including Mainly for Wives, Sex Manners for Advanced Lovers and The Sensuous Couple. He was last heard of trying to patent a penis enlarger, Sir Max noted. War Horse author Michael Morpurgo spoke about Henry Tandey, who became the most decorated private of the First World War. But Tandey was also the man who spared Hitler. Refusing to kill the unarmed Hitler in 1918 out of principle, Tandey was said to have lived with a sickening sense of guilt after learning the identity of the man he had spared.

More than 140 speakers are appearing at the festival, set in the rolling Wiltshire countryside, including Field Marshal Lord Bramall, Niall Ferguson, Terry Waite and Dan Snow.

A host of living history events, including a recreation of a Second World War tank battle, will also be on show. The festival is taking place at Manor Farm, Ebbesbourne Wake, near Salisbury, and ends on July 3.
A 10-year-old boy who was kidnapped in Dallas during an armed robbery talked about his abduction before being found safely several hours later.

Nicholas Fierros Jr told CBS that he was taken by 'three guys' who wrapped him in duct tape and blindfolded him after they stormed into his aunt's house Monday afternoon.

'I thought they were going to punch me,' Nicholas said.

Nicholas Fierros Jr (left) said that he was taken by three armed men who wrapped him in duct tape and blindfolded him after they stormed his aunt's home Monday. He told a CBS reporter (right) that he thought the men were going to punch him

Nicholas (pictured) said he was dropped off behind a house, where the men took off the duct tape and left him there alone. A woman driving by spotted Nicholas, who was barefoot and alone

Police said they 'don't believe this was a random act'.

'Statements by the suspects indicate they specifically targeted the home. We want to alleviate any fear,' Assistant Chief Randy Blankenbaker with the Dallas Police Department said.

The men demanded cash when they invaded the home but took the little boy instead.

An Amber Alert was issued for Nicholas, who was visiting family when the kidnapping occurred.

The gunmen allegedly restrained a relative while another minor, Nicholas' cousin, Janet Cabrales, who was hiding in the laundry room called 911, police said.

Cabrales told CBS that one of the men alerted the other two and told them that the cops were coming and to 'grab the kid'.

She told the station that she believes the men, who were dressed in all black, found numbers on Nicholas' phone then sent text messages to her father ordering him to 'tell the police to leave' and 'tell helicopter leave now'.

Around 10pm the Dallas police tweeted that Nicholas had been found safe.

Samuel Cabrales, Janet's father, said the kidnappers wanted money.

'He said, "we want $60,000,"' said Cabrales told CBS.

Nicholas said he was dropped off behind a house, where the men took off the duct tape and left him there alone.

A woman driving by spotted Nicholas, who was barefoot and alone.

Police are still searching for the men responsible and as of Tuesday, no one is in custody and no suspects have been identified.
From Belgium to Westminster, what a mad, invigorating, double-take of a day. Plots, a putsch, a punch-up  and a visit from Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves.

In Brussels  biff!  Nigel Farage did his bit for diplomacy by telling the European Parliament: Virtually none of you have ever done a proper job in your lives.

Cue more clucking than in a free-range egg barn.

Bouncing cheerily on his toes, Mr Farage told this Tower of Babel it was in denial about its failing currency and political project.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage meets European Union Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker ahead of a plenary session at the EU headquarters in Brussels on June 28, 2016

He predicted other countries would follow us and leave. By now some of the MEPs had turned 180 degrees in their swivel chairs to snub the Ukip leader.

How dare an Englishman speak such disgraceful truths?

Mr Farage: When I came here 17 years ago, you all laughed at me. Well, youre not laughing now, are you?

They were not. Some in the large, hemispherical Chamber at LEspace Leopold started to give him the bird (donner loiseau).

The parliaments president, German socialist Martin Schulz (whose only previous job was running a bookshop), appealed for hecklers to desist.

Back to Herr Farage. Nigel chirruped: Ukip used to protest against the Establishment. Now the Establishment protests against Ukip.

Earlier, thirsty European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker  a serial groper  gave Mr Farage a doddery kiss. Its his way of trying to own people.

Comrade Schulz called a vote of thanks for departing British commissioner Lord Hill, who has quit.

Earlier, thirsty European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker  a serial groper  gave Mr Farage a doddery kiss. Its his way of trying to own people

In being pro-EU, Hill had taken a great step in the cause of humanity.

The MEPs stood to applaud him. Lord Hill started blubbing!

At Westminster, the place to be was the big atrium at Portcullis House. Labour and Tory MPs went into furtive huddles to debate their parties leadership crises.

A former Labour frontbencher sidled past. Was he supporting Jeremy Corbyn? Only as a rope supports a hanging man, came the reply.

Shortly before the result of Labours no-confidence vote in Jeremy Corbyn was announced, I saw the Labour leader shuffle past, surrounded by a gaggle of supporters led by his aide Steve Rotheram (Walton).

Mr Corbyn does not move his arms when he walks. It is an odd, weak-shouldered sort of gait.

Kwasi Kwarteng (Con, Spelthorne and a Boris agent) was deep in conversation with Helen Whateley (Con, Faversham). She was doing some arm-waving.

Next Kwasi was talking to Jo Churchill (Con, Bury St Edmunds) and now to Shailesh Vara (Con, NW Cambs).

Sir Alan Duncan, Tory MP for pro-Leave Rutland and veteran of champagne-fuelled leadership plots, came by to dispense propaganda on behalf of pro-EU Theresa May.

One must not betray confidences but, my dears, on the matter of Boris he was as tart as a cider apple.

Meanwhile, Jacob Rees-Mogg (N Somerset) said he very much wanted his party led by someone who had been on the Leave side.

I heard a May supporter predict that Boris would be the most unpopular man in British politics in six months time after all the American banks have left the City.

I heard a Boris supporter say that Mrs May had been a coward in the way she hid during the EU referendum campaign.

George Osbornes name was not popular. Just mentioning it tended to make Tory MPs of various kidney darken.

Leave supporters were worried that the British Establishment was straining every muscle to neuter the referendum result.

Theresa is the Establishments candidate, said one. But Boris is a winner. Boris is the leader the public want.

Over at one of the cafe tables, film star Keanu Reeves was spotted having a cuppa with Boris supporter Nadhim Zahawi (Con, Stratford on Avon).

Hes an untidy fellow  Reeves, that is. Mr Zahawi is fastidiously dapper, so haloed by after-shave, I sometimes worry he will set off my bad chest.

A rumour began that Keanu was about to come out for Boris.
Forecasters are predicting below average temperatures for July as two cold fronts move across the east coast over the next week.

These weather systems will bring more snow and rain with the chilly days set to continue.

As the year heads into July, temperatures across Australia are predicted to drop below the long-term average in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart and Canberra.

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Forecasters are predicting below average temperatures in July as two cold fronts move across the east coast over the next week. Above is a child playing in the snow at Perisher

Across the weekend and into early next week, Sydney's minimum temperatures are expected to hit between 7C and 9C.

On Monday and Tuesday, Melbourne will see chilly mornings of 8C and 5C respectively.

Brisbane will also feel the briskness with temperatures dropping to 9C and 10C on Saturday and Sunday.

It follows a cold snap that turned parts of Queensland into winter wonderlands, with residents in the Southern Downs region waking up to snow and frost-covered grounds.

As the year heads into July, temperatures across Australia are predicted to drop below the long-term average. Above is snow at the Blue Mountains earlier this week

Two cold fronts will bring more snow and rain with the chilly days are set to continue. Above is a weather map showing the movement of the systems on Monday

Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said two cold fronts coming later this week and in the middle of next week meant the freezing temperatures would be hanging around.

'[The one] next week looks like it will bring decent snow and bring some rain too,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'It doesn't look like either of those systems will be major but it's going to maintain the cold for a bit longer.

'Snow should [come to areas] lower than 1,000 metres in elevation in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.'

NATIONAL SEVEN-DAY FORECAST Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Canberra Adelaide Perth Hobart Darwin Wednesday Min 6C

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It follows a cold snap that turned parts of Queensland into winter wonderlands, with residents in the Southern Downs region waking up to snow and frost-covered grounds

Mr Dutschke said there was a 'good chance' of 20 to 40 centimetres of snow on Wednesday and Thursday on the alps.

'By two weekends' time we'll be close to a metre of snow on the ground,' he said.

'Some resorts will be getting a depth of a metre in a week-and-a-half's time.'

The forecaster also predicts the cold fronts will bring below average temperatures.

'Given we're heading into July, the coldest time of the year, it'll [temperatures] only be a few degrees below average,' Mr Dutschke said.
Unsafe breast implants also three times more likely to be approved by EU

Patients are being harmed because the EU regulator is giving its approval to faulty medical equipment

Patients are being harmed because the EU regulator is giving its approval to faulty medical equipment and implants used in common operations, researchers warn.

They found the European Commission watchdog had given the green light to blood vessel stents which caused strokes, devices to reduce back pain that led to fits and malfunctioning defibrillators.

They also discovered that unsafe breast implants were three times more likely to be approved by the EU than its counterpart in the US.

Researchers from Harvard University in the US and Kings College London say there is an absolute lack of transparency in the EUs system which is denying doctors and patients vital information about how devices were approved and the risks they carry.

They blame the shortcomings for creating the recent PIP silicone breast implant scandal, as well as the use of faulty metal-on-metal hips.

The French-made implants were never approved in the US but were given to 47,000 British women after EU approval in the 1990s.

It was later discovered they had double the rupture rate and used industrial silicone.

The EU also gave the green light to metal-on-metal hip implants, given to up to 50,000 patients in Britain, which leach chemicals into the blood.

Dr Thomas Hwang, an expert in technology at Harvard University, said patients were being put at risk by a absolute vacuum of information within the EU system.

He said: If my surgeon was going to implant a device, I would absolutely want to know all the evidence.

The point of this paper was to raise concerns about the absolute lack of transparency in the EU. There isnt any information on how a device works, evidence of benefits and also the risks.

Patients cant really give informed consent as they dont know all the risks and benefits.

Approved medical devices in the EU are given a Conformite Europeenne (CE) kitemark.

The researches blame these shortcomings for creating the recent PIP silicone breast implant scandal, as well as the use of faulty metal-on-metal hips

But officials do not demand to see any evidence from clinical trials carried out by manufacturers  they just ask for documents to show devices are generally safe and work as intended.

The US system, regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, demands data from trials. Although it takes longer and devices are not available for use as quickly compared to the EU, they tend to be safer.

In Britain, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulator Agency regulates devices but can only recall them once safety concerns have been raised.

It does not carry out prior checks before they are used in hospital.

Peter Walsh, of patient safety charity Action Against Medical Accidents, said: Medical devices are known to cause over 100 deaths a year and thousands of serious injuries.
The Australian embassy in Turkey is desperately trying to establish if any Australian tourists have been killed in the terrorist attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Wednesday.

Many Australian tourists may have arrived in Istanbul and then travelled down to the Gallipoli peninsular to pay their respects to the Anzacs as is the norm,The Australian reports.

Australian authorities in Istanbul still could not confirm if any travellers from Australia had been caught up in the carnage.

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The Australian embassy in Turkey is establishing if any Australian victims were involved in the terrorist attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Wednesday

Many of the injured were ferried to local hospitals by local taxis with many of those involved in the explosion still to be identified.

Three suicide bombers killed up to 50 people and wounded more than 100 in a 'major, co-ordinated' attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, opening fire with AK-47s and sparking a shoot-out with security personnel before blowing themselves up.

It is understood that a 'terrorist' first opened fire with a Kalashnikov, before blowing himself up. It is not yet clear how many attackers were involved as witnesses reported twin blasts at the International Arrivals Terminal.

Eyewitnesses described the moment a hero policeman shot down a suicide bomber before he was able to detonate his explosives, giving terrified holidaymakers a chance to escape and saving countless lives.

Australian tourists generally arrive in Istanbul before travelling down to the Gallipoli peninsular

The Gallipoli peninsular is where Australians pay their respects to the Anzacs

Many of the injured were ferried to local hospitals by local taxis with many of those involved in the explosion still to be identified

Three suicide bombers killed up to 50 people and wounded more than 100

In shocking footage that captured the moment, one of the gunmen can be seen running through the international arrivals terminal before falling to the ground - apparently felled by a police bullet - sending his AK-47 skidding across the floor.

The police officer then approaches the gunman before realising he is about to detonate his suicide vest and running for his life.

Moments later, as the gunman writhes in pain on the floor, he detonates his bomb and the screen goes blank.

It is understood that a 'terrorist' first opened fire with a Kalashnikov, before blowing himself up
A matron at a private school has been sacked after posing in a raunchy calendar supporting injured soldiers, it was claimed last night.

Keira Goodwin has appeared in the Hotties for Heroes calendar since 2011 and has helped raise more than 30,000 for ex-servicemen and women.

But the 34-year-old has reportedly been told to leave Giggleswick boarding school in North Yorkshire, where she had worked for five months, after staff found out about the calendar.

Previously Mrs Goodwin posed in racy red underwear with lacy stockings and high heels while holding on to a black horse

She is now said to have launched an unfair dismissal case against the 10,600-a-term school. The mother of one, who is said to be devastated at losing her job, stars as Miss June in this years edition  posing in a khaki top and shorts, clutching a gun with ammunition around her.

Previously Mrs Goodwin posed in racy red underwear with lacy stockings and high heels while holding on to a black horse.

Helen Moore, of law firm The Employment Solicitor, told The Sun: There is no doubt in my mind that her employment was terminated due to the nature of the charity work she does.

During her employment, she never tried to hide her involvement in the charity calendar or any other aspects of the charity work she has done for the last five years.

Keira feels her former employers are trying to turn something she is very proud of into something she, as a woman, has been made to feel ashamed of doing. She is not ashamed and should not have been made to feel this way. She is immensely proud of the work she has done and will continue to do for these charities.

The calendars, costing 10 and raising funds for Help for Heroes, were launched five years ago by Eneshia Poppins. Many of the women who pose for it are Army wives and girlfriends.

Mrs Goodwin previously said: Were all very normal, we come in a range of sizes and all have different careers.

Giggleswick School in North Yorkshire; matron Keira Goodwin raised more than 30,000 for ex-servicemen and women through the calendar

We sell them all over, places like Gibraltar, some in Camp Bastion (in Afghanistan), some in New Zealand. Its amazing when people send them to us and we can see how far they have travelled around the world  people get a lot of enjoyment from it.

What people like as well is that all of the Hotties interact with people on our social media pages, so its not celeb-based where you arent likely to get anything back.

Giggleswicks headmaster Mark Turnbull told The Sun: We do not comment on employment matters. We support Help for Heroes and our armed forces through our curriculum and by providing education to children of heroes.

Earlier this year the Daily Mail reported the case of Gemma Laird, a teaching assistant who was sacked by a school after parents discovered photographs of her modelling underwear.
An extraordinary photo series capturing a terrifying close quarters gun fight between US soldiers and an Iraqi fighter reveal the bloody reality of urban fighting.

Taken by Michael Yon, a former US Army Green Beret who covers combat troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the photos document the exact moment when an army unit were hit with hostile fire.

The images taken in 2005 in Mosul, Iraq, show the complex challenges that service members go through on a daily basis.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

An extraordinary photo series that captures a US soldier foot-chase of Iraqi terrorists have emerged, revealing the bloody reality of urban fighting. Pictured: US soldiers and an interpreter run towards the direction of the shooting from a marketplace.

After some hesitation from the other soldiers, the senior-most ranking soldier - Command Sergeant Major Robert Prosser - steps in and starts firing inside the shop

When the soldier realizes he has run out of ammunition, he drops his rifle and goes inside the shop to tackle the suspect barefisted

During the ordeal, Yon himself even picked up a gun and took it upon himself to open fire on the suspects.

The series begins after an intense car chase, after which Yon and the soldiers dismount and attempt to chase the suspects on foot.

The bullets then begin to spray with rounds hitting the front soldier, a LTC Kurilla from Deuce Four Battalion, one of them snapping the thigh bone in half and wounding the his arm and leg.

He then attempts to crawl into a firing position, as more rounds pierce the wall near another soldier's head.

Despite his injuries, the soldier regains composure and begins returning fire towards the shop.

After some hesitation from the other soldiers, the senior-most ranking soldier - Command Sergeant Major Robert Prosser - steps in and starts firing inside the shop.

A man with a gun suddenly lunge towards the soldier who fires back with several rounds to the abdomen.

But despite firing at point blank range, the M4 rounds fail to subdue to the man (pictured afterwards) who attempts to fire again

Prosser shot the man at close range in the abdomen and the crotch

The man is handcuffed after Prosser has managed to subdue him by smashing his face on concrete

But despite firing at point blank range, the M4 rounds fail to subdue to the man who attempts to fire again.

When the soldier realizes he has run out of ammunition, he drops his rifle and goes inside the shop to tackle the suspect barefisted.

At this point photographer Yon picks up Prossers empty M4 and yells for a young lieutenant to give him some ammo.

He says he could see Prossers bloody leg lying still, just inside the darkened doorway, because most of his body was hidden behind a stack of sheet metal.

Soliders help the wounded LTC Kurilla who was later taken to hospital and underwent surgery

Prosser stands over the suspected terrorist after a bloody arrest

Yon writes on his Gates of Fire blogpost: 'I ran back to the corner of the shop and looked at LTC Kurilla who was bleeding, and saw CSM Prossers extremely bloody leg inside the shop, the rest of him was still obscured from view.

'I was going to run into the shop and shoot every man with a gun. And I was scared to death.'

But as he entered he saw that Prosser was wrestling the man with his bare hands: 'Prosser had beaten the terrorist in the head three times with his fist and was gripping his throat, choking him.

'But Prossers gloves were slippery with blood so he couldnt hold on well. At the same time, the terrorist was trying to bite Prossers wrist, but instead he bit onto the face of Prossers watch.'
Headmaster Lynne Mooney Teta and Assistant Headmaster Malcolm Flynn have now resigned from the school

found staff had not acted properly after a white student threatened to lynch a black female classmate

The headmaster at America's oldest public school has stepped down amid accusations she failed to act on racist abuse.

Lynne Mooney Teta, along with Assistant Headmaster Malcolm Flynn, have now resigned from Boston Latin School in Massachusetts following an investigation into the administrations' handling of racial discrimination.

Black students had launched a social media campaign #BlackAtBLS aimed as highlighting the underlying racial tensions at the school in January.

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Lynne Mooney Teta (left) along with Assistant Headmaster Malcolm Flynn, (right) resigned from Boston Latin School in Massachusetts last week

Meggie Noel, (right) president of B.L.A.C.K. at BLS, and fellow member Kylie Webster-Cazeau, (left) posted a video on YouTube last January saying that black students were often subjected to racist behaviour or slurs by their white peers

Meggie Noel, president of B.L.A.C.K. at BLS, and fellow member Kylie Webster-Cazeau, posted a video on YouTube last January saying that black students were often subjected to racist behaviour or slurs by their white peers.

But when they reported the incidents to the headmaster or other school staff, their concerns were ignored.

They say racial tensions started brewing following the 2014 police killing of black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson.

The shooting prompted fierce debate online among students which deteriorated into racial slurs, Noel and Webster-Cazeau claimed. At one point a black student was even threatened with lynching.

They also claimed that white students would walk through the schools halls saying n***** without 'fear of being reprimanded.'

But when the students confronted Headmaster Teta with evidence of racial abuse, they say not action was taken.

The students launched a social media campaign at Boston Latin in Massachusetts in a YouTube video in Janurary to highlight underlying tensions at the school

Pair claimed that when they reported the incidents to the headmaster or other school staff, their concerns were ignored

In March, another student, Destinee Wornum, 16, came forward about an incident last October when she said her English teacher asked her 'what's up my n*****?' during a discussion of Huckleberry Finn at Boston Latin School.

The teen was left 'humiliated' while her mother Rosalind Wornum, who was outraged over the the treatment of her daughter and met with Teta to demand that the teacher in question is sacked.

'That [statement] was cultural incompetence,' Rosalind Wornum, 49, said at the time. 'What was she expecting from making that statement to her? 'Is it standard process in addressing the book?'

The incident, which occurred last October, took place during a class on Mark Twain's classic novel which uses the racist term frequently.

Destinee says her teacher asked her 'what's up my n*****?' before demanding to know, 'how does that make you feel?'

'I didn't know what to say,' Destinee told the Boston Globe. 'She didn't have to direct it to me and make me feel uncomfortable like that.'

Destinee Wornum said she felt confident enough to come forward after fellow students launched the #BlackAtBLS campaign. The campaign also received the support of Boston mayor Marty Walsh, who met with some students to denounce racism in class.

Boston Latin, pictured, is the first and oldest public school in America, has many famous alumni, and is often considered a feeder school for the Ivy League

In March, another student, Destinee Wornum, 16, (pictured with her mother Rosalind) came forward about an incident last October when she said her English teacher asked her 'what's up my n*****?' during a discussion of Huckleberry Finn at Boston Latin School

Rosalind Wornum, (left) was furious over the treatment of her daughter (right) and met with Teta to discuss the incident

Noel and Webster-Cazeau's YouTube video, along with incident with Wornum, spurred an investigation by the school district's Office of Equity, as well as a separate investigation by the Civil Rights Unit of the U.S. Attorney's office.

Investigators probed seven separate allegations of racial abuse and how staff responded.

A school district report found that administrators acted correctly in six but failed to adequately respond to a student's threat to lynch a 15-year-old black classmate.

In that case, a white boy allegedly called a black girl a racial slur and threatened to lynch her while holding up an electrical cord.

Investigators say Teta failed to inform the parents of both students.

The president of the NAACP's Boston chapter said the headmaster should be fired for not having called the police immediately.

Teta said the student was disciplined but she could not reveal the details as children's school files were confidential.

District investigators also looked into the incident with Destinee Wornum where they ruled that the teacher's language was 'inappropriate,' but not grounds for discipline.

In May, Noel, Webster-Cazeau and other members of student activism group B.L.A.C.K. at BLS (Black Leaders Aspiring for Change and Knowledge) released a second video complaining that nothing had changed at the school after the investigations.

In May, Noel, Webster-Cazeau and other members of student activism group B.L.A.C.K. at BLS (Black Leaders Aspiring for Change and Knowledge) released a second video complaining that nothing had changed at the school after the investigations

They said that there had been no mention of their #BlackAtBLS campaign by Teta or other teachers during school and claimed that Teta had also failed to turn up to lunchtime conversations on race.

'The fact that our administration failed to publicly denounce this behavior, or even say something to the students making the comments that was effective, has created an unsafe and racially hostile learning environment for students of color at B.L.S.,' recent graduates Noel and Webster-Cazeau said on the video.

Last week, the headmaster and her assistant headmaster stood down amid the rising criticism of her handling of the incidents.

'This has been a very difficult decision, but one which I believe is in the best interest of our students, faculty and our historic institution,' Teta said in a statement. 'I believe that it is time for a new headmaster to lead the school and carry on the tradition of excellence.'

African-American math teacher Trevour Smith, 29, had little sympathy for his colleagues, saying that if they felt 'unsupported... now they know how a minority person feels.'

Former Boston Latin headmaster and Boston Public School superintendent Michael Contompasis, 76, was named interim headmaster on Tuesday.

Faculty blamed Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for refusing to defend staff over their dealing of the racial abuse allegations.

Assistant headmaster Flynn, in an angry letter to Chang, admitted the school administration's response was not ideal but 'we did good things.'

Boston Latin is the first and oldest public school in America, has many famous alumni, and is often considered a feeder school for the Ivy League.

According to the Boston Globe, 23 percent of students at the school were black 20 years ago.

It is believed this gave hundreds of African American teenagers access to a top public school, which in turn gave them a better chance of attending an elite college.
Stephen Crabb took a series of swipes at Boris Johnson today as he became the first Tory leadership contender to declare.

He will be joined in the contest tomorrow by right-winger Liam Fox, who said tonight he will highlight his experience and his humble background when he launches his own bid to wrest the Tory crown from Mr Johnson.

But the former London Mayor was given a boost after securing the backing of the influential former leadership candidate David Davis.

Front-runners Mr Johnson and Theresa May, the Home Secretary, will set out their pitches for leadership at separate press conferences tomorrow morning.

Stephen Crabb stressed his working class roots as he took a series of swipes at Eton-educated Boris Johnson during his campaign launch today

Today Mr Crabb, the Work and Pensions Secretary, stressed his working class roots and state-school education as he made his pitch to succeed David Cameron.

He referred to previous comments from Eton-educated front-runner Mr Johnson that he would only seek the party leadership if 'the ball came loose from the back of the scrum'.

'I was brought up to understand that nothing gets handed to you on a plate,' Mr Crabb said. 'On the rainy rugby fields of west Wales I learnt that it's not a question of waiting for the ball to pop out of the back of the scrum.'

In another apparent jibe at the former London mayor, known for his flamboyant style, the Work and Pensions Secretary admitted that he was not a 'household name'.

'There are different ways you can become a household name. Im doing it the right way hopefully,' he said.

Mr Crabb has teamed up with Cabinet ally Sajid Javid to form a 'blue collar' ticket for the contest.

Mr Javid said the fact they had both supported staying in the EU was not a problem as 'we are all Brexiteers now',

Mr Crabb, right, was flanked by Sajid Javid as he announced he is running for the Tory leadership

Boris Johnson is already said to have gathered support from around 100 MPs, and is the favourite to win the leadership contest

Right-winger Liam Fox (left) said tonight he will highlight his experience and his humble background when he launches his own bid to wrest the Tory crown from Boris Johnson. But the former London Mayor was given a boost after securing the backing of the influential former leadership candidate David Davis (right)

Mr Crabb's supporters admit he will start out as underdog, with Boris Johnson already said to have racked up around 100 MPs and Theresa May also attracting significant backing.

Mr Johnson - who today unveiled former home secretary David Davis and as his latest big-hitting supporter - and Ms May - who is backed by senior figures including International Development Secretary Justine Greening - are expected formally to launch their bids tomorrow.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt could join the field.

Mr Fox, a former defence secretary and prominent Leave supporter will throw his hat into the ring 11 years after coming third to Mr Cameron in the last Tory contest.

CHOOSING A PM: HOW THE CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP ELECTION WORKS David Cameron announced he is resigning as Prime Minister when he made his post-Brexit statement in the early hours of Friday morning alongside his wife Samantha The leadership election is a two-stage process - first Conservative MPs have their say, then members of the party all around the country are able to vote. If there are two or more candidates, all Tory MPs vote on who they prefer, with the bottom candidate in each round being eliminated until only two are left. The final two then make their pitch to members of the party in a straight head-to-head contest, with the winner determined by postal voting. The winner will be announced on September 9 and is likely to be appointed Prime Minister later that day. Only full members of the party who pay their 25 subscription are entitled to vote - unlike in Labour's leadership contest, where supporters could register for just 3. Advertisement

And in a bid to distance himself from the former London mayor, who also supported Leave, he will pledge to make meritocracy a key plank of his campaign.

In an interview tonight, Dr Fox pointed out that his grandparents had been miners and that he grew up in a council house and went to a comprehensive.

Mr Crabb stressed his own ordinary background, growing up on a council estate to a single mother and living on benefits when he made his pitch today.

'For those of you who dont know much about me, I was born in Scotland, grew up for a short time there but mainly in Wales,' he said.

'I had a fabulous education at a really good comprehensive school across the road from the Council house where I lived.

'I had an amazing role model in a mother who overcame massive difficulties and worked incredibly hard for us.

'She took us to the public library every Saturday where I soaked up books and learning. I worked every week from the age of 12  starting at the local corner shop, graduating to the Tesco shop floor, and paid my way through university working on building sites in various parts of the country.'

Mr Crabb said he counted himself as 'very blessed to have had the upbringing I did'.

'I was brought up to believe no-one was better than me and I was no better than anyone else,' he said.

'I was brought up to believe that no-one is a self-made man or woman  we are all shaped and formed by our families and communities.

'And I was brought up to understand that nothing gets handed to you on a plate.'

He said he was determined to 'deliver' the will of the people as expressed in the EU referendum last week, and ruled out a second ballot.

'We cannot allow this leadership election to be defined by divisive labels like 'Remainer' and 'Brexiteer'.

'I want to lead a government that delivers on the expectations of the 17 million people who voted for Britain to leave the EU.

'One of the overwhelming messages from that vote was the need to take back control of immigration policy in the UK. So for me, freedom of movement is a red line.'

He said there was now the opportunity to create an immigration policy which 'ensures we get the skills we need, and is ultimately decided in the UK'.

Stating his intentions to work with Business Secretary Sajid Javid, he said there was the potential to secure a deal that protected UK businesses and workers and provided access to the single market.

Mr Javid, right, is the son of a bus driver who through hard work became a successful banker

Mr Crabb also writes that subsequent negotiations with the EU on Britain's exit 'must reflect the needs of every part of the United Kingdom'.

Mr Javid highlighted his status as the son of a bus driver who through sheer hard work became a successful investment banker  in a contrast to Mr Johnson, the former London mayor who enjoyed a privileged Eton upbringing and a charmed route to power.

Mr Javid confirmed that the joint ticket bid would see him become chancellor under a Mr Crabb premiership.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'There is not distinction any more between whether someone was a Brexiteer or a Remainer.

'In some ways we are all Brexiteers now. We are are all Conservatives and we will all need to come together with the right type of leadership to implement the people's decision.'

Pressed on why he chose to back Remain when he was widely believed to be a Leave supporter, he replied: 'I stand by my decision.'

Mr Hunt is contemplating standing on a pro-Europe ticket, campaigning for continued access to the single market and a possible second referendum on the terms for leaving.

Other candidates could be energy minister Andrea Leadsom, from the Leave camp; and education secretary Nicky Morgan, a Remainer.

But Chancellor George Osborne  seen as a strong contender to take over from David Cameron before the referendum campaign  yesterday ruled himself out.

However, he insisted there was no reason that a candidate who campaigned to stay in the EU could not go on to win the Tory leadership.

STEPHEN CRABB VS BORIS JOHNSON: HOW THE CANDIDATES COMPARE STEPHEN CRABB ALEXANDER BORIS DE PFEFFEL JOHNSON Age: 43 Born: Inverness Upbringing: Council house in Scotland and Wales with single mother Jacqui School: Tasker Milward (Comp) University: Bristol Degree: Politics University drinking society: Bullingdon Club Constituency: Preseli, Pembrokeshire Big jobs: Work and Pensions Secretary, Welsh Secretary Age: 52 Born: New York City Upbringing: New York, Oxford, Washington DC, family farm in Exmoor School: Eton College University: Balliol College, Oxford Degree: Classics University drinking society: Bullingdon Club Constituency: Uxbridge and South Ruislip Big jobs: Mayor of London, Brussels correspondent for the Daily Telegraph Advertisement

Surveys show that Mr Johnson and Ms May were well ahead of the rest of the pack in terms of support from Tory members.

But other candidates are standing in the hope of garnering enough support from MPs to ensure they are promised a plum job by one of the leading candidates.

News of Mr Crabb's candidacy leaked out yesterday in an email from three MPs supporting him.

The message, sent by Maria Caulfield, Simon Hoare and Craig Williams to all Tory MPs elected last year, said: 'Stephen Crabb is standing for the leadership of the Conservative Party.

'As three of your 2015 intake colleagues we are supporting Stephen's candidacy as we are confident he has the right skills for the job.

'As you may know, he won a marginal seat from Labour in 2005 when we didn't win many, and he led the general election campaign last year in Wales where we got our best result in 30 years, in an area where we don't traditionally do well.

'But nothing in his past matters as much as what he can offer our party and our country in the future.'

Jeremy Hunt said he was 'seriously considering' throwing his hat into the ring as he called for the public to be given a say on Britain's terms for leaving the European Union

Although both men backed the Remain side, Mr Javid  who has in the past described himself as a 'Brussels basher'  has faced claims he was privately in favour of leaving the EU.

The pair have recruited Jeremy Wright, the Attorney General, as campaign manager and will formally announce their bid this morning.

Asked if someone from the pro-EU side could win, Mr Osborne told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'Absolutely.

'I am not backing any candidate at the moment but of course I was full-throttled in arguing for remaining in the EU and because half my party wanted to leave the EU I don't think I can be the person who can bring the party together.'

He said the best prime minister would be 'the candidate who is able now to articulate the clearest, crispest version of what relationship we are seeking  which in my view involves the best possible terms of trade for services and goods.'

Mr Hunt said he was 'seriously considering' throwing his hat into the ring as he called for the public to be given a say on Britain's terms for leaving the European Union.

The Health Secretary, who campaigned for a Remain vote, said he wanted to see the UK secure continued access to the European single market but with 'sensible restrictions' on freedom of movement.

Any deal should be put to a public vote in a fresh referendum or in a Tory manifesto at a future general election, he said.

Yesterday, Andrea Leadsom told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour she was 'thinking very hard' about whether to throw her hat in to the ring for the Tory leadership race.

'I'm really thinking about it very hard,' she said. Asked about supporting Boris Johnson she added: 'I just haven't decided. As I've said I'm still considering what to do exactly.'

State-school boy from a broken home who rose to the Cabinet - and could now take the top job

The childhood memories of Tory Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb, the youngest member of the Cabinet, are rather different to those of Boris Johnson.

Crabbs mother Jacqui fled the family home in Wales with her three sons after one violent row too many with her husband, Crabbs father. Crabb was just eight years old at the time.

He was bullied at school because his mother couldnt afford a uniform. And he played truant to go potato-picking to raise the cash to buy a pair of trainers.

Mr Crabb has said one of his earlier memories is of protecting his mother as his father came at her with a knife.

On arrival in the shipbuilding town of Greenock near Glasgow, where his mother had fled to her parents two-bedroom council flat, Crabb and his brothers went to the local state school.

They were the only ones with no uniform and were bullied for their English accent.

Life was a little easier when the family returned to Wales after his mother found her feet.

Talking about his childhood in 2014, Mr Crabb said: When people talk about hard choices between heating or eating or buying clothes, I know what its like. Im not saying we lived in poverty in a cave, but there were a few Christmases as kids when we relied on the kindness of friends and the church.

I hated having to queue up to be handed my plastic free meal token at my comp, Tasker Milward in Haverfordwest. I nicked off school to pick potatoes to buy stuff like trainers.

Mr Crabb became a fan of Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, even though the Tory PM was a hate figure in much of Wales.

As a youngster he played lead guitar in a rock band that played the Sex Pistols Anarchy In The UK, though he admits: We were pretty crap.

While friends spent gap years in sunny Thailand, Crabb spent his living in a tent in Newport on the muddy Bristol Channel to work as a labourer in the towns docks.

He met French wife Beatrice while studying at Bristol University.

The couple now have two children, aged 13 and ten.

After working for charities and in marketing, Crabb became the MP for Preseli in Pembrokeshire in 2005.

He was promoted to the Cabinet as Welsh Secretary in July 2014, before being made Work and Pensions Secretary when Iain Duncan Smith resigned in March.

'Boris is the only PM who can unite the north': Close George Osborne ally James Wharton declares his support for Brexit champion in Tory leadership race

Boris Johnson is the only politician who can unite the north, a close ally of George Osborne has said as he declared his support for the Brexit champion to replace David Cameron as Prime Minister.

James Wharton, who the Chancellor appointed as Northern Powerhouse minister in charge of driving economic growth in the north, writes in an article for MailOnline today that Mr Johnson manages to engage with huge swathes of our country who feel alienated from Westminster politics.

Only Mr Johnson can can bridge that gap and deliver for all our country [and] save our system of democracy,' he writes.

Mr Johnson is the current favourite to win the Tory leadership race  triggered after David Camerons dramatic resignation after Britain voted for Brexit last week.

James Wharton (right), who the Chancellor appointed as Northern Powerhouse minister in charge of driving economic growth in the north, writes in an article for MailOnline today that Boris Johnson (pictured left this morning) managed to engage with huge swathes of our country who feel alienated from Westminster politics

He has already won the backing of around 100 Tory MPs but faces a tight battle against Home Secretary Theresa May, while Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb and former defence secretary Liam Fox have also announced they are running.

Mr Wharton's support suggests Mr Johnson's campaign is succeeding in winning over the decisive group of Mr Osborne's allies in the party.

The Chancellor is likely to play a decisive role in which two MPs go forward to the ballot of party members and has reportedly been offered the role of Foreign Secretary if he backs Mr Johnson.

Mr Wharton, 32, explains how young people and businessmen alike had flocked to Mr Johnson for selfies, handshakes, snapchats and whatsapps on a recent visit to his Teeside constituency.

But he insisted Mr Johnson was not just a popular celebrity but also a serious candidate for Prime Minister.

Hundreds of pupils and scores of local business leaders listened to what he had to say. They listened and they applauded, he writes.

In the school mock election that followed, for the first time ever in that comprehensive school in Teesside, the Conservative candidate won.'

George Osborne appointed James Wharton as Northern Powerhouse minister last year - in charge of driving economic growth in the north - and today he says Boris Johnson is the only candidate who can re-engage alienated northern voters with Westminster politics

Mr Wharton, MP for Stockton South and one of few Tory MPs in the north east, voted for Britain to leave the EU in last weeks historic referendum and insisted the next Tory leader must be an MP who backed Brexit to deliver what the country has voted for.

He said this was particularly important for northern England, where an even greater majority voted for Brexit than the rest of the UK and had been 'abandoned' by the Labour party.

In Mr Wharton's north east region the Leave campaign won by 58 per cent to 42 per cent while in the north west Brexit won by more than a seven-point margin.

He writes: The North of England has emotionally and politically abandoned Westminster and we need someone who can bridge that gap and deliver for all of our country.

I know only one person who can do what needs to be done. I know of only one person who can speak to people who otherwise do not want to hear from an MP or political leader.

I am backing Boris Johnson for leader of our Party and Prime Minister. This may be the only chance we have to save our system of democracy and secure the future of our country.
The first I knew about the referendum result was at 4.45am last Friday when I was woken by the noise of people talking outside my bedroom window.

There was something about the erudite vowel sounds that made my half-asleep brain think these werent the usual nocturnal neighbourhood neer-do-wells.

I was just drifting back to sleep when my husbands mobile rang. Fumbling, he picked up the call. I could hear every word.

SARAH VINE: Its not that I didnt think Leave could win. It was just that they were up against a rival campaign with all the money, all the power and all the scare stories

Michael? an excited, if slightly weary, voice said. Michael, guess what? Weve won! Thus began the strangest, maddest and, without a doubt, most surreal few days of my life.

What I thought would bring to an end to months of uncertainly and anxiety  polling day itself  has, in fact, turned out to be merely the start of it.

Its not that I didnt think Leave could win. It was just that they were up against a rival campaign with all the money, all the power and all the scare stories.

I was perfectly prepared  and would have completely understood  if, in the privacy of the polling booth, the majority of the British people had preferred to err on the side of caution and vote for the status quo.

Because, given Michaels high-profile role in the Leave campaign, that means he  we  are now charged with implementing the instructions of 17 million people

Instead, they showed incredible bravery. They ignored all the threats and lies, and voted according to their principles. Which, from where Im standing, makes the result even more terrifying.

Because, given Michaels high-profile role in the Leave campaign, that means he  we  are now charged with implementing the instructions of 17 million people. And that is an awesome responsibility.

So as I lay there in my somewhat befuddled state that morning, triumphalism was the last thing on my mind. Or my husbands.

There was a short pause while he put on his glasses. Gosh, he said. I suppose I had better get up.

I went downstairs to make some tea. The place was a bit of a mess since wed had some friends  a mixture of Remainers and Leavers  over for supper the night before.

Michael had retired at 10.30pm, before the first results, worn out by the campaign and keen to get some rest.

Id stayed up until about midnight, then left our guests to it. Judging by the general chaos, it looked as though they had hung around a good while.

I put the kettle on, began collecting wine glasses and loading the dishwasher. Upstairs, the shower sprang into life.

I filled two mugs with our strongest brew and headed back upstairs. A morning like any other in the Gove household.

Except it wasnt. As I set the tea down on the bedside table, I tweaked the bedroom curtain aside and my suspicions were confirmed: several teams of reporters were waiting outside.

A quick flick of the remote control revealed a surreal scene: our house was live on Sky TV.

Michael reappeared, towelling the water from his hair. By now his phone was buzzing and beeping like a demented frog.

You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off, I said, in my best (i.e. not very good) Michael Caine Italian Job accent. In other words, youve really torn it now.

Michael Gove poses with his wife Sarah Vine after voting in the EU referendum at their local polling station

Then my phone pinged. It was a friend warning me of the perils of live television. Whatever you do, dont do a Cherie Blair, she wrote. Concealer, blusher, eyeliner, lipstick: the works.

The next few hours are a blur. Michael set off to meet with his team, and I set about the normal business of getting the kids up and ready for school.

As fate would have it, last Friday was take your daughter to work day at my eldests school, and the plan had been for her and two classmates to go to Michaels office at the Department of Justice.

This now seemed somewhat impractical, so I hastily arranged to take them to my office instead. On the way, we stopped at Sainsburys to pick up a packed lunch for my youngest.

By the time we got back to the car, coveted chicken and sweetcorn sandwich secured, the Prime Minister had resigned.

I felt as though I had fallen through a rabbit hole  lost in a strange land where nothing made sense any more. This was absolutely, categorically not meant to happen.

David Cameron was not supposed to go. This was not what this referendum was about; that was not why Michael backed Leave.

This was a debate about Britains membership of the EU, not a vote for or against the Prime Minister.

More than ever before, I felt the agony of what the business of politics had done to the people at the heart of all of this: how old friends had been wrenched apart in the most brutal of ways.

There can be little time for reflection, though, when you have three lively 13-year-olds on your hands. In some ways, they were my salvation on that momentous, sunny morning.

There is something so irrepressibly silly about girls that age. Their giggling is non-stop, their enthusiasm and excitement infectious. Life goes on, you realise, and politics isnt everything.

Over the past few days, I have tried to make this my mantra. To resist this feeling of walls closing in.

But it is very tricky when the machine just keeps rolling on.

In a sane world, everyone would now have a week off to come to terms with the new political landscape, and have a proper, rational think about what to do next.

But this is not a sane world. As one friend put it, you know somethings big when the resignation of the Prime Minister is the fourth item on the evening news.

And tomorrow, not even seven days after the referendum itself, the nominations for his replacement have to be in.

Sometimes a week isnt just a long time in politics, its a whole new dimension.

In the end, the most important lesson is this: whatever the world throws at you, good or bad, what matters most is time spent with those we love  the simple joys that family life can bring

Helping my husband make the right decisions in such a short space of time, on very little sleep and under such stressful conditions has been hard enough.

Maintaining some semblance of normality for the children has been harder still.

But whats been hardest of all  at times impossible, if Im honest  has been dealing with the transformation of Project Fear into Project How Dare You.

This referendum was always going to be a close call. One side was always going to be disappointed.

What I had not anticipated, though, was quite how bitterly.

The way Remain campaigners have reacted to being unexpectedly on the losing side has shocked even a Twitter-hardened old hack like me.

I think its because many of the most passionate Remainers are well-educated, articulate people in positions of authority, used to getting their own way.

Unlike your average troll, they dont rely on blunt invective to wound their opponents. Their anger takes the form of keenly worded, rapier-sharp attacks that cut deep.

Almost overnight, those of us on the winning side suddenly found ourselves re-cast as knuckle-dragging thugs, small-minded Little Englanders whose short-sighted bigotry had brought the nation to its knees, while making sweet Italian waitresses cry and stopping small Polish children from going to school.

Because of the immense power of the internet and social media, once a Twitterstorm reaches critical mass  which now happens at an alarming speed  it starts to become as real as thunder and lightning.

In a matter of hours, everything sunny about human nature seems to have been sucked out of the atmosphere and you are drenched in little 140-character balls of bitterness.

Its hard to explain quite what it feels like, but imagine walking into a room in a lovely new dress and having every single person turn, point, throw back their heads with laughter and tell you it looks hideous.

Youd never wear it again, would you? In fact, chances are youd rip it up and throw it straight in the bin. There have been moments over the past few days when Ive felt like that dress.

I have seen it happen to others  celebrities, sportspeople, household names  but Id never imagined it happening to me.

Such is the personal price of my husband standing up for his principles.

But even as some succumb to bitterness, so many others remind me of humanitys infinite capacity for kindness.

Support has come from the most unlikely and unexpected quarters.

Neighbours who have put kind notes through the letter-box; fellow dog-walkers who have seen me looking weary out on Wormwood Scrubs and come to offer their support (and spare dog treats); countless Daily Mail readers who have written the most wonderful letters.

Best of all, though, have been the children.

Our son, who, at the height of the hysteria, when the phones were going mad and everyones head was spinning, led us all in a surprisingly therapeutic game of Monopoly.

Our daughter, who, when the reporters were refusing to take no for an answer, managed to make them melt away like snow in springtime.

And then there are the dogs, of course, who dont care what any of the mad humans in their lives get up to  just as long as theres a walk involved.

In the end, the most important lesson is this: whatever the world throws at you, good or bad, what matters most is time spent with those we love  the simple joys that family life can bring.
A bipartisan bill to overhaul the law governing career and technical education was formally introduced by congressional lawmakers Tuesday, and aims to grant states more flexibility over federal funds and allow them to better align programs with current economic needs.

Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act was introduced by Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa. Its the proposed rewrite of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which was last reauthorized in 2006.

Much of the bills substance focuses on reducing bureaucracy, increasing flexibility, and trying to ensure that the programs governed by the law at the middle school, high school, and postsecondary levels are better aligned with workforce demands and produce results. According to a press release sent out by House Democrats on the committee, the bill includes provisions to, among other things:



Ensure that more traditionally disadvantaged and vulnerable students are served by career and technical education programs;

Increase a focus on skills that translate more directly into employable skills;

Make it easier for states to apply for federal funds under the Perkins Act;

Allow for unique needs of states local areas to be factors when states are deciding how to spend Perkins money;

Measure the performance of the programs in terms of how the money is spent, and outcomes for various subgroups of students, as defined by the Every Student Succeeds Act, which requries data disaggregation for a larger number of student subgroups than in the past. (See page 47 of the CTE bill from Clark and Thompson for this language);

Replicate promising practices by directing an increasing slice of federal resources to programs proving to work.

This well-engineered and robust reauthorization aims to close our nations skills gap by creating clear pathways to education and training for students eager to pursue careers in vital technical fields, Thompson said in a statement.

Reps. Bradley Byrne, R-Ala., Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and Rick Nolan, D-Minn., also helped craft the legislation.

Support at the Top

On Monday, we flagged a Perkins reauthorization as one of the issues with at least some chance of getting traction in Congress this year. Some sort of revamp for career and technical education programs has been backed publicly by U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate education committee, among others.

The top two members of the House education committee, Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the committee chairman, and Rep. Bobby Scott, R-Va., the ranking minority member, both praised the legislation from Clark and Thompson.

Career and technical education can provide incredible opportunities for Americansparticularly younger Americansto pursue good-paying jobs in industries critical to our economy. This bipartisan legislation will help more individuals seize those opportunities and achieve a lifetime of success, Kline said in a statement accompanying the introduction of the legislation.

And Scott praised the true bipartisan effort in his own statement, adding, This bipartisan bill prioritizes equity of opportunity for all students to participate in, and benefit from, high-quality CTE programs and will prepare them for high-skill, high-wage jobs that lead to economic self-sufficiency in the 21st century workforce.

Read the entire legislation below:

Photos: Rep. Katherine Clark (AP-File); Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., during a news conference on Capitol Hill in 2010 in Washington (Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP-File).

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
Almost 800 Corgis attended a meetup called Nor Cal Corgi Con in San Francisco, California, over the weekend.

The Saturday event at Ocean Beach included '792 CORGEEZ and counting!!', the Nor Cal Corgi Con Facebook page said on Sunday.

The big day involved dog racing on the sand, a group photo, and a costume contest.

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Almost 800 Corgis attended a meetup called Nor Cal Corgi Con in San Francisco, California, over the weekend

The Saturday event at Ocean Beach included '792 CORGEEZ and counting!!', the Nor Cal Corgi Con Facebook page said on Sunday

The big day involved dog racing on the sand (pictured), a group photo, and a costume contest

Founder Cynthia Lee revealed that a dog dressed as comic book character Deadpool (in red) won the costume contest

Founder Cynthia Lee told ABC News: 'Corgi Con is Northern California's largest Corgi gathering.

'We started out in 2013 as a very small gathering, and then last October we had 650 Corgis, and people actually flew in from all over the country.'

Lee told the news outlet: 'This is the perfect excuse to come to the beach.

'The event exceeded our expectations and clearly there is big love for these Corgis.'

She also said: 'You don't have to have a Corgi to come out, you just have to have a love of Corgis.'

Lee has said: 'We started out in 2013 as a very small gathering, and then last October we had 650 Corgis, and people actually flew in from all over the country'

One adorable Corgi was dressed up in a pair of sunglasses and a hat

A Corgi in a hot dog costume participated in the costume contest on Saturday

Adam Lingfelter traveled to Nor Cal Corgi Con from Alabama, and asked his girlfriend to marry him at the event. His girlfriend Cynthia said yes

An image advertising Saturday's big event shows a Corgi holding a torch

Lee revealed to ABC that 'Deadpool was the winner for the costume contest.'

A cutout of Queen Elizabeth II, known for her love of Corgis, was also filmed on the beach.

Nor Cal Corgi Con's Facebook page posted on Sunday: 'Big thanks again to everypawdy who came from near and far. Farthest traveled was TRINIDAD!'

A Corgi is seen next to a cutout of Queen Elizabeth II, who is known for her love of the dog breed

Adam Lingfelter traveled to Nor Cal Corgi Con from Alabama, and asked his girlfriend to marry him at the event, ABC News reported.

He recalled to the news outlet: 'I brought [Cynthia] here without any knowledge and surprised her.

'I was pretty nervous but she said "yes."'

Nor Cal Corgi Con says on its website that proceeds will go to Queen's Best Stumpy Dog Rescue and Corgi Aid.
A university student's uncle is accused of stripping, binding and stabbing her before dumping her body in a NSW blowhole.

Derek Barrett, 27, is accused of murdering Chinese university student Mengmei Leng, also known as Michelle, before the 25-year-old's naked body was found floating in water at Snapper Point, on the Central Coast, in April.

Police allege they found images taken by Barrett on a mobile phone of Ms Leng without any clothes on as her wrists were tied up with duct tape, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

A strap of tape was also placed over her mouth.

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Derek Barrett (left), 27, is accused of murdering Chinese university student Mengmei Leng (right) before the 25-year-old's naked body was found floating in water at Snapper Point, on the NSW Central Coast, in April

Other details of Ms Leng's last moments alive also emerged as Barrett faced Burwood Local Court on Wednesday where extra charges were laid including five counts of commit act of indecency, 17 acts of film persons private parts without consent and two counts of install device to film.

He also faces a charge of detain for advantage and two counts of filming a person in a private act without consent.

The new charges have been introduced after police allege Barrett took photos of a child as she slept, and took footage of himself masturbating over her and Ms Leng on different occasions before the 25-year-old died.

The discovery of Ms Leng's body, which was found with up to 30 stab wounds, made national headlines after NSW Police launched an appeal for her identify.

Detectives laid the extra charges against Barrett including five counts of commit act of indecency and 17 acts of film persons private parts without consent in case of Ms Leng's (pictured) murder

In May, the 25-year-old's mother, Mei Zhang (right), said she was unable to comprehend her daughter's death

In May, the 25-year-old's mother, Mei Zhang, said she was unable to comprehend her daughter's death.

'The time will never turn back to when Mengmei and I were living happily with each other,' she said through a translator in Sydney.

'You can never imagine how painful it is to me. The saddest thing in life is losing someone you deeply love.'

Mrs Zhang's husband died in 2008, leaving just she and her daughter, also known as Michelle, to depend on each other.

Ms Leng left her home in Chengdu five years ago to study at the University of Technology Sydney.

'Mengmei had always dreamed of being here to study,' her mother said, adding that her daughter was a feeling and understanding girl.

Barrett is married to Ms Leng's aunt who the student was living with in Sydney.
A health worker who was jailed for performing oral sex on a male patient in his practice and a nearby toilet is banned from working in any health service capacity for the rest of his life.

Christopher Paul Costello worked as an Aboriginal health worker at the Murri Health Group clinic in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, when the abuse occurred on April 10, 2013.

The 32-year-old placed his mouth over his 30-year-old patient's penis to 'try and get some fluid,' before following him to the bathroom to perform the act again, reported Brisbane Times.

Christopher Paul Costello, 32, performed oral sex on his 30-year-old patient because he needed to 'try and get some fluid' in order to see where the blood in his urine sample was coming from (stock photo)

Costello had initially taken a urine sample from his patient which included traces of blood before performing the sexual act.

He explained to his patient that he needed 'to try and get some fluid out to see where the blood is coming from'.

Costello later followed the man to the toilet where he requested his patient remove his underwear and once again performed oral sex.

When the patient questioned 'What's this all about? I'm not gay' Costello said: 'This is what I thought you wanted'.

The patient once again explained he was not gay and had only wanted a medical check prompting Costello to say: 'No, no, you're not gay. We'll leave it at that, just don't say anything'.

The patient later complained to his mother which resulted in Costello being charged with sexual assault (stock photo)

Costello was charged five days after the incident when the patient explained to his mother what had occurred.

The 32-year-old who was not a registered practitioner or doctor at the time of the abuse pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault.

A tribunal found Costello's 'sexual exploration of the patient's testicles and then penis' to have been committed 'with obvious attempt at stimulation'.

After serving three months in prison the Health Ombudsman placed an interim ban stopping Costello from working.
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Michelle Obama and her daughters indulged in a traditional Moroccan iftar with Princess Lalla Salma, the wife of King Mohammed VI, on Tuesday evening.

The Obamas were joined by actress Meryl Streep and other members of the Moroccan Royal family at the sumptuous dinner to break the fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan at King's Palace in Marrakesh.The group touched down in Spain on the latest leg of their trip on Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday night, Michelle wore a conservative $2,995 dress by Altuzarra while Malia opted for an even more expensive outfit by Burberry Prorsum - worth $4,295.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mrs Obama told Moroccan teenage girls that her parents knew the value of education, her brother set an example 'and I thought if he can do it, then I can do it, because I know I am smarter than him!'

Streep and actress Freida Pinto joined the first lady's encounter with two dozen young women in Marrakesh to discuss the challenges girls around the world face in getting educated.

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The Obamas (from left, Sasha, Malia and their mother Michelle) donned traditional patterned outfits to dine with Morocco's Princess Lalla Salma (right) in Marrakesh on Tuesday evening

Michelle Obama (left) and her daughters indulged in a traditional Moroccan iftar with the wife of King Mohammed VI (right) on Tuesday

The Obamas attended the sumptuous dinner to break the fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan at King's Palace in Marrakesh

In the North African kingdom of Morocco, only 36 percent of girls continue school beyond the primary level.

'We have to change those notions that girls are only valuable for their reproductive capacity or their ability to do manual labor,' Obama said, adding that 62 million girls worldwide do not have access to education for an array of reasons, from a lack of resources to cultural norms.

The first lady's daughters, Sasha and Malia, joined their mother in Marrakesh but did not take part in the event.

The 'Let Girls Learn' initiative, launched in March 2015 by President Barack Obama and the first lady, is to be extended to Morocco, the White House announced Tuesday.

It said the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. government foreign aid agency working in partnership with the Moroccan government, is investing nearly $100 million to transform secondary education in the country.

USAID is also giving $400,000 to create five new girls' dormitories to improve educational opportunities for girls from rural areas.

They were joined by actress Meryl Streep and other members of the Moroccan Royal family in Marrakesh on Tuesday evening

Meryl Streep (left) an actress and advocate for girls education, and Princess Lalla Hasnaa (right) attend an Iftar dinner at the palace

Malia Obama (left) and Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco both dressed up for the lavish Iftar dinner at the royal palace in Marrakesh

A massive floral centerpiece decorated the table as the guests tucked into traditional Moroccan delicacies during the meal

Malia Obama, 17, who recently graduated from high school, sat next to Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco at the dinner

'The investment in an education now will reap benefits (in) years to come and that is what my family knew instinctively,' the first lady said.

'My parents didn't go to university. We didn't have a lot of money. But one of the things ... was that my parents understood the value of an education. And they fought for me, they sacrificed, they saved.'

The group met in the courtyard of Dar Diafa, a historic riad that has been converted into a restaurant.

One young woman taking part, who identified herself only as Karima from Ouarzazate, in south-central Morocco, said her parents ensured she had a primary school education but discouraged her from focusing her secondary education on science technology, a field dominated by men.

A school bus helped 16-year-old Hannan Amin, from Ifrane, get to school and avoid a 4.3-mile trudge on foot.

'Every single person's story is different,' said Streep, who advised the young women never to give up and said she was the first in her family to get a university education.

'In my own life, I know that losing heart is the most dangerous thing. You can put any obstacle in front of me and I will jump over it, but when I lose heart, you lose everything,' she said.

Earlier on Tuesday, first lady Michelle Obama (pictured) spoke about education with teenage girls in Marrakesh, Morocco

One young woman taking part, who identified herself only as Karima from Ouarzazate, in south-central Morocco, said her parents ensured she had a primary school education but discouraged her from focusing her secondary education in science technology

The first lady's meeting heralded an announcement that the Let Girls Learn initiative, created March 2015, would bring more than $100million of foreign aid going towards transforming secondary education in the country

Meryl Streep (right) joined Mrs Obama for an event focusing on the challenges Moroccan girls face to continue their schooling

Michelle Obama and her daughters Sasha and Malia were welcomed by Princess Lalla Salma (center right) at Menara Airport in Marrakesh

King Mohammed VI's wife Princess Lalla Selma (rear right) met Michelle Obama (left) and daughters Malia and Sasha at the airport

Education for girls is the central theme of the first lady's six-day trip, which saw her visit Liberia before heading to Morocco and Spain. She is traveling with her mother and daughters Malia, 17, who recently graduated from high school, and Sasha, 15.

They were welcomed in Liberia with a red carpet and traditional dancers.

On Monday, Mrs Obama visited a leadership camp for girls in Liberia, where she urged the teens in one of the world's poorest countries to keep fighting to stay in school.

With her own teenage daughters joining her, Obama told the girls she was 'just so thrilled to be here with you.'

'I'm here to shine a big bright light on you,' she said.

In connection with the first lady's visit, USAID announced up to $27 million in funding in Liberia programming for Let Girls Learn.

Liberia was battered by civil wars between 1989 and 2003. Ebola swept the country in 2014, killing more than 4,800. Schools were closed for months.

The country was founded as part of an effort to resettle freed American slaves and has deep ties to the United States. The country's oldest vocational high school, located in Kakata, is named for African-American civil rights activist Booker T. Washington.

The school suspended mid-term exams scheduled to start Monday 'to allow the students to give Mrs. Obama a rousing welcome to appreciate what the United States has done for us,' principal Harris Tarnue said.

'She will be a real inspiration to the young girls around here,' he said.

Mrs Obama's previous visits to Africa as first lady included Ghana, South Africa, Botswana, Senegal and Tanzania.

The group touched down in Spain on Wednesday morning, All four women were pictured struggling against strong winds as they disembarked their flight.

Viva Espana! Michelle and the girls were windswept as they touched down in Spain on Wednesday morning for the next leg of their tour

Blown away: The First Lady and her daughters looked elegant as they arrived in Spain
The father of twin girls kidnapped by their mother two years ago says police have identified a region where they may now be located.

Michael Watter, the father of twins Isabella and Bronte Watter, both nine and missing for more than two years, has posted on a Facebook page and website dedicated to finding the girls that police had new leads.

They were allegedly abducted by their mother, Cassie Watter, who has been on the run with the girls since April 2014, when she's believed to have taken them from Hermit Park Primary School in Townsville, Queensland.

Before their disappearance Mr Watter had won legal custody,The Courier Mail reported.

Michael Watter and his twin daughters, Bronte and Isabella, now nine, before they disappeared in April 2014

An image provided by Australian Federal Police of Cassie Watter, who allegedly abducted her daughters

Isabella (left) and Bronte (right) Watter, the nine-year-old twins allegedly abducted by their mother.

But despite Mr Watter's posts, police told Daily Mail Australia they don't have any new information in the alleged abduction of the twins.

Accounting for the difference between what he and the police were saying, Mr Watter - who now lives in Brisbane with a new partner said police might have had information for 'a while' before telling him.

However, Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Miles said police hadn't received any new leads in the past six months.

Det Snr Sgt miles did sympathise with Mr Watter though, saying he was a father trying to generate conversation about his missing children.

During the investigation into the missing twins, police had received more than 100 tips about potential sightings of the twins and their mother, mainly in south east Queensland and north New South Wales, according to The Courier Mail.

Last November, police searched an area of north QLD coast after a photo, thought to be of Ms Watter and the girls, was taken by the public.

Michael Watter is pictured with his daughters Bronte and Isabella in happier times before they disappeared

Police from Townsville investigating the alleged abduction of Bronte and Isabella Watter by their mother, Cassie Watter, received this image of a woman and two girls from the 'north coast of Queensland' last year

At the time, Det Snr Sgt Miles told Daily Mail Australia a 'network of supporters' had frustrated efforts to locate Ms Watter.

Supporters were believed to have helped set up false identities and bank accounts for her.

Mr Watter said after not seeing his daughters in so long, he wondered how much they had changed.

'That's pretty upsetting to think they might be different now to when I last saw them.

'There's of course the fact they are not experiencing a normal childhood.'

He added that he did not know what they might have been told about him, or what their living circumstances were.

Ms Watter is also known as Catherine Lee Watter or by the surname Doubleday

Queensland Police described her as 'Caucasian, about 163 centimetres tall, weighing about 90 kilograms with dark brown hair. She sometimes has a red molar facial rash'.

A $50,000 reward for information leading to their location has previously been offered.

A photo of Cassie Watter with her two young girls Isabella and Bronte - there have many been sightings of the trio reported, mostly in north New South Wales and south Queensland
A young girl who suffered critical burns when she became trapped in a bedroom during a house fire has died.

Alexis Dean, 12, had her life support switched off this morning at Brisbane's Lady Cilento Hospital where she was receiving specialist treatment for burns to her upper body and smoke inhalation.

Firefighters risked their lives to rescue her after fire broke out at her Monkland home, south of Gympie, just before 4am on Monday.

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Alexis Dean, 12, remains in a critical condition in Brisbane's Lady Cilento Hospital

A fire broke out at her family home in Monkland, Gympie, on Monday morning

The girl's mother and siblings managed to escape but Alexis got caught in a bedroom.

Her parents issued a statement today.

'We would like to thank the community for the support we have received during this very difficult time,' the statement read.

'We are grateful that Alexis was able to donate her organs and give life to others, and this was in keeping with how she always wanted to help others.

'We ask respectfully to now be left to grieve in private.'

Firefighters are yet to determine what caused the fire, but believed the blaze started in one of the home's bedrooms.

On Monday night one of Alexis' close friends posted a heartbreaking message to social media asking people to 'pray' for her 'best friend'.

The girl's mother and siblings managed to escape but Alexis got caught in a bedroom

A woman and two children managed to flee the housefire to safety when it broke out about 3.45am on Monday

'I can't describe how much this girl means to me,' the friend wrote on Facebook, according to the Courier Mail.

'She's been there every step of the way, she's held me when I've cried, she's given me a reason to live and without her I wouldn't be the same person I am today.

The young girl went on to say that losing Alexis would mean 'losing a part of me'.

'I love her with my body heart and soul and I ask that you all pray for her because my life would not be the same without this beautiful girl by my side.'

A GoFundMe page set up to raise funds for the Dean family had received $6510 just before midday on Wednesday.

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
Belongs to real-life investment banker Stephen Miles and his wife, who raised their children there

The Baker's home is a six-bedroom mansion located at 3022 Payne Street in Evanston, Illinois

Dreamed of high school senior Jake Ryan while her 16th birthday got overshadowed by her sister's wedding

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The home where Molly Ringwald cried over a seemingly unrequited crush in Sixteen Candles has hit the market for $1.49 million.

Samantha Baker, Ringwald's character in the 1984 movie by John Hughes, lived in the mansion with her family - who callously forgot her sixteenth birthday as they were so busy focusing on her older sister's wedding.

Meanwhile Sam pined after high school senior Jake Ryan and despaired as he barely seemed to notice her.

The house, located at 3022 Payne Street in Evanston, Illinois, belongs to real-life investment banker Stephen Miles and his wife.

The three-story house where the 1984 movie Sixteen Candles was filmed, located at at 3022 Payne Street in Evanston, Illinois (pictured), hit the market earlier this week at $1.49 million

The foyer opens to the living room (pictured). In the John Hugues rom-com, Molly Ringwald plays Samantha Baker, a high school sophomore who dreams of senior Jake Ryan and despairs as he barely seems to notice her

Across from the living room is an elegant dining room with green walls (pictured). The mansion served as the Bakers' residence in the movie, which gave Ringwald her breakout role

On the first floor, the living room opens to a large family room (pictured), which currently includes a large couch in front of a wide-screen television and opens onto the backyard

This staircase, located in the foyer, leads to the first floor. The house belongs to real-life investment banker Stephen Miles and his wife, who raised their children there

Ringwald (pictured right with Paul Dooley, left, and Carlyn Glinn, second left, in Sixteen Candles) played Sam in the movie, in which her family callously forgot her 16th birthday as they focused on her older sister's wedding

The pair raised their children in the mansion, Forbes reported. The three-story, 3,250-square-foot house has six bedrooms and four full bathrooms according to the listing by @properties.

Inside, the foyer leads to an elegant dining room with green walls on the right. On the other side is a cozy living room complete with a wood-burning fireplace.

The dining room leads to a modern kitchen with shades of white and grey, far from the movie's 1980s decor.

Meanwhile, the living room opens to a large family room, which currently includes a large couch in front of a wide-screen television.

On the second level is located the master bedroom (pictured), which includes a walk-in closet. The house includes four bathrooms as well as two half-bathrooms

This bedroom, located on the second floor, is one of five bedrooms located on this story. The decor inside the house looks much more modern now than it did in the 1984 teen movie

The third floor also comprises one bedroom (pictured). But the main event on this story is actually the vast media room, located on the other side of the floor

This staircase leads to the second floor (pictured), decked out in shades of beige, with wooden accents that can be found in most living areas of the house

On the lower level is a vast recreation room (pictured), which can be used as gathering area. It currently houses several couches and a large television, and comes equipped with its own fireplace

Meanwhile, the media room (pictured), located on the third floor, provides additional space for gatherings. It is currently equipped with several chairs, a television screen, and plenty of available room

The back of the house reveals an outdoor kitchen and a terrace with its own stone fireplace and outdoor television.

The second level houses five bedrooms, including the master bedroom with a walk-in closet.

A sixth bedroom is located on the third floor, across from the media room.

The lower level features a large recreation room as well as a laundry room, work room and utility room.

Ringwald got her breakout role in Sixteen Candles and went on to appear in The Breakfast Club in 1985 and Pretty In Pink in 1986.

She currently plays mother Paige Wayney in Canadian sitcom Raising Expectations.

The kitchen (pictured) is located on the first floor and can be accessed from the dining room. It overlooks the backyard and the terrace, which includes an outdoor dining area

The terrace (pictured), located at the back of the house, comes with a stone fireplace, an outdoor television and plenty of room to enjoy the backyard

The outdoor kitchen includes a sitting area for al fresco dining (pictured). The first level also features a garage that can hold two cars, and the lower level has a laundry room, work room and utility room
Two women were killed in a horror shooting outside a courthouse in eastern Arizona following a custody battle dispute, it has been reported.

Navajo County sheriff's deputies and local law enforcement responded to the incident in Holbrook where the two victims were found wounded on the street.

Both died from their injuries.

Authorities said the shooting appears to have been prompted by a dispute that stemmed from a custody hearing earlier in the day.

Two women were killed outside a courthouse in eastern Arizona following a custody battle dispute. Navajo County sheriff's deputies and local law enforcement responded to the incident in Holbrook

Investigators did not immediately release any details about the hearing or the dispute.

A male suspect was arrested at the scene and remains in police detention.

County Government spokesman Adam Wolfe said: 'We don't know the specifics of it.

'It appears to be a personal motive. This is not a mass shooting attempt.'

The names of the victims and the suspect have not yet been released.

It is thought the shooting happened near the end of the work day when the suspect met the two victims outside the entrance of the courthouse as the exited after a day of legal hearings.

It forced the building to be locked down. No employees were injured, and they were eventually allowed to leave late on Tuesday evening.
Bill Shorten was quick to blame the media pack when a toddler started crying during a painfully out-of-tune rendition of Home Among the Gum Trees and We Are Australian.

The opposition leader briefly visited a childcare centre in Riverwood in Sydney's south on Wednesday as part of his campaign trail.

Mr Shorten sat and listened as a group of children sang him a series of songs lead by a woman who was presumably their teacher.

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Bill Shorten was quick to blame the media pack when a toddler (dressed in pink) started crying during a painfully out-of-tune rendition of Home Among the Gum Trees at a childcare centre at Riverwood in Sydney's south

A little girl can be heard crying as the out-of-tune rendition of Home Among the Gum Trees comes to an end.

'The media has upset you,' Mr Shorten joked.

Another child cried earlier when the teacher and children were singing a version of We Are Australian.

Mr Shorten was at Riverwood to campaign alongside Labor's candidate Chris Gambian in the marginal Liberal seat of Banks.

He also pressed the flesh with a room full of Vietnamese, Macedonian and other migrants at a multicultural morning tea at the connecting community centre.

Mr Shorten, who on the campaign trail on Wednesday, sat and listened as a group of children sang him a series of songs lead by a woman who was presumably their teacher

After a round of handshakes, he told them that only Labor would protect Medicare.

'I believe the health care of any Australian is important to all Australians,' he said.

Campbelltown Hospital doctor Chloe Abbott, who lives in nearby Penshurst, raised her concerns about the freeze on indexed Medicare rebates and increases to prescription medication costs.

'We are scared for our patients,' she later told AAP.

'We have emergency departments that are completely backlogged with people coming in with issues that could be better dealt with by a GP.'

Mr Shorten was at Riverwood to campaign alongside Labor's candidate Chris Gambian in the marginal Liberal seat of Banks

He also pressed the flesh with a room full of Vietnamese, Macedonian and other migrants at a multicultural morning tea at the connecting community centre

After a round of handshakes, Mr Shorten told the crowd that only Labor would protect Medicare

Dr Abbott previously worked as a podiatrist and says some patients with diabetic ulcers are being barely kept out of hospital.

The difference in the cost of sending them to a podiatrist a few times a year versus a hospital admission was huge, she said.

The federal government needed to ensure people were not discouraged from getting treatment early for ailments before they became serious.
Google has chosen to commemorate the life of Indigenous land rights campaigner Eddie Mabo on what would have been his 80th birthday today with a Google Doodle.

Googles Australia homepage shows the Torres Strait Islander as a young man and redirects users to a search of Eddie Mabo.

Edward Koiki Mabo, who was born on Born on June 29, 1936, became a leading Aboriginal lands rights activist in a landmark court decision that lasted for 10 years.

Google Doodle has commemorated the late Eddie Mabo on what would have been his 80th birthday today

Edward Koiki Mabo died a few months before a landmark decision in the high court of Australia historically established frameworks to recognise native title

Mabo was a key plaintiff in the land rights case held in the High Court of Australia which fought to overturn the legal doctrine of terra nullius  a law that described Australia before European colonisation as nobody's land.

Mabo began seeking ownership of lands where he was born, on Murray Island in Queensland, in 1982.

Although he died at the age of 56, a few months before a decision was made, his legacy continued to live on once the Court upheld the claim.

The Meriam people were given primary possession and use of the Murray Islands after the Native Title Act in 1993 was changed to include native title legislation.

Since the change, over 500 land-use agreements have been settled as it paved a way for Indigenous Australians to claim traditional rights to land and compensation.
The Walton Family Foundationone of the most influential backers of charter schoolshas announced plans to spend $250 million to help charter schools buy or renovate school buildings.

Many state charter laws do not provide money for facilities, and charters often get less per-pupil funding from their state and dont have the power to levy taxes to pay for school buildings.

All that makes procuring adequate facilities one of the major perennial issues for charter schools . And its why youll see charter schools operating out of strip malls or sharing space with district schools in their buildings, arrangements which are often not very harmonious.

Now the Walton Foundation is creating an initiative to help charters get financing to build or expand their facilities through low-interest loans and access to experts in real estate and finance.

(The Walton Family Foundation provides grant support for Education Weeks coverage of school choice and parent-empowerment issues.)

The foundation has identified facilities as one of the biggest barriers to expanding charter schools nationally, and by 2027 it hopes to have created 250,000 new charter school seats.

The Building Equity Initiative will start by focusing on charter schools in high-need urban areas in 17 cities: Atlanta; Boston; Camden, New Jersey; Denver; Houston; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Missouri; Little Rock, Arkansas; Los Angeles; Memphis, Tennessee; New Orleans; New York; Oakland, California; Oklahoma City; San Antonio; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Washington, D.C.

The facilities initiative is in addition to the $1 billion the foundation announced in January it plans to invest in the charter sector over the next five years.

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More than a hundred pages of documents were released by the city of Orlando detailing the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub earlier this month.

Police dispatchers heard repeated gunfire, screaming and moaning from victims at the club who called to report that gunman Omar Mateen was opening fire inside the club, according to written logs released Tuesday.

The first call of 'shots fired' came in at 2.02am and the caller reported 'multiple people down'.

Hundreds of pages of documents were released by the city of Orlando detailing the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub (pictured) earlier this month

Police dispatchers heard repeated gunfire, screaming and moaning from victims at the club who called to report that gunman Omar Mateen was opening fire inside the club, according to written logs released Tuesday

Page one of the 125-page document detailing the harrowing massacre inside the Pulse nightclub show where police dispatchers wrote at 2.02am that shots were fired and seconds later 'shots still being fired'. A little further down on the document dispatchers wrote that a male had called saying 'he's hiding upstairs'

On page 2 one dispatcher wrote that their caller 'was no longer responding, just an open line with moaning'. Another wrote that a victim was in the bathroom 'with a shot to the arm'

Page 3 of the documents show where one victim had described what Mateen had been wearing, 'grey shirt and brown pants'. The document shows that 10 people were in a bathroom 'in handicap stall'

One caller said Mateen had gone upstairs where six people were hiding.

Dispatchers heard up to 30 gunshots in the background at another point as callers screamed and moaned.

'My caller is no longer responding, just an open line with moaning,' one dispatcher said in the report.

Another dispatcher wrote: 'Hearing gunshots closer, multiple people screaming.'

A caller described Mateen as wearing a gray shirt and brown pants.

Mateen opened fire at the club on June 12, leaving 49 people dead and 53 injured in the worst mass shooting in US history.

Many of the victims (pictured) and those who survived called 911 describing what was happening as Mateen opened fire. Police dispatchers wrote that they heard many screams and gunshots as well as people moaning. The documents recounted some hid in the nightclub: in an office, closet, a dressing room and behind a stage

In calls with the police after the shooting began, Mateen pledged his allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group, declared himself to be an Islamic soldier and demanded that the US stop bombing Syria and Iraq, the FBI said.

'Saying he pledges to the Islamic State,' a dispatcher wrote at 2.40am.

The report recounted where patrons hid in the nightclub: in an office upstairs, in a closet, in a dressing room and behind a stage.

Mateen (pictured) opened fire at the club on June 12, leaving 49 people dead and 53 injured in the worst mass shooting in US history

Ten people were hiding in the handicap stall of a bathroom. One caller described patrons using their hands to stop the bleeding of shooting victims.

At several points, callers relayed misinformation to the dispatchers. One caller said there was a second gunman and another thought Mateen had a bomb.

Mateen 'is saying he is a terrorist ... and has several bombs strapped to him in the downstairs female restroom,' the dispatcher notes said.

According to the time-stamped calls, nine people were evacuated through the air conditioner window of a dressing room at 4.21am.

At 5.07am, dispatchers heard an explosion as SWAT team members tried to knock down a bathroom wall to free 15 hostages.

And then at 5.17am, dispatchers heard: 'Bad guy down.'

Emails, inspection reports and texts released by the Orlando Fire Department on Tuesday suggested that one of the exits at the Pulse nightclub wasn't operable weeks before the massacre, but a fire department spokeswoman and an attorney for the club both said that wasn't true.

The last fire inspection at Pulse was conducted in late May when the inoperable exit door was discovered, according to an email exchange between Orlando Fire Marshall Tammy Hughes and Fire Chief Roderick Williams.

A follow-up visit was planned but hadn't been assigned so it wasn't known if the problem was fixed, the emails said.

But Pulse attorney Gus Benitez said Tuesday that none of the six exits at the gay nightclub was blocked during the inspection.

The inspector only found that a light bulb in an exit sign needed to be replaced and a fire extinguisher needed to be hung on wall. Both items were corrected, Benitez said in a statement.

Fire department spokeswoman Ashley Papagni backed up Benitez's contention on Tuesday.

She said the exit door was deemed inoperable because of the light bulb problem in the exit sign.

Pulse had twice the number of exits needed to accommodate its maximum occupancy of 300 patrons, according to the emails and texts.

Thousands gathered at the Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts to pay their respects for those who lost their lives in the Orlando massacre

People held candles during an evening memorial service for the victims at the Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

A woman is pictured writing a note on a cross for Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera at a memorial with wooden crosses for each of the 49 victims of the Pulse shooting

Mourners hold photographs of victims during a vigil in front of the United States embassy for them on June 18, 2016 in Berlin, Germany

The emails and dispatcher notes were released on the same day that a legal tug-of-war broke out over which court should be the venue for determining whether 911 tapes from the Pulse nightclub shootings can be made public.

Nearly two dozen news media organizations  including The Associated Press, CNN and The New York Times  contend city officials are wrongly withholding recordings of 911 calls and communications between Mateen and the Orlando Police Department.

Mateen was killed by police after a standoff in the shooting at the Pulse nightclub.

City officials claim the recordings are exempt under Florida law and are part of an FBI investigation.

A hearing had been scheduled Tuesday in a Florida courtroom in Orlando but it was abruptly canceled after the US Department of Justice was added to the case and Justice officials asked for it to be transferred to federal court.

Attorneys for the news media organizations said they will fight to keep the case in state court.

Mourners across the world stood together to remember and honor those whose lives were tragically taken during the Orlando nightclub massacre.

Jiffy Lube employee Ralph Nieves puts up a sign of support for the Orlando community following the shooting at Pulse

An image of Juan Chavez Martinez, who was killed in the shooting, is displayed on projector screens during a prayer service for the victims at Delaney Street Baptist Church on June 15
'We've never said we are anti-vaccination... we are pro-choice,' say party

Doctors say it's unfortunate the party has won a top spot on the ballot

In Instagram post, publisher said it is a 'bogus name for anti-vaxxers'

Mia Freedman warns Australians not to vote for the Health

Stark warning: Mamamia publisher Mia Freedman declared it would be 'disastrous' if the Health Australia Party was elected

It's the extraordinary warning for voters that has flooded Facebook and Instagram feeds around the country.

Mia Freedman this week urged people not to vote for the 'Health Australia Party' (HAP) when they pick up their pencils at Saturday's federal election.

In a viral Instagram post, the Mamamia publisher and media personality said: 'Remember: THE 'HEALTH AUSTRALIA PARTY' ARE A BOGUS NAME FOR ANTI-VAXXERS.'

She warned voting for the little known group could be 'disastrous' for the country - 'especially (for) babies and anyone with a compromised immune system'.

Some of the country's most prominent doctors have also taken aim at the party, branding the party's views 'outright dangerous' and linking it to anti-vaccination conspiracy theories.

They fear the party could win a Senate seat after it won the coveted first spot on the New South Wales ballot paper.

So just who is behind the HAP? And what do they stand for?

Originally known as the 'Natural Medicine Party', HAP was founded in 2013 by a New South Wales naturopath couple, Andrew Patterson and wife Judy Cooke.

'We have never said we are anti-vaccination,' said Mr Patterson, who lives at a Northern Rivers sanctuary with his wife. 'We're pro-choice'.

Top spot: The Health Australia Party has won the coveted first spot on the New South Wales Senate ballot paper

Mia's message: The digital media publisher and commentator's warning, published this week

Party founders: Andrew Patteson and Judy Cooke started the party. It was originally called the 'Natural Medicine Party', but they changed the name to broaden its appeal

Mr Patterson, the party's lead New South Wales senate candidate, said: 'We believe there are issues with, not all vaccinations, but some vaccinations.

'I think most vaccinations are fine... We're just not being listened to, people have concerns.

THE DONKEY VOTE: WHY THE HEALTH AUSTRALIA PARTY COULD WIN A SEAT Even before votes have been cast, the HAP has already had a stroke of electoral luck. The party has scored the top spot on the New South Wales senate ballot paper. It won the lottery to be placed in 'column A' on the sprawling, metre-long paper voters will front on July 2. And critics fear HAP could win a seat because of 'donkey votes' - where voters rank the parties in the order they are positioned on the ballot paper. Little-known Liberal Democratic Party candidate David Leyonhjelm was elected from the same spot in 2013. HAP founder Andrew Patterson said: 'I obviously think it's great for us, being a minor party it's very difficult...' But he added: 'We don't want people to vote for us as a donkey vote,' before calling on people to check out their policies. Advertisement

'I'm not saying all children but some children are damaged by vaccines.'

Vaccines can cause health problems 'very, very rarely', a senior doctor said, which is far outweighed by the lives saved.

Australian Medical Association NSW president Dr Brad Frankum said voters should reject the party at the polls.

'In its policy manifesto, the Health Australia Party descends into the conspiracy theory usually associated with the anti-vaccine movement.

'While its members have denied it is an anti-vaccination party, it certainly gives all the appearances of being part of that movement.'

The Health Australia Party opposes the government's 'no jab, no play' rules on the basis of 'civil rights'. It is in favour of homebirths and 'long term breast feeding relationships'.

According to its policy platform, the party is opposed of the fluoridation of water to protect people's teeth.

It pledges to promote 'mindfulness, prayer and meditation' through its policies and set up an animal rights watchdog.

Mia Freedman (left) has warned voters not to back the Health Australia Party. NSW senate candidate Andrew Patterson is pictured on right

POLICIES AT A GLANCE: Health Australia Party policies include: Natural medicine should be on 'equal footing' with pharmaceutical medicine

'Pro-choice' on whether people get vaccinated or not

Against fluoridation of water because they claim it's 'toxic'

Women should be able to give birth at home without penalty

Promoting meditation, prayer and mindfulness to improve health and wellbeing

Introducing Independent Office of Animal Welfare Advertisement

'It's not just about physical health  it's emotional health, it's spiritual health,' said Mr Patterson.

'All too often we focus on taking a pill or taking a tablet to fix a certain condition, but health is more than that'.

Other candidates for the party include Isaac Golden, an outspoken homeopath who is the lead Victorian senate candidate.

The party's national president is Kerry Bone, an Associate Professor of phytotherapy (herbal medicine).

Its preferences are diverted towards other small parties including Democratic Labour Party, the Animal Justice Party and Renewable Energy Party.

Dr Frankum said it was 'unfortunate' HAP had secured a prominent spot on the ballot, which may help them win 'donkey votes'.

'Please don't vote for the Health Australia Party.... While it may be the case they want to improve people's health, their ideas will not be at all helpful.

'They should leave health advocacy to people better suited to the task like doctors, nurses and health policy experts'.

Polling places open between 6.30am and 8.30am on Saturday, and early voting is open now.
A vintage British motorbike almost a century old has been stolen from a rear shed in outback Queensland.

The lovingly restored 1924 TS Douglas, which has has a leather seat, saddle packs and sweeping handlebars, was taken between Friday and Monday.

Owners have said that the motorcycle is worth $19,000 and it was taken from a shed in Whip Street in the western town of Roma in Queensland.

The restored 1924 TS Douglas was taken between Friday and Monday from a shed in Roma, Queensland

Police said that the motorcycle had no petrol in it and was not driven away.

Its likely that the motorcycle was pushed out of the shed and onto the back of a trailer or Ute, a police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.

Apart from its distinguishing features the motorcycle also has Queensland registration plates that read S1908.

Police are still investigating the theft of the Roma motorcycle. Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers anonymously via 1800 333 000 or crimestoppers.com.au.
Donald Trump has responded to the deadly terrorist attack in Istanbul, Turkey, asking if the 'world will ever realize what is going on?' and calling on the USA to protect itself.

Three suicide bombers launched a 'major, co-ordinated' attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport Tuesday night injuring more than 140 people and leaving a death toll that is expected to rise to 50.

The trio sprayed bullets into crowds of terrified passengers and security personnel before blowing themselves up.

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Donald Trump has responded to the deadly terrorist attack in Istanbul, Turkey, asking if the 'world will ever realize what is going on?'

One of the three terrorists that struck at Turkey's Ataturk Airport wields an AK-47 as he carries out his killing spree (left), while a man carries a wounded boy away from the airport (right)

Taking to Twitter following the horror, the presumptive Republican nominee said: 'Yet another terrorist attack, this time in Turkey. Will the world ever realize what is going on? So sad.'

And three hours later added: 'We must do everything possible to keep this horrible terrorism outside the United States.'

The Trump campaign later released a statement that said: 'Our prayers are with the families of those killed and injured in Istanbul. The whole world is stunned and horrified.'

It added: 'We must take steps now to protect America from terrorists, and do everything in our power to improve our security to keep America safe.'

Meanwhile, earlier in the night the billionaire businessman told a rally in St. Clairsville, Ohio, that 'there's something going on that's really, really bad. We better get smart and we better get tough or we're not going to have much of a country left.'

At the same event, he reiterated his call for the return of waterboarding and the use of other harsh interrogation techniques in the battle against Islamic State militants.

Shocked crowds of bystanders and holidaymakers mix with emergency services crews outside the terminal where the attackers struck

Paramedics and special forces officers at the scene help the more than 140 wounded at the airport, with Turkish officials saying the death toll will rise to 50

Trump told the jubilant Ohio crowd that 'you have to fight fire with fire.'

The pronouncement drew cheers and chants of 'USA! USA!'

During the Republican primary, Trump frequently advocated the return of waterboarding and 'much worse,' declaring at one point that 'torture works.'

He said: 'We have to fight so viciously and violently because we're dealing with violent people.'

Trump is continuing his harsh rhetoric as he approaches the general election campaign, even as his advisers work to make him more measured.

Meanwhile Hillary Clinton said the bombings at Istanbul Ataturk Airport are 'a reminder that the United States cannot retreat.'

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee says in a statement that the U.S. must deepen its cooperation with allies and partners in the Middle East and Europe 'to take on this threat.'

Clinton says: 'Such cooperation is essential to protecting the homeland and keeping our country safe.'

Earlier in the night the billionaire businessman told a rally in St. Clairsville, Ohio, that 'there's something going on that's really, really bad. We better get smart and we better get tough or we're not going to have much of a country left.'

Trump sparked widespread anger with his reaction to the Orlando mass shooting earlier this month

Clinton says that Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence.

She says 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the Turkish people. ... 'Today's attack in Istanbul only strengthens our resolve to defeat the forces of terrorism and radical jihadism around the world.'

Trump sparked widespread anger with his reaction to the Orlando mass shooting earlier this month when he tweeted: 'Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance.'

The self-satisfied message caused an outcry from followers who said he was using the deaths of innocent Americans to score points and 'bask in congratulations.'

The response to the Tweet was instantaneous - and overwhelmingly negative, both from liberals and conservatives.
Vandals have struck again after a Labor candidate's name was changed to 'Ross Fart' on his campaign signs following a string of incidents where people are defacing election posters.

A photograph of Tasmanian Ross Hart's modified corflute election poster is doing the rounds on social media.

The image shows an 'F' drawn on a white piece of paper stuck over the top of the 'H' in Hart to form the word 'Fart'.

Vandals have struck again after a Labor candidate's name is change to 'Ross Fart' on his campaign signs. A photograph of Tasmanian Ross Hart's modified corflute election poster is doing the rounds on social media

But Mr Hart is not the first politician in Tasmania to be targeted by creative vandals.

A cheeky artist also drew a gimp mask over the top of Liberal Member for Braddon Brett Whiteley's face on his corflute election sign.

One resident shared a photograph of the fetish mask drawn over the top of his face in Queenstown, in the state's west.

The image included the caption: 'Every liberal party poster in Queenstown, Tasmania has been improved in the same way by a local artist.'

A cheeky artist also drew a gimp mask over the top of Liberal Member for Braddon Brett Whiteley's face on his corflute election sign.

One resident shared a photograph of the fetish mask drawn over the top of his face in Queenstown, in the state's west

The artist has also changed Mr Whiteley's first name and the word, 'member', so it reads 'Gimp Whiteley, Liberal Gimp For Braddon'.

Another version of the sign features Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with a speech bubble reading: 'Bring out the gimp.'

The phrase is referencing the character, The Gimp, in the 1994 Quentin Tarantino film, Pulp Fiction.

Liberal MP for Bass Andrew Nikolic also had his signs meddled with as one photograph shows a constituent had glued on googly eyes often used for craft projects over the top of the politician's.

But it is not just Tasmanian candidates who are subjected to such malarkey.

Queensland MP George Christensen shared a photo of one of his signs that had his face cut out so people could take pictures of themselves in his place.

Liberal MP for Bass Andrew Nikolic also had his signs meddled with as one photograph shows a constituent had glued on googly eyes often used for craft projects over the top of the politician's

Queensland MP George Christensen shared a photo of one of his signs that had his face cut out so people could take pictures of themselves in his place

'Those scallywag election sign defacers (literally!) have struck again in Cannonvale,' the Member for Dawson said.

He also quipped: 'I've fixed it but I'm not sure I can sustain this position for the rest of the campaign.'

The vandalism of signs comes after Labor senator Lisa Singh reported one of her signs stolen from an early voting booth in Hobart, according to the ABC.

It follows another campaign sign-related incident where a corflute poster was knocked over in a front yard of a Burnie home on Tasmania's north-west coast.

Police are seeking information about an incident that happened on June 18 about 8.45pm when they were called to home in Burnie after a man knocked on the door.

He asked to speak to one of the residents but they were not at home.
There are only days to go before Australians decide who will lead the country for the next three years on July 2.

But what if you have to vote early? Where can you vote on Saturday?

Early voting in Australia has already started and has been going on for about two weeks.

Those who need to work or are unable to vote on Saturday can show up to selected town halls, schools, churches or other public buildings much like official polling day.

On Saturday, polling centres will be open from 8am to 6pm local time.

There are only days to go until Australians decide who will lead the country for the next three years on July 2. Pictured are early voters at Sydney's Town Hall

Is it too late to enrol to vote?

Yes, it is too late to enrol to vote for the 2016 Federal Election.

But people can still register online on the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) website here.

All you need to do is provide evidence of your identity such as a driver's licence, Australian passport number or have someone who is enrolled to confirm who you are.

But the commission does not accept proof of age of 18+ cards as forms of identification.

How to vote overseas

If you wish to vote in the federal election while overseas you must firstly be enrolled to vote.

If you are currently enrolled, you can vote in person at an overseas voting centre.

There are voting centres in most countries but there is a list of specific cities where you can vote available here.

Early voting in Australia has already started and has been going for about two weeks. Those who need to work or unable to vote on Saturday can show up to selected town halls, schools, churches or other public buildings

How to vote interstate

A list of polling centres is online at the AEC website here.

Each state has a number of places where interstate visitors can vote.

The centres are open on Saturday from 8am to 6pm local time.

How to vote early in Australia

Early voting has started with almost 1.8 million people already casting their ballot as of midday on Wednesday.

A selection of town halls, schools and AEC divisional centres are open on limited days for voting.

For more information about where to vote early, visit the AEC website here.

Is it too late to postal vote?

No, but time is running out as applications must be received by the commission by 6pm on Wednesday.

The quickest way to apply for a postal vote is online via the AEC website here.

On Saturday, polling centres will be open from 8am to 6pm local time. Pictured again are early voters

Upon arrival, a polling official will direct you to an issuing table. A ballot paper issuing officer will ask you some questions before they hand over your ballot papers. Above is a Labor volunteer helping a voter

Where can you vote on Saturday?

Polling locations are open between 8am and 6pm and are normally at local schools, church halls or public buildings.

For more information on where you can vote, enter your postcode on the AEC homepage.

Upon arrival, a polling official will direct you to an issuing table. A ballot paper issuing officer will ask you some questions before they hand over your ballot papers.

They will then point you in the direction of a polling booth so you can cast your vote in private.

After voting, you will need to place each of the completed ballot papers in two separate boxes. One box is for the House of Representatives ballot paper and the other is for the Senate ballot paper.

What happens when you don't vote

If you do not vote on Saturday, the AEC will send you a letter asking them why they did not vote.

A valid reason needs to be given in order to avoid a $20 fine.

But if you fail to reply or pay the fine, the matter may escalate and you may need to appear in court.

If found guilty, you may be slapped with a fine of up to $180 on top of court fees and the possibility of a criminal conviction.

How to vote on the new senate ballot paper

You have two options come election. People can either number at least six boxes above the line for the parties or groups, or number at least 12 boxes below the line for individual candidates.
Oliver Curtis, the convicted insider trader husband of celebrity publicist Roxy Jacenko, is still stuck in police cells five days after he was sentenced.

Two prison sources told Daily Mail Australia Curtis, 30, remains in the cells at Sydney Police Centre in Surry Hills while authorities try to find him a place in the state's overcrowded permanent facilities.

'It's a tough environment - the type of place you'd get a shower every few days,' said one insider.

The source said Curtis will probably be held in a special management area - rather than with the general population - due to his high profile.

Prisoners cannot receive visitors while in the holding cells - meaning his PR queen wife cannot swing by and visit.

Another insider said the father-of-two could be transferred from the high security cells to a correctional centre this week, possibly even on Wednesday.

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Curtis in cuffs: Convicted insider trader Oliver is seen leaving the Supreme Court last Friday

Curtis held hands with his wife Roxy Jacenko as they arrived at court together through the trial (left). After he was sentenced on Friday, Ms Jacenko praised her two children, Pixie, four and Hunter, two, as the 'bravest, most caring two people I know'

Prison cells: The Sydney Police Centre is pictured on right. Surry Hills police station on left

Last week, Curtis was sentenced to two years jail after being convicted of conspiracy to commit insider trading.

NSW Supreme Court Justice Lucy McCallum told the court he had used the profits of he and his former best mate's insider trading to fund a 'lifestyle of conspicuous extravagance'.

Curtis remained mostly composed as he handed over his tie, belt, a ring and a wad of $50 notes to his lawyer on Friday.

He hugged and kissed his wife as he was led away and was later photographed wearing handcuffs as he was led to a police van.

'It is troubling that, unlike Mr (John) Hartman, Mr Curtis has not embraced responsibility for his offending,' Justice McCallum said.

Hartman, who testified against his former mate at the trial, served 15 months jail time following his own insider trading trial.

He served his time at Silverwater Prison in western Sydney, and it has been speculated that Curtis may end up at the same prison.

Justice Lucy McCallum sentenced him to two-years-jail. He will be released after one on a recognisance order

Curtis and Ms Jacenko are pictured in a candid Instagram snap with their young boy

It has seen the likes of many fellow white collar criminals such as disgraced former HIH director Rodney Adler.

In an article for The Bulletin, Adler wrote: ''I looked forward to the lockdown each night as it meant I had survived another day.'

Steve McMahon, chair of the Officers Vocational Branch of the Public Service Association, described the prison system as 'overcrowded'.

A Corrective Services spokeswoman said: 'Delays in receiving offenders occasionally occur however they are generally processed within a short period.

'When this happens offenders can be held in court and police cells managed by Corrective Services until a suitable prison bed is available.'

Curtis' lawyer declined to comment this week.
Two senior Coalition ministers have refused to say if they will support a successful plebiscite on same-sex marriage with their vote in Parliament.

In separate interviews this week, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Treasurer Scott Morrison evaded questions on how they would vote should Australians opt to legalise same-sex marriage.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised to hold a non-binding vote on the issue if he is reelected on Saturday.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop would not be drawn on whether she would vote for same-sex marriage if national plebiscite showed the majority of Australians supported it

Treasurer Scott Morrison evaded questions on how they would vote should Australians opt to legalise same-sex marriage

Coalition MPs will be free to vote with their conscience regardless of the publics decision.

On ABCs 7.30 on Tuesday, Mr Morrison was asked repeatedly by host Leigh Sales on how he would vote following the plebiscite.

Mr Morrison said: I will respect the outcome of the plebiscite.

But Mr Morrison, who is Christian, would not say if he would vote to change the Marriage Act when pressed by Ms Sales.

Ms Bishop - who is known for using emojis to express her opinion on social media - was also asked this week how she would vote if the plebiscite was successful.

Well, that will depend on the plebiscite vote overall, how it is broken down and what it looks like, state by state, electorate by electorate and then, of course, it will depend what the legislation looks like, she said on ABCs Lateline.

But I would respect the outcome of the plebiscite obviously.

Protestors march on Brisbane's George St during a same-sex marriage rally opposing the Liberal government's plebiscite

Opposition leader Bill Shorten has also come under scrutiny for his stance on the vote.

He has been accused of doing a backflip on a plebiscite after a video emerged showing he once supported the measure.

He told religious leaders and Christian voters he once supported a nationwide vote in 2013.

More recently he has said that a plebiscite would be a taxpayer-funded platform to give a green light to homophobia and hate.
The widow of a supermarket manager has spoken of her grief following the death of her husband who took his own life after being subjected to relentless workplace bullying.

Doting father Brenton Walsh was found dead at a reserve near his home in Victoria's regional town of Moe in December 2013 after he was bullied at the hands of a Woolworths colleague.

His wife of two years Kerensa Walsh, who was expecting their second child before the 30-year-old committed suicide, has revealed how she was unaware of her husband's suffering at work.

'Brenton was battling something that none of us knew,' Mrs Walsh told The Age, adding her husband had enjoyed his job at the supermarket.

'He never really gave off any kind of inkling that there was anything going on at work. So it was a huge shock for me finding out the events after his death of what had been occurring.'

Doting father Brenton Walsh, 30, (pictured with his daughter Rosie) took his own life on December 6, 2013

His wife of two years Kerensa Walsh has revealed how she was unaware of her husband's suffering at work

She described the harrowing moment she received a 'suicide note' on the evening of December 6, 2013, which led to a desperate search for her missing husband.

Mr Walsh was a young father to his 18-month-old daughter Rosie and he was also expecting his second child before he ended his life.

His male colleague was sentenced to six months behind bars after being charged last December with bullying two other colleagues at the same store.

Prosecutors claimed the case against him for bullying Mr Walsh, who was the manager of his store's shelf-stacking team, was dropped because the victim was not alive to testify.

Mr Walsh was a young father to his 18-month-old daughter Rosie and he was also expecting his second child

A Woolworths spokesperson has confirmed the alleged bully is no longer employed by the company.

The company would not comment on the internal investigation into the case as 'those investigations are and remain confidential and it is not appropriate to discuss any findings.'

'Woolworths takes the health and safety of its workplaces and its people seriously,' the spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia in a statement.

'As part of Woolworths standard practice of continuous review of safety matters, it has reviewed existing procedures and revised them where necessary, and continues to give the highest priority to the health, safety and well being of its people.'

The mother of two has called on the Coroner's Court for an inquest into the death of her husband amid claims he was 'subjected to sustained workplace bullying without any meaningful intervention by Woolworths'.

The doting father was found dead in a reserve near his home in Victoria's regional town of Moe in 2013

Gino Andrieri, principal at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, acting for the family, said the connection between workplace bullying and suicide was a matter of public importance.

'It is the role of the coroner to investigate matters that are in the public interest and would promote public health and safety,' he said in a statement to Daily Mail Australia.

'The dangers of workplace bullying are well known and the significant trauma caused, particularly in regional communities, is far reaching.
A manhunt is under way in Victoria after the death of a six-month-old baby in Glenroy in Melbourne's north on Sunday.

Victoria Police are searching for Dwayne Lindsey, 33, and have asked for public help in tracking him down.

He is wanted for questioning after police responded to an emergency call on Sunday morning where they found the baby boy.

Victoria Police are appealing for public assistance to help locate Dwayne Lindsey - detectives want to speak to the 33-year-old following the death of a six-month-old baby in Glenroy on Sunday

Homicide Squad detectives have asked for public assistance in tracking down the man after the death of a baby boy in Glenroy, 13 kilometres north of Melbourne

They were called to a residence in Isla Avenue about 8.40am 'in relation to an unresponsive child'.

'Homicide Squad detectives are keen to speak to the 33-year-old following the death of a six-month-old baby in Glenroy on Sunday,' said a police statement.

The baby was taken to hospital where he later died.

Glenroy is some 13 kilometres north of Melbourne's city centre.

Investigators believe Lindsey can assist them with their enquiries and have urged him to hand himself in.

He is described as having an olive complexion, and dark hair with a medium build.
Students in Rhode Island and Michigan will learn about genocide, after governors in both states signed laws this month that require schools to teach about the history of events like the Holocaust and the 1915 massacre of 1.5 million Armenians.

The states are the first to add such a requirement in nearly 20 years. While many textbooks and state standards in social studies include genocides, just five states (California, New Jersey, Illinois, Florida, and New York) specifically require students to learn about the Holocaust. Pennsylvania passed a bill in 2014 that encourages, but does not require, school districts to teach about genocide.

In Rhode Island, the Associated Press reports, Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, signed a law that requires school districts to teach middle and high schoolers about genocide at least once before they graduate. The Rhode Island law requires the state department of education to share curricular resources with schools.

In Michigan, Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, signed a law that specifically requires schools to teach about the Holocaust and the 1915 massacre, the Associated Press reports.

Snyder issued a statement in which he emphasizes the importance of teaching students about these difficult topics but also said that local communities should determine the specifics of how events are taught.

Teaching Genocide

The laws in Rhode Island and Michigan come just a year after the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, and both make specific reference to the event.

In the few years surrounding the anniversary, a number of states passed resolutions commemorating the Armenian genocide. The resolutions touch on a long-standing controversy: The government of Turkey does not acknowledge the deaths perpetrated by the Ottoman government as a genocide, saying that the number of dead is overblown and that people died during civil unrest. Pope Francis made news earlier this month by being the first representative of the Vatican to publicly refer to the event as a genocide.

James Grossman, the executive director of the American Historical Association, said that genocide is a topic that every high schooler should understand and be able to think about critically.

He said there are instances in which what constitutes a genocide is contested  the history of the American Indians being a key example.

When you start identifying particular examples of genocide, thoughtful and knowledgeable people will differ on whether a particular historical process was genocide, Grossman said. An educated person ought to be able to think about why it matters and what it is.

He said that the states should consult with historians about the subject matter to be covered in courses.

In a statement about the new requirement, Snyder notes the controversy:

Despite the definition of genocide being defined by the United Nations becoming the norm in international law, not all countries and governments accept it as such. Because of this, there is continued debate as to what historical events should be classified as genocide.



But he writes that more than 20 countries have defined the Armenian event as a genocide. Snyder writes:

Our next generation of leaders needs to have the wherewithal to recognize and help prevent widespread harm to their fellow men and women. Teaching the students of Michigan about genocide is important because we should remember and learn about these terrible events in our past while continuing to work toward creating a more tolerant society.



Education Week reported nearly a decade ago that schools had long since started teaching about the events in Armenia as a genocide, and explored experts thoughts on history programs that focus on a theme such as genocide instead of presenting events chronologically.

The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

A recent Newsweek story tracks Rhonda Fink-Whitman, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who went on a quest to convince legislators in her state , Pennsylvania, of the imperative of teaching about the Holocaust and other genocides, including more recent tragedies in countries like Sudan and Rwanda.

Fink-Whitman made a video in 2013 in which she asked Pennsylvania college students to answer some questions about the Holocaust and genocide. Most of the students have a sketchy understanding at bestone guesses that World War II happened 300 years ago.

According to the Newsweek story, that video has since galvanized people in other states, including Michigan, to push for bills that require students to learn about this part of history.

The Holocaust Museum and PBS are among the organizations that offer resources for teachers teaching about genocides. The Holocaust Museum offers guidelines for teaching about genocide that include defining the word, investigating the context in which the genocide was perpetrated, avoiding simple comparisons between different historical events, and teaching about the positive actions taken by people and countries in the face of genocide.

Related stories:
It has called upon IKEA to pull the Malm drawers from Australia

Consumer watchdog Choice says there's 'no good reason' to not recall

It says it provides clear safety instructions and wall anchors for customers

A consumer advocacy group says there's 'no good reason' for IKEA Australia not recalling shelving that its U.S. branch has pulled from the market.

Choice, an independent, member funded group, said it was calling on the Swedish furniture giant to recall the Malm drawers in Australia following warnings issued overseas about the product.

The group's head of communications, Tom Godfrey, said in a statement: 'With 29 million products being recalled in the United States and Canada, there is no good reason why IKEA shouldn't recall these products in Australia.

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Safety footage has shown how easily a child could be crushed to death by IKEA's Malm chest of drawers if they are not properly fastened to the wall following the deaths of three toddlers

The safety footage, which shows what can happen if the drawers are not fastened, shows a dummy standing on the Malm drawers to simulate how a child might try to reach something on top of it

IKEA Australia will not remove the Malm chest of drawers (pictured) from shelves despite the deaths of three toddlers in the US who all died after being crushed when it toppled over

'The fact that IKEA is yet to announce a recall here says a great deal about the inadequate product safety laws we have down under.'

He said IKEA Australia had to 'recall these products immediately and alert consumers to the very real risk they present'.

A series of shocking safety videos have shown the damage that can be done by a chest of Malm drawers if they were to fall on a child, after the brand of IKEA furniture was linked to the deaths of three toddlers.

The footage shows how a child could be easily crushed to death by IKEA's Malm chest of drawers if they are not properly fastened to the wall.

It comes after IKEA Australia announced it would not recall the Malm chest of drawers, which is sold worldwide by the Swedish manufacturer, despite three US toddlers being killed after they were crushed by the furniture.

While the American branch of the company has recalled the line, Australian stores will not follow suit because it says it provides adequate safety instructions to customers who buy the product.

A video from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission shows how another brand of drawers can have fatal effects on a small child

The safety footage shows a dummy being crushed after standing on a chest of drawers

The company insists the product is safe when customers anchor the chest of drawers to the wall.

Safety footage, which shows what can happen if the drawers are not fastened, shows a dummy standing on the Malm drawers to simulate how a child might try to reach something on top of it.

The drawers are shown easily tipping forward given the extra weight and the dummy is completely crushed underneath.

'IKEA chest of drawers are safe when attached to the wall as directed in the assembly instructions,' an IKEA Australia spokesman said on Tuesday.

He added that the chest of drawers come with 'anti tip restraints' and adequate instructions for wall anchoring so there was no need to remove it from shelves.

'We spread awareness of the importance of securing furniture on our products and product instructions, on the website and in-stores,' he said.

'IKEA Australia is not undertaking the recall.'

But Choice said although the product cam with 'anti tip restraints' and instructions for wall anchoring, they didn't come with screws or fixing devices to do so.

IKEA recalled at least 27 million chests and dressers from it's American stores after the deaths of Curren Collas, Camden Ellis and Ted McGee.

The Malm line of furniture was blamed in the deaths of two-year-old Camden Ellis (left) in 2014 and Curren Collas (center) as well as that of Ted McGee (right) in February this year

Jackie Collas, Curren's mother (pictured with her son) said she didn't know the dresser was supposed to be anchored to the wall to prevent it from tipping over

Curren's mother told NBC News on Monday she didn't know the dresser was supposed to be anchored to the wall for safety.

Some of the dressers included in the recall were sold more than 10 years ago, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Malm chests with more than two drawers had disappeared from IKEA's website as of Monday night.

'Please take them out of the room,' IKEA USA president Lars Peterson told NBC News, adding the items 'could be a danger'.

The company began offering free anchoring kits for Malm chests and dressers with three, four and six drawers in July 2015.

An advisory currently displayed on its website warns parents to secure their furniture by anchoring it to a wall.

When clicked, the advisory takes customers to a page where they can order safety kits.

Another page on the website contains instructions to anchor furniture and prevent it from tipping over.

Ikea insists the product is safe when customers anchor the chest of drawers to the wall

The US branch of the company recalled the product on Monday after the children's deaths and offered customers a refund

Two-year-old Curren, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, died in February 2014 after a six-drawer Malm chest tipped over, pinning him against his bed, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reported.

Camden, also two years old, of Snohomish, Washington, died four months later after a three-drawer Malm chest also tipped over.

Neither chest had been anchored to the wall.

Ted, 22 months old, of Apple Valley, Minnesota, died crushed by a Malm dresser in his bedroom in February this year, the family's attorneys told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

His parents didn't know about the tip-over risk, the attorneys added.

Jackie Collas, Curren's mother, found a dresser on the ground after going into her son's bedroom to get him dressed.

'I didn't see him anywhere, so I went over and kind of pulled everything apart,' she told NBC News. 'I saw the little top of his head trapped between the dresser' and the bed.

She had never heard of anchoring furniture to the walls before.

'I didn't know to anchor my furniture and, in my mind, I feel that we really shouldn't have to,' Collas, who has filed a lawsuit against IKEA, told ABC News.
ISIS claims to have killed 40 US-backed fighters during a deadly counter-attack as the terror group recaptured a Syrian airbase.

The New Syria Army rebel group had launched an operation on Tuesday aimed at capturing the ISIS-held border town of Al-Bukamal from the terror group.

But one rebel described how ISIS fighters had since encircled their fighters in a surprise ambush, inflicting heavy casualties, taking prisoners and seizing their weapons.

ISIS claims to have killed 40 US-backed fighters during a deadly counter-attack as the terror group recaptured a Syrian airbase (file picture)

ISIS affiliated Amaq news agency had earlier said it had killed 40 rebel fighters and captured 15 more in a counter-attack at the Hamadan air base north west of the city.

A rebel source said: 'The news is not good. I can say our troops were trapped and suffered many casualties and several fighters were captured and even weapons were taken.'

A spokesman of the New Syria Army, Muzahem al Saloum, confirmed the group's fighters had retreated.

'We have withdrawn to the outlying desert and the first stage of the campaign has ended,' Saloum told Reuters.

Despite the retreat, Saloum said the fighters had at least succeeded in evicting ISIS from large swathes of desert territory around the town.

The operation aiming to capture Al-Bukamal was meant to add to pressure on ISIS as it faces a separate, US-backed offensive in northern Syria aimed at driving it away from the Turkish border.

The New Syria Army was formed some 18 months ago from insurgents driven from eastern Syria at the height of ISIS's rapid expansion in 2014. Rebel sources say it has been trained with US support.

The New Syria Army rebel group had launched an operation on Tuesday aimed at capturing the ISIS-held border town of Al-Bukamal from the terror group (file picture)

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the group's offensive against ISIS was being mounted with the backing of Western special forces and US-led air strikes.

ISIS's capture in 2014 of Al-Bukamal, just a few miles from the Iraqi frontier, effectively erased the border between Syria and Iraq. Losing it would be a huge symbolic and strategic blow to the cross-border 'caliphate' led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The US-led campaign against ISIS has moved up a gear this month, with an alliance of militias including the Kurdish YPG launching a major offensive against the militant group in the city of Manbij in northern Syria. In Iraq, the government this week declared victory over ISIS in Fallujah.

Syrian rebel sources say the rebel force has received military training in US-run camps in Jordan, but most of their training was now being conducted in a main base at al-Tanf, a Syrian town southwest of Al-Bukamal at the border with Iraq.
'If you're desperate and if you know you are losing, and you know you want to give up your life, then obviously you can do some harm,' Kerry said

Secretary Of State John Kerry spoke about the attack while at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado Tuesday

But Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said all initial indications pointed to ISIS

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack that killed up to 50 people Tuesday at Istanbul's Ataturk airport

Secretary Of State John Kerry said ISIS had begun targeting airports as an act of despair in the face of defeat, hours after the attack that left up to 50 dead in Istanbul, Turkey.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the shootings and bombings at Ataturk airport but Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said all initial indications pointed to ISIS.

Kerry spoke about the attack Tuesday evening while at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, referring to ISIS as Daesh, CBS News reported.

'It has been more than one year since Daesh has actually launched a full scale military offensive, and that's because our coalition is moving relentlessly on every front,' he said.

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Secretary of State John Kerry (pictured in London Monday) said that ISIS had begun targeting airport because they felt desperate in the face of defeat, after the attack that left up to 50 dead in Istanbul, Turkey

'Now, yes, you can bomb an airport, you can blow yourself up. That's the tragedy,' Kerry continued.

'And if you're desperate and if you know you are losing, and you know you want to give up your life, then obviously you can do some harm.'

The Secretary Of State said officials were still collecting information and trying to determine what happened and who perpetrated the attack.

Three terrorists sprayed the crowd with bullets before detonating three bombs, injuring more than 140 people.

Three terrorists sprayed the crowd with bullets before detonating three bombs at Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Tuesday. Pictured, passengers embrace each other after the attack

No one immediately claimed responsibility after the attack at Ataturk airport (pictured as forensic police work at the scene) but Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said all initial indications pointed to ISIS

The death toll was expected to rise to 50 as of Tuesday night according to Turkish authorities. Pictured, policemen stand guard outside the airport

The death toll was expected to rise to 50 as of Tuesday night according to Turkish authorities.

'I won't comment further on it except to say that this is daily fare and that's why I say the first challenge we need to face is countering non-state violent actors, for a host of reasons,' Kerry added Tuesday.

The attackers arrived to the airport in a taxi Tuesday before the attacks, according to Yildirim, who said the three opened fire before blowing themselves up.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged other nations to join the fight against terror after the attack.

He said: 'If states, as all humanity, fail to join forces and wage a joint fight against terrorist organisations, all the possibilities that we dread in our minds will come true one by one.'

Kerry said officials were still collecting information and trying to determine what happened and who perpetrated the attack. Pictured, a woman sits outside Ataturk airport early on Wednesday

'This is daily fare and that's why I say the first challenge we need to face is countering non-state violent actors, for a host of reasons,' Kerry added. Pictured, a man takes pictures of a broken window at Ataturk airport
An MP confronted Jeremy Corbyn's spin doctor and screamed 'this is f***ing personal' at him after he tried to dismiss a left-winger's threat to attack her with a blow-torch.

Jess Phillips accosted Seumas Milne in a Westminster canteen over Mr Corbyn's 'dogs of war' who are targeting MPs opposed to the Labour leader.

Mr Milne is said to have dismissed her worries claiming he had received similar threats and told her: 'Don't take it personally'.

It was then the MP for Birmingham Yardley said: 'This is f***ing personal' before calling him a c**k' during the row in Portcullis House, where Parliament's main cafes and restaurants sit.

Ms Phillips was upset about the stream of threats she and other MPs have received from Corbynites, including one about putting a blow-torch to her neck.

Jess Phillips accosted Seumas Milne in a Westminster canteen over Mr Corbyn's 'dogs of war' who are targeting MPs opposed to the Labour leader

Odd couple: Jeremy Corbyn and his right-hand man Seumas Milne during a hapless photo opportunity yesterday where the Labour leader changed his mind as it was about to start

Upset: Ms Phillips was threatened by a left-winger who then appeared to claim warning of a blow-torch attack was not a threat at all

Angela Eagle, the first female MP to come out as gay, could become Labour's first woman leader as she is poised to go head to head with Tom Watson to head the party after Jeremy Corbyn lost a no confidence vote.

Earlier this evening Mr Corbyn refused to quit as Labour leader despite losing an no confidence vote overwhelmingly by 172-40, saying he would not 'betray' Labour members who elected him last year.

Mr Corbyn has faced a near universal revolt among MPs determined to dislodge him and more than 50 MPs quit front bench roles over the past three days. The no confidence vote triggered another wave of resignations.

But despite the massive vote against him by Labour MPs tonight, Mr Corbyn is to try and fight on - insisting his mandate from party members' is more important than MPs' support.

Reports tonight indicated Angela Eagle was poised to issue a leadership challenge to Mr Corbyn after talks with Deputy Leader Tom Watson.

But in a statement issued within minutes of the result, Mr Corbyn rejected the result out of hand.

He said: 'I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60% of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning. The vote by MPs has no constitutional legitimacy.

'We are a democratic party, with a clear constitution. Our people need Labour party members, trade unionists and MPs to unite behind my leadership at a critical time for our country.'

Jeremy Corbyn was caught on camera beckoning over close aide Seumas Milne and voiced reservations about a spectacularly awkward photo op yesterday. Hours later he lost a vote of no confidence 172-40

Jeremy Corbyn has now suffered an almost complete walk out of his shadow cabinet as 20 full members resigned, followed by 30 more junior figures. Angela Smith and Lord Bassam, both peers, have effectively gone on strike and said they will not attend Cabinet until Mr Corbyn quits

There were 13 MPs who did not take part in the vote - reportedly including Rachael Maskell, a member of the shadow cabinet as of yesterday morning who has declined to express confidence in the leader.

Mr Corbyn gathered his rag-tag new shadow cabinet in an attempt to portray unity - but he still has at least seven top tier vacancies and around 30 more junior positions to full.

A Labour spokesman said: 'Following the ballot, the Parliamentary Labour Party has accepted the following motion: That this PLP has no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party.'

In response, Mr Corbyn tonight pleaded with Labour MPs to help him fight the Tories.

He said: 'The government is in disarray. Ministers have made it clear they have no exit plan, but are determined to make working people pay with a new round of cuts and tax rises.

'Labour has the responsibility to give a lead where the government will not. We need to bring people together, hold the government to account, oppose austerity and set out a path to exit that will protect jobs and incomes.

'To do that we need to stand together. Since I was elected leader of our party nine months ago, we have repeatedly defeated the government over its attacks on living standards.'

Angela Eagle, left, and Tom Watson, centre are said to be discussing the next steps in the attempt to dislodge Mr Corbyn after he refused to resign over the no confidence vote tonight

Dame Margaret Hodge, who tabled the no confidence motion, has called on Jeremy Corbyn to resign for the good of the party

More resignations emerged almost as soon as the no confidence vote has been lost - starting with shadow home office minister Lyn Brown, swiftly followed by shadow business minster Kevin Brennan.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Jeremy Corbyn tonight refused to accept an overwhelming vote of no confidence in his leadership. The statement prompted a fresh wave of front bench resignations, underlining the belief of Labour MPs the attempt to remove Mr Corbyn can continue. If Mr Corbyn still refuses to go after the dust settles on tonight's result, a challenge can be forced by 51 MPs officially writing to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour. The NEC controls the timetable for any new election - and it is not obliged to do so before the annual conference in September. At some point, the 50 letters would trigger a new leadership election and it is hotly disputed as to whether Mr Corbyn would get on the ballot by right as the incumbent. Party rules say candidates would need 37 nominations to get on the ballot - and the vote suggests he has such support making a debate over the rules academic. Advertisement

Christina Rees left the shadow justice team, swiftly followed by Sarah Champion who quit the home office team. Clive Efford then left the shadow culture, media and sport team.

Close ally Andy Slaughter quit the front bench this morning and tonight said Mr Corbyn was not capable of doing the 'difficult job' of leading a major party - particularly at a time of 'national crisis'.

Mr Slaugher told BBC Radio 4 tonight: 'I don't think he has the experience or the skills to the leader of a major political party.'

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale tonight told BBC Scotland: 'If I lost the confidence of 80 per cent of my parliamentary colleagues I could not do my job.'

But PCS leader Mark Serwotka, asked if Mr Corbyn should step aside, said: 'Absolutely not.'

Unite leader Len McCluskey tonight told the Guardian: 'If anyone wants to change the Labour leadership, they must do it openly and democratically.'

If Mr Corbyn refuses to go, a challenge can be forced by 51 MPs officially writing to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour.

This would trigger a new leadership election and it is hotly disputed as to whether Mr Corbyn would get on the ballot by right as the incumbent.

Party rules say candidates would need 37 nominations to get on the ballot - and last night's vote suggest he has such support making a debate over the rules academic.

Earlier, footage of the new shadow cabinet shows a very awkward looking Mr Corbyn sat next to his deputy Mr Watson - who has refused to condemn the rebellion - at the shadow cabinet table.

At one point the leader beckons over aide Seumas Milne and whispers: 'I'm not sure this is a good idea.'

In other developments yesterday, Pat Glass, who was promoted to education secretary after Lucy Powell quit yesterday, announced that she is standing down from parliament at the general election. She said the EU referendum campaign had taken a toll on her and her family.

Mr Corbyn has refused to countenance resigning under any circumstances despite the draining away of what little support he had from mainstream Labour in Parliament.

Last night he addressed a crowd of thousands of people in Parliament Square, some of whom had banners and t-shirts branded 'eradicate the right wing Blairite vermin', vowing to fight on.

The developments have prompted new questions about whether Labour is broken and must split - and one former MP yesterday admitted 'separation and divorce are now inevitable'.

Jeremy Corbyn, seen leaving home yesterday, overwhelmingly lost a vote of no confidence among his MPs - but he has so far refused to resign

Dame Margaret Hodge, who tabled the no confidence motion, pleaded with the Labour leader to recognise he was destroying the Labour Party and resign before it came to a split.

She told the BBC: 'I think that the reaction last night at the parliamentary Labour party was unprecedented.

'I couldn't believe the strength of feeling, the overwhelming rejection of Jeremy as our leader, and the pleading with him that he should actually consider his position and go with dignity.

'No one individual is greater than the party. Did we use the referendum as an excuse? Well I think the referendum was actually a test of leadership and he failed it.'

She added: 'I looked at the pictures of the demonstrations last night, those weren't Labour party members.
One-year-old Isla stole the show when she showed off her chopstick skills

They travelled from Hong Kong to visit Mr Turnbull on the campaign trail

Alex Turnbull married Yvonne Wang in 2012 and had a daughter, Isla

Mr Turnbull was joined by his wife Lucy, their son Alex and his family

Malcolm Turnbull had Yum Cha with his family in Sydney on Wednesday

Malcolm Turnbull played the doting grandfather as his one-year-old granddaughter fiddled with her chopsticks during a yum cha date with his family three days out from the election.

Isla, the daughter of Alex Turnbull and Yvonne Wang, stole the show as the family gathered around a table inside a packed Chinese restaurant in Hurstville in Sydneys south-west, on Wednesday.

After catching public transport, Turnbull walked with his wife, Lucy, to meet their granddaughter and her parents who are visiting from Hong Kong while the prime minister makes stops around the country during his campaign trail.

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Malcolm Turnbull (right) with his wife Lucy meet with his son Alex (second left) and granddaughter Isla

They visited the Sunny Harbour Yum Cha in the federal seat of Barton in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville

Mr Turnbull's son moved to Hong Kong after he married Ms Wang, also known as Wang Yi Wen, in 2012.

Ms Wang, works as a public relations adviser for Trip Advisor and is the daughter of Mrs Tu Chongling, a Canadian music graduate who died last year, aged 78 and Mr Wang Chunming, an international relations scholar who is 91.

Alex traveled back to Australia to join his parents on Wednesday, three days out from the election that will decide his fathers future.

Isla was placed in a high seat as her grandfather made his way around the restaurant stopping to take selfies with an endangered electorate.

One-year-old Isla is the daughter of Alex Turnbull and Yvonne Wang, who is of Chinese heritage

Malcolm Turnbull was joined by his family three days out from the election that will decide his future

The suburb in the federal seat of Barton was won by Liberal MP Nickolas Varvaris in 2013 by a minor 0.3 per cent.

But over the years a number of changes has resulted in a redistribution causing the electorate to become an unforeseen Labor territory by an approximate 4.4. per cent.

As a result Barton is now a challenge for the Prime Minister who is hoping his presence will help his party jump ahead of Labor in the election.

Hurstville, in the federal seat of Barton, is seen as Labor territory by an approximate 4.4 per cent
Tony Windsor has been slammed as 'sexist' for saying Peta Credlin 'always made a nice cup of tea' to write off her claim he's always played politics 'dirty'.

Credlin, the former Chief of Staff to Tony Abbott, criticised the independent candidate for New England on Sky News on Tuesday for his repeated complaints of gutter tactics this election campaign.

And Windsor's attempt to get out of the frying pan has landed himself squarely in the fryer with a joke on Twitter, writing: 'Peta Credlin always made a nice cup of tea during hung parliament.'

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Windsor has been slammed as 'sexist' after hitting back at Peta Credlin by saying she 'always made a nice cup of tea' on Twitter (pictured)

Credlin told Sky News on Tuesday the scrutiny 'at the tail end of a tough campaign' was 'fair enough'

In response, many on Twitter have called Windsor 'sexist'.

'You're all class, Tony. The misogyny is strong in this one,' wrote in response to the tea quip.

'What an absolute disgrace,' another said.

Windsor has complained of gutter journalism and advertisements in recent days.

But Credlin told Sky News on Tuesday the scrutiny 'at the tail end of a tough campaign' was 'fair enough'.

'He's never been a person, in my time, to have played a clean game. He's played it pretty dirty.'

Windsor has complained of gutter journalism and advertisements in recent days. The Independent candidate for New England hit back on Tuesday night when Peta Credlin said the scrutiny was 'fair enough' (Windsor pictured in March)

'What an absolute disgrace,' one person wrote on Twitter in response to his tea quip

'You're all class, Tony. The misogyny is strong in this one,' another wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night

She'd also said Windsor was in the Labor party's pocket 'all their way through the hung parliament'.

Windsor is hoping to unseat the Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce in the seat of New England, which the Independent previously held, at the federal election on Saturday.

He's complained about an 'offensive gutter ad' from Joyce's National Party, he said inferred philandering on his part and had deeply upset his wife Lyn.

A number of people unrelated to his campaign had been concerned and disgusted at the commercial, which set a new low in the bag of Nationals campaign tricks, he said earlier this week.

'They can throw whatever criticism at me but when it involves and upsets my family, that's another matter.

Windsor also called in the lawyers over a 'gutter journalism' article accusing him of being a school yard bully almost half a century ago.

'He's never been a person in my time to have played a clean game. He's played it pretty dirty,' Credlin said

Windsor is hoping to unseat the Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce in the seat of New England, which the Independent previously held, at the federal election on Saturday (Windsor pictured in March)

Windsor also called in the lawyers over a 'gutter journalism' article accusing him of being a school yard bully almost half a century ago (Windsor pictured in July last year)
The family of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai have become millionaires from her best-selling memoirs and speaking engagements, it has been claimed.

Four years after the teenager was shot on the bus to school in Pakistan, it can be revealed that a company set up to protect the rights to her life story has made a pre-tax profit of 1.1million.

The 18-year-old schoolgirl - who was 14 when shot in the Swat Valley after her support for girls' education angered Taliban militants - is a joint shareholder of the company, Salarzai ltd.

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Campaigner: Malala Yousafzai, pictured addressing the rally in London's Trafalgar Square to celebrate what would have been the 42nd birthday of the murdered MP Jo Cox, is the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner

Malala poses with the medal and the diploma during the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony in Oslo in 2014

The firm, whose other joint shareholders are her father Ziauddin Yousafzai and her mother Toor Pekai, had 2.2million in the bank by last August, reported The Times correspondent Fariha Karim.

It was also claimed by Sun reporter Stephen Moyes that Malala, who became the worlds youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, will pay 200,000 in UK tax on her earnings last year.

Her book I Am Malala, which was published in 2013 in Britain in a deal estimated at 2million and has since sold at least 1.8million copies worlwide, tells the story of her growing up in Pakistan.

She explains how she was 'hypnotised by this talk of the big world beyond our valley', but saw her future would be limited because she was a girl  even though her father wanted her to live freely.

When she was ten, the Taliban took control of the region, forbidding girls to attend school. Against a backdrop of gunfire, she spoke out against their diktat and was shot on her way home in 2012.

The Queen greets Ziauddin Yousafzai, standing next to his daughter Malala, at Buckingham Palace in 2013

Medics assist Malala after she was wounded in a gun attack in the Swat Valley of Pakistan in October 2012

But Malala survived and was airlifted to Britain for treatment, where she rose to fame after settling in the West Midlands with her family. She now attends the private Edgbaston High School for Girls.

Malala has become a sought-after speaker since her horrifying ordeal, and a report by the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC claims she is paid a whopping 114,000 per speech.

Just last week Malala told a crowd in Londons Trafalgar Square at a memorial to Jo Cox that the murdered MP, who was killed earlier this month in West Yorkshire, was a modern day suffragette.

London-based Salarzai, which was set up in 2013, is a separate operation to the charitable Malala Fund which aims to help girls safely complete secondary education worldwide, reported The Times.

A spokesman for Malala told MailOnline: 'Since the publication of Malala's book, Malala and her family have donated more than $1million (750,000) to charities, mostly for education-focused projects across the world including Pakistan.'
Women desperate to start a family have spoken out about the 'fake gynaecologist' who allegedly gave them fake ultrasound images to convince them they were pregnant.

Raffaele Di Paolo, 59, from Kew, east of Melbourne, is accused of passing himself off as a registered doctor, gynaecologst and IVF specialist.

He is currently facing 88 charges of rape, sexual penetration and fraud.

A woman who was desperate to have a baby said she was referred to Di Paolo and failed to fall pregnant when he merely made 'adjustments' to her body, according to The Canberra Times.

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Accused 'fake' gynaecologist Raffaele Lorenzo Di Paolo faces charges of rape, sexual penetration and fraud

The Melbourne man (pictured) is accused of passing himself off as a properly registered and qualified doctor, gynaecologist and IVF specialist

She became suspicious of Di Paolo when he indicated she was pregnant just because she had missed her period, but when she asked for an ultrasound, he said he was unable to do one.

She went to her GP who confirmed she was not pregnant.

Another female patient who grew suspicious of his qualifications said she saw Di Paolo  who allegedly provided IVF treatment to women for a decade without qualification  about three times a week over 10 months about fertility issues.

On Tuesday, she told the Melbourne Magistrates Court she believed he was a doctor, but over time became suspicious about his expertise.

The woman was also warned by someone who knew of Di Paolo 'that he's charming and not all he seems to be'.

Di Paolo is facing a string of charges including multiple counts of rape, sexual penetration and fraud.

Police have alleged Di Paolo provided numerous patients with the same fake pregnancy ultrasound.

'We wanted to have a family, because I'd been pregnant and we were very disappointed to lose a pregnancy,' a complainant told the court on Wednesday.

Another former patient gave evidence on Tuesday that Di Paolo talked a lot about his personal life during her consultations and 'some of it didn't add up'.

She also did an online search and found information about Di Paolo being taken to court over medical-related matters in Italy where he had practised previously, which worried her.

'I was too scared to approach him after that,' the woman told the court.

'That's when I went to the medical board.'

The 59-year-old  who allegedly provided IVF treatment to women for a decade without qualification  spotted leaving the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday

The female patient told the Melbourne Magistrates Court (pictured) how she grew suspicious of his expertise

The woman said she would not have let Di Paolo draw blood from her arm, had she known he wasn't a doctor

The woman said she would not have let Di Paolo inject her or draw blood from her arm, had she known he wasn't a doctor.

She said she was also seen by another man at the clinic - who she knew as a professor named Bruce  but he didn't seem to know what he was doing when Di Paolo wasn't there.

'Bruce was really confused and he didn't know what to do,' she said.

'I had to tell him how to use the ultrasound machine at one stage, because he couldn't work it out.'

Between 2006 to 2015, Di Paolo is alleged to have duped patients out of more than $342,000 by offering fertility treatment under the guise of being a medical practitioner.

His charges relate to the mainly adult women he treated at his Brighton and St Kilda Rd clinics.
A sheriff's office is attempting to persuade irresponsible dog owners in Colorado to scoop the poop left by their pets using a bizarre video.

Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has devised the ad - called There is no poop fairy: Please clean up after your dog - due to the problem piling up in the state with so many dogs moving in.

Officials at the Jefferson County Animal Control said the issue has been ongoing for years because it is hard to enforce and residents have described poop littering the sidewalks.

The unusual video features an officer talking to the camera while a 'fairy' dances in the background, pops out from behind a tree and eventually uses her wand to clean up dog mess.

As a sheriff delivers the message that residents need to take ownership of their dogs' waste the fictional poop fairy sneaks up behind him

Under Colorado law, it is illegal not to clean up dogs' mess, but not everybody does.

A Facebook post by Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said: 'Dog owners are expected to pick up their dog's poop in our neighborhoods and local parks.

'Many do so diligently - toting around plastic baggies on their daily walks. Others don't, leading to a buildup of errant dog poop piles.

'Because of the sheer number of pets in suburban communities, this hard dog waste accumulates.

'Our Animal Control officers have been aware of the problem for years and have struggled to enforce county ordinances against so many stealth offenders. Animal Control hit on the crux of the problem.

'A lot of dog owners think that the poop "just goes away".

'We saw an opportunity to educate people on the realities of this subject. Many years ago, together with the citizens and our local park districts, we created a campaign.'

The video was actually produced years ago, but re-posted it on the weekend to coincide with the campaign.

Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has lauched the campaign to clean up the streets and free the sidewalks of dog poop

Some Colorado residents have been mocked for thinking the poop fairy, like the one pictured, exists

The dog waste problem in Jefferson County has been mounting over years prompting the sheriff's office to launch its campaign There is no poop fairy: Please clean up after your dog

Reacting to the launch, Lakewood resident Dave Campbell told KDVR: I mean, Ive heard of the tooth fairy, but Im not sure about the poop fairy,

Among those wishing the poop fairy did exist was Ernest Arello, who said: Theres just poop everywhere. A lot of people let their dogs go.'

And Emma Gage told KDVR it was a constant problem and that it was at its worst on the sidewalks.

Residents of Jefferson County have welcomed the campaign saying the sidewalks are filled with unpleasant dog waste

Despite putting a light-hearted spin on the issue, the sheriff's office also pointed out the severity of the health risks that come with not scooping the poop.

Because the feces does not biodegrade like other wild animals' - due to the food we give them - the dog waste accumulates and builds up.

As it sits on the streets, it contains harmful bacteria and parasites sometimes including E.coli, giardia, salmonella, roundworms, hookworms and cryptosporidium, which can be passed on to pet owners or their dogs.

The waste also pollute rivers, creeks and groundwater and people who come into contact with the water can face health hazards.

In accordance with Colorado law, failure to clean up dog feces in public places comes with a fine of at least $30.
Anti-immigration T-shirt: Peter Bowman, 54, was photographed wearing the shirt emblazoned with the message: Yes! We won! Now send them back'

An unemployed bigot who was photographed wearing a racist T-shirt to celebrate the Brexit victory at an Armed Forces Day parade has been disowned by his own family.

Peter Bowman, 54, was photographed walking at the event in Romford, Essex, on Saturday wearing the green shirt emblazoned with the message: Yes! We won! Now send them back.

But the grandfather-of-one from Hornchurch, who has shaved the hair off half of his head, has been called an idiot by his brother, who claims he did not attend his siblings funerals.

His brother Richard, who lives in Watford, Hertfordshire, told The Sun reporters James Mills and Rachel Dale: I havent spoken to him for about seven years, I dont care about him.

I lost a brother last year and a sister last year and he wasnt at the funeral. He just didnt bother. We grew further and further apart. I moved away so that I didnt have to live near him anymore.

Speaking about the anti-immigration T-shirt, he added: It doesnt surprise me at all. He is an idiot, it really doesnt bother me what he does - I have nothing to do with him.

Mr Bowman, who was described by a neighbour as being quite friendly but a bit weird, lives in a first floor flat in a former council block but was said to be in hiding yesterday.

The photo of the T-shirt was revealed as Prime Minister David Cameron warned hate crime must be stamped out after police revealed a spike in racist abuse following the Brexit vote.

The National Police Chiefs Council told of 85 reports to a website recording hate crime, from Thursday to Sunday  a 57 per cent rise on the same four days four weeks ago.

Mr Bowman was pictured wearing the T-shirt at the Armed Forces Day event in Romford, Essex, on Saturday

London mayor Sadiq Khan said he had asked Scotland Yard to be extra vigilant for hate crime, while the Metropolitan Police Commissioner said officers would vigorously investigate any incidents.

BBC news presenter Sima Kotecha, 36, from Basingstoke in Hampshire, tweeted on Monday: In utter shock, just been called p*** in my home town! Havent heard that word here since the 80s!

Meanwhile Cambridgeshire Police is investigating after cards reading Leave the EU  no more Polish vermin were discovered.
Teachers often face crying, fidgety kids, some of whom have never attended school, when kindergarten starts. And their parents might be weeping with worry just as much outside the classroom door.

School districts increasingly are trying to make the transition to kindergarten easierand parent outreach is key to their plans. Chalkbeat Colorado, in a June 22 story by Ann Schimke, outlined what Colorado school districts are doing to improve the kindergarten transition, modeling some of its plans on programs in other states.

Its an issue thats been discussed around the country and one that the Obama administration touched on in his early education plans. See a policy brief by Education Commission of the States about transitions.

Some Colorado school districts are making special efforts to find families whose children arent enrolled in the districts preschool. Denver schools are recruiting parents, in particular, Latino mothers, to reach out to four neighborhoods with high percentages of 3- and 4-year-olds who are not in preschool, according to Chalkbeat. Other schools hold outreach events for parents, such as a Breakfast and Books event. Others do home visits with incoming children and their parents where they can address concerns.

If you can (ease) those fears, it really helps the parents and child in the long run, said Katrina Lindus, coordinator of the Best Foot Forward Transition Program in Dolores, Colo., in the Chalkbeat article.

Contact Sarah Tully at stully@epe.org .

Follow @ParentAndPublic for the latest news on schools and parental involvement.

Dont miss another K-12 Parents and the Public post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox.
Lorry drivers claim Britain would be overwhelmed by migrant numbers and say queues would be daily occurrence

After Brexit the deal could be renegotiated - leaving no checks until Dover and leaving UK guards under pressure

Border guards stop migrants on French side under Touquet Agreement but politicians are calling for it to be torn up

Comes as mayor and economy minister warn French may rethink joint border checks that keep security tight

Signs showing UK, French and European Union flags were found dumped at border following UK to vote to leave EU

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Four giant Passport Control signs showing the French flag, the UK's Union flag and the stars of the European Union in a display of unity, lie discarded on the ground at the Port of Calais.

The 12ft by 9ft signs once directed motorists leaving France into different lanes to have their passports checked.

But Mail Online found them abandoned at the French ferry port beside a security fence in a disturbing symbol of how border checks on migrants heading to Britain could be hit by Brexit.

The discovery follows fears that France may no longer allow UK border controls to take place in Calais and other Channel ports.

Dumped: Four giant Passport Control signs, showing the French flag, the UK's Union flag and the stars of the European Union in a display of unity, lie discarded on the ground at the Port of Calais

Abandoned: The 12ft by 9ft signs once directed motorists leaving France into different lanes to have their passports checked as they drive into the port of Calais

Border impact? Mail Online found the UK-French-EU signs abandoned at the French ferry port beside a security fence in a disturbing symbol of how border checks could be hit by Brexit

Proud display: Until recently the border signs were on proud display as a sign of French, UK and EU unity over borders as images as recently as 2014 show

Many migrants at the notorious Jungle camp in Calais believe that such a move could make it easier for them to evade checks and get to the UK.

A Border Force spokesman was unable to say when the Passport Control signs had been taken down and dumped on the grass around 100 yards from the port's UK passport checkpoint.

He would only say that they had been removed for 'operational reasons' and insisted 'it had nothing to do with the referendum'.

But this week the French economy minister joined the Calais mayor in calling for the Jungle migrant camp to be moved to Britain. Emmanuel Macron also suggested that the Le Touquet accord, which allows UK border officials to stop migrants before they try to cross, should be torn up.

The Freight Transport Association warned that any move to switch border checks to Dover would lead to more migrants arriving in Britain.

The signs appeared to be clean and unaffected by algae growth, indicating that they have not been on the ground for very long - but following MailOnline inquiries to the Border Force they were taken away suggesting the authority may have been embarrassed.The only indication that the signs were once there was an area of yellowing grass.

The UK's Border Force staff have been able to check passports and vehicles at Channel ports in France since 2003 under the Le Touquet Treaty.

In return, French officials are allowed to carry out their checks in Dover and other UK ports, allowing vehicles to drive off ferries without any further delay.

The bi-lateral agreement between the two countries is separate to the EU and is not automatically affected by Britain's decision to leave.

Border checks: The discovery of the dumped UK-French-Eu signs follows fears that France may no longer allow UK border controls to take place in Calais and other Channel ports in the wake of the Brexit vote

Border agreement: The view towards the UK border point on the French side of the channel at the entrance to Eurotunnel near Calais where the UK and France jointly carry out border checks

Newly removed: The border signs appear to have been taken down very recently as the grass they are laying on does not seem to have grown around them

Embarrassed? Following MailOnline's inquiries about the signs being dumped on the ground they were taken away, showing the yellowed grass underneath

The Home Office has admitted that Border Force staff and French officials foiled 84,500 incidents of migrants trying to gain unauthorised entry to the UK last year at ports and Channel Tunnel terminals in France.

David Cameron expressed fears during the referendum campaign that a Brexit decision could lead to the 'juxtaposed controls' being scrapped by France.

He claimed in February that it could lead to more migrants slipping into the UK and setting up a camp in Kent, like the ramshackle Jungle camp in Calais which is home to 4,500 refugees.

Brexit campaigners dismissed the fears as scaremongering and the French government has insisted that it has no plans to scrap the treaty. But the referendum result has prompted several leading French politicians to call for the agreement to end.

Economy minister Emmanuel Macron told a conference at the Paris Institute of Political Studies that the treaty would 'inevitably' have to be re-discussed.

Jungle camp: Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart has called for the camp to moved to Britain and said 'The British must take on the consequences of their choice'

Weaker border? Many migrants at the notorious Jungle camp in Calais believe that any move to renegotiate the French-UK border checks deal could make it easier for them to evade checks and get to the UK

Fear: Migrant Aziz Ullah, 31, from Afghanistan (centre, wearing white hat) with three of his friends at the Jungle camp in Calais. He told MailOnline: 'At the moment, if they are stopped at the checkpoint, they just get left here. But what will happen if they get stopped in the UK? Will they get sent to prison or deported?'

Former shopkeeper Aziz Ullah, left, told MailOnline: 'We don't know if it will be a good or a bad thing if the checkpoint is moved. A lot of people are scared and worried because they don't know what will happen if the UK police catch them again. Will they be deported back to Afghanistan or somewhere else?' Meanwhile migrant Bachaksan Ahmadou, 22, from Afghanistan at the Jungle camp in Calais said: 'I will carry on trying for as long as it takes to get to the UK 'I don't know what will happen if the UK checkpoint moves back to Britain, Maybe that will make it easier for me, or maybe not'

'Life is so hard': Migrant Natenael Tikbo, 24, of Eritrea (centre in grey top) with two of his friends by the fence at the Jungle camp said: ''It may be easier for me if the UK checkpoint moves. But life is so hard here. I will maybe only keep trying to get to the UK for another month. The other option then is to try to go to another country'

The 38-year-old cabinet member, who is considering a presidential bid next year, warned four-months-ago: 'The day this relationship unravels, migrants will no longer be in Calais.'

Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart also called for a review of the treaty after the referendum last week, telling French TV station BFM: 'The British must take on the consequences of their choice.'

She added 'We are in a strong position to push, to press this request for a review and we are asking the President (Francois Hollande) to bring his weight (to the issue).

'We must put everything on the table and there must be an element of division, of sharing.'

Xavier Bertrand, the centre-right president of the Hauts-de-France region, also tweeted: 'The English wanted to take back their freedom, they must take back their border.'

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault dismissed talk of border changes as 'rubbish', saying: 'People should be responsible, not engage in demagoguery.'

The spokesman for the UK's Border Force said: 'The Le Touquet Treaty will remain in place. The treaty is a bi-lateral agreement between the UK and France and is not directly linked to the EU.'

Found: Migrants picked up at ferry terminal on the French side of the channel in Calais are loaded into a police van and driven out of the port area before being dropped off giving them a couple of miles walk back to the Jungle

Back to the Jungle: MailOnline saw migrants rounded up and sent back to the Jungle today following checks at the Calais border

Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart also called for a review of the treaty after the referendum last week, telling French TV station BFM: 'The British must take on the consequences of their choice

Economy minister Emmanuel Macron told a conference at the Paris Institute of Political Studies that the treaty between France and Britain over border checks would 'inevitably' have to be re-discussed in the wake of Brexit

Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart is seeking for the border agreement that sees refugees held in her town to be suspended as the has UK voted to leave the EU

The UK's Border Force staff have been able to check passports and vehicles at Channel ports in France since 2003 under the Le Touquet Treaty. In return, French officials are allowed to carry out their checks in Dover and other UK ports, allowing vehicles to drive off ferries without any further delay

The Freight Transport Association warned that any move to switch border checks to Dover would lead to more migrants arriving in Britain

James Hookham, deputy chief executive of the Freight Transport Association which represents 15,500 businesses, made a desperate plea for the treaty to be kept.

He told Mail Online that bringing border controls back to the UK would lead to big queues building up inside the port of Dover with lorries having to wait to be checked for illegal stowaways.

Referring to the Operation Stack system operated by Kent Police to park lorries on the M20 when ferry or Eurotunnel services are disrupted, he said: 'It would be like Operation Stack every day. It would easily cost tens of million pounds a year in lost time.'

Mr Hookham also predicted that it would lead to more migrants being smuggled into the UK.

He said: It would be reasonable to assume that the French would not be so scrupulous about checking vehicles.

'It would make it much easier for migrants to exit France. We would be struggling to check vehicles in Dover and Folkestone.'

Mr Hookham added: 'We are absolutely in favour of the juxtaposed controls because it makes life so much simpler for everyone including freight drivers.

'All passport and immigration checks are done in France, so when you arrive in the UK, you just drive off and keep going.

'If you had to clear border checks in the UK, lorry drivers and motorists would potentially be faced with long queues, once they drove off ferries or the Eurotunnel Shuttle trains. It would be a bit like having passport checks at Heathrow airport.

Asylum seekers make regular attempts by hiding in lorries and trucks in order cross the Channel, but are often stopped by French police. There are around 7,000 migrants camped in the so-called Calais Jungle

In the Calais Jungle: The UKs border with France begins on French soil, allowing British officials to check passports and stop migrants before they attempt the Channel crossing

There are claims that some migrants in the Calais Jungle believe it will be easier to reach the UK after the Brexit vote  as French police will not try so hard to stop them

Thousands are still living in the squalid tent city, hoping to make their way into Britain in lorries passing through the nearby ferry port and Channel Tunnel terminal

'At the moment if Border Force finds migrants at the Port of Calais, they are on French soil and it is a problem for the French authorities to deal with.

'But if the juxtaposed controls agreement was cancelled and they ended up being found at Dover, it would become a British problem. They wouldn't necessarily just be sent back.

'It would potentially involve them going through procedures like detention centres and hearings before they were deported or allowed to stay. It wouldn't just be a matter of chucking them back on the ferry.'

At the moment, lorry drivers arriving to get on ferries at the Port of Calais have to undergo stringent checks, driving through sheds where their vehicles can be searched and even X-Rayed to check for any sign of illegal migrants or illicit cargo on board.

Mr Hookham added: 'Having border control back in the UK would not just be an administrative issue. It would involve re-configuring the terminals at the port to allow more lorries and other vehicles to be searched.

'The inevitable queues would have a knock on effect on the turnaround times, meaning that not so many ferries and train services would operate.'

He added that even if a decision was made to scrap the treaty, there was a clause which meant that it would not happen for two years.

Juxtaposed controls were first established in 1994 to speed up entry and exit procedures for the Channel Tunnel when it opened. They were then introduced on the Eurostar route between London and Paris in 2001.

UK border from French side: Joint controls were first established in 1994 to speed up entry and exit procedures for the Channel Tunnel when it opened. They were then introduced on the Eurostar route between London and Paris in 2001

Determined: Migrants at the Jungle camp vowed to continue their efforts to try and reach the Britain, regardless of whether the UK border was in Calais or Dover

Stringent checks: At the moment, lorry drivers arriving to get on ferries at the Port of Calais have to undergo stringent checks for any Jungle camp migrants who have jumped on board, driving through sheds where their vehicles can be searched and even X-Rayed to check for any sign of illegal migrants or illicit cargo on board

UK border controls were finally allowed at ferry ports in northern France under the Le Touquet Treaty in 2003 to combat the growing number of undocumented people arriving in the UK and claiming asylum.

Illegal migrants caught by Border Force staff at Calais or the Eurotunnel Shuttle terminal at nearby Coquelles used to be processed and have biometric information such as fingerprints taken.

But the Freight Transport Association said the practice stopped in 2010 due to the sheer number of migrants, overwhelming the lack of detention facilities. Ever since then, migrants caught at the port and the terminal have simply been handed over to the French police.

Migrants at the Jungle camp vowed to continue their efforts to try and reach the Britain, regardless of whether the UK border was in Calais or Dover.

Bachakhan Ahmazou, 22, from Afghanistan who has been at the camp for six months, said: 'I will carry on trying for as long as it takes to get to the UK

'I don't know what will happen if the UK checkpoint moves back to Britain, Maybe that will make it easier for me, or maybe not.

'At least it would mean, dealing with UK police instead of the French police who beat us and fire tear gas and rubber bullets at us,'

Bachakhan said he had previously smuggled himself in a lorry to England in 2009 when he was aged 15.

He then lived with a foster mother in Cardiff, attending the city's Fitzalan High School where he did a BTECH in English, Maths and Science and qualified with a Level One in travel and tourism.

He left his foster mother at the age of 18 and lived in a council flat while he waited to see if he could get permission to stay in the UK.

Queues: The Freight Transport Association, which represents 15,500 businesses, told Mail Online that bringing border controls back to the UK would lead to big queues building up inside the port of Dover with lorries having to wait to be checked for illegal stowaways

Operation Stack: Referring to the system operated by Kent Police to park lorries on the M20 when ferry or Eurotunnel services are disrupted, the freight association warned of tailbacks every day

The Freight Association said any move to change the border agreement would 'easily cost tens of million pounds a year in lost time' and could lead to greater numbers of migrants getting into the UK

When he realised he faced deportation to Afghanistan, he smuggled himself out of the UK on a lorry and went to live in The Jungle six-months-ago.

But now he is risking his life again by trying to jump on to lorries every night in a desperate bid to get back to the UK.

He said: 'There is nothing for me here. Life is so hard in The Jungle, It is boring and not a nice place to live. I had no shower here for a month. The UK is my home and I want to go back.

'Normally I get caught on lorries by the driver or the French police, but last week I actually got to the UK checkpoint in the port before I was found.

'If the checkpoint was moved to the UK, then maybe I would have got across the sea.'

Bachakhan said he had been shot with a rubber bullet by French police last week, leaving him with painful back injuries, and had also been tear gassed.

As he relaxed in the camp after a day of Ramadan fasting, he added: 'If I try again tonight, maybe I will reach the UK.'

Former shopkeeper Aziz Ullah, 31, from Afghanistan's Kapisa province said: 'I am not trying to get to England because I am claiming asylum in France.

'But a lot of the guys want to get to the UK . At the moment, if they are stopped at the checkpoint, they just get left here. But what will happen if they get stopped in the UK? Will they get sent to prison or deported?

'We don't know if it will be a good or a bad thing if the checkpoint is moved. A lot of people have already been deported from the UK and they have come back here.

'They are scared and worried because they don't know what will happen if the UK police catch them again. Will they be deported back to Afghanistan or somewhere else?'

Aziz added: 'The French police are inhumane. They beat people with sticks and shoot them with rubber bullets. Every day, I see them shooting tear gas.

'There are 15 Afghans in the camp with broken bones after being beaten by French police.'

Natenael Tikbo, 24, from Eritrea who paid (US dollars) 6,000 to people smugglers to get to The Jungle, said: 'It is so difficult to get on a lorry from here  but we try.
They want to return to Romania but say they cannot afford the ferry

A Romanian family of 16 have set up camp under a flyover on one of London's busiest roads.

The family, which includes three five-year-old children, have made their home below the A406 North Circular in Barking, in the east of the capital.

The group, understood to be called the Florescus, came to the UK to find work two weeks ago but say they have been unsuccessful.

They now insist they want to return to Romania but cannot afford the cost of the 1,000-mile journey back to the eastern European country.

A family of 16 Romanians are living under a flyover in London after failing to find work in the UK

They are living under this flyover, where the A406 North Circular goes through Barking in east London

Maria Florescu, the only English speaker in the group, says the men have been unable to find jobs and the women are instead begging on the streets of London.

Mrs Florescu, 27, said: 'We came here to work but it is very difficult because we have no home address here. Now we cannot afford ferry tickets back.

'It's really noisy sleeping here, we just want to go home and not come back. We are trying our best, but what can we do?'

A group which helps refugees and migrants is now working with the Home Office to help the family return to the continent.

The family, whose belongings and childrens' toys are kept under the road, say they cannot afford to return

A charity which helps migrants and the Home Office are now working to help the family return to Romania

Rita Chadha, chief executive of the Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London, said settling in the UK is too complicated for many migrants.

She said: 'Unless you know how the Home Office system already works, it can be very difficult to navigate.

'It's now become very, very difficult to access benefits for example if you're a European migrant in the UK.'
The United States has compensated a Cameroonian family whose child was killed by a vehicle in U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power's motorcade with $1,700, two cows and food.

The incident occurred in April as Power visited the front lines in the war against Boko Haram.

Traveling near the remote, northern Cameroon city of Mokolo, an armored jeep in her caravan struck seven-year-old Birwe Toussem at high speed after he darted into the road, killing him instantly.

Power returned later that day for a tense and emotionally fraught gathering with Birwe's family and community members. She promised to compensate them for their loss.

The US has compensated a Cameroonian family whose child was killed by a vehicle in U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power's motorcade with $1,700, a pair of cows and food. Above, Power meets with a woman and her children who fled to Mokolo, Cameroon, to escape Boko Haram in April

Hoping to make amends for the tragic accident, the compensation package included everything from cash to cows, officials said.

State Department officials said the cash payment was 1 million Central African francs, roughly $1,700. Cameroon's GDP per person is about $1,300.

Cameroon's government, aid organizations operating in the area and the U.N. - which also had officials in the convoy - contributed another 5 million francs, bringing the total cash payout to more than $10,000.

In addition to money, officials said the U.S. government provided a pair of cows; hundreds of kilograms of flour, onions, rice, salt and sugar; and cartons of soap and oil.

Still to come: A well that will provide the village with fresh drinking water.

State Department spokesman Jeffrey Loree called it a 'compensation package commensurate with local custom, as well as the needs of the family and village.'

Power was pictured holding the hand of a child as she met with a family that fled Boko Haram while visiting Moloko, Cameroon, in April

'This package included a potable water well in the boy's community that will serve as a lasting memory and some monetary, food, and other support,' Loree said.

'U.S. diplomats have visited the family on several occasions following the accident and will continue to provide all support possible.'

Power was on the first leg of a week-long trip through West African countries bearing the scars of Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency.

Traveling through territory that had witnessed previous Boko Haram attacks, Power's motorcade was moving at a fast clip, at times exceeding 60 mph.

Villagers lined up along the sides of the road to greet the ambassador as U.S. and Cameroonian special forces ensured her security.

But when Birwe darted onto the two-lane highway, perhaps distracted by a Cameroonian helicopter monitoring overhead, there was no time for the sixth vehicle in Power's convoy to react.

The vehicle that hit the boy initially stopped, only to be ordered by American security forces to continue traveling through the unsecured area.
The ex-girlfriend of murderer Ben Butler said she knew he would go on to kill his daughter Ellie after he won his custody battle for her.

Butler, 36, was jailed for 23 years earlier this month for murdering the six-year-old in a fit of rage, 11 months after she was returned to her parents' care.

Ex-girlfriend Hannah Hillman spoke of how she was viciously beaten by Butler and said she felt guilty for not 'standing up and saying something' after he was accused of shaking Ellie as a baby.

Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain, Miss Hillman, 32, said: 'I knew that one day that man was going to kill somebody'.

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Ex-girlfriend Hannah Hillman told Good Morning Britain of how she was viciously beaten by Butler and said she felt guilty for not 'standing up and saying something' after he was accused of shaking Ellie as a baby

Ellie was removed from her parents' care and Butler was later convicted of causing grevious bodily harm and jailed for 18 months. Pictured, Ellie with parents Ben Butler and Jennie Gray

Butler was convicted of trying to strangle Miss Hillman outside a nightclub in 2005. Two years later, he was accused of shaking Ellie, who was then just a baby.

Ellie was removed from her parents' care and Butler was later convicted of causing grevious bodily harm and jailed for 18 months. His conviction was subsequently quashed by the Court of Appeal.

The child was returned to her parents in 2012 after Butler was exonerated by a family judge.

Miss Hillman, who was never called to give evidence in the GBH case, said she felt 'sick to her stomach' as she watched Butler's high profile campaign to win back his daughter.

She told Good Morning Britain. 'I knew there was not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that he had committed that crime.

'I felt guilt, to a certain degree, where maybe I could have stood up and said something a bit sooner.

'I turned on the TV and I actually saw him on the show and I thought, he's actually going to get this girl back, and I said: "He's going to kill her".

'I knew that one day that man was going to kill somebody.'

Miss Hillman, seen left, who was never called to give evidence against Bulter, told Good Morning Britain she felt 'sick to her stomach' as she watched his high profile campaign to win back his daughter

Miss Hillman described her ex-partner, who kicked and punched her in public in broad daylight, as 'incredibly jealous' and 'very, very insecure'.

'If you've been in the hands of someone like that... you are always going to be scared of them and frightened of them,' she added.

As Butler faced trial, his shockingly violent history could not be reported in case it swayed the jury members as they decided if he was guilty of murdering his six-year-old daughter.

Ellie's mother Jennie Gray was convicted of child cruelty, having already admitted perverting the course of justice, and jailed for three and a half years.

However, the violent beatings he doled out to Miss Hillman were revealed after he was jailed for a crime police said was the worst case of domestic violence they had ever seen.

Butler was jailed for 23 years earlier this month for murdering Ellie. Right, Jennie Gray was convicted of child cruelty, having already admitted perverting the course of justice, and jailed for three and a half years

Miss Hillman, pictured, previously said that he once gave her a 'good hiding' with a metal pole and sent terrified drinkers running from a pub as he repeatedly punched her in the face

Miss Hillman previously said that he once gave her a 'good hiding' with a metal pole and sent terrified drinkers running from a pub as he repeatedly punched her in the face.

She said that after the savage assaults, Butler would go into a 'babyfied state', rocking back and forth, sobbing and saying: 'I'm sorry, this isn't me.'

When they split, he was so furious that he kicked and punched her in public in broad daylight, she told police last year after Ellie's death.

Miss Hillman said: 'His eyes would turn smaller and black. His whole persona changed and then he would hit me every answer I gave.
A secret cabal of Gaddafi loyalists rescued US personnel trapped during the Benghazi terror attacks on September 11, 2012 despite President Obama's attempts to overthrow the Libyan dictator.

The CIA was unaware of the group at the time of the attack which was launched on the US consulate in the coastal city which claimed the lives of four Americans, including the Ambassador Chris Stevens, according to an 800-page report.

The report, which cost $7 million and included a two-year investigation into the events surrounding the attack did not find any 'smoking gun' aimed at current presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who at that time was Secretary of State.

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A group of militants stormed the US consulate in Benghazi in September 2012 setting fire to the building

Ambassador Chris Stevens and state department official Sean Smith retreated to a 'panic room' behind heavy steel door, but were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from the fire set by the jihadi militants

The Select Committee on Benghazi spent two years and some $7 million preparing its 800-page report

On September 11, 2012 a group of heavily-armed men stormed the US consulate.

Ambassador Stevens and State Department officer Sean Smith were separated from the joint Libyan / American team providing security for the consulate.

Stevens and Smith retreated to a 'safe room' in the consulate behind a heavy steel door. However, the terrorists set fire to the building and it is believed both men died of smoke inhalation.

Their bodies were recovered from the building by a group of Libyans, now believed to be Gaddafi loyalists, according to the new 800-page report.

Some five hours after the initial attack on the compound, militants launched a mortar attack on a separate CIA compound killing former US Navy SEALS Glen Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods. Two other Americans were wounded.

Clinton was grilled by the House Benghazi committee for almost 11 hours.

Ambassador Chris Stevens, left, and Sean Smith, right, both died from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning

Former US Navy SEALS Glen Doherty, left, and Tyrone Woods, right, died in a mortar attack on a CIA building

Republican Trey Gowdy asked 'the American people to read this report for themselves, look at the evidence we have collected and reach their own conclusions'.

The report is highly critical of intelligence failures which failed to predict the fatal assault as well as the military who failed to act.

Clinton defended herself claiming the report did not uncover any further evidence against her. 'I think i'ts pretty clear it's time to move on.'

Both Clinton and President Barack Obama faced criticism after trying to blame the assault on a protest against an offensive film about Muslims, instead of a pre-arranged terrorist attack.

Military leaders have testified repeatedly that they didn't have intelligence information on what was happening or the resources on alert to respond in time to the attacks, which occurred at two separate locations over 13 hours.

The State Department also issued a statement Tuesday, saying that the 'essential facts' of the attacks 'have been known for some time', and have been the subject of numerous reviews, including one by an independent review board.

Compromised: Barack Obama's administration found itself under huge pressure to act following the Benghazi attack - and it was revealed today that forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi came to the rescue of Americans trapped in the compound

The State Department defended locating a diplomatic outpost in the eastern coastal city of Benghazi.

A report by the House Benghazi panel is faulting the military for its slow response sending resources to Benghazi, Libya, during deadly 2012 attacks on a U.S. outpost - despite clear orders from President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
A man told a district court on Wednesday that he watched pornographic material depicting children created by a Families SA carer.

David Glen Cecchin's attorney Ben Sale told the Adelaide court that his client had accessed photos and videos of state caretaker Shannon McCoole abusing an infant, according to the Advertiser.

Within the same hearing, Mr Sale also appealed to presiding Judge Rosemary Davey to show Cecchin mercy during his sentencing hearing next month because he claimed to have been assaulted by other prisoners in May.

Judge Davey rebuffed his request, saying that Cecchin's injuries consisted simply of bruises on his arms and legs.

Cecchin, 28, who used the online name 'Kinder Surprise', had previously claimed that he watched material on McCoole's website that had been uploaded by other users.

It was revealed during a district court hearing on Wednesday that David Glen Cecchin (pictured) accessed material of Families SA carer Shannon McCoole abusing an infant from 2012 to 2014

Cecchin, 28, who used the online name 'Kinder Surprise', had previously claimed that he watched material on McCoole's (pictured) website that had been uploaded by other users

He had denied that he watched abuse by paedophile McCoole  who has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

'Is it now agreed that he viewed the material that McCoole put on the site involving babies, three-year-olds, infants and toddlers?' Judge Davey asked Mr Sale, according to the Advertiser.

Mr Sale said it was Cecchin but that he needed to ask and check what images in particular he watched.

Cecchin was arrested two years ago and has pleaded guilty to possessing, disseminating and producing child pornography. He uploaded more than 1,000 posts on McCoole's (pictured) website from 2012 to 2014

'Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I can't imagine any human being forgetting that,' Judge Davey responded.

Cecchin was arrested two years ago and has pleaded guilty to possessing, disseminating and producing child pornography.
Humiliated: Erin Sandilands, 18, was told to wear a skirt and make up to look 'easy on the eye'

An 18-year-old waitress who was told to wear a skirt and make up to look 'more attractive to customers' has won a sexual discrimination claim.

Erin Sandilands, 18, was asked by her manager to wear her hair down and dress so that she was 'easy on the eye' while serving at Cecchini's bistro in Ardrossan, Ayrshire.

The student refused and the following day she was told she would no longer be given shifts.

She has now been awarded 3,500 following an employment tribunal, which found she had been subject to a 'degrading and humiliating' working environment.

Miss Sandilands, of West Kilbride, Ayrshire, said: 'I'm delighted with the result. I did not think it would be that successful. I was quite reluctant to go to a tribunal, because I had never done anything like that before.

'I would just like people to know what sort of business they are. It's not an establishment I'd like other girls to work at.'

Miss Sandilands started working at Cecchini's bistro in September last year and was told the staff dress code was a black shirt with a black trousers or skirt.

A month later her manager took her aside and asked her to wear a skirt and her hair down, as well as make up, to make her more attractive to customers.

Miss Sandilands questioned what difference her appearance made to her duties, pointing out that since she was handling food it made more sense for her hair to be tied back.

The following day the teenager, who was on a zero-hour contract, was told she would not be offered more shifts.

She said: 'When it happened it was completely unnecessary. I was dressed smartly and was wearing the uniform as it had been described to me.

'They said I should wear a skirt and make-up and put my hair up and be more feminine. They said that the punters would like that. I felt utterly humiliated and upset.

'I argued that I was dressed smartly, but the very next day I found out I wouldn't be getting any more shifts. It made me very angry.'

A friend who also worked at the restaurant told the tribunal she had her hours increased at around the same time. The restaurant was also said to be heading into a busy period and had hired a new member of staff.

In her judgement, tribunal judge Claire McManus said she found Miss Sandilands' evidence to be 'entirely credible'.

Discrimination: Miss Sandilands, left, was asked by her manager to wear her hair down and dress so that she was 'easy on the eye' while serving customers. Pictured right, Anthony Cecchini, owner of the restaurant

She said the comments made by her manager amounted to discrimination towards Miss Sandilands because she was female, as he would not have made them to a male employee.

The written judgement also found that his conduct amounted to harassment in a 'degrading and humiliating' working environment.

Miss Sandilands was awarded 2,500 in compensation for the injury to her feelings and 1,060 in lost wages.

Anthony Cecchini, owner of the restaurant, said: 'The allegations are untrue, and we intend to appeal this decision.'

Speaking at her home today, Miss Sandilands said: 'Young girls shouldn't feel like they have to look a certain way to have a job, they should be allowed to just be themselves without sleazy comments..

'It's really off putting when somebody speaks to you like that at work.

The employment tribunal found Miss Sandilands had been subject to a 'degrading and humiliating' working environment at Cecchini's bistro in Ardrossan, Ayrshire, pictured

'When it came to applying for another job I was discouraged from applying for things in the local area because I didn't want to be know as the girl who was sacked for not being feminine enough.

'It still affects me in the way that I feel I now. I know it's not expected of me, but in the back of my head I still hear the comments telling me to look a certain way and seem more attractive.

'It's always in the back of my head that I've been told once before that I'm not feminine enough, I'm scared to go through that again."
The Supreme Court is taking up an appeal from a 12-year-old Michigan girl with cerebral palsy who wasn't allowed to bring her service dog to school.

Justices will consider whether Ehlena Fry's family can sue the school district for violations of federal disability after banning the goldendoodle from class in 2010 when Ehlena was six.

The schoolgirl's family got Wonder for their disabled daughter to help her open doors and retrieve items.

Ehlena Fry as a six-year-old sits by her service dog Wonder in Napoleon, Michigan, back in 2010 and now The Supreme Court is taking up an appeal by the family after she was banned from brigning the dog to school

The family and the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the family, said they were encouraged by the Supreme Courts decision to take the case, and mom Stacey told the Detroit Free Press: 'As a parent, Ill never forget the smile on Ehlenas face when she first began working with Wonder and was able to do things on her own without my help.

'Were hopeful that the Supreme Court will make it clear that school cant treat children with disabilities differently and stand in the way of their independence.'

As a parent, Ill never forget the smile on Ehlenas face when she first began working with Wonder and was able to do things on her own without my help. Were hopeful that the Supreme Court will make it clear that school cant treat children with disabilities differently and stand in the way of their independence. Ehlena's mom Stacy Fry

Having initially banned the dog from the school, officials relented a bit in 2010, but they placed many restrictions on Wonder.

Ehlena and her dog later transferred to another school.

Her family sued the school district for violations of federal disability laws.

The case was dismissed after a judge said the Frys first had to seek an administrative hearing.

An appeals court last year upheld that decision 2-1.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is representing the family, says the case is important because school districts around the country have repeatedly denied children with disabilities their right to bring service dogs to school.

Parents Stacy and Brent Fry argue that school officials denied her equal access to programs and the chance to interact with other students at Ezra Eby Elementary, according to the Detroit Free Press.



A case was therefore brought against Napoleon Community Schools and the Jackson County Intermediate School District in 2012 under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Michael Steinberg, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Michigan, said: ' This case could once and for all remove unfair legal hurdles for victims of discrimination across the country that prevent them from seeking justice guaranteed by the ADA.

'To force a child to choose between her independence and education is not only illegal, it is heartless.

School districts often claim the service animals are not necessary and that the schools can help the children through other means.

The ACLU wants the justices to declare that children prevented from using service animals at school can proceed directly to court without having to go through administrative hearings that can be costly, time consuming and burdensome.

CEREBRAL PALSY Cerebral palsy, often referred to as CP, is a disorder that affects muscle tone, movement, and motor skills - the ability to move in a coordinated and purposeful way. It is usually is caused by brain damage that happens before or during a baby's birth, or during the first three to five years of a child's life. Advertisement

The school argues that exhausting administrative remedies encourages parents and schools to work together to determine the best plan for each child and are a cheaper way to resolve educational disputes.

The Obama administration has backed the Fry family, saying the appeals court's decision was wrong and "leads to unsound results."

The government said at the time the lawsuit was filed, Ehlena had already moved to a new school district and there was no ongoing dispute to compromise.
Britain will not be given access to Europe's single market without accepting freedom of movement rules, EU leaders decided today.

As they met for the first time without David Cameron in Brussels today, the 27 EU heads of state agreed the UK would not be given any exceptions if it wanted to carry on selling and buying goods in the tariff-free trading zone as a non-EU member.

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, declared: 'There will be no single market a la carte.'

But in a sign of the tense negotiations to come between Brussels and the UK, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he did not 'rule out' securing a deal on freedom of movement.

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council pictured right alongside European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, left, announced that the 27 EU heads of state agreed the UK would not be given any exceptions if it wanted to carry on selling and buying goods in the tariff-free trading zone as a non-EU member

EU leaders are determined not to give the UK a deal that will persuade other countries to demand the same special status amid fears the contagion of last week's Brexit vote could spread.

Brexit champion Boris Johnson raised the prospect of Britain maintaining access to the single market while curbing open borders immigration.

But Mr Tusk said leaders made it 'crystal clear' today that access to the single market required acceptance of all four freedoms - freedom of movement, goods, services and capital.

Mr Tusk insisted however that the EU wanted to keep the UK as a 'close partner' in the future.

No negotiations on the future relationship would take place until the UK formally applied to withdraw through Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, he said.

'There will be no negotiations of any kind until the UK formally notifies its intention to withdraw.'

'It is up to the British Government to notify the European Council of the UK's intention to withdraw.'

Donald Tusk, European Council president, defended European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker against suggestions the EU could have offered more concessions during David Cameron's renegotiations earlier this year

At a press conference this afternoon (pictured) Jean-Claude Juncker, left, and Donald Dusk, right, said EU leaders had decided Britain will not be given access to Europe's single market without accepting freedom of movement rules

The German Chancellor (pictured sitting next to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras) looked downcast as she arrived for a European Union summit in Brussels Belgium this morning

Ruling out the prospect of Britain being able to opt-out of the single market's open borders policy, Mr Tusk said in Brussels this afternoon:'Leaders made it crystal clear that access to the single market requires acceptance of all four freedoms - including freedom of movement.'

Mr Hammond admitted it would be a 'very difficult negotiation' to secure curbs on immigration while maintaining access to the single market but added: 'I don't rule out the possibility of us being able to reach some accommodation on freedom of movement.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? To leave the EU Britain must trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty - the legal process for quitting the 28 nation bloc.That starts the clock on a two-year period during which we negotiate a new set of arrangements in areas such as trade, justice and reciprocal visas. The UK can leave earlier than that if terms are easily found. But if there is no deal by the end of the time we will be outside without any special provisions - meaning much higher trade tariffs. Instead we could try to force the EU to strike a deal without imposing a time limit - but that may depend on whether other states are willing to play ball. European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has already warned that 'deserters' will not be treated kindly. But leaders will have to navigate the whole process as they go because quitting the EU is an unprecedented move. Only semi-independent Greenland has quit the EU before, and that was 30 years ago when the island had a population of just 56,000. It can be argued that Algeria left too - when it stopped being part of France in the 1960s. But having been a member for 43 years, the process of untangling Britain from the complex network of institutions in Brussels is likely to take the maximum two years. If a new deal fails to be agreed in the time period, Britain's trading relationship with the EU will revert to World Trade Organisation terms - seen as the most basic and the ones used for Russia's trading relationship with Brussels. Advertisement

'I'm just pointing out that this is not just a trading chip as far as many Europeans are concerned it is about a very fundamental principle which they hold dear.

'I think it's going to be a very difficult negotiation. Those, and there are some of my colleagues in the Conservative Party saying things at the moment like "it'll be straightforward to agree access to the Single Market and there'll be no need to have freedom of movement", I'm afraid they are simply betraying a lack of understanding of the political realities in the European Union.'

Mr Hammond denied he was taking a swipe at Boris Johnson, insisting he 'wasn't at all talking' about the former London mayor.

Earlier Ms Merkel dismissed speculation that Britain could be persuaded to stay in the EU by holding a second referendum as she said she sees 'no way to reverse' Britain's Leave vote.

The German Chancellor looked downcast as she met fellow devastated leaders on the second day of the European Union summit in Brussels.

She took part in the talks without Mr Cameron, who returned home last night after attending his last Brussels summit, as European leaders fight to prevent the bloc from disintegrating in the wake of Britain's referendum.

Briefing the media alongside Mr Tusk following the conclusion of the meetings, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker dismissed critics who have blamed him for Britain's referendum result.

He said that he did not intervene in the UK referendum at the request of the British Government.

Mr Tusk defended Mr Juncker against suggestions the EU could have offered more concessions during Mr Cameron's renegotiations earlier this year.

He said the reforms to the terms of UK membership negotiated with Mr Cameron ahead of the Brexit campaign were 'the maximum - more than maximum - of what was possible' within the terms of the EU treaties and what member states could accept.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker kisses the hand of Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydto as EU leaders met in Brussels without David Cameron for the first time today

Earlier German Chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured) dismissed speculation that Britain could be persuaded to stay in the EU by holding a second referendum as she said she sees 'no way to reverse' Britain's Leave vote

Merkel will take part in talks - without David Cameron - aimed at preventing the bloc from disintegrating in the wake of Britain's referendum

He acknowledged that many people across Europe were 'unhappy with the current state of affairs', and said Mr Cameron had warned during Tuesday's discussions that concerns over immigration were driving opposition to the EU.

But Mr Juncker said that while reforms were needed, there would be 'no treaty change'.

The 27 states are to meet again to discuss their approach to Brexit in Slovak capital Bratislava on September 16, but Mr Cameron's successor as PM is not expected to be invited.

Last night Ms Merkel dismissed claims that Mr Cameron's successor may avoid starting the formal withdrawal process because of fears over the financial turmoil sparked by last week's vote.

The 61-year-old said: 'I see no way to reverse it,' she said, adding this was not the right for 'wishful thinking.'

TIME TO SHED SOME POUNDS, DAVE? CAMERON PATS HIS STOMACH AFTER MERKEL POINTS TO HIS MIDRIFF - AND WITH ONLY WEEKS TO GO UNTIL HE'S OUT OF A JOB, THE PM WILL SOON HAVE PLENTY OF TIME ON HIS HANDS As David Cameron chatted with Angela Merkel at his last EU summit in Brussels today, the German Chancellor pointed to his midriff as if to give advice on what to do once he no longer has to attend endless gourmet dinners in Brussels He's only got a few more weeks to serve as Prime Minister and as he patted down his stomach today it appears David Cameron is looking forward to shedding the pounds accumulated in office. As he chatted with Angela Merkel at his last EU summit in Brussels today, the German Chancellor pointed to his midriff as if to give advice on what to do once he no longer has to attend endless gourmet dinners in Brussels. Ms Merkel has experience herself having struck sausage sandwiches and biscuits off her daily snack menu two years ago as part of a strict new dieting scheme. She replaced the snacks with sticks of raw carrot and red and green pepper and the results soon showed as her figure slimmed significantly. The Prime Minister will enjoy what is likely to be his last dinner with EU leaders tonight after announcing he is resigning. He will only serve as Prime Minister until September 9 at the latest, when his successor will be named. Boris Johnson is the favourite to take over in Number 10 and it will be him who travels to Brussels for the monthly summit of the European Council. Ms Merkel may have some tips for Mr Johnson too, who, as BBC broadcaster Andrew Marr remarked at the weekend, 'needs to lose a little weight'. The drawn-out, dinners - which usually consists of at least three courses - are rarely cater for leaders on a diet. For example, at a recent summit leaders sat down for a filet de biche, a fillet of doe deer in a Szechuan pepper jus with a parsnip mousse - and that was only the main course. At a dinner tonight he faces the awkward task of explaining how he oversaw Britain's shock decision to leave the EU last week but earlier he signalled his conciliatory approach as he declared: 'We mustn't be turning our backs on Europe'. Mr Cameron, who will only serve as Prime Minister until September 9 at the latest, said Britain and the EU had a mutual interest in agreeing the best possible deal on trade, cooperation and security. Advertisement

EU leaders at the Brussels meeting today appeared keen to get Brexit over and done with now the UK has decided to leave.

Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka said: 'The EU must now demonstrate unity and stability - calmly and objectively dispense with the UK, focus on growth, employment, social solidarity and security.'

Lithuania's president Dalia Grybauskaite said Brexit was 'sad, (and a) challenge to all - no choice but to overcome'.

Belgian PM Charles Michel had earlier warned that Europeans were disenchanted with the EU project.

Speaking as EU leaders gathered without Britain in Brussels, Mr Michel said there is a 'perception of technocracy', but the bloc must now 'show that Europe brings a real added value that can be felt by our fellow citizens'.

His Luxembourg counterpart Xavier Bettel said it is important to show unity at the meeting, adding: 'With a disunited United Kingdom, we need a united Europe more than ever.'

Angela Merkel is meeting other EU leaders without Britain for the first time today after saying she sees 'no way to reverse' Britain's Leave vote

France's President Francois Hollande arrives before an EU summit meeting today as leaders assess the damage done by Brexit

Poland's Prime minister Beata Beata Szydo arrives for the second day of an EU -summit at the EU headquarters

Divisions between the EU founders and newer countries in the east threaten to complicate any bold new plans at Wednesday's meeting.

Dutch PM Mark Rutte said it is not just British voters who have 'doubts' about European co-operation, as he warned of 'scepticism in many other EU countries'.

Leaders in other EU nations are now facing calls, especially from the far-right, for referendums on quitting the bloc. The 27 remaining members are also divided over how to deal with migration, which was a major issue in the Brexit vote.

Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite said Europe must now 'wake up and smell the coffee' and start listening to its citizens on issues like immigration and economic growth.

She said: 'Britain knows what to do after what they did. Today is about us, what we are going to do about our unity and about preparations for the transitional period, for British withdrawal.'

She underlined that 'we need to listen to people'.

The 27 remaining members of the bloc agreed to give Britain some breathing space on Tuesday, accepting that it needs time to absorb the shock of the Brexit vote before triggering Article 50 that will begin the formal divorce proceedings.

But Merkel warned that Britain could not 'cherry-pick' the terms of the exit negotiations, reflecting wider concerns that Britain's departure could spark a domino effect of other states wanting to leave the EU.

Five days after Britain voted by a margin of 52 percent to leave the bloc, unleashing turmoil on global financial markets, EU President Donald Tusk said that he understood that time was needed 'for the dust to settle' before the next steps can be taken.

But European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said Britain did not have 'months to meditate' and set a clear timetable for triggering Article 50 - the EU treaty clause that begins the two-year withdrawal process - after Cameron's successor takes office in early September.

WHO ARE THE KEY PLAYERS IN EUROPE WHO'LL DECIDE BRITAIN'S FUTURE? GERMANY, FRANCE AND HOLLAND ARE THE KEY NATIONS BUT BRUSSELS CHIEFS WILL PLAY EQUALLY CRUCIAL ROLE David Cameron is in Brussels for what is likely to be his last European Council summit as UK Prime Minister. Here are the key players at the summit: Angela Merkel, German chancellor. As leader of the EU's biggest and richest member state, Mrs Merkel is used to getting her way in Brussels. Bitterly disappointed at the prospect of losing the UK, which Berlin sees as a free-market counterweight to France and the Mediterranean states. She has said there is no need to be 'particularly nasty' to the UK in Brexit negotiations. She has appealed for calm following last week's Brexit vote but warned Britain it will not be able to 'cherry-pick' EU privileges during negotiations. Francois Hollande, president of France. Facing a challenge in upcoming elections from populist National Front leader Marine le Pen, who was one of the few European politicians to acclaim the outcome of Thursday's vote. Fearful of the consequences of prolonged political and economic instability, he has called for a swift conclusion to Brexit talks, saying: 'Being responsible means not wasting time in engaging with the question of Britain's departure and setting this new impulse we want to lend the new European Union.' Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, the current holder of the European Council's six-month rotating presidency. Facing calls at home for a 'Nexit' vote in the Netherlands. He has described the Leave vote in Britain as 'disappointing' and said it is important that a solution for the crisis is found 'calmly and step by step'. Mr Rutte has publicly warned about rising Euroscepticism across the continent and has urged fellow leaders not to push Mr Cameron to trigger Article 50 before Britain is ready. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council. Former prime minister of Poland, now chairs meetings of the 28 - soon to be 27 - national heads of government of member states. Facing calls for his resignation from Polish political rivals, who accuse him of playing a 'dark role' in blocking meaningful reforms in Mr Cameron's renegotiation. Before the referendum he warned Brexit might lead to the end of Western civilisation, although afterwards, he said the vote was a 'historic moment' but 'not a moment for hysterical reactions'. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission and arch-federalist. Former Luxembourg prime minister and now the European Union's top bureaucrat. David Cameron tried to block him from getting the job and then forced him to go through months renegotiating the UK's membership, so some may forgive him for relishing the PM's current discomfort. Wants talks on UK exit to begin immediately, saying: 'It's not an amicable divorce, but it was not exactly an intimate affair anyway.' Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, is a fierce opponent to David Cameron and fought his demands for reforms. He will play a key role when it comes to the European Parliament having to approve the final deal with Britain, so British negotiators will have to tread carefully with the German politician - one of the biggest supporters of European federalism. Mr Schulz is devastated by Britain's decision to quit but has appealed for 'cool heads' in the upcoming negotiation process. But he has helped cause division by leading demands for Britain to trigger Article 50 immediately. Advertisement

Nicola Sturgeon admits keeping Scotland in the EU after Brexit is a 'challenge' as she launches charm offensive in Brussels

Nicola Sturgeon has warned of 'challenges' in her bid to keep Scotland in the EU after Britain voted for Brexit.

The First Minister met with Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, this morning and will meet Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker later.

The First Minster has vowed to protect Scotland's place in the EU after the referendum after no part of the country backed Leave.

But before she even arrived, Ms Sturgeon suffered a blow when Donald Tusk's officials made it plain that he had no time to meet her. A source close to council president Mr Tusk said: 'This is not the right, appropriate moment to meet.'

Nicola Sturgeon was greeted by European Parliament President Martin Schulz as she arrived in Brussels for meetings on Scotland's place in the EU today

Ms Sturgeon and Mr Schulz discussed the referendum result a day after Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Brussels to explain his referendum defeat

After her first meeting with Mr Schulz, the First Minister said: 'It is for me to set out Scotland's position and Scotland's desire to remain in the European Union and to protect our relationship with the European Union.

'It was very much an introductory meeting and I was very grateful for the president's time this morning.'

Ms Sturgeon added: 'We are at a very early stage of this process. I set out very clearly Scotland's desire to protect our relationship with the European Union - I don't underestimate the challenges that lie ahead.

'This is very much an initial series of meetings in Brussels today so that people understand Scotland unlike other parts of the United Kingdom.'

Ms Sturgeon plans a charm offensive in her remaining meetings today to make the case that Scotland should remain in the bloc after 62 per cent of Scots voted to stay.

The snub from Mr Tusk come as a setback for Ms Sturgeon because the European Council is made up of all the heads of member states who will have to unanimously agree any deal for Scotland.

Several member states, notably Spain, would oppose Scotland joining the EU for fear that it would stoke up separatism.

Commission president Mr Juncker will meet with Ms Sturgeon at 4pm after earlier also turning her down.

Ms Sturgeon, seen during yesterday's statement on Brexit in the Scottish Parliament, has been snubbed by Donald Tusk today

Before the visit, Ms Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament today that Scotland's voice 'will be heard' after the UK voted for Brexit.

She secured cross-party backing from MSPs to pursue talks aimed at protecting Scotland's place in the EU.

During an emergency debate at Holyrood, she said: 'Scotland spoke clearly for Remain and I am determined that Scotland's voice will be heard.'

Removing Scotland from the EU against the will of its citizens would be 'democratically unacceptable', she said.

She insisted there cannot be 'three months of drift' while both the Tories and Labour hold leadership contests at Westminster.

She will ask the parliament to rubber stamp a second independence referendum if she walks away from Brussels with no support for staying in the EU.

This would happen if a second referendum is 'the best or only way to protect Scotland's place in the EU,' she said.

She also received a boost from Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian Prime Minister who leads the liberal group in the European Parliament.

Asked if an independent Scotland could join the European Union before the United Kingdom formally leaves the organisation, he told the Scottish TV channel, STV: 'I think this possibility has to exist, yeah.

Because if Scotland decides to leave the UK, to be an independent state, and they decide to be part of the European Union I think there is no big obstacle to do that.'

The leading EU politician said it would be 'suicide' for the organisation to not be 'sympathetic' to countries that wanted to join the European Union.
The final Doolittle Raider, who was one of 80 fliers to take off on the first bombing attack of mainland Japan following Pearl Harbor, attended the funeral of his last remaining comrade-in-arms.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Richard 'Dick' Cole, from Comfort, Texas, is now the last of the brave airmen who took off from the USS Hornet on April 18, 1942.

He stood beside his comrade, and friend retired Staff Sergeant David Johnathan Thatcher, who died in Missoula hospital in Montana last week. The 94-year-old former airman suffered a stroke before dying.

Scroll down for video

Lieutenant Colonel Dick Cole, center, salutes his final comrade of the Doolittle bombing mission Staff Sergeant David Thatcher, gunner-engineer aboard the Ruptured Duck which crash landed off the coast of China

Staff Sgt. David Thatcher, front left, and Lt. Col. Richard 'Dick' Cole, right, were the last two survivors of 80 men who took part on the historic mission on April 18, 1942, which saw mainland Japan attacked. Pictured here in April 2015

A total of 16 B-25 bombers were launched from the USS Hornet for the daylight raid upon Japan

The B-25s lumbered down the flight deck and slowly climbed after the incredibly short take off roll

The Doolittle Flyers were trained in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor for a top secret mission, known only to a few people.

The men were told that the mission would be 'extremely hazardous' and were told at the beginning, this was the time to back out.

The audacious plan, developed by Lt Col James 'Jimmy' Doolittle, would see 16, B-25 bombers attack sites on mainland Japan - even though no body had managed to launch an aircraft that size from an aircraft carrier.

The mission required a US fleet, protecting the USS Hornet to approach the Japanese coast unseen.

Then, the heavily-laden aircraft lumbered down the flight deck, barely making it into the sky, before approaching the Japanese coast.

The aircraft were launched some 200 miles before the planned departure point, almost ensuring they would not have enough fuel to land on friendly Chinese airstrips and would be required to crash land.

When the aircraft took off, the aircrew realized they were unlikely to reach a friendly airstrip after the mission

80 men, pictured, took part on the mission which was designed to be a major morale boost for the US public

The mission was designed to provide a major morale boost to the US population, while showing the Japanese their islands were not invulnerable to attack.

However, after launching the B-25s, the Hornet's fleet had to retreat as the aircraft could not land on the carrier's desk.

Instead, the aircraft had to head towards the Chinese mainland and try to avoid Japanese troops.

Thatcher was engineer-gunner aboard the plane nicknamed 'The Ruptured Duck'.

The mission was led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, pictured, who died in September 1993

After the bombing, Thatcher's plane - running low on fuel - crash landed in the ocean near China. The plane flipped over and all the crew members except for Thatcher were seriously injured. Thatcher was knocked out, but soon regained consciousness, gathered the rest of the crew, administered first aid and convinced some Chinese guerrillas to take the crew to safety in inland China.

Thatcher received a Silver Star for gallantry in action.

The crew's crash-landing and evasion of Japanese troops in China was depicted in the movie 'Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo', based on the book written by the plane's pilot, Lt. Ted Lawson.

Because the bombing run was so dangerous, all those involved were volunteers. Thatcher said they gave little thought about earning a place in history.

He told AP in March 2015: 'We figured it was just another bombing mission.' .

In the years afterward, though, he said, they realized: 'It was an important event in World War II.'

After his military career, Thatcher worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 30 years as a clerk and later a letter carrier. He retired in 1980. He stayed in contact with the surviving members of the Doolittle Raiders and attended nearly every reunion the group held through the Final Toast in November 2013.

In March 2015, Thatcher and Cole presented the Raiders' Congressional Gold Medal for heroism and valor to the Air Force museum for permanent display.




Washington

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to take up a special education case stemming from a dispute over whether a Michigan girl with cerebral palsy was permitted to bring her service dog to school.

Meanwhile, on a day when they issued housekeeping orders after its last day of opinions, the justices put an end to the case over public-employee union fees by denying the rehearing motion of a group of non-union teachers.

In March, after the February death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the court had deadlocked on the merits of the union-fees issue in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (Case No. 14-915), in which the non-union teachers challenged a nearly 40-year-old precedent permitting teachers unions to collect service fees from non-union members.

The non-union teachers had filed a rehearing petition asking the court to hold over the case for when Scalias seat is filled. The court stalled action on the petition by repeatedly rescheduling it from one of its private conferences to the next. But on Monday, at their final conference of the term, the justices turned down the rehearing petition, which was reflected in a brief order Tuesday: The petition for rehearing is denied.

The group behind the challenge, the Center for Individual Rights, had even put out a statement Monday when it thought the rehearing petition was going to be held over for the summer. It quickly pulled back the statement when it realized the court had one more private conference.

On Tuesday, Terry Pell, the centers president, issued a statement expressing disappointment with the courts action. We continue to believe that forcing individuals to subsidize political speech with which they disagree violates the First Amendment, he said. We will look for opportunities to challenge compulsory union dues laws in other cases and continue our efforts to stand up for the rights of teachers and public sector workers across the country.

Now, the issue of whether the high courts 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education will remain a foundation of the existing order in public-employee unionism must await another case, and likely the filling of Scalias seat.

The Case of Wonder, the Service Dog

Meanwhile, the justices agreed on Tuesday to take up Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools (No. 15-497), which raises a legal question that is a bit more complicated than the underlying battle of whether student Ehlena Fry could bring her service dog, Wonder, a goldendoodle, to school.

Officials at Frys school in 2009 had refused to allow the girl to bring Wonder to school (though they briefly relented for a period of a few months, when the dog was required to remain in the back of the classroom). The school district said in court papers that the girls individualized education program, or IEP, called for a human aide to assist her, so the dog wasnt necessary.

Frys parents removed the girl from the Napoleon public schools and filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Educations office for civil rights, which investigated and concluded that the district was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

The parents, who had begun home schooling Fry during the conflict, declined to re-enroll her in the Napoleon schools following the OCR ruling, believing that the girl would face difficulties after the dispute.

They sued for damages under the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act, but they lost in two federal courts. They appealed to the Supreme Court, and the justices asked the Obama administration to weigh in on the legal question in the case.

That question is whether a 1986 federal statute that amended the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires families to exhaust procedures under the IDEA when they are suing under the ADA or the Rehabilitation Act. Those latter statutes provide for damages, which the IDEA does not.

Although damages are not available under the IDEA, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, in Cincinnati, had held in the Fry case that a child with a disability who brings a damages claim under the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act must first exhaust IDEA proceedings when the injuries alleged can be remedied through IDEA procedures, or when the injuries relate to the specific substantive protections of the IDEA.

In a brief filed with the justices on May 20 , the U.S. solicitor generals office said the 6th Circuit was incorrect when it ruled that the Fry family must exhaust procedures under the IDEA when they brought claims under the ADA and Rehabilitation Act.

Whether and how the exhaustion requirement applies to circumstances where the plaintiff does not directly request relief that is available under the IDEA is frequently litigated, the solicitor generals brief said. The proper resolution of that question has considerable practical significance, especially for plaintiffs seeking to vindicate the rights of children with disabilities.

The case will likely be set for argument sometime this fall.

Photo: Ehlena Fry, her service dog Wonder, and parents Brent and Stacy in 2012. Courtesy American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.
Fraudster: Dawn Stephenson, 53, stole an elderly relative's life savings and splashed out on cars and holidays before her deceit was uncovered when the family were chased for unpaid care home fees

A mother-of-three stole an elderly relative's life savings and splashed out on cars and lavish holidays before her deceit was uncovered when the family were chased for unpaid care home fees.

NHS worker Dawn Stephenson, 53, drained 100,000 from the bank account of her husband's 92-year-old aunt and avoided detection for five years up until the pensioner's death in 2012.

She had been given power of attorney over Margaret Moore's money while the elderly woman was in a nursing home.

But when her relative passed away the truth came out, with her family discovering the bank account had been cleaned out when they were chased for 18,000 in owed care home fees.

Stephenson, from Blackley, Manchester, later admitted to police she had taken the money through 'greed' and spent the cash on two vehicles and 'modest' holidays.

At Manchester Crown Court, her relatives wept as she was jailed for two years after a judge condemned her for committing 'mean and unpleasant' offences. As she was led away Stephenson was heard saying: 'I love you all'.

British ex-pat Ms Moore had originally settled in the US but when she was involved in a car accident in 2005, she moved back to the UK.

It was at this point that Stephenson and her husband Michael, 56, began taking care of her.

Prosecutor David Lees, said: 'She initially moved in to stay with Mr and Mrs Stephenson and then moved into a flat in the local area, she then moved back in with them.

'Her health deteriorated and she had to move into full time care in 2007. The balance in the account when Ms Moore went in to the care home was 68,000, in addition to that there was a pension.

'Over the next five years this defendant systematically removed whatever money had been in and spent it not on a particularly extravagant lifestyle but purchased motor vehicles and modest holidays.

'The care home hadn't been paid. 18,000 was outstanding and the council rung her up and said where is the money and she said "I've spent it".

'Full admissions were given and she said her husband knew nothing about it.'

Stephenson pleaded guilty to one count of theft and ten charges of fraud between 2007 and 2012.

In mitigation her lawyer Brendan O'Leary said: 'She's ashamed of what she's done. She gives a lot of support to her family and is highly regarded.

'She feels shame of what she has done to herself, the victim and her family. She has been living with this since 2012 when she made those admissions and was first interviewed by the police.

Deceit: NHS worker Stephenson (pictured with her husband) drained 100,000 from the bank account of her husband's 92-year-old aunt and avoided detection for five years up until the pensioner's death in 2012

'It's four years that she has been awaiting her fate, knowing that a prison sentence is a highly possible outcome.'

He added: 'Margaret Moore was her husband's aunt, she had lived in the US for many years, suffered a serious car crash and came home to be with family.

'Mr Stephenson's family had no interest in caring for her. The reality of the situation is that Mrs Stephenson took on the role of sole carer for Ms Moore.

'The nature of Ms Moore's health is that it was not an easy situation to be in. The result was that Mrs Stephenson reduced her hours of work to meet the demands of Ms Moore.

'Requests for assistance from Mr Stephenson's family were unaided until Ms Moore went into care. Mrs Stephenson was the only carer.

'I don't use that as an excuse but it demonstrates the general character and the type of person she is.

'Her offending is a monumental misjudgement, no doubt that started out as a temporary solution but clearly didn't stay that way. She got herself further and further into trouble.

Admission: Stephenson, from Blackley, Manchester, later admitted to police she had taken the money through 'greed' and spent the cash on two vehicles and 'modest' holidays, Manchester Crown Court (pictured) heard

'She is horrified at her actions, she's had to tell her three children about her actions. She had yet and has not told her parents. One is 72 and the other 75, who again she provides care for.

'When you look at her overall, it's wholly out of character, she's now again caring for her parents and Mr Stephenson's other sister.

'I hope you will bear in mind the spiralling nature of these offences once you're in it's difficult to stop.

'This is not someone who led an extravagant lifestyle as a result of her offending. She and her husband would have lost financially in terms of their care of Ms Moore having to care for her in their home.

'It's greed at a very low level it's not greed to spend on luxury items but to have a better day to day existence.'

But passing sentence, the judge Recorder Mr Michael Duck QC said: 'The council didn't receive fees for Ms Moore's care and at some stage the public will bear the brunt of that sum. That demonstrates how mean and unpleasant those offences were.

'You were in breach of a high degree of trust, you were looking after the financial affairs of Ms Moore and you were to do so for her benefit, you were supposed to look after her welfare and you did the contrary.

'She was a vulnerable victim and you knew that and continued to take money from her account. In your own explanation you said your motivation was just pure greed and you described not having particular financial problems but spent the money over a period of time.'

An earlier version of this article included a photograph supplied by a news agency, said to be of the Dawn Stephenson featured in the story. In fact the photograph in question was of an NHS worker named Dawn Stephenson. We apologise for the error and any upset caused.




A taxi driver has written a letter of apology to a passenger after she accused him of being racist during a conversation in his vehicle about Brexit.

The mixed race woman, who asked not to be named, said a conversation in a taxi about the EU referendum became a racist tirade about why he would vote Leave in Eccles, Greater Manchester.

The British-born woman said she was offended by driver Dave Greenhow, claiming that he said she was not British because her father was born overseas and voiced slurs against ethnic minorities.

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Vehicle: The driver, whose minicab is pictured, has received a formal warning from Salford Councils licensing team and apologised to the woman for any offence caused, but denies being racist

The 46-year-old driver, a father of three, has received a formal warning from Salford Councils licensing team and apologised to the woman for any offence caused, but denies being racist.

She said: I was disappointed and frustrated at this guys ignorance and complete lack of understanding of todays society. I dont think he could even tell he was being offensive.

I was flabbergasted and confused that he felt comfortable being racist in front of me - maybe because of my accent he just blanked that Im from an ethnic minority.

It scared me that there is this attitude on my doorstep. Ive always lived in multicultural cities like Manchester - I assumed my views and morals were in the majority.

But this week after the comment Ive heard and what Ive seen on the news its made me question whether Im the one whos in a bubble and my opinion is in the minority.

Mr Greenhow said: I am very sorry if I offended her. Id never do anything to upset anyone, I dont believe I was being racist. I feel like its been twisted around.

IN FULL: THE TAXI DRIVER'S LETTER TO HIS OFFENDED CUSTOMER To the lady it concerns, Im writing you this letter as my way of an apoligy regarding the conversation we had yesterday morning. Im so very sorry if I affended you in any way. It wasn't meant too. I hope you except this letter as a sincere apoligy on how our conversation accured. Yours Taxi driver Advertisement

But I dont see how any Tom, Dick, or Harry should be able to come into this country and get benefits. I did a few years in the armed forces and knew people who needed help and never got it.

I cant believe people can come into this country and get benefits and housing and use the NHS. I feel like the English are slowly becoming the minority in this country. Im not racist, Ive got friends from all walks of life.

Mr Greenhow, who is self-employed, was driving for Minicabs in Eccles on the day in question.

Manager Dave Doolan said: This self-employed driver who uses our service was not expressing our point of view. Whatever opinions he expressed they were his own as a self-employed driver.

We believe in equal opportunities, and that is reflected in the minicab drivers who use our service.

Councillor David Lancaster, lead member for environment and community safety, said they were grateful to the woman for raising the issue and would encourage people to speak out against racism.

He said: We have investigated the ladys complaint. As a result of this the taxi driver has been given a warning which now remains on his file.

He has also written a letter of apology to the lady concerned and while that cannot undo what has happened I hope it draws the matter to a conclusion.
Her son John, two, was afraid of the film and his mother took him outside

A quick thinking German backpacker has rescued a toddler after he fell into Sydney Harbour and was floating face down in the water.

Jing-Wah Zhao had taken her family to see the animated children's film Finding Dory in the city on Wednesday, but her son John, two, became afraid of the fish and the pair went to wait outside for the remainder of the movie.

John tumbled into the water at Cockle Bay Wharf, at Darling Harbour, as his mother packed up her bags and she instantly jumped in after him - even though she cannot swim.

Tony Driessler, a German backpacker who had been in Australia for less than a week, 'instinctively' dived in after the pair, according to 7News.

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A quick thinking German backpacker (pictured) has rescued a toddler after he fell into Sydney Harbour and was floating face down in the water

Jing-Wah Zhao (left) had taken her family to see the animated children's film Finding Dory in the city on Wednesday, but her son John (right), two, became afraid of the fish and the pair went to wait

'It was like a bad movie,' Mr Driessler said of seeing the family members in distress.

He managed to drag John and Ms Zhao back to the edge of the wharf, where other passerbys assisted in hoisting them to safety.

Ms Zhao said she knew her son had survived the ordeal after his eyes opened and he 'made some noise,' Nine News reported.

The little boy was assessed by paramedics at the scene and taken to hospital as a precaution.

On being asked why she jumped into the water even though she cannot swim, Ms Zhao said all she saw was his blood hoodie and his face was 'totally submerged' and was left with no choice.

John (pictured with his dad) tumbled into the water at Cockle Bay Wharf, at Darling Harbour, as his mother packed up her bags and she instantly jumped in after him - even though she cannot swim

Tony Driessler (left), a German backpacker who had been in Australia for less than a week, 'instinctively' dived in after the pair

The little boy was assessed by paramedics at the scene and taken to hospital as a precaution
A social worker appeared in court today accused of murdering a police officer, chopping up his body and leaving it in the bin after meeting him on gay dating app Grindr.

The corpse of PC Gordon Semple, 59, was found in communal bins outside a South London flat after a neighbour complained about the 'smell of death'.

Stefano Brizzi, 50, is set to face trial over the murder of Mr Semple, whom he allegedly met online shortly before the officer disappeared on April 1 this year.

Trial: Stefano Brizzi, left, appeared in court charged with murder of PC Gordon Semple, right, in April this year

He appeared before an Old Bailey judge today by video link from Belmarsh prison, and spoke only to confirm his name.

The Italian suspect will enter a plea at a hearing on September 9, ahead of a trial scheduled to begin on October 18.

Mr Semple, from Dartford, was reported missing by his partner Gary Meeks after he failed to come home from work.

His dismembered body was found in the bins when a neighbour of Brizzi called the police saying that there was a 'smell of death' coming from the property on the Peabody Estate.

'The defendant is charged with the murder of a police officer who he met, it would seem, through Grindr,' prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said at an earlier hearing.

Investigation: Forensic police officers at the Peabody Estate in South London where Mr Semple was killed

Couple: Mr Semple, right, with his partner Gary Meeks, who originally reported him missing

Mr Semple, a former banker originally from Inverness, had worked for Scotland Yard for 30 years before his death.

He was attached to an anti-social behaviour unit at Westminster Council.

After the family announced his death on Facebook, his brother, Ronnie Semple, said: 'I would like to thank everyone for their kind thoughts during the past dreadful week. It has been a terrible time for us all, especially Gary.

'Gordon will be sadly missed by all of his immediate family, his colleagues in the Met Police, former Bank of Scotland colleagues in Inverness and London, friends from his Tartan Army Days, but most of all the hardest loss is for Gary at this time.'
The hero police officer who gunned down one of the airport suicide bombers, saving dozens of people, is recovering in hospital after having his spleen removed.

The officer - named as Yasin Durna by local media - was seen risking his own life by confronting the terrorist as he chased innocent passengers through the terminal on Tuesday evening.

But Durna shot the suicide bomber, who fell to the floor, allowing people at Ataturk Airport to get away.

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The police officer, widely reported to be Yasin Durna in the Turkish media, shoots down the suicide bomber, who was making his way through the terminal with his gun, shooting at people

The bomber is brought down, and the police officer walks slowly forward to investigate who he is

It takes just a second for the officer to realise he is still in danger, and he is seen fleeing away from the killer

The officer then approaches the terrorist, appearing to inspect him before deciding to run.

The suicide bomber detonates the explosives seconds later. Darnau is by now out of shot, but appears to have been injured.

According to Haberler.com, the hero officer is recovering in hospital after having his spleen removed. He is said to be in a stable condition.

At least 36 people, and possibly up to 50, people were killed in the co-ordinated attack on the airport.

Among them was Umut Sakaroglu, a customs officer who had worked at the airport for three years, who has also been hailed as a hero for his actions.

He was standing guard as a terrorist tried to go through the first set of security.

Realising the danger people were in, it appears Sakaroglu shot at the suicide bomber, who then detonated his belt, killing the customs officer.

However, his colleagues say had he not acted, many more people would have been killed.

At least 36 people were killed in the attack on Atarturk Airport, but authorities fear the toll will be higher

The first names of the victims have emerged, including that of s Umut Sakaroglu, a customs officer who tried to stop the terrorists, but lost his life in doing so. Pictured: A mother of a victim cries on Wednesday morning

'The explosion came very close to areas where passengers are waiting for people,' a source told Hurriyet.

'Unfortunately, at that moment Sakarogl was martyred. But if not for that intervention, there would be more casualties.'
The Royal Navy's top commander says seaborne drones will soon replace sailors on minesweeping and anti-terror missions as they become 'critical' to naval warfare.

Peter Pipkin, the navy's most senior technology officer, said work being done on unmanned and autonomous craft was 'some of the most exciting stuff the navy has done for some time'.

Mr Pipkin made the predictions to The Times at a preview for the Unmanned Warrior, a demonstration for seaborne drones off the Scottish coast in October.

The world's first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of landing autonomously on a moving ship is among those being tested at a trial event in October (it is pictured in the test phases)

Another technology on show will be the Sonobuoy, which can be deployed en masse to search for enemy submarines (pictured)

Around 40 research and development companies from around the world will test their latest developments in an operational setting - which will include anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and reconnaissance tests - near then Outer Hebrides.

The machines will then compete in their own version of 'robot wars' to demonstrate how they could revolutionise the military's maritime future.

The event will provide a glimpse into the innovation now embedded in the navy's approach and how new technology could be paving the way for drone ships as part of everyday missions.

Peter Pipkin (pictured), the navy's most senior technology officer, said work being done on unmanned and autonomous craft was 'some of the most exciting stuff the navy has done for some time'

At the show, one company will be trialling the world's first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which is capable of landing autonomously on a moving ship.

Roke Manor Research (Roke) has developed a technology called 'Autoland' which uses cameras and modelling so that a UAV can self-land without the need for human assistance.

Another technology on show will be the Sonobuoy, which can be deployed en masse to search for enemy submarines.

The Sensor Hosting Autonomous Remote Craft (Sharc) and AutoNaut drone will also be tested for their submarine-hunting skills.

The Sharc, which has an array of sensors and devices, is designed to travel thousands of miles out at sea without a single crew member on board.

The technology - which is completely silent - is propelled by ocean waves and has no energy restrictions, meaning it last on missions for up to a year.

On show will also be The ATLAS Remote Combined Influence Minesweeping System, an unmanned boat which launches minedetecting drones into the sea.

Over the past few years, several drones have been tested by both the Royal Navy and on the other side of the Atlantic.

In May last year, a 3D printed drone was launched from the gun deck of the Royal Navy's HMS Mersey before landing safely on a beach in Dorset.

The unmanned aircraft, which weighs 3kg (6.6lbs) and has a wingspan of 1.5 metres (4.9ft), flew autonomously for five minutes along a pre-programmed route.

On show will also be The ATLAS Remote Combined Influence Minesweeping System (pictured), an unmanned boat which launches minedetecting drones into the sea and reels them back in if they find a foreign object

Last year, a 3D printed unmanned drone was launched from the desk of a Royal Navy warship HMS Mersey while at sea (pictured) before landing safely on a beach

In March this year, the US Navy tested a radical 'drone boat' that will automatically scour the seas for enemy submarines for months at a time.

The Navy hopes the 'sea hunter' will end the growing threat of quiet, diesel powered enemy submarines entering American waters undetected.

Countries from Europe to Asia have been looking into developing fleets of unmanned ships to cut down on operating costs but the idea has sparked debate over whether it's possible to make robotic boats safe enough to run on their own far from land.
Now MailOnline can show seven of his cubs are thriving, a year after he was killed in Zimbabwe

Minnesota dentist paid 45,000 to take part in the 'legal' hunt but death of lion sparked worldwide outcry

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Basking in the morning sun and enjoying an elevated view of the territory they control, these are the offspring of Cecil the Lion - an extraordinary picture of survival 'against the odds' - exactly a year after the iconic cat was shot and killed by an American trophy-hunter.

The sight of the seven maturing cats is one few conservationists would have predicted in the wake of Cecils slow, agonising death after being shot by dentist Walter Palmers bow and arrow.

The fact that Cecils offspring  five females and two males by three lioness mates  are not only alive, but are clearly thriving, has thrilled staff at Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park who feared they would be killed in the battle for control of the dead cats pride and territory.

Professional guide Lewis Mangaba who took the pictures, paid tribute to the three lionesses who survived against all odds to successfully raise the 18 month-old youngsters alone.

These are the offspring of Cecil the Lion - an extraordinary picture of survival 'against the odds' - exactly a year after the iconic cat was shot and killed by an American trophy-hunter

The sight of the maturing cats is one few conservationists would have predicted in the wake of Cecils slow, agonising death after being shot by dentist Walter Palmers bow and arrow

Professional guide Lewis Mangaba who took the pictures, paid tribute to the three lionesses who survived against all odds to successfully raise the 18 month-old youngsters alone, saying 'These are not ordinary lions but the success story of three lionesses that have chosen the nomadic life in the vast Hwange National Park'

Cecil the lion, pictured above resting in Hwange National Park, in Zimbabwe, was killed in a hunt by American dentist Dr Walter Palmer, who paid 45,000 to hunt and shoot the majestic lion, easily recognisable by his black mane and Hwange's biggest tourist draw card

These are not ordinary lions but the success story of three lionesses that have chosen the nomadic life in the vast Hwange National Park and survived all odds to save the life of seven youngsters after the untimely death of Cecil, knowing that the survival of the cubs is crucial for the future of their own kind, he wrote on his Facebook page.

Palmer, from Minnesota, paid 45,000 to hunt and shoot the majestic Cecil, easily recognisable by his black mane and Hwange's biggest tourist draw card. The 12 year-old cat wore a collar and was a key part of an expensive research project monitored by Oxford University.

The shamed dentist was forced into hiding for weeks after receiving death threats following his shooting of Cecil  exactly a year ago on Friday (1 July) - which prompted an international outcry.

Reports doubting the survival of Cecils young and his close ally Jericho  with whom he shared territory and two prides  have regularly emerged from Hwange, the largest reserve in Zimbabwe.

But these new pictures bring hope that the slaughtered cats offspring now have the strength and experience to survive without his protection.

Cecil was lured out into hunting territory after elephant meat was left as bait which lured him to the spot where Palmer  armed with a powerful bow and arrow  lay in wait.

Reports doubting the survival of Cecils young and his close ally Jericho  with whom he shared territory and two prides  have regularly emerged from Hwange, the largest reserve in Zimbabwe. But these new pictures bring hope that the slaughtered cats offspring now have the strength and experience to survive without his protection

The fact that Cecils offspring  five females and two males by three lioness mates  are not only alive, but are clearly thriving, has thrilled staff at Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park who feared they would be killed in the battle for control of the dead cats pride and territory

Some conservationists have predicted that lions could be extinct by 2015 unless action is taken to preserve them. On Saturday, a minute's silence will be observed to mark Cecil's death as part of World Heritage Species Day

Majestic lion Cecil was killed a year ago on Friday and a moment of silence will be held to mark his passing but images of his cubs bring fresh hope

Dentist Walter Palmer, pictured centre in black tee-shirt, killed Cecil after paying 45,000 to take part in a hunt in Zimbabwe. He was pictured at his River Bluff Dental clinic in Bloomington, Minnesota, last September

Protesters calledattention to the alleged poaching of Cecil the lion in the parking lot of Dr. Walter Palmer's River Bluff Dental Clinic in Bloomington, Minnesota, America

Professional Zimbabwean hunter Theo Bronkhorst was pictured leaving the Hwange Magistrate's Court after proceedings on poaching charge

But the hapless hunter only managed to wound the lion and Cecil then spent a further 11 hours in agony before he was tracked by a professional marksman and put out of his misery.

Cecils corpse was then beheaded, skinned and salted, but the trophies that Palmer had hoped to ship back to his home, were later confiscated by the Zimbabwean authorities and the hunter leading Palmer on the fateful day was charged.

Since then all proceedings against the hunter have been dropped, after he was able to produce paperwork to prove permission for the killing had been granted.

More than 200,000 lions once roamed Africa, today just 25,000 have survived.

Some conservationists have predicted that lions could be extinct by 2015 unless action is taken to preserve them.

On Saturday, a minute's silence will be observed to mark Cecil's death as part of World Heritage Species Day.
Depressing scene happens every day in Port of Calais but there are fears French checks could weaken

Some of the desperate migrants said they were going straight back to the Jungle after failing to cross

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The young migrants are rounded up, packed into a minibus and driven just half a mile away from the UK border control checkpoint. No arrests are made, and some of the desperate men walk back to the Jungle camp to prepare for another attempt. It's just another day in the Port of Calais.

Mail Online today witnessed around half a dozen men being escorted away from the ferry port by French police after apparently being caught while hidden on vehicles this morning, but they were simply taken back 'home'.

The bedraggled group were spotted as they were marched to a French police van in a car park, just 100 yards from the UK Border Control checkpoint.

They were seen getting into the van and being driven away from the port in front of British holidaymakers heading back home from the Continent

But instead of being arrested, the migrants were simply dropped off at the side of the road beside a nearby roundabout just half a mile away.

The group, believed to have been made up of migrants from Afghanistan and African countries, then split up and headed off in different directions.

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Just another day: The young migrant men are rounded up, packed into a minibus and driven just half a mile away from the UK border control checkpoint. No arrests are made, and the desperate youths walk back to the Jungle camp to prepare for another attempt

Desperate: The bedraggled group were spotted as they were marched to a French police van in a car park, just 100 yards from the UK Border Control checkpoint. They were seen getting into the van and being driven away from the port in front of British holidaymakers heading back home from the Continent

Another try: Instead of being arrested, the migrants were simply dropped off at the side of the road beside a nearby roundabout just half a mile away. When Mail Online asked one of them what had happened inside the port, he shrugged his shoulders and only said: We are going back to the Jungle.

The actions of the French police left them free to immediately have another go at trying to smuggle themselves on to UK-bound lorries if they wished.

Three of the group headed off across some waste ground back towards the port while the others set off to walk back to the Jungle migrant camp around two miles away.

When the Mail Online asked one of them what had happened inside the port, he shrugged his shoulders and only said: We are going back to the Jungle.

The UK border has been at the Port of Calais since the bi-lateral Le Touquet treaty was signed between Britain and France in 2003.

The agreement allows the UKs Border Force staff to check passports and carry out searches of vehicles at Calais while the French have their border in Dover.

Illegal migrants caught by Border Force at Calais used to be processed and have biometric information such as fingerprints taken.

But the Freight Transport Association said the practice stopped in 2010 due to the sheer number of migrants, overwhelming the lack of detention facilities.

Ever since then, migrants caught at the port and the Eurotunnel terminal at nearby Coquelles have simply been handed over to the French police.

Jungle camp: Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart has called for the camp to moved to Britain and said 'The British must take on the consequences of their choice'

Asylum seekers make regular attempts by hiding in lorries and trucks in order cross the Channel, but are often stopped by French police. There are around 7,000 migrants camped in the so-called Calais Jungle

Weaker border? Many migrants at the notorious Jungle camp in Calais believe that any move to renegotiate the French-UK border checks deal could make it easier for them to evade checks and get to the UK

Border agreement: The view towards the UK border point on the French side of the channel at the entrance to Eurotunnel near Calais where the UK and France jointly carry out border checks

Thousands are still living in the squalid tent city, hoping to make their way into Britain in lorries passing through the nearby ferry port and Channel Tunnel terminal

Determined: Migrants at the Jungle camp vowed to continue their efforts to try and reach the Britain, regardless of whether the UK border was in Calais or Dover

A 32-year-old migrant called Mohammed from Afghanistan who has been in the Jungle for five months, said: Nothing happens to us when we are caught inside the port.

If we are found at the British checkpoint, then they just give us to the French police and we are driven away. It is just a little walk back to the Jungle and we can try again later.

It is like a game of cat and mouse. The French police are more violent if they see us getting on lorries on the way to the port. That is when they chase us and beat us and use their tear gas.

The Home Office has said that 84,500 incidents of attempted illegal entry to the UK were foiled last year at French ports and rail terminals which have British border posts under the so-called juxtaposed controls agreement.

A spokesman for the Freight Transport Association said many of the incidents involved multiple attempts by the same migrants, trying repeatedly to get to the UK.

Some local and national French politicians have called for the Le Touquet Treaty to be scrapped following Britains vote to leave the EU.

It has been suggested that if such a move should happen, then the French may make less stringent checks on lorries at Calais, making it easier for migrants to reach the UK.

Meanwhile, four giant Passport Control signs showing the French flag, the UK's Union flag and the stars of the European Union in a display of unity, have been found discarded on the ground at the Port of Calais.

The 12ft by 9ft signs once directed motorists leaving France into different lanes to have their passports checked.

Dumped: Four giant Passport Control signs, showing the French flag, the UK's Union flag and the stars of the European Union in a display of unity, lie discarded on the ground at the Port of Calais

Abandoned: The 12ft by 9ft signs once directed motorists leaving France into different lanes to have their passports checked as they drive into the port of Calais

Border impact? Mail Online found the UK-French-EU signs abandoned at the French ferry port beside a security fence in a disturbing symbol of how border checks could be hit by Brexit

Proud display: Until recently the border signs were on proud display as a sign of French, UK and EU unity over borders as images as recently as 2014 show

Embarrassed? Following MailOnline's inquiries about the signs being dumped on the ground they were taken away, showing the yellowed grass underneath

But Mail Online found them abandoned at the French ferry port beside a security fence in a disturbing symbol of how border checks on migrants heading to Britain could be hit by Brexit.The discovery follows fears that France may no longer allow UK border controls to take place in Calais and other Channel ports.

Many migrants at the notorious Jungle camp in Calais believe that such a move could make it easier for them to evade checks and get to the UK.

A Border Force spokesman was unable to say when the Passport Control signs had been taken down and dumped on the grass around 100 yards from the port's UK passport checkpoint.

He would only say that they had been removed for 'operational reasons' and insisted 'it had nothing to do with the referendum'.

But this week the French economy minister joined the Calais mayor in calling for the Jungle migrant camp to be moved to Britain. Emmanuel Macron also suggested that the Le Touquet accord, which allows UK border officials to stop migrants before they try to cross, should be torn up.

Fear: Migrant Aziz Ullah, 31, from Afghanistan (centre, wearing white hat) with three of his friends at the Jungle camp in Calais. He told MailOnline: 'At the moment, if they are stopped at the checkpoint, they just get left here. But what will happen if they get stopped in the UK? Will they get sent to prison or deported?'

'Life is so hard': Migrant Natenael Tikbo, 24, of Eritrea (centre in grey top) with two of his friends by the fence at the Jungle camp said: ''It may be easier for me if the UK checkpoint moves. But life is so hard here. I will maybe only keep trying to get to the UK for another month. The other option then is to try to go to another country'

The spokesman for the UK's Border Force said: 'The Le Touquet Treaty will remain in place. The treaty is a bi-lateral agreement between the UK and France and is not directly linked to the EU.'

Former shopkeeper Aziz Ullah, 31, from Afghanistan's Kapisa province said: 'I am not trying to get to England because I am claiming asylum in France.

'But a lot of the guys want to get to the UK . At the moment, if they are stopped at the checkpoint, they just get left here. But what will happen if they get stopped in the UK? Will they get sent to prison or deported?

'We don't know if it will be a good or a bad thing if the checkpoint is moved. A lot of people have already been deported from the UK and they have come back here.

'They are scared and worried because they don't know what will happen if the UK police catch them again. Will they be deported back to Afghanistan or somewhere else?'

Aziz added: 'The French police are inhumane. They beat people with sticks and shoot them with rubber bullets. Every day, I see them shooting tear gas.

'There are 15 Afghans in the camp with broken bones after being beaten by French police.'

Natenael Tikbo, 24, from Eritrea who paid (US dollars) 6,000 to people smugglers to get to The Jungle, said: 'It is so difficult to get on a lorry from here  but we try.

'It may be easier for me if the UK checkpoint moves. But life is so hard here. I will maybe only keep trying to get to the UK for another month. The other option then is to try to go to another country.'

Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart also called for a review of the treaty after the referendum last week, telling French TV station BFM: 'The British must take on the consequences of their choice
A Florida man has been charged with the cold-case murder of his 17-year-old girlfriend who vanished in July 2012.

St Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said Jacobee Flowers, 28, has been indicted on the first degree murder of Morgan Martin and later disposed of her body.

Detectives launched a cold case review of the 17-year-old's disappearance after receiving new evidence.

Jacobee Flowers, left, has been charged with the first degree murder of Morgan Martin, 17, right

Morgan, pictured here with her nephew, vanished after going to see Flowers on July 25, 2012 in Florida

Heavily tattooed Flowers is currently in jail on non-related felony traffic charges

On the day she disappeared, Morgan told her mother Leah that she was going to meet the baby's father.

The following day, when she did not return home, the teenager was reported missing.

Her family told police she was going to meet with Flowers.

Chief Holloway said: 'The initial investigation was unable to locate Morgan, but detectives focused on Flowers.

'Flowers denied any knowledge of Morgans whereabouts and minimized his relationship with Morgan.

'He denied fathering her unborn child. Investigators sought out any other potential persons who might be connected to Morgans disappearance. Everything continued to point toward Flowers as the only person of interest.

'After several months of investigation and searches, Morgan was not found and the case grew cold.'

St Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said Flowers, pictured, was the only viable suspect in the case

Chief Holloway called on anyone with information on Morgan's disappearance to come forward so they can locate her body and allow her family to hold a proper funeral for her and her unborn baby

According to Chief Holloway, the St Petersburg Police Department's newly created Cold Case Unit re-examined the case suing veteran detective Jim Culberson.

The team spent 13 months re-interviewing witnesses from the original file and found new evidence and potential leads. They also spoke to new witnesses.

Flowers, who is currently in jail on unrelated felony traffic charges, will be transported next month to Pinellas County Jail.

He will later be tried for murder.

According to Chief Holloway: 'Detectives believe that there are other people who have information about Morgan Martins disappearance and murder.
Arnaud Bardary was fined for biting a colleagues arm after they got together at his leaving party

One of the worlds top sommeliers bit a colleagues arms during a sex session after his leaving party, a court heard.

Wine waiter Arnaud Bardary, who worked at Gordon Ramsays restaurant Maze in Mayfair, took Anais Lopes back to his flat in Putney after a champagne-fuelled party in May.

The 32-year-old then repeatedly bit Ms Lopes during sex and has now admitted assault after she went to the police.

Bardary, once described as the second-best sommelier in the UK, had met colleagues in the City of Quebec bar in Marble Arch after leaving the restaurant.

After he was seen kissing Ms Lopes at the bar, the pair took a taxi back to his apartment and had consensual sex.

Prosecutor Edward Aydin told Westminster Magistrates: It lasted for about an hour and during that time, in the early hours of the morning, he began to bite the victim and the sex was quite rough.

She asked him to stop because it was hurting her, but he continued to bite her. He bit her five times.'

The court heard the couple finished a bottle of champagne before Ms Lopes returned home.

Mr Aydin added: It was not romantic, it was rough sex, it was forceful. [Bardary] said in interview that he "banged her hard".

Bardary pleaded guilty to one count of assault by beating.

Anne McCarthy, defending, told the court he was 'shocked' that Ms Lopes had made the allegations to police.

Bardary, who has now returned to France, was rated as one of the two best youngest sommeliers in the world

Ms McCarthy said: At the leaving party, to put it colloquially, [the victim] came on very strong to him. She was bearing her breasts at him and using language that she would destroy him.

She said of her client: He was rated as one of the two best youngest sommeliers in the world, then the second-best in the UK in 2015. He has not worked after giving in his notice in March 2016, hence the leaving party.

He is due to start as a beverage manager in Sydney, Australia, on 18 July of this year. All his visas, tickets and travel arrangements have been made.
Police Need Warrant to Take Blood, Not Breath, Says Supreme Court

If you are stopped by the cops for driving under the influence and they ask you to take a test, do you have to accept? According to a United States Supreme Court decision issued late last week, police need a warrant to take your blood, but not for your breath.

The case, Birchfield v. North Dakota, examines three different refusal cases in state courts. Let's consider the decision and some dissenting opinions.

Compromise Decision

Three defendants were stopped by police for driving under the influence, asked to take a test, and refused. Two were asked for blood and one was asked for breath. In a 5-3 ruling, the high court noted that blood tests are significantly more intrusive than breathalyzers and reversed the conviction for the two men who refused a blood draw but not for the man who refused to blow for a breathalyzer. The majority of the Supreme Court found the request for breath to be a reasonable search without a warrant.

A Range of Dissents

Three justices dissented, disagreeing with the majority. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, wrote that she would have imposed the warrant requirement on all tests, blood and breath. The partial dissenters expressed displeasure at the erosion of Fourth Amendment protections. Justice Sotomayor wrote, "I fear that if the Court continues down this road, the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement will become nothing more than a suggestion."

Meanwhile, Justice Clarence Thomas, on the other end of the spectrum, would not have required a warrant at all. He would have gone the other way and believed no warrant was needed if police seek blood or breath, based on a Fourth Amendment exception that could have applied to all three refusals.



A Tough Topic

The range of responses among the justices shows how complicated the topic of warrantless search is. According to Orin Kerr, an expert on this area of the law, "This was a really tricky Fourth Amendment case." Kerr seemed satisfied with the Court's decision, writing, "I think the majority did a pretty good job dealing with a very hard problem."

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Police are hunting for a man who they say killed his ex-wife by stabbing her 22 times and gouging out her eyes in front of their 15-year-old daughter.

Sergey Oparin, 36, allegedly killed Elena Oparin in a violent, drunken rage at their former family home in the town of Morozovsk in south-western Russias Rostov Oblast region.

Oparin, a former soldier, is also accused of breaking her arm in the horrific attack.

Sergey Oparin (left), 36, allegedly killed Elena Oparin (right) in a violent, drunken rage at their former family home in the town of Morozovsk in south-western Russias Rostov Oblast region

Neighbours called police after hearing shouting and screaming coming from the house in the middle of the night.

They said Oparin had earlier arrived at the property, clearly drunk, demanding to talk to his ex about his rights over the house.

But by the time police arrived, Mrs Oparin was dead, her traumatised daughter was in shock and Oparin had escaped.

Officers warned members of the public not to approach Mr Oparin, who fought in the second Chechen War

Police have since issued an appeal for anyone with information about his whereabouts to come forward.

But officers warned members of the public not to approach the former military man, who fought in the second Chechen War.
Angela Eagle is poised to launch a leadership challenge against Jeremy Corbyn tomorrow after the embattled leader again refused to resign tonight.

The former shadow business secretary - one of 21 Labour MPs who quit Mr Corbyn's frontbench this week - is expected to announce her leadership bid at a press conference at 3pm tomorrow.

Ms Eagle is set to move against Mr Corbyn after deputy leader Tom Watson failed to persuade him to resign this afternoon.

Mr Watson ruled out making a challenge himself but told Mr Corbyn his leadership was over.

After revealing tonight the Labour leader was refusing to even discuss his future and Mr Watson pleaded: 'My party is in peril. It faces an existential crisis.'

Mr Corbyn overwhelmingly lost a confidence vote among MPs last night, has been told to go by all of his recent predecessors and was told by David Cameron to quit today in the 'national interest'.

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Embattled Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was dragged away from the TV cameras this afternoon as calls continued to mount for him to quit as Labour leader

Mr Corbyn and deputy leader Tom Watson stepped away from the chaos engulfing Labour to visit the Polish Centre in Hammersmith, which was daubed with anti-immigrant graffiti

But the beleaguered leader is unmoved and has vowed to stand in any leadership election forced by Labour MPs.

A source close to the defiant leader said: 'He will continue to carry out the job of leader of the Labour party, which he is democratically elected to do.'

Mr Corbyn was defiant tonight as he addressed a crowd of Momentum supporters outside the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), in London.

He said he was 'proud to be continuing the work' to which he was elected 'by hundreds of thousands of ordinary people joining in the political process'.

But even among his supporters Mr Corbyn faced criticism, with one member of the crowd shouting: 'Jeremy, where were you when we needed you?'

Mr Corbyn responded by saying: 'Last week there was a vote to leave the European Union, it wasn't my wish, it wasn't the wise I suspect of a large number of people here, and we now have a difficult economic situation to deal with.'

He added: 'The vote last week was a vote of anger, it was a vote of desperation in many places around the country.

'Post-industrial Britain of the communities that were destroyed by the Tory government in the 1980s still have high levels of unemployment and have lost their economic viability because of the destruction of basic, heavy industry of that period.

The vote last week was a vote of anger, it was a vote of desperation in many places around the country. Jeremy Corbyn

'A free market economy is not going to solve the problems in those areas, an interventionist economy that invests in those areas, invests in the infrastructure and invests in the jobs necessary will help those communities.'

The heckler responded by simply calling him a 'moron'.

Meanwhile, Ms Eagle is expected to launch a formal attempt to dislodge Mr Corbyn tomorrow after the party's National Executive Committee meet to discuss the growing that has engulfed Labour since last week's shock Brexit vote.

Ken Livingstone, currently suspended from the party over his Hitler outbursts, tonight gave up his seat on the NEC to ensure another supporter of Mr Corbyn could take part in any votes.

Sources close to Angela Eagle tonight told MailOnline: 'She'll make an announcement at 3pm tomorrow.'

Earlier they said: 'There are reports on social media Angela has ruled herself out - these reports are completely incorrect.

'Jeremy Corbyn must do the right thing and stand aside. Angela has not ruled out running in any leadership contest.'

The source said all options were on the table, including either running for leader if Mr Corbyn quits or gathering nominations to force a contest.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks at a 'Keep Corbyn' rally at the School of Oriental and African Studies on June 29, 2016 in London

Mr Corbyn said he was 'proud to be continuing the work' to which he was elected 'by hundreds of thousands of ordinary people joining in the political process'

But even among his supporters Mr Corbyn faced criticism, with one member of the crowd shouting: 'Jeremy, where were you when we needed you?'

Tom Watson, pictured with the Labour leader this afternoon, directly told Mr Corbyn to resign tonight but claimed the idea was dismissed out of hand

Jeremy Corbyn was met by silence from his own benches today as he rose to a humiliating Prime Minister's Questions session in the Commons today. David Cameron today blamed him for the referendum loss and told him to quit for the benefit of the national interest.

Mr Watson, the party's elected deputy leader, tonight told the BBC: 'Firstly I'd like to apologise to the country for the mess they are seeing in Westminster right now.

'I spent the week trying to bring people together, trying to bring a negotiated settlement  I went to see Jeremy today to see whether we could find a negotiated settlement but he was unwilling [to stand down] we are still in an impasse I'm afraid.'

Mr Corbyn this afternoon made a bizarre appearance at a Polish Centre in Hammersmith, greeting people to offer support after anti-immigration graffiti was left, but he was dragged away from TV cameras after being asked about his leadership.

But when a UK TV crew appeared and asked 'Mr Corbyn, a quick question about the leadership?', an aide thought to be Niall Sookoo physically dragged Mr Corbyn away.

Mr Watson attended the event and reportedly made his challenge to Mr Corbyn while the pair were driven from the event.

Mr Watson tonight added: 'I just think he feels very strongly that he has that mandate with the members, he holds less weight on parliamentary politics and that's where he is.

'He's obviously being told to stay by his close ally John McDonnell and they're a team and they've decided they're going to tough it out.

'So it looks like the Labour party is heading for some form of contested election.'

At PMQs today, Mr Corbyn was surrounded by his rag tag new shadow cabinet but knew when he stood up one of them had already quit. Mr Corbyn was flanked on the front bench by Tom Watson and Kate Osamor, while other newly promoted MPs - including Rachael Masekell, Barry Gardiner, Richard Burgon, Rebecca Long Bailey and Angela Raynor took their seats

Jeremy Corbyn, pictured leaving his home in London today, is faced a fresh humiliation at PMQs in the House of Commons as Mr Cameron said he should go immediately

The Labour leader has insisted he will not 'betray' party activists by resigning despite the massive rebellion

Mr Corbyn tonight spoke in front of a crowd of Momentum supporters outside the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, declaring that he is proud to continue the work of the Labour party.

'We're in the midst of a very interesting political time in this country. I was very honoured to be elected to lead the Labour party last year,' he said.

'I've done my best over this year to develop the policy changes we want, to reach out to people in the way that we want, and to recognise that there are many in the party who maybe do not completely agree with the direction I want to take us.

BIG GUNS TELL CORBYN TO RESIGN Dame Tessa Jowell (pictured on ITV's Good Morning Britain this morning) increased the pressure on Corbyn to stand aside after she turned directly to the camera in an interview this morning to urge him to recognise he was putting the future of the party in jeopardy by refusing to go Three former Labour leaders and fellow party grandee Dame Tessa Jowell pleaded with Jeremy Corbyn to resign today after he faced an all-out attack from Labour moderates. Ed Miliband and Harriet Harman demanded Mr Corbyn stand down for the interests of the party, warning his position was 'untenable' after 172 MPs signed a vote of no confidence in his leadership. They were joined by Dame Margaret Beckett, who broke down in tears live on air this morning, and Dame Jowell, who made a dramatic appeal direct to the camera on TV as they begged the leader to stand aside. Dame Beckett, who briefly served as leader after the death of John Smith in 1994, choked as she said 'never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be casting a vote of no confidence in the leader of the Labour party'. With just 40 Labour MPs backing Mr Corbyn in yesterday's vote of no confidence motion, he now faces the prospect of a leadership challenge by Angela Eagle or Tom Watson if he refuses to go voluntarily. He faced a fresh blow today as his shadow education secretary Pat Glass quit just 51 hours after being appointed, and warned the 'situation is untenable'. Dame Beckett, who was first elected to Parliament in 1974, insisted she had been loyal to all nine Labour leaders she has served under - all with 'different views and approaches'. She said if Mr Corbyn continued to resist calls to stand down after 172 MPs signed a letter of no confidence in him, he risked destroying the Labour 'family' and in an emotional interview this morning she pleaded with him to end the 'trauma' in the party by stepping down. Meanwhile Dame Jowell also increased the pressure on Mr Corbyn to stand aside as she turned directly to the camera to tell him his continued leadership was 'denying millions of people in our country who so desperately need representation by a Labour government'. Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain show, the former Culture Secretary described his leadership as a 'complete shambles' and it was a 'statement of the obvious' that Mr Corbyn must go. Dame Jowell described the current state of the Labour party as the 'worst crisis' in her 45 years as a member and remarkably said the notion of a Labour government in the future seemed 'a rather distant prospect'. Advertisement

'I also recognise that the mandate was given by hundreds of thousands of ordinary people joining in the political process, just as is happening across Europe, just as is happening across the United States, because they want to see a politics that is more reflective of them and their lives, their hopes and their community of aspirations, rather than the economic orthodoxy of the retreat of the wealth to the wealthiest, that the poor may get poorer.

'It simply is immoral and wrong, the economic process that is being offered to us by the right within our society.'

He added: 'We contested the leadership of this party a year ago, that is why I am very proud to be carrying on with that work.'

Mr Corbyn's speech was met with rousing applause from his Momentum supporters, after being heckled at one point during the speech when a crowd member shouted: 'Jeremy, where were you when we needed you?'

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell later addressed the crowd, describing the Labour party as being 'like a lynch mob without the rope'.

A defiant Mr McDonnell said: 'Jeremy won a mandate last summer and there are a handful of MPs who couldn't accept that mandate - we've been expecting a coup any time since then.'

He added: 'What democracy means is that people come together each having a bote, and when that vote has a majority, that decision should be abided by - this is a battle for democracy.'

Mr McDonnell has stuck by the embattled Labour leader since he lost a confidence vote among MPs by 172 to 40 but refused to resign, insisting he still has a 'people's mandate' to lead following his landslide victory in the Labour leadership elections last summer.

Earlier, Ed Miliband and Harriet Harman, the last two Labour leaders, joined demands for Mr Corbyn to quit warning his position was now 'untenable'.

Gordon Brown, Labour's last prime minister, forecast Mr Corbyn would resign but stopped short of calling for him to go.

As he rose at Prime Minister's Question's today, Mr Corbyn was met with a shattering silence behind him, just hours after his MPs overwhelmingly rejected him in a no confidence vote.

He challenged the Prime Minister on the implications of Brexit in his first question and insisted he would still be Labour leader by Friday - noting he would join the Prime Minister at commemorations for the Battle of the Somme.

Mr Corbyn went into the midday session after receiving a new hammer blow from Pat Glass, made the shadow education secretary on Monday, quit today and warned the 'situation is untenable' as Mr Corbyn continues to be battered by his own side.

In a devastating attack, Mr Cameron blasted: 'We all have to reflect on our role in the referendum campaign. I know you said you put his back into it, all I can say is I'd hate to see it when you're not trying.'

He added: 'If you're looking for excuses... you should look somewhere else.

'It might be in my party's interests for you to sit there but it's not in the national interest and I would say, for heaven's sake man, go.'

Harriet Harman today demanded Mr Corbyn quit while ex-Labour leader Ed Miliband said: 'You can't have a party leader that 75 per cent or more of the party's representatives don't have confidence in.

'That is an unsustainable position and that is not ideological, it is just a fact of life.

'I deeply respect Jeremy as a person and indeed as a politician for the causes he has fought for.

'My judgment is those causes are more likely to be served if he goes.'

Asked if he would have quit under such circumstances, Mr Miliband said: 'I would have gone.'

Mr Corbyn is expected to face a formal challenge later from either Angela Eagle or Tom Watson after overwhelmingly losing a confidence vote 172-40 among Labour MPs last night.

The veteran left-winger has faced a massive revolt among MPs determined to dislodge him, with more than 50 people quitting the frontbench.

Labour MPs sat in almost complete silence during today's PMQs in protest at Mr Corbyn's refusal to resign.

The ranks of MPs who filled Labour's green benches filled the chamber behind, with Ms Eagle - thought the likely contender to take on the formal challenge - was sat two rows back directly behind the Labour leader.

Labour's group of MEPs joined the revolt this lunchtime.

Jeremy Corbyn was endorsed today by Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras today who expressed 'solidarity' during Britain's 'difficult moments'

The party's leader in Brussels Glenis Willmott said: 'It is with a heavy heart we urge you, for the sake of the Labour Party and for the people in our country who need a Labour government, to reconsider your position as Labour leader.'

His team today insisted it was time for the opponents to 'either unite behind a democratically elected leader or they call and trigger a leadership election'.

Mr Corbyn's spokesman said: 'He is determined to do the job he was democratically elected to do.'

The Labour leader lost a no confidence vote by 172 to 40 overnight, but immediately pledged to fight on - insisting his mandate from party members' is more important than MPs' support.

Mr Corbyn said: 'I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60 per cent of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning. Today's vote by MPs has no constitutional legitimacy.

'We are a democratic party, with a clear constitution. Our people need Labour party members, trade unionists and MPs to unite behind my leadership at a critical time for our country.'

Unions tonight supported that sentiment, releasing a statement saying that Mr Corbyn is the democratically-elected leader of Labour and his position should not be challenged except through the proper democratic procedures provided for in the party's constitution.

The joint statement branded the 'crisis' within the Labour party as 'deeply regrettable and unnecessary'.

It added: 'Above all, we need to be fighting to preserve our members' jobs, already under threat in several industries and across the public sector as a consequence.

Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband, Mr Corbyn's two predecessors as Labour leader, joined the chorus of calls for him to resign today

'The Government is in crisis, but already serious debates are taking place and decisions being made which profoundly affect the interests of working people.

'Under these circumstances, our members and millions of others will be looking with dismay at the events in parliament. It cannot be right to seek to denude the Labour front bench at this time, when the Government more than ever needs to be scrutinised and held to account by an effective and united opposition that does the job it is paid to do.

'Jeremy Corbyn is the democratically-elected Leader of our party who secured such a resounding mandate less than ten months ago under an electoral procedure fully supported by Labour MPs.

'His position cannot and should not be challenged except through the proper democratic procedures provided for in the party's constitution.

'We urge all Labour MPs to abide by those procedures, and to respect the authority of the party's Leader.

'While we have stated that we believe a leadership election would be an unwelcome distraction at this time of crisis, if one nevertheless occurs through the proper procedures we would expect all parts of the party to honour the result and pull together in the interests of the country, and working people in particular.

'The only party that can win for working people is a strong and united Labour Party.'

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, Mr Corbyn's closest ally, said this morning that he believed there would now be a leadership contest.

'It looks as though we will have a leadership election now. I hear in the press this morning that most probably a candidate will come forward,' Mr McDonnell said.

Pat Glass quit as shadow education secretary today, around 51 hours after being appointed to replace Lucy Powell who quit as part of a mass wave of resignations

Pat Glass, pictured right with the Labour leader, quit this morning as shadow education secretary just 51 hours after being appointed

'All we are saying to MPs is play by the rules, play by the rules of our party, and if there is to be a democratic election, respect the wishes of our members.'

Ms Harman, who has twice served as interim leader, today said: 'It is with great regret that I call on Jeremy Corbyn to stand down as leader of the Labour Party.

'Jeremy has many great qualities but he is not a leader. The party and the country needs a strong united Labour Opposition at this immensely challenging time.

'Jeremy earned the right to take up the leadership of the party with a big majority. But he has failed and he has no right or mandate to stay in office despite his failure and take the party down with him.'

Mr Corbyn has received a boost from an unexpected quarter, with Hollywood star Ewan McGregor hitting out at 'turncoat' MPs on Twitter.

There were 13 MPs who did not take part in yesterday's vote - reportedly including Rachael Maskell, a member of the shadow cabinet as of yesterday morning who has declined to express confidence in the leader.

As well as Ms Glass, Emma Lewell Buck joined the exodus as she quit as shadow communities minister just 10 minutes before Prime Minister's Questions.

Left-wing activists have been hitting back at rebel ringleaders, with a petition calling on Mrs Eagle to resign as MP for Wallasey securing more than 2,000 signatures.

Mr Corbyn gathered his rag-tag new shadow cabinet yesterday in an attempt to portray unity - but he still has at least seven top tier vacancies and around 30 more junior positions to full.

Angela Eagle, left, and Tom Watson, centre are said to be discussing the next steps in the attempt to dislodge Mr Corbyn after he refused to resign over the no confidence vote tonight

Dame Margaret Hodge, who tabled tye no confidence motion which overhwelmingly defeated the Labour leader, has called on Jeremy Corbyn to resign for the good of the party

Holywood star Ewan McGregor voiced support for Mr Corbyn this morning as the Labour leader faced a mutiny from his MPs

Mr Corbyn's response was to point out that the government was in disarray.

'Ministers have made it clear they have no exit plan, but are determined to make working people pay with a new round of cuts and tax rises,' he said,

'Labour has the responsibility to give a lead where the government will not. We need to bring people together, hold the government to account, oppose austerity and set out a path to exit that will protect jobs and incomes.

'To do that we need to stand together. Since I was elected leader of our party nine months ago, we have repeatedly defeated the government over its attacks on living standards.'

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Jeremy Corbyn has refused to accept an overwhelming vote of no confidence in his leadership. The statement prompted a fresh wave of front bench resignations, underlining the belief of Labour MPs the attempt to remove Mr Corbyn can continue. If Mr Corbyn still refuses to go after the dust settles on tonight's result, a challenge can be forced by 51 MPs officially writing to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour. The NEC controls the timetable for any new election - and it is not obliged to do so before the annual conference in September. At some point, the 50 letters would trigger a new leadership election and it is hotly disputed as to whether Mr Corbyn would get on the ballot by right as the incumbent. Party rules say candidates would need 37 nominations to get on the ballot - and today's vote suggest he has such support making a debate over the rules academic. Advertisement

More resignations emerged almost as soon as the no confidence vote has been lost - starting with shadow home office minister Lyn Brown, swiftly followed by shadow business minster Kevin Brennan.

Christina Rees left the shadow justice team, swiftly followed by Sarah Champion who quit the home office team. Clive Efford then left the shadow culture, media and sport team.

Close ally Andy Slaughter quit the front bench this morning and tonight said Mr Corbyn was not capable of doing the 'difficult job' of leading a major party - particularly at a time of 'national crisis'.

Mr Slaugher told BBC Radio 4: 'I don't think he has the experience or the skills to the leader of a major political party.'

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale tonight told BBC Scotland: 'If I lost the confidence of 80 per cent of my parliamentary colleagues I could not do my job.'

But PCS leader Mark Serwotka, asked if Mr Corbyn should step aside, said: 'Absolutely not.'

Unite leader Len McCluskey told the Guardian: 'If anyone wants to change the Labour leadership, they must do it openly and democratically.'

If Mr Corbyn refuses to go, a challenge can be forced by 51 MPs officially writing to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Labour.

This would trigger a new leadership election and it is hotly disputed as to whether Mr Corbyn would get on the ballot by right as the incumbent.

Party rules say candidates would need 37 nominations to get on the ballot - and today's vote suggest he has such support making a debate over the rules academic.

Footage of the new shadow cabinet showed a very awkward looking Mr Corbyn sat next to his deputy Mr Watson - who has refused to condemn the rebellion - at the shadow cabinet table.

At one point the leader beckons over aide Seumas Milne and whispers: 'I'm not sure this is a good idea.'

Jeremy Corbyn was caught on camera beckoning over close aide Seumas Milne and voiced reservations about a spectacularly awkward photo op today. Hours later he lost a vote of no confidence 172-40

Jeremy Corbyn has now suffered an almost complete walk out of his shadow cabinet as 20 full members resigned, followed by 30 more junior figures. Angela Smith and Lord Bassam, both peers, have effectively gone on strike and said they will not attend Cabinet until Mr Corbyn quits

In other developments, Pat Glass, who was promoted to education secretary after Lucy Powell quit yesterday, announced that she is standing down from parliament at the general election. She said the EU referendum campaign had taken a toll on her and her family.

Mr Corbyn has refused to countenance resigning under any circumstances despite the draining away of what little support he had from mainstream Labour in Parliament.

Earlier this week he addressed a crowd of thousands of people in Parliament Square, some of whom had banners and t-shirts branded 'eradicate the right wing Blairite vermin', vowing to fight on.

The developments have prompted new questions about whether Labour is broken and must split - and one former MP admitted 'separation and divorce are now inevitable'.

Jeremy Corbyn, seen leaving home today, overwhelmingly lost a vote of no confidence among his MPs today - but he has so far refused to resign

Dame Margaret Hodge, who tabled today's no confidence motion, pleaded with the Labour leader to recognise he was destroying the Labour Party and resign before it came to a split.

She told the BBC: 'I think that the reaction at the parliamentary Labour party was unprecedented.

'I couldn't believe the strength of feeling, the overwhelming rejection of Jeremy as our leader, and the pleading with him that he should actually consider his position and go with dignity.

'No one individual is greater than the party. Did we use the referendum as an excuse? Well I think the referendum was actually a test of leadership and he failed it.'

She added: 'I looked at the pictures of the demonstrations last night, those weren't Labour party members.
A mother accused of murdering her three young children by driving her car into a lake while they were in the back seat broke down in court as a triple 0 phone call reporting their deaths was played.

Akon Guode denies deliberately driving in to Lake Gladman in Wyndham Vale, Melbourne, in April 2015 while her four-year-old twins and one-year-old son sat in the back.

The children all drowned while the 37-year-old and her six-year-old daughter Aluel, who was also in the car, were pulled to safety.

On Tuesday Melbourne's Magistrates Court heard a triple 0 call made by a witness shortly after the 4WD entered the water which described her ploughing 'full bolt' in to the water.

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Akon Guode (centre at her children's funeral last April) broke down in court as a triple 0 call was played in which a witness described her driving 'full bolt' into a lake with her children in the back seat

Alexandra Colston-Ing told the court it looked as though she had deliberately driven in to the water, saying: 'Well, it looked that way anyway.

'They had to fully mount the kerb, drive along a grass area. I saw them just drive full bolt straight into the water.'

In it a woman described how Guode drove 'full bolt' in to the water after mounting the kerb.

The mother-of-seven, who moved to Australia from South Sudan in 2008, wept as it was played.

Guode denies three counts of murder for the deaths of Madit, Hanger and Bol and one of attempted murder for her surviving six-year-old.

The woman claims she accidentally drove in to the lake after becoming 'dizzy' and that she often suffered headaches.

Four-year-old twins Hanger and Madit died when their mother's car drove in to the lake in Melbourne

The twins (right) and their one-year-old brother Bol (left) all drowned while their mother survived

The 37-year-old was pulled from the water alongside her six-year-old daughter Aluel (pictured above together when she was a baby)

Abook Kon, her aunt, told the court it was difficult for her to drive because of the apparent condition.

'It was very hard for her to drive all the way home,' she said.

Earlier the court heard that on the day of their deaths a rumour was circulating that the children's father and Guode's lover was planning to move back to Sudan with his wife

Prosecution documents claimed Joseph Manyang had been planning to return to Africa on the day of their deaths.

He told the court this week he was adamant the children's mother did not mean to kill them and that she cried every time they were mentioned.

'She loved her children. We loved each other, we loved the kids,' he said.

Last year he told how Aluel, the couple's surviving child, thought her siblings had been eaten by crocodiles.

Guode's trial at Melbourne's Magistrates Court continues.

The children's father Joseph Manyang (left) and Guode's aunt Abook Kon (right) said she did not kill them deliberately




A 41-year-old man was arrested in London this morning on suspicion of inciting racial hatred online.

The arrest was made in the north of the capital as part of an investigation by police into extreme right wing, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic postings on social media.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command carried out the arrest at about 6.30am today, supported by colleagues from the Territorial Support Group.

Scotland Yard: Metropolitan Police detectives searched two addresses in London as part of the investigation

Detectives searched two addresses as part of the investigation, with one of these searches still ongoing at lunchtime. Officers said digital items were seized at one of the properties.

The arrested man was taken to a police station in North London where he remains in custody.

Prime Minister David Cameron said today extra cash for security measures will be available as part of a fresh push to drive hate crimes out of Britain. He said a new action plan will be published soon.
A mathematics teacher who is accused of creating false identity documents to continue teaching has labelled police as 'liars' in court and believes he is the victim of bullying.

Julian Taylor taught at four separate schools in Gippsland, New South Wales, between 2005 and 2015 and is facing 27 charges including deception, perjury and creating false documents, according to The Herald Sun.

The 51-year-old has a criminal past, including having two passports made in different names, the court heard.

The schools are seeking he repay $250,000 in wages, but Taylor said he'd rather go to jail for 12 months than 'bow to bullying tactics'.

'I worked exceptionally well as a teacher. Who are the victims?' Taylor told Melbourne's Supreme Court on Wednesday.

A mathematics teacher who is accused of creating false identity documents to continue teaching has labelled police as 'liars' in court and believes he is the victim of bullying (stock image)

Taylor refused to give his most recent address to police, saying he'd rather be in jail and has been on remand since February.

Justice Karin Emerton questioned whether Taylor understood the seriousness of his offending, telling the court it's 'no small matter'.

'It's not just the matter of the false stat dec  it's as though you are living in a parallel universe,' she said.

The schools, including Traralgon College in Gippsland (pictured), are seeking he repay $250,000 in wages, but Taylor said he'd rather go to jail for 12 months than 'bow to bullying tactics'

Taylor refused to give his most recent address to police, saying he'd rather be in jail and has been on remand since February (stock image)

Taylor taught at Ilim College (pictured), Dallas, St Paul's Grammar School and Traralgon College in Gippsland.

Taylor taught at Ilim College, Dallas, St Paul's Grammar School and Traralgon College in Gippsland.

He told the court the schools would have to of paid a teacher 'regardless' and did not understand who the 'victims' were.

His bail application was adjourned by Justice Emerton until July 8.
A shocking national poll released Wednesday morning shows the U.S. presidential race as a statistical dead heat, with Democrat Hillary Clinton's lead over Republican Donald Trump shrinking to just 2 percentage points, a number that's within the survey's margin of error.

The respected Quinnipiac University poll found Clinton with a 42-40 lead in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, narrowing from a 4-point gap a month ago.

But neither candidate has anything resembling a national vote of confidence. Fifty-eight percent said Trump would not make a good president. Fifty-three per cent said the same of Clinton.

Clinton has led in all 22 of the national election polls published since mid-May, in some cases by as many as 12 points. The 'Q-poll' result suggests some of her most recent romp may have been an extended Hillary 'bounce'  which is now boomeranging back  related to her long-awaited primary victory over Sen. Bernie Sanders.

LOOK OUT: Hillary Clinton's lead in the presidential race has shrunk to just 2 percentage points in a new Quinnipiac university poll

NOT GOING ANYWHERE: Donald Trump's staying power is buoyed by support from white voters  and now one-third of Hispanics

DEAD HEAT: Clinton leads by 2 percentage points in a poll where the margin of error is 2.4

SHRINKING: Clinton's lead hasn't been this small in any recent poll

But Quinnipiac University pollsters warned that both presumptive nominees are hated by large numbers of the American public, and their mud-slinging is turning off voters.

'It would be difficult to imagine a less flattering from-the-gut reaction to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton,' said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

'This is where we are. Voters find themselves in the middle of a mean-spirited, scorched earth campaign between two candidates they don't like. And they don't think either candidate would be a good president.'

In a revised polling scenario that includes the two most prominent 'alternative' candidates, Clinton still maintains a 2-point lead over Trump, 39 to 37 per cent.

Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein claimed 8 and 4 per cent, respectively, but seemed to pilfer their voters in equal proportions from the two front-runners.

The Quinnipiac poll showed two ethnic trends behind the scenes of the results, with blacks favoring Hillary by an iron-clad 91-1 margin and Hispanics favoring her 50-33.

If Trump were to win the support of one-third of Hispanic voters, he would outperform both Mitt Romney in 2012 and John McCain in 2008. Those men, the last two GOP nominees, polled 27 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively, among Hispanics on Election Day.

But the national majority of white voters, the driving force behind the Trump phenomenon, are still in his corner by a 47-33 spread.

SPLIT: Americans are divided along lines of race and gender

Female voters prefer Clinton by the same 50-33 margin as Hispanics. Men choose Trump, 47-34.

Quinnipiac's pollsters found that a large majority of Americans  61 per cent  agree that this year's presidential slug-fest 'has increased the level of hatred and prejudice in the U.S.'

Of those who said America is becoming more hate-filled and bigoted, two-thirds blamed the Trump campaign  a number that suggests most of the disaffected are Democrats.

Pollsters also found that Americans are split on key questions about which candidate is better equipped to be president  depending on which characteristics they see as most important for the job.

'American voters say 58-33 percent that Clinton is better prepared to be president than Trump; 53-33 percent that she is more intelligent and 46-37 percent that she has higher moral standards,' Quinnipiac reported.

'But voters say 45-37 percent that Trump is more honest and trustworthy and 49-43 percent that he is a stronger leader.'

America's presidential election isn't a monolithic national affair, but a collection of state-level contests. Only a handful are expected to be competitive races.

Separately from the Quinnipiac poll, a website called Ballotpedia commissioned a series of surveys from seven of thee 'battleground' states, finding that Clinton leads Trump in all of them.
A Chinese farmer will have no problem earning the respect of his neighbours after building his own military-sized tank.

With no engineering background, the villager set about building the copycat fighter vehicle after sending his son to military academy and being unimpressed with the teaching.

The masterpiece was created by proud Chinese villager and self-confessed military enthusiast Peng Haojie, who roped in pals for the ambitious venture.

Peng Haojie (front right) with his friends after spending a year building a military tank replica in Wangjia VIllage, Jiaozhou

The inventor from Wangjia Village in Jiaozhou, a city in East Chinas Shandong Province, said he and his friends had no blueprints to work with and had to figure out everything by themselves.

Peng has loved Chinese military and all related weapons and equipment since childhood.

He came up with the idea to build the Type 99 tank in July last year, when he sent his son to summer camp at a junior military academy.

He said the academy in neighbouring Weifang City lacked up-to-date teaching material about the PLA, so he took it upon himself to build the vehicle - a third-generation Chinese battle tank.

Military enthusiast Peng (left) with some last minute instructions for his comrades having completed the tank which was built after he sent his son to military academy and was left uninspired by the teaching

The working replica is now set to be bought by the very military academy the idea spawned from after Peng (front left) and his mates spent a year building it

The impressive Type 99 tank - also known as the ZTZ99 - was made to a 1:1 ratio and looks exactly the same as those that have been used by the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Ground Force since 2001.

Pengs imitation war machine functions in a similar way to the real thing, including its power and transmission systems, but it of course does not fire artillery shells and does not have a laser self-defence system or a machine gun mounted on its roof.

Like the real Type 99, though, Pengs version is 10 metres (32 feet) long and 3.5 metres (11 feet) wide, but it can only travel at 15 kph (10 mph), whereas the real deal has an impressive off-road speed of 60 kph (37 mph).

TYPE 99 TANK SPECIFICATIONS (THE REAL THING) Type: Main battle tank Place of origin: People's Republic of China Service history: 2001present Designer and manufacturer: Norinco Number built: 620 (621 with Peng's replica) Weight: 54 tonnes Length Hull: 7.7m (25ft) Width: 3.5m (11ft) Height Hull: 2.25m (7.4ft) Crew: 3 Armour: Anticipated to be welded turret with applique and modular composite/reactive armor Main armament: 125 millimetres (4.9 in) smoothbore gun with ATGM capability Secondary armament: Type 85 cupola heavy machine gun / type 59 7.62 millimetres (0.300 in) coaxial machine gun. Engine: Diesel 1,500 hp (1,119 kW) Operational range: 310 miles (500km) Speed: 50mph (80kph) Off-road speed: 37mph (60kph) Advertisement

At 20 tonnes, Pengs tank is also less than half the weight of the real Type 99, whose official specifications list its weight at between 52 to 54 tonnes.

Reports said the Weifang City junior military academy are so impressed with his working scale model that they have already offered to take it off his hands for a handsome price.

The tank, which took almost a full year to build, will be delivered to the academy in the coming weeks.
Family members of those killed in the Benghazi attack are split on whether Hillary Clinton is responsible with Ambassador Chris Stevens' sister saying the former secretary of state shouldn't be blamed.

The mother of another victim, information officer Sean Smith, thought differently saying, 'Hillary is a liar.'

'I would like to see Hillary in stripes,' said Patricia Smith in an interview with the Fox Business Network this week.

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The family members of Benghazi victims were split on whether to blame Hillary Clinton for the Sept. 11, 2012 attack. Yesterday Clinton said it was 'time to move on' after the release of a House report

Patricia Smith, the mother of victim Sean Smith, called former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a 'liar' who should be wearing 'stripes'

Sean Smith, an information officer at the Libyan compound, was one of the four American victims of the Sept. 11, 2012 attack. His mother is still reeling from her son's death and blames Hillary Clinton

Smith was reacting to Clinton's advisement that, 'I think its pretty clear, its time to move on.'

Clinton spoke yesterday from a podium in Denver, Colorado, reacting to the release of the House Select Committee on Benghazi report.

Ambassador Chris Stevens was the first American killed in the attack, where four perished

The report accused the then-secretary of state of underestimating the danger Americans were in who were stationed at the Libyan outpost.

It also indicated that Clinton misrepresented the extremist threat in the country.

The report, which was the work of a committee led by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., did not, however, produce the bombshell that would tank Clinton's run for the White House, as she transitions into general election mode against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

That didn't mean emotions weren't still raw, with Smith going off on Clinton's assertion that it was time to 'move on.'

'It is definitely not time to move on. It has not been dealt with,' an emotional Smith said.

'All they said, all they reported, I imagine, I havent seen the report yet, but, all the reporting is what Hillary told them. And I say she lied to them,' the grieving mother continued.

'It is definitely not time to move on. It has not been dealt with. All they said, all they reported, I imagine, I havent seen the report yet, but, all the reporting is what Hillary told them. And I say she lied to them,' Smith added.

Smith said that Clinton never reached out to her, even going as far to say that Clinton suggested that the mother was a 'liar.'

Ambassador Chris Stevens' sister, Dr. Anne Stevens, said she didn't hold Hillary Clinton responsible for her brother's death and wished Congress would better fund the State Department

Donald Trump dared the media to ask members of Ambassador Stevens's family how they felt about Hillary Clinton. The late ambassador's sister said she didn't hold the former secretary of state responsible

'All I heard was you getting on TV calling me a liar. Thats not true, Hillary. I am not the liar. You are the liar,' she said.

Trump, in a tweet last week, had suggested that media outlets talk to the family of Ambassador Chris Stevens to see how members felt about Clinton.

'If you want to know about Hillary Clinton's honesty & judgment, ask the family of Ambassador Stevens,' Trump wrote.

The New Yorker did just that.

Dr. Anne Stevens, the sister of Ambassador Stevens, who was the first of four Americans to perish in the Sept. 11 2012 attack, said Clinton is not the government official she holds responsible.

'It is clear, in hindsight, that the facility was not sufficiently protected by the State Department and the Defense Department,' Stevens told the New Yorker.

'But what was the underlying cause?' the sister continued. 'Perhaps if Congress had provided a budget to increase security for all missions around the world, then some of the requests for more security in Libya would have been granted.'

'Certainly the State Department is underbudgeted,' Stevens pointed out.

Stevens said she didn't blame Clinton nor Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and she said the freshly-released report didn't produce anything new in her opinion.

'She has taken full responsibility, being head of the State Department, for what occurred,' Stevens said of Clinton. 'I dont see any usefulness in continuing to criticize her. It is very unjust.'

Stevens added that she believed that her brother's death has become 'definitely politicized.'

And she hinted that the ambassador would have voted for Clinton had he been alive today.

'I know he had a lot of respect for Secretary Clinton,' Stevens said. 'He admired her ability to intensely read the issues and understand the whole picture.'




Byron McKaig, 81, a retired Anglican priest, and wife Gladys, 90, who used to play the organ at his church, died in the Erskine wildfire

An elderly priest and his wife who were killed in California's worst wildfire so far this year died in each other's arms, neighbors have revealed.

Byron McKaig, 81, a retired Anglican priest, and wife Gladys, 90, who used to play the organ at his church, died in the back yard of their home in South Lake as it was torched by the Erskine fire.

Bill Johnson, who lived nearby, discovered the couple's bodies on Friday, huddled up against their fence, locked in an embrace.

He told the LA Times: 'He was on top of her, and they were together, like he was blocking her from the fire.

'It made me sick because immediately I saw and knew exactly what had happened - that they were alive and ran out of this burning inferno and got stuck, and that was where they ended.

'I thought it was terrible for those people to go like that. Just horrible. They didnt deserve it.'

While their house and cars were reduced to little more than ash, Johnson added that the couple appeared untouched by the flames, with their clothes still intact.

County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said the pair were overcome by the smoke as they tried in vain to escape.

Susan McKaig, Byron's daughter, added: 'They were each others half. They loved each other very much and the family is taking comfort from the fact that they passed together.'

Neighbors discovered the pair in the back yard of their burned home (pictured), though their bodies were untouched by the fire, with police saying they were overcome by smoke

The McKaigs are believed to be the only casualties of the Erskine fire after being overcome by smoke as they tried to flee (pictured, a floral tribute place on a charred tree stump in their hometown)

Byron first came to the area in the 1980s in order to live with his parents while he divorced the mother of his three children, according to Bakesfield.com.

Originally an Episcopal preacher, he transitioned to the Anglican denomination and began preaching at a church where Gladys was the organist.

The pair bonded over their love for music and married in 1984. Gladys had also been married once before, though her first husband passed away years before Byron arrived.

Neighbors said the pair were popular and well liked in the local community, and recalled how Byron had become his wife's carer in recent years as her health failed.

Allen Montgomery, 40, who lives across the street from the couple, said Gladys was confined to her bed much of the time.

Others told of how Byron took her to eat at Burger King each morning after she became unable to cook, and told of how the pair were regularly seen at a nearby diner.

The McKaigs are the only known casualties of the Erskine fire which began in Kern County on Thursday last week and has since torched more than 46,000 acres and destroyed 250 structures.

The Erskine fire has been California's worst blaze so far this year, torching more than 46,000 acres and 200 structures, becoming so large that at one point it could be seen from space (pictured center)

Hundreds of residents from around 10 communities evacuated because of the blaze have now been allowed to return, though little remains of the homes they left behind (pictured, damage in Squirrel Valley)

At one point, the fire was so large that NASA astronauts were able to see it from space.

Authorities say the fire, which is estimated to have caused $15.8million worth of damage, is now around 60 per cent contained, and is due to be fully contained by Thursday.

Most evacuation orders were lifted yesterday afternoon with residents allowed to return to their homes, though many areas are still without power or water.

The blaze has now moved away from towns in the area and is burning in wildland to the south of destroyed communities such as South Lake.

The cause of the fire, which broke out by Lake Isabella at about 4pm on Thursday, is unknown but it is believed hot temperatures and strong winds may have contributed to it spreading quickly.

California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency for Kern County.

More than 1,700 firefighters were working on the fire at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada range.
'a woeful typo for a less than honest

Readers said the error is

An embarrassing typo in a campaign advertisement for Liberal MP Jamie Briggs has sparked criticism on social media.

An error in a Liberal Party print advertisement says Mr Briggs is 'devliering' for his south Adelaide electorate of Mayo.

The typo was spotted by a keen-eyed voter and has since been mocked widely on Twitter, with many readers calling the mistake 'awkward' and 'woeful' - just days before the federal election on Saturday.

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An embarrassing typo in a campaign advertisement for Liberal MP Jamie Briggs, which says he is 'devliering' for his south Adelaide electorate of Mayo, has sparked criticism on social media (pictured)

The typo was spotted by a keen-eyed voter and Mr Briggs (pictured) has since been mocked on Twitter - just days before the federal election on saturday

Pretty woeful typo for a less than honest politician,' one man wrote on Twitter

It's making me wince just looking at it. I 'almost' feel sorry for him,' another commentor wrote

'Jamie Briggs, still DevLIERing for his community. Pretty woeful typo for a less than honest politician,' one man wrote on Twitter.

'It's making me wince just looking at it. I 'almost' feel sorry for him,' another commentor wrote.

'Yet more evidence for the need of Gonski funding,' a woman said, referring to the education reform package.

Others mocked the Liberal federal member, joking 'maybe that 'lie' is correct?'

A resident said the advertisement was printed in Adelaide Hills Magazine.

His seat of Mayo is being contested at the election by his own former staffer, Rebekha Sharkie (right), who is running for Nick Xenaphon Team

'Yet more evidence for the need of Gonski funding,' a woman said, referring to the education reform package

Daily Mail Australia has asked Mr Briggs and the Coalition campaign to confirm whether the typo was printed in any further magazines or newspapers.

Mr Briggs has held the once safe Liberal seat since 2008.

It is being contested by his own former staffer, Rebekha Sharkie, who is running for the Nick Xenaphon Team.

Ms Sharkie quit his office after claiming to have overheared a spate of 'sexist' comments.

Jamie Briggs snubbed ABC political reporter Anna Henderson, who reported on alleged sexual harassment, on Monday

A recent poll commissioned by GetUp! found Mr Briggs was sitting on about 40 per cent of the primary vote, with Ms Sharkie on 23.5 per cent and the Labor candidate on 18 per cent.

When asked how he was feeling about the election, Mr Briggs told Daily Mail Australia he was 'working hard to deliver on jobs and growth for Mayo and the nation'.

'As part of this team, I am working hard to deliver on jobs and growth for Mayo and the nation. The Coalition's plan is carefully structured to provide jobs and growth and a secure future for Australian families,' he said in the statement on Tuesday.

'Locally, I am delivering Our Plan for a strong new economy and as a member of a future Turnbull Coalition Government, will continue to work with the Mayo community to ensure we see the best results.

'On the contrary, every single vote for the Independents or Greens or Labor brings us closer to Bill Shorten and the Greens running Australia.

'Only a local Liberal vote ensures a stable majority Government,' Mr Briggs said.

Mr Briggs on Monday repeatedly refused to answer questions put to him by ABC journalist Anna Henderson, who reported on alleged sexual harassment late last year.

A recent poll commissioned by GetUp! found Mr Briggs (pictured) was sitting on about 40 per cent of the primary vote, with Ms Sharkie on 23.5 per cent and the Labor candidate on 18 per cent

Mr Briggs' wife posted a picture of their family on social media in a show of support after his resignation in late December last year

'I have not a thing to say to you, Anna. I have not a thing to say to you,' Mr Briggs, the member for Mayo in Adelaide's south, told her.

When Ms Henderson asked why, he responded: 'You know very well why I don't want to talk to you.'

Mr Briggs would not say why he avoided Ms Henderson when asked by Daily Mail Australia.

The married father-of-three resigned from Malcolm Turnbull's frontbench late last year when Ms Henderson reported he had allegedly sexually harassed a public servant during an official visit in Hong Kong.

The woman, who worked at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, alleged Mr Briggs had tried to kiss her neck and complimented her 'piercing eyes'.

Mr Briggs resigned, apologised, and assured he would not identify the woman. But he later admitted to sending 'a few people' a photograph of the woman which was then published in a major national newspaper.

Mr Briggs famously arrived at Parliament on crutches and in a wheelchair the morning after a late-night party after Mr Abbott was ousted by Mr Turnbull.

A marble table was famously shattered at the party in Mr Abbott's office, which Mr Briggs eventually claimed responsibility for.

Malcolm Turnbull visited Mr Briggs in the south Adelaide seat of Mayo on the campaign trail ahead of Election Day on Saturday
Yes, It Is Illegal to Grope Sleeping Minors on Airplanes

Just in case you needed a reminder about how to act on an airplane, here are a few: wear deodorant; keep your shoes on; don't lean your seat back; and, for God's sake, do not grope and kiss an unaccompanied minor who has fallen asleep in the seat next to you. And in case you require further edification, that last one is not mere etiquette. Your nonconsensual sexual advances are assault, possibly rape, and they will get you arrested and jailed.

Keep your elbows in, keep your carry-on stowed, and keep your hands to yourself.

Pre-Flight Check Yourself

Jesse Salas probably had a few adult beverages before boarding an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland to Anchorage (witnesses said Salas bumped into passengers as they exited the plane and a police officer who spoke to him at the gate said he appeared intoxicated). But that is absolutely no excuse for his behavior. Salas, 23, was seated next to a 16-year-old girl and the Alaska Dispatch News reported what happened about an hour into the flight:

In an interview on the plane with police, the girl told an officer she felt someone grab her right thigh while her eyes were closed. She pushed the hand away, thinking it may have been a mistake, but was once again interrupted from her rest, she said. Salas, according to the girl, kissed her on the mouth, using his tongue. She told police she felt violated and disgusted because Salas smelled and tasted like "stale beer," the report says. She pushed Salas away and forcefully declined his advances but Salas continued to try and grab her thigh about five times, the police report says.

Another passenger finally intervened, the crew separated Salas and the girl, and the flight was diverted to Seattle to facilitate Salas's arrest on fourth degree assault charges.

Twice Too Many

Perhaps most disheartening is that this wasn't even the only minor-groping incident on a flight this week. Chad Cameron Camp was arrested after groping a 13-year-old on a near-empty American Airlines flight from Dallas to Portland just days before. The alleged assault went on for 30 minutes before a flight attendant saw Camp's hand near the girl's crotch and a tear streaming down her face. Camp was charged with abusive sexual contact.

While one could look at these incidents as an opportunity to panic about putting unaccompanied minors on a plane, it's also a chance to condemn the kind of culture that sees young women as little more than opportunities for sexual gratification, whether they agree or not. It's terrible to consider that some men need to be reminded not to put their hands on women without consent, but here we are, and here's your reminder.

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A mother wept in court as she asked a judge if she could attend her four-year-old son's funeral, after he was accidentally shot dead by his five-year-old brother.

Itiyanah Spruill, 22, looked up at the ceiling and sobbed at Essex County Court in New Jersey just two days after the deadly shooting.

Her two sons were playing with her gun in a halfway home on Saturday when the eldest picked up the gun and shot the younger boy, Christopher, in the head.

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Itiyanah Spruill, 22, wept in Essex County Courty in New Jersey as she asked a judge if she could attend her four-year-old son's funeral, after he was accidentally shot dead by his five-year-old brother

She pleaded not guilty to weapons and child endangerment charges two days after her son Christopher (pictured) was shot and killed by his brother

The youngster was rushed to University Hospital in Newark, but he died a short time later. Spruill was with the boys at the time of the tragic accident.

She pleaded not guilty to weapons and child endangerment charges during her arraignment on Tuesday.

Wearing a pink jumpsuit, she cried throughout the brief hearing while her lawyer asked the judge if her client could pay her respects.

Spruill did not have custody of the two boys, who live with their grandmother.

Wearing a pink jumpsuit, she cried throughout the brief hearing while her lawyer asked the judge if her client could pay her respects

Spruill (mugshot left) did not have custody of the two boys at the time of the shooting at the East Orange house she was staying in (right)

She has a long criminal history.

Two years ago she was reportedly arrested for shooting someone, but she wasn't indicted by the grand jury.

But she is said to be trying to get her GED certificate and was planning to move into an apartment, PIX 11 reported.

Locals say Spurill had lived on the block for tens days.

Her neighbors said she was an attentive and caring mother.

Authorities say the gun belonged to Spruill, who was home at the time of the shooting. It's not clear how the child got hold of the weapon.

The case will now be referred to a grand jury. Spruill's bail has been set at $310,000.

Her son's funeral is set for Friday, while the hearing to decide whether she will be able to attend her son's funeral is scheduled for Thursday.

Prosecutors have said they will be challenging the decision.
A Tory MP took an extraordinary swipe at Boris Johnson today, likening him to flamboyant former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Sir Alan Duncan asked David Cameron for his views on 'Silvio Borisconi' during Prime Minister's questions in the Commons.

The former minister, who is backing home secretary Theresa May in the contest to succeed David Cameron, hardly even bothered to veil the jibe.

'Would my right honourable friend educate the House from his experience as Prime Minister on how in terms of their country's reputation and success he would compare the undemonstrative competence and dignity of Angela Merkel, with the theatrical and comical antics of Silvio Borisconi.'

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Sir Alan Duncan asked for David Cameron's views on 'Silvio Borisconi' during PMQs today

The MP delivered a very thinly-veiled jibe at the former London mayor's 'theatrical and comical antics'

Mrs May has frequently been likened to Mrs Merkel, while Mr Johnson's colourful private life has come under scrutiny in the past.

A taken aback Mr Cameron seemed in no doubt who Mr Duncan was referring to.

He replied: 'Fortunately for my answer neither of the people that he is talking about are candidates in this election, an election that I will stay firmly out of.

'I was given lots of advice on becoming PM. One bit of advice was never to go to a party with Silvio Berlusconi.'

Mr Berlusconi was notorious for allegedly holding lurid 'bunga bunga' sex parties'.

Mr Johnson was nowhere to be seen in the chamber, even though he has been pressing the flesh at Westminster today in preparation for his formal campaign launch. Some MPs shouted: 'Where's Boris?'

The exchanges came as the Tory contest heated up, with Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb throwing his hat into the ring.

Mr Crabb also sniped at Eton-educated Mr Johnson at a press conference this morning, stressing his own working class roots and state-school education.

He referred to previous comments from Mr Johnson that he would only seek the party leadership if 'the ball came loose from the back of the scrum'.

Mr Cameron insisted he was not going to get involved in the Conservative Party's leadership contest

Mrs May (pictured centre) seemed amused by the question from Sir Alan and Mr Cameron's response

'I was brought up to understand that nothing gets handed to you on a plate,' Mr Crabb said. 'On the rainy rugby fields of west Wales I learnt that it's not a question of waiting for the ball to pop out of the back of the scrum.'

In another apparent jibe at the former London mayor, Mr Crabb admitted that he was not a 'household name'.

'There are different ways you can become a household name. Im doing it the right way hopefully,' he said.

Mr Crabb has teamed up with Cabinet ally Sajid Javid to form a 'blue collar' ticket for the contest.

Mr Javid said this morning that the fact they had both supported staying in the EU was not a problem as 'we are all Brexiteers now',

Mr Crabb's supporters admit he will start out as underdog, with Boris Johnson already said to have racked up around 100 MPs and Theresa May also attracting significant backing.

Mr Johnson - who today unveiled former home secretary David Davis as his latest big-hitting supporter - and Ms May are expected formally to launch their bids tomorrow.

Right-winger Liam Fox is also poised to make a run, as are Education Secretary Nicky Morgan and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
A mother accused of murdering her baby son had a photograph of the 13-month-old boy with a cannabis joint behind his ear, a court has heard.

Ronnie-Tayler Morrison and her boyfriend Hardeep Hunjan are accused of killing little Noah Serra-Morrison at their flat in Luton, Bedfordshire.

The jury in the trial were told today that a video clip on Morrison's phone showed her and Hunjan smoking three cannabis joints at the same time through a homemade tube.

Little Noah died from a massive head injury inflicted on between November 20 and 21 last year.

Ronnie Tayler-Morrison, 21, and partner Hardeep Hunjan, 26, are on trial charged with murdering her son Noah Serra-Morrison, one, at their home in Crawley Road, Luton, pictured

He was also found to have suffered fractures to his arms and legs, some new at the time of his death, and some going back weeks.

Morrison, 21, and 26-year-old Hunjan, who is not the boy's father, claim the youngster got the injuries falling out of his cot.

The jury have heard that the unemployed couple lived a 'chaotic' lifestyle, drinking and smoking cannabis.

Neighbours frequently heard them arguing, with walls banging and shaking, and the baby crying, the court heard.

Detective Constable Solomon Beere, who examined the couple's phones after their arrests, told the court he found a series of photos and videos of the couple posing with cannabis.

A photo dated September 20, 2015 showed little Noah with what appeared to be a cannabis joint behind his right ear.

Another picture, DC Beere said, showed Hunjan's hand holding a large amount of herbal cannabis.

A series of video clips were shown to the jury. In one, Hunjan was seen smoking a cannabis joint through a home made tube. Tayler-Morrison was also shown smoking the joint and blowing smoke towards the camera.

A jury at Luton Crown Court (pictured) was today shown a series of photos and videos found on the pair's phones showing them smoking cannabis

On the night November 19 last year, just a day before Noah's death, Hunjan was filmed smoking three joints at once through a home made tube.

Reggae music could be heard playing in the background and the mother was also shown smoking the joints through the tube.

Both of the couple are shown smiling and at one point Hunjan can be heard laughing hysterically at Tayler-Morrison as she appears to drift off to sleep.

Noah was born to Miss Tayler-Morrison in London in October 2014. Soon afterwards she began a new relationship with Hunjan and they moved into the flat where Noah died in 2015.
Police have linked a firebomb that was left outside a Perth mosque on Tuesday to a separate anti-Islam attack in the same city.

Hundreds of people were inside the Australian Islamic College mosque in Thornlie, south east Perth, on Tuesday night when a car was set on fire.

They emerged to find the words 'f*** Islam' spray painted onto a wall next to it.

Western Australia Police believe a separate attack where thugs left a pig's head outside another mosque may be linked to the incident.

A mosque was firebombed at Thornlie, south-east of Perth, at about 8pm on Tuesday night and the words 'f*** Islam' were scrawled on the wall as hundreds of worshippers were inside praying

'It's very disappointing that individuals in the community would commit these criminal acts,' Inspector Tony Jeavons told WA Today on Tuesday.

'At this stage investigations are trying to determine whether those two incidents are linked, but I'd like to reassure the West Australian community and particularly the Islamic community that police take these matters very seriously.'

He shared CCTV footage of three men in hoodies walking by the mosque before an explosion in an appeal for more information.

They were captured by one of the mosque's cameras walking behind one another seconds before the blast.

WA Police released CCTV footage of suspects walking near the scene of the firebomb on Tuesday

The hooded men followed one another past the mosque before an explosion was captured on camera

In separate footage taken on Saturday 25 June, men in a ute were seen leaving Southern River Mosque where a pig's head was left

In other footage a ute was seen driving out of a car park on Saturday around the time the pig's head was left at Masjid Ibrahim mosque in Southern River.

It is understood a petrol bomb may have been placed in a parked 4WD outside the Thornlie mosque before it exploded on Tuesday.

Several other cars outside the mosque were also targeted.

Footage from the scene shows firefighters working to extinguish a fire in the 4WD parked on the curb.

An anti-Islamic message saying 'f*** Islam' was also scrawled on the mosque wall behind the burning vehicle.

No one was injured in the attack.

WA Police said four vehicles parked outside the mosque and college area were damaged in the attack.

One was completely gutted by fire.

'It is believed an accelerant was used to start the fire,' they said in a statement.

A suspected petrol bomb may have been placed in a parked 4WD outside the mosque. An anti-Islamic message saying 'f*** Islam' had been scrawled on the mosque wall behind the burning vehicle

WA Police said four vehicles parked outside the mosque and college area were damaged in the attack and one was completely gutted by fire

The burned out car (above on Wednesday) may have been set alight by a firebomb

Three people were seen running down an alleyway next to the college after the explosion.

'This, undoubtedly is a criminal act of hate, but it is the act of a person or group not the greater whole,' Yahya Adel Ibrahim from the college said on Facebook.

'Despite what just transpired, everyone stayed to finish their prayers refusing to give into the terror that had just occurred.'

Local Labor MP Chris Tallentire posted a photo on Facebook of himself at the scene.

'Muslim community of Thornlie, I feel sick that you have to endure attacks like this,' he said.

'The truth is that this was an attack on all of us.'

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A transgender grocery clerk named Misty Snow is making history as the first transgender person to win a major party nomination.

She won the Democratic primary in Utah, and will run against incumbent Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee.

'This shows LGBT people that being LGBT is not a barrier to running for political office,' Snow said, 'You can be you, and people will respect you for that.'

'A lot of people have told me whether I win or lose, I'm already making a difference just by running,' Snow said, the Salt Lake Tribune reported

Misty Snow, a grocery cashier, is the first transgender person to win a major party nomination to the Senate

Snow is challenging Tea Party favorite Republican Mike Lee

Snow didn't campaign on her transgender status, although her campaign web site shows a double rainbow behind a natural rock formation.

Snow began living openly as a woman in 2014. Although she didn't attend college, she was able to beat back Democratic opponent, marriage therapist Jonathan Swinton.

'We hoped more Democrats were really looking at the long game at this, trying to unseat Mike Lee,' he said.

'The reality is I've done my absolute best and run an honorable campaign,' he said.

Although she didn't have major endorsements, Snow ran a Bernie-Sanders style campaign, calling for the wage hike, Wall Street reform, paid maternity leave, gay and lesbian rights, and marijuana legalization. She beat Swinton with 59 to 40 per cent of the vote.

Standing tall: Misty Snow displays the platform she ran on

Double trouble: Misty Plowright claimed the Democratic nomination in Colorado's 5th congressional district

Plowright will run against representative Doug Lanborn in Colorado

Snow takes on one of the most conservative members of the Senate, Mike Lee, a Tea Party favorite who endorsed Ted Cruz's presidential campaign this spring.

She said of Lee: 'He is probably the second most loathsome guy in the United States Senate behind Ted Cruz,' the Tribune reported this spring.

'He is wrong on every issue I care about. He is a horrible guy,' she added.

It wasn't immediately clear what kind of support the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee would give to her candidacy. The DSCC did not put out a statement Tuesday about her victory.

The other transgender Misty to prevail in her primary was Misty Plowright, who will take on Republican House Rep. Doug Lanborn.

Plowright describes herself on her campaign website by saying, 'Misty is many things; An Army veteran, a self-educated woman, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and a passionate social democrat.'

She will take on Lanborn, who was elected in 2006 in a district that has been in Republican hands for decades.

The notable occurrence of having two transgender people named Misty on the ballot comes during a year when trasngender issues have gained prominence on the campaign trail.
President Obama wasn't always a huge fan of his 2008 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, at one point candidly saying she was 'likable enough.'

So in looking for an authentic way to get voters excited about a Clinton candidacy, Obama plans to remind the electorate that his lukewarm attitude toward her eventually warmed up, reported Politico.

'He can make the case as the highest profile convert to be her supporter,' explained White House communications director Jen Psaki to the online publication.

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President Barack Obama (left) wasn't a huge fan of Hillary Clinton (right), now his party's likely nominee, but their relationship eventually warmed up. A point he plans to make to the American people

NOT A FAN: In the run-up to the 2008 election tensions flared between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, with him proclaiming once on the Democratic debate stage that she was 'likable enough'

WAIT YOUR TURN: Hillary Clinton and her allies didn't appreciate the gall of Sen. Barack Obama, who announced his bid for the White House after spending just about two years in the U.S. Senate

Democrats are realizing that Clinton can't just be the anti-Donald Trump if they hope to win the White House by comfortable margins.

'You want people to feel as passionate about Hillary Clinton being president as they do about stopping Donald Trump. If this isn't a close race, it's still going to matter a great deal for her presidency,' David Plouffe, Obama's 2008 campaign manager, told Politico.

'That's one place where we need to see some improvement, on the intensity side of the Clinton question,' added Plouffe, who now consults for Obama and the Clinton campaign.

While Obama and Clinton had served in the U.S. Senate together, Clintonworld collectively scoffed when Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois who had previously served in the state senate, threw his hat in the presidential ring in February 2007.

But a year later, after improbably winning the Iowa caucuses, Obama's candidacy had taken off.

The two Democrats had a protracted and bitter primary with Clinton eventually throwing in the towel in early June, endorsing Obama at the same time. They appeared together in Unity, New Hampshire to show the world their united front.

By the time the Democratic National Convention rolled around in 2008, the relationship between presumptive nominee Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton was already thawing

In the final days of the 2008 election, Sen. Barack Obama and his former rival Sen. Hillary Clinton were attached at the hip, with Obama asking Clinton to serve as secretary of state shortly after his election

And then once Obama won the White House, he asked Clinton to become his secretary of state.

Now, eight years later, Obama is ready to assist Clinton the way that she boosted him after a long, grueling Democratic primary.

He's also ready to pay back Bill Clinton, who played the role of 'secretary of explaining stuff,' during Obama's tough 2012 re-election campaign against Republican Mitt Romney.

As Politico put it, now Obama will be the 'secretary of explaining her.'

Two days after the California primary  and just hours after meeting with her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, at the White House  President Obama threw his weight behind his party's likely nominee via a web video.

The two were supposed to campaign together for the first time less than week later in Wisconsin, but the stop was called off in the aftermath of the Orlando terror mass shooting.

Now that appearance has been rescheduled and will take place on July 5 in North Carolina, a state that Obama won in 2008, but isn't usually hospitable to Democratic hopefuls.

Additionally, the president is expected to help Clinton bring back sections of the Democratic base, including young, progressive and anti-establishment voters, who may have been more attracted to Sanders' candidacy than Clinton's, according to Politico.

And Obama will, of course, take on Trump too, something that particularly delights the current commander-in-chief as the billionaire was one of the loudest behind the 'birther' movement, which eventually forced Obama to produce his long-form birth certificate to quash rumors that he was secretly born in Africa.

'The way the president sees it is: there will be a lot of people out there talking about Donald Trump  there's more than enough material,' said Psaki, the White House communications director.
Schoolchildren who went missing in the Brecon Beacons have been found after a massive search operation.

More than 20 teenagers from St Albans in Hertfordshire are understood to have been taking part in an orienteering exercise for the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Three mountain rescue teams, police officers and a helicopter were all dispatched after the group was reported missing near Tafran Y Garreg, near Abercraf in Powys, at around 1pm.

All 26 children have now been found and are being guided off the mountain by rescuers.

Rescue: A helicopter landing in the Brecon Beacons during the search for two dozen missing children

Search: The emergency services were mobilised to the scene after the English schoolchildren went missing

A spokesman for Dyfed Powys Police said: 'We have been informed that a group has been located and the helicopter has landed with them.'

The Tafarn-y-Garreg pub in the nearby village of Penycae is being used as a rescue co-ordination centre. Landlord Andy Maglaras said the children are on their way down from the mountain.

Mr Maglaras said: 'We are just waiting for them to come down, they are up on a trail. We are getting some hot juice ready for them. The rescue mission is based in our car park.

'There are 10 or 15 vehicles in the search and the helicopter. They have told us they will be bringing the children here and to get them something hot to drink and keep them by the fire.

'Fourteen are meant to be coming here now. I think they were on a school trip, we get quite a few around here.'

Tonight, Jonathan Gillespie, the headmaster at St Albans School, in Hertfordshire, told how the massive search was sparked after two children fell ill.

He confirmed that the pupils were quickly found after friends of the unwell pair phoned police.

Mr Gillespie said: 'Our pupils are trained to contact the police if anything happens to them, which they did after two members of our school began to feel unwell.

'The police then contacted mountain rescue teams who were able to quickly locate the pupils, who used a mobile phone app which gives a grid reference to show where they were.

Operation: Rescuers take a quick break during the successful search for the missing pupils

Guidance: A flare is brandished in a field to guide the helicopter to its intended destination

'No one has been missing at any stage despite quite misleading reports contrary to that. We have 46 pupils over there in total working in small groups and all safe and sound.

'All the pupils have been taken off the mountain and are now safe.'

The alarm was initially raised after the children failed to meet up with an instructor at 1pm.

Three mountain rescue teams, a Coastguard rescue helicopter from RAF St Athan, police and several ambulances were scrambled to an area used as SAS training ground where the children were last seen.

Early fears the children were trapped in caves were dismissed. The groups were overland but lost in thick cloud with little signage and few landmarks easily visible.

The children were reportedly spotted by the RAF helicopter but it struggled to land due to heavy wind and rain. Rescuers then made their way to the site on foot.

The children were reported to be wet and cold but not seriously harmed by their ordeal.

Mr Maglaras added: 'The Mountain rescue team is setting up in the pub to check each of the children over when they get them down.'

Three mountain rescue teams, police officers and a Coastguard helicopter were all dispatched after the group was reported missing near Tafran Y Garreg, near Abercraf in Powys, at around 1pm

The pub is a popular starting point for a five-hour climb along the Brecon Way to a mountain ridge.

The ridge is not as high as Pen-y-fan, the peak of the Brecon Beacons, but the climb is steep and more hazardous because it starts low down in a valley.

Mark Jones, of Brecon Mountain Rescue, said earlier today: 'I can confirm that three South Wales mountain rescue teams have been called to search for a group of 20 missing school children in the Dan yr Ogof area.

'A recent update from incident control has advised that the MCGA rescue helicopter from St Athan has spotted the group and is unable to land but that mountain rescue volunteers are making their way to the site on foot.'
A man was shot at by a homeowner and tasered by police after running naked through backyards in Houston, according to reports.

The nude, unidentified man was reported climbing over backyard fences near Rosebriar Drive and Bazelbriar Drive shortly before midnight Tuesday, according to the Houston Chronicle.

As police got close to the scene, they heard reports of gunshots. A homeowner told officers he grabbed a gun when he observed the nude man in his backyard.

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The nude, unidentified man was reported climbing over backyard fences near Rosebriar Drive and Bazelbriar Drive shortly before midnight Tuesday. A homeowner shot at him, but missed

When he refused police commands to get on the ground, he was shocked by a police electrical gun. Local media reports showed the man being wheeled on a stretcher into an ambulance

Police said the man appeared to be under the influence of a substance. The man will likely be charged with criminal trespass

The homeowner feared for his safety after the man moved towards him, and fired a shot and missed, according to the Chronicle.

The nude man reportedly kicked out several boards in the homeowner's fence before fleeing.

He was confronted by Houston police officers in the street.

When he refused police commands to get on the ground, he was shocked by a police electrical gun.

Police told the Chronicle the man appeared to be under the influence of a substance.

Local media reports showed the man being wheeled on a stretcher into an ambulance.
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A four-month-old grizzly cub has been caught on camera showering its mother with kisses in a stunning set of photographs.

The sweetheart can be seen chasing its mother around the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming trying to land a number of smooches even if the fully-grown bear does not seem all that keen to pucker up.

A tussle turns into a bit of playful rough and tumble before the pair succumb into the heart-melting parental affection in its purest form.

They walk in tandem through the vast wildlife of the Grand Teton and junior even has time to practice climbing on a wooden pylon.

Clearly a natural with the camera, its swivels its neck to give the wildlife snapper the perfect shot.

The images were captured by photographer Troy Harrison, 47, from Nashville in Tennesse at the national park synonymous with grizzly bears.

Pucker up, mum: Junior grizzly bear tries to land a big kiss on its mother's mouth in the Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Bear hug: Junior sticks the landing and even reaches up to give mama bear a hug as she carries on walking forward through the shrubbery

The four-month-old grizzly stands up on its hind legs to reach up high and battle for a smooch with its mother

One more for the road: The cheeky nipper goes in for one more kiss, captured by photographer Troy Harrison, 47, from Nashville in Tennesse

That's enough, youngster: Mama bear appears to have had enough and fires a warning shot at her baby

Eyeing up the options: The cub watches on stood on its hind legs wondering whether or not to go in for another kiss

It was only a kiss: Junior is at it again, this time going for the less conventional sitting down option to attack his mother with affection

En garde: The battle of love commences with the four-month-old grizzly back in its upright position and jostling for a shot at the lips

One last kiss: The grizzly cub manages to land one more on its mother before the pair wander off through the National Park

The Bare Necessities: Mother and baby in tandem taking on the wilderness of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming
Blast sees people fleeing in the opposite direction as they run for cover

A huge explosion can then be seen at the

This is the terrifying moment an ISIS suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the arrivals hall at Istanbul airport in an attack that left at least 41 people dead.

The co-ordinated assault saw three attackers spray bullets over passengers and people waiting outside the arrivals hall at Ataturk airport before they all detonated explosives strapped to them, leaving 239 injured.

And shocking CCTV footage from inside the terminal shows people strolling inside the building before terror set in when the first suicide bomber blows himself up.

Before the explosion, people could be seen milling around in the arrivals hall at the airport unaware of what was about to unfold

People start to run for cover as they hear one of the attackers firing an AK-47 outside the terminal building

The short clip starts showing passengers and those waiting to collect people at the airport milling around inside the arrivals hall.

However, panic starts to grow near the entrance to the terminal as the attackers, armed with AK-47s start shooting indiscriminately outside.

Seconds later, a massive explosion can then be seen in the doorway, causing people to begin flee for their lives in the opposite direction.

It is believed the gunman arrived at the airport in a cab, with one of them immediately beginning to fire on people who were coming out of the terminal door and those waiting to welcome guests.

Seconds later a massive explosion at the entrance to the building sent people fleeing for their lives

The arrivals hall is set ablaze after the suicide bomber blows himself up outside Ataturk Airport in Istanbul

Seconds later he then blew himself up and the two other terrorists then took the opportunity to sneak into the arrivals hall, bypassing a metal detector.

Once inside, they too opened fire on people inside the door before they too blowing themselves up.

Witnesses declared the scene looked like a bloodbath with debris and body parts everywhere.

A total of 41 people have already been confirmed dead, but Turkish officials said that number is expected to rise to 50

Twenty-three of the victims were Turkish citizens and 13 foreign nationals were also among the casualties, an official has said.

A total of 41 people have already been confirmed dead, but Turkish officials said that number is expected to rise to 50.

Turkish airports have security checks at both at the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.

People flee for their lives from the arrivals hall by jumping over and ducking under barriers in the terminal building

Witnesses declared the scene looked like a bloodbath with debris and body parts everywhere

Pictures that emerged from the airport in the immediate aftermath showed a scene of devastation, with debris and what appear to be ceiling tiles scattered over the taxis queuing outside the airport.

One photograph from the scene shows an AK-47 lying abandoned on the floor of the airport following the attack. Among those who died were five Saudis, two Iraqis, one Tunisian, an Uzbek, a Chinese, an Iranian, a Ukrainian and a Jordanian national.
Ivanka and the Wild Things: Aquazzura Sues Trump for Shoe Style

Imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery. So why isn't Aquazzura happy that Ivanka Trump allegedly copied its Wild Thing shoes? The Italian shoe designer is suing the daughter of the Donald, and her licensing company Marc Fisher, for knocking off a popular sandal that it claims to have made famous.

Ivanka's shoe is called the Hettie and her licensing company denies that it's an imitation of Aquazzura's slipper. But the Italian shoemaker says that Ivanka's forever flattering them with imitation, and this is not the first time she has been inspired by their signature styles.

Wild Thing

Aquazzura sued Ivanka Trump and Marc Fisher, seeking an injunction barring the sale of the Wild Thing sandal. The plaintiff wants to know how much money Ivanka has made on the shoe, presumably so as to demand appropriate damages, and is seeking discovery on Trump's sales. The lawsuit comes after months of "low-key shaming Ivanka Trump on Instagram," reports the style blog Racked.

Aquazzura's lawsuit claims that Ivanka's Hettie imitates the Wild Thing in almost every detail. "Seeking the same success Aquazzura experienced but without having to put in the hard creative work, defendants resorted to knocking off plaintiff's popular designs," the company argued in its suit. The company argued that it was a young

The shoe in question is a high-heeled sandal with a sort of floppy suede tassel bridging the toe and an ankle strap tie with tassels. It retails for $785 but if you don't have a passion for pricey footwear , you would not necessarily know from looking at it that the Wild Thing is a coveted slipper. Stylistically, it's a cross between a stiletto sandal and a preppy tassel loafer ... and that is a fusion no one needs.

Common Thing

But it seems the ladies love the Wild Thing, as style blog In Their Closet notes. The blog collected images of the many hot bloggers who posted shots of themselves on Instagram rocking Wild Things with everything. Also notable are images of other imitations of the shoe, ranging in price from $32.99 all the way up the hundreds of dollars. That seems to support Ivanka Trump's position that the style is quite common and enjoys no intellectual property protection.

Matthew Burris, CFO of Marc Fisher, dismissed the Aquazzura lawsuit as baseless and an attempt to generate publicity. On behalf of his company and Ivanka's brand, he told reporters, "The shoe in question is representative of a trending fashion style, is not subject to intellectual property law protection and there are similar styles made by several major brands. The lawsuit is without merit and we will vigorously defend ourselves against the claim."

Follow FindLaw for Consumers on Facebook and Twitter (@FindLawConsumer).

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A man named Ronald McDonald has been shot at a Sonic Drive-In.

The 36-year-old allegedly got into an argument with a fast food worker at the restaurant in Lumberton, North Carolina.

Telvin Drummond, 24, then shot him as the pair fired at each other, police said.

A man named Ronald McDonald has been shot at a Sonic Drive-In in Lumberton, North Carolina. He was gunned down by an employee at the restaurant managed by his wife

McDonald's wife is one of the managers at the store, ABC 11 reported, which may have sparked the row.

However cops have not revealed what the row was about.

McDonald was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Drummond wasn't hit in the gun battle.

Police have not filed any charges and are still investigating what happened.

The victim shares the name with the clown mascot that has been used by the McDonald's fast food chain since 1963.

He appears in television commercials and inhabits a fantasy world called McDonaldland.
A judge has temporarily blocked the extradition of Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman to the United States

A judge has temporarily blocked the extradition of Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman to the United States.

The decision was made on Tuesday after the cartel boss's lawyers filed appeals against the transfer.

He has since been granted a temporary stay of extradition, meaning he will remain in Mexico for weeks, months or even years.

El Chapo is being hauled through the courts on charges of drug trafficking and homicide.

'The extradition requests from Texas and California lack sufficient evidence under Mexican law to extend the extradition period,' Refugio Rodriguez, one of Guzman's lawyers, told AFP.

Lawyers Andres Granados and Carlos Castillo submitted the documents Monday evening.

The Mexican government had given the green light to extradite the infamous head of the Sinaloa drug cartel after the United States guaranteed he would not face the death penalty, a punishment outlawed in Mexico.

The United States still expects extradition by the end of the year, a US official said, which would be a relatively short period for this type of procedure.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto had previously opposed Guzman's extradition, preferring to try the country's most notorious prisoner in Mexico.

But after the kingpin's brazen escape in July 2015 - his second jailbreak - through an elaborate tunnel under his cell's shower embarrassed the government, Pena Nieto requested the attorney general to expedite the extradition process.

'El Chapo' is currently incarcerated in a federal prison in Ciudad Juarez, a northern Mexican city that borders the United States.
Teresa Ward, 61, has been fined 14,000 after lying about who was at the wheel of her Mercedes when it was clocked going 8mph above the speed limit

The wealthy owner of a stately home wedding venue has been fined 14,000 after lying about who was at the wheel of her Mercedes when it was clocked at 8mph above the speed limit.

Entrepreneur and businesswoman Teresa Ward, 61, who bought 4.25million Boreham House in Essex in 2008, tried to pin the blame on a man who wasn't even in Britain at the time of the offence.

Had she admitted to driving at 38mph in a 30mph zone Ward could have escaped with just a 100 speeding ticket.

As it was she lied and was found guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court of perverting the course of justice. She was handed a four-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay a 10,000 fine and 4,500 in costs.

Ward, the registered owner of the car, was given 36 days to pay the fine or face six months in jail.

Her Mercedes was caught on camera travelling at 38mph in a 30mph zone on the A414 Maldon Road in Danbury just after 12.20pm on February 13, 2014.

When a notice of intended prosecution was sent to her, Ward, of Main Road, Boreham, responded saying that the car was being driven by someone else at the time of the offence.

Investigations later revealed that the man wasnt in the UK at the time of the offence and could not have been driving the vehicle.

Ward was reported to court for perverting the course of justice and stood trial on June 20.

Essex Police's Chris Sydric said: 'Had Ward admitted that she was driving the car at the time of the speeding offence or provided the correct details as to who was driving, then Ward or the driver may have been offered the opportunity to take part in a National Driver Re-training Course and avoid prosecution or points on their driving licence.

'The alternative would have been to pay a fine and receive three points.

'However rather than accept responsibility, Ward chose to try and lie her way out of the problem and now has to pay a hefty fine or face imprisonment.'

Caught out: The entrepreneur and businesswoman (pictured centre), who bought 4.25million Boreham House in Essex in 2008, tried to pin the blame on a man who wasn't even in Britain at the time of the offence

Picturesque: Had she admitted to travelling at 38mph in a 30mph zone Ward could have escaped with just a 100 speeding ticket. Boreham House (pictured) is a Grade I listed mansion popular with wedding parties

Ward (pictured with her husband Colin McGregor) was found guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court of perverting the course of justice. She was handed a four-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay a 10,000 fine

He added: 'I hope this case serves as a strong reminder to people that speeding notices like this shouldnt be ignored.

'If one drops through your letterbox, please make sure you provide police with the correct details of who was driving your vehicle at the time of the offence.

'If you dont, you could find us knocking at your door.'

Boreham House is a Grade I listed mansion popular with wedding parties because of its picturesque surroundings.

It was built from 1728 to 1733 and later bought by Henry Ford in 1931. He set up Fordson Estates Ltd there before the stately home was eventually passed onto Ford Motor company in 1952.
Lally Macbeth was stunned when she bought a dress (pictured) from a vintage shop which belonged to her mother 20 years earlier

A daughter was stunned when she bought a dress from a vintage shop which belonged to her mother 20 years earlier.

Artist Lally Macbeth phoned her mother while she was on a day trip to Brighton to ask whether she should buy a green and red dress which she spotted on her travels.

Her mother Penny said she should and Lally returned to snap up the 32 purchase.

But when she sent a photograph of the dress to her mother later that day, she realised it was one she used to own in the 1990s.

She told Lally she had always regretted giving it away, because she knew her daughter would love to wear it one day.

In another coincidence, Lally, who is from Cornwall, had almost bought a dress on eBay which turned out to be another of her mother's - and was made by the same designer, Susan Small.

When she found out it had been in the family, Lally decided to bid on it.

Ms Macbeth said: 'Even odder some weeks before I had been watching a dress on eBay by the same designer.

'For one reason or another I forgot to bid. But it came back into my mind after this and I ventured on to see if it was still about.

'I sent a photo to mum and, lo and behold, she had also owned that one. Both had been given to her by a dear friend in the 1990s.'

She added: 'I had to bid then and won.

'The strangest thing is that Susan Small's other garments do not bear the slightest resemblance to these two - so it makes me feel near certain these are the actual dresses my mum owned.'

Susan Small was a British ready-to-wear firm founded in the 1940s which later became part of the Fashion House Group.
Family matriarch: Following the death of the scrap dealer's wife Edith McGuinness (pictured), his oldest son and daughter went into battle over the land

A millionaire scrap dealer has left his 12million land empire to the daughter he drove to school in a Rolls-Royce car, while her older brother has received only a 100-year-old lorry.

Fred McGuinness started out as a rag and bone man on a horse and cart, before working in car breaking, and then making millions from what he jokingly called golden cornflakes of scrap metal.

The former miners yard near Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire eventually stretched over almost half a mile and its development potential means it is now worth up to 12million.

But, following his death and that of his wife Edith, Mr McGuinness oldest son, David, 70, and daughter, Denise, 54, ended up taking their battle over the land in Londons High Court.

David claimed he and his brothers, Freddie and Kevin, were promised shares in the yard for all the years of toil they put into the family business.

But now a judge has ruled that Denise is the rightful owner of the 11-acre scrap site - and David came away with only a 1920s Morris lorry, which is valued at about 10,000.

Mr Justice Newey said Fred was a real character who liked nothing more than a drink and a smoke in the pub with his friends. He was also working as a miner when he and his horse and cart rode to massive success and his string of canny land acquisitions began.

By the mid-1980s, his company, F.McGuinness & Sons, had an annual turnover of 6.6million.

Scrap site: The former miners yard (pictured) near Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire eventually stretched over almost half a mile and its development potential means it is now worth up to 12million

And the court heard that by the time Denise was born, the familys lifestyle had been transformed and Fred drove her to school in his Rolls-Royce.

When Fred died, aged 64 in 1987, he left everything he had to his wife and family matriarch, Edith.

David claimed it had always been his fathers wish that the yard should be split equally between his four children.

But, when Edith died in 2013 aged 87, she left all she had - including the yard - to Denise, barring a small gift to charity.

In a letter she wrote to go with her will, Edith said she felt that she and Denise had been excluded from the business and mistreated.

Although Denise owned a quarter of the company, her book-keeping role had been dispensed with, she never got a bonus and her pension was a pittance.

Edith also wrote that, since Fred passed away, she had watched his once thriving business go to nothing from greed.

F.McGuinness & Sons, said the judge, has ceased trading since Freds death and is now thought to be insolvent.

Millionaire's epitaph: When Fred McGuinness died, aged 64 in 1987, he left everything he had to his wife Edith

But Ediths estate was valued for probate at over 3million, after tax, and the court heard a 12million offer had been received for the yard.

Laying claim to a stake in the yard, David said his father had promised to give it all to his children equally.

He said that, at one point, Fred had thrown the deeds to the yard and other properties onto his kitchen table and said, Here, get these in your name.

When Fred retired from the business, splitting his shares between his children, it was understood that the yard would also be divided between the four of them.

Making his exit from the company he founded, Fred told his children the business was all theirs - heap, stock and barrel - and announced: Right, thats it, job done. Im off.

David claimed it was simply unconscionable that his sister should get the entire yard, which has strategic rail and road links and enormous development potential.

He said he had taken it for granted that he and his brothers would get a share in the land, having been encouraged by Fred to put their entire working lives into the business.

Ruling against him, however, Mr Justice Newey said Fred had never given a cast-iron promise that the yard would be divided between his children.

Whatever he told David, it was not clear enough to amount to a promise or assurance that could be legally enforced.
This is the moment former Home Secretary David Blunkett was cruelly tricked by a television prankster into speaking about his fears for the Labour Party on camera.

Mr Blunkett, who has been blind since birth. was giving an interview on his thoughts about the ongoing troubles in the party he served as a Cabinet member for almost a decade, and about Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

After he was being transported away from the interview area near to the Houses of Parliament with his current guide dog Cosby, he was ambushed by comedian Heydon Prowse.

This is the moment TV comedian Heydon Prowse joined David Blunkett after allegedly pretending to be a colleague or associate

Mr Blunkett was giving an interview for TV about the Labour Party and their current troubles when he was approached by Prowse

The BBC TV prankster proceeded to wind up David with inflammatory comments about throwing Jeremy Corbyn under a bus or a under a 'small taxi'.

Blunkett appeared to be off guard and seemed convinced he was speaking to a Labour Party colleague at Westminster Green.

Responding to questions on the future of the Labour Party on camera, he said: 'We are in a terrible terrible mess, what a mess. It can't be worse than this.

'I just wish he'd [Corbyn] done the decent thing then we could have done it with dignity.

'At the moment we are finished.'

The former Sheffield Brightside MP stood down at the 2015 election and entered the Lords as Baron Blunkett.

Responding to questions on the future of the Labour Party on camera, Mr Blunkett said: 'We are in a terrible terrible mess'

It was not clear if Prowse was filming a new series of the satirical BBC comedy show 'The Revolution Will Be Televised'.

The series won a Bafta in 2013 for Best Comedy Programme the 2013 British Academy Television Awards.

When asked what show he was filming a BBC press officer said: 'We cannot confirm anything they're filming or what it's for I'm afraid.'

To make his exit from the 'interview' with Mr Blunkett, the comedian said he had left a document behind

The video will provide further embarrassment for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as he battles to reamain as party leader.

At Prime Minister's Questions earlier today David Cameron joined calls for Mr Corbyn to quit as Labour leader after blaming him for losing the EU referendum.

The Prime Minister slammed the Labour leader for not trying hard enough in the referendum and as Mr Corbyn faces a revolt from almost all of his MPs, told him: 'For heaven's sake man, go.'

Ed Miliband and Harriet Harman, the last two Labour leaders, today also demanded Mr Corbyn quit warning his position was now 'untenable'.

Mr Corbyn overwhelmingly losing a confidence vote 172-40 among Labour MPs on Tuesday night.
President Barack Obama let loose on Donald Trump today for claiming the mantle of economic populism even though he has 'never shown any regard for workers' or fought for social justice.

In fact he 'worked against economic opportunity for workers and ordinary people,' Obama said, incredulously.

Saying 'something controversial in order to win votes, that's not the measure of populism. That's nativism or xenophobia or worse, or it's just cynicism,' Obama protested.

'I care about poor people that are really working hard and don't have the chance to advance,' he declared. 'And I care about workers being able to have a collective voice in the workplace and get their fair share of the pie.'

Obama said when he bailed out the auto industry, it wasn't 'popular' so maybe it wasn't populist.

'Maybe that was an elitist move on my part because it didn't poll well,' he said as he delivered a self-admitted 'rant' at the conclusion of a Wednesday news conference.

The U.S. leader was in Ottawa, Canada, for talks with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts, Enrique Pena Nieto and Justin Trudeau when he delivered his lecture on the definition of populism after reporters repeatedly asked them about Trump.

Trump on Tuesday said he'd rip up their trade pact in his latest assault on the Obama administration.

The White House hopeful said he'd renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement if elected, and if Mexico and Canada refuse, he'll inform them 'America intends to withdraw from the deal.'

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President Barack Obama let loose on Donald Trump today for claiming the mantle of economic populism even though he has 'never shown any regard for workers' or fought for social justice

TESTY OBAMA: Obama said when he bailed out the auto industry, it wasn't 'popular' so maybe it wasn't populist

The North American leaders stood firm today as they rejected his arguments against free trade and reaffirmed their support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership that Obama's administration is pursuing.

'The politics of trade are always difficult in every country. I don't know any country where there are going to be some folks who argue against trade,' Obama said in his opening remarks at the trilateral news conference.

He added, 'But we all agree that we believe that in an integrated global economy the goal is not for us to try and shut ourselves off from the world, but rather work together to raise standards around the world for workers, for the environment and that's exactly what TPP does.

'It's the right thing to do and we're going to keep working for it.'

Obama later said at Canada's House of Commons that how their nations respond to globalization and technological change will determine durability of an international order that will ensure security and prosperity.

'Restricting trade or giving into protectionism in this 21st century economy will not work,' Obama told Canadian lawmakers. 'Even if we wanted to, we can't seal ourselves off from the rest of the world.'

The U.S. president said Britons tried to do that last Thursday by voting to Brexit, and the next day 'people looked around and said, "oh, how's this gonna work?" '

Sizing up the frustration that led to the country's exit from the European Union, Obama told parliament 'people will push back out of anger or out of fear and politicians, some sincere, and some entirely cynical will tap that anger and fear, hearkening back to bygone days of order and predictability and national glory.

'Arguing that we must rebuild walls and disengage from a chaotic world or rid ourselves of the supposed ills brought on by immigrants, all in order to regain control of our lives,' he said.

Obama said the circumstances on that referendum 'may be unique' to the UK, but 'the frustrations people felt are not.'

And while the short-term fallout of Brexit can be managed the long-term trends of inequality and dislocation, 'those can't be ignored.'

Obama later said at Canada's House of Commons that how their nations respond to globalization and technological change will determine durability of an international order that will ensure security and prosperity

Obama said in his speech to parliament that he is 'extraordinarily grateful for the close friendship' he has with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he is seen hugging here today

He then proceeded to tell Canadian lawmakers why they should not embrace a British-style exit from continental partnerships

He also reassured Mexico's Nieto today that the country it is not only a neighbor but a friend of the United States as the duo attended the North American Leaders' Summit.

After a private meeting with Nieto, Obama said rhetoric from Trump, whom he referred to in principle though not by name, 'ignores the enormous contributions that have been made by Mexican-Americans and the enormous strengths that we draw from the relationship with our good neighbor to the south.'

'It's been useful for us to reaffirm all the different issues that we've been working on together,' Obama told reporters.

Trump was the talk of the summit publicly, if not privately in the North American leaders' meeting, on Wednesday, with NAFTA and his border security and immigration measures all coming up at the summit's news conference.

Nieto and Trudeau side-stepped specific questions about Trump, saying they would gladly work with whomever is elected to lead the United States next, though Nieto joined Obama in denouncing the businessman's 'demagoguery.'

Obama likewise said 'whoever becomes president of the United States is going to have a deep, strong interest in having a strong relationship with Mexico.'

'That's our neighbor, our friend and one of our biggest trading partners. I think I've made myself clear, setting aside whatever the candidates are saying, that America is a nation of immigrants, that's our strength,' he said.

'Unless you were one of the first Americans, unless you are a native American, somebody, somewhere in your past showed up from someplace else. And they didn't always have papers.'

Trudeau likewise stated in remarks before Obama at parliament that 'Canadians and Americans are united in our understanding that diversity is a sign on strength not weakness,' as he proclaimed that 'the North American idea that diversity is strength is our gift to the world.'

President Barack Obama arrived in Ottawa, Canada, on Wednesday for talks with North American leaders a day after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he'd rip up their trade pact

(L-R)Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Barack Obama arrive for the North American Leaders Summit and Leaders Summit at the National Gallery of Canada on June 29, 2016 in Ottawa, Ontario

PALS: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Barack Obama walk together at the National Gallery of Canada at the start of the North American Leaders' Summit in Ottawa, Canada

The North American heads of state all embraced the Trans-Pacific Partnership that Obama's administration is pursuing, however, even though if the faces opposition from both parties' presidential candidates.

After his meeting with Obama Nieto said, 'We have decided to support each other in order to, in the case of Mexico, have the approval of Congress of the TPP agreement.

'One of the biggest challenges that we're facing...is that we need to be very clear in terms of describing the benefits of being an integrated region,' the Mexican president said. 'Jobs are created. Companies are incorporated. Trade is free. And more development can reach people due to regional integration.'

The comments were an affront to Trump, who is vying to build a wall between the two countries and has threatened to increase tariffs on goods that are shipped between them.

Obama, Nieto and Trudeau have all been critical of the Republican businessman in the past and jointed together today to reject his protectionist approach trade.

'Always there will be people trying to get us all to turn inward, but the fact is our world is interconnected in so many ways,' Trudeau said at the trilateral news conference.

Nieto in March compared to Trump's rhetoric to that of Italian fascist Benito Mussolini and Germany's Adolf Hitler. Trudeau said in December that Trump's instance on coupling extremists with their religion 'is not just ignorant, it's irresponsible.' Obama has repeatedly derided him for 'scapegoating' Muslims and opposes his ban on letting them in.

As he delivered remarks to Canadian lawmakers on Wednesday evening, he thanked them for taking in refugees from countries overrun by ISIS and said, 'We certainly cannot label as terrorists vulnerable people who are fleeing terrorism.'

Obama reassured Mexico that it is not only a neighbor but a friend of the United States on Wednesday

Pressured to his defend his remarks about Trump playing on peoples' fears like Hitler today, Nieto danced around the topic and said, 'We are facing a global reality. We have a populist world, an interconnected world with its own challenges.

'What I have said is that in the world were living in different places we have political leaders, political stakeholders that use demagoguery and have a populist slogan that want to eliminate and destroy what has been built.

Nieto said, 'The solution proposed by some is not by destroying what we have built. It is not taking a different route. It is not to choose the road to isolationism and destruction. What we need to do is to keep up the pace towards development,

The Mexican president noted that Obama has also compared Trump's message to leaders of the past who engaged in demagoguery.

'Hitler and Mussolini did that. And the outcome, its clear to everyone. It resulted in devastation and it turned out to be a tragedy for mankind,' he stated. 'We saw it last century. That was my message. To value what we have.'

The 'three amigos' of North America were meeting today at the seat of power in Canada as their countries' governments brace for the impact of Britain's exit from the European Union and a changing worldwide economy in the face of globalization.

Obama once again assured North American leaders that the businessman is unlikely to ascend to higher office as he broke bread with them today.

He told reporters on Wednesday after his meeting with Nieto,'The cooperation that's been taking place between the United States and Mexico across a whole range of issues has been outstanding.

'We had the opportunity to discuss the continuing strength of our business, commercial, trade and people-to-people ties.'

Continuing, he said, 'The United States is not just a friend and neighbor of Mexico but the very character of the United States is shaped by Mexican Americans who have shared our culture, our politics, our business.'

Obama, Nieto and Trudeau have all been critical of Trump in the past, and they today reaffirmed their commitment to their trade partnership

Obama is in Ottawa, Canada, for talks with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts

The chaos in Europe was expected to dominate trade talk at the summit and during a trilateral news conference preceding the speech Obama delivered to the Canadian parliament at the conclusion of the meetings.

Then, Trump tore into the counties' intercontinental trade agreement as a job killer for Americans during a speech Tuesday.

'I'm going tell our NAFTA partners that I intend to immediately renegotiate the terms of that agreement to get a better deal for our workers. And I don't mean just a little bit better, I mean a lot better,' he said from Pennsylvania.

NAFTA was approved in 1993 during Bill Clinton's administration. Trump on Tuesday tried to hang it on former first lady Hillary Clinton, now his opponent in the presidential race. The trade deal was one of the 'worst legacies' of her husband's administration, he charged.

On the way to Canada on Wednesday the White House brushed off Trump and his threats.

'I assure you that the presidents trip to Canada to meet with North American leaders today does not directly involve the 2016 race in the United States,' White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

The president's spokesman said the administration's Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership set new terms for trade and repositions communities that have been negatively affected by globalization.

'Weve already succeeded in renegotiating NAFTA. Thats exactly what the TPP does,' Earnest told reporters traveling on Air Force One. 'It includes obviously countries in the Asia Pacific as well, but it includes Canada and Mexico.'

Obama was last in Ottawa his first year in office, in 2009. It was his maiden trip to a foreign country. Trudeau was not in charge of Canada at the time

Earnest boasted that the Pacific Rim trade deal 'raises standards related to the environment and to labor conditions in all of the countries that have signed the agreement.'

'It also makes those higher standards enforceable in a way that they werent in NAFTA,' he said.

Obama made a campaign promise to 'engage with our partners to make changes to those agreements to make them more fair to U.S. workers and the broader U.S. economy,' his spokesman stated. 'Thats exactly what weve succeeded in doing.'

At the summit Obama, Nieto and Trudeau also put into operation a North American caucus 'to make a more formal effort' to coordinate on regional and global issues.'

'I think what people will see as a result of this meeting is the value of our relationship, the very special relationship we have with both countries,' a senior administration official told reporters Monday during a call previewing the North American Leaders' Summit.

The countries additionally announced a continent-wide commitment on Wednesday to reaching a goal of 50 percent clean power by 2025 at the fourth annual meeting of its kind.

Obama arrives at Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport for the North American Leaders Summit. On the way to Canada on Wednesday the White House brushed off Trump and his threats

Obama was last in Ottawa his first year in office, in 2009. It was his maiden trip to a foreign country.

Trudeau was not in charge of Canada at the time. He was elected in October of 2015 and made his first visit to the White House as a head of state in March.

Nieto came to the White House to speak with Obama in 2015 at the height of the border crisis that saw thousands of Latin American minors pouring into the United States through Mexico.

The two leaders spoke privately today but indicated in their remarks afterwards that Trump's proposal to build a wall between the two countries came up.

'Isolationism is not a route towards progress. Integration is,' Nieto said afterward. 'The world is teaching us different lessons when you decide for being in isolation and what happens to those countries that decide not to be in an integrated region.'

Trump says if Mexico refuses to pay for the wall -and Nieto says it won't - he'll come up with the money through fees at the border, tariffs and cuts to foreign aid.

Obama speaks with Governor General of Canada David Johston after arriving at Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport for the North American Leaders Summit

The fourth annual summit is Obama's last. Next year, Nieto and Trudeau will find themselves negotiating with Trump or Hillary Clinton. Clinton's husband signed NAFTA into law

The United States does 1.2 trillion dollars in trade with Canada and Mexico.

Canada is its largest trade partner. It's trade relationship with Mexico is more lucrative than the business it does with India, Canada, Russia and China combined, the White House said Monday.

The White House has made the stabilization of the United States' relationships with the EU and separately the United Kingdom the focus of its diplomatic efforts this week following last Thursday's jolting vote.

Now more than ever, the administration is emphasizing the importance of both countries' participation in the 28-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Also sure to come up: Brexit. 'Certainly we anticipate that they'll have an opportunity to discuss Brexit and what it means for our economies and how we can best coordinate our efforts,' the White House said this week

The chaos in Europe was expected to overpower the energy aspect of the summit during a trilateral news conference and a speech Obama will deliver to the Canadian parliament at the conclusion of the meetings - then Trump trashed NAFTA

Nieto in March compared to Trump's rhetoric to that of Italian fascist Benito Mussolini and Germany's Adolf Hitler. Trudeau said in December that Trump's instance on coupling extremists with their religion 'is not just ignorant, it's irresponsible'

OBAMA'S SCHEDULE IN CANADA 10:15AM The president arrives in Ottawa, Canada 10:50AM Obama greets Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada at the National Gallery of Canada 10:55AM President Obama participates in a bilateral meeting with President Nieto of Mexic at the Canadian Galleries 11:40AM The president participates in a North American Leaders Summit working session 1:40PM North American leaders take a family photo 1:55PM Group engages in a working lunch 3:00PM Leaders participate in a trilateral press conference 4:20PM Obama participates in an arrival ceremony with Trudeau at Parliament Hill 4:35PM The president holds a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Trudeau in the Cabinet Room 5:25PM The President of the United States addresses the Canadian Parliament in the House of Commons Chamber 6:45PM Obama participates in an Embassy meet and greet on Parliament Hill 7:35PM President Obama departs Ottawa, Canada en route Washington, DC Advertisement

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said Sunday at a conference that brings together government officials and business leaders that pressure on the security organization to 'stay latched up will be even greater.'

Rice insisted there will be 'relatively few' security concerns with Britain leaving the EU given its continued participation in NATO.

'We will do all we can to ensure that the areas in which we are cooperating -- counter-terrorism, you name it, will remain solid,' Rice said.

France, Germany and Spain are members of NATO, which has its annual meeting on July 8 in Poland, in addition to the UK, US and Canada.

Obama sent Secretary of State John Kerry to the EU's headquarters in Brussels this week to meet with President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU High Representative Federica Mogherini along with NATO Secretary General ens Stoltenberg.

Yesterday he was in London for meeting with Cameron and his British counterpart Philip Hammond.

Kerry joined Obama in Canada for the one-day summit at which Obama held both joint and one-on-one talks with Nieto and Trudeau and a trilateral press conference.
Two former accounting firm employees were found guilty of leaking thousands of secret documents to a journalist investigating tax deals granted by Luxembourg to big foreign firms.

Antoine Deltour, 31, and Raphael Halet, 40, both French citizens and former employees at PricewaterhouseCoopers, received suspended sentences of 12 and nine months respectively at a Luxembourg court.

Deltour was also given a fine of 1,500 euros (1,200) while Halet received a fine of 1,000 euros (800). Both men said they would appeal the verdict.

Antoine Deltour, 31, (right) and Raphael Halet, 40, (left) both French citizens and former employees at PricewaterhouseCoopers, received suspended sentences of 12 and nine months respectively

The French television journalist, Edouard Perrin, who used the leaked data for a broadcast made in 2012, was acquitted of all charges.

The LuxLeaks scandal brought light to the generous deals handed to multinationals - including Apple, Ikea and Pepsi - and sparked a major global push against them.

Despite first appearing in 2012, the documents really exploded onto the world stage two years later when 30,000 pages were leaked into the public domain.

During the case Judge Marc Thill was required to find a balance between upholding Luxembourg's strict secrecy laws and protecting whistleblowers.

The French television journalist, Edouard Perrin, (pictured) who used the leaked data for a broadcast made in 2012, was acquitted of all charges

In his ruling, the judge said he recognised the status of the defendants as whistleblowers and their 'undeniable contribution... to greater transparency' on tax matters.

William Bourdon, one of Deltour's lawyers, called the verdict 'scandalous'.

He added that the message of Luxembourg's justice system was for multinationals to 'sleep tight'.

Over the course of the trial the court heard how Deltour had copied 45,000 pages of documents, which he gained access to through a glitch in the company's servers.

Prosecutors say this data and material supplied by Halet was used in the LuxLeaks revelations of November 2014 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The prosecutor had requested 18 month prison sentences and fines, far less than the five year maximum for the charges that range from violating secrecy laws to theft and IT fraud.

For Perrin the prosecutor had sought a fine, without specifying how high it should be.

The leaked documents showed that big companies secured deals from Luxembourg to slash their tax bills.
Pro-EU students claim they are so upset with the result of the Brexit vote that they have been left depressed and have a 'constant sick feeling'.

Some fanatical Remain supporters say they are 'grieving for our loss of cultural enrichment' - while others fear the stress could cause them to fail their exams.

And others blame the older generations for 'ruining their future' by opting for Leave even though the long-term effects will only be experienced by young people.

Around 75 per cent of voters under 25 opted for Britain to stay in the European Union, making them far more pro-EU than any other age group.

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Support: Hundreds of young people have complained about the result of the EU referendum

However, only a third of young people actually bothered to turn out to the polls despite the huge impact the result of the vote will have on their futures.

In the wake of the shock vote, hundreds of students took to the internet to complain about what happened.

A thread on popular forum The Student Room entitled 'Does anyone else feel genuinely depressed about Brexit?' has had around 300 replies.

One student wrote: 'I've felt so down all day because of this, and just have this constant sick feeling in my stomach.

'I genuinely feel like I'm grieving. I feel like I'm grieving for our growing economy (slow but steady). I'm grieving for our loss of cultural enrichment.'

Upset: Some claimed that they would be unable to focus on their exams because of the vote to quit the EU

Another added: 'Took about an hour for my hands to stop shaking, and for my knees to return to some semblance of working order after I saw the result.'

Although some took care not to blame Leave voters for their upset, other were more blunt in their assessment.

One complained: 'I have felt sick all day, and ashamed. And angry, with special little peaks of rage dedicated to the claptrap by degrees either ignorant, racist or both, that leavers have peddled as their "reasons".'

Other students suggested that the political turmoil had affected their preparation for exams and insisted they deserved extra marks because they were so upset.

One wrote: 'Can I class Brexit as a traumatic event when fail my exams next week? Because honestly I'm so distracted now because of it.'

Another said: 'I wonder if I can get special consideration for my Further Maths and Physics exams today because I was stressed about Brexit?'

Victory: Nigel Farage helped lead the winning Leave campaign into last Thursday's referendum

A number of students have expressed fears that Brexit will prevent them from taking courses abroad, and expressed fears that British universities could see their funding squeezed.

Most university bosses came out in favour of a Remain vote, because of the EU grants which may now be in doubt after the vote to leave.

Matthew Sadd, who is studying a Master's in chemistry at Southampton University, said today: 'I'm very worried about my future career and study prospects because I want to continue to study, perhaps take a PhD.

'I now feel with Brexit my ability to go to further into the world of research has been severely limited.

'My options are so much more limited and that really infuriates me.'

Kingston University undergraduate Harriet King added: 'The thing that really got to me is why so many people voted leave - a failed misrepresentation against immigration.

'Immigration, both economic migrants and refugees, bring so much positivity to this country.

'In my opinion the free movement of people is the most important thing in the world, and a Brexit puts a hold on this.'

Simone Nielsen, a Danish student who is about to start a graduate degree at University College London, said she is now planning to leave the country in a year's time.
A seven-year-old girl collapsed and died on Monday while attending a cheerleading camp in Illinois.

Katherine 'Kate' Babich at Main South High School in north suburban Park Ridge when she unexpectedly became sick and fainted during the camp.

Park Ridge Deputy Police Chief Duane Mellema said that a camp staff member took the little girl off to the side where she fainted after reporting that she was not feeling well, according to the Chicago Tribune.

A trainer began performing CPR on her, because she was having difficulty breathing. Paramedics were called to the school and they also tried to revive her using an automated external defibrillator, Mellema said.

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Katherine 'Kate' Babich, 7, (above) was attending the Summer Cheer Camp being hosted at Main South High School in north suburban Park Ridge when she unexpectedly became sick and fainted

Babich (above with her parents) started having difficulty breathing and CPR was performed on her by a trainer at the school

She was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where she was pronounced dead at 12.59pm the Cook County medical examiner's office said.

An autopsy for the little girl, who was a second-grader at Field Elementary School, did not rule on her cause and manner of death, pending further studies.

The child's mother, Jennifer Babich, said in a private Facebook message the family appreciated the kind thoughts from others.

'We would like to thank everyone in our community for their support,' Jennifer Babich said in the message, according to the Tribune.

Park Ridge detectives were scheduled to interview several camp staff as part of the death investigation, Mellema said.

'Maine South High School and Maine Township High School District 207 extend our deepest sorrow and condolences to the Babich family and friends,' the Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 said in statement said.

Paramedics soon arrived and tried to revive her using an automated external defibrillator before she was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. She is pictured above with her parents

The girl's mother, Jennifer Babich, said in a private Facebook message the family appreciated the kind thoughts from others. Grief counselors are being made available at both schools. She is pictured above with her parents

The remainder of the cheer camp has been canceled and crisis counselors are available for parents and children who were attending the camp.

In addition, counselors have been made available for parents, staff and students at Field Elementary School.

'All of us at District 64 are saddened by the loss of one of our students, and extend our deepest sympathies to her family,' Supt. Laurie Heinz said in a statement posted on the school district's website.

'Kate is known as an inspired leader, a leader and a good friend to everyone in her class,' Heinz said. 'I know her classmates and Field staff will miss her dearly.'

According to WLS-TV, it is suspected the little girl may have had an underlying health issue.
Small Businesses, Beware Fake Government Agents

Have you ever gotten a shady phone call from someone claiming to be a government agent? Individuals get these calls all the time, with fraudsters claiming they are calling on behalf of tax or other authorities. But businesses too are targets for scammers, and ABC News reports on the latest trick aimed to deprive your business of its hard-earned money. Consider this a warning about workplace warning posters.

Posted Warnings

The scam has to do with labor and safety regulation posters. Perhaps you know about these because you have them posted in your office or have seen them in other businesses. According to state and federal laws, workers must be given notice of particular laws or rules that impact work and often these items must be posted in particular places.

Generally speaking, these are free. No state or federal government agency should be making money from selling posters that business owners are required to have on hand, and authorities do not sell these. But reportedly scammers have been calling business owners and asking for hundreds of dollars for poster packs, with the callers claiming they are government agents. They threaten business owners that failure to comply could end with fines, closure, or worse.

Poster Purchase

The Federal Trade Commission claims that one company in particular, D and S Marketing Solutions, made more than $1.3 million with this poster scam. The real government agency complained that the marketers use official-sounding names to threaten marketers.

Calling on behalf of the non-existent "Occupational Compliance and Safety Administration," the marketers warned newly registered businesses that they would be shut down if they did not display official posters. Then they asked for hundreds of dollars for the materials, which the government provides to businesses for free. Unfortunately, many businesses reportedly complied with the fake agents' requests and the marketing business was able to make well over a million dollars selling free government goods.

Talk to a Lawyer

If you are concerned about compliance, talk to a lawyer. Get advice on how to stay within the law, what your obligations are, and how to avoid fraudsters.

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He has coldly murdered 49 people and callously boasted of slaughtering more.

But one of Russia's most dangerous serial killers is to become a groom after becoming engaged from behind bars to a fanatical fiancee.

Alexander Pichushkin will spend the rest of his life behind bars but that is of no hindrance to his partner, Natalya.

The pixie-haired shop worker from Nyagan, central Russia, began writing to the killer when he was jailed for Moscow in 2007.

Natalya Pichushkin, who has already adopted her fiance's last name, says she wants to marry serial killer Alexander Pichushkin

He proposed to her in a letter and the pair are planning to wed despite never having met in real life.

Natalya, 29, sees no reason to be afraid of the 42-year-old who she affectionately calls Sasha.

'Every maniac lives two lives. In one body coexist two completely opposite personalities,' she said on local TV according to The Siberian Times.

Natalya even has a tattoo of the man on her inner arm as a reminder of their relationship. While she is desperate to have a baby with him, she says they have agreed for her to find another man to have children with because he will be in prison until he dies.

Pichushkin was jailed in 2007 for the murders of 49 people. He claimed to have killed more and wanted to butcher 64 in total to match the number of squares on a chessboard.

His crimes made headlines around the world, with many describing him as the country's most brutal serial killer.

Between 2001 and 2005 he killed scores of victims by attacking them in the sprawling Bittsa Park in Moscow after luring them there with the promise of alcohol.

He would hit them on the head or strangle them after throwing them in to a ditch.

In 2005 his killings became more brutal, with victims being hit repeatedly over the head.

The 42-year-old was jailed in 2007 (left) after being convicted of 49 killings. Despite his murderous past, Natalya (right in a Russian documentary) believes they belong together

The 29-year-old has a tattoo of her partner and a chessboard on her arm - an sinister reference to his plan to murder 64 people to match the 64 squares on a chessboard

Natalya, who works in a children's shop, began writing to the killer when he was jailed in 2007

Some had a smashed vodka bottle plunged into their skulls and were left out in the open for walkers to find.

He was finally arrested in 2006 after police discovered his name and phone number on a piece of paper left by one of his victim's for her son.

In an interview after his arrest, he said he could not go on living without killing people.

'For me, a life without murder is like a life without food for you.

'I felt like the father of all these people, since it was I who opened the door for them to another world,' he said.

But Natalya insists he is changed. 'I do not share the interests of the old Pichushkin,' she said.

Pichushkin claimed to have murdered 13 more people but prosecutors could not find sufficient evidence to convict him of their deaths

The murderer compared his first murder to his 'first love' during his trial, describing it as 'unforgettable'

The pair were exchanging letters frequently but have had their communication blocked. Undeterred, Natalya is still writing to the murderer and says they are still a couple.

Pichushkin told how he proposed to her earlier this year and said he knew her '100%'.

He was jailed in 2007 for 49 murders and handed a life sentence.

Prosecutors could not find sufficient evidence to charge him with the 13 other murders he claimed to have carried out.

During his trial he described his first killing as 'unforgettable', likening it to his first love.

'This first murder, it's like first love, it's unforgettable,' he said as he recalled murdering his high school friend.

At the time police believed he may have been trying to compete with Russia's most murderous serial killer Andrei Chikatilo who was convicted of killing 52 people in 1992.

Pichushkin killed his first victim that year.
Hacking charges: Lauri Love, pictured outside Westminster Magistrates Court today, suffers from Asperger syndrome and other mental health issues

A British vicars son accused of hacking into the computer systems of Nasa and the FBI said today that he fears he will kill himself if he is locked up in a US jail - but faced accusations that is using his disability to avoid extradition.

Lauri Love, who could be sent abroad to face hacking charges, told Westminster Magistrates Court that he suffers from Asperger syndrome, other mental health issues and severe eczema.

The 31-year-old, who lives in Stradishall, Suffolk, with his parents, claimed he would not be able to stop himself trying to take his own life if he were to lose his extradition battle.

The electrical engineering student at University Campus Suffolk is accused of working with others to carry out a series of sophisticated cyber attacks on computer networks in the US from the UK in 2012 and 2013.

He is said to face up to 99 years in prison if found guilty after breaking in via the 'back door' to access personal information and credit card details of thousands of Government staff.

And Peter Caldwell, for the Crown Prosecution Service, accused Love of using his disabilities as a 'shield' and courting the media in an attempt to avoid being sent to the US.

It emerged that Love met psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen, the brother of actor Sacha Baron-Cohen, to discuss his Asperger.

Mr Caldwell said: The reason you were seeking him, is not because you were referred by your GP, but by your lawyers, who sought to rely as evidence on any report he might produce.

Love replied: If you are suggesting that we collectively collaborated to intentionally mislead the court, then that is disappointing. Mr Caldwell said: Is it true?

Love replied: It is an interesting point, but it differs greatly from my experience. It is up to you if you want to call into question the evidence of the medical experts.

Love told the court that he felt a deep sense of alienation as a child, and would exercise what remains of my self-control and take my life if the extradition request were to be granted.

At court: Love (pictured today with an unidentified woman), who lives in Stradishall, Suffolk, with his parents, claimed he would not be able to stop himself trying to kill himself if he were to lose his extradition battle

He spoke of his crippling eczema and the fact that he had gone through 20 courses of antibiotics in three years, rendering him dependent for the rest of my life.

The deck is stacked for most people, he said in reference to the US justice system, adding because his case had political implications the US has to make an example of me and the deck is stacked even further.

Love expressed his fear of the US jail system, adding: Everyone should have fears of being in one of them. Because of my interest in activism, I am especially aware of what happen in US prisons.

Asked by Ben Cooper, defending, to describe his childhood, Love said: I felt a deep sense of despair in the playground while everyone was milling about, having fun, and I was carrying around this great weight or burden.

In class I felt had to hold back from asking too many questions, because I was too interested in anything. The teacher was in a difficult position.

Ever from about seven or eight, this was a responsibility for me. I did have a small group of friends, but I was more interested in ideas, in reading books.

Love said that when his family moved from Wiltshire to Suffolk when he was a child, the transition caused so much stress that his hair fell out.

He said: That was very difficult. The quality of education was, in my view, inferior. I felt transplanted and unrooted, like the plant had been ripped up and thrown on the concrete and expected to grow.

Difficulties as a youngster: Love said that when his family moved from Wiltshire to Suffolk when he was a child, the transition caused so much stress that his hair fell out

After school, Love said he took a job in a Bernard Matthews turkey factory, work he said he would not recommend to anyone.

He said: I quickly became very good at it. But I learnt a lot about labour rights, the relationships between workers and bosses and the fight to be paid enough and have safety. That was my first taste of politics.

Asked about his potential extradition, Love said: Sadly, what I expect will happen, the urges, the despair, the helplessness, will manifest itself. It will not be a rational decision.

Love's lawyers want him to face legal proceedings in the UK, where he can be close to his parents

I will exercise what remains of my self-control and I will take my life. If I was sent to America, those urges to bring my life to an end would be much stronger.

Love talked about taking his own life as it being a scorpion tail against the justice system and that it could be prevented by not having me kidnapped.

Meanwhile an expert on the US legal system said Love would be given only a "cursory" medical attention in a US jail.

Speaking via video link from the US, Joshua Dratel told Love's extradition hearing this afternoon that prisoners were often not provided with their correct medication.

He said: I have 35 years experience as a lawyer. I have had cases where medical attention is only given when there dire need - there is no real continuity.

For example, on arrival, for two or three days, he will not have access to a phone or any of the provision available to ordinary prisoners.

There are medication available, but it is cursory, not immediate continuity, no care. Medications very often were difficult to get. The court had to order them in.

Even then, it is not quite the right medications that are available because there are shortages or they cost too much. So very often, the person will be given a different medication all together.

Mr Dratel also told the court that prison staff in the US very often tackled the threat of taking ones life with solitary confinement and isolation.

He added: When someone gets put in isolation to provide security, there is no comprehensive approach. The opportunities for suicide still exist when they are returned to the general population.

His lawyers want him to face legal proceedings in the UK, where he can be close to his parents, who have been described in court as his 'life support'.

His father Rev Alexander Love, who works at High Point prison in Suffolk, previously said his son was 'exceptionally gifted' but developed mental health problems at school that crippled him socially.

Love is wanted in three US jurisdictions; New York, New Jersey and Virginia. The hearing continues.
Tuesday's deadly attack on Istanbul Airport is the latest attempt by Islamic extremists to kill off Western tourism to Muslim countries, experts believe.

Groups like ISIS - who have yet to formally claim responsibility for yesterday's bombings but are considered the most likely - are seeking to continue their reign of terror in holiday hotspots favoured by Brits and northern Europeans.

By doing so, they aim to not only kill and maim, but strike fear in the hearts of travellers planning on visiting the likes of Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia.

Experts believe terror chiefs view such panic as vital to their ongoing expansion across southern Europe and North Africa.

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Tuesday's deadly attack on Istanbul Airport is the latest attempt by Islamic extremists to kill off Western tourism to Muslim countries, experts believe

One of the three terrorists that struck at Turkey's Ataturk Airport wields an AK-47 as he carries out his killing spree (left), while a man carries a wounded boy away from the airport (right)

Groups like ISIS - who have yet to formally claim responsibility for yesterday's bombings but are considered the most likely suspects - are seeking to continue their reign of terror in holiday hotspots favoured by Brits and northern Europeans

By doing so, they aim to not only kill and maim, but strike fear in the hearts of travellers planning on visiting the likes of Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia

By doing so, they aim to leave thousands of locals economically devastated as their once thriving tourist trade is forced to close down due as visitor numbers haemorrhage.

Desperate, the Islamic State - bankrolled by hundreds of millions of pounds of oil money - then becomes an attractive proposition to those embittered and broken by the collapse of their livelihoods.

Leaving Istanbul's Ataturk airport - the home of flag carrier Turkish Airlines and 'the hub of the country's tourism industry' - on Wednesday, Iranian fabric trader Huseyn Kokmus was one such tourist.

He said: 'I've been coming to Istanbul for 15 years but I swear I don't think I will be coming back this time.'

Ege Seckin, an analyst at IHS Country risk, said: '[The attack was] most likely conducted by the Islamic State to undermine the Turkish economy by attacking the airport ahead of the summer months, when tourism peaks.'

Over the year to June almost 200 people have been killed and thousands wounded in bombings in Istanbul and Ankara.

A bombing against Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet square in January claimed the lives of 11 German tourists, while three Israelis and one Iranian died in a blast on the bustling Istiklal shopping street in March.

Both attacks were blamed on the Islamic State.

An aerial view of the airport shows where the suicide bombers are believed to have detonated their explosives at Istanbul airport yesterday, close to the entrance to the international arrivals terminal

February and March car bombings in Ankara claimed by TAK killed at least 63 people between them.

For a destination which has sold itself to prospective visitors from abroad using its storied monuments - especially sites like the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia church at Sultanahmet - the explosions have been economically devastating.

More than 2.5million Brits were planning trips to Turkish resorts this year. However, that number is already thought to have been reduced significantly in the 24 hours since the bombing - with both Westminster and the EU warning of more attacks in the region.

The number of foreigners arriving in Turkey in May was 2.48 million, down 34.6 percent from the same month in 2015, according to government data.

Allen Collinsworth, an international business consultant based in Istanbul, said there are 'a lot of liquidity problems' in Turkey and that foreign investment has been drying up because of concerns about stability.

Thirty-eight people were killed at a beach resort in Sousse, Tunisia, when a gunman attacked a hotel last June. Thirty of those who died were British. That battered a tourist trade which previously accounted for 7-8 per cent of Tunisia's economy

Jean-Pierre Mas, head of French travel agencies association Entreprises du Voyage, said: 'This is very bad news for tourism and more generally for air travel. It's an attack that directly targeted travellers.'

Turkey is not alone.

The tourist industries in both Tunisia and Egypt have nose-dived since they were both targeted by IS jihadis last year.

Thirty-eight people were killed at a beach resort in Sousse, Tunisia, when a gunman attacked a hotel last June. Thirty of those who died were British. That battered a tourist trade which previously accounted for 7-8 per cent of Tunisia's economy.

The number of tourist arrivals in Tunisia dropped 25 per cent to 5.4 million last year. That contributed to a slowdown in economic growth to 0.8 per cent from 2.3 per cent a year earlier.

This year's Tourism Ministry data revealed the number of foreign tourists fell by 21.5 per cent in the first six months of 2016 compared to the same period last year - a 500,000 person drop. The number of British tourists slumped to just 8,000 from 190,000 in the first half of 2015.

The number of tourist arrivals in Tunisia dropped 25 per cent to 5.4 million last year. That contributed to a slowdown in economic growth to 0.8 per cent from 2.3 per cent a year earlier

Egypt is in a similar mire. Metrojet Flight 9268 was blown out of the sky on October 31 shortly after departing from Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport. A bomb was believed to have been hidden in the jet's cargo hold

The government has been helping the tourism sector pay for the cost of tighter security, for instance by paying social security contributions for employees, and banks are giving hotels more time to pay back their loans.

But with guests staying away, hotels are still booking losses.

There are now thought to be between 7,000 and 8,000 Tunisians fighting with IS - the highest number per capita of any foreigners joining.

In an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid admitted that the most common and significant factor drawing Tunisians to ISIS are 'economic'.

He added: 'They didn't have jobs ...they couldn't have a normal life.'

Egypt is in a similar mire. Metrojet Flight 9268 was blown out of the sky on October 31 shortly after departing from Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport. A bomb was believed to have been hidden in the jet's cargo hold.

Hotel managers in Sharm el-Sheikh have since had to slash prices to as little as 18 a night, with travel experts conceding that the resort is 'on its knees'. More than 100 hotels have closed.

'Sharm is dead,' British cafe owner Lorraine Green previously told MailOnline.

'The big hotels are now offering silly prices. The tourist business is down 90 per cent.'
Muslim mothers in families close to British jihadis who went to Syria are being trained to spot the signs their children are being groomed by extremists.

Six young men from Portsmouth went to fight for ISIS after being radicalised online, with five having since been killed and another jailed for terror offences.

Now 30 women in the Hampshire city, some of whom knew the jihadis' families, have been taught to check their sons or daughters don't follow a similar path.

Mashudur Choudhury, second from left, and Muhammad Hamidur Rahman, right, were among the so-called 'Britani Brigade Bangladeshi Bad Boys' who left Portsmouth to fight for ISIS

Mehdi Hassan and Ifthekar Jaman also went from the Hampshire city to fight alongside extremists

Ifthekar Jaman, Assad Uzzaman, Mehdi Hassan, Manunur Roshid and Muhammad Hamidur Rahman were all killed in fighting while Mashudur Choudhur was jailed for four years in 2014.

All six men were radicalised after coming into contact with extremist preachers on social media.

A course of other mothers in Portsmouth, which organisers say is being undertaken predominantly by mothers of Muslim faith, was organised under the Prevent scheme, the government's counter-extremism programme.

Among the advice produced by the campaign is to keep an eye on children who switching screens when parents come near, lose interest in their friends or start believe conspiracy theories.

Now 30 mothers from the city are being trained to ensure their children don't become radicalised online

Charlie Pericleous, from Portsmouth City Council, said: 'This was a really successful course and the women learnt a lot about the need to keep children safe online, just as they would in the outside world.

'Children and young people spend a lot of time online, and although the internet can be a very positive tool, it's important parents are aware of the risks and how to safeguard their children.

'Some of the mums on the course knew the families of the young Portsmouth men who travelled to Syria a few years ago, with tragic results.

'The course increased their understanding of what material is on the internet, what made those young men become radicalised, and how we can all work together to stop it happening again.'
Talisha Martin, 27, called police 'stupid' after she was arrested for leaving her five-year-old son in a hot car during a trip to Walmart

A Florida mother has called the police 'stupid' in a Facebook rant after she was arrested for leaving her five-year-old son in a hot car during a trip to Walmart.

Talisha Martin, 27, was taken into custody and charged with leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle after police said she left her young son in the car for more than 40 minutes.

The mother-of-two quickly took to Facebook after her Sunday arrest, writing that she had just run into the store to buy a pack of toilet paper.

She said that her son had asked her to let him stay in the car so he could play on her phone. Martin wrote that she had the air conditioner on, the windows rolled up and the car locked.

Martin then added that 'some black woman had her nose in business where it didn't belong' and notified employees at the store that her son had been left alone in the running car.

'I got arrested for child neglect. I am out now my caring and sweet hubby came and bonded me out,' she wrote in the post.

'We both think it's pretty damn stupid that they are getting me on that charge.'

'For real it was just (a) few minutes and it wasn't like i left him in there in the beating a** sun!' she continued.

Martin then concluded that she wanted to tell everyone herself because 'we know how this town likes to run their mouth and start s*** cause they have nothing better to do.'

But Martin's story differs from the Palatka Police Department, which said that her son told officers who removed him from the car that he felt hot and was 'scared because my mommy left me.'

Authorities said that the air condition was on, as Martin had said, but that it was 'blowing warm air'. Temperatures that day hit as high as 89 F, according to the Weather Channel.

Martin's son was taken to the store's loss prevention office by one cop as another waited for his mother to approach her car.

Martin (pictured left with her son and right with husband Scott Martin) was charged with leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle after police said she left her young son in the car for more than 40 minutes

Martin took to Facebook to defend herself, saying she only left her son in the car for a 'few minutes'. But authorities have since said there is surveillance footage that proves this is not true

Police said that Martin did not realize her son was not inside the car until an officer asked her 'if something was missing'.

An officer also noted that Martin's 'speech was stuttered and slurred'.

Martin was arrested at 4pm and was transported to the Putnam County Jail, where she was held on $500 bond. The boy was released to his father Scott Martin.

Authorities have since said they have Walmart surveillance video and police body cameras that proves Martin had left her son in the car for 40 minutes, according to WOKV.

The Florida Department of Children and Services also plans to launch a full investigation.

'We are very concerned about this incident,' DCF spokesman John Harrell said in a statement released on Monday.

'Not only is it illegal for a child to be left in a car, it is also inhumane and potentially deadly.'

Martin revealed on a comment in her Facebook post that her family had been in contact with DCF in the past but that it had not 'been in our lives for years now'.

'The last time they were the investigation was unfounded,' she wrote, not revealing the specifics. 'There (has) only been one time when our son was born they were in our life then for six months.'

'We have not had any problems sense (sic) then thank you very much.'

Martin was arrested at 4pm and was transported to the Putnam County Jail, where she was held on $500 bond. The boy was released to his father Scott Martin (pictured with the couple's two children)

Scott also took to Facebook, saying the family understands what Martin did 'was wrong' and that they were going to 'answer the consequences' and 'learn from it'

Martin has been arrested four times in the last five years, twice for petty theft and twice for probation violations, according to WJXT.

Scott Martin also took to Facebook, saying the family understands what Martin did 'was wrong' and that they were going to 'answer the consequences' and 'learn from it'.

'Our son is just as fine as can be,' he continued. 'Of all the comments and trash talking, very few people even asked how Scotty is.'

'We are only human. To be human is to make mistakes, and learn from one's mistakes.'

Scott said that the family recently 'made a huge comeback' after years of struggle.

'We have our own home for us four, two cars, good job, and my children have everything they need, and almost everything they could want on top of all our unconditional love we can give,' he wrote.

'We've worked very hard to come this far. People who know us, know what we have been through.'

Martin has also since taken to the comments on her original post to admit she was wrong'.

'I am admitting I was wrong and after all this I have thought a lot,' she said.
A three-year-old girl was left with severe burn across her back after nursery staff forgot to apply sunscreen when she was playing outside in 20C sunshine.

Stephanie Ross had sent her daughter Amber Ross to Jigsaw Pre-School in Locks Heath, Hampshire, with a bottle of suncream so staff could apply the lotion if the sun came out.

But she was shocked when the little girl returned later that day with bright red shoulders and giant strap marks across her back, in the shape of the dress she'd been wearing.

When Mrs Ross phoned to complain, staff admitted they had not put cream on the little girl, despite her playing outside in soaring temperatures.

A mother has blasted her daughter's pre-school after the three-year-old came home with severe sunburn (pictured), despite having protective cream in her bag

Stephanie Ross and her husband Gareth were horrified when little Amber (pictured together) came home from Jigsaw Pre-School in Locks Heath, Hampshire, with bright red shoulders and back

The 24-year-old and her husband Gareth, 29, have now pulled the little girl out of the school, claiming staff have 'failed' the family.

The pre-school has a policy where it applies suncream to children in sunny weather, but admitted a staff member had failed to follow procedure.

Mrs Ross said: 'When we joined I was told the pre-school had a suncream policy whereby parents supply a bottle with their child's name on it which is then applied on hot or sunny days.'Last week the weather was fair so I sent her to school in a summer dress, with a hoodie in case it got a bit cold.

'When I picked Amber up she was wearing her hoodie but once we got home she took it off and I saw how sunburned her shoulders and back were.

When Mrs Ross phoned to complain, staff admitted they had not put cream on the little girl, despite her playing out in 20C sunshine in her summer dress (pictured)

'I couldn't believe it - I would have never expected something like that to happen, especially when the school has a suncream policy in place and I'd even provided some for them to use.'

Mrs Ross said she went into the school and demanded an explanation.

'It turned out that no suncream was applied at any point, and she was there from 9am to 3pm,' she said. The staff could't even tell me how long she'd been outside for.

'She is a very outdoors kind of girl so she had probably been out there all day. Amber felt really sick straight after, which I think was from being out in the sun too much.'

Mrs Ross then met with the manager who said the member of staff would be disciplined. But she said her trust in the school has 'gone completely'.

'The school failed us completely,' she said, 'When you leave your child in the hands of others you expect them to be looked after properly but this just wasn't the case.

'I had no choice but to pull Amber out of the school - I couldn't leave her there. I have fair skin and Amber is exactly the same. It doesn't take long to burn if you're not covered up.

'I'm disgusted by how she was treated, especially in this day and age when we're constantly told of the dangers of skin cancer.'

Sue Millar, manager of Jigsaw Pre-School, said: 'The welfare and safety of children is an absolute priority at both Jigsaw Pre-School settings.
Taxpayers forked out more than 350,000 so drug-addict mother Kathryn Smith (pictured) and her boyfriend could fight a murder charge for beating her 21-month-old little girl to death, it has been revealed

Taxpayers forked out more than 350,000 so a drug-addict mother and her boyfriend could fight a murder charge for beating her 21-month-old little girl to death, it has been revealed.

Kathryn Smith, 23, was jailed for life in April with a minimum term of 24 years for killing her daughter Ayeeshia Jayne Smith in a 'brutal and sustained' attack.

Her ex-partner Matthew Rigby - who was found guilty of allowing the girl's death - was given a three-and-a-half-year sentence.

A Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Justice has now revealed that Smith was handed 157,472 in legal aid, which paid for her barrister and solicitor, and Rigby 205,879.

Conservative MP for Uttoxeter, Andrew Griffiths, criticised the decision to fund the pair's case with a total of 363,351.

He said: 'Legal aid is an important part of the British judicial system that everybody has access to a lawyer and legal representation, and it is important remains.

'However, people will be shocked to see just how much money was spent defending these cruel people who committed such a heinous crime.'

Ayeeshia, know to family as AJ, was heard screaming 'stop mummy, stop daddy' before she was murdered at her home in Burton, Staffordshire, in May 2014.

Her catalogue of injuries - which were likened to those of a 'car crash victim' - included a torn heart, a partially severed tongue, shattered ribs and was missing tufts of hair.

Jailing Smith for life, Judge Geraldine Andrews said of the crime: 'For no apparent reason [Ayeeshia's] life was snuffed out by a brutal beating in her bedroom surrounded by her toys.'

In total, Smiths solicitor cost 105,497 including disbursements, while her barrister cost 45,974.

Rigbys solicitor cost 100,410 plus disbursements of 20,931. His barrister cost 84,536.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: 'For the avoidance of any doubt, costs are paid to the lawyers involved in the case. Legal aid payments are not made to the defendants themselves.

'The above costs paid include VAT and disbursements, such as expenses incurred, which although paid by the Legal Aid Agency directly to the providers, are then paid to other parties involved in the case.

In court: Smith, 23, was jailed for life in April for killing her daughter Ayeeshia Jayne Smith (left) in a 'brutal and sustained' attack. Her ex-partner Matthew Rigby (right) was found guilty of allowing the little girl's death

'Please note that the above figures are those which have been currently authorised by the Legal Aid Agency. Not all fees authorised have as yet been paid.'

He added: 'Additionally, these figures are subject to change; as this trial has recently concluded billing has not yet been completed, therefore further claims are expected from some of the lawyers involved.'

Smith is currently behind bars at Foston Hall in Foston, Derbyshire. Reports emerged in May that inmates launched a 'revenge attack' on her.
Terrifying pictures have emerged of an obese ISIS fanatic beheading a prisoner just weeks after footage showed the apparent capture of a 20 stone executioner known as 'The Bulldozer'.

The heavily-built jihadi, dressed in military fatigues and wearing a black balaclava, can be seen swinging a 4ft sword down on to the head of his victim in Raqqa, Syria.

His appearance will prompt speculation that ISIS has found a replacement for its most feared butcher, a towering savage famed for beheading unarmed men and amputating young children.

Pictures show the latest hulking militant reading out charges in front of a crowd in the ISIS stronghold, before the prisoner who had been accused of 'apostasy', is tied to a chair.

Terrifying pictures have emerged of an obese ISIS fanatic (left) beheading a prisoner just weeks after footage showed the apparent capture of a 20 stone executioner known as 'The Bulldozer' (right)

The heavily-built jihadi, dressed in military fatigues and wearing a black balaclava, can be seen swinging a 4ft sword down on to the head of his victim in Raqqa, Syria

The bespectacled extremist then brings a huge sword crashing down on the victim's neck.

The pictures emerged after dramatic footage appeared to show The Bulldozer being captured by the Syrian army.

The obese extremist, a member of the terror group's so-called Chopping Committee, was seen lying half-naked in the back of a truck with his hands tied behind his back.

Crowds gathered round to take pictures of the enormous jihadi, who appeared to be grimacing, before he was driven off by Syrian Armed Forces in the footage posted online by Syrian sources.

The militant had gained a bloody reputation as one of ISIS's most feared butchers after beheading dozens of prisoners and amputating young children.

Brutal: Pictures show the hulking militant reading out charges before a crowd in the ISIS stronghold

The prisoner, who had been accused of 'apostasy', is led to a chair before being executed in public

He was infamously pictured in black robes and a mask while wielding a three-foot sword to behead his victims.

But just like Jihadi John, the ISIS executioner who was eventually unveiled as Mohammed Emwazi, the coward had apparently never dared to show his face on camera.

One of the first images of The Bulldozer surfaced in June 2014 when he was pictured wielding what appeared to be a five-foot-long, 52kg Browning machine gun, with armour-piercing bullets.

The weapon, which can be used as a light anti-aircraft gun, is usually mounted on turrets, tanks or fixed structures.

One of the first pictures of The Bulldozer to surface showed the man-mountain carrying what appears to be a Browning machine gun (pictured), which can weigh up to 52kg

ISIS websites also published pictures of the same man beheading two suspected blasphemers in front of hundreds of men and young boys in Iraq's Anbar province.

Images show the terrorist leaping into the air before bringing the large sword crashing down onto the neck of his helpless victims.
Donald Trump and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are now engaged in a Twitter war over trade.

It started yesterday in advance of Trump's economic address that he delivered in Monessen, Pennsylvania where he vowed to rip up existing trade deals and smack around the Chinese.

The Chamber  which has been critical of Trump, along with Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders too  started tweeting about how many jobs in Pennsylvania, a swing state, depend on trade.

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Yesterday Donald Trump's trip to Monessen, Pennsylvania, set off a Twitter war over trade between the presumptive Republican nominee and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Today Donald Trump hit back offering these two tweets in defense of his more restrictive trade politics that he's been preaching

The Chamber of Commerce pulled out of the vault a 2013 op-ed written by Donald Trump in which the now-candidate sings a very different tune

'1.6 million jobs depend on trade in Pennsylvania,' the Chamber's Twitter handle announced.

'Under Trump's trade plans, we would see higher prices, fewer jobs, and a weaker economy,' the business group's social media account blasted.

'Even under best case scenario, Trump's tariffs would strip us of at least 3.5 million jobs,' the Chamber proclaimed, live-tweeting Trump's remarks and linking to relevant passages for the group's website.

Today Trump responded in two tweets.

'The @USCHAMBER must fight harder for the American worker. China, and many others, are taking advantage of U.S. with our terrible trade pacts,' Trump wrote.

'Why would the USChamber be upset by the fact that I want to negotiate better and stronger trade deals or that I want penalties for cheaters?' The Donald added.

The Chamber labeled what Trump espouses as 'inward isolation,' and noted how the businessman had a much better trade vision just three years ago.

'The 2013 Trump was a lot better on trade than the 2016 Version,' the U.S. Chamber tweeted, linking to a story on its website.

The Chamber of Commerce, tweeting out its take several times, suggested that what Trump stood for was 'inward isolation'

The piece, penned by Sean Hackbarth, recalls an op-ed Trump wrote in 2013 for CNN in which the businessman prescribed economic cooperation.

'I think we've all become aware of the fact that our cultures and economics are intertwined. It's a complex mosaic that cannot be approached with a simple formula for the correct pattern to emerge. In many ways, we are in unchartered waters,' Trump noted at the time.

'The good news, in one respect, is that what is done affects us all. There won't be any winners or losers as this is not a competition. It's a time for working together for the best of all involved,' Trump continued.

'Never before has the phrase "we're all in this together" had more resonance or relevance,' he added.

In the opinion piece, Trump also suggested that the 'future of Europe, as well as the United States, depends on a cohesive global economy.'

'All of us must work toward together toward that very significant common goal,' Trump said.

To which Hackbarth wrote, 'Exactly.'

'Thus Congress should approve TPP and the administration needs to keep negotiating the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union,' the Chamber of Commerce's senior editor wrote.
An Ohio man wanted for a parole violation lead police on a high-speed chase in Ohio on Tuesday - and filmed the whole thing from behind the wheel.

Jessie M. Smith, 27, was wanted out of California for a parole violation and for allegedly violating a protection order when his girlfriend in Akron called police saying Smith had assaulted her and taken off in her car.

The woman told cops that she Smith had an argument and he kicked her out of the Honda Civic, however police soon tracked him down nearby and he gave chase around 2 am.

Smith started filming the pursuit as he drove, describing the experience as his 'last ride'.

Jessie M. Smith, 27, was wanted for a parole violation when his girlfriend in Akron, Ohio, called saying Smith had taken off in her car. He is seen here during the chase (left) and emotional in his booking photo (right)

For most of the seven-minute video that Smith took, he kept the cellphone outside of the sun roof to the show the police cars that were trailing behind him (pictured)

Smith made the seven-minute video, which was released by police on Tuesday, with his girlfriend's cellphone that was left in the car.

For a lot of the video, Smith holds the phone out the sun roof to show the cops trailing behind.

'I'm about to go down for 10 or better, five or better at least,' he says at one point over loud rap music.

'So all y'all n******* enjoy this s***.'

Smith also says that he has been stealing cars and doing this stuff since he was 'thirteen or fourteen years old'.

Police said that the video makes clear Smith's total lack of concern for the safety of those in the neighborhoods where he was being pursued.

At one point he went through a red light, almost striking an ambulance that was going through a green light.

Smith eventually pulled over on his own and was arrested without incident. He has since been charged with felony willful fleeing and obstructing official business

However the ambulance driver managed to get out of Smith's path in time.

The pursuit began in Firestone Park, entered the expressway to North Hill and back on the expressway to west Akron, where he stopped on Euclid Avenue.

Smith was taken into custody without incident.

He had a parole violation warrant on him from California for weapons offenses and a warrant from the Summit County Sheriffs Office for a violation of a protection order.
Pledging Extra: Considering Covenant Marriages

Covenant marriage is for couples who are extra committed. They are so committed that they accept certain legal obstacles to splitting up before they have even pledged their lives to one another.

This type of marriage is relatively new under state law, but it refers to the oldest tradition in the book: a deal before God. Let's take a look at covenant marriage.

Three States

A covenant is like a contract or a deal, but it is deeper. The covenant marriage is a new approach to the oldest type of agreement, and although it is a legal agreement, it signifies that the bond between the couple is beyond the law. The couple who covenants is in deep and they mean it and they have made the promise to God.

Practically speaking, in the three states where covenant marriages are recognized by law -- Arkansas, Arizona, and Louisiana -- these unions demand more from those entering into a covenant. They limit grounds for divorce and can impose counseling ahead of the marriage and for a specified time before the couple may split as well. In the legal sense, these unions are basically just marriage plus. But for the religious, they are extremely meaningful expressions of commitment.

Coming Together

A covenant is more than a contract. It's a deal, a solemn pledge, made before God. Covenant marriages appear to be an American Christian concept recalling the more traditional approach to marriage, which is a pledge to remain together forever no matter what happens.

Covenant couples are swearing they will stay together through thick and thin, which is what everyone says when they get married. But these couples mean it even more than all the others and prove it by promising more in their vows.

Mother of Covenants

This type of union is the brainchild of a Louisiana law school professor who was very concerned with the impact of divorce on children's lives. Katherine S. Spaht the "mother" of covenant marriage in Louisiana, told reporters, "The suffering was abundantly clear. I reached that conclusion in the fall of 1995, and I promised God I was going to do something about it." She did. Just two years later she worked on a bill that became a law in 1997 and was the first of its kind in the country. Shortly thereafter similar covenant marriage measures passed in Arizona and Arkansas.

Consult With Counsel

If you are getting married or concerned about what kind of commitment is right for you and your true love, speak to a lawyer. Many attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to provide guidance.

Related Resources:
Two climbers who claim that they became the first couple to conquer Everest are being investigated by police after allegedly faking photographs of their achievement.

Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod, who are both police officers from Pune, India, announced in a press conference on June 5 that theyd made it to the top of the worlds highest mountain on May 23.

The boss of Kathmandu-based climbing company Makalu Adventure says that his sherpas helped them make the ascent and that they even have climbing certificates from the Nepalese authorities.

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Climber Satyarup Siddhanta claims that this picture of him on the summit of Everest has been 'stolen'

Siddanta's picture seems to have been uploaded to the website of a trekking company to support the claims of a couple from Pune that they conquered Everest. The two pictures are identical in almost every way. The main differences are the gender of the climber, the appearance of a flag and a change in the colour of the gloves

But several expert mountaineers cast serious doubt on the couples claim after photographs from their expedition emerged.

Climber Satyarup Siddhanta posted a message on his Facebook page alleging that pictures of him at the summit of Everest had been stolen and subsequently altered by the Rathods.

He wrote: This is so so so amazing!!!!!!!! They took my pics and Photoshopped their image of summit... And got certificates too... Where is mountaineering going????? Shame on you officers from Pune!

Two photographs appeared underneath his claim. One of a climber in a yellow jacket giving the thumbs up at what appears to be the Everest summit, another showing a group of climbers huddled together on the ground. Oxygen masks are being worn in both pictures.

He also posted a link to a Buzzfeed report on the controversy.

The group shot appears on the Makalu Adventure website in a story with the headline Indian couple conquers Mount Everest, sets record and the caption 'Dinesh and Tarkeshwari Rathod at Summit of Mt Everest.

Siddanta uploaded this picture to his Facebook page. It shows him, seemingly, at the summit of Everest

The same picture appears on the website of Makalu Adventure with the caption 'Dinesh and Tarkeshwari Rathod at Summit of Mt Everest'

A picture of the Rathods on Everest emerged that showed them wearing completely different outfits to those on the summit. Gavin Bate, 50, a climber whos summited Everest six times told MailOnline that its inconceivable that a climber would change their jackets and boots on an Everest climb

The picture of the man giving the thumbs up has also been posted by Makalu Adventure under the same headline and with the same caption, but it has a few differences.

The person in the photograph is now holding an Indian flag, has a womans face and is wearing different-coloured leggings.

The rest of the picture is almost identical.

Software consultant Satyarup Siddhanta, 33, from Bangalore, who summited Everest on May 21 this year, told MailOnline: 'I don't know whether the family summited or not. I was not there to see that. All I want is those pictures of mine should not be misused. Those pictures mean a lot to me. Fortunately I have our summit video, or else someone could have pointed the finger at me.

'Makalu Adventure put a watermark on the morphed picture. What a shame.

'People who have closely followed our climb for the past two years know what went behind the climb. That summit picture is not just a summit picture. It has stains of the death of three close friends. It has stains of debt, it has stains of trauma caused by the death of a Sherpa in front of our eyes, it has stains of unparalleled risk.'

Further suspicion has been thrown on the Rathods claim by the fact that they appear in another picture on the face of Everest, on the icefall, wearing completely different jackets, boots and gloves.

Gavin Bate, 50, a climber whos made six expeditions to Everest told MailOnline that its inconceivable that a climber would change their jackets and boots on the summit day of an Everest climb because its simply too cold and tiring to do so.

He said: 'You're too knackered, it's too windy and it's too cold. I've been up six times and it's inconceivable that you'd take a second pair of summit boots and a second down jacket.'

Mr Rathod posted this image of him at basecamp on Facebook. It has since been taken down, though there are no claims that this image has been doctored

Another climber, Anjali Kulkarni, weighed into the row by stating that she'd met the Rathods at base camp on May 10 and that they hadn't started training or acclimatising at that point.

She told Buzzfeed: 'If a team has not started acclimatisation until May 10, it is close to impossible to reach the summit on May 23.'

However, Makalu Adventure boss Mohan Lamsal told the BBC he had no doubt about the Rathods claims and that their certificates had been issued after theyd been carefully interviewed by the Nepalese authorities.

Lamsal added to MailOnline: 'So far as we know from the information we have gathered, we should have no reason to doubt that they [the Rathods] climbed Everest.'

MailOnline has contacted the Rathods for a comment.
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These are some of the amazing images of Muhammad Ali that have sat in a photographer's archive for the past 46 years having never been used at the time the were commissioned.

Photographer Carl Fischer was sent on assignment to cover Ali at home in Philadelphia by Esquire magazine in February 1970.

He took candid shots of the boxer, who was still at the height of his powers, but there was no story worth publishing to go with the images. Even though Ali was watching a live closed-circuit feed of the Joe Frazier and Jimmy Ellis fight in a Philadelphia studio.

Esquire magazine sent photographer Carl Fischer to document Muhammad Ali at his home in Philadelphia in February 1970

Despite the amazing access to Ali and his family at home with his daughter Maryum, the photographs have not been seen until now

Fischer told Esquire that he had been sent down on assignment but there was no story despite the amazing set of photographs

According to Fischer, Ali was anonymous in the dark,

Fischer told the Esquire special edition featuring the boxer: 'Esquire thought there'd be a story there, but it turned out not to be much so the story never ran.

'We sat in the balcony and watched the fight, and with the lights down, no one recognized him. But when it was over, for some reasonas the lights went up, he jumped up on the seat and yelled, "I am the champ, I am the champ!" The crowd loved him and went crazy and it was all we could do to get out of there.'

Fischer said he went back to Ali's house with him and took pictures of him with his family.

He added: 'There was never a photograph Ali told me not to take. He was a celebrity, he was an icon, but he never played it that way.'

According to Fischer, during the trip, Ali went to see a fight at a theater featuring Joe Frazier and Jimmy Ellis and sat anonymously

When the fight ended, Fischer said Ali jumped up from his seat once the lights came back on and said 'I am the champ'

As soon as Ali stood up, according to Fischer, the crowd went wild and they had to make a rapid escape back to Ali's house

Sitting in his socks while talking on the phone, Muhammad Ali allowed amazing access to Fischer to document his family
An 18-year-old prostitute who claims she has slept with 32 police officers has said she wouldn't have spoken out if a cop had picked up the phone on her birthday.

Celeste Guap has sparked investigations across seven law enforcement agencies in California's Bay Area after revealing she had sex with multiple officers, even when she was underage.

The scandal has prompted three chiefs from the 'frat house' Oakland Police Department, to resign and led to the suicide of a cop.

But the teenager has said that she is still getting calls from officers asking for sex. She said she feels 'guilty' that the revelations came out, but insists it was just 'adult consensual fun'.

Guap also said that out of the 32 officers she'd slept with, only three had paid her. However she kept the trysts going because they would share information about criminal investigations.

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Celeste Guap, 18, (left and right) the prostitute who claims she has slept with 32 police officers from seven law enforcement agencies, says she is still getting offers for sex from cops

The teenage mother claims she wouldn't have spoken out about the trysts if a cop who slept with her when she was underage picked up the phone on her 18th birthday. She was slammed on social media for positing this picture on social media with her daughter in the background

From left to right Sean Whent, Ben Fairow and Paul Figueroa all quit as Oakland Police Chiefs in the space of eight days earlier this month in the wake of the scandal

'Their perks become your perks,' she said.

In her latest interview with ABC 7, the mother said she was first paid for sex at the age of 12 and had her first liaison with a cop when she was 16.

In the almost two years that have followed, police officer's careers have been put on the line.

Sean Whent, Ben Fairow and Paul Figueroa all quit as Oakland Police chiefs in the space of eight days earlier this month.

Guap claims she slept with three other officers - two from Oakland and one from the Contra Costa Sheriff's Department - while she was a minor.

Guap also revealed that she is still working on the streets, but is concerned as many of the cops she knew have turned their back on her.

WHERE THE 32 COPS WHO 'SLEPT WITH GUAP WORK 16 - Oakland Police Department 6 - Richmond Police Department 4 - Alameda County Sheriff's Department 3 - San Fransico Police Department 1 - Contra Costa Sheriff's Department 1 - Livermore Police Department 1 - Defense Logistics Agency (contacted Guap after the scandal erupted) Advertisement

Speaking to a reporter in a park where she had allegedly met officers for sex, she spoke about why she told senior officials in the Oakland Police Department about her illicit relationships.

She said she was in Puerta Rico for her 18th birthday last September when she stumbled into a bad neighborhood, drunk and just wearing a bikini.

Feeling unsafe, she called officer Brendan O'Brien, who she had been close with. But he didn't pick up.

The pair first had sex when Guap was just 17.

They had met when she was being chased down the street by a pimp.

After he ignored the call, she sent a message to someone in the department, naming some of the officers she had been sleeping with.

She also started revealing details of the relationships with members of law enforcement on Facebook, but insisted they were 'harmless'.

O'Brien committed suicide just hours later, reports suggest. In his suicide note, he reportedly said he still felt the strain of his wife killing herself in his apartment.

He also claims Guap was blackmailing her. She denied that allegation.

'I talked him into it. I feel guilty. He was trying to do the right thing,' she told ABC 7.

Guap revealed that she also had a tryst with a canine handler.

'There was this one point we did it in the car and he had his canine watching us on the back seat,' she said.

On 10 occasions she said police provided her reports and inside information on criminal investigations.

She spoke to a reporter in a park where she claims she had taken several officers for sex

Guap has said that out of the 32 officers she'd slept with, only three had paid her. However she kept the trysts going because they would share information about criminal investigations

Text messages from the young prostitute reveal exchanges with Oakland officers, who appear to warn her about undercover operations while she was working as a prostitute

In one exchange, Guap asks for details about undercover sting to which the officer acquiesces

While in another text conversation with a different Oakland officer, Guap sent a picture of herself having sex with someone else

Guap also made several suggestive posts on Facebook hinting at sexual affairs with police officers

As police departments continue their investigations, Guap refuses to hand over their names, but she admits she doesn't think they are standing up for her.

'They all turned their backs on me,' she said.

The teenager claims she slept with four people from the Alameda County Sheriff's Department.

Their senior officials have since cleared four deputies on the basis that the sex was consensual, they didn't pay, and she was 18 at the time.

Officer Brendan O'Brien, who had sex with Guap when she was 17, killed himself hours after learning she was going to report their liasons to his superiors

The scandal was first reported on May 12 when Guap took to social media.

Referring to officer O'Brien's suicide, she wrote on Facebook: The only officer I ever messed with underage is sadly gone now, so I don't know why this is still being brought up.'

The investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct was only opened after O'Brien's death on September 25, 2015, the Express reports.

But sources say sexual misconduct had been ongoing since 2014 and alleged that investigators may have failed to properly look into the allegations.

Another investigation was later ordered by a federal judge, in which many officers admitted they had lied during the first one about their relationships with Guap.

One officer has reportedly now admitted having sex with Guap while knowing she was underage.

The officer, who has not been named, is facing a statutory rape charge in the criminal investigation that is also underway.

Guap has another connection to the department  her mother works as a dispatcher there. She has a tattoo on her decolletage that read 'Dios, Patria, Libertad' - which means 'God, Homeland, Liberty.'

Just a few weeks ago, the teenager posted a picture of an Oakland PD vehicle after claiming to have been dropped her off near her home, writing: Took me back to Richmond in style.

She also shared a memory from a year ago on Thursday  a Facebook status in which she  alongside a police officer emoji  wrote: Calls me his Mrs Undercover thats cuz we always undercover.

Earlier this month, Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf described the police department as a 'frat house'.

She revealed it was currently investigating racist text messages exchanged by officers.

The politician said she hoped to eliminate the department's 'toxic, macho, culture'.
A young woman fled naked into a busy city centre street after being caught in bed with her married lover.

The bizarre incident was captured on camera in the city of Perm in central Russia.

Passers-by grabbed their smartphones to photograph the slender redhead after spotting her walking near an equestrian centre.

This picture was taken by a motorist who spotted the woman walking naked through the streets

The woman tried in vain to protect her modesty with her arms as she walked along pavements and across a busy road.

Local media reported she had been having an affair with a married man and had jumped out of a window after his wife came home unexpectedly.

But as the pictures went viral on social media some jokers had their own ideas why she was naked.

As the woman desperately tries to preserve her modesty passers-by try to pretend there is nothing unusual about a naked woman in the street

Internet user 'kkt' said: 'Maybe she just really wanted to have sex and simply went out on the hunt like that being completely desperate.

'If she was running away from her lover's place, surely she would have definitely grabbed something to cover herself with.'

It is not known what became of the married lover and his wife.

Perm is located on the banks of the Kama River in the European part of Russia, near the Ural Mountains.

Temperatures in Perm in June are around 14 degrees Celsius but in the winter they can dip as low as minus 16.
Cat lovers have their claws out after a popular library cat was fired from his job and evicted from his home by a feline-hating city council.

Browser, a Siamese mix who was adopted from a local shelter in 2010 to help control rodents at the White Settlement Public Library in White Settlement, Texas, is in danger of losing his residence after he was voted out on June 14 by two city council members.

The town's mayor, Ron White, is against the cat's outster.

'He helps children read,' White told ABC News. 'Little children will come into the library and theyll read to Browser.'

Browser the library cat may be kicked out of his adopted abode on July 14 since the city council has voted that animals can't be in public buildings

Brower's doom was listed with the words 'Discuss and consider relocation of Library Facility cat Browser' on the White Settlement City Council agenda listed for June 14 - and he was voted out despite massive public op-paws-ition

Feline free: The White Settlement Public Library (left) will have to evict Browser; Elzie Clements (right) is one of two city councilmen who voted to evict Browser

The cat must be out by July 14.

'The council just went out and did this on their own because they dont like cats,' Mayor White told the Star Telegram.

Not only does Browser encourage kids to read, he takes care of rodents in a natural way, so the library doesn't have to hire an exterminator use potentially dangerous chemicals that will then be handled by children, says White.

Browser is also the star of an annual calendar that helps raise money for the library.

But the cat-astrosphe was set in motion by council members Elzie Clements and Paul Moore, who led a 2-1 vote to boot the kitty, despite a large group of people who swarmed City Hall to protest the eviction.

Feline lovers and library regulars have already started a petition to keep Browser in his home.

'Browser ... hasn't done anything to deserve this unfair treatment,' said the petition which has over half of its 5000 supporters goal.

He also has a Facebook support page, with 290 supporters thus far. According to the page, his fans are 'gearing up for a huge push in the coming days!!!'

'Who can resist this cat? Oh yeah right.......2 old city council men who hate cats and are going to decide for the whole community,' commented Melissa Sackett on the page.

The blue-eyed Siamese mix is a bit hit with the public and even has his own Facebook page, but this hasn't helped his cause with the city council

Browser is the reading mascot of the library and his supporters say that he encourages children to read - none of which seemed to matter to the city council

People are flocking to the library's Facebook page to express their dismay.

'Keep the cat! Vote out the city council if they go through with this!!' wrote Maure Bond.

'You obviously have NO CLUE how to motivate children to read. Evicting their mascot is NOT the way to go about this,' commented Liza Null.

The petition says that an upcoming July 12 meeting could reverse the decision.

According to the library's website, 'Despite the fact that one of [Browser's] favorite activities is to pounce out the front doors whenever someone comes to visit, we know he loves his home here and all the love and attention he gets from his fans!'

Unfortunately, it may not be his home much longer.

But the cat's supporters say that if the city council doesn't reverse its decision, it will add the cat's fate to a ballot during the November elections.
Tragic stories of the lives cut short by three suicide bombers at Istanbul airport are beginning to emerge.

The attackers, believed to be ISIS extremists, claimed 42 lives, most of them Turkish citizens, when they detonated their devices at the city's Ataturk Airport.

Among those who died were five Saudis, two Iraqis, one Tunisian, an Uzbek, an Iranian, a Ukrainian, a Jordanian and a Chinese national.

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At least 42 innocent people lost their lives in the attack, including Mahmoud Cizmecioglu and his wife Zeynep Cizmecioglu, pictured

A number of people killed on Tuesday had only come to the airport to meet their loved ones or do a job, including Goksel Kurnaz, 38, who was picking up his boss from the airport.

Serkan Turk, a 24-year-old physical education graduate who had gone to the airport to meet his mother.

He was killed by the second blast, after he went to try and help those injured by the first.

Airport worker Yusuf Haznedaroglu (pictured, with his fiance) was due to get married in 10 days' time

Yusuf Haznedaroglu was due to marry in 10 days: pictures have emerged of him smiling broadly for the camera with the woman who should have been his bride.

One woman had just started a new job, while Gulsen Bahadr, a TGS Yer employee who is understood to have been shot, wrote on her Facebook a week before, 'I accept, I love and thank you, everything in my life'.

Today, a friend wrote on her Facebook page: 'Rest in heaven with a beautiful human...'

Customs officer Umut Sakaroglu has been hailed as a hero for his actions. He was standing guard as a terrorist tried to go through the first set of security.

Today, a friend wrote on Gulsen Bahadir's (left) Facebook page, 'Rest in heaven with a beautiful human...'. Fellow airport employee Umut Sakaroglu (right) has been credited with saving lives after trying to stop the terrorists before they detonated their bombs

Goksel Kurnaz (pictured left) and this woman (right) were also named among the dead. Mr Kurnaz was at the airport to pick up his boss

Realising the danger people were in, it appears Sakaroglu shot at the suicide bomber, who then detonated his belt, killing the customs officer.

However, his colleagues say had he not acted, many more people would have been killed.

'The explosion came very close to areas where passengers are waiting for people,' a source told Hurriyet.

'Unfortunately, at that moment Sakaroglu was martyred. But if not for that intervention, there would be more casualties.'

Gulsen Bahadr, an airline employee who is understood to have been shot, wrote on her Facebook a week before, 'not war, I insist, love'

Serkan Turk (left) was at the airport to pick up his mother but died when he went to help after the first explosion. A mourner holds a photograph of hero customs officer Umut Sakaroglu at his funeral today (right)

The first funerals were conducted on Wednesday, buried within 24 hours in accordance with Muslim tradition.

The coffin of customs officer Siddik Turgan was carried to the service by dozens of family members, while his distraught daughter watched on, reaching out to her father's coffin.

The airport taxi drivers also gathered for the funeral of fellow driver Mustafa Bayrakli, 51, another of the victims.

Waiting to collect her father's body earlier today, Oznur Buzakci wept as she told Hurriyet: 'I can't find anything to say. Many people are hurt. On this holy day, they hurt everybody. There is no justice.'

And as the families begin to bury their dead, stories from inside the terminal continue to surface.

The daughter of Siddik Turgan, who was killed on Tuesday, reacts as her father's coffin is carried nearby during his funeral ceremony

Dozens of relatives carried Mr Turgan's coffin, draped in a Turkish flag, to the service on Wednesday afternoon

Taxi driver Mustafa Bayrakli, 51, and Col Kontuar, who worked at the airport as a desks officer

Airport taxi drivers pray during the funeral ceremony of their colleague Mustafa Biyikli, 51. His daughter told reporters earlier in the day that there was 'no justice... on this holy day'

Serkan Turk, 24, was at the airport to collect his mother. He was killed in the second blast, after going to help people injured in the first

One of the three terrorists that struck at Turkey's Ataturk Airport wields an AK-47 as he carries out his killing spree (left), while a man carries a wounded boy away from the airport (right)

Another mother of one of the victims is comforted after learning the fate of one of her children after suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up

A mother who lost one of her children in the attack has to be helped from the ground outside a forensic medicine building close to Istanbul Airport

An aerial view of the airport shows where the suicide bombers are believed to have detonated their explosives, close to the entrance to the international arrivals terminal
Caitlyn Jenner is remaining a firm Donald Trump supporter as the rest of the Kardashian and Jenner family stand by Hillary Clinton.

In a recent interview with STAT News that focused on health and the transgender community, the Olympian said: 'Trump seems to be very much for women.'

She did not back up her statement about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee with any evidence.

The 66-year-old conservative said that President Barack Obama has been good about transgender issues, despite disagreeing with him on the economy and the Constitution.

Caitlyn Jenner is remaining a firm Donald Trump supporter as the rest of the Kardashian and Jenner family stand by Hillary Clinton

Jenner made the comments while she was in Aspen, Colorado for the Spotlight Health Conference over the weekend. Above she is pictured during the conference, which was a part of the Aspen Ideas Festival

However, she challenged the assumption that Democrats are good and better for the LGBTQ community.

'[Trump] seems very much behind the LGBT community because of what happened in North Carolina with the bathroom issue,' Jenner told STAT News. 'He backed the LGBT community.

'[I]n Trump's case, there's a lot more unknowns, with Hillary, you pretty much know what you're gonna get with the LGBT community.'

Jenner made the comments while she was in Aspen, Colorado, for the Spotlight Health Conference that is a part of the Aspen Ideas Festival over the weekend.

The billionaire businessman just last week incited a Twitter firestorm when he spoke at a rally on Wednesday saying that he is more pro-LGBT than Hillary Clinton.

'Ask the gays what they think and what they do, in, not only Saudi Arabia, but many of these countries, and then you tell me  who's your friend Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?' Trump said while speaking about what life is like for 'gays' in Saudi Arabia.

The quote, 'Ask the gay's' began trending shortly after with many people posting memes in response.

In a recent interview with STAT News that focused on health and the transgender community, the Olympian said: 'Trump seems to be very much for women'

STAT News also reported that she mingled among the conference attendees and also posed for selfies.

The reality TV star discussed transgender health care and refuted the claim that she might be transitioning back to being a man.

'Girls, I'm on the team and I'm not leaving,' she told the crowd at the conference.

When asked how doctors and medical professionals dealt with her, Jenner said that they together have 'come so far' in the last 10 or 20 years with the psychiatric side of it.

'There are so many more doctors now out there who specialize in gender dysphoria,' she said.

'I'm working on a video right now with Philadelphia Children's Hospital, and possibly Chicago, explaining to doctors what to look for if you're in rural America and have a trans child.

'How do you deal with it? You've got to get them while they're young - around 16 - because that's where the big suicide rate is.

'We need just to help explain this to doctors so they can put it on their websites.'
The foreign affairs chief of the EU has warned that Europe is unable to rely on NATO for its military without Britain, sparking worries that an EU army may have to be formed following the Brexit vote.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday urged the bloc to do more in its own defence, just as leaders discussed Britain's leave vote which will result in the loss of a major military power.

'As Europeans we must take greater responsibility for our security. We must be ready and able to deter, respond to and protect ourselves against external threats,' Mogherini said in a policy review submitted to European Union leaders meeting in Brussels.

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The foreign affairs chief of the EU, Federica Mogherini (right, speaking to David Cameron) has warned that Europe is unable to rely on NATO for its military without Britain

While Britain is an active contributor to the currently very limited EU military operations, David Cameron has consistently opposed any idea of a separate EU army.

Mogherini's review, a year in the making, lays down ambitious goals for the EU in the face of new security challenges in the east, highlighted by the Ukraine crisis, and in the south, driven by turmoil across Africa and the Middle East.

'While NATO exists to defend its members - most of which are European - from external attack, Europeans must be better equipped, trained and organised to contribute decisively to such collective efforts, as well as to act autonomously if and when necessary,' the review said.

'An appropriate level of ambition and strategic autonomy is important for Europe's ability to foster peace and safeguard security within and beyond its borders.'

EU leaders had tasked Mogherini with drawing up the 'Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy' last year as Europe struggled to deal with its worst migrant crisis since World War II.

The report was meant to be a top agenda item at the EU summit on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels but the Brexit vote meant discussion was limited.

Britain would be a key element in any more ambitious EU security strategy, given its status as a nuclear-armed and veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Only France matches this standing while Germany, the most powerful EU member state, is very wary of any foreign military involvement.

Mogherini has consistently argued that the EU should play a global role in keeping with its status as one of the world's largest economies.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has offered his condolences to Turkey in a promising bid to mend ties after 42 people were killed in a terrorist attack in Istanbul.

The Kremlin said that Mr Putin expressed 'profound condolences' after suspected suicide bombers gunned down people at Ataturk Airport before detonating suicide vests on Tuesday night.

There has been bitter relations between Mr Putin and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan since the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey last year.

Russian president Vladimir Putin (left) spoke with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) today in a promising bid to mend ties between the two countries

But the pair are now seeking to mend the relationship, with Mr Erdogan planning to meet Mr Putin in September.

Following his first call with Mr Erdogan since the incident, Mr Putin announced that Moscow's ban on charter flights and package tours to Turkey would be lifted

He added that the government would also look at ending an embargo on some Turkish food products.

'I want to start with the question of tourism... we are lifting the administrative restrictions in this area,' Mr Putin told government ministers in televised comments.

'I ask that the Russian government begin the process of normalising general trade and economic ties with Turkey.'

The raft of sanctions were imposed on Turkey after the jet was gunned down along the Turkey-Syria border in November last year.

This diplomatic breakthrough with Russia was forged in a phone call between the two presidents just days after the Turkish politician sent a letter to the Kremlin leader that Moscow said contained an apology over the downed fighter plane.

People can be seen desperately rushing to leave Ataturk Airport in Turkey yesterday as terrorists unleashed a deadly attack

Groups of forensic police work at the site of the explosion at Istanbul's main international airport last night

And the Turkish presidency said in a statement that Mr Erdogan and Mr Putin 'highlighted the importance of the normalisation of bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia'.

U.S. president Barack Obama also exchanged words with Mr Erdogan today, and pledged to break down 'organisations of hate' after the deadly bombing at Istanbul's airport.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says Mr Obama also offered his condolences, as well as U.S. support and assistance in the investigation into the attacks.

The world's largest body of Muslim-majority nations has also condemned the bombing.

Iyad Madani, the secretary general of the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation of which Turkey is a member, stressed his 'absolute rejection' of the attack, which was carried out during Ramadan.

Turkish police officers patrolled Ataturk Airport after suspected suicide bombers gunned down people inside before detonating a bomb

This is a spiritual month during which Muslims fast daily from dusk to dawn. The attack came a week before the Eid holiday, a celebration that marks the end of Ramadan.

Most victims of the attack, which Turkish officials believe was carried out by the extremist Islamic State group, appear to be Muslim.

And Israel's president has told Turkey that their countries' new reconciliation pact will help with joint efforts to combat attacks like the one at Istanbul airport.

In a condolence letter, Israeli president Reuven Rivlin told Mr Erdogan that Israel is willing to help with Turkey's recovery - and to work together to prevent future attacks.
Billionaire financier George Soros has accused Angela Merkel of bringing 'chaos' to Europe through her open-door immigration policy.

The Hungarian, who 'broke the Bank of England' in 1992, said the German Chancellor's decision to 'open her country's doors wide to refugees' was 'not properly thought out'.

Soros, 85, said a 'lack of adequate controls' sparked panic across the continent and that the European migration crisis and Brexit debate then 'fed on each other'.

Billionaire financier George Soros (pictured) has accused Angela Merkel of bringing 'chaos' to Europe through her open-door immigration policy

Critics have branded German Chancellor Angela Merkel as being responsible for Brexit, blaming her open-door migration policy as being a 'driving force' for the Leave campaign's victory

He said: 'German Chancellor Angela Merkels decision to open her countrys doors wide to refugees was an inspiring gesture, but it was not properly thought out, because it ignored the pull factor.

'A sudden influx of asylum-seekers disrupted people in their everyday lives across the EU.

'The lack of adequate controls, moreover, created panic, affecting everyone: the local population, the authorities in charge of public safety, and the refugees themselves.'

Soros famously 'broke the Bank of England' after his bets against the pound were instrumental in ejecting it from the Exchange Rate Mechanism.

He said the Leave campaign in Britain exploited the deteriorating refugee situation to stoke fears of 'uncontrolled immigration' from other EU member states.

'The European authorities delayed important decisions on refugee policy in order to avoid a negative effect on the British referendum vote, thereby perpetuating scenes of chaos like the one in Calais.'

As Germans demand their own opportunity to free themselves from 'EU slavery', fingers are being pointed at Merkel for sparking the potential dissolution of the European Union.

Critics have branded Ms Merkel's open-door immigration policy as being to blame for a tidal wave of demands for Brexit-style referendums across several countries in the bloc.

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) has openly branded Ms Merkel as being responsible, amid calls for a 'Dexit' - Deutschland exit.

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) has openly branded Ms Merkel as being responsible, amid calls for a 'Dexit' - Deutschland exit. Pictured, Ms Merkel arrives at the EU Summit in Brussels on Tuesday

'I think Ms Merkel with her open borders caused Britain to leave the EU,' said AfD's vice chairman Alexander Gauland on Friday in Berlin.

He added: 'I think the British have opted for direct democracy. I believe that it is good that they have done that.'

It came as party chairman Bjorn Hocke warned that the Eurosceptic AfD would be launching a campaign for a German exit.

'With the exit from the EU, the British have left the path of collective madness and opted for democracy and popular sovereignty.

'I know the majority of German people want to get out of EU slavery.'

I think Ms Merkel with her open borders caused Britain to leave the EU. AfD's vice chairman Alexander Gauland

Meanwhile Franz Wiese, European policy spokesman for the populist party and an MP in the regional parliament in Brandenburg, near Berlin, said: 'Next year the AfD will enter the German parliament and Dexit will be top on our agenda.'

The AfD is reportedly the only German political party so far to openly declare that it will be demanding a 'Dexit' vote.

German media has been awash with criticism of Ms Merkel's immigration policy, after she allegedly sparked Europe's 2015 migration crisis by announcing that refugees fleeing from war-torn Syria would be welcome in Germany.

By opening Germany's borders to refugees, critics have long blamed Ms Merkel for encouraging the flow of both refugees and economic migrants into European countries.

The German chancellor was also among EU leaders who 'blocked British demands before the referendum for an "emergency brake" on migrant numbers'.

Bjorn Hoecke (left) is calling for a vote for all Germans, saying: 'I know the German people want to be free of EU slavery' while Franz Wiese (right) supports calls for a referendum, saying 'Dexit will be top on our agenda'

Ms Merkel has further insisted she would condemn any attempts by the UK to 'cherry-pick' its favoured elements of the EU package - criticising calls for access to the single market without free movement. Pictured, Ms Merkel and Mr Cameron talk at the Brussels summit on Tuesday

At his final dinner with leaders of EU countries in Brussels on Tuesday night, Prime Minister David Cameron highlighted public fears over immigration as having cost him both the referendum and his job.

Mr Cameron, who resigned following the referendum result last week, warned fellow leaders that intransigence over freedom of movement could damage any chance of a UK-EU trade deal.

I think people recognised the strength of the economic case for staying, but there was a very great concern about the movement of people and immigration. PM David Cameron

He said that, while he thought British people had recognised the 'strength of the economic case for staying', he believed it was primarily concern about immigration that forced the final victory for the Leave campaign.

He added: 'I think that is coupled with a concern about the issues of sovereignty and the absence of control there has been.'

This fear was heightened by the Leave campaign's use of poster images showing crowds of refugees and migrants entering the Bavarian countries.

Nigel Farage and the Leave campaign was branded 'fundamentally racist' following the release of the poster, which showed the Ukip leader standing in front of a crowd of refugees and migrants.

The poster uses a picture of Syrian refugees being escorted along the Slovenian border during the migrant crisis last October and tells voters the EU is at 'breaking point', adding: 'The EU has failed us all. We must break free of the EU and take control of our borders.'

Ukip leader Nigel Farage unveiled this controversial campaign poster in Westminster on June 16 but was immediately condemned by MPs from all main Westminster parties and branded 'fundamentally racist'

The poster (pictured being driven around Westminster) was one of the largest advertising campaigns of the referendum as it was rolled out across the country, encouraging public fear of mass migration

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the poster was 'disgusting' while Tory Treasury minister Harriet Baldwin hit out at the Ukip leader for 'vile xenophobia'.

MPs from all main Westminster parties hit out at the advert minutes after it was unveiled by Mr Farage in Westminster on June 16.

The Brexit vote has pushed freedom of movement to the top of the agenda across Europe.

But Ms Merkel insisted she would condemn any attempts by the UK to 'cherry-pick' its favoured elements of the EU package.

'If you wish to have free access to the single market then you have to accept the fundamental European rights as well as obligations that come from it,' she said.

'This is as true for Great Britain as for anybody else.'

She also made it clear that she and other EU leaders have refused to engage in negotiations until Article 50 is invoked.
Washington's Culverts Violated Tribal Fishing Rights, 9th Finds

Culverts can be tricky things, especially if you're a fish. Culverts, those tunnels and pipes that carry creeks and streams under roadways, are an easy way to allow traffic to cross small waterways. But some of them also choke off fish entirely, becoming obstacles for salmon swimming from their upstream breeding grounds to sea. The problem is particularly pronounced when culverts are aging or in disrepair. And plenty of Washington State's culverts are aging and in disrepair.

Twenty-one of the state's Native American tribes, joined by the federal government, sued over the state of Washington's culverts, arguing that they impeded salmon runs and violated the tribes' treaty rights to catch fish. Those tribes were successful in the Ninth Circuit on Monday, with the court upholding a district court order that requires Washington to fix more than 800 derelict culverts.

The Stevens Treaties and Washington Salmon Runs

Thousands of culverts dot Washington's countryside, passing over seasonal streams and large rivers both. Hundreds of these are so-called "barrier culverts," culverts through which fish runs cannot pass. Because the Northwest's salmon and trout are anadromous fish, or fish that are born and spawn in fresh water while living the rest of their lives in the sea, barrier culverts can prevent their ability to breed, reducing fish populations.

And a large percentage of those fish populations are reserved to Washington's native tribes. When the tribes turned over their lands to the federal government in the 1850s, they entered into a series of treaties known as the Stevens Treaties. Those treaties guaranteed tribes "the right of taking fish, at all usual and accustomed grounds and stations ... in common with all citizens of the Territory."

In 1970, the United States sued Washington on behalf of the tribes, alleging that the state was violating their treaty rights. The result was 1974's landmark Boldt decision. There, U.S. District Judge George H. Boldt determined that the Stevens Treaties fishing clause entitled the tribes to half of the state's fish, at a minimum, and granted the tribes a right to have their fish runs "protected from man-made despoliation."

In the Case of Culverts v. Salmon, Salmon Win

Three decades later, the tribes called on the court's continued jurisdiction stemming from that dispute, alleging that the state was in violation of the ruling and the treaty by constructing culverts that deteriorated salmon and other fish runs.

The district court agreed and, in 2013, issued a permanent injunction ordering the state to remove or correct more than 800 barrier culverts, at a cost the state claimed could rise to over $2 billion.

The Ninth Circuit upheld that injunction on Monday. Washington had claimed it had no duty under the Stevens Treaties not to block salmon runs, going so far as to claim that they could block every salmon stream in the Puget Sound, without offending the tribes' treaty rights. The Ninth Circuit was not impressed.

Noting that courts construe treaties between the United States and Indian tribes "in favor of the Indians," it condemned Washington's "remarkably one-sided view of the treaties," which posited that the purpose of the treaties was the opening of the Northwest to settlement. The court, in an opinion penned by Judge William A. Fletcher, wrote:

Opening up the Northwest for white settlement was indeed the principal purpose of the United States. But it was most certainly not the principal purpose of the Indians. Their principal purpose was to secure a means of supporting themselves once the Treaties took effect.

Reading the treaties to give effect to that purpose, the court found that, while Washington did not act with the express objective of reducing salmon runs, it had reduced the tribes' ability to obtain a "moderate living" from fishing. As such, the state was in violation of the treaty.

Washington will now have to begin removing or repairing hundreds of culverts, blocking over 1,000 miles of salmon habitat. The removal or modification of the culverts is expected to increase the state's salmon runs by several* hundred thousand more mature salmon a year.

Editor's Note, June 29th, 2016: This post originally misstated how many adult salmon the repair of culverts is expected to produce. It is several hundred thousand, not seven hundred thousand.

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President Barack Obama said Wednesday that ISIS will pay for the 'terrible attack' the Istanbul airport that left 41 dead.

Obama said he called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his way to Ottawa, Canada from Washington to extend his condolences and reaffirm the United States' commitment to decimating the terrorist group.

'They're going to be defeated,' Obama said. 'We will not rest until we have dismantled these networks of hate that have an impact on the entire civilized world.'

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President Barack Obama said Wednesday that ISIS will pay for the 'terrible attack' the Istanbul airport that left 41 dead

A trio of suicide bombers detonated explosives in the busy airport on Monday, injuring 239 people, none of whom have been identified as Americans

The White House said Wednesday morning Obama told Erdogan over the phone that the United States would offer any support that the Turks can benefit from as they conduct this investigation and take steps to further strengthen the security.'

Obama indicated Wednesday in Canada that it was the United States' belief that ISIS, referred to by his administration as ISIL, was behind the carnage.

His intelligence chief, John Brennan, also said this afternoon the terror attack 'bears the hallmarks of ISIL's depravity.'

Turkey's government said earlier in the day on Wednesday that it had arrived at that conclusion after reviewing security tapes.

After extending his condolences, the American president said he reaffirmed to Erdogan 'our strong commitment to partner with Turkey, with NATO, with the broad-based alliance that we have structured around the world to fight ISIL.'

'It's an indication of how little vicious these vicious organizations have to offer beyond killing innocents,' the U.S. president said from Canada, where he was attending a summit with North American leaders.

Turkey shares a border with Syria and has been a key U.S. ally in the coalition to defeat the terror group.

Obama said Wednesday in remarks after a bilateral meeting with Mexico that ISIS is in retreat and is 'continually losing ground, unable to govern those areas that they have taken over.'

'They're going to be defeated in Syria, they're going to be defeated in Iraq,' he said. 'They are going to be on the run wherever they hide.'

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, he touched on the topic again, saying in his opening statement, 'The prayers of the American people are with the people of Turkey, the people of Istanbul and all of those affected by this terrible crime.

'We have offered all assistance that we have available to our ally, Turkey, and we stand prepared to assist them during this difficult time.'

Obama noted that law enforcement officials 'are still learning all the facts' but said 'we know this is part of our broader, shared fight against terrorist networks and we will continue to work closely with Turkey to root them out.'

'Meanwhile we're going to do what's necessary to protect our people,' he said.

'I'm confident that we can and we will defeat those who offer only death and destruction and we will always remember that even as there are those who try and divide us, that we are stronger when we come together and work toward a better world together.'
A randy couple were arrested for having sex at a busy intersection in Modesto, California.

Maria Anzaldua, 48, and Raymond Chavez, 29, were overcome by their passions in broad daylight on 19th Street, at the intersect of H Street and La Loma Avenue on Sunday.

A police car driving by happened to catch the couple in flagrante delicto and had to circle back to stop the proceedings, according to KTLA.

Raymond Chavez, left, 29, and his paramour, Maria Anzaldua, 48, couldn't contain their passion when they decided to get busy on a busy intersection, they were charged with public lewdness

The frisky couple were spotted by a patrol officer as they frolicked on the grassy area, above, of this busy intersection

The couple were reportedly on the grassy area smack in the middle of the intersection.

Anzaldua was charged suspicion of lewd acts and public drunkenness. Chavez, of Ceres, was booked on charges of lewd acts and violating his probation.

Chavez was arrested in 2011 on suspicion of shooting five to 10 bullets into a bar where he and his buddies had just been kicked out, according to the city of Modesto.
Six gay men say they have been driven from their homes in Ivory Coast after a picture of them signing a condolence book for victims of the Orlando massacre was published by the U.S. embassy.

The image was taken at an event honoring the 49 victims of the attack, which happened inside Pulse gay nightclub, at the embassy in the Ivorian capital of Abidjan a fortnight ago.

But the men say they have been targeted by homophobic mobs since the picture was posted on the embassy website along with the caption: 'LGBTI community signing the condolence book.'

Six gay men from Ivory Coast say they have been subjected to homophobic abuse, attacks and have been forced to flee their homes after the U.S. embassy posted this image online without their permission

The men were pictured signing a condolence book for the 49 victims of Pulse gay nightclub massacre, in Orlando, during an event in the Ivorian capital a fortnight ago. The scene following the shooting is seen outside Pulse above

One man, who identified himself only by his nickname Louna for fear of further attacks, said he was walking in his neighborhood days after the tribute when he was set upon.

A group of men pushed him to the ground, beat him, and then stole his phone and wallet.

The 36-year-old told Reuters: 'I don't have a life anymore. I can't go out. I don't know who might recognize me.'

Louna said he was never asked for permission to use the image, and didn't even know it was circulating until a friend saw it and called him.

While it started being displayed on the embassy site, it was quickly downloaded and spread across Facebook and other social media sites.

Another man in the picture was also physically attacked, according to the head of an Abidjan-based gay rights group, who asked to remain anonymous.

The other four men suffered verbal abuse, but still felt it necessary to leave their homes for fear of further attacks.

Memorials for those killed by Omar Mateen during the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history have been held across the world (Orlando, pictured) including in Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast is considered to be one of the most tolerant African countries for the LGBTI community, because it does not ban homosexual acts, but also offers no specific legal protections from hate crimesA A flag at half-mast in San Diego earlier this month for the victims of the Orlando massacre

The leader of the rights group says he was asked whether it would be acceptable for embassy staff to use the picture, and agreed to it.

However, he now says that he was not informed that the caption would specifically mention that the men were part of the LGBTI community.

Embassy press officer Elizabeth Ategou said staff also contacted another two rights groups who also gave their permission for the picture to be used.

Ategou said the embassy 'deeply regrets that any individuals were attacked based on any kind of orientation they might have'.

She said staff have been in contact with the men and encouraged them to report the attacks.

But despite apologizing for the mistake, the image was still on the embassy's website on Wednesday afternoon, with Ategou saying they had not yet been asked to take it down.

Ivory Coast is considered one of the most tolerant places in Africa for members of the LGBTI community, largely because homosexual acts are not specifically banned there.

However, there are no specific legal protections for gay people, meaning they are often subject to discrimination, threats and occasionally violence.
A firefighter was shot and killed while passing a gun to a friend at a drunken party.

David Atherton, 24, from Stoneham, Massachusetts, was drinking with friend Patrick O'Connor, 23, when the weapon went off.

During the party, the pair were 'passing a gun back and forth pointing it at each other' just after 11pm on Tuesday.

Firefighter David Atherton, 24, (right) from Stoneham, Massachusetts, was shot and killed while fooling around with a gun as he drank with friend Patrick O'Connor (left)

Atherton was at a party when he started 'passing a gun back and forth pointing it' with O'Conner. He is pictured in military dress at an event

O'Connor, who is a National Guard veteran, has now been arrested.

He has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and discharging a firearm.

Atherton, who was also in the National Guard, was appointed to the department in February.

Stoneham Fire Chief Matthew Grafton told WCVB: 'He served with distinction in the Massachusetts Army National Guard, where he was a military police officer who deployed to Qatar in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from 2012 to 2013.

'He was awarded eight times during his National Guard career for his actions, including the receipt of the Army Commendation Medal.

'I cannot help but feel that the best was yet to come for this young man, and we in the Stoneham Fire Department are still coming to terms with this loss.'

He added that Atherton had overcome tragedy as his parents died when he was young.

According to social justice, he studied Criminal Justice at Central Texas College.
People are crossing the country to attend this year's Rainbow Family of Living Light and connect with others they feel share their goal of peace, love and illumination.

But hosting up to 10,000 people in primitive campsites on a Vermont mountainside is straining the resources of the U.S. Forest Service, and some locals see the event as an intrusive gathering of aging hippies.

The decades-old, get-together of 'Rainbows,' as they call themselves, is held each year on national forestland.

A sign welcomes people to the gathering of the Rainbow Family of Living Light in Mount Tabor, Vermont. People from across the country are flocking to the Green Mountain National Forest for the annual gathering

Members of the Rainbow Family of Living Light gather under a tarp at their campsite on Tuesday

About 2,000 Rainbows had already arrived early this week for the gathering near Mount Tabor in the Green Mountain National Forest.

Their numbers are expected to peak on July 4, when the group plans to hold a prayer ceremony for peace.

Rainbow Jai Love, of Eugene, Oregon, was playing a ukulele on Tuesday and singing in the door of a bus converted into a camper.

The 28-year-old man said many people who thought they were lost, find friendship and family at the gatherings.

'I just keep on chasing the family and seeing people that are traveling to raise awareness of peace, love and life,' he said.

'It's not about the government. It's about American culture. And if you thought that was lost, you can still find it here.'

The Rainbow tradition goes back to the very anti-traditional 1960s.

The first national Rainbow gathering was held in 1972, partly an outgrowth of community many young people felt at the 1969 Woodstock music festival. The last gathering in Vermont was in 1991.

A member of the Rainbow Family of Living Light, who goes by the name of Joe, splits wood at his campsite in Mount Tabor

'Well, basically, it hasn't changed all that much,' said Feather Sherman, of western Montana.

The 68-year-old Sherman is among those who fueled its start. She has attended every gathering since its beginning.

Over the years, the Rainbows and the U.S. Forest Service have come to an uneasy truce.

Federal agents have patrolled the periphery of the gathering, usually giving out scores of warnings or tickets for traffic and other minor violations.

On Tuesday night, an assault sent one Rainbow to a regional hospital with minor injuries.

The Forest Service this year has brought in a special incident command team, modeled after those used to manage wildfires, and federal officers are regularly patrolling the road leading to the Rainbow campsite.

Among the locals, some have bemoaned the invasion of painted buses and visitors in torn clothes, body paint and dreadlocks.

A Rainbow Family of Living Light member meditates in a field where a ceremony will be held on July 4

And there have been complaints of Rainbows going through garbage bins and keeping residents out of the stores.

But overall, relations  and business  has been good.

'We are just trying to be prepared,' Cindy Kapusta, who owns the Mount Tabor Country Store near the road to the Rainbow campsite, said.

She said her employees have caught a number of Rainbows shoplifting, and there were complaints of people relieving themselves behind the store.
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The Obama girls have touched down in Spain for the final leg of a three-nation tour to promote education for girls.

It was a windy day in Madrid as they landed at Torrejon air base, forcing Malia to have a Marilyn Monroe moment with her stunning $78 wrap dress.

Flying in from a jaunt in Morocco and Liberia, Sasha was sporting a henna tattoo that spiraled up her arm.

And Michelle wore Spanish-style espadrilles with her $1,800 Proenza Schouler summer dress to greet officials and members of the public waiting on the tarmac.

The First Lady is due to give a speech on her Let Girls Learn initiative on Thursday to a group of girls and young women in Madrid.

Spain's Queen Letizia will also address the conference and later meet with Mrs Obama, before the girls fly back to Washington, D.C., on Friday.

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Hola Espana! Sasha and Malia Obama stride across the tarmac outside Madrid on Wednesday morning after flying in from Morocco

Windy day! The First Lady and her daughter had to control their hair in the wind as they descended the steps to greet waiting officials

The was so bad Malia raced to hold her dress down and let her hair be blown straight up. Mom Michelle appeared to be spitting out hair

The Obama women - travelling with Michelle's mother Marian Robinson - all balanced holding their hair and their dresses down in the wind

At one point the First Lady appeared blinded by her hair - and reached to the rail for guidance

Three-country tour: It is the girls' final stop on their tour to Liberia, Morocco and Spain to promote Michelle's Let Girls Learn initiative

Summer feeling: The entire family, including Michelle's mother Marian Robinson (pictured left next to Malia), sported summer dresses

Sasha's right hand and lower arm were decorated after her visit to Morocco

Mrs Obama was handed a bouquet at the base of the stairs while Sasha got her fair off her face and Malia held her dress down

The First Lady is due to give a speech on her Let Girls Learn initiative on Thursday to a group of girls and young women in Madrid

Thrifty! Malia was sporting a $78 dress from Nasty Gal for the final leg of their trip - and beamed as she greeted dignitaries

Blown away! Michelle kept up her conversation and greetings while pulling her hair back from her face in the wind

The First Lady also showed off a stylish set of rings on her left hand which complimented the gold bracelet on her right wrist

Sasha will be an only child at the White House come fall, when her big sister goes on a gap year before starting Harvard

All four women beamed their megawatt smiles as they greeted a receiving line

The stunning teenage sister have come a long way from the little children America first got to know in the summer of 2008

The stylish teenagers will meet another stylish woman on Thursday when they met with Spain's Queen Laetizia

No doubt the Queen will face stiff style competition from the first family - and Sasha's henna

Off to the city: The girls then got in an SUV and Michelle was seen putting headphones in to listen to something on her phone

The mother of two is no doubt enjoying her time with her two daughters, especially Malia, who is leaving on a gap year before starting Harvard in 14 months

YOUR MILLIONS CERTAIN TO HAVE BEEN SPENT ON OBAMAS AFRICAN AND SPANISH SOJOURN Travel in style: The $11,600-an-hour cost of the First Lady's C-32A is just the start of the bill for the taxpayer The First Familys trip to Africa and Europe is certain to have cost taxpayers well into the millions. Michelle Obama is likely to have incurred expenses starting as $11,600 an hour for air travel alone on the family trip. The figure was revealed from a comprable trip to London and Italy in June 2015 with her her daughters and her mother, which showed that taking a C-32A  the Air Forces VIP version of a Boeing 757  cost $11,684 an hour. It was found by Judicial Watch under Freedom of Information legislation.That figure does not include the other expenses of travel  and those are likely to be substantial. Mrs Obama and the family are driven everywhere in armored cars provided either by local U.S. embassies, or flown in if sufficiently-protected vehicles are not locally available. Accommodation is hardly cheap either. On the trip to Italy and the United Kingdom, a two-night stay at a hotel near Venice was estimated by an official contract to cost $128,781 for the Obamas, their entourage and security. The hotels where the Obamas stayed have yet to be disclosed.However, when Mrs Obama took a trip to China with her mother and her daughters, they stayed in a $8,350-a-night suite in Beijings Westin hotel. It was accompanied by entire floors being cleared for the Secret Service and other members of her entourage. The total cost of hotel expenses for that two-day trip was $220,000. On top of that is two costs which are not routinely disclosed  the overall cost of security, which on a trip to countries on high terror alert will be severe  and the cost of advance visits by White House, State Department and Secret Service staff as the itinerary was prepared. They are flying on an Air Force C-32, the adapted military version of a Boeing 757-200. If her husband were on board it would be Air Force One, and if the vice-president were flying it would be Air Force Two, but the First Lady does not get a special call sign. The planes are routinely used by the Air Force to fly Mrs Obama on longer-haul solo domestic engagements, and also for Joe Biden or John Kerry to fly on longer-haul domestic trips and for international journeys. One was last used by the first family when the president took Mrs Obama and his daughter hiking in Argentina and the Boeing VC-25  a specially-adapted version of a 747  which normally serves as Air Force One could not land on the runway in the Andes. The Air Force keeps six of the planes, alongside three of the VC-25s, for VIP travel. On board Mrs Obama, Malia, Sasha and Mrs Robinson have a fully enclosed stateroom with a changing area, private lavatory, separate entertainment system, two first-class swivel seats and a convertible divan that seats three and folds out to a bed. There is also a forward section with ten first-class seats, a conference room which can seat eight, and a rear passenger area which can seat 32. Advertisement

The family rounded off their visit to Morocco by indulging in a traditional iftar with Princess Lalla Salma, the wife of King Mohammed VI.

They were joined by actress Meryl Streep and other members of the Moroccan Royal family at the sumptuous dinner to break the fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan at King's Palace in Marrakesh.

On Tuesday night, Michelle wore a conservative $2,995 dress by Altuzarra while Malia opted for an even more expensive outfit by Burberry Prorsum - worth $4,295.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mrs Obama told Moroccan teenage girls that her parents knew the value of education, her brother set an example 'and I thought if he can do it, then I can do it, because I know I am smarter than him!'

Streep and actress Freida Pinto joined the first lady's encounter with two dozen young women in Marrakesh to discuss the challenges girls around the world face in getting educated.

In the North African kingdom of Morocco, only 36 per cent of girls continue school beyond the primary level.

'We have to change those notions that girls are only valuable for their reproductive capacity or their ability to do manual labor,' Obama said, adding that 62 million girls worldwide do not have access to education for an array of reasons, from a lack of resources to cultural norms.

The first lady's daughters, Sasha and Malia, joined their mother in Marrakesh but did not take part in the event.

The Let Girls Learn initiative, launched in March 2015 by President Barack Obama and the first lady, is to be extended to Morocco, the White House announced Tuesday.

It said the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. government foreign aid agency working in partnership with the Moroccan government, is investing nearly $100 million to transform secondary education in the country.

USAID is also giving $400,000 to create five new girls' dormitories to improve educational opportunities for girls from rural areas.

'The investment in an education now will reap benefits (in) years to come and that is what my family knew instinctively,' the first lady said.

'My parents didn't go to university. We didn't have a lot of money. But one of the things ... was that my parents understood the value of an education.

The Obamas (from left, Sasha, Malia and their mother Michelle) donned traditional patterned outfits to dine with Morocco's Princess Lalla Salma (right) in Marrakesh on Tuesday evening

Michelle Obama (left) and her daughters indulged in a traditional Moroccan iftar with the wife of King Mohammed VI (right) on Tuesday

The Obamas attended the sumptuous dinner to break the fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan at King's Palace in Marrakesh

And they fought for me, they sacrificed, they saved.'

The group met in the courtyard of Dar Diafa, a historic riad that has been converted into a restaurant.

One young woman taking part, who identified herself only as Karima from Ouarzazate, in south-central Morocco, said her parents ensured she had a primary school education but discouraged her from focusing her secondary education on science technology, a field dominated by men.

A school bus helped 16-year-old Hannan Amin, from Ifrane, get to school and avoid a 4.3-mile trudge on foot.

'Every single person's story is different,' said Streep, who advised the young women never to give up and said she was the first in her family to get a university education.

'In my own life, I know that losing heart is the most dangerous thing. You can put any obstacle in front of me and I will jump over it, but when I lose heart, you lose everything,' she said.

They were joined by actress Meryl Streep and other members of the Moroccan Royal family in Marrakesh on Tuesday evening

Meryl Streep (left) an actress and advocate for girls education, and Princess Lalla Hasnaa (right) attend an Iftar dinner at the palace

Malia Obama (left) and Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco both dressed up for the lavish Iftar dinner at the royal palace in Marrakesh

A massive floral centerpiece decorated the table as the guests tucked into traditional Moroccan delicacies during the meal

Malia Obama, 17, who recently graduated from high school, sat next to Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco at the dinner

Education for girls is the central theme of the first lady's six-day trip, which saw her visit Liberia before heading to Morocco and Spain. She is traveling with her mother and daughters Malia, 17, who recently graduated from high school, and Sasha, 15.

They were welcomed in Liberia with a red carpet and traditional dancers.

On Monday, Mrs Obama visited a leadership camp for girls in Liberia, where she urged the teens in one of the world's poorest countries to keep fighting to stay in school.

With her own teenage daughters joining her, Obama told the girls she was 'just so thrilled to be here with you.'

'I'm here to shine a big bright light on you,' she said.

In connection with the first lady's visit, USAID announced up to $27 million in funding in Liberia programming for Let Girls Learn.

Liberia was battered by civil wars between 1989 and 2003. Ebola swept the country in 2014, killing more than 4,800. Schools were closed for months.

Earlier on Tuesday, first lady Michelle Obama (pictured) spoke about education with teenage girls in Marrakesh, Morocco

One young woman taking part, who identified herself only as Karima from Ouarzazate, in south-central Morocco, said her parents ensured she had a primary school education but discouraged her from focusing her secondary education in science technology

The first lady's meeting heralded an announcement that the Let Girls Learn initiative, created March 2015, would bring more than $100million of foreign aid going towards transforming secondary education in the country

Meryl Streep (right) joined Mrs Obama for an event focusing on the challenges Moroccan girls face to continue their schooling

Michelle Obama and her daughters Sasha and Malia were welcomed by Princess Lalla Salma (center right) at Menara Airport in Marrakesh

King Mohammed VI's wife Princess Lalla Selma (rear right) met Michelle Obama (left) and daughters Malia and Sasha at the airport

The country was founded as part of an effort to resettle freed American slaves and has deep ties to the United States. The country's oldest vocational high school, located in Kakata, is named for African-American civil rights activist Booker T. Washington.

The school suspended mid-term exams scheduled to start Monday 'to allow the students to give Mrs. Obama a rousing welcome to appreciate what the United States has done for us,' principal Harris Tarnue said.

'She will be a real inspiration to the young girls around here,' he said.

Mrs Obama's previous visits to Africa as first lady included Ghana, South Africa, Botswana, Senegal and Tanzania.
The mural was taken down after Education Department investigated

In lawsuit, the AP claims White humiliated him and called him a 'bad Jew'

A Queens middle school community is up in arms over a controversial mural that appears to depict the principal as a multi-armed Hindu goddess.

The painting was reportedly mounted on school grounds at the request of Junior High School 226 principal Rushell White.

It also appears to depict an assistant principal, who has sued White for allegedly making anti-Semitic comments, as a tiny man lurking in the corner.

David Possner, the assistant principal, alleged in a federal lawsuit filed last fall that White, who is a Christian, called him a 'bad Jew' and humiliated him in front of other staff.

Junior High School 226 principal Rushell White is said to be depicted second from left, and her assistant principal, David Possner, is said to be depicted in the far right corner. Possner called the painting 'humiliating'

White has not commented on the mural. Possner, who is painted as a shrunken man hiding in the corner while another figure points an accusatory finger at him, has called the painting 'hurtful'

He says his apparent depiction as a shrunken man, hiding in the corner while another figure points an accusatory finger at him, is further humiliation.

'It is very offensive and bizarre to me,' Possner, 42, told Daily Mail Online. He said he believed White was trying to get back at him for suing her by portraying him as a 'castoff.'

'The entire staff thought it was disrespectful. I have had children come up and ask me, "Why do they look like that?" It's not appropriate.'

Possner said the two-armed figures in the mural are depictions of the school's five assistant principals.

The Bible quote on top of the painting, 'To whom much is given much is demanded,' is a motto that White reads every morning over the school's speaker system, Possner said.

The mural also upset the school's Hindu student body. One student shared her frustration with the New York Daily News, which first reported on the mural:

'It makes me feel bad about my culture. When I first saw it, I was like, "Wow, why did they do that? They should take it down."'

A person who answered the phone at Junior High School 226 hung up when asked for a comment from White on the mural.

The non-profit foundation that was reportedly commissioned to paint the mural, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, did not return a message from Daily Mail Online.

Rushell White, left, is being sued by David Possner, right, for allegedly humiliating him in front of other school staff. He also claims she called him a 'bad Jew.' He believes the mural was painted in retaliation for the suit

Joe Concannon, who is planning to run for City Councilman next year as a Republican, said he came in contact with Possner in the course of preparations for his campaign and has been following the assistant principal's lawsuit against White.

When Concannon got word of the mural, he went to see it for himself, and said he couldn't believe his eyes.

'It's an outrageous mural. She's doing this, knowing full well this guy has a federal suit against her. It seems she is creating a hostile workplace environment,' Concannon said.
A Scottish woman has been crowned Miss Hitler 2016 in a sick beauty pageant organised by neo-Nazi youth movement National Action.

The sick competition saw a woman with the disturbing pseudonym 'A-Bus-Full-Of-Retards' named the winner, after attracting entries from across the UK.

In a disturbing interview on the group's website, the woman says: 'I am an NA activist living in Scotland and dedicated member of our organisation.'

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A Scottish woman has won a sick neo-Nazi beauty contest called Miss Hitler 2016 after sending these photos of herself to far-right fascist group National Action

The young woman, known only as 'A Bus Full Of Retards' can be seen giving the Heil Hitler salute in the sick photographs

The female poses in pictures on the fascist group's website wearing a kilt and a t-shirt with the National Action insignia on it.

The brunette's face is half-covered with a black scarf with a skull on it, and in several images she is doing the Nazi salute.

In other parts of the interview she adds: 'I didn't want to believe that the Jews are the enemy as I was brought up to believe that they are very similar to Christians.

'Eventually the Jewish propaganda became too obvious to ignore and so I became involved with NA.'

In a vile interview that the winner gave to National Action, she said that she'd like to kill Angela Merkel

And sickeningly, she says she would most like to kill German Chancellor Angela Merkel, adding: 'I would put Angela Merkel (without any protection) in one of her camps and let her pet refugees do the rest.'

The woman says her boyfriend is the 'best gift life has given' her and without him she would be a 'very lonely Nazi'.

She also said her relationships with friends had suffered due to her views.

She said: 'There are some people who I used to be friends with but because of their openly antifascist views, I no longer speak to. It makes me sad sometimes as I used to really enjoy their company.'

There were several other entries to the beauty contest, including this one, which shows a girl with a scarf covering her face

This woman, who was also shortlisted in the Miss Hitler competition, says that her dream is to become a nursery nurse

National Action organisers said the purpose of the pageant was to show the world their far-right views and give female members a chance to share their reasons for becoming part of the group.

Jewish leaders last night blasted the Miss Hitler 2016 pageant as the 'ugliest beauty contest ever held'.

Entrants all used under false names on their applications, with Jewish leaders calling the contestants 'cowardly' for covering half of their faces in pictures.

A spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: 'This is a clear case of inciting racial hatred which is presumably why these cowardly 'contestants' are covering their faces.

'It is possibly the ugliest beauty contest ever held.'

The competition was launched in May, but organisers said there was disruption after Facebook removed their page.

The secretive British group pushes its ideologies on teens and those in their twenties.

National Action has been described in the past as 'like the BNP but more radical'.

Only last month its campaigners sparked outrage after images emerged of them performing Hitler salutes in the 'execution room' of Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany.

And they have held numerous protests in the UK, including one at the statue of Nelson Mandela in London, defacing it with a banana and also protested banks and globalisation at a demonstration in Liverpool.

In June 2015, 26-year-old member Zack Davies, was found guilty of the attempted murder of a Sikh man in Mold, Flintshire.
Hillary Clinton had a busy Tuesday as the presumptive Democratic nominee headed off to Los Angeles for not one, but two fundraisers.

The first event was at the home of Napster founder and former Facebook president Sean Parker, who welcomed guests including model turned Jaime King.

That event set back Clinton supporters no more than $2,700, but the dinner that evening at the home of Falcon Cable founder Marc Nathanson was a far more pricey affair.

For that event couples paid $33,4000, while it cost $100,000 to be a co-chair at the event.

Former studio head Sherry Lansing and her director husband William Friedkin were two of the evening's co-chairs.

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With her: Hillary Clinton attended a fundraiser at the home of Napster founder and former Facebook president Sean Parker on Tuesday (Parker in background with wife Alexandra)

Guests: Jaime King (left) and Parker (right) with a guest at the event on Tuesday night

Selfie for the fans: Clinton also snapped a selfie with a young man in LA on Tuesday

Clinton's quest for the White House once again brought her to the multi-million dollar home of another high-powered Hollywood player last month.

That event being hosted by one of Clinton's most feverish and devoted supporters, Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

Also lending a helping hand were two more of Clinton's LA super supporters, CAA chief Bryan Lourd and The Palm owner Bruce Bozzi, who held the fashionable fete at their swanky Westside home.

The guest list for the night included actors Allison Janney and Zach Braff, stylist and designer Rachel Zoe and Lour'd daughter with ex Carrie Fisher, actress Billie Lourd.

Tickets for the event went for as much as $10,000, which while steep still pale in comparison to the approximately $350,000 some guests had to pony up in order to grab a seat at Clinton's April 16 fundraiser at the Studio City home of lawyer Amal Clooney and her actor husband George.

She's with her: Connie Britton posted a photo with Clinton too on Tuesday (above)

Family affair: Bryan Lourd and husband Bruce Bozzi hosted an event for Hillary Clinton last month (above with daughters Ava and Billie)

Among those who had no problem splashing the cash for that event were the three hosts of Wednesday's springtime soiree - Wintour, Lourd and Bozzi.

Jane Fonda, Ellen DeGeneres, Portia di Rossi, and Jim Parsons were also among the 150 guests who attended the Clooneys' fundraiser.

The impressive co-hosts for that event were Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, and Haim and Cheryl Saban.

Bozzi posted a photo from the Clooneys' fundraiser shortly after on his Instagram account showing him and Lourd standing alongside Clinton and the host couple with the caption: '#November'.
President Obama called today for a swift Brexit once new leadership is in place in Great Britain.

Advising his fellow world leaders - British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel - Obama said everybody should 'catch their break, come up with a plan and a process that is orderly, that is transparent, that people understand and then proceed.'

'Understanding that both sides have a stake in getting this right,' Obama said.

Noting that Cameron has decided to stop down over his country's vote to exit the European Union, Obama said that 'obviously leadership in Great Britain will have to be resolved for it to move as crisply and effectively as it needs to.'

'But I think that's recognized and that should happen fairly quickly,' the president said as he stood alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, during the North American leaders' trilateral press conference this afternoon.

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President Obama doled out some advice to Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel today saying that the Brexit process should be orderly and transparent

President Obama stood alongside his fellow North American leaders today in Ottawa, Canada and said that the Brexit does not 'have to be a panicky process' and should happen with the quickness

Obama said the realities of the Brexit, in which Britons voted over the weekend to leave the European Union, will be a 'difficult, challenging process.'

'But it does not have to be a panicky process,' Obama said.

'I think it can be a steady, sensible process,' the president added.

Obama noted that he had spoken with Merkel and that 'her interest is not in retribution.'

'Her interest is in making sure that the process works and I have a lot of confidence in people being able to do that,' Obama said.

He also pledged the United States' support to help facilitate the UK breaking away from the EU.

The U.S. president at the same time held up the chaos in the wake of Brexit as a reason why citizens of North America should resist the urge to adopt isolationist policies.

'The next day 'people looked around and said, "oh, how's this gonna work?" ' he told Canadian lawmakers on Wednesday evening in an address to parliament.

Sizing up the frustration that led to the country's exit from the European Union, Obama told lawmakers 'people will push back out of anger or out of fear and politicians, some sincere, and some entirely cynical will tap that anger and fear, hearkening back to bygone days of order and predictability and national glory.

'Arguing that we must rebuild walls and disengage from a chaotic world or rid ourselves of the supposed ills brought on by immigrants, all in order to regain control of our lives,' he said.

Obama said the circumstances on that referendum 'may be unique' to the UK, but 'the frustrations people felt are not.'

And while the short-term fallout of Brexit can be managed the long-term trends of inequality and dislocation, 'those can't be ignored.'

Yesterday Obama also tried calming frayed nerves, saying the 'hysteria' over Britain leaving the European Union is unwarranted.

'The average person is not going to notice a big change,' said Obama - if the United Kingdom emulates Norway.

The U.S. president at the same time held up the chaos in the wake of Brexit as a reason why citizens of North America should resist the urge to adopt isolationist policies as he spoke to Canadian lawmakers

Norway is not in the EU, and yet it is one of America's closest allies, the U.S. president told NPR as part of a long interview, a section of which was released yesterday.

'I think that the best way to think about this is, a pause button has been pressed on the project of full European integration,' he said.

The project was 'probably moving faster and without as much consensus as it should have,' he said.

'I think this will be a moment when all of Europe says, "Let's take a breath and let's figure out how do we maintain some of our national identities, how do we preserve the benefits of integration, and how do we deal with some of the frustrations that our own voters are feeling,' " Obama stated.

In the long term, Obama said he does not 'anticipate that there is going to be major cataclysmic changes as a consequence of this.'

'I would not overstate it,' Obama said. 'There's been a little bit of hysteria post-Brexit vote, as if somehow NATO's gone, the trans-Atlantic alliance is dissolving, and every country is rushing off to its own corner. That's not what's happening.'

Pointing to Norway, Obama said, 'They align themselves on almost every issue with Europe and us.

'They are a place that is continually supporting the kinds of initiatives internationally that we support, and, if over the course of what is going to be at least a two-year negotiation between England and Europe, Great Britain ends up being affiliated to Europe like Norway is, the average person is not going to notice a big change.'

President Barack Obama says 'hysteria' over Britain's leaving the European Union is unwarranted. 'I think that the best way to think about this is, a pause button has been pressed on the project of full European integration,' he told NPR

Obama came up on the losing side of the internal battle after he aligned himself with Britain's prime minister, David Cameron, who is resigning in defeat.

He said Britons would find themselves at the 'back of the queue' if they followed through, and they did it any way, putting their long-term trade relationship with the United States in jeopardy.

'It's too early to say' how long it will be before the UK is able to strike a deal with the US, the president's spokesman said yesterday. 'We're four or five days out of this decision being made.'

Obama reiterated that point today at the 'Three Amigos' summit in Canada.

'Frankly, we will be the least of their problems right now because their first order of business is to address the market where they sell half their goods, which is Europe,' the American president pointed out.

He added that 'these things are not easily negotiated,' especially when the U.S. has been working toward a trade agreement for so long with the EU.

Yesterday Josh Earnest said that the UK would not 'benefit from the years of progress we've made in negotiating a trade agreement with the EU' by leaving.

The top US negotiator, Trade Representative Michael Froman, has said set the end of 2016, a month before Obama's exit from office, as the target date to ink an agreement with the EU.

Britain cannot leave the aggregate group until after a two-year time period has passed, ensuring that trade will not immediately be halted.

Earnest said Tuesday that it was still unclear whether the UK would be allowed to negotiate new deals until that window has been passed.

'If and when those negotiations were to start, they would start in a different place,' he said.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton came in behind Obama and advised Britain to stay in the EU, while Republican Donald Trump joined the 'Leave' campaign.

Trump is framing the referendum's results as a harbinger of things to come in the United States.

Britons who voted to leave the EU were enraged that their country had been flooded by immigrants since joining the intercontinental alliance that has an open door policy among member nations.

The Republican White House contender believes he can ride the same populist wave to victory in November is the U.S. presidential election.

Obama said in the interview with NPR that there are parallels between the two countries' plights.

However, Europe is also recovering at a slower rate from the 2008 global financial crisis than the United States, he said, crediting his own policies for the positive adjustment west of the Atlantic.

'Overall I think the differences are greater than the similarities,' he said.

What is the same is 'the ability to tap into a fear that people may have about losing control, to offer some sort of vague nostalgic feelings about how we'll make Britain great again or how we'll make America great again.

'And the subtext for that is somehow that a bunch of foreigners and funny-looking people are coming in here and changing the basic character of the nation,' Obama told NPR's Steve Inskeep. 'I think that some of that is out there, both in Europe and the United States.'

Obama came up on the losing side of the internal battle after he aligned himself with Britain's prime minister, David Cameron, who is resigning in defeat. Cameron arrived yesterday at the first day of an EU summit meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels

Those beliefs are not unique to either the United States or Britain, he said, offering up other 'far-right' movements in France and other countries as evidence.

Obama said it's important to keep in mind with Trump that he 'embodies global elites and has taken full advantage of it his entire life.'

'So, he's hardly a spokesperson  a legitimate spokesperson  for a populist surge of working-class people on either side of the Atlantic,' Obama said, laughing at the idea of the billionaire as the leader of a Bernie Sanders-type movement.

Obama's preferred successor, Hillary Clinton, has avoided public comment on results of the Brexit campaign.

It was not until Sunday, at the annual Conference of U.S. Mayors, that she spoke about it at all, telling her audience, 'the United States and the United Kingdom are different countries in many important ways  economically, politically, demographically.

'But we still have a lot of common interests and values. Just as we have seen there are many frustrated people in Britain, we know there are frustrated people here at home too,' she said. 'Ive seen it, Ive heard it, I know it. Thats why Ive worked hard to find solutions to the economic challenges we face.'

In America, 'political dysfunction' in Congress is what's holding the economy back, the Democratic presidential candidate said.

She told LinkedIn executive editor Daniel Roth in an interview Tuesday morning that she was 'disappointed, but not surprised' by the outcome of the referendum.
According to the police it was of worth 2394 million kyat and the biggest haul of Yaba tablets this year in Arakan.

The police got a tip-off about the gang with a huge consignment of Yaba tablets to be transported from Sittwe to Buthidaung, a border town with Bangladesh, said the Arakan narcotic police department head Yee Than Tun.

The huge consignment of Yaba tablets were concealed inside 7 packages and those were transported from Yangon to Sittwe in a bus on 27 June by the invoice of one Shwe Pyi Thit.

As the consignment reached Sittwe No 2 Jetty, the police took prompt actions and nabbed the person with the consignment, which was about to be shifted to Buthidaung by a ferry ship.
It took Hillary Clinton at least 48 days to speak with any of the government personnel who were evacuated from Benghazi, Libya after the deadly anti-American terror attacks there, according to sworn testimony from her longtime senior aide Huma Abedin.

Abedin testified in October of last year in a closed-door deposition that after checking in with a single injured agent from the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, a man who would spend more than a year recovering at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Clinton went the rest of 2012 without speaking to another survivor.

That view contradicts what Hillary Clinton would tell Congress six days later in an open hearing.

'I talked to the survivors when they came back to the United States,' Clinton said during a lengthy Capitol Hill grilling. 'And one who was for many months in Walter Reed on the telephone.'

Abedin testified differently in an October 16, 2015 deposition before the Select Committee on Benghazi, saying Clinton spoke with just one agent through the end of 2012.

She also told investigators that it was she who reminded Clinton to check in on the hospitalized security agent nearly 7 weeks after the attack.

HUMA(N) REMINDER MACHINE: Huma Abedin (left) told her boss Hillary Clinton (right) that she should call a State Department security agent who was wounded in the Benghazi terror attacks, but up to that point  nearly 7 weeks on  the then-secretary of state hadn't mad any such phone calls. And She didn't make any others to survivors through the end of 2012

CARNAGE: The September 11, 2012 terror attackers killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, but an estimated 35 more survived in various states of injury  only one of whom heard from Clinton in the months that followed

'VERY IMPORTANT TO CALL': On October 29, 2012, 48 days after the Benghazi attack, Abedin told Clinton that she should phone in well-wishes to a gravely injured member of her Diplomatic Security force

'SHE HAD NOT': Abedin told congressional investigators that Clinton hadn't called the unnamed surviving Diplomatic Security agent on her own in the nearly 7 weeks since the attack

WHAT HILLARYTOLD CONGRESS Alabama Rep. Martha Roby grilled Hillary Clinton during an October 22, 2015 congressional hearing about the Benghazi attacks, just six days after top aide Huma Abedin said under oath that her boss hadn't spoken to any Benghazi survivors up to October 29, 2012  and then only to a single one in the remaining weeks of that year. REP. MARTHA ROBY: Did you  your surviving agents were evacuated to Tripoli the morning of the 12th. Did you talk to the survivors either that night or once they arrived in Tripoli? SEC. HILLARY CLINTON: We did not speak to them directly. We obviously made arrangements for them to be safely evacuated, and then to be transported to a hospital facility that we thought was safe from any potential attacks. ROBY: Did you talk to them the next day? CLINTON: No. ROBY: Did you talk to them later that week? CLINTON: No, I did not. ROBY: Did you talk to them when they first got back to the United States? CLINTON: I did not talk to them until they had had an opportunity to be debriefed and to provide information that would help us understand what happened; help the intelligence community and help the FBI as they were trying to build their case. ROBY: How would it have harmed the case that they were trying to build for you, secretary of state, just to check in on their well-being? CLINTON: I did check on their well-being. ROBY: No, personally. CLINTON: Well, I did personally talk with the people who were taking care of them, transporting them  ROBY: Again, the survivors -- when did you talk to the survivors? CLINTON: I talked to the survivors when they came back to the United States. And one who was for many months in Walter Reed on the telephone. Advertisement

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told DailyMail.com that questions about whether Clinton followed up with her underlings after they faced death in Libya indicate her shortcomings as a candidate.

'Hillary Clinton started the Libyan war that put our Ambassador in danger, her State Department ignored repeated requests for security, then left them there to die,' Trump said.

'Next, she lied to the world about a video being the cause. Now we learn she even delayed meeting with survivors.'

She unleashed ISIS, failed our diplomatic personnel, and put the whole nation at risk through her corrupt email scheme,' Trump continued. 'Hillary is dangerous, incompetent, and reckless. She can never lead.'

The Islamist attacks on September 11, 2012 killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, a State Department information officer and two CIA operatives who were former Navy SEALs.

But 35 other Americans were rushed out of the Libyan port city, according to a Capitol Hill source with knowledge of Obama administration figures. Clinton wrote in her memoir 'Hard Choices' that five Diplomatic Security agents were among the injured.

She also named David Ubben, the man she called at Walter Reed.

Abedin told investigators that a college friend of hers was present in Benghazi on the night of the attack.

In an October 29, 2012 email released last year by the State Department, 'Abedin wrote to Clinton that she had 'had a long visit with my friend who was in benghazi [sic].'

'Will download in person but think very important for you to call the injured DS [Diplomatic Security] officer. he is now well enough to talk. he doesnt [sic] want a visit but a check in call and asking him if he needs anything would be good. monica [sic] will remind you of this,' she added.

Abedin confirmed in her testimony that 'I had a friend from college who was in Benghazi that night.' She refused to discuss whether that person had witnessed the carnage.

But she acknowledged that up to that point  48 days after the attacks  Clinton had not made contact with any survivors.

'Had she talked to any of the surviving agents of the attack ... before this time?' Sharon Jackson, the congressional committee's deputy chief counsel, asked Abedin.

'I don't believe she had,' the long-time aide responded.

Ubben, she explained, had been badly injured and was not well enough to receive calls or visitors.

But 'I'm pretty certain she talked to him shortly after this email exchange,' Abedin testified. 'I don't remember the exact date, but I'm pretty certain she did.'

Jackson pressed her on whether or not Clinton had spoken with any of the other 'surviving agents' in the months that followed.

'Did she talk to them, to your knowledge, at all during 2012?' she asked.

'Not to my knowledge,' Abedin replied, directly clashing with Clinton's congressional testimony.

CRITICAL: Donald Trump lashed out at Hillary Clinton on Wednesday for her slow response in contacting Benghazi survivors after the deadly terror attack

111 DAYS: Abedin testified that from the Sept. 11, 2012 terror attacks until the end of that year  111 days  Clinton didn't talk with any of the other Benghazi survivors

HUMA'S 'FRIEND': Abedin's lawyer quickly clamped down on the deposition rather than entertain questions about what a friend of Huma was doing in Benghazi on the night of the attacks

Nick Merrill, the Clinton campaign's chief spokesman, emailed DailyMail.com with a primer on what Clinton had said in her book and to Congress.

He noted that Clinton wrote in 'Hard Choices' about a reception she held for the five injured Diplomatic Security agents and their family members on her penultimate day as secretary of state.

'Here you go,' Merrill wrote.

Asked whether Clinton's statement to Congress indicated that Clinton had personally spoken with all the Benghazi survivors, he responded only that 'I think it speaks for itself.'

Abedin's deposition transcript was provided to DailyMail.com by a staffer to a Democratic member of the Benghazi Committee.
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A severe draught in a remote region in India has led to a sharp increase in violence - and even murder.

As northern and central India continues to suffer thorough severe drought and oppressive heat, police in Bundelkhand and several other regions are reporting a rise in violent - and often deadly - clashes over water.

After almost 10 years of below-average rainfall and several consecutive years of drought, the region's rivers, lakes, reservoirs and wells are drying up.

Disputes are a common problem in many places in India that face water shortages and Indian police report that the fighting is getting more frequent and bloody.

In many parts of the country, neighbours, friends and family are turning on each other, desperate to protect what little water they have left, police records suggest.

A shepherd drinks water on the dry bed of Manjara Dam. As northern and central India continue to suffer thorough severe drought and oppressive heat, police in Bundelkhand and several other regions are reporting a rise in violent - and often deadly - clashes over water

Imrat Namdev and her younger sister Pushpa Namdev were neighbours in Chhatarpur district, in the drought-hit Indian region of Bundelkhand. Both relied on the same well for water and, according to police, frequently quarrelled over how much the other was using.

Police say last month, during a fight over water, Pushpa, 42, beat Imrat, 48, with a stick. The injured sister was rushed to a hospital, but died there, and Pushpa was charged with her murder.

'Our village faces a severe shortage of potable water,' Imrat's son, Jitendra, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 'Pushpa always felt my mother drew more water from the well.'

Last month, in the tribal-dominated Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh, 13-year-old Surmada, her brother and her uncle used a neighbour's hand-pump, without permission, to get water for the family's houseguests.

According to police, the owner of the pump and his son attacked the group with arrows. One pierced Surmada's eye, killing her.

After 10 years of below-average rainfall and several consecutive years of drought the region's rivers, reservoirs and wells are drying up

And in the village of Kanker, in Shivpuri district, a large-scale argument broke out after two motorcyclists got into an accident, causing one to spill the 15-litre (4 gallon) container of water he was carrying.

'The two later called their family members and friends and attacked each other with spears, axes and sticks,' said investigating officer Jaisingh Yadav of Sathanwada police station. Fifteen people were injured, five of them women, he said.

Lal Singh Arya, Madhya Pradesh's urban administration and development minister, said the government is using all its resources to try to make sure everyone has water.

But he predicted tensions will remain high until monsoon rains - which began recently in some areas - take hold.

'There have been disputes over water in many parts of the state because of two consecutive droughts,' he said. 'The situation will improve with the monsoon rains.'

Activists say the government's failure to act to better manage water is partly to blame for the rise in violence.

An Indian farmer tries to revive an unconscious cow which was dying on an unploughed field during a water crisis in Gondiya village

'The present crisis is the fallout of over-consumption, wasteful use and inefficient water governance systems,' said Ajay Dubey, an activist with the environmental non-governmental organisation Prayatna, based in Madhya Pradesh.

'People are going to any lengths for the sake of water. They've lost hope that the situation will ever improve. Things were never so bad,' Dubey said.

According to the Madhya Pradesh water resource department, out of the state's 139 main reservoirs, 82 are at only 10 percent capacity and 22 are empty.

As authorities try to make the remaining water last until monsoon rains help refill the reservoirs, the measures they have implemented have only exacerbated the sense of desperation.

Across much of the region, authorities have banned the use of water for washing cars or trucks, bathing cattle or irrigating crops. In most cities in Madhya Pradesh, the local government only supplies drinking water on one out of every two to seven days.

The district administration of Sehore in Madhya Pradesh has temporarily taken charge of all water sources, whether government or privately owned, so that it can manage use of the dwindling resource. And in three towns in Madhya Pradesh, the use of water for anything other than drinking is banned.

According to local authorities out of one state's 139 main reservoirs, 82 are at only 10% capacity and 22 are now officially empty

Lokesh Kumar, sub-divisional magistrate of Ichhawar town, said water can't be used for farming or industrial purposes until July 5, when the monsoon is underway and authorities hope water sources will be replenished.

For many in rural India, the struggle to survive with very little water is proving too difficult. In areas like Bundelkhand, a growing number of people are leaving their homes and abandoning their work in hopes of finding water - even just a little more - somewhere else.

Asandi Das, who lives in a village in Chhatarpur district, plans to take his family to Agra, where the famous Taj Mahal is located, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. He said that right now his family has neither food nor water.

He knows it won't be easy even in Agra - or anywhere else - but hopes to get enough work to make ends meet.
A Michigan mom is suing her doctor for wrongful conception after the professional told her she was not capable of having children, only for her to fall pregnant and give birth to a daughter with special needs.

Lori says she went to her doctor in 2008 to have a tubal ligation, also known as 'having your tubes tied'.

However the doctor told her the tubes were already blocked and that there was zero chance she would ever get pregnant.

But, in 2010, Cichewicz unexpectedly fell pregnant, and in April 2011 she had a daughter, Reagan, who was born with Down syndrome.

Lori Cichewicz says she went to her doctor in 2008 to have a tubal ligation, however he told her the tubes were already blocked and that she couldn't have children. Three years later she had her daughter, Reagan

The Michigan mom describes her daughter as the love of her life, however is suing her doctor for the emotional stress that the unexpected pregnancy brought her

Cichewicz is now suing for wrongful conception, claiming the doctor was negligent.

She is seeking damages for the emotional distress caused by the unplanned pregnancy.

As an older parent raising a child with special needs, Cichewicz is concerned what the future might hold.

'Will I see her graduate college... will I see her get married... what am I setting this child up for?' she told WXYZ.

Cichewicz said the lawsuit is not about raising a child with Down syndrome but the emotional stress of falling pregnant when she was told she couldn't.

Cichewicz, who is now 50 and raising a special needs child with her boyfriend, is seeking damages for the emotional distress caused by the unplanned pregnancy

She described her daughter as the center of her life and a bundle of joy.

'She's full of life, loving, kind, sweet, everything you could ever imagine,' Cichewicz said.

Tim Takala, Cichewicz's attorney, said the lawsuit seeks to keep Cichewicz's doctor accountable for his alleged misguidance that Cichewicz could not get pregnant.

'That's advice that misled Lori and caused her to go down and make a decision that she never should have had to make,' Takala said.

Cichewicz, 50, is worried about her daughters future, especially because of her daughter's needs

Legal analyst Charlie Langton told WJBK that the only damages Cichewicz can seek under a wrongful conception lawsuit would be associated with the unplanned pregnancy, and not about raising a child with Down Syndrome.

'The stress associated with thinking about of having to be pregnant or being pregnant when she didn't want to be pregnant are the only damages,' he said.

'It's not the fact she is going to get money for having to raise a Down syndrome child, the court already said no.'
Fourth of July is going to shine a little less bright along the Western coast this year, as dry weather conditions have sparked wildfire fears - and firework bans.

Major cities in Washington and California have placed bans on the explosives and Oregon has taken it a step further, banning fireworks along all state beaches and national parks.

Some cities will give out hefty fines as punishment for selling or discharging fireworks during Independence Day, while others will include mandatory jail time.

The West Coast has been hit with abnormally dry weather conditions since April that could make fireworks exceptionally perilous.

Firework bans on the Fourth of July have sparked up across the drought-stricken West Coast amid fears of summer wildfires

Major cities in Washington and California have placed bans on the explosives and Oregon has taken it a step further, banning fireworks along all state beaches and national parks

'The recent dry weather coupled with dried out or dead vegetation leads to a scenario that will make the use of fireworks very dangerous over the upcoming holiday weekend,' said Accuweather meteorologist Dan Pydynowski.

The Pacific Northwest received record rainfall during the winter months, aided by El Nino, but things took a turn when April hit.

'Even wetter places such as Seattle and Portland still have only received about 60 to 75 percent of their normal rainfall,' said Pydynowski.

Los Angeles, which was recently hit with a heat wave, has only received 25 percent of average rainfall this year, and San Francisco is below 50 percent its normal measurements.

Cities in Washington that have issued restrictions or bans on fireworks include Seattle, Spokane, and Olympia, according to the Fire Protection Bureau.

Fireworks will also be illegal in Salinas, California for the holiday weekend, coming just eight days before the city-wide fireworks ban will be lifted due to a vote in the state's recent primary.

Salinas Police Chief Kelly McMillin said there will be twice as many police officers patrolling the city during the July 4 weekend to make sure the ban is followed, according to KSBW.

Fines will range between $500 to $1,500 and can apply to people whose property is used to light up the sky.

Officials said 30 fires ignited in Salinas last Independence Day.

In Sacramento, the punishment will include a minimum of 10 days in county jail and three years of probation, Sacramento Deputy District Attorney Amy Holliday told KCRA.

Some of the harshest penalties are in Sacramento, where just two years ago Independence Day fireworks were blamed for the Monticello Fire (pictured) that scorched 5,000 acres and forced hundreds to evacuate

Fire officials believe fireworks were to blame for the Monticello Fire, which scorched 5,000 acres of land and forced hundreds of people to evacuate.

The fire was first reported that Friday night - on July 4.

Those who spent their Fourth of July watching professional fireworks do not need to fear in California, where firefighters are most concerned about illegal backyard fireworks.

Fireworks sparked 300 fires in the state just last year, according to CBS Los Angeles.

'It's really the biggest day of the year for firefighters,' Orange County Fire Captain Steve Hurdle said of Independence Day.
Foreign murderers and sex attackers could be allowed to live in the UK even if their previous convictions are known, a Whitehall official admitted yesterday.

David Cheesman, Home Office policy chief on international criminal records, said there was no guarantee violent offenders would be refused entry or deported if past crimes were discovered. The revelation came at the inquest into teenage schoolgirl Alice Gross, who was killed by a builder previously jailed for murdering his wife in his native Latvia.

Mr Cheesman said the lack of information provided by other EU countries means convicted murderers living in the UK are sometimes not discovered unless they commit a crime here. He said the police and Home Office had pushed EU laws to the limit on public protection  and many European countries think we have gone too far.

Alice Gross (right), 14, was murdered by Arnis Zalkalns (left) who was let into the UK despite a conviction for bludgeoning his wife to death

Alices body was found in the River Brent in September 2014, a month after she disappeared. The 14-year-old, of Hanwell, west London, was murdered in a sexually motivated attack by Arnis Zalkalns, who was let into Britain despite a conviction for bludgeoning his wife to death, the coroner has heard.

The builder, who also had sexual assault and firearms convictions in Latvia, first arrived in 2007 but was allowed to come and go as he liked for the next seven years because he was not on an international watch list.

Mr Cheesman told the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice: Had he been placed on a watch list, that would have led to stop and questioning.

The officer would then decide on whether he would be denied entry. Id have thought it was more likely than not that he would have been refused entry. He could have been given temporary admission even while more checks were made. The immigration officer would have to consider issues such as how long he had lived in the UK and if he had any family here, Mr Cheesman told the inquest.

But he added: I cant guarantee that just because you had a murder conviction you would be deported or refused entry.

Forensics conducting a fingertip search over the scene of where Alice Gross's body was found in October 2014

Most EU countries do not alert Interpol about previous murder convictions, Mr Cheesman said. It means, in many cases, foreign criminals here are not discovered unless they are later arrested and British police run an overseas background check.

In a small number of cases other countries will tell us, but that doesnt happen regularly, Mr Cheesman added. If we are not given that information, under the current system it isnt until the first time he comes into the custody suite  however minor the offence  that the check will be made.
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The Palm Springs villa where the James Bond film 'Diamonds are Forever' was shot is being sold to Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott.

Scott is paying around $8million for the Elrod House, which is located on a private road in the desert resort city in California.

That is close to the asking price, according to Variety, which first reported on the sale.

Variety called the house 'flamboyant and photogenic.'

Its living room features in the 1971 James Bond film 'Diamonds Are Forever,' in a scene where the British secret agent, played by Sean Connery, is attacked by the villains Thumper and Bambi.

The circular living room is 60 feet in diameter and has a conically vaulted dome ceiling with nine concrete petals set between as many windows, Variety reported.

The 8,901-square-foot home has five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, a gym, and a swimming pool, Variety reported.

Scott has designed colorful outfits for Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, and other celebrities in his capacity as creative director for the Italian luxury fashion house Moschino, a job the Kansas City, Missouri native has held since 2013.

The Palm Springs villa where the James Bond film 'Diamonds are Forever' was shot is being sold to Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott

Scott is paying around $8million for the Elrod House, which is located on a private road in the desert resort city in California

Eight million dollars is close to the asking price, according to Variety, which first reported on the sale. The magazine called the house 'flamboyant and photogenic'

The circular living room is 60 feet in diameter and has a conically vaulted dome ceiling with nine concrete petals set between as many windows

The 8,901-square-foot home has five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, a gym, and a swimming pool, Variety reported

Known as the Elrod House, the villa is located on a private road in the desert resort city in southern California

Its living room features in the 1971 James Bond film 'Diamonds Are Forever,' in a scene where the British secret agent is attacked by the villains Thumper and Bambi

'Diamonds Are Forever' is the seventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the sixth and final Bond film to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond
Longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin acknowledged both she and the former secretary of state were 'frustrated' when communications fell through because of Clinton's unusual use of a private email system that on occasion made it difficult to 'do her job.'

As part of a public information lawsuit by conservative group Judicial Watch, Abedin was questioned repeatedly about a 2010 email where Clinton wrote she didn't 'want any risk of the personal being accessible.'

That email had been prompted by difficulties Clinton had connecting with a foreign foreign minister, according to the deposition.

Clinton missed the call 'because she never got  I never got her e-mail suggest[ing]  giving us the sign-off to do it. So she wasn't able to do her job, do what she needed to do,' Abedin explained.

Longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin gave a deposition this week in a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit. She attended a fundraiser for Clinton at Harvey Weinstein's residence in New York this month

Important communications between Clinton and staff had been going to her spam filter because of her private email address.

'We should talk about putting you on State e-mail or releasing your e-mail address to the department so you are not going to spam,' Abedin wrote Clinton at one point.

The issue was a source of frustration on the part of both Abedin and her longtime mentor, who has employed Abedin since her time working for Clinton in the first lady's office.

Asked what she meant about releasing Clinton's closely-guarded personal email address  guarded by staff but denied to some senior government officials  Abedin responded, 'I'm not sure I would know how to define that then or define that now. I might have also just be my -- my being frustrated back at the fact that I wasn't getting her messages.  just reading the exchange, she seems frustrated because she's not able to do her job.'

Abedin in her testimony couldn't recall if she resolved the problem by calling someone or if, 'I on my own said, Here are some solutions so that your e-mails get through to us so that we can place call -- calls to foreign officials.'

Abedin testified in a lawsuit that began by probing her work as a special government employee at the State Department as well as in the private sector

Frustrated: Abedin said Clinton's private email sometimes led important communications to go to spam

Abedin dodged when an attorney conducting the deposition pressed about her about what she meant when she wrote about 'releasing [Clinton's] e-mail address to the department'

'I couldn't tell you,' Abedin responded.

Despite the SNAFU, Clinton didn't' appear to take any affirmative steps to change the situation.

'I don't recall any response, other than once the system was back up and running, that it was -- we just proceeded with business the way it was before,' Abedin said.

'I would imagine anybody who has personal email doesn't want that personal email to be read by anybody else,' Abedin explained. 'I read it the same way as she has written it,' Abedin said, when asked about Clinton's apparent reluctance to engage with the normal system.

Two witnesses to the testimony told Bloomberg described Abedin as being cooperative during the deposition.

Judicial Watch released a new batch of emails between Clinton and Abedin Monday.

In one of them, Clinton shows some knowledge of the need to preserve federal records.

'I have just realized I have no idea how my papers are treated at State,' Clinton wrote in 2009. 'Who manages both my personal and official files?'
Christy Sheats called a family meeting but pulled out a gun and shot girls

plans to marry her fiance - which her mother forbade

A Texas woman who fatally shot her two daughters spared her estranged husband because she 'wanted him to suffer', a sheriff said Wednesday.

Christy Sheats, 42, murdered Madison Sheats, 17, and Taylor Sheats, 22, after calling a family meeting at their Fulshear home, west of Houston, Texas.

Investigators say she had 'had ample time' to shoot Jason Sheats during the horrific attack but had chosen to keep him alive.

'She accomplished what she set out to do, and that is to make him suffer,' Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls said during a news conference.

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Christy Sheats (left) who fatally shot her two daughters spared her estranged husband Jason (right) because she 'wanted him to suffer', a sheriff said Wednesday

The 42-year-old shot her daughters Madison (left) and Taylor Sheats (right) after a family dispute

Tension among the family had been brewing and Taylor had recently argued with her mother about plans to marry her boyfriend Juan Sebastian Lugo.

Her mom wanted to ground her daughter and prevent her from seeing her boyfriend, while her husband had argued it was inappropriate to ground someone of Taylor's age.

On the night of the shooting, on June 24, Jason had arrived at the home after his estranged wife called a family meeting.

He told officers he believed she was going to discuss their crumbling marriage and possible divorce with their daughters. Instead, Christy Sheats pulled out a pistol and shot their daughters.

Jason and his daughters fled out outside where Taylor collapsed, witnesses said.

Neighbors said the dad, 45, could only watch in horror as his wife shot their children on his birthday.

Jason Sheats (center) escaped unscathed but was taken to hospital because he was distraught

Madison (right) worked as a babysitter, while Taylor (left) was a student at Lone Star College

Christy followed them out, reloaded her gun and shot Madison in the back, a witness said.

Madison was pronounced dead at the scene, while Taylor was airlifted to a hospital in a critical condition, where she later died.

A responding officer later shot and killed Christy when she refused orders to drop her gun.

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, neighbor Fazz Zainuddin told Click2Houston.

'[The officer] heard the dad say, "Don't do this. They're our kids",' Zainuddin said.

'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 Madison's body still holding the pistol.

'I guess the cop was afraid he was going to shoot her again,' he added.

The sheriff's office released 911 calls this week that captured the panic in the neighborhood on Friday.

In the first call, a woman is heard crying, 'Please. Forgive me. Please. Don't shoot.' After a scream, she cries, 'Please. I'm sorry,' and 'Please. Don't point that gun at her.'

Another woman is heard saying: 'I promise you, whatever you want,' before the call is disconnected.

Christy Sheats (pictured) was killed by a responding police officer after she refused to drop her pistol

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

In a second call, a woman is heard saying, weakly: 'She shot 'em.'

A neighbor during a third call describes the daughters lying in the street in front of their house. They describe Christy kneeling over her eldest daughter and shooting her.

Officers had responded to a 911 call around 5pm on Friday. They arrived to find the two daughters, who had already been shot, lying outside the home in the 6000 block of Remson Hollow Lane.

Christy, originally from Decatur, Alabama, was next to them with a gun in her hand, apparently preparing to shoot one of her daughters again.

The officer shot and killed her after she refused to drop her pistol, authorities said.

Sheriff Nehls said Christy's life appeared to unravel in 2012 following the death of her grandfather, who she saw as a mentor. Her mother died a few months later.

Her grandfather had given her the .38-caliber handgun used to kill her daughters. Sheats had previously applied for a gun license to carry the weapon but was denied, the sheriff said, adding that authorities are investigating why she was denied.

Justin said that his wife of more than 20 years had been suffering from severe depression and would drink heavily.

She was admitted on three separate occasions to a private mental health facility and had been suicidal and suffered from depression.

Sheats also had been unemployed since 2012.

Christy and Jason had recently reunited after being separated, another neighbor told ABC13.

Meanwhile, other neighbors in Fulshear expressed shock when they heard of the shooting.

Police arrived to find the two daughters lying outside the home in the 6000 block of Remson Hollow Lane

'The mother was nice,' one said. 'You wouldn't 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 posted a photo of her two daughters on Facebook in September last year.

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.'

Tributes poured in for Taylor, who went to Lone Star College, and Madison, a student at Seven Lakes High School, on Facebook on Saturday.

Taylor's 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.
Theresa May took a swipe at Boris Johnson today as the latest polls give her a clear lead in the race for 10.

Despite campaigning for Remain, the Home Secretary is promising to take Britain out of the EU and curb the free movement of migrants.

Launching what will be a fierce leadership battle with Boris Johnson, she says she would appoint a Cabinet Minister for Brexit who will be a Eurosceptic.

Last night there was a boost to Mrs May's leadership ambitions after Tory members gave her a 17-point lead over Mr Johnson.

In the first poll of party members since the EU Referendum, support for Mrs May was at 55 per cent and at 38 per cent for Mr Johnson.

Theresa May came top when Tory members polled by YouGov were given a straight choice between her and Boris Johnson

Tory members had been asked which of the pair they would support if they were head-to-head in the final round of the contest.

The poll was carried out by YouGov for The Times.

She will say that her vision as PM will be to restore battered public trust in politics by presiding over a Government that 'works not for a privileged few but for every one of us'.

Two hours after her official declaration, Mr Johnson will officially unveil his own 'Back Boris in 2016' campaign.

The ex-London mayor will pledge 'opportunity' for all and urge Britain to believe in itself again post-Brexit.

Yesterday, Mrs May's aides vowed there would be 'no deals' cut with Mr Johnson  triggering a potentially bruising nine-week battle for the top job that both have coveted for years.

Writing in The Times, Mrs May appears to clearly set her sights on Mr Johnson's privileged background as she attacked unnamed Westminster figures who do not appreciate hardship and believe the government 'is a game'.

Appealing to blue-collar Tories and says: 'If you're from an ordinary, working-class family, life is just much harder than many people in politics realise.

POLL REVEALS PARTY MEMBERS THINK MAY SHOULD BE LEADER The poll of 1,001 Tory party members surveyed this week found that Mrs May had a 15-point lead over Mr Johnson when considering who would be the strongest leader. She also gained a 30-point lead when the members were asked who would unite the Conservative Party. Mrs May was also given a 28-point lead on who would be most prepared to take tough decisions. However Mr Johnson was given a 27-point lead when asked who better understood what it takes to win elections. Those surveyed also thought he would be the best media performer, giving him a 49-point lead. Advertisement

'You have a job, but you don't always have job security. You have your own home, but you worry about mortgage rates going up.

'Frankly, not everybody in Westminster understands what its like to live like this.

'And some need to be told that what the government does isnt a game, its a serious business that has real consequences for peoples lives.'

The declarations of Mr Johnson and Mrs May today will fully ignite the battle to become Britain's next prime minister in early September.

Other declared candidates include ex-Cabinet secretary Liam Fox and Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb who is running on a 'dream ticket' with Business Secretary Sajid Javid.

On a day of intrigue and backroom deals at Westminster, the leading contenders announced a number of heavyweight backers.

Mrs May has secured the support of Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, International Development Secretary Justine Greening and housing minister Brandon Lewis, who praised her sincerity and serious style.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan  a potential runner herself  held a meeting with Mrs May yesterday, triggering speculation that she could cut a deal.

The Home Secretary was also ahead when Conservatives were asked who would be their first choice as party leader

Launching what will be a fierce leadership battle with Boris Johnson, she also promises to appoint a Cabinet Minister for Brexit who will be a Eurosceptic (the pair are pictured together in 2011)

Energy minister Andrea Leadsom and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will both announce if they are standing later today.

Speculation is rife that Mrs Leadsom could join the Johnson camp  bagging a senior job in the process.

Mrs May will make a commitment to implementing the Brexit vote in full, and without the need for any further referendum.

Friends said she would view anything else as being a 'betrayal' of the wishes of the public.

She will stress her successes in negotiating with Brussels while in the Home Office and will state that any trade deal reached with the EU must include curbs on free movement.

To reassure Eurosceptics, she will pledge to appoint a 'Cabinet Minister for Brexit', who will be based inside the Cabinet Office and lead the negotiations with the EU.

Mrs May, speaking in central London, will be clear about that the process of leaving the EU will not be 'brief or straightforward'.

She will then say: 'That means it is going to require significant expertise and a consistent approach. I will therefore create a new government department responsible for conducting Britain's negotiation with the EU.

Javid and Crabb are sounding out MPs about running on a 'dream ticket' to rival that of Johnson and Gove

'That department will be led by a senior secretary of state  and I will make sure that the position is taken by a member of Parliament who campaigned for Britain to leave the EU. The job now is about uniting the party, uniting the country and negotiating the best possible deal for Britain.'

Mr Johnson is rumoured to have 100 supporters while Mrs May reportedly has between 50 and 80.

In a bid to gather as much support as possible before next Tuesday's first round of voting at Westminster, she will today outline her 'vision' for the country.

Friends said her determination is to re-unite the country by standing up for all sections of society.

Former Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox and Education secretary Nicky Morgan are expected to stand

They point to her decision to introduce a modern slavery bill and limit the use of stop and search, which was being disproportionately targeted at young black men.

Mrs May will say: 'We need a bold, new, positive vision for the future of our country  a vision of a country that works not for a privileged few but for every one of us.'

She will also add that Britain is the 'same outward-looking and globally-minded and big-thinking country we have always been  and we remain open for business and welcoming to foreign talent'.

Yesterday it emerged that an attempt to bring the two together on a joint ticket failed when Mr Johnson was kept waiting for 20 minutes by the Home Secretary, who announced she was not coming.

Mrs May's spokesman declared after the incident was revealed: 'Theresa is in it to win it. She does not want any deals. She would rather lose than do a deal.'

Tory MP Andrea Leadsom and current Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt are also preparing to stand

Other backers unveiled by Mrs May yesterday include justice minister Mike Penning  a former top aide to Iain Duncan Smith who campaigned for Leave. Meanwhile, Mr Johnson will say that, post-Brexit, now is a time of opportunity. He will say: 'The chance to believe in ourselves; the chance to believe in the values that make our country great.'

Yesterday, Mr Johnson added more names to his list of backers  which supporters claim number 100, though others have cast doubt on this figure. They include ex-Tory leadership contender David Davis, education minister and Gove ally Nick Gibb and James Wharton, the northern powerhouse minister and close ally of George Osborne.

Mr Wharton said that Mr Johnson manages to engage with 'huge swathes of our country' who feel alienated from Westminster politics.

Other supporters of the ex-London mayor include Tory rising stars Dominic Raab and Priti Patel, plus Environment Secretary Liz Truss.
Michael Gove and his wife were branded 'Lord and Lady Macbeth' and 'Poundland Lannisters' today after dramatically killing off Boris Johnson's Downing Street dream.

Having initially seemed to be a key backer of Mr Johnson, the Justice Secretary announced his own bid for the Tory leadership this morning and questioned his colleague's commitment to cutting ties with Brussels.

Within hours of the devastating blow Mr Johnson, who had been the hot favourite, was using an event that had been intended as his campaign launch to rule himself out.

Tory MP Jake Berry posted on Twitter: 'There is a very deep pit reserved in Hell for such as he. #Gove'

And an aide to Mr Johnson is said to have texted a journalist: 'Gove is a c*** who set this up from the start.'

The first sign of the sudden turnaround came last night when a leaked email revealed that Mr Gove's wife had urged him to seek 'reassurance' from 'Boris' about his role in future plans before pledging his support.

Sarah Vine, who is a Daily Mail columnist, said that without these assurances, her husband should not be prepared to side with the former London Mayor in his battle for Number Ten.

In exchanges that were accidentally made public, Michael Gove's wife urged him to seek 'reassurance' from 'Boris' about his role in future plans before pledging his support. Pictured, Michael and Sarah Gove

The leaked email was sent on Tuesday  after Mr Gove had gone public with his intention to form a partnership with his fellow Brexit campaigner

It read: 'Very important that we focus on the individual obstacles and thoroughly overcome them before moving to the next. I really think Michael needs to have a Henry or a Beth (Mr Gove's media advisers, also copied into the email) with him for this morning's crucial meetings.

'One simple message: You MUST have SPECIFIC assurances from Boris OTHERWISE you cannot guarantee your support. The details can be worked out later on, but without that you have no leverage.

'Crucially, the membership will not have the necessary reassurance to back Boris, neither will (Daily Mail editor Paul) Dacre/(Rupert) Murdoch, who instinctively dislike Boris but trust your ability enough to support a Boris Gove ticket. Do not concede any ground. Be your stubborn best. GOOD LUCK.'

It was sent on Tuesday  after Mr Gove had gone public with his intention to form a partnership with his fellow Brexit campaigner.

It suggests that, privately, there were lingering doubts over whether this was the right decision.

At the time the email was written, Mr Johnson was under-fire for appearing to water down his commitment to curb immigration.

Sarah Vine, who is a Daily Mail columnist, said that without assurances from Boris Johnson, her husband should not be prepared to side with the former London Mayor in his battle for Number Ten

Sarah Vine at home today after her husband detonated a bomb under the Tory leadership contest

It is believed the email was leaked when she accidentally sent the email to a member of the public who has the same surname as one of Mr Gove's advisers.

In the Commons, Mr Salmond labelled Justice Secretary Mr Gove 'Lord Macbeth' in a reference to Shakespeare's famous tragic play.

He said he had 'dispatched' David Cameron before knocking Boris Johnson out of the Tory leadership race.

The former SNP leader also asked Commons Leader Chris Grayling, who is backing Home Secretary Theresa May's leadership bid, if he feared he will soon be targeted by Mr Gove.

To laughs, Mr Salmond suggested to Mr Grayling: 'Can we have a week-long debate on political backstabbing?

'We're going to need a week because all of the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) will want to take part, but they are rank amateurs compared to (Mr Gove), the Lord Macbeth of this chamber, who having dispatched the Prime Minister today is dispatching the Prime Minister's greatest rival.

Twitter users compared the Goves to the Macbeths and sneaky characters from hit series Game of Thrones

'What makes you think that Lord Macbeth's dagger won't soon be turned to you and the Home Secretary?'

Tory frontbencher Mr Grayling replied: '(Mr Gove) has been, in my view, an excellent education secretary, an excellent chief whip and is now doing an excellent job in the role I used to perform as Lord Chancellor.

'He has friends and the confidence of this side of the House and he is, for the Scottish National Party, a formidable adversary.'

Twitter users also likened the political power couple to the Macbeths, and one updated the comparison by suggesting Sarah Vine was like a 'Poundland' Cersei Lannister - a sneaky character from hit series Game of Thrones.

Tory MP Jake Berry, a close ally of Boris Johnson, vented his anger at Mr Gove on Twitter

Declaring his leadership bid this morning, Mr Gove acknowledged he had repeatedly said he did not want to be PM.

But he said events since the referendum had 'weighed heavily with me'.

'The British people voted for change last Thursday. They sent us a clear instruction they want Britain to leave the EU and end the supremacy of EU law,' he said in a statement.

'They told us to restore democratic control of immigration policy and to spend their money on national priorities such as health, education and science instead of giving it to Brussels.

'They rejected politics as usual. They want and need a new approach to running this country.

He added: I have come reluctantly to the conclusions Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead.

'I have therefore decided to put my name forward for the leadership.'


Remember Cody Wilson, the founder of Defense Distributed who caused chaos last year with his design for a 3D printed gun, The Liberator? Now, Wilson and engineer John Sullivan have developed a $1500 desktop CNC mill, called the Ghost Gunner, that cranks out the key component in assault rifles. Now you can make your own AR-15! There's a waiting list to buy one and the money is going to Wilson's lawsuit against the State Department. From Rob Walker's excellent feature in Bloomberg Businessweek:

Most people can purchase a pretty good factory-built gun for $1,000. Even so, Wilson got 10 orders on Day One and started raising the price, soon cutting off pre-orders at 500. Sullivan submitted redesigned specs to suppliers by mid-December, with Wilson, Sullivan, and Denio building the earliest units themselves. They started shipping in April 2015.

Gradually, Wilson put together an assembly teamcontacts from his network, random supporters who reached out via Twitter, and so on. "It's torture man, getting going," he says. "But here we are. It's been a full year of Ghost Gunner shipping." The enterprise just surpassed 2,000 units shipped. (An upgraded Ghost Gunner 2 debuted on June 21 at $1,500; you can get on a waiting list for $250.)

Sullivan has since transitioned to a "consulting role." He spoke to me, somewhere en route to Oklahoma City, from his van, which is where he and his fiancee essentially live, having sold most of their possessions. He's opted for a low-expense, permanent-vacation lifestyle, he says, and can now pick and choose the projects that interest him.

Back at Jim's, Wilson says the Ghost Gunner business could expand, even internationallyor could be snuffed out by regulatory caprice. His partner Denio has taken an interest in a few orders from engineering educators and now imagines a spinoff businessthoroughly rebrandedbringing desktop CNC machines to that market. (That said, Denio underscored to me that his ideological goals trump his entrepreneurial ones: "I wouldn't mind living on the street and eating garbage if I knew our Second Amendment was protected.")

Wilson says he wants the product to succeed and satisfy the customers who've supported him. In May, Defense Distributed had its first trade-show booth, at a survivalist expo in Dallas. But it's pretty clear that engineering and business aren't a rush for him but a means to an end. "I'm just trying," he says, "to win my lawsuit."
Some call Jeremy Corbyn stubborn. Has he not also been resilient? He entered the Commons at 11.55am, five minutes before PMQs.

His arrival was greeted with a silence so cold on the Labour benches it could have chilled your Tio Pepe.

Mr Corbyn ignored the antipathy. He burbled a few light words to the Speaker before wandering to his seat beside the despatch box. A couple of his new frontbenchers patted him on the back.

An aide grabs the jacket lapel of a shocked Jeremy Corbyn as television crews ask him about the leadership contest

The rest of Labours MPs stared at his back with loathing.

What a stand-off we have between parliamentary politics and popular activism  both inside Labour and on the wider attitude to Brexit. Mr Corbyn held some sheets of paper. They did not tremble.

When the 67-year-olds turn to speak arrived, he did so in the level, unhurried manner as on any other week since he was elected Labour leader. How many of us, confronted by such liverish hostility, could keep our cool?

He did not mention his difficulties but he did ask David Cameron about job security after last weeks EU referendum.

Labour MPs jeered, even more so when Mr Corbyn noted that Mr Cameron had only two months left in his job. A Labour heckler: More than you, mate! If Mr Corbyn heard the remark, he ignored it.

Mr Cameron was irked. That he should have been mortally wounded just as Labour is imploding! Alexander the Great has been fatally stricken on the eve of invading Arabia.

With a flash of anger, Mr Cameron attacked Mr Corbyn for his half-heartedness in the referendum.

He added that Mr Corbyns weak leadership might be good for the Tory Party but it was bad for the country. For Heavens sake, man, GO! he snapped, his voice shaking.

At that moment I was watching Dame Margaret Beckett (Lab, Derby S), one of Mr Corbyns critics. She did not laugh at or cheer Mr Camerons remark. Rather, it seemed to pain her.

Perhaps the dame calculated that Labours rank and file, seeing Mr Corbyn attacked so acidly by a hated Tory, would feel instinctively defensive of their leader.

British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addresses MPs in the House of Commons yesterday

The moment Prime Minister David Cameron says to Jeremy Corbyn: 'For Heavens sake, man, go!

Theresa May, who had arrived early to take her seat, sat just down the front bench from Mr Cameron. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond  now entirely expendable, surely  kept chatting to her, the great suck-up.

Mrs May has a face of wintry detachment that could make her a fine bridge player. Of Boris Johnson (more one for Racing Demon) there was no sign, though his strategist Michael Gove was present. Mr Gove nodded approvingly when Mr Cameron dead-batted questions about the coming EU withdrawal negotiations. Sir Alan Duncan (Con, Rutland & Melton), a May supporter, essayed a sporty swipe which compared Germanys stolid Angela Merkel favourably to Italys Silvio Berlusconi  except that Sir Alan called him Silvio Boris-coni, ho ho.

Mr Cameron missed the reference to Boris but disclosed that when he became PM he was firmly advised by aides never to attend a soiree organised by swordsman Silvio.

Not a flicker of amusement crossed Mrs Mays grim visage. Gawd, what joylessness awaits us if she becomes Tory leader. She makes Gordon Brown look like Ken Dodd.

Corbyn delivered a speech to supporters at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London yesterday

Mike Gapes (Lab, Ilford S) had a dig at Mr Corbyn when he mentioned the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan  A Labour winner! Labours deputy leader, Tom Watson, who was sitting beside Mr Corbyn, gave a disloyal little cough of laughter.

Then Douglas Carswell (Ukip, Clacton) was called. Mr Carswell began making some generous remarks about the Remain side in the EU referendum, saying that it was important for him and his fellow Leavers to acknowledge that the Remain voters contained plenty of decent, patriotic people. But the House did not want to listen. It started to boo Mr Carswell.
Today we rely on concrete and steel to build our cities, but in the future we could become dependent on bones, experts believe.

Cities like London need to find other ways to support the ever-expanding population while keeping carbon emissions under control, scientists warn.

With urban areas lacking on space, taller buildings need to be created to house more people using sustainable materials, not concrete and steel.

And this could be through using artificial bone which is designed to self-heal.

Cities in the future could be built from bone. Scientists say the material is more sustainable and can help with growing populations. Pictured is an impression of how New York might look like in the future

WHAT IS CO2NCRETE? Researchers believe they have found a way of turning one of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters into greenhouse gas storage. Concrete accounts for five per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions on the planet. But a new environmentally-friendly alternative has been developed in the US, which takes carbon dioxide given off by power plants and uses it to 3D print a building material. A team of researchers at UCLA has been working on a process that may help eliminate greenhouse gases coming from power plants and turn it into a replacement for concrete. Its plan is to create a process of capturing carbon from the gasses emitted from the plants, and using it to create a new building material they have called CO2ncrete, made with 3D printers. 'What this technology does is take something that we have viewed as a nuisance, carbon dioxide that's emitted from smokestacks, and turn it into something valuable,' said Professor J R DeShazo, professor of Public Policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Advertisement

As more and more people move to urban areas, developers are being encouraged to think of environmentally friendly ways to scale up.

The UK's population will rise by 9.7 million over the next 25 years, official predictions by the Office for National Statistics revealed earlier this month.

It means the country will need to accommodate the equivalent of a city bigger than London by 2039.

Responsible for a tenth of carbon emissions worldwide, concrete and steel are having a large effect on global warming.

Before they ever reach a construction site, both materials must be processed at extremely high temperatures  using a lot of energy in the process.

Dr Michelle Oyen, from the University of Cambridges Department of Engineering, said: Just because we can make all of our buildings out of concrete and steel doesnt mean we should.

Engineers tend to throw energy at problems, whereas nature throws information at problems  they fundamentally do things differently.

All of our existing building standards have been designed with concrete and steel in mind.

Constructing buildings out of entirely new materials would mean completely rethinking the whole industry.

If were going to make a real change, a major rethink is what has to happen.

Despite some researchers trying to find ways of producing steel and concrete in more energy-efficient ways, Oyen would rather use natural resources.

She has constructed small samples of artificial bone and eggshell in her laboratory, which could be used building materials.

Since the process takes place at room temperature, the samples take very little energy to produce.

But it may be some time before were living in bone and eggshell houses.

In bone, the proportions of protein and mineral are roughly equal with minerals providing stiffness, while proteins prevent fracture.

Developments will be encouraged to build taller buildings using sustainable materials in the future - and this could be through using artificial bone which is designed to self-heal

The UK will need to accommodate the equivalent of a city bigger than London by 2039, according to predictions.With urban areas lacking on space, taller buildings need to be created to house more people using sustainable materials, not concrete and steel

While bones can break, it is relatively rare, and they have the benefit of being self-healing  another feature that engineers are trying to bring to synthetic materials.

And scientists believe mixing the two artificial materials could be the answer.

When making the artificial bone and eggshell, the mineral components are templated directly onto collagen, which is the most abundant protein in the animal world.

Dr Oyen said: One of the interesting things is that the minerals that make up bone deposit along the collagen, and eggshell deposits outwards from the collagen, perpendicular to it.

It might even be the case that these two composites could be combined to make a lattice-type structure, which would be even stronger  theres some interesting science there that wed like to look into.

Dr Michael Ramage from the universitys Department of Architecture is another who believes we need to expand our use of natural materials in buildings.

He has several ongoing research projects looking into the use of wood  one of the oldest building materials we have  for tall buildings.

Working with PLP Architecture and engineers Smith and Wallwork, Dr Ramage recently delivered plans for an 80-storey, 300 metres high, timber skyscraper to the Mayor of London.

The proposals currently being developed would create more than 1,000 residential units in a 1 million square-foot, mixed-use tower and mid-rise terraces, integrated into the Barbican in central London.

Dr Ramage believes wood could be London's answer to surviving an increasing popultion, as he states historic buildings such as King's College Chapel (pictured) and Westminster Hall have made extensive use of timber

Like other natural materials, the primary benefit of using wood as a building material is that it is a renewable resource, unlike concrete and steel.

Dr Ramages research is also investigating other potential benefits of using wood for tall buildings, such as reduced costs and improved construction timescales.

He said: If London is going to survive an increasing population, it needs to densify.

One way is taller buildings. We believe people have a greater affinity for taller buildings in natural materials rather than steel and concrete towers.

The fundamental premise is that timber and other natural materials are vastly underused and we dont give them nearly enough credit.

Nearly every historic building, from Kings College Chapel to Westminster Hall, has made extensive use of timber.

The tallest timber building in the world at the moment is a 14-storey apartment block in Bergen, Norway, but Dr Ramage foresees future cities where timber skyscrapers sit alongside those made of concrete and steel.

He says making buildings out of timber will also have a positive effect on the environment,

He said: But cities might be a whole lot quieter, as most timber buildings are built off site, and then just assembled on site, and use roughly a fifth as much truck traffic as equivalent concrete buildings.

In other words, what needs to be delivered in five trucks for a concrete building can be delivered in one truck for a timber building.
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What would Rembrandt's 'The Storm on the Sea of Galilee' look like if instead of using a paintbrush and palette, he used stock photographs?

Adobe has challenged four digital artists to re-create lost, stolen or destroyed artwork using its 50 million pieces of stock photography for its 'Make a Masterpiece' campaign.

One of the artists, Ankur Patar, used nearly 250 stock images over the course of 20 days to recreate the stolen 1633 Rembrandt, which is almost indistinguishable from the original - besides a self-portrait he added into the piece.

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Adobe has challenged four digital artist to re-create lost, stolen or destroyed artwork using its 50 million pieces of stock photography for its ' Make a Masterpiece ' campaign. One of the artists, Ankur Patar, used nearly 250 stock images over the course of 20 days to recreate (right) the stolen 1633 Rembrandt, which is almost indistinguishable from the original (left) - besides a self-portrait he added into the piece

To recapture every detail of the well-known masterpieces, the artists were given access to the 50 million pieces of Adobe Stock photography, which users can access through Adobe Creative Cloud.

'I was commissioned by Adobe to re-create Rembrandt's lost masterpiece 'Storm on the Sea of Galilee' which was stolen in 1990 from the Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts,' shares Patar.

'I was tasked to make it look as close to the original as possible, entirely out of Adobe Stock photography.'

Patar began his work the same way he believed Rembrandt would have  with the sky.

The cool thing about creating a cloud is that you can search for Adobe stock in Photoshop, he said.

You can warp it, liquefy it, add effects, change the colour and you can directly license it and the water marks go away.

Next, Patar search Adobe for images of human faces and body parts for the men in the capsizing boat.

I used three or four stock images per face, if I somebodys eye and somebody elses lips I would merge them together, he said.

The whole process of finding the stock images inside the creative cloud saved a lot of time.

Another piece in the campaign is the 'Cathedral Towering over a Town', painted by Karl Friedrich, which is a majestic scene of a distant gothic style tower along the shore line.

Ankur Patar, used nearly 250 stock images over the course of 20 days to recreate the stolen 1633 Rembrandt, which is almost indistinguishable from the original -- besides replacing Rembrandt's self-portrait with his own. He used multiple faces for the men in the painting and merged them to create one

Patar began his work the same way he believed Rembrandt would have  with the sky then started with the boat. The cool thing about creating a cloud is that you can search for Adobe stock in Photoshop, he said. You can warp it, liquefy it, add effects, change the colour and you can directly license it and the water marks go away

The painting was destroyed in a fire around 1931, but has been recreated by Mike Campau who used 162 Adobe Stock photos, spent more than 180 hours on Photoshop work and had 'a very sore index finger from scrolling through millions of images.

'This is definitely one of the most difficult projects I have ever worked on and posed more challenges than I first thought,' shares Campau.

'I'm used to combining stock photography with my own reference shots or rendering elements CGI, but now I had to look for images inside of images to find details, textures, and structures that would match to the original.'

'When Adobe approached me with a concept to recreate lost or stolen masterpieces using Adobe Stock... and ONLY their stock photos, I accepted the challenge.'

To recapture every detail of the well-known masterpieces, the artists were given access to the 50 million pieces of Adobe Stock photography, which users can access through Adobe Creative Cloud. If viewers look close enough at one masterpieces they will see a something that don't belong  Patar included a self-portrait in the 'The Storm on the Sea of Galilee'

'Saint Matthew and the Angel', another lost masterpiece, was created by Caravaggio in 1602.

The painting uses realism to make the figures lifelike and relatable, in order to create a Saint that viewers can related to.

An angel is seen sweeping down from the heavens to assist Matthew as he writes down his portion of the bible.

Unfortunately the original was destroyed during a World War II bombing while it hung in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin.

But has been digitally created by Jean-Charles Debroize for the 'Make a Masterpiece' campaign.

Another piece in the campaign is the 'Cathedral Towering over a Town', painted by Karl Friedrich, which is a majestic scene of a distant gothic style tower along the shore line. The painting (right) was destroyed in a fire around 1931, but has been recreated (left) by Mike Campau who used 162 Adobe Stock photos and spent more than 180 hours on Photoshop work

The last painting to be recreated is 'The Wounded Table', which was originally painted by Frida Kahlo in 1940.

This self-portrait depicts Kahlo's despair and loneliness, which she uses a table to show her sense of broken family from a divorce and little children surrounding it to explain her desire to be a mother.

During a tour in 1995, the painting simply disappeared as it traveled to an exhibition in Moscow  never to be seen again.

'It took 180 stock images and 20 days to complete,' shared Karla Cordova, the digital artist involved in the recreation of 'The Wounded Table'.

'Saint Matthew and the Angel', another lost masterpiece, was created by Caravaggio in 1602 (left). Unfortunately the original was destroyed during a World War II bombing while it hung in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin. But has been digitally created (right) by Jean-Charles Debroize for the 'Make a Masterpiece' campaign

'Many priceless paintings have been stolen or destroyed over the past hundred years.

'While adobe can't physically bring them back, they can do the next best thing: use the tools of the creative cloud to re-create lost masterpieces.'

'By using adobe Stock photography to re-create these pieces, adobe Stock is proving that when your creative process goes uninterrupted, you can make anything and even bring masterpieces back from the dead.'

Looking at the recreations, some have said it is impossible to distinguish between the digital versions and originally artworks.

The last painting to be recreated is 'The Wounded Table', which was originally painted by Frida Kahlo in 1940. This self-portrait depicts Kahlo's despair and loneliness, which she uses a table to show her sense of broken family from a divorce and little children surrounding it to explain her desire to be a mother

'It took 180 stock images and 20 days to complete,' shared Karla Cordova, the digital artist involved in the recreation of 'The Wounded Table'. Looking at the recreations, some have said it is impossible to distinguish between the digital versions and originally artworks

But if viewers look close enough at one masterpieces they will see a something that don't belong  Patar included a self-portrait in the 'The Storm on the Sea of Galilee'.

The 'Make a Masterpiece' experience is housed at adobe.com/go/adobestock, which also showcases the finished digital masterpiece and time-lapse videos showing the finished pieces coming together.
Geophysicists have discovered evidence of an ancient drainage network buried beneath Greenland's ice sheet.

The vast network once extended across nearly a fifth of its total surface, they say, and experts found some of the channels within this system were about a mile deep and over seven miles wide.

The find covers an area comparable in size to the Ohio River Basin and predates the formation of the ice sheet about 3.5 million years ago.

An ancient drainage basin covering one fifth of Greenland predates the ice sheet and strongly influences the modern Jakobshavn Glacier, according to a new analysis of ice-penetrating radar data. The find covers an area comparable in size to the Ohio River Basin and predates the formation of the ice sheet about 3.5 million years ago. In this map, the main stream of the catchment is marked by the solid red line, with its longitudinal profile inset. A downstream knickpoint of this channel is marked by the solid white and black lines on the main and inset figures, respectively.

HOW THEY DID IT Using a digital elevation model generated from ice-penetrating radar data and corrected for the weight of the modern ice sheet, the team charted the ancient river network using two different software packages. The results of both tools reveal a dendritic network of valleys radiating inland from the Jakobshavn Glacier. Advertisement

'Here we present evidence from ice-penetrating radar data for a large dendritic drainage network, radiating inland from Jakobshavn Isbr, Greenland's largest outlet glacier,' scientists from the University of Bristol and Imperial College London wrote in the latest edition of Geophysical Research Letters.

'The size of the drainage basin is 450,000 km and accounts for about 20% of the total land area of Greenland,' they say.

Using a digital elevation model generated from ice-penetrating radar data and corrected for the weight of the modern ice sheet, the team charted the ancient river network using two different software packages.

The results of both tools reveal a dendritic network of valleys radiating inland from the Jakobshavn Glacier - a landscape that, according to the researchers, covers an area comparable in size to the Ohio River Basin and predates the formation of the ice sheet about 3.5 million years ago.

'Topographic and basin morphometric analyses of an isostatically uplifted (ice-free) bedrock topography suggests that this catchment predates ice sheet initiation and has likely been instrumental in controlling the location and form of the Jakobshavn ice stream, and ice flow from the deep interior to the margin, now and over several glacial cycles,' they conclude.

The research also provides an insight into what past river drainage looked like in Greenland, and what it could look like in the future as the ice sheet retreats.

Ice-penetrating radargram profiles across the flow network at three locations The dashed red line, shows bedrock depth relative to the ice surface, the solid purple line. Cross sections of the main channel, as seen in Figure 2 (solid red line), are also marked.

Michael Cooper and colleagues from Bristol's School of Geographical Sciences and Cabot Institute, and Imperial College London, studied the bedrock in Greenland using data collected mainly by Nasa (through Operation Ice Bridge), as well as various researchers from the UK and Germany, over several decades.

This data is collected by aircraft using ice penetrating radar, which bounces back off the bedrock underneath the ice (as ice is mostly transparent to radio waves at certain frequencies).

'The drainage basin we discovered shows signs of being carved by ancient rivers, prior to the extensive glaciation of Greenland (i.e. before the Greenland Ice Sheet existed), rather than being carved by the movement of ice itself.

HOW BIG IS IT? The size of the drainage basin the team discovered is very large, at around 450,000 km2, and accounts for about 20 per cent of the total land area of Greenland (including islands). This is comparable to the size of the Ohio River drainage basin, which is the largest tributary of the Mississippi. The channels the team mapped could more appropriately be called 'canyons', with relative depths of around 1,400 metres in places, and nearly 12km wide, all hidden underneath the ice. Advertisement

'It has been remarkably well preserved  and has not been eroded away by successive glaciations.

The channel network has never been seen before by humans  it was last uncovered around 3.8 million years ago.'

As well as being an interesting discovery of great size, the channel network and basin was instrumental in influencing the flow of ice from the deep interior to the margin, both now and over several glacial cycles, as well as influencing the location and speed of the Jakobshavn ice stream.

But the reasons why the centre of the massive body of ice has grown thicker over time has left climate scientists baffled.

Now scientists have created the first map that shows how the ice sheet has shifted to discovered a gradual 'stiffening' may be to blame.

Jakobshavn Isbr - a large glacier in western Greenland that discharges into Ilulissat Fjord. This glacier has experienced rapid acceleration over 20 years, but most the ice sheet interior has decelerated over 9,000 years

In particular, this goes some way in explaining why the interior is moving significantly more slowly toward the edges than it has, on average, during the past 9,000 years.

Experts hope a better understanding of the inner nature of the Greenland ice sheet will help them accurately estimate its mass loss in the future, and therefore, sea level rise.

Lead author Joe MacGregor, of the University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Geophysics said: 'Scientists are very interested in understanding how ice sheets flow and how that flow may have been different in the past.

'Our palaeo-velocity map for Greenland allows us to assess the flow of the ice sheet right now in the context of the last several thousand years.

The scientists created a map showing Greenland's average ice speed over the last 9,000 years (left), as well as its current speed (centre) and the difference between them (right). Blues - negative values - signify lower speeds today as compared to the nine-thousand-year average

Experts still believe the ice sheet is losing mass overall. This image shows the The terminus of Jakobshavn Isbr - a large glacier in western Greenland that discharges into Ilulissat Fjord. This glacier has experienced rapid acceleration over 20 years, but most the ice sheet interior has decelerated over 9,000 years

GREENLAND ICE SHEET: KEY FACTS After Antarctica, Greenland's ice cap contains the second largest mass of frozen freshwater in the world. The ice sheet ice sheet covers 660,000 sq miles (1,710,000 square km), or roughly 80 per cent of the surface of Greenland. Currently, melting from Greenland accounts is thought to account for around 10 per cent of sea level rise. Researchers estimate half of Greenland's outlet glaciers could undergo significant melting. A UCI and Nasa study shows southern Greenland's ragged, crumbling coastline is scored by more than 100 canyons beneath glaciers that empty into the ocean. Advertisement

The team used a database detailing the many layers within Greenland's ice sheet to determine the flow pattern over the past 9,000 years to create the map.

They compared it with modern flow rates to discover the ice sheet's interior is moving much more slowly now than during most of the Holocene - a geological period that began about 11,700 years ago and runs to the present.

'Like many others, I had in mind the ongoing dramatic retreat and speedup along the edges of the ice sheet, so I'd assumed that the interior was faster now too. But it wasn't,' Dr MacGregor said.

Infact, the team's analysis suggests the interior of Greenland's ice sheet is flowing 95 per cent slower now than it was on average during the Holocene.

The authors identified three reasons for the slow-down - previously higher snowfall rates, a slow stiffening of the ice sheet over time, and the collapse of an 'ice bridge' that used to connect Greenland's ice to that on nearby Ellesmere Island.

William Colgan of York University's Lassonde School of Engineering said: 'The ice that formed from snow that fell in Greenland during the last ice age is about three times softer than the ice being formed today.

Because of this difference, the ice sheet is slowly becoming stiffer.

As a consequence, the ice sheet is flowing more slowly and getting thicker over time, the study published in the journal Science explained.

The authors identified three reasons for the slow-down - previously higher snowfall rates, a slow stiffening of the ice sheet over time, and the collapse of an 'ice bridge' that used to connect Greenland's ice to that on nearby Ellesmere Island. The ice sheet is pictured

This effect is most important in southern Greenland, where higher snowfall rates have led to rapid replacement of ice from the last glacial period with more modern Holocene ice.

GREENLAND'S ICE SHEET MELTS A THIRD FASTER IN POOR WEATHER Many people would assume that Greenland's ice sheet would melt faster in bright sunshine. But analysis of the loss of snow from the sheet shows that cloudy skies are in fact accelerating the melting of the island's glaciers. Even though clouds bring moisture to recharge the ice sheet through fresh snow fall, this effect is obliterated by the higher temperatures that also accompany cloudy weather. Overall, the researchers found that glacier melting increased by a third in cloudy conditions. The result is an additional 56 billion tonnes of meltwater reaching the oceans each year. Lead author and PhD student at the University of Leuven, Belgium (KU Leuven), Kristof Van Tricht, said this is the first time the role of clouds in ice sheet melting has been calculated, and the findings cannot be deduced from theoretical climate models. Advertisement

Dr MacGregor continued: 'That didn't explain what was happening elsewhere in Greenland, particularly the northwest, where there isn't as much snowfall, so the stiffening effect isn't as important.'

The explanation of deceleration in the northwest lies in the collapse of an 'ice bridge' across Nares Strait, which used to connect Greenland's ice to that on Ellesmere Island, 10,000 years ago - the end of the last Ice Age.

This event led to acceleration of the ice sheet in the northwest, but it has since returned to a slower pace.

These changes, which started thousands of years ago, affect scientists' understanding of the changing Greenland Ice Sheet today.

Researchers often use GPS and altimeters aboard satellites to measure the elevation of the ice surface and study how much mass is being lost or gained across the ice sheet.

When correcting for other known effects on the surface elevation, any leftover thickening is assumed to be due to increasing snowfall, but this study shows that may not be the case.

Dr Colgan said: 'We're saying that recent increases in snowfall do not necessarily explain present-day interior thickening.
He explains what some of the controls do and shows his reclining chair

During footage, Bertrand Piccard takes a selfie of him and his giant plane

In the latest leg crossing the Atlantic he filmed a video explaining feat

Solar Impulse 2 is on course to be the first plane to fly around the world, powered only by the sun.

The aircraft is being flown in shifts by the Swiss pair Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, in an attempt to promote clean transport.

In the latest leg, a gruelling 71 hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean, Mr Piccard filmed a video for Wired, explaining what it is like to fly in the coffin-sized cockpit for days on end.

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Solar Impulse 2 is on course to be the first solar-powered plane to fly around the world, powered only by the sun. The aircraft is being flown in shifts by the Swiss pair Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, in an attempt to promote clean transport

HOW DOES SOLAR IMPULSE WORK? Solar Impulse 2 is powered by 17,000 solar cells and on-board rechargeable lithium batteries, allowing it to fly through the night. Its wingspan is longer than a jumbo jet but its light construction keeps its weight to about as much as a car. Solar Impulse 2 relies on getting enough solar power during the day to survive the night. It is also extremely light - about the weight of a car - and as wide as a passenger jet. Both of these combined means it is extremely susceptible to the weather. In high winds it can struggle to stay aloft at the altitudes necessary to gather sunlight. Advertisement

Solar Impulse 2 (SI2) landed in Seville on Thursday morning after setting off from New York early on Monday morning.

The flight was one of the longest the plane has made and completed the 15th leg of the team's epic journey, which aims to make the first ever round-the-world flight using solar energy.

Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard flew this leg of the journey, and filmed the video while he was flying.

'We're getting closer and closer,' said Mr Piccard in the video.

'Hopefully in July we can celebrate with our team, our partners, our supporters, everyone who believes in clean technologies'

'It's not just a first for aviation, it's a first for clean technologies. Flying around the world with no fuel...that's the future we want to show.'

The cockpit, just 40.9 square feet (3.8 square metres) has enough room for instruments, some food and a reclining chair.

During the footage, Mr Piccard took a selfie of him and his giant plane, before bringing the camera inside the cockpit to show off the aircraft's controls.

He showed how he can recline in his seat to turn it into a bed, and filmed his modest food supplies.

The pilots are only able to sleep for 20 minutes at a time, and use alarms make sure they do not doze for longer.

During the footage, Mr Piccard took a selfie of him and his giant plane, before bringing the camera inside the cockpit to show off the aircraft's controls. He showed how he can recline in his seat to turn it into a bed, and filmed inside his modest food supplies

Mr Piccard showed off the plane's seemingly complex controls, including the switches and generators that convert the solar energy

Mr Piccard and his colleague, pilot Andre Borschberg, have been taking turns piloting the plane on each leg of the journey.

Both have trained to stay alert for long stretches of time by practicing meditation and hypnosis.

The Swiss team's ultimate goal is to achieve the first round-the-world solar-powered flight, part of its campaign to bolster support for clean-energy technologies.

The plane can climb to 28,000 feet (8,500 metres), but generally flies at lower altitudes at night to conserve energy.

Solar Impulse 2 landed in Seville last Thursday (pictured) just after 7.30am local time after setting off from New York early on Monday morning, with Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard making the gruelling 71-hour flight

As the solar-powered aircraft made its final descent into Seville airport it was welcomed by Spanish jet formation Patrulla Aguilla or 'Eagle patrol' (pictured)

The flight was one of the longest the plane has made and completes the 15th leg of the team's epic journey, which aims to make the first ever round-the-world flight using solar energy (pictured)

The solar-powered plane, pictured lining up with the runway at Seville, is lightweight and so feels the force of even low speed winds

The aircraft flew in to a sunny Seville airport this morning (pictured) after one of the longest and dangerous of its epic journey

Following the landing, Piccard said: 'Oh-la-la, absolutely perfect,' before thanking his engineering crew for their efforts.

The aircraft has a cruising speed of around 70 kilometres an hour (43 mph), closer to the average average car than a plane. It uses more than 17,0000 solar cells built in to wings with a span bigger than that of a Boeing 747.

SI2 set off from New York's JFK airport just after 2:30am local time (6:30 GMT), with Piccard piloting the plane on the 15th leg of its east to west journey around the world that began March 9, 2015 in Abu Dhabi.

An elated ground crew met Piccard on the tarmac, welcoming the Swiss pilot back to the European continent.

The Solar Impulse team took to Twitter, with a photo of the two pilots on the runway with the aircraft in the background. It read: 'Our solar heroes of the day@bertrandpiccard and @andreborschberg the oceans are behind us, we made it to @Spain.'

Addressing crowds of spectators and reporters on the runway at Seville, Mr Piccard said: 'The world of modern clean technologies, respect for the environment, innovation, pioneers  this is the world that Solar Impulse and its team would like to represent [and] promote.'

'We really hope that this flight symbolises the flight from the old world to the new world,' he added.

Pure elation: Pilot Bertrand Piccard pictured in the cockpit of Solar Impulse 2 immediately after landing in Seville this morning

An elated Piccard was met on the tarmac by ground crew - welcoming the Swiss pilot back to the European continent - as well as spectators and reporters (pictured)

Spanish air force aerobatic team Patrulla Aguila fly for the event of the arrival of the solar-powered plane Solar Impulse 2

Addressing crowds of spectators and reporters on the runway at Seville, Mr Piccard (pictured) said: 'The world of modern clean technologies, respect for the environment, innovation, pioneers  this is the world that Solar Impulse and its team would like to represent [and] promote'

Already the aircraft has crossed Asia, the Pacific and the United States using the sun as its only source of power.

The plane had been due to take off from New York early on Sunday but was delayed due to concerns over the weather.

Prince Albert of Monaco, a patron of the project, gave the flight the go-ahead from its mission control centre in Monaco, telling Mr Piccard: 'You are released to proceed.'

A post on the team's blog before the crossing said: 'If you consider a long flight like this over the Atlantic Ocean, you have to keep in mind that the weather needs to be predicted in advance (approximately 5 days).

'As we all know, weather is difficult to anticipate and therefore we will have to adapt to all challenges as they arise.'

This image was taken just before landing at San Pablo airport in Seville, southern Spain. The Aero-Club of Switzerland is responsible for validating records of the flight

While the latest flight represents an historic achievement, the project has not been without its hurdles. Last summer, the plane suffered 'irreversible damage to overheated batteries' after a flight between Nagoya and Hawaii that lasted more than 117 hours

Solar Impulse's solar panels are seen clearly in this stunning image taken during the latest leg of its flight

The solar-powered plane Solar Impulse 2, piloted by Swiss aviator Bertrand Piccard, is pictured before landing at San Pablo airport

SI2 after it had taken off into the night sky from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Monday

With a wingspan exceeding that of a Boeing 747 but an ultra-light carbon-fiber skin and overall weight of a car, the Solar Impulse cruises at speeds ranging from only 34mph to 62mph (55 to 100 km/h).

The four engines of the propeller-driven aircraft are powered exclusively by energy collected from the thousands of solar cells built into its wings.

Excess energy is stored in four batteries during daylight hours to keep the plane flying after dark.

The globe-circling voyage began in March 2015 from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and made stops in Oman, Myanmar, China, Japan and the US.

The solar powered aircraft is piloted by Swiss adventurers Bertrand Piccard (left) and Andre Borschberg (right)

Pilots Piccard (left) and Borschberg (right) made six stops as they crossed the United States, before Piccard undertook the three-day Atlantic crossing. The pair are pictured celebrating after today's successful landing in Seville

It was the 15th leg of a planned around-the-world flight which began in March 2015 from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates

The solar-powered plane (pictured) is approaching the last few legs of its round-the-world journey, with former stages taking the two Swiss pilots across the Pacific Ocean and coast to coast of the United States

Staff members check the SI2 after its landing at Seville's San Pablo airport today

The Solar Impulse 2's wings, which stretch wider than those of a Boeing 747, are equipped with 17,000 solar cells that power propellers and charge batteries. The plane runs on stored energy at night

The solar-powered plane Solar Impulse 2, piloted by Swiss aviator Bertrand Piccard, is pictured before landing at San Pablo airport in Seville, southern Spain

The enormous wingspan of SI2 (pictured) is larger than that of a Beoing 747 commercial jet and contains 70,000 solar cells built into the wings

The aircraft has a cruising speed of around 70 kilometres an hour (43 mph), closer to the average average car than a plane

Bertrand Piccard (pictured in cockpit) is welcomed by fellow pilot Andre Borschberg at the Spanish airport

Swiss aviator of the solar-powered plane Solar Impulse 2 Bertrand Piccard runs after landing at San Pablo airport in Seville this morning

The flight team of the project, Swiss aviators Andre Borschberg (left) and Bertrand Piccard (right), speak to crowds of reporters on the tarmac. Piccard was able to stretch his legs for the first time since making the gruelling transatlantic flight in the cramped cockpit

Piccard and fellow pilot and countryman Borschberg gave a press conference in Seville this morning following the successful landing

Piccard (pictured) is half of the two-man flight team for the round-the-world solar flight, which is estimated to take some 500 flight hours and cover 35,000 km

SI2 set off from New York's JFK airport just after 2:30am local time (6:30 GMT), with Piccard piloting the plane on the 15th leg of its east to west journey around the world that began March 9, 2015 in Abu Dhabi (pictured)
The best way to prevent a robot takeover is to start creating solutions

But 'doomsday scenarios' deserve to be considered carefully, he said

He said artificial intelligence will help humanity in the future

The doomsday scenario of killer robots taking over the world isn't going to happen.

That's according to Google chairman Eric Schmidt, who says we should stop worrying about it and start focusing on the positives.

He has said artificial intelligence (AI) will be developed for the benefit of humanity, and although doomsday scenarios should be considered, he is optimistic about the future.

Artificial intelligence will let scientists solve some of the world's 'hard problems.' This is according to Google chairman, Eric Schmidt, who claims that super-intelligent robots will someday help use solve problems such as population growth and climate change

WHY WE SHOULDN'T BE SCARED 'The original Kodak camera was seen as destroying art,' Mr Schmidt said. 'Electricity was believed to be too dangerous when it was first introduced. 'But once these technologies got into the hands of millions of people, and they were developed openly and collaboratively, those fears subsided. 'Just as the agricultural revolution has freed us from spending our waking hours picking crops by hand in the fields, the AI revolution could free us from menial, repetitive, and mindless work.' Advertisement

Schmidt, who is executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, said the comments in an opinion piece in Fortune, written along with his colleague Sebastian Thrun.

'The history of technology shows that there's often initial skepticism and fear-mongering before it ultimately improves human life,' Mr Schmidt said.

Mr Schmidt and Mr Thrus said while 'doomsday scenarios' deserve 'thoughtful consideration,' the best course of action is to get to work on creating solutions.

'Google, alongside many other companies, is doing rigorous research on AI safety, such as how to ensure people can interrupt an AI system whenever needed, and how to make such systems robust to cyberattacks.'

The pair said that technology like Google's AlphaGo could improve the things we do every day.

'Imagine a world where clever apps and devices could help us recognize every person weve ever met, recall anything weve ever said, and experience any moment weve ever missed. A world where we could in effect speak every language.'

As artificial intelligence advances, the possibility that machines could independently select and fire on targets is fast approaching. Fully autonomous weapons, also known as 'killer robots,' are quickly moving from the realm of science fiction (like the plot of Terminator, pictured) toward reality

ROBOTS WILL NOT TAKE OVER During a talk in Cannes earlier this month, Eric Schmidt said AI will be developed for the benefit of humanity and there will be systems in place in case anything goes awry. 'We've all seen those movies,' he said. But he said in reality, people would always know how to turn the AI systems off, should it ever get to a dangerous point. He said the company will soon be launching an AI that can automatically respond to IM messages. Advertisement

This is not the first time the Google chairman has taken to allay fears surrounding artificial intelligence.

During a talk in Cannes earlier this month, Eric Schmidt said AI will be developed for the benefit of humanity and there will be systems in place in case anything goes awry.

'To be clear, we're not talking about consciousness, we're not talking about souls, we're not talking about independent creativity,' said Mr Schmidt, according to Hollywood Reporter.

He said the company will soon be launching an AI that can automatically respond to IM messages.

'We've all seen those movies,' he said. But he said in reality, people would always know how to turn the AI systems off, should it ever get to a dangerous point.

He also said several companies will quickly follow with similar tech based on Alphago from Google's DeepMind project.

Google's DeepMind start-up, which was bought for 255 million ($400 million) last year, is currently attempting to mimic the properties of the human brain's short-term working memory.

Google's DeepMind start-up, which was bought for 255 million ($400 million) earlier this year, is currently attempting to mimic the properties of the human brain's short-term working memory

A sinister threat is brewing deep inside the technology laboratories of Silicon Valley, according to Professor Stephen Hawking (pictured). Artificial Intelligence, disguised as helpful digital assistants and self-driving vehicles, is gaining a foothold, and it could one day spell the end for mankind

STEPHEN HAWKING WARNS OF A ROBOTIC UPRISING A sinister threat is brewing deep inside the technology laboratories of Silicon Valley, according to Professor Stephen Hawking. Artificial Intelligence, disguised as helpful digital assistants and self-driving vehicles, is gaining a foothold, and it could one day spell the end for mankind. The world-renowned professor has warned robots could evolve faster than humans and their goals will be unpredictable. On the Larry King Now show, Professor Hawking spoke of his fears about the future of the human race. 'I don't think advances in artificial intelligence will necessarily be benign,' Professor Hawking said. The physicists has previously been outspoken on his believes. Professor Hawking was interviewed from the Canary Islands, where he was being honored at the 'Starmus' Festival, aimed at making science accessible to the public. 'Once machines reach a critical stage of being able to evolve themselves we cannot predict whether their goals will be the same as ours.' 'Artificial intelligence has the potential to evolve faster than the human race.' Advertisement

By combining the way ordinary computers work with the way the human brain works, the artificial intelligence researchers hope the machine will learn to program itself.

Described as a 'Neural Turing Machine', it learns as it stores memories, and later retrieve them to perform logical tasks beyond those it has been trained to do.

The acquisition of DeepMind followed Google's recent purchase of seven robotics firms, including Meka, which makes humanoid robots, and Industrial Perception, which specialises in machines that can package goods, for example.

In August last year, Google also revealed it had teamed up with two of Oxford University's artificial intelligence teams to help machines better understand users.

'It is a really exciting time for AI research these days, and progress is being made on many fronts including image recognition and natural language understanding,' wrote Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind and vice president of engineering at Google in a blog post.

But despite these projects, and Mr Schmidt's comments, Google is also aware of the dangers involved with AI and machine learning.

So much so that in January 2014 it set up an ethics board to oversee its work in these fields.

In fact, one of the original founders of Google's DeepMind warned artificial intelligence is the 'number one risk for this century,' and believes it could play a part in human extinction.

The Google boss, who is involved in the development of AI in applications such as self-driving cars (pictured), also says that the fear of robots stealing human jobs is unwarranted

Eric Schmidt's comments (right) follow a warning by Professor Stephen Hawking (left) that humanity faces an uncertain future as technology learns to think for itself and adapt to its environment

'Eventually, I think human extinction will probably occur, and technology will likely play a part in this,' DeepMind's Shane Legg said in an interview earlier this year.

The ethics board, revealed by web site The Information, is to ensure the projects are not abused.

Earlier this year, Elon Musk likened artificial intelligence to 'summoning the demon'.

The Tesla and Space X founder previously warned that the technology could someday be more harmful than nuclear weapons.

Professor Stephen Hawking has also outwardly spoken of his concerns regarding the rise of rogue robots.

Earlier this week the professor spoke on the Larry King Now show discussing his fears about the future of the human race.

But Mr Schmidt said the fears we would be overtaken by artificial intelligence were unfounded. 'We'll make make sure that people know how to turn this stuff off should we get to that point.'

Last this year, Elon Musk likened artificial intelligence to 'summoning the demon'. The Tesla and founder previously warned that the technology could someday be more harmful than nuclear weapon
It was one of the most horrific acts of World War Two  the massacre of 100,000 Jews, Polish intellectuals and Russian prisoners of war in the woods around a popular rural holiday resort.

Yet a small group of prisoners were able to escape the Nazi death squads in Ponary, just six miles to the south of the city of the Vilnius, now the capital of Lithuania, by digging their way to freedom.

For the first time since 40 emaciated and traumatised prisoners eluded their Nazi captors, the tunnel they used to escape has been rediscovered.

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Archaeologists have used new scanning techniques to reveal the location of a tunnel dug by a group of Jewish prisoners to escape a pit they were imprisoned in at the site of a notorious massacre by the Nazis. The scans reveal the narrow passage (pictured above), dug using spoons and their hands, for the first time since the war

New scanning techniques have allowed archaeologists to find the escape tunnel  more than 114 feet (35m) in length  that enabled the prisoners to break out of the pit they were held in.

THE PONARY MASSACRE The tranquil woods of Ponary on the outskirts of Vilnius in Lithuania were the site of one of the most horrific episodes during World War Two. The Nazi SS units formed death squads that rounded up Jews from the Vilnius ghetto and marched them into the woods where they were shot. Many were stripped and made to stand looking down into the pits onto the bodies already in pits. The death squads, aided by Lithuanian volunteers, also murdered around 7,500 Soviet POWs, who were among the first victims at Ponary in 1941. Later Polish academics, teachers, artists and priests were also murdered at the site. As Soviet troops advanced on the site towards the end of the war, prisoners from the Stuffhof concentration camp were formed into units to dig up the bodies and burn them. The ashes were ground up, mixed with sand and buried. Eleven of the 80 prisoners tasked with this managed to escape and their testimony was crucial to revealing what had haoppeend at the site. Advertisement

The Jewish prisoners were part of a so-called 'Burning Brigade' formed of prisoners from the Stutthof concentration camp, close to Sztutowo, in Poland.

They were forced to dig up the bodies of those that had been shot and piled into mass graves since the Nazi occupation began in July 1941 in a desperate attempt by the Nazis to cover up their crimes.

Around 70,000 Jews from Vilnius and the surrounding area had been marched into the woods, stripped, shot and dumped in giant pits there.

Later Polish academics, priests and resistance fighters were also massacred there while around 7,500 Soviet POWs were also killed there.

The Burning Brigade were tasked with digging up and burning their remains in 1943 as Soviet troops advanced on the area.

After months of this horrific work and as they neared the end of their task, the prisoners feared they too would be killed.

They were imprisoned in one of the giant pits that had been dug for oil storage by the Soviets before the Nazis overran the area.

Using spoons and finger nails they worked for three months to scrape out a narrow tunnel leading out of the pit.

On 15 April 1944 they cut their leg shackles with a nail file and 40 of them crawled through the tunnel but many were discovered before they reached the fence.

Jewish prisoners were lined up in killing pits in the forest at Ponary (pictured) before being shot and buried. Later prisoners were forced to dig up the bodies and burn them in an attempt to hide the crimes

The Jewish prisoners were held in a pit (pictured) while they spent months digging up and burning the bodies of those who had been murdered by Nazi death squads in the forest outside Vilnius

The archaeologists used a technique known as electric resistivity tomography (pictured) where the electrical resistance of the earth on a site is measured to reveal underground structures. They found the 114 feet long tunnel stretching from the pit towards where the perimeter fence had once been

Just 15 managed to cut through the fence and escape into the forest and only 11 of them survived to reach partisan forces and live out the rest of the war.

Dr Jon Seligman, a researcher with the Israel Antiquities Authority who has been leading the work to search for the escape tunnel, said: 'As an Israeli whose family originated in Lithuania, I was reduced to tears on the discovery of the escape tunnel at Ponary.

'This discovery is a heartwarming witness to the victory of hope over desperation.

'The exposure of the tunnel enables us to present, not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the yearning for life.'

The scans show how the tunnel stretches out from the pit where the prisoners were held towards the perimeter fence, possibly passing under what is now a road used to access the site (pictured). The blue in the scans above are the surround Earth while the lighter blues, greens and reds show the position of the tunnel

The site of the massacre in Pomary forest has now been turned into a memorial to the victims (pictured)

The Ponary forest, now known of Paneriai, was once a popular summer retreat for residents of Vilnius who enjoyed walking and berry picking among the trees.

However, after the SS arrived in the area, reinforced with Lithuanian volunteers, special platoons were formed to begin exterminating the Jews.

The massacres were among the first exterminations to be carried out as part of the Final Solution outside occupied Poland.

Just 7,000 of the 70,000 Jews living in Vilnius managed to survive the war.

The site of the massacre has now been turned into a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.

The research was led by Dr Jon Seligman (pictured surveying the now abandoned road leading to Ponary)

The prisoners used spoons and their hands to dig the tunnel out of the pit where they were held (pictured) over a period of three months before using nail files to cut their shackles

But since the war the location of the tunnel used by the handful of prisoners to escape has been lost.

With the help of a technique known as Electric Resistivity Tomography, the archaeologists have been able to rediscover its route.

The technique builds up a picture of structures underground by measuring the electrical resistance of the earth in an area which can be pieced together to build a 3D image.

It is more commonly used in the oil and gas industry.

The tunnel could now be put on public display as part of the memorial at the site in Ponary (pictured)

Dr Seligman, along with colleagues at the University of Hartford and the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum were able to use the scans of the pit used to imprison the captives.

They said they hoped to return to excavate the tunnel so it can form part of public exhibition at the memorial site. They said the discovery shed new light on the courage of the prisoners who escaped.

Miri Regev, minister of culture in Israel, said: 'I congratulate the Israel Antiquities Authority on its participation in this international effort that turns history to reality.

'The exciting and important discovery of the prisoners escape tunnel at Ponary is yet more proof negating the lies of the Holocaust deniers.

'The success of modern technological developments, that have aided the Jewish people to reveal another heroic story the Nazis attempted to hide, profits all humanity.'
A spacecraft launched into orbit by the Chinese space agency this week will be the first piece of technology aimed at tackling the growing problem of space debris, according to the Chinese government.

But experts have warned the trash-clearing robot could may have been deployed for more nefarious ends, saying it could be poised to take out communications satellites.

While Chinas space agency (CNSA), a branch of the military, has said the craft is aimed at collecting potentially hazardous debris, analysts have said it could remain dormant until needed in wartime situation.

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Chinas space agency (CNSA) has said a prototype craft launched aboard the Long March 7 rocket last week (pictured) aimed at collecting potentially hazardous debris, analysts have said it could remain dormant until needed in wartime situation

CHINA'S EFFORTS TO COLLECT SPACE JUNK The Chinese space agency (CNSA) has launched a robotic prototype into orbit which it said is aimed at tackling space debris. Analysts have warned that the if successful, more prototype could easily be produced and delivered into orbit. There are concerns that these trash bots could be activated in wartime, when they could target and disable enemy satellites. With such heavy reliance on satellites for communications, disabling them could leave nations crippled and more open to attack. Advertisement

According to the South China Morning Post, a researcher in Beijing said the craft was a clean anti-satellite weapon, saying: This time no one will point the finger [at China].

The secretive CNSA confirmed the robotic probe was launched into orbit on Saturday aboard the Long March 7 rocket, along with a test crew capsule, satellite refuelling and other technology.

It is the first known attempt to track and collect unwanted trash in space.

Called Aolong-1, the craft is reportedly fitted with a robotic arm and will be a technological test of CNSA's ability to remove 'non-cooperative' targets from orbit.

While such targets would be limited to space trash and defunct satellites, there are concerns the military technology could easily be targeted at other nations' military or communications satellites and spacecraft.

Debris is a growing problem for agencies and poses a threat to satellites and manned craft orbiting the planet.

The robotic probe was launched into orbit on Saturday aboard the Long March 7 rocket, along with a test crew capsule, satellite refuelling and other technology. A search team member stands guard by the reentry module which was launched aboard Long March-7 at the weekend

More than half a century of space exploration and communications development has left its mark on Earths uppermost atmosphere and beyond, with the remnants of rocket stages, dead satellites and scientific experiments falling around the planet at thousands of kilometres per hour.

Such speeds mean that even the smallest pieces can generate huge forces when they collide, with the potential to punch holes straight through a satellite, or completely obliterate them.

China drew criticism from the International community in 2007 after blowing up a defunct polar-orbiting weather satellites, the Fengyun 1C, with the resulting scattered debris posing a threat to other satellites.

Debris is a growing problem for agencies and poses a threat to satellites and manned craft orbiting the planet

CHINA'S MOON SHOT AND BEYOND In an interview with the BBC, mission chief Wu Weiren said the Chinese space agency's short-term goal is to orbit and land on the moon as well as bring back lunar samples. However, the long-term goals are to explore and settle on the lunar surface, establishing a research base. It is unclear as to whether this exploration will extend to mining activities, to tap the moon's potential veins of uranium, titanium, minerals and radioactive helium-3. According to the mission chief, China plans to set a course for Mars, reaching the planet by the end of 2021. If successful, the Chinese would join the US, European and Indian space agencies in successfully sending a probe to the red planet date. Advertisement

Russias space agency, Roscosmos, confirmed that a piece of the destroyed Chinese orbiter  which had remained in high speed orbit  collided with its BLITS satellite in 2013, changing its spin and orbit.

The heightened concerns are reminiscent of Cold War era paranoia, when the US was locked in a tense stand-off with Russia with the threat of nuclear war never far away.

Earlier this year, reports emerged that a US Air Force general claimed countries such as China and Russia are planning to shoot down military satellites with missiles, spacecraft and even lasers.

General John Hyten, head of Air Force Space Command made the comments while pleading with Congress to increase spending to protect military satellites.

He told the house Armed Service strategic sub-committee that foreign states want to curb American space systems and the threat posed to them had now reached tipping point.

The US government has previously stated that cyber-attacks on its systems would constitute an act of war.

China has stepped up its space programme in recent years, as more states and private firms join the renewed space race.

China has stepped up its space programme in recent years, as more states and private firms join the renewed space race, with the CNSA having its sights set firmly on Mars (pictured)

The CNSA has set its sights firmly on Mars and is aiming to launch a mission to the red planet by 2020.

A rocket scientist for the agency, Yuan Minhui, was recently quoted by People's Daily saying the agency was spurred on after being 'defeated' by India's space agency in the race for an Asian probe to reach Mars.

China partnered with Russia to launch a Mars-bound probe previously, but it failed to make it out of Earth's low orbit.

India's Mars Orbiter Mission, called 'Mangalyaan', proved successful, reaching the red planet in 2014.

Meanwhile, Nasa and Esa have launched another mission, called ExoMars, the first stage of which will taste the Martian atmosphere for methane, which could be a sign of geological activity, and even life.

WHAT IS SPACE JUNK? Sputnik One, was launched into space 53 years ago, mankind has created a swarm of perhaps tens of millions of items of debris. Since the first object, Sputnik One, was launched into space 53 years ago, mankind has created a swarm of perhaps tens of millions of items of debris. The rubbish circling the planet comes from old rockets, abandoned satellites and missile shrapnel. There are around 22,000 objects in orbit that are big enough for officials on the ground to track and countless more smaller ones that could do damage to human-carrying spaceships and valuable satellites. It is estimated there are as many as 370,000 pieces of space junk floating in Earth's orbit, traveling at speeds of up to 22,000mph (34,500km/h). One previously major source of debris was the testing of anti-satellite weapons carried out by the US and Soviet Union in the 1960s and 70s. Accidental events have also contributed to the problem. In February 2007 for instance, a Russian Briz-M booster stage exploded in orbit over South Australia. More recently, the GOCE satellite, also known as the 'Ferrari of space', made a fiery fall to Earth sometime between the end of December 2013 and the start of November. Advertisement




For hundreds of thousands of years the narrow island of Flores was home to a mysterious species of Hobbit-sized humans who then suddenly vanished.

Now researchers believe they have uncovered a clue to what may have led to the disappearance of these diminutive humans, known as Homo floresiensis.

They have found evidence that our own species Homo sapiens were living on the island at least 41,000 years ago and using the cave that had housed the Hobbits.

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The Hobbits of Flores, Homo floresiensis (artist's impression pictured) may have died out with the arrival of modern humans on their Indonesian island. Researchers have found evidence that modern humans were living on Flores around 41,000 years ago

It raises the prospect that our modern human ancestors may have encountered their tiny Hobbit cousins, which stood a little over three feet tall and drove them to extinction.

WHO WERE THE FLORES HOBBITS Standing a little over 3ft (1.5 metres) tall, the inhabitants of Liang Bua cave on the remote Indonesian island of Flores are known from just a few fragmented remains. The first remains were found in 2003 and since then partial skeletons of nine individuals, including one complete skull have been unearthed. Researchers believe the little people were descendants of prehistoric humans - Homo erectus - who became isolated on the island around one million years ago. There are various theories for how they got there. Some believe they may have walked across a landbridge from the mainland Asia and as sea levels rose they became cut off. Others suggest they were swept to the island following a tsunami. Once cut off, these hominins then had to survive on what food they could find, they evolved a small stature. Scientists have previously said they were clever hunters because they had found evidence of toolmaking, butchering and fires. Advertisement

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of fires built by modern humans between 41,000 and 24,000 years ago to keep warm and to cook.

This means modern humans were occupying Flores within 10,000 years of the time when the Hobbits are thought to have vanished.

The fossilised bones and stone tools of Homo floresiensis discovered in the Liang Bua cave on Flores have been dated to between 190,000 and 50,000-years-old.

Dr Mike Morely, a geoarchaeologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia, said: 'We now know that the Hobbits only survived until around 50,000 years ago at Liang Bua.

'We also know that modern humans arrived in Southeast Asia and Australia at least 50,000 years ago, and most likely quite a bit earlier.

'This new evidence, which is some of the earliest evidence of modern human activity in Southeast Asia, narrows the gap between the two hominin species at the site.'

Anthropologists have been unable to find any evidence for the use of fire by Homo floresiensis during the 130,000 years they lived on Flores.

First discovered in 2003, the tiny humans were initially believed by some anthropologists to be a group of Homo sapiens suffering from a form of dwarfism.

But more recent studies have convinced many that the Hobbits were indeed a separate species.

A recent discovery uncovered evidence for an even smaller species of human that was living on the island up to 700,000 years ago.

Since the partial skeletons of nine Hobbits were found in the Liang Bua cave on Flores in 2003, scientists have puzzled over what caused them to die out. The new research suggests it was the arrival of modern humans (Homo floresiensis skull next to a Homo sapien skull) that drove the diminutive species to extinction

The Homo floresiensis fossils were found in the Liang Bua cave (pictured) on Flores in 2003. New research looking at the sediment in the cave found evidence for fires built up to 41,000 years ago by modern humans

This has led many to claim that these could be the direct ancestors of Homo floresiensis.

The partial skeletons of nine individuals found at Liang Bua were initially thought to be between 94,000 and 12,000-years-old.

This raised the prospect that they co-existed on the island with modern humans for thousands of years.

But a more recent excavation of the cave revealed that they were more likely to be between 190,000 and 50,000 years old.

Scientists behind that study suggested that it appeared the Hobbits had suffered the same fate as the Neanderthals at the hands of modern humans as they spread into their territory.

Mike Morley and his colleagues examined sediment from the Liang Bua cave and found evidence of fires being build there around 41,000 years ago. it suggests modern humans had moved into the area by that time

The new findings now add evidence to those claims and suggest that modern humans may have quickly wiped out the Hobbits shortly after arriving on Flores.

Dr Morley and his colleagues said modern humans are the most likely candidates for the construction of the fire places they had discovered as the Hobbits don't appear to have used fire.

Their study, which is published in the journal of Archaeological Science, examined sediment taking from the back of the Liang Bua cave.

Dr Moreley said: 'Finding the fire places in such an excellent state of preservation allows insights into the behaviour of these people.'

Homo floresiensis was nicknamed the Hobbit after the characters from JRR Tolkien's fantasy novels The Hobbit (Martin Freeman pictured as Bilbo Baggins from the film) and Lord of the Rings
They are our closest ape cousins who famously prefer to make love rather than war, but it seems the female dominated societies of bonobos may not be as idyllic as they first seem.

Biologists have discovered the apes, which live in the Congo basin of Africa, owe their apparently peaceful lives to widespread deception by the fairer sex.

They say that female bonobos have become the dominant sex in their societies  a structure that is unusual among great apes  by tricking males about when they are fertile.

Bonobos are known for their peaceful societies where females take the dominant role. Researchers believe they may have achieved this dominance by deceiving males in their group about when they are fertile. This may force the males to spend more time wooing by grooming (pictured) rather than fighting over mates

The females give off signals of their ability to conceive for up to 31 days at a time, making it difficult for the males to monopolise a female against any competitors for such a long period.

BONOBOS REMEMBER OLD FRIENDS Bonobos can remember the voices of old friends, just as people can, for several years and they become excited about seeing them. Research carried out by an international team from the Universities of St Andrews and Saint-Etienne in France. They made the discovery after recording the calls of individual bonobos and playing them to those they had known years before. When it was a familiar voice in the recording, the bonobos became excited and would search for the individual, while the animals gave little reaction to hearing the calls of bonobos they had never known. The team concluded that the primates are therefore capable of remembering the voice of a former group member, even after five years of separation Advertisement

At other times, the females did not display that they were fertile at all even though they were ovulating.

This, the researchers believe, may have had the effect of reducing aggressive male competition and instead forcing the males to focus on other ways of wooing a mate such as grooming.

Pamela Heidi Douglas, a primatologist at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, said: 'The sexual swellings of female bonobos appear to send mixed messages to males, making it much harder for males to successfully time their mating efforts.

'We found that sometimes females would advertise they were fertile when they were not ovulating and thus unlikely to conceive.

'During other cycles, females did not display that they were fertile even though they were ovulating.'

Wild bonobos live in large groups where the females tend to fulfil the dominant role within the society. Scientists have long puzzled over how this structure emerged when other ape societies, such as their close relatives the chimpanzees, tend to be male dominated.

In other primate societies such as among chimpanzees, females are fertile for only short periods of time, leading to intense competition between males.

Groups of chimpanzees tend to be led by a dominant male who tries to assert his mating rights over a group of females.

However, less dominant males also try to steal time with the females.

Female bonobos display their sexual receptiveness with a swelling around their genitals (pictured), but the researchers found that often this did not coincide with ovulation and could go on for up to 31 days at a time. This could force males to seek other ways of ensuring they mate with females at the right time

The researchers studied 22 female bonobos and studied 34 ovarian cycles (pictured). They found that only half of the cycles were actually signaled by the sexual swelling in the females

Among both bonobos and chimpanzees the females display exaggerated swelling around their genitalia and changes in colour.

This helps to advertise to males that they are ready to mate and likely to conceive.

But it appears among bonobos, the females have used this to their advantage.

The researchers studied 22 female bonobos over the course of 34 ovarian cycles.

They found that only half of the cycles were actually signaled by the females.

Dr Douglas said this deception may be the secret behind the apes' peaceful communities.

She said: 'Males may have to rely on other signals, such as vocal or behavioral cues, to detect when a female is likely to conceive.

'They also may have to use other techniques to increase their mating success, such as spending more time with the females by grooming them, rather than competing with other males for mating opportunities.'
This past Sunday, two opposition political activists in Venezuela were arrested and detained as political prisoners. They're politically active nerds who write about what they believe, who were helping to register voters when they were 'disappeared' by the military. They're people just like us who deserve to be free.

Ellos son victimas de una detencion injusta y arbitraria, son los presos del revocatorio! #LibertadParaPanchoYGabo pic.twitter.com/viT4TUZJKe  David Smolansky (@dsmolansky) June 29, 2016

Here is a change.org petition calling for their release.

Francisco "Pancho" Marquez Lara, a Harvard graduate who is a political activist and journalist, and his his friend and colleague Gabriel San Miguel, were detained by Venezuelan national guardsmen after a traffic stop on a rural highway.

After days of being held with no charges, the government of Nicolas Maduro charged the two men with Money Laundering and Public Incitement.

After several days of being denied the right to speak to attorneys, the men were finally allowed to speak to lawyers on Tuesday, June 28. They are being held incommunicado.

Esta fue la ultima vez que vimos a los nuevos presos politicos de Venezuela @fmarquez77 y @gsanmiguelr. RUEDALO! pic.twitter.com/wvcKGZGj1q  Voluntad Popular (@VoluntadPopular) June 22, 2016

Ultima Hora/Imagen: @Fmarquez77 y @gsanmiguelr les raparon el pelo y los uniformaron en la carcel 23 de julio pic.twitter.com/uCDSEb7Uys  David Smolansky (@dsmolansky) June 23, 2016

Hoy a las 7PM asamblea en la Pza Bolivar de El Hatillo por la libertad de Pancho, Gabo y todos los presos politicos pic.twitter.com/Y6N002eF4M  David Smolansky (@dsmolansky) June 29, 2016

Francisco Marquez-Lara and Gabriel San Miguel were working to help fellow Venezuelans get to the signature validation centers when they were detained, NPR reports.

From Foreign Policy:

The two men's documents were in order, but their car contained political posters, opposition paraphernalia, and the equivalent of $2700 in local currency for expenses. Apparently for that reason, the national guardsmen decided to bring them to a nearby base for questioning (though without stating a reason for their detention, as required by law). At the time of their arrest, Marquez and San Miguel were on their way to remote Portuguesa State to support other oppositionists in the process of verifying signatures for a recall referendum against the country's embattled president, Nicolas Maduro. The 1999 constitution, written and ratified under Maduro's charismatic predecessor, Hugo Chavez, allows for the popular recall of a sitting president and supposedly protects the rights of those who would petition for one.

We do know that the two men have been interrogated by various officials, "including officers of the notorious Cuban-trained domestic intelligence forces, the SEBIN," as Foreign Policy reported.

>Marquez retained use of his phone for several hours and kept his friends in Caracas abreast of what was happening, but around 10:30 in the evening officials took his phone away. By late Monday night, the two were taken away from the base, and their current whereabouts remain unknown.

An opposition press release published Monday says the detention was arbitrary and illegal, and calls for their immediate release.

Marquez-Lara is a dual Venezuelan-U.S. citizen and a graduate of Harvard. His brother Andres Marquez-Lara, who is in the U.S., spoke to NPR:

"This is another example of political persecution," Andres Marquez-Lara said. "This is an example of the government trying to sabotage a democratic process. That it can't say outright, 'Hey, we are not going to have the referendum,' because then their democratic facade would fall off." "Franscisco and Gabriel were on their way to support the democratic process," he added. "[They] are two young people who are passionate about Venezuela. Both have dual-nationalities  and they could go and live somewhere else but they both decided to stay in Venezuela to fight for democracy."

These men were detained at a time when the crisis in Venezuela is receiving some international attention. The Organization of American States held an emergency meeting last Thursday to discuss "the serious abuses of democracy in Venezuela." A senior U.S. diplomat, Thomas Shannon, traveled to Caracas to meet Maduro on Wednesday.

The families of the detained held a mass in Caracas, Venezuela, calling for their release.

Following is a statement from the Marquez-Lara Family, June 21, 2016:

When a repressive government, clinging to their ideological truths that divide and oppress a people, depriving them of security and basic needs, unfairly detains a son, there is a surge of mixed feelings including pride and anger, fear and faith, anguish and hope. That's what we felt, on June 19 at 7:07pm, when were notified of the unfair detention of our son Francisco Javier Marquez Lara and his colleague San Miguel Gabriel Solomon, at a National Guard check-point located in Cojedes State, near the border with the Portuguese State. Their mission was to support the movement of the united opposition party ('La Unidad') and his party 'Voluntad Popular' (VP) in the process to validate the signatures for the recall referendum. Within a democratic context these are lawful and acceptable activities, but in a "repressive" context, it is a gesture of violence and destabilization. What in a democratic context are funds to support transfer, food and mobilization, in a "dictatorial" context represent a payroll to foment violence. When a group of subjects are looking to cling to power and are entangled in corruption, they lose the sense of reality, distort the use of power they were given, which is to serve the welfare of the people and become blinded by their own confusion and fear. The trouble is that they use power arbitrarily and begin accumulating errors and injustices like this and other political arrests until they become victims of their own inconsistencies and wickedness  because the fate of evil is the darkness from where it initiated . Francisco and Gabriel belong to a generation that has a vocation for service. They are aware that you have to train and study to work in politics, that you have to change within yourself what you want to change in the world, that politics is inclusive and ensures the dignity of people. In their life, they have organized volunteer movements to help underserved communities, and it is there where the humility of the people taught them what books cannot teach. This helped develop their social and spiritual sensibility, which reflected the teachings of St Ignatius: being contemplatives in action. We appreciate all the support and solidarity from friends, institutions and different groups. Solidarity is another name for "love in action". Solidarity for justice and democracy gives us strength to walk through the paths of injustice and repression. We bless our children, Francisco and Gabriel, because as Andres Eloy Blanco, Venezuelan poet, wrote: "And when you have two sons they are all the children of the land, the millions of children with whom the lands weep, with whom the mothers laugh, with whom the world dreams We are in high spirits! Because the truth will set us free, and happy are those who are persecuted and offer their life for a better world, more just and humane. God bless, Ricardo Marquez-Lara and Maria Marquez-Lara

If there is no legal basis for their detention, Marquez & San Miguel shd be immediately & unconditionally released pic.twitter.com/h0ANeNfPDP  HRW Venezuela (@HRW_Venezuela) June 21, 2016
From Carry On films to seaside postcards to James Bond, they have been a smutty staple of British humour.

But a new study shows the double entendre appeals most to men - because they have sex on the mind more than women.

Men are significantly more likely to 'misread' an advertisement for a second meaning and find humour in it, single men even more so.

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A new study shows the double entendre appeals most to men - because they have sex on the mind more than women. Men are significantly more likely to 'misread' an advertisement for a second meaning and find humour in it, single men even more so (stock image)

They were four times more likely than women to recall its content.

But for many females such advertising was a turn-off.

The study led by Dr Jungkeun Kim of the Department of Marketing at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, said: 'Women perceived explicitly sexual advertising more negatively than did men.'

He suggested the roots of differences in humour might lie in evolutionary choices.

'From a socialisation-based perspective, men tend to value sexual intercourse as light recreation and emphasise its pleasurable, fun and physical aspects,' he said.

'On the other hand, women perceive sexual intercourse as a much more serious activity. Specifically, women consider love, commitment, intimacy, and trust as prerequisites of sexual relationships.'

He added: 'Men show more positive attitudes toward explicit sexual appeals in advertisements than do women.'

The online study asked heterosexual men and women - whose average age was around 28 - to recall real advertisements.

The study led by Dr Jungkeun Kim of the Department of Marketing at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, said: 'Women perceived explicitly sexual advertising more negatively than did men' (stock image)

Some contained possible sexual double entendres.

The ads conveyed their original meaning, but it was possible for people to perceive a secondary meaning in some situations.

They were also asked about the their relationships status.

The study, published in the Australasian Marketing Journal, found: 'Men in a mating mindset show more positive attitudes toward advertisements containing words with sexual connotations than do men in [relationships]

HOW TO TELL SOMEONE IS FLIRTING WITH YOU IN 12 MINUTES 1-3 minutes If someone begins talking to you by dishing out compliments and being encouraging to things you say, it is a good indicator they are interested - according to the researchers. Some people will also give a quick flirtatious glance at the start of the conversation. Crossing legs at any point, though, was a sign that a person was not interested in the other. Also, if a woman doesn't ask many questions, or shrugs a lot, she probably isn't interested. 4-6 minutes If the person is still attracted to you, they will likely be even more affirmative, and also still quite complimentary. They will also begin palming' - talking using open palm gestures. 7-9 minutes Now, people start to do-away with compliments. Instead, men will gaze at their partner if they are interested at this point, while women might start to divulge some personal details. 10-12 minutes At the end of the conversation, women will open up and be joyful, while still palming, if they are still interested. For women, youll want to look for a guy who has lowered his pitch from the earlier part of the interaction. This means they are still interested. Advertisement

'In contrast, a different pattern is evident for women. [Single] females' attitude toward advertising with sexual words is lower than those in relationships.'

Adding, the results demonstrate that 'Specifically, women are more focused on the romantic relationship rather than on the physical sexual activity.

'When the mating motivation is active, men will focus on the reproductive activity and will consequently show more positive attitudes toward ordinary advertisements containing words with sexual connotations.

'In contrast, women will show a different pattern. Specifically, women will exhibit the same attitude, regardless of the mating motivation, because women are assumed to have a relatively low desire for casual sexual activity.'

The report concluded: 'The present paper is the first to examine the mating motivation effect in the context of advertisements containing words with sexual connotations.

'Finally, these findings have practical implications for advertisers who market non-sexual products to men.
Humans have yet to explore the deep wonders of the sea, but a recent find suggests aliens may have already beaten us to it.

Deep below the Pacific Ocean lies what one Martian researcher has deemed 'a perfect pyramid'.

Using Google Earth, this massive structure appears to be 8.5 miles across and some say it could be a UFO parked underwater or an enormous alien base.

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Deep below the Pacific Ocean lies what a Martian researcher has deemed 'a perfect pyramid'. Using Google Earth, this massive structure appears to be 8.5 miles across and could be a UFO parked underwater that is being used as an enormous alien base, as some are speculating

WHAT ARE THE DETAILS OF THE SIGHTING? Using the coordinates 12  8'1.49 'N 119  35'26.39' W, Igazusta claims to have spotted a beam of light shining from the darkness of the Pacific Ocean just west of Mexico. Scott C Waring, of UFO Sightings Daily, believes this structure is a parked UFO or massive alien base. Waring explains that this 'perfect pyramid' is adjacent to the ancient Mayan and Aztec pyramids in Mexico. Although the ancient pyramids were constructed by humans, but Waring says 'Only aliens could accomplish makings such a massive structure' --referring to the one underwater. Advertisement

Marcelo Igazusta, a researcher in Argentina, was the first to lay eyes on the mysterious underwater structure, which was discovered last month.

Using the coordinates 12  8'1.49 'N 119  35'26.39' W, Igazusta claims to have spotted a beam of light shining from the darkness of the Pacific Ocean just west of Mexico - leading him to this 'monumental discovery'.

Well-known alien hunter, Scott C Waring, picked up the discovery today and shared it with his followers.

'It's a perfect pyramid that measures 8.5 miles across one side of its base,' Waring writes in his blog UFO Sightings Daily.

'That's a conservative estimate, it could be up to 11 miles across.'

The massive structure may be hard to make out, as it looks like a blur on the screen, but if you envision a pyramid and squint while looking at the area it might appear in front of your eyes.

Waring explains that this 'perfect pyramid' is adjacent to the ancient Mayan and Aztec pyramids in Mexico.

Although the ancient pyramids were constructed by humans, Waring says 'Only aliens could accomplish makings such a massive structure' --referring to the one underwater.

The massive structure may be hard to make out, as it looks like a blur on the screen, but if you envision a pyramid and squint while looking at the area it might appear in front of your eyes

'Even if this is not a UFO that landed in the ocean that was being used as an alien base, it is still a monumental discovery,' he writes.

'An 8.5 mile pyramid biggest the world has ever known.'

Google Earth may be the new go-to source to find evidence of alien life here one Earth.

Waring explains that this 'perfect pyramid' is adjacent to the ancient Mayan and Aztec pyramids in Mexico. Although the ancient pyramids were constructed by humans, but Waring says 'Only aliens could accomplish makings such a massive structure' --referring to the one underwater

In April, Waring posted another sighting  but this time it was a mythical creature.

Plugging the coordinates 63 2'56.73'S 6057'32.38'W in Google Earth, he claims to have spotted the mythical Kraken swimming off the coast of Deception Island near Antarctica.

THINK YOU'VE BEEN ABDUCTED BY ALIENS? IT MAY BE SLEEP PARALYSIS Agents Mulder and Scully may have said 'the truth is out there' in the X Files, but it may instead be buried inside the brains of people who claim they have been abducted by aliens. Those who believe they have had a close encounter of the so-called 'fourth kind' may suffer from false memories or sleep paralysis, a psychologist has claimed. A rare form of the condition, which can involve hallucinations or the feeling of being dragged out of bed, may explain 'alien abductions' that people sincerely believe happened but can't remember. Writing for The Psychologist, Christopher C French, of Goldsmiths, the University of London, who specializes in the psychology of paranormal belief and experiences, said there are plausible explanations for why people 'see' flying saucers and think they have been abducted. He noted that most of the people making these claims are clinically sane, but their belief in life in outer space may influence what they see or feel in strange situations. Advertisement

'I used Google ruler and it says this is 30 meters (100 feet) from head to end, but the end looks like just the mid area of a giant squid, which means it could be 60+ meters long with tentacles,' Waring wrote in his blog last month.

'That sounds like the Kraken to me.'

Waring also thought of the extinct prehistoric animal Plesiosaur when he spotted the massive beast causing a massive disturbance in the ocean.

Marcelo Igazusta, a researcher in Argentina, was the first to lay eyes on the mysterious underwater structure, which was discovered last month. Using the coordinates 12  8'1.49 'N 119  35'26.39' W, Igazusta claims to have spotted a beam of light shining from the darkness of the Pacific Ocean just west of Mexico

Another conspiracy theorist has posted about the find, but with a different opinion about the large object.

But if you look more closely it looks like an artificially made object, an underwater UFO coming out of the ocean, the unknown author shared on UFO Sightings Hotspot.
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A barber from Liverpool has travelled the world giving people haircuts in amazing locations, earning him the nickname 'The Nomad Barber'.

The award-winning men's hairdresser who now owns two salons - one in London and one in Berlin - embarked on a life-changing adventure in 2013 and has travelled over 20 countries including Greece and Kurdistan in northern Iraq honing his craft.

Miguel Gutierrez decided to travel the world giving haircuts and shaving beards until his funds dried up so that he could see how his ancient 5,000-year-old trade varied from place to place.

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Miguel Gutierrez is the Nomad Barber. In one year he trekked across the Southern tip of Europe, around the Middle East, Asia, North and South America

Gutierrez' trip started in Athens (above). He decided to travel the world giving haircuts and shaving beards until his funds dried up so that he could see how his ancient 5,000-year-old trade varied from place to place

Action shot: Youtube and Instagram sensation 'The Nomad Barber' travelled the world learning skills from local hairdressers and offering locals free cuts, like above in Hampi, India (left)

Then aged 26, the Nomad Barber and a cameraman set off for a year-long backpacking trek around the world.

He first went to Athens, before heading on to Turkey and then through the Middle East and India then across Asia. He observed his colleagues in Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal and Dubai.

For Gutierrez, the most unusual spot he visited was in Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, near the Iranian border after travelling through a dozen checkpoints.

As he went, Gutierrez sought out barbershops and learnt their techniques and then filmed their practices.

Gutierrez would set up shop on beaches, in parks and in streets and offer haircuts to locals and tourists, and engage them in conversation while he documented his adventure in a web series.

He told MailOnline Travel: 'It started off as a passion project as I wanted to go around the world and document the whole cultural level and background of different barbers around the world.'

Originally from Liverpool, he moved to London at 16 and now splits his time between his two salons in Berlin and London, but he's already planned his 2017 around-the-world trip

Guiterrez recorded his trip on Instagram and filmed it on Youtube, he now has 92.1K followers on the picture sharing app and 97,000 subscribers on the video channel

The trip was largely improvised with the route changing spontaneously to allow him to meet new people. Due to this, he found it exhausting.

Gutierrez said: 'It was a struggle by month six. We took over 50 overnight buses in a year and were always editing and planning for the next shoot.

'It was continuous work, it was really tiring, I wasn't in a proper sleep cycle, it aged me dramatically.'

To fund this grand tour he crowd-sourced money on Kickstarter, maxed out three credit cards and gained sponsorship from a clippers company.

After he finished his hair-raising trek around the world, he carried on visiting another nine countries for the fun of it, bringing his grand total number of visited countries to 30.

After shrewdly analysing each country's hair care culture, he said he thought India had the best because 'they have the caste system over there and a lot of the barbers have kind of been born into it, through their fathers and grandfathers doing it.'

Surprisingly, language barriers were never a problem. Gutierrez met people along the way, on the street, in hostels and in barber shops who would help translate when and where necessary

The Nomad Barbar even stopped by his home town of Liverpool (above) to give a quite haircut to participant willing to be photographed

Though he travelled with a cameraman the whole time, Guiterrez said he picked up lots of filming and photography skills along his journey

Although he readily conceded that it did not really matter 'how you got into it, whether you were born into it, or your family got you into it or you chose to go into it, everyone kind of goes through the same experiences and deals with the same type of clients every day.'

According to Gutierrez though, while Turkish and Middle Eastern men would go to the barber's every three days or so, he found that it was those in Dubai who took the most care of their appearance as being well-groomed often helped with career advancement.

Now Gutierrez is excitedly looking forward to his next trip.

He said: 'I'm going to be between here and London and then probably going to do a bit more traveling as well.'

He plans to go to destinations he missed the first time round: 'I want to go back to Asia so I will probably visit Japan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, the Philippines, and then back to the States, Brazil, Argentina... there's so many places!'

Before and after: Putting his skills to the test he would transform the hair of men that he met across the four continents that he visited
Amanda Chatel, 35, from New York, spends most of the year travelling

Travelling the world is one of life's biggest luxuries, but for many, the only time they can spend months at a time on holiday is during a gap year before university or after retirement.

But Amanda Chatel, 35, from New York has caught the travel bug so hard that she has decided to dedicate her life to the pursuit of discovering new places.

Chatel now spends the majority of the year on travels and this year she has already been to Costa Rica, Thailand and Cambodia before arriving in Europe in April, where she is currently holed up in Barcelona.

By sub-letting her New York apartment, she can work enough as a freelance writer to fund her trips, using cafe, hotels and hostels and her office.

The arrangement works so well that she has no plans to give it up and reveals that her future will be centred around seeing the world, instead of settling down and having children, something that even in this day and age, strangers have a problem with.

Chatel told MailOnline Travel: 'I dont want children because the lifestyle I want for myself isn't very conducive to parenthood.

'It's the freedom that I like - even when back home in New York, I like to go out to expensive restaurants and bars, but when you have children that changes - you can't go for dinner at the Plaza because of the cost of the kids' education.

'Maybe that seems selfish, that certainly what men have called me on the internet. Mostly men, but also women who says that other women should procreate.

'But at this rate, we're soon going to have too many people on this planet for the planet to be able sustain us, so I mean cmon guys, really?.'

Amanda, pictured at Koh Ker Temple in Cambodia, works from the road to fund her trips

Chatel first caught the travel bug in 2010, after her marriage ended.

A spur-of-the-moment holiday to Paris led to more and more trips abroad, until she was spending the majority of her time out of the US.

She said: 'I had never gone to Europe before 2010 and when my relationship came to an end, I sublet my apartment and just said, "F*** it, I'm going to Paris."

'I went on my own for a couple of months and I loved it, so the next year I went back to Paris, then Italy, then year after that I did Paris and Spain, and just kept adding more places.

'I feel like it's the only thing that makes me happy - after a while I just get itchy feet.'

Later this year, Chatel has plans to visit Kenya, South Africa and Japan.

Amanda first caught the travel bug when she visited Paris after a difficult break-up in 2010

She revealed that in the time since her marriage broke down, it has become a lot clearer what she wants from life, and that is unlikely to ever mean children.

She said: 'I dont think I ever will - Ive felt this way for a while and my sister, who has two sons, and my parents are supportive that this is the lifestyle Ive chosen for myself.

Amanda on the beach in Barcelona, where she is currently staying

'When I got married and was so deeply in love, I thought that maybe there would be something in me that wanted to procreate, but if anything it turned me off the idea.

'I have a dog who when I travel stays with my parents and hes the love of my life, Id rather own an animal shelter than have kids.'

But even though it is her decision what to do with her body, Chatel revealed that she regularly gets angry messages from men who believe she should choose to be a mother instead.

She said: 'I think people like to get involved in other people's business and the internet has allowed people to do that more easily now, while hiding behind fake names.

'I dont understand it, Ive never commented on an article in my life, but when I write about something like not wanting to have kids, people actually take time out of their day to find my email and tell me I suck.

'Old white men want to dictate to women what they do with their bodies, whether its about abortion or having kids, they want to have a say - I say, when you guys get a uterus then we can talk.'

But while the hurtful criticism might bemuse Chatel, it is largely water off a duck's back as she is living her dreaming her dream by travelling the world.

Amanda enjoying chocolate mousse at a restaurant in Paris, a city that she tries to visit every year

She said: 'Travelling the world changes you, because you are stepping outside of your comfort zone and leaving a culture youve always known, and you change because of that.

'When I went to Cambodia it had such a profound effect on me and I came back changed.

'Every time I go to a new country and experience new things, I feel like it adds to my character and that Im somehow a more empathetic person.
Starwood Hotels has taken over management of a luxury hotel in Havana, becoming the first big American hospitality chain with a presence on the island since the Cuban Revolution 50 years ago.

The newly-rechristened Cuba Four Points by Sheraton on Havana's Quinta Avenida - a hotel owned by the Cuban military - now will be managed by the American hospitality giant.

Located in Havana's Miramar district, the posh hotel, formerly known as the Quinta Avenida hotel, has rooms available from $246 per night, according to its website.

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A vintage car passes in front of the Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Havana, the first run by a big American hospitality chain in Cuba, on June 28, 2016

The newly restored Cuba Four Points hotel is located in an up-market neighbourhood of Havana called Miramar

Management of the hotel under the Starwood banner is a point of pride, said Jorge Giannattasio, who oversees the company's Latin American properties.

'It's a unique moment, a special moment' to be the first US-based hotel company in 55 years to locate in Cuba, Giannattasio said at a ceremony marking the re-opening of the newly-refurbished, 186-room hotel.

One of the world's leading hospitality companies, Starwood has more than 1,300 properties in about 100 countries, and also runs the Meridien, W, Westin and Sheraton hotels chains.

In from the cold: The opening of this hotel shows signs that the Communist island is strengthening its ties with the United States

Changing of the guard: The newly-rechristened Cuba Four Points by Sheraton on Havana's Quinta Avenida is a hotel owned by the Cuban military

Tourism numbers are expected to rise even more sharply this year with the start of as many as 110 commercial flights a day from the United States

The company will soon assume management of another iconic Cuban hotel -- the Inglaterra, an 83-room property which first opened in 1875.

Starwood's entry into the hospitality industry on the Communist island is the latest sign of normalised ties between the United States and Cuba.

The former Cold War foes in July of last year restored diplomatic ties severed half a century ago.

The U.S. administration has made moves to punch holes in the trade embargo as part of a broader normalisation of relations with Cuba since Obama and Raul Castro (left) declared detente in December 2014. The two are pictured in September 2015 during a bilateral meeting at the United Nations headquarters

President Barack Obama paid a historic visit to Cuba in March of this year, further cementing the normalisation of relations.

A spokesman for the US State Department, Mark Toner, told reporters on Tuesday that 'providing adequate lodging and safety and security for authorised travellers will increase people-to-people contact, and that'll benefit the normalisation process.'

He said Starwood's re-training of the staff at the property it now runs in Havana 'is going to help develop sector-specific know-how among Cuban employees in the lodging and travel business'.
Experts have branded international airports 'soft targets' for terrorists who are focusing on

Experts have called for a worldwide rethink on airport security following the suicide bombings at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport.

The demands reflect the increased likelihood of terror attacks throughout Europe, with seven countries across the continent considered 'high risk' by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as a new map highlighting the differing levels of threat reveals.

Indeed, the terror attack in Turkey hit one day after the US State Department issued a travel warning to American citizens about the increased terror threat in the Turkey - and to avoid the south of the country altogether.

The current threat level in Turkey is currently classified as an emergency alert.

And at the beginning of June, the State Department issued a Europe-wide travel alert, specifically concerning the European Soccer Championship currently underway in France and for the Catholic Church's World Youth day in Poland this July.

Ataturk reopened for flights and departures just hours after three suicide bombers killed up to 50 people and wounded 147 yesterday evening, but the incident has highlighted how international airports are now seen as 'soft targets' for ISIS.

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The risk of terrorism threats across Europe mapped according to latest FCO advice. Countries are divided by high threat, general threat, underlying threat - which suggests 'attacks, although unlikely, could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers' and low threat

Istanbul's international airport has reopened just hours after up to 50 were killed by three suicide bombers

The State Department specifically told US citizens to avoid all travel to southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border and to stay away from large crowds at popular tourist resorts.

They have also be warned to use hotels only with secure safety measures and exits and to avoid large gatherings.

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised that holidaymakers speak to airline carriers for updated travel information before travelling to the airport.

Their website states: 'There has been an attack at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul. If you are in the area follow the advice of the local security forces.

'Flights to and from Ataturk International Airport are resuming gradually. Speak to your carrier for updated travel information before travelling to the airport.

'The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all travel to within 10 km of the border with Syria and to the city of Diyarbakir.'

But Turkey isn't alone, seven countries across Europe are classified as being at 'high risk' of a terrorist attack including Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Turkey and Russia.

The British government has also listed the United Kingdom's terrorist threat level as 'severe', which means an attack on UK soil is 'highly likely'.

Also at a 'general risk' are nine countries including Italy, the Netherlands, Greece and Austria.

Here is the latest terrorism rating and advice from the FCO and the US State Department for European countries deemed at high risk of a terrorist attack:

Turkey

People gather outside the airport following its evacuation after the deadly terror attack

Turkey has long been a favourite holiday destination for British nationals, with more than 2.5million visiting every year, but the Foreign Office has warned that there is a high threat of terrorism, with a number of terrorist groups active there.

The attack on Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul is just one of a number of attacks that have taken place in the country in recent months.

The FCO advise against all travel to within 10 km of the border with Syria and to the city of Diyarbakir, and all but essential travel to the remaining areas of Sirnak, Mardin, Sanliurfa, Gaziantep, Diyarbakir, Kilis and Hatay provinces, Siirt, Tunceli and Hakkari.

The US State Department has asked all US citizens to be particularly vigilant and issued a travel warning for the country two days before the attack.

'The U.S. Department of State warns U.S. citizens of increased threats from terrorist groups throughout Turkey and to avoid travel to southeastern Turkey,' instructs their official website.

France

France is the most visited country in the world, according to UNWT, but currently has a high threat of terrorism

17 million Brits visit France every year for holidays or business, but the FCO has listed the country as at a high risk of terrorism incidents and warned visitors to be extra vigilant.

Due to ongoing threats to France by Islamist terrorist groups, and recent French military intervention against ISIS, the French government has had to reinforce its security measures.

During Euro 2016, stadiums, fan zones, venues broadcasting the tournament and transport hubs and links all represent potential targets for terrorist attacks.

A national state of emergency will remain in place until 26 July, in order to cover the tournament period and other significant events such as the Tour de France cycling race.

While there is no specific warning in place for France, the State Department in the US warns it citizens that 'credible information indicates terrorist groups are continuing to plot possible attacks in Europe.'

They also issued a Europe-wide alert for the duration of the European Soccer Championships currently underway.

The advice for Americans is be on the lookout and to avoid large demonstrations or gatherings of people.

Germany

Every year, around 2,000,000 British nationals visit Germany. Pictured is Berlin's Reichstag

Every year, around 2,000,000 British nationals visit Germany, with most trips ending trouble-free.

But the FCO has warned that there is currently a high threat from terrorism there, with indiscriminate attacks, including in public places visited by foreigners.

The German government has announced that increased security has been put in place as a precaution at public buildings, major events, transport hubs and large public gatherings.

The US State Department advises citizens to be aware in Germany, as per its European wide travel alert issued in May.

'European governments are taking action to guard against terrorist attacks; however, all European countries remain potentially vulnerable to attacks from transnational terrorist organizations,' asserts the State Department website.

Belgium

Around 1.8million Brits visit tourists hotpots like Brussels and Bruges in Belgium every year, but the FCO has placed it in the 'High' risk of terrorism bracket

Around 1.8million Brits visit tourists hotpots like Brussels and Bruges in Belgium every year, but the FCO has placed it in the 'High' risk of terrorism bracket.

They say that local police operations are ongoing and there have been a number of police raids and arrests, including on 17 June, relating to past and potential terrorist attacks.

Security operations are likely to be carried out at short notice, with Brits warned to remain vigilant, stay away from crowded places and follow the instructions of the Belgian authorities.

Public events and busy public areas across Belgium are likely to see additional security and some public events may be cancelled and some tourist attractions closed at short notice.

American citizens are warned by the US State Department to understand that Brussels was attacked as recently as April and is still under a state of extreme vigilance.

Spain

Barcelona (pictured) is one of many popular destinations for holidaymakers to Spain

Spain is an extremely popular holiday destination for Brits, with more than 12million visiting the country every year.

But the FCO has listed the country as at 'High' Risk from terrorism for two reasons, firstly from ISIS and secondly from the Basque separatist movement.

The State Department concurs with the British on the threat posed to tourists in Spain and asks that they keep themselves aware of the Europe wide alert issued in May.

It is worth nothing though, that the Basque terrorist organisation ETA has been less active in recent years and has not mounted any attacks since 2009, with the organisation announcing a 'definitive cessation of armed activity' in October 2011.

Russia

Russia is less of a holiday destination for Brits, with only 260,000 visits to the country in 2013, but it is considered a risky place to travel to because of the threat of terrorism and civil unrest with neighbouring countries.

Previous attacks have targeted transport infrastructure, including airports, buses, trains and Metro systems.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all travel to within 10km of the border with the Ukrainian Donetsk and Lugansk Oblasts and all but essential travel to within 10km of the border with the Ukrainian Kharkiv Oblast.

They also advise against advise against all travel to Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan and the districts of Budyonnovsky, Levokumsky, Neftekumsky, Stepnovsky and Kursky in Stavropol Krai and all but essential travel to North Ossetia, Karachai-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria (including the Elbrus area).

There are on-going armed clashes, kidnappings, seizure of buildings and other violent incidents in the Donetsk, Lugansk and Kharkiv oblasts of Ukraine bordering Russia.

Terrorist attacks have occurred most frequently in Moscow and in the North Caucasus.

Workers inspect the widespread damage at the entrance of the Ataturk airport

In the wake of yesterday's attacks, Frank Brehany, Consumer Director of HolidayTravelWatch, has called on the travel industry and the government for more cohesive security information for holidaymakers.

He said: 'The shocking events at Istanbul Airport is an unwelcome reminder that the horrific events of Brussels Airport should have attracted a worldwide re-think on airport security.

'Brussels Airport has now deployed a greater zoning around its perimeter and such extensive action is required at all airports around the world.'

Director of International Security Studies, Raffaello Pantucci, branded international airports a 'soft target' for terrorists - describing them as the 'arteries of the planet'.

Speaking to MailOnline Travel, Pantucci said that by targeting an international airport, terrorists are 'breaking down links' as airports are a 'major way the world is connected'.

He also claimed he believed it was time for airport security to be upgraded across the world.

EXPERT WARNS TOURISTS TO SPEAK WITH AIRLINES BEFORE FLYING Speaking to MailOnline Travel, travel expert at TravelSupermarket, Bob Atkinson, said holidaymakers should consult with carriers before flying. He said: 'Flights to and from Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport are resuming gradually. You are advised to speak to your carrier for updated travel information before travelling to the airport. 'If you have a booking to travel via the city or to the city you should discuss with your airline, tour operator or travel agent what you options are should you no longer wish to travel. 'However most bookings will not be able to be changed or cancelled without a fee. 'For those looking to book a city break to Istanbul then ensure you have read the FCO advice before booking and follow this when you holiday there.' Advertisement

A worker collects loose panels from the ceiling at the entrance of Istanbul's airport

Tourists are pictured returning to the airport as flights resume just hours after the terror attack

Passengers queue to enter the terminal. Police tape can be seen still outside the entrance following the attack

Pantucci said: 'Airports have always been soft targets for terrorism groups. They represent aviation, and aviation represents transportation.

'Aviation is one of the main arteries of the planet, it is how the world is connected. By striking an airport, terrorists are striking the international economy and they know they are guaranteed to get attention - and that there will be citizens present.'

'International airports link the economy and by targeting these, terrorists are breaking the links.

'Last night's attack in Istanbul appears to have taken place near security. It seems the bombers got as far as the security checkpoints and then launched the attack.

'This therefore leaves us questioning whether we need to push security further out. Some places have security even before you get to the airport.

'We need to ask the question whether now is the time to push it out further, some places even check cars when they arrive.

'There is extra expense and it is an inconvenience but we need to think if it is necessary. Aviation is a terror target, so is the threat now so high that we have to push out our security?'

Workers stand near debris from yesterday's blasts as they take a break at Turkey's largest airport

Workers strip panels from the ceiling of the airpot to clear up the damage caused by the blasts

Panels are lifted onto a vehicle. Tape still seals of parts of the damaged airport

Following advice from the relevant authorities Cunard cruise company has taken the decision to remove Istanbul from the planned itineraries on Queen Victoria in July and August.

A spokesperson said: 'The calls to Istanbul will be replaced by Thessaloniki and an additional call to Volos.

'A shore excursion programme for these new ports will be available in the next few days and any shore excursions booked for Istanbul will be refunded.

'We apologise for any disappointment this change may cause, however, our first priority is always the safety and security of our guests and crew.'

Terrorism expert Anthony Richards told MailOnline Travel: 'Any place where there are gatherings of people and where there is no entrance security is likely to be a soft and vulnerable target.

'While bollards could be placed outside airport buildings to prevent vehicular access, individuals with weapons could still gain access to public areas that are not airside.

'If this attack was carried out by Isis these targets might be of interest to them because they are international targets - hence it widens the impact to other 'victim' countries.

'It is also likely that targeting the airport was intended to severely damage the Turkey's tourism industry .

'Intelligence is key when responding to terrorism and pre-empting terrorist attacks but, unfortunately, it can only be part of the answer because intelligence agencies cannot prevent everything. Public vigilance is therefore also vital so that would-be perpetrators are preferably spotted before they even get to the airport.

'An increased visible armed presence might serve as a deterrent against gun attacks, but they may not deter suicide bombers or even gunmen who have little regard for their own lives. Unfortunately, you can never have complete security.'

More than 220 people were injured as the suicide bombers blew themselves up in the terminal

A worker rides a segway past the police tape outside the entrance to the airport

Brehany added: 'I think it is perhaps time for general holiday travel Insurance companies to offer Travel Risk Intelligence, as indeed some do for commercial travellers, so that consumers can benefit from this valuable source of information.

'By governments, airport and commercial outlets taking these actions, this will instil greater confidence in consumers and respect for their inability to be able to fully risk assess security issues for themselves and their families; it really is time to have this joined up conversation on travel safety.

'It is no use simply offering the mantra ''we must not give into terror''; actions have to be demonstrable, and yes, whilst they may add time and inconvenience to our schedules, most people would accept that this is a small price to pay for extra peace of mind but also to frustrate criminal attempts to kill or injure innocent people.'

Workers repair the damaged parts of the terminal building in Istanbul

A spokesman for the World Tourism Organisation said: 'Today we were reminded once again that we are facing a global threat that requires a firm and coordinated response by all governments and the international community.

'Mr Rifai [Secretary General for UNWTO] recalled that safety and security is a priority for the tourism sector and that the sector is being targeted as a pillar of the economy and livelihoods in many countries.

'He called upon the international tourism community to stand by Turkey in facing this challenge and recalled that at times as this 'we need to cooperate and not isolate affected destinations'.

'Turkey is a leading tourism destination and we are confident it will continue to be so; it is now time to support Turkey.'

Turkish forensic police officers work at the scene of the blast. Officials said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check

An air hostess walks over a crossing outside the airport. Workers can be seen stripping panels behind her

MINIMISE YOUR RISK FROM TERRORISM Regularly check the FCO travel advice for the country you're visiting and subscribe to their email alerts

Watch and read news about the country and region

Be vigilant in public areas and places that attract foreigners and westerners like embassies, hotels, restaurants, bars and businesses

Look out for anything suspicious, and if you see anything report it to the local police immediately  many terrorist attacks are foiled by the vigilance of ordinary people

Be clear about any routes you use and have a plan of action to follow in the event of an incident

Try to avoid routines that make you an easier target  vary the time and route of your regular journeys

Keep your mobile phone charged and with you, with emergency numbers programmed in

Consider the extent to which you might stand out from the crowd before deciding to visit out-of-town destinations

Be discreet on social media about yourself and your plans

Inform colleagues, neighbours or hotel staff about where you're going and when you intend to return

Identify places like police stations, hospitals, official buildings along your route where you could seek refuge in an emergency Source: FCO Advertisement

Last night, suicide bombers were seen spraying bullets into crowds of terrified passengers and security personnel before blowing themselves up, injuring more than 220 people and killing up to 50.

Eyewitnesses described the moment a hero policeman shot down one of the suicide bombers before he was able to detonate his explosives, giving holidaymakers a chance to escape and saving countless lives.

In shocking footage that captured the moment, the gunman can be seen running through the international arrivals terminal before falling to the ground - apparently felled by a police bullet - and sending his AK-47 skidding across the floor.

The police officer then approaches the gunman before realising he is about to detonate his suicide vest and running for his life.
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A supercar dealer annoyed with London's sky high property prices has swapped mortar for water by building a luxury houseboat for 300,000.

Alex Prindiville's two-bedroom floating home boasts a log burning stove, granite worktop and power shower.

But instead of having to pay more than 1million for a similarly-sized flat on St Katherine Docks in East London he paid less than one third of the price.

Supercar dealer Alex Prindiville swapped a home on land for a luxury, custom-built houseboat docked in St Katherine Docks, east London

The businessman found a master boat-builder in Sheffield who hand-made a steel boat with the space and finish to turn his dream into reality.

It was then fitted with pressure-jet central heating with 'smart control', full electrics, hot and cold running water, dish washer, washing machine, solid wood flooring and a skylight.

Mooring costs in the area are between 9,000 and 13,000 per year and this includes council tax. While moored, it will cost around 100 per year for electricity and heating.

Alex, 41, said: 'I love living by the water and I love great design, but as a businessman I don't want to pay over the odds for a flat if there is a better solution.

Spending 300,000, Prindiville new abode was a fraction of a price of a similar-sized flat in the same area, which would cost more than 1million

The hand-made steel boat is kept warm in winter through central heating but it also features a wood-burning stove in the living room area

The TV area (above left), which is enjoyed by owner Alex Prindiville (above right) is in the boat's living room, which leads on to a galley kitchen and toilet/shower room.

'Why should anyone pay over 1million for a flat they only use Monday to Friday in an over-inflated market?

'And then I had my 'eureka' moment. I realised a houseboat would be perfect if I could find a way to transform it into the kind of place I would be happy living in.'

The entrepreneur isn't the only person to balk at London property prices and choose a life on water instead.

Tory MP Johnny Mercer has opted to live on his boat when in the capital rather than waste taxpayers' money on an expensive rental.

Alex was so pleased with his new pad he decided to start selling them under the name Prindiville Marine as a separate business to his supercar brokerage.

Measuring 60ft in length and weighing 41 tonnes, the Sheffield-built boat feels surprisingly roomy due to its clearly-designed architecture

And with a 300,000 price-tag, the houseboats are considerably cheaper than some of the cars which Alex has sold in recent years. Although with 90bhp, they're also not as powerful.

The 60ft long, 12ft 3in wide barge weighs 41 tonnes, has a Sheffield Keel hull hand crafted from new in high grade British steel.

It can be configured as a two bed apartment or one bed with an office and has a living room, galley kitchen and toilet/shower room.

The owners said: 'It's perfect for a week day crash pad or a weekend or holiday retreat. It even works for parents considering buying property for their student children because it isn't tied down to a particular location after three years is up.'

Alex added: 'Half the time you forget you're on the water - apart from when the sun comes out and you can have a drink on the deck.

'And the sense of space is phenomenal, a real tribute to the execution of the design.

'I love my home and believe this is the start of an urban living revolution.
This season's Bachelorette bad boy and his famous physique are still making waves even after JoJo Fletcher sent him packing.

Chad Johnson flaunted his insanely ripped body as he worked out shirtless at a local park in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Monday.

The 28-year-old real estate agent showed off his bulging muscles after denying using steroids during an interview on SiriusXM's, Radio Andy.

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Seriously? Chad Johnson flaunted his insanely ripped body as he worked out shirtless at a local park in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Monday

Live on the air on Monday, Andy Cohen asked Chad if his violent outbursts on the ABC dating show were due to 'roid rage.'

The former marine defended himself, 'Everyone makes me out to be this huge meat head.'

Chad explained, 'Before going on the show I counted every calorie. I went into it the same way a body builder would go into a body building competition.'

'What can you do as far as helping your chances? You can buy nice clothes and you can be in shape,' he candidly told the host.

'Roid rage'? The 28-year-old Bachelorette bad boy showed off his bulging muscles amid denying using steroids during an interview with Andy Cohen on SiriusXM's, Radio Andy on Monday

Hard-earned body: The chiseled 190 pound reality star's bulky biceps, cut pecs, and rock hard abs were fully on display as he did pull-ups and push-ups with his own body weight sans T-shirt

The University of Oklahoma graduate continued to tweak his perfect physique this week as he was spotted working up a sweat outside sans T-shirt.

The hard-to-miss hunk teamed his sexy look with a pair of black and grey swim shorts and coordinating trainers.

The chiseled 190 pound reality star showed off his hard-earned body as his bulky biceps, cut pecs, and rock hard abs were fully on display as he did pull-ups and push-ups with his own body weight.

Cooling off: The scruffy faced brunette took a breather as he re-hydrated with water after hitting the swings

Scruffy-faced Chad took a breather as he cooled off and re-hydrated with water after hitting the swings.

The 6-foot-two lean machine worked up an appetite, as he was seen later leaving his local Whole Foods market fueling up on protein.

As the carnivore exited the store he carried multiple packages of raw red meat along with a large jar of protein powder in one arm.

Fueling up on protein! The 6-foot-two lean machine worked up an appetite, as he was seen later on Monday leaving his local Whole Foods market with multiple packages of raw red meat along with a large jar of protein powder in one arm

Chad appeared to have showered and definitely changed after his sweat session as he donned a tight white T-shirt featuring bikini-clad babes sunbathing in a glistening pool.

He finished off the relaxed look with a pair of pale blue shorts along with navy and brown shoes.

Bachelor Nation will get more of Chad as he returns to the small screen on season 3 of Bachelor In Paradise which premieres on August 2.

And it looks set to be a dramatic season, with creator Mike Fleiss tweeting that there will be 'multiple engagements' this time around.

Meanwhile, The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
At only 18, she already has nine feature films scheduled for release between this year and the next.

Yet Elle Fanning appeared unfazed by her success while visiting a Starbucks in West Hollywood on Tuesday.

The young starlet was in a cheery mood for her outing, engaging in laughter as she walked.

Happy-go-lucky: Actress Elle Fanning, 18, appeared unfazed by her success while visiting a Starbucks in West Hollywood on Tuesday

Elle showed off her summer style in a striped, poncho-like shift dress.

The natural beauty added a pair of slide-on wedges with a thick, cork bottom.

Elle accessorized with a decorated, red bag a gold bracelet and matching ring.

Easy ensemble: Elle showed off her summer style in a striped, poncho-like shift dress

Extra height: The natural beauty added a pair of slide-on wedges with a thick, cork bottom

Like her sister Dakota, Elle has made a name for herself in Hollywood due to her impressive acting capabilities.

On Monday, the Maleficent star attended a press conference for her new film, The Neon Demon, in Beverly Hills.

The actress appeared poised for her appearance, one of many she's planned to do over the course of the next year.

In demand: Elle has made a name for herself in Hollywood due to her impressive acting capabilities. She is pictured on Monday in Beverly Hills.

Until 2017, Elle has nine projects set to debut, most featuring an all-star, A-list cast.

She'll join Ben Affleck, Zoe Saldana, Scott Eastwood and Sienna Miller in the Prohibition Era-drama, Live By Night.

Elle will also star alongside Nicole Kidman in the comedic romance, How to Talk to Girls at Parties.
He's notorious for making quite the scene.

And on Monday, comedian Katt Williams appeared to be enjoying the summer day, catching a smoke and sharing a coconut drink with his lady friend in Malibu, California.

The Ohio-born actor wore a busy outfit donning a cut-out, sleeveless plaid shirt over a pair of white and black patterned pants and a gold medallion chain.

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Sippin' the coconut: Katt Williams enjoyed a smoke and his coconut drink in Malibu on Monday

The 44-year-old rapper sported a black beanie, round sunglasses, and an Apple watch that he wore with several other rings on his right hand.

His beau stood in a colorful, one-piece romper that flaunted a bit of her left cheek and toned legs, as she sipped on his drink.

Her blonde hair was straight and kept under a blue Superman cap as she stood in a pair of black designer sneakers.

Cheeky business! The comedian was seen sharing his drink with the blonde bombshell

Sweet summer: Kat's companion for the day was dressed in a colorful, patterned one-piece, which revealed her toned legs

Drinks with a view: She donned a blue Superman cap while hiding from the sun in dark sunglasses and shared a cigarette

The 5'5 comedian, who has a rough history of 14 arrests with 46 dropped felony charges, recently received criticism on Twitter after his appearance on Love and Hip Hop Atlanta.

After TMZ reported a sighting with Katt and former beau, Hazel-E, in Inglewood last week, sources told the outlet the pair have been rekindling their romance.

However, Katt's recent appearance on Love and Hip Hop Monday night upset fans on Twitter who saw him spending time with Karlie Redd at a nightclub for her birthday.

One user tweeted, 'Why is Katt Williams around? Who payed him for this appearance,' while another said, 'Lol, how old is Karlie Redd? I can't!!'

Katt and Hazel took a break in March after she got stuck involved in a raid at his house.

A lot of baggage: Katt recently kicked off the BET experience with his 2016 Conspiracy Tour that took place at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles

What's in the trunk? The back of the ride seemed stuffed with suitcases and bags, including a white and pink striped carry-on bag that could belong to Katt's beau

The Friday After School actor hosted his Conspiracy Tour Theory with longtime friend, Mike Epps, as part of the 2016 BET experience, which took place last week at the Los Angeles Staples Center.

Sitting down with TMZ last week, Katt teased his upcoming film, Bastards, starring Owen Wilson and J.K. Simmons, which will release January of next year.

The Wild N' Out star also revealed that he has 'invested' in Love and Hip Hop, suggesting he could appear in future episodes.

Enjoying the breeze: Katt appeared pleased to be in the company of his friend as they conversed while standing on the low cliff
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She's known to take a stand against Instagram's 'sexist' community guidelines by sharing topless photos online.

And Imogen Anthony pledged support for the 'Free the Nipple' campaign on Tuesday by posting a semi-nude bedroom snap.

In the image, the 25-year-old former lads' mag model is shown lying naked in bed with a T-shirt covering her face.

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Baring all: On holiday in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, Imogen Anthony shared a topless Instagram photo and also referenced the 'Free the Nipple' campaign, which protests the social media website's 'sexist' nudity policy

Imogen digitally censored her nipples to abide by Instagram's nudity policy - which allows men to pose bare chested, but not women.

Meanwhile, her lower half is concealed behind the white bed sheets and she covers her head under a black Iron Maiden top.

Her signature dyed pink hair is visible behind the T-shirt, as she lies beneath a silver ornament that reads: 'Sexy'.

Taking a stand: The model-turned-fashion designer, pictured at a Sydney premiere in March, digitally censored her nipples to abide by Instagram's guidelines - which allow men to pose bare chested, but not women

The fashion model wrote in the caption: 'When you realise that your new bright white home has no blinds in the b-room. Gotta fix that s*** PRONTO' (sic)

She then added the hash tags, 'Nice tan lines, 'Free the Nipple', and 'Iron Maiden'.

Over the last few days, Imogen has been sharing photos from her trip to California with radio DJ boyfriend Kyle Sandilands.

Good morning! In another snap, her dyed pink hair is visible as she covers her face with an Iron Maiden T-shirt

Time off: Imogen is on holiday in California with her boyfriend Kyle Sandilands (right), who is taking a break from his KIIS 106.5 radio program The Kyle and Jackie O Show

The couple are on holiday while Kyle takes a break from recording KIIS 106.5's breakfast program, The Kyle and Jackie O Show.

On Monday, Imogen shared a snap of herself enjoying a glass of wine at a Beverly Hills restaurant.

In the photo, she displays her quirky fashion sense in an anime-inspired Spice Girls jumper and a pair of oversized sunglasses.
She underwent a grueling physical schedule on Dancing With The Stars.

So it's only fair that Mischa Barton should want to show off the results - which she did when she stepped out in Germany on Tuesday.

The blonde beauty attended the Stylight Blogger Awards, where she certainly commanded attention.

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Wow-factor: Mischa Barton looked gorgeous as she attended the Stylight Blogger Awards in Berlin

Keeping it classy for the occasion, the former star of The O.C. oozed class as she navigated the runway in her choice of attire.

The sexy number, which boasted a semi-sheer base, was embellished with countless elongated beads for a slight disco vibe.

She capped the look with a pair of black, gold and silver strappy shoes.

Commanding attention: The sexy number, which boasted a semi-sheer base, was embellished with countless elongated beads for a slight disco vibe

Looking good: Keeping it classy for the occasion, the former star of The O.C. oozed class as she navigated the runway in her choice of attire

Wearing her blonde hair in a casual centre-parting, she also sported some understated make-up for a fresh-faced finish.

Together, the combination worked a treat for the star who has previously suffered some rather unfortunate fashion fails.

Meanwhile, more recently, she spoke out about dropping out of hit drama series The OC - the show that made her a household name in her younger days - in 2008.

'I felt like I was in a machine and I couldn't really get off, so I went back to England,' recalled the star, who had fallen into hard partying ways and ended up on a psychiatric ward.

Mischa will next be seen on the big screen in director-writer Ashley Avis's Deserted in which she stars as 24-year-old Jae who has just been released from prison for killing her mother.

She returns to her childhood home in small-town Ridgecrest but, anxious to escape, she joins her brother on a road trip to Death Valley.

Wearing her hair in a casual centre-parting, she sported some understated make-up for a fresh-faced finish
She is best known as the elegant and refined Lady Sansa of House Stark in the hit HBO series Game of Thrones.

But Sophie Turner looked a world away from her onscreen character as she had fun in front of the cameras at an event to mark the latest season in Madrid on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old actress opted for an eye-catching, but highly idiosyncratic, outfit comprising of a white ruffled shorts and top combo.

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Having fun: Sophie Turner looked a world away from her onscreen character as she had fun in front of the cameras at an event to mark the latest season in Madrid on Tuesday

Completing the bizarre outfit was a pair of chunky black boots with contrasting white laces and Sophie accessorised with a pair of simple gold hoop earrings.

In a nod to Sansa, her long auburn tresses were worn in a relaxed tousled style falling over one shoulder.

The star was on top form and posed for the mass of photographers at the event and seemed to be enjoying her time in the spotlight.

After the photocall the actress spoke with hundreds of ecstatic fans, took selfies and signed autographs.

In one emotional scene Sophie hugged a fan who appeared to break down in tears due to the encounter.

Looking good: The 20-year-old actress opted for an eye-catching, but highly idiosyncratic, outfit comprising of a white ruffled shorts and tops combo

Unique style: Completing the bizarre outfit was a pair of chunky black boots with contrasting white laces and Sophie accessorised with a pair of simple gold hoop earrings

Emotional: Sophie hugged a fan who appeared to break down in tears due to the encounter with the star

Stunning: In a nod to Sansa, her long auburn tresses were worn in a relaxed tousled style falling over one shoulder

Earlier in the day Sophie had opted for a more polished all-black look as she worked the carpet in the Spanish capital.

She kept things simple in a black leather wraparound skirt and and a matching long sleeved V-neck top.

While her hair was pulled back in a smart straight style - highlighting her earrings and flawless complexion.

Ecstatic: After the photocall the actress spent time with hundreds of fans taking selfies and signing autographs

Having fun! The star was on top form and enjoyed posing for the mass of photographers at the event and appeared to be enjoying her time in the limelight

Cheeky! Something seemed to catch the attention of the star as she pulled a mischievous grin

Polished: Sophie cut an elegant figure on the carpet ahead of a major event for Spanish fans

Sophie recently admitted that finding fame on a television phenomenon as big as the HBO show hasn't always been plain-sailing, admitting that it wasn't easy to grow up in the limelight.

The actress told the July issue of British InStyle that she went through 'hard years' between the ages of 16 and 19 as she struggled with her body transforming in the full glare of the public eye.

'At first, it was the character; people hating on her because she was a 13-year-old girl, and she should have a smart head on her shoulders and make good decisions,' she said.

Not all plain-sailing: Sophie recently admitted that finding fame on a television phenomenon as big the HBO show hasn't always been easy

Hard times: The actress told the July issue of British InStyle that she went through 'hard years' between the ages of 16 and 19 as she struggled with her body transforming in the full glare of the public eye

Glamorous: Sophie - who was raised in the English town of Northampton - has also hit the big screen, taking on the role of Jean Grey/Phoenix in the recently released X-Men: Apocalypse

Close up: Sophie's piercing blue eyes contrasted her auburn tresses at the publicity event

'When people started to know my name, as well as the character's name, that was kind of difficult. From 16 to when I turned 19, they were quite hard years.'

Sophie continued: 'You're in the prime of puberty; your body is changing, your face is changing, and people still saw me as that 13-year-old girl, with no body, and thought that's how I should look forever.'

The actress - who was raised in the English town of Northampton - has also hit the big screen, taking on the role of Jean Grey/Phoenix in the recently released X-Men: Apocalypse.

Refined: Earlier in the day Sophie had opted for a more polished all-black look as she worked the carpet in the Spanish capital

Excited: She kept things simple in a black leather wraparound skirt and and a matching long sleeved V-neck top

All smiles: While her hair was pulled back in a smart straight style and highlighted her earrings and flawless complexion

Demure: Sophie looked picture perfect as she posed in front of advertising for Game of Thrones in Spanish
Her idyllic Italian holiday with boyfriend Gilles Souteyrand may be over, but that doesnt mean bikini blogger Natasha Oakley can stop thinking about it.

The 25-year-old took to her Instagram page on Wednesday to share a shot of herself taking a refreshing shower, stripped down to a sexy tangerine bikini.

Soaking up the balmy Italian climes, the leggy blogger put on a busty display and flaunted her washboard abs to perfection.

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Throwback time! Natasha Oakley took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a shot of herself showering in a tangerine bikini during her trip in Italy

In the snap, she posed with her arms in the air as she ran her hands through her long blonde hair.

Her bikini top was bandeau in style and featured straps, a stunning piece from her range Monday Swimwear.

The Australian-born stunner captioned part of the snap: 'Already missing Italy but headed somewhere equally as amazing, can anyone guess where?!'

Bright move: Soaking up the balmy Italian climes, the leggy blogger put on a busty display and flaunted her washboard abs to perfection

Cheeky! In one recent shot shared to her more than 1.8 million followers, she puts her pert derriere on full display in the G-String bikini bottoms as she overlooks the Amalfi Coast

More recently, the Australian model wore the same bikini as she soaked up the sun in Capri.

Natasha enjoyed a trip around Italy with Gilles, including stopping at Venice, Pisa, Rome and the Amalfi Coast.

In one picture, shared to her more than 1.8 million followers, she put her pert derriere on full display in G-String bikini bottoms as she overlooked the Amalfi Coast.

Relaxed: In another enviable snap shared the Natasha's swimwear line's social media, the blonde beauty flaunts her bronzed cleavage in an orange bikini

Romantic getaway: Natasha has spent the last three weeks travelling through Italy with her French model boyfriend Gilles Souteyrand, after celebrating their one year anniversary

The relaxing trip came after the pair celebrated their one year anniversary together.

Natasha is now in London, where she has met up with her best friend and business partner, American personality Devin Brugman.

Gilles is also there with them, where the blogger is celebrating her UK Women's Health cover at an event in collaboration with Monday Active, her and Devin's sportwear range.

At the event, the girls did a workout with model and personal trainer Gilles leading the session.

Dinner date: On Monday, Natasha showed off her long legs and flashed more cleavage in a plunge dress as she and Gilles enjoyed their 'last dinner' on the Amalfi Coast

Back to business: She is now in London, where she has met up with her best friend and business partner, American personality Devin Brugman
She is rarely seen out without her partner in crime Devin Brugman by her side.

But after a few romantic days in Italy with her beau, Natasha Oakley was reunited with her gal pal as they attended the London launch of her magazine cover with Womans Health UK.

The two best friends were, however, were joined by Natashas boyfriend Gilles Souteyrand, who was happy to act as the third wheel.

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'Proud to be in the middle': Natasha Oakley's boyfriend Gilles Souteyrand looked happy as he posed for a picture with the bikini blogger and her BFF Devin Brugman on Tuesday

Taking to his social media sites on Tuesday to share a snap, the fitness hunk was seen cosying up to the A Bikini A Day bloggers.

In the caption, he gushed: Congrats again to these two girls! Proud to be in the middle [sic] along with a wink-face emoticon.

The London-based personal trainer later added another with his girl, which was captioned: After a tough class of Velocity/Tash's butt workout for@ukwomenshealth @coregyms proud of you honey.

Proud as punch: They attended the London launch of Natasha's magazine cover with Womans Health UK

Meanwhile, Devin was also quick to post her congratulations over the new gig - jokingly admitting that she was reduced to tears during her friends speech.

Thanks @tashoakley for making me cry during your speech, she confessed. I couldn't be more proud of you!

Their reunion in the British capital comes after Tash and Gilles enjoyed a three-week jaunt across several European cities including Rome, Venice and Tuscany and Florence.

I couldn't be more proud of you! Meanwhile, Devin was also quick to post her congratulations over the new gig - jokingly admitting that she was reduced to tears during her friends speech

Close pals: Their reunion in the British capital comes after Tash and Gilles enjoyed a three-week jaunt across several European cities including Rome, Venice and Tuscany and Florence

The lovebirds celebrated their one year anniversary last month, after going public with their relationship back in November.

Meanwhile, Natasha and Devin rose to fame through their blog filled with bikini-clad snaps and launched an activewear line following on from the success of their swimwear collection.

Their first swimwear line sold out over a couple of months and they now share a combined following of 3 million followers on Instagram alone.
She seems to never take a fashion misstep when it comes her everyday outfits.

Lily Collins cut a super slender figure during a coffee run in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old donned a pretty, blue patterned romper with drooping sleeves that swamped her petite physique and showed off her lean legs.

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Style points: Lily Collins cut a slender and bohemian chic figure while out for coffee run in West Hollywood on Tuesday

She teamed the frock with a pair of black, studded sandals, along with a coordinating purse that she had slung over her shoulder.

Showing off her striking new red hair colour, Lily wore her shoulder-length locks down in a slight side-part, and tucked in a pair of large sunglasses into the 'do.

And to accentuate her features, Lily added on a perfectly applied winged slick of eyeliner, mascara, rosy cheeks, and light pink lipstick.

The actress looked on-the-go as she headed outside of the coffee shop, clutching her cup of Joe, a bottled water, and her keys.

Hitting her stride: She teamed the frock with a pair of black sandals, along with a coordinating purse that she had slung over her shoulder

The outing comes as Lily's career continues to soar, with the pilot of the show in which she stars in, The Last Tycoon, hitting Amazon Prime earlier this month.

The actress also has a lead role in the currently filming sci-fi horror movie Okja portraying a character named Red.

Okja is a South Korean-American film that stars South Korean actress Seo-Hyeon Ahn, 12, as the heroine Mija and is due out in 2017.

Going places! The actress looked on-the-go as she headed outside of the coffee shop, clutching her cup of Joe, a bottled water, and her keys

Lily can next be seen in the Warren Beatty written and directed film Rules Don't Apply.

She stars in the romantic comedy as ingenue Marla Mabrey whom Howard Hughes had an affair with later in his life.

Warren portrays Hughes in the film that features a star-studded cast including Matthew Broderick, Martin Sheen, Candice Bergen, Chace Crawford, Annette Bening, Ed Harris, and Alec Baldwin.

Rules Don't Apply is due out in cinemas on November 11.
Their relationship is like a Taylor Swift song.

Kylie Jenner and Tyga called quits on their relationship a few months ago but it seems as though the pair have reconciled and are back on if her latest Snapchat photo is anything to go by.

The 18-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashian's star posted a photo on her Snapchat on Tuesday of the pair in a photo booth.

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Never, ever getting back together? It looks like Kylie Jenner and Tyga have reconciled as the reality star posted a photo on her Snapchat on Tuesday of the pair in a photo booth

The three photos show the couple looking very intimate with one of them showing Kylie kissing Tyga on the cheek and them closely hugging.

The snapshots were taken at her older sister Khloe's 32nd birthday bash on Monday night.

Her party was held at Dave & Buster's in Hollywood with a whole host of A listers including Try Songz, Evan and Ashley Ross.

This isn't the first step to them getting back together.

Confirmed! In one of the photos she shared you can see Tyga cheekily holding her thigh

What's really going on? The pair have been on and off for months now

Tyga and Kylie are taking it up a level as its reported he is moving in with the reality television star.

The 18-year-old has invited the rapper to move into her new $6 million Hidden Hills home, People said on Monday.

'He still has money problems,' says the source of Tyga quoted in the publication.

'Her family isn't too upset about Kylie and Tyga being back together', the source said, adding: 'They don't think it's permanent.'

Trying to tell us something? On Sunday Kylie seemed to have teased the pair had rekindled their relationship as she sported a tiger sweatshirt while out in Hollywood

A second source told them: 'They don't know what will happen but they care about each other and weren't ready to walk away'.

Tyga, 26, has reported tax debts, and landlord chasing him for back payments in rent.

And on Sunday Kylie seemed to have teased the pair had rekindled their relationship as she sported a tiger sweatshirt while out in Hollywood.

Single no more: Kylie teased fans by sharing her shopping outing withTyga

Buying him something? The pair were seen in a car shop together

The loose-fitting sweatshirt, which featured multiple large photos of the big cat, covered up the star's taut figure, and she coupled it with a pair of leggings.

The couple also pretty much confirmed the status of their relationship through more Snapchats.

The pair went car shopping together and in one of the photos he cheekily rests his hand on her thigh.

Baby mama: Kylie shared several pictures from their outing together

Sweet ride: It looked as though Kylie was buying her man a new car

Not too shabby: The pair then took one of the cars for a test drive
She may be a former ironwoman, surf lifesaver and bikini model.

But even the most practiced of bikini-wearers suffer the occasional wardrobe malfunction, and Candice Warner being no exception.

The 31-year-old was spotted adjusting her bikini top as she hit the beach during a Barbados getaway with her husband David and their daughter Ivy Mae earlier this month.

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Wardrobe malfunction alert! Candice Warner, 31, was spotted adjusting her bikini top earlier this month as she hit the beach during a Barbados getaway with her husband David and their daughter Ivy Mae

Despite almost falling out of her triangle swimsuit top several times, Candice managed to keep her composure by continually adjusting the thin fabric.

Candice, who welcomed her second child just five months ago, also took the opportunity to showcase her trim post-baby frame as she flounced through the surf in her barely-there black string bikini.

Over the last month, the Warner family have been enjoying the holiday of a lifetime across the US, India and the Caribbean.

Covering up: Despite almost falling out of her triangle swimsuit top several times, Candice managed to keep her composure by continually adjusting the thin fabric

David and Candice welcomed Ivy Mae in September 2014, announced the birth of their second daughter Indi Rae in January.

Candice recently spoke out about the 'unreaistic' and 'fake' images posted on social media by certain high-profile mothers.

'Flicking through Instagram, you are seeing women who have just had babies and have their abs back, or are back in their size-six bikini within weeks,' she told the Daily Telegraph.

Yummy mummy! Candice, who welcomed her second child just five months ago, also took the opportunity to showcase her trim post-baby frame as she flounced through the surf in her barely-there black string bikini

'That's not me. A few weeks post-birth, I am the one still in the size-14 pants with a muffin-top.'

She also said that she refused to starve herself to loose the 25kg she put on during her pregnancy.

Candice and David wed in a beautiful Sydney ceremony in April last year, just six months after welcoming their first daughter in 2014.

'That's not me': Candice recently spoke out about the 'unreaistic' and 'fake' images posted on social media by certain high-profile mothers
She's super busy juggling her international fashion brand and bringing up four children.

However, Victoria Beckham made time for a bit of culture on Tuesday as she attended an art exhibition in London.

The designer, 42, checked out the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the Victoria Miro Gallery in North London.

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Pumpkins everywhere! Victoria Beckham enjoyed the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the Victoria Miro Gallery in North London on Tuesday

Victoria was enthralled by the Japanese artist's pumpkin sculptures and the immersive mirror rooms and couldn't wait to share her experience with her Instagram following.

The former Spice Girl shared a selfie of her posing surrounded by the orange pumpkins after being taken on a tour by the gallery's director Glenn Scott Wright.

She also posted a 360 degree video of her view in the mirrored room.

Mesmerising: The mother-of-four certainly enjoyed herself in the hall of mirrors

Seeing double... or triple: Victoria's Instagram followers were treated to several reflections of the star

Captioning the video on Instagram, she wrote: '@Victoriamirogallery #yayoikusama All the eternal love I have for the pumpkins 2016 X Thank you @glennscottwright @janesuitor X VB.'

Victoria is back in London following her weekend trip to New York City.

Last Friday, Victoria was spotted out and about in Manhattan - presumably in meetings for her fashion brand.

Spotted out and about last week, Victoria looked business savvy in a chic navy pinstripe suit without a top underneath.

The former Spice Girl is a regular in New York and hosts Fashion Week shows there twice a year.

Sophisticated: Victoria Beckham, 42, showed everyone who's boss as she left a photoshoot in New York City on Friday in a chic navy pinstripe suit

Victoria, who launched her own fashion label in 2008, has previously spoken openly about her sense of style.

She once told Vogue Australia: I never try to follow a trend or fashion. I just do what feels right.

'Everything I make, from glasses to a handbag to a dress, is something I would wear and carry myself.

She noted: 'I think people saw the real me when I came out [at the end of her fashion show] in a pair of mens trousers, a roll-neck and trainers.'

Strutting her stuff: She paired the figure-hugging trousers with a navy waistcoat that cinched in her tiny midriff

She's got some front! The vest featured a plunging front that revealed a hint of cleavage

The British power duo - nicknamed 'Posh and Becks' - are parents to sons Brooklyn, 17, Romeo, 13, and Cruz, 11, as well as daughter Harper, 4.

Victoria is launching a limited-edition make-up collection with Manhattan cosmetics brand Estee Lauder this year.

The artist formerly known as Posh hasn't sang publicly since reuniting with her girl-group at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.

Model moment: The mother-of-four appeared in relaxed spirits as she pounded the pavements




Stepping on the red carpet for your maiden appearance as the star of a major Hollywood blockbuster is always an unforgettable experience.

But Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones has said she will remember it for all the wrong reasons after revealing on Tuesday she has yet to be offered a free designer dress for the showpiece occasion .

However she is not taking the snub lying down, and has vowed to remember the affront when they start begging her to wear their clobber at future events.

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Dressing down: Leslie Jones claims designers have not offered her a gown for the Ghostbusters premiere

She tweeted: 'It's so funny how there are no designers wanting to help me with a premiere dress for movie.

'Hmmm that will change and I remember everything.'

And she will have plenty of opportunity to exact sweet revenge in the coming months as she goes on her whirlwind promotional tour, as well as premieres in other countries.

In the film, which is already being panned by fans of the franchise before release, she plays subway worker Patty Tolan, who adds some much needed street smarts to the geek heavy team made up of academics and a nuclear engineer.

The comedienne, who once quit stand up for three years after being booed when opening for Jamie Foxx, is also be appearing alongside Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and, most excitingly of all, Jennifer Saunders in animated comedy Sing, which is released on Christmas Day.

Angry twit: She took to social media to slam the fashion industry for not lending a hand

Who's she gonna call? It looks like Leslie will have to dress herself despite being one of the stars of the forthcoming comedy feature

Leslie underlined her beauty credentials by sharing a stunning makeup free selfie, which she captioned: 'That's that @LeMieuxSkincare skin yo!! My skin has never looked so beautiful and healthy.'

She is not the first big name to miss out on a stunning gown due to having a curvy physique.

Thankfully in today's uncertain times celebrities have been quick to stand up and rally to the cause to fight dress discrimination.

Khloe Kardashian previously complained, 'stylists had nothing in my size,' while Bryce Dallas Howard has said she buys her own dresses due to the lack of options for size six women.

And Leslie's Ghostbusters co-star Melissa McCarthy went so far as to claim she started her own money-spinning fashion line after she begged designers for a dress to wear to the Academy Awards, but was flatly turned down by them all.
She recently returned to her home city of Sydney to launch new products in her cosmetics range.

And Miranda Kerr looked suitably glamourous during her stay at the five-star Langham hotel on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old displayed her slender frame in a slinky, off-the-shoulder dress as she posed for an Instagram photo.

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Home girl! Miranda Kerr (pictured) looked suitably glamourous in a slinky, off-the-shoulder dress during her stay at Sydey's five-star Langham hotel on Wednesday

Miranda, who hails from Gunnedah in New South Wales, showed off her fantastic figure in the figure-hugging ensemble.

She emphasised her model height with a pair of nude high heels and a several loose-fitting bracelets.

Finally, she brought out her striking features with eyeliner and a slick of lipstick and wore her brunette hair in a middle parting.

She captioned the image: 'Thanks for your wonderful hospitality @langhamsydney it always feels like home!'

Meanwhile, Miranda is back in Australia to promote a new line of products in her Kora Organics range.

She also took time off her busy schedule to attend her brother Matthews bachelor party.
His sister Rachel competed in controversial Miss World 2002 pageant against the wishes of New

Former Home and Away star Jodi Anasta has been linked to wealthy businessman Jason Huljich, after they were spotted getting cosy at Double Bay cocktail bar Mrs Sippy on Saturday.

It seems the 31-year-old actress - once engaged to media heir Ryan Stokes - has rekindled her passion for multi-millionaires following her split from ex-NRL star Braith Anasta last year.

But it would also appear Mr Huljich, who is part of one of New Zealand's richest families, also has a type - as he's been linked to a string of beautiful, high-flying women in the past.

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Who is he? Ex-Home and Away star Jodi Anasta has been linked to Sydney businessman Jason Huljich (pictured), a property funds CEO, ladies' man, and member of one of New Zealand's richest families

The Daily Telegraph recently claimed that onlookers saw party girl Jodi looking very comfortable with playboy Jason at one of Sydney's premiere celebrity hot spots.

Sources allege the affectionate pair did not go home together - but instead Jodi left with a group of girlfriends at 8pm.

If the claims are true, this would mark Jodi's first return to the dating scene since separating from Braith - the father of their two-year-old daughter Aleela - in December.

Moving on? Model and actress Jodi Anasta (pictured) split from her ex-NRL star husband Braith Anasta last December and The Daily Telegraph has reported multi-millionaire Jason is her potential love interest

Meanwhile, Jason appears to be a sensible match for Jodi - as his family bank balance is likely comparable to that of her ex-fiance Ryan, 39.

Jason is the executive director of Centuria Capital, an ASX-listed specialist funds manager 'with $2 billion in funds under management', according to his LinkedIn page.

His family, who are of Croatian descent, are well-known in their native New Zealand for their vast wealth, business interests and philanthropy.

According to the 2014 National Business Review, their wealth is placed $125 million.

A former flame? Social media photos have emerged of Jason with several glamourous and successful women, including Emily Hill (left) - who he was pictured with at an outdoor event in 2010

Meanwhile, social media photos have emerged of Jason with several glamourous and successful women - who he may have been romantically involved with.

One of his potential ex-partners is Emily Hill, who he was photographed with on several occassions, including an outdoor event in 2010.

In the sunny photo, perhaps taken at the races, Emily looks simply stunning in an off-the-shoulder Missoni dress and Louis Vuitton shades.

Meanwhile, Jason puts on a delightfully dapper display in a Herringbone suit jacket as he places his hand around her waist.

Helicopter trip: A more recent possible girlfriend is Stephanie Nomchong (left), who appeared in a handful of social media photos with Jason in late 2014 - prompting one Facebook friend to ask, 'Is he on one knee?'

A more recent possible girlfriend is Stephanie Nomchong, who appears to be a real estate professional from Sydney.

They were photographed by News Corp cuddling up at a polo event on Mother's Day last year.

And Facebook photos also show them looking close around late 2014 - including a snap of Jason and Stephanie flying in a helicopter.

Several comments by the pair's friends appear to hint that they were dating, with one person asking: 'R u guys on the set of the Bachelor? Is he on one knee?'

The brunette was pictured a month later wearing a racy lingerie-style costume at a fancy dress party, as Jason holds her close.

Halloween? Stephanie, who appears to be a real estate professional from Sydney, was also pictured wearing a racy lingerie-style costume alongside Jason at a fancy dress party in November 2014

Meanwhile, the Huljich family name has not been without controversy over the years.

Back in 2002, Jason's sister Rachel Huljich was crowned Miss New Zealand, but the teenager's entrance into that year's Miss World pageant faced political scrutiny.

The beauty contest was scheduled to take place in Nigeria - but there was an international uproar when a 31-year-old woman was sentenced to death by stoning for having a child out of wedlock, resulting in several countries boycotting the event.

Controversy: Back in 2002, Jason's sister Rachel Huljich was crowned Miss New Zealand, but the teenager's entrance into that year's Miss World pageant faced political scrutiny due to events in host country Nigeria

Rachel eventually did take part in the pageant, but against the wishes of Prime Minister Helen Clark who said it was not a 'good look' to attend.

'It does seem a little odd to have a participant in a Miss World competition in Nigeria, when in the north of that country a young woman faces death by stoning because she had a baby out of wedlock,' The Sydney Morning Herald reported her saying at the time.

Meanwhile, the competition was relocated to London, UK due to religious riots between Christians and Muslims in Kaduna which claimed the lives of 250 people.

Disapproval: Rachel eventually did take part in the pageant - later relocated to London due to religious riots - but former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark (pictured) said it was not a 'good look' to attend

In recent years, a Huljich family feud involving Jason's grandmother and father played out at the High Court at Auckland, according to The New Zealand Herald.

In 2014, matriarch Elizabeth Huljich, then 84, filed an application in relation to a $264,000 mortgage registered over her St Heliers home.

Christopher defended the action, stating that the claim was misconceived, it was reported.

The Ex-factor: Jodi married retired rugby league player Braith Anasta (right) in October 2012 but they separated in December 2015

Meanwhile, Jodi married retired rugby league player Braith Anasta in October 2012 and they separated in December 2015.

She was previously engaged to Ryan Stokes, the son of billionaire businessman Kerry Stokes.

But their relationship ended in scandal in June 2009 when Jodi went missing after a night out in Kings Cross and was later discovered cowering in the bedroom of a suspected biker gang member.
She has been making the most of New Zealand's tourism scene over the past few weeks during a well-deserved family getaway.

And KIIS FM radio host Jackie 'O' Henderson, 41, ticked a particularity adrenaline-filled attraction off the list when she embarked upon a bumpy jet-boat ride with her husband Lee and five-year-old daughter Kitty on Monday.

Braving the winter chill, Jackie and her brood became doused in water as they boated across choppy waters.

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Thrill-seeking family! KIIS FM radio host Jackie 'O' Henderson, 41, ticked a particularity adrenaline-filled attraction off the list when she embarked upon a bumpy jet-boat ride with her husband Lee and five-year-old daughter Kitty on Monday

Jackie, Lee and Kitty each wore matching puffer jackets underneath their bright red life-jackets, while Lee and Kitty took extra precautions from the cold by wearing beanies.

At one stage Jackie shielded her face from the spray by hiding behind her life-jacket and a balaclava which she wore across her face.

Despite the turbulence, the family-of-three were seen smiling and cheering throughout their on-water experience.

Not for the faint of heart! Braving the winter chill, Jackie and her brood became doused in water as they boated across choppy waters

Taking cover! At one stage Jackie shielded her face from the spray by hiding behind her life-jacket and a balaclava which she wore across her face

Icy waters: Jackie, Lee and Kitty each wore matching puffer jackets underneath their bright red life-jackets

Jackie arrived in Queenstown on Sunday and immediately shared a snap of her hotel room's Victorian-inspired interior, which came complete with a grand fireplace.

'When you discover there's a fireplace in ur hotel room - yasss!!!!' she wrote in the caption.

Her Instagram fans sent messages of congratulations to Jackie, one decided to lament her absense from her regular radio stint, writing: 'it's just boring on other radio stations that's all'.

Rugged up: Lee and Kitty took extra precautions from the cold by wearing beanies

'I listened to Rove and Sam for few minutes the other and I lost some brain cells seriously I felt dumber after,' the fan continued, taking a jab at 2DAY FM's breakfast duo.

Jackie and her KIIS FM co-host Kyle Sandilands have been enjoying their two-week break away from the office while Australian radio stations take a regular survey break.

Like Jackie, Kyle has been passing the time on an overseas trip, holidaying in Los Angeles with girlfriend Imogen Anthony.

Toasty! Jackie arrived in Queenstown on Sunday and immediately shared a snap of her hotel room's Victorian-inspired interior, which came complete with a grand fireplace
She's far from shy when it comes to her wardrobe.

And Kim Kardashian put on another eye-popping display on Tuesday as she made her way to the GQ magazine party in LA, to celebrate her first US cover for the publication.

The mother-of-two headed out with her gal pals and documented their adventures - and her extremely ample cleavage - on Snapchat.

It's my party: Kim Kardashian put on another eye-popping display on Tuesday as she made her way to the GQ magazine party in LA, to celebrate her first US cover for the publication

Kim was wearing a corset style black top, which featured a loosely-tied, lace-up front to showcase the mum of two's ample assets.

She teamed the racy top with a curve-hugging, high-waisted leather skirt to highlight her famous curves.

The 35-year-old reality star accessorized with an on-trend black choker necklace and strappy black heels.

Racy! Kim was wearing a corset style black top, which featured a loosely-tied, lace-up front to showcase the mum of two's ample assets

In her comfort zone: The mother-of-two headed out with her gal pals and documented their adventures - and her extremely ample cleavage - on Snapchat

What an outfit! She teamed the racy top with a curve-hugging, high-waisted leather skirt to highlight her famous curves

Her dark locks were swept to the side while the stylish star added her usual full face of makeup for the glam night out.

Kim showed off her best pout as she took selfie videos and photos for her Snapchat, before turning the camera on her cleavage.

The reality star also took to Instagram to keep her 75.2 million followers up to date on her evening plans.

Camerawoman: The mother-of-two headed out with her gal pals and documented their adventures on Snapchat

'I'm going out tonight, it's going down': The reality mom also took to Instagram to keep her 75.2 million followers up to date on her evening plans

'I'm going out tonight, it's going down....,' captioned Kim.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star was referencing the lyrics from her failed 2011 attempt at pop stardom, Jam (Turn It Up).

When Kim arrived at the party to celebrate her first US cover of GQ magazine, she met up with her model pal Chrissy Teigen.

Girl's night: When Kim arrived at the party she met up with her model pal Chrissy Teigen, looking gorgeous in white

Sisters in style: Kim's older sister Kourtney also helped Kim celebrate, coordinating with Chrissy in white, showing off her figure in a tight top teamed with a tiny studded mini skirt

Finishing touches: While Kourt swept her long locks back into a high pony, Kim styled hers to the side

Old friends: Caroline D'Amore went to support Kim Kardashian who have been friends for over a decade

DJ Caroline D'Amore went to the GQ event to support Kim Kardashian who has been family friends with the Kardashians for over a decade. The two were social butterflys on the LA party circuit and were always spotted together. Thou, these days as they both now have babies, play dates are the new club dates.

It has been rumored that Caroline will appear in the new E! channel show 'Hot Moms of LA'.

Bundle of Joy : Caroline D'Amore with her daughter Isabella Viking

Time to celebrate! Chrissy, Caroline D'Amore, Larsa Younan and Shiva Safai helped Kim mark her major cover

The new mum looked sensational in a curve-hugging white midi dress with a plunging neckline.

She added nude heels and a pop of colour with a slick of red lippie.

Kim's older sister Kourtney also helped Kim celebrate, coordinating with Chrissy in white, showing off her figure in a tight top teamed with a tiny studded mini skirt.

Another cover: Kim cosied up to GQ's Jim Nelson for a snap at the VIP bash

Star-studded guest list: Larsa, Karrueche Tran and Christina Milian all looked sensational

Girls' night! When Kim arrived at the GQ party in her honour, she met up with pal Chrissy Teigen

Busting out: Chrissy was also putting on an eye-popping display in a plunging dress for the occasion

Kim, Chrissy and Kourtney had also been hanging out the night before in honour of Kim's sister Khloe's 32nd birthday.

Kylie, Kourtney, Kris, Rob and pregnant fiancee Blac Chyna also attended the bash at Dave & Buster's in Hollywood.

The family's fall-out with Rob over his relationship with Chyna has been playing out on the eleventh season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, but the family have since made amends.

We are family: Kim and Kourtney's mum Kris Jenner also dressed to the nines in a stunning floral number for the GQ bash

Good to see you! Kris posed for a fun snap with family friends Chrissy and her husband John Legend

She's impressed! Cheeky Kris couldn't take her eyes off Chrissy's ample assets

Date night: New parents Chrissy and John both dressed for the occasion

Hug me quick: Kris couldn't resist cuddling up to dapper John as Kourtney looked on

Ready to party: Karrueche Tran wowed in an edgy white dress while Ashley Benson was super glam in a black lace detail dress
She has been spending quality time with her brood exploring the picturesque mountainside of New Zealand as she enjoys a much-needed holiday.

And KIIS 106.5FM breakfast radio presenter Jackie O Henderson, 41, appeared to be in absolute bliss as she spent the day with her husband Lee and their five-year-old daughter Kitty in Queenstown on Wednesday.

The popular star kept warm in the freezing winter temperatures in a thermal khaki coat with leather sleeves teamed with a blue jacket, grey jumper and black trousers.

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The layered look: Jackie 'O' Henderson, her husband Lee and their daughter, Kitty, bundled up with jumpers and coats as they braved New Zealand's chilly winter on Tuesday

The blonde beauty accessorised her winter ensemble with a knitter purple scarf and white trainers.

She style her flaxen tresses out and straight, and kept her make-up to a minimum, with just a hint of blush, a subtle nude lip and voluminous lashes.

Lee followed suit and opted for comfort in a black parka with fur trimmings paired with denim trousers and well-worn monochrome sneakers.

Warm accessories: The 41-year-old radio personality accessorised her winter ensemble with a knitter purple scarf and white trainers

Style twins: Lee followed suit and opted for comfort in a black parka with fur trimmings paired with denim trousers and well-worn monochrome sneakers

Meanwhile, Kitty looked adorable in a black coat, matching leggings, Wellington gumboots and a white beanie.

Jackie O appeared to be in good spirits as she held onto her daughters hand and explored the Queenstown township.

The trio also made sure to take memorable photographs from their winter vacation and play in the fresh powder that covered the mountains.

Adventure time: The trio also made sure to take memorable photographs from their winter vacation and play in the fresh powder that covered the mountainside

Just like mum: Kitty looked adorable in a black coat, matching leggings, Wellington gumboots and a white beanie

Doting mum: Jackie kept a watchful eye over her five-year-old daughter

Jackie and her co-host Kyle Sandilands are currently on a two week break from breakfast radio.

But before they left for vacation, the mother-of-one made sure to leave the show with a bang.

Last Thursday, Jackie struggled to speak clearly while tending to her breakfast show.

Her co-star Kyle - who was hosting from a studio in Los Angles - noticed Jackie had a lisp and questioned her, saying: 'What's wrong with your mouth?'

Jackie replied: Oh I got braces.

Looking around: The radio personality explored the famous New Zealand countryside

Catch-up: Jackie chatted to a fellow walker on the path

Mother-daughter trip: The mother-of-one held onto her daughter's hand firmly as they pounded the pavement

A shocked Kyle quipped back: Hang on a second. You just don't get braces on a whim.

OK! It wasn't on a whim. It's only two months that I have to have braces on, Jackie told the 45-year-old shock jock.

Listen to yourself. You sound like dat [sic], Kyle continued while imitating Jackies voice.

I will get better. It's just getting use to them, the mother-of-one pleaded.

You can't broadcast like that. You should have thought about this. You sound like you're 14 years old. Kyle said.

It was later revealed on the popular morning show that Jackies new braces were only a joke to play on Kyle.

Look: Jackie O appeared to be checking her phone when her daughter noticed something




She is juggling life as new mother with a career as Australia's preeminent celebrity trainer.

And on Tuesday, Michelle Bridges took to Instagram to reveal she too has 'moments of struggle' and 'doubt'.

'Today I hurt. Today my head almost got to me. Today I started doubting myself. Doubting my fitness. Doubting wether [sic] I can pull myself back,' the 45-year-old Biggest Loser trainer captioned a short video of herself struggling through a punishing workout.

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'Today my head almost got to me': Michelle Bridges admitted she too had moments of 'doubt' in a candid post to social media on Tuesday about a gruelling workout she had put herself through

The mother-of-one continued to let her 206,000 followers know that these 'moments' were 'OK' and they help us 'grow' and become 'humble'.

'Today I realised that my fitness and where it's at, is perfect. And I cannot expect any more of myself. My fitness and strength is exactly where it should be given what I have and haven't been doing,' she added.

'My training has been inconsistent. Period. And that's ok. I'm here. I'm pushing. It might not be pretty, but that's ok too!

Intense: The 45-year-old's workout included 30 minutes on an exercise bike followed by three rounds of deadlifts, front squats, push press and chin-ups

A real moment: The mother-of-one continued to let her 206,000 followers know that these 'moments' were 'OK' and they help us 'grow' and become 'humble'

Candid post: She noted her training was 'inconsistent', hence the struggle

'I wanted to share this to let you know that all of us have these moments. And they are beautiful, because they remind us that it's in the struggle that we grow, we become humble, we build and we must be gentle to ourselves.'

Michelle recently returned home from a camping trip to Double Island Point in Queensland with her cherubic tot and her partner Steve 'Commando' Willis.

Despite the remoteness, Michelle made sure to post pictures from her vacation to her social media, as well as complete workouts.

Back to reality: Michelle recently returned home from a camping trip to Double Island Point in Queensland with her cherubic tot and her partner Steve 'Commando' Willis

Adorable: Axel appeared to be in absolute bliss as he snuggled up in his blanket and beanie

In one post, Michelle sat her little lad on her lap and looked into his big blue eyes as they lapped up the serenity

The celebrity trainer simply captioned the image: 'Looks like it's just us dude.'

In another post, Michelle performed a series of workout-inspired dance moves on the beach, with her baby strapped to her torso in a short video.

In the background, a distinctly nineties-sounding dance track can be heard.

'Beach baby workout!!' wrote Michelle in the caption as she squatted and grape-vined across the sandy shore-side.

Doting mum: A smitten Michelle cuddled up to her six-month-old son, Axel, during the idyllic trip

Keeping active: Michelle took to Instagram to upload a video of herself performing a series of workout-inspired dance moves on the beach, with her baby Axel strapped to her torso

Speaking to the Daily Mail Australia earlier this year, a gushing Michelle said her little lad enjoyed coming along to her training sessions.

'He comes to training, but not every time,' she said.

'But definitely when we go out outdoors. We go on big long walks together. He has been to the gym with me a few times and he quite likes it.'

Michelle is also determined to continue her growing fitness empire which includes a 12-Week Body Transformation programme, clothing line, health products and multiple books.

Michelle and her partner recently launched a health campaign which Steve said on Instagram is designed to 'help Australia combat the obesity crisis.'

The couple met while working as trainers on Ten's weight-loss series, The Biggest Loser.

They welcomed Axel on December 19.
Daniel Craig and Bond girls go together like coffee and cream.

So no doubt fans of the English star will be delighted to discover he is in talks to star alongside Halle Berry in a forthcoming film about the LA Riots.

The pair are being lined up to the the leading stars in the forthcoming picture Kings.

Bond and his girl: Daniel Craig is in talks to star with Halle Berry in a forthcoming film about the LA Riots

According to Deadline it could see the 48-year-old team up with director Mustang director Deniz Gamze Erguven in her eagerly anticipated English-language debut.

But most excitingly for fans of 007, it will see the star of the rebooted universe team up with the hottest Bond girl in recent memory.

Halle, 49, played Giacinta 'Jinx 'Johnson, and undercover National Security Agency operative, in the 2002 Bond film Die Another Day with Pierce Brosnan.

If Daniel signs on he will play Ollie, a loner who lives in the tough South Central neighbourhood, and one of its only white residents.

Hope she doesn't Jinx it: Halle was the most alluring Bond girl in recent memory in Die Another Day

He ends up befriending a street smart and protective mother played by X-Men favourite Halle, who also looks after children in the area.

It also emerges during their endeavours that she is secretly in love with her friend, lending the film a mixture of light and darkness that is the trademark of Erguven's previous work.

This is said to be a dream for the Turkish-French filmmaker, who is a graduate of the prestigious La Femis film school, and who scored an Oscar nomination earlier this year for Mustang.

Moving on: Daniel is widely expected to hang up his Walther PPK after a 10 year run

Daniel is widely expected to hang up his Walther PPK after a 10 year run that saw him feature in Casino Royale, Quantum Of Solace, Skyfall and last year's Spectre.

The 1992 LA riots started in South Central the spread out into other after a trial jury acquitted four LAPD officers of the use of excessive force in the videotaped arrest and beating of Rodney King, following a high-speed police chase.

Thousands of people throughout the metropolitan area of Los Angeles rioted, and 55 people died during the troubles.
She had just shared an ultra sexy snap of herself sunbathing in her bikini.

And Rumer Willis continued to flash some flesh, if only just a little, when she stepped out hours after posting the sizzling image.

The 27-year-old put her toned tum on show while paying a pal a visit in Santa Monica on Tuesday, sporting a white Princeton crop top.

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Top of the crops! Rumer Willis put her toned tum on show when she paid a pal a visit in Santa Monica on Tuesday, sporting a white Princeton crop top

She also wore a pair of tight grey jeans, denim top, and a pair of black flats with a gold toe for some glitz and glam.

The actress slicked her jet black locks across her head into a slight side part, and accessorized the ensemble with her sunglasses.

Catching up: Grinning brightly, the actress was all ears as she chatted with her pal, who donned a grey top and jeans

The finishing touches: The actress slicked her jet black locks across her head into a slight side part, and accessorized the ensemble with her sunglasses

A black purse over her shoulder topped off the look.

Grinning brightly, the actress was all ears as she chatted with her pal, who donned a grey top and jeans.

The outing comes just hours after Rumer shared an image of herself, where she was in nothing but a skimpy black bikini.

Jean-ius! She also wore a pair of tight grey jeans, denim top, and a pair of black flats with a gold toe for some glitz and glam

Her caption read 'Pool Daze.'

The looker made it known she was spending time with ex Jayson Blair as she added him in a link.

The day before she posted a shot where Blair was looked at her bottom as she faced a pool. He also had a camera in his hand.

Meanwhile: The outing comes just hours after Rumer shared an image of herself where she was in nothing but a skimpy black bikini

Body to envy: Willis showed off her toned figure on Tuesday while in a bikini as she lazed by a pool

She also tagged him in an image of herself kissing a cat on Tuesday.

Rumer has been hanging out with Blair for the past several weeks. In mid June they had dinner together.

The dark-haired wonder wore a short top and mini skirt to join Blair for a late meal at Cheebo Italian restaurant on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood.

The actress, who is rumoured to be dating photographer Patrick Bates-Barcroft, completed her ensemble with black ankle boots with chunky high heels and a black leather handbag she slung across her body.

Purr-fection: She also tagged him in an image of herself kissing a cat on Tuesday

Her ex: The day before she posted a shot where Jayson Blair was looked at her bottom as she faced a pool. He also had a camera in his hand

Jayson, 32, was casually dressed in a black and white plaid shirt, ripped jeans and tan suede boots.

Rumer is due to debut her solo cabaret act at Feinstein's at the Hotel Nikko, following her sold out performances at New York's Cafe Carlyle earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Rumer has another upcoming project titled Hello Again, which is directed by Tom Gustafson.

It is a film adaptation of LaChiusa's celebrated musical, originally based on Schnitzler's play La Ronde.

Rumer will play the role of Emily as Sam Underwood and Tyler Blackburn join her for the romantic musical.

What's old is new: The star has been hanging out with him for the past several weeks. In mid June they had dinner together; here they are seen in 2013
She started out her career as a back-up dancer before making the move into acting.

So it's not hard to see how Jenna Dewan-Tatum gets her stunning figure.

The 35-year-old looked incredible as she headed to a salon in West Hollywood on Tuesday for a spot of pampering.

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Flower power: Jenna Dewan-Tatum looked stunning in a floral dress while out in West Hollywood on Tuesday

Jenna was showing off her slender legs in a flimsy floral print mini-dress in pastel blue, yellow and red hues.

The frock also featured a lace-up cut-out section across the back, allowing the Step Up star to flash some more skin.

Jenna also wore flat tan sandals and had her brunette hair down, while mirrored aviator sunglasses covered her minimally made-up face.

Last week, her husband Channing Tatum talked about their sex life during a Facebook Live stream with Cosmopolitan magazine editor-in-chief Joanna Coles.

Showing some skin: The dancer turned actress flashed her toned legs and her bag in the skimpy pastel frock

Treating herself: Jenna, who also wore beige sandals and sunglasses, was seen heading to the salon

The actor, who was at the Cannes Lions Festival, said: 'Me and sex are friends. We're animals. 'It's not a means. It's something that enriches your life... it's one of the clearest ways that we communicate, it boils things down to a very primal level.'

Channing also divulged that they don't have sex after an argument unless they have resolved things first.

The Dear John actor explained in the live stream: 'That's how we know there's something we have to talk about, that we have to solve... whatever's between us energetically, before we can sort of get down.'

Ooh la la: The 35-year-old's husband Channing Tatum recently spoke about their steamy sex life

Adding: 'For lack of a better term, we don't hate-f**k each other. That's just not what we do.'

The handsome star even went into detail on what kind of sex they have: 'Sometimes it's, "Look, you've got to get this done, I've got to work." That's a real thing.

'To me, that's us being completely open. Being like, "Look, I don't have the energy." Then you have full-on, just completely, totally connected, otherwordly connections.'

Channing and Jenna are parents to three-year-old daughter Everly; the twosome wed in 2009 after dating for three years.
They sing about magic dust, blood and religion - all in the same song.

And The Veronicas recently acknowledged that they're far from ordinary.

Earlier this week, Brisbane-born identical twins, Jessica and Lisa Origliasso, debuted the music video for their new single, In My Blood, and the creative imagery set tongues wagging.

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Far from ordinary: The Veronicas recently acknowledged that they're different following the release of their latest single In My Blood, which references magic dust, blood and religion - all in the same song

Sporting red wigs and matching red attire, the sisters are set in an entirely crimson-coloured room, which they spend the vast majority of the video trashing.

'We're a little dark and twisted and weird,' Lisa told AAP.

'We like the weirder twisted side of art. We love our David Lynch you know.'

The identical twin sisters are truly one-of-a-kind, with Lisa Origliasso saying recently: 'We're a little dark and twisted and weird'

Their new dance track is the first single from their forthcoming album, which they said has a more 'mature' sound compared to their last (released two years ago).

'We're bipolar kind of people creatively. I think sonically we are so unpredictable,' Lisa said.

'We can write that heartfelt emotional ballad but when you look at that footprint of The Veronicas it is very much in the pop-electronic realm ... lyrically this is a little deeper and more mature.'

Celebrating their weirdness: Jessica and Lisa Origliasso recently teased this artwork for their latest single and fans were stunned to see them naked and covered in purple glitter

Earlier this month, the brunette beauties teased the first artwork for their new single on Instagram, which garnered criticism about their appearances.

The 31-year-old sisters are pictured naked, with their slender physiques covered entirely in unusual purple glitter and they acknowledged that they were striving for an extraterrestrial look.

'We were going for an otherworldly feel, you know a lot of people tell us we look like aliens anyway,' Jessica said.

United: Fame has always made them prone to criticism about their looks, however, the sisters have formed thick skin over the years

''I don't know if it's just because there's two of us and we have big eyes, and long necks.

Lisa added: 'It's an alternate universe. It's obviously not The Veronicas down at Woolies, it's very much set in another time and space and we brought that concept over to the music video.

'We've played on that a lot. This is a dimension where time does not exist, it is this other space and I think that otherworldly feel has always been there.'

Their fourth studio album is planned for release in November although there is no set date as yet.

New sound: The Veronicas are gearing up to drop their fourth studio album two years after their last one, although it does not have a release date yet
With a one-year-old and one on the way, Mila Kunis is still managing to find time for the finer things in life.

Seen visiting the hair salon on Tuesday, the actress was benefiting from a little pampering in Studio City, California.

The 32-year-old looked radiant with minimal make-up too, oozing a pregnancy glow with her baby bump just visible in a black summer top.

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Bumping along nicely: Mila Kunis looked radiant as she headed to the hair salon in Studio City, California on Tuesday

Mila was on her own for the day, for once absent from husband Ashton Kutcher and daughter 20-month-old daughter, Wyatt's side.

Out of mummy mode, the pretty brunette didn't even needed many belongings, and instead carried just her mobile phone.

She dressed for comfort in distressed denim jeans and a pair of flat sandals, even though her perfectly coiffed and glossy tresses made it look like she had somewhere to be.

Day out: The mum-of-one was taking some time out for herself during her pregnancy

Mila and Ashton confirmed their baby joy at the start of June with a source close to the couple telling E! News that the couple are thrilled.

'They are very excited about baby No. 2,' the insider said. 'They wanted their kids to be close in age and Wyatt will be just over two when the baby is born,' they said.

'Ashton and Mila both enjoy parenting and spending time with Wyatt more than anything else, so they are thrilled to be adding to the family.'

This time last year, the former That 70s Show actors were gearing up to get wed and they will therefore celebrate their first wedding anniversary next month.

Now, Mila faces a fresh challenge in pregnancy, which is to parent for a youngster while she is expecting.

And even though Mila has been able to rest less than before, it's been claimed that Ashton is being very hands-on with Wyatt.
She recently moved back to Australia.

And Teresa Palmer is enjoying exploring her homeland as she prepares for the birth of her second child.

On Wednesday, the Point Break star spent the day petting exotic animals with her family at Wild Life: Hamilton Island on the Whitsundays in Queensland.

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Family outing: On Wednesday, Teresa Palmer was pictured petting exotic animals with her family at Wild Life: Hamilton Island within the Whitsunday Islands in Queensland

In one photo shared on Instagram, the 30-year-old actress, who is 17-weeks pregnant, beamed alongside her two-year-old son, Bodhi Rain, who was captivated by a Koala.

'We met the very sweet one eyed Billy the Koala!

'Bodhi hasn't stopped talking about his new friend Billy with the "eye that's sleeping" @wildlifehamiltonisland Thanks to @hamiltonisland for such a wonderfully kid friendly adventure!' she captioned.

The blonde beauty sported a low-cut black dress which accentuated her baby bump, while wearing her silky tresses in a half-up do and styled in beachwaves.

Babymoon: The Point Break star, 30, is enjoying a holiday with her family in Hamilton Island before baby number two arrives

Bodhi is Teresa's first child with her actor-director husband, Mark Webber, who also has an eight-year-old son, Isaac Love, from a previous relationship.

The Los Angeles-based lifestyle blogger moved back to her native of Adelaide late last month and she is due to give birth to baby number two in November.

'It's cool, we get to be in Australia, meet the midwife, get our house in Australia all ready because that's where we will be birthing. So we'll be bringing our new son home to our house in Adelaide,' she said in a recent vlog post.

Bumping around: Teresa is 17 weeks pregnant with another boy and due to give birth in November

Teresa and Mark, 35, who have been married for two and a half years, have been enjoying a babymoon in Hamilton Island in recent days.

On Tuesday, she shared a revealing image of her burgeoning baby bump while tanning at the beach.

'Hey big baby! Chilling with the bump on the beautiful @hamiltonisland beach #17weeks #boymama,' she wrote.
Heston Blumenthal gushed over Elise Franciskovic's modern interpretation of a 17th century apple tart during Wednesday's episode of MasterChef Australia.

The world-famous chef declared that the fennel nougat and apple jelly tart that Elise presented during the historical challenge was 'fabulous'.

He told her: 'I think this is fabulous. It just tastes, it's delicious.'

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Impressed: Heston Blumenthal gushed over Elise Franciskovic's modern interpretation of a 17th century apple tart during Wednesday's episode of MasterChef Australia

Judge Gary Mehigan agreed, saying: 'I love the little apple surprise in the middle. It's like finding lots of jam in a doughnut, you know?'

Her dish was enough to save her from elimination and she was put through to the next round along with Harry Foster and Mimi Baines.

But Theresa Visintin failed to impress with her roulade of chicken with hazlenuts and she will now have to fight for her place in the competition during Thursday night's episode.

Big fan: The world-famous chef declared that the fennel nougat and apple jelly on a tart base that Elise Franciskovic presented during the historical challenge was 'fabulous'

Delicious: The dessert was a modern interpretation of a 17th century apple tart

The four contestants were put through their paces to create one course each of a four course feast using historical recipes as inspiration.

Theresa struggled to get her dish out on time after her chicken failed to cook and it showed in her presentation.

Judge Matt Preston said: 'Obviously it was rushed, and it does look like that on the plate, and in terms of just the balance of the number of raisins that you've got.'

Despite this, Heston said he enjoyed the raisins which garnished Theresa's dish.

He said: 'The raisins themselves, I thought were delicious. Little punches of juiciness that cut through. You've got the chicken breast, which is nicely cooked.'

Praise: After tasting Elise's dessert, Heston told her: 'I think this is fabulous. It just tastes, it's delicious'

Feast: The four contestants were put through their paces to create one course each of a four course feast for 10 guests plus the three judges and Heston

Elegant: Mimi impressed the judges with her roast salmon with peas and almonds

Mimi impressed the judges with her roast salmon with peas and almonds.

Earlier in the episode she has struggled to read her recipe because it was written in Ye Olde English.

During the tasting, Gary said: 'I reckon this has gone from Mimi disaster into a super success.

'Because I love the peas. I mean, when you read this recipe, the thing you pull out of it is peas, almonds and the syrup, particularly, and I think she's got all of those elements in there, and that sauce, that beurre blanc, is absolutely smashing.'

Heston agreed, adding: 'My piece of salmon is cooked beautifully.'

'I don't understand it': The contestants, including Mimi Baines (pictured), struggled to understand the Ye Olde English recipes

Difficult to understand: The recipes were all written in Ye Olde English which was difficult for the contestants to interpret

He had earlier told the four contestants that they should take their inspiration from the past and be 'creative'.

'Creativity is something that's been around for years,' he said.

'We think of it as something that's modern. And in fact, you can get fantastic inspiration from the past. And that's really what this challenge is about.'

Matt Preston added: 'If there's one thing that Heston loves almost as much as food, it's history.
They are used to deciphering complicated recipes in high-pressure situations.

But the MasterChef Australia contestants were left stumped when they had to interpret Ye Olde English recipes for Heston Blumenthal's historical challenge on Wednesday.

Mimi Baines appeared to struggle the most when she first started reading the instructions which she used as inspiration for her roasted salmon dish.

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'I don't understand it': The contestants, including Mimi Baines (pictured), struggled to understand the Ye Olde English recipes

Before opening the sealed envelope she seemed calm, saying: 'I'm thinking that because this is a historical challenge, it's gonna be a bit easier than the other Heston challenges.'

But this soon changed as soon as Mimi started reading the unfamiliar phrases.

'I'm feeling ok about it. And then I open my recipe. What? I'm in big trouble. It's in Ye Olde English,' she said.

Difficult to understand: The MasterChef Australia contestants were left stumped when they had to interpret Ye Olde English recipes for Heston Blumenthal's historical challenge on Wednesday

Confusing: Mimi Baines appeared to struggle the most when she first started reading a salmon recipe which was used as inspiration for her more modern twist

'It's like reading another language. I don't understand it. I just have no idea what this recipe is even saying.'

'I don't get it. There's just so many things going on in this recipe and I don't understand half of it.'

Gary Mehigan added: 'It looks like gibberish to us, doesn't it?'

Mimi received a helping hand from Heston who advised that it helps if you read the words out loud.

The experimental chef said: 'You always have to read the words out loud and hear them to understand what they were trying to say. 'Ginger cast in fair pot with saffron and salt 'and other fine accompanies as tak your fancy, missus!'

'Ok. What takes my fancy,' he added.

It all clicked in place for Mimi and she presented delicious roast salmon with a crispy skin.

Tricky: Theresa Visintin also struggled to understand her complicated recipe from the 15th century

Confident: Elise Franciskovic need not seem fazed by the recipes and took it in her stride

'Heston asks me to read the recipe out loud and just see what I can take from it. So I read it out and I start sketching out what I can understand - salmon, wine and onions.

'There's actually some really great flavours in this. And then all of a sudden I think I've got it.'

Theresa Visintin also struggled to understand her complicated recipe from the 15th century.

'I run straight to my bench, open up the recipe. Ah. Oh, Lord have mercy. I realise I can't read it. Oh. I can't even read proper English.

'I can sort of see a dish that can come together. I might just grab the chickens and start breaking it down.'

The four contestants were put through their paces to create one course each of a four course feast using historical recipes as inspiration.

Impressed: Heston Blumenthal gushed over Elise Franciskovic's modern interpretation of a 17th century apple tart during Wednesday's episode of MasterChef Australia

Big fan: The world-famous chef declared that the fennel nougat and apple jelly on a tart base that Elise Franciskovic presented during the historical challenge was 'fabulous'

Delicious: The dessert was a modern interpretation of a 17th century apple tart

Heston Blumenthal gushed over Elise Franciskovic's modern interpretation of a 17th century apple tart.

The world-famous chef declared that the fennel nougat and apple jelly tart that Elise presented during the historical challenge was 'fabulous'.

He told her: 'I think this is fabulous. It just tastes, it's delicious.'

Judge Gary Mehigan agreed, saying: 'I love the little apple surprise in the middle. It's like finding lots of jam in a doughnut, you know?'

Her dish was enough to save her from elimination and she was put through to the next round along with Harry Foster and Mimi Baines.

Feast: The four contestants were put through their paces to create one course each of a four course feast for 10 guests plus the three judges and Heston

Praise: After tasting Elise's dessert, Heston told her: 'I think this is fabulous. It just tastes, it's delicious'

Elegant: Mimi impressed the judges with her roast salmon with peas and almonds

But Theresa failed to impress with her roulade of chicken with hazlenuts and she will now have to fight for her place in the competition during Thursday night's episode.

Theresa struggled to get her dish out on time after her chicken failed to cook and it showed in her presentation.

Judge Matt Preston said: 'Obviously it was rushed, and it does look like that on the plate, and in terms of just the balance of the number of raisins that you've got.'

Despite this, Heston said he enjoyed the raisins which garnished Theresa's dish.

He said: 'The raisins themselves, I thought were delicious. Little punches of juiciness that cut through. You've got the chicken breast, which is nicely cooked.'

Heston had earlier told the four contestants that they should take their inspiration from the past and be 'creative'.

'Creativity is something that's been around for years,' he said.

'We think of it as something that's modern. And in fact, you can get fantastic inspiration from the past. And that's really what this challenge is about.'

Matt Preston added: 'If there's one thing that Heston loves almost as much as food, it's history.
She's been inseparable from Formula 1 star Jenson Button for the past few months.

And model Brittny Ward proved why the racing driver is so smitten when she posted a sizzling shot on Instagram on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old wowed in a tiny print bikini as she enjoyed the sun in Monte Carlo.

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What a beauty: Model Brittny Ward proved why F1 ace Jenson Button is so smitten when she posted a sizzling shot on Instagram on Tuesday

Brittny wears a gorgeous paisley-print two piece for the shot, with the skimpy cut emphasising her ample assets and toned and tanned curves.

She accessorises with a pair of mirrored shades, while keeping cool with a delicious fruity drink.

Flashing a wide smile, the model seems to be enjoying a break after following Jenson around the world for F1 season this year. The next stop for Jenson will be Austria this weekend.

Sizzling: Brittny wears a gorgeous paisley-print two piece for her summer selfies, with the skimpy cut emphasising her ample assets and toned and tanned curves

Model Brittny has hit fame for her relationship with the Formula 1 ace, who split from his wife Jessica Michibata in December 2015.

The couple made their red carpet debut at the beginning of the month, when they put in a joint appearance at the Hope & Homes End The Silence fundraiser at Abbey Road Studios in London.

She also accompanied him to Monaco this year for the Monaco Grand Prix, just one year after his ex-wife Jessica was on the sidelines supporting him.

Jenson and Jessica, who tied the knot in a lavish Hawaiian ceremony at the end of 2014, remained on good terms despite calling time on their relationship.

Quite the view: Brittny is also seen in a pair of tiny denim shorts as she checks out her view in Monte Carlo

A spokesperson for the former F1 World Champion told MailOnline in December: '(They) have decided to go their separate ways and it is very amicable. There is no one else involved.'

The driver and the 31-year-old fashion model first met in 2008 in a hotel bar in Tokyo and began dating eight months later.

Their relationship experienced ups and downs and they split for a short time in 2011 before the McLaren star proposed on Valentine's Day 2014, with a ring worth 250,000.
He has been travelling the globe promoting his latest film, Independence Day: Resurgence.

And on Wednesday Liam Hemsworth looked fresh-faced as he attended the movie's conference in Tokyo, Japan with co-stars Jeff Goldblum and Maika Monroe.

The 26-year-old Australian actor looked handsome at the press event as he rocked an unshaven face and spiky hair.

A day in the office: Liam Hemsworth (L)showed off a bushy beard on Wednesday as he attended the Independence Day: Resurgence's conference in Tokyo, Japan with Jeff Goldblum (M) and Maika Monroe (R)

While posing on the red carpet with his hands in his pockets, he dressed in a pair of black slim-cut slacks and a white round-collared T-shirt.

The younger brother to Thor actor Chris Hemsworth paired the items of clothing with a khaki buttoned shirt which he left open and a pair of tanned sneakers.

While posing for the flashing cameras, Liam displayed a slight smile as his glassy blue eyes looked towards the crowd.

Super trendy: The 26-year-old Australian actor looked handsome at the press event as he rocked an unshaven face and spiky hair

Dressing down: For the event he dressed in a pair of black slim-cut slacks and a white round-collared T-shirt

Layering up: The younger brother to Thor actor Chris paired the items of clothing with a khaki buttoned shirt

His colleague Maika showed off her toned torso at the event as she dressed in a pair of black flared pants and a long-sleeves crop top which had a scoop neckline.

Jeff cut a more casual look as he opted for white skinny jeans, a black and white striped T-shirt and a leather jacket.

The threesome's day at the press conference comes five days after Independence Day: Resurgence was released to terrible reviews with critics branding it a 'non-movie' and an embarrassment to the blockbuster genre.

Over the weekend, the numbers appeared to have aligned with critics as Deadline reported that the sequel to the 1996 classic was a box-office bomb.

He's got the look: While posing for the flashing cameras, Liam displayed a slight smile as his glassy blue eyes glared towards the crowd

Toned beauty: His colleague Maika (R) showed off her toned torso at the event as she dressed in a pair of black flared pants and a long-sleeves crop top which had a scoop neckline

Keeping it low key: Jeff (second from right) cut a more casual look as he opted for white skinny jeans, a black and white striped T-shirt and a leather jacket

The film, which cost $165 million to make, had been predicted to bring in only $43 million over the opening weekend.

Meanwhile, the disastrous FOX numbers come soon after critics and viewers tore the franchises newest film apart.

'Its a non-movie, an insult to the blockbuster genre, and should stand only as a perfect example of Hollywoods more glaring deficiencies as an industry,' The Atlantic's David Sims wrote.

Most viewers seemed the share the critics' disappointment last week, with only a few praising Liam Hemsworth's performance - but the actor, who plays pilot Jake Morrison, was rated as 'reliably bland' by The Atlantic.
She's in the Cypriot party town of Ayia Napa filming scenes for series 13 of Geordie Shore.

And Marnie Simpson, 24, and her fun-loving co-stars did what they do best and got 'mortal' at Igloo Bar and Club Ice, on Wednesday.

The raven-haired beauty showed off her beach body in a blue swimsuit emblazoned with LA in a large white font as she sipped her beverage through a straw in the winter-themed venue.

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Party girl! Marnie Simpson, 24, and her fun-loving Geordie Shore co-stars did what they do best as they got 'mortal' at Igloo Bar and Club Ice, Ayia Napa, on Wednesday

While her ensemble, which included a pair of black Nike flip flops, was decidedly casual, the beauty ensured her make-up was certainly glamorous.

The reality star's piercing blue peepers were decorated with lashings of mascara and plenty of dark eyeliner, while her famously plump lips were given a glossy finish.

She posed up a storm with a gal pal, showing off plenty of sideboob in the process as she smiled at the camera.

Happy! She posed up a storm with a gal pal, showing off plenty of sideboob in the process as she smiled at the camera

Plump pout: While her ensemble, which included a pair of black Nike flip flops, was decidedly casual, the beauty ensured her make-up was certainly glamorous

Gal pals: The raven-haired beauty showed off her beach body in a blue swimsuit emblazoned with LA in a large white font as she sipped her beverage through a straw in the winter-themed venue

Centre of attention: Marnie was flanked by pals as she sipped her beverage

Twinkle in her eye: The reality star's piercing blue peepers were decorated with lashings of mascara and plenty of dark eyeliner, while her famously plump lips were given a glossy finish

Leggy display: Marnie and her mate proudly displayed their slender pins

Close display: Heavily-inked Aaron Chalmers wore a longline white tee and skinny black jeans and held Marnie close on the dancefloor

Marnie's cousin Sophie Kasaei, 26, pulled off a series of racy poses in an all-black ensemble consisting of an off-the-should top and high-waisted shorts.

Biting her index finger, she bent over a table as she gazed into the camera in a seductive manner.

Holly Hagan looked to be having a blast on the dance floor as she performed her best moves without a care in the world.

Bite me! Marnie's cousin Sophie Kasaei, 26, pulled off a series of racy poses in an all-black ensemble consisting of an off-the-should top and high-waisted shorts

Making up for lost time: The reality star looked to be relishing her time back in the Geordie Shore fold

She's not shy: Sophie flaunted her sexy side on the white seating area

The boys also got in on the act with Gary Beadle, Aaron Chalmers, Marty McKenna and Nathan Henry all enjoying themselves.

Aaron and Gaz were all smiles as they posed with an arm around the other, both with their hair immaculately styled.

Heavily-inked Aaron wore a longline white tee and skinny black jeans and held Marnie close on the dancefloor.

Boys on tour: Aaron and Gary Beadle were all smiles as they posed with an arm around the other, both with their hair immaculately styled

Dance the night away: Holly Hagan looked to be having a blast on the dance floor as she performed her best moves without a care in the world

Having fun: Holly flashed a glimpse of her toned tum in some denim hotpants and a crop top

All smiles: The gang grouped together in the seating area which was surprisingly stocked with predominantly soft drinks

Marnie recently admitted that she had spent 2,000 on bikinis ahead of Season 13 filming, which was motivated by the accusation that Aaron had cheated on her.

Safe in the knowledge that they would need multiple poolside changes, she told The Daily Star On Sunday: 'I thought this series was going to be really happy for me and Aaron.

'As soon as I found out he had cheated I went straight online and spent two grand on tiny bikinis to show him what he's missing.'

And she's certainly been looking good on set so far, as the group have been busy shooting scenes in sun-drenched locations including Kavos and Corfu.

Work it! Marnie danced seductively in front of a gal pal who appeared more interested in the camera

Pucker up: Marnie nearly suffered a wardrobe malfunction as her swimsuit strap came off her shoulder

Playful: Marty McKenna wrapped his arms around Aaron's neck and stuck out his tongue
He recently filmed a documentary about the referendum, and ended up debating bananas with Boris Johnson.

But Joey Essex enjoyed some downtime in LA on Wednesday, as he was spotted meeting up with star of the Keeping Up With The Kardashians spin-off show Dash Dolls' Durrani Popal.

The 25-year-old British reality star looked thrilled to see the 26-year-old American beauty, giving her a warm embrace as he showed off his toned chest and abs underneath his open shirt.

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Abstastic! Joey Essex showed off the results of his gym sessions as he showcased his toned chest underneath his open shirt in LA on Wednesday

Sporting white shorts, black trainers and a striped shirt which he left undone, Joey showed off the results of his recent gym sessions.

The TOWIE star donned shades in the Californian sun, enjoying a break from the dull English weather.

Taking a brief phone call he soon spotted fellow reality star Durrani, who worked the casual chic look in frayed denim hot pants and a white bodysuit.

The unlikely duo hugged excitedly when they saw each other, clearly happy to be in each other's company.

Mingling: The 25-year-old British reality star looked thrilled to see the 26-year-old American beauty, giving her a warm embrace

Joey enjoyed some downtime in LA as he was spotted meeting up with star of the Keeping Up With The Kardashians spin-off show Dash Dolls' Durrani Popal

The Dash boutique employee wore flat sandals and a checked black and white shirt over her ensemble.

With her contouring perfectly on point and her raven hair blowdried to perfection, she looked every inch the Kardashian replica.

And the jewellery designer looked just as thrilled to bump into Joey in Santa Monica, introducing her adorable poodle to the Essex lad.

Meeting the pup: Joey obliged enthusiastically, stroking the fluffy pup's face as he enjoyed the encounter

Joey obliged enthusiastically, stroking the fluffy pup's face as he enjoyed the encounter.

According to Hollywood Life Durrani is of Middle Eastern descent and hails from San Francisco.

She describes herself as being shy, loving Disney and admits that Kim Kardashian is her style idol.

Dash Dolls is an American series that premiered on the E! cable network in September 2015, and follows the employees, referred to as Dash Dolls, working in the upscale boutique in Hollywood owned by the Kardashians.

A spokesperson for Joey said the pair met yesterday during filming for Joey's new show.
It seems Kylie Jenner and rapper Tyga are back on.

The 18-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashians star has been sharing Snapchats as they hang out, and the pair attended Kanye West's Famous music video debut together in Los Angeles on Friday.

But Kylie's famous family reportedly does not approve of her getting back together with the 26-year-old rapper, who is said to have moved into her new $6 million mansion amid money woes.

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What's really going on? The pair have been on and off for months now

'He's really not good for Kylie,' an insider told Us Weekly.

'The family doesn't want him around.'

Tyga is currently staying with Kylie in her $6 million Hidden Hills mansion, the magazine reports.

On Tuesday, the reality star posted three photos showing the couple goofing around in a photo booth, including one of her kissing Tyga on the cheek.

The snapshots were taken at her older sister Khloe Kardashian's 32nd birthday bash on Monday night, which was held at Dave & Buster's in Hollywood and attended by A-listers including Try Songz, Evan and Ashley Ross.

Hint hint: Kylie Snapchatted photos of the couple cuddling up at Khloe's party, and also shared a Snap of Tyga resting a hand on her leg as they show off their matching bling

Tyga and Kylie are taking it up a level as its reported he is moving in with the reality television star.

The 18-year-old invited the rapper to move into her new home,People said on Monday.

'He still has money problems,' says the source of Tyga quoted in the publication.

Of her family's reaction, the source added: 'They don't think it's permanent.'

Trying to tell us something? On Sunday Kylie seemed to have teased the pair had rekindled their relationship as she sported a tiger sweatshirt while out in Hollywood

Back on: Kylie and Tyga arrived together at her brother-in-law Kanye West's controversial Famous video debut at The Forum in Los Angeles on Friday

A second source told them: 'They don't know what will happen but they care about each other and weren't ready to walk away'.

Tyga, 26, has reported tax debts, and landlord chasing him for back payments in rent.

And on Sunday Kylie seemed to have teased the pair had rekindled their relationship as she sported a tiger sweatshirt while out in Hollywood.

Single no more: Kylie teased fans by sharing her shopping outing withTyga

Buying him something? The pair were seen in a car shop together

The loose-fitting sweatshirt, which featured multiple large photos of the big cat, covered up the star's taut figure, and she coupled it with a pair of leggings.

The couple also pretty much confirmed the status of their relationship through more Snapchats.

The pair went car shopping together and in one of the photos he cheekily rests his hand on her thigh.

Baby mama: Kylie shared several pictures from their outing together

Sweet ride: It looked as though Kylie was buying her man a new car

Not too shabby: The pair then took one of the cars for a test drive
When you're juggling a busy movie career and three children, it must be hard to find time to relax.

Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves didn't even find time to put down their breakfast mugs before going for a morning stroll with their kids on Wednesday.

The couple both had crockery in hand as they stepped out with sons Levi, seven, Livingstone, three, and six-year-old daughter Vida in New York City.

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What's sup? Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves didn't even find time to put down their breakfast mugs before going for a morning stroll with their three children on Wednesday

Ensuring they stayed caffeinated, the pair supped from non-takeout cups as they enjoyed some family time.

Camila looked effortlessly stylish in a flirty printed chiffon smock-dress.

She added some black leggings and classic black Valentino studded heels.

No time to stop? The couple both had crockery in hand as they strolled

Showcasing her natural beauty, the Brazilian stunner went make-up free and added a pair of cats-eye sunglasses.

Matthew also kept his shades on. He chose casual jeans and a T-shirt for the walk.

The Dallas Buyers Club actor also picked up a bag of shopping, perhaps some groceries for their breakfast.

Family time: They stepped out with sons Levi, seven, Livingstone, three, and six-year-old daughter Vida in New York City

On the go: Ensuring they stayed caffeinated, the pair supped from non-takeout cups as they enjoyed some family time while levi showed off his new trainers from People Footwear Phillips Kids in Skyline Grey

Elegant beauty: Camila looked effortlessly stylish, in a flirty printed chiffon smock-dress

Errands: The Dallas Buyers Club actor also picked up a bag of shopping, perhaps some groceries for their breakfast

The family has just returned from South Africa where Matthew, 46, was filming his latest movie, Stephen King's The Dark Tower, alongside Idris Elba.

The A-lister met his beautiful wife by chance in a nightclub in Los Angeles in 2006.

'We went on our first date three nights later, and I knew then,' the Dallas Buyers Club star told People recently.

'The next night after that, I wanted to go out on another date. I've been wanting to go on a date with her for the last nine years and not with anybody else.'

The couple were married on June 9, 2012, in Austin, Texas where they now live.




She's no stranger the latest trends and fashion flavours thanks to her stylish career as a model.

So it was little surprise to see Georgia May Jagger rocking an on-point yet dressed down look at the Thomas Sabo launch, at the China Club, Berlin, on Wednesday.

Arriving at the event the private members club, the 24-year-old billboard beauty ensured all eyes were on her thanks to her bright, floral bomber jacket.

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Billboard beauty: Georgia May Jagger rocking an on-point yet dressed down look at the Thomas Sabo launch, at the China Club, Berlin, on Wednesday

Embellished with green and purple bands, Georgia's jacket also had insect detailing stamped across sections, providing yet more detail to catch the eye.

She teamed the Gucci Pre-Fall 2016 jacket with a scoop-necked white vest, which provided a muted and complementary contrast to the bright aquamarine and rose garment.

Slipping her lithe legs into a pair of skintight dark denim jeans, the blonde bombshell subtly showcased her legs.

Blonde bombshell: Arriving at the event the private members club, the 24-year-old billboard beauty ensured all eyes were on her thanks to her bright, floral bomber jacket

Eye-catching fashion: Embellished with green and purple bands, Georgia's jacket also had insect detailing stamped across sections, providing yet more detail to catch the eye

And adding a nod to her rock 'n' roll heritage she wore a pair of green, black and red leather spiked high heels from the famous Italian design house.

Sir Mick and Jerry Hall's youngest daughter kept her accessories in keeping with the rest of her look, and only chose to wear a selection of bangles and a cluster of necklaces.

Wearing her long golden locks loose and in her customary hair long waving style, with a swept fringe.

High-fashion twist: She teamed the Gucci Pre-Fall 2016 jacket with a scoop-necked white vest, which provided a muted and complementary contrast to the bright aquamarine and rose garment

Rock chick chic: Adding a nod to her rock 'n' roll heritage she wore a pair of green, black and red leather spiked high heels from the famous Italian design house

Fashionble friend: Georgia - who fronted a campaign for the company in 2013 - looked to be having a blast, flashing a beaming smile as she mingled with guests

Opting for a minimal palette of make-up, Georgia allowed her striking features to shine through, adding a flash of matte pink lipstick to further plump up her lips.

Georgia - who fronted a campaign for the company in 2013 - looked to be having a blast, flashing a beaming smile as she mingled with guests.

Putting her posing prowess firmly on display, the model posed for a series of snaps with other guests in a photo booth - later uploading the films to her Instagram.
Jules Wainstein breaks down over her husband Michael in a sneak peek of Wednesday's Real Housewives of New York.

The 35-year-old and her estranged husband, 44, are currently in the middle of a nasty divorce, which has included allegations he cheated with her friend and that she physically attacked him in 2012.

In the emotional clip, Jules opens up to costar Dorinda Medley, 51, and reveals Michael wasn't there for her in hospital and admits she wishes he would 'step up to the plate' and take better care of her and their children.

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Emotional: Jules Wainstein tears up over husband Michael in a sneak peek of Wednesday's RHONY. The couple have since filed for divorce amid allegations of cheating and physical abuse

Jules tearfully tells a worried Dorinda she just wants her husband to be there for her when she needs him.

'Everything going on with my dad, my nanny disappears, I break my vagina and I'm thinking to myself 'this couldn't get worse,' Jules begins. The reality star was referring to a freak accident she had while climbing through a window.

'And I pull it together because I want to be a good friend, and I always have a happy face and make people feel good. And no one takes care of me,' she says.

Tearful: The 35-year-old says her husband wasn't there for her when she had to go to the emergency room

Concern: Costar Dorinda Medley said Michael's behavior was unacceptable, after Jules called him to say she needed to go to the hospital at 2pm and he didn't show up until five hours later

'When I got into my accident, I really hurt myself. I was calling Michael a hundred times, he wasn't picking up the phone,' Jules told Dorinda.

'My brother and his wife picked me up to go to the ER and it's 2 o'clock in the afternoon. He didn't show up until 8pm.'

'Well, that's not acceptable,' Dorinda says, dismissing Jules' explanation that Michael had been in The Hamptons. 'It doesn't matter,' she says.

Mom duty: The reality star said when she got home from hospital, she had to clean the house, cook dinner and bathe their kids because Michael 'doesn't know how'

Breaking point: Jules said she didn't feel like Michael was a partner

Jules continued: 'It just makes me feel like, Where are you? I just wanted someone to take care of me because Im still a mom, Im still taking care of my children the entire time.'

After she got home from hospital, the house was a mess and Michael still expected her to make them dinner and put the kids to bed, she said.

'I came home from the hospital, made dinner for the kids,' said Jules.

'I still was cleaning because the place was a mess because I havent been home in two days, cleaning up, organizing, packing lunches and Im just about to eat dinner.

'Michaels like, Dont you ever give the kids a bath? Because he doesnt know how.'

Trouble signs: 'I wish Michael would step up to the plate a little bit,' Jules admitted

Nasty divorce: Jules with estranged husband Micheal at a Sag Harbor event in 2013. Michael's lawyer claims Jules attacked her husband - who he called 'diminutive but brave' in 2012, but she denies that

Jules then admits in the confessional: 'I wish Michael would step up to the plate a little bit.

'I wish he was around a little bit more because when sh*t goes down, you don't get to crawl into your bed for three days like I used to when I was in my twenties.'

'It'd be nice if I had a partner,' she says.

The couple confirmed this month they are divorcing after eight years of marriage, and things quickly turned nasty. They have two children: daughter Rio, 3, and son Jagger, 5.

Tough time: Jules stepped out as she took her dog for a stroll around New York City on Wednesday; she carried her pooch in a LazyBonezz pet carrier

Summery look: The reality star looked relaxed in a tropical, strapless maxi dress

Taxi! The Hong Kong-born beauty pulled her dark hair back in a bun as she headed out on Wednesday

Jules reportedly caught her husband cheating with one of her friends, while Michael's attorney says the reality star attacked her husband in 2012, calling his client 'diminutive but brave.'

Jules' rep denied the abuse allegations to DailyMail.com, saying 'the truth will prevail.'

To make matters worse, the reality star will reportedly not be asked back to the next season of RHONY, although Bravo says they have not 'made any decisions about another season or about casting.'

The Hong Kong-born beauty also reportedly been slapped with a $25,000 lien on unpaid condo fees for a Manhattan penthouse.

On Wednesday the star looked to be in good spirits as she wore a strapless dress. She was toting her pooch in a LazyBonezz pet carrier.

Nasty split: Jules and her estranged husband Michael are divorcing after eight years of marriage
Twitter trolls have been after her for her figure.

But on Wednesday, Chloe Grace Moretz was joined by her biggest fan, boyfriend Brooklyn Beckham, as she posed for a fashion shoot in a New York City park.

The 19-year-old actress and her 17-year-old model beau cuddled and held hands during a break in the shoot in a park, which saw her being snapped by legendary fashion photographer Bruce Weber.

PDA: Actress Chloe Grace Moretz held hands with boyfriend Brooklyn Beckham as he joined her on the set of a fashion shoot in New York City on Wednesday

Sweet moment: The young couple cuddled up during a break in filming

Cute couple: Brooklyn held hands with Chloe during the photoshoot, snapped by Bruce Weber, in the Big Apple

The pair had recently been reunited after the son of David and Victoria Beckham flew in from London.

And they looked thrilled to be back together, strolling along hand in hand and cuddling up on the set, hugging and walking hand in hand.

Chloe donned a number of quirky looks, including a denim jacket cinched in at the waist with a thick black belt.

Affectionate: The 19-year-old If I Stay star looked thrilled to have her 17-year-old boyfriend by her side

Stylish: Chloe modelled a number of looks, including an olive military jacket over a yellow sweater

Doing his thing: Keen photographer Brooklyn took the chance to take some snaps of his own

Getting involved: The star was no doubt taking snaps of his gorgeous girlfriend

So, so cute: The couple literally couldn't help themselves as they packed on the PDA

Puppy love: Whenever Chloe had a moment away from the camera, she was in Brooklyn's arms

Happy: The couple recently reunited after a couple of weeks apart

The young pair, who confirmed they were dating in May, appeared attached at the hip.

The 5th Wave actress recently told Elle.com that Brooklyn boosted her confidence.

'I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't need a man for anything, but when I'm feeling bad about myself, he's like, "Stop. Look at what you say in interviews. Look at what you stand for. Listen to your own words, because you're as beautiful as you say you are,' she said.

Brooklyn is also no stranger to photo shoots, landing high profile gigs including a Burberry campaign.

Biggest fan: Chloe wrapped her arms around the 17-year-old as they cosied up

His muse: Brooklyn also took some photos of his own as Chloe chatted with a crew member

Strike a pose: Chloe modelled an oversized coat and chunky boots during the shoot

Stylish: The If I Stay star wore a long yellow cardigan and skirt over a plaid button-up

So much sass: Chloe really turned on the charm as she worked her way through the shoot

Also with the 19-year-old actress was a dog that for some reason was wearing red goggles.

The Neighbors 2 actress wore an army green colored plaid wool jacket and a black belt, which she paired with argyle-patterned tights that were shades of grey and orange.

Her black, untied combat boots complemented the look.

The If I Stay actress looked glam in styled hair as her blonde locks were down by her face and loosely curled.

Puppy loving! Chloe Moretz beamed brightly in her latest photo shoot in NYC on Wednesday where she posed with a dog in red goggles

Aye Aye Captain! The 19-year-old actress sat perched on a piano that was decorated with multiple dog photos and a quote that read, 'The bark of a dog is music to our ears'

She sat perched on a blue piano in the middle of the grass as the instrument was fully decorated with multiple pictures of different dogs and a quote saying, 'The bark of a dog is music to our ears.'

The young beauty switched on and off in pictures wearing a bright white sailor cap propped on top of her head.

Quirky style: Chloe later donned a denim coat with sheer lace collar

Rugged up: The actress added argyle tights and unlaced black boots

What's going on? At one point, Chloe was seen down on the grass for a snap

Feeling blue: Chloe looked comfy in blue pyjamas and black boots

In demand: The teen talent is in demand as an actress and model

While in others, she held a golden-brown puppy on her lap, who sported a pink collar and bright orange goggles, while the puppy's hair blew in the wind.

The American model had a fresh and natural make-up look with a bronzer, golden eyes, and a pink-nude lip.

Cute couple: The golden-brown dog complimented the blonde actress well

Beaming blonde: The Neighbors 2 star donned an army green, plaid wool jacket and a white sailor cap propped on her head

Covered up! Chloe paired her jacket with argyle-printed leggings that were grey and orange and sported a pair of black combat boots

The puppy certainly brought out the sparkle in Chloe's smile.

Chloe may also be smiling because her boyfriend has joined her in NYC.

Brooklyn Beckham flew from London to be by her side after the couple confirmed their long distance relationship in May.

All dolled up! Chloe walked out of her trailer in fresh make-up, accentuating her natural beauty, and loosely curled hair

Smitten teen: The If I Stay actress recently reunited with her boyfriend, Brooklyn Beckham, who returned to the USA from London

Young love: The son of Victoria and David Beckham recently confirmed his long-distance relationship with the actress in May

Chloe is certainly an advocate for speaking out as her latest tweets on Tuesday called out her Twitter trolls who hit her with harsh criticism.

The Kick-Ass actress tweeted, 'When will people hiding behind computer screens get tired of calling someone "fat" or "masculine."

She added: 'Sit back before you fire away commenting ignorant things and imagine the real HUMAN BEING you are commenting about.'

She concluded saying, 'That's all - have a nice taco Tuesday guys.'

Standing up for herself: Chloe has been an advocate for speaking out when it's right. She recently called out her Twitter trolls on Tuesday who body shamed the young actress

Working girl: The busy bee recently had the hit film, Neighbors 2, release in theaters and now her next production of The Little Mermaid begins filming

American girl doll: The young actress/model started her career at the mere age of seven, where her work has been seen in Vogue, Marie Claire, and Elle

A natural: The award-nominated actress is a triple threat, talented in acting, modeling, and singing
In Ray Donovan he plays one of TV's most complex and ruthless characters.

But in real life Liev Schreiber sounds like a die-hard romantic as he opened up about his relationship with partner of 10 years Naomi Watts in the August issue of Esquire.

The 48-year old actor is in the midst of promoting the fourth season of his hit show, which premiered on Showtime on Sunday.

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That's amore: Liev Schreiber talked about his relationship with partner of 10 years Naomi Watts in the August issue of Esquire

His closeup: The star landed on the cover of the magazine wearing a grey sweater and stubble

The Tony-winning actor talked about that very special night where he was at the 2005 Met Gala in New York and felt out of place.

But then Naomi showed up and, he said, 'she was a ray of light.'



Liev confessed that it was Naomi who made the first move.

'She said, "What are you doing later onyou want to go dancing?" and I was like, "Yeah." So I went down to this club that she told me to meet her at, and of course she was there with Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro, and I'm kind of standing around like a bump on a log, waiting for my turn.'

The Spotlight star felt 'nervous' and 'very embarrassed being there, and self-conscious, because all these movie stars were hovering.'

Love at first sight: The Tony-winning actor talked about that very special night at the 2005 Met Gala in NYC when Naomi showed up and 'she was a ray of light'

The Yale School Of Drama graduate thought he wasn't going to 'make a good impression' so he told her, 'I'm sorry, but I gotta go home.'

But she would not take his rejection. 'She chased me outside and said, "Don't you want my digits?"'

Later Naomi would tell him it was the first thing that came to her.

His first date with 'Nai' - his nickname for Naomi - was outside Magnolia Bakery in the West Village in New York, where the two chitchatted over cupcakes on a park bench.

The cupcakes worked their magic, as he admitted: 'It was very silly, very romantic. And we had a kiss, not a big kiss, but it was a kiss that was like, ooh. Then she went back to LA. and I wrote her all the time. Lots of emails. I think that was itseduced by email.'

Cupcake magic: His first date with 'Nai'his nickname for Naomiwas outside Magnolia Bakery in the West Village in New York, where the two chitchatted over cupcakes on a park bench. The actor is pictured here with his 13-year-old Yorkie, Bob

By then Liev was smitten: 'I decided I was going to make a family with this person. For better or for worse, I stepped into a partnership with somebody. We were gonna bring kids into this world and try to love and respect each other.'

The two have been together ever since and started a family with two blue-eyed sons, Alexander, aged seven, and Samuel 'Kai,' aged six.

The home-base for the family and their 13-year-old Yorkie, Bob, is in N.Y.C.s NoHo. However, while Liev is filming Ray Donovan they live in Santa Monica, California.

Insta Love: Liev and Naomi often share their family happiness on their respective social media sites
She's just got back from a romantic getaway with her beau, Nikolai Von Bismarck.

But Kate Moss joined her best pal Stella McCartney for the world premiere of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, on Wednesday.

The fashionista looked effortlessly glamorous for their girls' night out, wearing a plunging green blouse for the occasion as they held hands and giggled on their night out.

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Gal pals! Kate Moss joined Stella McCartney for the world premiere of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, on Wednesday wearing a plunging green blouse - the pair star in the hotly-anticipated film

Kate, 42, rocked an androgynous figure for the event as she poured her model frame into a black trouser suit.

However, the high-waisted detailing and wide leg finish of the trousers emphasised Kate's petite curves and endless legs.

And she continued to show off her fashion credentials as she added an eye-popping burst of colour with a plunging emerald green shirt.

Close: The fashionista looked effortlessly glamorous for their girls' night out, as they held hands and shared a giggle on the red carpet

Playing it cool: Kate, 42, rocked an androgynous figure for the event as she poured her model frame into a black trouser suit

Suits you: The high-waisted detailing and wide leg finish of the trousers emphasised Kate's petite curves and endless legs

Kate teased just a hint of cleavage in the low-cut blouse as she accessorised with a thin beaded scarf that fell elegantly down her decolletage.

And she added even more glitz to her look with some gold hoop earrings and a studded clutch bag.

The blonde beauty styled her golden tresses into a sleek and straight style, leaving just a few natural waves to frame her face.

Making us green with envy: kate continued to show off her model credentials as she added an eye-popping burst of colour with a plunging emerald green shirt

Stylish: Kate teased just a hint of cleavage in the low-cut blouse as she accessorised with a thin beaded scarf that fell elegantly down her decolletage

Golden (haried) girl: The blonde beauty styled her golden tresses into a sleek and straight style, leaving just a few natural waves to frame her face

Glamorous: Stella looked fabulous as she posed alongside Jennifer in the movie

Showstopper: Kate undoubtedly stole the show in her glamorous ensemble and dramatic scenes

Making the most of her holiday glow, the model also opted for bronze tones in the makeup department as she sported a perfectly blended metallic smokey eye and dusky taupe lip.

Meanwhile, Stella opted for a much more feminine style in a knee-length shift dress.

The 44-year-old fashion designer looked ladylike in the dress, which was emblazoned with shiny blue flowers.

Stunning: Making the most of her holiday glow, the model also opted for bronze tones in the makeup department as she sported a perfectly blended metallic smokey eye and dusky taupe lip

Sophisticated: Stella opted for a much more feminine style in a knee-length shift dress

Flirty and floral: The 44-year-old fashion designer looked ladylike in the dress, which was emblazoned with shiny blue flowers

And she carefully coordinated her ensemble with towering black stilettos and a tiny clutch bag.

Accesorising to the max, Stella wore gold rings on every single finger as she linked fingers with her best friend.

Over the weekend, Kate and her boyfriend Count Nikolai Von Bismarck, 29, were seen lapping up all of what Venice had to offer - and although he also attended the premiere, he kept a low profile.

Mix and match: Stella carefully coordinated her ensemble with towering black stilettos and a tiny clutch bag

Time to shine! The girls showed off their close friendship as they held hands on the glittering gold carpet

Crowd pleasers: Fans were all keen to catch a glimpse of the glamorous pair as they headed into the cinema

Kate and Nikolai are believed to have started dating last autumn, when the edgy photographer was pictured leaving her North London home one weekend.

Described as a seriously accomplished social butterfly by pals, Nikolai has known the international model since his teens because of her friendship with his mother, Countess Debonnaire von Bismarck.

He has also had quite the unconventional work history since at the age of 16 he jetted off to New York for work experience with world-renowned photographer Mario Testino, who had previously snapped his mother.

She's a gem! Stella wore gold rings on every single finger as she linked fingers with her best friend

In it together: Stella linked arms with Kate as they posed for a series of glamorous photos

Next he went to Paris to study at the Parsons art school before heading back to the US, where he assisted the legendary Annie Liebovitz. Also working for her at the time was the Duchess of Cambridge.

Nikolai has been the perfect remedy for Kate who split from The Kills guitarist Jamie Hince, to whom she was married for four years, last July.

The first big screen adaptation of the hit TV comedy features Eddy and Patsy fleeing to the French Riviera after being caught in a media storm.

They're absolutely fabulous! Kate couldn't keep the smile off her face as she prepared to watch the comedy

Double trouble! Kate and Stella have been good friends for many years

Having a whale of a time: Stella covered her face with her clutch bag as she stifled a giggle

Also starring in the movie are Julia Sawalha (Saffy), Jane Horrocks (Bubble), June Whitfield (Mother), Rebel Wilson, Kate Moss, Celia Imrie, Lulu, Jean Paul Gaultier, Cara Delevingne and Emma Bunton, among others.

In scenes filmed on location by London's River Thames last November, it looks like supermodel Kate - playing herself - will be killed off.

Wearing a floor-length sequinned number, a chain-smoking and champagne swilling Kate was seen filming scenes wading through the murky waters of the Thames.

Part of the gang! The women posed with stars of the show, Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley

Standing tall! All the women opted for incredibly tall heels for the red carpet event

Up close and personal: The three beautiful blondes looked to be on great terms

Strike a pose! The troublesome trio put on sassy poses as the smoldered in front of the camera

Leading lady: Kate added a new string to her bow as she had a starring role in the plot of the new film

Playing it cool: Jennifer Saunders kept a fan in her hand as things heated up

Fashionable extras were also spotted creating a shrine to the model by Tower Bridge, suggesting Kate has died.

Jennifer revealed that a movie version of the sitcom - which originally ran on the BBC from 1992 - 2012 - was on the cards early last year.

She said the decision was spurred on by co-star Joanna, who told her they had to 'do it before we die'.

Joanna has said of getting back together to shoot the film: 'All the old cast are in it, there are plenty of surprises. It's a fantastic story. It's very funny. It's divine, glamorous, ridiculous and fabulous.'

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is due for release in UK cinemas on 1 July and US cinemas on 22 July.

Girl gang! The women messed around in various playful stances as they posed for photos

Taking centre stage: Kate draped her arms around Jennifer and Joanna as she stood in between the comedy duo

Concentration: Joanna Lumley struck a quizzical pose as she rested a perfectly manicured finger on her chin
They tied the knot in a lavish ceremony in March.

And Jerry Hall, 59, and Rupert Murdoch, 85, looked as loved-up as ever as they stepped onto the red carpet for the Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie premiere, on Wednesday.

The newlyweds couldn't keep their eyes off each other as they held hands and whispered sweet nothings to each other, before heading in to watch the film.

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Happy couple! Jerry Hall, 59, and Rupert Murdoch, 85, looked as loved-up as ever as they stepped onto the red carpet for the Absolutely Fabulous:The Movie premiere, on Wednesday

Jerry oozed glamour as she poured her shapely curves into a gold midi dress, which drew attention to her youthful decolletage with a ladylike draped-neckline.

And she covered-up from the tumultuous June weather as she slipped on a luxurious white fur jacket that matched perfectly with the subtle leopard print pattern of her dress.

The former model couldn't resist adding even more sparkle to her eye-catching look as she wore a large diamond necklace and matching earrings.

Darlings! The newlyweds couldn't keep their eyes off each other as they held hands and whispered sweet nothings to each other, before heading in to watch the film

But she decided to keep things comfortable in the footwear department, as she opted for a pair of flat ballet pumps that complemented her style with metallic buckle detailing.

Jerry looked a vision of beauty as she accentuated her fresh features with a dusting of pink blusher and matching rose lipstick.

And she styled her auburn hair into loose Hollywood waves that cascaded down past her shoulders.

Elegant: Jerry oozed glamour as she poured her shapely curves into a gold midi dress, which drew attention to her youthful decolletage with a ladylike draped-neckline

Heartwarming: Jerry covered-up from the tumultuous June weather as she slipped on a luxurious white fur jacket that matched perfectly with the pattern of her dress

All that glitters: The former model couldn't resist adding even more sparkle to her eye-catching look as she wore a large diamond necklace and matching earrings.

Meanwhile, Rupert looked typically dapper in a smart pin-striped suit.

The media mogul rounded off his look with a crisp white shirt and blue checked tie.

The first big screen adaptation of the hit TV comedy features Eddy and Patsy fleeing to the French Riviera after being caught in a media storm.

Also starring in the movie are Julia Sawalha (Saffy), Jane Horrocks (Bubble), June Whitfield (Mother), Rebel Wilson, Kate Moss, Celia Imrie, Lulu, Jean Paul Gaultier, Cara Delevingne and Emma Bunton, among others.

Stunning: Jerry looked a vision of beauty as she accentuated her fresh features with a dusting of pink blusher and matching rose lipstick

Standing tall: Jerry kept things comfortable in the footwear department, as she opted for a pair of flat ballet pumps that complemented her style with metallic buckle detailing

Sophisticated: Rupert looked typically dapper in a smart navy pin-striped suit, which he wore with a pair of perfectly polished shoes

What a pair: The loved-up duo looked overjoyed as they partied up a storm after the red carpet

In scenes filmed on location by London's River Thames last November, it looks like supermodel Kate - playing herself - will be killed off.

Wearing a floor-length sequinned number, a chain-smoking and champagne swilling Kate was seen filming scenes wading through the murky waters of the Thames.

Fashionable extras were also spotted creating a shrine to the model by Tower Bridge, suggesting Kate has died.

Playing it smart: The media mogul rounded off his look with a crisp white shirt and blue checked tie

Absolutely hilarious: The couple got in the mood for a giggle before watching the comedy

Jennifer revealed that a movie version of the sitcom - which originally ran on the BBC from 1992 - 2012 - was on the cards early last year.

She said the decision was spurred on by co-star Joanna, who told her they had to 'do it before we die'.

Joanna has said of getting back together to shoot the film: 'All the old cast are in it, there are plenty of surprises. It's a fantastic story. It's very funny. It's divine, glamorous, ridiculous and fabulous.'

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is due for release in UK cinemas on 1 July and US cinemas on 22 July.

Perfect pair: It seems like the honeymoon period is still well and truly underway for Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch
He's not exactly known for his happy-go-lucky personality and joie de vivre.

But even Christian Bale had to smile at the Happiest Place on Earth - as he treated his family to a day out at Disneyland on Tuesday.

The 42-year-old and his wife Sibi, 46, spent the day on the rides with their children Emmaline, 11 and two-year-old Joseph in Anaheim, California.

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He can do it! Christian Bale had to smile at the Happiest Place on Earth - as he treated his family to a day out at Disneyland on Tuesday

Sporting a moustache and beard, the Dark Knight star snapped pictures and shared a seat with Joseph on the Alice in Wonderland ride.

The Big Short actor kept it very casual in Adidas sportswear, combats and bold red Sketchers.

Sibi looked relaxed and happy, with her chestnut tresses in a centre parting and dark glasses covering her eyes.

Family man: The 42-year-old and his wife Sibi, 46, spent the day on the rides with their children Emmaline, 11 and two-year-old Joseph in Anaheim, California

He was described by Empire magazine as not being the 'funniest or lightest guy around' when he came 20th on their chart of the sexiest male movie stars earlier this year.

The Welsh-born actor has recently finished shooting historical drama The Promise.

The movie is written by Terry George and is a love story set in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.

Bale plays an American journalist in the film, which is yet to set a release date.

Off-duty: The Big Short actor kept it very casual in Adidas sportswear, combats and bold red Sketchers

Cheeky: Sporting a moustache and beard, the star appeared to be in trouble alongside young son Joseph

In a recent interview with Contact Music, the star opened up about his time filming Terrence Malik's experimental 2015 film Knight of Cups.

He said: 'You might do something where you'd normally think, "Wow, man, I did a really good scene," then you'd look up and the camera's looking over that way instead.

'You learn, right, just do it for yourself and then if he does decide to turn the camera around, don't try to repeat what you did. Alright, so it might not be as great, or dramatic, or memorable but, just keep it truthful.' That was all that he ever looked for.'

The movie follows Christian's Hollywood screenwriter character as he prances around a Los Angeles beach in an Armani suit, attends star-studded parties and get chased around hotel rooms by scantily clad models while despairing at the futility of it all.

The BBC's Nicholas Barber described it as a 'ludicrous self-parody - somewhere between a Calvin Klein aftershave advertisement and a coffee-table book about the modernist mansions of the rich and famous.'
She's recently unveiled her new blonde hairdo.

And Myleene Klass was brimming with confidence as she conquered the red carpet at the Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie premiere on Wednesday evening, rocking a cool tuxedo inspired look.

The 38-year-old presenter mingled with a host of celebrities including leading ladies Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley at the star-studded gathering in London's Leicester Square, and was later joined by her new boyfriend Simon Motson after her red carpet stint.

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Working it: Myleene Klass was the picture of cool in a black jumpsuit as she attended the Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie premiere in London's Leicester Square on Wednesday evening

Myleene was dressed to impress in her stylish jumpsuit, featuring silk lapels and flared trouser legs.

The newly-blonde beauty posed like a pro against the glittering gold backdrop, working her angles with one hand on her hips.

She completed her outfit with sombre accessories including a black clutch bag and skyscraper heels.

Myleene ensured her new, lighter hairdo was the focal point of her look, teasing her shoulder-length bob into loose waves.

New love: After wowing on the red carpet, Myleene was joined by her new boyfriend Simon Motson, the two gazing at each other adoringly

After wowing on the red carpet, Myleene was seen walking away hand-in-hand with her new boyfriend Simon, 41, who looked adoringly into his girlfriend's eyes as they strode into the cinema.

The couple were pictured together for the first time two weeks ago as they left the Theatre Royal in London hand-in-hand.

But it's been reported Myleene made Simon wait nearly six months before agreeing to be seen with him in public.

The Sunday Mirror reports that Simon, a dad of two, was going through a divorce from his actress wife of seven years Anna Walton when he met Myleene last autumn.

Glamorous: The presenter was dressed to impress in her stylish jumpsuit, featuring silk lapels and flared trouser legs

'Myleene has always been a very moral woman,' a source has claimed. 'She was quite open with Simon after they first met, telling him they could not date publicly until his marriage to Anna was officially over.

'It was good because it helped the pair of them to really get to know one another slowly without being thrust into the public eye.'

According to a report earlier this month in the Sunday Mirror, Myleene told friends of her new relationship: 'I have never, hand on my heart, been happier.'

'Its new. Im not gonna put any conditions on it  Im literally gonna roll with the punches because Ive learned you cant plan anything.

Makeover: Myleene recently unveiled her new blonde bob and was showcasing her new tresses with soft waves framing her face

Meanwhile, the striking star looked like she couldn't wait to get a sneak preview of the long-awaited big screen adaptation of the popular sitcom.

The first film of the hit TV comedy features Eddy and Patsy fleeing to the French Riviera after being caught in a media storm.

Also starring in the movie are Julia Sawalha (Saffy), Jane Horrocks (Bubble), June Whitfield (Mother), Rebel Wilson, Kate Moss, Celia Imrie, Lulu, Jean Paul Gaultier, Cara Delevingne and Emma Bunton, among others.

World premiere: The striking star looked like she couldn't wait to get a sneak preview of the long-awaited big screen adaptation of the popular sitcom

Posing up a storm: Myleene was working her magic on the red carpet as she mingled with a host of stars

In scenes filmed on location by London's River Thames last November, it looks like supermodel Kate - playing herself - will be killed off.

Wearing a floor-length sequinned number, a chain-smoking and champagne swilling Kate was seen filming scenes wading through the murky waters of the Thames.

Fashionable extras were also spotted creating a shrine to the model by Tower Bridge, suggesting Kate has died.

Simple touches: The mother-of-two completed her ensemble with a black clutch and platform heels

Must see film: Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is due for release in UK cinemas on 1 July and US cinemas on 22 July

Jennifer revealed that a movie version of the sitcom - which originally ran on the BBC from 1992 - 2012 - was on the cards early last year.

She said the decision was spurred on by co-star Joanna, who told her they had to 'do it before we die'.

Joanna has said of getting back together to shoot the film: 'All the old cast are in it, there are plenty of surprises. It's a fantastic story. It's very funny. It's divine, glamorous, ridiculous and fabulous.'

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is due for release in UK cinemas on 1 July and US cinemas on 22 July.

Fabulous all the way to the afterparty: Myleene headed to Liberty's department store for the afterparty

Party time: She wore a wide smile as she joined stars at the post-cinema event

Party theme: The TV personality enjoyed the party's bold and beautiful theme

Poser: She enjoyed pulling her absolutely fabulous poses inside the venue
She's been hitting up the promotional trail in Canada and looking spectacular along the way.

Jessica Alba carried on with the stylish trend while arriving to the Breakfast Television studios in Toronto on Wednesday to talk about her cosmetics brand.

The 35-year-old actress and entrepreneur was dressed in a long and form-fitting red and blue skirt with white top and black leather jacket.

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Dazzling: Jessica Alba attracted gazes in a clingy multicolored skirt with matching heels and leather jacket as she arrived to the Breakfast Studios in Toronto, Canada to chat about her new cosmetics line on Wednesday

As is her custom, The Honest Company added a pair of blue pumps that matched the cobalt hue in her skirt perfectly.

Jessica kept her accessories to a minimum, preferring a simple pair of hoop earrings.

She clutched a black shoulder bag with chainlink strap close to her side while heading to her on-camera interview.

Accessories: The 35-year-old actress and entrepreneur kept her accessories to a minimum and chose hoop earrings and a black bag with chainlink strap

Energizing: Jessica fueled up with a cup of coffee as she stepped inside the studio in those electric blue pumps

Jessica fueled up with a cup of coffee, but still managed to look awake and impeccably made up with pink cheeks and brown-shadowed eyes.

The star's new line of cosmetics include 'honest' foundation available in several shades, concealer, brow filler, eye shadow, eye liner, mascara, powder, blush and more.

'From day one, our customers have been telling us that they want us to make beauty products,' Jessica told Allure.

Perfect in every way: The Honest Company founder wore a rich blend of eye shadows, rouge and lip gloss from her own 'honest' range of make-up and skin care one would think

As busy as she is with her business, Jessica's acting career is going at full steam too.

Jessica has three movie projects lined up, two of which are slated to premiere this year.

She will appear in the feature film The Mechanic: Resurrection, opposite action star Jason Statham.

The action thriller, a sequel to Statham's 2011 The Mechanic, is set to be released on August 26.

The mother-of-two will also star alongside Josh Lucas and Luke Wilson in Dear Eleanor, which will bow in US theatres on July 5.
They spent the weekend enjoying a romantic rendezvous in the stunning Italian city of Venice.

But on Wednesday, it was back to reality for Kate Moss, 42, and her boyfriend Nikolai von Bismarck, 29, as they were spotted going on a shopping spree together in an unseasonably grey London.

Visibly refreshed from her sun-kissed getaway, Kate appeared to be in jovial spirits as she checked out a selection of vintage boutiques in the smart Notting Hill district.

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Spree: Kate Moss and her boyfriend Nikolai von Bismarck were seen shopping in London on Wednesday

The supermodel looked as stylish as would be expected, stepping out in a grey vest top under a black jacket featuring bold stitching and an array of large silver buttons.

Showing off her svelte legs in dark skinny jeans, the runway veteran wrapped a printed scarf around her neck, while opting to round out her ensemble with a pair of black flat boots.

With a stylish pair of sunglasses neatly framing her famous face, the star further enhanced her look with chandelier earrings, while she clutched a black leather handbag.

Refreshed: The couple appeared to be refreshed and in jovial spirits after their recent getaway to Venice

Stylish: Kate stepped out in an embellished black jacket, which she teamed with dark blue skinny jeans

All in the details: A patterned scarf and a pair of black cowboy boots rounded out her casual ensemble

And it would appear that Kate was so taken with one of her purchases, that she chose to wear it immediately, as she was later seem donning a patterned shirt with navy blue detailing.

Nikolai also opted for a casually cool look, donning a full-length navy coat over a black top and dark patterned trousers, while a pair of blue suede shoes completed his look.

As the sunshine peeped in and out of visibility on the largely rainy day, the photographer chose to join his girlfriend in donning a pair of fashionable shades for the leisurely excursion.

Protecting the eyes: Despite the sunshine barely coming out on the day, Kate still opted to wear sunglasses

Linked: They have been romantically linked since last autumn, but have known each other for several years

Casual: For his part, Nikolai opted to wear a full-length navy coat over a black top with patterned trousers

Their shopping trip came hours before Kate was one of an exhaustive list of celebrities who made their way to Leicester Square's Odeon for the world premiere of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.

In the highly anticipated film, which sees Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley reprise their roles from the cult BBC series, Kate is seen being accidentally killed after falling off a yacht.

Talking about Kate's fall into London's River Thames, Joanna, 70, and Jennifer, 57, explained the opportunity to soak the usually pristine and immaculate model was a 'joyous' occasion.

Perfect find! The supermodel smiled broadly as she swapped her jacket for a patterned top she'd purchased

Miles of smiles: The mother-of-one was in a great mood as she strolled past a growing number of onlookers

Assistance required: She was soon seen getting help to carry out her bundle of shopping bags after her spree

Rain, rain, go away: The Croydon-born beauty shielded herself from the rain as she boarded a waiting vehicle

But, far from being difficult and asking for a stunt double, the Croydon-born fashion icon was on-board when it came to embracing the slapstick humour that runs throughout Ab Fab.

Casting her mind back to the winter shoot on the Thames, Jennifer explained how the Vogue cover star got into the action, saying: 'It was just purely funny [filming the scene]. She was such good fun!

'She was a good sport... and well I don't know what I really expected, but I thought she might ask someone else to do that bit, but she was such a good sport about it all!'

Screen queen: Kate plays herself in the highly anticipated movie adaptation of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

Mishap: In the comedy, Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley's characters accidentally push her off a boat

Daredevil: Joanna recently revealed that Kate performed her own stunts for getting pushed into the Thames

In good company: Kate appears in the Ab Fab movie alongside an extensive list of celebrities and models
Everyone can take a deep breath, this Modern Family was not born perfect - she works at it.

Sofia Vergara has shared how she keeps in tip top shape and she plans to stay in shape despite the summer BBQs coming up.

On Tuesday night, the 43-year-old joined SnapChat and immediately posted a video of herself pumping some iron in the gym.

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She's ready: Sofia Vergara has shared how she keeps in tip top shape and she plans to stay in shape despite the summer BBQs coming up posting a video of her workout on Tuesday

Also sharing the clip on Instagram, the Modern Family joked she was hitting the gym do hard so she could eat whatever she wanted during the upcoming Fourth Of July holiday.

Sofia captioned the video: 'Getting ready to eat potatoe salad on july 4th [sic].'

The Colombian beauty is currently working with personal trainer Julio Cruz, who also shared a Snap of his celebrity client working out.

The trainer explained that Sofia - who has made no secret of her dislike for the gym - was lifting 80lbs weights.

Potato salad motivation: The Modern Family joked she was hitting the gym do hard so she could eat whatever she wanted during the upcoming Fourth Of July holiday

As the video shows, the actress was toning up be doing deadlifts repetitively with the weighted barbell.

Gloves on, wearing lifting shoes and showing great form, Sofia looked like a pro.

She also just looked good in general with her tight grey leggings highlighting her toned but curvaceous lower half.

Not playing around: The Colombian beauty worked on her physique by doing deadlifts with 80lbs weights

She's got this: Gloves on, wearing lifting shoes and showing great form, the 43-year-old looked like a pro

The star also threw on a loose top, wearing her long brown hair out for her video before sweeping it back in a ponytail to really show off her skills in her trainer's snap.

Julio, who goes by J.Crvz on social media, has a heavy Instagram following as he is known for putting some of Los Angeles most beautiful - and booty-full - women through gruelling and inventive workouts.

And Sofia certainly needs someone to push her, as unlike her muscle-bound husband Joe Manganiello, she is not a big fan of the gym.

It shows: She also just looked good in general with her tight grey leggings highlighting her toned but curvaceous lower half

She told Redbook: I hate it... I'm in a bad mood two hours before and while I'm doing it and then I'm done, because I know I have to come back and do it again.

'I'm always asking Joe, ''Why do people always say they feel great working out?'' I just want to go home and lie down.'

The star also does Pilates using a mega-reformer which is a bigger version of a usual Pilates machine and is known to reduce grown men to tears.

Showing it off: The Modern Family star already looks pretty amazing in a bikini as seen in this picture from earlier this month

But with all that pain comes gain as Sofia can indulge, which is lucky as it seems not only does she like potato salad, she also loves cake.

On Sunday, the star posted a picture on Instagram of a sweet treat she had specially prepared eat while watching Game Of Thrones.

The star had the rather sweet teal coloured cake with sprinkles topped with icing writing saying 'Valar Morghulis' which means 'All men must die'.
She's known for her impressive on-screen talent.

But Helena Bonham-Carter is also rather renowned for her choice of attire - something she no doubt fueled when she stepped out in London on Wednesday.

The 50 year-old was seen in Islington, North London, sporting a typically eccentric ensemble while enjoying a stroll with a friend.

Quirky style: Helena Bonham Carter was seen in Islington, North London, sporting a typically eccentric ensemble on Wednesday

The multi-layered approach to style first consisted of a black and white floral dress, which she then covered with a black-and-white polka dot number.

She capped that with a pastel pink cardigan and a pair of long beads, while draping a handbag across her chest.

Scraping her hair up into a messy high ponytail, she secured it with a bow while wearing black leather brogues and thick, green socks.

Fashionista! The multi-layered approach to style first consisted of a black and white floral dress, which she then covered with a black-and-white polka dot number

Seemingly make-up free for the occasion, she proudly displayed her fresh-faced complexion as she chatted with her pal.

Helena, who last appeared in Alice Through The Looking Glass, recently revealed she had to remain firm with co-star Sacha Baron Cohen when on set of Alice In Wonderland: Through The Looking Glass, which was released last month.

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald the 49-year-old said that the Borat star is 'totally unpredictable, like a hyperactive child sometimes.'

'He is very inventive, and he's fun, but ... I'm pretty direct with him. Sometimes I think what Sacha doesn't appreciate is that he's just telling a story,' she told the publication.

Seemingly make-up free for the occasion, she proudly displayed her fresh-faced complexion

'The weight isn't always on his shoulders. A lot of the time it's just playing the scene, not inventing the scene. He comes from such an improvisational background. He can't but help improvise. It's interesting.'

Despite their differing backgrounds in acting, the actress admits his performance as the half-clockwork, half-human master of the forth dimension is 'compelling'.
They have set a high standard when it comes to romance thanks to their red carpet PDAs and gushing messages to each other on social media.

And on their ten-year wedding anniversary, Nicole Kidman, 49, and her husband Keith Urban, 48, have revealed that their love is stronger than ever.

The pair celebrated the milestone in Australia over the weekend, with Nicole telling Who Magazine: 'It's so beautiful to be celebrating our 10-year anniversary in Sydney, where we got married. We just remember the love and warmth from so many people on that day'.

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'What a blessing': Nicole Kidman and her husband Keith Urban have revealed that their love is stronger than ever

'Ten years on, we're having more fun than ever with each other, and with our kids. What a blessing', the Eyes Wide Shut actress told the publication.

Keith jetted into Sydney from the US to usher in the occasion with Nicole last week, immediately after he completed a gig in Boston.

He spoke about his fiery-haired wife at the Boston show, telling the audience: 'We booked the tour at the beginning of the year and June 25th was going to happen in Boston. So I said to Nic, 'I can't work on our anniversary so maybe we'll play Boston another time'.

Together at last! Keith jetted into Sydney to usher in the occasion immediately after stepping off stage in Boston

'And she said, "what if I come up to Boston? You'll play that night, it will be fun and the next day we'll just hang out in Boston and have a great time." That was the plan,' he explained.

He went on to add that Nicole's shooting schedule in Sydney for Top Of The Lake changed to June so it meant she couldn't be in Boston.

'So after the gig tonight I am flying to Australia to celebrate our anniversary,' he announced.

Cute couple! The pair certainly made their mutual affection known during their loved-up Sydney celebrations, with Keith taking to Instagram on Saturday to share the couple's first ever photo together, which was taken at the G'Day LA Hollywood event in 2005

The pair certainly made their mutual affection known during their loved-up Sydney celebrations, with Keith taking to Instagram on Saturday to share the couple's first ever photo together, which was taken at the G'Day LA Hollywood event in 2005.

'Our very first photo together 2005, minutes after being introduced to each other. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABY. LOOOVE YOU!!!' wrote the country music hit-maker in the caption.

The happy couple tied the knot in June 2006 during a lavish Sydney wedding and share two children, seven-year-old Sunday Rose and five-year-old Faith.

Nicole and her ex-husband Tom Cruise also share daughter Isabella, 23, and son Connor, 21.
Pop twins The Veronicas couldn't resist joking about the height difference between themselves and the NRL Footy Show panel this week.

Lisa and Jessica Origliasso - who are 5ft 1in and 5ft 2in respectively - were dwarfed by co-host Erin Molan, Manly star Nate Myles and the Burgess brothers, Tom and George.

Jess, who hails from Brisbane, declared, 'You guys are so tall!' as they enjoyed a lively discussion on Wednesday night.

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'You're so tall': Pop twins The Veronicas couldn't resist joking about the height difference between themselves and the NRL Footy Show panel on Wednesday

After arriving onstage, it didn't take long for the Footy Show panel to compare Lisa and Jess to British-born twins Tom and George, who are both 6ft 4in.

Meanwhile, the 31-year-old Australian pop duo also revealed they were 'big supporters' of Queensland and the Brisbane Broncos.

Their role as guest judges on The Voice Australia was also discussed - and the Burgess boys, who play for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, suggested they could replace the Madden Brothers.

Height difference: Lisa and Jessica Origliasso - who are 5ft 1in and 5ft 2in respectively - were towered over by co-host Erin Molan, Manly star Nate Myles and the Burgess brothers, Tom and George

The Veronicas also performed an acoustic version of their new single In My Blood, which recently reached the top of the iTunes chart.

Earlier this week, Lisa and Jess publicly criticised Australian rapper Iggy Azalea on Twitter because of her love of fur.

Responding to a tweet by MTV Australia, the PETA supporters and animal rights supporters made it clear they didn't approve of Iggy's style choices.

Pop twins: The Veronicas also performed an acoustic version of their new single In My Blood, which recently reached the top of the iTunes chart

'We can take on anyone who thinks skinning an animal and wearing it is "fashion",' they wrote from their joint Twitter account.

Iggy has appeared at numerous red carpet events wearing real fur and she posed in a vintage Marc Jacobs fur jacket for a Paper magazine photo shoot.

She even dressed up as notorious Disney villain Cruella De Vil for Halloween in 2013.
She's known to post a number of provocative and revealing snaps to social media.

And Imogen Anthony took to Instagram on Wednesday to share yet another topless photo.

The 25-year-old former lads' mag model is seen standing in front of a mirror covering her chest with her hands, as she spruiks a self-tanning product after complaining she's allergic to sunscreen.

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Revealing: Imogen Anthony, 25, took to Instagram on Wednesday to share another topless snap, as she spruiked a self-tanning product after complaining that she's allergic to sunscreen

Imogen was seen posing in just a pair of nude underpants as she covered her chest with her arms.

She let her coloured locks fall effortlessly around her shoulders and down her back, with her phone cover hiding her face.

The controversial star flaunted her tiny waist and svelte legs while standing in front of what appeared to be a wardrobe.

Baring all: On holiday in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, Imogen Anthony shared a topless Instagram photo and also referenced the 'Free the Nipple' campaign, which protests the social media website's 'sexist' nudity policy

She captioned the shot: 'I figured my tan lines were already pretty effed (the peeling wasn't great either, doesn't help that I'm allergic to sunscreen).

'So nothing could actually be worse. I forgot to bring any self tanner over with me, but I found @sttropeztan Dark Self Tanning Mousse in Beverly Hills and decided to give it a go.

'Let's wait and see the results shall we? (sic).'

Taking a stand: The model-turned-fashion designer, pictured at a Sydney premiere in March, digitally censored her nipples to abide by Instagram's guidelines - which allow men to pose bare chested, but not women

The post comes just a day after the media personality shared a topless snap while lounging in bed.

Imogen digitally censored her nipples to abide by Instagram's nudity policy - which allows men to pose bare chested, but not women.

Meanwhile, her lower half was concealed behind the white bed sheets and she covered her head under a black Iron Maiden top.

Her signature dyed pink hair was visible behind the T-shirt, as she laid underneath a silver ornament that read: 'Sexy'.

Good morning! In another snap, her dyed pink hair was visible as she covered her face with an Iron Maiden T-shirt

The fashion model wrote in the caption: 'When you realise that your new bright white home has no blinds in the b-room. Gotta fix that s*** PRONTO' (sic)

She then added the hashtags #Nicetanlines, #FreetheNipple and #IronMaiden.

Over the last few days, Imogen has been sharing photos from her trip to California with radio DJ boyfriend Kyle Sandilands.

Time off: Imogen is on holiday in California with her boyfriend Kyle Sandilands (right), who is taking a break from his KIIS 106.5 radio program The Kyle and Jackie O Show

The couple are on holiday while Kyle takes a break from recording KIIS 106.5's breakfast program, The Kyle and Jackie O Show.

On Monday, Imogen shared a snap of herself enjoying a glass of wine at a Beverly Hills restaurant.

In the photo, she displayed her quirky fashion sense in an anime-inspired Spice Girls jumper and a pair of oversized sunglasses.
Since returning from the muddy and wet surroundings of the Glastonbury festival, Millie Mackintosh seems intent on enjoying the freedom to wear white once again.

On Wednesday, the former Made In Chelsea star proved to be a dazzling delight, as she arrived at the Rimowa London concept store VIP press launch at the city's flagship Rimowa boutique.

A night after partying across town in a white ensemble, the TV personality, 26, opted for the same shade again, stepping out in a sleeveless top, with an opening at the torso, and flared trousers.

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Special guest: Millie Mackintosh attended the Rimowa London concept store VIP press launch at the city's flagship Rimowa boutique on Wednesday evening

With the high-waisted bottoms perfectly highlighting her slender frame, Millie elongated her svelte legs with a pair of nude-coloured heels, while a white handbag reinforced her outfit's overall theme.

She opted to wear her hair back in a neat bun with a centre-parting, while her natural beauty was enhanced with a light brushing of makeup.

She also flashed a dazzling pair of elaborately-designed earring as as she made her way into the German luggage maker's bash.

Grand opening: The reality TV star stepped out in a sleeveless white top with an opening at the torso

Fashion flare: The former Made In Chelsea favourite teamed her top with a pair of high-waisted flared trousers

Tatt's the way to do it! Millie's sleeveless top allowed for her to show off her delicate trio of shoulder tattoos

Inside, she joined a number of familiar faces, including Alessandra Ambrosio, Naomie Harris, Daisy Lowe and Amber Le Bon.

The night before, she wore a white dress with beaded embellishment and a black sash belt as she attended the Live! clothing store launch bash at the English capital's Soho Hotel.

The reality star-turned-fashionista's string of London outings comes after she confessed she was smitten with fellow ex-MIC star Hugo Taylor, with whom she recently travelled to Glastonbury.

It'll be all white on a second night: On Tuesday, Millie wore a white dress with black sash to the Live! clothing store launch party at London's Soho Hotel

We like to party: At the Rimowa bash, she was seen posing with Poppy Jamie, left, and Neelam Gill, right

Festive: Millie spent the weekend at the renowned Glastonbury festival with her boyfriend Hugo Taylor

Rumours of Millie and Hugo's romance surfaced shortly after Millie's split from her ex-husband Professor Green, with the renewed relationship finally being confirmed when the duo were seen enjoying a trip to Monaco earlier this month.

In an interview with The Telegraph, the blonde beauty coyly answered questions about the sunglasses designer: 'Im great. Hes great. Im very happy, thats all I can say.'

Millie and Professor Green's divorce, following two-and-a-half years of marriage, came just three months after the couple announced they were separating after living separate lives.

Glamorous arrival: The beauty turned heads as she made her way into the star-studded get-together
N. Korea parliament meeting watched for economic clues

North Korea was to convene a session of its legislative assembly on Wednesday, with observers looking for more details to emerge of a new economic plan announced at a rare party congress in May.

The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) meets only once or twice a year, mostly for day-long sessions to rubber-stamp budgets or other decisions made by the leadership.

No schedule or subject agenda was provided in advance of Wednesday's session, which was announced three weeks ago but has since gone virtually unmentioned in the state media.

The North Korean Supreme People's Assembly meets at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang only once or twice a year, mostly for day-long sessions to rubber-stamp budgets or other decisions made by the leadership

The SPA usually meets in April but was postponed this year amid fevered preparations for what was the first full meeting of the ruling party congress for nearly four decades.

The congress saw leader Kim Jong-Un unveil a five-year economic plan, the first such document to come out of the North Korean leadership for decades.

While full of rhetorical ambition about boosting production, the plan was short on any detail, and there are hopes that the SPA session might shed more light on what policy changes -- if any -- are in the pipeline.

"This SPA session is really a follow-up," said an official with South Korea's Unification Ministry.

"It is expected to follow through with decisions made at the congress, approve personnel and organisational changes and underscore Kim's one-man rule," the official said.

At the beginning of this month, Pyongyang kicked of a "200-day battle" -- a mass mobilisation campaign aimed at boosting productivity to jump-start the new economic plan.

North Koreans are used to such mandatory campaigns, with participation rigorously monitored and used as a measurement of loyalty to the regime.

"Kim Jong-Un has made all the necessary legal and institutional preparations for prolonging his power, but he still needs to impress the people with tangible economic progress," said Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean studies in Seoul.

The May congress also saw Kim walk off with the new post of party "chairman" and some analysts have suggested the SPA might see another title conferred on the 33-year-old to underline his status as supreme leader.

The SPA could approve a structural re-organisation of the powerful National Defence Commission, appointing Kim head of a new state organ to oversee the NDC's operations.

Wednesday's assembly comes with North Korea again under fire at the United Nations -- this time over its recent testing of a powerful new intermediate-range ballistic missile.

Last week, the UN Security Council denounced the tests and called for the redoubled enforcement of sanctions imposed after Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test earlier this year.
US, S. Korea, Japan hold first anti-N. Korea missile drill

South Korea, Japan and the United States held an unprecedented trilateral missile defence exercise on Tuesday, aimed at countering the growing threat from nuclear-armed North Korea which denounced it as a "military provocation."

The drill in waters off Hawaii came less than a week after North Korea flight-tested a powerful new medium-range ballistic missile that leader Kim Jong-Un hailed as a strike threat to US military bases across the Pacific.

The trilateral exercise included a ballistic target tracking operation to test the Aegis anti-missile systems used by the United States and its two key Asian allies.

North Korea has this year claimed a series of major technical breakthroughs in developing what it sees as the ultimate goal of its nuclear drive: an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland Jung Yeon-Je (AFP/File)

"While there were no missiles fired, all participants strengthened interoperability, communication channels, data collection, and capabilities assessments," the US Pacific Command said in a statement.

The drill was significant for the participation of both South Korea and Japan, who are still emerging from an extended diplomatic freeze that had undermined US efforts to present a united front against Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

As well as rehearsing responses to a North Korean missile attack, the drill "enhanced the already strong relationship of all three nations participating", said Vice Admiral Nora Tyson, commander of the US Third Fleet.

North Korea's foreign ministry condemned the drill as "another military provocation perpetrated by the US" and reiterated strategic willingness to carry out a "pre-emptive nuclear attack" if threatened.

The participation of all three countries revealed their "hegemonic scenario for disturbing regional peace and security", a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

The North has this year claimed a series of major technical breakthroughs in developing what it sees as the ultimate goal of its nuclear drive: an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.

The recent test of a Musudan medium-range missile was seen by some weapons experts as a significant step towards an operational ICBM by 2020.

Tuesday's drill also delivered a message of intent to China as Washington and Beijing continue to jostle for influence in Asia.

Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said last week the Musudan test underlined the need to strengthen missile defences to protect US troops stationed in South Korea and Japan.

Seoul and Washington are currently in talks over the deployment of the US military's sophisticated Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) in South Korea -- a move staunchly opposed by China and Russia.
Mongolian voters head to the polls amid economic uncertainty

Mongolians went to the polls across their sprawling, sparsely-populated country Wednesday as it struggles to benefit from its vast natural resources amid disputes over foreign investment and slumping demand from neighbouring China.

Squeezed between Vladimir Putin's Russia and Communist China, Mongolia prides itself on its democracy, but voters expressed frustration with the country's poor governance and weakened economy.

Many said they feared a repeat of 2008 riots that followed claims of election tampering.

Villagers leave a polling station after voting in parliamentary elections in Mandalgovi, in Mongolia's middle Gobi province on June 29, 2016 Johannes Eisele (AFP)

The contest largely comes down to a choice between the ruling Democratic Party and the opposition Mongolian People's Party.

Both their campaigns have been heavy on bromides about economic development but light on concrete proposals for tackling voter concerns, including improving the country's educational and health care systems.

In Mandalgovi, capital of the province of South Gobi, mother of three Shatariin Chahdal told AFP: "I voted for an independent candidate, who is young and wise.

"I want the new government to focus on creating new jobs rather than delivering cash handouts."

Across the country -- more than twice the size of France, but with a population of only three million -- trucks with mobile ballot boxes crisscrossed the vast steppe to enable the sick and elderly to vote, while herders and others streamed to polling stations in set up in gers,traditional Mongolian tents.

But while enormous efforts have been made to ensure participation in even the most isolated areas, enthusiasm for voting has waned in the 26 years since the young democracy threw off the yoke of Soviet influence.

Turnout has declined each election cycle, a trend that experts attribute to increased scepticism in the country's political class.

"As the economic crises persist, there's considerable mistrust in the political system," Morris Rossabi, an expert on Mongolia at Columbia University, told AFP, adding that voters were "facing increasing disillusionment with political parties".

Mongolia's vast natural resources have drawn the attention of multinational mining giants, such as Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto, which has a multi-billion-dollar copper and gold project at Oyu Tolgoi.

But political disputes over the role of foreign investment -- and at what price -- have stymied development, while slowing growth in China, by far Mongolia's biggest trade partner, has sent commodity prices collapsing.

China's economy grew 6.9 percent last year, the worst since 2009, meaning less demand for the raw materials, such as coal, that Mongolia supplies.

For its part Mongolia enjoyed world-leading growth of 17.3 percent in 2011, but that slumped to 2.3 percent last year.

One third of voters had gone to the polls by noon on Wednesday, the election commission said.

Ashleigh Whelan, country director for the International Republican Institute (IRI), which has observers all over the country, said turnout had been high in the countryside but disappointingly low in Ulan Bator.

- 'Such a mess' -

Ganbaatareen Jargal, 25, is a trained mining engineer but has to work on building sites instead due to the government's failure to expand the resource sector, he said as he watched a campaign rally Saturday in a slum district on the fringes of Ulan Bator.

Politicians "have to fulfil all their promises", he said. "There are so many things to demand."

In May, just weeks before the election, a court ruling also changed the electoral system from a partly proportional setup to first-past-the-post in each constituency, severely limiting the chances of any parties other than the main two securing a significant presence in the 76-seat State Great Hural.

The change raised allegations of a backroom power sharing agreement between them.

According to polling by the IRI, over 60 percent of Mongolians feel that the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Respondents said they would vote for the party that could best deliver economic development and jobs.

But some voters are simply resigned to keep the status quo.

"I'm going to vote for the Democratic Party," said Jargal, the engineer turned construction worker.

"If another party wins, they have to finish the job that the DP started... they're going to waste four years, complaining that we had to restart everything because the DP made such a mess."

Mongolian soldiers stand in a polling booth after voting in the parliamentary election in Ulan Bator on June 29, 2016 Byambasuren Byamba-Ochir (AFP)

Villagers enter a polling station after voting in parliamentary elections in Mandalgovi, in Mongolia's middle Gobi province on June 29, 2016 Johannes Eisele (AFP)
Five questions about Mongolia's national elections

Mongolians head to the polls Wednesday for their seventh national election since transitioning from state socialism to democracy in 1990. Here's what you need to know:

What's at stake?

Mongolia is rich in natural resources, with huge deposits of copper and coal, as well as gold and other minerals. The government has promised to use those treasures to enrich the nation, but the road to prosperity has been bumpy. Economic growth skyrocketed in 2011, as Ulan Bator worked to get a major mineral deposit online. But political bickering and an economic slowdown in Mongolia's biggest trading partner, China has kept the country's mines from reaching their potential, meaning politicians have fallen short of their big promises for new jobs and big money. In the words of University of British Columbia analyst Julian Dierkes, voters' have one big question on their minds: who is going to put fried mutton on the table?

Villagers leave a polling station after voting for the parliamentary elections in Mandalgovi, middle Gobi province Johannes Eisele (AFP)

Who are the major players?

Mongolia's ruling Democratic Party (DP) is pitted against its rival the Mongolian People's Party (MPP). The DP put Mongolia on its current democratic path, but the MPP, a leftover from the Soviet era, still commands strong loyalty from older voters with fond memories of socialist rule. Both parties have their partisans, but many Mongolians see little difference between the two. Voters hoping for a fresh approach to government have few options. While the 2012 election featured candidates from a range of political parties, the country's constitutional court changed the election rules in May of this year, moving it from proportional representation to a plurality-based system, essentially eliminating third parties. Still, there are a few other small parties and around 70 independents.

Mongolia is so big. How do people get to the polls?

With a population of about 3 million spread over more than 1.5 million square kilometres, Mongolia has the lowest population density of any country in the world. That's great for herders, who count on access to the country's vast steppe to feed their animals, but hard for people trying to get to the polls. So, the government has taken great pains to make sure everyone has the chance to vote. A number of Mongolia's 21 provinces have set up gers, traditional Mongolian homes also known as yurts, in strategic locations around the countryside. Voting is done by black box, an optical scanning machine that transmits results from even the farthest reaches of the Gobi desert to election committees, who then report to the central government by phone. Once the preliminary count is in, administrators collect the ballots and verify 50 percent by hand, with final tallies announced on July 1. For the elderly or sick, mobile polling stations roam the country, letting people vote from the comfort of their own home.

How is Mongolia's campaign different?

Mongolia's unicameral parliament, called the Great Hural, has 76 members. All campaigning must stop at midnight on the day before the election. Also, hoping to put a damper on high political spirits, the government imposes a nationwide ban on the sale of alcohol for three days starting from the day before voters head to the polls. In 2008, fatal riots broke out after voters contested the election results.

How strong is Mongolia's young democracy?
Firebomb attack outside Australian mosque

A firebomb attack outside an Australian mosque while worshippers were at prayer was condemned Wednesday by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, with one Islamic leader calling it a "hate crime".

No one was injured in Tuesday night's blast which destroyed a car parked outside a mosque and Islamic college in the Perth suburb of Thornlie.

"It is believed an accelerant was used to start the fire," Western Australian police said in a statement, adding that three other vehicles were damaged in the incident.

Police in Perth say vehicles outside a mosque in a suburb of the city were firebombed while worshippers were at prayer Greg Wood (AFP/File)

"Anti-Islamic graffiti was located spray painted on a wall associated with the college, near the damaged vehicles."

The mosque's Yahya Adel Ibrahim said the community in Perth had been visited "by hate" but would not retaliate by "hating and playing blame games".

"This, undoubtedly is a criminal act of hate, but it is the act of a person or group not the greater whole," he said on Facebook.

"Despite what just transpired, everyone stayed to finish their prayers, refusing to give into the terror that had just occurred."

Anti-Islam sentiment became more prominent in Australia last year as concerns mounted over homegrown extremism and citizens travelling to Iraq and Syria to support jihadist groups.

But Turnbull, who faces a general election on Saturday, said Australia had a fundamental foundation of mutual respect.

"I deplore and I cannot condemn strongly enough any attacks of that kind," he told radio station 6PR.

Australian Islamic College executive principal Abdullah Khan said while the attack came as a shock, he had been reassured by the support from the community.
Israeli sponge bullets leave painful legacy for Palestinians

Ahmed Abu al-Homs's life changed forever as the 13-year-old was on his way to see his sister and became caught up in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police.

He was hit by an Israeli anti-riot bullet during the January clash in east Jerusalem, leaving the young Palestinian in a coma for 45 days. When he came out of it, a piece of his skull was gone.

"Before, Ahmed was an intelligent boy, lively and dynamic," his uncle Mehdi al-Homs said of the teenager, whose head still bears scars and stitches.

Palestinian teenager Ahmed Abu al-Homs, 13, poses at his family home in east Jerusalem with a mobile phone showing a picture of himself in a hospital's surgery room, where he was treated after being hit by sponge-tipped bullets used by Israeli forces Ahmad Gharabli (AFP)

"Now all he can do is walk, and not for very long. He has difficulty expressing himself and remembering things."

Homs is among the Palestinians wounded by a new type of anti-riot bullet Israeli police began using around two years ago, rights groups say.

While not designed to be lethal, the bullet's ability to inflict heavy damage has raised concern. Israeli police regularly use such sponge-tipped bullets during clashes in mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem.

In January 2015, police were given the authorisation to use what is known as bullet model 4557 in east Jerusalem, said Nesrine Aliane, a lawyer with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

Capsule-like in shape, the bullets have a hard plastic base and a rounded tip covered in hard black foam.

Some six centimetres long and three centimetres wide, they are heavier than the previous model used, ACRI says.

While official authorisation did not come until January 2015, police had in fact been using them since July 2014 as violence escalated and eventually led to that year's conflict in the Gaza Strip, said Aliane.

More than 30 Palestinians in east Jerusalem have been wounded since police began using them, most with head injuries, she said.

Aliane said 14 have lost an eye.

As for Homs, he can no longer read or write and spends most of his time in his family's home in the Issawiya neighbourhood of east Jerusalem.

- Irresponsible use? -

In September 2014, 16-year-old Mohammed Sonoqrot died from his wounds after being hit by one of the bullets on August 31.

"He is dead because he was hit with a bullet in the head fired from very close range," Aliane said.

ACRI says Israeli police closed the case in May without charging anyone, citing a lack of evidence.

Rights groups say that while they are supposed to be non-lethal, there are risks related to how the bullets are used.

Fired at the legs from at least 10 metres away, the bullets cause severe pain, but are not supposed to leave permanent damage.

"The problem is that they are being used in ways that are irresponsible," said Sari Bashi of Human Rights Watch.

"What we see in east Jerusalem is that police are using an excess of force -- unnecessary force against demonstrators -- and they are failing to take precautions to protect civilian demonstrators, especially children."

Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said officers have a duty to protect residents from the danger of rock-throwing and the hurling of Molotov cocktails.

She stressed that those actions by protesters can kill.

Samri said police always acted "in compliance with the law and principles of self-defence."

When using weapons designed to be non-lethal such as the sponge-tipped bullets, it is done "reasonably, with moderation" and while seeking to cause the least damage possible, she said.

However, Nafez al-Damiri, 55, paid dearly for finding himself at the wrong place at the wrong time in July 2015, as clashes broke out at east Jerusalem's Shuafat refugee camp, where he lives.

The deaf man was frightened and sought shelter in a grocery store. Surveillance video shows him being hit in the face with an anti-riot bullet, leaving him with fractures and a glass eye.

He had previously worked as a tailor, but he no longer leaves home. His wife Ghada said she has also had to give up her work as a house cleaner to take care of her husband.
Royal revolution as Indonesian sultan taps female heir

Courtiers in elaborate outfits danced to the gentle tinkling of Javanese music as the Sultan of Yogyakarta looked on, a scene that has played out in much the same way for centuries in the tiny Indonesian kingdom.

But the recent ceremony to mark the 70th birthday of Hamengku Buwono X, Indonesia's last sultan with real political power, had one key difference from previous celebrations -- many of his relatives refused to attend.

A bitter feud has erupted at the heart of the kingdom on Java island, after the Muslim ruler signalled he wants his eldest daughter to become the sultanate's first female monarch after he leaves the throne.

Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, governor and sultan of the tiny kingdom of Yogyakarta, with his wife, Queen consort Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Hemas, at his 70th birthday celebrations Goh Chai Hin (AFP)

Indonesia is home to numerous small kingdoms. But while other provinces now elect political rulers and their sultans are largely ceremonial figures, Yogyakarta's sultan serves as both royal leader and governor of the city and its surrounding areas.

Jakarta allowed the Yogyakarta royal family to keep power as the central government was grateful for the sultanate's support for independence in 1945 after a long period of Dutch colonial rule.

The sultan still maintains many of the trappings of Javanese royal rule in the kingdom, which has a history stretching back to the 16th century.

His main residence is a traditional Javanese palace complex, known as a Kraton, and important events are celebrated with much pomp and circumstance.

But the sultan's push to make the eldest of his five daughters -- he has no sons -- the first female monarch of Yogyakarta has transformed him into an unlikely champion for gender equality, and threatens to overturn hundreds of years of tradition in the Muslim, conservative sultanate.

- Rooster or hen? -

It has sparked a furious row with his family, who say he is breaking rules laid down to govern the sultanate, amid speculation that his brothers were jockeying to fill his position.

"A female sultan is an impossibility," the sultan's cousin, Kanjeng Raden Tumenggung Jatiningrat, told AFP.

"One symbol in this palace is a rooster -- so if we have a queen should we change it to a hen?"

The rooster is a symbol of bravery.

He added that a female ruler could not oversee rituals in the mosque or other ceremonies that have traditionally been led by men.

Hamengku Buwono, who has been on the throne 27 years, last year set in motion the process for his daughter to become monarch by giving her the title "Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Mangkubumi".

While he has not confirmed publicly that she is the crown princess, in Javanese culture -- where much is conveyed through symbolism rather than anything said out loud -- the signs are clear.

The title Mangkubumi, which translates from Indonesian as "the one who holds the Earth", was the same one given to the sultan when he was made crown prince several decades ago.

She was also entrusted with the task of "attempting to bring safety, happiness and prosperity to the world", another indication she would succeed her father.

And the sultan made small changes to his own lengthy royal title -- removing a word normally only used by men and tweaking another -- to make it gender-neutral, opening the door for a woman to take over.

- 'An Islamic kingdom' -

The sultan has defended the move, saying there is nothing stopping him from making changes in his kingdom and he has to adapt as Indonesia modernises.

"The Yogyakarta palace doesn't have a hereditary tradition that can't be changed, and all ruling sultans can introduce changes," he told local media.

Still, many disagree with him, from his relatives to local Muslim groups.

"The king should maintain the tradition as it was originally, because this is an Islamic kingdom," said Abdurrahman, from local hardline group Islamic Jihad Front, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

But it is not the first time there has been a female monarch in diverse Indonesia -- nowadays Muslim-majority, but which has had Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms over the centuries and is home to about 300 different ethnic groups.

Queens at times ruled over the ancient Majapahit empire, which covered large parts of what is now Indonesia from the late 13th to the early 16th centuries, as they did in Aceh, on western Sumatra island, when it was an independent sultanate.

And the sultan's approximately four million subjects in Yogyakarta and the surrounding area, who view him as a demi-God, have had only a muted a reaction, with most preferring to keep out of royal affairs.

Nevertheless the row looks unlikely to be resolved any time soon, and it cast a long shadow over the recent celebration, which marked the anniversary of the sultan's coronation as well as his birthday.

The solemn melodies from the "gamelans" -- a traditional Indonesian instrumental ensemble, made up of bronze percussion instruments -- were a million miles from the seething tensions swirling around the royal succession.

"About 90 percent of the family don't respect him anymore," raged Gusti Bendoro Pangeran Haryo Prabukusumo, a step-brother of the ruler who snubbed the event.

Sultan Hamengku Buwono X watches a dance performance to celebrate his 70th birthday and 27th year in power in Yogyakarta Goh Chai Hin (AFP)

A traditional royal orchestra performs for Sultan Hamengku Buwono X during a ceremony to mark his 70th birthday and 27th year in power in Yogyakarta Goh Chai Hin (AFP)

Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, governor and sultan of the tiny kingdom of Yogyakarta, with his wife, Queen consort Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Hemas, at his 70th birthday celebrations Goh Chai Hin (AFP)
Dubai awards Alstom-led consortium $2.88 bn metro extension

Dubai's transport authority announced Wednesday it had awarded a French-led consortium a $2.88 billion contract to extend its metro network to the site of the Expo 2020 world trade fair.

The consortium, led by France's Alstom Conglomerate and also including Spain's Acciona and Turkey's Gulermak, will construct a 15 kilometre (nine mile) extension to the site of the fair, a statement said.

Alstom will supply 50 trains, 15 of them for the new extension and 35 to upgrade existing services, the statement said.

The Dubai Metro was opened in 2009 Karim Sahib (AFP/File)

Ten international consortiums bid for the project, it said.

"Negotiations were made with two of them in the final stage," it added.

Road and Transport Authority chairman Mattar al-Tayer told AFP that a Japanese-led consortium including "capable" Mitsubishi was the runner-up but Alstom's offer was cheaper.

"Both of them are competent but financially we find it cheaper for us to go with Alstom," he said.

The government has already provided $409 million for the first six months, Tayer said, adding that the RTA has different options for funding the remainder of the project.

The consortium, dubbed Expolink, will begin work on the project in the final quarter of 2016, Tayer told a briefing.

Services should begin on May 20, 2020, five months ahead of the trade fair, he said.

Alstom led a consortium that built Dubai's 10-kilometre (six mile) tramway, which cost just over one billion dollars and opened in 2014.

The Dubai Metro, which transformed transportation in the Gulf city state when it opened in September 2009, was built by a consortium led by Japan's Mitsubishi.

Alstom chief Henri Poupart-Lafarge said his consortium was "proud to have been chosen," describing the contract as a "new major award for Alstom in the UAE".

"We will bring the most innovative and cutting-edge technologies to Route 2020 project and continue to be reliable partners of RTA," he told reporters.

"We are the world leaders in integrated urban systems. We equally have strong experience here in Dubai... Our international experience and our local knowledge here and in the Gulf allowed us to make a good offer," he later told AFP.

The metro was projected to cost $4.4 billion when work began in 2004, but that had surged to $7.6 billion by the time it was completed.

The Dubai Metro has two lines, a 52 kilometre (32 mile) Red Line and a 23 kilometre (14 mile) Green Line.

The new project will extend the Red Line from Nakheel Harbour & Tower station to the Expo 2020 site. It will feature 11.8 kilometres (7.3 miles) of elevated railway and 3.2 kilometres (two miles) of underground.

The new line could possibly be extended to Dubai's second airport, Al-Maktoum International, just a few kilometres down the road, Tayer said.

The city state has a population of 2.5 million people, most of them expatriates, and received more than 14 million tourists last year.

Its target is to receive 20 million visitors a year by 2020.
Long walk to the ballot box for Mongolian nomads

It took Mongolian nomad Pagvajaviin Shatarbaatar seven days to get to his polling station to vote in Wednesday's general election -- accompanied by more than 2,000 sheep, goats and horses.

His family spends the year travelling around the Gobi Desert in search of pasture for their animals, maintaining a way of life largely unchanged for centuries.

As the vote approached they were hundreds of kilometers from their polling station in Mandalgovi, the capital of Dundgovi province. So began the slow process of herding their animals north for the summer, following one of Mongolia's few paved roads.

Herder Shagdarjaviiu Batsargal carries an injured sheep near Luusiin in the Gobi Desert Johannes Eisele (AFP)

The journey is a difficult one, said Shatarbaatar's wife Otgontsetseg, but they feel a responsibility to make their voices heard.

Mongolians have grown increasingly apathetic about the democratic experiment they began when they shook off Soviet influence 26 years ago.

Many claim there is little difference between the two major political parties, and no chance for third parties to make their voice heard.

"We want politicians who are responsible for the people in the same way we are responsible for our animals," said Otgontsetseg, leaning on a pillow in the small mobile home they use to follow their flock.

They intended to vote for a candidate from the Xun Party, a small group of reformers mainly composed of Mongolians educated at elite universities abroad.

"Our government policy is totally wrong," she said. "The greediest ones have the power.

The night before the election, the family camped by a lake about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from town. On Wednesday they rose with the sun and tended to their herd, eating a quick breakfast of tea and homemade curds.

Otgontsetseg phoned a friend to check the location of their polling station, to be told that 500 new voters had registered ahead of the election -- a large number in a sparsely-populated province that sends only one delegate to the 76-member parliament, the Great Hural.

The sudden change raised suspicions of political gamesmanship, but Otgontsetseg's friend was more interested in discouraging her from voting for a candidate with little chance of victory. "You're throwing your vote away," she said.

- 'No more herders' -

At the polling station, Shatarbaatar and his wife embraced relatives they had not seen in months, brought together by the vote.

The family say they are voting for a better future for Mongolia but the ballot is also about different visions of the country: one driven by businessmen in Ulan Bator's handful of skyscrapers, the other by men living off the land.

"All of our generations were herders," said Shatarbaatar. But that is changing.

The couple -- who have two hired stockmen -- raise cows and sheep for meat and goats for cashmere, which they say has made them wealthy.

Their lifestyle has some modern touches: instead of the traditional ger, also known as a yurt, their home is on wheels, towed from pasture to pasture by an old Korean truck with their black sheepdog Bankhar running behind.

The men herd the animals with a Yamaha motorbike as well as horses, they have a cellphone for communication and satellite television to keep up to date. Shatarbaatar wonders about buying a drone to help manage the flock.

Their daughter is studying business in Miami while their son is in Shanghai, training to be an electrical engineer.

As herders, they are far better off than Mongolians who depend on jobs in the struggling mining sector, they said.

But the price of sheepskins has dropped to around 10 cents apiece, Otgontsetseg laments.

"In the US, people pay $30 for a manicure," she said. "We care for a goat for a year and only get $30 for a kilo of cashmere."

She worries whether they will be able to maintain their way of life.

The government has debated whether to privatise the country's endless grasslands, now publicly owned and available for anyone to use, as they have been for centuries.

"If someone owns this or that land we won't be able to move around the countryside anymore," she said. "There will be no herders."

Herder Pagvajaviin Shatarbaatar rides his motorbike as he herds livestock near Luusiin in the Gobi Desert Johannes Eisele (AFP)

Herder Zandraagiin Budjav poses for a picture near Luusiin in the Gobi Desert Johannes Eisele (AFP)

Villagers leave a polling station after voting in parliamentary elections in Mandalgovi, in Mongolia's middle Gobi province on June 29, 2016 Johannes Eisele (AFP)
Award-winning Tibetan film director held by police

An award-winning Tibetan film director was detained by police in China and ended up in hospital, officials and fellow cinematographers said Wednesday.

Pema Tseden, whose most recent film "Tharlo" was shown at film festivals around the world, was taken away by police on Saturday at Xining airport in his home province of Qinghai, the Film Directors Guild of China and online reports said.

He was detained over a "minor incident with local police about luggage", according to Robert Barnett, head of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University.

Pema Tseden's 2005 movie "The Silent Holy Stones" was the first full-length film to be shot entirely in Tibetan Greg Baker (AFP)

Tseden, who is diabetic, was ordered to be detained for five days and suffered dizzy spells after being held in stress positions, Barnett said on Twitter, adding he was released to hospital on Monday.

Tseden's 2005 movie "The Silent Holy Stones" was the first full-length film made in China to be shot entirely in Tibetan.

His work often reflects the clash of traditional Tibetan life in the modern world, reflecting his personal transformation as a son of nomads who now shows films at international festivals.

China's ruling Communist Party has cracked down on dissent under President Xi Jinping, but Tseden is not believed to have previously had trouble with authorities.

He was taken away for "disturbing public order" but no official charge had been announced, according to the Film Directors Guild, which is independent of Chinese authorities.

"We are strongly concerned about the incident," it said in a statement. It called on police to say publicly why they "took such forceful measures, whether standard measures were taken, and whether violent or excessive enforcement was used".

Police in Xining said Tseden had not listened to their commands as he was trying to return to the baggage claim area after exiting, a spokeswoman who refused to give her name told AFP.

Tseden spent one night in a detention centre and said he was feeling unwell the next day, she added, at which point he was taken to hospital, where he is now receiving treatment for high blood pressure and high blood sugar.

China has ruled Tibet since the 1950s and many Tibetans say Beijing represses their Buddhist religion and culture -- charges China denies.
IS repels US-backed Syria rebel offensive on Iraq route

The Islamic State group pushed back an offensive by US-trained Syrian rebels on a key route linking jihadist territory in eastern Syria to Iraq, a monitor said Wednesday.

The New Syrian Army, backed by US-led coalition strikes, had advanced overnight on IS territory near the Albu Kamal border crossing and adjacent town.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the NSA had seized the small Al-Hamdan airbase nearby, but IS had recaptured it by Wednesday afternoon.

New Syria Army fighters were trained in Jordan by US and British troops

"The attack failed. They lost control of the airport," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

He said NSA units were still inside the oil-rich Deir Ezzor province where Albu Kamal lies, but had been forced to retreat.

NSA spokesman Muzahem al-Sallum confirmed that his group was no longer in control of the airport, but said it was preparing "the next phase" of their offensive.

"We retreated towards the desert around Albu Kamal," he told AFP.

NSA fighters had announced the operation on Tuesday and said it was aimed at severing IS's access route between eastern Syria and Iraq's western Anbar province.

The rebels said the operation was coordinated with Iraqi forces who were advancing on the crossing from the other side of the border.

The US-led coalition announced it had carried out eight air strikes near Albu Kamal and five near Al-Qaim, on the Iraqi side, on Tuesday.

IS seized the Albu Kamal crossing in mid-2014, when it overran swathes of territory on both sides of the border and declared a self-styled "caliphate".

NSA fighters were trained in Jordan by US and British troops.

They already captured the Al-Tanaf border crossing between Syria and Iraq earlier this year.

IS is facing growing pressure from US-backed offensives in both Syria and Iraq.

In northern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters has edged into the IS stronghold of Manbij with coalition air support.

In Iraq, authorities declared at the weekend that they were in full control of the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, long an emblematic bastion for IS.
Car bomb 'kills 10' in Kurdish-held Syrian border town

A car bomb killed at least 10 people on Wednesday in a Syrian town near the Turkish border held by US-backed Kurdish-led forces, a monitoring group said.

Another nine people were wounded in the attack in Tal Abyad, which was captured from the Islamic State group by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and allied Arab groups in June last year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The alliance was formalised in October 2015 into the Syrian Democratic Forces, which then seized swathes of northern and northeastern Syria from IS with US support.

A Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) flag flutters above the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, on the border with Turkey, on June 25, 2015 Delil Souleiman (AFP/File)

An SDF official said the car bomb was detonated outside offices of the Kurdish autonomous administration on the town's main street.

He said nine people were killed.

The Kurds and their allies have now captured most of the Turkish border areas that had been under IS control, depriving the jihadists of access routes for foreign fighters and funds.
Bahrain activist back in jail despite worsening health: lawyer

Prominent Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was returned to prison from hospital despite his health "getting worse," one of his lawyers said Wednesday.

The 51-year-old, who had been pardoned for health reasons last year, was rearrested earlier this month as part of intensifying crackdown on government critics that has drawn protests from Washington and human rights groups.

Rajab, who heads the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), was taken to hospital on Tuesday with heart problems after two weeks in solitary confinement.

Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab has been repeatedly detained for organising protests and publishing tweets deemed insulting to the Sunni authorities Mohammed Al-Shaikh (AFP/File)

Defence lawyer Jalila al-Sayed said he was returned to prison but should undergo further tests on Wednesday.

"His situation is getting worse and is not stable at all," she told AFP, adding that he was due to appear before prosecutors later on Wednesday for a decision on whether his custody would be extended.

The BCHR issued a statement expressing "great concern for the health and well-being" of its head.

It said "the decline of his physical and mental health are due to his isolated detention since his arrest."

It called on the "international community and Bahrain's allies to take urgent and public actions to stand by their commitment to protect human rights defenders."

When Rajab was rearrested earlier this month, Washington said it had complained directly to its Gulf ally.

The Shiite activist has been repeatedly detained for organising protests and publishing tweets deemed insulting to Bahrain's Sunni authorities.

Rajab previously served two years in jail on charges of taking part in unauthorised protests.

He is likely to face trial on July 12 on charges "probably related to tweets" which he is said to have either posted or retweeted, his lawyer said.

The tweets were allegedly made in March 2015 and were about unrest at the kingdom's Jaw prison and the conflict in Yemen, where a coalition led by neighbouring Saudi Arabia launched a military intervention that month, she added.

She said the defence team had yet to see a formal chargesheet.
China dam water release captured by drone

A photographer used a drone to capture spectacular images of cascades of water gushing from a dam in central China, an annual event attracting thousands of tourists.

Water thundered from channels built into the Xiaolangdi dam on the Yellow River in the central province of Henan, producing huge waterfalls, waves and steam.

The release is part of efforts to flush silt from the bottom of a reservoir behind the dam.

Water thunders from the floodgates of the Xiaolangdi dam on the Yellow River in China's Henan province on June 29, 2016

The Yellow River is famously silty -- hence its name.

The huge cascades pull in photographers each year, but a bird's eye view of the plumes of water was made possible Tuesday by a drone which revealed the huge scale of the event -- and the giant plumes of mud entering the river below the barrage.

In an attempt to attract tourists, the nearby city of Luoyang puts on a "wave festival" each year.

This year the event will run for a week, with water released at set times each day and air-conditioned buses laid on for viewers.

The Xiaolangdi Project was completed in 2000 at a cost of $3.5 billion and generates around five billion kWh of electricity a year.

China has undertaken an unprecedented dam building spree in recent decades, including the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest in terms of capacity.

Only one of China's major waterways -- the remote Nu River in Yunnan province -- remains undammed.
Israel cabinet approves reconciliation deal with Turkey

Israeli cabinet ministers on Wednesday approved a deal reached with Turkey at the weekend on normalising relations after years of acrimony over a deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

The security cabinet approved the deal seven to three after four and a half hours of debate, giving it final Israeli government approval, a spokesman said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others have promoted its economic benefits, with talk of building a pipeline to Turkey to export Israeli gas, and the need to find allies in the turbulent Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed the economic benefits of normalising relations with Turkey Ronen Zvulun (Pool/AFP/File)

But there have been objections over Israel agreeing to pay $20 million in compensation to families of the Turkish activists killed in the raid.

There were also allegations that the agreement does not do enough to push for the return of four Israelis missing in Gaza, two of them soldiers who have been declared dead and two of them civilians believed held alive by Hamas.

Turkey will be allowed to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza as part of the deal, but Netanyahu has stressed that Israel's blockade on the enclave will remain in place.

Turkey has been seeking to restore its clout in the region after a diplomatic crisis with Russia and other foreign policy difficulties.

Ankara said Tuesday that the two countries would begin the process of exchanging ambassadors this week. It was unclear if Tuesday night's attack at Istanbul airport that killed 41 people would affect the process.

Previously close relations between Israel and Turkey were downgraded significantly 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 the Gaza Strip.
First aid convoy to two besieged Syria towns since 2012

A convoy of food and medicine entered two besieged Syrian towns near Damascus on Wednesday, the first aid delivered to them since 2012, the International Committee of the Red Cross told AFP.

The towns of Zamalka and Erbin were the last besieged areas in Syria to receive humanitarian aid, after the UN delivered assistance to the other 16 earlier this year.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was delivering 37 trucks of aid in partnership with the United Nations and Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

Syrians evacuate a wounded man on a stretcher following a reported airstrike by Syrian government forces in Zamalka in January 2016 Aabdulmonam Eassa (AFP/File)

The convoy includes food parcels, wheat flower, and hygiene kits for the 20,000 people living in both towns.

The UN says there are 592,000 people living in 18 besieged areas in Syria.

Most of them, like the residents of Zamalka and Erbin, are surrounded by government loyalists.

"This is a remarkable day, because for the first time, we will be able to get a joint convoy" into Zamalka and Erbin, said the UN's top humanitarian coordinator in Syria Yaacoub El Hillo.

He spoke to journalists moments before the convoy began entering the towns.

"Since the beginning of the year, UN agencies, the ICRC, and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent have been able to get aid to every besieged area in Syria," Hillo said.
Fears for stranded Syrian refugees as Jordan blocks access

Concern is growing for tens of thousands of refugees on the Syrian-Jordanian border after Amman blocked access to a makeshift refugee camp following last week's deadly jihadist attack at the frontier.

In stifling heat with minimal shelter and little access to food and water, some 70,000 refugees fleeing Syria's civil war have gathered at the Rukban border crossing in Jordan's remote northeast.

For months they have been dependent on food and water from international aid agencies but since last week's attack have been cut off.

Syrian refugees, stuck between the Jordanian and Syrian borders, wait to cross into Jordan at the Hadalat border crossing, east of the Jordanian capital Amman, on January 14, 2016 Khalil Mazraawi (AFP/File)

Aid groups are alarmed but Jordanian authorities say the camp has become a hotbed of jihadist activity and security needs to come first.

"Since the attack... all humanitarian activities at the border were suspended until further notice," said Shaza Moghraby, a spokeswoman for the UN World Food Programme in Jordan.

She said there was deep concern for the refugees "who are enduring very harsh weather conditions, sweltering heat and frequent dust storms" and "have or are running out of food".

Rukban is a key crossing into Jordan for refugees fleeing Syria's five-year civil war, which has killed more than 280,000 people and forced millions from their homes.

There has been an influx of people to the area since fighting intensified late last year in central and eastern Syria but, after accepting waves of refugees earlier in the conflict, Jordan is now being more cautious about allowing them in.

Amman insists newcomers must be screened before entering the country to ensure they are genuine refugees and not jihadists from IS or Al-Qaeda.

- 'Security must take precedence' -

Jordan is a member of the US-led coalition battling IS in Syria and Iraq. It has carried out air strikes targeting the jihadists and hosts coalition troops on its territory.

Many of the refugees have set up camp inside a no man's land between the Syrian and Jordanian borders, from where they were able to receive assistance.

The Jordanian army said last Tuesday's attack saw the suicide bomber set off from the camp in no-man's land in an explosives-laden vehicle and blow it up at a military outpost, killing seven soldiers.

Jordan responded by declaring the remote desert regions "closed military zones", with no access to civilians including aid workers.

IS claimed responsiblity for the attack and authorities had no choice but to seal off the area, government spokesman Mohamed Momani said.

"National security must take precedence over any other consideration," Momani told AFP.

"The zone where the refugees are gathered has become an enclave for Daesh on our borders," he said, using an Arabic name for the jihadist group.

The WFP, which previously had been providing food parcels including canned goods, bulgur wheat, rice, cooking oil, fruits and vegetables to the refugees, has since been unable to make any deliveries.

Perhaps more worrying, aid workers say, is the lack of water deliveries to the camp, where summer temperatures can often exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

Since the attack, aid groups have only twice been able to deliver water to the camp -- which is dozens of kilometres (miles) from the nearest source in Syria.

The UN children's agency UNICEF was able to bring a water tanker to the area on Monday, Andrew Harper, the Jordan representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said on Twitter, but "food (is) still a massive concern."

- 'Lives at risk' -

Hala Shamlawi, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Jordan, said it was unclear how long the area would be sealed off.

"We are looking at other solutions," she said, adding that criminal gangs were taking advantage of the crisis to sell water and food at exorbitant prices.

"These difficult conditions could push those blocked to return to the interior of Syria," Shamlawi said.

Amnesty International last week warned Jordan that "a total closure of the border and denial of humanitarian aid to the area would inevitably lead to extreme hardship among those unable to find refuge and put their lives at risk."

Gerry Simpson, who handles refugee questions for Human Rights Watch, said Amman needed to be held responsible for the refugees' welfare.

"It is Jordan's choice to trap these people in the desert at its border... And any harm that comes to those people in that area as a result of dehydration, or lack of food and medical care, is fully Jordan's responsibility," he said.

Jordanian authorities have rejected criticism of the country's policies, pointing out that it already hosts nearly 1.4 million Syrian refugees, of whom 630,000 are registered with the United Nations.

Caring for refugees is "the responsiblity of the international community and not just of Jordan," government spokesman Momani said.

"The kingdom will cooperate as much as it can in the framework of these efforts," Momani said, adding that there were "other ways to bring aid to refugees without passing though the (Jordanian) borders."
Hague court to rule July 12 in South China Seas case

An international tribunal said Wednesday it will hand down a ruling on July 12 in a highly-watched case brought by the Philippines challenging China's claims to most of the South China Sea.

The verdict by the Permanent Court of Arbitration -- the world's oldest international tribunal for the peaceful resolution of disputes between nations -- could further inflame tensions in an already volatile row over the strategic waterway.

The court in The Hague said in a statement it had informed the parties that it would issue its ruling at about 11 am (0900 GMT) on July 12.

Beijing has built a runway on the Fiery Cross Reef, which is also claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines DigitalGlobe (CSSI/AFP/File)

The written decision will first be emailed to the parties, and then released to the press and uploaded onto the PCA's website.

Spanning more than three years and nearly 4,000 pages of evidence, the arbitration case in The Hague is extremely complex, and has already drawn anger in Beijing.

In essence, China claims most of the sea, even waters approaching neighbouring countries, based on a vaguely defined "nine-dash" Chinese map dating back to the 1940s.

The Philippines disputes this and -- while it has stressed that it is not asking the court to rule on sovereignty or to delimit any boundaries -- it has asked the tribunal to rule on other key points of the dispute, including Manila's contention that the "nine-dash" has no basis under international law.

The Philippines turned to the court, established in 1899, after 17 years of negotiations with China, saying it had exhausted all political and diplomatic avenues to settle the dispute.

But China refused to participate in the hearings, arguing the tribunal had no jurisdiction in the matter.

Tensions have been growing for years in the South China Sea, as Beijing has sought to expand its presence in what is a main maritime link between the Pacific and Indian oceans, giving it enormous trade and military value

Its shipping lanes connect East Asia with Europe and the Middle East, and over $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes through the sea annually.

Major unexploited oil and gas deposits are also believed to lie under the seabed.

China has also conducted massive dredging and artificial island-building activities in the Spratlys, dwarfing the scale of reclamation work of other claimants.

In April, the United States launched joint South China Sea patrols with the its key Southeast Asian ally the Philippines and amid growing US concerns over the tensions has consistently called for a diplomatic solution to the standoff.
UN beefs up Mali mission with 2,500 peacekeepers

The UN Security Council on Wednesday decided to send 2,500 extra peacekeepers to Mali, authorizing the force to take "all necessary means" to deter attacks in what has become the UN's deadliest mission.

The council unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution that brings the force known as MINUSMA up to a maximum level of 15,200 troops and police, and provides for modern equipment and quick-reaction units.

The vote followed a spate of attacks on UN bases in Mali that have killed 27 peacekeepers so far this year.

More than 12,000 soldiers are stationed in Mali as part of the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping misson Alou Sissoko (AFP/File)

MINUSMA will now have "a more robust mandate" with additional troops that will include "highly specialized European contingents," French Ambassador Francois Delattre said.

Germany is set to deploy 650 troops to Mali who will bring aerial drones and transport planes to bolster MINUSMA.

The resolution authorizes peacekeepers to "take all necessary means" to carry out their mandate in support of a struggling peace accord signed a year ago.

Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told the council by video-conference that "the entire Malian people, from north to south, east to west was rejoicing" over the resolution's adoption.

The government would spare no effort to implement the peace accord that has been facing major delays implementation, he added.

The council threatened to impose sanctions against anyone blocking the peace accord in line with a request from Mali earlier this month.

- Resilient threat -

The mission is "confronted with a resilient terrorist threat" from groups aligned with Al-Qaeda and jihadists who remain active mostly in the north, the French ambassador said.

But France has no immediate plans to strengthen its counterterrorism Operation Barkhane operating in Mali and the Sahel region, which provides backup for UN troops, he added.

Mali has been struggling to turn the page on an Islamist takeover of its northern territory in 2012 that triggered a French military intervention to pull the country back from the brink of collapse.

The UN peacekeeping mission has become a target for attacks since its deployment in July 2013.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which is not a signatory to the peace deal, has claimed responsibility for two recent attacks on peacekeepers in the northern city of Gao.

On Sunday, the head of the Islamist group Ansar Dine, Iyad Ag Ghaly, released a video threatening French and UN troops in Mali, vowing to confront "the crusaders' military machine."

MINUSMA chief Mahamat Saleh Annadif has said the peacekeepers must be better-trained and better-equipped, in particular with armored personnel carriers capable of withstanding attacks from explosive devices planted on roads.

He has also asked for more surveillance drones and five more helicopters to accompany convoys on dangerous explosives-laden routes.

The council resolution instructed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to take additional measures to improve MINUSMA's surveillance capacities and provide equipment to counter explosive devices.
Yemen peace talks to take two-week break: UN envoy

Yemen's warring parties are taking a two-week break in peace talks, the UN special envoy said on Wednesday, after more than two months of negotiations that made little headway.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said the delegations would return to Kuwait on July 15 to "embark on a new phase" in the talks.

The break follows a flare-up in violence across Yemen on Tuesday that killed 80 people, nearly half of them civilians.

UN-backed talks between Shiite Huthi rebels and Yemen President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government began in Kuwait on April 21 Mohammed Huwais (AFP/File)

It also coincides with Eid Al-Fitr, the feast that comes after the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"After convening extensive discussions with the participants, we have established the main principles that will guide the next phase of Yemen talks," Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a statement.

"The two delegations will use the coming two weeks to meet their respective leaderships," he said.

They will then return "with practical recommendations on how to implement the necessary mechanisms that will enable them to sign a peace accord."

The UN-backed talks between Shiite Huthi rebels, who have seized control of large parts of the Arabian Peninsula country, and President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government began in Kuwait on April 21.

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.

He has put forward a peace roadmap that would see the formation of a unity government and the withdrawal and disarmament of the rebels.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday met the two delegations in Kuwait City and urged them to accept the roadmap.
China's top internet regulator steps down

China's top internet regulator, who oversaw a severe tightening of internet freedoms during his tenure, has stepped down, reports said Wednesday.

Lu Wei -- named as one of the world's 100 most influential people last year by Time magazine -- had been in charge of supervising controls on online expression since taking over as head of the Cyberspace Administration of China in 2013.

China censors online content it deems to be politically sensitive, while blocking some Western media websites and the services of Internet giants including Facebook, Twitter and Google.

Beijing's censorship of the Internet has been dubbed the "Great Firewall of China" Ed Jones (AFP/File)

Lu will be succeeded by Xu Lin, a deputy from the same department who joined in 2015 and previously served two years as the minister of propaganda for the city of Shanghai.

"Xu Lin has replaced Lu Wei as the head of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs," the official Xinhua news agency said, citing an official statement but providing no further details.

Xu worked alongside China's President Xi Jinping in Shanghai in 2007, when the latter was the city's communist party chief.

Last year, a report by the American pro-democracy think tank Freedom House found that China had the most restrictive Internet policies of 65 countries studied, ranking below Iran and Syria.

Lu was a powerful figure both at home and abroad, where he commanded the attention of global technology firms eager for a piece of the Chinese market.

He was personally received by Mark Zuckerberg in 2014 at Facebook's Silicon Valley headquarters, and appeared in the front row of a "family photo" alongside top execs from American tech giants such as Amazon and President Xi Jinping when the head of state visited the US last September.
VW still long way from drawing line under engine-rigging scandal

Volkswagen cleared a big hurdle with a US deal over compensation for its engine-rigging scam, but the embattled auto giant is still a long way from drawing a line under the affair, observers say.

VW has agreed to a record payout in the US, pledging to buy back or fix vehicles that tricked pollution tests, and pay each owner up to $10,000.

In a settlement filed in federal court on Tuesday, the German auto giant agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion (13.2 billion euros) to American consumers and US authorities, and announced a separate deal to pay $603 million to settle consumer protection claims from US states.

Volkswagen has admitted installing suspect emissions-testing software into as many as 11 million vehicles worldwide Mark Ralston (AFP/File)

The huge settlement, the biggest in a US air pollution probe, only partly resolves claims against the automaker, embroiled in a months-long scandal that has roiled the industry and tarnished the reputation of the company and its "green" initiatives, analysts said.

"With the US settlement we think the high level of insecurity is set to abate," said Equinet analyst Holger Schmidt.

Metzler analyst Juergen Pieper said he believed that the deal represented "a key step".

But he estimated that the sum being paid out in the US only represented around half of the overall cost of the affair.

LBBW analyst Frank Biller and NordLB analyst Frank Schwope put the final cost at 20-30 billion euros ($22-33 billion).

- Additional provisions -

Such forecasts may be far below the figures of as much as 60 billion euros that were first bandied around when the scandal broke last September.

But they still exceed the 16.2 billion euros in provisions that VW has set aside so far, pushing the carmaker into its first year-end loss in more than 20 years last year.

Analysts therefore expect VW to up its provisions in the coming months, with Biller at LBBW suggesting a figure of an additional 1.8 billion euros for the third quarter of 2016.

Under the terms of the deal reached on Tuesday, which has still to be approved by the US authorities, the owners of the 480,000 cars affected in the US can hand back their cars to VW or have them refitted at the carmaker's cost. In addition, each owner could be paid up to $10,000 in compensation.

It was originally the US authorities that broke the scandal when they exposed VW for installing software into some of its diesel engines, enabling the vehicles to spew up to 40 times the permitted amounts of nitrogen oxides.

Volkswagen subsequently admitted that it had installed the suspect software into as many as 11 million vehicles worldwide.

While in Europe, VW has already started recalling the affected cars, the negotiations for a deal in the US had been much more arduous.

"The deal seems very expensive, but $4.0-5.0 billion won't be paid out," said Metzler analyst Pieper.

Most of the clients were happy with their cars and would not seek to exchange them, which would bring the bill down to "nearer $10 billion," he said.

But VW is still under a seperate investigation in the US concerning engine-rigging in another 100,000 three-litre models not included in current deal.

- Solid finances -

Elsewhere around the world, VW is facing a number of regulatory probes and lawsuits filed by car owners who feel they have been duped and investors who are seeking compensation for the massive drop in the value of their shares.

In Europe, where VW does not envisage any financial compensation for owners, there is growing criticism of the unequal treatment of US and European consumers.

More than eight million vehicles are affected in Europe and owners feel they are being treated like "second-class citizens," raged lawyer Christopher Rother in an article in the business Handelsblatt. Rother represents clients on both sides of the Atlantic.

The recall action in Europe, where engines will simply be refitted, is expected to cost VW at least one billion euros, said Pieper at Metzler.

Financially, VW is on a solid footing, with annual sales of around 200 billion euros and a workforce of 600,000.

It has a huge cash mountain and credit lines that would enable it to spend up to 50 billion euros without having to divest any operations, said Pieper.

Volkswagen emissions scandal

Owners of the 480,000 cars affected by the VW emissions scandal in the US could be paid up to $10,000 in compensation Odd Andersen (AFP/File)
Obama to campaign with Clinton, Trump shrinks gap

President Barack Obama will campaign with presumptive Democratic White House nominee Hillary Clinton for the first time next Tuesday, as a new poll shows a tightening race with Republican Donald Trump.

The Democratic pair is scheduled to visit Charlotte, in the swing state of North Carolina, where they will "discuss building on the progress we've made and their vision for an America that is stronger together," Clinton's campaign said in a statement Wednesday.

Their debut joint campaign appearance for the 2016 election had been scheduled for June 15 in Wisconsin, but was postponed due to the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida -- the worst mass shooting in US history.

US President Barack Obama and then secretary of state Hillary Clinton pictured at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland in 2012 Jewel Samad (AFP/File)

Obama endorsed Clinton on June 9 after months of assiduously avoiding tipping the scales of the Democratic presidential primaries.

"I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office," Obama said in a video message that day as he offered his full-throated endorsement of the former secretary of state, senator and first lady.

"I'm with her, I am fired up, and I cannot wait to get out there and campaign for Hillary," added Obama, who won a brutal, months-long Democratic primary battle against Clinton in 2008.

North Carolina is one of about a dozen battleground states where November's election is expected to be decided.

Obama won North Carolina by less than half a percentage point against Republican John McCain in 2008. Four years later, Obama lost it to Mitt Romney by two points.

- Bruising showdown -

The joint appearance the day after the July 4 Independence holiday comes with US Senator Bernie Sanders refusing to bow out of the nomination race, despite Clinton amassing the necessary number of delegates to clinch outright victory at next month's party nominating convention.

But Clinton has moved on, turning the entirety of her effort towards a bruising showdown with Trump as she aims to become the nation's first female president.

The race is too close to call, with the brash billionaire narrowing the gap with Clinton, according to the latest Quinnipiac University national poll.

Respondents put Clinton ahead of Trump just 42 percent to 40 percent, a narrowing from Clinton's four-point margin in the organization's June 1 survey.

The poll is considerably closer than the 12-point Clinton advantage in Sunday's ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Quinnipiac's survey notably showed that 61 percent believe the 2016 election "has increased the level of hatred and prejudice" across the country.

Of that group, two thirds blame the Trump campaign, with just 16 percent blaming Clinton's team.

Trump has made several incendiary statements during the campaign, including a call for banning Muslims from entering the United States, and describing Mexicans as rapists and criminals.

Meanwhile, respected election data analyst and FiveThirtyEight.com founder Nate Silver, who correctly predicted 50 out of 50 states in the 2012 presidential election, on Wednesday said Clinton was a 75 or 80 percent favorite over Trump.

"There's a lot of football left to be played, but she's ahead in almost every poll, every swing state, every national poll," Silver told ABC's "Good Morning America."

Trump's rhetoric has alarmed and angered many in his own party, and there is a longshot conservative movement afoot to deny him the nomination at the party convention in July.

Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell has endorsed him, but only tepidly, and late Tuesday he acknowledged Trump was not yet a "credible" candidate.

"Trump clearly needs to change, in my opinion, to win the general election," McConnell told Time Warner Cable News.

But Trump was his old contentious self Wednesday, spending several minutes of a rally in Bangor, Maine attacking Republicans whom he had already defeated in the primaries for not honoring their signed pledge to support the party's nominee.

"They should never be allowed to run for public office again because what they did is disgraceful," he boomed.

He also bucked his own party by voicing strong opposition to a stalled trans-Pacific trade deal and saying he wanted to "renegotiate" NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement signed by Clinton's husband.
Iraq inks deal for $2.7 billion US military loan

Iraq secured a deal Wednesday for a $2.7 billion US loan to finance the buying of ammunition and maintenance of tanks and fighters used in the fight against the Islamic State group.

A US embassy statement said the declaration of intent was signed by Ambassador Stuart Jones and Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

The US Foreign Military Finance credit facility will help Iraq "defer payment for the purchase of ammunition and maintenance of its F-16s (jets) and M1A1 (Abrams) tanks," Jones said.

Iraqi tanks rumble towards Falahat, a village on the outskirts of Fallujah, on June 27, 2016 Moadh Al-Dulaimi (AFP/File)

The deal gives Iraq eight-and-a-half years to pay for its military purchases, in what the statement said was part of Washington's efforts to ensure Baghdad's economic difficulties do not affect the fight against IS.

Iraq, whose economy is overwhelmingly reliant on oil, is facing a bruising budget crunch caused by the drop in crude prices and the ongoing cost of the war on IS.
Monsanto still 'open' to a big deal, including Bayer

Monsanto said Wednesday it was still open to a potential merger with Bayer, or to another big deal, as it reported lower earnings due to a tough agricultural market.

One month after the US seed and pesticide maker rejected a $62 billion takeover bid by Germany's Bayer AG as too low, Monsanto chief executive Hugh Grant said he had held talks with Bayer and with other unspecified companies.

"While there is no formal update on the Bayer proposal, I have been personally in discussions with Bayer's management over the last several weeks, along with others regarding alternative strategic options," Grant said in a statement announcing the company's latest quarterly earnings.

The Bayer-Monsanto dance comes as low crop prices depress demand for many agricultural products John Thys (AFP/File)

"We continue to recognize the potential value these types of combinations can create as they accelerate innovation and increase choice for farmers across a broader set of crops, geographies and production practices, while improving the sustainability of agriculture around the world," he said.

The Bayer-Monsanto dance comes in the wake of announced proposed megamergers involving US companies DuPont and Dow Chemical and Swiss company Syngenta and ChemChina as low crop prices depress demand for many agricultural products.

The deals have sparked worries among farmers who fear that consolidation will lead to higher prices for seeds. Some analysts have said a Bayer-Monsanto tie-up could face tough scrutiny from antitrust regulators.

Monsanto reported Wednesday a 37.2 percent drop in fiscal third-quarter earnings to $717 million after sales tumbled 8.5 percent to $4.2 billion. Key factors included the pricing declines in herbicide glyphosate, known by its brand name Roundup.

"Our industry is running at a low point in the overall agriculture cycle and we've experienced an unforeseen level of challenges affecting our business in fiscal year 2016," Grant said.

"Today, however, we anticipate positive resolution on the horizon for several of these challenges, coupled with early signs of recovery in agriculture."
Angolan court orders releases jailed activists

An Angolan court on Wednesday freed 16 young activists, including a well-known rapper, three months after they were jailed for rebellion against long-serving President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

Most of the group were arrested during a book club meeting in June last year where one of the books on the line-up was about non-violent resistance to repressive regimes.

The activists maintained throughout their trial they were peaceful campaigners for the departure of dos Santos, who has been in power since 1979 and rules the oil-rich country with an iron fist.

Rapper Luaty Beirao went on trial with 16 other activists for "rebellion and a coup attempt" after being arrested at a book-reading club where one of the texts was about non-violent resistance to repressive regimes Stephane De Sakutin (AFP/File)

"Release warrants under house arrest were issued on behalf of 17 applicants to be executed from the present day," the Supreme Court in Luanda said in a statement.

Sixteen of the activists were freed immediately while one remained in prison Wednesday serving out a four-month sentence for a contempt of court offence imposed during the trial.

"They sentenced innocent people. Justice has been done. The struggle continues," the activists chanted as they left prison late Wednesday.

The ruling overturns sentences ranging from two to eight years in prison, which were handed down at the end of a lengthy trial in March amid complaints about political repression.

One of the accused, rapper Luaty Beirao, went on hunger strike for over a month last year to protest against his detention.

Beirao, who holds dual Portuguese and Angolan nationality, has a loyal fan base in Portugal, Angola's former colonial ruler.

As supporters waited for the activists to leave prison, defence lawyer Francisco Miguel Michel said he was "very happy".

"Any court concerned with the application of justice would have ruled the same," he said, insisting his clients "committed no crime".

- 'Public pressure' -

Human Rights Watch researcher Zenaida Machado told AFP the ruling was "long overdue".

"The order should have been given immediately after the verdict in March... I am satisfied that the Supreme Court is upholding the law of the country," she said.

The 17 had been charged with "preparatory acts of rebellion" and "criminal conspiracy".

Earlier this month, rallies were held in several foreign cities to mark one year since their detention.

Prominent independent journalist and campaigner Rafael Marques said the group should never have been arrested.

"Their release was a political decision as a result of public pressure," he added.

In March, a Portuguese branch of the Anonymous hacking collective said it had shut down about 20 Angolan government websites in retaliation for the jailing, while at the sentencing about 30 protesters chanted for the arrest of the president.

Dos Santos said earlier this year he would stand down in 2018, but there was scepticism over whether he would do so after similar pledges in the past.

His current mandate ends at the end of next year.
Norway to extradite Kurdish preacher to Italy

A Norwegian court gave the green light on Wednesday for the extradition to Italy of a controversial Kurdish Iraqi cleric accused of belonging to the Islamic State group.

Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, also known as Mullah Krekar, has lived in Norway as a refugee since 1991 but Italy has requested his extradition in the belief the 59-year-old is an Islamic fundamentalist who associates with jihadists.

"A swift and complete resolution of the affair and respect for international penal cooperation speak in favour of pursuing penal procedure in Italy," an Oslo city court ruled.

Picture taken on August 14, 2015 shows Najmuddin Ahmad Faraj also known as Mullah Krekar at court in Oslo Jon Olav Nesvold (NTB SCANPIX/AFP/File)

Krekar has twice served jail terms in Norway for threats and inciting violent behaviour.

Iraqi attempts to have him extradited failed over Norwegian fears he could face the death penalty at home.

Wednesday, his lawyer Brynjar Meling said his client would appeal, citing alleged procedural irregularities.

"We have not had access to the original (case) documents," Meling told AFP, suggesting Oslo was looking for any excuse to have him leave a country which views him as a security threat.

Italy wants to charge him over alleged terror plotting in the belief he leads Rawti Shax, an internet-based offshoot of extremist group Ansar al-Islam and helps to recruit jihadi fighters.
West Africa economies losing out to illegal fishing: report

"Catastrophic" levels of illegal fishing in west Africa are costing the region millions in lost revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs, a development think tank said Wednesday.

Countries such as Senegal, Sierra Leone and Mauritania are missing out on vital income because of the masses of fish taken from their waters by trawlers from as far afield as South Korea, according to research by Britain's Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

Senegal lost $300 million, or 2.0 percent of its GDP, to the practice in 2012, while Sierra Leone -- one of the region's poorest nations -- missed out on $29 million, said the report, entitled "Western Africa's Missing Fish".

The ship pictured was boarded after it was observed illegally fishing in Senegalese waters near the border with Guinea Bissau, Lieutenant-Colonel Adama Diop, a military communications officer, told AFP Seyllou (AFP/File)

A lack of government transparency in the region, limited capacity to patrol the seas and legal loopholes once west Africa's fish arrive in Europe, its biggest market, were all contributing to the situation, report author Alfonso Daniels told AFP.

"It's a huge problem and it's only getting worse," he said.

West Africa's "illegal" fish are transported in giant refrigerated containers mixed with other cargo to escape scrutiny at port, Daniels explained.

"Four-fifths are coming through container ships and (they) are not considered at all by the anti-illegal fishing legislation of the European Union, which is the largest market for fish in the world," Daniels said.

Europe is the destination for 44 percent of all west Africa's fish exports.

Despite this loophole, the EU remains a leader in sanctioning producers of illegal fish.

Meanwhile, a series of opaque agreements between West African nations and the likes of Russia, China and South Korea mean that the scale of the region's "missing fish" could be much larger.

"Fisheries agreements... should be public and openly available as they are with the European Union," Daniels said.

And if Africa fished its own waters rather than striking shady deals with other countries, more money would flow into the governments' coffers.

The sale of fishing rights to foreign operatives netted Africa $400 million in 2014, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, but could in theory generate $3.3 billion if the continents own fleets caught and exported the fish.

Another practical step towards combating the problem would be creating a blacklist of illegal vessels.

The ODI report estimated more than 300,000 new jobs could be created if measures such as a global tracking system for fishing vessels were instituted, loopholes were closed and a blacklist created.

"Further development benefits would derive from increased export revenue. Sustainable management of fisheries resources would also strengthen food security," the report said.

Achieving "marine environmental sustainability" would stop permanently depleting endangered stocks and would provide a long-term income, it said.
In Burundi, UN says 348 'extrajudicial' killings in a year

At least 348 people died in extrajudicial killings in crisis-hit Burundi over the year from April 2015, the UN said Wednesday.

The killings were largely blamed on police, intelligence agents, anti-riot officers and militias linked to the ruling party, according to a report issued by UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.

The report "details the tragic and comprehensive deterioration in the human rights of the people of Burundi", Zeid told a session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Burundi policemen patrol the street on February 15, 2016 following a grenade attack in Bujumbura, Burundi STRINGER (AFP)

Aside from violence blamed on the security services, the UN rights office documented over the same period 134 murders committed by armed men, likely those opposed to President Pierre Nkurunziza's government.

Their victims primarily included police officers, soldiers and pro-government militia members, Zeid's report said.

Burundi has been plunged into a deep crisis since Nkurunziza announced in April 2015 that he was running for a third term. He was re-elected last July.

The violence has forced more than 270,000 people to flee the country, and raised fears of a wider crisis in Africa's volatile Great Lakes region, with the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda having been fuelled by similar ethnic tensions.

Over the 12-month reporting period, the rights office further recorded 651 incidents of torture.

They were primarily committed between April and July of 2015 and from December to April of 2016, when the repression of opposition supporters was most intense, the report said.
Ivorian ex-first lady's lawyers try to discredit accuser

Lawyers for Ivory Coast's former first lady Simone Gbagbo, on trial for crimes against humanity, on Wednesday said a key witness who claimed she had bankrolled a militia movement had psychiatric problems.

The bid to discredit Moise Metchro Harolde Metch came a day after the former militia head told the court that the feisty Gbagbo had financed his group.

Simone Gbagbo is accused over deadly violence following the 2010-2011 presidential election that her husband Laurent Gbagbo lost. Laurent Gbagbo is on trial for war crimes at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Ivory Coast's former first lady Simone Gbagbo looks on during the second day of her trial on June 1, 2016, at the appeal court in Abidjan Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File)

"We have proof that the witness has already undergone a psychiatric examination," Simone Gbagbo's lawyer Ange Rodrigue Dadje said.

Gbagbo's lawyers had earlier called for the psychiatric test on the ground that Metch's earlier statements in the run-up to the trial were "flagrantly incoherent."

Dadje then called for that report to be made public.

The head of the court, Kouadio Bouatchi, asked Metch if he was compos mentis, to which he replied: "I am in full possession of all my mental faculties. I am not crazy!"

Metch's hearing was postponed until Thursday after the report of the psychological examination is made public.

Simone Gbago, 67, whose trial began on May 31, has denied any contact with the militia that hunted down supporters of her husband's rival, current President Alassane Ouattara.

The decision by ex-president Gbagbo not to recognise Ouattara's victory in the November 2010 election triggered a crisis which cost the lives of more than 3,000 people over five months.

The violence ended only after troops stormed the bunker where the Gbagbo couple had holed up.

The former first lady has rejected allegations she was involved in a decision to shell a pro-Ouattara Abidjan neighbourhood and helped plan attacks by Gbagbo supporters on his detractors.
Egypt president calls for reforms to counter extremists

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who came to power after a bloody crackdown on political Islamists, called on Wednesday for religious reforms to counter extremists in a speech to Muslim clerics.

Sisi has often warned that Islamist extremism presents a vital threat to the region, which he suggested lags in development and women's rights.

Not enough work, he added, has been done to confront the ideology of extremists who have roiled the region and are waging a bloody insurgency in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivering a speech in Cairo during the thirty-fourth anniversary of Sinai liberation on April 24, 2016 STRINGER (Egyptian Presidency/AFP/File)

"We are on a mission, during one of the most difficult periods not only for Egypt, but for Egypt and all Arab and Muslim states," Sisi said in the televised speech.

"Are we the most knowledgeable of nations?" he asked, referring to Muslim countries. "Are we the most tolerant nation? Are we the nation that most respects women?"

"If you found that the flaw was only in Egypt, we'd say OK. But I wonder, in how many of these 50 (Muslim) countries is this situation present?" he asked.

Early Islamic scholars, he said, confronted sayings and traditions wrongly attributed to the Muslim prophet Mohamed. Islamic law is partly based on Mohamed's sayings that are deemed authentic.

"We can perform the same role, but regarding other things," Sisi said, without elaborating.

"I fear that we have not until now found the real path to confronting fanaticism and extremism: look at the map of extremism in the world," he added.

The former army chief was elected president in 2014 almost a year after he overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following mass protests, a move initially met with Western opprobrium.

The retired field marshal has since presented himself as an authority on the dangers of Islamist extremism, and found acceptance among Western countries as an ally in the war against the Islamic State group.

Egypt is battling an affiliate of the group in the Sinai Peninsula which has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen and brought down a Russian passenger plane with 224 people on board.

But Sisi's calls for reforms in Islamic thought have also met with skepticism by opponents who accuse his security services of extensive human rights abuses.

More than 1,000 pro-Morsi protesters have been killed in clashes since his overthrow on July 3, including more than 600 killed in a single day when police dispersed a Cairo protest camp.
Paris, Moscow admit Syria at stalemate

Paris and Moscow admitted Wednesday that war-torn Syria is at a stalemate, urging each other to pressurise their respective allies to restore a truce and relaunch a peace process.

"Today things are blocked," said French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. "It is urgent to improve the situation on the ground and to encourage a resumption of negotiations. There's no other answer," Ayrault said after meeting in Paris with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

On Tuesday, Ayrault said he would ask Moscow "to pressure the Damascus regime to stop air strikes claiming thousands of lives, notably in Aleppo".

Syrian government soldiers guarding a viewpoint overlooking the ancient city of Palmyra after they recaptured the site from the control of the Islamic State (IS) groupon March 27, 2016 STRINGER (SANA/AFP/File)

But Lavrov, saying "not everything depends on the Russians", called on all sides to "pressure their proteges on the ground".

"The problem will be resolved when our Western partners convince their 'moderate' proteges to withdraw from the positions of the Al-Nusra Front", Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, which is fighting the Damascus regime, Lavrov said.

International efforts to reach a political solution to Syria's five-year war, which has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions, have faltered and a February 27 ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia has all but collapsed.

Damascus and Moscow are continuing air strikes against "terrorist" positions -- where, according to Lavrov, "so-called moderate opposition groups are taking part in hostilities" -- while the US-led coalition against IS is bombing jihadists and backs armed groups on the ground.

On the diplomatic front, two rounds of indirect peace talks have been held so far this year in Geneva, but without making any headway.

UN mediator Staffan de Mistura has called for a resumption in July, but it seems unlikely.
Global helium supplies balloon

World supplies of helium, the gas that makes your voice squeaky, may be on the ascent.

Scientists and a Norway-based exploration firm this week hailed a huge find of the rare element in Tanzania as a potential game changer.

Helium, the second most abundant gas of the universe after hydrogen but found only rarely on Earth, is used notably as a liquid coolant in hospital MRI scanners, electronics and the manufacturing of fibre optics.

The discovery of helium in Tanzania could avoid the cost of extracting the element from natural gas Joseph Eid (AFP/File)

Until now, helium had been discovered only as an accidental by-product of oil and gas drilling, said Oxford and Durham university researchers and the exploration company, Helium One.

But for the first time, they said, an exploration team had found helium deliberately, using their knowledge that volcanic activity can release the gas from ancient rocks.

"We show that volcanoes in the Rift play an important role in the formation of viable helium reserves," said researcher Diveena Danabalan of Durham University, which joined with Oxford University and Helium One in the search.

Oxford University professor Chris Ballentine said the team had calculated that helium reserves in just one part of the African Rift valley amounted to 54 billion cubic feet, enough to fill more than 1.2 million medical MRI scanners.

- 'Game changer' -

"This is a game changer for the future security of society's helium," Ballentine said in a joint statement released Tuesday when the find was revealed.

"Similar finds in the future may not be far away," he said.

World helium sales amounted to an estimated $1.01 billion (909 million euros) in 2015 and are expected to balloon to $1.52 billion in 2020, said a report by market research group Technavio.

Eric Prades, global helium and rare gases director at French group Air Liquide, said 80-90 percent of the world's helium is extracted from natural gas wells in a process that relies on very low temperatures.

The Tanzania find had an "interesting potential" because it avoids the cost of extracting the element from natural gas, said Prades, who was not involved in the find.

Helium prices climbed in 2012-2013 over supply concerns, said the Air Liquide specialist. At the time, Tokyo Disneyland went so far as to ban helium balloons.

But supply worries have largely evaporated since, said Prades.

Russian oil and gas giant Gazprom could produce 40 percent of the world helium market by the 2020s thanks to a vast extraction project at a natural gas field in Siberia, he said.

Iran could begin producing helium too, Prades said, explaining that it shares the same natural gas field as Qatar, the world's second largest producer after the United States.
Windows 10 anniversary update set for August

Microsoft on Wednesday said it will mark the one-year anniversary of Windows 10 with a major update to the software powering more than 350 million computing devices.

"The Anniversary Update will help people be more productive, stay safer online and, of course, have fun," Windows and Devices Group corporate vice president Yusuf Mehdi said in a blog post.

The Windows 10 update set for release on August 2 promised improved security and enhanced capabilities for the Microsoft Edge browser.

Microsoft has been aggressively promoting upgrades from old versions of Windows, and has made Windows 10 available as a free upgrade until the operating system turns one year old on July 29 Robyn Beck (AFP/File)

It also adds Microsoft Ink, which supports the use of digital pens for tasks such as writing, drawing, or working on math problems.

"Now, using a Windows 10 device, graphic designers can be more creative, musicians can write digital music, lawyers can edit documents with the power of the pen, and students can do mathematical equations and learn by writing -- all with Windows Ink," Mehdi said.

The new Windows 10 also lets virtual assistant Cortana handle more commands, and opens the door to sync with Xbox One consoles to play video games.

The anniversary update was also touted as making Windows computers easier to set-up and use in schools.

Windows 10 operating system is designed to work on laptops, desktops, smartphones, Xbox One consoles, HoloLens augmented reality headsets and more.

Microsoft has been aggressively promoting upgrades from old versions of Windows, and has made Windows 10 available as a free upgrade until the operating system turns one year old on July 29.

After that, it will be available pre-installed on new devices or for purchase separately, with a home computer version priced at $119, according to the Redmond, Washington-based company.

Microsoft provoked ire by pushing people to upgrade to Windows 10 by automating the process and, for a time, modifying the red "x" in a corner of a upgrade notice pop-up box to approve the action instead of simply close the message.
Amnesty, HRW want Saudis off UN rights council

Two leading human rights groups urged UN member-states to suspend Saudi Arabia from the UN Human Rights Council over the killing of civilians in Yemen and repression at home.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said they would begin lobbying the UN General Assembly to hold a vote on suspending Saudi Arabia from the Geneva-based council, even though they admitted this was a long shot.

"Over the past few months, Saudi Arabia has gone beyond the pale and does not deserve anymore to sit on the Human Rights Council," said HRW deputy director Philippe Bolopion.

A Yemeni man walks past on March 23, 2016 one of Sanaa's UNESCO-listed buildings that were damaged by air strikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition over the past year in the Yemeni capital Sanaa Mohammed Huwais (AFP/File)

Human Rights Watch accused Riyadh of targeting civilians in the war in Yemen, using cluster bombs banned by international conventions and laying siege to ports to prevent basic goods from reaching Yemen.

The joint appeal again put the spotlight on Saudi Arabia, which has been leading an Arab coalition carrying out air strikes against Huthi rebels and their allies who seized much of Yemen.

The coalition is supporting Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in a war that the UN says has killed more than 6,400 people, about half of them civilians since March 2015.

"Saudi Arabia is in a league of its own," Bolopion told a news conference, adding that the kingdom is "getting away with murder in a way that no other country has been able to do."

The rights groups charged that Saudi Arabia had used its position as a council member to block an independent international investigation of war crimes in Yemen.

Riyadh pressured UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to remove the coalition from a blacklist of child rights violators by threatening to withdraw funding to UN aid programs.

Saudi Arabia has denied using pressure tactics and insists the coalition is not deliberately targeting civilians in Yemen.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir dismissed the accusations as "outrageous."

"The coalition is very cautious in selecting targets. We do not harm civilians," the minister told reporters in Paris.

- Repression at home -

Amnesty International said the Saudi government had brutally cracked down on dissent at home and resorts to executions for offenses that under international law are not punishable by the death penalty.

Since 2013, all prominent human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia have been either thrown into prison, threatened into silence or have fled the country, said Richard Bennett, Amnesty's UN director.

Saudi Arabia was elected by the assembly in 2013 to sit on the 47-member council and a two-thirds majority would be needed to remove it from the body, which the rights groups and UN diplomats admitted would be unlikely.

Libya is the only country ever to suspended from the council by a vote held in 2011 to protest Moamer Kadhafi's violent crackdown on protesters.

The rights groups said Saudi Arabia had managed to get away with such violations because of support from the United States and Britain.

HRW's director for the Middle East, Sarah Leah Whitson, said the United States and Britain had "crossed the threshold to be part of this war" in Yemen by supplying weapons and supporting operations.

The rights group is asking the Pentagon to provide information on how it is supporting the coalition with the choice of targets, said Whitson.

This form of military assistance would make the United States complicit in war crimes, she said.

Yemenis wave national flags and hold placards during a protest against the Saudi-led coalition, commemorating one year of the alliance's military campaign against insurgents on March 26, 2016 Mohammed Huwais (AFP/File)
Turkey and IS: heading for all-out war?

The Turkish authorities have accused the Islamic State group of carrying out the attack on Istanbul's international airport that killed 41 people.

Long accused of complacency towards IS, Turkey has changed its approach since joining the US-led coalition against the jihadists in August 2015.

What was Ankara's policy towards IS?

A Turkish police officer directs a passenger at Ataturk airport in Istanbul June 28, 2016 after two explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkey's biggest airport, killing at least 28 people and injuring 20 Ozan Kose (AFP/File)

IS has long relied on Turkey as a conduit for reinforcements and weapons bound for Syria to fight the regime of Bashar al-Assad, his armed opponents and Al-Nusra Front, the branch of Al-Qaeda in the war-torn country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a devout Sunni Muslim, openly advocated the downfall of his old ally, his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad of the Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam.

He therefore supported all components of the rebellion since the start of the conflict in Syria in 2011 that has now killed more than 280,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes.

Why has it changed?

In August 2015, Turkey joined the international military coalition against IS which, along with Russia, is mainly targeting the jihadists' oil facilities, including many fields and wells.

"Strangely, IS accuses Turkey of lending support to the YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units) and has blamed Turkey -- and others -- for the loss of territory along the border," says Aron Stein of the Atlantic Council think-tank.

For its part, after having condoned IS's activities, police have been "hitting IS in Turkey pretty hard" including raids in Gaziantep and elsewhere. And Ankara announced recently that its forces were shelling IS positions in Syria.

Why is Ankara blaming IS?

Although no-one has claimed responsibility for the attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said "the evidence points to Daesh", using another name for IS.

According to the Soufan Group intelligence consultancy, "Turkey has become a prime target for the Islamic State in the last year. It has been mentioned several times in the group's English-language magazine, Dabiq; President Erdogan was featured on the cover of issue 11."

Turkey also believes that IS hit it where it hurts, especially tourism, which brings the country's economy around $30 billion a year.

Ege Seckin of IHS Country Risk says that "the attack was most likely conducted by the Islamic State to undermine the Turkish economy by attacking the airport ahead of the summer months, when tourism peaks."

Why isn't IS claiming the airport attack?

IS, which is normally quick to claim responsibility and reveal gory details of its attacks, has always been discreet when it comes to Turkey.

Unlike Kurdish separatists, it has never endorsed attacks in the country except against Syrian citizen journalists.

"It's unclear why IS doesn't claim credit, but it appears to be part of a broader strategy to exacerbate internal Turkish tensions, ranging from political polarisation to the Kurdish-Turkish conflict," says Stein of the Atlantic Council.

Are they heading for all-out war?

The airport attack could mark a turning point.

"If the Islamic State is indeed behind this attack, this would be a declaration of war," says Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Programme at The Washington Institute.

"Thus far, Turkey has avoided engaging the Islamic State in full war, instead prioritising its battle against the Assad regime and the Syrian Kurds. For Turkey, fighting the Islamic State as a first order battle could now be unavoidable."

Major bombings in Turkey Gal Roma (AFP)
US-backed Syrian fighters seize haul of IS documents

US-backed Syrian fighters battling the Islamic State group have snatched thousands of documents, cellphones and other digital devices from the jihadists, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.

The seizure came as an anti-IS force comprising Kurdish and Syrian Arab fighters hones in on the northern city of Manbij, an important waypoint between the Turkish border and Raqa, the jihadists' de facto capital.

Colonel Chris Garver, a spokesman for the US-led anti-IS campaign, said Syrian Arab fighters were establishing "footholds" on the southern and western edges of Manbij, and had seized entrances to an intricate jihadist tunnel complex.

US-backed Kurdish and Arab fighters advance into the Islamic State (IS) jihadist's group bastion of Manbij, in northern Syria, on June 23, 2016 Delil Souleiman (AFP/File)

They "also seized more than 10,000 documents from the outlying edges, including textbooks, propaganda posters, cellphones, laptops, maps and digital storage devices," Garver told reporters.

"Exploitation of this information is ongoing to better understand Daesh networks and techniques, including the systems to manage the flow of foreign fighters into Syria and Iraq," he added, using an Arabic abbreviation for the IS group.

Pentagon officials often highlight the value of such information, leading to new targets and helping them understand the IS network.

Separately, in the southeastern corner of Syria, a group of US-trained rebels called the New Syrian Army was Wednesday battling for control of territory near the Albu Kamal border crossing with Iraq.

Their goal was to cut IS military supply lines in the Euphrates Valley between Syria and Iraq.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels had seized the small Al-Hamdan airbase nearby, but IS jihadists recaptured it by Wednesday afternoon and had been forced to retreat.

Garver did not provide additional details on the ongoing fight but stressed the value of the border crossing.

"That fight is important because that's going to help slow down the flow of foreign fighters ... from Iraq to Syria and back," he said.

The Pentagon claims numbers of foreign fighters coming into Iraq and Syria have dropped from about 2,000 a month last year to as few as 200 a month this year.

"You don't see the massive amounts of movement. It's certainly been whittled down in its size," Garver said.

IS seized the Albu Kamal crossing in mid-2014, when it overran swaths of territory on both sides of the border and declared a self-styled "caliphate."

Over in Iraq, Garver said attention is now shifting from Fallujah, which Iraqi security forces last week recaptured from the IS group, to the jihadists' main stronghold in the country, Mosul.
EgyptAir black box confirms smoke on board: probe

Data from one of the black boxes of a crashed EgyptAir plane showed smoke alarms had sounded on board, while soot was found on the wreckage, an Egyptian-led investigative committee said Wednesday.

The black box had been retrieved from the bottom of the Mediterranean after the Airbus A320 with 66 people on board plunged into the sea on May 19 while heading to Cairo from Paris.

It had recorded the flight's data from its departure until it "stopped at an altitude of 37,000 feet (11,250 metres)," the committee said in a statement.

"Recorded data is showing a consistency with ACARS messages of lavatory smoke and avionics smoke," an investigation committee said in a statement Khaled Desoucki (AFP)

"Recorded data is showing a consistency with ACARS messages of lavatory smoke and avionics smoke," it said, two days after the damaged recorder was repaired in France.

Investigators had previously announced that the plane's automated Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) sent signals indicating smoke alarms on board the plane before it went down.

"Parts of the front section of the aircraft showed signs of high temperature damage and soot," the committee statement added.

Egyptian investigators had confirmed that the aircraft had made a 90-degree left turn followed by a 360-degree turn to the right before hitting the sea.

The plane was carrying 40 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, two Canadians and one passenger each from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Chad, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

The repair work of the cockpit voice recorder, the second black box, was underway at the France's BEA air safety agency.

The device had been found broken into pieces but salvage experts managed to retrieve the recorder's memory unit, Egypt's civil aviation ministry had said.

The committee statement said the search remained for the remains of the passengers and crew.

It "will continue till the full recovery of all the remains at the crash location," it said.

Both Egyptian and French judiciary have opened investigations into the mysterious incident, without ruling out that it had been deliberately downed.

The crash follows the bombing of a Russian passenger over Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula last October, killing all 224 passengers and crew.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack, but there has been no such claim linked to the EgyptAir crash, and the group usually swift claims responsibility for large scale attacks.

Egypt's aviation minister had initially said an attack was the more likely explanation, but President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said there was no theory being favoured yet.

EgyptAir said last week advance compensation payments of $25,000 will be offered to families of the 66 people killed in the crash.

The payments are separate to those expected from insurance companies on behalf of various parties depending on the investigation into the disaster.
UN envoy says still aiming to resume Syria peace talks in July

The UN envoy for Syria said Wednesday he was still aiming to resume peace talks in July but was first seeking guarantees that there will be progress on plans for a political transition.

"We are aiming within July but not at any cost and not without guarantees," Staffan de Mistura said following a meeting of the Security Council.

The UN-backed talks are aimed at reaching a political settlement to Syria's five-year war, which has left more than 280,000 people dead and driven millions from their homes.

(C, L to C, R) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura lead talks on Syria on May 17, 2016 in Vienna Leonhard Foeger (POOL/AFP/File)

The last round of talks held in Geneva ended in late April without any breakthrough as fighting flared on the ground despite a ceasefire that had a promising start when it was reached in February.

De Mistura said he was working to ensure that "when we call the talks there is possibility of moving forward on political transition by August," a deadline set by the international group backing the Syrian peace process.

Most diplomats agree that the August 1 target date to agree on a political transition will be missed, but De Mistura refused to downplay chances for progress.

"Let's talk again in August," he told reporters who suggested prospects were dim.

"There is a lot of discreet diplomacy that is taking place while we are talking," he added.

- Bridging differences -

Returning from Saint Petersburg where he held talks with Russian leaders, De Mistura will on Thursday travel to Washington for further discussions on laying the groundwork for peace talks to resume.

De Mistura said the Syrian government and the opposition must return to the table "with a feeling of urgency and work on some ideas on how to bridge their differences between what everyone means by political transition."

Talks on the transition have stumbled over what role Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad will play, with the opposition insisting that he must leave power immediately.

A UN roadmap calls for a transitional body to be set up in Damascus by August 1, followed by the drafting of a new constitution leading to elections 18 months later.

The UN envoy suggested that time was running out for progress to be achieved, with US President Barack Obama set to step down at the end of the year and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrapping up his term.

"I am putting pressure on all parties because I think that the main parties who can make this happen need to feel that they have a historic responsibility," he said.

He pointed to the UN General Assembly meeting and a G-20 summit in China, both in September, as gatherings that will allow world powers to take stock of the peace effort in Syria and decide on the way forward.
Court adjourns ruling in Nigeria ex-security adviser case

A west African regional court on Wednesday adjourned a ruling in a case in which Nigeria's former national security adviser Sambo Dasuki is challenging his detention by the country's secret police.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court had reserved a ruling until Wednesday after the submissions of both the prosecution and defence lawyers in the high-profile corruption trial.

But court officials told reporters in Abuja on Wednesday that a new date for the ruling would be communicated to counsels.

Former national security adviser of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, Sambo Dasuki (R), speaks with his lawyer Ahmed Raji, during his trial at the federal high court in Abuja, on September 1, 2015 STRINGER (AFP/File)

Dasuki, who served under the regime of former president Goodluck Jonathan until his defeat in the 2015 elections by President Muhammadu Buhari, had urged the regional court to void his detention since December by the Department of State Service (DSS).

Despite being granted bail by the three separate courts, the DSS has continued to detain Dasuki without pressing any new charges.

The former spy master is facing a slew of charges over allegedly bogus arms deals in which money meant for military procurement to fight Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast was diverted for political purposes.

The government considers Dasuki a flight risk while Buhari has said the country cannot allow him to "jump bail".
911 calls capture moments surrounding daughters' shootings

FULSHEAR, Texas (AP)  Authorities on Tuesday released 911 calls that capture the panic in the home of a Houston-area mother before she killed her two daughters, as well as in the home of a neighbor after the shootings.

The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office released recordings of two 911 calls from Christy Sheats' home and one from a neighbor's home. Sheats fatally shot her two daughters before an officer killed her.

In the first call, a woman is heard crying, "Please! Forgive me! Please! Don't shoot!" After a scream, she cries, "Please! I'm sorry!" and "Please! Don't point that gun at her!" Another woman is heard saying, "I promise you, whatever you want," before the call is disconnected.

In this Friday, June 24, 2016 photo, Fort Bend County Sheriffs department crime scene members bag a gun for evidence in a shooting at Blanchard Grove and Remson Hollow in Katy, Texas. Officials said a woman shot her two adult daughters - killing one of them at the scene - before she was fatally shot by a responding police officer. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via AP)

In the second call, a woman is heard saying, weakly, "She shot 'em."

In the third call, a neighbor describes 17-year-old Madison Sheats and 22-year-old Taylor Sheats, apparently still alive, lying in the street in front of their house. The neighbor describes Christy Sheats kneeling over her eldest daughter and shooting her dead. Madison Sheats later died at a hospital.

An officer killed Christy Sheats after she refused demands to drop her gun.

A Facebook profile consistent with Sheats' biographical details included a pro-gun post, alongside posts about how much she loved members of her family.

In this Friday, June 24, 2016 photo, neighbors gather to watch as Fort Bend County Sheriffs department investigates a shooting at Blanchard Grove and Remson Hollow in Katy, Texas. Officials said a woman shot her two adult daughters - killing one of them at the scene - before she was fatally shot by a responding police officer. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via AP)
The Latest: Wildfire spreads near Northern California river

FRESNO, Calif. (AP)  The Latest on wildfires burning in the West (all times local):

7 p.m.

Officials say evacuations are underway at a rural subdivision 50 miles northeast of Sacramento, California, as a wildfire climbs out of a steep canyon along the Middle Fork of the American River.

Steve Keeling walks through the ashes of his fire ravaged home, Monday, June 27, 2016, in South Lake, Calif. The home was one of the homes and structures that were destroyed by the fire that started Thursday, near Lake Isabella, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Placer County Sheriff's spokeswoman Dena Erwin says homes near Todd Valley between the cities of Foresthill and Auburn are being evacuated as a 250-acre fire grows.

She did not know how many homes are affected, but says the fire is approaching a subdivision with large lots and a scattered population.

The fire began Tuesday afternoon in El Dorado County before jumping the river and climbing out of the canyon into neighboring Placer County.

California Department of Forestry and Fire protection spokeswoman Lynnette Round says firefighters in the air and on the ground are working in 101-degree heat.

No injuries or structure damage has been reported.

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6 p.m.

A brush fire burning in central Arizona has forced evacuations and the closure of part of a major interstate.

Dolores Garcia with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management says the blaze near the Cordes Junction along Interstate 17 north of Phoenix has charred more than a square mile, and crews are dealing with the effects of thunderstorms that are building in the area.

Strong, erratic winds forced the flames to shift directions and start heading in a southern direction Tuesday evening.

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office called for mandatory evacuations in portions of Cordes Lakes earlier in the day. Garcia said crews have managed to keep flames from reaching any structures.

Multiple engines, water-dropping helicopters and air tankers are assigned to the fire.

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5:30 p.m.

Authorities say firefighters battling a blaze that has scorched almost 72 square miles in Arizona were forced to use their fire shelters following a sudden change in fire activity.

Officials with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Fort Apache Agency said Tuesday the firefighters were able to walk out of the area once it cooled, and none suffered life-threatening injuries.

It's not clear what may have caused the change in fire behavior, and officials say an extensive investigation will follow given that deploying a fire shelter is considered a serious incident.

The blaze has been burning since June 15 and is 75 percent contained.

The crew was working along the remaining uncontrolled fire line when the incident occurred.

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1:15 p.m.

Deadly wildfires in California are forcing a conversation about how to minimize the danger to millions of people.

Kevin Ryan, a former U.S. Forest Service fire scientist, said wildfires are often predictable, so the public must choose more wisely where to build communities in order to minimize the risk.

A fire still burning near Lake Isabella east of Bakersfield, California, killed an elderly couple and destroyed hundreds of homes. Last year, six people died in fast-moving California wildfires.

A report by the nonpartisan Climate Central says that 11 million Californians are at risk of wildfire and that climate change will lengthen wildfire season.

NASA climatologist Bill Patzert says climate change is a real factor. But he says California has irresponsibly built homes in wildlands as the state's population exploded in recent decades.

Inca, a cadaver dog, and her handler Mary Cablk search the burned ruins of a home Monday, June 27, 2016, in Squirrel Valley, Calif. The blaze had killed an elderly couple who were found Friday after apparently being overcome by smoke. The fire has burned more than 70 square miles and is 40 percent contained. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Inca, a cadaver dog, and her handler Mary Cablk search the burned ruins of a home Monday, June 27, 2016, in Squirrel Valley, Calif. The blaze had killed an elderly couple who were found Friday after apparently being overcome by smoke. The fire has burned more than 70 square miles and is 40 percent contained. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Voters to decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California voters will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana after Secretary of State Alex Padilla said Tuesday that initiative proponents turned in more than enough signatures to place the question on the November ballot.

A successful vote in California would mean one in every six Americans lives in a state with legal marijuana sales, including the entire West Coast.

The initiative is promoted by a well-funded and politically connected coalition spearheaded by former Facebook president Sean Parker.

File - In this April 20, 2016 file photo, customers buy products at the Harvest Medical Marijuana Dispensary in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Haven Daley, File)

"Today marks a fresh start for California, as we prepare to replace the costly, harmful and ineffective system of prohibition with a safe, legal and responsible adult-use marijuana system that gets it right and completely pays for itself," Jason Kinney, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement.

It asks voters to allow people 21 and older to buy an ounce of marijuana and marijuana-infused products at licensed retail outlets and also grow up to six pot plants for personal recreational use.

Smoking weed would remain off-limits in places where tobacco use already is prohibited, including restaurants, bars and other enclosed public places.

Sales of both recreational pot and medical marijuana initially would be subject to a 15 percent excise tax. Cities and counties would retain the right to prohibit pot-related businesses and to impose their own fees and taxes.

State officials estimate the measure would raise as much as $1 billion per year in revenue and reduce public safety costs  for police, courts, jails and prisons  by tens of millions. Provisions of the initiative, which requires a simple majority vote to pass, would direct most proceeds to covering regulatory costs, research on the effects of legalization, environmental mitigation, substance abuse treatment and other purposes.

It has drawn support from the California NAACP, the California Medical Association and the California Democratic Party. Sponsors are promoting it as a civil rights issue, arguing that minority communities suffer a disproportionate share of drug crimes and arrests. They also say the initiative would make it harder for people under 21 to obtain pot and easier for police to crack down on illicit sales than it has been in the two decades since California became the first U.S. state to legalize medical marijuana.

Opponents include the California Republican Party, the Teamsters Union and groups representing police chiefs and hospitals.

"The dangers of marijuana are pretty clear in terms of motorist safety, criminal activity, impacts on society," said Cory Salzillo, legislative director of the California State Sheriffs' Association. "We don't believe that decriminalization will upend the black market."

California voters rejected pot legalization by 7 percentage points in 2010, two years before western states began liberalizing their approach to pot. Colorado and Washington became the first states to allow recreational sales in 2012, followed two years later by Alaska and Oregon.
Darryl Glenn wins Colorado Republican primary for Senate

DENVER (AP)  Darryl Glenn, a tea-party favorite from the conservative stronghold of Colorado Springs, decisively won Colorado's Republican U.S. Senate primary Tuesday and will face incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet in November.

Glenn beat four opponents in a race that focused on national security, jobs and Bennet's support for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and Iran nuclear weapons deal.

Glenn, an El Paso County commissioner and self-described Christian constitutionalist conservative, was the only candidate voted directly to the primary at the state GOP convention.

El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn gives two thumbs during the U.S. Senate Republican Primary, Tuesday, June 28, 2016 in Colorado Springs, Colo. El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn has won Colorado's Republican U.S. Senate primary and will face incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet in November. (Stacie Scott/The Gazette via AP) MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

He won endorsements from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and the tea party-aligned Senate Conservatives Fund, which poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into his campaign.

"What we found out during the campaign is that Coloradans care about the Iran deal, Obamacare and excessive regulations that are hurting working families. Michael Bennet has to account for it," Glenn said after his win.

Seeking his second six-year term, Bennet was unopposed among Democrats.

Rick Palacio, the state's Democratic chair, issued a statement saying "Glenn is too extreme for Colorado and will add to the dysfunction of Washington."

Glenn's victory capped a campaign that frustrated many Republican leaders and encapsulated GOP voters' resentment toward Bennet's close ties to Obama and partisan gridlock in Washington. It also sets up an uphill race against an incumbent who has raised millions of dollars and is running ads touting his work for Coloradans.

At the campaign's start, Bennet was considered one of the nation's most vulnerable Democratic senators up for election this year. He first was appointed to replace Ken Salazar when Salazar was named interior secretary. Bennet was the underdog before narrowly defeating tea party-backed Ken Buck in his first election in 2010.

GOP leaders criticized Bennet's support for Obama's deal to ease economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for Iran's promise not to pursue a nuclear weapon. Bennet also touted Obama's health care overhaul, which has in part led to rapidly rising premiums and dwindling choices for many Coloradans.

Many voters are upset by Bennet's support for Obama's proposal to close Guantanamo Bay, fearing Colorado is a possible destination for the detention center's terrorists.

But the Republican field exploded to 13 after U.S. Reps. Mike Coffman and Scott Tipton and George Brauchler, who prosecuted theater shooter James Holmes, declined to challenge Bennet. Ultimately, five candidates made the primary, none of them having held statewide office before.

Glenn defeated Robert Blaha, a Colorado Springs businessman; Jack Graham, a GOP newcomer and retired businessman from Fort Collins who appealed to the party's moderates; former state Rep. Jon Keyser, a decorated combat veteran who focused nearly exclusively on national security; and former Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier.

A divisive race over, Bennet now has a challenger in an independent-minded state that replaced Democratic Sen. Mark Udall with then-GOP Rep. Cory Gardner just two years ago. He'll now have to defend his voting record and address jobs, school choice, health insurance and the war on the Islamic State group, all issues central to Coloradans.

Primary day also featured a Denver campaign stop by Hillary Clinton, who responded to a House Benghazi committee report Tuesday into the 2012 attack that killed four U.S. citizens. Clinton said it "found nothing  nothing" different from previous investigations. The committee produced no new allegations against Clinton.

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James Anderson can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jandersonap

In this April 9, 2016 photo, El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn speaks at the Colorado Republican State Convention in Colorado Springs, Colo. On Tuesday, June 28, 2016, Glenn was declared winner of Colorado's Republican U.S. Senate primary and will face Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet in November. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

FILE - In this April 12, 2014, file photo, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., greets delegates during the Colorado Democratic Party's State Assembly in Denver. On Tuesday, June 28, 2016, El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn was declared winner of Colorado's Republican U.S. Senate primary, and will face Democratic incumbent Bennet in November. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

A voter, center, receives his ballot at a polling center, on state primary election day, in Boulder, Colo., Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Colorado Republicans were wrapping up voting in the five-way U.S. Senate primary race Tuesday. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

A pedestrian talks on a mobile telephone as he hands his ballot to election judge Sheila Keightley as voters drop off their ballots in the state primary election at a drive-in site outside the city's election commission headquarters Tuesday, June 28, 2016, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Suspected IS suicide bombers kill dozens at Istanbul airport

ISTANBUL (AP)  A suicide attack at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport Tuesday killed dozens and wounded more than 140 as Turkish officials blamed the carnage at the international terminal on three suspected Islamic State group militants.

Hundreds of frightened passengers streamed out of the airport, fleeing the latest of several bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. The attacks have increased in scale and frequency, scaring off tourists and hurting the Turkish economy, which relies heavily on tourism.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 36 were dead as well as the three suicide bombers. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said 147 were wounded. Another senior government official told The Associated Press the death toll could climb much higher.

Passengers embrace each other at the entrance to Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following their evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

The senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, at first said close to 50 people had already died, but later said that the figure was expected to rise to close to 50.

Yildirim said three suicide bombers were responsible for the attack and all initial indications suggest the Islamic State group was behind it.

"The findings of our security forces point at the Daesh organization as the perpetrators of this terror attack," Yildirim told reporters at the airport, using the Arabic name for IS. "Even though the indications suggest Daesh, our investigations are continuing."

Yildirim said the attackers arrived at the airport in a taxi and blew themselves up after opening fire. Asked whether a fourth attacker might have escaped, he said authorities have no such assessment but are considering every possibility.

The victims included some foreigners, he said, adding that many of the wounded have minor injuries but others are more badly hurt.

Another Turkish official said two of the attackers detonated explosives at the entrance of the international arrivals terminal after police fired at them, while the third blew himself up in the parking lot.

The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations and cited interior ministry information, said none of the attackers managed to get past security checks at the terminal's entrance.

Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.

Roads around the airport were sealed off for regular traffic after the attack and several ambulances could be seen driving back and forth. Passengers were left sitting on the grass outside the airport.

Hevin Zini, 12, had just arrived from Duesseldorf, Germany, with her family and was in tears from the shock.

"There was blood on the ground," she told The Associated Press. "Everything was blown up to bits... if we had arrived two minutes earlier, it could have been us."

South African Judy Favish, who spent two days in Istanbul as a layover on her way home from Dublin, had just checked in when she heard an explosion followed by gunfire and a loud bang.

She says she hid under the counter for some time.

Favish says passengers were ushered to a cafeteria at the basement level where they were kept for more than an hour before being allowed outside.

Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions.

"We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off," Paul Roos said. "There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a hand gun."

Yildirim said air traffic at the airport, which was suspended after the attack, had resumed to normal.

The prime minister called for national unity and "global cooperation" in combatting terrorism.

"This (attack) has shown once again that terrorism is a global threat," Yildirim said. "This is a heinous planned attack that targeted innocent people."

He suggested that the attack was linked to what he said was Turkey's success against Kurdish rebels as well as steps Ankara took on Monday toward mending strained ties with Israel and Russia.

"It is meaningful that this heinous attack came at a time when we have become successful in the fight against separatist terrorism ... and at a time when we started a process of normalizing ties with our neighbors," Yildirim said.

Yildirim insisted there was no security lapse at the airport but said the fact that the attackers were carrying weapons "increased the severity" of the attack.

The private DHA news agency said the wounded, among them police officers, were transferred to Bakirkoy State Hospital.

The series of recent attacks in Turkey have been linked to Kurdish or Islamic State group militants, including two in Istanbul targeting tourists that authorities have blamed on IS.

Istanbul's Ataturk Airport was the 11th busiest airport in the world last year, with 61.8 million passengers, according to Airports Council International. It is also one of the fastest-growing airports in the world, seeing 9.2 percent more passengers last year than in 2014.

The largest carrier at the airport is Turkish Airlines, which operates a major hub there. Low-cost Turkish carrier Onur Air is the second-largest airline there.

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http://interactives.ap.org/2016/turkey-airport-attack/

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Soguel reported from Sanliurfa, Turkey. Bram Janssen in Istanbul and Scott Mayerowitz in New York also contributed to this report.

Passengers embrace each other as they wait outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following their evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Turkish rescue services help a wounded person outside Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (Ismail Coskun, IHA via AP) TURKEY OUT

Turkish police officers stand outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, late Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

In this image taken from DHA TV, a police cordon is set up outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday June 28, 2016. Two explosions rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Tuesday evening, according to a Turkish official. (DHA TV via AP) TURKEY OUT.

In this image taken from DHA TV, a police cordon is set up outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday June 28, 2016. Two explosions rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Tuesday evening, according to a Turkish official. (DHA TV via AP)

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT Medics and security members work at the entrance of the Ataturk Airport after explosions in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (IHA via AP) TURKEY OUT

Rescue services gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish rescue services gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Medics and security members work at the entrance of the Ataturk Airport after explosions in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fire at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (IHA via AP) TURKEY OUT

Turkish rescue services gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

An injured person sits in an ambulance outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding scores of others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish security officers gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding scores of others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fire at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish rescue services gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding scores of others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fire at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish rescue services carry a victim from the scene of a blast outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Turkish forensic police officers work inside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, late Tuesday, June 28, 2016. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

People stand together outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

A woman stands and cries outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

People stand outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

A police officer guides people outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

People wait outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

A flight's passengers leave on a bus from Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following their evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

A passenger sits outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following her evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Turkish police secure the entrance to Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

People gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following its evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT- Turkish rescue and security officers work near an entrance of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (IHA via AP) TURKEY OUT

Turkish forensic police officers work at the scene of a blast outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, late Tuesday, June 28, 2016. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fire at them. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Turkish rescue services carry a victim from the scene of a blast outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Turkish police officers stand outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, late Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT - Turkish forensic police officers work at the scene of a blast outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, late Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

A passenger sleeps on the pavement outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following an evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Members of a flight crew leave Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Passengers rest on the pavement outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following their evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

People gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following its evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT
Gunman shoots 1 at downtown Denver building; kills self

DENVER (AP)  A gunman walked into a busy downtown Denver office building and shot a person multiple times before turning the gun on himself, police said Tuesday.

The gunman was found dead when SWAT officers arrived, police spokesman Doug Schepman said. The female victim was critically injured and was undergoing surgery at a nearby hospital.

Schepman said the gunman targeted the victim, and detectives are trying to determine the connection between the two. Police have not released any names.

Investigators walk through the intersection of 15th Street and Wazee near the scene of a shooting in a lower downtown business Tuesday, June 28, 2016, in Denver. Officers responded to the business after a report of a gunman, blocking several streets in the congested area. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Officers went floor-by-floor to clear the Alliance Center, a building that houses several environmental organizations and provides shared workspaces. Other buildings were locked down, and people were asked to stay away from the area.

Nicole Arnone, who works for the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute on the third floor of the building, said she was listening to a conference call with earbuds when a co-worker tapped her on the shoulder and said, "We just heard a few loud bangs and some screaming, and I think we need to go."

"We debated whether to hide in the corner or run," Arnone said, and they decided to flee. She smelled smoke and thought it was either a fire or gunpowder, she said. Arnone spotted a shell casing in the stairwell as she fled.

Once outside the building, she ran away and flagged down an officer, who took her to a bus where witnesses were being held.

Jordan Peters, who works nearby and was having coffee next door at the time of the shooting, said she saw a swarm of people running from the area.

"They were yelling that there was a man with a gun, that there was a shooter," she said. "I got my stuff and ran in the opposite direction."

Office workers in the Alliance Center streamed out of a door with their hands in the air as armed officers secured the scene.

The Alliance Center is steps from the 16th Street pedestrian mall in the trendy LoDo neighborhood near a major transit hub and about four blocks from Coors Field.

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Associated Press writer Thomas Peipert contributed to this report.

Doug Schepman, left, spokesperson for the Denver Police Department, responds to questions from reporters during a news conference near the scene of a shooting in a lower downtown business Tuesday, June 28, 2016, in Denver. Officers responded to the business after a report of a gunman, blocking several streets in the congested area. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Denver Police Department officers investigate near the scene of a shooting in a lower downtown business Tuesday, June 28, 2016, in Denver. Officers responded to the business after a report of a gunman, blocking several streets in the congested area. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Police respond to reports of a shooting in Denver, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Police say a gunman walked into a busy downtown Denver office building and shot multiple times before turning the gun on himself. (Eric Lutzens/The Denver Post via AP) MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT; NO SALES; NEW YORK POST OUT; NEW YORK DAILY NEWS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

Denver Police Department investigators talk near the scene of a shooting in a lower downtown business Tuesday, June 28, 2016, in Denver. Officers responded to the business after a report of a gunman, blocking several streets in the congested area. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Denver Police Department officers, back, signal to a man in the alley behind the scene of a shooting in a lower downtown business Tuesday, June 28, 2016, in Denver. Officers responded to the business after a report of a gunman, blocking several streets in the congested area. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
PICTURED: In Paraguay, drought-stricken caimans agonize

FORTIN GENERAL DIAZ, Paraguay (AP)  Dozens of caimans are on the verge of death because of a harsh drought that has hit a wide desert zone of Paraguay known as the Chaco Boreal.

Owners of the area's San Jorge Hacienda have tried to rescue the adult and newborn yacare caimans by drilling 18 wells to collect water that is then transported to reservoirs normally used for cattle. During a recent visit, Associated Press journalists found two dead caimans in the area and several others agonizing in the mud. The yacare caiman is found in central South American, including the rivers of Paraguay.

The caimans were seen about a few miles outside of Fortin General Diaz, a small community with army barracks near the Pilcomayo River, which is born in the Andean foothills in Bolivia and serves as a natural border between Argentina and Paraguay.

In this June 25, 2016 photo, the remains of a dead yacare caiman lies on dry riverbed of the Pilcomayo river, near Fortin General Diaz, Diaz, Paraguay. The meandering Pilcomayo river, which borders Argentina's Formosa province is a glacier fed river that floods twice a year and spills into Paraguay as well as Argentina. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

The small fort for which the community is named for is about 310 miles west of the capital Asuncion and can only be reached by land by driving on an unpaved road. The waters from the Pilcomayo river stopped reaching this area after a massive flood earlier this year changed its course to Argentine territories. The entry point of the river into Paraguay remains blocked with sediment.

"Everyone is demanding a final solution but there's no end in sight to this problem because the river goes where it wants to go," said Edwin Pauls, governor of the affected state of Boqueron. He added that wild animals such as capybaras, as well as the yacare caimans and other reptiles, continue to suffer during the drought.

The government of Argentina's Formosa province has been working to unclog the mouth of the river, which only receives abundant water twice a year through the melting of ice from the Andes.

Alcides Gonzalez, manager of a large farm in the area, said workers have relocated livestock to give the caimans a larger space to survive. Gonzalez said that some Mennonite communities living nearby have offered to donate food for the caimans.

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In this June 25, 2016 photo, yacare caimans swim in an artificial reservoir in the San Jorge cattle ranch near the dried up Pilcomayo river, close the town of Fortin General Diaz, Paraguay. Apart from the lagoon, 18 wells have been dug to secure water sources for the reptiles. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

In this June 25, 2016 photo, stagnant water, what remains of the Pilcomayo river surrounds a tree stump, near the community of Fortin General Diaz, Paraguay. This area of the country, known as Chaco Boreal, is in the midst of a severe drought that is affecting both man and beast. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

In this June 25, 2016 photo, the carcass of a dead yacare caiman lies on dry riverbed of the Pilcomayo river, near the community of Fortin General Diaz, Paraguay. Thousands of the reptiles are in danger due to the severe drought that is affecting the area. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

In this June 25, 2016 photo, two yacare caimans move on the shore of a reservoir in the San Jorge cattle ranch near Pilcomayo river, near teh community of Fortin General Diaz, Paraguay. Thousands of caimans are stranded in these man made reservoirs as the river itself has been reduced to a trickle due to an ongoing drought. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

In this June 25, 2016 photo, a startled yacare caiman jumps into an artificial reservoir at the San Jorge cattle ranch near the Pilcomayo river, near the community of Fortin General Diaz, Paraguay. Cattle ranchers have build these reservoirs to try and save as many caimans as they can from an ongoing drought. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

In this June 25, 2016 photo, a Nivacle Indian walks with his grandson on the Pilcomayo dry riverbed, near the community of Fortin General Diaz, Paraguay. The river, that floods twice a year, has had its course diverted mostly into the bordering Argentine province of Formosa. Authorities in Paraguay claim this was due to sedimentation on the Paraguayan side and dredging on the Argentine side. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

In this June 25, 2016 photo, a stork flies over a saltwater lagoon near Pilcomayo river, near the community of Fortin General Diaz, Paraguay. This area of the country, known as Chaco Boreal, is in the midst of a severe drought that is affecting the local yacare caiman population. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

In this June 25, 2016 photo, a yacare caiman suns itself on Pilcomayo river bed, near the community of Fortin General Diaz, Paraguay. The severe drought that is endangering the caimans is due in part to the clogging of the river due to sediment deposits. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
ISTANBUL (AP)  Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 36 people died Tuesday as well as the three suicide bombers, who arrived at the airport in a taxi and blew themselves up after opening fire. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said 147 were wounded.

Another senior government official told The Associated Press the death toll could climb much higher. The senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, at first said close to 50 people had already died, but later said that the figure was expected to around that many.

Passengers embrace each other as they wait outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following their evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Airport surveillance video posted on social media showed the moment of one blast, a huge ball of fire, and passengers fleeing in terror. Another appeared to show an attacker, felled by a gunshot from a security officer, blowing himself up seconds later.

The recent attacks on a key partner in the U.S.-led coalition against IS and a NATO member have increased in scale and frequency. They have scared away tourists and hurt the Turkish economy, which relies heavily on tourism.

As dawn broke over the destroyed terminal Wednesday, workers began removing debris left by the blast. The airport partially reopened, but the international arrivals area remained closed and several emergency vehicles maintained a heavy security presence. An information board inside showed that about one-third of scheduled flights had been canceled, with a host of others delayed.

Earlier, the hundreds of passengers who fled the airport in fear were left sitting on the grass outside. Several ambulances drove back and forth, and security vehicles surrounded the scene.

Adam Keally, from Boston, said he heard gunfire followed by several explosions, then saw people "very badly injured."

Hevin Zini, 12, had just arrived from Duesseldorf, Germany, with her family and was in tears.

"There was blood on the ground," she told AP. "Everything was blown up to bits... if we had arrived two minutes earlier, it could have been us."

Yildirim, speaking to reporters at the airport, said all initial indications suggested the Islamic State group was behind the attacks.

"The findings of our security forces point at the Daesh organization as the perpetrators of this terror attack," Yildirim said, using the Arabic name for IS. "Even though the indications suggest Daesh, our investigations are continuing."

Another Turkish official said two of the attackers detonated explosives at the entrance of the international arrivals terminal after police fired at them, while the third blew himself up in the parking lot.

The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations, cited interior ministry information and said that none of the attackers managed to get past security checks at the terminal's entrance.

Turkey shares long, porous borders with Syria and Iraq, war-torn countries where IS controls large pockets of territory. Authorities have blamed IS for several major bombings over the past year, including on the capital Ankara, as well as attacks on tourists in Istanbul.

Turkey has stepped up controls at airports and land borders and deported thousands of foreign fighters, but has struggled to tackle the threat of IS militants while also conducting vast security operations against Kurdish rebels, who have also been blamed for recent deadly attacks.

The devastation at Istanbul's airport follows the March attack on Brussels Airport, where two suicide bombings ripped through check-in counters, killing 16 people. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack, as well as a subsequent explosion at a Brussels subway station that killed 16 more people.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said on Twitter: "Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul's airport. We condemn these atrocious acts of violence."

Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.

South African Judy Favish, who spent two days in Istanbul as a layover on her way home from Dublin, had just checked in when she heard an explosion followed by gunfire and a loud bang.

She says she hid under the counter for some time.

Favish says passengers were ushered to a cafeteria at the basement level where they were kept for more than an hour before being allowed outside.

Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions.

"We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off," Paul Roos said. "There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a hand gun."

The prime minister called for national unity and "global cooperation" in combatting terrorism.

"This (attack) has shown once again that terrorism is a global threat," Yildirim said. "This is a heinous planned attack that targeted innocent people."

He suggested that the attack was linked to what he said was Turkey's success against Kurdish rebels, as well as steps Ankara took Monday toward mending strained ties with Israel and Russia.

"It is meaningful that this heinous attack came at a time when we have become successful in the fight against separatist terrorism ... and at a time when we started a process of normalizing ties with our neighbors," Yildirim said.

Yildirim said there was no security lapse at the airport, but added the fact the attackers were carrying weapons "increased the severity" of the attack.

Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.

Asked whether a fourth attacker might have escaped, Yildirim said authorities have no such assessment but are considering every possibility.

Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Turkey said at least seven Saudis were injured in the attack and all are in stable condition.

Dozens of anxious friends and relatives waited early Wednesday outside Istanbul's Bakirkoy Hospital, where victims were taken.

"You can hear that people are wailing here," said Serdar Tatlisu, a relative of a victim. "We cannot cope anymore, we can't just stay still. We need some kind of solution for whatever problem there is."

Turkey is beset by an array of security threats, 26, including from ultra-left radicals, Kurdish rebels demanding greater autonomy in the restive southeast, and IS militants.

On Jan. 12, an attack that Turkish authorities blamed on IS claimed the lives of a dozen German tourists visiting Istanbul's historic sites. On March 19, a suicide bombing rocked Istanbul's main pedestrian street, killing five people, including the bomber, whom the authorities identified as a Turkish national linked to IS.

Last October, twin suicide bombings hit a peace rally outside Ankara's train station, killing 102 people. There was no claim of responsibility but Turkish authorities blamed the attack on a local cell of IS.

Istanbul's Ataturk Airport was the 11th busiest airport in the world last year, with 61.8 million passengers, according to Airports Council International. It is also one of the fastest-growing airports in the world, seeing 9.2 percent more passengers last year than in 2014.

The largest carrier at the airport is Turkish Airlines, which operates a major hub there. Low-cost Turkish carrier Onur Air is the second-largest airline there.

The independent Dogan news agency reported that a plane carrying Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was arriving on an official visit at the airport when the attack occurred. The prime minister and his entourage were safely taken to an official residence.

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http://interactives.ap.org/2016/turkey-airport-attack/

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Fraser reported from Ankara, and Soguel from Sanliurfa, Turkey. Associated Press writers Bram Janssen in Istanbul, Will Lester in Washington, D.C. and Scott Mayerowitz in New York contributed to this report.

People gather on the entrance to Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Passengers embrace each other at the entrance to Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following their evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Turkish rescue services help a wounded person outside Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (Ismail Coskun, IHA via AP) TURKEY OUT

Turkish police officers stand outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, late Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

In this image taken from DHA TV, a police cordon is set up outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday June 28, 2016. Two explosions rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Tuesday evening, according to a Turkish official. (DHA TV via AP) TURKEY OUT.

In this image taken from DHA TV, a police cordon is set up outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday June 28, 2016. Two explosions rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Tuesday evening, according to a Turkish official. (DHA TV via AP)

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT Medics and security members work at the entrance of the Ataturk Airport after explosions in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (IHA via AP) TURKEY OUT

Rescue services gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish rescue services gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Medics and security members work at the entrance of the Ataturk Airport after explosions in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fire at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (IHA via AP) TURKEY OUT

Turkish rescue services gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

An injured person sits in an ambulance outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding scores of others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish security officers gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding scores of others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fire at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish rescue services gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding scores of others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fire at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish rescue services carry a victim from the scene of a blast outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Turkish forensic police officers work inside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, late Tuesday, June 28, 2016. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

People stand together outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

A woman stands and cries outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

People stand outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

A police officer guides people outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

People wait outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

A flight's passengers leave on a bus from Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following their evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

A passenger sits outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following her evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Turkish police secure the entrance to Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

People gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following its evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT- Turkish rescue and security officers work near an entrance of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (IHA via AP) TURKEY OUT

Turkish forensic police officers work at the scene of a blast outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, late Tuesday, June 28, 2016. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fire at them. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Turkish rescue services carry a victim from the scene of a blast outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Turkish police officers stand outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, late Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT - Turkish forensic police officers work at the scene of a blast outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, late Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

A passenger sleeps on the pavement outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following an evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Members of a flight crew leave Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Passengers rest on the pavement outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following their evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

People gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following its evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT
Australian opposition leader shifts position on gay marriage

CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australia's opposition leader on Wednesday explained his shift on gay marriage, which will be a key issue in this weekend's elections.

The center-left Labor Party opposes the conservative government's plan to hold a plebiscite this year to allow the public a direct say on whether Australia should give legal recognition to same-sex marriage.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten confirmed a newspaper report on Wednesday, three days before the election, that he had told Christian church leaders in 2013 that he supported holding such a plebiscite.

Labor's position now is that Parliament should make the decision on same-sex marriage.

Shorten cited as a reason for his change of heart the Irish referendum in May last year in which 62 percent of Irish voters called for their constitution to be changed to allow same-sex marriage.

"That debate, whilst it was ultimately successful, did trigger some very ugly arguments," Shorten told reporters.

"I think the people of Australia, the majority of them, have clearly moved  even in the last two or three years  to supporting marriage equality and all popular opinion polls would seem to indicate the truth of what I'm saying," he added.

Both Shorten and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull support same sex marriage, but differ on how it should be achieved.

Shorten has promised that if his party was elected on Saturday, the first legislation he would introduce to Parliament would be a bill to overturn Australia's ban on same-sex marriage.

Most marriage equality advocates support Labor's approach. Turnbull also previously opposed the plebiscite and the divisive community debate that would precede it. But Turnbull agreed to maintain the government's policy to hold a plebiscite when he defeated Prime Minister Tony Abbott in a leadership ballot in September last year.

The plebiscite would cost 160 million Australian dollars ($120 million) and the result would have no legal standing.

Some government lawmakers have already said they would vote down gay marriage in Parliament regardless of the plebiscite's outcome.
Suicide bombings in Turkey since July 2015

ISTANBUL (AP)  A look at the suicide bombings in Turkey since July 2015:

 June 28, 2016  Suicide attackers killed at least 36 people and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport. Turkish officials said the explosions were probably the work of Islamic State group militants.

 March 19, 2016  A suicide bombing rocked Istanbul's main pedestrian street killing five people, including the bomber, whom authorities identified as a Turkish national linked to IS. Like in the prior attacks blamed on IS, there was no claim of responsibility from the group.

 March 13, 2016: A Kurdish woman blew herself up in a car at a busy transport hub in Ankara, killing 37 people in an attack that was also claimed by TAK, also known as the Kurdish Freedom Falcons.

 Feb. 17, 2016: A suicide car bomb apparently targeting military personnel in Ankara killed 29 people in an attack claimed by TAK, an off-shoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization.

 Jan. 12, 2016: A suicide bomber blew himself up in the historic district of Istanbul, killing 12 German tourists. Authorities said the attack was carried out by an IS-linked Syrian man who had entered the country as a refugee.

 Oct. 10, 2015: Twin suicide bombings hit a peace rally outside Ankara's train station, killing 102 people. There was no claim of responsibility but Turkish authorities blamed the attack on a local cell of IS.
ISTANBUL (AP)  The Latest on the explosions at Istanbul's Ataturk airport (all times local):

10:25 a.m.

Turkish officials say Istanbul's busy Ataturk International Airport has reopened, hours after three suicide bombers killed 36 and wounded 147.

A passenger sits outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following her evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters that air traffic returned to normal and "Our airport has been opened to flights and departures from 02:20 (local time) on," in a press statement at the airport early Wednesday morning.

Turkish Airline's website says "flight operations have been restarted" and instructs passengers to monitor actual flight information.

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9:45 a.m.

Germany's top security official is condemning the attack on Istanbul's airport as "cowardly and brutal."

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said his thoughts were with the victims and their families, and vowed that "we will continue our fight against terrorism together with our allies with full force."

De Maiziere said in a statement Wednesday he was "deeply shocked by the cowardly and brutal attack on Istanbul's airport."

He says "terrorism has once again shown its ugly face and innocent people have lost their lives."

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9:30 a.m.

NATO's chief has strongly condemned the "horrific attacks" at Istanbul's airport, and said Turkey's 27 allies in the U.S-led political and military organization stand with it.

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary-general, said in a statement: "My thoughts are with the families of the victims, those injured and the people of Turkey.

"There can be no justification for terrorism," Stoltenberg said. "NATO Allies stand in solidarity with Turkey, united in our determination to fight terrorism in all its forms."

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8:00 a.m.

Officials on Wednesday morning began assessing the damage caused at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport by three suicide bombers who killed dozens and wounded more than 140.

Workers were brought in to remove debris left by the blast, while in the daylight the damage to the terminal became clearer with even ceiling panels hit.

The airport was partially reopened, with the information board inside the airport showing that about one third of scheduled flights have been canceled, with a host of others delayed.

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5 a.m.

A stoppage of flights to and from the United States and Istanbul Ataturk Airport lasted several hours but has been lifted, said a U.S. official who spoke on background to discuss sensitive security issues. The official said the stoppage was lifted in the middle of the evening.

The official says 10 passenger flights were in the air, flying from Turkey to the U.S., at the time of the stoppage and they have all landed. However, cargo planes and corporate jets in the U.S. would have been most affected by the stoppage. The official says the decision on lifting the stoppage was made in coordination with the Transportation Security Administration.

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Associated Press writer Will Lester in Washington.

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4 a.m.

According to the private Dogan news agency, a plane carrying Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was landing at Istanbul's Ataturk airport when the attack occurred. He was arriving on an official visit. The prime minister and his entourage were safely taken to an official residence. The group was to travel later on Wednesday to Turkey's capital, Ankara.

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3:50 a.m.

Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Turkey says at least seven Saudis were injured in the Istanbul airport attack and all are in stable condition.

The embassy statement was carried on Saudi Arabia's state-owned al-Ekhbaria news channel early Wednesday.

Muslim-majority Turkey is a popular tourist destination for Arabs from the Gulf, particularly during the summer. Tuesday's attack also comes a week before the Eid holiday, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

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3:25 a.m.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the "terrorist attack" at Istanbu's Ataturkl airport and is calling for the perpetrators to be identified and brought to justice.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the secretary-general "stands firmly by Turkey as it confronts this threat and stresses the need to intensify regional and international efforts to combat terrorism and violent extremism."

Mogens Lykketoft, president of the 193-member U.N. General Assembly, expressed anger and grief at the attack.

"Once again we experience the senseless killing of innocent and peaceful civilians," he said. "The international community must  through much closer cooperation  redouble efforts to contain and fight radical and violent extremism."

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3:10 a.m.

Turkey's prime minister says 36 people and three suicide bombers have died in the attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says that so far all indications point to the Islamic State group being behind the attack. He says the attackers arrived at the airport in a taxi and blew themselves up after opening fire.

Asked whether a fourth attacker might have escaped, he says authorities have no such assessment but are considering every possibility.

He says the victims include some foreigners and that many of the dozens wounded have minor injuries but others are more badly hurt.

He says the attacks come as Turkey is having success in fighting terrorism and trying to normalize ties with neighbors like Russia and Israel.

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2:45 a.m.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the United States condemns in the strongest terms possible the attacks at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport that killed at least 31 people and left dozens more wounded.

Earnest says the Istanbul airport, like the Brussels airport that was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind nations together.

He says the U.S. sends its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured.

Earnest says the United States remains steadfast in its support for Turkey, a NATO ally and partner, "along with all of our friends and allies around the world, as we continue to confront the threat of terrorism."

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2:35 a.m.

Turkey's Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag says at least 31 people have been killed and some 147 wounded in the attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport.

Another senior government official says the death toll could climb much higher.

The senior official at first said close to 50 people had already died, but later said that the figure was expected to rise to close to 50.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, also said all initial indications suggest the Islamic State group was behind the attack.

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1:40 a.m.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has released a statement condemning the attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport, which took place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He says the attack "shows that terrorism strikes with no regard to faith and values."

He has called on the international community to take a firm stand against terrorism and vowed to keep up Turkey's struggle against terror groups.

Erdogan says "Turkey has the power, determination and capacity to continue the fight against terrorism until the end."

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1:20 a.m.

A senior Turkish government official has told The Associated Press all initial indications suggest the Islamic State group is behind the attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport.

The official also as many as four militants may have been involved in the attack Tuesday at the airport's international terminal.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

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This item has been corrected to remove retracted reference to nearly 50 people killed.

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12:55 a.m.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has condemned the attacks on Ataturk airport in Istanbul that have killed at least 28 people.

He says on the sidelines of an ecumenical Iftar dinner in Berlin that he's shocked by the news.

He says the background of the attacks is still unclear, "but everything suggests that terrorists have once again hit the Turkish metropolis.

"We grieve for the victims and with the relatives. We stand by Turkey."

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12:50 a.m.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says officials are still trying to figure out who attacked the Ataturk airport in Istanbul and what exactly happened.

Kerry was speaking at the Festival of Ideas in Aspen, Colorado.

He says "This is daily fare and that's why I say the first challenge we need to face is countering non-state, violent actors."

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12:40 a.m.

Hundreds of passengers are flooding out of Istanbul's Ataturk airport after an attack that killed at least 28 people.

Twelve-year-old Hevin Zini had just arrived from Dusseldorf with her family and was in tears from the shock.

She tells The Associated Press that there was blood on the ground and everything was blown up to bits.

South African Judy Favish, who spent two days in Istanbul as a layover on her way home from Dublin, had just checked in when she heard an explosion followed by gunfire and a loud bang.

She says she hid under the counter for some time.

Favish says passengers were ushered to a cafeteria at the basement level where they were kept for more than an hour before being allowed outside.

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12:15 a.m.

Turkey's NTV television is quoting Istanbul's governor as saying 28 people were killed in the attack at the city's airport and some 60 people wounded.

Governor Vasip Sahin also told the channel that three suicide bombers carried out the attack Tuesday.

Officials had previously said one or two attackers had blown themselves up at the entrance to the international terminal at the airport after police fired at them.

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12:10 a.m.

Hundreds of passengers are spilling out of Istanbul's Ataturk airport with their suitcases in hand or stacked onto trolleys after two explosions killed at least 10 people.

Others are sitting on the grass, their bodies lit by the flashing lights of ambulances and police cars, which are the only kind of vehicles allowed to reach the airport.

Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions Tuesday. They were shaken by what they witnessed.

Paul said: "We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off."

He added: "There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a hand gun."

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11:40 p.m.

European Union leaders holding an unprecedented summit about Britain's departure from the bloc are condemning a deadly attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted from a closed-door meeting Tuesday in Brussels, "Despicable terror attack. Stand together with people of Turkey."

Dalia Grybauskaite, president of Lithuania, wrote "Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul airport. We condemn those atrocious acts of violence."

The 28 EU leaders are meeting for an exceptional summit at which Prime Minister David Cameron announced his country has voted to leave the EU. They are also discussing migration via Turkey to the EU.

Two explosions rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport Tuesday, killing at least 10 people.

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11 p.m.

A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at Istanbul's Ataturk airport after police fire at them.

Turkish media quoted Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag as saying 10 people were killed in the attack on Tuesday.

Turkey's state-run news agency quoted Bekir Bozdag as saying: "According to the information I was given, a terrorist at the international terminal entrance first opened fire with a Kalashnikov and then blew himself up. We have around 10 martyrs (dead) and around 20 wounded."

The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check.

Turkish airports have security checks at both at the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

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10:25 p.m.

A Turkish official says two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, wounding multiple people.

The official said Tuesday it was unclear whether the explosions were caused by a suicide attack.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

Turkish media reported the sound of gunfire at the scene.

Turkey has suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or Islamic State group militants.

Members of a flight crew leave Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

People gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following its evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

People gather on the entrance to Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Medics and security members work at the entrance of the Ataturk Airport after explosions in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fire at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (IHA via AP) TURKEY OUT

Turkish rescue services members help a wounded person outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding scores of others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (Ismail Coskun, IHA via AP) TURKEY OUT

Turkish rescue services help a wounded person outside Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (Ismail Coskun, IHA via AP) TURKEY OUT

Turkish police and rescue services gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fired at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkish rescue services gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding scores of others, Turkey's justice minister and another official said Tuesday. A Turkish official says two attackers have blown themselves up at the airport after police fire at them. The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Remains of 2 train workers found in Texas; 1 missing

DALLAS (AP)  The remains of two crew members who had been missing since a head-on freight train collision in the Texas Panhandle were found Wednesday, officials said, and the third missing worker is presumed dead.

The bodies were found in the wreckage of the two trains near the town of Panhandle, BNSF Railway spokesman Joe Faust said. One crew member is still missing, and a fourth jumped from one of the trains just before impact Tuesday; he is hospitalized with injuries that are not life-threatening, Faust said.

Work crews continued to pick through the tangled and smoldering wreckage of the smashed locomotives, rail cars and shipping containers near the town of Panhandle, about 40 miles northwest of Amarillo, he said.

In this photo provided by Billy B. Brown, two freight trains are on fire Tuesday, June 28, 2016, after they collided and derailed near Panhandle, Texas. Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Bryan Witt says the accident occurred Tuesday morning near the town of Panhandle, about 25 miles northeast of Amarillo. No injuries have been reported. (Billy B. Brown via AP)

The BNSF Railway freight trains were on the same track when they collided, triggering a fireball and causing containers and cars to tumble onto one another in a pileup.

One train had earlier stopped in Amarillo to refuel for its trip to Chicago, and that diesel fuel contributed to a fire that burned into the night, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Dan Buesing said.

"You have two engines on each train with fuel and the eastbound train had stopped in the Amarillo yard and may have had extra fuel added for the trip out east," he said. The westbound train was headed to Los Angeles.

Freight cars and containers of consumer goods  such as paper products, clothing, television sets and computers  were strewn about 400 yards from the collision site, Buesing said.

It's not clear how fast the trains were traveling when they collided, but the speed limit in that area is 70 mph and BNSF spokesman Joe Faust said they were "traveling at less than track speed." It also wasn't clear why the trains were on the same track.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Railroad Administration are investigating the crash.

BNSF has pledged to meet a 2018 federal deadline to adopt technology, called positive train control or PTC, that relies on GPS, wireless radio and computers to monitor train positions and automatically slow or stop trains that are in danger of colliding, derailing due to excessive speed or about to enter track where crews are working or that is otherwise off limits. At least three freight railroads have said they'll need an extension to 2020.

Faust said the collision is the type of accident PTC can prevent and that BNSF is "aggressively" pursuing it "across our network."

"While sections of the track operated by the eastbound train involved in this accident have PTC installed and are being tested, the section of track where the incident occurred will be installed later this year," he said in a statement released Tuesday.

In Washington, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx urged the railroad industry "to move as fast as they possibly can" to put PTC systems into operation.

"Folks don't have to wait until the deadline to get PTC compliant," he said Wednesday in response to a reporter's question about the collision.

Any collision is "a terrible event," he said. "Ones that technology could have helped us avoid remind us how critical it is to get this technology in place."

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Associated Press writers Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas, Terry Wallace in Dallas and Joan Lowy in Washington contributed to this report.

In this photo provided by Billy B. Brown, two freight trains are on fire Tuesday, June 28, 2016, after they collided and derailed near Panhandle, Texas. Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Bryan Witt says the accident occurred Tuesday morning near the town of Panhandle, about 25 miles northeast of Amarillo. No injuries have been reported. (Billy B. Brown via AP)

Three crew members were missing and one was hurt Tuesday, June 28, 2016, after a head-on train collision in Panhandle, Texas, that caused several box cars to erupt in flames and led authorities to evacuate residents in the area. The fire was still burning several hours later. An NTSB team has been dispatched to the scene. (Sean Steffen/Amarillo Globe-News via AP)

Three crew members were missing and one was hurt Tuesday, June 28, 2016, after a head-on train collision in Panhandle, Texas, that caused several box cars to erupt in flames and led authorities to evacuate residents in the area. The fire was still burning several hours later. An NTSB team has been dispatched to the scene. (Sean Steffen/Amarillo Globe-News via AP)

In this photo provided by Billy B. Brown, two freight trains are on fire Tuesday, June 28, 2016, after they collided and derailed near Panhandle, Texas. Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Bryan Witt says the accident occurred Tuesday morning near the town of Panhandle, about 25 miles northeast of Amarillo. No injuries have been reported. (Billy B. Brown via AP)
Jordan widens IS crackdown; signs of home-grown extremism

AMMAN, Jordan (AP)  Two dozen men charged with supporting the Islamic State group squeezed into a cage in Jordan's state security court. After brief questioning from a judge, they filed back out, and guards ushered in the next group of accused militants.

The court's heavy load is part of a widening domestic crackdown on the extremist group.

Hundreds have been sentenced to prison, are awaiting trial or are being held for questioning about links to IS. Under toughened anti-terror laws, even liking or sharing the group's propaganda on social media can land someone a prison sentence.

In this Sunday, June 19, 2016 photo, a man outside the al-Maktoum mosque in Zarqa, Jordan squats over the body of Nasser Idreis, who died of complications of a liver infection while serving a three-year prison term for supporting the extremist group Islamic State. Hundreds of suspected backers of the Islamic State group in Jordan have been sentenced to prison, are awaiting trial or are being held for questioning in a heavy crackdown by the kingdom under toughened anti-terror laws that punish even liking or sharing IS material on social media. (Layla Quran/AP Photo)

Some say the crowded court rooms  along with recent attacks  signal that the pro-Western kingdom has a more serious problem with home-grown extremism than it has acknowledged in public.

"We have an extending of the network of IS in Jordan," not just among the poor, but also the middle class, said Mohammed Abu Rumman, an expert on extremists. "It is a minority but it is very dangerous."

The extremists underscored their reach last week when they launched a suicide attack from Syria, detonating a car bomb near a Jordanian border post and killing seven soldiers in the deadliest attack in the kingdom in years.

The Islamic State group's 2014 capture of large parts of neighboring Syria and Iraq sent jitters through Jordan. The U.S. spent millions of dollars to help the kingdom fortify its borders, and Jordan joined the U.S.-led anti-IS military coalition.

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani said that extremism is a global problem and that "Jordan is at a level just like any other societies in the world." The challenge is to reach and prosecute extremists and "make sure we have enough awareness in the society against these elements," he said.

For the West, any sign of instability in Jordan, a key ally, would be of great concern. This would include rising support for jihadi Salafism, the violent version of Sunni Islam that underpins IS and its precursor, al-Qaida.

U.S.-based analyst David Schenker said that while it's difficult to measure jihadi activity, the recent uptick "points to a threat that is not insignificant."

Abu Rumman estimated that there are more than 10,000 jihadi Salafists in Jordan, most loyal to IS, and that about 2,000 of them are fighting in the ranks of IS and al-Qaida in Syria and Iraq.

Jordan's domestic jihadi Salafi movement goes back almost three decades when Jordanians returning from Afghanistan spread the extremist message at home. Jordan's movement produced a spiritual leader of al-Qaida, Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi, and the network's first chief in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed by the U.S. in 2006.

Over the years, jihadi recruitment has been fueled by high unemployment, restrictions on political expression and the perception that the world stands by as Sunnis are being slaughtered in Syria's civil war and the Sunni-Shiite conflict in Iraq.

In Jordan, militant strongholds include poor urban areas, remote tribal towns and decades-old Palestinian refugee camps, where some feel like lesser citizens.

The support was on display recently in one stronghold, Zarqa. Hundreds attended the funeral of Nasser Idreis, a resident convicted of IS support who died in prison from complications of a liver infection.

Clean-shaven intelligence agents mingled with the mourners, and didn't try to blend in. One even introduced himself to a journalist as "mukhabarat"  intelligence  and asked why she was taking photos.

Some mourners wore Salafi attire  short robes or pants that stop above the ankle  though that didn't necessarily mean they belong to the jihadi strain of Salafis that supports violence. Bearded men hugged each other outside a mosque, among them a leading local jihadi Salafi known as Abu Bandar.

Abu Bandar said the government has stepped up pressure in recent months, including with preventive arrests, "because they are concerned that something might happen."

Idreis' family denies he had ties to IS.

In 2011, dozens of Zarqa residents were arrested after clashes between local Salafis and security forces  including Abu Bandar, who was one of the last of the group to be released, about six months ago. Dozens of those have since left and joined the IS "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria, said Moussa Abdallat, a lawyer who represented many of them.

In response to the rise of IS, Jordan toughened anti-terror laws, criminalizing social media support for the group. Sharing IS material on social media can bring one to five years in prison, and involvement in an actual plot far more.

The Jordanian intelligence agency closely monitors social media with an "electronic army," said Abu Rumman. "Anyone they find sympathizing with IS, they send him to court," he said.

Abdallat said about 300 Jordanians have been sentenced or are on trial, most for social media support. About 300 more are being held for questioning, though the number changes frequently, he said. Most are in their late teens and early 20s.

"There is a notable increase in the number of detainees," he said.

Court officials would not provide statistics.

During a recent session, a judge presided over a courtroom crowded with defense lawyers and family of the accused.

In the defendants' cage, the men stood tightly packed. Some hugged new arrivals. Among them were five young men accused of being part of a cell plotting attacks on security installations, a charge their lawyer denied.

In recent months, other reports of such alleged plots have emerged, along with actual attacks.

In November, a police captain opened fire in an international police training facility, killing two Americans and three others. In June, a gunman killed five Jordanians in an attack on an intelligence agency branch in the Palestinian refugee camp of Baqaa.

The government has portrayed the police captain as troubled and clamped a news blackout on the June attack. Abu Rumman said he believes both attackers were inspired by IS.

In March, Jordanian commandos and suspected IS supporters exchanged fire during an arrest raid, leaving seven militants and a member of the security forces dead. The IS cell had allegedly plotted to carry out attacks in Jordan. More than a dozen suspects arrested after the gun battle were charged in the security court this week, Abdallat said.

Jordan defends its anti-IS strategy, saying it is part of a broader counter-radicalization program involving 13 government agencies. Critics say the focus on jailing IS sympathizers is counter-productive.

Prison creates more bonds among jihadis, while a security-centric approach risks neglecting other causes of radicalization, said Schenker, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

A survey among Jordanians, published last week by the U.S.-based International Republican Institute, found a sharp rise in discontent with Jordan's economy and political institutions. The poll also showed that 89 percent of Jordanians consider IS a terrorist organization, while 4 percent disagree and 7 percent are not sure  the same as in 2015.

As jihadi Salafism continues to spread in the region, Jordan will have to adapt, Schenker said.

"Ultimately, you are going to have more Salafists, and the king can't lock them all up," he said.

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Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, Layla Quran in Amman, Jordan, and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.

In this Sunday, June 19, 2016 photo, men wait outside the al-Makhtoum mosque in Zarqa, Jordan for the body of Nasser Idreis to be transported to the cemetery for burial. Idreis died of implications of a liver infection while in prison for allegedly supporting Islamic State. Hundreds of suspected backers of the Islamic State group in Jordan have been sentenced to prison, are awaiting trial or are being held for questioning in a heavy crackdown by the kingdom under toughened anti-terror laws that punish even liking or sharing IS material on social media. (Layla Quran/AP Photo)
Hulk arrives in Shanghai ahead of expected move to SIPG

SHANGHAI (AP)  Brazilian forward Hulk is expected to join Shanghai SIPG in a deal local media are predicting could be a record for the Chinese Super League.

SIPG said more than 1,000 fans were at Shanghai's international airport Wednesday to welcome Hulk, who is set to move from former Russian champion Zenit St. Petersburg.

The club says Hulk will undergo a physical exam before signing a formal contract.

Brazilian soccer player Hulk gives a thumbs-up as he arrives to fans waiting at the airport in Shanghai Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Forward Hulk is expected to join Shanghai SIPG in a deal local media is predicting could be a record for the Chinese Super League. (Color China Photo via AP) CHINA OUT

SIPG spokeswoman Yu Chen declined to confirm reports that Hulk's contract could be worth up to 55 million euros ($61 million).
Newcomers pushing out veterans at US Olympic swim trials

OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  The United States is assembling an Olympic swimming team that Michael Phelps hardly recognizes.

Nearly halfway through the eight-day trials, the team bound for Rio de Janeiro next month has as many as 17 first-timers. Left in their wake so far are such stalwarts as Missy Franklin, Natalie Coughlin, Matt Grevers, Tyler Clary and Jessica Hardy.

Phelps, who turns 31 on Thursday, and teenager Katie Ledecky appear to be the only sure things at a meet described by Phelps as more pressure-packed than the Olympics. "It's harder here," he said.

Michael Phelps dives at the start of a men's 200-meter butterfly semifinal at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

No one is finding it tougher than Franklin.

Four years ago, she was a bubbly teenager who became a star at the London Games, winning five medals, including four golds. Now, she's a professional athlete, albeit still oozing charisma, and sponsors are betting big bucks on her to succeed again. But Franklin won't be defending her gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke after finishing a stunning seventh in the final Tuesday night.

"Right now I need to make the team in whatever way that looks like," she said.

It might only be on a relay.

Franklin's next chance comes Wednesday night in the 200 freestyle, where she's a longshot. Ledecky, already on the team in the 400 free, looks to lock up a second event. She goes into the final more than a second faster than everyone else, leaving Franklin and defending Olympic champion Allison Schmitt among those scrapping for second.

"That's a tough one," Franklin said.

The top six finishers in the 200 free can make the team and be potential relay swimmers. Franklin and Schmitt would rather finish first or second so they could swim the individual event in Rio. But simply making the team would be enough at this point. Schmitt also won five medals in London, but has yet to impress in Omaha. She was fifth in the 400 free.

"She'll be able to work through some of the things she needs to work through," Phelps said of his longtime friend Schmitt.

Phelps is expected to make his fifth and last Olympic team Wednesday night in the 200 butterfly final. He qualified with a time that is 1.10 seconds faster than anyone else. His protege, Chase Kalisz, will try to grab the second spot. Kalisz made his first Olympic team in the 400 individual medley.

"I see a lot of new faces. I don't even know half of them," Phelps said. "It's exciting to have new faces, where people are really pumped to come up in the sport. That's a good thing to see as I'm on my way out."

Ryan Lochte, Phelps' rival and friend, eked onto the team Tuesday night with a fourth-place finish in the 200 free. Lochte is competing hurt, having injured his groin in the 400 IM preliminaries last Sunday.

"You can never go in knowing that you're going to make the team, just because the U.S. is one of the hardest countries to make the Olympic team for because they're so strong in every event," he said. "You've just got to hope and believe that you can."

Franklin isn't the only American who won't be defending an Olympic title in Rio.

Matt Grevers, the 100 back champion four years ago, finished third in the final, beaten a half-second by first-timers Ryan Murphy and David Plummer, a 30-year-old father.

"I'm a little stunned," Grevers said. "After I let it sink in, I'll be more distraught than I currently am."

He has another shot Wednesday in the 100 free preliminaries, needing a top-six finish to be considered for a relay berth.

Like Grevers, Coughlin is aiming to make the team with a top-six finish in the women's 100 free. The 33-year-old swimmer finished eighth and last in the 100 back, an event in which she once won back-to-back Olympic titles and was the first woman to swim under 1 minute.

"My backstroke is just not there right now," she said.

Veterans Clary and Hardy are still in the hunt. Clary, the 200 backstroke champion in London, finished seventh in the 200 free final. Hardy was sixth in the 100 breaststroke.

"It's scary for us veterans," Hardy said, "but it's really wonderful to see (the newcomers). The strength is really deep in our country and we're really proud of that."

Another first-timer, Maya DiRado, goes for a second event in the 200 IM final Wednesday night. She made the team in the 400 IM, and at 23, plans to retire from swimming after Rio to start a business analyst's job awaiting her this fall.

"It's sad to see those faces go in so many events," said first-timer Lilly King, "but nice to see new faces come up."

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This story has been corrected to show Phelps' birthday is Thursday, not Friday.

Ryan Lochte reacts after swimming in the men's 200-meter freestyle final at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Maya DiRado checks her time after swimming in a women's 200-meter individual medley semifinal at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb., Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
EU spells out conditions for single market access to Britain

BRUSSELS (AP)  European Union leaders drew a stark line along the British Channel on Wednesday, telling the U.K. that it cannot keep valuable business links with its former continental partners in a seamless single EU market, if it doesn't also accept European workers.

The challenge cuts to the heart of the British vote to leave the bloc following a virulent campaign where migration from poorer EU countries was a key concern. It also sets the scene for the complex departure negotiations facing departing Prime Minister David Cameron's successor, for which nominations opened in London Wednesday.

Meeting for the first time without the U.K., the 27 other EU nations set out a united strategy to face the next British government which will seek to salvage as many of the EU rights as possible while reneging on a maximum amount of obligations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a final media conference at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britains unprecedented vote to leave. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

They emerged from the summit insisting that the "four freedoms" central to European unity are indivisible: the free movement of people, services, goods and finances.

In Cameron's absence, the most palpable remaining link to Britain at the summit was the English language used. The remaining presidents, chancellors and prime ministers showed a firm common resolve, committing to be "absolutely determined to remain united," EU Council President Donald Tusk said.

The leaders sought to dispel any notion that the referendum result will amount to their Waterloo.

"With a disunited United Kingdom, we need a united Europe more than ever," Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said.

Tusk convened a special EU summit on Sept. 16 in Slovakia's capital Bratislava to work out a plan to keep the EU united. There's a widespread sense that the post-war project to foster peace via trade has become too bureaucratic and undemocratic with not enough meaning for its 500 million citizens. The initial EU founding nations in the west lean toward a tighter, closer union, while newer nations in the east want to keep more control with national governments  notably of their borders.

French President Francois Hollande warned that allowing the status quo to continue would benefit populist forces that seek "the end of Europe." France is among EU countries now facing calls for referendums on quitting the bloc, mainly from the far right.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the lesson from Britain's departure isn't necessarily either deeper integration or returning more powers to national governments. She said Wednesday: "this is not about more or less Europe as a principle, but about achieving better results." She said that combating youth unemployment, for example, could involve both scrapping EU directives and deepening European cooperation.

"The coming weeks will be decisive," Hollande said. "Europe must show its solidity."

That will be tough when it comes to immigration. Central European nations led by Hungary refuse to accept imposed EU refugee quotas, and countries further north have all tightened border controls in response to the arrival of more than 1 million migrants last year. Britain is more concerned about EU immigration, since its strong economy draws hundreds of thousands of workers from other EU nations.

The shock British vote has roiled markets and will rob the EU of its richest financial market, biggest military power and a diplomatic giant. It could also prompt an unraveling of the U.K.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met Wednesday in Brussels with European Parliament President Martin Schulz and the leader of the EU executive, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Scottish voters overwhelmingly chose to remain in the EU but were drowned out by English voters. Sturgeon has indicated there may be a new referendum on Scottish independence.

"It was a good opportunity for me to set out Scotland's position and Scotland's desire to remain within the European Union and to protect our relationship with the European Union," Sturgeon said after meeting Schulz. She added: "I don't underestimate the challenges that lie ahead for us seeking to find a path."

In London, nominations opened Wednesday to replace Cameron as leader of the Conservative Party, with Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb the first official contender. Former London Mayor Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Theresa May are also expected to run.

The economic fallout from the vote has been severe. Ratings agency Fitch expects growth and investment in Britain to fall next year due to uncertainty over the exit. Some businesses are putting investments on hold and Fitch said "there is little doubt that the U.K. referendum vote in favor of leaving the EU will take a significant toll on the economy."

Vodafone, one of Britain's biggest companies, will consider moving its group headquarters because of the vote. The company, which says a majority of its customers are in other EU countries, said in a statement Wednesday that EU membership had been an important factor in its growth, and that free movement of people, goods and capital were integral to any pan-European business.

"This is the world's fifth-biggest economy and 15 to 17 percent of the European Union's gross domestic product, and if this country leaves the internal market .... then of course that will be a difficult situation," Merkel said.

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Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London, John-Thor Dahlburg, Lorne Cook and Angela Charlton in Brussels contributed to this report.

British Prime Minister David Cameron addresses the media during an EU summit in Brussels on Tuesday, June 28, 2016. EU heads of state and government meet Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels for the first time since Britain voted to leave the European Union, throwing British and European politics into disarray. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, center, speaks with French President Francois Hollande, left, and Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britains unprecedented vote to leave. (John Thys, Pool Photo via AP)

French President Francois Hollande, center, arrives for a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britains unprecedented vote to leave. (Pascal Rossignol, Pool Photo via AP)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britains unprecedented vote to leave. (Virginia Mayo)
Congress clears Puerto Rico rescue bill, sends to president

WASHINGTON (AP)  Congress delivered relief to debt-stricken Puerto Rico on Wednesday, sending President Barack Obama a last-minute financial rescue package to help the U.S. territory of 3.5 million Americans.

The Senate passed the bill on a bipartisan 68-30 vote, three weeks after the House overwhelmingly backed the measure. The vote came two days before the island is supposed to make a $2 billion payment to creditors.

Puerto Rico is in a decade-long recession and has $70 billion in debt. Thousands have fled the territory for the U.S. mainland. Businesses on the island have closed, schools have struggled with limited electricity and hospitals have asked for cash payment in advance for some medication.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. walks to the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 29, 2016, as the Senate works on a rescue package for debt-stricken Puerto Rico, just two days before the island is expected to default on a $2 billion debt payment. The bill, passed by the House earlier this month, would create a control board that would oversee the island's finances and could supervise some debt restructuring. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The White House and Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress have warned that without help from Washington, the island could descend into economic chaos, with signs already pointing to a humanitarian crisis. In a rare feat of election-year unity, all four Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress supported the bill, which would create a control board to oversee the U.S. territory's finances and supervise some debt restructuring.

President Obama said after the vote that he would sign the bill and commended Congress for passing it.

"This bill is not perfect, but it is a critical first step toward economic recovery and restored hope for millions of Americans who call Puerto Rico home," Obama said.

The legislation would not provide any direct financial aid to the territory, but leaders warned that a bailout could eventually become necessary if Congress doesn't take this step.

"If we don't act before the island misses a critical debt payment deadline this Friday, matters will only get worse  for Puerto Rico and for taxpayers," warned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The control board would be similar to one that oversaw the District of Columbia in the late 1990s. Its seven members would oversee negotiations with creditors and the courts over reducing some debt. In addition to creating the board, the bill would require the territory to create a fiscal plan and fund public pensions, which the Puerto Rico government has shorted by more than $40 billion.

Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said that with passage of the bill, "we are starting to take the island back from creditors and giving it to Puerto Ricans." He has warned the U.S. territory would face multiple lawsuits if the bill is not approved, especially following Friday's anticipated default on $1 billion in general obligation bonds. The legislation would temporarily block creditor lawsuits from being filed until February 2017.

The general obligation bonds are backed by the island's constitution, but Garcia has said the government has no money to honor that debt despite the implementation of new taxes and recent increases in utility rates. Garcia hasn't said if the island will default on the other $1 billion that is due.

"Puerto Rico cannot endure any more austerity," Garcia said in an editorial published Wednesday.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday in a bid to persuade some reluctant Democrats concerned that the board would be too powerful. Democrats have also opposed a provision that would allow the island's government to lower the minimum wage for some younger workers.

Lew urged senators to vote for the bill even though it isn't perfect, saying that if the island defaults, the government may be forced to shut public transit, close a hospital or send police officers home.

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey was staunchly opposed to the bill, monopolizing the Senate floor for more than four hours Tuesday evening, arguing that the bill adopts a colonial approach.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also opposed it.

"In my view we need austerity not for the people of Puerto Rico, but for the billionaire Wall Street hedge fund managers who have exacerbated the crisis on the island," Sanders said on the floor.

In the days before the vote, some bondholder groups worked to turn senators against the bill, arguing it doesn't sufficiently protect creditors and is tantamount to a bailout for the territory. Several labor unions also lobbied against the measure, arguing that a lower minimum wage could take money out of the Puerto Rican economy.

The legislation is needed because Puerto Rico cannot declare bankruptcy under federal law. Mainland municipalities and their utilities can, while municipalities and utilities in Puerto Rico cannot.

Some Republicans who opposed the bill said the bill could set a bad precedent for financially strapped states.

"They'll say, 'if a territory can receive unprecedented authority from Congress, then why shouldn't a state?'" said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

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Associated Press writer Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico contributed to this report.

FILE - In this July 29, file 2015 photo, the Puerto Rican flag flies in front of Puerto Rico's Capitol as in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Congress edged closer to delivering relief to debt-stricken Puerto Rico as the Senate on Wednesday, June 29, 2016, cleared the way for passage of a last-minute financial rescue package for the territory of 3.5 million Americans. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2015 file photo, a private security guard sits in front of a closed down business in the colonial district of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Congress edged closer to delivering relief to debt-stricken Puerto Rico as the Senate on Wednesday, June 29, 2016, cleared the way for passage of a last-minute financial rescue package for the territory of 3.5 million Americans. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo, File)
North America leaders urge against Trump's isolationism

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP)  President Barack Obama and the leaders of Mexico and Canada pushed back forcefully on Wednesday against the isolationist and anti-immigrant sentiments that have roiled Britain and been championed by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. The leaders warned against easy solutions peddled by "demagogues" who feed on economic anxiety.

With tensions growing over terrorism and fallout from Britain's exit from the European Union, Obama acknowledged that Americans and others have reason to be concerned about their own future in a rapidly globalizing economy. He said concerns about immigrants had been exploited by politicians in the past, but he insisted he wasn't worried Americans will follow that path.

"We should take some of this seriously and answer it boldly and clearly," Obama said, without naming the Republican presidential candidate. "But you shouldn't think that is representative of how the American people think."

President Barack Obama walks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Neito at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Canada, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Obama traveled to Ottawa for the North America Leaders' Summit. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Gathering in the Canadian capital, the leaders defended their calls for freer trade within the continent and beyond. They argued that instead of withdrawing from the world, advanced countries should focus on higher standards, wages and legal protections that would ensure the benefits of globalization are widely felt.

"The integration of national economies into a global economy, that's here. That's done," Obama said.

Obama's comments at a news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto came as the leaders sought to show unity amid growing nationalist movements in Europe and elsewhere, epitomized by Britain's move to leave the 28-member EU.

Though Britain's decision has rattled the global financial system, Obama said he believed the markets were starting to settle down. Still, he acknowledged there would be "genuine longer-term concerns" about global economic growth "if, in fact, Brexit goes through."

"This doesn't help," he said.

Obama said his message to British Prime Minister David Cameron and to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is largely spearheading Europe's response, was that "everybody should catch their breath." Though Merkel and other European leaders have urged Britain to start its withdrawal quickly, Obama called for a thought-out process that would be transparent and clearly understandable.

"I think that will be a difficult, challenging process, but it does not need to be a panicky process," the president said.

The Canadian and Mexican leaders largely echoed Obama's calls for staying focused on closer economic ties. Pena Nieto said Mexico sees opportunity for growth and investment by broadening its relationship with the rest of the continent.

"We are competitors, yes, but we have complementary economies, and that will give more development to our society," the Mexican leader said.

And Trudeau said the three leaders' strategy for combatting protectionist views was to "highlight how much trade and positive agreement among our nations are good not only for the economy of the world and the economy of our countries, but it's also good for our citizens."

Yet it was Trump and his insistence that Americans are better served by reasserting independence that shadowed the leaders' meetings at the annual North American Leaders' Summit. Even as the three took the podium in Ottawa, Trump was threatening to pull the U.S. out of the North American Free Trade Agreement, chanting at a rally, "No more NAFTA."

When a reporter asked the leaders to weigh in on Trump, Obama intervened, suggesting his counterparts should be careful what they say in case Trump ends up winning.

"I'm not saying they shouldn't answer. I'm just  I'm helping them out a little bit," Obama joked.

He appeared personally insulted by Trump's claims to represent the public's best interests, accusing the presumptive Republican nominee of wrongly purporting to be a populist. He said people like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders rightly deserve label of "populist" but that Trump is merely resorting to "nativism," ''xenophobia" and "cynicism."

"We have to call this mentality what it is: a threat to the values that we profess, the values we seek to defend," Obama said later during a speech to Canadian Parliament, where a packed audience of about 1,000 interrupted him repeatedly with standing ovations. They chanted "four more years" as Obama wrapped up his address.

Ahead of the summit, Canada announced it will lift visa requirements for Mexican visitors as of December 2016, while Pena Nieto agreed to open Mexican markets to Canadian beef. All three leaders pledged to generate half of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025, and Mexico also committed to joining the U.S. and Canada in tackling methane emissions.

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Associated Press writers Josh Lederman, Kathleen Hennessey and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, center, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, left, and U.S. President Barack Obama take part in the North American Leaders' Summit at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

U.S. President Barack Obama shaked hands with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto during a bilateral meeting at the North American Leaders' Summit at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and U.S. President Barack Obama start the plenary session during the North American Leaders' Summit at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, welcomes U.S. President Barack Obama to the North American Leaders' Summit in Ottawa, Wednesday June 29, 2016. (Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

President Barack Obama talks across the table to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, center, as Secretary of State John Kerry listens at left, during the North American Leaders' Summit working session at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Canada, Wednesday, June 29, 2016.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto speaks during a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama during the North American Leaders' Summit at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
The Latest: Deputy Labour leader: 'My party is in peril'

BRUSSELS (AP)  The Latest on British vote to leave the European Union (all times local):

10:05 p.m.

Deputy Labour Party leader Tom Watson says his party is facing an "existential crisis" in the wake of Britain's decision to leave the European Union.

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, right, speaks to the media as Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson watches, during a visit to the Polish Social Cultural Association in Hammersmith, west London, Wednesday June 29, 2016. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT

Watson says the party is barreling toward a leadership contest after its chief Jeremy Corbyn refused to step down following a mass revolt against him by fellow Labour lawmakers on Tuesday.

Both major political parties in Britain are in turmoil following Thursday's vote for a British exit  or Brexit  from the EU. Prime Minister and Conservative party leader David Cameron has pledged to step down later this year, while Corbyn is only just clinging to power amid growing disaffection in party ranks.

Watson told the BBC on Wednesday: "My party is in peril."

He added that: "We are facing an existential crisis and I just don't want us to be in this position because I think there are millions of people in this country who need a left-leaning government."

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9:45 p.m.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says that a 2003 French-British treaty to keep migrants out of Britain and trapped in northern France is "in no way put into question" by Britain's exit from the European Union.

Officials in northern France have seized upon the referendum results as a way to unload the thousands of migrants trying to sneak across the English Channel to Britain.

The Touquet accords, signed in 2003 between France and Britain, effectively moved Britain's border to northern France. Undoing them would return British police, customs officials and sniffer dogs to their home across the English Channel  and open the door to migrants camped in Calais and other areas along the French coast.

But Cazeneuve said after meeting the officials in the north that there's no judicial basis forcing a change in the treaty.

He said, however, he wants to meet his British counterpart to find ways to ease pressure on Calais, where migrants converge because of its port and Euro Tunnel.

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8 p.m.

U.K. attorneys have raised more than 10,000 pounds ($13,000) to fund the opening salvo in what may be a multifaceted legal fight over the ins and outs of how Britain leaves the European Union.

Lawyer Jolyon Maugham said the money, raised via crowdfunding platform CrowdJustice, would go toward forcing the government to say whether Britain's Parliament or its prime minister is ultimately responsible for invoking Article 50, the EU exit clause which acts as a kind of eject button from the 28-nation bloc.

Thursday's referendum backed a British exit  or Brexit  from the EU, but the nature and timing of a prospective Article 50 declaration is still being hotly debated.

Maugham said that he wanted to make sure Parliament had the final say on quitting the EU.

That distinction may prove important if a euroskeptic takes over as prime minister following the Conservative Party leadership contest planned for later this year. Because a majority of U.K. lawmakers actually backed the bid to remain in the EU, die-hard "remain" fans see a conscience vote in Parliament as one of several scenarios for salvaging Britain's EU membership in defiance of the referendum result.

Constitutional experts say it's a long shot, but the legal maneuvering is likely portent of things to come as Britain struggles to disentangle itself from the union.

"There'll be other shots," Maugham said.

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6:30 p.m.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she has received "a lot of sympathy" among EU officials for her desire to keep Scotland in the bloc.

Voters in Scotland strongly backed remaining in the EU in last week's referendum, but were outvoted by a majority in England and Wales who wanted to leave.

Sturgeon, who heads the pro-independence Scottish National Party, says there could now be a new referendum on Scottish independence.

She went to Brussels on Wednesday to make her case for continued EU membership, and said she had found "a willingness to listen ... a lot of sympathy and a lot of good wishes."

Sturgeon said that while there was not necessarily an "easy path" for Scotland to remain in the alliance, "I leave Brussels tonight to travel back to Edinburgh in good heart and optimistic."

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5:40 p.m.

European Council head Donald Tusk has hit back against accusations from Poland's top politician that he played a "dark role" by failing to offer enough concessions to make Britons want to stay in the European Union.

On Monday, the leader of Poland's ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said that Tusk, a Pole, bears "direct responsibility" for Britain's vote to exit and should disappear from European politics. Tusk and Kaczynski were bitter rivals when they were both active in Polish politics.

"If, according to Kaczynski, I played a dark role in these negotiations then the same definition applies also to the government of (current Prime Minister) Beata Szydlo," Tusk said Wednesday in Brussels.

He said that Poland's government adopted the "toughest position" during negotiations with Britain on concessions that would make it stay in the EU. Britain insisted on curbing freedom of movement of people among member countries. For Poland it was crucial to preserve that right because hundreds of thousands of Poles have taken advantage of it and now live and work in Britain.

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5:30 p.m.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says his country is "very much concerned" with the consequences of the British referendum vote to leave the European Union.

"We believe that this referendum is an internal affair of the U.K.," Lavrov told reporters following a meeting in Paris with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault.

"But we're closely monitoring the situation because we're very much concerned with the impacts it might have on the relationship between Russia and the EU, Russia and the U.K.," Lavrov added.

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5 p.m.

Britain's ambassador to the United Nations says his country's seat on the Security Council has become even more important after the British referendum to leave the European Union.

Matthew Rycroft told reporters Wednesday that following the country's pending exit from the EU, its seat on the council has become an "even larger proportion of our total world outlook." He says Britain will continue to play an "active and activist role" on the international scene.

Rycroft also said Britain will continue to be a European power and will always be "open for business."

Britain is one of five permanent members who have veto power on the 15-member Security Council.

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4:55 p.m.

Britain's prime minister is promising more money for security to fight a surge in hate crimes that have followed the campaign to have Britain leave the European Union.

David Cameron told the House of Commons on Wednesday it's right for "everyone on all sides of the referendum debate" to utterly condemn the attacks. The unusually heated campaign centered in part on immigration and included the use of a poster that showed hundreds of non-white migrants making their way across Europe alongside the words, "BREAKING POINT."

The National Police Chiefs Council says hate crime reports have soared by 57 percent following the vote.

Eastern Europeans, Muslims, Americans and Germans are among those to have reported acts of harassment. Victims describe the rise of an angry fringe swaggering in triumph over the vote to leave.

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4:25 p.m.

Hungary's prime minister says it is too soon to make personnel changes among European Union leaders and officials because of Britain's decision to leave the 28-member bloc.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Wednesday in Brussels that "time, analysis, thought and proposals are needed" before such changes are discussed.

Orban said "it would cheap and not at all gallant in these circumstances to suddenly attack any leader of the Commission or any EU institution."

Orban, whose has frequently clashed with Brussels over issues ranging from state control over media to taxation and the independence of the judicial system, also urged Hungarians to take part in a referendum expected by October seeking political support for the government's stance against EU immigration policies.

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3:40 p.m.

Former Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski says he believes that Russian President Putin was "the happiest man in Europe" following the news that Britain voted to leave the European Union.

Sikorski, a longtime critic of Russia, said Britain's departure from the 28-member bloc "creates opportunities for Russia to play us off against one another."

He said that depending on how the break-up with Europe happens, he believes that the City of London, one of the world's main financial centers, could "compensate for lost business of, say, trading of the euro bonds, by making London even safer for dirty money from around the world," adding that "the Russians might welcome that."

Sikorski, now a senior fellow at Harvard University, spoke at a democracy debate alongside former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

He also said he believes Britain's importance to the United States will diminish after leaving the EU. He said: "Your power to affect regulation that affects Google or Microsoft, or anybody else, is gone, and therefore your usefulness to the United States is less."

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3:25 p.m.

Italian Premier Matteo Renzi says the EU should provide young Britons with provisions to continue to feel "part of the great European family" despite Britain's vote to leave.

After a special EU summit in Brussels, Renzi said those provisions could include special "ad hoc" citizenship measures that, for example, would enable them to study in EU universities.

He said EU leaders agreed that Europe cannot allow negotiations on the British exit to drag on forever and cannot "pretend like nothing happened."

He acknowledged, "There is a significant part of public opinion and Europe's ruling political class that has understood that we have to strongly relaunch the Europe that we believe in, the one that wants to talk about values, that wants to talk about more than just procedures and rules."

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3:05 p.m.

A contingent of French politicians has seized upon the British decision to exit the EU as a chance to unload on Britain the thousands of migrants who want to get there but are stuck in northern France.

The Touquet accords, signed in 2003 between France and Britain, effectively moved Britain's border to northern France. Undoing them would return British police, customs officials and sniffer dogs to their home across the English Channel  and open the door to migrants camped in Calais and other areas along the French coast.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve was meeting Wednesday with Calais Mayor Natacha Bouchart and the north region's president, Xavier Bertrand, both of whom want the agreement scuttled.

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2:50 p.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says European Union leaders don't want to embark on cumbersome changes of the bloc's treaties as they seek to ensure its future after Britain's vote to leave.

Merkel said after a meeting of EU countries without Britain that the lesson from its departure isn't necessarily either deeper integration or returning more powers to national governments. She said Wednesday: "this is not about more or less Europe as a principle, but about achieving results better."

She said that combating youth unemployment, for example, could involve both scrapping EU directives and deepening European cooperation.

Merkel says Europe faces "a very serious situation" with Britain wanting to leave but she added: "We think that we 27 can deal with this situation."

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2:25 p.m.

European Union leaders say they are determined to stay united at 27 in the wake of the British referendum vote to leave the bloc.

After a summit without British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday, they warned the U.K. that if it wanted to continue to enjoy the seamless EU single market after its departure it would also have to accept that EU citizens can continue to enter Britain.

Tusk said the British exit left the others "absolutely determined to remain united."

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2 p.m.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she is concerned that a European Union that will now have to struggle with a British departure from the bloc will become "much more inward-looking and less engaged with the world."

She says that would leave the EU less capable of tackling challenges including a resurgent Russia and instability in the Middle East.

Rice, who served as secretary of state under President George W. Bush, spoke on Wednesday in Warsaw at a debate on democracy alongside the former Polish foreign minister, Radek Sikorski.

She said she believes a union without Britain will result in an EU that looks less to Washington in its foreign policy.

She said, "I see NATO now as unfortunately the only truly Atlanticist institution, but I don't think it will have an effect on NATO. Where it could have an effect is on Europe's ability to focus on some of the issues that are so central to American foreign policy."

As an example of issues where the U.S. sees Europe as its partner are the "finishing the democratic project" in Central Europe, "the challenges of Moscow and the Kremlin," and instability in the Middle East.

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1:40 p.m.

The weekly Prime Minister's Questions in Britain's House of Commons has taken on a surreal tone, with a premier who is departing  David Cameron  questioned by an opposition leader whose own lawmakers are trying to force him out.

The normally raucous session unfolded in unusual quiet, as Labour Party backbenchers declined to cheer their leader Jeremy Corbyn and sat in stony silence.

More than 170 of the 229 Labour lawmakers have backed a motion of no-confidence in Corbyn, whom they accuse of failing to make a strong case for Britain to remain in the European Union. But Corbyn is refusing to step down.

Cameron, who announced his own resignation after failing to convince voters to stay in the EU, made a sharp attack on Corbyn, saying it was not in the national interest for him to keep his job and urging: "For heaven's sake, man, go!"

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1:35 p.m.

Romania's president says British Prime Minister David Cameron has reassured him about the future of Romanians living in Britain after it voted to leave the European Union.

President Klaus Iohannis, in Brussels for a meeting of EU leaders, said Wednesday he had "received assurances from Premier Cameron in the name of Great Britain ... that Romanians will be able to remain, and will be able to work, and he apologized for incidents that happened there."

There are officially about 150,000 Romanians living in Britain, but there are believed to be twice that number. They moved to Britain after Romania joined the EU in 2007.

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1:20 p.m.

Ratings agency Fitch expects investment in Britain to fall by 5 percent next year and for it to be 15 percent lower in 2018 than previously forecast due to uncertainty over the European Union exit.

Some businesses are putting investments on hold and Fitch said "there is little doubt that the U.K. referendum vote in favor of leaving the EU will take a significant toll on the economy."

It says there are concerns about what Britain's future trading relationship with the EU will be, what kind of regulations it will have and also whether the country faces an renewed push for independence by Scotland.

In a report issued Wednesday, Fitch also slashed its economic growth forecasts by 1 percentage point to 1 percent in both 2017 and 2018.

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12:55 p.m.

Poland's deputy foreign minister says Poland will never seek to limit the European Union's common market or the free movement of its people when it pushes for a new treaty to mend the EU after Britain's vote to leave the bloc.

Still, Konrad Szymanski says Wednesday that Poland will keep up the pressure on the need for deep EU reforms "if we want to avoid further decomposition." He spoke in Brussels during a summit on EU's prospects without Britain, attended by EU minus British leaders.

He says the common market is the "only thing that really works well in the European Union."

Hundreds of thousands of Poles have taken advantage of that free movement to go live and work in Britain, sparking resentment among some British people.

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12:05 p.m.

Vodafone, one of Britain's biggest companies, will consider moving its group headquarters depending on the outcome of the U.K.'s negotiations to leave the European Union.

The company said in a statement Wednesday that EU membership had been an important factor in its growth, and that free movement of people, goods and capital were integral to any pan-European business. It was unclear, though, how "many of these positive attributes" would be in place once the process of an EU exit is completed.

The company, which has 13,500 employees in the U.K. says "it is therefore not yet possible to draw any firm conclusions regarding the long-term location for the headquarters of the group."

Vodafone says "a large majority" of its 462 million customers live outside of the U.K.

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11:15 a.m.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, whose countrymen and women voted overwhelmingly to remain in the European Union, traveled to Brussels to confer with EU leaders. She was received Wednesday morning by Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament.

"We regularly meet with regional leaders," said John Schranz, Schulz's spokesman. "Of course, the times are extraordinarily."

On Tuesday, European Parliament members loudly applauded a Scottish member who begged them not to let the pro-EU population of Scotland down.

Sturgeon was expected to meet later Wednesday with the leader of the EU executive, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

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11:05 a.m.

Nominations are opening in the contest to replace Prime Minister David Cameron as leader of the Conservative Party.

The first official contender is Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb. Business Secretary Sajid Javid has confirmed that he and Crabb are running for leader and deputy as part of what has been dubbed a blue-collar ticket.

Crabb and Javid both come from working-class backgrounds that contrast with upper-crust front-runner Boris Johnson.

Former London Mayor Johnson and Home Secretary Theresa May are also expected to run.

Cameron announced his resignation after voters decided last week that Britain should leave the European Union.

After nominations close Thursday, Conservative lawmakers will whittle the nominees down to two. They will be put to a vote of all party members, with the result expected in early September.

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9:30 a.m.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite says Europe must wake up and start listening to its citizens on issues like immigration and economic growth following the U.K.'s unprecedented vote to leave the European Union.

Grybauskaite said Wednesday as she arrived for a summit with EU counterparts minus Britain that "we all need to wake up and smell the coffee."

She told reporters in Brussels that "Britain knows what to do after what they did. Today is about us, what we are going to do about our unity and about preparations for the transitional period, for British withdrawal."

She underlined that "we need to listen to people."

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9:20 a.m.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel says Europeans are disenchanted with the EU project as the bloc's leaders meet to pick up the pieces after the U.K. vote to leave.

"There is a perception of technocracy," Michel told reporters Wednesday as EU leaders gathered without Britain to chart the way forward as 27 member states after the U.K. formally leaves.

He said "we have to show that Europe brings a real added value that can be felt by our fellow citizens."

His counterpart from neighboring Luxembourg said it was important to show unity at the meeting.

Bettel said that "with a disunited United Kingdom we need a united Europe more than ever."

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8:00 a.m.

EU leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time to rethink their union and keep it from disintegrating after Britain's unprecedented vote to leave.

Divisions between the EU founders and newer countries in the east threaten to complicate any bold new plans at Wednesday's meeting.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says: "It's not only the British voters who have doubts about European cooperation. There is skepticism in many other EU countries."

Other EU countries are now facing calls, especially from the far right, for referendums on quitting the bloc. The 27 remaining EU members are also divided over how to deal with migration, which was a major issue in Britain's vote last week.

British Prime Minister David Cameron left Brussels Tuesday night without any clear divorce plan.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, left, greets Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon upon her arrival at his office at EU headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Sturgeon is in Brussels to meet with EU officials. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

European Council President Donald Tusk listens to questions during a media conference at an EU summit in Brussels on Tuesday, June 28, 2016. European Union leaders began plotting a future without Britain on Tuesday, urging the island nation and economic powerhouse to disentangle itself as fast as possible from the other 27 nations in the bloc to avoid extending the turmoil that has been roiling European and global markets. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

British Prime Minister David Cameron gets into a car as he leaves 10 Downing Street in London, to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britains unprecedented vote to leave. (Virginia Mayo)

Former Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski attends a debate with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on democracy and the aftermath of the British departure from the EU, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks during a public debate on democracy and the aftermath of the British departure from the EU, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, second left, speaks with Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, second right, during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britains unprecedented vote to leave. (Pascal Rossignol, Pool Photo via AP)

In this image taken from the Parliamentary Recording Unit Britain's Prime Minister, David Cameron, standing centre left, addresses the House of Commons in London, Wednesday June 29, 2016. . The weekly Prime Minister's Questions in Britain's House of Commons has taken on a surreal tone, with a premier who is departing David Cameron, questioned by an opposition leader whose own lawmakers are trying to force him out. The normally raucous session unfolded in unusual quiet, as Labour Party backbenchers declined to cheer their leader Jeremy Corbyn and sat in stony silence. (Parliamentary Recording Unit via AP) TV OUT NO SALES

European Parliament President Martin Schultz, left, walks with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Sturgeon is in Brussels to meet with European Parliament fraction leaders. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

British Prime Minister David Cameron addresses the media during an EU summit in Brussels on Tuesday, June 28, 2016. EU heads of state and government meet Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels for the first time since Britain voted to leave the European Union, throwing British and European politics into disarray. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

European Council President Donald Tusk listens to questions during a media conference at an EU summit in Brussels on Tuesday, June 28, 2016. European Union leaders began plotting a future without Britain on Tuesday, urging the island nation and economic powerhouse to disentangle itself as fast as possible from the other 27 nations in the bloc to avoid extending the turmoil that has been roiling European and global markets. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras attend a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britains unprecedented vote to leave. (Pascal Rossignol, Pool Photo via AP)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, second left, prepares to take her seat at a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britains unprecedented vote to leave. (Pascal Rossignol, Pool Photo via AP)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, second left, speaks with Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, second right, during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britains unprecedented vote to leave. (Pascal Rossignol, Pool Photo via AP)

French President Francois Hollande, center, arrives for a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britains unprecedented vote to leave. (Pascal Rossignol, Pool Photo via AP)

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, center rear, speaks with French President Francois Hollande, left, and Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, right, during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britains unprecedented vote to leave. (Pascal Rossignol, Pool Photo via AP)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras attend a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britains unprecedented vote to leave. (Pascal Rossignol, Pool Photo via AP)
Trump's 'America First' echoes old isolationist rallying cry

WASHINGTON (AP)  Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump boils down his foreign policy agenda to two words: "America First."

For students of U.S. history, that slogan harkens back to the tumultuous presidential election of 1940, when hundreds of thousands of Americans joined the anti-war America First Committee. That isolationist group's primary goal was to keep the United States from joining Britain in the fight against Nazi Germany, which by then had overrun nearly all of Europe. But the committee is also remembered for the unvarnished anti-Semitism of some of its most prominent members and praise for the economic policies of Adolf Hitler.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not respond to messages this week seeking comment about the America First slogan.

File-This Oct. 3, 1941, file photo shows a crowd of over 4,000 people filled the Gospel Tabernacle in Fort Wayne, Ind., to hear Col. Charles Lindbergh, seen on the speaker's stand in the center, address a rally of the America First Committee. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump boils down his foreign policy agenda to two words: America First. For students of U.S. history, that slogan harkens back to the tumultuous presidential election of 1940, when hundreds of thousands of Americans joined the anti-war America First Committee. That isolationist groups primary goal was to keep the United States from joining Britain in the fight against Nazi Germany, which by then had overrun nearly all of Europe. But the committee is also remembered for the unvarnished anti-Semitism of some of its most prominent members and praise for the economic policies of Adolf Hitler. (AP Photo/File)

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, sent Trump a letter two months ago urging him to refrain from using "America First." The group also took $56,000 that Trump and his family foundation had donated to it over the years and redirected the money to new anti-bias and anti-bullying education programs.

"For many Americans, the term 'America First' will always be associated with and tainted by this history," said Jonathan Greenblatt, the group's chief executive. "In a political season that already has prompted a national conversation about civility and tolerance, choosing a call to action historically associated with incivility and intolerance seems ill-advised."

The group received no response to its letter, but Trump has continued to use the slogan, including in a new speech Tuesday.

'AMERICA FIRST' FORMED

The America First Committee was founded in spring 1940 at Yale University by students that included future U.S. president Gerald Ford and future Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart. Future President John F. Kennedy contributed $100. Within months, France had capitulated to the Germans and England appeared on the verge of collapse. The committee was soon the largest anti-war organization in U.S. history, with more than 800,000 dues-paying members.

As the committee grew, it attracted celebrities, politicians and business leaders opposed President Franklin Roosevelt's lend-lease aid to the British. Among them was the admired aviator Charles Lindbergh, who was the first man to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean more than a decade earlier.

FRIENDS IN BERLIN

Lindbergh, whose family was of Germanic heritage, made multiple high-profile visits to the Fatherland, including to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as a special guest of Field Marshal Hermann Goering, head of the German air force. Lindbergh grew to admire Hitler's revitalization of the German economy at a time the United States was still mired in the Great Depression. He also marveled at the advanced fighters and bombers of the Luftwaffe.

Upon his return to the United States, Lindbergh spoke favorably of the Nazis and published widely read opinion pieces saying the German military conquest of Europe was inevitable and that America should stay out of the war. He joined the executive committee of America First and became the public face of the group, traveling the country to speak at massive anti-war rallies.

ISOLATIONISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM

America First championed the belief that two vast oceans would insulate the United States from foreign invasion. The group also opposed the acceptance of shiploads of Jewish refugees then-fleeing Nazi persecution. In addition to Lindbergh, the executive committee of America First included the automaker Henry Ford, who had paid to publish a series of anti-Semitic pamphlets called The International Jew, and Avery Brundage, the former U.S. Olympic Committee chairman who had barred two American Jewish runners from competing at the Berlin Olympics.

Lindbergh espoused anti-Semitic views in his speeches, including a September 1941 America First rally in Des Moines, Iowa.

"The British and the Jewish races, for reasons which are not American, wish to involve us in the war," he said. "Their greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government."

Within days of the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany declared war on the United States. America First quickly disbanded.

TRUMP'S 'AMERICA FIRST'

During his first major foreign policy speech in April, Trump said "America First will be the major and overriding theme of my administration."

He has repeatedly used the slogan on the campaign trail, including in a speech this week.

"We are going to put America First, and we are going to Make America Great Again," Trump said last week in another speech. "We need to reform our economic system so that, once again, we can all succeed together, and America can become rich again. That's what we mean by America First."

Trump has proposed building a "big, beautiful wall" along the U.S. border with Mexico to keep out Latino immigrants and opposes the admittance of Muslim war refugees from Syria. He has also called for "tearing up" international trade deals.

ECHOES OF THE PAST

Historians told The Associated Press there are some ideological parallels between Trump's rhetoric on the campaign trail and the positions taken 75 years ago by members of the American First Committee. Then as now, an economic downturn fanned popular resentment toward immigration, especially by those who were not perceived as traditional Americans.

"Building a wall is about the illusion that there can be a physical safeguard to prevent intrusion from alien forces," said Bruce Miroff, a professor who teaches on American politics and the presidency at the State University of New York at Albany. "America First was tapping into suspicion of an ominous other who threatened the American way of life. At that time, it was about Jews. With Trump, it's Muslims and fear of terrorism."

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Follow Michael Biesecker at https://twitter.com/mbieseck
The Latest: Erdogan says Turkey will overcome terror groups

ISTANBUL (AP)  The Latest on the explosions at Istanbul's Ataturk airport (all times local):

10:55 p.m.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country will overcome terror groups, including Kurdish rebels and the Islamic State group, which have intensified their attacks.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, second right, visit a wounded man at a hospital in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey.(Hakan Goktepe, Prime Ministry Press Office, Pool via AP) TURKEY OUT

Speaking at a Ramadan fast-breaking dinner Wednesday Erdogan said the terror organizations were trying to impede Turkey's ambitions, including becoming one of the world's 10 strongest economies and building the world's largest airport. He was addressing his staff a day after suspected IS militants attacked Istanbul's busiest airport with gunfire and bombs, killing 42 people and wounding scores of others.

Erdogan said: "Neither the PKK, the DHKP-C, nor Daesh ... will succeed in deterring Turkey from its goals." He was referring in turn to the Kurdish rebels, an outlawed leftist militant group and the Islamic State group.

The Turkish leader also said the airport attackers were "not Muslims" and "have prepared their place in hell."

Erdogan thanked world leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, for calling to offer their condolences.

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10:10 p.m.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency says the death toll from the triple suicide bombing at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport has risen to 42.

Merve Yigit, a 22-year-old woman working in catering at the airport, died in an Istanbul hospital Wednesday evening. She was being treated for injuries caused by shrapnel that pierced her abdomen, stomach and head.

The Istanbul Governor's office issued a statement earlier today that put the death toll at 41 and the number of wounded at 239.

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9:45 p.m.

Turkish officials have given a timeline of how the triple suicide attack unfolded at Istanbul Ataturk Airport.

An interior ministry official and another official said all three assailants arrived by taxi at the level of the arrivals hall terminal.

The first assailant entered the terminal, opened fire and then blew himself up near the X-ray machines, according to the officials.

During the chaos, the second attacker went upstairs to the departures level and blew himself up.

The third attacker waited outside during the whole episode and detonated his explosives last as people flooded out of the airport in a panic.

The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

Dominique Soguel in Istanbul

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9:20 p.m.

CIA Director John Brennan says the attack in Istanbul "bears the hallmarks" of the Islamic State's "depravity."

Suicide attackers armed with guns and bombs killed 41 people and wounded hundreds Tuesday at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport.

Brennan spoke Wednesday at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Earlier this month, Brennan told Congress that the U.S. battle against IS has not yet curbed the group's global reach and that they are expected to plot more attacks on the West and incite violence by lone wolves. He said IS has a large cadre of Western fighters who could attack the West.

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9:15 p.m.

Turkish authorities say they are increasingly convinced the Islamic State group was behind Tuesday's deadly attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a televised speech: "Our thought that it is Daesh (Islamic State) continues to gain weight."

Moments earlier, Interior Minister Efkan Ala, said early indications point to IS but there was no conclusive information. He also said authorities believe that the attackers were foreign nationals, but that the investigation was ongoing.

"Every connection is being evaluated carefully," Ala said.

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8:45 p.m.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says one of the attackers at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport blew himself up outside, while two others blew themselves up inside the building.

"When the terrorists couldn't pass the regular security system, when they couldn't pass the scanners, police and security controls, they returned and took out their weapons out of their suitcases and opened fire at random at the security check," he said Wednesday.

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7:55 p.m.

Footage shot by a passenger at the arrivals terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport shows divider panels blown off their hinges, exposed electric circuits and dangling ceiling fixtures after gun-and-bomb attacks that killed 41 people and wounded hundreds.

In the video after Tuesday night's attack, a Turkish fireman walks past the motionless body of a man lying face up, most of his right arm missing, near a Turkcell phone stand. Police and investigators carrying crackling radios examine the scene, where a few dazed passengers remain, weaving their way through scraps of debris littered over a bloodied floor.

The footage shows what appears to be at least two other apparently lifeless bodies in the same hall, and five men pushing a cart on which they have placed another seemingly lifeless person.

Turkish officials have blamed the attack on the Islamic State group.

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7:20 p.m.

U.S. President Barack Obama is pledging to dismantle "organizations of hate" after the deadly bombing at Istanbul's airport.

He said the gun-and-bomb attacks that killed 41 people at Ataturk Airport on Tuesday shows how little these "vicious organizations" have to offer.

Turkish officials have blamed the attack on the Islamic State group.

Obama also offered his condolences to the Turkish people. He spoke after a one-on-one meeting in Canada with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Obama also spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the flight to Canada.

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5:10 p.m.

President Barack Obama has telephoned his condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the deadly bombing at Istanbul's airport.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says Obama also offered U.S. support and assistance in the investigation.

Suicide attackers armed with guns and bombs killed 41 people and wounded hundreds Tuesday night at the busy Ataturk Airport.

Obama placed the call from aboard Air Force One as he flew to Ottawa on Wednesday for meetings with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.

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5:05 p.m.

The world's largest body of Muslim-majority nations has condemned the terrorist attack on Istanbul's international airport that killed at least 41 people and wounded hundreds.

Iyad Madani, the secretary general of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation of which Turkey is a member, stressed his "absolute rejection" of this terrorist attack carried out during Ramadan, a spiritual month during which Muslims fast daily from dusk to dawn. The attack came a week before the Eid holiday, a celebration that marks the end of Ramadan.

Most victims of the attack, which Turkish officials believe was carried out by the extremist Islamic State group, appear to be Muslim.

In a statement Wednesday, Madani also called for greater international cooperation to confront "terrorism by addressing its causes and various contexts."

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5 p.m.

Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Turkey says six Saudi citizens were killed in the attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, raising the death toll from an earlier report.

The Saudi Ambassador to Turkey, Adel Murdad, told the state-owned al-Ekhbariya channel on Wednesday that 27 Saudis were wounded, one critically, while 11 have already been released from treatment.

Muslim-majority Turkey is a popular tourist destination for Arabs from the Gulf, particularly during the summer months. Tuesday's attack also comes a week before the Eid holiday, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The Saudi government says it "condemns and rejects the terrorist attack", which has been blamed on the Islamic State group. The kingdom has close ties with Turkey's government.

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4:45 p.m.

Turkey's health minister says 41 people are still in intensive care after the guns-and-bombing attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

Officials say 41 others have been killed and more than 230 were wounded in the attack Tuesday night.

Health Minister Recep Akdag says 128 of those wounded are still in the hospital. The injured include people from Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Switzerland.

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3:30 p.m.

Saudi Arabia's state-owned news channel says four Saudi citizens were among the 41 people killed in the attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

Al-Ekhbariya news channel was quoting its correspondent in Turkey on Wednesday, hours after reporting that at least seven Saudi nationals had been wounded in the attack.

The kingdom, which has close ties with Turkey's government and is also a strong backer of Sunni rebels trying to oust Syria's President Bashar Assad, says it "condemns and rejects the terrorist attack", which has been blamed on the Islamic State group.

Muslim-majority Turkey is a popular tourist destination for Arabs from the Gulf, particularly during the summer months. Tuesday's attack also comes a week before the Eid holiday, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

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3:00 p.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says his telephone call to Turkey's leader both expressed condolences for the Istanbul airport bombing, but also started a process of improving relations with the country.

Putin said Russia is lifting its ban on package tours to Turkey and he ordered ministers to begin other measures to restore relations.

Russian-Turkish relations deteriorated sharply last fall after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane at the Syrian border. Russia imposed an array of punitive measures, including banning most Turkish food imports and banning the sale of package tours to Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized for the warplane downing in a letter on Monday, the day before suicide bombers hit Istanbul's main airport.

Putin told his cabinet that in the beginning of his Wednesday call with Erdogan, "I of course expressed the condolences to the president of the country and all the Turkish people in connection with the terrorist act."

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2:50 p.m.

Israel's president has told his Turkish counterpart that their countries' new reconciliation pact will help with joint efforts to combat attacks like the one at Istanbul airport.

In a condolence letter, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Israel is willing to help Turkey to recover from the attack, and to work together to thwart future attacks.

"I take this opportunity to welcome the chance to renew our good relationship especially because our strengthened dialogue will greatly aid in our joint efforts against this threat, and because it sends a strong message to the terrorists that we will stand untied against hatred," Rivlin said in the letter.

Israel and Turkey have agreed to restore full diplomatic relations after six years of animosity between the once-close allies.

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1:50 p.m.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry has condemned the attacks on Ataturk airport in Istanbul that killed 41 people.

In a statement released to media Wednesday, the ministry says "we offer our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the bereaved families and to the brotherly people and government of Turkey" and that Pakistan reiterates its condemnation of terrorism "in all forms and manifestations".

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1:45 p.m.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says he is deeply saddened by the terrorist attack the previous night at the Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul.

In a statement released Wednesday, Ghani says that "the people of Afghanistan feel the pain and suffering of the people of Turkey more than others, as we have been the victim of terrorism for years."

Ghani added that he considers terrorism a great threat for the security of the region and the world, and reiterated that joint action by all countries is needed.

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1:40 p.m.

The Palestinian ambassador to Turkey says a Palestinian woman was killed in the blasts at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport and six Palestinians were injured, including a 17-year-old girl from the Gaza Strip who suffered critical injuries.

Ambassador Faed Mustafa confirmed the death and injuries to Palestinian media Wednesday.

Nisreen Melhem, 28, from the West Bank town of Arraba, was killed and her 34-year-old husband and 3-year-old daughter were injured, according to Moath Hamed, a Palestinian journalism student visiting the family in the hospital.

The Palestinians were living and working in Saudi Arabia and had landed in Istanbul for vacation.

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1:30 p.m.

Pope Francis has denounced the "brutal terrorist attack" at Istanbul's airport and is calling for the killers behind it to change their ways.

In a noontime blessing from his studio window, Francis said he was praying for the victims, their families "and the dear Turkish people." He asked the entire piazza to pray in silence and then led the crowd in the Hail Mary prayer.

He said: "May the Lord convert the hearts of the violent ones and support our efforts toward the path of peace."

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1:25 p.m.

The Istanbul Governor's Office says 41 people have been killed in the deadly suicide bombing attack in Istanbul's Ataturk airport blamed on the Islamic State group.

A statement on the governor's website says 37 of the victims have been identified, including 10 foreign nationals and three people with dual citizenship. More than 230 people were wounded in the attack, but 109 have been discharged from hospitals.

A Turkish official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol says the death toll does not include three suicide bombers who died.

The Palestinian ambassador to Turkey says a Palestinian woman was among the dead. Separately, the Turkish official said five Saudis, two Iraqis, one Tunisian, an Uzbek, a Chinese, an Iranian, a Ukrainian and a Jordanian national were killed.

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12:45 p.m.

Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen is "crying with the Turkish people who once again are witnesses to a cowardly terrorist attack."

Nordic and Baltic governments condemned Wednesday the attack at Istanbul's main airport that killed 36 people and wounded scores of others.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg tweeted her "thoughts are with those who lost their lives, the wounded and their loved ones."

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics conveyed "his deepest sympathies" while Finland Prime Minister Juha Sipila sent his condolences to his Turkish counterpart, Binali Yildirim.

The region's foreign ministries said there were no reports of Nordic or Baltic victims.

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12:35 p.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered his condolences to Turkey which was hit by suicide attacks on Tuesday, killing dozens at Istanbul's airport.

Following a statement in Moscow Putin is expected to offer his condolences in the telephone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, their first conversation in seven months after Russia froze its ties with Turkey in response to Turkey shooting down its military jet.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that the attacks at the Ataturk airport are "just another reminder of the importance of joint efforts to fight our common threat  terrorism."

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12:25 p.m.

Greece's Foreign Ministry has expressed "rage and revulsion" over the attacks at Istanbul airport, condemning the suicide bomb attacks that claimed the lives of at least 36 people.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that a Greek consular team had gone to the airport immediately after the blasts to provide assistance to Greek citizens to ensure they were transported safely to hotels in the city, and the Greek Consulate in Istanbul was working to help repatriate citizens. The ministry said there were no indications that any Greeks were among the casualties of the attacks.

Istanbul has a resident Greek community and is also a popular destination for visiting Greek tourists.

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11:40 a.m.

Turkish officials say an Iranian and a Ukrainian are among victims of Istanbul airport attack.

Tuesday's attack at the city's main Ataturk Airport killed 36 people and wounded scores of others. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the Islamic State group was behind the attack. He said three suicide bombers attacked the airport with automatic weapon fire before blowing themselves up.

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11:05 a.m.

France's foreign minister has condemned the attack on Istanbul's airport as "odious and cowardly."

Offering condolences, Jean-Marc Ayrault assured that France "is at Turkey's side in the fight against terrorism."

As usual in such circumstances, France opened a crisis cell to maintain close contact with Turkish authorities, and provides any needed instructions to the French community there.

Ayrault counseled prudence to French people in Turkey, a prime destination for French tourists.

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10:55 a.m.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, whose plane landed in Istanbul minutes after the attacks on Istanbul's airport, has expressed his condolences to the victims.

Rama said in a message on Twitter that he felt "deep pity for the lost innocent lives in that barbarous act of those who have neither God or hope nor a place among the people."

Rama, Finance Minister Arben Ahmetaj and a delegation on Wednesday are on an official visit to Turkey. Rama said all of the planned meetings would go ahead.

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10:25 a.m.

Turkish officials say Istanbul's busy Ataturk International Airport has reopened, hours after three suicide bombers killed 36 and wounded 147.

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters that air traffic returned to normal and "Our airport has been opened to flights and departures from 02:20 (local time) on," in a press statement at the airport early Wednesday morning.

Turkish Airline's website says "flight operations have been restarted" and instructs passengers to monitor actual flight information.

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9:45 a.m.

Germany's top security official is condemning the attack on Istanbul's airport as "cowardly and brutal."

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said his thoughts were with the victims and their families, and vowed that "we will continue our fight against terrorism together with our allies with full force."

De Maiziere said in a statement Wednesday he was "deeply shocked by the cowardly and brutal attack on Istanbul's airport."

He says "terrorism has once again shown its ugly face and innocent people have lost their lives."

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9:30 a.m.

NATO's chief has strongly condemned the "horrific attacks" at Istanbul's airport, and said Turkey's 27 allies in the U.S-led political and military organization stand with it.

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary-general, said in a statement: "My thoughts are with the families of the victims, those injured and the people of Turkey.

"There can be no justification for terrorism," Stoltenberg said. "NATO Allies stand in solidarity with Turkey, united in our determination to fight terrorism in all its forms."

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8:00 a.m.

Officials on Wednesday morning began assessing the damage caused at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport by three suicide bombers who killed dozens and wounded more than 140.

Workers were brought in to remove debris left by the blast, while in the daylight the damage to the terminal became clearer with even ceiling panels hit.

The airport was partially reopened, with the information board inside the airport showing that about one third of scheduled flights have been canceled, with a host of others delayed.

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5 a.m.

A stoppage of flights to and from the United States and Istanbul Ataturk Airport lasted several hours but has been lifted, said a U.S. official who spoke on background to discuss sensitive security issues. The official said the stoppage was lifted in the middle of the evening.

The official says 10 passenger flights were in the air, flying from Turkey to the U.S., at the time of the stoppage and they have all landed. However, cargo planes and corporate jets in the U.S. would have been most affected by the stoppage. The official says the decision on lifting the stoppage was made in coordination with the Transportation Security Administration.

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Associated Press writer Will Lester in Washington.

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2:45 a.m.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the United States condemns in the strongest terms possible the attacks at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport that killed at least 31 people and left dozens more wounded.

Earnest says the Istanbul airport, like the Brussels airport that was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind nations together.

He says the U.S. sends its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured.

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2:35 a.m.

Turkey's Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag says at least 31 people have been killed and some 147 wounded in the attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport.

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1:40 a.m.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has released a statement condemning the attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport, which took place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He says the attack "shows that terrorism strikes with no regard to faith and values."

He has called on the international community to take a firm stand against terrorism and vowed to keep up Turkey's struggle against terror groups.

Erdogan says "Turkey has the power, determination and capacity to continue the fight against terrorism until the end."

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12:55 a.m.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has condemned the attacks on Ataturk airport in Istanbul that have killed at least 28 people.

He says on the sidelines of an ecumenical Iftar dinner in Berlin that he's shocked by the news.

He says the background of the attacks is still unclear, "but everything suggests that terrorists have once again hit the Turkish metropolis.

"We grieve for the victims and with the relatives. We stand by Turkey."

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12:40 a.m.

Hundreds of passengers are flooding out of Istanbul's Ataturk airport after an attack that killed at least 28 people.

Twelve-year-old Hevin Zini had just arrived from Dusseldorf with her family and was in tears from the shock.

She tells The Associated Press that there was blood on the ground and everything was blown up to bits.

South African Judy Favish, who spent two days in Istanbul as a layover on her way home from Dublin, had just checked in when she heard an explosion followed by gunfire and a loud bang.

She says she hid under the counter for some time.

Favish says passengers were ushered to a cafeteria at the basement level where they were kept for more than an hour before being allowed outside.

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12:15 a.m.

Turkey's NTV television is quoting Istanbul's governor as saying 28 people were killed in the attack at the city's airport and some 60 people wounded.

Governor Vasip Sahin also told the channel that three suicide bombers carried out the attack Tuesday.

Officials had previously said one or two attackers had blown themselves up at the entrance to the international terminal at the airport after police fired at them.

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12:10 a.m.

Hundreds of passengers are spilling out of Istanbul's Ataturk airport with their suitcases in hand or stacked onto trolleys after two explosions killed at least 10 people.

Others are sitting on the grass, their bodies lit by the flashing lights of ambulances and police cars, which are the only kind of vehicles allowed to reach the airport.

Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions Tuesday. They were shaken by what they witnessed.

Paul said: "We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off."

He added: "There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a hand gun."

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The item timed at 8:45 p.m. has been corrected to remove indication that the bomb that went off outside was the first one.

Family members of victims cry outside the Forensic Medical Center in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Family members of victims cry outside the Forensic Medical Center in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Family members of victims cry outside the Forensic Medical Center in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Forensic officials look at family members of victims who are crying outside the Forensic Medical Center in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

A passenger sits outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following her evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Members of a flight crew leave Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

People gather outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following its evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

People gather on the entrance to Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Turkish police officers patrol outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded scores of others at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) TURKEY OUT

Passengers wait for security checks as they enter Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded scores of others at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) TURKEY OUT

Members of a flight crew arrive at Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded scores of others at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) TURKEY OUT

Passengers wait for security checks as they enter Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded scores of others at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) TURKEY OUT

Passengers wait for security checks as they enter Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded scores of others at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) TURKEY OUT

Turkish police officers patrol outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded scores of others at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) TURKEY OUT

Members of a flight crew arrive at Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded scores of others at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) TURKEY OUT
'Move on' from Benghazi? Republicans say it's unlikely

WASHINGTON (AP)  Hillary Clinton says it's "time to move on" after a congressional report on the deadly 2012 Benghazi attacks accused the Obama administration of lethal mistakes, but produced no new evidence pointing to wrongdoing by the former secretary of state.

Not likely, especially in an election year with Clinton's presidential rival  Donald Trump  lashing out.

An 800-page report by a special House committee makes no direct accusations of wrongdoing by Clinton, who was secretary of state during the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.

FILE - In this April 11, 2011 file photo, then-U.S. envoy Chris Stevens attends meetings at the Tibesty Hotel in Benghazi, Libya. Hillary Clinton says it's "time to move on" after a congressional report on the deadly 2012 Benghazi attacks accused the Obama administration of lethal mistakes, but produced no new evidence pointing to wrongdoing by the former secretary of state. Meanwhile, Stevens sister, Dr. Anne Stevens, chief of pediatric rheumatology at Seattle Childrens Hospital said she does not blame Clinton for her brothers death. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

Still, Republicans point to Benghazi as a major failure by the administration and by Clinton during her tenure leading the State Department. The issue is likely to shadow Clinton as she continues her bid for president.

"Four Americans died, yet no one has been fired. No one even missed a paycheck," said Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "Americans  including all our men and women serving overseas  deserve better."

Clinton, now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, said the report by Republicans on the House Benghazi Committee took more than two years and $7 million but "found nothing to contradict" the findings of earlier investigations.

"I think it's pretty clear it's time to move on," Clinton said Tuesday.

Republicans were not ready to let the issue go, especially with an election that will decide who occupies the White House and which party will control the House and Senate. The Benghazi panel has scheduled a July 8 meeting to formally adopt the report  10 days before the Republican National Convention begins in Cleveland.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican facing a tough re-election race, said the administration "ignored a deteriorating security situation" in Benghazi, "and the State Department disregarded repeated requests for increased security."

Trump said on Twitter that "Benghazi is just another Hillary Clinton failure. It just never seems to work the way it's supposed to with Clinton."

Meanwhile, Stevens' sister said she does not blame Clinton for her brother's death.

Dr. Anne Stevens, chief of pediatric rheumatology at Seattle Children's Hospital, told the New Yorker magazine that in hindsight, it's clear the Benghazi facility "was not sufficiently protected by the State Department and the Defense Department."

But Stevens added, "I do not blame Hillary Clinton or (former Defense Secretary) Leon Panetta. They were balancing security efforts at embassies and missions around the world. And their staffs were doing their best to provide what they could with the resources they had. ... Perhaps if Congress had provided a budget to increase security for all missions around the world, then some of the requests for more security in Libya would have been granted."

Even after issuing the report, the committee's work is not over. The panel interviewed a witness Wednesday who posted on Facebook that he was a crew chief at an air base in Italy on the night of the attacks. A committee spokesman said a transcript of the 2 -hour interview will be posted on the panel's website. Information from the interview might be added to the report.

Democrats called the interview ridiculous.

"Republicans are addicted to Benghazi and to exploiting this tragedy for political reasons," said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the committee's senior Democrat.

The Libya attacks have been political fodder from the start, given their timing in the weeks before President Barack Obama's re-election, and that has not abated despite seven previous congressional investigations. There has been finger-pointing on both sides over security at the diplomatic outpost and whether Clinton and the White House initially tried to portray the assault as a protest over an offensive, anti-Muslim video, instead of a calculated terrorist attack.

The prolonged investigation into the attacks has also been marked by partisan sniping.

Republican insistence that the investigation was not politically motivated was undermined last year when House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., suggested that the committee could take credit for Clinton's then-slumping poll numbers.

The committee interviewed more than 100 witnesses and reviewed some 75,000 pages of documents, but an almost accidental discovery by the panel last year has shadowed Clinton's candidacy. The committee disclosed that she had used a private email server to conduct government business while serving as secretary of state, a practice that has drawn widespread scrutiny, including an FBI investigation.

The GOP report severely criticizes the military, CIA and administration officials for their response as the attacks unfolded, and their subsequent explanations to the American people.

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House Benghazi Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., discusses the release of his final report on the 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, where a violent mob killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republicans on the committee harshly faulted the Obama administration for lax security and a slow response to the deadly 2012 attacks at the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Libya. But they produced no new allegations about then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

House Benghazi Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., center, joined by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, left, and Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan. discusses the release of his final report on the 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, where a violent mob killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republicans on the panel accuse the Obama administration of stonewalling important documents and witnesses but Democrats say the panel's primary goal is to undermine the presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton who was secretary of state during the attacks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The Latest: Scottish leader meets with EU over Brexit

LONDON (AP)  The Latest on the repercussions of British voters' decision that their country should leave the European Union.

10:05 a.m.

Nominations are opening in the contest to replace Prime Minister David Cameron as leader of the Conservative Party.

European Parliament President Martin Schultz, left, walks with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Sturgeon is in Brussels to meet with European Parliament fraction leaders. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

The first official contender is Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb. Business Secretary Sajid Javid has confirmed that he and Crabb are running for leader and deputy as part of what has been dubbed a blue-collar ticket.

Crabb and Javid both come from working-class backgrounds that contrast with upper-crust front-runner Boris Johnson.

Former London Mayor Johnson and Home Secretary Theresa May are also expected to run.

Cameron announced his resignation after voters decided last week that Britain should leave the European Union.

After nominations close Thursday, Conservative lawmakers will whittle the nominees down to two. They will be put to a vote of all party members, with the result expected in early September.

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10:17 a.m.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, whose countrymen and women voted overwhelmingly to remain in the European Union, traveled to Brussels to confer with EU leaders. She was received Wednesday morning by Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament.

"We regularly meet with regional leaders," said John Schranz, Schulz's spokesman. "Of course, the times are extraordinarily."

On Tuesday, European Parliament members loudly applauded a Scottish member who begged them not to let the pro-EU population of Scotland down.

Sturgeon was expected to meet later Wednesday with the leader of the EU executive, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

European Parliament President Martin Schultz, left, walks with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Sturgeon is in Brussels to meet with European Parliament fraction leaders. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

European Parliament President Martin Schultz, right, greets Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Sturgeon is in Brussels to meet with European Parliament fraction leaders. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

European Parliament President Martin Schultz, right, greets Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Sturgeon is in Brussels to meet with European Parliament fraction leaders. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Istanbul airport attackers seized on chaos to cause carnage

ISTANBUL (AP)  It was an attack that echoed the carnage earlier this year at the Brussels airport, down to the taxi that carried the men to their target: Inciting panic and then taking lethal advantage, three suicide attackers unleashed a deadly tide of bullets and bombs at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, leaving 42 dead.

Authorities blamed the Islamic State group for the blood bath late Tuesday, a coordinated assault on one of the world's busiest airports and on a key NATO ally that plays a crucial role in the fight against the extremist group.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility by the militant group.

Family members of victims cry outside the Forensic Medical Center in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Although the attack took a heavy toll, the assailants were initially thwarted by the extensive security on the airport's perimeter, Turkish officials said.

"When the terrorists couldn't pass the regular security system, when they couldn't pass the scanners, police and security controls, they returned and took their weapons out of their suitcases and opened fire at random at the security check," Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

One attacker detonated his explosives downstairs at the arrivals terminal, one went upstairs and blew himself up in the departure hall, and the third waited outside for the fleeing crowd and caused the final lethal blast, two Turkish officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak about the investigation publicly. None of the attackers were Turks, a third official said.

As the chaos unfolded, terrified travelers were sent running first from one explosion and then another. Airport surveillance video showed a panicked crowd of people, some rolling suitcases behind them, stampeding down a corridor, looking fearfully over their shoulders.

Other surveillance footage posted on social media showed one explosion, a ball of fire that sent terrified passengers racing for cover. Another showed an attacker, felled by a gunshot from a security officer, blowing himself up seconds later.

Cihan Tunctas had just disembarked from a flight from Azerbaijan when he heard the sound of gunfire.

"Then the bomb exploded. We were at the exit and ... the roof collapsed on our heads," Tunctas said. The group tried to escape, but their path was blocked by the arrival of a second attacker.

"Two of the security guards noticed him. They walked toward him. Just as they were walking toward him, I turned that way. They just caught him and at that moment he detonated the bomb."

Investigators later found a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a handgun and two grenades on the bodies, according to the state-run Anadolu news service. Raids at two addresses also uncovered encrypted organizational documents and computer files, the news agency said.

Although the government quickly blamed the Islamic State, there was no immediate claim of responsibility by the extremist group, which did not mention the bloodshed on its social media sites Wednesday. However, an infographic released to celebrate the second anniversary of its self-proclaimed caliphate claimed to have "covert units" in Turkey and other countries.

Islamic State, however, rarely claims attacks in Turkey. One possible reason is a reluctance to be seen as killing fellow Muslims, said Anthony Skinner, director of the analyst group Verisk Maplecroft. Another is its desire to exploit the violent rift between Turkey and Kurdish rebels, he said.

"It very clearly meets Islamic State's strategic objectives to leave this ambiguity," Skinner said.

Yildirim, the Turkish prime minister, also suggested the attack could be linked to steps Ankara took Monday toward mending strained ties with Israel and Russia. Late Wednesday, he told the Turkish public the authorities were increasingly convinced that the Islamic State group, also known as Daesh, was responsible for the ghastly attack.

"Our thought that it is Daesh, continues to gain weight," Yildirim said.

A key partner in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group, Turkey faces an array of security threats from other groups as well, including ultra-left radicals and Kurdish rebels demanding greater autonomy in the restive southeast.

The country shares long, porous borders with both Syria and Iraq, where IS controls large pockets of territory, and the government has blamed IS for several major bombings over the past year, including in the capital Ankara, and on tourists in Istanbul.

"The reality is that Turkey is situated in a very vulnerable situation, geographically speaking," Skinner said.

Victims in Tuesday's attack included at least 13 foreigners and several people remained unidentified Wednesday. The Istanbul governor's office said more than 230 people were wounded and dozens remained in critical condition.

Among the dead was Muhammed Eymen Demirci, who had just landed a job on the airport's ground services crew after more than a year of unemployment: "I got the job bro!" the 25-year-old texted a friend in May.

He died while waiting for a bus after his shift. A childhood friend who had helped Demirci get the job was devastated. "He was such a friendly person, a man who fought for his ideals," Deniz Dogan told The Associated Press. "Now I wish he hadn't gotten the job."

"So, what can we think? We cannot think anything," said Ali Batur, whose brother also died. "A terror attack might happen everywhere, it does happen everywhere."

Dozens of anxious friends and relatives waited Wednesday outside Istanbul's Bakirkoy Hospital.

"You can hear that people are wailing here," said Serdar Tatlisu, a relative of a victim. "We cannot cope anymore, we can't just stay still. We need some kind of solution for whatever problem there is."

Funerals for some of the victims began Wednesday as Turkish authorities sought to put together an attack timeline, going through surveillance footage and interviewing witnesses. A Turkish court imposed a media ban on any information not officially released by the government.

The devastation at Istanbul's airport was a reminder of the March 22 attack on the Brussels airport, where two suicide bombings ripped through check-in counters, killing 16 people. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack, as well as an explosion the same day at a Brussels subway station that killed 16 more people.

As dawn broke Wednesday, workers were removing debris from the Istanbul airport and mere hours after the terminal erupted into chaos, it reopened to flights. It took 12 days for flights to resume in Brussels, and more than two months for the terminal building to fully reopen.

Turkey has suffered a series of attacks that have frightened away visitors and devastated its economy, which relies heavily on tourism.

The government has stepped up controls at airports and land borders and deported thousands of foreign fighters, but has struggled to tackle the extremist threat while also conducting security operations against Kurdish rebels. Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrances to terminal buildings and before the entrances to departure gates.

This year alone, a Jan. 12 attack that Turkish authorities blamed on IS claimed the lives of a dozen German tourists visiting Istanbul's historic sites. On March 19, a suicide bombing rocked Istanbul's main pedestrian street, killing five people, including the bomber, whom the authorities identified as a Turkish national linked to IS.

Last October, twin suicide bombings hit a peace rally outside Ankara's train station, killing 103 people. There was no claim of responsibility but Turkish authorities blamed it on an Islamic State cell.

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Fraser reported from Ankara. Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul; Lori Hinnant in Paris; Bram Janssen in Istanbul, Desmond Butler in Washington, D.C. and Scott Mayerowitz in New York contributed.

Family members of victims cry outside the Forensic Medical Center in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

A family member helps Sacide Bugda, the mother of Abdulhakim Bugda, 24, one of victims, outside the Forensic Medical Center in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Family members of victims comfort each other outside the Forensic Medical Center in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Family members of victims cry outside the Bakirkoy State Hospital in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Omer Kuscu) TURKEY OUT

Family members of victims cry outside the Forensic Medical Center in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Security officials stand at an entrance of Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

Security officials patrol outside Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

Passengers arrive at an entrance of Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

Passengers stand at an entrance of Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

Security officials stand at an entrance of Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

A worker inspects the damages at the entrance of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, Wednessday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens at the busy airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

Passengers arrive at an entrance of Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

Security officials stand at an entrance of Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. (AP Photo) TURKEY OUT

Passengers embrace each other at the entrance to Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following their evacuation after a blast. Suspected Islamic State group extremists have hit the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, second right, visit a wounded man at a hospital in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey.(Hakan Goktepe, Prime Ministry Press Office, Pool via AP) TURKEY OUT

A worker wipes traces of blood from the wall of Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey.(AP Photo/Omer Kuscu) TURKEY OUT
Tibetan director Pema Tseden hospitalized after scuffle

BEIJING (AP)  Tibetan film director Pema Tseden has been hospitalized following a scuffle at a Chinese airport, bringing an outpouring of support from fans on social media.

Tseden's producer Sonam said the director was detained Saturday following a dispute over left luggage at the airport in the western city of Xining. The next morning, he was ordered held for five days of administrative detention for causing a disturbance and was taken to a hospital Monday night suffering from a headache, chest pain and other complaints, said Sonam, who like many Tibetans uses just one name.

Airport police did not immediately respond to questions about the case Wednesday.

FILE - In this Aug. 11, 2009, file photo, Tibetan film director Pema Tseden poses during a photo call at the 62nd Locarno International Film Festival in Locarno, Switzerland. Tseden was detained Saturday, June 25, 2016, following a dispute over left luggage at the airport in the western city of Xining. The next morning, he was ordered held for five days of administrative detention for causing a disturbance and was taken to a hospital Monday night suffering from a headache, chest pain and other complaints, his producer said. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, File) ** EDITORIAL USE ONLY **

Tseden was a member of the jury at this month's 19th Shanghai International Film Festival attended by international celebrities including British actor Ian McKellen.

The son of nomadic herders, Tseden is one of the few Tibetans to have graduated from the Beijing Film Academy. His films are rare in that they are filmed entirely in the Tibetan language, earning him legions of Tibetan fans at home and overseas. Many have taken to Twitter and other social media sites to express their concern over his condition.
On Ireland's border, Britain's EU exit threatens jobs, peace

BLACKLION, Ireland (AP)  Hugh Maguire can't believe the British really did it.

The Northern Ireland farmer, like many residents along the United Kingdom's virtually unmarked land border with the Republic of Ireland, faces the risk of financial ruin if Britain proceeds with plans to exit the European Union. EU farm subsidies provide most of his income from highland pastures of cows and sheep  around 80,000 euros ($90,000) annually to support his 241-hectare (600-acre) farm. He gets the subsidies under the EU's "Less Favored Areas" rating  farms on marginally productive but environmentally valued land.

Maguire called last week's referendum verdict  with 52 percent voting U.K.-wide to leave the bloc, including 44 percent in Northern Ireland  "a disaster."

FILE - This is Wednesday, May 25, 2016 file photo of a truck as it crosses the bridge from Blacklion, Republic of Ireland, into Belcoo, Northern Ireland, . The bridge has no signs indicating the presence of an international border besides the posted speed limits which are listed in British miles going north into Northern Ireland, and in kilometers going south into the Republic of Ireland. All along the meandering 310-mile (500-kilometer) Northern Ireland border with the Irish Republic, residents are trying to imagine what life will be like if Northern Ireland, like the rest of the U.K., actually leaves the 28-nation EU. (AP Photo/Shawn Pogatchnik)

"I can't see Britain subsidizing us the same as the EU has done," said Maguire, who voted to remain. "We've been much better off with the EU when we got the subsidies. ... I honestly think in a few years' time, there'll be no farming in this part of Northern Ireland."

All along the meandering 310-mile (500-kilometer) border with the Irish Republic, residents are trying to imagine what life will be like if Northern Ireland, like the rest of the U.K., actually leaves the 28-nation EU. Both the U.K. and Ireland entered the then-European Economic Community together in 1973, and their cooperation at the European level helped to eliminate the border as a barrier to the economy or tourism by the early 1990s.

Many now fear that both British and Irish authorities will have no choice but to redeploy customs officers and police to deter immigration and smuggling, a prospect that could fuel renewed support for the outlawed Irish Republican Army. IRA attacks from the 1970s to 1990s spurred Britain to build border networks of bases and watchtowers manned by soldiers, but those installations have disappeared following the 2005 decision of most IRA members to disarm and renounce violence.

"For the sake of promoting peace and economic growth, we need to keep the Irish border as invisible as possible. Voters in England don't really understand what's at stake here," said John Paul Feeley, a county councilman born in Blacklion, a village of 200 bordered to the north and east by Northern Ireland.

Feeley said around 30,000 people travel daily across the border in both directions to attend jobs and schools, and the last thing they need is a return to traffic-snarling checkpoints.

"It's a very serious situation for us," he said.

The shock decision to back a Brexit sent the British pound tumbling against other currencies, including the euro used in the Republic of Ireland. The change means that southerners with euros in their pockets suddenly find shopping in Northern Ireland around 10 percent cheaper, while Northern Ireland-based companies that do business in pounds find imported goods growing prohibitively expensive.

"A lot of our customers are in Europe, and I think it's going to make it more difficult for us to compete in Europe," said Jonathan Balfour, director of Elite Electronic Systems, which employs around 200 people in the nearby Northern Ireland town of Enniskillen. The company assembles printed circuit boards and other electronic peripherals but finds its costs for imported materials are rising with the pound's sharp decline.

Other businessmen fear their supply chains will grow too difficult, with multiple tariff barriers, as they move goods from continental EU nations to the U.K. for eventual sale in EU member Ireland.

"I'm still in shock," said Joris Smet, a Dutch citizen who runs his own building supplies business in the Northern Ireland border town of Newry. He said many of his firm's goods were imported from Germany via the Netherlands and the Belgian port of Antwerp, then exported again to the Republic of Ireland. "So it's no surprise that I'm an avid supporter of EU membership. ... I cannot believe that people do not understand the obvious benefits to our economy."

South of Newry, the Irish Republic city of Dundalk, 14 miles (22 kilometers) away, faces an exodus of retail trade to the north, where the weak pound means the euro enjoys boosted spending power. This last happened in 2007 and 2008, when Newry's shopping centers were inundated with cross-border shoppers.

"We've always lived with the currency fluctuations. Sometimes Dundalk wins, sometimes Newry wins," said Paddy Malone, spokesman for Dundalk Chamber of Commerce. "What we cannot live with is excessive border security."

Malone gestured to the nearby M1 highway, which since 2007 has cut in half the travel time between the Irish capital, Dublin, and Northern Ireland's capital of Belfast. Currently, the only sign that a driver has passed from one nation to the other is that speed limits and distances in the Republic of Ireland are listed in kilometers, while the north uses miles.

"That road was built without any reference to border checks. Imposing them on what is supposed to be a high-speed, efficient piece of infrastructure would be difficult, to say the least," he said. "There's also hundreds of small roads and country lanes that cross the border, and it's impossible to police them all."

"The British Army tried to seal off the border for years. They were never successful," he added.

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Pogatchnik reported from Dublin, Newry and Belfast.
Israeli security Cabinet OKs reconciliation deal with Turkey

JERUSALEM (AP)  Israel's security Cabinet has approved the reconciliation agreement reached this week with Turkey despite opposition from some ministers.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Wednesday that the ministers voted seven to three to restore full diplomatic ties with Turkey. The 10 are part of an inner Cabinet group of ministers.

There has been criticism in Israel of the pact, officially announced on Monday, because it failed to secure the return of the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza and possibly two living Israeli citizens believed to be held in the territory by Hamas.

The Cabinet says it will reconsider the imprisonment conditions of Hamas prisoners held in Israeli jails as long as Hamas holds the Israelis.
Britain's departure will shift power dynamics in EU

BRUSSELS (AP)  Britain's departure from the European Union will deprive the bloc of one of its few truly heavyweight members, a diplomatic, economic and military powerhouse. Britain accounts for more than 60 million of the EU's 500 million people, has the world's fifth-biggest economy and is a nuclear power. Its exit will shift the power dynamics of a bloc that has long relied on trade-offs and compromise between countries that have different ideas about what they want out of a united Europe.

Here's a look at shifting powers in the 28-nation bloc:

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Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, center, speaks with French President Francois Hollande, left, and Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britains unprecedented vote to leave. (John Thys, Pool Photo via AP)

GERMANY AND FRANCE MAY HAVE TO DO MORE

Germany and France have combined over the decades as the motor of European integration. The two countries often draw up joint proposals for major policy issues before summits of the full bloc  something smaller EU nations can view with suspicion. That frequently requires a balance between different political philosophies, with Germany tending toward a free-market approach while France favoring more state intervention in the economy.

"When we agree about everything, then the others are worried. When, which is seldom the case, we do not agree, then people are even more worried," French President Francois Hollande said Monday during a visit to Berlin. "So we have decided that we prefer to agree."

Amid tensions over Europe's debt crisis, the French-German partnership hasn't been much of a romance over recent years. And it has looked increasingly unbalanced as German Chancellor Angela Merkel presides over a strong economy while the deeply unpopular Hollande struggles to reform France.

Germany, France and Italy are the only three EU countries other than Britain with more than 60 million people. Merkel also invited Italian Premier Matteo Renzi to Berlin on Monday ahead of a summit where EU leaders pondered how to keep their union together.

The big EU countries are keen not to be seen as dominating their smaller partners.

"The European Union has no directorate," Renzi said.

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THE EUROZONE NOT LIKELY TO EXPAND ANYTIME SOON

Nineteen of the EU's 28 members use the shared euro currency. Britain never joined this inner circle, which brings together countries as diverse as Germany, Slovakia and Greece. Denmark also opted out of the euro and Swedish voters rejected the currency in a 2003 referendum.

The club doesn't look likely to expand anytime soon  even though all the many eastern European countries that joined the EU starting in 2004 are on paper committed to joining the euro. Still, governments in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic are paying lip service at most to that requirement. They're waiting to see how the currency zone resolves the debt problems that saw Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus bailed out.

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THE EAST GETS MORE ASSERTIVE

Four independent-minded eastern European countries that have been increasingly assertive over the past year will demand to have their voice heard as the EU figures out how to move forward: Poland  the biggest of the EU's eastern members with 38 million people  along with Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The four have already resisted calls by Merkel for all EU countries to share the burden of hosting the massive influx of refugees to the bloc. Nationalist governments in Poland and Hungary, in particular, have little appetite for further EU integration and have bristled at scrutiny from Brussels of their own domestic policy moves.

Witold Waszczykowski, Poland's foreign minister, described officials at EU headquarters this week as out of touch with regular people, saying they should be "beating themselves on the chest" in remorse at the British referendum result.

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EU HEADQUARTERS IN BRUSSELS MAY HAVE TO REIN IT IN

The European Union's Brussels-based executive Commission has acquired increased influence and confidence over recent years under the 2009 Lisbon Treaty, which governs the way the bloc is run and was meant to make it more effective and accountable.

Yet there's a widespread perception in many European countries that the bloc's leaders are too willing to interfere on matters they don't need to. Britain's exit could make governments elsewhere in Europe more inclined to assert themselves against Brussels officials.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Tuesday that the EU should keep in mind "the guiding principle  national solutions where possible, and European solutions where necessary."

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Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.
Microsoft readies Windows 10 update, answers critics

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Microsoft has a birthday present for Windows 10 users: more capabilities for its Cortana digital assistant and new ways to ditch passwords.

The company is also changing the notices it sends to users of previous versions, following complaints that it was too aggressive in pushing them to get the free Windows 10 upgrade.

Microsoft's "Anniversary Update," scheduled for release Aug. 2, will let users activate Cortana with a spoken command ("Hey Cortana") even while their screen has gone into sleep mode. Cortana will be able to recall more types of information, such as frequent flier numbers or parking locations. Users can also ask Cortana to remember specific photos, such as a wine bottle to buy again later.

FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2015, file photo, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at an event demonstrating the new features of Windows 10 at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Wash. As Windows 10 approaches its first birthday, Microsoft is adding new features to its flagship operating software. The new features, scheduled for release on Aug. 2, 2016, will include new security measures, more capabilities for Cortana, Microsofts digital assistant, and a new service called Windows Ink, which lets users with a digital stylus add handwritten notes or reminders and draw on screen to annotate documents, maps and other apps. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

For devices that allow sign-ins with a biometric identifier, such as facial recognition, the update will extend that capability to third-party websites and apps, so users won't have to remember separate passwords.

Other new features include Windows Ink, which will let users with a digital stylus add hand-written notes or reminders and draw on documents, maps or other apps. Video gamers will be able to start playing on an Xbox One console or a Windows 10 PC and resume on another device without losing their progress.

The Anniversary Update, which was previewed at Microsoft's developer conference this spring, is free for anyone who already has Windows 10. Users of previous versions must get the current version of Windows 10 by July 29 or pay $119 after that .

"For the most part, all of those machines whose owners wanted the upgrade will hopefully have gotten one," Microsoft corporate vice president Yusuf Mehdi told The Associated Press.

There are now 350 million devices running Windows 10, which has been available since last July 29. Microsoft says adoption has been faster than previous versions.

Getting more people to use the new software is a key element of CEO Satya Nadella's strategy for rebuilding Microsoft's business, which suffered in recent years as PC sales slumped.

Microsoft makes money from Windows 10 features that increase use of Bing, the company's ad-supported search engine. But executives also believe Windows 10 provides a better experience and stronger security. And the company wants to encourage others to write apps for Windows 10 by showing there's a big audience.

Still, the aggressive push for Windows 10 adoption has sparked a backlash from some PC owners. Critics say the company sent confusing notices that led some people to inadvertently agree to an upgrade. Microsoft acknowledged the confusion this week and said notices will now include a clearly marked option to decline.

The change came too late for a California woman who sued Microsoft in small claims court. Terri Goldstein, 51, said her Windows 7 desktop got Windows 10 without her knowledge in August. Goldstein says her machine began slowing down drastically, before it crashed and left her unable to recover files she needed for her travel business.
Attorney for deputy charged in boy's death hints at defense

MARKSVILLE, La. (AP)  A 6-year-old boy's father had drugs in his system when two deputy city marshals opened fire on the man's car, killing his son and critically wounding him, an attorney for one of the deputies said Wednesday.

The father's credibility and state of mind at the time of the November 2015 shooting will be crucial elements of defense for deputy Derrick Stafford, attorney Jonathan Goins told a judge. Goins also disclosed allegations that the father, Christopher Few, had battled a drug addiction and severe depression and had survived a suicide attempt only days before the shooting.

Stafford and the other deputy, Norris Greenhouse Jr., have pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder in the shooting that wounded Few and killed his autistic son, Jeremy Mardis.

FILE - This file booking photo provided by the Louisiana State Police shows Marksville City Marshal Derrick Stafford. Marshal Norris Greenhouse Jr. and Stafford were arrested on charges of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Jeremy Mardis, a six-year-old autistic boy, in Marksville, La. Derrick Stafford's attorneys are asking a judge to move his trial to a different Louisiana parish. They claim he can't get a fair trial in Avoyelles Parish due to extensive media coverage of the case and "inflammatory" statements made by the head of the Louisiana State Police. (Louisiana State Police via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT

State Police said the deputies opened fire on Few's car following a pursuit that a third deputy and a Marksville police sergeant also joined. A police report says video from Sgt. Kenneth Parnell III's body camera shows Few's empty hands were raised and visible inside the vehicle when gunfire erupted. The boy was strapped into the front seat.

Parnell told investigators he didn't fire his own weapon because "he didn't fear for his life," the report says.

State Police Col. Mike Edmonson cited the video when he announced the arrest of the two officers, calling it the most disturbing thing he's seen.

Police have said Stafford and Greenhouse fired at least 18 rounds at Few's car. Mardis had five gunshot wounds and his father had two, according to police.

Prosecutors have provided defense attorneys with copies of the video, but the footage hasn't been publicly released.

Goins said amphetamines and benzodiazepines, a class of drugs that includes Xanax and Valium, were found in Few's system when doctors treated his gunshot wounds at a hospital. He didn't specify exactly what drugs were in Few's system.

"We believe that this could have affected his behavior," Goins told State District Court Judge William Bennett. "He was also intoxicated, your honor, and the reports will show that."

Stafford's attorneys asked for an order requiring Few to disclose records related to any history of psychiatric treatment, but the judge rejected that request.

"It's the behavior that night that's important to this case," Bennett said.

The judge also refused to order Few to submit to a psychiatric examination by a defense expert.

"He doesn't have to talk to you all if he doesn't want to," Bennett said.

Few attended Wednesday's hearing but didn't testify. Steven Lemoine, an attorney for Few and his son's family, declined to respond to Goins' allegations.

"Mr. Goins says a lot of things. I guess we will have to wait until trial to see what the facts are," Lemoine said.

Stafford's attorneys also asked the judge to move his trial to a different Louisiana parish, saying he can't get a fair trial in Avoyelles Parish due to extensive media coverage of the case and "inflammatory" statements made by Edmonson, the head of the Louisiana State Police.

Edmonson "made inflammatory statements instead of providing solely factual information," Stafford's attorneys said in a court filing.

"He proceeded to state during his press conference that Derrick Stafford had 'tarnished the badge' and that Jeremy Mardis 'didn't deserve to die like that,'" they wrote.

Bennett put off a ruling on the change of venue request, saying they could revisit the issue after they begin questioning prospective jurors from Avoyelles Parish.

Greenhouse's attorney, George Higgins III, has said he believes that a fair and impartial jury can be picked in the parish.

Stafford's trial is set for Nov. 28.

Stafford, a Marksville police lieutenant, and Greenhouse, a former Marksville police officer, were moonlighting as deputy marshals on the night of the shooting. Stafford also worked part-time as a deputy city marshal in nearby Alexandria, but he was fired from that job following his arrest.

After a hearing in December, Stafford's wife said she believes that race was a factor in the decision by state authorities to bring charges in the case. Stafford and Greenhouse are both black. Few and his son are white.

FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2015 file photo, Derrick Stafford is led into the Avoyelles Parish courthouse for his bond hearing in Marksville, La.. State District Judge William Bennett refused to lower the $1 million bond that was set for the Marksville deputy marshal charged with murder in the fatal shooting of 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Breakaway Catholic group accuses pope of spreading errors

VATICAN CITY (AP)  A breakaway traditionalist Catholic group accused Pope Francis on Wednesday of spreading confusion and errors about the faith, joining a chorus of conservative criticism over his perceived lax doctrine and emphasis on mercy at the expense of morals.

A statement from the schismatic Society of St. Pius X suggested that a new attempt at reconciliation with Rome had stalled, or that the society itself was divided over next steps and decided at least to take a hard line against Francis.

The statement, issued after a meeting of the society's superiors, said its members weren't primarily looking for a legal resolution to their schismatic status but eager to return Catholic tradition to a church where "great and painful confusion" currently reigns.

Pope Francis celebrates a Mass where he bestowed the Pallium, a woolen shawl symbolizing the bond to the pope, to 25 new Archbishops in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

It said errors had made their way into doctrine "that are unfortunately encouraged by a large number of pastors, including the pope himself."

"The Society of St. Pius X prays and does penance for the pope, that he might have the strength to proclaim Catholic faith and morals in their entirety," it said.

The late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the society in 1969, opposed to the Second Vatican Council's modernizing reforms. In 1988, the Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre and four other bishops after Lefebvre consecrated them without papal consent.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI had made reconciling a priority, but three years of doctrinal talks collapsed in 2012. Talks resumed in 2014 and Francis met with the head of the society, Bishop Bernard Fellay, in April, signaling possible progress.

But Francis is no friend of Catholic traditionalists. He has riled them and other conservatives with a host of comments they say are sowing confusion about core church teachings on family, sex and other hot-button issues.

Francis fueled those criticisms this month during an off-the-cuff session with Rome priests and laity, where he criticized rigid readings of doctrine and suggested that he approved of pre-marital cohabitation so young couples know what they're getting into when they marry.

"I have seen so much loyalty in these cohabitations, so much loyalty, and I'm sure that this is a true marriage, they have the grace of marriage simply because of the loyalty that they have," he said.

Such couples, he has argued, should be accompanied by church pastors and encouraged to enter into a sacramental marriage, not shunned as people living in sin.

In its statement, the society said the resolution of its status "cannot happen without the support of a pope who concretely favors the return to sacred tradition," but regardless it would continue working to spread the faith.

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Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Pope Francis celebrates a Mass where he bestowed the Pallium, a woolen shawl symbolizing the bond to the pope, to 25 new Archbishops in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis arrives to celebrate a Mass where he bestowed the Pallium, a woolen shawl symbolizing the bond to the pope, to 25 new Archbishops in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis, background center, celebrates a Mass where he bestowed the Pallium, a woolen shawl symbolizing the bond to the pope, to 25 new Archbishops in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis, background center, celebrates a Mass where he bestowed the Pallium, a woolen shawl symbolizing the bond to the pope, to 25 new Archbishops in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis celebrates a Mass where he bestowed the Pallium, a woolen shawl symbolizing the bond to the pope, to 25 new Archbishops in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis celebrates a Mass where he bestowed the Pallium, a woolen shawl symbolizing the bond to the pope, to 25 new Archbishops in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis delivers a blessing during the Angelus noon prayer in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Pope Francis has denounced the "brutal terrorist attack" at Istanbul's airport and is calling for the killers behind it to change their ways. In a noontime blessing from his studio window, Francis said he was praying for the victims, their families "and the dear Turkish people." (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Activist Brockovich talks tainted water near naval bases

WILLOW GROVE, Pa. (AP)  Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is weighing in on concerns residents are raising about drinking water contamination near two former U.S. Navy bases near Philadelphia.

Brockovich spoke by Skype Tuesday night to hundreds of residents who turned out for a public meeting organized by the New York law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg. The firm is gathering facts for a possible lawsuit stemming from water problems near the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove and the Naval Air Warfare Center in Warminster.

The federal government is offering free water and has alerted residents to possible contamination due to foam once used to fight fires at the bases.
Operatic baritone killed in Ukraine fighting

MOSCOW (AP)  A Ukrainian baritone who performed in French opera productions for nearly two decades before joining a volunteer battalion in warring eastern Ukraine has been killed in the fighting.

Ukrainian news reports cited the nationalist group Pravy Sektor as saying Wassyl Slipak was killed on Wednesday by a sniper.

The reports said Slipak had abandoned his singing career two years ago to join the fight of Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers against Russia-backed rebels. Nearly 9,500 people have been killed in the conflict, according to U.N. figures.

Slipak had performed at the Paris National Opera and productions throughout France, according to his webpage.

Under the cease-fire agreement reached last year in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, both the separatists and Ukrainian government forces pledged to pull back heavy weaponry as well as take other steps toward a peace settlement.

In a statement on Wednesday, Ivan Simonovic, head of the U.N. Human Rights chief's office in New York, said the death toll of early 9,500 includes up to 2,000 civilians.

Simonovic said in the past month "half of all civilian casualties were caused by shelling from mortars and howitzers - weapons which use in the conflict zone are prohibited by the Minsk Agreements."
Authorities ID sixth victim in fatal van crash in Virginia

BOWLING GREEN, Va. (AP)  Virginia State Police have identified the last of six victims in a deadly van crash.

The Free-Lance Star reports (http://bit.ly/294bxte) authorities say 34-year-old Yopihua Tehuintle of Mexico was killed along with five others in Saturday's crash on Interstate 95 in Caroline County.

Police say the van ran off the side of the road, swerved, hit a car and overturned five to six times. The victims were thrown from the van and died at the scene.

The van's driver, Wenceslao Cruz-Marquez of Chicago, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless driving. Police say driver fatigue is being considered as a factor in the crash.

Three other victims, including a mother and her 5-year-old son, were from Mexico, and two were from Guatemala.

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Qatar's RasGas reaches gas supply deal with France's EDF

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Qatari liquefied natural gas producer RasGas has reached a deal to supply France's EDF with up to 2 million tons of the fuel annually.

Government-backed RasGas said Wednesday it will begin delivering the LNG to a terminal in Dunkirk, France, starting next year.

Financial terms were not disclosed. RasGas already has three existing long-term LNG agreements with EDF subsidiaries in Italy and Belgium.
N. Korean parliament convenes to follow up on party congress

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP)  North Korea convened a meeting of its national parliament on Wednesday to bestow yet another title on leader Kim Jong Un and follow up on the first congress of its ruling Workers' Party in 36 years, which was held last month.

The Supreme People's Assembly, which is the legislative branch of the North Korean government, was convened in Pyongyang. It was not immediately known how long the assembly's meetings would last, though sessions normally only take a few days.

State media showed Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the assembly, proposing it name Kim Jong Un chairman of the new State Affairs Commission, which he called "the top position in our country."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un raises his Party Membership Card to vote during North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, convened Wednesday June 29, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Un vowed to continue developing nuclear weapons while also strengthening the country's economy. (NKO via AP Photo)

The party congress, which also gave Kim a new title, was a major political forum during which Kim vowed to continue developing nuclear weapons while also strengthening the country's economy.

The assembly's last full meeting was in April last year, but a smaller session was held in late March this year prior to the party congress.

Although the full assembly, made up of hundreds of deputies from around the country, is technically the highest organ of government, its function is primarily to endorse decisions passed down to it by the party and military leadership, rather than formulate and propose legislation of its own.

About 600 delegates are believed to have gathered for the assembly Wednesday.

The assembly is expected to approve and follow up on decisions made at last month's party congress.

Shortly after the congress ended, the government announced the start of a 200-day "loyalty campaign" calling on all North Koreans to make an extra effort to boost production, speed up construction projects and generally work harder and longer to show their support for the party and the leadership.

The assembly meeting could shed more light on how Kim Jong Un intends to bolster North Korea's struggling economy. Kim announced a new five-year development plan at the congress, but few details have been made public.

Military officers cheer during North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, chaired by their leader Kim Jong Un, convened Wednesday June 29, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Un vowed to continue developing nuclear weapons while also strengthening the country's economy. (NKO via AP Photo)

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un reacts as the Supreme People's Assembly is convened Wednesday June 29, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. that is expected to follow up on the first congress of its ruling Workers' Party in 36 years, which was held last month. Kim Jong Un vowed to continue developing nuclear weapons while also strengthening the country's economy. (NKO via AP Photo)

North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly is chaired by leader Kim Jong Un, convened Wednesday June 29, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Un vowed to continue developing nuclear weapons while also strengthening the country's economy. (NKO via AP Photo)

Military officers listen during North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, chaired by their leader Kim Jong Un, convened Wednesday June 29, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Un vowed to continue developing nuclear weapons while also strengthening the country's economy. (NKO via AP Photo)
US gives Iraq $2.7B credit to buy military equipment

BAGHDAD (AP)  The United States has extended a $2.7-billion credit facility to Iraq for the purchase of military equipment amid the ongoing fight against the Islamic State group.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said Wednesday that the deal gives Iraq a one-year grace period and eight and a half years total to pay for its purchases of ammunition and maintenance of its F-16s and M1A1 tanks.

Like other oil-reliant countries, Iraq's economy has been severely hit by plummeting crude prices since 2014, plunging the nation into an acute financial crisis. The OPEC member is struggling to feed a cash-strapped economy amid an expensive fight against IS militants, who still control key areas in the country's north and west.
The Latest: McConnell says Trump's campaign has improved

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Latest on the US presidential campaign (all times local):

6:39 p.m.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says Donald Trump's presidential campaign has improved dramatically. McConnell says he's been encouraged by changes including Trump's increased willingness to use a script and a teleprompter and stay on message  all suggestions McConnell has made.

FILE -In this Dec. 17, 2014 file photo, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., talks about his agenda for a GOP-controlled Congress during an interview with The Associated Press on Capitol Hill in Washington. McConnell faces a nearly impossible task this election year: protecting Senate Republicans from the political upheaval of Donald Trumps presidential campaign. Trumps polar opposite in almost every way, the close-mouthed, uncharismatic 74-year-old finally got his dream job just last year and is trying to keep it, even if a Trump backlash provokes a Democratic tidal wave in November. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Overall, McConnell says, Trump has "made a lot of progress toward passing what I would consider sort of the credibility threshold that you need to pass in order to be considered for the most important political job in the country."

McConnell also tells The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that he will meet with Trump next week, when the billionaire is scheduled to visit Capitol Hill to meet with House Republicans.

McConnell also disputes the notion that Trump's candidacy will result in a Democratic wave that will knock down-ballot Republicans out of office. He says the GOP has a "great shot" at holding its slim Senate majority in the November election.

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6:20 p.m.

Donald Trump is taking his tough-on-trade message to a mostly rural area in Maine where his message of economic populism could earn him one vote in the Electoral College.

Trump is blasting existing free trade deals and reiterating his pledge to label China a currency manipulator. His message on trade marks a stark departure from typical Republican orthodoxy. He is hitting back against the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a typical Republican ally, for criticizing his trade policies.

Maine hasn't voted for a Republican president since 1988 and carries just four electoral votes. But like only one other state, it awards one electoral vote for the winner of each of its two congressional districts. Northern Maine has seen job losses in manufacturing, creating potentially friendly territory for Trump.

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4:40 p.m.

An enthusiastic crowd is welcoming Donald Trump to northern Maine, an area rarely visited by presidential candidates.

Trump is speaking in Bangor, a city of about 32,000 people located in Maine's mostly rural 2nd Congressional District. The state can split its electoral votes if its two congressional districts vote for different candidates, offering Trump an opportunity to pick up one electoral vote in the state.

Trump is railing against bad trade deals, as he's done in recent days. He's hitting back against the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a typical Republican ally, for criticizing a speech he made on trade yesterday.

Trump says the business organization shouldn't be upset with him, because he supports free trade deals only if they are good ones.

Northern Maine in particular has seen manufacturing jobs lost in recent years.

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3:20 p.m.

Foreign officials are complaining that they're being "bombarded" by fundraising appeals from U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. And now, two watchdog groups are filing complaints against the Republican's campaign saying the practice breaks the law.

Sir Roger Gale, a member of the British Parliament, complained in the House of Commons Tuesday that his fellow lawmakers are getting flooded with appeals from "somebody called Donald Trump." He says he does not think his colleagues "should be subjected to intemperate spam."

The complaint by watchdog groups Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 say the emails violated a federal law designed to prohibit foreign money in U.S. campaigns.

The complaint cites news reports that politicians in Iceland, Australia and Scotland also have received solicitations on their official email accounts. Campaign Legal Center spokesman Paul S. Ryan said, "Donald Trump should have known better."

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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1:25 p.m.

America's largest Hispanic civil rights group says it will not be inviting any presidential candidate to its national conference next month in Orlando.

In a statement Wednesday, Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, said the decision was the result of Donald Trump's "concerted effort to denigrate and demonize" immigrants and the Hispanic community.

Trump has pledged to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and deport all 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. About two in three U.S. Hispanics are of Mexican descent.

For decades, NCLR, has invited candidates from both major parties. As a nonpartisan group, it said it could not invite Democrat Hillary Clinton without inviting Trump.

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10:50 a.m.

President Barack Obama and the woman who wants to succeed him are making their first campaign appearance together next week.

Obama and Democrat Hillary Clinton, who was his secretary of state, are campaigning together Tuesday in Charlotte, North Carolina. That's a swing state that Obama won in 2008 but lost in 2012. Democrats dearly want to take North Carolina in the November election, when Clinton is likely to run against Republican Donald Trump.

North Carolina is home to 15 electoral votes. A candidate needs 270 to win the presidency.

Clinton's campaign said in a statement Tuesday that she and Obama will discuss their vision "for an American that is stronger together."

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10:25 a.m.

Donald Trump is firing back at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which says his trade plans could damage the U.S. economy.

Trump, in a tweet Wednesday, said the Chamber "must fight harder for the American worker. China, and many others, are taking advantage of U.S. with our terrible trade pacts."

In a speech Tuesday, Trump said he would tear up U.S. trade deals. He threatened new tariffs and called for a new era of economic "Americanism."

The Chamber, a traditional Republican ally, said his proposals would lead to higher prices, fewer jobs and a weaker economy.

In another tweet Wednesday, Trump said: "Why would the USChamber be upset by the fact that I want to negotiate better and stronger trade deals or that I want penalties for cheaters?"

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7:15 a.m.

Sen. Bernie Sanders is arguing that "the global economy is not working for the majority of people in our country and the world."

Sanders, who hasn't yet abandoned his presidential campaign, writes in a New York Times op-ed Wednesday that Republican Donald Trump "could benefit from the same forces" that led Britain to vote to leave the European Union. He says that any political advantage flowing to Trump from this market-moving vote "should sound an alarm for the Democratic Party."

Sanders hasn't conceded the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton, although he has said he would vote for her.

In his Times article, Sanders said that American voters, like those who supported bolting the EU, "are understandably angry and frustrated by the economic forces that are destroying the middle class."

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Ohio University Eastern Campus in St. Clairsville, Ohio, Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Supplies run out in southern Mexico amid teachers' protests

MEXICO CITY (AP)  Business leaders and government officials said Wednesday that supplies of gasoline, food and other goods are running out in southern Mexico because protesting teachers have blockaded key highways.

Tourism is one of the key economic activities in the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas and it's been hit severely by the protests. The Interior Department said that only about 5 percent of hotel rooms in the colonial city of Oaxaca were occupied. Normally at this time of year, Oaxaca is gearing up for next month's annual Guelaguetza folklore festival, which usually draws hundreds of thousands of tourists.

The department said there were severe shortages of even the most basic goods, including food and medicine, in many other areas.

In this Sunday, June 19, 2016 photo, riot police are forced to fall back as they battle with protesting teachers who were blocking a federal highway in the state of Oaxaca, near the town of Nochixtlan, Mexico. The teachers are protesting against plans to overhaul the country's education system which include federally mandated teacher evaluations. (AP Photo/Luis Alberto Cruz Hernandez)

The supply of gasoline in the southern state of Chiapas was expected to completely run out Wednesday. The head of the Chiapas association of gas stations told local media there might be some gasoline left in the city of Tapachula, near the Guatemala border, but that in 90 percent of gas stations, supplies ran out by Wednesday morning.

Groups of protesters, sometimes just a handful, have blocked highways at about three dozen places. They sometimes let cars pass, but refused to allow freight and tanker trucks through.

The protesters oppose new laws that require testing of teachers and weaken their unions' control over hiring.

The Interior Department said the blockades had caused many businesses to lose 80 percent of normal sales, putting thousands of jobs at risk.

The country's National Human Rights Commission called on the protesters to stop blocking roads.
The Latest: Navajo Nation crew deployed fire shelters

POTRERO, Calif. (AP)  The Latest on a wildfires burning in the U.S. West (all times local):

5:30 p.m.

Firefighters who deployed their fire shelters this week while battling an Arizona blaze were part of the Navajo Interagency Hotshot Crew.

Fire officials survey the scorched banks of Mono Lake near Lee Vining, Calif. in the Eastern Sierra Nevada on Tuesday, June 28, 2016 after a fire roared down a hillside. A 654-acre blaze that scared the U.S. 395 community of Lee Vining in Mono County and smaller fires in Orange, San Luis Obispo and Lake counties were 50-85 percent contained. (AP Photo/Christopher Weber)

Six firefighters in the 20-member crew used their shelters Tuesday, a couple of days before the three-year anniversary of a fire that claimed the lives of 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots.

In 2013, the Granite Mountain crew members deployed their fire shelters in a last-ditch effort to save themselves. The lightweight cocoons are made of reflective material and are intended as a firefighter's last resort.

The six who deployed their shelters Tuesday were treated for smoke inhalation but were otherwise uninjured. They haven't been identified.

Authorities are still investigating what led to the deployment of the shelters but said the hotshot crew was in an area where the fire wasn't yet controlled.

The fire is burning on 71 square miles on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.

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This item has been corrected to show that fire shelters were deployed a couple of days before three-year anniversary of the deaths of 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots.

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2:15 p.m.

Authorities say two dead bodies were found in a fire-stricken area near San Diego.

San Diego County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said the unidentified man and woman were found Wednesday near a boulder in Potrero, about 45 miles east of San Diego. The property had been under mandatory evacuation orders after a fire began on June 19 and has since spread to nearly 12 square miles.

Residents had reported a couple that lived on the property was missing.

Caldwell says authorities began searching Monday on the large property, which is filled with ravines. The county medical examiner will determine cause of death.

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2:05 p.m.

At least 400 homes in Northern California have been evacuated due to a wildfire that charged through inaccessible terrain and climbed out of a steep canyon along the middle fork of the American River.

The fire that started Tuesday has grown to 650 acres, or about 1 square mile, threatening more than 2,400 homes, businesses and other structures.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant says the Red Cross has set up an evacuation center in Auburn, near Sacramento and 140 miles northeast of San Francisco.

Initially, residents of about 100 homes in a rural subdivision 50 miles northeast of Sacramento evacuated Tuesday as firefighters braved triple-digit temperatures to battle the blaze. The weather cooled Wednesday to the high 80s, and crews have contained about 5 percent of the fire.

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10:10 a.m.

A southern Utah wildfire continues to grow, more than two weeks after it was started by lightning.

The blaze near Pine Valley has so far torched about 2.4 square miles of rugged terrain.

It had previously forced evacuations and while those have been lifted, people could be asked to leave again.

The Pine Valley Recreation Area in the Dixie National Forest remains closed.

The fire started June 13 with a lightning strike on Saddle Mountain.

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9:10 a.m.

A county fire marshal is refusing to make public radio dispatches and computer logs related to a destructive wildfire that charred 28 square miles in central New Mexico.

The Albuquerque Journal asked to review the information amid unconfirmed reports that the fire was called in hours earlier than has been reported and that efforts to control the flames were slow.

The human-caused fire was sparked June 14 and within two days had raced across 25 square miles, forcing evacuations of communities along the eastern edge of the Manzano Mountains southeast of Albuquerque.

A dozen homes and numerous other structures were destroyed.

The newspaper reports (http://bit.ly/29aPWRg) that Bernalillo County Fire Marshal Chris Gober denied the request, saying he and the U.S. Forest Service didn't want to release anything that might hinder the investigation into the cause of the fire.

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7:40 a.m.

Firefighters are bolstering lines around a blaze that had forced evacuations and the intermittent closure of a major interstate in central Arizona.

Crews were mopping up Wednesday after the blaze came close to homes in the Cordes Lakes area.

Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Dolores Garcia says crews hit the fire hard from the ground and with water-dropping helicopters and air tankers to keep the flames contained on the east side of Interstate 17.

It's considered halfway contained. The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office lifted evacuation orders overnight, and most of the interstate was open.

In the Tonto National Forest, officials are monitoring a few small lightning-sparked fires. Crews also made progress on several blazes caused by lightning in the Coronado National Forest earlier this week.

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7:30 a.m.

At least 100 homes in Northern California have been evacuated as a wildfire charged through inaccessible terrain and climbed out of a steep canyon along the middle fork of the American River.

People living in a rural subdivision 50 miles northeast of Sacramento fled Tuesday as firefighters braved triple-digit temperatures to battle the blaze.

Placer County sheriff's spokeswoman Dena Erwin says homes near Todd Valley between the cities of Foresthill and Auburn were evacuated as the fire quickly grew to roughly 300 acres.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant tells Sacramento station KCRA-TV (http://bit.ly/299QJlK ) that the evacuations were called because the community only has one way in and one way out.

No injuries or damage had been reported by Wednesday morning.

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6:45 a.m.

A growing network of online cameras installed on forested mountaintops is changing the way crews fight fires by allowing early detection that triggers quicker, cheaper and more tactical suppression.

The network of roughly 20 high-definition cameras being installed around the Lake Tahoe region can pan, tilt and zoom into fires. They can rotate 360 degrees. And the cameras even have night vision, to supplement human lookouts that only work during daylight hours.

Fire officials say the cameras will augment  and not replace  human fire spotters who climb high towers armed with only a radio and binoculars, scanning the forest for faraway smoke.

They hope to install the internet-ready cameras throughout California and other Western states.

Fire burns between I-17 and Cordes Lakes on the Bug Creek Fire near Cordes Lakes, Ariz., Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

A single engine air tanker drops a load of retardent to create fire lines on the Bug Creek Fire near Cordes Lakes, Ariz., Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

An American flag stands out amongst the burned out rubble in a fire-ravaged area of South Lake, Calif., Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (Casey Christie/The Bakersfield Californian via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES; ONLINE OUT; TV OUT

A worker walks past burned out mobile homes in South Lake, Calif., Tuesday, June 28, 2016, after a wildfire devastated the area. (Casey Christie/The Bakersfield Californian via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES; ONLINE OUT; TV OUT
Kosovo hands 13-year prison sentence to man plotting attacks

TIRANA, Albania (AP)  A Kosovo court has sentenced a man to 13 years in prison for preparing terrorist attacks.

The Pristina Basic Court on Wednesday said that the ethnic Serb man, identified only by his initials S.B., was plotting a terrorist attack in December 2014. Police found 23 explosive devices weighing 12 kilograms (26 pounds) that he had transported from Belgrade, Serbia.

The Serb was arrested at a quarter near the U.S. embassy. He claims he didn't intend to use the explosives but wanted to sell them.

A Serb minority lives in Kosovo that in 2008 declared independence from Serbia.
It sucks _ startups look to redesign the breast pump

NEW YORK (AP)  Ask many mothers and they'll tell you, pumping sucks in more than one sense of the word.

"It feels like you are a cow. You are hooked up to a machine  it's the opposite of breastfeeding," says Nina Emlen, who works full-time in college admissions and pumps milk twice a day for her son, Asher.

Women praise the pumps for giving them the freedom to spend time away from their baby. This can mean working, working out or getting a pedicure. But the complaints are manifold: The machines use harsh plastic parts, they are noisy and cumbersome, and they require a lot of maintenance and cleaning, which challenge bleary-eyed new parents.

This Tuesday, June 7, 2016, photo shows Naya Health's Smart Pump, in New York. A growing number of startups want to make the breast pump more mother-friendly, using soft silicone parts or keeping their noise level down to make it easier for them to work and pump simultaneously. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

But a growing number of startups wants to make the breast pump more mother-friendly, using soft silicone parts or keeping their noise level down to make it easier for them to work and pump simultaneously.

It's not an easy task. Because they are considered medical devices, breast pumps sold in the U.S. must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The Associated Press couldn't even get one of the newest, not-yet-approved pumps to test out with nursing mothers in the newsroom due to the regulations.

And though they are now covered by most health insurance plans, any redesign has to factor in cost. There are also patents to contend with from competing companies. For the male-dominated tech industry that's working on "disrupting" everything from meal delivery to taxicabs, the idea of reinventing the breast pump has simply not been on the horizon.

In fact, most of the startups working on new pumps and accessories are parents who grew frustrated with what's on the market today. Many ideas came out of a breast pump "hackathon" held over a weekend in 2014 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There were engineers, computer programmers, clinicians and others interested in fixing this problem. In all, some 150 people attended. MIT provided sewing machines, laser cutters, a 3D printer and other tools. Medela, a leading pump maker, sponsored a prize, which went to a bra that helps women manually express breast milk  an age-old technique  without using hands.

Pumping, for the uninitiated, generally involves many complicated steps: finding a place to do it, putting on a special pumping bra, assembling the valves, tubes, bottles and various plastic parts that attach the pump to the breasts, then the actual pumping. At best, it is uncomfortable and awkward and at worst, painful.

"I resigned myself to the fact that pumping was going to be uncomfortable," says Erin McArthur, who lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and exclusively pumped milk for her baby for nearly six months. "That it was something I would have to put up with if I want him to have breastmilk."

Then there's the cleaning or sterilizing, at least daily if not more, of the bottles and parts. There are nooks and crevices, and special detergents, and wipes and bottle brushes and microwave sterilizers to confound and frustrate bleary-eyed new parents.

Medela , a privately held Swiss company, started selling its best-selling pump for home-and-work use in 1991, after realizing there is a market for it beyond hospital use. Among its most important improvements is its two-phase expression technology, which mimics the way babies nurse  first, quick sucks to simulate milk production, then long gulps once the mother's milk "lets down." It started selling pumps with the technology in the early 2000s. Noting that many of today's moms are "digital natives" who like to have information at their hands, Medela also recently created an app that helps parents track their baby's activities and get help with breastfeeding.

But there is more that could be done, say parents, engineers and researchers working on the newest pump hacks.

Among the efforts to reinvent or at least improve the pump:

 A device called the Mighty Mom Hush-a-Pump wants to shush the grating whack-a-whack-a noise that can makes conference calls awkward for working-and-pumping mothers.

 Ahead of the curve, Freemie milk collection cups, by a husband-and-wife company whose premature twins needed pumped milk from their ER doctor mother, already has products on the market. Designed to work with existing breast pumps, they fit over a woman's breast and allow her to pump discreetly, without getting half naked.

 Recognizing that women often pump in awkward spaces, especially while traveling or working in non-office settings, the startup Mamava has come out with "lactation suites," basically pods, where women can nurse or pump privately. The suites have been installed in airports, colleges, hospitals and malls and even zoos around the country.

 A husband-and-wife startup called Naya Health has submitted a pump for FDA approval that uses water  hydraulics  instead of an air-based suction to express milk from the breast, and soft silicone instead of hard plastic to surround the nipple. The company has raised $3.9 million in venture capital funding.

Janica Alvarez, whose engineer husband concocted a breast pump using a surgical glove, duct tape and other stuff he found around the house, hopes to launch the Naya Health Smart Pump later this year. Because it uses a water-based technology rather than a vacuum motor, Alvarez, who nursed all three of her sons, says it is more akin to a nursing baby.

Emlen, who has not tried the pump, said she liked the idea of using silicone rather than rigid plastic.

"Even aside from the comfort, it seems like a friendlier material," she says. "Somebody thought oh, I respect this woman who is going to be using this by giving her something soft and comfortable."

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See a video of this story.

Reach Barbara Ortutay on twitter.com/barbaraortutay . Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/barbara-ortutay

This This Tuesday, June 7, 2016, photo shows the Medela Symphony breast pump, in New York. A growing number of startups want to make the breast pump more mother-friendly, using soft silicone parts or keeping their noise level down to make it easier for them to work and pump simultaneously. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Ab Fab: Patsy and Edina talk Brexit

LONDON (AP)  Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley will be hoping to lift the spirits of a post-Brexit Britain when they attend the world premiere of "Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie" Wednesday.

Saunders insisted that the event will be "more fabulous" now that the decision has been made to leave the European Union.

"It is going to have to be the most fabulous thing that has happened because everyone is feeling a little bit depressed so we have to pop open the champagne and just keep going," she said.

FILE - This is a Saturday June 25, 2016 file photo of British actresses Jennifer Saunders, left, and Joanna Lumley as they pose for photographers during a photo call to promote the film 'Absolutely Fabulous', during the annual Gay Pride parade in London. Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley will be hoping to lift the spirits of a post-Brexit Britain when they attend the world premiere of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie Wednesday June 29, 2016. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP, File)

The movie spin-off of the popular TV series sees the reuniting of best friends Patsy and Edina, directed by Mandie Fletcher.

The fashion-obsessed duo leave London to escape the paparazzi and head to the French Riviera.

And what would the pair think of the U.K's decision to exit the EU?

"They didn't even know we were in Europe let alone pulling out," smiles Lumley.

"They're still drunk," adds Saunders.
Airport attack hammers Istanbul's once-lofty ambitions

In 2012, a glistening tower of shops, offices and residences opened in Istanbul, an emblem of the brash attitude of an ancient city that prided itself as an international gateway between Asia and Europe. Those ambitions, increasingly dampened by internal conflict and spillover from the tumult in neighboring countries, were dealt another blow in the deadly assault on the city's main Ataturk Airport.

The attack that killed dozens and was blamed on the Islamic State group could have happened anywhere in the world, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Yet the three suicide bombers who used automatic weapons before blowing themselves up chose an especially sensitive target, an airport embodying Turkey's aim to become a global player and an international transit hub on a par with Dubai.

Istanbul, a sprawling metropolis of more than 15 million people that straddles two continents, had long drawn visitors who flocked to museums and palaces from an imperial past, coasted on ferries on the Bosporus Strait and, increasingly in the last decade, attended business forums, international conferences and shopped in high-end malls where security officials screened people at the glass doors.

FILE- This Friday, May 6, 2016 file photo shows a view of Istanbul's skyline with the iconic Galata Tower and the Ottoman-era Sultan Ahmed Mosque, background left, better known as the Blue Mosque. The number of foreigners arriving in Turkey in May was 2.48 million, down 34.6 percent from the same month in 2015, according to government data. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)

It has been an ebullient time in a city that has billed itself as a cradle of ancient empires and a modern melting pot, in a country with a Muslim identity and Western leanings that seemed to be thriving after decades of authoritarian rule, factional violence and chaotic politics.

As with recent attacks in Brussels and Paris, and the kind that happen routinely in war zones such as Iraq and Syria, Tuesday's violence in Istanbul is likely to leave an impact, an unease or outright trauma, for a short time or much longer, even with those who were not directly affected.

Deniz Ergurel, a Turkish journalist who lives close to the airport, said he felt haunted by the sad stories of the dead.

"From my window I can see the planes taking off (from) the airport, meaning that things have turned into normal. But when I say we're fine, I only mean it as a physical statement. In fact, it is those rare times when you feel kind of ashamed to be well," Ergurel wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

"Only a few days ago I was there, returning from an international conference. It could be me, it could be anyone," Ergurel wrote. "This is a tragedy and shock beyond words. And it will definitely affect the psychology of everyone."

He suggested Turkish security procedures need a review, noting that more than a dozen deadly bombings had occurred in Turkey in one year. Even before Tuesday's attack, once-robust tourism was struggling because of attacks linked to Islamic extremists, as well as Kurdish militants whose peace efforts with Turkey had collapsed.

Istanbul's famed landmarks include the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, popularly known as the Blue Mosque, and the Hagia Sophia, a former Greek Orthodox patriarchal basilica that was transformed into an imperial mosque and is now a museum. In January, a suicide bomber blew himself up nearby, killing 12 German tourists. Authorities blamed an IS-linked Syrian man who entered the country as a refugee from neighboring Syria.

The number of foreigners arriving in Turkey in May was 2.48 million, down 34.6 percent from the same month in 2015, according to government data.

A Turkish business leader predicted that the impact on tourism of the airport attack "will not be as high as one might think" because such violence has become sadly routine in some parts of the world.

Tarkan Kadooglu, president of Turkonfed, a non-governmental group that represents Turkish businesses, said recent efforts by NATO-member Turkey to reconcile with Israel and Russia, as well as closer intelligence-sharing with allies, could help curb militant attacks.

Allen Collinsworth, an international business consultant based in Istanbul, said there are "a lot of liquidity problems" in Turkey and that foreign investment has been drying up because of concerns about stability. However, he said the country has "always been in a boom and bust cycle" and that it has endured tough times in the past, including a crackdown on dissent that followed a 1980 military coup.

"It's not like the end of the world for Turkey," Collinsworth, an American, said in a telephone interview. "They always muddle through it."

Istanbul's bloody periods reach deep into history. Its ethnic Greek population endured devastating mob attacks in 1955, and hundreds of prominent Armenian luminaries were rounded up there in 1915 at the start of the massacres of Armenians during World War I. Crusaders pillaged the city, then Constantinople, in the early 13th century, and it fell to invading Ottomans in 1453.

The owners of the gleaming high-rise that opened in 2012 paid for the tower to carry the Trump name, presumably thinking it was synonymous with glamor and quality. Even there, the shine has come off because of comments deemed to be anti-Muslim by Donald Trump, now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in the United States. Erdogan said this month that the name should be removed from the building, Turkish media reported.

Erdogan has championed some of Istanbul's massive projects, including plans for a huge mosque, a new airport to relieve congestion at Ataturk Airport and a canal, alternative to the Bosporus Strait, which would link the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Critics describe the plans as grandiose.

In 2012, an AP reporter wrote: "Once a backwater aching with memories of a glorious past, Istanbul today is hectically, perhaps blindly, hustling to create a vibrant future."

For now, the feel-good times are over.

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Christopher Torchia was Associated Press bureau chief in Turkey from 2007 until early 2013.

FILE- This Sunday, June 7, 2015 file photo shows a view of Istanbul with the Bosporus and the Bosporus Bridge in Turkey. Erdogan has championed some of Istanbuls massive projects, including plans for a huge mosque, a new airport to relieve congestion at Ataturk Airport and a canal, alternative to the Bosporus Strait, which would link the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Critics describe the plans as grandiose. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
Laura Benanti looking forward to broadcast of 'She Loves Me'

NEW YORK (AP)  If you can't make it to see Laura Benanti in the charming Broadway revival of "She Loves Me," don't worry. Just fire up your computer or TV.

Online theater streaming service BroadwayHD plans to livestream the show Thursday night, marking the first time a Broadway show has been broadcast live.

Benanti, who won a Tony Award in the Broadway revival of "Gypsy," said despite the enormous potential audience, she'll be as cool as the ice cream she eats during the show. The actress said something in her takes over and eliminates any nerves.

FILE - In this June 1, 2014 file photo, Laura Benanti attends the Drama Desk Awards, in New York. If you cant make it to see Benanti in the Broadway revival of "She Loves Me," dont worry. Just fire up your computer or TV. Online theater streaming service BroadwayHD plans to live stream the show on Thursday, June 30, 2016, marking the first time a Broadway show has been broadcast live. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

"I just get really still. I get incredibly Zen about it. I don't know what happens. I am not a calm person in life. I'm not a chill-don't-worry-about-it kind of a gal," she said. "I wish I could bottle it for other moments in my life."

BroadwayHD offers high-definition theatrical events to computers, TV and phones, hoping to one day become the Netflix of Broadway. Its past livestreams include off-Broadway's productions of the New Group's "Buried Child" and Signature Theatre's "Old Hats."

A few Broadway shows have been broadcast  including "Memphis," the Orlando Bloom-led "Romeo and Juliet" and James Franco's "Of Mice and Men"  but never live. Last year, the off-Broadway musical "Daddy Long Legs" became the first-ever free online stream of any Broadway or off-Broadway show.

Benanti has seen her profile rise thanks to TV appearances on "Supergirl," ''Nurse Jackie," ''Nashville," ''The Good Wife," ''Go On" and NBC's live version of "The Sound of Music."

In "She Loves Me," Benanti plays one of two ever-quarreling employees of a perfume shop in a European city who later find out they've been writing lonely-hearts letters to each other. She earned a Tony nomination in the role.

The lovely songs by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick include "Vanilla Ice Cream," ''A Trip to the Library" and the title song. "I think musical theater  and this show in particular  is such a joyful thing. And I think we all could use a little more joy right now," she said.

The cast also includes Gavin Creel, Byron Jennings, Michael McGrath, Jane Krakowski and Peter Bartlett. Zachary Levi, known for TV's "Chuck," earned a Tony nomination as the leading man.

The Roundabout Theatre Company-produced show began previews in February. It closes July 10. Benanti said having the broadcast so close to the end of the run means the cast is well seasoned.

"I think having had so many shows under our belt and so many different types of audiences  it would take a lot to throw us. I feel like it's really in our bodies now," she said. "This is the perfect time in the run to be doing this."

BroadwayHD is offering access to the "She Loves Me" livestream to all its annual subscribers on the company's Roku and Apple TV apps. Non-subscribers can view it through a $9.99 viewing pass.

"The show will live on forever, which is not the case with theater. Theater is ephemeral," she said. "I'm excited that more people will get to see it than would normally be able to, for whatever reason, be it that they live out of town or can't afford it or they're not able to leave their homes."

To prepare, she'll stick to her regular routine.

"Routine is the best thing. When you do things special, things get weird. For me, it was the same thing for 'The Sound of Music.' I didn't eat anything differently, I didn't do more yoga. I didn't deviate," she said. "I think that's best. Maybe that's how I trick my mind into thinking it's just another day."

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Online:

http://broadwayhd.com/shelovesme

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Army: Dog alerted potential explosives, vehicle cleared

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (AP)  Army officials say a dog checking a truck at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland alerted for potential explosives, sparking a three-hour closure of one of the installation's gates.

Officials said in a statement Wednesday that while the truck was inspected further, the driver and a passenger were questioned.

The installation's police worked with the Maryland State Fire Marshal's office and Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal to investigate. After about three hours, spokeswoman Heather Roelker says security forces cleared the truck and the installation returned to normal operations.
London man who pleaded guilty to child porn sentenced

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  A British man who Indiana prosecutors identified as the leader of a child pornography ring involving infants and toddlers has been sentenced to 85 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge William T. Lawrence sentenced Domminich Shaw, 35, of London, on Tuesday. Shaw pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to advertise child pornography and conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography charges.

Prosecutors in Indiana's Southern District said he's the last of nine individuals convicted in connection with Operation Bulldog, and all were given prison sentences of up to life behind bars.

Shaw was indicted in 2011 in Indianapolis and was extradited from the United Kingdom in December 2014 after being British authorities held him for three years.

Shaw ran a website that let users access photos and videos and distribute and share them with other members, prosecutors said.
Beauty industry embraces Brazil ahead of Rio Olympics

NEW YORK (AP)  Whether it's sun-kissed skin or manufactured body tweaks, there's a certain something to beauty in Brazil that has global appeal.

In hair, skin care, cosmetic surgery and body contouring, the cachet that will soon be onstage when the Olympics begin in August is as varied as Brazilians themselves  among them supermodels Gisele Bundchen, Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima.

A taste of Brazil in beauty:

FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2005 file photo, Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen walks down the runway during the Victoria's Secret Fashion show in New York. Whether it's sun-kissed skin or manufactured body tweaks, there's a certain something to beauty in Brazil that has global appeal. In hair, skin care, cosmetic surgery and body contouring, the cachet that will soon be on stage when the Olympics begin in August is as varied as Brazilians themselves _ among them supermodels Bundchen, Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima. (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen, File)

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THE BUTT LIFT

Higher or larger is not exclusive to Brazil and never was, but a certain type of enhancement procedure is known as the Brazilian butt lift, forevermore. What, exactly, is it?

Basically, it's a fat-transfer method that involves taking fat out of the back, hips, belly  wherever it won't be missed  and strategically placing it in the buttocks based on a "map" decided upon ahead of time, whether lift or size enhancement or both are desired, said Dr. Mitchell Chasin, a cosmetic surgeon and laser specialist in New Jersey.

It's not about a cartoonish look for most, he said, and many people are terrible candidates due to age-related skin laxity and other factors. Surprisingly, people who are in great shape, eating healthfully and exercising regularly just might look down and realize their butts are gone, especially when they reach their late 30s or 40s, he said.

Chasin does the lifts under local anesthesia, which allows patients to stand so he can consider mid-procedure corrections not easily done when a recipient is lying down. He urges patients not to sit directly on their buttocks for at least a week after. That's key and lots of people ignore the advice, ruining the effect.

The cost, in Chasin's practice, of a Brazilian butt lift ranges from $7,000 to $10,000.

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THE BLOWOUT

The Brazilian blowout is not a blow-dry. It's a keratin treatment and not necessarily aimed at pin-straight locks.

The term generally refers to frizz control, calming loose curls and repairing damaged hair through chemical or organic treatments.

"Beach waves are still in demand, but you will not wake up with hair that looks camera ready," said Anthony French, a Brazilian blowout expert and stylist at Andy Lecompte Salon in Los Angeles.

So what does keratin do? It attaches protein to hair that seals down the cuticle, producing more manageable hair. Much has been made of smoothing products that contain formaldehyde. The issue of fumes sickening salon workers prompted a warning in 2011 from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Lots of things will prematurely break down the treatment, especially during the summer. Ocean saltwater and chlorinated pool water are among them. Before diving in, he said, wet hair with fresh water and apply a conditioner as a barrier. Sweating can also be a factor.

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HAIR COLOR

Celebrity hair stylist Ted Gibson has worked on many a famous Brazilian head. He's traveled to Rio a lot and thinks one of the things that makes Brazilian women known for bringing the sexy is long, tousled manes and exotic, melting-pot looks. But when clients in the United States ask for the Brazilian "look" in color, they're usually talking about golden brown hair, he said.

In terms of achieving that look, French said what many clients usually describe is called balayage. It's a technique for highlighting hair that involves painting on dye to create graduated, natural-looking color. It differs from ombre, which is a heavier disconnection between dark and light. No foils are used in balayage.

"The idea is that it's effortless, it's very sexy, it's not contrived at all, it's youthful," Gibson said. "It can work on different ethnicities."

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WAXING AND BODY CONTOURING

When it comes to body hair, silky smooth is the Brazilian way. Much is made of pubic waxing. Attaching the word "Brazil" to treatments is a popular marketing tool.

Removing hair "down south, everywhere, started in Brazil. It's become very popular," said Olga Katsnelson, manager of the Dyanna Spa in Manhattan that specializes in a variety of services.

The day spa also does a Brazilian manicure, a keratin-filled glove warmed up a bit with the fingertips cut off. The keratin softens the hand while the nails are done.

Hair is only half the story here. There's cellulite to contend with, and non-invasive body shaping.

In Austin, Texas, an actual Brazilian, Edneia Hathaway, operates Brazilian Body Contours. In addition to Brazilian-style "turbinada" massage, which uses rollers to tone and reshape, she offers treatments that include using microcurrent, something called "ultrasound cavitation" that promises to convert fat cells into liquid disposed of naturally by the body, and a vacuum therapy system that uses suction and power-driven rollers to manipulate and massage tissue in problem areas.

"Pretty much every woman knows about these things all over Brazil," said Hathaway, originally from Sao Paulo. "We're always at the beach. We don't want to do surgery all the time so all of this helps maintain for cellulite and skin tightening. The Brazilian woman, we're not as shy. We wear a lot of sexy clothes."

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SUN DAMAGE CORRECTION

Chasin, with offices in the Livingston and Bridgewater areas of New Jersey, said skin damage from sun exposure is hardly unique to Brazil. It's just that some in Brazil are, shall we say, perfectionists and not shy about seeking out treatments for all sorts of things, including sun damage, fine lines, wrinkles, loose skin and age-related brown spots.

Skin type, geography and genetics contribute to how such damage plays out and when, in addition to ill effects from smoking, which can hasten signs of sun exposure.

The best protection is not to damage the skin to begin with. A common mistake is not applying enough sunscreen and not reapplying frequently, say every four to five hours you're in the sun. And Chasin means a heavy application of an actual sunblock with UVA and UVB protection, not a moisturizer or makeup that includes some sunscreen. Even then, sun exposure is tricky and often appears years after the damage was done.

Another misconception is thinking that tanning, as opposed to burning, can't cause sun damage. It certainly can, he said.

"No sunblock is infallible. What is in the works and being studied are oral sunblocks. Eventually we'll have that," Chasin said. "That will probably be the first true block. Everything else falls short."
German prosecutors drop case against Nazi war crimes suspect

BERLIN (AP)  German prosecutors say they are dropping their investigation of a former SS officer suspected of war crimes in Italy.

Prosecutors in Stuttgart say a criminal prosecution is no longer possible because the 94-year-old is unable to stand trial for health reasons.

Wilhelm Kusterer was sentenced in absentia to lifetime imprisonment by an Italian court in 2008 after a court there found him guilty of participating in the 1944 Marzabotto massacre of some 770 people.

Stuttgart prosecutors spokesman Jan Holzner said Wednesday that the facts of the case would also be insufficient for a conviction in Germany.
Vessel rescues 19 fishermen from burning boat off Bermuda

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  A plume of black smoke alerted the crew of a cargo vessel to possible distress. As they pulled closer in the Atlantic Ocean, they found a fishing boat engulfed in flames and the sailors in the water.

The ship, K. Coral, hoisted 17 fishermen aboard. Two others drifted away while clinging to a makeshift raft made from fishing buoys. Lookouts searched for several hours, through nightfall and heavy wind and rain, before the crew pulled them both to safety as well.

The ship arrived this week to unload steel in New Haven, Connecticut, where a delegation from the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday honored the captain and crew for carrying out the rescue last week 900 miles southeast of Bermuda.

In this June 27, 2016 photo released by the U.S. Coast Guard, Commander Kevin Reed, left, shakes hands with Park Hyog Soo, the South Korean captain of the Panama-flagged cargo ship K. Coral, during an appreciation ceremony in New Haven, Conn. The crew of the K. Coral battled heavy winds and rain to save 19 fishermen who abandoned their burning ship 900 miles southeast of Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean the previous week. A delegation from the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday thanked the captain and crew for carrying out the rescue. (Petty Officer 3rd Class Steve Strohmaier/U.S. Coast Guard via AP)

Park Hyog Soo, the South Korean captain of the Panama-flagged K. Coral, said in Wednesday an email to The Associated Press that the entire effort felt like something out of a movie.

"Until now I, and my crew, still can't believe that we had rescued 19 people," he said.

The captain provided a minute-by-minute account of the rescue effort in dispatches to the Coast Guard and Bermuda authorities.

After spotting the smoke from about four miles away, the 620-foot vessel changed course and as it approached the burning vessel, the crew saw a flare shot into the sky. Within a few hours, the first 17 men were aboard the ship, including two people with severe burns.

The crew of the K. Coral smeared honey on the wounds and applied dressings for the two burn victims, one of whom would die from his injuries. Meanwhile, the ship continued to look for the other survivors. Seven hours into the search, which by then also involved a second ship, the K. Coral's crew spotted the two men in the darkness.

"One survivor safely on board and the other look outs lost sights due to heavy rain," the captain wrote. It took until daylight, about two hours later, to find and rescue the last man who was seen waving an orange flag from the raft.

The seas were too heavy to deploy a rescue boat so the crew pulled the fishermen in with ropes, a crane used to load provisions and a cargo net.

The K. Coral's shipping agent in New Jersey, Mehmet Uygun, said he became emotional as he received the updates from the crew and thought about the difficulties they were facing.

"They did a remarkable job," he said. "That's the rule of the sea. You have to help the others."

Within hours of the completion of the rescue the morning of June 24, a U.S. Air Force crew flew out of Moody Air Force Base in Georgia to meet up with the K. Coral. Seven crew members parachuted out of the fixed-wing aircraft, swam to the ship and provided medical care to the fishermen. The surviving burn victim was flown to a hospital in Norfolk, Virginia.
Lawyer in church shooting case calls prosecutor reckless

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP)  An attorney defending the man accused of fatally shooting nine black parishioners in Charleston, South Carolina, says a state prosecutor is making reckless misstatements by implying a federal death sentence might not be carried out.

Twenty-two-year-old Dylann Roof faces death penalty trials in state and federal courts in the shooting deaths of the parishioners at Emanuel AME Church a year ago.

Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson wants a judge to set the state trial before the federal trial. She notes the last federal execution was 13 years ago and the state has no confidence a federal death sentence would be carried out.

Attorney David Bruck says Wilson's position could mislead potential federal jurors to believe that their sentencing verdict would have no effect.

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Luxembourg court convicts 2 in whistleblowing case

LUXEMBOURG (AP)  Two former employees of an accounting firm have been found guilty of leaking thousands of secret documents to a journalist investigating sweetheart tax deals granted by Luxembourg to big foreign firms.

A local Luxembourg court convicted ex-PwC workers Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet of stealing private documents. They were sentenced Wednesday to suspended prison terms: 12 months for Deltour and nine months for Halet.

Journalist and co-defendant Edouard Perrin, who used the materials dubbed "LuxLeaks" for a series of exposes, was acquitted in the case.

The three were regarded as heroes by many for exposing Luxembourg's willingness to award large tax breaks to leading multinational companies.
Fire ignites as flight heads to runway at Seattle airport

SEATTLE (AP)  A fire erupted on an American Airlines plane as it left the gate and headed for the runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Wednesday, but the blaze was quickly extinguished, officials said.

No one was injured, and none of the 151 passengers or six crew members en route to Philadelphia was evacuated, the airline said.

The Airbus A320 was on the taxiway going toward the runway when smoke started coming out of the back of the plane, airport spokesman Brian DeRoy said. A spark in the auxiliary power unit just below the tail section started a small fire, he said.

The Port of Seattle Fire Department responded and put out the fire. The plane made it back to the gate under its own power, airline spokesman Ross Feinstein said.

The flames were reported coming out of an extra power unit used for functions such as lighting and air conditioning while the main engines are turned off. On larger planes, the units help start the engines.

An airline maintenance team was inspecting the plane, but he had no immediate word on the cause of the fire, Feinstein said.
Meteorites from fireball seen over Arizona found

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP)  Arizona State University says researchers have found pieces of a small asteroid that left a fiery trail in the sky over eastern Arizona earlier this month.

ASU spokeswoman Beth Giudicessi said Wednesday that a team of meteorite hunters recently located 15 meteorites on tribal lands after getting permission to search.

Working in partnership with the White Mountain Apache Tribe, scholars spent more than 130 hours searching the White Mountains.

ASU Center for Meteorite Studies curator Laurence Garvie says the findings offer a "piece of that giant puzzle about where did we come from."

The tribe will have ownership of the meteorites but ASU will curate them.

Dozens of people reported seeing a fireball in the early morning hours of June 2.
17 Angola activists ordered from jail into house arrest

JOHANNESBURG (AP)  Angola's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the conditional release of 17 political activists, known as the Luanda Book Club, who had been convicted of plotting to overthrow the government of the oil-rich southern African country.

The court order published by news website Rede Angola says the release warrants, issued under terms of house arrest, were to be carried out "in the present day."

The conditional release is pending a final decision in the group's case, Human Rights Watch researcher Zenaida Machado tweeted Wednesday afternoon.

The 17 activists were arrested after a 2015 meeting in the capital, Luanda, to discuss Gene Sharp's 1993 book "From Dictatorship to Democracy, A Conceptual Framework for Liberation." The London-based PEN International, which promotes freedom of expression, said in a statement on the arrests that the book is described as "a blueprint for non-violent resistance to repressive regimes."

The book club members were found guilty of preparing a rebellion and criminal conspiracy. In March they were given jail terms of up to eight and a half years. Amnesty International at the time called the trial "deeply politicized."

As the verdict was read out in March, one activist held up a sign with a photo of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, describing him as the man who is dividing the country, according to photos published by Rede Angola.
West Virginia flood: Stormy morning turns into a nightmare

RAINELLE, W.Va. (AP)  Penny McClure eyed the creek swelling up behind the Go Mart as she worked her shift on the morning of June 23. It didn't seem ominous. Just an unpleasant, rainy day in West Virginia.

Customers streamed in for supplies. Nobody seemed too worried.

Then the rain sped up in the afternoon. The creeks churned faster and the sky grew dark  so dark that Robert Frank's young daughter asked if she had fallen asleep and woken up at night.

FILE - In this June 25, 2016, file photo, West Virginia State Trooper C.S. Hartman, left, and Bridgeport W. Va., fireman, Ryan Moran, wade through flooded streets as they search homes in Rainelle. A rainstorm that seemed no big deal at first turned into a catastrophe for the small town in West Virginia, trapping dozens of people whose screams would echo all night. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

McClure's phone beeped with alert after alert from the National Weather Service. Thunderstorms, forecasters warned. Potential flash floods.

A few blocks away, Karol Dunford called her daughter and said she could see water rising up in the distance. She was alone, she said, and the power was out.

As they surveyed the sky in their town of 1,500 people that Thursday afternoon, they did not imagine that the rain would keep pouring down and the water would keep rising, that within hours it would turn their town into a lake and trap dozens whose screams would echo all night. By daybreak, at least 23 would be dead across the state.

Those who lived though it said it seemed to veer from relentless storm to catastrophe in an instant.

"It was a nightmare. It was like the Titanic sinking," said Terri Bowen, who would later stand on the edge of the water, looking out into darkness as her husband steered a kayak through the flood to save 18 neighbors clinging to branches and roofs.

Phil Hysell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, described it as a "1-in-1,000-year" storm. Parts of Greenbrier County got more than 9 inches of rain in 36 hours.

The rain started in the county around 2 a.m. and was coming down at the rate of 2 inches an hour between 1 and 3 p.m. The National Weather Service, which had been warning for days that the water might rise, issued a dozen more flash-flood warnings Thursday. People started calling the sheriff, worried about the water.

"It was just like buckets of water falling out of the sky," Sheriff Jan Cahill said.

At 2 p.m., a deputy sent him a photo of the town of White Sulphur Springs, on the opposite side of Greenbrier County from Rainelle.

"Streets had turned into raging rivers," he recalled.

Around 3:30 p.m., Tracy Dowdy told her sister, Jennifer Stephens, that the floodwaters had lifted her car from her driveway in White Sulphur Springs and carried it away. She said water started pouring out of the furnace grates. A trout flopped up onto her porch. The water was up to her ankles. Five minutes later, it was up to her knees.

Dowdy sent her 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter up to the attic, then tried to get some food for them. By 3:45, the water rose to her waist and she couldn't get the refrigerator open. She joined her kids in the attic. They prayed and watched from the window as the flood swallowed the front porch. They were trapped for five hours.

At 4:41 p.m., the National Weather Service sent out a rare flash-flood emergency warning, the sort of alert reserved for the most dangerous situations.

Ninety miles to the northwest, near the town of Clendenin, a woman trapped in her SUV called 911 at 4:28 p.m. as the water rose around her. Rescue teams were unable to get to her. The dispatcher heard screaming just before 5 p.m., and the line went dead. The woman's body wasn't found for another eight hours.

Greenbrier County, too, was quickly descending into chaos.

Dunford texted her daughter, Randee Suzer, at 6:30 p.m. to say both streets leading to town had flooded out.

Rescuers plucked people from stranded cars and second-story windows. The Rhema Christian Center in Lewisburg opened as a shelter around 7 p.m. and people poured in. Frank, a church emergency response team member, listened to the stories from refugees of what was lost: Their homes. Their cars. Their pets. Frank said a 15-year-old boy's hands were cut to pieces after trying to grab his teenage sister and 7-year-old brother as water roared over them. He saved the boy, but his sister slipped away and remains missing.

Many outside the shelter would remain trapped in their houses into the night, wet, shivering and screaming.

Dunford's texts to Suzer grew more desperate. Dunford, a 71-year-old in a wheelchair, sat with her four dogs crowded into her lap as the water crept into her trailer.

"Pray for me," she wrote at 7:50 p.m.

She screamed and screamed, "Help me! Somebody save me!"

McClure, the Go Mart cashier, stood in her mother's yard on high ground around 8:30 p.m. and could hear Dunford's screams from the other side of the tree line. She called 911 over and over.

Her 7-year-old son cried. He said he wanted to turn into a water snake, swim over and carry the woman on his back to shore. She told him as long as the woman screamed, it meant she was still alive. She sang to him to drown out the screams as she tucked him into bed.

When she went back outside, she couldn't hear the woman anymore.

"I thought she was gone and there was nothing I could do to help her," McClure said. She cried herself to sleep.

A few blocks away, Stephanie Fox's parents called and told her they'd decided to flee.

They got onto the porch, but there was only raging water in every direction. They climbed onto the porch banister, hoisted their Chihuahua up onto the roof and clung to the rafters. The water rose to their waists by the time they were rescued six hours later.

At 10:30 p.m., Robert Bowen and another man found a two-seat kayak, strapped an aluminum boat to the back and set off in the floodwaters to help rescue neighbors.

"We decided where to go based on the sound of people's screams," he said. "And they were screaming from everywhere."

Bowen saved a blind woman and a disabled man. He opened a front door to find a body, said a prayer for the victim and headed out to find somebody who could still be saved. He could barely see through the dark and the fog and the leaking propane tanks floating by.

At Dunford's trailer, the water rose to her shoulders.

"Are they in the wrong place looking for me?" she texted her daughter at 11:16 p.m.

"I'm freezing," she wrote at 12:36 a.m.

One of the dogs, a Chihuahua named Frankie, fell off her lap into the water. She watched it drown and couldn't stop it.

"They aren't coming," she decided at 12:39 a.m.

"I'm so tired," she wrote at 1:42.

Two more hours passed.

The National Guard arrived for Dunford just before 4 a.m. and rescued her and the three dogs she had left.

The sun rose and the town woke up to see the devastation the flood left behind: houses ripped off their slabs, tree uprooted, roads collapsed. The death toll climbed from seven to 14 to 23.

McClure heard Friday morning that Dunford had made it out alive. She wrote her a message on Facebook and described listening to Dunford scream for hours, then fearing that the storm had swallowed her.

"I can't help but feel like a part of me was with you."

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Civil rights activist and congressman favors gun control

ATLANTA (AP)  Prominent civil rights activist and U.S. Rep. John Lewis is urging voters in his Georgia district to join with House Democrats pushing for stricter gun control.

Lewis got a warm reception from those gathered inside a room at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Wednesday. He urged people who support changes to U.S. law on guns to "find a way to get in the way." Lewis noted the 25 Democrats who held a sit-in on the House floor last week in favor of stronger gun controls following a recent nightclub shooting in Florida that left 49 people dead.
Wind and heat are driving wildfires in the West

Fast-moving wildfires fanned by strong, erratic winds and high temperatures are burning in California and Arizona. Here's a look at fires across the West:

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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Fire burns between I-17 and Cordes Lakes on the Bug Creek Fire near Cordes Lakes, Ariz., Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

A wildfire charged through inaccessible terrain and climbed up a steep canyon near Sacramento, forcing the evacuation of at least 400 homes.

The fire that started Tuesday has grown to nearly 1.5 square miles, threatening more than 2,400 homes, businesses and other structures, a spokesman for the state's forestry agency said Wednesday.

The Red Cross set up an evacuation center in Auburn, about 30 miles northeast of Sacramento. The fire is about 12 percent contained.

"We are starting to see the fire activity pick up," said Daniel Berlant of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "We're continuing to hit it with a lot of aircraft."

A problem has been hobby drones, which compete with firefighting aircraft for air space. He said firefighting aircraft were delayed about 30 minutes Wednesday and 30 minutes Tuesday, waiting for hobby drones to clear out.

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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

A massive blaze that killed two people and destroyed more than 250 buildings in rural mountain communities was more than halfway contained Wednesday.

Rain helped reduce it to creeping and smoldering. The wildfire spanning 73 square miles near Lake Isabella in the southern Sierra Nevada was more than was expected to be fully surrounded by midnight.

In mountains 20 miles northeast of Los Angeles, crews were finishing fire lines at two adjacent blazes that scorched about 8 square miles above thousands of foothill homes.

An emergency response team has been ordered to determine the extent of the threat to people and property from potential erosion, water runoff and debris flows in the aftermath of the fires.

A similar assessment is planned west of Santa Barbara, where a wildfire charred more than 11 square miles of coastal slopes above U.S. 101.

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ARIZONA

Firefighters were mopping up Wednesday after a blaze in central Arizona came close to homes, forcing evacuations and the intermittent closure of a major interstate.

Crews hit the fire hard from the ground and with water-dropping helicopters and air tankers to keep the flames contained on the east side of Interstate 17, Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Dolores Garcia said.

Strong winds were a challenge as the blaze shifted directions.

It's considered halfway contained. The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office lifted evacuation orders near the Cordes Lakes area overnight, and most of the interstate was open.

In eastern Arizona, some members of a hotshot crew from the Navajo Nation were forced to deploy their fire shelters Tuesday while battling a blaze south of Pinetop. Six of the 20 members deployed the shelters. They were treated for smoke inhalation but were otherwise uninjured.

Fire shelters are lightweight, aluminum-and-silica covers that are intended as a firefighter's last resort. Authorities are still investigating what led to their use but said the hotshot crew was in an area where the fire wasn't yet controlled.

In the Tonto National Forest, officials are monitoring a few small lightning-sparked fires. Crews also made progress on several blazes caused by lightning this week in the Coronado National Forest.

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MONTANA

Ravalli County authorities warned some residents to prepare for possible evacuations ahead of a wildfire burning in the Bitterroot National Forest.

More than 110 firefighters were pulled off the line Tuesday afternoon as strong wind and high temperatures caused the fire to double in size to a square mile. The wind grounded at least one helicopter.

The sheriff's office said there is a high probability of evacuating the largely rural area near Lake Como.

A heavy air tanker drops a load of retardent to create fire lines on the Bug Creek Fire near Cordes Lakes, Ariz., Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
External attacks rise as Islamic State fortunes fall

BEIRUT (AP)  International terror attacks seemingly inspired by the Islamic State group are increasing as its fortunes fall in Syria and Iraq.

The attack on the Istanbul airport was still unfolding Tuesday night when Turkish authorities said IS is the likely culprit, although no group has claimed responsibility so far.

If IS is behind the latest carnage, it would be in keeping with its accelerated campaign of exporting terror, a tactic which appears aimed at deflecting attention from mounting territorial losses in Syria and Iraq.

Family members and friends carry the coffin after attending the funeral prayer for Gulsen Bahadir, 28, a Turkish Airlines (THY) flight attendant killed Tuesday at the blasts at Ataturk airport, in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) TURKEY OUT

Here's a look at what the Islamic State group would hope to gain from such an attack:

PROJECTING STRENGTH

Two years after it declared a caliphate across large parts of Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State is in crisis. In the last few weeks, the group has suffered major territorial losses in Iraq, Syria and Libya, and is fighting hard to defend major strongholds.

Iraqi forces have retaken the key city of Fallujah west of Baghdad, and Libyan forces have swept into the IS stronghold of Sirte. In Syria, IS militants are fighting off U.S.-backed forces in Manbij, a town on a key supply line from Turkey to the group's de facto capital, Raqqa. The losses can be added to a growing list of defeats, including the historic Syrian town of Palmyra in March, the Syrian border town of Kobani and the Iraqi city of Tikrit.

The tempo of international attacks has increased with each military defeat, from the Paris attacks in November and the Brussels attacks in March to a suicide attack on the Syrian-Jordanian border last week that killed seven Jordanian soldiers, the deadliest attack in the kingdom in years.

Such attacks help the group project strength and reassure supporters who might be demoralized by the shrinking borders of its self-styled caliphate. Attacks can also give a boost to propaganda and fundraising efforts, which are increasingly important as IS loses oil wells and other sources of revenue in Syria and Iraq.

"At least in the near-term, the threat of inspired external attacks will rise as the group's fortunes fall," according to an analysis Tuesday by the Soufan Group security consultancy.

PROPAGANDA FACTOR

For the same reasons, IS has an interest in taking credit for attacks carried out by self-radicalized loners. Orlando gunman Omar Mateen said he acted on behalf of IS, which claimed him as a "soldier of the caliphate," but there is no evidence he was in contact with the group.

Elias Hanna, a political studies instructor at the American University of Beirut, said the Istanbul airport attack follows the group's modus operandi of using multiple suicide bombers to attack "soft targets," as it did in Brussels earlier this year. Such random attacks against civilians instill fear in the hearts of its enemies, something which the group thrives on.

The Istanbul attack also comes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when radicals believe "martyrdom" holds special significance. IS has ordered stepped up attacks during Ramadan, calling for its supporters to strike wherever possible.

Some of the biggest battlefield victories by Muslims in the time of the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century came during Ramadan, and hard-line clerics tout the month as a time for victory in jihad.

STRIKING TURKEY

Turkey was long seen as a jihadi highway for allowing thousands of foreign fighters to join the war against Syrian President Bashar Assad. But it has become a target for IS in the last year, after shutting down border crossings with Syria and cracking down on smuggling.

A European security official said intelligence has indicated IS is also getting less money from oil smuggling in Turkey, and suggested that there have been growing tensions between IS and the Turkish government. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sensitive topic publicly.

IS had not claimed responsibility for the airport attack by Wednesday evening, but it issued an infographic celebrating two years since announcing its caliphate. It claimed to have "covert units" in Turkey, among other places, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

Interestingly, the group has not claimed responsibility for any attacks in Turkey, except for the slaying of Syrian activists there, even when the Turkish government has blamed the group.

STRATEGIC AMBIGUITY

Analysts say that reflects some unique dynamics between IS and Ankara.

Mohamed Noureddine, a Lebanese University professor who specializes in Turkish-Arab relations, said he does not believe IS is behind the attack unless it claims it in an official announcement.

Turkey and IS swap artillery shells across the Syrian border, "but neither side threatens the other's core interests," he said.

NATO member Turkey shares global concerns about the extremist group's ambitions, but may also see it as a counterweight to Assad's forces and Kurdish insurgents in Syria. Ankara is part of the U.S.-led coalition against IS, but may be wary of a full-scale confrontation with the group, which has thousands of fighters dug in along the border and likely has sleeper cells within Turkey.

The absence of claims of responsibility "indicates that the group doesn't fully consider itself at war with Turkey yet, but it is using these attacks to give it a stronger hand in negotiations over border access and the flow of oil and other materials," said Matthew Henman, managing editor at IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre.

Hanna said the ambiguous dynamic between IS and Turkey is governed by the push and pull of overlapping short-term interests and clashing long-term ones.

"Ambiguity is very important in war," said Hanna. "It creates chaos and anxiety."

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Firm says it returned Christie's phone, contradicting him

NEWARK, N.J. (AP)  The mystery over what happened to the cellphone New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie used during the aftermath of the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal appears to have added another chapter.

Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, the law firm representing Christie's office in the federal probe of the lane closings, said in a court filing it returned the phone after it searched the device for any material responsive to a government subpoena.

While the specific language in Tuesday's filing doesn't say the phone was returned to Christie, it appears to contradict Christie's statement last month that he gave the phone to the government as part of the subpoena and didn't know who had it.

"After preserving the Governor's phone's contents, GDC searched for any responsive material and, once the search was completed, returned the phone and non-responsive data," the firm wrote.

Asked about the phone's whereabouts as he was leaving an unrelated news conference Wednesday, Christie declined to answer.

Christie's phone is one of the items sought in a subpoena by Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly, two former Christie allies indicted last year for allegedly closing access lanes to the bridge in September 2013 to punish a local Democratic mayor for not endorsing Christie, a Republican.

Baroni, a former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive, and Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, contend text messages between Christie and former aide Regina Egea, believed to be deleted, could be relevant to their defense.

They are focusing on text exchanges that occurred during testimony by Port Authority officials to a state legislative committee probing the lane closures.

Christie hasn't been charged and has denied prior knowledge of the alleged scheme.

Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, which has billed New Jersey taxpayers more than $10 million for its work connected to the bridge case, also used Tuesday's filing to fire back at accusations by Baroni and Kelly that it deliberately withheld or destroyed evidence.

The firm urged the judge to "put an end to criminal defense counsel's unprofessional smear tactics" by granting the firm's motion to quash Kelly's and Baroni's subpoena.

Oral argument on the motion is scheduled for July 7 in Newark.

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Miss Brazil 2004 found dead in her apartment

SAO PAULO (AP)  Police say Miss Brazil 2004 has been found dead inside her apartment in the southern city of Gramado.

Police inspector Gustavo Barcellos tells reporters the body of 31-year-old Fabiane Niclotti was found Tuesday night. He says her brother called police when she failed to answer repeated phone calls.

Barcellos told the G1 news portal on Wednesday that there were no wounds or bruises on her body and no signs of forced entry or violence at her apartment.

FILE - In this May 17, 2004 file photo, Miss Brazil 2004 Fabiane Niclotti poses for photos at a hotel in Quito, Ecuador, ahead of the Miss Universe beauty pageant. Police in Brazil say Niclotti, 31, was found dead inside her apartment in the southern city of Gramado on Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, File)

Niclotti competed in the 2004 Miss Universe pageant in Quito, Ecuador, but failed to make it to the semifinals.

FILE - In this May 17, 2004 file photo, Miss Brazil 2004 Fabiane Niclotti poses for a photo at a hotel in Quito, Ecuador, ahead of the Miss Universe beauty pageant. Police in Brazil say Niclotti, 31, was found dead inside her apartment in the southern city of Gramado on Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, File)
Haiti's bickering lawmakers avoid vote on interim leader

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  Haiti's fragmented Parliament failed again Wednesday to decide what to do about the caretaker president whose term has expired but remains in office in the absence of a vote resolving the latest leadership disorder.

A joint National Assembly session adjourned after grandstanding speeches, arguments over agenda items and breaks for closed-door negotiations went on for hours. No vote was taken.

For two weeks, Haiti's bickering senators and deputies have avoided a vote on whether to extend the mandate of acting President Jocelerme Privert or pave the way for another provisional leader. Privert's 120-day mandate expired two weeks ago under the terms of a February accord that helped bring him to power.

FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2016, file photo, Haiti's provisional President Jocelerme Privert stands for the national anthem after delivering his speech at an installation ceremony, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Haitis deeply divided lawmakers met at the National Assembly but were unable to make progress toward a vote on the interim presidents mandate which expired two weeks ago. The fruitless session began Tuesday, June 28 and was adjourned early Wednesday. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery, File)

Already dismal public perceptions of many Haitian politicians appear to be sinking lower amid the latest paralysis, especially as a slew of economic, health and other challenges worsen in the struggling country.

"I just wish these people could find a way to compromise and move on. It seems like there is no end to it," said Beatrice Pantal, a hair stylist in the capital of Port-au-Prince.

In February, a majority of National Assembly members elected Privert to head a short-term provisional government amid suspended elections that have left the presidency vacant.

Electoral officials recently announced that a new presidential election will be held in October with safeguards to avoid the fraud that marred last year's voting.

Besides their opposition to Privert, various opposition candidates blocking a parliamentary vote are also fighting to ensure they don't lose their seats. A verification commission that called for a redo of last year's presidential balloting due to significant electoral fraud also urged that a number of legislative contests be examined closely by electoral authorities.

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Mexican rights groups say 2014 army slayings go unpunished

MEXICO CITY (AP)  Sixteen human rights groups are calling on Mexican prosecutors to conduct a better investigation of the June 2014 army slayings of at least a dozen suspects allegedly executed after they surrendered.

The rights groups released a joint statement on the eve of the second anniversary of the slayings. They condemned the fact that nobody is currently in jail for the deaths, which the government human rights commission described as a serious case of human rights violations.

Seven soldiers were initially charged in the killings at a grain warehouse, but all have been released.
Turkey attacks raise familiar question on airport security

LONDON (AP)  The deadly terror attack at Turkey's largest airport has posed an all-too-familiar question to security officials: how to protect passengers and bystanders from such carnage?

The attackers arrived via taxi like many other passengers to Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport on Tuesday night. Unlike others, however, their journeys ended in a wave of bloodshed that killed 41 people and wounded hundreds of others in an attack that security analysts say was nearly impossible to stop.

"Whether you kill nearly 50 people in or outside of the airport is really just a matter of semantics," said Matthew Henman, managing editor at IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre. From an economic and security standpoint, it would be unfeasible to entirely prevent an armed attack without severe cost and disruption  especially at a busy airport like Ataturk."

Travelers walk by two officers at Newark Liberty International Airport, Wednesday, June 29, 2016, in Newark, N.J. Following the Istanbul terrorist attack on Tuesday, travel experts say still take that trip but always be valiant about surroundings. A few key tricks can help to make the trip safer. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Airports around the globe have been bolstering security since the 1970s following terror attacks. Israel was one of the first to take steps after attackers in 1972 killed 26 people and injured 80 at Lod Airport, now Ben Gurion Airport. Airport security was also strengthened at many points around the world following the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001, and in 2006, when British and American intelligence agents uncovered a plot to smuggle liquid explosives through security in an attempt to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners.

The latter resulted in precautions which still prohibit passengers from bringing certain quantities of liquids and gels through security. The most recent attack occurred in March when three coordinated bombings rocked the Brussels Airport in Zaventem and the Maalbeek metro station. In those attacks, claimed by the Islamic State group, 32 were killed and more than 300 wounded.

In Israel's case, a generous state budget allows for some 2,000 personnel to work exclusive in airport security roles, and many of those workers are undercover, according to Pini Schiff, CEO of Israel Security Association, one of Israel's top aviation security experts. Passengers are also checked via radar, cameras and other equipment well before they enter the airport and laws allow for ethnic profiling, he said.

"In the Turkey case, it seems authorities were completely caught by surprise," Schiff said. "It appears this attack took weeks to plan."

CIA Director John Brennan said the attacks bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group and warned that the group wants to conduct similar attacks in the United States. The Turkish government blamed IS, but the group didn't immediately claim responsibility.

"I am worried from the standpoint of an intelligence professional who looks at the capabilities of Daesh . and their determination to kill as many people as possible and to carry out attacks abroad," Brennan said in an interview with Yahoo News. Daesh is an acronym for the Arabic name of the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

Brennan credited effective homeland security measures and intelligence for the fact that the Islamic State group has been unable to attack America directly  the Orlando and San Bernardino shootings were carried out by radicals inspired by the group but not under its control  but he believes the group will keep trying to penetrate American defenses.

Jeffrey Price, who teaches at Metropolitan State University of Denver and wrote a textbook on aviation security, said that Ataturk's security was considered good, with layers that extended beyond the checkpoints.

"They may find that airport security did all they could" but that intelligence agencies failed to identify and stop the attackers before they could act, he said.

The lesson for other airports, Price said, is to have enough armed police to regularly patrol public spaces and to keep checkpoint lines moving so that crowds don't build in vulnerable areas outside the security perimeter.

In the United States, that means that the Transportation Security Administration must balance its job of keeping dangerous items off planes with the need to move travelers through checkpoints quickly, he said.

"The aviation-security industry has been saying for years that eventually someone is going to figure out that 500 people standing in line at the checkpoint is just as good a target as if they get through (the checkpoint) and get to an airplane," he said.

Kenneth J. Button, director of the Center for Transportation, Policy, Operations and Logistics at George Mason University, says airports are prime targets. Ataturk is one of the world's busiest airports drawing tourists from around the globe.

"There is no solution. There are ways of limiting attacks," Button said. "But none are foolproof."

Anthony Roman, a security expert who runs a consulting firm in Lynbrook, New York, said it appeared that the attack began outside of the secure area and might have done great damage even without getting deep into the terminal.

"This is a sophisticated attack on the airport which brings to light some of the shortcomings of American airport security," he said. "We are vulnerable to easy penetration of the arrivals and departures terminals where large numbers of people gather for ticketing, for baggage claim, and for TSA screening itself."

Roman said Turkish airports usually begin screening cars before they get to the terminal. Roman said major airports should have rings of security, starting with officers to watch vehicles entering the airport and pull over any that seem suspicious or out of the ordinary. Passengers too should be watched and if necessary pulled aside before they get inside the terminal.

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Ian Deitch reported from Jerusalem, David Koenig from Dallas and Scott Mayerowitz in New York.

A police officer patrols a terminal at Newark Liberty International Airport, Wednesday, June 29, 2016, in Newark, N.J. Following the Istanbul airport terrorist attack on Tuesday, travel experts say still take that trip but always be valiant about surroundings. A few key tricks can help to make the trip safer. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
UN Syria envoy: No new date set for peace talks

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.N.'s special envoy for Syria says there's just not enough agreement yet to resume peace talks ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline to start a political transition.

Talks between the Syrian government and opposition broke up at the end of April when government forces, backed by Russia, escalated their assault on rebel-held areas.

Staffan de Mistura, speaking to reporters Wednesday following closed consultations with the Security Council, said all sides need to be particularly prepared because of the deadline's fast approach and noted there is a lot of "discrete diplomacy going on behind the scenes."
DC schools chief Kaya Henderson to step down

WASHINGTON (AP)  Kaya Henderson is stepping down after more than five years as chancellor of the District of Columbia's public schools, ending a long tenure that included improvements in standardized test scores but a stubborn achievement gap between black and white students.

Henderson, 45, succeeded the polarizing Michelle Rhee in the position after serving as Rhee's top deputy, and she continued her predecessor's aggressive education-reform policies. But she had a more low-key style and better relationships with parents, teachers and elected officials. She was also praised by top U.S. education officials and built a national reputation for her work to improve city schools.

Henderson has fired hundreds of teachers under a system that evaluates them in part based on their students' test scores. The teachers who fare best under the evaluation system receive bonus pay and other awards.

FILE - In this Dec. 22, 2010 file photo, then-interim D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson attends a news conference in Washington.Henderson is stepping down after more than five years as chancellor of the District of Columbias public schools. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Under Henderson, city students have improved their performances on federal standardized tests known as the "Nation's Report Card," but the achievement gap between white students and non-Asian minorities has remained persistently high and has increased by some measures. The gains in test scores have also coincided with the city becoming wealthier and the white population increasing.

Henderson and Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Wednesday that the chancellor will step down effective Oct. 1. John Davis, currently the city's chief of schools, will serve as interim chancellor while Bowser conducts a national search for her replacement.

Henderson has not decided what she'll do next, said a spokeswoman, Michelle Lerner.

"Simply put, I am ready to take on new challenges," Henderson said in a letter to the school community.

Bowser, a Democrat, campaigned on a promise to retain Henderson, a decision that reflected the chancellor's popularity and political clout. That stood in contrast to Rhee, who resigned under pressure after Bowser's predecessor, Vincent Gray, was elected in 2010.

"I am incredibly grateful to Kaya for her nine years of service to our students, our schools and our city," Bowser said in a statement. "DCPS is a very different place today than it was when Kaya joined our school system in 2007. DCPS is the fastest-improving urban school district in the country."

One measure of Henderson's success is enrollment: The city's public schools have nearly 49,000 students, up from 45,000 in 2010. Another 39,000 students are enrolled in city charter schools, which are not under Henderson's control.

But Henderson's tenure was not entirely without controversy. The Associated Press revealed in April that Henderson asked the city's troubled food-service contractor for a $100,000 contribution to a gala honoring teachers and made similar requests from other companies that do business of the city. The report triggered an inquiry by the city's ethics board.

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McConnell bids to shelter GOP senators from Trump upheaval

WASHINGTON (AP)  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is wrestling with an unenviable, arguably impossible task this election year: protecting Senate Republicans from the political upheaval caused by Donald Trump's presidential candidacy.

If he fails it won't be for lack of preparation, hard work and cold-blooded political calculation.

In many ways Trump's polar opposite, the close-mouthed, deliberate, uncharismatic McConnell maneuvered into his dream job as majority leader just last year, and has been working every angle to ensure he hangs onto it even if a backlash against Trump provokes a Democratic tidal wave. If they keep the presidency, Democrats need to pick up four Senate seats to take back the majority.

FILE -In this Nov. 13, 2014 file photo, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., right, followed by Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, center, and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., leave after McConnell was chosen to be the new majority leader, on Capitol Hill in Washington. McConnell faces a nearly impossible task this election year: protecting Senate Republicans from the political upheaval of Donald Trumps presidential campaign. Trumps polar opposite in almost every way, the close-mouthed, uncharismatic 74-year-old finally got his dream job just last year and is trying to keep it, even if a Trump backlash provokes a Democratic tidal wave in November. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

For McConnell, 74, avoiding that outcome means running a Senate schedule designed to assist a handful of vulnerable GOP incumbents in states such as Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Ohio. He's allowing them to take votes and stack up accomplishments on issues like opioid addiction that they can brag about to voters back home. "It's certainly helped me," said one of these lawmakers, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.

It means having the foresight to push for an independent super PAC run by allies that is focused solely on Senate Republicans, built on a model that helped McConnell himself to a resounding re-election win in Kentucky two years ago. The Senate Leadership Fund, run by his former chief of staff Steven Law, announced this week it was reserving nearly $40 million in air time for the fall in five states.

McConnell, in an interview with The Associated Press, said Republicans have "a great shot" at keeping their majority despite Trump.

"I think the Senate races are going to be big enough to where they're largely unaffected by the top of the ticket," he said. "I don't think we're going to have a wave election this year in any event."

McConnell has engaged in a delicate dance with Trump, whom he was quick to endorse in May, declaring that Trump had "won the old-fashioned way  he got more votes than anybody else." The approach was markedly different from that of House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose hesitation before finally backing Trump provoked weeks of headlines on GOP infighting, and private grumbling from some Republicans who thought Ryan should have acted more like McConnell.

Since then McConnell has picked his moments on Trump. For two weeks running at his weekly Senate press conferences he refused to engage on questions about "the presidential candidate," as he referred to Trump. This week, nobody asked. But in a series of interviews to promote his new memoir, "The Long Game," McConnell has mostly answered directly and offered frank criticisms, declaring that Trump can't win without improving his measly fundraising numbers, needs to stop criticizing people, start reading off a script, and in short behave like a "serious candidate."

The two men have spoken privately on a number of occasions, and McConnell himself notes that Trump has started to become more scripted, whether or not that is a result of taking his advice.

"I think he's made a lot of progress toward passing what I would consider sort of the credibility threshold," McConnell said.

Allies say his handling of Trump is typical of the taciturn McConnell, who is preternaturally disciplined and focused on what he can control, tuning out what he cannot.

"I think he's been a model for how you handle the Trump phenomenon in a way that generates the least amount of daily news," said Law, his former chief of staff.

In his new book McConnell recounts overcoming childhood polio with his mother's help, being ordered by his father to beat up the neighborhood bully, and locking down endorsements from the popular kids to become president of his high school class. Slightly bug-eyed with multiple chins, McConnell has a demeanor that can at times be so staid as to seem comical. His staff is extremely devoted, generally a marker of a lawmaker's character.

McConnell was personally involved in getting former GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio to agree to run for re-election to his Senate seat in Florida, urging fellow senators to lean on Rubio, who had pledged repeatedly to retire. Rubio changed his mind, a decision Republicans believe will all but ensure they hang onto his Florida seat. McConnell allies also got involved in the May GOP primary in Indiana to ensure a winner, Rep. Todd Young, heavily favored to prevail in the general election.

Republicans face a daunting Senate map that has them defending 24 seats, including highly vulnerable incumbents around the country.

Democrats do not have any incumbents who are truly vulnerable, although that picture will reverse itself in 2018. It has made McConnell's steady hand all the more crucial and lawmakers said he has taken to citing examples from the past, when the Senate managed to withstand a disastrous presidential election.

In 1996, when it became clear that Bill Clinton would win re-election, Republicans began to run ads calling on voters to keep them in control of Congress to provide a check on presidential powers; Democrats lost Senate seats that year even while winning the White House.

Republicans hope it won't get that bad for them this year, but even admirers acknowledge that some things are beyond even McConnell's control.

"He's got a tough task," said Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona. "A wave will wash us all away."

FILE -In this July 23, 2013 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., stands outside of the Capitol in Washington. McConnell faces a nearly impossible task this election year: protecting Senate Republicans from the political upheaval of Donald Trumps presidential campaign. Trumps polar opposite in almost every way, the close-mouthed, uncharismatic 74-year-old finally got his dream job just last year and is trying to keep it, even if a Trump backlash provokes a Democratic tidal wave in November. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this March 11, 2014 file photo, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., leaves the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, during a series of votes. McConnell faces a nearly impossible task this election year: protecting Senate Republicans from the political upheaval of Donald Trumps presidential campaign. Trumps polar opposite in almost every way, the close-mouthed, uncharismatic 74-year-old finally got his dream job just last year and is trying to keep it, even if a Trump backlash provokes a Democratic tidal wave in November. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE -In this Dec. 17, 2014 file photo, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., talks about his agenda for a GOP-controlled Congress during an interview with The Associated Press on Capitol Hill in Washington. McConnell faces a nearly impossible task this election year: protecting Senate Republicans from the political upheaval of Donald Trumps presidential campaign. Trumps polar opposite in almost every way, the close-mouthed, uncharismatic 74-year-old finally got his dream job just last year and is trying to keep it, even if a Trump backlash provokes a Democratic tidal wave in November. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2014 file photo, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., talks about his agenda for a GOP-controlled Congress during an interview with The Associated Press, on Capitol Hill in Washington. McConnell faces a nearly impossible task this election year: protecting Senate Republicans from the political upheaval of Donald Trumps presidential campaign. Trumps polar opposite in almost every way, the close-mouthed, uncharismatic 74-year-old finally got his dream job just last year and is trying to keep it, even if a Trump backlash provokes a Democratic tidal wave in November. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE -In this Dec. 17, 2014 file photo, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., talks about his agenda for a GOP-controlled Congress during an interview with The Associated Press on Capitol Hill in Washington. McConnell faces a nearly impossible task this election year: protecting Senate Republicans from the political upheaval of Donald Trumps presidential campaign. Trumps polar opposite in almost every way, the close-mouthed, uncharismatic 74-year-old finally got his dream job just last year and is trying to keep it, even if a Trump backlash provokes a Democratic tidal wave in November. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Aide: Clinton opposed private emails accessible to 'anybody'

WASHINGTON (AP)  Longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin said in a legal proceeding that Clinton did not want the private emails that she mixed in with State Department emails on her private computer server to be accessible to "anybody," according to transcripts released Wednesday.

Abedin's comments provided new insight into the highly unusual decision by the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate to operate a private email server in her basement to conduct government business when she served as secretary of state.

Abedin also said under oath that she was not aware whether Clinton personally deleted any emails during her tenure as secretary.

File - In this Sept. 20, 2011 file photo, Huma Abedin, top, deputy chief of staff and aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, during a meeting with leaders for the Open Government Partnership in New York. A longtime Hillary Clinton aide Abedin said in a legal proceeding that Clinton did not want the State Department emails that she sent and received on her private computer server to be accessible to "anybody," according to transcripts released Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Her comments provided new insights into the highly unusual decision by the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate to operate a private email server in her basement to conduct government business as secretary of state. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Abedin told lawyers for the conservative group Judicial Watch in a deposition that she could not recall whether she or Clinton discussed with any State Department officials Clinton's use of her server exclusively for government business. Abedin was Clinton's deputy chief of staff at the State Department, now works with Clinton's presidential campaign and often travels with the candidate. Abedin used an email account on Clinton's server occasionally for government business, although Abedin also used a government address.

"I assumed it was OK to do," she testified.

Abedin is one of several former State Department officials who are being deposed by the conservative group in a civil lawsuit over the agency's failure to turn over files under the Freedom of Information Act. A transcript of the proceeding was released by Judicial Watch on Wednesday.

Judicial Watch lawyers repeatedly pressed Abedin to explain Clinton's concern expressed to her in a November 2010 message that her emails might become public, but the longtime aide insisted that Clinton's interest in wanting to keep her personal correspondence from being exposed was similar to any private citizen's.

"I would imagine anybody who has personal email doesn't want that personal email to be read by anybody else," Abedin explained. "I read it the same way as she has written it."

But Clinton's private server contained tens of thousands of work-related emails as well as private messages, and her decision to conduct both private and government business on her system meant that she kept control of both types of correspondence, effectively preventing her State Department correspondence from being archived by the agency and made available for public records requests. It was not until late 2014  more than a year after Clinton left office  that the State Department learned that she held all of her email and requested that she turn over all work-related records.

Clinton turned over nearly 33,000 business-related messages while disposing of about the same number of personal messages. But Clinton failed to turn over at least three dozen work-related emails, according to the agency. Among those emails was a November 2010 email exchange with Abedin discussing her concerns about the risk of the "personal being accessible."

The Clinton campaign Wednesday criticized Judicial Watch for its role in filing several lawsuits against the State Department, among more than 30 filed by conservative legal groups and media outlets, including The Associated Press, to obtain Clinton documents. Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said Judicial Watch's lawsuits end up "clogging up the courts at the expense of tens of millions of taxpayer dollars."

Abedin's deposition also raised questions about the State Department's practices responding to government records requests under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. Abedin, a senior aide during Clinton's entire tenure there, testified under oath that she never searched or was asked to search for documents in her State Department or her private Clinton email accounts in response to requests or lawsuits under the open records law.

But a review of all requests to the State Department during that period found several asking specifically for copies of Abedin's emails on a variety of subjects, including her husband, one-time disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner.

"Did you ever search, were you ever asked to search your state.gov e-mail account in response to a FOIA request or FOIA litigation?" lawyer Ramona Cocta asked.

"I believe I said 'no,'" Abedin answered.

"Were you ever asked to search your Clinton email.com account during your tenure at the State Department in response to a FOIA request or FOIA litigation?" Cocta asked.

"No, I was not," Abedin said.

It was not immediately clear how the State Department could have complied with such legal requests for Abedin's emails without asking Abedin to search her messages. Some federal agencies permit full-time FOIA staffers to search the inboxes of senior government officials, but many agencies expect officials to search their own accounts and no U.S. employee presumably would have had access to Abedin's personal account on Clinton's private server. Abedin said she was not aware that anyone else searched her accounts, either.
Former assistant state prosecutor assassinated in Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP)  Mexican authorities say the former assistant prosecutor of Baja California Sur state has been assassinated just a few months after he was fired for alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel.

The state prosecutor's office says former employee Samgar Salvador Gomez Reyes was shot by unidentified assailants on his way to his office. His body was found Wednesday in the city of La Paz with three bullet wounds.

The motive in the killing remains under investigation.

In March, Gomez Reyes was named on a large banner that claimed he made deals with members of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Suriname president acts to again avoid trial in 1982 deaths

PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AP)  President Desi Bouterse sought again Wednesday to prevent authorities from putting him back on trial for the abduction and summary execution of 15 political opponents when he was the military dictator of this South American nation.

Bouterse instructed Suriname's attorney general to immediately halt proceedings against him, invoking an article of the constitution that allows the president to issue such an order in the interests of national security.

The action follows a June court ruling that invalidated an amnesty law pushed through parliament by Bouterse's supporters after he was elected president. The court ordered the resumption of the trial against him and 24 co-defendants.

FILE - In this Aug. 12, 2015, file photo, Suriname President Desire Delano Bouterse salutes during a military parade, after being sworn in for his second term, in Paramaribo, Suriname. A two-time coup leader and former dictator accused of executing 15 political opponents in 1982, Bouterse has again moved on Wednesday, June 29, 2016, to prevent authorities in the South American nation from putting him on trial for those 15 deaths. (AP Photo/Ertugrul Kilic, File)

Since then, the political mood has been tense amid expectations that the president would seek to prevent the case from moving forward. Bouterse had said the trial poses a danger to the internal security of the country, which is struggling through a recession because of the sharp drop in commodity prices.

Justice Minister Jennifer Van Dijk-Silos confirmed that the government had invoked Article 148 of Suriname's constitution in the matter but declined to discuss the decision.

Bouterse said little as he entered and left a closed session of parliament. "Every decision has its advantages and disadvantages," he said, without providing details.

A court session in the case was scheduled for Thursday but it was not immediately clear how the judges would react to the government's action.

"We are shocked, not only because of the president's decision, but also because it was unanimously backed by the entire government," said Eddy Wijngaarde, whose brother, Frank, was among those killed by the regime. "We had hoped at least some ministers would have refused to back the president's latest attempt to make the trial impossible."

Bouterse and 24 allies from his time as a military dictator in the 1980s avoided trial until November 2007 on charges stemming from the execution of the 15 prominent political opponents, an event known locally as the "December killings" that stunned the lightly populated nation on the northern tip of South America.

The former strongman returned to power in 2010 when he was elected president by parliament. Two years later, lawmakers passed an amnesty law and court proceedings were put on hold in a decision that outraged human rights activists.

Bouterse, who was re-elected by parliament last year, has accepted what he calls "political responsibility" for the military's killing of the 15 well-known journalists, lawyers and union leaders but said he was not present when the executions took place. Witnesses in the trial have disputed that claim.

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2 transgender Democrats nominated in Western GOP strongholds

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  Democrats in some of the reddest pockets of the interior West have nominated transgender women for Congress, sending a message of inclusivity in races many consider unwinnable for the party.

Misty Snow was nominated Tuesday in Utah to challenge GOP U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, and Misty Plowright won a primary to challenge Republican Colorado Rep. Doug Lamborn in the state's most conservative congressional district.

Both candidates are downplaying gender identity in their primary contests.

In this photo taken Tuesday, June 28, 2016, Democratic candidate for Senate Misty Snow speaks with a reporter in Salt Lake City. Snow is one of two transgender Democrats nominated for Congress in primaries in Western states on Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

"Yeah, I'm trans, but the simple fact of the matter is that a lot of people just don't care," said Plowright, 33, a first-time candidate who decided to run after attending Democratic presidential caucuses earlier this year and being inspired by the presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"I've kind of felt like a coward for a long time, because I was scared to get out there," said Plowright, who is running in a district that is home to the conservative Christian organization Focus on the Family. "I realized, you have to risk getting your head cracked open; you have to risk getting shot; you have to put it all out there."

Snow, 30, also said she was inspired by Sanders.

She said her experiences as a transgender woman help her understand the struggles of those who felt like they don't have a voice, but she doesn't want to center her campaign around the fact that she's transgender.

"I think Utah just has this really kind of nice culture. There's this kind of this libertarian-kind of mindset. They don't really care too much about those types of things. They just really care about where you stand on issues or whether or not you're a good person," Snow said Wednesday.

Both candidates are considered longshots at best. Utah hasn't elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1970, and Colorado's 5th Congressional District hasn't chosen a Democrat since the district was created in 1972. Democrats didn't even field a candidate in the Colorado Springs-centered district in 2012.

Plowright and Snow aren't the first major-party transgender nominees for federal office. Vermont Republican Karen Kerin challenged now-Sen. Sanders in a 2000 contest for U.S. House. Kerin, now deceased, garnered less than 20 percent of the vote.

The fact that Plowright and Snow were nominated in areas where their party is vastly outnumbered didn't surprise observers.

"We're going to lose anyway; we might as well make a statement about inclusion," said Democratic Utah state Sen. Jim Dabakis, who is gay.

Snow's victory follows a string of LGBT landmarks in Utah, particularly in the state's capital city of Salt Lake City, which is a liberal island.

Salt Lake City elected its first its first openly gay mayor, Jackie Biskupski, last year, as well as its second sitting gay councilman. The city voted this year to name a street after pioneering gay leader Harvey Milk.

But more than half of the state's 3 million residents belong to the conservative Mormon church, which opposes same-sex marriage and bans baptisms for people who have transgender operations.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' tone on LGBT issues has softened somewhat in recent years and the religion's leaders backed a statewide anti-discrimination law that protected gay and transgender people from discrimination in housing and the workplace.

In Colorado Springs, Democrat Shari Zabel said she got death threats for being a transgender candidate for the state legislature. But most folks, she said, seem more interested in a candidate's plan of action, not gender identity, even in socially conservative areas.

"Will it make a difference? I don't know," said Zabel, who dropped from the race for health reasons unrelated to the death threats.

"We are candidates trying to represent people the best way we can," Zabel said. "It's not about being transgender."

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This story has been corrected to show Plowright is 33 years old.

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Wyatt reported from Denver. Associated Press writer Brady McCombs in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.

In this photo taken Tuesday, June 28, 2016, Democratic candidate for Senate Misty Snow speaks with a reporter in Salt Lake City. Snow is one of two transgender Democrats nominated for Congress in primaries in Western states on Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Democratic candidate for Senate Misty Snow poses for a photograph Tuesday, June 28, 2016, in Salt Lake City. Snow won Utah's Democratic U.S. Senate primary. The transgender woman would become Utah's first openly transgender elected official if she wins the general election, facing off incumbent Republican Sen. Mike Lee in November. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Foreign politicians to Trump: Stop 'begging' for money

WASHINGTON (AP)  Call it 'Trexit.'

Members of the British Parliament and other foreign politicians want off Donald Trump's email list, and are seeking to block the presidential candidate from asking them for campaign donations.

"Please stop sending begging letters to MPs," tweeted Stuart McDonald, a member of the British Parliament. "It's pathetic."

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump acknowledges the crowd at a rally, Wednesday, June 29, 2016, in Bangor, Maine.(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A pair of watchdog groups notes that the practice is not just annoying, it's illegal.

"Donald Trump should have known better," said Paul S. Ryan of the Campaign Legal Center, which with Democracy 21 is filing a complaint to the Federal Election Commission.

It's true that federal election law is designed to keep foreign cash out of U.S. political campaigns. It's also true that Trump is revving up a fundraising operation after federal reports showed he raised about a tenth of what Democrat Hillary Clinton has raised during the most recent reporting period.

Trump is now sending millions of Americans emailed appeals for campaign cash. In one day last week, Trump collected $3 million in campaign contributions  as much as he did in the entire month of May. He had asked for donations of $10 or more, with the promise of adding $2 million of his own money.

Trump's campaign, fresh from a visit to Scotland last week, apparently also has sent solicitations to foreign politicians. The watchdog groups cited news reports saying politicians in Iceland, Australia, Britain and Scotland have received such missives.

Sir Roger Gale appealed to the speaker of the British House of Commons on Tuesday to block Trump's campaign appeals.

"Members of Parliament are being bombarded with electronic communications from Team Trump on behalf of somebody called Donald Trump," Gale said to House of Commons Speaker John Bercow. "I am all in favor of free speech, but I do not see why colleagues on either side of the House should be subjected to intemperate spam."

Bercrow sympathized, noting that Gale must have "undergone an irritating and  some might think  exceptionally tedious experience." He agreed that MPs should not be "bombarded with emails the content of which is offensive" and pledged to advise Parliament's digital service to block Trump's emails.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Phoenix to consider closing hiking trails in extreme heat

PHOENIX (AP)  The city of Phoenix is considering closing its popular hiking and biking trails when temperatures get dangerously high in an effort to prevent heat deaths and injuries.

The Parks and Recreation board will consider a proposal by staff on Thursday to close down the city's 41 trailheads in extreme heat.

Parks and Recreation spokesman Gregg Bach said the department is proposing to post signs that indicate the trails are closed for people when the temperature hits 110 degrees and for pets when it hits 100.

FILE - In this June 22, 2016 file photo, a sign warning of extreme heat is seen on a trailhead at Piestewa Peak in Phoenix. Thirty-one of the countrys top science organizations are telling Congress that global warming is real, a problem and something needs to be done about it. The science groups, which represent millions of scientists, sent the letter Tuesday, June 28, 2016, saying the severity of climate change is increasing and will get worse faster in coming decades. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

Bach said staff started seriously considering the proposal in the past week, after there were several rescues and at least one death within city limits. A 28-year-old fitness instructor died after being rescued while mountain biking on June 19 in Phoenix during a record-breaking 118-degree day. Six people in Arizona died that day of heat-related causes, including two German men who were visiting Tucson and went on a hike.

City firefighters responded to over 200 rescue calls at Phoenix trails in the past year.

"We've certainly seen some incidents and just kind of felt that we needed something a little bit more," Bach said.

The board is scheduled to discuss the issue on Thursday at a public meeting.

Bach said the department hasn't come up with a cost estimate for the new signage if the measure is approved.

He said people who ignore the signs could face a misdemeanor charge and fines. Park rangers already monitor the more popular trails on a regular basis. If the measure were approved, they'd already be on hand to turn people away or ticket those who violate the new policies.

The city has launched an educational campaign on hiking safety and has partnered with local resorts and hotels to educate staff on how to warn tourists about the dangers of excessive heat.
'Rainbows' on Vermont mountain bring message of light, love

MOUNT TABOR, Vt. (AP)  Thousands of people with dreadlocks, scruffy beards, torn clothing and counterculture philosophies are crossing the country to attend this year's Rainbow Family of Living Light on a Vermont mountainside and connect with others who share their goals of peace, love and illumination.

Clothing is optional at the primitive campsites where "Rainbows," as they call themselves, gather dead wood for fires, pitch tents among the trees and erect teepees in the forest. Signs and handouts remind people to use the latrines and to make sure everyone buries their dog's waste.

"This is the last bit of the American culture," said Jai Love, 28, of Eugene, Oregon, who crossed the continent to attend the Vermont gathering. "We can get lost in the smoke screen of pop culture like Lady Gaga and whatever they feed us on television with the media. This is, like, the last bit of the American culture."

In this June 28, 2016 photo, a member of the Rainbow Family of Living Light, who goes by the name of Joe, splits wood at his campsite in Mount Tabor, Vt. People from across the country are flocking to the Green Mountain National Forest for the annual Rainbow Gathering of Living Light. (AP Photo/Wilson Ring)

Love said many people who thought they were lost in life, find friendship and family at the gatherings where time centers around communal kitchens with names like "Wanna Burn," ''Stock Pot Posties" and "Dirty Kids Village" (as opposed to the "Kid Village"). The dishes are heavy on beans and rice and meat is a rarity.

"I just keep on chasing the family and seeing people that are traveling to raise awareness of peace, love and life," Love said.

By midweek about 2,000 Rainbows had arrived for the gathering in the town of Mount Tabor in the Green Mountain National Forest. Up to 10,000 could arrive by July 4, when the event peaks during a prayer ceremony for peace held in an open meadow on the mountainside.

The decades-old, get-together is held each year on national forestland. The tradition goes back to the very anti-traditional 1960s. The first national Rainbow gathering was held in 1972, partly an outgrowth of community many young people felt at the 1969 Woodstock music festival. The last gathering in Vermont was in 1991.

"Well, basically, it hasn't changed all that much," said Feather Sherman, of western Montana. The 68-year-old Sherman is among those who fueled its start. She has attended every gathering since its beginning.

Then she notes the larger gatherings of recent years have evolved into smaller, regional gatherings that are keeping some from the Vermont event.

Over the years, the Rainbows and the U.S. Forest Service have come to an uneasy truce. Federal agents patrol the periphery of the gathering, usually giving out scores of warnings or tickets for traffic and other minor violations. On Tuesday night, an assault sent one Rainbow to a regional hospital with minor injuries.

The Forest Service this year has brought in a special incident command team, modeled after those used to manage wildfires, and federal officers are regularly patrolling the road leading to the Rainbow campsite.

Among the locals, some have bemoaned the invasion of painted buses and visitors in tattered clothes and body paint. And there've been complaints of Rainbows going through garbage bins and keeping residents out of the stores.

The locals are holding their breath.

"We are just trying to be prepared," said Cindy Kapusta, who owns the Mount Tabor Country Store near the road to the Rainbow campsite.

She said her employees have caught a number of Rainbows shoplifting, and there were complaints of people relieving themselves behind the store. But that's no longer an issue, she said, since the Rainbows set up portable toilets at the end of the road.

In this June 28, 2016 photo, a sign welcomes people to the gathering of the Rainbow Family of Living Light in Mount Tabor, Vt. People from across the country are flocking to the Green Mountain National Forest for the annual Rainbow Gathering of Living Light. (AP Photo/Wilson Ring)

In this June 28, 2016 photo, members of the Rainbow Family of Living Light gather under a tarp at their campsite in Mount Tabor, Vt. People from across the country are flocking to the Green Mountain National Forest for the annual Rainbow Gathering of Living Light. (AP Photo/Wilson Ring)
Wisconsin man accused of killing mother with sword committed

MADISON, Wis. (AP)  A Wisconsin man accused of decapitating his mother with a sword last year has been committed to a state mental hospital.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed with a psychiatrist's report Wednesday that 41-year-old Matthew Skalitzky was mentally ill at the time of the killing.

The Sun Prairie man was charged with killing his mother, 68-year-old Jane Skalitzky, at his apartment on Sept. 11.

Matthew Skalitzky, seated , talks to his lawyer, Stanley Woodard, before a hearing, Wednesday June 29, 2016, in Dane County Court in Madison, Wis. Skalitzky, who who killed his mother with a sword last year, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree intentional homicide, then was committed to a state mental hospital after prosecutors and defense lawyers in the case agreed that he was mentally ill at the time of the killing. (Ed Trevelen/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

The Wisconsin State Journal (http://bit.ly/29dwVj3 ) reports Judge Josann Reynolds ordered Skalitzky committed for life to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

A hearing will be held in a few weeks to set the length and place of his commitment.

Prosecutors have said Skalitzky got mad after his mother found a sword and knives, and that he believed she and others were inhuman clones.

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3 killed, 6 hurt in attack on Malian military near Timbuktu

BAMAKO, Mali (AP)  The Malian military says a convoy came under attack not far from the town of Timbuktu in the country's volatile north.

Lt. Col. Diarran Kone, an adviser to the Malian Defense Ministry, confirmed the attack Wednesday. Security officials in Timbuktu said three soldiers were killed and six others wounded.

Northern Mali was occupied in 2012 by al-Qaida and other jihadist groups before a French military operation forced them from power.

The extremists have increasingly targeted the Malian military and international peacekeepers working to stabilize the country.
Battered woman defense planned in Kansas factory shooting

WICHITA, Kan. (AP)  A woman accused of giving her former boyfriend guns used in a shooting at a Kansas lawn equipment factory told a court Wednesday that she plans to mount a battered woman's syndrome defense at her August trial.

Prosecutors allege Sarah Jo Hopkins gave the shooter, Cedric Ford, an AK-47-type semi-automatic rifle and a .40-caliber handgun that he used in the Feb. 25 attack at Excel Industries in Hesston. Four people, including Ford, were killed and 14 others were injured.

The 28-year-old Newton woman has pleaded not guilty to transferring weapons to a prohibited person.

Her attorney, Douglas Adams, filed a formal notice saying he plans to introduce expert evidence related to her mental state, telling the court such testimony would help the jury determine Hopkins' state of mind and whether she acted as she did because Ford threatened and abused her.

Hopkins has told investigators that she gave him the guns because he had threatened her. The couple had two young children together.

The defense is seeking to suppress statements Hopkins made to four armed ATF agents whom she let into her home at 2:30 a.m. the day after the shooting. Her attorney noted she was questioned for an hour and a half in her living room while two agents stood by the only outside exit in the room. Their questioning elicited incriminating statements from Hopkins that the weapons used in the shooting were hers and that she had purchased them for Ford when while they were in a relationship, her attorney said. She also told agents she retrieved the firearms after the two broke up and that she subsequently gave the guns to Ford a week later.
Senate panel grants more visas for Afghans who supported US

WASHINGTON (AP)  A Senate panel decided Wednesday to provide an additional 4,000 visas to allow Afghans who sided with the American-led coalition and are at risk of being killed or injured by the Taliban to resettle in the United States.

The Appropriations Committee voted unanimously, 30 to 0, to approve a foreign operations spending bill that includes a provision granting the extra visas and extending the so-called special immigrant visa program for another year.

The Afghan civilians worked for the coalition as interpreters, firefighters and construction laborers. But the militants considered them traitors. The top American commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. John Nicholson, urged Congress to extend the special immigrant visa program so they and their families could escape what he called "grave consequences."

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., pushed for the program to be continued, telling her colleagues that many Americans who served in Afghanistan are alive today because of the support they received from Afghans willing to put themselves in danger.

"If Congress fails to extend this program, this could be a death sentence for many Afghans who have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with our military and diplomats," Shaheen said.

Shaheen and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had sought earlier this month to extend and expand the visa program by adding an amendment to the annual defense policy bill. But a procedural dispute prevented most amendments from being debated and included in the legislation.

Senate backers of the visa program still face objections from skeptical lawmakers in the GOP-led House. In the House's version of the defense bill, lawmakers refused to provide the 4,000 additional visas. They did extend the program for a year, but restricted eligibility for visas only to Afghans whose jobs took them outside the confines of a military base or secured facility.

Congress has added 7,000 visas to the program over the last two years alone to meet the demand and the Obama administration requested 4,000 more for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Since December 2014, the State Department has issued more than 3,000 special immigrant visas to Afghans who worked for the coalition. Thousands more visas are being processed through a pipeline that can take 270 days from start to finish.

Shaheen said the supply of visas could expire by end of the year unless more were approved.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the additional 4,000 visas would cost $446 million over the next 10 years. Afghans who resettle in the U.S. become lawful permanent residents and are entitled to federally supported benefits such as Medicaid, subsidies for health care and food stamps.

The cost has worried fiscal conservatives, who said it is not clear more visas are needed when so many haven't been used. The program's critics also said allowing so many Afghans to exit the country will drain Afghanistan of much needed talent.

Shaheen, a member of the Armed Services Committee, called objections over the cost a "red herring." The expenses are offset by cost-saving measures found elsewhere in the Defense Department budget, she said.

___
Philip Hammond 'shocked' as suicide attack kills dozens at Istanbul airport

Turkey's prime minister has called a suicide blast at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul a "heinous planned attack" as the Foreign Office said it was "urgently seeking further information" about possible British casualties.

More than 36 people were killed and 147 wounded in the attack which saw three suspected Islamic State (IS) radicals arrive in a taxi and detonate explosives after they had opened fire.

So far it is not believed that any British nationals were caught up in the attack.

Turkish police block the entrance to Istanbul's Ataturk Airport after the attack (AP)

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond described himself as "shocked" by the incident and said "we stand ready to help" .

Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim said there were foreigners among the victims and called for "global co-operation" in tackling terrorism.

He said 36 people were dead as well as the three suicide bombers, but a government official said the figure could rise to nearly 50.

He branded the atrocity a "heinous planned attack that targeted innocent people" and said it appears IS was behind it.

"The findings of our security forces point at the Daesh organisation as the perpetrators of this terror attack," he said. "Even though the indications suggest Daesh, our investigations are continuing."

Prime Minister David Cameron described the terrorist attack as "hideous".

Mr Cameron, in Brussels for what is likely to be his final summit meeting with fellow EU leaders, said the UK would continue to work with the other countries after Brexit on "keeping our countries safe, keeping our people safe - and it's particularly important to say that tonight again when there has been another hideous terrorist attack in Turkey".

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are in close contact with authorities in Istanbul and urgently seeking further information following an incident at Ataturk Airport. Our staff in Istanbul and London stand ready to support any British nationals affected."

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack, which took place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, "shows that terrorism strikes with no regard to faith and values".

Calling on the international community to take a firm stand against terrorism, he said: "Turkey has the power, determination and capacity to continue the fight against terrorism until the end."

Will Carter, who was inside the terminal, said he heard explosions. S peaking to Radio 5 Live he said: "I saw a fireball and some of the ceiling came down - just before there was panic and people running."

BBC correspondent Mark Lowen was on a plane on the runway after landing at the airport and said he was held on the tarmac for around four hours before being allowed off the aircraft and into the terminal.

Reporting from the scene he said: "You can see how chaotic the situation is here. Huge crowds of people are trying to get into the terminal building."

A British man who entered the airport moments after the explosion said it was "like something out of a disaster movie".

Laurence Cameron told Good Morning Britain: "It was just a sea of people, screaming, running towards me. I initially thought it was a hoax or something. It became apparent quite quickly that something was wrong.

"All the passport desks had been abandoned, police were everywhere, guns drawn... it was chaos."

Flights in and out of the airport, which is one of the busiest in the world, were suspended after the attack but it has since reopened.

The Turkish Airlines website says operations have restarted and told passengers to monitor flight information.

Turkey has suffered several deadly attacks in recent months which have been blamed on Kurdish separatists or IS.

Several bombings targeted areas popular with tourists while another attack on a military barracks in Ankara killed 28 people.
Johnson and May set to join race for Tory leadership crown

Tory heavyweights Boris Johnson and Theresa May are set to enter the Tory leadership contest after nominations opened for the race to succeed David Cameron in Downing Street.

Mr Johnson, who led the Leave campaign in the EU referendum, will use his launch speech on Thursday to present what was described as a "positive, optimistic vision" of Britain outside the EU, offering "a chance to believe in ourselves".

In her launch, Mrs May will promise to reunite both the Conservative Party and the country in the wake of the referendum campaign while securing the best deal possible for the UK in the negotiations with Brussels.

Boris Johnson is a frontrunner for the Tory leadership title

In an olive branch to Brexit supporters, the Home Secretary - who was for Remain camp - will set out plans for a new government department to take charge of negotiating Britain's exit from the EU to be headed by a senior minister who campaigned for Leave.

The entry into the race of the two candidates seen as the likely frontrunners follows announcements by former defence secretary Liam Fox and the self-styled "underdog", Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb that they were putting themselves forward.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, who have also both indicated they could stand, have until the close of nominations at midday on Thursday to make up their minds.

While Mrs May will warn that the process of leaving the EU will not be "brief or straightforward", she will stress that Britain with remain an "outward-looking and globally-minded and big-thinking country" that is "open for business and welcoming to foreign talent".

"We need a bold, new, positive vision for the future of our country - a vision of a country that works not for a privileged few but for every one of us," she will say.

"The job now is about uniting the party, uniting the country and negotiating the best possible deal for Britain."

Dr Fox, who campaigned for Leave in the referendum and who ran against Mr Cameron in the 2005 leadership election, will hope to draw support from the right of the party in the battle to succeed him.

The former cabinet minister resigned in 2011 after being found guilty of breaching the ministerial code over his links with self-styled adviser Adam Werritty, whom he met 40 times in the Ministry of Defence and on trips abroad.

Asked what he could do as leader that Mr Johnson could not, he told LBC Radio: "It's a question of experience, it's a question of background in all of this - which of course matters in politics - I think it's a matter of setting out a very clear stall.

"I think that we can't allow the Conservative leadership campaign to be totally dominated by the issues in the referendum.

"There are many other issues that I care very passionately about - as a doctor I care a great deal about what happens to our healthcare in this country, as a former defence secretary I care what happens to our armed forces."

Earlier, Mr Crabb also sought to make a virtue of his non-privileged background.

He vowed to make curbing immigration a "red line" in Brexit negotiations if he takes the keys to Number 10 as he set out a vision to unite the deeply divided party and country following the vote to leave the EU.

The Work and Pensions Secretary, whose running mate is Business Secretary Sajid Javid, said the contest should not be a "two-horse race" between the "Boris/Stop Boris" candidates.

The pair positioned themselves as the "blue collar" alternatives to Old Etonian Mr Johnson.

The timetable for the contest - which will end with a new prime minister being named on September 9 - was formally approved by the backbench 1922 Committee.

A series of run-offs will begin on Tuesday as MPs whittle down the hopefuls to two who will tussle for the support of grassroots members in a one-member-one-vote run-off.
EU 'crystal clear' that single market access means accepting freedom of movement

The remaining 27 EU states have given a stinging rebuff to David Cameron over immigration, delivering a "crystal clear" message that if the UK wants access to the single market after Brexit, it will have to accept free movement of EU citizens.

The Prime Minister warned fellow leaders over dinner on Tuesday that immigration was a key factor behind last week's Brexit vote and that refusal to budge on the issue could scupper hopes of a deal on close trading relations with his successor.

Mr Cameron told the House of Commons the UK was facing "choppy waters ahead" economically as a result of the referendum and it would be in the national interest for his replacement as PM to negotiate "the closest possible relationship" on trade with its former EU partners.

Prime Minister David Cameron was not invited to join the prime ministers and presidents of the other 27 EU nations as they returned to discuss the Brexit fallout (AP)

But after chairing an informal session of the 27 national leaders, meeting without the UK for the first time, European Council president Donald Tusk made clear they were determined not to give ground on free movement.

"Leaders made it crystal clear that access to the single market requires acceptance of all four freedoms - including freedom of movement," said Mr Tusk. "There will be no single market a la carte."

His comments were backed by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, who said that anyone wanting free access to the internal market had to accept the principles of free movement of goods, services, people and capital "without exception and without nuances".

London's FTSE 100 index rose 2.2%, clawing back most of the losses inflicted in the immediate wake of the Brexit vote. And Sterling crept up a further cent against the US dollar, after plummeting to a 31-year low earlier in the week.

But an ominous sign for the economy came from telecoms giant Vodafone, which announced it could move its HQ out of Britain because of Brexit.

The group - one of the UK's largest companies - said its decision would depend on whether the outcome of negotiations to quit the EU restricts free "movement of people, capital and goods".

Meanwhile, banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were forced to quash rumours that they are drawing up plans to move their London banking operations to Frankfurt.

Mr Cameron told the House of Commons that the warnings of market instability and economic slowdown made by the Remain camp during the referendum campaign were now coming to pass.

While Britain was in a strong position to deal with economic difficulties, it would be wrong to "belittle" the scale of the challenges ahead, he said.

"There are going to be some very choppy waters ahead," he said. "I don't resile from any of the warnings I made during the referendum campaign, but we have got to work through this.

"The warnings were that if we voted to leave the EU, there would be difficulties in terms of our own economy and growth rates and instability in the markets ... We are now seeing those things. There is no doubt in my mind these are going to be difficult economic times."

Mr Cameron said he told the European Council that a key factor behind the Leave vote was "great concern about the movement of people and the challenges of controlling immigration".

And - in a pointed message apparently directed at Tory advocates of Brexit like Boris Johnson and Michael Gove - he added: "Many European partners were clear that it is impossible to have all the benefits of membership without some of the costs of membership. That's something the new prime minister and cabinet will have to think about very carefully."

Pro-Remain Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he did not "rule out" a deal on freedom of movement but said that those who claimed it would be easy to secure were "simply betraying a lack of understanding of the political realities in the European Union".

He told BBC Radio 4's The World At One programme: "This is not just a trading chip as far as many Europeans are concerned. It is about a very fundamental principle which they hold dear."

The Prime Minister delivered a scathing condemnation of Jeremy Corbyn's half-hearted campaigning in the referendum as he told the Labour leader he should "reflect on" his own part in the failure to persuade voters to remain in the EU.

Mr Corbyn told the PM that Thursday's vote was a rejection of "a status quo that has failed", and urged him in response to scrap the so-called Bedroom Tax, ban zero-hours contracts and cancel Universal Credit cuts before his departure from 10 Downing Street in September.

But Mr Cameron retorted: "To try to pretend that last Thursday was a result of the state of the British economy is complete nonsense. We all have to reflect on our role in the referendum campaign.

"I know the Right Honourable Gentleman says he put his back into it. All I can say is I wouldn't like to see him when he isn't trying."

Mr Cameron told MPs in a statement that the mood among EU leaders gathering in Brussels on Tuesday for their first summit since the UK referendum was "one of sadness and regret".

But he said there was also acceptance that "the decision of the British people should be respected". And he said he had agreed with fellow leaders that "we are not turning our backs on Europe and they are not turning their backs on us".

There was "no great clamour" among EU leaders for the UK immediately to kick off the two-year process of negotiations on its future relations with the bloc, he insisted. Instead, he said, there was an acknowledgement that "we need to take some time to get this right".

Mr Tusk said the EU wanted to be "a close partner" of the UK following withdrawal. But he again ruled out negotiations prior to London's formal notification of intention to leave through Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, as proposed by some potential candidates to succeed the PM.

"There will be no negotiations of any kind until the UK formally notifies its intention to withdraw," he said.
Corbyn 'set to face leadership challenge from Angela Eagle'

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing the prospect of a leadership challenge after deputy leader Tom Watson failed to persuade him to stand down.

Former shadow business secretary Angela Eagle will announce her intentions on Thursday amid reports she is preparing to run as a "unity" candidate.

Mr Watson said the party was heading towards a full-blown leadership contest after Mr Corbyn had refused even to discuss some form of "negotiated settlement" following Tuesday's unprecedented vote of no confidence by Labour MPs.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is refusing to resign

While Mr Watson, who has also faced calls to stand, ruled himself out as a challenger, he said: "This does need solving."

He told BBC News: "My party is in peril, we are facing an existential crisis and I just don't want us to be in this position because I think there are millions of people in this country who need a left-leaning government."

The big Labour supporting trade unions indicated in a statement that they would not seek to stand in the way of a contest provided it was carried out "through the proper democratic procedures provided for in the party's constitution".

In a speech to student supporters in London, Mr Corbyn said while he recognised not everybody supported the direction he was taking the party, he had the mandate to carry on.

"I also recognise that the mandate was given by hundreds of thousands of ordinary people joining in the political process," he said to cheers from supporters.

He was briefly heckled, with one man yelling: "What about Europe? Where were you when we needed you?"

Mr Watson's intervention came after former leaders Ed Miliband, Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman all joined calls for Mr Corbyn to quit while even David Cameron said he should stand down in the national interest.

Mr Corbyn suffered the indignity of further shadow cabinet resignations, with shadow education secretary Pat Glass quitting just two days after being appointed to the post saying the situation was "untenable".

The Labour leader, however, remained defiant, with a spokesman saying: "Jeremy Corbyn is determined to carry on with the job he was democratically elected to do."

Mr Watson blamed hard left shadow chancellor John McDonnell for refusing to allow Mr Corbyn to resign.

"I went to see Jeremy today to see whether we could find a way of getting a negotiated settlement but he was unwilling to move from the position he is in. We are still in an impasse," he said.

"He has obviously been told to stay by his close ally John McDonnell. They are a team and they have decided they are going to tough this out. So it looks like the Labour party is heading for some kind of contested election."

Mr McDonnell dismissed the claim as "ludicrous" and indicated that he was confident that Mr Corbyn would see off any challenge to his leadership.

"He is buoyant, he is campaigning, he is doing his work here. He is not going anywhere," he told Sky News. "If there is a contest he will be standing again. I think Jeremy could win it again".

The fear for the rebels seeking to oust Mr Corbyn is that the grassroots activists who propelled him to the leadership last year will return him again in any new contest leaving him even more firmly entrenched in his position.

The pressure however remained unrelenting, with Mr Cameron using Prime Minister's Questions to denounce Mr Corbyn's lacklustre campaigning for Remain in the EU referendum and calling on him to go.

"For heaven's sake man, go," he said.

Mr Miliband said the situation was "unsustainable" and that he would have resigned if he had found himself in Mr Corbyn's position.

"I deeply respect Jeremy as a person and indeed as a politician for the causes he has fought for. My judgment is those causes are more likely to be served if he goes," he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.

Mr Brown said that Mr Corbyn had to go if Labour was to become a party of power again and not to be reduced to a protest movement.

"Either the Labour Party will become an anti-globalisation protest party, or it's going to become a party that is able to tell people how we can best manage," the former prime minister told an event in Edinburgh.

Ms Harman said that Mr Corbyn would cause damage on the "gravest scale" to Labour if he remained in office.

"Jeremy earned the right to take up the leadership of the party with a big majority. But he has failed and he has no right or mandate to stay in office despite his failure and take the party down with him," she said.

Jeremy Corbyn and David Cameron have clashed in the Commons
I knew Butler would kill daughter Ellie, says ex-girlfriend

The former girlfriend of Ben Butler has said she knew he would go on to kill his daughter Ellie when he won his custody battle for her.

Butler, 36, was jailed for life for murdering the six-year-old in a fit of rage, 11 months after winning her back in a high-profile custody battle following his exoneration for assaulting Ellie by a family judge in 2012.

He had a string of convictions for assault between 2004 and 2010, including two on his ex-girlfriend Hannah Hillman, who said she was convinced he had assaulted Ellie and knew he would go on to do worse.

Ben Butler was found guilty at the Old Bailey of murdering his six-year-old daughter Ellie in 2013 (Metropolitan Police/PA)

Although the abuse against Miss Hillman happened two years before Butler was accused of shaking Ellie when she was a baby, she was never called to give evidence.

"I felt sick to my stomach. I knew there was not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that he had committed that crime," Miss Hillman told Good Morning Britain.

"I felt guilt, to a certain degree, where maybe I could have stood up and said something a bit sooner.

"I turned on the TV and I actually saw him on the show and I thought, he's actually going to get this girl back, and I said, 'he's going to kill her'.

"I knew that one day that man was going to kill somebody," she added.

Miss Hillman described her ex-partner, who kicked and punched her in public in broad daylight, as "incredibly jealous" and "very, very insecure".
Mark McCall wary of Toulon threat after Saracens handed tough Champions Cup draw

Saracens boss Mark McCall believes that heavyweight European Champions Cup pool rivals Toulon will have "extra hunger" going into next season.

Champions Cup holders Saracens face Toulon, Sale Sharks and the Scarlets in their group next term, with only the pool winners guaranteed a quarter-final place.

Toulon won three successive European titles from 2013-2015, which included beating Saracens in the final two years ago, and McCall is on red alert.

Saracens celebrate winning the European Champions Cup last season

"Toulon have a star-studded squad who will have the extra hunger of not winning a trophy last season," he said.

"We have faced them in the final stages of the tournament in recent seasons, and we know how much of a challenge they pose.

"The Scarlets have made some huge strides under (coach) Wayne Pivac, and facing them at the Parc-y-Scarlets is always a test for teams in Europe, and having played Sale Sharks a number of times over the last three seasons - in both the Aviva Premiership and the Champions Cup - we understand how dangerous they are.

"Last season was an amazing campaign for us, but we know that the hard works starts now as we prepare for what promises to be another competitive season."

Exeter, beaten by Saracens in last season's Premiership final, are reunited with French heavyweights Clermont Auvergne - they met twice in the pool stage last term - while Leicester face recently-crowned French champions and last season's European runners-up Racing 92, who beat them in the Champions Cup semi-finals two months ago, as well as Glasgow and Munster.

"It is a tough pool - possibly the toughest in the draw - but that is what this competition is all about, bringing the best teams from across all the countries together," Leicester rugby director Richard Cockerill said.

"You have to be at your very best in every game in Europe, and you have to work hard for every single point. You don't get too many opportunities, so you have to make them all count."

Elsewhere, Wasps are in the same group as four-time European champions Toulouse, Guinness PRO12 title holders Connacht and Italians Zebre, with Northampton drawn alongside Leinster, Montpellier and Castres.

"If you looked at our group last year (Wasps were drawn with Toulon, Leinster and Bath), it was well recognised as the toughest pool out there," Wasps rugby director Dai Young said.

"But that also meant there wasn't much pressure on us because nobody expected us to get out of it. We did, and we enjoyed a really successful run.

"It may certainly look like an easier group than last season on paper, but we're not underestimating this. It's a tough group, and after last season there will be more expectancy on us to do well.

"We probably exceeded expectations last season. We've got to address every game this season like we did last season - with a real fear factor when we knew that if we didn't play our best rugby, we could get beaten."

The European Challenge Cup pool draw, which was also conducted at European Professional Club Rugby headquarters in Neuchatel, Switzerland on Wednesday, produced an intriguing battle of the west country, with Bath and Bristol drawn together.

Bristol, back in European competition following their return to the Aviva Premiership for next season, were grouped alongside Bath, Cardiff Blues and French club Pau.

Harlequins, last season's Challenge Cup runners-up, will meet Edinburgh, Stade Francais and Romanian side Timisoara Saracens in Pool Five, while Gloucester were drawn in Pool One alongside La Rochelle, Treviso and Bayonne.

Elsewhere, Worcester face a long trip to Russia with Enisei-STM in their group, along with Newport Gwent Dragons and Brive, and Newcastle line up in Pool Two alongside Ospreys, Grenoble and Lyon.

The pool stages off both European competitions begin in October, with the finals on May 12 and 13 next year at Murrayfield.

Champions Cup draw: Pool One - Racing 92, Glasgow, Leicester, Munster; Pool Two - Connacht, Wasps, Toulouse, Zebre; Pool Three - Saracens, Toulon, Scarlets, Sale Sharks; Pool Four - Leinster, Montpellier, Northampton, Castres; Pool Five - Exeter, Clermont Auvergne, Ulster, Bordeaux-Begles.
Johanna Konta seals breakthrough Wimbledon victory

British number one Johanna Konta overcame Puerto Rico's Monica Puig and an awkward rain delay to win her first ever singles match at Wimbledon.

Konta led 6-1 2-1 when play was suspended on Tuesday afternoon, but despite losing the first three games when the match resumed, she battled back to win 6-1 7-5.

Fellow Briton Marcus Willis' fairytale run came to an end as he lost 6-0 6-3 6-4 to Roger Federer while Heather Watson and Dan Evans' matches were both halted by another bout of rain on Wednesday.

Johanna Konta enjoyed a first Wimbledon singles win

Watson won the first set 6-3 against Germany's Annika Beck but conceded the second 6-0 and was 1-0 down in the decider. Evans went off at 6-6 in the first set against Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov.

The interruption on Tuesday had come at a bad time for Konta, who had dominated the opening set and did not return to Court One until around 5pm on Wednesday.

"I think it was mainly about also seeing the funny side of things, just keeping it light-hearted, not really staying too intense for such a long period of time," Konta said.

"That can be very exhausting. Last night I w ent back. I don't even remember what I did. I watched a bit of TV, made some dinner, joked around.

"I think there was some tennis on still. Oh, and then we watched Taken 2."

It was certainly an action-packed second set as Konta lost serve to fall 4-2 behind before twice breaking herself to seal a straight-sets win.

Such has been the speed of the 25-year-old's rise over the last 12 months, it seems strange this was her first singles success at the All England Club, having bowed out in the first round of all four previous attempts.

Konta was ranked 126th in the world 12 months ago but after reaching the fourth round at the US Open and then the semi-finals in the Australian Open, she came into the tournament 19th and as the first British woman to be seeded here since Jo Durie in 1984.

"I'm very happy with my performance," Konta said.

"I think compared to the conditions, it was quite gusty out there, we had been waiting around for quite some time.

"I was happy with how I was able to get myself into the match. It's not easy when it's not from the beginning of the match. You kind of have to really have to rush out of the block."

Konta was awaiting the winner of Canada's Eugenie Bouchard and Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova in round two.
Corbyn: I have people's mandate to stay as leader

Embattled Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn showed no sign of quitting when he addressed a rally of supporters, insisting he was "proud" to continue his work.

Addressing a crowd at the London School of Oriental and African Studies, Mr Corbyn did not mention the threat to his leadership.

Despite overwhelmingly losing a confidence vote by 172 to 40 yesterday, Mr Corbyn insisted he still has a "people's mandate" to remain as leader.

Jeremy Corbyn speaking at a Momentum event at the School of Oriental and African Studies

Instead he downplayed the turmoil in the party, saying some people did not "completely agree" with him.

He said: "We're in the midst of a very interesting political time in this country, I was very honoured to be elected to lead the Labour Party last year.

"I have done my best over this year to develop the policy changes we want and to reach out to people and to recognise that there are many people in the party who don't completely agree with the direction I want to take it.

"But I also recognise that the mandate was given by hundreds of thousands of ordinary people joining in a political process, just as is happening across Europe, just as is happening across the United States, because they want to see a politics that is more reflective of them, their lives, their community and aspirations rather than the economic orthodoxy of the retreat of the wealth to the wealthiest that the poor may get poorer. It is simply immoral and wrong.

"Surely together we have strength. Surely together we can harness the technology we've got and not be afraid of press barons who attack us.

"That's why we contested the leadership of this party a year ago, that's why I'm very proud to be carrying on with that work."

When he was heckled by an onlooker about his EU campaign, he said: "Last week there was a vote to leave the European Union, it wasn't my wish, it wasn't the wish I suspect of a large number of people here, and we now have a difficult economic situation to deal with.

"We now have to demand that we gain protection for the workers' rights that we've got, gain protection for the social chapter we've got, the environmental and sustainability regulations that we've got and all of those issues.

"But what I am absolutely appalled by is the rise of racist attacks and racist violence over the past week in this country. This afternoon I went to the Polish Centre in Hammersmith to express my support and sympathy to them."

He said: "The vote last week was a vote of anger, it was a vote of desperation in many places around the country.

"Post-industrial Britain of the communities that were destroyed by the Tory government in the 1980s still have high levels of unemployment and have lost their economic viability because of the destruction of basic, heavy industry of that period.

"A free market economy is not going to solve the problems in those areas, an interventionist economy that invests in those areas, invests in the infrastructure and invests in the jobs necessary will help those communities."

The heckler responded by simply calling him a "moron".

Throughout the rally his supporters urged onlookers to join the Labour Party and vote for Corbyn when the almost inevitable leadership election is held.

Chairwoman of Young Labour Caroline Hill told the rally Mr Corbyn "isn't going anywhere".

"Young Labour is growing every day and today, more than any other day, it has grown and let me tell you why. People are joining.

"People are joining, and they are not joining for messing about, they are not joining for the PLP having daggers at each other, they are joining because of Jeremy Corbyn.

"Young people are interested in politics, they are interested in getting involved in campaigns, they are interested in changing their lives because they want homes, they want education, they want jobs. It's as simple as that.

"Everyone kept saying 'look, look at Jeremy Corbyn' and suddenly things have started to change and people all over Europe recognise that that is Jeremy Corbyn.

"Unfortunately it doesn't seem like our own party has taken that on board.

"He talks about the things that matter to us so I don't know why we have to come together today to tell the people in Parliament to actually listen to young people and listen to the leader we have chosen at a time when our country is a mess.

"We can continue to let the MPs play their games in Parliament, it doesn't seem to be going anywhere - Jeremy's definitely not - we know he has the support of thousands of party members, we know that the unions support Jeremy.

"Screw those people messing around, we're not going anywhere."

Labour activist Claire Hurley said: "We got involved in getting Jeremy elected - we worked democratically to make him the elected leader.

"The people, the mass, young people coming together and fighting for what we believe in - this coup by the PLP is nothing short of an assault on our democracy.

"In this time post-Brexit when we are all so worried about what the future is going to bring we need to stand with Jeremy Corbyn. He's going to stand up for young people, he's going to stand up against austerity.

"It's a fight between a handful of Labour MPs and the mass of Labour supporters - we are the soul of the Labour Party."

She said they would be "going out making sure Jeremy Corbyn wins the next general election".
'Trump death bid' Briton charged in US

A British man accused of attempting to grab a police officer's gun in a bid to kill Donald Trump has been charged in America.

Michael Sandford, 20, from Dorking, Surrey, was arrested at a rally in a Las Vegas casino after going for the weapon as he asked for the presidential hopeful's autograph on June 18.

Sandford, who was in America without permission, later told police he wanted to kill the presumptive Republican nominee, according to the Secret Service.

Michael Sandford is accused of trying to grab a policeman's gun in an attempt to kill Donald Trump, pictured

US Attorney Daniel Bogden said a grand jury had charged him with disrupting an official function and two firearms counts on Wednesday.

The charges could attract a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

Sandford told investigators he expected to die in the attempt, which he had been planning for a year, the US court previously heard.

He arrived in the city on June 17, when he went to a local shooting range where he reportedly learned how to use a gun for the first time.
U.S. charity loophole enabled trading of 1,300 endangered animals

By John Shiffman

WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) - Last year, after a Minnesota dentist sparked an uproar by killing a popular lion named Cecil while on safari in Zimbabwe, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service placed similar African lions on the endangered species list, making it illegal to import them as trophies to the United States.

But for African lions and other threatened and endangered species, there's an exception to this rule: Hunters, circuses, zoos, breeders and theme parks can get permits to import, export or sell endangered animals if they can demonstrate that the transactions will "enhance the survival" of the species.

Often, records show, this requirement is met in part by making a cash contribution to charity - usually a few thousand dollars. The practice has angered both animal-rights activists who say it exploits wildlife and exhibitors who describe the process as unfair and arbitrary.

In the last five years, the vast majority of the estimated 1,375 endangered species permits granted by the Fish & Wildlife Service involved financial pledges to charity, according to agency documents reviewed by Reuters.

For a $2,000 pledge, the Fish & Wildlife Service permitted two threatened leopard cubs to be sent from a roadside zoo to a small animal park. After a $5,000 pledge, the agency approved the transfer of 10 endangered South African penguins to a Florida theme park.

An application now under final consideration would permit a South Carolina safari park operator to send 18 endangered tigers to Mexico to participate in a multimillion-dollar movie - for a $10,000 donation to charity.

Craig Hoover, a senior Fish & Wildlife Service official, said his agency considers many factors before granting an endangered species permit - among them, a species' biological needs, threats and population size. Charitable contributions to conservation programs are just one factor in granting permit evaluations, and not a requirement, he said.

"It's not necessarily all that is considered," said Hoover. "There may have been an education component, an outreach component, a captive breeding component."

"INDIRECT BENEFITS" TO WILDLIFE

Under the Endangered Species Act, exception permits may be granted only "for scientific purposes or to enhance the propagation or survival of the affected species."

According to a recent Fish & Wildlife Service document reviewed by Reuters: "Very few of the Endangered Species Act permits that we issue have direct benefits to the species in the wild. Most applicants provide an indirect benefit, such as monetary support, to meet the enhancement requirement."

Late Friday, U.S. Representative Brendan Boyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat who serves on the House Foreign Affairs and Oversight Committees, asked the agency to halt the practice.

Boyle said exemptions to the endangered species law are intended for humanitarian or environmental purposes, such as providing medical attention to a wounded animal, not commercial uses. He said the charity pledges are "unreliable at best and amount to an empty promise in exchange for an exemption to our bedrock species conservation law."

The agency usually does not try to independently confirm that donations are actually made or that the charities, often located overseas, are worthy, an agency document says. "Typically, we rely on the applicant," the document notes. Hoover said applicants supply this information through annual reports and agency grant programs.

"PAY TO PLAY" FOR ELEPHANTS

Last year, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued the Fish & Wildlife Service over a 2014 endangered species permit issued to Tarzan Zerbini Circus of Webb City, Missouri. The permit allowed Tarzan Zerbini to take two elephants, Shelly and Marie, on a Canadian circus tour - on the condition that it pledge $15,000 annually to an elephant charity and raise another $50,000 annually from patrons.

"We call it 'pay-to-play' because that's what exactly what's going on, allowing these people to promise money in exchange for being able to harm endangered animals," said PETA general counsel Jeff Kerr. "The Fish & Wildlife Service is actively conspiring and cooperating with people to violate the Endangered Species Act through this program."

The agency defended itself against PETA's claim that the process is illegal, but the lawsuit apparently triggered a government investigation of Tarzan Zerbini's financial pledge. Records show the service determined that the circus had only contributed half the amount promised and had raised little, if anything, from patrons. On April 21, the permit was suspended. Last week, PETA withdrew the lawsuit.

Larry Solheim, a Tarzan Zerbini consultant who served as general manager for 26 years, said the circus made good-faith efforts to comply with its pledges. He said honest mistakes and misunderstandings caused the other half of the money to be contributed late and said technical issues hampered efforts to raise the $50,000 from patrons.

Solheim said the concept of requiring conservation efforts is a good idea. But he described the permit process as too focused on foreign donations. He called it "a game" that can resemble "political extortion."

"You're just essentially buying a permit if you pay this conservation fee," he said. "It's just totally subjective - if they want to have this kind of requirement, they need to have clear guidelines."

John Cuneo, whose Hawthorn Corp leases endangered animals to circuses and is often criticized by PETA, said he has lost business for failing to promise to make the charitable payments.

"It makes me so mad," Cuneo said. "It feels like a scam."

Hoover, the agency official, said PETA and the animal exhibitors are wrong.

"TIGER ISLAND"

"We would deny any form of 'pay to play policy' is in place, formally or informally," Hoover said. He added: "We would deny that we tell people they must" make charitable contributions, "but if they are engaging in activity where the import or export isn't contributing to conservation, then there must be some other means by which they must be contributing conservation."

The permit application to send 18 tigers to Mexico for a Hollywood movie was filed by Bhagavan Antle, who operates the Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina. Antle declined to name the people behind the movie, which is tentatively titled "Tiger Island." The plot revolves around tigers living on an abandoned island, and a group of children who end up shipwrecked there.

The permit is still pending, but records show that Fish & Wildlife officials directed that Antle confirm a pledge of $10,000 to charity and a promise that the movie will have a conservation theme. He has agreed to do so, and said he thinks the agency's process is good because it helps endangered animals. Antle said $10,000 is a fair contribution for the right to use 18 tigers on a multimillion-dollar motion picture.

"The movie company thinks it's a hardship - to spend $10,000 for what used to be free," Antle said. But he added, "If it becomes a big hit movie, that will change more hearts and minds than a $10 million contribution to conservation."

PENGUINS TO MIAMI

Last year, the Fish & Wildlife Service approved the sale of 10 African penguins from a California theme park to the Miami Seaquarium.

"We are thrilled that our guests will be able to observe these fascinating creatures and at the same time learn about this endangered species and what we can do to help preserve our feathered friends," Andrew Hertz, the Seaquarium's general manager, said in a press release in February. A spokeswoman said Hertz wasn't available for an interview.

The sea park built a new exhibit for the birds called "Penguin Isle," a spectacle that includes a 9,000-gallon pool with an acrylic underwater swimming tunnel, allowing visitors to come "face to face" with the penguins, the release says. The Seaquarium, which averages about 600,000 customers a year, charges $99 for a family of four.

As part of the endangered species permit approval, the seller agreed to make an annual contribution for five years to a South African charity that rescues penguins soiled by oil spills.
Congo aims to vaccinate 11.6 mln against yellow fever

By Amedee Mwarabu Kiboko and Benoit Nyemba

KINSHASA, June 27 (Reuters) - A campaign to vaccinate 11.6 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo against yellow fever will start on July 20, the health minister said on Monday.

Health Minister Felix Kabange said the aim was to cover everyone in the capital Kinshasa and the provinces of Kwango, Lualaba and Kasai, except children under 9 months, and it would take about 10 days.

The mosquito-borne haemorrhagic virus is a major concern in Kinshasa, a city of about 12 million people with poor health services, a humid climate and much stagnant water.

Kabange did not explain how the authorities would obtain enough vaccines to complete it, however. There are currently around 6 million left in the world -- they take a year to make -- and the WHO has recommended using a fifth of the standard dose, an amount that protects temporarily but does not confer lifelong immunity.

Eugene Kabambi, spokesman for the World Health Organisation in Congo, said there were currently 1.3 million doses of the vaccine in country.

"It is probable we will divide up the vaccine," he said. "The decision will be announced. We need to look at how many people are being vaccinated and the availability of vaccine."
Global addition to nuclear power capacity hit 10.2 GW in 2015 -IEA

PARIS, June 28 (Reuters) - Global addition to nuclear power capacity in 2015 hit 10.2 gigawatts, the highest growth in 25 years driven by construction of new nuclear power plants mainly in China, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

"We have never seen such an increase in nuclear capacity addition, mainly driven by China, South Korea and Russia," IEA's Executive Director Fatih Birol told a nuclear conference in Paris.
Court rules Dutch cyber-bullying suspect can be extradited to Canada

By Toby Sterling

AMSTERDAM, June 28 (Reuters) - A Dutch court ruled on Tuesday that a 38-year-old man can be extradited to Canada to face charges of using a computer to harass and blackmail a teenager who later committed suicide.

Judges said Aydin Coban, who denies harassing Amanda Todd or any other wrongdoing, can be sent to Canada after he stands trial in the Netherlands in another cyber extortion case, due to start in early 2017.
Jailed Bahraini activist taken to hospital with heart problems-supporters

DUBAI, June 28 (Reuters) - Prominent Bahraini rights campaigner Nabeel Rajab, in detention for alleged remarks criticising the kingdom's involvement in the war in Yemen and its prison system, was taken to hospital with a heart condition, supporters said on Twitter.

A government official said Rajab had undergone medical checks in hospital and described his condition as normal.

The 51-year-old activist, founder of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, had been repeatedly imprisoned since pro-democracy protests rocked the Western-allied Gulf island in 2011.

A message on his Twitter account, which is run by his supporters, said Rajab was taken to a hospital by ambulance from prison after he suffered from heart problems.

"Nabeel Rajab at Coronary Care Unit suffering from unprecedented heart problems after 15 days in solitary," another post said, without giving further details.

His wife was quoted by rights group the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy as expressing alarm and blaming poor treatment by Bahraini authorities.

"We raised extreme concern about the effects that isolated detention would have on Nabeel's health and we were ignored. Nabeel never suffered heart problems before. My husband is a human rights defender and does not deserve this treatment," Sumaya Rajab said.

A spokesperson from the prison authority said that Rajab was examined. "Nabeel Rajab, who is held in custody pending further investigations has gone through medical checkup in hospital today. Results show his health condition is normal," the spokesperson said via e-mail.

Rajab was arrested on June 13, nearly a year after he was freed by a royal pardon from a six-month sentence handed out in May 2015 for making alleged remarks deemed insulting to the kingdom's security establishment.

His lawyer said on Sunday he will face trial apparently in connection with tweets which authorities accuse him of making about the kingdom's prison system and its involvement in the war in Yemen, charges that could carry up to 13 years in jail.

Rajab spent two years in jail after being convicted in May 2012 of organising, and participating in, illegal protests.
Dutch PM Rutte wants "legally binding" assurances over Ukraine deal - sources

BRUSSELS, June 28 (Reuters) - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte asked European Union leaders on Tuesday for "legally binding" assurances to address his country's concerns over a trade and association deal with Ukraine, but did not say he would block it, diplomats said.

The Netherlands is the only EU state not to have ratified the bloc's agreement on closer political, security and trade ties with Kiev following a referendum in April in which the Dutch voted overwhelmingly to reject it.

The agreement with Kiev, reached after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March, 2014, and then backed rebels fighting government troops in the east of the country, is being provisionally implemented for now, but its future hinges on the Netherlands.

EU leaders were meeting in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the aftermath of a vote in Britain last week to leave the bloc.

But Rutte also took the floor to inform the other 27 leaders about the Dutch referendum on the Ukraine deal, and the concerns expressed in his country.

One diplomat said Rutte wanted a "text that would have given him 'legally binding' assurances that his concerns would be handled."

Another diplomat said Rutte did not say he wanted a change to the text of the agreement with Ukraine or that he would formally notify the bloc that the Netherlands would not ratify it, both of which could derail the agreement.
Canada presses China over reports of Hong Kong visa clampdown

By David Ljunggren and Ben Blanchard

OTTAWA/BEIJING June 29 (Reuters) - Canada said on Tuesday it is pressing Beijing over media reports that Chinese authorities are no longer allowing some Canadian citizens born in Hong Kong to visit China on 10-year visas, but China said the reports weren't accurate.

Chinese-language media say that since early June, first-generation Hong Kong-born Canadians are being told they can only apply to travel to China as Chinese nationals. Previously, they could choose to travel either as Canadian or as Chinese citizens.

If true, the changes could be seen as an encroachment on Hong Kong's autonomy. Hong Kong has been governed as a special administrative region since its return to China from British rule in 1997, a policy known as "one country, two systems", and currently has millions of residents who carry foreign passports including from Britain, Australia and the United States.

"Canada is aware of recent reports of challenges for Canadian-Chinese dual citizens in obtaining visas to visit China from Hong Kong. We are looking into the issue and are following up with the Chinese authorities," said Felix Corriveau, a spokesman for Immigration Minister John McCallum.

The issue is sensitive in Canada, where a population of 36 million includes more than a million people of Chinese descent. Many Hong Kong residents emigrated to Canada and took up citizenship both before and after the city's return to China.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China strictly implements the bilateral visa agreement reached with Canada in 2015 and said the recent reports were "not accurate".

He said China handles visa applications by Chinese citizens in Hong Kong on the basis of Hong Kong and Chinese law.

"The specific issuance of a certain kind of visa must be determined based on the applicant's situation and relevant materials," Hong said.

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa has not received any notification of changes to the visa policy, a spokesman said in an emailed statement.

China's Public Security Ministry, in overall charge of visa issuance, did not respond to a written request for comment.

Two separate diplomatic sources in Beijing, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were aware of incidents of people holding dual nationality being told they had to visit China with Chinese passports.

But the reason was unclear, and the number of cases so far apparently quite limited, they said.

"There does not seem to a clear explanation for this from China at present," one of the diplomats told Reuters.

The Australian consulate in Hong Kong told Reuters it had not encountered any cases of its citizens being denied visas. Taiwan authorities said the same. The British consulate in Hong Kong said it had not been notified of any changes to the requirements for UK citizens applying for visas in China.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, due to visit China for a week in August to boost trade, has previously said Beijing must do more to protect human rights.
Mexican judge bans import of fresh potatoes from United States

MEXICO CITY, June 28 (Reuters) - A Mexican federal judge banned the entry of fresh potatoes from the United States amid concerns that pests they contain may damage the environment, Mexico's Federal Judicial Council (CJF) said on Tuesday.

The judge, based in Los Mochis in the northern, potato-producing state of Sinaloa, held that measures taken by Mexico's Ministry of Agriculture (SAGARPA) could not guarantee the prevention of the spread of 63 quarantine pests present in potatoes from the United States.

The judge declared SAGARPA's measures unconstitutional on the grounds that the threat of pests violates the human right to a healthy environment and food security.

SAGARPA said in a statement late on Tuesday that the judge's decision was not final, and that all government decisions on trade were based on scientific criteria and the law.

According to official data, last year's total shipment of fresh potatoes from the United States totaled 122,796 tons. Between January and April this year, the figure amounted to 36,516 tons.

Mexico produced 1.679 million tons of potatoes in the 2014 agricultural cycle, as per the most recent data available. The main producers are the states of Sonora and Sinaloa, both in the north, and Puebla, in central Mexico.
London copper holds gains as risk appetite returns post 'Brexit'

MELBOURNE, June 29 (Reuters) - London copper was hovering close to the highest in eight weeks on Wednesday as investors bet on more global stimulus measures after Britain's shock vote to leave the European Union.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange traded flat at $4,817 a tonne by 0040 GMT, maintaining 2.3 percent gains from the previous session when prices struck the highest since May 5 at $4,830 a tonne.

* Shanghai Futures Exchange copper rallied 1.3 percent to 37,280 yuan ($5,610) a tonne in the overnight session.

* Shfe zinc and nickel had jumped 3.2 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, tracking gains in London and on hopes countries would bring in new measures to soothe uncertainty after Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

* European leaders told Britain on Tuesday to act quickly to resolve the political and economic confusion unleashed by its vote last week, after the IMF said the uncertainty could put pressure on global economic growth.

* Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday he wouldn't allow the post-Brexit panic that roiled global currencies and stocks to send the country's financial markets into a tailspin, an indication authorities would intervene if needed to prevent market chaos.

* European Central Bank President Mario Draghi told EU leaders on Tuesday that Britain's decision to leave the EU could reduce euro zone growth by a cumulative 0.3 to 0.5 percent compared to previous estimates over the next three years, an EU official said.

* Electronic trade on the London Metal Exchange has climbed by nearly a fifth this year as the LME lures more speculators, sparking a battle with members who worry about threats to the traditional structure symbolised by the open outcry floor.

* For the top stories in metals and other news, click or

MARKETS NEWS

* Asian share markets joined a global rally on Wednesday as the immediate impact of Britain's vote to leave began to wane and investors wagered central banks would have to ride to the rescue with more stimulus measures.

DATA/EVENTS

1200 Germany Consumer prices Jun

1230 U.S. Personal income May

1330 Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen speaks at ECB event

1400 U.S. Pending home sales May

PRICES

Three month LME copper

Most active ShFE copper

Three month LME aluminium

Most active ShFE aluminium

Three month LME zinc

Most active ShFE zinc

Three month LME lead

Most active ShFE lead

Three month LME nickel

Most active ShFE nickel

Three month LME tin

Most active ShFE tin
Rising social progress in E Europe likely to lead to drop in migration - economist

By Astrid Zweynert

LONDON, June 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Eastern European countries belonging to the European Union have seen rising standards of living and progress on human rights, which have put them in the same category as some of the richest nations in the world, an index measuring social progress shows.

Michael Green, head of the non-profit organisation that compiles the annual Social Progress Index, said the results suggest there could be a drop in the number of Eastern European migrants seeking jobs and better lives in the longer term as conditions improve at home.

The index, released on Wednesday, comes as Polish and Muslim leaders in Britain express concern about a spate of racially motivated hate crimes following last week's vote to leave the EU, in which immigration was widely regarded as a key factor in the outcome.

"In the UK debate there has been an assumption that migration from eastern Europe will continue at current levels or even accelerate but as living standards and social progress rise the benefits of migrating for work decline," said Green, executive director of the Social Progress Imperative.

"That means more people are likely to stay at home in the longer term," Green told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

A similar pattern emerged in southern Europe when poor people migrated to work in the region's richer countries in the 1960s, but that flow eased once economic conditions improved at home, he said.

Finland topped the Social Progress Index, which measures the extent to which countries provide for the social and environmental needs of their citizens.

Central African Republic was at the bottom of the index which ranks 133 countries on more than 50 non-economic indicators, including health, nutrition, education, sustainability, personal rights and environmental protection.

The index showed that Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Lithuania, Hungary and Latvia achieved high social progress ratings, putting them in the same category as the United States, Germany, France and Italy.

Slovenia, for example, achieved a social progress score almost as high as the United States at 84.3 even though its economic output is just over half that of the United States.

The index indicates that EU membership and Eastern European countries' evolution into market economies had boosted their social progress, Green, an economist, said.

An estimated three million EU citizens live in Britain, a number that shot up after 2004, the year the EU expanded its membership to include the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

LACKING RIGHTS

The world's social progress score of 63 out of a maximum 100 equalled that of Mongolia or Kyrgyzstan, the index showed.

Green said this year's index could not be compared with last year's since the range of data used to compile it had grown.

After Finland came Canada, Denmark, Australia and Switzerland, while Afghanistan, Chad, Angola and Niger rounded out the bottom five in the index, which covers 99 percent of the world's population.

Personal rights, tolerance and inclusion, access to advanced education, and personal freedom and choice received the lowest scores globally, even among rich countries.

"These are hard-to-solve issues where even the richer countries struggle," said Green.

Although richer countries fare better in general than poorer ones, citizens in a country with a large gross domestic product (GDP) - the traditional measure for a country's wealth - do not automatically enjoy higher social progress, Green said.

Canada, number two on the index, scored higher than the United States which is in 19th place, even though its GDP per capita is significantly smaller.

The United States received low rankings due to its lack of healthcare provision as well as high murder and suicide rates, putting it in the same category as China, Russia and Iran as one of the world's biggest underperformers in relation to economic size, the index showed.

Costa Rica, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Malawi, Rwanda, Ghana and Senegal achieved a higher ranking than might be expected given their wealth, while Saudi Arabia ranked in the bottom half due to a very low ranking on personal rights.
Indonesia faces environmental time bomb after coal bust

By Fergus Jensen

SAMARINDA, Indonesia, June 29 (Reuters) - Thousands of mines are closing in Indonesia's tropical coal belt as prices languish and seams run dry. But almost none of the companies have paid their share of billions of dollars owed to repair the badly scarred landscape they have left behind.

Abandoned mine pits dot the bare, treeless hillsides in Samarinda, the capital of East Kalimantan province on Indonesia's part of Borneo island. It is ground zero for a coal boom that made Indonesia the world's biggest exporter of the mineral that fuels power plants. Abandoned mining pits have now become death traps for children who swim in them, and their acidic water is killing nearby rice paddies.

Indonesia has tried, mostly in vain, to get mining companies to keep their promises to clean up the ravaged landscape. But it doesn't even have basic data on who holds the many thousands of mining licenses that were handed out during the boom days, officials say.

"Nobody was in control," said Dian Patria, who works on natural resources at the country's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Patria estimated that 90 percent of the more than 10,000 mining license holders had not paid the reclamation funds they owe by law. One-third are for coal.

Even if they wanted to, many companies now lack the cash. The same large banks that leant billions during the boom have now pulled out of coal, wary of the sector's commercial outlook and contribution to climate change.

The problem is not unique to Indonesia. As mineral prices languish, even major global miners are trying to avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in increasingly hefty closure costs, mostly by selling off pits.

FEW QUESTIONS ASKED

After pro-democracy protesters swept Indonesia's authoritarian president Suharto from power in 1998, the Jakarta government gave towns and districts control of natural resources as part of far-reaching decentralisation reforms aimed at preventing the archipelago from fracturing.

Newly empowered local leaders handed out thousands of mining licenses, many of them to small operators, as coal prices leapt from around $40 per tonne in 2005 to nearly $200 at their peak in 2008. In East Kalimantan alone, around half the province was covered in coal mining permits.

Under President Joko Widodo, elected in 2014, Indonesia has promised to turn around its dismal environmental record. The administration has also wrested control over natural resources away from local leaders, giving it to provincial governors instead.

Awang Faroek Ishak, East Kalimantan's governor, has issued a moratorium on new licenses. He is threatening to punish mining companies that have failed to restore the land, he said in an interview. But the data on mining companies and funds for rehabilitation are missing, he said.

"How can we look into this if we don't have the documents," he complained.

Greenpeace activist Kiki Taufik says governors do, however, have the authority to freeze permits and operations while they investigate. "The governors have authority, but they never use this authority."

PATCHY OVERSIGHT

Most of the mining licenses went to small firms, many of which have gone bankrupt or simply abandoned their operations, mining industry officials say.

"For now, it's really difficult not to lose money," said Budi Situmorang, a mining engineer at small coal miner CV Arjuna. "All we can really do is hold on. Looking at the 56 mines in Samarinda, no more than 10 are still active."

The mining companies themselves are supposed to restore the land from money they paid into accounts held at state banks and supervised by local officials.

"That's what you're supposed to do, but in practice very few people do it," except for the major mining firms, the head of Indonesia's Coal Mining Association, Pandu Sjahrir, told Reuters.

The central government has had a list since 2011 of nearly 4,000 licenses that have failed to meet their requirements. It expects to be able to revoke the problematic permits only by January 2017.

Patria's team at the anti-corruption agency is pushing for the national government's Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to investigate miners - including over unpaid rehabilitation funds estimated in the hundreds of millions.

Even that is only a fraction of the cash that would actually be required, says Merah Johansyah from the Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM).

Pressure from campaigners is increasing as mine closures reach a peak by 2020, according to some industry estimates. One set of 2,272 coal permits and contracts, compiled by mining consultancy SMGC and reviewed by Reuters, showed the average expiry date of the permit is October 2017.

MINING WITHOUT PERMITS

But environmental watchdogs say an end to permits does not mean an end to mining. "In East Kalimantan, even where permits have long been revoked, they're still operating," Syahrul Fitra, a legal researcher at the environmental NGO Auriga told Reuters. "What we found in the field is that no punishments have been applied."

In areas where companies are conducting reclamation activities, it is usually not to replant forests -- most mining concessions are being turned into housing developments, agricultural land or other uses, environmentalists and industry officials say.

In the meantime, the run-off water and mud from abandoned pits, numbering around 150 in Samarinda alone, are polluting surrounding rice paddies and rivers.

After his employer closed a small mine in Samarinda, Suyadi, who like many Indonesians uses one name, went back to working the small rice paddy on his family's farm on the edge of the city. The mines, however, have followed him there.

"Like it or not, the tailings flow here," says Suyadi, referring to the stream of chemically treated mining debris that is left after coal is extracted.

"If they continue to leave it like this, where else will that water flow? To the lower areas where there are rice paddies," Suyadi said.

The attractive aqua hue of the water in the abandoned pits conceals a darker story: 24 local children using them as swimming holes have drowned around Samarinda over the past five years.
MEDIA-Mitsui, Fujimoro Kogyo to buy majority shares in Indonesian pharmaceutical packaging firm - Kontan

-- Japan's Mitsui & Co Ltd and Fujimoro Kogyo Co Ltd plans to buy 79.42 pct shares of PT Champion Pacific Indonesia Tbk, an Indonesian pharmaceutical packaging company, for $68 million, Kontan newspaper reported, citing president-director of the Indonesian firm.

-- The Japanese companies will acquire shares currently owned by PT Kingsford Holdings, Kontan reported.

-- The deal is expected to be completed around September-October this year, President Director of Champion Pacific Antonius Muhartoyo was quoted as saying.
Taiwan stocks rise ahead of cbank rate review

TAIPEI, June 29 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks rose on Wednesday, lifted by gains in regional markets and ahead of an expected easing by the island's central bank when it meets on Thursday to review benchmark rates.

Taiwan's central bank is likely to cut its policy rate for the fourth straight meeting to a six-year low, as economic growth falters and Brexit risks dampen global trade.

The median forecast of 16 analysts polled by Reuters was for the discount rate to be lowered by 0.125 percentage point to 1.375 percent, a level last seen in 2010.

As of 0313 GMT, the main TAIEX index rose 0.9 percent to 8,580.51.

It closed 0.6 percent higher on Tuesday, snapping a three-session losing streak on investor stress around the Brexit vote.

The electronics subindex rose 1 percent, while the financials subindex gained 0.7 percent.

Among actively traded shares, ASE was up 1.3 percent.

The chip firm on Tuesday became the latest tech firm to urge the newly installed government of president Tsai Ing-wen - more wary of mainland China than its predecessor - to allow Chinese capital greater access to Taiwan's chip industry.
U.S. to upgrade Thailand in annual human trafficking report - sources

By Jason Szep, Matt Spetalnick and Andrew R.C. Marshall

WASHINGTON/BANGKOK, June 28 (Reuters) - The United States has decided to remove Thailand from its list of worst human trafficking offenders, officials said, a move that could help smooth relations with Bangkok's military-run government.

The upgrade, confirmed to Reuters by a U.S. official in Washington and a Bangkok-based official from an international organization with direct knowledge of the rankings, would mark a rare boost for U.S.-Thai relations. Ties between the countries have flat-lined since the Thai military seized power in a 2014 coup that Washington strongly condemned.

It also comes as President Barack Obama works to forge a united front among wavering Southeast Asian countries against China's pursuit of its territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Bangkok has protested publicly to Washington that it should be removed from the lowest ranking on the State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, which is due to be released on Thursday.

The report is expected to cite improvements in Thailand's efforts to combat human trafficking, especially in its vital multibillion-dollar seafood industry, the U.S. official said.

The upgrade would put Thailand on a so-called "Tier 2 Watch List" and remove it from the rating for countries with the worst human-trafficking records, known as Tier 3.

Major General Sansern Kaewkamnerd, spokesman for the Thai premier's office, said the upgrade shows Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha had stuck to his pledge to fight human trafficking in response to international criticism.

"The international community will see that what the prime minister told the international community he would do, he did," Sansern told Reuters.

Thai Defense Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan said the upgrade to Tier 2 Watch List did not mean Thailand will stop tackling trafficking issues.

"Even though we will be moved to Tier 2 we need to keep solving this problem," said Prawit.

The report organizes countries into tiers based on trafficking records: Tier 1 for nations that meet minimum U.S. standards; Tier 2 for those making significant efforts to meet those standards; Tier 2 "Watch List" for those that deserve special scrutiny; and Tier 3 for countries that are not making significant efforts.

Thailand was downgraded to the lowest ranking in June 2014 just weeks after the military seized power.

Thai officials were incensed last year when Malaysia was upgraded from Tier 3 but Thailand was not, and even human rights advocates agreed that Bangkok had made a greater effort to curb human trafficking than Kuala Lumpur had.

In this year's report, the State Department has opted to keep Malaysia at the higher ranking it received last year, according to the U.S. official.

State Department spokesman John Kirby declined to comment on the tier rankings: "We will not comment on the contents of this year's report until after the report is released," he said.

The junta has repeatedly vowed to crack down on human trafficking, particularly in its multi-billion-dollar seafood industry.

Thailand is the world's third-largest seafood exporter, and much of the labor the fishing industry employs comes from neighboring Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

Thailand recently reformed its anti-trafficking laws and introduced a system to track fishing vessels, part of what it called "comprehensive and irreversible" measures to clean up its supply chain and curb illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.

But rights groups say millions of migrant workers remain vulnerable to abuse in the fishing sector and other Thai industries. Investigations by news organizations and rights groups have exposed widespread trafficking and abuse, sparking fears of a consumer backlash in the West against Thai-sourced seafood.

The Obama administration has been unsettled by China's warming ties with the Thai junta, which has sought to counterbalance the cooling of its traditionally strong U.S. relationship, U.S. officials say.

A Reuters investigation published last August found that senior diplomats repeatedly overruled the State Department's anti-trafficking unit and inflated the grades of 14 strategically important countries, including Malaysia. The State Department denied any political considerations but U.S. lawmakers raised questions about the report's credibility and called for reforms.
U.S. backed Syrian rebel forces take over airport near IS held border town with Iraq - monitor

AMMAN, June 29 (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Syrian rebel fighters helped by Western-backed special forces seized a military airport held by Islamic State militants close to their strategic stronghold of Al-Bukamal near the Iraqi border, a monitor said on Wednesday.

The U.K.-based Observatory for Human Rights said the operation, which involved foreign paratroopers landing by helicopters, took place at dawn. Heavy clashes were underway, with militants dug in at the Hamadan airport, 5 km (3 miles)northwest of Al-Bukamal.
Taiwan president says wants to maintain communication with China

ASUNCION, June 28 (Reuters) - Taiwan's government will continue to look for ways to maintain dialogue with China, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday, after Beijing said it had halted a regular communication mechanism with Taipei.

China, which regards the self-ruled island as a wayward province, is deeply suspicious of Tsai, who took office last month, since Beijing suspects she will push for formal independence.

Tsai, who heads the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, says she wants to maintain the status quo and is committed to ensuring peace.

But China has insisted she recognise a pact called the "1992 consensus" between its Communists and Taiwan's then-ruling Nationalists, by which both agreed there is only one China, with each having its own interpretation of what that means.

On Saturday, China said because Taiwan's new government would not recognise that principle, it had stopped the regular communication mechanism between the two sides.

"No matter what party is in government in Taiwan, we always have a single, common objective: to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," Tsai told reporters during a visit to Paraguay, Taiwan's sole diplomatic ally in South America.

"We will continue the dialogue with mainland China, as even though, probably at this moment official negotiation channels have been temporarily interrupted, there still exist other options for communication and dialogue," she said, speaking through an interpreter.

On Wednesday, Taiwan Premier Lin Chuan said the government's approach was for positive interactions with China to continue, based on existing foundations.

"There must be willingness on both sides to move forward on the relationship," Lin told reporters about the suspension issue at a function in southern Taiwan.

But in Beijing, a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office signalled there would be no compromise, saying the "1992 consensus" had been the basis for improved relations since 2008, when the China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou became president and signed a series of landmark trade and tourism deals with China.

"People cannot help but ask - why does Taiwan want to change the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait that has been in place since 2008? What is the aim?" An Fengshan asked at a regular news briefing.

Tsai is on her first trip overseas as president, visiting diplomatic allies Panama and Paraguay, with transit stops in the United States each way.
Two soldiers killed in Kurdish militant attacks in southeast Turkey - army

ANKARA, June 29 (Reuters) - Two Turkish soldiers were killed and another three wounded on Tuesday evening in two attacks by Kurdish militants in southeast Turkey's Diyarbakir province, the military said.

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters launched one attack in the Lice district of Diyarbakir, wounding four soldiers, one of whom later died in hospital, an armed forces statement said on Wednesday.

It said another soldier was shot dead by PKK militants in Diyarbakir's Bismil district after he got out of a vehicle in front of his house.
U.S.-backed Syrian rebels clash with IS fighters in border town - rebel commander

AMMAN, June 29 (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Syrian rebel forces were fighting street battles with Islamic State militants after entering their strategic stronghold along the border with Iraq, a rebel commander said on Wednesday.

A rebel commander confirmed the rapid advances by the New Syria Army alliance of Arab rebel groups who had announced on Tuesday they had begun an attack to "liberate" the town along the Euphrates river in the oil rich Deir Zor province of Syria.

"The clashes are in the town itself but the situation has not been decided yet," said the rebel commander from Asala wa-al-Tanmiya Front, a main group within the New Syria Army, told Reuters, asking not to be named.
PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - June 29

SOFIA, June 29 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

-- Prosecutors in the Black Sea city of Burgas have ended pretrial proceedings into the death of an Afghan migrant who died at gunshot near the Bulgarian-Turkish border in October, saying no crime had been committed (Trud, 24 Chasa, Standart)

-- Bulgaria's government approved additional transfers from the budget of the education ministry to the budget of municipalities amounting to more than 26 million levs ($14.71 million) (Trud, Standart)

-- Bulgaria will host a multinational flight training exercise of military transport aviation, the defence ministry said. C-27J Spartan aircraft and air force crews Bulgaria, Italy and Romania will take part in the exercise, starting on Wednesday (Trud, Standart, Monitor)

-- Bulgarian authorities detained a bus carrying a group of 65 illegal migrants near the Black Sea town of Tsarevo (Monitor, Standart)
Toyota recalls 3.37 mln cars over air bags, emissions control

By David Shepardson and Naomi Tajitsu

WASHINGTON/TOKYO, June 29 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp has recalled 3.37 million cars worldwide over possible defects involving air bags and emissions control units.

The automaker on Wednesday said it was recalling 2.87 million cars over a possible fault in emissions control units. That followed an announcement late on Tuesday that 1.43 million cars needed repairs over a separate issue involving air bag inflators.

About 930,000 cars are affected by both potential defects, Toyota said. Because of that overlap, it said the total number of vehicles recalled was 3.37 million.

No injuries have been linked to either issue.

Toyota on Wednesday said evaporative fuel emissions control units in models produced from 2006 to 2015 including the Prius, Auris compact hatchback and Corolla were prone to cracks, which could lead to fuel leaks over time.

Of the 2.87 million vehicles recalled due to the emission control units, Toyota said 1.55 million are in Japan; 713,000 in Europe; 35,000 in China; and 568,000 in other areas.

Late on Tuesday it recalled Prius models and Lexus CT200h cars made from 2010 to 2012 over air bag inflators that could have a small crack in a weld, which could lead to the separation of the inflator chambers.

Of the 1.4 million vehicles recalled over the air bag inflators, 482,000 are in the U.S. market.

The inflator could partially inflate and enter the vehicle interior, increasing the risk of injury, Toyota said.

Sweden-based auto safety gear maker Autoliv Inc confirmed on Wednesday that it supplied the air bag inflators involved. Autoliv said about 90 percent of the affected inflators were in Prius cars.

Autoliv said it was aware of seven incidents where a side curtain air bag has partially inflated in parked Toyota Prius cars, but no injuries were reported.

Autoliv has benefited from an earlier recall involving faulty air bag inflators made by Japan's Takata.

The company said in an April regulatory filing that it was investigating six incidents related to its air bags and a possible recall could cost it between $10 million-$40 million, net of expected insurance recoveries. (http://1.usa.gov/2946IzQ)

Autoliv said on Wednesday it expected the cost of recall to be at the lower end of the range.

The company's U.S.-listed shares were down 3.6 percent at $106.06. The stock fell as much as 16 pct to 765 Swedish kronas on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, their lowest since December 2014.
Poland - Factors to Watch June 29

Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Wednesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 2 hours):

BREXIT AND BANKS

Britain's decision to exit the European Union will likely force European banks to strengthen their capitals, which might accelerate banking sector consolidation in Poland, Alior Bank Chief Executive Wojciech Sobieraj told Dziennik Gazeta Prawna Daily.

ZE PAK

Parkiet daily reported that Polish billionaire Zygmunt Solorz-Zak had conducted negotiations to swap his 51.6-percent stake in power group ZE PAK for shares of the state-controlled power group Enea.

Polish energy ministry said it is currently not conducting any talks on acquiring stakes in energy firms, Parkiet said. A spokesman for Solorz-Zak said he had no information on the issue, Parkiet reported.

ENERGA

Polish state-run energy utility Energa said late on Tuesday it would recognise an impairment loss of 247 million zlotys ($62 million) on its existing and future wind farms as a result of a new legislation.

LOT

Polish state airline LOT may post a net profit of 20 to 30 million zlotys ($7.48 million) in the first half of the year following a string of losses, Rzeczpospolita daily reported.

**** Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. ****
China to get new head of internet regulator -Bloomberg

BEIJING, June 29 (Reuters) - The director of China's internet regulator plans to step down and will be replaced by one of his deputies, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

Lu Wei, who heads the Cyberspace Administration of China, told a meeting on Tuesday that one of his deputies, Xu Lin, would soon replace him, Bloomberg said, citing an anonymous source.

The regulator did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

The Chinese government exercises widespread controls over the internet and has sought to codify that policy in law.

Officials say internet restrictions, including the blocking of popular foreign sites like Google and Facebook, are needed to ensure security in the face of rising threats, such as terrorism.
Murders, violence on rise as parched central India battles for water

By Shuriah Niazi

BHOPAL, India, June 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Imrat Namdev and her younger sister Pushpa Namdev were neighbours in Chhatarpur district, in the drought-hit Indian region of Bundelkhand. Both relied on the same well for water and, according to police, frequently quarrelled over how much the other was using.

In May, during one fight over water, Pushpa, 42, beat Imrat, 48, with a stick, police say. The injured sister was rushed to a hospital, but died there, and Pushpa was charged with murder.

"Our village faces a severe shortage of potable water," Imrat's son, Jitendra, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Pushpa always felt my mother drew more water from the well."

As northern and central India continue to suffer thorough severe drought and oppressive heat, police in Bundelkhand and several other regions are reporting a rise in violent - and often deadly - clashes over water.

After almost 10 years of below-average rainfall and several consecutive years of drought, the region's rivers, lakes, reservoirs and wells are drying up.

Disputes are a common problem in many places in India that face water shortages. But Indian police report that the fighting is getting more frequent and bloody. In many parts of the country, neighbours, friends and family are turning on each other, desperate to protect what little water they have left, police records suggest.

Last month, in the tribal-dominated Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh, 13-year-old Surmada, her brother and her uncle used a neighbour's hand-pump, without permission, to get water for the family's houseguests.

According to police, the owner of the pump and his son attacked the group with arrows. One pierced Surmada's eye, killing her.

And in the village of Kanker, in Shivpuri district, a large-scale argument broke out after two motorcyclists got into an accident, causing one to spill the 15-litre (4 gallon) container of water he was carrying.

"The two later called their family members and friends and attacked each other with spears, axes and sticks," said investigating officer Jaisingh Yadav of Sathanwada police station. Fifteen people were injured, five of them women, he said.

Lal Singh Arya, Madhya Pradesh's urban administration and development minister, said the government is using all its resources to try to make sure everyone has water. But he predicted tensions will remain high until monsoon rains - which began recently in some areas - take hold.

"There have been disputes over water in many parts of the state because of two consecutive droughts," he said. "The situation will improve with the monsoon rains."

ONLY DRINKING WATER

Activists say the government's failure to act to better manage water is partly to blame for the rise in violence.

"The present crisis is the fallout of over-consumption, wasteful use and inefficient water governance systems," said Ajay Dubey, an activist with the environmental non-governmental organisation Prayatna, based in Madhya Pradesh.

"People are going to any lengths for the sake of water. They've lost hope that the situation will ever improve. Things were never so bad," Dubey said.

According to the Madhya Pradesh water resource department, out of the state's 139 main reservoirs, 82 are at only 10 percent capacity and 22 are empty. As authorities try to make the remaining water last until monsoon rains help refill the reservoirs, the measures they have implemented have only exacerbated the sense of desperation.

Across much of the region, authorities have banned the use of water for washing cars or trucks, bathing cattle or irrigating crops. In most cities in Madhya Pradesh, the local government only supplies drinking water on one out of every two to seven days.

The district administration of Sehore in Madhya Pradesh has temporarily taken charge of all water sources, whether government or privately owned, so that it can manage use of the dwindling resource. And in three towns in Madhya Pradesh, the use of water for anything other than drinking is banned.

Lokesh Kumar, sub-divisional magistrate of Ichhawar town, said water can't be used for farming or industrial purposes until July 5, when the monsoon is underway and authorities hope water sources will be replenished.

For many in rural India, the struggle to survive with very little water is proving too difficult. In areas like Bundelkhand, a growing number of people are leaving their homes and abandoning their work in hopes of finding water - even just a little more - somewhere else.

Asandi Das, who lives in a village in Chhatarpur district, plans to take his family to Agra, where the famous Taj Mahal is located, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. He said that right now his family has neither food nor water.

He knows it won't be easy even in Agra - or anywhere else - but hopes to get enough work to make ends meet.

"We'll not be able to survive in our village," Das said. "There's just no water. We'll have to go to some other place if we want to live."
Iran suspends all flights to Istanbul airport after attack

DUBAI, June 29 (Reuters) - Iran said it had suspended all flights to Istanbul's main international airport on Wednesday after it was attacked by militants.

"Due to last night's explosion at Ataturk Airport ... all Iranian flights are suspended until their safety and security are guaranteed," Reza Jafarzadeh, director of the public relations at Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.
Malaysian police probe grenade attack, checking credibility of IS claim

KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 (Reuters) - Malaysian police remained doubtful that militants were behind a grenade attack on a nightspot that wounded seven people, but were forced to reassess the possibility on Wednesday after an Islamic State claim of responsibility was posted on Facebook.

Investigators had previously ruled out terrorism as the motive for Tuesday's attack on the bar in Puchong, a town outside the capital Kuala Lumpur, which wounded eight people, including a woman from China.

The more likely motive appeared to be business rivalry, or a targeted attack on someone in the bar, according to police. The owner of the Movida bar also used Facebook to air suspicions that there was some personal grudge against two of his customers.

Counter-terrorism officials, however, were trying to establish the credibility of the claim of responsibility posted on the Facebook page of a known Malaysian IS fighter.

Muhammad Wanndy Mohamed Jedi claimed on his Facebook page that the attack had been carried out by two followers of IS, according to a screenshot posted online by a local newspaper, Sin Chew Daily.

Police counter-terrorism unit head Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay declined to comment on whether the Facebook profile was credible.

"We are looking at all possible motives, including business conflict, revenge, gangland involvement and finally terrorism," he told Reuters.

Roger Hew, the bar owner, suspected that a couple celebrating their wedding anniversary had been the target.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Hew said the attack was due to "a personal matter" and that an eyewitness had seen two men throwing the grenade towards the couple.

In a similar attack in 2014, a club in central Kuala Lumpur was hit by a grenade during a botched assassination attempt on a gangland kingpin, killing one and injuring 12 others.

Malaysia's security agencies are on guard against IS spreading its tentacles in the Muslim majority, but multi-ethnic Southeast Asian nation. A few months ago, officials had estimated nearly 50 Malaysians, mostly ethnic Muslim Malays, had joined IS in Syria and Iraq.

While both al-Qaeda and Islamic State have recruited Malaysians, there has been no significant attack by either group inside the country since the spectre of Islamist militancy loomed in the wake of al Qaeda's 2001 attacks on the United States.

Last week, authorities identified a Malaysian IS member in Syria in a video released by the group to mark the formation of a Philippine-based, Southeast Asian Islamic State cell.
Libya wealth fund boss screamed, cursed at Goldman bankers -witness

By Sujata Rao

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - The Libyan wealth fund's former deputy chief screamed and cursed at Goldman Sachs bankers in a stormy meeting over derivatives trades made on the bank's advice that ultimately turned out to be worthless, a witness told a court on Tuesday.

In a trial at London's High Court, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) is trying to claw back $1.2 billion from Goldman Sachs related to nine disputed trades carried out in 2008.

The LIA argues Goldman took advantage of its financial naivety by first gaining its trust, then encouraging it to make risky and ultimately worthless investments.

Goldman Sachs denies the allegations and says the trades in question "were not difficult to understand".

The LIA called as its final witness Catherine McDougall, a former Allen & Overy lawyer who was seconded to the LIA in July 2008 by Allen & Overy to assist and provide training to the LIA's legal team.

McDougall said that from her conversations with LIA staff, specifically members of the Equities team, she found they had no idea what they had actually purchased. They were under the impression they had bought shares or "quasi shares" whereas the products they had were "completely synthetic".

She said she brought this up with the LIA, with Allen and Overy and eventually with Goldman Sachs.

McDougall told the court she had little experience of derivatives at the time but said LIA executives seemed to have even less. She said they did not understand how derivatives worked or what were call and put options.

She said that in response to her question in July 2008 about what kind of due diligence had been done before the trades, one of the LIA officials had asked: "Due what?" However, she said the exchange took place in a meeting and she didn't recall the name of the official.

In her statement, she said she felt "Goldman Sachs had unfairly taken advantage of the LIA's lack of sophistication ... and sold the LIA $1 billion worth of derivatives products the LIA could not understand".

Robert Miles, a lawyer acting for Goldman, stated to McDougall that the LIA officials had understated their understanding of the trades "in order to shift the blame".

The LIA equity team had also seemed to implicitly trust Youssef Kabbaj, the banker who was Goldman's main contact with the LIA, and relied completely on his advice, McDougall said.

"I think they didn't understand how much Mr Kabbaj stood to gain personally from his relationship with them. They were ... very effusive and very welcoming and they trusted people. They thought he was their friend," she told the court.

Kabbaj no longer works for Goldman and has signed a confidentiality agreement with the bank. He has commented once to the media but has declined to speak further, citing the agreement.

Goldman says its relationship with the LIA was at all "material times an arm's length one" between banker and client.

In a witness statement seen by Reuters, McDougall said she told Mustapha Zarti, the LIA's then deputy chief, that she could not see "one redeeming feature" in the trades.

Following this, she said, she was present at a meeting between Zarti, Kabbaj and Kabbaj's colleague Nick Pentreath at which Zarti lost his temper, swore at the men and threatened to "come after their families."

"His face ... it went red in this, like, flash of anger and he darts in front of me ... and then just starts screaming at Mr Kabbaj and Mr Pentreath and telling them a lot of cursing," she told the court.

Zarti is no longer connected with the LIA. Reuters has been unable to reach him for comment.

Miles cited documents provided by Goldman to the LIA which he said showed the nature of the deals and clearly explained the conditions under which the trades could lose money.
Slovakia - Factors To Watch on June 29

BRATISLAVA, June 29 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial markets on Wednesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Slovak Republic: GMT + 2 hours) =========================ECONOMIC DATA======================== Real-time economic data releases.................. Summary of economic data and forecasts......... Recently released economic data................ Previous stories on Slovak data.......... **For a schedule of corporate and economic events: http://emea1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/Apps/CountryWeb/#/1C/events-overview ========================EVENTS=============================== BRATISLAVA - Polish President Andrzej Duda to meet Slovak counterpart Andrej Kiska. Related stories: =========================NEWS=============================== CURRENT ACCOUNT: Slovakia's current account showed a deficit of 27 million euros ($29.90 million) in April after a revised gap of 1 million euros in March, the central bank said on Tuesday. Story: Related stories: BREXIT: The European Union cannot continue in its economic and migration policies that are opposed by the majority of Europeans, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Tuesday ahead of a European Union summit due to discuss Britain's vote to leave the union. Story: Related stories: For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX Main currency report TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets News editor of the day: Jason Hovet on +420 224 190 476 E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com
Ukrainian, Iranian among 36 people killed in Istanbul airport attack - officials

ISTANBUL, June 29 (Reuters) - One Ukrainian and one Iranian citizen were among 36 people killed by three suicide bombers in an attack at Istanbul's main international airport on Tuesday night blamed on Islamic State militants, officials from the two countries said on Wednesday.

Around 150 people were wounded in the attack and Saudi media reported that among those hurt were seven Saudis, who were in good condition.
European shares lifted by higher oil price and stimulus potential

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Wednesday, with higher oil prices and the chance of more monetary stimulus helping markets that were sent reeling by Britain's vote to exit the European Union.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index, which had slumped 11 percent over the course of Friday and Monday, rose 1.2 percent, building on a 2.6 percent gain in the previous session.

The FTSEurofirst 300 also stood 1.2 percent higher, though both the STOXX 600 and the FTSEurofirst remain down by about 12 percent since the start of 2016.

The shares of European oil majors rose as the impact from a potential strike in Norway lifted oil prices.

European stocks were further supported by a drop in sovereign bond yields, with France's 10-year bond yield dropping to a record low amid expectations of further monetary stimulus to offset the negative impact from last week's Brexit vote.

Those signs of an easing in credit market tensions helped to lift European bank stocks, with Intesa up 5 percent.

"The central banks don't have much ammunition left, but I'm sure they will rally round and provide verbal support and try to provide actual support for the markets," said HED Capital's managing director Richard Edwards.

Southern European bond yields also tumbled, with Spain's 10-year bond yield falling to 1.273 percent - its lowest since April last year.

Credit Suisse equity strategist Andrew Garthwaite backed Spanish equities, pointing to signs of an economic recovery in the country.

"Spain looks the best of the peripheral countries," he said in a research note.

Shares in Swiss asset manager GAM rose 5 percent as investors welcomed its move to buy Cantab Capital Partners.

Traders said the lack of any evident rush among British and European politicians to invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, which sets out the process for a state to leave the bloc, was also helping to ease some investor concerns.
Scotland determined to stay in EU, Sturgeon says in Brussels

BRUSSELS, June 29 (Reuters) - Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Wednesday on a short-notice visit to Brussels that Scotland was intent on remaining in the European Union, despite last week's British vote to quit the bloc.

After meeting European Parliament President Martin Schulz, the pro-independence leader told reporters: "Scotland is determined to stay in the EU."
Bombing in Kurdish-controlled Syrian town kills at least five -witnesses

AMMAN, June 29 (Reuters) - At least five people were killed and scores injured on Wednesday in a bomb attack on a local administrative office in the Kurdish-held Syrian town of Tel Abyad, near the Turkish border, witnesses said.

They said a suicide car bomber had attacked the building run by Kurdish local authorities in the town, which was captured by the powerful YPG militia last year from Islamic State militants in an offensive backed by U.S.-led air strikes.

Tel Abyad lies north of Raqqa and had been a key supply line for the jihadi capital.
GAM acquires Cantab Capital in trends-based investment push

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Swiss asset manager GAM has bought British hedge fund firm Cantab Capital Partners in a $217 million deal to increase its offering of computer-driven quantitative investment funds that cash in on identifying trends in global financial markets.

The transaction marks a departure from GAM's predominantly 'active' investment approach and will lead to the creation of a new unit called GAM Systematic, of which Cantab will form the cornerstone, Cantab said in a statement on Wednesday.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2016, pending regulatory approvals.

GAM has around $120 billion of assets under management.

"There's been a growing interest for a while in systematic investing and this is not a fad," GAM Chief Executive Alexander Friedman told Reuters via telephone. "It's the future of investing more than anything else."

Cambridge-based Cantab, founded in 2006, says it employs a systematic, multi-strategy, multi-asset approach. The firm manages around $4 billion in assets.

Chief Investment Officer Ewan Kirk said in the lead up to Brexit the firm "sized our positions appropriately for the market".

"So we have done reasonably well over the period, but we have not done exceptionally well," he told Reuters. "Both Friday and Monday, given the fact we had the right sized positions, were not exceptional days either up or down. We're up a little bit."

Cantab Capital Partners' Core Macro Programme is up 3.4 percent in year to June 27 whiles the CCP Quant Programme is up 4.1 percent, a source close to the firm told Reuters.

The operation and running of the firm's two programmes, the CCP Quantitative and the CCP Core Macro, will not be affected by the transaction, Cantab said.

Its partners will sign multi-year employment contracts under terms of the new deal and its investment team, led by Ewan Kirk, will remain in Cambridge, where it hopes to nurture its relationship with the University of Cambridge.
At least 5 killed in bombing in Kurdish-controlled Syrian town-witnesses

AMMAN, June 29 (Reuters) - At least five people were killed and scores wounded on Wednesday in a bomb attack on a local administrative office in the Kurdish-held Syrian town of Tel Abyad, near the Turkish border, witnesses said.

They said a suicide car bomber attacked the building run by Kurdish local authorities in the town, which was captured by the Kurdish YPG militia last year from Islamic State militants in an offensive backed by U.S.-led air strikes.

Tel Abyad lies north of Raqqa and had been a key supply line for the Islamic State stronghold.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights later said at least 10 people were killed in the blast with nine wounded, some seriously.

Amaq news agency, affiliated to Islamic State, said militants detonated a car near a gathering of YPG fighters near the old local parliament building in the city centre.

The YPG is one of the most powerful militias in Syria and seen as the backbone of the Syria Democratic Forces, whose campaign to seize Islamic State controlled Manbij is supported by U.S.-led air strikes and American special forces.
Indonesia to step up oil exploration, fishing in South China Sea waters

By Randy Fabi

JAKARTA, June 29 (Reuters) - Indonesia's president on Wednesday ordered an expansion of offshore oil exploration and commercial fishing in the waters near the Natuna Islands, the latest in a new campaign to assert sovereignty over the area in the South China Sea.

Indonesia has taken unprecedented steps in the past week to lay claim to the remote island chain, whose gas-rich waters Beijing recently said were subject to "over-lapping claims".

President Joko Widodo travelled to Natuna for the first time last week to hold a cabinet meeting aboard a warship, in what Indonesian officials described as the strongest message that has been given to China.

"Out of 16 blocks around Natuna, only five are producing," Widodo said before a cabinet meeting to discuss development of the area. "We want to push so that they enter production stage sooner."

The East Natuna gas field, being co-developed by state-owned Pertamina, Exxon Mobil Corp, Total SA and PTT Exploration and Produciton, is believed to hold one of the world's largest untapped gas reserves.

ConocoPhillips and Chevron Corp also hold stakes in the nearby South Natuna Sea Block B, but are looking to sell their stakes.

"Essentially, we want the Natuna area to be a hub for gas processing and related industries," said Rizal Ramli, coordinating minister for maritime affairs.

The government also wants to develop Indonesia's commercial fishing industry in Natuna, whose waters are regularly trawled by vessels from Vietnam, the Philippines, China and other nearby nations.

Widodo said current fishing production around Natuna was only around 9 percent of its potential.

Indonesia's navy has stepped up patrols around the islands after a series of face-offs between Indonesian naval vessels and Chinese fishing boats in the area.

Parliament on Tuesday approved a near 10 percent hike in defence spending to fund, among other things, major upgrades to military facilities in Natuna, located off the northwest coast of Borneo island.

Jakarta objects to Beijing's inclusion of waters around the Natuna Islands within China's "nine-dash line", a demarcation line used by Beijing to show its claims.

"We do not recognise China's nine-dash line and its claims of a traditional fishing zone," said Chief Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan.

"Natuna is our territory. We want stability in the area."
Copper hits eight-week peak as Brexit fears fade, dollar dips

By Eric Onstad

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Copper and nickel climbed to the highest levels in nearly eight weeks on Wednesday, bolstered by a softer dollar and fading fears about Britain's vote to exit the European Union.

Zinc and lead touched three-week highs as the dollar gave up some of its gains made since the Brexit vote last week.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange hit a peak of $4,847.50 a tonne, the highest since May 5, building on a 2.3 percent gain in the previous session. It failed to trade in closing open outcry activity and was bid at $4,838, up 0.4 percent.

"It seems that the Brexit issue is gradually taking a back seat on the metals markets, and so market participants are now focusing again more on fundamental data," said analyst Daniel Briesemann at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

"In the case of many metals, the supply-demand situation points to higher metal prices over the course of this year."

After touching a low of $4,588 on Friday after the UK Brexit vote, copper has rallied more than 5 percent as investors bought futures to cancel short positions and hoped for more global stimulus measures.

The dollar index was down 0.6 percent, paring gains after soaring to the highest level in over three months following last week's Brexit vote.

But analysts were divided about whether the copper market would see more supply from mines in the coming months.

"Beyond the short-term gyrations, the bias for copper is for it to still ease from here through the rest of the year. Demand is positive but it's not spectacular and many signals point to a copper market that is well supplied," said analyst Daniel Morgan at UBS in Sydney.

However, Briesemann disagreed with forecasts that ample supply would knock the market in the second half of the year.

"I personally think that many market participants are too optimistic regarding supply and there is clearly scope for disappointment."

LME nickel ended 1.1 percent firmer at $9,440, the strongest since May 5, while zinc finished up 0.7 percent at $2,089 and lead climbed 2 percent to close at $1,770, the latter two touching the highest levels since June 9.

Tin ended up 1.2 percent at $17,095 and aluminium rose 0.7 percent to $1,635.50.

There was concern that the world's biggest aluminium producer China, after signs of curbing output late last year, was gradually increasing production again.

PRICES

Three month LME copper

Most active ShFE copper

Three month LME aluminium

Most active ShFE aluminium

Three month LME zinc

Most active ShFE zinc

Three month LME lead

Most active ShFE lead

Three month LME nickel

Most active ShFE nickel

Three month LME tin
Islamic State forces U.S.-backed rebels to retreat-rebel sources

AMMAN, June 29 (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Syrian rebels were forced to retreat from the outskirts of an Islamic State-held town at the border with Iraq and a nearby air base on Wednesday after a counter attack by the jihadists, two rebel sources said.

The U.S.-backed New Syria Army rebel group had launched the attack aiming to capture the town of Al-Bukamal on Tuesday.

One of the rebel sources said Islamic State fighters had encircled the rebels in a surprise ambush. The rebels had incurred heavy casualties and weapons had been seized by the jihadists, the source said.
Indonesia 'controlling' wheat imports to push domestic corn -official

By Bernadette Christina Munthe

JAKARTA, June 29 (Reuters) - Indonesia is "controlling" wheat imports to encourage animal-feed mills to use domestic corn supply, an agriculture ministry official said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of trade measures Indonesia has imposed to improve food self-sufficiency.

Indonesia's wheat imports have jumped after corn imports were capped this year.

Nasrullah, director of animal feed at the agriculture ministry said the government has not banned feed-grade wheat imports, but was "regulating and controlling imports to protect farmers and domestic production."

Nasrullah, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said wheat was being used by feed mills instead of corn. "If domestic corn is available, it means imports are not needed."

How long the policy will remain in place will "depend on domestic (corn) stocks," he said.

The decision to curtail feed-wheat import permits is delaying up to 450,000 tonnes of wheat imports, the Indonesian Feed Mill Association said on Wednesday.

Desianto Budi Utomo, secretary general of the association, said there were currently "about 250,000 tonnes" of wheat shipments being held at ports in Indonesia.

"They say it will be released in stages," Utomo added, noting that the fate of a further 200,000 tonnes of feed-grade wheat shipments currently sailing to Indonesia remained unclear.

Traders voiced concerns about the restrictions on the feed-grade wheat imports and expect this could push grain prices up.

"This pressure by Indonesia to reduce feed wheat imports could have a serious impact both on Indonesia and the international market," a European-based trader said. "Indonesia has an import requirement that the government must recognise."

Indonesia has imported 1.5 million tonnes of feed wheat since January after the country restricted corn imports, Feed Mills Association head Utomo said.

"All it will mean is that feed mills will have to feed slightly expensive product to animals," one Singapore-based trader told Reuters.

The spread between feed and milling wheat has already narrowed to around $4 to $5 a tonne as compared with $10 a tonne last year, the Singapore trader said, adding that it would be "virtually impossible" to restrict imports of feed wheat.
Pakistan deports 500 Afghan refugees before registration deadline expires

By Jibran Ahmad

PESHAWAR, Pakistan June 29 (Reuters) - Pakistani police have arrested at least 500 Afghan refugees in a northwestern border province and deported them as a security risk, officials said on Wednesday, a day before the expiry of a refugee registration deadline.

Pakistan has the world's second largest refugee population, with more than 1.5 million registered, and about a million unregistered, refugees from Afghanistan, most of whom fled the Soviet occupation of their country in the 1980s.

Registration cards allowing temporary legal stay to Afghan refugees got a six-month extension from the government after they expired in December.

The government has not yet announced a decision to renew the refugees' legal status beyond June 30, although, in the past, it has extended deadlines at the last minute.

There are only 100,000 registered refugees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the site of Wednesday's arrests, said the provincial information minister, Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani.

"We don't suggest any aggressive campaign against Afghan refugees, but we have been hosting them for the past 35 years and it is time they should go back to their country," Ghani said.

Unregistered Afghans had become a major security issue for the government, he said, urging the federal government to revisit its policy on the refugees.

"If Pakistan wants to host them, then it needs to register them and bring them under a proper network," he added.

More than 2,000 refugees have been arrested in the last month, and 400 were deported to Afghanistan, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported.

The number of Afghans voluntarily returning home has plunged this year as violence worsens in Afghanistan, where the government and its U.S. allies are fighting a stubborn Taliban insurgency.

About 6,000 Afghans have chosen to return home from Pakistan so far in 2016, well below last year's 58,211 voluntary repatriations, the United Nations' refugee agency has said.

Many Afghans have lived in Pakistan for decades and contribute significantly to its labour force.

But Afghan refugee camps have become "safe havens for terrorists", Pakistani foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz told a Pakistani television channel last week.

Pakistani federal minister for states and frontier regions Abdul Qadir Baloch also warned that Pakistan was not willing to host Afghan refugees indefinitely.
Brazil land conflicts are reputational risk for food firms - consultancy

By Chris Arsenault

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - D eadly clashes over land in Brazil constitute a reputational risk for multinational companies sourcing food from territories claimed by indigenous people, a UK-based consultancy said.

The most recent confrontation began on June 12 when indigenous activists from the Guarani-Kaiowa group set up a camp in Mato Grosso do Sul state, in a push to have their ancestral land claims formally recognised by the government.

Two days later, armed farmers attacked the camp, killing one person and seriously wounding six, the National Indian Foundation, a government agency, said.

Beef, soy and sugar are some of the products most frequently sourced from disputed lands in Brazil.

Firms buying these goods may face negative publicity from campaigners accusing them of backing "land grabs" and "violations of indigenous rights", Verisk Maplecroft senior analyst Katie Micklethwaite said.

"Mato Grosso do Sul is an obvious flash point as it has a lot of land that is lacking formal title and it's of interest to international investors," Micklethwaite told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"Areas with a rapidly expanding agricultural frontier and a large indigenous population are particularly at risk for land conflicts," she said late on Tuesday.

About one third of the territories claimed by Brazil's indigenous people have not been formally allocated to them through official titles, leading to frequent conflicts in some rural areas, she said.

In the most high-profile example to date, an investigation by Brazilian campaigners in 2012 found that a sugar mill in Mato Grosso do Sul had been sourcing cane from farms on land where formal titles had not been provided, despite the land being recognized as indigenous, Verisk Maplecroft said.

After the case gained international attention, multinational companies buying sugar from Mato Grosso do Sul were accused of indirectly contributing to "land grabs", Micklethwaite said.
Russian, Turkish leaders agree to close "crisis chapter" in ties

By Vladimir Soldatkin and Dasha Afanasieva

MOSCOW/ANKARA, June 29 (Reuters) - The presidents of Russia and Turkey agreed on Wednesday to resume bilateral cooperation, including in the fight against terrorism, after a period of diplomatic tension and said they wanted to hold a face-to-face meeting.

Relations between Moscow and Ankara have been badly strained since Turkey last year shot down a Russian warplane taking part in Moscow's military campaign in Syria.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan expressed regret for the incident this week in a letter to President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin leader said the letter created conditions to close "this crisis chapter" in bilateral relations.

Both Moscow and Ankara said the two presidents had held a "constructive" telephone conversation on Wednesday.

Putin said he would order the government to start talks with Turkey on resuming "mutually advantageous" trade relations and to drop restrictive measures on Russian tourists visiting Turkey, the Kremlin said in a statement.

"The conversation was in general businesslike and constructive, aiming to restore the traditionally friendly mood of the multi-faceted bilateral cooperation," the Kremlin said.

Turkish presidential sources called the conversation "very productive and positive". They said Putin and Erdogan were expected to meet before and during a G20 summit in September in China.

Putin also expressed his condolences to Erdogan after three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers opened fire and blew themselves up in Istanbul's main airport late on Tuesday, killing at least 41 people and wounding some 239.

Putin and Erdogan both stressed the need for closer cooperation in tackling terrorist threats, the Kremlin said.

The Russian leader told Erdogan he hoped that a criminal case launched against a Turkish citizen accused of killing the Russian pilot of the downed warplane would be an objective one.

Ankara has said it acted lawfully in shooting down the plane, saying it had crossed from Syria into Turkish air space; Moscow denied that happened.

Putin and Erdogan agreed that their foreign ministers would meet on the sidelines of a regional summit in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi this week to discuss the situation in Syria and further development of bilateral ties.
Armed guards to patrol French beaches this summer

PARIS, June 29 (Reuters) - Police officers armed with automatic pistols will patrol France's beaches for the first time this summer, a national police spokesman said on Wednesday.

Around 100 police officers will carry the pistols, rather than the customary telescopic truncheons, when sent on beach safety duties for the peak summer season, the official said.

"This is not about a specific terrorist threat to France's beaches but rather a decision to increase security generally given the very high threat level nationwide," the official said.

Many French beaches are staffed during the July-August peak holiday period with lifeguards and a small team of safety and health staff headed up by an officer from the CRS riot police department.

France is on high security alert after Islamist militants killed 130 people in attacks in Paris last November.
Morocco upper house approves draft bill on pension reform

By Aziz El Yaakoubi

RABAT, June 29 (Reuters) - Morocco's upper house of parliament on Tuesday approved a draft pensions reform bill, members said, prompting labour unions to threaten legal action and step up protests against the measure which is part of government efforts to fix public finances.

Morocco, a monarchy, helped to calm its pro-democracy demonstrations during the wave of "Arab Spring" uprisings in 2011 by stepping up spending on subsidies and salaries in the public sector.

This left a hole in its public finances that Morocco has been trying repair since, introducing subsidy cuts, tax reforms and freezing public sector hiring. This has drawn protests at home but also praise from international lenders.

Three members said the upper house approved the draft bill with 27 votes in favour and 21 against. The bill still needs to be passed in a final vote in the lower house.

However, Morocco's four largest labour unions said they would escalate their protest, having blocked it for months in parliament's upper house where they control a sixth of the seats.

"We are taking it to the Constitutional court because the government has broken many laws to pass this bill," said Abdelhak Hessan, a member of the upper house from the Democratic Labour Confederation (CDT).

Hessan said the CDT, which boycotted Tuesday's vote, would hold talks with other unions to decide on the other steps to take against the plan.

Morocco is expected to hold parliamentary elections next October.

The proposed changes to state pension funds include an increase in the retirement age to 63 by 2022, and would raise workers' and government contributions to 14 percent by 2019 from 10 percent before the reform.
Bomb attack kills two soldiers in southeast Turkey -sources

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, June 29 (Reuters) - A roadside bomb planted by Kurdish militants ripped apart a military armoured vehicle in southeast Turkey on Wednesday, killing two soldiers and wounding three others, security sources said.

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants detonated the explosives by remote control near a village in the Derik district of Mardin province at 3:10 pm (1210 GMT), the sources said, adding an operation was launched in the area to capture those responsible.

Turkey is facing multiple security threats. As well as the insurgency in the mainly Kurdish southeast, it is also fighting Islamic State in Syria as a member of the U.S.-led coalition.

Suspected Islamic State suicide bombers killed 41 people and injured 239 in an attack on Istanbul's main airport on Wednesday.

Conflict between the PKK and the Turkish military flared up last July after the collapse of a ceasefire. Thousands of militants, security force members and civilians have been killed in fighting across the mainly Kurdish southeast since then.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Turkish military said two soldiers were killed and another three wounded on Tuesday evening in two attacks by PKK fighters in the southeast's Diyarbakir province.

The militants launched one attack in the Lice area of Diyarbakir, wounding four soldiers, one of whom later died in hospital, the armed forces statement said.

It said another soldier was shot dead by PKK militants in Diyarbakir's Bismil district after he got out of a vehicle in front of his house.
Britain's future at stake in opposition turmoil over Brexit

By William James

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - In the global maelstrom created by Britain's vote to the leave the European Union, turbulence within the opposition Labour Party looks like a ripple. But it could define the country for years to come.

Jeremy Corbyn, the 67-year old activist behind a grassroots left-wing rebranding of Britain's main opposition, is clinging on as party leader in the face of an attempt to oust him by his more centrist fellow Labour lawmakers.

Three quarters of them backed a motion of no confidence on Tuesday, arguing that Corbyn's lukewarm endorsement of the EU contributed to a vote to leave that has plunged the country into its worst crisis since World War Two.

With Britain now poised to negotiate an exit far more painful than many voters anticipated, Corbyn's critics say Labour needs to present a strong, united alternative to the ruling Conservative party's ascendant eurosceptic right wing.

Without that, they argue, Britain could lose the protections for workers, consumers and the environment within a free market afforded by the EU in a rush towards untrammelled corporate power, a reduced social safety net and international isolationism.

Pro-Brexit Conservatives say that completely misrepresents their aims, emphasising a "one-nation" approach they say will balance all the population's needs, help Britain's economy to grow and retain the country's influence on the world stage.

Whatever the outcome, it will have lasting significance.

"The EU negotiations are going to define the direction of this country for the next century," Labour lawmaker Wes Streeting who supports ousting Corbyn, told Reuters.

"We need a leadership that has its eye on the ball and makes sure Labour has a strong voice."

During the referendum campaign, Corbyn said he wanted an EU that was "based on social justice and good, rather than solely on free-market economics" and he has called for Britain's heavy industries to be protected from global market forces.

"I was elected Leader to redistribute power and wealth in this country," he said the day after the Brexit result was announced. He voted 'Remain', but voted 'No' to Europe in a previous referendum in 1975 and has been a long-term critic of the bloc, which he considers in thrall to corporate interests.

He also dismisses criticism that his support for immigration on universal human rights grounds alienates the many Britons who voted to leave the EU because they felt migrants from its poorer regions had driven down wages and strained public services.

"We cannot duck the issue of immigration (but) we cannot talk about immigration as something separate from its social and economic context," he said.

"BIG CALLS"

Corbyn's opponents say his principles are high-minded but unrealistic. "I'm extremely worried," said Streeting. "He's completely out of his depth, he doesn't have the knowledge and judgement to take the big calls."

Labour parliamentarians say the Conservative right wing and the growing eurosceptic UKIP party will take Britain in a direction most of its people do not want to go in unless their party plays a strong role in Brexit negotiations.

"Libertarians who see this as a way to roll back all state involvement, free-marketeers who see it as a way to cut employment protection, reactionary conservatives who want to cut themselves off from the rest of the world - none of those right-wing visions will work for Britain," Yvette Cooper, a centrist who ran against Corbyn in 2015, said in a speech.

Some Labour lawmakers have called for a second referendum to approve the country's exit plan - an idea popular with many of the 48 percent of voters who chose 'remain'.

"Whatever happens to Labour, I will continue to campaign for remain," Labour's David Lammy told Reuters. "We're already seeing the uncertainty having a real impact on business investment decisions, on financial markets. It's not too late to stop this."

CORRIDOR COUP

More than 40 Corbyn's colleagues have resigned one by one from his policy team in the past few days - a drip feed of bad news designed to ramp up pressure on him to quit.

"It's a battle for the soul of the Labour Party," Labour lawmaker Chris Bryant said after emerging from a hostile meeting between Corbyn and his party in parliament on Monday.

Corbyn's allies describe the turmoil as a "corridor coup", a reference to the labyrinthine hallways of the Palace of Westminster, home of the Houses of Parliament, where informal business takes place and plots are hatched.

"Stop the whispering, stop the corridor coups, stop trying to pressure an elected leader of the Labour Party to stand down without any vote or democracy," his spokesman said.

A furious confrontation followed between Labour lawmaker John Woodcock and Corbyn's chief spokesman in which each accused the other of destabilising the party as reporters looked on.

In the long history of political plots in Westminster, where parliament has been based for 750 years, historians say it is rare for a leader to survive such attacks for long, but Corbyn has an incentive to swim against the political tide.

"Corbyn is willing to look ridiculous, because for him this is the one shot that someone from his side of the party is going to get," said Steven Fielding, Professor of Political History at the University of Nottingham. "If he goes, his kind of 'left' will not get another chance for a generation or two, if that."

Corbyn also has a trump card: the support of Labour activists outside parliament.

He was elected to lead Labour in September in the aftermath of its May 2015 national election defeat at the hands of the Conservatives, now split by the referendum and seeking a successor after Prime Minister David Cameron offered to resign.

Labour's 2015 defeat prompted a surprise surge in support for a more radical agenda and carried Corbyn, a veteran left-wing campaigner classed as a rank outsider, to a runaway victory after hundreds of thousands of new members signed up to vote.

"They shouldn't be attacking him in this way," said Josh Chown, a 20-year old Corbyn activist among thousands of supporters who flooded to a square outside parliament for a hastily-convened protest against efforts to oust him.

"The Labour membership overwhelmingly supports Jeremy Corbyn ... he puts forward a different, better idea."

If Corbyn hangs on, some expect Labour to divide in what could be part of a wider reshaping of the political landscape.

"In that scenario there is no alternative but for the party to split," said Professor Tim Bale of Queen Mary University London. "It's just not possible to lead a party like that into an election and ask the public to vote for them."
Iraq's oil exports set to decline in June for second month

By Alex Lawler

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Iraq's oil exports are set to decline in June for a second month, according to loading data and an industry source, adding to signs that supply growth from OPEC's second-largest producer is slowing this year.

Iraq in 2015 provided the biggest rise in supply from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. But companies working in Iraq have warned the government that projects to boost output will be delayed if Baghdad cuts spending in response to low oil prices.

Iraq's southern exports in the first 29 days of June have averaged 3.14 million barrels per day (bpd), according to loading data tracked by Reuters and an industry source. That would be down 60,000 bpd from May and sharply lower than the 3.47 million bpd initially expected this month.

"At some point, we are going to see the growth curve flatten out, but it is too early to say if this is happening now," said Samuel Ciszuk, principal oil market adviser at the Swedish Energy Agency.

"There might be several issues affecting Iraqi exports - technical constraints, slower production growth and possibly some competition in the market from Iran."

The head of Iraq's state-owned South Oil Company, speaking to Reuters on Sunday, gave similar exports figures and said the decline was due to maintenance work and as higher domestic demand limits the volume available for export.

Iraqi officials could not immediately be reached for further comment on Wednesday.

The south pumps most of Iraq's oil. Iraq also exports smaller amounts of crude from the north by pipeline to Turkey.

Northern shipments of crude from fields in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region have fallen to 480,000 bpd so far in June, according to loading data, from 510,000 bpd in May.

The shipments were running at 600,000 bpd at the start of the year but have slowed due to pipeline sabotage and a decision by the central government in Baghdad to suspend pumping Kirkuk crude into the line.

Iraq last year boosted production by more than 500,000 bpd, surprising industry observers, despite spending cuts by companies working at the southern fields and conflict with Islamic State militants.

Iraqi officials still expect further growth in the country's exports this year, but at a slower rate than 2015.
Poland reiterates NATO should uphold open-door policy

BRATISLAVA, June 29 (Reuters) - NATO should keep its door open to countries of strategic importance, such as Ukraine, Poland's President Andrzej Duda said on Wednesday.

"NATO should uphold an open-door policy, especially when it comes to countries that are strategic in terms of their character and location," Duda told a joint news conference with Slovak president Andrej Kiska in Bratislava.
JFK airport terminal briefly evacuated over unattended bag

NEW YORK, June 29 (Reuters) - Police temporarily evacuated a terminal at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday as they investigated a report of a suspicious package, authorities said.

A Homeland Security K-9 unit was checking into an unattended bag at about 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) in the departure area of Terminal Five, said Joe Pentangelo, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the airport.

Pentangelo said the bomb squad had responded and roadways to the area were temporarily closed. The package was cleared and the terminal resumed normal operations, the spokesman said.

The evacuation came a day after suicide bombers blew themselves up at the main airport in Istanbul, Turkey, killing at least 41 people and injuring hundreds.
UN adds 2,500 peacekeepers to Mali mission, urges tougher stance

UNITED NATIONS, June 29 (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday added just over 2,500 peacekeepers to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, which has been hit by a series of deadly attacks and become the deadliest place to serve for soldiers donning blue helmets.
China is running out of time to cure its steel problems: Andy Home

By Andy Home

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - China is frantically trying to apply the brakes to its runaway steel juggernaut.

Targets are being set for capacity closures, 45 million tonnes nationally this year and 100-150 million tonnes over the next three to five years.

Regional governments are heeding Beijing's call. Yunnan province, for example, has committed to eliminate 4.5 million tonnes of capacity by 2018.

Local authorities are being urged to crack down on energy usage in the sector with those that fail to meet efficiency targets facing forced closure if they cannot improve.

A drive to consolidate the country's fractured steel production landscape has begun with Baosteel, the second-largest Chinese operator, being pushed into a forced marriage with its smaller and financially weaker peer Wuhan Iron and Steel. nL4N19I052

Beijing, in other words, is using all of its centrally-controlled levers to try and reform the sector.

It has good reasons to do so. Steel and coal, another sector earmarked for "supply-side reform", are not only littered with non-performing "zombie" operators but major obstacles on the path towards a greener future.

But the palpable sense of urgency is being dictated by the growing international pressure on China to halt its surging steel exports.

A failure to produce results is going to ignite an already smouldering trade war with other global powers.

But can Beijing deliver? It's going to help if it stops pressing the accelerator and the brake pedals at the same time. Even if does, though, it may be too little too late.

RAISING THE POLITICAL TEMPERATURE

Reform of the steel and coal sectors has been moving steadily towards the top of China's national policy agenda ever since the 2009 shock-and-awe infrastructure boom started to lose momentum a couple of years ago.

Left to its own devices Beijing would have preferred a more gradualist process, not least because of the high social costs of weeding out excess steel capacity and loss-making production. An estimated 400,000 jobs would be lost if the full 150-million-tonne target is met.

But time is no longer on Beijing's side.

The trade walls are rapidly being erected.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) last week ruled that imports of both Chinese cold-rolled and corrosion-resistant steel products were hurting local producers, paving the way for hefty anti-dumping duties.

That just adds to a growing list of punitive U.S. tariffs against Chinese steel-makers.

More may be on their way, including the nuclear option of halting just about all imports proposed by U.S. Steel, which alleges Chinese competitors stole its secrets and fixed prices. Those claims are now being investigated by the ITC.

China has reacted with predictable anger, threatening to take the United States to the World Trade Organisation.

But it is not just the United States that is piling on the pressure.

Any failure by China to curtail its output and exports could prompt the European Union also to take retaliatory action, not only in steel but in other sectors.

"If the problem is not properly remedied, trade defence measures may proliferate, spreading beyond steel to other sectors such as aluminium, ceramics and wood-based products," warned the European Commission.

Aluminium in particular is another hot-button issue, especially in the United States, where the ITC in April opened an investigation into the domestic production sector and global (read "Chinese") trade flows. nL8N19C37H

Looming even larger for Beijing policy-makers is the prospect of seeing China's bid for market economy status at the WTO founder on the rising protectionist waves.

OUTPUT UP, EXPORTS UP

In trying to react fast enough to head off a full-blown trade war with the both the United States and Europe, China faces two big challenges.

The first is the sheer scale of excess capacity in the country. The most commonly cited figure is 300 million tonnes which comes from the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).

Not only is it a suspiciously round figure, suggesting as it does an element of back-of-the-envelope calculation, but even if true, Beijing's official target of eliminating around half of it over several years will not be enough to satisfy its critics.

The European Commission, for example, explicitly noted that the pledge was insufficient, a point underlined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who used a trip to Shenyang this month to warn that as the world's biggest steel producer, China "bears a greater responsibility" for addressing global market imbalances.

The second more pressing problem is the fact that both Chinese steel production and exports are rising again.

National production has risen year-on-year in the last three months after falling over the course of 2015 and January-February 2016. Cumulative year-to-date output of 330 million tonnes is still down by 1.4 percent on last year but the gap is fast closing.

Exports of steel products have risen by six percent so far this year to 46 million tonnes and are on course to at least match last year's massive 112 million tonnes.

Higher production is a direct reaction to improved steel pricing in China's domestic market.

The speculative bull bubble of April has been burst but the price of Shanghai rebar has picked itself off the ensuing lows of 1,900 yuan per tonne to a current 2,241 yuan. There are no signs that the retail crowd that fuelled the spring frenzy has returned.

Rather, the steel price and steel producers are riding the tail-winds of China's mini stimulus at the start of the year, which like all recent Beijing-designed economic boosters has been focused on accelerated infrastructure spending.

This is the government foot that is still on the steel accelerator, albeit with less force than in the past.

CLOCKS TICKING

Even assuming the effects of mini-stimulus wane over the coming months, there is another, even more problematic dynamic behind buoyant Chinese steel prices.

They are in part reacting to Beijing's very targeting of excess capacity. After all, less excess capacity promises better profitability for those that survive the coming "supply side" reform package.

Again, it's a very rational market reaction to government policy but one that promises higher output and, in all probability, higher exports over the coming period.

That wouldn't matter over a medium-term time frame, if it's the price to be paid for a leaner, cleaner Chinese steel sector.

But with the clock ticking on more steel sanctions, the potential spread of "defence measures" to other sectors and an end-year deadline for that much-coveted market economy status, time is what China doesn't have right now.
Record May deficit highlights Brazil's budget challenge

By Alonso Soto

BRASILIA, June 29 (Reuters) - Brazil posted on Wednesday its largest ever primary budget deficit for the month of May, highlighting the challenges the government faces to close a massive fiscal shortfall amid the worst recession for decades.

The primary deficit of 18.125 billion reais ($5.57 billion) in May topped market expectations for a gap of 17.3 billion reais.

It followed a surplus of 10.182 billion reais in April.

The primary balance, which excludes debt payments, is a key gauge of a country's capacity to repay its borrowing. The overall deficit, which includes interest costs, rose to 60.623 billion reais in May.

Acting Planning Minister Dyogo de Oliveira said on Wednesday that the government expects a smaller primary deficit somewhere above 100 billion reais in 2017.

The forecast will be revealed next week amid lingering doubts about the government's commitment to close a fiscal gap that cost the country its investment grade rating last year.

Michel Temer, who as vice president replaced President Dilma Rousseff during her impeachment trial in the Senate, is proposing capping public spending to limit this year's deficit, which is expected to swell to a record 163.9 billion.

May's large deficit was due mainly to a drop in the federal government's revenues as the economy faces what could be its worst recession in a century.

Despite the drop in revenues, the government announced on Wednesday an increase of 12.50 percent in the "Bolsa Familia" program, a subsidy to the poor supported by Rousseff in recent years.

The increase will cost the government 2.1 billion reais per year, Social Development Minister Osmar Terra told reporters.

The ample deficits for this and next year would allow the Temer administration to spend more in order to gain political support for key pension and tax reforms, some critics say.

The two-year-long recession and past fiscal mismanagement have raised fears among investors that Brazil will be unable to service its debt in coming years.
North Korean assembly awards leader Kim Jong Un fresh title

SEOUL, June 29 (Reuters) - North Korea's parliament awarded Kim Jong Un a new post on Wednesday, adding to a long list of titles for the young leader.

The North's state television said Kim was made chairman of the state affairs committee, a body that appears to be newly formed and whose function was not immediately clear.

He also has the titles of the Dear Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, First Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army.

Kim, believed to be in his early 30s, attended the assembly meeting on Wednesday. He also holds the rank of marshal in the North Korean military, and is more usually referred to "our marshal" in propaganda and common parlance.

The parliament meets once or twice a year to formally approve budgets or policies set out by the ruling Workers' Party. It also has the authority to grant Kim new titles or positions within North Korea's opaque leadership structure.

The meeting was called to implement policy aims stated in a rare Workers' Party congress in May, during which Kim Jong Un announced a five-year economic plan.

On June 22, North Korea launched two Musudan intermediate-range missiles, drawing strong condemnation from South Korea, Japan and the United States for infringing UN sanctions designed to stop Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development programmes.
U.N. rights commissioner voices fear of Burundi violence turning ethnic

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, June 29 (Reuters) - The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Wednesday he feared increased violence and incitement in Burundi's crisis could turn ethnic in nature, but the government rebuffed his comments.

U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein also told a meeting in Geneva while giving a report on Burundi that he was concerned about suspensions and arrests of students for defacing portraits of President Pierre Nkurunziza's earlier this month.

Burundi has been mired in a year-long crisis in which more than 450 people have been killed since Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term. Opponents said his move violated the constitution and a deal that ended a civil war in 2005.

The central African country has an ethnic Hutu majority and Tutsi minority.

Zeid said while the number of Burundians killed had fallen since April, cases of arbitrary arrests, detention and torture had continued while ex-officers of the defunct armed forces, or FAB, had been killed because of their Tutsi ethnicity.

"I am alarmed by the very real prospect of an escalation in ethnic violence," he said.

"In the south of the country, I have also been informed of speeches by members of the Imbonerakure amounting to incitement to violence against political opponents, with strong ethnic overtones," he added, referring the ruling party's youth wing.

Neighbouring Rwanda also has a Hutu majority and Tutsi minority. In Rwanda in 1994, extremist Hutus killed about 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis but also moderate Hutus, in a genocide after years of civil war.

Burundi's government rejected Zeid's accusations, saying his report to the U.N. Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva omitted a lot of other items and was imbalanced.

"We would like to remind the council that the Imbonerakure are just members of the youth league of the CNDD-FDD, just like any other party in Burundi that has a youth component in its organization. Their stigmatisation, through the different reports and statements, has cost a lot of lives," Burundian Human Rights Minister Martin Nivyabandi said.

"It's scandalous that the report does not mention young people who have tried to create chaos, after being recruited, trained and armed. There serious attacks with heavy weapons... murders by non-identified actors against members of defence and security forces - we don't really see it in this report."

Early this month, 530 students were sent home from schools across the central African country for defacing Nkurunziza's portrait, and in one incident, police shot and wounded another as they demonstrated against the arrest of fellow students.
Malaysian opposition leader arrested by anti-corruption authorities

KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 (Reuters) - Malaysian anti-corruption authorities said they had arrested on Wednesday a senior national opposition leader who has been under investigation for abusing his position as chief minister of Penang.

The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), in a statement, said Lim Guan Eng was arrested at his offices in Penang, an opposition-held state.

Lim, who is also secretary-general of the federal opposition Democratic Action Party, will be detained until Thursday morning when he is expected to be formally charged, a MACC source said.

The exact charges he faces were not spelt out.
Europe launches reform "reflection" after Brexit shock

By Noah Barkin

BRUSSELS, June 29 (Reuters) - Hoping to stave off a broader political crisis after Britain's shock decision to leave the EU, European leaders agreed on Wednesday to spend the next nine months developing proposals for an overhaul of the bloc amid deep divisions between its members.

Disillusion with the EU has risen sharply following years of economic weakness and after a record influx of refugees and series of deadly attacks by Islamic militants.

The problems have fueled the sense that elites in Brussels and other European capitals are ineffective and out of touch with the concerns of ordinary people.

Last week, the anger bubbled over in Britain's Brexit vote, which threw six decades of closer European integration into reverse and raised fears of a domino effect on the continent, where anti-EU, xenophobic parties are on the rise.

EU leaders, who met on Wednesday without Britain, agree that change is needed. But they also know that time is required to get the remaining 27 members behind a common European initiative due to a deep divide over what lessons to draw from Brexit.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking to reporters at the end of the summit, said it was unrealistic to consider radical changes, such as moving towards a fiscal or political union, in the current environment. These would require changes to the EU's Lisbon Treaty and more referendums, which leaders are desperate to avoid.

"It is not about more or less Europe but about delivering better results," Merkel said.

"Our citizens often don't understand why we are doing something and what our goals are. All of us want to change this. It is not about changing the EU Treaty, about introducing more laws or less. It's about delivering on our goals."

Officials said that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who holds the rotating presidency of the EU, had made clear to other leaders that it was not the time for "revolutions".

Another top official acknowledged that vague pledges to create a "better Europe" were largely empty but that the main priority for now was to send a simple message that everyone around the table could agree on.

EXISTENTIAL

The period of "political reflection" will start in earnest in mid-September at a summit in Bratislava, Slovakia. Some EU leaders have said the goal is to reach a set of proposals by March of next year, the 60th anniversary of the EU's founding Rome Treaty.

The period mirrors the one that followed French and Dutch rejections of a European constitution in dual referendums in 2005. Merkel came to power the same year and led negotiations on the more modest Lisbon Treaty.

But the current crisis is more existential for the EU because of the Brexit vote, which in one fell swoop deprives the bloc of one of its only economic and political heavyweights.

Years of crisis have also left deep scars among member states and there is very little agreement about what the changes should entail.

Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic have called for the powers of the European Commission to be reined in following Brexit.

Politicians in France and Belgium have suggested that a core of like-minded member states press ahead with deeper integration in a "multi-speed" Europe.

And German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble appears to favour stricter budget rules, an idea that would infuriate southern European countries which are struggling to cope with high unemployment after years of austerity.

A poll by the Pew Research Center earlier this month showed support for the EU plunging in its biggest member states.

The fall was most pronounced in France, where only 38 percent of respondents said they had a favourable view of the EU, down 17 points from last year. Favourability ratings were also down sharply in Spain, at 47 percent, and Germany, at 50 percent.

European Council President Donald Tusk, speaking at the end of the summit, said the flood of over a million migrants into Europe over the past year had been a major factor in the rising euroscepticism.

"Irregular migration was and is one of the principle reasons of this crisis of confidence in Europe," said Tusk, noting that Europe needed to show its citizens that it could control its external borders.

The influx of migrants has fuelled populist, anti-immigrant parties like the National Front in France and Freedom Party in Austria, which have cheered the Brexit vote and called for referenda across Europe.
Tackle migration or risk more exits, Hungarian PM tells EU

BUDAPEST, June 29 (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday he would fight to make the European Union adopt a tougher migration policy, without which it would face the risk of more countries leaving.

Orban has blamed the migration crisis for Britain's vote to leave, a historic decision that has thrown EU politics into turmoil and unleashed a heated debate among member states on how the bloc should move forward.

A persistent critic of Brussels, Orban told a news conference that a big majority of Hungarians supported EU membership and no political parties advocated an EU exit now, not even the radical nationalist Jobbik.

However, he said migration was a watershed issue likely to redefine the nature and extent of European cooperation, adding he would "not relent" in his drive for a tough policy.

"Without clarifying the goals, we cannot talk about more or less Europe," he said on state TV. "If the discourse of more or less Europe lacks harmony it will lead to distrust."

"If we are talking about using the EU's resources to stop them (migrants) and extend control over the process, then Hungary supports more Europe. But if we want to use more Europe to bring them in... then redistribute them, then we support less Europe and want to keep the issue in national control."

He said that the migration issue was so important that the EU could not afford to impose its will on members without running the risk of more countries following Britain's lead.

"We must strive to guarantee that Brussels hears the voice of the citizens, that it is possible to achieve in Brussels a migration policy that meets people's wishes and does not make it unavoidable to risk their membership to step up against a migration policy they dislike," Orban said on state TV.

"If one day the people think their country can only stop Brussels' migration policy by exiting the EU, there will be trouble, because the way I understood (Prime Minister) David Cameron's words that's what happened in the UK."

Hungary plans to hold a referendum in September or October on whether it should reject any future mandatory quotas from Brussels to resettle migrants arriving en masse from countries such as Syria.
MTN Nigeria wins 2.6GHz spectrum auction

JOHANNESBURG, June 29 (Reuters) - Africa's biggest mobile telecoms operator MTN's Nigerian subsidiary has won a 10-year radio spectrum licence for mobile broadband services, it said on Wednesday.

The award comes after MTN said earlier this month that it would more than double its spending in Nigeria in the current fiscal year after agreeing to pay a heavily reduced fine of $1.7 billion for missing a deadline to deactivate more than 5 million unregistered SIM cards used on its Nigerian network.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had earlier announced that MTN had emerged as the sole approved bidder for the new licence, MTN said in a statement.

"With the 2.6 GHz band, we expect to roll out and provide the full range of LTE (Long Term Evolution mobile broadband) services to Nigerians, empowering Nigeria with the latest mobile broadband technology," said MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Ferdi Moolman.

"This licence acquisition further demonstrates MTN's abiding faith in the future of Nigeria and the resilience of the Nigerian economy."

MTN is the largest mobile phone operator in Nigeria with 57 million subscribers, and the country accounts for about a third of its revenues.
Urging tougher stance, UN adds 2,500 peacekeepers to Mali

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS, June 29 (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council agreed on Wednesday to add just over 2,500 peacekeepers to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, which has been hit by a series of deadly attacks and has become the deadliest place to serve for U.N. peacekeepers.

The French-drafted resolution, which was approved unanimously by the 15-nation council, said the Mali peacekeeping mission (MINUSMA) should "take all necessary means to carry out its mandate ... (and) to move to a more proactive and robust posture."

The increase will bring the force's maximum size to 13,289 military personnel and 1,920 police.

A peace deal signed last year by Mali's government and various separatist groups has failed to prevent periodic violence in northern Mali by Islamist militants, who have also staged assaults on high profile targets in the capital Bamako, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.

French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre, council president this month, said implementation of that peace agreement was now one of MINUSMA's strategic priorities, along with taking a tougher stance to protect civilians in the face of a "resilient terrorist threat."

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has claimed an attack on two U.N. sites in northern Mali at the end of last month, in which a peacekeeper from China and three civilians were killed and over a dozen others wounded.

Delattre said that "highly specialized European contingents" - including special forces and intelligence experts - would be among the additional forces sent to Mali.

French forces intervened in 2013 to drive back Islamist fighters who had hijacked the Tuareg uprising to seize Mali's desert north in 2012. But it has since proved difficult to prevent Islamists staging deadly attacks.

A U.N. peacekeeping mission was then deployed. But the militants have since reorganized and launched a wave of attacks against security forces, peacekeepers and civilian targets and have threatened neighboring countries.
Groups urge UN to suspend Saudi Arabia from rights council

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS, June 29 (Reuters) - Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called on the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday to suspend Saudi Arabia from the U.N. Human Rights Council until a Saudi-led military coalition stops killing civilians in Yemen.

"Saudi Arabia has amassed an appalling record of violations in Yemen while a Human Rights Council member," said Philippe Bolopion, deputy director for global advocacy at Human Rights Watch. "U.N. member countries should stand with Yemeni civilians and suspend Saudi Arabia immediately."

A Saudi-led coalition began an air campaign in Yemen in March 2015 to defeat Iran-allied Houthi rebels.

Saudi Arabia is in its final year of a three-year term on the 47-member Human Rights Council.

The Saudi mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A two-third majority vote by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly can suspend a state from the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council for persistently committing gross and systematic violations of human rights during its membership.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said they had documented 69 unlawful airstrikes in Yemen by the coalition in which at least 913 civilians were killed, and homes, markets, hospitals, schools, civilian businesses, and mosques were hit. They said some of it may amount to war crimes.

The United Nations briefly blacklisted the coalition this month in a report that blamed the coalition for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries in the conflict last year, which amounted to 510 dead and 667 wounded.

However, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon succumbed to what he described as unacceptable pressure and removed the coalition from the blacklist pending a joint review.

U.N. sanctions monitors said in January that the coalition had targeted civilians in Yemen with air strikes and some of the attacks could be crimes against humanity.

Richard Bennett, head of Amnesty International's U.N. Office, also accused Saudi Arabia of human rights abuses at home.

"It has carried out hundreds of executions, put children on death row after grossly unfair trials, and ruthlessly repressed opposition and human rights activists," he said.

The U.N. General Assembly has previously suspended a country from the Human Rights Council.
N. America leaders mount strong defense of trade despite threats

By Roberta Rampton and David Ljunggren

OTTAWA, June 29 (Reuters) - Canada, the United States and Mexico on Wednesday mounted a fierce defense of free trade, vowing to deepen economic ties despite an increasingly acrimonious debate about the value of globalization.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto also took swipes at U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has vowed to renegotiate or scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if he wins November's election.

"The integration of national economies into a global economy: that's here, that's done," Obama told a news conference at the end of a summit dubbed the "Three Amigos".

"And us trying to abandon the field and pull up the drawbridge around us is going to be bad for us," he said after the talks, hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trump says free trade has been disastrous, costing thousands of U.S. jobs and depressing wages.

Similar complaints were heard in Britain ahead of a surprise referendum vote last week to leave the European Union and its free trade area.

Obama and Pena Nieto stressed the importance of the relationship between their countries, which has come under strain amid heated U.S. campaign rhetoric.

"Isolationism cannot bring prosperity to a society," Pena Nieto said after bilateral talks with Obama.

Later, at the news conference, Pena Nieto warned of the dangers of populism in a globalized world and defended comments earlier this year in which likened Trump to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

"Hitler, Mussolini, we all know the result," he said when asked to explain the comparison. "It was only a call for reflection and for recognition, so that we bear in mind what we have achieved and the great deal still to achieve."

The summit, Trudeau's first and Obama's last, could be the final harmonious one between the three countries if Trump wins the White House in the November U.S. presidential election.

Trudeau, who has generally steered clear of commenting on Trump's remarks since taking power last November, said that regardless of rhetoric the three nations would continue to have tremendously close relations.

Obama has strongly criticized Trump in recent weeks and took aim at the Republican's promises to clamp down on what he says is out-of-control illegal immigration.

The United States, he said, acknowledged public fears about the uncontrolled arrival of foreigners and had worked hard to secure its borders.

"America is a nation of immigrants. That is our strength ... The notion that we would somehow stop now on what has been a tradition of attracting talent and strivers and dreamers from all around the world, that would rob us of the thing that is most special about America," he said.

Obama - whose progressive social policies are very similar to Trudeau's - later received a rapturous welcome when he addressed the Canadian Parliament. In a speech often interrupted by prolonged applause, he said he understood that some people had genuine concerns about the pace of change.

"If the benefits of globalization accrue only to those at the very top, if our democracies seem incapable of assuring broad-based growth and opportunity for everyone, then people will push back out of anger or out of fear," he said.

"For those of us who truly believe that our economies have to work for everybody, the answer is not to try and pull back from our interconnected world. It is, rather, to engage with the rest of the world, to shape the rules so they're good for our workers and good for our businesses."

Protests over immigration have also been seen in Britain in the wake of the so-called Brexit vote last week, which at one point wiped more than $2 trillion off global equity markets.

Obama said he expected the world economy would be steady in the short run but expressed longer term concerns about global growth if Brexit went ahead.

Trump also opposes the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was signed in February but may not be ratified by the United States given increasing domestic resistance. Obama said on Wednesday he was committed to ensuring the pact contained high labor and trade standards.

One obstacle to free trade is the dumping of products at artificially low prices, and Trudeau, Obama and Pena Nieto said they agreed on the need for the governments of all major steel-making nations to address excess capacity.
Price of fame: Pakistani schoolgirl Malala joins millionaires' club

By Will Kerry

LONDON, June 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenage education activist who survived a near-fatal attack by the Taliban, and her family have become millionaires in under four years due to sales of a book about her life and appearances on the global speaker circuit.

Yousafzai, 18, the youngest person to win the Nobel peace prize, shot to international fame after emerging defiant from the assassination attempt on a school bus in Pakistan's Swat valley in October 2012 to continue her fight for girls' rights.

Yousafzai, who received medical treatment in Britain where she now lives, is in constant demand globally, charging $152,000 per speech compared with Desmond Tutu's reported $85,000, according to U.S.-based Institute for Policy Studies.

Her memoir, "I Am Malala", published in 2013, has sold 287,170 copies in Britain with a total value of about 2.2 million pounds ($3 million) and over 1.8 million copies worldwide, according to a spokesman from Nielsen Book Research.

While Yousafzai has set up the Malala Fund to support girls' education projects in developing countries, her family also established a company, Salarzai Ltd, in 2013 to protect the rights to her life story.

Publically available information shows that the London-based company, owned by Yousafzai, her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, and her mother, Toor Pekai, has a net worth of 1.87 million pounds in August 2015, up nearly 65 percent from the previous year.

"Since the publication of Malala's book, Malala and her family have donated more than $1 million to charities, mostly for education-focused projects across the world including Pakistan," Yousafzai's family said in a statement emailed to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Earlier this year Malala urged world leaders at a conference in London to commit $1.4 billion to give Syrian refugee children access to education.

Malala told a crowd in London's Trafalgar Square last week at a memorial for murdered British lawmaker Jo Cox that the opposition Labour MP "showed us all that you can be small and still be a giant".

Cox, a strong supporter of refugee causes and staying in the European Union (EU), was shot and stabbed to death in her constituency in northern England a week before Britain voted to leave the EU.
Italy's UniCredit hastens CEO search as shares sink - sources

By Paola Arosio and Gianluca Semeraro

MILAN, June 29 (Reuters) - Italy's biggest lender, UniCredit , is speeding up its search for a new chief, under pressure from Italian authorities who fear it is being singled out for a speculative attack in a post-Brexit sell-off of bank shares, sources said on Wednesday.

One source familiar with the matter said a decision could be made by its nominations committee on Thursday and that Frenchman Jean-Pierre Mustier, a former investment banking boss at Societe Generale and UniCredit, was a front-runner for the job.

"Mustier is an external choice but he knows the bank well," the source said. Mustier, who worked at UniCredit in 2011-2014 and is currently a partner at fund manager Tikehau Capital, could not be immediately reached for comment.

UniCredit, the only Italian bank whose stability is deemed important to the global financial system, has been hit especially hard in a sell-off of European bank shares triggered by Britain's vote last week to quit the European Union.

It has the highest amount of bad loans among Italian lenders and has been in limbo since CEO Federico Ghizzoni agreed to step down on May 24, pending the appointment of a successor. He had faced shareholder discontent over the bank's poor share price performance, stretched capital base and weak governance.

Another source said the choice of Mustier was opposed by one influential Italian shareholder. Some shareholders are pushing for another Italian to take over the reins of the bank.

Italian candidates tipped for the job include former Intesa Sanpaolo CEO Corrado Passera, UBI Banca chief executive Victor Massiah, the head of Deutsche Bank in Italy, Flavio Valeri, and the boss of Credit Agricole's Italian unit, Giampiero Maioli.

UniCredit shares have slumped nearly 40 percent since Ghizzoni said he would quit, and tellingly fell on Tuesday even as Italian bank stocks rebounded after a two-day slump triggered by Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

Italian banks are carrying 360 billion euros ($400 billion)in bad debts, or a third of the euro zone's total, raising concerns that further heavy share price falls could erode confidence among both their investors and depositors.

Top government and central bank officials along with shareholders and bondholders have called for UniCredit to find a new CEO quickly.

A source close to Abu-Dhabi investment firm Aabar, which is UniCredit's second biggest shareholder behind BlackRock, said on Wednesday it was worried by the falling share price.

The bank has mandated head hunters Egon Zehnder to select candidates and Thursday's nominations committee is expected to come up with a shortlist, if not a single name.

One source said any shortlist would likely include an internal name, although the chances of such an appointment were slim given investor demands for a clear break with the past.

"There is pressure from the market, from shareholders and from the bank's employees for a quick decision. Brexit certainly adds to the pressure, but the bank also needs to find the right captain to navigate it in such choppy waters," the source said, adding the choice may take another few days.
Germany's Hahn airport owner says Chinese buyer still to pay up

FRANKFURT, June 29 (Reuters) - The sale of loss-making Hahn airport in the west of Germany to a Chinese investor has been delayed as the buyer has not yet transferred the money to pay for it, its owners said on Wednesday.

The federal state owners of Hahn, a former military base now used mainly by Ryanair, earlier this month announced plans to sell an 82.5 percent stake to Shanghai Yiqian Trading Company for a low double-digit million euro amount.

But the company has not yet transferred the money because it is waiting for approval from the Chinese government, Roger Lewentz, interior minister for the federal state of Rhineland Palatinate, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The federal state government has already issued one warning, although the contract has not yet ended and the buyer has made assurances it wants to stick to it, Lewentz said.

"Irrespective of this, the privatisation process will be continued, with another investor, if necessary," he said.
Gunmen kill four security officials in Pakistan's Quetta

By Gul Yousafzai

Quetta, PAKISTAN June 29 (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead four paramilitary officials in Pakistan's western city of Quetta on Wednesday, police said, a day after four policemen were killed in a region that is to host a $46 billion China-Pakistan economic corridor.

Police said the officials of the paramilitary Frontier Corps were patrolling in their official vehicle when they were attacked. Two officers died on the spot while another two succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

"Four of our soldiers have been killed in a terrorist attack," Khan Wasey, the spokesman for the paramilitary force said on Wednesday. No militant group claimed responsibility.

Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, rich in resources and at the heart of multi-billion-dollar energy and infrastructure projects which China and Pakistan are planning along a corridor stretching from the Arabian Sea to China's Xinjiang region.

The province, the poorest and least developed in Pakistan, has suffered nearly a decade of separatist violence against the government and non-Baluch ethnic groups.

Baluch activists and human rights groups accuse the military of carrying out a campaign of kidnapping, torture and extrajudicial killing of suspected separatists, and a security crackdown has severely limited freedom of movement.
Islamic State forces Syria rebels to retreat from border area

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Tom Perry

AMMAN/BEIRUT, June 29 (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Syrian rebels were pushed back from the outskirts of an Islamic State-held town on the border with Iraq and a nearby air base on Wednesday after the jihadists mounted a counter- attack, two rebel sources said.

The New Syria Army rebel group had launched an operation on Tuesday aimed at capturing the town of Al-Bukamal from Islamic State and cutting supply and communications lines for the group between Syria and Iraq, the U.S. coalition fighting IS said.

One rebel source said Islamic State fighters had encircled the rebels in a surprise ambush. They had suffered heavy casualties and weapons had been seized by the jihadists, the source said.

"The news is not good. I can say our troops were trapped and suffered many casualties and several fighters were captured and even weapons were taken," he said.

A spokesman of the New Syria Army, Muzahem al Saloum, confirmed the group's fighters had retreated. "We have withdrawn to the outlying desert and the first stage of the campaign has ended," Saloum told Reuters.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the New Syria Army had been driven entirely from the province of Deir al-Zor, where Al-Bukamal is located.

Saloum said most of their fighters had returned to their base at al-Tanf, a Syrian town southwest of Al-Bukamal at the border with Iraq and in neighbouring Homs province, but that there was still fighting in the southern desert of Al-Bukamal.

Saloum said the fighters had at least succeeded in evicting IS from large swathes of desert territory around the town.

Amaq news agency, affiliated with IS, earlier said the group had killed 40 rebel fighters and captured 15 more in a counter-attack at the Hamadan air base north-west of the city.

U.S. SUPPORT

Islamic State's capture in 2014 of Al-Bukamal, just a few kilometres (miles) from the Iraqi frontier, effectively erased the border between Syria and Iraq. Losing it would be a huge symbolic and strategic blow to the cross-border "caliphate" led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The operation to recapture Al-Bukamal has come as IS faces a separate, U.S.-backed offensive in northern Syria designed to drive it away from the Turkish border.

The New Syria Army was formed some 18 months ago from insurgents driven from eastern Syria at the height of Islamic State's rapid expansion in 2014. Rebel sources say it has been trained with U.S. support.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition battling IS said the coalition was providing "advice and assistance" to the New Syria Army, and had conducted eight large air strikes on IS targets near Al-Bukamal overnight in support.

The operation, which is continuing, "limits high speed routes for reinforcements, resupply and foreign fighters flowing between the countries (Iraq and Syria), thereby increasing the pressure across the so-called caliphate," U.S. army Col. Christopher Garver said.

The U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State has moved up a gear this month, with an alliance of militias including the Kurdish YPG launching a major offensive against the militant group in the city of Manbij in northern Syria.

In Iraq, the government this week declared victory over Islamic State in Falluja.

Syrian rebel sources say the rebel force has received military training in U.S.-run camps in Jordan, but most of their training was now being conducted in a main base at al-Tanf.
GE's finance unit sheds its "too big to fail" designation

By Lisa Lambert and Lewis Krauskopf

June 29 (Reuters) - General Electric Co.'s slimmed down financing arm shed its "too big to fail" designation on Wednesday, no longer deemed by the U.S. government "systemically important" and so liable to wreck the economy in the event it runs into distress.

The move by the Financial Stability Oversight Council was the first time a non-banking firm has been freed from the designation, a product of the financial crash that can trigger stricter oversight and requirements to hold more capital.

It was a big victory for GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, who since April 2015 has reached agreements to unload about $180 billion worth of GE Capital businesses to lessen the industrial conglomerate's exposure to the finance sector and shed the designation.

The oversight council, made up of all the heads of the major U.S. regulatory agencies, voted unanimously to remove the label it put on GE Capital in 2013, according to the U.S. Treasury. One member was recused.

"The council will remove a designation when that company no longer poses risks to U.S. financial stability," Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in a statement. "When it identifies a company that could threaten financial stability, it acts; when those risks change, the council also acts."

GE shares were up 1.8 percent in mid-day trading after the announcement, outperforming a 1.4 percent gain for the broader S&P 500 index.

"We have transformed GE by exiting most of financial services, acquiring Alstom, and investing to be a leader in the industrial Internet," said Immelt in a statement, adding that in the future GE Capital will support the growth of the corporation's industrial business.

Lifting the designation is expected to allow GE Capital to free up cash from its balance sheet and allow parent company GE to deploy it for other uses, particularly share buybacks and its increased focus on aviation and energy.

GE Capital CEO Keith Sherin said on CNBC the company will now save "several hundred millions" in regulatory oversight costs over a year.

In March GE Capital formally asked the government to remove the "too big to fail" label, saying the unit had shrunk to the point where it would not pose a major threat to the country's financial stability if it experienced distress.

DODD-FRANK RULES

Since the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law was passed in 2010, regulators have designated only four non-banks as systemically important. GE Capital was the first to apply to have the designation removed, and has worked for more than a year with the council on how best to address its concerns.

The designation process has come under more scrutiny lately, with a federal judge ruling in March the label does not apply to life insurer MetLife. The U.S. government has appealed the decision, and last week the authors of Dodd-Frank filed briefs supporting it.

American International Group, the insurer that received a federal bailout of $182 billion during the financial crisis, is also deemed systemically important, along with Prudential Financial Inc..

The council's 23-page analysis laying out reasons for rescinding GE Capital's designation will likely not map out how other firms can apply for their own removal, as the FSOC has said its determinations are made on company-specific evaluations taking into account unique risks posed by each company.

The FSOC designated GE Capital because of its "reliance on short-term wholesale funding and its leading position in a number of funding markets," Lew said.

"Since then, GE Capital has made fundamental strategic changes that have resulted in a company that is significantly smaller and safer, with more stable funding," he added.

GE Capital has said it expects to return about $35 billion in dividends to the parent company, subject to regulatory approval, including about $18 billion this year.

Most investors had expected the designation to be lifted, but later this year.

The fact it came earlier than expected could give GE Capital "some upside flexibility on its $18 billion dividend guidance for this year" and "provides a bit more flexilibity on industrial balance sheet leverage," said Morgan Stanley analyst Nigel Coe in a note.
Germany's Schaeuble presses Portugal to stick to fiscal commitments

By Gernot Heller and Andrei Khalip

BERLIN/LISBON, June 29 (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble pressed Portugal on Wednesday to stick to its European fiscal targets and said that if it were to apply for a new aid programme the terms would be harsh.

Portugal's left-leaning government has set out to reverse its predecessor's austerity policies, aiming to grow its way out of trouble by boosting demand and set an example for other post-bailout euro zone countries.

"Portugal would be making a big mistake if it does not stick to its commitments," Schaeuble told a news conference in Berlin.

"It would have to apply for a new programme, which it would get. But the terms would be severe and it is not in Portugal's interests," he added.

Pressed by journalists, Schaeuble stressed that Portugal would not need a new aid programme if it sticks to EU rules.

"They (the Portuguese) don't want it (a new package) and they don't need it if they stick to the European rules," he said.

Portugal insists it will meet this year's budget deficit target of 2.2 percent, which is half last year's gap, and that no new measures will be necessary after solid budget execution in the first five months of the year.

The Portuguese finance ministry said Lisbon was not considering asking for any new bailouts and was working to meet its EU targets and to cut its budget deficit.

"Regarding the remarks made by Wolfgang Schaeuble, although he himself immediately corrected them, the finance ministry clarifies that no new aid programme is being considered for Portugal," it said in a statement.

"The ministry reiterates the government's efforts to meet all the commitments to Europe, in parliament and before the Portuguese."

Some Portuguese politicians were quick to criticise Schaeuble's comments.
U.S. to ban military families in Turkey for security reasons - sources

BERLIN, June 29 (Reuters) - The United States is moving toward permanently banning families from accompanying U.S. military and civilian personnel in Turkey, reflecting worsening security conditions there, two U.S. defense sources said on Wednesday.

The Obama administration in March ordered the families of U.S. military and diplomatic personnel to leave Incirlik air base, which has been used heavily in the fight against Islamic State militants, and other parts of southern Turkey.

The move affected about 670 dependants of U.S. military personnel in southern Turkey, but 100 of them in Istanbul and Ankara were allowed to stay.

Now, military officials plan to designate deployments by all U.S. military and civilian personnel to Incirlik base in Adana and other sites in Turkey as "unaccompanied" tours, the sources told Reuters.

The move was under consideration before Tuesday's Islamic State suicide bomb attacks at Istanbul airport which killed 41 people and wounded 239 others, the sources said.

"The change reflects the continued deterioration of security conditions throughout Turkey," said one of the sources, who was not authorised to speak publicly.

The U.S. military has about 2,200 service members and civilian employees in Turkey, with about 1,500 of those posted to Incirlik base.

The change would not apply to U.S. personnel who are part of a "chief of mission" role or security cooperation team, the sources said.

The 100 dependants of U.S. personnel still in Turkey would be allowed to stay once the new rules took effect, and would depart through natural attrition, said one of the sources.

The State Department on Tuesday warned U.S. citizens of increased threats from militant groups throughout Turkey, and urged them to avoid travelling to the southeastern part of the country.
Mongolian opposition wins landslide, voters fed up with hard times

By Terrence Edwards

ULAANBAATAR, June 30 (Reuters) - The main opposition Mongolian People's Party (MPP) swept back to power in landslide parliamentary elections, results from Mongolia's election committee showed on Thursday, after campaigning dominated by concern over slowing economic growth.

The transformation of the former Soviet bloc state since a peaceful revolution in 1990 has been a big draw for foreign investors eyeing its rich mineral resources, unleashing a boom from 2010 to 2012.

But an abrupt economic slowdown since 2012 has stirred controversy over the role of global mining firms such as Rio Tinto , which last month finally approved a $5.3-billion extension plan for the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine.

The MPP's victory will likely be a greeted as a tailwind for the economy and international miners, as the party's success in attracting investors when it last held power, from 2008-2012, led to the country being nicknamed "Mine-golia".

The MPP, which has governed for most years since the revolution, won an 85 percent majority with 65 seats in the 76-member parliament, taking back power from the Democratic Party, an unnamed official from Mongolia's general election committee told a press briefing.

The ruling Democratic Party won nine seats in Wednesday's vote, down from 37. Prime Minister Chimed Saikhanbileg, and the parliament's chairman, Zandaakhuu Enkhbold, were among those kicked out of their seats.

"The Mongolian People's Party's landslide win shows the public assigning clear blame for the country's economic woes to the outgoing Democratic Party government," John Marrett, an analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit, said in an emailed statement.

A late change of election rules hindered independents and small parties during the short 18-day campaign period.

One seat went to the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), and one to an independent, popular folk singer Samand Javkhlan, who has taken up environmental causes.

RISING DEBT, MINING REVENUE SHORTFALLS

A vast country with just three million people, best known as the birthplace of Mongol emperor Genghis Khan, Mongolia had struggled in recent years to adapt to a downturn in fortunes.

Demand for coal and copper from giant neighbour China, and weak commodities prices have hit Mongolia hard.

The IMF forecasts economic growth of 0.4 percent this year, compared with 17.5 percent in 2011, the year before the Democratic Party took power.

Since 2012, Mongolia has borrowed billions of dollars in sovereign debt. In March, rating agency Moody's gave it a negative outlook, citing the rising debt burden, a projected widening of budgetary imbalances and mining revenue shortfalls.

The MPP has criticised the Democrats' economic management and the borrowing spree, promising to reassess spending and tighten fiscal management.

Mongolian bonds jumped on the election results. The $500 million sovereign bonds due 2021 surged 3.5 points to 105.5/106.25 cents on the dollar, and the $500 million bonds from Trade Development Bank due 2020 rose 2.5 points to 98/99.

Anushka Shah, a sovereign analyst at Moody's, which has a B3/negative rating on Mongolia, said further clarity on the MPP's economic and fiscal goals would come in the months ahead.

"Until then, it is too early to tell what the impact of the election will be on the sovereign credit profile," she said.

More than half of Mongolia's people are under 30 and grew up in the post-Soviet period of rapid change in the land-locked democracy squeezed between autocratic China and Russia.

Begi, 22, gathered with other young voters outside the MPP's headquarters at around 2 a.m. to revel in their party's victory.
Brexit campaigner says not in EU interest to give UK a bad deal

By Kylie MacLellan

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Britain will clinch a deal to allow it wide access to European Union markets after Brexit because Germany and France do not want to impose limits that could hurt their biggest industries, leading Brexit campaigner Chris Grayling told Reuters.

Grayling, a member of Prime Minister David Cameron's top team, said he expected Britain to have informal talks with the EU about its future relationship before triggering Article 50, which he said should only be done only when Britain is ready.

"At the end of the day, money and jobs talk," Grayling, a Conservative lawmaker and leader of Britain's House of Commons told Reuters in his office in Parliament.

"This is not about the United Kingdom knocking on the door and saying: 'Please, what about us?' This is a really important trading relationship for the European Union."

When European Union leaders met for the first time without Britain on Wednesday, they made it clear they believed London could only access the bloc's lucrative single market if it agreed to allow free movement for EU workers.

Britain's economy, worth around $2.9 trillion before the Brexit vote, is dwarfed by the EU's economy, worth $13.3 trillion without Britain, according to International Monetary Fund data for 2015.

Grayling, one of a handful of senior Conservatives who campaigned to leave the bloc ahead of Britain's 52 to 48 percent vote for Brexit, said the fact Britain was an essential market for key industries in other EU states made a deal possible.

"It is as much about their access to the UK market as it is the other way round," he said. "When the heat has settled and the dust has settled after this referendum vote it is in everybody's interests to have a sensible trading arrangement."

Britain's financial services sector, by far Europe's biggest, would have to be protected in any negotiation, he said.

"It is inconceivable that we would simply say for example that it is fine for French agriculture or German automotive to be able to have free, unfettered access to the UK market in future but to leave the rules and regulations in a way that would cause a real damage to the City of London," he said.

"To me trading normally means that German cars are sold in the UK, that French agricultural products are sold in the UK and that the City of London delivers financial services to clients around the European Union."

LIMITS ON IMMIGRATION

With immigration a major feature in the debate over Britain's EU membership, Grayling said the result of last week's vote compelled the government to act on curbing free movement.

"It is very clear the British people have given us a mandate to be able to set limits on the number of people who come and live and work here, this may be a challenging part of the negotiation but it is an essential part," he said.

Cameron, who led the Remain campaign, announced his resignation after last week's vote, triggering a leadership contest within the ruling Conservative Party that will elect his successor by early September.

Grayling, who declined to say who he would support in that contest, said he did not think the new prime minister needed to hold an early election. Britain is not due to hold its next national election until 2020.

"I would think there is absolutely no reason at all to have a general election this year or in the near term," he said. "We need to get on with this job, I can see no benefit at all to the United Kingdom in trying to have an early election."

Grayling, a former journalist and management consultant, said he had initially been surprised by the referendum result but believed it would open up opportunities for Britain.

The EU, he said, was being left behind the rest of the world economically and needed to integrate further, without Britain, if it was to survive.
Italy votes to halt aviation supplies to Egypt over student death

ROME, June 29 (Reuters) - The Italian Senate voted on Wednesday to halt supplies to Egypt of spare parts for F16 warplanes in protest against the killing of Italian student Giulio Regeni earlier this year.

Italy has repeatedly complained that Egyptian authorities have not cooperated to find those responsible for the 28-year-old student's death, and in April it withdrew its ambassador to Egypt for consultations.

However Wednesday's vote in the Italian Senate marked the first commercial steps taken against Cairo. After a heated debate, the upper house of parliament passed the so-called Regeni amendment by 159 to 55.

Regeni, who was doing postgraduate research into Egyptian trade unions, was last seen by his friends on Jan. 25. His body, which showed signs of torture, was found in a roadside ditch on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital on Feb. 3.

Nicola Latorre, a senator from Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party, said the vote was aimed at putting pressure on Egypt to help "the truth emerge more quickly" over the killing.
Switzerland and EU need to find compromise on immigration - EU's Schulz

ZURICH, June 29 (Reuters) - Switzerland and the European Union have to find a compromise on how to act on a Swiss referendum to limit immigration without breaching bilateral treaties with the EU, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said in a TV interview on Wednesday.

"We have to find a solution with Switzerland because we need each other. I believe Switzerland (needs) the EU a bit more than the other way round," Schulz told Swiss television SRF. Both sides should try to reach a mutual agreement, he said.

Neutral Switzerland has until February to implement a binding 2014 referendum demanding limits on the influx of foreigners into a country whose population is already a quarter foreign.

It needs a deal by summer to have legislation in place.

But with the EU preoccupied with the loss of major member Britain, chances are fading for a quick deal that would allow outsider Switzerland to implement the referendum without infringing bilateral treaties guaranteeing the free movement of persons between Switzerland and the EU.

"The talks won't become easier because the free movement of persons now plays a bigger role," Schulz said, referring to the impact of Britain's "Brexit" vote.

He said the Brexit negotiations were going to take a long time, while the EU and Switzerland needed to find a solution "relatively quickly".
COSCO Greece says Piraeus port sale terms inconsistent with deal

ATHENS, June 29 (Reuters) - COSCO Greece objected on Wednesday to terms submitted to parliament for the sale of Piraeus Port to China COSCO Shipping, saying they were inconsistent with those previously agreed with the Greek privatisation agency.

Greece sealed the sale of Piraeus Port Authority to China COSCO Shipping Corporation in April, a major step for the bailed-out country in meeting the demands of international creditors that it step up privatisations.

Under the 368.5 million euro (298 million) deal, COSCO will buy 51 percent of Piraeus for 280.5 million euros and the remaining 16 percent for 88 million after five years and once it completes investments of 350 million euros over the next decade.

The terms of the deal were submitted by the country's shipping ministry to parliament for approval on Tuesday. But, COSCO Greece said in a letter to lawmakers seen by Reuters that key elements of the deal appeared to have been altered.

"The content of the specific plan is a complete reverse of what was agreed between COSCO HK and TAIPED (HRADF)," an email sent by COSCO Greece said, referring to the country's privatisation agency.

It said that 'key terms' on which COSCO's offer was based, had been erased. It included an obligation by the state to approve project licensing within a specific timeframe.

A lack of such guarantees, the COSCO note said, would have materially affected the amount it bid for the project, and possibly affected the submission of a bid altogether.

Shipping Minister Theodoris Dritsas acknowledged that there were differences, but said the government had the right to make changes and the ministry was willing to make improvements.

"The government will look into it, it will look into the objections and will probably consider making improvements," Dritsas told lawmakers.

The port, a gateway to Asia, eastern Europe and north Africa, handled 16.8 million passengers and 3.6 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers in 2014. COSCO has been operating one of its container terminals since 2009.
Six Honduran police officers indicted on U.S. drug charges

NEW YORK, June 29 (Reuters) - Six members of the Honduran National Police were indicted on Wednesday on U.S. charges that they conspired to import cocaine into the United States and engaged in related firearms offenses.
France's Hollande flags tax relief for voters, businesses, banks

PARIS, June 29 (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande flagged plans to ease the tax burden on middle class voters and small companies while also making Paris a more attractive financial centre after Britain's referendum to leave the European Union.

In a wide-ranging interview with Les Echos business newspaper released on Wednesday, Hollande said households would see their taxes trimmed by a further two billion euros if growth proved to be at least 1.7 percent next year.

A further five billion euros in tax cuts already planned would be focused on increasing an existing payroll tax relief scheme and cutting taxes for small and mid-sized firms, he said. The French leader, who once said the financial sector was his main enemy, also hinted that it could benefit from tax relief to lure banking business from London.
France's Hollande says Trump election would be dangerous

PARIS, June 29 (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande said in an interview published on Wednesday that the potential election of billionaire Donald Trump as U.S. president was a dangerous prospect that would make relations with Washington tricky.
'She wanted me to suffer' says Texas husband whose wife killed daughters

By Jon Herskovitz

June 29 (Reuters) - The Texas mother who gunned down her two daughters at a suburban Houston home was angry about a pending marriage for one of them, and may have let her husband survive so he would have to live with the anguish of losing his family, police said on Wednesday.

The mother, Christy Sheats, 42, called a family meeting on Friday to discipline her daughter Taylor, 22, who was to be married in a few days. The mother pointed a gun at her husband and then shot each daughter one time in the house, Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls told a news conference.

The mother fired more shots inside as the husband and daughters fled. Christy Sheats was later shot by police as she stood with her five-shot, .38 caliber handgun near her daughters.

"According to Mr. Sheats, she wanted to blame him for what had taken place," Nehls said. "He did state that she accomplished what she set out to do and that is to make him suffer."

On scream-filled 911 calls from the incident, the daughters pleaded for their lives.

"Please. Forgive me. Don't shoot," one of the daughters said, and then a shriek is heard followed by crying, in the tape released on Tuesday by the sheriff's Office.

"Please! I'm sorry," said one of the daughters in the call placed from the phone of Madison Sheats, 17 who was killed along with her sister Taylor, 22.

Christy Sheats' husband, Jason Sheats, can also be heard pleading to prevent the shooting.

In a call from Taylor's phone, screams can be heard along with a voice faintly coughing before the call is cut off.

Madison died outside after fleeing. Taylor was shot again. Christy Sheats went back inside apparently to reload and then shot Taylor once more, this time in the back, a witness told the sheriff's office.

According to her Facebook page, Christy Sheats was a strong backer of gun rights.

In September, she posted a message to her daughters, calling them "amazing, sweet, kind, beautiful, intelligent girls," adding, "I love and treasure you both more than you could ever possibly know."

Christy, who had been suffering from depression, had applied for a concealed handgun license and was denied, the husband told the sheriff's office.
The ambush of the CRPF bus near Pampore on June 27, 2016 by LeT operatives and the spurt in encounters with terrorists in Kashmir Valley recently show that Pakistans proxy war against India is continuing unabated.

In order to reduce casualties and damage to property, and improve the investment climate, Indias response needs to be reviewed and upgraded.

Despite facing seemingly insurmountable internal security challenges, the Pakistan army and the ISI  together constituting the "deep state"  have been engaged in a low-intensity limited war against India for almost three decades.

The Pakistan army believes that the balance of terror must be in its favour, especially when the balance of power is not. Through low-key terrorist strikes, the Pakistan army is keeping the machinery of proxy war well-oiled so that levels of violence can be ratcheted up whenever necessary.

Spurt in encounters with terrorists in Kashmir Valley recently show that Pakistans proxy war against India is continuing unabated.

Pakistans deep state is continuing to sponsor terrorist attacks not only in India but also against Indian assets in Afghanistan through extremist organisations like the LeT and the JeM.

Incidents like the terrorist strike at the Pathankot air base in January 2016 and Pakistans proclivity to remain in denial even though hard evidence of the involvement of organs of the state is given to it, are exhausting Indian patience.

A single miscalculation could lead to conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Indias carefully calibrated strategy to fight Pakistans proxies within its own borders and on its own side of the LoC, in order to keep the level and the intensity of conflict low and maintain a stable environment for rapid economic growth, has not yielded the desired dividends.

For the Pakistan army it is a low-cost, high-payoff option to keep several divisions of the Indian Army and a large number of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) embroiled in conflict.

For India the opportunity costs have been prohibitively high in terms of the strain on the defence budget and slowing down of the rate of growth, for example, because of the decline in tourism in J&K.

The remaining roots of Kashmiri militancy are now in PoK and Pakistan, but eliminating these though military means is not a viable option.

India should pursue a four-pronged strategy to gradually force Pakistan to stop waging a proxy war against India.

Firstly, India should continue to engage the elected civilian leadership of Pakistan with a view to gradually resolving the seemingly intractable disputes between the two countries and reducing the salience of the Pakistan army in the countrys polity.

India should also engage members of Pakistans civil society and senior veterans of its armed forces who are amenable to seeing reason as they wield considerable influence with the generals in command.

Efforts to further liberalise the Visa regime, encourage people-to-people contacts and enhance trade should continue.

Secondly, India should simultaneously "hit to hurt" the Pakistan army on the LoC where it is deployed in large numbers and can be easily reached.

For every act of terrorism on Indian territory for which there is credible evidence pointing to the involvement of or sponsorship by the Pakistan army and the ISI, carefully calibrated military strikes must be launched against the Pakistan army.

These should include artillery strikes with guns firing in the "pistol gun" mode to destroy bunkers on forward posts with minimum collateral damage; stand-off PGM strikes on brigade and battalion HQ, communications centres, logistics infrastructure, ammunition dumps and key bridges; and, raids by Special Forces and Border Action Teams (BATs).

Thirdly, if Pakistan continues to drag its feet in bringing to justice the leaders of terrorist organisations against whom hard evidence has been provided by India, covert operations should be launched against them.

These should be based on hardcore "actionable" intelligence and should be sanctioned at appropriate levels. Covert operations are certainly a game that two can play, but the deep state leaves India with few other options.

In any case, Pakistans ISI has been conducting covert operations in India for long.

Since Pakistan is not inclined to bring to justice the leaders of terrorist organisations like the LeT and the JeM, terrorists whom they call "strategic assets", they must be neutralised through covert operations.

Finally, along with overt military measures and covert operations, Indias growing diplomatic clout must be harnessed to influence the outcome by isolating the Pakistan army internationally as a rogue army due to the acts of terrorism that it perpetuates along with the ISI.

The international community that is already tiring of Pakistans shenanigans in Afghanistan, will not need too much convincing to accept that the time has come to stop mollycoddling the Pakistan army on the grounds that it must be supported in order to ensure that its nuclear weapons do not fall into Jihadi hands.

Instead of wining and dining the military leadership, the international community must censure the Pakistan army in the strictest possible terms and give it six months time to stop destabilising its neighbours.

Failing satisfactory progress, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should be approached to approve an embargo on the sale of arms, ammunition and military equipment to Pakistan.

If the UNSC resolution is vetoed by China, as it well might be, India should use its buyers clout in the military industrial complex to ensure that arms manufacturers that supply weapons and defence equipment to Pakistan stop doing so.

India should lobby extensively with the US political leadership and the members of the US Congress to apprise them of the fact that continuing US support for the Pakistan army is hurting the growing Indo-US strategic partnership because military aid strengthens the Pakistan army and gives it greater confidence to destabilise its neighbourhood with impunity.
LONDON - England - The pro-EU indoctrination is so ingrained in the youth of Britain that it will take generations to counteract.

No one ever said during the EU referendum campaign that 350 million was going to go straight to the NHS, yet confused indoctrinated youth spouting slogans made up by the Remain campaign are adamant that that is what was said.

This is because of a process of constant repetition by chief Remain campaign programmers who operate to rally the easily controlled youth; 17  25, is the age range which we are seeing with the worst problems as not only are they profoundly naive about the EU, but they have been through the EU-centric education system and have been completely indoctrinated by European Union programmers over the years.

Disinformation

The figure, 350 million/week was part of the 19.1 billion gross figure that is sent to Brussels each year. To try and reason with any of these brainwashed Remain supporters is an impossible task such is the level of their mental conditioning. It was used during the campaign as a way of illustrating the amount of money that leaves these shores each week and not used on our own needs. Yet, the Remain side wished to skew this figure for their own means.

When a 17 year-old Remain protester says their college will lose funding because of Brexit, they do not realise that for every pound their college received, the UK had to send 2.50 in tax to Brussels. The majority of Remain supporters will not research or utilise individual logic, reasoning analysis to come to a decision, they will instead listen to the false information propaganda repeated over and over again until it rings true amongst the limited and stunted, naive followers who follow so blindly and without question.

Collective programming

Of course, there is also the group collective camaraderie variable to consider, where a group of youths will automatically follow others purely to be part of a group. This is called the herd mentality, and it is the job of the Remain campaign heads to herd the supporters and fuel them with further lies, building up the Marxist EU rhetoric and control technique to fever pitch.

In his 1928 book, Propaganda, Bernays writes of Lippmanns predecessors Wilfred Trotter and Gustave Le Bon:

Trotter and Le Bon concluded that the group mind does not think in the strict sense of the word. In place of thought it has impulses, habits and emotions. In making up its mind, its first impulse is to follow the example of a trusted leader. This is one of the most firmly established principles of mass psychology.

Education

The sheer level of EU Marxist programming within the educational system is immense, and it may take two or three generations to overcome. From primary to university, the British education system for the last 40 years has been Eurocentrically programming children to follow the EU blindly.

Pop culture

The Remain campaign also utilised pop culture brands as a way of swaying the opinion of the youth. By announcing that celebrities like Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley are for remaining in the EU, the controllers were playing on the youths inability to distinguish the separation of the actors persona in films and the individual. The people have been programmed to follow these beautiful people and the way it makes their own mediocre lives seem more special accentuates their feeling of self worth therefore garnering their undying support.

By utilising celebrities and film stars, the youth can be controlled quite easily, even though, most actors and actresses know little of the machinations and political process of the EU, they play along because it is in their interests to garner further publicity. If one was to ask Keira Knightley who the president of the EU is, or what the European Commission is made up of, she would not have a clue, as much as the brainwashed Remain follower would.

Soviet Nazi Repetition techniques and mass hypnosis

We must also delve into the process of repetition. This propaganda technique is utilised by many regimes, from the soviet spectrum to the fascist. The remain campaign utilised this in conjunction with Project Fear, to a) scare people b) beat home the message on a scared population. Thankfully, Project Fear backfired as much of the scaremongering was revealed to be untrue. The repetitive feeding of messages however worked well on the majority of the Remain supporters, who are now so brainwashed by pro-EU propaganda, they cannot get out of it.

The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly and with unflagging attention. It must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over. Here, as so often in this world, persistence is the first and most important requirement for success. War Propaganda, in volume 1, chapter 6 of Mein Kampf (1925), by Adolf Hitler

The collective hypnosis on the Remain herd will have to be broken by someone, but it may be a task that is too great even for teams of trained psychoanalysts. How do you de-program people with such intense levels of programming?

The only answer is in time. Hopefully, over time the level of Marxist pro-EU brainwashing will subside. Unfortunately, these people are still being misled by Remain campaign controllers, and unless they stop their irresponsible control techniques on the weak and naive supporters, there will be no change any time soon. The mass hypnosis will continue for awhile. Until  click.
Here are six factors you should consider before dropping down your hard earned money on a luxury car.

Owning a luxury car is not a distant dream for many, thanks to the lucrative financing options. A car that is high on brand value brings performance, technology and boasting rights to the picture. It is natural to be lured by the badge and the posh showroom and grab that cheque book.

However, what many premium car buyers dont realise is that theres a big difference between buying a luxury car and owning one. With the pride of flaunting that cool badge comes the challenge of looking after that high-end car. Here are six factors you should consider before dropping down your hard earned money on a luxury car:

Reliability

Paying over Rs 30 lakh for a car does not equal a guarantee of reliability. Most of these cars have been designed for international markets where the roads are well kept, the fuel quality is better and even the environmental conditions are more forgiving. In India, however, they face everything from potholes and broken roads to adulterated fuel and harsh weather which makes them age a lot faster.

These cars are sometimes tweaked (raising the ground clearance or offering higher profile tyres) a little to cope up with the road conditions in emerging markets, but they arent built specifically for them, which is why premium cars often face flak for their reliability problems that cheaper cars do not. This is why its advisable to get the maximum warranty on such cars as repair costs easily enter six figures.

Resale Value

The higher they stand, the harder they fall. Expensive cars lose their market value rapidly and depreciate quickly. This results in you losing your hard earned money. Some brands do offer buy-back plans, but it depends on the cars condition. The positive side of this is that you can get great deals on used luxury cars as their value can drop by as much as 50 per cent in as little as three to four years.

Spare Parts

In India, most high-end car manufacturers assemble their products locally or import them directly. Either way, you depend on spare parts that arent sourced locally, which means they have heavy taxes levied on them. This also makes spare parts harder to source, and stories of luxury cars waiting in garages for weeks due to unavailability of parts arent uncommon.

Also, theres a golden rule that applies to all automakers  they make the real money in after-sales as spare parts come at a premium. At the end of the day, with taxes, the dealers cut and developmental costs accounting for so much in a cars price, theres only a small portion that actually reaches the manufacturer every time a new car is bought.

Service Cost

Given that these cars come loaded with latest technology and electronics, the facilities needed to service them are expensive and the technicians need to have greater qualifications and knowledge as well. These cars also need higher grade fluids and more expensive parts, right from the air filter to the clutch plates. All these expenses show up when you give your car to the authorised service centre for its periodic maintenance treatment.

Space

A higher cost does not mean better interior space. Yes, many luxury cars are bought by chauffeur-driven owners, but dont be surprised when you realise a Honda Jazz or the Maruti Baleno will provide better interior space than a Mercedes-Benz A-Class or the BMW 1-Series. Buy a car from brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi or Jaguar and youll probably be spending over Rs 50 lakh before you get a car that can accommodate four adults with adequate room.

Insurance

Expensive cars are equally expensive to insure. For example, if you buy a new BMW 5-Series, the insurance will cost you nearly Rs 2 lakh. This is an expense you have to bear each year, and lets not forget, your car is still depreciating all this while.

Bonus: Miscreants

Jealously is a big problem and while the snob-value of a premium car will please you, there are always miscreants looking to harm your pride and joy. Additionally, driving a cheap car means you arent too worried about side-swiping bikers or callous cab drivers because any repairs/replacements are relatively affordable. In a luxury car though, your mind is constantly wary of other motorists and what damage they might inflict upon your car.

Dont get us wrong, fancy cars do come with a lot of benefits too. Theyre better built, offer greater safety features and performance and give you the feel-good factor thatll make you beam with pride. However, if you are looking to part with a big sum of your money, its best to be aware of the potential problems and risks.

Source: CarDekho.com
The commuter motorcycle has always been a no-nonsense set of two wheels. It was usually underpowered, highly efficient and more often than not had a bland design. Now, though, things are slightly different. Customers want a bike that is not only easy on the wallet, but easy on the eyes as well. Honda has been swift in reacting to these demands by the consumer. They launched a 'premium commuter' called the 'Livo' and then followed it up with the Honda CB Shine SP. When we tested the CB Shine SP, it came across as a potent package, among the best in its class. While Honda is expanding its current portfolio, Indian two-wheeler giants Bajaj Auto have a completely different approach. The manufacturer recently introduced a new brand in its portfolio with the launch of the new V15. Bajaj has priced the V15 aggressively too, landing the 150cc bike in 125cc price brackets. Sounds tempting, doesn't it? We put these two to the test to find out who comes out on top!

Design & Features:

Bajaj V15: 8/10

Honda CB Shine SP: 6.5/10

The Honda CB Shine SP as the name suggests is based on its popular 125cc sibling which is also the highest selling motorcycle for Honda in India. Styling wasnt its forte and that is where the CB Shine SP comes in picture, the sculpted bikini fairing, snazzy graphics and dual-tone finish centre panel give the bike a more pleasing styling. The overall design of the Honda CB Shine SP is sporty yet conventional something that will be appreciated by executives and mature riders.

The Bajaj V15 on the other hand is completely different in its design approach which can be a bit confusing to say the least. The Bajaj V15 is an uncanny combination of a commuter bike and a cafe racer. Apart from the trapezoidal headlamp, the above design somehow manages to work in a strange manner. The styling of the Bajaj V15 cannot be termed as pretty, but it seems to have clicked among the masses as wherever we went people gave the bike a second glance and intrigued looks. The rear section of the motorcycle is well proportioned with a contrast coloured grab handle, stubby muffler and the petite LED tail lamp unit. The most interesting detail on the bikes is the fuel filler cap with the INS Vikrant logo which is a neat touch.

The Honda CB Shine SP gets a semi-digital console which is easier to read on the go and also looks better executed than the analogue unit on the Bajaj V15. Switch gear quality on the Honda offering is disappointing while that on the V15 is of better quality. Build quality of both the bikes is decent, with the Honda feeling marginally better put together. The grab handle on the CB Shine SP has been coated in a soft-touch PVC material which makes it more comfortable to hold and it also gets the benefit of CBS (combined braking system).The Bajaj offering gets equipped with a 60W headlight which the manufacturer claims to be the brightest in the segment. Optional extras on the Bajaj motorcycle include the rear seat cowl, larger grab rail and crash guard which cost Rs 999. The cowl can be removed easily with the help of an allen key that has been cleverly embedded into the key fob.

Engine & Performance:

Bajaj V15: 6/10

Honda CB Shine SP: 8/10

One look at the spec sheet and you will conclude that the Bajaj V15 is faster than the Honda CB Shine SP. And there is good reasoning for that, the 149.5cc displacement motor pushes out 12PS at 7,500rpm and 13Nm of torque at 5,500rpm. The Honda CB Shine SP on the other hand generates 10.7PS at 7,500rpm and 10.3Nm of peak torque at 5,500rpm from its 125cc heart. But numbers really dont tell you the real story as we found out when we took both the machines on the highway.

Open the throttle and its the Honda that starts to gather momentum faster and keeps on maintaining its lead till both the machines run out of breath. The V15s performance is disappointing for its displacement as it struggled to reach triple digit speeds whereas the extra gear in the CB Shine SP proved its worth in holding speeds at the top-end and one can easily cruise at speeds around 80kmph. The only aspect where the Bajaj offering is better is the mid-range owing to higher torque rating and also it has throaty exhaust note.

Talking about gearbox performance, the unit on the CB Shine SP feels better with crisper shifts. NVH levels on both the bikes are disappointing as vibes can be felt from fuel tank, handlebar and footpegs. The Honda offering does face cold starting issues which can get irritating when youre in a rush to reach your destination. Talking about fuel efficiency, the Honda CB Shine SP is the more frugal of the duo returning us 63kmpl overall while the Bajaj V15 recorded an overall mileage of 55kmpl.

Ride, Handling & Braking:

Bajaj V15: 6/10

Honda CB Shine SP: 7/10

Being a commuter offering, both the bikes have an upright and comfortable riding posture, personally I felt the V15s riding stance marginally better owing to the wider bars. But I found the saddle of the Bajaj offering a bit to soft for my likening as the rider sinks into it after spending considerable time riding. Handling performance of both he bikes is good as they feel stable and confident while going fast around bends. But agility is of more prominence for a commuter bike and on this aspect its the Honda CB Shine SP that feels swifter on its feet while negotiating traffic. Also the fact that it is more than 11kg lighter than the Bajaj offering works in its favour.

With respect to better ride quality its the Bajaj V15 that wins the battle owing to its plush ride and it rolled offer bumps, broken surfaces an undulations effortlessly. The ride quality of the CB Shine SP isnt bad particularly but it feels marginally stiffer. Braking is done by disc brake at front and drum unit on the rear on both the motorcycles. Our test bike was equipped with disc brakes and CBS (combines braking system) which are optional extras on the Shine SP. Braking performance of both the motorcycles is satisfactory with the Honda offering providing slightly better bite and feedback.

Verdict:

Bajaj V15: 6.5/10

Honda CB Shine SP: 7/10

The Honda CB Shine SP is offered in three variants  standard (drum brakes on both ends) has been priced at Rs 60,284, deluxe variant (disc brake at front) carries a sticker price of Rs 62,783 while the CBS variant retails for Rs 64,784. Among all the above three variants our choice will be the CB Shine SP deluxe model. Like all Bajaj offerings, the Bajaj V15 has been priced aggressively at Rs 62,000 making it a good value for money proposition (all prices ex-showroom Delhi). So which one will we suggest?

The answer is rather simple as the Honda CB Shine SP is the better engineered product despite it lacking in displacement. The Honda 125cc bike has the better engine and mileage while feeling more useful in cityscape and has pleasing styling too. The Bajaj V15 is a good buy if you want a product that stands out from the crowd and want bragging rights of owning a 150cc motorcycle (the V15 is the cheapest 150cc bike on sale currently). But it just cant match the engineering finesse and the reliability factor associated with Honda and hence the CB Shine SP is our winner.

Source: Zigweels.com
The pouring rain also gives one the chance to test visibility from within the cabin; and the resultant traffic snarls are the perfect testing ground for a vehicle's in-city driveability.

The monsoons are among the best times to test a car. The knackered roads test the car's suspension and ride quality to the hilt! The pouring rain also gives one the chance to test visibility from within the cabin; and the resultant traffic snarls are the perfect testing ground for a vehicle's in-city driveability.

And thus, this season made a perfect setting for the latest addition to the ZigWheels Garage  the Maruti Swift Dzire Diesel AMT. In just over a month Ive managed to brave the treacherous weather and clock 1,200km on the odometer. But its the last 200km where the Dzire AMT really shone the brightest.

Initially, I wasnt very impressed with the choppy Auto Gear Shift (or AMT) of the Maruti, especially since I had recently got a taste of competition AMTs, which has much smoother shifts in comparison. But last week the rain Gods unleashed their wrath, causing the Mumbai-Pune Expressway drive to be an arduous task.

It was pouring really heavily and since my business in Pune was taken care of, I decided to return to Mumbai the same day. And thats when the Dzire managed to massively impress me with its ability to stretch every drop of the precious diesel, while offering decent cabin comfort and, not to forget, the great driving dynamics. Maruti somehow manages to get the ride quality perfectly tuned for our road conditions and the Dzire is a great example of it. I hadnt imaged this challenging drive and crawling bumper to bumper traffic could be so effortless, but it was, thanks to the fun to drive nature and auto shift. Its a brilliant combination that not many cars in this segment can boast of offering.

That said, the AMT is not the most seamless, and you have to control the accelerator with a light foot for smoother shifts. The other challenge is while approaching an incline where you pray for the gearbox sensor not to shift early, so that theres enough drive to overcome the slope. For this again, you have to keep the revs in control to ensure that the trigger- happy sensors dont up-shift. Another feature I would have loved to see is hill hold, so that the Dzire doesnt roll back if one lets go of the gas while going up on an incline.

Apart from the actual drive, I like the new interior design. It looks smarter and theres more storage space than ever before. You also get a slide-out bottle holder above the glovebox which is strategically located in front of the AC vent to keep your drinks cool. Theres no touchscreen but the Maruti Suzuki Dzire diesel AMT does get audio controls on the steering wheel and Bluetooth connectivity for your smart phone. However, my iPhone doesnt stream music over Bluetooth and Im forced to use the USB port (charging cable) to connect my phone to the cars audio system.

It took me over five hours to return to Mumbai as the Dzire braved all odds and battled the unforgiving blows from the rain gods. Whereas, in better weather conditions it takes just three hours. After a really challenging day driving the Maruti Suzuki Dzire diesel AMT, I didnt feel as spent as I wouldve been in a manual transmission car doing the clutch-gear-clutch-accelerator drill! Like they say about relationships  your hardest times often leads to the greatest moments in life. Heres to many more long term reports. Cheers!

Source: Zigweels.com
India's tourism industry is growing, but it has the potential to grow even faster if the right investments and policies continue to be implemented.

New Delhi: Travel and tourism sector in India has the potential to grow much faster and support 46 million jobs by 2025, provided the right investments and policies continue to be implemented, US Ambassador Richard Verma said on June 29.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the travel and tourism sector contributed USD 120 billion or 6.3 per cent to the country's GDP, which supported approximately 37 million jobs in 2015.

"If the right investments are made, tourism has the potential to support 46 million jobs in India by 2025," Verma said.

His remarks came while delivering the keynote address at a conference organised by Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) on the theme 'Travel and Tourism as a means to achieve USD 500 billion trade between India and USA'.

"... India's tourism industry is growing, but it has the potential to grow even faster if the right investments and policies continue to be implemented," Verma said.

One of the areas that will help increase this potential is "timely and efficient" air connectivity, which is vital to any strong tourism relationship, he added. Highlighting the close ties between the two countries, Verma said.

"In 2015, the US was India's largest source of foreign tourists. Over 1.2 million American visitors came to India, accounting for 15 per cent of the total foreign travelers."

On the other hand, the US last year welcomed more than one million Indian visitors, who contributed nearly USD 11 billion to the American economy, he added. Verma also welcomed the recently announced National Civil Aviation Policy and the 100 per cent FDI in the civil aviation sector.

"We look forward to increasing passenger traffic between our countries as India takes steps to facilitate greater regional connectivity and implement growth enabling measures," he said.

In 2015, for the first time in history, the US Mission in India processed more than 1 million non-immigrant visa applications in a single year, Verma noted. Highlighting the role of tourism in economic development, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said,

"Tourism is very very critical for India because India needs to create more jobs and there is no other sector which has multiplier effect of creating jobs."

The tourism and travel sector has huge potential to grow if the country further opens up the civil aviation sector, improves civic governance, enhances communication strategy and focusses on consistency of policies, capacity building and community participation, he added.
Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, right, announces the settlement with Volkswagen during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington. (Photo:AP)

Detroit: The US Justice Department is working closely with German investigators to gather evidence for potential criminal charges in the Volkswagen emissions-cheating scandal, a top official said Tuesday.

Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said investigators are looking at "multiple companies and multiple individuals" in the probe, but she did not identify any of them at a news conference to announce a settlement of up to $15.3 billion in the case involving VW diesel cars that cheated on emissions tests.

Yates also wouldn't comment on whether US investigators had been successful in navigating Germany's strict privacy laws to get such crucial documents as internal company emails.

One company that could be involved in the probe is German auto parts supplier Bosch, which has extensive North American operations. Elizabeth Cabraser, the lead attorney for car owners that are suing VW, said Tuesday that civil claims can continue against Bosch, which made the "defeat devices" that turned pollution controls on during Environmental Protection Agency lab tests and turned them off on real roads. That allowed the cars to emit more pollution while being driven.

A spokeswoman for Robert Bosch LLC in suburban Detroit said there is no criminal investigation against the company in the U.S., but a probe in Germany was announced several months ago.

Bosch sold a large number of engine control computers to VW for its diesel engines, and the company is one of the world's biggest suppliers of fuel injection technology, spokeswoman Linda Beckmeyer said. The engine control computers handle emissions controls, among other tasks.

The Justice Department began investigating last fall after the cheating was uncovered.

Investigators also have contacted German automaker Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, seeking information on "possible indications of irregularities" in emissions certification.

A Daimler spokesman said in April that the company is doing an internal investigation of its exhaust emissions.

US owners of Daimler's Mercedes-Benz BlueTEC diesels have filed a class-action lawsuit claiming the cars are programmed in a way that lets them emit illegal levels of emissions, similar to diesels made by Volkswagen.

Daimler says the lawsuit's claims are without merit and that the Justice Department investigation is unrelated.
Mumbai: Anna Hazare has launched the official poster of director Shashank Udapurkar's "Anna", which is based on his life. While Shashank is playing the titular role, Kajol's younger sister Tanisha Mukherji will be seen as a journalist.

The poster features Anna waving to his supporters. "At the age of 25, I had decided I will serve my country till my last breath. My age is 79 today but my determination is same. Nothing is impossible," Hazare told reporters at the

poster launch here.

"For the sake of the society and country, someone has to sacrifice his life. I chose not to get married and serve for the society. In a way, I don't have a family but I have so many people (common people), who are my family," he said.

Presented by The Rise Pictures Pvt Ltd and produced by Mahendra Jain, "Anna" also stars Govind Namdeo, Sharat Saxena and Kishor Kadam.

Hazare said besides his much-revered anti-corruption fight, "Anna" also features incidents from his childhood, something which people are not aware about. He said, "The makers have included incidents from my childhood as well as what I have done."

When asked if "Anna" will have someone playing now Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was once Hazare's associate during the fight, the activist said, "I don't know. I haven't seen the film yet. As it is there is nothing much between him and me. My road is of struggle and I will continue to follow that path for my country. I focus on my work," he said.

Hazare started a hunger strike in April 2011 to exert pressure on the Indian government for Jan Lokpal Bill, an ombudsman with the power to deal with corruption in public places.

The activist said he is ready to protest again if the Lokpal Bill doesn't get passed in the near future. "If the Lokpal bill doesn't happen then again I will head to Ramlila Maidan," he said.
Shah Rukh Khans eldest son Aryan, is living the life of a party! The teenager, who graduated last month, from the Seven Oaks high school in London, is currently on his enjoying his summer break with his group of friends.

Aryan Khan and gal pal Navya Naveli Nanda hit the open ocean with their close friends for a yacht party. A few pictures from the bash have made their way online through several fan pages. The pictures show Aryan and Navya in beach wear, all ready to hit the water in style.

A photo posted by Aryan Khan (@aryan_._khan) on Jun 21, 2016 at 10:15pm PDT

A photo posted by Aryan Khan (@aryan_._khan) on Jun 28, 2016 at 9:29pm PDT

While posing for a picture with his pal, Aryan gives his fans a look at his chiselled abs.

A photo posted by Aryan Khan (@aryan_._khan) on Jun 20, 2016 at 12:16am PDT

According to the posts, Navya and Aryan were partying with their friends on the beautiful islands to Phuket in Thailand.

A photo posted by Star.Kids.Bollywood (@star.kids.bollywood) on Jun 22, 2016 at 2:39am PDT

A video posted by Star.Kids.Bollywood (@star.kids.bollywood) on Jun 20, 2016 at 4:46pm PDT

While Navyas future plans have been kept tightly under wraps, we do know that Aryan will be heading back to school to complete his higher education. The young lad was scouting for colleges last year with his father Shah Rukh and sister Suhana. SRK also revealed in a recent interview, that fans can expect Aryans Bollywood debut only after he has completed his studies. Meanwhile, Suhana on the other hand has expressed her desire to folly in her fathers footsteps and become an actress.
Hrithik Roshan tweeted, "Ws helped by d kindest staff at Istanbul arport hours ago. Shocking news. Innocents killed 4 religion.V must stand united against terrorism."

Mumbai: Hrithik Roshan actually escaped death by inches as he was there at the Instanbul airport a little before three suicide bombers attacked, killing 36 and injuring close to 150 people.

The 42-year-old actor took to his Twitter handle to share the news and said, "missed connecting flight at Istanbul n wer stuck at airport next flight ws next day,but took economy n flew out earlier. #Prayers4istanbul."

missed connecting flight at Istanbul n wer stuck at airport next flight ws next day,but took economy n flew out earlier. #Prayers4istanbul  Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) June 28, 2016

Ws helped by d kindest staff at Istanbul arport hours ago. Shocking news. Innocents killed 4 religion.V must stand united against terrorism.  Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) June 29, 2016

The actor was on a vacation in Spain and Africa with his sons Hrehaan and Hridhaan and was on way to India via Istanbul.

The attack on Europe's third-busiest airport is one of the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in Turkey, which is struggling to contain the spillover from neighbouring Syria's civil war and battling an insurgency by Kurdish militants in its southeast.

One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover and trying to flee, before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below, witnesses and officials said.
On the work front, after the success of 'Udta Punjab', Kareena will be seen as a lead in Rhea Kapoor's 'Veere Di Wedding'.

Mumbai: Whereas Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone are making quite a splash in the Western world, Kareena Kapoor Khan says she harbours no such ambition; rather she prefers being 'married working woman' and 'to start a family'.

In a recent interview with Vogue India for its July edition, the 35-year-old actor said, "It's amazing what Priyanka has done", but it is impossible for her as her "priorities are very different."

"My responsibilities are a lot more different than hers (Priyanka Chopra). I have a husband, I would like to start a family. I can't give up everything and move to LA. That's not me," she said.

The Udta Punjab actress added that she is too lazy for such 'kind of dedication of wanting to achieve so much' as she does not 'want to conquer the world'.

"But I don't mind having a little place of my own. It's as simple as that," stated Bebo.

Kareena shared her views about her life as a star, getting associated with social causes and what she regrets in an interview by writer Naman Ramachandran for the July 2016 issue of Vogue India. It will be out on the stands on July 2, read a statement.

The 'Ki and Ka' star will also be appearing in the cover shoot for the same issue, where she looks 'unapologetically sexy.'

Styled by Anaita Shroff Adajania, Bebo strikes a sexy pose with an unbuttoned knotted shirt beautifully covering her torso. Her hair has been done by Angelo, make-up by Kay Montano, shirt by Alexis Mabille, skirt by Mugler and shoes by Jimmy Choo.

In the interview, Kareena further said that according to her, actors, including her, 'sometimes forget that they are human beings too.'

"You either become robots or you're so accustomed to everybody praising you or being in awe of you that you almost forget what you are," she said.

Hence Begum with her Chote Nawab Saif Ali Khan prefers being in London at least twice a year where "you can be a star and cut away from that world and come here and spend time with people who have no idea of Bollywood."

"We both enjoy that a lot. It's nice to pull out for a while," mentioned the 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' actress.

On the work front, after the success of 'Ki and Ka' and 'Udta Punjab', Kareena might be seen as a lead in Rhea Kapoor's 'Veere Di Wedding'.
Hollywood actor Bradley Cooper and his beautiful model-girlfriend, Irina Shayk, are totally in love. Daily Mail reports that Bradley flew to Paris to meet Irina, who was there to walk the runway in the Givenchy Menswear Spring-Summer 2017 show. The couple were seen walking holding hands. They have been dating for over a year, soon after Irina broke-up with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Irina has also met Coopers mother, Gloria. Cooper is planning on having his mother move in with him and Shayk. Because of how serious things seem to be between the couple, there could be a wedding soon, it was reported. The couple are also planning on starting a family. Things are getting more serious between them. They have spoken about having a family soon and building a future together. Irina would like to have kids in the next few years. Being a mother is something that is very important to her. They are moving in an amazing direction, a source said, according to designntrend.com.
Nandamuri Balakrishna, who is busy shooting his 100th film Gautamiputra Satakarni, has announced his next project. The film is titled Rythu and is being directed by Krishna Vamsi, says Balakrishna.

The actor-turned-MLA met farmers at his Hindupur constituency and discussed the problems faced by them. Farmers are very important and key for the nations development. I am going to play a farmer in my next film which will showcase and highlight the problems faced by them, adds Balakrishna.

The actor will leave soon for Georgia for the next schedule of Gautamiputra Satakarni for shooting another big war scene. Shriya Saran is playing the female lead opposite Balayya.
Electronic tools give physicians access to the medical record when at home, which has extended the physician work day. (Representative Photo)

Most doctors who use electronic health records and order entry software tend to be less satisfied with how much time they spend on clerical tasks and are at higher risk of burnout than others, according to a new study.

Electronic health records  EHR for short - are focused on documentation for billing as opposed to efficient and effective documentation of clinical care, said Dr. Ann OMalley of Mathematica Policy Research in Washington, D.C., who was not part of the new study.

This makes the EHR less useful for actual patient care, which can be frustrating for doctors, she told Reuters Health by email.

EHR vendors need to work much more closely with practicing physicians, nurses and staff to better understand the functionalities they need from the record and how to make them more clinically relevant and user friendly, OMalley said.

These electronic tools also give physicians access to the medical record when at home, which has extended the physician work day, said lead author Dr. Tait D. Shanafelt of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Studies suggest physicians spend more than 10 hrs/week interacting with the EHR after they go home from the office on nights and weekends.

For doctors, burnout has been linked to decreased quality of care and medical errors, Shanafelt told Reuters Health by email.

He and his coauthors looked at survey responses collected in 2014 from U.S. doctors in all specialties. Almost 36,000 doctors were invited to participate and 6,880 responded, including 6,560 who were in active practice.

More than 80 percent said they used electronic health records (EHR) and a similar proportion said they used computerized physician order entry (CPOE), which allows them to enter medication orders or other instructions electronically.

After accounting for other factors like practice setting and hours worked per week, the doctors who used those tools were 33 percent less satisfied with how much time they spent on clerical tasks, and they had a 29 percent higher risk of burnout, compared to other doctors, as reported in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Often healthcare is compared to the airline industry, Palen said. We dont want pilots stressed out, we want them at their best ability.

But electronic health records and digital tools arent necessarily the cause of the burnout, said Dr. Ted E. Palen of the Colorado Permanente Medical Group in Denver, who was not part of the new study.

In my experience (they make) you more productive, and youre doing more patient care in the sense that youre managing more patients at one time because productivity increases, Palen told Reuters Health by phone.

The old paper-based workflow was disjointed and had more lag time, he said. Patient access to the physician or team is much easier now, he said. Email traffic initiated by patients has gone up from three to four emails per day a decade ago to 10 to 20 emails per day.
London: Scientists have developed a new way to calculate a person's 10-year risk for heart disease by analysing their blood, a method which has greater precision than identifying traditional risk factors alone.

When someone visits their general practitioner, they can get their blood analysed for cholesterol and triglycerides, to get an idea of their risk for cardiovascular disease. With additional information about Body Mass Index (BMI), smoking habits and blood pressure, this can be used to calculate their 10-year risk for cardiovascular disease, according to researchers from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

There are several risk prediction calculators available today. However, the use of risk prediction calculators has declined in the primary care setting because the currently available calculators only explain a modest proportion of the incidence, researchers said. For myocardial infarction, it is estimated that 15-20 per cent of the patients had none of the traditional risk factors and would be classified as "low risk," they said.

"Our study showed that by measuring a combination of five different microRNAs and adding this information to the traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease, we could identify those that were going to experience a myocardial

infarction with considerably improved precision," said Anja Bye from NTNU. There have been several attempts during the last years to improve the risk prediction calculators by adding new bio markers.

Some calculators add information of an inflammation marker in blood called CRP (C-reactive protein) or a diabetic marker called HbA1c (glycosylated hemoglobin), researchers said. This increases the accuracy of the calculators, but still there is a need for new cardiovascular bio markers that could complement the assessment of traditional risk factors, to identify the individuals at risk with greater precision than today, they said. It was based on this that researchers designed this study to explore the possibility of a new type of bio marker called circulating microRNAs, to predict 10-year risk for myocardial infarction.

They included 212 healthy participants (40-70 years) from the Nord-Trondelag Health Study 2 (HUNT2, blood collected in 1996) that either died from myocardial infarction within 10 years or remained healthy at the time of HUNT3 (2006). As many as 179 different microRNAs were quantified in blood samples from these participants. The findings were published in the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology.
Senji Nakajima, 61, reveals that he was first introduced to Saori about six years ago when he was battling loneliness while living away from home for work. (Credit: YouTube)

A Japanese man, who is married with two kids, has openly admitted that he has found true happiness with his girlfriend  a sex doll. Senji Nakajima, 61, loves his doll, Saori, so much that he even takes her out to shopping.

(Credit: YouTube)

Nakajima, who is a businessman living in Tokyo, says that the reason why he is attached to his plastic partner so much is because not only does she physically satisfy him but she also isnt after only money. He reveals that he was first introduced to Saori about six years ago when he was battling loneliness while living away from home for work. Although at first, his interactions with Saori were purely sexual, he gradually developed stronger feelings for her and started having a relationship with the dummy. She never betrays, not after only money. I'm tired of modern rational humans. They are heartless, he told the Daily Mail.

(Credit: YouTube)

Nakajima now believes that his doll has an actual original personality and enjoys spending romantic moments with her. He even bathes her, chooses outfits for her to wear every morning and moves her around by sitting her in a wheelchair.

(Credit: YouTube)
The Hyderabad Commissioners Task Force intercepted their vehicle at Shah Inayath Gunj and arrested Golla Kalyan Babu and his friend Kimmudu Mahesh and seized 40 kg of ganja from them. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: A 30-year-old school teacher from Vijayawada who tried to smuggle a huge quantity of ganja from Vishakhapatnam to Hyderabad with an ex-dealer, was nabbed on Tuesday.

The Hyderabad Commissioners Task Force intercepted their vehicle at Shah Inayath Gunj and arrested Golla Kalyan Babu and his friend Kimmudu Mahesh and seized 40 kg of ganja from them.

Marijuana smuggled from Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad is called Araku mal by users in the city.

According to the police, the duo had bought the weed from Thangulam village of Visakhapatnam at a low price and was going to sell it to an agent at Mangalhat for higher price.

Police said Kalyan Babu, a resident of V.D. Puram in Vijayawada, works as a teacher in a private school there.

He had met Mahesh a few months ago and the two became friends. Mahesh had earlier been jailed for drug peddling.

A few days ago, Kalyan Babu had called Mahesh and asked him if they could smuggle ganja to Hyderabad to earn some quick money. Mahesh agreed and they went to Thangulam in Vizag and bought ganja by paying Rs 5,000 as advance, said Mr N. Koti Reddy, additional DCP, Commissioners Task Force.

Though the police could arrest the duo, two other people, the main seller from Visakhapatnam and the buyer from Mangalhat, are still absconding.

Police has started a manhunt for the duo, and registered a case against the teacher and his friend under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
Amaravati: Marking a 'historic' occasion, four departments of Andhra Pradesh formally moved into the New Government Transitional Headquarters (GTH)  also called the temporary Secretariat -- at Velagapudi village in the state capital region Amaravati on Wednesday.

Panchayat Raj, Housing, Medical and Health and Labour Departments moved into fifth block at the GTH though the infrastructure is only half ready.

Panchayat Raj Minister Ch Ayyannapatrudu and Housing Minister K Mrinalini occupied their chambers in the presence of their colleagues Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N Chinarajappa, Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, Agriculture Minister P Pulla Rao and Excise Minister Kollu Ravindra at 2.59 PM even as about 150 Secretariat employees were driven in special buses from Hyderabad.

AP Chief Secretary Satya Prakash Tucker, Special Chief Secretary (Political) Jagdish Chander Sharma, Principal Secretary (Labour) G Anantaramu and other officials were present on the occasion. "It's indeed a historic event as the administration moved to its own state," the Deputy Chief Minister remarked, and welcomed the employees.

The Chief Secretary said it would take at least 50 more days for the entire government machinery to move base completely to the capital region from Hyderabad, which would continue to be the joint capital of AP and Telangana for eight more years as per the AP Reorganisation Act-2014.

"Blocks in the GTH will be ready in phases by July 6, 15 and 21. By then we hope to relocate the various Secretariat departments. Things will settle down by August 15. Many offices of the Heads of Departments (Commissionerates and directorates) have already started functioning from different places in the capital region," Tucker told reporters.

For the government staff who relocated to the capital region from Hyderabad, the government started implementing the five-day week work rule. "We are arranging special buses while a new super fast train has also been introduced between Vijayawada and Secunderabad for easy commuting of employees," the Chief Secretary added.

Meanwhile, office of the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration was opened this morning at Gollapudi on the western side of Vijayawada.

CCLA Anil Chandra Punetha formally opened his office in a private rented building. The HoD office of Roads and Buildings Department was also inaugurated at Gollapudi by the minister Sidda Raghava Rao.
New Delhi: BJP President Amit Shah on Wednesday blamed late Jawaharlal Nehru accusing him of having committed a "historic blunder" on Kashmir and the criticised the then Congress leadership for the partition.

Referring to the declaration of truce when Pakistan-backed tribal raiders in 1948 were being repulsed in Kashmir, he said if such a decision was not made, the Jammu and Kashmir problem would not have existed today.

"Suddenly, without any reason....the reason is not known even today, truce was declared. Never has any leader of the country made such a historic blunder. If Jawaharlalji had not declared a ceasefire at that time, the Kashmir issue would not have existed," Shah said speaking at an event in the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) here.

He claimed that this decision was taken to improve "one's (Nehru's) personal image," and lamented that because of this a part of Kashmir is now with Pakistan.

The event was to commemorate Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee, where Governor of Tripura Tathagata Roy gave a lecture.

In his lecture, Roy also raised questions over the circumstances leading to Mookerjee's death in Kashmir in 1953 where he had gone to participate in a protest and raised questions about Nehru's handling of the events and the decision not to conduct an inquiry into it.

Shah said that a "large section" believes that Mookerjee's death was in fact "murder" and if a probe had been conducted, truth could have come out.

Lauding the Jan Sangh founder's role, Shah said that he had played a key role in raising the concerns of Hindus in Bengal and "If Kolkata is a part of India, and one person has to be given credit for it, it is Syama Prasad Mookerji."

Shah claimed that if the Congress leadership at the time of independence had not got into a hurry, the division of India could have been prevented.

"When at the time of independence, the entire Congress leadership was anxious to become independent.... all of them were ageing, if it gets delayed was also worrying them. But at that time a young leader thought that a mistake should not happen and Bengal was saved," Shah said.

Raising questions over the circumstances that led to Mookerjee's death, Shah said that he was informed that he was allowed to enter J&K without permit and there he was held in custody by the Kashmir police.

The BJP President claimed that Mookerjee was kept in an inadequately equipped safehouse near Srinagar and then not provided medical facilities as he was admitted to a gynaecological ward even though he had a heart ailment.

Shah said that history has not done justice to the "patriot" and "eminent educationist" that Mookerjee was.

The BJP President said that if the history of the country was to be written impartially, then an important place will be provided to Mookerjee. "It is unfortunate that first the British, and later the Leftists distorted the history of the country," Shah said.

History has been viewed through the lens of ideology, he said claiming this was one of the reasons, Mookerjee was not conferred his due place in the annals of history.

Shah said it was because of Mookerjee that permits are not needed to enter Kashmir now and the titles Prime Minister and President are not used separately for J&K.

Earlier, Roy who is also a biographer of Mookerjee, narrated his contribution in running an "equitable" government in West Bengal in the pre-independence era and then his protest over special permits to enter Kashmir.

He claimed that Mookerjee was allowed to enter Kashmir where the J&K police were waiting for him. He also raised questions over the improper manner in which a leader of Mookerjee's stature was dealt with.

Roy also claimed that when Nehru had visited J&K, he had not bothered to visit Mookerjee who was languishing in confinement there. He criticised Nehru for deciding not to conduct an inquiry into the death despite a request from Mookerjee's mother.

Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said the lecture was organised on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Syama Prasad's father Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee.

An exhibition on the Bharatiya Jana Sangh's life has been organised at NMML which will go on till July 6, he added.
Rahul Gandhis foreign visits have become a source of much mirth on social media as well as among politicians. (Photo: PTI)

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has tweeted his condolences to families of victims killed in Wednesdays terror attack at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport that left 36 dead.

Shocked &deeply saddened by news of yet another terror attack in #Istanbul.Strongly condemn this cowardly attack on innocents  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) June 29, 2016

My prayers are with the families of the victims & the ppl of #Istanbul  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) June 29, 2016

It is unclear from where Gandhi has tweeted since he is away on a short visit abroad. There is no immediate conformation that Rahul is back in India.

Gandhi himself had let everyone know last week that he would be going away.

Traveling out of the country for a few days on a short visit.Thanks again to all who met &wished me y'day,truly grateful for your affection!  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) June 20, 2016

BJPs Subramanian Swamy, ever the provocateur where the Gandhi family is concerned immediately latched on to Rahuls tweet and told the media that the Congress Vice President was in fact in London 'to visit a special friend'.

Swamy added that, "What one now needs to know is how many passports he has".

On June 23, a BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh had also announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh to anyone who reveals Gandhi's whereabouts.

Read: Wanted: BJP leader announces Rs 1 lakh bounty for Rahul's whereabouts

But wherever Gandhi is, the political establishment believes that he will certainly back by July 18 when the monsoon session of Parliament would begin.

Rahul Gandhi has not disclosed his whereabouts this time, unlike last year. In December 2015, Rahul had tweeted he would be visiting Europe.

In September 2015, he reportedly attended the Aspen conference in the US, pictures of which were posted by Rahul Gandhis office on his Twitter account as proof after an uproar by other parties.

Rahul Gandhis foreign visits have become a source of much mirth on social media as well as among politicians. He has been on several foreign trips over the last few years. He seems to have visited South East Asia, Europe, Greece, US, Myanmar and several other places if one goes by stories floating around in the online space.

Last year, Rahul faced flak over a 56-day holiday between February and April which he took soon after the Congress partys massive electoral defeat in Delhi.
New Delhi: The Centre has asked four Naxal-hit states to frequently hold Unified Command meetings for formulating a strategy to tackle the menace effectively. Home Minister Rajnath Singh told governments of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal to hold the Unified Command structure meetings more often so that anti-Naxal strategies could be constantly reviewed and formulated for better results.

Singh conveyed this at the Eastern Zonal Council meeting held in Ranchi on Monday, official sources said. The Unified Commands are headed by respective Chief Ministers and the Chief Secretaries, DGPs, IGPs of paramilitary force are members.

This security structure is created in each Maoist-hit state for coordinated action and intelligence sharing. The Home Minister told the four state governments to hold regularly meetings of Unified Command as irregularity could lead to a let down in the progress of the two-pronged strategy of action and development going hand-to-hand, sources said.

Singh also cited the example of Jharkhand where splinter groups of Maoists have been active and tackling them required coordination among forces and better strategy. The Zonal Council meeting took stock of various development schemes carried out in Naxal-affected areas and found that Bihar lagged in construction of fortified police stations.

Out of the 45 sanctioned fortified police stations in Bihar, 40 are yet to be constructed. However, progress in Jharkhand is better. In Jharkhand, out of 73 sanctioned fortified police stations, only two are yet to be completed, in Odisha, out of 52 sanctioned fortified police stations, 18 are yet to be constructed and in West Bengal, out of the 17 police stations, one is yet to be completed.

In 2011, the Centre had announced that it would fund construction of 400 fortified police stations in 83 worst Maoist-hit districts in the country at a cost of Rs two crore each. The main objective of such police stations is to check the chances of Naxals easily storming into the police stations or carrying out a direct gunfire attack from outside.

Setting up double-storey building, high boundary walls, sophisticated control room and even watch towers are the fortification measures prescribed under the scheme. While 106 districts in 10 states are affected by Maoist activities in varying degrees, 35 districts in seven states are considered to be worst hit.

The central government has adopted a multi-pronged strategy which includes security-related interventions, development measures and ensuring rights and entitlement of local communities.

Special projects such as construction of roads, installation of mobile towers and construction of fortified police stations have been sanctioned by the central government. The development works are implemented through the states and relate to various schemes/programmes of the development ministries of the central government.

According to a recent Parliamentary Standing Committee report, Naxal activities continue to be a matter of concern with 35 districts in seven states being badly-hit. "Left Wing Extremism (LWE) remains an area of concern for internal security of the country. CPI (Maoist) continues to be the most potent among the various LWE outfits in the country and accounts for more than 80 per cent of total LWE violence incidents and resultant deaths," the report said.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar takes a look of a model of the heavy weight anti submarine torpedo Varunastra after it was handed over to the Indian Navy in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Defence firms that have committed corruption-related offences will face action under a proposed blacklisting policy but the government will not hesitate to buy a product from another company even if any equipment or software manufactured by the blacklisted entity was embedded into it.

"Globally, many products have components from various companies. While a company which falls under the blacklisting purview will face action, we will also ensure that the policy does not affect any procurement from another company not related to the blacklisted one," Parrikar said on Wednesday.

He said the government is taking into consideration global trends and practices while finalising the blacklisting policy to ensure that it does not affect the procurement process.

The USD 750 million planned procurement of M777 ultra light howitzers from the US under the Foreign Military Sales route illustrates the government's stand.

The guns use a fire control system of a subsidiary of the scandal-hit Italian firm Finmeccanica.

The government has already started the process of blacklisting Finmeccanica and all its subsidiaries, including AgustaWestland, over the VVIP chopper scam.

Parrikar had earlier made it clear that there would be "no relaxation" for those who had already been blacklisted and that "bribe givers" would be punished.

He had said existing blacklisted firms would be allowed to appeal before a vigilance committee of the Defence Ministry for delisting under the new policy.

Parrikar said the blacklisting of defence suppliers was not the only solution to root out corruption and hinted at going for heavy penalties against erring firms.
New Delhi: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday asserted that there has been an increase in the number of encounters taking place in the border areas.

The Defence Minister, however, downplayed a poser when asked about the increase in terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

Parrikar's remark assumes significance in wake of the militant attack on a CRPF convoy in Pampore, Jammu and Kashmir, in which eight security personnel were martyred.

In the fierce gun-battle that took place on June 25 evening, 24 CRPF jawans were also injured.

According to a recent intelligence review, 73 terrorists have been gunned down till date while the number was 34 in the corresponding period last year.
A falling tree crushed a boy to death during the afternoon storm on Monday. It looks like an easy explanation: high winds felled the tree, the boy was just unlucky. But look a little deeper, and one finds a host of civic agencies going about their work mindlessly and striking at the roots of Bengaluru and its trees -- digging trenches too deep to lay pipes and cables, asphalting roads such that rainwater can't seep through, and cutting away branches of trees and making them unstable while untangling them from electricity wires. Do they care? In 2005, a Tree Committee report dealt with the problem of trees uprooting during monsoons and suggested solutions. Now we know, the BBMP hasnt even opened a page of the report! If it had, that young boy could well have been alive today.

Its no secret that Bengaluru has lost a great deal of its green cover, especially over the last decade as trees have made way for buildings and infrastructure necessary for its growing population. Not helping the situation any are civic agencies like the BBMP, BESCOM, BSNL and BWSSB, which dig up roads at will for repairs, carelessly cutting into the roots of trees or unsettling the soil around them, making them vulnerable to gusts of wind and heavy rain. Only on Monday a strong 59 kmph wind ripped through the city bringing down over 30 trees in various areas and leaving two, including a three and a half-year-old boy dead.

Read: Noon storm kills 2 after 59 kmph winds slam Bengaluru

We submitted a detailed report on what kind of pre- monsoon and post-monsoon measures need to be taken to mitigate tree fall across the city. But sadly till today the authorities have not opened even a single page of the report

Dr A N Yellappa Reddy, Former Environment Secretary

Although this was no one-off incident as trees regularly fall in heavy rain and wind in the city, claiming lives in the process, little is done by way of 'tree management' to help save what is left of its green cover. No lessons are learnt despite the heat islands that now develop in summer in the absence of tree avenues and growing concretisation, making Bengaluru hotter than it has ever been.

A concerned BBMP had set up a multi- disciplinary committee of plant physiologists, entomologists, agronomists and plant pathologists, among others in 2005 to look into the phenomenon of trees falling in rain and wind. Based on a survey of many localities it detailed its reasons for uprooting of trees in Bengaluru in a report to then BBMP commissioner Jothi Ramalingam, but till date nothing has come of it.

Said former environment secretary, Yellappa Reddy, who headed the committee, We submitted our detailed report on what kind of pre-monsoon and post-monsoon measures need to be taken up to mitigate tree fall across the city. But sadly till today the authorities have not even opened a single page of the report.

Blaming the BBMP for failing to take care of trees while repairing or aspalting roads, he regrets that it merely hires contractors for such work and leaves it to them to decide how to go about it, instead of laying down some scientific guidelines to ensure that the trees are not disturbed. When building roads they don't provide space to allow water to seep into the ground and into the roots nearby. Bescom workers are no better as they cut the supporting branches of trees ruthlessly and the BWSSB often cuts the roots of trees while digging drains. Such unscientific work eventually causes the trees to die, the former bureaucrat, a passionate environmentalist, explained.

But the cruel assault on the citys environment doesnt end there, he notes. Cable operators fix their cables so carelessly that they break tree branches, and the huge flex advertisements hung by advertisers often forcefully bring down branches in strong wind, he observed with concern.

Civic activists like Ms Mahalakshmi Parthasarthy, secretary of the Citizens Action Forum too blame the civic agencies for much of the problem. The root of the problem is that our trees are not scientifically managed. Often the unscientific cementing and asphalting carried out by the BBMP harms the trees and those who illegally axe them, cut their roots, making things even worse," she lamented.

If the city has to save lives and its trees in heavy rain and wind, its important to identify those with weakened roots and branches and take precautions, stress environmentalists. Appointing tree wardens to ensure that they get enough water and regularly monitor the citys green cover is essential too, they insist. We also need to make sure that people dont discharge contaminants into the ground, they added, emphasising that the major responsibility lay with the civic agencies, which needed to be sensitive to the trees in and around the areas they may be digging or asphalting.

Mayor pulls up forest department officials

Following the Monday mishap, Mayor Manjunath Reddy reviewed the Forest departments preparedness for monsoons. Upset with their lackadaisical attitude, Reddy took the officials to task for not pruning and cutting dead trees in underpasses, low-lying areas and water-logging prone roads. Despite being warned many times to be monsoon ready, the engineers and Forest department officials have failed to take preventive measures. Mondays mishap was a result of officials lack of preparedness, Reddy said.

He also charged the Forest department officials for only removing uprooted trees and dead trees from roads. We have to work to avert mishaps, not after a mishap has occurred, he maintained.

He instructed the zonal engineers, commissioners and officers to review and monitor that men and machinery were available to handle emergencies. He demanded, There are nearly 900 gangmen working in different squads. What are these workers doing? What emergency works are being carried out? He directed a weekly report must be filed by the zonal joint commissioners on the duties of these workers. Mr Reddy demanded that the city police had identified 54 vulnerable spots across the city and in how many spots had the BBMP taken preventive measures. He instructed the BBMP officials to revisit the spots and ensure that no accidents will occur.

Most often, we look into complaints by corporators, resident welfare association members and others. Acting on their complaint, our tree officers inspect the spot and give instructions to the gangmen to cut or prune trees

Mr Ranganathaswamy, DCF, BBMP Forest department

BBMP fails to prune trees, says it is understaffed

While the BBMP is expected to audit trees and prune them if necessary every year before the arrival of the monsoon, it has never done this in all the time that it has been around. Ask it why and it comes up with the stock response that it is understaffed. Its forest cell, which has the responsibility of assessing the condition of trees in the city and keeping them healthy, is run by a nine-member team, which cannot reach to do all the work involved, it claims.

Said DCF Ranganathaswamy of the agencys forest cell, We are barely able to manage. Most often when we receive complaints by corporators, resident welfare association members and others, our tree officers inspect the spot and instruct the gang men to cut or prune the trees as may be required.

Although the BBMP also has 21 emergency squads of eight workers each, which attend to rain emergencies and pruning of trees, the agency claims they are not adequate either considering the magnitude of the work involved. We have sent many proposals to the government for recruitment of more staff, but there has been no positive response, said a forest officer, adding that although environmentalists, corporators and residents had called for tree auditing, they had not been taken seriously. Their pleas have fallen on deaf ears, he said.
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday said the recent attacks in the Valley on security forces were not an ordinary law and order problem but a proxy war from across the border.

"It is not just a law and order problem. It is a proxy war war from across the border," Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh said in the Assembly in Srinagar. "We are in touch with the Centre over the matter. We want to ensure a peaceful and incident-free Amarnath yatra and tourist season," said Singh, who assured the House that the state government will make a detailed statement on Thursday after Opposition leader Omar Abdullah demanded a statement from Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on the security situation.

Omar said while it was good that government was concerned about the safety of Amarnath pilgrims and tourists, it should also think about the safety of the people living in the state.

"The Amarnath Yatra will be over in a month and the tourist season will finish in two months but what about the safety of people living in the state throughout the year, especially those living in the border areas?" the former chief minister asked.

He said although the house has been in session, the government has maintained a silence over the security issue. "Today we come to know about various things through the media.Media reports say the infiltration is up or down, another report says CRPF will be withdrawn from road opening duty and another one says BSF will be recalled for counter-insurgency duties. What is the truth? The government should make a detailed statement on this," the former chief minister said.

Launching a scathing attack on the Chief Minister for making short appearances in the House, Omar said "She chooses a question and intervenes during the Question Hour. That makes up for the press release and then she is not here.

Please tell the Chief Minister to come to the House and make a statement on the issue tomorrow," he added. The Deputy Chief Minister responded by assuring the Assembly that the government will make a detailed statement on the issue on Thursday, the last day of the ongoing budget session.

Earlier, National Conference MLAs Ali Mohammad Sagar and Devender Rana, supported by CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami, said that while everyone was concerned about the security issue, the state government was "silent".

"The Prime Minister is concerned, the Defence Minister and Home Minister are concerned about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The team from Centre is here and DG CRPF is also here. "But the state which is affected, its government is silent," Sagar said.
Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav, CM Siddaramaiah and ministers Kagodu Thimmappa and Dr H.C. Mahadevappa at the meeting of secretaries and deputy commissioners in Bengaluru on Tuesday (Photo  DC)

Bengaluru: Nine days after the controversial Cabinet reshuffle, critical information related to this exercise, that has left many furious and a few ecstatic, has started coming out.

Highly placed sources in the Congress party said it was energy minister D.K. Shivakumar, who played a major role in giving shape to the reshuffle to ensure an advantage to Mr Siddaramaiah, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and himself.

Till Mr Shivakumar entered the scene, Mr Siddaramaiah was reportedly hesitant to give final shape to his plan. It was the energy minister who gave the finishing touches and later orchestrated every scene that unravelled before and during the cabinet reshuffle, said sources.

Mr Siddaramaiah wanted to drop ministers like Ambareesh, Qamarul Islam and Baburao Chinchansoor and was keen on inducting Kagodu Thimmappa and his follower Basavaraj Rayareddy.

Mr Shivakumar worked in tandem with central leaders to strike a balance which would benefit Mr Siddaramaiah, Mr Kharge and himself. He coaxed the CM to tell first time MLAs not to come to Delhi and ensured that Mr Siddaramaiah got the appointments of all central leaders.

The trade off: Mr Siddaramaiah and his clique will get Vokkaliga support in Mysuru region with the help of Mr Shivakumar. Mr Siddaramaiah, by dropping Dalit veteran Mr V. Srinivas Prasad, would make efforts to anoint Dr H.C. Mahadevappa as the Dalit leader of the region and control the vote bank. Mr Shivakumar, by getting Ambareesh dropped from the ministry, would get control of Mandya district.

He has already become the in-charge of Mandya district. With the reshuffle, Mr Shivakumars ambition of becoming the Vokkaliga posterboy of the Congress has almost been achieved.

Sources in the party said it was Mr Shivakumar, on the advice of state women Congress president Laxmi Hebbalkar, who got Satish Jarkiholi dropped from the cabinet and brought in Ramesh Jarkiholi. Sources said that Mrs Hebbalkar now virtually controls the Belagavi district administration with the backing of Mr Shivakumar.

A remarkable comeback!

Mr Shivakumar has made a remarkable comeback and has won the hearts of many AICC leaders in spite of being shunned by them in early 2000. The energy minister, who seems to be determined to become CM after 2020, has enough support in the AICC and made his way into the state Cabinet though Mr Siddaramaiah did not induct him in 2013 after the polls.

He also wields a lot of influence over NSUI and the state womens wing of the Congress party. His next target is the KPCC presidents post. Sources said he may take up the post perhaps a year before the 2018 election so that he can control the party as a whole.
Karnataka High Court has expressed displeasure against authorities for failing to initiate action against those schools, which were allegedly collecting excess fees against the prescribed norms.

BENGALURU: In a relief to parents fighting against exorbitant fees charged by private schools, the High Court on Tuesday issued several directions to Director of Public Instruction (DPI) and the Deputy Directors of Public Instruction (DDPI) with regard to various aspects on fees being collected by private school managements.

The court has directed DPI and DDPIs to henceforth collect the audit report of private schools by January 15, in order to approve the fee structure by February 15 that would be collected for the next academic year. The court has expressed displeasure against authorities for failing to initiate action against those schools, which were allegedly collecting excess fees against the prescribed norms.

Several parents had approached the court alleging that some private schools were violating Karnataka Education Act 1983 and Karnataka Education Institutions (Regulation of certain fees and donations) Rules, 1999 by collecting excess fees. While partly allowing their plea, the high court has directed the private schools to collect the fees as per the said Act and Rule 10(7) of the 1995 rules within one week.

It further said that if the amount collected by the school is in excess, then the school will have to either refund of adjust the excess amount to the next academic year. The court directed private schools to submit their audit report based on the salary of the faculty, including teaching and non-teaching staff, expenditure and the number of students and submit the school fee structure. It further directed private schools to display such details in its school website to maintain transparency.
The AAP supremo was expected to reach out to the farmers besides local businessmen and industrialists during his visit. (Photo: PTI)

Ahmedabad: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's upcoming visit to Gujarat has been cancelled after the Anandiben Patel-led BJP Government in the state did not give permission for programme at the chosen venue.

Kejriwal, who visited Gujarat in 2014 in the run up to the general election, was expected to woo the Patidar community during his visit to the state.

The Patidar community, which is adamant on its demand for quotas in jobs and education, is gradually shifting from its traditional loyalty towards the BJP.

The AAP, which is keen to establish its base in the BJP-ruled state ahead of the assembly polls scheduled next year, is now looking to benefit from the discontentment of the Patidar community.

According to reports, the AAP supremo was expected to reach out to the farmers besides local businessmen and industrialists during his visit.

Kejriwal, who has been extremely critical of Gujarat strongman and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was also expected to meet Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel, presently lodged at Surat 's Lojpore Central Jail on sedition charges.

The AAP chief had earlier this month dubbed the arrest of 23-year-old Patidar agitation leader as illegal.

In a video message posted on the AAP's Gujarat Twitter handle, Kejriwal said Hardik, who has been in prison for more than eight months, had merely raised his voice for the rights of Gujaratis.

"Hardik Patel is in jail for the last eight months and he has been charged with sedition. People told me that they are very upset with this. What is the mistake of Hardik Patel? He raised his voice for Gujarati's and fought for their rights. He never raised voice against the nation. He never spoke of breaking the nation," he said.

Asserting that Patel's demands were the same as that of lakhs of Gujaratis, Kejriwal demanded to know if the government would label all those as 'anti-national'.
Yavatmal: Police on Wednesday arrested two teachers of a school here on a charge of molestation after the parents of about a dozen students lodged a joint complaint against them alleging that they habitually sexually assaulted the girls in the KG and primary classes.

As angry parents gathered at the school -- run by the Jawaharlal Darda Education Society -- this evening, the police took the teachers Yash Borundia and Amol Shirsagar in custody and whisked them away, fearing violence.

The parents then reached the Wadgaon Road police station and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits on the charge of rape.

Police had to use some force to disperse the crowd. Police station officer Devidas Dhole said a case under sections 354 (molestation) and 354 (A) (sexual harassment) of the IPC and relevant sections of Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act was registered against the two teachers and they were arrested.

The school management said the duo were sacked immediately. Meanwhile, various political parties have called for a bandh tomorrow over the incident.
New Delhi: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is all set to embark on a week-long visit to United Kingdom where he will address a gathering of Hindus from Britain and Europe in London towards the end of July.

The Sangh views the event as one that would bring together the Hindu community and reflect its growing influence in various parts of the world.

The event has been organised by the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), which is engaged in promoting the Hindu community in the UK, to mark its Golden Jubilee. It will be the first time Bhagwat that will address a 'Mahashivir' (mega camp) of volunteers in the UK who draw inspiration from the Sangh.

"This is the first time that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat would address such a big gathering of Hindus in UK. The programme is of HSS, which draws inspiration from the RSS.

"The event is being organised by the Hindu community to help connect the new generation with the country's cultural heritage, besides helping them promote community and social work that showcases the Hindu model to the world," all-India RSS Communications incharge Manmohan Vaidya said.

"The event will see coming together of Hindus across UK and Europe. Such events help the new generation connect with their cultural heritage. It also helps them do social and community work, presenting a perfect model of the Hindu-family in each society to the outside world," he added.

The proposed meeting comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's several interactions with the Indian diaspora during his foreign visits.

The three-day event, to be held from July 29 to 31 at Hertfordshire County Show Ground near Luton on the outskirts of London, will herald the beginning of the year-long golden jubilee celebrations of the HSS, which runs over 100 family 'shakhas' across the United Kingdom which are attended even by women.

The theme of the gathering is Sanskaar (values of life), Sewa (selfless service) and Sangathan (community spirit).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairing thirteenth interaction through PRAGATI - the ICT-based, multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday questioned officials over the large volume of complaints related to the e-commerce sector, such as booking of tickets and hotel reservations, and set a deadline of 10 days for them to furnish a follow-up action report on grievance redressal.

Modi reviewed the progress towards handling and resolution of consumer grievances at the meeting of PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation), an ICT-based multi-modal platform for interaction with bureaucracy at the Centre and in states.

He asked the officials concerned about the large volume of complaints related to the e-commerce sector, such as booking of tickets and hotel reservations, and the steps being taken to decisively address such issues, a PMO statement said.

The Prime Minister was informed about the steps being taken in this regard, including augmenting the capacity of the National Consumer Helpline, it said.

"Calling for increased efficiency, and more effective redressal of consumer grievances, the Prime Minister asked the officials for a comprehensive review of the nature of issues, and work towards fixing responsibility and identifying solutions for them. He asked for an effective follow-up action within ten days," the statement said.

Modi also reviewed the progress of vital infrastructure projects in the road, railway, power, coal and mining sectors, spread over several states including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, Odisha, and Uttarakhand.

He took stock of the progress towards installation of solar pumps across the country. It was noted that solar pumps with a total capacity of 208 MegaWatts have already been installed so far across the country, the statement said.

The Prime Minister discussed various related issues with the Chief Secretaries of several states including Jharkhand, Telangana, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. He was informed that solar pumps are helping provide clean drinking water in remote and Naxalite affected areas of the country, particularly in South Bastar area of Chhattisgarh, it said.

During a review of the preparations for dealing with floods, Modi asked states to identify vulnerable areas, properly conduct mock drills, and carry out desiltation work to ensure the efficacy of flood-relief mechanisms. He also emphasized the need for efforts towards water conservation.
Hyderabad: A suspected terror plot has been uncovered in Hyderabad, where the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Hyderabad police busted an Islamic State cell. Raids were conducted in Moghalpura and Bhawaninagar areas of Hyderabad.

At least five youth were arrested and six others including a techie were detained for questioning from several areas in the old quarters of the IT-city. NIA IG Sanjeev Kumar said that the agency has conducted searches at around 10 locations.

"We have arrested five accused persons so far. Questioning and verification of the role of remaining six suspects are going on," an NIA statement said.

The names of people arrested and detained are: Mohammed Iliyas Yazdani, Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani, Habeeb Mohammed, Mohammed Irfan alias Yaqais Irfan, Abdullah Bin Ahmed Al Amoodi alias Fahad, Syed Naimath Ullah Hussaini alias Yaser Naimathullah, Muzaffar Hussain Rizwan alias Rizwan, Mohd Ataullah Rahman, Abdul alias Al Jeelani Abdul Qader Mohsin Mahmood, A M Azhar and Mohammed Arbaz Ahmed.

NIA sources said that they had information that 5 of the 11 were involved in terrorist activities. An FIR was registered against them on June 22. On the basis of the FIR, NIA conducted these searches during which the people were detained.

Read: NIA raids in Hyderabad: BJP questions TRS government's 'criminal neglect'

The material seized include weapons and ammunition, urea, acids, hydrogen peroxide and some other chemicals, electronic gadgets and other incriminating material. Among the seized arms, ammunitions and chemicals are: two pistols and one airgun and pellets, Rs 15 lakh cash, urea, some other unidentified chemicals, 23 mobile phone, three laptop, and one tab.

The raids come at a time when parts of the city are virtually under siege, with advocates and lawyers intensifying a strike that has been on for over three weeks. Prohibitory orders are in place and searches are still going on.

According to official sources, searches are reportedly being conducted in Bengaluru as well, from where NIA had arrested alleged ISIS suspects earlier this year. "This is unusual that during the holy month of Ramzan, Daesh (ISIS) is planning and executing terror strikes across the world including India," said an officer on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, high alert has been issued at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad. Central Industrial Security Force and Rapid Action Force personnel are on alert.

In January this year, 14 suspected ISIS sympathisers were picked up from across the country in an anti-terror operation by the NIA. Two of them were arrested in Hyderabad.

The fresh operations by the NIA comes in wake of suspected Islamic State terrorists attacked Turkey's Ataturk airport in Istanbul on Wednesday, killing at least 41 people and wounding 239.

Meanwhile, the raids also gave the BJP ammunition to attack the Telangana government and accused it of displaying "criminal neglect" in preventing Hyderabad from becoming a "safe haven" for terror elements.

"NIA busted an ISIS module in Hyderabad and raids are still underway. BJP questions TS (Telangana State) government on its criminal neglect in preventing Hyderabad and old city from becoming safe havens for terrorists," BJP state unit spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao said in a statement.
The ministry also informed that Turkish Air flights to Delhi and Mumbai departed Istanbul last night as scheduled. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has confirmed that no Indian casualties have been reported as of now in the deadly suicide attacks that took place at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

At least 36 people have been killed and over 100 others injured in a suicide gun and bomb attack on the airport that took place late Tuesday evening.

The attackers opened fire at airport guards at the terminal entrance and a shootout erupted before they blew themselves up one by one.

Issuing a statement, the ministry said the Indian Consulate and Embassy in Turkey have tweeted emergency contact numbers for Indians requiring assistance.

"The Consulate has been in touch with Istanbul Governorate and the Turkish Health Ministry hotline desk," said the ministry.

The ministry also informed that Turkish Air flights to Delhi and Mumbai departed Istanbul last night as scheduled.

"Ataturk Airport operations at Istanbul have resumed but long delays are likely. Many flights are reported to have been diverted to Sabiha Gokcen International Airport. Delays are expected there as well," the ministry said.

The Twitter accounts of the Consulate General of India in Istanbul and the Indian Embassy in Ankara tweeted some emergency numbers for Indians requiring assistance following the attack. MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup retweeted these numbers.

Terror attack at Istanbul Atatrk Airpt. Entry/Exit pts shut. Indians req assist, pls call +90-530-5671095/8258037/4123625/ #IndianEmbassyTR  India in Istanbul (@CGI_Istanbul) June 28, 2016

You may also contact First Secretary, Embassy of India, Ankara at 05303142203 @CGI_Istanbul  India in Turkey (@IndianEmbassyTR) June 28, 2016

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, "According to assessments so far, 36 people have lost their lives along with three suicide bombers. We also have (people who are) wounded. Many of them suffer from minor injuries but few people suffer from serious injuries. Treatment is underway."

"Findings by our security forces indicate that this terror attack was carried out by Daesh (Islamic State). Even though the findings point to Daesh, the probe is still underway. The airport reopened to air traffic as of 2:22am (1122GMT) and air traffic returned to normal," he added.

Turkey has been hit by a string of deadly attacks in the past year, blamed on both Kurdish rebels and the Islamic State terrorist group. Meanwhile, the US and French consulates have issued a warning, asking people to stay away from the area.
Kabul: A top US Congressman has opposed the decision of the House of Representatives to increase American aid to Pakistan from $700 million to $900 million alleging that Pakistan continues to support terror groups that target US troops in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan cannot be trusted. It has played us now for a total of $33 billion of our money since 2001," Republican Congressman Ted Poe, chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade of the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote yesterday in an op-ed in US News.

Poe's move to retain the US aid to Pakistan to $ 700 million for the fiscal 2017 as for 2016 was voted down by the House of Representatives. Poe said he is disappointed by House's decision.

"For 15 years we have been asking Pakistan to go after terrorists within its own borders and for 15 years not only has Pakistan not done so in any significant way, but it has actually supported those very terrorists who kill our service men and women in Afghanistan. It is time to call it like it is," he said.

"We do not need to give Pakistan a raise to betray us. They will do it for free. And that's just the way it is," Poe said.

The House of Representatives recently gave Pakistan a $ 200 million raise. In all, it was a $ 900 million payday for a country that to this day is supporting terrorist groups that kill US service men and women in Afghanistan, he said.

"It is well known by now that Pakistan gave safe harbor to Osama bin Laden. Before he met his maker in one of the greatest US military raids ever conducted, bin Laden was living in a big house in a bustling military town in Pakistan," he added.

"Less known is that after that raid our CIA station chief in Pakistan was poisoned: Both he and the CIA suspect he was poisoned by Pakistan's version of the CIA called the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency or 'ISI'," Poe wrote.

"The ISI is infamous for its support for terrorists. In February 2012, a NATO report confirmed that it was supporting the Taliban and other terrorist groups with resources, sanctuary and training," Poe said.

"A year before the NATO report, in 2011, Adm Mike Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before Congress that "the Haqqani Network acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency. No terrorist organization is responsible for more American deaths than the Haqqani Network," he alleged.
New Delhi: Probe agencies do not follow investigation protocols despite being aware of the gravity of narcotics-related offences, a court here has observed while pulling up Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for framing an African national in a case involving 10 kg heroin.

Special Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar, while absolving African national Samson Ongera Omoro of the charges of possessing over 10 kg heroin, observed that intelligence officer of DRI R Roy had deliberately tried to mislead the court.

"This Court is conscious of the fact that offences under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act have been considered very serious in nature, which is evident from severe punishment provided on conviction in such cases. But the court always feels a constraint when evidence, which is required to prove the prosecution case, does not come through.

"Knowing fully well the gravity of the offences under the NDPS Act, investigating agencies do not follow protocol of the investigation. A transparent investigation is the need of the day, which should be carried out diligently and in a scientific manner," the judge observed.

The judge further said that in the absence of such an investigation, benefit of doubt would always go to the accused, as has happened in this case.

The court came down heavily on DRI, saying it has "serious doubt about recovery of contraband from the possession of the accused. The very story of DRI/complainant that recovery of 10.4 kg heroin was effected from the accused in the presence of independent witnesses, has turned out to be unreliable."

"Therefore, despite being an official witness, who carry a great respect from Courts, I am constrained to observe that Roy has deliberately tried to mislead the Court while deposing in the case," the judge said.

The court noted that the probe agency named a fictitious 'panch' witness (a witness before whom police seals or opens case-related materials at a crime scene) which cast doubt on the complaint.

"The complainant/DRI joined panch witnesses but dropped them. One of the witness Raju is found to be a fictitious person which causes a serious doubt on the entire version of the complaint. Second panch witness Rakesh is unavailable at the given address...

"Therefore, it was incumbent upon Roy to ascertain the identity of the witnesses as well as their addresses. I need not comment further whether this omission on the part of Roy is deliberate to avoid the production of panch witnesses in court or lack of diligence on his part," the judge said.
Telangana advocates holding placards at a protest in front of the High Court demanding separate High Court for Telangana, in Hyderabad. (Photo: PTI)

Hyderabad: Around 200 judges from Telangana, who are on a mass leave in protest against suspension of 11 judicial officers amid ongoing stir over the provisional allocation of judicial officers from Andhra Pradesh to Telangana courts, did not attend work on Wednesday.

"Around 200 judges who had gone on mass leave yesterday did not attend courts protesting suspension of 11 judicial officers...the protest is going on," a member of the Telangana Judges Association said.

Meanwhile, amid ongoing stir, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao called upon Governor ESL Narasimhan here. Though there was no official word on the meeting immediately, it is understood that the ongoing row figured in the talks.

The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad has so far suspended 11 judicial officers on disciplinary grounds following the agitation against the provisional allocation of judicial officers.

Protesting the action of High Court, about 200 judicial officers working in lower courts across the state had decided to go on "mass" leave for 15-days from yesterday.

The suspension of 11 judges came close on the heels of over 100 judges under the banner of 'Telangana Judges Association' taking out a procession here on Sunday in protest against the allotment of judges who are natives of AP to the subordinate courts in Telangana.

Meanwhile, agitating members of Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee continued their protests outside court premises in different parts of the state today, raising slogans and holding demonstrations seeking withdrawal of the list of provisional allocation.

"Police, who put up barricades on roads leading to High Court, took around 40 members of the JAC into preventive custody when they marched towards the High Court as part of 'High Court Bandh' call," ACP (Charminar Division) K Ashok Chakrawarthy said.

On Tuesday, Rao had urged the Centre to expedite the process of division of the high court here (in the wake of bifurcation of undivided AP).

In a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, he requested appropriate notification to take up the exercise of allocating judicial officers and staff be issued only after the high courts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh start functioning separately.

He said in the letter that the tentative allocation of subordinate judicial officers has created a discontent among the judicial officers and advocate community belonging to Telangana as many officers of Andhra Pradesh were allocated to Telangana.

TRS MP K Kavitha, daughter of Rao, said yesterday that her father proposes to hold a dharna in Delhi against the alleged insensitivity of Centre in bifurcating the HC, though they don't want things to "escalate to that level".

Union Law Minister D V Sadandanda Gowda had said that the Centre has no role in creation of a new High Court for Telangana, rubbishing the ruling TRS' charge that the Narendra Modi dispensation is being "insensitive" on the issue and dragging the matter under political pressure.

Holding that the state government's stand on the issue is "unacceptable and intolerable," Gowda said the creation of a new HC is in the hands of the Chief Minister and Chief Justice of the common high court for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Meanwhile, the TDP's Telangana unit demanded Narasimhan to use his good offices to see that the matter is resolved amicably.

Advocates and judicial employees across Telangana have been protesting since June 6 against the provisional allocation. On Sunday, over 100 judges had submitted a representation to the governor on the issue.

Telangana Advocates JAC had claimed that out of the 21 judges at the Hyderabad High Court, 18 are natives of Andhra Pradesh and only three are from Telangana.

They are 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 their entry into service based on the guidelines on bifurcation of lower judiciary and under AP Reorganisation Act.
Lawyers at Nampally criminal court complex in Hyderabad boycotted the court proceedings and staged a demonstration. (Representational image)

Rajahmundry/ Visakhapatnam/ Vijayawada: AP advocates will abstain from court work on June 30 across the state to protest against Tuesdays assault on Warangal additional district judge K.V. Narasimhulu while he was on duty by T-advocates.

Condemning the attack on Mr Narasimhulu, and ill-treatment of AP native judicial officers by T-advocates, advocates from across AP called for boycott of court work on Thursday.

The Bezawada Bar Associations call for boycott of courts on Wednesday received good response. The Visakhapatnam Bar Association too called for a boycott of all courts on Thursday and Friday.

In Hyderabad, AP advocates met Acting Chief Justice of the Hyderabad High Court Justice D.B. Bhosale and sought protection to AP native judicial officers.
BENGALURU: The Indian Air Force will launch the first squadron of Made-in-India Tejas fighter jets, christened "Flying Daggers", here on Friday. Two fighter jets and one trainer variant of 'Tejas' will be commissioned by deputy chief of air staff, Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, almost a month-and-a-half after Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, flew the combat aircraft and remarked that it was a "good aircraft for induction into the IAF."

Group Captain Madhav Rangachari, who flew the fighter along with the IAF chief, will be the first Commanding Officer (CO) of the squadron which would be positioned in Bengaluru initially and moved to Sulur in Tamil Nadu after a couple of years, sources in the ministry of defence told Deccan Chronicle.

Sources said every squadron of 'Tejas' would consist of 20 jets, including four in reserve. While the first 20 aircraft would be inducted with requirements which match ones set for "Initial Operational Clearance" or IOC, another 20 would join the IAF fleet with advanced systems and Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile.

The IAF plans to induct over 80 aircraft with enhanced specifications known as Tejas 1A. These aircraft would replace the fleet of ageing MiG 21 and would be deployed for air-to-air combat and ground attack and could also act as a complement to other fighter jets such as the Su 30 MKI.

The upgraded version of 'Tejas,' with Active Electrically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, unified electronic warfare suite, mid-air refuelling capacity and BVR missiles, would cost between Rs 275 crore and Rs 300 crore.

Meanwhile, sources in Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) said as per the production plan, six fighter aircraft would roll out this year, eight next year, and 16 aircraft after a couple of years. Sri Lanka and Egypt have evinced interest in importing 'Tejas' after the jet's debut at the international air show in Bahrain in January 2016.
Hyderabad: In a major blow to AP Opposition leader Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday attached properties worth Rs 749.1 crore including Sakshi Towers on Road Number 1 Banjara Hills, land in Bengaluru-Yelahanka and buildings owned by his companies  Sandur Power, Saraswati Power, Silicon Builders and Classic Reality.

Fixed deposits in the name of his wife Bharati Reddy, and his shares in Bharati Cement Corpo-ration Limited were also attached in the quid pro quo case of Bharati Cements.

The building in Bengaluru, named Commerce@mantri, worth Rs 50 crore and 903 acres land of Saraswati Power in Guntur were among the major assets attached. Sakshi Towers is in the name of Shalom Infrastructure Limited.

ED joint director S.A. Umashanker Goud said the CBI had filed a chargesheet under criminal conspiracy, cheating and Prevention of Corruption Act against Jagan Mohan Reddy and others who allotted mining lease to Bharati Cement Corporation Private Limited illegally and received bribes from various persons and companies in the guise of investments into his group of companies.

This is quid pro quo investment for undue favours granted by them. ED Hyderabad zone has registered money laundering cases against Jagan Mohan Reddy and others under PMLA based on the CBI chargesheet," Mr Goud said.

ED investigations into the money laundering cases revealed that Reddy had allegedly laundered the proceeds of crime into his companies  Sandur Power Company Private Limi-ted, Classic Reality Pri-vate Limited, Silicon Builders Private Limi-ted, Saraswati Power and Industries Private Limited and 10 others.

It is alleged that Bharati Cement had received the proceeds of crime in the form of limestone, which was mined from the Kadapa limestone mines allotted to them.

ED has attached Rs 344.3 crore of immovable properties and Rs 404.7 crore of movable properties. The Enforcement Directorate also attached properties of Utopia Infra and Capstone Infra and Harish Infra at Hakimpet, Nivish Infras land at Rajendrnagar, Inspire Hotels Private Limiteds 32-acre land at Maheswaram, Revan Infras nine-acre land in Karnataka and Bhaga-vanth Sannidhi Estates land in Bengaluru.

Land owned by Bharathi Reddy in Raidurg, a residential unit owned by one Jella Jagan Mohan Reddy, 27-acre in Kadapa, shares in Bharathi Cements, and fixed deposits in the name of several companies were also attached.
Hyderabad: Families of those killed in encounters are approaching courts, saying police is not registering murder cases against the personnel involved.

Despite court rulings, cops have come up with their own methods of registering cases related to encounters. These officials usually file a complaint saying there was an attempt to murder by the other side. If the encounter results in a fatality, they claim they acted in self-defence.

The death is registered under Section 174 of CrPC (suspicious death) and a case of attempt to murder is registered against the suspect. The matter is then usually closed.

A five-member larger Bench of the AP High Court had on February 6, 2009, ruled that an FIR should be registered against police officers involved in encounters, custodial deaths or any death at the hands of the police. The bench ruled that a police officer cannot claim the right of self-defence at the investigation level.

An appeal is pending before the Supreme Court against the verdict. However, a two-member bench headed by Justice R.M. Lodha on September 24, 2014, ruled that a murder case needed to be booked against the police. That judgement too has been sent to the cold storage by the police in many states.

Three cases of encounters have come up before the HC since bifurcation  the deaths of 20 red sanders woodcutters at Seshachalam in AP, the the killing of terror suspect Viqaruddin and four others in Nalgonda district and the encounter deaths of two suspected Maoists in Warangal.
The jammi tree (Prosopis cineraria) that was uprooted on the University of Hyderabad campus is being replanted by university and horticulture department staff.

Hyderabad: The GHMC, which has repeatedly failed to meet its targets, faces a tough task in fulfilling its ambitious planting of 25 lakh saplings under the Haritha Haaram programme and finding a place in the record books.

The GHMC since its inception has planted about 8.97 lakh saplings at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore. Of these 5.57 lakh were planted in 2008-09 during the tenure of Mr C.V.S.K. Sharma as commissioner. The civic body has failed to meet its targets all the other years, planting about 9 lakh saplings since 2007.

What is more, most saplings have been lost due to poor maintenance. The GHMC has few nurseries and most saplings were brought from neighbouring states at about Rs 100 per sapling.

An official from GHMCs urban biodiversity wing said the civic body did not have the figures of saplings that survived, and of trees. Officials are transferred every year, he said by way of an explanation.

The estimated number of plants at one lakh.Most of the trees that were uprooted in the recent storms were planted by the GHMC. This time, we are planning to plant saplings which will grow strong roots. The main reason behind the loss of saplings soon after plantation earlier was that the tree guards were stolen, and animals ate up the plants, he said.

The bio-diversity wing tried to plant 50 lakh saplings last year but deferred the plan due to lack of saplings and poor rainfall. In the end, not a single sapling was planted in 2015-16 in the city by GHMC.

GHMC mayor Bonthu Rammohan told this newspaper the corporation would not repeat its mistakes of the past. This time we are placing the responsibility on the contractor to maintain the saplings for three years. If they fail to save the saplings, they will be punished as per rules, he said.

The plantation drive will start from July 11. We are planning to hand over saplings to 65,000 households. We shall plant saplings in the premises of 86 government institutions including 45 belonging to the Central government, and universities. Besides, the GHMC will plant saplings along the banks of the Musi, beside roads, inside parks and at educational institutes, he said.

He said there was no need to purchase saplings. HMDA nurseries have more than 3 crore saplings and the GHMC itself has 50 lakh, Mr Rammohan said.
Hyderabad: Fire at an illegal chemical godown in Jeedimetla industrial area briefly created panic among residents as the chemical drums began exploding. Jeedimetla fire station officer V. Subhash Reddy said that godown of Apollo Chemical located across 150-sq. yd area caught fire at around 3.30 am. The fire department was alerted at 4 am and four fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The fire was brought under control by 9.30 am.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the godown caught fire due to a chemical reaction. The godown had about 70 drums of solvents and other chemicals, Mr. Reddy said. Police said that godown owner Anand Jain had fled and his mobile phone was switched off. Police said the godown did not have a licence. Ms Narsamma, a local, said the sound of exploding drums scared them. Till evening there was thick smoke.
The drought of the last two years has left the water levels at the Yellampally Barrage at their lowest.

Hyderabad: Saying that it would create a drinking water crisis in Hyderabad, the irrigation department has cautioned the TS government against launching Mission Bhagiratha operations at this stage

This has forced Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to defer the launch of the first phase of the Water Grid project by two more months. Now, the launch is expected only after August.

The drought of the last two years has left the water levels at the Yellampally Barrage at their lowest. Godavari water supplied to the city from this barrage will have to be diverted at three locations along the Hyderabad Water Board pipeline network to supply water to nine constituencies as part of the Water Grid project.

Though the original deadline was April 30, it was postponed as pipe laying works and installation of taps in households got delayed. The officials managed to complete these works by May-end and trial runs were held successfully this month. Arrangements were made for CM to launch the project by June-end.

Incidentally, two of these nine constituencies include the CMs constituency Gajwel and irrigation minister T. Harish Raos constituency Siddipet in Medak district.

HMWSSB draws Yellampally water to city through its pipeline network.

The water has to be diverted at Kondapaka tapping point to be supplied ot Jangaon, Station Ghanpur and Palakurthi Assembly constituencies in Warangal, at Pragnyapur point for Gajwel, Siddipet and Dubbak and at Ghanpur point for Bhongir and Alair. Irrigation officials asked government to wait till August when inflows are expected in all irrigation projects.

Though one month has passed in this monsoon season, no major inflows were witnessed in any of the irrigation projects. Hyderabad continues to rely solely on Godavari and Krishna waters for its drinking water needs as all its reservoirs have dried up long ago. Godavari and Krishna could able to meet only half of the citys water needs. At this stage, if water is diverted to the Water Grid, the city water supply would be adversely affected. This was conveyed to the government, said an irrigation official.
The houses in Charminar and Moghalpura from where the IS suspects were arrested.

Hyderabad: Apart from malls and IT zones in Madhapur and Gachibowli, the ISIS suspects also had temples, Hindutva leaders and star hotels on their radar, revealed top TS cops.

The brothers Ibrahim Yazdani and Ilyas Yazdani not only instigated neigbhours but also friends on Facebook. In all recent crackdowns against ISIS terror modules, NIA officials found that the accused were active on WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter and other social media and had started groups to radicalise youth.

Excerpts from an NIA chargesheet filed in a recent ISIS case show how terror suspects operated, their code names and the radicalisation techniques.

NIA, in a chargesheet filed in a Jaipur court in connection with a case booked against Mohammed Sirajuddin of Gulbarga in Karnataka, alleged that analysis of electronic devices had revealed that the accused had subscribed to many ISIS and al Qaida related channels on social media.

NIA alleged, The accused Siraj as a supporter of ISIS invited others and lured them to become the member of the organisation by disseminating videos, images, comments and literature. Siraj had created multiple e-mail and Facebook IDs and made friends with others."

One of the message of Siraj, welcoming an associate, read: "Welcome Bhai, There are Mujahids from IS Libya inside," indicating that active IS terrorists were part of the group.

Online acts exposed terrorists

The men who were picked up by the National Investigation Agency on Wednesday had initially come under the radar of intelligence agencies because of their online activities.

Senior officials from Telangana police said that they were in regular touch with IS sympathisers abroad on social media. They also allegedly searched for material on IS ideologies.

One of the suspects had liked an Islamic States page in FB run by an Indian abroad. From there, he came across another page suspected to be run by key IS recruiter Shafi Armar. As soon as he liked the page, the page admin contacted him over FB chat. From then on, he had been in constant touch with the IS recruiter and working as per his orders in Hyderabad, said a senior official. Central intelligence had tapped the activities of at least two suspects and had been monitoring them.
New Delhi: In a significant judgment the Supreme Court on Wednesday held that there is no automatic release of a life convict after the expiry of 20 years of imprisonment.

The impact of his or her release on society and the victims have to be taken into consideration before ordering the release of such life convicts, it said.

This verdict is likely to have a huge bearing on the demand of seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case seeking their release on the grounds that they have been in jail for over 25 years.

The Apex Court had already held that since Rajiv Gandhi case was investigated by the CBI, the State government should seek the consent of the Centre before ordering their release. The present verdict will be a setback for their immediate release.

Giving this ruling a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh said under provisions of Cr.PC. a sentence of imprisonment for life does not automatically expire at the end of 20 years including the remissions, because the rules framed under the various Jail Manuals or under the Prisons Act cannot supersede the statutory provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

Justice Misra said, A sentence of imprisonment for life means a sentence for the entire life of the prisoner unless the appropriate Government chooses to exercise its discretion to remit either the whole or a part of the sentence under Section 401 of the Cr.P.C. However, there is no indefeasible right of such prisoner to be unconditionally released on the expiry of such a particular terms, including remissions.

In this case, the bench was allowing an appeal filed by Gujarat challenging an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court (the convict was shifted to a jail in Punjab and hence this HC assumed jurisdiction) directing the release of a life convict on parole for three months before considering his release.
The houses in Charminar and Moghalpura from where the IS suspects were arrested.

Hyderabad: In a citywide crackdown, National Investigation Agency officials with the help of the city police on Wednesday busted an ISIS terror module and took 11 suspects in custody.

Sources said that they were allegedly planning terror strikes in Hyderabad and other parts of the country either with bombs or by opening fire randomly at crowded places.

Read: Terror suspects confess to target politicians linked to right wing political parties

The prime targets for the ISIS module in the city have been identified as Inorbit Mall and the IT zone in Madhapur. In the several-hours-long raid, NIA officials seized target boards used for shooting practice, two pistols, an air gun, explosive substances (urea, acids and Hydrogen Peroxide) and other material used for making indigenous explosive devises (IEDs) besides Rs 15 lakh in cash which the arrested claimed was earned through trade.

ISIS may have sent cash via hawala channels: Cops

Though the arrested claimed that the cash, that was also seized along with other material, was earned through trade, investigators are suspecting that IS handlers might have sent it through hawala.

Read: Cyberabad cops beef up security in IT corridor

NIA has formally arrested five of the 11 suspects after booking them under sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Explosive Substance Act, and IPC for waging war against India.

The suspects were apparently in touch with key ISIS recruiter Shafi Armar, a former Indian Mujahideen operative based in Syria, and took orders from him. They had allegedly practised shooting at Bandlaguda on the citys outskirts and Narsapur in Medak district.

Read: ISIS men fiddled with explosives

Searches were conducted in Moghalpura, Bhavaninagar, Mirch-owk, Chandrayangutta, Mir Alam Mandi, Charminar, Bandlaguda and Talab Katta areas.

Among the arrested suspects, Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani, Abdullah Bin Ahmed Al Amoodi aka Fahad, and Mohammed Ilyas Yazdani have been identified as the leaders. They had been in touch with Shafi Armar over the Internet.

Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani, 30, an engineer from Chatta Bazaar, and his brother Mohammed Iliyas Yazdani, 24, from Aman Nagar, were family friends of Abdullah. The trio had started working together to attract other youngsters to IS.

Sources said that the explosives and arms were seized from the houses of the two brothers in Amannagar and Chatta Bazaar. Apart from these three, the NIA arrested Mohammed Irfan aka Yaqus, 27, from Zahera Nagar, Mir Alam Mandi, and Habeeb Muhammmed, 32, from Yousuf Gulshan Colony, Hashamabad.

Read: Shafi Armar was presumed dead in US air strike

The NIA conducted searches at 11 locations in Hyderabad since early Wednesday with the assistance of the Hyderabad Police. It had received information that some youth hailing from Hyderabad and their accomplices had entered into a criminal conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India by collecting weapons and explosive material to commit terrorist acts by targeting public places in various parts of the country, said a senior official from Telangana state police.

Read: ISIS suspects had temples, hotels on radar

Following Central and state intelligence inputs, at least 10 teams of NIA and city police cordoned off the areas of each suspects house and raided the premises.

NIA has taken these suspects into custody for an inquiry. The material seized include firearms, ammunition, urea, acids, Hydrogen Peroxide and some other chemicals, electronic gadgets and other incriminating material, said a senior official from TS police.

It is reliably learnt that the said persons were working at the behest of the handlers of ISIS, added the official. Investigators are verifying where the accused had procured the material from. The terror cell was planning to carry out pressure bomb attacks using vessels and explosive material, added sources.

Terror arrests from Hyderabad

11.09.2014:

Fifteen students including a girl from Hyderabad were arrested in West Bengal for allegedly trying to cross into Bangladesh to join the ISIS. They were counselled and freed as they did not have criminal history.

15.01.2015:

Salman Mohiuddin, 32, was arrested at the RGI Airport while he was about to board a flight to Dubai. He was planning to go to Syria via Turkey to join the ISIS. He met one Nicole Joseph alias Nikki Joseph alias Asfa Jabeen over FB and as per directions given by her, he decided to join the ISIS.

03.05.2015:

An MS student from US, Hafeez, hailing from Manchiriel, joined the ISIS in US and was killed in an encounter with Syrian Army.

11.09.2015:

Nicky Joseph alias Asfa Jabeen, 38, was from a Hyderabadi family and was married to a Hindu. She was in Dubai and was acting as an alleged recruiter for the IS. She was deported from Abu Dhabi and was caught at RGIA.

26.12.2015:

Three missing youths from Hyderabad, Faruqui Hussaini, Abdul Basit and Mohammad Hussain were arrested by the Maharashtra ATS. The three were found as the same people who tried to cross the border at Kolkata for joining the ISIS in 2014. Police detained them under the Unlawful Activities Act.

22.01.2016:

Two men from Hyderabad were nabbed by NIA. They are Mohammad Nafees Khan, 24, alias Fatima Khan alias Abu Zarrar alias Akram and Mohammad Shareef Moinuddin Khan, 54.

29.06.2016:

11 youths from Hyderabad were picked up by the NIA for alleged ISIS ties.
Only time will tell if the authorities will implement the HC directive strictly and send out a message loud and clear that education should not be seen as a business.

The Karnataka High Courts directive to the Department of Public Instruction to keep a close watch on the annual fees charged by private unaided schools, is sure to be appreciated by parents, who have to fork out lakhs of rupees to get their children educated at these schools. The institutions have found a clever way to fleece parents by charging hefty amounts, not as tuition fee, but under other categories such as building fee and stadium fee. Only time will tell if the authorities will implement the HC directive strictly and send out a message loud and clear that education should not be seen as a business. Be more transparent over the fee structure, says Shrinivasa M.

There's a very good reason schools have mushroomed in Bengaluru. Its a thriving business with most charging an annual fee of anywhere between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh a year for primary classes and up to Rs 75,000 a year for the higher classes. As many institutions readied to hike their fee even further during the annual revision this year, a number of students and their parents decided enough was enough and petitioned the Karnataka High Court (HC) to put a stop to the ad hoc fixing of fee by the school managements despite the many guidelines introduced by the state government over the years to regulate their fee structure.

Read: Guest column  School fees should be regulated by government

Although aware of the disgruntlement among parents, many managements were left stunned by Tuesdays court verdict that effectively put an end to their free-wheeling days and insisted on the government enforcing its fee regulatory notification of 2000. The judgement is expected to bring radical changes in the state primary and secondary education sector as it is based on the several directions and notifications issued by the state government over the last two decades to bring in transparency in the fee structure of private unaided schools that are often accused of demanding excess fee in the name of providing various facilities to their students.

We welcome the order of the high court. Although the DPI has issued various notifications over the years, they have not been implemented. Now these notifications will see the light of day because of the court order. But we want the state government to frame a realistic fee structure. The development fee is just Rs 600 currently, which is unrealistic. These issues must be addressed.

Mr. D Shashikumar, general secretary, Karnataka Associated Managements of English Medium Schools (KAMS)

The Department of Public Instruction (DPI),which has failed to streamline the fee fee charged by schools despite the many regulations it has on paper, came in for some drubbing by the court, which found its lethargy in the matter unacceptable. The court instructed the DPI to set up a district education regulating authority and strictly implement its rules on admissions and fee structure of all schools.

The high court order is expected to give life to all the notifications issued over the years and also empower the education department to ensure that no school will in future get away with demanding a hefty fee, said an officer of the DPI. Relieved by the court order, activists and parents believe it is the first step towards making education more affordable for all.

It is a welcome verdict. We congratulate the high court for such a historical judgement. It is sad that the government failed to protect the interests of the students and it was left to the high court to come to their rescue.

Mr. Nagasimha G Rao, activist

Going by the high court order parents must be involved in finalising a new fee structure. This means schools will have to share all the information on their income and expenditure with them, hailing a new era in school education, observed Mr. Aravind Sharma, a Right To Education activist. Exultant parents want the DPI to implement the court order immediately. An appellate authority should be formed immediately to ensure that parents and students get justice, said one parent, Shyam Bhat.

Managements: Fees not revised, have no option

Private managements accused of fleecing students argue in their defence that the state government has not revised their fee structure in accordance with the changing costs and salaries of teachers for years.

Most city schools have escaped from the ambit of the RTE by playing the minority card. The state government must bring all institutes under one act

Management representative of a private school

The head of a private ICSE school points out that under a government order of 2002 schools are allowed to collect only Rs 600 as development fee. Development fee is one of the major issues. Parents are not ready to pay more as the government has fixed it at Rs 600 per student although private schools pay qualified teachers salaries of between Rs.75,000 and Rs.1 lakh a month. The Rs 11,000 that the government gives schools for every student admitted under the RTE quota is also insufficient. These are the major issues that should be taken into account before criticising private schools, he said.

While some of the protests may be legitimate, the fact is schools have for long got away with acting on their whims and fancies with successive governments failing to implement the regulations introduced to rein them in. Going by the rules that have remained merely on paper, no donation or voluntary donation can be received by the schools other than the prescribed fee notified by the managements during the entire stay of the student in the educational institution.

Also the maximum tuition fee a private unaided educational institution can charge depends on its expenditure on salaries on teaching and non-teaching staff. While it is permitted to collect some amount towards construction and expansion it can do so only once at the time of the admission of the child irrespective of the standard to which he or she is admitted and the number of years spent in the school.
Hyderabad: In a significant development, Union Law Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda met Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur in New Delhi on Wednesday.

It is believed he discussed the Hyderabad High Court bifurcation issue, suspension of 11 judges, TS objections to posting of Andhra judges in Telangana and the ongoing advocates strike.

Pressure is mounting on Centre to take steps for early bifurcation of the High Court and related issues in view of T-advocates stir. Sources in the government say that some developments are expected on the matter in the next few days.

Mr Gowda had on Tuesday claimed that the Centre has no role and the matter was under the purview of Hyderabad High Court and the AP CM. However, he told a delegation of Congress MPs, led by Palvai Govardhan Reddy, on Wednesday that he asked Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan to intervene.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who was briefing TRS legislators on the proposed 14 new districts in the state at HICC, rushed to the Raj Bhavan after Union home minister Rajnath Singh and Mr Gowda called Mr Narasimhan and sought his intervention in the matter besides taking up the issue with the CMs of both AP and TS.

Mr Rao reportedly requested the Governor to take steps to bifurcate the High Court before judges are posted to the respective states as per their nativity.

Saying that TS has got a raw deal, Mr Rao sought lifting of the suspension of 11 judges and posting of Telangana native judges in the state.

The CM also apprised Mr Narasimhan of the proposed 14 new districts and 74 mandals, Mallannasagar issue and construction of other projects. Earlier, Mr Govardhan Reddy, his party colleagues Rapolu Anand Bhaskar, Mohd. Ali Shabbir and Gudur

Narayana Reddy had met Mr Gowda and requested him to resolve the issue.

Gowdas stance is correct. KCR should not blame other parties and behave like Hitler, Mr Govardhan Reddy later said.

Telangana advocates target Law minister

T-Advocates JAC on Wednesday lodged a complaint against Union Law minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, accusing him of making a false promise for political gains that the High Court would be bifurcated in three months during the recent MLC elections.

The complaint also said that Mr Gowda was delaying the process as the elections were completed. Advocates represented by JAC co-convener K. Govardhan Reddy lodged a complaint with the Saroornagar police, alleging that Mr Gowda, during a meeting with advocates at LB Nagar, assured them of that the HC would be bifurcated within three months and a new High Court will be set up in TS, if they voted for BJP candidate N. Ramchander Rao.

The JAC said that this led to many advocates voting for Mr Rao and he won the election. Over a year has passed after the Law ministers promise, and nothing has been done, the complaint said.

The JAC accused the Centre of willfully delaying the process and paving the way for the AP-native judges to take charge, affecting the interests of the judges and the TS as a whole. Saroornagar police made a General Diary entry of the complaint.
Hyderabad: Telangana State is all set to have 24 districts, including 14 new ones, and 74 new mandals by Dasara. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday placed CCLA proposals before ministers and TRS legislators at a closed-door meeting at the HICC here on Wednesday.

He promised to convene an all-party meeting soon to brief the Opposition on the governments decision. For the first time, Mr Rao specifically hinted of having 24 districts and 73/74 mandals as suggested by the CCLA.

The figure 24 is incidentally Mr Raos lucky number (2+4=6). Asking party leaders to ignore Opposition criticism, the CM made it clear that the new districts and mandals were being carved out for administrative convenience, public needs and not on political grounds.

As sought, party leaders gave suggestions and proposals for new districts to TRS secretary general K. Kesava Rao. Some of these suggestions included Jangaon district from E. Dayakar Rao, T. Rajaiah and Muthireddy and trifurcation of Hyderabad from city MLAs. Proposed districts in Medak and Nizamabad were unanimously accepted.

Undivided AP and West Bengal are the only two states in country which did not reorganise districts. Smaller districts ensure effective administration. We are losing out on district-specific Central funds besides Navodaya and Kendriya Vidyalayas. New districts will be unveiled by Dasara, Mr Rao said.

He said that legislators should have full knowledge about the reorganisation of districts. Explaining the composition of new districts, the CM said each district will have about 20 mandals. Assembly constituencies by and large will be within the district and so will be the mandals.

Each district headquarter should become the growth engine. We need not bother about unwarranted Opposition criticism, he said. Mr Rao explained that the country has 683 districts for a population of 125 crore. While the average population of a district in the country was 18.3 lakh, TS districts have 36 lakh population, which was quite abnormal.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to examine the legal validity of the triple talaq system under Shariat law, which enables Muslim men to unilaterally exercise the power of divorce.

A divorce through triple talaq among the Muslim community is a very important matter affecting a large section of people which has to be tested on the touchstone of constitutional framework, the Supreme Court said

A bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice A.M. Kanwilkar, which has already sought the assistance of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to assist in adjudicating the issue, will also examine to what extent the court can interfere in the Muslim personal laws, if they are found to be violative of the fundamental rights of citizens enshrined in the Constitution.

The bench was hearing a batch of petitions filed by Muslim Womens Quest for Equality and others seeking a declaration that triple talaq is invalid in law and unconstitutional.

Senior counsels Anand Grover, Indira Jaising, Chadha, Balaji Srinivasan and others submitted that the earlier judgements giving the right to Muslim men to divorce should be revisited. Ms Jaising pointed out that triple talaq is un-Islamic even under the Muslim personal law.

Advocate Farha Faiz, president of Rashtrawadi Muslim Mahila Sangh, questioned the role of All India Muslim Personal Law Board in giving fatwas to Muslim women and deciding on their rights. She said the AIMPLB which is a registered society is successfully governing the community having a fake impression that Muslim personal laws are made by the board. She wanted a direction to restrain the board and the media from debating the issue as such debates would cause disturbance in society. The CJI told counsel this is an important issue affecting many people. However, we will not be influenced by television debates.
New Delhi: In an atmosphere vicious with intolerance and religious violence, an undercover operation by a journalist has exposed the underbelly of riot ridden Uttar Pradesh and laid bare the modalities that go into the manufacturing of such religious riots.

In a rare sting operation, an India Today journalist posed as an independent filmmaker, wanting to ensure maximum publicity for his blasphemous documentary by creating a riot, which would ensure full media glare on his non-existent film.

Falling prey to the bait, Hindu Swabhiman Sangathan leader, Parminder Arya, reportedly assured the filmmaker that a riot would be managed and his film would receive the maximum publicity for an appropriate price.

Assuring that the film, that disputes India as the birthplace of Ram, would get maximum publicity, Arya described the modus operandi of the grand publicity stunt, Some 50 (men) will reach there (to the screening for the protests). Fifty are enough  They will shout slogans that it is an anti-Ram film, slogans such as Jo Ram Ka Nahin, Woh Kisi Kaam Ka Nahin, Ram Ka Apmaan, Nahin Sahega Hindustan. They will break all your banners and posters."

Arya was in the limelight recently for giving anti-jihad training in a UP school, and in his short encounter with the undercover journalist, he is seen claiming links with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

But the heretic nature of the film is the least that motivates Arya, for whom, its all about the remuneration, and also emphasised that a deed for deal be made in a matter of days.

Similar was the encounter with BJP MLA from Muzaffarnagar, Kapil Dev, who assured that the false documentary would get a grand riot propelled publicity. We will make an issue out of your film. But your offer should strike me...Tell me the amount. What about the amount? What would you do about it? he asked.

Samajwadi Partys Haridwar Unit President, Hafiz Mohammed, also remained unperturbed when told that the film was anti-Islamic. You want protests, slogans and what else?Everything will be arranged. Ill have to prepare 50 to 60 men... Five lakh (rupees), Irfan said, but later backtracked on the entire episode.

Both BJP and SP spokespersons questioned the veracity of the sting and assured action after verifying the authenticity of the footage. The sting has given added impetus to the BSP and Congress for the decisive state legislative Assembly polls in 2017.
Hyderabad: While preparing Mahanadu draft resolutions. most of them bashing TRS and YSR Congress, the Telugu Desam will be passing a specific resolution asking the AP government to seize the properties of AP opposition leader Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy by using the Special courts Act which recently got the consent of the President of India.

Apart from the resolution on the AP opposition, the TD has decided to pass at least eight resolutions criticising the TRS alleging rampant corruption, family rule and failure to implement the electoral promises made by TRS. One of the resolutions will praise Nara Lokesh for the measures he had taken to ensure the welfare of TD activists in both states.

In the resolution against YSRC, the TD said, The CBI charge sheet has mentioned about Rs 44,000 crore corruption. The AP government should take over the properties from the ED. As promised in the TD election manifesto we appreciate the government for bringing in the AP Special Courts Act. We demand that the government should take over the properties of the corrupt.

The TD in the draft resolution on farmer suicides stated that Telangana stood second in the country in suicides and the TRS government has allotted less than 2 per cent of the budget for agriculture. TD dubbed Mission Kakatiya as Commission Kakatiya and alleged that in the name of rejuvenating 46,000 ponds around Rs 40,000 crore had been wasted. Other resolutions highlighted the failure of the TRS government for mitigating drought.

The TD said that KCRs family was given prime posts and instead of a Dalit CM those leaders who never said yes to Telangana are now given plum posts. It alleged that scams were taking place while implementing schemes and there was a failure in law and order.
New Delhi: Government on Wednesday asserted it has "enough" support for passage of the GST bill in the Monsoon session of Parliament that will commence from July 18 till August 12.

After a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh that recommended the schedule for the session, Parliamentary

Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters that the session could also be extended or curtailed by two-three days depending on requirement. The session will have 20 working days for now.

Emphasising that the GST bill is in the larger interest of the country, Naidu said, "We have a wider support and we have enough numbers for GST but we would like to have all parties on board because it will have an effect on states."

He said that the government wants to get the bill passed by consensus and is making efforts in that direction but asserted that even if consensus is not there, "we must get it approved in this session".

He said that voting on the bill will be the last option, suggesting that the government would like to avoid any trial of strength on this issue and will strive to take all parties along. However, since it is a Constitutional Amendment Bill, voting will have to take place.

Replying to questions on whether Government will step up efforts to bring Congress on board, which has been opposing the bill on some conditions, he said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is ready to hold further discussions with all parties including Congress.

Naidu also referred to the recent interview of the Prime Minister in which he sought the cooperation of Opposition parties for passing GST.

In the meeting, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told Naidu that she was ready for a discussion on the recent foreign visits of the Prime Minister in view of issues like India's membership to NSG, if members want it.

Rajnath Singh, who chaired the meet, pushed for early passage of Lokpal and Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill while Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said there was a need for an early passage of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill. Both are pending in Parliament.

Naidu said besides GST, the government will push for passage of three bills replacing ordinances on Combined Entrance Exam for medical and dental colleges as well as the one seeking amendments to the Enemy Property Act.

Naidu said while 56 bills are pending --11 in Lok Sabha and 45 in Rajya Sabha, he has also asked ministries to come up with at least 25 new bills.

The ministries will have to give notice for bringing the new bills by July 3.

Naidu said once Parliament passes GST, the Indian economy will grow further. "Keeping that in mind I appeal to all political parties to cooperate in passage of the bill. We have spent enough time. We have done enough study. There have been detailed discussions with state finance ministers...concerns have been addressed," he said.

Claiming that the government has been continuously engaging with all parties including Congress on the issue, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said, "We will continue to have a dialogue with them also and try to convince them that House should be in order, which is a must to pass a constitutional amendment bill."

He said political parties, while formulating their stand, will keep the ground realities in mind. "That is my hope as Parliamentary Affairs Minister... I hope it should get approved in the next session of Parliament," he said.

The contentious Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-second Amendment) Bill, 2014, known as the GST Bill was moved in the Upper House in August last year after being passed by Lok Sabha.

The government is hopeful of the passage of the GST bill in this session amid indications that a number of regional parties have broken ranks with Congress on the issue and are willing to extend their support to this crucial economic reform measure.

After the CCPA, Naidu also held a separate meeting with Union ministers during which he asked them to submit their bill proposals by July 3, a fortnight before the session begins.

The session comes at a time when the ruling BJP's morale is high after its maiden victory in Assam Assembly polls and its performance in Kerala and West Bengal elections.

Another key bill is the Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015, which was moved in December last year but the discussion on it had remained inconclusive. In the Budget session this year, this bill could not be taken up.

In Lok Sabha, important bills pending include the Consumer Protection Bill 2015 and the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015.

The last few sessions of Parliament have seen sparrings between the government and the opposition even though the second part of the Budget session recorded a relative improvement as far the completion of government business was concerned.
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. (Photo: PTI)

You dont have to be a foreign policy expert to sense that India is hopping mad at China, after Beijing successfully scuttled New Delhis bid to enter the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group, through which countries can trade in and export nuclear technology.

Over the past week, verbal missiles have been flying thick and fast. Expectedly, in politically polarised India, commentators dont have the same view about what is euphemistically being termed the NSG row. Was India demonstrating a petulance and a sense of entitlement in its attitude towards NSG membership? Or was China behaving like a bully and it is time for India to send a tough message? Was the NSG saga an example of the Narendra Modi governments diplomatic enterprise or was it a diplomatic gaffe? The questions keep swirling, adding to the heat.

Chinese commentators havent helped matters. Chinas action is based on international norms, but Indias reaction seems to indicate their national interests can override principles recognised by the world, Chinas state-owned Global Times noted snarkily. Indias nationalists should learn how to behave themselves. Now that they wish their country could be a major power, they should know how major powers play their games.

Indias social media warriors hit back with loud calls to boycott Chinese products. That could have been the classic gotcha moment. Only, its a little complicated.

As the world knows, boycotting Chinese goods is easier said than done. And its not just the iPhone  designed by Apple in California, assembled in China  that is now being used to seek a boycott of all Chinese goods.

India and China are linked in many different ways in strategic spheres. Take just one: medicines. India is among the worlds leading low-cost generic drugmakers. But most of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) or bulk drugs necessary to produce these medicines come from just one country: China. APIs are what give a medicine its therapeutic effect.

Indias dependence on China for APIs has been an area of concern for years. Dr Yusuf Hamied, Indian scientist and businessman, and chairman of Cipla, the countrys oldest pharmaceutical company, once famously said, If China decided one bright day to stop exports to India, we would be finished. The pharma industry is zero, both domestic and export, and were looking at that danger objectively.

The dependence is not one way, by any means. Chinese API makers will be very unhappy if they lost the huge Indian market. But India will be affected worse. Its in a strategically disadvantageous position because of its dependence on a single country for raw materials for its pharma industry.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself noted in a recent TV interview, its naive to expect that different countries will have the same point of view on any issue. Diplomacy is about trying to find common ground between different points of view. And if such common ground cant be found, there is a need to think through key issues before sending out tough messages.

How do we plan to secure Indias dominance in generic medicines with the formulation industry depending so heavily on Chinese APIs? What happens if China decides to increase the price of APIs or squeeze the supply? Further, what if China chooses to start making generic drugs itself? What kind of competition will that spell for Indias drugmakers?

A 2013 study by the Boston Consulting Group and the Confederation of Indian Industry said total imports of APIs and advanced intermediates had risen at a compound annual growth rate of 18 per cent, from $800 million in 2004 to $3.4 billion in 2013.

A February 2015 policy brief by Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), a New Delhi-based think tank, observed: Indias growing dependence on imports in bulk drugs would have impact on our pharmaceutical formulation industry, access to medicines, health security and also on the manufacturing sector.

Indias bulk drug requirements in 2010 were valued at around Rs 24,000 crores, of which imports accounted for about `11,500 crores. The total import of bulk drugs from China as a percentage of total bulk drug imports had risen from 0.3 per cent in 1991 to 47.61 per cent in 2012. In 2011, it was 57.1 per cent.

The Modi government had declared 2015 as the year of bulk drugs, or APIs. This was meant to be a key part of the Make-in-India story. But as numerous media reports have noted, India is far from being self-sufficient in APIs. Today, like it or not, China is a vital piece of the Indian pharma story. If China decides to stop its supply of intermediates and other raw materials to India, it will drastically affect Indias pharma industry and bring it almost to a halt.

The R&D investment (R&D expenditure as a percentage of sales turnover) by the domestic pharma industry as a whole has fallen in recent years. For example, while Dr. Reddys Labs claims in its company profile that it incurs R&D expenditure of around 6 per cent, the number of scientists working in the firm has declined from 280 a decade ago to around 30 now.

So we know what is to be done, but we havent done it, and we continue to be dependent on China in such a critical industry. In such a situation, we need to remember that talking tough is easier than taking the tough measures which give the tough talk some teeth. Zillions of words have been written on why China is so strongly opposed to Indias NSG membership.

Everyone knows China and India have many unresolved issues. Prime Minister Modi says that in foreign policy its not necessary to have similar views to have a conversation, and even when the views are contradictory, problems should be resolved by dialogue. Clearly, it wont be easy to find common ground on NSG membership, as in several other areas. But high-decibel, public bad-mouthing of each other, instead of adopting a more calibrated and nuanced tone, can only hinder, rather than help the process.
It is a calculated strategy

Pankaj Sharma

I dont think that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had any intention of seriously warning the publicity seekers and rabble rousers of the BJP, RSS and other affiliates. His track record tells us that he never intended to, nor wishes to, seriously snub those who, from time to time, give the statements which he now believes are publicity stunts. Mr Modi knows the political benefit his party and government get from these well-planned outbursts. If he seriously means that anyone who believes he is bigger than the system is wrong, then he had all the opportunities to bridle the loose tongue of his colleague well in time and allow RBI governor Raghuram Rajan to continue. Praising Dr Rajans patriotism after creating the most humiliating situation for him to quit is something unbecoming for a person holding the highest position in the government.

The issuance of such warnings to loudmouths is also a calculated strategy of the BJP. It is not the first time when the formality of issuing warnings from the topmost level has been done. In the third week of October last year, BJP president Amit Shah had summoned half a dozen big leaders to warn them against making controversial statements. Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Union minister Mahesh Sharma, Sanjiv Baliyan, MLA Sangeet Som and MP Sakshi Maharaj were scolded for their inappropriate statements and Mr Shah said the Prime Minister was upset over their unnecessary outbursts during the past few weeks. But how meaningless was the warning could be assessed from the fact that all of them remained defiant.

It is hard to believe that any of them has the guts to defy Mr Modi or Mr Shah if they feel that the element of concern in the warning to them was actually serious.

Can anyone believe that if the warnings of a strong Prime Minister like Mr Modi are really serious, the RSS and its affiliates can afford to be in full hunting mode, head up and howling? Can activists and scholars be shot dead? Can a situation arise when Indias most distinguished writers return their awards in anguish and artists, scholars, filmmakers and scientists join the protests?

Unfortunately, Mr Modi believes that he is the only person who can bring well-deserved happiness and prosperity to our country. He thinks that Indians were feeling ashamed to be born in this country until he became Prime Minister. He is the first Indian Prime Minister who dragged domestic politics onto the international arena by launching a veiled attack on the previous UPA government. Using international platforms to attack his opponents has become Mr Modis strategy. After gifting the Bhagavad Gita to the Japanese emperor, Mr Modi said that it would irk secular friends back home. I still fail to understand that by labelling the Congress and other parties as secular friends, was he reducing himself and the BJP to a non-secular entity? Isnt it too candid an admission about oneself while on foreign soil?

Mr Modi acknowledges that the only way he can maintain his superstar image is by playing tricks of a honey tongue and a heart of gall. Therefore, I have every reason to believe that his eyewash warnings will ultimately be ineffective.

Pankaj Sharma is editor of News Views India and a national office-bearer of the Congress Party.

PM Modi means business

Harish Khurana

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it clear on Monday that development will be the main issue for the BJP during the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

He also urged the media not to make heroes out of rabble-rousers who are trying to polarise the state on communal lines.

He clearly said, Whether it is in my party or not, still I think such things are inappropriate. This fondness for publicity is never going

to do any good to the nation. People should conduct themselves with utmost responsibility. If anybody considers himself above the system, it is wrong.

Unfortunately, today, the sure way to get back into the spotlight is to say something outrageous. Mr Modis comments assume significance in the context of Subramanian Swamys recent comments on Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan, chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian and economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das.

These days it has become the fashion to give negative statements and then these become news headlines and debate topics for prime-time news channels.

It is sad that a few people divert attention from development by giving such statements.

Today, when India is talking about Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, building toilets, Start-Up India, Digital India, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and many other such schemes, these kind of statements come up.

Today, when the country needs to debate the development agenda, the reprimand to rabble-rousers was much needed.

I feel it is the duty of the media to see what is good and what is bad. After all the media is the fourth pillar of democracy.

It should be selective about who is giving the statement, and also whether it would affect societal harmony. For example, there was a lot of debate on intolerance and it became a major issue. People were giving up their awards. Debates were held on whether India was safe or not. But after the elections, nothing happened, the country was safe for everybody.

We should discuss and see these reality checks. We know these controversies start when some so-called leaders give some statements that hit prime-time news.

We as a party never uphold these statements and treat these as their personal remarks. Our party always believes that India has a great potential because 70 per cent of our people are below 30 years of age so we should talk of development.

To achieve double-digit growth we have to be focused and I believe talking about these non-important issues or communal issues will lead us nowhere.

The Opposition and some sections of the media complain that Mr Modi is always silent on such issues and the party doesnt take action. By speaking on such issues, the PM thinks we are hyping such issues. Also, we as a party are the biggest in the world, so we cant control each one of them. It is always advisable to ignore such people. If the media will stop taking note, then automatically these people will stop. That does not mean we will or will not take any action. In fact, Mr Modi speaking on this issue means that he is very serious on this and that he means business.

Harish Khurana is spokesperson, Delhi BJP.
Pakistan has therefore chosen to needle Afghanistan on the Durand Line, perhaps to draw US attention to its sensitivities on this issue. (Photo: PTI)

In his book Afghanistan-Pakistan-India: A Paradigm Shift, released recently at New Delhis Observer Research Foundation, Afghan ambassador to India Shaida Abdali writes: The logic of Pakistans survival in its present form makes it necessary for Pakistans policymakers to continue creating problems for its neighbours  Afghanistan and India. This requirement paradoxically, will hamper efforts of Pakistan in becoming a truly democratic and open society, if it chooses to do so. For now, Pakistans leaders prefer to keep their country in permanent hostility with India and Afghanistan despite the growing global distaste for these policies.

There is hope in the book that there will be a paradigm shift in the attitude of the one country that has been the spoiler throughout and its intransigence has prevented a solution. It is this attitude that meant countless Afghans have lived and died without knowing what a post-conflict situation, let alone peace and tranquillity, could mean to them and for their families.

A note of realism is, however, necessary when we speak of a paradigm shift. This is unlikely to happen in Pakistan.

For far too long, both in its relations with Afghanistan and India, Pakistan assumed that its presumed entitlements permit it to indulge in cross-border terrorism. Exhausted it might be with the blowback of its policies, having boxed above its weight for so many years, yet hubris doesnt allow it to change its policies. It would prefer to remain a regional black hole and miss out on the opportunities of the 21st century. This change wont happen unless those who control Pakistans destiny are made to pay the price and their successors are able to dream the big picture.

For this to happen, though, the United States must do a lot more of what it has been doing. If what was done so far was adequate, the drone killing of Mullah Mansour would not have been necessary. Rewarding truant behaviour has to stop and the gravy train must be pulled back. Pakistans military along with its surrogates has to be curbed. This was the general sentiment at a recent discussion at the Hudson Institute in Washington moderated by former Pakistani ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani, author of seminal books on Pakistan, and also attended, among others, by the Afghan ambassador in Washington.

Afghanistan was always a secondary priority in American calculations, besides a brief spell from October 2001 to late 2002, after which for several years Iraq became a US obsession. Pakistan made full use of this opportunity, and helped revive the Taliban as the US followed an uneven policy with surges and pullbacks. Emboldened by this disinterest and keen to retain control over the Taliban, Pakistan did not even deem it necessary to keep its donor-cum-ally informed of the presence of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad or the death of Mullah Omar in Karachi.

The way the Taliban seem to be extending their control in different parts of Afghanistan clearly indicate there seems to be little possibility of militarily defeating them. There just arent enough troops (Afghan or US) committed to this goal and the Afghan National Security Force has been kept under-equipped too long. Given the Taliban stance that they will not negotiate with the government in Kabul, even getting these negotiations going wont be easy. The Quadrilateral peace talks have foundered since June 2015.

A complete takeover by Taliban, with Pakistan in control (as Islamabad hopes), is unacceptable. Yet, whatever has to be achieved is only possible if there are troops on the ground and allies are chosen with care.

This requirement comes at a time when Americas appeal in Afghanistan is sliding as the apparent unwillingness of the US-led forces to engage the enemy is at odds with the lofty aims of restoring peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been tense in the past few weeks, with troops on both sides of the Durand Line exchanging fire, resulting in fatalities.

As it is, Pakistan is perturbed by the Iran-India-Afghanistan agreement on Chahbahar, the inauguration of Salma Dam, an Indian offer to train more Afghan women troops, the US promise of financial cooperation of $3 billion a year to support the Afghan military at a time when its own ties with the US are in a trough.

Pakistan has therefore chosen to needle Afghanistan on the Durand Line, perhaps to draw US attention to its sensitivities on this issue.

It is quite clear Afghanistan wont change its stand on the Durand Line, that has kept the Pashtoon divided. Pakistan hopes that by raising the issue, not only will the Pashtoon in Afghanistan put pressure on Kabul, but other ethnic groups in Afghanistan, not similarly enthused about the Durand Line, may react differently, causing fissures inside Afghanistan. However, the reality is that while Afghan ethnic groups exhibit their ethnicity, they also strongly affirm Afghanistans nationhood  unlike in Pakistan, where the Baloch have been in perpetual revolt, Mohajirs are still called Mohajirs and Sindhis are suspect.

Pakistans favourite in the Taliban, Sirajuddin Haqqani, had in a recent message rejected Taliban talks with the puppet regime in Kabul. Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri also voiced support to Mullah Haibatullah Akhunzada, the new Taliban leader. US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olson made it clear that Pakistan wont have a bright future or feel secure until it acts against the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan. Nor for that matter will negotiations with the Taliban yield any positive results.

The recent Chahbahar Agreement is a win-win possibility for all three nations in perpetuity. It will break Pakistans stranglehold on landlocked Afghanistan. India must go on doing what it can as India-Afghan relations arent a zero-sum game, regardless of the spoiler.
The apex court has asked the petitioner to approach Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) instead.

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition to ban WhatsApp messenger, which was filed by Haryana-based Right to Information (RTI) activist Sudhir Yadav.

Read: Ban WhatsApp in India: Petition filed in Supreme Court

The petition was filed under the registration number DOTEL/R/2016/50413 last month, after the Facebook-owned messaging platform introduced 256 bit End-to-End encryption, which is practically impossible to decode.

Yadav raised concerns over the encryption issue as he felt that the platform would become a safe haven for terrorists and other criminal conspirators, who would be freely able to chat on the platform without any consequences.

Read: WhatsApp end-to-end encryption: a boon or bane?

He had also mentioned that messaging platforms such as Hike, Secure Chat, Viber and a few others are also in the same zone for high encryption and causing national threat.

"Even if WhatsApp was asked to break through an individual's message to hand over the data to the government, it too would fail as it does not have the decryption keys either," the petitioner said.

According to him, in order to decrypt any message on WhatsApp, experts would need a gigantic key combination, which is impossible for any super computer to decrypt, and if it managed to do so, it would take trillions of years.

Earlier, Sudhir had written letters to TRAI and Ministry of Communications and IT (according to Trak), before filing this petition, but received no reply in return.

However, now the apex court has asked the petitioner to approach Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

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Several other western states including Colorado, Oregon and Washington have already legalized recreational marijuana use, while others across the country have legalized cannabis for medical purposes. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP)

Los Angeles: Voters in California will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana in November, after the necessary signatures to put the measure on the ballot were garnered, officials said Tuesday.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla said proponents had turned in more than the nearly 366,000 signatures needed for the bill to qualify.

The measure, backed by Napster co-founder and former Facebook president Sean Parker, would allow those over the age of 21 to buy an ounce of marijuana and marijuana-infused products or to grow up to six plants for personal use.

"Today marks a fresh start for California, as we prepare to replace the costly, harmful and ineffective system of prohibition with a safe, legal and responsible adult-use marijuana system that gets it right and completely pays for itself," Jason Kinney, spokesman for the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, said in a statement.

State officials say the measure would raise up to $1 billion in tax revenues annually. Several other western states including Colorado, Oregon and Washington have already legalized recreational marijuana use, while others across the country have legalized cannabis for medical purposes. Voters in California rejected a measure to legalise pot in 2010, but surveys show that attitudes have since shifted more in favour.
It is well known by now that Pakistan gave safe harbour to Osama bin Laden, said Poe, and added that ISI is known for supporting terrorists.

Washington: A top US Congressman has opposed the decision of the House of Representatives to increase American aid to Pakistan from USD 700 million to USD 900 million alleging that Pakistan continues to support terror groups that target US troops in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan cannot be trusted. It has played us now for a total of USD 33 billion of our money since 2001," Republican Congressman Ted Poe, chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade of the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote on Tuesday in an op-ed in US News.

Poe's move to retain the US aid to Pakistan to USD 700 million for the fiscal 2017 as for 2016 was voted down by the House of Representatives.

Poe said he is disappointed by House's decision. "For 15 years we have been asking Pakistan to go after terrorists within its own borders and for 15 years not only has Pakistan not done so in any significant way, but it has actually supported those very terrorists who kill our service men and women in Afghanistan. It is time to call it like it is," he said.

"We do not need to give Pakistan a raise to betray us. They will do it for free. And that's just the way it is," Poe said.

The House of Representatives recently gave Pakistan a USD 200 million raise. In all, it was a USD 900 million payday for a country that to this day is supporting terrorist groups that kill US service men and women in Afghanistan, he said.

"It is well known by now that Pakistan gave safe harbour to Osama bin Laden. Before he met his maker in one of the greatest US military raids ever conducted, bin Laden was living in a big house in a bustling military town in Pakistan," he added.

"Less known is that after that raid our CIA station chief in Pakistan was poisoned: Both he and the CIA suspect he was poisoned by Pakistan's version of the CIA called the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency or 'ISI'," Poe wrote.

"The ISI is infamous for its support for terrorists. In February 2012, a NATO report confirmed that it was supporting the Taliban and other terrorist groups with resources, sanctuary and training," Poe said.

"A year before the NATO report, in 2011, Adm Mike Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before Congress that "the Haqqani Network acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency. No terrorist organization is responsible for more American deaths than the Haqqani Network," he alleged.
I'm more nervous than I was Friday morning, I'm beginning to detect that there may be some backsliding and I do not find that acceptable, UKIP's Farage said.

London: Brexit campaign leaders had barely picked themselves up off the floor after their surprise EU referendum victory when they began to back-pedal on a number of promises.

From immigration to NHS spending and second referendums to Article 50, here are five revised pledges or at least some serious uncertainties following Thursday's historic vote in Britain.

National Health Service (NHS)

A key pledge of the Leave campaign was embodied in a campaign poster reading, "Let's give our NHS the 350 million pounds the EU takes every week."

The slogans have quietly disappeared from the Vote Leave website. Instead it reads, "We will be able to save 350 million pounds a week. We can spend the money on our priorities like the NHS, schools and housing."

"It wasn't one of my adverts. I would never have made that claim. That was one of the mistakes I think that the Leave campaign made," UK Independence Party (UKIP) chief Nigel Farage admitted after the Brexit victory.

Former work and pensions minister Iain Duncan Smith told the BBC, "I never said that during the course of the election. What we actually said was a significant amount of it would go to the NHS.

"We never made any commitments. We just made a series of promises that were possibilities," he added.

This led to some heavy mockery online including satirical website News Thump's headline, "Iain Duncan Smith tells wife: 'Our wedding vows were just a series of possibilities.'"

Immigration:

Second big promise: a drastic reduction in the number of immigrants arriving from EU countries.

Leave camp MEP Daniel Hannan told the BBC, "We never said there was going to be some radical decline we want a measure of control".'

"Frankly, if people watching think that they have voted and there is now going to be zero immigration from the EU, they are going to be disappointed," he added.

The problem is that Britain's immigration policy may well depend heavily on Brexit negotiations with the EU, and specifically in trade-offs for access to Europe's lucrative single market.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Britain on Tuesday that there would be "no cherry-picking" in talks on future relations with the EU.

"I'm nervous, I'm nervous. I'm more nervous than I was Friday morning, I'm beginning to detect that there may be some backsliding and I do not find that acceptable," UKIP's Farage told Channel 4 television.

I'm more nervous than I was Friday morning, I'm beginning to detect that there may be some backsliding and I do not find that acceptable

Plans? What Plans?

More generally there is growing criticism that the Leave campaigners don't appear to have planned what would happen after their unexpected victory.

Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond told AFP: "They have won a referendum and now they have no idea of what to do. They don't have a plan for what they want to do."

In comparison he recalled that, for their 2014 independence referendum, his Scottish National Party had prepared "a white paper manifesto of 670 pages" and a series of plans ready for Independence. There was nothing like this from the Brexiters.

Key Leave figurehead and possible future prime minister Boris Johnson restricted himself Monday, in his first written comments after Friday's victory, to general comments in the Daily Telegraph, saying Britain was "still part of Europe."

He even talked about "intense and intensifying cooperation" with Europe, without giving any concrete details.

Small business minister Anna Soubry, a pro-Remain campaigner also from the ruling Conservative Party, cast doubt on Johnson's commitment.

"I don't honestly believe he believed what he said to people. He's never said (previously) 'I'm for Out'. He did not think that they would win. For his own interest, to become prime minister, he went for Leave," she told Channel 4.

Divorce talks trigger

In order to trigger formal divorce talks from the EU, Britain must formally invoke Article 50 of the European Union's 2007 Lisbon Treaty. It then has two years to negotiate an agreement to become the first ever state to quit the bloc.

In the past, Prime Minister David Cameron has suggested that he would immediately invoke the Article if Britain voted to leave the EU.

But in the wake of Thursday's shock result, he said he would leave that step to his successor, who is not expected to be in office until September.

"I think it's right not to trigger Article 50 because that starts a process that within two years has to result in an exit and it might be an unmanaged exit if it started too soon," Cameron told parliament on Monday.

Within hours of the result of Thursday's referendum, Johnson said: "There is now no need for haste".

Second referendum?

In the wake of last week's shock vote, one suggestion by disappointed, some devastated Remain campaigners have been for a second referendum. The idea has even been mooted by someone who may have his hand on the levers of power.

Conservative health minister Jeremy Hunt, who has said he is "seriously considering" standing for his party's leadership and therefore premier, seems unclear.

Writing in the Times on Tuesday, he wrote that before triggering Article 50, "We need to negotiate a deal and put it to the British people, either in a referendum or through the Conservative manifesto at a fresh general election."

Asked the same question a few hours later on ITV television, he said, "I don't think it needs to be a second referendum, but I think there needs to be some democratic endorsement of the terms in which we leave."
Brussels: EU leaders agreed Wednesday that Britain cannot have access to the single market after leaving the union without accepting the bloc's rules on free movement, president Donald Tusk said.

"There will be no single market a la carte," Tusk told a news conference in Brussels after the 27 leaders met without British Prime Minister David Cameron.

"Leaders made it crystal clear today that access to the single market requires acceptance of all four freedoms including freedom of movement," Tusk added.

The 27 EU leaders will also hold a summit without Britain in Bratislava on September 16 to discuss further the fallout from Britain's decision to leave the bloc, Tusk said.

The summit will come just days after Britain's ruling Conservative party is due to choose a successor to Cameron, who resigned on Friday after his country voted in a referendum to leave the EU by 52 percent to 48.

"This was a first exchange so it is too early to draw conclusions. This is why we started a political reflection with 27 states and we'll meet on September 16 in Bratislava to continue our talks," Tusk said.

The former Polish premier stressed that negotiations on Britain's future relationship with the EU cannot start until it formally triggers the two-year process leading to a divorce. Cameron has said this is a task for his successor.

Tusk meanwhile said at the "calm and serious" discussion, the first EU talks without a British leader present for 40 years they agreed it was a "serious moment in our common history."

"One issue is clear from our debate. Leaders are absolutely determined to remain united," he added.
London: London's Pakistan-origin mayor Sadiq Khan on Wednesday announced an India-born millionaire as his deputy for business to champion the city's financial interests amid the fall-out of the EU referendum.

39-year-old self-made millionaire Rajesh Agarwal grew up in humble surroundings in India and went on to London to set up foreign exchange giant RationalFX, which had a turnover of more than 1.3 billion pounds last year.

The business man who has also founded international money transfer service Xendpay is featured in the 'Sunday Times' rich list with a fortune of 90 million pounds.

"The mayor and I are determined to build a coalition that ensures the needs of business and financial services are at the fore over the coming months of negotiations with the EU.

"My first priority will be to listen and engage with businesses, to hear their concerns and deliver reassurance," said Agarwal, who will step down from his businesses to focus on his new role at City Hall in London.

He added: "I stepped on a plane for the first time 15 years ago to make the journey to London, and found a city that welcomed me with open arms and didn't make me feel like a stranger.

"This openness to talent and enterprise must not change as a result of the referendum. I share Sadiq's belief that a thriving economy is critical to ensure that all Londoners can share in our great city's future success."

Agrawal was Khan's business adviser during his mayoral campaign. Khan, the son of a Pakistani bus driver, took charge as London's first Muslim mayor last month.

"Having arrived in London equipped with the ambition to succeed, Rajesh has created a multi-million-pound businesses from scratch and knows first-hand the challenges that our business leaders face, and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

"I know that Rajesh is the best person for the job of protecting jobs and growth in London as we deal with the fallout of the referendum," said Khan.

Khan has called on the UK government to give London an equal voice in negotiations with the EU after London had voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining within the economic bloc, in stark contrast to the country-wide result in favour of Brexit.
The breakthrough phone call came after the Turkish strongman on Monday sent a letter to Putin that Moscow said contained an apology. (Photo: AP)

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday held their first phone call since Ankara downed one of Moscow's jets in Syria last year, both sides said.

The two leaders spoke as they sought to mend ties over the November incident that saw Moscow slap sanctions on Ankara.

"The president's phone call with President Putin has just ended. The two leaders had a very productive and positive conversation. A written statement will be made shortly," a Turkish official told reporters in Ankara.

The Kremlin confirmed that the conversation was taking place. It also said that Putin, at an event with schoolchildren in Moscow earlier on Wednesday, also expressed his sympathy over a triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport that killed at least 36 people.

"President Putin expressed condolences to the Turkish people over the monstrous terrorist attack," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The breakthrough phone call came after the Turkish strongman on Monday sent a letter to Putin that Moscow said contained an apology.

The downing of the plane in November shattered ties between the two nations and saw Moscow slap an embargo on Turkish food products and ban charter flights and the sale of package tours to the country.

It also sparked a bitter war of words between the two strongman leaders with Putin calling it a "stab in the back" and demanding an apology from Erdogan.

Ankara has said Erdogan expressed his "regret" over the incident in the letter to Putin and asked the family of the pilot who died to "excuse us", but has not explicitly confirmed he apologised for shooting down the plane.
The relations between the two sides deteriorated after Pathankot attack earlier this year and all efforts have failed to revive the peace talks. (Photo: PTI)

Islamabad: India was "shying away" from peace talks with Pakistan to avoid discussions on Kashmir and other issues, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said on Wednesday. He said Pakistan was not shying away from talks.

"It is actually India which is shying away as it knows that it has to discuss Kashmir and other issues on the dialogue table," Aziz said, commenting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks during a television interview.

"Prime Minister Modi's logic is beyond perception," he said.

Read: India's terms for peace process not acceptable to Pak: Sartaj Aziz

"We have a format of comprehensive and composite dialogue with India that includes issues like people-to-people contact, visa and fishermen issue, trade and economic cooperation, Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek," Aziz was quoted as saying by Radio Pakistan.

He said that the Indian army had stakes in Siachen and when last time both the governments reached an agreement, the Indian army rejected it.

In the interview on Monday, Modi had said that due to his diplomatic efforts, the world had seen India was not reluctant to engage with Pakistan.

"Our approach has created difficulties for Pakistan, and they find it hard to respond on the matter in the international community," said Modi.

The relations between the two sides deteriorated after Pathankot attack earlier this year and all efforts have failed to revive the peace talks.
Aziz also felt that elimination of Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US drone attack last month sabotaged the peace dialogue with Afghanistan. (Photo: PTI)

Islamabad: Sounding skeptical about progress towards normalisation of relations with India, Adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz called for managing the situation better so that tensions don't grow.

"Their narrative has remained unchanged. They (India) do not want to give us credit [for our actions against terrorism] and keep an excuse for not starting dialogue," the Dawn quoted him, as saying at a foreign policy briefing session held for journalists on Tuesday.

Aziz asserted that the problem was that New Delhi wanted normalisation on its terms which was not acceptable for Islamabad.

Stating that his country will not back from its principled stance on talks with India, he said that Pakistan has been insisting that talks should be held on a whole range of eight issues identified for bilateral dialogue but, India wants an exclusive focus on terrorism.

"If no major improvement takes place, we should manage the situation and our minimum objective should be to prevent tensions from growing," he added.

Aziz wasn't very hopeful about progress in the Afghan reconciliation process.

"Prospects of the [Afghan] peace process are not good. It would all now depend on the ground situation in Afghanistan," Aziz said.

He was of the view that elimination of Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US drone attack last month sabotaged the peace dialogue.

"How can his successor now be asked to join the peace process." he questioned adding that there had been no signal from the Taliban as yet to suggest that they were preparing to move in this direction.

Aziz noted that there were divisions within Afghanistan about engaging a peace process with the Taliban and lack of clarity about how Kabul wanted to take the initiative forward.

He said that Islamabad could not take full responsibility for bringing the Taliban to the table, but could use 'whatsoever influence' it had to facilitate the process.

Regarding the repeated allegations by Kabul and Washington of not adequately acting against the Afghan Haqqani network's alleged sanctuaries in Pakistan, Aziz pressed that there was no difference of objective and it was rather a matter of sequencing and timing.

Regarding the border issue with Afghanistan he said, 'Border management is an immediate need that is our priority.
A driving licence for motor vehicles is mandatory, but in Le Corbusier-designed Chandigarh, rickshaw and cart-pullers will now have to obtain a driving licence of sorts to be to able to ride on the citys seamless roads.





The Municipal Corporation (MC) has swung into action to check violations in this regard that could attract a penalty of up to Rs 500. The police also intend to regulate cyclists on road for traffic violations, including jumping red lights and crossing road medians.



Corporation official R K Bhardwaj told this newspaper that the driving licence will be issued by the civic body, without which the police or MC inspectors will either issue a fine slip or impound the carriage.



Rickshaw and cart-pullers will have to keep tabs on the list of violations to avoid penalty, BJPs Councillor Saurab Joshi told DH. Any person below the age of 18 years will not be issued the licence to ply any form of non-motorised transport or load carriers on road. MC inspectors or a police official above the rank of a head constable will issue the fine slips.



A rickshaw will carry not more than two adults. The age of a child will determine an additional occupant on the rickshaw. A clause of improper conduct by these operators, too, has been added in the list. Cyclists and other non-motorised transport will make sure there are reflectors on the front and rear, a bell and rearview mirrors.



Traffic violations such as wrong parking along the roadside that could obstruct traffic, crossing over road medians, jumping red lights will be also checked. The first violation will invite a fine of Rs 300, which will jump to Rs 500 in case the violation occurs for the third time.



The police had last year sent a proposal to the Chandigarh Administration to penalise cyclists for traffic violations.
Raising the issue of rampant illegal construction in North Corporation, BJP MP and Former Union Minister Vijay Goel on Tuesday demanded the transfer of Commissioner P K Gupta, an IAS officer.



He also hit out at the AAP government for creating hurdles for the civic agency by not releasing funds despite its responsibility for the superintendence of the MCDs.



Goel said illegal construction was going on in Karol Bagh area and the Commissioner had failed to act against it despite several resolutions passed by the BJP-ruled corporation.



Officials like him have made a mockery of the PMs Clean India Drive. Why should BJP bear the brunt of publics anger because of such Incompetent, Inefficient and corrupt commissioner? asked Goel.



Guptas office refused to comment, however, sources close to the Commissioner said the allegations were baseless. The charges seem to be an attempt to mount pressure to extract favours, said a senior functionary.



The BJP MP said he would soon release a list of illegal constructions as most complaints of corruption in the corporation were related to this problem or transfer/posting if officials.

The BJP MP also targeted the AAP government for creating hurdles for the civic agency by not releasing funds.



The superintendence, control and direction of municipal corporations largely rests with the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, but instead of doing work in co-ordination and co-operation, the AAP government doing politics in it, he said.



Goel said that he took this step after a number of Councilors approached him and complained that the Commissioner wasnt listening to their requests made in public interest.



He said he has written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung about Guptas attempts to overlook the sense of the elected corporation.



Goel said that he took this step when a number of Councilors approached him and complained to him that the Commissioner doesnt listen to them and doesnt work in the interest of public.



He alleged that the commissioner had continuously been dishonoring the Corporation house by not acting on the resolutions passed by the corporators in the interest of the public.



In last year 24 such resolutions have been passed out of which commissioner responded on only one resolution, which shows his incompetency, he said. The powers conferred upon the Commissioner are being used whimsically, instead of implementing the standing committee/corporation resolutions, especially where public interest in involved, said Goel.

The BJP MP also targeted the AAP government for creating hurdles for the civic agency by not releasing funds.



The superintendence, control and direction of municipal corporations largely rests with the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, but instead of doing work in co-ordination and co-operation, the AAP government doing politics in it, he said.
The Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee today lodged a complaint against Union Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda alleging that he "failed" to keep his promise made in March last year that the Centre would expedite the process of establishing a separate High Court for Telangana.





A delegation of Telangana Advocates JAC led by its co-convenor K Goverdhan Reddy filed the complaint with Saroornagar Police here accusing Gowda of making false promise and sought registration of a case on charge of cheating.



Police made general diary entry of the complaint, but no case was booked.



"In the complaint the JAC accused that the promise of setting up of High Court has not been fulfilled by the Law Minister. However, no case has been booked in this connection...We are seeking legal advise," Deputy Commissioner of Police (L B Nagar Zone) Tafseer Iqubal told PTI.



The JAC in the complaint said that Gowda had visited Hyderabad in March last year during campaigning for MLC elections and promised that the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad (which covers states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) will be bifurcated immediately, but the decision was not implemented so far and the announcement was made to gain political mileage.



On Gowda yesterday saying that the Centre has no role in creation of a new High Court for Telangana, the JAC members demanded that he immediately resign from his post.




London's Pakistan-origin mayor Sadiq Khan today announced an India-born millionaire as his deputy for business to champion the city's financial interests amid the fall-out of the EU referendum.



39-year-old self-made millionaire Rajesh Agarwal grew up in humble surroundings in India and went on to London to set up foreign exchange giant RationalFX, which had a turnover of more than 1.3 billion pounds last year.



The businessman who has also founded international money transfer service Xendpay is featured in the 'Sunday Times' rich list with a fortune of 90 million pounds.



"The mayor and I are determined to build a coalition that ensures the needs of business and financial services are at the fore over the coming months of negotiations with the EU.



"My first priority will be to listen and engage with businesses, to hear their concerns and deliver reassurance," said Agarwal, who will step down from his businesses to focus on his new role at City Hall in London.



He added: "I stepped on a plane for the first time 15 years ago to make the journey to London, and found a city that welcomed me with open arms and didn't make me feel like a stranger.



"This openness to talent and enterprise must not change as a result of the referendum. I share Sadiq's belief that a thriving economy is critical to ensure that all Londoners can share in our great city's future success."



Agrawal was Khan's business adviser during his mayoral campaign.



Khan, the son of a Pakistani bus driver, took charge as London's first Muslim mayor last month.



"Having arrived in London equipped with the ambition to succeed, Rajesh has created a multi-million-pound businesses from scratch and knows first-hand the challenges that our business leaders face, and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.



"I know that Rajesh is the best person for the job of protecting jobs and growth in London as we deal with the fallout of the referendum," said Khan.



Khan has called on the UK government to give London an equal voice in negotiations with the EU after London had voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining within the economic bloc, in stark contrast to the country-wide result in favour of Brexit.
Outdoor shoes major Woodlands luxury lifestyle brand WOODS is set to expand its footprint in India by opening 10-15 exclusive outlets this financial year.





The brand marked its entry into the country six years ago and is marketed at 600 of the companys outlets, which showcase both marquee brands  Woodland and WOODS.

WOODS is a fashion-oriented lifestyle brand for the trend conscious, while Woodland is an adventure-oriented outdoor brand, said Harkirat Singh, Managing Director of the company, which already operates 20 exclusive WOODS stores across India.



Of the planned stores, each being set up at an approximate investment of Rs 2 crore, two will find their way to Bengaluru. Bengaluru, with its fashion-conscious youth, is a growing market for us. South India contributes to about 25% of the companys business and in terms of growth, it shows great potential, said Singh.



Woodland has been in India for a long time and is established, while WOODS is gaining ground. The brand seeks to cater to the young working population in tier I and II cities that is driven by trends in fashion, and finds its balance in the affordability it offers.



Currently, about 25% of the companys business comes from WOODS, but in five years we see this scaling up to at least 40%, if not a 50:50 split, he asserted.



Talking about consumer trends, Singh said, Exposure to fashion and affordability have increased an individuals closet space for shoes. As consumers, especially women increase the number of fashionable shoes they buy, it becomes a matter of design and price, fitting WOODS space in every closet. Women constitute 50% of the brands consumer base. The company sees this number going up to 70%, as WOODS expands its footprint.



The company, driven by its two brands, will be happy to see 10-15% growth this fiscal, the MD said.


Sachin Bansal, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Flipkart, made it clear that the company is not looking at raising any more funds and looks at restructuring the company for finding more revenue streams.





We are not looking at raising funds. We are well-funded for a long period of time and so we dont need to look at it. But at the same time, there is a constant effort to improve operational efficiency and growth in all aspects, said Bansal on Wednesday after meeting Karnataka Industries Minister R V Deshpande.



Flipkart, an eight-year old startup which revolutionised the Indian ecommerce scene and now part of the nine-member Indian Unicorn club, is going through a turbulent period because of the markdown by a few rating agencies.



When asked about it, he said, Uber along with other companies too went through the markdown phase. Though Uber was marked down by mutual funds, it raised money at a higher valuation than previous rounds. I dont think much about the markdowns, we should focus on execution and customers, and then things will fall in place, he said.



Commenting on the gross merchant value growth, Bansal said that the company is looking at growth in all categories and 25% of all mobile phones sold in India are sold online. As the base grows there will not be slowdown in the category. But at the same time, we should realise that ecommerce is only 2% of shopping in India. We have a long way to go, added Bansal.



He said the country is going through internet revolution and Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, is the centre of these happenings. Flipkart would like to contribute substantially for its development and ramp up our investment in the state. We have about 5,000 people working here and our headcount is growing, and we continue to grow here. We have warehouses in the state.



On the recent pull back in investment around the globe and economic scenario, he said that these are financial cycles that happen on a regular basis. Bansal said he is enjoying his stint with the company as chairman for the past six months.



I am very much involved in the day-to-day operations and I am mentoring senior leaders in the firm and creating a positive ecosystem around Flipkart outside and exploring partnerships, he said.




Volkswagen solved one big problem stemming from its diesel emissions deception, agreeing on Tuesday to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle claims in the United States. But the final financial toll  once the company deals with a long list of fines, lawsuits and criminal investigations around the world  may well be far higher. The continuing fallout could leave Volkswagen vulnerable to billions of dollars more in expenses at a time when profit is already under pressure.





So far, Volkswagen has set aside 16.2 billion euros (about $17.9 billion) for costs related to its public admission last September that its supposed clean diesel cars had been deliberately designed to cheat on air quality tests. Matthias Mueller, Volkswagens chief executive, said less than two weeks ago that the amount was adequate. But the US settlement with the government and car owners will consume a big chunk of that money. And Volkswagen faces even more scrutiny in the United States and around the world, most notably as authorities pursue criminal investigations.



The Volkswagen scandal is one of the most flagrant violations of environmental and consumer laws, Sally Yates, deputy attorney general of the United States, said at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday. We cant suck the nitrous oxide out of the air, Yates said. But the settlement, she said, would help repair some of the damage. The deal, in which Volkswagen did not admit to wrongdoing, includes $10.03 billion to buy back affected cars at their pre-scandal values and pay additional cash compensation to owners. Additionally, the company has agreed to put $2.7 billion into a government fund to compensate for the environmental impact of the cars and to spend $2 billion on cleaner-vehicle projects.



This is by no means the last step, Yates cautioned. The settlements do not address any potential criminal liability. She said the United States was aggressively pursuing a criminal investigation of the company and individuals. Volkswagen said the settlement was covered by the money already set aside, though it did not rule out the possibility of allocating more. Todays announcement is within the scope of our provisions, Frank Witter, Volkswagens chief financial officer, said in a statement. We are in a position to manage the consequences.



One big risk to the carmaker is in Europe. The US deal focuses on nearly 5,00,000 Volkswagen vehicles. But the carmaker admitted to installing the cheating device on more than 11 million cars worldwide, including 8.5 million in Europe. European legal systems do not favour consumers as much as those in the United States do. And the emissions rules in the region are more lenient than in the United States, which will make it harder for European owners to pursue claims. Still, Volkswagen may have to pay up. There is an increasing outcry from European owners and politicians for compensation.



Now that this is done, attention should turn to Europe, said Michael Hausfeld, a lawyer whose firm represents aggrieved owners and shareholders on both sides of the Atlantic. The settlement is a strong foundation for what Volkswagen needs to do for European owners as well as for the environment. In addition, it may not be clear for many months how much Volkswagen will ultimately have to pay to US car owners.



A maximum of around $10 billion has been allocated in the settlement. The actual cost to Volkswagen will depend on how many owners exercise their option to sell their cars back to the company at the pre-scandal value, which will vary according to the age and mileage of the cars. The Federal Trade Commission said consumers could expect to get from roughly $12,500 for an older-model Jetta to as much as $44,000 for a 2014 Audi. The settlement works out to about $21,000 a car.



If Volkswagen is lucky, the total paid to car owners could turn out to be less than $10 billion. Analysts at Kelley Blue Book estimate that the cost of buying back all the offending diesels would be $7.3 billion. Volkswagen also owes owners additional compensation of $5,100 to $10,000, or at least another $2.4 billion. Another big uncertainty is Volkswagens fix for the problem. VW owners can have the company retool the emissions systems. But the company has not yet come up with solutions that pass regulatory muster  and it is unclear what they will cost Volkswagen.



Then there is the issue of what Volkswagen will do with all the cars it buys back from owners in the United States. The settlement bars Volkswagen from simply exporting the cars, without fixes, to countries with less stringent emissions standards. We are not shipping the air pollution elsewhere, Gina McCarthy, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, said Tuesday, noting that Volkswagen was required to fix the cars that it bought back or scrap them.



Swell of scrutiny

Volkswagen representatives portrayed the settlement as a good deal for the company under the circumstances. It would have been counterproductive for Volkswagen to engage in a multiyear, grind-it-out litigation with the US go-vernment, 50 states and private plaintiffs, said Robert Giuffra Jr, a lawyer with the firm Sullivan & Cromwell who represented Volkswagen.



But the swell of scrutiny worldwide will add to the financial pressure. German prosecutors are looking into whether Volkswagen and top executives, including the former chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, waited too long to inform shareholders about the looming scandal. Investors are also suing Volkswagen over similar disclosure issues.



Volkswagen faces an inquiry by attorneys general in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Eric Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, one of the states leading the investigation, announced Tuesday the states own settlement with Volkswagen for $500 million in penalties for defrauding consumers. A separate investigation by the state attorneys general into possible environmental misconduct by Volkswagen is continuing. In addition, the criminal investigation of Volkswagen in the United States looms large. Senators Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, both Democrats and members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, pressed authorities for further action.



Volkswagens credibility with investors, already strained, could deteriorate further if the company is forced to increase the money it has set aside for diesel-related costs. Shares of Volkswagen are down more than 20% since the scandal erupted late last year. And the deception itself has been a major drag on sales. Never fabulously profitable, the company reported a record loss in 2015, and earnings and sales declined in the first quarter of 2016.



Volkswagen is also trying to assuage restive dealers in the United States. The carmaker is facing a lawsuit filed by the owner of three dealerships, seeking compensation for lost sales suffered by the more than 600 dealers in the United States. Separately, a group of dealers has been trying to work with Volkswagen to win financial support. As dealers, we are very anxious to get a settlement, said Wade Walker, owner of a Volkswagen dealership in Montpelier, Vermont. Were customers, too  of Volkswagen  and weve been hurt in this process, tremendously.




MLA C T Ravi has urged the state government to reconsider the decision to transfer Deputy Commissioner S P Shadakshariswamy and to continue Swamy in Chikkamagaluru.





Addressing mediapersons on Wednesday, he said that Shadakshariswamy was an able and honest DC. Some people thought he was strict, but, it was his duty to work within the ambit of law. These people wanted him to be transferred to other place, Ravi said and added that the immediate transfer of the deputy commissioner is unfortunate.



Since one year, there is no commissioner for the CMC. No assistant engineer has been appointed to the position, which is falling vacant after the transfer of the previous assistant engineer. There is no Project Director and Health Inspector in the CMC. Administration cannot be done smoothly in this situation, he pointed out.



The legislator further said that the problems have been brought to the notice of the district in-charge minister. When Abhayachandra Jain was the district in-charge minister, it was decided to complete the overlapped works under Nagarothana scheme. But, at the time, the DC has been transferred and the district in-charge minister also has been changed. Even the tender process of the project has not been completed, he said.



Ravi said that he has urged Health Minister Ramesh Kumar to pay a visit to the district hospital, in the wake of spread of contagious diseases in the city. But, the visit of the minister has been cancelled. The minister was urged to take out relief measures immediately, he added.



The ground-breaking ceremony of the new deputy commissioners office complex by the former district in-charge minister K Abhayachandra Jain is laughable. The tender was not invited for the work. There was no order handing over the contract to the Housing Board. The estimate cost was also not ready. The ground-breaking ceremony was done only to persuade the former Deputy Commissioner B Shekharappa, in the wake of his retirement, criticised Ravi.
The police top brass has initiated action against an inspector and sub-inspector, after a photo showing them lifting Sunil Bose, son of PWD Minister Dr H C Mahadevappa, was circulated on social media recently.





While the district police have suspended sub-inspector M Shivanna (left in pic) of T Narsipur pending inquiry, inspector Raghavendra Gowda (right) of the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Chamarajanagar has been transferred.



Mysuru Superintendent of Police Abhinav Khare said assistant SP Divya Sara Thomas submitted an interim report mentioning their objectionable behaviour in public. The party seems to have been held two months ago and well before a court issued a summons to Bose in a bribery case related to illegal quarrying. The place of the party and the genuineness about the photograph are yet to be ascertained. Police are not barred from attending parties, but one should not behave in an objectionable manner in public. The SI has been suspended to facilitate an unbiased inquiry, he said.



ACB Superintendent of Police B T Kavitha said, a report had been submitted to higher-ups about Raghavendra Gowda based on reports in the media. He was relived on Tuesday. He has returned to the head office in Bengaluru, she said.






The active Southwest Monsoon coupled with a low pressure area over Chhattisgarh and neighbourhood has resulted in heavy to moderate rainfall in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.



In Aswapuram mandal of Khammam, one Eswaramma was washed away in gushing water of a local rivulet. Santappa of Malkapur in Ranga Reddy district was also washed away under similar conditions.



In Telangana, heavy rainfall was recorded in districts of Adilabad, Hyderabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Mahaboobnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Ranga Reddy and Warangal. Mulakalapalle in Khammam district recorded the highest with 16 cm rainfall. Devotees had tough time in Temple town Bhadrachalam as all the roads leading to the temple were flooded with rain water.



Production of 8,000 tonnes of coal from the open cast mines of the Bhupalapalli area of Warangal was affected with the flooding of mines.



In Andhra Pradesh, flood water released from Pedavagu stream cut off 56 villages of Velurupadu Mandal from main land in West Godavari district. Power supply to these marooned villages was also cut off. Meanwhile the weather department has forecast five more days of rain in Coastal AP.



Cyclone warning



Intermittent rains continued in Mumbai on Wednesday adding to the traffic woes even as weathermen forecast heavy rainfall along the Konkan-Goa coast and issued a cyclone warning over the Arabian Sea.



Because of air traffic congestion over Mumbai around noon, a significant number of flights experienced delays for around 30 minutes. In the last 36 hours ending Wednesday evening, the Mumbai city and suburbs received nearly 80 mm to 100 mm rainfall on an average.



The Mumbai-based Regional Meteorological Observatory of the IMD predicted heavy rains along the Konkan-Goa coast and issued advisory for fishermen has and has asked them not to venture into the sea for the next 24 hours.



Landslips in Kerala



The south-west monsoon picked pace in Keralas northern districts over the past couple of days with a steady spell of rains resulting in landslips and crop loss in some areas. Landslips were reported from four locations in hilly regions of Kannur district while rains that lashed the district through Monday and Tuesday also left roads and houses damaged in some areas.


In the wake of spurt in militant strikes in Jammu and Kashmir, the central government is planning a change in its counter-insurgency strategy.



The Ministry of Home Affairs is contemplating replacing paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) with the Border Security Force (BSF) in some areas of restive Kashmir, which witnessed revival of armed insurgency in recent months, sources told DH.



They said after the recent attack on a CRPF bus in Pampore, which left eight paramilitary personnel dead and another 21 injured, the central government is planning to assign the BSF a more active role as in the 1990s.



Eyebrows are being raised about the CRPFs operations in tackling militancy even as the paramilitary force is being accused of security lapse in the Pampore highway incident when two Lashker-e-Toiba fidayeen attacked the bus, sources said. To begin with, they said, the BSF would be given a role in areas where militant grids are active in north and south Kashmir.



Security analysts believe that given the previous role of BSF in combating militancy in 1990s, the government was seriously looking at the option, once again. The BSF is a more lethal force specialised in counter insurgency than the CRPF, which is mainly trained for mob control operations, the sources said, adding the BSF is also better equipped in terms of weapons. They said the J&K government was in the know of the developments and would soon be formally informed about the strategy. The idea to replace the CRPF with BSF is in active consideration, the sources said.



In 2005, after fighting militants for 14 years, the BSF was replaced by the CRPF in Kashmir. In the first phase of the de-induction, the CRPF took over Srinagar city and Anantnag town from the BSF. The decision to relieve BSF from counter-insurgency duties was taken by the then Congress-led UPA government after a group of ministers had recommended separate duties for various paramilitary forces.



The BSF had killed 2,800 militants during its 14 years of engagement in counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir. That comprised 100 top commanders, including the prized scalp of Gazi Baba.


The Karnataka government, with the assistance of the Centre, has decided to spend Rs 575 crore for organising the historical Mahamastakabhisheka of Gomateshwara at Shravanabelagola, which is held once in 12 years.





The Mahamastakabhisheka is scheduled to begin in the first week of February 2018 at Shravanabelagola, Hassan district. The events will last for 15 to 18 days. This is going to be the 89th edition of the event.



The last Mahamastakabhisheka was held in 2006, during which time Rs 116.66 crore was spent for the event.



Chief Minister Siddaramaiah chaired the first meeting here on Wednesday, where several decisions regarding the event were taken.



Hassan district-in-charge minister A Manju later told the media that Siddaramaiah had approved the budget of Rs 575 crore, which will be shared by both the state and central governments. More than 40 lakh devotees are expected this time. Manju said that a large chunk of the budget will be kept aside for PWD works (Rs 400 crore), while Rs 22 crore will be spent on tourism and publicity. With less than 19 months left for preparations, the minister said that focus will be on improving infrastructure facilities including connectivity.



The Railways will be asked to expedite work on the Bengaluru-Hassan line, and operate special trains during the event. Manju said that it was decided to inaugurate the proposed Prakrit university at the time. Around 710 acres of land will be temporarily acquired for setting up accommodation facilities for 25,000 people, and for facilities like toilets and parking. Last time, arrangements had been made for 12,000 people in 400 acres. He said land will be given to other states if they want to erect structures to facilitate accommodation of tourists from their states.




Five youths were arrested and six others including a techie were detained by NIA which claimed to have busted a terror module that is suspected to be linked to the Islamic State (IS) group after conducting searches at different locations in the old city here.





Some graduates were among those detained after the searches, the agency said.



We have arrested five accused persons so far. Questioning and verification of the role of remaining six suspects are going on, an NIA statement said.



The NIA sleuths also recovered weapons, ammunition, urea, acid, some chemicals, electronic gadgets and other incriminating material besides Rs 15 lakh in cash from their possession, officials of National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Hyderabad Police said, adding the youths were working at the behest of IS handlers.



NIA Inspector General Sanjeev Kumar Singh said the agency had carried out searches in 10 locations, including Moghalpura, Chandrayangutta, Bhavani Nagar, Mirchowk and Barkas in the old city. Weapons, explosive material and huge (amount of) cash have been recovered so far, he said.



During the raids, a large quantity of ammunition, explosives, two 9 mm pistols, an air gun, 25 mobile phones, masks, gloves, timers, a laptop and Rs 15 lakh in cash were recovered, the police said. The detained men were in touch with their handlers in Syria on a day-to-day basis and were plotting attacks.



Among those detained, only six names have been released to the media. They are Mohammad Illiyas Yazdani, Mohammad Ibrahim, Habib Mohammad, Mohammad Irfan, Muzaffar Hussain and Abdullah Bin Ahmad. An FIR was already registered against them on June 22. Sources said among the arrested were two brothers, a software engineer and a computer graduate. The identity of the others was not known.



According to police sources, the members of the new IS module were planning to incite communal riots in the city. It was also the first group that managed to get weapons and Improvised Explosive Devices and was believed to be in touch with other terror groups through social media network.
The Centre has made it mandatory for students to submit their Aadhaar number for grant of scholarships and higher education fellowships.



Referring to an instruction from the HRD Ministry, the University Grants Commission (UGC) on Wednesday asked vice-chancellors of all universities to send in Aadhaar details of the students receiving scholarships or fellowships under various schemes. The higher education regulator has also asked vice-chancellors to put up information about their students on the websites.



The HRD Ministry, vide its letter dated June 10, 2016, has instructed the commission that from financial year 2016-17 Aadhaar has been mandatory for disbursement of all government subsidies, scholarships and fellowships, which are to be disbursed directly into the beneficiaries account, UGC secretary Jaspal S Sandhu said in a letter to the vice-chancellors. I reiterate that Aadhaar has been mandatory from this financial year (2016-17) for disbursement of scholarships and fellowships. To prevent any hardship to the fellows or scholars, it would be appropriate that immediate action is taken by your esteemed university or institution and the affiliated colleges so that the data is made available to the UGC to allow seamless flow of the scholarships and fellowships to the beneficiaries, he said.



The UGCs directive comes months after Parliament passed the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016, in March. This made Aadhaar a must for the "receipt of a subsidy, benefit or service" for which the expenditure is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India.



The Centre brought the legislation to provide for targeted delivery of subsidies and services to individuals residing in India by assigning them Aadhaar numbers, even as the Supreme Court, while hearing a matter last year, had held that Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory.



Hearing a plea filed by the Centre on October 15, 2015, the court had allowed collection of Aadhaar details from the beneficiaries of public distribution schemes, cooking gas distribution schemes, national rural employment guarantee schemes, national social assistance programmes, Jan Dhan Yojna and employees provident fund organisations.



We shall also make it clear that the Aadhaar scheme is purely voluntary and cannot be made mandatory till the matter is finally decided by this court one way or the other, it had ruled.



The UGC had then directed vice-chancellors to instruct students to apply for Aadhaar cards at the regional offices of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UlDAl).


Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has asked panchayat officials to pay surprise visits to schools, hostels and hospitals to check negligence and irregularities.





Addressing the newly elected zilla and taluk panchayat members in Bengaluru on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah said Panchayat presidents have been given special powers.



They not only enjoy the ministers of state rank, they also get to serve for five years. They should make use of these powers and ensure execution of quality development works in the next five years, he said. Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister H K Patil said that the new Panchayat Raj Act has paved way for a revolution without bloodshed.



He appealed to the members to ensure that all flagship programmes of the government reached the people in time. He, however, rued that quality works was not being executed.
The state cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to give an 8% pay hike to employees of state-owned road transport corporations with effect from January 1, 2016.





Briefing reporters about the cabinet decision, Law Minister T B Jayachandra said the total burden on the state exchequer due to the pay hike will be Rs 1,131.11 crore, and it will be implemented in the next four years. None of the road transport corporations has made profit in the last three years. Hence, the government has decided to hike the employees salary, he said. The pay hike applies to all 1.15 lakh employees of the four road transport corporations, including the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, he said.



Besides, the cabinet gave its nod to the BMTC to purchase 1,000 buses at a cost of Rs 388 crore. The BMTC will borrow the money from commercial banks for this purpose, but the government will pay the interest amount, which is estimated to be Rs 152.99 crore, Jayachandra said. The cabinet also gave its approval to the North West Road Transport Corporation to recruit 2,257 drivers.



The minister said the cabinet authorised the chief minister to shortlist names to be recommended to the Centre for the Padma awards. A panel headed by the additional chief secretary to the government had recommended a set of names. The chief minister will shortlist the names, he added.




Banking transactions, especially of the state-run banks, are likely to be severely affected in July as 11 holidays are coming up during the month.





In addition to this, banking transactions are likely to be disrupted on two days during the month owing to bank employees strike.



About 45,000 employees of the five subsidiaries of State Bank of India will strike work on July 12 to protest against the governments decision to merge it with SBI.



Besides this, over 5 lakh employees associated with the All India Banking Employees Association and 1 lakh employees affiliated to All India Banking Officers Association are set to strike work across the country.



Protest against reforms



The United Forum of Bank Unions will be striking work on July 29 to protest against the governments banking reforms policy and the closure and merger of the public sector banks.

Woes of customers



Apart from this, regular bank holidays, including Eid, second and fourth Saturdays and five Sundays will add to the woes of bank customers.



According to experts, banking transactions, including cheque clearing and deposits, will be impacted due to the strike .



However, cash withdrawals are not likely to be affected much.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday met Chief Justice of India T S Thakur to iron out differences between the executive and the judiciary over key clauses in the draft Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) to appoint judges to the higher judiciary.



Sushma, who headed the group of ministers which drafted the memorandum, and Gowda met Justice Thakur at his residence on Wednesday evening.



The meeting comes at a time when the government decided to press ahead with the draft memorandum despite objections by the Supreme Court collegium on some of the key clauses.

After feedback from the CJI, the government will now draft its response to the objections raised by the collegium.



On May 28, the collegium had returned to the government the revised MoP a document which guides appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the 24 high courtssuggesting changes in certain clauses. It had questioned the governments right to reject its recommendation on grounds of national interest.
The DRDO has come up with indigenous torpedoes that could be used both in Russian-origin EKM and French Scorpene submarines, operated by the Indian Navy.



The Navy is looking at the possibility of inducting its first Scorpene submarine without the torpedoes. Defence Research and Development Organisations (DRDO) Visakhapatnam-based Naval Science and Technological Laboratory has developed the torpedoes for the submarines to ensure a indigenous source of the weapons. The laboratory received a green signal from the Navy to go ahead with its plans for submarine-launched torpedoes.



Our submarine torpedoes can be adapted to either (Russian or French) platform. We are waiting for the Navy to provide us with the boat for the trials, NSTL director C Durga Malleswar told DH here after handing over an indigenous ship-launched torpedo, named Varinastra, to the Navy. However, it could take several years before the torpedo comes to operational use.



Absence of a torpedo  the main weapon of a submarine  for the Scorpene class boats has put the Defence Ministry on a last minute search for vendors who could quickly arm the six Scorpene class submarines that are to be commissioned in the next three years.



The void was created because of the Defence Ministrys decision to cancel a deal with Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei ( WASS), which was to supply 98 torpedoes for these submarines.



This was done in response to the governments decision to sever all ties with the Finmeccanica group in the wake of the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter scam. WASS is a Finmeccanica firm.



However, it left the Navy with no choice but to look for alternate torpedo manufacturers around the globe, months before the commissioning of the first boat, to be named INS Kalvari.



The government-to-government negotiations are on with a German and a French firm for delivering the weapons.



While the French company is willing to provide the F21 torpedos, it said it would do only for French submarines, which means in case a French firm does not make the cut in future submarine contracts with India, the government will have to once again look for a new option. An indigenous supply, an official said, could solve the problem.



Open doors to private sector



Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday asked the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to open its doors for the private sector besides aiding the defence production units to improve the quality of the final products, DHNS reports from New Delhi.



DRDO should select private companies through a proper procedure to be development partners. This would not happen overnight, but DRDO would look into this, Parrikar said here.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday accepted some of the demands of the military, including restoring the parity in pay package with paramilitary personnel for middle-rung officers.



However, the Centre left out some of the other concerns highlighted by the armed forces. The pay hike would benefit 14 lakh serving military personnel and 18 lakh veterans drawing pension. While the Cabinet accepted 2.57 as the fitment factor on the existing basic pay for government employees, an exception has been made for the rank of Brigadier in the Army (and equivalent in the Air Force and Navy).



For officers serving in these ranks, the fitment factor would be 2.67. Also, additional increments were sanctioned for the ranks of Lt Col, Col and Brig to bring parity with their counterparts in the paramilitary organisations.



It was done to address military's apprehension of receiving lower salary than paramilitary officers and troops triggering operational problems. This is one of the pay commission's recommendations that we have not approved. The parity was not disturbed, said Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.



However, another major issue concerning the risk allowance was not addressed as a separate panel was constituted to review the commission's recommendations on allowances.

The committee is to submit its report in the next four months.



Going by one of its recommendations, an IAS officer or a civilian employee posted in Guwahati were to receive a higher tough area allowance than the hardship allowance proposed for the Army officers and troops in Siachen  a proposition not acceptable to the military.



The services submitted their objections to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who took it up with the Cabinet.



I gave my recommendations to the Cabinet. Some of them were accepted, commented Parrikar after the Cabinet meeting.



In accordance with the rank, military service pay has been increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,600; Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,200; Rs 4,200 to Rs 10,800 and Rs 6,000 to Rs 15,500, respectively. The terminal gratuity for Short Service Commissioned officers exiting between 7-10 years of service has been increased to 10.5 times of the reckonable emoluments.



But the militarys demand of a common pay matrix was not accepted by the Cabinet, which went ahead with separate matrices for civil, defence and military nursing service.



Other decisions impacting both the military and the employees include an enhancement in the gratuity ceiling from Rs 10 to 20 lakh. The ceiling on gratuity will increase by 25% whenever DA rises by 50%.



A common regime for payment of exgratia lump sum compensation for civil and defence forces personnel payable to the family of those killed in operations would be enhanced from the existing level of Rs 10-20 lakh to Rs 25-45 lakh for different categories.



What is Pay Matrix?



The pay matrix introduced by the Seventh Pay Commission in place of earlier Grade Pay addresses the important issue of adequacy of the compensation structure, DHNS reports from New Delhi.



According the pay panel report, the purpose of pay is to compensate the employees for work done, to motivate them to perform well. The purpose also includes attracting talent to government service and also retaining them, thus avoiding the need for expensive recruitment and training for replacement.



The new pay matrix, the report says, incorporates all these features, subsuming the grade pay, the rationalised matrix presents the whole universe of pay levels in one simple chart.



The levels have been rationalised too, displaying a logical pay progression. If employees can see their pay level, where they fit in and how they are likely to progress over their career span.



The pay panel has also recommended simplified procedures for computation of pension.


The state government has decided to reduce the width of the long-delayed Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) and allow commercial development on both sides in order to make the project financially viable.



The state Cabinet on Wednesday gave its in-principle approval to a proposal by the Urban Development Department (UDD) to implement the project without much financial burden on the government. Instead of a 100-metre width, the proposed road will be 75-metre wide. The remaining 25 metres of developed land will be traded with farmers to acquire their lands for the project, Law Minister T B Jayachandra told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.



The 65-km road project will connect the existing peripheral ring road developed by NICE. It will start from Tumakuru and end at Electronic City, passing through Doddaballapur, NH-7 (Ballari Road), NH-4 (Bengaluru-Chennai highway) and Electronic City. Though the width of the road is proposed to be reduced, the PRR will remain an eight-lane road, he added.



Instead of monetary compensation, land losers will be given the developed land. Besides, commercial development will be allowed on both sides of the proposed road. The Floor Area Ratio (FAR) limit will be increased by two times on both sides of the road. The comprehensive development plan of Bengaluru will be amended for this purpose, Additional Chief Secretary to UDD, Mahendra Jain, said.



Betterment fee



The government has decided to mobilise about Rs 10,000 crore by imposing a betterment fee on commercial developments and selling what is called premium (additional) FAR. Anybody taking up commercial development within one-km distance on both sides of the proposed road will have to pay 1% of the guidance value of the land as betterment fee, he added.



The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) will have the power to sell additional FAR, the price of which has not been fixed yet. There is a provision to collect toll from road users. The revenue generated from all these sources will be kept in an escrow account and it will utilised for the repayment of the loan proposed to be taken from Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA). The government has sought Rs 5,800 crore for the project from JICA.



Jayachandra said the government has notified 1,890 acres of land for the project. But the cost of land acquisition alone is estimated to be around Rs 9,000 crore. JICA does not finance land acquisition and the government is not in a position to raise such a huge sum on its own. Hence, the project conceived in 1990 has failed to take off, he added.



As per the UDD proposal, monetary compensation will be given with respect to 600 acres of the notified land  which is estimated to be Rs 2,000 crore. For the remaining 1,289 acres, developed land will be given as compensation. Bengaluru Development Minister K J George will hold a meeting in this regard with the land losers on Thursday, Jayachandra said.
Three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers opened fire and blew themselves up in Istanbuls main airport, killing at least 41 people and wounding 239 others on Wednesday.





The attack on Europes third-busiest airport was the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings this year in Turkey, which is part of the US-led coalition against the IS. Ankara is also struggling to contain a spillover from war-torn Syria.



One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover. All three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below, officials said.



Video footage showed one of the attackers inside the terminal building being shot, apparently by a police officer. The attacker then blew himself up about 20 seconds later.



Its a jigsaw puzzle... The authorities are going through CCTV footage, witness statements, a Turkish official said.



There were little babies crying, people shouting, broken glass and blood all over the floor. It was very crowded, there was chaos. It was traumatic, said Diana Eltner, 29, a Swiss psychologist who was travelling from Zurich to Vietnam but had been diverted to Istanbul after she missed a connection.



The attackers had come to the airport by taxi and preliminary findings pointed to Islamic State responsibility. Two US counterterrorism officials familiar with the early stages of investigations said the bombing was more typical of IS than of Kurdish militant groups.



President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against terrorism, which he said had no regard for faith or values. US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned it in separate phone calls with Erdogan, his office said.



Istanbuls position bridging Europe and Asia has made Ataturk airport, Turkeys largest, a major transit hub for passengers across the world. The Istanbul governors office said 109 of the 239 people hospitalised had since been discharged. The health minister said 41 were still in intensive care. The national carrier said it had cancelled 340 flights although its departures resumed after 8 am (10.30 am IST).
The Delhi Universitys first cut-off list for admission to the 2016-17 academic session was out on Wednesday night, indicating that getting into a college on the campus will be tough.



Unlike last year, no college listed 100% cut-off in the first list. But Ramjas College announced 99.25% for BCom (Honours), the highest among all DU colleges. The cut-off is 98.75% for BCom and 98.5% for Economics (Honours) at the same college.



Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), College of Vocational Studies and Kirori Mal were asking for scores as high as 98% for the BCom (Honours) course.



At SRCC, the bar was set a shade higher than the 97.375% in last years first cut-off list. Kirori Mal indicated a similar trend, higher by a fraction of a percentage point. At the College of Vocational Studies, the minimum required this time was the same.



These marks are the aggregate of scores of one language and three best elective subjects taken by students for their Class XII board examinations.



Typically, the cut-offs drop as colleges release their subsequent lists. The second cut-off list is expected on July 2.



For Physics (Hons) at Kirori Mal College, the first cut-off is 98%, up from the last years 97% in the first list, Gargi College is asking for 96% for Physics (H) in the general category, the same as last year.



St Stephens, which released its list earlier this month, is asking for a minimum 97.33% marks for Physics.



Over-admission is a major concern as all students scoring the cut-off mark or above will have to be allotted seats. For those who make the cut, admissions start on Thursday.



This year, 2,50,914 students applied for 54,000 seats in 63 DU colleges. Last year, two colleges  the College of Vocational Studies and Indraprastha College for Women  recorded the cut-off of 100% for Computer Science.



DU released 12 cut-off lists last year. Cut-off lists are released by individual colleges based on the number of vacant seats as the admission process continues.
The Title Track Of Sultan Will Provide You All The Motivation Youll Need!
Pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom has entered into an agreement to acquire South African communications network operator Neotel.

The shareholders of Neotel  Tata Communications of India and minority shareholders led by Nexus Connexion  have agreed for Liquid Telecom (majority owned by Econet Wireless Global) to acquire Neotel for ZAR6.55 billion. Liquid Telecom is partnering with Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH), a South African empowerment investment group, which has committed to take a 30% equity stake in Neotel.

The transaction is transformative and will create the largest pan-African broadband network and B2B telecoms provider. The deal is subject to obtaining all affirmative approvals and other corporate approvals that may be required by the shareholders of Neotel and other regulatory approvals.

Through a single access point, businesses across Africa will be able to access Liquid Africas 24,000km of cross-border, metro and access fibre networks. These currently span 12 countries from South Africa to Kenya, with further expansion planned.

Commenting on the transaction, Nic Rudnick, Liquid Telecom CEO, said, Leveraging the strengths of RBH, Neotel and Liquid Telecom will offer an unprecedented fibre network with a unique set of services and international connectivity for telecom operators and enterprises across sub-Saharan Africa. For the first time, African companies will be able to connect with each other in a cost effective and reliable way, all on a single fibre network.

Vinod Kumar, Managing Director and CEO of Neotels majority shareholder Tata Communications, said: Convergence of technologies and services will be the key driver of growth across the globe and this transaction will encourage inclusion and support the growth aspirations of the African continent.

The transaction is subject to approval by South African regulatory authorities and is expected to be completed later this financial year.
You've heard of Android, you've heard of iOS, you may even have heard of something called IndusOS, but have you heard of YunOS? Developed by China's Alibaba Group, this is a Unix-based smart operating system, meant for everything from smartphones to air conditioners. The company says, YunOS has grown by 700 percent for smartphones year-on-year in 2015, and operates on over 100 million smart terminals. During a media tour of its booth at MWC, Shanghai, the company claimed that YunOS is the third largest OS in terms of smartphone shipments, in the world. According to Alibaba Group, YunOS has been shipped on 70 million smartphones by May 2016.

On display here at its booth is a Meizu smartphone, running on FlyMe OS. It looks exactly like the Android-based FlyMe OS that we see in India, except that this one runs on YunOS. Spokespeople here clarified that the YunOS version of the Meizu smartphone is not shipped anywhere except China, but eventually, the units do transcend the country's borders. YunOS already has a virtual machine built into it, which allows most Android apps to run. Developers can also build directly for the OS itself. The features include everything - from regular push notifications to more gimmicky applications like face recognition. We also saw the OS running a home automation robot that looks much like the Aguabot from Milagrow, available in India.

The use of YunOS in smartphones is confined to China at the moment, but that's not the only thing that the OS powers. The company displayed air conditioners, televisions from Pioneer, smart screens and smartwatches, all running on YunOS. In smartwatches, the OS comes with NFC-powered payment abilities as well. The company showcased a YunOS-based smartwatch from FIYTA, which can deliver notifications to your smartphone, as well as make payments on NFC-based services.

Perhaps none of that makes YunOS quite as interesting as having it on a car, though. The company is launching what it calls the first Internet-connected car, soon. The details of YunOS' features on the car are rather hushed, but the representatives here confirmed that it'll support both 4G and 5G, and has the first automobile map in China. YunOS also has the capacitiy to connect devices running on it, meaning you can control all of them from a single app, if the developer wants so. That's somewhat like a derived implementation of what Apple has done with its multiple operating systems for varying form factors.

YunOS, on first look, seems like a Chinese answer to Android, like Baidu is to Google, or Weibo is to Twitter. As of now, I can only wonder whether all these Chinese firms will one day take it beyond the country.
Kaitangata offers new residents affordable housing and land packages to attract city-dwellers

The 800 residents of Kaitangata have launched a drive to recruit new people to move in with attractive house prices.

A small town on the south island of New Zealand is looking to outsiders to fix a very good problem for the local community - they have too many jobs.



The scheme involves offering house and land packages in the rural community for an attractive NZ$230,000 (122,000) in the hope that Kiwis struggling with life in big cities will be tempted to relocate.

The scheme involves offering house and land packages in the rural community for an attractive NZ$230,000 (122,000)

Mayor the surrounding district Bryan Cadogan estimates that there could be at least 1,000 vacant jobs available in the area and the supply is not meeting the demand from residents.

When I was unemployed and had a family to feed, the Clutha gave me a chance, and now we want to offer that opportunity to other Kiwi families who might be struggling.

We have got youth unemployment down to two. Not 2%  just two unemployed young people.

Most of the area's industry focuses on primary sectors such as a dairy processing plant and and freezing works, and they are having to transport workers in from nearby Dunedin to fill jobs.

So many of the things Kiwis value, such as owning your own home and providing for your family, have become an impossible dream. For a lot of people in New Zealand life is just an endless slog. And that really saddens me," Cadogan said.
Luxury goods receive well-needed boost as Chinese buyers take advantage of slump in pound

Britons have delivered a potential windfall to the tourism and luxury goods industries as the fall in value of the pound makes goods and services cheaper for foreigners, according to Bloomberg.

The outcome of Thursday's referendum on European Union membership sent sterling to historic lows as investors rush to sell the currency.

Consumers reacted almost instantly to the drop, with searches by Chinese for U.K. holidays skyrocketing on Ctrip.com International Ltd.s travel booking app, the company said, while Chinese news site Phoenix implored visitors to London to Buy, Buy, Buy.

Consumers reacted almost instantly to the drop, with searches by Chinese for U.K. holidays skyrocketing

Luxury British companies such as Harrods and Burberry have received a much-needed boost in demand for their products, as the Chinese are the biggest buyers of high-end goods and make most of their purchases overseas.

I wouldnt be surprised to see Chinese and Middle Eastern tourists flocking to the U.K. as their purchasing value has increased, said Edouard Meylan, chief executive officer of Swiss watchmaker H. Moser & Cie. People are ready to travel to get a 5 to 10 to 20 percent discount.

The benefits may well take time to come to fruition as holidaymakers book flights and accommodation well in advance however, as well as the real possibility of prices increasing which could affect business.

The benefits may well take time to come to fruition

Switching travel to the U.K. and Europe from Japan could save Chinese shoppers as much as 40 percent with the currencies shift against the yuan, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Michelle Ma. She expects to see changes to the travel pattern of mainland Chinese straightaway as it is the middle of their summer holiday season.
Spains Telefonica decided to take its UK subsidiary O2 off the auction block, following Brussels decision to block its sale to rival Hutchinson Whampoa , until the storm in markets abated.

On 11 May 2016, the European Commission said it would not allow the transaction to proceed due to anti-trust concerns.

As a result, and starting with the next set of half-year figures from the telecommunications outfit, O2 would cease to be classified as 'discontinued operations', the Madrid-based group said in a statement.

Nevertheless, Telefonica also said it would continue to study different strategic alternatives for its British unit, with an aim to implementing them once market conditions were more oportune.

As of 15:39 BST shares in Telefonica were rising by 6.49% to 8.34.
SNP leader Sturgeon meets with Juncker to try and keep Scotland in EU

Race begins to replace Cameron as British PM

Britain will have to accept freedom of movement of immigrants if it wants to retain access to the European Union's single market after leaving the 28 member bloc, EU leaders warned on Wednesday.

At the end of a two day summit to discuss the fallout from the Brexit vote last week, UK Prime Minister David Cameron was told firmly that there could be no "a la carte" selection of trade deals.

Cameron had warned EU leaders on Tuesday that they must address the issue of immigration, adding it had been the key issue in the British vote to leave.

Cameron said that he wanted to see a post-Brexit deal struck that would allow for a close economic relationship, but said any such arrangement would have to acknowledge British concerns about migrants.

Cameron resigned as prime minister on Friday as results showed 52% of voters chose to leave the EU but did not start the formal process of exiting under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. He said there had been no immediate pressure to invoke the clause from other leaders.

However, on Wednesday the remaining 27 EU leaders all had agreed that Britain would have to accept freedom of movement if it wanted to maintain access to the single market as a non-member.

"We reconfirmed that Britain's withdrawal from the European Union must be orderly and there will be no negotiations of any kind until the UK formally notifies its intention to withdraw," said European Council President Donald Tusk.

"It is up to the British government to notify the European Council of the UK intentions to withdraw from the EU. Leaders made it crystal clear today that access to the single market requires acceptance of all four freedoms, including the freedom of movement. There will be no single market 'a la carte'," Tusk added.

German Chancellor Anglea Merkel said there could be no cherry picking of single market rules that guarantee freedom of movement of goods, services, capital and workers in a view that was endorsed by France and Italy.

The leaders also agreed to meet again in Bratislava on 16 September to discuss progress on the issue.

Cameron's Conservative Party on Wednesday fired the starting gun on the race to replace Cameron by October at the latest.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said if a member of the 'Remain' campaign was to take over as prime minister he would expect Article 50 to be invoked within two weeks, but if a member of 'Leave' emerged, widely expected to be Boris Johnson, this should happen within 24 hours.

He rejected Cameron's assertion that immigration was the sole reason for Brexit.

My impression is that if you, over years if not decades, tell citizens that something is wrong with the EU, that the EU is too technocratic, too bureaucratic, you cannot be taken by surprise if voters believe you, he said.

There had been talk of the possibility of a second referendum, but this was dismissed by Merkel who said it was not the time for wishful thinking.

"I want to say very clearly tonight that I see no way to reverse this," Merkel said when asked about the possibility of a British U-turn on Brexit.

Sturgeon meets EU chiefs

In separate developments, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was in Brussels on Wednesday to hold talks with Juncker in an attempt to keep Scotland in the EU.

She was also scheduled to meet European parliament president, Martin Schulz, and Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister and leader of the Liberal group at the European parliament. European Council President Donald Tusk declined her offer of talks, the Scotsman newspaper reported.

Scotland voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU, prompting Sturgeon to say that a second referendum on Scottish independence was highly likely.

However, Sturgeon faces stiff opposition to EU entry from Spain, with acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy rejecting any moves in that direction by Scotland.

If the United Kingdom leaves [the EU], so does Scotland, he told a news conference in Brussels.

Scotland has no competences to negotiate with the EU. The Spanish government rejects any negotiation with anyone other than the United Kingdom.
Gun and bomb attacks reported at Turkish airport on Tuesday evening, early signs indicate Islamic State involvement

Suicide attacks have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Tuesday evening, with at least 41 people killed and over 230 injured in a combination of gunfire and bomb blasts in one of the world's busiest terminals.

Deadly explosions ripped through crowds in the Turkish airport after the assailants became involved in a firefight with security forces at a checkpoint, before detonating suicide bombs.

Deadly explosions ripped through crowds in the Turkish airport after the assailants became involved in a firefight

In a press conference in Istanbul on Tuesday night, Turkish prime minister Binali Yldrm said: No matter where the terror comes from, our country is strong enough to fight against this terror. I call on every citizen to act in unity and stand by each other. He said that by 2.22am local time air traffic was back to normal and flights are resumed.

At least five of the dead were police officers and some were foreigners, according to Yildirim.

Islamic State is likely responsible for the killings, the prime minister said in televised remarks. Once an affiliate of al-Qaeda, Islamic State carried out beheadings and crucifixions as it took parts of Syria and northern Iraq. While losing ground in recent months, it is striking abroad more frequently and claimed responsibility for similar airport attacks in Brussels in March.

A witness from South Africa told Reuters that the gunmen opened fire randomly inside Ataturk, which has taken over Frankfurt recently as Europe's third busiest airport with almost 62 million annual passengers.

He was just firing at anyone coming in front of him. He was wearing all black. His face was not masked. I was 50 metres away from him, said Paul Roos, 77, a tourist on his way back to Cape Town with his wife.

Islamic State is likely responsible for the killings, the prime minister said in televised remarks

We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting.

He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over.

Security footage from the airport circulating on social media appears to show one of the attackers being shot by police before detonating a suicide bomb.
Embattled UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn faces a formal challenge for his position after a 75% of his MPs supported a no-confidence vote.

Even though Corbyn effectively lost the backing of the parliamentary party, he refused to resign, saying it would betray the thousands of party supporters who elected him in a landslide last year. Former cabinet minister Tessa Jowell urged him to quit on Wednesday.

Jeremy, you love the Labour party like I do and the Labour party has given you every opportunity that you have been able to exercise to make life for your constituents better, she told ITV.

I ask you to follow the strongest possible view of the parliamentary party and stand down. Corbyn has been accused of failing to campaign strongly for Britain to stay in the European Union.

Tom Watson, Corbyn's deputy, was expected to try to broker a deal to stop the party imploding.
Ohio's 6-week abortion ban was a fringe idea. Heres how it became law

Ohio led a slow, determined push to steadily weaken and then nearly eliminate abortion rights. It's indicative of what has happened around the U.S.
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NEW YORK (AP)  If visiting Italy isn't on your agenda, a 360-degree video installation in New York City of the country's magnificent landmarks may whet your appetite.

Called Panorama, the wrap-around screen went up in Grand Central Terminal this week.





. . .
Runberg Architecture Group

Wechsler

Seattle-based Runberg Architecture Group promoted Melissa Wechsler to partner. She joins founder Brian Runberg and Michele Wang in that role. The firm said Wechsler's design vision and project management experience have helped it in designing high-performing mixed-use buildings. She is collaborating with Graphite Design Group on two residential towers above Google's future offices in South Lake Union. Previously, she was with Borrelli + Partners in Miami.




FSi consulting engineers

Hallock

Kledzik

Bingham

Seattle-based FSi consulting engineers hired Daimian Bingham, Michael Kledzik and Chris Hallock as mechanical engineers. Bingham specializes in energy modeling, life cycle cost analysis and HVAC airside design, and is working on projects for King County and Boeing. Kledzik is an energy manager with 10 years of experience in energy audits and upgrades. He is working on Washington State Ferries' Mukilteo and Colman Dock Ferry Terminal replacement projects. Hallock specializes in cooling, sound attenuation, and plumbing systems for projects that range from department stores to data centers. He is doing work at Sea-Tac airport. FSi provides mechanical engineering.




The British can rest easy. Although there is considerable clamour for the European Union to drop English as its official working language in the wake of Brexit, this is not going to happen any time soon. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from across the EU, from France to Poland to even Ireland, have said that the English language no longer has any legitimacy in Brussels following the UK's referendum vote to exit the bloc. ''English is our official language because it has been notified by the UK. If we don't have the UK, we don't have English,'' Polish MEP and chair of the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee Danuta Hubner told a news conference on the legal consequences of the British referendum to leave the EU on Monday. But a statement issued on behalf of the European Commission rejected Hubner's claim. The European Commission Representation in Ireland said it ''noted'' the report that English would cease to be an official language of the EU but said it was ''incorrect''. ''The Council of Ministers, acting unanimously, decide on the rules governing the use of languages by the European institutions. In other words, any change to the EU Institutions' language regime is subject to a unanimous vote of the Council,'' the statement said, In 1958, the then European Economic Community named Dutch, French, German and Italian - the languages of the first six countries to join the organisation - as its official languages. Since then, as more countries have become part of the EU, the number of official languages has increased to 24. While Irish received full status in the EU in 2007 it remained marginalised due to a derogation which meant that EU institutions were not obliged to provide full translation services in the language. While English is the most spoken language in Europe, and an official language in three member states - Ireland, England and Malta - Irish is Ireland's official EU nominated language and Maltese is Malta's official language. Hubner said under EU rules member states can notify only one official language each which means that Malta or Ireland cannot also request English as an official language without first making a change to EU rules which would require a unanimous decision in the EU Council. However, she was confident such a change could take place. ''I personally believe that we will find unanimity to change the rule on this ... and then we will have from the Irish not only Gaelic but also English or from the Maltese not only Maltese but also English,'' she said. Hubner is not alone in her view that a Brexit might have implications for the English language as a working language in Europe. French Jean-Luc Melenchon leftwing MEP and French presidential candidate tweeted on Monday that ''English can no longer be the third working language of the European Parliament'' . (See: Brexit: Europe may shut the door on the English language).








Sounding sceptical about progress in normalisation of relations with India, Adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz called for managing the situation better so that tensions don't grow. "Their narrative has remained unchanged. They (India) do not want to give us credit [for our actions against terrorism] and keep that as an excuse for not starting dialogue," the Dawn quoted him as saying at a foreign policy briefing session held for journalists on Tuesday. Aziz asserted that the problem was that New Delhi wanted normalisation on its terms, which was not acceptable for Islamabad. Stating that his country will not back away from its principled stance on talks with India, he said that Pakistan has been insisting that talks should be held on a whole range of eight issues identified for bilateral dialogue, but India wants an exclusive focus on terrorism. "If no major improvement takes place, we should manage the situation and our minimum objective should be to prevent tensions from growing," he said. Aziz wasn't very hopeful about progress in the Afghan reconciliation process. "Prospects of the [Afghan] peace process are not good. It would all now depend on the ground situation in Afghanistan," Aziz said. He was of the view that the elimination of Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US drone attack last month sabotaged the peace dialogue. "How can his successor now be asked to join the peace process," he asked, adding that there had been no signal from the Taliban as yet to suggest that they were preparing to move in this direction. Aziz noted that there were divisions within Afghanistan about engaging a peace process with the Taliban and lack of clarity about how Kabul wanted to take the initiative forward. He said that Islamabad could not take full responsibility for bringing the Taliban to the table, but could use 'whatsoever influence' it had to facilitate the process. Regarding the repeated allegation by Kabul and Washington of not adequately acting against the Afghan Haqqani network's alleged sanctuaries in Pakistan, Aziz pressed that there was no difference of objectives and it was rather a matter of sequencing and timing. Regarding the border issue with Afghanistan he said, 'Border management is an immediate need that is our priority. Moreover, the border is not an issue which we would like to negotiate, he emphasised.










On most days, Dale County Sheriffs deputy Josh Harper dresses in his uniform and prepares for whatever encounters he might have while patrolling the county.

On some other days, he wears a different uniform in service to his country. Harper, a specialist with the Alabama National Guard 186th Engineer Company in Dothan, was among several local guardsmen who recently returned from duty this month in Romania at the Cincu Training Range.

Some others are still serving in Romania.

Alabama National Guard Public Affairs Officer, LTC Shannon Hancock, released an article by Staff Sgt. Christopher Davis on Wednesday that stated the mission was an ongoing effort of Resolute Castle 16, which has been a partnership between the Guard and the Romanian Land Forces since 1993. The partnership utilizes guardsmens engineering experience to improve infrastructure at the Romanian training center for use by multinational forces who conduct various exercises there.

Davis stated the 186th had the specific task of widening and extending a five-kilometer range road they first helped to construct last year, as well as improving the culvert and drainage systems along the route over a ridgeline, which connected two other major range roads.

The Romanian project was the 186ths first overseas deployment since 2007, when the unit deployed to Kuwait and Iraq and worked more than 2,200 route clearance patrols, reducing the number of IEDs by 93 percent.

Alabama National Guard Sgt. Ronnie Anderson said the Dothan unit is the guards only engineer company in south Alabama.

Its always different going to another country and seeing the different lifestyles, or serving a different mission, said Anderson, who has also deployed to the Dominican Republic and Kuwait with the guard.

The Romanians taught us and we taught them. It was rewarding seeing the young soldiers do their job with such energy and motivation to serve.

Anderson, who is also a Dothan Police Department patrol officer, said he joined the Guard 18 years ago while he was still in high school. He said the best part of his experience has been the chance to gain knowledge he can use both in the military and as a civilian.

It can take you further than you can imagine, he said.

There have been changes over the years, but knowing Im doing something for my country  and for my family  means something. You have to ask yourself when you see third-world countries if that is how you want to see America, or do you want to do something to help.

Harper, who has a farming background, said he joined the Guard three years ago because he wanted to serve his country.

A lot of people join the guard to go through school, and thats fine, but I joined because I wanted to make a difference, he said.

Harper said he enjoyed the opportunity on the recent deployment to interact with Britons, Romanians and other soldiers who were intrigued by the 186ths American equipment.

Our equipment is in the 2015-2016 range and theyre still operating on some equipment from the 1980s, so theirs was a little slower but they got the chance to train on some of ours, he said.

It was humbling to work with them and to know that weve made things better. It can be stressful in anything you do to want to make the world better, but you do the best you can, and learn everything you can.

The Dothan unit drills out of the Third Avenue National Guard Armory in Dothan. The unit was established in October 1955 as the 258th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion, and was broken up into engineer battalions and engineer companies in 1978.

The unit serves within the 877th Engineer Battalion, which is headquartered about five hours away from Dothan in Haleyville, between Birmingham and Huntsville.

This article was updated to reflected that some of the 186th continues to serve in Romania.
A voting right that Rev. Kenny Glasgow said he has sought to have modified since 2003 has passed into law in Alabama.

Gov. Robert Bentley signed legislation on Tuesday that updates the requirements for the Certificate of Eligibility to Register to Vote for individuals freed from incarceration in the state on most felony convictions. According to the legislation, eligible residents convicted of felonies that do not involve moral turpitude, and have served and paid all fines, costs, fees and victim restitution ordered specifically in the case of disenfranchisement, are able to retrieve their right to vote.

The legislation also requires that the former inmate be notified whether the certificate of eligibility was granted or denied within 14 days of the applications receipt by the executive director of the state Board of Pardons and Paroles.

The previous legislation allowed for a longer time for the certificate of eligibility application to be processed. It also did not specify that only payment of court-ordered expenses for the charge for which the person was disenfranchised was required before the right to vote was restored. The prior legislation was therefore interpreted to mean that people could only retain their right to vote after all court costs and restitution, no matter how many cases there were against them, was paid.

The law becomes effective Sept. 1, which still provides time for most formerly incarcerated residents in Alabama to register to vote in the upcoming presidential and congressional election on Nov. 8. The deadline to register to vote in Alabama for the November election is Oct. 24.

The Alabama Department of Corrections reported at least 964 prisoners were released each month between March and December 2015. Glasgow, the founder of The Ordinary People Society, said he believes the new legislation could affect as many as 50,000 to 100,000 former prisoners who were incarcerated for crimes not relating to moral turpitude.

The only thing that declares and decrees you a citizen of the United States is your right to vote, Glasgow said.

Ninety-eight percent of people that go to prison come back out. Why let a person out after they paid their debt to society but not restore their citizenship? They should have their rights restored.

Glasgow, who was released from an Alabama prison in 2001 after serving a sentence for a drug conviction, said he started in 2003 working to have voting rights restored to former inmates. Glasgow said his right to vote was restored in 2004.

A Jefferson County circuit judge determined in 2006 that the states constitution did not bar all felons the restoration of their voting rights, but rather those who had committed felony crimes involving moral turpitude. Such felonies include murder, rape, treason, sexual abuse or crimes involving children.

Glasgow said he collected between 10,000 and 20,000 voter forms across the state after the 2006 court decision from prisoners who had either never voted or did not know that their right to vote had been reversed after a conviction.

Glasgow said Tuesdays legislation was significant.

Youll be surprised at the amount of people who are formerly incarcerated who want their right to vote. The only battle is making sure that they know they can have it, he said.

One thing that makes it so significant now is the fact we have this election coming. We have about 256,000 people who are disenfranchised in Alabama, I believe. This (new legislation) will affect at least half.

Glasgow said in addition to working on the state level, he and others have worked to have federal legislation changed as it relates to former prisoners.

We took four things to the Department of Justice. We took housing, and now formerly incarcerated people can get public housing. Employment, and now they can get employment because President Barack Obama has banned the box for federal jobs, Glasgow said.

We took to them education, and now prisoners can get a Pell Grant, and the last thing is the language. Calling someone an ex-felon isnt racism, but it is classism.

Glasgow said he does hope to remove even the moral turpitude language from voter privilege.

The National Conference of State Legislatures lists Alabama as one of nine states that requires government action before an ex-prisoners voting rights are restored. There are 38 states, and Washington, D.C., that allow most ex-felons to automatically gain their right to vote after the completion of their sentence, according to the conference.
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.
Mitsubishi is set to show off its new coupe-styled plug-in hybrid SUV concept, the Mitsubishi Ground Tourer Concept, at the upcoming Paris motor show in September.

The new concept will build on the brand's XR PHEV II compact SUV coupe concept shown at the 2015 Geneva motor show and the Mitsubishi EX Concept - which is expected to be the ASX replacement - which was shown at the 2015 Tokyo motor show.

The bigger-bodied SUV concept will follow the same design language as seen in the smaller examples shown at earlier motor shows and is set to feature the brand's plug-in hybrid technology.

The Japanese car maker is expected to push its hybrid technology after it was embroiled in a fuel use scandal earlier this year.

While details are scarce at the moment, and there is no intimation as to whether the new concept will make it to production it is likely that its design will influence future products. It will share the brand's "Diamond shield" front fascia which takes inspiration from the three-pointed emblem.
23-Year-Old Ashling Scribben from Charlestown Ardee is volunteering in Uganda with Nurture Africa this July.

Ashling is travelling with 20-30 other volunteers on the 1st of July 2016.

In recent months she has been raising money for the charity and has already raised 2,900 through a range of different events.

"I held a Uganda day in my school were students wore the colours of the Uganda flag, that raised 800 euro. Last Saturday there was a trad night in Tallanstown which raised around 700 euro. Tomorrow I am collecting money in O'Gormans were I work part time.

"The money I've raised is going to go to health clinics which will go towards helping people living with AIDs," she said.

The volunteers are heading to Nansana, Wakiso District, Uganda. Nansana is located 6 miles northwest of Ugandas capital city Kampala along the Kampala Hoima Road.

"I am going to teach maths in a secondary school, I was teaching at St Louis in Carrickmacross," she said.

The volunteers are encouraged to bring stationary with them as resources are in very poor supply in the region.

"National Pen in Dundalk donated 300-400 pens the other day and CTI office supplies also donated a variety of stationary," she said.

Nurture Africa is an Irish founded Internationally registered Non-Governmental Organisation that works in Uganda with a targeted focus upon Healthcare, Education, Child Protection & Gender Equality and Economic Empowerment.

"The charity offers humanitarian aid, they help people establish their own businesses such as fruit and vegetable stalls, so they can have a sustainable living," she concluded.

Nurture Africa are a non-denominational and non-political organisation.

They facilitate structured and tailored short term overseas volunteer placements for Second and Third Level Students and Professionals who are willing to offer their invaluable time, skills and energy in order to assist their work.
The secret service man asigned to us is named Joe.

Joe looks like a secret service man - straight out of 'House of Cards'. His head is imacculately shaved, he wears a black raincoat that looks designed to conceal an arsenal and on his lapel he wears a red badge with an 'S' on it.

Joe is polite and professionally detached, has a nice line in deadpan humour and the air of a man that would end your life without breaking a sweat.

Joe tell us that he speaks in a low voice generally, but that if he has to speak louder then it's a good idea to listen.

Joe is not assigned to watch US Vice- President Joe Biden on his visit to the Cooley Peninsula. He is assigned to watch us - the press.

We are accompanying the Vice President on the second last day of six day tour of Ireland. After a long wait at Newgrange, we (the local press at least) get our first view of the Biden family.

They are a handsome family, and have the wholesome, clean living look of the classic American family.

VP Biden was travelling with his family, including with his daughter Ashley and five grandchildren, as well as his brother Jimmy and his wife.

From Newgrange we board a luxury, leather seated Mercedes press bus. We travel by cavalcade and it is an experience that live with this humble local newspaper reporter.

The Whitehouse have flown out fourblack Chevrolet Suburan who weigh over four tonnes each.Each has special forces commandos in the back, and assault rifles in the front. There are also four BMW X5, and an asortment of other tank like vehicles. This is of course not to mention the support vehicles carrying his staff, the garda cars and our three press buses to the rear. Added to this a helicopter flies overhead, overseeing us from the skies.

In total we count over 20 vehicles, carrying easily over 100 people.

About 40 of this 100 could well be secret service men, who all appear to wear an informal uniform of navy blazer, shirt, khakis and of course sunglasses. They look like ex-military types and have that cold detachment.

Thousands linethe route, waving flags - both Irish and American. Someone even has an 'Underwood 2016' poster, a joke not lost on the press pack.

At Fitzpatrick's Mr Biden met the Kearney family - including Ireland and Leinster winger David - for lunch. Upon leaving VP Biden - ever the polished politician, meets Aoibhinn Brennan. His advice: No serious dates until you are 30-years-old, before turning to the crowd adding: I speak for every father, dont I ?

VP Biden has the cut of what we imagine an American head of state to be - at least in the years before Barack Obama became the first black President. He is tall, grey haired and statesmen like - a poster boyof sorts for what American Presidents looked like - in 1980s movies at least.

In Carlingford An Cathaoirleach Cllr Paul Bell presented the Mr Biden with the Honorary Freedom of the County and a replica of the Brown Bull of Cooley made by local craftsman Joe Lawler.

In his speech he played the crowd like the old hand that he is. He recounted his roots in Ireland, saying how he was shocked at the accuracy of the stories he had been told about his family's heritage in his own youth - a heritage evidently very close to his heart.

At one stage the mobile of one of our elected representatives went off, and quick as a flash the Vice President said: That will be Barack! which won him a heartfelt laugh from Heritage Centre floor.

Yet the backstory to his visit to Cooley is also very much tinged with sadness, His son Beau died last year from cancer. It had been their plan to visit Ireland together and the trip clearly had an emotional resonance for the Vice President.

As polished a politician as Mr Biden undoubtedly is, there was no doubting what this trip meant to him.

Following the civic reception the entourage spent at least 30 minutes on a walkabout to meet the people of Carlingford, before the cavalcade moved on to picturesque setting of Kilwirra cemetery near Templetown Beach.

Maybe the most raucous reception lay ahead at Lily Finnegan's in Whitestown, where the day drew to a close amidst country music and a fewpints of Guinness.

There was no denying a sense of a shared history between the Biden family and people of the Cooley Peninsula. This was very much a homecoming and the Wee County saved its very warmest embrace for this Irish American family and their sincere desire to reconnect with their roots.
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Owning a credit card is both a luxury and a need. It is a luxury because of the fees included when you use it. It is a need especially for those who travel a lot as cards with known providers is accepted almost everywhere (except for night and day market of course).

Just recently, I was introduced to a new credit card by Maybank in cooperation with Mastercard, the Maybank Platinum Mastercard which offers a high credit limit and perks that only a platinum card holder can avail of. While I was not offered one (thank goodness!) I found some of the features very enticing.

I have listed below the reasons to own a Maybank Platinum Mastercard which you might find not available on the current credit card you own. I was also told by a source that if you are a current owner approval will be easy!

To help prevent fraudulent transactions, they have embedded a EMV-compliant chip on the card and the number that will send an SMS messgae to the customers mobile phone after every transaction using the credit card. This allows cardholders to track their purchases and protects them from unauthorized transactions. A Maybank Secure Online Shopping (MSOS) , which is a one-time password that the card owner will recive via SMS before every online transaction at 3D secure websites. Philippine-issued cardholders of the Maybank Platinum Mastercard can enjoy all the perks as the locals have in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Cambodia card holder because of the cross-border privileges. They can also enjoy discounts and freebies offered at local merchants from other countries. For every Php50.00 spent using the Maybank Platinum MasterCard, a cardholder earn 1 Asia Mile or 1 KrisFlyer Mile, pick one where you want your miles credited. Using the card overseas also earns cardholders a 1% cashback rebate. Enjoy MasterCards Priceless Cities program which offers exclusive access to some of the most coveted places and events. You can know about the Mastercards Priceless Cities just google the term and its all there!

My favorite benefit of owning the platinum card is the 1 mile for every Php50.00 purchase or charge using the card! That is very competitive offer that travel enthusiast would want to make use of a lot.

To learn more about the Maybank Platinum MsterCard, you may visit www.maybank.com.ph
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Last year, as part of the deal over road funding that led to Proposal 1 on the May 2015 ballot, a school financing report was commissioned by the state to determine what it takes to educate a child in Michigan. This week, that report was released and it shows, as anyone who is paying attention to education in our state had already figured out, Michigan is woefully underfunding education.

Here are some of the highlights (lowlights?) drawn from reporting by the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News:

There is significantly more variation in per-pupil revenues and expenditures across districts than is desirable for an equitable school finance system.

Michigan needs to spend 30% more per student for at-risk students and 40% more per student for students struggling to learn English.

Successful districts spend more educating students and tend to rely more on local revenue.

State government needs to increase the school foundation allowance and provide supplementary state aid to districts with low property values or stratifying per-pupil increases to close the gap.

The study found that an optimum funding level is $8,667 per student. The range in Michigan right now is from $7,511 to $8,229. However, some districts spend considerably more which helps improve their outcomes. Thats a gap of between $438 and $1,156 statewide.

These findings come too late to impact the school funding legislation signed into law this week by Gov. Snyder. The new legislation increases state funding by only $60 to $120. Were very disappointed that it didnt come out prior to the signing of the budget, Democratic State Representative Adam Zemke of Ann Arbor told The Detroit News, because then we could have utilized it to make some very significant changes it clearly shows need to be made.

The new funding package also includes $2.5 million for private schools, which is sure to be fought in the courts. Michigan voters have repeatedly turned down proposals to give state tax dollars to private schools and the new legislation appears to be an end run around the constitution which forbids it. Rather than follow the constitution, Gov. Snyder decided to take his chances in court. With respect to the non-public piece of this bill, its to address mandates put on by the state, he said. There are some potential legal issues associated with that  but I thought it was appropriate to move ahead and then address the legal question.

Gov. Snyder also signed legislation that aimed at resolving the intractable problems with funding schools in Detroit. This new plan is widely believed to be completely inadequate in terms of the amount of money is being earmarked for the struggling district and has the added bonus of allowing for uncertified teachers to teach Detroit students, something allowed in no other district in the state. On top of that, it has only $25 million dedicated to upgrading the districts tragically dilapidated buildings, an amount that seems more of an insult than an effort to ensure Detroit kids get to go to school in buildings that are as safe and hospitable to learning as kids anywhere else in the state.

Meanwhile, a CEO has finally been appointed by the Snyder administration to take over East Detroit Public Schools. As I have written about before, CEO is the new Emergency Manager when it comes to the state taking over local school districts. And, as Nancy Kaffer points out so eloquently in her piece in the Detroit Free Press, theres little in our states history to give any of us confidence that it will work:

Emergency managers appointed by Snyder have a decidedly mixed track record. Detroit weathered its historic municipal bankruptcy under the guidance of emergency manager Kevyn Orr, but the City of Flint has had four emergency managers  and under their oversight, the citys water supply was contaminated with lead, a neurotoxin with serious implications for childrens health and development. Its even harder to find a success story in school districts that the state has taken over  Detroit Public Schools, under state oversight for most of this century, were delivered the coup de grace earlier this month by the state Legislature; DPS will be replaced by a new, debt-free, district. Appointing a CEO, with responsibility for just four of the districts schools and no clearly defined relationship to the districts superintendent and elected school board, seems designed to complicate, not simplify, the districts struggles.

The East Detroit School District is fighting the move in court but that hasnt dissuaded Gov. Snyders administration with moving ahead anyway.

Michigan was once national leader in education. Now we are the poster child for what happens when corporatists are allowed to set education policy. Were now the national example of how NOT to educate children as a new piece in the New York Times makes clear:

Michigan leapt at the promise of charter schools 23 years ago, betting big that choice and competition would improve public schools. It got competition, and chaos. Detroit schools have long been in decline academically and financially. But over the past five years, divisive politics and educational ideology and a scramble for money have combined to produced a public education fiasco that is perhaps unparalleled in the United States.

This chaos is being manifested as I write this with three charter schools in Detroit announcing this week that they are closing. Why? In part its because the competition so often touted by corporatist education reform types has them cannibalizing each others students. That same cannibalization is happening with our public schools, as well, of course. And thats taking a huge toll on them.

But when there are tax dollars to be siphoned off into the coffers of the education corporations, thats of little concern to the Republicans who currently run our state. Its just one more example of Republicans claiming government doesnt work and then working their asses off to prove it.

UPDATE: In case you thought everything was hunky dory in Benton Harbor, think again. The school district there is getting its fourth emergency loan from the state in four years, this time for $4.4 million so the teachers there wont have to work for free.
Snapchat recently began rolling out its redesigned Discover page. It now displays images and headline previews of the content inside Discover channels and Live stories on the Stories page. It previously displayed only logos for publishers or events on those sites.

Publishers now can include an image and a headline to promote each days story. Their stories will run beside user-contributed Live Stories on both the Discover and Stories pages.

The Discover page has a grid of tiles, similar to Pinterest. The Stories page combines the rows of static Discover channels into one scrollable row.

Snapchat users now can tap and hold to subscribe to their favorite Discover channels, instead of having to pull them up out of the entire Discover list as before. Subscribing will place unread stories below updates from users friends on the Stories page.

The redesign could help with the number of hits a publisher gets, since it will put the content in the same context as Live Stories, noted Mike Jude, a program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.

The subscribe feature is kind of nice too, because then if you see something on your Stories, its because you put it there, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Looking for the Gold

Snapchats redesign may help it take on the competition  YouTube and Facebook  more effectively.

The tiled view could help draw more advertisers to Snapchat, which reportedly has hit 150 million users daily, up from 110 million in December. Thats still a far cry from Facebooks 1.1 billion daily active users worldwide, though.

On the other hand, consumers viewed 3 billion videos on Snapchat daily last July, while Facebook chalked up about 4 billion. YouTube hit the 4-billion video view mark in 2012.

Big brands reportedly are paying millions of dollars for video ads on Live Stories or in Snapchats Discover network in an effort to reach young people. More than 60 percent of smartphone users aged 13 to 34 use Snapchat, the company has claimed, and advertisers are hungry for access to that demographic.

Advertising is primarily a push dynamic, [but] Snapchat is more of a pull dynamic, Jude remarked. As an advertiser, you always look for the people who are clicking into your copy. You want active readers rather than passive ones.

Content Marketings Rosy Future

Content marketing will be a US$300 billion industry by 2019, PQ Media has predicted.

Engagement with branded content is significantly higher on smartphones than on desktops and tablets, according to the Polar report for April 2016.

The big opportunity for publishers and advertisers is clearly on mobile, the Polar report points out.

Advertising Success Is Ephemeral

Snapchat is crossing that dangerous chasm from social media site to viable business, Jude cautioned. Monetization is hard and demands that the basic social model change to either capture more advertising attention or more subscription revenue  and getting the balance is critical.

Snapchat is trying to steer clear of subscriptions, he said, but as an advertising channel, it must demonstrate that it can capture and hold peoples attention long enough for advertising to stick.

However, Snapchat moments are very brief and focused on a communication that lasts for  a matter of seconds, said Larry Chiagouris, professor of marketing at Pace University.

Snapchat and media partners will need to train an entire generation to get news from the Snapchat ecosystem, he told The E-Commerce Times. This is doable, but not in the near future, and could take years.

Until Snapchat moments can be proven to impact consumer behavior, Chiagouris said, advertisers will not jump on board beyond a little experimentation.
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Brexit supporters are now looking forward to a more prosperous future for the United Kingdom outside of Europe. Their hopes, however, rest on two highly questionable premises. The first is that the short-term economic and political costs of exiting Europe will be very much smaller than the long-term gains to be derived from being outside of Europe. The second is that the UK will now be in a political position to free itself from excessive European regulation and to undertake those economic reforms that might place the country on a faster economic growth path.

Developments in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote should be concentrating minds as to how costly the UKs exit from Europe is likely to be. In the space of just two days, sterling declined by around 11 percent making it by far the largest such two-day decline in the currencys history. Meanwhile, domestic and global equity markets became unhinged with around $3 trillion wiped off global equity valuations, while populist leaders in France, Italy, and the Netherlands argued that their countries too should hold exit referendums.

Equally troubling, the referendum has turned UK politics upside down. Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to resign, opening the way for a bitter Conservative Party leadership fight over the next two months. At the same time, the opposition Labor Party was thrown into disarray by a leadership challenge to Jeremy Corbyn. Meanwhile Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party, has given notice that a second Scottish independence referendum is very much on the table. She has also intimated that Scotland could precipitate a UK constitutional crisis by refusing to approve any decision by the UK parliament to formally begin the divorce negotiations with Europe.

Political turmoil is the last thing that the UK needs at a time that it will be negotiating its future relationship with Europe. These negotiations, which will take at least two years, are already seriously undermining household and investment confidence in the UK economy as they raise basic questions about the UKs future European relationship. There is also the risk that political uncertainty will only accelerate the London-based banks efforts already underway to relocate parts of their operations to Dublin, Frankfurt, and Paris in anticipation of their losing their European financial passports.

All of this uncertainty has to be highly concerning since it is occurring at a time that the UK is running an external current account deficit of 7 percent of GDP, which is the highest such deficit in the post-war period. The financing of that deficit requires that capital continue to flow into the country in very substantial amounts. This makes it all too likely that we are only at the start of a prolonged period of considerable sterling weakness.

If there would be a further major decline in sterling, there is every prospect that the UK would experience a deep economic recession as it has done on the occasion of previous sterling crises. It is also all too likely that sterling weakness would further unhinge global financial markets. That would constitute yet another headwind for the UK and global economic recoveries and it would put further wind in the sails of European populist parties.

Brexit supporters are certainly right to think that, freed from its European shackles, the UK would have the potential to deregulate its economy and to unleash its entrepreneurial and innovative spirit. However, the crucial point that they seem to be overlooking is that one requires the right domestic political conditions to be in place in order to successfully pursue policies of economic liberalization and reform.

The one thing that we should have learnt from recent European and US experience is that difficult economic conditions all too often give rise to political forces that are inimical to sensible economic policies and to economic reform. Sadly, the likelihood of a drawn-out UK economic recession greatly minimizes the chances that supportive political conditions will prevail. In which case, those who got their way with Brexit are likely to experience deep buyers remorse since the UK will have suffered the costs of Brexit without having reaped the long-run benefits. It will also have had UK politics upended for a long time to come.

Desmond Lachman is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He was formerly a Deputy Director in the International Monetary Funds Policy Development and Review Department and the chief emerging market economic strategist at Salomon Smith Barney.

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The 2016-17 school year marks a major milestone for aspiring college students: They can apply for federal financial aid on Oct. 1, three months earlier than in the past, in the hope of getting earlier aid decisions from colleges.

The change was designed to make college decisions easier, especially for low-income students. But a bevy of barriers, including state budgeting cycles and longstanding admissions timetables, are likely to undermine that vision, at least in this first year.

Along with making the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, available on Oct. 1 instead of Jan. 1, the U.S. Department of Education this year is also allowing students to use what insiders call prior-prior year, or PPY, tax information: family tax data thats a year older than whats been permitted in the past. Students applying for college in the fall of 2017 can submit their familys 2015 taxes, instead of not-yet-final 2016 tax figures that would have to be updated later.

That switch allows families to make better use of the FAFSAs data-retrieval tool, which automatically grabs their 2015 Internal Revenue Service information and plops it into the federal aid application.

A Streamlined Process?

Taken together, the changes are designed to make it quicker and easier to apply for the $129 billion in loans, grants, and work-study slots that the education department awards each year to help 12 million students pay for college.

The College Boards CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE, used by 380,000 students last year to apply for aid at many private colleges, also now accepts prior-prior year tax data.

Changes In the FAFSA Students who apply to college in 2016-17, for enrollment in 2017-18, will be able to take advantage of several big changes in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Theyre designed to make applications quicker and easier, and possibly get financial-aid decisions earlier from colleges, too.

The Education Department has encouraged colleges and universities to make financial aid awards earlier, and is optimistic that many will do so, said Ed M. Pacchetti, who is leading the implementation of the early FAFSA from the departments office of federal student aid.

We do think schools want students and parents to know earlier how much aid they qualify for, he said. I think students and parents are going to respond more positively to a school where they know how much theyre going to get to go to that school. It could become somewhat of a competitive advantage for schools who do package earlier.

High school counselors say theyre happy that their students will find it easier to submit financial-aid applications this year. But many are saying privately that they arent optimistic students will reap a key hoped-for benefit of the earlier FAFSA: getting aid decisions from colleges earlier.

A lot of the promise of this whole thing falls apart if colleges dont give us those decisions earlier, said one counselor, who didnt want to be named for fear of alienating the colleges she works with on her students behalf. And interviews with financial-aid officers suggest that relatively few colleges and universities will be able to provide students with aid decisions any earlier than usual.

Scrambling to Weigh Aid Offers

Typically, high school students submit financial aid applications by mid-February, counselors report. While they receive word instantly about federal loans and grants, they must wait much longeroften until early or mid-Aprilto receive aid offers from the colleges that have offered them admission. With a nationally recognized date of May 1 to accept a colleges offer of enrollment, families often have only a few weeks to evaluate multiple financial-aid offers and figure out how to finance gaps between aid and the cost of college. Its a particularly tight spot for families without deep pockets.

Thats what Aislinn Diaz went through last year when she was trying to figure out where she could afford to go to college. Diaz was 17 and a senior at Irma L. Rangel Young Womens Leadership School, a public, all-girls school of 560 students in Dallas. Shed been accepted at four colleges and wait-listed at another. Her parents run a barbecue restaurant, and couldnt afford to foot a big college bill, so financial-aid offers mattered a lot.

With only a few weeks until they had to make a decision, Diaz and her family plunged into evaluating what they would have to pay, given the cost of each, how much aid it offered, the federal grants shed been awarded, and the other scholarships her counselor, Ann Marano, had pushed her to apply for. It was a really stressful time, Diaz said. Sometimes I felt like I was panicking.

She accepted the offer that made the least financial demand on her family: from Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Now a rising sophomore, Diaz is happy with her choice, but the what-ifs still swirl in her head. Would it have gone differently if she had had more time to evaluate the offers, and visit the colleges that made them? I would have liked to have had that time, she said.

State, Institutional Barriers

College and university financial-aid administrators support the use of prior-prior year tax information, and the early availability of the FAFSA, said Megan McClean Coval, the vice president of public policy and federal relations for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. But its been less than a year since the Education Department announced those changes in September 2015, and it will take a few years to shift fixed timelines that have long governed higher educations work, she said.

Iowa State University is pushing hard to honor the spirit of the timeline shift. Roberta Johnson, the director of the office of student financial aid at the 36,000-student institution, said it is committed to sending out financial-aid awards by the end of January, two months earlier than usual. Many private institutions are cushioned by big endowments or research grants, but publicly funded schools like Iowa State depend heavily on tuition, which is driven by state funding levels. Iowas legislature doesnt convene until January, so Iowa State is going out on a limb to promise aid decisions that same month, she said.

Were definitely going into some uncharted territory as we start to plan, Johnson said.

A Domino Effect

The university might have to send out aid letters with conditional language, and possibly revise the awards later, Johnson said. And sending aid letters out early has ripple effects on the fall calendar: Iowa State will have to ask students to turn in the FAFSA on Dec. 1, instead of its usual March 1. Now Johnson and her colleagues are worried about how that will affect admissions.

Some students are still visiting our campus in the late fall. They might not decide to apply here until after Jan. 1. Now we might lose those students if the financial-aid deadline is so early, or applicants who miss the deadline will be at a disadvantage in getting institutional aid, she said.

To minimize those effects, Iowa State now plans to add a new element to fall visits: Students can sit down with financial-aid office staff members and fill out the FAFSA, right then and there.

But most colleges and universities will find those changes impossible to make.

Rachelle Feldman, who oversees financial aid at the University of California-Berkeley, said her school supports the FAFSA changes, but its admissions cycle wont permit it. At Berkeley, which received 103,000 applications last year, admissions officers use an intensive, holistic approach, and dont get done until early spring, she said. Even if FAFSA applications arrive in the fall, there wouldnt be admitted-student records to match them with yet, she said.

The Rhythm of State Funding

Like other public institutions, Berkeley depends heavily on state funding in setting its tuition. And it also must keep a keen eye on the level of Pell Grant funding set by the federal government.

Berkeley is trying to move the FAFSA process earlier for returning students, to free up more time to evaluate new students aid applications and make early offers, Feldman said. But even as campus officials work toward that, theyre questioning it.

How valuable is it to get an aid offer if there are 15 asterisks because we dont know what the budget is, what tuition will be, what the [maximum] Pell Grant [amount] will be? she said. Is it better to have an early letter with lots of caveats or a later letter that says you can count on this?

Feldman, who leads a financial-aid-administrators task force on the early FAFSA, said many of her colleagues are still figuring out how much, if at all, they can shift their aid timelines.

Even software systems can complicate moving financial-aid awards earlier. Samantha Veeder, the director of financial aid at the University of Rochester, said she usually receives annual updates after Jan. 1 to the software that lets financial aid offices manage students admissions and aid files. If updates dont come earlier, she said, her private institution of 5,300 students might not be able to match early FAFSA submissions with admissions applications.

Unintended Consequences

High school counselors have welcomed the early FAFSA, saying that a quicker, easier process will encourage more students to apply for aid. But its also making them scramble to rearrange college-planning events.

Marie Bigham, the college counselor at the Newman School, a small, private K-12 school in New Orleans, said that a program she would have held in late August, just as school begins, on how to fill out college applications, was pushed back to June 6. The session she typically scheduled for early January, to acquaint families with the financial-aid process, will instead be held in late September or early October.

Counselors tend to use fall to focus students on finalizing their college lists and submitting applications, and then turn to financial aid in January, when the FAFSA used to become available. Dealing with them both together, in the fall, will intensify counselors workloads at a busy time of year, said Aislinn Diazs counselor, Ann Marano, at Irma L. Rangel Young Womens Leadership School in Dallas.

This dramatically changes the stress points. I usually say senior year is a roller coaster, but this makes it a fall squeeze, she said.

But a heavy workload isnt most counselors top concern about the early FAFSA. Even those who applaud it, in K-12 and higher education, are worried about its possible unintended consequences.

Special Risks for Needy Students

If colleges move priority aid deadlines earlier in order to produce earlier awards, that timetable could have a disproportionate impact on lower-income students, said Veeder, of the University of Rochester. Such students typically have the least access to counseling support in college planning, and they might not realize that a lot of institutional aid is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, and might be gone if they wait very long to submit aid applications.

How will the most marginalized students and families know and be able to apply in time? Veeder said.

Some high school counselors worry that the pressure to submit applications for aid, and possibly admissions, earlier might lead students to short-circuit a full college-exploration process. In late fall, many teenagers are still figuring out where they want to apply. But an early, good financial aid offer could lead a student to take himself out of the admissions marketplace because he feels he has a good choice already in hand, said Phil Trout, a college counselor at Minnetonka High School in Minnesota.

Earlier deadlines could shift the entire college planning and application process earlier, with high school transcripts needed before the first semester of senior year is complete, said Johnson, of Iowa State.

It could end up being a six-semester transcript, and that could put more pressure on students in those first three years, she said. And what does that do to senior year?

Even with open questions hovering over the process, however, many counselors view the earlier FAFSA timetable as a door to college that just opened wider.

Im super thrilled. At our school, the question isnt if youll go to college, but where youll go to college, said Marano, the counselor at Irma L. Rangel in Dallas. And for our families, the financial aid piece is important. So making it easier is huge.
To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020.
Cochran selected to be second in command of largest B-1 combat wing

Colonel Bradley Cochran, son of USAF Lt. Col. (Ret) Bill and Shirley Cochran from Layton, Utah, has been appointed vice commander of the 28th Bomb Wing, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota. The 28th BW is the largest B-1 combat wing in the U.S. Air Force and is home to 27 B-1B bombers and more than 4,300 military and civilian members.



Cochran recently completed studies at the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Prior to attending Air War College he served as the 393rd Bomb Squadron commander, Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. In that role he was responsible for the conventional and nuclear combat readiness of the men and women in one of only two operational B-2 stealth bomber squadrons in the Air Force.



He has served in several instructor positions, was a Military Legislative Fellow to Sen. John Thune on Capitol Hill, and served within the Joint Chiefs of Staff Operations Directorate (J3) at the Pentagon in Washington.



Cochran participated in Operation Northern Watch and Operation Southern Watch, and has combat experience in Operations Allied Force and Enduring Freedom. He is a distinguished graduate of several USAF schools including Squadron Officer School and the U.S. Air Force Weapons School. In 2001, his crew was 21st Air Forces nominee for the MacKay Trophy for the most meritorious flight of the year.



He is a command pilot with more than 3,100 hours in various aircraft.



For more information, please contact the 28th BW Public Affairs at (605) 385-5056, or by emailing 28bw.pa@us.af.mil.




Post Office to be revamped to interest high street retailer

Plans to turn Douglas Post Office into retail space in a bid to attract a big name retailer will be submitted this summer.



That's according to the chairman of the Isle of Man Post Office Ray Harmer who's outlined the vision for the site on Regent Street.

Mannin Retail has taken over the running of the office and will move it into the former 'Carnival' building on Strand Street next month.

A design team has now been appointed to develop the new scheme - however Douglas East MHK Jon Joughin says he isn't convinced the plan adds up:

Media

Jon Joughin
From the Huffington Post (which I try to avoid unless they are writing something funny about Exxon*):

ExxonMobil has long maintained that it supports a carbon tax in the United States.

For instance, heres Suzanne McCarron, ExxonMobil vice president of public and government affairs, in the Los Angeles Times on Mar. 14: When governments are considering policy options, ExxonMobil believes a revenue-neutral carbon tax is the most effective way to manage carbon emissions.

Heres Exxons CEO Rex Tillerson at last months shareholder meeting: Our valuation of those [policy] alternatives suggests that a carbon tax is the most efficient way to implement policy design to influence behavior.

These are not new or isolated comments. Tillerson has publicly said Exxon supports a carbon tax  which helps combat global warming by putting a price on the greenhouse gases in fuels  since 2009. He said back then that a carbon tax strikes me as a more direct, a more transparent and a more effective approach, compared to more cap-and-trade regulation, which creates a complex market for the right to emit greenhouse gases.

So where does the company stand now that the House of Representatives is set to vote on a non-binding resolution that rails against a carbon tax?

Were not commenting on the resolution, Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers told The Huffington Post in an email. He went on to detail the companys long-standing support of a carbon tax and many of the policies benefits that the resolution denies exists.

In 2015, David Hasemyer and Bob Simison of Inside Climate News detailed how Exxons public support of a carbon tax has never been matched by a practical commitment to backing a carbon tax politically. Exxons reluctance to comment on the carbon tax vote in the House Friday is, at least, a continuation of that consistent strategy.
For a few years now we have heard about a helium shortage. While most of us (just me?) think of helium as that fun gas that makes things float and gives us a Donald Duck voice, helium actually has some important uses. For example, MRI's rely on helium (I'm not sure how, but they do). So running out of helium could cause problems. But it looks like the problem might be solved, or at least pushed off into the future for a while:

With world supplies running out, the find is a "game-changer", say geologists at Durham and Oxford universities.

Helium is used in hospitals in MRI scanners as well as in spacecraft, telescopes and radiation monitors.

Until now, the precious gas has been discovered only in small quantities during oil and gas drilling.

Using a new exploration approach, researchers found large quantities of helium within the Tanzanian East African Rift Valley.

They say resources in just one part of the Rift valley are enough to fill more than a million medical MRI scanners.

Prof Chris Ballentine, of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, said: "This is a game-changer for the future security of society's helium needs and similar finds in the future may not be far away."

And colleague Dr Pete Barry added: 'We can apply this same strategy to other parts of the world with a similar geological history to find new helium resources. "
F G Bailey, the renowned British social anthropologist, conducted fieldwork in Bisipara in the highlands of Orissa in the 1950s to examine the ways in which the state, democracy and new forms of economy were changing the traditional organisation and apprehension of power and status. At the time, and following the Temple Entry Act, the former untouchables of the village attempted to gain entry to the Shiva temple. On that occasion, and as Bailey recounts, they were unsuccessful. A new fieldwork conducted in 2013 in the same location presents an update of the continuing drama surrounding the Shiva temple, against a backdrop of the changing polity and economy of the village, and as a manifestation of contested postcolonial identity politics.

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If the state board had credible information about the mass use of unfair means in the examination conducted by it, why didnt it cancel the same and reconduct the entire examination? Instead, it chose the convenient way out of reviewing and humiliating the candidates, shirking its own accountability and failure.

Screenshot of a website's coverage of the Bihar topper scam

The razzmatazz and revelry of certain toppers who had proved their mettle in the intermediate exam conducted by the Bihar School Education Board (BSEB) was cut short after some of them had brief interactions with certain news channels. The channels went into a tizzy soon after and upon their own inferences, raised fingers on the merit of these candidates in subjects they had already been formally examined. The students in zeal, though under no obligation to respond to the barrage of questions, embarked on the misadventure by attempting to reply to these much unanticipated subjective questions, instead of what one expects in such interactions congratulatory remarks with questions about preparation. This led to the cancellation of results of a couple of toppers after a retest was hastily taken by an ad hoc panel quickly constituted by the board, apparently a face saving exercise, to show their solemnity before the electronic media in preserving the sanctity of the public examinations conducted by them.

As the events unfold, at least three of the previously declared rank holders in this examination are imminently facing arrest, and the former arts topper, a girl candidate, has already been arrested immediately after failing a retest held on June 25, 2016. None of these toppers would have thought of the penal consequences they will face after the ominous media interactions. The Chief Minister of Bihar also ordered a probe with investigation from a criminal angle to do damage control, leading to an investigation by the Bihar Polices SIT (comprising of police and CID officials), and constitution of two separate probe committees, one by the BSEB and the other by the state government. Under the mounting pressure, due to the alleged irregularities in the said examination, the BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, and secretary Harihar Nath Jha also resigned. The SIT also arrested the former BSEB Chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh and his wife Usha Singh, a former JD(U) MLA, from Varanasi on June 20, 2016.

The speed of investigation in this case to deal with an alleged criminal scam, and bring to justice those who are involved should bring plaudits to the state government and its agencies, but haste by the state to show efficiency should not lead to injustice to certain individuals. The entire series of events commenced with media interactions which went viral, directly ridiculing certain toppers, and indirectly deriding the reputation of the BSEB, triggering a tirade between the politicians in the state and at the centre, leading to retests of certain rank-holders being conducted by an ad hoc panel of experts

In this incident, nobody is oblivious of the systemic problems in the examination system conducted by this state board, and these very channels have in the past rightly shown how the mass use of unfair means had been rampant at certain public school examination centres. This calls for imposing strict measures during the conduct of examinations and scrutiny of answer booklets, having zero tolerance for use of unfair means, and also encourage public debate on these issues.

Questions for the Bihar Education Board

However, few questions remain. If the state board had credible information about the mass use of unfair means in the recent intermediate examination conducted by it, why didnt it cancel the same and again conducted the entire examination? Instead, it chose the convenient way out without owning responsibility for a possible failure of its examination system, by making some of its successful candidates scapegoats by again conducting an interview-cum-examination by a panel of fifteen academic experts, whose sanctity and legality itself should be in question. This led to the unfair penalisation of a couple of students in the form of cancellation their results, with directions to them for reappearing in the inter examination. It may be seen at the onset, to the delight of the commerce toppers, that only toppers from the humanities and science streams were re-scrutinized by the board.

Why were the toppers of the commerce stream not reviewed? This it seems, is due to the reason, that none of the commerce toppers was interviewed by the news channels. The entire review exercise conducted by the board appears to be arbitrarily conducted at different stages, and may be amenable to judicial review inter alia for violating the fundamental right of the affected candidates granted to them under Article 14 of our constitution, which guarantees equality before law. The exemption to the commerce toppers itself is unjust to the others. Secondly, only the first seven toppers in the order of merit in arts and science each were called for the review exam. On what basis did the board arbitrarily arrive at the cut off of first seven toppers to face the review board? Is the board suspicious about the results of the first seven candidates alone, and presumes impeccability in results of all the other candidates in the merit list? Mere administrative convenience cannot be a justification. The same argument can be marshalled for the reportedly twenty five questions which were asked to the candidates in the review exam, with seventy per cent as the cut off marks to clear the review test. If presumably, as an after thought, after the review exam conducted on the specious basis, the review committee infers that in a particular case prima facie there may have been use of unfair means benefitting that candidate, in absence of direct evidence which is not likely to be available now, and in any case can be disputed, can the committee decide to cancel its own result just on basis of inferences drawn from its review exam.

Did the board have sufficient evidence to take selective retests? The question is of the validity of reviewing the students current knowledge as a response to possible use of unfair means. For example, isnt it possible for a lily livered candidate to be nervous for various reasons in answering the questions before the review committee; more so, when his entire course of plan for future endeavours may have been unsettled by the decision of this new assessment test. Isnt it conceivable, that some of these toppers were just lucky to get a question paper which contained most of the questions which they had prepared well, whereas the review committee may have asked them unanticipated questions. Isnt it also plausible, that after the board examination, which must have been a few months ago, the candidates being reviewed might have been totally out of touch with the subjects concerned, enjoying their summer vacations, and particularly considering the rote learning which some of them may have employed for their preparation, or their sheer lack of interest in these subjects, much of their learning might have been whitewashed by now. Is it not possible that the unanticipated and rude shock of reassessment at a short notice might have subjected some of these unprepared candidates to an evaluation process which possibly will lead to erroneous conclusions.

The basic issue here is not to ascertain the subjective knowledge of these candidates at present. The issue is, whether their intermediate exam board result is credible or not, and since it was announced to be so earlier, the assumption about its credibility cannot be displaced on the basis of any inferential postmortem analysis or review. To scrap their results on basis of testing the current knowledge of the successful candidates is to confound the issue, and indulge in an ad hominem attack. Furthermore, isnt it arguable, that when the mode of this board examination is a written examination, conducting an interview itself is an unsuitable mode of reassessment, and may be an intimidating experience for some of these candidates, particularly in the wake of huge public and media pressure. Loosing ones composure in the review tests and national ridicule and shame, may lead to depression in certain candidates, as veritable from the request of the girl candidate who was the arts topper but who reportedly failed to appear before the committee on the appointed day due to depression, and even subsequently after a week. She was shamed and ridiculed though her interview is irrelevant to judge her performance in the examination whose result has indubitably proved that she had excelled in the same. Not being a convent-educated child from a big metro, confronted by an overassertive inquisitorial journalist, she may have fumbled and nervously mumbled something which was quite irrelevant, as even suggested by her grandfather in print media. Instead, the news channels continuously replayed her interview clip ad nauseam drawing their hasty erroneous conclusions about her merit as a topper, and though the board has asked her to reappear after a week, it could be apprehended at the outset that she may not be in a fit state of mind to face this unjustified review process.

Neccessity of the Non-Bailable Warrant

On June 25, 2016 it was shockingly reported that she was arrested immediately after coming out of the retest before the panel, which she failed, unable to answer even a single question by the re-evaluation panel correctly. The panel cancelled her result after the review. The criminal accusation against her is reportedly that of cheating and forgery. It is hoped, that the investigative agency has credible evidence against the students charged of serious offences, and it is not merely a witch-hunt against the vulnerable juveniles to regain the loss of credibility by the state government. It is likely that there may be some substance in the prosecutions case, as non-bailable warrants (NBWs) have been issued against four of these students till date. However, without seeking to influence the ongoing process of criminal investigation and subsequent trial, I as a legal academic, with the caveat of not being privy to the proceedings before the court which has issued the NBWs, have some skepticism about the need to issue NBWs against the said students in this case. Was there a real need to seek NBWs by the State against the accused students, who are not some hard-core criminals. The following directions of the Apex Court in Inder Mohan Goswami & Another v State Of Uttaranchal & Others (2007) are instructive on the issue of how and when warrants should be issued by the Court:

The issuance of non-bailable warrants involves interference with personal liberty. Arrest and imprisonment means deprivation of the most precious right of an individual. Therefore, the courts have to be extremely careful before issuing non-bailable warrants. When non-bailable warrants should be issued Non-bailable warrant should be issued to bring a person to court when summons of bailable warrants would be unlikely to have the desired result. This could be when: it is reasonable to believe that the person will not voluntarily appear in court; or the police authorities are unable to find the person to serve him with a summon; or it is considered that the person could harm someone if not placed into custody immediately.

One common link between certain candidates re-scrutinised including, the arts and science topper, was the Vishun Roy (VR) College in Bhagwanpur at Vaishali, of which they were students; and which possibly had a dubious reputation of producing a number of rank holders in past. No adverse conclusions can be drawn against these toppers merely for being students of a particular college, and mere suspicion against them cannot replace legal proof. To fix this so called board examination racquet, criminal cases were registered against a number of accused persons who were allegedly involved, and the alleged kingpin Bachcha Rai, who was the principal of the VR College, was arrested along-with several others including, certain teachers working in some other institutions. The alleged complicity of those arrested also indicates that the irregularities, if they were indeed present in these recent inter examination, were not restricted to one institution or examination centre. Those arrested were also reported to have close connection with the former BSEB Chairperson Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh.

If there is a rot somewhere, the criminal investigation to book those who are involved is laudatory. However the selective persecution of certain successful candidates on basis of media interactions has to condemned. Who should be responsible for this infamy caused in bargain to these students, affecting their well-being, casting their credibility in doubt? This becomes all the more serious for those whose personal liberty is at stake, and are either imminently facing arrests or already arrested. What if they are finally acquitted or discharged? For all this, and I shudder to think, if any of these students in state of depression were to cause self harm, who will owe the responsibility for the same? Will it be the ever zealous electronic news media, which in its zeal to reveal the truth and unravel the shortcomings of the system, at least this time, in a sort of media trial, has caused unnecessary harm to the reputations of certain individual school students, apart from possible psychological injury to these individuals? Or, will it be the BSEB which acted swiftly this time, but perhaps too late for curing the possible shortcomings of the public examination it had already conducted, and whose results were duly declared by it, solely to do the damage control, to selfishly protect its own reputation, though risking to besmirch reputation and careers of many of its successful protegees, which it was duty-bound to protect. It is doubtful, that the dubious review process and adverse consequential decisions of the education board against certain rank holders which followed will stand legal scrutiny, as the grandfather of the science topper has already suggested about approaching the High Court challenging the cancellation of his kins result. After her arrest, the arts topper was reported in media to have confessed to the police. Though it may sound damning, the evidentiary value of such a confession is challengeable. Sections 25 and 26 of the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 (IEA), in general, bars a confession made to a police officer, and in police custody respectively from being proved (and so used) against the accused. This restriction applies to a confession, which for the purposes of the IEA, as laid down by the Privy Council in Pakala Narayana Swami v King-Emperor (1939) means to: either admit in terms the offence or at any rate substantially all the facts which constitute the offence.

The events over the last few weeks do not portend well for the future. It would have been advisable for the board to have rather made systemic surgical corrections in conductance of its future examinations, after proper deliberations, rather than disturbing the results it had already declared after presumably following due examination process. However, if it is concluded by the BSEB and the state government that there has been mass use of unfair means in the examination in question then the only action advisable, and which alone may be countenanced would be to scrap the entire result and conduct the entire examination afresh, and not arbitrarily conduct re-examination selectively. Establishing the criminal culpability of any of the candidates accused in this alleged scam is a separate but connected issue in which the fairness and objectivity of the investigative agency will be crucial, and though the competence and impartiality of our courts cannot be doubted, the need for swift criminal justice to take these cases to their logical conclusion will be extremely desirable

However, a troubling question remains unanswered to my mind. Is the basis and motivation for initiating criminal cases against these toppers the the media interaction tapes, the results of the retests conducted by the BSEBwhose constitution, powers, dubious procedure, and ultimate actions may be impugned on legal groundsor is the basis independently collected credible information and evidence in this ongoing investigation, which is being conducted with much haste, establishing a prima facie case against them. Regardless of the ultimate outcome of the cases against these hitherto blue-eyed rank-holders of the BSEB, even if they are ultimately exonerated, they will in the meanwhile remain ostracised, ridiculed, depressed, and stigmatised; and possibly would have suffered from an irreparable damage to their careers, reputations, personal liberty, and health. How the suitable reparations, if at all it is possible, to these accused students can be made for all the adverse damage suffered by them, if they were to ultimately prevail through the law and justice system, is a larger question, which also needs to be pondered upon and debated, though the state government, its agencies, and particularly the electronic media, in this confounding environment, all presently appear to be in a self-congratulatory mode, and at least at present are not likely to even think about this problematic issue.

References :

Inder Mohan Goswami & Another v State Of Uttaranchal & Others (2007): SCC, SC, 12, p 1.

Pakala Narayana Swami v Emperor (1939): AIR, BOMLR, 41, p 428.
On 28th June, the European Synchrotron welcomed Mr Dmitry LIVANOV, Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, on the occasion of the 65th ESRF international Council meeting.

During this visit, Mr Dmitry Livanov, with Francesco Sette, Director General of the ESRF, and Bertrand Girard, Chairman of the Council of the ESRF, inaugurated the Joint Grant Programme of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the ESRF, in the presence of the ESRF Council delegates, Russian users and ESRF scientists, post-docs and PhD students.

It was the first ministerial visit since the accession of the Russian Federation as an ESRF member country, and it was highly significant in the context of the 50-year anniversary of cooperation of Russia and France in science and technology.

This inauguration represented a new step in the long-standing scientific collaboration between the ESRF and the Russian Federation, dating back more than 20 years.

Inauguration ceremony with Harald Reichert, Director of Research at ESRF, Alexander Soldatov, Director of the International Research Center, Smart Materials, Francesco Sette, Director General of the ESRF, Dmitry Livanov, Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Bertrand Girard, Chairman of the council of the ESRF and Paul Indelicato, representative of the French Ministry of State for Research.

The collaboration between scientists working at the ESRF has always benefited from the presence of Russian scientists. Collaboration activities have been steadily growing, in particular since 2011, through concrete actions to further strengthen the Russian community using the ESRF.

In 2011, a Memorandum Of Understanding was established with the NRC-KI (Kurchatov Institute). The cooperation was strengthened further with the accession of the Russian Federation as an ESRF member in December 2013. In 2014 an ESRF-Russia cooperation platform was created to promote scientific and technical exchanges, and scientists mobility, among research on innovative materials and living matter.

"Our task is to provide an opportunity for scientists to work with first-class experimental facilities, and therefore Russia is involved in a number of international projects. The ESRF is one example of such collaboration. Our scientists are increasingly interested in the work done at the European Synchrotron: more and more applications for experiments are made every year, with an increasing level of quality. It is clear that unique results can only be achieved by using unique scientific equipment. The share of Russian participation in the work of this centre - in the range of 5.5% to 6% - should not be seen as a limit, and will increase in the future", underlined Dimitry Livanov during the meeting.

Today, the ESRF has developed around 60 partnerships with Russian Institutes and Universities.

The inauguration of this Joint Grant Programme sets up the basis to further promote joint scientific and technological endeavours to the benefit of all parties, through the ESRF peer review process.

As explained by Francesco Sette: "It is wonderful to witness how many Russian groups are developing science and technology programmes with ESRF scientists and with ESRF users from the other 20 ESRF member and scientific associate countries. This is a wonderful trend that highlights how science at research infrastructures such as the ESRF serves many purposes which include giving the possibility to investigate and discover the materials of the future and the mechanisms giving rise to biological life. It symbolises the success of the ESRF, that allows scientists from different cultures to meet and collaborate across the borders, to push back the frontiers of knowledge, to develop new technology to the benefit of partner states industry and society and to forge the next generation of European and international scientists and engineers. This visit sets the basis for many new exciting opportunities for the future in science and international cooperation".

Accelerator division director Pantaleo Raimondi shows Mr Livanov the new prototypes of girders for the EBS project.

Visit of ID32 with Nick Brookes, scientist in charge of the beamline.
ETAN joins letter supporting UN Human Rights Council resolution on protecting civil society UN Human Rights Council, Geneva. UN Photo. Action Network (ETAN) joined 243 other organizations in



The letter opposes 15 amendments submitted by Russia that "would undermine international efforts to safeguard space for civil society," the letter says.



"The draft resolution, presented by a cross-regional group of States comprising of Chile, Ireland, Japan, Sierra Leone, and Tunisia, was developed through broad consultation with States and civil society and in the past was adopted by consensus," the letter adds.



The letter organized by the the

Monitoring and Analysis)



The full letter and list of signers can be found



civil society participation in the UN and elsewhere.The letter opposes 15 amendments submitted by Russia that "would undermine international efforts to safeguard space for civil society," the letter says."The draft resolution, presented by a cross-regional group of States comprising of Chile, Ireland, Japan, Sierra Leone, and Tunisia, was developed through broad consultation with States and civil society and in the past was adopted by consensus," the letter adds.The letter organized by the the International Service for Human Rights was also signed by the International Federation for East Timor and La'o Hamutuk (Timor-Leste Institute for DevelopmentMonitoring and Analysis)The full letter and list of signers can be found here JUNE 29, 2016- The East Timor and IndonesiaNetwork (ETAN) joined 243 other organizations in a letter urging members of the UN Human Rights Council to oppose amendments that would gut a resolution supporting Also

ETAN Human Rights & Justice page Watch the documentaries

and support ETAN Blu-Ray DVD Blu-Ray DVD

SUPPORT ETAN! ETAN is "A voice of reason, criticizing the administration's reluctance to address ongoing human rights violations and escalating oppression in West Papua and against religious minorities throughout Indonesia." Noam Chomsky Donate Today!

WWW http://www.etan.org




Younited Italia, Nicola Manzari e il nuovo Coo, Luca Faccini e Head of Growth e Domenico Petraroli e General Counsel
When a cell makes copies of DNA and translates its genetic code into proteins at the same time, the molecular machinery that carries on replication and the one that transcribes the DNA to the mRNA code move along the same DNA double strand as their respective processes take place. Sometimes replication and transcription proceed on the same direction, but sometimes the processes are in a collision course. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin have determined that these collisions can significantly contribute to mutagenesis. Their results appear today in Nature.

"We first developed a laboratory assay that would allow us to detect a wide range of mutations in a specific gene in the bacteria Bacillus subtilis," said corresponding author Dr. Jue D. Wang, who was an associate professor of molecular & human genetics at Baylor when a portion of the work was completed and is currently with the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "In some bacteria, we introduced the gene so the processes of replication and transcription would proceed on the same direction. In other bacteria the gene was engineered so the processes would collide head-on."

The researchers discovered that when replication and transcription were oriented toward a head-on collision path the mutation rate was higher than when their paths followed the same direction. Furthermore, most of the mutations caused by replication transcription conflicts were either insertions/deletions or substitutions in the promoter region of the gene, the region that controls gene expression.

"People have mostly been looking at mutations in the DNA sequence that codes for protein, but in this paper we found that the promoter, the regulatory element of gene expression, is very susceptible to mutagenesis," said Wang, "and this susceptibility is facilitated by head-on transcription and DNA replication."

Promoters control how much of a gene is transcribed; for instance, particular mutations in promoters may enhance or reduce the production of proteins, or silence them completely. These genetic changes in gene expression may affect an organism's health.

"The mutation mechanism we identified is not just applicable to our experimental system, but can potentially contribute to mutations that alter gene expression in a genome-wide scale, from bacteria to humans," said Wang.

###

Other contributors to this work include T. Sabari Sankar from Baylor and the University of Wisconsin, Brigitta Wastuwidyaningtyas and Sarah Lewis from Baylor and Yuexin Dong from the University of Wisconsin.

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award DP20D004433.
Lindau, Germany (June 29, 2016) -- Mars, Incorporated and the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings today announced the extension of their partnership to support the next generation of scientific talent.

Mars will remain a Principal Maecenate, or tier-one partner, of the Lindau meetings -- a scientific forum recognized internationally for connecting the best scientists across generations. Since 1951, the annual meetings in Lindau, Germany have brought together more than 350 Nobel Laureates and 30,000 of the best young researchers in the world.

Society faces a number of critical challenges around energy, climate, food security and poverty. Scientists have a massive role to play in finding solutions to these issues but will need to work together. Mars, Incorporated will continue to support the Lindau meetings in bringing together the best and brightest young scientists to inspire dialogue and collaboration aimed at addressing these grand challenges.

"If we want to continue thriving as a business and as a society, we must collaborate across disciplines and sectors to solve the grand challenges that will define our future," said Pamela Mars, Chair of Mars' Technology Committee and Member of the Honorary Senate of the Lindau Foundation. "We're proud to extend our support of the Lindau Meetings, and in so doing, drive collaborations that will yield solutions to these critical challenges," she added.

2016 Meeting

This year's Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting is taking place from June 26, 2026 to July 1, 2016 and is dedicated to the field of physics. 29 Nobel laureates and 400 young scientists are gathering to discuss cutting-edge research topics, from gravitational waves to the future of the internet.

This morning, Mars, Incorporated and more than 100 leading young scientists addressed the topic "Why does soft matter matter?" in an interactive panel discussion. The panelists aimed to reveal the potential of soft matter physics in solving some of the world's most pressing sustainability issues and quickly moved onto the opportunities to transcend the boundaries of traditional research disciplines.

The panel comprised Nobel laureate in physics and former US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Senior Scientist from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the USA Antonio Redondo and Adriana Marais, one of the young scientists attending the Lindau meeting and postdoctoral researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

During the discussion, Chu, Redondo and the young scientists outlined new research that could yield societal benefits. According to Chu, "Remarkable research is taking place at the intersection of research disciplines and we are realizing that big charges we face will often mean that scientists need to work together -- uniting disciplines and sectors." Chu currently teaches at Stanford University, where he is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular & Cellular Physiology.

Later today, Mars will host another young scientist event on collaboration in science. 120 young scientists will be joined by two of Mars' partners, IBM and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, for a discussion on challenges and opportunities in big data.

Jeffrey Welser, Vice President and Lab Director of IBM Research - Almaden, and Benjamin Santer, Climate Scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will explore what physicists can learn from big data projects at these two prestigious organizations and more broadly about how the use of big data research can contribute to the future of science and society.

This is the tenth year of Mars, Incorporated's partnership with the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. It also marks the sixth annual panel that Mars has hosted, with the aim to foster discussions across disciplines to capture a wide range of perspectives on some of the critical issues of our time.

###

About Mars, Incorporated

Mars, Incorporated is a private, family-owned business with more than a century of history and some of the best-loved brands in the world including M&M'S, PEDIGREE, DOUBLEMINT and UNCLE BEN'S. Headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars has more than $33 billion in sales from six diverse business segments: Petcare, Chocolate, Wrigley, Food, Drinks and Symbioscience. More than 75,000 Associates across 73 countries are united by the company's Five Principles: Quality, Efficiency, Responsibility, Mutuality and Freedom and strive every day to create relationships with stakeholders that deliver growth we are proud of as a company.

For more information about Mars, Incorporated, please visit http://www.mars.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

About the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings

Once every year, some dozens of Nobel Laureates convene at Lindau to meet the next generation of leading scientists: undergraduates, PhD students, and post-doc researchers from all over the world. The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings foster the exchange among scientists of different generations, cultures, and disciplines. The 66th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (June 26 -- July 1 2016) is dedicated to the field of physics. 30 Nobel Laureates will participate in this year's Lindau Meeting, joined by more than 400 young participants from 80 countries. The Lindau Meetings are jointly organised by two institutions -- the council and the foundation. More information: http://www.lindau-nobel.org
Climate change is already reshuffling the UK's wildlife calendar, and it's likely this will continue into the future, according to new research published this week in the journal Nature.

The results suggest that seasonal events -such as the timing of flowering in plants and breeding in birds - are generally more sensitive to temperature change, than to changes in precipitation such as rain and snowfall. Plants and animals respond differently to temperature changes at different times of year.

Seasonal relationships between predators, such as insect-eating birds and plankton-eating fish, and their prey could be disrupted in the future. This could affect the breeding success and survival of these species, with possible consequences for UK biodiversity.

The analysis shows that, given these patterns in climate sensitivity, species in the middle of food webs, such as some insects and plankton species, which feed on plants but are themselves fed on by predators, are likely to change their seasonal "behaviour" the most in future.

The study was led by ecologists at the UK's Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, working in collaboration with 17 other organisations - research institutes, non-governmental organisations and universities. The analysis involved more than 370,000 observations of seasonal events including long-term records, spanning the period 1960 to 2012, covering 812 marine, freshwater and dry-land plant and animal species from the UK, from plankton to plants, butterflies to birds and moths to mammals.

The data represented three levels of the food chain, primary producers (such as flowering plants and algae), primary consumers (such as seed-eating birds and herbivorous insects) and secondary consumers (such as insect-eating birds, fish and mammals).

Species records were combined with national temperature and rainfall data to show that plants and animals not only vary greatly in their sensitivity to climate change, but that species at different levels in food chains have been responding to climate in different ways. Using the current best estimates of climate change, the study forecasts that by 2050, primary consumers will have shifted their seasonal timing by more than twice as much as species at other trophic levels -- an average of 6.2 days earlier versus 2.5-2.9 days, although there is substantial variation among taxonomic groups.

The lead author of the study, Dr Stephen Thackeray from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, said "This is the largest study of the climatic sensitivity of UK plant and animal seasonal behaviour to date. Our results show the potential for climate change to disrupt the relationships between plants and animals, and now it is crucially important that we try to understand the consequences of these changes."

Dr Thackeray added, "Our findings highlight the importance of managing ecosystems within a 'safe operating space' with respect to the likely impacts of projected climate change."

The study combined data collected as part of long-running scientific monitoring schemes, and also extensive citizen science initiatives, capitalising on the rich tradition of biological recording in the UK.

Co-author Dr Deborah Hemming, from the Met Office, said, "We are lucky in the UK to have a long history of people fascinated with observing and recording events in nature. By quantifying the relationships between these phenological records and climate data across the UK, we identify many phenological events that are extremely sensitive to climate variations. These provide ideal early indicators, or sentinels, for monitoring and responding to the impacts of climate variability and change on nature."

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Co-author Sian Atkinson, senior conservation advisor with the Woodland Trust, said, "Volunteers with our Nature's Calendar project contribute thousands of records each year on the timing of seasonal events. The resulting database is an invaluable resource for scientists studying the potential impacts of climate change. This piece of research demonstrates how very valuable such records are in helping us to build a picture of the likely impacts of climate change for our wildlife."

The study was carried out by scientists from the UK's Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Met Office, Rothamsted Research, The Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science, British Trust for Ornithology, The Woodland Trust, Butterfly Conservation, University of Cambridge, Sea Mammal Research Unit, The Freshwater Biological Association, University of Lincoln, Aarhus University (Denmark), University of Edinburgh, The Australian National University (Australia), Coventry University, Pozna? University of Life Sciences, (Poland), University of Aberdeen, and the People's Trust for Endangered Species.

The work was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.
ITHACA, N.Y. - What's the best way to prepare high schoolers for jobs in the 21st century? Education leaders and the general public have been debating this question with more heat in recent years, clashing over whether to focus on college preparation or vocational training, especially training linked to blue-collar jobs.

The way the pendulum swings may have profound consequences for young women, according to new Cornell University research published online June 29, 2016 and which will appear in the August print issue of the American Sociological Review. Blue-collar training without a strong college-preparatory focus leads to blue-collar jobs for men but penalizes women in the labor market, says lead author April Sutton, a Frank H.T. Rhodes Postdoctoral Fellow at the Cornell Population Center.

"This has been a real blind spot in the public discussion: the assumption that men and women would equally benefit from high school training for local blue-collar jobs," Sutton said.

Sutton and her colleagues, Amanda Bosky and Chandra Muller, both of the University of Texas at Austin, found that high school training in blue-collar communities reduced both men's and women's odds of enrolling in a four-year college but led to different outcomes for men and women when they looked for jobs. Men in these communities enrolled in greater numbers of blue-collar-related vocational courses in high school, had higher rates of blue-collar employment and earned comparable wages relative to men who attended high school in non-blue-collar communities.

In sharp contrast, women who attended high school in blue-collar communities were less likely to be employed at all and less likely to work in professional occupations when they were employed. They also earned far less than their female counterparts from non-blue-collar communities. Furthermore, gender gaps in employment and wages were widest among young men and women who attended high school in blue-collar communities.

These differences were partially due to high schools in blue-collar communities offering greater numbers of blue-collar related vocational courses while offering fewer advanced college-preparatory courses. Other research links advanced academic courses -- such as math beyond Algebra II - to four-year college enrollment and completion. "This curricular tradeoff did not penalize men in the labor market, at least in early adulthood, but it restricted women's opportunities to get good jobs," Sutton said.

These findings deserve close attention in light of recent proposals from both sides of the political aisle aiming to reemphasize blue-collar related vocational training and recent legislation in several states bolstering blue-collar related high school training while relaxing academic graduation requirements, Sutton said.

Those women who do obtain blue-collar jobs often find themselves still on the outside looking in at high-paying blue-collar positions. Among high school graduates ages 25-28 in blue collar jobs, the hourly gender wage gap was 22 percent, with women making 78 cents for every dollar men make. "The disparity is striking for a millennial cohort of women for whom the pay gap has substantially narrowed on average," Sutton said.

The study "raises questions about how high school training for these male-dominated, local jobs would impact gender inequality, and it emphasizes the importance of considering gender in debates about the best type of high school training to succeed in today's economy," Sutton said.

The researchers used data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, a nationally representative study of high school sophomores, designed by the National Center for Education Statistics. This cohort was tracked through early adulthood with follow-up surveys conducted in 2004, 2006 and 2012. The researchers took into account differences in students' family backgrounds, achievement test scores, academic grades, school demographics and other characteristics when they compared the education and labor market outcomes of young men and women across local labor markets.

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The study, "Manufacturing Gender Inequality in the New Economy: High School Training for Work in Blue-Collar Communities," was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Health and Child Development.

Cornell University has television, ISDN and dedicated Skype/Google+ Hangout studios available for media interviews.
Lisa Kaltenegger, associate professor of astronomy and director of Cornell's Carl Sagan Institute, has been name the inaugural recipient of the Barrie Jones Award by The Open University (OU), United Kingdom, and the Astrobiology Society of Britain (ASB). The award will be presented in a ceremony on July 7 at the OU campus.

The Barrie Jones Award recognises an individual's contribution to society and outstanding achievement in science and outreach through work relating to astrobiology. It was established by the OU Department of Physical Sciences in partnership with the ASB with the legacy of the late Barrie Jones (1941-2014), an astrobiologist at the OU, who dedicated much of his career to public engagement and outreach.

In a statement, the award committee said that Kaltenegger was nominated "for her world-leading research into exoplanetary science (searching for planets orbiting other stars); in particular, the possibility for habitable conditions on these planets...[she] actively engages with and inspires the next generation of young scientists."

Added Stephen Serjeant, Head of Astronomy at the OU, "Lisa, with her superb track record in engaging the public in science and inspiring future generations, makes her a very worthy winner of the Barrie Jones Award."

Kaltenegger said that she was honoured to be selected for the award, which recognises excellence in science as well as science communication. "As Director of the Carl Sagan Institute, the combination is very dear to me."

Rocky planets and super-Earths atmospheres in the habitable zone, as well as the spectral fingerprint of exoplanets that can be detected with the next generation of telescopes, are Kaltenegger's main research interests. Her honors include being named one of America's Young Innovators by Smithsonian Magazine, being selected as one of the European Commission's Role Models for Women in Science and Research, and receiving the Heinz Meier Leibnitz Prize for Physics of Germany.

Upon recieving the Barrie Jones Award, Kaltenegger will deliver a public lecture on her research, which will be broadcast live on July 7 at 10:00 am EST from The Open University campus.

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Montreal, June 29, 2016 -- The stories of historical figures like Laura Secord and Louis Riel are well known to many Canadians. But there are thousands more stories out there, about important people who have changed the country in their own way.

Ronald Rudin, a professor in Concordia's Department of History, has received funding from the federal Department of Canadian Heritage to unearth some of these lesser-known tales in time for Canada Day 2017.

Rudin, who is the co-director of the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, was awarded one of only 35 grants from the federal government for national initiatives to mark the 150th anniversary of Canada in 2017.

The $235,000 in funding will support the Lost Stories project that he directs, and which involves historians, artists and filmmakers from across the country.

"The project collects little-known stories about the Canadian past, transforms them into pieces of public art on appropriate sites, and documents the process by way of a series of short films available in English, French and other appropriate languages," Rudin says.

"Along the way, viewers learn about neglected Canadians, and see what happens when their stories are turned into physical objects."

Do you know of a noteworthy Canadian?

The pilot episode for the project -- about Thomas Widd, founder of the Mackay School for the Deaf (now the Mackay Centre School) -- focuses on the Montreal area, but Rudin intends for the next batch to reveal the stories of Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

He is now soliciting pitches from anyone in the country who has an interesting -- and little known -- story to tell.

"Between Canada's 149th birthday this Friday and Labour Day in September, I'm hoping that Canadians from all across the country will get in touch via email, Twitter or Facebook to contribute their Lost Stories," says Rudin.

Four submissions will be selected and handed over to artists to create works of public art, which will be inaugurated during the summer of 2017 -- around the same time that Canada will celebrate its 150th birthday.

Later in 2017, four documentary films will be launched on the project website. There will also be educational resources connected to the four stories and to the process of remembering the past in public.

For the Honourable Melanie Joly, minister of Canadian Heritage, the Lost Stories project is an important part of the 150th anniversary of Confederation, which she says "will be a unique opportunity for Canadians to celebrate the outstanding contributions of our communities and the wealth of our heritage."

Joly is hopeful that a wide range of people will submit ideas. "I invite Canadians in communities all across the country to take part in this exciting project and share their stories so that our rich and remarkable history can be passed down to future generations and inspire them."

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Share your Lost Stories with Concordia history professor Ron Rudin via email, Twitter or Facebook.

Related links:

Department of History

Ronald Rudin

Department of Canadian Heritage

Media contact:

Clea Desjardins

Senior advisor, media relations

University Communications Services

Concordia University

Phone: 514-848-2424, ext. 5068

Email: clea.desjardins@concordia.ca

Web: http://www.concordia.ca/now/media-relations

Twitter: @CleaDesjardins
Sophia Antipolis, June 29, 2016: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has discussed its concept paper for evaluating trial results on treatments for acute coronary syndromes with doctors and drug companies. The conclusions are published today in European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care.1

Ahead of updating its internal guidance, the EMA requested a meeting of the Cardiovascular Round Table (CRT), an independent forum established by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).2 The meeting was attended by clinicians, regulators, and scientists from academia and the pharmaceutical industry. Regulators included members of the Cardiovascular Working Party of the EMA and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).3

Lead author Professor Hector Bueno said: "The EMA had produced proposals on updating the 'Note for Guidance on Acute Coronary Syndrome' and wanted feedback from academia and industry. So they asked if the CRT would meet to discuss the issue and come up with recommendations."

The group's first recommendation was that trials should use troponin to diagnose myocardial infarction (MI). To establish consistency and facilitate interpretation of data across clinical trials, MI should be defined using the latest guideline on the universal definition of MI.4

It was agreed that trials evaluating medicines for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) should include patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and patients with non-STEMI (NSTEMI). In certain situations the populations should be studied separately. For example, medicines used during primary percutaneous coronary intervention should be assessed in STEMI alone.

Professor Bueno said: "Scientists often prefer narrow and 'clean' populations but industry seeks marketing authorisation for a broader population. Subgroup analysis can be done as a second step. The discussion showed why there can different views on the optimal trial design because the aims may be different."

Similarly, it was recommended that trials should not focus on high, intermediate or low risk patients but should include patients at all levels of risk. Trials should be designed so that information is collected to enable calculation of the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) risk score for each patient. Subgroup analysis according to risk can then be conducted as a second step.

"For approval, EU regulators recommend a trial design that includes patients with different clinical profiles and risks, who are in different settings and geographies within the EU," said Professor Bueno. "They want robust, well conducted clinical trials with a clear benefit/risk analysis of the study population and results that could be extrapolated to a broader population treated in day-to-day clinical practice."

The choice of primary endpoint was a hot topic. The historical endpoint is a composite of cardiovascular (CV) death, MI and stroke. But the majority of participants advocated the combination of CV and MI as the primary endpoint for evaluating drugs in patients with ACS. Stroke should be included in the composite primary endpoint only when a drug is suspected to have an impact on strokes, for example anticoagulants.

All-cause death must be recorded for safety and is therefore a key secondary efficacy endpoint. "Any divergence between the trend for cardiovascular death and all-cause death can be a red flag for a safety issue," said Professor Bueno.

Regardless of trial design, regulators expect background therapy to reflect the current standard of care recommended by guidelines.5,6 However, they acknowledged that the availability of drugs and interventions may vary between and within EU countries. As a minimum, the standard of care at regional level should be followed. The comparator drug could be placebo or an active comparator depending on the standard of care and the intended indication.

The challenges of evaluating of novel therapies like gene therapy, antibodies, cell therapy, and RNA-based therapies were highlighted. These included limited trial size and choice of the primary endpoint.

Professor Bueno said: "This was a rich discussion and we hope the conclusions help the three parties agree an approach to designing clinical trials in ACS that promotes the discovery of new treatments."

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References and notes

1Report of the European Society of Cardiology Cardiovascular Round Table regulatory workshop update of the evaluation of new agents for the treatment of acute coronary syndrome: Executive summary. European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care. DOI: 10.1177/2048872616649859

2The CRT is an independent forum established by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and comprised of cardiologists and representatives of the pharmaceutical, device and equipment industries.

3Please consult the paper for the full list of participants.

4Third universal definition of myocardial infarction. European Heart Journal. 2012;33(20):2551-2567.

5ESC Guidelines for the management of acute myocardial infarction in patients presenting with ST-segment elevation. European Heart Journal. 2012;33:2569-2619.

62015 ESC Guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndromes in patients presenting without persistent ST-segment elevation. European Heart Journal. 2016;37:267-315.

About European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care

The European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care is the official peer-reviewed Journal of the Acute Cardiovascular Care Association of the European Society of Cardiology.

About the European Society of Cardiology

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) represents more than 95 000 cardiology professionals across Europe and the Mediterranean. Its mission is to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in Europe.
Boulder, Colo., USA - New articles from the Geological Society of America's online-only journal, Geosphere, are now available. These new releases include three open-access articles, "Geochronological imaging of an episodically constructed subvolcanic batholith: U-Pb in zircon chronochemistry of the Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex of the Central Andes"; "Slab-rollback ignimbrite flareups in the southern Great Basin and other Cenozoic American arcs: A distinct style of arc volcanism"; and "Extraction of three-dimensional fracture trace maps from calibrated image sequences."

GEOSPHERE articles are available at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary copies of GEOSPHERE articles by contacting Kea Giles at the address above. Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GEOSPHERE in articles published. Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.

All recent articles are highlighted below.

Geochronological imaging of an episodically constructed subvolcanic batholith: U-Pb in zircon chronochemistry of the Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex of the Central Andes

Jamie M. Kern et al., Shanaka L. de Silva (corresponding), Kern and de Silva: College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA. This article is OPEN ACCESS online at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/05/27/GES01258.1.abstract. Themed issue: PLUTONS: Investigating the Relationship between Pluton Growth and Volcanism in the Central Andes.

Throughout earth history, supereruptions have occurred in clusters known as ignimbrite flare-ups. These periods of prodigious explosive volcanism and their caldera volcanoes are the surface record of a growing plutonic system (batholith) at depth. Revealing the time signals of these flare-ups is critical for our understanding of how plate tectonics forms and consolidates continental crust, the development of geothermal energy and mineral resources, the hazards from supereruptions, and how batholiths are constructed. Applying U-Pb geochronology to microscopic zircon crystals, we reveal the 10 million year plutonic history of one the earth's major ignimbrite flare-ups in the Central Andes of Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. By combining the age and chemical (chronochemistry) information from zircons with ages of eruptions we find that magma that fed supereruptions was stored for at least 400,000 years before eruption, quietly crystallizing zircon until eruption. The spatial and temporal pattern of the magma accumulations in the crust also reveals the episodic development of a batholith with an areal extent of about 70,000 square kilometers (similar to the exposed Sierra Nevada batholith) at depths of 5 to 10 km through synchronous accumulations of discrete magma bodies several thousands of cubic kilometers in volume. Ultimately, this forensic investigation using "chronochemical imaging" reveals how basaltic magma from the earth's mantle is processed within the continental crust to produce pulses of plutonism and supereruptions that eventually build batholiths.

Slab-rollback ignimbrite flareups in the southern Great Basin and other Cenozoic American arcs: A distinct style of arc volcanism

Myron G. Best et al. (Eric H. Christiansen, corresponding), both authors at Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602-4606, USA. This article is OPEN ACCESS online at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/05/27/GES01285.1.abstract. Themed issue: The 36-18 Ma southern Great Basin, USA, ignimbrite province and flareup: Swarms of subduction-related supervolcanoes.

The nature of volcanism along continental margins above subducting oceanic plates ranges widely. At one end of this spectrum are conical volcanoes built mostly of andesitic lavas that erupt at intervals of tens to hundreds of years in small volumes of generally less than a cubic kilometer. A recently recognized, contrasting style is less common and develops on thicker, farther inland crust. Less frequent eruptions occurring at intervals of hundreds of thousands to a few millions of years are violently explosive. Pyroclastic flows of silica-rich ash that are dispersed as much as 150 kilometers from the volcanic vent can cover areas of tens of thousands of square kilometers. The total volume of a single eruption can be thousands of cubic kilometers. Swarms of such supervolcanoes develop over as much as 20 million years in some fields. Explosive eruption of these huge volumes of ash create collapse calderas tens of kilometers in diameter over the evacuated subterranean magma chambers. This distinct style of continental margin volcanism, which has been recognized in the geologic record of southwestern North America and the central Andes of South America, accompanies rollback of subducting oceanic plates to a steeper dip beneath the continent. Unusually large amounts of hot basaltic magma generated in the mantle during this rollback invade the crust where the heating partially melts the thick crust to produce huge volumes of silicic magma that erupts explosively in an ignimbrite flareup.

Extraction of three-dimensional fracture trace maps from calibrated image sequences

Thomas D. Seers, Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Qatar; and David Hodgetts, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. This article is OPEN ACCESS online at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/06/16/GES01276.1.abstract.

Recent advances in 3D structural feature extraction now enable three-dimensional representations of structural lineaments and traces to be digitized from range and altimetry datasets. Current methods, however, are either restricted to outcrops with discontinuities that have well defined topographies or from 2.5D digital elevation models captured using airborne remote sensing. Here we present an approach for the extraction of 3D fracture maps, based upon optical ray tracing, which is capable of generating trace maps from arbitrary surfaces, whilst retaining the high feature resolution of optical image based techniques. We demonstrate that the 3D trace map datasets generated by our approach enable higher order fracture attributes, such as trace connectivity and (volumetric) fracture intensity to be derived directly from digital outcrop datasets. Such parameters are critical in the assessment of the mechanical strength of the upper crust and its fluid flow properties, having numerous applications within the geosciences.

Linking deep and shallow crustal processes during regional transtension in an exhumed continental arc, North Cascades, northwestern Cordillera (USA)

Robert B. Miller et al., Department of Geology, San Jose State University, One Washington Square, San Jose, California 95192-0102, USA. This article is online at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/12/3/900.abstract.

The North Cascades is an exceptional region to evaluate potential linkages between processes operating at a wide range of crustal levels (0-35 km) during collapse of a thick continental magmatic arc. Eocene (55-45 million year ago) collapse during strike-slip faulting and extension of the crust was marked by magmatism, partial melting of the mid-crust, ductile flow, and exhumation of the metamorphic and plutonic core of the North Cascades synchronous with subsidence and rapid deposition in adjacent non-marine basins, and intrusion of dikes. Extension from Eocene dikes is oblique to the overall trend of the mountain belt and to the ductile flow direction in the metamorphic rocks. Thus, coeval strain was decoupled between the brittle and ductile crust. Arc-oblique to arc-parallel flow in the North Cascades contrasts sharply with E-W flow in metamorphic core complexes in northeastern Washington, Idaho, Montana, and southeastern British Columbia. This contrast probably resulted in part from right-lateral strike-slip along the plate margin and differences along the length of the belt in crustal thickness and temperature-controlled strength.

Cenozoic tilting history of the south slope of the Altyn Tagh as revealed by seismic profiling: Implications for the kinematics of the Altyn Tagh Fault bounding the northern margin of the Tibetan plateau Haifeng Zhao, School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China. This article is online at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/12/3/884.abstract.

We identified a transition zone between the Altyn Tagh fault and the Qaidam Basin interior and termed it the Altyn Slope, based on a dense network of two- and three-dimensional seismic reflection profiles and isopach maps. We restored the tilting history of the Altyn Slope step by step, and accordingly proposed a two-stage evolution model for the Cenozoic kinematics of the Altyn Tagh fault, which provides new insight into the deformation mechanism of the northern Tibetan Plateau during the Cenozoic.

Dome growth, collapse, and valley fill at Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, from 1995 to 2013: Contributions from satellite radar measurements of topographic change

D.W.D. Arnold et al., COMET (Centre for Observation and Modeling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics), School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Queen's Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, UK. This article is online at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/05/27/GES01291.1.abstract.

In this article we use radar satellite imagery to record the changing shape of the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat, in the Caribbean due to the long-lived eruption of Soufriere Hills Volcano, which started in 1995. We measure volcanic deposits, such as ash and pyroclastic flows, which are up to 300 m thick. The radar imagery provides the first measurement of thickness all the on-land deposits, including the frequently cloud covered summit of the volcano. Continuously updated elevation maps of rapidly changing land surface at erupting volcanoes have numerous applications, including real-time hazard maps and estimating eruption rates.

Geotherms from the temperature-depth-constrained solutions of 1-D steady-state heat-flow equation

D. Ravat et al., Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0053, USA. This article is online at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/06/16/GES01235.1.abstract. Themed issue: Geothermal Energy from Sedimentary Basins: Challenges, Potential, and Ways Forward.

We formulate a method of constraining geotherms using Curie depths determined from the de-fractal method of spectral magnetic depth determinations. This method also yields the ratio of radiogenic heat production (A) to thermal conductivity (K). We show that the ratios A/K obtained in this manner are reasonable in comparison to their values either observed or previously modeled over regions dominated by granites.

Andean topographic growth and basement uplift in southern Colombia: Implications for the evolution of the Magdalena, Orinoco, and Amazon river systems

Veronica J. Anderson, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, 2275 Speedway Stop C9000, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. This article is online at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/06/16/GES01294.1.abstract.

Uplift of a large basement block (Garzon Massif) in the northern Andes Mountains formed an orographic barrier (2500-3000 m elevation) that generated a major rain shadow and guided the evolution of the largest river systems of northern South America, including the Amazon, Orinoco, and Magdalena Rivers. Despite its pivotal role, the exhumation history of the Garzon Massif and its relationships to the structural evolution of the broader Eastern Cordillera remain unclear. The northern Andes underwent major Cenozoic shortening, with considerable deformation and topographic development in the Eastern Cordillera focused during late Miocene time. On the basis of widespread coarse-grained nonmarine sedimentation, previous studies have inferred that uplift of the Garzon Massif began during the late Miocene, coincident with rapid elevation gain elsewhere in the Eastern Cordillera. We take an integrated approach to better reconstruct Andean topographic growth and distinguish between exhumation and surface uplift of the Garzon Massif. We present new detrital zircon U-Pb (uranium-lead) provenance data, sandstone petrographic data, and paleoprecipitation data from upper Miocene clastic fill of the Neiva Basin within the adjacent Upper Magdalena Valley of the modern hinterland. In addition, new apatite fission-track (AFT) ages from the central segment of the Garzon Massif directly constrain its exhumation history over the past 15 million years (Myr). The results indicate that early exhumation may have initiated by ca. 12.5 Myr ago, but a substantial orographic barrier was not fully established until roughly 6-3 Myr ago, when over 1 km/Myr of material was exhumed. Thermal history modeling of the AFT data suggest diminished exhumation thereafter (3-0 Myr ago), during oblique Nazca-South America plate convergence. This exhumation history is consistent with paleontological data suggesting late Miocene divergence of the Amazon, Orinoco, and Magdalena river systems, with associated transcontinental drainage of the Amazon River.

Evidence for two Cretaceous superposed orogenic belts in central Mexico based on paleontologic and K-Ar geochronologic data from the Sierra de los Cuarzos

Michelangelo Martini et al., Instituto de Geologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Av. Universidad 3000, Mexico D.F. 04510, Mexico. This article is online at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/05/27/GES01275.1.abstract.

After the break-up of Pangea, the Pacific margin of North America was involved in numerous different orogenic events (e.g., Sonoma, Sevier, Laramide, etc.) that progressively shaped the landscape and exerted a primary control on the climate, floral and faunal distribution of this continental landmass. The superposition of these orogenic events in space during time rendered the tectonic history of the North America Cordillera difficult to decipher. Our new stratigraphic, paleontologic, and geochronologic data document that the North America Cordillera exposed in central Mexico was developed at least during two different tectonic pulses. One of these tectonic pulses took place at ca. 115 Ma and was produced by the collision of an intraoceanic volcanic massif to the Pacific margin of North America. This pulse was followed by a second one that started at ca. 93 Ma and lasted for about 50 million years, producing a high-relief mountain chain that is known as the Sierra Madre Oriental. The cause for this second tectonic pulse is still object of discussion. An increase in the velocity of convergence between North America and the adjacent Pacific plate seems to be the most plausible reason.

Detrital-zircon geochronology of the Sawtooth metamorphic complex, Idaho: Evidence for metamorphosed lower Paleozoic shelf strata within the Idaho batholith

Chong Ma, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA. This article is online at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/06/23/GES01201.1.abstract. Themed issue: Active Margins in Transition -- Magmatism and Tectonics through Time: An Issue in Honor of Arthur W. Snoke.

This research article utilizes isotopic age-dating of detrital zircons from the metamorphosed sedimentary rocks of the Sawtooth Range immediately southwestern of Stanley, Idaho, to reveal the age spectra of zircons in those rocks. The age spectra obtained for a group of rock samples are then statistically compared to and correlated with those of age-known rocks from elsewhere in the U.S. Cordilleran mountain belt. This allows us to establish the depositional ages of the highly altered sedimentary rocks in the study area within the Idaho batholith. The results show that those rocks were likely deposited in the Cambrian and Middle Ordovician. The identification of lower Paleozoic shelf sedimentary rocks in the Idaho batholith region suggests that the Cordilleran passive margin sediments was continuous along the western margin of the ancient North America.

Origin and heterogeneity of pore sizes in the Mount Simon Sandstone and Eau Claire Formation: Implications for multiphase fluid flow Peter S. Mozley et al., Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, New Mexico 87801, USA. This article is online at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/06/23/GES01245.1.abstract.

Rocks below ground are not always entirely solid, but instead often have void spaces within them that can be of considerable societal importance. A variety of fluids can be stored in these voids (also known as pores), including groundwater in aquifers, and oil and gas in hydrocarbon reservoirs. A team of scientists at Sandia National Laboratories and New Mexico Tech has just published the results of a detailed analysis of the characteristics of void spaces in the Mount Simon Sandstone in the Geological Society of America's journal Geosphere (insert link to article here). The Mount Simon Sandstone occurs throughout the Midwestern United States, where it is a target horizon for a variety of fluids, including: (1) wastewater produced from industrial operations, including fracking; (2) CO2 captured before entering the atmosphere, so as not to contribute to greenhouse gases; and (3) compressed air that is injected using solar and wind energy for later use as an energy source (picture filling a balloon with air, and then releasing it to turn a propeller). The Mount Simon Sandstone is a favored horizon for wastewater and CO2 storage because it is the lowermost (deepest) sedimentary formation in the area, occurring just above older (Precambrian) rocks that have much lower porosity. Thus, if you want to keep fluids as far away from the atmosphere or shallow groundwater as possible, in many places the Mt. Simon is the ideal geologic formation in which to inject the fluids, as it is the deepest unit with sufficient void spaces to store the material. The scientists examined the microscopic pore structure of the Mt. Simon Sandstone using microscopes and a laboratory technique that involves injecting mercury into the rock under high pressure. They determined that the formation has undergone a complex geologic history that resulted in the formation of unusually variable pore sizes. They concluded that this high degree of variability could lead to enhanced trapping of non-aqueous fluids, such as oil, CO2, and air. This is good news for those wishing to use the formation for wastewater disposal and CO2 storage, since it means that the fluids will migrate upward more slowly than normal. It is, however, not a favorable characteristic for compressed air energy storage, since it could contribute to an irregularly shaped "air bubble" configuration, which is less efficient for this application. The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Topographic constraints on magma accumulation below the actively uplifting Uturuncu and Lazufre volcanic centers in the Central Andes

Jonathan P. Perkins et al., Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA. This article is online at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/06/16/GES01278.1.abstract. Themed issue: PLUTONS: Investigating the Relationship between Pluton Growth and Volcanism in the Central Andes

In the Central Andes of South America, remote observations from InSAR satellites have led to the recognition that a number of its volcanoes are not only actively deforming, but are some of the fastest growing features in the southern hemisphere. This has been cause for concern, as two of the volcanoes, Uturuncu in southern Bolivia and Lazufre southward along the Chile-Argentina border, are potentially connected to large magma reservoirs beneath the surface that could eventually source catastrophic eruptions. Although satellite observations have provided detailed constraints on deformation for the past 15-20 years, this represents only a snapshot in time of how these systems are evolving. In order to extend this record of deformation into the geologic past and better understand the connection between the current unrest at Uturuncu and Lazufre and their magmatic histories, in this paper we look for signs of surface deformation that are preserved in the topography around the volcanoes. For example, Uturuncu is flanked by ancient lake shorelines that provide horizontal markers at the time they were formed (about 16 thousand years ago). At Lazufre, where lake shorelines are less common, we use a simple-but-novel technique and measure the flow direction of pre-historic lava flows to learn about where high topography existed in the geologic past. The two case studies at Uturuncu and Lazufre highlight very different behaviors of their underlying magmatic plumbing systems. At Uturuncu, which is thought to be connected to one of the largest known magma reservoirs on Earth (the Altiplano-Puna Magma Body), the topography appears largely unchanged since the late Pleistocene. This suggests that the surface is likely quick to relax from any perturbation from below (perhaps due to the heating of the Earth's crust from such a large magma reservoir). At Lazufre, however, our measurements suggest that the topographic dome that characterizes this volcanic complex has persisted for over 0.5 million years. Furthermore, the pattern of volcanic vents at Lazufre suggests it has been actively inflating throughout its history, and therefore Lazufre is likely a highly evolved pre-caldera magmatic system. Taken together, our work demonstrates that the forensic tools of geomorphology may be useful for understanding how large volcanic systems grow over their lifetime.

Provenance evolution during progressive rifting and hyperextension using bedrock and detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology, Mauleon Basin, western Pyrenees

Nicole R. Hart et al., Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, 2275 Speedway C9000, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. This article is online at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/06/23/GES01273.1.abstract.

Rifting is the process by which the continental crust stretches, extends, and can break apart forming an ocean basin. During such extension, erosion and transport of sediments leads to a sedimentary system that varies three-dimensionally due to the mixing of different sedimentary materials. The response of sedimentary systems to tectonics during progressive rifting along magma-poor, hyper-extended margins, where the crust is stretched and thinned to less than or equal to 10 km without extensive volcanism, have not been studied in detail because many are in subsurface and submarine environments. The Mauleon Basin of the western Pyrenees is a unique example of such a system as it offers exposures of the upper mantle, crust, and sedimentary units that in most other places are inaccessible. In this study ~5800 new zircon U-Pb ages were obtained from rock units deposited before (prerift), during (synrift) and after (postrift) rifting. Zircon U-Pb ages obtained from prerift units constrain the ages of crystallization of western Pyrenean plutons, metamorphism of the lower crust, and the source of sediments deposited throughout Paleozoic and early Mesozoic time. The variation of detrital zircon U-Pb ages obtained from synrift and postrift units constrain the evolution of the Mauleon Basin during and after rifting. These observations are used to define a general model for sediment routing during rifting along magma-poor continental margins.

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http://www.geosociety.org/
Saijo, Hiroshima, Japan - Biologists at Hiroshima University, located in the historic sake brewing town of Saijo, have identified the genetic mutation that could ruin the brew of one particular type of yeast responsible for high-quality sake. The research was part of an academic-government-industry collaboration involving the National Institute of Brewing (Japan), the Asahi Sake Brewing Company (Niigata), the Brewing Society of Japan, The University of Tokyo, The University of Pennsylvania, and Iwate University.

Two types of sake considered especially high-quality are called daiginjo-shu and junmai-daiginjo-shu and are often made using the yeast K1801. Different brewing yeasts, whether for beer, wine, or sake, create different tastes in the final product due to factors such as how they make the sugar-to-alcohol conversion and the by-products that they release as part of many biosynthesis pathways.

A previously identified mutation in K1801 is a desirable change that makes the yeast produce high amounts of ethyl caproate, the chemical that acts as the major flavor component of many varieties of high-quality sake and creates a fruity taste.

A different mutation, newly identified by this research team, is potentially devastating for brewers because it causes a defect in how the yeast grows and divides. The risk of a ruined brew from this potentially dysfunctional yeast is a liability for industrial-scale sake production, where consistent production with stable quality is essential for brewers.

The research team confirmed that K1801's two mutations are not functionally related by performing genetic experiments, chemical analysis, and computer-assisted microscopic visual inspection of the yeast cells using a software program called CalMorph.

A genetically engineered version of K1801 that had normal growth but maintained high production of ethyl caproate was also built and used to brew sake in the laboratory.

Dai Hirata, PhD, from Hiroshima University is last author of the research paper and has training and experience as a sake taster, serving as an official judge at sake evaluation events.

"Our small-scale brew indicated that this version of the yeast without the growth-related mutation should maintain the high quality expected of daiginjo-shu," said Hirata.

However, the Japanese market will not accept sake made from genetically modified yeast. The next step for the research team is to begin screening potentially thousands of K1801 yeast cells until they can find a natural mutant with only the desirable mutation.

The quality of sake comes in-part from the amount of the rice husk, the outer shell responsible for giving un-processed rice its brown color, that has been polished off before the rice is used for brewing. Daiginjo-shu is made from highly polished rice with over half of the husk removed and is usually brewed for a long fermentation period at a low temperature compared to standard sake brewing before it is filtered and bottled. K1801 does not produce a foamy layer while brewing, meaning it requires less physical labor for brewers during the cleaning process between batches. An additional valuable attribute of K1801 is the low amount of total acids it produces as it brews, which creates the smooth taste of its sake.

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Original research article citation: Tetsuya Goshima, Ryo Nakamura, Kazunori Kume, Hiroki Okada, Eri Ichikawa, Hiroyasu Tamura, Hirokazu Hasuda, Masaaki Inahashi, Naoto Okazaki, Takeshi Akao, Hitoshi Shimoi, Masaki Mizunuma, Yoshikazu Ohya, Dai Hirata. 18 May 2016. Identification of a mutation causing a defective spindle assembly checkpoint in high ethyl caproate-producing sake yeast strain K1801. Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry. DOI: 10.1080/09168451.2016.1184963

Additional information about the CalMorph software used in this research is available in the following publication: Ohtani M. et al. Development of image processing program for yeast cell morphology. J. Bioinform. Comput. Biol. 2004; 102: 19015-19021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S0219720004000363

This work was supported by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan [grant number 15H04402].
Thirty young scientists had a unique opportunity yesterday to present their research work to an audience of participants at the 66th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. It was the first time that a poster session was held at the meeting. One hundred eighty of the 400 young participants from 80 countries had applied to partake. The topics covered precision measurements, quantum physics, astronomy, biophysics, high-energy physics and materials science. All 29 participating Nobel Laureates as well as all undergraduates, PhD candidates and postdocs present were entitled to vote for the best presentation.

"The presentations are very lively and really good. I am especially impressed by the expertise of two young scientists - their posters are about topics I am very familiar with," said French quantum physicist Serge Haroche. For research of the interactions between light and matter, Haroche was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics together with the American David Wineland. The attendees at the session were treated to eye-catching posters with illustrations and graphs. In addition, the poster presenters had 90 minutes to explain and discuss their work and to field questions. The public was able to cast ballots to select the three best poster presentations. The winners will be announced at the end of the event on Friday and will be presented with a certificate.

The aim of introducing this event format, which is common at many scientific conferences, is to highlight the achievements of the young scientists. "We found it difficult to select 30 participants from 180 applicants, because all the submitted posters were of high scientific quality. The excellence of the young researchers was evident," said Council member Rainer Blatt of the Institute for Experimental Physics of Innsbruck University and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Rainer Blatt is serving as Scientific Chairman of this year's meeting together with the astroparticle physicist Lars Bergstrom, who is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and since 2004 Secretary of the Nobel Prize Committee for Physics.

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The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting has been held every year at Lake Constance since 1951. The Lindau Meetings provide a platform for Nobel Laureates and young scientists to exchange knowledge, ideas and experience. Established elements of the programme include lectures, discussions, master classes and panel discussions. The meetings focus alternately on physiology and medicine, on physics or on chemistry - the three natural science Nobel Prize disciplines. An interdisciplinary meeting revolving around all three natural sciences is held every five years. In addition, the Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences is held every three years.
Scientists know that white sharks are important ocean predators, but many aspects of their lives are still a mystery. For example, each winter, large white sharks leave the California coast and swim halfway to Hawaii, congregating in an area known as the "White Shark Cafe." The males then repeatedly dive hundreds of feet below the surface. Researchers speculate that the sharks might be chasing prey or mating.

By attaching a miniature video camera tag to a white shark's fin, researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) hope to collect video footage that shows--for the first time ever--exactly what the sharks are doing down there.

The project is the brainchild of white-shark expert Sal Jorgensen, a research scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, who has studied these amazing animals since 2005. During this time, Jorgensen has used several types of electronic tags to document previously unknown aspects of the sharks' lives. Some recorded information about their geographic location and the depth of their dives. Other tags emitted high-frequency clicks that allowed sharks to be tracked when they approached listening stations close to shore. A third type was a three-dimensional motion-sensing tag designed to be swallowed by a shark to record its feeding activity before being naturally regurgitated and delivering its stored data.

Many researchers have attached video cameras to sharks in the past--including our colleagues at Stanford University, with whom we're collaborating on studies of adult white sharks off California's Central Coast. But these tags only needed to stay on for a few days to document feeding and other behavior in the California Current.

The new camera tag would need to stay on for several months. Faced with multiple design challenges, Jorgensen decided to partner with engineer Thom Maughan at MBARI, the aquarium's sister institution.

"It's easy for a biologist like myself to dream up questions we'd like answered with technology," Jorgensen says, "but somebody has to actually push the envelope and make that happen. And that's where the top-notch ocean engineers at MBARI come in."

Jorgensen and Maughan came up with a long list of engineering requirements for the camera tag. It had to be small and easy to attach to a shark's dorsal fin. It had to stay on the shark for up to nine months, until the shark returned to the California coast from its offshore location. It had to survive dives as deep as 1,000 meters (3,300 feet), and bursts of acceleration to speeds up to 25 miles an hour. It needed a battery that could power 10 hours of video recording, as well as internal data processing and storage systems. And it had to be programmable, so it would only collect video when a shark made repeated dives at the "White Shark Cafe"--the behavior Jorgensen is trying to understand.

Reflecting on the technical challenges involved in making all of this work, Jorgensen described developing the Cafe Cam as very much "like a mission to Mars."

For his part, Maughan loves engineering challenges like this. "Some of our engineers heard about Sal's proposal and thought it was nuts," Maughan said. "But I thought I could see a way to do it using off-the-shelf parts."

Working with other engineering partners, including Desert Star and Custom Animal Tracking Solutions, Jorgensen and Maughan have developed a prototype whose camera, processor, and battery can capture video footage of great white sharks in the remote Pacific Ocean. The team has conducted one- to five-day tests of the Cafe Cam on sharks in coastal waters, making improvements to the camera design each time. They are still trying to work out the best way to attach this tag to a shark's fin.

This summer, Maughan hopes to attach a tag to one of MBARI's underwater robots (an autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV), which will make repeated deep dives to simulate the behavior of white sharks in the wild. This will allow the researchers to test their software that turns on the camera only at key moments during the shark's dive.

In December or January, when most white sharks are leaving the California coast, the researchers will travel to one of the white shark hotspots such as the Farallon Islands, offshore of San Francisco. There they will try to get the sharks to swim close to their small boat and quickly clip the camera tag onto the shark's dorsal fin.

Ideally the tag will stay on the fin and remain in sleep mode until the shark reaches the White Shark Cafe a month or so later. At the cafe, male sharks make repeated dives down to 250 meters (800 feet), up to 150 times a day. The camera would be programmed to start recording during these dives when sudden changes in swimming patterns are detected, and pause when routine swimming resumes.

When the shark heads toward the surface again, the camera would go back into sleep mode, remaining that way until the shark returned to the California coast in August or September. At that point it would automatically release itself from the shark's fin and send a signal by satellite to researchers on shore, who would take a boat out to recover it. Only then could researchers watch the recorded video--and see what the shark saw.

Once they have demonstrated that the camera tags work, the researchers plan to make their design open source, sharing what they've learned with anyone who wants to build similar tags.

In the meantime, they are looking forward to seeing a white shark's perspective of a rendezvous at the White Shark Cafe.

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Coyote tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata) produces a potent neurotoxic substance: nicotine. The production of nicotine is regulated by plant hormones called jasmonates. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, the University of Bern, Switzerland, and Washington State University have now demonstrated the importance of jasmonate-dependent nicotine production for the survival of tobacco plants which are attacked by mammalian herbivores. Through experiments with genetically modified plants that are impaired in their ability to produce jasmonates, the researchers showed that jasmonate-deficiency strongly increases attacks by both insects and vertebrates. Interestingly, insect attack did not significantly affect flower production and attacked plants were still able to produce seeds, whereas attack by herbivorous mammals had a strong negative impact on the plants' reproductive ability. The scientists found that nicotine plays a crucial role in this context. Especially rabbits liked to peel the stems of nicotine-deficient plants, which strongly reduced flower production. However, when nicotine accumulates in the outer layers of the stem epidermis, it provides extremely effective protection against this type of damage. The study published in the journal eLife illustrates the importance of jasmonate-dependent defenses to provide protection against mammalian herbivores in nature. (eLife, June 2016, DOI: 10.7554/eLife.13720).

The coyote tobacco Nicotiana attenuata grows in the southwestern United States. For nearly 20 years, this wild plant species has been studied by scientists in the Department of Molecular Ecology, headed by Ian Baldwin, at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology. Many herbivorous animals are interested in the tender green plants which emerge after the vegetation has been burned by fires caused by lightning. However, these plants are surprisingly well protected against their enemies. The plant metabolite nicotine, a potent neurotoxin, ruins the appetite of many hungry herbivores. To find out more about the defensive mechanisms of these plants and their effects on interactions with other organisms in their environment, the scientists perform field experiments with genetically modified plants in which single genes which regulate plant defenses have been silenced. Field trials are conducted in one of the natural habitats of the coyote tobacco, the Lytle Ranch Preserve in southwestern Utah, USA.

During the 2012 field season, the researchers observed that many Nicotiana attenuata plants were heavily defoliated by small mammals. These animals, which include gophers and rabbits, are usually very reclusive and are rarely seen in the field plots. When the scientists analyzed the damaged plants, they found that most of the plants that had been attacked by mammalian herbivores were impaired in their ability to produce jasmonates (inverted-repeat allene-oxide cyclase, irAOC plants). Jasmonates are phytohormones which are well known to regulate several physiological processes in plants, including defenses against insect herbivores. By contrast, little was known about their role in protecting plants against vertebrates. The scientists therefore decided to investigate this phenomenon in more detail.

Attack by mammals has a more severe impact on plants than attack by insects

A more detailed analysis of the damage patterns showed that the damage by both insects and mammals to these plants was greater than the damage to wild-type plants. This result was not surprising because a metabolic screening had revealed that irAOC plants produced significantly fewer defensive substances than did the controls; this was especially true for levels of nicotine in the leaves and the stems. However, only damage caused by mammals had a negative impact on flower production. Unlike insects, mammals prefer to peel the stems of plants; as a consequence, flower production and therefore seed production, is impaired. The number of seeds are a measure of a plant's reproductive ability and thus its fitness, and without flowers, this ability is lost. In addition, the stem of a plant is an important transport and storage organ for water and nutrients. The nicotine in the outer epidermal layers of the stem is therefore of special importance to protect this vital organ from herbivore attack.

The chemistry of tobacco plants influences feeding preferences in small mammals

Since mammalian herbivores, such as rabbits, preferred to feed on jasmonate-deficient plants and these plants produce less nicotine, apart from many other defenses, the scientists wanted to know whether nicotine content in the stems and leaves could actually explain the damage caused by mammals. Matthias Erb, who previously led a research group at the Max Planck Institute in Jena and is now a professor at the University of Bern, and Ricardo Machado, who got his PhD in Jena and is now a postdoctoral researcher in Bern, teamed up with Mark McClure from Washington State University to develop a feeding assay for mountain cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus nuttallii), a species of small rabbits that naturally feed on Nicotiana attenuata plants. The scientists made food pellets from both dried wild-type and dried jasmonate-deficient tobacco plants and presented these pellets to the rabbits along with pellets from alfalfa, their favorite food plant. During 24 hours, the rabbits rapidly consumed jasmonate-deficient and alfalfa pellets. In contrast, the amount of consumed wild-type pellets was nearly zero. The hypothesis that nicotine determines the rabbits' feeding preferences was confirmed in a further experiment which showed that jasmonate-deficient pellets were refused by the rabbits when nicotine was added. The scientists were surprised that rabbits were interested in tobacco pellets as much as in alfalfa. "We expected rabbits to eat all control pellets first, but instead they alternated consumption of these pellets with those containing jasmonate-deficient tobacco plants. This suggests that rabbits wanted something in Nicotiana attenuata, but needed to dilute the toxins in these plants in order to obtain it," explains Mark McClure.

A renewed interest in the role of mammals in plant defense syndromes

Mammals have long been known to have a strong impact on plant survival and community composition. However, most previous studies on the ecology and evolution of plant defenses, including studies on the role of jasmonates and nicotine in Nicotiana attenuata, focused on insect herbivores. Field experiments with genetically modified plants that were impaired in their ability to produce jasmonates now revealed that plant defense mechanisms may also have evolved as a result of interactions with herbivorous mammals. "We were absolutely amazed how great the negative impact of mammalian herbivory on plant fitness is when plants are jasmonate-deficient" says first author Ricardo Machado. Tobacco plants without jasmonates produce very few flowers when they are attacked by mammals.

"If we want to understand how plant defense mechanisms evolved and how plants survive in nature, we need to study the impact of entire herbivore communities, including both insects and vertebrates," Erb, the leader of the study, summarizes. The researchers want to perform more experiments using mammals as potential herbivores of tobacco plants. In a future project, the scientists aim at investigating whether small mammals, such as the wood rat, uses nicotine-containing tobacco leaves in their nests as a protection against parasites. [AO]

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Original Publication:

Machado, R. A. R., McClure, M., Herve, M. R., Baldwin, I. T., Erb, M. (2016) Benefits of jasmonate-dependent defenses against vertebrate herbivores in nature. eLife. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.13720

https://elifesciences.org/content/5/e13720

Further Information:

Matthias Erb

University of Bern

Institute of Plant Sciences

Altenbergrain 21, 3013 Bern, Switzerland

41-31-631-8668

matthias.erb@ips.unibe.ch

Ian T. Baldwin

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Hans-Knoll-Str. 8, 07743 Jena, Germany

49-3641-57-1101

baldwin@ice.mpg.de

Contact and Media Requests:

Angela Overmeyer M.A.

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Hans-Knoll-Str. 8, 07743 Jena

49-3641-57-2110

E-Mail overmeyer@ice.mpg.de

Download high-resolution images via http://www.ice.mpg.de/ext/downloads2016.html
Species across the world are rapidly going extinct due to human activities, but humans are also causing rapid evolution and the emergence of new species. A new study published today summarises the causes of manmade speciation, and discusses why newly evolved species cannot simply replace extinct wild species. The study was led by the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen.

A growing number of examples show that humans not only contribute to the extinction of species but also drive evolution, and in some cases the emergence of entirely new species. This can take place through mechanisms such as accidental introductions, domestication of animals and crops, unnatural selection due to hunting, or the emergence of novel ecosystems such as the urban environment.

Although tempting to conclude that human activities thus benefit as well as deplete global biodiversity, the authors stress that extinct wild species cannot simply be replaced with newly evolved ones, and that nature conservation remains just as urgent.

"The prospect of 'artificially' gaining novel species through human activities is unlikely to elicit the feeling that it can offset losses of 'natural' species. Indeed, many people might find the prospect of an artificially biodiverse world just as daunting as an artificially impoverished one" says lead author and Postdoc Joseph Bull from the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen.

The study which was carried out in collaboration with the University of Queensland was published today in Proceedings of Royal Society B. It highlights numerous examples of how human activities influence species' evolution. For instance: as the common house mosquito adapted to the environment of the underground railway system in London, it established a subterranean population. Now named the 'London Underground mosquito', it can no longer interbreed with its above ground counterpart and is effectively thought to be a new species.

"We also see examples of domestication resulting in new species. According to a recent study, at least six of the world's 40 most important agricultural crops are considered entirely new" explains Joseph Bull.

Furthermore, unnatural selection due to hunting can lead to new traits emerging in animals, which can eventually lead to new species, and deliberate or accidental relocation of species can lead to hybridization with other species. Due to the latter, more new plant species in Europe have appeared than are documented to have gone extinct over the last three centuries.

Although it is not possible to quantify exactly how many speciation events have been caused through human activities, the impact is potentially considerable, the study states.

"In this context, 'number of species' becomes a deeply unsatisfactory measure of conservation trends, because it does not reflect many important aspects of biodiversity. Achieving a neutral net outcome for species numbers cannot be considered acceptable if weighing wild fauna against relatively homogenous domesticated species. However, considering speciation alongside extinction may well prove important in developing a better understanding of our impact upon global biodiversity. We call for a discussion about what we, as a society, actually want to conserve about nature" says Associate Professor Martine Maron from the University of Queensland.

Researchers do agree that current extinction rates may soon lead to a 6th period of mass extinction. Since the last Ice Age, 11.500 years ago, it is estimated that 255 mammals and 523 bird species has gone extinct, often due to human activity. In the same period, humans have relocated almost 900 known species and domesticated more than 470 animals and close to 270 plant species.

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Big data has a bright future in personalized medicine, as demonstrated by an international competition centered at Rice University that suggested ways forward for treatment of patients with leukemia.

In the DREAM 9 challenge, 31 teams of computational researchers applied competing methods to a unique set of patient data gathered from hundreds of patients with acute myeloid leukemia at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Rice bioengineer Amina Qutub is principal investigator of the open-source paper published today in PLOS Computational Biology. Rice served as the competition hub, in line with the university's strategic initiative to foster bioscience collaborations with fellow Texas Medical Center institutions.

DREAM, which stands for Dialogue for Reverse Engineering Assessment and Methods, is a platform for crowd-sourced studies that focus on developing computational tools to solve biomedical problems. Essentially, it's a competition that serves as a large, long-standing, international scientific collaboration.

Acute myeloid leukemia presented a worthy challenge since there is no single genetic cause of the disease, which makes it hard to select treatments for patients suffering from the deadly cancer of the blood, Qutub said.

The DREAM 9 patient data set was collected by Steven Kornblau, a leukemia doctor and professor at MD Anderson. The data was distributed to DREAM 9 participants online through Sage Bionetworks' Synapse web portal and through Biowheel, a cloud-based technology launched by the Qutub Lab.

Biowheel is an interactive tool to visualize and group high-dimensional data of all kinds. It was developed by Rice graduate student Chenyue Wendy Hu, undergraduate alumnus Alex Bisberg and Qutub. National Library of Medicine postdoctoral fellow David Noren and research scientist Byron Long, also of the Qutub Lab, are lead authors of the paper.

For DREAM 9, each team was presented with training data from 191 patients that included demographic information like age and gender and more complex proteomic and phosphoprotein data that describes signaling protein pathways believed to play a role in the disease.

The competition used a test data set from 100 patients that didn't include outcomes, such as whether patients responded to therapy, relapsed, survived or died.

The primary challenge was to see how well the teams' algorithms could predict how patients responded to chemotherapy. The eventual goal is to give clinicians a predictive tool to develop individualized treatment plans.

The top-performing models were by Team EvoMed (Li Liu) of Arizona State University and Team Chipmunks (Honglei Xie, Greg Chen, Xihui Lin, Geoffrey Hunter) of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto. They were best able to predict patient response to therapy with an accuracy of close to 80 percent, Qutub said.

She noted that one interesting takeaway was that overall the 31 models found it harder to predict outcomes for patients classified as "resistant to therapy" than for responsive patients. The median model prediction accuracy for resistant patients was 42 percent vs 73 percent for responsive patients. The winning models were impacted by the perturbation of signaling proteins known as phosphoinositide-3-kinase (a cell-cycle regulator) and NPM1 (which contributes to ribosome assembly and chromatin regulation), singling them out as strong candidates for further study.

The Qutub Lab became involved in leading DREAM 9 after the design of Biowheel won a DREAM 8 subchallenge three years ago. Five Qutub Lab members contributed predictive algorithms to the earlier challenge, which focused on proteomic analysis of breast cancer from MD Anderson data.

In discussions with DREAM organizer Gustavo Stolovitzky of IBM, Qutub had suggested a challenge based on one of the leukemia data sets Kornblau and her lab were analyzing to help understand molecular signaling in cancer.

"We used DREAM as a way to get general insight into making more accurate predictive models of clinical outcomes," Qutub said. "Steve (Kornblau), who runs the core banking facility for leukemia patients at MD Anderson Cancer Center, had the foresight to start gathering and banking patient biopsy samples when he was a resident over 25 years ago. The bank is a fantastic resource and a tremendous gift to the public. Genomic and proteomic analysis on a portion of these patient biopsies served as the basis for DREAM."

Because judging the entries was so computationally demanding, the Qutub Lab enlisted Erik Engquist, a co-author of the paper and director of the Center for Research Computing, and Rice's Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology (K2I) to help direct data traffic. Engquist helped the lab ensure a level playing field as competitors' algorithms ran on several of the university's high-performance computing platforms. He also helped set up a server to share challenge data via Biowheel, Qutub said.

"We had more than 270 participants and several dozen models to vet. K2I was instrumental in helping us run the challenge," she said.

Before DREAM 9 began, Noren spent considerable time designing the challenge and processing the complex patient data set. During and following the challenge, Noren, Long and the IBM team spent months processing the mountain of output data so the models, which analyzed 40 clinical indicators and 231 gene-expression profiles for each patient, would get a fair comparison. (The Rice lab did not compete because, as administrator, it already knew the results.)

Noren's task was to compare how well each model performed for each patient and to see whether the top-performing models had unique input parameters or features, Qutub said. "This way, we can start to learn which features of patients uniquely predict their outcomes."

The results still only hinted at the complexity of determining an optimal leukemia treatment plan, she said. Qutub's lab is using what it learned from its DREAM experience as a basis for experimentation on leukemia cell lines and test whether targeting specific sets of proteins offer a therapeutic advantage.

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Co-authors of the paper include Rice graduate student Andre Schultz, also of the Qutub Lab; Raquel Norel and Kahn Rrhissorrakrai of the IBM Computational Biology Center, Yorktown Height, N.Y.; Kenneth Hess of MD Anderson; Paul Boutros of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and the University of Toronto, Canada; Oleg Stepanov of the Institute of Systems Biology, Moscow; Thea Norman and Stephen Friend of Sage Bionetworks; and members of the DREAM 9 AML Consortium, along with Noren, Long, Hu, Bisberg, Engquist and Qutub of Rice; Kornblau of MD Anderson; Stolovitzky of IBM and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, N.Y., and members of the winning teams.

Read the paper at http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004890

This news release can be found online at http://news.rice.edu/2016/06/28/dream-finish-for-leukemia-challenge/

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews

Related materials:

DREAM 9 outline: https://www.synapse.org/#!Synapse:syn2455683/wiki/64007

Qutub Lab: https://qutublab.org

Rice Department of Bioengineering: http://bioe.rice.edu

DiBS (Biowheel): http://www.dibsvis.com/about

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,910 undergraduates and 2,809 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for best quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.
LA JOLLA -- Salk Institute scientists have found preliminary evidence that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other compounds found in marijuana can promote the cellular removal of amyloid beta, a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer's disease.

While these exploratory studies were conducted in neurons grown in the laboratory, they may offer insight into the role of inflammation in Alzheimer's disease and could provide clues to developing novel therapeutics for the disorder.

"Although other studies have offered evidence that cannabinoids might be neuroprotective against the symptoms of Alzheimer's, we believe our study is the first to demonstrate that cannabinoids affect both inflammation and amyloid beta accumulation in nerve cells," says Salk Professor David Schubert, the senior author of the paper.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain disorder that leads to memory loss and can seriously impair a person's ability to carry out daily tasks. It affects more than five million Americans according to the National Institutes of Health, and is a leading cause of death. It is also the most common cause of dementia and its incidence is expected to triple during the next 50 years.

It has long been known that amyloid beta accumulates within the nerve cells of the aging brain well before the appearance of Alzheimer's disease symptoms and plaques. Amyloid beta is a major component of the plaque deposits that are a hallmark of the disease. But the precise role of amyloid beta and the plaques it forms in the disease process remains unclear.

In a manuscript published in June 2016's Aging and Mechanisms of Disease, Salk team studied nerve cells altered to produce high levels of amyloid beta to mimic aspects of Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers found that high levels of amyloid beta were associated with cellular inflammation and higher rates of neuron death. They demonstrated that exposing the cells to THC reduced amyloid beta protein levels and eliminated the inflammatory response from the nerve cells caused by the protein, thereby allowing the nerve cells to survive.

"Inflammation within the brain is a major component of the damage associated with Alzheimer's disease, but it has always been assumed that this response was coming from immune-like cells in the brain, not the nerve cells themselves," says Antonio Currais, a postdoctoral researcher in Schubert's laboratory and first author of the paper. "When we were able to identify the molecular basis of the inflammatory response to amyloid beta, it became clear that THC-like compounds that the nerve cells make themselves may be involved in protecting the cells from dying."

Brain cells have switches known as receptors that can be activated by endocannabinoids, a class of lipid molecules made by the body that are used for intercellular signaling in the brain. The psychoactive effects of marijuana are caused by THC, a molecule similar in activity to endocannabinoids that can activate the same receptors. Physical activity results in the production of endocannabinoids and some studies have shown that exercise may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Schubert emphasized that his team's findings were conducted in exploratory laboratory models, and that the use of THC-like compounds as a therapy would need to be tested in clinical trials.

In separate but related research, his lab found an Alzheimer's drug candidate called J147 that also removes amyloid beta from nerve cells and reduces the inflammatory response in both nerve cells and the brain. It was the study of J147 that led the scientists to discover that endocannabinoids are involved in the removal of amyloid beta and the reduction of inflammation.

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Other authors on the paper include Oswald Quehenberger and Aaron Armando at the University of California, San Diego; and Pamela Maher and Daniel Daughtery at the Salk Institute.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, The Burns Foundation and The Bundy Foundation.

About Salk Institute:

Every cure has a starting point. The Salk Institute embodies Jonas Salk's mission to dare to make dreams into reality. Its internationally renowned and award-winning scientists explore the very foundations of life, seeking new understandings in neuroscience, genetics, immunology and more. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark: small by choice, intimate by nature and fearless in the face of any challenge. Be it cancer or Alzheimer's, aging or diabetes, Salk is where cures begin. Learn more at: salk.edu.
Washington, DC--Older men with low libido and low testosterone levels showed more interest in sex and engaged in more sexual activity when they underwent testosterone therapy, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

The study is the largest placebo-controlled trial in older men conducted on the subject to date. The sexual function study is part of the Testosterone Trials, a series of seven studies examining the effectiveness of hormone therapy in men who are 65 or older, who have low testosterone levels and are experiencing symptoms of testosterone deficiency. The research is supported primarily by the National Institutes of Health.

Testosterone is a key male sex hormone involved in maintaining sex drive, erectile function and sperm production. The Endocrine Society's Clinical Practice Guideline recommends using testosterone therapy to treat men with symptoms of androgen deficiency and low levels of testosterone. Androgen deficiency occurs when a man has consistently low levels of testosterone and resulting symptoms such as sexual dysfunction.

In the past 15 years, use of testosterone therapy has rapidly expanded among men. Testosterone levels decline as men age, and some men develop low testosterone levels and symptoms. Since 2000, the number of men beginning testosterone therapy has almost quadrupled in the United States, according to a 2014 study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

"Our findings indicate low testosterone is one cause contributing to reduced libido and erectile dysfunction in older men," said the study's first author, Glenn R. Cunningham, MD, of Baylor College of Medicine and Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center in Houston, TX. "Men experiencing these symptoms should be evaluated for testosterone deficiency."

The study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of testosterone therapy. It was not large enough or long enough to address issues related to cardiovascular events or clinical prostate cancer.

The placebo-controlled, double-blinded trial examined the effect of testosterone therapy on sexual function in a group of 470 men. The men were enrolled in the study through 12 academic medical centers. The participants were at least 65 years old and had low testosterone levels, based on the average results of multiple tests. All of the men had a heterosexual partner.

During the year-long study, the men were assigned to receive either testosterone gel or a placebo applied to the skin. The participants answered questionnaires about sexual function at the outset and every three months during the 12-month study.

The men treated with testosterone therapy displayed consistent improvement in libido and in 10 of the 12 sexual activity measurements, including frequency of intercourse, masturbation and nighttime erections. In comparison, men who received the placebo did not change their questionnaire responses significantly over the course of the year-long study.

"For symptomatic older men with low testosterone levels, testosterone therapy led to consistent improvement in most types of sexual activity," Cunningham said.

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Other authors of the study include: Alisa J. Stephens-Shields, John T. Farrar, Denise Cifelli, Laura K. Gallagher, Bret Zeldow, Xiaoling Hou, Susan S. Ellenberg and Peter J. Snyder of the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA; Raymond C. Rosen of New England Research Institutes, Inc., in Watertown, MA; Christina Wang and Ronald S. Swerdloff of Harbor-University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center and Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute in Torrance, CA; Shalender Bhasin and Shehzad Basaria of Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA; Alvin M. Matsumoto of the Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System and the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, WA; J. Kellogg Parsons of the University of California, San Diego in San Diego, CA; Thomas M. Gill of Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT; Mark E. Molitch and David Cella of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL; Elizabeth Barrett-Connor of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in La Jolla, CA; Jane A. Cauley of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA; Jill P. Crandall and Vafa Tabatabaie of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY; Kristine E. Ensrud of the Minneapolis VA Health Care System in Minneapolis, MN; Cora E. Lewis of the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, AL; Marco Pahor and Stephen Anton of the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL; and Susan J. Diem of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN.

The research was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging, with additional support from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Centers, the Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System; and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Pharmaceutical manufacturer AbbVie, the maker of a testosterone gel called AndroGel, provided funding as well as the testosterone gel and placebo for the study.

The study, "Testosterone Treatment and Sexual Function in Older Men with Low Testosterone Levels," will be published online at http://press.endocrine.org/doi/10.1210/jc.2016-1645, ahead of print.

For more information on testosterone, visit the Hormone Health Network's website.

Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the world's oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions.

The Society, which is celebrating its centennial in 2016, has more than 18,000 members, including scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in 122 countries. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at http://www.endocrine.org. Follow us on Twitter at @TheEndoSociety and @EndoMedia.
Individual differences in the motivation to engage in or to avoid aggressive social interaction (bullying) are mediated by the basal forebrain, lateral habenula circuit in the brain, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published June 30 in the journal Nature.

The Mount Sinai study focuses on identifying the mechanisms by which specific brain reward regions interact to modulate the motivational or rewarding component of aggressive behavior using a mouse model.

Maladaptive aggressive behavior is associated with a number of psychiatric disorders and is thought to partly result from inappropriate activation of brain reward systems in response to aggressive or violent social stimuli. While previous research has implicated the basal forebrain as a potentially important brain reward region for aggression-related behaviors, there had been limited functional evidence that the basal forebrain, or its projections to other brain regions, directly controls the rewarding aspects of aggression.

"Our study is the first to demonstrate that bullying behavior activates a primary brain reward circuit that makes it pleasurable to a subset of individuals," says Scott Russo, PhD, Associate Professor of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "Furthermore, we show that manipulating activity in this circuit alters the activity of brain cells and ultimately, aggression behavior."

To study individual differences in aggressive behavior, the current team established a mouse behavioral model that exposed adult males to a younger subordinate mouse for three minutes each day for three consecutive days, and found that 70 percent of mice exhibited aggressive behavior (AGGs) while 30 percent of mice show no aggression at all (NONs).

Using conditioned place preference, a technique commonly used in animal studies to evaluate preferences for environmental stimuli that have been associated with a positive or negative reward, study investigators research found that AGGs mice bullied/attacked the subordinate mouse and subsequently developed a conditioned place preference for the intruder-paired context, suggesting that the aggressive mice found the ability to subordinate another mouse rewarding. Conversely, NONs mice did not bully/attack the intruder mouse and subsequently developed a conditioned place aversion.

All sensations, movements, thoughts, memories and feelings are the result of signals that pass through nerve cells (neurons), the primary functional unit of the brain and central nervous system. When a signal passes from the cell body to the end of the cell axon that stretches away from the cell body, chemicals known as neurotransmitters are released into the synapse, the place where signals are exchanged between cells. The neurotransmitters then cross the synapse and attach to receptors on the neighboring cell, which can change the properties of the receiving cell. Found throughout the brain and produced by neurons, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that binds to GABA receptors, making the neighboring neuron less excitable.

The current study team investigated GABA projection neurons that can send long-range connections to inhibit neurons in other brain regions. Specifically, using electrophysiological and histological techniques, the research team found that when exposed to the opportunity to bully another individual, AGGs mice exhibit increased activity of the basal forebrain GABA projection neurons that reduce activity in the lateral habenula, an area of the brain that would normally encode an aversion to aggressive stimuli. Conversely, they found NONs exhibit reduced basal forebrain activation and a subsequent increase in lateral habenula neuronal firing, which makes the aggression stimuli aversive.

While previous research has found the lateral habenula to play a role in negative moods states and aversion across a broad range of species, including mice and humans, little was previously known about the neural mechanisms that directly regulate the motivational component of aggressive behavior.

Researchers then used optogenetic tools to directly manipulate the activity of GABA between the basal forebrain and the lateral habenula, demonstrating that stimulation or inhibition of BF-lHb projections is both sufficient and necessary to alter the inclination to engage in or avoid the opportunity to bully.

"When we artificially induced the rapid GABA neuron activation between the basal forebrain and lateral habenula, we watched in real time as the aggressive mice became docile and no longer showed bullying behavior," says Dr. Russo. "Our study is unique in that we took information about the basal forebrain, lateral habenula projections and then actually went back and manipulated these connections within animals to conclusively show that the circuits bi-directionally control aggression behavior."

The study findings demonstrate a previously unidentified functional role for the lateral habenula and its inputs from the basal forebrain in mediating the rewarding component of aggression and suggest that targeting shared underlying deficits in motivational circuitry may provide useful information for the development of novel therapeutic drugs for treating aggression-related neuropsychiatric disorders.

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This research was supported by US National Institute of Health grants R01 MH090264, P50 MH096890 and P50 AT008661-01 (SJR), R01 MH092306 (MHH), T32 MH087004 (MLP, MH and MF), T32 MH096678 (MLP), F30 MH100835 (MH), F31 MH105217 (MLP), NIGMS 1FI2GM117583-01 (SAG) and NSFC 81200862 (HZ).

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is an integrated health system committed to providing distinguished care, conducting transformative research, and advancing biomedical education. Structured around seven hospital campuses and a single medical school, the Health System has an extensive ambulatory network and a range of inpatient and outpatient services--from community-based facilities to tertiary and quaternary care.

The System includes approximately 7,000 primary and specialty care physicians; 12 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. Physicians are affiliated with the renowned Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is ranked among the highest in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding per investigator. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked as one of the nation's top 10 hospitals in Geriatrics, Cardiology/Heart Surgery, and Gastroenterology, and is in the top 25 in five other specialties in the 2015-2016 "Best Hospitals" issue of U.S. News & World Report. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital also is ranked in seven out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 11th nationally for Ophthalmology, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel is ranked regionally.

For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
MISSOULA - University of Montana doctoral candidate Joanna Kreitinger was one of 48 people nationwide selected to receive a 2016 American Association of Immunologists Careers in Immunology Fellowship. This highly competitive fellowship will provide Kreitinger with one year's salary to support her training in UM Professor David Shepherd's lab, which is housed in the College of Health Professions & Biomedical Sciences.

"Joanna has been awarded this highly prestigious fellowship based on her exceptional research and hard work that is advancing our understanding of how the immune system functions in health and disease," Shepherd said.

Under Shepherd's leadership, Kreitinger will study immune cell development and contribute to a better understanding of the role the immune system plays in lung diseases. As a member of Shepherd's team, Kreitinger's research likely will contribute to the development of new drugs to treat diseases of the immune system.

"She is an outstanding scholar and scientist and is highly deserving of this honor, and she has an exceptionally bright future ahead of her in science," Shepherd said. "It has been my pleasure to mentor Joanna during the past several years and I am very excited about working with her on this project over the next year."

Kreitinger, a native Montanan from Manhattan, earned her bachelor's degree in biology from UM in 2012. After graduating with her undergraduate degree she continued her education at UM first as an undergraduate research fellow studying the toxicity of Atrazine, a commonly used herbicide, in the lab of UM Associate Professor Scott Wetzel. She continued in Wetzel's lab doing a research rotation aimed to define, at a basic level, how immune cells communicate with each other. Beginning in 2014 Kreitinger began working with Shepherd to research dendritic cells - the hardest working cell of the immune system.

In addition to this fellowship, Kreitinger has earned numerous awards. In the past year she earned UM's GradCon Spotlight on Innovation Award; Society of Toxicology's First Place Best Presentation by a Student in Immunotoxicology; and twice has been awarded the Comparative and Veterinary Student Travel Award by the Society of Toxicology.

She also has published, as a lead author, in the Journal of Immunology and been a co-investigator on a study published in Toxicological Sciences.

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For more information about the fellowship program, visit http://aai.org/Awards/CIIF.html. To learn more about Kreitinger's research, call Shepherd at 406-243-2224 or email dave.shepherd@umontana.edu.
Fog, blizzards, gusts of wind - poor weather can often make the operation of rescue helicopters a highly risky business, and sometimes even impossible. A new helmet-mounted display, developed by researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), may in the future be able to help pilots detect hazards at an early stage, even when their visibility is severely impaired: the information required to do this is created in an on-board computer and imported into digital eye glasses. A new study has shown that this augmented reality improves the performance of pilots.

Thick clouds hang over the Tegernsee. The range of sight is just a few hundred meters. Under normal circumstances, a helicopter would not be allowed to take off in such weather - the danger that the pilot would not be able to react in time to a construction crane, a power line or a mountain would be too great. But this does not stop Franz Viertler from entering the cockpit. Thanks to his head-mounted display - digital eye glasses attached to his head that display additional information - Viertler can detect hazards and navigate around them, even in thick fog.

The new technology is still in the research stage: the Alpine foothills are a projection, Viertler is not a pilot, but a TUM engineer and he is not really operating an actual helicopter, rather a flight simulator. Yet that is all you need to demonstrate the possibilities of augmented reality - a type of reality enhanced by additional information in digital form. The rotor purrs, the cockpit vibrates, clouds approach and obscure the view. Nevertheless, Viertler knows exactly where he is: the head-mounted display paves the way with green lines representing the outlines of mountains and houses. A red outline in between depicts wind turbines, construction cranes and high buildings.

Many realities, one goal: safety

"Our goal is to increase safety for pilots using augmented reality," explains the researcher. Together with his colleagues at the Institute of Helicopter Technology, he has developed software that combines terrain information with sensor readings that can be taken during a flight. Light Detection and Ranging, LIDAR for short, has proved especially useful here, stresses Viertler: the measuring instruments that can be attached to the helicopter's skids emit radiation in the micrometer range and detect the waves reflected by hazards or obstacles.

All of the data is processed on-board and projected directly to the see-through head-mounted display. This allows the pilot to not only see what he can detect with his own eyes, but also the digitally-generated outlines of the landscape and potential obstacles. Furthermore, flight data, such as speed, altitude, position and course, can also be displayed. In addition, a head-tracking system ensures that the projections adjust to the pilot's line of sight - depending on whether he is looking forward, downward or out the side of the cockpit.

The right amount of information

Does all of this information really help the pilot? To answer this question, the TUM researchers conducted a study with 16 professional helicopter pilots. They were allowed to test the new head-mounted display during various simulator flights. The engineers recorded how the participants flew and queried them afterward on their stress symptoms.

Viertler recently presented the results to the members of the American Helicopter Society in West Palm Beach, Florida: for ranges of sight below 800 meters, the pilots benefited measurably from the terrain and flight data displayed. They not only flew more quickly and more safely than without the head-mounted display, but they also felt that the flights had been less demanding both physically and mentally. The advantages of the system really came to bear when visibility was extremely poor, e.g. in visual ranges of just 100 to 400 meters.

Fighting the white-out phenomenon

"The new technology can reduce the risk when helicopters are operated," Viertler is convinced. "The main problem is poor visibility caused by clouds or snow, or dust blown up when taking off and landing. Augmented reality can help to overcome this white-out or brown-out phenomenon."

However, it may take some time before pilots benefit from this in daily practice: the collection, evaluation and projection of the data must first be tested in research helicopters. "We cannot leave that to our simulators," explains Viertler. Here, support from the industry is required. Fortunately, the industry has already shown great interest in this technology.

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Highresolution pictures: https://mediatum.ub.tum.de/?change_language=en&id=1311594#1311594

Contact:

Franz Viertler

Technical University of Munich

Tel.: +49-(0)89-289-16362

viertler@tum.de
A new twist on the use of renewable energy is saving children's lives in Africa. The innovation--a solar powered oxygen delivery system--is providing concentrated oxygen in hospital for children suffering from severe pneumonia.

The device created by Dr. Michael Hawkes, an assistant professor in the University of Alberta's Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, is the focus of a recently published study in The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and is already in use in two hospitals in Uganda.

"Solar-powered oxygen is using freely available resources--the sun and air--to treat children with pneumonia in the most remote settings," says Hawkes. "It's very gratifying for a pediatrician doing research in a lower-resource setting to fill a clinical gap and save lives. It's what our work is all about."

Each year, 900,000 children die of pneumonia worldwide with most deaths taking place in Africa and Asia. Vaccinations and medications exist, but are being rolled out slowly in Africa where diagnostics are poor and chest x-rays are not readily available.

Children with severe pneumonia have infected lungs that need concentrated oxygen until antibiotics begin to work. The concentrated oxygen helps overcome a problem with oxygen exchange caused by the lung infection. In Canada, it is available at the bedside in every hospital room. In developing countries like Uganda, it's harder to come by reliably.

Hawkes worked in Ugandan hospitals in the communities of Kambuga and Jinja for over two years where he quickly recognized a need for a more reliable oxygen source. In low-resource settings, oxygen can be delivered using cylinders, which are often in short supply, or concentrators, which depend on electricity. In Kambuga there were multiple power outages each day, some lasting for up to 48 hours.

"In the hospital you often didn't have access to oxygen cylinders. So the power goes out and you're out of luck. We had children that died in front of our eyes," says Hawkes.

To establish a reliable oxygen source, he and his colleagues came up with the idea of using solar energy. During the day, solar panels supply power to an oxygen concentrator that strips oxygen out of the air. At night, charged batteries from the panels supply the power to the concentrator.

To fund the idea, they received a Grand Challenges Canada grant, a Government of Canada initiative that supports global health research. The funds were used to set up the systems at the Kambuga and Jinja hospitals. "We piloted it on a group of 28 children and it showed that you could use the solar panels and batteries to run the concentrator 24/7. We treated children with pneumonia and the system worked," he says.

Next they conducted a larger randomized controlled trial and showed that solar powered oxygen delivery works just as well as the conventional method of oxygen delivery using cylinders. The trial officially ended in 2015, but after seeing such strong results, the hospitals continue to use the solar powered systems.

Hawkes and his team are now working with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in hopes of soon expanding the system's use to 80 hospitals across Uganda.

"If we could expand it, could you imagine how many children would have access to lifesaving oxygen therapy?" Hawkes wonders. "The challenges are different in these areas of the world, and the innovations need to be different as well."

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PHILADELPHIA--The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has launched a new program, called AAV 3.0, to create new viral vectors to find quicker and better treatments for an array of diseases. James M. Wilson, MD, PhD, a professor of Medicine and director of the Orphan Disease Center, will lead an interdisciplinary team of over 30 scientists to create this new technology platform with support provided by the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

The current wave of clinical applications of gene therapy is largely based on a new family of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors -- the most commonly used viral vectors today -- developed over 10 years ago by Wilson's laboratory at Penn. AAVs are used to ferry corrected genes and other small nucleic acids into cells. Translation of AAV gene therapy into the clinic has largely been in the treatment of disabling and lethal rare genetic diseases where the need is the greatest.

"I am optimistic that successful technologies will continue to emerge from our existing AAV vectors to help patients suffering from severe inherited diseases," Wilson said. "However, we believe it is possible to significantly improve the performance of future AAV vectors to expand their clinical utility for gene therapy and to help usher in therapeutic applications of genome editing."

Penn has been a catalyst for the scientific, clinical, and commercial development of AAV gene therapy through an extensive network of private and public collaborations. A dozen biopharmaceutical licensees including two companies Penn helped to form -- REGENXBIO and Dimension Therapeutics -- are currently using earlier AAVs involving over 26 diseases.

"With this newest program in AAV technology, Penn Medicine continues to build upon its groundbreaking work to facilitate the development of next-generation vectors and therapies, as well as the clinical translation of those efforts," said J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and Dean of the Perelman School of Medicine.

The University and Penn Medicine have long contributed to pioneering work in the clinical translation of cell and gene therapy. Examples include the treatment of patients with inherited blindness with gene therapy by Jean Bennett, MD, PhD, the F. M. Kirby professor of Ophthalmology and director of Penn's Center for Advanced Retinal & Ocular Therapeutics, and the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells to treat patients with leukemia by Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor of Immunotherapy in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and director of Translational Research in the Abramson Cancer Center. In addition, the first gene therapy product approved in the Western hemisphere, used for the treatment of a rare genetic form of pancreatitis, uses a vector developed by Wilson.

"Our current successes in cell and gene therapy represent decades of work by our scientists and unwavering support by the institution," said Ralph W. Muller, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. "We stand prepared to do what is necessary to make sure these life-saving therapies are made available to our patients."

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Engineers and neuroscientists have demonstrated for the first time that the cells in the retina carry out key processing tasks

Engineers and neuroscientists at the University of Sheffield have demonstrated for the first time that the cells in the retina carry out key processing tasks. This could pave the way for improving retinal implants and therefore the sight of thousands of people suffering from retinal disorders.

Up to now, it was thought that the function of these retinal cells, or photoreceptors, was mainly to convert light into electrical signals, from which the brain can interpret images.

However, the new research from Sheffield, published in the journal PLOS ONE, shows that in fruit flies, the photoreceptors believed to be involved in motion detection play a key role in providing visual information about the world around us.

The similarities that exist between responses of human cone photoreceptors and fly photoreceptors suggest that the human eye processes visual signals in a similar way.

If this were true, the research could have significant implications for those developing retinal implants for patients with retinal disorders such as macular degeneration. Age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of sight loss in the developed world and currently affects more than 600,000 people in the UK.

Retinal implants replace damaged or dead cells by converting light into electrical signals that are sent to the brain. The implants do not restore vision completely but can help patients to detect patterns and shapes.

Daniel Coca, lead researcher from Sheffield's Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, said: "We think that implementing the processing tasks performed by photoreceptors into retinal implants could help the brain accomplish key tasks such as object recognition and motion detection. This could significantly improve the performance of artificial retinas and therefore the sight of thousands of people suffering from macular degeneration."

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The research was funded by a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council UK (BBSRC) and includes researchers from the University of Sheffield and University of Cambridge.
HOUSTON (June 29, 2016) - Led by Claudio Soto, Ph.D., researchers from McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have been awarded $11 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to study the pathogenesis, transmission and detection of prion diseases - such as chronic wasting disease in deer - that can potentially spread to humans.

Prions are the protein-based infectious agents responsible for a group of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, which includes bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) in cattle, scrapie in sheep, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer, elk and moose. All are fatal brain diseases with incubation periods that last years or even decades.

"Prion diseases are rare but because of their incurability, lethality and potential to spread from animals to humans, we need to better understand them from how they replicate to the development of efficient detection methods," said Soto, principal investigator and director of The George and Cynthia Mitchell Center for Research in Alzheimer's disease and Related Brain Disorders.

"Dr. Soto's groundbreaking research is an outstanding example of our ongoing efforts to advance the understanding, detection and treatment of all neurological disorders," said Giuseppe N. Colasurdo, M.D., president of UTHealth and Alkek-Williams Distinguished Chair. "This grant supports and reinforces the work of our exceptional team of scientists."

In previous laboratory research published in the May 2015 issue of Cell Report, Soto and a team of researchers including Glenn C. Telling, Ph.D. and Edward Hoover, D.V.M., Ph.D. of Colorado State University reported that grass plants can bind, uptake and transport infectious prions. The team also found that plants can uptake prions from contaminated soil and transport them to different parts of the plant, which can act as carriers of infectivity. This suggested that plants may play an important role in environmental prion contamination and the horizontal transmission of the disease. That research also received funding from the NIH.

"Dr Soto's pioneering work on prions and their link to devastating brain diseases is receiving national attention," said Barbara J. Stoll, M.D., dean and H. Wayne Hightower Distinguished Professor in the Medical Sciences at McGovern Medical School. "His impressive funding record from the National Institutes of Health is further testimony to Dr Soto's important and innovative work."

The new research focuses on CWD in the laboratory and the environment, particularly the route of disease transmission among animals. CWD was first diagnosed in mule deer in Colorado in the late 1960s and has spread across the country into 20 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including the counties of El Paso and Hudspeth in Texas. In northeastern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming, the disease is endemic.

Soto will explore the zoonotic - the ability to transfer from animal to human - potential of CWD and factors that may alter the resistance of humans to that transfer. His team at McGovern Medical School will also investigate the possibility that prions accumulate in the environment in plants and other surfaces where they may concentrate and remain infectious for years.

This project includes some of the most accomplished prion researchers in the United States. The team of Hoover and Jason C. Bartz, Ph.D., of Creighton University, will look at the role of the interaction between prions and the environment, both in preclinical lab studies and in the field in native cervids - the class of hoofed animal that includes deer, elk and moose. Telling's group will study the molecular mechanisms behind prion replication and factors that affect the generation, mutation and evolution of prion strains, as well as the barrier that prevents prion diseases from jumping to another species.

To minimize the risk of exposure to CWD, the CDC recommends that people avoid eating meat from deer and elk that look sick or test positive for CWD. Hunters who field-dress deer in an affected area should wear gloves and minimize handling of the brain and spinal cord tissues. The infectious agents that transmit prion diseases are resistant to inactivation by heat and chemicals.

Soto, who is on the faculty of The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, has been investigating prions for two decades. His invention of an innovative method for highly efficient prion amplification and detection has revolutionized the field and led to the first test to detect prions in human biological fluids. His group reported the presence of the prion protein in the urine of patients with variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease in the Aug. 7, 2014 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. The development and evaluation of a blood test for humans is supported by a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and is under late stages of validation for regulatory approval in Europe and the United States.

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The latest study is supported by a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health (P01AI077774). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
The plot thickens in the mystery of the hobbit's demise, with new evidence narrowing the time gap between modern humans and hobbits at Liang Bua

Crucial new evidence has revealed modern humans (Homo sapiens) were likely using fire at Liang Bua 41,000 years ago, narrowing the time gap between the last hobbits (Homo floresiensis) and the first modern humans at this site on the Indonesian island of Flores.

The research, led by the University of Wollongong Australia (UOW) and Indonesia's National Research Centre for Archaeology and published in the Journal of Archaeological Science today (June 30, 2016), is among the earliest evidence of modern humans in Southeast Asia.

Lead author Dr Mike Morley, a research fellow and geoarchaeologist at UOW's Centre for Archaeological Science (CAS), said the find is "extremely important" in the quest to discover why and how the hobbit disappeared, around 50,000 years ago.

The story of the hobbit starts in 2003, when an international team of researchers, including those from UOW, uncovered the remains of a previously unknown species of small-statured hominins at Liang Bua. Homo floresiensis, affectionately dubbed 'the hobbit' for her tiny one-metre stature, would rewrite history books, capture imaginations around the world and go on to be dubbed 'the scientific find of the century'.

After revised dating estimates of the original hobbit skeleton -- published in Nature in March -- placed the bones between 190,000 and 60,000 years old (it was previously believed to have survived on Flores until as recently as 12,000 years ago), and the most recent stone tools at 50,000 years old, a gap in the chronology of the sediment sequence opened up -- researchers had no idea what happened at the site between 46,000 and 20,000 years ago.

Dr Morley and colleagues, including CAS geoarchaeologist Professor Paul Goldberg and archaeologist Thomas Sutikna, were able to fill that gap, detailing environmental changes at the site between 190,000 and 20,000 years ago and revealing something rather unexpected: physical evidence of fire places that were used between 41,000 and 24,000 years ago, most likely by modern humans for warmth and/or cooking.

"We now know that the hobbits only survived until around 50,000 years ago at Liang Bua. We also know that modern humans arrived in Southeast Asia and Australia at least 50,000 years ago, and most likely quite a bit earlier" Dr Morley said.

"This new evidence, which is some of the earliest evidence of modern human activity in Southeast Asia, narrows the gap between the two hominin species at the site."

Given that no evidence for the use of fire by Homo floresiensis during roughly 130,000 years of presence at the site has been found, Dr Morley said modern humans are the most likely candidates for the construction of the fire places.

"Finding the fire places in such an excellent state of preservation allows insights into the behaviour of these people," he added.

Dr Morley said researchers at Liang Bua are now searching for more evidence that further closes that gap in time; evidence that could place modern humans at exactly the right place, at the right time, possibly revealing an overlap between the two species, which could have led to interaction between the two species and ultimately the hobbit's extinction.

As part of the study, Dr Morley used a technique called 'micromorphology' to examine the sediments taken from the site at a microscopic level of detail. After extracting sediment blocks from the rear of the cave (a different area from where the hobbit fossils were recovered), the samples were shipped back to UOW and wafer-thin slices, just 30microns thick (1 micron is 1000th of a millimetre), were analysed under a microscope. Spectroscopic analyses of the sediments were made by CAS archaeological chemist Dr Linda Prinsloo, and new radiocarbon dates were used to determine the age of each layer examined for the study.

The study, which also acts as further evidence of Homo sapiens dispersal through Southeast Asia and into Australia around 50,000 years ago, comes just weeks after UOW researchers, also from CAS, announced they had found 700,000 year old fossilised remains of what appear to be ancestors of the hobbit. The remarkable finds quash any remaining doubt that Homo floresiensis was a modern human afflicted with a disease causing the diminutive stature.

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UOW will offer a free four-week online course on the science behind the Hobbit, commencing July 18, 2016. Sign up today to secure your place in this quest of discovery and adventure: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/homo-floresiensis.

Media resources:

High res imagery available at: http://uow.to/dBCF301qdJn

Media contacts:

Dr Mike Morley

61-417-057-188

mmorley@uow.edu.au

Elise Pitt

Media and Corporate Communications Coordinator

University of Wollongong

61-2-4221-3079, 61-422-959-953

epitt@uow.edu.au
How can a gecko move across a ceiling upside down? Two mechanisms are responsible: Adhesion via billions of extremely fine hairs on its feet, which enable it to stick to ceilings and walls. And as soon as the gecko moves, it relies on stiction. However, any change of adhesion and stiction at macroscopic level is expressed on the nanometer scale through the change in the forces exerted between atoms and molecules.

How a drop of water touches a honeycomb structure

An international team of researchers headed by Thomas Greber from the University of Zurich's Physik-Institut succeeded in changing the manner in which a drop of liquid adheres to a surface by altering the electric voltage applied to a water drop. The surface upon which the drop lies consists of a material known as nanomesh, a single boron nitride layer on metallic rhodium. The structure is shaped like honeycomb with a comb depth of 0.1 nanometers and comb-comb distance of 3.2 nanometers.

Macroscopically, the change in electrical voltage is expressed in the change of the contact angle between the drop and the nanomesh surface. The contact or wetting angle refers to the angle that a drop of liquid assumes with respect to the surface of a solid. This angle can be measured with the aid of backlit photographs.

Change in the surface structure alters the contact angle of the drop

On the nanometer scale, the change in voltage causes the following: The nitrogen bonds with the rhodium are replaced by hydrogen-rhodium bonds, which flattens the nanomesh structure. How strongly the boron nitride's nitrogen binds to the surface of the rhodium depends on its distance from and direction to the next rhodium atom. And this determines the honeycomb structure and depth of the boron nitride layer. If the voltage changes, hydrogen accumulates between the boron nitride and the rhodium layer, which causes the honeycomb boron nitride layer to become flat. Tunneling microscopy can be used to detect this nanoscopic effect - the change in the surface properties of the nanomesh - in the liquid.

"To understand and control the interplay between the macro and the nano-world is the real challenge in nanoscience," stresses Greber. After all, six orders of magnitude need to be bridged - from millimeters in length (10-3 m) to nanometers (10-9 m); that's a factor of one million. "Our model system of the electrically switchable nanomesh and a drop's observable contact angle enables us to access the fundamental phenomenon of the friction of liquids on surfaces more precisely. This should help us solve problems that crop up during lubrication more effectively, for instance." The research project actually appears on the cover of the latest issue of the renowned journal Nature.

On the one hand, the new system is interesting for biology. Applying this effect should make it possible to control the adhesion and movement of cells. Aspects such as cell migration or the formation of complex, multicellular structures with new scientific approaches might be researched as a result. On the other hand, technological applications such as capillary pumps, where the capillary height can be controlled via electrical voltage, or micro-capillaries, where the flow resistance can be controlled, are also conceivable.

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About the study

The research results were achieved within the scope of the Sinergia Program of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The SNSF uses this instrument to promote the collaboration between several research groups, which conduct research across disciplines with the prospect of ground-breaking results. Besides the University of Zurich, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Vienna University of Technology and Empa were also involved.
When rain falls on a lotus leaf, the leaf doesn't get wet. Thanks to its special structure, the water drops roll off without wetting the surface. Artificial materials can be made water-repellent, too. It is, however, extremely challenging to produce a surface with switchable wetting. Now, a research team from TU Wien, KU Leuven and University of Zurich has managed to manipulate a surface of a single layer of boron nitride in such a way that it can be switched back and forth between states with high and low wetting and adhesion.

Hexagons making waves

One of the most interesting physical properties of a surface is its stiction or static friction" says Stijn Mertens (Institute of Applied Physics at the Vienna University of Technology, and associated with KU Leuven in Belgium). This force has to be overcome for an object on the surface to start sliding." The nanostructure of the surface determines its stiction to a large extent: the details of the contact between the surface and another object (for example, a drop of liquid) depend on the geometry of its atoms and other properties. This in turn is crucial for adhesion, stiction and wetting. The relationship between stiction and wetting, however, is so far only poorly understood.

"Just as the material graphene consists of only one layer of carbon atoms, our boron nitride -- which contains as many boron as nitrogen atoms -- has a thickness of only one atomic layer", explains Thomas Greber from the Physics Institute at the University of Zurich. This ultrathin layer can be grown on a rhodium single crystal. The atoms on the rhodium surface and in the boron nitride form a hexagonal pattern, but the distances between the atoms in the two materials are different. Thirteen atoms in boron nitride take the same space as twelve rhodium atoms, so that the two crystals do not fit together perfectly. Because of this mismatch, the boron nitride hexagons must bend, they appear as a frozen wave with a wavelength of 3.2 nanometres and a height of about 0.1 nanometres.

Precisely this two-dimensional nanowave influences the wetting of the surface by water", says Stijn Mertens. In any case, the boron nitride superstructure can be made flat with a simple trick: by putting the material in acid and applying an electrical voltage, hydrogen atoms creep under the boron nitride layer and change the bond between nitrogen and rhodium. This makes the boron nitride flat. Suddenly the adhesion of a water drop on the surface changes dramatically - even though the drop is 100'000 times bigger than the tiny waves in the boron nitride. If the voltage is decreased, this effect is reversed: We can switch the surface again and again between these two states", explains Stijn Mertens.

The drop-measuring machine

To investigate the wetting of the surface and apply the voltage at the same time, an instrument was built specially for this purpose, in which a liquid drop is brought on the surface through a very thin glass tube. The drop is made bigger and smaller while at the same time its shape is recorded. Whether the drop shape is flat or more rounded depends on the properties of the surface.

Concepts to switch the wetting of a surface forth and back have been around for a while. For example, organic molecules that change their shape with light of a certain colour can be attached to the surface. However, such molecules are much more complex and fragile than the materials studied here. Our surface consists of only a single layer of atoms, is completely inorganic and does not change even if we heat it in vacuum to 1000 C", agree Stijn Mertens and Thomas Greber. This means that this material could also be used for applications where organic molecules would long be destroyed, ranging from daily life to space travel."

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Video / Pictures: https://www.tuwien.ac.at/dle/pr/aktuelles/downloads/2016/tropfen/

Original publication: Mertens et al., Switching stiction and adhesion of a liquid on a solid, Nature, June 30, 2016.

Further information:

Dr. Stijn Mertens

Institute for Applied Physics,

TU Wien

Wiedner Hauptstr. 8, 1040 Wien

stmerten@gmail.com
June 29, 2016 - Plastic surgeons see some clear advantages of using Google Glass in the operating room, reports a survey study in the July issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

"Despite some identified weaknesses, Google Glass is a unique technology with a promising plastic surgical application in the operating room," according to the new research by Dr. Jeremy C. Sinkin of Georgetown University Hospital and colleagues.

Plastic Surgeons Who Tried 'Glass' in the OR Give it Good Ratings

Introduced in 2013, Glass is a hands-free, head-mounted computerized device that can present information to the wearer and enable recording and sharing of photos and video. A recently concluded Google testing program allowed Georgetown plastic surgeons to evaluate Glass for use in the operating room.

After a brief introduction, nine resident and attending plastic surgeons used Glass for various cosmetic and reconstructive surgery procedures. These users were surveyed about their experience, including comfort level, ease of use, and the quality of images obtained using Glass.

In general, the surgeons gave Glass high ratings for comfort and overall satisfaction. The ability to capture images and video using voice-activated control was rated "good"--average score about three on a five-point scale. Scores for the quality of photos and videos averaged nearly four out of five.

Compared to voice control, the surgeons had more problems capturing pictures or videos using Glass's "wink" feature. They also reported difficulties with reviewing images during surgery.

One-third of surgeons said they found Glass to be distracting. At times, they had to look away from the surgical field or bend the head and neck into awkward positions in order to take pictures.

"The results provide constructive end-user feedback regarding the introduction of this innovative technology into plastic surgery," Dr. Sinkin comments. The researchers note some limitations of their study, especially the small number of surgeons surveyed.

In a previous paper in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Drs. Christopher R. Davis and Lorne K. Rosenfield of Stanford University described the first plastic surgery procedure performed using Glass. In a new editorial, they highlight the many potential advantages of incorporating Glass into surgery--including recording procedures for training and documentation and providing the surgeon with access to the patient's medical records and imaging studies. They write, "Despite its technological infancy, the marriage between Glass and surgeon is a healthy one with great promise."

While Glass is not currently available, it is currently undergoing a "comprehensive redesign," according to Drs. Davis and Rosenfield. They add, "One can expect redesigned frames, more flexible optical hardware, and an updated software platform open to all technology companies."

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Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery is published by Wolters Kluwer.

Click here to read "Google Glass in the Operating Room: The Plastic Surgeons Perspective."

Article: "Google Glass in the Operating Room: The Plastic Surgeons Perspective" (doi: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000002307)

About Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

For more than 60 years, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (http://journals.lww.com/plasreconsurg/) has been the one consistently excellent reference for every specialist who uses plastic surgery techniques or works in conjunction with a plastic surgeon. The official journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery brings subscribers up-to-the-minute reports on the latest techniques and follow-up for all areas of plastic and reconstructive surgery, including breast reconstruction, experimental studies, maxillofacial reconstruction, hand and microsurgery, burn repair, and cosmetic surgery, as well as news on medico-legal issues.

About ASPS

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) is the world's largest organization of board-certified plastic surgeons. Representing more than 7,000 Member Surgeons, the Society is recognized as a leading authority and information source on aesthetic and reconstructive plastic surgery. ASPS comprises more than 94 percent of all board-certified plastic surgeons in the United States. Founded in 1931, the Society represents physicians certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery or The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. ASPS advances quality care to plastic surgery patients by encouraging high standards of training, ethics, physician practice and research in plastic surgery. You can learn more and visit the American Society of Plastic Surgeons at http://www.plasticsurgery.org or http://www.facebook.com/PlasticSurgeryASPS and http://www.twitter.com/ASPS_news.

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Deep, dark and sometimes overwhelming, the human compulsion to seek revenge is a complex emotion that science has found incredibly hard to explain.

Despite popular consensus that "revenge is sweet," years of experimental research have suggested otherwise, finding that revenge is seldom as satisfying as we anticipate and often leaves the avenger less happy in the long run.

Now, new research from Washington University in St. Louis is adding a twist to the science of revenge, showing that our love-hate relationship with this dark desire is indeed a mixed bag, making us feel both good and bad, for reasons we might not expect.

"We show that people express both positive and negative feelings about revenge, such that revenge isn't bitter, nor sweet, but both," said the study's first author, Fade Eadeh, a doctoral student in psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences. "We love revenge because we punish the offending party and dislike it because it reminds us of their original act."

Forthcoming in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, the study provides a more nuanced understanding of both the benefits and drawbacks of revenge. Conducted with colleagues in the university's Attitude and Social Cognition Laboratory, the study is co-authored by lab director and associate professor Alan Lambert and fellow graduate student Stephanie Peak.

Its findings are based on three experiments in which about 200 people in each experiment were asked to fill out online questionnaires rating the intensity of moods and emotions triggered by their reading of brief news accounts, including one that described the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces as a retaliation for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The experiments were designed to explore whether people are right in thinking that revenge has the potential to make them feel good, despite recent research that suggests otherwise.

"We wondered whether people's intuitions about revenge are actually more accurate than originally anticipated," Eadeh said. "Why is there such a common cultural expectation that revenge feels sweet and satisfying? If revenge makes us feel worse, why did we see so many people cheering in the streets of D.C. and New York after the announcement of bin Laden's death?"

In experiment one, participants read either a "justice-is-served" news account of bin Laden's killing or a nonpolitical control passage about the Olympic Games. They then rated how strongly their current feelings matched up with a random list of 25 adjectives, such as happy, edgy, satisfied, irritated, mad, upset or sad.

Although this framework is similar to one used in a 2014 revenge study by Lambert, researchers modified the data analysis phase to focus on measures of emotion, as opposed to mood. Lambert's study and a 2008 revenge study led by the late Kevin Carlsmith at Colgate University both focused on mood and both found little evidence that revenge contributed positively toward it. Instead, people felt worse after taking revenge.

"In the case of the bin Laden assassination, this person is associated with an obviously horrific act -- the 9/11 attacks, which provides reason why revenge may be an indirect source of negative feelings," Eadeh said. "What our current research shows is that the way you measure feelings can be quite important."

Psychologists sometimes use the terms emotion and mood interchangeably, but there are important differences, as evident in the current paper. Emotions usually relate back to some clear and specific trigger and can be intense but are often fleeting. Moods, on the other hand, may come about gradually, last for an extended time, and are often of low intensity.

In this study, Eadeh and colleagues used sophisticated linguistic tools along with a standard mood inventory to tease apart the differences in self-reported emotions after reading a revenge-related passage. This analysis replicated previous findings that showed reading about revenge put people in a worse mood, but it also found that the same experience was capable of generating positive feelings.

"Our paper consistently shows that the emotional consequences of revenge are a mixed bag, in that we feel both good and bad when we take revenge on another party. This counters some previous research on the topic, by our own lab and others, that revenge is a wholly negative experience," Eadeh said.

To further test these findings, researchers repeated the experiment using different reading passages selected to avoid wording or content that might predispose readers toward a particular emotion or mood. To avoid stimulating patriotic emotions, for example, the Olympics control passage was swapped for a generic description of food allergies. The Osama bin Laden passage was altered to remove wording that explicitly described the killing as retaliation for the 9/11 attacks.

Despite these changes, the findings remained largely the same.

"We believe the reason people might feel good about revenge is because it allows us the opportunity to right a wrong and carry out the goal of punishing a bad guy," Eadeh said. "In our study, we found that Americans often expressed a great deal of satisfaction from bin Laden's death, presumably because we had ended the life of a person that was the mastermind behind a terror organization."

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Written by ACM



*Brussels/EU Summit/Angelo Marcopolo/- Before being Surrounded by a Storm of Other Journalists, in EU Summit's main Press Room, the Historic Protagonist of Controversial "BREXIT", Co-President of EU Parliament's Group and UKIP Chief, Nigel Farage, told "Eurofora" that he would probably Defend Further, in the foreseable Future, also several Other Topical Issues affecting People's Lives in the foreseable Future.





He noted the Fact that he had First given a Hint in this Direction at Press Statements in Broadstairs (Kent) last year, 2015, just after the Latest Nation-Wide Elections in the UK, (when he had initialy offered his Resignation from UKIP's Presidency, but was Incited to Take it Back, by the Party's Collective bodies).



- But, the current co-President of an EU Parliament's Group of MEPs, which includes also Italian Bepe Grillo's "5 Stars" Movement and various other MEPs, also "Remembered very Well" his 1st Meeting with "Eurofora", Back before the 2009 EU Elections, when he Claimed that "the UKIP is the Only Party in the UK to be Opposed to Turkey's (Controversial and UnPopular bid for) Accession to the EU", and, Afterwards went on to Win a Big Number of Elected MEPs, with a Campaign placed under the Banner : - "No to Turkey's EU Accession !".



+ Moreover, later on, in the 2015 UK Elections, a lot of British People had already Expressed, beforehand, their Intention to Vote for UKIP also because it was the Only well-known Party in Great Britain to Support the Natural Family, between a Man and a Women, and clealry Oppose Controversial "Same Sex Mariage" or so-called "Adoption" of Children by Homosexual couples. A pro-Peace stance in the Ukranian Conflict, against Tensions between EU and Russia, gave also another Popular Dimension to UKIP's Policies. To this were notoriously Added, on 2016, various Popular reactions, notoriously recently Spreading throughout all Europe, to that Unprecedented Massive Influx of more than 1,3 Million of Asulum Seekers/Irregular Migrants through Turkey into EU Member Greece up to Germany, Sweden, etc, which raised Issues of Socio-Cultural Cohesion of European Society, Safety vis a vis ISIL deadly terrorists' Infiltration (f.ex. in Paris, etc), Brutal Mob Attacks for Sexual Abuse on Defenseless Women or even UnderAge Young Girls only 14 Years Old, Waste of more than 7 Billions  for Turkey and other Exceptional Expenditure from EU Countries, a notoriously Controversial and UnPopular Threat to Impose a "Visa-Free" status for 80 Millions Turks up to 6 Months Each Year inside the EU, (etc).



- "Eurofora" reminded Farage his Landmark 2015 Statements at Broadstairs (Kent), after the latest Nation-Wide Elections in the UK, where he had stressed that his Party might Deal also with a Larger Set of Topical Issues, on how to make People's Lives Better, as he had Highlighted when UKIP rose, for the First Time, from about 1% only to More than 12 % of the casted Votes, bypassing even the Liberal-Democrats. Both then, and Now, many People Voted for You, not only in order to Leave the EU, but also for several "Other Issues", we said Today to Farage.



- "Yes, I Tried. You know, there is a Hiatus. "Yes, Absolutely, for Many Issues", affecting the British People from various Topical points of view, (in fact, inter-Linked between them), the UK Top Politician positively Replied to that "Eurofora"s Question, spontaneously, from the outset.



- "In the Future, you might Develop that further ?", we went on to ask UKIP's Leader, who has become also one among the most Popular British Politicians.



- "Who knows ? But, it May Well Happen !", added enigmaticaly, but Smiling, in Reply, EU Parliament's "Freedom and Democracy" Group's President, without excluding anything, even rather Leaning towards such a possible and logical Future Direction.



+ Farage also Replied affirmatively to anOther "Eurofora"s Question on whether he planned to Stay, still, for some time at EU Parliament :

- "Will you Stay in EU Parliament, at least for some years ?", "Eurofora" asked Nigel Farage from the outset.



- "Possibly, so !", the main Protagonist of a Popular British Movement which managed to Attract about 17,5 Millions Votes representing a clear Absolute Majority of almost 52% (with a Record High Turn out of 72%), replied immediately, with a smile.



++ But he also envisaged positively the possibility, later-on, to enter in Westminster, as British MP, in the foreseable Future, so that he might, eventualy, also come to Strasbourg-Headquartered PanEuropean CoE, (which has 47 Member States), since he considers that organisation Positively, as he told us in Substance :

- "If you enter in the Westminster (as National MP) in a few Years Time (i.e. between 2017-2020), would you come also to the CoE (as Part of the British Delegation), you know : the PanEuropean Organisation of Strasbourg, created on the basis of a (Winston) Churchil's Idea ?", "Eurofora" questioned Nigel Farage.



- "I Believe in that (CoE)", because "I think that it has got some Good Points", UKIP's Leader concluded Positively for such a PanEuropean Cooperation Mechanism, (which Includes f.ex. Norway and Switzerland, but also Russia, etc), whose Statute allows it to do practicaly Anything, and, possibly even in a "Flexible Geometry" format, i.e. whenever at least Some among its 47 Member States might adopt a "Partial Agreement" in this or that concrete Area of Action), with the only Exception of Military Activities.



Meanwhile, Nigel Farage also "Condemned" any eventual Attack or Threat against Polish People, as he categoricaly stressed in Reply to a Collegue Journalist from France, at anOther INTW.

(../..)





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***



("DraftNews", as already send to "Eurofora's Subsribers/Donors. A more accurate, full Final Version, might be published asap).

***




The official presentation of a "Program" respecting People's choices voted in the June 7, 2009 EU Elections, to be debated in EU Council and EU Parliament during its 1st Session on July in Strasbourg, is the No 1 Priority, according to Democratic principles, for the Franco-German axis, said the main winners at the ballot box, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angie Merkel.

They stressed that the New EU Commission's President must have a "Program" in favor of an EU which "protects" its Citizens, regulates financial markets and aims at a "Political" Europe" : a wording they have used as incompatible with Turkey's controversial EU bid.

They also declared ready for a "political" endorsment of "Mr. Barroso's candidacy" in June's EU Council, considering that an official decision would have to be made after EU Parliament's debates and votes, possibly from next month (July), with the legally necessary final acceptance shortly after Lisbon Treaty's entry into force, hoped for September or October.



- "A Program, and Mr. Barroso" : This resumes, in substance, the anouncements made by Sarkozy and Merkel, on the question of current EU Commission's President, Barroso's declared wish to succeed to himself for a second mandate, to be extended during the following 5 years.



In their 1st meeting after EU Elections, they observed that "the Franco-German axis counted in European Elections' campaign... But, we both keep a realistic view : We saw the number of those who abstained, and we must absolutely give them an answer. We also see the disilusionment of an important number of Europeans vis a vis Europe, and we are aware of the responsibilities we have".





- The "Duty" of the new EU Commission's President, after June 7, 2009 EU Elections' result, "is to act for a Europe which protects the Europeans, to commit himself into working for a better Regulation of Financial transactions, ... and to have a Political will for Europe", underlined Sarkozy.



Therefore, "we have asked M. Barroso... to clarify, to officialy present the intentions he has", he anounced.



- "We want to speak also about the Programme", explained Merkel.



- "It's important that for the next EU Parliament's mandate (2009-2014) we take the right Decisions for Europe. Obviously on Persons, but mainly Decisions on Issues", she stressed.



- "It's not simply a question of a Person, it's also a question of a Programme". We are "really asking Mr. Barroso to commit himself on a Program, and on Principles, on Values", Sarkozy added.



EU President-in-office, Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, accepted the Franco-German stance :



- "Barroso must present his Programme. The Czech Presidency agrees with that", Fischer reportedly said later, after meeting Sarkozy.



But Press reports from Brussels claimed that Barroso had preferred to be officially appointed by EU Council since June, (i.e. next week), "because this was implied by the current Treaty of Nice, according to him", and considered any delay until the possible ratification of the new, Lisbon Treaty on September/October, as "undemocratic".



- "At any case, independently of what Germany and France ask, it's also EU Parliament's wish". "We shall propose Mr Barroso's candidacy... But even in the framework of Nice Treaty, EU Parliament has to be associated in this Decision", the French President observed.



If this is correctly done, then "we support Mr. Barroso's candidature", and "if the (EU) Parliament agrees, we might ratify this decision since July", (i.e. next month), they both said.





- "France and Germany support Baroso's candidacy, But we want to speak also on the Program. We believe that this Program should be established in close cooperation with EU Parliament, and that's why we have followed an appropriate way", said Merkel. - If EU Parliament wants, this election can take place on July, but this must be done in full agreement.

- "We shall support Mr. Barroso's candidacy, without doubt", said Sarkozy. "But we have asked from Mr. Barroso, as I told him yesterday, to put into detail.. his intentions, at the eve of his 2nd mandate, if the situation avails itself.



France and Germany "don't want to take an Official Legal Decision by writting" during "the next (EU) Council" (on June 18-19), declared Sarkozy. Because they prefer, at this stage, only "a Political decision" on June, "so that we (EU Council) can work together with EU Parliament", which starts to meet only Next Month, since July in Srasbourg, "leaving a Legal decision by writting for later".



- "If the Conditions are fuillfiled in EU Parliament, we (EU Council) are ready to give the agreement and make it offficial", said Merkel



- "But, now we are working in the base of Nice Treaty. If tommorow we want to work in the spirit of Lisbon Treaty, we have to find a proper way", she added.



- "Of course it's Legally complicated, because we are going to make a Political proposal to the forthcoming Council, for an EU Commission's President, on the basis of Nice Treaty : So, we (EU Council) will not appoint the Commissioners. Only the President. If EU Parliament agrees, it could endorse this position on July", explained Sarkozy.



But, on Autumn, "if Ireland ratifies Lisbon Treaty, there will be, at any case, a 2nd Decision, to appoint the Commission's President, this time on the basis of Lisbon treaty, and then, we, the EU Member States, would have to appoint (also) the EU Commissioners", he added.



As for the precise Timing : - "Everything is suspended until the Irish vote... Now, we must all make everything possible to help Ireland to say "Yes"" to Lisbon Treaty... The Irish Referendum, ..will take place either on September or on October. It's a Question which depends on the Irish. And, then, we shall have the Choice of the Candidates for the permanent Institutions of Europe".



However, "if Ireland says No, we, French and Germans, have to assume our responsibilities, and we'll do so", he concluded.



But British and Swedish governments were reportedly eager to have a final EU Council decision on Barroso since this month, on June's European Council. While the other EU Member Countries are divided, several of them preferring to wait until EU Parliament pronounces itself, on July, and/or until Lisbon Treaty might be ratified by Ireland at the beginning of the Autumn. Barroso's current mandate ends on November.



There are also various, contradictory and/or unpredictable reactions inside EU Parliament vis a vis Barroso's wish to continue a 2nd mandate, because many MEPs are openly or secretly opposed, reluctant, or hesitating.



In the biggest EU Countries, as France and Germany, EU Citizens voted on June 2009 EU Elections for a renovated, non-technocratic but Political Europe which cares for its Citizens, with an Identity, Values and Borders, declared incompatible with Turkey's controversial EU bid, by mainstream, pro-European Governing Parties. Similar choices were also supported in several other small or medium EU Countries.



On the contrary, whenever, in other Countries, Governing and other mainstream Parties didn't make these choices or eluded them, EU Citizens massively voted for euro-Sceptics whenever they were the only ones to to promise anti-bureacratic change and oppose Turkey's demand to enter into the EU, (f.ex. in the UK, Netherlands, etc).



It's seems to be an Open Question whether Sarkozy and Merkel's conditions will be really accepted by Barroso, who was appointed on 2004 in a different political context, (with Socialist Prime Ministers in Germany, France, etc), had rejected in the Past the idea of EU becoming "equal to the USA" as "ridiculous", and pushed for Turkey's contoversial EU bid, trying to "soften" or contain the changes desired by the People who voted for Merkel and Sarkozy with another policy vis a vis Turkey on 2005 in Germany and on 2007 in France, as they did all over Europe on 2009.



In addition to many EPP Governments, it's 3 remaining Socialist Prime Ministers : Gordon Brown in the UK, Zapatero in Spain, and Socrates in Prortugal, who support Barroso, as well as Liberal Swedish Prime Minister Reinfeldt. But their Parties lost the June 2009 EU Elections.



Questioned whether there was still "Time" for "other" possible "Candidates", Sarkozy and Merkel did not deny, nor made any comment on that, but simply said that "it's not for us to make publicity for any candidates. We anounced our choice ("A Program, and Mr. Barroso"). But we respect any other candidate".



Among various other names cited are former Belgian Prime Minister Verhofstadt, former UNO's Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson of Ireland, Italian former EU Commission's vice-President Monti, etc. Meanwhile, Luxembourg's PM Juncker, (who had been unanimously accepted by EU Council for EU Commission's Presidency on 2004, but refused), announced his intention to resign from "EuroGroup"'s Chair. Thus, he might be available for another Top EU job.



As "EuroFora"'s "opinion" said (See publication dated 9/6/09) : - "If the current candidates (i.e. Barroso, etc) to the Top EU jobs promise and guarantee to respect People's democratic choices, then, it's OK".



"Otherwise, Europe must find new candidates, really motivated and able to implement these democratic choices of the People."



Because, "in Democracy, the forthcoming choices for EU's Top Jobs,...should be made according to EU Citizens' Votes in June 7, 2009 European Elections, and main EU Governments' strategic policies".





***


3 EU Parliament votes to boost EuroGroup !

---------------------------------

After EuroZone Paris Summit's succes, Sarkozy calls to "think anew how to re-construct Europe !

"EuroZone and EU Institutional debates pave the way to 2009 discussions on EU Future, including Enlargment, Turkey etc. ?





23 October 2008



After EU Parliament strongly suppported in 3 successive Votes this week in Strasbourg French EU Chairmanship's move to boost Euro-Group at EU's core, while ideas on EU Institutional problems are awaited on December, "it's an open Question now" if this may lead to a debate on EU's Future, or not, told us French President, Nicolas Sarkozy''s Spokesman, Pierre-Jerome Henin.



MEPs voted on Thursday fresh Funds to support EuroGroup, after adopting on Wednesday a Resolution asking a "further Evolution" to "the 1st ever meeting of Heads of State and of Government of the Euro-Zone, taking decisions in that capacity", while earlier this week a Report asked "a stronger Institutional setting" for "EuroGroup", extended from "competitiveness/industry" to "environment, employment and education", with "increased powers for Political decision-making", according to a text drafted by French MEP Francoise Beres and German MEP Werner Langen, "10 Years after the creation of Euro" (1999 - 2009).



- Brussels' subsequent "EU Council ..(simply)..ratified the measures decided by EuroGroup on October 12" in Paris, which "were necessary to contain the current Financial Crisis", Resolution observes, expressing also support to the new process succesfully initiated by Sarkozy and due to be completed by agreements with USA and other countries at a Global level.



From now on, it's between two differend but parallel moves : EU's delay, and EuroZone's acceleration, that Enlargement and particularly Turkey's controversial EU bid, will have to search its way :



Indeed, EU's 27 expect a "Roadmap on how to deal with the Irish problem" on Lisbon Treaty ratification after December, risking to pass even 2009 Elections and next Commission with the old Nice Treaty of 2000, out-dated and unfit even for 2004's Enlargement...



On the contrary, EU's core launches a real "Economic Governance for EuroZone at the highest level of Heads of State/Government" of the 15, which started in Paris on October 12 and was strongly supported this week in Strasbourg by Sarkozy and EU Parliament.

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- "It's a good idea, to launch such a debate ("on EU's Future") in EU Parliament in view of 2009 Euro-Election : Perhaps some MEPs will seize an opportunity", told us mainstream French MEP Alain Lamassoure, former EU Minister and EU Spokesman for France's governing party UMP.



- "All MEPs' debates on such EU Councils are also part of the larger debate on Europe's future : Now with EuroZone, and even more when, on December, Irish Prime Minister is due to table proposals in Strasbourg on how to deal with EU Treaty's ratification", replied earlier to our question EU Parliament's Press Director and Spokesman, Jaume Duch.

--------------------------------------

Sarkozy has formally anounced his intention to open EU Debates on Economy, Identity/Enlargement (i.e. mainly Turkey), etc. both linked to a popular Political view of Europe, since his Historic speeches on EU in Strasbourg, on February and July 2007, when he stressed that "Europe needs a New Renaissance". At the beginning of the French EU Presidency, on July 2008, replying to a MEP, he suggested that EU Parliament takes an active part in Debates on EU's Future.



- Now, in 2008, "Crisis are an opportunity to re-think how to re-construct Europe", Sarkozy stressed. At any case, the Historic 1st EuroZone Summit of Heads of State/Government, which started replying to the Financial crisis,"is a Turning Point : After that, Europe cannot be governed as before, but differently" : People "like a Europe with Strong Will".



- "We must make the System move !", "Europe needs Innovation" and free political debates. EU "Elections are in a few Months", Sarkozy warned.



He invited EU Parliament to fully play its role as "the Democratic Heart of the Europe we want : United, Independent and Voluntarist, because the World needs Europe's voice".



- "It's no more possible for Euro-Zone to continue without an Economic Government" at the Highest Level of Heads of State/Government, who provide "Democratic Legitimity" and can take important decisions, he announced, strongly supported by EU Parliament's Economic Committee which just voted to boost the "Institutional" aspects of "EuroGroup".



Plasticity offered by the current absence of a special Treaty on EuroZone's Institutions "made it easy to adapt the organization of the 1st Summit with imagination, to efficiently meet urgent needs", he observed, on the occasion of Brittish Prime Minister's exceptionnal presence at the greatest part of EuroGroup's Paris Summit.



- "In EuroZone we have the same Bank, the same Money, and, thus, a same duty for Unity" : "By bringing together EuroGroup's 15 members States we suceeded to find a solution and prepare a Giant Plan of 1.800 Billion euros", Sarkozy reminded of Paris' 1st Historic EuroZone's Summit.



Afterwards, Brussels' EU Council followed the move, and USA's Paulson II Plan was inspired from that. "Europe must promote the idea of Global Economy's Refoundation", he stressed.







- "I was frankly astonished when I found, at the EU, a rigid system, where any New Idea was seen from the outset as a sacrilege, while, on the contrary, Europe needs Innovation !", he described.



F.ex. ,"'When we first spoke about the "Union for the Mediterranean", it was misunderstood as something extraordinary.. When later we had the Russia -Georgia crisis, it seemed against EU's custom to act "in the middle of August", instead of staying a passive spectator ! And when, in front of the Financial ciris, we gathered the 1st EuroZone Summit of the "15", some thought of it as a lese-majeste", he denounced.

----------------------

On Geo-Political Principles :

----------------------

- But, by moving resolutely, "EU obtained the ...withdrawal of Occupation Troops in 2 Months !", reminded Sarkozy, observing that Russia "fulfilled its commitments", in the Georgian crisis, where a "disroportionate reaction" from Moscow followed a "totally inappropriate action" from Tbilisi's troops. "It would be crazy to reply by military means : EU should not become accomplice of another Cold War, imposed by lack of cool heads".. as he said.



In future, "the creation of a common European Economic Area with EU and Russia, would also obtain a raprochment on our Human Rights and Democratic Values", added Sarkozy, in a statement which should logically be applied, a fortiori, to controversial EU "candidate" Turkey..



Particularly when, the same week that EU Parliament voted 2009 EU Funds for Turkey's controversial EU bid, ECHR took a series of judgements condemning Turkey for grave Violations of Human Rights, such as : Torture, death of a political prisoner in unclear circumstances followed by failure to conduct a proper Investigation, "enforced Disappearance" of a youngster aged 17, Killing of a sepherd with Tank Shells, persecuting Journalists for articles on "Missing" People, even a former President of Human Rights' Association, (etc)



- "We (EU) can defend our ideas on respect of Sovereignity and territorial Integrity, on Human Rights and other differences ... without confrontation", Sarkozy stressed, on the occasion of Russian/Georgian conflict, reminding that : "we were only 2 steps from catastroph", when a Peace agreement brokered in Moscow prevented, at the last minute, Russian troops' advance towards Tbilisi.



An EU Parliament Resolution adopted Wednesday in Strasbourg on the occasion of Russia - Georgia conflict, outlines a set of Principle which apply elsewhere too, (particularly when EU Rapporteur for Russia and Turkey is one and same person ; Dutch MEP Ria Oomen-Ruijtanen !)



Clearly rejecting any "military solution to the conflicts", MEPs "condemn ..all those who resorted to force and violence". They denounce a "disproportionate military action", "as well as (an) unilateral decision to recognise the independence" of brekaway regions, "calling.. to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of the concerned country, "and the inviolability of its borders recognised by all EU Member States". They warn that "EU must review its policy towards" a 3rd Country, "should .(it)...not comply with its commitments", and "stress that the withdrawal of.... troops from the areas ....is an essential additional step".



EU Parliament "calls for the safe and quick return of refugees, (accepted by Russian President Medvedev) accompanied by the deployment of EU observers on the ground", and "regrets ...that ..EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) is not allowed to enter the ...breakaway regions". Moreover, "It's important to ensure that persons and NGOs ..engaged in defending human and civil rights can operate". "Until ...all remaining issues (are) resolved..., and notably the continuing ...Military presence", "relations with the EU ..cannot be fully normalised", MEPS warned.



As nobody likes to be accused to practice "Double Standards", this should be regarded as "Principles" applicable to any Third Country at EU's Neighborhood.. No ?

-------------------

On Economy :

-----------------------

- "When Financial crisis shook US and EU's Banks, without result from the 1st (American) Paulsen plan, it was the common reply of the 1st EuroZone's Summit, involving some 1800 Billion euros, which started a positive move in the markets, soon strengthened by the follow-up of the US Paulson 2 Plan, noted Sarkozy.



- "Europe should not be only on the defensive, but, if necessary, know also how to take an offensive", he said, brushing away hesitationsto act on Economy: - "I'm for a refondation of Capitaliism, but against Speculators, who betray its values" : "Lack of Rules was profitable to speculators, Not to businessmen !" We must make sure to prevent any such crisis in future". "We, the rest of the World, cannot continue to bear the deficits of the 1st World power without saying anything !", the French President said, applauded by EU Parliament. All this needs "a New Global Governance", on which EU Parliament must debate. That's why "we proposed together with USA, several Summits from mid-November", to which G-8, enlarged to China, India a.o. countries, should participate. UNO's SG; Ban Ki Moon, the IMF, etc.



Financial crisis lowered shares' prices even for healthy companies, sometimes to 1/3 of their initial price, so that strangers might buy EU industries for only a portion of their real value, and Europeans may wake up one day with their main industries sold out to foreigners !



That's one of the reasons for which EU should debate about creating "Golden Shares" for States to jointly take Strategic participations to help European Industries until the end of the Crisis, particularly against distording competition, he suggested, pointing at USA's 35 billion $ plan for American Car Industry."We shall struggle for Europe to be able to build Airplanes, Ships, Trains, Cars, because we need a strong Industry", he concluded.



"F.ex. as we did back in 2004, when as Finance Minister, we bought Alsthom's shares for 800.000 euros, and, after restructuring, we sold them for 2 Millions : Help a company and make money is not so bad"...



As for the UK, "when Ireland announced that it would guarantee only Irish Banks, London City emptied from liquidities in 24 hours : It's the EU which helped to restore the situation, Not the UK alone !", reminded Sarkozy to nationalist British MEP Nigel Farage.







On the contrary, in a last-minute attempt for the EU to catch-up with its Institutional delay "before the European Elections" of June 2009, MEPs simply voted a call for a "set of proposals" to be made for the "Irish public opinion" at the end of the year...

- "As long as Lisbon Treaty is not ratified by all 27 EU Member States, there is an unanimous decision to stop Enlargement, reminded Wednesday in Strasbourg the French Minister for EU affairs, Jean-Pierre Jouyet..

Added to an indirect but clear warning that, without Lisbon Treaty, all 27 EU Member Countries may not have a Commissioner in the 2009 resuffle, MEPS in the Constitutional/Foreign affairs Committees applauded hoping that this might motivate their Irish friends..
Berras Blunder has long been a prime example of how some evolutionists dont understand their own theory. It started back in 1990 when Tim Berra illustrated Darwinian evolution by showing how Corvettes showed descent with modification between 1953 and 1955. Phillip Johnson was quick to point out that every one of those Corvettes was designed by engineers.

Far from illustrating naturalistic evolution, he argued, they illustrate how intelligent designers will typically achieve their purposes by adding variations to a basic design plan. Casey Luskin caught Francis Collins and Karl Giberson committing this blunder in 2011. In 2014, Adrian Bejan confused airplane design with Darwinian evolution. And last year, the BBC News committed the blunder by applying evolution to robotics.

Now Berras Blunder is back with a vengeance. If Berra restricted his evolution to Corvettes, Stuart Wolpert (writing for the UCLA Newsroom) applies it to every horseless carriage from the Model T to the DeLorean DMC-12, with color photos for emphasis. And Wolpert is not alone; he is backed up by Erik Gjesfjeld, a postdoctoral scholar in UCLAs Institute for Society and Genetics, smiling for the camera, and by Michael Alfaro, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA:

Cars are exceptionally diverse but also have a detailed history of changes, making them a model system for investigating the evolution of technology, Gjesfjeld said. The team drew data from 3,575 car models made by 172 different manufacturers, noting the first and last year each was manufactured. This is similar to when a paleontologist first dates a particular fossil and last sees a particular fossil, Gjesfjeld said. [Emphasis added.]

Writers could be forgiven for using evolution as a figure of speech, knowing that cars are intelligently designed. But these writers see no difference between cars and fossils.

Alfaro said applying an evolutionary biology approach worked so well because the automotive industrys technological records are very similar to the paleontological fossil record. In many instances, it is superior, he said. We find in only a handful of cases a fossil record this complete.

Moreover, Gjesfjeld and Alfaro, with Wolpert in the newsroom, speak of competition, diversification, and survival as if cars are out in the jungle fending for themselves (fenders notwithstanding).

Based on the study, the researchers can project how the electric car marketplace will evolve over the next several years. Alfaro said the field now is in an early phase of rapid diversification, and although its likely that many more electric and hybrid models will be introduced over the next 15 to 20 years, many wont survive for very long due to increasing competition. This, he said, will eventually lead to consolidation, with a small number of dominant models that will thrive. Ultimately, Gjesfjeld said, the technique could help us make sense of the bewildering array of technologies humans have created. Despite the use of numerous technologies in our everyday life, we lack a basic understanding of how all this technological diversity came to be, he said.

That he lacks a basic understanding of how cars came to be is true indeed, if he really thinks they emerged by a Darwinian process.

Too harsh? The news item does speak of design and management. The evolutionists dont say that random mutations in cars are selected. But the Darwinian comparison is clear from the opening paragraph:

A UCLA-led team of researchers has taken a unique approach to explain the way in which technologies evolve in modern society. Borrowing a technique that biologists might use to study the evolution of plants or animals, the scientists plotted the births and deaths of every American-made car and truck model from 1896 to 2014.

Surely the three men know cars are designed by intelligent engineers. What the article indicates, though, is a complete misunderstanding of Darwinian evolution. In its core essence, Darwinian evolution is unguided, purposeless, and mindless. That cannot be said of business managers who decide, using their minds, how best to beat the competition by designing their next models.

Maybe they committed artistic license. Lets see if the blunder vanishes in the peer-reviewed paper in the open-access journal Palgrave Communications, titled Competition and extinction explain the evolution of diversity in American automobiles. The title, you notice right away, isnt helpful.

Despite considerable focus on the evolution of technology by social scientists and philosophers, there have been few attempts to systematically quantify technological diversity, and therefore the dynamics of technological change remain poorly understood. Here we show a novel Bayesian model for examining technological diversification adopted from palaeontological analysis of occurrence data. We use this framework to estimate the tempo of diversification in American car and truck models produced between 1896 and 2014, and to test the relative importance of competition and extrinsic factors in shaping changes in macro-evolutionary rates.

And thus it goes. But like a ray of light in the darkness, there is one point in the paper where Gjesfeld, Alfaro, and their three co-authors do catch the difference between designed automobiles and biological evolution.

Evolution has been and continues to be a valuable source of methods and theories for the study of human culture. Previous research has demonstrated that human culture undeniably evolves, but to what degree cultural change mirrors biological change remains an unsettled question (Temkin and Eldredge, 2007). The evolution of technology is a topic in which the evolutionary analogy has been particularly contentious, with debate often centred on the unit of evolutionary analysis, the replication of technological designs and the applicability of branching models to understanding the evolution to intentionally designed objects. This article presents an alternative perspective to the study of technological evolution that highlights the concept of diversity and a suite of macro-evolutionary methods useful in quantifying the dynamics of technological diversification.

Score one for recognizing intentionally designed objects. But then, they leap right back into the blunder by comparing automobiles to organisms that they assumed evolved without intention or design. If Darwinian evolution fails to explain animal disparity and diversity in the fossil record, why on earth would they believe it can explain automobiles, which they surely recognize as intentionally designed objects?

In this research, technological diversity is conceptualized as the number of different technological lineages represented in a system. This definition of diversity is different from disciplines that acknowledge diversity as having the additional dimensions of balance and disparity (Stirling, 2007), but is analogous to the concept of species richness in biology, where a large number of methods are available for characterizing this component of diversity through time.

In no subsequent passage do they refer to intelligence, intention, or guidance. Its all diversification by means of non-intelligent factors. The blunder is especially clear in their Conclusion:

Just as the fossil record provides evidence for biological change through time, the archaeological and historical record has an important role to play in our understanding of technological and cultural evolution by providing empirical evidence for change through time. Our analyses of American car models reveals the shifting roles that origination and extinction have played in shaping diversity in one of the most important and ubiquitous technologies of the twentieth century. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the analysis of cultural change in a birth-death framework provides a means for testing alternative hypotheses about the extrinsic and intrinsic controls on technological diversification. Our approach is flexible and easily adapted to other cultural systems where a record of first and last appearances of artifacts is available. Overall, the quantitative study of diversification within a macro-evolutionary framework offers enormous potential to enrich our understanding of cultural and technological change.

Sorry, one cannot even begin to understand cultural evolution by basing ones explanation on a blunder. Darwinian evolution is not a theory of change through time. It is a materialistic creation story. It gives, or seeks to give, design without a designer. In Darwins theory, innovations occur randomly, and are selected by a mindless environment. Would it make any sense to speak of the evolution of a guided missile by unguided processes?

Such language is bound to confuse, not enlighten. Anything not reducible to unguided natural processes is not evolution; it is intelligent design. Before any progress can be made in the debate on origins, there must be clarity.

Photo: 1910 Ford Model T, by Harry Shipler [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
The GBP/CAD exchange rate has struggled to recover after massive drops since last Thursday, and Sterling sentiment remains weak against the Canadian dollar on Wednesday's FX markets.

The US Dollar to Canadian Dollar exchange rate today: -0.08% at 1.29476. Mark Carney tanks pound sterling vs major exchange rates today.

The Canadian dollar is advancing further against the British pound as foreign exchange markets enter the end-of-week session

The press conference recently given by Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney was only scheduled yesterday, which foreshadowed the emergency nature of the announcement.

Carneys actual comments, which revolved around cutting the UK interest rate and generally attempting to fix a crippled economy, send confidence in the Pound tumbling back down.

Developments in the UK political scene failed to boost the GBP to CAD spot rate out of a narrow downtrend on Thursday, with uncertainty continuing to deter investors.

Comments from Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney could shore up the Pound, however, if the policymaker offers significant cause for reassurance to investors.

GBP/CAD edged higher on Tuesday as investors indulged in profit-taking from Sterlings worst levels. The pair gained around 100 pips on Tuesday, but still remained well below the weeks opening levels of 1.7778 at the time of writing.

Here are todays live exchange rates:

On Thursday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1

At time of writing the pound to pound exchange rate is quoted at 1.

The GBP to EUR exchange rate converts at 1.153 today.

FX markets see the pound vs us dollar exchange rate converting at 1.161.

NB: the forex rates mentioned above, revised as of 27th Oct 2022, are inter-bank prices that will require a margin from your bank. Foreign exchange brokers can save up to 5% on international payments in comparison to the banks.

Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates Relieved on Tuesday after Bearish Run

After two solid sessions of plummets, Sterling was finally left to get some air during Tuesday trade and was allowed to recover from its worst levels against many rivals, including the Canadian Dollar.

News that Britain would be leaving the European Union shook world markets, with many economists and investors now wholly uncertain on the future of Britain and the Pound.

Uncertainty has been rife within the UK since the result was announced last Friday, lending ongoing pressure to the Pound and keeping it from recovering considerably.

Not only is Britains market presence throughout the EU highly questioned, but the Conservative Prime Minister is expected to be replaced by October and the opposition party, Labour, is going through a leadership crisis of its own.

However, Britains highly uncertain transition period has also meant a lack of bad market news after the initial crashes on Friday and Monday. While the Pound is pressured, it currently hovers in the eye of the storm.

Canadian Dollar (CAD) Exchange Rates Struggle on Low Risk-Sentiment

Sentiment towards risky-currencies has been temperamental at best since last Friday as markets rely heavily on safer investments in order to protect their assets.

Despite this, the Canadian Dollar has gained considerably against the throttled Pound, and sentiment towards the Loonie itself has been decent due to news that oil prices have been improving again.

Oil is Canadas primary export, and as a result the Canadian Dollars movement is often tied to oil news. Most recently, a proposed oil strike in Norway (which produces 2% of the worlds oil) has seen prices increase, with analysts predicting a shortage is likely to follow a production strike.

However, the Loonies oil-related gains were more muted than usual as risk-sentiment still remained generally low.

GBP/CAD Forecast: Sterling Likely to Remain Unfavourable

The Pound to Canadian Dollar exchange rate is unlikely to make a full recovery as market fears continue to weigh on Sterling sentiment.

With the uncertainty of the UK economy and government still highly uncertain, as well as regular speculation on when Article 50 will be activated, the Pounds pressure looks to be long-term.

Article 50, the process needed to formally begin the Brexit from the EU, is largely speculated to be incited shortly after the new UK Prime Minister enters office.

Current favourites to win include Boris Johnson and Theresa May, although Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Stephen Crabb officially announced his candidacy on Wednesday morning.

Investors are also highly anticipating word from the Bank of England (BoE), with Governor Mark Carney widely expected to deliver damage control measures following last weeks vote.

The Loonie Dollar could eventually recover alongside risk-sentiment, and is likely to sustain most of its recent gains against the Pound.

Sterling has been a stable option in a number of pairings today, thanks to recent jumps in GBP support.

There are likely a number of factors going into the reasoning behind the Pounds ascent, one of which is surprisingly the Brexit situation.

Although Sterling dropped sharply after the result was announced, the days negotiations appear to have reassured investors and economists more generally that the UK will not be cut free from the many benefits that come with EU membership.
Job seekers in the UK went online to look for employment overseas in large numbers in the aftermath of the referendum result in the country voting to leave the European Union.Data from global job search engine Indeed shows a post Brexit spike and an analysis suggests that those looking to move abroad favour Ireland, possibly because it is not far from the UK and English speaking.  From the announcement of the result on the morning of Friday 24 June, job searches out of the UK doubled as a share of those searching.The UKs loss could be Irelands gain, as it tops the league of countries UK jobseekers are searching for work in. Job search for roles in Ireland rose by more than double. Job search traffic also increased from EU countries to Ireland, at the expense of usual EU to UK job search traffic.The top searches from the UK to Ireland were for sectors including marketing, HR, engineering, transport and retail. Searches by UK job seekers to other European countries also include roles in the hospitality and finance sectors.The firm says that there is a striking resemblance in this trend compared to 2015s Greek referendum when the share of Greek jobseekers looking for opportunity outside of Greece also doubled in the days following the announcement of a referendum on the European Unions proposed bailout package in July 2015.Last week the majority of British citizens voted to exit the European Union, but quickly thereafter many UK based job seekers started a vote of their own as they jumped online to look for work elsewhere, said Mariano Mamertino, economist for EMEA at the job site Indeed.Using Indeed data, we see the share of job seekers looking for opportunities outside of the UK in European countries doubling in the 48 hours that followed the announcement of a Brexit, he explained.He also pointed out that most job seekers looked to the very countries of the European Union that Britain will be leaving, with Ireland attracting the most searches. But job searches didnt just stay in Europe, as UK based job search rose 73% for the rest of the world too, to countries like the US and Australia.We see a striking resemblance in post-Brexit job search patterns with those following the Greek referendum in 2015. The share of job seekers looking for opportunities outside of the UK in European countries doubled in the 48 hours that followed the announcement of a Brexit, just as it did for Greece, Mamertino pointed out.These could be early signs of British job seekers collective vote of no confidence. Given how close the EU referendum vote results were, this is perhaps unsurprising. UK employers loss is Irelands gain, with a significant spike of inbound searches from the EU countries, he added.Overall the firm has found that cities like Dublin and Berlin are increasingly becoming talent magnet cities to EU jobseekers, attracting attention on account of being in great locations, offering a good quality of life, and crucially a lower cost of living when compared to cities like London.UK employers have historically benefitted from the ability to recruit talent from overseas, and many Britons have seized the opportunity to live and work in other EU countries. While its unlikely that the shutters will suddenly be brought down on the English Channel, the free movement of workers has clear economic benefits and its essential that British businesses can continue to be able to get the people they need to fill the jobs available, Mamertino said.What is clear from this data, is that if Brexit is allowed to interrupt the flow of talent to the UK, Britains loss will be Irelands gain if skilled workers are lured by its dynamic and English speaking labour market, he concluded.
I am a Canadian citizen (also hold a Bangladeshi passport - dual citizen), currently working in USA with my TN status. Since my wife is a bangladeshi citizen (we married recently), she applied for TD visa from Bangladesh, however she was rejected. So I found that TD visa is not very known in US embassy at Bangladesh (since TD/TN is for canadians/mexicans), so they refused on the ground of 214(b). I have never heard of a TD visa refusals but those applications were made in Canada, may be that is the difference.



Now there is a new situation. I am moving to UK now and applied for Tier 5 work visa for 2 years duration. I got the Tier 5 govt authorized exchange visa already (from British consulate New york) and now my wife will apply for visa as a dependent of mine from Bangladesh (we plan to arrive to uk on the same day (I from usa and she for Bangladesh) ). I am confused while filling out her visa application for UK. It is asking for the information that if she was ever refused for any country in last 10 years. I have a feeling that answering it yes may reduce the chance of her UK visa (since US visa was refused due to lack of tie to her home country which does not make any sense though ).



Is there anyway i can convince the British embassy so that her USA rejection does not/minimize the effect on UK tier 5 dependent visa ? thanks in advance
Hi ,



i am murali, working in singapore holding s pass, my wife malaysia employment pass holder. So if i get malaysia dependent pass



can i work in singapore and stay in johor everyday with this malaysia dependent pass ?



Kindly answer for this



thanks
Mommy1 said: Hi guys please help. i applied for a change of status from a study visa to a visitors visa section 11.6 but i hevnt received any response for 8 weeks now. is there any way i can follow up my application the vfs website says application has been send for adjudication but it is long overdue now. has any1 experienced this before. thank you. Click to expand...

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Hi there,i applied for a visitors visa section 11.6 for my son - its in its 5th week now. What i did was email some home affairs emails i found in the forumsi asked them to follow up as we need to travel -Previous tracking status wasApplication for XXXXX has been forwarded to the Department of Home Affairs for adjudication on 27-May-2016.Now it isApplication for XXXXX has been forwarded to the Department of Home Affairs for adjudication on 29-Jun-2016..This is what happened to ours before the status changed to sent back to VFS. So hoping in the next day or so to get it finalised.So just send emails to these guys - may help. 2 of them actually responded - forwarded it to someone else asking for update.Will keep you posted.
The classic tell-all memoir and security primer by 1980s computer hacker Bill Landreth, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HPH9YOS">Out of the Inner Circle: A Hacker's Guide to Computer Security, is now available as an ebook for the first time.

Landreth had been one of a loose community of teen hackers called The Inner Circle. In 1983, when he was 18, his family's San Diego home was raided by the FBI.

Launched this week in Kindle format on Amazon.com, Out of the Inner Circle is priced at $2.99. The book has been expertly formatted, re-proofread, and revamped with an updated version of the original cover. It also includes a 1989 preface by Bill Landreth himself that reflects on changing times in personal computing, networks, viruses and other security issues. Following the original text is a 2016 interview between Bill and journalist Matt Novak about the effect that these events had on the computer whiz kid later in life.

"Computer 'nerds' and tech historians alike will get a kick out of this book being available again," said Kevin Savetz, a former computer journalist whose web-based publishing company is responsible for getting Inner Circle back into the hands of readers. "Savetz Publishing, Inc. is dedicated to providing useful and entertaining content in the digital age, and Bill's book definitely matches that goal."

Out of the Inner Circle: The True Story of a Computer Intruder Capable of Cracking the Nation's Most Secure Computer Systems (also subtitled: A Hacker's Guide to Computer Security) was originally published by Microsoft Press in 1985. It was a best-seller in its genre at the time, with approximately 68,000 copies sold.

"I'm pleased to have gotten permission from Bill to get his story out there to both old and new audiences," Savetz said. "Many of the security issues he wrote about are as relevant today as they were in the mid-'80s, and bottom line, he tells an interesting tale. In some ways, Bill was living out the movie WarGames in real life."

Landreth has an interesting and sometimes eccentric reputation in the computer world. Known as "the Cracker," he was arrested in 1983 for breaching the GTE Telemail email network, which revealed messages from the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA, Coca-Cola and other businesses and government entities. He details this and other experiences with the law, as well as tips for dealing with hackers who infiltrate business computer systems. The book is a fascinating window into the world of technology from 30 years ago that still resonates today.

During his hacking days, Landreth was friends with many internet pioneers, including Tom Anderson, who later founded MySpace. Anderson was the last person to see Landreth before he disappeared shortly after the publication of Out of the Inner Circle. Landreth turned up later and has lived on the streets of Southern California on and off in the years since.

"Bill is a fascinating and sometimes controversial figure in computer history," Savetz acknowledged. "His book sheds light on the life of a hacker and also delves into everything from personal ethics to corporate security. Teen hackers such as those in The Inner Circle played a role in pushing entities to take online security seriously, and in causing laws to be updated to reflect a new era of computers and networking. Nowadays, people get paid big bucks to find vulnerabilities in computer networks. In that regard, Bill was a pioneer."

Savetz Publishing, Inc. is also responsible for FaxZero and FreePrintable.net. There are nearly 100 sites in the FreePrintable.net family of free printables sites created by Savetz Publishing, Inc., a company devoted to creating useful and informative web sites of interest to consumers and small businesses.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016

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The question posed by the unfolding California high-speed rail cataclysm is why the reaction to it should be a partisan or ideological issue at all. Are human beings capable of managing bias and learning hard truths from new information, or arent they?

High speed rail was promoted in California as a green and virtuous way to propel commuters from San Francisco to Los Angeles along at 220 miles an hour, completing the trip in a about two and a half hours. It was going to involve minimal tax-payer cash, with billions arriving from private investors. It would be profitable, not requires state subsidies and be much less expensive than flying. Thus enthused and enlightened, 53.7 percent of approved the plan and a $9.95 billion bond.

It was a scam, a hustle, and a pack of lies. Virginia Postrel writes at Bloomberg

Californias high-speed rail project increasingly looks like an expensive social science experiment to test just how long interest groups can keep money flowing to a doomed endeavor before elected officials finally decide to cancel it. What combination of sweet-sounding scenarios, streamlined mockups, ever-changing and mind-numbing technical detail, and audacious spin will keep the dream alive?

Well said. I would add, And will anyone learn from this fiasco? Specifically, will anyone learn that ideologically-driven officials will always press policies in defiance of reality, if the public lets them, or more precisely, trusts them.

The Los Angeles Times published a stunning report on how corrupt this enterprise has been from the start. Heres sample:



When a Spanish firm submitted a bid last year to help build the California bullet train, it cautioned that taxpayer money probably would be needed to keep the system operating.Having reviewed data on 111 high-speed train lines around the world, construction giant Ferrovial said, it found that all but three could not make ends meet. More than likely, the California high speed rail will require large government subsidies for years to come, the proposal said. That warning, however, was expunged from the version of Ferrovials proposal posted on the states website. The only record of it was on a data disk provided to The Times and others under a public records act request. The state rail authority repeatedly has asserted that it will not need a subsidy and that every high-speed system in the world operates without taxpayer assistance  despite significant evidence to the contrary. A number of projects around the world have failed financially, others require direct operating subsidies and many more benefit from government taxes and regulations on competing airline and highway systems, according to audits, studies and interviews. But in asking taxpayers to help build the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco line, officials assured the state would be able to pay the operating costs purely from the systems revenues  and thus not sap money needed for social services, education or other projects.

Thats right: the state, which was and is in dire financial straits, wanted to plunge ahead with an expensive project requiring ongoing subsidies, but knew that the public wouldnt support it if the truth were known. So it redacted the facts the public wouldnt like. Then, the paper reminds its readers, just last April rail authority Chairman Dan Richard assured skeptical legislators during a hearing that all the numbers were sound. When one assemblyman asked Richard, Do you know of any high-speed rail operations around the world that make substantial profit?, the answer was Actually all of them, virtually all of them, make operating profit. Well, that was almost right. In fact, virtually none of them make a profit. Moreover

A study of international high speed rail systems by four Silicon Valley financial experts  including Stanford University emeritus professor Alain Enthoven and former World Bank executive William Grindley  found that Californias system could be among the worst performing in the world. Its prospective fares would be the lowest on a per-mile basis, driven by a need to compete with the states cutthroat airline market. The California bullet train could only be profitable if it also had the worlds lowest per-mile costs, roughly one-fourth the typical European system, the report said. But given the costs of doing business in California, that is not likely, Grindley said.

Now the total construction cost estimate for this likely-to-stink-under-the-most-optimistic-projections rail system has more than doubled to $68 billion from the original $33 billion estimate, while the extent of the project has been cut: double the money for less rail. The first and least expensive segment of the system through a relatively empty stretch of the Central Valley is now four years behind schedule. The estimated cost of tickets to travel by rail from L.A. to the San Francisco have increased 60%, to more than $80.

Its ironic that the Times is now slamming the project, as the Times was an ally of the duplicity, writing in an editorial in 2008,

Theres something undeniably alluring about a bullet trainthe technology is so powerful, the speed so breathtaking, it makes quotidian trips seem exoticProponents of Proposition 1a, which would authorize $9.95 billion in bonds for a high-speed rail line connecting Northern and Southern California, think it would be wildly successful. They predict the line could draw 117 million riders a year by 2030, compared with 3 million now taking the high-speed Amtrak train in the densely populated Boston-Washington corridor. And they say it will turn a billion-dollar profit by then even as it keeps ticket prices remarkably low. The projections by the measures opponents, led by the libertarian Reason Foundation in Los Angeles, are much less sanguine and more persuasivewe still think voters should give in to the measures gleaming promise.

In other words, dont confuse us with facts, our minds made up-the motto of the ideologically driven. Those minds, or many of them, just never change, either, no matter how clear the signs are. Three years later, as the complete fraud of the projects promotion to the public was becoming clear, the Times editors refused to admit that the project was a mistake, editorializing:

Yes, the price tag has tripled and its completion date is 13 years later. But its still a gamble worth taking.

Why is it worth taking? Because wouldnt it be great it it worked, even though all evidence says it wont and cant!

In other words, Imagine.
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Eleanor was a Victorian Woman that through experience and training became her own person. Her journey can remind us of the power of problem solving.

The one act created by Glenn Hopkins uses her words to give us a vibrant experience of one of our most memorable First Ladies. From her renewal as a late recreational reader to her shadow that continues to impress us that the uniqueness of one mind can nudge us on to be courageous and risk standing up for others. Like Ellen DeGenere's character in "Finding Dory", we all need a vibrant reminder of what keeps us swimming.

The Venice Mootney Theatre's playwright's craft brings to life a narrative that stirs our hearts and reminds us to risk becoming ourselves and caring for others.

Our First Lady, once nicknamed "Totty" in finishing school, Eleanor Roosevelt influenced by her father's encouraging letters that strengthened by her belief that she had something to contribute to the world.

From a childhood that could have led to disillusionment, she honed her character until she felt she understood the importance of contribution and the practicality of protecting children, and woman. Pushed to lead by her finishing school teacher, she became a defender of the vulnerable and a future humanist who persevered beyond war towards a world that could hone communication skills and choose the option reach for self-fulfillment and a new potentiality that leads towards peace.

This Sunday you might visit with Hopkin's E.A.R. and be nudged towards your own greatness. You can donate your $5.00 for your ticket and be delivered to another moment in our history with Mrs. Roosevelt. It may not be a panacea this election season but it can be a philosophical chimera for an hour at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Los Angeles, on 8th and Vermont this Sundaya moment of listening to one of our greatest hearts and minds. You can join the Mootney celebrants of the Theatre and the playwright's fortieth anniversary and celebrate the discovery of voice and agency in this historic figure who shaped our modern understanding. She and her husband led us to cope in dark times. She followed her family values and evoked human contribution, courage, and generosity in her staff, her readers, her entourage and our allies.

In a one time two language performance, actors Bo Lebo and Ande Kims will help the audience to discover and celebrate "The First Lady of the World" via Glenn Hopkin's well written one act cameo at 1pm, Sunday, July 3rd for the 40th Anniversary of the Mootney Theatre. She was groomed for stardom in a time where women were not leaders and did not leave a mark, but as a writer, entrepreneur, social activities, mother, and diplomat, America found solace, vision, direction, and hope in her agenda.

Join us this Sunday in rediscovering the woman who almost made it on the ten dollar bill.

Tickets are now on sale at www.brownpapertickets.com or at the door on the day of the event. You can park on the street, under the church, or in its corner parking lot  block east of the sanctuary.

Join us for lunch after the church service by donation and at the play for $5.00 per person 75 minutes with Eleanor and after the performance songs by Ande Kims and Ross Altman (Traitor to Her Class). Get your tickets nowseating limited to 240. Ten tickets set aside for press. Mootney at Large is a theatrical venture supporting the practice of theatre to inspire, entertain, and raise capital for educational programming creating this community arts production in Koreatown in two of the play's 11 translations.

The Church:

http://uula.org/

New Responses:

http://rooseveltinstitute.org/fdr-and-new-deal-response-environmental-catastrophe/

Remarkable leader:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diana-liverman/the-pursuit-of-environmental-and-social-justice_b_5858170.html

Glenn Hopkins:

http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsH/hopkins-glenn.html

Columnist:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/eleanor-race/

Accomplishments:

http://www.historynet.com/eleanor-roosevelt

Ebook- The Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia on Val-Kill:

https://books.google.com/books?id=5p9GIzyk0XgC&pg=PA158&lpg=PA158&dq=eleanor+roosevelt+and+the+environment&source=bl&ots=eluNkk5RJn&sig=gjyLUZGI11z3v24Jsze6MQGNVtw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjk-fGitczNAhWI24MKHRk1D60Q6AEIezAQ#v=onepage&q=eleanor%20roosevelt%20and%20the%20environment&f=false

Finding Dorywe all want to find our best family:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/06/27/finding-dorys-trouncing-of-independence-day-resurgence-underscores-a-rule-of-hollywood-sequels/

Hyde Park:

https://www.nps.gov/hofr/index.htm

What will we remember and defend?:

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Declaration-Rights-Little-Wisdom/dp/1557094551?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=90E6955A-155D-451F-67FA33FA73A746A5

Donations from the books sold (10% to the Church) and tickets $5.00:

Ticket sales up for purchase. Please do!



http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2569634

Any extra gifts past expenses will go to underwriting children's literacy and arts programs under New Education Options, Inc. (818) 742-5099.

Interviews for Glenn Hopkins: 310-478-7379.

Book:

https://www.amazon.com/Slim-Glenn-Hopkins/dp/1436348706?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

P.S. Mootney Theatre's website has been hacked. Please phone Mr. Hopkins to interview him, send him comments or pictures c/o 301-478-7379.

Values:

http://harpers.org/blog/2007/12/roosevelt-on-human-rights-in-the-small-places/

Thank you to Evelyn Giang for videography.

Thank you to Dorinda Carey for makeup.

Thank you to Ande Kims and Bo Lebo for acting.

Thank you for passing information about this performance to your friends.
From: Jeff Hurt -- Velvet Chainsaw -- Midcourse Corrections For Immediate Release: Dateline: Cleveland , OH Tuesday, June 28, 2016

This is the first in a series of posts on the findings of reports published by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) based on research recently conducted on attendee retention strategies.

Its likely that the Brexit vote last week is on my mind and thats why the Spice Girls tune, Wannabe, popped into my head as I wrote: Yo, Ill tell you what I want, what I really, really want.

A key takeaway from Part One of CEIR Attendee Retention Insights study, is the schism between what show organizers think is motivating their attendees, versus what the attendee says he or she really, really wants.

In a groundbreaking study that encompasses survey results from both show organizers and their attendees, CEIR has gathered data from thousands to gauge key characteristics of repeat attendeeswho they are and why they become loyal visitors to an exhibition.

The factors that influence loyal attendees to come to a trade show are quite different, in many instances, than organizers perceptionsfactors used to select sites, sell to their exhibitors, and plan their conference education. In this column, well focus on the preferences influencing shoppingwhich 98% of respondents deemed as a main objective for returning.

Smart Cookies CEIR is right on the money: The loyal attendee (or alumni) is an asset you should most covet and grow. The researchers asked its show organizer audience to define what constitutes a loyal attendee, and by far the most popular definition is an attendee or attendee organization who has participated in at least two of the past four editions of an event. At Velvet Chainsaw, we use a more stringent definition for loyalty  two out of three or better = loyal. We believe this measurement is much better for detecting early warning signs in attendance erosion.

CEIR surveyed the

What Kinds of Shopping Motivate Attendees? Its when the results drill down to compare attendees motivators to organizers perceptions that things get interesting. And therein lies the schism, or great divide. In looking at the difference in importance rankings, it is clear that repeat attendees have a sharper focus on why they frequent an exhibition regularly while organizers, where there are gaps, tend to overrate the importance of those reasons, the report states.

Overrate is an understatement. Under the shopping objectives category, only two of the factorsbrand comparisons and the ability to talk to expertscame in with less than a five-point spread between the two groups. While 85% of attendees ranked seeing new technology as important or very important, organizers perception was that it was important to only 77% of them. Event organizers take heed: It appears that your tech exhibitors continue to be important to your show floor mix.

Loyal attendees ranked both new product introductions and see, touch, interact with new products, about the same in importance, at 84% and 83% respectively, but the difference to the survey takerand therefore to usappears to be imperceptible. Roughly 90% of event organizers perceived both attributes as important to attendees.

The Big Divide The big divides came in on attending to find a solution for an existing problem. There was a 20-point spread: only 57% of attendees said it was important in driving them to attend, while 77% of organizers thought it was. But wait, theres more: 71% of organizers said to make a purchase was a big motivator, while only 33% of attendees said it was important. Thats a 38-point percentage spread!

What does it mean? Clearly exhibitions have been moving more to the nurturing, but not-yet-ready-to-buy mode. Expositions in many industries should consider shifting from the traditional trade show to more of a solutions destination. Solving an existing problem is a priority, but attendees are likely more inclined to move that needle in a conference/networking peer experience. And to actually close a sale on site? That appears to be pretty low as a factor causing attendees to come to a show (especially without both procurement and the business sponsor side by side).

How are you dealing with the shift from an on-site purchase to a nurturing mentality on your show floor? How do you track attendee retention?

For the full reports (free to members, $99 for non-members), visit CEIRs

Its likely that the Brexit vote last week is on my mind and thats why the Spice Girls tune, Wannabe, popped into my head as I wrote: Yo, Ill tell you what I want, what I really, really want.A key takeaway from Part One of CEIR Attendee Retention Insights study, is the schism between what show organizers think is motivating their attendees, versus what the attendee says he or she really, really wants.In a groundbreaking study that encompasses survey results from both show organizers and their attendees, CEIR has gathered data from thousands to gauge key characteristics of repeat attendeeswho they are and why they become loyal visitors to an exhibition.The factors that influence loyal attendees to come to a trade show are quite different, in many instances, than organizers perceptionsfactors used to select sites, sell to their exhibitors, and plan their conference education. In this column, well focus on the preferences influencing shoppingwhich 98% of respondents deemed as a main objective for returning.CEIR is right on the money: The loyal attendee (or alumni) is an asset you should most covet and grow. The researchers asked its show organizer audience to define what constitutes a loyal attendee, and by far the most popular definition is an attendee or attendee organization who has participated in at least two of the past four editions of an event. At Velvet Chainsaw, we use a more stringent definition for loyalty  two out of three or better = loyal. We believe this measurement is much better for detecting early warning signs in attendance erosion.CEIR surveyed the TSNN 250 top-ranked exhibition organizers, and 75 of them took part in online polling. That TSNN ranking is based on net square footage of an event, skewing results in this survey to those who organize the largest expos. This means the responses are more applicable to expositions that have a conference, not conferences that have an expo.Its when the results drill down to compare attendees motivators to organizers perceptions that things get interesting. And therein lies the schism, or great divide. In looking at the difference in importance rankings, it is clear that repeat attendees have a sharper focus on why they frequent an exhibition regularly while organizers, where there are gaps, tend to overrate the importance of those reasons, the report states.Overrate is an understatement. Under the shopping objectives category, only two of the factorsbrand comparisons and the ability to talk to expertscame in with less than a five-point spread between the two groups. While 85% of attendees ranked seeing new technology as important or very important, organizers perception was that it was important to only 77% of them. Event organizers take heed: It appears that your tech exhibitors continue to be important to your show floor mix.Loyal attendees ranked both new product introductions and see, touch, interact with new products, about the same in importance, at 84% and 83% respectively, but the difference to the survey takerand therefore to usappears to be imperceptible. Roughly 90% of event organizers perceived both attributes as important to attendees.The big divides came in on attending to find a solution for an existing problem. There was a 20-point spread: only 57% of attendees said it was important in driving them to attend, while 77% of organizers thought it was. But wait, theres more: 71% of organizers said to make a purchase was a big motivator, while only 33% of attendees said it was important. Thats a 38-point percentage spread!What does it mean? Clearly exhibitions have been moving more to the nurturing, but not-yet-ready-to-buy mode. Expositions in many industries should consider shifting from the traditional trade show to more of a solutions destination. Solving an existing problem is a priority, but attendees are likely more inclined to move that needle in a conference/networking peer experience. And to actually close a sale on site? That appears to be pretty low as a factor causing attendees to come to a show (especially without both procurement and the business sponsor side by side).For the full reports (free to members, $99 for non-members), visit CEIRs web site

Related Stories Increase Conference Attendee Acquisition With Targeted Message Maps

How Conference Networking Improves Participants Brain Health [Webinar]

Using FOMO to Convert Conference Fence Sitters The post Your Trade Show Attendees: What Do They Really, Really Want? appeared first on Velvet Chainsaw


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University Health System officials report a continuing decline in the number of people enrolling in CareLink, its financial assistance program for low-income, uninsured Bexar County residents seeking medical care at its facilities.

The plunging participation  a 55 percent drop since 2010  is largely being attributed to more people becoming insured under the Affordable Care Act and to San Antonios low unemployment rate.

The average monthly enrollment in CareLink in 2015 dropped to 26,994 patients, according to an annual report given to the health systems board last week. Thats down significantly from the year before, when the average monthly enrollment was 40,685, and less than half of the peak membership reached in 2010, when 59,401 people were enrolled each month on average.

CareLinks costs also declined since the program is serving fewer patients. In 2015, its costs for inpatient and outpatient care, medical equipment and pharmaceutical prescriptions totaled $78 million  a 23 percent drop from the $102 million spent in 2014.

University Health System, operated by the tax-supported Bexar County Hospital District, established CareLink in 1997 to assist low-income residents ineligible for Medicaid and other public or private funds. Patients must live in Bexar County to qualify.

The program is not health insurance, but waives some health care costs those patients would otherwise face while allowing them access to a provider network. Those who enroll must pay at least a portion of their medical bills. Their sliding-scale payments are based on their income and family size.

While fewer patients use CareLink these days, there is still a need for the program, said executive director Virginia Mika.

Texas has not expanded Medicaid, so we have a population without the ability to get coverage, she said Tuesday. Its a very significant population. And theyre vulnerable because they dont have the resources necessarily just to go out and buy coverage.

But some people who needed CareLink in years past may not need it now. The rate of uninsured residents in Bexar County dropped to 16 percent in 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureaus American Community Survey One-Year Estimates released last year. San Antonios unemployment rate remained low at 3.5 percent in May.

CareLink received nearly $13.8 million in payments from patients last year, which amounted to $42.62 paid by each member each month. While the program took in more money overall in 2014 when it served more patients, collecting more than $18 million, patients generally paid less for their care that year  $36.52 per member each month.

Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The highest concentration of CareLink members can be found inside Loop 410, Mika said. The five ZIP codes with the most residents enrolled in CareLink last year were 78207, 78228, 78201 and 78237, which are generally west of downtown, and 78223 on San Antonios South Side.

As in years past, the top three diagnoses for patients enrolled in CareLink in 2015 continued to be high blood pressure, diabetes and hyperlipidemia, a condition where a patient has high levels of fat in the blood. More than half of CareLink patients  52 percent  were considered to be obese.

A most important role for the existence of University Health System ... is the care for those who cant care for themselves, Board Chairman Jim Adams said Tuesday. CareLink has met and is meeting that role.

pohare@express-news.net
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SAN FRANCISCO  For years, Facebook has courted publishers of all sizes, asking them to depend more and more on the social media giant to expand their audiences. Now, Facebook has a new message for publishers: Tamp down your expectations.

Facebook said Wednesday it planned to make a series of changes to its news feed algorithm so that it will more favorably promote content posted by friends and family of users.

The side effect of those changes, the company said, is that content posted by publishers will show up less prominently in news feeds, resulting in significantly less traffic to the hundreds of news media sites that have come to rely on Facebook.

The move underscores the never-ending algorithm-tweaking Facebook undertakes to maintain interest in its news feed, the companys marquee feature that is seen by more than 1.65 billion users every month.

It is also a reminder that while Facebook is vastly important to the long-term growth of news media companies  from older outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post to upstarts including BuzzFeed, Vice and Vox Media  publishers rank lower on Facebooks list of priorities.

There is now an expectation, in general, on the part of publishers that platforms will change, and that they wont necessarily be informed how they will change, said Emily Bell, director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. This completely highlights how ownership of the user is a central tension between news producers and platforms.

The changes will affect all types of content posted by publishers, including links, videos, live videos and photos. Facebook said it expected a drop in reach and referral traffic for publishers whose audience comes primarily to content posted by the publishers official Facebook page. Just how much is difficult to say.

It will have less of an effect, however, if most of a publishers traffic comes from individuals sharing and commenting on their stories and videos. As has long been the case, publisher content that users friends interact with will frequently appear higher in the feed compared to posts shared directly by a publisher.

Over the last few years, publishers struggling to attract readership and draw online advertising dollars have come to view Facebook and its users as a good way to gain new audiences and lucrative revenue streams. That has resulted in closer partnerships between Facebook and publishers experimenting with new media products tailored specifically for the social media site.

Last year, for example, Facebook debuted Instant Articles, a product that allowed publishers to post articles directly to the social media site. Both Facebook and publishers described the move as a better, faster reading experience for users. Facebook also is paying a number of publishers, including the Times, to create broadcasts for Facebook Live, the companys new live-streaming video product.

Those features will also be affected by the algorithm change.

Publishers have little choice but to deal with the changes that Facebook makes, given the dependent relationship news media companies have with the social network. Some 44 percent of adults in the United States regularly read news content on the site, according to a 2016 study by the Pew Research Center. And more than 40 percent of referral traffic to news sites comes from Facebook, according to data from Parse.ly, a digital publishing analytics company.

Publishers value the referral traffic they get from Facebook, but they increasingly fear that readers will remain on the social media site for news content rather than visit the publishers properties. There is also concern that some of Facebooks products allow it to control not just the user experience but also own much of the revenue and user data.

At a time when the relationship between publishers and Facebook is already tense, any change that de-emphasizes news content is likely to deepen concern. And Facebooks move will be just another reminder that publishers do not have direct access to their online audiences on social platforms.

Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Facebook also has a history of unilaterally changing how material from its partners is posted on its service.

Zynga, a once powerful online game developer and former close partner of Facebook, saw a sharp downturn after Facebook made a set of changes on how its gaming-related content appeared on the social network. Zynga was also hurt by other shifts in computing, as users moved en masse from desktop computers to mobile devices.

In 2011, in one of Facebooks earliest experiences with a media publishers, the Washington Post, among others, created so-called social reader tools, a way to more easily read and share stories on Facebook. But when the products began aggressively sending Facebook users updates on what their friends had read, Facebook made a series of changes that effectively killed the apps.

Last year, the company announced that it would adjust the news feed in response to users who were worried about missing important updates from the friends they care about  a change that some publishers believed resulted in decreased readership.

This time, in a set of values the company made public in a post Wednesday, Facebook made clear that showcasing content posted by friends and family was its top priority.

The growth and competition in the publisher ecosystem is really, really strong, Adam Mosseri, vice president of product management for the news feed at Facebook, said in a recent interview with reporters. Were worried that a lot of people using Facebook are not able to connect to friends and family as well because of that.
The citys proposed housing bond was thrown into upheaval Tuesday after members of the commission appointed to set the bond priorities learned two of the three initiatives they wanted to put before voters cant be on the May 2017 ballot.

Thats when city residents are set to vote on the citys overall $850 million bond package, the largest in San Antonios history. The housing bond, the citys first ever, is proposed to be a part of that larger package. It would address what many say is a shortage of affordable housing options in the city.

The Housing Commission to Protect and Preserve Dynamic and Diverse Neighborhoods, which is proposing what should be part of the housing bond, originally planned to ask for a $50 million slice that would go to three initiatives: gap financing for affordable housing construction, emergency repairs for deteriorating single-family homes, and preservation of affordable multi-family units.

But because of a series of complicated legislative and city charter limitations that commission members were alerted to Tuesday, the group will likely only be able to move forward with the gap-financing measure. Now the commission is discussing reducing its funding request to $30 million, but members wont vote on the revised proposal until Aug. 2.

City Council is set to start discussing the bond program, which will also include streets, drainage, park improvements and other infrastructure projects, in mid-August. About every five years, the city asks residents to vote on such a bond program. It would not require a tax increase, city officials have said.

Putting the housing bond on the ballot would have required an amendment to the San Antonios charter. Unlike other cities charters, San Antonio only allows bonds to be spent on public works. Public works does not include housing, said the citys Chief Financial Officer Ben Gorzell.

Housing commission members always knew a charter change vote would be needed to allow the housing bond. But theyd been told that vote could happen on the same day as the bond election next May.

A city can only amend its charter every two years. San Antonios last amendment was in May 2015.

Then, the city discovered the state Legislature had moved up the election day by one week  making it one week shy of the necessary two years between charter amendment elections, Gorzell said.

We cant get past our charter right now, he said.

So the city is proposing a work-around to salvage the gap-financing part of the housing bond.

It would still be on the ballot. If approved, the city could buy and rehabilitate land and then sell it to a multi-family housing developer. By the city using bond funds for some of the necessary up-front costs on the land, like demolishing old buildings, adding sidewalks or doing environmental mediation, the developer could rent the units at an affordable rate.

But city would have to establish an urban renewal program through the Office of Urban Redevelopment San Antonio  the former San Antonio Development Agency  a move that didnt sit well with many commission members. The office would administer the bond money.

The commission members also asked Gorzell and an outside attorney the city consulted to seek advice from the state attorney general about whether or not gap financing could be used for single-family homes and whether bond funds could be used for relocation costs if someone is forced to move.

But commission chairwoman Jennifer Gonzalez said the group needs to at least try to move forward with some kind of housing bond.

Even if the group cant get everything it wanted, at least we have begun to have the conversation about the need for affordable housing in San Antonio, Gonzalez said after the meeting.

vdavila@express-news.net

Twitter: @viannadavila
SALEM, Ohio  The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction released the results of its dairy cow sale June 28.

According to information provided to Farm and Dairy in a public records request 1,398 head of dairy cattle sold for a total of about $1.56 million.

The average price per cow comes out to about $1,116. The sale-related expenses cost about $78,541. The department also paid about $231,000 to the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, for handling the sale.

The sale was held over a period of about three weeks, beginning May 16, with an auction in Mount Hope, and concluding June 9 with a sale in London, Ohio.

New focus

The sale was the result of an April 12 decision by the department to get out of the farming business, with the goal of using the money from farm assets to further other forms of rehabilitation for inmates.

Grant Doepel, deputy communications chief, said about $1.3 million will be reinvested back into the Ohio Penal Industries  for the creation of more inmate job training programs.

The prison farm program, which includes about 10 locations across the state, had previously been used for rehabilitation, and to supply milk and food for the departments various facilities. Its not yet clear how much of the land will be sold versus leased, but selling the land will require the approval of the Ohio Legislature.

Serving more inmates

In making the decision, the department concluded that not enough inmates were taking farm jobs after prison, and that a very low percentage were actually employed by the prison farms, compared to the thousands of inmates released to society each year.

The department also cited concerns over inmates who used the farm program, to sneak contraband into the prisons.

Buying versus producing

Without the cows, the department will have to purchase about 1.3 million gallons of milk, at a cost of about $2.6 million.

But the cost to buy milk could come cheaper than producing it, some supporters have said.

The same volume of milk would have included production costs like feed, housing, labor and veterinary care, as well as herd replacements. And, a dairy cow can only be milked a number of years  roughly 6  before she has to be replaced.

Related:
The decision to leave the EU is a game-changer for UK farming and horticulture, says AHDB.

The Brexit vote opens four key areas of question for UK agricultural and horticultural industries around trade, regulation, labour and support.

Huge uncertainty hangs over these while the UK negotiates its departure from the EU, the most immediate and pressing challenge being to determine what relationship might be entered into in terms of access to the EU single market.

AHDB says its focus remains on equipping levy payers and the wider industry with the tools to become more competitive and sustainable.

"Our first priority is to ensure that we help levy payers make sense of the issues facing the industry over the coming months," said Jane King, Chief Executive of AHDB.

"This means providing independent information and analysis on the key issues surrounding the impacts on agricultural and inputs markets, the consequences for trade and the emerging regulatory challenges.

"Our second priority is to help the industry and government secure the best trading environment for UK agriculture, food and horticulture both in and outside the EU."

Healthy trading environment 'cornerstone for agriculture'

Jane King continued: "A healthy trading environment is one of the cornerstones of our industry.

"AHDBs expertise means it is uniquely placed to identify and target the best market opportunities for the UK, tap into global supply chains and facilitate relationships between UK exporters and overseas buyers.

"The work of AHDB offices in Brussels and Beijing will have even greater meaning and influence over the coming two years of exit negotiations.

"Though the importance of the EU single market cannot be understated for UK food businesses, we already have a strong track record in market development outside the EU.

"We have successfully worked with Defra and UKTI to secure market access to China for UK barley and pig meat and India for seed potatoes. This area of work will become ever more important once Brexit takes effect.

"The industry should clearly be braced for more volatility in currency, inputs prices and commodities markets as the nature of our new relationship with Europe emerges.

"Our work in bringing together experts from across the industry in a Volatility Forum will be vital in steering the industry through the coming months. This group meets again at the Livestock Event next week.

"Meanwhile, our sector strategy boards are coming together over the next two months to review and agree the future direction of AHDB and last weeks decision will give a fresh impetus to these discussions.

Jane King concluded: "Our initiatives will clearly not provide all the answers but by encouraging the industry to work together and pool knowledge and experience, we can all start to shape the agricultural landscape."
EU agricultural co-operative Copa & Cogeca has welcomed EU Farm Ministers calls for a new package of measures to help alleviate impact of the agricultural crisis.

Speaking at a meeting with the Dutch Presidency in Luxembourg, Cogeca President Thomas Magnusson said: "The market situation at farm level is really not improving, being hit by a combination of factors including the economic downturn, high input costs and low prices as well as the Russian export ban.

"Farmers are suffering from severe liquidity problems. The UK vote in favour of Brexit in the EU Referendum adds to the uncertainty.

"It will be crucial to avoid any further disruptions to the market. We urge Ministers to agree on a new package of measures to support the sector, using additional funds without affecting the crisis reserve.

"New tools must be activated and new markets found using exports credits to give traders more certainty when they export."

Copa & Cogeca have subsequently welcomed the calls from many Ministers today for a new package of measures to be presented by EU Farm Commissioner Phil Hogan in July, but call to ensure it is financed by additional funds, without affecting the crisis reserve.

Copa & Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen went on to regret that not all political points have been agreed on the new EU organic rules and that they have been put on hold until Slovakia takes over the EU Council Presidency on July 1.

"We believe that many improvements have been made to the text compared to the EU Commissions initial proposals like keeping mixed farms in it as this gives farmers an incentive to convert gradually but we want the new rules to be introduced quickly so that producers have clarity on the rules.

"They cannot afford a long period without political and legal guidance because of all the uncertainties for their businesses and investments," Pesonen said in a meeting with the Dutch Presidency.

Wrapping up, Mr Magnusson went on to express his extreme disappointment at the way the dossier concerning re-authorisation of the herbicide active substance glyphosate has been handled.

"It will also make EU farmers less competitive if we lose it," Magnusson said. And he urged the Commission to re-authorise it at the end of the month.
A seminar, organised by the NFU, is to debate the degree to which natural flood management can help mitigate against the impacts of flood events.

Being held jointly with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), the Science behind Natural Flood Management event takes place in central London on Thursday (June 30).

Speakers will come from the farming community as well as from Defra, the Environment Agency, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), CEH, Oxford University, Southampton University, Newcastle University and environmental, engineering and risk group JBA Consulting.

NFU Deputy President Minette Batters, who will chair the seminar, said: "Ahead of the expected publication of key government reports such as the National Flood Resilience Review this seminar is very relevant and timely.

"We are pleased to be working with CEH to assess the science and evidence base and how this can be used to influence policy and decision-making.

"The flooding experienced at the end of last year was devastating for many communities, particularly in northern England.

"Many of our members were affected by the storm damage, as well as the floods, leaving gravel and debris deposits, as well as damage to land, property and buildings.

Management that 'needs to work for farming'

"The NFU believes that we need to have a plan for flood risk management at a catchment level and that we must use and fund all tools in our toolbox, whether that is de-silting, vegetation management, engineered flood defences or natural flood management techniques, where appropriate.

"Natural flood management solutions need to work for farming and for the environment and where farmers provide a service in mitigating flood risk to help protect others they do need to be fairly compensated.

"We hope the day will help to highlight where further scientific research is needed into the mitigation potential of natural flood management schemes."

Professor Alan Jenkins, Deputy Director of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, said: "Widespread flooding across northern Britain in December 2015 left over 5,000 homes inundated and 43,000 without power.

"Much of the subsequent political and media attention focused on whether natural solutions can help reduce floods and reduce the devastating impacts on the nations infrastructure.

"There is still much to learn about the effectiveness of natural flood management techniques.

"For this reason scientists at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology are currently working on a systematic review examining whether river floods are reduced by the use of natural flood management mechanisms, such as the presence of trees.

"Our work on this independent evidence assessment is being carried out with staff from many of the organisations present at this timely seminar.

"The outcomes will support decision and policy makers, including farmers, and help guide the UKs future research activity in this area."
The grunts made by pigs vary depending on the pigs personality and can convey important information about the welfare of this highly social species, new research has found.

Scientists specialising in animal behaviour and welfare devised an experiment to investigate the relationship between personality and the rate of grunting in pigs.

They also examined the effect different quality living conditions had on these vocalisations.

Findings from the study, carried out by researchers from the University of Lincoln, UK, and Queens University Belfast, are published in the Royal Society journal Open Science today (29th June 2016).

The study involved 72 male and female juvenile pigs. Half were housed in spacious enriched pens with straw bedding, while the other half were kept in more compact barren pens with partially slatted concrete floors, which adhered to UK welfare requirements.

To get a measure of the pigs personalities, the researchers conducted two tests: a social isolation test and a novel object test.

Each pig spent three minutes in social isolation, and five minutes in a pen with a large white bucket or an orange traffic cone they had not previously encountered.

Their behaviour, including vocalisations, were observed. These tests were repeated two weeks later, allowing the researchers to determine if the pigs responses were repeatable  the defining characteristic of personality (also known as coping style in animals).

They also recorded the frequency of grunts they made by counting the number of grunts produced per minute of the test, and investigated the effect different quality environments had on the sounds made.

The study indicated that pigs with more proactive personality types produced grunts at a higher rate than the more reactive animals.

The study also found that male pigs (but not females) kept in the lower-quality conditions made fewer grunts compared with those housed in the enriched environment, suggesting greater susceptibility among male pigs to environmental factors.

The results add to evidence that acoustic signalling indicates personality in pigs.

This may have had far reaching consequences in shaping the evolution of social behaviours, the researchers believe.

'A highly social and vocal species'

The findings also suggest personality needs to be kept in mind when using vocalisation as a measure of the animals welfare status.

Principal investigator, Dr Lisa Collins, a specialist in animal health and behaviour at the University of Lincoln, said: "The domestic pig is a highly social and vocal species which uses acoustic signals in a variety of ways; maintaining contact with other group members while foraging, parentoffspring communication, or to signal if they are distressed.

"The sounds they make convey a wide range of information such as the emotional, motivational and physiological state of the animal.

"For example, squeals are produced when pigs feel fear, and may be either alerting others to their situation or offering assurance.

"Grunts occur in all contexts, but are typical of foraging to let other members of the group know where they are."

Mary Friel, lead author of the study at Queens University Belfast, added: "The aim of this research was to investigate what factors affect vocalisations in pigs so that we can better understand what information they convey.

"Understanding how the vocalisations of pigs relate to their personality will also help animal behaviourists and welfare experts have a clearer picture of the impact those personalities have on communication, and thus its role in the evolution of social behaviour and group dynamics in social species."
New data has shown that the projected income of Welsh dairy farmers is set to decrease by 40% for this financial year.

Published today by the Welsh Government, a report entitled 'farming facts and figures' reveals that farm incomes are forecasted to fall considerably in 2015-16.

The average income of farmers is set to fall by 16.9% - 29,500 to 24,500  whereas the picture is doubly bleak for dairy farmers, whose income is set to drop from 70,400 to 42,000.

The report also reveals that there are 40 fewer dairy cow holdings in Wales compared to last year, with just 3,054 holdings now in operation  this has decreased by 1,336 in the last 10 years.

Although the number of farms have decreased, herd sizes have increased, which means farmers workloads have become more burdensome.

The dairy industry in Wales currently operates at a 1.2bn trade deficit.

Markets continuing lack of equity towards farmers

Responding to the report, Welsh Conservative Deputy Leader and Shadow Spokesperson for Rural Affairs, Paul Davies AM, said: "The magnitude of the anticipated loss in dairy farmers income for this year is deeply concerning.

"This is down to the dairy markets continuing lack of equity towards farmers, who still dont receive a fair return for their product.

"For too many years wholesale milk prices have plummeted and its high time the Welsh Labour Government stopped just looking into the situation and actually did something about it.

"Unless the Welsh Government takes urgent steps to ensure the long-term sustainability of dairy farming in Wales, we risk seeing this vital economic artery disappear from our rural landscape forever.

"Given the referendum result, we must now all work together to re-shape domestic agricultural policy to the benefit of dairy farmers."
Northern Ireland's Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard has announced a 10million investment to improve the condition of rural roads.

The Minister has earmarked additional funding announced by the Finance Minister earlier this month for resurfacing work on 1000 rural roads across the north.

The Minister said: "I am delighted to announce today that rural communities across the region will benefit from a 10million road improvement package to stop deterioration and repair severe defects on their local road network.

"The improvements will target around 1000 rural roads, repairing many short lengths of road (20-50m) in particularly poor condition, together with a number of longer resurfacing schemes of around 1 km.

"In this difficult financial period, it is of course necessary to prioritise resources, but for too long rural communities have dropped down the priority list.

"Today will go some way to addressing that imbalance and giving rural communities across the region roads that are fit for purpose and that will stand the test of time and weather."

The Department is currently considering areas in greatest need and will draw up programmes to enable work to start as soon as possible.

Rural roads 'severely underfunded' for many years

UFU deputy president Ivor Ferguson has described the decision as positive and encouraging.

Mr Ferguson said: "While considerably short of the total that would be necessary to improve all 18,000 km of roads in rural areas, it is encouraging rural communities have risen up the priority list as they are so reliant on a good road infrastructure."

The UFU says that until this announcement rural roads had been severely underfunded for many years and as a result have fallen into a state of disrepair.

"We would like to see some money going towards improving visibility on rural roads. Many junctions and verges are dangerously overgrown.

"Hedge and grass cutting is needed and we would like to see some of this money going towards the control of noxious weeds on road verges.

"Farmers invest a lot of money in preventing these on farmland, but they are fighting a losing battle without prevention on public road verges," said Mr Ferguson.
"The future is here already  it is just not evenly distributed," Michael Lee, Managing Director of Syngenta Ventures, quoted at the final of GROW, the UKs first national agri-tech business plan competition.

He was describing how exciting business concepts are emerging internationally but as the six finalists of GROW presented, it quickly became clear that the future is concentrated here, with most of the major global trends he had identified present in the room.

GROW has been developed by Agri-Tech East to encourage entrepreneurship in agri-food industry. Dr Belinda Clarke, Director of Agri-Tech East, says: "Agri-Tech Easts vision is to be a globally recognised catalyst of open innovation and agri-entrepreneurship.

"Through GROW we are rapidly establishing a vehicle to find and support these new agri-businesses and by harnessing the power and diversity of our expert network we can also greatly increase their chances of success."

This years competition attracted entrants from across the country and many of the finalists already have international aspirations.

The GROW finalists

Winner: non-student

Pinpoint Phenomics, which allows growers and breeders to know what a plant is thinking by using the plants own messaging system to see its response to environmental stress;

Finalists: non-student

Aponic, a soil-less growing system which allows crops to be grown vertically, fed by a fine mist of water and nutrients. Suitable for urban warehouse farming, it produces 30 per cent more yield with 90 per cent less water;

Smartbell, which, by using the Internet-of-Cows to detect changes in animal behaviour, brings the expertise of an experienced herdsman to an automated dairy system;

Armand de Durfort, founder of Softharvest

Winner: student

Softharvest, a gentle robotic harvester that uses visual recognition to allow just-in-time picking of lettuces without damage to delicate plants.

Finalists: student

Aerial Crop Technologies, which offers a pay-as-you-go drone-based monitoring system delivered in a box;

Share Your Foods, a food sharing platform to allow those with a surplus to reach potential consumers directly.

Dr Clarke explains GROW was devised to identify and support those UK agri-entrepreneurs with ideas to help agriculture and horticulture.

By leveraging the highly supportive environment in the east of England Agri-Tech East will help these new agri-business grow into fully fledged companies that can bring real benefits to the industry.

She says: "We are delighted that so many of our members and contacts have been prepared to be mentors and invest their time into working with the GROW applicants, giving them valuable industry insights and unique market intelligence on setting up and building a new business.

"The strength of a cluster is in creating connections with mutual benefit and already some of the large businesses in our ecosystem are considering commercial relationships with some of the GROW finalists."

Calum Murray of Innovate UK, which supported GROW, was delighted by the quality of the finalists: "The role of Innovate UK is to work with people and companies to find and drive technology innovations that will grow the UK economy and we saw some brilliant innovations today.

"All the entrepreneurs had listened to the feedback they had been given and strengthened their plans accordingly. It was good to see the level of engagement with commercial operations.

"These collaborative ventures are the type of projects that could potentially attract future funding from Innovate UK."

The final was hosted by Agrii, at the Throws Farm Technology Centre. David Langton, Agrii's Head of Crop Science and Stewardship, agreed that collaborative projects are a good way to fast track innovation and is running four projects supported by Innovate UK.

Michael Lee also gave some clear direction to agri-tech entrepreneurs: "Have a clear value proposition that is directed at providing a clear benefit for the plant, the grower or the consumer.

"More or improved is good, but different is better. Dont try and take on everyone, just show how you will dominate a niche."

This year the support prizes have been provided by: AgriGate Research Hub (NIAB), Barr Ellison LLP, Cambridge Cleantech, Cambridge Network, Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at Cambridge Judge Business School, Future Business Centre, ideaSpace City, Institute for Environmental Analytics, Norfolk Network, and Norwich Research Park.
Tesco has today unveiled a new Fair For Farmers Guarantee on all of its fresh milk.

The Fair For Farmers Guarantee will guarantee how every pint of milk sold at is 100% British and provides customers with information on the fair price Tesco pledges to pay to its dairy farmers.

Tesco sources all of its fresh milk from the 600 British farmers who make up the Tesco Sustainable Dairy Group (TSDG).

The Group was founded by Tesco in 2007 to ensure farmers benefit from a price which is above the cost of production.

Matt Simister, Commercial Director for Fresh Food at Tesco, said: "Since we founded the Tesco Sustainable Dairy Group (TSDG) in 2007, weve been working in partnership with our farmers to ensure they have a sustainable long term future.

"When customers buy our milk they want to know our farmers are fairly treated and their cows are well cared for, so weve introduced the Fair For Farmers Guarantee on all our milk to give them peace of mind that theyre supporting British farmers with every pint of milk they buy."

While prices may fluctuate in shops, Tesco pays farmers a price above the cost of production, set for three months at a time, ensuring they have a stable income, no matter what happens in the market.

Since November 2007, in total Tesco has paid 240m over market prices to its milk farmers.

TSDG Dairy farmer and Committee Chairman James Stephen said: "As a lifelong dairy farmer Ive seen first-hand how important the stability and support from the retail industry is to help us plan for the future.

"The Fair For Farmers Guarantee stamp is a simple way for customers to know that when they buy fresh milk, they are helping to foster a better future for hundreds of British farmers."

The Fair For Farmers Guarantee:

 Every farmer will be paid fairly for every pint of milk. Tesco dairy farmers will get a fair deal, with a price above the cost of production for their fresh milk, so even if Tesco drop the price of milk for customers, farmers will get paid the same.

 Every pint is 100% British, Tesco will work work with dairy farmers from across England, Scotland and Wales.

 Every cow is well cared for: Tesco has committed to sourcing from the 'best and award winning farmers' across the country, whose priority is the health and well-being of their cows.

 All Tesco dairy farmers receiving the Guarantee must adhere to the nationally recognised Red Tractor assurance scheme, as well as additional Tesco welfare standards on cow health and welfare.
NFU Scotland has said it is pressing the Scottish Government to 'strip out gold-plating' from within Scotlands greening rules and remove the 'competitive disadvantage' faced by growers.

While the Brexit vote will inevitably lead to different arrangements for Scottish agriculture in the future, the Union is pressing ahead with proposed changes to greening on the expectation that existing arrangements for direct support through the CAP will remain in place for future scheme years.

The Union believes that there is more that can be done to simplify and improve the current implementation of greening in Scotland notwithstanding European Commissioner Phil Hogans imminent proposals at a European level for simplification.

Areas where gold-plating can be stripped out of Scottish rules include the growing of Nitrogen Fixing Crops (NFC) to meet greening requirements; the use of conversion factors when calculating Ecological Focus Areas (EFA); grazing on buffer strips; management of fallow land and a greater choice of EFA options including forestry and hedges.

The Union has invited Scotlands Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy, Fergus Ewing to visit an arable farm in the weeks ahead to see how Scotlands existing greening measures are impacting on farm and hear how growers in other parts of the UK are operating to a preferential set of greening rules.

Seeking 'significant changes' to greening requirements'

In writing to the Cabinet Secretary, President Allan Bowie said: "Last weeks decision for the UK to leave Europe means that future delivery of support at a Scottish or UK level must be discussed and agreed and the Unions job will be securing the best deal possible for our farmers and crofters from that negotiation.

"However, until we are officially out of Europe and no longer benefiting from the CAP, we must continue to operate as before  and that means seeking significant changes to our greening requirements to remove the gold-plating introduced at a Scottish level.

On using Nitrogen Fixing Crops to meet EFA requirements, Scotland-only management rules on harvesting and field margins around put Scottish growers at a competitive disadvantage with respect to growers in England.

"For 2016, a third management prescription was added for Scotland, requiring farmers growing NFC as an EFA option to grow at least two such crops. The area of the largest crop must not account for 75% or more of the NFC EFA crop area.

"For many growers, this makes this option impractical and on farms with a relatively small EFA obligation, the smaller of the crops would be too small to be economically produced, stored, transported and marketed.

"EFA conversion factors were included by Europe as an option to simplify the burden of measuring EFA land on both farmers and officials.

"Unlike the rest of the British Isles and Eire, the Scottish Government decided not to take advantage of this simplification.

"As a result, in Scotland, it means ridiculous hoops are required to record the actual width of Buffer Strips and Field Margins measured along their entire length, and inspected to those measurements.

"This is a nonsense for Scotland where watercourses or field boundaries are rarely in a straight line.

"As Buffer Strips and Field Margins are particularly helpful in helping to produce wildlife corridors we believe that the use of the Conversion Factors would encourage uptake and so be environmentally beneficial, as well as simplifying administration.

"EU provides the option to allow EFA Buffer Strips to be grazed. The same is not permitted for Field Margins.

"The Scottish Government did not take advantage of the grazing option, stating that it wanted to avoid confusion amongst farmers.

'Serious disincentive' to the establishment of Buffer Strips

"Unfortunately, not allowing grazing is a serious disincentive to the establishment of Buffer Strips by farmers needing to graze livestock on fields that have a water course on their boundary.

"On management of EFA fallow, Scotland believes it is in accordance with guidance from Brussels.

"However, in England, farmers are allowed to use mechanical methods to control weeds and conduct drainage work during the Fallow period.

"In 2015, many Scottish farmers suffered significant weed problems that could not be addressed by the spot treatment permitted here, those weed problems spread, and the result has been an increased need for more spraying. We believe mechanical weed control is permitted within EU requirements.

"Last winter many Scottish farms also experienced flooding and damage to drains. The logical time to undertake maintenance work is when land is out of crop.

"Scottish growers are precluded from doing drainage works during the fallow period by the current interpretation of the rules in Scotland. That, again, isnt the case in England.

"Scotland also needs a broader range of EFA options and Europe has indicated it will accept changes to Scotlands current list.

"That opens the door to further options, which have real environmental benefit, being made available from 2017. In particular, we believe that hedges and forestry should be added.

"These examples of gold-plating also need to be viewed alongside the complete nonsense introduced in Scotland this year, requiring nutrient management plans on permanent grassland. That is something we will be writing to the Cabinet Secretary about in due course.

"Given the uncertainty that lies ahead, Scotlands growers deserve to get the best deal from greening measures and Scottish Government use this opportunity to strip out its own gold-plating.

"That would make the years ahead where we continue to operate within the CAP more manageable and efficient for our farmers while still delivering meaningful environmental benefits."
Cost of living crisis could trigger 'winter crime epidemic' on farms
"The relocation increases our focus on developing our grain export and financial product business in South Australia and Victoria, as well as supporting Blue Lake Milling, our oats manufacturing business that operates in these States," he said.
"It was about getting farmers and others in the same room to learn about wild dogs and techniques to combat the issue," she said.
"In an emergency, families will be able to keep in touch and emergency services will be able to co-ordinate their response easier with improved communications networks - I'm also excited about the future of agriculture in Pearce, with the Nationals committed to supporting agriculture and horticulture."
"The status quo of agriculture research and development in WA is not acceptable and if the new model is not agreed by all parties, another solution will develop but in the meantime we may lose both skills and capacity from agriculture in WA."
Fort Bragg to be known as Fort Liberty. Here's what to know.

When will Fort Bragg be renamed? Why will it be renamed Fort Liberty? How much will it cost?
The email from the VC which landed in the inboxes of all staff and students of the University of Oxford at 11.17 on Friday morning started with a statement previously reserved for the first moon landing and the fall of the Berlin wall: I think we will always remember where we were when we received news of the results of yesterdays referendum.

I will certainly not forget the situation shortly before midnight on Thursday. We were celebrating with the British cast and German students after the performance of a medieval German mystery play by singing Flanders & Swann classics and had just reached the Song of Patriotic Prejudice when the first result came in. Newcastle, considered a safe Remain stronghold, had only just about voted for staying in the EU. There was a sudden mood change as everybody stared at their smartphone screens and left quickly.

When the same mixed group of Bonn and Oxford students met again on Friday morning to work in the Bodleian Library on historic print techniques, the universal sense of gloom if not despair was expressed in the typesetting; we changed the date to on the day of Brexit and Naomi, a second year student, replaced her family name with does not like the English.

The Oxford Modern Languages students had not only voted overwhelmingly for the Remain side but had campaigned among their peers, first to register, then to vote in favour of the EU. The fervent mood of campaigning was spread across Oxford; in fact, the Universities for Europe became a main motor behind the Remain drive. An open letter from all the VCs strongly supported the 'in' argument; a host of prominent academics, starting with Stephen Hawking for the sciences, issued statements. UCML (University Council for Modern Languages) promoted the hashtag #loveEU and supplied facts and figures for use by the community. This worked for the prime target group of students and academics: nearly all university towns voted in favour, as did 75% of the 18 to 24 year-olds.

But it turned out that this wasn't enough: the 635,000 votes that tipped the balance in favour of leaving came from the oldest generation who followed a rhetoric built on nostalgia for a lost empire. Many commentators noted with bitterness that Britain was led out of the EU from a generation which itself had profited from European stability but didn't have to face the consequences. Far worse is the deep rift which became apparent in that all arguments coming from academia, culture and politics were perceived only as expressing elitist, patronising expert views.

Accordingly, the whole academic community was taken aback, not only by the result but by hate-fuelled reactions which came to light in considerable numbers during the campaign. The words most often used to describe the post-Brexit mood among colleagues were Wut und Trauer - bereavement, devastation and utter disbelief. But stronger than all of these words was the sense of determination, an incredibly strong resolve that jetzt erst recht - now more than ever  we should work within and expand cross-European collaboration and shared identity.

What is at stake?

The letter mentioned at the start from Louise Richardson, the Oxford VC, makes this crystal clear: While this was not the result that many of us wished for, the result is clear, and my colleagues and I see our responsibility now to do all we can to protect and advance the interests of the University and all who work and study here, as well as those with whom we engage in collaborative research projects internationally. Just as the composed judgment of the Governor of the Bank of England helped to calm the situation on Friday morning, she set the tone in the same way as most other VCs who wrote open letters to their academic community which circulated on Friday on the email lists: The first point on which I would like to reassure every member of our community is that there is no reason to assume that there will be any immediate change to the immigration status of current or incoming students and staff; nor any immediate change in our participation in EU programmes such as Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+.
Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnellOn Monday this week, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned the 2014 corruption conviction of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.

As a refresher, Gov. McDonnell, directly and through his spouse, accepted over $175,000 in gifts and loans from Jonnie Williams, the CEO of a Virginia-based business known as Star Scientific. In return, the Governor repeatedly provided information about Star Scientifics products to various subordinate state officials, and recommended that they meet with Williams.

Gov. McDonnell had been convicted under the federal bribery statute, 18 USC 201, which contains similar language to the FCPA. Indeed, in some respects, the two laws are virtual twins. So what does the SCOTUS decision mean for the FCPA? Not terribly much.

Williams provided lavish gifts to Gov. McDonnell. The kind of stuff that would make an FCPA lawyer wince. They included a $20,000 shopping trip in New York, personal loans worth tens of thousands of dollars, a Rolex watch, a gift of $15,000 to defray the wedding costs for McDonnells daughter, free vacations, and even the use of Williams swanky Ferrari.

According to the Supreme Court, Williams goal was to secure the Governors assistance in convincing Virginia public universities to study the benefits of the companys major product.

In return, Gov. McDonnell arranged meetings between Williams and Virginia officials, instructed members of his staff to forward information about Star Scientifics products to Virginia officials, requested state officials to meet with Williams, and hosted events at the Governors Mansion to which Williams and other Virginia officials were invited.

At trial, several Virginia officials testified that they had been contacted by Gov. McDonnell about Star Scientifics products, but that they took no official action to benefit the company.

In September 2014, Gov. McDonnell was convicted of violating 18 USC 201. In relevant part, the statute specifies that it is a crime for an official to receive anything of value in return for being influenced in the performance of any official act. The statute also prohibits giving anything of value to a public official to influence any official act.

Williams conduct wasnt at issue in the case  he was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony. However, given that 18 USC 201 uses the same language to prohibit the receiving and giving of bribes, the Supreme Courts ruling impacts how the statute governs both demand-side and supply-side bribery.

As noted above, the language of 18 USC 201 should sound very familiar for FCPA practitioners. Among other things, the FCPA also prohibits offering, giving or promising anything of value to a foreign official for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of such foreign official in his official capacity.

So, circling back to the basic question I raised at the start of this post, does the SCOTUS decision shake the foundations of the FCPA? Given the similarity between the statutes, can companies now open the flood gates and start bestowing lavish gifts on foreign officials?

The short answer to these questions is no, and the explanation is a simple one. While both statutes prohibit offering, giving or promising anything of value to an official to influence official acts, the FCPA contains an additional restriction that is absent from 18 USC 201. In particular, the FCPA makes it a crime to offer, give or promise anything of value to a foreign official to induce the official to use his influence with a foreign government or instrumentality thereof to affect or influence any act or decision of such government or instrumentality.

The Supreme Courts decision focused on whether Gov. McDonnell accepted benefits from Star Scientifics CEO in return for taking some official act. The High Court decided that setting up meetings between Williams and Virginia officials, passing along information about Star Scientific to Virginia officials and arranging for events at the Governors Mansion where Williams could interact with state officials did not constitute official acts.

Consistent with prior cases, the Supreme Court construed the term official acts in 18 USC 201 to consist of making decisions or taking actions on an identified question, matter, cause, suit, proceeding or controversy (internal quotations omitted). The Court held that merely arranging a meeting or hosting an event to discuss a matter does not count as a decision or action on that matter.

While Gov. McDonnells actions in response to Williams gifts did not satisfy the Supreme Courts definition of official act under 18 USC 201  and likely under the FCPA  I do believe Williams gifts were given for purposes of inducing Gov. McDonnell to use his influence with other Virginia officials.

In response to Williams substantial gifts, Gov. McDonnell repeatedly recommended that state officials meet with Williams or consider information furnished by Williams about Star Scientifics products. He invited Mr. Williams to exclusive events in the Governors Mansion, and allowed Williams to add specific Virginia officials to the guest list. That feels a lot like paying an official to get them to use their influence with others.

The High Courts ruling in favor of Gov. McDonnell draws some boundaries around 18 USC 201. It likely does the same for the similarly-worded provisions of the FCPA. But companies must bear in mind that the FCPA, on its face, is broader than its domestic sibling. It specifically reaches conduct paying officials for the purpose of inducing them to use their influence with other officials  that is not addressed in 18 USC 201.

So, the Supreme Courts ruling doesnt significantly change the FCPA landscape. Companies should not loosen their controls over providing gifts and hospitality to foreign officials. They shouldnt start planning shopping trips, extending five-figure personal loans, paying for weddings, or asking foreign officials to line up for Ferrari rides.

___

Bill Steinman is the senior partner at Steinman & Rodgers LLP, a boutique law firm in Washington, D.C. specializing in international anti-corruption compliance and investigations. Hell be a speaker at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference 2016.
Jennifer Saunders won't follow up 'Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie' with a sequel.

Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley

The 57-year-old writer and creator of the comedy film, who plays Edina 'Eddie' Monsoon alongside Joanna Lumley's Patsy Stone, has shut the door on speculation a second movie is on the cards.

A number of big names have cameos in the movie including Mad Men's Jon Hamm, Kate Moss, Cara Delevingne, Stella McCartney, Lulu and Graham Norton, and probed on whether she was planning to write star-studded title about the champagne swigging fashionistas, she said: "I'm not planning a sequel at all, no. This is it!"

However, Joanna seemed less certain it's the last we'll see of the best friends.

During an interview with her co-star, she quipped: "I am!"

Despite her determination to not sign herself up for a feature-length film, Jennifer insisted publicist Eddie will always be a part of her and the movie does not signal a "farewell".

She told LOOK magazine: "They're always with us ... I'll get a GoPro and come round to (Joanna's) house."

Meanwhile, Joanna said people were disappointed when they realised the liquid in their champagne flutes on the set of the film were filled with ginger beer and not booze.

The 70-year-old actress said: "People wanted us to be slaughtered! I rather wish it could be true, though, there were moments where we'd say, 'Could we have a real bottle here?' "

Jennifer agreed: "This is the only sad thing, we don't drink at all."
Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have bought a 285 stroller for their daughter.

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Duchess Catherine's mother Carole Middleton recommended the Nipper, from UK brand Out 'n' About, after a neighbour told her about it and the company has since seen a surge in orders.

Marie David, marketing manager at the firm, told PEOPLE: "There has been a surge in orders and we have sold out of a lot of stock. We are just a small, family run business, so it is very exciting!

"[Carole] said her neighbour in Bucklebury had recommended the buggy to her for her grandson as it's a good all-terrain style."

Catherine wanted the item in navy, which had been discontinued, so the company made a special stroller just for her.

Marie explained: "The new vibrant colours weren't quite what they were looking for, so we said we may still have some of the old fabrics left - and we did!

"They had heard how good it is, off-road, for long walks and that kind of thing. Our buggies are well known for those features."

Catherine later ordered a matching bespoke navy carry cot.
Britain's Prince Harry joined Coldplay on stage at their Sentebale charity gig on Tuesday (28.06.16).

Prince Harry

The 31-year-old royal invited the band to perform at Kensington Palace in aid of his Lesotho charity and took to the stage during the finale to thank the crowd, the choir who had travelled over from Lesotho and the band.

After hugging frontman Chris Martin, he said: "Thank you for standing out in the rain, thank you to the choir that has come all the way from Lesotho. Please drive home safely and carry the work of Sentebale. And thank you to Coldplay - thank you so much, you've rocked the palace, you've rocked the palace!"

Harry stayed on stage for the performance of 'Up & Up' but didn't take a microphone to join in with the singing.

Earlier, Harry welcomed the crowd to the grounds of Kensington Palace, where he has an apartment, and said: "Tonight you've been learning a little bit about Lesotho, a beautiful mountain kingdom I first travelled to when I was 19.

"What I saw there was a country with significant challenges; some of the world's most vulnerable young people, robbed of their childhoods - forced into work due to extreme poverty and the loss of ONE OR BOTH parents to the devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic. In some cases, the 'lady of the house' was a 12-year-old girl looking after her brothers and sisters.

"But what I remember most from that first visit was learning that this was a country with joy in its heart - a country that faced its challenges with warmth, optimism, and courage. It didn't take me long to be hooked on the country and to the irresistible smiles of its children.'

"If you have been moved by the stories that you've heard, please commit to taking a little bit of time to learn about the fight against HIV in places like Lesotho, throughout Africa, and here in the UK as well."

Harry set up the Sentebale charity with his close friend Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.

Harry's good friend Joss Stone also took to the stage to perform at the charity concert.
The couple met on the set of Pearl Harbour and made their first public appearance as a couple while at the Boston Red Socks opening World Series game in October 2004.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner

While they were filming on Daredevil, Garner was doing a stunt and got tangled in the wires that she was using to flip herself upside down. She nearly crashed into the wall that she was supposed to be flipping off. Affleck saw what was going to happen and grabbed her before she hit it. She said: 'It was like he was superman.' (IMDB)

The couple would have appeared in three films together, the aforementioned two and Elektra; however his scene was cut out at the last minute.

The couple apparently ignore anything that is written about them, given their popularity in the press, Garner said in 2009 "Ben taught me that you cannot read that stuff, that it's poison." (Wikipedia)

Affleck proposed to her on her 33rd birthday with a 4.5 carat diamond Ring by Harry Winston.

They married on 29th June 2005 in the Caribbean, while Garner was 4 months pregnant, in a private ceremony at the Parrot Cay resort on the Turks and Caicos Islands. Garner wore a Vera Wang Dress while Affleck was in Hugo Boss.

The whole thing was officiated by Garner's Alias co-star Victor Garber.

The couple now have three children together; Violet, Seraphine and Samuel.

The pair have homes in Los Angeles and Massachusetts and an apartment in New York. They also own an 83 acre Hampton Island near Savannah Georgia.

Garner was asked about the possibility of working with her husband again on set and said: I think he's brilliant at what he does, but why rock the boat? It works between us pretty well the way it is. I don't know if I want to go to work with him. I'd be like, "Okay already, you got the shot. Let's go home!" (IMDB)

Affleck and Garner announced they were divorcing on June 30, 2015.

by Lucy Moore for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Want to get onboard with the pant suit trend? Take some inspiration from Bollywood star Nargis Fakhri who gave this trend a modern twist. At a recent event held in Madrid, Fakhri looked smoking hot in an icy blue plunging neckline tailored suit by designer Monisha Jaising. She finished her power look with a sleek back ponytail and strappy sandals. Take cue from Nargis Fakhri to pull off the boss woman look. Pair em classics with tailored trousers, chic shorts, sexy skirts and fun accessories to show you mean serious business.




From model Rosie Huntington Whitely to Rihanna, these coveted arm candies have been seen with every It-girl worth her salt. This is our definitive guide to It-bags that are totally worth breaking your bank for.







Named after the Greek God of excesses, the Dionysus captures most beautifully, Guccis renewed aesthetic as envisioned by creative director Alessandro Michelles. The Dionysus comes in various versions decorated with exotic surface ornamentation that appear as embroideries, appliques and embellishment. This one is truly fit for the Gods.
Monsoon has hit and that means less time outdoors for your kids to frolick around. Various studies, such as one from the University of Essex, show how important it is for kids to stay active to improve focus and self-awareness, for overall increased happiness. Since it may be difficult to take your kids outdoors when its raining, you can organise fun indoor activities to keep them just as entertained and engaged during the monsoons.

Art of the matter

What better way to get creative than a little bit of art? Take painting one step further by using sponges, or better yet encourage your kids to use their hands! Spread a huge piece of white paper and let the kids paint what they see of the rains outside. Another option is to have a mask making competition, maybe one with a super hero theme!

If these kids have an overload of energy, get them busy with construction. Have a few empty cardboard boxes and blankets set aside for them to make their very own forts!

Little chefs

This doesnt have to mean that you bring your kids into the kitchen to cook. But let them get in on the action a bit! To bake cookies, you can organise several mixing bowls across the kitchen counter. Divide the kids up in pairs where one of them mixes the cookie dough and the other one rolls them up into balls. Kids feel a sense of accomplishment making their own creations. You can even have a cupcake icing competition.

Jamming sessions

Although youre limited to space and movement when youre with your kids indoors, make the most of what youve got. Set up a dance space, crank up the peppiest tunes, and let the kids groove to the music.

Allow the kids to create their own musical instruments. All youll need are empty plastic cups and a few beads. Fill the cups up with beads and cover them up with a piece of cardboard. Your kids have their very own maracas or tambourines to shake up. If thats too elaborate, you could just have your kids drumming away on the backs of the cups with spoons and forks. Be prepared for a lot of noise though!

Story time

If youre running out of ways to entertain them, gather the kids and read them a story. Bringing in a trained voice actor will add to the excitement, as theyll be extremely animated. If youre reading the story yourself, keep the book facing towards them, showing them the pictures as you read along.

If you want to get even more creative, ask your kids to divide up in groups. Give them a story idea, and have them perform their own skits! Make sure to record it on your camera for memories to cherish later.
How do you reach your target of drinking eight glasses of water everyday? Try cucumber-infused water.

One to two glasses of cucumber-infused water everyday can be a good thing, says nutritionist and fitness expert Namrata Sheth.



Helps beat the bloat

Cucumbers are natural diuretics, which means they help to flush out excess water, waste and toxins from your body. They help reduce water retention, thereby making you look less bloated. In addition, cucumber is naturally low in calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium.



Hydrates body

Cucumber is made up of 95 per cent water and when mixed with plain water in a 75:25 ratio of water:cucumber, it not only adds flavour to plain water but helps to increase your water consumption for the day. However says Sheth, Different bodies react differently to food combinations. So, one must try this for a week and only then go ahead if it suits you.



Maintains bone health

Like calcium, vitamin D and magnesium are vital for bones, so is vitamin K. It is said that cucumbers provide around 11 - 15 percent of vitamin K, a recommended amount for our body for one day. This helps in building healthy bones. This is true says Sheth and adds, One must not overdo the consumption.



Help fight free radicals

According to Sheth, vitamin C, beta-carotene, and several flavonoid compounds present in cucumber act as antioxidants. And these, to a certain extent, help destroy free radicals that are unstable substances causing diseases like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimers and heart ailments.



Youthful skin

Sheth says: Cucumber has a calming effect. It is alkaline in nature. It helps in maintaining the pH level of our body. A well-balanced pH level reverses ageing.



Recipe for cucumber-infused water:

Ingredients:

1 litre of water

1/4th cucumber with skin

Half a half lime

1/4th inch piece of ginger

1-2 mint leaves

Method:

Add all the ingredients to water and let stand for two hours before consuming.



Hint: Dont reuse these ingredients once the water is over. Make a fresh drink with fresh ingredients the next day.



Facebook: Everything you should know about cucumber-infused water

Twitter: Detox yourself with cucumber-infused water



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The apparel sector is buoyant after the recent announcement of Rs 6,000 crore special package by the government. Within 120 hours of the announcement the sector has pledged to invest Rs 623 crore, according to the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC).

Texport Industries, Texport Syndycate and Midas Touch Export have pledged the maximum amount in Rs 623 crore, which is expected to generate 30,120 new jobs. This was disclosed at a press conference organised by the AEPC.

Speaking at the conference, Sunaina Tomar, joint secretary (exports), ministry of textiles, thanked the government for introducing labour friendly reforms. The reforms have been initiated for the betterment of the labour, like the government bearing the employers' contribution of the EPF Scheme for those earning less than Rs 15,000 per month, for the first three years. This will leave more money in the hands of the labour, she said.

The apparel sector is buoyant after the recent announcement of Rs 6,000 crore special package by the government. Within 120 hours of the announcement the sector has pledged to invest Rs 623 crore, according to the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC). Texport Industries, Texport Syndycate and Midas Touch Export have pledged the maximum amount #

AEPC chairman Ashok G Rajani gave an introduction and explained AEPC's approach towards the package and a roadmap to achieve the targets. We not only have to reach the export target of Rs 30 billion that the government has set for us, but we have to go ahead and exceed that target. With our strategies and the reforms, I do not think that this is going to be very difficult, he said.

He presented four strategies as a part of AEPC's road map: strategy for HS Code wise promotion of garments, to accelerate export growth rate in preferential market and market diversification, facilitate input availability for enhancing competitiveness and speed to delivery, and roadmap for publicity plan and review. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
The value of clothing exports from India is likely to touch $20 billion during the ongoing fiscal 2016-17, due to push from the government through the Rs 6,000 crore special package for textiles and apparel sector announced last week, according to the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI).

The value of clothing exports from India is likely to touch $20 billion during the ongoing fiscal 2016-17, due to push from the government through the Rs 6,000 crore special package for textiles and apparel sector announced last week, according to the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI). The package is aimed at creating one crore new jobs #

The package is aimed at creating one crore new jobs over a three-year period and attract $11 billion new investments, and increase garment exports to $30 billion.

India's garment export value, estimated at $16.80 billion now, is expected to reach $20 billion during the current fiscal. The special package announced by the government will not only help in attracting large investments but also enhance production capacity, CMAI president Rahul Mehta told mediapersons in Mumbai.

The inclusion of state-level taxes in the computation of duty drawback will provide a major relief to the exporting segment, Mehta said at the press conference called to announce the CMAI's 63rd National Garment Fair to be held from July 13-15, 2016.

Talking about the first quarter ending June 30, 2016, Mehta said the industry may see a five per cent decline in exports due to the prevailing downturn in the global economy which continues to adversely impact India's garment industry.

He said the domestic garment industry also faces dull market conditions and may see flat growth or a two per cent decline in consumption in the quarter ended June, 2016.

Commenting on Britain's exit from EU, Mehta said there may not be immediate fallout of the referendum on the business front, but there could be a period of uncertainty and confusion for some time.

The apparel industry also sees huge export potential in Iran, which has a $16 billion market and nearly 60 per cent of the demand is met through imports, he added.

The three-day National Garment Fair will see participation from 812 brands and nearly 40,000 retailers from across the country are expected to visit the fair, Mehta said.

The showcase at the fair will include all kinds of fashionable and most trendy collections of garments and outfits from brand apparel companies. (RKS)
Major worldwide markets such as the US, China, Japan, India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are likely to lose interest in the EU, if the full exit of UK from the EU goes ahead, says a latest report

The loss of interest by major markets will be because very few of the people in these countries know any European languages, except English, says a study carried out as part of Europe 2016 Wealth Report by New World Wealth.

According to the report, after Brexit, Ireland will be the only English speaking country left in the EU. This will likely result in a large inflow of EU migrants into Ireland as most EU citizens have English as their second language (very few EU citizens know French, German or other European languages).

Major worldwide markets such as the US, China, Japan, India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are likely to lose interest in the EU, if the full exit of UK from the EU goes ahead, says a latest report. The loss of interest by major markets will be because very few of the people in these countries know any European languages, except English, #

As a result, we expect over 3 million EU citizens to enter Ireland over the next 5 years  this may create some panic in Ireland and may cause them to hold their own referendum in a few years, says the report.

UK's exit will also have its impact on Turkey's plan of joining the EU, which is less likely to materialise now.

For many EU citizens, the possibility of going to the UK without restriction was the cherry on the cake as it was an English speaking country with a good social welfare system and offered a route to other English speaking countries such as the US and Australia through work transfers. However, with Brexit, this facility would go away and it will become the main factor that encourages other countries to leave the EU. We expect Holland and Ireland to be the next countries to leave the EU (within 5 years). We expect the 'big 4' EU markets of Germany, France, Italy and Spain to stay, the report states.

The study suggests that UK should re-introduce two year working visas for young people from other English speaking countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada. This will ensure that well educated young people continue to come to the UK. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Accounting for 6.9 per cent, the textile sector is the third most contributor to the stressed loans, according to the bi-annual Financial Stability Report released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The RBI report highlights the performance of banks and provides insights on the extent to which Indian banking sector is resilient to the stress in the system.

Annual slippages of major sectors/sub-sectors in December 2015 show that the textiles industry had the highest number of standard accounts slipping into the NPA category at 8.8 per cent, the report mentions.

Accounting for 6.9 per cent, the textile sector is the third most contributor to the stressed loans, according to the bi-annual Financial Stability Report released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The RBI report highlights the performance of banks and provides insights on the extent to which Indian banking sector is resilient to the stress in the system#

In terms of outstanding amounts, textiles saw 6.4 per cent slippage, the second highest after the iron and steel industry which saw 7.8 per cent slippage.

Among other things, the report said that risks to India's banking sector have increased since the publication of the last Financial Stability Report (FSR) in December 2015, mainly on account of a further deterioration in asset quality and low profitability.

While the credit and deposit growth of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) slowed significantly during 2015-16, their overall capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR) level increased between September 2015 and March 2016. The riskweighted assets (RWA) density declined during this period.

The gross non-performing advances (GNPAs) rose sharply to 7.6 per cent of gross advances in March 2016 from 5.1 per cent in September 2015, largely reflecting re-classification of restructured advances to NPAs following an asset quality review (AQR).

Consequently, the overall stressed advances rose only marginally to 11.5 per cent from 11.3 per cent during the period, due to a reduction in restructured standard advances ratio from 6.2 per cent in September 2015 to 3.9 per cent in March 2016, the RBI report said. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Sunny Leone is in Nepal along with her husband Daniel Weber, for the launch of a vodka event and the actress has posted quite a few pictures from Nepal, on her Instagram account. Sunny, is seen sporting amazing dresses and also visited a few tourist spots and temples in Nepal.

Check out the pictures of Sunny Leone in Nepal here!

Sunny Leone, confirmed that her Nepal trip has come to an end and would be heading back to India along with Daniel Weber. The actress was seen sporting a Nepali hat and captioned her picture as, "Sad to leave Nepal!! Finally found my Nepali hat I've been wanting for a while :)"

Deepika Padukone All Set To Star In Shahrukh Khan's Don 3?

Apart from that, Sunny Leone also thanked her team for showing them around Nepal and captioned it as, "Don't know where to start with the photos so I'll start with the last one we took. @tomasmoucka @dirrty99 @yusuf_911 @sunnyrajani love Nepal!!"

OMG! Hrithik Roshan & His Kids Were At The Istanbul Airport Few Hours Before The Terrorist Attacks

It looks like Sunny Leone has completely fallen in love with Nepal, and why wouldn't she? The country is blessed with beautiful landscapes and has the best tourist spots and attraction centres.

Aamir Khan Gets Competition From Sushant Singh Rajput!

On The Work Front

Sunny Leone, would be seen shaking a leg with the Baadshah of Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan for a dance number in the film, Raees. The movie, is scheduled to release in January, 2016 and expectations are high on Raees.
Hrithik Roshan and his two little kids, who were holidaying in Africa, were on their way back to India with a connecting flight at Istanbul, Turkey, at the very same airport which witnessed terrorist attacks. Hrithik ended up missing the connecting flight and was at the airport booking another flight to India.

Unfortunately, business class was not available and Hrithik, made a very good decision and picked up three economy class tickets to India. Right after they boarded the plane, in a matter of hours, Istanbul airport witnessed bloodshed through the cowardly terrorist attacks.

If Hrithik Roshan would have waited for another plane just for the business class tickets, then he and his kids would had faced severe consequences at the Istanbul airport. Well thank God for his timely decision; he and his kids are safe now.

The Mohenjo Daro star took to Twitter by saying, "Missed connecting flight at Istanbul n wer stuck at airport next flight ws next day,but took economy n flew out earlier. #Prayers4istanbul" and followed it up with, "Ws helped by d kindest staff at Istanbul arport hours ago. Shocking news. Innocents killed 4 religion.V must stand united against terrorism."

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Check out Hrithik Roshan's tweets here!

missed connecting flight at Istanbul n wer stuck at airport next flight ws next day,but took economy n flew out earlier. #Prayers4istanbul  Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) June 28, 2016
Surprsied? So are we! We are well aware that actresses Kareena Kapoor Khan and Priyanka Chopra do not share a warm equation with each other.

Recently, Kareena, in her exclusive interview with Vogue, made yet another surprising statement for Priyanka's success in Hollywood, that will leave you shocked! So what did she say? Read on to know..

"My priorities are very different. I think it's amazing what Priyanka has done. But I don't think I could ever do something like that. I want to be a married working woman. My responsibilities are a lot more different than hers."

" I have a husband, I would like to start a family. I can't give up everything and move to LA. That's not me. The kind of work that these girls have put in, you need to have that kind of dedication of wanting to achieve so much and do it so wonderfully."

Ahem! Alleged Love-Birds Tiger & Disha Talk About Their Relationship (Pictures)

" Also, maybe I'm lazy. I don't want to conquer the world but I don't mind having a little place of my own. It's as simple as that."

We doubt whether this statement of Kareena Kapoor would go well with PeeCee. We wonder what would be her reaction!

Later, the actress also talked about her and hubby Saif Ali Khan's frequent trips to London and here's what she told:

"In London we have a lot of friends and family, and most of Saif's friends are here. I keep telling him, 'You have no friends in India.' He's so close to his school friends. Also, the fact that you can be a star and cut away from that world and come here and spend time with people who have no idea of Bollywood, we both enjoy that a lot. It's nice to pull out for a while."
Pranitha Subhash, who has been a part of few prestigious projects in Telugu and Tamil is back to Kannada film industry after a year.

As per the latest news from Ganginagar, Pranitha has been signed to play the lead in Shivanna's next film Mass Leader. Apparently several top actresses were considered for the role and finally the makers have zeroed in on Pranitha.

The film is directed by Sahana Murthy and produced by Tarun Shivappa. The duo made their debut last year, with Ajay Rao and Shravya starrer Rose. Producer Tarun had expressed his desire to produce Shivanna's movie back then and it is materializing now.

The movie was in news, an year ago, even before the formal launch for wrong reasons. The makers had issues with Kichcha Sudeep's Leader team, regarding the title. The issues were solved amicably with the intervention of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce and title was changed to Mass Leader.

There was a news that Amulya was confirmed to play the role of Shivanna's sister; there is no official confirmation regarding this. Also, Gururaj Jaggesh was rumored to play an important role along with Vijay Raghavendra. The cast and crew of the movie is yet to be confirmed by the makers.

Shivanna is currently in Malaysia shooting for Srikanta, directed by Manju Swaraj of Shravani Subramanya fame. The movie is in the final stages of production. He has also shot a few days for Bangara - S/O Bangarada Manushya directed by Yogi G Raj, which will complete its shoot by August.

Shivanna will start shooting for Mass Leader once the other commitments are cleared.
Jayasurya, the versatile actor of Mollywood has won a special jury mention in the 63rd National Film awards. Recently, he was felicitated at the AMMA general body meeting, for his award.

Mammootty and Mohanlal, the superstars of the industry jointly awarded the special gift from AMMA members to Jayasurya, during the annual general body meeting of the association, held in Kochi.

Click here for the special pictures of Jayasurya, clicked during the event.....

The actor shared some candid stills clicked during the ceremony with the fans, through his official Facebook page. Jayasurya stated his deep happiness on receiving a special gift from the actor he admires the most.

Jayasurya won the special jury mention for his performance in Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam. The fans had expected that he will walk away with the Best Actor trophy in the Kerala State Fim Awards.

But he was restricted with a Special Mention. Jayasurya has undoubtedly made a great achievement, by competing with the one and only Amitabh Bachchan, for the Best Actor trophy in the final round of National Awards.

Even though he couldn't grab the Best Actor award, the jury decided to appreciate Jayasurya's performance with a special mention. The actor recently visited Delhi, to attend the award ceremony and receive his trophy.
It is always a pleasure to see Mammootty and Mohanlal together on the screen. Even for the fans of the both stars, the most thrilling sight would be to see them perform together .

Mammootty and Mohanlal have acted together in close to 55 films. A feat which isn't that common with the superstars of the other language film industries.

Here we present 40 films in which both the actors have shared the screen space..

It was in the film Ahimsa(1981) directed by I V Sasi, that both the actors united for the first time. In fact Mammootty had won the Kerala State Film Award For The Second Best Actor for his performance in the film.

Since then, they have featured together in a number of films. In the film Padayottam(1983), Mammootty acted as the father of the character played by Mohanlal.

Apart from the films listed above, they have also worked together in films like Shesham Kazhchayil(1983), Ente Katha(1983), Guru Dakshina(1983), Himavahini(1983), Akkare (1984), Angadikkappurath(1985), Neram Pularumbol(1986), Kaveri(1986), Padayani(1986) etc.

Eventhough they didn't share the screen space in the film Manu Uncle(1988), the film had Mohanlal in a cameo role. Similarly, the film Mazha Peyyunnu Maddalam Kottunnu, had Mammootty doing a cameo appearance.

Both the superstars were most recently seen together in the film Kadal Kadannoru Maathukutty in which Mohanlal did a cameo role. Well, we hope that they would soon join hands for another film, which would definitely break all the box-office records.
Sivakarthikeyan's upcoming film 'Remo' has an exciting cast and crew. Adding to the excitement factor is actor Anson, who will be making his Tamil debut in the film.

Anson, a popular name in the Malayalam filmdom, is excited about his Tamil debut as 'Remo' is blessed with some exceptional talents.

"To me, being in PC Sreeram sir's frame in my very first film is amazing. I am a beginner and getting to understand the world of cinema. Although Sivakarthikeyan is an established star, he had no airs about him. He was simple and down to earth. He used to guide me and balance my tone of acting," Anson told Behindwoods.

Anson has said, it was wonderful working in the film and that he is looking forward to the movie's release.

"Although I cannot reveal about my character in the film, all that I can say is it was wonderful working in Remo. It's nice to be a part of this film, getting to know the craft and the functioning of Tamil cinema which I have grown up watching. Director Bakkiyaraj Kannan also helped me a lot. I am looking forward to the release of Remo," he has said.

Metro' Movie Review & Rating: Objective Accomplished!
We had recently reported that farmers in Tamil Nadu are planning to stage a protest in front of superstar Rajinikanth's residence, owing to the actor's promise, that was never fulfilled.

An organization called 'Desiya Thenmaanila Nadhigal Inaippu Vivasaayigal Sangam' headed by Ayyakannu, had alleged that the star actor had promised them to make a contribution of 1 Crore rupees, which would later help the government in inter-linking rivers, a project which is expected to put an end to farmers' plight in the state.

Though the promise was allegedly made 14 years ago, during the 2002 Cauvery river dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Rajinikanth had never made the contribution, it was said.

"Rajinikanth promised to help us with 1 Crore rupees during the 2002 Cauvery river water dispute. The money was meant to help the government inter-link rivers. But even after 14 years Rajinikanth has not made any contribution," Ayyakannu had said, adding that they would stage a protest, should the actor fail to make the contribution within a month's time.

Now, a source close to Rajinikanth has said that the Enthiran star has already deposited 1 Crore rupees and the amount would reach the government when the project of interlinking rivers starts rolling.

Rajinikanth, who is currently holidaying in the USA, along with his family, is expected to return to Chennai before his much anticipated film Kabali hits the big screen.

Directed by Pa Ranjith and produced by 'Kalaipuli' S Thanu, Kabali, which narrates the story of an ageing don, is one of the most awaited Tamil films of this year, not only in Tamil Nadu but also in neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana and Karnataka.

The film will most probably release worldwide on July 22.

Also Read: Gangai Amaran's Shocker: Kamal Stole Thevar Magan's Story, Ilaiyaraaja Shouldn't Touch His Harmonium
TEMECULA CA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/28/16 -- Dr. Richard Balikian, a Southern California Facial Plastic Surgeon with offices in San Diego and Murrieta, discusses the benefits of Voluma. Over the past decade there has been tremendous advancement in facial fillers that are providing incredible results when performed by an experienced facial plastic surgeon.

Years ago if you wanted to refresh your face, it usually required surgery, but today many people are opting for facial fillers or liquid facelift to help rejuvenate their looks. Facial fillers combined with laser skin resurfacing can easily make you look ten years younger. Dr. Balikian is reporting that he has seen a large increase in the past five years for facial fillers. He states with the recent popularity of reality shows, like the Kardashians, many people are now exploring their options to freshen their look.

Dr. Balikian was among the first Facial Plastic Surgeons in the San Diego area to offer Voluma, a new injectable filler by Allergan, the makers of Botox. Dr. Balikian says, "Voluma is by far the best mid facial injectable filler that gives long lasting results, in some cases up to two years." By injecting this filler around the eye and cheek areas you can fill in hollow area giving a more youthful plumpness to the area.

Voluma is comprised of hyaluronic acid, a naturally-occurring substance in our skin. Hyaluronic acid acts like a sponge under our skin, absorbing moisture and giving a healthy and youthful fullness to our tissue. Dr. Balikian says, "It's by far the safest injectable filler substance because it can be dissolved with an injectable enzyme if needed." Dr. Balikian uses Voluma often around the eyes and cheeks. Voluma works great for lifting tissue such as the cheek pad or droopy tissue below the eyes. Dr. Balikian says, "This product works so well at plumping areas like the cheek bones that I prefer to use Voluma now instead of cheek implants for lifting the cheek bone areas."

The beauty of Voluma is the results are almost immediate. Dr. Balikian says, "Many of our clients have an up and coming event like a wedding or job interview and they are looking to freshen their look without downtime." Voluma, when used correctly around the eyes and cheeks, can easily take a few years off of your look and the results are immediate.

Dr. Balikian is an experienced, double board certified, facial plastic surgeon. He is double board certified both in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery as well as Head and Neck Surgery. Dr. Balikian belongs to a very select group of elite cosmetic surgeons with at least six years of specialized surgical training exclusively in aesthetic and reconstructive surgery of the face and neck.

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Contact:

Balikian Facial Plastic Surgery

www.drbalikian.com

Email Contact



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CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/28/16 -- Leading visual search and image recognition company Slyce Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SLC) (FRANKFURT: 06O1) ("Slyce" or the "Company") today announced its financial results for the second quarter ended April 30, 2016.

The interim financial statements and Management Discussion and Analysis for the quarter ended April 30, 2016 are available at www.SEDAR.com.

Business Highlights

Key customer announcements during the six-month period ended April 30, 2016 include the following:

- On November 25, 2015, Slyce announced a new contract with ToysRus, which is expected to significantly increase revenue over the contract term for the provision of several of Slyce's visual search and digital coupon services.

- On the same date, Slyce also announced its new and proprietary retail technology solution, 'Slyce Link', a purpose-built platform that has been in development for over a year and is currently in beta testing with its first major retail customer. The Slyce Link solution enables retailers to show visually similar products to their customers at highly strategic points in their online purchasing journeys in order to increase sales and reduce cart abandonment.

- On December 8, 2015, Slyce announced a signed contract with leading specialty fashion retailer, Nordstrom, to power visual search for mobile commerce. Founded in 1901, Nordstrom is a Fortune 500 retailer with more than 323 stores in 39 US states and Canada.

- On December 18, 2015, Slyce announced that it had integrated fully automated, 3D search technology that is now live with online shoe-and-clothing retailer, Zappos.com, to power visual search for mobile commerce. Zappos.com is a subsidiary of Amazon.com.

- On March 22, 2016, Slyce announced that it has officially launched visual search technology with leading US footwear and accessories retailer, Shoe Carnival. The integrated, fully automated 3D visual search technology enables mobile visitors to ShoeCarnival.com to snap a picture of any footwear, either in the real-world, or alternatively, from sources such as magazine pages, and, with no time latency, be presented with all direct or closest matching products from the extensive Shoe Carnival product line. These items can then be purchased with just a few taps.

- On May 16, 2016, Best Buy expanded its relationship with Slyce to introduce 3D search capabilities, alongside barcode and catalog scanning, into its iOS and Android apps. The visual search functions were moved to the primary search bar of the app, accessible when a user taps on the camera icon.

- On June 22, 2016, Slyce announced that leading apparel retailer Express had signed a contract to integrate and utilize Slyce's "universal scanner" - including barcode scanning, catalog scanning, and 3D visual search. Express currently operates more than 600 retail and outlet stores, and is based in Columbus, Ohio.

- On June 28, 2016, Slyce announced that American Eagle Outfitters had contracted to use Slyce's visual search technology in the retailer's app. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, American Eagle Outfitters operates more than 1,000 stores, and ships to 81 countries worldwide.

Financing Update

On June 23, 2016, the Company closed $750,000 as part of a $1 Million convertible debenture ("CD") offering. CDs pay 10% annual interest, payable in kind with Common Shares issued at a price per share equal to the volume weighted average trading price for the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") for the 20 consecutive trading days ending five trading days prior to the date on which the Corporation submits an application to the TSXV for issuance of Common Shares as payment of the principal and interest under the CD. The CD matures on December 31, 2017. Interest shall be payable on June 30th and December 31st in each year commencing on December 31, 2016. The outstanding amount of each CD, including all interest accrued thereon will be convertible, for no additional consideration, at a conversion price of $0.10 per security or such other price as approved by the TSX Venture once the conversion terms of the CD are met.

Technology Update

Slyce brought aboard a new Chief Technology Officer, Adam Turkelson, who succeeded Dan Grigsby. Adam has a wealth of experience in computer vision and machine learning. He was one of the principal architects of the Neat Company's innovative document scanning software, which utilizes several image-recognition techniques to scan anything from receipts to business cards. Prior to joining Slyce, he was CTO Angus Analytics, a business intelligence company in the energy space. Adam works alongside me in our Philadelphia office.

Slyce has three development teams-1 in Philadelphia, 1 in Minneapolis, and 1 in Tel Aviv. Previously these teams operated somewhat independently, and without a great deal of collaboration. This has all changed under Adam's leadership. We now have 1 unified sprint cycle, 1 project management tool, and a shared product roadmap. Adam has worked very closely with our VP Product, Kyle Martin, to build out this roadmap, and identify opportunities for new automated systems and modules that will improve our solution and/or open new market opportunities for Slyce.

Operations Update

Erika Racicot, Slyce's cofounder, is the company's Chief Operating Officer, and has worked hard to implement an onboarding process to reduce the time needed to take a client from signed contract to having Slyce live on their app or website. We have also made some difficult cuts in our New Waterford office, where we identified an opportunity to reduce the number of data specialists on our team by 10 people. We are also happy to report that we were able to transition two of these employees to our sales team, to provide much needed support there.

Part of our Operations team's mandate isn't just to get retailers live with Slyce, but to deliver the best possible implementation. We judge our solutions based on overall search volume, but also based on the speed and accuracy of the solution. On search volume, we've seen the average retailer search volume rise to 28,000 searches per month, growing 18%, month over month. Our current accuracy with 3D detection is rated at 9.2, on a scale of 1-10. This score has been independently verified by customers such as Neiman Marcus. This accuracy is head and shoulders above any of our competitors in the visual search space.

Our 1D and 2D scanning returns results in sub-second response time, due in part to the fact that we can do most of this processing device side. With 3D scanning, we currently average 12 sec, across all retailers, and are aiming to get this below 10 seconds by the next quarter-thanks to more device-side processing and automation. However, we will never trade accuracy for speed, as we have found that even lightning-fast results, if incorrect, do not yield repeat usage.

Consumer Apps Group Update

Following Ted Mann's move to running the overall Slyce business, Nicole Harris was promoted to General Manager of the Slyce Consumer Apps Group, made up of SnipSnap, Pounce, and Craves. Nicole oversees development, sales, and client management. Under her leadership, the SnipSnap app continues to be one of the strongest revenue drivers at Slyce, generating $80,000 CAD per month, on average. We recently signed our 80th SnipSnap retailer, Road Runner Sports, which joins other new retailers who pay to feature and target their coupons on SnipSnap. Among the others signed in Q2: Children's Place, Pep Boys, Calvin Klein, Reebok, and Ruby Tuesday.

We continue to invest in our consumer apps. SnipSnap is currently preparing version 4.0 of the iconic coupon app, which features all new branding and scanning user experience. Pounce has seen a spike in usage in the Middle East, where we are discovering that many people see visual search and image recognition as a kind of translation tool-a way for an Arabic speaker to search English-language retailers. And finally, Craves, our fashion-discovery app, which has been particularly popular for those looking to find out what celebrities wore, is about to launch version 2.0. This is remarkable update with all new functionality and curated content built for those interested in finding celebrity fashion. It will launch in July.

Financial Highlights for the Quarter and Six Months Ended April 30, 2016

For the For the three three For the six For the six months months months months ended April ended April ended April ended April 30, 2016 30, 2015 30, 2016 30, 2015 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenue Services rendered $ 739,814 $ 391,147 $ 1,262,131 $ 498,309 Other income 24,518 6,890 169,751 13,702 -------------------------------------------------------- Total revenue 764,332 398,037 1,431,882 512,011 -------------------------------------------------------- Expenses General and administrative 2,908,110 2,235,553 4,996,019 3,900,884 Amortization of intangible assets 978,663 334,338 1,460,849 671,295 Share-based payments 275,348 619,890 469,825 1,180,760 Consulting fees 162,395 496,560 381,586 912,905 Professional fees 58,100 208,989 947,341 486,071 Amortization of property and equipment 41,603 35,662 288,802 72,074 Business development 2,500 188,747 49,949 420,615 -------------------------------------------------------- Total expenses 4,426,719 4,119,739 8,594,371 7,644,604 -------------------------------------------------------- Other expenses Exchange gain (18,870) (13,485) (28,345) (10,159) Changes in fair value of contingent consideration and commons shares held in escrow, presented as a liability (595,100) - (745,475) - Change in deferred consideration (330,723) 6,829 (223,001) 179,829 -------------------------------------------------------- Total other expenses (944,693) (6,656) (996,821) 169,670 -------------------------------------------------------- Net loss (2,717,694) (3,715,046) (6,165,668) (7,302,263) Foreign exchange loss on translation of foreign subsidiaries (72,611) 81,350 (62,124) (90,002) -------------------------------------------------------- Net and comprehensive loss $ (2,790,305) $ (3,633,696) $ (6,227,792) $ (7,392,265) ======================================================== Loss per share - Basic and Diluted $ (0.02) $ (0.03) $ (0.04) $ (0.07) Weighted average number of shares outstanding - Basic and Diluted 164,601,798 110,991,926 147,823,514 113,133,034 -- Revenue for the quarter ended April 30, 2016, increased to $764,332 compared to $398,037 for same period in 2015, an increase of 92 percent. For the six months ended April 30, 2016 revenues increased to $1,431,882 compared to $512,011 for the same period in 2015, an increase of 180 percent. $739,814 for the three months ended and $1,262,131 for the six months ended April 30, 2016 was generated primarily from proof-of- concept services, integration charges and monthly recurring usage fees derived from initial customers. $24,518 for the three months ended and $169,751 for the six months ended April 30, 2016 was generated from interest income, SR&ED claim refund and an incentive program. Of the $169,751 for the six months ended April 30, 2016, SR&ED claim refund amounted to $140,373; -- Total expenses for the quarter ended April 30, 2016, was higher by $306,980 to $4,426,719 and for the six months ended April 30, 2016 was higher by $949,767 to $8,594,371. The increase for the three-months and six-months ended April 30, 2016 was due to one-time termination costs paid by the Company to members of the previous management team and other staff terminations which totaled to $586,650. The Company also incurred over $800,000 in various professional fees relating to financing activities during the first quarter that was unsuccessful. All those costs have been expensed and are included in the total expenses for the six-months ended April 30, 2016; -- Total comprehensive loss for the quarter ended April 30, 2016 was lower by $843,391 to $2,790,305 compared to $3,633,696 for the same period last year and for the six-months ended April 30, 2016 total comprehensive loss was lower by $1,164,473 to $6,227,792 compared to $7,392,265 for the same period last year; -- Loss before amortization, share-based payments, depreciation, changes in fair value of contingent consideration and fair value changes to deferred consideration for the quarter ended April 30, 2016 was lower at $2,347,903 compared to $2,718,297 for the same quarter last year, a decrease of loss by 14 percent and for the six months it was lower at $4,914,668 compared to $5,201,305 for the same period last year, a decrease of loss by 6 percent.

Conference Call

On June 29, 2016 at 4:00 PM EST, the company will be hosting a live video conference to discuss this news, featuring a live Q&A session and demos of our most recent deployments. Access to the live conference call will be available via the following link. Shareholders will be able to login to the live video and audio conference through the link provided. Shareholders can also access the conference call by a number available through the same link. The conference call is open to any investor or stakeholder, including shareholders, broker-dealers and other securities professionals. The call will be recorded and available for review at www.slyce.it. Slyce will be hosting and moderating a Q&A period on the call which will be conducted via the in-program chat function, moderated by the Slyce team. Participants will be able to enter a moderated queue to ask a question live on the call, or to submit a question via email. To submit one or more questions to the CEO, please email your question to Roy@slyce.it with the words "Investor Question for Conference Call" in the subject line. Slyce management will endeavour to address as many questions as possible in the hour allocated to the call.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy the securities in the United States, in any province or territory of Canada or in any other jurisdiction. The securities offered have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any U.S. state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. There shall be no sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy or sale would be unlawful.

About Slyce Inc.

Slyce, based in Calgary, Alberta, delivers sophisticated visual search technologies and is currently focused on enabling a powerful sales channel for major retailers and their customers. Consumers, wherever they are, can conveniently engage with retailers by taking pictures of desired products using their mobile devices, thereby initiating the visual search service with near-instant product recognition capability. The Company delivers its technology both as a white-label visual search platform and as a suite of consumer mobile apps. Slyce's technology is used by large retail brands such as Neiman Marcus, Tilly's, Urban Outfitters, JCPenney and Home Depot.

Slyce's business model features multiple revenue streams arising from its visual search platform, consumer apps and corresponding data services. The revenue streams include fees for software licensing, integration, purchase transactions, program promotions and data analytics.

Slyce is also listed on the Frankfurt exchange trading under (FRANKFURT: 06O1)

For image download and further company information, please click for the Slyce Media Kit

READER ADVISORY

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Statements in this press release contain forward-looking information. The words "will," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intent," "may," "project," "should," and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are founded on the basis of expectations and assumptions made by Slyce.

Readers are cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of such information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Slyce.

Slyce does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements except as expressly required by applicable securities laws.

None of the information contained on, or connected to, Slyce's website is incorporated by reference herein.

Contacts:

Slyce

Ted Mann

President

Ted@slyce.it



Slyce

Roy Roman

Roy@slyce.it

T. (647) 464-6200




OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/01/16 -- Federal, Provincial and Territorial Housing Ministers

Note to editors: There is a photo associated with this press release.

Federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for housing met today to advance the development of a National Housing Strategy for Canada that will build on a strong housing foundation.

Continuing the progress achieved at their June meeting in Victoria, ministers discussed a shared vision for housing in Canada:

Canadians have housing that meets their needs and they can afford. Housing is a cornerstone of sustainable, healthy and inclusive communities and a strong Canadian economy where we can prosper and thrive.

The Ministers discussed their shared long-term aspirations to improve housing affordability and reduce homelessness across Canada. They also discussed more specific outcomes of a National Housing Strategy that would improve housing conditions and affordability for the most vulnerable, including those with distinct needs, Indigenous peoples and those in Canada's three territories. The proposed outcomes would also contribute to economic growth, environmental sustainability, and increased social and economic participation of low income households.

The outcomes of a National Housing Strategy and the details of a federal, provincial, and territorial partnership will be established through a multi-lateral framework to be developed in 2017.

Federal, provincial and territorial housing ministers agreed to work together in a way that recognizes provinces and territories as primary partners in the development and delivery of a National Housing Strategy and recognizes the importance of collaboration in achieving the best possible outcomes.

Consultations with Canadians, including National Indigenous Organizations, municipalities, housing experts and national stakeholders, have yielded significant feedback on a wide range of housing themes.

The results of what was heard will be released on National Housing Day, November 22, 2016. A National Housing Strategy framework will be made public in 2017.

Quotes

"A National Housing Strategy will set ambitious outcomes for all levels of government to work towards. I am confident that through mutual respect and collaboration with the provinces and territories, and engagement with National Indigenous Organizations and municipalities, we will be in a position to significantly improve the lives of Canadians through better, more affordable housing and more vibrant, inclusive communities. "

- The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

"Provinces and territories are the primary partners with the federal government in developing a National Housing Strategy that ensures all Canadians have access to safe, affordable and appropriate housing. It's imperative that we work collaboratively in new and innovative ways to increase housing and rental supply across Canada."

- The Honourable Rich Coleman, Deputy Premier and Minister Responsible for Housing, Government of British Columbia

Quebec stated that:

While it shares many of the objectives sought by the other provinces and territories in the area of housing, Quebec will not be able to join a national housing strategy at this time, unless the strategy fully respects Quebec's programs and jurisdiction in the matter. In Quebec's view, the current approach raises major challenges in this regard. Quebec, however, will continue to participate in the process of developing a national housing strategy through sharing of information and best practices.

Related links:

Let's Talk Housing (https://www.letstalkhousing.ca)

To view the photo associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/CMHC1101.jpg

Contacts:

Media Contacts: Mathieu Filion

Director of Communications

Office of the Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos, P.C., M.P.

Minister of Families, Children and Social Development

819-654-5546

mathieu.filion@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca



Charles Sauriol

Media Relations

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

613-748-2734

csauriol@cmhc-schl.gc.ca



Province of BC Contact: Lindsay Byers

Ministry of Natural Gas Development and

Responsible for Housing

Government Communications and Public Engagement

250-952-0617

Lindsay.Byers@gov.bc.ca




TOKYO, June 29, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - Mazda Motor Corporation's production and sales results for May 2016 are summarized below.1. Domestic ProductionMazda's total domestic production volume in May 2016 decreased 7.2 % compared to May 2015 due to decreased production of passenger and commercial vehicles.Domestic production of key models in May 2016CX-5: 22,898 units (up 10.9% year-on-year)Mazda3 (Axela): 11,129 units (down 11.4% year-on-year)Mazda6 (Atenza): 7,660 units (down 31.7% year-on-year)2. Overseas ProductionMazda's overseas production volume in May 2016 decreased 1.0% year-on-year due to decreased production of commercial vehicles.Overseas production of key models in May 2016Mazda3: 22,126 units (up 1.1% year-on-year)Mazda2: 8,108 units (down 31.3% year-on-year)CX-5: 3,560 units (up 354.1% year-on-year)Mazda's total domestic sales volume in May 2016 decreased 33.0% year-on-year, due to decreased sales of both passenger and commercial vehicles.Mazda's registered vehicle market share was 4.7% (down 3.3 points year-on-year), with a 2.7% share of the micro mini segment (up 0.2 points year-on-year) and a 4.0% total market share (down 2.0 points year-on-year).Domestic sales of key models in May 2016Mazda2 (Demio): 3,832 units (down 31.3% year-on-year)CX-5: 1,586 units (down 7.0% year-on-year)CX-3: 1,420 units (down 56.8% year-on-year)Mazda's export volume in May 2016 increased 25.2% year-on-year, reflecting increased shipments to North America, Europe and other regions.Exports of key models in May 2016CX-5: 21,160 units (up 29.2% year-on-year)Mazda3: 10,205 units (up 9.4% year-on-year)CX-3: 7,436 units (up 56.5% year-on-year)About MazdaMazda Motor Corporation (TSE: 7261) started manufacturing tools in 1929 and soon branched out into production of trucks for commercial use. In the early 1960s, Mazda launched its first passenger car models and began developing rotary engines. Still headquartered in Hiroshima in western Japan, Mazda today ranks as one of Japan's leading automakers, and exports cars to the United States and Europe for over 30 years. For more information, please visit www.mazda.comSource: MazdaContact:Copyright 2016 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian dollar strengthened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Wednesday. The Australian dollar rose to 2-day highs of 0.7423 against the U.S. dollar, 76.03 against the yen and 1.4909 against the euro, from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.7379, 75.84 and 1.4976, respectively. Against the Canadian dollar, the aussie edged up to 0.9656 from yesterday's closing value of 0.9615. If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 0.77 against the greenback, 82.00 against the yen, 1.47 against the euro and 0.98 against the loonie. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
PUNE, India, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

This 2016-2021 imprint market report estimates costs and profit while analyzing the competitive landscape of imprint by country: (Including Europe, U.S., Japan, China etc.), by company and by application.

Complete report on Imprint market divided into 11 major chapters that offer an overview of current market scenario as well as 2021 forecasts is now available at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/604169-global-and-chinese-imprint-industry-2016-market-research-report.html.

This Global and Chinese Report 2016 is a result of industry experts' diligent work on researching the world market of Imprint. The report helps to build up a clear view of the market (scenario and survey), identify major players in the industry, and analyzes the upstream raw materials, downstream clients, and current market dynamics of Imprint Industry.

The report reviews the basic information of Imprint including its classification, application and manufacturing technology. This report explores global and China's top manufacturers of Imprint listing their product specification, capacity, Production value, and market share etc. The report further analyzes quantitatively 2011-2016 global and China's total market of Imprint by calculation of main economic parameters of each company.

In the end, the report makes a proposal for a new project of Imprint Industry before evaluating its feasibility. Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2011-2016 global and China Imprint industry covering all important parameters.



The first chapter introduces the Imprint Industry by Brief Introduction, Development & Status of Imprint Industry. The second chapter focuses on Manufacturing Technology of Imprint, the third one gives Analysis of Global Key Manufacturers (Including Company Profile, Product Specification, 2011-2016 Production Information etc.)

Order a copy of this report at http://www.reportsnreports.com/purchase.aspx?name=604169.

The fourth chapter deals with 2011-2016 Global and China Market of Imprint. The chapter 5 summarizes Market Status of Imprint Industry that includes market competition by Company and Country (USA, EU, Japan, Chinese etc.) and includes analysis of Imprint consumption by Application/Type.

While the remaining 6 chapters are based on 2016-2021 Market Forecast, Industry Chain, Global and Chinese Economic Impact on Imprint Industry, Market Dynamics, the Ten Proposals for New Project and finally the Research Conclusions of Global and Chinese Imprint Industry.

Partial List of Tables and Figures mentioned in this imprint market research covers:

Table Development of Imprint Manufacturing Technology

Table Trends of Imprint Manufacturing Technology

Figure 2016-2021 Global Imprint Capacity Production and Growth Rate

Figure 2016-2021 Global Imprint Production Value and Growth Rate

Table 2016-2021 Global Imprint Capacity Production Cost Profit and Gross Margin List

Figure 2016-2021 Chinese Share of Global Imprint Production

Table 2016-2021 Global Supply and Consumption of Imprint

Table 2016-2021 Import and Export of Imprint

Figure Industry Chain Structure of Imprint Industry

Figure Production Cost Analysis of Imprint

Figure Downstream Analysis of Imprint

Table Growth of World output, 2011 - 2016, Annual Percentage Change

Figure 2007-2016 Chinese Total Fixed Asset Investment and Growth Rate

Figure 2016-2021 Chinese GDP and Growth Rates

Figure 2016-2021 Chinese CPI Changes

Table Economic Effects to Imprint Industry

Table Imprint Industry Development Challenges

Table Imprint Industry Development Opportunities

Figure Map of Chinese 33 Provinces and Administrative Regions

Table Selected Cities According to Industrial Orientation

Figure Chinese IPR Strategy

Table Brief Summary of Suggestions

Table New Imprints Project Feasibility Study

And more

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Trading Symbols

AIM: AGQ

FWB: I3A

29 June 2016

Financial Results for the Year Ended 31 December 2015

Arian Silver Corporation ("Arian Silver" or the "Company") announces the release of its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2015.

Chairman's and Chief Executive's statement

There is no doubt that 2015 has been a difficult year for the mining industry, and one in which the challenges facing the industry have been brought into sharp focus. The fall in commodity prices amid concerns over global growth and the negative outlook for precious metals prices resulted in significant financing issues across the sector.

Against this challenging backdrop, Arian continued the development of the San Jose project and achieved significant milestones throughout the first half of the year. In March, we produced our first lead-silver concentrate while commissioning the La Tesorera plant and continued the development of the zinc circuit, as well as continued the underground development at San Jose. Meanwhile Arian completed a 5,000 metre exploration programme which resulted in a significant resource upgrade announced in October.

Despite our progress on the project, the continued decline of the silver price during 2015 together with the additional time that was required to complete the commissioning process, made it evident an additional cash injection would have been necessary, which was not practicable given market conditions at that time coupled with the Company's existing debt financing arrangements.

As at 31 October 2015 Arian's accrued debt under the senior secured financing arrangement with Quintana amounted to approximately US$17.8 million with the initial repayment commencing in April 2016. In addition, the outstanding balance under the Base Metal Purchasing Agreement amounted to US$15.2 million. Despite lengthy discussions regarding possible solutions, none of these were acceptable to the Company's lenders. Therefore the Board, in conjunction with its legal advisors, concluded that it was in the best interests of shareholders and creditors that an orderly foreclosure process be pursued to enable the Company to meet its financial commitments as they fell due.

Accordingly, the Company concluded a Settlement Deed with Quintana as described in our press release on 27 November last year and obtained a release from all obligations to Quintana including approximately US$1.9 million of outstanding third party creditor balances in Mexico and provided the Company with a cash injection of US$700,000. This enabled us to preserve the value of the remaining concessions and allow the Company to refinance, free of its debt burden, with corporate overheads reduced by two-thirds.

We have since invested time identifying new development opportunities with nearer term revenue potential and assessing further exploration opportunities amongst the Company's portfolio of nineteen green and brownfield mineral concessions. In May 2016, we obtained an exclusive option on a gold and silver tailings project in Zacatecas Mexico and are currently undertaking metallurgical test-work on the project, the results of which we look forward to reporting in the second half of 2016.

Furthermore, during the first half of 2016 we raised 1.5 million before expenses, providing the Company with the financial resources to advance exploration activities and assess new opportunities.

Given the rebound of the silver price since the start of this calendar year, of some 25% from its low in October 2015, this seems an opportune point during the macro-economic cycle to gain access to new projects.

We would like to thank all our shareholders for their continued support during what has been a very challenging period for the Company but we look forward to updating you on our progress during the rest of this year.









A J Williams

Executive Chairman







J T Williams

Chief Executive Officer

Business overview

Strategy

Arian Silver is focused on identifying economic sources of silver and other precious metals, and developing mineral projects through to production. The Company has previously concentrated exclusively on projects within the Zacatecas silver belt in Mexico, but recent economic conditions have presented abnormally high value opportunities around the world, and the Company may broaden its focus beyond solely the Zacatecas region and indeed beyond Mexico, to ensure the Company does not automatically preclude valuable opportunities should they arise elsewhere.

Financial highlights

As at 31 December 2015, the Company had total assets of US$1.7 million (2014: US$35.9 million) of which US$0.5 million (2014: US$2.8 million) was cash. The Company had total liabilities of US$0.5 million (2014: US$6.8 million) of which US$0.5 million were current liabilities (2014: US$6.8 million).

In the year ended 2015 the Company made an operating loss of US$2.9 million (2014: US$3.9 million) and a loss per share of US$0.13 (2014: US$0.18).

Overview of operations

During the year ended 31 December 2015, the Company was focused on the development of the San Jose project and during the first half of the year, the Company undertook a 5,000 metre drilling programme which led to a mineral resource upgrade reported in October 2015.

In February 2015, the Company bought back the 2% net smelter return royalty in respect of the San Jose project for consideration of US$750,000.

The Company was compelled to enter into a settlement agreement with its financing partner Quintana AGQ Holding Co. LLC and its affiliates ("Quintana") in November 2015. This settlement agreement resulted in Quintana taking control of the Company's primary operating subsidiary Arian Silver de Mexico SA de CV.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Quintana was required to transfer back to Arian Silver the mineral concessions not related to the San Jose project.

In return for receiving certain indemnities and releases, Quintana paid Arian US$650,000 (plus a further US$50,000 during 2016).

Properties

The company currently has 19 fully owned mining concessions split between three distinct project areas:

Calicanto project

The Calicanto property consists of seven contiguous mining concessions totalling approximately 75 hectares. The property is located in the heart of the Zacatecas mining district, adjacent and partly contiguous to Capstone Mining's Cozamin mine, and covers four known main vein systems.

The Company's 2007 drilling programme returned high grade gold and bonanza grade (>1,000g/t) silver intercepts from one of the four veins. The drilling also intersected a number of veins parallel to the principal structures that contained high grade gold as well as significant lead and zinc values.

San Celso project

San Celso consists of three contiguous mining concessions totalling 88 hectares. The concessions are located in the historic mining district of Panfilo Natera-Ojocaliente and are surrounded by other concessions to the south and west.

Los Campos

The Los Campos project comprises four concessions covering an area of approximately 500 hectares located on the south side of the city of Zacatecas. The property is easily accessible and is only a 15-minute drive from the centre of the City of Zacatecas and from the Calicanto project.

Others

Arian Silver holds five additional concessions not otherwise grouped into project groupings, covering over 900 hectares. These concessions were acquired in 2006 because of their strategic position to the San Celso project. These concessions too require further exploratory work to fully assess their economic potential.

Future outlook

The management team continues to advance potential opportunities to expand and develop the Company's mining assets, with a particular focus on assets giving access to near-term revenues.

In May 2016, the Company entered into an exclusive arrangement with Tierra Nuevo Mining Limited ("TNM") in Mexico to conduct further assessment and due diligence on its assets including a tailings project containing gold and silver, adjacent to Goldcorp's Penasquito open-pit mine.

A NI 43-101 report prepared for TNM in 2012 outlined an indicated mineral resource in respect of its tailings project, containing 1 million tonnes with 3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 55 g/t silver, representing approximately 100,000 ounces (oz) of gold and some 1.7 million oz of silver.

Arian Silver is undertaking detailed metallurgical test work together with a scoping study with a view to producing a saleable gold and silver concentrate from the tailings project.

Consolidated statement of comprehensive income

For the year ended 31 December 2015

(tabulated amounts expressed in thousands of US dollars unless otherwise stated)

2015 2014 Continuing operations Administrative expenses (2,889) (3,943) Operating loss (2,889) (3,943) Net investment income 21 9 Loss from continuing operations (2,868) (3,934) Discontinued operations Loss from discontinued operations (12,671) (1,980) Loss for the year attributable to equity shareholders of the parent (15,539) (5,914) Other comprehensive income Foreign exchange translation differences recognised directly in equity 5,306 (2,248) Other comprehensive income for the year 5,306 (2,248) Total comprehensive income for the year attributable to equity shareholders of the parent (10,233) (8,162) Basic and diluted loss per share ($/share) (0.46) (0.18) Basic and diluted loss per share from continuing operations ($/share) (0.09) (0.12) Basic and diluted loss per share from discontinued operations ($/share) (0.37) (0.06)

Consolidated statement of financial position

As at 31 December 2015

(Tabulated amounts expressed in thousands of US dollars unless otherwise stated)

2015 2014 Assets Intangible assets 881 1,038 Property, plant and equipment 5 28,440 Total non-current assets 886 29,478 Inventories - 1,498 Trade and other receivables 311 2,043 Cash and cash equivalents 474 2,846 Total current assets 785 6,387 Total assets 1,671 35,865 Equity attributable to equity shareholders of the parent Share capital 51,781 51,781 Warrant reserve 3,455 3,455 Share-based payment reserve 7,701 7,683 Foreign exchange translation reserve 2,092 (3,214) Accumulated losses (63,886) (48,347) Total equity 1,143 11,358 Liabilities Trade and other payables 528 1,556 Derivative liabilities - 5,233 Total current liabilities 528 6,789 Convertible note liabilities - 10,666 Derivative liabilities - 6,206 Provision for mine closure - 846 Total non-current liabilities - 17,718 Total liabilities 528 24,507 Total equity and liabilities 1,671 35,865

The financial statements were approved and authorised by issue by the Board of Directors on 28 June 2016 and were signed on its behalf by:









A J Williams

Executive Chairman







J T Williams

Chief Executive Officer

Consolidated statement of cash flows

For the year ended 31 December 2015

(Tabulated amounts expressed in thousands of US dollars unless otherwise stated)

2015 2014 Cash flows from operating activities Loss before tax from continuing operations (2,868) (3,934) Loss before tax from discontinued operations (12,671) (1,980) Add Platinum note extension fee - 700 Adjustments for non-cash items: Depreciation and amortisation 164 64 Exchange difference 6,797 117 Net investment loss (21) (9) Change in fair value of derivative liability (7,038) 208 Transactions costs on derivative liabilities - 735 Proceeds from Quintana for working capital (650) - Loss on discontinuing operations 10,494 - Equity-settled share-based payment transactions 18 14 (Increase) / decrease in trade and other receivables (1,027) (849) Increase in trade and other payables 2,227 451 (Increase)/decrease in inventories (211) (627) Cash used in operating activities (4,786) (5,110) Cash flows from investing activities Interest received 21 20 Proceeds from Quintana for working capital 650 - Cash from discontinued operations (47) - Acquisition of property, plant and equipment (5,726) (6,626) Cash used in investing activities (5,102) (6,606) Cash flows from financing activities Proceeds from issue of share capital - 267 Proceeds from Base Metal Purchase Agreement 7,576 7,680 Repayment of Bash Metal Purchase Agreement (957) - Platinum note extension fee - (700) Cash from financing activities 7,531 7,247 Net increase / (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents (2,357) (4,469) Cash and cash equivalents at 1 January 2,846 7,241 Effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash held (15) 74 Cash and cash equivalents at 31 December * 474 2,846

* Discontinued operations contributed US$3,886k (2014: US$1,591k) to cash flows from operating activities.

Consolidated statement of changes in equity

For the year ended 31 December 2015

(Tabulated amounts expressed in thousands of US dollars unless otherwise stated)

(Tabulated amounts expressed in thousands of US dollars unless otherwise stated)

Share capital Warrant reserve Share based payment reserve Foreign exchange translation reserve Accumulated losses Total Balance: 31 December 2013 51,514 - 8,001 (966) (42,765) 15,784 Loss for the year - - - - (5,914) (5,914) Foreign exchange - - - (2,248) - (2,248) Total comprehensive income - - - (2,248) (5,914) (8,162) Fair value of share options - - 14 - - 14 Fair value of warrants reserve - 3,455 - - - 3,455 Shares issued for cash 273 - - - - 273 Share issue costs (6) - - - - (6) Lapse of share options - - (332) - 332 - Balance: 31 December 2014 51,781 3,455 7,683 (3,214) (48,347) 11,358 Loss for the year - - - - (15,539) (15,539) Foreign exchange - - - (3,917) - (3,917) Foreign exchange reclassified to discontinued operations - - - 9,222 - 9,222 Total comprehensive income - - - 5,306 (15,539) (10,233) Fair value of share options - - 18 - - 18 Balance: 31 December 2015 51,781 3,455 7,701 2,092 (63,886) 1,143

For further information please contact:

Arian Silver Corporation

Jim Williams, CEO

David Taylor, Company Secretary

Tel: +44 (0)20 7887 6599 Northland Capital Partners Limited

Gerry Beaney / David Hignell

Tel: +44 (0)203 861 6625

OR OR Beaufort Securities Limited

Jon Belliss

Tel: +44 (0)20 7382 8300 Yellow Jersey PR Limited

Dominic Barretto

Tel: +44 (0)7768 537 739

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains certain "forward-looking information". All statements, other than statements of historical fact that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future are deemed forward-looking information.

This forward-looking information reflects the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company as well as certain assumptions. Forward-looking information is subject to a number of significant risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information, and even if such actual results are realised or substantially realised, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on the Company.

Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking information are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such information due to the inherent uncertainty therein.
Sponda Plc Stock Exchange Release 29 June 2016, 9:00 a.m.Sponda to develop an office and retail complex at Tikkurila railway stationThe property investment company Sponda Plc will develop an office and retail complex at Tikkurila railway station in Vantaa, Finland. The six-storey office and retail property to be built at Varitehtaankatu 8 will complement the range of services available in the developing district of Tikkurila and represent a significant addition to the local cityscape.The project will be implemented in two phases, the first of which will begin with excavation work in July 2016. The first phase will comprise a total of 9,500 square metres of leasable space, half of which will be office space and the other half retail and service premises. The property will have indoor and outdoor parking for 210 cars. The plan for the project's second phase involves the construction of a further 4,000 square metres of business premises. The decision on commencing the second phase will be made later based on the occupancy rate.The investment size of the project's first phase, to be completed in March 2018, is estimated at approximately EUR 31 million. Approximately 57 per cent of the premises have been leased to tenants, some of which include Lehto Group Plc, Fitness24Seven, Majoituspalvelu Forenom and the restauranteur Kim Heinio. The project's yield on cost is estimated at approximately 7.3 per cent.New business premises in a traffic hubThe new retail complex will be located to the east of Tikkurila station, in the Jokiniemi area. Directly connected to Tikkurila railway station, the property will offer tenant businesses excellent visibility and accessibility. Its location in the immediate vicinity of one of Finland's busiest railway stations will also generate natural customer flows for tenants.Tikkurila is a rapidly developing growth centre and traffic hub whose public transport connections were improved further by the completion of the Ring Rail Line. The new property will support the district's development and bring new sought-after services to further increase Tikkurila's appeal.Energy efficiency and environmentally friendly solutions will be emphasised in the design and construction of the office and retail complex. Sponda will apply for LEED Gold environmental certification for the building. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an international building certification system aimed at reducing the environmental load of properties during construction and use.The project's main contractor is Lehto Group Plc.Sponda PlcAdditional information: Veli-Pekka Tanhuanpaa, Senior Vice President, Property Development, Sponda Plc, tel. +358 40 700 9646Sponda Plc is a property investment company specialising in commercial properties in the largest cities in Finland. Sponda's business concept is to own, lease and develop retail and office properties and shopping centres into environments that promote the business success of its clients. The fair value of Sponda's investment properties is approximately EUR 3.7 billion and the leasable area is around 1.2 million m2.


LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Home emergency business HomeServe Plc (HSV.L) Wednesday confirmed that it continues to trade in line with the guidance provided on May 24.



The company said it is well positioned to meet the challenges of the UK's exit from the European Union and its growth prospects remain strong. Given the significant contribution from international businesses, the company said its reported profits would benefit from the translation effects of a decrease in the value of sterling.



HomeServe will today host a Capital Markets event for institutional investors and analysts.



Richard Harpin, Group Chief Executive, and other senior management team will discuss the growth opportunities for its business in the USA, and plans for further international expansion together with investments in technology and innovation.



As part of the further acceleration of business in the USA, the company said it has signed five new affinity partnerships, Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, Severn Trent Services, Wyandotte Kansas City, North Myrtle Beach and North Fayette County adding a total of 0.8m households.



Given the progress to date and the strength of new partner pipeline with negotiations at all stages of the process, in the long term the company said it would anticipate having access to around 80m households in the USA.



The company also maintained its long term expectation of achieving a 20% margin in US business.



HomeServe will issue a further trading update at its Annual General Meeting on July 15.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
4 November 2016, Limassol, Cyprus

SeaBird Exploration is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement to provide a source vessel for an upcoming ocean bottom seismic survey in Gulf of Guinea. The project is anticipated to commence in late Q4 2016 and will have a duration of approximately two to three months. SeaBird will be using the Osprey Explorer for the project.

SeaBird is a global provider of marine acquisition for 2D/3D and 4D seismic data, and associated products and services to the oil and gas industry. SeaBird specializes in high quality operations within the high end of the source vessel and 2D market, as well as in the shallow/deep water 2D/3D and 4D market. Main focus for the company is proprietary seismic surveys (contract seismic). Main success criteria for the company are an unrelenting focus on Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Quality (HSSEQ), combined with efficient collection of high quality seismic data. All statements in this press release other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, and are based upon assumptions as to future events that may not prove accurate. These factors include SeaBird's reliance on a cyclical industry and the utilization of the company's vessels. Actual results may differ substantially from those expected or projected in the forward-looking statements.

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

For further queries contact:



Christophe Debouvry

CEO SeaBird Exploration

Phone: +4722402705

or

Nils Haugestad

CFO SeaBird Exploration

Phone: +4722402717

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements acc. to 5-12 vphl (Norwegian Securities Trading Act)

This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: SeaBird Exploration Plc via Globenewswire


PUNE, India, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The 2016 market research report titled High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) by Company Profile, Deals Type, Key Trends & Opportunities to 2022 is of 108 pages providing 10 company profiles and is now available under the medical devices industry segment of MarketReportsOnline.com. Complete research is available at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/482605.html.

This research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the HIFU manufacturers, research sites, pre-clinical research sites, clinical research sites, commercial treatment sites, treatment by indication. The report also brings together major distribution agreement, collaboration deals and partnership deals information in the HIFU market. Furthermore, each company have been profiled on the basis of various attributes such as company overview, HIFU products, latest developments, growth strategies and financial revenue.

Recent advances in HIFU, which was developed in the 1940s as a viable thermal tissue ablation approach, have increased its popularity. In clinics, HIFU has been applied to treat a variety of solid malignant tumors in a well-defined volume, including the pancreas, liver, prostate, breast, uterine fibroids, and soft-tissue sarcomas. In comparison to conventional tumor/cancer treatment modalities, such as open surgery, radio- and chemo-therapy, HIFU has the advantages of non-invasion, non-ionization, and fewer complications after treatment. More than 115, 000 cases have been treated throughout the world with great success till 2015.

Company coverage of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) Market: EDAP TMS, Sonacare Medical, Haifu Medical, Shanghai A&S Co., LTD, Mianyang Sonic Electronic Ltd., Insightec, Theraclion, Alpinion Medical Systems, FUS Instruments & Image Guided Therapy

The above 10 companies of the High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Market are Detailed with:

Company Overview HIFU Products Companies HIFU Revenue Latest Development in High Intensity Focus Ultrasound (HIFU) Market

Purchase a copy of this High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) by Company Profile, Deals Type, Key Trends & Opportunities to 2022 research report at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=482605.

High prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and cancer cases, rapidly growing aging population, rising number of new product launches, growing number of clinical studies regarding the applications of HIFU, and increasing focus of key players on the development of technologically advanced systems are the key factors driving the market growth of the High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU). Moreover, emerging applications such as gynecology & obstetrics, neurosurgery, urinary disorders imaging, and removal of excess subcutaneous fatty tissue using high-energy sound waves would further propel the growth of the high-intensity focused ultrasound market in the coming six years. However, the stringent government regulations for the approval of HIFU system, rising price pressure faced by market players and unfavorable of reimbursement scenario are the key factors restraining the growth of this market.

On a related note, a little dated but relevant research titled High Intensity Focused Ultrasound - Product Analysis is a market report of 76 pages, contains 7 figures and 16 Tables and provides a comprehensive assessment of the HIFU products of the companies. It examines the latest available and emerging High Intensity Focused Ultrasound products being utilized by the HIFU centers. Each company is discussed in depth with a section on its product line, revenue and latest development in HIFU market. All the High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) in the report have been studied from 5 viewpoints: HIFU Products, HIFU Patents and Intellectual Property, HIFU Clinical & Regulatory Status, Companies HIFU Revenue as well as Latest Development in High Intensity Focus Ultrasound (HIFU). 8 High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) Manufacturers studied in the report include EDAP TMS, Sonacare Medical, Haifu, Insightec, Theraclion, Alpinion, Shanghai A&S Co., LTD and Mianyang Sonic Electronic Ltd. Read more at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/426425.html .

Explore more medical devices market research as well as other newly published reports by DPI Research at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/publisher/dpi-research-market-research.html.

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Opens sales door to 1.7m+ online global retailers

Scoops "Best Sales Strategy Product or Service" award at prestigious Sales Innovation Expo 2016

Irish owned eCommerce company SalesOptimize has formally launched a Business to Business (B2B) sales lead generation search engine. The new service generates sales leads for B2B companies selling their products or services to eCommerce merchants. To date SalesOptimize has identified in excess of 1.7m global internet retailers across 20 countries. This is a $1.7 trillion market.

SalesOptimize recently scooped the "Best Sales Strategy Product or Service" award for 2016 at the prestigious Sales Innovation Expo in London. Sales Innovation Expo, is the largest and most important event for professional sales leaders. Its awards recognise the best new products and services designed to boost sales.

"Automated lead generation has been the Cinderella of the $40 billion Customer Relationship Management (CRM) sector which has focused on 'sales lead nurturing' and 'pipeline management'," commented SalesOptimize co-founder and CEO, Liz Fulham.

"We are changing that and revolutionising the sales process by filling the top of the sales funnel with high quality leads directly from the internet as opposed to manual entry or file upload. There is nothing quite like this available globally."

She points out that while there are about 1 billion websites globally, only 173m are active and less than 1% of these are involved in eCommerce or web sales.

"Our service delivers sales leads on these online vendors and saves 1000s of hours of sales staff manually crawling a website and inputting data into their CRM system."

SalesOptimize implemented web-crawler technology and big data analytics in its R&D programme which was backed by the Irish Government's Enterprise Ireland as well as Wayra, Telefonica's international startup accelerator.

Crucial data and intelligence available to SalesOptimize users can include contact details of key executives (in many cases email and/or telephone numbers), an estimated merchant size, details of the payment platform and shipping service.

Liz Fulham, who has 25 years' experience working as a consultant/sales leader for multinationals such as IBM, PayPal, Telefonica and Microsoft, says that the potential of SalesOptimize is reflected in the fact that since it went live in February it has already received five requests for exclusivity.

"The customers thought the technology was so powerful that they didn't want SalesOptimize to sell it to their competitors. We don't do exclusive deals as it's against our philosophy. Plus, there's enough rich data and sales contact information in our system to go round everyone."

The SalesOptimize service starts at $199 (149) per month for 150 sales leads or approximately 1 per lead.

A free trial is available on https://www.salesoptimize.com/ A demo request may be emailed to hello@salesoptimize.com

Ends

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160629005089/en/

Contacts:

Press:

Simpson Consulting

Ronnie Simpson

E: ronnie@simpsonconsulting.ie

Mob: +353 86 855 9410
EDINBURGH, Scotland, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Scottish-based independent mortgage broker, First Mortgage, has launched an interactive infographic called "How to buy your first home". The infographic is the first of its kind in the UK, with an interactive element that allows viewers to "walk" through the process of buying a home.

The infographic is aimed at helping first time buyers understand what to expect from the home buying process, and to address a lot of the questions that arise prior to speaking to a mortgage advisor or lender.

Ian McGrail, Managing Director of First Mortgage, stated "We wanted to help first time buyers understand more about the mortgage process. The information available can be overwhelming when you're first starting out, so this infographic presents it in a much more manageable format. It's a visual representation of the service First Mortgage offers, so people know what to expect before they've even made an appointment."

With a "virtual mortgage advisor" guiding the way, the infographic covers everything from budget planning and deposits required, expected mortgage fees, moving and other associated costs, as well as insurance, types of mortgages and property hunting.

The tool is expected to not only be useful for first home buyers, but also students, who could benefit from its simplicity and breakdown of commonly used terms in the mortgage industry.

First Mortgage is one of the UK's longest established independent mortgage brokers, providing free mortgage advice for over a quarter of a century. Their constantly growing team of advisors serve Scotland and England through branches in Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Lothians, Aberdeen, Dundee, Newcastle Upon Tyne and the newly opened Manchester.

The infographic can be viewed in full here: http://www.firstmortgage.co.uk/mortgage-advice/buying-a-house

For further information, please contact Aaron Hill at marketing@firstmortgage.co.uk or +44(0)-131-220-6205.
Innovative companies celebrated at 2016 Excellence in Best Practices Awards Banquet

LONDON, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --On Tuesday, 28 June, Frost & Sullivan honored recipients of its 2016 Excellence in Best Practices Awards at a Banquet in London. With a festive ambiance and exciting Awards, the event brought together top executives to celebrate their achievements. The Awards banquet was preceded by a two-hour Executive Growth Workshop, "The 15 Big Mega Trends for 2016," during which participants discussed insights of game-changing Mega Trends impacting the economy today.

The Best Practices Awards are presented each year to companies that are predicted to encourage significant growth in their industries, have identified emerging trends before they became the standard in the marketplace, and have created advanced technologies that will catalyze and transform industries in the near future.

Awarded companies included:

Bluemove- 2015 European Traditional Carsharing Customer Value Leadership Award

Borusan Otomotiv Premium -2016 Turkish Fleet Long Term Rental Customer Value Leadership Award

Brainreader ApS - 2016 European Brain Volumetric Image Analysis Enabling Technology Leadership Award

Business Lease- 2015 European Fleet & Leasing New Product Innovation Award

Carano Software Solutions GmbH - 2016 European Vehicle Fleet Leasing and Management Technology Leadership Award

Centile Telecom Applications - 2015 European Cloud Communications Price/Performance Value Leadership Award

dacadoo - 2016 Global Wellness Analytics Visionary Innovation Leadership Award

Digital Barriers plc - 2016 European Terahertz Security Systems Technology Innovation Award

DynamicAction - 2016 Global Big Data Analytics for Retail Technology Innovation Award

ELIX Polymers - 2016 European Automotive Natural Fibre Composites New Product Innovation Award

ENHA GmbH - 2016 European Head Protection New Product Innovation Award

Europlacer - 2016 Global Flexible SMT Pick and Place Equipment Company of the Year Award

Gogoro - 2016 European Electric Scooter Technology Innovation Award

InterDigital - 2016 Global Internet of Things Platform Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award

Irdeto - 2016 European Anti-Hacking Technology for Connected Cars New Product Innovation Award

Kymeta Corporation - 2016 North American Compact Automotive Antennas for Satellite Broadband New Product Innovation Award

Merck - 2016 European Automotive OEM Pigments Product Leadership Award

Meritor Aftermarket Europe - 2016 European Commercial Vehicle Remanufactured Components Customer Value Leadership Award

Miveo - 2016 European Vehicle Sharing Growth Excellence Leadership Award

Oxbotica - 2016 European Autonomous Driving Software Technology Leadership Award

pmdtechnologies ag - 2016 European 3D Time of Flight Sensor Technology Innovation Award

sharoo AG - 2016 European P2P Carsharing Price/Performance Value Leadership Award

Sika Automotive AG - 2015 European BIW Automotive Adhesives Product Leadership Award

TEMSA - 2016 Turkish Transit Bus New Product Innovation Award

TEXA S.p.A. - 2015 European Commercial Vehicle Diagnostics Customer Value Leadership Award

TomTom Telematics - 2016 European Fleet Telematics Company of the Year Award

Frost & Sullivan's Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices.

For further information about the Awards Banquet, please contact a member of the Best Practices Team.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.

The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation.

provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation. The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?

Contact Us: Start the discussion

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Contact:

Claudia Toscano

P: 210.477.8417

F: 210.348.1003

E: Claudia.Toscano@frost.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 29, 2016) - Coronet Metals Inc. (TSXV: CRF) (FWB: 2CM) (OTC Pink: CORMF) ("Coronet" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into an exclusive letter of intent ("LOI") with Mr. Jim Parks to acquire 60% of the Dixie Queen Gold Mine, also known as the Newell Prospect, in Cabarrus Country, North Carolina.

The Dixie Queen Gold Mine ("Dixie Queen") is located on private land and 100% owned by Mr. Parks. The mine lies in the Charlotte belt of the North Carolina Piedmont about 20 miles east of Charlotte. The known metalliferous deposits in Charlotte belt rocks in the general vicinity of the Dixie Queen, consist primarily of gold, but other metals have been produced, notably copper and tungsten, largely as by-products of gold mining.

There is initial small scale production on the property, using crushing and water gravity methods to recover the free gold from the ore mined from the exposed vein systems. The plan is to carefully assess current and future mine plans and to involve Coronet's experienced mining team to get the project into commercial production.

Coronet has evaluated several historical reports on the property and the evaluation of the property is very positive and could form a strong foundation for the preparation of a NI 43-101 report, subject to further due diligence.

Mr. Theo van der Linde, President of Coronet states: "The Dixie Queen Gold Mine is a perfect strategic fit with Coronet's business plan which calls for the company to focus on near term cash flow-opportunities and exploration upside. The Dixie Queen Mine is on private land, located right here in North America, and situated in a mining-friendly jurisdiction. Best of all, this project also strongly positions Coronet to build its portfolio of gold assets".

The closing of the proposed acquisition is subject to satisfactory due diligence by Coronet, the completion and execution of the appropriate formal documentation with Coronet and the vendor and the acceptance for filing of the transaction by the TSX Venture Exchange, if required. There can be no assurance that the transaction will proceed as proposed or at all.

About Coronet Metals

Coronet Metals Inc. is engaged in the business of acquiring, exploring and developing natural resource properties, with a focus on precious mineral properties/projects which have the potential for both near-term cash flow and significant exploration upside potential. Coronet's White Caps Gold Project is near the town of Manhattan in Northern Nye County. The Project is well in line with its strategy of acquiring precious metals mining projects which have the potential for both near-term cash flow and exploration upside.

The Company has launched a fresh new web site so please visit www.coronetmetals.com for more information on the project, the history of the area and up to date information regarding its near-term plans, execution and strategy.

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulations.

The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. As a result, the Company cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will materialize and the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will only update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by Canadian securities law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND ENQUIRIES:

Theo van der Linde

President and CFO

Tel: +1 604-336-3193

Email: tvanderlinde@coronetmetals.com
FASTER, a consortium of six international companies, together with its supplier NEC Corporation, today announced that construction and end-to-end testing of a new trans-Pacific submarine cable system, the "FASTER Cable System," has been successfully completed and will start service on June 30, 2016.

NEC Seiichiro Toda s-toda@cj.jp.nec.com +81-3-3798-6511

TOKYO, June 29, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - FASTER, a consortium of six international companies, together with its supplier NEC Corporation, today announced that construction and end-to-end testing of a new trans-Pacific submarine cable system, the "FASTER Cable System," has been successfully completed and will start service on June 30, 2016.The 9,000km trans-Pacific cable, the FASTER Cable System, lands in Oregon in the United States and two landing points in Japan, namely Chiba and Mie prefectures. The system has extended connections to major hubs on the West Coast of the U.S. covering Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland and Seattle. The two landing points in Japan facilitate the cable's easy access to major cities in Japan. FASTER's robust and resilient connectivity to many neighboring cable systems extends the cable's capacity beyond Japan to other Asian locations.FASTER is the first trans-Pacific submarine cable system designed from day one to support digital coherent transmission technology, using optimized fibers throughout the submarine portion. The combination of extremely low loss fiber, without a dispersion compensation section, and the latest digital signal processor, which compensates for the huge amount of cumulative dispersion at the end of the cable, enable this six-fiber pair cable to deliver 60 Terabits per second (Tbps) of bandwidth across the Pacific."From the very beginning of the project, we repeatedly said to each other, 'faster, Faster and FASTER,' and at one point it became the project name, and today it becomes a reality. This is the outcome of six members' collaborative contribution and expertise together with NEC's support," said Hiromitsu Todokoro, Chairman of the FASTER Management Committee."This was the first trans-Pacific submarine cable built solely by NEC Corporation, employing the latest 100Gbps digital coherent optical transmission technology. We are honored that the consortium entrusted us to build FASTER. Although we faced many challenges during the construction, I am truly glad that we were able to overcome these and to welcome this day," said Kenichi Yoneyama, Project Manager for FASTER at NEC's Submarine Network Division. "This epoch-making cable will not only bring benefits to the United States and Japan, but to the entire Asia-Pacific region."Construction of the system was announced in August 2014 by the FASTER consortium, consisting of China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, Global Transit, Google, KDDI and Singtel.About China Mobile InternationalChina Mobile International Limited (CMI) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the China Mobile Group. The company is responsible for the operation of China Mobile's international business. Leveraging the strong support by China Mobile, CMI provides a full range of comprehensive international telecommunications services which includes IDD, roaming, data, MNC solutions and Value Added Services across the globe. CMI aims to bring customers with seamless, carefree, borderless digital life. For more information, please visit www.cmi.chinamobile.com.About China Telecom GlobalChina Telecom Global Limited (CTG) is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Telecom Corporation Limited to manage its international business. Headquartered in Hong Kong, CTG's global network platform spans Asia, Americas and the Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) region, offering world-class integrated communication services to multinational businesses, telecommunication service providers and overseas Chinese consumers around the world. Our comprehensive communication and ICT solutions deliver industry-leading resilience, speed, and diversity to meet the high level requirements from our customers and partners. China Telecom's international operation has presences in 31 countries and regions around the world. More information, please visit www.chinatelecomglobal.com.About Global TransitGlobal Transit (GTL) connects Asia to the rest of the world through its award-winning international bandwidth solutions. A 100% subsidiary of Malaysia-based TIME dotCom, GTL provides customers with unrivalled land and sea fibre connectivity that spans Asia, Europe and the United States. From holding major points-of-presence in key cities in Asia, Europe and the U.S. to owning stakes in several subsea cable systems like Unity and the Asia Pacific Gateway, GTL is well positioned to serve regional carriers, mobile operators and Internet Service Providers. Visit www.globaltransit.net for more information.About KDDIWith more than 40 million subscribers, KDDI is Japan's second- largest mobile operator. Furthermore, together with its subsidiaries, now KDDI is the only Japanese ICT solution company that provides comprehensive services for consumers and corporate clients. With services from fixed to mobile communications and solutions, "TELEHOUSE" data centers and broadcasting, KDDI aims to be a company that creates new styles for customer's lives and corporate activities from local communities to overseas with communication as its base. Please visit www.kddi.com/english/index.html for more information.About SingtelSingtel is Asia's leading communications group providing a portfolio of services including voice and data solutions over fixed, wireless and Internet platforms as well as infocomm technology and pay TV. The Group has presence in Asia, Australia and Africa with over 595 million mobile customers in 25 countries, including India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. It also has a vast network of offices throughout Asia Pacific, Europe and the United States. For more information, please visit www.singtel.com.About NEC CorporationNEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company's experience and global resources, NEC's advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.Based on its Mid-term Management Plan 2015, the NEC Group globally provides "Solutions for Society" that promote the safety, security, efficiency and equality of society. Under the company's corporate message of "Orchestrating a brighter world," NEC aims to help solve a wide range of challenging issues and to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. For more information, please visit http://www.nec.com/en/global/about/solutionsforsociety/message.html.Source: NEC CorporationContact:Copyright 2016 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
JAKARTA, Indonesia, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Eddy Logam was appointed chairman of Indonesia's Shipbuilding & Offshore Association (Iperindo) five months before Joko "Jokowi" Widodo officially took the country's highest office in October 2014.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121014/HK92339LOGO-d

The coincidence proved to be extremely valuable as Iperindo's Chairman is fully in line with President Jokowi's mission of building Indonesia into a maritime power.

A quarter billion people living across some 17,000 islands indeed make Indonesia the world's most densely populated archipelagic nation, while shipbuilding in the country dates back to the 1600s.

In fact President Jokowi knew he would face a steep path when he detailed his maritime vision during his October 2014 inauguration speech. But the president had found a perfect ally in Eddy Logam who, in May 2014, declared in an interview with The Business Times his mission as Iperindo's then incoming chairman: "God created Indonesia as an archipelago and it is God's will that Indonesia will develop into a maritime nation."

Almost two years on, Indonesia is on the right path to fulfill that vision. In a recent move in this direction, Iperindo has officially declared its full support to Marintec Indonesia - held in Jakarta during 23-25 November 2016 - the leading business event and learning platform for the Maritime Industry in Indonesia. Organized by UBM Indonesia, Marintec will gather over 150 local and international companies which will share technology, insight and create real growth opportunities for Indonesia and the region.

ABOUT the organizer

Owned by UBM plc listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organiser in Asia and the largest commercial organizer in China, India and Malaysia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the US, UBM Asia has a strong global network of 31 offices and 1,300 staff in 24 major cities. We operate in 20 market sectors with 230 exhibitions and conferences, 21 trade publications, 18 online products for over 2,000,000 quality exhibitors, visitors, conference delegates, advertisers and subscribers from all over the world. www.ubmasia.com

For more information contact:

Abdi Fajrin

+62-21-2930-5959

Abdi.Fajrin@ubm.com
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. recently announced Saratoga Springs plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Yarinsky as a 2016 "Top Doctor" in the Albany, Capital District and New York Metro Areas. With this recognition, Dr. Yarinsky says that he is "proud to represent New York as one of the Upstate New York metropolitan area's leading doctors." At Saratoga Springs Plastic Surgery, his private practice, he aims to offer patients the highest quality care, performing procedures such as breast augmentation and facelift with the latest techniques and technology and full MediSpa services including the new ThermiVa feminine rejuvenation procedure..

In order to choose each year's "Top Doctors," Castle Connolly, a well-respected medical doctor survey company, begins with a list of peer-nominated physicians. Next, these doctors are reviewed by a research team that examines the physicians' professional achievements, board certifications, medical background, and credentials to select the best doctors in each local region. The finalized list is then used for Castle Connolly's own Top Doctor Guides as well as for partner publications as a resource for prospective patients seeking high-quality physician services.

According to Saratoga Springs Plastic Surgery, Dr. Yarinsky is "always happy to receive this recognition from Castle Connolly, as it proves he is continuing to reach his goal of providing superior quality care in plastic surgery." In addition to this accolade, he was recently named "Best of the Saratoga Region" for the fourth year in a row by Saratoga Today's readers. He takes pride in his work and is proud that he is making an impact locally and beyond. Dr. Yarinsky aims to help all of his patients look and feel their best, and by offering a wide range of cosmetic surgical and non-surgical MediSpa procedures, he can offer these men and women customized treatment plans to achieve their cosmetic goals. He is the only Capital District area physician certified as an 'Expert Injector' by New Beauty Magazine and as such he personally does all BOTOX Cosmetic and facial filler treatments at his medical practice.

About Steven Yarinsky, MD, FACS

Dr. Yarinsky earned his medical degree at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse before going on to complete a five-year general surgery residency at Ohio State University Hospital, Columbus and Marshall University Medical School. Dr. Yarinsky then completed additional training in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery at the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo to further his skills. He was inducted as a member of the New York Regional Society of Plastic Surgeons, and also serves as a Diplomate of the American Board of Plastic Surgery and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. In addition, Dr. Yarinsky is an active member of professional organizations including the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, and the Northeastern Society of Plastic Surgery. He is available for interview upon request.

To learn more about Saratoga Springs Plastic Surgery, PC, visit yarinsky.com or facebook.com/saratogaspringsplasticsurgery.

To view the original source of this press release, click here:

http://www.yarinsky.com/practice-news/saratoga-springs-plastic-surgeon-named-top-doctor-in-albany-capital-district-and-ny-metro-area

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Saratoga Springs Plastic Surgery, PC

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Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

(888) 884-4448

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PETAH TIKVAH, ISRAEL and PARSIPPANY, NEW JERSEY -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Cellebrite, the leader in digital forensic extraction, decoding and analysis solution, today announced that the company has won three Forensic 4:cast for 2016. Cellebrite's UFED Touch was awarded Phone forensic Hardware of the year; UFED 4PC and UFED Physical Analyzer were awarded Phone Forensic Software of the year; Cellebrite was also named Digital Forensic Organization of the Year for the first time in the Company's history, reflecting the voters' recognition of the Cellebrite's continued innovation in mobile device forensics and new breakthroughs in emerging digital forensic disciplines such as cloud forensics and analytics. The awards ceremony was held at the SANS DFIR Summit in Austin, TX on June 23, 2016.

Hosted by Lee Whitfield, the Forensic 4:cast founder, awards nominations opened in January, and voting took place from April 1 through June 6. Now in its eighth year, the Forensic 4:cast Awards provide the digital forensic community a platform to nominate and vote for the best people, companies, and products throughout the industry.

"We would like to thank our dedicated users and the digital forensic community for its support once again," said Ron Serber, Global Co-CEO, Cellebrite. "While we are grateful for the recognition, we look forward to working hard to help the community accelerate digital investigations through continued technological innovation."

To see firsthand how Cellebrite's industry-leading capabilities can benefit your organization, visit us online at www.cellebrite.com/law_enforcement.

About Cellebrite

Every day around the world, digital data is impacting investigations. Making it intelligent and actionable is what Cellebrite does best. A pioneer of mobile data forensics since 1999 with a passion for technology innovation, Cellebrite is uniquely positioned to address the rapidly evolving needs of its diverse customer base to access, unify and defend digital evidence of all kinds. Together, our powerful UFED solutions deliver the only complete, end-to-end Digital Forensics Platform on the market. Our track record remains unchallenged. Our results? Proven and well documented. With more than 40,000 UFED licenses deployed globally in 100 countries, we allow law enforcement, intelligence services, border patrols, special forces, military and the private sector to achieve their missions quickly and effectively.

Cellebrite is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Sun Corporation, a listed Japanese company (6736/JQ)

Contacts:

Cellebrite

Jeremy Nazarian

CMO

+1(973) 941-7200

jeremy.nazarian@cellebrite.com




HAGUE, Netherlands, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of experts on International Law voiced their doubts and concerns over the South China Sea Arbitration, warning the proceedings of the case are questionable.

The experts from Asia, Africa, the United States and Europe exchanged views on the case at the seminar, co-organized by Grotius Center for International Legal Studies, Leiden University and Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies, Wuhan University (WUIBOS).

"We heard the positions by the experts that the tribunal seemed to be manipulating words in its decision (on jurisdiction)," by Sienho Yee, Chief Expert at WUIBOS, noting that the tribunal did not respect China's explicit right to exclude territorial and delimitation disputes written in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Pemmaraju Sreenivasa Rao, former chairman of the UN International Law Commission, said the tribunal has put itself in a difficult position.

"The tribunal said it would not try to settle sovereignty disputes, but only to determine geological features. However, the Philippines' claims will eventually lead to the question of who owns it, and the tribunal has no jurisdiction over this matter," said Rao, who participated in the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea from 1973 to 1982 that led to the adoption of the UNCLOS.

Rao's opinion was echoed by Abdul G. Koroma, a former judge of the International Court of Justice who also took part in the historic conference.

"It's stated in the convention that a tribunal will not be entitled, will not have the right to pass judgment on a territorial and boundary dispute, because it has not been equipped; it has not been given competence to do so," Koroma said. "You cannot use the jurisdiction of one to determine the other."

"It's like someone who has a brain tumor and went to the doctor, and only asked for flu medication. We all know that it is not going to cure his headache," Michael Sheng-ti Gau, a professor of Public International Law at the Law of the Sea Institute, Taiwan Ocean University.

"The claims of the Philippines only scratch the surface, but do not cover the core dispute, which is a sovereignty issue. As the court cannot rule on something that is not presented in the claims, the result of the arbitration is unlikely to have any effect on the current situation," Gau said.
VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - European stocks rallied for the second consecutive session Wednesday, as the British pound edged up further from decade-lows and oil extended overnight gains on prospects of slower production and supply declines. London copper hit its highest level in almost eight weeks on a weaker dollar and sovereign bond yields dropped on expectations of fresh stimulus from global central banks, further buoying investor sentiment. Economic data painted a mixed picture of regional economies, with a gauge of Eurozone economic sentiment easing slightly in June from the previous month, while German consumer confidence increased again to touch near 12-month high. U.K. house prices climbed an annual 5.1 percent in June, marking the fastest growth in three months. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 2.5 percent in midday trading after climbing 2.6 percent in the previous session. The German DAX, France's CAC 40 index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 were up between 2 percent and 2.8 percent. Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton and Glencore climbed 3-7 percent while energy majors Total SA, Royal Dutch Shell and BP Plc rallied 3-4 percent. Banks extended Tuesday's gains, with Deutsche Bank, Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Lloyds Banking Group rising 1-4 percent. Telecom giant Vodafone Group rose 3 percent in London after saying it is considering moving its headquarters out of the U.K. BT Group soared 3.5 percent after revising financials to reflect organizational changes that came into effect on April 1, 2016. Technip soared 5.5 percent in Paris after signing a pact with GE Oil & Gas to explore digital solutions for new LNG projects. Industrial group Siemens gained 1.5 percent in Frankfurt on a report it plans to invest 1 billion euros over the next five years in a new startups unit. Travel-related stocks remained under selling pressure, with TUI and International Consolidated Airlines losing 2-4 percent, after three suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing 36 people and wounding 147 others. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
FLINDERS ISLAND, Tasmania, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Since Derek the wombat hit international stardom, he's been frantically busy. He's an adolescent now and being a savvy business-wombat he has a new line of tea towels and t-shirts out. If that's not enough to keep this Flinders Island local run off his paws, he's the proud big brother of orphan-siblings April and May.

For videos, high-res images and audio grabs, please visit the Multimedia News Release:http://news.medianet.com.au/tourism-tasmania/new-adventures-derekthewombat

Derek rose to fame when captured on video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DwizqPT8es) frolicking across his local beach. It was a day like any other for the eight-month-old wombat joey. But those sandy tracks led him to worldwide celebrity status when his high-paced canter went viral.

Since then, Derek has become Flinders Island's global poster boy. He's had to ask his new sisters to manage promotional wares, and requested a cameraman fly in to cover his official greeting with Justin Johnstone from Melbourne, the winner of Tourism Tasmania's Chief Wombat Cuddler Competition. Arguably one of Australia's most hotly contested positions for 2016; Derek knew he'd want to capture their inaugural meeting.

"He's only a bit over a year old, but he's like a teenage boy now," describes competition winner Justin Johnstone. "So he's still very cute, but he's a bit of a tear-away - a bit of a rebel. And he likes to chew things..."

Derek is the first to admit that behind every successful rescue wombat is a good carer. For Derek, it's his foster Mum, Kate Mooney (loveyoumywombatlady). Coined the 'Wombat Lady of Flinders Island', Kate has nursed more than 100 wombats back to health over the past two decades for release back into the wild. Kate scooped up Derek after his mother was sadly hit by a car in December. Ever since, Derek's been behaving like an only child, despite Kate's numerous other 'children' on her 40-hectare property.

"Derek was only 720 grams when I got him, and he'd now weigh about three-and-a-half kilos," explains Kate Mooney. "He was an only child for the first six months that I had him, so I guess he became rather spoilt." Although he no longer has bottles and will eventually head out the pet door to join the 'bigger kids' and never come back, according to Kate he, "...just loves people."

Why the interest in Derek specifically? "Wombats, in general, get to people. They tend to melt," smiles Kate. "But Derek isn't like the others. He's adventurous and daring. Most don't like to be out of the pouch, but he's been a curious and cheeky little bloke since I found him. That makes him pretty special."

But cuddling goes both ways. What did Derek think of Tourism Tasmania's Chief Wombat Cuddler competition winner? According to his mum, the two got on splendidly. "Derek took a real shine to him. At one point down at the shed Justin had seven wombats descend upon him, including Derek, who eagerly pushed to the front for attention. Justin has a real way with the animals."

Insightful words from the Mother Theresa of Flinders Island's wombat world, who manages to juggle a background in agriculture with being a full-time carer for her 'wombat flock'.

So what's special about Flinders, other than it being the birthplace of Derek? This is one of Australia's best kept island secrets, located in Bass Strait off Tasmania's north east corner. It's a little like Tasmania's famous Bay of Fires neighbourhood - but on steroids. The rock lichen is flaming orange, sands are blindingly white, and clear-watered coves are often yours alone, bar wandering tracks from the multitude of wildlife on the island.

A hike to the peak of Mount Strzelecki (756m) rewards with views across the 75 kilometer long island and even over to 'mainland' Tasmania. This photographer's mecca has a few hidden secrets including The Docks (don't expect a big sign post, ask a local) and stunning Trouser's Point Beach. Rumor has it this name celebrates the escape of one trouserless John Burgess from the wreck nearby of Sarah Anne Blanche back in 1871.

According to Kate, what makes Flinders Island special is, "the beauty of the place and the spectacular scenery. It's just magical with its white sands, turquoise waters and diverse coastline. It's also the solitude. We have a saying here - if you see someone's footprints in the sand, just go to another beach. What's more, encounters with wildlife in their natural habitats are an almost inevitable highlight of travels around the island."

While Justin diligently entered The Chief Wombat Cuddler Competition and also spent the day at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary in Hobart, for an introduction to wildlife rescue and husbandry before meeting Derek; there's a good chance anyone visiting Flinders Island might encounter one of his furry kinsfolk.

Background

There's a serious side to this cuddly story. Our wildlife is prolific in Tasmania, particularly on our roads at dawn and dusk. You can help out Derek and his mates by driving carefully during these hours, especially out of the city centres.

Travel to Flinders Island

Travelers can fly to Flinders Island from Victoria or Tasmania with Sharp Airlines or Flinders Island Aviation. Furneaux Freight also offers access via ferry from Victoria and Tasmania.

Media Contact:

Liza-Jane Sowden

Social Media Manager

socialmedia@tourismtasmania.com.au

+61-3-6165-5329

+61-(0)-458-342-147


PUNE, India, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The report "Surfactant EOR Market by Origin (Surfactants, Biosurfactants), by Type (Anionic Surfactants, Other Surfactants), by Technique (ASP Flooding, SP Flooding), by Application (Onshore, Offshore), and by Region - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, The market is projected to reach USD 70.9 Million, by 2021, and grow at a CAGR of 3.20%, during the forecast period.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )



Browse 65 market data Tables and 56 Figures spread through 153Slides and in-depth TOC on "Surfactant EOR Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/surfactant-eor-market-115310924.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

As the oil reserves are depleting, the need for increased deeper and horizontal drilling activities in difficult terrains rises. Thisis expected to influence the market players to undertake EOR techniques, resulting in increased demand for surfactants.

Anionic surfactants: The largest material type in the Surfactant EOR market

Anionic surfactants are negatively charged and are used on a large scale in the market. They display good surfactant properties, such as strong interfacial tension reducing capacity, creation of self-assembled structures, relative stability, low adsorption on reservoir rock, and low-cost manufacturing process. Others include cationic surfactants, which are positively charged head group that dissociate in water to form a halide. The cost of cationic surfactants is high as their synthesis is cost intensive.

Onshore: The largest application market of surfactant EOR market.

The common EOR recovery processes include injection of thermal fluids, including steam, to reduce the viscosity of heavy oils in the reservoirs and injection of water-soluble chemicals such as polymer, surfactant, and alkali to improve the recovery factor in the medium and light oil reservoirs. Two major applications ofsurfactants are onshore and offshore oilfields.

Onshore application refers to extraction activities carried out on oil reserves located on land. Oil has been mainly explored from onshore reserves due to which it is depleting. As a result, surfactants are widely used to recover large quantity of oil from onshore reserves in comparison to offshore reserves.

Make an Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=115310924

North America: The largest region of Surfactant EOR market

North America is the largest Surfactant EOR Market and Canada is the most dominant country in the region. It is projected to witness a low growth rate, as the market is saturated and there are not many EOR projects in the U.S. The exploratory projects in the region have reduced due to the falling oil prices. Canada is known for its heavy oil production and recovery processes. Thus, Canadian companies have been adopting the chemical EOR techniques to increase recovery in these types of reservoirs.

Major players such as BASF SE (Germany), Shell Chemicals (The Netherlands), Halliburton (U.S.) have adopted development strategies such as expansions, agreements & collaborations, and new product development to achieve growth in the Surfactant EOR market.

Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp

Browse Related Reports:

Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR / IOR) Market by Origin (Petro-based, & Bio-based), by Type (Surfactants, Water soluble polymers, Polymer gels, Biopolymers, Alkaline chemicals), by Technique (Polymer flooding, Surfactant-polymer flooding, Alkaline surfactant polymer flooding), by Application (Onshore, & Offshore) - Regional Trend & Forecast to 2020

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/chemical-enhanced-oil-recovery-market-218191584.html

Agricultural Surfactants Market by Type (Anionic, Nonionic, Cationic, and Amphoteric), Applications (Herbicides, Insecticides, Fungicides, and Others), Substrate Type (Synthetic and Bio-based), and by Region - Global Forecasts to 2020

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/agricultural-surfactants-market-52947416.html

About MarketsandMarkets

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TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Gowest Gold Ltd. ("Gowest" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: GWA) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a negotiation agreement with Northern Sun Mining Corp. ("Northern") for the use of the Redstone Mill (the "Mill") located in Timmins, Ontario to process material from the Company's Bradshaw Gold Deposit ("Bradshaw").

The parties intend to negotiate an arrangement (the "Proposed Transaction") pursuant to which Gowest will have the right to use the Mill for the purpose of processing up to 500 tonnes per day of material as part of its bulk sample and pre-production program at Bradshaw. (See Gowest news release dated June 16, 2016.) The Proposed Transaction may also include the right of Gowest to (i) purchase the Mill; or, (ii) enter into a long-term agreement to lease the Mill; or, (iii) enter into some other form of transaction pursuant to which Gowest will acquire or have access to the Mill for the purpose of processing material produced by the Company.

Northern and Gowest shall negotiate with each other in good faith in respect of the Proposed Transaction until no later than October 31, 2016. As consideration for the right to negotiate, Gowest will pay Northern a fee to defray part of the Mill's care and maintenance costs.

Gowest President & CEO, Greg Romain said, "We are extremely pleased with the discussions that have taken place with Northern to date. This is a great mill for processing our material both short and long term. We look forward to working with the Northern team in identifying additional sources of feed and optimizing the Mill for our mutual benefit."

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical disclosure in this press release has been prepared and approved by Mr. Kevin Montgomery, P.Geo., Gowest's Manager of Exploration and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.

About Gowest

Gowest is a Canadian gold exploration and development company focused on the delineation and development of its 100% owned Bradshaw Gold Deposit (Bradshaw), on the Frankfield Property, part of the Corporation's North Timmins Gold Project (NTGP). Gowest is exploring additional gold targets on its +100-square-kilometre NTGP land package and continues to evaluate the area, which is part of the prolific Timmins, Ontario gold camp. Currently, Bradshaw contains a National Instrument 43-101 Indicated Resource estimated at 2.1 million tonnes ("t") grading 6.19 g/t Au containing 422 thousand oz Au and an Inferred Resource of 3.6 million t grading 6.47 g/t Au containing 755 thousand oz Au. Further, based on the Pre-Feasibility Study produced by Stantec Mining and announced on June 9, 2015, Bradshaw contains Probable Mineral Reserves, using a 3 g/t Au cut-off and utilizing a gold price of US$1,200 / oz, totalling 1.8 million t grading 4.82 g/t Au for 277 thousand oz Au.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain certain "forward looking statements". Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Contacts:

Gowest Gold Ltd.

Greg Romain

President & CEO

(416) 363-1210



Gowest Gold Ltd.

Greg Taylor

Investor Relations

(416) 605-5120

gregt@gowestgold.com




Landsvirkjun and the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) have signed a USD 50 million long-term loan agreement without a guarantee of collection for the construction of the Theistareykir project. Along with a recent loan from the EIB, this agreement marks the completion of the financing of the Theistareykir project.



The 16-year maturity loan has been provided for the construction of the Theistareykir power station, which will have a capacity of 90MWe. The favourable geothermal conditions in the area are expected to enable a total installed capacity of up to 200 MWe.



Landsvirkjun, the National Power Company of Iceland, is owned by the Icelandic state and is the country's largest electricity generator. The company generates around 70% of all electricity used in Iceland with 100% renewable energy sources.



NIB is an international financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries.



Horur Arnarson, CEO of Landsvirkjun:



"We are very pleased with the trust and support shown by the The Nordic Investment Bank by granting this loan. The construction on the Theistareykir site is going well and the power station will commence operations in the fall of 2017. We expect that the power plant will be provide great support for the local industry and economy in North-Eastern Iceland."



Further information: Magnus or Gylfason Director of Corporate Communications magnus.thor.gylfason@landsvirkjun.is +354 515 9000

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TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Great Lakes Graphite Inc. ("GLK" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: GLK)(OTC PINK: GLKIF)(FRANKFURT: 8GL) today announces that the Company is working with W.G. Hughes and Associates to develop and implement a Quality Management System. The Quality Management System will be compliant with the requirements of the ISO-9001:2008 international standard and is being designed specifically for the operations that will be conducted by Great Lakes Graphite at the Matheson Micronization Facility.

Key deliverables that were objectives of this Quality Management System project included:

-- a project plan identifying general requirements milestones, documentation requirements, and implementation of the the ISO-9001:2008 quality management system -- documented statements of a quality policy and quality objectives -- a quality manual consistent with the requirements of the international standard -- procedures required by the international standard -- document templates needed by the organization to ensure effective planning, operation and control of processes by which evidence records required by the international standard can be accumulated.

W.G Hughes and Associates is lead by George Hughes, a Six Sigma Master Black Belt consultant. Mr. Hughes is widely recognized for his considerable expertise, based on many years of experience working with companies in Northern Ontario to implement quality management programs and methodologies. Mr. Hughes has spent several years as an Applied Research Officer for the Northern College of Applied Arts and Technology and also currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Timmins Economic Development Corporation and also as R&D Program Director for the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation.

Great Lakes Graphite CEO Paul Gorman said, "Our operations must be conducted to the exacting standards required by many of our prospective customers. That means designing our operations from scratch to be ISO 9001-compliant, followed eventually by certification, at the appropriate time. Having a Quality Management System is the cornerstone of these initiatives. We are fortunate to be working with George Hughes, an expert on quality management and believe that this work forms a critical foundation for building a sustainable business."

About Great Lakes Graphite: Great Lakes Graphite Inc. is an industrial minerals company focused on bringing value-added carbon products to a well-defined market.

The Company is party to an agreement for shared use of a portion of an industrial facility located in Matheson, Ontario owned by Northfil Resources Limited, as well as for supply of high quality natural graphite concentrate (see news release dated 03/23/15), which have positioned Great Lakes Graphite to become an emerging domestic manufacturer and supplier of micronized products to a growing regional customer base where pricing and demand continue to rise.

Further information regarding Great Lakes can be found on the Company's website at: www.GreatLakesGraphite.com.

Great Lakes Graphite trades with symbol GLK on the TSX Venture Exchange and currently has 117,561,978 shares outstanding.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Information: Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward looking information" which involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking information. When used in this press release, such forward looking information may use such words as "may', "will', "expect', "believe', "plan' and other similar terminology. Forward looking information is provided for the purpose of presenting information about management's current expectations relating to the future events and the operating performance of the Company, and readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The forward looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the ability of the Company to fulfill the orders and future orders, regulatory requirements, general economic, market or business conditions and future developments in the sectors of the economy in which the business of Great Lakes operates. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Please see the Company's financial statements, MD&A and other documents available on www.sedar.com, for a more detailed description of the risk factors. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward looking information, whether a result of new information, future results or otherwise, except as required by law.

Contacts:

Great Lakes Graphite Inc.

Paul Ferguson

Chief Marketing Officer

PFerguson@GreatLakesGraphite.com

1-800-754-4510 x106



Great Lakes Graphite Inc.

Paul Gorman

Chief Executive Officer

PGorman@GreatLakesGraphite.com

1-800-754-4510 x109




MIRAMICHI, NEW BRUNSWICK -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- SLAM Exploration Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: SXL) (the "Company") is pleased to announce Mt. Baker Mining and Metals LLC confirms that SLAM's turnkey gold processing plant will be ready for shipping in mid-July. The equipment will be shipped directly to SLAM's wholly owned Menneval gold project in New Brunswick.

The Company intends to use this plant to process gold from the Maisie gold deposit under a License of Occupation that authorizes SLAM to extract and process samples over a two year period. In connection with this License, the New Brunswick Department of Environment and the Department of Energy and Mines have both approved the removal and processing of a 2,000 tonne bulk sample from this high grade gold deposit. No drilling or blasting is required for this program. No chemicals will be used in the process. The purpose is to develop environmentally and commercially sustainable techniques to extract gold, provide an estimate of the grade of the Maisie deposit and demonstrate the potential for longer term mining operations.

The Company proposes to extract the bulk sample from known shoots of high grade mineralization at surface using an excavator. SLAM previously announced channel samples ranging from 5.17 g/t gold over 1.0m up to 49.5 g/t gold over 0.45m that were cut during a 2013 trenching program. The initial discovery trench produced a bonanza grade chip sample grading 1100 g/t gold over 1.1 m in 2012. Previous diamond drilling results from 64 holes by SLAM indicate that the high grade Maisie gold shoots extend to a depth of at least 30 m.

The plant ordered by SLAM includes a hammermill, classifier and shaker tables. A similar plant was used to test a 42 kg sample from the Maisie deposit as described in a news release published by SLAM on March 7, 2016. A video of the test plant was created by Mt. Baker and is posted on SLAM's website www.slamexploration.com

About The Menneval Project: SLAM holds 100% interest in 12 contiguous claims that cover 5,000 hectares acquired by map-staking near Menneval in northwest New Brunswick. The property hosts a number of recent gold discoveries including the Maisie deposit and Zone 9. Click on the SLAM website at http://www.slamexploration.com for more detailed information.

About Mt. Baker Mining and Metals LLC: Mt. Baker specializes in designing and manufacturing custom small scale hard-rock mills and mining equipment designed for the recovery of fine gold and other dense materials using gravity methods. To learn more about jaw crushers, hammer mills and gold shaker tables, visit www.mbmmllc.com or contact Mt. Baker by phone 360-595-4445 or email mbmmllc@gmail.com.

About SLAM Exploration Ltd:

SLAM is a project generating resource company with a portfolio of gold and base metal projects in eastern Canada. The Menneval gold project resulted from the discovery of the Maisie gold deposit by SLAM's advance scouting team in 2012. Other gold projects include the Reserve Creek and Miminiska gold projects in Ontario. SLAM holds an NSR royalty on the Superjack and Nash zinc-lead-copper-silver deposits. Additional information about SLAM and its projects is available at www.slamexploration.com or from SEDAR filings at www.sedar.com. Follow us on twitter @SLAMGold.

Qualifying Statements: Mike Taylor, P.Geo. President and CEO of SLAM Exploration Ltd., as the Qualified Person, approves the scientific and technical disclosure in the news release.

Certain information in this press release may constitute forward-looking information, including statements that address the Private Placement, the closing of the Private Placement, future production, reserve potential, exploration and development activities and events or developments that the Company expects. This information is based on current expectations that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward looking-statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable to the Company. There are a number of risk factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those described herein. Information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

SLAM Exploration Ltd.

Mike Taylor

President & CEO

506-623-8960

mike@slamexploration.com



SLAM Exploration Ltd.

Eugene Beukman

CFO

604-687-2038

ebeukman@pendergroup.ca




Development of an effective CX strategy is key to keeping pace with customers and meeting your brand promise, says Frost & Sullivan's Customer Experience Management team

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Business leaders in today's competitive environment recognize that the market has become a level playing field, as all companies have their people, processes and products in place. Furthermore, few actions can differentiate a product or price to stop customers from switching to competitors. Thus, business leaders must understand the importance of customer experience. In the next five years, customer experience will drive loyalty and become the key to deciding a business's fate.

Frost & Sullivan tackles this dilemma with its latest program, Customer Experience Management. The program aims to address business challenges by identifying growth roadmaps, while also supporting businesses to stay focused and aligned to customers and ever changing market dynamics.

For more information on Frost & Sullivan's Customer Experience Management program, please visit: http://frost.ly/j0

As customer experience becomes a major growth driver, companies can truly depend on it to drive customer loyalty and surpass competition. Consumers prefer to do business with a customer-centric company, eventually becoming brand ambassadors. However, customers also maintain a readiness to switch companies as a result of poor customer experience, thus showcasing the impact of rising customer satisfaction and its significance on bottom-line improvement and top-line growth.

"Customer experience plays a pivotal role in business sustenance in a competitive world, as it can address three key business objectives; acquiring new customers, retaining existing customer and regaining lost customers," said Frost & Sullivan Principal Consultant Bijuraj Sarangi. "The more differentiated your customer experience is, the more you are going to gain on these three objectives."

Although customer experience holds an immense amount of weight, digital innovation and Mega Trends in the space are currently altering the customer engagement equation like never before. Other challenges include:

Revenue growth

Operational excellence

Customer experience culture

Differentiation through innovation

Providing consistent customer engagement

"Transforming customer experience is not an easy task. Taking customer relationship to the next level and driving superior customer experience requires sound understanding of the external drivers shaping customer preferences, innovation and differentiation in customer engagement, as well as internal capabilities to meet customer demands," stated Sarangi. "A CX strategy linking both external market understanding and internal capability enablement can help businesses address strategic as well as operational challenges and enable right experience for the end customers."

Learn more about Frost & Sullivan's Customer Experience Management offerings here (http://ww2.frost.com/consulting/customer-experience/customer-experience-management/).

Survive and Thrive in an Unpredictable Future! Schedule a Growth Strategy Dialog to discuss your strategic growth development and discover growth opportunities impacting your business, here: http://frost.ly/pr

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.

The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation.

provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation. The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?

Contact:

Jaylon Brinkley

Corporate Communications - North America

P: 210.247.2481

F: 210.348.1003

E: jaylon.brinkley@frost.com

http://www.frost.com
STEUBENVILLE, OH -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Osceola (OTC PINK: PYHH) is pleased to announce that the Company, under the direction of Veteran Geologist David Bending, will be drilling 6 to 8 core drill holes for the compiling of data required to file a National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") resource report.

Mr. David Bending, well known in the industry for his robust knowledge and acquired skill, brings 25 years of exploration, mining and corporate development experience with major mining companies to the table, including a 14-year tenure with Homestake Mining Company, where he served as Exploration Manager in Latin America. He has also served as top executive, and held senior positions with a number of other exploration and mining companies. He is well versed in mining law, mining development trends and business practices throughout the Americas. His efforts have directly resulted in the identification of several mineral discoveries and transactions in Canada, the United States, Mexico, and across Latin and South America.

Mr. Bending is a Professional Geologist certified by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of British Columbia. Mr. Bending is an honors B.Sc. Geology graduate from University of Oregon and also completed his M. Sc. at University of Toronto in Mineral Deposits Geology, Geochemistry, Geochemistry and Geophysics.

"We are extremely pleased to have David conducting this fundamental segment of our project. He is highly skilled, and well known for his level of expertise. In addition to a number of basic preparations underway, we have a crew preparing our living quarters and kitchen, equipped with a pipeline, ranging about a mile and a half in length, to furnish our water supply for our living quarters and wash plant. Everything is beginning to really come together, and we will be updating our investors as events continue to take shape," stated Chris Tarquino, Chief Executive Officer, Osceola Gold Inc.

Osceola Gold recently announced that the Company has successfully completed its advanced satellite subsurface GeoScan evaluation, with results that revealed gold saturation in both target areas tested. Based on data derived through satellite deep scanning of the areas tested on the Mav g property, the first hotspot revealed an average of 5 - 8 grams per ton was discovered in terrain from 0 to 78 feet deep. The second hot spot which runs from surface to 13 feet deep on an average, revealed 15 grams or higher and two pay streaks underneath averaging 4 to 8 grams per ton.

Mining in the Osceola District, White Pine County, Nevada, was launched in the 1870's and continues to this day. Major efforts were put forth in the late 1800s, 1930s and 1970s with both lode and placer mining striking success with the removal of considerable amounts of gold. Studies conducted throughout these periods indicate economically viable amounts of gold in both the bedrock and in particular, the placer deposits that remain. For more information visit: http://www.nbmg.unr.edu/

Safe Harbor Act: Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For Investor Relations Contact:

Osceola Gold Inc.

740- 275-4227

Osceolagoldinc.com

Please follow us on Twitter -- osceolagoldinc.




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Riverside Resources Inc. ("Riverside" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: RRI)(OTC PINK: RVSDF)(FRANKFURT: R99) is pleased to announce results from initial rock chip sampling at the recently acquired La Silla Gold Project in Sinaloa, Mexico. Riverside geologists collected 74 rock chip samples with assay results ranging from less than 0.05 up to 7.24 g/t gold and less than 0.05 up to 148.4 g/t silver. Ten of the samples returned greater than 1 g/t gold (see table below for highlighted samples):

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold Silver Interval Sample ID (g/t) (g/t) Width (m) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RRI36118 7.24 102.3 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RRI36127 7.19 17 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RRI36126 5.85 22 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RRI36121 3.4 148.4 0.70 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RRI36129 2.72 18.3 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RRI36054 2.21 7.7 1.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RRI36119 1.78 17.7 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RRI36128 1.76 9 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RRI36051 1.73 92.1 1.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RRI36113 1.09 8 2.5 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclosure note: Initial Riverside sampling at La Silla was selective in nature and therefore may not be representative of property-wide mineralization.

The concessions obtained by Riverside (see Riverside's press release November 17, 2015) comprise an integral part of the historic La Silla district and cover approximately 2,305 hectares (23 km sq). Mineralization in the La Silla district, which includes properties not currently held by Riverside, is widespread with many small mines, workings and indications of high-grade gold-bearing quartz veins. Individual veins in the district appear to range in width from less than 0.5 to 12.0 metres. The La Silla district is believed to host 31 veins with a total strike length of 13.2 km. At least 6 vein systems totaling over 5.6 km in length have been observed by Riverside geologists within the Company's recently acquired concessions.

Riverside's President and CEO, John-Mark Staude, stated: "We are encouraged by the initial assay results at La Silla and will now look forward to further follow up exploration work to refine target areas. We remain open to potential district consolidation and will explore opportunities to partner with other groups in the region to create value moving forward."

To view La Silla photos and figures please visit the La Silla Project Page.

Qualified Person and QA/QC:

The scientific and technical data contained in this news release pertaining to the La Silla Project was reviewed and prepared under the supervision of Locke Goldsmith, P. Eng., P. Geo., an independent qualified person to Riverside Resources who is responsible for ensuring that the geologic information provided in this news release is accurate and acts as a "qualified person" under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Samples were taken to Hermosillo, Mexico where ALS Laboratory Group's mineral division ALS Chemex crushed and pulverized each sample. The rejects remained with ALS Chemex while the pulps were transported to ALS Chemex's ISO 9001-2008 certified laboratory in North Vancouver, BC, Canada for analysis. A QA/QC program was implemented as part of the sampling procedures for the exploration program. Standard and blank samples were randomly inserted into the sample stream prior to being sent to the laboratory.

About Riverside Resources Inc.:

Riverside is a well-funded prospect generation team of focused, proactive gold discoverers. The Company currently has more than $3,500,000 in the treasury and approximately 37,300,000 shares outstanding. The Company's model of growth through partnerships and exploration uses the prospect generation business approach to own resources, while partners share in de-risking projects on route to discovery. Riverside has additional properties available for option with more information available on the Company's website at www.rivres.com.

ON BEHALF OF RIVERSIDE RESOURCES INC.

Dr. John-Mark Staude, President & CEO

Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking information. These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology (e.g., "expect"," estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "plans"). Such information involves known and unknown risks -- including the availability of funds, the results of financing and exploration activities, the interpretation of exploration results and other geological data, or unanticipated costs and expenses and other risks identified by Riverside in its public securities filings that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Riverside Resources Inc.

John-Mark Staude

President & CEO

(778) 327-6671

(778) 327-6675 (FAX)

info@rivres.com

www.rivres.com



Riverside Resources Inc.

Joness Lang

VP, Corporate Development

(778) 327-6671 / TF: (877) RIV-RES1

jlang@rivres.com

www.rivres.com




AGCO, Your Agriculture Company (NYSE:AGCO), a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment, announced today that it has agreed to acquire Cimbria Holdings Ltd. for approximately $340 million from Silverfleet Capital. Cimbria, based in Thisted, Denmark, is a leading manufacturer of products and solutions for the processing, handling and storage of seed and grain. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016.

Cimbria's extensive products and services support the cleaning, drying, storage and conveyance of grain and seed through the development, manufacture and installation of individual machines, customized systems and complete turnkey plants, as well as project management and process control consulting. Cimbria sales, which are expected to reach approximately $240 million in fiscal 2016, are concentrated in Western Europe with growing exposure to Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

"The acquisition of Cimbria significantly enhances our market position in the European grain handling and storage industry," said Martin Richenhagen, AGCO's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Cimbria's products are complementary to our GSI's offerings and are recognized by its customers for their design, quality and innovation. This combination also provides significant marketing and cost saving synergies and will provide us with a global leadership position in the seed handling industry as well as further strengthen our capabilities to serve large global customers. With margins similar to GSI, the acquisition of Cimbria provides us an attractive opportunity to grow our business and expand our margins."

Rabobank is acting as financial advisor and Herbert Smith Freehills is serving as legal advisor to AGCO.

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements which are not historical facts, including projected 2016 sales and expectations regarding future growth and cost synergy achievement, are forward-looking and subject to risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, possible declines in demand for products as a result of weather, demand and other conditions that impact farm income, actions by producers of competitive products, and the general risks attendant to acquisitions. Further information concerning these and other factors is included in AGCO's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. AGCO disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required by law.

About AGCO

AGCO (NYSE: AGCO) is a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of agricultural solutions and supports more productive farming through its full line of equipment and related services. AGCO products are sold through five core brands, Challenger, Fendt, GSI, Massey Ferguson and Valtra, supported by Fuse precision technologies and farm optimization services, and are distributed globally through a combination of approximately 3,000 independent dealers and distributors in more than 140 countries. Founded in 1990, AGCO is headquartered in Duluth, GA, USA. In 2015, AGCO had net sales of $7.5 billion. For more information, visit http://www.AGCOcorp.com. For company news, information and events, please follow us on Twitter: @AGCOCorp. For financial news on Twitter, please follow the hashtag AGCOIR.

Please visit our website at www.agcocorp.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160629005713/en/

Contacts:

AGCO

Greg Peterson, 770-232-8229

Director of Investor Relations

greg.peterson@agcocorp.com
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Commerce Department is scheduled to release its personal income and spending report for May at 8:30 am ET Wednesday. Economists expected personal income growth of 0.3 percent month-over-month, while personal spending may have increased by 0.4 percent. Ahead of the data, the greenback showed mixed trading against the other major currencies. While the greenback declined against the pound and the franc, it held steady against the euro. Against the yen, it rose. The greenback was worth 1.1091 against the euro, 0.9799 against the franc, 102.64 against the yen and 1.3441 against the pound as of 8:25 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Department of State has warned U.S. citizens against all travel to Yemen because of the high security threat level posed by ongoing conflict and terrorist activities n the country. In a Travel Warning issued on Tuesday, it urged U.S. citizens currently living in or visiting Yemen to depart. On February 11, 2015 due to the deteriorating security situation in Sanaa, the Department of State suspended embassy operations and U.S. Embassy Sanaa American staff have been relocated out of the country. All consular services, routine and/or emergency, have been suspended until further notice. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
ATLANTA, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Dominovas Energy Corporation (OTCQB: DNRG) today announces the activation of a plan targeted to restructure and eliminate the Company's approximately $700,000 in convertible debt. As the Company entered into an agreement with GHS Investments, LLC and it received an effective notice for its S-1 filing in January of this year for up to US $7.5M, its plan now is to utilize this vehicle for operating capital and to reduce its convertible debt.

On November 12th, 2015, the Company closed agreements with GHS Investments, LLC for the purchase of Dominovas Energy shares which would allow the Company to receive up to $7.5M. On January 11, 2016, the Company received its notice of effectiveness for the S-1 Registration Statement from the Securities and Exchange Commission that was filed late December of 2015. This plan represents a shift in the overall financing strategy of Dominovas Energy, moving away from the utilization of convertible debt as a sole source of financing.

As the Company draws down on its GHS Investment equity line and has additional cash proceeds available, it plans to enter into discussions with its convertible debt financing partners for the potential repayment of the convertible notes with cash instead of shares. The Company is also in discussions with GHS Investments regarding long-term equity financing strategy that is not a convertible debt structure. Dominovas Energy currently has no plans to take on any new debt or operational capital in connection with this restructuring plan.

"Dominovas Energy is one of the most prolific companies of its kind in the fuel cell industry. It has best-in-class strategic partners for the build and manufacturing of its RUBICON fuel cell system; it has contract orders for multiple-Megawatts (MW); it has project financing in place once requisite guarantees are set and in place; the Company has what most Companies in the industry have longed for - so we had to take a close look at what could be depressing the stock price," said Dominovas Energy COO Michael Watkins. "We came to the realization and belief that there is simply too much pressure on the stock as a result of the existing convertible debt; and with our new plan to eliminate said debt, we hope to see representative growth for the Company. We have changed our methods of financing and operating the Company with a goal of increasing clarity and reporting of our operations and providing a stronger vehicle for our shareholders," Watkins concluded.

"With the successful presentation of the 50kW 'Showcase' set for installation in Johannesburg, South Africa in August, the Company will be well on its way for the eventual deployment of its multi-Megawatts units in sub-Saharan Africa," said Watkins.

About Dominovas Energy Corporation (OTCQB: DNRG)

Founded in 2005, Dominovas Energy Corporation (DEC) is a publicly traded company, based in Nevada. With its operating headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Dominovas Energy Corporation is a leading power solutions provider to emerging markets around the world. DEC employs its proprietary RUBICON Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology for deployment in multi-megawatt power generation units worldwide. The worldwide pursuit of clean and efficient production of electricity via Solid Oxide Fuel Cell technology inspired its founders to create an "energy solutions" company. Recognizing that "green" and "alternative energy" markets offer immense potential for growth, Dominovas Energy is aggressively moving to allocate its intellectual and financial capital forthwith, in order to strategically address a green energy solution that is 100% reliable, efficient, and measurably cleaner than GenSets and CCGT. Additionally, unlike wind and solar solutions the RUBICON provides baseload power 24/7/365 days a year. By manufacturing and deploying the RUBICON throughout of the world, Dominovas Energy is committed to creating shareholder value by not only generating guaranteed revenue streams, but also by increasing the value of "human and community capital." Devoted to core values by operating under the utmost of honesty and integrity in all its business transactions, Dominovas Energy is additionally dedicated to respecting the rights of all individuals, while acknowledging and respecting all cultures necessary to support the growth and development of the communities and countries in which it operates. The Company strongly believes in the impact this singularly advanced technology will make on the world and is resolute in its mission to provide electricity where and when economically viable.

For more information, visit www.dominovasenergy.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release, as well as other statements made by Dominovas Energy Corporation (the "Company"), contain forward-looking statements that reflect, when made, the Company's current views with respect to current events and financial performance. Such forward-looking statements are subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to the Company's operations and business environment, which may cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from any future results. All statements that address future operating, financial or business performance or the Company's strategies or expectations are forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as is applicable would be discussed under captions as follows: "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the Company's filings as would be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as required. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect the Company. It should be remembered that the price of the ordinary shares and any income from them can go down as well as up. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events and/or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Media and Investor Contact:

QualityStocks

Scottsdale, Arizona

www.QualityStocks.com

480.374.1336 Office

Email Contact



Investor Questions:

Email Contact




ROUYN-NORANDA, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- GLOBEX MINING ENTERPRISES INC. (TSX: GMX)(FRANKFURT: G1M)(STUTTGART: G1M)(BERLIN: G1M)(MUNICH: G1M)(XETRA: G1M)(OTCQX: GLBXF) is pleased to inform shareholders that it has signed an Option Agreement with Sunset Cove Mining (SSM-V) as regards Globex's 100% owned Houlton Woodstock Manganese Property located in Carleton County, New Brunswick.

Sunset may acquire 100% interest in the property subject to a 3% Gross Metal Royalty by, over a two year period, making $200,000 in cash payments ($100,000 received), issuing 4,000,000 post consolidated shares (2,000,000 obligatory), undertaking an aggregate of at least $1,000,000 in exploration expenditures and delivering a Preliminary Economic Assessment to Globex on or before the fourth anniversary of the Option Agreement.

The Houlton Woodstock Manganese Property includes the historical Moody Hill, Sharp Farm, Iron Ore Hill and Maple Hill manganese-iron zones. In July 1953, K.O.J. Sidwell, in a report titled "Preliminary Report on the National Management Limited Property at Woodstock, NB" reported, based upon limited diamond drilling and a gravity survey manganese iron, resources of 25 million tons at Iron Ore Hill, 10 million tons at Moody Hill and 8 million tons at Sharp Farm. Refer to Globex's August 31, 2010 press release for details. (The resources cited above are historical, are not a current mineral resource or reserve under NI 43-101 regulations, are not being considered by Globex as current resources or reserves, have not been reviewed by a Globex geologist and should not be relied upon.)

A significant drill campaign will be undertaken to outline the historical mineralized zones and delimit potential resources.

Manganese is essential in the production of stainless steel and as an alloying agent with aluminium but it has many other uses including in new alkaline batteries and rapidly developing lithium ion manganese batteries where MnO2 acts as the primary cathode material. This developing technology is promising as the magnesium-oxide components are abundant, non-toxic and provide better thermal stability.

The New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources has reviewed the proposed initial exploration program planned for this summer and has allocated a $40,000 matching grant to support the exploration.

Globex looks forward to the start of exploration on the property.

This press release was prepared and written by Jack Stoch, P. Geo., President and CEO of Globex in his capacity as a Qualified Person (Q.P.) under NI 43-101.

We Seek Safe Harbour. Foreign Private Issuer 12g3 - 2(b) CUSIP Number 379900 50 9

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information, this news release may contain certain "forward looking statements". These statements may involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity and performance to be materially different from the expectations and projections of Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. ("Globex"). No assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking information will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits Globex will derive therefrom. A more detailed discussion of the risks is available in the "Annual Information Form" filed by Globex on SEDAR at www.sedar.com

46,122,706 shares issued and outstanding

Contacts:

Jack Stoch, P.Geo., Acc.Dir.

President & CEO

Globex Mining Enterprises Inc.

819.797.5242

819.797.1470 (FAX)

info@globexmining.com

www.globexmining.com




CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - June 29, 2016) - Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center, located outside of Chicago in Lemont, Ill., has named SooMi Lee-Samuel, MD, MA, as the new medical director.

Timberline Knolls, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, is the nation's leading residential treatment center for women and adolescent girls struggling with eating disorders, addiction, trauma, mood and co-occurring disorders.

"My goal for every individual who comes to our program is to grow emotionally stronger and more self-assured," said Dr. Lee-Samuel. "We can't change past events, but we can change the future by guiding each resident to thoughtfully take stock of her own life and begin her journey to life-long recovery. Through intensive work with her treatment team, she can leave our care ready to take control of her life and fight for a better, healthier future."

As medical director, Dr. Lee-Samuel, who is board-certified in adult, adolescent and child psychiatry, supervises the medical staff and maintains the overall vision and direction for the treatment program. Serving as an important leader and member of the multi-disciplinary treatment teams at Timberline Knolls, she works collaboratively with primary/family therapists, expressive therapists, nutritionists and other clinical staff.

"Timberline Knolls is a place of self-growth and self-discovery not only for our residents but staff as well," adds Dr. Lee-Samuel. "Everyone who works here is committed to our mission and to the important work being done."

Prior to coming to Timberline Knolls, Dr. Lee-Samuel was affiliated with multiple inpatient psychiatric hospitals including Lakeshore Hospital, Provena Mercy, and Alexian Brothers, all in the Chicagoland area. She had a private practice for several years and was an assistant professor at the University of Chicago. She also served as the Director of Psychiatric Services for DCFS of Illinois.

Dr. Lee-Samuel attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts, the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. She is a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

About Timberline Knolls:

Timberline Knolls is a leading private residential treatment center for women and adolescent girls (ages 12 - 65+) with eating disorders, substance abuse, trauma, mood and co-occurring disorders. Located in suburban Chicago, residents receive excellent clinical care from a highly trained professional staff on a picturesque 43-acre wooded campus. For more information on Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center, call us at 877.257.9611. We are also on Facebook -- Timberline Knolls, LinkedIn -- Timberline Knolls, and Twitter -- @TimberlineToday.

The following files are available for download:

DrLeePhoto

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/6/28/11G104653/Images/soomilee-samuel-8c2a89a6b4269534b01eae1fd66e000b.jpg

Contact information

Mary Anne Morrow

mmorrow@timberlineknolls.com

Tel: 602-359-6989


FAIRFIELD (dpa-AFX) - General Electric Company (GE) said that it has received approval of its request to the Financial Stability Oversight Council or FSOC for rescission of GE Capital's designation as a nonbank Systemically Important Financial Institution or SIFI.



The FSOC's decision reflects the substantial reduction in GE Capital's size and risk profile and confirms that GE Capital does not pose any threat to U.S. financial stability. GE's request, filed at the end of March 2016, detailed the changes and dispositions GE Capital has made since being designated as a SIFI in 2013 and, in particular, since GE announced in April 2015 that it would become a more focused digital industrial company by dramatically reducing the size of GE Capital.



'This decision is a result of the transformation of GE Capital into a smaller, safer financial services company that meaningfully contributes to the success of GE's industrial businesses. We will continue to re-evaluate our capital requirements to reflect our reduced risk profile and right size our organization as we go forward,' said GE Capital Chairman and CEO Keith Sherin.



With the rescission of its designation as a nonbank SIFI, GE Capital's activities will no longer be subject to the supervision of the Federal Reserve or subject to the prudential standards set forth in the Dodd Frank Act and its implementing regulations, including minimum regulatory capital and liquidity requirements, submission of annual resolution plans, and regulatory reporting requirements.



GE Capital's non-U.S. operations will remain subject to the supervision of the U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority until GE Capital's international holding company no longer includes licensed credit institutions, a process that GE Capital is targeting to complete in the first half of 2017.



Since the announcement in April, 2015, GE Capital has signed agreements for the sale of approximately US$180 billion of businesses and has closed approximately US$156 billion of those transactions. GE Capital plans to have largely completed the process of selling approximately $200 billion of GE Capital businesses not linked to GE by the end of 2016.



GE Capital expects to deliver about $35 billion of dividends to GE under this plan and remains on track to pay $18 billion of these dividends to GE in 2016.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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OAKVILLE, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Saint Jean Carbon Inc. ("Saint Jean" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: SJL), a carbon science company engaged in the exploration of natural graphite properties and related carbon products, is pleased to announce the Company has entered into an agreement to acquire the Whabouchi Lithium Project ("The Property") located in the James Bay region of Quebec. The Property lies approximately 45 kilometres southeast of the village of Nemaska which is linked by a network of all-season roads to the mining centre of Chibougamau, 300 kilometers to the south. The area is also serviced by an airport and a network of high-voltage hydroelectric transmission lines.

Paul Ogilvie, CEO, commented: "We are pleased to add a lithium property with excellent discovery potential to our electric metals portfolio. Graphite is a significant material for energy storage, and lithium is the other side of the demand curve for energy storage. Both materials need to work together as a balanced chemistry; through the charge and discharge cycles as the lithium intercalates with the graphite. The lithium that we hope to find on the property may allow us to test our own materials and further our goal to be a future supplier of minerals to the growing lithium ion battery business".

The Property is comprised of one large block of 80 mineral claims covering 4300 hectares (43.0 km2) located on the southern margin of the volcano-sedimentary Mountain Lake belt. The Property has neighbours Hinterland Metals Inc. (C:HMI news, June 22, 2016) to the north and Durango Resources to the south. The Property is located approximately 15 kilometres southeast of Nemaska Lithium Inc.'s Whabouchi hard-rock (spodumene) lithium project. Nemaska's Whabouchi property contains measured plus indicated resources of 27,991,000 tonnes of 1.57 per cent lithium dioxide (V:NMX news, Jan 15, 2014). Nemaska recently released a positive feasibility study that includes the construction of a mine and concentrator at Whabouchi and a hydrometallurgical plant in Shawinigan, Quebec (V:NMX news, June 9, 2016).

The terms of the purchase of the 80 mineral licenses are a payment of $5,000.00 and the one-time issuance of 2,000,000 shares of the capital stock of the Company to the vendors upon TSX.V approval of the agreement.

The Company will immediately commence a compilation of historic geological data relevant to the Property. A multiphase exploration program on the property will commence in late July or early August, beginning with prospecting for and detailed mapping of exposures of pegmatite granites, to be followed by ground geophysical surveys and then, if the initial rock sampling and geophysical results are favourable, a diamond drilling program.

Christian Derosier, P.Geo., PhD., is the qualified person (QP) as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and, acting on behalf of Saint Jean Carbon, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.

About Saint Jean Carbon

Saint Jean is a publicly traded carbon science company, with interest in graphite mining claims in the province of Quebec in Canada. For the latest information on Saint Jean's properties and news please refer to the website: http://www.saintjeancarbon.com/

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Saint Jean Carbon Inc.

Paul Ogilvie, CEO and Director

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, concerning Saint Jean's business and affairs. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "intends" "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved".

These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, and are naturally subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances that may cause actual results to differ materially. The forward-looking statements in this news release assume, inter alia, that the conditions for completion of the Transaction, including regulatory and shareholder approvals, if necessary, will be met.

Although Saint Jean believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that these expectations will prove to be correct.

Statements of past performance should not be construed as an indication of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors, including those discussed above, could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Any such forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is provided as of the date of this press release, and Saint Jean assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

Contacts:

Saint Jean Carbon Inc.

info@saintjeancarbon.com

(905) 844-1200




TORONTO, ON -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- ScribbleLive, a global leader in content marketing, announced today a series of new hires and one key promotion to their executive leadership team. Leveraging company growth and momentum across the first quarter, over 50 percent revenue growth in 2016 Q1 vs 2015 Q1, and triple growth in new logos in H1 2016 vs H1 2015.

These executive appointments will further position the company as a leader in the content marketing space as it enables every business to deliver predictable results through content and technology.

Fueled by an accelerated expansion in international business over the next several years, ScribbleLive has expanded the role of Maged Mostafa to Managing Director for EMEA/APAC. His primary role will be to support and grow ScribbleLive's presence in Europe and ROW. Mostafa is an executive and entrepreneur with broad experience in developing, marketing, and sales of innovative products and advanced technologies worldwide.

Leading the executive appointments, Mike Hennessy will serve as ScribbleLive's Senior Vice President of North American Sales. Hennessy has over 15 years experience building high growth software companies and will be integral in leading the sales team's efforts to further generate revenue and capitalize on new areas for growth.

As the new Chief Product Officer, Rahul Nirula brings over eighteen years industry experience in product innovation and team engagement. He has a broad background in B2B technology working with industry leaders like Polar Mobile and Blackberry.

In addition, Maria Cartagena will join as Vice President of Talent. Cartagena will be based in the Toronto head office and comes to ScribbleLive from IntelliResponse Systems Inc., a [24]7 Company, where she served as Vice President of Human Resources and Administration. Cartagena's pragmatic leadership, passion for driving company culture, and strategic tactical initiatives will be instrumental to ScribbleLive.

"The addition of world class talent is representative of the growth of our company and scale of clients we serve in the global market," said CEO Vince Mifsud. "These appointments will be instrumental as ScribbleLive continues to push forward in our commitment to product innovation in the content marketing space. We expect to continue to build upon the solid leadership foundation as ScribbleLive progresses in the US and international markets."

ScribbleLive is poised to take on both US and international markets with these recent talent acquisitions and solidifies their position as a leader in data driven content marketing.

About ScribbleLive

ScribbleLive is the leading content marketing platform. Our platform is designed to help you make decisions with data, channel your creativity and deliver content effectively. We are trusted by over 800 leading brands, including American Express, Bank of America, ESPN, NBA, Oracle, Red Bull, and Visa.

Contact Information:

Blast PR on Behalf of ScribbleLive

KristinAnn Janishefski

Email Contact

310.560.6258




Data profusion prompts companies across verticals to seek ways to extract insightful information from it, Finds Frost & Sullivan

SAO PAULO, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --The copious amounts of structured and unstructured data being generated all over the world from multiple sources has transformed competitive environments. There is a marked change in enterprises' perception of data usage, collection and analysis as they are increasingly demanding Big Data projects to improve customer experience.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160629/384733

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Analysis of Big Data and Analytics Market in Latin America (http://www.frost.com/sublib/display-report.do?id=9AC2-00-15-00-00&src=PR), finds that the combined market of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia generated a revenue of $538.3 million in 2015 and is expected to reach $1,956.5 million by 2020 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.4 percent.

For complimentary access to more information on this research, please visit: http://corpcom.frost.com/forms/LA_PR_FValente_9AC2

Converting unstructured data, such as tweets and posts, as well as structured data into relevant information within the business environment has become critical to the decision-making process. Without high-quality data, it will be extremely challenging to provide a single view of the customers and their behavior, and to map all their points of interaction with the organization.

"The valuable insights generated by analytics give enterprises across verticals a significant competitive advantage and eventually, positive business outcomes," saidFrost & Sullivan Digital Transformation Consultant Leandro Scalize. "Big Data enjoys considerable acceptance in the financial vertical, mainly in risk management, credit scoring, customer analytics and fraud detection."

While companies are gradually becoming familiar with the term, not many know how to harness the benefits of Big Data. One of the main reasons for this is that most companies do not have much expertise in analyzing data to aid in business decisions. Additionally, companies tend to invest in Big Data projects to solve a specific business issue, but do not incorporate data analytics as part of a broader and pervasive strategy.

IT vendors need to present successful case studies and demonstrate the advantages of Big Data and analytics to potential customers. Companies need to be made aware that Big Data and analytics will help them identify customers and their purchase habits, segment them, establish better ways to interact with them, and customize offers according to their needs.

Once Internet of Things becomes more prevalent, connecting people and things, companies will also have to invest in analytics tools to glean actionable information from these sources. Alternatively, they will have to find the right partners to benefit from the Big Data being generated from connected devices.

Customer experience is one of the main application areas of Big Data. Verticals such as e-commerce and traditional retail focus greatly on understanding customers' buying behavior, while telecommunication companies focus on reducing the churn probability. For these purposes, these verticals have incorporated transactional and cadastral data into customer relationship management software.

"There will continue to be technological innovations regarding algorithms that will be applied in new use cases and user-friendly interfaces," noted Scalize. "In due course, Big Data will be integrated with historical data warehouses and will go a long way in changing the decision-making process."

Analysis of Big Data and Analytics Market in Latin America is part of the IT Services & Applications (http://ww2.frost.com/research/industry/information-communications-technologies/it-services-applications) Growth Partnership Service program. Frost & Sullivan's related studies include: Web Analytics = Online Analytics = Digital Analytics, OTT: A 5-part Survival & Growth Guide for CSPs, Conversational A.I.: It's A Bot Time for a New Conversation on Customer Engagement, Breathing New Life into Active Directory, and BDA State of the Market: Privacy "You Want Me on Your Data; You Need Me on Your Data". All studies included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.

The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation.

provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation. The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?

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E: francesca.valente@frost.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The 2016 World Food Prize laureates were announced at a ceremony at the US Department of State Tuesday. The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. Four distinguished international scientists were named the winners: Maria Andrade, Robert Mwanga, Jan Low, and Howarth Bois. Maria Andrade is senior sweet potato breeder in Cape Verde; Howarth Bouis is founder and director of HarvestPlus from Washington, D.C.; Jan Low is sweet potato science leader from Denver, Colorado; and Robert Mwanga is sweet potato breeder in Uganda. The State Department said the Laureates will receive their $250,000 award during the World Food Prize ceremony in October at the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, Iowa. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Adolescent smokers make a calculated decision by assessing the advantages and disadvantages of their habit, according to research.

Selangor, Malaysia, June 29, 2016 - (ACN Newswire) - Many young smokers in Malaysia start smoking when they are attending secondary school and rationalise that the benefits of smoking are greater than its risks, according to recent studies in the Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities (JSSH).Substance abuse involves the misuse or overdose of harmful substances such as tobacco, alcohol and drugs. Although such acts are prohibited in Malaysian schools, research suggests that some adolescents start experimenting with these substances when they are still in school.In one JSSH study, researchers asked 1,800 students between the ages of 12 and 17, who were from 18 secondary schools in five states of Malaysia, how they perceive substance abuse. The study focused on the perception of peers, rather than whether or not the respondents engaged in the activities themselves.The team found that the most common forms of substance abuse were smoking, followed by drinking alcohol, using marijuana and glue-sniffing. The results showed that more than half of the respondents knew up to three friends who were smokers and the majority of these smokers started their habit between the ages of 15 and 17. Furthermore, the study revealed that more than 30 percent of the respondents did not view their friends' smoking as an offence."This finding is particularly alarming because it implies that there is a lack of awareness among students regarding the dangers of such misdemeanours," says Professor Yuen Fook Chan of Universiti Teknologi MARA, who led the study.Adolescent smokers face various health risks and smoking has also been linked to illegal drug use, high-risk sexual activities, fights and suicide attempts. Past research suggests that young smokers are aware of these risks but continue to smoke.Why do students still smoke when they know the risks? In another JSSH study, led by Hizlinda Tohid of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, researchers try to answer this question. The team interviewed 26 Malaysian smokers who were 16 years old (including three former smokers), and found that adolescent smokers make a calculated decision by assessing the advantages and disadvantages of their habit.For example, they downplayed the health risks and focused on the perceived rewards such as having fun, popularity, stress relief and maintaining friendships or group-belonging. Dr Tohid points out that these perceived rewards were their focus of life, leading them to think that smoking was "worth the risk".The researchers hope that their findings will help clinicians and policy makers to develop better strategies to challenge the perceptions of young smokers in Malaysia.For more information about this research, please contact:Professor Chan Yuen FookFaculty of EducationUniversiti Teknologi MARACampus Section 17, 40200 Shah AlamSelangor Darul Ehsan, MalaysiaEmail: yuenfook@salam.uitm.edu.my; yuenfookchan@yahoo.com;Tel: +603 5522 7177; Mobile: +6017 358 6325Dr. Hizlinda TohidDepartment of Family Medicine, Faculty of MedicineUniversiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre,Jalan Yaacob Latiff, Bandar Tun Razak56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaEmail: hizlinda2202@gmail.comTel: +603 9145 6117; Mobile: +6019 222 210About Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities (JSSH)Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities (JSSH) is published by Universiti Putra Malaysia in English and is open to authors around the world regardless of nationality. It is published four times a year in March, June, September and December. Other Pertanika series include Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science (JTAS), and Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology (JST).JSSH aims to develop as a pioneer journal for the social sciences with a focus on emerging issues pertaining to the social and behavioural sciences as well as the humanities. Areas relevant to the scope of the journal include Social Sciences - Accounting, anthropology, Archaeology and history, Architecture and habitat, Consumer and family economics, Economics, Education, Finance, Geography, Law, Management studies, Media and communication studies, Political sciences and public policy, Population studies, Psychology, Sociology, Technology management, Tourism; Humanities - Arts and culture, Dance, Historical and civilisation studies, Language and Linguistics, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Religious studies, Sports.The journal publishes original academic articles dealing with research on issues of worldwide relevance. The journals cater for scientists, professors, researchers, post-docs, scholars and students who wish to promote and communicate advances in the fields of Social Sciences & Humanities research.Website: http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/The papers are available from the following links:http://bit.ly/293q6f6http://bit.ly/292tiXOFor more information about the journal, contact:The Chief Executive Editor (UPM Journals)Head, Journal Division, UPM PressOffice of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (R&I)IDEA Tower 2, UPM-MDTC Technology CentreUniversiti Putra Malaysia43400 Serdang, SelangorMalaysia.Phone: +603 8947 1622 | +6016 217 4050Email: nayan@upm.myDate of Release: 29 June 2016.AcknowledgementsThe Chief Executive Editor, UPM JournalsPress release distributed by ResearchSEA for Pertanika Journal.Source: Pertanika JournalCopyright 2016 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
RESTON, VA--(Marketwired - June 29, 2016) - Carahsoft Technology Corp., the trusted government IT solutions provider, and Samsung Electronics America, Inc. today announced a distribution agreement to bring Samsung's industry-leading mobile security platform to the public sector market. Under the agreement, Carahsoft will make Samsung's Knox security software suite* available via its General Services Administration Schedule and SEWP contract vehicles. Carahsoft will also support Samsung's public sector channel organization by driving demand for Samsung Knox in government and education markets.

"Security is paramount to many government agencies and Samsung Knox is a defense-grade security platform that is perfectly suited to address the government's technology needs," said Keith Fuentes, Vice President, Knox Global Sales, Samsung Business. "Samsung Knox meets and exceeds the tightest security requirements and we're excited to be bringing this industry-leading solution to more U.S. government agencies through the GSA Schedule, SEWP Contract and our agreement with Carahsoft."

The GSA Information Technology Schedule 70 and the NASA SEWP are contract vehicles obtained by companies to sell IT products and services to the U.S. government, following a rigorous process in which the government carefully evaluates a company's proficiency and suitability for providing products and/or services to the federal government. The GSA Schedule is the largest, most widely used acquisition vehicle in the federal government and provides direct access to products, services, and solutions from more than 5,000 certified industry partners. The SEWP contract consists of 146 prime contractors, including 120 small businesses and has an outstanding track record of serving up fresh technology for federal agencies.

"As the government continues to embrace enterprise mobility, ensuring platform security is a must," said Carahsoft vice president Terry Drinkwine, who oversees the Samsung Knox Solutions team at Carahsoft. "Samsung Knox offers a proven, highly rated and secure system for our government enterprise customers and we are pleased to add these solutions to our GSA Schedule and make them available to our reseller ecosystem."

Samsung Knox is an award-winning, defense-grade security platform that provides multi-level hardware and software security and container solutions with cloud-based enterprise mobility management services. Knox solutions* are available immediately through Carahsoft and its reseller partners via GSA Schedule No. GS-35F-0119Y and SEWP Contracts NNG15SC03B and NNG15SC27B.

For more information, register for "Better Together: Government and Samsung Knox," a webcast sponsored by Samsung and Carahsoft at 2 p.m., Thursday, July 21, 2016; or contact the Samsung Knox team at Carahsoft at 844-7SAMSNG (844-772-6764) or samsung@carahsoft.com. For more information on Samsung Knox, please visit https://www.samsungknox.com/en.

*Knox Security Software Suite includes Knox Workspace and Knox Premium

Additional Resources:

Gartner Report: Mobile Device Security: A Comparison of Platforms

Knox Workspace Overview

Knox Security Certifications and Validations

About Carahsoft

Carahsoft Technology Corp. is the trusted Government IT solutions provider. As a top-ranked GSA Schedule Contract holder, Carahsoft serves as the master government aggregator for many of its best-of-breed technology vendors, supporting an extensive ecosystem of manufacturers, value-added resellers, system integrators, and consulting partners committed to helping government agencies select and implement the best solution at the best possible value.

The company's dedicated Solutions Divisions proactively market, sell and distribute Samsung KNOX, VMware, Symantec, EMC, Adobe, F5 Networks, Open Source, HPE Software, SAP, and Innovative and Intelligence products and services, among others. Carahsoft is consistently recognized by its partners as a top revenue producer, and is listed annually among the industry's fastest growing firms by CRN, Inc., Washington Technology, The Washington Post, Washington Business Journal, and SmartCEO. Visit us at www.carahsoft.com.

Contact:

Mary Lange

703-431-8485

Email contact




BENTONVILLE (dpa-AFX) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) is offering a free 30-day trial of its ShippingPass subscription program. In order to better compete with Amazon.com (AMZN), Wal-Mart has introduced the $49-a-year ShippingPass subscription service last year, which gives a user unlimited two-day shipping.



Existing customers having ShippingPass can also take part in the deal - they will be given an extra month for free and will be informed through an email. ShippingPass' price is less than half the price of Amazon's rival Prime subscription service.



Amazon Prime is an annual membership program that costs $99 a year and offers a similar 30-day free trial. Prime members can enjoy unlimited free two-day shipping on more than 30 million items across all product categories.



In addition to fast, free shipping, Prime members have access to unlimited streaming of movies and TV episodes, songs, and curated playlists as well as stations with Prime Music.



Wal-Mart said ShippingPass customers can take advantage of its low prices and fast shipping with the added benefits of no minimum order requirements and free online or in-store returns.



Wal-Mart's rollbacks typically last 90 days or longer while supplies last. According to the company, starting July 1 and in the following weeks, customers will be able to see some amazing items at great prices kicking in.



'In the spirit of Independence Day, the prices we'll be offering will be available for anybody: Liberty and Low Prices for All,' Wal-Mart said.



The retail giant also said it will be introducing new ways to connect its app, site and store for customers in the coming weeks.



In early June, Wal-Mart said it will test a grocery delivery service with ride-sharing services Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. within the next two weeks in Denver and Phoenix.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- The Ontario Energy Association (OEA) Board of Directors is pleased to announce that they have completed the executive search for their new President and CEO. Effective July 1, 2016, Vince Brescia will be joining the Association as the new leader of the OEA.

"It is my pleasure to announce Vince Brescia as the new President and CEO of the OEA," said David McFadden, OEA Chair. "Vince brings the OEA a wealth of knowledge and previous experience involving public policy development, association management and the Ontario energy sector. I believe his extensive experience will bring value and leadership to the OEA as we continue to unravel complex energy challenges, together."

Mr. Brescia most recently served as President of Wyse Meter Solutions. From 2000 to 2013, He was President and CEO of the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario. Previously his career included senior roles with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Greater Toronto Home Builders Association, LIUNA Local 183, and Clayton Research Associates Ltd. Vince also spent seven years working at Queen's Park, with positions in the Ontario Ministries of Finance, Treasury Board, and Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Mr. Brescia currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations, and has previously served as Chair of Toronto Hydro Energy Services Inc. and as a Director for Toronto Hydro Corporation and the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation.

"I look forward to the opportunity to lead the OEA as we work with our partners in government to tackle issues of strategic importance to our members," said Brescia. "With excellent staff and support in place, a strong board, and engaged membership, the OEA will continue to help shape our energy future for a stronger Ontario."

About the OEA: The Ontario Energy Association (OEA) aspires to be the most credible and trusted voice of the energy sector. We earn our reputation by being an integral and influential part of energy policy development and decision-making in Ontario. We represent Ontario's energy leaders that span the full diversity of the energy industry. Together, we are working to build a stronger energy future for Ontario.

Contacts:

Ontario Energy Association

Gibb McGugan

Manager, Marketing & Communications

416.799.7248

gibb@energyontario.ca

www.energyontario.ca




EDMONTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Stollery Children's Hospital has become the first Alberta hospital to join Upopolis, an innovative social support platform and networking tool helping young patients safely and securely access kid-friendly medical content and stay connected to their families, friends and schools while undergoing care.

Founded and created by Kids' Health Links Foundation (KHLF) and powered by TELUS Health, Upopolis.com is Canada's only private, secure and trusted online social network designed for kids and teens receiving medical care in hospitals and clinics. Upopolis differs from typical social networks by delivering therapeutic benefits for the youth who use it. These benefits include being able to access medical content written in kid-friendly language so patients can better understand their diagnosis and treatment plan; and enabling connections with other patients who share similar diagnoses through public and private discussion groups, which can lead to new friendships, shared experiences and new interests that form a broader support network for the patient.

"The Stollery has among the highest inpatient volumes in the country and serves a diverse patient population from across western Canada," said Lois Wolgemuth, manager child life services, Stollery Children's Hospital. "Upopolis can provide online social support for our patients and help them connect with others in a safe way, stay connected to their communities, and relate to other children and youth on a similar health care journey."

In addition to remaining securely and privately connected with networks outside of the hospital or treatment centre while undergoing care, Upopolis also provides patients with familiar features of social networking such as personal profiles, newsfeed, instant chat, photo uploading and creating spaces based on common interests and/or diagnoses.

"Through the overwhelming support of TELUS as our technology partner, as well as our many individual and corporate supporters, today over 1,700 kids in children's hospitals across Canada have been able to take advantage of Upopolis," said Basile Papaevangelou, chairman and founder of Kids' Health Links Foundation. "Having Stollery Children's Hospital join our Upopolis family puts us a major step closer to our goal of bringing Upopolis to all Canadian children's hospitals, of which there are now only 3 remaining. Our bigger vision is making Upopolis available in every medical treatment facility that serves children and teens across the country, and we are forging ahead towards making that a reality."

KHLF and TELUS Health launched the first Upopolis program in 2007 at McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton. Since then it has expanded to 10 additional hospitals and health organizations across Canada. The Upopolis team and TELUS Health also work together to adapt the program to meet the specific needs of each facility, whether adding French language capabilities or information specific to mental health.

"Staying connected with family and friends while undergoing treatment is an important part of any healing process," said Paul Lepage, President, TELUS Health. "We strongly believe that technology drives better health outcomes for Canadians and by powering Upopolis with our innovative technology we not only help them learn more about their health, but also give caregivers comfort in knowing that young patients can experience these meaningful connections in a safe and secure environment throughout their care cycle."

About Alberta Health Services

Alberta Health Services is the provincial health authority responsible for planning and delivering health supports and services for more than four million adults and children living in Alberta. Its mission is to provide a patient-focused, quality health system that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans.

About TELUS Health

TELUS Health is a leader in telehomecare, electronic medical and health records, consumer health, benefits management and pharmacy management. TELUS Health solutions give health authorities, providers, physicians, patients and consumers the power to turn information into better health outcomes. For more information about TELUS Health, please visit telushealth.com.

About the Kids' Health Links Foundation

The Kids' Health Links Foundation was founded by Basile Papaevangelou and his daughter Christina to foster initiatives focused on alleviating the stress, isolation and loneliness for kids and teens undergoing medical care so that they might be better able to overcome traumatic medical experiences. These initiatives include: Upopolis -- targeting healthy connections for paediatric patients; Upedia -- providing resources supporting child life specialists; and UMIND -- connecting professionals dedicated to child and youth mental health. For more information about the Kids' Health Links Foundation please visit: kidshealthlinks.org.

Contacts:

Sharman Hnatiuk

Stollery Children's Hospital

780-613-8820

sharman.hnatiuk@albertahealthservices.ca



Krista Naugler

Kids' Health Links Foundation

902-885-5002

krista@kidshealthlinks.org



Jill Yetman

TELUS Media Relations

416-992-2639

jill.yetman@telus.com




The global organic baby food market is expected grow at a CAGR of more than 11% during the period 2016-2020, according to Technavio's latest report.

In this report, Technavio covers the market outlook and growth prospects of the globalorganicbaby foodmarketfor 2016-2020. The report categorizes the market into four product segments, and five distribution channels, providing a detailed analysis of each individual segment.

"Increasing awareness about the benefits of organic food, growing urbanization, and larger disposable incomes have contributed to the growth of this market. The organic baby food market is expected to experience heightened demand in emerging economies such as India and China," says Arushi Thakur, an industry expert at Technavio for food research.

Technavio's research study segments the global organic baby food market into the following regions:

Americas

APAC

EMEA

Americas: rising urbanization to boost growth of the market

The organic baby food market in the Americas is expected to reach USD 2.7 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of over 11%. In 2015, the US dominated the organic baby food market in the Americas in terms of revenue. The organic prepared baby food segment saw the highest demand while the demand for organic milk formula is also rising.

Numerous regional players have entered the market with innovative offerings. In 2013, Pure Spoon, a US-based company that provides organic food for children, introduced a range of high pressure-packed organic purees. In high-pressure packaging (HPP), pressure, instead of heat, is used to eliminate harmful microorganisms. In 2014, Little Spoon Organic, another US-based company, launched its high pressure packaged organic baby food blends in flavors including apple, mango, and pear.

Improved living standards and a rise in the number of middle-class families with higher disposable incomes are factors that have resulted in the increased ability to spend on organic baby foods. Latin America is one of the most urbanized regions in the world, with nearly 9 out of 10 people expected to live in urban areas by 2050. High annual incomes in the area, have made organic baby food more affordable.

Ask for a sample of this report: http://goo.gl/jm9C30

APAC: fastest growing market for organic baby food

The market in APAC is expected to reach USD 2.6 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of over 16%. The organic baby food market in APAC is growing primarily due to increasing awareness about the benefits of these products. Government support for regulating organic farming in many countries and increasing product availability have also had a positive impact on the demand for organic baby food.

A large number of children in the age group of 0-4 years too, has contributed to the demand for baby food in general and organic baby food in particular. With the Indian economy estimated to grow at 7% and the Chinese economy at 7.8% year-over-year, APAC accounts for two of the fastest growing economies in the world. Nearly 45% of the population in the region was from the urban areas in 2015, and we estimate this to increase to 56% by 2030 and 64% by 2050. Rising disposable incomes and urbanization will further boost the market in this region during the forecast period.

EMEA: growing awareness about the benefits of organic food to propel growth

The market in EMEA is expected to reach USD 2.5 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of over 7%. The organic baby food market in EMEA will see growth over the next five years primarily due to the growing demand for organic prepared baby food and organic milk formula.

According to WHO reports, the number of breastfed babies in Europe is far below the global average, which gives organic milk formula manufacturers a significant opportunity for growth. Supermarkets and hypermarkets are the primary distribution channel for the organic baby food market in Europe. However, the online channel too is gaining popularity among consumers in countries like Germany and France. "Rising urbanization, increasing disposable incomes, and growing awareness about the benefits of organic food are some factors that will propel the growth of the market in this region," says Arushi.

The top vendors in the global organic baby food market highlighted in the report are:

Abbott

Danone

Hero

Nestle

The Hein-Celestial Group

Browse Related Reports:

Organic Packaged Food Market in the US 2016-2020

Baby Food and Formula Market in the US 2016-2020

Organic Food and Beverages Market in Europe 2016-2020

Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160629005074/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.technavio.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump presidential race is too close to call, according to a national poll released Wednesday. Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,610 registered voters nationwide. Majority of them said neither candidate would be a good president and that the campaign has increased hatred and prejudice in the nation. The results of the June 21-27 national poll show Clinton edging Trump by 42-40 percent. This shows Trump closing the gap of a 45-41 percent advantage in favor of Clinton in the beginning of June. Looking at who would best handle important issues, more voters say Trump would be better creating jobs, and more effective handling ISIS. But in handling immigration, Clinton would be better, they feel. Also, Clinton would better respond to an international crisis; they would trust Clinton more on sending U.S. troops overseas, while majority would trust Clinton more to make the right decisions regarding nuclear weapons. Clinton would do a better job getting things done in Washington than Trump, they said. 'The 2016 election has increased the level of hatred and prejudice in the U.S.,' 61 percent of the voters say. Of that, 67 percent blame the Trump campaign and 16 percent blame the Clinton campaign. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Tuesday, the Florida authorities reported its first case of a baby born with the birth defect microcephaly. The Florida Department of Health confirmed that a Zika-infected child was born in Florida whose mother had a travel-related case of Zika. The mother, a citizen of Haiti, came to Florida to deliver her baby. The department said it is working with the family to connect the child to services through its Early Steps program. CDC recommends that women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant postpone travel to Zika affected areas. A statement from Governor Rick Scott's office confirmed the news. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

For Immediate Release 29 June 2016

PowerShares Global Funds Ireland plc

Re: Retirement of Director

Karen Dunn Kelley, Non-Executive Director of PowerShares Global Funds Ireland plc (the "Company") has decided to retire from the Board of the Company. Once the exact date of her retirement is established a further announcement will be made.

The Board would like to thank Karen for her invaluable contribution during her service.

Karen remains an employee of Invesco.

Re: Resignation of Director

Doug Sharp, Non-Executive Director of PowerShares Global Funds Ireland plc (the "Company") has decided to resign from the Board of the Company. Once the exact date of his resignation is established a further announcement will be made.

The Board would like to thank Doug for his invaluable contribution during his service.

Doug remains an employee of Invesco.

Re: Appointment of Directors

Subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Ireland, the Directors of PowerShares Global Funds Ireland plc (the "Company") wish to announce the intention to appoint Mr Bernhard Langer and Mr Graeme Proudfoot as Non-Executive Directors of the Company. Further announcements will follow as soon as the dates of appointment are confirmed.

Bernhard Langer

Bernhard Langer became Chief Investment Officer (CIO) for the Invesco Quantitative Strategies team at Invesco in January 2009 and is responsible for the quantitative equities investment approach, related products and clients. He oversees more than 40 investment professionals worldwide, with team members in New York, Boston, Frankfurt, Melbourne and Tokyo. Mr. Langer began his investment career in 1989 with Bayerische Vereinsbank, moving to their asset management function where he led the strategy team from 1992 until his departure. He joined Invesco in 1994 as a portfolio manager for equities and became head of equities in 1996 and CIO for Germany in 2000. In 2002, he assumed responsibility for the Quantitative Strategies Group (International).

Graeme Proudfoot

Graeme Proudfoot is Managing Director - EMEA, responsible for the good governance of Invesco's activities within the EMEA region. He also leads the EMEA region's engagement in the public affairs arena with governments and regulators across Europe. Additionally, he is responsible for Invesco Perpetual Life and the Specialist Funds business. Mr. Proudfoot joined Invesco in 1992 as a legal advisor. He has held various roles within the Invesco Group, including Group Company Secretary of Invesco plc and Company Solicitor of AMVESCAP plc. Subsequently, he became General Counsel of Invesco Global, with responsibility for legal affairs across jurisdictions in the UK, Europe, Asia and South America. He was later appointed Managing Director of Invesco's Specialist Funds Division. He has also served on the board of a listed investment company and of a US '40 Act fund board. Prior to joining Invesco, Mr. Proudfoot began his career at Wilde Sapte, Solicitors, practicing as a corporate finance lawyer in London and New York.

Mr Langer and Mr Proudfoot have never:

had any unspent convictions in relation to indictable offences; or been a director of any company or partnership which, while he was a director with an executive function or partner at the time of or within the 12 months preceding such events, been declared bankrupt, went into receivership, liquidation, administration or voluntary arrangements; or been subject to any official public incrimination and/or sanctions by statutory or regulatory authorities (including designated professional bodies); or been disqualified by a court from acting as a director of a company or from acting in the management or conduct of affairs of any company.

No information is required to be disclosed pursuant to LR9.6.13

Enquiries:
CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Spartan Energy Corp. ("Spartan" or the "Company") (TSX: SPE) is pleased to announce that it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire an aggregate of 1,650 boe/d (99% oil) of light oil production in southeast Saskatchewan in two separate transactions for a total aggregate purchase price of $71.7 million. The acquisitions are consistent with Spartan's strategy of capitalizing on its strong financial position during the current period of depressed commodity prices by consolidating within its core southeast Saskatchewan focus area. The characteristics of each acquisition are described below.

GREATER CORNING-MANOR ACQUISITION

Spartan is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive agreement (the "Acquisition Agreement") with an arm's length oil producer providing for the acquisition by Spartan of approximately 1,500 boe/d (99% light oil and liquids) of low-decline production focused in the Alida, Tilston and Souris Valley fairways of southeast Saskatchewan (the "Corning-Manor Acquisition"). The total consideration for the Corning-Manor Acquisition is approximately $62.2 million, subject to customary closing adjustments. The Corning-Manor Acquisition is expected to be completed on June 30, 2016. The acquisition will be funded through indebtedness drawn on Spartan's existing credit facilities.

The Assets include all required production infrastructure, 1,141 km2 of proprietary 3D seismic and 547 km of proprietary 2D seismic. Spartan estimates the fair value of the acquired seismic to be approximately $7.5 million. Spartan has initially identified 42.5 net open-hole Mississippian drilling locations, all of which deliver economic returns at a US$35 WTI oil price.

The Corning-Manor Acquisition is accretive on key measures, including 9% on forecasted 12 month cash flow and 25% on proved producing reserves, and provides a low decline, stable production base with upside drilling and optimization opportunities. The following tables set forth attributes and metrics in respect of the Corning-Manor Acquisition.

Acquisition Summary

Purchase Price $62.2 million ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current Production 1,500 boe/d (99% oil) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proved Developed Producing Reserves(1) 4,676 Mboe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proved Developed Producing Reserves NPV10(1) $63.4 million ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proved plus Probable Reserves(1) 7,176 Mboe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proved plus Probable Reserves NPV10(1) $91.6 million ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Month Cash Flow(2) $11 million ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Annual Decline Rate 12% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Land 66,776 net acres ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Drilling Locations 42.5 net open-hole locations ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Acquisition Metrics Current Production $41,467 per boe/d ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proved Developed Producing Reserves(1) $13.30 per boe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proved plus Probable Reserves(1) $8.67 per boe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proved Developed Producing Reserves NPV10(1) 0.98x ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proved plus Probable Reserves NPV10(1) 0.68x ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Month Cash Flow from Operations(2) 5.6x ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Month Production Accretion(2) 14% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Month Cash Flow Accretion(2) 9% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PDP Reserves Accretion(2) 25% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2P Reserves Accretion(2) 13%

Notes:

1. Gross Company Reserves. Reserves were prepared by GLJ Petroleum Consultants ("GLJ") effective December 31, 2015 using the GLJ December 31, 2015 forecast prices and costs in accordance with National Instrument 51-101 - Standards of Disclosure of Oil and Gas Activities and the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation Handbook (the "GLJ Report"). Gross Company Reserves means the company's working interest reserves before the calculation of royalties, and before the consideration of the company's royalty interests. 2. Projected cash flows from operations, cash flow accretion and production accretion based on 12 month forecast production and cash flows using a US$50 WTI oil price and $0.76 Cdn/US FX, assuming cash flow from the applicable asset is reinvested in drilling during the period.

WINMORE ACQUISITION

On May 30, 2016, Spartan closed the acquisition of certain assets in its core Winmore area (the "Winmore Acquisition") in southeast Saskatchewan. The assets acquired pursuant to the Winmore Acquisition are producing approximately 150 boe/d and include 16.6 net sections of land. Spartan has identified 29.7 net economic open-hole drilling locations on the acquired assets.

The Winmore area has recently been a key driver of growth for Spartan with wells significantly outperforming Spartan's internal type curves. In addition, the consolidation of working interests in portions of the pool will allow Spartan to accelerate future waterflood projects in the area. Total consideration for the Winmore Acquisition was approximately $9.5 million, comprised of cash in the amount of $2.2 million and 2.3 million common shares of Spartan.

BANK LINE REDETERMINATION

Following the completion of Spartan's borrowing base redetermination, we are pleased to announce that the syndicate of lenders underwriting the Company's credit facilities have determined to renew Spartan's credit facilities at $150 million. The next borrowing base redetermination is scheduled for October 31, 2016.

ACQUISITION SUMMARY

Upon completion of the above mentioned acquisitions, together with the recently completed acquisition of Wyatt Oil & Gas Ltd., Spartan will have successfully closed three acquisitions consolidating positions in our southeast Saskatchewan core area. A summary of the three acquisitions is as follows:

-- 2,980 boe/d of light oil production (87% oil and liquids) -- 106,572 net acres of land (57 % Crown) -- 234 net drilling locations -- 8.7 MMboe of Proved Developed Producing reserves -- 23.0 MMboe of Proved plus Probable reserves -- $23.3mm est. 12 month cash flow -- Total purchase price of $148.7 million -- No incremental G&A

Spartan has maintained a disciplined approach to acquisitions through the recent downturn. Moving forward, Spartan will continue to seek out acquisition opportunities that deliver high quality assets at an attractive valuation, while at the same time protecting our balance sheet flexibility. Spartan also continues to prudently manage its future abandonment liability obligations, and the 2016 Acquisitions are neutral to Spartan's existing licensee liability rating in Saskatchewan.

OUTLOOK

Through 2015 and the first half of 2016, Spartan's focus has been preserving our balance sheet flexibility by spending within cash flow and to take advantage of acquisition opportunities afforded by the downturn in the commodity cycle. We remained diligent through this time period, focusing on acquiring high quality oil assets at a price that will deliver long term value to our shareholders.

Spartan's strategy for the remainder of 2016 remains unchanged. Following the completion of the 2016 Acquisitions, we will have approximately $101 million drawn on our $150 million credit facility. We continue to believe that the current environment lends itself to preserving capital to deploy on accretive acquisitions, and we intend to continue to preserve our balance sheet strength by maintaining spending within cash flow in 2016. We will maintain flexibility in our capital program and adjust spending based on prevailing commodity prices, while continuing to seek out opportunities to add additional long term value through accretive acquisitions.

READER ADVISORY

BOE Disclosure. The term barrels of oil equivalent ("BOE") may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A BOE conversion ratio of six thousand cubic feet per barrel (6mcf/bbl) of natural gas to barrels of oil equivalence is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. All BOE conversions in the report are derived from converting gas to oil in the ratio mix of six thousand cubic feet of gas to one barrel of oil.

Forward-Looking Statements. Certain information included in this press release constitutes forward-looking information under applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information typically contains statements with words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "estimate", "propose", "project" or similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Forward-looking information in this press release may include, but is not limited to, statements concerning expected terms of the Acquisition, expected closing date of the Acquisition, expected production and cash flow related to the Acquisition, expected number of future drilling locations related to the Acquisition, future capital spending levels, future balance sheet flexibility and future acquisition opportunities. Statements relating to "reserves" are also deemed to be forward-looking statements, as they involve the implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions, that the reserves described exist in the quantities predicted or estimated and that the reserves can be profitably produced in the future. Actual reserve values may be greater than or less than the estimates provided herein.

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Spartan, including expectations and assumptions concerning the ability to complete the Acquisition on the terms and on the timing as contemplated by management, the assumption that all necessary conditions will be met for the Acquisition including that all third party, regulatory and shareholder approvals will be received, the success of future drilling, development and completion activities, the performance of existing wells, the performance of new wells, the availability and performance of facilities and pipelines, the geological characteristics of Spartan's properties, the successful application of drilling, completion and seismic technology, prevailing weather and break-up conditions, commodity prices, royalty regimes and exchange rates, the application of regulatory and licensing requirements, the availability of capital, labour and services, the creditworthiness of industry partners and the ability to source and complete asset acquisitions.

Although Spartan believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because Spartan can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, risks associated with the oil and gas industry in general (e.g., operational risks in development, exploration and production; the uncertainty of reserve estimates; the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production, costs and expenses, and health, safety and environmental risks), constraint in the availability of services, commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations, adverse weather or break-up conditions and uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures. These and other risks are set out in more detail in Spartan's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2015.

Forward-looking information is based on a number of factors and assumptions which have been used to develop such information but which may prove to be incorrect. Although Spartan believes that the expectations reflected in its forward- looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information because Spartan can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. In addition to other factors and assumptions which may be identified in this press release, assumptions have been made regarding and are implicit in, among other things, the timely receipt of any required regulatory approvals (including Court and shareholder approvals) and the satisfaction of all conditions to the completion of the transaction. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which have been used.

The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof and Spartan undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable securities laws. The forward looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Non-IFRS Measures. This press release provides certain financial measures that do not have a standardized meaning prescribedby IFRS. These non-IFRS financial measures may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Cash flow from operations is not a recognized measure under IFRS. Management believes that in addition to net income (loss), cash flow from operations is a useful supplemental measures that demonstrates the Company's ability to generate the cash necessary to repay debt or fund future capital investment. Investors are cautioned, however, that this measure should not be construed as an alternative to net income (loss) determined in accordance with IFRS as an indication of Spartan's performance. Spartan's method of calculating this measure may differ from other companies and accordingly, they may not be comparable to measures used by other companies. Cash flow from operations is calculated by adjusting net income (loss) for other income, unrealized gains or losses on financial derivative instruments, transaction costs, accretion, share based compensation, impairment and depletion and depreciation.

Drilling Locations. This press release discloses drilling inventory which can be subdivided in three categories: (i) proved locations; (ii) probable locations; and (iii) unbooked locations. Proved locations and probable locations are derived from the Sproule Report and account for drilling locations that have associated proved and/or probable reserves, as applicable. Unbooked locations are internal estimates based on our prospective acreage and an assumption as to the number of wells that can be drilled per section based on industry practice and internal review. Unbooked locations do not have attributed reserves or resources. Of the 72.2 total net drilling locations identified in this press release, 6.7 are proved locations, 17.7 are probable locations and 47.8 are unbooked locations. Unbooked locations have been identified by management as an estimation of our multi-year drilling activities based on evaluation of applicable geologic, seismic, engineering, production and reserves information. There is no certainty that we will drill all unbooked drilling locations and if drilled there is no certainty that such locations will result in additional oil and gas reserves, resources or production. The drilling locations on which we actually drill wells will ultimately depend upon the availability of capital, regulatory approvals, seasonal restrictions, oil and natural gas prices, costs, actual drilling results, additional reservoir information that is obtained and other factors. While certain of the unbooked drilling locations have been de-risked by drilling existing wells in relative close proximity to such unbooked drilling locations, other unbooked drilling locations are farther away from existing wells where management has less information about the characteristics of the reservoir and therefore there is more uncertainty whether wells will be drilled in such locations and if drilled there is more uncertainty that such wells will result in additional oil and gas reserves, resources or production.

Original Oil in Place. Original oil in place (OOIP) is the equivalent to Discovered Petroleum Initially In Place (DPIIP) for the purposes of this press release. DPIIP is defined as quantity of hydrocarbons that are estimated to be in place within a known accumulation, plus those estimated quantities in accumulations yet to be discovered. There is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of the resources.

Contacts:

Spartan Energy Corp.

Richard (Rick) McHardy

President and Chief Executive Officer



Spartan Energy Corp.

Tim Sweeney

Manager, Business Development



Spartan Energy Corp.

Suite 500, 850 - 2nd Street S.W.

Calgary, Alberta T2P 0R8

(403) 355-8920

403.355.2779 (FAX)

info@spartanenergy.ca

www.spartanenergy.ca




FALLS CHURCH, VA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- OpsGenie, an emerging player in the critical area of IT alerting and on-call management, has raised $10 million in Series A financing from Battery Ventures, a global investment firm. OpsGenie will use the funds to continue to tackle the biggest challenges faced by customers in providing "always-on" services, and specifically to continue investing in its product and building out its go-to-market capabilities. As part of the financing, Battery General Partner Neeraj Agrawal and Battery Vice President Paul Drews will join OpsGenie's board.

The company's products operate against the backdrop of sophisticated, modern datacenters in which a web of "always on" servers, applications and other technology -- some on-premise, and some housed in the cloud -- continuously throw off high-stakes alerts that must be managed by various IT teams. New software development trends like the move to "microservices" and agile development also means software is being developed faster today, which creates more opportunities for mishaps -- and a need to alert the right people to fix software problems. OpsGenie's technology integrates with other key monitoring and ticketing tools to serve as a central repository for this data, and then routes alerts to the appropriate teams and systems.

Teams can even access these alerts through new collaboration tools like Slack and HipChat, then send them to other members who can take action to quickly fix IT problems. OpsGenie's tools -- including a Web interface and a mobile app -- can also manage on-call schedules and escalations.

"OpsGenie integrates with many operations tools and services, and provides flexible, easy-to-use tools to help DevOps and other stakeholders identify that critical applications or services might be down, and figuring out the right people to notify at the right time to prevent costly problems," said Berkay Mollamustafaoglu, OpsGenie's CEO and co-founder. "Today's companies have invested billions of dollars in monitoring tools to detect potential IT problems, but they haven't paid enough attention to how to smartly react to, and address, the flood of alerts they're receiving. OpsGenie is about what happens next."

OpsGenie was founded in 2012 and already has over 1,400 customers around the globe, including Unbounce, SUBWAY Restaurants, Looker, Bleacher Report, Politico and HubSpot.

"OpsGenie gave my team the work-life balance we were so desperately seeking," said Michael Irwin, manager of client services at Politico. "Before, if you were on-call, you were tied to your email. Now OpsGenie allows us to be on-call, but makes it less invasive for our team."

Added Mike Thorpe, infrastructure squad manager at Unbounce, a leading marketing-tech company: "OpsGenie has a robust alerting and on-call management platform, which allowed us to expand and design our decentralized product-support operation the way we wanted."

Neeraj Agrawal, of Battery, said IT-monitoring has turned into a critical, growing industry with many sub-sectors, including monitoring technologies for servers, applications, websites and databases. "We are excited to partner with Berkay and the OpsGenie team, whose service cuts across all these types of notifications and alerts to deliver critical information to teams quickly," Agrawal said. "The company has made significant progress to date despite only modest spending on marketing -- we think there is a real, pent-up demand for OpsGenie's product, and look forward to fueling the company's growth."

OpsGenie has offices in the Washington D.C. area, Boston and Ankara, Turkey.

About OpsGenie

OpsGenie is an alerting and on-call management solution for development and operations teams. We provide the tools needed to design actionable alerts, manage on-call schedules and escalations, and ensure the right people are notified of IT incidents at the right time, using multiple notification methods.

About Battery Ventures

Battery strives to invest in cutting-edge, category-defining businesses in markets including software and services, Web infrastructure, consumer Internet, mobile and industrial technologies. Founded in 1983, the firm backs companies at stages ranging from seed to private equity and invests globally from offices in Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area and Israel. Follow the firm on Twitter @BatteryVentures, visit our website at www.battery.com and find a full list of Battery's portfolio companies here.

Media Contact

Megan Maxwell

GMK Communications

megan@gmkcommunications.com

650-810-6658




LANGLEY, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- First West Credit Union today announced the launch of Mobile Pay, a new technology that makes paying for purchases even simpler for people on the go.

Similar to using a contactless debit card, Mobile Pay gives users the ability to make purchases using their Android smartphone at any Canadian retailer with Interac Flash capability. Notably, First West is the first financial institution in B.C. and one of four in Canada to offer Mobile Pay.

"We're thrilled to be among the first financial institutions in Canada to offer Mobile Pay," says Launi Skinner, CEO of First West Credit Union. "Our commitment to innovation and investment in technology is one of the ways we're doing things differently to create value for our members. We're proud to have partnered with credit unions across Canada to deliver this new, creative and convenient solution that will make a difference in everyday banking. It's all about keeping it simple."

Launching initially at Envision Financial, a division of First West Credit Union, Mobile Pay is available via the credit union's mobile banking app and supported on Android devices enabled with V4.4 OS or later. Roll-out will begin at the credit union's other regional brands, Valley First, Enderby & District Financial and Island Savings later this year.

Using Interac Flash, a contactless payment technology, Mobile Pay eliminates the need for debit cards or personal identification numbers for purchases. Users simply needs to place their Android device near-or "tapped" on-a contactless payment terminal to pay for their purchases. Moreover, Mobile Pay is linked directly to the users' chequing or savings account and works just like a debit transaction, whereby funds are taken out immediately from their account.

Skinner believes that contactless payment technology will soon become an expectation of savvy consumers. "People's lives are getting busier and busier and if we're able to provide a straightforward solution to create more convenience and ease for our members when it comes to payments then it's a win win for everybody."

Visit Envision Financial to learn more about Mobile Pay, or check out the Mobile Pay website.

About First West Credit UnionFirst West Credit Union offers members the financial strength, comprehensive product selection and extended branch network of a large financial institution while maintaining local brand identities and a unique grassroots approach to service. Led by Launi Skinner, First West is British Columbia's third-largest credit union with nearly $11 billion in assets under administration, close to 250,000 members and more than 1,700 employees. It operates 54 branches throughout the province under the Envision Financial, Valley First, Enderby & District Financial and Island Savings divisions. Visit firstwestcu.ca for more information.

Follow us on Twitter @firstwestcu

Contacts:

Media Contact

Cheryl Shaw

Manager, Public Relations & Communications

604.539.7360

cshaw@firstwestcu.ca

www.firstwestcu.ca






VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - The European markets ended Wednesday's session solidly in positive territory, extending yesterday's recovery following the Brexit slump. Markets in Europe sold off sharply last Friday and this Monday after U.K. voters shocked investors around the globe by voting in favor of an exit from the European Union.



Insurance stocks added to the strong gains of the previous session and telecoms also turned in a strong performance. Rising commodity prices have also helped to fuel the recovery. Crude oil prices continue to regain ground on prospects of slower production and supply declines. A weakening in the U.S. dollar has also provided a boost to precious metal prices, driving mining and resource stocks higher.



U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said the nation faces 'choppy waters' after Britons voted to exit the European Union last week.



It will not be appropriate to suspend fiscal rule, he told the MPs in the House of Commons on Wednesday.



Further, he said keeping the U.K. together is of paramount importance.



The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks increased 2.66 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 2.77 percent.



The DAX of Germany climbed 1.75 percent and the CAC 40 of France rose 2.60 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 3.58 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 1.82 percent.



In Frankfurt, industrial group Siemens gained 1.77 percent on a report it plans to invest 1 billion euros over the next five years in a new startups unit.



Utility E.ON leaped 4.95 percent and peer RWE rose 4.57 percent.



In Paris, Technip soared 4.77 percent after signing a pact with GE Oil & Gas to explore digital solutions for new LNG projects. Total SA also gained 3.77 percent.



In London, telecom giant Vodafone Group rose 2.06 percent after saying it is considering moving its headquarters out of the U.K.



BT Group jumped 5.13 percent after revising financials to reflect organizational changes that came into effect on April 1, 2016.



Dixons Carphone declined 1.93 percent after its full year 2016 earnings per share fell to 15.1 pence from 21.2 pence a year ago.



Mining stocks turned in a solid performance due to rising metal prices. Fresnillo surged 9.52 percent and Anglo American climbed 8.06 percent. Antofagasta increased 6.70 percent and BHP Billiton added 3.01 percent. Glencore jumped 5.96 percent.



Travel-related stocks remained under selling pressure, with TUI losing 3.82 percent, after three suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing 36 people and wounding 147 others.



Eurozone economic sentiment eased slightly in June ahead of the Brexit vote, the results off a survey by European Commission revealed Wednesday.



After rising for two straight months, the economic sentiment index slid marginally to 104.4 in June from revised 104.6 in May. The score was expected to remain at 104.7, unchanged from the initial estimate for May.



Germany consumer confidence is set to improve in July despite concerns about Brexit, survey data from the market research group GfK showed Wednesday. The forward-looking consumer sentiment index rose to 10.1, while it was expected to remain unchanged at 9.8.



German consumer prices accelerated as expected in June, preliminary estimate from Destatis showed Wednesday. Consumer prices rose 0.3 percent from last year, in line with expectations, following a 0.1 percent increase in May.



U.K. house price growth accelerated more than expected in June, data from the Nationwide Building Society showed Wednesday. House prices climbed 5.1 percent annually, following a 4.7 percent rise in May. Economists had forecast prices to grow 4.9 percent. This was also the fastest growth in three months.



U.K. mortgage approvals increased in May and secured lending accelerated from April, the Bank of England said Wednesday. The number of loans approved for house purchases rose to 67,042 from 66,205 in April. It was expected to fall to 65,000.



While the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing a slightly smaller than expected increase in U.S. personal income in the month of May, the report also said personal spending climbed in line with economist estimates.



The report said personal income edged up by 0.2 percent in May after rising by an upwardly revised 0.5 percent in April.



Economists had expected income to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.4 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.



Meanwhile, the Commerce Department also said personal spending climbed by 0.4 percent in May after spiking by an upwardly revised 1.1 percent in April. Spending had been expected to increase by 0.4 percent compared to the 1.0 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.



After reporting increases in U.S. pending home sales in the three previous months, the National Association of Realtors released a report on Wednesday showing that pending sales pulled back by more than expected in the month of May.



NAR said its pending home sales index slid 3.7 percent to 110.8 in May from a downwardly revised 115.0 in April. Economists had expected the index to drop by 1.0 percent.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
Prior to the auction that took place on 16 June 2016, the Central Bank of Iceland solicited offers for the sale of offshore krona assets versus cash payment in foreign currency. On 21 June, the Bank announced the main results of the auction and offered to purchase, at an exchange rate of 190 kr. per euro, the offshore krona assets not sold in the auction. The Terms of Tender for these transactions were announced on 22 June 2016.



The final results of the 16 June auction are now available, including the transactions taking place on the basis of the Bank's tender offer of 21 June. A total of 1,715 offers were submitted and 1,688, or 98.4% of the total, were accepted. Accepted offers amounted to 83 b.kr., of a total of 188 b.kr. submitted in the auction and the post-auction tender. The Central Bank of Iceland's foreign exchange reserves will be reduced by just over 54 b.kr. as a result.



The offshore kronur offered for sale in the auction fall into the asset classes shown in the following table:



Asset class m.kr. -------------------------------------------- Cash 46,260 Central Bank certificates of deposit 5,448 Treasury bonds 15,484 Treasury bills 7,163 Housing Financing Fund bonds 559 Other securities* 7,971 -------------------------------------------- Total 82,885 ============================================



*Do not directly affect the foreign exchange reserves



The auction was part of the comprehensive action plan to lift the capital controls; cf. the Government and Central Bank's capital account liberalisation strategy of 8 June 2015. The 16 June 2016 auction was the last in a series of twenty-three auctions in which owners of offshore kronur were invited to purchase foreign currency before the authorities begin lifting capital controls on resident entities; i.e., pension funds, other legal entities, and individuals. The aim is to present a strategy for liberalisation of capital controls on residents in late summer and to present bills of legislation relating to the next steps in liberalisation before Parliament at the legislative session beginning in August. Thereafter, the authorities will examine when and how to lift controls on the offshore krona owners that chose not to participate in the auction. It is clear that participation in the 16 June auction will simplify this process considerably. The remaining owners are fewer in number and form a more homogeneous group, and the outstanding amount of offshore kronur has been reduced markedly.



Governor Mar Gumundsson wishes to state the following in this connection: "The auction and the recent legislative amendments have removed the last major obstacle to our being able to take large steps towards lifting capital controls on residents without running the risk of instability. The offshore overhang has been reduced by more than one-third of GDP in 2009 to approximately 11% of GDP following the auction. Although it was not possible to accept offers for offshore kronur in the amount of 105 b.kr., the number of investors involved has been considerably reduced, thereby facilitating the solution to the remaining problem. Matters have been structured in such a way that the remaining offshore kronur will not cause instability while controls on residents are being lifted. Contagion should be almost non-existent and the risk of instability limited."



Further information can be obtained from Mar Gumundsson, Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland, at tel: +354 569-9600.

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Technavio has announced the top nine leading vendors in their recentearth moving equipment market in Saudi Arabiareport until 2020. The vendors are identified based on their revenue and market dominance in terms of experience, geographical presence, product portfolio, financials, and R&D.

Competitive vendor landscape

Rising investment in infrastructure and the encouragement and participation of the government in the development of the transportation and infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia exhibits a huge growth potential for the earthmoving equipment market in the region. Earthmoving equipment holds considerable potential in the market, as the versatile nature and easy maneuverability of the machinery make it appropriate for construction sites. The major vendors such as Caterpillar, Komatsu, JCB, and Volvo are investing heavily in the R&D for the development of earthmoving equipment.

"Construction companies in Saudi Arabia are focusing extensively on sustainable development practices such as green building construction. This has given rise to the demand for energy-efficient equipment. Therefore, manufacturers are developing energy-efficient and technologically advanced earthmoving equipment to meet the growing demand," says Sayani Roy, a lead analyst at Technavio for research on construction industry

Request for sample report: http://goo.gl/qx14kB

Technavio research analysts label the leading vendors of the earth moving equipment market in Saudi Arabia into two segments: key vendors and other prominent vendors.

Key vendors:

Caterpillar

Caterpillar, with its headquarters in Illinois, US was established in 1925 as Caterpillar Tractor and renamed to Caterpillar in 1986. It is the global leading manufacturer of heavy construction and mining equipment, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. It also offers insurance and financial products.

The company's products are marketed under the brand names, CAT, MaK, FG Wilson, Perkins, and Progress Rail. Caterpillar has six primary R&D centers and invests heavily (USD 2.3 billion in 2011, USD 2.47 billion in 2012, and USD 2.05 billion in 2013) to develop a strong portfolio that has more than 4,000 patents.

JCB

JCB was established in 1945 and is headquartered in Staffordshire, UK. The company produces manufacturing equipment for agriculture, demolition, and construction industries. It also operates through its finance and insurance services segment, which helps customers purchase heavy equipment.

The company provides more than 300 varieties of products including rough terrain loaders, telescopic handlers, wheel loaders, utility vehicles, backhoe loaders, compaction equipment, compact track loaders, defense products, hydraulic excavators, teletrucks, and light equipment.

Komatsu

Komatsu, with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, was established in 1921. Komatsu engages in the manufacturing of a wide range of industrial products and services. The company focuses on providing safe and innovative products to fulfill customer expectations.

Geographically, the company is classified into nine operating segments: Japan, North America, South America, the APAC region, Oceania, China, Saudi Arabia, the MEA region, and the CIS region.

Volvo

Volvo was incorporated in 1915 and is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo manufactures trucks, construction equipment, buses, and industrial and marine engines. The company employs 110,000 people across the world.

The company has manufacturing sites in 19 countries and markets its products in more than 190 markets across the world. The company also provides financial services, industrial IT services, and logistics services.

Other prominent vendors:

Bobcat

Bobcat was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in West Fargo, North Dakota, US. The company manufactures construction equipment such as loaders, skid-steer loaders, compact track loaders, and compact excavators. It also offers attachments for skid-steer loaders, compact track loaders, mini track loaders, and compact excavators.

KOBELCO Construction Machinery

KOBELCO Construction Machinery was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company manufactures construction machinery such as excavators, mini excavators, crawler cranes, wheel cranes, and rough terrain cranes.

Liebher

Liebher was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Bulle, Switzerland. The company manufactures construction machinery such as mobile cranes, crawler cranes, port equipment, maritime cranes, tower cranes, mobile construction cranes, deep foundation machines, earthmoving equipment, attachments, mining equipment, and material handling equipment.

Sany Heavy Industry

Sany Heavy Industry develops, manufactures, and distributes engineering machinery products and accessories. The company's primary products include, concrete machinery, road construction machinery, truck mounted concrete pumps, asphalt batching plants, truck cranes, concrete batching plants, crawler cranes, concrete line pumps, rotary drilling rigs, compactors, and others.

XCMG

XCMG is headquartered in Jiangsu, China and was founded in 1989. The company's product portfolio includes construction hoisting machinery such as truck cranes and crawler cranes; earthmoving machinery such as excavators, wheel loaders, and bulldozers; road maintenance machinery such as rollers, asphalt concrete pavers, and motor graders; concrete machineries such as concrete pumps and concrete mixing plants.

Browse Related Reports:

Earthmoving Equipment Market in Turkey 2015-2019

Earthmoving Equipment Market in Mexico 2015-2019

Earthmoving Equipment Market in Japan 2015-2019

Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

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Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.technavio.com
Regulatory News:

Eurofins Scientific (Paris:ERF) (EUFI.PA), a world leader in bioanalytical testing, announces that it has privately placed 606,061 newly-issued shares with La Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec ("CDPQ"), one of Canada's largest institutional fund managers, at a subscription price of EUR 330 per share, raising EUR 200m of additional cash for the Group.

Other than stock options and warrants for its staff and management, this is Eurofins' first equity issuance since October 2000, and represents a slight dilution of under 3.8% for its existing shareholders. Proceeds of the transaction will be used to optimize the Group's capital structure, thereby increasing Eurofins' ability to respond swiftly to strategic, value-enhancing opportunities, with the objective to create higher earnings per share (EPS) than the dilution impact from the new issuance. The transaction should increase Eurofins' strategic options going forward, as well as the Group's ability to generate value for its shareholders.

As communicated several times previously1, even without this additional equity, as can be judged based on current trends, the Group management believes that Eurofins should be able to continue generating at least 5% organic growth and acquire about EUR 200m of external revenues per year to progress towards its objective of doubling in size again to reach EUR 4bn of revenues and EUR 800m of adjusted EBITDA by 2020. Indeed, given its liquidity and the strength in current operating trends (continuing in line with the ones observed in the first quarter of 2016)2, Eurofins' management does not believe it required additional funding to execute on this mid-term plan. However, the management also believes that the further optimization of its balance sheet and overall capital structure resulting from the CDPQ investment should enable the Group to respond swiftly to compelling larger opportunities if, and when they materialize, which could significantly accelerate the achievement of its mid-term objectives.

One of Eurofins' stated objectives for 2016, rather than hoarding cash on its balance sheet, was to work towards a more flexible access to funding to be able to respond to large M&A opportunities should they arise3. In addition to this EUR 200m investment, CDPQ has indicated a strong interest in supporting further investments by Eurofins. Several current large investors of Eurofins have also indicated strong interest in participating in further equity raises should they become required for one or several larger transactions. In this context, an investment of 606,061 shares from an investor committed to further capital deployment appeared preferable to issuing 1 million shares immediately, as considered in December 2015.

In addition, over the last few quarters, Eurofins has also secured further flexible bank financing that it only needs to draw as required. Over the next few months, Eurofins also intends to repay and refinance its older Schuldschein and OBSAAR bonds (of which EUR 170m and EUR 59m respectively remain due as of end June 2016) with instruments with longer maturities.

CDPQ, one of the largest institutional fund managers in North America, has a solid track record of long-term investments in companies that are leaders in their fields of activities, and that have proven ability to generate sustainable shareholder returns. As a manager of pension and insurance funds, CDPQ has a long investment horizon, providing the companies it invests in stable financial support over time.

Comment from Dr. Gilles Martin, Eurofins CEO: "This transaction provides Eurofins with the ability to potentially accelerate the achievement of its mid-term plan, should the opportunity arise, and create significant incremental shareholder value with limited dilution. CDPQ's approach of focusing on long-term financial returns on its investment and deploying long-term partnerships with the companies it invests in, which may include supporting larger acquisitions, is entirely consistent with Eurofins' strategy of deploying capital for long-term value creation and securing flexibility in its future funding. We look forward to a mutually beneficial partnership with CDPQ."

Comment from Roland Lescure, Executive Vice-President and Chief Investment Officer at CDPQ: "With a solid, visionary management team, Eurofins has successfully established itself as a world leader in the cutting-edge market segment of bio-analysis testing. Under the leadership of Stephane Etroy, Head of Europe Private Equity, CDPQ will support Eurofins' management team as it pursues its international growth plans and puts innovation forward to develop the company over the long term."

For more information about Eurofins, please visit www.eurofins.com

For more information about CDPQ, please visit www.cdpq.com

Notes for the editor:

Eurofins a global leader in bio-analysis

Eurofins Scientific believes it is the world leader in food, environment and pharmaceutical products testing, as well as one of the global market leaders in agroscience, genomics, discovery pharmacology and central laboratory services. In addition, Eurofins is one of the key emerging players in specialty clinical diagnostic testing in Europe and the USA.

With over 23,000 staff in more than 225 laboratories across 39 countries, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 130,000 validated analytical methods for evaluating the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin, traceability and purity of biological substances and products, as well as for innovative clinical diagnostic. The Group provides its customers with high-quality services, accurate results on time and expert advice by its highly qualified staff.

Eurofins is committed to pursuing its dynamic growth strategy by expanding both its technology portfolio and its geographic reach. Through R&D and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of biotechnology and analytical chemistry to offer its clients unique analytical solutions and the most comprehensive range of testing methods.

As one of the most innovative and quality oriented international players in its industry, Eurofins is ideally positioned to support its clients' increasingly stringent quality and safety standards and the expanding demands of regulatory authorities and healthcare practitioners around the world.

The shares of Eurofins Scientific are listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN FR0000038259, Reuters EUFI.PA, Bloomberg ERF FP).

About Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec

CDPQ is a long-term institutional investor that manages funds primarily for public and parapublic pension and insurance plans. As at December 31, 2015, it held CAD 248 billion in net assets. As one of Canada's leading institutional fund managers, CDPQ invests globally in major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure and real estate. CDPQ is headquartered in Quebec City and has offices in Montreal, London, Paris, New York, Washington, Mexico City, New Delhi, Singapore and Sydney.

www.cdpq.com

Important disclaimer:

This press release contains forward-looking statements and estimates that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements and estimates contained herein represent the judgement of Eurofins Scientific' management as of the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees for future performance, and the forward-looking events discussed in this release may not occur. Eurofins Scientific disclaims any intent or obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements and estimates. All statements and estimates are made based on the information available to the Company's management as of the date of publication, but no guarantee can be made as to their validity.

1 Press releases dated 13 October 2015; 10 December 2015 and 29 February 2016.

2 Full year 2015 results press release dated 29 February 2016; Q1 2016 Interim Management Statement dated 25 April 2016.

3 Full year 2015 results press release dated 29 February 2016, p.2 Comment from the CEO

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160629006152/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations

Eurofins Scientific Group

Phone: +32 2 766 1620

E-mail: ir@eurofins.com

or

CDPQ

Jean-Benoit Houde, Phone: +1 514 847 5493

E-mail: jbhoude@cdpq.com
Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - June 29, 2016) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Paul Dudek, Chief of the Office of International Corporate Finance in the Division of Corporation Finance, is leaving the agency at the end of the month.

Mr. Dudek has headed the Office of International Corporate Finance for more than 22 years. The office serves as the point of contact for non-U.S. companies and governments that register securities with the SEC. The office also is responsible for rulewriting initiatives and interpretive matters relating to offerings by foreign issuers in the U.S. and multinational offerings by foreign and domestic issuers.

"Paul has played a key role with respect to registered offerings by hundreds of foreign companies and provided valuable advocacy on a large number of rulewriting projects that have had a special impact on foreign registrants," said Keith Higgins, Director of the Division of Corporation Finance.

Mr. Dudek said, "It's been a great honor to serve at the SEC for such a long time during which the global capital markets have changed dramatically. I have been privileged to work with numerous talented and dedicated staff members and contribute to the Commission's important international work."

Mr. Dudek has received the SEC's Philip A. Loomis, Jr. Award and was a member of teams that received the SEC Chairman's Award for Excellence and the SEC's Regulatory Simplification Award. He participated as a Fellow in the Excellence in Government Fellows Program run by the Partnership for Public Service and was a delegate to the Corporate Governance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Mr. Dudek joined the Office of International Corporate Finance as an attorney fellow in August 1990 and was named its Chief in October 1993. Prior to that, he worked at the law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton. Mr. Dudek is a graduate of the New York University School of Law (Order of the Coif) and Fordham University (Phi Beta Kappa).
BOSTON, MA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP announced today that the firm's Wealth Management Group has received a top "Band 1" ranking for Private Wealth Law in Massachusetts from the High Net Worth (HNW) Guide published by Chambers and Partners. Choate was one of only three firms to receive a top "Band 1" ranking and one of only six firms included in the rankings for Massachusetts. Nan Giner, co-chair of Choate's Wealth Management Group, and partner Jennifer Snyder were among 23 lawyers included in the Massachusetts rankings.

HNW reported that Choate has "a very sophisticated estate planning practice; they just attract very sophisticated high net worth people... They have a large, long-standing trusts and estates practice... and have some lawyers with excellent reputations."

According to HNW, "fellow lawyers recognize Giner's excellent reputation." As co-chair of Choate's Wealth Management Group, Giner helps oversee a team of over 70 wealth management professionals. She has 30 years of experience delivering comprehensive counsel targeted to clients' personal planning objectives, with an emphasis on sophisticated wealth transfer strategies. Her clients include company founders and other entrepreneurs, as well as domestic and international families. She also serves as a professional trustee for her many clients' trusts.

HNW noted that, "Snyder is an excellent individual at the firm... a strong estate planning lawyer... smart and attentive," and "very, very good." At Choate, Snyder provides clients with exemplary personalized attention, advising a client base of high net worth individuals and families throughout the U.S. and Europe in all aspects of estate planning, including the administration and taxation of estates and trusts. She is also a member of the firm's Executive Committee.

Choate's Wealth Management Group offers integrated family office services to high net worth individuals and families residing in the U.S. and abroad and to many charitable organizations. Its sophisticated tax, trust and estate planning and administration is integrated with world-class investment management through its registered investment advisory subsidiary, Choate Investment Advisors. This collaboration provides a multi-family office, integrating highly sophisticated legal, investment, tax, and trust administration expertise -- a seamless "one-stop" approach to wealth management.

Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP, one of the nation's leading law firms, is consistently recognized for excellence by Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA, The Legal 500, World's Leading Lawyers, International Who's Who of Lawyers, and Expert Guides. With all of its lawyers under one roof, Choate focuses on a core group of areas where it represents clients across the United States and internationally and provides exceptional efficiency, service and value. Choate's areas of focus include wealth management, corporate/M&A, insurance/reinsurance, finance & restructuring, venture capital, private equity, high-stakes litigation, intellectual property, life sciences, tax, and government enforcement & compliance.

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Contact:

David Egan

Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP

(617) 248-5247

degan@choate.com



or



Amy Blumenthal

Blumenthal & Associates

(617) 879-1511

amyb@blumenthalpr.com




WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - June 29, 2016) - NeighborWorks America, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, Congressional-sponsored corporation, today announced the election of Grovetta Gardineer, as its board chairman effective June 28, 2016. Gardineer succeeds Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry, who has served as the chairman since March 2014.

Curry also served as vice chairman of the NeighborWorks America board from December 2013 through March 2014 and previously served as chairman from June 2005 through April 2012.

"It is a tremendous honor to chair an organization with such an important mission of enabling quality and affordable rental housing and homeownership," Gardineer said. "Through education, access, and empowerment, NeighborWorks strengthens the foundations of communities and enriches individuals' lives throughout our nation."

As board chair, Gardineer will provide strategic leadership and oversight in support of NeighborWorks America's mission to create economic opportunities and further the ability of people to live in affordable homes, and improve their lives and strengthen communities. NeighborWorks America supports a network of more than 245 nonprofit organizations, located in every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

"All of us at NeighborWorks are honored and excited to have Grovetta lead the board of directors and help guide the organization as it begins a new five-year strategic plan," said Paul Weech, NeighborWorks America president and CEO. "Her experience and commitment to community development and operational excellence will enhance the corporation's ability to meet its mission and help every community where we work be identified as a place of opportunity."

Determined by statute, NeighborWorks America's board consists of the heads of the financial regulatory agencies and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. As such, the members of the board are presidential appointees subject to Senate confirmation or their statutorily designated representatives.

Gardineer, who serves as Senior Deputy Comptroller for Compliance and Community Affairs at the Office of the Comptroller, follows Curry. During his tenure, Curry led the corporation as it managed and invested stakeholder funds that resulted in more than $27 billion of investment over the past five years in communities all across the United States by the NeighborWorks network.

About NeighborWorks America

For more than 35 years, NeighborWorks America, a national, nonpartisan nonprofit, has created opportunities for people to improve their lives and strengthen their communities by providing access to homeownership and to safe and affordable rental housing. In the last five years, NeighborWorks organizations have generated more than $27.2 billion in reinvestment in these communities. NeighborWorks America is the nation's leading trainer of community development and affordable housing professionals.

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Contact:

Douglas Robinson

202-760-4062

drobinson@nw.org
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- A British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) panel has found Siu Mui "Debbie" Wong, Siu Kon "Bonnie" Soo, and three joint venture companies they created engaged in illegal distributions and committed multiple acts of fraud. Wong and Soo are sisters and residents of B.C.

The panel found that Wong and Soo illegally distributed securities in a joint venture company called Wheatland Industrial Park Inc., which has never filed a prospectus in B.C. The sisters created the company to buy and develop land in Wheatland, Alta., and sold units in the company to investors. The panel found that the sisters and Wheatland illegally distributed $2,000,000 in securities to 25 investors who did not qualify for exemptions under the Securities Act.

The panel also found that the sisters committed fraud by transferring 33.5 Wheatland joint venture units to companies owned by their adult children and husbands without consideration and without obtaining investor approval.

The panel found that the sisters committed a further fraud by misappropriating investors' subscription proceeds to fund two related company loans totalling $1,208,000 without the investors' permission. In relation to these loans, the panel stated "the sisters had knowledge of the prohibited act and that a consequence was the risk of deprivation... They knew that if these loans were not repaid, Wheatland would lose money and its investors would be deprived."

The panel found that the Soo, Wong, 1300302 Alberta Inc. and D&E Arctic Investments Inc. also illegally distributed securities. Neither company has ever filed a prospectus in B.C.

Similar to Wheatland, the sisters set up 1300302 and D&E Arctic to buy and develop land in Rocky View, Alta., and sold units in the companies to investors. The panel found that the sisters and 1300302 illegally distributed $2,785,000 in securities to 44 investors, and the sisters and D&E Arctic illegally distributed $1,105,000 in securities to 19 investors. None of these investors qualified for exemptions under the Act.

The panel also found that the sisters committed multiple acts of fraud through 1300302 and D&E Arctic. The panel found that the sisters inflated the purchase price of the Rocky View lands and lied about it to investors. The sisters used a company they controlled called LCco to initially buy the land for $5,540,000 and then sold it to 1300302 and D&E Arctic at an inflated price of $10,271,300 in an artificial transaction. The sisters sold joint venture units to investors based on the inflated price, not the initial purchase price.

The panel found the sisters also committed fraud when they used mortgage proceeds for purposes other than the development of the Rocky View lands without consent from investors. In February 2009, 1300302 and D&E Arctic obtained a $1.65 million mortgage loan without seeking approval from investors. The sisters claimed the loan was used to repay family members who had used their own funds to pay for Rocky View expenses. However, the panel found that the amount advanced to the family exceeded the amount the family was owed at any one time, meaning a portion of those funds was used to benefit the Wong and Soo families.

Finally, the panel found that the sisters withheld information about potential delays in development of the Rocky View lands from an investor. On December 12, 2007, Wong received a memo from an engineering firm the sisters had hired, stating that rezoning of the Rocky View lands was speculative. On December 21, 2007, she received a memo from the firm giving notice that applications were being put on hold.

All distributions but one were fully paid for before the December 12 memo. The sisters accepted money from one investor after December 21, but did not tell the investor about the potential delays detailed in the two memos. By not disclosing the contents of the memos to the investor, the panel found the sisters committed an act of fraud.

The panel directed the parties to make submissions on sanctions according to the schedule set out in the findings.

You may view the findings on our website www.bcsc.bc.ca by typing Siu Mui "Debbie" Wong, Siu Kon "Bonnie" Soo, Wheatland Industrial Park Inc., 1300302 Alberta Inc., D&E Arctic Investments Inc. or 2016 BCSECCOM 208 in the search box. Information regarding disciplinary proceedings can be found in the Enforcement section of the BCSC website.

Please visit the Canadian Securities Administrators' Disciplined List for information relating to persons and companies disciplined by provincial securities regulators, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association (MFDA).

About the British Columbia Securities Commission (www.bcsc.bc.ca)

The British Columbia Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating capital markets in British Columbia through the administration of the Securities Act. Our mission is to protect and promote the public interest by fostering:

-- A securities market that is fair and warrants public confidence -- A dynamic and competitive securities industry that provides investment opportunities and access to capital

Learn how to protect yourself and become a more informed investor at www.investright.org.

Contacts:

Media Contact:

Alison Walker

Media Relations

604-899-6713



Public Inquiries:

604-899-6854 or 1-800-373-6393 (toll free)




IRVINE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Wienerschnitzel, Home of America's Favorite Chili Dog, is slashing the price of three classic hot dogs to 55-cents each in celebration of the company's 55th anniversary. All day long on Monday, July 11, hot dog-lovers can enjoy Wienerschnitzel's famous original Chili Dog, Mustard Dog, or Kraut Dog for less than half the everyday price!

"To celebrate the return of summer and this milestone anniversary, we're excited to offer the 55-cent throwback price to our amazing fans as a 'thank you' for supporting Wienerschnitzel since our founding in 1961!" said Doug Koegeboehn, Chief Marketing Officer for Wienerschnitzel. "A lot has changed in the world over the past 55 years, but our guests have always been able to count on Wienerschnitzel for a delicious chili dog at a great value. We're looking forward to many more years of serving up America's favorite hot dogs!"

Wienerschnitzel fans are encouraged to mark their calendar for July 11 to take advantage of this one-day offer. Come hungry, because guests can order up to ten dogs at just 55-cents each!

Please note: The 55-cent hot hog special is available at participating locations on Monday, July 11, only. Deal valid for Original Chili Dog, Mustard Dog and Kraut Dog only. This offer does not include 100% All Beef or Polish Sausage. Cheese and tax are extra.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/wienerschnitzel

Instagram: www.instagram.com/wienerschnitzel

Twitter: www.twitter.com/wienerschnitzel

YouTube: www.youtube.com/wienerschnitzel

About Wienerschnitzel

Founded by John Galardi in 1961 with a single hot dog stand in Wilmington, California, Wienerschnitzel (www.wienerschnitzel.com) is a bona fide pioneer of the limited-service food industry. Today, Wienerschnitzel is the world's largest hot dog franchise and home of America's favorite Chili Dog. Based in Irvine, California, the parent company, Galardi Group, franchises restaurants throughout the U.S., including Wienerschnitzel, Hamburger Stand, and Tastee Freez. An iconic American brand with a devoted following for over 50 years, Wienerschnitzel is poised for exponential growth, both domestically and internationally. With a refreshed marketing focus, Wienerschnitzel has received tremendous media attention and accolades including Franchise Times' "20 to Watch" and voted Best Fast Food in Southern California by the readers of Los Angeles Daily News for five years and running. In 2016, Wienerschnitzel was ranked #146 in the coveted Entrepreneur Magazine Franchise 500. Additionally, the company recently introduced a unique next generation store design featuring a smaller footprint and a lower cost of entry; while the simple menu allows for easy execution and lower food costs. As a family owned and operated company, Wienerschnitzel is in a unique position to always put its franchise partners first and is actively recruiting passionate franchise candidates to grow with the brand during this very exciting time. For more information on owning a Wienerschnitzel, visit franchising.wienerschnitzel.com or contact Ted Milburn - Director, Franchise Development at franchising@wienerschnitzel.com.

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Media Contact

Samantha Tyson

Powerhouse Public Relations

949-261-2216

samantha@powrhousepr.com




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Corazon Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: CGW) ("Corazon" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors (the "Board") has appointed Mr. Victor Goncalves as President and Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") of the Company and a Director of the Board, effective June 1st, 2016. Bradley Scharfe has been acting as the interim CEO since Jan 27th, 2014 and has been appointed by the Board as Chairman of the Company.

Mr. Goncalves has advised several juniors in the resource space as well as has held top management positions. He has a strong economic background, with nearly ten years as a successful market analyst and a consultant for several funds, including The Harvard Management Fund. Mr. Goncalves was founder and director of The Equities and Economics Report, whose proven track record includes predicting several major inflection points in the markets as well as identifying undervalued companies. Mr. Goncalves earned a B.A. in Economics from the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Winnipeg.

Concurrently, the Company welcomes Mr. Jorge Orellana as Vice President of Corporate Development and Director of the Board. Formerly Mr. Orellana was a consultant for Threegold Resources in 2011, assisting in special negotiations on advanced projects, as well as corporate development; subsequently becoming the Vice President of Corporate Communications. He has been a consultant for various private mineral exploration companies and works on contract basis as a financial manager for non-profit organizations. He is an economist graduated from the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Winnipeg, beginning his career as a clerk, then analyst for several Province of Manitoba government departments.

Bradley Scharfe, Chairman of Corazon, commented, "We are pleased to welcome Mr. Goncalves as President, CEO and Director of Corazon. He brings nearly 10 years of executive experience in the junior mining and resource sector and has deep expertise of public markets and corporate development. In combination with the appointment of Mr. Goncalves, we welcome Mr. Orellana who has extensive business development experience pertaining to early stage resources projects. We feel very confident that they will be instrumental in creating shareholder value for Corazon's shareholders through strategic acquisitions and financing."

On behalf of the Board of Directors, Corazon Gold Corp.

Bradley Scharfe, President and CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Contacts:

Corazon Gold Corp.

Bradley Scharfe

Chairman (former President and CEO)

778.386.1313

info@corazongold.com




According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the global internet of things (IoT) market in the healthcare sectoris expected to grow at a remarkable CAGR of more than 36% during the forecast period.

This research report titled 'Global Internet of Things Market in the Healthcare Sector 2016-2020' provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments and all geographical regions.

Request sample report: http://goo.gl/aVj15w

Based on product, the report categorizes the global IoT market in the healthcare sector into three segments. They are:

Medical devices

Software and system applications

Connecting technologies

Global IoT market in the healthcare sector for medical devices

"IoT-enabled healthcare devices such as wearable and home health monitoring devices are interactive and informative, thus helping patients in their ongoing diagnosis and treatment. These devices transmit vital medical data of patients from home to hospital staffs for real-time monitoring," says Amit Sharma, a lead analyst at Technavio for research on IT professional services

In 2015, the medical devices segment accounted for more than half of the global IoT market in the healthcare sector. The segment's growth is driven by the use of wearable devices and rise in instances of chronic illness. These devices are designed to send immediate alerts irrespective of locations. Also, they allow patients to speak directly with an expert. Fitness bands are connected through IoT and enable taking vital data of the patient's body to transmit wirelessly to smartphones and PCs. They allow flexible patient monitoring for hospitals. In 2015, the US was the largest contributor to the segment's growth due to the country's initiatives to promote IoT-enabled healthcare medical devices.

Global IoT market in the healthcare sector for software and system applications

With technological advances, digitization evolved in the healthcare sector, which has led to the generation of huge volumes of data among healthcare organizations. As a result, the need to manage these huge volumes of data, most of which are unstructured, has fueled the demand for analytics. Through the use of analytics, healthcare organizations can derive valuable insights from their database to boost their business productivity. Some healthcare organizations have their in-house analytics team. Most healthcare providers outsource their data analysis requirements to third parties to get analytical support. This helps them provide better diagnosis services to patients. Digitally

"Companies now offer solutions through cloud-based platforms that enable wireless storage, transfer, and display of clinical data. This platform also ensures interoperability of these systems with a variety of medical devices and apps," says Amit.

Global IoT market in the healthcare sector for connecting technologies

Connecting technologies are the most important aspect of IoT-enabled services as they ensure an effective communication among users and medical devices. Medical IoT has improved the quality of patient care through more efficient communications. Using secure networks and mobile applications, doctors can access patient information, modify, and sync the same into real-time information across all other connected mediums.

Patient records are essential for mission critical situations where both time and accuracy of data are crucial. With these connecting technologies, nurses and staffs can achieve high degree of mobility and communication efficiency. The staff in the healthcare sector are connected and informed using technologies such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE), near field communication (NFC), Wi-Fi, and radio-frequency identification (RFID).

In 2015, the Wi-Fi technology segment led the global IoT market in the healthcare sector. The growth is driven by the wide-scale use of Wi-Fi across several medical departments and Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Wi-Fi provides secure connection with software-defined networking by scanning and securing devices at network entry point.

The top vendors highlighted by Technavio's research analysts in this report are:

Cisco Systems

GE Healthcare

Philips Healthcare

IBM

Qualcomm

Browse Related Reports:

Global Internet of Things Security Market 2016-2020

Global Internet of Nano Things Market 2016-2020

Global Internet of Things Market 2016-2020

Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160629005044/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.technavio.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Legislation intended to address Puerto Rico's ongoing debt crisis cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday. The Senate voted 68 to 32 to move forward with the bill known as the Puerto Rico Oversight Management and Economic Stability Act. The legislation creates a fiscal oversight board to help Puerto Rico handle more than $72 billion in outstanding debt while ensuring that bondholders' rights are protected. The cloture motion received bipartisan support, although 18 Republicans, 13 Democrats, and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., voted against advancing the bill. The procedural vote all but assures final passage of the legislation, although some Senators that voted to limit debate may ultimately vote against the bill. Ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., acknowledged the bill is not perfect but noted that matters will only get worse if Puerto Rico misses a critical debt payment deadline on Friday. 'Doing nothing is not an option,' McConnell said. 'We must act now to prevent matters from getting worse.' 'The House already passed this bipartisan bill with the backing of nearly 300 members,' he added. 'Now it's the Senate's turn to send this to the president's desk.' Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also expressed support for the imperfect bill, which also has the backing of the Obama administration. Nonetheless, some Democrats may vote against final passage of the bill due to the inclusion of provisions related to the minimum wage and new overtime rules. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Medgold Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE: MED) announces that it has granted incentive stock options to its directors, officers, employees and consultants to purchase up to a total of 2,580,000 shares of Medgold exercisable for ten years at a price of $0.15 per share.

About Medgold

Medgold is a European-focused, TSX-V listed exploration and development company targeting gold properties in northwest Iberia and the under-explored gold provinces of southern Europe. Run by a highly experienced management team with a successful track record of building value in resource companies, Medgold is aiming to become a leading European gold company.

Additional information on Medgold can be found on the Company's website at www.medgoldresources.com and by reviewing the Company's page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Simon Ridgway, Chief Executive Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and include, without limitation, statements about the intended issuance of shares for services. Often, but not always, these forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "estimate", "estimates", "estimated", "potential", "open", "future", "assumed", "projected", "used", "detailed", "has been", "gain", "upgraded", "offset", "limited", "contained", "reflecting", "containing", "remaining", "to be", "periodically", or statements that events, "could" or "should" occur or be achieved and similar expressions, including negative variations.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Such uncertainties and factors include, among others, whether the Company will issue the shares for services as planned; changes in general economic conditions and financial markets; the Company or any joint venture partner not having the financial ability to meet its exploration and development goals; risks associated with the results of exploration and development activities, estimation of mineral resources and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; unanticipated costs and expenses; and such other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's quarterly and annual filings with securities regulators and available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended.

Forward-looking statements contained herein are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management, including but not limited to: that the Company will issue the shares for services as planned; that the Company's stated goals and planned exploration and development activities will be achieved; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; and such other assumptions as set out herein. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Contacts:

Medgold Resources Corp.

Dan James (UK)

President

dj@medgoldresources.com

+44 7972 579188






WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After ending the previous session nearly flat, treasuries turned in another relatively lackluster performance on Wednesday before closing modestly lower.



Bond prices bounced back and forth across the unchanged line but ended the day on the downside. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged up by 1.6 basis points to 1.477 percent.



The modestly lower close by treasuries came amid a continued rally on Wall Street, with stocks adding to the strong gains posted on Tuesday.



The strength on Wall Street came as the global markets continued to recover from the sell-off inspired by the British vote to leave the European Union.



Easing concerns about the impact of the so-called Brexit led traders to go bargain hunting following the steep losses posted on Friday and Monday.



With regard to the Brexit, European leaders are meeting in Brussels to discuss the way forward after the unexpected vote.



The EU leaders continue to urge Britain to act quickly on the vote while also expressing hope that the U.K. will remain a close partner.



On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report this morning showing that personal income rose by slightly less than expected in May.



The report said personal income edged up by 0.2 percent in May after rising by an upwardly revised 0.5 percent in April. Economists had expected income to rise by 0.3 percent.



Meanwhile, the Commerce Department also said personal spending climbed by 0.4 percent in May after spiking by an upwardly revised 1.1 percent in April. The increase matched economist estimates.



A separate report from the National Association of Realtors showed a bigger than expected pullback in pending home sales in the month of May.



NAR said its pending home sales index slid 3.7 percent to 110.8 in May from a downwardly revised 115.0 in April. Economists had expected the index to drop by 1.0 percent.



A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.



While any Brexit news could impact trading on Thursday, traders are also likely to keep an eye on reports on weekly jobless claims and Chicago-area business activity.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
HAMILTON, BERMUDA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Teekay Corporation (Teekay) (NYSE: TK) and Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. (Teekay Offshore or the Partnership) (NYSE: TOO) announced today that they have completed and closed their previously announced financing initiatives.

"I am pleased to announce the completion of Teekay's financing initiatives, which include $350 million in bank financings and $100 million in equity capital," commented Peter Evensen, Teekay Corporation's President and Chief Executive Officer. "With the completion of these initiatives, we have significantly reduced our financial leverage and enhanced our liquidity position, which we believe strengthens the entire Teekay Group of companies. In addition, this week we reached an agreement to sell Teekay's remaining conventional tanker, the Shoshone Spirit VLCC, which is expected to further reduce our financial leverage."

Mr. Evensen continued, "Teekay Offshore has also completed its financing initiatives, which include $400 million in bank financings, $200 million of equity capital, and the deferral of certain bond maturities. These financing initiatives, together with cash flow from operations and previously secured debt facilities, are expected to cover all of its medium-term liquidity requirements and fully finance Teekay Offshore's $1.6 billion of committed growth projects scheduled to deliver through 2018."

Mr. Evensen added, "While not part of these financing initiatives, Teekay LNG Partners has continued to make progress in securing the required financing for its committed growth projects which deliver through 2020 and anticipates completing the majority of these financings by the end of the year."

ABN AMRO, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, DNB Bank ASA, ING Capital LLC, Nordea, and Swedbank acted as lead banks for Teekay's and Teekay Offshore's bank financing initiatives.

DNB Markets and RBC Capital Markets acted as lead placement agents for Teekay's $100 million equity initiative and Credit Suisse also acted as placement agent.

About Teekay

Teekay Corporation operates in the marine midstream space through its ownership of the general partners and a portion of the outstanding limited partner interests in Teekay LNG Partners L.P. (NYSE: TGP) and Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. (NYSE: TOO). The general partners own all of the outstanding incentive distribution rights of these entities. In addition, Teekay has a controlling ownership interest in Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: TNK) and directly owns a fleet of vessels. The combined Teekay entities manage and operate consolidated assets of approximately $13 billion, comprised of approximately 210 liquefied gas, offshore, and conventional tanker assets. With offices in 15 countries and approximately 7,700 seagoing and shore-based employees, Teekay provides a comprehensive set of marine services to the world's leading oil and gas companies.

Teekay's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange where it trades under the symbol "TK".

About Teekay Offshore

Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. is an international provider of marine transportation, oil production, storage, long-distance towing and offshore installation and maintenance and safety services to the oil industry, primarily focusing on oil production-related activities of its customers and operating in offshore oil regions of the North Sea, Brazil and the East Coast of Canada. Teekay Offshore is structured as a publicly-traded master limited partnership (MLP) with consolidated assets of approximately $6 billion, comprised of 65 offshore assets, including shuttle tankers, floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) units, floating storage and offtake (FSO) units, units for maintenance and safety (UMS), long-distance towing and offshore installation vessels and conventional tankers. The majority of Teekay Offshore's fleet is employed on medium-term, stable contracts.

Teekay Offshore's common units trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "TOO".

Forward Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements (as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) which reflect management's current views with respect to certain future events and performance, including statements regarding: the results and benefits of the financing initiatives, including Teekay Offshore's ability to meet medium-term liquidity requirements and finance its committed growth projects; the sale of the Shoshone Spirit VLCC, including the impact of the sale on Teekay's balance sheet; and the timing and certainty of securing financing for Teekay LNG Partners' committed growth projects delivering through 2020. The following factors are among those that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties, and that should be considered in evaluating any such statement: failure to achieve the expected benefits of such financing initiatives; changes in production of, or demand for oil, petroleum products, LNG and LPG, either generally or in particular regions; greater or less than anticipated levels of newbuilding orders or greater or less than anticipated rates of vessel scrapping; changes in trading patterns significantly affecting overall vessel tonnage requirements; changes in applicable industry laws and regulations and the timing of implementation of new laws and regulations; changes in the typical seasonal variations in tanker charter rates; changes in the offshore production of oil or demand for shuttle tankers, FSOs, FPSOs, UMS, and towage vessels; changes in oil production and the impact on the Company's tankers and offshore units; fluctuations in global oil prices; trends in prevailing charter rates for the Company's vessels and offshore unit contract renewals; the potential for early termination of long-term contracts and inability of the Company to renew or replace long-term contracts; the inability of charterers to make future charter payments; potential shipyard and project construction delays, newbuilding specification changes or cost overruns; costs relating to projects; delays in commencement of operations of FPSO and FSO units at designated fields; failure to complete, or delays in completing, the sale of the Shoshone Spirit VLCC; Teekay LNG Partners' ability to secure financing for its committed growth projects, including potential delays; changes in the Company's expenses; and other factors discussed in Teekay's filings from time to time with the SEC, including its Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Contacts:

For Investor Relations enquiries contact:

Ryan Hamilton

Tel: +1 (604) 844-6654

Website: www.teekay.com




HAMILTON, BERMUDA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. (Teekay Offshore or the Partnership) (NYSE: TOO) announced today that it has completed and closed its previously announced financing initiatives.

"I am pleased to announce the completion of Teekay Offshore's financing initiatives, which include $400 million in bank financings, $200 million of equity capital, and the deferral of certain bond maturities," commented Peter Evensen, Teekay Offshore's Chief Executive Officer. "These financing initiatives, together with cash flow from operations and previously secured debt facilities, are expected to cover all of our medium-term liquidity requirements and fully finance Teekay Offshore's $1.6 billion of committed growth projects scheduled to deliver through 2018. With the addition of these projects, which are expected to contribute to the stability and further growth of our cash flows, we expect to continue to strengthen our balance sheet and position the Partnership for future increases to its cash distributions."

ABN AMRO, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, DNB Bank ASA, ING Capital LLC, Nordea, and Swedbank acted as lead banks for the Partnership's bank financing initiatives.

Citigroup and DNB Markets acted as lead placement and structuring agents for the Partnership's combined $200 million of equity initiatives and ABN AMRO Securities (USA) LLC also acted as placement agent.

About Teekay Offshore

Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. is an international provider of marine transportation, oil production, storage, long-distance towing and offshore installation and maintenance and safety services to the oil industry, primarily focusing on oil production-related activities of its customers and operating in offshore oil regions of the North Sea, Brazil and the East Coast of Canada. Teekay Offshore is structured as a publicly-traded master limited partnership (MLP) with consolidated assets of approximately $6 billion, comprised of 65 offshore assets, including shuttle tankers, floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) units, floating storage and offtake (FSO) units, units for maintenance and safety (UMS), long-distance towing and offshore installation vessels and conventional tankers. The majority of Teekay Offshore's fleet is employed on medium-term, stable contracts.

Teekay Offshore's common units trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "TOO".

Forward Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements (as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) which reflect management's current views with respect to certain future events and performance, including statements regarding: the results and benefits of the Partnership's financing initiatives, including the Partnership's ability to meet medium-term liquidity requirements and finance its committed growth projects; and the expected impact of the delivery of the Partnership's existing growth projects on its cash flows, balance sheet and future cash distributions. The following factors are among those that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties, and that should be considered in evaluating any such statement: failure to achieve the expected benefits of such financing initiatives; vessel operations and oil production volumes; significant changes in oil prices; variations in expected levels of field maintenance; increased operating expenses; different-than-expected levels of oil production in the North Sea, Brazil and East Coast of Canada offshore fields; potential early termination of contracts; shipyard delivery or vessel conversion and upgrade delays and cost overruns; changes in exploration, production and storage of offshore oil, either generally or in particular regions that would impact expected future growth; delays in the commencement of charter contracts; failure of the Partnership's growth projects to increase cash available for distribution; and other factors discussed in Teekay Offshore's filings from time to time with the SEC, including its Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2015. The Partnership expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Partnership's expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Contacts:

For Investor Relations enquiries contact:

Ryan Hamilton

+1 (604) 844-6654

www.teekay.com




OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

The Government of Canada recognizes that a strong and modern IT infrastructure is the backbone of better service delivery to Canadians.

Today, President of the Treasury Board Scott Brison is taking another step to modernize and improve the Government's use of information technology by publishing the Government of Canada's IT Strategic Plan. The plan will also contribute to the guidance given to all departments and agencies to transform IT within their organizations.

The Government will begin consulting industry, academia and the Canadian public on the plan in the first 90 days, and a "What We've Heard" report will be issued in December 2016. Along with the numerous other initiatives currently taking place across government to improve the use and management of IT, the consultation will inform the next edition of the Strategic Plan to be published next year.

Comments on the plan are welcomed.

Quotes:

"Information technology is behind every service that we offer every day to Canadians. By making better use of IT within Government, we will provide Canadians with more reliable, accessible and secure services."

-- The Honourable Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board.

"The Government of Canada is committed to providing modern, secure and reliable information technology infrastructure for Canadians. The IT Strategic Plan will guide Shared Services Canada's review of its IT infrastructure model."

-- The Honourable Judy M. Foote, Minister of Public Services and Procurement.

Quick Facts

-- Twenty-five of the 47 strategic actions outlined in the plan are currently under way. -- Budget 2016 confirmed the Government's commitment to improved services for Canadians with the development of the Government's Service Strategy. -- The IT Strategic Plan provides guidance in the development of the Service Strategy. -- The Strategic Plan directs departments and agencies to put in place the Communication Security Establishment's Top 10 IT Security recommendations to strengthen cyber security and better protect networks and information.

Related Product

-- Government of Canada IT Strategic Plan

Associated Link

-- Government of Canada Service Policy

Follow us on Twitter: @TBS_Canada.

Contacts:

Jean-Luc Ferland

Press Secretary

Office of the President of the Treasury Board

613-369-3163



Media Relations

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

613-369-9400

media@tbs-sct.gc.ca



TTY (telecommunications device for the hearing impaired)

613-369-9371




Toronto, June 29, 2016 (TSX: LUN; OMX: LUMI) Lundin Mining Corporation ("Lundin" or the "Company") is pleased to announce an initial Mineral Resource estimate on the Eagle East mineralization, the results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") and the commencement of access ramp development towards the Eagle East high grade nickel/copper deposit.Highlights-- A maiden Eagle East Inferred Mineral Resource estimate of 1.18 million metric tonnes grading 5.2% Ni and 4.3% Cu. -- A PEA completed on Eagle East indicates that these Inferred Mineral Resources can potentially be mined with no significant changes to the current mine, ore transport, mill and tailings disposal infrastructure. -- Similar mining methods to Eagle are proposed and the potential mine production of 1.57 Mt at 3.32% Ni and 2.83% Cu will significantly increase nickel and copper production from 2020 and extend the mine life to at least the end of 2023. -- The estimated pre-production capital cost is $94.8 million. -- The PEA demonstrates the potential viability of mining Eagle East as an extension of the current Eagle mine with an incremental post-tax net present value ("NPV") of $181 million at an 8% discount rate and an internal rate of return ("IRR") of 40%. -- Given the robust results of the PEA, the Company has initiated a Feasibility Study on Eagle East, which is due for completion prior to year-end. -- In parallel, the company has also authorized the commencement of the access ramp development to Eagle East, starting immediately in order to fast track access to the deposit. -- The Eagle East PEA is preliminary in nature and is based solely on Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves.Mr. Paul Conibear, President and CEO of Lundin Mining stated, "Our intensive exploration campaign at Eagle East has been a resounding success. The results of the Preliminary Economic Assessment on Eagle East demonstrate significant incremental value and on this basis we have initiated a Feasibility Study and I am pleased to approve the start of access development to the deposit. The successful development of Eagle East will be good news for Eagle employees, local stakeholders and our shareholders alike".Mineral Resource EstimateThe Eagle East massive and semi-massive nickel-copper sulphide mineralization is located approximately two kilometers east and 600 m below the Eagle mine deposit. Since discovery of the Eagle East mineralization in July 2014, over 35,400 m of diamond drilling have been completed in 67 holes to locate and define the deposit which now has dimensions of approximately 480 m long, 40 to 50 m high and 20 to 25 m wide (see Figures 1 and 2). Sufficient drilling has now been completed to enable the estimation of an initial Inferred Mineral Resource, as tabulated below.Eagle East, Inferred Mineral Resource estimate, June 29, 2016, NSR cut-off of $141/tTonnes, 000s Ni (%) Cu (%) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Pt (g/t) Pd (g/t) Co (%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1,180 5.2 4.3 0.5 15.8 1.7 1.3 0.1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------Exploration drilling is continuing in order to define further potential extensions of the mineralization to the north and east. The drilling has also identified another deeper seated target down dip in a vertical gabbro complex below basements rocks and further drilling of this new target is also planned (see Figure 3).Preliminary Economic AssessmentA PEA has been completed on the Eagle East mineralization which demonstrates the potential viability of mining the Inferred Mineral Resource. Access to Eagle East is planned with a spiral ramp developed from the bottom of the existing Eagle mine, making use of the existing mine infrastructure, and then twin ramps across to the mineralization (see Figure 4). Geotechnical studies completed to date indicate that the same mining method as in Eagle, transverse sub-level stoping with cemented rockfill, can be employed and the potential mine production is tabulated below. To optimize the extraction of this exceptionally high grade mineralization, significant diluting material at zero grade has been included in the preliminary stope designs that have an overall recovery of approximately 85% of the Inferred Mineral Resource. The existing mine infrastructure, power supply, temporary waste stockpiling, water treatment and other facilities are expected to be sufficient to support the mining of Eagle East.Eagle East, potential mine production, June 29, 2016, NSR cut-off of $160/tTonnes, 000s Ni (%) Cu (%) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Pt (g/t) Pd (g/t) Co (%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1,574 3.3 2.8 0.3 10.3 1.1 0.9 0.1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------Preliminary testwork has shown that the Eagle East mineralization has similar metallurgical characteristics to that of the Eagle mineralization and that no modifications to the Humboldt processing plant or the current concentrate marketing arrangements will be necessary. Eagle tailings are currently disposed of in the former Humboldt open pit and sufficient capacity exists for the additional tailings volume created by Eagle East.The use of the existing Eagle mine infrastructure for the mining of Eagle East has also been proposed to minimize the need for new or amended permits. The initial access ramp can be commenced under the existing Eagle permits, and the period required for the full ramp development to Eagle East will allow sufficient time to acquire additional data and apply for modifications to those permits required for the production mining phase.The PEA has assumed that the access ramp to Eagle East commences in the third quarter 2016 and the first mineralization is available for processing in the first quarter 2020. The high grade mineralization from Eagle East will be blended with the lower grade from Eagle significantly increasing nickel and copper production and extending the mine life (see Figure 5).The estimated pre-production capital cost for Eagle East is $94.8 million, including a 25% contingency, with the majority of this expenditure for ramp access, ventilation raises, level development and new mine equipment. Mine operating costs have been estimated from the current Eagle contractor rates with allowances for the increased haulage distance, ventilation and dewatering requirements for Eagle East. Processing and G&A costs have been assumed unchanged from current Eagle operations.The results of the PEA demonstrate the potential viability of mining Eagle East as an extension of the current Eagle mine with an incremental post-tax NPV of $181 million at an 8% discount rate and an IRR of 40% using long term metal prices of $8.00/lb Ni and $3.00/lb Cu. The payback period is approximately one year and the average combined C1 cash cost during the combined Eagle and Eagle East production period is $1.83/lb Ni. The key results of the PEA are tabulated below.PEA Results Summary Unit Eagle East ------------------------------------------------------------------ Potential Production tonnes 000s 1,574 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Head Grades Ni (%), Cu(%) 3.3, 2.8 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Ni, Cu Metal Produced in Concentrate tonnes 000s 43.7, 43.4 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Pre-Production Capital US$ millions 94.8 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Sustaining Capital US$ millions 20.7 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Metal Price Assumptions From 2020 $/lb Ni, $/lb Cu 8.00, 3.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Incremental Post Tax NPV8 US$ millions 181 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Incremental Post Tax NPV0 US$ millions 322 ------------------------------------------------------------------ IRR % 40 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Average C1 Cash Cost1 $/lb Ni 1.83 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Payback Years 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Breakeven Ni Price, NPV8 = 01 $/lb Ni 3.32 ------------------------------------------------------------------1. C1 cash costs and Breakeven are for Eagle and Eagle East combinedAn independently authored National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on Eagle East will be filed on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com within 45 days of this press release.Commencement of Access DevelopmentGiven the robust results of the PEA, the proposed use of the existing facilities at Eagle and the anticipated low risk of developing Eagle East as an extension of Eagle, the Company has initiated a Feasibility Study on Eagle East, which is due for completion prior to year-end.The company has also authorized the commencement of the access ramp development to Eagle East. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has determined that no modifications are required to the mine's Part 632 mining permit at this time. The initial access development will allow the collection of further data in support of the Feasibility Study and future permit applications. Final engineering of the initial ramp design is being completed and it is anticipated that development will commence early in July. Additional capital expenditure for Eagle East above that already budgeted for Eagle is estimated at $12 million to the end of 2016.Notes on the Mineral Resource, potential mine production estimates and the PEAThe Mineral Resource estimate in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"), classified in accordance with Canadian Institute of Mining Metallurgy and Petroleum's "CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves Definitions and Guidelines" 2014.The Eagle East Mineral Resources and potential mine production estimates have been prepared by or under the supervision of Lundin Mining Qualified Persons as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and audited by independent Qualified Persons on behalf of Lundin Mining.The Eagle East Mineral Resources and mine production estimates are reported above fixed NSR cut-offs of US$141/t and US$160/t respectively and are dated June 29, 2016. The NSR is calculated on a recovered payable basis taking in to account nickel, copper, cobalt, gold and PGM grades, metallurgical recoveries, metal prices and realization costs. The metal prices used for the NSR calculations are US$8.50/lb nickel, US$2.75/lb copper, US1,000/oz gold, US$1,500 platinum, US$550/oz palladium and US$13.00/lb cobalt. The Inferred Mineral Resources are inclusive of those Mineral Resources modified to produce the potential mine production plan.The Eagle East PEA study results are only intended to provide an initial, high level summary of the project potential. The PEA is preliminary in nature and is based solely on Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized.The Qualified Persons responsible for the Eagle East Mineral Resource and potential mine production estimates are David Rennie, P.Eng., Associate Principal Geologist and Normand Lecuyer, P.Eng., Principal Mining Engineer, respectively, both of Roscoe Postle Associates Inc..About Lundin MiningLundin Mining is a diversified Canadian base metals mining company with operations in Chile, the USA, Portugal, and Sweden, primarily producing copper, nickel and zinc. In addition, Lundin Mining holds a 24% equity stake in the world-class Tenke Fungurume copper/cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Freeport Cobalt Oy business, which includes a cobalt refinery located in Kokkola, Finland.On Behalf of the Board,Paul Conibear, CEOThe information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Lundin Mining under the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was publicly communicated on June 29, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.To see the full news release including images please see the attached file.For further information, please contact:Sonia TercasSenior Associate, Investor Relations+1-416-342-5583Robert ErikssonInvestor Relations, Sweden+46 8 545 015 50Forward Looking StatementsCertain of the statements made and information contained herein is "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the Ontario Securities Act. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties relating to foreign currency fluctuations; risks inherent in mining including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected geological formations, ground control problems and flooding; risks associated with the estimation of Mineral Resources and Reserves and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; the potential for and effects of labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or shortages of labour or interruptions in production; actual ore mined varying from estimates of grade, tonnage, dilution and metallurgical and other characteristics; the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, commodity price fluctuations; uncertain political and economic environments; changes in laws or policies, foreign taxation, delays or the inability to obtain necessary governmental permits; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described under Risk Factors Relating to the Company's Business in the Company's Annual Information Form and in each management discussion and analysis. Forward-looking information is in addition based on various assumptions including, without limitation, the expectations and beliefs of management, the assumed long term price of copper, nickel, lead and zinc; that the Company can access financing, appropriate equipment and sufficient labour and that the political environment where the Company operates will continue to support the development and operation of mining projects. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.Attachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=577082
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Copper Fox Metals Inc. ("Copper Fox" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: CUU)(OTC PINK: CPFXF) is pleased to deliver its second quarter unaudited interim condensed consolidated operating and financial results. All of the Company's material subsidiaries are wholly owned except for Carmax Mining Corp. ("Carmax") (TSX VENTURE: CXM), of which the Company owned 65.4% of the common shares outstanding as at April 30, 2016. These non-audited condensed financial statements include 100% of the assets and liabilities related to Carmax and include a non-ownership interest portion representing 34.6% of Carmax's assets and liabilities which are not owned by the Company.

For the three months ended April 30, 2016, Copper Fox had a net loss of $413,437 ($0.00 loss per share) and a comprehensive loss of $1,995,501 ($0.00 loss per share), of which $1,582,064 was attributable to the foreign exchange loss. For the Q2 2016 period, the Company incurred $25,828 in expenditures toward furthering the development of its Van Dyke, Sombrero Butte and Mineral Mountain copper projects in Arizona. In addition, Carmax incurred $257,087 in exploration expenses during the same period for its Eaglehead project. Copies of the financial statements, notes and related management discussion and analysis may be obtained on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, the Company's website at www.copperfoxmetals.com or by contacting the Company directly. All references to planned activities and technical information contained in this news release have been previously announced by way of news releases by the Company. All amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

Elmer B. Stewart, President and CEO of Copper Fox stated, "Copper Fox is focused on increasing the value of its copper projects and investments located in Canada and the United States. The completion of the resource modelling for the Schaft Creek deposit and establishing the timing and costs of obtaining the necessary permits to commence the prefeasibility study on the Van Dyke project are critical aspects of our 2016 plans. Our equity ownership in Carmax Mining as well as the Sombrero Butte and Mineral Mountain copper projects gives Copper Fox exposure to potentially, three large porphyry copper-molybdenum-gold systems located in safe geopolitical jurisdictions."

Q2 2016 Highlights

-- The 2016 Schaft Creek program is estimated to cost $0.7 million, consisting of updating the resource model for the Schaft Creek deposit, continuation of the collection of environmental baseline data and continued consultation with the Tahltan First Nation. The resource remodeling will incorporate the results of the 2013 drilling program and the re-logging of diamond drill cores completed between 2013 and 2015, which will assist in constraining the limits of the Schaft Creek deposit. -- During the 2016 second quarter, the Schaft Creek Joint Venture voluntarily withdrew from the Environmental Assessment ("EA") process and the queue for the Northern Transmission Line ("NTL"). The SCJV is of the opinion that with the recent changes to the regulations; keeping the EA active and remaining on the NTL queue would not be beneficial to the project, as there are no technical or procedural disadvantages to leaving and re-entering at a later date. No impediment is expected with regards to re-entering the EA process or getting back in the NTL queue. -- The Van Dyke PEA recommended that a pre-feasibility study be completed, estimated to cost $US16.6 million. The primary components of the study would include approximately 10,000m of diamond drilling, to upgrade the current resource category, to test the west and south extensions of the deposit as well as a five hole in-situ leach pilot test program to investigate copper recoveries, hole connectivity, hydrology and other geotechnical parameters related to in-situ leaching. Copper Fox is reviewing its options with regards to completing the pre-feasibility study. -- The chemical analysis of the Sombrero Butte drill cuttings around the collars of two diamond drill holes, believed to be completed in the late 1960's, yielded 2,079 ppm copper and 1,683 ppm copper, demonstrating that these drill holes intersected copper mineralization at depth. The depth to the mineralization, thickness and average grade of these mineralization intersects cannot be estimated. The presence of copper in the drill cutting is however encouraging and supports the interpretation of a buried porphyry copper system. -- The results of historical exploration on the Mineral Mountain project are being complied and will be released on completion thereof. -- Carmax announced an update of activities and the commencement of the 2016 field program for the Eaglehead project. This program consists of re-logging historical drill holes, prospecting, mapping, diamond drilling, re-analysis of pulp samples from historical drill core and either sampling or re-sampling of historical drill holes. The mineralization at the Eaglehead project contains silver, the concentration of which has not previously been incorporated into a resource estimate. -- On March 2, 2016, 1,025,000 of the Company's options with an exercise price of $1.69 expired. -- In March 17, 2016, Copper Fox received 1,000,000 warrants from the Bell Copper Corporation ("Bell") as consideration for a one year extension on the $150,000 loan to Bell. The interest earned on the loan of $18,000 was added to the principal amount of the loan. The current balance of the loan outstanding is now $168,000. The warrants are exercisable into common shares at an exercise price of $0.05 until March 17, 2017. -- On April 8, 2016, 3,358,228 warrants with an exercise price of $1.00 expired.

Elmer B. Stewart, MSc. P.Geo., President of Copper Fox, is the Company's non-independent, nominated Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101, Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and has reviewed and approves the scientific and technical information disclosed in this news release.

Selected Financial Results

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- April 30, January 31, October 31, July 31, 2016 2016 2015 2015 3 months 3 months 3 months 3 months ended ended ended ended ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loss before non- operating items and taxes $ 413,437 $ 314,527 $ 358,917 $ 484,385 Loss before income taxes 413,437 314,527 358,917 484,385 Loss per common share, basic and diluted 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Comprehensive loss/(gain) 1,995,501 (284,576) (14,846) (309,555) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- April 30, January 31, October 31, July 31, 2015 2015 2014 2014 3 months 3 months 3 months 3 months ended ended ended ended ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loss before non- operating items and taxes $ 350,360 $ 716,690 $ 698,711 $ 951,334 Loss (income) before income taxes 350,360 716,690 698,711 951,334 Loss per common share, basic and diluted 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Comprehensive loss/(gain) 854,264 (509,648) (1,041,915) 1,004,128 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Liquidity

As at April 30, 2016, the Company had $1,571,935 in cash and cash equivalents (October 31, 2015 - $1,529,138).

About Copper Fox

Copper Fox is a Tier 1 Canadian resource company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V: CUU) focused on copper exploration and development in Canada and the United States. Copper Fox and its wholly owned Canadian and United States subsidiaries, being Desert Fox Copper Inc. and Northern Fox Copper Inc., hold the assets listed below:

a. 25% interest in the Schaft Creek Joint Venture with Teck Resources Limited on the Schaft Creek copper-gold-molybdenum-silver project located in northwestern British Columbia. b. 100% ownership of the Van Dyke oxide copper project located in Miami, Arizona. c. 65.4% of the shares of Carmax Mining Corp. who in turn own 100% of the Eaglehead copper-molybdenum-gold project located in northern British Columbia. d. 100% ownership of the Sombrero Butte copper project located east of Mammoth, Arizona. e. 100% ownership of the Mineral Mountain copper project located east of Florence, Arizona. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mineral Reserves Reserve Estimate Data ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reserve Tonnes Project Category (Mt) Cu (%) Mo (%)Au (g/t)Ag (g/t) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Schaft Creek (1) Proven 135.40 0.31 0.018 0.25 1.81 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Probable 805.41 0.27 0.018 0.19 1.70 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- P & P(i) 940.81 0.27 0.018 0.19 1.72 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mineral Resources Resource Estimate Data ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resource Tonnes Project Category (Mt) Cu (%) Mo (%)Au (g/t)Ag (g/t) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Schaft Creek (2) Measured 146.62 0.31 0.017 0.24 1.78 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indicate d 1,081.94 0.26 0.017 0.18 1.68 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- M & I(ii) 1,228.56 0.26 0.017 0.19 1.69 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Schaft Creek (2) Inferred 597.19 0.22 0.02 0.17 1.65 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Van Dyke (3) Inferred 261.68 0.25 0.00 0.00 0.00 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eaglehead (4) Inferred 102.50 0.29 0.01 0.08 0.00 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Inferred 961.37 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mineral Reserves Copper Fox Share Metal Holdings ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Project Cu (Blb) Mo (Mlb) Au (Moz) Ag (Moz) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Schaft Creek (1) 0.23 13.43 0.27 1.97 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.18 79.88 1.24 11.01 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.41 93.31 1.51 12.98 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mineral Resources Copper Fox Share Metal Holdings ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Project Cu (Blb) Mo (Mlb) Au (Moz) Ag (Moz) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Schaft Creek (2) 0.25 13.73 0.29 2.10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.53 101.35 1.56 14.58 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.78 115.08 1.85 16.70 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Schaft Creek (2) 0.72 50.73 0.84 7.90 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Van Dyke (3) 1.44 0.00 0.00 0.00 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eaglehead (4) 0.43 14.77 0.17 0.00 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 2.59 65.50 1.01 7.90 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (i)Proven & Probable (ii)Measured & Indicated

Copper in billions of pounds, molybdenum in millions of pounds, gold and silver in millions of ounces.

Numbers rounded to reflect best practise principles.

(1) & (2) Technical Report "Feasibility Study on the Schaft Creek Project, BC, Canada", dated January 23, 2013, prepared by Tetra Tech, A. Farah, P. Eng.; et al as Qualified Persons; at 0.15% CuEq cut-off. Reserves reported at $6.60/tonne net smelter return (NSR) cut-off. (3) "Technical Report and Resource Estimation for the Van Dyke Copper Project", dated January 30, 2015 prepared by Moose Mountain Technical Services, S. Bird, P.Eng and R. Lane, P. Geo as Qualified Persons; at 0.05% TCu cut-off. (4) "Technical Report on the Eaglehead Cu-Mo-Au Project, British Columbia, Canada", dated June 29, 2012, prepared by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., B. Donough, P.Geo and D. Rennie, P.Eng as Qualified Persons; at 0.16% CuEq cut- off.

Note: Above stated Proven and Probable reserves are included in the Measured and Indicated resources reported for the Schaft Creek Project. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Elmer B. Stewart, President and Chief Executive Officer

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and forward-looking information within the meaning of the Canadian securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking information"). Forward-looking information in this news release include statements about meeting the anticipated future demand for copper, technically advancing and adding value to the Company's assets, and creating strong shareholder returns; completing a pre-feasibility study of the Van Dyke project for approximately $US16.6 million and the 2016 program for the Schaft Creek project.

In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, Copper Fox and its subsidiaries have made numerous assumptions regarding, among other things: the geological, financial and economic advice that Copper Fox has received is reliable and is based upon practices and methodologies which are consistent with industry standards; and the stability of economic and market conditions. While Copper Fox considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies.

Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause Copper Fox's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. Known risk factors include, the 2016 program for the Schaft Creek project may not be completed within the time frame stated or at all; the funding and the completion of the pre-feasibility study on the Van Dyke project may not be completed as indicated or at all; among others: exploration of the projects may not find copper mineralization in significant quantities or at all; the overall economy may deteriorate; uncertainty as to the availability and terms of future financing; copper prices and demand may fluctuate; currency exchange rates may fluctuate; conditions in the financial markets may deteriorate; and uncertainty as to timely availability of permits and other governmental approvals.

A more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing Copper Fox is disclosed in Copper Fox's continuous disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and Copper Fox disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law.

Contacts:

Lynn Ball

1-844-464-2820 or 1-403-264-2820




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Firan Technology Group Corporation (TSX: FTG) ("FTG") will release the Q2 2016 financial results before the opening of trading on Monday, July 11, 2016.

The Corporation will host a live conference call on July 11, 2016 at 8:30am (Eastern) to discuss the Q2 2016 financial results.

Anyone wishing to participate in the call should dial 416-340-2216 or 1-866-223-7781 and identify that you are calling to participate in the FTG conference call. The Chairperson is Mr. Brad Bourne. A replay of the call will be available until July 25, 2016 and will be available on the FTG website at www.ftgcorp.com. The number to call for a rebroadcast is 905-694-9451 or 1-800-408-3053, pass code 1100669.

ABOUT FIRAN TECHNOLOGY GROUP CORPORATION

FTG is an aerospace and defense electronics product and subsystem supplier to customers around the globe. FTG has two operating units:

-- FTG Circuits is a manufacturer of high technology, high reliability printed circuit boards. Our customers are leaders in the aviation, defense, and high technology industries. FTG Circuits has operations in Toronto, Ontario, Chatsworth, California and a joint venture in Tianjin, China. -- FTG Aerospace manufactures illuminated cockpit panels, keyboards and sub-assemblies for original equipment manufacturers of aerospace and defense equipment. FTG Aerospace has operations in Toronto, Ontario, Chatsworth, California, Fort Worth, Texas and Tianjin, China.

The Corporation's shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol FTG.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are related to, but not limited to, FTG's operations, anticipated financial performance, business prospects and strategies. Forward-looking information typically contains words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan" or similar words suggesting future outcomes. Such statements are based on the current expectations of management of the Corporation and inherently involve numerous risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, including economic factors and the Corporation's industry, generally. The preceding list is not exhaustive of all possible factors. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual events and results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements made by the Corporation. The reader is cautioned to consider these and other factors carefully when making decisions with respect to the Corporation and not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Other than as may be required by law, FTG disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Additional information can be found at the Corporation's website www.ftgcorp.com

Contacts:

Firan Technology Group Corporation

Bradley C. Bourne

President and CEO

(416) 299-4000 x 314

bradbourne@ftgcorp.com



Firan Technology Group Corporation

Joseph R. Ricci

Vice President and CFO

(416) 299-4000 x 309

joericci@ftgcorp.com




RICHMOND, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Catalyst Paper Corporation (TSX: CYT) will hold a conference call on Thursday, July 28, 2016 at 8:00 a.m. PDT / 11:00 a.m. EDT to review the Company's 2016 second quarter results. Joe Nemeth, President & Chief Executive Officer, and Frank De Costanzo, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, will host the call.

The second quarter report will be released on Wednesday, July 27th after market close and will be available on the Reports page of Catalyst Paper's website at catalystpaper.com/investors.

To participate in the conference call, please dial:

877-291-4570 (North America Toll Free) or 647-788-4919 (Greater Toronto Area and International)

Following the call, the earnings presentation and webcast will be archived on the Events and Presentations page of Catalyst Paper's website at catalystpaper.com/investors.

About Catalyst Paper

Catalyst Paper manufactures diverse printing papers such as coated freesheet, C1S, coated and uncoated groundwood, newsprint, directory, as well as market pulp. Customers include retailers, publishers and commercial printers in North America, Latin America, the Pacific Rim and Europe. With five mills across North America, Catalyst has annual production capacity of 2.3 million tonnes. Catalyst is headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, and has been ranked by Corporate Knights magazine for the 10th consecutive year as one of the 50 Best Corporate Citizens in Canada.

Contacts:

Catalyst Paper Corporation

Eduarda Hodgins

Director, Organization Development & Communications

604-247-4369

eduarda.hodgins@catalystpaper.com




TORONTO, ONTARIO and NUCLA, COLORADO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/16 -- Western Uranium Corporation (CSE: WUC) (OTCQX: WSTRF) (quoted in the United States on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol OTCQX: WSTRF and as of June 28, 2016, a reporting company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Company'. The Private Placement will consist of the sale of up to approximately 1,909,855 units at the price of Cdn$1.70 per unit for gross proceeds of up to US $2.5 million (the "Private Placement").

Each unit issued in the Private Placement will consist of one common share of the Corporation (a "Common Share") plus one full (1) Common Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each full Warrant entitles its holder to purchase one Common Share (a "Warrant Share") at an exercise price of Cdn$2.80 for a period of five (5) years following the Closing Date, whereupon the Warrants will expire.

The Warrants contains a provision that if the Company's shares trade at or above Cdn$4.25 per share for 15 consecutive trading days, the Corporation may, at any time after the expiry of the applicable statutory hold period, accelerate the expiration of the Warrants upon not less than 30 days' written notice by the Corporation.

The Corporation may at its discretion sell additional Common Share units to raise additional proceeds of up to fifty percent (50%) of the stated maximum of US $2.5 million.

Securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement shall be subject to a six (6) month hold period for both Canadian resident investors and for United States investors who are "accredited investors" under applicable Canadian and United States securities laws.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Private Placement to pay the costs of the Company's acquisition of Black Range Minerals Limited, to fund the development of the Company's Ablation Technology, to fund mine production preparation and for working capital purposes.

The Private Placement is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals including the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange and applicable securities regulatory authorities.

About Western Uranium Corporation

Western Uranium Corporation is a Colorado based uranium company focused on the near-term production of uranium and vanadium in the western United States.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's expectations, estimates and projections regarding its business and the economic environment in which it operates. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements and readers should not place undue reliance on such statements. Statements speak only as of the date on which they are made.

Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The securities offered have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and may be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements.

Contacts:

Western Uranium Corporation

George Glasier

President and CEO

Office: 970-864-2125

gglasier@western-uranium.com



Western Uranium Corporation

Michael Skutezky

Chairman of the Board

Office: 416-564-2870

mskutezky@western-uranium.com



Western Uranium Corporation

Investor Relations

Helen O'Shea

ir@western-uranium.com

203-340-5633




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Abreos Biosciences, a San Diego, CA-based healthcare company advancing technology for precision dosing of biologics, raised a seed round of funding of undisclosed amount.

The round was led by Triton Technology Fund (TTF).

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate their commercialization plan, expand their marketing and business development teams, and establish major clinical research partnerships in the US and Europe.

Founded in 2013 at UC San Diego by Dr. Bradley Messmer (CEO) and Dr. Thomas Kipps, and also led by Neil Senturia (executive chairman), Abreos has issued patent for developing point-of-care devices that monitor the levels of biologic drugs in patients for precision dose guidance.

With this capability, patients can ensure they are receiving and maintaining the right amount of these expensive and efficacious medications.

The company has developed tests for the top biologic drugs used in autoimmune and neurology disorders, and cancer.

FinSMEs

29/06/2016
Hello Health Group, a Singapore-based healthcare information platform, secured $1.5m in funding.

The round was led by CMG.ASIA with participation from Thailand-based Charles Toomey  ex Global Head of Healthcare DKSH, and other strategic angel investors. In conjunction with the funding, Randy Dobson, Chairman of CMG.ASIA, will join Hello Health Groups board.

The company intends to use the funds to expand across other South East Asian countries in Q3/4 of 2016 as well as to continue to invest in developing its product.

Founded in Singapore in 2015 by James Miles-Lambert and Mervyn Cheo, Hello Health Group operates a knowledge platform, which aims to make healthcare information universally accessible. The company, which launched HelloBacsi.com in October 2015 in Vietnam, followed by HelloSehat.com in April 2016 in Indonesia, guarantees that content is in compliance with the code and conduct of the HONCode, the Worlds standard for quality healthcare information.

HHGs medical content team is led by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Thu Truong, Jonas Wilbert who has worked closely with Miles-Lambert over the last 3 years; Bui Thi Minh Thuy, ex Senior Editor of Harpers Bazaar and Her World Vietnam to lead Vietnam editorial team; and Lika Aprilia Samiadi, former Deputy Country Editor of Yahoo Indonesia as editorial lead in Indonesia.

FinSMEs

29/06/2016
Amodo, a Zagreb, Croatia-based insurtech startup, raised approx. $500k in funding.

Austrian venture fund Speedinvest made the investment.

The company, which had received initial funding from SGH Capital and Bee Next Fund, intends to use the capital for its international expansion.

Founded in 2013 and led by Marijan Mumdziev, CEO, Amodo has developed a technology platform that enables insurance companies to launch digital insurance products for the connected customer generation. It collects data from smartphones and other connected consumer devices in order to build holistic customer profiles, providing better insights into customer risk exposure and product needs. On the basis of this analysis, risk prevention programs, individual pricing as well as personalized, on-demand insurance products can be offered on the market, increasing customer loyalty and lifetime as well as creating completely new market segments.

Users can also create customizable engagement campaigns, stimulating and rewarding desired behavior via a gamified approach.

FinSMEs

29/06/2016
Investcorp, a global private equity firm, along with its portfolio company SecureLink Group NV, is to acquire Scandinavian managed cyber security service provider Coresec Systems AB.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

The company intends to use the proceeds to accelerate its growth strategy, both organically and through continued add-on activity.

Established in 2003 in Malmo (HQ) and led by CEO Johan Andersson, Coresec offers integrated cyber security solutions and managed services to corporates and institutions. The companys security experts provide security advice and assistance to its diverse client base across Scandinavia and the Netherlands.

Coresec has more than 250 employees across seven offices in Malmo, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Aarhus and an estimated turnover of 80M in 2015.

FinSMEs

29/06/2016
Rhebo GmbH, a Leipzig, Germany-based provider of a platform to automate real-time monitoring of data traffic in industrial control networks, raised a venture capital funding round of undisclosed amount.

Backers included TGFS (Technologiegrunderfonds Sachsen) and eCapital AG.

The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations.

Co-founded by Klaus Mochalski (CEO), Martin Menschner (CTO) and Frank Stummer (Business Development), Rhebo provides a software platform (Industrial Protector) that monitors and analyzes the content of data packets exchanged among machines using Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) and then automatically learns the pattern of regular data traffic. Any deviation (e.g. external attack, pending breakdown) results in a real-time notification of the user, so appropriate steps can be taken accordingly to reduce, or avoids, down time of industrial control mechanisms.

FinSMEs

29/06/2016
Fast Travel Games, a Stockholm, Sweden-based VR games studio, raised a seed funding of undisclosed amount.

Backers included Sunstone Capital, Mattias Miksche, and Mathias Ackermand.

Co-founded in 2016 by Oskar Burman, CEO, Kristoffer Benjaminsson, CTO, and Erik Odeldahl, Creative Director, Fast Travel Games focuses on exploring VR gameplay experiences rich in social and storytelling components.

Still in stealth-mode, the company will be revealing further details about itself and its games in the coming months.

Advisors include:

 Mojangs production director, Daniel Kaplan;

 Avalanche Studios founder and CCO, Christofer Sundberg;

 Paradox Interactives COO, Susana Meza Graham; and

 Peter Zetterberg, director on the Microsoft Minecraft team.

FinSMEs

29/06/2016
The movie adaptation of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has Harry Potter fans excitedly waiting for its release in November. The movie, set in 1920s New York City, tells us the story of Newt Scamander, prolific writer and Magizoologist (zoologist of magical creatures).

But before we get a chance to see the wizards in action in the USA, Pottermore is helping us muggles read up on the magical history of the United States through JK Rowling's essays. The latest Pottermore entry reveals more about the East Coast school 'Ilvermorny', which is located deep in the forests of Mount Greylock in Massachusetts. Here are a few amazing things we discovered about the school and its history:

Origin story

Islot Sayre had an idyllic childhood until her parents were murdered and she was sent off to live with her aunt, Gormlaith Gaunt. Her aunt is a fanatical pureblood who young Islot escapes by journeying to the USA on the Mayflower.

Islot tries to look for magical folk like herself, but ends up marrying a 'Non-Maj' (that's what muggles in the USA are called) James. The two adopt and care for Chadwick and Webster, two little boys orphaned by a deadly Hidebehind.

Islot, keen to give the boys a magical education, finds a way to make wands and they start a little home school. The name "Ilvermorny" is a tribute to the cottage Islot was born in.

How the school started

Other magical children from the nearby tribes join in, so Islot and James learnt how to make wands for them, too, and that's how the the school began. By 1643 the school had expanded beyond Islot's dreams and their small cottage needed to be expanded into a larger castle.

What the modern Ilvermorny school looks like

Marble statues of Isolt and James flank the front doors of Ilvermorny Castle. The doors open onto a circular room topped by a glass cupola. A wooden balcony runs around the room one floor above. Otherwise the space is empty except for four enormous wooden carvings representing the houses: the Horned Serpent, the panther Wampus, the Thunderbird and the Pukwudgie.

Ilvermorny and Hogwarts: Similarities and differences

The post also imparts information about its four houses named after magic creatures:

Horned Serpent, a "great horned river serpent with a jewel set into its forehead". This house represents the mind.

Pukwudgie, a "short, grey-faced, large-eared creature". This house represents the heart.

Thunderbird, a creature that "can create storms as it flies" and represents the soul.

Wampus, a "magical, panther-like creature that is fast, strong and almost impossible to kill" which represents the body.

Students at Ilvermorny wear either blue or cranberry coloured robes and their sorting ceremony is quite different from Hogwarts. Students stand on a symbol of the Gordian Knot set into the middle of the stone floor, and four enormous wooden carvings representing the houses : the Horned Serpent, the panther Wampus, the Thunderbird and the Pukwudgie react to students that belong to their respective houses.

The upcoming movie will showcase more of the Ilvermorny and the story is a testament to the fact that JK Rowling will continue to write powerful female characters in her books. Maybe the upcoming movie, though revolving around Eddie Redmayne's character, will showcase some more of the girl-power that the author is known for?
On Wednesday afternoon, The Times of India reported that a molestation case is being filed against self-proclaimed film reviewer Kamaal R Khan, under Section 354 of the IPC.

While details about the charges against Khan, or KRK as he is better known as, are still to emerge, at first glance, it does seem to be in relation to the defamation charges brought against him by filmmaker Vikram Bhatt.

Khan seemed to be in a defiant mood as he re-tweeted TOI's post that mentioned the molestation charge; with several vitriolic comments about Bhatt.

FIR being filed against @kamaalrkhan for molestation under Section 354 of IPC  Times of India (@timesofindia) June 29, 2016

The fresh charges against Khan come after Bhatt decided to take legal action against him for a particularly lewd video "review" of the film 1920 London.

Read on Firstpost: Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt files defamation suit against Kamaal R Khan

The "review" in question began with Khan establishing that he disliked 1920 London (which Vikram has neither produced nor directed  unlike previous iterations of the franchise, 1920 and 1920: Evil Returns). But his monologue then goes into personal territory, making salacious remarks about the film's leading lady Meera Chopra, and making 'casting couch' aspersions against Bhatt himself.

Also on Firstpost, Kamaal R Khan's previous run-ins with celebrities

This isn't the first occasion Khan has made remarks of an offensive nature  previously, he has made extremely demeaning comments about Nargis Fakhri, Sunny Leone (who filed a complaint against him with the Cyber Crime Cell of the Mumbai Police for falsely attributing comments about rape to her), Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Dhanush (a case was filed agsinst Khan for making racist remarks about the actor in the film Raanjhana, under Section 66A of the IT Act) and Sonakshi Sinha (who delivered quite the put-down to Khan on social media).

When Vikram Bhatt and his lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee brought defamation charges against Khan, they said they would be seeking legal recourse on behalf of Meera Chopra as well.

Bhatt also wrote a long Facebook post explaining just why he felt the need to make Khan legally accountable for his remarks.

For now, it seems as though Khan won't be "muzzled" by the legal charges against him. But whether or not Bhatt's legal approach will win the day remains to be seen.
Ever since Deepika Padukone was announced as Vin Diesel's co-star on xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, Instagram has been the place where the duo has unveiled some pretty striking photos together.

This was where the actors unveiled the fact that they were teaming up for the movie, and posted regular updates from the sets of their shoot as well.

The film's shoot in Canada may be over, but it seems Deepika and Vin won't be calling time on their friendship just yet. Recently, the Hollywood action star posted a photo of Deepika visiting his family, and holding his baby daughter Pauline, on Facebook.

Deepika seemed completely at ease on this visit to Vin's family home, and the camaraderie between the co-stars comes across even in photos.

Here's a look at some of Deepika's other photos/posts with Vin Diesel:

Destiny.... #thereturnofxandercage A photo posted by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel) on Jun 5, 2016 at 7:15am PDT

SNAPPED: @deepikapadukone and @vindiesel caught in a candid moment on the sets of #xXx! We can't wait to see these two together in #TheReturnOfXanderCage! Can you? - Team DP A photo posted by Deepika Padukone (@deepikapadukone) on Apr 13, 2016 at 12:16pm PDT

Here's another still of @deepikapadukone & @vindiesel looking flawless for #TheReturnOfXanderCage Aren't you excited to see them together on the big screen? #xXx? A photo posted by Deepika Padukone (@deepikapadukone) on Mar 17, 2016 at 10:42am PDT
Mumbai: Even as employers are looking for best screening practices, a study today said it found higher number of candidates with discrepancies in their resumes during the first quarter of 2016.

A study of the Case Level Quarterly Discrepancy Analysis for the first quarter of 2016 by First Advantage showed that the discrepancy percentage rose to 12 per cent.

It means that out of every 100 candidates who were screened by First Advantage, 12 were found to have discrepancies in resume in one or more than one components.

The discrepancy level was at 10 per cent in 2013, which rose to 10.5 per cent in 2014, it said. In 2015 it had risen to 11.6 per cent.

The report is based on data collected from background verifications and reference checks conducted by First Advantage across India. "With the increasing competition amongst multiple players, the pressure has never been far greater to make informed decisions in recruitment. In the coming quarters, employers are looking for best hiring and screening practices that will not just do the task at hand but bring incremental value to the company," First Advantage India Managing Director and SVP Purushotam Savlani said.

Case Level Discrepancy across industrial sectors like retail, telecommunication, manufacturing, ITES/BPO and FMCG has shown a rise in the first quarter of 2016 against last quarter of 2015.

Out of the total occurrences of discrepancies, a huge chunk has occurred in the employment component, followed by address component and education component, it said.

Discrepancy rates for employment and address checks are very high in the southern zone and that for education checks are very high in the northern zone in the country. Out of every 100 education discrepancies identified, 65 are from the graduate level. Bengaluru leads in employment-related discrepancies, while Hyderabad leads in address discrepancies and Namchi in Sikkim leads in Education related discrepancies.

The highest number of discrepancies have been observed in the associate level employees and in that the age bracket of 22 to 30 years has highest number of discrepant cases (43.1 pc). However, in BFSI, FMCG and travel and hospitality the discrepancy trend is seen in over 41 to 50 years age bracket.

Overall, it also found that 79 per cent of the discrepant cases are of male candidates. In the employment discrepancy checks, males contribute 81 per cent.
The Reserve Bank of Indias (RBI) financial stability report (FSR) is a timely reminder to the Narendra Modi government about the critical nature of the 'Swachh Banks' mission initiated by outgoing governor Raghuram Rajan to clean up the bad loan mess in the countrys banking system.

Much dirt has already been dug out from under the carpets of public sector banks (PSBs) in the last two quarters when a significant part of the restructured loans were classified as Non Performing Assets (NPAs). There is more to come. There is no prize for guessing why banks, all these years, never bothered to show NPAs as NPAs and preferred to call them restructured loans.

The sharp spike in NPAs as reported in the FSR report essentially confirms that the surgery initiated by Rajan is working well. A substantial decline in the portion of rejigged loans and increase in bad loans means only one thing: Many of the corporate loans banks pushed to the restructured basket in yesteryears were actually bad loans. The deadline set by Rajan to finish the clean-up exercise (March 2017) forced banks to roll up their carpets to expose the muck collected over the years. The extent of exposed muck poses a big challenge for Rajans successor who has to oversee the cleanup till the end.

The Modi government would do well to ensure the continuity of this exercise.

Heres the broader NPA picture that the FSR offers.

Total gross non-performing assets (NPAs) in the banking system have escalated to 7.6 percent of the loans in the March quarter from 5.1 per cent in the September quarter. In the worst case scenario (if things dont do well in the economy), the total NPAs could rise to 9.3 percent by March 2017.

With that, the total stressed assets (bad loans plus restructured loans) in the banking system have marginally risen to 11.5 percent of the total loan book compared with 11.3 percent in September.

Logically, public sector banks (PSBs) continue to hold the highest level of stressed advances ratio at 14.5 per cent, whereas, both private sector banks and foreign banks (FBs), recorded stressed advances ratio at 4.5 per cent.

But, as highlighted in the beginning, one has to see these numbers in the context of a decline in the restructured assets of banks, which fell to 3.9 percent at the end of March quarter from 6.2 per cent in September.

What this essentially means is that most of the restructured loans have been shifted to the NPA book, finally. This gives hope that the era of merrily masquerading bad loans as NPAs will soon be a thing of the past. The reason for marginal increase in total stressed asset levels despite sharp rise in NPAs is the simultaneous sharp decline in restructured loans.

The credit for this goes to Rajan for kicking off the bad loan clean-up exercise risking the wrath of the industry experts like HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, who said deep surgery could make banks comatose. The whole exercise acted like a shock treatment for the banks forcing them to declare NPAs in truckloads from their balance sheets that were piled up for years. In the last three months alone, banks have declared additional bad loans worth Rs 2 lakh crore. Subsequent to Asset Quality Review (AQR), the banking sector GNPAs showed a sharp on-year increase of 79.7 per cent in March 2016.

Though this clean-up will result in significant jump in bank NPAs in the short-term, especially for state-run banks, it will reinstate the credibility of bank balance sheets, necessary for their survival in the long-term. That is precisely why Rajan has been weighing in on banks not to postpone the problem for tomorrow and worsen it. This exercise also meant fight against cronies since there have been a covert understanding between banks and large corporations.

Corporate loan problem

The FSR report also highlights the magnitude of problem caused by the large corporate loans. The gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio of large borrowers rose sharply from 7 percent to 10.6 percent during September 2015 to March 2016 and the increase was evident across all bank groups. Here again, state-run banks recorded the highest at 12.9 per cent.

Top 100 large borrowers (in terms of outstanding funded amounts) now account for 27.9 percent of credit to all large borrowers and 16.2 percent of the credit of all banks. There was a sharp increase in the share of GNPAs of top 100 large borrowers in GNPAs of all large borrowers from 3.4 percent in September 2015 to 22.3 percent in March 2016 reflecting again reclassification. But there is good news too. There is a slight improvement in the balance sheets of the corporate sector. The ratio of overleveraged companies (with debt-to-equity ratio over 2 per cent) has come down in RBIs sample, so have their debt levels.

This is Rajans last financial stability report before he steps down in September. Now the critical question is whether Rajans successor will take up the onus of completing the bad loan clean-up exercise in its true spirit or succumb to the pressure of the crony-political nexus. The task is tough since there is lobbying on the part of cronies who were forced to either pay up banks or pack up and leave after Rajan commenced the exercise in mid-2015.

Also, there is a certain amount of pain for the government too (which it wouldnt want to acknowledge openly) on account of the huge capital implications associated with the exercise. On 10 June, in a note, rating agency, Moodys Investors Service said that the government will have to infuse Rs 1.2 lakh crore into state-run banks by 2020 to bolster their balance sheets and make good the losses suffered by them. This is way higher than an additional Rs 45,000 crore capital infusion plan envisaged by the government.

It is doubtful whether Finance Minister Arun Jaitley can find the means to bridge the funding gap in PSUs in the aftermath of the bad loan cleaning. Banks are required to set aside money in the form of provisions. What Jaitley has earmarked so far is too little considering the capital needs of PSBs, which desperately need capital to make provisions on bad loans, fund future credit growth and meet Basel-III norms. The only long-term solution to salvage state-run banks is to let private capital come in. The government will, eventually, be forced to rethink its aversion to privatization.

Equally worrying is the fact that as long as the stress in the banking system remains high, the credit cost for corporate borrowers, including small and medium companies, will remain on the higher side. This will create further road blocks on the path to economic recovery. Only top rated companies are capable to tap money markets to raise cheaper funds. The majority rest will still have to depend on bank loans for survival.

The bottomline is this: the muck is finally coming out of bank balance sheets, probably for the first time on such scale. Thats the good news in the bad news (of rising NPAs). Rajans continuation for another term would have ensured that the bad loan clean-up exercise would remain on course. One cant be too sure about whether his successor will continue the exercise in full earnest. The FSR report is the best reference guide for Rajans successor to study the bad loan problem and hit the ground running.

Data contributed by Kishor Kadam
NEW DELHI Essar Oil, the top Indian buyer of Iranian oil, has this month cleared $500 million of a debt owed to Tehran, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Essar, which operates a 400,000 barrels per day oil refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat, owed about $3 billion to Iran for oil purchases made when tough Western sanctions had choked banking channels.

Some of the sanctions were lifted earlier this year after Iran met all the conditions to curb its disputed nuclear programme. That helped Iran in unlocking billion of dollars frozen overseas.

Indian refiners have been settling oil debts in euros via State Bank of India and Germany-based bank Europaeisch-Iranische Handelsbank AG (EIH).

No comment was available from Essar.

(Editing by William Hardy)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Supreme Court said it will examine how far it could interfere in Muslim laws governing family-related issues as it heard a plea to end a practice allowing Muslim men to divorce their wives by saying "talaq" three times.

The Indian constitution allows Muslims, the biggest religious minority group, to regulate matters such as marriage, divorce and inheritance through their own civil code.

A Supreme Court bench said Muslim personal law affected a large number of people and asked the federal government to weigh in on the debate as to whether intervening in the law would violate the Muslim community's fundamental rights.

"It is a serious issue and it has to be examined within the framework of the Constitution," Chief Justice of India, Tirath Singh Thakur, said of the petition on Wednesday.

"We have to hear all of the views and take a call as to what extent courts can interfere in Muslim personal laws," he said.

The next hearing is on Sept. 6.

Muslims make up 13 percent of the country's 1.2 billion population, yet government data show they are among some of the most excluded and marginalised communities.

Women's rights activists have long called for reform of the Muslim personal law which they say discriminates against women. What they want instead is a well-defined law that criminalises polygamy, unilateral divorce and child marriage.

Campaigners say the "triple talaq" practice - which allows Muslim men an instant divorce with Muslim women being divorced via Facebook, Skype and text message - is unconstitutional because it violates the right to equality.

AWARE OF RIGHTS

The petition being considered by the Supreme Court also seeks an end to polygamy and 'halala', which mandates that if a woman wants to go back to her husband after a divorce, she must first consummate her marriage with another man.

"Triple talaq is not valid as per the Koran, which stresses mediation and reconciliation before the decision to divorce," said Zakia Soman, co-founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), which campaigns for Muslim women's rights and is a co-petitioner in the case.

"The Supreme Court needs to be guided by the Constitutional mandate," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

More than 90 percent of Muslim women surveyed by BMMA last year said they wanted an end to polygamy and triple talaq.

There are drives to end other practices as well. Some women in the Dawoodi Bohra community, the only South Asian Muslim community known to practise female genital mutilation, are calling for an end to the centuries-old custom.

In a 1985 landmark judgment, the Supreme Court granted divorcee, Shah Bano, alimony for life. But following protests from Muslim leaders and others that the court was being intrusive, the judgment was overturned.

"Thirty years after Shah Bano, Muslim women are more aware of their Koranic rights and more willing to fight for them," Soman said.

"We think the Court will strike the right balance between gender justice and the right to religious freedom," she said.

(Writing by Rina Chandran, Editing by Katie Nguyen. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Wednesday busted an Islamic State module in Hyderabad based on inputs from Intelligence Bureau (IB), reported CNN-News 18. According to ANI, 11 people linked to the terror outfit have been detained so far.

Raids are going on at three to four places in the old city are. NIA is doing it. The local police is assisting them. Searches are being conducted over some suspected terror activities that were planned to be carried out in the city, The Finincial Express quoted a senior intelligence officer as saying.

NIA conducted raids in Hyderabad on a suspected terror module,some people have been detained  ANI (@ANI_news) June 29, 2016

Searches are still going on. Weapons, explosive material and huge cash have been recovered so far: NIA #Hyderabad  ANI (@ANI_news) June 29, 2016

In major anti-terror swoop across the country ahead of the Republic Day this year, the NIA had taken into custody 14 suspected Islamic State sympathisers.

According to Firstpost, in November 2015, a report prepared by the intelligence agencies revealed that the 150 people, mostly from South India, are believed to be attracted to the IS and sympathetic to the group's activities.

Over the past couple of years, the IS  despite having no presence in the Indian subcontinent  has acted as a strong luring factor for the youth.

The NIA raids come at a time when advocates and lawyers have intensified a strike that has been on for over three weeks, reported Deccan Chronicle.

Prohibitory orders are in place in the entire area and search operations are still going on.
Editor's note: This interview was originally published on 29 June, 2016, when the National Investigation Agency told the special court hearing the 2008 Malegaon blasts case that there was no case against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. This article is being republished in light of Thakur being granted bail on Tuesday.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has returned to the limelight after it told the special court which is hearing the 2008 Malegaon blast matter, that there was no case against key accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. The special court on Tuesday slammed the NIA for re-recording witness statements who had already been questioned by the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS).

The court came down heavily on the investigating agency for not probing the role of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. Former special public prosecutor in the case Rohini Salian spoke to Firstpost, a day after the court rejected Thakur's bail plea, and said that the NIA, instead of investigating this case, is re-investigating the case made out by the ATS. "The rule of law in the country has always prevailed, and it is prevailing even now. But the NIA is not investigating the Malegaon blast case, it is investigating the ATS' case," Salian said on Wednesday.

It could be argued that conducting a fresh examination of witnesses who have already been questioned by the ATS makes little sense. What it also means is that the witnesses have turned hostile and the case  which, according to Salian, was foolproof when the ATS was handling it  is much weaker now. Is the NIA deliberately puncturing holes in a case that was solid?

The special NIA court on Tuesday had observed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the charges against Sadhvi Pragya Singh are prima facie true and rejected her bail plea. Special Judge SD Tekale rejected the bail application during an in-camera hearing, after families of the blast victims objected to Pragya's plea.

The judge also said that safe conclusion can be drawn on the basis of witnesses' statement that during the Bhopal meeting (held to plot the Malegaon blasts), Pragya was present and there was discussion about jihadi activities in Aurangabad and Malegaon and (she along with others) discussed preventing it. The court also observed that the participants in the meeting want to establish 'Hindu Rashtra' and their discussion shows that they want to establish government in exile.

Advocate Wahab Khan, appearing for the intervenor in the case who was among the injured, said the court pulled up the NIA for conducting a fresh investigation under the pretext of carrying out further probe. The NIA had on 13 May dropped the names of Sadhvi Pragya and four others as 'accused' in the blast case in its chargesheet filed before the special court here, citing lack of evidence, and revoked provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). It also did not oppose her bail plea moved earlier this month.

The trial in the 2008 Malegaon case began in September 2015. The NIA had charged 14 in the matter after taking over the case from the ATS. Seven people were killed in twin explosions when people were coming out after prayers during Ramzan on 29 September, 2008. The case was earlier investigated by the Maharashtra ATS under the leadership of slain IPS officer Hemant Karkare. The two leading anti-terror agencies of the country have been at loggerheads in the Malegaon case from the very beginning. In its chargesheet, the NIA had said that the Maharashtra ATS used torture to extract confessional statements from some accused, charges which were vociferously refuted by the then SPP Rohini Salian.

The chargesheet filed by the NIA in May 2015 dropped all charges against six of 11 accused, one of them being Sadhvi Pragya. The chargesheet was at sharp variance with what the Maharashtra ATS and the earlier NIA had alleged in their chargesheet. The key question is why the NIA would re-examine witnesses who had already been questioned by the ATS?

In an exclusive interview to The Indian Express in October 2015, Salian told the newspaper that the NIA told her to "go to soft" on the accused in the Malegaon blast case. In subsequent interviews, Salian told the media that it was Suhas Warke, a superintendent of Police in the NIA, who asked her to "go soft" after the NDA came to power.

On 11 and 12 April, 2008 in Bhopal, Pragya with Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni and Prasad Purohit, Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi, and Sudhakar Chaturvedi is accused of having conspired to take revenge against Muslims in Malegaon by exploding a bomb in a densely populated area. The Maharashtra ATS, after speaking to the witnesses, had prepared a case that Sadhvi Pragya Thakur was responsible for "providing men for the explosion". Pragyas bike, an LML Freedom, which was used to plant the explosives, was alleged to have been driven to the spot by Ramchandra and his men. After NIA's re-examination of witnesses, the media was told that the "ATS had illegal detained witnesses and forcefully extracted statements from them."

Before the NIA took over the Malegaon blasts case in 2011, the Maharashtra ATS had booked 16 people but filed charges on 20 January, 2009 and 21 April, 2011 against the accused in a Mumbai court. Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur had moved several applications before the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court challenging the chargesheet and appropriateness of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case.

The NIA, as the chief investigating agency in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, should be examining the evidence collected by the ATS and not investigating the agency itself. This is counterproductive and the reasons for handing over the case to the NIA were never made clear by the government. SPP Salian has claimed that the case was being 'deftly handled by the ATS.' There is a view that the NIA is ruining a case that was being solidly chased up by the Maharashtra ATS.

Eight years since the horrifying blasts, the probe in the case has been floundering as investigating agencies have filed chargesheets and re-examined witnesses. There appears to be a tug-of-war ensuing between the two anti-terrorism bodies. Interestingly, under the National Investigation Agency Act 2008, there's a provision that suggests that the NIA should hand over a case to its original investigating body in case there are no substantial developments over a period of time. Whether or not this provision is invoked remains to be seen.
New Delhi: Security along the two routes of Amarnath Yatra, beginning 2 July, will be tightened in the wake of killing of eight CRPF personnel in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

Top Home Ministry officials are in constant touch with Jammu and Kashmir government for ensuring security to pilgrims going to the cave shrine located in the Himalayan range at a height of 12,756 feet.

As many as 12,500 central paramilitary personnel and 8,000 state policemen will be deployed along the two routes  one from South Kashmir's Pahalgham and the other through Northeast Sonamarg, also a tourist spot.

The Army personnel will also be deployed in peripheral areas besides Quick Reaction Teams, officials said.

Efforts are on to improve the communication networks and other basic facilities along the two Yatra routes so that pilgrims get comfort during the arduous pilgrimage as well as in case of any emergency.

There is no specific threat to the 48-day long yatra to the cave shrine but all security arrangements have been made by the state government with active support of the central government, the official said.

Pampore, the place where the eight CRPF personnel were killed in an ambush by the terrorists in Pulwama district, falls on one of the two Amarnath Yatra routes and hence additional forces will be deployed in all such sensitive places.

Eight CRPF personnel were killed and at least 25 others injured when two militants attacked a CRPF convoy in Pulwama district on Saturday.

Home Ministry officials said so far in 2016, there were 79 incidents in Jammu and Kashmir as against 53 in the first six months of 2015.

In 2016, so far 76 militants were killed in comparison to 36 killed till June in 2015 and 46 militants were arrested so far in comparison to 31 arrested in first six months of 2015.

As many as 29 security personnel have been killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir till now as against 19 security men killed in the first six months of 2015.

Seven civilians were killed so far in the state while 13 civilians were killed till June 2015.
It is the first 'order' the judge in Telangana has given in 23 days. "I will give you all the information but you cannot name or quote me anywhere,'' the judge ordered me as a pre-condition to the interview. Barring the High court of Hyderabad, all courts in Telangana have been shut since 6 June, with judges themselves in an unprecedented move, leading the boycott.

This judge is also one of the eleven judges who has been suspended by the High court, after he along with 130-odd other Telangana judges marched in protest to the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad on Sunday. Unhappy with how judges had taken the road less travelled, the court cracked the whip, to send across a message that indiscipline inside and outside the court will not be tolerated.

"The suspension was expected,'' the judge said. "The Andhra judges are totally biased.'' His barb is directed at the 18 of the 25 judges in the High court, who hail from Andhra. Only 3 are natives of Telangana, while four are from outside either of the two Telugu states. In the polarised environment of Telangana vs Andhra, a legal luminary is not judged by his acumen, training or character but by his nativity.

The judge's "Andhra = Anti-Telangana'' stance gives a sense of the complete breakdown in relations. It reflected in the memorandum given by the Judges association to the Governor of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which said : "We feel we are working under the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and not under the High Court of both states. We are afraid of their future intervention in political and executive administration of Telangana. We cannot work under Andhra judicial rulers.''

In this tit for tat that the battle between the High court and the Telangana judicial officers has reduced to, nearly 200 senior and junior judges in Telangana have gone on leave for 15 days, starting Wednesday, in protest against the suspension of judges.

Experts say to cast aspersions on the integrity of Andhra judges is to inflict serious damage on the institution of an impartial judiciary. Political analyst K Nageshwar says a divide of this nature within the judiciary will cause more harm than politicians from both states trading charges. "When identity politics creeps into legislature and the executive, can judiciary be insulated from it? This kind of language is uncalled for and if it persists, will only lead to more animosity," says Nageshwar.

India is looking closely at Hyderabad. With dismay. Former chief justice of the Patna High Court, Justice Narasimha Reddy says the institution of judiciary has been dented seriously by the name calling. He however, says Telangana judicial officers are not the only ones to be blamed for the acrimony. Pointing to the refusal of the judicial officers to approach the High court or Supreme court for justice, Justice Reddy says, "An independent social scientist can imagine the amount of neutrality and respect which our premier judicial institutions are commanding."

The problem arose when the High court proactively asked for service options from judicial officers from both states. The court's argument is that though united Andhra Pradesh has been bifurcated, the High court has not been divided, which means judicial officers can be posted anywhere in the two states. However, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in his letter to Union Law minister DV Sadananda Gowda points out that domicile should be the criterion for allotment.

In response to the court's directive on service options, many officers from Andhra opted to serve in Telangana. The court then issued the list of provisional allotment of judges to lower courts in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on 5 May. 335 judicial officers were allotted to Telangana and 495 to Andhra Pradesh. Telangana was livid when it noticed that of the 335 in the Telangana pool, 130 were officers of Andhra nativity.

In this atmosphere of trust deficit and suspicion, it is natural that conspiracy theories are having a field day. Representatives of the Judges association allege the hand of a senior judge from Andhra Pradesh serving in the Supreme court, putting pressure on the High court to post Andhra judges in Telangana. "Having been driven out of Telangana, Andhra politicians are trying to control Telangana through the judiciary,'' says a judge.

When you look closely at the allotment of district judges, the conspiracy theory does not seem outlandish. According to the Telangana Judges association, the 234 district judges in united Andhra Pradesh should have been divided in the 42:58 ratio, which would mean 94 judges to Telangana and 140 to Andhra. However, it says, the HC appointed 102 district judges to Telangana but only 84 to Andhra, leaving 46 vacancies. What's more, it claims that of the 102 in Telangana, 72 are of Andhra origin and only 30 from Telangana.

MP of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti K Kavitha alleges that the allotment is part of a long-term plan. "Younger judges from Andhra have been posted in Telangana, while those close to retirement have been posted in Andhra,'' says Kavitha.

The motive, Telangana legal pugilists say, is to deny promotions to officers from the state. "The fear is that in the next decade, no district judge from Telangana will get promoted to High court judge,'' says L Ravichander, a senior lawyer who practises at the High court.

The Centre has lobbed the ball into Andhra Pradesh's court, arguing that unless Chandrababu Naidu identifies land to construct his state's High court in and around Amaravati, the bifurcation cannot take place.

Will it be back to business in Telangana courts anytime soon? Will courts be akharas of bitterness and hatred, when they start functioning? Ravichander believes that once the dust settles down, after hopefully some assurances and rollback, lawyers will not mind bowing down with a stiff upper lip to say "Your Honour". Till then, the street will continue to be the stage for Telangana's judiciary.
Renowned painter and freedom fighter KG Subramanyan has died at the age of 92 at his home in Vadodara. Subramanyan was a versatile painter who blurred the lines between art and artisans by making his mark in pottery, design and terracotta art as well. Considered one of the pioneers of Modern Art, Subramanyan was also a freedom fighter and was imprisoned briefly during the Quit India Movement.

Subramanyan had an oeuvre that stretched beyond the conventional, yet rooted in a sensibility that was very traditional. His paintings experimented with the idea of the Indian myth from which he borrowed a number of times. Subramanayan was also an art historian and his body of work forms a significant document of Indian art history. His works were not without the playfulness of innocence and satire, as he also wrote and illustrated for children. A man of many talents, Subramanyan inspired and egged his students to find the link between art as language and art as experience without ever forgetting their own place and perception of history as it was being written.

It was under the tutelege of Nandalal Bose and Ramkinkar Baij in Santiniketan between 1944 and 1948 that Subramanyan developed a penchant for art and social commentary through his works. Born in 1924 in Kerala, after he was debarred from government colleges by the British for his involvement in the freedom movement he went to Santiniketan where his oeuvre as an artist and a man with many talents took shape. Subramanyan was professor at various times at the Faculty of Fine Arts at MS University in Baroda and his alma mater, Kala Bhavan (Santiniketan) from where he finally retired in 1989. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2012.

Subramanyan lived with his daughter in Vadodara.
Ranchi: Unidentified criminals stabbed a 43-year-old woman, said to be a relative of Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das, in Jamshedpur city, police said on Wednesday.

Wife of a Tata Steel employee, Khemlata Devi's killing took place at the company quarter in Kadama locality when she was alone on Tuesday night, an officer said.

Her husband Kartik Ram Sahu, returned home around 10 pm on Tuesday and found her dead.

"My wife was lying in a pool of blood. The killers took away the two mobile phones from our house," said Ram.

Khemlata was rushed to Tata Main Hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead, the police said.

The police suspect that the murder was committed by someone known to the family.

Family members of the victim claimed that some biscuits were found on a plate in the room, which led them to believe that a familiar person was involved in the murder.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Anoop T Mathew and Superintendent of Police, Prasant Anand rushed to the spot to investigate the incident.
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday left for Delhi to get the nod of BJP's central leadership for the much-awaited expansion of state cabinet and formation of 'Happiness Ministry'.

Sources close to the chief minister said the announcement of cabinet expansion and formation of a new ministry may come in a day or two as he was expected to return by late Wednesday evening.

Chouhan had a closed-door meeting with BJP vice-president and Madhya Pradesh in-charge Vinay Sahastrabuddhe, state BJP president Nandkumar Chouhan and BJP state organising secretary Suhas Bhagat here on Tuesday.

The Chouhan-led government, in its third term now, has 18 cabinet ministers and four ministers of state since 2013. Expansion was expected in 2014 and 2015, but it did not happen. As per the Constitutional provision, 11 more ministers can be appointed.

On 17 June, the chief minister had said at the state BJP executive meeting that there would be a cabinet expansion. He also announced proposal to form 'Happiness Ministry', inspired by Bhutan which has the concept of 'gross national happiness index'.

The 'Happiness Ministry' might be helmed by the chief minister himself, sources said.
Yet another film-politics nexus! I am referring to the impending engagement of Akshita, the daughter of actor Vikram, and Manu Ranjith, the great-grandson of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi. Though it is trivial to call it what I have, it is unavoidable to think of films and politics as bedfellows  especially in Tamil Nadu. In this case, of course it is simply a boy-meets-girl story: they are getting married and what their fathers, forefathers did or do is purely coincidental.

But the marriage between films and politics is one of long standing in Tamil Nadu  now celebrating its platinum jubilee! Most of the credit for this goes to the Dravidian parties and particularly the great-grandfather mentioned here. It is slyly said that Congress dug its own grave in TN by increasing rural electrification in the 1950s. By doing so, it provided a medium for the Dravidian propaganda that wiped out their existence in the state.

As much as it for the medium, it was the changing social norms that spurred the marriage. Films before the entry of the DMK stalwarts were long-winding with characters speaking in chaste Tamizh and singing at the drop of a penny. Kamal Haasan once famously said, "It is the mythological films that helped atheism grow in TN". The films were about mythological characters, a take-off from street art forms.

In his second film, Velaikaari, CN Annadurai talked about class conflicts. The film immediately struck a chord with the audience. Now, films were reflecting real life and they could identify with the protagonists. Crowds flocked to the theatres and DMK embraced the medium with glee.

Here they had a much larger audience and a canvas to script their ideologies. Annadurais protege Karunanidhi (who earned the sobriquet Kalaignar for his contribution to literature and medium) was best poised to enhance the legacy. His fiery dialogues mouthed by capable actors became household utterances. Both the lead actors  MGR and Sivaji  by saying what Karunanidhi wrote, became the identity of the ideology themselves. So much so, that when Sivaji Ganesan visited Tirupathi for a darshan, the party cadres could not take that betrayal from him. After all he was the one who spoke those iconoclastic dialogues and here he was worshipping the very God he discredited. Such was the overlap between drama and real life.

While the Dravidian parties understood the strength of the medium, there was no one better than the late chief minister MG Ramachandran who used it as a great tool. His films were targeted at the subaltern class and the hero was always someone who fought for them against the authorities and established norms. He sang the famous Naan aanaiyittal, athu nadanthu vittal (roughly translated, 'if my words could be rules') which made the people make his words (come) true. He rode on his filmy popularity to the highest chair in the state. And the impact of his film roles was so high, that even amidst allegations of corruptions by his administration, he was always considered to be clean. During the days when MGR and Karunanidhi were at loggerheads, the latter tried in vain to promote his son in films to counter MGRs popularity (the grandfather of the bridegroom mentioned earlier).

But MGR had so much influence on the masses that he could not be unseated even after he stopped acting. For almost 10 years after his last film, he was still the hero and his words were dictum, only this time he didnt have his best scriptwriter by his side.

And the current chief minister (Jayalalithaa) is again a product of the industry  although in her case, films just helped her to become popular as a face. Because, as is true even today, Tamizh films are hero-centric and the lead actresses do not have much substance in their roles, least as someone who can be seen as a saviour in a heroic mould. Jayalalithaa didnt go around cracking the whip in films (despite the fact that she knows how to crack one). She used films as her visiting card for entry into a grander scheme of things. While MGR had a telepathic connect with the masses and he was seen as one among them, Jayalalithaa acquired it in real life at a later stage and not through her films.

Tamil Nadu as a state has seen four chief ministers from the film industry and a career in the movies is seen as a guaranteed passage to politics and high chairs. And no one is immune to the lure. The opposition leader MK Stalin had a stint in television, and now his son is "afflicted" too. Films are very much a part of a Tamizh psyche, so much so that people in their normal conversation use movie dialogues. And when it is used by a real star, as in the case of Rajinikanth, it can topple governments! It is imperative that every actor has an opinion on politics; the film industry has assumed the burden of Atlas to convene and condemn everything  well almost. So it is not strange to see a one-film wonder being hailed as the future chief minister. No political propaganda machine is without a film actor and some of them go on to become elected members of legislature.

But there is nothing much to complain about really! We dont do that when we see many lawyers in the political arena. Maybe the connect film stars establish with the masses gives them some kind of empathy. And many on their own use their fan bases to help people, for instance, through blood banks, distribution of school books, and so on. Films are the surest way to take a message across to the masses.

The film-politics alliance is one that is bound to continue. In Tamil Nadu, films and politics are conjoined twins and no amount of skillful surgery can separate them.

Shrikanth Veeravalli is a Chennai-based entrepreneur and the author of MGR: A Biography
British Prime Minister David Cameron's exit speech, with his quivering lower lip, won praise from some in the social media. Very quickly, however, sentiments changed with the recognition that it was his disastrous decision, coupled with bad timing and strategic misreading of sentiment, that plunged global markets into turmoil and uncertainty. Across the globe, the reaction quickly moved from shock and horror to ridicule and contempt.

Through the years that the UK has been part of the EU, it has, at best, done so in a half-hearted and hesitant manner. In Churchill's admission to General de Gaulle, the UK preferred the open sea to Europe if it was forced to make a choice. That sentiment has never wavered. Indeed, even though the European Coal and Steel Community [ECSC] was set up in 1951, through the Treaty of Paris, after World War II to unify a devastated Europe, it was only in 1961 that Britain applied to join the European Economic Community that the ECSC had evolved into. It took over a decade, thereafter, for Britain to join the EEC.

Even at that time, the British were not convinced of the gains of joining and it was only through a referendum, in 1975, that Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson renegotiated and won Britain's membership. Cameron hoped to emulate his illustrious predecessor but failed to read the innumerable warning signs.

Indeed, in October last year, The Economist magazine, in an article titled The Reluctant European, predicted that thanks to Europe's migration crisis and the euro mess, there was a realistic possibility of a majority of Britons wanting out if a referendum was held.

The real reasons behind the exit vote are yet to be fully analyzed and understood, though three things are clear: first, 58 percent of those who wanted to leave were 65 years old and more; second, Northern Ireland and Scotland want to stay in the EU; and third, London voted against Brexit.

Those who wanted out, as per statements published in social media, are reported to have blamed the influx of migrants, especially from Islamic countries and the on-going Syrian crisis; the volatile euro; the deepening financial crisis in several European countries such as Greece and Portugal; the aggressive Brussels bureaucracy and the loss of sovereignty.

The full implications of Brexit are yet to be fully understood and would, in large part, need to be negotiated between London and the EU member states. However, in the aftermath of the vote, the immediate consequence is one of significant uncertainty and hence confusion.

Northern Ireland and Scotland have already voiced views about breaking away from the UK. Bizarrely, lobbying has started within the UK for London to remain a part of the EU! To confound confusion, there is talk of a second referendum!

Ultra-rightest lobbies are likely to capitalize on the vote and given how emotive the migration issue is, there is genuine fear that disintegrative forces would be unleashed. A gloating Marine Le Pen of France has already said that the UK has started a movement that will not stop. There is credible anxiety of the contagion spreading and threatening the very idea of European integration and unity.

The exit vote, as per Article 50 of EU Law, requires that within two years, a new relationship between the EU and the UK has to be negotiated. This is not as simple as it sounds. Will a post-Brexit Britain be excluded from the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership? Does the UK go it alone in the WTO? What happens to EU nationals working in the UK and vice versa? These are only some of the multiple questions that have been thrown up.

The annoyance at the vote is considerable and though Cameron has said that he will step down only later in the year, when the party elects a new Prime Minister, there is pressure to commence the negotiations immediately and begin the process of clarity.

German Chancellor Angela Merket, known for her sagacity and far-sightedness, clearly anticipated this and, immediately after the vote, convened a meeting of the six founding states -- Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands -- to gauge the sentiment on next steps. She cautioned against a quick divorce and said that while there needs to be clear roadmap, rushing into an exit was unwarranted. This was in sharp contrast to the position taken by the EU president, who wanted the UK out and fast.

These are difficult times and once again, all eyes will turn to Merkel's cool head to steer the dangerously damaged EU ship. What an extraordinary development that it is Germany, post-World War II, that has emerged as the ultimate European!

Perhaps the most remarkable tragedy is not that Britain is isolated or that the global economy is in turmoil but rather that when the majority of persons who voted for out were senior citizens, it is the young in the UK who would be denied the opportunity of taking advantage of the opportunities that EU offers. They would be the biggest losers. Perhaps the British Prime Minister ought to have gauged the implications with greater sobriety.

Cameron might have hoped to go down in history. He will, most certainly, do so but it is least likely that the biographies would be kind. As democracies, we are aware of the importance of respecting the will of the people. But democratic governance is also responsible governance. If anything, the timing of the referendum was an irresponsible and strategic blunder. Cameron didn't just let down the UK, he let Europe and the global community floundering. This surely was not the mark of statesmanship.
New York: The same popular frustration that saw a majority of Britons vote to abandon the EU could send droves of disgruntled Americans into the arms of Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders warned on Wednesday.

In an opinion piece appearing in the New York Times, Sanders wrote that legions of American voters, alienated by the forces of globalization, are ripe for the message of political retrenchment and economic protectionism espoused by Trump.

"Could this rejection of the current form of the global economy happen in the United States? You bet it could," wrote Sanders, runner-up to Hillary Clinton for the Democrats' presidential nomination, who will be formally crowned the party's nominee next month.

"The notion that Donald Trump could benefit from the same forces that gave the 'Leave' proponents a majority in Britain should sound an alarm for the Democratic Party in the United States," Sanders wrote.

"Millions of American voters, like the 'Leave' supporters, are understandably angry and frustrated by the economic forces that are destroying the middle class," he continued.

"In this pivotal moment, the Democratic Party and a new Democratic president need to make clear that we stand with those who are struggling and who have been left behind. We must create national and global economies that work for all, not just a handful of billionaires."

The Republican Party's presumed White House nominee, Trump has won the support of millions by echoing many themes embraced by disaffected "Leave" supporters in Britain  including sentiments viewed by some as hostile to immigration.

Sanders, a senator from the state of Vermont and self-described democratic socialist, said economic stagnation is the source of much of the public disaffection in the United States with the status quo.

"Let's be clear. The global economy is not working for the majority of people in our country and the world. This is an economic model developed by the economic elite to benefit the economic elite. We need real change," he said.

"But we do not need change based on the demagogy, bigotry and anti-immigrant sentiment that punctuated so much of the Leave campaign's rhetoric  and is central to Donald J Trump's message."
United Nations: The UN General Assembly on Tuesday elected Ethiopia, Bolivia and Sweden as non-permanent members of the Security Council for a two-year period beginning in January, 2017.

The 193-member UN body conducted the elections for five non-permanent seats, which included one seat for the African Group, one seat for the Group of Asia and the Pacific small island developing states, one seat for the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, and two seats for the Western European and Others Group.

The two-year terms of the new members will begin on 1 January next year and run through December 31, 2018. Ethiopia got 185 votes, while Bolivia got 183 and Sweden garnered 134 votes.

A second round of voting is underway to elect a member between Kazakhstan and Thailand in the Asia Pacific group and Italy and the Netherlands in the Western European group.

The UN Security Council consists of 10 non-permanent members who sit alongside the five permanent, veto-wielding members - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.

The non-permanent seats are allocated according to a rotation pattern set by the Assembly back in 1963, to ensure a proportionate representation over time from different parts of the world: five from African and Asian states; one from Eastern European states; two from Latin American states; and two from Western European and Other states.

This year, the one seat for the African Group  currently held by Angola  is uncontested, with only one candidate  Ethiopia  put forward by the regional group.

The same holds true for the seat for the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States  currently held by Venezuela  for which Bolivia has been nominated.

However, the seat for the Asia-Pacific Group  currently held by Malaysia  is being contested this year, with two member states  Kazakhstan and Thailand  presenting their candidacies.

Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden are competing for two seats under the Western European and Others Group  which are

currently held by New Zealand and Spain.

With the exception of Kazakhstan, all competing candidate countries have served on the council in the past.

The new members will join the five other non-permanent members of the council whose terms expire at the end of 2017: Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay.

To secure a non-permanent seat on the council, a candidate country must garner the votes of two-thirds of the member states present at the General Assembly session.

If all 193 UN member states are present tomorrow, this means winning a seat will require 129 positive votes.
ISTANBUL Turkey pointed the finger at Islamic State on Wednesday for a triple suicide bombing and gun attack that killed 41 people at Istanbul's main airport, and President Tayyip Erdogan called it a turning point in the global fight against terrorism.

In the deadliest of a series of suicide bombings this year in Turkey, the attackers struck the busy airport, a symbol of Istanbul's role as the Muslim world's most open and cosmopolitan city, a crossroads between Europe and Asia.

Three bombers opened fire to create panic outside the airport on Tuesday night, before two of them got inside and blew themselves up. Two hundred thirty-nine people were wounded, officials said, giving a full account of the bloodshed.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the attackers shot at random to overcome security checks at the international terminal of Ataturk airport. One blew himself up in the departures hall, a second in arrivals, and the third outside.

"Our thoughts on those responsible for the attack lean towards Islamic State," he told a news conference in the capital Ankara, adding that investigations should be completed in the coming days and the identities of the bombers revealed.

John Brennan, head of the CIA in Washington, also said the attack bore the hallmarks of Islamic State "depravity".

Turkey is part of a U.S.-led military coalition against Islamic State and home to around 3 million refugees from the five year civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Islamic State has established a self-declared caliphate on swathes of both Syria and Iraq and declared war on all non-Muslims and all Muslims who do not accept its ultra-hardline vision of Sunni Islam. It has claimed responsibility for similar bombing and gun attacks in Belgium and France in the past year.

Erdogan, whose government has taken steps this week to improve relations with Israel and Russia in part to strengthen its hand in fighting against militants, said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global battle against terrorism, which he said had "no regard for faith or values".

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the attack in separate phone calls with Erdogan, his office said.

EXPLOSIONS

A day after the attack, broken ceiling panels littered the kerb outside the arrivals section of the international terminal. Plates of glass had shattered, exposing the inside of the building, and electric cables dangled from the ceiling.

Cleanup crews swept up debris and armed police patrolled as flights resumed.

"There were little babies crying, people shouting, broken glass and blood all over the floor. It was very crowded, there was chaos. It was traumatic," said Diana Eltner, 29, a Swiss psychologist who was travelling from Zurich to Vietnam but had been diverted to Istanbul after she missed a connection.

Paul Roos, 77, a South African tourist on his way home, said he saw one of the attackers "randomly shooting" in the departures hall from about 50 metres (55 yards) away.

"He was wearing all black. His face was not masked ... We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Roos told Reuters.

"He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over."

Thirteen foreigners were killed, including five Saudis, two Iraqis and citizens from China, Jordan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Iran and Ukraine.

One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover and trying to flee, witnesses said. Two other explosions hit the arrivals floor below, one of them just outside the building.

Video footage showed one attacker inside the terminal being shot, apparently by a police officer, before falling to the ground as people scattered. The attacker then blew himself up around 20 seconds later.

"It's a jigsaw puzzle ... The authorities are going through CCTV footage, witness statements," a Turkish official said of the investigation.

The Dogan news agency said autopsies on the three bombers, whose torsos were ripped apart, had been completed and that they may have been foreign nationals. It did not cite its sources.

No group had claimed responsibility, more than a day after the attack, which began around 9:50 p.m. (1850 GMT) on Tuesday.

AIM TO MAXIMISE FEAR

Istanbul's position bridging Europe and Asia has made Ataturk airport, Turkey's largest, a major transit hub for passengers across the world. The Istanbul governor's office said 109 of the 239 people hospitalised had since been discharged, but the health minister said 41 were still in intensive care.

Delayed travellers were sleeping on floors at the airport, a Reuters witness said, as some passengers and airport staff cried and hugged each other. Police in kevlar vests with automatic weapons prowled the kerbside as a handful of travellers and Turkish Airlines crew trickled in.

The national carrier said it had cancelled 340 flights although its departures resumed after 8:00 am (0500 GMT).

The attack bore similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March that killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital.

Islamic State militants also claimed responsibility for gun and bomb attacks that killed 129 people in Paris last November.

"In Istanbul they used a combination of the methods employed in Paris and Brussels. They planned a murder that would maximize fear and loss of life," said Suleyman Ozeren, a terrorism expert at the Ankara-based Global Policy and Strategy Institute.

Turkey needs to work harder on "preventative intelligence" to stop militants being radicalised in the first place, he said.

The European airports association ACI Europe said airport security had been stepped up across the continent after the Brussels attacks, but said many of the fatalities in Istanbul came as people queued for security checks at the entrance.

"We must face the reality that when dealing with a terror threat based on suicide bombing, no security measures can ensure 100 percent protection," it said.

The two U.S. officials said the Istanbul bombing was more typical of Islamic State than of Kurdish militant groups which have also carried out recent attacks in Turkey, but usually strike at official government targets.

Yildirim said it was significant that the attack took place when Turkey was having successes in fighting terrorist groups and mending ties with some of its international partners.

Turkey announced the restoration of diplomatic ties with Israel on Monday after a six-year rupture and has been trying to restore relations with Russia, a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"While some see it as a possible knee-jerk reaction to the rapprochement with Israel and Russia, given the preparation involved I think it is part of a general response to Turkey's intensification of security measures along the Turkey-Syria border," said Ege Seckin, political analyst at IHS Country Risk in London.

(Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Can Sezer, Humeyra Pamuk and David Dolan in Istanbul, Ercan Gurses in Ankara, John Walcott and Ismail Kushkush in Washington, Pavel Polityuk in Kiev, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Sami Aboudi in Dubai, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Nick Tattersall; editing by Philippa Fletcher, Janet McBride and Peter Graff)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The death toll from the suicide attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport has risen to 41, with over 230 others injured, BBC reported on Wednesday citing Turkish officials. The terror attack is the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group.

Istanbul's Governor Vasip Sahin confirmed the toll and said that at least 13 of those killed were of foreign or dual nationality.

One Iranian and one Ukrainian were confirmed dead.

Among the dead are the three suicide bombers, who arrived at the airport in a taxi and blew themselves up after opening fire.

Another senior government official told The Associated Press the death toll could climb much higher. The senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, at first said close to 50 people had already died, but later said that the figure was expected to around that many.

Airport surveillance video posted on social media showed the moment of one blast, a huge ball of fire, and passengers fleeing in terror. Another appeared to show an attacker, felled by a gunshot from a security officer, blowing himself up seconds later.

The recent attacks on a key partner in the US-led coalition against Islamic State and a Nato member have increased in scale and frequency. They have scared away tourists and hurt the Turkish economy, which relies heavily on tourism.

As dawn broke over the destroyed terminal Wednesday, workers began removing debris left by the blast. The airport partially reopened, but the international arrivals area remained closed and several emergency vehicles maintained a heavy security presence. An information board inside showed that about one-third of scheduled flights had been canceled, with a host of others delayed.

Earlier, the hundreds of passengers who fled the airport in fear were left sitting on the grass outside. Several ambulances drove back and forth, and security vehicles surrounded the scene.

Adam Keally, from Boston, said he heard gunfire followed by several explosions, then saw people "very badly injured."

Hevin Zini, 12, had just arrived from Duesseldorf, Germany, with her family and was in tears.

"There was blood on the ground," she told AP. "Everything was blown up to bits... if we had arrived two minutes earlier, it could have been us."

Yildirim, speaking to reporters at the airport, said all initial indications suggested the Islamic State group was behind the attacks.

"The findings of our security forces point at the Daesh organization as the perpetrators of this terror attack," Yildirim said, using the Arabic name for Islamic State. "Even though the indications suggest Daesh, our investigations are continuing."

Another Turkish official said two of the attackers detonated explosives at the entrance of the international arrivals terminal after police fired at them, while the third blew himself up in the parking lot.

The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations, cited interior ministry information and said that none of the attackers managed to get past security checks at the terminal's entrance.

Turkey shares long, porous borders with Syria and Iraq, war-torn countries where Islamic State controls large pockets of territory. Authorities have blamed Islamic State for several major bombings over the past year, including on the capital Ankara, as well as attacks on tourists in Istanbul.

Turkey has stepped up controls at airports and land borders and deported thousands of foreign fighters, but has struggled to tackle the threat of Islamic State militants while also conducting vast security operations against Kurdish rebels, who have also been blamed for recent deadly attacks.

The devastation at Istanbul's airport follows the March attack on Brussels Airport, where two suicide bombings ripped through check-in counters, killing 16 people. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack, as well as a subsequent explosion at a Brussels subway station that killed 16 more people.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said on Twitter: "Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul's airport. We condemn these atrocious acts of violence."

Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul's airport. We condemn these atrocious acts of violence #Istanbul  Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) June 28, 2016

Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.

South African Judy Favish, who spent two days in Istanbul as a layover on her way home from Dublin, had just checked in when she heard an explosion followed by gunfire and a loud bang.

She says she hid under the counter for some time.

Favish says passengers were ushered to a cafeteria at the basement level where they were kept for more than an hour before being allowed outside.

Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions.

"We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off," Paul Roos said. "There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a hand gun."

The prime minister called for national unity and "global cooperation" in combatting terrorism.

"This (attack) has shown once again that terrorism is a global threat," Yildirim said. "This is a heinous planned attack that targeted innocent people."

He suggested that the attack was linked to what he said was Turkey's success against Kurdish rebels, as well as steps Ankara took Monday toward mending strained ties with Israel and Russia.

"It is meaningful that this heinous attack came at a time when we have become successful in the fight against separatist terrorism ... and at a time when we started a process of normalizing ties with our neighbors," Yildirim said.

Yildirim said there was no security lapse at the airport, but added the fact the attackers were carrying weapons "increased the severity" of the attack.

Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.

Asked whether a fourth attacker might have escaped, Yildirim said authorities have no such assessment but are considering every possibility.

Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Turkey said at least seven Saudis were injured in the attack and all are in stable condition.

Dozens of anxious friends and relatives waited early Wednesday outside Istanbul's Bakirkoy Hospital, where victims were taken.

"You can hear that people are wailing here," said Serdar Tatlisu, a relative of a victim. "We cannot cope anymore, we can't just stay still. We need some kind of solution for whatever problem there is."

Turkey is beset by an array of security threats, 26, including from ultra-left radicals, Kurdish rebels demanding greater autonomy in the restive southeast, and IS militants.

On 12 January, an attack that Turkish authorities blamed on IS claimed the lives of a dozen German tourists visiting Istanbul's historic sites. On 19 March, a suicide bombing rocked Istanbul's main pedestrian street, killing five people, including the bomber, whom the authorities identified as a Turkish national linked to IS.

Last October, twin suicide bombings hit a peace rally outside Ankara's train station, killing 102 people. There was no claim of responsibility but Turkish authorities blamed the attack on a local cell of IS.

Istanbul's Ataturk Airport was the 11th busiest airport in the world last year, with 61.8 million passengers, according to Airports Council International. It is also one of the fastest-growing airports in the world, seeing 9.2 percent more passengers last year than in 2014.

The largest carrier at the airport is Turkish Airlines, which operates a major hub there. Low-cost Turkish carrier Onur Air is the second-largest airline there.

The independent Dogan news agency reported that a plane carrying Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was arriving on an official visit at the airport when the attack occurred. The prime minister and his entourage were safely taken to an official residence.

With inputs from agencies
NEW YORK Police temporarily evacuated a terminal at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday as they investigated a report of a suspicious package, authorities said.

A Homeland Security K-9 unit was checking into an unattended bag at about 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) in the departure area of Terminal Five, said Joe Pentangelo, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the airport.

Pentangelo said the bomb squad had responded and roadways to the area were temporarily closed. The package was cleared and the terminal resumed normal operations, the spokesman said.

The evacuation came a day after suicide bombers blew themselves up at the main airport in Istanbul, Turkey, killing at least 41 people and injuring hundreds.

After the attack, the Port Authority deployed armed, high-visibility patrols at the three main airports in the New York metropolitan region.

(Reporting by Daniel Wallis and Laila Kearney; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jeffrey Benkoe)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
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Suicide attackers killed at least 38 people and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport. Turkish officials said the explosions were probably the work of Islamic State group militants. On 13 March, 2016, a Kurdish woman blew herself up in a car at a busy transport hub in Ankara, killing 37 people in an attack that was also claimed by TAK, also known as the Kurdish Freedom Falcons. Later, on 19 March, a suicide bombing rocked Istanbul's main pedestrian street killing five people, including the bomber, whom authorities identified as a Turkish national linked to IS.

Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul's airport. We condemn these atrocious acts of violence #Istanbul

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said on Twitter: "Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul's airport. We condemn these atrocious acts of violence."

The devastation at Istanbul's airport follows the March attack on Brussels Airport, where two suicide bombings ripped through check-in counters, killing 16 people. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack, as well as a subsequent explosion at a Brussels subway station that killed 16 more people.

Istanbul's Ataturk Airport was the 11th busiest airport in the world last year, with 61.8 million passengers, according to Airports Council International. It is also one of the fastest-growing airports in the world, seeing 9.2 percent more passengers last year than in 2014, reported AP. The largest carrier at the airport is Turkish Airlines, which operates a major hub there. Low-cost Turkish carrier Onur Air is the second-largest airline there.

Ataturk Airport one of the busiest in the world

Istanbul's Ataturk Airport was the 11th busiest airport in the world last year, with 61.8 million passengers, according to Airports Council International. It is also one of the fastest-growing airports in the world, seeing 9.2 percent more passengers last year than in 2014, reported AP. The largest carrier at the airport is Turkish Airlines, which operates a major hub there. Low-cost Turkish carrier Onur Air is the second-largest airline there.

Ataturk Airport one of the busiest in the world

Canada strongly condemns tonights deadly attack in Turkey. My thoughts are with the victims as we stand with our allies against terrorism.

Canandian Prime Minister strongly condemned the deadly attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport. "My thoughts are with the victims as we stand with our allies against terrorism," he said on Twitter.

Officials on Wednesday morning began assessing the damage caused at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport by three suicide bombers who killed dozens and wounded more than 140, reported AP. Workers were brought in to remove debris left by the blast, while in the daylight the damage to the terminal became clearer with even ceiling panels hit.The airport was partially reopened, with the information board inside the airport showing that about one third of scheduled flights have been canceled, with a host of others delayed.

Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is on high alert. Central Industrial Security Force and Rapid Action Force personnel have been deployed.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday said that there were no reports of any Indian among the casualties in the attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport. "No report so far of any Indian among the casualties. Consulate has been in touch with Istanbul Governorate and the Turkish Health Ministry hotline desk," an official statement said.

Jens Stoltenberg, Nato's secretary-general, said in a statement: "My thoughts are with the families of the victims, those injured and the people of Turkey. "There can be no justification for terrorism," Stoltenberg said. "Nato allies stand in solidarity with Turkey, united in our determination to fight terrorism in all its forms."

Nato chief strongly condemned the "horrific attacks" at Istanbul's airport, and said Turkey's 27 allies in the US-led political and military organization stand with it, reported AP.

Social networking giant Facebook activated its safety check feature for users after the Istanbul attack, reported IANS. The feature allows people to notify their friends if they are in the affected area and mark themselves as safe. A click or tap on the "I'm Safe" button lets friends and loved ones know straight away. Users can also check to see whether their friends are safe too.

Istanbul: Three suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk Airport Tuesday, killing at least 36 people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said. According to India Today, the death toll has increased to 38.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 36 were dead as well as the three suicide bombers. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said 147 were wounded. Another senior government official told AP the death toll could climb much higher.

The senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, at first said close to 50 people had already died, but later said that the figure was expected to rise to close to 50.

Yildirim said three suicide bombers were responsible for the attack and all initial indications suggest the Islamic State group was behind it.

"The findings of our security forces point at the Daesh organization as the perpetrators of this terror attack," Yildirim told reporters at the airport, using the Arabic name for Islamic State. "Even though the indications suggest Daesh, our investigations are continuing."

Yildirim said the attackers arrived at the airport in a taxi and blew themselves up after opening fire. Asked whether a fourth attacker might have escaped, he said authorities have no such assessment but are considering every possibility.

The victims included some foreigners, he said, adding that many of the wounded have minor injuries but others are more badly hurt.

Another Turkish official said two of the attackers detonated explosives at the entrance of the international arrivals terminal after police fired at them, while the third blew himself up in the parking lot.

The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations and cited interior ministry information, said none of the attackers managed to get past security checks at the terminal's entrance.

Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.

Roads around the airport were sealed off for regular traffic after the attack and several ambulances could be seen driving back and forth. Hundreds of passengers were flooding out of the airport and others were sitting on the grass.

Hevin Zini, 12, had just arrived from Duesseldorf, Germany, with her family and was in tears from the shock.

"There was blood on the ground," she told AP. "Everything was blown up to bits... if we had arrived two minutes earlier, it could have been us."

South African Judy Favish, who spent two days in Istanbul as a layover on her way home from Dublin, had just checked in when she heard an explosion followed by gunfire and a loud bang.

She says she hid under the counter for some time.

Favish says passengers were ushered to a cafeteria at the basement level where they were kept for more than an hour before being allowed outside.

Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions.

"We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off," Paul Roos said. "There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a hand gun."

Yildirim said air traffic at the airport, which was suspended after the attack, had resumed to normal.

The prime minister called for national unity and "global cooperation" in combating terrorism.

"This (attack) has shown once again that terrorism is a global threat," Yildirim said. "This is a heinous planned attack that targeted innocent people."

He suggested that the attack was linked to what he said was Turkey's success against Kurdish rebels as well as steps Ankara took on Monday toward mending strained ties with Israel and Russia.

"It is meaningful that this heinous attack came at a time when we have become successful in the fight against separatist terrorism ... and at a time when we started a process of normalizing ties with our neighbors," Yildirim said.

Yildirim insisted there was no security lapse at the airport but said the fact that the attackers were carrying weapons "increased the severity" of the attack.

The private DHA news agency said the wounded, among them police officers, were transferred to Bakirkoy State Hospital.

Turkey has suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or Islamic State group militants.

The bombings include two in Istanbul targeting tourists that authorities have blamed on the Islamic State group.

The attacks have increased in scale and frequency, scaring off tourists and hurting the economy, which relies heavily on tourism revenues.

Istanbul's Ataturk Airport was the 11th busiest airport in the world last year, with 61.8 million passengers, according to Airports Council International. It is also one of the fastest-growing airports in the world, seeing 9.2 percent more passengers last year than in 2014.

The largest carrier at the airport is Turkish Airlines, which operates a major hub there. Low-cost Turkish carrier Onur Air is the second-largest airline there.
Washington: A top US Congressman has opposed the decision of the House of Representatives to increase American aid to Pakistan from USD 700 million to USD 900 million alleging that Pakistan continues to support terror groups that target US troops in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan cannot be trusted. It has played us now for a total of USD 33 billion of our money since 2001," Republican Congressman Ted Poe, chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade of the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote yesterday in an op-ed in US News.

Poe's move to retain the US aid to Pakistan to USD 700 million for the fiscal 2017 as for 2016 was voted down by the House of Representatives.

Poe said he is disappointed by House's decision.

"For 15 years we have been asking Pakistan to go after terrorists within its own borders and for 15 years not only has Pakistan not done so in any significant way, but it has actually supported those very terrorists who kill our service men and women in Afghanistan. It is time to call it like it is," he said.

"We do not need to give Pakistan a raise to betray us. They will do it for free. And that's just the way it is," Poe said.

The House of Representatives recently gave Pakistan a USD 200 million raise. In all, it was a USD 900 million payday for a country that to this day is supporting terrorist groups that kill US service men and women in Afghanistan, he said.

"It is well known by now that Pakistan gave safe harbor to Osama bin Laden. Before he met his maker in one of the greatest US military raids ever conducted, bin Laden was living in a big house in a bustling military town in Pakistan," he added.

"Less known is that after that raid our CIA station chief in Pakistan was poisoned: Both he and the CIA suspect he was poisoned by Pakistan's version of the CIA called the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency or 'ISI'," Poe wrote.

"The ISI is infamous for its support for terrorists. In February 2012, a NATO report confirmed that it was supporting the Taliban and other terrorist groups with resources, sanctuary and training," Poe said.

"A year before the NATO report, in 2011, Adm Mike Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before Congress that "the Haqqani Network acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency. No terrorist organization is responsible for more American deaths than the Haqqani Network," he alleged.
Three years ago the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi was ousted, only a year after becoming Egypt's first freely elected president after the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak. Here are 10 key dates since his ouster:

3 July, 2013: Morsi ousted

Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousts Morsi after massive protests against his one-year rule, and freezes the Islamist-drafted constitution. Morsi, arrested, denounces a "coup" as authorities launch a crackdown against his supporters.

On 14 August, security forces move against two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo, killing at least 700 people.

In the following months, more than 1,400 pro-Morsi demonstrators are killed, while 15,000 others are detained in a crackdown and hundreds, including Morsi himself, are sentenced to death at hasty mass trials denounced by the United Nations.

In December, the government declares the Brotherhood a "terrorist" organisation.

28 May, 2014: Sisi elected

Sisi is sworn in as president having won 96.9 percent of a vote boycotted by the Brotherhood and secular dissidents. In January voters had overwhelmingly approved a new constitution that strengthened the role of the army.

10 February, 2015: Putin in Cairo

Russian President Vladimir Putin visit Cairo for the first time in 10 years. Egypt and Russia agree to jointly build Egypt's first nuclear power plant.

29 June, 2015: Prosecutor assassinated

Egypt's state Prosecutor Hisham Barakat is killed when a car bomb struck his convoy in an upscale Cairo district after jihadist calls for attacks on the judiciary to avenge the crackdown on Islamists. The authorities blame the Palestinian group Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Two days later in the Sinai a brazen attack by the Islamic State groups kills dozens, including 21 soldiers and 100 militants, according to the army.

2 August, 2015: Kerry visits

US Secretary of State John Kerry visits Cairo. Egypt and Washington relaunch strategic ties.

Washington froze arms deliveries to Cairo after the crackdown on Morsi's supporters, but resumed full aid in March and delivered a batch of F-16 jets in late July.

6 August, 2015: The Suez Canal expanded

Sisi unveils an expanded Suez Canal in a lavish ceremony attended by heads of state, including France's Francois Hollande.

In February, France sells 24 Rafale fighter jets and a frigate to Egypt. And in October Cairo signs a deal with France to buy two Mistral warships originally destined for Russia.

31 October, 2015: Sinai air crash

A Russian passenger plane crashes in the Sinai Peninsula killing all 224 people on board. IS claims responsibility.

10 January, 2016: New parliament

A new parliament elected in late 2015 and dominated by Sisi supporters holds its first session.

4 February, 2016: student killed

The badly mutilated body of Italian Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge University PhD student is found out the outskirts of Cairo. Italian media and diplomats say he was killed by the security services but Egypt denies the claims.

7 April, 2016: Saudi king visits

Saudi King Salman starts a five-day visit to Cairo in a show of support for Sisi. Before leaving he signs a slew of multi-billion-dollar investment deals, that include a plan to build a bridge over the Red Sea connecting the Gulf kingdom and Egypt.
MONESSEN, Pennsylvania/WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to force Canada and Mexico to renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement with the United States - or scrap it - if elected, as part of an effort to protect and restore American jobs.

Trump criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement as a U.S. job killer and tried to link Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to it on the eve of a meeting in Ottawa of the "three amigos," the leaders of the three NAFTA signatories: the United States, Mexico and Canada.

In his most detailed speech on trade, the presumptive Republican nominee said he would pull the United States out of negotiations for a deal among 12 Pacific Rim nations, and promised to use executive power to resolve trade disputes with China.

Trump, who also pledged to revive the U.S. steel and aluminium industry, spoke at an aluminium scrap factory in Monessen, Pennsylvania nearly 30 miles (50 km) south of one-time American steelmaking capital Pittsburgh.

Trump has identified Pennsylvania as a state he believes he can wrest from the Democrats in the Nov. 8 election. He was slated to campaign later on Tuesday in Ohio, like Pennsylvania a Rust Belt state.

Democratic President Barack Obama won both states in 2008 and 2012, but manufacturing job losses have led to voter anxiety in the region.

Trump said, "I'm going tell our NAFTA partners that I intend to immediately renegotiate the terms of that agreement to get a better deal for our workers. And I don't mean just a little bit better, I mean a lot better."

If Canada and Mexico do not agree to renegotiate the pact, Trump said he would notify them under the agreement's terms "that America intends to withdraw from the deal."

He tried to tie his Democratic rival to the pact approved in 1993 during the administration of her husband, President Bill Clinton, calling NAFTA one of the "worst legacies" of the Clinton years.

On MSNBC after Trump's speech, Clinton spokeswoman Kristina Schake called the wealthy New York businessman the "king of outsourcing," in an apparent reference to Trump-branded products such as suits and ties made overseas.

"It was full of hypocrisy and misstatements and outright lies," Schake said.

Trade has been a vulnerability for Clinton, who struggled for white, blue-collar votes in her Democratic primary race against U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. He criticized her for supporting trade deals and said she was too close to Wall Street.

Trump echoed Sanders' criticism on Tuesday, saying Clinton supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade deal being negotiated among 12 Pacific Rim countries, while she was secretary of state and only opposed it once she was running for president.

Clinton has said she will evaluate each trade deal on its merits but does not believe the TPP is good for U.S. workers. Sanders now says he will vote for Clinton in November although he has not formally withdrawn from the race.

Trump said he saw no way to fix the TPP, calling it a "death blow" for American manufacturing. Although China is not part of the agreement, Trump said Beijing might try to enter it "through the back door" later on.

Just hours before Trump spoke, Clinton allies sought to pre-empt the planned trade speech by saying Trump's policies amounted to empty promises.

Earlier, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told a trade conference in Washington that "Trump embodies everything that is wrong with our current trade policy. He has consistently sent American jobs overseas to line his own pockets."

The AFL-CIO, which collectively represents more than 12 million workers, making it the largest U.S. labour federation, endorsed Clinton this month.

POPULIST ANGER

Both Clinton and Trump have acknowledged that Britain's vote to leave the European Union signalled a global economic frustration among working-class voters that could reverberate in the U.S. election.

"There is a lot of legitimate anxiety, fear and even anger in many parts of our country because people feel like the economy has failed them," Clinton said in Denver on Tuesday. "I think this is going to be one of the defining issues in this election."

Trump has seized on the historic "Brexit" vote to bolster his argument that voters are rising up against establishment leaders, saying Americans would reject the "global elite" and support his presidential candidacy.

But Trump has broken with Republican Party orthodoxy in criticizing trade deals, and threatened to slap tariffs on Mexican and Chinese imports. His rhetoric has drawn criticism from many economists, who say such practices could spark trade wars.

As Trump spoke, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is usually in sync with prominent Republicans on trade policy, said on Twitter: "Under Trump's trade plans, we would see higher prices, fewer jobs, and a weaker economy."

(Additional reporting by Adam DeRose and Alana Wise; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
On Tuesday, Istanbul Ataturk airport was rocked by suicide bombings that killed at least 36 people and injured 147 others. Among the dead are the three suicide bombers. Although no group has claimed responsibility yet, the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim blamed the Islamic State (IS) for the attacks.

Turkey has been facing the brunt of Islamic State attacks for some years now. The country saw its first IS attacks in 2013, when twin car bombs at the Turkish- Syrian border killed over 50 people and injured another 100 people.

In the beginning of 2014, Turkish forces conducted an air strike on an Islamic State convoy destroying their three vehicles- a pick-up truck, a lorry and a bus.

Six months later, Turkey blacklisted Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front. Soon after that when IS took over Mosul, they captured the Turkish Consulate and held its 49-member staff as hostage for over two months.

In September that year, Turkey joined hands with the US and nine other countries to form a coalition to fight the IS.

In June 2015, Turkey conducted its General Elections. Just three weeks before the elections, at a rally of pro-Kurdish activists near Ankara's main railway station, two bombs exploded within a few seconds, killing four and injuring 100 others.

Another horrific bombing took place at a gathering of a group of university-aged students in Suruc, killing 31 and injuring 104 people.

But Turkey saw one of its worst attacks when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the midst of a group of peace activists at its capital Ankara in 2015. The blasts saw the death toll reaching almost a 100 people. While no group claimed responsibility for the attacks, the government pointed fingers at IS and also had doubts on Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and leftist militants.

Turkey took a strong step in fighting the IS militants by granting permission for American warplanes to use two Turkish air bases.

2016 brought along a fresh series of attacks on Turkey.

In January, Istanbul witnessed a suicide blast that killed 10 people, most of whom were Germans, and wounded 15 others. Merely two months later, a shopping district in Istanbul was targeted, killing five people and injuring 36. Like the previous attack, here too, most of the victims were foreigners, a majority of them being Israelis.
A woman was injured from a shooting in downtown Denver on Tuesday afternoon and police said the suspected gunman was pronounced dead at the scene with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Denver Police Department on its Twitter account said the woman was taken to an area hospital, though her condition was not provided. Police said the shooting did not appear random.

The department had previously said on its Twitter account that the suspect was in custody and taken to an area hospital.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Bernard Orr)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
A US Army veteran was racially abused on a tram in Manchester by three teenagers on Tuesday morning as reports talked about rising racism in Britain after Brexit.

"Don't chat sh*t when you're not even from England, you little f**king immigrant," shouted one of the teenagers after Juan Jasso, the American victim, told them not to swear in front of children on the tram, according to The Telegraph.

"You little immigrant, get back to Africa...You're a muppet, get off the tram now," said one of the teenagers.

Jasso has been living in the UK for 18 years now. One of the assailants, who was carrying a bottle of beer, even flicked alcohol from the bottle at Jasso in the tram.

However, other people in the tram eventually stood by Jasso and the three teenagers had to leave the tram. One of the other commuters even told the three teenagers, "You are an absolute disgrace to England."

According to CNN, police in Manchester arrested two young men and a teenager in connection with the incident.

Over 100 incidents of racial abuse and hate crimes have been reported since the UK voted to leave the EU, PTI had reported. "We should be absolutely clear that this government will not tolerate intolerance... intimidating migrants, telling them they need to go home," outgoing British PM David Cameron's Downing Street spokesperson had said.

To combat the rising number of hate crimes post-Brexit, a Twitter user came up with the idea that people should wear a safety pin to show solidarity and support for the immigrants living in the UK.

The idea being that anyone against the sort of nationalistic, racist violence we've been seeing could identify themselves as a "safe" ally.  miss pommery 1926 (@cheeahs) June 26, 2016

I'd like to come up with something that can be made by anybody anywhere to pin on their jacket or coat to signify that they are an ally.  miss pommery 1926 (@cheeahs) June 26, 2016

I quite like the idea of just putting a safety pin, empty of anything else, on your coat. A literal SAFETY pin!  miss pommery 1926 (@cheeahs) June 26, 2016

People soon started tweeting with #safetypin with images of them wearing a safety pin.

Wearing a #SafetyPin this morning. Solidarity with those who have made this wonderful country their home pic.twitter.com/6zx9EMTC29  Mark Ferguson (@Markfergusonuk) June 29, 2016

Wearing #SafetyPin in solidarity with those from all over the world who make our NHS tick-intolerance to hate & fear pic.twitter.com/OEKSrcXknp  Alexander Gates (@dr_alex_gates) June 29, 2016

I'm also wearing #safetypin to show solidarity with immigrants and EU citizens. #HopeNotHate pic.twitter.com/6CSo1cqHFh  Fuad Alakbarov (@DrAlakbarov) June 29, 2016

Wearing my #safetypin today and every day until I live in a country where I don't have to anymore pic.twitter.com/3pn9vWmi8F  Janis Thomas (@JanisThomasMktg) June 29, 2016

(With inputs from PTI)
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Google has partnered with lyric licensing service, LyricFind to display song lyrics in search results. Lyrics from more than 4,000 publishers will be added to Google Search and Google Play Music.

When you search for songs with the word lyrics included in the Google search, you will see them displayed within the results. Google Play Music will also display lyrics in the app.

Founded in 2004, LyricFind is a Toronto-based company that licenses lyrics from all the major publishers, including Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV, Warner/Chappell Music Publishing and Kobalt.

LyricFind CEO Darryl Ballantyne said,

Were happy to expand the depth and quality of lyrics available on Googles services. Were working together to make lyrics available to a larger audience in a faster and more efficient way.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Song lyrics will start showing up in search results starting from today in the US and the feature should roll out globally as its partnership includes international licenses.

This will be a welcome move for lot of users as they will not have to click through to a third-party site to know lyrics of their favorite song.
I recently spoke with Oxitec CEO Hadyn Parry about the company's self-limiting insect platform, which was acquired by engineered biology conglomerate Intrexon (PGEN -4.60%) in 2015. Aimed at controlling agricultural pests and mosquito-borne illnesses, such as dengue, malaria, and yellow fever, the little-known platform has been catapulted by the post-acquisition emergence of Zika virus to the front pages of publications across the globe.

Given the widespread coverage and fast pace of developments, Intrexon investors might be wondering how to size up the opportunity ahead. What's the timeline for deployment? What are regulatory bodies waiting for? Parry and I discussed these questions and more.

Self-limiting mosquitoes in Brazil

Oxitec developed a process for engineering insects to contain a self-limiting gene: The insects are released into the wild, they mate with local populations, and they create offspring that cannot survive to adulthood. By definition, the self-limiting genes cannot persist in the wild. And unlike insecticide spraying, the genes have no off-target effects; only one species is affected. It's a uniquely efficient and low-impact tool for controlling wild populations of insect pests.

In 2014 Brazil's National Biosafety Committee, or CTNBio, gave the green light to release the genetically engineered mosquitoes throughout the country, which has the highest incidence of dengue in the Western Hemisphere. The decision paved the way for a partnership between the company and the city of Piracicaba, Brazil. A pilot program released self-limiting mosquitoes over a small area, protecting about 5,000 people from mosquito-borne diseases.

Parry highlighted the results, which were overwhelmingly positive after just the first year: "We were able to reduce mosquito larvae populations by 82%. The region of Piracicaba participating in the pilot reported just five cases of dengue during the program, compared to 130 in the previous year."

The success prompted the city and Intrexon to expand the project earlier this year to protect up to 60,000 people in Piracicaba, although the manufacturing facility under construction nearby will be capable of producing enough mosquitoes to protect the city's entire population of about 300,000 people.

How should investors think about the revenue potential for the platform?

Parry said the proper unit is "revenue per person," adding that the company is generating "roughly $8 to $10 per person" in Piracicaba. That will vary in each jurisdiction and change as the technology matures, but it extrapolates quite favorably for investors when you consider that tens of millions of people in Brazil and the United States are affected by mosquito-borne illnesses. It's also worth noting that Brazil (which, unlike the United States, has dealt with public health threats from mosquitoes for decades) allocated $330 million for mosquito-control measures in 2015 at the federal level, which doesn't include local budgets or emergency allocations.

American regulatory pathway

Intrexon's self-limiting mosquitoes are unlikely to be used more broadly in 2016 for a couple of unsurprising reasons.

First, the technology isn't fully approved by regulators in Brazil or the United States, although Oxitec is working its way through processes in each country. Brazil had to create an entirely new regulatory pathway to ensure a thorough and proper review of the new product class, which Parry explained in comparison to insecticides:

"When you have a pesticide you regulate it for toxicity. Who can use it? How often? Is it released next to water sources? Guidelines are established, claims are validated, and then you move to deploy. The process for us is essentially the same, but for us, [regulators] basically said, 'there aren't any safety or environmental concerns.' So we had to establish new guidelines and review processes."

Parry also explained the procedures for gaining approval in the United States, where the self-limiting mosquitoes are being regulated as an Investigational New Animal Drug. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued a preliminary finding of "no significant impact" on the environment or human health from the engineered mosquitoes, which could become a final ruling after public comments are reviewed. That's only part of the process, however. If a planned trial in the Florida Keys demonstrates the claims made by Oxitec, then the technology could gain FDA approval -- which most states will likely adhere to, although some could ask for additional trials -- in time for mosquito season in 2017.

Of course, the FDA has been known to drag its feet before. It took nearly two decades for genetically engineered salmon (now, coincidentally, owned by Intrexon) to gain the institution's approval.

Parry said there is one way to deploy the technology today, but it requires a special emergency authorization by regulators and health officials. (It's important to note we were discussing all possible scenarios, and he wanted to be clear that emergency authorization is merely a hypothetical at this point.) That could be possible in Puerto Rico, Parry told me:

"There have been over 1,800 confirmed cases of locally transmitted Zika virus, where 10%-15% are likely to be pregnant women. And we haven't even reached peak mosquito season yet. Oxitec is ready to help today, but we need emergency authorization to act."

It's no joke. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 25% of the island's population -- over 875,000 people -- could contract Zika virus in the first year. The institution has placed Puerto Rico under a Level 2 Alert. A Level 3 Warning is the highest rating, which would instruct people to avoid nonessential travel to the tourism hot spot and likely have disastrous consequences for the local economy. CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden also recently noted: "Our birth defects specialists tell us a single child with birth defects can usually cost $10 million to care for or more."

The second reason not to expect rapid deployment in 2016 is that manufacturing capabilities take time to build out. While they are not very capital-intensive, relatively speaking, a certain level of regulatory certainty is needed before Intrexon starts erecting mosquito factories. Parry had a great analogy for how the platform could scale once regulatory approvals are granted:

"Think of it like Coca-Cola, which has bottling plants spread across the world. Each one receives the 'secret syrup' from a centralized facility, dilutes it with water, and bottles Coke products. We would operate in a similar manner, with eggs being produced in a central facility and shipped to larvae-hatching facilities around the world."

Who knew rearing mosquitoes could be compared to bottling Coca-Cola?

What about other mosquito-control tools?

I recently compared Oxitec's self-limiting mosquitoes to those of biotechnology start-up MosquitoMate, which spread bacterial infections through wild populations. Each platform uses only males for mosquito-control tools. Parry says MosquitoMate's is an interesting approach with some notable limitations:

They don't have a very scalable approach to sorting out females. Their trials to date have released tens of thousands of mosquitoes, but the system could break down when millions are required.

Additionally, he added that his company's public outreach program has worked nonstop to educate the public and answer questions. There appears to be little resistance to releasing genetically modified mosquitoes:

In Piracicaba we have 96% acceptance rates. That's due to these diseases being persistent threats to local communities, but we've also maintained a constant presence. We had tents, tables, and signs throughout the city announcing release dates for the pilot program and welcoming people to stick their arm in a mosquito cage with our mosquitoes. Purdue University found that the technology has a 78% acceptance rate in the United States, which is pretty good considering these diseases are not a constant threat.

What does it mean for investors?

Intrexon's self-limiting mosquitoes could become the default tool used to combat mosquito-borne diseases -- and one of the biggest sources of revenue for the company. However, it will take time to clear the few remaining regulatory hurdles and make the necessary investments in manufacturing infrastructure. While investors should maintain realistic expectations, there won't be much else standing in the way.
Investors in retirement typically focus on safety and income, so dividend ETFs can be particularly attractive vehicles for investors in their golden years. ETFs provide diversification for a conveniently low cost, which is a great strategy to keep risk and volatility under control. In addition, dividend paying stocks tend to be particularly solid businesses, and dividends provide recurrent cash income from your portfolio, a crucial consideration among retirees.

With this in mind, Vanguard High Dividend Yield (VYM 0.65%), Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (VIG 0.37%), and WisdomTree Emerging Markets Small Cap Dividends (DGS 0.38%) could be three particularly attractive dividend ETFs for retirement investors.

High dividend yield and low cost

Vanguard High Dividend Yield is one of the most popular ETFs among dividend investors, and for good reasons. The fund offers exposure to mostly large-capitalization dividend-paying stocks across different sectors. Consumer-goods stocks make 15.6% of the portfolio, financials represent 13.9% of assets, technology accounts for 13.4%, industrials represent 12.4%, and the oil and gas sector provides 10.5% of assets under management.

The fund replicates the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index, which has a selection universe based on all U.S. dividend-paying stocks excluding real estate investment trusts. Companies are then ranked based on their forward dividend yield, and holdings are weighted by market capitalization. This results in a portfolio composed mostly of large and well-established dividend stocks. Some of the main holdings in the portfolio are names such as Microsoft, ExxonMobil, Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, and Wells Fargo.

Since the portfolio is tilted toward big and stable corporations with succulent dividend yields, Vanguard High Dividend Yield can be considered a defensive investment. This means the ETF offers below-average volatility, and it can be expected to provide stability and predictability to a portfolio over the long term. However, in times when the markets are rising steeply, investors shouldn't be surprised to see more volatile stocks outperforming the Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF.

The dividend yield is in the neighborhood of 3.2% at current prices. This is a nice premium versus a dividend yield around 2.3% for the average company in the S&P 500 index. Importantly, Vanguard High Dividend Yield has a conveniently low annual expense ratio of 0.09%, according to Vanguard. This is 92% lower than the average expense ratio of funds with similar holdings.

Focus on dividend growth

Dividend investing is not just about picking companies with big dividend yields. The trajectory of dividend payments can be even more important than the yield itself. According to statistical studies, companies that consistently increase their dividends on a regular basis tend to outperform not only companies with no dividends at all, but also those with stable dividend payments.

Based on data from Ned Davis Research, companies raising their dividends every year delivered an annual return of 9.8% from Jan. 31, 1972, to March 31, 2016. On the other hand, companies with no dividends produced a far more modest annual return of 2.4% during the period under analysis, while dividend payers with no change in dividends delivered an annual return of 7.3%.

Investors looking to position their portfolio in a basket of high-quality dividend growth stocks should look no further than Vanguard Dividend Appreciation. The fund invests in a portfolio composed of 185 dividend growth stocks that have increased their dividends over the past 10 years or more. The past decade includes the tremendously severe Great Recession in 2008 and 2009, so companies that have been able to increase their dividends through this unusually challenging environment are among the strongest and most reliable dividend growth stocks around.

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation is focused on dividend growth as opposed to dividend yield, so it pays a dividend yield of around 2.15%, which is nothing to write home about. Nevertheless, the fundamental quality of the companies in the portfolio is truly unquestionable, and the ETF charges a razor-thin annual expense ratio of only 0.09%.

Hunting for dividend opportunities in emerging markets

WisdomTree Emerging Markets Small Cap Dividends invests in a basket of 700 small-capitalization dividend stocks in emerging markets. Taiwan accounts for 27.63% of assets, followed by China (14.45%), Brazil (10.71%), Thailand (9.05%), and South Africa (7.3%).

Emerging-markets stocks are generally more volatile than companies in developed countries, but they also offer superior potential for economic growth in the long term. Besides, if your portfolio is heavily exposed to the U.S. and other developed countries, adding a healthy dose of emerging markets to the mix can be a smart way to reap the benefits of diversification.

Small-capitalization stocks tend to offer improved exposure to domestic growth trends, and they are generally more isolated from government intervention and regulatory hurdles. When it comes to emerging-markets stocks, good things come in small packages.

WisdomTree Emerging Markets Small Cap Dividends pays a generous 3.92% dividend yield. The annual expense ratio is 0.6%. This is not particularly low in comparison with other ETFs in the market, but it's not excessively high either.

Dividend investing is one of the most effective and time-proven strategies to obtain superior returns from your portfolio over the long term. Investors of all ages can benefit from the power of dividends, and those investing for retirement should probably give dividend strategies special consideration.

Fortunately, these ETFs are offering an easy and efficient way to capitalize on different dividend strategies, such as high dividend yield stocks, dividend growth investing, and dividend opportunities among small companies in emerging markets.
Before the oil market downturn, Kinder Morgan (KMI 1.26%) had nearly unfettered access to capital, enabling it to fund acquisitions and growth projects with ease. However, some of the collateral damage of the downturn is that Kinder Morgan's access to capital is no longer as open as it once was. This tougher access is forcing it to seek out new sources of funding for growth.

One of those sources emerged this week when the company announced that it sold a 50% stake in a pipeline project to a private equity firm. That transaction could be a prelude to what lies ahead for the energy infrastructure giant.

Details on the deal

On last quarter's conference call, founder Richard Kinder provided some color on how Kinder Morgan planned to fund growth going forward. He said that,

We've again reduced our expansion CapEx ... for 2016 and we expect that trend to continue in subsequent years through both high-grading our projects and entering into selective joint ventures. We expect to fund the necessary CapEx out of our cash flow and continue to improve our debt to EBITDA ratio, thereby preserving and strengthening our investment grade balance sheet.

One of the things Kinder noted was that the company planned to use selective joint ventures to offload the funding of some of its projects. Doing so would enable the company to participate in the value created by the project without being on the hook for the entire investment. It would also free up some of its cash flow for uses other than CapEx.

This past week the company announced one such transaction, agreeing to sell a 50% equity interest in its Utopia Pipeline Project to private equity firm Riverstone Investment Group. Under the terms of the agreement, Riverstone will pay Kinder Morgan an upfront cash fee reimbursing it for the 50% share of CapEx that has been expended up to that point. In addition to that, Kinder Morgan will receive another payment to recognize the value it has created in developing the project. Further, Riverstone will pay its 50% share of the projects costs going forward.

This is a pretty sweet deal for Kinder Morgan. Not only does it save $250 million, which is half of the project's cost, but it gets paid a premium on top of that. That cash improves the company's financial flexibility, which could enable it to return more cash to shareholders than initially anticipated.

A growing trend

What is worth noting about this transaction is that Kinder Morgan did not partner with an MLP or other energy company. Instead, it partnered with a private equity firm, which is a growing trend in the sector. Over the past couple of years, several of its smaller peers have obtained funding from private equity to build projects or pursue growth opportunities.

Crestwood Equity Partners (CEQP -0.66%), for example, has a long history of working with financial investors to secure capital for growth projects. In 2014 Crestwood announced an agreement with several strategic investors who committed to invest $500 million into the company via preferred units. That capital was intended to help the company fund its then $1.2 billion growth project backlog. In addition to that, last year the company signed a joint venture agreement with well-known energy-focused private equity firm First Reserve to provide it with up to $500 million in equity capital funding for several expansion projects in the Delaware Basin. Under the terms of that JV agreement, First Reserve will fund 100% of the capital requirements for the initial build-out of the systems, with Crestwood Equity Partners funding 100% of future CapEx for the JV.

Meanwhile, NGL Energy Partners (NGL -0.79%) formed a strategic relationship with Oaktree Capital (OAK) earlier this year. Initially, NGL Energy Partners received a $240 million cash infusion after issuing convertible preferred units to Oaktree. This injection provided NGL Energy Partners with cash for debt reduction and to fund CapEx. In addition to that, NGL Energy Partners and Oaktree will jointly pursue organic growth projects and strategic acquisitions with Oaktree assisting with funding and structure while NGL Energy Partners operates the assets.

While it is unlikely that Kinder Morgan will enter into any significant strategic relationship with a private equity firm, it is clear that these investors are looking to put capital to work in the energy infrastructure sector. That should provide Kinder Morgan with plenty of opportunities to secure funding for future projects.

Investor takeaway

Kinder Morgan made it clear that it is seeking joint venture partners for some of its projects. While this could include other energy midstream companies, it will also likely involve additional transactions with private equity. Unlike most midstream companies, private equity firms have excess capital to deploy, which Kinder Morgan needs right now.
Agricultural giant Monsanto (MON) is used to dealing with the ups and downs of the farming industry. For years, the maker of seeds, genomics, and agricultural productivity-enhancing chemicals benefited from the boom in crop prices, reaping profits and spurring rivals to take up its focus on the farm. Recently, however, agriculture has entered a downturn, and coming into Wednesday's fiscal third-quarter report, Monsanto investors were prepared for sluggish results even as they hoped for progress on a possible strategic combination.

Let's take a closer look at Monsanto's financial results and what shareholders are seeing on the M&A front.

Monsanto sees mixed results

Monsanto's fiscal third-quarter results showed the ongoing pressure the agricultural giant has faced lately. Revenue was down 8.5% to $4.19 billion, and that was far worse than the more modest 2% decline most investors following the stock had expected. Net income fell by more than a third to $717 million, although the company took a substantial hit from tax issues in Argentina. Even after adjusting for those impacts, though, adjusted earnings of $2.17 per share were still almost 10% less than the consensus forecast among investors and represented a substantial drop of nearly 14% from year-ago figures.

Taking a closer look at Monsanto's numbers, the main weakness came from the agricultural productivity segment. Sales for the division plunged by almost 30% compared to the year-earlier quarter, and pre-tax profit declined by more than 60%. The company said that sales weakness came largely from the discontinuation of its licensing deal with Scotts, which brought in $274 million in revenue in the previous year's period. In addition, lower Roundup pricing hurt the company's gross profit margin figures as well.

Elsewhere, the key seeds and genomics segment held up better. Overall segment revenue actually rose slightly, with strength in corn and Monsanto's other-crops category overcoming weaker results in soybeans and cotton. Pre-tax earnings were down just 2%, and the company said continued new corn hybrid product introductions in regions that rely on corn as a cash crop are keeping a key source of profit for Monsanto solid. The company's Climate FieldView platform also continues to build momentum, covering more than 13 million acres this year.

CEO Hugh Grant wasn't fazed by the results. "Our long-term optimism within agriculture and our business remains," Grant said, noting that "our industry is running at a low point in the overall agriculture cycle and we've experienced an unforeseen level of challenges affecting our business." Nevertheless, the CEO thinks Monsanto's strategic efforts will pay off and keep the company an industry leader.

Does Monsanto need the Bayer deal?

One source of distraction for Monsanto has been the proposal from German conglomerate Bayer to buy out the company. Grant said while he has no formal update on Bayer's proposal, the CEO has been "personally in discussions with Bayer's management over the last several weeks, along with others regarding alternative strategic options." Monsanto believes consolidation in the industry could help it innovate better and improve the industry as a whole.

However, those hopes didn't stop Monsanto from having to give downbeat news on the guidance front. The company said it expects full-year earnings to come in at the low end of its guidance range of between $4.40 and $5.10 per share, largely because of Argentina-related tax matters. About $0.85 per share in currency-related headwinds will hold Monsanto back as well.

Nevertheless, Monsanto remains optimistic in the long run. The seed maker sees earnings per share growing in fiscal 2017, and growth should accelerate thereafter because of the efforts Monsanto is making to streamline its operations and to produce more advantageous seed and trait portfolio products in the coming years. Between fiscal 2017 and 2021, the company expects mid-teen percentage growth in earnings per share annually.

Monsanto investors took the overall news in stride, pushing shares of the agricultural giant up 1.5% in morning trading following the announcement. If the company can make good on its growth promise, then Monsanto could make shareholders happier by not getting acquired rather than by getting a quick profit from an M&A premium offer.
In the past two years, Southwest Airlines (LUV -0.72%) has set itself apart from other airlines through its consistently solid unit revenue performance and stellar profitability.

During 2015, Southwest's adjusted profit reached a record $2.4 billion, or $3.52 per share. Meanwhile, its operating margin (excluding special items) surged to 20.1%. The company is on track to produce even higher earnings and margins in 2016.

However, from an investing perspective, one of Southwest Airlines' most important qualities is its significant potential for free cash flow growth. Indeed, Southwest is likely to more than double its free cash flow over the next several years.

Positioned for earnings growth

Earnings growth is obviously a key driver of free cash flow growth. Despite its already-stellar profitability, Southwest Airlines has better earnings growth prospects than many of its airline industry peers.

First, Southwest Airlines sells virtually all of its tickets in the U.S. That means it will continue to benefit from the strong domestic travel market and doesn't have to worry about the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on international operations.

Second, Southwest has been incurring significant fuel hedging losses lately. For the full year in 2016, the company expects to pay $1.95 to $2.00 per gallon for jet fuel. That's significantly above the market price. These hedging losses will decline significantly after 2016.

As a result, if oil prices rise to around $60 per barrel in the next year or two, Southwest's average fuel price wouldn't change much from what it expects to pay in 2016. Meanwhile, its fleet renewal efforts will continue to improve fuel efficiency. By contrast, most other airlines would end up paying more for fuel (relative to 2016) if oil prices rise to $60 per barrel.

Third, Southwest Airlines is in the midst of replacing its decades-old domestic reservation system with a new state-of-the-art system with enhanced capabilities. Southwest expects the new system to boost annual operating income by at least $500 million by 2020.

Fourth, Southwest Airlines still has plenty of growth opportunities ahead. CEO Gary Kelly has said in the past that Southwest could expand its fleet from 704 planes at the end of 2015 to 1,000 airplanes in the long run. Key opportunities include expansion in the Caribbean, Latin America, Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii as well as growth in its core market of the continental U.S.

Capex will peak in 2017

While net income is an important driver of free cash flow, capital investments also play a critical role. For a company that is investing heavily to grow or to replace aging equipment, free cash flow can lag earnings by a wide margin.

Indeed, this has been the case for Southwest Airlines recently. While the company's adjusted net profit surged to $2.4 billion last year, its free cash flow was just half that amount, at $1.2 billion.

Southwest Airlines spent $2 billion on capex last year. It expects to spend a similar amount this year, before capex peaks at $2.2 billion in 2017. Southwest has been buying a lot of aircraft to support growth and to replace its oldest planes. Non-aircraft capex has also been higher than normal due to key facilities and IT investments, highlighted by the new reservation system.

However, Southwest expects to finish the IT system investment by 2017. Aircraft spending will drop off significantly after 2017 as well. In fact, Southwest Airlines recently announced that it has deferred 67 aircraft deliveries from the 2019-2022 period to 2023 and thereafter. This will save it $1.9 billion through 2022.

The net result is that capex is likely to fall by a third over the next two or three years, boosting Southwest's free cash flow.

Capital returns will soar

Between its continued earnings growth and the expected drop-off in capex after 2017, Southwest Airlines should be able to at least double its 2015 free cash flow by 2018, with further growth beyond that.

Southwest already has a very strong balance sheet, with the highest credit ratings in the airline industry. As a result, it has the ability to return all of this free cash flow to investors through dividends and share buybacks. Indeed, it has already returned $1.3 billion to shareholders this year.

Southwest should be able to increase its dividend and share buybacks even further beginning in 2018, as its operating cash flow continues to rise and capital spending starts to moderate. With shares currently trading for less than 9 times forward earnings, Southwest Airlines stock is looking more attractive than ever for long-term investors.
Stop trying to flirt your way out of traffic citations: A new artificial intelligence robot helps users contest parking ticketsfor free.

Developed by 19-year-old, London-born Stanford University student Joshua Browder, DoNotPay is available online for UK and New York users.

"DoNotPay has launched the UK's first robot lawyer as an experiment," the app website said. "It can talk to you, generate documents, and answer questions. It is just like a real lawyer, but is completely free and doesn't charge any commission."

With a fresh driver's license in hand, Browder last year began racking up parking tickets in Britain. But instead of paying them, "I decided  I should try and fight," he said during a Medium Q&A session.

"Some were correctly issued and I paid for those. But for the ones that were incorrect, I decided to create an app to help people find the reasons why they were incorrectly given and fight them," he continued.

A small venture initially built as an experiment for family and friends, DoNotPay has now appealed more than $4 million in tickets over the past two years.

"The government don't like me very much, but people with parking tickets do!" Browder joked.

To get started, pick one of the given options for why you should not receive a parking ticket: permit problems, stolen car, urgent travel, diplomatic immunity, missing or incorrect details on the ticket, problems with signage, or other descriptions.

Then fill in a form with your name, summary of the offense, and penalty charge number, among any additional information needed to argue your case, and click "generate appeal."

According to The Guardian, in the 21 months since the free service launched, it has taken on 250,000 cases, and won 160,000, giving it a success rate of 64 percent.

DoNotPay could be launching next in Seattle, and may eventually expand to include flight delay compensation, the news site said.

Users can also find Browder's blockchain-based HIV application at the same site. HIV-positive people can prove in fewer than 30 seconds that they have disclosed their illness to sexual partners through a permanent and anonymous record.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.
Started 150 years ago in a tiny town in Tennessee, Jack Daniels has grown into the No. 1-selling whiskey label in the world and one of the top-10 exports in its state. The distillery has endured sky-high liquor taxes and even prohibition. The president of Jack Daniels, Mark McCallum, said the brand means America around the world.

The president of the company attributes much of the companys success to where the whiskey is made.

Its that little piece of America that I think most people really seems to connect with. Jack Daniels means America around the world, McCallum said.

Making eight different types of American whiskey, the company has become the fourth-largest spirits brand of any kind. According to Jack Daniels parent company, Brown-Forman, the brands best seller continues to be Jack Daniels No. 7. However, new creations are exceeding all of the companys expectations. For example, Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey has become the second-largest-selling flavored whiskey in the world with nearly two-billion cases sold last year. Another of its recent creations is also helping boost the companys bottom line, as Tennessee Fire sales topped one-million cases.

While whiskey sales around the globe are reaching new heights this year, Jack Daniels has recently spent more than $140 million on a distillery expansion. Whiskeys in great demand, as we said  around the world. So ya were expanding our capacity to keep up with that, said McCallum.

The company also attracts nearly 300,000 visitors to its original Lynchburg, Tennessee facilities every year and employs 600 locals. Despite coming from a dry county, the Jack Daniels president said his employees are pretty happy people.
Image source: AeroVironment.

The drone industry is one of the most promising arenas in aerospace right now, with many companies looking for ways to profit from the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. AeroVironment has been a first-mover in the military drone space, and investors hope that the company will find ways to get into the commercial industry as well. Coming into Tuesday's fiscal fourth-quarter financial report, AeroVironment shareholders were prepared to see declines in sales and a modest net loss. The company ended up doing somewhat better than that, but investors didn't seem satisfied with the company's look forward at the 2017 fiscal year. Let's take a closer look at the latest from AeroVironment and whether better times are yet to come for the drone specialist.

AeroVironment loses altitude

AeroVironment's fiscal fourth-quarter numbers lost momentum from better results in past quarters. Revenue was down 2% to $84.8 million, which was slightly worse than the 1.4% drop that most investors were expecting. Net income of $5.36 million was off about a quarter from last year's period, and the resulting earnings of $0.23 per share showed similar declines despite easily outpacing the consensus forecast for a $0.07 per share loss.

Taking a closer look at how AeroVironment did, the company said that its two major segments reversed their usual pattern of performance. Sales in the efficient energy systems segment, which makes products related to electric vehicle charging, were up $1.1 million from the year-ago quarter. That helped to offset a larger $2.8 million drop in revenue from the unmanned aircraft systems segment.

AeroVironment also remained under pressure in terms of maintaining its margin figures. Gross income fell 16% from year-ago levels, with product-related issues pulling down the entire company's numbers. Gross margin plunged seven percentage points to 45%. Operating income saw similar decreases, with only a reduction in research and development expenses helping to offset higher overhead costs. That sent operating income down by about half a percentage point.

Backlogs figures continued recent trends. Funded backlog of $65.8 million was up slightly from this time last year, but it represented a nearly $14 million drop sequentially compared to the end of January.

CEO Wahid Nawabi was generally pleased with AeroVironment's performance. "International small [unmanned aircraft systems] revenue grew significantly in fiscal 2016," Nawabi said, and "we also made significant process in developing the right solution for what we believe is a very large emerging market opportunity for commercial UAS applications."

What's ahead for AeroVironment?

AeroVironment's CEO also thinks fiscal 2017 will be a positive year for the company. As Nawabi said, "We believe we are well positioned for long-term growth potential in our core and growth markets by staying focused on helping our customers proceed with certainty." Conver also remains optimistic about the future for AeroVironment.

However, AeroVironment's fiscal 2017 guidance left some concerns about the pace of its potential growth. For fiscal 2017, AeroVironment believes that it will have revenue of between $260 million and $280 million. That happens to be exactly what the company projected for fiscal 2016, signaling low expectations for any quick uptick in revenue in the near-term. The range is also below the consensus forecast for nearly $285 million in sales. Guidance for profits of $0.20 to $0.35 per share are more consistent with investor expectations, neatly bookending the $0.28 per share forecast among those following the stock.

AeroVironment investors seemed dissatisfied with the company's performance, sending the stock down 3.5% in after-hours trading immediately following the announcement. To make shareholders happier about the company, AeroVironment needs to follow through on its commercial drone opportunity and produce the growth that investors have waited to see for a long time.

The article AeroVironment Hits an Air Pocket As Revenue, Earnings Drop originally appeared on Fool.com.

Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. 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.
Alphabet's new smartphone plans seem like a logical, incremental step rather than the market "shake-up" many are billing it to be. Source: Alphabet

In smartphones, it's hard to successfully integrate hardware, software, and operating system. Aside from Apple, there's no other company to do so. But it's not for lack of trying: Both Alphabet and Microsoft have tried to build a comprehensive smartphone solution, both to varying levels of success.

For Microsoft, it's hard to classify their smartphone efforts as a success on any level. After paying nearly $8 billion for Nokia's phone business in 2014 to bolster its Microsoft Windows Phone operating system, the company has continued to watch its smartphone OS market share erode.

Find more statistics at Statista.

As the preceding chart shows, Gartnerreported Microsoft's market share at 0.7% in the first quarter, down from its 10.2% share in the first quarter of 2009. New CEO Satya Nadella has taken a number of steps to limit the damage from Nokia's handset business by writing off the transaction, selling the feature-phone business, and firing the vast majority of the remainder of its Nokia division employees.

Alphabet hasn't totally succeeded, either

Alphabet has been wildly successful at growing operating-system market share. The handset/hardware side of the business has been decidedly less successful. In 2012, Alphabet (nee Google) purchased Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in an attempt to expand into hardware before selling it, ex-patents, to Lenovo for $2.91 billion two years later. Since then, it's relied on third-party manufacturers like Samsung, LG, and HTC continuing to make devices sporting its Android OS.

The company has continued its device presence with its Nexus line of phones, but even this device is manufactured by third-party suppliers. The larger Nexus 6P is produced by China's Huawei Technologies, and the midrange Nexus 5X is manufactured by LG. According to a report from The Telegraph, it seems Alphabet wants to get even more involved with the device-manufacturing process and plans to bring a new smartphone to market by the end of this year.

The Telegraph's report may be much ado about nothing

On the surface, this is an odd timing for Alphabet, considering the direction of the greater smartphone industry. After years of above-average, double-digit growth, the smartphone market is decidedly cooling. Research firm IDC expects 5.7% worldwide shipments growth in 2016, down from the 10.4% growth the industry produced last year. IDC expects much of this growth to be from developing countries, which points to trouble for the high-end market, which presumably is the market Alphabet wants to enter.

Even the one company that's succeeded in combining both hardware, software, and ecosystem, Apple, is looking at emphasizing its non-device revenue to investors. In Apple's first quarter, CEO Tim Cook even went as far as including a supplemental disclosure detailing Apple's installed base-related revenue to highlight post-device-sale revenue. Alphabet may be missing out on the high-margin device sales Apple is taking in, but it does directly benefit from installed base related purchases on Alphabet. Additionally, Alphabet benefits from mobile search revenue.

The Telegraph's report appears intentionally vague when it comes to Alphabet's actual plans, only writing that the company will "take more control over design, manufacturing, and software." My assumption is the company will continue to work with third-party manufacturers to produce Google-branded devices as a proverbial North Star for its third-party manufacturers, much as it does now, albeit to a lesser degree, with its Nexus line of devices.

However, I doubt Alphabet will return to full-scale manufacturing or even assume a controlling stake in the process. In the end, it's unlikely for the company to take the risk devices currently entail when other companies are willing to do so and concede the operating-system revenue to Alphabet. The end result may be an amazing smartphone, but essentially it's an extension of Alphabet's current strategy.

The article Don't Get Too Excited About Alphabets Rumored Smartphone Plans originally appeared on Fool.com.

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Jamal Carnette owns shares of Apple and Alphabet (C shares). The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Apple, and Gartner. The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft and has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Getty Images.

Investors are reviewing their portfolios in the wake of financial fall-out due to Britain's decision to leave the European Union, or EU. With market's tumbling, you might be trying to figure out what to do with your portfolio. Here are three investing strategies to consider that can help you ride out a market crash caused by Brexit.

Do nothing

Anyone who reads the Motley Fool knows that most of the time, the best strategy for surviving the market's inevitable drops is to sit tight and stay the course with your investments.

Over time, a long-haul investment approach has been shown to be far more effective than trying to time market pops and drops.

Considering that longtime investors who chose to ride out major market events like Black Monday, the Internet Bust, and the Great Recession have benefited from seeing markets go on to make new highs, short-term thinking that results in selling stocks could be a costly mistake.

^SPX data by YCharts

Right-sizing risk

Stocks have more than doubled since the Great Recession, so it's certainly possible that the percentage of your portfolio that's invested in stocks has gotten bigger than it should be.

Although every investor is different, it's commonly held that the percentage of money invested in stocks should represent no more than 100 minus your age. For example, a 70 year old should have roughly 30% of their portfolio in stocks and the rest in bonds, while a 30 year old should have about 70% in stocks and 30% in bonds.

If the percentage of stocks that you own in your portfolio has gotten a bit too far out of whack with this calculation, then it may be time to consider taking some risk out of your portfolio by increasing your exposure to U.S. Treasuries.

Although the low yields associated with U.S. Treasuries mean that they won't kick-off a lot of retirement friendly income, theycan provide investors with more sleep-at-night, peace of mind. After all, as global investors look for safe havens worldwide, they're more likely to look to the U.S. now that European uncertainty has increased.

Image source: Flickr user taxcredits.net.

Bumping up contributions

No matter if you've been investing for years or you're just starting out, you shouldn't underestimate the benefit of lowering the average cost of your investments via dollar-cost averaging.

People participating in workplace retirement plans, such as a 401(k) plan or 403(b) plans, already reap the benefit of dollar cost investing because they're contributions come right out of their paycheck. However, many retirement plan participants aren't contributing nearly enough to their retirement savings.

According to a survey conducted TransAmerica, 20% of people who can contribute to a workplace retirement plan don't. Also, among those that do contribute, the average contributes about 8% of their pay to their plan. Those findings suggest that the vast majority of Americans aren't salting away anywhere near close to the maximum that's allowed by these plans. In2016, participants in a 401(k) or 403(b) plan can save up to $18,000 , and if you're over age 50, you can contribute an extra $6,000 catch-up contribution too.

Even if you don't have a workplace retirement plan, you can still use dollar-cost averaging to take advantage of a post Brexit market fall by contributing to an IRA or a taxable investment account. If you qualify for an IRA, you can park up to $5,500 this year. A $1,000 catch-up contribution can be made by people over age 50 too.

If you plan on using an IRA or a taxable account to dollar-cost average, make sure that you break up the amount you want to invest into equal installments. Spreading out your investments over time lets you make the most of your ability to lower your average cost.

The article Here Are Your Post Brexit Investor Survival Strategies originally appeared on Fool.com.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
With electric-car maker Tesla Motors' second quarter coming to a close at the end of June, investors will soon get an update on the automaker's vehicle deliveries. With the Model S expected to represent more than half of the deliveries during the quarter, the 2012-introduced sedan will be the biggest driver of the company's revenue. How many of the Model S, therefore, could Tesla have delivered during the quarter?

Model S. Image source: Tesla Motors.

What to expect from Tesla's Q2 Model S deliveries

The best preview we have of what to expect from Tesla's Model S deliveries is management's note in its first-quarter shareholder letter, saying orders for Model S during the quarter were up 45% from the year-ago quarter. This gives some insight into what to expect for Q2 Model S deliveries since there's undoubtedly some correlation between one quarter's orders with the following quarter's deliveries. Since it takes around a month and a half for Tesla to deliver a customer's Model S order in the U.S., and an even longer time for overseas orders, the level of orders for the Model S somewhat foretells where deliveries are headed.

Assuming, therefore, that last year's second-quarter Model S deliveries are roughly representative of last year's first-quarter orders, 45% year-over-year growth in first-quarter Model S orders would mean Q2 Model S deliveries increase by about 45% compared with the year-ago quarter.

These assumptions would suggest Tesla could deliver around 16,700 vehicles during the quarter.

Tesla Model S production at its factory in Fremont, California. Image source: Tesla Motors.

But there's more information to consider before settling on 16,700 units as a best estimate for Model S deliveries in Q2. Investors should keep in mind that this quarter will include an unusually "large number of vehicles in transit to customers in Europe and Asia at the end of the quarter," Tesla said in its first-quarter shareholder letter. This means Tesla may not be able to deliver as high of a percentage of the vehicles it produces during the quarter as usual. With this tidbit in mind, a safer estimate for second-quarter Model S deliveries would be closer to 15,000.

Supporting expected year-over-year growth in Model S sales during Q2, demand for the Model S should be no problem. The company gave the Model S some fresh design changes in April, including "the largest set of hardware changes (nearly 300 part changes in total) on Model S to date," with the most major update being a redesigned nose cone. Further, Tesla has emphasized that its March 31 Model 3 unveil has stimulated demand for its vehicles. The impact of this launch, therefore, wasn't yet baked into the 45% year-over-year increase in Q1 orders for the Model S Tesla cited.

Could the Model S help Tesla crush its own guidance?

If Tesla does deliver 15,000 Model S units, it would likely be positioned to easily outperform its guidance for 17,000 second-quarter total vehicle deliveries, when combining both its Model S and Model X, by a meaningful margin. Since Tesla expected Model X production to continue ramping up rapidly during Q2, and Tesla delivered 2,400 during Q1, 3,000 or more Model X deliveries during Q2 would put total vehicle deliveries at 18,000 or higher -- a record high, and well above Tesla's guidance for 17,000.

Tesla announces quarterly deliveries within three days of the quarter's close. For Q2, therefore, Tesla should report quarterly deliveries sometime between July 1 and July 3.

The article How Many Model S Units Did Tesla Motors, Inc. Deliver in Q2? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Daniel Sparks owns shares of Tesla Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Tesla Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
A mosquito emerging from water for the first time.Image source: Oxitec.

I recently spoke with Oxitec CEO Hadyn Parry about the company's self-limiting insect platform, which was acquired by engineered biology conglomerate Intrexon in 2015. Aimed at controlling agricultural pests and mosquito-borne illnesses, such as dengue, malaria, and yellow fever, the little-known platform has been catapulted by the post-acquisition emergence of Zika virus to the front pages of publications across the globe.

Given the widespread coverage and fast pace of developments, Intrexon investors might be wondering how to size up the opportunity ahead. What's the timeline for deployment? What are regulatory bodies waiting for? Parry and I discussed these questions and more.

Self-limiting mosquitoes in Brazil

Oxitec developed a process for engineering insects to contain a self-limiting gene: The insects are released into the wild, they mate with local populations, and they create offspring that cannot survive to adulthood. By definition, the self-limiting genes cannot persist in the wild. And unlike insecticide spraying, the genes have no off-target effects; only one species is affected. It's a uniquely efficient and low-impact tool for controlling wild populations of insect pests.

In 2014 Brazil's National Biosafety Committee, or CTNBio, gave the green light to release the genetically engineered mosquitoes throughout the country, which has the highest incidence of dengue in the Western Hemisphere. The decision paved the way for a partnership between the company and the city of Piracicaba, Brazil. A pilot program released self-limiting mosquitoes over a small area, protecting about 5,000 people from mosquito-borne diseases.

Parry highlighted the results, which were overwhelmingly positive after just the first year:"We were able to reduce mosquito larvae populations by 82%. The region of Piracicaba participating in the pilot reported just five cases of dengue during the program, compared to 130 in the previous year."

The success prompted the city and Intrexon to expand the project earlier this year to protect up to 60,000 people in Piracicaba, although the manufacturing facility under construction nearby will be capable of producing enough mosquitoes to protect the city's entire population of about 300,000 people.

Mosquitoes being released in Piracicaba.Image source: Oxitec.

How should investors think about the revenue potential for the platform?

Parry said the proper unit is "revenue per person," adding that the company is generating "roughly $8 to $10 per person" in Piracicaba. That will vary in each jurisdiction and change as the technology matures, but it extrapolates quite favorably for investors when you consider that tens of millions of people in Brazil and the United States are affected by mosquito-borne illnesses. It's also worth noting that Brazil (which, unlike the United States, has dealt with public health threats from mosquitoes for decades) allocated $330 million for mosquito-control measures in 2015 at the federal level, which doesn't include local budgets or emergency allocations.

American regulatory pathway

Intrexon's self-limiting mosquitoes are unlikely to be used more broadly in 2016 for a couple of unsurprising reasons.

First, the technology isn't fully approved by regulators in Brazil or the United States, although Oxitec is working its way through processes in each country. Brazil had to create an entirely new regulatory pathway to ensure a thorough and proper review of the new product class, which Parry explained in comparison to insecticides:

Parry also explained the procedures for gaining approval in the United States, where the self-limiting mosquitoes are being regulated as an Investigational New Animal Drug. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently issued a preliminary finding of "no significant impact" on the environment or human health from the engineered mosquitoes, which could become a final ruling after public comments are reviewed. That's only part of the process, however. If a planned trial in the Florida Keys demonstrates the claims made by Oxitec, then the technology could gain FDA approval -- which most states will likely adhere to, although some could ask for additional trials -- in time for mosquito season in 2017.

Of course, the FDA has been known to drag its feet before. It took nearly two decades for genetically engineered salmon (now,coincidentally, owned by Intrexon) to gain the institution's approval.

Parry said there is one way to deploy the technology today, but it requires a special emergency authorization by regulators and health officials. (It's important to note we were discussing all possible scenarios, and he wanted to be clear that emergency authorization is merely a hypothetical at this point.) That could be possible in Puerto Rico, Parry told me:

It's no joke. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 25% of the island's population -- over 875,000 people -- could contract Zika virus in the first year. The institution has placed Puerto Rico under a Level 2 Alert. A Level 3 Warning is the highest rating, which would instruct people to avoid nonessential travel to the tourism hot spot and likely have disastrous consequences for the local economy.CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden also recently noted: "Our birth defects specialists tell us a single child with birth defects can usually cost $10 million to care for or more."

Mosquito larvae in one of Oxitec's production facilities in Brazil.Image source: Oxitec.

The second reason not to expect rapid deployment in 2016 is that manufacturing capabilities take time to build out. While they are not very capital-intensive, relatively speaking, a certain level of regulatory certainty is needed before Intrexon starts erecting mosquito factories. Parry had a great analogy for how the platform could scale once regulatory approvals are granted:

Who knew rearing mosquitoes could be compared to bottling Coca-Cola?

What about other mosquito-control tools?

I recently compared Oxitec's self-limiting mosquitoes to those of biotechnology start-up MosquitoMate, which spread bacterial infections through wild populations. Each platform usesonly males for mosquito-control tools. Parry says MosquitoMate's is an interesting approach with some notable limitations:

Additionally, he added that his company'spublic outreach program has worked nonstop to educate the public and answer questions. There appears to be little resistance to releasing genetically modified mosquitoes:

What does it mean for investors?

Intrexon's self-limiting mosquitoes could become the default tool used to combat mosquito-borne diseases -- and one of the biggest sources of revenue for the company. However, it will take time to clear the few remaining regulatory hurdles and make the necessary investments in manufacturing infrastructure. While investors should maintain realistic expectations, there won't be much else standing in the way.

The article Intrexon and Zika Virus: An Interview With Oxitec's Hadyn Parry originally appeared on Fool.com.

Maxx Chatskohas no position in any stocks mentioned.Follow him on Twitterto keep up with developments in the engineered biology field.The Motley Fool recommends Coca-Cola. 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: Netflix.

A year ago, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was firmly against allowing his customers to download shows for later viewing. Today, rumor has it that the company is planning to launch that exact feature very soon. According to a recent Light Reading article, the downloading option should launch by the end of 2016.

Should Hastings change his mind about downloading -- or is Netflix better off sticking to its pure streaming model instead?

Let's have a look at the pros and cons.

The big idea

The difference between downloading and streaming may seem subtle. Here's how it works.

Downloading is the simpler solution. Your set-top box, mobile device, or computer sends out a request to the content provider, asking for the movie or episode you want to watch. The device then downloads the entire thing at once. With some clever engineering, you might be able to start watching before the download is complete. Either way, the file will then be stored locally and there's no need to go back to the network when you're skipping around between your favorite scenes.

When you're streaming a video, your favorite video-viewing device sets up a connection to Netflix's content libraries and sucks down data as needed. If you pause the show, the data flow stops until you start watching again. Fast-forward to the car chase, and your device will simply not access the video data in between. Rewinding the coronation scene with a glass of chardonnay and a box of tissues at hand? You'll be reading the same data from the network five times over -- maybe six, if there's enough wine.

Downloading doesn't require a constant network connection. Streaming services absolutely need an active network as long as you're watching.

Those are the basics. I'll cover a couple of finer wrinkles as we go.

Why download?

The downloading method has its perks.

For one, many mobile data plans come with monthly caps. Once you go through that allotment, you'll either start paying exorbitant fees for additional data or simply run out of mobile networking. Under these circumstances, it makes sense to download the entire video file while you're connected to a cap-free Wi-Fi network. Once that's done, you can enjoy 127 Hours while stuck under a rock in the canyons of Utah. No network connection required!

And that's another upside. If your data plan is notoriously unreliable, or you plan to boldly go where no radio signal has gone before, downloading content before going out there might be your only option.

Amazon.com already offers a download option, albeit a limited one. Amazon Prime Video downloads only work with certain mobile devices, and even then the company must have reached an agreement with the relevant content producer. And you don't get to keep that downloaded file forever. Amazon's download licenses come with time limits (which vary from one video to the next), and you can only store a certain number of titles at any given time. Grabbing the next episode of Mozart in the Jungle for your Kindle Fire tablet may have to wait until the kids drop a couple of Wishenpoof shows from their iPads.

As curtailed as Amazon's video download system is, critics and vocal users often cite it when asking Netflix to launch a similar tool. If nothing else, the reasoning goes, downloads could make Netflix much more usable in markets where mobile networks just can't carry the load of a high-def video stream. That argument rings louder now that Netflix is available in pretty much every nation around the globe.

Finally, Hastings has in fact changed his anti-download attitude recently. Two months ago, in the first-quarter earnings call, the CEO opened the door to a download plan.

"We should keep an open mind on this," Hastings said. "We've been so focused on click and watch and the beauty and simplicity of streaming. But as we expand around the world where we see an uneven set of networks, it's something we should keep an open mind about."

Image source: Getty Images.

Why don't we have Netflix downloads already, then?

So downloads are technically simpler and come with a bunch of user-friendly benefits. How come the service hasn't been running that way from day one?

First, streaming done right offers a cleaner user experience. With downloads, you have to plan ahead and get your ducks in a row. Hard drives and other storage spaces will eventually fill up, leading to either automatic or manual cleanup actions. It's kind of messy. In a streaming service, you click to play and that's it. As long as you have a solid network connection, there's nothing else to worry about.

Streaming also gives Netflix more fine-grained control of the data stream, along with more detailed usage data. The company is always digging deeper into a treasure trove of streaming actions, and baking that information into everything else. Every click on pause, rewind, stop, or fast forward goes into this data bank. The results will change your personal "watch next" recommendations, steer Netflix toward the next big-ticket content contract, and shape the service in a myriad different ways. There's less information to glean from a simple download count.

And of course, content producers love the tighter copyright restrictions offered in a streaming model. Without Netflix's hand-built streaming tools, it's nearly impossible to decrypt and reassemble the streaming data snippets into a watchable video. For downloaded video files, even the strongest encryption package can be cracked. The increasingly strict geographic viewing restrictions that are imposed by Netflix's content providers don't seem to matter when you can just download a movie uniquely available in the U.S., only to drive across the border and watch in in Cancun. You may have noticed that Netflix has tiered its streaming plans, limiting customers to two concurrent streams on the most popular plan with options to pay extra for five concurrent views in higher quality or pay less for a single stream in standard definition. It's unclear how effective that strategy would be when downloads are thrown into the mix.

No, Netflix hasn't been dragging its feet on the download idea out of spite. Anything that makes the Netflix experience less intuitive and obvious is bad for the brand. Then you have the technical wrinkles detailed above. If Reed Hastings really is heading down this road, you can bet that the company is in furious negotiations with all of its content providers to hammer out the appropriate licenses -- which probably will add to the cost of each license, too.

I guess it's happening, or Hastings wouldn't have left the door open for further speculation. I'm not convinced that the download option will be used a whole lot by customers with reliable networks on the go, and the tool might eventually be removed from markets of that type -- including the U.S.. It's more likely to live on in network-challenged places like East Timor or darkest Peru. Netflix is sure to figure out very quickly which markets make sense for this tool, and cut licensing costs via equally swift withdrawals from the places where it doesn't help.

The article Should Netflix, Inc. Let You Download "Orange Is the New Black"? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Anders Bylund owns shares of Netflix. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon.com and Netflix. 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.

Two bits of information came out about Alphabet's Google and YouTube businesses this week. The first was an article from The Telegraph that says Google will release its own branded phone to compete with Apple by the end of the year. And the second was the announcement from YouTube that it will soon allow users to broadcast themselves live from the YouTube mobile app, similar to how Facebook's Live videos work.

Both could be significant moves for Google, so let's take a look at how these two things might help the company take on Facebook and Apple in two very different ways.

A jab at Apple

No, the possible Google phone isn't another Nexus phone manufactured by Huawei or HTC. The Telegraph says it'll be an honest-to-goodness Google phone (Pixel phone perhaps?) -- if it does, in fact, exist (nothing is definite in the tech world until launch day).

Apparently, Google wants to "tighten its grip on mobile software" and compete directly with Apple's iPhone, according to the article.

This isn't an entirely crazy idea, though I question Google's timing (more on that later). Android has continued to gain market share of iOS, and the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel shows Android gaining over the past year in the U.S., Europe, and China. Building its own phone might help Google tap into this trend and help improve the Android fragmentation that currently exits.

Google has for a long time relied on smartphone makers and carriers to make regular (or, rather irregular) updates to the devices, leaving many different versions of Android floating around out there. Google has clamped down on this over the past few years, but with about 24,000 different Android devices out there (totaling more than 1 billion devices), it's pretty easy for updates to fall by the wayside.

It's also a bit of risky move at worst, and ill-timed at best. Apple can attest to the difficulties of selling phones right now. The company's iPhone sales in fiscal Q2 2016 were down 16% year over year, the first time the devices ever experienced a decrease. Part of that drop stemmed from the high upgrade cycle from the year before, which Apple couldn't recreate the following year.

It's getting increasingly difficult for device makers to release phones that come with enough new features to warrant constant upgrades, and Google could face an even more difficult situation. There are plenty of good-enough Android devices on the market that can be had at very reasonable prices. If Google wants to take on Apple in the high-end market, it will need to add some pretty amazing features to convince even the biggest Android fans that its phone is worth it.

A potential body blow to Facebook

YouTube has allowed live broadcasting from its service since 2011, but never from its mobile app. The company says the live feature will roll out to its YouTube personalities and channels first, with all users getting the feature soon.

The move comes just after Facebook signed on a laundry list of celebrities and media companies to produce live content at a sum of more than $50 million. Facebook Live videos have proven successful so far, with Facebook saying users watch live videos on the site three times longer than they do regular videos.

Facebook is building itself into a videobehemothright now, with the company seeing at least 8 billion videos per day (not all live, of course) and U.S. users posting 94% more videos in 2015 than they did the previous year.

Still, Google's YouTube has two key advantages over Facebook. The first is that its live videos will show up in Google searches just like any other content. That, of course, will make them easier to find than Facebook's.

The second advantage is that while Facebook takes the No. 2 spot for video advertising, YouTube is expected to remain on top until at least 2017. A recent report from Cowen and Cowen says YouTube will retain 38.2% video ad market share until then, but that Facebook is creeping in.

Both companies are fighting over an increasing market size for video ads, which is expected to hit $28 billion by 2020.

Investor takeaway

Between the possible Google phone and the new YouTube live steaming feature, investors should consider the latter far more important to Google's overall goals. With spending on video ads growing (from under $10 billion to the $28 billion I mentioned earlier), YouTube's live feature should help direct more of that spending toward its platform.

I wouldn't dismiss Google's attempts to bring a smartphone to market just yet, but I think investors should focus on Google's prospects in sticking to what it knows best (i.e., drumming up advertising revenue) instead of hoping the company can figure out how to make money from selling phones.

The article 2 Ways Google Is Going After Facebook and Apple This Year originally appeared on Fool.com.

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Chris Neiger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A and C shares), Apple, and Facebook. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image Source: Getty Images

The best dividend stocks are not necessarily the highest-paying dividend stocks -- high dividend yields can sometimes signal problems with a company. Instead,consider investing in a solid company with a healthy dividend yield. Companies like, for example, the top 10 stocks below.

Stock Ticker Dividend Yield General Motors GM 5.13% Verizon VZ 4.20% Sanofi SNY 4.25% Procter & Gamble PG 3.22% Cisco Systems CSCO 3.61% AbbVie Inc ABBV 3.79% AT&T Inc. T 4.71% Emerson Electric EMR 3.56% American States Water AWR 2.19% S&P 500 ^SPX 2.19%

Data source: Yahoo!Finance.

How was this list of top-paying dividend stocks created?

The stocks selected for this list of the top-10 dividend-paying stocks are not the highest-yielding dividend stocks on the market, but they're among the most reliable with respectable dividend yields.With two exceptions, all of the stocks on the list pay a dividend with a yield at least 50% greater than the average yield of the S&P 500.

Proctor & Gamble's dividend yield is technically 47% higher than the S&P's average at the time of this writing, but the company has raised its dividend every year for the past 60 years. So, at least to me, 47% is close enough. We'll touch on the other exception in just a moment.

Each stock -- again with the same one exception -- is a large-cap company with a strong, market-leading presence in its industry. They are financially sound, and many are household names. They are the bluest of the blue chips.

In other words, these are stocks that you can buy, enjoy the dividend checks every quarter, and not lose any sleep about the future.

It was in that same spirit that American States Water , the one exception to the above, was included on this list. The company's dividend is equal to the current yield of the S&P 500, but there's much more to this story than just the yield.

American States Water is a utility in California. About 70% of its revenue comes from its water-utility business, and 8% from its electricity-utility business, both serving the California market. The remaining revenue comes from 50-year contracts to provide water services to military bases.

The company is ridiculously stable and consistent. It's increased its annual dividend every single year for the past 61 years.

The top dividend stocks beat the S&P 500's dividend yield, boosting total returns

High-quality stocks that pay handsome dividends are great choices for long-term investors. Like pouring gas onto a fire, the dividends help the stock price soar above alternative investments.

Consider the pharmaceutical giant AbbVie . Since its spinoff from Abbott Laboratoriesin January of 2013, the company's stock price alone, excluding dividends, has outperformed the S&P 500 by a little more than 30%. If you include AbbVie's reinvested dividends using the total-return price metric, the performance is even more impressive, beating the S&P 500 with reinvested dividends by nearly 45%.

ABBV data by YCharts.

This characteristic is similar to most quality companies with strong dividend yields. The additional returns provided by the dividend push the stock to levels that other companies struggle to match.

It's worth nothing that AbbVie is probably the riskiest of the stocks on this list. AbbVie generates the majority of its revenue from a single drug, Humira, which will lose patent protection in the U.S. at the end of 2016, and in Europe at the end of 2018.

The stock has taken a hit this year as the market prepares for new competition to erode revenue related to Humira. With the patent cliff looming, AbbVie has developed a deep pipeline of new drugs, with several already approved by the FDA, and numerous more at, or past, stage 3 trials. However, it's still too early to tell exactly how this dynamic will play out, so proceed with caution.

Three of these are favorite Warren Buffet stocks

When a stock is owned by arguably the greatest investor of all time, it's just one more reason to give the company and its dividend a closer look. In this case, there are three such stocks on this list, each owned by the Oracle of Omaha himself, Warren Buffett.

General Motors is both the highest-yielding stock on this list, and has the most money invested by Buffett. Buffet owns about 50 million shares of General Motors stock. Verizon Communications' 4.2% dividend yield is impressive in its own right -- and enough so for Buffett to own stock worth just more than $800 million.

The French drugmaker Sanofi is the final Warren Buffett stock on this list. Sanofi is driven by popular drugs like Plavix and Allegra, and it has a pipeline sufficient to convince Buffett to invest $150 million.

The article 2016s Top 10 Dividend Stocks originally appeared on Fool.com.

Jay Jenkins has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool recommends General Motors and Procter and Gamble. 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.
In a parade of announcements after the closing bell Wednesday, four of the nations biggest banks unveiled new share repurchase programs and increased quarterly stock dividends following the release of the second round of the Federal Reserves annual bank stress-test results.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), which passed on a conditional basis, was the first to notify investors that it will buy back up to $3.5 billion, from $2.5 billion, of its outstanding shares for the four quarters beginning July 1. The second-biggest investment bank by assets in the U.S. also said it would increase its quarterly stock dividend to 20 cents a share from 15 cents currently, in the third quarter of this year.

As a consequence of its results, the Fed requires the bank to resubmit its plan by the end of the year. The central bank said while it didnt object to the banks capital plan, it showed material weakness in its planning process, and that the plan did not adequately reflect risks and vulnerabilities. The Fed noted weakness in governance and controls around scenario design and modeling practices.

We are committed to addressing the Feds concerns about our capital planning process and fully expect to meet their requirements within the established timeframe, Morgan Stanley chairman and CEO James Gorman said in a statement.

Should it not meet the Feds resubmission deadline, the bank would be subjected to restrictions on its future capital distribution abilities. Morgan Stanley is not the first of the largest U.S. banks to be required to resubmit its capital plan: In 2015, Citigroup (NYSE:C) passed its stress test on a conditional basis. This year, none of the 33 banks subjected to the stress tests failed on quantitative grounds. However, capital plans for U.S. units of both Deutsche Bank and Santander were rejected on qualitative concerns, or poor risk management.

Wednesdays announced results were the second of two phases the nations bank holding companies with at least $50 billion in total consolidated assets are subjected to. Also known as Comprehensive Capital Analysis Review (CCAR), the tests evaluate whether the firms have the appropriate capital to withstand economic and financial shocks, and whether their forward-looking capital planning processes account for each institutions risks.

Last week, all 33 U.S. banks and foreign U.S. subsidiaries passed the first round of tests, meaning they met the Feds minimum 4.5% common equity Tier One capital requirement, or shareholder equity and cash on hand. The tests put the institutions in a hypothetical situation of a 10% unemployment rate, a 5% downturn in stocks, and a 30% plunge in home prices.

Following the release of the stress test results Wednesday, Citi, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) also unveiled changes to their planned capital actions. Citi said it will buy back up to $8.6 billion over the next four quarters, while also hiking its dividend to 16 cents a share. In a statement CEO Michael Corbat said the bank remains intently focused on strengthening and improving its capital planning process.

Bank of America boosted its quarterly dividend by 50% to $0.075 a share, while announcing a share repurchase program of $5 billion in stock. The companys CEO Brian Moynihan in a statement said the Feds approval of its capital plan has allowed it to take a significant step forward in returning more cash to shareholders.

JPMorgan left its dividend unchanged at 48 cents a share, but announced it has planned a $10.6 billion share repurchase program.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) made no changes to their capital actions. Back in April, Wells Fargo boosted its dividend to 38 cents a share.
The auto industry had huge years in 2016 and 2017, but good times don't last forever, and cyclical declines in sales volumes for 2018 and beyond now look increasingly likely. Both Toyota Motor (NYSE: TM) and Ford Motor (NYSE: F) have had to adapt to these changing conditions, but it hasn't always been easy. Despite Toyota's having located substantial production capacity within U.S. factories, potential trade disputes between the U.S. and its major trading partners are always a threat. Even U.S.-based Ford has had to navigate rough waters in making decisions about where to locate manufacturing facilities to avoid trade policy backlash.

Because of concerns about future earnings, auto stocks look like they're in bargain territory. Yet some fear the value traps that often accompany downturns in cyclical industries. To help you pick whether Toyota or Ford is a smarter investment right now, let's take a look at how the two auto giants compare on some key measures that can indicate whether they're likely to be successful in the long run.

Valuation and stock performance

Toyota and Ford haven't had the same experience with their stock performance lately. The Japanese automaker's stock has risen 12% since August 2017, compared to an 8% decline for Ford. More recently, Toyota has been able to overcome challenges to keep its share price roughly flat, while Ford suffered a drop of almost 14% since late May.

Valuation measures based on earnings reflect this disparity. When you look at trailing earnings, Toyota has a multiple of about 8.2, which is well above Ford's 5.9. For both companies, investors already expect earnings to take a mild hit, sending Ford's forward multiple to about 7.2 and Toyota's to 9.1. That's enough to make Ford look more attractively valued than Toyota, which is consistent with the way the two stocks have moved lately.

Dividends

Both Ford and Toyota pay dividends but there's a pretty wide disparity between the two automakers. Toyota's current dividend yield comes in at around 3.6%, but Ford's stock pays a more than 6% dividend yield right now.

Like many foreign companies, Toyota has a variable dividend policy, so payouts vary from year to year. However, the Japanese automaker targets a 30% payout ratio, based on its net income, with adjustments as necessary to reflect business conditions. That has given Toyota enough flexibility to afford the massive investments necessary for research and development into cutting-edge technologies like driverless vehicles and artificial intelligence. With dividends having risen gradually in recent years, Toyota looks like a stable, predictable stock that income investors can appreciate.

Ford has had a good track record of dividend growth over the past several years, bouncing back from the financial crisis that sent its two American counterparts into bankruptcy. Yet now, financial pressures have some investors nervous about whether Ford's current dividend levels are sustainable. Ford faces several challenges in generating the cash necessary to pay such a high dividend, and if a cyclical downturn adds to those challenges at exactly the wrong time, Ford might be better served using available cash in restructuring efforts rather than for dividend payments. A cut could bring the yield much closer to Toyota's levels.

Toyota's more sustainable dividend arguably cancels out Ford's higher yield, making the two stocks roughly comparable for dividend investors.

Growth and potential risk

Toyota and Ford have seen their prospects change as the environment for auto sales begins to look less favorable than it's been in recent years. But Toyota has responded aggressively, and the measures it took have already started to bear fruit. In the second quarter of 2018, Toyota's revenue rose almost 5% on an 18% jump in vehicle sales volumes, and net income was higher by 7% from year-earlier levels. Toyota saw considerable success in Europe, and even though sales were down in Japan, cost-cutting initiatives led to a huge 24% rise in operating income in its home market. Large incentive payments in North America weighed on results there, but sluggishness in China wasn't enough to offset good performance in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region. Despite a slight downgrade to full-year guidance, many of Toyota's predictions stayed unchanged from previous forecasts, and that reassured those who'd expected more extensive deterioration.

Ford seems to be facing a more difficult struggle. In its most recent quarter, Ford reported a bottom-line drop of more than 40%, and challenges outside the North American market were more extensive than most had expected. Chinese sales dropped 30%, and that sent Ford to a $400 million loss for its overall Asia-Pacific segment. Sales figures were better in Europe, but the company still suffered a pre-tax loss despite higher revenue. Investors aren't sure exactly how Ford will respond to these adverse trends. CEO Jim Hackett and his management team are still apparently working on the details of an anticipated restructuring initiative. What investors do know is that it could cost more than $10 billion for Ford to execute its plans, and without any specifics, they seem skeptical about whether Ford's really on the right path.

Turning Japanese

Toyota's prospects look a lot more solid than Ford's at this point, and that makes the stock a better buy even with its lower dividend yield and slightly higher valuation. Ford could easily bounce back, but there are too many questions for those looking at the stock for the first time to feel entirely comfortable about its future direction.

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Dan Caplinger owns shares of Ford. The Motley Fool recommends Ford. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: iStock/Thinkstock.

On Thursday afternoon, the Federal Reserve published the results from the second round of this year's stress test. Citigroup passed, which paves the way for the nation's fourth biggest bank by assets to increase its dividend and stock repurchase plan.

"We are pleased that today's result shows progress on two of our most important priorities -- to establish Citi as an indisputably safe and strong institution and to demonstrate our ability to consistently increase the amount of capital returned to our shareholders," said Michael Corbat, Citi's chief executive officer. "We remain intently focused on strengthening and improving Citi's capital planning process while delivering the returns that our shareholders expect and deserve."

Citigroup followed up the Fed's announcement by saying that it will raise its quarterly dividend to $0.16 per share. That equates to a more than threefold increase from its current quarterly payout of $0.05 per share. It also marks only the second time since the financial crisis that the bank has boosted its payout. Last year it rose on a per-share basis from $0.01 to $0.05.

Citigroup will also increase its common stock repurchase program to $8.6 billion during the four quarters starting in the third quarter of 2016. That's up from the $7.8 billion announced in the wake of last year's stress tests. Taken together, Citigroup's planned capital actions total $10.4 billion over the next four quarters.

Shares of the New York-based bank were up 4.2% during today's trading session, which closed before the Fed released the results. They're up an additional 2.6% in after-hours trading.

Citigroup's performance on this year's stress test is very good news for the $1.8 trillion bank. Its shares traded for a 30% discount to its tangible book value going into the test, a level that's typically associated with a deep recession. Its disappointing performance on previous tests undoubtedly played into this, leading investors to question the competency of its management. Its CEO went so far last year as to intimate that he would step down if it failed two years in a row, which it didn't.

Its inability to increase its dividend also contributed to its depressed valuation, as a substantial amount of capital accumulated on its balance sheet. This weighed on its return on equity, which was only 7.9% last year, compared with its 12.9% cost of common equity. This implies that Citigroup is eroding shareholder value.

The news on Thursday that Citigroup can more than triple its dividend and boost its annual stock repurchase program by $800 million will thus be welcome news to the bank's shareholders. And if it's able to follow this up on July 15 with a positive second-quarter earnings performance, investors can reasonably expect its stock to go even higher.

The article Citigroup Triples Its Dividend and Boosts Stock Buybacks originally appeared on Fool.com.

John Maxfield 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.
For months, executives running large U.S. banks have warned that a UK exit from the European Union would cause so much turmoil that they would have to slash staffing and move executives out of the country.

But now that the leave vote, known as Brexit or Britain exiting the EU has passed, these same bankers are conceding that such predictions were overblown and premature.

In fact, they tell the FOX Business Network that their firms plan to maintain a large presence in the UK that will probably allow London to maintain its status as one of Europes premier banking hubs at least for the immediate future.

Maybe the biggest Brexit about face among the top U.S. banks comes from the nations largest financial institution, J.P.Morgan (NYSE:JPM). Just weeks ago, the banks chief executive Jamie Dimon publicly warned that if the remain forces lost the referendum a move he feared could lead to a trade war and other dire consequences for the big banksJ.P.Morgan may slash as much as 25 percent of its UK staff of about 16,000.

But last Friday after the victorious leave vote, Dimon said in a memo to employees regardless of todays outcomewill maintain a large presence in London and elsewhere in the UK.

People with knowledge of the plans of the other big U.S. banks say they too are not planning to send employees out of the country despite earlier warnings that such moves would be likely in the event of the UK exiting the European Union.

I dont think any bank will just up and leave London, said a senior banker at Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS). It was all a threat to try to drive the remain vote. UK is a big important economy and theres lots of old money there. 

This banker said inside Morgan Stanley theres been an internal debate here about moving some traders outside the country to either Dublin or Frankfurt, two European cities that have been discussed as relocation sites from London. But no decisions have been made and wont be made until more information is known about the impact of Brexit on the UK financial sector and economy.

A Morgan Stanley spokesman said in a statement that the bank has no plans in place to move staff out of the UK and will only consider adjustments to our operating model.

Press officials for Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and even the big mutual fund Fidelity Investments, said they have no plans to leave London or move significant numbers of employees out of the country.

To be sure, much of the economic impact of the Brexit vote is unknown despite the initial skeptical reaction by the markets, which saw global stock prices tanking and the British currency losing value. The big worry among U.S. bankers was that Brexit would lead to regulatory confusion for the big banks who do business in the UK in that they would have comply not just with EU rules but new UK rules.

Bankers like Dimon also worried that a trade war might develop between the UK and EU, and most economists agree that a trade war would have serious economic consequences for Europe leading to a possible recession and volatility in the currency and stock markets. The flow of investment banking dealsthe lifeblood of the big bankswould slow as well.

But over the past two days both the UK Pound and the markets have stabilized as world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and UK Prime Minister David Cameron have made statements that fears of a British-EU trade war are overblown, while British officials have said they plan to quickly deal with such regulatory concerns the banks have in Brexits aftermath.

Indeed any move on the part of the EU to isolate Britain as revenge for Brexit could backfire since the UK economy is one of the continents largest; Germany, for instance, sells more of its cars in the UK than anywhere else in the world.

In fact, UK officials who are part of the leave campaign tell the FOX Business Network they will soon announce a series of economic reforms that will be designed to pump up the British economy. Details of the plan were unavailable.

Meanwhile, executives at the big banks say there are many structural issues that make London a place to keep thousands of jobs whether the UK is in or out of the EU. Dublin, one of the possible alternative banking hubs, doesnt have the resources available to the big banks including the access to workers they have in London. And in Frankfurt, the other possible alternative, there is a language barrier making it more difficult for U.S. banks to operate efficiently.

Another reason U.S. banks want to stay in the UK: They believe its an easy place to launch an attack on the clients of big foreign banks like Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB), which has been reeling recently as it tries to shore up its weak capital levels and improve profits.

With so many of the European banks in various degrees of trouble right now, it's more important than ever that American banks be there to try to capture market share across all of Europe, another banker told the FOX Business Network.
Oil prices surged 4 percent on Wednesday, with Brent settling above the psychological $50 a barrel mark, after a larger-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude inventories.

It was a second straight day of gains for oil, which has risen nearly 8 percent since Monday's settlement to recover almost all of what it lost after Britain's shock vote to exit the European Union.

Fading concerns over the so-called Brexit, potential for an oil workers' strike in Norway and a crisis in Venezuela's energy sector were among factors supporting Wednesday's rally.

While spot contracts in Brent and U.S. crude surged, the premium for longer-dated oil spiked too as traders bet crude in storage will fetch better prices in coming months.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that crude stockpiles fell 4.1 million barrels in the week to June 24, the sixth consecutive week of drawdowns.

That was more than the 2.4 million barrels expected by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Brent crude futures settled up $2.03, or 4.2 percent, at $50.61 per barrel. It hit a near one-week high of $50.74 during the session.

U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures also closed up $2.03, or 4.2 percent, at $49.88. WTI's session high was $50.

"Aside from improving market fundamentals, bulls are also eager to keep prices at around $50 as we begin the second half," said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital.

Among longer-dated oil futures, the discount for December WTI versus December 2017 held near the almost three month high above $2.40 a barrel seen on Tuesday.

"We played on that curve to widen out and it was good for us," said Tariq Zahir, crude spreads trader for Tyche Capital Advisors in New York.

The discount in nearby oil versus forward, known as contango, has widened as traders took advantage of cheap freight to store oil on tankers on expectations of further price gains by 2017 as a crude glut abates.

Despite that, some were bearish on their longer-term view of oil as the EIA also reported an unseasonably large rise of 1.4 million barrels in gasoline stockpiles versus analysts' expectations for a 58,000-barrel draw.

On the East Coast, gasoline stockpiles rose to record levels.

"I am still unimpressed with overall crude draws for June," said Scott Shelton, energy futures broker with ICAP in Durham, North Carolina. "With 16.7 million barrels per day of crude runs and production declines, we should have larger drawdowns for Q2. That has simply not happened."

(Additional reporting by Julia Payne in LONDON and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Alistair Bell and Chizu Nomiyama)
Image source: Getty Images.

Qualcomm announced a handful of modems aimed at the Internet of Things (IoT) market at the beginning of this year, and this week the company proved how well they're doing. The company said the Snapdragon X5 (9x07) and MDM9207-1 modems have received 100 design wins from more than 60 original equipment manufacturers.

The two modems vary in their uses, with the X5 aimed at both mobile broadband and IoT devices. The modem can handle download speeds up to 150 Mbps, which is much higher than most IoT devices will need. Meanwhile, the MDM9207-1 has a maximum download speed of 10 Mbps and a power-save mode that enables it work for up to 10 years off just two AA batteries. That's a very important feature, as wide-scale IoT devices will need to last for years to be effectively deployed.

Qualcomm sees its MDM92070-1 modem being used in smart-city applications. "These uses include smart energy and metering, building security, infrastructure, industrial control and automation, retail point-of-sale, asset tracking, medical, lighting, and aftermarket telematics," the company said in a press release.Both of the modems have Linux OS support, an ARM Holdings-based Cortex A7 processor, integrated support for Qualcomm VIVE 802.11ac Wi-Fi with MU-MIMO technology, Bluetooth 4.2, Bluetooth Low Energy, and an integrated global navigation satellite system.

Qualcomm's no stranger to creating superior modems that are used across a broad spectrum of devices, so why are these modems so significant? Because Qualcomm is increasingly focusing its attention on earning more IoT revenue.

The IoT opportunity

The IoT market is projected to be worth $7.1 trillion by 2020, according to IDC, with billions of formerly unconnected things tapping into the internet.

Qualcomm has has a good run in the mobile modem market, but it's now looking to the IoT for more growth.The company made an impressive $1 billion from its IoT division in last year. That revenue includes other IoT segments Qualcomm is involved in, such as the modems it makes for connected cars, of which it has 20 million right now). Qualcomm doesn't break out its IoT revenue on a quarterly basis -- something it needs to start doing -- so we're left a bit in the dark how much the company's growing the business right now.

But Qualcomm's IoT opportunities don't just come from is modem sales. The company's also built astrong IoT patent collection, just as it has with mobile, to help give it a leg up on the competition.

Qualcomm currently holds 724 IoT patents, with Intel following behind at 688. And 157 of those patents are "high-strength" -- meaning that they're very valuable -- according to research by LexInnova. Qualcomm holds the vast majority of these high-strength IoT patents, but Intel falls to the No. 5 position, with only 40.

That might be bad news for Intel, which is looking to the Internet of Things as one of its primary focuses. The company recently laid off 12,000 people as it repositions itself of the IoT and other growing markets, and away from PCs. Intel earned $651 million from its IoT department in Q1 2016, a 22% year-over-year increase.

Qualcomm's growing IoT focus

Things haven't been very smooth for the company as of late, with fierce competition from China-based vendors, its stock price having dropped 17% over the past year (11% before Brexit pushed the markets down), and a slowdown in mobile forcing the company to focus on new revenue streams.

Qualcomm's IoT modems are just one part of the company's IoT focus, of course, but it's a big one. With billions of IoT connections on the horizon, Qualcomm is in a position to apply its experience in mobile to the IoT. It already appears to be doing that well, but investors will have to see if revenues will follow. Qualcomm said earlier this year that its total serviceable addressable market will reach $100 billion by 2020, and that $15 billion of that figure will come from the Internet of Things. And with itslatest modem design wins, it's clear Qualcomm is entering the IoT era in a strong position.

The article Qualcomm's New IoT Modems Are Already Bringing In Big Wins originally appeared on Fool.com.

Chris Neiger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Qualcomm. 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.
Bank of America's headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. Image source: iStock/Thinkstock.

Because the Brexit vote happened on the same day last week that the Federal Reserve released the results from the first round of this year's stress test, investors in Bank of America probably haven't had an opportunity to absorb how the nation's second biggest bank by assets performed on the annual ritual. To this end, I drew up one table and two charts that summarize the most important takeaways from the bank's performance.

1. Projected losses under the severely adverse economic scenario

The stress test is used by the Federal Reserve to determine whether banks with $50 billion or more in assets on their balance sheets have enough capital to survive a severe economic downturn.

For the eight global systematically important banks, of which Bank of America is one, the assumptions underlying the test combine the worst aspects of the 2008 financial crisis with the 2011 European sovereign debt crisis. These include:

unemployment rate increases to 10%

U.S. gross domestic product falls by 6.5%

stocks lose 50% of their value

commercial real estate values drop by 30%

home prices decline by 25%

the rate on the 10-year Treasury falls to an unprecedented 0.25%

short-term interest rates turn negative

a bank's largest counterparty completely defaults on its obligations

Despite the severity of these assumptions, all 33 of the banks tested this year passed, including Bank of America.

This isn't to say they weren't projected by the Fed to suffer losses, as they certainly were. The combined losses from the entire group added up to $195 billion over the course of the stress test's nine-quarter scenario. And Bank of America led the way, with $36.3 billion worth of losses.

Bank Holding Companies with the Biggest Projected Losses on the 2016 Stress Test Projected Loss Over 9-Quarter Scenario Bank of America -$36.3 billion JPMorgan Chase -$30.5 billion Citigroup -$27.6 billion Wells Fargo -$25.2 billion Goldman Sachs -$15.4 billion Morgan Stanley -$12.5 billion HSBC -$8.8 billion TD Group -$6.9 billion Capital One -$4.6 billion BMO Financial -$3.9 billion

Data source: Federal Reserve.

What's interesting about Bank of America, though, is that it wasn't the losses that necessarily caused it to top the list. It was rather the fact that its revenue was so much lower than peers like JPMorgan Chaseand Wells Fargo. This gave it less ammunition, if you will, to absorb the losses before they hit its bottom line.

Over the nine quarters covered by the exercise, Bank of America was expected to generate $45.7 billion worth of pre-provision net revenue -- that is, revenue before loan loss provisions are subtracted. By contrast, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo were projected to have $64.9 billion and $51 billion in PPNR, respectively.

2. Source of losses

As a universal bank, Bank of America is vulnerable to losses from both its investment and traditional banking units. Its investment bank is projected to suffer $20 billion in losses as a result of trading and counterparty defaults -- keep in mind that the Fed assumes its largest counterparty defaults.

That's a lot of money, but it pales in comparison to Bank of America's projected loan losses. Over the nine-quarter scenario, the $2.2 trillion bank is projected to lose $59.2 billion as a result of loan losses. The chart below breaks down the latter losses by loan type.

Data source: Federal Reserve. Chart by author.

As you can see, Bank of America's biggest exposure in terms of its loan portfolio lies in its credit card, commercial, and junior lien residential mortgage (i.e., home equity loans) product lines. This roughly tracks its losses from the 2008 financial crisis.

3. Capital ratio

This last chart cuts to the heart of the stress test's purpose by showing the change in Bank of America's common equity tier 1 capital ratio from the beginning of the test to the end. In short, assuming Bank of America is still able to exceed its regulatory capital requirements post-stress test, then the path will largely be clear for it to increase the amount of capital it returns to shareholders.

Data source: Federal Reserve and Bank of America. Chart by author.

As you can see, Bank of America entered the test with a common equity tier 1 capital ratio of 11.6% and exited with a 8.1% ratio. That's a meaningful drop, but the latter figure nevertheless exceeded its 5.9% regulatory minimum.

The article A Quick Overview: Bank of America's Stress Test Performance originally appeared on Fool.com.

John Maxfield owns shares of Bank of America and Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool recommends Bank of America. 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.

What: Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing have gained 11.1% so far in 2016, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. It's been a rocky ride, including a sudden drop at the end of April, but the chip manufacturer found a way to bounce back.

So what: The year started with a solid fourth-quarter report, where Taiwan Semi beat analyst targets on both the top and bottom lines. CFO Lora Ho credited the earnings surprise to solid cost-savings initiatives, along with good orders from the communications sector.

This report set Taiwan Semi shares off on a gentle rise over the next three months. The trajectory was boosted even further by reports that a couple of key component makers for the upcoming Apple iPhone 7 reserved "significant" manufacturing resources for the second and third calendar quarters.

Another solid earnings report later, Apple itself presented disappointing iPhone sales on April 26. Swept up in that panic, Taiwan Semi shares closed 4.3% lower the next day.

Investors forgave and forgot over the next several weeks, restoring Taiwan Semi's stock to the gains it had enjoyed before Apple's scary report. And that's where the chipmaker stands at the end of June.

Now what: Apple is one of Taiwan Semi's most important customers. For each new iPhone and iPad model, the Cupertino giant orders up third-party components from several of Taiwan Semiconductor's larger clients. Moreover, this is the chip foundry of choice for Apple's own in-house mobile processor designs, including the A10 model slated for inclusion in the iPhone 7.

So it makes sense to see this stock move in tandem with major Apple news. On the other hand, Taiwan Semi is also a highly diversified company that can fill its factories with other orders if Apple falls short of expectations. That's why Taiwan Semi shares have been able to shrug off Apple's faltering fires over the last two years, rising 19% while Cupertino investors traded sideways.

Smartphones and tablets may not be the massive growth drivers they used to be, but this company stands ready to shift into the rising automotive computing and Internet of Things trends instead. And when those flames die down, the next Next Big Thing should be rounding the corner to support the global demand for high-volume chip manufacturing.

Taiwan Semiconductor shares have doubled over the last five years and tripled in 10. It's a fundamentally solid stock for the long term, even if the chart often looks jagged along the way.

The article Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing's 2016 So Far originally appeared on Fool.com.

Anders Bylund has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Fool also has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: The Motley Fool.

American Express has been one of Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway's stock holdings for some time, but its performance lately hasn't been stellar. Even after a recent rebound, shares are down nearly 20% over the past year as a result of losing its Costco partnership and a few other negative developments. However, Buffett defended his Amex investment at Berkshire's annual meeting, and I think he's got a good point.

American Express' troubles

The biggest reason for American Express' decline is the loss of its relationship with Costco, which made up about 8% of Amex's total card spending in 2015. In addition, AmEx's co-branding deals with JetBlue and Fidelity ended, and although this was a much smaller piece of the company's revenue, it's still a significant setback. There's also the looming threat of losing the Starwood Hotels partnership, as well, once the hotel company is acquired by Marriott, which has a co-branding deal with Chase.

Competition in the credit card business has never been higher. Banks are offering unprecedented introductory bonuses and 0% APR deals to attract customers, and this could create a problem for AmEx, which will have to offer its own attractive incentives (read: "spend more money"), thereby cutting into its profits.

Buffett still loves American Express

American Express is one of Berkshire's "big four" stock investments, and the company's stake now represents 16% of the credit card giant.

At Berkshire's annual meeting in late April, Buffett said American Express' business model is "under attack," although it's not enough to get him to sell. He called American Express an attractive business and said he is happy with the company and still likes the stock as an investment.

Buffett has repeatedly praised American Express' talented, shareholder-friendly managers, who return tons of cash to investors in the form of dividends and buybacks. I really can't stress enough the value Buffett places on great management -- he believes the right management team can add billions to a company's intrinsic value. Buffett also loves AmEx's rock-solid brand and ability to generate cash.

A great value and a durable competitive advantage

Admittedly, it will take some time to replace the Costco revenue, but the company plans to trim expenses by about $1 billion this year to help make up the difference.

Additionally, AmEx has had some interesting positive developments lately, including a deal with Sam's Club to start accepting the company's cards. AmEx is increasing its product offerings and pushing for more merchants to accept its cards, hoping to be as universally accepted as Visa and MasterCard products by 2019. AmEx has increased its marketing and promotions spending by 19% during the first quarter, so it's not taking its challenges lightly.

Results are promising so far. During the first quarter of 2016 the company increased its number of issued cards by three million, and increased revenue by 4% on a constant-currency basis. And, when you exclude the Costco and JetBlue portions of the portfolio, AmEx's loan portfolio actually grew by 11% over the past year.

American Express has the competitive advantage of a strong brand and an affluent, attractive group of cardholders, which allows it to charge merchants more for payment processing than rivals Visa and MasterCard. In fact, one report found that AmEx cardholders spend an average of 71% and 60% more than Visa and MasterCard customers, respectively. And, AmEx's widespread closed-loop network allows it to consistently deliver a return on equity in the 25% range.

Also, there is the global trend toward a cashless society, which benefits the entire payment processing sector.

Stick with AmEx

The bottom line is that although revenue will certainly suffer in the short term, American Express is likely still a long-term winner, and I believe investors with the stomach to make it through the in-between time will be handsomely rewarded.

The article Warren Buffett Is Sticking With American Express, and So Am I originally appeared on Fool.com.

Matthew Frankel owns shares of American Express, Apple, and Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple, Berkshire Hathaway (B shares), Costco Wholesale, Facebook, Marriott International, MasterCard, and Visa. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool recommends American Express. 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: Thrift Savings Plan.

The Thrift Savings Plan is the retirement plan for most federal workers. Similar in many ways to the 401(k) plans that private employers offer, the Thrift Savings Plan, or TSP for short, gives federal employees the ability to set aside pre-tax money for retirement through a defined list of available investment options. Unlike many defined contribution plans, however, the TSP has extremely low costs, and that assures participants that only a minimal amount of their retirement savings will get siphoned off for fees and expenses. Policymakers therefore see the TSP as a model for others to follow in offering high-quality retirement savings vehicles to workers.

How the Thrift Savings Plan works

The TSP works a lot like a 401(k) plan does. Workers are allowed to contribute up to $18,000 in 2016 if they're younger than 50, with an additional $6,000 catch-up contribution allowed for those 50 or older. The TSP incorporates both traditional and Roth account characteristics, and that lets workers choose whether they want to contribute pre-tax money to get an upfront tax benefit or after-tax money to get tax-free treatment in retirement.

Those who are familiar with matching contributions in 401(k)s will also find them in the TSP. The federal government matches contributions for those who are eligible under the Federal Employees' Retirement System. If you contribute 5% of your salary, you'll get an additional 5% from the government, 4% coming from matching and 1% coming from an automatic contribution made regardless of your level of participation.

TSP investments and costs

One of the best features of the Thrift Savings Plan is its cost. The plan's expense ratios on its investment options are extremely low, and the TSP said that its average cost was just 0.029% in 2015. That means that for every $10,000 you have in the plan, you'll pay just $2.90 per year in fees. Compare that to the $100 or more that many 401(k) plans charge, and you can see how much money the TSP can save you as your retirement savings grow.

Moreover, the TSP's investment options are simple but diversified, using letters to identify themselves. The C Fund is an index fund that matches the performance of the S&P 500, while the S Fund owns small and mid-cap stocks and the I Fund invests in international stocks. The G Fund is the TSP's short-term cash equivalent, owning short-term government securities, and the F Fund holds fixed-income securities like government and corporate bonds to round out a balanced portfolio.

Just about the only downside of the Thrift Savings Plan is that it's not available to those who work outside the government. However, as a model of efficiency, many hope that the TSP will eventually become available for a wider range of American workers in both the public and private sector.

This article is part of The Motley Fool's Knowledge Center, which was created based on the collected wisdom of a fantastic community of investors. We'd love to hear your questions, thoughts, and opinions on the Knowledge Center in general or this page in particular. Your input will help us help the world invest, better! Email us atknowledgecenter@fool.com. Thanks -- and Fool on!

The article What Is the Thrift Savings Plan? originally appeared on Fool.com.

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When SolarCity Corp burst onto the scene and started posting growth rates in excess of 100%, it was selling a solar product investors bought into as a "cool" consumer energy product. But, at the end of the day, the sales pitch to customers wasn't about being "cool," it was about saving money by going solar.

Tesla Motors , on the other hand, was always selling cool and sex appeal with the Model S and the upcoming Model 3. You don't spend $70,000 or more on a car because it's the most economical option, you buy it because it's a high-performance vehicle that will impress your friends.

In the combination of SolarCity and Tesla Motors, Musk appears to want to make solar panels and energy storage just as "cool" as an electric vehicle, but that may be a tough sell in energy.

Image source: Tesla Motors.

Cars are about emotion; energy is about dollars and cents

Buying an automobile can beone of the more emotional large purchases we make in our lives. People care about how they'll feel driving a vehicle and how they'll be perceived by others, not just the economics or reliability of the vehicle.

There's not the same emotional pull in energy, especially energy storage. An energy storage system will likely be installed in a homeowner's garage, out of sight of friends or neighbors. Energy storage isn't a conversation topic or something you can show off in the way a Model S might be. It's similar to a solar system in that it has to be driven by economics to gain any sort of mass adoption.

And here's where the flaws of Elon Musk's vertically integrated energy plans start to emerge. Today, there are few places in the world where energy storage is in any way economical, and the only state in which SolarCity operates that might have an economic case for energy storage today is Hawaii.

SolarCity is built on financing solar systems for customers over 20 years, a financing structure that doesn't yet exist in energy storage. Image source: SolarCity.

Energy storage doesn't have a business model

It's easy to see how storing energy created from your rooftop solar system for use in evening hours or as a dispatchable asset the utility can use to lower expensive peak electricity production makes good sense. But today, the incentives and regulations aren't in place to make either economical. Except for Hawaii, the arbitrage opportunity between rooftop solar costs and what the grid will pay for you to export that electricity isn't high enough to justify storage. In most states, where net metering rules are in effect, there's zero economic reason to save energy from one hour of the day for another.

States like New York are starting to test concepts like the "virtual power plant" to give utilities control over energy storage systems to stabilize the grid. But these are in pilot phases and could be years before they're rolled out on any kind of scale.

In a vast majority of locations, there's no way to financially justify spending $10,000 or more to install energy storage today. And that's what energy products need to build the scale a Tesla-SolarCity merger would need to justify.

Financing energy storage is an unknown

The real revelation of SolarCity's business model early in its history was the solar lease. Leases allowed SolarCity to sell solar to customers with $0 down, provide them energy bill savings from day one, and SolarCity could make money. The company made the economics of consumers going solar work and that's why it could double its business year after year.

Key to the model was SolarCity's ability to get banks and other businesses to finance those solar projects. The tax equity portion and consumers' payments were sliced into pieces investors could buy, and that funding fueled the model.

Without a business model that will make energy storage profitable, there's no financing waiting in the wings to fund energy storage. And until there is, it'll be a very limited market.

Elon Musk's energy vision not ready for prime time

In five or 10 years, it's possible battery prices, regulatory rates, and utility systems will be ready to incorporate solar with energy storage and millions of smarter devices. I think that's a future everyone should be excited about. But that's not the structure we have today, and Tesla Motors buying SolarCity makes the solar business harder because of the complex financing SolarCity needs.

I don't see Tesla Energy as ready for prime time, and if he combines SolarCity and Tesla Motors, Elon Musk has to bridge an even larger company for a few years until the energy industry is ready for a real transformation. That's a big risk to take -- and one the market will have to have patience with, because both companies are still losing money as they build out their energy capabilities.

The article Why Tesla Energy Isn't (Yet) Ready for Prime Time originally appeared on Fool.com.

Travis Hoium has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends SolarCity and Tesla Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Construction continues on Wynn Palace in Macau. Image source: Wynn Resorts.

Delays are common during large construction projects, and especially in Macau, where the government has limits on imported labor, which is already short in the region. But Wynn Resorts' new delay on Wynn Palace until August 22, 2016, puts the resort five months behind the first scheduled opening, and it has finally become a concern for investors.

Every day the resort isn't open is a lost opportunity for Wynn, and when you consider that Wynn Macau's win per table per day is $21,967 in VIP and $11,092 in the mass market, every day adds up.

The impact on Wynn's bottom line

In a presentation earlier this year, Wynn projected that property EBITDA from Wynn Palace could be $630 million to $850 million. Given the original open date of March 2016, that's $263 million to $354 million in projected lost EBITDA. Wynn has the added cost of keeping on extra staff and paying interest on debt in anticipation of the Wynn Palace opening, so the financial impact is even larger than that projection.

All of those are negatives for Wynn's income statement and balance sheet in 2016, but they're also not the most important factor in Wynn Palace's opening.

Here's what you should be worried about

While this is surely a negative short-term for Wynn Resorts, it isn't worth panicking over, either. Large projects like this are delayed all of the time, and MGM Resorts has already said it will delay its Cotai resort opening from late 2016 into 2017, which was blamed on market weakness (although labor delays likely led to some of the delay). It's also worth watching whether Las Vegas Sands will hit its goal of opening The Parisianin September, as delays may be common in Macau this year.

What's a greater concern is that Wynn still doesn't know how many table games the government is going to allow at Wynn Palace. Management is hoping for as many as 500 tables, and one of the big concerns is that it'll be cut well short of that, something Melco Crown experienced last year when it was only allotted 200 table games at Studio City.

The table game concern is something MGM Resorts and Las Vegas Sands need to worry about as well. The issue is less of a concern for Las Vegas Sands which has the option to move tables from its four operating resorts in Macau. In Wynn Resorts' case, if it gets the same 200 tables Melco Crown got, it could decimate the company's estimated earnings and pummel the stock. That's really where investors should be looking between now and opening day.

Delay shouldn't deter investors

A few months of delay in Wynn Palace's opening won't even be remembered a few years from now, so long-term investors shouldn't see it as a big negative. But investors should be worried that the company hasn't been allocated table games, and it could come up short of what management is hoping for. So, more than the financial impact of the delay, I would keep an eye on the table game numbers, because that will be a better indicator of long-term success for this $4.1 billion bet by Wynn on Macau.

The article Wynn Resorts Delays Cotai Project Opening (Again) originally appeared on Fool.com.

Travis Hoium owns shares of Wynn Resorts. 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.
On Tuesday afternoon, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump spoke to a crowd in Monessen, Pennsylvania about his plans for United States trade policy and the economy.

I am going to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has not yet been ratified, Trump said, adding that he will appoint the toughest and smartest trade negotiators to fight on behalf of American workers.

Trump also brought his remarks down to a local level in Monessen. A poor economic climate has taken a toll on manufacturing in the area, which is slightly south of Pittsburgh, also known as the Steel City.

In reaction to Trumps speech, Bob Hormats, former Under Secretary of State, said he believes putting money toward infrastructure is vital to the American economy because it will help create jobs for many residents near the construction areas.

Thats really where you get demand for American steel. Not through protectionism, but demand for infrastructure. And when you get infrastructure you use more American steel and you create a lot of jobs in the infrastructure building area, he said.

Hormats said Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is a big supporter of infrastructure and trade, despite changing her opinion about the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

When Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, she devoted a great deal of energy and effort to helping American companies overcome obstacles abroad so that we could sell more products abroad, Hormats said. In fact, probably several hundred thousand jobs in this country were supported over the four years she was Secretary of State because she went around the world identifying barriers that needed to be removed by other countries to give American companies more opportunity.
An increasing number of voters say the terrorists are winning the war against the United States. Over half think profiling and stricter gun laws would make the country safer. Meanwhile, 4-in-10 voters say shootings like the one in Orlando make them feel they need to own a gun.

Thats according to a new Fox News Poll.

Currently, 44 percent think the United States and its allies are winning the war on terrorism. Thats down from 49 percent in 2010. Nearly as many, 41 percent, say the terrorists are winning. Thats up from 31 percent. The shift comes mainly from Republicans, who are much less likely to say the U.S. is winning now (27 percent) than they were six years ago (48 percent). Democrats are more likely to say the U.S. is winning today than in 2010 by five points.

The poll, released Wednesday, was conducted Sunday through Tuesday evenings. Suicide bombers attacked the Istanbul airport Tuesday, causing 41 deaths and injuring at least 230 more.

A large 84-percent majority thinks most Americans today are feeling more nervous than confident about stopping terrorist attacks. Thats up significantly from 50 percent in 2005 (the last time the question was asked by Fox). Only one-in-ten say Americans are feeling more confident than nervous that the U.S. can prevent attacks (11 percent).

What would make the country safer? Fifty-nine percent think using profiling techniques to increase government surveillance on certain types of individuals would increase safety, and 52 percent say passing stricter gun control laws.

Forty-one percent of voters say encouraging more citizens to carry weapons to defend themselves would make us safer, yet almost as many, 37 percent, say less safe.

Fifty-three percent support a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S., yet only 40 percent think such an action would make the country safer.

There are greater concerns than terrorist attacks. Most voters are extremely or very concerned about the price of health care (85 percent) and the economy (84 percent).

Those concerns are above gun laws (79 percent concerned), attacks by Islamic terrorists (78 percent) and attacks by non-Islamic terrorists (68 percent). Smaller numbers, yet still majorities, are worried about illegal immigration (62 percent) and climate change (56 percent).

Since last June, concern is higher by 11 points on guns, nine points on Islamic terrorist attacks, and six points on the economy.

The top concerns among Republicans are attacks by Islamic terrorists (92 percent concerned) and the economy (89 percent). For Democrats, its the price of health care (82 percent), climate change (81 percent), and the economy (80 percent).

Voters worried about gun laws prefer Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in the general election (48-36 percent). Those concerned about attacks by Islamic terrorists and immigration back Trump over Clinton (45-39 percent and 52-32 percent respectively). Voters concerned about the economy split: 42 Trump vs. 41 Clinton.

Views are divided over whether the June 12 shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando is better described as a mass murder (45 percent) or a terrorist attack (43 percent).

The Muslim gunman pledged allegiance to ISIS as he killed 49 people and wounded more than 50 others. He was born in the United States to parents from Afghanistan.

By an eight-point margin, voters think there would be fewer victims of mass shootings if more people carried guns (47 percent) than if guns were banned (39 percent).

Gun sales typically increase following a major shooting. The poll asked voters to pick between two opposite reactions after an event like Orlando. For 40 percent their response is I need to get a gun, while 33 percent feel The country has got to get rid of guns.

Forty-six percent of voters report living in a household where someone owns a gun. These gun owners are more likely to call the Orlando shooting a terrorist attack (53 percent), to think there would be fewer shooting victims if more people carried guns (66 percent), and to feel the need to buy a gun after a shooting (58 percent).

President Obamas job rating remains in positive territory: 50 percent of voters approve of his performance, while 47 percent disapprove. In early June it was 51-46 percent (June 5-8).

Pollpourri

Before that, the last time Obamas job rating was this high was just before he was re-elected in 2012, when 51 percent approved and 46 percent disapproved (October 28-30, 2012).

Voters split on the job Obamas doing on the economy, as 48 percent both approve and disapprove. Still, thats his best issue. He receives lower marks for his handling of health care (44 approve vs. 53 disapprove), foreign policy (43-50 percent), and terrorism (43-53 percent).

His worst ratings are on gun control. Only 36 percent of voters approve, while 59 percent disapprove. Thats up from a record low 35 percent approval in January 2014.

While 87 percent of Democrats approve of Obamas overall job performance, that drops to 63 percent on gun control.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,017 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from June 26-28, 2016. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.
Former House Speaker and Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, (R-GA), weighs in on the Obama Administrations handling of the war on terrorism in the wake of the most recent attack at an airport in Istanbul, Turkey.

The fact is that this is an administration that even today cannot bring itself to tell the truth about the size of the problem, the danger of the problem, Gingrich told the FOX Business Networks Maria Bartiromo.

Gingrich then discussed the motivations behind attacks such as the one in Istanbul as well as in Orlando.

The president and others wondered about the motivation of the Orlando killer, well the motivation of the terrorist in Orlando was the same as the motivation of the three terrorists in Istanbul. These are people who want to impose an Islamic supremacism on the world. They believe they are morally driven to kill those who wont do it.

Gingrich said the aversion to calling these atrocities acts of radical Islamic terrorism actually began under George W. Bushs Administration.

As early as part of George W. Bushs Administration, the State Department was pushing very hard to avoid describing this accurately on the grounds it would alienate Muslims. You have the current Secretary of Homeland Security [Jeh Johnson] whos far more concerned about the ability to talk with the Muslim community than he is with the ability to define and focus on those people who would kill us.

Gingrich sees changes in the State Department and Department of Homeland Security as necessary in the wake of Hillary Clintons handling of Benghazi and the Obama Administrations strategy against terrorism.

You have to understand that the State Department has to be cleaned out, a large part of Homeland Security has to be cleaned out. Certainly we need a new Attorney General who thinks fighting radical Islamists is a good thing, not trying to love them to death, but thats part of why you have an election.

Gingrich views Hillary Clintons handling of Benghazi as part of a broader trend of lies and cover ups.

She [Hillary Clinton] does own it. Look, anybody who pays any attention to public life understands Hillary Clinton is a consummate, permanent liar; She lies about Benghazi, she lies all the way back to cattle futures before they got elected, she lies about whats happened with her emails, she lies about the Clinton Foundation.

But once Election Day comes, Gingrich said, What people have to decide is, is it acceptable to have a Commander-in-Chief who is routinely willing to lie, including lying to the families of those who were killed about what the problem was in Benghazi?

Gingrich predicted the anti-establishment trends occurring globally will work against Hillary Clinton.

Everywhere you turn right now the establishment is getting hammered. My guess is that Hillary Clinton is going to get somewhere between 39% and 42% on Election Day. Gingrich continued, If it is a referendum on Hillary Clinton, she will lose very badly on Election Day.
After receiving some backlash from internet trolls over her brutally honest essay in Playboy, Chelsea Handler is striking back.

For the magazine's "Freedom" issue, the comedian and Netflix talk-show host wrote a piece in which she revealed that she had two abortions when she was 16 years old.

WATCH: Chelsea Handler Reveals She Had Two Abortions at 16

"I don't ever look back and think, God, I wish I'd had that baby," Handler wrote.

Some readers have criticized the comedian for a tone that they perceived to be too flippant for such a serious subject, but Handler took to Twitter on Tuesday to set the record straight.

"When I agreed to write an article on a woman's right to choose, I certainly wasn't bragging," she tweeted. "I chose to tell the truth. #shouldbemoreofit"

When I agreed to write an article on a woman's right to choose, I certainly wasn't bragging. I chose to tell the truth. #shouldbemoreofit  Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) June 28, 2016

RELATED: Chelsea Handler Says She 'Definitely' Doesn't Want Kids

The 41-year-old Chelsea host credited her teenage decisions to the 1973 Supreme Court ruling on a woman's right to an abortion, Roe v. Wade, saying, "it's infuriating" when politicians attempt to overturn the ruling.

"We've already made the decision, and now we're moving on to transgender rights," she wrote. "And it's a wrap on men deciding what women can do with their bodies."

This wasn't the first time, Handler opened up about terminating a pregnancy. In 2011, she told the New York Times she had an abortion "because that's what I should have done."
Former television judge Joe Brown cannot practice law in Tennessee under an order from the state Supreme Court.

According to The Commercial Appeal, the state's highest court has placed Brown on disability inactive status, which designates that a lawyer is temporarily disabled and incapacitated from practicing law. Lawyers can resume practice when they prove to the court that the disability has been removed.

Production company Celebritunity says Brown is suffering from complications from type II diabetes "and the effects of prescribed medication for the condition combined with hypertension and stress."

Brown unsuccessfully ran for Shelby County district attorney in 2014. He was jailed for five days last September for contempt of court stemming from an outburst in Juvenile Court in March 2014.
While running for President in 2008, Barack Obama had the Obama Girl, and now it seems Donald Trump has his own group of female supporters. #TrumpGirlsBreakTheInternet took over Twitter Sunday after a Wall Street /NBC News poll showed Hilary Clinton with a 17 point lead over Trump with women voters.

Many photos of women in bikinis with Trump paraphernalia began trending with that hashtag.

The first #TrumpGirlsBreakTheInternet reference came Saturday night from rapper Baked Alaska.

The hashtag quickly caught on. The account @BabesForTrump blasted photos of bikini clad women on Twitter with that hashtag too.

Trump supporter Alicia Starko told FOX411 she was surprised the hashtag caught on as quickly as it did after being blasted on Twitter and highlighted in a Buzzfeed article.

I was actually really surprised to see it pop out of nowhere, she said. I had been off social media all day that dayso I was really shocked to see my picture on Buzzfeed and then from there I started seeing it everywhere.

Yes they are real, yes they hurt my back 24/7 Read this book libs, you'll learn a thing #trumpgirlsbreaktheinternet pic.twitter.com/YB6HDxbQtx  Alicia Starko (@AliciaStarko) June 27, 2016

Starko noted how the movement is a step in the right direction for women who want to speak their political minds.

I'm really happy to see how much it has influenced young educated women like myself to speak out about their beliefs now and aren't afraid of the backlash they may receive," she said. "We need more women standing up for Trump and I will never hesitate to support him as our best candidate.

However, not everyone on social media supported the hashtag.

When you click on #TrumpGirlsBreakTheInternet thinking its a joke but then you see women actually support him pic.twitter.com/8IQJ4P8hKi  shelby // 6 days (@heartbrokennjh) June 26, 2016 For dumb women posting selfies as a means of political expression see #TrumpGirlsBreakTheInternet pic.twitter.com/q9ywMhMMvo  Ashley Medeiros (@AMedeiros789) June 27, 2016

Donald Trumps team did not return FOX411s request for comment.
The following timeline charts the origin and spread of the Zika virus from its discovery nearly 70 years ago:

1947: Scientists researching yellow fever in Uganda's Zika Forest identify the virus in a rhesus monkey

1948: Virus recovered from Aedes africanus mosquito in Zika Forest

1952: First human cases detected in Uganda and Tanzania

1960s-80s: Zika detected in mosquitoes and monkeys across equatorial Africa

1960s-80s: Zika found in equatorial Asia, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan

2007: Zika spreads from Africa and Asia, first large outbreak on Pacific island of Yap

2012: Researchers identify two distinct lineages of the virus, African and Asian

2013-14: Zika outbreaks in French Polynesia, Easter Island, the Cook Islands and New Caledonia. Retrospective analysis shows possible link to birth defects and severe neurological complications in babies in French Polynesia

March 2, 2015: Brazil reports illness characterized by skin rash in northeastern states

July 17: Brazil reports detection of neurological disorders in newborns associated with history of infection

Oct. 22: Colombia confirms cases of Zika

Oct. 30: Brazil reports increase in microcephaly, abnormally small heads, among newborns

Nov. 11: Brazil declares public health emergency

November 2015-January 2016: Cases reported in Suriname, Panama, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Venezuela, French Guiana, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Guyana, Ecuador, Barbados, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Curacao, Jamaica

Feb. 1: World Health Organization (WHO) declares public health emergency of international concern

Feb. 2: First case of Zika transmission in United States; local health officials say likely contracted through sex, not mosquito bite

Feb. 5: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says virus being actively transmitted in 30 countries, mostly in the Americas

Feb. 8: U.S. President Barack Obama requests $1.9 billion to fight Zika

Feb. 18: CDC adds Aruba and Bonaire to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 32

Feb. 23: CDC adds Trinidad and Tobago and Marshall Islands to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 34

Feb. 25: Brazil says confirmed microcephaly cases number more than 580 and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers, with an additional 4,100 suspected cases of microcephaly

Feb. 27: France detects first sexually transmitted case of Zika

March 8: WHO advises pregnant women to avoid areas with Zika outbreak and said sexual transmission of the virus is "relatively common"

March 19: CDC adds Cuba to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 38

March 22: CDC adds Dominica to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 39

March 31: The World Health Organization says there is a strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause the birth defect microcephaly as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis, though conclusive proof may take months or years

April 1: CDC adds Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 40

April 4: CDC adds Fiji to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 41

April 13: The CDC concludes that infection with the Zika virus in pregnant women is a cause of the birth defect microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities in babies. CDC adds St. Lucia to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 42

April 18: CDC adds Belize to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 43

April 25: Canada confirms first sexually transmitted Zika case

April 29: Puerto Rico reports first death related to Zika, according to the CDC. The island territory also confirms 683 Zika cases, including 65 pregnant women, and five suspected cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome from Zika

May 4: Panama confirms four microcephaly cases tied to Zika

May 6: Spain has first case of Zika-related brain defect in a fetus

May 9: CDC adds Papua New Guinea, Saint Barthelemy and Peru to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 46

May 12: CDC adds Grenada to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 47

May 13: Puerto Rico reports first case of Zika-related microcephaly

May 20: WHO says an outbreak of Zika virus on the African island chain of Cape Verde is of the same strain as the one blamed for birth abnormalities in Brazil

May 26: CDC adds Argentina to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 48

June 9: WHO updates guidelines on prevention of sexual transmission of the Zika virus, including advising women living in areas where the virus is being transmitted to delay getting pregnant

June 14: El Salvador confirms first case of microcephaly linked to Zika

June 30: CDC adds Anguilla to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 49

July 8: CDC confirms a Utah resident's death from the previous month is the first Zika-related death in the continental United States

July 14: CDC adds Saint Eustatius to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 50

July 15: New York City's health department reports the first female-to-male transmission of the Zika virus.

July 18: CDC reports the caregiver of Utah man who died of Zika tested positive for virus, raising questions about its spread

July 19: Florida health officials investigate a case of Zika virus infection that may have been caused by local mosquito bite

July 22: New York City health officials reports first baby born with Zika-related birth defect

July 25: Spain reports first case in Europe of baby born with Zika-related defect; CDC issues updated recommendations for preventing and testing for Zika infection, warning that the virus can be transmitted through unprotected sex with an infected female partner

July 26: Honduras detects 8 cases of babies with Zika-related defect; CDC adds Saba to countries and territories with active outbreaks with total at 51

July 27: Paraguay reports first cases of microcephaly linked to Zika

July 29: Florida authorities report what is believed to be the first evidence of local Zika transmission in the continental United States

Aug. 2: CDC adds Antigua, Barbuda, and Turks and Caicos to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 54

Aug. 3: U.S. researchers said they launched Zika vaccine clinical trial

Aug. 11: CDC adds Cayman Islands to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 55

Aug. 12: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declares a public health emergency in Puerto Rico over Zika with 10,690 laboratory-confirmed cases

Aug. 13: Brazil reports 1,835 confirmed cases of microcephaly

Aug. 16: Haiti reports first case of microcephaly linked to Zika

Aug. 17: Guatemala confirms first case of newborn with microcephaly linked to Zika

Aug. 19: Florida governor says five cases of Zika are believed to have been contracted in Miami Beach, the second area in Miami-Dade county where the virus is spreading.

Aug. 25: CDC adds The Bahamas and the United States to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 57

Aug. 26: FDA recommends that all blood donated in the United States and its territories be tested for Zika virus, starting with 11 states in the first phase; Nicaragua confirms first microcephaly birth linked to Zika

Aug. 27-29: Singapore confirms first case of locally transmitted Zika virus,

which rise to 56 cases two days later

Aug. 30: Confirmed cases in Singapore rise to 82, with some of the latest infections detected beyond the area of initial outbreak. Several countries advise pregnant women or those trying to conceive to avoid traveling to the city-state. Australia, Taiwan, South Korea and the United States issue travel warnings

Aug. 31: CDC adds Singapore and the British Virgin Islands to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing tally to 58 (The CDC groups together Antigua and Barbuda in its updated official count)

Sept. 3: Malaysia detects first case of locally transmitted Zika

Sept. 5: Philippines confirms first case of Zika virus likely to have been transmitted locally

Sept. 6: Florida confirms 56 locally transmitted cases, 577 travel-related infections, and 80 infections involving pregnant women

Sept. 8: Singapore reports 283 cases of locally transmitted Zika virus

Sept. 10: Singapore locally transmitted Zika cases rise to 329

SOURCES: World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Reuters

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Compiled and edited by the Americas Desk)
Editor's note: Fox News anchor Dana Perino talked recently with Wall Street Journal columnist and author Kimberley Strassel about her new book, "The Intimidation Game: How the Left Is Silencing Free Speech" (Twelve, June 21, 2016). To read an excerpt from the book, click here.



1. DANA PERINO: This book gives a shocking depiction of how the Left has been executing a coordinated campaign to bully certain Americans in the form of free speech. Is this something youd been witnessing over your time as a journalist? What drove you to write this book?

KIMBERLEY STRASSEL: I write a weekly column for the Wall Street Journal, and from the moment I began covering the Obama administration I was struck by its bare-knuckle approach to politics.

When President Obama encountered pushback or resistance to his policy proposals, his response was to call out and demean his critics by name, or try to isolate them from the debate. This approach escalated as he was in office, and it helped inspire the IRS targeting scandal, attacks on conservative campaign donors, and assaults on companies that exercised their right to participate in politics.

The government abuse that I detail is not random or sporadic. It is part of what is now a large, well-honed and growing strategy to silence conservative voices.  Kimberley Strassel, author, "The Intimidation Game"

I covered each of these events as separate events, but several years ago I realized that they were tied together. The left as a whole has taken to replicating and expanding on Obama tactics, and what we now see is a broad campaign by government bureaucracies and prosecutors, allied with liberal activist groups, to silence their political opponents.

2. What would you say is the most striking example of the Lefts campaign to censor conservatives?

The most sweeping example is the IRS targeting abuse, since it was aimed at muzzling tens of thousands of Americans during two election cycles. But the ugliest example is what happened in Wisconsin, in with liberal prosecutors launched a secret investigation into 30 conservative groups that had supported Gov. Scott Walkers government reforms during that states recall fight. These prosecutors issued secret subpoenas; they staged predawn raids of private homes; they poured through the email and financial records of their targets. It was done with the intention of sending a message: Play in politics, and you will face potential criminal prosecution, harassment, and steep legal fees. It took a brave American, Eric OKeefe, to break the gag order and bring the abuse into the open, and it took the Wisconsin Supreme Court to finally shut down the probe.

3. You say that campaign finance laws are a restriction on the people; they empower government. This is a hot topic during this years election, and most people are appalled at the amount of money spent on campaigns. But what dont people understand about campaign finance?

In the 2012 election year, U.S. political actors spent about $7 billion to elect candidates. That sounds like a lot, until you realize that Americans spend roughly $7 billion every year on Halloween. Elections happen only every two years, so that means we spend more annually on Supergirl costumes and Milk Duds than we do choosing and electing the people who will run our country. And maybe that helps explain todays frustration with government.

The reality is that money is a proxy for speech. Lets say you, Dana, wanted to run for the presidency. And I said that you could only have $50 to do it. I think we could both agree that youd have a hard time effectively getting your message out to more than 300 million Americans. Once one accepts that money enables speech, then one must accept the converse: that restrictions on money are restrictions on speech.

People today like to worry about special interests. The Founders had a different word for such groups: factions. And they knew that having these diverse and opposed group was a basic aspect of any society. Their answer to the tension was more speech, not less. They wanted to faction against faction to inspire an explosion of debate. Money helps that to happen. And speech restrictions (campaign-finance laws) usually only serve the interest of an entrenched political class, which already has a megaphone and that wants to squelch out any competition that is fueled by campaign dollars.

4. Financial Disclosure is often offered up as a solution to campaign financial concerns. Yet, you write that it discourages political speech. How so?

Disclosure can be a very good thing. But unfortunately our disclosure regime has been turned on its head. It is supposed to be a means by which citizens can know what its government, and the political class, is doing. But anyone who has followed Hillary Clintons server scandal or censored Orlando transcripts knows that government has become expert at hiding information.

Disclosure has instead primarily become a tool by which government and activists can monitor citizens. The left today uses forced finance disclosure as a means of rooting out the names of their political opponents, and then targeting and harassing them. The Intimidation Game has some truly terrible stories of, for instance, what happened to ordinary Californians who donated to support Californias Prop. 8 initiative. Activists put their names and addresses on a searchable, walkable map, and the targets suffered threats, attacks on their property, and loss of livelihood.

Some disclosure is good. But now that many political players are using it as a weapon, we need to broadly rethink our disclosure laws.

5. How did Citizens United spur a wave of liberal harassment against conservative politicians?

Both the elected right and the elected left love speech laws (campaign finance laws) because it allows them to hold down challengers and wall their political opponents out of the debate. But the left in particular had come to rely on laws like McCain-Feingold to keep companies and other free-market voices out of the political arena.

When the Supreme Court issued its Citizens United ruling, and opened the gates for those players to re-enter the field, the left was furious. They claim it is because they worry about big, special interest spending and dark money, but that is nonsense. They happily use big money and dark money themselves! What really bothered them is that they could no longer bar their critics from speaking.

In the days following Citizens United they came up with a new strategy: If they couldnt bar opponents, theyd instead intimidate, harass and scare them out of speech. The Intimidation Game traces the evolution of that strategy, and how it unfolded into attacks on corporations, the IRS debacle, and many other instances of abuse.

6. The Supreme Court just upheld Obamas executive order turning the internet into a public utility, controlled by the government. Is this an example of the politicization by the Obama administration of government agencies including the FCC?

Yes, and just one of many. Id like to think my book is the first real telling of what actually happened at the IRS. And one big theme of that section of the book is that the IRS abuse happened because the Obama administration had politicized that agency. An IRS that viewed itself a neutral enforcer of tax law would have blocked out all the noise that elected Democrats and President Obama himself were making about nonprofits and social-welfare organizations in the 2010 midterm election. An IRS that instead felt itself an extension of the Obama administration would have instead felt compelled to act on those Democratic complaints. And it did, violating the Constitutional rights of hundreds of Tea Party groups.

7. If there is one takeaway you hope the audience gets from your book, what would that be?

I hope they learn that the government abuse that I detail is not random or sporadic. It is part of what is now a large, well-honed and growing strategy to silence conservative voices.

8. What can conservatives do to combat this liberal campaign?

Speak out when they witness such intimidation. If we know anything about bullies, it is that they like to operate in the shadows. They rely on their targets to register the fear, and then go quiet.

One of the inspiring parts of the Intimidation Game is how many of the targets in this book did fight back against the intimidation, and were able to get the intimidators to stand down.

This is a book that tells the tales not just of abuse, but of the free-speech heroes who fight it.
There was a troubling item tucked deep inside the House Republicans Benghazi report on Tuesday. It involves Terry Jones -- the Florida preacher who has an affinity for burning the Koran.

According to the report -- the White House directed Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to call Preacher Jones.

There were also discussions that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton might issue another statement to distance the United States from the Pastor Jones video.

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It was one of several action items involving the Obama administrations efforts to blame the attack on a YouTube video that mocked Islam.

Its not exactly clear why they were reaching out to Preacher Jones  because he had nothing to do with the YouTube video. And the report does not indicate whether they actually followed through with the telephone calls.

Nevertheless, why were the Pentagon and the State Department so fixated on Preacher Jones instead of dispatching troops to rescue our people in Benghazi?

If I didnt know better, Id say they were trying to find a fall guy  someone to blame other than the true culprits  Islamic radicals.

It was not the first time the Obama administration tried to strong-arm Preacher Jones.

The Washington Post reported that former Defense Secretary Robert Gates called the minister in 2010 to complain about a Koran burning event. Gates said the preacher was putting military lives in jeopardy.

A Defense Department spokesperson described the conversation to NPR:

"Secretary Gates reached out to Pastor Jones this afternoon. They had a very brief phone conversation during which the Secretary expressed his grave concern that going forward with the Quran burning would put at risk the lives of our forces around the world, especially those in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he urged the Pastor not to proceed with it."

Folks, I believe a very dangerous line separating church and state has been breached. The government has no authority to involve itself in the business of a church.

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Is burning a Koran despicable? Absolutely. But so is burning the American flag. And both are protected forms of free speech.

Did the Secretary of Defense call Black Lives Matter and tell them to stop burning the American flag?

Did anti-Christian artists get a phone call from the White House-- urging them not to submerge a crucifix in a jar of urine?

Now some of you might say Preacher Jones deserved to get that phone call. He deserved to be intimidated by government officials. Perhaps. But where does it stop? Where do you draw the line?

Because one day it might be your pastor who gets a phone call -- maybe from the attorney general -- telling him to stop preaching sermons about traditional marriage -- telling him those kinds of sermons put people in harm's way.

Where does it stop, folks? Where does it stop?
Howard Baker, then a senator from Tennessee, captured the essence of the Watergate scandal that took down the presidency of Richard M. Nixon in these simple words: It is almost always the cover-up rather than the event that causes trouble.

Nixon resigned 42 years ago, but Bakers words have lived on in Washington, because the impulse to conceal a misdeed is shared by politicians of every persuasion, including Hillary Clinton, who is now running for the office Nixon vacated.

One irony has not been missed: In her first major job out of law school, Hillary Clinton joined the special committee, of which Baker was ranking minority member, investigating Nixon. And more irony: Bill Clinton, who turned that job down, would eventually become president and be impeached himself.

So universal among the powerful is this instinct to conceal a misdeed that there is a taxonomy of the process: the initial responses to an allegation, the withholding or tampering with evidence, the delayed response, the intimidation of whispers, and the damage control.

The current investigation into Hillary Clintons use of a private email server while secretary of state reminds us of a truism in these matters: Politicians never seem to learn. We can look at her current troubles through the lens of Watergate to understand what to expect with any politician stepping over the line:

1. Listen to their language. The Watergate is a hotel in Washington where Nixon operatives broke in to steal campaign information from the Democratic Party. Nixons people subsequently described that act as a third-rate burglary. In the same manner, Clinton has described the FBI investigation of her email escapades as a security review. FBI Director James Comey scoffed at that description.

2. Remedies are available. Chief among these is the Freedom of Information Act, which became law in 1966, but it was only after Watergate, in 1974, that Congress gave the law some teeth. The organization I head, Judicial Watch, uses this law all the time to peel back the onion on government secrecy. We have filed nearly 4,000 FOIA requests in the past ten years. Regarding Clintons emails, to date, we have filed 50 requests and have 18 lawsuits that are currently active because our requests were rebuffed.

Judges take a keen interest in how this law is working. For example, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan granted us discovery into Clintons email system. The order allows us to take testimony from former top Clinton State Department aides Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin and Bryan Pagliano. The court also notes that based on information learned during discovery, the deposition of Mrs. Clinton may be necessary.

A second federal judge also granted us limited discovery into the Clinton email matter. U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that where there is evidence of government wrong-doing and bad faith, as here, limited discovery is appropriate, even though it is exceedingly rare in FOIA cases.

3. The truth slowly comes to light. Another thing Howard Baker said  and these words, too, have become part of the Washington lexicon  was a question: What did the president know, and when did he know it? In my experience, getting these answers is not quick or easy. It has taken us several years to begin to understand Hillary Clintons emails. It is remarkable that Judicial Watch, a nonprofit educational foundation, is the national leader in uncovering key information about the conduct of the nations most significant public figure.

4. The deceit is often institutional. We have had to contend not just with Hillary Clinton and her lieutenants, but with a reluctant State Department, as well. This is not surprising. When the FOIA law was first being discussed, every federal agency opposed it. Bureaucrats serve their own interests first.

5. Politicians will stop at nothing. In Nixons time there was no such thing as email to track a persons thoughts and actions, but during Watergate we learned that he used something else: tape recordings of conversations in the Oval Office. As his deception unraveled, we learned that 18  minutes of the tapes has been erased. And, sure enough, the State Department has just announced that it cant find significant emails of Bryan Pagliano, Clintons IT person. He set up her private email server in her home.

John Dean, a key Nixon lieutenant during Watergate, recently said he didnt think those missing 18  minutes would have been particularly interesting. Nevertheless, the gap remains a strong symbol of Watergate. And, as if on cue, whether Paglianos emails are innocent or not, their disappearance cries out: It is almost always the cover-up rather than the event that causes trouble.
What does Turkeys destructive president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have in common with the Saudis, Pakistanis, Iraqs Sunnis and the conservatives of Germanys Weimar Republic? They all thought that they could exploit and control fanatics. One might as well try to befriend poisonous snakes.

To his credit, Erdogan initially facilitated the growth of Turkeys economy. To his discredit, he has all but destroyed Turkeys democracy, reignited the Kurdish conflict for his own political advantage, suppressed the media, imprisoned opponents on ludicrous charges or concocted evidence, and dismantled the modernizing constitution that was the primary legacy of one of the great men of the 20th Century, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

And he thrust Islamization upon a country that had been a model of tolerance in the Muslim world.

Erdogans version of Islam follows the pattern of the Muslim Brotherhood: subversive, but rarely engaging in deadly violence. It has, in the past, exploited the ballot, rather than relying on the bullet. In Turkey, that meant radicalizing the inherently conservative rural population and the country folk transplanted to the sprawling improvised settlements around Turkeys major cities.

For Erdogan, this terror waves a political blow. For Turkey, its a profound tragedy. The slaughter at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul may only have been the start.

But Erdogan (like Mohammed Morsi in Egypt) grew impatient. He began pushing hard for ever more Islamization and a potent mix of faith and xenophobia. Turkey became, if not a police state, a state where behavior increasingly is policed.

And he indulged in a personal vendetta that led to Tuesday's attack on Istanbuls airport. Erdogan detests Bashir al Assad, Syrias dictator and a minority Alawitewhose father had crushed the Muslim Brotherhood. Misjudging the staying power of the Assad regime, Erdogan backed various radical Islamist groups that flocked to Syria to wage jihad. He imagined, as so many have before him, that he could master and manipulate fanaticsand then dispense with them, once their utility had expired.

And he armed them. He protected them. He let foreign fighters pass through Turkey to join the jihad. He lied to Western allies and sought to revive his battered vision of a new Ottoman Empire.

Instead, the region became embroiled in war. The terrorists and insurgents did not act in Turkeys interests. They didnt take orders. And when Erdogan moved against themmeagerlyto protect Turkeys interests, they turned on him.

Terror attacks expanded on Turkish soil. Some can be credited to extreme Kurdish nationalists, but most (and the worst) are staged by ISIS and its affiliates. The assassination of Syrian activists within Turkey morphed into direct attacks on Turks.

Turkey became the target of jihad. Thats ironic, to put it mildly, since Istanbul, long known as Constantinople, fell to the Muslim Ottomans in the course of jihadi warfare in 1453.

Erdogans Islam, although stern, was not extreme enough to appease the jihadi Aztecs of our age, men intoxicated by massive blood sacrifices to their corrupted vision of a god.

For Erdogan, this terror waves a political blow. For Turkey, its a profound tragedy. The slaughter at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul may only have been the start.

Turkey matters to a degree that few Westerners appreciate. Its always been the land-bridge and invasion route for armies and ideas, the place where cultures collided and empires rose and fell. Walking the alleys of Istanbul, you literally trip over history. And its strategic position is as important now as it was 2,500 years ago, when Persian armies marched across it to Greece.

Anatolia, Turkeys heartland, also was a refuge for Muslims renewing their faith in humane forms, notably the Sufi mystics, poets and theologians (some of whose visions of the divine resemble those of Protestant mystics from northern Europe). The Ottoman Empire saw its share of intolerance, jihad and massacre over the centuries, but it also was a land of civilization compared to the barbarism that ultimately encompassed the Arab world. Turkey was never a land fully robbed of hope. Arabs wallowed, Turks strived.

Now a new threat faces the Turkish people, unleashed naively by a president whose ambition has an increasingly high price. And although the deaths from terror attacks dominate the headlines, the greater blow will be to Turkeys economythe one sphere in which Erdogan could claim impressive progress.

ISIS and other Salafist terror groups have recognized that the softest of soft targets and the one that has the most immediate effect on economies is the tourist industry. Even Paris proved vulnerable. But as weve seen in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan and now Turkey, terror strikes that are dirt cheap for the fanatics (three foot soldiers, basic weapons, suicide vests and cab fare in Istanbul) devastate tourism and the local economies.

And efforts to protect tourists rob tourism of its pleasure. No one wants to lie on the beach under armed guard or stand in endless (vulnerable) security lines. Its easier to go elsewhere.

Turkeys tourism industry already had taken a body blow because of Erdogans macho feud with Russias Vladimir Putin. Now its threatened with outright collapse.

Oh, and for the fanatics, attacking tourism also cleanses the realms of Islam of infidels. Its a twofer.

This matters to me personally. I have great affection for Turkey and admire the strength and stoicism of the Turkish character, as well as the Turks often-remarkable kindness to visitors. Ive known the country since 1979. Later, my wife and I honeymooned there (going by bus all the way to the Iranian border). I find Istanbul the most fascinating city in the world. Despite my political disagreements on some sensitive issues, I wish the Turkish people well.

I also wish them a better leader. But Erdogan will only dig in. Dictators always do. In the meantime, he has rendered his country vulnerable to savages who delight in killing the innocents. Predictably, the snakes turned.
Long-time Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin said under oath Tuesday that Clinton as secretary of state didnt want emails sent and received on her private computer server to be accessible to "anybody, and suggested the unusual communication setup created problems --including a potential hacking incident and missing at least one important message.

Her deposition to lawyers for the conservative group Judicial Watch provided new insights into the highly unusual decision by Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to have a private email server in her basement for private and official department communications.

Abedin is one of several former State Department officials who are being deposed by the group in a civil lawsuit over the agency's failure to turn over files under the Freedom of Information Act.

A transcript of the proceeding was released by Judicial Watch on Wednesday.

"Judicial Watch represents everything that is wrong with our political system," Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said after the release. "Manufacturing wrongdoing has been central to their singular agenda since their inception. Worse, they do this by clogging up the courts at the expense of tens of millions of tax-payer dollars. ... They are only interested in headlines and have made a complete mockery of our system. And if you want proof, just look at this latest round of leaks that are contradicted by their own transcripts. It's truly disgraceful."



Abedin also said Wednesday the she didnt know whether Clinton personally deleted any emails during her tenure as secretary.

Abedin, now working on the Clinton campaign, told lawyers in the nearly 6-hour-long deposition that she could not recall whether she or Clinton discussed with any State Department officials Clinton's use of her server exclusively for government business.

Abedin said she and Clinton used a private email accounts -- HDR22@Clintonemail.com and Huma@Clintonemail.com -- for government business, in part when the State Department server was down.

"I assumed it was OK to do," she said. I didn't really think about the server until all the press reports in the last year-and-a-half came out.

Judicial Watch lawyers repeatedly pressed Abedin to explain Clinton's concern expressed to her in a November 2010 message that her emails might become public, but the longtime aide insisted that Clinton's interest in wanting to keep her correspondence from being exposed was similar to any private citizen's.

"I would imagine anybody who has personal email doesn't want that personal email to be read by anybody else," Abedin explained. "I read it the same way as she has written it."

Clinton's emails contained tens of thousands of work-related emails as well as private messages, and she turned over nearly 33,000 business-related messages while retaining and deleting about the same number of messages. Among the emails she did not turn over was a November 2010 email discussing her concerns about the risk of the personal being accessible."

The deposition also raised questions about the State Department's practices responding to government records requests under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

Abedin said she never searched or was asked to search for documents in her State Department or her private Clinton email accounts in response to requests or lawsuits under the open records law.

But a review of all requests to the State Department during that period found several asking specifically for copies of Abedin's emails on a variety of subjects, including her husband, one-time disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner.

It was not immediately clear how the State Department could have complied with such legal requests for Abedin's emails without asking Abedin to search her messages.

Some federal agencies permit full-time FOIA staffers to search the inboxes of senior government officials, but many agencies expect officials to search their own accounts and no U.S. employee presumably would have had access to Abedin's personal account on Clinton's private server. Abedin said she was not aware that anyone else searched her accounts, either.

Abedin acknowledged to the lawyers an incident in which she stopped getting emails on her @Clintonemail account so she called agency IT employee Justin Cooper who said he suspected somebody was trying to hack us.

She also acknowledged then sending messages that read: Don't e-mail HRC anything sensitive, and I can explain more in person."

Abedin told the lawyers: Honestly, I wish I thought about it at the time. As I said, I wasn't perfect. I tried to do all of my work on (my) State.gov. (email). And I do believe I did the majority of my work on State.gov.

Abedin also said that Clintons use of private email for government business got in the way of her work at least once.

Abedin said she and Clinton were frustrated by one particular incident, in 2010, in which a missed email resulted in the secretary missing a phone call with a foreign minister.

In a blistering audit released last month, the State Department's inspector general concluded Clinton and her team ignored clear internal guidance that her email setup violated federal records-keeping standards and could have left sensitive material vulnerable to hackers.

The audit also cited a then-unreleased copy of a November 2010 email Clinton sent Abedin in which the secretary discussed using a government email account, expressing concern that she didn't want "any risk of the personal being accessible."

The Judicial Watch deposition comes after the same group brought in Clinton IT specialist Bryan Pagliano -- who invoked the Fifth more than 125 times during a 90-minute, closed-door session.

Unlike Pagliano, Abedin answered questions. They were deposed as part of Judicial Watch's lawsuit seeking Clinton emails and other records.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In the thick of mosquito season, Congress is about to start its holiday break with no deal on money to combat the Zika virus -- and no signs that a compromise is looming in the five-month debate.

Senate Democrats on Tuesday shot down a House-passed bill that would have provided $1.1 billion to fight the mosquito-borne virus, citing opposition to the measure's changes in pesticide regulations and restrictions on money for birth control.

Our friends on the other side are stopping the Zika funding bill, which we all agreed  needed to be done by July 1, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. It's inexplicable and unacceptable to not be able on a bipartisan basis to address this important public health care crisis.

Congress is going home this week for the Fourth of July holiday, but has a seven-week summer recess scheduled to begin later next month. The Kentucky Republican suggested that, barring a sudden deal, there may be no vote until the upper chamber returns in September. He said he wants Democrats to go home and explain on what conceivable basis this public health  emergency now shouldn't be passed.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican, warned: "There's not going to be another opportunity to deal with this in the near future."

The virus is spread mainly by a tropical mosquito and is causing an epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean.

There are no known cases of Zika having been contracted within the 50 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, there are 819 cases inside the United States as a result of foreign travel. And Florida officials on Tuesday confirmed the first case of a Zika-related microcephaly birth, to a Haitian national infected in her home country, with the virus expected to spread in the U.S. this summer.

Democrats pointed the finger back at Republicans.

The Republicans say they want to protect women and fathers from the threat of Zika, but instead use it as an opportunity to push partisan poison pills, said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, referring to the pesticide and birth-control provisions. It's past time to address this crisis. We've been trying for more than four months.

The Nevada lawmaker, like other Senate Democrats, pressed for negotiations to resume and bemoaned that both parties agreed in May to a $1.1 billion Zika bill, only for House Speaker Paul Ryan to make changes. Reid argues those changes appeased the chambers conservative conference, but resulted in an unacceptable piece of legislation.

Reid suggested Republicans might cave as the number of new cases increases to 100 a day and the CDC reveals the extent of the birth defects.

Give it just a week or so, he said.

Reid also took the time Tuesday to rail against Republicans for failing to act on a host of pressing issues including opium addiction and for refusing to hold votes on President Obamas Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland.

On Wednesday, the Senate did act on one crisis, giving preliminary approval to a plan to save debt-stricken Puerto Rico from defaulting this week on a $2 billion debt payment, with final passage expected Thursday.

However, following the terror massacre inside an Orlando, Fla., nightclub, the Senate was unable to strike a compromise on dueling gun control measures, sparking additional finger-pointing and outcry from Americans about an ineffectual Congress.

On the Zika issue, Obama requested $1.9 billion back in February. But the Republicans controlling Congress instead forced the administration to redirect more than $500 million in unspent Ebola-fighting funds to combat Zika.

The failed House-Senate measure matched the $1.1 billion proposal passed last month by the Senate except for the added provisions and the attachment of companion spending cuts to defray its cost.

Democrats particularly opposed a provision that restricts the use of $95 million worth of federal grants to provide services such as birth control to women in Puerto Rico threatened by the virus. Democrats charged that the restrictions were targeted at clinic on the island run by Planned Parenthood, a group loathed by many anti-abortion Republicans.

In addition to the limits on Planned Parenthood, the bill would temporarily lift Clean Water Act permitting requirements on pesticide spraying for municipalities and other large-scale users.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Secretary of State John Kerry faced swift criticism Wednesday for suggesting the terror attack at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport was evidence the Islamic State is getting desperate  an assessment one top Republican official said defies reality.

Kerry made the remarks late Tuesday at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, referring to ISIS by the name Daesh.

Crediting coalition efforts, Kerry said its been over a year since the group launched a full-scale military offensive.

"Now, yes, you can bomb an airport, you can blow yourself up. That's the tragedy. Daesh and others like it know that we have to get it right 24/7/365. They have to get it right for ten minutes or one hour. So it's a very different scale, Kerry said. "And if you're desperate and if you know youre losing, and you know you want to give up your life, then obviously you can do some harm.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, slammed the secretarys assessment.

Theyve said theyre on the run for many years, and theyre not, McCaul told Fox News Wednesday morning. I think the airstrikes have ramped up external operations  This is an unprecedented pace of terror in modern times. And so to say theyre on the run  absolutely defies reality.

Underscoring Kerrys questionable characterization was news Wednesday that Islamic State militants were pushing back U.S.-trained Syrian rebels in a battle for control of a town on the Iraqi border.

Also on Wednesday, President Obama spoke by phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to express his condolences on behalf of the American people and to reaffirm the solidarity of the United States with Turkey following the terrorist attack, the White House said.

While no terror group has claimed responsibility for the Istanbul attack, Turkish officials told The Associated Press and Reuters that ISIS was the prime suspect. The attack killed at least 43 and injured hundreds, with the body county expected to keep rising. The attack at one of the world's busiest airports was committed by three suicide bombers who opened fire with AK-47s before blowing themselves up.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told Fox News these attacks  along with those in Paris, Brussels and, most recently, Orlando, Fla.  are following their plan.

This isnt accidental, he said, adding somethings wrong with the secretary of states analysis.

Officials inside the Obama administration have given a conflicting picture of ISIS strength.

Whats clear is that the group is under pressure from coalition forces in its central territory of Iraq and Syria, even as it pushes back. The Iraqi government declared victory over the weekend in driving ISIS out of the Iraqi city of Fallujah, and the Pentagon confirmed that Iraqi security forces are in 100 percent control of the city -- while also saying ISIS has not had a strategic victory in over a year.

The disconnect comes when administration officials discuss ISIS operations and strength outside Iraq and Syria.

Earlier this month, CIA Director John Brennan testified on Capitol Hill that despite progress against ISIS on the battlefield, our efforts have not reduced the group's terrorism capability and global reach.

He described the group as resilient and said they will wage their terror campaign globally in response.

The group's foreign branches and global networks can help preserve its capacity for terrorism regardless of events in Iraq and Syria, Brennan said. In fact, as the pressure mounts on ISIL, we judge that it will intensify its global terror campaign to maintain its dominance of the global terrorism agenda.

The chilling warning came after Obama said the anti-ISIS campaign is firing on all cylinders and the group is under more pressure than ever before.
The Democratic Party's draft platform calls for the Justice Department to join several state prosecutors in investigating whether fossil fuel companies misled the public on global warming -- marking an escalation in a controversial campaign that critics liken to censorship.

As first reported by Inside Climate News, the committee drafting the party platform inserted the measure last Friday.

The measure called on the Department of Justice to investigate alleged corporate fraud on the part of fossil fuel companies who have reportedly misled shareholders and the public on the scientific reality of climate change," according to the committee website.

The proposal is the latest shot fired in a broader battle being waged by environmental groups and their allies in government against oil companies and others.

Oil giant ExxonMobil is the target of several investigations being led by state attorneys general. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman subpoenaed Exxons financial records and emails last year, and has indicated ExxonMobil is not the only energy company in his offices crosshairs. Other state AGs -- including those in Massachusetts and California -- have launched different probes against the company, seeking to replicate the success of the federal governments 1999 case against Big Tobacco.

The U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker, an independent, also issued a subpoena in March seeking 40 years' worth of Exxon communications with 90 conservative groups and any other organizations engaged in research or advocacy concerning Climate Change or policies.

One of the groups targeted as part of Walker's probe was the libertarian think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute, which told FoxNews.com it would be a blow to the First Amendment if the Democratic Party endorses such an investigation as part of their platform.

I think it doesnt bode well for the future of free speech, Sam Kazman, CEIs general counsel, told FoxNews.com. Its one thing where you have some individuals in power who think theyre going to be government censors and start shutting down a debate. But when it becomes an actual platform of a major political party, we go from individual wrongdoing to mass delusion that justice is being done.

Walker issued a subpoena in April against CEI that demanded 10 years of its communications, but has since withdrawn it. CEI is seeking sanctions against Walker, noting that the broader subpoena against Exxon still exists, and the subpoena against CEI could be re-issued at any time.

Environmental groups expressed delight at the proposal by the Democratic platform committee. In a statement to The Hill, RL Miller, the cofounder of the green group Climate Hawks Vote, said she was thrilled by the fossil fuel investigation plank and happy with the renewable energy goal.

However, Miller said she was appalled by the incrementalist approach to other environmental issues adopted by the committee, which brushed off calls for a carbon tax and ban on fracking.

Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have called for probes into Exxon over whether they misled the public on climate change. However, any such probe would likely face significant Republican resistance on the Hill.

Five Republican senators wrote to Attorney General Loretta Lynch in May demanding the Department of Justice cease its "ongoing use of law enforcement resources to stifle private debate on one of the most controversial public issues of our time - climate change." Lynch has said she has received information about the accusations against Exxon, and that the DOJ has passed it on to the FBI.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, author of the letter, recently told Fox News: "I sent the letter because the attorney general of the United States should not be threatening criminal investigation with respect to someone who chooses to simply exercise their First Amendment rights."

Kazman told FoxNews.com that adopting the probe as a national platform could not only damage the industry but hurt consumers.

If you demonize a commodity that everyone uses in daily life, the result is a huge increase in taxes on that commodity. Youre persuading people that its a sin product, which is followed by sin taxes, Kazman said, warning that such a crackdown could potentially lead to higher electric bills and even rolling blackouts.

Consumers will get the raw end of the stick here, he said.

FoxNews.coms Adam Shaw and Fox News Doug McKelway contributed to this report.
Donald Trump has had a few rocky weeks on the campaign trail, and it shows in the latest Fox News Poll. Just over half of Republicans would rather have someone besides Trump as their nominee, and his support in the presidential ballot test has dropped seven points since May.

Democrat Hillary Clinton is up 44-38 percent over Trump in a head-to-head matchup. Earlier this month, Clinton had a three-point edge (42-39 percent). In May, Trump was up by three (45-42 percent). Clintons current lead is just inside the polls margin of sampling error.

The national poll, released Wednesday, finds she has a similar advantage when voters are asked about confidence in the candidates to make the right decisions for the country if they were president: 48 percent are at least somewhat confident Clinton would. Its 42 percent for Trump.

In the matchup, Clinton is the choice among blacks (87-3 percent), women (51-32 percent), voters under age 45 (45-35 percent), and those earning less than $50,000 annually (52-30 percent).

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL POLL RESULTS

Trump leads among white evangelical Christians (66-18 percent), whites without a college degree (51-33 percent), gun owners (52-30 percent), whites (48-34 percent), men (46-36 percent), and independents (39-31 percent).

Since May, Trump has lost ground with Republicans (-8 points), whites without degrees (-10 points), and men (-9 points).

The race is almost even among just those extremely or very interested in the election (45 Clinton to 43 Trump). This group went for Trump by four points in early June (45-41 percent).

Party unity is a trouble spot for Trump. Just 74 percent of Republicans back him over Clinton, down from 82 percent in May. For comparison, Mitt Romney lost despite garnering 93 percent support among Republicans in 2012. In addition, just over half of Republicans would prefer a different nominee (51 percent someone else vs. 48 percent Trump). And while most GOP voters describe Trump as intelligent, more than 7-in-10 feel hes hot-headed and obnoxious. More on that later.

Eighty-three percent of Democrats support Clinton in the ballot test. Thats better than Trump does among Republicans, yet worse than the 92 percent backing President Obama received in 2012. By a 21-point margin, Democrats want Clinton (58 percent) as their partys nominee over Bernie Sanders (37 percent).

Some 66 percent of Democrats who preferred Sanders are backing Clinton over Trump. By comparison, only 52 percent of Republicans who want someone else to lead their party support Trump over Clinton.

Twenty-four percent of Republicans lack confidence that Trump would make the right decisions for the country. Fourteen percent of Democrats feel that way about Clinton.

"The results here aren't disastrous for Trump given the troubles he's encountered the past few weeks, says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll along with Democratic pollster Chris Anderson. He's within striking distance. But he absolutely must combat the growing perception that he is temperamentally unsuited and intellectually unprepared to be president."

What words best describe the candidates? There are a couple things voters generally agree on, and thats both Clinton and Trump are patriotic -- and lack honesty.

Clinton outperforms Trump by the widest margin on experienced, as 77 percent say that describes her, while just 34 percent feel the same of Trump.

Far more see Clinton (82 percent) than Trump (66 percent) as intelligent, and sensible (54 percent Clinton vs. 35 percent Trump).

About six-in-ten think patriotic fits each.

Clinton is still dogged by low honesty numbers, as a record low 30 percent think shes honest and trustworthy, and 58 percent describe her as corrupt.

Trump doesnt have much to brag about here either: just 34 percent describe him as honest and trustworthy and 45 percent say corrupt fits.

Most voters feel Trump is hot-headed (89 percent) and obnoxious (83 percent), while far fewer say those apply to Clinton (35 percent hot-headed and 45 percent obnoxious).

Less than half say the phrase cares about people like me describes Clinton (45 percent) and only about one third say it fits Trump (35 percent).

While our polling shows a clear positive trend for Clinton, her six-point lead is notably small considering voters almost universally think Trump is hot-headed and obnoxious, and most think hes inexperienced, says Anderson.

This race is nowhere close to breaking open, despite some huge perceived deficiencies in Trumps character.

Pollpourri

Libertarian Gary Johnson captures 10 percent in a hypothetical three-way vote. That causes both Clinton and Trump to lose ground, although for the most part she maintains her edge (41-36 percent). Another 14 percent is up for grabs.

Fully 92 percent of those backing Clinton in the two-way race also back her in the three-way matchup. For Trump, 89 percent stick with him.

The contest for the Congress looks similar to the presidential race. When voters are asked to choose between the Democratic and Republican candidates in their district, Democrats are up by five points, 46-41 percent.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,017 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from June 26-28, 2016. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.
Secretary of State John Kerry said late Tuesday that Islamic State is targeting airports because theyre desperate.

While no terror group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport that left 41 people dead and 239 others injured, a senior Turkish official told the Associated Press that initial indications suggested ISIS were behind the attack. According to Reuters, a police source also told the Dogan News Agency, "ISIS is behind the attack."

Kerry was speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, according to CBS News. He referred to the Islamic State terror group as Daesh and said that the groups recent attacks on airports are signs their power is weakening.

"It has been more than one year since Daesh has actually launched a full scale military offensive, and that's because our coalition is moving relentlessly on every front," Kerry said. "Now, yes, you can bomb an airport, you can blow yourself up. That's the tragedy. Daesh and others like it know that we have to get it right 24/7/365. They have to get it right for ten minutes or one hour, so it's a very different scale.

"And if you're desperate and if you know you are losing, and you know you want to give up your life, then obviously you can do some harm, Kerry added.

Kerry said officials are still trying to determine who committed the atrocity in Istanbul and wouldnt comment further on the attack.

The attack occurred one day before the two-year anniversary of ISIS declaring a caliphate across large swathes of Iraq and Syria, led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks and the Brussels airport and subway bombings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from CBS News.
President Obama pushed back Wednesday on Donald Trumps calls to overhaul or abandon international trade agreements, saying at a summit in Canada that any move to pull up the draw bridge would be bad for the country.

Without referencing Trump by name, the president was responding in part to the presumptive Republican presidential nominees anti-globalization rhetoric this week.

Obama said that while ordinary people have a legitimate gripe about globalization, he has concerns about rising protectionism from the left and the right.

Thats the wrong medicine, Obama said of prescriptions to withdraw from trade deals. Thats going to make all of us poor.

Obama was speaking at an Ottawa press conference alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, in between talks among the three leaders.

Trade, the environment and fallout from Britain's decision to leave the European Union had been expected to top the agenda.

The summit followed a blistering speech a day earlier from Trump in which he threatened to exit the more than two-decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement and vowed to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations that has yet to take effect.

"This wave of globalization has wiped out totally, totally our middle class," Trump said, standing in front of pallets of recycled aluminum cans on a Pennsylvania factory floor. "It doesn't have to be this way. We can turn it around, and we can turn it around fast."

Obama also planned to address the Canadian Parliament -- the ninth American leader to do so and the first since Bill Clinton in 1995.

As for the so-called Brexit vote nearly one week ago, Obama on Wednesday downplayed the short-term impact.

He said the U.S. is watching for signs of financial strain but predicted the global economy would hold steady in the short-run. Obama said there are genuine longer-term concerns about global growth if in fact Brexit goes through.

The president called for an orderly process, saying: It does not need to be a panicky process.

Trudeau and Pena Nieto, meanwhile, announced measures to reduce barriers during the Mexican leader's state visit to Canada before the summit.

Trudeau said Canada will lift visa requirements for Mexican visitors as of December 2016. Pena Nieto agreed to open Mexican markets to Canada beefs.

The leaders also announced a pledge to rely on more renewable energy sources to generate North America's electrical power.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The U.S. Consulate is working to see whether any Americans were among the victims in Tuesdays attack at an Istanbul Airport, a State Department spokesman told Fox News.

The spokesman said the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul has urged Americans to avoid the area around the Istanbul Ataturk Airport. Americans are also urged to avoid any potential police action around the city and keep tabs on local media for updates about the situation.

Tuesdays attack at the airport left 42 people dead and 238 injured. Three Islamic State suicide bombers are suspected of committing the attacks. However, there was no immediate claim of responsibility from any group.

The State Department spokesman said the situation is still fluid and more information will be released when they have it.

Americans in Turkey are also urged to contact family members immediately.

Americans injured in the attack should contact local emergency personnel at 112 (ambulance) or 155 (police). U.S. citizens who are in need of emergency consular assistance should call the U.S. Consulate General Istanbul at (90) 212-335 90 00 or email at TurkeyEmergencyUSC@state.gov, the State Department spokesman said.

Anone calling from outside of Turkey about a loved one who is in Turkey and in need of some help are urged to contact the Office of Overseas Citizens Services by email at TurkeyEmergencyUSC@state.govor by phone at 1-888-407-4747 or 202-501-4444

All Chief of Mission personnel have been accounted for. We are making every effort to account for the welfare of U.S. citizens in the city, the spokesman said.

Fox News Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report.
At least 20 pages of an instructional book for a real estate seminar licensed by Donald Trump were largely plagiarized from a manual published a decade earlier, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The 2006 Trump Institute instructional book contained material from a book in a set titled Real Estate Mastery System, published in 1995 by Success magazine. The plagiarized pages were discovered by the Democratic Super PAC American Bridge, The Times reported.

Trump Institute operators rented out hotel ballrooms across the country, promising students they would hear Trump's wealth-creating secrets and strategies." Trump Institute was distinct from Trump University, which was a distance-learning business centered on making money in real estate.

The editor of the Trump Institute publication, Susan G. Parker, denied responsibility when contacted by the New York Times, and said a lawyer for Irene and Mike Milin, who were part owners of Trump Institute, provided her with background material for the book.

The lawyer, Peter Hoppenfeld, who no longer represents the Milins, told The Times that Parker was likely at fault, but acknowledged forwarding her information from the Milins office.

Alan Garten, Trumps in-house counsel, told The Times that he was obviously not aware of the plagiarism, and called Trump's link to Trump Institute a "short-term licensing deal."

I stand by the curriculum that was taught at both Trump University and Trump Institute, he told The Times.

Click for more from The New York Times.
Venomous lionfish are striking to look at, with bold stripes and flowing, sail-like fins. However, scientists are paying especially close attention to the fish not for their beauty, but for their ability to invade ecosystems where they have no natural predators. The fish also tend to multiply in numbers that upset the balance of native biodiversity.

A new study shows that the first wave of a lionfish invasion has struck in the Mediterranean Sea, a region where these fish had not been established before.

Researchers gathered reports of lionfish sightings from fishermen and divers, discovering that in just one year, lionfish have colonized nearly all of Cyprus' southeastern coast, and that the animals' numbers are expected to grow. [Alien Invaders: Destructive Invasive Species]

"A reason to worry"

As ocean temperatures warm, numerous non-native fish have invaded Mediterranean waters  about 130 species since 2001, according to the study authors. The common lionfish (Pterois miles) recently detected in the Mediterranean is a close relative of the red lionfish (Pterois volitans). This notorious invasive species threatens reef ecosystems in coastal waters around the southeastern U.S. and in the Caribbean Sea.

According to study lead author Demetris Kletou, director of the Marine and Environmental Research Lab in Cypress, lionfish were first spotted in the Mediterranean in the 1990s. But sightings were few and far between, and there was no evidence suggesting that the animals were breeding successfully in the area, Kletou told Live Science in an email. In fact, it was suspected that the Mediterranean might not be a suitable habitat for dispersing lionfish larvae, the researchers reported in the study.

But recent observations suggest otherwise. Kletou and his colleagues compiled 24 new sightings of at least 19 individual fish, including mating pairs, which were seen in Mediterranean waters for the first time. That may not sound like much of an invasion, but lionfish can spawn every four days year-round, and can produce more than 2 million eggs per year. And with venomous spines to protect them, these opportunistic predators can quickly come to dominate a reef environment.

"When sightings become frequent and expand geographically, and when lionfish form reproductive groups, then it is a reason to worry," Kletou told Live Science.

Sea-surface warming may be allowing the lionfish to expand their range, the researchers suggested. But recent work to expand the Suez Canal could also be playing a part, Kletou said. A wider and deeper canal increases the volume of flowing water that could carry lionfish larvae or swimming adults into the Mediterranean, Kletou explained. It would also affect the salinity of natural buffers like salt marshes, which can help keep invasive species out.

Related invaders

The runaway success of lionfish populations in waters around Florida could provide a glimpse into the future of Mediterranean habitats.

Lionfish were first detected in Florida waters during the 1980s and were recognized as an established invasive species in the 2000s, according to Amanda Nalley, a public information specialist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). The full extent of the species' impact on local ecosystems has yet to be determined, Nalley told Live Science. But, by preying on a variety of reef fish species, lionfish are reducing the number of fish that clean algae off coral reefs, she said. [Image Gallery: Catalogue of Strange Sea Creatures]

"If they're eating the fish that keep algae in check, that's going to be bad for the habitat," Nalley said.

She added that lionfish are proving to be highly adaptable, thriving in a range of water temperatures, depths and salinity levels. And unlike other successful invaders, like tiger shrimp, lionfish have no natural predators to keep populations under control. This has prompted the FWC to create initiatives and opportunities for divers, anglers and commercial harvesters to remove lionfish as part of seasonal competitions and year-round events. The initiatives urge participants to collect "as many as possible," Nalley said.

Increasing awareness

In the Mediterranean, the lionfish invasion is just getting started. But without oversight, Kletou warned, it could quickly escalate, with the fish expanding their presence, as other species have done, to become "another invasive failure story."

One such "failure" in the Mediterranean involves the pufferfish, also an invasive species. According to Kletou, pufferfish have disrupted food chains, replaced or over-predated native species and threatened local biodiversity.

Lionfish could also harm unsuspecting divers, Kletou said. Grabbing or accidentally touching one of the fish can result in painful stings from the animal's venomous spines.

However, lionfish are slow-moving and easy to collect  with proper precautions and equipment. The same local divers and fishermen who first noticed the lionfish could also provide a first line of defense against these invaders, Kletou told Live Science. Especially since lionfish are edible  once the venomous spines are removed.

"And they're quite tasty as well," he added.

The findings will be published online June 28 in the journal Marine Biodiversity Records.

Original article on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A tunnel in Lithuania that allowed Jewish prisoners to escape to freedom has been discovered at an infamous location called Ponar, decades after they used it to flee the Nazis one night in April 1944. The escapees were part of a group tasked with the horrific job of burning bodies to cover up the Nazis crimes.

The group was known as the burning brigade 80 prisoners from the Stutthof concentration camp who were forced to burn the thousands upon thousands of Nazi victims murdered near Vilnius, Lithuania. That gruesome task involved taking the bodies out of pits so they could be cremated.

We had pokers that we had to stick into the bodies, to pull them up, one survivor recounted in a video published by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust remembrance center in Israel. We put them on stretchers, head to head, feet to feet. The crematorium held about 3000 bodies, and wed light it up. It was horrific.

But one night a group of 40 attempted an escape through a tunnel they had slowly dug from the pit where they were being held, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. The guards were alerted, however, and shot many of the prisoners. A dozen escaped.

And now, researchers using ground penetrating radar as well as a method called electric resistivity tomography have located that tunnel, the Israel Antiquities Authority reported. These techniques allowed the scientists to find the tunnel without digging.

The tunnel was about 100 feet long and took the prisoners three months to dig using their hands and spoons recovered from the bodies they were forced to burn, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

One of the people involved in the discovery was archeologist Jon Seligman, of the Israel Antiquities Authority. As an Israeli whose family originated in Lithuania, I was reduced to tears on the discovery of the escape tunnel at Ponar, he said in a statement. This discovery is a heartwarming witness to the victory of hope over desperation.

The Nazis killed an estimated 100,000 people in this part of Lithuania, and about 70,000 of them were Jewish. A forthcoming NOVA film, set to debut in 2017, will explore this grisly chapter of World War II.

This is ground zero for the final solution, Richard Freund, a professor at the University of Hartford and the project leader, said in a preview for the NOVA film.

Follow Rob Verger on Twitter: @robverger
A gem of a meteorite found in Antarctica is studded with pieces of opal, a crystal that is associated with water. The discovery lends greater strength to the idea that meteorites brought water to asteroids and may also have seeded the Earth with the liquid necessary for life to evolve.

"This is more evidence that meteorites and asteroids can carry large amounts of water ice," lead author Hilary Downes said in a statement. Downes, a geochemist at the Birkbeck Institute of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of London, announced the results Monday at the National Astronomy Meeting in Nottingham, England.

"Although we rightly worry about the consequences of the impact of large asteroids, billions of years ago they may have brought the water to the Earth and helped it become the world teeming with life that we live in today."

On Earth, opal is made up of silica  a common ingredient in sand  and water. As water runs across the planet, it picks up sand and other pieces of silica. When it evaporates, it leaves behind traces of that material that build up to form opals. Scientists have only found one other meteorite carrying the mineraloid  a rock that traveled from Mars. While the Red Planet has opal-like deposits on its surface, none have been found on asteroids.

Downes and her colleagues found that the meteorite EET 83309 is made up of thousands of broken-up rocks and minerals, suggesting that it came from the surface of an asteroid. Research on the meteorite by other scientists reveals that the rock was exposed to radiation from the sun, solar wind and other cosmic sources. Since an asteroid lacks an atmosphere to shield it from deadly radiation, its surface is constantly dosed with the deadly rays.

Bits and pieces of other asteroids were also embedded in the meteorite, suggesting that the parent asteroid was struck by numerous impacts. As a result of one of the many impacts, water could have been delivered to the surface of the asteroid, forming opal.

"The pieces of opal we have found are either broken fragments or they are replacing other minerals," Downes said.

If early meteorites carried water to asteroids, they could also have brought water to the Earth.

"Our evidence shows that the opal formed before the meteorite was blasted off from the surface of the parent asteroid and sent into space, eventually to land on Earth in Antarctica," Downes added.
New images released on Monday by Google Earth from the Landsat 8 satellite are giving viewers a crisp, stellar glimpse of our planet.

In a blog post, Google Earth Engine program manager Chris Herwig explained exactly how the updated technology takes the satellite view of earth from extraordinary to breathtaking. According to Herwig, the new images harness the power of the Landsat 8 satellite. Google Earth had relied on images from the satellites predecessor, Landsat 7. However, Landsat 7 images taken after 2003 suffered a setback when a hardware failure created large, diagonal gaps of missing data.

Similarly, Herwig wrote, when satellite images are taken, they are often cloudy, but in different locations. To remedy this, the team combed through millions of images, chose the clearest pixels and stitched together a resulting cloud-free, seamless image of Earth.

Landsat 8 captures images with greater detail, truer colors, and at an unprecedented frequency  capturing twice as many images as Landsat 7 does every day, wrote Herwig. This new rendition of Earth uses the most recent data available -- mostly from Landsat 8 -- making it our freshest global mosaic to date.

Landsat is a joint effort of the USGS and NASA. It has been in operation since 1972. The program uses the same Earth Engine APIs that are used to track tree cover, loss and gain and to predict global malaria outbreaks. In 2013, Landsat 8 launched into orbit and has provided twice as many images as Landsat 7, according to Google Earth.

Images can now be viewed using Google Earth or the satellite layer on Google Maps.
The terror attack Tuesday in Turkey that killed at least 41 people and injured hundreds more is one of a spate of recent incidents that may deal an even bigger financial blow to key European cities as American tourists second-guess their summertime travel plans to the region.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration temporarily suspended all U.S. flights to and from Ataturk Airport in Istanbul following the bombings, but as of Wednesday most major carriers, including United, had resumed regularly scheduled flights.

Still, attacks in the past year have already contributed to a steep decline in Turkeys tourism  which accounts for around 11 percent of the countrys GDP and helps employ more than 1 million people, according to The Wall Street Journal.

This attack will instantly cause fear and hesitation, globally, when passengers are faced with the thought of transferring through Istanbul, said Anthony Berklich, a travel expert and founder of luxury lifestyle site Inspired Citizen. An attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport is a massive blow to the global travel industry because it's where East meets West.

The attack on Ataturk Airport signals a major blow not just to leisure and business travelers to Turkey, but throughout the world.

The airport serves as a major connection point for those flying from the U.S. to many African and Asian countries, and in 2015 was the 11th busiest airport in the world (it is Europes third busiest airport, behind Heathrow in London and Paris Charles de Gaulle) with 61.8 million passengers, according to Airports Council International. It is also one of the fastest-growing airports in the world, seeing 9.2 percent more passengers last year than in 2014.

Though the airport reopened just hours after the deadly attacks, Turkish Airlines, the largest carrier operating out of Istanbul, may feel the ramifications of fewer bookings in the near future. The airline recently announced new routes between several major American cities, including Miami and Atlanta. That business, say experts, is likely to take a major hit in the wake of Tuesdays attacks.

It's [Turkish] a fabulous airline, but passengers will lose trust that such a major, traveled-through hub could miss red flags that would lead to an attack like this, warns Berklich. Even the smaller international airports serving Istanbul, like Sabiha Gokcen, the Pegasus Airlines hub, will be affected.

The effects of these attacks may be felt throughout the region at nearby airports like Athens, Tel Aviv and larger Western European hubs that are easily accessed through Ataturk, according to Berklich.

Turkey has already suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or Islamic State militants, and the events have affected the countrys once-thriving tourism industry. The bombings include two in Istanbul targeting tourists that authorities have blamed on the Islamic State terror group.

The attacks within the countryand those across Europe and the Middle East  have increased in scale and frequency, scaring off tourists and hurting the economy, which relies heavily on tourism revenues. Turkish hotels and resorts have been forced to cut prices and reduce staff to compensate for a 40 percent drop in bookings compared to the 2015 tourist season, according to reports from the BBC.

A spokeswoman for British Airways confirmed to FoxNews.com that the airline canceled several flights to Istanbul Wednesday after the bombings and is offering flexible re-booking plans for customers with planned trips to Turkey through July 3. London Heathrow would not comment on specific security measures, but did say airport authorities remain vigilant and continue to work closely with police, international travel agencies and other authorities.

We are closely monitoring the situation at Istanbuls Ataturk international airport and are working with our airline partners to determine what effect this may have on flights. We ask passengers traveling to Istanbul to first check their flight status with their airline, said the airport.

In the U.S., the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the three New York City-area airports, said it would increase high visibility security in collaboration with local and federal authorities.

In March, the State Department advised American travelers to exercise caution in Turkey due to heightened threats. The agency reiterated that warning Monday, before the attacks at Ataturk.

For Americans and others planning travel through or around Istanbul, the next few weeks may require extra vigilance, if not patience. Few hubs provide the same access to various parts of the world as Ataturk.

Says Berklich, American travelers should not cancel trips, but should use intelligence when choosing their route. Weigh the risks of your transfer point or destination, and evaluate real versus perceived danger.
If youre in the digital advertising industry, youve probably heard of ad fraud, but you likely havent done anything to protect yourself or prevent it from happening.

Billions will be lost to ad fraud this year, and anywhere from three percent to 37 percent of ad impressions will come from bots. In fact, ad fraud is on its way to possibly becoming the second largest organized crime enterprise. With the prospects of a high payout, low risk and relatively little effort needed, its easy to see why so many organized criminals are looking to profit from ad fraud.

Its easy to think ad fraud will never affect you, but in fact, it can affect everyone. Even those just casually browsing the web. The more you know about ad fraud, the better youll be able to spot it. Heres how ad fraud can affect the different types of Internet users.

Online advertisers

This part seems obvious. Of course youre at risk if youre a brand or website advertising online. But do you know how youre at risk? Here's the different types of ad fraud for online advertisers.

Search ad fraud

Fraudsters targeting search ads are often looking to target the most popular keywords with the highest cost per click (CPC).

Search fraudsters will build websites that are stuffed with the highest priced keywords in order to generate search ads. A brand who wishes to advertise against these keywords will then buy ad space on the fake sites, because itll look like a reputable publisher.

Affiliate ad fraud

Cost per acquisition (CPA) ad fraud usually involves affiliate marketing programs. Brands will reward affiliates who talk about their product or services and push people to the website, and then those affiliates are rewarded based on the acquisition of customers.

Affiliate fraudsters use bots to direct qualifying traffic to affiliate sites. Then, by employing cookies to track that traffic, if anyone makes a purchase, the fraudster is able to siphon away the commission from the actual affiliates.

Pixel stuffing and ad stacking

Ad stacking occurs when multiple ads are placed in the same space on a web page, but only the top one is seen. When a user visits the site, an impression is recorded for all of the ads, not just the top one, which means you might be paying even though your ad was never seen.

Pixel stuffing is similar to ad stacking. It involves placing ads or video in tiny 1x1 pixels so that theyre virtually impossible to see, but when a user opens the page, the publisher is still credited with an impression.

Traffic fraud

Traffic fraud occurs when publishers buy fake traffic without the advertisers knowledge. Most purchase from third-party sites, who usually have the highest percentage of fraudulent traffic.

Lead fraud

There are two types of lead fraud: humans and bots.

With humans, its usually in the form of click farms resulting from those work-from-home scams. People are paid to click on your ads and then fill out forms, making you think youre gaining leads.

Meanwhile malicious bots can fill out forms, generate false ad impressions, serve spam or malware and trigger retargeted ads. They can even take over entire networks to form botnets and move a cursor to mimic human behavior.

Related: 4 Ways to Protect Your Business Against Employee Fraud and Theft

Ad publishers

Most fraud can be traced back to the publisher who sent that traffic. Sometimes the publisher is run by fraudsters, but there are also some types of ad fraud that can affect reputable publishers without them even realizing it.

Domain spoofing

Fraudsters can actually change the URL of their sites to make advertisers believe that a fake site is instead a more reputable publisher. Then, because publishers see these sites and recognize the name, theyll pay the premium price to advertise there.

This essentially results in extremely high advertising costs with little chance of discovery or interaction. Plus, a brands ads could be placed next to some questionable content, which can damage your reputation.

Ad injection

Ad injection can occur in a few ways. Injected ads can be stacked on top of each other, or they can completely replace existing ads.

Injected ads that replace others are often in the form of a fake warning, such as an ad telling a user that their PC performance is lacking or that their computer needs to be updated.

Most obviously, injected ads can also appear where they arent supposed to, making the relationship between brands awkward.

Related: 4 Ways Advertising Agencies Can Protect Themselves From Click Fraud

Web browsers

You dont have to be an advertiser, publisher or a website owner in order to fall victim to ad fraud. Even just by browsing the web, you can become a victim. While it might not cost you reputation and advertising dollars, it can hurt your computer or lead to the theft of personal and financial information.

With ad injection, you might see ads that are offensive, or ads that ask to complete suspicious downloads. If a site has stuffed pixels, you might get stuck with a video ad playing in the background that you cant turn it off, which could drastically slow down your Internet. Or, if you end up on a spoofed domain, you could be on an unfavorable site you never meant to visit.

Related: 5 Lessons Learned From Running 2,652 Facebook Ad Campaigns

Detection and prevention

Some of these types of fraud can be very difficult to monitor and catch. However, there are a few methods you can apply to your advertising strategy to help you better detect and prevent ad fraud from hurting you.

Request transparency from your publishers. Ask your publishers where their traffic originates. If the publisher has nothing to hide, then they should be able to be straightforward with you about their traffic sources.

Ask your publishers where their traffic originates. If the publisher has nothing to hide, then they should be able to be straightforward with you about their traffic sources. Time your ads. Bot fraud is more active during certain times of the day. Some bots are active from midnight to 7 a.m., and others are more active during the day to blend in with everyone at work. You can target your ads when bots are least likely to see them.

Bot fraud is more active during certain times of the day. Some bots are active from midnight to 7 a.m., and others are more active during the day to blend in with everyone at work. You can target your ads when bots are least likely to see them. Use third-party monitoring. Monitor the traffic coming to your ads in real-time, so that you can stop the fraudsters before they can click on your ads.

Monitor the traffic coming to your ads in real-time, so that you can stop the fraudsters before they can click on your ads. Assess your traffic constantly. Always review your ad campaigns to see where the best clicks are coming from so you can adjust accordingly.

Always review your ad campaigns to see where the best clicks are coming from so you can adjust accordingly. Search for your site in incognito. This is a great way to make sure you know exactly how your site is displayed for others. Itll also most likely bring up any sites that have stolen your domain, or show you any ads that have been injected.

This is a great way to make sure you know exactly how your site is displayed for others. Itll also most likely bring up any sites that have stolen your domain, or show you any ads that have been injected. Think before you download. Be wary of extensions, add-ons and toolbars. Thats an easy way for fraudsters to install malware and get into your system.

Too much time and money is being wasted on ad fraud today. Fraudsters are becoming more persistent and more sophisticated. The more aware you are of the workings of your campaign, the better youll be able to fight and prevent these fraudsters from making you a victim to their schemes.
A gang leader once described as one of the city's most dangerous criminals was convicted of three murders and drug and gun charges Tuesday in a vast federal racketeering case stretching back to the mid-1990s.

A jury found Telly Hankton, who is already serving a life sentence for a state murder conviction, guilty along with three co-defendants, including two of his cousins.

All four face possible life sentences. Federal authorities said last year that they would not seek the death penalty in the case. Sentencing was set for Nov. 9.

The scene in U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman's courtroom was mostly calm as the verdict was read, although Walter Porter, who was convicted in three killings, could be heard complaining.

"It's a railroad," Porter said at one point.

Hankton's cousins Andre Hankton and Kevin Jackson were each found guilty of at least one death in the case.

There were once 13 defendants, but that number dwindled amid plea deals that included Telly Hankton's mother, Shirley Hankton, who pleaded guilty in May to racketeering.

New Orleans police previously described Telly Hankton as one of the city's most dangerous criminals. After Curtis Matthews, the brother of a witness in a case against Hankton, was shot and killed in 2011, Mayor Mitch Landrieu held a news conference with law enforcement officials in front of the daiquiri shop where the shooting occurred.

"We're coming to get you," he declared.

Porter was convicted Tuesday for Matthews's death. He also was convicted of assault in the shooting of Curtis Matthews' brother, John Matthews, now 70, who testified against Hankton.

Hankton, 40, was convicted in state court for killing Darnell Stewart in 2008. He was convicted in the federal trial for the deaths of Stewart and two other men.
Three crew members were missing Tuesday and a fourth was injured Tuesday after a head-on train collision in the Texas Panhandle ignited a massive fireball, and forced the evacuation of the surrounding area.

The two BNSF Railway freight trains were on the same track when they collided about five miles east of the town of Panhandle, about 25 miles northeast of Amarillo. Each train carried two crew members; one man jumped before the collision, according to BNSF spokesman Joe Faust.

The crew member who jumped was in stable condition at an Amarillo hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, said Sgt. Dan Buesing of the Texas Department of Public Safety. His identity wasn't available. Because the fire was still burning Tuesday night, crews had not been able to search the wreckage for the three missing crew members, Buesing said, adding that crews are still pouring water on the fire.

Freight cars and containers were derailed and strewn for about 400 yards from the collision site, Buesing said. As nightfall approached, floodlights were being brought in as efforts to quell the flames and search for the missing crew members was expected to continue well into the night, he said.

It's not clear how fast the trains were traveling when they collided, but the speed limit in that area is 70 mph, Faust said. It also wasn't clear why the trains were on the same track. The rail cars were holding a variety of consumer goods, Faust said.

"I don't know how anyone survived," said Billy Brown, a farmer in the area who saw a fireball after the collision. "It's terrible. I've seen a number of train wrecks but I've never seen one like this."

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said the NTSB has opened an investigation, and the Federal Railroad Administration said it has investigators on site.

BNSF has pledged to meet a 2018 federal deadline to adopt technology, called positive train control or PTC, that relies on GPS, wireless radio and computers to monitor train positions and automatically slow or stop trains that are in danger of colliding, derailing due to excessive speed or about to enter track where crews are working or that is otherwise off limits. At least three freight railroads have said they'll need an extension to 2020.

Faust said in a statement later Tuesday that the West Texas collision is the type of accident PTC can prevent and that BNSF is "aggressively" pursuing it "across our network."

"While sections of the track operated by the eastbound train involved in this accident have PTC installed and are being tested, the section of track where the incident occurred will be installed later this year," he said in the statement.

It's not unusual to have an accident in the Panhandle involving a truck that's struck by a freight train, Buesing said, but the magnitude of Tuesday's accident was startling.

Officials in Panhandle ordered an evacuation of some nearby areas out of concern the flames would cause a fast-moving grass fire, the Amarillo Globe-News reported, but Buesing said that residents later returned to their homes and were told to shelter in place and monitor wind conditions. Officials also asked residents to curtail water use because the water supply is being depleted by firefighters at the scene, according to KVII-TV in Amarillo.

Tuesday's accident is at least the second in recent years involving BNSF trains striking one another. In September 2013, three were involved in a wreck near Amarillo that injured five crew members, according to an NTSB report. The federal agency in that incident faulted the crew in one train for improperly proceeding past a signal and striking the rear of a stationary train, and cars that derailed were then struck by a train passing in the opposite direction.



The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Hiral Sanghavi has killed it with crowdfunding. Hes raised more than $11.5 million for a travel jacket that has all sorts of nifty features including an inflatable neck pillow and a koozie drink pocket. Through his blockbuster campaign, which ran on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo, Sanghavi sold 65,000 jackets to 45,000 customers in 120 countries around the world.

Yesterday, his Seattle-based company, BauBax, which he runs with his wife Yoganshi Shah, launched a second product line with crowdfunding.

The company's new wearables include a dozen and a half interchangeable pieces that contain wireless smartphone charging pads. Among the products they plan to sell are standalone pads, as well as shorts than feature a charging pad in the back pocket and a clutch handbag with one inside.

The BauBax wearable apparel line depends on the technology embedded within Android and Microsoft phones called Qi (pronounced chi) whereby a smartphone can charge wirelessly. Apple's iPhones dont have the same Qi technology, so as a workaround, BauBax sells an iPhone case that contains it. The wireless charging system is powered by a battery that users carry in a custom wallet.

Related: This All-In-One Travel Jacket Is Now One of the 10 Most Funded Projects Ever on Kickstarter

Component pieces of the wireless charging ecosystem range from $40 to $300 at retail, but they are available for a discount from $15 to $169 through the Kickstarter campaign.

Now that BauBax has some serious traction, why is it bothering to crowdfund again?

This second crowdfunding campaign is shooting to raise $100,000. Thats millions shy of the multi-million-dollar crowdfunding success of the travel jacket. But BauBax doesnt actually need the money. Its got $100,000 cash in the bank.

The priceless benefit of crowdfunding is that it gives Sanghavi access to real-time feedback from potential customers. He can learn about customers' interest in various elements of the ecosystem before going into production. And as a bonus, the $100,000 raised will cover the cost of manufacturing molds for the wireless charging apparel line.

Further, raising money with donation-based crowdfunding, as Sanghavi has on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo, does not require him to give away equity to investors. Thats a major selling point and one that Sanghavi says will make angel investing increasingly less desirable to companies looking to raise money.

Angel investing is something that I believe you can completely get rid of with crowdfunding, Sanghavi says. Angels come at the seed stage and crowdfunding literally has the ability to kill it."

Related: How This Couple Created the All-In-One Travel Jacket That Is Nearing $2 Million on Kickstarter

While Sanghavi is a fan of the benefits of crowdfunding, hes also learned firsthand that its by no means easy. It requires some serious hustle. His first campaign, a blockbuster success, was stressful. Sanghavi learned a few things. Here are his top three tips for crowdfunding success:

1. Build in time for unexpected production delays.

The first BauBax travel jackets shipped four months late. Part of the reason for the delay was because the BauBax team expected to raise only $20,000. They raised $9.2 million on Kickstarter and another $2.3 million on Indiegogo. That meant that BauBax had to manufacture a whole lot more jackets than it had been expecting to sell.

We ended up working with 10 factories instead of three that we originally planned, Sanghavi says.

Also, Sanghavi, who lives in Seattle and is from India, didnt know about the Chinese New Year celebration in February. The entire country pretty much shuts down during the celebration, and that added an unexpected delay to the production process. Then there were further delays when BauBax imported the jackets from China.

Related: The Inventors of This Travel Jacket Set Out to Raise $20,000 With Crowdfunding and Ended Up Raising More Than $10 Million. Here's What Happened Next.

Even without delays that result from holidays and import regulations, factories dont always deliver goods in the time that they say they will. When they tell you they will do it in three months, they will not do it in three months, Sanghavi says. If a factory blows a deadline, there isnt necessarily a reliable means of recourse. The law and order in developing countries is not as strong as it is here in the U.S.

2. Communicate obsessively with campaign backers.

The BauBax team had to field a number of complaints from customers who were upset that their travel jackets werent delivered on time. Sanghavi says he understands their frustrations. Perhaps they had bought the jacket as a holiday present and because of the manufacturing delays, the jacket wasnt ready in time. He also suspects that some of the frustration on the part of campaign backers was that they had higher expectations of a startup utilizing crowdfunding. Of the 45,000 backers BauBax had on Kickstarter, 40 percent of them were first-time crowdfunders.

They didnt know that it is very different from ecommerce, Sanghavi says. They thought, its promising a November delivery, so it would deliver right about that time. They fail to understand that it is a startup, that there are some unforeseen circumstances which could cause delays.

Related: Watch Our 8-Episode Crash Course on Crowdfunding

Going forward, Sanghavi says that he will be exceptionally clear with crowdfunding backers.

We need to set the expectations right from day one," he says. "Hey, this is not an ecommerce store, this is a startup, and every penny that we get from you goes into manufacturing with fairly minimal profits. So we cant just accept returns and exchanges easily. Its not like Amazon, its crowdfunding. We will have this for the second campaign for sure.

Campaign backers who ordered a jacket to be shipped to them internationally also faced customs duties. In some cases, those taxes can be expensive. For example, for Canadian customers, the import taxes are 40 percent. On a $150 jacket, thats almost $60. Sanghavi says that going forward, he will be clearer with customers to let them know that they will be expected to pay any and all import taxes.

3. If you do mess up, compensate your backers. Let them know you care.

In an effort to communicate his regret for the four-month delay to his backers, Sanghavi included a free water foldable water bottle with each jacket delivered.

Related: This Recent Immigrant Entrepreneur Is Living the American Dream Thanks to Crowdfunding

We had promised the delivery by Christmas, so we kind of spoiled that Christmas, Sanghavi says. So we shipped a pocket travel bottle with every jacket, hoping that they would forgive us.

Each water bottle cost about $3, Sanghavi estimates, including manufacturing, delivery and inventory storage costs. For 65,000 jackets delivered, thats nearly $200,000. Thats a lot of money for any startup, but Sanghavi says he has no regrets.

It was something we had to do. I wish I could do more. Ideally I would give them a free jacket, but I couldnt afford that, Sanghavi says. It was a small gesture, I would say, but I am glad we did it.
Recently, Facebook COO and LeanIn.org founder Sheryl Sandberg co-wrote an op-ed in The New York Times to break down a harmful stereotype: women don't, or won't, help other women in the workplace. A double standard as old as time, an aggressive man is seen as powerful, but a woman is catty or shrill -- only looking out for number one.

"Queen bees arent a reason for inequality but rather a result of inequality," Sandberg wrote with co-author Wharton professor Adam Grant. "Research shows that in male-dominated settings, token women are more likely to worry about their standing, so theyre reluctant to advocate for other women. A talented woman presents a threat if theres only one seat for a woman at the table."

Related: Here's How You Can Embody the Strength and Leadership of Sheryl Sandberg

Sandberg and Grant explain that an inclination to fiercely guard a hard won position is understandable when the stakes are high and there is no room for error. "This behavior isnt inherently female. Its a natural way we react to discrimination when we belong to a nondominant group."

Only 4 percent of the CEOs on the Fortune 500 list are women, an unacceptable number by any standard. But studies show that when there is a diversity of voices in leadership positions, and multiple women have a seat at the table, everyone succeeds.

1. Women don't promote other women.

Sofie Delauw I Getty Images

Researchers from the University of Maryland and Columbia Business School explored data from 1,500 Standard and Poors rated firms and found that "female CEOs are more often found in companies that, for observable and unobservable reasons, tend to have more women in general."

2. Women undermine their female colleagues.

Caiaimage/Paul Bradbury I Getty Images

report

3. Women cant negotiate.

Caiaimage/Paul Bradbury I Getty Images

Research from Notre Dame highlighted a connection between having a diversity of voices in the board room and making fewer mergers and acquisitions, and professors at the University of British Columbia also found that companies headed up by women directors also spend less on those types of deals.

Not only that, but an experiment from the University of Texas found that when women negotiated their salaries, they asked for an average of $7,000 less than their male counterparts, when men and women negotiated for a colleague, they asked for the same amount of money.

Clearly women do have a skillset for brokering smart deals. But they can struggle when they are advocating for themselves, especially since women can be penalized for negotiation, according to work from Harvard and Carnegie Mellon.

Related: New Data Confirms Again That Women Make Less Than Men in the Same Roles

4. Women only care about work/life balance.

Eric Audras I Getty Images

A recent survey conducted by ICEDR of working millennials, found that the top reasons why women in their 20s and 30s left their current jobs was because they found a position that paid more, had more room for professional development and growth or had more meaningful or interesting work. Not on that list? Leaving their gig because they wanted a role that was less taxing or they wanted to start a family.
Silicon Valley

ThinkHR

Fail #1: Hooli CEO Gavin Belson suddenly fires an entire company division

HBO

Hooli loses a major court battle against Pied Piper, prompting Hooli CEO Gavin Belson to spontaneously announce the dissolution of an entire division of his company -- at a press conference.

HR tip

In this scene, the affected employees were actually in the audience learning about their job loss along with everyone else in the room. This was not only an impersonal but cruel act that is reflective of Hooli CEO Gavin Belsons lack of self-awareness and heartless management style. The HR fails in Belsons handling of this situation are numerous; well focus on the importance of managing employment terminations in a respectful manner. Once the decision to close the Nucleus business unit was made, management and HR should have determined the separation plan, including (1) the amount of notice to provide before the termination was effective, (2) compensation, benefits, and outplacement services, and (3) communications plan, including scheduling personal one-on-one meetings with affected employees to deliver the news, explain the details of the separation package, answer questions and help the employee process this life-changing event.

The surviving employees always watch how a company treats departing employees. When management shows respect, fairness and consideration to departing employees throughout the process, it enhances the companys employment brand and increases employee retention and productivity.

Fail #2: Gilfoyle takes his friendly banter too far

HBO

Pied Piper coders Gilfoyle and Dinesh love to take each other down a peg -- but sometimes it crosses the line (taking a shot at his co-workers lineage, Gilfoyle deadpans, Pakistanis only know how to throw rocks)

HR tip

Both federal and California state laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of national origin and race (as well as other protected classes), and Gilfoyles insulting remarks on a regular basis to Dinesh cross the line. In California, the Fair Employment and Housing Act prohibits this type of discriminatory behavior for employers with five or more employees, so Pied Piper is a covered employer. If Dinesh were to file a complaint of unlawful harassment or bullying, not only would Pied Piper be liable but Gilfoyle could also be personally liable. While the dialogue in Silicon Valley is extreme, possibly to prove the point of the lack of diversity and super-casual work environments in Silicon Valley companies, employers have a duty to promote a fun and casual environment that is free from harassment and bullying and promptly correct discriminatory and harassing conduct.

Fail #3: Gavin Belson asks his developers to compromise the neutrality of the Hooli algorithm

HBO

Gavin Belson demands his employees alter Hoolis search engine algorithm -- a major ethical breach -- in an effort to hide bad press.

HR tip

Senior leadership plays a major role in setting the tone for ethical behavior in the company. If leaders dont encourage or model ethical behavior, employees lose trust and are more apt to override their own ethical concerns. In this episode, Hooli CEO Gavin Belson starts his day by typing his own name into Hooli search to see what is being said about him, and when he discovers there is a lot of bad press, he orders his engineers to alter the search engine. The engineers know that this is wrong and a violation of consumers trust in the product. From a company perspective, this is a huge HR fail. To prevent legal troubles based on ethics and fraudulent behavior that can land a corporate leader in jail, create shareholder lawsuits and erode customer and employee trust, leadership should model ethical behavior by creating and modeling standards of ethical workplace conduct, train all employees, provide company resources for confidential reporting of potential violations, and establish systems to discipline violators. Leadership should walk the talk; Belson doesnt.

Related: 3 Sharp Business Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Cats, Care of the Host of 'My Cat From Hell'

Fail #4: Erlichs pot habit

HBO

Pied Pipers self-inflated early investor Erlich Bachman is rarely seen in meetings without a bong, pipe or tell-tale glassy and red eyes.

HR tip

Allowing illegal drug use in the workplace is a major HR fail. Employers are expected to provide a safe workplace and impaired abilities due to the use of illegal drugs may cause a host of safety issues. Employers should have zero tolerance relating to use of illegal drugs in the workplace and a progressive disciplinary policy for managing violations, including discipline up to and including termination of employment.

Erlichs recreational drug use while Pied Piper employees are working is complicated by the fact that Erlich owns the incubator house where Pied Piper employees work and his employment status with the company is unclear. Regardless of his company status and the fact that no one else seems to be fazed by his drug use, it is a terrible HR practice to allow Pied Piper employees to work in that environment.

Fail #5: Dinesh gets a little too friendly

HBO

Dinesh falls hard for one of Pied Pipers new virtual programmers, often making demands on her time just to flirt and chat.

HR tip

Whether the company culture frowns on personal relationships in the workplace or looks the other way, they do happen. Strong bonds develop when employees work long hours together on projects, coupled with todays technology that keeps us all connected 24 hours a day, seven days per week. From an HR perspective, companies should establish the ground rules and boundaries for managing office romances, including remote online relationships if applicable to the work environment -- to avoid situations where employees lose focus on work projects due to the relationship, as was happening with Dinesh. Worse yet is when the relationships turn sour and/or become sexual harassment complaints that embroil the organization in resource- and reputation-draining investigations and lawsuits. Forwarding-thinking companies address the issue by ensuring the employees are clear regarding the companys expectations for managing personal relationships with work colleagues outside of work, including discouraging or prohibiting managers from dating subordinates and keeping romantic co-worker relationships outside of the office. Carefully crafted policies, management training, and thorough employee communications are all tools that can help.

Fail # 6: Gavin Belson does a reverse boomerang

HBO

Gavin Belson doesnt recognize two former star Hooli engineers he fired, and then rehired through the acquisition of another company.

HR tip

While it may be unrealistic for senior leadership in large companies to know each and every employee in the company, the best leaders have their fingers on the pulse of what is going on in each business unit and expect their subordinates to keep them informed of competitive threats and opportunities. They take interest in their employees and are involved in the human resources discussions relating to mergers and acquisitions. They expect their HR department to flag special circumstances, including the rehiring of employees who had previously been involuntarily terminated, so that the new employment relationship can get off on the right foot.

In this Silicon Valley scenario, the shows writers take another swipe at the lack of Belsons leadership skills and overabundance of egocentricity. They depict a CEO who will do anything possible  lie, cheat, steal, treat employees as pawns on the strategy board, including buying back the employees he callously and publicly humiliated -- and not even knowing these were the same people the company had previously terminated. With only a handful of compression engineers in the area with the skills necessary to build the product Hooli needs, how could the Belson not know he was hiring back that scarce talent? Huge HR fail.

Related: Geek Icon, Actor and Entrepreneur Felicia Day on Why Enthusiasm Will Always Win the Day

Fail #7: Erlich disparages women in the workplace

HBO

In a board meeting, Erlich calls Pied Piper investor Laurie Bream a shrew of the first order."

HR tip

According to a recent PBS report, a survey of leading tech firms in Silicon Valley reported the gender demographics of employees working there, with 71 percent men and 29 percent women. While tech companies are trying to reduce this gap, there is a long way to go and the show highlights the mens club atmosphere. The only women regularly involved with Pied Piper are the VC investors (Laurie and Monica) who understand the numbers and the business opportunity in ways that Erlich and the rest of the Pied Piper team do not. Most likely Erlich feels threatened by them, and Erlichs insecurities show through in his sexist behavior and language.

Companies can deal with sexism in the workplace by building a strong inclusive company culture and having policies in place to address instances of sexual harassment, bullying and other forms of discrimination. Training managers and employees underscores the companys commitment to a workplace free of harassment and sexism. For talent management and legal reasons, not addressing workplace discrimination in any form is a major HR fail.
Americans who land on ISIS "hit lists" may never find out they have been marked for death by the terror group, said a key lawmaker Tuesday, as he called on the FBI to explain its obligations and procedures in contacting potential targets.

Several of the murky lists have appeared online, posted on various sites and social media platforms linked to ISIS. One list obtained by FoxNews.com Wednesday detailed 12,000 Canadian residents, along with their addresses and phone numbers. Even though the lists seem to be random and people named on them have not yet been targeted, law enforcement officials have notified many -- but not all -- of the individuals named.

There shouldnt be any question in the minds of FBI officials that Americans deserve to know if they are on an ISIS hit list, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote in a Tuesday letter to FBI Director James Comey.

In April, FoxNews.com reported that thousands of New Yorkers were being informed by NYPD detectives that their names have appeared on a list of potential targets. One person contacted by the NYPD told FoxNews.com she had no idea why her name would be on an ISIS list, but said police told her to report anything suspicious, including any anomalies in her banking and credit transactions.

Grassley, citing a Monday report by Circa News, said other police departments around the nation did not take similar action. Circa contacted dozens of people whose names appeared on the list in New York, Texas, Florida and California and found the overwhelming majority had no idea they were on ISIS radar.

Reportedly, the FBI even neglected to notify the relevant local police departments of these specific threats, which urged followers of the terrorist group to assassinate American citizens, Grassley said. These alleged failures are alarming, given the FBIs stated commitment to work closely with federal, state, and local partners to keep the public informed of potential threats.

The FBI would not comment on the report, but issued a general statement about how it "routinely notifies individuals and organizations of potential threat information."

The task of informing thousands of people their names appear on these lists is taxing on the agencys resources, said John Cohen, the former counterterrorism coordinator at the Department of Homeland Security and currently a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. And the lists may not even be significant, he added.

I can download a phone book and say, okay ISIS supporters, go kill these people, he said.

Cohen said it is up to the agency to determine those on the list that appear most at risk, whether it be public profile or specifics of the threat.

In October 2014, Fox News reported that U.S. military personnel were sent an Army intelligence bulletin warning them to be vigilant after Islamic State militants called on supporters to scour social media for addresses of their family and to show up and slaughter them.

Canadian officials had no immediate comment on the latest list, but in June phoned about 151 citizens who appeared on kill lists, according to CBC.ca.

When this kind of a threat to Canadians is put into the public domain, all of the security, and police, and intelligence agencies of the Government of Canada respond in a robust way to keep the country safe, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said.
Attorneys for an Air Force officer charged with rape, adultery and other crimes are making the novel argument that the military ban on extramarital sex discriminates against heterosexuals because it doesn't specifically include same-sex couples.

Lawyers for Air Force Col. Eugene Caughey challenged the adultery provision Monday in a military court at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. The lawyers argue that the half-dozen adultery charges against Caughey should be thrown out because they violate the colonel's constitutional rights.

Caughey's attorneys said the military defines adultery as sex between a man and a woman and therefore doesn't hold same-sex couples to the same standards, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.

Military prosecutors argued the adultery ban does apply to same-sex couples. The judge hasn't ruled on the argument.

Eugene R. Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale Law School, said Tuesday this is the first time he's heard anyone try to make the discrimination argument in a military court.

He declined to say whether he thought the argument would succeed.

"That's the way the law grows, creative lawyering," Fidell said.

Caughey is charged with raping a woman at Schriever Air Force Base, also in Colorado, in late 2014 or early 2015. He's also accused of committing adultery several times, photographing his exposed genitals while in uniform and groping women. His court-martial is scheduled in August.

Caughey is a 24-year Air Force veteran and was formerly second in charge of the 50th Space Wing at Schriever. The unit oversees navigation and communication satellites.

Fidell said the military needs to update its court-martial manuals now that same-sex marriage is legal.

"This is the brave new world that we live in," he said. "The teachers of family law and teachers of gender in law schools are going to have to discuss this case."

Few other jurisdictions punish adultery as a crime, but the military still outlaws it on the grounds that it weakens discipline.

Fidell said it could be handled administratively, without resorting to criminal charges.

"The military would be well advised to just get rid of it," he said.
Two former Tucson TV reporters pleaded not guilty this week to drug and child abuse charges after tests revealed the presence of cocaine in their 4-month-old's system.

Krystin Lisaius, 26, and husband Somchai Lisaius, 42, were indicted June 9 on charges of possession of a dangerous drug, possession of drug paraphernalia and child abuse.

Oro Valley Police Lt. Kara Riley told the Associated Press the baby was taken to the hospital on May 15 after being breastfed and appearing to be in distress.

KOLD-TV, citing a police report, reported that the couple complained the baby was lethargic and not eating normally. After refusing to allow a blood test, the couple brought the child to a second hospital. Again they refused a blood test, but a urine analysis revealed the presence of cocaine in the baby's system.

According to the police report, the couple admitted to using cocaine at a party the night before. Krystin Lisaius also admitted that she had breastfed the child the next morning because she didn't think he would be affected by the drug.

Somchai Lisaius had worked for KOLD, but the station confirmed to the Associated Press that he no longer works there. Krystin Lisaius had worked for KGUN-TV, but her employement status was unclear.

The child is in custody of the Arizona Department of Child Safety, but is staying with the baby's maternal grandmother. Krystin Lisaius has been granted constant contact with the child while Somchai Lisaius is allowed to see the child 12 hours per day.

The couple are next due to appear in court on July 28.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from TucsonNewsNow.com.
Authorities responded to the scene of an explosion Wednesday morning at a factory in Coweta County, Georgia. The blast happened at Bonnell Aluminum on Bonnell Street in Newnan.

A plant official told FOX 5 five people were injured in the violent blast. One person was flown by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center, two were taken to nearby hospitals and two other victims were treated at the scene.

"We had to hurry up and get out of there because the building was collapsing," a worker told FOX 5's Doug Evans.

The eruption not only forced workers to evacuate and the plant to shut down, but also damaged a number of surrounding buildings. Witnesses at nearby businesses told us they could feel the blast.

"I thought someone had drove into the restaurant," said one business owner. "The building was shaking."

Clay Neely with the Newnan Times-Herald shared video from the scene with FOX 5 News.

Industrial explosion at Bonnell Aluminum in Newnan. At least one injured, according to police. Story developing. pic.twitter.com/0alhT4eg7K  Clay Neely (@ClayNeely) June 29, 2016

Click for more from Fox 5.
A former University of Connecticut student who went on a drunken, obscenity-laced tirade about jalapeno-bacon macaroni and cheese has been arrested in Florida after an altercation with a police officer.

Luke Gatti was charged May 28 in Boca Raton with battery on an officer and resisting an officer with violence.

A message left at Gatti's home Tuesday wasn't immediately returned.

Last year, the 20-year-old former UConn student from Bayville, New York, was arrested over his Oct. 4, 2015, outburst in the Student Union. He ranted at and shoved a university food service supervisor for refusing to sell him the macaroni and cheese.

The altercation was caught on video and was widely viewed online.

Gatti was put on probation and released his own video in which he apologized for his actions.
A Harvard journal is refusing to retract a 2014 article it published about an infamous scrap of papyrus suggesting Jesus had a wife even though the professor who authored it now admits the fragment is a forgery.

Harvard Divinity School professor Karen King told the Boston Globe last week that "it appears now that all the material [Ernest Fritz, owner of the fragment,] gave to me concerning the provenance of the papyrus ... were fabrications."

Less than 24 hours after an investigative report about Fritz's papyrus forgery was published in the July/August issue of The Atlantic, additional documents emerged showing a fake Greek manuscript Fritz had posted on his website and a blog in which his wife "talks of restoring a second century Christian gospel, a project that apparently left part of the manuscript in fragments," accordong to Live Science.

The Harvard Theological Review, where King's original article was published, issued a statement defending it's refusal to retract the essay about the fake Coptic papyrus, saying:

Acceptance of an essay for publication means that it has successfully passed through the review process. It does not mean that the journal agrees with the claims of the paper. In the same issue (HTR 107:2, April 2014) in which HTR published Professor Karen King's article and the articles on the testing that were represented or misrepresented in some circles as establishing the authenticity of the fragment, it also published a substantial article by Professor Leo Depuydt arguing that it was a crude forgery. Given that HTR has never endorsed a position on the issue, it has no need to issue a response.

In an interview with The Christian Post last week, Dallas Theological Seminary New Testament studies professor Darrell Bock said the Atlantic article "gives more reason why so many were so skeptical about the claims for this text from the beginning. It points to the fact that when a largely unvetted sensational discovery is announced, time should be given for the dust to settle around those claims."

Click Here to Read the Full Story at ChristianPost.com
A judge sentenced a career criminal to life in prison Wednesday for a brutal home invasion beating caught on a nanny cam after listening to the victim describe how the attack left her with physical and psychological scars.

Shawn Custis said nothing during the hearing and held a folder of papers in front of his face during the proceeding to block photographers from taking his picture.

The woman, who testified against Custis during the trial, gasped and sobbed in the gallery after state Superior Court Judge Ronald Wigler pronounced the sentence and referred to the 45-year-old man as "vicious, depraved and evil."

The 2013 attack lasted several minutes and started while the woman was sitting with her daughter watching television, with her infant son sleeping upstairs. The woman was punched and kicked repeatedly and thrown down a flight of stairs. The children weren't physically injured.

Approaching the bench to describe how the crime has affected her, the woman said she suffered a fractured bone in her back and facial injuries and remains so traumatized that she has been unable to return to work and has had to move her family.

"I carry a personal alarm even when I am in the comfort of my own home," said the woman, who prosecutors asked not be identified. "I am in my own prison. I haven't opened a window in my house in two years."

A jury convicted Custis on June 1 of aggravated assault, child endangerment, robbery, burglary, criminal restraint and theft. But the panel acquitted him of the most serious charge, attempted murder.

Wigler added an additional five years to Custis' life sentence for the child endangerment conviction. Custis won't be eligible for parole for more than 60 years.

Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for the Newark resident based on a criminal past Wigler termed "rather staggering." It included 38 arrests and 17 felony convictions before the 2013 attack in Millburn, a suburban town several miles from Newark.

One of the previous convictions was for a 1990s home invasion similar to the attack in Millburn, according to Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Jamel Semper.

"Half-measures of leniency haven't worked to deter this defendant," Semper told the judge. "He has almost as many arrests as he's had birthdays."

Custis' attorney argued during the trial that the police investigation was biased because a white officer responding to the crime scene was heard on video using a racial slur. Custis is black.

Prosecutors countered that four women who knew Custis identified him after seeing the video of the attack on television, and DNA tests showed blood found on his jeans belonged to the victim.

Defense attorney John McMahon said Custis maintains his innocence and plans to appeal.
A man named Ronald McDonald was shot during an argument at a Sonic Drive-In last week in North Carolina.

WNCN-TV reported the shooting occurred in Lumberton Thursday. The 36-year-old McDonald, who is the husband of one of the managers, was in the middle a fight with an employee, identified as 24-year-old Telvin Drummond.

Both men shot at each other and McDonald was struck by the gun fire. The station reported that he was being treated for injuries and theyre not believed to be life-threatening.

Drummonds condition wasnt immediately available.

Police are investigating the incident.

Click for more from WNCN-TV.
A man known for his ability to recite 20 books of the Bible from memory has released a study Bible that reveals his techniques.

Tom Meyer, member of Wordsower International Ministries and a professor at Shasta Bible College in California, released last week. The book is written in a format that Meyer says will help people memorize verses and even entire chapters of the Bible.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Meyer explained that the study Bible came from what he believed was a vacancy among study books.

"This Study Bible had its origin in my increasing conviction from many years of memorizing the scriptures as a student, lecturer, and now professor that all of the many excellent and useful editions of the scriptures left much to be desired in regards to fostering memorization," said Meyer.

"I have endeavored to embody my technique of memorization on the pages of this New Testament Study Bible with the purpose of facilitating memorization through the power of format combined with my technique of using the number of words in each verse to aid in memorization as I write out each verse long hand."

An expert in reciting memorized Bible books, Meyer has been known to show off his ability for various audiences across the country.

Click Here to Read the Full Story at ChristianPost.com
A retired Army colonel was sentenced to 8 years in prison Tuesday for hitting and killing a Colorado State Patrol trooper with his truck as she was investigating a crash near Colorado Springs.

The Denver Post reports 52-year-old Eric Peter Henderson also was ordered to serve five years of mandatory parole. He had pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide while driving under the influence and tampering with evidence in the death of 33-year-old Trooper Jaimie Jursevics.

Prosecutors had said he spent the day drinking at a Broncos game Nov. 15 before he hit the trooper and fled.

Henderson retired from the Army in June 2013 after a 27-year career and was the chief of operations for the Space and Missile Defense Command in his final post.
Republican students at a California school are declaring victory after campus officials on Tuesday dropped plans to punish them in connection with an event that featured conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.

The openly gay Breitbart journalist brought his Dangerous Faggot Tour to University of California Irvine June 2 in an event hosted by the schools Student Republicans. An estimated 80 police officers were there to maintain order, and school officials initially sought to bar the group from holding events for a year, claiming it did not provide proof of required insurance for the event. But when the group declined to appeal and instead threatened suit, school officials backed down.

Based on my review of this matter, I have decided that the appropriate outcome for the groups failure to obtain the required proof of insurance is a warning, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Thomas Parham wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to College Republicans attorney Shawn Steel, who also serves as the Republican National Committeeman for California.

Parhams decision calms a situation that sparked a backlash from conservatives and even the schools Bernie Sanders supporters. The furor was also merrily fueled by the loquacious Yiannopoulos, whose show featured him dressing up as a police officer and spanking a person wearing an Obama mask. Yiannopoulos has been on a college tour with YouTube star Steven Crowder and conservative author and professor Christina Hoff Sommers.

Its going to be free speech central whether the college authorities like it or not, Yiannopoulos told FoxNews.com, vowing to return to Cal Irvine next semester to a host an even larger rally to spite officials.

Yiannopoulos performance at DePaul University in May led to protests and ultimately the resignation of the schools president, FoxNews.com reported. He said protesters at the Cal Irvine show with all their theatrics and yelling and attempts to shut me down prove my point better than anything I can say.

Yiannopoulos said he relishes getting under the skin of liberals on campus, and beating liberal administrators who force their beliefs on undergraduates.

The Cal Irvine Student Republicans were initially cited for failing to provide proof of insurance for third-party security officers, a policy that administrators only briefly mentioned in the days leading up to the event, without an explanation of urgency or process, claims Student Republicans president Ariana Rowlands.

Steel funded private security for the event in light of prior attacks directed at Yiannopoulos after UC Irvine officials allegedly refused to confirm there would be sufficient protection at the event, he told FoxNews.com.

The university imposed the sanction just hours after the Student Republicans announced they would invite Yiannopoulos back for a repeat performance, Rowlands said. But instead of appealing the decision through the campus administration, Steel said the group was prepared to go to federal court and sue under the First Amendment.

The Student Republicans are treated very fairly and afforded all the rights and opportunities of [all] students university spokeswoman Janet Wilson told FoxNews.com in an email, insisting the only issue was the groups failure to follow policy.

Rowlands said the school's latest move does not end the dispute, and vowed to fight for a fair policy that will be enforced equally against conservative and liberal groups.

Meanwhile, Yiannopoulos will resume his college tour in September. He anticipates generating more controversy by wading into the liberal waters of academia.

I dont fit the liberal mold, Yiannopoulos said. The normal attacks the left use -- they dont work on me, so they have to come up with reason and fact and consider me quite dangerous.

As a Brit, I came to America imagining America was the free speech capitol of the world, he added. I was so shocked by the range of opinions that are not permissible on American college campuses.
You always find what youre looking for in the last place you look.

Yes, that is a silly old joke, but its corollary is a mysterious paradox youve probably come across at one time or another: You only find the most elusive things in life when youve given up searching for them. Its true of everything from lasting love and friendship to work you love doing or your true calling.

Its not surprising that those who contact me for help are usually searching for something: a fulfilling career, business guidance, even happiness in their lives. What I find interesting, however, is that theyve typically exhausted all other options and simply dont know what to do or whom to turn to next.

Theyre usually pretty desperate, but in my experience, thats when something good happens. When youve searched everywhere, youre completely exhausted and demoralized, and youre ready to give up completely, thats when you find what you were looking for all along.

When youve given up hope, given up your pride, let go of your expectations and are finally ready to throw in the towel or throw caution to the wind -- whichever comes first -- thats when youre most aware of whats going on around you. Thats when youre most open. Thats the key.

Open to what? Open to doing whatever it takes. Open to stepping out of your comfort zone. Open to lowering your guard and seeing opportunities you couldnt see before. Open to giving up control. Open to the realization that you no longer have anything to lose. Open to seeing things differently. In short, open to anything and everything.

Silicon Valley is full of lore that features how this fascinating phenomenon leads to unparalleled success.

Stanford graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin had pitched their search engine idea to just about everyone in the Valley who would listen: Their professors, a whos who of venture capitalists and every internet company that would meet with them. No luck. Nobody thought the world needed a standalone search engine company.

Considering that the pair were willing to sell their technology to Excite for less than $1 million shows that they were pretty close to giving up. Its a good thing that the online service providers CEO, George Bell, passed on the deal. Soon thereafter, Page and Brin met former Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim, who saw their vision and wrote a check for $100,000 to a name youve probably heard of: Google.

The young Steve Jobs spent years trying to figure out what to do with his life. With unresolved issues stemming from being adopted, he searched inside and out for meaning and inspiration. While working at video game maker Atari, the college dropout travelled to India seeking enlightenment. The trip did not go well, and while Jobs did come home a Buddhist, he also returned a more toughened and pragmatic man.

Months later, Jobs noticed that enthusiasts were buying kits and assembling their own computers, so he pitched his old friend and coworker Steve Wozniak on the idea of designing and selling circuit boards for those kits. When Jobs approached a popular computer shop to sell the boards, the owner instead wanted actual computers and was willing to pay big bucks for them. Thats how Apple Computer was born.

Every major career opportunity Ive ever been offered came after Id bottomed out, given up and let go. Decades ago, frustrated over being passed over for promotion to vice president twice and realizing Id hit the ceiling where I worked, I finally threw up my hands and gave up trying.

Less than a week later, at a meeting with a friend at a big partner company that had been struggling with lousy PR as of late, a stray thought popped into my head and, before I could stop it, I heard myself saying that I thought their marketing sucked. To my surprise, he agreed, told me their veep was on his way out, and asked if I was interested. Guess who landed his first VP job a few months later?

Personal life is no exception. After several years of bad luck with relationships, Id finally had enough and said, To hell with it, Im through dating. Thats when I met the love of my life, now my wife of 26 years. No kidding.

Look, its not easy to give up control, especially when it comes to big, hairy, emotional life issues. But by their very nature, they occupy so much of our brain cycles that we get tied up in knots trying to make things go our way. When that happens, the only way out is to genuinely give up and let go. Thats the key to awareness and openness.

For more on what it takes to be successful in today's highly competitive business world, get Steves new book, Real Leaders Dont Follow: Being Extraordinary in the Age of the Entrepreneur, and check out his blog at stevetobak.com.
Three men were charged with murder Wednesday in the shooting death of an aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year in Brooklyn.

The three men were identified as Micah Alleyne, 24, Tyshawn Crawford, 21, and Keith Luncheon, 24. The Brooklyn District Attorneys office alleged that the three engaged in mutual combat during the early morning hours of Sept. 7, 2015.

Carey Gabay was shot in the head in September during a West Indian music festival called J'Ouvert. The 43-year-old lawyer and expectant father was a first deputy general counsel at the Empire State Development Corp.

Alleyne and numerous others were accused of firing guns at the event, court documents showed. One of the bullets struck Gabay, who died nine days later. Investigators said the shooting may have been gang-related.

Gabay was a son of Jamaican immigrants and graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

He served as an assistant counsel for Cuomo starting in 2011 and was appointed first deputy counsel for New York's economic development agency in 2015.

The three suspects faced a 16-count indictment with charges ranging from second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon to first-degree reckless endangerment, a district attorney statement said. Each suspect faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The remains of two train workers killed in a head-on freight train collision in Texas were found Wednesday, officials said, while a third worker is unaccounted for and presumed dead.

The bodies were found in the wreckage of the two trains near the town of Panhandle, BNSF Railway spokesman Joe Faust said. A fourth crew member jumped from one of the trains just before impact Tuesday; he is hospitalized with injuries that are not life-threatening, Faust said.

Work crews continued to pick through the tangled and smoldering wreckage of the smashed locomotives, rail cars and shipping containers near the town of Panhandle, about 40 miles northwest of Amarillo, he said.

The BNSF Railway freight trains were on the same track when they collided, triggering a fireball and causing containers and cars to tumble onto one another in a pileup.

One train had earlier stopped in Amarillo to refuel for its trip to Chicago, and that diesel fuel contributed to a fire that burned into the night, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Dan Buesing said.

"You have two engines on each train with fuel and the eastbound train had stopped in the Amarillo yard and may have had extra fuel added for the trip out east," he said. The westbound train was headed to Los Angeles.

Freight cars and containers were derailed and strewn about 400 yards from the collision site just outside the town of Panhandle, Buesing said. Floodlights were brought in overnight to aid emergency workers trying to quell the flames and start the search for the three crew members, he said.

Both trains carried stacked containers of consumer goods, such as paper products, clothing, television sets and computers.

It's not clear how fast the trains were traveling when they collided, but the speed limit in that area is 70 mph and BNSF spokesman Joe Faust said they were "traveling at less than track speed." It also wasn't clear why the trains were on the same track.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said the NTSB has opened an investigation, and the Federal Railroad Administration said it has investigators on site.

BNSF has pledged to meet a 2018 federal deadline to adopt technology, called positive train control or PTC, that relies on GPS, wireless radio and computers to monitor train positions and automatically slow or stop trains that are in danger of colliding, derailing due to excessive speed or about to enter track where crews are working or that is otherwise off limits. At least three freight railroads have said they'll need an extension to 2020.

Faust said the collision is the type of accident PTC can prevent and that BNSF is "aggressively" pursuing it "across our network."

"While sections of the track operated by the eastbound train involved in this accident have PTC installed and are being tested, the section of track where the incident occurred will be installed later this year," he said in a statement released Tuesday.

It's not unusual to have an accident in the Panhandle involving a truck that's struck by a freight train, Buesing said, but the magnitude of Tuesday's accident was startling.

Tuesday's accident is at least the second in recent years involving BNSF trains striking one another. In September 2013, three were involved in a wreck near Amarillo that injured five crew members, according to an NTSB report. The federal agency in that incident faulted the crew in one train for improperly proceeding past a signal and striking the rear of a stationary train, and cars that derailed were then struck by a train passing in the opposite direction.



The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The coordinated massacre at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport came into clearer focus Wednesday as officials revealed a more detailed timeline of the terror attack that killed 42 and wounded 238.

After the three attackers arrived at the Turkish transit hub via taxi on Tuesday, one of the assailants entered the terminal, began shooting people and then blew himself up near X-ray machines, officials said. During the chaos, a second attacker rushed to the departures level and detonated his explosives. The third attacker waited outside during the entire episode, blowing himself up as scared travelers frantically flooded out of the airport.



"When the terrorists couldn't pass the regular security system, when they couldn't pass the scanners, police and security controls, they returned and took out their weapons out of their suitcases and opened fire at random at the security check," Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Wednesday.

Several U.S. airports strengthened security measures due to the carnage in Istanbul, and, adding to the tension, a terminal at JFK Airport in New York was evacuated for a brief period Wednesday when a suspicious bag was spotted. It was later determined the unattended bag posed no threat and travelers were allowed back in the terminal.

Authorities viewed ISIS as the most likely culprit in the Istanbul attack, as the Turkey assault bore hallmarks similar to the March 22 coordinated terror attacks in Brussels, in which ISIS operatives killed 32 in coordinated bombings at Zaventem airport and a nearby metro station. But ISIS had not taken credit for Tuesday's attacks, and Ankara has battled Kurdish militants as well as ISIS.

Turkish officials told The Associated Press and Reuters that ISIS was the primary suspect, however, and the Islamic State released an infographic Wednesday in which it claimed to have "covert" units in Turkey. The infographic, sent out via ISIS' Amaq news agency, was made to commemorate the two-year anniversary of the militants establishing their so-called caliphate in areas of Syria and Iraq.

A U.S. government official told Fox News that the attack fits the profile of ISIS, which has stepped up its targeting of Turkey. The official said ISIS tends to attack internationally known targets with an economic impact, such as an airport, while the Kurdish terror group PKK generally targets Turkish military and law enforcement.

"If this Islamic State is indeed behind this attack, this would be a declaration of war," Analyst Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute, told AFP. "Turkey's vengeance will come down like rain from hell on the Islamic State."

Of the 238 people injured in the carnage, 109 had already been discharged from the hospital Wednesday morning, The Istanbul Governor's Office said. The Turkish Health Minister said 40 people remained in intensive care.

Most of those killed were Turkish, officials said. The 14 foreign travelers killed included six Saudis, two Iraqis and citizens from China, Iran, Jordan, Tunisia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, Reuters reported.

The assault began when one attacker blew himself up outside the Ataturk terminal, the Haber Turk newspaper reported. Two other terrorists then opened fire at a point where X-ray machines are located.

"He's shooting up, two times, and he's beginning to shoot people like that, like he was walking like a prophet," Otfah Mohamed Abdullah, who witnessed one of the attackers, told AFPTV.



One attacker was shot at while running amid fleeing passengers, then blew himself up at an exit. The third attacker went up one level to where the international departures terminal is, was shot by police and blew himself up.

A Turkish official told The Associated Press that authorities were going through CCTV footage and eyewitness statements to establish a more detailed timeline of the attack. "It is a jigsaw puzzle" said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

Airport surveillance video posted on social media showed the moment of one blast, a huge ball of fire, and passengers fleeing in terror. Another appeared to show an attacker, felled by a gunshot from a security officer, blowing himself up seconds later.

The recent attacks on Turkey, a key partner in the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS and a NATO member, have increased in scale and frequency. They have scared away tourists and hurt the Turkish economy, which relies heavily on tourism.

Hundreds of passengers who fled the airport in fear were left sitting on the grass outside. Several ambulances drove back and forth, and security vehicles surrounded the scene.

As if to underscore Turkey's determination to carry on in the face of a growing threat, the airport reopened Wednesday, just hours after the dead were carried away and glass and debris were cleared.

Adam Keally, from Boston, said he heard gunfire followed by several explosions, then saw people "very badly injured."

Hevin Zini, 12, had just arrived from Duesseldorf, Germany, with her family and was in tears.

"There was blood on the ground," she told the AP. "Everything was blown up to bits... if we had arrived two minutes earlier, it could have been us."

Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions.

"We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off," Paul Roos told the AP. "There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a handgun."

Veysel Allay, who was waiting for a friend in the arrivals terminal, told the Daily Telegraph, "A man ran up and ripped open his jacket, showing a bomb vest. I ran before he did anything."

Jim Hyong Lee of South Korea told the Telegraph he and his family were checking in for a flight home when "we heard gunshots."

"I grabbed my family and ran," Lee said. "Someone waved us into the prayer room and hid us there until the police came."

A State Department spokesman told Fox News late Tuesday that Americans in Turkey were being urged to contact family members immediately.

Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Turkey said at least seven Saudis were injured in the attack and all were in stable condition.

U.S. and world leaders immediately offered condolences following the attack.

In the U.S., President Obama was briefed about the attack by Lisa Monaco, his homeland security and counterterrorism adviser. A statement from the White House on Tuesday condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms."

"We remain steadfast in our support for Turkey, our NATO Ally and partner, along with all of our friends and allies around the world, as we continue to confront the threat of terrorism," the statement said.

Turkey has stepped up controls at airports and land borders and deported thousands of foreign fighters, but has struggled to tackle the threat of ISIS militants while also conducting vast security operations against Kurdish rebels, who have also been blamed for recent deadly attacks.

Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.

Istanbul's Ataturk Airport was the 11th busiest airport in the world last year, with 61.8 million passengers, according to Airports Council International. It is also one of the fastest-growing airports in the world, seeing 9.2 percent more passengers last year than in 2014.

Fox News' Catherine Herridge, Matt Dean and Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration said Wednesday it will deliver an eagerly awaited ruling on July 12 in a case filed by the Philippines contesting Beijing's sweeping claims to most of the South China Sea.

Beijing has rejected the international arbitration and says it will ignore the panel's decision.

In an unusual move, the court announced the date of the ruling ahead of time, saying it will be sent to the countries involved July 12 and published the same day.

Outgoing Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said his government decided to bring China to international arbitration in January 2013 after China took effective control of a disputed shoal and later reneged on a U.S.-brokered arrangement for Manila and Beijing to simultaneously withdraw their ships from the fishing area.

Aquino's successor, Rodrigo Duterte, has called on China to comply with the tribunal's ruling but said he is ready to hold talks with the Chinese government if it ignores the decision.

Duterte, who is to be sworn in as president on Thursday, has shown readiness to mend frosty ties with China.

Six governments have overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea - China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. In addition, China's broadly drawn nine-dash line, which demarcates its ambitions for maritime boundaries, overlaps waters nearly 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) from the Chinese mainland that are part of Indonesia's internationally recognized exclusive economic zone.

Washington takes no sides in the competing claims in the South China Sea, a crucial waterway for trade, but has declared it is in the U.S. national interest for the disputes to be peacefully resolved and that freedom of navigation and overflight should not be impeded.
The death toll from Tuesdays terror massacre could have been even greater if not for the actions of at least two hero cops who were being treated at Turkish hospitals Wednesday morning, according to local media reports.

One of the officers, identified as Yasin Durna by Haberler.com, is seen in CCTV footage shooting a terrorist as the attacker fires a weapon while running through one of the terminals at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport. Durnas shot downs the terrorist, and the mans gun skids across the terminal floor, out of reach. The attacker writhes on the ground as Durna approaches. Durna initially walks up to the man, but then begin frantically running away, possibly because he sees the militant is wearing a suicide bomb vest.

Durna is out of frame on the video for several seconds when the terrorist blows himself up.

But Durna apparently survived the blast, only requiring surgery for a spleen injury at a state hospital, Haberler.com reported. The wound was not considered life-threatening.

Another officer, named as Ahmet Berker, was wounded by terrorist gunfire and was in serious condition at Bagcilar Training and Research Hospital, Haberler.com reported.

The coordinated assault by three attackers on the Istanbul transit hub killed at least 42 and injured 238. Investigators suspect ISIS is responsible; however, no group had claimed credit for the attack Wednesday morning.
Islamic State (ISIS) militants on Wednesday pushed back U.S.-trained Syrian rebels from the outskirts of a town on the Iraqi border, in a setback to a budding offensive that aims to sever the militants' transit link between the two countries, a rebel spokesman said.



The ISIS-linked Aamaq news agency said ISIS militants repelled the New Syrian Army from an air base which the rebels had briefly captured earlier in the day. ISIS said it seized 15 hostages and ammunition, and was still advancing against the rebels.



Earlier Wednesday, the Pentagon-trained force entered the Hamdan air base -- northwest of the border town of Boukamal -- following intense clashes, rebel spokesman Mozahem al-Saloum said.



He said airborne fighters were dropped from coalition helicopters on Boukamal's southern edge, helping the rebels advance. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on local activists, confirmed the account.



The Observatory's chief, Rami Abdurrahman, said foreign airborne fighters were also dropped to the north, enabling the takeover of the base. The rebels were heavily backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and were coordinating their fight with Iraqi tribesmen and forces on the other side of the border, al-Saloum said.



The U.S.-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria since 2014 and 300 U.S. Special Forces are embedded with a Kurdish-led militia in northern Syria. It was not immediately clear whether U.S. forces were involved in the Boukamal offensive or what other nations might be taking part in it. The U.S. Central Command said coalition jets carried out several airstrikes on ISIS targets in the Boukamal area.



Col. Chris Garver, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Baghdad, said the U.S has provided advice and assistance to the New Syrian Army as well as airstrikes in both Syria and Iraq in support of the operation.



He told The Associated Press there was a "very tough fight" around Boukamal and that the New Syrian Army suffered a "setback." He denied that fighters had been brought in by helicopter.



The Observatory said several hundred rebels from different factions were involved in the offensive, which began on Tuesday. It said ISIS fighters have dug trenches and planted land mines south of the town.



Al-Saloum acknowledged that the New Syrian Army forces were unable to keep the base and other outposts to the south, near the Qaim border crossing with Iraq, but said the offensive would continue.



Wednesday's setback was another blow to the rebel group. Two weeks ago, Washington accused Russian aircraft of bombing the rebels near the Iraqi border. Russia has been carrying out airstrikes in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces since September.



ISIS seized much of the Iraq-Syria border in its 2014 blitz, along with large swaths of territory in both countries, declaring an Islamic caliphate. But ISIS has in recent weeks been losing ground, both in Iraq and in Syria.



The U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led forces have besieged Manbij, an ISIS stronghold in northern Syria, while Iraqi forces have taken Fallujah, in Iraq's western Anbar province, from the Sunni extremist group.



Meanwhile, aid was delivered to the besieged Syrian towns of Zamalka and Irbin for the first time since 2012, when the two rebel-held areas east of Damascus were besieged by government forces. The 37-truck convoy organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the U.N. and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent carried enough food and medical aid for 20,000 people.



Further north, another joint convoy carrying food and medicine was delivered to the besieged suburb of west Harasta, which has a population of about 12,500, according to ICRC spokeswoman Ingy Sedky.


The Italian navy said Wednesday it has recovered the migrant ship that sank off Sicily last year with an estimated 700-800 people aboard in one of the worst known tragedies of the Mediterranean migrant crisis.

The navy said it had raised the boat from a depth of 370 meters (1,214 feet). The wreck is being kept in a refrigerated transport structure for the trip to port in Sicily, where forensic experts will begin trying to identify the victims.

A press conference to explain details of the operation is scheduled for Thursday, the navy said.

The April 18, 2015 wreck remains one of the deadliest on record, though the real number of drownings will never be known. On that night, the boat carrying between 700 and 800 migrants, most of them African, capsized as a civilian freighter approached.

Most passengers were locked below decks; only 28 survived.

The sinking sparked renewed outrage and soul-searching in European capitals, which agreed to send in EU naval reinforcements to cast a wider safety net to try to rescue the waves of migrants leaving Libya on smugglers' boats.

While tens of thousands have been rescued, thousands of others have drowned: During one particularly deadly three-day period last month, an estimated 700 migrants died, including those aboard a huge, overcrowded fishing ship that capsized as rescuers filmed the horror.

Most of the migrant boats that sink are never recovered, and the dead are never exhumed or identified. Soon after the 2015 tragedy, though, Italy pledged to recover the wreck and is hoping that the exercise will help create a European network to identify victims by cross-checking data.

The navy launched the complicated recovery operation this past spring; navy divers over the previous months had already recovered some 169 bodies found near the wreckage, located some 85 miles (130 kilometers) off Libya's coast.

The navy used a specially designed robotic apparatus to raise the boat, which was being towed to port in Sicily by the navy barge Ievoli Ivory.

Italy's southern islands are the main destinations for countless numbers of smuggling boats launched from the shores of lawless Libya each week packed with people seeking jobs and safety in Europe.

Humanitarian organizations and investigating authorities typically rely on survivors' accounts to piece together how many people may have been killed during a capsizing, relying on overlapping accounts to try to establish a level of veracity.
Russian and U.S. officials blamed each other Tuesday for unsafe maneuvers in an incident involving both countries navies in the Mediterranean Sea on June 17.

According to Reuters, the Russian Defense Ministry said a U.S. destroyer approached dangerously close to a Russian warship and called it a violation of rules to avoid collisions at sea.

A U.S. Defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the Russian warship carried out unsafe and unprofessional operations near two U.S. Navy ships.

Russias Defense Ministry said this latest incident involves the USS Gravely and the Russian Navy frigate Yaroslav Mudry. The U.S. ship allegedly approached the Russian frigate at about 65 to 75 yards from the port side and then crossed in front of it.

However, the U.S. Defense official contends the frigate had repeatedly crossed the stern of the USS Gravely at close proximity" and had "repeatedly asked Gravely to maintain a safe distance, yet continued to maneuver in close proximity to Gravely."

The Yaroslav Mudry also came within 315 yards of the Gravely and five nautical miles of the USS Harry S. Truman, the U.S. official said. The official added that the naval vessels were conducting routine missions in support of the bombing campaign against Islamic State.

"These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries and could result in a miscalculation or accident that results in serious injury or death," the official said.

Russian officials said the incident "shows that it is U.S. sailors who allow themselves to forget the basic principles of safe seafaring and not to think about the eventual consequences of this dangerous maneuvering in regions with intense navigation".

U.S. officials have repeatedly complained about Russian military jets and vessels buzzing and sailing too close to their planes and vessels, calling it dangerous and unprofessional behavior.

The U.S. military said in April that Russian SU-24 bombers made simulated attack passes near the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea. Secretary of State John Kerry called that incident provocative and dangerous.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from Reuters.
Crews said they rescued dozens of teenagers who'd vanished in the mountains of South Wales Wednesday after a search that stretched on for hours.

Paramedics rushed the 26 British teenagers to a hospital, but police said nobody appeared to be injured. They said they'd feared two of the teens were suffering from hypothermia, the BBC reported. Temperatures on the Brecon Beacons were set to drop into the low-40s Fahrenheit with a strong chance of rain, forecasters said.

Search crews said they'd communicated with the teens over the phone. No parents were traveling with the group, rescuer Mark Moran said. Mountain rescuers ultimately spotted them from above.

A British Coast Guard rescue helicopter took part in the search near Abercraf.

The teenagers reportedly were taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award, a youth development challenge that typically includes community service, physical activity and an adventure.

The Brecon Beacons are a one-hour drive northwest of Cardiff.

Click for more from the BBC.
One day after Russia accused a U.S. Navy destroyer of sailing dangerously close to a Russian Navy frigate in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, two U.S. defense officials briefed on the incident told Fox News the Russian Navy was responsible, blatantly ignoring longstanding rules of the road on the high seas.

These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between [Russia and the U.S.], and could result in a miscalculation or accident which results in serious injury or death, one official warned.

The June 17 incident between USS Gravely, a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke class destroyer and Russian frigate Neustrashimyy unfolded near the USS Harry S. Truman, an American aircraft carrier launching airstrikes at the time against the Islamic State terror group, according to the two officials.

Russian Federation Ship (RFS) Neustrashimyy (FF 777) conducted unsafe and unprofessional maritime operations, one official told Fox News.

Russia released a video of the incident through its state-run media yesterday which appears to have been filmed from the bridge of the Russian Navy frigate showing the U.S. and Russian ships maneuvering in close proximity.

While the Russian defense ministry claims the U.S. destroyer sailed close to its vessel, the video appeared to show that it was the Russian ship maneuvering to close the distance with the American warship.

The U.S. Navy destroyer was positioned roughly five miles away from the USS Harry S. Truman to protect the carrier from Russian ships. The Russians recently had made a habit of trying to get close to the battle group, the officials said.

The incident was the latest in a string of highly provocative actions from Russia to try intimidating the United States, according to the officials. In April, Russian jets buzzed a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Baltic Sea conducting a series of high speed passes at close range more than 30 times. A State Department spokesperson said earlier this week harassment of U.S. diplomats in Moscow by Russian spies had increased significantly.

One official said the Neustrashimyy had raised the day shape ball-diamond-ball on her mast, the international signal a ship displays when restricted in her ability to maneuver, when it took position two nautical miles off Gravelys starboard quarter.

The Russian ship repeatedly asked Gravely over VHF radio, a common bridge-to-bridge radio required of all vessels at sea, to maintain a safe distance, while Neustrashimyy continued to maneuver to get closer to Gravely.

As Gravely changed course and speed, Neustrashimyy also changed course and speed, according to one official.

The maneuvering demonstrates that Neustrashimyy was not in fact restricted in her ability to maneuver, and was thus intentionally displaying a false international signal, said one official assessed.

The commanding officer of the U.S. destroyer assessed that Neustrashimyy was intentionally trying to interfere with Harry S. Truman operations, one official said.

The Russian ship came within 315 yards from the U.S. destroyer and five nautical miles to the American aircraft carrier, according to the defense officials.

The distance between Russian and U.S. ships was closer than previous Russian interactions in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, one official said.

The carrier and her strike group recently left the eastern Mediterranean in order to head home to Norfolk, Virginia after a nearly eight-month deployment to conduct airstrikes against ISIS.

The deployment was extended 30 days in order to close the gap between the time the carriers relief was set to arrive in the Mediterranean.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Navy announced that the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower had arrived and had begun launching airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq from the Eastern Mediterranean.
The 45 minutes my bride and I spent hiding in a beauty salon closet at Ataturk Airport felt like an eternity, as the sound of gunfire and bullets ricocheting through the concourse outside echoed in our ears.

Only moments before seeking refuge, we had been happily chatting at a cafe on the ground floor of one of the worlds busiest airports, trying to kill a four-and-a-half-hour layover on the return trip to California following our honeymoon in Athens. The ticket counter wasnt yet open, and we could not pass through security.

The Turks, no strangers to terror attacks, are known for imposing tight security. The airport was on high alert during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and we felt safe as we sipped coffee and talked about our recent wedding in Erbil and Greek honeymoon.

I had gone up to the mezzanine to Sbarro to get pizza for myself and a salad for my wife Narmeen, when I heard gunfire. A journalist, I have covered battles and terror attacks in my homeland of Iraq. I knew instantly that the airport was under attack. I scanned the wide corridor, as a wave of panicked travelers tumbled toward me.

Barely 40 yards away, one floor down on the concourse where my wife waited, I saw a black-clad man wielding an AK-47 and spraying bullets at frightened and scurrying passengers. It was this man whom the world would later see on security video detonate himself moments later after a police officer shot him. I heard the blast as I turned and ran back downstairs to find my wife.

Screams filled the air and I heard bullets whizzing by and rebound off of walls. She was cowering under a table, crying. I pulled her by the arm as I grabbed our passports and ran deeper into the interior of the airport, looking for any hole where we could seek refuge. A small alcove just off the corner caught our eyes, but it was already taken by a family huddled behind their patriarch, fear in their eyes. I remember thinking they looked like sitting ducks. I pray that they survived.

An elevator opened just ahead and offered the possibility of shelter, but for some reason, it felt unsafe. I shoved a chair in between the doors and kept looking. Maybe I was subconsciously leaving an escape route.

At some point, I heard a second explosion. Shots continued to echo through the concourse behind me  the attack lasted roughly an hour  and I could feel the crowd surging behind me. I spied a beauty salon in the middle of a food court, its glass doors closed. I managed to pry open the doors, but once inside, was unable to close them. In retrospect, the glass doors  closed or not  would have afforded no protection from an armed terrorist.

In the back of the salon, we found a door, but when we pounded on it, the staff I believe was hiding inside ignored our pleas. They could not know if we were victims looking for help or killers seeking blood.

Further in, there was a small broom closet. I forced open the door and we piled inside, my heart racing and my wifes sobs magnifying my desperation. I begged her to be quiet.

In the darkened closet, as I held the door closed, we heard a third bomb go off. It sounded near, and the floor and walks shook violently. We would later learn that this sound marked the death of the last terrorist, but for the time being we waited, grimly expecting the door to be flung open and the end to come courtesy of a gun-wielding fanatic.

I held Narmeen tight and kissed her, even as I felt around in the darkness for a knife, a tool or anything that might afford a defense. All we had was a tea kettle still full of hot water that we could hurl at an attacker. We were in the closet for 45 minutes, time punctuated by the cries and screams of people outside. Finally, the door opened from the outside and my heart skipped a beat as we prepared to die.

It was an airport employee, telling us the danger had passed. We moved cautiously out of the salon and onto the concourse where people were still running, screaming, pushing and shoving. The dead and wounded lay on the ground, some being comforted, others being stepped over. There was blood on the floor, and the walls.

Children cried, adults embraced and medics went about their work of saving what lives they could. The panic subsided, but the fear remained.

The next day, the airport reopened.

Steven Nabil is an Assyrian born in Iraq who now lives in Southern California, where he works as a freelance journalist. Follow him at @stevoiraq.


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For the first time, America talked together Wednesday about ending cancer  from a Cancer Moonshot Summit at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to hundreds of simultaneous gatherings in all 50 states on the national day of action to speed cures.

At Fred Hutch, an afternoon-long forum convened scientists, physicians and other top minds from the Hutch and its partners  UW Medicine, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and Seattle Childrens  to discuss how their combined research can save more lives and reduce more suffering.

The coordinated events embodied the largest public push yet for Vice President Joe Bidens Cancer Moonshot initiative, which seeks a decade of medical advances in five years through a $1 billion research infusion and tighter collaboration. To that end, Biden led the national Moonshot conference at Howard University in Washington, D.C., having assembled more than 350 patients, doctors and scientists from across the country.

Im more optimistic than any time since we launched the Moonshot because of what Ive seen and heard today, Biden said in a speech broadcast live to more than 6,000 participants who joined 270 regional summits across the U.S.

The whole world is counting on us. Everywhere I go in the world  this is what they raise with me. They know about what youre doing, they know about what were trying to do. And they want to collaborate as well. Theres a sense of: lets get it done now, Biden said.

The national summit in Washington, D.C., marked the first really full-blown collaboration where stakeholders in science, business, politics, health care, patient advocacy and other key sectors spoke and listened about stopping cancer while sitting in the same room at the same time, Biden said.

Todays events  the summit here in Washington (D.C.) and the regional meetings across the U.S.  are gathering all the right people to have all the right conversations in ways only Vice President Biden can inspire, said Dr. Gary Gilliland, president and director of Fred Hutch, invited by Biden to attend the national meeting. "We can get this done, together."

In Seattle, former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire welcomed to the Hutch local leaders in science, health, business and tech as well as numerous people with personal cancer experiences. About 100 people joined the conversation.
Rosemont Residences, Luxury Rentals in Toronto, Awarded the ASAP Accreditation

Rosemont Residences, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, has received the prestigious ASAP accreditation, which assures prospective residents will receive the highest quality experience available.

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The founders of Rosemont Residences, a property that offers luxury rentals in Toronto, Ontario, are pleased to announce that they have just received the coveted ASAP accreditation.

As a spokesperson for the Toronto luxury rental complex noted, the Association of Serviced Apartment Providers (ASAP) is a quality accreditation tool that is used to assess, report and recognize service apartments in the hospitality industry. The Rosemont Residences, which offers beautiful furnished suites in Toronto, that residents and travelers can count on for their high level of comfort, was part of the accreditation program this past winter. The prestigious accreditation will help Rosemont Residences to be recognized around the world by a noted organization, the spokesperson said. The ASAP accreditation also allows current and future clients to know that the property has maintained a high standard of quality in what they offer their guests. "By being part of ASAP it allows potential guests to know exactly what to expect when staying with us in terms of quality of service and the quality of our furnished suites and unfurnished suites in Toronto," the spokesperson said, adding that when future clients see that The Rosemont Residences is part of an organization that has assessed the level of quality in areas such as housekeeping, guest services, and building maintenance, they will be more confident in their decision to book with the property. "The accreditation is a reflection of the property and standards that Rosemont Residences believes in. This will entice potential residents to book with Rosemont because there is a standard in place and the comfort of knowing that where they are planning to live is a safe and clean environment."

The fact that Rosemont Residences has received such a coveted accreditation will not surprise the many people who have stayed at the property. Since it first opened, Rosemont Residences, which is located at the corner of John and Wellington Streets, has earned a well-deserved reputation for its attractive and comfortable unfurnished and furnished apartments in Toronto.

Anyone who would like to learn more about Rosemont Residences may visit the property's user-friendly website at any time; there, they can learn about the luxurious apartments and amenities.

For more information, please visit http://rosemontresidences.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Patricia Hung

Organization: Rosemont Residences

Address: 50 John Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3T5

Phone: 416-340-1221

Release ID: 121524

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Dental Surgical Ultrasonic Generator Market Growth, Forecast and Analysis Report Up To 2021 : Radiant Insights,Inc

RadiantInsights.com has announced the addition of "Global Dental Surgical Ultrasonic Generator Market Trends, Growth And Forecast Report Up To 2021 : Radiant Insights, Inc" Market Research Report to their Database.

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This report provides detailed analysis of worldwide markets for Dental Surgical Ultrasonic Generator from 2011-2016, and provides extensive market forecasts (2016-2021) by region/country and subsectors. It covers the key technological and market trends in the Dental Surgical Ultrasonic Generator market and further lays out an analysis of the factors influencing the supply/demand for Dental Surgical Ultrasonic Generator, and the opportunities/challenges faced by industry participants. It also acts as an essential tool to companies active across the value chain and to the new entrants by enabling them to capitalize the opportunities and develop business strategies.

Access Full Report With TOC @ http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-dental-surgical-ultrasonic-generator-market-forecast-and-analysis-2016-2021

Dental surgical ultrasonic generators are ultrasonic equipment used in piezosurgery in oral surgery. The piezosurgery device is a new instrument that can be used for bone surgery in a variety of dental surgical specialties. Ultrasounds are sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is not different from 'normal' (audible) sound in its physical properties, only in that humans cannot hear it. This limit varies from person to person and is approximately 20 kilohertz (20,000 hertz) in healthy, young adults. Ultrasound devices operate with frequencies from 20 kHz up to several gigahertz.

Global Dental Surgical Ultrasonic Generator Market Forecast and Analysis 2016-2021, has been prepared based on the synthesis, analysis, and interpretation of information about the global Dental Surgical Ultrasonic Generator market collected from specialized sources. The report covers key technological developments in the recent times and profiles leading players in the market and analyzes their key strategies. The competitive landscape section of the report provides a clear insight into the market share analysis of key industry players. The major players in the global Dental Surgical Ultrasonic Generator market areActeon Group, W&H Group, EMS, Mectron, NSK Dental, Osada.

Request A Sample Copy Of This Report at: www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-dental-surgical-ultrasonic-generator-market-forecast-and-analysis-2016-2021/request-sample

The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Rest of World. In this sector, global competitive landscape and supply/demand pattern of Dental Surgical Ultrasonic Generator industry has been provided.

Table of Contents

Part 1. Scope of Report

1.1 Research Methodology

1.2 Geographic Scope

1.3 Years Considered

Browse All Reports of This Category at: http://www.radiantinsights.com/catalog/medical-devices

Part 2. Introduction

2.1 Key Findings

2.2 Value Chain Analysis

2.2.2 Upstream

2.2.3 Downstream

About Radiant Insights,Inc

Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. We assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. We have a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. In addition to over extensive database of reports, our experienced research coordinators also offer a host of ancillary services such as, research partnerships/ tie-ups and customized research solutions.

For more information, please visit http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-dental-surgical-ultrasonic-generator-market-forecast-and-analysis-2016-2021

Contact Info:

Name: Michelle Thoras

Email: sales@radiantinsights.com

Organization: Radiant Insights, Inc.

Address: 28 2nd Street, Suite 3036 San Francisco

Phone: 4153490054

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/dental-surgical-ultrasonic-generator-market-growth-forecast-and-analysis-report-up-to-2021-radiant-insightsinc/121612

Release ID: 121612

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Should I Sign Launches, Bringing Transparency to Legal Services Industry

"Legal Made Easya - the mantra of a new service that allows New York residents to request and select free, detailed proposals from vetted attorneys, with expansions into other states to come soon

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The founders of Should I Sign Naitik Patel and Tej Prakash, announced the launch of the new Online Legal Marketplace at www.ShouldISign.com. Site visitors from throughout New York State can get a Free Legal Quote now, with service expansions into other states to follow soon.

Should I Sign has been designed from the ground up to do away with the cost- and time-related uncertainties normally faced by small businesses and individuals when they seek legal assistance. Users of the brand-new online legal marketplace submit requests describing their needs, after which pre-vetted attorneys respond with free, detailed, fully transparent proposals. This unique new option is set to disrupt the Online Legal Services industry, saving users time and money and greatly streamlining the process of securing legal counsel for individuals and businesses alike.

"We're excited to announce that Should I Sign is online and now serving residents of New York State," Should I Sign co-founder and co-CEO Tej Prakash said, "Far too much time, effort, and money has been wasted over the years as people and businesses sought help with their legal issues. Should I Sign provides a better way of connecting with the right attorney. With everything from proposed fixed fees to time to completion and scope of work detailed up front through free proposals, our users are already saving time, money, and hassle. We're proud of what we have to offer, and we look forward to opening up the service to those in other states very soon."

While large companies might be able to afford and justify keeping attorneys on staff or retainer, that is rarely the case for individuals and smaller businesses. Instead, most of these occasional users of legal services tend toward ad-hoc means of finding appropriate legal representation.

Word-of-mouth from family members, friends, and business acquaintances might seem convenient, but relying on such sources tends to limit the options and produce less-than-perfect matches. Conventional online legal directories tend to err in the opposite direction, offering up a huge range of choices that can become almost impossible to narrow down with any accuracy or direction.

Should I Sign offers an alternative that is already proving to be just what individuals and SMBs need as they seek to address their unique legal needs. Should I Sign users submit free requests describing their legal-service requirements, after which experienced and; carefully vetted attorneys respond with their proposals.

With Should I Sign enforcing thoroughgoing transparency in the resulting proposals, site users can quickly and easily make well-informed decisions. From pay-per-minute legal consultations over the telephone to fixed-price, legal document review or prepartion. Should I Sign brings light and simplicity to what is otherwise often a murky, complex process. With integrated billing (with accurate automatic call time tracking), messaging and document tools, there is no better way for individuals and businesses to arrange for the legal help they need.

Should I Sign is online now at www.ShouldISign.com and currently available to residents of New York State. Service expansions for visitors from other states is planned for the very near future, and all are invited to visit the site to learn more in the meantime.

About Should I Sign:

With free, detailed proposals from carefully vetted, experienced attorneys, Should I Sign makes it easy for individuals and businesses to arrange for the legal assistance they need.

For more information, please visit http://www.ShouldiSign.com

Contact Info:

Name: Tej Prakash, Co-CEO

Organization: Should I Sign

Address: 1460 Broadway New York, NY, 10036

Phone: 646-661-4023

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/should-i-sign-launches-bringing-transparency-to-legal-services-industry/121651

Release ID: 121651

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Most Fashionable & Stylish Windows Apple Compatible Smartwatches Site Launched

Fashionable Smartwatches launched a new website showcasing its broad selection of smartwatches from leading brands in the market, combining prime functionality with premier fashion & design, to help smartwatch aficionados find the most suitable models for their needs or lifestyle and fashion sense or style.

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The popular Fashionable Smartwatches announced the launch of its new website showcasing its diverse selection of smartwatches, combining the best in fashion, design and style with the latest features and functionality, from the most renowned manufacturers in the market.

More information is available at http://fashionablesmartwatches.com/.

Fashionable Smartwatches has an established reputation online for providing an extensive and carefully selected range of the most fashionable and functional smartwatch models and accessories available on Amazon along with extensive information, ratings and user reviews to help smartwatch aficionados find the most suitable product for their lifestyle and needs as well as their fashion sense and style.

The website has announced an the launch of a new website showcasing its diverse range of smartwatch models, selected for combining the best in fashion, design and style with prime functionality, including the latest in Windows, Apple or Android device compatibility, by some the most renowned brands in the market such as Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Qiufeng, LG, Sony, Huawei, Pebble, LEMFO, Scinex, Fossil Q, Casio, and more.

The broad range of fashionable & functional smartwatch models available on the newly launched Fashionable Smartwatches website are graded with a star based rating system, sorted by 'Best-Selling', 'Most Wished' and 'Top Rated', searchable by name, model or manufacturer and showcased with evaluation, user reviews, price and detailed product features/specifications.

Fashionable Smartwatches explains that "early smartwatch models weren't fashionable. They were merely computerized wristwatches that performed basic tasks, such as calculations, translations, and game-playing. Modern ones are effectively wearable computers with multiple features but also being designed to make the use of smartwatches look fashionable. Our goal is to help you get the fashion you love and the features you desire from your smartwatch."

The popular website adds "some fashions are sporting round faces now, making them look more like traditional timepieces or have separate monochrome and color displays built-in giving it an eye catching appeal. Each model has a unique style and features to suit a dress, a taste, an occasion or a lifestyle and give a new dimension to your smartphone experience. The most fashionable smartwatches are here!"

For more information, please visit http://fashionablesmartwatches.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Willie Brooks

Organization: Viralwave Marketing



Release ID: 121540

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Palm Beach County Residential Property No Obligation Sale Service Expanded

Home Solutions FLA, a Florida based home sale website, has announced a service expansion. The new area of service includes individual cities in Palm Beach County, allowing more people to sell their home through the site.

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A Florida home sale website has announced a service expansion to include individual cities in Palm Beach County, in order to help more local residents sell their property. Home Solutions FLA offers fair all cash offers on any property, allowing clients to get rid of unwanted properties in any condition without the hassle.

More information can be found on the Home Solutions FLA website at: http://homesolutionsfla.com/sell-my-house-fast-lake-worth.

The site explains how interested parties wanting to sell their home in Florida and avoid foreclosure, or clients grappling with divorce, moving, or mortgage payments, can complete a sale whether they're inhabiting the home themselves, renting it out, or if it's not currently habitable.

It goes on to say that sometimes an agent can't sell a home, or selling a property through estate agents might not be for everybody. When a client sells their property through Home Solutions FLA, they don't need to tidy their home or fix the property.

Home Solutions FLA provides a full cash offer within 24 hours of receiving information about a property. Now that its service has expanded to include cities throughout Palm Beach County, new customers only need to provide a small amount of property information in order to receive an offer. They can do this on the Home Solutions FLA website, which has a form for interested parties to fill in to make it as easy as possible to start the home sale process. After the company has received the details, it will review them to make sure the property meets the buying criteria, then contact the client to set up a quick appointment.

During this meeting, Home Solutions FLA will present them with a written, no obligation offer, that can then be closed by a local reputable title company when both parties are satisfied.

A full page of service information is available on the Home Solutions FLA website, where interested parties can find out more about selling their home in the current climate, and how they can use the company to get a better deal for their home.

For more information, please visit http://www.homesolutionsfla.com/sell-my-house-fast-lake-worth/

Contact Info:

Name: Robert Weglewski

Organization: Home Solutions Fla LLC

Address: 12482 Sawgrass Court, Palm Beach Florida 33414

Phone: 1 561 370-8335

Release ID: 121555

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Preschooler Self Esteem & Confidence Building Activities Theories Book Launched

A new book to help parents develop or maintain a preschooler's self-esteem and self-confidence, entitled "I Like Me: 5 Ways for Parents to Help their children Feel Awesome about Themselves" published by Dr. Eleanor Wint and teaching her proven SHINE technique, has been launched.

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Dr. Eleanor Wint announced the release of her latest book, entitled "I Like Me: 5 Ways for Parents to Help their children Feel Awesome about Themselves", teaching proven and tested techniques to help parents develop and grow the self-esteem and self-confidence of preschoolers.

More information is available at http://bit.ly/reachshine.

The newly launched book combines Dr. Eleanor Wint's proven and tested SHINE. technique, developed after years of cross cultural research and observation with families and parents as a professor of social work, with multiple other theories by leading researchers, including the popular Maria Montessori teachings, to provide a comprehensive and valuable 'must-have' preschooler self-esteem and parenting guide.

Developed to help parents or caregivers build and maintain their preschooler's self-esteem, Dr. Eleanor Wint's book details what is self-esteem in preschoolers - between 3-6+ years old - and why it's important, the self-esteem building strategies parents should be aware of, including Dr. Eleanor Wint's own SHINE technique, along with theories behind each strategy and case studies, structured activities to transfer that learning into action and the most common mistakes hurting effective parenting.

It also shares and builds on well-known theories by Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, to help parents and caregivers retain or regain their own personal self-confidence and sense of competence as a parent, by understanding multiple age appropriate behaviors and feeling good about their parenting decisions.

Dr. Judy E. MacDonald, the author of 'Physical Challenges' and in the Canadian Encyclopedia of Social Work explains that "Dr. Wint has creatively crafted a parenting philosophy that draws together development knowledge, practical advice and specific applications. Parenting is the most important skill in our society, yet it requires no license or pre-requisites. Dr. Wint's book should be a parenting pre-requisite".

The author, Dr. Eleanor Wint, reveals that "there are a number of parents and caregivers in every sector of the society who are seeking parenting help from clinicians, courses, one-off workshops and diploma or certificate level programs. I Like Me: 5 Easy Ways for Parents to Help their children feel Awesome about Themselves, is the required text, teaching a technique, the SHINE technique, which is guaranteed to create a care and learning environment in which the self-esteem and self-confidence of the preschooler will flourish".

More information on Dr. Eleanor Wint, the SHINE technique and the new "I Like Me: 5 Ways for Parents to Help their children Feel Awesome about Themselves", published by Friesen Press Canada and available on Amazon or through the publishers, can be consulted on the website link provided above along with multiple testimonials and reader critiques.

For more information, please visit http://bit.ly/reachshine

Contact Info:

Name: Dr. Eleanor Wint

Organization: EAW Publications

Phone: 4166052191

Release ID: 121565

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Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
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Scottish Widows has added a range of protection solutions to its portal for advisers in a bid to make the suite of products more accessible to intermediaries.

The addition of the Scottish Widows Protect range to the life assurers Webline portal are among a host of changes made by the firm  with input from mortgage advisers.

Scottish Widows has also cut the minimum sum assured on life insurance and critical illness cover to 25,000 from 100,000, and introduced a price lock guarantee so that customers are able to budget with the knowledge that their quoted monthly premiums will not change until the policy comes into force.

Johnny Timpson, protection specialist at Scottish Widows, said: These developments add weight to our commitment to offering well-rounded, menu-based protection solutions which suit the mortgage intermediary market just as well as the protection intermediary market.

Theyre based on the feedback weve had from advisers themselves, allowing us to build a better understanding of how Scottish Widows Protect can help their clients as well as help to build their business.

According to a recent survey commissioned by the life office, which took the views of 5,161 UK adults, 50 per cent of mortgage holders have no life cover in place, while only a fifth have a critical illness policy,

A third said that if they or their partner were unable to work for six months or longer due to ill health or personal injury, they would be unable to live on a single income.

Meanwhile, 43 per cent said of these individuals said they would resort to dipping into their savings in order to survive.

Mr Timpson, said: None of us want to think about the worst, but our findings show that there are an alarming number of mortgage holders who are putting themselves at significant risk by failing to arrange cover for the unexpected.

Many people believe that theyll be able to rely on the State if the unforeseen happens, but recent cuts to welfare benefits are exacerbating their vulnerability.

Adviser view

Ben Sear, managing adviser at Cambridge-based Martin Redman Partners, said: I have not spoken to or used Scottish Widows in a while, to be honest, but they are good at what they do. Life assurance is not particularly complex, so as an adviser, all I want is simple products that are easily accessible.
Kames Capital has added to its absolute return franchise with the launch of a new equity fund in a bid to satisfy demand for a cautious investment approach.

The Kames Global Equity Market Neutral Fund will target a positive absolute return over a rolling three year period, with lower volatility than government bonds.

The risk profile is consistent with investors seeking returns of one-month sterling Libor plus 4 percentage points net of 1 per cent annual management charge, according to the firm.

It added the fund will aim to deliver performance with positive returns regardless of market conditions, low levels of volatility and low correlation to underlying markets.

The investment product will be co-managed by Neil Goddin and Craig Bonthron, both of whom current run the 53m Kames Global Equity fund.

The duo will be supported by Malcolm McPartlin who is co-manager on other absolute return vehicles.

The fund will sit alongside the fund houses six existing absolute return funds and will be available in the UK, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Guernsey, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Its base currency will be sterling, but there will also be euro, US dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc share classes.

Provider view

Stephen Adams, head of equities at Kames Capital, said: We are acutely aware of investors fundamental focus on capital preservation, especially in current market conditions. The new fund enables us to continue to meet this demand from a global perspective, while remaining true to our philosophy of providing real market neutral returns.

The new fund will blend quantitative and fundamental research in a well-defined investment process. It complements our existing absolute return franchise, providing investors with a wide choice of strategies.

Adviser view

Malcolm Steel, a chartered financial planner with Edinburgh-based Mearns & Company, said: As a business, I say that we probably take a more cautious approach to investments compared to our peers. Our clients seem to share our approach but whether that is a reflection of UK investors as a whole is difficult to say. I think the volatility that has been around, particularly in the past five or six years, has made people more anxious in terms of investments.

I am quite suspicious of absolute return investment strategies because some of the instruments used, like derivatives, can easily blow up. I think these products are often marketed as safe propositions but they can indeed make a loss.

He added: For a fund adopting an absolute return strategy, the AMC is quite competitive. The high minimum investment figure suggests the fund is not a proposition for the mass market.

Charges

The funds B-share class will have an annual management charge of 1 per cent and minimum initial investment is 500,000.

Verdict

Recent history has seen a shift in risk appetite to a more a cautious approach among investors amid a prolonged period of uncertainty and volatility which continues to affect stock markets across the globe. As Mr Steel mentioned, absolute return products can come across as a silver bullet solution to those looking for stable returns but the strategy does not deny the potential for capital loss. Intermediaries should ensure that this message is communicated to their clients. Here, with minimum investment set at 500,000, it seems that the proposition is targeted to high net-worth investors rather than mass affluent retail consumers.
Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) and Aberdeen have shifted down the market value of their open-ended property funds by 4.2 per cent and 3.75 per cent respectively.

The moves come after last weeks decision by UK voters to leave the EU created uncertainty over the outlook for the asset class.

LGIM and Aberdeen have followed Henderson and Standard Life Investments (SLI) by carrying out these fair value adjustments on property offerings in the wake of the vote. The adjustments would potentially make redemptions less likely.

LGIM said the change to its 2.5bn UK Property fund came, along with a move to weekly valuations of its underlying assets, at a time when it had become very difficult to assess accurately the impact of the Leave vote on commercial property values.

The company added it had the ability to move to more frequent valuations as market circumstances require.

Aberdeen enacted a similar change on its 646m UK Property offering, representing a downward shift of 3.75 per cent.

The fund house noted that properties coming to market now were unlikely to achieve recent valuations in terms of sale price - at least for the time being.

Henderson and SLI also both cited the potential effect of the referendum result on commercial property prices.

An M&G spokesperson confirmed there were no plans for price adjustments on its 4.7bn Property Portfolio. However, the fund is now monitoring valuations on a weekly basis, instead of monthly.

Previously, Henderson, SLI, M&G, Aberdeen and Columbia Threadneedle had all shifted their open-ended property funds to bid pricing, effectively wiping several percentage points off returns, as sentiment turned against the asset class in the build up to the vote.
As Financial Adviser went to press, the political and financial shockwaves of the UK electorates decision to vote to leave the EU were still being felt.

The implications of the result of the referendum, in which 52 per cent of voters made clear that they wanted to leave the economic and political bloc which the UK joined 42 years ago, are too complex and far-reaching to outline in a leader column such as this.

The biggest certainty of the Leave mandate is the uncertainty it creates for our entire industry.

From fund managers to pension advisers, to mortgage brokers and protection specialists, no one can be sure what will happen next.

At the beginning of the week it was being reported that some international investment banks were considering relocating their headquarters from London to mainland Europe.

This is probably to be expected, but is by no means a given.

As Chancellor George Osborne came out of a three-day self-imposed purdah in a press conference aimed at calming the markets, there were also fears the UK economys precarious recovery could be over.

None of this was helped by the resignation of the Prime Minister David Cameron and an increasingly likely challenge to the position of the main opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.

There could be a General Election, and the will of the Scottish and Northern Irish  who voted to remain in the EU  may trigger a constitutional crisis and a second referendum.

These are all unknowns. But, thankfully, they are not necessarily negative outcomes.

With change comes challenge, something the human spirit generally thrives on. Our ancestors didnt have it quite so easy as us, and look how far they have helped to get us.

Back to the present, and clients will be looking for a soothing voice and a willing ear. They will need someone to remind them that every challenge is an opportunity and to look to the future  one where the value of independent financial advice has never been so important.
Sometimes, consumer personal finance journalism lets the public down. Not always (as I hear some of you say), just occasionally. Mea culpa and all that.

When people like me and my compatriots in the national press are busy campaigning  on anything from broken pension promises to crass government policy  we are at our finest. We earn our modest salaries in spades and we get results. Readers love us  which goes against conventional wisdom that says everyone hates the press.

It must also be said when we attempt to raise the levels of personal finance education (sadly lacking among both youngsters and adults), we on the whole do a mighty good job. We should do more of this nuts-and-bolts journalism.

But some of the time, our writing is a little lacking in imagination or appropriateness. For example, we write about investment opportunities in Japan when really few readers are that interested in such investment specifics.

More appropriate would be articles on whether people should be investing for the long term  an issue raised recently by Paul Lewis of Radio 4 Money Box fame, who believes cash  rather than equities  is often king. He is so convinced of his argument that he now uses his pension to hoard cash.

We as a profession, also tend to be a little too product-focused when we should be looking at the whole  the greater financial picture.

I raise these issues not because I want to beat myself up or self-flagellate in public. I do so because I have just taken time out to read a very interesting book on personal finance  and it has made me reflect on what I do for a living and whether I could do it better.

It is one of the best money books I have read in a long time  certainly, better than the rambling tome I wrote on personal finance in 2001 for the Mail on Sunday, although I was astonished recently to see that it is still available on Amazon for the princely sum of 32.78 (paperback edition).

A collectors item  Jeffs Lunchbox (1995) has not fared so well, and is still available at 6.99, although some used copies are on offer from 0.01.

The book in question is written by Chris Budd of Ovation Finance, a Bristol-based financial planner. It is called The Financial Wellbeing Book, and it is a gem (I do not use such a word lightly).

No jargon, lots of anecdotes and tips, and little focus on products, bar the odd mention of critical illness insurance, medical insurance and income protection. Written in plain English and, amazingly, it is a joy to read.
See The Latest Titles on the Xbox One Backwards Compatibility Feature This July

If there's anything the month of July signifies something to Xbox gamers, it is the fact that every single one of them is waiting for the next Xbox One backwards compatibility title on the list. While Microsoft constantly updates the feature, it's different when it is the end of the month and gamers are expecting some fresh new titles coming in.

This week however, is no different from last week as the latest update on the backwards-compatible feature remains unchanged. For the July issue of the Xbox One backwards compatibility feature, the titles "Left 4 Dead" and "Portal 2" are confirmed games for July. The later part of June also revealed some interesting titles said to be available in July and they include 'Babel Rising," "Anomaly Warzone Earth," "Brain Challenge," "Lazy Raiders," "SEGA Bass Fishing," "XCOM: Enemy Within," "Monopoly Plus" and "Foul Play."

Interestingly, EXPRESS UK featured "Fallout: New Vegas" as the latest entry in the Xbox One backwards compatibility titles. If it's any consolation to mention the "Grand Theft Auto IV" arriving on the Microsoft feature, then it may bring some light knowing that GTA IV is trailing behind "Fallout: New Vegas" meaning, it may arrive soon after.

The highly anticipated "Red Dead Redemption" unfortunately fails to join the list. In fact, not a hint of its possible appearance on the Xbox One backwards compatibility feature has been mentioned. In any case, it shouldn't be hard for Microsoft to do that. After all, "Red Dead Redemption" has once appeared in the backwards-compatible feature long enough for players to try it out before Microsoft has to pull it out from the Xbox One Store.

Microsoft is committed in bringing you the latest on the Xbox One backwards compatibility feature so make sure not to miss the latest titles by getting the latest updates from GameNGuide.com.
Ben Higgins, Lauren Bushnell Split: The Bachelor 2016 Star Stopped Wedding Preparations; Fiancee Totally Devastated? Couple Breaking Up Soon? [RUMORS]

Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell have been hitting the breakup headlines for quite some time now. Recently, reports are claiming that "The Bachelor" 2016 couple's wedding is not happening anymore as there are no serious plans as of yet.

Ben Higgins stopped wedding preparations, Lauren Bushnell devastated

Rumor mill is spreading that Ben Higgins has already stopped the wedding preparations as he does want to focus more on his political career than any other things. It has been reported that "The Bachelor" 2016 star is now planning to vie a seat in the Colorado House of Representative.

Being known to be the most successful and popular "The Bachelor" by far, sources have claimed that Ben Higgins would like to make use of fame and influence to get into politics. As a matter of fact, the fiance of Lauren Bushnell has reportedly stopped all the wedding preparations to focus on his campaign.

Well, Lauren Bushnell has slightly hinted that no wedding is happening soon as serious plans are made as of yet. The fiancee of Ben Higgins has told People she and "The Bachelor" 2016 star have already talked some stuff about their impending wedding but nothing is final as of yet.

Fans have been concerned about the Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell wedding as more or less six months have already passed since "The Bachelor" 2016 has ended. Though their engagement has been confirmed, no actual wedding plans have been released until now.

'The Bachelor' 2016 couple Ben Higgins, Lauren Bushnell splitting very soon

Meanwhile, GamenGuide has previously reported the relationship of Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell are currently on the rocks after "The Bachelor" 2016 winner found out about her fiance's cheating scandal. According to reports, Lauren Bushnell was depressed after learning Ben Higgins has contacted Jojo Fletcher and a former college girlfriend while they are still on the show.

Sources said Lauren Bushnell was upset and now afraid of trusting Ben Higgins again. Aside from that, "The Bachelor" 2016 winner is also said to be moving back to Los Angeles as she is not happy living in Denver with Ben Higgins.

Up until now, no one knows the current state of Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell's relationship. However, it seems like "The Bachelor" 2016 couple is doing very well as they are set to star in their own reality star called "Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After."
The Linn County Sheriffs Office has released the identity of a Salem woman who was found dead east of Sweet Home on Saturday.

Nevertheless, an autopsy was conducted Monday morning at the Oregon State Medical Examiners office in Portland. The examiner was unable to find a cause of death and will wait for toxicology reports, which can take up to 90 days, to make a determination.
Jimmy Goode Jr. was enthusiastic about making people smile and laugh. The Albany man, who was intellectually disabled, possessed a warm and upbeat personality and loved to pass out hugs.

He died at the age of 57 late last year, but his vibrant spirit will live on at the Chamberlin House's Activity Center, which is being named in his honor.

The organization serves disabled Linn County residents, and the renaming ceremony is scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday at the center, 1923 Waverly Drive S.E.

Joy Henkle, a Chamberlin House board member, said that Jimmy was important in breaking down stereotypes and showing that intellectually disabled people can live rich, full lives.

He was super well-known within the community. He worked at Oregon Freeze Dry. He had a job.  He would walk the streets and people knew him by name. Just a sweetheart of a guy, she said.

Society was just opening up to the idea that the intellectually disabled could function. He was one of the early ambassadors in Linn County to show you could do that. You didnt have to institutionalize folks, Henkle added.

Many residents might remember Jimmy best as Santa Claus. He dressed up as the jolly old soul to visit schools and even became the official Santa for the Albany Christmas Parade.

He also read Bible passages as a lay reader for the Albany Presbyterian Church.

Jimmys parents became advocates for the disabled after his birth.

In 1979, Jim and Nancy Goode established the Chamberlin House, Linn Countys first group home for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The goal was to provide a stimulating and safe place to live where residents could be as independent as possible.

The facility was named after Nancy Goodes parents, who provided funding for the first home, which is still in use by five residents at 808 Elm St., near Samaritan Albany General Hospital. Jimmy was one of the first people to live in the house.

Today, Chamberlin House Inc. has five group houses, an apartment complex and the Activity Center, and it provides homes for and serves more than 35 adults.

Many of them work in the community, said Judie Foster-Lupkin, executive director of Chamberlin House Inc. They love these social interactions. It gives them not only self worth but a purpose. They love riding the bus with their friends and contributing to their work. And they love getting a paycheck, like the rest of us, Foster-Lupkin said.

And they use their paychecks to go out to eat, go shopping or even go on vacations across the country.

America has become far more enlightened about people with intellectual disabilities than when Jimmy was young.

But its also progressed a long way just in the 13 years that Foster-Lupkin has been working in the field.

People are much more integrated in the community, she said.

The Activity Center hosts weekly movie nights and bingo, as well as holiday celebrations and other events, which provide Chamberlin House residents a chance to socialize.
May 29, 1936  June 9, 2016

Louise Marie Leslie was born in Melrose Park, Illinois, to Cecil and Gertrude Rodgers. Louise attended St. Paul Lutheran School through eighth grade, followed by Walther Lutheran High School in Melrose Park. In 1951, her family relocated to the Northwest and settled in Corvallis. She graduated from Corvallis High School in 1954.

She attended Concordia College in Oakland, California, but then transferred to Concordia Junior College in Portland and became the first and only girl graduate in the class of 1956; the first year the college became coed.

Louise taught at Twin Falls, Idaho, and in Sherwood. She served as a parish worker at St. Johns Lutheran in Salem. She worked at Bible Book House in Salem marketing curriculum for churches and schools. She then went to work in Glendale, California, for Gospel Light Publications. During her time in Glendale, she became acquainted with Evangelist faith healer Kathryn Kuhlman. Louise began traveling as Kathryns secretary. Louise was an active member of Lutheran Womens Missionary League.

In 1975 Louise met and married Jerold Leslie. Soon after they married, Jerold and Louise moved to Corvallis where they settled and remained in the area. In Corvallis, Louise taught school, and for a time, cared for foster children at Logston Boys Ranch.

Jerold and Louise loved to travel and spend time with their family and friends. She continued to travel into her late 70s included a few trips to Africa to visit friends overseas. Jerold passed away in 2011.

Louise is survived by her siblings, Wayne Rodgers, Susan Mark and Rebecca Gaynor; adopted son John Leslie; and his children, as well as many nieces, nephews, church family and friends she loved as family.

Louise was very active in her church up to the time of her death. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 2, at Peace Lutheran Church in Philomath.
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
Controversial issue : Bonn Cafe bans diaper-changing parents

BONN Parents are banned from a cafe after changing a diaper in the restaurant. They are angry but the cafe owner cites hygiene and the well-being of other guests as critical.

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A 36-year-old mother is furious, We are actually banned from a Bonn Cafe, only because we changed our sons diapers, she told General Anzeiger. She and her nine-month-old son, along with her husband visited the cafe just as they do every Sunday after church. They meet there regularly with friends. We had been out for awhile so I wanted to put on a fresh diaper, said the mother.

Because there was no changing table, she put down a cloth on a bench in the cafe and changed her sons diaper. She notes, There were really no more guests there, otherwise I wouldnt have done it. The place has no changing table. What else could I do? When the family went to pay the bill, they were told they were no longer welcome there.

Responding to an inquiry from GA, the owner of the cafe paints a different picture. Guests had already complained to us, some had already left because of that, she said. Weeks before that, the mother had changed the diaper and breast fed multiple times. We never said anything but when guests complain, then we have to do something. Would you like to see that when you are eating your cake? commented the owner. We have very high standards of hygiene and we are obligated to maintain these standards. It doesnt work to have diapers changed directly next to food.

Noise from kids and gastronomy, this is always a thorny topic, says Christoph Becker, head of tourism network Dehoga. We cant give any general recommendations for how a gastronomer should conduct themselves, he comments. He has understanding for the cafe owner stepping in to do something when guests feel disturbed. Often, its enough to just have a conversation with the parents, says Becker. As well, there is no law saying restaurants must have a changing table in the restrooms. Perhaps they could have done it in the stroller, somewhat removed from the area, suggests Becker.

Mohamed Boudich, regional head of the Food, Beverage and Restaurant Union, has a different take. Kids belong to our society and therefore also in public. In these days, a modern restaurant should provide such a possibility. This isnt an extra service, it should be a normal part of what they offer, he finds.

For the mother, the cafe ban is more than an annoyance. I am shocked. The ban is really a deep cut into our social life. We have been pushed out from a part of the public space, she laments. The parents have already contacted city authorities responsible for children and youth.

In 2015, a mother complained that she was politely but firmly asked to leave a different cafe after breast feeding her 4-month-old daughter. The owner also pointed out that guests had complained that they felt disturbed.
Independent Bonn International School : Students recognized for outstanding performance

BONN International primary students were awarded prizes for outstanding achievements at IBIS in a ceremony held on Monday.

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In the school auditorium of Independent Bonn International School (IBIS), 18 students were awarded with certificates for their outstanding performances throughout the school year. School director Irene Bolik presented the awards at the 25th annual prize ceremony on Monday.

One of the main prizes is the ECIS Award for international understanding. This year, the award went to 11-year-old Banga Ona Baseckaite from Lithuania. She speaks three languages and was commended for her positive attitude in life and towards other cultures. Bolik also praised her for a positive contribution to the school environment by bringing different people together for the good of the community.

IBIS is a member of ECIS (European Council of International Schools) and COBIS (Council of British International Schools) and the prizes are handed out every year in association with these organizations. They are awarded to students who have demonstrated outstanding academic and social achievements throughout the entire school year. The COBIS prize for outstanding academic achievement went to Clemens Dahmen, Valentina Flath and Zarah Verleg, and the IBIS prize to Alexander Caldwell and Matej Cervinsky.
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Protecting the worlds oceans  an important goal of Germanys climate diplomacy

The worlds oceans are vital to our survival. They regulate the global climate and are a source of food and income for billions of people. Only a very small part of the seas enjoys legal protection, however. Our diplomats are working in New York right now to change this state of affairs.
Google Play Store #1

It is quite easy to find the option to update your apps manually or automatically. To control the app updates, you must go to the Settings option and select if you want to auto-update apps. Notably, you can customize the same as per requirement at any time in the future.

Also, on the app's page, you can choose whether or not you want the app to get automatic updates. This will be helpful to read the changelog before you update a particular app as you will get to know the changes that the update will bring to the table.

Google Play Store #2

You might have heard or experienced paying for huge in-app purchases as your child might have accidentally purchased the add-ons. There is a way to prevent the same from the Settings of Google Play Store.

Under Settings, there is an option known as User Controls. In this option, there is Parental Controls. Turn it off to let the Play Store restrict games as per the rating. By enabling this, you need to provide a password to make every purchase letting you save money.

Google Play Store #3

Getting a refund is one of the useful features on the Google Play Store. This way, you can get a refund on an app that you don't like. Though many people do not pay for apps and software, it is a great feature that can be used. To get a refund, you need to go to the Play Store within 2 hours of download and find the app and hit the green button stating Refund.

Google Play Store #4

Google loves to give away free content to its users. This way, you can install a paid app or get in-app purchases without any paying a penny as these might be available for free.

Google Play Store #5

Be default, the apps that you download will be positioned in a free spot on the home screen. But, in case, you do not want the same to happen, you can customize the same. Go to Settings in the Google Play Store and de-select the option that says Add icon to the Home screen. This way, the apps that you download will be listed in the app drawer and your home screen will not be cluttered.

Google Play Store #6

Did you know that you can pre-register for the upcoming titles on the Play Store? Well, this is possible with the PC and console games. Google has introduced this option for the Android users letting them pre-register for the apps. It will send you a push alert whenever the app is available for download be it a paid or a free one.

Google Play Store #7

When did you last give a star rating to the apps that you downloaded? Well, you may think that it is unnecessary to rate an app. But, the rating will contribute to the community of Android users and help the other users find new content.

Google Play Store #8

It is quite easy to take a look at the applications listed for download on the Play Store. But, creating a wishlist of the apps is very useful. This way, you can add your favorite app to the wishlist and return to the Play Store to download the same later whenever you want to. You can do this by clicking on the bookmark icon on the app's page.
Xiaomi MIUI 8 with Mi Max coming to India: 8 New Features of the updated UI Features oi -Harshita

Xiaomi India is gearing up to launch the Mi Max smartphone along with the MIUI 8 in an event scheduled for June 30 in India. The company introduced its latest native UI, the MIUI 8 ROM last month in China and is now bringing it to India. The new UI is based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow version, and brings an array of new features, improvements, and bug fixes.

The MIUI 8 boasts a redesigned interface which is more in sync with Google's Material Design. Xiaomi now seems to be working on a new split screen multitasking feature, similar to the Android N split screen feature, to let users run two app windows simultaneously. The feature is already available on Samsung Galaxy Note series smartphones and is a part of Apple iOS 9. The feature could be unveiled on June 30, when the company's VP Hugo Barra will be launching the MIUI 8 running on Mi Max smartphone.

Here we take a look at 8 most interesting features of the MIUI 8, which is available in beta for Xiaomi phones including the Mi 5.

New and high-res Wallpaper Carousel:

The wallpaper carousel was introduced with MIUI 7, and became quite popular. Xiaomi MIUI 8 will feature more wallpapers, as it has now increased the catalog of high-quality lock screen wallpapers to offer 12 categories in total, with over 50 media partners.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy Folder 2 spotted on GFXBench: 7 Things to know!



Revamped gallery app:

For the photography enthusiasts, the new MIUI 8 gets a revamped Gallery app, which is claimed to be 90% more space efficient. It lets users add filters, crop photos, features quick share controls by swiping up, allows doodling on photos, add captions, stickers and music, and more. It allows editing videos with filters, crop and music.

Mi Lanting font:

With the MIUI 8, Xiaomi has introduced a new font called Mi Lanting that offers a better reading experience on mobile devices. However, the feature has been restricted for China users only.

SEE ALSO: Twitter Goes Snapchat way, Introduces Stickers: Here is how to use it!

Notes now get grid layout:

The MIUI 8 lets users set a password or fingerprint impression to secure their notes on the phone. The updated Notes app also let users make use of different types of templates for sharing the notes, and allows easy navigation between notes via a grid layout.

Bumped up SMS security:

The new upgraded Xiaomi UI is capable of detecting scam and fraud text messages, and warns users in case of suspicious messages.

SEE ALSO: HP Spectre vs Apple MacBook: Thinnest Laptops at war!

Upgraded Scanner app:

Xiaomi has upgraded the scanner app on MIUI 8, which can now be used to scan QR codes for other apps like Wechat and Alipay, can scan barcodes in objects and search for them on ecommerce platforms. They can also snap photos of objects to identify them online on Taobao, solve math problems using the Math mode. Again, this feature is limited to China.

Power Saving Mode:

One of the most important update that the MIUI 8 brings is more efficiency to battery. It saves power by freezing apps running in the background, and limiting chain start up by preventing unessential apps from starting up.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to feature 3600mAh battery: 7 Reasons why You should wait for it!

Convert currencies using Calculator App:

The Calculator app in MIUI can now convert currencies. Xiaomi has upgraded the Calculator app to give it make it more useful than being just number calculating tool. It can now give live currency conversion, though for certain currencies, and can convert Celcius to Fahrenheit degree, and more.

Best Mobiles in India
Intense immersion training readies 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, extreme simulation

US Marine Corps News

By Lance Cpl. Aaron Fiala | June 28, 2016

Marines with Company B, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, trained in a simulated African village where they conducted patrols and defended the village from insurgents operating nearby during a training exercise at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., June 23, 2016.

Cpl. Tyler N. Thomas, a squad leader with Co. B, 2nd Platoon, explained that the infantry immersion trainer uses role-players to get these Marines hands-on experience working with stressful situations in various scenarios.

During the exercise, the villagers wanted the Marines to take charge of the situation, but several factors induced stress on the situation. Among the sounds and smell of the environment, the Marines were faced with a language barrier as villagers tried to make their voices heard.

"It gives us a good chance to see what it will be like on a deployment because it immerses us in the environment," said Lance Cpl. Christopher Bastian, a squad leader with the unit.

As the Marines continued their patrol throughout the foreign area, a simulated suicide bomber revealed herself in a group of civilians and Marines. In the panic, two villagers and a Marine simulated injuries.

Mock casualties wore fake stomachs that looked like they had been blown open. Any Marine who was wounded during the training was replaced with a realistic training dummy that could bleed from its wounds.

Then the Marines had to secure the area from any other threats and help treat the wounded.

While retrieving the wounded Marine, two role players acting as insurgents opened fire, sending panic throughout the village and causing even more chaos and confusion in the streets. Several Marines who heard the gunshots located the threat inside and were able to take him into police custody.

"When the real enemy is there it's not going to be controlled," said Thomas in regards to their training verses a real-life combat situation. Doing this training definitely alleviates the stress and friction that can add to a real-life scenario."

While the village's police force were detaining the gunmen, several villagers and Marines were tending to the others injured in the simulated suicide-bombing.

Complications like this in training are what helps these Marines learn to overcome obstacles, prevent casualties and save people in real life.

"Our job is to answer America's call," said Thomas. "We need to have that confidence that these Marines will be able to get the mission accomplished and come home alive"

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Venezuela ruling party may seek to dissolve congress

Iran Press TV

Tue Jun 28, 2016 5:31PM

Venezuela's coalition government is reportedly seeking to dissolve the congress, as rifts keep widening between President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition, which controls the chamber.

The ruling coalition spokesman Didalco Bolivar said Tuesday that Maduro's side "has started discussions to request a consultation with the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court" with the aim of "the abolition of this National Assembly."

The move came after controversy emerged out of a move by some members of the congress who had collected signatures for a recall vote to cut the term in office of Maduro. Sources in Maduro's United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) claimed there were irregularities during the gathering of signatures and said the government may submit a request to the high court to dissolve the parliament over the fraud.

Jorge Rodriguez, a senior member of the PSUV and a former vice president, said Monday that the opposition disregarded Venezuela's constitution when collecting signatures because, in his words, they could not validate the number of signatures they provided to the National Electoral Council (CNE).

He said the PSUV would report on the irregularities caused by the Unified Democratic Panel (MUD) during the signature gathering.

Venezuelan opposition leaders claimed earlier in the week that they had authenticated enough signatures on a petition to step up the campaign for a recall referendum.

Referendum coordinator Vicente Bello said on June 24 that the number of signatures had "clearly exceeded the minimum needed."

However, Rodriguez told the state-run news agency AVN that a total of 1,957,779 signatures were delivered to the CNE, of which some 1,352,052 were valid. He said those invalid signatures included signatures of the dead people, non-existent identification numbers, minors, and also politically-disqualified people.

Rodriguez said the opposition failed to validate the number of signatures it previously delivered to the electoral body.

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Pentagon Contacts Moscow About US Destroyer's Encounter With Russian Ship

Sputnik News

23:30 28.06.2016

The United States is in contact with Russian authorities about the incident concerning a Russian frigate approaching the US guided missile destroyer Gravely in the Mediterranean Sea, US Department of Defense spokesperson Michelle Baldanza told Sputnik on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, Russia's Defense Ministry said that a US destroyer violated international and bilateral agreements in June by approaching the Russian frigate Yaroslav Mudry dangerously close.

"We are aware of an incident in which the USS Gravely was approached by a Russian ship in the Mediterranean Sea on June 17, 2016," Baldanza stated. "We are following up on this incident through appropriate military discussion channels with the Russians."

The Russian Defense Ministry said the US crew breached article 3 of the Russia-US agreement on avoiding incidents at sea, which stipulates that ships operating in close proximity of one another should maintain a reasonable distance to minimize the risk of collision.

An anonymous US defense official, cited by Reuters, claimed on Tuesday that the Russian frigate carried out an "unsafe and unprofessional" operation in the vicinity of the US vessel.

 Sputnik

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Russian Helicopters Transfers Two Mi-17 Choppers to Serbian Military

Sputnik News

13:52 28.06.2016(updated 14:28 28.06.2016)

According to the holding press release, Russian Helicopters company has carried out the first delivery of its choppers to Serbia.

MOSCOW/BELGRADE (Sputnik)  The Russian Helicopters company has carried out the first delivery of its choppers to Serbia, transferring two Mi-17V-5 to the country's defense ministry, the holding said in a press release Tuesday.

"The Russian Helicopters holding carried out the delivery of two multipurpose Mi-17V-5 helicopters, manufactured at the Kazan Helicopters, to the Serbian Defense Ministry. The delivery was carried out under a contract signed by Rosoboronexport," the press release read.

The Mi-17V-5, NATO reporting name "Hip," is one of the most advanced modifications of the Mi-17 family.

Russian Helicopters is a leading player in the global helicopter industry and one of the few companies worldwide with the capability to design, manufacture, service and test modern civilian and military helicopters, according to a statement on the company's website.

 Sputnik

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UN Security Council strongly condemns terrorist attacks in Lebanon

28 June 2016  The United Nations Security Council has condemned "in the strongest terms" three consecutive terrorist attacks that occurred yesterday in the northern town of Qaa, which resulted in a number of deaths and injuries.

"Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of its motivation," Council members said in a statement issued on Monday night. "[It] should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group."

According to media reports, suicide bombers killed at least five people and wounded another 28 in the town located in the Bekaa Valley, near the border with Syria.

In their statement, the Council members stressed the need to suppress and prevent the financing of terrorism, terrorist organizations and individual terrorists, and underlined the need to bring the perpetrators of attack to justice.

The Council members also expressed their deep sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the people and Government of Lebanon, and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

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In Jerusalem and Gaza, Ban urges 'courageous steps' for lasting two-State solution

28 June 2016  Following a meeting this morning in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the leader to take the "courageous steps" necessary for a negotiated two-State solution in order to bring lasting peace, security and dignity for the people of both Israel and Palestine.

"No solution to the conflict will be possible without the recognition that both Palestinians and Jews have an undeniable historic and religious connection to this land," the Secretary-General said at a joint press conference with Mr. Netanyahu.

"No solution can come through violence, it must be based on mutual respect and the recognition of the legitimate aspirations of both peoples," he added. "No solution can be imposed from the outside, it must be based on direct negotiations on the final status issues."

Noting that he was proud that, during his term as Secretary-General, cooperation between Israel and the UN has deepened in a variety of fields, including the promotion of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Mr. Ban said he is also pleased that Israel has been expanding its presence and role in the UN over the past 10 years.

Underlying causes of violence must be addressed

Lamenting that his previous visit to Jerusalem in October last year took place during the peak of the recent wave of violence, the UN chief highlighted that the frequency of terror attacks and clashes have decreased.

"Yet we must not mistake short-term quiet for a long-term solution. We must not allow difficulties to become excuses for inaction," he emphasized, indicating that the risk of renewed violence remains high, while attacks, such as the deadly shooting in Tel Aviv earlier this month, continue.

The Secretary-General stressed that security measures alone will not be enough to resolve the underlying causes of the cycles of violence that Israelis and Palestinians have been struggling with. Instead, he pointed to hope, as well as leadership that is committed to peace and a lasting solution, as necessary requirements for achieving peace.

"We cannot ignore key underlying causes of violence: growing Palestinian anger, the paralysis of the peace process, and nearly a half century of occupation. [None] of these causes justify terror. They can only be resolved through bold political action," the UN chief said.

Mr. Ban highlighted that during his nearly 10 years as Secretary-General, he was proud to say that he had always been a committed friend of Israel, having worked hard to show his sincere friendship for the country. He also noted that his conversations with Mr. Netanyahu had helped him understand Israel's frustrations and fears.

"At the same time, Mr. Prime Minister, I encourage you to take the courageous steps necessary to prevent a one-state reality of perpetual conflict that is incompatible with realizing the national aspirations of the Israeli and Palestinian people," Mr. Ban said.

"The international community can and must support all of these efforts," he added. "I pledge my full commitment. This may be my last year as Secretary-General, but I will work until the last minute of my mandate for peace, security and justice and dignity for the people of Israel and Palestine."

Palestinian leaders must 'take responsibility for reconciliation'

Earlier today, the Secretary-General travelled to Gaza, where he visited a school run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Speaking to the media following the visit, he reminded the international community of its "ongoing responsibility to act decisively for peace," and urged Palestinian leaders to take responsibility for reconciliation.

Recalling his personal experience of seeing his own country, the Republic of Korea, recover from the devastation of war, Mr. Ban said he knew what it is like to live as a displaced person on the move with no home.

"And I know what the United Nations can do to help. I stand with the people of Gaza to say that the United Nations will always be with you," he said. "They are enduring enormously difficult living conditions. The closure of Gaza suffocates its people, stifles its economy and impedes reconstruction efforts. It is a collective punishment for which there must be accountability."

Noting that some 70 per cent of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance, the UN chief also highlighted that more than half of Gaza's youth have little to no job prospects or horizons of hope.

"This situation cannot continue. It feeds anger and despair. It increases the danger of a new escalation of hostilities, which can only bring further suffering to the people of Gaza," Mr. Ban said. "We need to speak openly of the challenges and the unacceptable difficulties that the people of Gaza face. Of the humiliation of the occupation and the closures, but also of the division between Gaza and the West Bank."

"Palestine is one and until Gaza and the West Bank are united under a single, democratic and legitimate Palestinian government, based on the rule of law and the [Palestine Liberation Organization] PLO principles, Gaza's prospects for full recovery will be limited," he added.

The Secretary-General is expected to visit the West bank later on Tuesday.

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Yemeni forces kill senior militant commander in Ma'rib

Iran Press TV

Wed Jun 29, 2016 6:11PM

Yemen's army and popular committees have engaged in fierce clashes with the Saudi-backed mercenaries in the province of Ma'rib, killing a senior militant commander.

According to Yemen's al-Massira television, the Yemeni forces killed Qassem al-Salafi and a group of his supporters on Tuesday evening in the Hailan district of Ma'rib.

Pro-Riyadh media reports also confirmed the death of Salafi, the commander of al-Forsan battalion, which is affiliated to the mercenaries of Saudi Arabia.

Salafi was one of the senior militant commanders of the mercenaries that played an important role in the foundation of the so-called national army in 2015, the reports said.

Salafi had also commanded the most important battles with the Yemeni troops in Ma'rib, especially the battles of the Sirwah district.

Saudi airstrikes continue

On Wednesday, Saudi warplanes continued to pound the Yemeni provinces of Sana'a and Sa'ada in violation of a UN-brokered ceasefire. There were no immediate reports of possible casualties.

On Tuesday, at least 40 civilians were killed as Saudi warplanes bombed Ta'izz province.

Earlier on Wednesday, the United Nations said Yemen's peace talks will be adjourned until after the holy month of Ramadan, which ends next week.

UN Special Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said the warring sides of the conflict will resume talks in Kuwait City on July 15.

Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against Yemen on March 26, 2015, in a bid to bring Yemen's resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, back to power and crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

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Deadly Explosions Hit Istanbul International Airport

June 28, 2016

At least 36 people were killed and scores more wounded in a suicide attack on Istanbul's main international airport late on June 28.

Turkish officials say three suicide bombers arrived at Istanbul's Ataturk airport by taxi and blew themselves up at the entrance near the security check-in area after an exchange of gunfire with police.

One attacker with an automatic rifle reportedly shot indiscriminately at travelers in the terminal before setting off his suicide vest. Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozag said there were also signs of an explosion near the metro station at the airport.

With similarities to the Brussels airport bombings in March, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said initial indications are the Islamic State group was responsible.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack, saying "innocent civilians" were the victims. He said such an "heinous" attack could occur at any airport in the world.

"We urge the world, especially Western countries, to take a firm stance against terrorism," he said.

Witnesses said three violent explosions shook the building, sparking panic among passengers and causing the roof to cave in. Blood and body parts covered the scene.

At least 147 wounded, among them police officers, were being transferred to local hospitals.

Hundreds of passengers flooded out as Turkish authorities evacuated the airport.

All planes were diverted to nearby airport and flights out of the airport were halted, but air traffic was due to resume at 3:00 local time. The United States temporarily stopped all flights to and from Istanbul, one of Europe's busiest airports.

The White House, United Nations, Germany, and other nations strongly condemned the attacks.

"Ataturk International Airport, like Brussels Airport which was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind us together," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

"We remain steadfast in our support for Turkey, our NATO ally and partner."

Turkey has been hit by a string of deadly attacks in recent months, blamed on both Kurdish rebels and Islamic State militants.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and dpa

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/explosions-hit- istanbul-airport/27826912.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.

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Turkish PM Calls for National Unity as Airport Death Toll Rises

by Lou Lorscheider, Dorian Jones June 28, 2016

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim issued a call for national unity early Wednesday as his country faced a rising death toll from a suicide attack that killed at least 39 people at Istanbul's Ataturk international airport.

Yildirim, flanked by members of his cabinet, said the death toll included three suicide bombers who arrived by taxi Tuesday evening at the busy airport and opened fire with automatic weapons, shooting randomly at bystanders before detonating explosives as police closed in. He said many more were wounded, "some in serious condition." Authorities earlier placed the toll of wounded at about 60.

VOA's Dorian Jones in Istanbul said one of the bombers detonated his explosives outside the international arrival terminal. That area is usually packed with people waiting for transportation. The two other attackers are believed to have tried to enter the terminal, which is protected by heavily armed police and X-ray machines.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But Yildirim said early evidence pointed to an attack by Islamic State extremists, whom he identified by the Arabic pejorative Daesh. He called the attack "cowardly" and vowed his country would continue to press its fight against extremism.

"Unity will be the best answer to terrorists," he said.

Islamic State was blamed for two suicide bombings earlier this year in Istanbul that targeted foreign tourists. Analysts have said the group does not claim responsibility for attacks in Turkey.

The Kurdish rebel group PKK also has carried out suicide bombings, but it usually targets security forces, as it did this month in an attack on a police bus that killed 11 people.

In the last year, both Ankara and Istanbul have seen scores killed in bombings, blamed both on Islamic State and Kurdish rebels.

Television footage Tuesday showed scenes of bedlam at Ataturk, Turkey's largest airport and one of the busiest in the world.

One witness described the scene to VOA's Turkish service: "There were two small explosions and then a large one. People scattered everywhere. They didn't know where to go. We were waiting for my sister, but couldn't find her. We're [still] waiting."

A second witness also sought to give words to the chaos: "In one direction there were shots, in another direction there were bombs, and people ran out as fast as they could, and there were people bleeding on the sidewalk."

The attack triggered a closed session of the Turkish parliament, where opposition leaders were expected to question Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag about details of a recent U.S. travel warning for Turkey. MPs also were believed to be focusing on whether any security lapses could have contributed to the airport attack.

Ataturk is a major transport hub for international travelers. All flights there were suspended after the attack, but the prime minister said operations had been normalized by early Wednesday.

On Monday, the U.S. State Department had issued a travel advisory for Americans going to Turkey.

VOA's Turkish service contributed to this report.

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Senate report finds Brazil's Rousseff innocent of fiscal wrongdoing

Iran Press TV

Tue Jun 28, 2016 7:20AM

An investigation by the Brazilian Senate into allegations against suspended President Dilma Rousseff has found her innocent of fiscal wrongdoing.

A team of independent auditors, comprised of career Senate budget technicians, released a 224-page report on Monday, which concluded there is no evidence that Rousseff participated in budget manipulation, one of the allegations that led to the opening of an impeachment process against her.

The report also said there is no reason to continue the impeachment against Rousseff.

The group concluded that Rousseff was not personally to blame for the delay in transferring funds to state bank Banco do Brasil, a lapse that her opponents say breached Brazil's fiscal rules and justifies her removal from office.

"There was not any identified act by the president that would have contributed directly or indirectly to the delays," the report said.

The group also cleared Rousseff of any fault with a fourth presidential budget decree, arguing that it did not impact fiscal targets, and therefore was not illegal.

However, the report concluded that she authored three 2015 decrees releasing additional credits without Congress' consent.

The report was presented on Monday to the Senate Impeachment Commission, which has 72 hours to analyze it. The body will also start to interview the analysts from July 5.

The senators, however, do not have to follow the findings in a Senate trial scheduled to be held in August, to convict or acquit Rousseff.

Back in May, Brazil's upper chamber of the National Congress voted to suspend Rousseff for allegedly breaking fiscal laws and begin an impeachment trial against her.

Acting President Michel Temer stepped up from the post of vice-president and replaced her.

Rousseff has repeatedly asserted that she has fallen victim to a plot by the extreme right, saying that they "want to come to power by an easy route and not through popular election for which we have fought."

She has vowed to call early elections if survives the impeachment trial and is reinstated president.

If the trial in August acquits her, she will be allowed to serve out her term until 2018. Rousseff has said she would call a referendum on holding early elections if she is reinstated as president.

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Briefing on Situation on Korean Peninsula Given for Diplomatic Envoys Here from Asian Countries

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS)

Pyongyang, June 28 (KCNA) -- The Foreign Ministry of the DPRK organized a briefing on the recent situation on the Korean peninsula for diplomatic envoys here from Asian countries Tuesday.

Present there were ambassadors of Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran and India to the DPRK and charges d'affaires a.i. of the Mongolian, Vietnamese and Pakistani embassies here.

Choe Hui Chol, director general of the Asian and Oceanian Department of the DPRK Foreign Ministry, informed them of the principled stand of the DPRK on the recent situation on the Korean peninsula.

He said that recently the U.S. opened to public the plan for "precision air raid operations" against nuclear facilities and nuclear force of the DPRK and introduced strategic assets including nuclear-powered submarine Mississippi into and around the Korean peninsula, driving its situation to an extreme phase.

The main cause of the tension on the Korean peninsula is attributable to the U.S. perverted view, he said, adding that this time, too, the U.S. made a very rash and strategically wrong decision, he noted, and went on:

The supreme interests of the state are threatened and the situation is led to the uncontrollable phase due to the U.S. ceaseless arms-buildup. Under this situation the DPRK will in future, too, continue to hold higher the banner of simultaneous development of the two fronts, bolster the capabilities for preemptive nuclear attack in a sustainable manner, continue to develop strategic attack weapons with diverse missions and deploy them for an actual war.

The Asian countries should clearly understand that the chief culprit escalating tension on the Korean peninsula and compelling the DPRK to constantly bolster physical deterrence is none other than the U.S., and do things helpful to the detente on the Korean peninsula.

The briefing on the situation served as an important occasion for helping diplomatic envoys here from Asian countries have deep understanding that the U.S. bellicose and hideous moves for threatening and blackmailing the DPRK with nuclear weapons become a root cause of escalating tension on the Korean peninsula. -0-

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Seoul Says North Korean Ships Equipped With US Machine Guns

Sputnik News

06:32 28.06.2016(updated 07:13 28.06.2016)

North Korea has started to equip its ships with US made multi-barrelled machine guns, South Korean media reported.

TOKYO (Sputnik)  North Korea has started to equip its ships in the Yellow Sea on the border with South Korea with US made multi-barrelled machine guns, South Korean media reported Tuesday.

"It is noticed that North Korea has started to replace obsolete weapons installed on its coast guard ships with the Gatling machine guns," a military source in Seoul said as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.

According to the source, if the North Korean coast guard fleet, consisting of 382 ships, is equipped with such machine guns, it will "pose a significant threat for the South Korean naval forces".

According to the media outlet, the North Korean and US intelligence services are currently trying to determine the channel, through which Pyohgyang could obtain these machine guns.

 Sputnik

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Iran dismantles anti-revolution team in Kurdistan province

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Tue / 28 June 2016 / 13:55

TEHRAN (ISNA)- Commander of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Kurdistan Province Mohammad-Hassan Rajabi said the forces have completely dismantled an anti-revolution team in the province, located in western Iran.

 

He said that the 11-member team linked to anti-revolution groups was dismantled in Sarvabad city in the province.

The individuals trying to cross into Iran were monitored and watched at the moment by the IRGC forces in the province, he said.

He said that the forces blocked points the team members intended to arrive and "We made them arrive in places we intended as we imposed our will on them."

Rajabi continued that the forces made the team go to mountainous area of Sarvabad after 10 days of operation and the forces killed all of the 11 members of the group in there.

Three IRGC local forces were martyred in the attack.

End Item

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Iraqis fleeing Fallujah in dire conditions, need aid: Charity

Iran Press TV

Tue Jun 28, 2016 5:37PM

Civilians fleeing the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was recently liberated from the grip of Takfiri Daesh terrorists, are in urgent need of aid with poor sanitary conditions threatening their health, a charity says.

The International Medical Corps (IMC), a global humanitarian nonprofit organization established by volunteer doctors and nurses, issued the warning on Tuesday.

Simon Cowie, an IMC field coordinator in Baghdad, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that Iraqis who fled fighting in Fallujah do not have enough food, water and healthcare, and are stuck in limbo in scorching, cramped camps nearby.

"The people are quite desperate at the moment. They are facing a lack of all essential items  lack of water, lack of food, lack of access to toilets and showers, healthcare, education is more or less non-existent," Cowie said.

The charity worker further expressed concern over the situation of young children, pregnant women, people with disabilities and the elderly with temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius.

"The situation out there in the camps is truly awful. It's unlike anything I've ever seen before," Cowie added.

On May 23, the Iraqi forces launched a massive military operation to retake the strategic city of Fallujah, located in the Western province of Anbar.

On June 26, the commander of the Fallujah liberation operation declared the strategic city fully recaptured from Daesh terrorists.

The United Nations says over 85,000 people have fled Fallujah, situated roughly 69 kilometers west of the capital Baghdad.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has vowed the liberation of Mosul in the near future, saying the national flag would be raised in the country's second largest city.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh terrorists began their reign of terror in the country in June 2014.

Iraqi army troops, backed by fighters from allied Popular Mobilization Units, are seeking to win back militant-held regions in joint operations.

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Iraq Receives New Batch of Mi-28NE Military Helicopters From Russia

Sputnik News

00:05 29.06.2016

The Iraqi Defense Ministry said that Russia supplied Iraq with a new batch of Mi-28NE "Night Hunter" military helicopters.

BAGHDAD (Sputnik)  Russia supplied Iraq with a new batch of Mi-28NE "Night Hunter" military helicopters, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"These helicopters will make a great contribution in support of ground forces in their operations aimed at targeting terrorist positions and destroying [their] armoured vehicle packed with explosives," the ministry said in a statement published on its website.

On June 3, spokesman for the Iraqi Joint Special Operations Command Yahya Rasul Zubaidi said that Russian-made helicopters including the "Night Hunter" (NATO reporting name Havoc), used by the Iraqi army had demonstrated their effectiveness during the offensive in the city of Fallujah against Islamic State, a terrorist organization banned in Russia, the United States and many other countries.

The ministry also said that the "Night Hunter" helicopters had increased maneuverability and targeting precision of the Iraqi army.

Mi-28NE is a highly effective new-generation helicopter, designed for combat missions in any circumstances. The helicopter is designed to take part in operations against tanks, infantry combat vehicles and armoured personnel carriers among other targets.

 Sputnik

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Select Committee on Benghazi Releases Proposed Report

Select Committee on Benghazi

28 June 2016

81 New Witnesses, 75,000 New Pages of Documents Reveal Significant New Information,

Fundamentally Changes the Publics Understanding of the 2012 Terrorist Attacks that Killed Four Americans

Washington, D.C.  Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy (SC-04) released the following statement after the committees Majority released a mark of its investigative report:

Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were heroes who gave their lives in service to our country. Their bravery and the courageous actions of so many others on the ground that night should be honored.

When the Select Committee was formed, I promised to conduct this investigation in a manner worthy of the American peoples respect, and worthy of the memory of those who died. That is exactly what my colleagues and I have done.

Now, I simply ask the American people to read this report for themselves, look at the evidence we have collected, and reach their own conclusions. You can read this report in less time than our fellow citizens were taking fire and fighting for their lives on the rooftops and in the streets of Benghazi.

The committees proposed report is just over 800 pages long and is comprised of five primary sections and 12 appendices. It details relevant events in 2011 and 2012.

The following facts are among the many new revelations in Part I:

Despite President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panettas clear orders to deploy military assets, nothing was sent to Benghazi, and nothing was en route to Libya at the time the last two Americans were killed almost 8 hours after the attacks began. [pg. 141]

With Ambassador Stevens missing, the White House convened a roughly two-hour meeting at 7:30 PM, which resulted in action items focused on a YouTube video, and others containing the phrases [i]f any deployment is made, and Libya must agree to any deployment, and [w]ill not deploy until order comes to go to either Tripoli or Benghazi. [pg. 115]

The Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff typically would have participated in the White House meeting, but did not attend because he went home to host a dinner party for foreign dignitaries. [pg. 107]

A Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) sat on a plane in Rota, Spain, for three hours, and changed in and out of their uniforms four times. [pg. 154]

None of the relevant military forces met their required deployment timelines. [pg. 150]

The Libyan forces that evacuated Americans from the CIA Annex to the Benghazi airport was not affiliated with any of the militias the CIA or State Department had developed a relationship with during the prior 18 months. Instead, it was comprised of former Qadhafi loyalists who the U.S. had helped remove from power during the Libyan revolution. [pg. 144]

Rep. Mike Pompeo (KS-04) released the following statement regarding these findings:

We expect our government to make every effort to save the lives of Americans who serve in harms way. That did not happen in Benghazi. Politics were put ahead of the lives of Americans, and while the administration had made excuses and blamed the challenges posed by time and distance, the truth is that they did not try.

Rep. Martha Roby (AL-02) released the following statement regarding these findings:

Our committees insistence on additional information about the militarys response to the Benghazi attacks was met with strong opposition from the Defense Department, and now we know why. Instead of attempting to hide deficiencies in our posture and performance, its my hope our report will help ensure we fix what went wrong so that a tragedy like this never happens again.

The following facts are among the many new revelations in Part II:

Five of the 10 action items from the 7:30 PM White House meeting referenced the video, but no direct link or solid evidence existed connecting the attacks in Benghazi and the video at the time the meeting took place. The State Department senior officials at the meeting had access to eyewitness accounts to the attack in real time. The Diplomatic Security Command Center was in direct contact with the Diplomatic Security Agents on the ground in Benghazi and sent out multiple updates about the situation, including a Terrorism Event Notification. The State Department Watch Center had also notified Jake Sullivan and Cheryl Mills that it had set up a direct telephone line to Tripoli. There was no mention of the video from the agents on the ground. Greg Hicksone of the last people to talk to Chris Stevens before he diedsaid there was virtually no discussion about the video in Libya leading up to the attacks. [pg. 28]

The morning after the attacks, the National Security Councils Deputy Spokesperson sent an email to nearly two dozen people from the White House, Defense Department, State Department, and intelligence community, stating: Both the President and Secretary Clinton released statements this morning.  Please refer to those for any comments for the time being. To ensure we are all in sync on messaging for the rest of the day, Ben Rhodes will host a conference call for USG communicators on this chain at 9:15 ET today. [pg. 39]

Minutes before the President delivered his speech in the Rose Garden, Jake Sullivan wrote in an email to Ben Rhodes and others: There was not really much violence in Egypt. And we are not saying that the violence in Libya erupted over inflammatory videos. [pg. 44]

According to Susan Rice, both Ben Rhodes and David Plouffe prepared her for her appearances on the Sunday morning talk shows following the attacks. Nobody from the FBI, Department of Defense, or CIA participated in her prep call. While Rhodes testified Plouffe would normally appear on the Sunday show prep calls, Rice testified she did not recall Plouffe being on prior calls and did not understand why he was on the call in this instance. [pg.98]

On the Sunday shows, Susan Rice stated the FBI had already begun looking at all sorts of evidence and FBI has a lead in this investigation. But on Monday, the Deputy Director, Office of Maghreb Affairs sent an email stating: McDonough apparently told the SVTS [Secure Video Teleconference] group today that everyone was required to shut their pieholes about the Benghazi attack in light of the FBI investigation, due to start tomorrow. [pg. 135]

After Susan Rices Sunday show appearances, Jake Sullivan assured the Secretary of the State that Rice wasnt asked about whether we had any intel. But she did make clear our view that this started spontaneously and then evolved. [pg. 128]

Susan Rices comments on the Sunday talk shows were met with shock and disbelief by State Department employees in Washington. The Senior Libya Desk Officer, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, State Department, wrote: I think Rice was off the reservation on this one. The Deputy Director, Office of Press and Public Diplomacy, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, State Department, responded: Off the reservation on five networks! The Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications, Bureau of Near East Affairs, State Department, wrote: WH [White House] very worried about the politics. This was all their doing. [pg. 132]

The CIAs September 13, 2012, intelligence assessment was rife with errors. On the first page, there is a single mention of the early stages of the protest buried in one of the bullet points. The article cited to support the mention of a protest in this instance was actually from September 4. In other words, the analysts used an article from a full week before the attacks to support the premise that a protest had occurred just prior to the attack on September 11. [pg. 47]

A headline on the following page of the CIAs September 13 intelligence assessment stated Extremists Capitalized on Benghazi Protests, but nothing in the actual text box supports that title. As it turns out, the title of the text box was supposed to be Extremists Capitalized on Cairo Protests. That small but vital differencefrom Cairo to Benghazihad major implications in how people in the administration were able to message the attacks. [pg. 52]

Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-04) released the following statement regarding these findings:

Obama Administration officials, including the Secretary of State, learned almost in real time that the attack in Benghazi was a terrorist attack. Rather than tell the American people the truth, the administration told one story privately and a different story publicly.

Rep. Peter Roskam (IL-06) released the following statement regarding these findings:

In the days and weeks after the attacks, the White House worked to pin all of the blame for their misleading and incorrect statements on officials within the intelligence community, but in reality, political operatives like Ben Rhodes and David Plouffe were spinning the false narrative and prepping Susan Rice for her interviews.

The following facts are among the many new revelations in Part III:

During deliberations within the State Department about whether and how to intervene in Libya in March 2011, Jake Sullivan listed the first goal as avoid[ing] a failed state, particularly one in which al-Qaeda and other extremists might take safe haven. [pg. 9]

The administrations policy of no boots on the ground shaped the type of military assistance provided to State Department personnel in Libya. The Executive Secretariats for both the Defense Department and State Department exchanged communications outlining the diplomatic capacity in which the Defense Department SST security team members would serve, which included wearing civilian clothes so as not to offend the Libyans. [pg. 60]

When the State Departments presence in Benghazi was extended in December 2012, senior officials from the Bureau of Diplomatic Security were excluded from the discussion. [pg. 74]

In February 2012, the lead Diplomatic Security Agent at Embassy Tripoli informed his counterpart in Benghazi that more DS agents would not be provided by decision makers, because substantive reporting was not Benghazis purpose. [pg. 77]

Emails indicate senior State Department officials, including Cheryl Mills, Jake Sullivan, and Huma Abedin were preparing for a trip by the Secretary of State to Libya in October 2012. According to testimony, Chris Stevens wanted to have a deliverable for the Secretary for her trip to Libya, and that deliverable would be making the Mission in Benghazi a permanent Consulate. [pg. 96]

In August 2012roughly a month before the Benghazi attackssecurity on the ground worsened significantly. Ambassador Stevens initially planned to travel to Benghazi in early August, but cancelled the trip primarily for Ramadan/security reasons. [pg. 99]

Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta bluntly told the committee an intelligence failure occurred with respect to Benghazi. Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell also acknowledged multiple times an intelligence failure did in fact occur prior to the Benghazi attacks. [pg. 129]

Rep. Susan Brooks (IN-05) released the following statement regarding these findings:

President Obama has said his worst mistake was failing to plan for the day after  intervening in Libya. As a result of this lead from behind foreign policy, the Libyan people were forced to make the dismal trade of the tyranny of Qadhafi for the terror of ISIS, Al-Qaeda and others. Although the State Department considered Libya a grave risk to American diplomats in 2011 and 2012, our people remained in a largely unprotected, unofficial facility that one diplomatic security agent the committee interviewed characterized as a suicide mission.

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (GA-03) released the following statement regarding these findings:

One of the most concerning parts of the State Departments policy in Libya was its reliance upon the militias of an unstable nation to protect our men and women in Benghazi. These were by no means forces that could adequately protect Americans on the ground, and the State Department knew it. But the appearance of no boots on the ground was more important to the administration.

Part IV of the report reveals new information about the Select Committees requests and subpoenas seeking documents and witnesses regarding Benghazi and Libya, and details what the Obama administration provided to Congress, what it is still withholding, and how its serial delays hindered the committees efforts to uncover the truth.

Part V proposes 25 recommendations for the Pentagon, State Department, Intelligence Community and Congress aimed at strengthening security for American personnel serving abroad and doing everything possible to ensure something like Benghazi never happens again, and if it does, that we are better prepared to respond, the majority make a series of recommendations.

The Select Committee intends to convene a bipartisan markup to discuss and vote on the proposed report on July 8, 2016. All members of the committee will have the opportunity to offer changes in a manner consistent with the rules of the House.

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Report Finds US Military Showed Up Late During Benghazi Attack

Sputnik News

16:44 28.06.2016

None of the relevant US military forces met their required deployment timelines during the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, according to the US House Benghazi Committee.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  US military did not meet established deployment timelines during the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, Republicans on the US House Benghazi Committee said in the final report on Tuesday.

"None of the relevant military forces met their required deployment timelines," the report stated.

The 2012 terrorist attack in the Libyan port city of Benghazi killed US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

The Republicans argued that one of the platoons arrived to the Libyan capital Tripoli almost 24 hours after the beginning of attacks.

"When the Secretary [then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta] identified a FAST Platoon as an asset to deploy and said 'go,' one US facility in Libya had already been attacked, Sean Smith had been killed, Chris Stevens was missing, and the US Embassy in Tripoli was facing threats of another attack," the report said.

Continuing controversy over the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi reflects the sharp divide between Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress.

Republicans accuse the Obama administration of covering up its incompetent response to the attacks, while Democrats view the Benghazi Committee's work as political theater intended to embarrass the administration.

 Sputnik

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Pakistan Vows Not to Push Out Afghan Refugees

by Ayaz Gul June 29, 2016

A police crackdown in Pakistan has rounded up and deported hundreds of Afghan refugees in recent weeks. But authorities say Afghans with legal refugee status are not being targeted, nor will they be pushed out of the country.

The arrests have mainly taken place in the northwestern border province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which hosts most of the estimated 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees, in addition to a sizable number of illegal settlers, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Many of them have fled persecution and armed conflict in Afghanistan.

Border tensions

The crackdown coincides with stepped up Pakistani calls for the international community to help in the repatriation of Afghan refugees, citing security concerns and financial constraints for hosting them for more than three decades. It also comes at a time when relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated because of border tensions.

"We have hosted them for over 30 years, it is time for them to return home in conditions of dignity and honor," said Tariq Fatemi, Pakistani prime minister's key aide on foreign policy matters.

But he clarified the government is encouraging Afghan refugees to return to their home and has "no such intention of pushing them out or coercing them out."

"But we are convinced that many of these refugees, particularly those who are undocumented, they could be harboring militants and others, and creating a law and order situation," he said.

Afghan and Pakistani officials said Wednesday Pakistan has extended the stay of registered Afghan refugees for another six months, a day before the June 30 deadline was to expire.

Gradual relocation

The Pakistan prime minister's office says the concerned ministries have been instructed to work with the U.N. Refugee agency and the Afghan government for "gradual relocation of refugee camps in Pakistan to Afghanistan."

"In order to facilitate relocation and as a gesture of continued goodwill, Pakistan shall commit provision of wheat for the relocated camps in Afghanistan for a period of three years, free of cost," the statement added.

A UNHCR spokeswoman, Dunya Aslam Khan, said her agency has received no reports of any mass arrests or deportations of registered Afghan refugees. They are legally protected, she told VOA, and the agency is able to immediately secure release of documented refugees in case they are arrested.

During a visit to Pakistan last week, the UNHCR Chief Filippo Grandi dismissed Pakistan's assertions that Afghan refugees have become a source of terrorism in the country.

In meetings with Pakistani officials, he stressed the whole refugee population must not be blamed or penalized if a few of them have been involved in criminal acts.

During his trip he also announced an increase in assistance packages for registered Afghan refugees families, who return to Afghanistan under the UNHCR facilitated voluntary return program.

The number of returnees under the program has dropped drastically this year to only 6,000 from around 60,000 in 2015.

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US accuses Russia of harassing its diplomats

Iran Press TV

Tue Jun 28, 2016 1:43AM

The United States has complained bitterly to Moscow over harassment of American diplomats by Russian security agents and traffic police, the State Department says.

The intimidation against American diplomats, embassy staff and their families in Russia and other European capitals is increasing, according to the US State Department.

"We see an increase and we take it seriously," State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters at a press briefing on Monday.

"Harassment of US diplomats by host government services is a longstanding problem that occurs inside Russia," according to Trudeau.

She said that Secretary John Kerry last discussed the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 24.

"Since the return of Putin, Russia has been engaged in an increasingly aggressive gray war across Europe. Now it's in retaliation for Western sanctions because of Ukraine. The widely reported harassment is another front in the gray war," said Norm Eisen, US ambassador the Czech Republic from 2011 to 2014. "They are hitting American diplomats literally where they live."

Former US ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, also said that, "It was part of a way to put pressure on government officials who were trying to do their reporting jobs. It definitely escalated when I was there. After the invasion of Ukraine, it got much, much worse."

Trudeau attributed the increase in such behavior to the imposition of Western sanctions against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.

Russia's Foreign Ministry, in response, has said that the United States provoked Russian diplomats in the US and elsewhere.

Tensions between Russia and the West peaked after Crimea declared independence from Ukraine on March 17, 2014 and formally applied to become part of Russia following a referendum a day earlier.

The United States and its European allies accuse Moscow of destabilizing Ukraine. Moscow, however, rejects having a hand in the crisis gripping the Eastern European state.

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Russia Calls Former U.S. Ambassador 'Incompetent,' Complains Of FBI, CIA Harassment

June 28, 2016

by Mike Eckel

WASHINGTON -- Russia's Foreign Ministry has launched a fresh volley in an increasingly ugly war of words with its U.S. counterparts, calling a former U.S. envoy incompetent and complaining that Washington was pressuring Russian diplomats.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova is known for her caustic remarks, but her June 28 comments, including allegations of high-level "incompetence," were unusually blunt.

U.S. officials have complained in recent weeks that American diplomats in Moscow and elsewhere have been subjected to harassment and increased surveillance.

The public spat comes with U.S.-Russian relations arguably at their lowest point since the Cold War, with mutual sanctions over Russian actions in Ukraine and both Moscow, frequently frosty rhetoric at the highest levels, and NATO planning an increased military presence near Russian borders.

The Washington Post reported on June 27 that Secretary of State John Kerry had raised the issue of diplomats' treatment with President Vladimir Putin when he visited Moscow in March.

Zakharova complained of U.S. harassment and singled out Michael McFaul, who served as U.S. ambassador to Moscow from 2012-14 and reported being harassed by Russian security agents and ambushed by state-run TV reporters, and was quoted in the article.

She called the Washington Post article "half-baked" and noted the quotes attributed to McFaul.

"We remember his professional incompetence. McFaul's diplomatic mission fell through with a crash," she said at a briefing in Moscow. "It's possible that it was his efforts that contributed to the worsening of bilateral relations."

One U.S. official recently told RFE/RL that diplomats and their families have been pulled over by traffic police with unusual frequency over the past month, and shadowed by Russian security agents to an unusual degree.

"We have raised and we will continue to raise at the highest level any incidents inconsistent with protections guaranteed by international law, and we will respond appropriately in accordance with U.S. and international law," U.S. State Department spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters on June 27.

Zakharova said: "The United States thinks up ever new restrictions for our diplomats, who are faced with continued provocations by the CIA and the FBI. It repeatedly takes impermissible measures, including psychological pressures, while family members have to watch. In some cases such actions occurred in the presence of our diplomats' pregnant wives."

McFaul, who now teaches at Stanford University in California, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he did post a series of incredulous, half-mocking messages on Twitter.

The issue of surveillance and counterintelligence has also attracted the attention of lawmakers in the U.S. Senate, who have introduced legislation that would impose new restrictions on the travel of Russian diplomats in the United States.

The alleged treatment of U.S. diplomats in Russia has prompted the U.S. State Department to take other measures, including conducting special training sessions on how to watch for and respond to covert and overt surveillance, according to the U.S. official.

The official said other measures seen as pressuring Western diplomats include restricting accreditation for teachers working at one of the main international schools in Moscow, the Anglo-American School. Some teachers are being forced to acquire diplomatic passports, which he said is becoming particularly problematic for British and Canadian teachers at the school.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-calls- mcfaul-incompetent/27826757.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.

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Lithuania Rues Losing Strong Defender Of Russian Sanctions In EU

June 28, 2016

by RFE/RL

Lithuania, concerned about losing a strong defender of Russian sanctions in the European Union, has called for a gradual British exit from the EU that preserves ties with London.

"We would like to preserve what is not yet destroyed, what is possible to preserve," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told reporters at the United Nations on June 27.

The foreign minister expressed worries that "the voices of the more principled positions will be weaker" within the European Union when it comes to dealing with Russia.

He said he had discussed the matter with his counterparts from the Baltics and Nordic countries, and they agreed that there should be a "civilized process" for new relations with Britain.

He described the United Kingdom as a "strategic ally" that in the past was a strong advocate within the EU for advancing security, human rights, and democracy in Europe.

Lithuania's call for gradual change that does not "rush to expel Britain" echoes Germany's cautious approach and contrasts with the quick move to divorce ties advocated by France and Italy.

Linkevicius criticized the growing number of EU states that advocate a "more pragmatic and flexible" approach to sanctions against Russia. He said this is "very counterproductive" and said the response to ineffective sanctions should be "more sanctions."

Italy, Hungary, France's parliament, and some top German officials have called for a gradual lifting of sanctions on Russia, but Britain maintained a hard line, saying there should be no letup without progress on ending the conflict in Ukraine.

Linkevicius' remarks came ahead of an EU meeting this week that is expected to roll over for another six months the economic sanctions that were first imposed against Russia after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

With reporting by AFP, dpa, and AP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/lithuania-rues-losing- britain-strong-defender-russian-sanctions-in-eu- calls-for-gradual-exit-preserve-ties/27824609.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.

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Moscow Says U.S. Destroyer Came Dangerously Close To Russian Ship

June 28, 2016

by RFE/RL

Russia has complained that a U.S. naval ship passed too close to one of its ships in the Mediterranean Sea and released a video that Moscow says shows how dangerous the encounter was.

In a June 28 statement, the Russian Defense Ministry accused the guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely of violating international maritime rules by coming within 70 meters of the naval frigate Yaroslav Mudry in international waters.

A video released by the ministry purportedly shows the U.S. destroyer drawing even with the Russian ship, then passing in front of it and steaming away. A sailor with binoculars can be seen briefly on the American ship.

The incident, which the ministry said occurred June 17, "shows that it is U.S. sailors who allow themselves to forget basic principles of safe navigation and not to think about the eventual consequences of such dangerous maneuvering in regions with intense navigation," the statement said.

It was not immediately clear where in the Mediterranean the incident occurred, though at least one Russian news agency said it occurred after the Yaroslav Mudry had taken on fuel and supplies at a port in Malta.

There was no immediate comment on the Russian statement by the U.S. Defense or State departments.

An unusually high number of U.S. and Russian naval ships have been operating in the Mediterranean Sea in recent months, mainly in connection with the ongoing conflict in Syria. For several days earlier this month, two U.S. carrier strike groups were also in the region at the same time.

There has been an increasing number of close encounters between Russian and U.S. military forces over the past year, with Russian jets buzzing U.S. naval ships in the Baltic Sea, and Russian ships shadowing U.S. ships operating in the Black Sea. The two sides have accused one another of needlessly dangerous maneuvers.

One incident, which occurred in April and involved Russian Su-24 fighter jets coming within meters of the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea, prompted Secretary of State John Kerry to complain directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/moscow-says-us-destroy- came-dangerously-close-to-ship/27826897.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.

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Russian Military Industry Set to Become Driver of Civilian Economy

Sputnik News

20:55 28.06.2016(updated 00:06 29.06.2016)

Economic analyst Dmitri Pskezin comments on the Russian government's plans to successfully convert cutting-edge developments in Russia's military sector to the civilian economy.

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin, responsible for the development of Russia's defense industry, announced that by 2020, the country's military-industrial complex would become the driver of the Russian economy.

According to the official, this will become possible "only when every defense enterprise[is] subject to the logic of parallel development in civilian industry. And not just any production, but high tech products accompanying the production of military products."

Commenting on Deputy PM Rogozin's comments in an article for the independent online news and analysis platform PolitRussia, Pskezin recalled that Rogozin's statements "did not come out of the blue, but only confirmed the government's general course."

In a speech at the Congress of the Union of Machine Builders in April, President Vladimir Putin spoke in similar terms. Pointing out that "labor productivity in the defense sector had tripled," Putin advised military enterprises to think about the prospects for conversion of their output ahead of time.

"The peak load of the state defense order within the military industrial complex will occur next year, and then gradually begin to decline. I expect that defense companies will use the accumulated potential for conversion and diversification of their production," Putin said.

According to the president, the defense industry should focus on the production of competitive high-tech civilian products, and "must think about this today, and take the necessary measures."

"The sceptics," Pskezin recalled, "immediately began talking about the idea being a forced measure. In their view, the budget is short on cash, hence the conclusion about an imminent curtailment of military orders. Supposedly, enterprises are losing a reliable source of financing through the state defense order, and hence being encouraged toward self-sufficiency."

In reality, the journalist suggested, "blaming the budget deficit is completely pointless. Moreover, the reorientation of the defense industry to civilian production is not the result of any campaigning; the process itself is going along according to plans developed a long time ago."

"First off, in December 2010, the president signed the since-implemented State Armaments Program for 2011-2020. Its framework included the modernization of the army and its equipment with the latest weaponry. All this took place long before the aggravation of the international situation, and the Western countries' attempts to affect us economically through sanctions and by military means (through bringing NATO forces directly onto Russian borders)."

Last week, Deputy PM Rogozin praised the results of the above-mentioned modernization program: "Last year, [defense contracts] amounted to 1.8 trillion rubles [about $27.8 billion US]. Production has increased by 13%, while the output of military and special purpose equipment has increased by 20%."

Moreover, according to the official, several areas of the civilian sector too have enjoyed impressive growth over the past year, amounting to 32% in the electronics industry, 22.5% in specialized chemicals, 16% in shipbuilding, 7.5% in rocketry and space production, and 6% in aviation.

At the same time, Pskezin noted, given the lingering tensions between Russia and Western countries, the very existence of the conversion program demonstrates that instead of mobilizing the country's last resources and throwing them at national defense, the government has instead launched a deliberate push toward conversion, thus seeking to ensure future economic growth.

"This is being done in strict accordance with another important document: the targeted federal program 'On the Development of the Russian Military Industrial Complex to the Year 2020', adopted in early 2012. That program provides for an investment of three trillion rubles [about $46 billion US] for a deep modernization of the defense industry and the training of qualified personnel, including for the purposes of reorientation to the production of high-tech civilian products."

Ultimately, the journalist explained, "all this should [serve to] dispel the unfounded anxieties of some [Russian] experts" on the matter.

The lessons of the 1990s, when millions of people were left without work due to the decline of the defense sector following the collapse of the Soviet Union, "have proven very convincingly the need for diversification of the economy, including at the level of individual defense enterprises," Pskezin noted.

Moreover, unlike the 1990s, managers in the military industry today are well-versed in market rules, "know how to sell and are interested in the production of competitive products." Many MIC enterprises have already accumulated a great deal of positive experience of conversion.

Effectively, the journalist suggested, chief among the ingredients for the realization of the conversion program is "the presence of political will. Without vanity or haste, the federal government has provided the sector with clear guidelines, sometimes even indicating those capabilities [for production in the civilian economy] which may be worth pursuing."

Deputy PM Rogozin confirmed as much in his speech last week, indicating that the federal government had "requested information from customs officials; we found [for example] that a huge amount of money is spent on the purchase of medical equipment abroad  this is impermissible either economically or politically."

The country's defense industry, the official emphasized, "is prepared to make everything themselves," and in this sense, the government's program of import substitution has significantly expanded the MIC's conversion prospects.

Meanwhile, Pskezin suggested, "modernization in this sector will allow it to produce goods which comply with the quality standards of foreign analogues, or even surpass them."

Ultimately, he emphasized, the conversion of military industry could become the locomotive which drives the economy forward.

Citing companies that have already begun a successful conversion, Pskezin pointed to Roselectronica, a state-owned microelectronics company which, in addition to the production of hi-tech industrial products for the defense sector, is looking toward expanding its share among civilian markets as well. In the next three years, the holding plans to introduce a new, completely Russian-made smartphone and tablet.

Meanwhile, a Krasnogorsk plant, now part of the optics holding Schwabe, has been engaged in the export of camera lenses for nearly three years now. Kamaz, the Russian truck manufacturing giant, is working on several civilian initiatives, including self-driving trucks, all while continuing to make up the bulk of the military's vehicle fleet.

The RT-Chemical Technologies and Composite Materials Holding says that it has plans to expand the production of civilian products for the aviation, space, land and water transport, energy and other industries up to 65% of its total production by the year 2020. In the meantime, Uralvagonzavod, the machine-building giant responsible for producing Russia's main battle tanks, is also expanding its civilian production capabilities, from railways to products for the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Meanwhile, Russian companies engaged in ensuring the country's defense in space are also expanding their civilian capabilities, with Information Satellite Systems Company engaged in civilian projects from communications to broadcasting, retransmission, geodesy and navigation.

All in all, Pskezin suggested, "we are only at the beginning of a massive, and hopefully successful, path of conversion for the Russian military-industrial complex. It's clear that with such a serious approach, the defense industry will not simply be getting by on the production of pots and pans," as it did in the 90s. "The time of high technologies for the production of civilian goods has arrived," the journalist concluded.

 Sputnik

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Brexit's Impact on Russia Stirs Concern

by Mary Alice Salinas June 28, 2016

There is growing angst over how Britain's decision to leave the European Union will impact Russia's strategic footing around the globe, but disagreement about how much it will affect Moscow, just as the West moves to curb Russian aggression in the Baltics and Syria.

President Barack Obama tried to allay fears Tuesday, cautioning against post-Brexit "hysteria" and the notion that the European Union is unraveling and member states are drifting away from the United States on key global issues.

"Europe can't afford to turn inward," Obama told NPR journalist Steve Inskeep during an interview broadcast Tuesday.

"They're going to have to worry about working with us on the Middle East. They are going to have to worry about us working together to deal with an aggressive Russia," said the U.S. leader.

No big shifts seen

The president added he does not expect "cataclysmic changes," and he pointed to the importance of the NATO alliance and shared U.S.-European interests.

But analysts said Brexit has played squarely into Russian President Vladimir Putin's larger strategic designs for Europe, following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its continued support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

"Under Putin, Russia has strategically sought to destabilize European politics, undermine Democratic values and weaken the EU's resolve, particularly on a cohesive Russia policy. Here I'm referring to sanctions," said Alina Polyakova, deputy director of the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council, a global affairs research group.

In June, the 28-member bloc voted to extend by six months current economic sanctions against Russia for failing to follow through on the Minsk agreements meant to end the conflict in Ukraine. The sanctions target the oil, financial and defense sectors of the Russian economy.

Softer stances

The U.S. and Britain have remained together on sanctions against the Kremlin, but other EU states have softened their positions.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi have backed sanctions relief. In April, the French parliament approved a nonbinding resolution to lift the EU sanctions against Russia.

"Our view is we don't expect the U.K.'s referendum to have any impact on the rollover of sanctions against Russia," said Eric Schultz, White House deputy press secretary.

"Obviously having the Britain vote to leave weakens the European Union," said Angela Stent with the Center for Eurasian, Russian and Eastern European Studies at Georgetown University. Still, she cautioned, Brexit "has unknown consequences. It's not immediately clear how Russia benefits from this."

However, Stent added, Putin would like to see a weakened EU.

"What the Kremlin wants is a new global order, not one imposed by the U.S. and its European allies," she said.

Polyakova agreed, saying Russia prefers bilateral negotiations.

"It does not prefer to negotiate with a bloc, like the EU," said Polyakova, adding Moscow "could play member states against each other and get what it wants at the bilateral level that it won't be able to get at the EU level."

Russian interest

Putin has denied Western claims that he has strategically worked to destabilize Europe in various ways, including backing far-right groups such as the National Front in France.

But experts say Russia has an interest in making sure the European Union remains economically stable.

"It is in their interest to have a Europe that will continue to grow and prosper and buy more oil and gas from Russia," said Polyakova.

"I don't think that we are going to see one great domino effect going forward after the Brexit vote," predicted Polyakova. "Even though Russia likes to stir the pot in these countries, it is certain that these kinds of populist, anti-EU movements are domestically driven."

Putin has praised Brexit, saying the vote demonstrated that "people want to be more independent" and do not want "to feed and to subsidize weaker economies."

Obama said the vote simply pressed "a pause button" on European integration as nations look for ways to maintain their identities and deal with voter frustrations.

"But the basic core values of Europe, the tenets of liberal market-based democracies, those aren't changing," Obama added.

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Turkey's Erdogan Apologizes to Putin over Downed Jet -- Kremlin

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 08:20, June 28, 2016

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sent his apologies to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the death of a Russian pilot of the Su-24 bomber downed by Ankara in November last year, voicing readiness to mend ties, the Kremlin said Monday.

"Recep Tayyip Erdogan expresses his deep regret over the incident and underlines the willingness to do everything possible to restore the traditionally friendly relations between Turkey and Russia," the Kremlin said in a statement.

In a message to Putin, Erdogan said Ankara has no desire to worsen its relationship with Moscow, which he sees as Turkey's "friend and strategic partner," and called for joint efforts to solve the crisis in the region and to fight terrorism, according to the statement.

Erdogan said Turkish authorities have launched an investigation into the death of the Russian pilot, adding that a Turkish citizen suspected of complicity in the case is under investigation.

The Turkish president also expressed his sympathy and condolences to the family of the deceased Russian pilot, Oleg Peshkov.

Earlier this month, Erdogan sent a letter to Putin, reiterating his wish to restore relations with Russia.

Relations between Russia and Turkey have soured after the latter downed the Russian bomber near the Turkish-Syrian border for alleged airspace violation, which Russia denied and considered as a hostile act.

Putin described the attack as a "stab in the back" and ordered a broad range of economic sanctions against Turkey.

Moscow has repeatedly said relations between the two countries could be restored only after Ankara apologizes and provides compensation to Russia for the downed aircraft and to Peshkov's family.

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After 'Apology' Back-And-Forth, Turkey Moves On

June 28, 2016

Everybody was saying that it wouldn't happen.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would never apologize -- and he is really not the type to do so. Reconciling with Israel and Russia? Never! Erdogan is an Islamist (is he?) facing Israel -- no way. And Russia, well, Turkey and Russia are too deeply involved on opposite sides in Syria. So, no!

But on June 27 we were surprised by two bits of news: first Israel and then Russia  yes -- on exactly the same day and one after another. Turkey will normalize its relations seven years after the Israeli attack on the Turkish aid vessel Mavi Marmara heading to Gaza and seven months after Turks downed a Russian Su-24 fighter on the Syrian-Turkish border.

Turkey wanted an apology from Israel and Russia wanted an apology from Turkey in the two incidents.

Everybody was predicting that no apologies would come. But both came, in one or another way, and it worked.

In Turkey, the opposition and critical media cried foul after the apologies with good questions that nobody can answer with certainty.

So, what was all that bragging and slogans about "brotherhood with the Palestinians" seven years ago? Why then did you shoot down the Russian fighter jet and proudly announce how tough you are with the Russians? To apologize after just seven months? Pros and cons started to argue: did Erdogan say "I am sorry" or "apologize"?

Turkish media report two versions, of him expressing "apology" or "regret," depending on the outlet's political standing. Apparently, Erdogan's letter included both words.

Did he apologize to the killed Russian pilot's family or to Russian President Vladimir Putin? One Tweet by Erdogan's office, dated two or so years ago, went viral. There, typical for Erdogan, he was saying how strong now Turkey has become compared to the past: "Gone is now the old Turkey, a Turkey with a fallen head, a Turkey that others dictated its agenda, a Turkey that apologized."

I have to admit I thought Erdogan is very traditional-Turkish and believed he would stick to the Turkish saying that "a real man does not change his word." Sharper critics reminded us of the Turkish saying that a man would "not lick his own spit."

But he apparently had no problem changing his mind. Reason prevailed. Emotion had to step aside.

Now let the analysts analyze and journalists write and the man on the street guess. Maybe there is some truth in everybody's word and maybe none at all. In my discussions on either side, the pros and cons, I asked them to calm down and reminded them of another Turkish saying: "Alan memnun, veren memnun," which translates something like: "Why are you upset? You have nothing to say."

Both sides are happy with what they have done. And both sides hope it is better for their countries, for peace and well-being of the region to make a deal rather than to argue and fight.

The fact is Erdogan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Putin proved to be much more flexible than anybody was expecting. And that is most probably good for all three of their countries and good for the region -- inshallah.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/after-apology- back-forth-turkey-moves-on/27826938.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.

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Turkey Reaches Out to Russia to End Feud

by Dorian Jones June 28, 2016

Turkey's president has reached out to his Russian counterpart, expressing regret for November's downing of a Russian bomber by a Turkish fighter. There is rising expectation bilateral relations will be repaired, but mutual suspicions are expected to remain.

A letter expressing condolences from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Russian President Vladimir Putin coincides with Turkish authorities reopening a police investigation against a Turkish man blamed by Moscow for shooting and killing its pilot as he parachuted from his downed plane.

Until now Erdogan has strongly defended the downing of the Russian bomber, which Ankara accuses of violating Turkish airspace while operating from a Syrian airbase.

Diplomatic columnist Semih Idiz of Turkey's Cumhuriyet newspaper and Al Monitor website, said the Turkish president is responding to Russian political and economic sanctions placed on Turkey following the bomber's downing.

"I do not think its full apology, but there seems to be remarks there, that amounts to an apology in a sense. I think he is throwing in the towel basically. Turkey has sustained a lot political and economic damage and also damage to its security concerns as a result of this tiff," said Idiz.

The sanctions include a ban on importing Turkish food produce and Russian tourists visiting Turkey.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Erdogan will speak by telephone with Putin later this week, in what is reported as the first direct conversation between the leaders since the November downing of the bomber.

Ankara has also accused Moscow of arming Kurdish rebel group the PKK with surface to air missiles, a charge Russia denies.

Moscow is demanding an apology from Ankara and compensation for the family of the killed Russian pilot.

In a sign Moscow could be receptive to Turkish overtures, it has invited Turkey's foreign minister to a regional conference it is hosting Friday.

But political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners said deep distrust and suspicion of Erdogan will remain in Moscow.

"Putin is really afraid of Erdogan's ambitions to become a Sunni Muslim leader, and to mobilize the Sunni Muslim world because Russia has a substantial Islam minority. So he might take Erdogan seriously at his words and consider him as a threat to the unity of mother Russia," said Yesilada.

Syria too remains a point of tension with Ankara and Moscow backing opposite sides in the civil war. Differences also exist over Ukraine and the Caucasus.

Before the bomber downing, Ankara and Moscow successfully compartmentalized those differences, allowing bilateral relations to flourish, especially economically.

But Idiz said those days are over.

"Once the vase is broken, the cracks will show no matter what. So the magic that we had in Turkish Russian relations, which was able to sustain many, many crisis, but nevertheless maintain the good ties, is over. That magic has gone now, and now these ties are based on necessity rather than any mutual love or sentiment or anything like that," said Idiz.

Erdogan and his government appear eager to end what is widely seen as Turkey's isolation in the region. The Turkish and Israeli government ratified an agreement Tuesday to restore full diplomatic relations.

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Netherlands, Italy to Share UN Security Council Seat

by Margaret Besheer June 28, 2016

The Netherlands and Italy took the rare step Tuesday of agreeing to share a two-year seat on the U.N. Security Council, after a contest that ended in a dead heat.

After five rounds of voting, the countries were tied with 95 votes each. Neither was able to reach the two-thirds majority needed to secure a seat.

After discussions, the two European Union members offered to split the seat allocated to the "Western Europe and Others Group" for one year each.

"I think it's a signal of the importance we attach to the work of the United Nations in a time when we need more unity, more conflict resolution, more work on development, and at the same time a show of unity in a complex period for Europe," Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders told reporters.

"We took the opportunity of this perfect parity  95 to 95  to decide a proposal that also gives this message of unity between two European countries," said Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

The ministers proposed that Italy would serve in 2017 and the Netherlands in 2018. This also would give each country an opportunity to preside over the council, because its presidency rotates monthly on an alphabetical basis.

This was not the first time candidates agreed to split a term. In 1960, after 52 rounds of voting, Poland and Turkey agreed to split a two-year term.

Successful candidates

Also securing seats Tuesday were Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Sweden.

Bolivia and Ethiopia ran unopposed  their regional groups already had decided among themselves whom to put up as their candidates  but the others competed for their seats.

"The new EU members of the Security Council now have especially sensitive tasks, as the U.K. is going to be distracted at the U.N. by the fallout from Brexit at home," said Richard Gowan, a U.N. expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, using the shorthand for the U.K.'s referendum on leaving the European Union. "There is an extra burden for the other Europeans to stand up for EU interests."

"We have to send a signal about unity  keeping the European Union together, not to speculate too much, not to do all kinds of desperate things, but rather just make sure that we deliver," Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom told reporters as she marked her country's election to the Security Council. She said Sweden would focus its council work on conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, as well as security issues and climate change.

Bolivia's U.N. Ambassador Sacha Llorenti said the issue of Palestine would be a priority for his country, as well as implementing the newly signed deal between Colombia and FARC rebels. Under terms of the deal, the U.N. will be part of a monitoring-and-verification mission in Colombia reporting on the cease-fire and receiving the FARC's weapons.

Kazakhstan will be the first Central Asian country to sit on the council. "We will try to do our best to bring our perspective and expertise to contribute to the work of Security Council and the United Nations for the cause of peace and development," Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov told reporters. He said his government would focus on global security, nuclear disarmament and development.

Ethiopia is a major contributor to U.N. peacekeeping and plays an important regional role as the host of the African Union's headquarters.

"The really big change to the Security Council won't involve any of the temporary members, but the arrival of a new American team after November's elections," analyst Gowan speculated. "If it is a [Hillary] Clinton administration, there will be a fair bit of continuity. If there is a [Donald] Trump administration, the U.N. is going to get really, really lively."

Campaigning

Typically, countries announce their intention to run for council seats years in advance. Sweden, for example, announced its intention more than 10 years ago and campaigned for a year and a half.

Candidates try to woo member states right up until the last minute. Last week, Italy tried to sweeten voters' moods, passing out free gelato at the U.N., and on Monday night, Kazakhstan threw a lavish party at the famous Plaza hotel to celebrate its candidacy. On Tuesday, "goodie bags" with souvenirs from Sweden, the Netherlands and Thailand blanketed the tables inside the General Assembly hall.

The newly elected council members will replace Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela, which complete their terms December 31.

The new council members will begin their terms January 1. They will join the five permanent council members  China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States  and five current nonpermanent members  Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay.

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AF moving forward with restructure of missileer career field

By Carla Pampe, Air Force Global Strike Command Public Affairs / Published June 28, 2016

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. (AFNS) -- The commander of Air Force Global Strike Command directed a review of the nuclear and missile operations career field earlier this year, with the goal of creating a self-sustaining career field.

The review was recently completed, and over the past week, Maj. Gen. Anthony Cotton, 20th Air Force commander, briefed members of the 13N career field at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana; F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming; and Minot AFB, North Dakota; on some of the upcoming changes they will see starting in fiscal year 2017 as the Air Force begins to implement the 13N restructure.

"As we move forward with this restructure, we're going to be making changes that will grow nuclear experience and expertise at the wing level; developing our missile operators into the nuclear 'go-to' experts needed across the Air Force and the nuclear enterprise when it comes to policies and procedures," Cotton said.

The first step in the restructure will reduce the number of accessions into the 13N career field, balancing accessions with retention to eliminate virtually all crossflows. In the past, more 13Ns were accessed than needed, with the knowledge that 30 to 40 percent of the officers would crossflow into other career fields after their initial four-year commitment.

"In recent years, efforts to reinvigorate the nuclear enterprise have led to more missileers wanting to stay in the career field," Cotton said. "The Air Force has also made an overt effort to do more recruiting at the (U.S.) Air Force Academy and other universities, informing cadets about the missile career field, and those efforts have been very successful."

As the 13N restructure progresses, adjustments will be made to grade structures across the entire career field to ensure a more senior crew force at the wing level. This redistribution, combined with additional leadership opportunities following completion of the 3+3 primary operations tours, such as being a flight commander, provides increased nuclear expertise at the unit level. Simultaneously, nuclear-related billets across the Air Force will be reviewed to determine if they are well suited for inclusion in the 13N career field, to ensure nuclear experts are where they need are most needed.

"You are also going to see assignment opportunities at other nuclear-related (major commands) and bases," Cotton said. "Missile officers will provide these units with corporate knowledge or subject matter expertise about the nuclear enterprise they may not have had in the past."

Gen. Robin Rand, the AFGSC commander, said the changes will help normalize the 13N career field with the rest of the Air Force.

"However, the biggest and most important benefit will be the level of expertise we'll grow across the nuclear enterprise," he said.

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After the Supreme Court ruled against two Texas abortion laws Monday, the two nominees for Robert Hurts congressional seat voiced their views.

The 5-3 decision on Monday struck down two provisions that required doctors who performed abortions at clinics to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and also ordered Texas clinics to meet the standards of surgical centers.

The majority opinion for the court argued the provisions did little to help women, instead making abortions harder to obtain.

Jane Dittmar, the Democratic nominee for the 5th District, voiced her support for the decision in a Tuesday news release.

Our current court reviewed the landmark Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 which cited the Fourth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments that provide all Americans the fundamental right to privacy when making medical decisions, Dittmar said. We must understand that having a right to do something but being denied access to it is ultimately the same as being stripped of that right altogether.

Her opponent, state Sen. Tom Garrett, R-Buckingham, said the Supreme Court decision undermined the right-to-life as well as state sovereignty.

We are seeing an all out attack on the unborn by the left and we cannot stand idly by without providing a voice to those among us who are the most defenseless, Garrett said in a news release.

In Virginia, a 2011 law placed similar restrictions on abortion clinics. However, Gov. Terry McAuliffes administration took steps last year to reverse the measures via the state Board of Health, which is scheduled to finalize the changes during a September meeting. Virginia clinics continue to operate under waivers until then.

In her statement, Dittmar also criticized GOP legislative efforts to halt the appointment of a replacement for deceased Justice Antonin Scalia.

The refusal of our federal legislature to fill the ninth seat on the Supreme Court is holding hostage our other governmental branches and creating a dangerous and un-American imbalance of power, Dittmar said.

Garrett congratulated Texas on its efforts to stop the practice.

I laud Texas and all others who continue to stand fast against the immoral and unconstitutional pro-choice agenda, he said.
Bank of America will close its South Boston financial center located at 606 Broad Street on Tuesday, Oct. 4.

The bank informed its customers of the closing in a letter dated Friday; however, employees said they were notified of the closing several weeks earlier.

According to veteran bank employees, some with 20, 30 and 40 years of banking experience, the announcement came as a shock to them just as it did to the local branchs customers.

The Clarksville Bank of America branch will remain open, but some employees surmised it was because Bank of America does not own the South Boston facility, and rising costs of leasing the space resulted in upper managements decision to close the local branch office.

Bank of America employees said the company also emphasizes its online and mobile banking, direct deposit, banking by phone and banking at other locations including Lynchburg and Clarksville.

Earlier this week, local bank employees said they were extremely busy fielding questions from locally impacted customers.

The announcement mailed to customers dated Friday, June 24, stated, On Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016, the financial center located at 606 Broad Street, South Boston, Virginia is closing.

While your account will stay the same, were sorry for the inconvenience this closing causes. To minimize the inconvenience, we have many other ways you can continue to bank with us.

Other ways to bank listed in the announcement include online and mobile banking, direct deposit, banking by phone and banking at another location including the Wards Road, Lynchburg branch.

All questions concerning the financial centers closing were directed to 1-800-432-1000.
The common shareholders of Rodinia approving Rodinia's proposed change of business (the "COB") to a tier 2 investment company under the rules of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") at a special meeting of the common shareholders of Rodinia to approve the COB (the "Rodinia Shareholders' Meeting"); and



The TSXV granting Rodina final approval of the COB.

TORONTO, June 28, 2016 - Rodinia Lithium Inc. (TSX VENTURE:RM) ("Rodinia" or the "Company") has entered into an agreement with Kombat Copper Inc. (TSX VENTURE:KBT) ("Kombat Copper") to subscribe for, on a non-brokered private placement basis, 3,250,000 subscription receipts ("Subscription Receipts") at a price of $0.08 per Subscription Receipt for a gross investment of $260,000 (the "Financing").Each Subscription Receipt will entitle Rodinia to acquire one common share of Kombat Copper (a "Share") and one common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant") automatically without any additional payment upon the completion of the following conditions:Each Warrant will entitle Rodinia to acquire one Share (a "Warrant Share") at a price of $0.13 per Warrant Share at any time for before the date that is three years from the date of issue, subject to an acceleration provision whereby in the event that at any time after the expiry of the statutory hold period, the Shares trade at $0.30 or higher on the TSXV, on a volume weighted average basis for a period of 30 consecutive days, Kombat Copper shall have the right to accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants to the date that is 30 days after Kombat Copper issues a news release announcing that it has elected to exercise the acceleration right.The gross proceeds from the Financing will be held in escrow pending satisfaction of the conditions precedent. If the conversion of the Subscription Receipts does not occur on or before 10 business days after the Rodinia Shareholders' Meeting is held, Rodinia will be entitled to a return of its full subscription price.The Subscription Receipts and the underlying securities will all be subject to a four month statutory hold period.Closing of the Financing is expected to occur on or about June 30, 2016 and remains subject to a number of conditions, including without limitation, receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSXV.An annual and special meeting of the common shareholders of the Corporation has been called for August 11, 2016 to approve the COB. A management information circular (the "Circular") will be mailed to shareholders in connection with the meeting.Completion of the COB is subject to a number of conditions, including TSXV acceptance and shareholder approval. The COB cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the COB will be completed as proposed or at all.Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in Circular to be prepared in connection with the COB, any information released or received with respect to the COB may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative.The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the COB and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Rodinia Lithium Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company.This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the COB, the timing of the shareholders meeting, the Financing, the conversion of the Subscription Receipts and the TSXV granting approval of the COB. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from results contemplated by the forward-looking statements. When relying on forward-looking statements to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward looking statements, oral or written, made by itself or on its behalf, except as required by applicable law.NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.Fred Leigh, President and Chief Executive Officer+1 (416) 861-5933
VANCOUVER, June 29, 2016 /CNW/ - Tinka Resources Limited ("Tinka" or the "Company") (TSXV: TK) (OTCPK: TKRFF) is pleased to announce that the Company has filed an independent National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report (the "NI 43-101 Technical Report") on the Mineral Resource Estimate for the Ayawilca Property, Department of Pasco, Peru in support of the Company's news release dated May 25, 2016.

The updated Inferred Mineral Resource estimate for the Ayawilca Zinc Zone now consists of 18.8 million tonnes grading 8.2% Zinc Equivalent(1) (5.9% zinc, 0.2% lead, 74 g/t indium, and 15 g/t silver). In addition, an initial Inferred Mineral Resource estimate for the Ayawilca Tin Zone consists of 5.4 million tonnes grading 0.89% Tin Equivalent(2) (0.76% tin, 0.31% copper, and 18 g/t silver). Both resource cut-off grades are equivalent to an approximate NSR of US$60 per tonne.

The Colquipucro Deposit Indicated Mineral Resource of 7.4 million tonnes grading 60 g/t silver and Inferred Mineral Resource of 8.5 million tonnes grading 48 g/t silver remains unchanged since the previous resource update of February, 2015.

Dr. Graham Carman, Tinka's President and CEO, stated: "The NI 43-101 Technical Report updates and replaces the previous technical report describing mineral resources at the Ayawilca Property, resulting from mineralization discovered in the 9,000 metre step-out drill program during the latter half of 2015. The updated Zinc Zone Mineral Resource is a 42% resource increase at a higher ZnEq grade from the previous estimate (Feb' 2015). We expect the mineral resources at Ayawilca to continue to grow, as the drilling footprint expands. Many more targets remain to be drill tested, and we are very much looking forward to the commencement of drilling once final approvals are obtained, expected late Q3 2016."

The NI 43-101 Technical Report was authored by Mr. David Ross. P.Geo., of Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., who is an independent "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Ross has read and approved the technical contents of this release as it pertains to the mineral resource estimates.

The NI 43-101 Technical Report may be found under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.tinkaresources.com .

Attachments:

Figure 1. Drill hole map and projected Mineral Resource wireframes.

Figure 2. East-west longitudinal section highlighting the Zinc and Tin Zones at Ayawilca.

Notes:





(1) The zinc equivalent (ZnEq.%) value was calculated using the following formula:

ZnEq.(%) = [Zn(%)*US$11.88+Pb(%)*US$4.16+In(g/t)*US$0.30+Ag(g/t)*US$0.28]/ US$11.88. (2) The tin equivalent (Sn Eq.%) value was calculated using the following formula:

Sn Eq.(%) = [Sn(%)*US$130.36+Cu(%)*US$41.26+Ag(g/t)*US$0.28]/ US$130.36

About Tinka Resources Limited

Tinka is an exploration and development company with properties in Peru. Tinka's focus is on its 100%-owned Ayawilca Property in the highly mineralized zinc-lead-silver belt of central Peru, 200 kilometres north of Lima and 40 kilometres from Peru's largest historic zinc mine at Cerro de Pasco. Ayawilca has Inferred Mineral Resources of 18.8 Mt at 8.2% Zinc Eq, and 5.4 Mt at 0.89% Tin Eq, open for expansion (news release of May 25, 2016). The Colquipucro silver oxide zone located 1.5 km north of Ayawilca has an Indicated Mineral Resource of 7.4 Mt at 60 g/t Ag for 14.3 Moz Ag and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 8.5 Mt at 48 g/t Ag for 13.2 Moz Ag (news release of Feb' 26, 2015).

On behalf of the Board,

"Graham Carman"

Dr. Graham Carman, President & CEO

Forward Looking Statements: Certain information in this news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively "forward-looking statements"). All statements, other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and expectations of Tinka as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Tinka's management. Such statements reflect the current risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to certain factors including, without limitations, timing of commencement of a further resource extension drill program, the Company's expectations regarding mineral resource calculations, capital and other costs varying significantly from estimates, production rates varying from estimates, changes in world metal markets, changes in equity markets, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, equipment failure, unexpected geological conditions, imprecision in resource estimates or metal recoveries, success of future development initiatives, competition, operating performance, environmental and safety risks, delays in obtaining or failure to obtain necessary permits and approvals from local authorities, community relations, and other development and operating risks. Should any one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein. Although Tinka believes that assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Tinka disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Note. All drill holes and wireframe interpretations are projected onto a two dimensional plane, and do not line-up exactly with geological surfaces in this image

SOURCE Tinka Resources Ltd.

Image with caption: "Figure 1. Drill Hole Map and Projected Mineral Resource Wireframes (CNW Group/Tinka Resources Ltd.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160629_C9246_PHOTO_EN_44768.jpg

Image with caption: "Figure 2. East-West Longitudinal Section Highlighting the Zinc and Tin Zones at Ayawilca. (CNW Group/Tinka Resources Ltd.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160629_C9246_PHOTO_EN_44769.jpg
Graphic Illustration

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By Rashda Khan, Rashda.Khan@gosanangelo.com/@Rashda_SAST

The Tom Green County Commissioners Court filled some key positions tied to the area's future economic development.

A recent rehaul of the city's the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone board, better known as the TIRZ board, wiped the slate of members free. It also scaled down the number of voting members from 15 to nine. Of those, seven will be appointed by the City Council. The county-appointed seats went from four to two, and the court had to reappoint representatives before the new board convenes July 22.

The court, on a 3-to-1 vote, appointed two familiar faces  former City Councilman Johnny Silvas and Lee Pfluger, who is chairman of the current TIRZ board. Each position comes with a term of three years. The dissenting vote was cast by Commissioner Bill Ford of Precinct 4.

"My work is not done for now," Pfluger said. "I look forward to helping the new board transition and hopefully understanding the process that's been going on.

"Development is a long-term process, it takes time," he said.

The TIRZ, established in 2006, encapsulates two areas  North (from about West 33rd Street to West 3rd Street) and South (West 3rd Street to about East Avenue D, but mostly the downtown area)  and sets a baseline for all the property values in that designated zone. When property values and sales increase in the zone, any increment increase in taxes above the baseline is set aside in a special fund for that targeted area. The funds can only be used for public reinvestment and some infrastructure improvement.

According to Pfluger, the North zone produces "something like $400,000 a year and the South has about $150,000 a year." The funds for each area are kept separate, but the TIRZ board administers the funds to proposed projects in both zones.

Interstate 14 project

The idea of San Angelo getting a potential interstate took a step forward Tuesday.

The Interstate 14 project, planned for 15 years by the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition Inc., was approved by Congress in December. Its imagined lines extend over 1,000 miles across Texas, stretching eastward from Sonora to Fort Polk in Louisiana, and northward from Corpus Christi to Fort Hood.

Roland Pena, the city's Economic Development director, told the court about localized efforts to create segment committees to work on different parts of the proposed I-14 corridor.

"I like the fact that it'll be locally driven," Pena said. "It's grass roots work. The more folks we have support the segment, the stronger the advocacy" represented.

In May, the City of San Angelo Development Corp. allocated $15,000 to create three voting memberships on the Gulf Coast coalition. Two of these members will be COSADC appointees, and the third will be designated by City Council. These representatives will also be part of the San Angelo segment.

Pena, stressing the benefits of economic development and opportunity, invited the Commissioners Court to also commit $5,000 to have a representative join both groups. He hopes to have similar commitments from area counties, the local office of the Texas Department of Transportation, the San Angelo Metropolitan Planning Organization and the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce.

"I believe Tom Green County needs to be involved in this," said county Judge Steve Floyd.

The court approved committing $5,000 for a voting position, but the representative has not been selected yet.

The county's new jail project also made some progress. Don Killam, the county's construction project manager, reported that SKG Engineering took soil samples from the proposed site for testing.

In other business, the court:

Presented the 2015 Distinguished Service Award to the Tom Green County Historical Commission. The organization has received this recognition for 30 consecutive years.

Accepted a grant of $19,610 from the Governor's Criminal Justice Division to assist the Sheriff's Office with its efforts to get body worn cameras in place. The local match is $6,500.

Reinstated a policy in which county employees can choose to forego employer-provided health coverage and instead have the county pay for Medicare premiums.

Approved an agreement and payment of $32,213 to 1 Priority Environmental Services, Inc. for asbestos abatement in the Judge Edd B. Keyes building.

Approved the Sheriff's Office's request to submit an application for the 2016-17 Justice Assistance Grant Program
Yfat Yossifor / Standard-Times Retired Air Force Staff Sgt. Chris Campbell tears up Wednesday as he looks around his new home with his son Logan, 8.

SHARE Yfat Yossifor / Standard-Times People gather to dedicate a new home to retired Air Force Staff Sgt. Chris Campbell on Wednesday. Yfat Yossifor / Standard-Times Stephanie Campbell sings the national anthem while an honor guard presents the flags at the dedication of the Campbells' new home Wednesday. Yfat Yossifor / Standard-Times Retired Air Force Staff Sgt. Chris Campbell and his son Logan, 8, look around their new home Wednesday. Yfat Yossifor / Standard-Times Stephanie Campbell walks into her new bedroom for the first time Wednesday.

By Yfat Yossifor, yfat.yossifor@gosanangelo.com / @yyossifor

Retired Air Force Staff Sgt. Chris Campbell, wife Stephanie and their two boys walked in the front door of their new home and looked around with awe.

Their stunned expressions quickly turned to smiles and tears.

"It's done, we are finally home, and we are so glad to be settled down in San Angelo," Chris Campbell said.

"Walking in the door, there were so many emotions, from wanting to sob to all smiles inside," he said. "It was kind of like Christmas Eve for an 8-year-old."

The home was custom built for the family by Operation Finally Home in partnership with AB Builders and Home Builders Association of San Angelo.

Operation Finally Home is a nonprofit organization that provides custom-built, mortgage-free homes to military heroes and the widows of the fallen.

Campbell was injured by a rocket attack at Balad Air Base on June 11, 2005, suffering a traumatic brain injury. Campbell also has post-traumatic stress disorder, frequent migraines, insomnia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/asthma and hearing loss. He medically retired from the military in 2012 with numerous awards, including a Purple Heart, U.S. Air Force Meritorious Unit Award Ribbon and a National Defense Service Medal.

Campbell choose to settle in San Angelo this year because of the schools, his health and "everyone is so laid-back and friendly," he said.

"I can relax and talk to people here. I've been isolated and in a shell, and now I'm just me," he said. "

Operation Finally Home partners with corporate sponsors, builder associations, builders, developers, individual contributors and volunteers to help America's military heroes and their families transition to the home front by addressing one of their most pressing needs  a home to call their own.

The Texas-based organization is in 33 states. The Campbell home marked the 108th home Operation Finally Home has dedicated in the 11 years since its inception.

With housing needs in order, Campbell plans to concentrate on his sons, Wyatt and Logan. He also wants to concentrate on his medical needs.

"Every husband or father wants to be able to give their family a nice, solid home that they are not worried about," he said. "We now have a place we can call home and we are grounded."

Campbell is a native of West Virginia and began his service in 1994, including a tour at Goodfellow Air Force Base.

"I want to continue to built on our relationships with the community and get us more involved and see what we can do to help them and repay what has been done for us," he said.
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Frances Murray, San Angelo

I am writing this letter to show my support of Tim Vasquez for police chief of San Angelo. I believe that Chief Vasquez has done a good job developing our police department to keep our community safe.

The last few years San Angelo has experienced a lot of change, including the upturn and downturn in the oil industry. This has produced challenges with the influx of new people, new construction, roads deteriorating and increased vehicle accidents. I truly feel safe in this community.

I believe that Chief Vasquez works diligently to improve our community, make the best resources available and improve the police department. This is evidenced by the fact that San Angelo obtained a second re-recognition status from the Texas Law Enforcement Agency Best Practices Recognition Program.

But first and foremost, I think the police chief position should be an appointed position. It is my opinion that this position should not be subject to political pressure. Why would the police chief position be any different than the fire chief?

The current political climate in San Angelo and the nation is one of the most negative I have seen. An appointed police chief would remove the necessity for the chief to have to run for re-election every four years. I believe an appointed police chief would make it easier to remove a chief who is not performing as expected or if morale is an issue. The election process every four years insures that there will be discord within the department.

I ask that all of the citizens of San Angelo do their civic duty and vote. My vote is for Tim Vasquez.
The Kansas Supreme Court has given its blessing to school funding legislation passed in a special session last week.The legislation, signed into law this week by Gov. Sam Brownback, was in response to the court's end-of-the-month deadline for Kansas lawmakers to equalize funding between richer and poorer school districts.Alan Rupe, the attorney for the school districts suing the state over education funding, said in an email that the "plaintiffs are extremely pleased that schools will be opening in the fall and that funding will be distributed in a manner that comports with the Kansas Constitution's equity requirement." Kansas City, Kan., is among the school districts Rupe represents.The debate over education funding is far from over, however. The new plan is a short-term fix, one that legislators have said they know will need to be discussed further during the next legislative session, which begins in January.The new school finance plan passed through the Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support on the second day of last week's special session. The plan gives $38 million to poorer school districts in the state by drawing from the K-12 extraordinary needs fund and money from the expected sale of assets from the Kansas Bioscience Authority.In the order, the Kansas Supreme Court said that "the Legislature has currently satisfied the court's orders." The new legislation meets the court's equity standard, but the adequacy portion of the education funding case is still to come.
Gov. Gary Herbert was the clear victor in Tuesday's primary fight for the Republican Party's nomination against Overstock chairman Jonathan Johnson, who mounted an insurgent libertarian assault on the conservative incumbent.The incumbent governor led throughout the night, according to unofficial returns, holding an insurmountable 72 percent to 28 percent lead over Johnson.Herbert told reporters Tuesday night that he was "feeling very gratified" by the win  he called the margin "stunning"  and that his message "resonates with the people of Utah.""We're humbled about the opportunity to take the next step. This is not over. We have a general election," Herbert said. "We're very grateful for the success that we've had tonight."
Description

GIS  29 June 2016: Governments reform project for Mauritius learning sector and Singapores experience in implementing reform in the education field are being discussed between Mauritian and Singaporean high-level officials this week in Singapore.

In fact, a high-level delegation led by the Minister of Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research, is currently in Singapore for discussions and for knowledge sharing. Topics being covered include: the implementation of the Nine Year Continuous Basic Education and TVET reforms, and development of Polytechnics in Mauritius.

The Mauritian delegation is meeting with high level officials in Singapore to address several issues, namely:

 Singapore experience in implementing reform

 Empowerment to schools with more resources given to schools

 Building teacher capacity

The delegation is being assisted by the following institutions: Singapore Ministry of Education, Singapore Examination and Assessment Board, Singapore National Institute of Education, and Institute of Technical Education.

Discussions are focusing on the sharing of the development of vocational and technical education in Singapore; how Singapore is working with the industry to train human capital; and, how is the private sector in that country involved in the curriculum design and the creation of programmes.
Noelle Knell has been the editor of Government Technology magazine for e.Republic since 2015. She has more than two decades of writing and editing experience, covering public projects, transportation, business and technology. A California native, she has worked in both state and local government, and is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, with majors in political science and American history. She can be reached via email and on Twitter.
(TNS) -- Add this to Portland's growing list of bungled technology projects: permitting software that's cost $3.9 million but is nowhere near complete.Frustrated city officials this month cut ties with the lead contractor, Sierra-Cedar Inc., after the Georgia-based company failed to complete half its promised work by the end of a three-year-old contract.That decision creates more uncertainty for a software project already years behind schedule and now even more likely to blow its $11.8 million budget. Almost half of what was spent so far went to management fees and travel expenses  and not lasting work on the project, records show.Officials concede they aren't sure how much the project might cost and say it won't be ready for at least 2 more years. Officials had once hoped to complete it by May 2015.The setbacks extend beyond the city's bottom line and are expected to hurt businesses who won't be able to cut costs by submitting records electronically. The delay also highlights challenges of making seismic shifts inside government bureaucracy, raising questions about how easily officials can cut red tape for affordable apartments amid a construction boom."I can't deny that technology projects and government are sort of like oil and water," said Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who oversees the Bureau of Development Services, which has been leading the project. "But then again, there are a lot of screw-ups in the private sector that you just never hear about."Hear about this, the Portland City Council has. But repeated public warnings since September 2014 did little to steer the project on track.The so-called Information Technology Advancement Project was supposed to bring the city's permitting bureau into the 21st century.Officials expected the software would let developers and architects submit permits and paperwork electronically. City employees would approve documents online and access records from the field. Historic permit and property information would be digitized and available online.But the project has been plagued with problems. It joins a notorious list of city technology projects, including the Water Bureau's software fiasco in 2000 that left the city with millions of dollars in uncollected bills and a citywide payroll system that tripled in cost to $47.4 million in 2010.In November 2010, the City Council moved forward with its now-troubled permitting project just days after Portland's auditor revealed problems with the payroll system  prompting Commissioner Nick Fish to call it the "elephant in the room." But officials supported a plan by then-Commissioner Randy Leonard to work exclusively with the state of Oregon's vendor for a proven software system.When Saltzman took over the permitting bureau in 2011 he changed course and decided to seek competitive bids. The project was projected to cost $8.2 million and finish by May 2015. Officials in December 2012 approved a contract with Sierra Systems, which later became Sierra-Cedar. An aide for Saltzman called the company "a highly qualified implementation vendor."Work finally began under the contract in June 2013, this time with Commissioner Amanda Fritz overseeing the permitting bureau. Sierra began warning of price and schedule changes in January 2014, according to documents obtained under the state's public records law.Problems became public in September 2014 when a city oversight committee  created by Saltzman because of the payroll debacle  weighed in. The committee accused Sierra of falling behind and applying "faulty assumptions" to the original plan and schedule. Fritz maintained it would be built "on time, on budget, and it will work." Every three months, the oversight committee updated the City Council on mounting problems, with a color-coded matrix showing the lagging project engulfed in red. In July 2015, officials said the project wouldn't be ready until the end of 2018, and even that was considered risky Last fall, a Sierra-Cedar representative flew to Portland hoping to reassure the City Council. By then, Saltzman was back in charge of the permitting bureau and had ordered Sierra to show what it could deliver within 90 days.But members of the city's oversight committee questioned if Sierra-Cedar had enough talent to complete the project after massive staffing turnover."You will likely hear how the vendor is going to turn things around," Ken Neubauer, one of the city's oversight members, warned the City Council in an October 2015 meeting. "It is my opinion that while the vendor possessed the capabilities at the time the project was awarded, they have since lost that capability  along with the entire team, 17 people."That scorching assessment didn't discourage the city. Officials kept working with Sierra and considered extending the company's contract beyond June. But the city ultimately dropped that plan and decided to cut ties."It was just a recognition that, I think, they weren't going to be able to produce the progress and achievements we were expecting" at the price Portland wanted to pay, Saltzman said.Behind the scenes, both sides blamed the other.In a May letter, Sierra blasted the city for providing "no leadership" and refusing to approve "efficiency-enabling measures." Sierra also said the city lacked enough staffing to oversee the project, which was a "key factor in the slow progress of the project to date."Portland countered that Sierra "does not have the skills or knowledge to complete" some work and "continues to avoid acknowledging or owning its self-caused delays." What's more, the city said the company hadn't provided adequate information for more than two years, preventing the city from making informed decisions or "fully discovering how much work is completed" and "how much remains."Sierra accused Portland of inaccuracies and myriad generalizations unsupported by facts. Portland accused Sierra of numerous allegations that "cast a false light" on the city.In the end, Saltzman said, both sides decided to walk away. Under terms of a settlement agreement, neither will sue."It's an amicable parting of ways," Saltzman said.An attorney for Sierra-Cedar did not respond to a phone call or an email seeking comment.In the end, Portland spent nearly as much paying Sierra-Cedar's $35,000 monthly management fee and travel expenses as it did on software deliverables. Records show Portland paid nearly $1.1 million for management fees and more than $653,000 on travel expenses.The contract spelled out 56 specific tasks or projects that needed completion. Half weren't accomplished, records show. Of the $2.2 million Portland spent on projects outlined in the contract, the city didn't pay full price on a single item. Portland spent an additional $180,000 paying two subcontractors directly.Money for the project comes from permitting fees charged by the bureau.Of the big-ticket items envisioned for the software project, Saltzman could point to only one  a way to submit and review building plans electronically  that is near completion. But Paul Scarlett, director of the permitting bureau, said city officials won't use it widely at first and instead will test it with a tiny sample of projects."We don't want to take on everything to begin with," Scarlett said. "We'd rather see with a few projects that it's working."If completed, the overall technology project is supposed to benefit government and businesses alike. Officials estimate that a functioning system would eliminate the need for nine positions at a cost of $1.3 million annually, although those jobs don't currently exist. The technology is also estimated to cut costs for businesses by a total of up to $1 million a year.Saltzman and Scarlett maintain the project will be completed, with Saltzman suggesting project oversight should shift to the Bureau of Technology Services. They hope to hire a new company or companies and are targeting the end of 2018 to finish the project  the same delayed timeframe linked to Sierra."The optimism remains strong," Scarlett said. "This is a critical project that needs to be implemented"Asked if the timeframe is realistic, Saltzman said: "At this point, I believe it is."City documents from the spring belie that optimism."There are extreme costs and risks," officials wrote in March about a November 2018 completion, "that come with a date so far in the future."
(TNS) -- San Antonio technology companies have raised $600,000 to create a new incubator program to mentor young cybersecurity companies with management advice, help finding funding.CyberSecurity San Antonio, an industry-driven program sponsored by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, announced Thursday the new Build Sec Foundry, located at the Geekdom co-working space in the growing tech district downtown.The goal is to create a cohesive ecosystem out of many parts that already exist here in San Antonio that can very effectively support a companys growth, maturation and go to market strategy, Will Garrett, the director of CyberSecurity San Antonio and a member of the managing team of Build Sec, said before the announcement.Garrett said the incubator will take advantage of the citys strong cybersecurity ecosystem to help startup companies make new products and technology for the industry.The San Antonio area is the largest hub for federal cybersecurity work outside of the nations capital, local tech executives say. Bexar County is home to two major Air Force cybersecurity units  the 24th Air Force and 25th Air Force at the Lackland AFB  as well as an outpost of the National Security Agency.UTSAs cybersecurity program was also ranked top in the nation by Hewlett-Packard. There are more than 200 cybersecurity companies in the region, including major defense contractors.Startups, for an undetermined fee, will be aided by the Build Sec managing team  Garrett, Bart Bohn from the Austin Technology Incubator, Bob Gleichauf of Virgina-based In-Q-Tel and John Dickson from the San Antonio-based Denim Group. Other advisers from the technology industry will join them, including representatives of USAA, Rackspace and Assembla.Between the core team that will be managing it and an advisory board that is representative of local market leaders and also national leaders  (member companies will be) utilizing those leaders and their access and their networks to meet those milestones and help the company grow in a more accelerated form than they would without this support in their own office space, Garrett said.The incubators first and only member company right now is Infocyte, a San Antonio-based firm that probes networks for cyber attacks and intrusions. Garrett said he expects more companies will quickly join the incubator.The 80/20 Foundation donated $600,000 in grant money over three years to fund its operations. Build Sec will be looking for investments from the private sector, Garrett said. The incubator will help startups with office space, data sources, digital tools and advice at first, but Garrett said Build Sec may eventually offer financial support as well.There are definitely goals for a for-profit fund that will be attached to Build Sec that would then be the equity-taking arm and would help provide that stimulus, he said.Lorenzo Gomez, the executive director of the 80/20 Foundation, said after a Thursday news conference announcing the incubator that the timing of its creation couldnt be better. Last week, the City Council approved the creation of the Techstars Talent Retention Pilot Program, a four-year, $800,000 retention fund that aims to keep tech startups from leaving the city after they evolve into small businesses.We have the academic side figured out; we have the government side figured out; and now were ready for the next phase, which is product-based startups, Gomez said.The end goal of the incubator isnt just to get startups from idea to product, though.A big focus of this incubator is creating not only better community interaction from the security side, but building an alumni network that comes in, graduates out of the incubator, stays in San Antonio ideally, grows their business and continues to re-engage with the startups that come after them, Garrett said.San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor said at the unveiling of the new incubator that the creation of the startup is a great way to create a more prosperous city.I think its a collective vision that San Antonio be a globally competitive city where everyone has the opportunity to prosper, and this incubator represents a chance for San Antonio to truly challenge itself with the overarching goal of being the national leader in developing new cybersecurity products and technology, she said.
Jobs on LinkedIn

Job Seeker Experience

Many government agencies are using the professional networking platform LinkedIn to recruit for jobs. If you search the site, 15,000 of the current 500,000 jobs posted on LinkedIn are government-related.Government recruitment is a big deal. Why? Because after World War II ended, there was a major surge in the number of babies born in the U.S.  a trend that continued for about a decade and a half and became known as the baby boom. These babies grew up, entered the workforce and got jobs. Many of them got government jobs. Government employees tend to be older than other areas of the labor force because theyre working longer.For some time, weve been warned that government workers are going to begin retiring in large numbers. The first wave of these retirements happened a few years back and it will continue for years to come. America is on the verge of a major loss of institutional knowledge when these government employees leave. The retirement of older workers means that we need to fill these jobs, which makes the government recruiters role extremely important.Private industry has turned to social media for job recruitment for some time, and government entities have slowly gotten on board.How can you make government jobs stand out on LinkedIn? First, dont neglect your personal profile as a recruiter, hiring manager or HR professional. Fair or not, potential candidates will associate you with the jobs you post, so its important to have your resume updated and use a good profile photo. Dont create a dummy account to post jobs.Try LinkedIn Groups to find job candidates  groups exist for just about everything. See if you can join groups that relate to the type of position you are recruiting for, look at the conversation happening and mention your job opening as appropriate.Consider using LinkedIn as a personal publishing platform, similar to a blog. This long-form dialog can yield abundant views and shares that you might not encounter on an official government blog. Regularly publishing professional updates on LinkedIn will also show other people that youre an industry leader. If an industry leader recommends a great job, who wouldnt want to apply?How does it work for job seekers? Likely theyll download the LinkedIn Job Search app on their smartphone and search by keyword. So you want to make sure you have many descriptive keywords in the job title and description. The job seekers will probably search for a job title, then create an alert for it. Job seekers also can use a fee-based premium service where they can see more insights on hiring trends and view how they compare to other applicants.Social media recruitment should be another tool for relaying the message about government jobs. But make sure it isnt the only place youre posting these jobs, and remember that the same legal issues apply to social media job postings as apply to traditional recruitment.
Fire danger is high

With the Fourth of July just around the corner, firefighters want to again warn residents not to shoot off fireworks within city limits.

First off -- it is still illegal to do so. Secondly, conditions are just too dry.

Luke Benson, a detective with the Green River Police Department, said residents who are caught shooting off fireworks within city limits could be charged with a $225 fine. If their fireworks cause property damage, such as a fire, they could also face restitution charges as well.

Mike Liberty, Interim Green River Fire Department Chief, said the wet season happened early this year and is opposite of what the city is experiencing now, which are hot, dry conditions.

Just because its green, doesnt mean its not going to burn, Liberty said. Its actually pretty dry out there believe it or not.

The weather the area has experienced recently is only drying everything out. With the cool, wet spring plants took off and grew, which was good until it got dry. Now, it is only going to act as more fuel for a future fire.

Liberty wanted to let residents know all fireworks are illegal within city limits, including sparklers. He said sparklers, which are usually handed out to children, can have a flame that reaches up to 1,200 degrees. Sparklers can easily start a fire or worse.

Thats the thing with sparklers, kids can easily get burned, Liberty said.

Rather than setting off their own fireworks, residents are encouraged to take an alternative approach.

Dont shoot off fireworks. Enjoy the ones the city has, Liberty said.

The citys fireworks will once again be shot from the public works building over the sewer ponds at 10 p.m., July 4.

City Administrator Reed Clevenger said in an effort to reduce expenses, the city cut the fireworks budget to $10,000. This is about half of what the fireworks budget was last year. This will shorten the length of the fireworks show from around 20 minutes to 12 minutes this year.

However, Clevenger said the shell count per minute is higher than last years shell count per minute so it should make for a good show. He said the city will really get a lot of bang for its buck this year.

Liberty said residents can easily see the fireworks from Veterans Park, Stratton-Myers Park or the rodeo arena.

As usual, he and other firefighters will be standing by at Green River Fire Station No. 2 in case they get called to a fire.

Ive never had the luxury of being anywhere else, but at the fire station, Liberty said.

However, he said they could see the fireworks from the station.

The GRFD and Green River Police Department tend to look at the Fourth of July differently. For most, its a time for celebration, for them, its a time for worry.

Its not near as much fun for us, Liberty said.

The firefighters respond to fire calls most of the night. However, he wanted to encourage people who illegally shot off fireworks and started a fire to report the fire immediately. The longer someone waits to report a fire, the more time it has to spread and it will take even longer for firefighters to get the fire under control, contain it and put it out. Due to the mountainous area, it can take the fire department a while for firefighters to even drive to a fire.

Benson said officers tend to give out a lot of warning, but those can turn into citations if a resident has to be warned more than once.
For those hot summer days spent at the splash park, there is a new snack shack that aims to keep the community refreshed and satisfied.

Liliana Villegas opened Chill Monkey at Evers Park because as a mother of four, she knows what it is like to forget drinks and snacks when spending a day at the park.

There are always times when you forget, or completely miss something that you might need, so I thought it would be a great idea to build a business to fulfill that need, Villegas said.

Villegas is happy to say her family has been involved in the decision making for the business. While brainstorming business names as a family, they wanted to come up with a name that was new, catchy and trendy, she said. Her son Hector Perez came up with the name Chill Monkey.

I liked the play on words of Chill Monkey as it incorporated the idea of refreshing food, but also hinted at a laid-back, cool type of place, which is what I wanted for my business, Villegas said. I also took in consideration that his idea was modern, and would consequentially appeal to a younger audience.

Her daughter Isabel Perez, a University of Wyoming graduate, was helped out by creating the logo and marketing tools to fit the familys vision of what they wanted the business to be.

I like that we could decide on the name and logo as a family, Villegas said.

Before coming to Wyoming several years ago, Villegas owned her own daycare center for many years.

Her parents are also business owners so owning her own business has always been something she has wanted. Villegas mom is the owner of Mi Casita.

For as long as I can remember, I have seen my mom cook at home daily and run food businesses, she said. I also cook at home daily, and have worked as a cook at Mi Casita, the local bowling alley and at the Hampton Inn and Suites.

Through her cooking experiences, she has learned to make a diverse selection of foods and wanted to incorporate this diversity on her menu.

We understand and celebrate that we all come from different families with varying cultures, education and eating traditions. In our menu, you can find anything from refreshments and fast food to healthy, low-calorie options to fit your diverse needs, Villegas said.

Chill Monkeys menu ranges from hot dogs to hoagies to fruit cups and smoothies.

For years, Villegas has had the concept of opening a business that sells fresh fruit and natural smoothies, as well as other various foods, and with there being no other snack shack like this in town she thought it would fill a need for the community.

This type of business appealed to me, but the timing and opportunities were not right until now, she said.

She expressed her gratitude for the support Chill Monkey received at this years Flaming Gorge Days.

On Saturday, we had a line for our food for most of the day, she said.

I am so glad to know that our locals and even visitors love our food.

She has noticed her customers seem to enjoy the smoothies and the Hoagie Subs a lot.

We have had many customers pay a visit to get their Hoagie Subs simply because they hear the subs are amazing, she said. Our customers are passing the word about us to their friends and families and we are so excited about that.

Villegas personal favorites on the menu are the smoothies and the Monkey Bobas.

They are made from natural fruit and they are very refreshing for hot summer days.

Chill Monkey will be open for the entirety of the summer season. It will be open this year until Oct. 1.

As long as the opportunity is available, we will do everything possible to continue to open all summer seasons.
A former Sweetwater County Sheriffs Deputy was placed on two years supervised probation for a felony perjury conviction.

Tuesday morning, an emotional Sean Christopher Henry, 45, appeared in the Third District Court of Judge Richard Lavery at an argued sentencing hearing.

In March, Henrys case, which included, three felony perjury charges, went before a 12-person jury. It took the jury five hours to make the decision to clear Henry of two out of the three felony perjury charges against him.

The charge Henry was found guilty of stems from a traffic stop that occurred on Sept. 5, 2014....
The attacks Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and their respective (if not respectful) followers trow upon one another is enough to make a citizen fear for the Republic.

But in reality, these barrages are nothing new.

Time has a way of healing the wounds of personal destruction and so we are left believing that our founders were not only political geniuses but also politically genial.

But thats just not the way it was.

Treacherous in private friendship and a hypocrite in public life were Thomas Paines assertions in a Letter to the Editor about our first president, George Washington.

A...
Kids First Saturday returns to the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market on Saturday with Rob Jacobs of the Guilford County Beekeepers Association. This session will focus on the types of bees, beekeeping, products of a bee hive (wax, propolis, and honey), and the history of bees and beekeeping.
Scott Vincent Sica, the Florida man convicted of killing a Jonesville police officer in 1996, died from autoerotic asphyxiation, according to an autopsy released Tuesday.

Autoerotic asphyxiation means Sica accidentally strangled himself to death on April 19 while masturbating. The N.C. Department of Public Safety said in a news release in April that it appeared that Sica committed suicide. But according to the autopsy report, Sicas death was accidental, not suicide.

Sica was serving a life sentence for the execution-style murder of Jonesville Police Sgt. Gregory Keith Martin on Oct. 5, 1996, during a traffic stop on Interstate 77. Sica pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in March 2014.

At 9:45 a.m. April 19, Sica was found unresponsive in his cell at Scotland Correctional Institution in Laurinburg, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety. Prison medical officials and paramedics tried to revive him but he was later declared dead.

The autopsy report said Sica was found in a kneeling position and hanging in his jail cell. A black shoelace was found around his neck that hung from a metal hook. On an adjacent hook was a portion of a white string. A broken white string with a noose at the end of it as well as a bottle of lotion was on the ground, the autopsy report said. It was not clear from the autopsy report whether Sica also had used the white string in hanging himself.

According to the autopsy report, the viewing window in the cell was covered by a page from a magazine featuring a woman in a bathing suit, the autopsy report said.

The Scotland County Sheriffs Office is investigating Sicas death. Scotland County Sheriff Ralph Kersey did not return a message seeking comment.

The report said that investigation had not uncovered any reports that Sica had threatened suicide or had attempted to kill himself. Sica had abrasions, or ligature marks, on his neck, consistent with wounds that would be made from some kind of cord.

Martins murder went unsolved until 2012, when Sica and two other men were charged.

Sica and the two men  Marc Peterson Oldroyd, 43, of Rockwood, Tenn., and Brian Eugene Whittaker, 40, of Cape Coral, Fla.  had been on a multi-state crime spree in 1996 and had been planning to rob a diner in Jonesville.

The plan didnt work, and Martin stopped Sica and Whittaker, who were in a red pickup, a few minutes later. Oldyroyd was not there and was in a separate vehicle.

Martin had called the dispatcher for backup, got the men out of the truck and searched the vehicle. When Martin picked up a bag containing guns and masks, Sica opened fire.

Sica fired a 9 mm Beretta handgun nine times at Martin. Five of those bullets struck Martin in the head. A sixth bullet grazed it.

Sica was 20 at the time. Martin was 30, married with three children  an 18-year-old stepson, a 6-year-old daughter and a 6-month-old son.

Oldroyd and Whittaker each pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Whittaker was sentenced to 14 years to 17 years in prison. Oldroyd was sentenced to 10 years to 12 years in prison.
REIDSVILLE  The Salvation Army of Rockingham County plans to open their new community center this fall, thanks to a grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trusts Healthy Places NC initiative.

The acquired $150,000 will go toward both finishing construction on the center at 704 Barnes Street in Reidsville, but also hosting health and wellness programs for adults, senior citizens, children and youth.

The funding to the Salvation Army Community Center will improve the quality of life for residents of all ages through affordable programming for health and wellness, said Major Leona OBryant, commanding officer of The Salvation Army of Rockingham County. We are grateful to the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust for this wonderful gift that will help create a healthier community for all in Rockingham County.

The Healty Places NC initiative is part of the trusts plan to invest $100 million into 10 to 12 rural North Carolina counties.

Within Rockingham County, the program also provided grant funding to Rockingham County Schools, Rockingham Community College and the Eden YMCA.

For more information on Salvation Army of Rockingham County, visit SalvationArmyCarolinas.org/RockinghamCounty
Entertainment / Celebrity

by Agencies

Basseterre - U.S. rapper 50 Cent and a member of his entourage were detained in St. Kitts and Nevis for using "indecent language" during a performance at a music festival, local police said on Sunday.A police statement said 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, and a member of his entourage named Bajar Walter were arrested and charged after a Saturday night performance.The rapper's representative Amanda Ruisi said in a statement on Sunday that Jackson initially had been booked only to host the St. Kitts Music Festival.But then, festival organizers insisted he also perform and "there were profanities used during his performance," said Ruisi.She said Jackson will make sure to leave the profanity in the U.S. during his next trip to the Caribbean country.Jackson paid a fine and was on his way home on Sunday, she added.Employees in the police department's press office said they didn't know what exact words were allegedly used during the performance.Following the incident, 50 cent shared a picture on Instagram with the caption, "What you in 4 MURDER all I said was motherfucker. LMAO #FRIGO (sic)"Under the country's Small Charges Act, it is a misdemeanor offense to use profane words in any public place in this former British colony of around 40 000 people. Police say an offender could be sent to jail depending on how serious the violation is considered to be.American rapper DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was arrested in St. Kitts for using profanity during a concert in 2003.
News / National

by Thupeyo Muleya

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (zimra) has threatened to seize cross border buses that transport goods banned under statutory instrument number 64 of 2016 into the country.The instrument tightens screws on imports of basic commodities without licences.The parastatal has since written to cross-border transporters warning them against carrying goods, which are restricted under the open general import licence.According to the letter written by Zimra's Beitbridge region manager, Mr Batsirai Chadzingwa, which is in possession of The Herald, transporters risk losing their vehicles if they are found with the listed items without the proper documents."The gazetting of statutory instrument 62 of 2016 removed various products that you ordinarily transport across the border under the open general import licence. This means that affected goods listed in the S.I require one to be in possession of the requisite import license before importation is authorised."We are appealing to you the transporters not to load any controlled goods for export to Zimbabwe when the owner has not shown you the proof that he/she has the import licence," said the zimra in the letter.The organisation also said the transporters should properly declare the goods on a manifest which would then be surrendered to zimra officials when they go through the clearance process."Please note that your bus/combi/vehicle will be seized in the event that you transport any controlled goods in the absence of the import licence to cover the importation," said the organisation.
The Axon 7 from ZTE has arrived in Europe, making it the first region outside of China where the handset is now available. The device, which was unveiled back in May this year, is now available for preorders on Amazon for France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

"ZTE is excited to celebrate the debut of AXON 7 in Europe, and today marks the global roll-out of our latest flagship smartphone," said Jacky Zhang, CEO of EMEA and APAC, ZTE Mobile Devices. "With AXON 7s unbeatable combination of an eye catching design, top-of-the-line specs and an affordable price, were positive about demand for AXON 7 in Europe."

As for price, the Axon 7 carries a tag of 359 in the UK and 449.99 in the rest of Europe. Availability is set for July 30 (Amazon France says July 25). The phone will also be available online on GrosBill and offline at Media Markt and Phone House in coming months, ZTE said.

Source (Amazon UK  Spain  Germany  France  Italy)
Xiaomi has confirmed that its latest MIUI ROM (version 8.0) will be launched in August, although an exact date is yet to be revealed. The ROM was unveiled last month, and a beta version was made available for download earlier this month.

We already briefed you about the changes included in MIUI 8, and just recently it was revealed that the ROM will also bring along the split-screen multitasking feature, also known as multi-window mode.

But before MIUI 8.0 arrives, the company will release version 7.5 of the ROM that contains some of the new features included in version 8.0. In fact, the roll-out for China stable ROM is set for today (should have already begun) - head to the source link below for more details.

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News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Wednesday 29 June 2016

within thirty days

THE Constitutional Court postponed sine die the application filed by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) challenging the decision bythe Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to introduce a mandatory "national pledge" in schools onafterMr M. Chimombe from the Civil Division of the Attorney General's office failed to appear owing to a family bereavement.ZLHR said the parties were directed to approach the Registrar of the Constitutional Court for a new date of hearingifengagements between the Minister and the churches are not concluded by then.The national pledge was introduced during the current school term to be recited by pupils at all of the country's primary and secondaryschools.In an application filed by David Hofisi of ZLHR on Tuesday 19 April 2016 on behalf of Mathew Sogolani, whose three minor children areenrolled in infant, primary and secondary schools respectively, the Harare based parent argued that forcing children to recite contents ofthe national pledge run contrary to the family's religious beliefs.Sogolani, a member of the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) church, is asking the Constitutional Court to suspend the requirement thatschoolchildren recite the pledge.Sogolani's children attend Mashambanaka Secondary School, and Chizungu Primary School in Harare's Epworth. Primary and Secondary Education Minister Lazarus Dokora is cited as the first respondent while the school head of Mashambanhaka Secondary School, where Sogoloni'sdaughter is a pupil, is listed as the second respondent.The headmaster of Chizungu Primary School is cited as the 3rd respondent and the Attorney General as the 4th respondent.The Harare resident argued that he will suffer irreparable harm if his children are compelled to recite a pledge, which is contrary to theirviews, opinions and beliefs.Sogolani argued that the pledge would vitiate his rights to dignity, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and equal protection ofthe law  rights that are all granted by the Constitution.He added that the pledge is formulated "in the manner of an oath, a prayer and seems, in the very least, a religious observance".In his founding affidavit, Sogolani argued that the national pledge is offensive to his religious convictions and thus in violation ofSections 51, 56 (1), (3), 60 (1), (2), (3) and 61 (1) (a) of the Constitution.
Opinion / Columnist

It would be an oversimplification for a rather complex issue to say that the churches should rise and condemn evil for what it is in order to eradicate the problems bedeviling the country. Cleric Ancelimo Magaya, of the National Agreement Platform has urged the government to initiate national dialogue to find a lasting solution to the problems facing the country. Heart-Felt International Ministries (HIM) founder, Tavonga Vutabwashe is also accusing government officials of oppressing Zimbabweans but handling foreigners with velvet gloves. Moreover it is a misinterpretation of reality to say that more churches push for President Robert Mugabe's departure.Addressing a Press conference in Harare recently, Magaya urged the government to take seriously issues to do with civil servants' salaries and put to an end house demolitions and illegal parceling out of stands by the so-called land barons. He urged the government to restore the dignity of those in the state security sector, war veterans and pensioners.It is prudent that the church leaders should plead with the politicians to consider the welfare of ordinary men, women and children. They should also maintain the view that there is more to unite the different political actors than to divide them. Thus they should preach unity in all parties and not to promote factionalism.We know that the church leaders have by all means tried to interrogate the political, economic and social problems that are rocking the country and have tried to proffer some solutions. The little known cleric Magaya has also joined the bandwagon of church leaders who have joined civil society to demand that elections should only be held when the country has been sufficiently de-militarized.Clerics like Magaya should be able to read the signs of the times and avoid aligning themselves with partisan political agendas. The so-called man of cloth is criticizing the First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe for donating food and other goods alleging that they are being distributed on party lines. The First Lady invited all the people to join her as the mother of the nation when she was donating the food and goods.Magaya has gone a step further by urging the people to rise against the legitimately elected government over civil servants' salaries and the demolitions of the illegal structures. We need to remind the so-called top cleric to stop inciting the peace loving people of this country. In fact the man should be reminded that it is illegal to be legal in a society of illegality.The cleric has also called the government to restore dignity to members of the security sector, pensioners and war veterans. In this endeavour the cleric should not interfere in the running of the government but concentrate on writing positive pastoral letters. The man of the pulpit should stick to the word of God.The net effect of biased clerics like Magaya has been to divide the church into two broad groups; those in favour of President Robert Mugabe and those opposed to him. Progressive Christians and the like minded people should stick to the word of God and leave politics to the politicians.Recently Heart-Felt International Ministries (HIM) founder Tavonga Vutahwashe has come out guns blazing accusing government officials of oppressing Zimbabweans but handling foreigners with velvet gloves. Vutahwashe went on arguing that ministers are behind the untold suffering of locals and all the economic misfortunes the country is facing.In his scathing sermons, Vutahwashe preaches that President Robert Mugabe is surrounded by ungodly people who are unfit to lead the country. He claims that the ZANU PF regime has perpetuated the stereo-type that foreigners are superior to locals as it gives them preferential treatment especially the Chinese.The clergyman proffers that the current cash crisis can be traced back to the ZANU PF all weather friends the Chinese, who he accuses of siphoning the greenback to their motherland. In this endeavour the man of the cloth is promoting racism as he is against the Chinese and then this becomes a fascinating paradox.In the current political discourse it has emerged that traditional churches in the likes of Roman Catholic, Methodists Anglicans etc have been concentrating on the word of God instead of criticizing government policies like the newly emerging little known churches. Of late these little known churches are being led by people of dubious religious credentials as they are preaching hate sermons.Recently some dubious church groups came up together and demonstrated against the schools national pledge. A quick but shrewd glance at the demonstrators shows that they are not churches, they are small opposition parties disguising as churches. If the Roman Catholic Church decides to march the whole of Harare will be closed because of numbers. Not these gangsters masquerading as churches. The normal churches endorsed the national pledge, only misled people keep on talking about Muslim hand in this pledge and yet there is nothing Muslim about it.It is now beside the point and ill advised to say that more churches are calling for the removal of President Robert Mugabe from power by any means necessary as he had failed the nation. Real churches do not call for confrontation with the incumbent President but pray for economic recovery and prosperity.--------------Stewart Murewa
Opinion / Columnist

I braved the chilly weather to listen to Mai Joice Mujuru of Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) on Saturday afternoon at her maiden Harare rally. I belong to no existing political affiliation and mine was a curiosity borne out of support of the woman folk who has dared into a man dominated environs and to have the "scoop" of the ZANU-PF government beans she promised to spill according to the party spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire, though I questioned her audacity of mooting to wantonly contravening the Official Secret Act, but then again this was a publicity stunt and it sure earned her a sizeable crowd.Like many who graced the rally, I went with an open mind and was ready to be converted, from my apolitical stance after having suffered massive disillusionment with the opposition politics in Zimbabwe. My impartiality suffered a rude awakening, when the former ZANU-PF cadre opened her mouth proving true the proverbial saying "It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than open one's mouth and remove all doubt". Her address lacked conviction and was just a murky, lackluster piece of work exposing her bankruptcy of ideas, which will surely expedite her eventual demise. I am sure her handlers are already wishing for the return to her hibernation at least during that time people were left guessing as to her competence or lack of it.Now that she has embarked on her rallies all her shortcomings are a glaring reminder that she has nothing to offer but bitterness with her former party ZANU-PF. Her speech was nothing but the same opposition rhetoric that has left Zimbabweans disillusioned and distrusting opposition politicians. As I sat at the civic center ground I was struck by the way she tried to convince attendees that hers is not a ZANU-PF project. It also dawned on me that try as she might, her inglorious exit from ZANU-PF will always haunt her and the emotional scaring she got from being chased from a party she had known all her life makes her a vulnerable opposition leader.She will remain fixated with her former party to her own undoing. I am no psychologist but the first rule of moving forward with one's life is to address the past which this lady has not done. She harbors venomous bitterness with ZANU-PF and as I listened to her address, I realized she is expending most of her energy trying to prove a point with her former colleagues that she fails to see the bigger picture of why she joined opposition politics in the first place. I believe she joined opposition politics for the wrong reasons and that in itself makes her an unpersuasive opposition politician. Her case is not ameliorated by surrounding herself with old bones in the form of Didymus Mutasa, Rugare Gumbo and Dzikamai Mavhaire. Those sack of bones were an eyesore to her top table at the rally and many at the rally could not hide their incredulity.I was struck by the way she called herself a "moderate" amongst hardliners in ZANU-PF as a bag of moonshine. When she was in the thick of things in ZANU-PF why is it that her moderation did not present itself. She should not make so many an apologies for having being part of ZANU-PF and any attempt to do so will only open her to ridicule as people are not as gullible so as to believe her purported innocence. Her attempts to lure war vets from ZANU-PF were pitiable. She should know much that war veterans might have their differences in ZANU-PF, but it remains their home. War veterans would rather fight it out in the revolutionary party than join her in her political wilderness.The bottom line, Mai Mujuru is not convincing. I quizzed those who blasted her interview with SAFM in February when she stammered and could not articulate issues compellingly. Her current rallies have just confirmed the concerns that Zimbabweans raised after her bungled interview. She is no presidential material and like her counterpart Morgan Tsvangirai who the former US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell stated would require massive hand holding, she will also require that assistance if ever she makes it to the inaccessible State House. This is the same reason she slaved in the shadow of President Mugabe during her tenure as vice president. She is a follower and has no leadership qualities that inspire Zimbabweans to follow her. The euphoria of attending her rallies will soon die down as Zimbabweans will realize that this is another empty vessel (old wine in new bottles) that has nothing to offer but reverse the gains of the struggle as she is promising during her rallies. Her knack for the West is coming to the fore as she herself does not have solutions to the problems facing Zimbabwe but to kneel and bow to the West for solutions, the treacherous path trodden by her predecessors in opposition politics. Mai Mujuru is not inventing the wheel and the hype that followed her entry in opposition politics will wane soon enough and reality will then hit that this is not a job for the faint-hearted.If I were Mai Mujuru after exiting ZANU-PF, I should have counted my losses and opted for leading a simple life as a farmer, mother, grandmother, businesswoman etc. I should not have been arm twisted by the likes of Didymus Mutasa and company, spent forces who can't tell their right hand from their left. Whoever is lying to this woman that she can lead Zimbabwe should have mercy, as she simply does not have the aptitude for leadership. Zimbabwe requires strong and decisive leadership that is ready to fight for its place in the world politics.----------Tapiwa Maware
Los Angeles based worship artist Nia Allen heads to Johannesburg, South Africa (June 29-July 3rd) to lend her support as a background vocalist to GRAMMY winner Cece Winans. Though Nia has launched her solo career several years ago from time to time she still serves behind CeCe who she considers a mentor.

Additionally, Nia has been traveling and ministering her new single "Holy Spirit" at various churches including Bishop Noel Jones' City of Refuge Church, Bishop Paul S. Morton's Changing a Generation, and Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church to name a few. "Holy Spirit" is currently being serviced to Gospel radio and is making an immediate impact. This beautiful worship song - written by Bryan and Katie Torwalt of Jesus Culture - offers a cross-cultural and cross-denominational appeal that worship leaders and churches are already singing across the country and around the world.

Nia has positioned herself as a cross cultural worship artist ministering in various Gospel and Contemporary Christian (CCM) settings. She also travels with author and Bible teacherBeth Moore as one of the worship leaders and worship team members with her Living Proof women's conference, alongside worship leader Travis Cottrell.

Nia Allen has a long history as a worship leader and recording artist. She has recorded two projects "A New Thing" and "Here Am I," and has served as a worship leader for the National Worship Leader Conference & CeCe Winans Always Sisters Forever Brothers Youth Conference. She has traveled with the Women of Faith tour from 2007 to 2009, and was invited back in 2015 for their "Farewell Tour," featuring persons like Sandi Patty andSarah Jakes- Roberts. She has also appeared in various media outlets from television to magazine and provided background vocals for artists like CeCe Winans, Rascal Flatts,Martha Munizzi and Nicole C. Mullen.

For more information on Nia Allen, connect with her on her social media platforms: Twitter: NiaAllenMusic, Facebook: NiaAllenMusic and Instagram: NiaAllenMusic

Tags : nia allen Cece Winans holy spirit nia allen news nia allen new single
Published on 2016/06/28 | Source

E is the fifth woman.

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There have been 4 women so far. A pressed charges then cancelled them. B called 112 last year and is going ahead with suing him. C and D also claim they were raped.

Then there's E.

She worked at Ten Cafe before and she's met Park Yoo-chun as a customer. Then she was almost raped. However, she didn't press charges.

"Who is going to believe a waitress who works at a bar?"

We took a look at the text messages between E and her friend.

E told her friend what happened.

"I was almost raped by Park Yoo-chun".

E and her friend have no secrets. E told her friend Park Yoo-chun came to the bar and something almost happened to her in the bathroom.

"There was a band that came in to play music. Then Park Yoo-chun called me to the bathroom and tried to force me to have sex".

There was a squabble. E didn't want this and she refused to do it. A few minutes later she got out of the bathroom.

What E felt at the moment, was fear. The bathroom is a secret place for anyone. But at the same time, it's somewhere no one will help you.

E texted her friend when she got out. She was angry but she had to keep it in. She knew it was just shaming herself if she didn't.

"Will it be over if I just sue him? Everyone would point fingers at me. No one will believe me. Who would believe that a waitress at a bar would get raped?"

E still won't press charges.

Dispatch did additional research on this case. We met with 4 or more room cafe waitresses. They all met Park Yoo-chun before.

They remembered him clearly. He likes hip hop, gives good tips and pays the bill without a hassle.

Another thing they remembered was 'band' and 'bathroom'.

F and G spoke.

"When the band starts playing, he goes to the bathroom and he takes his partner with him. But no one knows what goes on in there".

"When Park Yoo-chun went into the bathroom, his friends laughed. They know what's going on inside. We just assume".

F and G asked about sex scandal and their answer was simple. Park Yoo-chun was a customer and the women claiming to be victims are also waitresses who work at a bar.

They didn't say much about the case being rape of not. He didn't hit them. Then, were all the intercourses consensual? They shook their heads.

"Some might do it because they like it but some might not have liked it. Still, it's hard to push him off you and run out. That's her job, working at the bar. That's why".

H mentioned 'fear'. She said there was pressure and the fear was not about being raped but about not being protected.

What if the women managed to push him off and got out? The fear would be the same.

"The friends would mock her. Suing would make her a con artist. They would tease her and say she's a bar waitress and that's what she's supposed to do".

This is kind of why A cancelled her charges.

Dispatch was able to get information about A and the conversation she had with her friend.

"There are only about 10 witnesses to the case. Fighting would only get my identity leaked and nothing good can come from it".

Park Yoo-chun's case is still in progress. A, B, C and D claim they were raped in the bathroom. Only A claims there was no 'force' involved.

These women are being called con artists. They could be.

However, the method of how they can make their statements is very limited. They work at night, at a bar and people take them for 'easy women'.

The legal standard of this case is whether the sex was forced or not. However, there's something behind it and that's Park Yoo-chun's habit and attitude.

Finally, there's I. I is an official at a room salon cafe. He mentioned habit. He mentioned that Park may not have recognized the wrongness of it.

"Ten cafes have no second rounds. Sex trafficking is illegal. But there are people who come to the bar in hopes of getting some game".

E almost got raped in the bathroom. F and G witnessed Park's bathroom fetish.

"Park Yoo-chun might've been unlucky and got involved with a con artist but it could really just be his habit".

There's 'con artists', 'mobs' and 'half a billion won'. On the other hand, the victims mentioned compensation first and the accused put 'someone' (member of the Yangeun Gang) forward but are denying it.

Park Yoo-chun's scandal is now a game. He's now the victim and claiming he's been framed.

However, there are some women who haven't pressed charges against him yet.

In the end, he's given the pretext himself. He went along doing his usual thing in the bar and this is where it got him.
Opinion / Columnist

The arrogance that is continued to be displayed by the government and its functionaries that it continues to deploy in Matabeleland against the wishes of the people of Matabeleland rose to new heights in the aftermath of the showdown between the community of Lupane and the Ministry of Education.The government is accountable to its people, not the other way round. So it is dismaying to hear a high ranking government official arrogantly saying they will educate and counsel the people of Matabeleland on government policy following their rejection of one Mrs. Bonyongwe from their school and community. Sylvia Utete Masango, the Permanent Secretary in the Education Ministry seems determined to ignore the people's wishes and sounds adamant that they will continue with their deployments and educating until the people accept government policy.Her statements and pronouncements shows that she and her government do not care what the people want but are hell-bent on imposing their functionaries in the name of government deployments.Government policy should reflect the wishes of the people, that is what Devolution is all about. That is what the people of Lupane demanded when they included Devolution in the Constitution and subsequently voted YES for it, not for some lowly political deployee to come and force feed them on a repressive policy which they rejected by voting for Devolution of Power.The reasons for the rejection of the deployment by the ,community are not tribal or vindictive. Education of our children is a holistic exercise which includes culture, language on top of the new life concepts that the child will be receiving at school. It is enshrined in the National Constitution that Cultural Rights of all citizens should be protected, respected and promoted by the government.It is dismaying then to find the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education ignorant of such rights. It is highly arrogant and insulting of her to even suggest counseling when she and her Ministry should listen to the wishes of the same people.Sylvia Utete-Masango is the one who needs education on the parameters of her job and terms of reference. The Permanent Secretary should take time to read and understand the Constitution, especially on Children's Rights and Devolution of Power. It is the Permanent Secretary who will benefit much from the prescription she is so generously giving to the ordinary Matabeleland people.The people of Lupane and Matabeleland at large should remain steadfast in demanding both their constitutional rights and respect from the current regime in Harare. They should not give up fighting for their children's rights as provided for in the constitution.Iphithule Thembani kaMaphosaDirector of Information, Publicity and MarketingZimbabwe African Peoples Union.ZAPU
Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby.

11:52, 25 OCT 2022
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif.The Adult Performer Advocacy Committee (APAC) held a press conference this afternoon, ostensibly to attempt to involve Michel Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), in a dialogue regarding the California Safer Sex in the Adult FIlm Industry ballot initiative, but the intended guest of honor was a no-show.

The presser got started a bit late, just after noon, with the industry panel consisting of APAC Secretary Ela Darling, transgender performer Venus Lux and Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Eric Paul Leue giving Weinstein a bit of extra time to show upbut as soon it was clear that, once again, Weinstein had no interest in hearing what the adult community (which the initiative is supposed to protect) actually had to say, they proceeded.

"The largest issue for performers and performer safety is that this ballot initiative would allow any California resident the opportunity to sue performers personally for performing in films," Darling began. "If we have any financial stake outside of performing, we would be at risk for being taken to court by anybody in California."

She went on to say that although language in the initiative supposedly exempts performers themselves from the lawsuits, Weinstein's lack of knowledge of how the adult industry works caused the bill to target many of those same performers, since they often wear multiple hats, as producers themselves, camera operators, sound and lighting technicians, makeup artists, marketers, content traders and the like, all of which would fall under the initiative's liability provisions as "aiders and abetters."

"You can't just simply be a performer," Darling said. "You can't just go to a set, shoot and leave and call it a day ... If someone were to file a complaint with Cal/OSHA and Cal/OSHA opted not to act on it, the person who filed the complaint would be able to take everybody with a financial stake in the film to court, at which point our legal names and our home addresses would be made public record."

Darling then told the assemblage about one particular stalker who had called Darling's mother at her workplace and complained that her daughter was "a pornographic lesbian whore," and had sent threats to the parents' home.

"This is just because he has had access to my legal name," she warned. "Imagine what would happen if he had access to my home personal address."

When it came Leue's turn to speak, he expressed disappointment that no one from AHF had seen fit to attend.

"I personally feel very disappointed that the proponent of the initiative, who claims to care about worker safety, is not willing to actually speak to the workers or listen to the workers' concerns," he said.

Besides being Free Speech's executive director, Leue is also the campaign manager for Californians Against Worker Harassment, the organization formed to fight the initiative. He noted that APAC is entirely a performers' organization, and as such would be exactly the people Weinstein should have consulted before creating the initiative.

"For AIDS Healthcare Foundation and for Michael Weinstein to refuse to speak to you, I find appalling," he stated. "This initiative is not about sexual health. Voters are being tricked into believing it is; they are being misled with their votes, thinking that they will do something good for the workers in this industry, but what they will create is an unprecedented lawsuit model that will allow the bigots and right-wing activists in this state to hunt down our workers based on who they are and what they do, and that, I find frightening."

The last official speaker was performer Venus Lux.

"I am a performer, a transsexual performer for the past four years," she began. "I am also a small business owner, I have a staff of seven and also have a model house. I do know that I am a good example of a person who can be greatly affected by this. ... As a transsexual woman of color, I have to struggle, I have to hustle, I have to maintain my lifestyle, and on top of that, I have other lives and heads to worry about, and I'm here on behalf of myself and my staff members and those I ally myself with, all the girls that I've tried to create a safe space for within this industry and protect their rights because they're underneath my roof sometimes."

She noted that she herself had been the target of "haters," including, she said, members of the Baptist Church and others who oppose anyone who identifies as transgender.

Leue noted that performers and producers had been working together to build regulations "that will guarantee choice and control and access to the best options out there for the people that want to choose them. ... We're very much for regulation; we've very much for protecting our workers, and the proponent of this initiative obviously does not care to talk to those workers directly. He's made up his mind; he thinks he knows what's best, and if we've learned one thing, that's never true."

"There is no other laborer or worker in California who would be held liable if they were injured on the job," Darling added. "This would make us the only ones where, if heaven forbid we were to sustain an injury or contract an illness, we would still be liable under this initiative, and the adult industry is working with Cal/OSHA to create regulations that makes sense for us, that work within our industry but also protect us."

Leue noted that several organizations, including both the California Democratic and Republican parties, oppose the initiative, and said, "It is sad that the proponent does not realize that he's heading in the wrong direction when all we do is we try and open that channel of communication again, again and again, and are being ignored."

Darling then threw the floor open for performers to give their thoughts on the initiative, as well as their experiences in adult. The first to speak was veteran performer and makeup artist Julia Ann, who had written her thoughts the previous evening and read them to the audience, often through tears.

She noted that for as long as she's been in the industry, performers have been tested for STDs, though that became much more thorough after the HIV outbreak of 1998.

"We did regulate back then, and some companies were even condom only for those who wanted to make that choice, which that's what it's about: choice," she stated. "My safety and my life could be at risk if this initiative continues to be pushed. All along AHF has been betting on the public's lack of information on the adult industry and how it works. AHF has been betting on the public's biases that have been set in place when it comes to the adult industry and its workers."

Ann revealed that she had kept a "dangerous fan file" of people who had written to her with threats of one sort or another, and that if the initiative were to pass, her real name and home address and even phone number would be revealed if she were sued, and she fears that the "hostile rants from those that don't like me for various reasons, including my working with black men on film" might lead them to commit violence against her.

"I really hope, Mr. Weinstein, that you will put down your sword and move on to the people with HIV who need your help and the help of AHF," she concluded. "After all, isn't that what AIDS Healthcare Foundation is for?"

Several other performers also spoke to the issues, including Ella Nova, Brock Doom, Stefani Special, Katt Lowden, Siouxsie Q and Tim Woodman, after which a short question-and-answer period was held. The conference ended just after 1 p.m.
The following information is provided by local law enforcement agencies.

All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Compiled by Jessica Isaacs

The following were provided by the Watauga County Sheriffs Office.

June 14

ARREST: A male suspect, 38, of 11 Tater Hill Estates Drive Apt. 3 in Boone, was charged with felony fugitive from justice. Secured bond: $15,000. Trial date: July 15.

June 16

ARREST: A male suspect, 19, of 1962 Redberry Lane in Conover, was charged with OFA-FTA.

June 17

ARREST: A male suspect, 46, of 7612 Old U.S. Highway 421 in Deep Gap, was charged with all traffic/DWLR. Secured bond: $1,000. Trial date: Aug. 1.

June 19

ARREST: A male suspect, 34, of 3451 U.S. Highway 321 in Boone, was charged with assault on a female and criminal damage to property. Trial date: Aug. 1.

June 20

ARREST: A male suspect, 56, of 209 Old Hatch Lane in Boone, was charged with OFA/FTA.

June 21

INCIDENT: Vandalism and larceny were reported at 5030 U.S. Highway 321 S in Blowing Rock.

INCIDENT: Burglary  forcible entry and motor vehicle theft  recreational vehicle were reported on Jakes Mountain Road in Boone.

INCIDENT: Vandalism was reported at 5186 N.C. Highway 194 N in Boone.

INCIDENT: Simple physical assault was reported at 526 Jones Drive in Boone.

INCIDENT: Shoplifting was reported at the original Mast General Store in Valle Crucis.

ARREST: A male suspect, 39, of 350 Greenwood Valley Drive in Boone, was charged with OFA for FTA on 90-96 review. Secured bond: $1,000. Trial date: Aug. 8.

June 22

INCIDENT: Possession of marijuana paraphernalia was reported at U.S. Highway 421 and Brown Farm Road in Boone.

INCIDENT: Calls for service were reported at 11010 N.C. Highway 105 S in Banner Elk.

INCIDENT: Calls for service were reported at 995 Snyder Branch Road in Todd.

ARREST: A male suspect, 25, of 4725 Elk Creek Road in Deep Gap, was charged with felony larceny, conspiracy to commit felony larceny and misdemeanor worthless check criminal summons. Secured bond: $10,000. Trial date: Aug. 1.

ARREST: A male suspect, 35, of 331 Green Briar Road in Boone, was charged with DWLR. Secured bond: $1,000. Trial date: July 7.

June 23

INCIDENT: Drug violations were reported during a traffic stop near Hamptons Funeral Home.

INCIDENT: Larceny was reported at 202 Ellas Way in Zionville.

INCIDENT: Resist/obstruct/delay a government official, DWLR and fictitious registration were reported at Tater Hill Road and Green Acres Drive in Zionville.

ARREST: A male suspect, 29, of 112 Shadow Mountain Road in Roan Mountain, Tennessee, was charged with felony breaking and entering and larceny after breaking and entering. Secured bond: $20,000. Trial date: Aug. 1.

ARREST: A male suspect, 21, of 1516 Winterlocken Drive in Sanford, was charged with FTA. Secured bond: $1,500. Trial date: Aug. 1.

ARREST: A male suspect, 29, of 2698 Pisgah Church Road in Lenoir, was charged with cyberstalking, DWLR, expired registration, fictitious registration, two counts of operating motor vehicle with no registration and two counts of injury to real property. Secured bond: $3,000. Trial date: July 26.

June 24

INCIDENT: Fraud  wire/computer/electronic was reported at 230 Triple T Drive in Boone.

INCIDENT: Fraud  obtaining money/property by false pretense was reported at 5920 U.S. Highway 221 S in Blowing Rock.

INCIDENT: Resisting public officer and possession of marijuana paraphernalia were reported on Bub Teems Road.

INCIDENT: Drug violations and possessing/concealing weapons were reported in the parking lot at Bojangles on U.S. Highway 321 S.

INCIDENT: Calls for service were reported at 392 Tweetsie Trail in Banner Elk.

ARREST: A female suspect, 40, of 2894 Old U.S. Highway 421 in Boone, was charged with felony forgery of endorsement. Secured bond: $3,000. Trial date: Aug. 3.

June 25

INCIDENT: Vandalism was reported at 110 Eggers Lane in Boone.

INCIDENT: Drug violations were reported at 12000 U.S. Highway 421 N in Zionville.

ARREST: A male suspect, 25, of Vanderpool Campground Lot 15 in Vilas, was charged with assault on a female and communicating threats. Trial date: Aug. 3.

ARREST: A female suspect, 41, of 691 Sherwood Road in Vilas, was charged with parole and probation violations, resisting public officer and possession of marijuana paraphernalia. Secured bond: $2,500. Trial date: Aug. 12.

ARREST: A male suspect, 20, of 4800 Greenshadow Court in Fuquay Varina, was charged with drug violations and possessing/concealing weapons. Secured bond: $750. Trial date: Aug. 1.

June 26

INCIDENT: Larceny from buildings and breaking and entering were reported at 108 Angelia Court in Boone.

INCIDENT: Robbery was reported at 300 Bluebird Lane in Boone.

INCIDENT: Larceny was reported at 142 Blueberry Lane in Vilas.

June 27

INCIDENT: Assault on a female was reported at 268 Rocky Mountain Lane in Boone.

INCIDENT: Domestic dispute and simple assault were reported at 4358 N.C. Highway 105 S in Boone.

ARREST: A male suspect, 20, of 277 Rabbit Run Road in Boone, was charged with felony PWIMSD schedule I controlled substance, PWIMSSD schedule VI controlled substance, maintain a dwelling/place for controlled substance and misdemeanor possess marijuana paraphernalia. Secured bond: $10,000. Trial date: Aug. 1.

ARREST: A male suspect, 19, of 6230 Hollow Springs Circle in Boomer, was charged with FTA larceny. Secured bond: 4550. Trial date: Aug. 3.

ARREST: A male suspect, 29, of 646 Valle Meadow Trail in Sugar Grove, was charged with OFA/FTA speeding. Secured bond: $500. Trial date: Aug. 1.

ARREST: A male suspect, 28, of 586 Will Isaacs Road in Zionville, was charged with assault on a female and injury to personal property. Trial date: Aug. 1.

ARREST: A male suspect, 24, of 3525 Piney Road in Morganton, was charged with OFA/FTA resisting a public officer. Secured bond: $2,000. Trial date: June 29.

ARREST: A male suspect, 43, of 268 Rocky Mountain Lane in Boone, was charged with assault on a female. Trial date: Aug. 9.
Appalachian State Universitys Board of Trustees met on June 24 and welcomed a new member, Jalyn Howard, the new Student Government Association president who will represent the interests of the student body. In addition, two ex officio representatives joined the board, Jason Marshburn, the Staff Senate chair and Carolyn Clark, the Alumni Council president, who will serve one-year terms.

Chancellor Sheri N. Everts report included Thursday mornings groundbreaking of a new building for the Beaver College of Health Sciences on State Farm Road, An Appalachian Summer Festivals 32nd season and the fifth Appalachian Energy Summit, which will draw local citizens as well as visitors from across the state and beyond.

Everts told the audience the vision for the university remains ever present.

Appalachians identity is built on the universitys tradition. Since inception, the university has had one vision  putting students first by providing access to a quality education.

Conceived by the Dougherty brothers over a century ago, this vision has been built upon by each successive chancellor. This tradition is important to me, and I have worked to honor it by working with the entire Appalachian Community to continue building upon our distinctive identity and core values.

Ultimately, the reason our stellar faculty and staff come to work every day is to realize this vision, which can be summed up in one key phrase: we put students first, always, and together we are building a bright future.

Everts also said, At Appalachian, we promote a spirit of inclusion that inspires students, faculty and staff to form relationships well beyond graduation. Our students and alumni think critically and understand the responsibilities of community engagement. I am heartened by the passion of the Appalachian Community and invite anyone to talk with me in person about the future of our great university.

In other business, Dr. Susan Davies, associate vice chancellor for enrollment management, and Rachel Serrano, director of information analytics, provided a presentation on analytics. They previewed dashboards that better illustrate key demographics of the student body, applicants by location, enrollment trends among undergraduates and graduate students, and the wide range of majors students select as freshmen as well as changes in their majors. The dashboards also show which community colleges send transfer students to Appalachian including benchmarking graphics to indicate whether those numbers are increasing or decreasing compared to previous years.

Davies said the information is important when planning recruitment strategies including travel.

This preview of the analytics platform demonstrates the type of data that our academic leadership will have access to for data-informed decision-making. It allows us to map data and understand it visually, she said.

Chancellor Everts full comments, including recommendations from the Chancellors Commission on Diversity, changes in leadership and recent accolades are available at:http://chancellor.appstate.edu/messages/id/96

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High Country Council of Governments (HCCOG) has selected Shane Fox as its new Executive Director beginning July 1, 2016. The Executive Director reports directly to a 27-member Executive Board of local officials and is responsible for managing a professional staff of 20 with an annual budget of over $6 million. HCCOG is 1 of 16 regional councils in the state of North Carolina.

Shane Fox received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration Accounting from Appalachian State University. He has worked in public accounting for over 15 years. For almost a decade, Mr. Fox worked as an Audit Manager at Martin Starnes & Associates in Hickory, NC. While at Martin Starnes, Mr. Fox managed hundreds of governmental audits over his tenure while supervising a staff of more than 20 professionals. Previously, he worked as the Assistant Finance Director for Cleveland County, overseeing an operating budget of $100 million with over 26 departments.

Mr. Fox began working at HCCOG in April of this year when he was hired as the Finance Officer.

My wife and I met at ASU almost 20 years ago and have dreamed of someday coming back to Boone and making it our home. It is great to finally be able to make that a reality. I could not be more excited to be a part of such a long standing and successful organization. HCCOG has been a cornerstone for area government for over 40 years, and I look forward to continuing that history and success for many years to come.

Brenda Lyerly, current mayor of Banner Elk, and Chair of the Executive Board and Search Committee said, The Search Committee for the Executive Director position worked through thirty applications, and we are confident that we selected the best fit for our organization. Shanes sixteen years of experience in finance and management and his commitment to the High Country area will serve the COG well into the future. The committee asked the COG staff for input into the characteristics they would want in a new director, and we are confident that Shanes inclusive and open management style will serve the staff well. He is smart, enthusiastic, and can see the big picture. We anticipate that he will be an effective advocate for the COG membership.

Robert L. Johnson, Mayor of North Wilkesboro, past chair of the Executive Board, and member of the Search Committee, said We look forward to having Shane on board as our new director and working with him.

The previous Executive Director was Dr. Mickey N. Duvall. He took a job as the Secretary of Commerce for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Nation.

The Executive Director is responsible for the COGs overall supervision and management, and provides oversight of the agencys day-to-day activities. Mr. Fox will provide leadership to HCCOG staff in order to meet the goals and objectives as established by the HCCOG Board on behalf of the regions local governments.

High Country Council of Governments is a planning and development agency serving local governments in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey Counties.

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I recently attended a stop on the NC Competes for Jobs Tour at Appalachian State University in Boone with North Carolina Commerce Secretary John Skvarla. I was impressed by the large turnout of local elected officials, government staff, local businesses and economic development partners who came to learn and ask questions about what North Carolina is doing under Governor Pat McCrorys leadership to create jobs and attract businesses.

While most of the meeting was dedicated to the many programs the McCrory administration has enacted to connect job seekers with employers, I was there to talk about how the state is improving customer service to make it easier for businesses to operate and grow while still protecting the environment.

The McCrory administration is working with businesses and local government to help them achieve compliance with environmental rules and regulations. We are also making our permitting and inspection processes more efficient and user friendly. No company or employee wants to locate to a state with dirty air or dirty water. It is my goal to provide for economic opportunities while protecting the quality of life we value in North Carolina.

The state environmental department is also fighting federal overreach to keep energy prices low and prevent bureaucrats in Washington, DC from taking control of private property and farmland through costly, unnecessary regulation. We have successfully stopped federal takeover of the states electricity system and millions of acres of private property. Decisions about how to protect our resources should be made in North Carolina, not Washington, DC.

John Evans, Chief Deputy Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality

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By Jesse Wood

More than two years ago, the Blowing Rock Town Council unanimously decided to cease considering locating a telecommunications tower on Green Hill Circle. It was decided that other possible avenues would be researched and explored.

Somebody either forgot, disregarded or didnt get the memo about Blowing Rock not wanting a public safety tower on Green Hill Circle.

It was our understanding that was understood. Maybe the ball got dropped two years down the road and that communication was lost or forgotten. Its our understanding that they were aware of that and that was part of why the committee was formed: to look at other options, Town Manager Scott Fogleman said. But like somebody said at the meeting, for all intents and purposes that is water under the bridge and our goal is to work together cooperatively to try to figure out how to improve public safety in Watauga County.

Foglemans comments came after the Watauga Countys Communications Infrastructure Committee (CIC), which is tasked with improving emergency communications in the county, hosted its most-attended meeting in its 10-month history on Tuesday.

(In September 2015, Watauga County formed the CIC at the request of the county managers. The voting members on the committee are Boone Fire Chief Jimmy Isaacs, Blowing Rock Fire Chief Kent Graham and Jeff Virginia, director of Watauga County Communications and Emergency Services.)

On Tuesday, not quite 50 folks were present, primarily including concerned citizens in Blowing Rock and the entire Blowing Rock Town Council, which scheduled a special meeting at the same time and place as the CIC, in order for all of the council members to attend and not violate meeting laws.

Meeting with the committee were representatives from Motorola, the vendor for VIPER (Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders). VIPER is an interoperable communications system under the N.C. Department of Public Safety umbrella.

The point of the meeting was to analyze coverage across the county and expected costs of enhancement. Currently, VIPER sites exist at Buckeye Knob, Rich Mountain, Beech Mountain and Deep Gap Mountain, according to maps shown on Tuesday.

In May, the Town of Blowing Rock received a letter from Marty Randalll of the N.C. Department of Public Safety stating the departments renewed interest in a VIPER site at Green Hill Circle, a beneficial location because of elevation.

A site at Green Hill is still on our list of sites to be built and would allow VIPER to reach the 95 percent [street level with a 3-watt portable radio] coverage goal in Watauga County. It would provide interoperable communications coverage in the town of Blowing Rock and surrounding areas necessary for emergency response during crisis situations where other agency assistance is needed, Randall wrote.

On Tuesday, the Motorola representatives showed up with maps only depicting VIPER coverage as if the Green Hill Circle site existed, so during the meeting a new map was made to show existing coverage without a potential telecommunications tower at the Green Hill Circle site.

County Manager Deron Geouque started the meeting by addressing those in attendance. Geouque said that one point of the meeting was to figure out if the Town of Blowing Rock was interested in having public safety towers in the city limits or its ETJ (extraterritorial jurisdiction).

If not, it affects our overall plan to improve the system, Geouque said.

Geouque then said that the state is no longer interested in pursuing a site at Green Hill Circle and that $1 million in federal funding for building a new VIPER tower is now off the table until funding comes around again in two years. He said that a VIPER site at Green Hill Circle would cost $6 to $7 million versus $8 to 9 million because more sites would have to be utilized and less funding.

Even with additional sites, coverage will not be as good as if it were located on Green Hill, Geouque said.

Ed Haar, a sales manager for Motorola in the Carolinas, said that the company doesnt necessarily go around and tell municipalities, counties and states where to put the towers.

But we do look at coverage and say lets figure out where to put sites if we need more coverage, Haar said. Public safety is our life and blood at Motorola. For police, fire, EMS, its all about radio coverage.

Haar, who sounded like a yes man (i.e. salesman) during the meeting depending on whether he was talking to government and emergency officials or concerned citizens in the audience, and another Motorola representative did say that multiple smaller sites and/or other equipment could be utilized to achieve adequate coverage with less obtrusions if there were objections to the proposed 100-foot tower at Green Hill Circle.

Asked throughout the meeting about collocating, Haar said that is typically frowned upon by the state and Motorola because of recurring costs and other regulations if utilizing another government agencies tower, such as a fire tower near Moses Cone in the National Park Service or another tower a mile from the heart of Blowing Rock in Caldwell County.

Watauga County Board of Commissioner Perry Yates essentially served as a moderator and mediator at the meeting. He noted that lack of communication probably dragged this issue for at least two years longer than needed and expressed sympathy for concerned residents.

If I had a home on Green Hill and paid a million dollars  I would not want to give up my view for a radio site either. But as a county commissioner, its also my responsibility when the state gives us money to try to secure that million to help all of the citizens in the best way possible, Yates said.

If it cant be on Green Hill and cant be in Blowing Rocks ETJ, where can it be put? Yates asked. And the reason we do look at VIPER is because once a VIPER station is put in, the state maintains it. If we dont go viper, then the county has to maintain the site.

Yates started to wrap up the meeting by stating that the Green Hill Circle site was off the table and the best other possibilities will be researched to see if the coverage is adequate and if the nearby residents or property owners at other potential sites will allow a tower in their backyard.

Before the meeting adjourned, attorney Chelsea Garrett, who represents the concerned citizens of Green Hill Circle, stood up and said that her clients dont want another two years to pass before due diligence occurs on other possible sites.

They just want to know whats going to happen in the next several months to move this forward, so we are not sitting here with bad coverage in two years and no money, Garrett said.

Yates responded by saying that Watauga County would work hand-in-hand with the local fire, police and rescue departments, the N.C. Department of Public Safety and Motorola to figure out a plan moving forward, so when the next round of funding is ready to be disbursed, a plan for a public safety tower in the southern part of the county is in place.

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Teenager's App Helps Beat Bogus Parking Tickets

Trending News: A Teenager Designed An App To Get You Out Of Parking Tickets

Why Is This Important?

Because artificial intelligence can beat arbitrary fines. We should all be rither thrilled or terrified.

Long Story Short

British teenager Joshua Browder has developed a chatbot that has overturned 160,000 parking tickets in the UK and New York.

Long Story

Joshua Browder is either a genius, a terrible driver, or quite possibly both.

The 19-year-old Stanford student says he was inspired to create the DoNotPay bot after receiving countless parking in his native London. He soon noticed that many of the tickets he was given were unfair or illegal. Knowing that he wasnt the only one feeling victimized, he took three months to program what he calls the worlds first robotic lawyer.

When users log on to DoNotPay.co.uk, they chat with a bot that asks them a series of questions about the circumstances surrounding their ticket. Was a sign visible? How big was the parking space? And so on. After assessing your case, the bot will help you generate an appeal. Assuming the appeal has merit, it's seldom worth the trouble for local governments to continue fighting. He released it in the UK last fall, and in New York City in March.

Universal Pictures

Not surprisingly, its been wildly popularand very successful. He claims that of the 250,000 people who have used the free bot, 160,000 have had their tickets thrown out, including 9,000 in NYC. He claims hes helped fight some $4-million worth of parking tickets.

I think the people getting parking tickets are the most vulnerable in society, he told VentureBeat. These people arent looking to break the law. I think theyre being exploited as a revenue source by the local government.

Browders next projects are also within the realm of the betterment of humanity. Hes also working on bots to help air travellers receive compensation for flight delays that are over four hours, as well as other that help Syrian asylum-seekers and another for those HIV-positive individuals understand their legal rights.

Browder has an interesting family history, according to Wikipedia (and also, he has a Wikipedia page). His grandfather was a leading American communist in the early 20th century, his grandfather and grand-uncles are world-class mathematicians and his father is an investment-fund manager that works to expose official corruption, particularly in Russia.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

When will this service come to my city?

Disrupt Your Feed

This kid is going to be very, very rich someday.

Drop This Fact

New York City issued a record $1.9-billion in parking tickets in 2015.
(HedgeCo.Net) Sixpoint Partners, a leading global investment bank serving the middle market, today announced the final closing of Origami Opportunities Fund III, L.P (the Fund). The Fund, which is the third investment vehicle for Origami Capital Partners (Origami), closed with capital commitments of approximately $371 million. The Fund received commitments from a number of top-tier investors, including endowments, foundations, multi-manager funds, consultants, public pensions, corporate pensions and family offices.

The Funds strategy involves buying assets trapped in complex legal structures or difficult ownership situations and providing the owners of these illiquid assets with flexible and creative liquidity solutions. The firm invests globally, with a particular focus on North America and Europe, and is led by Thomas Elden and Jeffrey Young.

The Origami team is excited about the opportunities we are seeing in the market and are pleased to be able to capitalize on them with Fund III. We are grateful for the support and confidence of our investors, as well as Sixpoint Partners success in communicating our strategy to the investment community, said Origami CEO Thomas Elden.

Origamis experienced team and impressive track record generated strong demand from investors looking for undervalued assets across sectors, said Eric Zoller, Founder & Partner of Sixpoint Partners. The fund strategy is consistent with our stated focus of delivering unique strategies to our LPs across the private equity spectrum.

With its ability to value illiquid assets and deliver a range of solutions to relevant counterparties, Origami is well-positioned to generate strong returns, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with its senior team, added Larry Smith, Partner of Sixpoint Partners.
The EU didn't turn out to be eternal for all of its members, [contrary to the] idea we had become used to. We must now get used to this idea, he said while visiting the 400-year-old Puumala, a small municipality in Southern Savonia, on 28 June.

President Sauli Niinisto has revealed that he interprets the results of last week's membership referendum in the United Kingdom as a protest and sign of general discontent.

A European Union that is cohesive and unified is in the best interests of small member states such as Finland, he added according to a tweet from the Office of the President.

Niinisto also allayed concerns about the security implications of the referendum results by pointing out that the United Kingdom has never shown a particular interest in joint security policy-making and that it will remain a part of Nato despite its impending exit from the EU.

It's hard to see how [Brexit] could significantly change our security situation. Of course we'll have to wait and see how the EU aligns itself, he said.

The European Parliament convened for an extraordinary plenary session yesterday to discuss the looming withdrawal of the United Kingdom. Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, emphasised that all discussions on the withdrawal must take place through the appropriate channels, not behind the scenes on aisles and in conference rooms.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Anni Reenpaa  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
Statistics Finland reported yesterday that the prices of dwellings in old blocks of flats and terraced houses crept up by 0.6 per cent nationwide between April and May, after falling by 0.4 per cent in the capital region and rising by 1.6 per cent in the rest of the country.

Juhana Brotherus, the chief economist at the Mortgage Society of Finland (Hypo), estimates in an interview with Uusi Suomi that house prices will continue creeping up in the capital region, despite falling marginally in April.

In comparison to the previous year, however, the prices increased by 2.3 per cent in the capital region and decreased by 0.6 per cent elsewhere in the country.

The big picture seems to be that house prices are fragmenting. House prices have already gone up for years in the capital region and other growth centres, views Brotherus.

It is reassuring that an unprecedented construction boom is under-way in Helsinki, which has kept the prices in check. With the supply growing, the prices won't get totally out of hand, he tells, referring to residential construction projects in Jatkasaari, Kalasatama and Espoo.

Brotherus estimates that house prices in the capital region will only decline under extraordinary circumstances, such as a financial crisis and mass unemployment  as they did in the tumult of the recession of the early 1990s and the financial crisis of 20072008.

Etuovi.com, an online housing marketplace owned by Alma Media, has published a set of statistics indicating that the number of completed residential property transactions increased in the first half of the year.

The statistics corroborate the general impression that the recovery of the property market is picking up steam, according to Brotherus.

Last year, the trade was spurred by studios in the capital region. The recovery spread to other growth centres in the autumn and has continued early this year. The improvements have been bubbling under the surface, he says.

Brotherus also estimates that although the gap between house prices in the capital region and rest of the country has widened considerably over the past six months, the situation is not as difficult as it is in Oslo and Stockholm. Helsinki is not, nor about to find itself, in a situation as difficult as in Stockholm and Oslo, where house prices have gotten out of hand, he says.

He nonetheless admits that the prices are already high enough to discourage small and middle-income employees in, for example, the service sector to move to Greater Helsinki in search of employment opportunities.

That's a real concern, but we're finally seeing signs that the prices are slowing down, he notes.

The increases in house prices have according to him been primarily driven by the long-standing trend of urbanisation that has seen people relocate to cities in search of jobs, higher income and so-called soft pull factors, such as cultural and leisure possibilities.

Whenever people move to cities while housing construction is subdued, the demand [for houses] will rise, but not the supply. That's when house prices go up, explains Brotherus.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Illustration: Handout  SRV

Source: Uusi Suomi
From long line of educators, Caldwell takes the top job

Hardy R. "Bo" Caldwell III takes the oath of office as schools superintendent from Clerk of Court Kim Gasperson Justice as Ellie, Jackie and Bryce Caldwell look on.

Joking beforehand that hed rather he sworn in than sworn at, Bo Caldwell took an oath to become Henderson County schools superintendent on Wednesday morning. Getting serious afterwards, Caldwell thanked everyone from his family to his first mentor and declared he was ready to go to work for a school system he loves.



In elevating Caldwell to the top job, the School Board has for the second straight time installed a longtime county schools leader with deep roots in the county and a family tree filled with educators.He succeeds David Jones, another native, who retires on Thursday after serving 38 years in the county schools.

Caldwells own family roots here go back to when his father, Hardy Robinson Caldwell Jr., and his mother, Bobbie Lou Penland Caldwell, moved east from North Carolina mountain counties. His father came from the Cataloochee Valley Caldwells in Haywood County, Bobbie Caldwell said. She grew up in Hayesville.

My mother taught school and my grandfather taught school, said Mrs. Caldwell, who taught at the old Fletcher High School and retired from Rugby Middle School.

The new superintendent is Hardy Robinson Caldwell III but everyone calls him Bo. His wife, Jackie, is a schoolteacher. Her mother, June Barnwell, taught school and her father, Bill Barnwell, was a longtime assistant schools superintendent.

A graduate of West Henderson High School, Caldwell earned a degree in math from Mars Hill College in 1984 before coming home to teach math at Edneyville High School. In 1990 he became assistant principal at Flat Rock Junior High. He also earned a masters of arts in education and an educational specialist degree from Western Carolina University.

He served as principal at Atkinson Elementary from 1993 to 1996, then principal at Apple Valley Middle School before moving to the central office in 2002 as senior director of facility management. He was named senior director of human resources in 2010 and promoted to assistant superintendent of administrative services in 2014.

His wife and children, Ellie, a rising sophomore at Wake Forest, and Bryce, a rising senior at Western Carolina University, stood beside him as Clerk of Court Kim Gasperson Justice administered the oath of office.

Im ready to go to work and Im honored to be your superintendent, he told the audience made up of family members, his minister, School Board members and county officials. Theres nothing more exciting than being superintendent of a school system that I love.

He singled out Dot Case, the beloved civics teacher at North Henderson High School, for her influence in his early teaching days.

Theres nothing you can possibly learn more from than teaching beside Dot Case, he said. His math class at Edneyville High was next door to her class. What she taught me in six months was more than I learned in six years of higher education, he said.

He thanked the School Board for hiring him.

To my leadership team, I thank you, I need you, he added. I appreciate my preacher being here. Its a big part of my life, my faith in Jesus Christ.

If Dot Case taught him how to teach school, my mother taught me the values of life  whats right and whats wrong, he said.

Bo's father, Hardy, who died in 2006, "would have been proud," said his wife. A produce buyer for Gerber Baby Food Co. for 30 years, Hardy Caldwell served on the Henderson County School Board from 1979 to 1994.

Once when he received an award as principal of the year, Bo Caldwell addressed the family connection head on.

"I know a lot of you think I'm here because of my dad," he said. "You're right, I am, because my dad taught me to work hard."
Twenty-eight people have been killed and 60 injured in an attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport.

The city's governor, Vasip Sahin, told Turkey's NTV television that three suicide bombers carried out the attack.

Officials previously said one or two attackers had blown themselves up at the entrance to the international terminal after police fired at them.

Hundreds of passengers were stranded outside the airport entrance, a five-minute drive outside the international departure area.

"A man ran up and ripped open his jacket, showing a bomb vest," said Veysel Allay, who was waiting for a friend at arrivals. "I ran before he did anything."

"I was at arrivals and heard an explosion, everybody ran. Everybody panicked," said 16-year-old Mercan Usul, who arrived from Dusseldorf to meet her aunt. Police sources cited in Turkish media say they believe the attackers were affiliated with the Islamic State (IS).

The methods behind the attack and the fact that tourists may have been targeted led to initial speculation that IS was involved - though this has not been confirmed.

Witness Ercan Ceyhan told CNN-Turk that he saw some 30 ambulances enter the airport. The private DHA news agency said the wounded, among them police officers, were being transferred to Bakirkoy State Hospital. Witnesses told CNN that taxis were ferrying wounded to the hospital. Meanwhile reports said that scheduled flights were being grounded and that passengers were being taken to local hotels.

In December, an explosion on the tarmac at Sabiha Gokcen airport in Istanbul killed a cleaner. Over the last few months Turkey has suffered a number of bombings linked to Kurdish rebel groups and Isis.

Bombings

Ataturk airport is the third busiest European airport after London Heathrow and Paris's Charles De Gaulle. Turkey has suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or Islamic State (IS) militants.

The bombings included two in Istanbul targeting tourists which the authorities have blamed on the IS group.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's president, has held an emergency meeting with the country's prime minister and top military official.
Almost half a million cigarettes concealed within pallets of paving bricks have been seized by Revenue officers at Dublin Port.

The massive consignment of 400,000 cigarettes was being transported in a 20-foot long container.

It had been brought across to Dublin from Armenia on Monday.

It is understood that the seizure was made after a routine profiling resulted in the container being selected for scanning.

The cigarettes had been concealed within pallets of paving bricks - and had a retail value of 212,698. Their sale would have resulted in a loss to the Exchequer of over 167,876.

"These seizures are part of Revenue's ongoing operations targeting the supply and sale of illegal cigarettes in the shadow economy. Investigations are ongoing," said a statement from Revenue.

The cigarettes were branded as "L&M Soft Plus".

Value

Meanwhile, in a busy week for Revenue officers, cocaine with a street value of 750,000 was seized at Dublin Airport.

A 25-year-old Irishman was stopped and searched by officers after arriving from Paris.

Some 11kg of cocaine was found in his luggage - in the back panels of four rucksacks.

The man was arrested on the scene and taken to Ballymun Garda Station.

After appearing in court on Tuesday, the man was charged with the sale, supply and importation of drugs.

He has been remanded in custody for a week.

Investigations are continuing into the discovery of the cigarettes. Revenue officials appealed for anyone with information to contact them.
Suicide bereavement organisation Console splashed out on foreign holidays, designer clothes and 2,083 worth of rugby tickets using charity funds.

The lavish spending, which also included thousands on restaurants and cars, has emerged in an investigation of the under-fire charity.

The founder and former CEO Paul Kelly, his wife Patricia and their son Tim benefited by almost 500,000 in salaries and cars between 2012 and 2014.

Console credit cards were used to spend another 500,000 on items including groceries and clothes from world-famous designer brands Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss, as well as foreign trips.

Mr Kelly's son Tim, who was director of services at Console in the UK, was on a tax-free salary of 600 (800) a week.

Between them, the three used 11 credit cards, the RTE Investigates team revealed last night.

It comes as the charity regulator John Farrelly is expected to take legal moves to secure the organisation, which continues to provide suicide bereavement counselling while it is under investigation by gardai and the HSE.

Unvouched

It has also been claimed credit cards were used for large, unvouched cash withdrawals, trips to Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and other destinations. The spending also included dental work.

An internal HSE audit found that from 2012 to 2014 Console generated an income of 5m, but during that time its helplines were reduced from six to two.

From 2012 to 2014 Paul Kelly received consultancy payments of 218,586, plus a 2009 Mercedes CLS costing 30,600.

Patricia Kelly received salary payments of 67,149, plus a 2010 Audi Q5 costing 57,000. She had four credit cards.

There were no contracts or board approvals for the payments for Mr Kelly or his wife.

Inconsistent and vague explanations were provided to the internal audit about Patricia Kelly's car.

Between 2012 and 2014, 736,000 was spent on Console's credit cards. The largest expenditure item on these was cash withdrawals of 87,027.

Of these, Paul Kelly withdrew 66,296. There was no documentation to identify how these cash sums were used.

Some 71,460 was spent on credit cards primarily by Paul Kelly on foreign travel to Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Tenerife, Nice, Paris and London. The trips to Australia and the Far East occurred around Christmas in 2012 and into 2013.

A draft copy of the HSE audit seen by RTE Investigates also showed inadequate governance structures during the period under audit.
Actress Winona Ryder has said Johnny Depp was "never abusive" during their relationship.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star has been accused of domestic violence by his estranged wife Amber Heard, during their high-profile divorce battle.

But Ryder - who was once engaged to Depp - said he was a "loving, caring guy" when they dated in the early 1990s and she had never seen him be violent.

"I can only speak from my own experience, which was wildly different than what is being said. He was never, never that way towards me. Never abusive at all towards me," she told Time magazine.

"I only know him as a really good, loving, caring guy who is very, very protective of the people that he loves."

Claims of domestic abuse against Depp emerged after Heard filed for divorce in May, citing irreconcilable differences.

Bruised

In court papers filed in Los Angeles, the 30-year-old actress said Depp had a "history of drug and alcohol abuse" and been "verbally and physically abusive" for the entirety of their four-year relationship.

She submitted photographs appearing to show her bruised face, which she said was a result of Depp throwing a phone at her.

Los Angeles Superior Court judge Carl Moor granted a temporary restraining order and ruled that Depp (53) must stay at least 100 yards away from his wife.

Ryder (44) said she found the allegations "shocking" and she had "never seen him be violent before".

"I'm not calling anyone a liar," she said. "I'm just saying, it's difficult and upsetting for me to wrap my head around it. Look, we were together for four years."

Depp and Heard are due to appear at a hearing at Los Angeles Superior Court on August 15.
Gerard Griffin of the ISPCA with some of the seized puppies Picture: Michelle Ghee

Investigations are continuing into illegal dog breeding following a seizure of puppies - believed to have been sourced from the Louth area.

This comes after the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) called for a crackdown on illegal behaviour by puppy farmers, after 20 puppies were seized at Cairnryan Ferry Port in Scotland recently. The puppies were then returned to Ireland.

On Monday night a further ten puppies, consisting of Cocker Spaniels, Shih Tzus and Bichon Frise, were seized at the Scottish port.

None of the puppies were microchipped, violating regulations, and they were all too young to be travelling.

"This is yet another example of illegal behaviour by dog breeders in Ireland and we believe this is just the tip of the iceberg," said ISPCA CEO Dr Andrew Kelly.

"Under the Microchipping of Dogs Regulations, all puppies must be microchipped and registered on an approved database before leaving their place of birth.

Ignoring

"It is clear some dog breeders in Ireland are intent on ignoring the law to maximise profit."

He said the Society will continue to work with its partners in the Scottish SPCA and other organisations involved in Operation Delphin to clampdown on the illegal behaviour.

The joint operation is targeting the illegal export of puppies from Ireland to the UK.

The puppies seized this week were returned by ferry to Belfast where they were transferred to the ISPCA's National Animal Centre in Longford.

Dr Kelly appealed to those looking for a dog to adopt one rather than buy one.

"There are many rescue dogs looking for good homes around Ireland and the UK," he said. "Please consider giving a home to one of those dogs instead of buying a puppy that likely came from a puppy farm in Ireland."

The ISPCA is appealing to members of the public to contact the ISPCA National Animal Cruelty Helpline in confidence if they suspect an animal is being cruelly treated, neglected or abused, or in case of emergency to contact local gardai.
Minister Leo Varadkar has admitted that the Government's decision to increase rent supplement limits is not the "silver bullet" needed to solve the housing crisis.

But he and Housing Minister Simon Coveney said the move, which will cost the taxpayer 55m-a-year, will help prevent families slipping into homelessness.

The Cabinet yesterday agreed to increase the limits for the rent supplement and the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) across the board.

In Dublin, where the rental crisis is at its most serious, limits will be increased by around 29pc.

Charities and opposition TDs have been calling for such a measure for several years.

While the move will come as a relief to many families on low incomes, the long delay in introducing the measure has been slammed as "inexcusable".

It is hoped the plan will tackle the situation whereby families fall into debt or homelessness because their rent has steadily increased beyond the level of financial support they receive from the State.

Illegal

It is also hoped that the move will address the scenario where many households receiving rent supplement have been forced to engage in the "illegal" practice of top-ups, using savings or borrowed money to make up the difference.

Charities, including Threshold, have warned that in some cases families engaging in this practice have gone without food to satisfy their landlord's demands.

At yesterday's announcement of the new limits, Mr Coveney denied that Fine Gael had sought to block the measures during the government formation talks, but said Fianna Fail could take "some credit".

"That's politics. Fianna Fail can take credit, they did input into this decision, but I think both parties agreed this was right," Mr Coveney said.

"However, we are the Government who have to make sure the numbers add up in terms of the 55m this will cost."

Experts have warned that increasing rent supplement alone will fail to have a sufficient impact in terms of addressing the housing supply crisis.

Mr Varadkar acknowledged this fact.

"It won't in itself create additional houses, it's not a silver bullet," the Social Protection Minister said.

"It's just part of the Government's response to the housing crisis and to the homelessness problem."
Gardai investigate an icident at the Hell Fire Club where three men were stabbed in broad daylight.

Scene of a bonfire at the Hell Fire Club at Killakee, Co. Dublin.

Gardai at the ruin of the Hell Fire Club in the Dublin mountains after three campers were attacked Picture: Arthur Carron

A violent attacker may have stalked an isolated, well-known beauty spot in the Dublin mountains before targeting three innocent victims, the Herald has learned.

The shocking assault on the group of "completely innocent" young campers at the Hell Fire Club on Monday afternoon may have been "premeditated", gardai believe .

The attacker, who chose his victims at random, left two young men and a teenage woman requiring hospital treatment as a result of their injuries.

The incident happened in broad daylight when a group of people who were camping at the ruin were set upon by the man in his 20s.

One youth received a knife wound while his two friends received injuries consistent with an assault.

All three were brought to Tallaght Hospital for treatment but were discharged later that evening and have been recovering at home.

The family of the young man who received the knife injury have declined to comment but were left visibly shaken by the ordeal.

Innocent

Gardai are satisfied that the attacker arrived at the Hell Fire Club alone, and was carrying the knife on him long before the attack took place.

"The three victims - whose injuries aren't too serious thankfully - were completely innocent in all of this.

"They were camping, minding their own business when they came across this individual," the source said.

"The fact that this man was walking around with a knife in his possession indicates that this may have been a premeditated, albeit random attack," the source added.

Gardai were last night continuing to interview a 26-year-old man in relation to the attack.

The suspect - who is originally from the Raheny area of the capital - has a number of previous convictions for public order related offences.

He was arrested on Monday evening in the Kilakee area of the Dublin Mountains - just a short distance away from where the attack took place.

It also emerged that a four-year-old boy - who was with his grandmother - witnessed two of the victims "covered in blood" in the immediate aftermath of the assault.

Local Fianna Fail councillor Charlie O'Connor described how the community was appalled by the attack and appealed for anyone with information to contact the gardai.

"I have been talking to people in the area and they are absolutely shocked at this incident.

"South Dublin County Council is trying to promote the Hell Fire Club so that people will go there, and a shocking incident like this certainly doesn't help," Mr O'Connor told the Herald.

"My thoughts are of course with these young victims and I wish them a speedy recovery.

"Anyone who was a witness or has information in relation to this attack should contact the gardai if they haven't done so already," he added.

Local councillor Francis Duffy, who lives close to the scene of the stabbing, said it was a very unusual incident to happen in the area.

The area is a popular spot for families and hikers but it wouldn't be the sort of area that would attract field drinkers or people taking drugs, he said.

"You get all sorts of walkers that go up there but it's a long way to walk," he told the Herald. The Hell Fire Club is situated on top of Montpelier Hill in the Dublin mountains.

It is known for offering impressive views of Dublin on a clear day.

The imposing stone building was built as a hunting lodge around 1725 by William Conolly, a speaker at the Irish House of Commons at the time.

Originally there was a cairn with a prehistoric passage grave at the site and folklore suggest that the Hell Fire Club is haunted because stones from the cairn were used in its construction.

Paranormal

It has also been suggested that the devil has appeared here and the place is associated with paranormal events.

Local superstition has it that if you walk around the building three times you see the devil.

Members of the Irish Hell Fire Club, which was active in the years 1735 to 1741, used Montpelier Lodge as a meeting place. Today it stands in ruins but can still be accessed via a concrete stairs.

The surrounding land is set in forestry controlled by Coillte, and the mountain is a very popular place for hill walkers.

However, it also has a reputation for attracting campers and youths, especially during the summer.

The shocking attack took place at around 3.45pm on Monday. Emergency services were alerted and gardai as well as paramedics rushed to the scene.
Superintendent Dr. Michael Robinson is leaving Smyth County Schools to replace the retiring director of A. Linwood Holton Governors School in Abingdon.

Robinson, who announced his departure at the school board meeting Tuesday afternoon, said no date has yet been set for him to leave.

It was not an easy decision, said Robinson, named in March as the Region VII Superintendent of the Year. It came down to a family decision. I want to spend more time with my family.

Robinson and his wife, Laura, have three children, Kyle, David and Hope. The family has lived in Smyth County for 11 years, he said, and love being part of the community. They will continue to live here, he said, and be involved in community activities.

Robinson said the new position would provide him with a better balance of work and family. And, he said, it will give him a chance to be more directly involved with students by visiting schools and classrooms in the region.

The A. Linwood Holton Governors School is Virginias first virtual governors school. Named for a former governor who grew up in Southwest Virginia, the school offers a unique opportunity for students confronted with challenges of distance, rugged terrain and harsh winter weather in this part of the state.

Gifted and talented students from 37 high schools in 17 school districts use state-of-the-art software to attend classes, listen to lectures, participate in discussions, complete lab activities, and more from their school, home or almost anywhere instead of having to travel to a single building somewhere else. Many of their tests are also completed and submitted online.

Robinson has served as school superintendent in Smyth for nine and a half years, the second longest serving in the region, which covers 19 school systems from Radford to Lee County. He has held other administrative and teaching positions in Orange County and Charlottesville.

The search for Robinsons replacement as superintendent will now begin, said Jesse Choate, chairman of the school board, who has worked with three superintendents in Smyth.

This is a sad occasion, that Dr. Robinson will be leaving us, Choate said. Its going to be hard to fill his shoes. He said if we needed his assistance he will be there. Hes been a great asset to the school system and its been wonderful working with him. He loves this school system.

I love working here and I leave happy, Robinson said. I think we leave the school division in good shape. I throw my heart and soul into this job and its hard to walk away, but Im looking forward to the change. It has been an honor to work with this board and serve the staff and students of Smyth County.
Hancock-area couple sentenced in huge animal cruelty case

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Ex-voice of Colts not silenced: Mike Jansen talks after being fired

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Jack F. Rutledge, M.D. and CHI Memorial Metabolic and Bariatric Care will host two free seminars in July on surgical weight loss options. The seminars will be held at CHI Memorial Hospital in the community room on Tuesday, July 5, and at the Cleveland Bradley County Public Library on Tuesday, July 19, 2016. Both seminars will begin at 6 p.m.

Obesity can be devastating to a persons health and self-esteem. This educational seminar is designed to help you better understand metabolic surgery and how it may benefit your health. Topics include: who is a good candidate for the procedure, what to expect during the recovery period, and lifestyle changes needed to foster a successful outcome.

The Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP) recently granted CHI Memorial accreditation. This means people in the Chattanooga region have access to the some of the most effective weight loss surgery options along with a highly trained medical staff that supports individuals through their weight loss journey.

CHI Memorial is recognized as an Optum/United Bariatric Surgery Centers of Excellence and Aetna Bariatric Surgery Institute of Quality program.

Call (423) 495-2501 today to register or for more information. Walk-ins are also welcome. Attendees are asked to arrive at the seminar location at 5:30 p.m.

CHI Memorial Hospital is located at 2525 de Sales Avenue, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37404.

The Cleveland Bradley County Public Library is located at 795 Church Street NE, Cleveland, TN 37311.
Officials with Erlanger, Chattanooga and Tennessee honored officers who work to protect the lives in our community by enforcing traffic regulations pertaining to safe driving during the Law Enforcement Traffic Officers Appreciation.

The program included presenting Challenge Coins for officers that are recognized within their department by their supervisors for making strides to educate and enforce the Graduated Drivers License Traffic Laws with teens in Hamilton County and associated law enforcement agencies.

Guest speakers included City of Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, Tennessee Department of Health representative Terry Love, and Erlanger Trauma Services educator Regena Young.
ert Kuyrkendall, city transportation engineer, said the focus of the 33rd Rail-to-Trail is transportation not recreation. If the grant he hopes to apply for is accepted, construction will begin on a $2,200,000 project, with the city of Chattanoogas portion costing $440,000.

The Chattanooga City Council discussed a resolution which would authorize administration to apply for the CMAQ Grant (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement) from the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

Mr. Kuyrkendall said the grant would allow for the design and construction of the 33rd Rail-to-Trail shared use path, approximately one mile long, which would provide facilities to connect Alton Park to the rest of the city. He said that though there is not an existing master plan, the greenway will connect to St. Elmo, which then connects to the Riverwalk.

Councilman Larry Grohn expressed concern about how many people would actually use the path and the overall cost of the project.

Im having a hard time wrapping my hands around the citys side of $440,000, how much benefit were going to get from this project, he said.

Councilman Grohn said the 9/10 of a mile of Shallowford Road itself, with sidewalks on both sides, was only $2,200,000.

I think that this is a huge stretch for what the CMAQ Grant is meant to do in terms of congestion and reducing air pollution, he said.

Councilman Chris Anderson said there is always a lot of interest whenever anyone wants to spend money in his district. He assured Mr. Kuyrkendall he would support him however he could.

It shocks me, shocks me, that a member of this body would say that we shouldn't apply for that grant or imply that we dont meet the criteria, he said.

Chairman Moses Freeman said Rail-to-Trail is a connectivity kind of thing to bring us all together.

Mr. Kuyrkendall said there were many benefits, including green spaces, and that the project fits the spirit of the CMAQ grant in that it connects an entire neighborhood to a lot of opportunities in the city.

Councilwoman Carol Berz pointed out that the administration is asking for permission to apply for a grant which they may not get.

Were not approving those dollars now, she said. The $440,000, thats anticipatory. . . because the future council is not bound to pay for it."




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Air quality is forecast to be in the moderate range with ozone predicted to be the dominant pollutant.



Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting strenuous outside activity.


As Britain recovers from the public vote to leave the EU, the impact of that decision is already becoming clear, as is the fact that the cost of the decision would vastly outweigh any benefits.

During the referendum campaign, those voting to leave the EU at times cite India as an example of an emerging economy with which the UK could increase trade. In their eyes, the failure of the EU to finalise a free trade deal with the India was just one of its many failings. But whilst the UK imports many goods from India, what, exactly, it would export to India was left unsaid.

Read: Post-Brexit Britain divided against itself

And the implications of the vote to leave are already being felt. In the immediate aftermath, several large banks announced plans to move jobs to other, EU financial centres, such as Frankfurt and Dublin. The UKs over-reliance on its financial services sector, given the hollowing out of its manufacturing sector, makes this a significant threat to an overly-indebted economy. On the positive side, the UK has enjoyed a spate of investment from Indian firms. While Tatas purchase of Corus has not gone well, Indian firms have been among the most active investors in the UK, and Indian-owned firms currently employ around 110,000 British workers.

A few years ago, the UK was proud to say that three-quarters of Indian investment in the EU went to the UK, and three-quarters of that to London. Now that figure is down to 50%. Half of Indian investment goes elsewhere in the EU. Indian familiarity with the UK, and with London in particular, made the UK attractive as the gateway to the EU. But growing Indian links with other European countries had already served to lessen the UKs edge, and that before the referendum.

Read: EU leaders meet without Britain for first time since Brexit vote

And herein lies the rub of a protest vote gone wrong. It is increasingly apparent, to commentators at least, that the vote to leave the EU cannot be implemented except at a massive cost  the idea that trade with and investment from countries like India could replace that with Europe is laughable. But at the same time, the immediate political impact of not implementing the peoples verdict is equally high.

Prime Minister David Cameron too seems to realise that. A decision to trigger Article 50, which would launch negotiations leading to a British exit, has been deferred until his successor is in place, sometime in the autumn. Those that campaigned to leave the EU, presumably gambling on a public vote to remain, have also suggested that there should be no rush to leave.

Read: London in no hurry to leave EU, says John Kerry

Where this leaves the UK is in a mess. Clearly, a substantial amount of its population feel disenfranchised, the result of a growing metropolitan bubble disassociated from the rest of the country and of too much of its working class population taken as voting fodder by the main opposition Labour Party in particular. Their votes have gradually shifted to the UK Independence Party, which has provided a simple reason  immigration  as the reason for their plight.

Yet if the UK leaves the EU, their situation is likely to worsen. The cost of access to the EUs single market would be continued immigration, unless the EU can agree some special status for the UK, which in turn is highly unlikely. So either the migration continues, or the UK loses easy access to the worlds wealthiest single market. Alternatively, the chain of events sparked in the UK leads to a broader reconfiguration of the EU as a whole, leading to entirely uncharted territory.

Meanwhile, in London, the UKs political class has imploded. The prime minister has resigned; those that campaigned to leave have revealed they had no plan on how to do so. The Labour Party has turned on itself.

During the election those leading the leave campaign talked of negotiating free trade agreements with countries such as India, unencumbered by the burdens of the EU. Yet the nasty xenophobia that has emerged since the vote points to insularity rather than internationalism.

And the impact of leaving goes beyond economic self-harm. Politically, Scotland would probably seek independence from the UK while retaining membership of the EU. The relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would come into doubt. Gibraltars status would come under threat.

Read: Scotlands Sturgeon in Brussels as EU meets without Britain

Put together, if the UK leaves the EU  and it is still a choice  the potential damage would be irreversible. The idea that India would look at the UK as a vital partner would seem far-fetched.

Therefore, and as establishment stitch up appears more frequently on twitter, what could happen next to prevent it from happening? Possibly a general election, in which various parties stand on a platform of remaining within the EU. Or through some bluster from a new Conservative prime minister  the referendum, after all, is advisory and non-binding, and given that the second-most searched for item on Google the day after the referendum was the question what is the EU? the idea that the public were making an informed decision is questionable. And/or a second referendum could take place. Those that are angry already will get angrier still, but the alternatives are worse.

Against this, the UKs European partners in general seem keen to minimise the uncertainty and set up a framework for British withdrawal. Yet the UK cannot be expelled  it has to ask to leave. Until it does so, the status quo remains intact. As one wag put it, its negotiating stance appears to be give us what we want or well stay.

So, for now, uncertainty. But as the economy unravels over the summer, let us hope that the country returns to its senses, and that the UK will remain, as before, Indias gateway to Europe.

Gareth Price is senior research fellow on the Asia Programme at Chatham House

The views expressed are personal
The Partnership for Families, Children and Adults is celebrating the success of an unprecedented, record breaking 9th Annual Dancing with the Chattanooga Stars. PFCA grossed $413,000 through the work of 10 dancers; numerous sponsors, including presenting sponsors, News Channel 9 and Signature Brokers; and through the generosity of thousands of supporters.

My sincere appreciation goes out to Chairs Robin and Eddie Grant who lead this all-star dancing team to unbelievable success Pam Ladd, CEO said.This fundraising effort will allow Partnership to continue impacting the lives of the most vulnerable members of our community.

This year, Cindy Wilson, nurse practitioner and center director at Center for Facial Rejuvenation, took home the coveted Mirrorball Trophy as the Grand Ballroom Champion, raising yet another record breaking total of $101,511. Sherri Anderson, C.P.A., audit manager with Johnson, Hickey & Murchison, P.C. won Fan Favorite, raising $74,008. Dr. Chad Eslinger, Pediatric Dentistry of Chattanooga, Cleveland, Ooltewah and Ringgold was the recipient of a new award, the Dancing

King, for bringing in a total of $67,535. Joey Winslett, real estate agent with Signature Brokers and the front man of the Joey Winslett Band won the Judges Choice Award for his fundraising total of

$38,922.

Last September, Martina Harris, Garrett Bruner, Ray Wright, Joey Winslett, Sherri Anderson, Cindy

Wilson, Austin Garrett, Ron Harris, Darlene Smith and Chad Eslinger strapped on their dancing shoes

on behalf of the Partnership. Every dancer was given a goal of raising $20,000. Saturdays event was

the culmination of their efforts to fundraise over the past nine months.
Speaking about her upcoming film, actor Urvashi Rautela has said that Great Grand Masti is a family film and is devoid of vulgarity. It is a family film, not at all vulgar. Its more inspired by Masti (the first film in the series). The audiences can come in with their families and enjoy, she said.

Read: Twitter is offended by Great Grand Masti poster, will CBFC take action?

Speaking on the sidelines of a photoshoot for a magazine, Urvashi also said that she plays the girlfriend of characters essayed by Riteish Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi and Aftab Shivdasani in the film, the story of which is about how she turns into a virgin ghost. It is my first comedy film. It is a very interesting story and the character I play forms the main crux of the story, the soul of the film. I am very excited, she said.

Urvashi on the poster of Great Grand Masti. (Twitter)

Urvashi started her film career by playing a homely wife wearing saris in Sunny Deols Singh Saab The Great, but in Great Grand Masti, she will be wearing revealing outfits.

About the transformation, Urvashi said, As an actor, it is very important that there should be a character which is slightly hatke. For example, Kajol did a negative character in Gupt. Of course, my character is the solo heroine of the film, but this is a very different, very challenging and very demanding character. As a creative person, I got the opportunity to do comedy, action and also romance, to live and feel so many emotions and as an actor to showcase yourself to the fullest. To be able to portray such a significant character, Im thankful to have that level of belief from my producers, my directors and my actors.

Read: Latest updates from Bollywood

Great Grand Masti, directed by Indra Kumar, is releasing on July 22.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Condemning the deadliest of four attacks that rocked Turkeys biggest city, Istanbul this year, Hollywood and Bollywood celebs took to social media to express their grief and horror.

A triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbuls Ataturk airport has killed at least 36 people, including foreigners, with Turkeys prime minister saying early signs pointed to an assault by the Islamic State group.

Read: 36 dead in suicide attack in Istanbul, PM blames IS

From Paris Hilton to Enrique and Shekhar Kapur, celebs from all over the world poured their heart out on Twitter as they prayed for the victims.

My thoughts & prayers go out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy  #Istanbul  #PrayForTheWorld pic.twitter.com/piwrEu2BXH  Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton) June 29, 2016

Once again. Violence and Tears. And now just prayers. Tragic. How can killing innocents be part of any religion @Elif_Safak #istanbul  Shekhar Kapur (@shekharkapur) June 28, 2016

No religion encourages the death of innocent people. Sad sad sad. Now more than ever we need each other. We need love. #istanbul #love  Kunal Nayyar (@kunalnayyar) June 28, 2016

Heartbroken. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. #Prayforaturkey #istanbul pic.twitter.com/6IV5zkG9L8  Amit Sadh (@TheAmitSadh) June 29, 2016

They target innocent lives & families yet again..Angry & saddened to hear about the terror attacks in #istanbul #Attaturk ..All my prayers  SOPHIE CHOUDRY (@Sophie_Choudry) June 29, 2016

#Istanbul attack is again a recurring reminder that we need to do a lot to change this world. Reconciliation from local to global level.  Ayushmann Khurrana (@ayushmannk) June 29, 2016

Terrible tragedy in #Istanbul.. Keeping the victims, their families, and loved ones in our thoughts  Penn Masala (@PennMasala) June 28, 2016

World war 3 is on between innocent unarmed civilians and terrorist with gun & Bombs at airports,malls , hotels ,Railway stations #istanbul  Rahul Mahajan (@TheRahulMahajan) June 29, 2016

Have run out of words to describe these continuous acts of hate. #Istanbul   Mahira Khan (@TheMahiraKhan) June 29, 2016

Follow @htshowbiz for more
On Tuesday night, it could have been a terribly critical situation for Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan and his two sons Hredhaan and Hrehaan who were returning from their vacation at the Serengeti National park in Tanzania via Istanbul. The trio was at the Instanbul airport a little before three suicide bombers attacked, killing 36 and injuring close to 150 people.

Read: 36 dead in suicide attacks on Istanbul airport, Turkish PM blames IS

When we touched base with Hrithik, he and his sons were safe and sound. Hrithik said, We missed our connecting flight in Instanbul.We were stuck at the Istanbul Ataturk airport.We were supposed to wait for 18 hours for the next flight out. But we preferred to fly economy class and took an earlier flight out of Istanbul.

Hrithik and his sons Hrehaan and Hridaan are shaken by how close they were to the crisis that killed many just a few hours later. The 42-year-old actor took to his Twitter handle to share the news and said, missed connecting flight at Istanbul n wer stuck at airport next flight ws next day,but took economy n flew out earlier. #Prayers4istanbul.

missed connecting flight at Istanbul n wer stuck at airport next flight ws next day,but took economy n flew out earlier. #Prayers4istanbul  Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) June 28, 2016

Ws helped by d kindest staff at Istanbul arport hours ago. Shocking news. Innocents killed 4 religion.V must stand united against terrorism.  Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) June 29, 2016

The Bang Bang star was on a vacation in Spain and Africa with his sons Hrehaan and Hridhaan and was on way to India via Istanbul.

The attack on Europes third-busiest airport is one of the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in Turkey, which is struggling to contain the spillover from neighbouring Syrias civil war and battling an insurgency by Kurdish militants in its southeast.

Read: After Madrid, Hrithik Roshan heads to Africa with his kids

One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover and trying to flee, before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below, witnesses and officials said.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Earlier this month, film-maker Shirish Kunder (below) released his short film, Kriti, online. Soon, a Nepali film-maker, Aneel Neupane, claimed that the story of Shirishs film was lifted from his short film, BOB. Now, as Shirish sends a legal notice to Aneel, he talks to us about the entire episode.

Are you frustrated or annoyed with the plagiarism controversy?

It takes the fun out of everything. There were great reviews and lots of appreciation, and suddenly, there is this irritation. I would like to clarify a few facts. We released the film in June, but we shot it in February. For almost six months before that, the project was being put together. Then, we decided on the release date and chief guest [for the films launch]. When you make a movie professionally, it is a long process. When you devote all your time to a film, and someone shoots something on a handicam and puts it out there, its frustrating.

Shirish Kunders short film, Kriti has got great feedback from the industry as well as audiences.

You have taken the legal route now

Earlier, I thought its a coincidence, so let it be. My script was out there with the actors and team members for a long time. But when I read an interview of him (Aneel) saying that he often comes to Mumbai, I got suspicious. Also, I have never visited Nepal. I dont know anyone there. But this person keeps coming here, so there is definitely something fishy. I have sent him a legal notice. I want the matter to be investigated. I will take it to the end. Also, my film released in June and their film was available before that, but only for private viewing. After my movie released, it could be accessed.

Read: Meet Bollywoods most acerbic Twitter stars

Do you think this episode has damaged your reputation?

What is more important to us than our reputation? If anyone can shout and get their two minutes of fame and disappear, at the cost of our name, its not fair. Also, its understandable if someone takes away an idea from some famous guy, but is it possible that a professional like me sitting in Mumbai will look for random people in Nepal or Myanmar or Bangladesh to take something from?

Shirish Kunders last outing as a feature film director was Joker in 2012.

You didnt work on any film after Joker (2012)

Before Joker, I didnt do anything for six years. When your film is a hit, your next movie comes quickly because everyone wants to work with you. But when it doesnt do well, it takes a lot of time to convince people to do your film. My script is ready. Making a film is not as difficult as putting it together.

Read: Manoj Bajpayees Kriti removed from YouTube

As a feature film-maker, is it challenging to crunch your ideas for a short film?

It is not difficult. The grammar of a feature film and a short film and a web series and a TV series is different. While a movie follows a story with a closed ending, a short film is more open-ended. It also has many possibilities.

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Morgan Stanleys Chief Global Strategist Ruchir Sharma said on Wednesday that no great economic reforms are expected from the Modi government, as the best time for major policy initiatives is the first two years of a new government.

If you look at pattern of other countries, typically the best time to carry reforms happens to be in first year, especially first two years of a new government.

And longer a leader stays in power, the more are the diminishing returns to power... So, in that way, first two years is sweet spot for when things are carried out by any government, because then focus begins to turn on getting re-elected, he told PTI citing his research.

Even in the case of the Modi government which assumed office in May 2014, he said, the first year, until the Delhi election took place, there was no opposition. The government could have done what it wanted to do, according to me. After Delhi election opposition got galvanised...

Aam Admi Party swept Delhi Assembly elections and Prime Minister Narendra Modis party BJP could win only three seats.

On what he hopes from the government, he said: I have no expectation of any great reform any more. I think that whatever big reform could have been done, should have been done in first year or may be in the first two years.

Sharma is Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. He is in India to promote his latest book, titled The Rise and Fall of Nations: Ten Rules of Change in Post-Crisis World.

Stressing his point, he said even if one look at stock market prospective, 90 per cent of outperformance of market happens in the first two years of new government.

While he does not expect any major economic reform, Sharma said there may be some further liberalisation in FDI norms or changes in taxation front and if we get lucky then we will get Goods and Services Tax (GST).

He opined that major reforms like privatisation of public sector banks or labour reforms should have been done by the government in its first two years.

Building further on his point that reforms should be carried out by government in its initial years, Sharma said and if government comes back to power a second time, the odds are that in second term government does not that much energy that it had in first term.

To a query whether Indias election calender makes it difficult to carry out economic reform, he said, its an excuse because during elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu no central issues were being discussed but only local ones.
LONDON: Standing by forecast of adverse effects on the economy made during the referendum campaign, British finance minister George Osborne said on Tuesday that tax rises and spending cuts will be needed to deal with the shock to the UK economy caused by Brexit.

Osborne said it was nonsense that the government had to have a plan to deal with the post-Brexit situation. It was the job of those who advocated Brexit, he said, and recalled the many Treasury analyses about its effects.

But decisions about tax rise and spending cuts should be made by the next prime minister, he told BBC, adding, his pre-referendum warnings have started to be borne out by events.

The pound meanwhile continued to take a hit along with stocks.

Speaking before a roundtable with business leaders, business secretary Sajid Javid said: My objective now is to ensure that the negotiation of our future relationship with the EU is carried out in the interest of UK companies, investors, potential investors and workers.

I want to do that hand in glove with businesses and thats why Ill be sitting down with leaders of Britains biggest business organisations, CEOs and other senior industry representatives to hear their views.

He added: There are significant challenges ahead, but the economic success of the past few years means were better able to withstand the current market turbulence and work towards a better future. The UK remains open for business.

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Artist, historian and art scholar KG Subramanyan passed away on Wednesday afternoon, at a hospital in Vadodara. He was 93.

He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law.

He complained about feeling unwell and was taken to the hospital by his daughter Uma, says Purushottam Dhumal, Subramanyans neighbour and former dean of faculty for fine art at MS University.

Artist KG Subramanyan (HT File Photo)

Subramanyan, a Padma Vibhushan, was one of the most renowned contemporary artists of India, best known for his fantastical images coupled with symbols from Indian folklore.

A large section of Indian contemporary art lacks its own language. If the work is Indian, then it is not contemporary and vice-versa, says artist Deepak Karnal, also a former dean at MS University. But KGs work had a distinct Indian language. His concerns,semantics and metaphors were rooted in the land. Not borrowed.

Subramanyan was known as a great teacher too, and had taught fine art for 20 years at the Maharaja Sayajirao University and at Santiniketan in Kolkata. He was always willing to talk to people. Any student or professor could walk into his house to discuss their works or concerns, Dhumal says. It was always fun talking to him because he had a great sense of humour and could talk about anything from fine arts to politics, theatre, music and mithai [sweets].

The Kerala-born Manida, as he was fondly called, was known for his love of mithai. Any time you went to his house he would offer you a variety of sweets. If you gifted him one, you would earn brownie points, says Dhumal.

Subramanyan illustrated and wrote childrens fiction as well, most notably Our Friends the Ogres, The King and The Little Man, and In the Zoo.
Last week, the heads of 30 Jat-dominated villages in the western UP district of Muzaffarnagar came to a unanimous decision: Girls would not be allowed to use a mobile phone without a family member present. They were banned from using smartphones and creating trouble, The Hindu reported. While teenage boys and girls were both immature, there is a strong possibility of girls going wayward, Narendar Singh, head of the Jat Mahasabha, or grand meeting, was quoted as saying. So we decided that we take special care of girls and not give them smartphones. His (all-male) compatriots argued that trouble-making girls on phones brought dishonour to families and communities.

The tradition of keeping young women from trouble  a euphemism for finding love, particularly with young men of other castes and religions  has delivered rich dividends to Muzaffarnagar. Its young women are some of Indias most fertile. Nearly 49% of all women between the ages of 15 and 19 were either mothers or pregnant when census-takers visited Muzaffarnagar in 2011. That is seven percentage points above the corresponding figure for UP, whose women boast of Indias longest reproductive span  10 years.

Read | Dont use jeans, phones, Baghpat girls told

Muzaffarnagar is an outlier, you say, an aberration controlled by regressive khap panchayats?

I will grant you that all of India isnt as stifled as Muzaffarnagars keepers of ancient clan morality. But Indian women, even in relatively liberal, urban areas, continue to be stifled by a morality that varies only by degrees. Last week in Bangalore, one of Indias most prosperous, globalised cities, many supposedly liberal colleges defended their use of closed-circuit cameras to keep students, particularly  you guessed it  young women, out of trouble.

Read | Progressive khap panchayats aim to change image

As Indian women enter Indias public places to study, work and play in larger numbers than ever, they expect liberation but find restriction. They are told what they cannot do: Dont dress as you please; dont travel alone; dont travel after dark; dont go to a nightclub; dont talk too loudly; dont retaliate if harassed; dont complain to the police; dont do anything that will spoil your reputation, your familys honour or (if single) your chances for marriage.

Oh, and once you are married, make sure the dishes are washed, the clothes cleaned, and the children and husband fed.

Read | A nasty, brutish existence is the norm for many women

For an Indian woman, there is no escape from a quick, early marriage. Those summits of female achievers, those role models we read about, those strong, independent women we know  they are exceptions to the rule, which is that the average Indian woman will be married by 20. It doesnt help very much if the woman lives in urban India. The mean female age at marriage in rural areas is 19.7, in urban areas, 20.7, according to the latest census data released last month. Education is an efficient contraceptive  Indian women with a college degree have 1.9 children during their lifetime, against 3.8 for illiterate woman  but it appears to only marginally slow the inevitability of early marriage.

In Kerala, the state with Indias highest female literacy rate (91.9%), the mean female age at marriage is 21.4, just half a percentage point ahead of Muzaffarnagars 20.9, even though Keralas female literacy rate is 32 percentage points ahead of Muzaffarnagars. In the end, young women, whether in Muzaffarnagar or Mallapuram, are shackled by tradition, shown their place and kept out of trouble.

Read | Silent suffering: Indias women are on their own

Those lucky to escape stifling lives in stifling small towns find the anonymity of the big city refreshing, but familiar moral judgements are often delivered by landlords, neighbours and auto drivers. If Indias regressive narrative is to change, women must make trouble, and we must support their right to do so. Else, the fate of educated Indian women  who drop out of the workforce in growing numbers despite surging past men in school and college  will be to keep those chapatis coming.

To be sure, Indian women have moved on from 1897, when Swami Vivekananda wrote this letter to disciple Sister Nivedita, or Margaret Noble: India cannot yet produce great women, she must borrow them from other nations. Your education, sincerity, purity, immense love, determination, and above all, your Celtic blood make you just the woman wanted.

But Indian blood did produce women who broke free. In the 13th century came Razia Sultan, who put men to death, rode in to battle and ruled Delhi for nearly four years. A few decades before Vivekananda came Laxmibai, the rani of Jhansi, who challenged an empire. In Vivekanandas time lived Pandita Ramabai, a Sanskrit scholar who married a Sudra (a Dalit), converted to Christianity and encouraged high-caste women to educate and emancipate themselves.

Since Independence, growing numbers of women have broken the mould and forced Indian society to accept their unconventional ways. Have the Indira Gandhis and J Jayalalithaas paved the way? Not really. They are still exceptions. Female representation in politics continues to lag the emerging world. Women have indeed pushed their way into the police, the private sector, engineering, the space programme and the defence services  last week, Indias first three female fighter pilots were cleared to fly  but progress is slow. Away from the media spotlight on female achievers, millions of Indian women are forced into the shadows. It is easier said than done, of course, but India needs women to stand firm and know that they are right, as Zaira Wasim did.

Read | Reaching for the sky: Meet Indias women fighter pilots

When news broke earlier this year that the 15-year-old from Srinagar cleared a screen test and was offered a role in Dangal, actor Aamir Khans latest, there was havoc, the self-confessed introvert with social anxiety issues told Kashmir Impulse, a youth magazine. She overcame parental opposition and learnt swimming and wrestling. She ignored social media abusers, who branded her immoral. None of it mattered to Wasim. What matters, she said, is that I know that I am right.

Read | Dangal experience changed my life: Kashmiri actor Zaira Wasim

Samar Halarnkar is editor, Indiaspend.org, a data-driven, public-interest journalism non-profit

The views expressed are personal

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NEW DELHI: Delhi water minister, Kapil Mishra, on Tuesday asked why the BJP was not demanding any answers from former CM Sheila Dikshit in the water tanker scam.

Mishra, who alleged he was being targeted for exposing corruption, has been summoned in the case by the ACB on July 4. He said reliable sources had told him he would soon be arrested.

Sheila Dikshit has still not been questioned, even though the report has implicated her. Why is the BJP that has been demanding action against the AAP government silent on Dikshits involvement? Mishra said.

Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said, Why has the AAP government continued to hire the contractors under scanner.
Jim Daughdrill will take over on July 1 as dean of Admission at McCallie School.

Mr. Daughdrill, a 2005 graduate of McCallie who currently serves as director of Boarding Admission, takes over for Troy Kemp, who has been appointed executive director for the National Center for the Development of Boys based at McCallie.

Even when I was a student here, I always thought that the folks in the admission office have the coolest job on campus, Mr. Daughdrill said. They get to introduce boys to what can be a life-changing experience here on the Ridge. I'm grateful for this opportunity to continue sharing the McCallie story both in Chattanooga and around the world.

Mr. Daughdrill is a third-generation boarding student, the son of Hal Daughdrill 73 and the grandson of Jim Daughdrill 52. Jim is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a B.S. in economics and was a member of the varsity rowing team. He returned to the Ridge in the fall of 2010 and spent three years in McCallie's development office before joining the admission team in 2013.

"As director of Boarding Admission, Jim Daughdrill has played a key leadership role in our very strong admission results," Headmaster Lee Burns 87 said. "I am confident that he will build upon the outstanding admission program as he steps up to this new role with the excellent admission staff with whom he will serve."

Under Mr. Kemps leadership since 2005, McCallie has built a vibrant and diverse student body of boys, said officials. Students have had success on Advanced Placement and national standardized testing, and graduates have been accepted to some of the most competitive and prestigious colleges in the nation.

Mr. Daughdrills experience as a McCallie alumnus and lead boarding admission officer have prepared him to continue the work of bringing boys to the Ridge to learn and grow.

We are going to miss Troy here on the third floor of Caldwell, Mr. Daughdrill said. I was fortunate to have him as a math teacher almost 15 years ago, and I have continued to learn a lot from him, both professionally and personally. We are glad he won't be far away in his new role at the helm of the NCDB.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Tuesday blamed outages in the city to poor distribution network of private power discoms.

Delhi power minister Satyendra Jain told reporters that the city was facing outages due to local faults and not due to a shortage of power.

We can even sell power to states across the country in view of the surplus availability of around 1,500 to 2,000MW that we can sell to other states, Jain said.

Delhi on May 20 had recorded the highest peak power demand at 6,188MW.

According to experts, Delhis peak power demand is more than the combined demand of metros like Mumbai (3,700MW) and Kolkata (2,100MW).

According to reports, Delhi government plans to sell power from the Bawana power plant to other states, with Bihar being one of the likely purchasers.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government might soon revise circle rates, the minimum amount needed to register properties, after businesses complained that high tariffs at present were hurting the realty sector in industrial areas.

The Aam Aadmi Party administration decided to review circle rates in Delhi on Monday as Gurgaon slashed its tariffs by 15%. The move came after traders complained circle rates were higher than the market prices of properties in many areas.

New circle rates will be notified after taking public opinion. The process of seeking public opinion could begin next week, said Brijesh Goyal, convener of the AAPs trade wing.

Circle rates are important because they form the basis of stamp duties and registration charges for a property, important sources of revenue for the government. There are 29 industrial clusters in the city.

The chief minister has assured the industrialists that he will review the circle rates, said a Delhi government spokesperson.

The rates are revised periodically and are decided on the basis of the municipal category it falls under. Delhis municipal corporations have divided the city into eight categories, from A to H, in decreasing order for affluence.

High circle rates might lead to a slump in buying and selling of property in the area  as buyers think a plot might not fetch high enough returns  and cause a loss of revenue to the government.

The city administration has increased circle rates four times since 2011, the last during Presidents Rule in September 2014. In contrast, circle rates have remained the same in Gurgaon in the last two years. At a function in Udyog Nagar on Monday, some industrialists and traders requested chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to review circle rates, especially in industrial areas.

The chief minister assured the gathering that he will look into the issue and get the anomalies rectified, said Goyal.

He said the industrialists counted anomalies in the property rates as one of the biggest problems in industrial areas as the sale and purchase of properties had come to a standstill.

The circle rate of an industrial plot in Narela is Rs 92,400 per square metre. By that rate, the total circle rate amount for a 350 square metre industrial plot will add up to Rs 3.23 crore. And the existing market rate of the same plot would be in the range of Rs 1.5 to 1.75 crore, a real estate agent said.
NEW DELHI: From Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to Rajasthan and Gujarat, farmers ruined by a devastating drought are still edgy about sowing, despite resounding forecasts of a surplus monsoon.

Planting of major crops is 24% lower than what was sown by this time last year. Even state governments are treading cautiously. Maharashtra, for instance, had asked farmers to hold back sowing till June 18.

Till now, the monsoon has been 16% deficient, which means it has to cover a lot of ground in July. Reservoir levels are still barely 15% of their storage capacity.

Cotton-grower Ashok Barambe from Maharashtras Vidarbha is still weighing his options. Shaken by the crisis that pushed him back into grinding poverty, the farmer has decided to ditch cotton after many years, unwilling to take chances with a rain-guzzling crop. I dont trust weather forecasts anymore. What is the guarantee? he told HT over the phone. Sowing data until June 24 indicate how Indias worst water shortage in years has altered farmer choices in bigger states such as Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, which have a bigger share in pulses, oilseeds, coarse cereals and cotton output.

Cotton sowing has fallen 46%, while oil seeds are tracking 34% lower than last years levels at this time. Its not late yet, but we are waiting for sufficient rains, said Surya Dev Bareth from Rajasthans Alwar.

But the silver lining is that two back-to-back bad seasons have forced farmers to be innovative. There is obviously crop diversification this year. Farmers seem to prefer other crops to cotton. They are hedging risks, said CK Jani, a farm expert. Jani clarified he was speaking in his personal capacity and not as an office-bearer of the Cotton Association of India.

Experts say July rainfall is predicted to make good Junes shortfall. We are not worried, as July rains matter more for crop output and they are forecast to improve. We expect kharif production growth to rise to 3.2% in 2016 compared to minus 3.2% in 2015, said Sonal Varma, an economist with the Nomura group.

Yet Vinod Yadav, a farmer from Bundelkhand region, wants to see good rainfall to believe the national forecast. We will wait till July 5. If it rains, sowing will not be too late for us, he said.

Last years whitefly pest attack due to rainless humid conditions has also dented confidence in cotton. Even in pulses, sowing has been down 20% from last years levels for June-end.

Region wise, central India got rains 30% below the normal level, while the deficit in the Northeast was 24%. South India received normal rainfall.

All eyes are now on July. Continuous drought has taught far mers a very hard lesson. Everybody has become conscious about water conservation. We are sure about a very good harvest because July is going to be very good, a senior farm ministry official said.

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NEW DELHI: The Union government may soon make education till Class 10 free in all state-run schools.

The HRD ministry is planning to overhaul Indias pre-school and secondary education system to ensure universal education till the matriculate level, said Dr SC Khuntia, secretary, school education and literacy, at the e-launch of Unicefs The State of the Worlds Children Report-2016 on Tuesday.

We have formed a committee in the HRD ministry to evaluate the education for classes 9 and 10, which should be universalised, he added.

At present, free and compulsory education is provided up to Class 8 under the Right to Education Act.

The Unicef report, however, stated that universal education is still a distant dream in India. Over one-third (36%) of its students  50% of which hail from marginalised sections of the society  drop out before completing elementary education, it noted.

Khuntia said the government would address this issue by formulating a new education policy with specific focus on pre-school education.

Starting August, the delivery of Integrated Child Development Services (such as mid-day meals, de-worming medication and iron supplementation) to children will be tracked through the use of smartphones. The ministry of women and child development and the health ministry have jointly developed an advanced software to ensure that these services reach the actual beneficiaries, said Rajesh Kumar, joint Secretary (ICDS-child development), ministry of women and child development.

We must make good use of the IT services at our disposal, Kumar said, adding that the services will be linked to Aadhaar.

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NEW DELHI: When ministers and MPs delay flight departures, which happens more often than not, few bother about the hapless flyers.

But on Tuesday, it was a Union minister who was at the receiving end. And, civil aviation was running for cover as he took to Twitter to vent his anger.

Parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu missed an important appointment in Hyderabad as the Air India (AI) flight he was to take from Delhi was delayed by nearly an hour. The reason: the pilot was late for the flight.

Interestingly, civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju shared Naidus angry tweets. Soon, an inquiry was ordered and a series of explanations proffered to explain the pilots absence. Naidu said he reached the airport at 12.30 pm for the flight, which was scheduled to depart at 1.15pm. The minister waited at the airport till 1.45pm before returning home. The flight finally took off only at 2.30pm, sources said.

I had to travel to Hyderabad by Air India AI544 which is to depart at 1315 Hrs... was told on time  reached airport by 1230 Hrs. Was informed at 1315hrs that flight was delayed as the pilot had not yet come. Waited up to 1345 Hrs, boarding didnt start. returned 2 home, Naidu said in a series of tweets.

Air India should explain how such things are happening. Transparency and accountability are the need of the hour. Hope Air India understands that we are in the age of competition. Missed an important appointment, he tweeted. AI had the worst on-time performance (OTP) among domestic carriers. In May, the state-owned airline had the lowest OTP of 74.3% at the four metro airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. In April too, AIs OTP was the lowest at 79.3%.

A total of 29,019 passengers travelling on AI were affected by flight delays of over two hours in May  the highest among all domestic airlines.

Civil aviation minister Raju tweeted that AI has been asked to investigate into Tuesdays flight delay and take action. Service disruptions are unacceptable and have to be eliminated. Have asked AI to inquire and take action on priority, he said.

Junior civil aviation minister Mahesh Sharma announced that AI chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani will conduct an inquiry.

The national carrier, which ordered an inquiry, clarified that the pilot was stuck in a traffic snarl.

We deeply regret the inconvenience caused due to flight delay. The pilot was stuck in a traffic jam. Inquiry has been ordered, the airline said.

An AI official said pilots are supposed to reach the airport 45 minutes prior to departure for domestic flights. The delay was because of a massive traffic jam because of heavy rain last night.
CHENNAI: A 21-year-old woman from Tamil Nadus Salem district committed suicide on Monday after a morphed photograph depicting her in a state of undress surfaced on Facebook last week.

Her father, a weaver from Elampillai, had lodged a complaint soon after the photograph was posted on the social networking site on June 23. Though police questioned a youngster from the same village in this connection, he was let off later. We questioned a suspect after he was named by the family, but found that he was not involved, Salem superintendent of police Amit Kumar Singh said.

Following this, investigators sought more time to nab the culprit with help from the cyber crime department.

However, another morphed photograph of the woman  this time carrying her fathers mobile phone number as a footnote  cropped up again on Sunday. Unable to bear the humiliation, she hanged herself from the ceiling fan while her parents were away. The body was taken to a nearby government hospital, where doctors confirmed her death.

Meanwhile, police have requested Facebook to remove the morphed photographs.

The page was blocked earlier, but the image surfaced again on Sunday  tagging her as well, said Singh.We are waiting for Facebook to share IP address data with us. He, however, expressed confidence that an arrest would be made in the next 48 hours.

Though the victims family had initially refused to take her body from the hospital mortuary until the culprit was arrested, they relented after the superintendent of police promised swift action.

The victims father, however, maintained that police apathy was the main reason for her suicide.

According to sources, the womans family was in the process of seeking matrimonial alliances for her when the morphed photographs surfaced. A chemistry graduate, she was reportedly hunting for a job.
AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya, arrested in a case of alleged molestation, was on Wednesday granted bail by a Delhi court which said no purpose would be served by keeping him in judicial custody as investigation was almost complete.

Additional sessions Judge Neelam Singh granted the relief to Mohaniya, an MLA from Sangam Vihar, whose earlier two pleas were dismissed by magisterial courts here.

The court granted him bail on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety of the like amount and directed him not to tamper with prosecution evidence or hamper the investigation in any manner.

Perusal of record shows that the investigation is almost complete in the case. It is a fact that the appellant accused is a member of the Legislative Assembly and has his roots in the society.

Since the investigation is almost complete and the fact that accused is in judicial custody since June 25, therefore no purpose would be served by keeping him in judicial custody anymore. Therefore, I am inclined to release accused Dinesh Mohaniya on bail on furnishing a personal bond and a surety bond of Rs 50,000 with one local surety of the like amount, the judge said.

The judge further directed Mohaniya not to tamper with prosecution evidence or hamper the investigation in any manner and asked him to join the investigation as and when required.

The court, while granting the relief to the MLA, took into consideration the arguments of his counsel senior advocate HS Phoolka that there was a violation of procedure and law by the police authorities.

During the arguments, the Delhi Police opposed the bail plea saying he was an influential person and if released, he may tamper with evidence and may even win over witnesses.

However, the MLAs counsel argued that the politician was ready to abide by all conditions imposed by the court and not interfere in any manner with the investigation and prosecution evidence.

He is a member of the legislative assembly, has deep roots in society and is ready to face trial. He has been falsely implicated in the case and is in judicial custody since June 25, his bail plea said.

According to the complaint filed by a woman, she along with other women had visited the office of Mohaniya with regard to water problem on June 22 and the legislator and his associates had allegedly misbehaved with them and pushed them out of the office.

It was recorded in the FIR that threats were given to the women that if they dared to visit the office again, their hands and feet would be broken.
A 24-year-old dance instructor allegedly strangled his girlfriend with an electric wire and then hanged himself from the ceiling fan inside a dance training school south Delhis Mehrauli on Wednesday.

Sonu, a native of Indore, reportedly had a fight with his girlfriend, Yogita, also his student, a few days ago after he objected to her speaking to other men.

After recording statements of the duos friends, police said Sonu suspected Yogita of having an affair. No suicide note was recovered from the spot.

Police suspect that Sonu planned the murder and suicide at least two days in advance. He arranged an electric wire and changed the timings of the class on Tuesday evening.

Sources said Sonu updated his WhatsApp status two days ago as ek galti fir se ho gayi (I made yet another mistake) and also told one of his students that he should continue to dance even when he is not there to train him.

The incident came to light on Wednesday morning when a cleaner went to the academy and spotted the two bodies. He then alerted the local residents who informed the police.

He strangled the girl with an electric wire and then used her dupatta to hang himself. We have sent both bodies for postmortem. We have initiated an inquiry into the matter, a senior police officer said.

Sonu had started his dance academy named ABC two years ago. Yogita, a resident of Chhatarpur, joined the academy a year ago and the two fell in love.

Their friends told us that they used to practise together and had performed in several shows. They, however, had an argument a few days ago after Sonu asked her to stop talking to other men. The matter, the friends said, was sorted out but Sonu had been upset since then, an investigator told HT.

Their friends said they started having frequent fights as Sonu was trying to control her and asked her to not go out with her friends, the officer said.

The police accessed the call detail records of the couple and seized their phones to recover their messages and chats. We have recovered their chats and sent them for examination. The investigation is on, a police officer said.
The Reserve Bank of Indias latest report financial stability shows the worst may not be over for the countrys mountain of bad loans  or non-performing assets (NPAs). The report has a worst-case scenario in which the gross NPAs (loans that stop yielding interest payments) may rise to 9.3% of total advances at the end of the current financial year from 7.6% at the end of last March  with stress tests suggesting that based on current realities, they would still be as high as 8.5%. This is not what we want to hear as India positions itself as a safe haven for global investors, being the worlds fastest-growing major economy. With monsoons looking good after two bad years, what we need are efforts to plug every hole in the India Story. Instead there seems to be a bureaucratic drag in the drive to bring bad loans under control. This drift must end.

Read | 1 in 3 BSE-listed companies has more debt than value

The RBI has started a programme, S4A (Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets) on the lines of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that the US started after the global financial crisis of 2008. But S4A , which involves converting parts of corporate loans into equity, seems to lack momentum. An earlier strategic debt restructuring mechanism also did not go too far in changing the managements of debt-ridden companies. State-controlled banks are reluctant to take drastic measures. Partial write-offs or haircuts by lenders may be inevitable to end the current crisis but the flip side may be emerging opportunities in a high-growth economy. What we cannot afford is a slow-motion recovery.

Read | Banks health deteriorating, stress buster must: Rajan

We have had early measures to boost asset reconstruction companies that may take difficult loans off bank balance sheets. We now need innovative schemes that may bring in aggressive private equity players and management experts apart from asset reconstruction specialists to rescue companies in a joint action plan to revive credit growth. Some front-loading of fiscal support for public sector banks may also not be a bad idea. The RBI is a diagnostician, not a physician, in healing this malady. The clean-up eventually requires inspired action in New Delhi.

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One step forward, two steps back. This phrase sums up the international fight against terror. If Iraqi forces took back Fallujah from Islamic State (IS) on Sunday, IS killed at least 42 people in Yemen on Monday and 41 people (at time of going to press) in Istanbul on Wednesday. Turkish authorities have confirmed that there were three suicide bombers involved in the attack and the evidence points to Daesh (IS). Some experts feel that the resumption of ties between Ankara and Moscow on Tuesday could have triggered the attack.

As IS is losing ground in Iraq and Syria, the group is focusing on Turkey, Yemen and Libya. Unless the terror group is attacked from all sides and stopped from evolving new tactics to unleash terror, gains, like in Fallujah, will be temporary.

Read | Islamic State main suspect after attack on Istanbul airport

After the 9/11 attacks in the United States, security at airports has made high-impact attacks in high-security zones within airports nearly impossible. In both Istanbul on Wednesday and Brussels on March 22, the outer security cordon was targeted.

The quick response of the Turkish security forces in checking the three terrorists is commendable and it saved many lives. Suggestions to prevent future attacks such as pushing the security ring further away from airports might not be useful because a similar attack would see heavy casualties there as well. To stop such attacks, governments need to constantly review security of high-value targets. .

Read | Mumbai airport security tightened after Istanbul explosions

Wednesdays attack is the 14th in Turkey and the fourth in Istanbul this year  this raises serious questions about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans ability to counter terror groups. Though initially there was ambivalence about Ankaras stand against IS, it is now a strong ally in Washingtons war on terror. While focusing on IS and castigating the Erdogan administration for not doing enough, we must not ignore the terror unleashed by Kurdish militants across the country.

Other than the war on terror, governments across the world must focus on another aspect for the political stability in the region: The shrinking space for democracy in Turkey. In the last few months, attacks on journalists have increased and there has been a steady Islamisation of public spaces. In late April, demonstrations broke out in Ankara after Turkeys parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman said Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, need a religious constitution. A visible tilt towards the Right has politically benefited the ruling AKP but such achievements will have no long-term benefits. Any unrest in Turkey will also adversely affect efforts to bring peace in the region. The war on terror cannot be won in pieces; it can be won only if all governments work in tandem.
Brittany Thomas Faith, of the law firm of Grant, Konvalinka & Harrison, P.C., has been elected by her peers as secretary of the American Immigration Lawyers Association Mid-South Chapter and as a member of the Associations executive committee. The Mid-South chapter is a sub-chapter of the national Association that consists of lawyers in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Kentucky.

Ms. Faith is a founding member of GKHs Immigration Practice Group and focuses her practice on business, family and individual immigration matters. Through her practice, she has become a member of the Foreign Ministry of Mexicos PALE program, which provides legal advice to Mexican nationals residing in the U.S.



Ms. Faith is active in the regional and state legal community. She is the president-elect of the Chattanooga Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and the past president of the South East Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women. Ms. Faith serves on the boards of directors for La Paz of Chattanooga, the Tennessee Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, and the Mid-South Immigration Advocates. She also writes articles for the Tennessee Bar Association Immigration Section.



Ms. Faith is civically engaged as well. As an immigration attorney, she organizes and mentors law students during the annual immigration Alternative Spring Break project , conducts clinics with La Paz and TIRRC, and speaks to local community groups about their rights and current immigration developments. She also volunteers with numerous organizations around Chattanooga, including Northside Neighborhood House, La Paz, and Family Promise, Legal Aid. As a result of her commitment to volunteering her time to the community, she was recognized by AILA national as a Pro Bono Hero in 2014, nominated for the Public Service Award of Young Professionals of Chattanooga, and selected by the Chattanooga Bar Association as the Young Volunteer Lawyer of the Year in 2015.



"Ms. Faith is passionate about her work, service, and trying to create a warm legal community in Chattanooga and Tennessee as a whole. She hopes to expand her passion and energy to the AILA Mid-South community," officials said.
The Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV) in Indore has decided to introduce the biometric system of attendance to keep an eye on absenteeism, duty shirkers and streamline the overall functioning of the university, vice-chancellor Narendra Dhakkar said on Wednesday.

The plan is to introduce the system for the university teaching department (UTD) for teaching and non-teaching staff members and later introduce it in various other departments after evaluating the response, he said. The system is already in place in the department of higher education (DHE) across government colleges.

The proposal to this effect was recently placed during a heads of the department meeting in the university by the V-C. The meeting was used to clarify the motive behind introducing the system and how it would improve productivity levels across staff members. Dhakkar said that the idea came during a meeting with the contractual employees from 17 self-finance departments at UTD over deduction of salaries linked with their absenteeism. However, the employees suggested that the biometric system could be introduced to maintain transparency in the matters of attendance and duty.

New system would cause problems to UTDs autonomy

Meanwhile, a few faculty members as well as heads of the department havent liked the idea at all. They said that the UTD was an autonomous body and the new system would cause problems to its autonomy as the functioning here differed from what was traditionally followed in other government institutions.

Working here at UTD is not a 9- to-5 job. Some days we have to work overtime keeping the students future in mind. The biometrics system can be implemented for non-teaching staff whose work is mainly associated with office job, some faculty members said.

However, a few faculty members supported the university move and said that it would help streamline the university functioning. They said even the professors and associate professors were required to deliver at least six hours of duty daily. They said the system would rein in those who are habitual absentees.

Dhakkar said the motive behind the move was to streamline the university functioning.

UTD at a glance

Number of School of Studies: 27

Faculties: 727 teachers (81 Professors, 61 Readers and 585 Lecturers)
Its admissions time in the city again  time to move out of your hometown in pursuit of high studies and look out for accommodations. Blessed are those who can get a seat in their own colleges hostel. However, life gets tougher for those who dont. The only option for students who dont get through hostel accommodations is putting up in a paying guest or getting a flat on their own.

However, most students fall for paying guests over independent flats as it is a convenient deal  given that one gets food and furniture in a paying guest unlike flats wherein they need to buy furniture and cook food on their own.

Read more: Gargi College girls will help students beat stress

Paying guests are not legal accommodations and students often land themselves into hassles. Here are the top five problems they face and the best way to deal with these problems.

Get a rent agreement: A lease agreement having duration of more than one year requires compulsorily registration but a license agreement does not require compulsory registration. If the nature of the agreement executed between the landlord and the student is in the nature of lease and has duration of more than one year, then registration is compulsory and the student must insist on the same, says Sunil Tyagi, co-founder, senior partner, ZEUS Law.

Get your police verification done: In most of the states, it is mandatory for landlords to get police verification of tenant.

You can get a PG accommodation without local guardians: Several students in Delhi NCR are often denied accommodation if they dont have a local guardian. However, legally, it is not mandatory for students who are adults to have local guardians.

Save yourself from police raids in your PG: Sometimes, police raids are conducted and paying guests are often shut down as the owners dont pay tax. How can you ensure your own safety in such a situation? Before entering into an agreement with the landlord for accommodation, student must check with the owner whether he has obtained all the necessary licenses/permissions required to run a paying guest accommodation from the local authorities. This will prevent students from entering into a situation where due to fault of the owner the paying guest accommodation maybe shut down, says Tyagi.

Your landlord cannot refuse to return your security deposit: Most paying guests ask students to serve one month notice period before vacating the place. Some owners refuse to return the advance security deposit. Where the owner retains security deposit contrary to the agreement entered between the owner and the student, a suit for recovery can be filed against the owner for such unauthorized retention of money, says Tyagi.

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Employees of four power utilities in Haryana have started a two-day strike from Wednesday though the state government imposed Haryana Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), 1974, barring electricity employees from going on strike for six months.

The employees are protesting against the proposed privatisation of maintenance in certain sub-divisions and the sacking of contractual staff.

In Gurgaon, about 78% employees of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) went on strike but there was no disruption in power supply. Barring outages caused by local faults, the strike did not have any significant impact on the supply.

There was no sabotage or interruption in power distribution. Arrangements for additional manpower were made to handle the situation, Sanjeev Chopra, superintending engineer (operations) DHBVN, said.

Representatives of various discom employees unions claimed they were away from work and protested in a peaceful manner.

Hundreds of employees of four power utilities  Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited, Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited, Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and DHBVN gathered outside circle offices and shouted slogans against the state government.

The employees are protesting against the proposed privatisation of maintenance in 23 sub-divisions of two power discoms and the sacking of contractual staff. The state government has decided to privatise the maintenance part of 11 sub-divisions of DHBVN and 12 sub-divisions of UHBVN.

Showing non-compliance with the government order, the employees on Tuesday tore and burnt copies of the ESMA across the state.

We are protesting in a peaceful manner. The government has failed to listen to our demands. So we do not listen to its orders. The decision to privatise maintenance part is an attack on the rights of employees, Mukesh Bhayana, circle secretary of Haryana State Electricity Board Workers Union, said.

Managing director of DHBVN Arun Kumar Verma said power supply was normal except a few breakdowns. We have outsourced staff to handle maintenance and other issues, he said.

The discom deployed executive engineers as nodal officers and deployed four junior engineers at the call centre in Gurgaon. Manpower was hired from private agencies and duty magistrates were assigned responsibility of law and order.

Besides, the police was deployed at sub-stations and prohibitory orders under section 144 was imposed within 200 metres of circle offices.

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The killing was so brazen and brutal that it shocked the nation and even prompted the Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa to call an emergency meeting of her top officials on Tuesday to review the deteriorating law and order in the state.

S Swathi, a 24-year-old Infosys employee, was hacked to death early morning last Friday as she waited for a train at Chennais Nugambakkam station. The gruesome act done, the assailant walked away briskly, leaving her bloodied corpse and shocked onlookers behind.

While the gruesome crime continues to make headlines, what has gone unnoticed in the clamour to bring the guilty to book is the silent spike in similar blood-curdling killings in the state. Five people were reportedly hacked to death in Chennai this month alone. Another six were cut down to pieces during the same period in the rest of the state.

Why hacking has emerged as a preferred mode of killing in Tamil Nadu is not clear. But that public apathy facilitates such crimes is getting reinforced.

CCTV grab showing suspected killer of Swathi, the Infosys techie at Nugambakkam railway station on Friday morning. (HT Photo)

Swathi lay dead on the station platform for two hours before RPF officers arrived. Press reports suggest that fellow passengers witnessed the murder but did nothing. Some in fact boarded their daily trains and went about their routine.

Read | No one came forward to help Swathi, says father of murdered Infosys techie

There is a term we theorists use called money economy, says Dr M Thamilarasan, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Madras. This is when a society gives more importance to the individual rather than the collective.

The modern nature of urban society, Thamilarasan argues, means that people are largely concerned about themselves, which may explain why none of her fellow passengers sought to help Swathi, or alert railway authorities.

The fear of repercussions, coupled with a distrust of the police force, contribute to so many public murders going unreported, he says.

Read | Probe into Chennai techies murder trasnferred as HC pulls up cops

It was also an indifferent crowd that watched a group of assailants go about their gory job almost in a businesslike fashion last Sunday in Anna Salai. They killed an alleged gangster Velu and left. There was blood everywhere, recounts a shopkeeper who witnessed the attack. I saw a group of men hacking him to pieces before leaving on scooters.

If the public does not help us, how can we help them? asks G Thilakavathy, a retired IPS officer from Tamil Nadu.

The growing indifference has resulted in a string of killings: A school teacher in Paramakudi was hacked by his brother-in-law after he deserted his wife on June 27. Three days earlier, a college student was hacked to death in Tuticorin following a dispute over some innocuous posters.

Why is it that the murder of a techie has provoked such intense feelings, while if a fisherwoman gets murdered in, say, Parrys Corner there is no outcry? asks Latika Saran, a retired IGP.

In recent years, Tamil Nadus police force has succeeded in lowering the crime rate with effective patrolling. But the disturbing prevalence of brutal hackings will continue unless this public apathy and selective outrage is addressed, argues Saran.

Chopped to death

Last weeks murder of an IT professional at a railway station in Chennai has shocked the country. The city seems to be gaining notoriety for its brazen crimes. Here are few recent incidents of murder in the state

IN CHENNAI June 27 Velu, suspected gangster, hacked to death at Nandanam by six. Suspected to be a revenge killing

Velu, suspected gangster, hacked to death at Nandanam by six. Suspected to be a revenge killing June 24 Swathi, a 24-year-old Infosys employee, hacked to death by unknown assailant at a railway station. It is suspected that she had a stalker

Swathi, a 24-year-old Infosys employee, hacked to death by unknown assailant at a railway station. It is suspected that she had a stalker June 22 T Ravi, a 45-year-old lawyer, killed by a gang in Vyasarpadi. Involvement in irregular land deals suspected to be the motive

T Ravi, a 45-year-old lawyer, killed by a gang in Vyasarpadi. Involvement in irregular land deals suspected to be the motive June 8 RTI activist J Parasmal hacked to death in Periamet. RTIs in his possession suspected to be the cause of death

RTI activist J Parasmal hacked to death in Periamet. RTIs in his possession suspected to be the cause of death June 6 C Murugan, an advocate with the Madurai Bench, hacked to death outside his house in Kodambakkam. Wife arrested, believed to have hired killers after husband discovered extra-marital affair

REST OF TAMIL NADU June 27 Schoolteacher hacked to death in Paramakudi by brother-in-law after he allegedly left his wife

Schoolteacher hacked to death in Paramakudi by brother-in-law after he allegedly left his wife June 24 B.Com student hacked to death in Tuticorin after getting into a dispute when plastering a poster celebrating an upcoming wedding

B.Com student hacked to death in Tuticorin after getting into a dispute when plastering a poster celebrating an upcoming wedding June 16 Akhilanth, a 34-year-old lawyer, hacked to death in Thiruvallur (same district as Chennai). A revenge killing after a land dispute suspected

Akhilanth, a 34-year-old lawyer, hacked to death in Thiruvallur (same district as Chennai). A revenge killing after a land dispute suspected June 13 D Lakshmanan, a 16-year-old, murdered in Madurai. Police suspect gang rivalry to be the reason behind killing

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Central government employees can look forward to fatter salary cheques as the Union cabinet is likely to take up the 7th Pay Commission recommendations on Wednesday.

The commission has recommended an average 23.55% increase in their salary, allowances and pension, a move that will benefit 4.8 million staffers and 5.5 million pensioners.

The commission headed by justice (retired) AK Mathur had presented its 900-page report to finance minister Arun Jaitley in November 2015.

In January, the government had set up an empowered committee of secretaries headed by cabinet secretary PK Sinha to examine the panels suggestions. A secretariat has also been set up within the finance ministry to oversee the panels recommendations.

The cabinet is expected to discuss on Wednesday the Sinha committees report on implementation of the pay panels recommendations. The salary hikes will be effective from January 1, 2016.

Read | 7th Pay Commission: How govts salary, appraisal system works

A PTI report said on Tuesday the Cabinet was likely to approve higher increase in basic pay than the nearly 15% recommended by the panel. The pay panel had recommended a 14.27% hike in basic pay at junior levels, the lowest in 70 years. The previous 6th Pay Commission had recommended a 20% hike, which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008. After considering the increase proposed in allowances, the hike in remunerations comes to 23.55%.

Considering the tight fiscal position this year, the government may improve upon the pay commission recommendation for basic pay to 18% or at best 20%, a senior official told PTI.

More cash in hand is likely to result in higher consumption by the governments massive employee base, which accounts for a large segment of the Indian middle-class. More demand could boost the economy through higher spending on assets such as cars and housing.

The government usually accepts the broad proposals for pay revision  due every 10 years and state governments usually respond with their own hikes.

The Centres total salary and allowances bill for 2016-17 has been pegged at Rs 1.84 lakh crore, which is Rs 65,687 crore or 55% higher than last years Rs 1.18 lakh crore. The higher wage bill for this year partly factors in the anticipated increase in employee remuneration.

The pay commissions recommendations say a fresh IAS recruit will get a basic salary of Rs 56,000 a month against Rs 23,000 currently, while a sepoy in the Indian Army will earn Rs 21,700 a month from Rs 8,460 at present. In addition, employees are paid dearness allowance and house rent among many other allowances.

If accepted, the new proposals will set Rs 18,000 as the minimum pay of an employee on the central governments rolls. At present, the minimum salary is Rs 7,000.

The total emoluments of a general helper  the lowest-ranked employee  amount to ?22,579, more than double that of his counterpart in the private sector, a study commissioned by the panel found.

The commission has proposed a change in the salary structure by doing away with the system of pay bands and grade pay and recommended pay matrix. It has also called for scrapping overtime allowance and interest-free loans to buy motor vehicles.
The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved the 7th Pay Commissions recommendations hiking salaries of central government employees as well as pensions.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The recommendations will impact the some 47 lakh employees in the central government and 52 lakh pensioners.

Read: Govt salaries distinctively higher than those in pvt sector: Jaitley

A recommendation for minimum pay of Rs 18,000 per month, with the upper ceiling at Rs 225,000 a month, was approved by the cabinet.

Here are 15 highlights of the recommendations cleared by the cabinet:

1. The present system of pay bands and grade pay has been dropped and a new pay matrix as recommended by the commission has been approved. Separate pay matrices have been drawn up for civilians, defence personnel and for military nursing service.

By doing away with the pay bands and grade pay, the new pay matrix ensures that there are no abrupt jumps in salaries upon promotion in different pay bands.

2. All existing levels have been absorbed in the new structure; no new levels have been introduced.

3. The minimum pay has been increased from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18, 000 per month. Starting salary of a newly recruited employee at lowest level will now be Rs 18,000 whereas for a freshly recruited Class I officer, it will be Rs 56,100.

4. For the purpose of revision of pay and pension, a fitment factor of 2.57 will be applied across all levels in the pay matrices. After taking into account the DA at prevailing rate, the salary/pension of all government employees/pensioners will be raised by at least 14.29 % as on January 1, 2016.

5. Rate of increment has been retained at 3%. This will benefit the employees in future on account of higher basic pay as the annual increments that they earn in future will be 2.57 times than at present.

6. The Cabinet approved further improvements in the defence pay matrix by enhancing Index of Rationalisation for Level 13A (Brigadier) and providing for additional stages in Level 12A (Lieutenant Colonel), 13 (Colonel) and 13A (Brigadier) in order to bring parity with Combined Armed Police Forces (CAPF) counterparts at the maximum of the respective Levels.

7. Some other decisions impacting the employees including defence and Combined Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel include:

*Gratuity ceiling enhanced from Rs 10 to 20 lakh. The ceiling on gratuity will increase by 25% whenever DA rises by 50 %.

*A common regime for payment of ex-gratia lump sum compensation for civil and defence forces personnel payable to next of kin with the existing rates enhanced from Rs 10-20 lakh to Rs 25-45 lakh for different categories.

*Rates of military service pay revised from Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000, Rs 4,200 and Rs 6,000 to Rs 3,600, Rs 5,200, Rs 10,800 and Rs 15,500 respectively for various categories of defence forces personnel.

*Terminal gratuity equivalent of 10.5 months of reckonable emoluments for Short Service Commissioned Officers who will be allowed to exit armed forces any time between seven and 10 years of service.

*Hospital leave, special disability leave and sick leave absorbed into a composite new leave named Work Related Illness and Injury Leave (WRIIL). Full pay and allowances will be granted to all employees during the entire period of hospitalisation on account of WRIIL.

8. The Cabinet also approved the recommendation of the commission to enhance the ceiling of House Building Advance from Rs 7.50 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. In order to ensure that no hardship is caused to employees, four interest free advances namely advances for medical treatment, travel allowance on tour/transfer, TA for family of deceased employees and LTC have been retained. All other interest free advances have been abolished.

9. The Cabinet also decided not to accept the steep hike in monthly contribution towards Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme (CGEGIS) recommended by the commission. The existing rates of monthly contribution will continue. This will increase the take home salary of employees at lower levels by Rs 1,470. However, considering the need for social security of employees, the Cabinet has asked ministry of finance to work out a customised group insurance scheme for central government employees with low premium and high risk cover.

10. The general recommendations of the commission on pension and related benefits have been approved by the Cabinet. Both the options recommended by the commission as regards pension revision have been accepted subject to feasibility of their implementation. Revision of pension using the second option based on fitment factor of 2.57 shall be implemented immediately. A committee is being constituted to address the implementation issues anticipated in the first formulation. The first formulation may be made applicable if its implementation is found feasible after examination by proposed committee which is to submit its report within four months.

11. The commission examined a total of 196 existing allowances and, by way of rationalisation, recommended abolition of 51 allowances and subsuming of 37 allowances. Given the significant changes in the existing provisions for allowances, which may have wide ranging implications, the cabinet decided to constitute a committee headed by the finance secretary for further examination of the recommendations of the pay panel on allowances. The committee will submit its reports within four months. Till a final decision, all existing allowances will continue to be paid at the existing rates.

12. The cabinet also decided to constitute two separate committees: (i) to suggest measures for streamlining the implementation of National Pension System (NPS) and (ii) to look into anomalies likely to arise out of implementation of the commissions report.

13. Apart from the pay, pension and other recommendations approved by the cabinet, it was decided that the concerned ministries may examine the issues that are administrative in nature, individual post/ cadre specific and issues in which the commission has not been able to arrive at a consensus.

14. As estimated by the pay panel, the additional financial impact on account of implementation of all its recommendations in 2016-17 will be Rs 1,02,100 crore. There will be an additional implication of Rs 12,133 crore on account of payments of arrears of pay and pension for two months of 2015-16.

15. Finance minister Arun Jaitley said the National Democratic Alliance government has taken the decision to implement the report of the 7th Pay Commission much faster than in the past.

The decision to implement the Fifth Pay Commission (report) was taken after 19 months while for the 6th Pay Commission it was 32 months, he said.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal cancelled on Wednesday his two-day visit to Gujarat after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused the states BJP government of browbeating organisers to call off his main event in Surat on July 10.

The AAP cried political vendetta, alleging that the Anandiben Patel government put pressure on organisers Surat Vyapari Mandal to cancel the booking of an auditorium at Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, where Kejriwal was supposed to speak.

The organisers in Surat were threatened by the government. They feared losing business. So they had to cancel the event, state AAP leader Kanu Kalsaria said. That is why the party had to cancel the entire Gujarat tour of Kejriwal.

The ruling BJP dismissed the allegation as another publicity stunt of the AAP.

It was a two-day tour. Has BJP stopped him from offering prayers at Somnath temple too? They got publicity by announcing the tour and now they are seeking publicity by cancelling it, party spokesperson Bharat Pandya said.

The AAP leaders proposed tour was viewed as the partys attempt to test the political pulse in the BJP-stronghold state where polls are due in 2017. The party is trying to woo the states disgruntled Patel community, which has been at loggerheads with the government for reservation in jobs and education.

Kejriwal had shared a video on social media in support of Patel quota stir leader Hardik Patel, who is in jail facing sedition charges.

The partys Delhi lawmaker Gulab Yadav said cheap political tactics would not deter Kejriwal from visiting Gujarat any time during the next two months.

This is nothing but political vendetta. It only shows how much they fear Kejriwal, he said.

The Delhi chief minister was to begin his trip from Somnath in Saurashtra, addressing farmers at three places en route.

The AAP said the entire trip was called off because the event in the textile city of Surat had to be cancelled. Since the main event got cancelled, there was no point in going ahead with the previous days programmes, Kalsaria said.

(With agency inputs)
The government would take all steps to ensure safety of airports and Indian skies, civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said on Wednesday morning, hours after three suicide bombers killed 36 people at Turkeys main international airport.

The attack on Istanbuls busy Ataturk airport, which comes within months of a terror strike at the Brussels airport, has turned the spotlight on the security apparatus at Indian facilities.

I am deeply shocked and agitated at the terror attack on Istanbul Airport. We stand with Turkey and its citizens in their loss & grief, Raju tweeted. Its our commitment that we will continue to ensure safety and security of Indian airports and skies.

No Indian carrier flies to Turkey but Turkish Airlines, the national carrier, has regular flights in and out of India.

No report so far of any Indian among the casualties has been received. Turkish Air flights to Delhi and Mumbai departed Istanbul last night as scheduled. Both leave Istanbul at around 8pm. Ataturk airport operations at Istanbul have resumed but long delays are likely, a senior government official said.

Security checks had been intensified at all Indian airports, sources said. It is only at Jammu and Srinagar airports that the passengers are frisked and their bags checked before they enter the airport terminal.

Read | Hollywood, Bollywood celebs condemn Istanbul attacks

While there is no plan to extend the practice to other airports, security drill may be tightened following the Istanbul strike.

Additional security measures like deploying more security personnel and those in plain clothes outside airports are often implemented to deal with security threats, an official said, ruling out Jammu-like checks.

There is hardly any space outside terminal buildings and if we do start doing this the passenger queues would spill over to the road.

The Mumbai airport also tightened its guard hours after the Istanbul airport attack. Armed personnel manning watch booths at the airport entrances were increased, patrolling populated stretches within the terminal and the waiting areas outside was also escalated, said officials from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

Read | Istanbul attack: A look at 10 major airport attacks in recent years

Such incidents (terror attacks) have become so common that we are on high alert almost throughout the year, said a senior CISF official requesting anonymity.

In Istanbul, three suicide bombers sprayed bullets and then blew themselves up. One of the attacker opened fire in the departures hall of the airport with an automatic rifle before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below, reports said. The attack has been blamed on the Islamic State.

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Britain will not renege on its climate change commitments, energy and climate secretary Amber Rudd told investors on Wednesday, just days after her country voted to quit the European Union.

While I think the UKs role in dealing with a warming planet may have been made harder..., our commitment to dealing with it has not gone away, she told finance and business leaders at the 2016 Climate and Business Summit in London.

On Tuesday, the UNs outgoing climate chief Christiana Figueres, told delegates there is going to be quite a bit of uncertainty, transition and volatility for at least two years, following the Brexit vote.

Rudd -- who campaigned for the remain camp -- urged leave figurehead Boris Johnson, a fellow Conservative and likely contender for the post of prime minister, to affirm that he is not a climate sceptic.

The position of any candidate on this issue will be absolutely central to who I support, she said, prompting a burst of applause from summit participants.

Johnson has, in the past, questioned whether human actions really are contributing to global warming.

Rudd sought to allay worries that the Brexit vote would soften Britains leadership role in the international campaign against dangerous climate change, or dampen clean energy investment by, or in, the UK.

How Britain will renegotiate, for example, its relationship to the EUs internal energy market has emerged as a key concern.

Read: Zombie government? UK politics consumed by Brexit concerns

Rudds department of energy and climate change is due to unveil new goals Thursday for slashing greenhouse gas emissions.

A cross-party bloc of lawmakers have urged the government to accept an ambitious and binding target to cut emissions by 57% by 2032 from 1990 levels.

This would stand as one of the most ambitious carbon-cutting goals of any major economy in the world.

The current European Union goal, approved well before the Brexit vote, is to cut emissions by 40 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels.

Rudd renewed vows to boost government support for renewable energy, including up to four gigawatts of offshore wind power, and the construction of a new fleet of small, modular nuclear reactors.

At least half of our innovation spending will go towards nuclear research and development, she told the meeting.

French energy giant Electricite de France, or EdF, is seeking to build three such reactors in Britain.

Rudd said she had spoken with the EDF chief executive since the Brexit vote, and there was no change at all in the decision to proceed, though final approval is pending.

New nuclear is going to be an incredibly important part of delivering our low-carbon future in the UK.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Wednesday amid speculation of a reshuffle in the government and the ruling partys ranks.

Modi completed two years in power on May 26 and is likely to carry out a cabinet reshuffle before leaving for a four-nation trip on July 6.

Rajasthan, Assam and poll-bound states Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are likely to gain in this round of changes. A source in the party said the reshuffle would be minor. Union minister of state for sports, Sarbananda Sonowal, recently took over as the Assam chief minister after the partys remarkable win in the state.

Minority affairs minister Najma Heptulla, who has turned 75, is believed to be on her way out. Leaders above the age of 75 had reportedly been told not to expect major responsibilities. Power minister Piyush Goyal, a minister of state with independent charge, is tipped for a promotion.

The change in the government is likely to be followed up with changes in the party. Amit Shah, who was re-elected as the party chief in January, is continuing with the old team.
The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga has partnered with Causeway to fund two parent-focused education projects, the Orchard Knob Middle School Back to School Bash, and Essential Spark, an after-school arts and culture program for pre-K children and their parents.Both projects were finalists in the Causeway Challenge, which asked community members to submit ideas for ways parents could help transform public education. Causeway originally funded ten winning projects with grants of $3,000 each to develop and pilot the programs.According to Causeway Executive Director Abby Garrison, a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga is making it possible to fund two more projects, both finalists in the Challenge.We think its important that people from every corner of our community are authentically involved in figuring out the solutions we all want to see in our own neighborhoods and across our city, and this is especially true for public education, said Ms. Garrison. The proposals we received for the latest Causeway Challenge were a clear indication that parents genuinely want and need to be involved in improving education across our community, and that there are some great ideas for how to do that. The Challenge affords a great opportunity to test some of these ideas as pilot projects that can potentially be scaled across multiple schools. CFGCs support of these additional projects expands the number of kids and schools reached, as well as the pool of new ideas and new leaders throughout our community.We were delighted to partner with Causeway to support parent-focused efforts to improve education opportunities, said Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga President Maeghan Jones. We recognize the strong correlation between parent engagement and student success, and the two additional projects Causeway has chosen to pilot will help foster that engagement for a greater number of parents.According to Ms. Jones, Causeways focus on empowering individuals throughout the Chattanooga community with the tools and resources they need to implement ideas for positive change, both in education and across other areas of critical need, make it an important community partner.Projects like those funded through the Causeway Challenge are critical to helping forge a stronger sense of community in and around our schools, said Ms. Jones, a member of the Chattanooga 2.0 Early Education Committee.The following two additional projects will join the existing cohort of ten Causeway Challenge winners as they work to develop and implement their ideas in time for the coming school year:Orchard Knob Middle School Back to School Bash -Led by Orchard Knob Middle School teacher Jennifer Whalen, the Back to School Bash will bring together school staff, parents, students and community members to plan and host a back to school block party at Orchard Knob Middle School. In addition to providing school supplies and a chance to socialize, the party is intended to help parents take ownership of their childs education and open the door to longer lasting relationships between all members of the Highland Park community, including students, parents, community members and teachers.Cultivating the Essential Spark: Pre-K Students and Parents Growing Up with the Arts -Led by local parent and artist Mia Hansford, parents/guardians and pre-K students in the Glass Street area will have the opportunity to gather at the Blooming Pot Daycare one night a week after school and work in August/September to engage in a series arts and culture workshops. Taught by members of Barking Legs Theatres Full Circle Teaching Artists program, the workshops will include visual art, dance, theatre, and culinary activities. In addition to providing fun opportunities for parents and children to create and problem-solve together, the program is designed to sow the seeds for creating more arts education opportunities for our community.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh were among the handful of leaders who paid tributes to former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao on his 95th birth anniversary on Tuesday.

As the Congress maintained a guarded distance from Raos memory, the BJP closed in on another icon from the grand old party who is not from the Nehru-Gandhi clan.

While Modi paid tribute to Rao in his first tweet of the day, Dr Singh -- who served as Raos finance minister as part of the team that is best known for ushering in economic liberalisation quarter of a century ago -- kept his annual date with the commemoration that is held every year at Andhra Bhawan (now Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Bhawan). He paid his former boss a silent obeisance by offering rose petals to his garlanded portrait at a programme to commemorate Rao as the Architect of vibrant India in a less-than-half full auditorium. Like every year, Singh did not speak from the podium. He sat in the front row with Raos family and left.

Union ministers Suresh Prabhu and Bandaru Dattareya also turned up and paid tributes to Indias ninth prime minister. Other Congress leaders were conspicuous in their absence at the low-key commemoration organised by the Telangana government and Raos family. Among them, former Indian Youth Congress president and long-time Rao confidante MS Bitta. He had to go to Allahabad. Who can be a bigger Congressman than Dr Manmohan Singh. He probably represents his entire party, VP Prabhakar Rao, Narasimha Raos son told HT.

The Congress headquarters at 24 Akbar Road in New Delhi showed no signs of celebrating the birth anniversary of the partys former president.

Tributes to Shri PV Narasimha Rao on his birth anniversary. He led India at a crucial time & his leadership was both notable & vital, PM Modis tweet said.

Senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel and Ashok Gehlot were among the few from Raos party who tweeted praise for him. Remembering Narasimha Raoji on his birth anniversary. He steered the country in very challenging times and played a key role in nation building, Patel said in his tweet.

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The Enforcement Directorate, which investigates financial crimes, attached on Wednesday properties worth Rs 749 crore belonging to YSR Congress party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy, who is facing charges of corruption.

The agency launched an investigation on the basis of a chargesheet filed by the CBI accusing Jagan, son of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, of entering into a criminal conspiracy with others to get a mining lease allotted to M/s Bharathi Cement Corporation Private Ltd. Jagans wife, Bharathi Reddy, is the chairman of the company.

Jagan received bribes from various people and companies in the guise of investments in his group of companies as a quid pro quo for undue favours granted to them by the Andhra Pradesh government, the ED said in a statement.

A case of laundering was registered against Jagan and others by the EDs Hyderabad zonal office under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

Investigators found that Jagan laundered money through his group of companies in the form of investments, purchase of movable and immovable properties and third party payments, among others, the ED said.

Bharathi Cement Corporation Pvt Ltd has received the proceeds of crime in the form of limestone mined from the mines allotted illegally to them in Kadapa district by then state government. The value of limestone works out to be more than Rs 152 crore during the relevant period, it said.

The attached properties are spread across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

In the past, the agency had attached properties worth several hundreds of crores belonging to Jagan and others.

The Central Bureau of investigation (CBI) had filed 11 chargesheets against Jagan and others pertaining to the alleged investments made by various private firms and individuals to the tune of several crores in his businesses.

The agency said this was part of quid pro quo arrangement in exchange for alleged favours by the erstwhile Rajasekhar Reddy government.
The Indian Railways have disbanded the Indian Railways Project Management Unit (IRPMU)  a centralized unit that had been monitoring execution of the Train Protection and Warning Systems (TPWS) scheme. The decision is likely to affect NDA governments plans to increase train speeds.

Installation of the TPWS an European technology that prevents head-on collisions  have been mandated by the office of the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety (CCRS)

for operating trains at speeds of 160kmph or above. The system automatically activates brakes on a train that has passed a signal at danger or is otherwise over-speeding.

Approximately 3000 passengers have died in rail-related accidents in India in the past ten years; a big chunk of deaths having been caused on account of head-on collisions.

The Gatimaan  Indias fastest  is currently the only train on the network that has the TPWS systems installed.

In a circular of June 14, the Railway Board ordered the merger of the IRPMU with the North Central Railway with effect from July 1, instructing all officers/staff to shift to the zonal headquarters at Allahabad within 15 days. The scheme will now be implemented separately by the 17 zones of the Indian Railways, according to the circular.

The slapdash transfer decision for the IRPMU employees _ which comes during the middle of the academic season - has given rise to speculations that the move has been provoked by a desperate need to cut costs at a time when the state-owned transporter has been incurring substantial revenue losses.

Rail earnings have alarming plunged in this fiscals first quarter. Official documents show that the state-owned transporter not only failed to meet its budgetary earnings targets during the first two months of the current fiscal, but also recorded a 9% shortfall as compared to last years income during the same period.

The decision to scatter up the activities on TPWS implementation will enable the state-owned transporter to delay spending on the capital intensive plan during the current fiscal, when it confronts the challenge of providing for substantial payouts for implementing the recommendations of the seventh Pay Commission, an official said.

Railway Board member (engineering) A K Mittal disagreed, saying that the move would actually speed up the TPWS execution. Getting the different railway zones on board to execute this important program is only in order, he told HT.

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Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti described Saturdays fatal militant attack on a security convoy in Pampore as un-Islamic, a remark that political rivals said reflected her growing tilt towards the Hindu right-wing.

The 57-year-old Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief heads a coalition government with the BJP, an arrangement that has remained contentious for the partys Muslim vote-base in the Kashmir Valley since her father formed the alliance after a fractured mandate in the 2014 state polls.

Mufti said after the Pampore ambush, in which eight CRPF men died, that she feels ashamed as a Muslim because the incident happened during the holy month of Ramzan. She went on: I fail to understand how somebody can indulge in such senseless acts in the name of Islam.

Her political opponents think she shouldnt have drawn Islam to describe an incident which is viewed as a desperate attempt by militants to stay in relevance.

Also, many people didnt like the analogy because Muftis politics was conceived on the notion that terror has no religion.

The opposition alleged that Mufti, who has been opposing the Islamic terror narrative, is suddenly speaking the RSS and VHP language.

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, National Conference spokesperson Junaid Mattu said.

Mufti has had her share of controversial remarks before and run-ins with religious hardliners since forming the government in April  about three months after her chief minister-father Mufti Mohammad Sayeeds death.

She had ridiculed the clergy for talking about Article 370, a constitutional provision that guarantees special status to the state, and protesting the alleged molestation of a girl in Handwara by a soldier.

Why do clerics speak only when security forces are involved when molestations happen even during school picnics? She had asked. The clergy led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq seethed in rage.

She was caught with her foot in mouth more often than not. Her government has restricted the movement of most separatist leaders and thrust some in jail or house arrest as well.

The Mirwaiz said his movements were curbed more now than during the previous National Conference government, which the PDP had constantly accused of coming down hard on separatist leaders.

The chief minister, however, justified the move, saying the leaders will be let off in winter when the peak tourism season is over.

Political experts in Kashmir said she was forced to change her language to please Big Brother BJP, her alliance partner.

Mehbooba Muftis language has changed after she has taken over (the CMs post). She is trying to be in the good books of the BJP as she needs them both in the state as well as the Centre, social scientist NA Baba said.

The perceived change contradicted the strategy she had adopted prior to the 2014 polls, building a disarrayed PDP from the scratch with a heavy pro-Kashmir agenda that included visits to homes of those killed by security forces  civilians and militants alike.

Her statements are not made out of conviction but practical politics. But she has to realise people are not fools, Baba said.

PDP leaders waived aside Muftis remarks as inexperience. She doesnt have many advisers. Those close to her father have withdrawn a bit. After she ousted a few leaders who stood against her, most people are scared to tell her the truth, one of them said, not wishing to be named.

Others felt the states first woman chief minister has shut her eyes on reality.

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Squatting in a corner of the state secretariat in Hyderabad, Giri Goverdhan has been protesting and also brooding over the irony of his situation.

A lower-grade staff in the agriculture department, he was at the forefront of the movement for the creation of a separate Telangana state. But two years after Indias newest state came into being after being carved out of united Andhra Pradesh, he is mortified to find that he has been allotted to work for the government of present-day Andhra Pradesh, and not the state of Telangana that he toiled for.

But Giri is not alone in protesting. Hundreds of government employees, including lower-court magistrates are up in arms against what they allege are injustices heaped on them as Andhra and Telangana part ways.

Unseemly protests have spilled out on the streets and some 200 judicial magistrates have suspended work. Its also threatening to snowball into a political showdown with Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao preparing to sit on a dharna in New Delhi, seeking the Centres intervention in smoothening what otherwise is proving to be a messy separation.

Both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are suffering from bifurcation blues, points out retired academic K Purushottam Reddy. As the states strive to untangle from each other and divide men and resources, they have come up against challenges that are souring the separation.

With Hyderabad going to Telangana, the government of Andhra Pradesh is racing against time to set up a new capital for itself in Amaravati. Truckloads of government files are being shifted and thousands of pages of important documents are being scanned and electronically transferred. Entire departments have to be shifted and some 20,000 employees relocated.

But the most daunting task so far has been to divide and decide which employee goes to which state.

Read: Protesting Telangana judges suspended for violating code

Both states agreed to take on in their pay rolls staff who came from their respective regions. Employees who could prove their roots in Telangana went to Telangana government; those from Andhra went to the Andhra government.

But intractable problems arose with those whose nativity was in doubt and those found to be in excess of what the states need. So a committee went to work and came up with a ratio of 52:48 to divide them. Fifty-two percent of them will go to Andhra, 48 to Telangana, the CR Kamalnathan committee recommended.

Goverdhan fell within that 52 percent, was allotted to Andhra, and is now livid. I have the whole family  my parents, wife and two kids  dependant on me and how can I leave them and go to a new place? he angrily asks.

The agitating magistrates are meanwhile angry that the 52:48 ratio was not applied while splitting up their ranks.

Instead, the high court provisionally allotted 492 of them to Andhra and 335 to Telangana based on options given by the lower-court judges. Magistrates from Telangana say that 143 of the 335 magistrates given to their state hail from Andhra and will block their promotions.

Read: 9 more judges suspended, 335 to go on mass leave in Telangana

Many in Telangana want all those from Andhra to quit Telangana and go back to working for Andhra Pradesh. If the division is completed, the Telangana employees could get promotions, which would lead to new jobs, says Telangana Electricity Employees Joint Action Committee convenor T Sivaji.

The mood in Telangana is acquiring xenophobic dimensions and even the judiciary is not spared. Out of 21 judges in high court, 18 belong to Andhra. How can we expect that they will do justice to Telangana? points out T Sriranga Rao, the convenor of a Telangana lawyers association. Undoubtedly, distrust is running high in the wake of the messy divorce.

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Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar visited Beur central jail in Patna on Wednesday, to meet AISF leaders lodged there, who are protesting against the alleged autocratic stance of the College of Arts and Crafts principal.

The AISF has been demanding the removal of College of Art and Crafts principal Chandrabhushan Srivastava for suspending eight students in April, as well as action against Patna University vice-chancellors bodyguard R.D. Paswan for firing on students in May. College of Arts and Crafts is a constituent unit of Patna University.

Kumar proceeded to Beur jail soon after his arrival at Patna airport. He was accompanied by JNUSU vice president Shehla Rashid Shora. They were received by a large number of AISF activists.

Kanhaiya met AISF state secretary Sushil Kumar and other student leaders in Beur jail. He also took part in a protest march organised by the Patna Art College Bachao Morcha. The march to the state assembly building began from Patna University gate.

In New Delhi earlier this month, Kanhaiya Kumar, along with 42 others, were detained by the police at Bihar Bhawan for protesting against the alleged attack on students observing a hunger strike at the College of Arts and Crafts. Seven students of the college sustained injuries in the attack, allegedly carried out by miscreants while they were protesting against the conduct of the administration.
Two mountain climbers from Kolkata alleged on Wednesday a Pune police couple morphed old photographs atop Mount Everest to claim that they scaled the worlds highest summit, the latest twist in a scandal that has rocked Indias mountaineering community.

Pune residents Dinesh Rathod and wife Tarakeshwari, both police constables, grabbed headlines in May after they claimed to have climbed Mount Everest, the first Indian couple to accomplish the feat.

But controversy engulfed the couple soon after with eight Pune mountaineers pointing out discrepancies in photos that the Rathods claimed to have clicked atop Mount Everest. They alleged the couple never made it to the summit.

Kolkata resident Satyarup Siddhanta alleged Tarakeshwari took a photo showing him atop the mountain and photoshopped her face onto the image. Another photo showing the couple on top of Mount Everest was originally a snap of Siddhanta and his climbing partner Malay Mukhopadhyay, he alleged.

Kolkata resident Satyarup Siddhanta alleged Tarakeshwari took a photo showing him atop the mountain and photoshopped her face onto the image. (Facebook)

Another photo showing the couple on top of Mount Everest was originally a snap of Siddhanta and his climbing partner Malay Mukhopadhyay, Satyarup Siddhanta alleged. (Facebook)

This is so so so amazing!!!!!! They took my pix and photoshopped their image of summit... and got certificates too... Where is mountaineering going!!!!! Shame on you officers from Pune, Siddhanta said.

Pune police commissioner Rashmi Shukla has set up an inquiry to check the authenticity of Rathods claim. Decision about the action will be taken once the inquiry report is submitted, said Shukla. The couple hasnt reported back on duty from the leave taken for the Everest expedition.

Dinesh Rathod refused to comment and said he submitted all details to the authorities, including a certificate issued by Nepal authorities. The Rathods, both 30, joined the police force in 2006.

Read: Indian couple set record by conquering Mt Everest together

The jackets and shoes seen in two photographs are different. Moreover direction of shadows of couple contradicts the timing they claimed about reaching the top, said Anjali Kulkarni, one of the complainants.

The photos of the Bengali mountaineers are clinching evidence of the Pune couples false claim, Surendra Shelke, one of the complainants, told HT.

We are sure they were making false claims. Now that mountaineers from Bengal have traced the original photos that were photoshopped, our case becomes stronger, Shelke told HT.

Veteran mountaineer Debabrata Mukhopadhyay said more such cases will emerge if the claims are properly investigated.
A Mumbai special court on Wednesday ordered Vijay Mallya, head of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines, to appear before it on July 29 regarding money laundering cases filed against him.

Special judge PR Bhavake told Mallya, now in Britain, to appear before him at 11am on July 29.

Read: Downfall of the king: A look at Vijay Mallyas journey from 1983 to 2016

In the Proclamation Order published in Mumbai newspapers, Judge Bhavake said Mallya had committed an offence punishable under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

Attempts to serve an arrest warrant on Mallya failed as he cannot be found at a care of address of Kingfisher Airlines office in south Mumbai.

The Special Court was satisfied that Mallya had absconded and is concealing himself to avoid the service of the (arrest) warrant as per the order.

Earlier this month, the court declared him a proclaimed offender.

Mallya, 60, owes over Rs 9,000 crore to various banks. He left India on a March 2 using a diplomatic passport and is currently in the UK.

The Enforcement Directorate is also seeking to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to extradite Mallya.
On June 24 at 7.54pm, a member of the Hyderabad module of the Islamic State (IS) said to another, Kaam ko anjam dene ka waqt aa gaya hai, isliye phone kiya (the time to finish the work has come, thats why I called you).

Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) listening to the conversation understood it was time to pick them up.

The detention and arrest of 11 IS sympathisers in Hyderabad by the NIA early Wednesday was the culmination of more than a six-month-long operation in which they were kept under watch by security agencies. While five sympathisers were formally arrested, the verification of the others is on. The NIA recovered `15 lakh, six laptops, 40 mobile phones and 32 SIM cards from them.

At 10.53pm on Sunday, another conversation was intercepted in which a group member told another to arrange for four pieces each of cow and buffalo meat. Seven more pieces of meat were to be arranged on Monday.

These lawfully intercepted conversations will form an important part of evidence against the suspects during trial.

The plan was to throw the meat pieces in temples in Hyderabad to coincide with serial blasts they had planned. They had gathered explosives to fabricate around 30-40 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on short notice. They had tested the IEDs as well. The action could have happened on Wednesday itself, said an investigator who spoke on condition of anonymity.

NIA chief Sharad Kumar said that it was a new group of alleged IS sympathisers who are well-educated -- at least two of them are engineers while one is a management graduate.

They are from well-to-do families. They were in touch with an IS handler known as Yusuf al-Hindi, who is believed to be Syria, said Kumar.

Intelligence agencies suspect al-Hindi to be Shafi Armar, a Bhatkal native who started the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen and later went to Afghanistan to fight the US. As the IS brand expanded, al-Hindi, along with other associates, reached Syria join its fighters.

The group had procured two 9mm Chinese pistols from Nanded in Maharashtra and an air gun as well -- these were used by the sympathisers to practice target shooting at an isolated place in Hyderabad.
Asserting that there is no hostile environment between New Delhi and Islamabad, Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit on Wednesday said the two nations will have to talk at some point and assured that a dialogue was a possibility.

There is no hostile environment. We are two neighbours and we will have to talk. We will talk, Basit told the media here.

Following Prime Minister Narendra Modis statement where he placed the onus of stalled talks on Pakistan, Prime Ministers adviser on foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz asserted that New Delhi was avoiding dialogue with Islamabad to avoid negotiations on crucial issues such as Kashmir.

Quoting Radio Pakistan, the Dawn reported that Aziz stressed that it was India, not Pakistan who was backing away from holding dialogues.

He said that Pakistan had plans for extensive talks with India on issues such as Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, economic cooperation, trade, visas and the detainment of fishermen, amongst others.

In a recent interview to Times Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that due to his diplomatic efforts, India was not reluctant to engage with Pakistan.

Our approach has created difficulties for Pakistan, and they find it hard to respond on the matter in the international community, he said.

The Prime Minister also claimed there are different types of forces operating in Pakistan, and asked in a rhetoric fashion if one has to draw a line or set conditions for dialogue, will it be with the elected government or other actors?

Dialogue between the hostile neighbours hit a major roadblock after the attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in January.
Chris Holmes of Sweetwater, Tn. was promoted to managing broker of Crye-Leike Realtors Athens branch office, located at 580 S. Congress Parkway in Athens, Tn.

He is responsible for managing and recruiting a sales force of Crye-Leike sales associates who list and sell residential and commercial real estate in Bradley, Knox, Loudon, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, Polk, Rhea and Roane counties.



This Crye-Leike office generated $26.43 million in sales volume in 2015. As far as a forecast for real estate sales in the area for this year, Mr. Holmes sees Denso manufacturings expansion and addition of jobs contributing to the countys economic growth and development which is generating an uptick in real estate sales. The unemployment rate for McMinn County is the lowest it has been in the past 10 years, said Mr. Holmes.



In addition to his new administrative role, Mr. Holmes will continue to list and sell real estate, specializing in single family homes, land and farms.



Mr. Holmes has attained several Realtor designations to help his agents and clients, including: the seller representative specialist designation, the premier credential in seller representation, as well as the e-pro designation which signifies "knowledge in cutting-edge technologies and digital initiatives to be able to link up with todays savvy real estate consumer."



When Mr. Holmes first joined Crye-Leike in 2012, his sales performance earned him the honor of being named Rookie of the Year, even though he had four years of sales experience working with another local real estate firm. He credits his growing up around family who bought and sold real estate at auctions as how he became attracted to the industry.



His previous job experiences were both in management with Merck and Roche Carolina as a chemist and quality control laboratory supervisor and with Aeroflex USA as its process control supervisor and quality control manager. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.



I feel privileged and honored to have the opportunity to be affiliated with the number one real estate company in the Mid-South, said Mr. Holmes. Having Crye-Leikes core values and mission statement that have always remained constant over these past 39 years brings a sense of unity to all agents, brokers and clients. I enjoy mentoring people to help them succeed and sharing my knowledge to help them further their careers in real estate.



Crye-Leikes Athens branch office is one of nine company-owned offices within its Southeast Region of Tennessee with offices located in Athens, Chattanooga, Cleveland, Fort Oglethorpe, Hixson, Ooltewah and Signal Mountain.



You can contact Managing Broker Chris Holmes at 423-746-0227, or chris.holmes@crye-leike.com.
There are no Indians among those killed or injured in the attacks on Istanbuls Ataturk airport, the ministry of external affairs had said.

(There is) no report so far of any Indian among the casualties. The Indian consulate has been in touch with the Istanbul Governorate and the Turkish Health Ministry hotline desk, MEA sources said on Wednesday morning.

The Indian Embassy in Ankara tweeted helpline numbers for Indians requiring assistance. Indians req assist, pls call +90-530-5671095/8258037/4123625/ #IndianEmbassyTR, it said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted a strong condemnation of the attack. Attack in Istanbul is inhuman & horrific. I condemn it strongly.

My thoughts are with bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly, he tweeted. PM Modi has frequently spoken against terrorism at international fora. Speaking in Brussels in March this year, Modi had said the United Nations runs the risk of becoming irrelevant if it does not pass a resolution defining terrorism.

An official said Turkish Air flights to Delhi and Mumbai had flown off from Istanbul last night as scheduled, approximately a couple of hours before the dastardly attack that has so far killed 36 people. Airport operations at Istanbul have resumed but long delays are likely. An update from the Indian consulate in Instanbul said many flights have been diverted to the Sabiha Gokcen airport there and that is likely to result in delays.
For more than 40 years, Begunkodar railway station in Purulia district of West Bengal remained abandoned because of fears that it was haunted.

Locals say sometime in the 1960s, commuters spotted a woman in a white saree walking along the tracks on the Begunkodar station, 260km from the state capital, Kolkata. She vanished as suddenly as she appeared. This became a daily routine and soon railway employees refused to work there.

The only one who dared to go there died the next day.

As the railway minister, Mamata Banerjee dismissed all reports of the female ghost and reopened the station in 2009. A few trains stopped but only during the day, but locals shied away from going near the station.

And now Kolkata-based paranormal research body is set to put Begunkodar on the ghost tourism map.

The Systematic Paranormal Investigation and Research Team has tied up with tour operator Purulia Tourism to take visitors on a tour of the ghost-infested railway station. The package includes travel, hotel accommodation and a midnight visit to the station including a storytelling session on the history of Begunkodar.

People want to experience the paranormal. We will try and give it to them. The station was closed for years after ghosts were spotted by the locals. So many stories are linked to it. Even now, locals dont venture near the station after sundown, Soumen Roy, a mechanical engineer, who is a leading face of the paranormal research body, said.

Roy is also the co-founder of the organisation that is also working on over 300 haunted houses in Bengal. The organisation has more than 100 members including seven full-time paranormal investigators.

We invite everyone to experience the world of the paranormal. We will create the right atmosphere at the rail station. So far we have got a good response and the first trip will be announced soon, Roy told HT.

Saurav Haldar is looking forward to the spooky tour and is all excited about visiting the station.

Since childhood, I have been fascinated by ghosts. I got the information about the tour from Facebook and I have booked a seat. I want to experience the paranormal, Haldar said.

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The Parliaments monsoon session will start from July 18 with the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill tipped as the top priority for the government.

The session with 20 working days will run till August 12. A total of 56 government bills have been kept on the agenda.

The Congress-led Opposition, which has differences with the government over the long-pending GST bill, plans to attack the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over changes in the FDI policy, the failed bid to get membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), and price rise, among other issues.

After the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs that decided the session schedule, parliamentary affairs minister Venkaiah Naidu said, We must get it approved in this session. This indicates the governments eagerness to pass the GST bill that has been pending in the Parliament since 2008.

Recently, PM Narendra Modi met Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa even as finance minister Arun Jaitley convened a meeting of state finance ministers to mop up support for the bill. While the Congress has stuck to its three demands, including a cap in the GST rate, many regional parties have pledged their support for the legislation that will replace the myriad local levies with a central tax.

Government sources told HT that more negotiations with the Congress are expected in the next few weeks to bring the principal Opposition party on board. We have a wider support and we have enough numbers for GST but we would like to have all parties on board because it will have an effect on the states, Naidu said.

In the meeting, both home minister Rajnath Singh and Naidu emphasised on passing as many bills as possible. Two earlier sessions were nearly washed out due to disruptions, delaying the passage of many bills. The ministers have also asked different departments to quickly prepare the bills to ensure that they can be placed in the House at the earliest.

Apart from the GST, key legislation includes clearance for ordinances on amending the Indian Medical Council bill, the dentists bill, and the enemy properties (amendment and validation) bill. The government also accords high importance to the child labour (prohibition and regulation) amendment bill and the right of persons with disabilities bill.

The Compensatory Afforestation bill is excepted to get a push with PM Modi speaking about it in his TV interview.
A man in Bihars Muzaffarpur district has filed a case against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly insulting the national flag during the International Yoga Day on June 21.

Prakash Kumar, a resident of Pokhraira village in Saraiya police station area, filed the case in the court of chief judicial magistrate in Muzaffarpur. CJM Ram Chandra Prasad transferred the matter to the court of first class judicial magistrate.

Lawyer Ratan Kumar, who is representing the petitioner, said the court fixed July 16 for hearing the matter.

Kumar has alleged that Modi insulted the national flag by using the Tricolour as a mere piece of cloth, sitting on it and also using it to wipe his hands and face.

He also submitted pictures downloaded from the internet in support of his petition, which said Modis acts had hurt millions in the country.

Kumar had unsuccessfully contested the Bihar assembly election in 2015 as an independent candidate from Paroo seat in Muzaffarpur district.

This is not the first time the Prime Minister has been accused of disrespecting the national flag.

In April, another complainant claimed that Modi insulted the national flag more than 20 times on the International Yoga Day last year and during his visit to the United States.

Ashish Sharma, who also sought direction to the police to file an FIR against Modi, claimed that the PM committed an offence under the provisions of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and has also violated the Flag Code of India.

He alleged that the PM had disrespected national flag by using it as a handkerchief at an event at the India Gate on the International Yoga Day.

He (Modi) was again careless at the time of handing over the national flag to Barack Obama, President, USA, when he signed over the national flag which is against National Flag Code, 2002, Sharma said.
A member of Rajasthan state commission for women on Tuesday clicked a selfie with a rape victim, triggering controversy and prompting the chairperson of the commission to seek a written explanation of the matter.

The chairperson Suman Sharma, however, is also seen in the selfie along with the member Somya Gurjar.

Gurjar clicked the selfie when she and the chairperson went to meet the rape victim in Mahila police station (Jaipur North).

The matter came to light when the two pictures, in which Gurjar is seen clicking the selfie, went viral on popular messaging application WhatsApp on Wednesday.

Someone clicked a picture of Gurjar taking the selfie and circulated it on the app. Sharma is also seen looking into the camera.

I was talking to the victim when the member of the commission clicked these selfies. I am not aware when she (Somya Gurjar) clicked. I do not favour such act and has sought a written explanation from her. She has been asked to submit the explanation by tomorrow, Sharma said.

The rape victim is a 30-year-old woman who was allegedly raped by her husband and two brothers-in-law who also tattooed expletives on her forehead and hand for failing to bring Rs 51,000 as dowry.

Read: In-laws allegedly raped, tattooed abuses on womans head for not paying dowry

On Monday, an FIR was registered under sections of 498-A (Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act), 376 (punishment for rape)and 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) of IPC and an investigation in the case has been initiated.
Salem Police on Wednesday arrested a 21-year-old textile worker for allegedly uploading on Facebook morphed pictures of a young woman, which drove her to suicide two days ago.

Suresh, who lived in the same neighbourhood as the woman, morphed the picture and posted it, twice, on the social networking site out of rage after the 21-year-old turned him down, Salem superintendent of police Amit Kumar Singh said.

The womans family was looking for match for her when the picture first appeared, a source said.

I hope this would shut the mouths of all those who were talking of police inaction. We got the coordinates of IP address only yesterday and then we quickly moved to identity and nab the suspect, Singh said over phone on Wednesday.

The womans family had blamed polices indifference for the suicide.

The chemistry graduate committed suicide on Monday, a day after her morphed nude picture resurfaced on Facebook. Her parents had lodged a complaint on June 23 when the photo appeared for the first time after which the post was blocked.

Police had even questioned a suspect named by the girl but found nothing against him and let him off.

But, the morphed photograph this time with her fathers mobile phone number cropped up again on June 26. Unable to bear the humiliation, the woman hanged herself from a ceiling fan in her home while her parents were away.

The page was blocked earlier, but the image surfaced again on Sunday  tagging her as well, Singh said on Tuesday.

Initial investigations did not yield much and police sought the help of the IT companies and Facebook for the IP (internet protocol) address from which the pictures were posted.
The National Commission for Women said on Wednesday Bollywood actor Salman Khan had not apologised for saying his training schedule for an upcoming film left him feeling like a raped woman, adding that the body was studying a reply sent by Khans lawyer.

Salman Khans legal counsel has written to us. All I can say at the moment after going through the letter is that it is not conciliatory. He (Salman) has not apologised. Its a four-page, very legal sounding explanation that he has given, NCW chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam told Hindustan Times.

Read: Knowing me, I shouldnt talk much: Salman Khan post raped woman comment

Our legal officer is going through the letter. We will decide on what action to take based on the legal officers advice. But one thing is very clear. We are taking the whole issue very seriously, she added.

Khan made the controversial comment in an interview to promote his latest Bollywood movie Sultan, which tells the story of an ageing wrestler trying to make a comeback.

When I used to walk out of the ring, after the shoot, I used to feel like a raped woman. I couldnt walk straight, 50-year-old said in the interview with Spotboye.com.

Read: Dear Salman Khan, how do you expect fans to defend you?

On Wednesday, Kumaramangalam said there has to be deterrence in the form of stringent action so that public figures think twice before making loose comment on women. I believe that some kind of a stringent action is required to send the message that people, especially those in public life, cant get away easily after making such comments.

The NCW chairperson also slammed Bollywood activists for being silent over the issue. Such Bollywood activists have a view on everything but strangely no one has come out in the open to condone what Salman Khan has said.

The NCW had demanded a public apology, calling the comments reprehensible, following an outcry on social media where the hashtag #InsensitiveSalman has been trending.

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A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday referred a petition filed by LGBT celebrities seeking to legalise gay sex to the Chief Justice of India (CJI), saying the matter was already pending before a constitution bench.

On behalf of LGBT celebs  chef Ritu Dalmia, hotelier Aman Nath, dancer NS Johar, journalist Sunil Mehra and business executive Ayesha Kapur, senior advocate Arvind Datar contended it was the first time that the affected people themselves approached the court against the colonial era law that criminalised homosexuality.

A bench of justice SA Bobde and justice Ashok Bhushan said the matter was already pending before a constitution bench and referred it to CJI TS Thakur for appropriate orders.

Now, the petition filed by the celebs is likely to be taken up along with a curative petition on the issue that was sent to a constitution bench in February this year.

The Supreme Court had in December 2013 reversed a Delhi high court verdict that de-criminalised consensual homosexual acts. The high court in July 2009 had declared unconstitutional a part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalises unnatural sex, saying the section denies a gay person a right to full personhood

Though it overturned the high court order, the Supreme Court left it to Parliament to take the final call on the controversial law. The majority view in the political class is against relaxing Section 377. Several religious groups, too, are of the same opinion.

In their petition, LGBT celebs contended that Despite our achievements and contributions to India in various fields, we are being denied the right to sexuality, the most basic and inherent of fundamental rights.

The Supreme Court is already seized of the matter and all the curative petitions seeking a review of its 2013 verdict - described by activists as regressive  have been referred to a five-judge constitution bench.

A curative petition is the last legal recourse available after a litigant exhausts all remedies such as appeals and review petition.

Eight such petitions are pending with the bench seeking review of the judgment that upheld the constitutional validity of Section 377, which prescribes a maximum punishment of life imprisonment for unnatural sex.

Read| Rainbow of hope: Will India vote for an LGBT resolution at UN?

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The Supreme Court decided on Wednesday to examine if Islamic laws governing marriage and inheritance violated the fundamental rights of women and take a call on how far it can intervene to modify codes that are among Indias most politically sensitive.

The top court said the validity of controversial Islamic practices such as triple talaq, polygamy and alleged gender bias in inheritance laws will be evaluated on the touchstone of constitutional principles and precedents.

We have to hear all of them and take a call on to what extent courts can interfere in Muslim personal laws if courts find they are in violation of the fundamental rights, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur said.

The decision came after a batch of petitions filed by Muslim women said the practices were exploitative and violated fundamental rights of equality and non-discrimination guaranteed by the Constitution.

India has separate sets of personal laws for each religion governing marriage, divorce, succession, adoption, custody and maintenance.

While the overhaul of Hindu law began in the 1950s and continues, activists have long argued that Muslim personal law, which has remained mostly unchanged, is tilted against women.

Succession and inheritance of property codes under the Muslim personal law are said to be loaded against women. Also, two female witnesses equal one male witness in a Muslim marriage.

In a survey conducted last year, more than 90% Muslim women rejected polygamy and triple talaq, a particularly controversial process under which Muslim men can divorce their wives by using the word talaq (divorce) thrice.

Laws dealing with marriage and succession are not part of religion. Law has to change with time, another bench of the top court had said in October, while referring a separate bunch of petitions on the matter to a larger bench.

But many Muslim groups have opposed the courts move, terming judicial or political intervention as an attack on the communitys cultural identity. They are also against examining alleged gender bias in maintenance and inheritance, two issues raised unsuccessfully for decades.

The Muslim Personal Law Board has already filed an affidavit in the top court, opposing judicial intervention in religious practices.

Political parties have historically shied away from advocating reform of Muslim personal laws over fears of upsetting a religious minority that makes up a big chunk of votes in key states.

In 1985, the SC awarded maintenance to a 60-year-old divorced Muslim woman, Shah Bano, but the then Congress government framed a law to reverse the verdict after pushback from the clergy and Muslim Personal Law Board.

But over the years, more and more young, educated Muslim women have been challenging the religious laws.

In April, 35-year-old Uttarakhand resident Shayara Bano grabbed headlines when she went to the SC seeking a ban on triple talaq and polygamy. A month later, 28-year-old MBA graduate Aafreen Rehman approached the top court against the triple talaq after her husband divorced her in a letter.

Mandatory granting of divorce through intervention of courts established under law would protect the interests of both parties, said Bader Sayeed, a former Muslim woman legislator from Tamil Nadu and a third petitioner against the practice.

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday busted a new module of alleged Islamic State (IS) sympathisers in Hyderabad that had more than a dozen members.

At least six members were arrested and some detained for questioning from the module that was under the watch of the intelligence agencies for some time.

The new group of alleged IS members wanted to carry out strikes in Hyderabad and was also planning to incite riots by throwing beef in temples in the city, investigators said.

The NIA with the help of local police has conducted searches at 10 locations in Hyderabad city today morning. The searches have been going on. Weapons, explosives material and huge cash have been recovered so far. Further details will follow, NIA inspector general Sanjiv Singh said about the operation.

Searches were conducted in Moghulpura, Chandrayangutta, Mir Chowk and Bhavaninagar in the old city area of Hyderabad.

The earlier groups of the IS sympathisers busted by the probe agencies across the country could not manage to get weapons or fabricate Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

But once the sympathisers managed to procure weapons and fabricate IEDs, they were picked up, a senior government official said.

This was the first group that managed to get weapons and IEDs, he said.

According to sources, the Hyderabad-based module was in contact with similar groups spread across the country through social networking and they were planning to target VIPs.

NIA officials left for Delhi along with the arrested men, police sources said.

Earlier this year, NIA arrested two suspected IS operatives in Hyderabad and has arrested more than 30 IS sympathisers so far across the country. According to intelligence sources, more than 100 Indians are under constant watch due to their leanings towards the IS.
Heat isnt the only weather issue were having here in the Chattanooga area. As summer sets in, the likelihood for severe weather increases, too. Heavy rains, and flash flooding, and even tornados all threaten to wreak havoc on homes in our community during the warmer months. Taking the time to prepare your home now will help ensure that you are ready when the forecast calls for severe weather.

Clean out clogged gutters and downspouts . If the rain that accompanies a heavy storm cant run through the gutters and downspouts, it will spill over the sides, landing in areas where it can soak through to your homes foundation, causing flooding and structural damage.

Keep the elements out. Try to prevent wind and water from entering through windows, cracks, entry doors and garage doors. If severe winds occur it is important that your windows and doors are sealed as tightly as possible. You can purchase and install special storm shutters to cover your windows.

Secure all doors. High winds can potentially tear through double doors, French doors and sliding patio doors that have no structural support between the two sides. You may need to purchase and install special hardware to more adequately secure the doors where they meet. Try bolts that fasten the door into the framing at the top and the bottom.

Check your roof. A strong roof is another essential element in preparing your house to withstand a severe storm. Apply sealing around your homes chimney or and vent pipes. This will help prevent water from seeping into your home. Consider hiring a qualified contractor to check the structural integrity of the roof system.

To learn more about protecting your home during severe weather events, contact the Home Builders Association of Greater Chattanooga at info@HBAGC or visit nahb.org/DisasterResources.
New Delhi

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a petition that sought a ban on WhatsApp on the ground that the messaging platforms end-to-end encryption made it impossible to be broken into and posed a security threat.

A bench of Chief Justice of India TS Thakur and justice AM Khanwilkar asked petitioner Sudhir Yadav, a right to information activist from Haryana, to approach a telecom tribunal for relief.

Even if WhatsApp was asked to break through an individuals message to hand over the data to the government, it would fail as it, too, doesnt have the decryption keys, Yadav had said.

WhatsApp had in early April upgraded security, enabling its every message with 256-bit encryption that couldnt be broken into. It gave terrorists a means of communication impossible to intercept and even WhatsApp didnt have the keys to break the code, Yadav said, flagging concerns about other messaging platform such as Hike, Viber and Secure.

A single 256-bit encrypted message would take hundreds of years to be cracked, something even a supercomputer would not be able to do, he said

Encryption is the process of encoding messages or information in such a way that only authorised parties can read it.

Yadav said he was not asking for a ban but wanted the government to ask WhatsApp and 20 other similar applications to share their private key.

WhatsApp is a multi-mobile instant messaging platform that uses the internet to send text messages, documents, images, video and audio messages to other WhatsApp users through mobile phones.

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Hindu Mahasabha chief Swami Chakrapani, who was recently in news for burning a car that purportedly belonged to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, has been provided Z-category security after four people were arrested for planning an attack on him.

Chakrapani had earlier written to the Union Home Ministry in which he mentioned about receiving fresh threats from D-Company.

Chakrapani, who won the car at an open auction in Mumbai on December 9, had publicly burnt the vehicle in Ghaziabad.

According to reports, the Hindu Mahasabha chief had earlier refused the security cover.
A day after Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu lashed out at Air India (AI) for a delayed flight, the national carrier on Wednesday clarified that the pilot of Naidus flight was late in reaching the airport because of waterlogging and traffic congestion in Gurgaon.

Naidu on Tuesday had launched a twitter tirade against AI, stating that the delay in the flight had resulted in him missing an important appointment in Hyderabad. Naidus flight from Delhi was delayed by over an hour as the pilot was late in reaching the airport.

Read: Naidu skips Air India flight after pilot reaches late, demands explanation

The airlines claimed that an internal inquiry revealed that the car that had been assigned to pick up the pilot got stuck in a traffic jam because of which it took the driver over two hours to complete a 25-minute journey. The report states that the pilot eventually had to come to the airport on his own. Air India analysed the GPS data of the vehicle and according to officials found that for 40 minutes the car was stuck at one particular location in a traffic jam.

As per the statement of the driver, the car reached Ambience Mall at around 10:20 am but waterlogging had resulted in a traffic jam below the Shankar Chowk flyover, an AI official said. The official added that the driver took an alternative route to reach the pilot but that road too was affected by traffic snarls.

AI had the worst on-time performance (OTP) among all the domestic carriers in May. The state-owned airline had the lowest OTP of 74.3% at the four metro airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. In April too, AIs OTP was the lowest at 79.3%.

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On the occasion of completing a century of research and publication, the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has compiled images and information about the nearly 1 lakh species of fauna in India which it has recorded in this time span, of which 4,668 are new to science, into a book called 100 years of ZSI, that union environment minister Prakash Javadekar is slated to release on July 1.

This is the first time that all new discoveries from India have been put between two covers. Of the 4,668 new species reported from India, more than 100 are vertebrates (animals with backbone) and the rest are invertebrates (animals without backbone). To sum up, this reflects one of ZSIs crucial contributions to science, ZSI director Kailash Chandra told HT.

The ZSI, founded on July 1, 1916, is Indias premiere zoological institute and the designated repository for zoological specimens. However, the institution inherits the knowledge from the zoological studies of another century in India, preceding its foundation.

Among the new discoveries reported from India are the golden langurs and Namadapha flying squirrels  both from the Northeast India  as among the most remarkable discoveries. The golden langur, seen in parts of Assam-Bhutan border area, was recorded by ZSI in the 1950s, while the Namdapha flying squirrel, a critically endangered species, is found only in the Namdapha biosphere reserve in Arunachal Pradesh.

Besides, scientists at the Western Ghat regional centre had rediscovered species that were believed to be extinct  the Malabar Civet and the small Travancore Flying Squirrel.

Though ZSI scientists have reported more than four thousand species new to science, there are many other that still remain unreported and unrecorded. We are building up a nationwide network of taxonomy experts to discover species yet unknown to mankind, Chandra told HT.

While nearly 13% of the new discoveries (638 species) have been reported from West Bengal, home to the ZSI headquarters and the place where zoological studies in India began more than 200 years ago, the Western Ghats regional centre in Calicut reported more than 250 species new to science. As many as 68 new species have been discovered in the desert region in western part of the country.

Among other biodiversity hotspots in the country, ZSI scientists at the regional centre in Shillong, Meghalaya, have reported 63 species new to science. The Arunachal Pradesh regional centre, on the other hand, has reported nine new species of fish. Scientists at the West Regional Centre in Pune described 83 species new to science.

TRACKING INDIAS FAUNA FOR 100 YEARS

Founded: July 1, 1916

Headquarters: Kolkata

Regional Centres: 16

Species identified in India: 97,515

Species new to science: 4,668

Species new to science to be discovered in 2015:262

New species from West Bengal: 638

New species from Western Ghats: 250

New Species from the desert: 68

Specimens in repository: 45,00,000+

Species in repository: 60,000

Books published: 1,500

Scientific papers published: 10,045

Books in the library: 1, 00,000+

Oldest book: Index Omnivm Capitvm (1547)

Digital archive: 2, 45, 702 pages

Old and rare books: 700

Digitisation of old and rare books: 22,891 pages (ongoing)

DNA barcoding: 1,000 species (ongoing)
Railways will run a train between Indore and Guwahati via Lucknow and Patna, Union minster of state Manoj Sinha announced in Indore on Tuesday.

Organisations and locals had been demanding regions better connectivity with eastern states, especially to Patna and Kolkata.

I have been apprised about the poor connectivity between Indore and Bihar, but there are some technical reasons why the railways has not been able to increase the frequency of Indore-Patna train. However, we will run a new train between Indore and Guwahati via Lucknow and Patna, said Sinha after flagging off inaugural run of Indore-Kochuveli and biweekly Indore-Pune trains.

The technical issues will be sorted out by October and we will try to launch the new train after that, he said.

The minister said Indore station will have two lifts and escalators by October and four lifts and four escalators by December. The railways will also improve connectivity between Indore and Udaipur and other cities of Rajasthan.

Before the NDA government came to power, the railway budget for Madhya Pradesh was very low but the Narendra Modi government has raised the budget to Rs 4,325 crore in 2016-17 budget from Rs 454 crore in 2009-10, he said.

Lok Sabha Speaker and Indore parliamentarian Sumitra Mahajan thanked the minister on behalf of people of Indore for the new train.

She expressed concern that the Indore-Dahod rail line connecting tribal belt of Madhya Pradesh with Gujarat was running behind schedule. However, she hoped that with the railways sanctioning adequate funds in this years budget, the project would now gather steam.

Mahajan and Sinha flagged off Indore-Pune bi-weekly train and Indore-Kochuveli weekly train. With another Indore-Pune train running five days a week, Indore now has a train daily for Pune.

In the afternoon, they flagged off Indore-Mhow train on the newly constructed broad gauge track from Mhow station. Seven trains will run between Indore and Mhow. Mahajan also said the railway minister had asked the authorities to complete the electrification work between Indore and Mhow in nine months.

The first train will leave Mhow at 5.30am and the last at 9.35pm. The first train from Indore leaves at 6.40am and the last train at 10.45pm. Each journey will take 55 minutes.

Senior railway officials said talks are on with the ministry of defence for extra land for the railway station so that the platforms can be extended and trains with 24 compartments can also come to Mhow.

Announcements

New train between Indore-Guwahati via Lucknow, Patna

Lift, escalator at Indore station by September

Wi-Fi services at Indore station soon

Indore-Mhow track electrification in nine months
The crime branch may have been successful in deporting gangster Kumar Krishna Pillai to India from Singapore recently, but not before a battery of lawyers from China tried to prove he was a native of Hong Kong to avoid extradition.

The gangster, too, had previously tried to prove this before a committal (lower) court in Singapore as he held a Hong Kong passport after surrendering his Indian citizenship in 2013. He does not hold an Indian passport, which helped him make these claims before the court and for unknown reasons, the Chinese contingent also threw its weight on his side. They wanted to take him to China as their citizen, perhaps to use him against India later. However, his fingerprints and antecedents helped prove the whole thing was a farce, said a crime branch officer, who was in Singapore.

Pillai also met his mother and a lawyer from Mumbai in Singapore two months ago. Sources said the duo went to Singapore to meet him while he was already in the custody of authorities there after a tip-off from Interpol.

After being extradited to Mumbai, Pillai was produced in an MCOCA court inside Arthur Road Jail on Tuesday and was remanded in police custody until July 7.

Sanjay Saxena, joint commissioner of police (crime), said, Pillais activities were on even from overseas and we will now investigate them in detail.

The crime branch sought his custody on the grounds that it wants to ascertain his activities after fleeing the country in 1997. The police also have his voice transcript in a 2009 extortion case and they also want to collect a fresh voice sample to match the transcript. Saxena said, I congratulate the team headed by the deputy commissioner Dhananjay Kulkarni and inspectors Shankar Indalkar, Ajay Sawant, Vinayak Ghorpade and constable Vinod Rane. It was first time an extradition was undertaken without the help of central agencies.

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Some years ago as Kolhapurs leading Marathi daily, Pudhari, was attempting to make inroads into Pune, it ran into some fierce resistance by the Sharad Pawar-family-owned Sakal group of newspapers. Pudharis young owner-editor, Yogesh Jadhav, had then told me rather wryly, When we were in school, the history books told us that Pune had once upon a time belonged to the Peshwas. Now our children will grow up thinking Pune is owned by the Pawars!

But it is not just Pune that the Pawars have treated as their fiefdom. For almost four decades, ever since Pawar became the chief minister of the state for the first time in 1978, he has retained strict control over the reins of governments and bureaucracy with a footprint all across Maharashtra. No one who has not had Pawars blessings has been able to last very long. The best example of this is former chief minister AR Antulay who was deliberately tripped up by Pawar for doing with his cement quotas exactly what Pawar and his cohorts were doing with sugarcane vis-a-vis farmers - Antulay would not release cement to builders unless they donated to his trust; the sugar barons, including Pawar, would not crush the cane of the poor farmers unless they voted for their benefactors in large numbers.

Even during the first Shiv Sena-BJP regime between 1995-99, it was amply clear how then chief minister Manohar Joshi felt obliged to Pawar enough to call him up after seeming to indict Pawar over his alleged (non)involvement in the 1992-93 riots and apologise for the lie. My leader wanted me to implicate you, he told Pawar contritely. Pawar made that conversation public and that drove a permanent wedge between Joshi and Bal Thackeray  the cracks in that relationship could never be mended.

The fact that the then Sena-BJP regime deferred more to Pawar than to Bal Thackeray was made very obvious to me when I was interviewing Pawar at his Breach Candy residence sometime during 2001. A top Sena leader walked in on the interview and Pawar made no bones about mediating for him with the government. When I expressed surprise that Sena leaders should come to him for intervention rather than to Thackeray, a flattered Pawar said, Not just now. They used to come to me even when the Sena was in government.

But I guess that is now no longer the case. For the first time in four decades, Pawars control over government is slipping and his desperation is showing. For a leader who prides himself on his socialism and one who took some bold decisions during his terms as chief minister  like renaming the Marathwada university after Dr BR Ambedkar, despite upper caste opposition to the move  Pawar has been sounding rather petty and casteist for a while now. In the run up to the 2014 assembly elections when it became obvious that either Devendra Fadnavis or Nitin Gadkari would be chief minister, he tried to pit Marathas against Brahmins by asking if they wanted a return to the Peshwai. That was a reference to the resentment Marathas have always had against the Peshwas who were Chitpavan Brahmins and essentially Prime Ministers to Chhatrapati Shivajis descendants but who were actually the de facto rulers of the state with only a token deference to the Maratha kings. That is why Marathas chose Mahatma Gandhi over Lokmanya Tilak during the freedom struggle, uneasy as they were over the latters conflicts with Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur.

Now Shahus descendant, Sambhaji Raje, has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the President of India and Pawar is at it again. The piquancy of the situation lies in the fact that Sambhaji had contested  and lost - the Kolhapur seat on a NCP ticket in 2009 but since then has drifted away from Pawar and become the face of the Maratha movement for reservations.

Reacting to the move, Pawar said, Once upon a time, the Peshwas were appointed by the Chhatrapati. But now a Fadnavis (which is what the ministers in the Peshwai were referred to as) is appointing a Chhatrapati.

It is telling that the Maratha masses were not stirred into injured pride as Pawar had hoped. For even this core constituency has begun to look upon him and the rural elite he represents with suspicion. Maharashtra is now simply tired of the Pawars. Fresh blood -- and faces  are called for.

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NEW DELHI: After winning Assam, the BJP has set its eyes on Odisha, the coastal state under Biju Janata Dal (BJD) rule for the past 16 years.

The party shared power with the regional party for nine long years before they parted on the eve of the 2009 Lok Sabha election.

It is now readying to take on its former partner, whose support is important for the BJP to get its legislative agenda passed in the Upper House.

On Wednesday, BJP workers will stage demonstrations against the Naveen Patnaik administration in every block, followed by a show of strength in Bhubaneswar on July 4. Top BJP leaders will also participate in the Rath Yatra celebrations beginning July 6.

This comes after what the party termed amurderous attack by BJD workers on Union minister Santosh Gangwar when he was going to address a Vikas Parva rally at Badgad on June 24.

Irrespective of their support (on legislative matters), the murderous attack on a Union minister is unacceptable. We are going to be aggressive in Odisha, trying to emerge as Naveens alternative, BJP general secretary Arun Singh told HT. Singh is the partys in charge for the coastal state.

The BJP has a reason for its optimism. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, it polled 22% votes and was closer to the Congress vote share of 26%. In the assembly election, which was held simultaneously, it polled 18% votes compared to 26% of the Congress. In both the elections, the BJD polled 43% plus votes.

Among the states where the BJP is not in power, Odisha appears to be the most promising to us. We have a perfect base and we need to capitalise on this. The BJP has already started making the necessary changes, Singh added.

The party has increased the number of its block units from 400 to over 1,000. Each of these units has been given a target to organise anti-BJD protests at least once a month. Every district unit has to hold demonstrations at least once in three months, while a rally of more than one lakh people will be held every six months.

The idea is to occupy the anti-BJD space. Having shared power with them, people always felt that the BJP can ally with the BJD. We want to break this impression, Singh said.
The medical examination of an alleged rape victim in East Champaran has been mired in controversy ever since National Commission for Women (NCW) member Sushma Sahu claimed that the two-finger test was performed on her to ascertain sexual assault.

Though Dr Prashant Kumar  the civil surgeon at Motihari  denied any such occurrence, Sahu has quoted from the medical report to buttress her allegation.

The NCW member told HT over the phone from New Delhi that a team of doctors performed the much-maligned test on the rape victim in her presence at Motihari on June 25.

The two-finger test has been banned by the Supreme Court. The medical authorities of Motihari have committed a highly condemnable act. I have mentioned it in the report submitted to the NCW chairperson today, she said.

The Supreme Court had held on May 2013 that the two-finger test violates the rape victims right to privacy, and asked the government to come up with better medical procedures to confirm sexual assault.

Read: Fresh medical report rules out rape in Motihari incident

A bench of Justices BS Chauhan and FMI Kalifulla said that even if the two-finger test gives a positive report, it cannot give rise to the presumption of consent on the part of a rape victim. Medical procedures should not be carried out in a manner that constitutes cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the bench added.

Though Sahu denied that she has called the girl to New Delhi for further medical examination, she maintained that she will get better treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Dr Kumar, however, insisted that only essential procedures were employed for conducting the medical examination on the victim. There is nothing like a two-finger, three-finger or one-finger test, he said.

East Champaran district magistrate Anupam Kumar endorsed the civil surgeons stand.

Meanwhile, medical experts continued to debate over the truth behind the incident. While Dr Kumar said the medical examination conducted by his team failed to establish rape, Motihari Sadar Hospital deputy medical superintendent Dr Manoj Kumar  who was part of the first medical board that examined the victim  insisted that she was sexually assaulted.
A man of 60 was killed and four members of his family were injured for objecting to the playing of a vulgar song at Fattubhilla village in Lopoke police jurisdiction of this district on Tuesday evening.

Also read II Punjab transport minister bans vulgar songs in buses

Victim Makhtoor Singhs son, Gurnek Singh; wife, Jasbir Kaur; daughter, Ramandeep Kaur; and brother, Rachhpal Singh, were moved to Amritsars Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. Gurnek Singh told police that at about 7.30pm, his neighbours Nihal Singh, Hardyal Singh, Ajmer Singh, Dara Singh, Balkar Singh, Harjinder Singh, Palwinder Kaur Pinki, and Jodhvir Singh had parked their tractor outside his house and started playing the song from it at loud volume to pick up a fight.

Also read II Obscene songs in public, private buses irk passengers

When my father objected, Ajmer Singh attacked him with a sharp-edged weapon, killing him on the spot. We got injured in trying to save him. My sister, Ramandeep Kaur, who is among the wounded, had come over for summer vacations. The neighbours had come ready and armed to carry out the attack. On our complaint, the panchayat had earlier fined them for playing obscene songs, and they had since held a grudge. the victims son added in the complaint.

Police have inspected the scene of crime and registered a case against the victims neighbours. A hunt for the accused is on, said chief investigation officer Bikramjit Singh.

Must read II Chitta ve? Study shows Punjabi songs driving youth towards drugs
Bluegrass performers the Mountain Cove Bluegrass will bring their talents to Sacred Sounds Fridays, July 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Ringgold Depot at Depot Street and U.S. 41 in Ringgold, Ga. in a special concert for the Share America Foundation, Inc. Also appearing will be pianist Ryan Stinson. Randall Franks, Officer Randy Goode from TVs In the Heat of the Night will emcee.



Mountain Cove Bluegrass is one of the region's most active bluegrass bands appearing in venues throughout the region. They were featured on the Great American Country cable network and have won the Smithville Bluegrass Band competition twice.



"This is one of the most talented group of young men in bluegrass today," Mr. Franks said.



The group from the Chattanooga area includes Cody Harvey on banjo, Eli Beard on guitar, Chris Brown on fiddle, Will Markham on bass, and Tyler Martelli on mandolin.



Several members of the group including Mr. Harvey, Mr. Markham and Mr. Martelli are Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholars. Their latest CD is "Mountain Cove III."



Mr. Stinson, of Ringgold, is a country and gospel pianist who performs regularly at theaters in Pigeon Forge and venues in Nashville and concerts around the region.



He began his training with five years of lessons from the pianist at his home church, First Baptist Church of Fort Oglethorpe.



Mr. Stinson said he plays everything by ear. I specialize in the Nashville Sound slip-note style of playing made popular by the late Floyd Cramer, he said. I learned to play the song Last Date upon my familys request. It is the first song I ever learned by ear, and Ive been doing it that way ever since.



His latest CD is " Gospel Glory." Visit him at Ryan Anthony Stimson Music on Facebook.



The event is a fundraiser for the Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholarship Fund. The Share America Foundation, Inc., a Georgia non-profit, presents scholarships to talented musicians who excel in the Appalachian musical arts.



Donations for tickets are adults: $6, Children 5 and under free with adult. Tickets may be purchased locally in advance during business hours at SonShine Christian Books, 706-861-7675 in Fort Oglethorpe. For more information, Share America Foundation, Inc. P.O. Box 42 Tunnel Hill, Ga. 30755 or www.shareamericafoundation.com.
The CM told the media on the sidelines of his sangat darshan (public contact) programme at Lopoke village in Raja Sansi constituency that in Punjab the opposition parties, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) mainly, are just busy defaming the countrys sword arm and food bowl. The state government has already put many drug peddlers in jail and opened a network of de-addiction and rehabilitation centres, he said.

A couple of days ago, the health minister had said AllIndia Institute of Medical Sciences had found only 1.8% of the population on drugs in 10 Punjab districts and if the survey was expanded to all 22 districts, then the percentage would decline to 1.

Playing down the terrorist infiltration reports from Pathankot, the CM said he had requested Union home minister Rajnath Singh to secure the Pakistan border in Punjab the way it was protected in Jammu and Kashmir. The recent terror attacks in Pathankot and Dinanagar have proved that Punjab is on the radar of anti-national forces, said Badal, adding that the state government was deploying its second line of defence but the Centre should pump in more money to modernise the police force.

AAP HAS NO FUTURE IN PUNJAB

Badal said the Aam Aadmi Party (his main challenge in the state elections coming up in 2017) had no future in Punjab, and it was a water bubble waiting to burst. The AAP government in Delhi led by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal made tall promises but failed to fulfil any, he added. Asked about Kejriwals coming to Amritsar on July 3 to launch his partys manifesto for the youth, Badal said: Everyone has the right to (release manifesto).

Asked to comment on the sacrilege incident in Malerkotla, the CM said the forces envious of the state were trying to disturb its hard-earned peace but the way police have caught the perpetrators would have sent them a strong message. He accused the Congress of denying Punjab its share of river water and sole rights to its capital city, besides provoking the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.

Earlier, he addressed public gatherings at Manawala, Saidian, Lopoke and some other villages. District planning committee chairman Veer Singh Lopoke, deputy inspector general of police Kunwar Vijay Pratap, deputy commissioner Varun Roojam, and senior superintendent of police Jasdeep Singh accompanied him.

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Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has said that sangat darshan (public meetings) was not everybodys cup of tea and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh were a complete misfit to adopt this people-friendly exercise.

Addressing public during a sangat darshan at Mohale and Vehra villages in Raja Sansi assembly segment here on Wednesday, Badal said there was no other chief minister in the country who braves weather vagaries to meet people at their doorstep.

He said Kejriwal had tried replicating sangat darshan through janta darbar in Delhi, but he couldnt continue, adding Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh never bothered to meet people during his tenure as the chief minister of the state.

In a false hope of becoming the chief minister, Captain is holding darbars where he indulges in self glorification and bashing of political rivals without even thinking of public welfare. This is a futile exercise as Capt has neither will nor interest in public welfare, Badal said.

He said it was a habit of Capt Amarinder to go into hibernation after winning elections, which he again did after getting elected as the Lok Sabha member from Amritsar.

Demands special package from Centre

The CM also urged the Centre to announce a special package for the border villages, which, he said, were under developed and residents have been braving adverse conditions. Badal said he was hopeful that the NDA government at the Centre would soon consider his demand.

Interacting with mediapersons at Bhindi Aulakh Khurd village, Badal slammed the Aam Aadmi Party for its stand that it will review power subsidy being given to farmers, if voted to power. He said the `5,000-crore annual power subsidy being given to the farmers by the state government was a humble gesture to acknowledge the immense contribution of food-growers in making the country self-reliant in food production. The CM said with the statement, the AAP stood exposed being anti-farmer.

The chief minister was accompanied by district planning committee chairman Jathedar Veer Singh Lopoke, special principal secretary to CM S Karunaraju, deputy inspector general of police Kunwar Vijay Pratap, deputy commissioner Varun Roojam and senior superintendent of police Jasdeep Singh and others.
Apprehending terror attacks through use of remote-controlled flying paramotors, drones and gliders, Indian Air Force authorities here have started an awareness drive close to the Pathankot airbase by distributing symbolic photos.

This comes days after the IAF pasted posters on the boundary wall of the airbase bearing a shoot-on-sight warning for anyone trying to enter without authorisation.

Also read I Shoot-on-sight posters pasted on Pathankot airbase walls

A symbolic photo of a paramotor or remote-controlled glider being shown and distributed to residents of localities around the airbase in Pathankot. (HT Photo)

An airman, who identified himself as Girish, was among those showing and distributing the photos, and told a TV channel that the drive was indeed underway. We have given the locals some telephone numbers to contact us if in case such objects are seen flying in the area, he said. As militants are adopting novel ways, we also want to remain alert.

Sunil Kumar, a resident of a locality next to the airbase, said prominent people were contacted by air force officials and we have been told to remain vigilant.

The IAF is already on high alert after militants stormed the airbase on January 2 and killed seven security men before they were gunned down.

While IAF officials did not talk to the media, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rakesh Kaushal said air force was evidently educating the locals on terror threats. We are looking into our areas while all the security agencies are on their job too, with their style of functioning, he said.
Congress leader and chief of partys manifesto committee on finance Manpreet Singh Badal on Tuesday said he was fine with in the appointment of Asha Kumari as partys state affairs in-charge.

Manpreet, who was in Ludhiana to interact with representatives of industry, said the party will contest the upcoming assembly elections under the leadership of Captain Amarinder Singh. I am unaware of the facts of the case against Asha Kumari but I have no objection to her appointment. It is the clean image of Amarinder Singh that would give a thrust to the party in assembly polls, said Manpreet Singh Badal. He said he was open to contesting from any constituency where high command would field him. I am a soldier of the party and would listen to the orders, said Manpreet, adding that the Congress manifesto would be released by September or October.

WOOING INDUSTRY

During the first phase of interaction with the garment industry that has at least 12,000 units in Ludhiana, Manpreet Singh Badal along with former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Surinder Dawar sat with the industrialists at a city hotel.

Similar meetings are expected with bicycle and automobileparts makers. Industrialists pump in both money and manpower into the assembly and parliamentary election campaigns.

Darshan Dawar, president, Knitwear Club rued the lack of an exhibition ground in Ludhiana, even as the city has thousands of industrial units. Manpreet said his team would also discuss financial issues with former prime minister Manmohan Singh and economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

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Embittered by stalling of his poll campaign in Canada by those he dubs as sympathisers of Khalistan and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday claimed he has proof that Khalistanis were funding the party of Arvind Kejriwal in Punjab.

Read more: In election-bound Punjab, Khalistan buzzword again

Amarinder, who has directly accused some Canadian ministers of Khalistan leanings for stalling his programme, said an inquiry into funding of AAP will establish the link and explain frequent tours of some Punjab AAP leaders to North America.

Refusing to name the ministers, he said it is well known that some ministers of the Justin Trudeau government have World Sikh Organisation (WSO) background. The WSO was the umbrella for Khalistanis abroad. The Government of India needs to find out through its intelligence agencies, who is funding AAP. The way AAP leaders sprung to defence of these Canadian ministers betrays their links. First, the Khalistanis abroad funded Simranjit Singh Mann and now they are supporting AAP which is why the party (AAP) is so aggressive in taking up cudgels for them, Amarinder told HT on Wednesday.

The AAP should also come clean on its funding, he added.

Notably, after four Sikh ministers were sworn in by Trudeau, the North American media, including Washington Post, had reported Canadian defence minister Harjit Singh Sajjan has a WSO background. Canadian papers had also linked Navdeep Bains, Canadian minister for science and economic development, to the WSO.

In his letter to Trudeau, Amarinder has accused his government of bias. The overseas cell of BJP held a two-day convention on June 19 in Toronto to celebrate two years of Narendra Modi government, after I was denied permission for my programmes. Before that, AAP leaders have been holding their programmes. It seems these ministers used their influence on Canadian foreign ministry on the behest of hardline group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) just in my case, he added.

Capt making mockery of himself: SFJ

Though none of the Canadian ministers reacted to Amarinders assertion in the media, the SFJ accused Captain of making mischievous allegations. Captain was ordered not to hold political gatherings in Canada as the law does not allow that. Why is to so difficult for him to understand a simple law, probably because Congress chief never followed one. He had signed the Amritsar declaration and is signatory to Sikhs right to self-determination demand along with Akali leaders, SFJ legal adviser Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said in an email statement.

Amarinder denied being a signatory to the declaration saying it was made on the call of Akal Takht as Simranjit Singh Mann had refused to accept everything, including the Indian constitution. I was a part of an Akali faction and it was one step backward but my stand on Khalistan has been always clear and 17 of our candidates were killed by terrorists in the 1992 state elections, he said.

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The Congress attempt to appoint high-stature leaders such as Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kamal Nath in election-bound states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab might have backfired after Nath had to make a hasty exit over his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots but a few in the party believe convicted Asha Kumari makes a worse-off replacement for a post earlier held by Shakeel Ahmad and Gulchain Singh Charak.

Like any rival party would, the ruling Akali-BJP alliance and new challenger Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have dubbed the controversial appointments as evidence of lack of credible faces in the Congress but never has the narrative for any election been decided by whom the party appoints as the state in-charge. The role of the state in-charge is to ensure all state leaders work together for the partys victory. Asha Kumari is the right choice, as she will foster unity and ensure coordination between the high command and the state unit. If the SAD (Shiromani Akali Dal) can have convicted ministers such as Tota Singh and the AAP ministers are in news for all the wrong reasons, how can they point fingers at the Congress, says partys senior state vice-president Lal Singh.

According to party sources, once the idea of a woman incharge was mooted, Kumari just fit the bill. Both state party president Captain Amarinder Singh and party strategist Prashant Kishor wanted someone who could implement the campaign strategy and complement their efforts. She has practical experience of electoral politics, being a four-time MLA, and does not equal Amarinder in stature. While a heavyweight leader such as Kamal Nath could ensure unity through his stature, she will be able to do it through her amenability. She is also younger to leaders such as Sheila Dikshit. Though a leader with similar profile and no court conviction would be ideal, there were not many options, the sources said.

Senior Congress leader Amarjit Singh Tikka hails Kumari as a dynamic leader who can spend enough time in Punjab, as she is from neighbouring Himachal Pradesh. She also has a good a idea of Punjab politics, since she has been coin-charge in Haryana, he adds.

PUBLICITY HUNGRY AAP LOSING GROUND

Bitten twice, the party does not intend to be twice shy by asking Kumari to step down. Its internal assessment is that it stands to gain from the negative publicity against it and the overkill of the AAP in the recent months of self-publicity.

The fact that the AAP is using public money to fund its aggressive publicity campaign has started irritating people, in both Delhi and Punjab. AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was all over  on radio, posters, billboards and newspapers in Delhi. The AAP has realised it is proving counterproductive. The ad blitzkrieg cannot cover up for the recent controversies courted by the party. In Punjab, their campaign is showing signs of fatigue as elections approach, sources close to Kishor said.

The SAD, too, is out with publicity vans to highlight its achievements and counter the AAP. But the Congress is banking on neither advertisement nor aggressive socialmedia presence but outreach programmes such as Halke Vich Captain, which would see Amarinder tour all 117 assembly constituencies to create the right buzz. The challenge is whether Amarinder is ready for the long haul and can sustain the momentum for seven months; and whether people coming to him with their grievances go back satisfied, said one of partys campaign managers.

However, some senior party leaders feel that like Ambika Soni, proximity to party president Sonia Gandhi is the only qualification that landed Asha Kumari the job. Appointments such as this demoralise the party workers and dilute the partys stance on corruption. How will we speak of corruption-free Punjab with convicted leaders leading our campaign, a senior MLA said, requesting anonymity.

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Member of Parliament Dharamvira Gandhi on Wednesday condemned the statement of health minister Surjit Kumar Jyani who had said that the drug taint on Punjab was a deliberate attempt to tarnish the states image.

On the International Day Against Drug Abuse at Amritsar recently, Jyani had said, There is a smear campaign going on against Punjab to tarnish its image. Gandhi challenged Jyani to prove his claim that only 1.8% of the Punjab population was on drugs.

He said the survey Jyani referred to was conducted by Union ministry of social justice and empowerment in 2015 on opioid users registered in de-addiction centres in 10 districts of Punjab. Gandhi said Dr Ambekar of AIIMS, who supervised the survey, had observed that the aim was to understand the trend within the addiction circles; and we found that 73.5% of all drug addicts fall in the 16-40 age group. Thats all. It was not about how many addicts are there out of the total population.

Gandhi, who stands suspended from the Aam Aadmi Party, said Punjab government has criminally failed to conduct a survey on drug users, which, he said, is necessary to identify causes and then formulate policies to check the evil.

The allegation of conspiracy is a cover-up to governments failure, he said.

He said it was a failure of the health authorities that 1,900 of 2,200 beds at various de-addiction centres in Punjab were unoccupied.

He ridiculed Jyani for his viewpoint that the low bedoccupancy was a sign of few drug users in Punjab.

Gandhi sought an inquiry into the functioning of the government and private de-addiction centres.

He expressed grief at the recent death of two youths in Mansa due to drug overdose.
Suspecting her of having illicit relations, two teenaged sons of a 40-year-old woman killed her with a sickle at Chakkar village near Jagraon on Wednesday.

Police said Jagsir Singh, 19, and his 17-year-old brother killed Karamjit Kaur when she was sleeping at 4am and escaped. Their father, Bhinder Singh, is a labourer in Dubai and visits home once a year. He has been working there for eight years.

Deputy superintendent of police Rachpal Singh Dhindsa said the victim was found bleeding with head injuries.

Karamjits cousin Karnail Kaur told the police that the boys fought with their mother on Tuesday evening. They suspected Karamjit of having an affair with a villager. The boys would question their mother whenever she would go out, she said.

A search is on for them. A case was registered under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
A man has been arrested for allegedly posing as an actor and casting director and extracting money from aspiring models by blackmailing them, police said on Tuesday.

Harpreet Bawa, a resident of Barnala district of Punjab, was arrested on Monday for allegedly posing as actor and casting director Darshan Aulakh, UT Chandigarh police said.

Aulakh alleged that Bawa was misusing his name along with the name of his production house, Darshan Aulakh Productions to cheat people.

Read: Punjabi cinema will remain my first love, says Diljit Dosanjh

He also alleged that Bawa was misguiding the new models from Chandigarh, Punjab and Mumbai by posing himself as Aulakh.

Aulakh, who is also a line producer, claimed that the accused used to collect pictures and videos of new models especially girls through WhatsApp and extracted money from them by blackmailing them.

The complainant also provided the screenshots of chat messages of the alleged impostor with new models, in which he was allegedly asking their nude and seminude pictures for offering them to work in movies, said a release.

Read: Udta Punjab | A standout performance by Alia

Bawa has been booked under relevant sections including 66C, 66D of IT Act and 354D, 384 of IPC, police said.

Aulakh, who is also playing a role in Salman Khan starrer Sultan, has worked in various Bollywood movies like Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Phantom, Veer Zaara and Hollywood movie Zero Dark Thirty. He has also played several roles in Punjabi movies.

Notably, Darshan Aulakh Productions is engaged in providing actors, shooting locations in northern part of the country.

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The wait for Rajinikanth-starrer Kabali just got longer. According industry sources, the Tamil action drama which was earlier slated to hit the screens on July 15, has been postponed by a week to July 22.

The exact reason is still unknown but the makers are most likely to push the release by a week. The film will now release on July 22. As soon as the censor is done, the makers will officially announce the release date, said a source from the films unit.

Read: Irrfan accuses Kabali makers of stealing poster of his film Madaari

Read: In Kabalis song teaser, Rajinikanth tells the world hes back

Directed by Pa Ranjith, the film features Rajinikanth as a don who fights for Tamils in Malaysia. Also starring Radhika Apte, Kishore, Kalaiarasan, Dinesh, Ritwika, Dhansikaa and Winston Chao, the film is expected to release in over 2000 screens worldwide.

Watch the trailer of Kabali here:

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop
The Tennessee Department of Transportation will suspend all construction-related lane closures on interstates and state routes beginning at midnight on Thursday through 6 a.m. on Tuesday to provide maximum roadway capacity for holiday travelers.Tennessees interstates and state routes will be especially busy during the July fourth holiday, TDOT Commissioner John Schroer said. We will be suspending lane closures for this holiday travel period to help travelers reach their destinations safely and without unnecessary delays.Motorists will still encounter some long term lane closures on construction projects.While lane closure activity will be stopped, workers may be on site in construction zones and reduced speed limits in work zones will still be in effect. Drivers convicted of speeding through work zones where workers are present face a fine of $250 to $500, plus court fees and possible increased insurance premiums.AAA projects nearly 43 million Americans will travel this Independence Day weekend, the highest July fourth travel volume on record, and a half million more travelers than last year. Over 36 million of them will drive. AAA estimates more than 831,000 Tennesseans will travel during the holiday, with over 744,000 driving.From your desktop or mobile device, get the latest construction activity and live streaming SmartWay traffic cameras at www.TNSmartWay.com/Traffic . Travelers can also dial 511 from any land-line or cellular phone for travel information, or follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TN511 for statewide travel.TDOT officials remind all drivers to use all motorist information tools wisely and Know Before You Go! by checking travel conditions before leaving for your destination. Drivers should never tweet, text or talk on a cell phone while behind the wheel.
President Xi Jinpings philosophy behind international diplomacy has been distilled into an A to Z by Chinese state media, detailing his pet projects and his aims for major-country relationships with nations such as the US.

Each of the powerful presidents aims and objectives has been crystallised to coincide with a letter of the alphabet, adding another layer to the cult of personality that is carefully being cultivated around Xi.

They are being described as the 26 key words or phrases that relate to this new style of diplomacy.

The official Xinhua news agency reported: A major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics has taken shape since Xi Jinping became the top leader in late 2012.

This class for diplomacy  X for Xi-style  begins predictably with A for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and B for Xis pet Belt and Road Initiative.

The Belt and Road initiative, which comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was first promulgated by Xi in 2013, who envisioned a trade and infrastructure network that connects Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes, the state media explained.

Over 70 countries and organisations have voiced support for and willingness to join the initiative, it said.

With C for climate change, it said China will cut its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60 to 65% by 2030 from the 2005 levelsand peak carbon emissions by 2030.

There is no I for India or N for the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the body controlling access to sensitive atomic technology that was at the centre of bilateral tensions over New Delhis application to join the elite club.

The closest this iteration of Xis diplomacy gets to India is N for neighbourhood diplomacy.

In October 2013, Xi proposed a new philosophy of neighborhood diplomacy featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness. He stressed that the Chinese Dream should chime with similar visions of neighbouring countries; planting the seeds of a community of common destiny into the region, the report said.

Not all the letters of the alphabet could be happily married to the Xi-style diplomacy and the most diplomatically awkward was saved for last.

Z, it seems, stands for Zero-sum Game, No!

It apparently means World War II has taught the world that winner-takes-it-all or zero-sum mindsets contradict coexistence, peace and development.

This wasnt the first time Chinese authorities have tried to make Xis diplomacy easily accessible to the masses.

In February, Xinhua released an animated video of a bald man dancing and rapping Xis signature ideological slogan of Four Comprehensives. Woven into the song were the lines Moderate prosperity is the goal, Reform is the driving force, The rule of law is guaranteed and Building the Party is the key.

No wonder I stands for Innovation among the 26 new keywords for Xis diplomacy.

Read: India, China should appropriately address differences: Xi Jinping
Britains future relations with the European Union it voted to leave last week could hinge on the EUs willingness to rethink free movement of workers, the outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron told leaders of the 28-nation bloc on Tuesday.

Cameron, who resigned after losing the referendum last week on remaining in the EU, partly due to concerns about an influx of EU workers, told his last EU summit he hoped the United Kingdom would maintain as tight an economic and political relationship as possible with the EU.

Britain will be leaving the European Union but we will not be turning our back on Europe, he told a news conference after a dinner at which he said many European partners expressed regret and voiced friendship for Britain.

EU officials and diplomats said the mood was coolly polite but there was a consensus around the table that Cameron had dug his own grave by taking part in decades of Brussels-bashing. As Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker put it: You should not be surprised if your citizens believe you.

The Conservative leader said he had reported with sadness on the outcome of the referendum, saying: People recognised the economic case for staying, but there was a very great concern about movement of people and that was coupled with concern about issues of sovereignty. I think we need to think about that, Europe needs to think about that.

In a veiled rebuke to Leave campaign leaders such as Boris Johnson, who is vying to succeed him, Cameron said Britons would have to understand they could not keep all the benefits of EU membership without the costs.

If you want the full benefits of the single market, youll have to be part of every part of it, he said.

Read | David Cameron rules out second EU referendum for Britain

Driving home that message, French President Francois Hollande said continued access to the EUs prized single market was dependent on accepting the so-called four freedoms of movement of goods, capital, workers and services.

United Kingdom's Prime Minister David Cameron and his delegation leave the EU Summit in Brussels. (Reuters)

If they dont want free movement, they wont have access to the single market, he said, adding that the City of London would no longer be able to act as a clearing house in euros.

Cameron said he had not faced overwhelming pressure to trigger immediately the exit clause in the EU treaty, despite some public statements to the contrary.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the British referendum decision was irreversible and warned against wishful thinking.

Read | Post-Brexit Britain divided against itself

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi told the leaders that the impact of Brexit could shave a cumulative 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points of growth off the euro zone economy over three years.

Cameron had earlier faced public displays of irritation from some EU leaders and lawmakers who pressed him to give early notice of Britains intention to leave. He said that would be up to his successor.

French President Francois Hollande (L) talks with Britain's Prime minister David Cameron during an EU summit meeting. (AFP)

The European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution on Tuesday demanding that London activate the EU treatys voluntary exit clause as fast as possible. That would launch negotiations on withdrawal terms with a two-year countdown to departure.

Waiting for several months, as has been announced by you, Prime Minister Cameron, and taking the destiny of our entire continent hostage purely for internal party political reasons would be totally unacceptable, European Parliament President Martin Schulz told the British leader in the summit.

That would not mean stability - on the contrary it would mean prolonged uncertainty, the German Social Democrat said, summing up the fears of many EU partners.

Leaders pose for a photo during the European Summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday. (AFP)

Merkel said London should be allowed time to recover its balance after the political shockwave before formally notifying its partners of its plans. But she added that a decision could not be delayed too long.

For the first time, the other 27 leaders will hold their own meeting on Wednesday to have a discussion about how to deal with Britain on its way out of the bloc it joined in 1973, and how to take the Union forward without it.

Conservative Party officials said on Tuesday that Camerons successor would be appointed at the earliest on Sept. 9.

EU diplomats say Britain has no interest in putting itself under time pressure by handing in its notice, and the EU cannot compel London to do so. But one EU official sought to raise the pressure by telling reporters the European Banking Authority, based in London, could be moved soon to Frankfurt or Paris.

Read | EU parliament urges immediate triggering of Brexit process

Underlining the political upheaval that the Brexit vote set in motion, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is to visit Brussels on Wednesday for talks with the president of the European Parliament and European Commission officials.

Sturgeon has said Scotland, where nearly two in three voters backed staying in the EU, does not want to leave the bloc and may hold a new referendum on independence.

European Council President Donald Tusk, who chairs EU summits, turned down a request from Sturgeon for a meeting.

No cherry-picking

Merkel, Europes most powerful leader, said earlier in a speech in parliament that she would continue to regard the UK as a friend and a partner but stressed that there could be no formal or informal talks until Britain made the formal request to leave.

Cameron speaks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at an EU summit in Brussels on Tuesday. (AP)

Well ensure that negotiations dont take place according to the principle of cherry-picking, she said.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country holds the EUs rotating presidency, said Britain was in chaos after the stunning vote and should be given time to recover its footing.

England has collapsed politically, monetarily, constitutionally and economically. It is not reasonable to demand from them to trigger Article 50, Rutte told reporters.

Read | Cameron condemns post-Brexit racism, cops on alert after 90 incidents

Illustrating his point, opposition Labour Party lawmakers passed a vote of no-confidence in their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, accused of failing to campaign effectively for the Remain camp. Corbyn defiantly said he would not stand down and would contest a grassroots party leadership election if challenged.

UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, who campaigned for an out vote, was jeered by many EU lawmakers when he told the European Parliament that the EU was doomed and other countries would follow Britains lead.

If you were to cut off your noses to spite your faces and to reject any idea of a sensible trade deal, the consequences would be far worse for you than it would be for us, he warned.
Data from one of the black boxes of a crashed EgyptAir plane showed smoke alarms had sounded on board, while soot was found on the wreckage, an Egyptian-led investigative committee said Wednesday.

The black box had been retrieved from the bottom of the Mediterranean after the Airbus A320 with 66 people on board plunged into the sea on May 19 while heading to Cairo from Paris.

It had recorded the flights data from its departure until it stopped at an altitude of 37,000 feet (11,250 metres), the committee said in a statement.

Read: Manslaughter inquiry opened into EgyptAir crash

Recorded data is showing a consistency with ACARS messages of lavatory smoke and avionics smoke, it said, two days after the damaged recorder was repaired in France.

Investigators had previously announced that the planes automated Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) sent signals indicating smoke alarms on board the plane before it went down.

Parts of the front section of the aircraft showed signs of high temperature damage and soot, the committee statement added.

Read: Smoke, cockpit woes signal chaotic Mediterranean end for EgyptAir plane

The repair work of the cockpit voice recorder, the second black box, had also begun.

The plane was carrying 40 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, two Canadians and one passenger each from Algeria, Belgium, Britain, Chad, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

Read: EgyptAir to pay $25,000 compensation to families of 66 crash victims
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday told the leader of the main opposition Labour party Jeremy Corbyn, who is facing a revolt from MPs, to step down in the national interest.

It might be in my partys interests for him to sit there, its not in the national interests and I would say, for heavens sake man, go, Cameron said to Corbyn at Prime Ministers Questions in Britains parliament.

Labour MPs voted against Corbyn in a no-confidence motion Tuesday by 172 to 40 after dozens of members of his frontbench team stepped down in recent days. But Corbyn has refused to go.

Centrists have criticised the veteran socialists leadership for months but the row came to a head when he was accused of not campaigning enough in Britains EU referendum, which delivered a shock Leave result last week.

Corbyn was elected Labour leader last year on a wave of support from grassroots Labour members but has struggled to build broad support among MPs.

Cameron has said he will step down in the wake of the referendum and will leave office when his successor is chosen in early September.
The Islamic State group pushed back an offensive by US-trained Syrian rebels on a key route linking jihadist territory in eastern Syria to Iraq, a monitor said Wednesday.

The New Syrian Army, backed by US-led coalition strikes, had advanced overnight on IS territory near the Albu Kamal border crossing and adjacent town.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the NSA had seized the small Al-Hamdan airbase nearby, but IS had recaptured it by Wednesday afternoon.

The attack failed. They lost control of the airport, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

He said NSA units were still inside the oil-rich Deir Ezzor province where Albu Kamal lies, but had been forced to retreat.

NSA spokesperson Muzahem al-Sallum confirmed that his group was no longer in control of the airport, but said it was preparing the next phase of their offensive.

We retreated towards the desert around Albu Kamal, he told AFP.

NSA fighters had announced the operation on Tuesday and said it was aimed at severing ISs access route between eastern Syria and Iraqs western Anbar province.

The rebels said the operation was coordinated with Iraqi forces who were advancing on the crossing from the other side of the border.

The US-led coalition announced it had carried out eight air strikes near Albu Kamal and five near Al-Qaim, on the Iraqi side, on Tuesday.

IS seized the Albu Kamal crossing in mid-2014, when it overran swathes of territory on both sides of the border and declared a self-styled caliphate.

NSA fighters were trained in Jordan by US and British troops.

They already captured the Al-Tanaf border crossing between Syria and Iraq earlier this year.

IS is facing growing pressure from US-backed offensives in both Syria and Iraq.

In northern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters has edged into the IS stronghold of Manbij with coalition air support.

In Iraq, authorities declared at the weekend that they were in full control of the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, long an emblematic bastion for IS.
A triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbuls Ataturk airport has killed at least 36 people, including foreigners, with Turkeys prime minister saying early signs pointed to an assault by the Islamic State group.

The attackers began spraying bullets at the international terminal entrance before blowing themselves up at around 10:00 pm (1900 GMT) Tuesday, Turkish authorities said.

It is the deadliest of four attacks to rock Turkeys biggest city this year, with two others blamed on IS and another claimed by a militant Kurdish group.

Though there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesdays carnage, the evidence points to Daesh, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told journalists at the scene, using another name for the jihadists.

He said the dead included foreigners, but gave no further details.

The attack prompted the suspension of all flights at the airport -- one of Europes busiest hubs -- although Yildirim said traffic would resume at 3:00 am Wednesday (0000 GMT).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an international joint fight against terror, as Western allies including the United States condemned the heinous attack.

Yildirim said the suicide bombers had arrived in a taxi and opened fire on passengers with automatic rifles before blowing themselves up.

Forensic police work the explosion site at Ataturk airport on June 28, 2016 in Istanbul after two explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkey's biggest airport. (AFP)

Security camera footage widely circulated on social media appeared to capture two of the blasts. In one clip a huge ball of flame erupts at an entrance to the terminal building, scattering terrified passengers.

Another video shows a black-clad attacker running inside the building before collapsing to the ground -- apparently felled by a police bullet -- and blowing himself up.

Tuesdays attack follows coordinated IS suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a city metro station in March that left 32 people dead.

I cant find my sister

An AFP photographer saw bodies covered with sheets at the terminal, which bore heavy damage from the blasts.

Bullet holes peppered the windows and shattered glass lay on the floor, while abandoned luggage was scattered everywhere.

Hundreds of police and firefighters including forensic officers were at the scene.

Somebody came and shot at us and then my sister was running, Otfah Mohamed Abdullah told AFP.

I dont know which way she was running and after that I was falling down. I was on the ground till he finished... I cant find my sister.

Passengers embrace each other as they wait outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, early Wednesday, June 29, 2016 following their evacuation after a blast. (AP)

Police set up a security cordon around the site as a dozen ambulances rushed to the scene.

There was panic at the nearest hospital in Istanbuls Bakirkoy district, which was inundated with relatives desperate for news of loved ones.

Brussels airport, itself the scene of suicide bombings just months ago tweeted condolences, saying: Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at @istanbulairport.

Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at @istanbulairport. We wish them, their relatives & all airport staff strength & courage.  Brussels Airport (@BrusselsAirport) June 28, 2016

Security expert Abdullah Agar told CNN Turk the attack bore the hallmarks of a jihadist attack.

It really bears a resemblance to their methods, he said in reference to the Brussels bombings, which were claimed by IS.

The US and French consulates warned people to stay away from the area, while Turkish officials said flights would be cancelled until at least 8:00 am on Wednesday.

Erdogan call

Erdogan met with his prime minister and military chief after news of the carnage broke.

We urge the world, especially Western countries, to take a firm stand against terrorism, Erdogan said in a statement.

Despite paying a heavy price, Turkey has the power, determination and capacity to continue the fight against terrorism until the end.

Turkish forensic police officers work at the scene of a blast outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, late Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (AP)

Istanbul, a major tourism hub that is home to some 15 million people, has suffered a series of attacks in recent months, including a bombing in the heart of the tourist district that killed a dozen German visitors and was blamed on IS.

Two months later, three Israelis and an Iranian were killed in a bombing on the citys main Istiklal shopping street, also blamed on IS.

A blast on the tarmac at Istanbuls other international airport, Sabiha Gokcen, killed a cleaner in December.

Turkey has been hit by at least five attacks blamed on IS jihadists, including a blast in Ankara in October 2015 that left over 100 dead, though the group has never formally claimed responsibility for an attack in Turkey.

Ankara has meanwhile launched a sustained offensive against the outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) following the collapse of a ceasefire last year.

Hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces have since been killed in PKK attacks.
Turkish investigators pored over video footage and witness statements on Wednesday after three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers opened fire and blew themselves up in Istanbuls main airport, killing 36 people and wounding almost 150.

Two US counterterrorism officials familiar with the early stages of investigations said IS was at the top of the list of suspects even though there was no evidence yet.

No group had claimed responsibility more than 12 hours after the attack, which began around 9.50 pm on Tuesday.

The Dogan news agency said autopsies on the three bombers, whose torsos were ripped apart, had been completed and that they may have been foreign nationals, without citing its sources.

The attack on Europes third-busiest airport was one of the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in recent months in Turkey, part of the US-led coalition against IS and struggling to contain spillover from neighbouring Syrias war.

President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against terrorism, which he said had no regard for faith or values.

One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover and trying to flee, before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below, witnesses and officials said.

A bullet impact on a window at Ataturk international airport in Istanbul, a day after suicide bombers targeted Istanbul's airport, killing 36 people, including foreigners. (AFP)

Video footage showed one of the attackers inside the terminal building being shot, apparently by a police officer, before falling to the ground as people fled. The attacker then blew himself up around 20 seconds later.

Its a jigsaw puzzle ... The authorities are going through CCTV footage, witness statements, a Turkish official said.

Broken ceiling panels littered the curb outside the arrivals section of the international terminal. Entire plates of glass had shattered, exposing the inside of the building, and electric cables dangled from the ceiling. Cleanup crews swept up debris and armed police patrolled as flights resumed.

This attack, targeting innocent people is a vile, planned terrorist act, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters at the scene in the early hours of Wednesday.

There is initial evidence that each of the three suicide bombers blew themselves up after opening fire, he said. The attackers had come to the airport by taxi and preliminary findings pointed to IS responsibility.

Istanbuls position bridging Europe and Asia has made Ataturk airport, Turkeys largest, a major transit hub for passengers across the world. A Ukrainian and an Iranian were among the dead, officials from the two countries said. Saudi media said seven Saudis were among the wounded.

There were little babies crying, people shouting, broken glass and blood all over the floor. It was very crowded, there was chaos. It was traumatic, said Diana Eltner, 29, a Swiss psychologist who was travelling from Zurich to Vietnam but had been diverted to Istanbul after she missed a connection.

Delayed travellers were sleeping on floors at the airport, a Reuters witness said, as some passengers and airport staff cried and hugged each other. Police in kevlar vests with automatic weapons prowled the curbside as a handful of travellers and Turkish Airlines crew trickled in.

The national carrier said it had cancelled 340 flights although its departures resumed after 8 am.

He was wearing all black

Paul Roos, 77, a South African tourist on his way home, said he saw one of the attackers randomly shooting in the departures hall from about 50 metres away.

He was wearing all black. His face was not masked...We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting, Roos told Reuters.

He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator...We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over.

The attack bore similarities to a suicide bombing by IS militants at Brussels airport in March that killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital.

The two US officials said the Istanbul bombing was more typical of IS than of Kurdish militant groups, which have also carried out recent attacks in Turkey, but usually target official government targets.

One of the officials said there had been a marked increase in encrypted IS propaganda and communications on the dark web, which some American officials interpret as an effort to direct or inspire more attacks outside its home turf in an attempt to offset its recent losses on the ground.

Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the probe, which they said is being led by Turkish officials with what they called intelligence support from the US and other NATO allies.
Police temporarily evacuated a terminal at New York Citys John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday as they investigated a report of a suspicious package, authorities said.

A Homeland Security K-9 unit was checking into an unattended bag at about 8:30 am EDT (1230 GMT) in the departure area of Terminal Five, said Joe Pentangelo, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the airport.

Pentangelo said the bomb squad had responded and roadways to the area were temporarily closed. The package was cleared and the terminal resumed normal operations, the spokesman said.

The evacuation came a day after suicide bombers blew themselves up at the main airport in Istanbul, Turkey, killing at least 41 people and injuring hundreds.

Read: Islamic State main suspect after attack on Istanbul airport kills 36

After the attack, the Port Authority deployed armed, high-visibility patrols at the three main airports in the New York metropolitan region.
If shooting off fireworks is part of the plan for your Independence Day celebration, you should take note of changes made to Georgias fireworks law. On July 3 and 4, all fireworks use must stop at midnight.

After most types of fireworks were legalized in Georgia in 2015, lawmakers heard a lot of complaints about fireworks disturbing the peace. As a result, the Georgia legislature passed HB 727 to amend the law to set limits on when fireworks may be used. With the exception of the New Years holiday and Independence Day, fireworks cannot be used after 9 p.m.

On July 3, July 4, and Dec. 31, fireworks can be used until 11:59 pm. On Jan. 1, fireworks can be used from midnight until 1 a.m. (essentially meaning the night of New Years Eve you can use fireworks until an hour after the clock strikes midnight). The city of Daltons noise ordinance also has the same exceptions for the Independence Day and New Years holidays. Dalton officers will enforce both laws after midnight.

There are also other restrictions set for where fireworks may be used. It is illegal to use fireworks:

Within 100 yards of a hospital, nursing home, or healthcare facility

Within 100 yards of an electric plant or water treatment plant

Within 100 yards of a facility that sells flammable liquids or gases

Within 100 yards of an electrical substation

Inside any park, historic site, or recreational area owned by a governing authority without a special permit

It is also unlawful to use fireworks while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
A top US Congressman has opposed the decision of the House of Representatives to increase American aid to Pakistan from USD 700 million to $900 million alleging that Pakistan continues to support terror groups that target US troops in Afghanistan.

Pakistan cannot be trusted. It has played us now for a total of $33 billion of our money since 2001, Republican Congressman Ted Poe, chairperson of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade of the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote on Tuesday in an op-ed in US News.

Poes move to retain the US aid to Pakistan to $700 million for the fiscal 2017 as for 2016 was voted down by the House of Representatives.

Poe said he is disappointed by Houses decision.

For 15 years we have been asking Pakistan to go after terrorists within its own borders and for 15 years not only has Pakistan not done so in any significant way, but it has actually supported those very terrorists who kill our service men and women in Afghanistan. It is time to call it like it is, he said.

We do not need to give Pakistan a raise to betray us. They will do it for free. And thats just the way it is, Poe said.

A US soldier directs his colleague at the site of a bomb attack that targeted several armoured vehicles belonging to forces attached to the Nato Resolute Support Mission in downtown of Kabul, Afghanistan (AP file photo)

The House of Representatives recently gave Pakistan a $200 million raise. In all, it was a $900 million payday for a country that to this day is supporting terrorist groups that kill US service men and women in Afghanistan, he said.

It is well known by now that Pakistan gave safe harbour to Osama bin Laden. Before he met his maker in one of the greatest US military raids ever conducted, bin Laden was living in a big house in a bustling military town in Pakistan, he added.

Less known is that after that raid our CIA station chief in Pakistan was poisoned: Both he and the CIA suspect he was poisoned by Pakistans version of the CIA called the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency or ISI, Poe wrote.

The ISI is infamous for its support for terrorists. In February 2012, a Nato report confirmed that it was supporting the Taliban and other terrorist groups with resources, sanctuary and training, Poe said.

A year before the Nato report, in 2011, Adm Mike Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before Congress that the Haqqani Network acts as a veritable arm of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence Agency. No terrorist organization is responsible for more American deaths than the Haqqani Network, he alleged.
A Pakistani delegation has left for China to verify media reports that Chinese authorities have banned fasting during the holy month of Ramzan in Muslim-majority Xinjiang province.

China formally requested the Pakistan government to send a delegation to Xinjiang to ascertain the facts regarding the observance of Ramzan in the province, an official of the religious affairs ministry was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.

The request was made after an international news agency reported Chinese authorities had outlawed fasting in the region.

The delegation from the religious affairs ministry includes the director general for research and the chief cleric of Islamabad's Faisal Mosque. It will stay in Xinjiang for four days and ascertain facts regarding the reported ban. Earlier, it was reported that Chinese authorities marked the start of Ramzan with a customary ban on fasting for civil servants, students and children in Xinjiang.

However, the Chinese government rejected these reports as baseless. Chinese officials said they did not force Muslims in Xinjiang to break their fast during Ramzan because the constitution guarantees religious freedom.

China formally requested the Pakistan government to send a team so that this controversy could be ended, the newspaper reported. China has approximately 20 million Muslims, and the far-western region of Xinjiang is home to 10 million Uighur Muslims.

The official said the delegation will meet people of Xinjiang and clerics of mosques. Its a kind of visit in which formal statements of the Muslim population would be recorded as it is a state visit on the request of the Chinese government, the official said. The delegation will submit its report to the secretary of the religious affairs ministry.

The reported attempt to ban fasting among Uighur Muslims every year has attracted widespread criticism from rights groups.

It was earlier reported that China had has also ordered restaurants in Xinjiang to stay open during Ramzan. Food service workplaces will operate normal hours during Ramzan, read a notice posted in June on the website of the state Food and Drug Administration in Xinjiangs Jinghe county.

Officials in the regions Bole county were told not to engage in fasting, vigils or other religious activities, according to a government websites report of a meeting. Uighur rights groups say Chinas restrictions on Islam in Xinjiang have added to ethnic tensions in the region, where clashes have killed hundreds in recent years.
Authorities on Tuesday released 911 calls that capture the panic in the home of a Houston-area mother before she killed her two daughters, as well as in the home of a neighbour after the shootings.

The Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office released recordings of two 911 calls from Christy Sheats home and one from a neighbours home. Sheats fatally shot her two daughters before an officer killed her.

The incident happened about 5pm on 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 Sheats and her daughters as 22-year-old Taylor Sheats and 17-year-old Madison Sheats.

In the first call, a woman is heard crying, Please! Forgive me! Please! Dont shoot! After a scream, she cries, Please! Im sorry! and Please! Dont point that gun at her! Another woman is heard saying, I promise you, whatever you want, before the call is disconnected.

In the second call, a woman is heard saying, weakly, She shot em.

In the third call, a neighbour describes Madison and Taylor, apparently still alive, lying in the street in front of their house. The neighbour describes Sheats kneeling over her eldest daughter and shooting her dead. Madison later died at a hospital.

An officer killed Sheats after she refused demands to drop her gun.

A Facebook profile consistent with Sheats biographical details included a pro-gun post, alongside posts about how much she loved members of her family.

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.
Presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump has vowed to pull the US out of multilateral trade pacts that ship American jobs abroad and slap China with a string of tough trade measures to bring it to heel.

In a major policy speech on Tuesday, Trump promised to roll out a set of protectionist measures that rattled the countrys trade establishment, the US chamber of commerce.

Though he didnt mention India, which has an annual bilateral trade with the US of more than $100 billion, New Delhi would have followed his speech with a mix of misgivings and cheer.

Nothing in the speech came as a surprise. Trump has been railing against multilateral pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

And he has been scathing in his criticism of China, accusing it once of raping the US economy through manipulative trade practices such as currency devaluation to attract importers.

On Tuesday, Trump doubled down on all of that, arguing globalisation has left millions of our workers with nothing but poverty, ruined cities and wiped out our middle class.

Referring to the vote in Britain to exit the European Union, which he supported, the real estate tycoon said, Now it's time for the American people to take back their future.

He spelt out a seven step policy, topped by exiting the TPP, President Barack Obamas ambitious trade project that is in the process of being ratified by its 14 member nations.

Trump would also renegotiate NAFTA, the US-Canada-Mexico trade deal, to get a better deal  And I don't mean just a little bit better, I mean a lot better. Else he will pull out.

And then China - his administration will declare the country a currency manipulator, retaliate with punitive tariffs and taxes, and bring trade cases against it in the US and WTO.

Trumps openly anti-globalisation rhetoric so worried the American trade establishment that the powerful US chamber of commerce pushed back in real time on Twitter.

His proposals, the chamber argued, would cost 3.5 million US jobs. It added, Under Trump's trade plans, we would see higher prices, fewer jobs, and a weaker economy.

From Indias perspective, Trumps emphasis on correcting trade imbalances could be worrying. India, which is among the top 10 US trade partners now, enjoys a two-to-one surplus in goods trade.

With this imbalance, said Rick Rossow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, India runs a risk of becoming targeted, at least during campaign season, much like China is today and Japan has been in (the) past.

But, he added, India will be cheered by Trumps opposition to the TPP, because, as studies show, India may suffer from increased trade diversion as other competing economies were more closely stitched together.

Milan Vaishnav of Carnegie said New Delhi will be concerned about Trumps preference for bilateral pacts, which goes against Indias longstanding position to push for a global trade accord through the WTO.
Moscow has agreed to a Russia-NATO council after the alliances summit in Warsaw next month, French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Wednesday, as both sides seek to defuse military tensions exacerbated by the Ukraine crisis.

NATO held its first formal meeting with Russias envoy to the alliance in almost two years in April, but the talks did little to ease tensions triggered by the Ukraine crisis.

France and others have called for another meeting to try to help rebuild trust between the two sides as NATO prepares for a summit next month.

Russia gave its approval but would like the meeting to take place after the Warsaw summit to be able to examine the decisions that are taken there, Ayrault told journalists after meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Paris.

NATO allies are to decide at the summit on July 8-9 how best to deal with Russia after Moscows lightning seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The United States, Britain and Germany have said they will deploy more troops to Poland and the Baltics to send Moscow a message.

Ayrault said France wanted the summit to show solidarity among allies but also transparency towards Russia through dialogue.

We dont want the Warsaw summit to be a confrontational summit, he said.
Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon made a dash to Brussels on Wednesday to tell the EU that Scots were intent on staying in the bloc, hours after Prime Minister David Cameron told a summit that Britain was pulling out.

This is very much an initial meeting, a series of meetings in Brussels today, so that people understand that Scotland, unlike other parts, of the United Kingdom does not want to leave the European Union, Sturgeon told reporters after meeting

European Parliament President Martin Schulz.

I dont want to underestimate the challenges that lie ahead.

Schulz said he had listened and learned.

Later in the day, the pro-independence Scottish leader will meet the head of the EU executive, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and may try to probe the  hitherto flimsy  options a breakaway Scotland might have to somehow remain in the EU once the UK completes its Brexit.

Junckers decision to roll out the red carpet for her on the day the 27 other EU leaders held their first meeting without Britain was seen by some diplomats as an attempt to pressure London to hand in its formal notice to quit.

There were no immediate plans for Sturgeon to meet the national leaders still gathered at the summit after Cameron left overnight and European Council President Donald Tusk, the summit chairman, pointedly declined her request to meet him.

There has been a surge in sympathy around Europe for the 5.5 million Scots after nearly two-thirds of them voted in last weeks UK referendum to stay in the EU, only to see the English, ten times more numerous, vote 52% to 48% for Brexit.

But EU officials have stressed, as they did before Scots voted against independence in a referendum in 2014, that Scotland could not apply to, let alone join, the Union until it had become a sovereign state. Senior officials have dismissed the notion that Scotland could take over the empty British chair at the European Council table.

With the EU facing years of uncertainty in negotiating the withdrawal of its second-biggest economy, the Scottish factor is a complication most governments would rather avoid. Spain, wary of encouraging its own Catalan separatists, and some other states could block any Scottish accession.

One senior EU official played down Junckers invitation to Sturgeon, noting drily that the president likes the regions of Europe, comparing Scotland to federal states in Germany. But some diplomats saw Junckers move as a deliberate ploy to add pressure on Cameron and his successors to speed divorce talks.

This is a way of putting pressure on London to trigger the exit clause, a senior official in one EU government said of EU efforts to bounce London to the negotiating table while Cameron has insisted only his successor will set the clock ticking on a two-year deadline to withdrawal.

This is a provocation by Juncker, an EU diplomat said. He cant force the Brits to submit their notification so he plays these tricks.

EU leaders were set to launch a period of reflection, culminating in a set of reform proposals to get a better grip on migration, bolstering security and creating jobs and growth.

A draft declaration of the 27, seen by Reuters, urged Britain to hand in its notice to withdraw as soon as it is ready to do so, and stressed there could be no negotiations of any kind before this notification has taken place.

Calling the EU a historic achievement of peace, prosperity and security, it acknowledged that many people express dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, be it at the European or national level.

Europeans expect us to do better when it comes to providing security, prosperity and hope for a better future. We need to deliver on this, not least in the interest of the young, the text said.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called the British vote a wake-up call for Europe and said: Its important to have this meeting of 27 because it will show the unity of the 27.

Sturgeon has said Scotland does not want to be forced out of Europe by England. She has raised the prospect of the Scottish parliament trying to block exit legislation, and alternatively holding a new referendum on independence.

The Scottish Nationalist premier met European Parliament president Martin Schulz first in Brussels to discuss the way forward.

Cameron told European Union leaders on Tuesday that Britains future relations with the bloc could hinge on the EUs willingness to rethink free movement of workers, which he blamed for the referendum no.

Juncker rebuffed that explanation for the vote, saying successive British leaders had participated in Brussels bashing and should not be surprised if their citizens believed them.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel doused any hopes that Britain might yet reverse its decision, warning against wishful thinking. While she persuaded fellow leaders to give London more time to hand in its formal notice to quit, Merkel said Britain could not drag out the process endlessly and made clear that a new government would not be allowed to cherry-pick the parts of EU membership benefits that it liked.

Some think that Britain needs more time. I hear this, yes, but I think it strange. Its a type of surrealism, said Belgiums Michel.

Cameron, who announced his intention to resign after losing the referendum partly due to concerns about immigration, told his last summit he hoped his country would maintain as tight an economic and political relationship as possible with the EU.

Britain will be leaving the European Union but we will not be turning our back on Europe, he told a late night news conference after a dinner at which he said many European partners voiced regret and friendship for Britain.

EU officials and diplomats said the mood was coolly polite.

The Conservative leader said he had reported with sadness on the outcome of the referendum, saying: People recognised the economic case for staying, but there was a very great concern about movement of people and that was coupled with concern about issues of sovereignty. I think we need to think about that, Europe needs to think about that.

In a veiled rebuke to Leave campaign leaders such as Boris Johnson, who is vying to succeed him, Cameron said Britons would have to understand they could not keep all the benefits of EU membership without the costs.

Driving home that message, French President Francois Hollande said continued access to the EUs prized single market was dependent on accepting the so-called four freedoms of movement of goods, capital, workers and services.

If they dont want free movement, they wont have access to the single market, he said, adding that the City of London would no longer be able to act as a clearing house in euros.
Pritam Singh Jauhal, a 95-year-old World War II veteran who fought and won a high-profile battle to allow Sikhs wearing turbans into the Royal Canadian Legions, has died.

Jauhal died peacefully in Surrey on Sunday, his daughter Varinder Bains was quoted as saying by The Globe and Mail newspaper. He spent 38 years in the Indian Army and Central Reserve Police Force, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel before immigrating to Canada to be with his children in 1980.

A prominent figure in the Sikh-Canadian community, he shot into the limelight in 1993 when he was prohibited from entering the Newton Legion on Remembrance Day. At the time, the establishment would not allow turbaned Sikh veterans on the premises.

Legion officials insisted that Jauhal and other Sikh veterans who had served the British Empire in the Second World War could only come in after removing their turban as rules forbade veterans from wearing headgear.

This was despite the fact that female veterans from England were allowed to go in wearing their berets.

He wrote an open letter listing turban wearers who had won the British Empires highest military decoration. Good enough for the Victoria Cross. Not good enough to earn a seat among the heroes of the Newton Legion, he wrote.

But the national headquarters of the Royal Canadian Legion issued a formal apology and condemned the actions of the local officials. Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra, who co-authored Jauhals 2013 memoir, A Soldier Remembers, said he was a proud man who insisted he wouldnt have launched his campaign but for the fact that he had been invited to the Legion and then turned away.

The foreword of the book was penned by a reserve army officer who is now Canadas defence minister, Harjit Singh Sajjan.

(Jauhal) could have just gone home and tried to forget the insult, but instead he readied himself for another battle; a battle that he fought with his wits by attacking the ignorance with education, Sajjan, an Indo-Canadian Sikh, wrote.

Jauhal was the eldest of four children of farmers in Jalandhar district of Punjab. He is survived by his son and a daughter.
Spains acting premier Mariano Rajoy said on Wednesday that Madrid would oppose any separate talks with Scotland on its future in the European Union after Britain voted to leave the bloc.

Spain has consistently opposed Scottish independence for fear of setting a precedent for its own separatists, especially in Catalonia, its richest region.

The Spanish government is opposed to any negotiations with anyone else but the British government, Rajoy said after 27 EU leaders -- excluding Britain -- met in Brussels to discuss the Brexit vote.

The United Kingdom leaves and with it, all those who make up the United Kingdom, he said.

Rajoy was speaking just hours before European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was due to meet Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Sturgeon has said she is ready to defend Scotlands place in the EU by all means, including another independence referendum if need be.

European Council President Donald Tusk, however, declined to meet the first minister as it was not the appropriate moment, a source in the council said on Tuesday.

While Britain as a whole voted 52-48 percent to leave the EU, Scotland voted 62-38 percent to remain.

Scots rejected independence in 2014 but since last Thursdays Brexit vote, there have been calls for another referendum to give Scotland the option to remain in the EU.
The deadly terror attack at Turkeys largest airport has posed an all-too-familiar question to security officials: how to protect passengers and bystanders from such carnage?

The attackers arrived via taxi like many other passengers to Istanbuls busy Ataturk Airport on Tuesday night. Unlike others, however, their journeys ended in a wave of bloodshed that killed 41 people and wounded hundreds of others in an attack that security analysts say was nearly impossible to stop.

Whether you kill nearly 50 people in or outside of the airport is really just a matter of semantics, said Matthew Henman, managing editor at IHS Janes Terrorism and Insurgency Centre. From an economic and security standpoint, it would be unfeasible to entirely prevent an armed attack without severe cost and disruption  especially at a busy airport like Ataturk.

Read: Bleak outlook for Turkey tourism after suicide attacks at airport

Mourners next to the coffin during the funeral for Gulsen Bahadir. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late on Tuesday. (AP)

Airports around the globe have been bolstering security since the 1970s following terror attacks.

Israel was one of the first to take steps after attackers in 1972 killed 26 people and injured 80 at Lod Airport, now Ben Gurion Airport. Airport security was also strengthened at many points around the world following the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001, and in 2006, when British and American intelligence agents uncovered a plot to smuggle liquid explosives through security in an attempt to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners.

The latter resulted in precautions which still prohibit passengers from bringing certain quantities of liquids and gels through security. The most recent attack occurred in March when three coordinated bombings rocked the Brussels Airport in Zaventem and the Maalbeek metro station. In those attacks, claimed by the Islamic State group, 32 were killed and more than 300 wounded.

In Israels case, a generous state budget allows for some 2,000 personnel to work exclusive in airport security roles, and many of those workers are undercover, according to Pini Schiff, CEO of Israel Security Association, one of Israels top aviation security experts. Passengers are also checked via radar, cameras and other equipment well before they enter the airport and laws allow for ethnic profiling, he said.

In the Turkey case, it seems authorities were completely caught by surprise, Schiff said. It appears this attack took weeks to plan.

A Turkish anti-riot police officer (L) stands guard as people walk past near the explosion site on Wednesday at Ataturk airport International arrival terminal in Istanbul, a day after a suicide bombing and gun attack targeted Istanbul's airport, killing at least 36 people. (AFP)

CIA Director John Brennan said the attacks bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group and warned that the group wants to conduct similar attacks in the United States. The Turkish government blamed IS, but the group didnt immediately claim responsibility.

I am worried from the standpoint of an intelligence professional who looks at the capabilities of Daesh . and their determination to kill as many people as possible and to carry out attacks abroad, Brennan said in an interview with Yahoo News. Daesh is an acronym for the Arabic name of the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

Brennan credited effective homeland security measures and intelligence for the fact that the Islamic State group has been unable to attack America directly  the Orlando and San Bernardino shootings were carried out by radicals inspired by the group but not under its control  but he believes the group will keep trying to penetrate American defenses.

Jeffrey Price, who teaches at Metropolitan State University of Denver and wrote a textbook on aviation security, said that Ataturks security was considered good, with layers that extended beyond the checkpoints.

They may find that airport security did all they could but that intelligence agencies failed to identify and stop the attackers before they could act, he said.

A Turkish police officer directs a passenger at Ataturk airport in Istanbul on Tuesday after two explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkey's biggest airport. (AFP)

The lesson for other airports, Price said, is to have enough armed police to regularly patrol public spaces and to keep checkpoint lines moving so that crowds dont build in vulnerable areas outside the security perimeter.

In the United States, that means that the Transportation Security Administration must balance its job of keeping dangerous items off planes with the need to move travelers through checkpoints quickly, he said.

The aviation-security industry has been saying for years that eventually someone is going to figure out that 500 people standing in line at the checkpoint is just as good a target as if they get through (the checkpoint) and get to an airplane, he said.

Kenneth J. Button, director of the Center for Transportation, Policy, Operations and Logistics at George Mason University, says airports are prime targets. Ataturk is one of the worlds busiest airports drawing tourists from around the globe.

There is no solution. There are ways of limiting attacks, Button said. But none are foolproof.
Britain has appointed Oliver Robbins, a senior official at the interior ministry, to head the unit that will help negotiate an exit from the European Union.

Robbins, Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, will move to his new role as head of the EU unit on July 4, the Cabinet Office said.

He will offer the very best advice and support to the government through these unprecedented times to ensure we secure the best possible deal for the UK, cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood said.
Baker Donelson has been recognized as a "highly recommended" firm in the 2016 edition of Managing Intellectual Property's IP Handbook, an annual publication which recognizes leading law firms and lawyers in intellectual property.Baker Donelson is one of six law firms listed as "highly recommended" in the state of Tennessee for its intellectual property work, which includes a significant amount of patent and trademark prosecution, IPRs and transactional services, in addition to litigation.The IP Handbook also listed four Baker Donelson attorneys as "IP Stars" in the 2016 list, including three based in Tennessee.These attorneys and the areas in which they are recognized are: Bruce C. Doeg (Nashville)  Patent star Samuel F. Miller (Nashville)  Patent star and Trademark star Bradley E. Trammell (Memphis)  Patent star and Trademark starThe "IP Stars" list is based on extensive research conducted by a team compiling market feedback and independent information. Individuals included on the list are practitioners with long-established practices and clients in the industry.
LONDON/BRUSSELS: Angry European leaders told Britain on Tuesday to act quickly to resolve the political and economic chaos unleashed by its vote to leave the European Union, a move the IMF said could put pressure on global growth.

Financial markets recovered slightly, but trading was volatile and policymakers said they would take all necessary measures to protect their economies.

The process for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union must start as soon as possible , French President Francois Hollande said. I cant imagine any British government would not respect the choice of its own people.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker sent a similar message as he prepared for talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron before an EU summit in Brussels, although he did not anticipate an immediate move.

We cannot be embroiled in lasting uncertainty, Juncker said in a speech to the European Parliament, which he interrupted to ask British members of the assembly who campaigned to leave the EU why they were there.

Cameron, who called the referendum and tendered his resignation when it became clear he had failed to persuade Britain to stay in the EU, says he will leave it to his successor to formally declare the countrys exit. Arriving for the EU summit, he said: Ill be explaining that Britain will be leaving the European Union but I want that process to be as constructive as possible, and I hope the outcome can be as constructive as possible.

He said Britain wanted the closest possible relationship in terms of trade and cooperation and security. Because that is good for us and that is good for them. Those who campaigned for Britains leave vote have made clear they hope to negotiate a new deal for the country with the EU before triggering the formal exit process. European leaders have said that is not an option. No notification, no negotiation, Juncker said.

Leave campaigners suggest the country can retain access to the European single-market and curb immigration, but those goals are mutually in compatible under EU rules. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Britain would not be able to cherrypick parts of the EU, such as access to the single market, without accepting principles such as freedom of movement when it negotiates its exit from the bloc.

I can only advise our British friends not to fool themselves ... in terms of the necessary decisions that need to be made in Britain, she told German parliament in Berlin. Cameron will meet other European counterparts one-on-one before addressing them all at what promises to be a frosty dinner..
BEIJING: The deputy editor of the Chinese Communist partys top theoretical journal has committed suicide, reports said, sending speculation swirling over political infighting, freedom of thought and corruption.

Zhu Tiezhi, 56, a well-known essayist on party theories and the deputy editor-in-chief of Qiush--Seeking Truth--hanged himself in the magazines garage, Chinese media said.

Citing an unnamed friend, Chinese media group Ca ix in said he had been depressed by ideological disputes in recent years between reformists and increasingly vocal conservative academics .

If the ruling party cannot solve real problems, ideological debates would become empty talk to undermine the mutual trust between the party, the government it leads and the people, it quoted one of Zhus articles as reading.

Under President Xi Jinping, authorities have tightened the space for debate both within the party and in wider society. Zhu believed a scholar must preserve his integrity, independent way of thinking and unique views, the report cited the friend saying.

But that concern does not sit well with the partys call for all members and cadres to unite behind the party lines, Caixin said. People.cn, a website run by the Communist Partys mouthpiece the Peoples Daily, carried a brief report Sunday on Zhus death, without elaborating on the cause.
ROME: Bud Spencer, a burly comic actor dubbed the good giant for punching out bad guys on the screen, often in a long series of spaghetti westerns, has died in Italy. He was 86.

Italian news agency ANSA quoted his son, Giuseppe Pedersoli, as saying without adding medical details that his father died peacefully Monday evening.

Born in Naples as Carlo Pedersoli, he adopted the stage name Bud Spencer  the first name inspired by a beer and the last to honour his favourite star, Spencer Tracy.

Culture minister Dario Franceschini said Spencer knew how to entertain entire generations. Romes City Hall said it would hold Spencers wake there on Wednesday, so fans could pay tribute. In his youth, Spencer was an athlete, becoming the first Italian to swim the 100-meter freestyle in under a minute. Spencers roles exploited his physical strength, especially his big frame and girth. His imposing figure earned him a walk-on part as a Praetorian guard in the 1951 film Quo Vadis?

Italian director Mario Monicelli gave him his first big role in the 1955 film Un eroe dei nostri tempi (A hero of our times). Spencer abandoned his swimming career after the 1960 Olympics in Rome. Working on a 1967 film, Dio perdona io no, (God forgives, I dont), Spencer met up with actor Mario Girotti, who would take the stage name Terence Hill and become his frequent movie partner in spaghetti westerns. Spencer, who had a law degree, made his name in lowbrow films.

Some of them include Al di la della legge (Beyond the Law) in 1968; Lo chiamavano Trinita (They Call Me Trinity) in 1970; Watch Out, Were Mad, in 1974; Io sto con gli ippopotami (Im for the Hippotamus) in 1979; Double Trouble in 1984 and Un piede in paradise (Speaking of the Devil) in 1991. Spencers movies delighted much of the public, but critical acclaim eluded him, Italian state radio said Tuesday, noting he drew laughs with physical humour.
PARIS: French authorities opened a manslaughter inquiry into the May crash of an EgyptAir plane that killed 66 people, saying there is no evidence so far to link it to terrorism.

Prosecutors office spokesman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said the inquiry was launched as an accident investigation, not a terrorism investigation. She said French authorities are not at all favouring the theory that the plane was downed deliberately, though the status of the inquiry could eventually change if evidence emerges to that effect.

Investigators decided to start the probe before waiting to analyze the planes flight data and voice recorders, based on evidence gathered so far, she said, without elaborating.

EgyptAir Flight 804, an Airbus A320 en route from Paris to Cairo, slammed into the Mediterranean on May 19. The reason for the crash remains unclear. The pilots made no distress call and no group has claimed to have brought down the plane.
WASHINGTON :The Trump campaign pushed back hard on reports that the presumptive Republican nominee was modifying his proposed ban on Muslims entering the US.

This is not accurate, said Hope Hicks, a spokesperson for the campaign .There has been no change from the exchanges over the weekend.

CNN had initially reported that Trump was planning to roll back his December proposal for a total and complete shutdown on Muslims entering the US and Trump national spokesperson Katrina Pierson, a frequent television surrogate for the campaign, seemed to agree with reports while trying to spin them. Although Pierson insisted its only really a change if you never knew what the ban was to begin with, she seemed to focus on the vetting process.

If you are coming into this country and you cannot be vet ted, then you should not be allowed in until you can be vet ted. This is not rocket science, she said.

She claimed the Muslim ban was simply an immigration position and said of Trump :the initial ban on Muslims immigrating into the country that can not be vetted, he still does not want to come into this country. If you can be vetted, its a different story. Pierson also wrongly claimed that there wasnt an existing vetting process, telling CNN were not going to base national security off Politi Fact or even the United Nations.

The idea of a Muslim ban has long been controversial and has been condemned by Republican party leaders, including speaker Paul Ryan.
WASHINGTON: A US Senator has asked the Obama Administration to discontinue issuing immigrant and non-immigrant visas to citizens from 23 countries including India and China, alleging that these nations are not cooperating to take back illegal immigrants.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the Obama Administration has failed to use authority to hold accountable those countries that wont take back their own citizens who have been ordered removed from the US.

This has allowed thousands of criminals to be released into US communities, he said. Many times, these individuals have criminal histories in addition to entering the country illegally or overstaying their visa.

Dangerous criminals, including murderers, are being released everyday because their home countries will not cooperate in taking them back, he said.

In fiscal year 2015 alone, 2,166 individuals were released in the US because of this decision and the non-cooperation from countries; more than 6,100 were released in the preceding two years, said Grassley, who is the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman.

Currently, 23 countries are labelled by the US as uncooperative, with the top five most recalcitrant countries being Cuba, China, Somalia, India, and Ghana, Grassley said.

In addition, US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement is monitoring another 62 nations where cooperation is strained, but which are not yet deemed recalcitrant.

In the letter to Johnson, Grassley reminded him that Congress addressed this problem when it enacted section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
There can never be but one man who headed the first column of attack on the Kings troops in the Revolutionary War. And Isaac Davis was that man. So spoke Reverend James Trask Woodbury of Acton, Massachusetts, in 1851. The occasion was a debate in the Massachusetts House of Representatives upon the question of granting two thousand dollars to aid the Town of Acton in building a monument over the remains of Captain Isaac Davis, Abner Hosmer, and James Hayward, Acton Minute Men killed at Concord Fight, April 19, 1775.

Strictly speaking, Davis was not the first to die in the struggle for American independence. He was not even the first to die that bright April morning when the kings troops, marching to Lexington and Concord to seize the rebel leaders and destroy the arms and ammunition stockpiled there, fired what poet Ralph Waldo Emerson immortalized as theshot heard round the world.

The colonists had been keeping an eye on the British troops quartered in Boston. They had noticed unusual activity that suggested the kings men planned to strike out into the villages to capture those who would lead their neighbors into open revolt and to seize the guns, field pieces, powder, and flour they had hidden around the countryside.

Samuel Adams and John Hancock, staying with Reverend Jonas Clarke at Lexington, had to be warned. That difficult chore fell to Paul Revere and William Dawes, joined later by young Doctor Samuel Prescott, who was returning home from a visit with his lady friend in Lexington.

After the alarm carried by the three reached Lexington, then Concord, messengers fanned through the countryside warning the scattered farmers that the British were on the march. An unknown rider, perhaps Prescott himself, arrived at the home of Captain Joseph Robbins, leader of one of Actons two troops of militiasoldiers supposedly under allegiance to the king, although that had ceased to be the case.

The messenger did not dismount, but banged on the corner of the house, shouting Captain Robbins! Captain Robbins! Up! Up! The regulars have come to Concord! Rendezvous at old North Bridge quick as possible! Alarm Acton!

Aroused from his bed, Robbins fired three shots with his musket to warn the town. Then he sent his 13-year-old son John to alert Isaac Davis and others. When he received the news, Davis sent word that he would leave for Concord as soon as thirty men had mustered in his yard.

The call echoed around Acton and the minutemen rushed to Daviss yard, where they made bullets and prepared for a battle that some, making jokes about finally getting a hit at old [General Thomas] Gage, relished. Davis rebuked his men, reminding them that the day had brought a most eventful crisis for the colonies. Blood would be spilt, that was certain; the crimson fountain would be opened; none could tell when it would close, nor with whose blood it would overflow. Let every man gird himself for battle and be not afraid, for God is on our side.

As certain as Davis was about the righteousness of their cause, he was equally pessimistic about his own chances for survival. Several days before that fateful dawn, he and his wife had returned home from an excursion to discover that a large owl, a symbol of death, had flown into the house and perched on Daviss favorite gun, which hung over the mantel. No one was allowed to disturb the brooding presence, which stayed for days and was interpreted by the captain as an omen that, if the struggle became a full-pitched battle, he would not survive.

What kind of man was this Isaac Davis, and how did he come to lead the group of men who would march down the Concord path and into the history books?

The thirty-year-old son of Ezekial and Mary Gibson Davis, Isaac was a gunsmith by trade and lived with his wife Hannah and children in the small farming village of Acton, a town that had broken away from Concord four decades earlier. A thoughtful, sedate, serious man, a genuine Puritan like Samuel Adams, Davis was said to have been so moved by a Sunday sermon on the state of the colonies that he applauded at its conclusion and asked the minister to repeat it.

Some months before this April day, Davis had been elected captain of Actons company of minutemen. Thomas Thorpeone of his menwould later swear in a deposition that the captain was esteemed, a man of courage and prudence and had the love and veneration of all his company.

Thanks to his trade as a gunsmith, Daviss troops were fully equipped with guns, cartridge boxes, and bayonets. They drilled regularly, assembling twice a week (their efforts were noted by their fellow townsmen, who voted to pay them for their training).

Now, in response to the messengers call to arms, Davis rallied about thirty men in his yard. Some of them had floured their hair while they waited so that they might meet the kings troops as gentlemen. Finally, Davis ordered his company into line and stepped off down the path.

As they reached the road, he halted his men and turned back toward his wife, who was watching from the doorway of the house where their four young children lay sick. Taking one last look at Hannah, he admonished her to Take good care of the children. Then he was gone.

The company marched up the lane and over Nashoba Brook by an old stone bridge to Strawberry Hill and then into neighboring Concord. Their thoughts must have been sobering, for they knew that if their cause failed, their defiance would brand them as traitors. Undeterred, Davis was heard to say as they walked: I have a right to go to Concord on the kings highway, and I will go to Concord. Fifer Luther Blanchard and drummer Francis Barker struck up the companys signature tune, The White Cockade, as they strode along.

Shortly after entering Concord, they paused near Colonel James Barretts farm, where a contingent of redcoats was breaking up gun carriages and setting the pieces afire in the yard. But Daviss orders had been to rendezvous at the bridge, so the Acton men passed by, marching between newly-plowed fields planted with a strange crop indeedhidden cannon and muskets!

When the Acton company arrived at the colonial forces gathering place on Punkatasset Hill above the bridge, the men took their places at the extreme left of the line (the companys place dictated by the fact that Davis was the most junior officer present). While the men waited, their captain hurried farther up the hill to a meeting with fellow officers to decide on a course of action.

As Colonel Barrett and the others conferred, they were unaware that when General Gages British troops arrived at Lexington Common earlier that day during the pre-dawn hours, they had found several dozen defiant rebels waiting for them. Although commanders on both sides later insisted that their men had been ordered not to fire first, blood had been shed. The finger that first pulled the trigger remains shrouded in mystery. But there is little doubt that the colonials, being outnumbered by three to one, obeyed the order to disperse. The British fired into the breaking ranks, killing eight and wounding ten more.

The several hundred colonials already mustered at Punkatasset Hill when the Acton men arrived were being augmented by troops from communities such as Bedford, Lincoln, and Westford. Surely, they thought, this force could take the bridge, guarded only by a small troop of redcoats, and drive the British forces back toward Boston. But if they did not act now, British reinforcements were certain to arrive, and the colonists might be dangerously outnumbered.

Meanwhile, a troop of British soldiers, which had stayed behind in Concord village searching for hidden munitions and other stores, found and set fire to more gun carriages. In the excitement, the blaze accidentally spread to the town house. An elderly widow living nearby, realizing that several residences were sure to burn as well, begged the British to help put out the fire. At her urging, the troops joined the bucket brigade to douse the flames.

When the colonials massing on Punkatasset Hill saw the smoke, they mistakenly concluded that the British were on a rampage. Will you let them burn the town? cried adjutant Joseph Hosmer of Concord. Answering with a resounding No, the officers decided upon a defiant show of strength. One account states that the lead was offered to a Concord officer, who declined it, but historians have questioned whether a local man would have refused to march to save his own town.

Whatever the preamble, Isaac Davis was then proffered the lead. This honor may have been offered because his men were fully equipped with bayonets, an advantage in hand-to-hand combat. In any event, Davis accepted, declaring that I havent a man that is afraid to go. The colonial forces formed up, with Daviss company in the lead, and advanced down the hill to the strains of The White Cockade. Their orders were to hold their fire unless fired upon.

Seeing the colonials coming, the British retreated over the bridge. The last men across began to tear up planks in order to stop the advancing force in its tracks. Major John Buttrick, the British commander, called out, ordering the colonists to halt. His soldiers, meanwhile, assumed battle formation. When the colonists neared the bridge, the redcoats fired a random volley that wounded fifer Luther Blanchard and Jonas Brown of Concord.

The next British volley fell short, but served as proof that they meant to fight. As the colonists prepared to fire their muskets, the British fired again. Davis, just then raising his gun at the kings men, fell dead, shot through the heart. A private in his company, Abner Hosmer, received a mortal bullet wound in his head.

Buttrick, seeing blood flow, shouted to the troops. Fire, fellow soldiers! For Gods sake, fire! As the British scattered, the colonials returned fire, striking two and putting the rest to rout. The fray lasted only three minutes. But the shots fired that day would echo for all time.

The kings troops straggled into Concord, then gathered with reinforcements for the march back to Cambridge. Along that route, they were harried every step of the way by the colonials. The British mission was a failurethe rebel leaders were safe and the colonists had salvaged most of the stores. And most important, the war was on; the American colonies march to independenceone that would only find its end with the Treaty of Paris eight years laterhad begun.

The 1783 treaty may have ended the war, but the controversy over what happened at Concord on April 19, 1775 raged on for more than a century. One disgruntled historian wrote that Davis had usurped the lead. Another retorted that he was the heart and soul of the Concord fight and that when he died, the fight was over. A latter-day wag, mindful of the wrangling, quipped that it was a Lexington battle, fought in Concord by Acton men. History seems finally to have settled on the matter by concluding that there is enough glory to go around.

Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer were carried home that afternoon, and Hannah remembered many years later that Isaacs countenance was little altered. But his courage had helped to change the course of history; as Woodbury pointed out, the highway over which his body was carried was not the kings any longer.

Today, Davis himself is well revered in Acton. The local chapters of the Minutemen, of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and many other groups bear his name. His line of march from Acton to the bridge is now a National Historic Site, retraced each April 19 by swarms of ordinary citizens. Near the site where he fell, now within Minutemen National Historic Park, stands Daniel Chester Frenchs statue of the Minuteman. Since no image of Davis is known to exist, the artist fashioned the figure after studying the likenesses of some of Daviss descendants who were said to favor him. President Ulysses S. Grant was guest of honor when the statue was dedicated at the centennial of the fight in 1875.

The monument in the town of Acton, for which the Reverend Woodbury pleaded so eloquently, was erected in 1851. The bodies of Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmeras well as that of James Hayward, who was killed at Fiske Hill in Lexington later that April daywere moved from the old burying ground to the base of the monument on the town Common.

Isaacs widow Hannah married twice more, both husbands also preceding her in death. In 1818, when she was 71 years old and impoverished, she sought a pension from the federal government. Her first attempt failed, and it was not until more than twenty years later that Hannah, then in her nineties, finally was granted a pension. Some senators, notably John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, objected, fearing a torrent of similar claims.

But Hannahs cause found an eloquent champion in no less a statesman than Senator Daniel Webster, who declared that her husband Isaac had fallen in his early manhood, one of the very first martyrs in the cause of liberty, and, if I mistake not, the first American officer who sealed his devotion to the cause with his own blood. . . . An early grave in the cause of liberty has secured to him the long and grateful remembrance of his country.

This article was written by Jeanne Munn Bracken and originally published in February 2000 issue of American History Magazine. For more great articles be sure to pick up your copy of American History.
After more than nine months of squalid trench warfare around the beleaguered Southern city of Petersburg, Virginia, the spring of 1865 found Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his 44,000-man Army of Northern Virginia facing an overwhelming enemy force of 128,000 troops commanded by the indomitable Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. Lee had been successful against long odds before, but never before had he and his men faced a situation as desperate as this. Less than 150 miles away in North Carolina, General Joseph Johnston and his depleted Army of Tennessee were trying to hold back Major General William Tecumseh Sherman and four times as many Union troops, while a third Federal force, under Major General Philip H. Sheridan, had just joined Grant outside Petersburg. Soon, Lee knew, he would be facing more than 200,000 battle-tested foes. Not even Robert E. Lee could defy those odds.

It had already been a long and grueling winter inside the Confederate trenches at Petersburg. Hunger, cold, illness, desertions and the constant threat of deadly snipers had sapped the spirits of the once defiant Virginians. In one five-week stretch that winter, nearly 3,000 Southern soldiers desertednearly 8 percent of Lees total strength. The few new recruits that came into the armyusually grudgingly, via the widely hated draftcould not replace the hardened veterans of so many earlier campaigns. The men coming in do not supply the vacancies caused by sickness, desertions, and other casualties, Lee admitted. Although the general still retained the affection and loyalty of his men, both Lee and his underlings realized that it was only a matter of time before the war reached a point of no return. Said one Maryland soldier: There are a good many of us who believe this shooting match has been carried on long enough. A government that has run out of rations cant expect to do much more fighting, and to keep on is reckless and wanton expenditure of human life. Our rations are all the way from a pint to a quart of cornmeal a day, and occasionally a piece of bacon large enough to grease our plate.

Lee himself made a fruitless trip to Richmond to plead his armys case before the Confederate Congress, but bitterly told his son Custis, I have been up to see Congress and they do not seem to be able to do anything except to eat peanuts and chew tobacco, while my army is starving. Meanwhile, the Union forces were growing stronger by the day. A massive supply depot at City Point, seven miles northeast of Petersburg at the confluence of the James and Appomattox rivers, bulged with mountains of food, clothing, arms and ammunition for the Federal troops.

Lees desperate attempt to cut the enemy supply lines at the juncture of Prince George Court House Road and the City Point Railroad on March 25 went terribly awry. Major General John Gordon, aiming his assault at the enemy salient of Fort Stedman, quickly seized the fort, but a massive counterattack rained down death and destruction on the Confederate attackers. After only a few hours, Lee called off the attack, but not before losing another 4,000 irreplaceable troops while gaining absolutely nothing.

Even worse, Lees halfhearted assault put Grant on alert. The Union commander was no longer worried that Lee could defeat him (if indeed he ever had been), but he was concerned that the wily Confederate might slip away under cover of darkness and join Johnstons forces in North Carolina. On March 29, Grant assembled 50,000 troops on the Union left under one of his favorite commanders, Sheridan, who had already cleared the Shenandoah Valley of all effective Rebel resistance. Two days later, Sheridans force pushed northwestward toward Five Forks, a strategic wilderness crossing a dozen miles south of Petersburg. Lee, rather than extending his thin lines of defense an additional four miles to meet the Union threat, dispatched a 10,500-man mobile force of cavalry and infantry to oppose Grants flanking movement. The idea was that the quicker-moving Confederate cavalry could bridge the gap between the existing lines and the 6,000 supporting infantry troops until they could be properly situated.

On March 31, a portion of Sheridans force reached the outskirts of Five Forks but were repulsed by Maj. Gens. George Pickett and Fitzhugh Lee. A terse message soon arrived from General Lee. Hold Five Forks at all hazards, he ordered. Incredibly, Pickett and Fitzhugh Lee chose the next day to hold a holidaylike shad bake behind their lines, and that same afternoon the relentless Sheridan struck, routing and scattering the leaderless Confederates. In one stroke, Lees entire right flank disappeared.

To replace the lost infantrymen on the right and attempt to continue holding his lines around Petersburg, Lee sent a desperate appeal that night to Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, who was north of the James River guarding Richmond, to come immediately to his aid. Major General Charles Fields 4,600-man division was at least 12 hours away from Petersburg, and could not be expected to arrive before 7:30 a.m. on April 2. In the meantime, Confederate troops were moving out of their old earthworks and shifting toward the right to meet the enemy flanking movement there, with the slight hope that Fields reinforcements would arrive at Petersburg before a general Federal assault fell on the defenders across the entire line.

Grant, however, alertly launched a heavy attack along the whole length of the Confederate lines south of the Appomattox River at dawn (4:45 a.m.) on April 2, and the center of Lees lines was soon broken at a thin section held by Lt. Gen. A.P. Hills III Corps. As Lee came out of his headquarters behind Hills lines at the Turnbull house before daylight on the morning of April 2 to investigate the heavy firing that was in progress, he could just make out a long line of men coming toward him from the southwest. In the growing light, Lee could clearly see the blue uniforms of the troops, who were not more than half a mile away.

Hill was present at headquarters by this time, and he immediately set out with a lone courier to try to ride around the advancing Federals in a desperate attempt to rally his troops and restore the broken lines. The III Corps commander had said recently that he had no wish to survive the fall of Richmond, if that should occur. His wish was soon fulfilledas Hill was killed instantly when knocked from his horse by a shot through the heart. In the meantime, a six-gun battery set up on the grounds of the Turnbull house opened fire to slow the advance of the oncoming Federals.

A semicircular section of the Confederate line held by Gordon on the left, surrounding Petersburg itself and running from the Appomattox River on the east to Fort Gregg well west of the city, had remained intact. The only chance to buy sufficient time for an evacuation of the major portion of Lees army that night required that the Federals be kept out of the 11Z2-mile-wide gap in the lines on the west (running north from Fort Gregg to the Appomattox River) until Fields approaching division could be brought into place about noon to establish an effective inner line of defense.

Lee himself was presently outside the intended inner line of defense, with hardly any Confederate troops between him and the enemy, a mere half mile away. Undaunted, Lee took time to go back into his headquarters and rapidly complete his dressing, including the unusual step of strapping on a dress sword with his full uniform. Reluctant to leave even then, Lee took personal charge of the guns. Later, a Federal officer reported: As we advanced over rolling and open country, a rebel battery opened on our left. Several times, as it was forced to change positions by the fire of the First Maine, we noticed a fine-looking old officer on a gray horse, who seemed to be directing its movements. At length the guns went into battery again on a hill near a large house, and their presence became more annoying than ever. By common consent the three brigades attempted to charge the hill, but the canister fire was so hot that the first attack was a failure. Later, I asked a mortally wounded artillery officer left behind what battery it was. Poagues North Carolina, he said, and then I asked who was the officer on the gray horse? General Robert E. Lee, sir, and he was the last man to leave these guns.

Lee remained so long at the front that he eventually had to ride away at a gallop on his beloved Traveller, under heavy artillery fire. A shell burst so near the little band of retreating riders that the horse of one of his staff officers was killed. This caused Lee to rapidly jerk his head to one side, as he sometimes did when angry, and glare over his right shoulder toward the source of the fire as he rode along. Some shells also passed through the just-abandoned Turnbull house, setting it on fire and soon leaving only four tall chimneys standing where the headquarters had been.

As he rode through a thin inner line that was beginning to form across the open western end of the earthworks, Lee was cheered by his men as enthusiastically as he had been when he rode into the opening around the Chancellor house following Stonewall Jacksons flank attack at Chancellorsville almost two years earlier. Before leaving the Turnbull house, Lee found time to send a telegram to the War Department in Richmond (received at 10:40 a.m.) stating, I advise that all preparations be made for leaving Richmond tonight. This dispatch was delivered to President Jefferson Davis, who was attending Sunday morning service at Saint Pauls Church. After receiving the message, Davis got up quietly and left the church to prepare for the evacuation of Richmond that night.

The army had achieved so much for Lee that even now he must have wondered if there might not be one more miracle left. In a way there was, for otherwise the troops would never have been able to get away from Petersburg. Relief came in the form of two small earthworks under construction just beyond the south end of an open area, where it was hoped that an inner line could be established and held. Fort Gregg and Fort Baldwin (also called Battery Whitworth from its nearness to the Whitworth house) were about a quarter mile apart and mutually supporting. The works were occupied by Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Harris Mississippi brigade, which was a part of Maj. Gen. William Mahones division of Hills III Corps. This brigade had been one of the first reinforcement units to be thrown into the broken mule-shoe salient at Spotsylvania 10 months earlier. During that battle, Lee had been riding beside Harris at the head of this column when a solid artillery shot passed under Travellers raised forefeet as the rearing horse pawed in the air. Soldiers of the brigade called out: Go back, General Lee! For Gods sake, go back! Completely composed, he said, If you will promise to drive those people from our works, I will go back. The troops shouted their promise, and then made good on it with the assistance of an Alabama brigade from Mahones division that arrived shortly thereafter.

Harris brigade consisted of the battle-thinned remnants of four Mississippi regiments (the 12th, 16th, 19th and 48th), which numbered about 400 men in totalnot even enough for one good-sized regiment. The brigade was augmented in the Gregg and Baldwin redoubts by about 100 North Carolinians who had been cut off from Maj. Gen. Cadmus Wilcoxs division of Hills corps when the left of Wilcoxs line had collapsed during the Petersburg breakthrough. Harris put just under half of those troops into Fort Gregg (214 men, including portions of the 12th and 16th Mississippi and the remnants of Brig. Gen. James Lanes North Carolina brigade), along with two rifled cannons, one manned by the famed Washington Artillery of New Orleans and the other by the 4th Maryland Battery.

Harris took the rest of the men (about 286, including most of the 19th and 48th Mississippi) and three guns from the Washington Artillery with him to Fort Baldwin, which lay just north of Fort Gregg and had a field of fire of a mile and a quarter to cover, running all the way to the Appomattox River on the north.

Fort Gregg was a square earthwork with a water-filled ditch around three sides of its steeply sloped walls. On the north side, the building of a trench and an elevated parapet to connect with Fort Baldwin had only just begun, and this unfinished section gave a narrow access into Fort Gregg. Likewise, there was an opening in the side of Fort Baldwin to accommodate the planned connecting entrenchment. Thus, each fort depended somewhat on the sweeping cannon fire of its neighbor to prevent enemy forces from entering through its open side. Also, there was no ditch along the unfinished side of the Gregg garrison.

Before Harris left Fort Gregg about noon, he shouted out Lees orders over the roar of the ongoing cannonade. Men, he told them, the salvation of the army is in your keep. Dont surrender this fort. If you can hold out for two hours, Longstreet will be up. As he left the fort, after placing Lt. Col. James Duncan of the 16th Mississippi in charge, he heard someone shout out behind him: Tell them well not give up! This was the second promise to Lee that the Mississippians would honor in every respect.

Two 6,000-man Federal divisions were put in place to overrun the Rebel earthworks as soon as the bombardment was lifted at 1 oclock. One division was assigned to each of the works. The attack on Fort Gregg got underway promptly, but there was a delay at Fort Baldwin because of the heavy smoke from nearby burning buildings that the Confederates had set ablaze to improve their field of fire. The Federals advanced toward Fort Gregg in three columns, each containing a 2,000-man brigade, which were to converge on the fort as they approached.

Hit by massed volleys of fire, the attacking columns fell back, regrouped and came again, only to meet the same destructive fire and have to fall back once more. Longstreet was on the field by this time, swiftly positioning his lead brigades inside an inner defensive line as soon as they arrived. He and Lee observed the attack on Fort Gregg from a high vantage point. After each unsuccessful storming attempt, faint cheering could be heard from Fort Gregg and Fort Baldwin, which was not yet under heavy attack. At one point Lee called his staff around him, pointed to Fort Gregg and asked them to remember the most gallant defense they had witnessed here. Under a tree on a hillside in another part of the field, Grant was also observing and directing the assault on the fort.

Union Maj. Gen. John Gibbon, in charge of carrying out the attack, eventually called for one of the brigades in the division still standing idle before Fort Baldwin. This increased his assaulting force to about 8,000 men, and they were now sent against what was left of the 214 men inside Fort Gregg in one single flood designed to swamp the defenders, instead of in successive waves. The attackers completely surrounded the fort and gained entry through the unfinished side. While the Confederates tried to drive the Federals out through the opening, more troops attacked the other sides of the fort, standing on the shoulders of their comrades to reach the tops of the parapets.

Eventually, hand-to-hand fighting broke out on parapets all around the perimeter of the battered fort. At one time, six Federal regimental battle flags were visible on the parapets. Wounded Confederates inside the fort continued to load rifles taken from dead and disabled soldiers and pass them up to the sharpshooters atop the walls. Tumbling over the parapets, sometimes lifted on the raised bayonets of the unwavering defenders, the attacking Federals achieved a tenuous foothold inside the fort. Still, for another 25 minutes, hand-to-hand fighting continued within Fort Gregg, where defenders made use of everything available to them, from bayonets and clubbing rifles to bricks gathered from chimneys toppled by artillery fire.

Finally, only one gun was in action within the redoubt, and that was manned by a single cannoneer who held the lanyard taut on a gun loaded with double-shot canister. Told to drop the lanyard or well shoot! the gunner yanked on the lanyard and shouted, Shoot and be damned! whereupon he was riddled with bullets and fell dead across the smoking gun. A similar incident had occurred on May 3, 1863, during the Second Battle of Fredericksburg, when the last gunner of the Washington Artillery fired point-blank into surrounding attackers. The units well-earned reputation was not harmed by their work on April 2, 1865.

It was just after 3 oclock when the last fighting terminated in Fort Gregg. The defenders had been true to their wordthey had not given up. Moreover, they had given Lee the two hours he wanted, plus an extra hour for good measure. With the collapse of Fort Gregg, the defenders of Fort Baldwin now made a rush for the inner lines before their now-indefensible position could be surrounded, losing about 60 men as they fled. Left inside Fort Gregg were 55 dead defenders, 129 wounded and only 30 men who surrendered uninjured. The Federals suffered more than 700 casualties during the reduction of the two unfinished earthworks. Now, however, the victorious Federals faced a stronger inner line of works, manned by defenders whose resolve had been strengthened by witnessing the heroic defense of Fort Gregg.

The exhausted Federals were content to remain in a line just outside the range of Confederate rifle fire until nightfall, when the Confederates began their retreat across bridges over the Appomattox River about an hour after darkness fell (8 p.m.). There was no organized interference from the Federals except for continued cannon fire. Because of the enemy firing, the Confederates could roll their artillery over the cobblestone streets of Petersburg without being heard during their retreat. Perhaps the retreat went undetected. But after losing well over 40,000 casualties in the trenches around Petersburg during the past 293 days (including more than 700 lost that afternoon in overwhelming 500 Confederates in Forts Gregg and Baldwin), perhaps Grant was perfectly willing to allow the Army of Northern Virginia to gain unopposed access to the open country.

As they walked through Fort Gregg and the surrounding Petersburg trenches following the evacuation on April 2, the victorious Federals could not fail to notice the beardless faces or silver strands of hair of many of the fallen Confederates. Major Washington Roebling wrote: Old men with silver locks lay dead, side by side with mere boys of thirteen or fourteen. It almost makes one sorry to have to fight against people who show such devotion for their homes and their country. The Confederate manpower shortage became acute during the last stage of the war, but the boys and older men in the trenches continued to fight as desperately as any of Lees veteran troops ever had.

The evacuations of Petersburg and Richmond on the night of April 2 were accomplished successfully, with most of the artillery intact, and the two wings of the army were on the march, in good order, toward a juncture at Amelia Court House on the Richmond & Danville Railroad, about 40 miles from the evacuated cities. The army, reunited for the first time since the battle of Cold Harbor 10 months earlier, planned to evacuate along the railroad through Burkeville to link up with Johnstons forces somewhere beyond Danville, which was more than 100 miles from Amelia Court House. Although the retreat started well, not much went right thereafter; not the least of the blunders was a failure to deliver rations to the starving army at Amelia Court House. The surrounded army was forced to surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, only a week after the gallant defense of Fort Gregg had allowed a last slim chance for escape. In the meantime, many thousands more had died for a cause that appeared to be altogether hopeless, even before the Petersburg lines were finally broken.

Still, the defense of Fort Gregg was not without benefit, over and above providing an example of conspicuous gallantry in pursuit of a near hopeless cause that ranks alongside any armed resistance in modern or ancient times, including the Spartan defense of Thermopylae. Indeed, the delay of the Federal attack may have saved a great many lives, at least on the Confederate side. As it turned out, the defense presented an opportunity to draw the army together and allow Lee to make a collective and reasoned decision regarding the surrender of what was left of his once-great army. Even after a week of hard marching with hardly any food, with his army totally surrounded by a vastly superior force, Lee found the decision so agonizing that when contemplating surrender he was heard to remark: How easy I could be rid of this, and be at rest! I have only to ride along the lines and all will be over! He must have been thinking about A.P. Hills recent death as he said this. Then, after some reflection, Lee added: But it is our duty to live. What will become of the women and children of the South if we are not here to protect them?

Some 28,356 paroled Confederate troops returned home from Appomattox. Many of these men might have been shot down, one by one, in the streets of Petersburg if the stout defense of Fort Gregg had not stalled the Federal advance until the Confederates could retreat across the Appomattox bridges. Lees life may well have been one of those saved by the orderly evacuation, because it is difficult to imagine that he would have peacefully surrendered with troops still actively engaged in the field. To believe otherwise goes against a considerable body of evidence on Lees behavior under fire. His taking charge of the cannons on the morning his lines were broken at Petersburg is but one example of the commanders steadfastness in battle. Lees troops were equally dedicated, some giving their lives at Fort Gregg so that others would have an avenue of retreat. In that way, at least, they did not die in vain.

Ronald E. Bullock of Cardiff, Calif., is a longtime student of the Civil War and has published several articles on this and other subjects. For further reading, see Shelby Footes The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol. 3; Douglas Freemans R.E. Lee, Vol. 4; and E.P. Alexanders Military Memoirs of a Confederate.

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Facts, information and articles about the Battle Of Shepherdstown, a Civil War Battle of the American Civil War

After an exhausting day, General Robert E. Lee settled into a much-needed sleep under an apple tree. It was not long before he awakened to a real-life nightmare. Brigadier General William Nelson Pendleton, who served as the Army of Northern Virginias chief of artillery, stood over him in a near panic with terrible news. The armys entire rear guard, with 44 pieces of artillery, had just been overwhelmed and gobbled up by Major General George B. McClellans Army of the Potomac at the Potomac River crossing of Botelers Ford. All? asked Lee. The shaken Pendleton replied, Yes, General, I fear all.

It was after midnight on September 20, 1862, not much more than 48 hours after the firing ended on the deadliest day of the Civil War, the Battle of Antietam. After that fighting of September 17, the armies eyed each other warily before the Confederates began to slip across the Potomac back into Virginia after dusk on the 18th. The retreat was a gloomy echo of their jubilant crossing into Maryland a couple of weeks before, when high-spirited Rebel soldiers were cheered by the strains of bands playing Maryland, My Maryland. Cavalrymen posted in the river held torches to light the gloom as the long column of wagons, ambulances, guns and weary foot soldiers splashed across Botelers Ford on their way into the relative safety of the Old Dominion.

At dawn on September 19, Lee was on horseback in the middle of the river as the last remnants of his army passed him. Major General John G. Walker rode into the Potomac and talked with the commander. Lee asked Walker how many men were left in Maryland, and was assured that all but one battery and the last of the wounded were safely across. Thank God, Walker heard Lee say. With the army back on Southern soil, Lee had assigned Pendleton to guard Botelers Ford. Now it looked like disaster had struck.

Botelers Ford was a mile and a half downstream from Shepherdstown, a town in the part of the Old Dominion that in June 1863 would be carved off as the new Union state of West Virginia. Also called Blackfords Ford and Pack Horse Ford, the spot had been a crossing since colonial times. When the water level was down, the stony shelf of the ford was clearly visible, but according to Confederate artillery officer Lt. Col. Edward Porter Alexander it was deep and rocky during the retreat.

The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal paralleled the Potomac on the Maryland side, and the war had been hard on the man-made waterway. The canals berm had been pierced in numerous places, draining the channel. Rolling hills on that side offered the Yankees abundant sites for their artillery. Heights also dominated the river at that point on the Virginia side, though they were sheerer and posed more of a challenge to the placement of the Rebel guns. On both sides, roads to the ford were in places too narrow for a horse to pass a wagon.

Lee might not have expected the cautious McClellan to pursue him too closely after such vicious fighting, but just the same he knew Botelers Ford, his vital escape route to Virginia, should be guarded until his army was well out of the area. Perhaps because so many proven officers had been lost on September 17, he chose Pendleton, an officer with little combat experience, to guard the ford.

Pendleton, born in Richmond in 1809, graduated from West Point in 1830, a year after Lee. He spent three years in the Old Army before resigning to become an Episcopal priest, a vocation he continued in addition to his military duties during the Civil War and that led to his nickname Parson. He taught at the Virginia Military Institute, serving on the faculty with the future Stonewall, Thomas Jonathan Jackson. At the outbreak of the war, Pendleton commanded the Rockbridge Artillery, taking with him four guns from VMI dubbed Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Valued for his administrative skills, he moved through the ranks from colonel to brigadier general in March 1862 and the command of the artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia.

After the fighting of the 17th, Pendleton had pulled together 44 cannons to form an artillery reserve to protect the vital crossing point on the Potomac. He managed to place 33 of the weapons in positions bearing on the ford, but there were no good firing positions for the remaining 11, so they were sent to the rear to await a possible call to the front. While the number of guns seemed formidable, and included eight Parrott rifles and a long-range Whitworth, Pendletons hodgepodge of cannons also consisted of several short-range howitzers and a dozen obsolete 6-pounders that would be of little use against longer-range Federal rifled guns. Brigadier Generals Lewis Armisteads and Alexander Lawtons two battered and understrength infantry brigades supported the gunners. Pendleton posted most of the infantry along the riverbank, instructing them to stay concealed and not to fire unnecessarily.

Major General Fitz John Porters V Corps had been sent to pursue Lee once it was learned that the Confederates had evacuated their lines at Sharpsburg, and Pendleton was still tinkering with his cannon placements when the V Corps vanguard came into sight on the Maryland side of the Potomac on the 19th, at about 8 in the morning. Federal skirmishers quickly filed into the bed of the C&O Canal and began popping away while the Union gunners started wheeling their cannons into place.

Seventy Union cannons eventually began to hammer Pendletons position, and the salvos drove the Rebel infantry back from positions near the ford and overpowered the Southerners attempts to return the cannon fire. Some Southern cannonballs did take effect against Battery K, 5th U.S. Artillery, fatally wounding one man and breaking the legs of two of the batterys horses. Pendletons gunners suffered much more, however. Captain Victor Maurin of the Donaldsonville Artillery, a Louisiana battery, started the day with six guns. He sent three smoothbore guns to the rear due to their short range, along with a 3-inch rifle for which he had no long-range fuses, forcing Maurin to rely only on his two 10-pounder Parrott rifles to answer Porters bombardment. His battery lost 20 horses during the artillery duel, and a Yankee shell wrecked one of his 6-pounder caissons.

Colonel James Gregory Hodges, serving as commander of Armisteads Brigade, sent Pendleton anxious dispatches as the Union fire grew heavier. They have opened another battery on us, and are bringing up one more, read one report. Later Hodges passed along a report from Colonel Edward Claxton Edmonds of the 38th Virginia. Edmonds, under fire from 20-odd enemy guns, warned, we have not a piece of artillery in position, firing. He added, There is nothing to prevent the enemy from crossing except the line of sharpshooters on the river.

Edmonds was right. Early in the afternoon, a detachment of the 1st U.S. Sharpshooters under Captain John B. Isler arrived at Botelers Ford. At about 5:30, Isler received orders to cross the ford and attack the Rebels. His skirmish line was so long and scattered that Isler could only round up 60 of his sharpshooters. They had some difficulty finding the ford, but fortunately they were covered by the 4th Michigan while they slogged through the river. The Confederate gunfire, though brisk, only hit four men during the crossing. The 4th followed Islers men across the river, and they climbed up the bluff overlooking the ford and set up picket lines.

Pendleton had responded to earlier threats by dispatching several hundred men to bolster the batteries on his left and sending another detachment to strengthen his right. He had never commanded infantry and kept such a hands-off approach that he never even asked his brigade commanders how many men they had. Had he asked, he would have learned that he had about 600 men. Only half of Lawtons Brigade was left after the Maryland fighting, and Lawton himself was wounded. Many of the men still with the brigade lacked weapons. The 9th Virginia of Armisteads Brigade was down to 50 or 60 men. Reinforcing the flanks left Pendleton 300 men to protect Botelers Ford.

When Pendletons battery commanders ran low on ammunition and pleaded for him to allow a withdrawal, he ordered them to hold on a bit longer. Dusk was near, and he thought they could soon withdraw quietly under the cover of darkness without tipping off the Yankees to their desperate situation.

An exhausted Confederate gunner, whose battery of smoothbores was pulled back from the range of the Yankees rifled pieces, had stretched out on the ground to grab some sleep. He awoke to find the woods across the river ablaze with the fire of heavy guns. Worse, a battery of 20-pounder Parrotts had found their range in a most uncomfortable manner, and it looked like a million Yankee infantrymen were massing to cross the river. His comrades were quickly mixed in helter skelter race for the road which was jammed with men, guns, horses, limber chests without the guns, caissons, officers on horseback and on foot, all in a confused mass and all making the best possible time to.the rear of General Lees army.

The Confederate infantry near the river broke under the bombardment and the advance of Islers sharpshooters. Pendleton found out only when he saw some of them speeding by him toward the rear. Just two of his staff officers were present, and he sent one to confirm the tale of disaster at the ford and the other to supervise the withdrawal of the guns. Pendleton found Brig. Gen. Roger A. Pryor, who was commanding the division usually led by Maj. Gen. Richard Anderson, who had been wounded, and told him what had happened. Pryor was reluctant to order his battered division to mount a counterattack in the dark and sent Pendleton to find divisional commander Brig. Gen. John Bell Hood. Pendleton rode on alone, looking for aid from Hood or anyone else with more authority. His desperation and anxiety grew to near panic by the time he located Lee and awakened the commander. The brigadier had not seen a trace of any of his guns for hours, and as far as he knew every one of them had been taken.

As Pendleton disappeared into the gathering night, his officers and men struggled to drag their guns and caissons out of danger. Captain Maurin found the only road out was swept by enemy fire, so he was obliged to cut across fields and fenceswithout a guide. One of his Parrott rifles, pulled by exhausted and hungry horses, fell behind and was abandoned in the dark. Maurin sent Lieutenant R.P. Landry to lead the gun to safety, but after much delay he found it blocked by a stretch of impenetrable woods. Hearing the shouts of Yankee soldiers getting nearer, Landry spiked the gun and headed back to join the battery.

Three other Confederate batteries lost guns and caissons, as well as several horses each. Luckily for them, the Union sharpshooters and volunteers who crossed the river were ordered to pull back to the Maryland side. They had been unable to climb the cliffs to the Confederate artillery positions until nearly all of their guns had been removed. Southern gunners managed to save all but four of the 44 guns that General Pendleton thought were lost.

Private memoirs reveal frank anger and irritation toward Pendleton that was smoothed out of the official reports. Mary Anna Jackson, Stonewalls widow, wrote in her memoirs that the news of this appalling disaster caused Jackson more anxiety than he had ever shown during the war. Lee took it calmly, realizing that there was nothing to be done until dawn, when Jackson could deal with the Yankees. Pendleton recollected he went off to sleep on a handful of straw, my covering an old overcoat.

Jackson quickly learned of the potentially dire situation. The weakened Army of Northern Virginia was scattered for miles, a painfully large portion of its artillery was reported as captured and Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuarts cavalry was miles upriver, making a demonstration against Williamsport, Md. Stonewall wasted no time and about 6:30 a.m. ordered the nearest Confederate infantry unit, Maj. Gen. A.P. Hills Light Division, to Botelers Ford.

As the sun rose over their camps in Maryland on the 20th, Union soldiers finished their coffee and fell into line to march across Botelers Ford again. First, a detachment of infantry took some horses from Battery D, 5th U.S. Artillery, to scoop up the Rebel guns abandoned the day before. It was sweet revenge, as one of the guns had been captured from Battery D at the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861. Brigadier General George Sykes division of U.S. Regulars followed close behind. The Regular regiments, while tough and reliable, were understrength because many of their companies were still scattered in distant frontier posts. Sykes expected some cavalry to scout the area ahead of him, but orders reached the horsemen so late that they crossed about the same time as the infantry. It was the first in a chain of mistakes that would plague the Federals that day.

The bluecoats headed toward Shepherdstown along a road that ran along a narrow strip of bottomland underneath a tall cliff split by a ravine. The Federals filed past a large abandoned brick building that had once housed a cement mill. A dam across the river had diverted water to power the mill. Also nearby stood three stone limekilns with large arched openings that faced the river. A steep road twisted its way up the ravine to the top of the cliffs.

Major Charles S. Lovell took the 2nd Brigade of Sykes division to a belt of woods a mile or so from the river and sent out a skirmish line to within what he thought was 30 or 40 paces from the edge of the woods. They had expected their cavalry to reconnoiter the area, but to their surprise, Lovells skirmishers spotted enemy troops approaching them. Lovell quickly sent word to Sykes. A short distance upriver, a woman forded the Potomac at Shepherdstown to alert the Union army that a large force of Confederates was marchingto Botelers Ford. A quick look through a spyglass was enough to confirm her warning.

Meanwhile, other units were crossing the Potomac, including Colonel James Barnes brigade of Maj. Gen. George W. Morells division. Among Barnes regiments was the 118th Pennsylvania, a green regiment that had left Philadelphia for the war only three weeks before, after barely a month of training. The Philadelphia Corn Exchange, a financial market that speculated in agricultural futures, paid for their equipment and a $10 bonus for each man, and the regiment was therefore nicknamed the Corn Exchange Regiment. During the Battle of Antietam, they had been in the reserve and so had not yetseen the elephant.

The 118th splashed into the Potomac River with orders to march to Shepherdstown. Despite the cold water, they were in high spirits and laughed when any unfortunate comrades slipped and stumbled into the river. Not knowing that Lovells pickets had spotted enemy troops, they thought it looked like the Rebs had skedaddled and it would just be an easy days march. The Pennsylvanians waded ashore, then halted long enough to replace their socks and shoes before being hustled off to take a position atop the cliffs.

Captain Francis A. Donaldson of Company H of the 118th, however, felt uneasy about the circumstances; the lay of the land was all too familiar. On October 21, 1861, Donaldson had been with the 71st Pennsylvania at the Battle of Balls Bluff. Now he found himself once again with his back to a high cliff overlooking the Potomac, with the Army of Northern Virginia somewhere to the west.

Donaldson had good reason to worry. Lovells pickets had spotted Hills Light Division. The brigades of Brig. Gens. Maxcy Gregg and William D. Pender and Colonel Edward L. Thomas were marching out of a cornfield toward the Union pickets. Right behind them were Brig. Gen. James J. Archers and Colonels James H. Lanes and John M. Brockenbroughs brigades. A veteran of the 33rd North Carolina recalled that the day was extremely hot, and the sufferings of the men were great.

Pendletons cannons had moved so far to the rear that no Confederate artillery was in position to support Hills infantry, and the Yankee guns across the river poured shot and shell into the Confederate ranks with no concern for counterbattery fire. The shellfire wasso accurate that theyd hit a litter carrying off our wounded, or our canteen men, going across a ridge in our rear for water, according to a man of the 18th North Carolina. Hill wrote that his men were unflinching in the face of the most tremendous fire of artillery I ever saw.It was as if each man felt that the fate of the army was centered in himself.

Porter, seeing the unexpectedly aggressive Confederates sweeping toward his forces, ordered a withdrawal. The Regulars extricated themselves with so little trouble that one of them felt like going back for more. Private Daniel Webster Burke of the 2nd U.S. Infantry was back on the Maryland side when he realized that one abandoned Rebel cannon had not been spiked. He got permission to go back and take care of the gun. Confederate lead tore through the air around him as he forded the river, spiked the cannon and turned back to rejoin his comrades. In 1892 Burke, who had stayed in the Army and had attained the rank of colonel, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his conspicuous bravery that day in 1862.

Among the other bluecoat regiments getting their baptism by fire that day was the 20th Maine Infantry. Ten months later, they would win immortal fame for their crucial stand on Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg. Their second in command, Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, rode a borrowed horse partway across the ford to direct reinforcements who were being sent to cover the withdrawal. The ford there was passable, but deep enough that the infantrymen were in danger of being swept off their feet and lost in the current. After the infantry had waded past Chamberlain, a bullet struck his mount. The wounded horse dumped Chamberlain into the river, but the officer dragged himself dripping wet but unhurt to the bank. Chamberlains regiment performed well during its first time under fire. Despite some initial fear and confusion, only three of his men were wounded; one had accidentally shot himself with his musket.

The 118th Pennsylvania would not get off so easily. They were positioned across a ravine from their compatriots when couriers brought orders for neighboring regiments to retire across the river. The messenger sent to the 118th delivered the orders to a line officer, who relayed them to the colonel. Men from other regiments yelled across a ravine to relay the same orders. When word reached Colonel Charles Mallet Prevost, he spurned the messages, saying: I do not receive orders in that way. If Colonel Barnes has any message to give me, let his aide come to me.

Prevosts men quickly regretted his cavalier attitude toward the orders. Not only were the rookies facing Hills veterans, but half the Enfield rifles issued to the 118th had defective mainsprings, and the hammers could not strike hard enough to pop the percussion caps. Some men, dazed by the shock of their first combat, were not even aware that their rifles were not firing and rammed cartridge after cartridge into them. As men gave up and tossed away their useless weapons, others grimly held on and pounded on the hammers with rocks to force them to fire. Officers searched desperately for rifles dropped by the dead or wounded, hoping to find some that still worked.

Colonel Prevost grasped the regimental standard, waving the banner to steady his men and urge them forward. A musket ball slammed into his shoulder and ended the brief rally. Command passed to Lt. Col. James Gwyn. An aide brought new orders to retreat; Gwyn made no pompous objections to their form and heeded them. The intensity of Hills attack and the inexperience of the regiment began to tell. The 118th fell back to the edge of the cliff and broke up in panic and confusion. Men rushed and tumbled down the steep hillside and streamed into the river as Hills men reached the edge of the cliff and unleashed their fire at the fleeing Pennsylvanians. A Tar Heel soldier of Penders Brigade watched them take the water like ducks. Other Confederates took cover in the cement mill, firing out of the windows. It was the repeat of Balls Bluff that Donaldson had feared.

Some of the 118th took shelter in the old limekilns near the cement factory. There, they had to dodge not only Rebel fire but also their own artillery. The gunners across the river were cutting the fuses too short, and shells exploded among the men trying to take shelter along the riverbank. Donaldson believed one Union shell alone killed 12 or 15 of their own soldiers, and he watched several of his men rush with a white flag to the Rebel lines to escape the friendly fire.

Crossing the Potomac under combined enemy and friendly fire seemed less dangerous than staying, and most of the Pennsylvanians decided to risk it. Some waded into the water, while others threaded their way across the mill dam, which in places was knee deep in water. Musket balls tore splinters from the slippery planks of the dam as Colonel Prevost was carried across. Many men were shot down before they could get to safety. Lieutenant J. Rudhall White only had time to give thanks to God for reaching the other side when a musket ball fatally struck him.

The 118th began the fight with 737 men. When the fighting died down around 2 p.m., three officers and 60 men had been killed, 101 were wounded and 105 were missing. Their 269 casualties constituted the bulk of the 361 Union men lost during the battle. Hill was satisfied at driving the Yankees back across the Potomac, and made no attempt to follow. Confederate losses numbered 30 dead and 261 wounded.

The Confederates, jubilant with victory, believed the Union cost was even higher. Hill thought that he had seen the most terrible slaughter that this war has yet witnessed. The broad surface of the Potomac was blue with the floating bodies of our foe.

Some of Prevosts men blamed his stubbornness for the regiments losses. The wound he received while waving the regiments flag in the teeth of the enemy attack, however, not only saved Prevost from any official censure but eventually got him a brevet promotion to brigadier general.

The Battle of Shepherdstown was the last bloodshed of the 1862 Maryland campaign. The minor disaster convinced McClellan that caution should be the byword when pursuing Lees army. His Union forces reoccupied Harpers Ferry but went no farther, and the Federal general seemed content with reports from his signal posts that the Army of Northern Virginia was remaining static.

Lincoln grew even more impatient with McClellan after Lee escaped with no more than the half-hearted attack repulsed at Botelers Ford. If Pendleton blundered at Botelers Ford on September 19, and Lee erred in placing him with only two weakened brigades to guard the ford, the chain of Federal mistakes the next day tipped the balance in favor of the South.Confederate newspapers seized the chance to bring a bit of good news to offset the bloody battle on September 17, and disappointment over the failure of the invasion of Maryland. Best of all, Lees weary soldiers had some time to rest in their camps along Opequon Creek. As Captain John Esten Cooke of Stuarts staff put it, for a time the enemy had learned their lesson, and were quiet.

This article was written by David A. Norris and originally appeared in the September 2005 issue of Americas Civil War magazine.

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In the 1890s many veterans of the Civil War became motivated to record their experiences. Some of the accounts were published, but many others remain undiscovered in archives. The reminiscences of William Warden Patteson, a resident of Culpeper County, Virginia, were recently found in the manuscript collection of the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore. They reflect his experiences between 1862 and 1865. During the summer of 1862, Patteson was a 15-year-old youth living with his family at his fathers farm outside the town of Culpeper Court House.

That summer, momentous changes came to the Culpeper region, brought about by Union Maj. Gen. John Pope and his Army of Virginia. Frustrated by the failure of the national forces to achieve victory over the Confederates on the Virginia Peninsula, Washington had established Popes army and directed it to move into Virginia and threaten Richmond fromthe west. Pope ushered in a change in Northern war policy by issuing a series of orders, approved by President Abraham Lincoln, that gave sanction for his forces to live off the land and to harshly treat Southern civilians. To crush secessionist attitudes, war was to be made not only on the Rebel armies but also on the local population.

Patteson recalled the ominous directives in his memoirs: In the Summer of 1862, General John Pope of the Union Army was ordered to Culpeper and told to subsist off the people of that and the adjoining counties, his orders to his vandals were to take any and everything of value and what they could not carry away to destroy which these brutes did effectively.

After his army had robbed the citizens of everything of value they carried off many of its best citizens to prison because they were Southern. Indeed, Popes orders served to inflame the passions of Southern civilians as well as soldiers. Even Army of Northern Virginia commander General Robert E. Lee, normally restrained in his demeanor, referred to Pope as a miscreant and his soldiers as robbers and murderers.

To counter the Union push into Culpeper County in mid-July, Lee sent Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Stonewall Jacksons wingof his army westward, setting in motion events that would lead to the Battle of Cedar Mountain on August 9, in which Patteson participated.

In the following excerpts from Pattesons reminiscences, which begin on August 7, he describes fleeing the family farm with his uncle, the Reverend William J. Warden, and joining up with Jackson to serve as a free fighter for one weeks service:

We pressed on to Gordonsville getting there about 10 oclock, we soon discovered that General Jackson had taken up his headquarters at another splendid Virginia ladys home, Mrs. Phillip Barbour. She had sent for him and his staff to come to her home. She was a great Presbyterian like the General and we at once went there.

My uncle had been a school mate of the General and were great friends.

No boy could have been happier than I was when introduced to him. He asked me where I lived and I told him in Culpeper and that I had heard that our home with hundreds of others had been ransacked and everything on the place of value taken away or destroyed. We told him briefly of our loss of horses and escaped.

I said dear General I want to get home.

I see no way but in helping you whip these Yankees. I am a good shot and want a good rifle and if you will give me one I will do my best. He at once wrote the order & in 30 minutes I had a new rifle and 50 rounds of ammunition. How proud I was when that matchless Christian soldier held my hand and said I know you will do your duty. I had gotten tired of retreating.

I soon found the 21st Va. Regiment of Infantry, 2nd Brigade under then General [Charles S.] Winder of Baltimore who lost his life two days after this at [the Battle of Cedar Mountain]on August 9th 1862. The Company I went with, E of the 21st, I knew nearly every member when they first went out over a year before. Then they had first gotten through thedays of fighting around Richmond and lost 57 men by sickness, death and wounds [and] had then only 28 men. Five of these were Pattesons. They gave me a hearty welcome and that evening of August the 7th, we marched to Orange, Virginia. 10 miles.

The next night we camped in Madison County going by Liberty Mills. My uncle stayed with General Jackson and the next day getting with a battery of Artillery the officers of which he knew, did good service when the battle came on in (the) morning. One of the guns whose officers had been killed or wounded he did services with them and they greatly loved him saying Parson you can fight well like you pray.

When we went into camp on the evening of August 8th, I told the boys as they were broken down I would skirmish around and see what I could get good to eat and after going to five houses, each filled with our men, I struck a fine farm and the lady of the house said my dear soldier boy if you will wait a while, I will have you a good supper. But it was growing late and I was more than a mile from camp and the home was filled with men and thanking her I said if you will give me some apples and peaches I will go back.

She said, take all you can carry. I soon filled a bag I brought and struck for camp getting there after sundown. (Soon after leaving this farm house a regiment of [Brig. Gen. John P.] Hatchs Yankee Cavalry came up and captured nearly everyone in the house.) As we formed the next day we passed the house.

When I got to camp nearly all of the boys had eaten their supper and gone to sleep except a cousin George R. Patteson who I slept with. He said Will I want some fried apples and took a servant boy. They had a lot of canteens and [went] down to a spring across the road in a corn field [to get] some water. So many asked that I took some [canteens]and off went with him, we had just gotten to the spring when the moon came out from under a cloud and coming down in the corn field was a long line of Yankee cavalry. They had come so noiseless that had not his boy seen them we both would have been captured.He said they are Yankees and we both struck for camp  they calling us to stop. We at once aroused the camp. The drums beat and soon every one was in arms. They did not come any further but fell back. We did not sleep very much that night.

Early next morning we were on the march to Culpeper County. You see I was a free fighter to go and come as I pleased, for I was underage. (My uniform was a black jacket and what was once a white pair of pants and [I] carried along the same pair of saddlebags which amused the boys very much.) We pushed on at a rapid walk not stopping to eat any thing & about oneoclock orders came to hurry up and we double quicked for two miles or more.

Pattesons first taste of battle came during the artillery barrage that opened the fight at Cedar Mountain. At 2 oclock we had barely gotten into position when every Battery in Popes Army opened on us, ours replying. We had not over half as many pieces of Artillery, but Stonewall came thru to whip that braggart and his thiefs & we did it. We layed for (3) hours under this heavy artillery fire of shells and shrapnell. While we were under this fire a school mate said to me Warden why did you come in here? If I had been in your place I would not have come for a thousand dollars. I said I have come to help whip the Yankees and would not take a thousand dollars for my chance to help whip these devils who have destroyed our home.

At 5 oclock the artillery stopped and the Yanks had advanced close to our lines [in] heavy columns of infantry. I was so delighted when it stopped I did not mind the small balls that were flying through the timber and around my ears like swarms of bees  but jumped up. My cousin George R. Patteson pulled me down saying here come the greatest danger. I told him I did not mind the little ones but I soon found out. We were on the extreme left of our Army and Popes army being so much largerattacked us in front and rear.

Just at this critical moment General Jackson rode up close to our company and told our Colonel to hold that part of the line at all cost. We heard what he said and we gave a cheer saying General we will hold this until the last man is dead. In a few minutes we had driven back two heavy columns of infantry, but in our rear [the Federals] having (10) men to our one broke through.

But just at this most critical time two of our regiments  Virginia and Alabama men attacked them in the flank and with such a Rebel yell that no Yankee yet has been able to stand and they thru down their arms and most of them ran panic stricken over us. Many we killed and took prisoners. It was the turning point and in a few minutes Popes army was in a retreat. He [Pope] who had made the statement that he had never seen any but the backs of the rebels, had to run himself  he had never met Stonewall before.Our division lost nearly 50% in killed and wounded. The Company I was in had over half killed and wounded (our brigadier General Winder was killed also our Colonel [Richard H.] Cunningham and 2 lieutenants of our County).

We drove them back a mile & a half and just around sundown they threw five thousand Cavalry against our lines to try to break through. We were drawn up in line in a field near a large body of timber where Hatchs cavalry were ready to make the charge. Orders came for every man to put double charges of balls in his guns. My gun had been shot 50 times and I had only wiped it out once and in ramming down the last charge the steel ramrod [got] hung [up] and I could not get it out. My cousin said it would burst if you shoot it out that way. Take this rock and beat it down which I did. I was in the front rank kneeling down. The rear rank stood up with fixed bayonets. When they came charging out of the woods one of them was riding on a fine sorrel horse. I said look boys I am going to get that fellow and let drive at him and he went down with his horse. The charge from my gun had torn his side to pieces and the steel ramrod had gone in him and struck something and down into the saddle. The recoil from my gun was so heavy that it knocked me over and nearly broke the arm of one of our men behind me. My Captain [William P. Mosely] said Warden I did not know I had a piece of Artillery in my Company before.

This was on Saturday and I stayed on the battlefield until Monday and then withdrew to Orange. General Jackson [was] trying then to cut off heavy reinforcements coming from Fredericksburg to Popes relief.

My uncle found me and we both thinking we could get to Culpeper quicker, tried another route back through Madison County. We got in sight of the town as the last of Popes rearguard were going out.

In an hour both of us were at home. But such a change. One of the main dwellings had been burned down for wood & all but one of the other buildings. No fencing, no crops, no stock, no timber. Servants all taken away and nothing but bare ground left.

They told us when Popes army came in hundreds of them came there and took everything they could find of value away. No bedclothes, silverware, dishes or anything to eat left and they were breaking up and taking the furniture away.

While some of Pattesons account may be exaggerated, his determination to fight with Jackson and his comments on the Union army are indicative of the passions aroused by Popes measures. The battle-seasoned youngster remained with his family until 1863, when he again left home to fight for the Confederacy. That time he served with Colonel John S. Mosbys 43rd Battalion, Partisan Rangers.

This article was written by Scott M. Sherlock and originally appeared in the July 2002 issue of Americas Civil War.

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In the conditions of real war, the feeling of uncertainty is magnified, and this makes the opponent much more sensitive to crafty deception  so that even the most threadbare ruse has succeeded time after time.

 Sir Basil Liddell Hart

Desperate times require desperate measures, and in warfare few are more cunning  or dangerous  than the desperate. Although the Federals did manage to pull off their fair share, it was the Confederates who were responsible for the majority of the hoaxes that were perpetrated during the Civil War. This stands to reason considering the Souths predicament. Desperately lacking in both men and materiel, Rebel commanders were often forced to resort to correspondingly desperate measures, such as deception, in order to mask or offset those deficiencies. Some, including famed cavalryman Nathan Bedford Forrest, would even attain near legendary status for their seemingly magicianlike talents. It was Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson, however, who best defined the Confederate tricksters creed when he wrote, Always mystify, mislead and surprise the enemy.

Not surprisingly, Southern commanders developed a particular affinity for Quaker guns. By wars end they would become veritable masters of the bogus battery ruse, employing it at such places as Charleston Harbor; Corinth, Miss.; Columbus, Ky.; Richmond; Shreveport, La.; and Corpus Christi and Galveston, Texas. The Quaker was, however, but one of the many devices to be found in the Rebel bag of tricks. In fact, the methods for deceiving an opponent were limited only by the tricksters imagination. In the category of Civil War deception, the names John B. Magruder, P.G.T. Beauregard, Forrest and Robert E. Lee stand above the rest.

John B. Magruder

Known to his contemporaries as Prince John, Magruder was renowned for his florid and sometimes theatrical bearing. Accustomed to living like a grand seigneur on a line officers pay, he would often go to remarkable lengths in order to keep up a lavish appearance. Given these characteristics, it should not be surprising that Magruder would have been entirely in his element as he fought for a fledgling nation whose own resources were stretched beyond its means.

Magruders first curtain call came in April 1862 at Yorktown, where he was confronted with the task of impeding Maj. Gen. George B. McClellans advance on Richmond until reinforcements could arrive. His main problem lay in the fact that he could muster no more than 13,600 men with which to hold off an estimated 55,000 Federals.

As it developed, the Army of the Potomacs progress was brought to a grinding halt by the unexpected course of the Warwick River. Military maps of the time had it running parallel to Maj. Gen. Erasmus Keyes intended route when, in fact, it ran directly across his path. Operating on McClellans left flank with the IV Corps, Keyes was even more disturbed by the discovery of equally unexpected enemy fortifications on the opposite bank of the severely flooded stream. As he surveyed the situation, Keyes could also hear the foreboding sounds of drumrolls and of cheering men emanating from behind some woods to the enemys rear. Even more distressing for Keyes was the sight of enemy columns filing across various gaps in the woods. Sufficiently impressed by what he had seen and heard, Keyes concluded that the enemys position was a strong one and that further reconnaissance would be required before any attempt could be made to take it.

In truth, most of what Keyes had seen or heard had been nothing more than a grand illusion, compliments of Magruder. The defenses that stretched along the entire 14-mile length of the river had been real enough, but due to a lack of sufficient troops, most were only lightly manned. To throw off the Federals, a handful of Magruders men had been kept marching from one location to another. Arriving at a designated scene, the soldiers-turned-actors would then go about entertaining their Yankee audience with a staged setting depicting a strongly garrisoned position. Once satisfied that the onlooking Federals were suitably impressed, the troupe would then proceed to the next position and put on a new show. Keyes was oblivious to the fact that many of the enemy columns he had observed filing through those various gaps were often the same units, which had simply doubled back under concealment of the woods.

As for the cheering, the drumrolls and the general commotion that was emerging from behind the woods, the majority of these noises had been nothing more than engineered sound effects, designed to complete the illusion of a large army. With considerable irony, Keyes wrote, Wherever the enemy has shown himself I have shown a force to confront him, and I think he must suppose I have an immense army. Keyes did not know the half of it.

Eventually McClellan, too, became convinced that Magruder had twice his actual numbers. Already plagued by a string of recent problems both on the Peninsula and back in Washington, McClellan opted to lay siege to Yorktown. In the end, the Confederates, including Magruder and his troupe of players, would exit stage right before McClellans artillerists were finally able to bring their siege guns to bear. Adding insult to injury, Magruder left a few Quakers behind in the abandoned works. For John Magruder, all the world truly was a stage.

P.G.T. Beauregard

A flamboyant figure to be sure, Beauregard seems to have had a natural flair for trickery. At Charleston Harbor, his use of Quakers and various other contrivances would play an essential role in warding off the Union blockading vessels. At Petersburg in June 1864, the hard-pressed and severely outnumbered Creole devised a series of ruses that ultimately kept Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants numerically superior forces at bay until Lees reinforcements could arrive. His most famous ploy, however, took place at Corinth in May 1862. On the Federal side, it was Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck who was initiated into the realm of Confederate deception.

Following a sluggish month-long advance from Pittsburg Landing, Hallecks forces  numbering well over 100,000  finally reached Corinth on May 28. Coming up against the enemys fortifications, Halleck was immediately struck by the apparent strength of the bastion. Having already convinced himself that the enemys numbers were equal if not superior to his own, he cautiously proceeded to invest the stronghold. Peering out from behind these formidable works was Beauregards Army of Mississippi.

On the night of the 29th, many in the Federal lines were kept awake by the constant sound of trains and of men cheering as each one of these arrived. One of those sleepless Federals was John Pope, commanding the Army of the Mississippi on Hallecks left flank. Unnerved by all the commotion, Pope finally wrote Halleck, The enemy is re-enforcing heavily, by trains, in my front and on my left. The cars are running constantly, and the cheering is immense every time they unload in front of me. I have no doubt, from all appearances, that I shall be attacked in heavy force at daylight. Perhaps Popes anxieties had been heightened by the equally ominous sight of Rebel artillerists standing by their guns, their figures silhouetted by myriad enemy campfires. Certainly the sounding of taps and tattoo, being played all along the Confederate lines, would not have helped matters any.

Whatever misgivings Pope and Halleck may have had, these were cast aside the next morning when it was learned that the enemy had stolen away during the night. They, along with many others in the Union rank and file, had been taken in by an old-fashioned sleight of hand. In truth, the Rebel force had scarcely exceeded 50,000 fighting men, and faced with such overwhelming odds, Beauregard wasted no time in devising a plan aimed at getting his troops out of their precarious situation.

Contrary to Popes belief, the Army of Mississippi had not been reinforced the previous night but was instead withdrawn from Corinth in a prescribed and orderly fashion. To mask the evacuation, Beauregard had arranged for an empty train to be run back and forth along the Memphis & Charleston tracks. It was also he who had instructed the men to cheer every time it rolled in, thereby giving the impression reinforcements were arriving. The sounding of taps (played by a single band that had been shifted from place to place) and the seemingly endless stream of campfires had also been nothing more than embellishments on the theme. To complete the illusion, drummers had even been left behind to beat reveille on the morning of the 30th. As for the Quaker guns, most were still manned by stuffed dummies, many bearing painted-on grins to torment the Federals all the more when discovered.

It could genuinely be said that, at Corinth, Beauregards hand had been quicker than Hallecks eye.

Nathan Bedford Forrest

Nathan Bedford Forrest was without question the most daring and cunning cavalryman to emerge from the Civil War. So legendary were his exploits that he is now widely remembered as the wizard in the saddle.

Many adages have been ascribed to Forrest, the most famous of course being Get there first with the most men. Less famous but equally intuitive was his maxim that stressed the need to keep up the scare. It was during the earlier of his two famous Tennessee raids that Forrest first put his own wise words into practice. In the early morning hours of July 13, 1862, he and his 1,400 horsemen swept down on the strategically important hamlet of Murfreesboro. Slumbering peacefully there were 1,040 Union soldiers belonging to two infantry regiments whose separate camps were situated 1 1/2 miles apart.

Almost immediately, Brig. Gen. Thomas T. Crittenden  the garrisons recently appointed commander  was captured along with his entire guard. As these events were unfolding, a number of Confederate sympathizers were rescued from the local jail while, elsewhere in the town, large quantities of equipment and supplies were also being liberated from Union hands. Most commanders would have considered all of this a good days work, but not Forrest. I did not come here to make half a job of it. Im going to have them all, he would reply when urged to quit while he was ahead.

As for the garrisons troops, those who had not already been shot or captured as they scrambled out of bed did eventually manage to form a line of battle. On the eastern edge of town, the 9th Michigan gave a good account of itself and could conceivably have fought on. But finally, under a flag of truce, Forrest duped Lt. Col. John G. Parkhurst into believing that the rest of Crittendens force had been captured and that no quarter would be given should the 9th continue to resist. The issue having been put to a vote, the regiment, along with a detachment of cavalry, ultimately surrendered en masse.

Forrest now turned his attention to the 3rd Minnesota, which, together with a four-gun battery, was still holding out 112 miles northwest of town. Forrest must not have relished the thought of going up against those four guns, especially considering he had gone into action with no artillery of his own. Still, he was not going to be satisfied until he had bagged the whole lot. He issued his no-quarter terms once again, but this time Colonel Henry Lester, the 3rd Minnesotas commander, insisted on being given proof that the 9th Michigan had surrendered. Forrest complied with Lesters request by escorting him on a tour of the by now Rebel-controlled town. Once satisfied that the Michiganders had indeed capitulated, Lester felt he had no choice but to follow suit.

In addition to snaring Crittenden and his entire command, Forrest also seized a considerable amount of much-needed supplies. Intent on a clean sweep, he had the booty loaded onto 60 Union wagons that were, in turn, pulled by a bevy of captured horses and mules. Most prized of all, however, were the four guns that Lester had so graciously turned over. A rare mixture of military skilland bluff is how one admirer summarized the Murfreesboro raid.

One of Forrests more humorous stunts took place in May 1863. Following a grueling five-day cat-and-mouse chase that had stretched over 150 miles, Forrest finally caught up with his prey near Rome, Ala. Penned up were 1,400 worn and frazzled cavalrymen under Colonel Abel D. Streight.

In a smoke-and-mirrors display that included the transformation of two artillery pieces into a 15-gun array, Forrest eventually fooled Streight into believing he was severely outnumbered. Like Parkhurst and Lester before him, Streight was finally compelled to surrender. The story goes that Streight later became incensed when he learned that it was he who had actually outnumbered his wily opponent by a margin of 3-to-1. Furious, he demanded that Forrest return all surrendered weapons and further insisted that the two sides resume the fight. Of course, Forrest declined Streights request. With a chuckle, he then patted his downtrodden captive on the shoulder and remarked, Ah, Colonel, all is fair in love and war, you know. It is little wonder that William T. Sherman once scornfully referred to the conniving Confederate cavalryman as that Devil Forrest.

Lee and Jackson

It was Robert E. Lee who masterminded one of the most significant ruses of the entire war. In May 1862, Lee surmised that a portion of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks force in the Shenandoah Valley might be preparing to link up with Irvin McDowells contingent at Fredericksburg. This was a cause of great concern to Lee, who recognized the danger McDowell would pose if sufficiently reinforced. As it developed, one of Banks divisions was making its way toward Fredericksburg, where McDowell was preparing for a pincer movement against Richmond. Meanwhile, on the Peninsula, McClellan had been ordered to effect a junction with McDowells left flank.

When he learned of McDowells proposed movement, McClellans reactions were mixed. Several weeks earlier, at the outset of his Peninsula campaign, the Army of the Potomac commander had been dismayed to learn that McDowells I Corps had been withheld from him. Convinced that an insufficient number of men were left behind to protect the capital, President Abraham Lincoln had compensated for the perceived shortfall by retaining the bulk of McDowells corps. Now, when it appeared as though McDowells command was finally going to be released, McClellan learned that his control over these long-awaited troops would be severely restricted. You will give no order, either before or after your junction, which can put him [McDowell] out of position to cover this city, wrote Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. As if to emphasize the point, Stanton added, The specific task assigned to his command has been to provide against any danger to the capital of the nation. It is clear from Stantons message that the government was still somewhat apprehensive over Washingtons security. Apparently Lee perceived Lincoln and Stantons anxieties and, as a commander who was always ready to capitalize on an enemys weakness, devised a plan by which those fears might be turned to the Souths advantage. To accomplish this he looked to Stonewall Jackson, commanding the Valley District.

On May 16, Lee set events in motion when he counseled Jackson on the importance of preventing any of Banks troops from reaching Fredericksburg. A successful blow struck at him would delay, if it does not prevent, his moving to either place [Fredericksburg or the Peninsula]. Then came the crux of Lees message: Whatever movement you make against Banks do it speedily, and if successful drive him back toward the Potomac, and create the impression, as far as practicable, that you design threatening that line [emphasis added]. Still stinging from his defeat by elements of Banks command at Kernstown on March 23, Jackson was more than pleased to comply with Lees request.

Within a matter of days, Jackson pounced on a segment of Banks force at Front Royal, causing Banks to scurry northward toward the Potomac. On the 25th, Jacksons foot cavalry caught up with Banks at Winchester, where the successful blow was finally delivered. Beaten, Banks limped over to the Maryland side of the Potomac. Ever mindful of Lees instructions, Jackson now advanced on Harpers Ferry, thereby creating the impression Lee had so very much desired. Lincoln and Stanton anxiously monitored these events back in Washington.

Earlier that year, Stanton had astounded many, including Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, with his reaction to the news of the emergence of CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac) from Hampton Roads. He was at times almost frantic, wrote Welles, who went on to describe how Stantons hysterics became contagious, even affecting a normally composed William H. Seward. Lincoln, too, was apparently infected by Stantons paranoia, so much so that he could not deliberate, and was repeatedly observed joining Stanton at the window overlooking the Potomac River, to see if the Merrimac was not coming to Washington.

Now, in May, with Jackson lurking threateningly close to Washingtons doorstep, Stanton was exhibiting those same traits. With each new report regarding Jacksons movements he became more and more nervous until finally he began sending panic-stricken messages to state governors. By all indications Lincoln again fell prey to Stantons paranoia, and on the 24th he wired McClellan, In consequence of General Banks critical position I have been compelled to suspend General McDowells movements to join you.

On the 25th, Lincolns trepidation surged when he became convinced that the bulk of the Rebel army was massing for an attack on Washington. To McClellan he wrote: I think the movement is a general and concerted one, such as would not be if he [the enemy] was acting upon the purpose of a very desperate defense of Richmond. I think the time is near when you must either attack Richmond or give up the job and come to the defence of Washington. Let me hear from you instantly. In an attempt to mollify Lincoln, McClellan assured the president that the mass of the rebel troops are still in the immediate vicinity of Richmond, adding, The object of the movement is probably to prevent reinforcements being sent to me. Others, including McDowell, echoed McClellans wholly accurate views. Perhaps due to Stantons continued influence, and certainly to Lees delight, Lincoln remained steadfast in his conviction, going so far as to write McClellan, That the whole of the enemy is concentrating on Richmond I think cannot be certainly known to you or me.

As if to ensure that Lincoln did not have a change of heart, Jackson, whose force barely exceeded 17,000 men, maintained his threatening posture into the opening days of June. By then, Old Jack had surpassed even Lees wildest expectations. Not only had McDowell not been reinforced, he and the greater portion of his command had been ordered by Lincoln to proceed to the Valley  away from McClellan and Richmond.

Having reached the Valley, McDowell, along with Banks and Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont, was directed by Lincoln to combine in a three-pronged effort to entrap Jackson. In one of the most masterful campaigns of the war, Jackson threaded his columns through the Federal pincers, and defeated Fremont and Brig. Gen. James Shields, respectively, at the battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic.

By June 15, Lincoln had finally caught on to Jacksons game. Echoing McClellans May 25 counsel, the president now wrote Fremont, [Jacksons] assigned work is to magnify the accounts of his numbers and reports of his movements, and thus by constant alarms keep three or four times as many of our troops away from Richmond as his own force amounts to. Thus he helps his friends at Richmond three or four times as much as if he were there. By then, however, the point was moot. On June 17, his mission accomplished, Jackson slipped out of the Valley to join Lee in a combined offensive against McClellans now totally exposed right wing.

McDowell came away from the affair relatively unscathed. Even so, he must have agonized over the knowledge that he, along with 60,000 other valuable men, had been reduced to the status of pawns in what turned out to be nothing more than an elementary ruse. As for McClellan, he eventually gave up on the idea that McDowell would be released to him, as indeed he never was. Ultimately, Young Napoleons Peninsula campaign came to an inglorious end on the banks of the James River. To what extent Lees deceptive strategy had contributed toward that failure is a study in itself. That it did succeed in altering the course of events on the Peninsula is certain, and it is another reminder of why Lee is still known today as the Gray Fox.

In his famous treatise The Art of War, Sun Tzu wrote, All warfare is based on deception. More than 2,000 years later that tenet still holds true, just as it did on the battlefields of the Civil War. If somewhat rudimentary when compared to those of later wars, Civil War deceptions were no less effective. It is not the means as much as the result that counts.

Our tendency is to ridicule those who have been taken in by deceptive strategies, even labeling them gullible or willing believers. If not unfair to most of the unwitting victims, this view demeans the sometimes considerable and often canny effort that went into many of those ruses. It might be more fitting if we were to look upon those who have fallen prey to military subterfuge not as dupes but as psychological casualties of war. This is especially so when we consider that throughout history, there have been relatively few military men who could boast that they saw it coming. With that in mind, it is entirely fitting that our modern military men should refer to deceptive strategies as psychological operations, or psyops. As for the tricksters, we cannot help but admire them for their cunning and daring.

This article was written by Maurice DAoustand originally published in the June 2006 issue of Civil War Times Magazine.

For more great articles, be sure to subscribe to Civil War Times magazine today!
Throughout the history of warfare, deception has played a pivotal role in the outcome of battles and campaigns. From the Trojan Horse to our modern stealth technology, there are no bounds to which combatants have not gone in their attempts to dupe an unsuspecting foe into committing a fatal error. What is interesting is that, however simple or complex they may be, most well-executed ruses will succeed. Technology may change, but human nature does not  and war is a very human occupation in which the mind and the senses are easily tricked. This was certainly the case during the Civil War. Occurring as it did in the midst of one of the greatest transitional periods in the annals of combat, the Civil War presented many opportunities for guile and trickery. This is borne out by the abundant incidents of deception found throughout the Official Records, as well as memoirs, letters and even war literature. A sampling of the ruses adopted by Union forces is presented here, in the first of a two-part series.

All three corps are crossing the mountainsI think we shall deceive the enemy as to our point of crossing. It is a stupendous undertaking. With these words, Union Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans inaugurated one of the most brilliant strategic deceptions of the entire war. The date was August 16, 1863, and as he stepped off on what would come to be known as his Chickamauga campaign, Rosecrans primary objective was to get his army across the broad Tennessee River. This he hoped to accomplish without being detected by Confederate General Braxton Bragg, whose forces were then situated on the opposite bank at the strategically important rail center of Chattanooga.

In Napoleonic style, Rosecrans sent the bulk of his army on a wide southwesterly sweep toward a series of river crossings. To draw Braggs attention away from this movement, he ordered Brig. Gen. William B. Hazen to feint an attack on Chattanooga. Spearheading Hazens advance was Colonel John T. Wilders mounted Lightning Brigade. Using obscure trails, Wilders troopers covertly made their way east before finally veering south toward Chattanooga, capturing a considerable number of bewildered Rebels along the way. Over the course of the next three weeks, the imaginative Wilder was instrumental in convincing Bragg that Rosecrans was moving in force against Chattanooga from the north. This episode is perhaps best described in Wilders official report: We then commenced making feints as if trying to cross the river at different points for 40 miles above the town, and succeeded in so deceiving them as to induce them to use an entire army corps to prevent the execution of such a purpose.Details were made nearly every night to build fires indicating large camps, and by throwing boards upon others and hammering on barrels and sawing up boards and throwing the pieces in streams that would float them into the river, we made them believe we were preparing to cross with boats.

Entirely taken in by Wilders scheme, Bragg held to his conviction that the main enemy thrust would come from the north, despite reports of Federal crossings to the south of Chattanooga. By the time Bragg realized he had been hoodwinked, it was too late. Screened by 9,000 cavalrymen, Old Rosys columns had crossed the river virtually unimpeded and were now poised on the Confederate rear, thus rendering Chattanooga untenable. On September 7, Bragg reluctantly abandoned the railhead. Chattanooga has been taken without a struggle, wrote an exultant Rosecrans on the 9th. His elation would be short-lived, however. Barely two weeks later, Rosecrans watched almost helplessly as fate turned its back on him during the ensuing debacle that took place along the banks of Chickamauga Creek.

Union Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans successfully duped General Braxton Bragg in August 1863 and crossed the Tennessee River virtually unopposed to take Chattanooga. (Library of Congress)

In many respects Rosecrans maneuver around Chattanooga had mirrored Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants Vicksburg strategy only four months earlier. By his use of various feints, including Colonel Benjamin Griersons celebrated raid through central Mississippi, Grant managed to divert the enemys attention while his columns marched south along the west bank of the Mississippi and crossed over at Bruinsburg. Unlike Rosecrans ill-fated campaign, Grants endeavors would culminate in the siege and eventual downfall of Vicksburg, as well as the surrender of 29,000 Confederates.

If Rosecrans exploits illustrate anything, it is that the Confederates did not hold a monopoly on subterfuge. Given the opportunity, Yankees could be just as crafty as their Southern counterparts, proving it over and over again at such places as Vicksburg, South Mountain and Chattanooga. In his book Chancellorsville, Stephen W. Sears recounts how even the indomitable Robert E. Lee was treated to some of his own medicine in April 1863.

As a prelude to his spring offensive, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker ordered Maj. Gen. George Stoneman to lead 9,800 cavalrymen on a raid against Lees vital Richmond/Fredericksburg supply line. Hooker reasoned that Lee, upon learning that his communications with Richmond had been severed, would be compelled to abandon his Rappahannock line and withdraw southward. Meanwhile, from his position astride the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad, Stoneman was expected to check Lees retreat until Hookers main force could fall on the Confederate rear. In order to mask Stonemans objective, Maj. Gen. Daniel Butterfield  Hookers chief of staff  devised a ruse that was to bear more fruit than even he could have imagined.

Aware that the Rebels had broken the Union signal codes, Butterfield arranged for a semifictitious message to be sent by flag. Phrased in the form of casual signalman-to-signalman talk, it read: Our cavalry is going to give Jones & guerrillas in the Shenandoah a smash. They may give Fitz Lee a brush for cover. Keep watch of any movement of infantry that way that might cut them off & post Capt. C. According to Hookers calculations, a cavalry clash with Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee at Culpeper was anticipated. Butterfields allusion to a subsequent movement into the valley was totally false, however, and designed to draw Marse Roberts attention away from Stonemans true destination.

As hoped, the message was intercepted, decoded and forwarded to Lee, who took it at face value. On April 14, Lee wired Brig. Gen. William Grumble Jones: I learn enemys cavalry are moving against you in Shenandoah Valley; will attack Fitz in passing.General Stuart, with two brigades will attend them. Collect your forces and be on your guard. Later that day, his anxieties for Jones increased when Stonemans riders were observed heading in Fitz Lees general direction, just as the intercepted message had predicted. The hook had been baited. Now fully convinced that Butterfields message was authentic, Lee began shifting his entire cavalry to the north and west as a precaution against Stonemans anticipated movement into the valley. As a result of these new dispositions, Lee had created a 20-mile gap in his line.

When Hooker learned of the breach in Lees defenses, he immediately devised what Confederate Colonel E.P. Alexander described as decidedly the best strategy conceived in any of the campaigns ever set on foot against us. Having altered his plans, Hooker now secretly marched three Union corps through the void and into the Confederate rear and left flank, moves that culminated in the Battle of Chancellorsville.

In all respects, Fighting Joes strategy should have succeeded in destroying the Army of Northern Virginia. In the end, however, Lee turned the tables on his truly luckless opponent when he sent Lt. Gen. Thomas Stonewall Jackson on his famous march around Hookers own exposed flank. Whether the result of seeing a substantial portion of his line crumble under Jacksons attack or as a consequence of being knocked senseless by an exploding artillery shell, Hooker lost confidence and eventually withdrew his forces back to the north bank of the Rappahannock. If Butterfield despaired over these events, he could take some consolation in the knowledge that his trick had played a central role in what perhaps is the greatest Union might-have-been of the entire war.

Throughout the war, both sides became particularly adept at ruses involving the use of fake cannons. Popularly known as Quaker guns, these were usually nothing more than logs whose contours had been shaped to resemble full-size artillery pieces. Once the logs were painted black and mounted onto wheels, it was virtually impossible from a distance to tell them apart from the real McCoy. Strategically placed, these bogus batteries could effectively transform a thinly defended line into one that was bristling with cannon muzzles, and they were often instrumental in thwarting the enemy.

Quaker guns  i.e., anything that could be made to look like artillery from afar  were a favorite ruse of both sides. (Library of Congress)

Due in part to the Norths preponderance in men and materiel, the Quaker gun was not as widely used by Federal commanders. But this is not to say the Yankees were above resorting to the age-old ploy on occasion. At New Mexicos Fort Craig, Colonel E.R.S. Canby certainly had no qualms in this regard. In early 1862, Canby learned that Confederate Brig. Gen. Henry Sibley had left Texas with a sizable force and was making his way toward Fort Craig. Determined to retain this post to the last extremity and wishing to put on as bold a front as possible, Canby bolstered the forts defenses by interspersing a collection of Quakers with his genuine batteries. Arriving in the vicinity, Sibley sent a reconnaissance in force to within a mile of the fort. If the following excerpt from Sibleys report is any indication, the Quakers made a material impression: The reconnaissance proved the futility of assaulting the fort in front with our light metal. Unwilling to test the forts defenses and in need of provisions, Sibley instead chose to conduct a raid on Union supply depots at Albuquerque and Santa Fe. From atop Fort Craigs adobe bastions, Canbys men, some probably regarding their wooden replicas with a degree of affection, would have watched as the dust from Sibleys columns disappeared into the horizon.

At Fort Craig, N.M., Union Colonel E.R.S. Canby (top) successfully used Quaker guns

to discourage an assault by forces of Brig. Gen. Henry Sibley (above), then took the offensive against them after Glorieta Pass. (Library of Congress)

Ultimately, Sibleys New Mexico campaign came to a disastrous end following a run-in with Major John Chivingtons 1st Colorado Volunteers at Glorieta Pass on March 26-28. Their already dwindling supplies having been destroyed by Chivington, Sibleys worn and starving remnants trudged back to Texas, all the while harassed by Canby and the now considerably emboldened men of Fort Craig. Canby, for his part, was promoted to brigadier general on March 31 immediately following the victory.Throughout the war, it was not uncommon for the Rebels to substitute Quaker guns for the real variety as a means of masking a withdrawal. Not to be outdone, the Federals returned the favor on at least two occasions, the first in August 1862 at Harrisons Landing, Va.

Before complying with Abraham Lincolns order to abandon their hard-earned position along the James River, a few of the more creative members of the Army of the Potomac left a welcoming committee of sorts for the Rebels, who they knew would move in on the landing following their withdrawal. Complete with stuffed dummies, the scene was reminiscent of a similar feint that Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard used at Corinth, Miss. According to some accounts of the Harrisons Landing affair, it was days before the Rebels drew up enough courage to approach the position.

In a second incident, a band of civilians from Frankfort, Ky., took matters into their own hands when left to fend for themselves against Colonel John Hunt Morgans Rebel cavalry. In the midst of the 1862 Confederate invasion of Kentucky, Union troops had been forced to abandon the state capital. Before withdrawing they removed two monster cannons from a hill overlooking the area south of town. That night a few of the townsmen came up with the idea of replacing the guns with two empty beer kegs, which they then disguised with a tarpaulin. The story goes that, all the next day, Morgans cavalrymen roamed about the surrounding countryside but dared not enter Frankfort for fear of being fired on by the two supposed guns. Finally, on the second day, they made a bold and daring charge on the `tarpaulin beer-keg battery and captured it without the loss of a man. Only then did the sheepish Confederates become aware that the Federals had left Frankfort, prompting one of them to comment on how they had beensold by the Yanks. Reveling in their success, the pranksters would later boast about how they and the two empty beer-kegs had kept the Rebels from burning all the bridges around Frankfort.

Combat subterfuge was no less effective on water than it was on land. In the naval category, top billing must go to one memorable if not bizarre ruse that took place near Vicksburg in February 1863.

Following a heavy engagement, the crewmen of the severely damaged USS Indianola ran their gunboat aground before they were forced to surrender. Never before had a Federal ironclad fallen into enemy hands, and Indianolas capture must have been a source of considerable irritation for Rear Adm. David D. Porter, in overall command of the U.S. flotilla.

Several days after the Indianola incident, Porter set adrift an old coal barge that, with a bit of imagination and some salvaged materials, had been made to look like a massive 300-foot ironclad. The prank, whose object had been to entice the Vicksburg batteries into wasting ammunition, was to yield wholly unexpected dividends.

As expected, the wooden behemoth drew fire as soon as it came into range of the Rebel guns. Never did the batteries of Vicksburg open with such a din, wrote a gleeful Porter. To the surprise of many, the counterfeit ironclad somehow managed to make it through the gantlet and continued floating downstream toward the site of the still-beached Indianola. On board the captured vessel was a group of Rebel salvagers, who were then hard at work trying to dislodge the boat. Totally unnerved by the sudden appearance of Porters creation, a group of Confederate gunboats, whose crews had been assigned to keep watch over Indianola, high-tailed it to safety. Left to fend for themselves, Indianolas salvagers reluctantly blew up their prize and made for shore. Whether he had intended it or not, Porter managed to have his cake and eat it, too.

The use of deception was not strictly reserved for the upper echelon. From colonels on down to privates, fighting men on both sides were often forced to resort to guile in order to avoid being killed or captured.

Perhaps the most memorable illustration of that kind of deception would be Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlains famous charge at Little Round Top on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. After hours of fending off one Confederate attack after another, Chamberlains 20th Maine had run out of ammunition and probably would not have been able to hold against another onslaught. Aware of his precarious situation and of the calamity that would befall the Union left flank should his line give way, Chamberlain ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge the oncoming enemy. In a textbook example of a right-wheel maneuver, the 20th went careening down the slope. Although most were wielding empty rifles, Chamberlains stalwarts quickly overwhelmed and beat back their awe-struck opponents. Chamberlain had bluffed his way out of his predicament  and in the process likely saved the Unions fortunes that day.

Although few incidents may be as dramatic as Chamberlains feat, there are many other examples of crafty deeds from within the ranks. At South Mountain, Private James Allen of the 16th New York single-handedly captured 14 enemy soldiers by employing a bit of cunning and panache. After becoming separated from his regiment, Allen came upon a small group of Southerners who proceeded to fire one or two volleys in his direction. At this, Allen began waving to an imaginary company that was supposedly approaching from an area to his rear, all the while calling out, Up men, up! Ordered by Allen to surrender and apparently believing they were cornered, the Confederates stacked arms and surrendered. Not taking any chances, Allen  his own musket in hand  immediately positioned himself between the Confederates and their rifles until help finally arrived and his befuddled prisoners could be taken away.

In another similar incident, Lieutenant James Hill of the 21st Iowa stumbled upon three Confederate pickets while riding through dense woods near Champions Hill (or Champion Hill), Miss. Isolated and with three enemy muskets aimed at him, Hill quickly composed himself and nonchalantly ordered the Johnnies to `ground arms. Hill had been so convincing that his would-be captors immediately obeyed. Continuing with the charade, Hill ordered an imaginary guard to come to a halt. As their view of Hills guard was obscured by the heavy underbrush, the enemy pickets suspected nothing. Issuing another series of orders, Hill then marched the guard and his more than compliant captives back to Union lines. As was Chamberlain, both Hill and Allen were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions.

Not quite so notable but no less worthy of mention are many other exploits, including those of Union Colonel Charles G. Harker. As he pushed his brigade forward at Chickamauga, Harker became aware of a numerically superior Rebel force on his front. Undeterred, he cleverly deployed the bulk of his brigade into line of skirmish. Ordinarily, one or two companies of skirmishers would have been indicative of an advancing regiment on the battlefield. Seeing Harkers massive array of skirmishers bearing down upon them, the Rebels were duped into believing they were up against an entire division and promptly withdrew. For this and other acts of gallantry at Chickamauga, Harker was promoted to brigadier general. He is only one of the many unsung heroes whose acts of cunning have gone relatively unnoticed in history books.

Given their vaunted Yankee ingenuity, it is not surprising that the Northern rank and file had a natural flair for slyness. But however adept they may have been at duping the enemy, Federals were not immune to having the wool pulled over their own eyes. After all, Every good trick deserves another, and as more than a few Union commanders were to learn, the Confederates had more than a fair share of tricks up their sleeves.

This article was written by Maurice DAoustand originally published in the May 2006 issue of Civil War Times Magazine.

For more great articles, be sure to subscribe to Civil War Times magazine today!
Daniel Pierce

Corporal

1st Marine Div.; 3rd Marine Div.

March 1966-March 1967;

Jan. 1968-May 1968

I joined the Marines in 1965 and went to boot camp in San Diego. I was a very bad Marinespent time in the motivation platoonbut I could PT the hell out of anybody and that was my salvation, basically. My first time over to Vietnam was on a ship, and wading to shore in Da Nang with a sea bag, no guns, I thought, What are we, nuts?

On my first tour in 1966, I was fortunate to have combat-experienced men teach me the ways of war and, more importantly, how to stay alive. I wasjust a kid off the farm, and I gleaned every bit of knowledge I could off of these guys. I was a rifleman assigned to Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines. It was mostly small skirmishes, ambushes, sniper fire and lots of antipersonnel mines.

I had about 12 days to go before my tour was over when I got wounded in March 1967. I was third in line on a squad patrol. The point man set off a 60mm mortar round booby trap that was buried in a paddy dike. I had shrapnel in my face, hands, legs, torso. Lost a part of my left kidney. Some bowel damage, groin. I was awake the whole time. It punctured my lung and I couldnt breathe.

I spent a couple of months in the Great Lakes Naval Hospital. From there, they put me in Marine Barracks because I had a few medals. It was a terrible place to be for me, because it was dress blues and escorting bodies at Midway Airport. They also had me speak to Kiwanis, Lions and Rotary clubs. They made my life miserable, so I volunteered to go back to Vietnam, where I felt I could actually make a difference. Only it was a whole different war when I went back in January 1968.

In Da Nang, the first thing that struck me was the whole airport was bombed out. It was a chaotic mess. The Tet Offensive took out Khe Sanh and Hue City, and the North Vietnamese were hitting other strategic spots. I went to Bravo 1/3, north of Dong Ha, where I saw the North Vietnamese walking rocket fire across the Cua Viet River. They blew up the fuel dumptremendous fire. During my first tour, it was mostly Viet Cong that we fought, where in 68 it was all NVA, and they were better equipped and better trained than the American forces were.

End of April, we were TDY to Marine Battalion Landing Team 2/4 on an operation to save Dong Ha Marine Combat Base from being overrun by elements of the NVA 320th Division. Two platoons got on amtracs to cross the Bo Dieu River on April 30 to sweep toward the village of Dai Do to hook up with the 2/4, but we got pinned down and surrounded not far from the river.

Caught in a hornets nest, we were being shot right off the amtracs by the North Vietnamese. This was really the first sustained action the guys had seen. Before we even crossed the river, the company commander, the gunnery sergeant, the executive officer and the 2nd Platoon commander were all killed. There was a fortified village right where we crossed the river, and the NVA had dug in there. We finally made it across but sustained more heavy casualties and had to back out and set up for a harrowing night.

I had lost my closest friend; he was killed in that assault on the village. I went kind of wacko after that and started taking chances.

The next day, we again went into the village. The Vietnamese had crept out during the night and had re-formed across this canal. We got on the amtracs and started crossing this wide-open graveyard, and we got pinned down again. I was trying to get to the tree line, and I had my radioman with me. I was doing stuff I shouldnt have been doing, but I had no business taking chances with his life. We both were hit. A few years ago, I got a hold of him and apologized. He didnt think I did anything wrong.

I got shot about 4 p.m. and was kind of left out there. Afterwards a few guys said they tried to get to me but couldnt. I crawled out, and finally a corpsman from 2/4 helped me back to the river. Because of the heavy fighting still going on, they wouldnt bring any medevacs. The bullet went through my diaphragm so I couldnt breathe, and they put me in the back of an amtrac with other wounded. They were doing their triage deal, figuring I wasnt gonna make it. Once in a while a corpsman would come back and check on me and go away. Finally I grabbed him by the shirt and I go, Get me the fuck outta here, cause I aint dying.

Excellent doctors at Dong Ha Field Hospital saved my life. I was shot in the kidney and had prior damage to my other kidney from 67, so I had renal failure. They sent me to Japan for dialysis, and my left kidney started working again. From there I went to Bethesda, where I spent about four months and was medically retired from the military.

Ive looked down many avenues to stop the hurt and the guilt and the pain. I went to the Wall about eight years in a row. I left all my medals there, because I thought thats where they belonged. One night I was sitting there. It was dark, everybody was gone and I heard the fellas say, Its OK, you can go home now. So I went home. But Im still looking for peace. Theres gotta be a landing zone somewhere.

From the documentary Wisconsin Vietnam War Stories, by Wisconsin Public Television, www.wisconsinstories.org/vietnam.

This story was originally published in the December 2010 issue of Vietnam magazine.
The 49th Wing welcomed its new command chief, June 22.

Chief Master Sgt. Barrington Bartlett, the 49th Wing command chief, has taken his position as the principal senior enlisted advisor to the wing commander on all issues regarding the welfare, readiness, morale, and proper utilization and progress of the enlisted force.

My main priorities are to ensure that Im aligned with the wing commander and the mission here at Holloman to move the wing forward, develop the enlisted force and make sure the airmen have what they need to accomplish the mission in as comfortable of an environment as possible, said Bartlett.

Of the many issues Bartlett must focus his efforts, the personal and professional development of Airmen ranks at the top of his list.

Developing Airmen is the most important to me, said Bartlett. Instilling a sense of balance in them to understand that even though there are mission requirements, family requirements and personal goals, they must understand how important it is to find a balance between those things.

Bartlett has served in the Air Force for nearly 26 years. After enlisting in the Air Force as an Aircraft Structural Maintenance specialist, he spent the early parts of his career repairing physical damage and maintaining the high quality structures of Air Force aircraft.

The recollection of his experiences as a maintenance Airman are what led him to pursue his goal of becoming a command chief.

I desired to become a command chief because I could remember when I was an airman and I wanted to spread what Ive learned throughout the years, said Bartlett.

I feel like I developed late in my Air Force career and I look back and think How much more could I have accomplished if I would have started earlier and if someone would have been there to lead, guide and help me along the way?.

Bartlett continued.

My job is to understand the commanders intent and the direction that he wants to move the wing forward in so that I can carry that message to the populace, said Bartlett. Then, the force can get a better understanding as to the reasoning behind the decisions we are making. I feel that people do more and are more effective and efficient when they understand the why? behind the what were doing.

Formerly serving as the 56th Maintenance Group superintendent at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, Bartlett and his family were thrilled when they learned they would be heading to the Alamogordo, New Mexico area.

My wife Veronica and I were very excited to come to Holloman because we were looking forward to coming to a smaller town, said Bartlett. In our experience, there is a greater sense of community on the base and with our partners in the surrounding cities. Im looking forward to getting to know as many people as possible and really getting a chance to experience Alamogordo and New Mexico as a whole as much as I possibly can.

The command chief is a prominent position in the wing and some personnel may feel as if it would be difficult to engage with them personally. Bartlett wants to destroy that stigma.

Im approachable-- no matter who you are, from E-1 to O-6 or civilian, said Bartlett. I will definitely take the time to talk to you. Whether it seems like I have time or not, I will make time. Thats what I want people to understand about me more than anything else,

Bartlett considers himself a servant leader and takes pride in knowing he can potentially make an impact through understanding the needs of the airmen at Holloman.

I work for you all. Im here to make sure that the wing commander understands the concerns of the enlisted force. Im in a position where I have the wing commanders ear and can affect some changes by using my voice to voice your concerns. It really is an honor and privilege to be in this position. Not only to be in this position but to serve the Airmen, said Bartlett.

Bartlett continued.

It is not about me, said Bartlett. It is totally about the Airmen that get the mission done each day. Thats the approach that I have every day that I am in this position and I look forward to doing it.
Illinois Must Add PTSD To Medical Marijuana List, Judge Rules

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jun 29, 2016 4:07PM



Flickr user tefennell4

Illinois must add post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of afflictions eligible for medical marijuana treatment, a Cook County judge ruled on Tuesday.

The Medical Cannabis Advisory Board had already unanimously approved the addition of PTSD to the list, but Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav Shah stalled by initiating his own investigation and determining PTSD ineligible.

That didn't fly with Judge Neil Cohen, who called Shah out for balking:

"The Director's legal duty was to review the evidence, review the advisory board's recommendations based thereon and render a final decision accepting or denying the proposal. Instead, Director Shah engaged in a private investigation, hidden from public view and more importantly, hidden from the parties, and arrived at his conclusion based thereon. This process was constitutionally inappropriate."

Illinois has 30 days to add PTSD to the list of qualifying conditions, the judge ruled. A follow-up hearing will take place to ensure the standard has been met.

The case was filed by military veteran Daniel Paul Jabs. "He feels this decision gives him and other military veterans suffering from PTSD the respect they deserve from the state and the governor's office," attorney Michael Goldberg said Tuesday, according to the AP.

Similar lawsuits have been filed in Illinois related to other conditions, including chronic post-operative pain, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, polycystic kidney disease, osteoarthritis, intractable pain and autism, the AP reports.

Gov. Bruce Rauner had previously opposed expansions to the Medical Cannabis Pilot Program, which began under former Gov. Pat Quinn. But last month Rauner reportedly agreed to a compromise with lawmakers that would extend the program to July 1, 2020 and add PTSD and terminal illness as qualifying conditions, among other provisions.

So it may all be beside the point soon. But still, good on the judge for doing the right thing and also administering a pretty delicious smackdown.
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Four Points by Sheraton Havana Hotel Opens in Cuba

Marks First U.S. Based Hospitality Company to Enter Cuba in Nearly 60 Years

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) today announced a historic milestone with the opening of Four Points Havanathe companys first hotel in Cubarepresenting a watershed moment for the fast-growing Four Points brand. The opening comes on the heels of the groundbreaking deals signed by Starwood in Cuba earlier this year, which established Starwood as the first U.S. based hospitality company to enter the market in nearly 60 years. Four Points Havana, owned by Grupo Hotelero Gaviotaand managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts, caters to the global traveler with an emphasis on approachable design and stylish comfort.

Four Points Havana offers 186 spacious guest rooms, 1,000 square feet of market-leading meeting facilities, full-service dining at Don Quixote, breakfast and lunch service at El Olivo, and poolside light bites. Amenities include a 24-hour fitness center, a business facility and a fully equipped spa, offering a variety of massage treatments and a sauna and steam bath. The hotel features the brands signature Best Brews offering refreshing local beers Cristal and Bucanero at the hotels lobby bar. It also offers Wi-Fi throughout the hotel. The new Four Points is located in Havanas Miramar districta business and financial center which houses many international embassies.

We are thrilled to once again be pioneers with our groundbreaking entry into Cuba, offering our guests a way to stay with Starwood in this sought after destination, said Jorge Giannattasio, Starwoods Senior Vice President and Chief of Latin America Operations. As one of the most successful brands in the Latin America region, the Four Points brands aggressive footprint18 hotels in 9 countriescaters to business travelers from around the world. We are confident that it will be a perfect fit for this dynamic market.

The opening of Four Points Havana marks a monumental moment for not only the Four Points brand, but for Starwood Hotels & Resorts, solidifying its innovative, first-mover spirit, said Brian McGuinness, Senior Vice President of Specialty Select Brands for Starwood. With its uncomplicated comfort and reinvented travel experience, Four Points Havana will be the ideal choice for global travelers as they experience Havanas colorful history, rich architecture and unparalleled culture.

With over 200 hotels in nearly 40 countries around the world, Four Points boasts Starwoods largest pipeline and continues to penetrate new markets, globally. The brand is on track to expand its portfolio of rooms by more than 60% in the next five years.

Since the agreement was signed, Starwood has made significant life & safety upgrades to the property to ensure that it meets the companys global standards. As of today, reservations at the property can be made through the companys booking channels globally and SPG members may earn points for staying at the hotel and redeem points to stay. Travelers from the United States must meet all of the travel requirements established by the U.S. government. Four Points by Sheraton Havana will continue to undergo upgrades and improvements over the next few months.
The art of choosing a good watermelon at the market has sparked a heated discussion in China's social media.

Farmers choose watermelons for their customers by tapping the produce at a wholesale market in Zouping county, Shandong province.[Dong Naide/For Chian Daily]

The discussion - with thousands of people contributing on Sina Weibo - began when a Chinese social media user posted a picture of a sign at a supermarket asking customers not to knock on the watermelons.

The photo, which went viral, was originally posted by a user nicknamed "Isolated Guardian".

The sign, which was written in Italian, was seen sticking out of a cart of watermelons in what seems to be an Italian market. The photo was widely shared after Chinese media outlets reported that the message was aimed at Chinese customers.

Chengdu Commercial Paper, for example, posted the following blog seeking Chinese commentary:

"An Italian market set up a sign for Chinese customers: 'Dear customers, please do not tap the watermelons again. They really will not respond!!!' If you were there, what do you want to say to the Italian supermarket?"

The post was shared 7,700 times in the first day. Many netizens found the picture amusing and shared photos of themselves listening for a response from watermelons.

"Knocking before eating is the basic respect we show to watermelons, like saying to them: 'Are you ripe? Are you ready to be eaten?" joked one netizen.

"We have been communicating with watermelons for thousands of years. We can hear their life story with a simple knock," another remarked.

While some netizens seemed to have fun participating in the melon musings, others of more serious mind wanted to know the truth behind the news reports, asking, for example: "Excuse me, which word means Chinese?"

A few netizens expressed anger at the media for spreading rumors.

One responded to the post: "If this sign is aimed at Chinese customers, it should have been written in Chinese. Shame on you."

"Isolated Guardian" removed the post later, claiming the photo of the Italian market was an old one and was not taken by himself.

A quick search online reveals that Chinese shoppers are not alone in tapping on watermelons and listening for a hollow sound. A lot of videos and blogs with advice on how to choose a ripe watermelon can be found on Google.

Melon thumping even appears in an episode of Russian cartoon Nu, pogodi, the BBC reported.

The pinnacle of melon-picking advice may be a smartphone app developed by a group of Chinese students to help a customer identify a good one. The app, called Ting Xi Gua, or "Listen to the Watermelon", picks up the sound when you tap on a melon, analyzes it and decides whether the watermelon is ripe enough.
Viceroy Anguilla Resort

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Starwood Capital Group today announced that Four Seasons will assume management of the Viceroy Anguilla resort, which is owned by funds affiliated with Starwood Capital Group. Following the Resort's annual closure from August to October, the property will reopen as Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences Anguilla.

The 35 square-mile (91 square-kilometre) island of Anguilla is one of the only islands in the British West Indies to maintain an embargo on cruise ships, casinos and high rise hotels, preserving the natural beauty, culture and tranquility of the island. Framed by endless white sand beaches, serene bays and rugged coral coastline, Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences Anguilla is located along the island's northwestern shore, offering 3,200 feet (975 metres) of pristine beachfront and unobstructed views of the Caribbean Sea's breaking surf.

Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences Anguilla will feature 166 accommodations including dedicated resort guest rooms, whole-ownership beachfront private residences, 5,000 square-foot (465 square-metre) villas, and vacation rental units. Offering secluded luxury amid a high-end atmosphere popular with families and celebrities alike, guests and residents of Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences Anguilla will enjoy access to world-class dining, an 8,100 square-foot (753 square-metre) spa and a wide range of pool and watersport activities. Casual yet chic, the property will elevate seaside luxury on the island, combining sleek, modern design and stunning natural surroundings with Four Seasons legendary quality and service.

"Four Seasons is known all over the world for operating some of the finest luxury hotels and resorts in the world, and we're excited to bring their level of expertise in resort and private residence management to Anguilla as we continue to make additional improvements to the already magnificent property. Four Seasons is committed to the highest standards of service and care. For our guests and current and future residential owners, we look forward to re-opening the doors of our Anguilla resort as a Four Seasons later this year and elevating Caribbean luxury to new levels," says Barry Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO, Starwood Capital Group.

"This is a unique opportunity to extend our presence in the Caribbean and offer luxury travellers a Four Seasons experience at the best resort property on the island," comments J. Allen Smith, President and CEO, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. "This is our first venture with Starwood Capital Group and we look forward to leveraging our combined strengths and shared commitment to excellence as we introduce a world-class Four Seasons resort to Anguilla later this year."

Four Seasons has had a presence in the Caribbean for more than 25 years, having operated Four Seasons Resort Nevis since 1990. Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences Anguilla will be the second resort in the company's Caribbean collection.
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Mexican-based Alkoer announce a joint venture to develop two Staybridge Suites hotels in the cities of Irapuato and Silao, both in the state of Guanajuato.

The Staybridge Suites Irapuato hotel will be located eight miles north of downtown Irapuato along Federal Highway 45 and in close proximity to the Marabis Plaza, home to retail and food and beverage outlets. The Staybridge Suites Silao hotel will be situated in the Guanajuato Inland Port, the main business park in the Bajio region, and next to the Del Bajio International Airport. Both nine-story hotels are slated to open in late 2017.

German Ongay, RVP Franchise Sales & Development Mexico, IHG said: We are extremely pleased to continue to grow the Staybridge Suites brand in Mexico. The brand is designed to create a warm and social environment for travelers who are away from home for weeks or months at a time and we will be able to provide home-like accommodations and amenities for those visiting both Irapuato and Silao."

The Staybridge Suites brand is designed for business and leisure travelers who are spending an extended time away from home for business, relocation or leisure. Both 120-room properties in Irapuato and Silao will each feature a mix of 84 studios, 24 one-bedroom suites and 12 two-bedroom suites and will provide guests with amenities such as a complimentary, daily American-style hot breakfast buffet and The Social  the Staybridge Suites brand's complimentary evening reception. These properties will have on-site guest laundry facilities, 24-hour fitness and business centers, home theater, an outdoor swimming pool and outdoor living room with barbecue and fire pit.

The hotels are part of a joint venture between Alkoer and IHG and will be managed by an affiliate of IHG. In Mexico, Staybridge Suites hotels are located in Chihuahua, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Queretaro, and San Luis Potosi.
Carlson Rezidor Announces Two New Radisson Blu Hotels in Saudi Arabia

Rezidor, part of the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, announces two new Radisson Blu hotels in Saudi Arabia: the Radisson Blu Resort Half Moon Bay, Al Khobar (158 keys) and the Radisson Blu Hotel, Buraidah (120 keys) will welcome the first guests already in Q4 2016. Saudi Arabia is a focus country for us, and we now operate and develop 30 hotels with 6,000 rooms in the Kingdom. Saudi Arabias travel & tourism industry is set to rapidly grow, and we want to support this promising sector together with our experienced regional partners, commented Wolfgang M. Neumann, President & CEO of Rezidor. Radisson Blu is Europes largest upper-upscale brand, Africas fastest growing brand  and also a leading player in the Middle East where our portfolio is young and our brand awareness high. Our aim is to further build on this strong platform and constantly unlock value for our owners and guests, added Elie Younes, Executive Vice President & Chief Development Officer of Rezidor. The Radisson Blu Resort Half Moon Bay is located on the west shore of Half Moon Bay, 50km south of Al Khobar city, and mainly attracts leisure guests as the area is famous for weekend breaks and family holidays. The resort is a conversion of an existing property and features 158 rooms, suites, chalets and villas. Guests enjoy 2 restaurants, a lobby cafe and a beach cafe, a pool and a kids pool, a male gym, a female spa with indoor pool, a recreation area, and a prayer room. Business travellers benefit from a 80sqm meeting room. The Radisson Blu Hotel, Buraidah is located in Buraidah, capital of the Al Qassim Province and a principle production centre of the country  the city is well known for its dates, lemon, orange and cereal farms. The new built property comprises 108 rooms and 12 villas, an all-day-dining restaurant, 6 meeting rooms on a total surface of 270sqm, and a gym. The site is easily accessible from the Northern Ring Road and 25km away from the regional airport that serves regional and international destinations.
In this exclusive featurette, Byrne sheds light on the reason why he joined the Marco Polo cast.

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Keep Me Singing will be available as part of a CD/concert ticket bundle

Van Morrison releases his 36th studio album, Keep Me Singing, through Caroline Records on September 13.

It comprises of 12 Van originals written in collaboration with acclaimed lyricist Don Black, and a cover of the Alfred Baggs and Don Robey blues standard, Share Your Love With Me, which has previously caught the ear of Aretha Franklin and Kenny Rogers.

The collection can be pre-ordered from his website as a bundle that includes tickets to The Mans upcoming shows at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool (November 7 & 8); Playhouse, Edinburgh (13); Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow (14); Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham (28) and 02 Apollo Theatre, Manchester (29).

A neat idea, which you imagine other artists might want to adopt.
Reported by Hket.com on June 24, a group of women recently come to a park in Xi'an frequently to lie on the heated landscape stones in the sun. Why? Because they believe the thermal therapy from the hot stones can warm up their stomach and back and cure diseases.

A women lies on the heated landscape stone in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province on June 24, 2016. [Photo: Cankaoxiaoxi.com]

Doctors suggest they should be careful when engaging these folk prescriptions. It is not a scientifically regarded way to get effective treatment by lying on hot stones to cure diseases, and furthermore that people can easily get burned or have a heat stroke in the sun.

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2 blasts at natural gas plant

Two explosions and a fire late Monday rocked a natural gas plant in southern Mississippi, where flames shot out of the building for hours and one of the blasts could be felt up to 10 miles away, authorities said.

"The two workers on duty were in a safe room at the time of the two explosions and were not injured," Jackson County Emergency Management Director Early Etheridge said. He said the plant's processing area was heavily damaged.

The plant near Pascagoula had just been sold to minority owner Enterprise Products Partner, a Houston company, from majority owner BP. Enterprise had owned 40 percent and BP 60 percent, said company spokesman Rick Rainey. He said officials would start an investigation into what caused the explosions.

Shareholders at Cardtronics approve move

Stockholders of Houston-based Cardtronics voted to move the company's place of incorporation to the United Kingdom, the ATM owner and operator announced Tuesday night at a special stockholder meeting.

The company's European headquarters will be in London and its North American headquarters will remain in Houston. Moving the place of incorporation from Delaware to the U.K. should become effective early in the third quarter.

In April, the company cited its substantial business presence - including about 60 percent of its global workforce - in the U.K. and other reasons for the move.

Google has new way to manage personal data

SAN FRANCISCO - Google is trying to make it easier for you to manage the vast pool of information that it collects about your online activities across phones, computers and other devices.

Among other things, a new privacy tool will enable the more than 1 billion people who use Google's search engine and other services to block certain ads from appearing on every device that they log into, instead of having to make a special request on each machine.

Some users of Google's search engine, Gmail and Chrome browser will start receiving notices about the new option this week, but it will take several weeks before it's available to everyone.

Dow Chemical will eliminate about 2,500 jobs

Dow Chemical says it will eliminate about 2,500 jobs worldwide, or about 4 percent of its workforce, which is tied to the recent restructuring of its ownership in Dow Corning.

Dow Chemical will shutter silicone manufacturing plants in Greensboro, N.C.,and Yamakita, Japan.

The Midland, Mich.-based company is also looking to close some administrative, corporate and manufacturing facilities, but did not give further details on their locations.

In other news

The Treasury Department auctioned $31 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.260 percent, down from 0.270 percent last week. Another $26 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at 0.340 percent, down from 0.400 percent. The Federal Reserve said the average yield for one-year Treasury bills edged up to 0.55 percent from 0.53 percent.

Shigehisa Takada, the chief executive of Takata, said Tuesday he would step down, as the embattled car parts supplier looks to attract much-needed financial support to deal with the fallout from defective air bags and the largest automotive safety recall in history.

Nestle has selected health care executive Ulf Mark Schneider as its new CEO, the first chief executive brought in from outside the Swiss company since 1922 as the food and drinks giant seeks to evolve into a nutrition, health and wellness business. Schneider is a 50-year-old German and American dual national.

From staff and wire reports

From staff and wire reports
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A nurse at Memorial Hermann Health System has sued the hospital chain for allegedly requiring her to work without pay during her lunch break, the latest in a series of similar wage cases that nurses have brought against health care providers.

Meghan Stewart, a nurse who began working four years ago at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, filed suit on Friday in U.S. District Court in Houston, claiming that she and more than 4,000 of her co-workers aren't paid for tending to patients during their meal periods. The filing came the same day other nurses settled a similar lawsuit against Houston Methodist Hospital.

That suit, filed two years ago on behalf of some 5,000 nurses, nursing assistants, and patient-case assistants at Methodist Hospital, alleged that they were not paid during lunch breaks, but still had to respond to patient calls, meet with physicians and perform other duties. The case was settled Friday, but terms were not disclosed.

A spokeswoman for Methodist said she could not comment because of the confidentiality agreement.

Lawsuits over unpaid meal breaks are becoming more common in health care as providers try to control costs, workplace specialists said. But hospitals aren't alone in the drive to lower labor expenses.

"It's happening in the oil fields, health care, it's happening everywhere," said Gregg Rosenberg, an employment lawyer in Houston who is representing Life Flight workers in a separate case involving unpaid meal breaks at Memorial Hermann. "People are realizing they're not getting paid for the time they've worked."

As more employees get their back wages, word gets around, he said, which leads to more cases.

In 2013, for example, North Cypress Medical Center settled a case involving unpaid meal breaks, agreeing to pay an undisclosed amount of back wages, including overtime, to its nurses, according to the settlement letters filed with the court. North Cypress, which denied in court documents that it violated any federal laws in its wage practices, said it did not have enough time to respond.

In January, a former paramedic who worked for Life Flight, the helicopter ambulance service, sued Memorial Hermann, alleging that he and co-workers stationed at an airport in Baytown must clock out for a 30-minute lunch break each day. But the paramedics, nurses and pilots can't leave the facility during their breaks and must be ready to respond to emergencies.

In May, U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison rejected a request by Memorial Hermann to dismiss the case.

The latest case against Memorial Hermann involves nurses who worked during the past three years at the Texas Medical Center, and other Memorial Hermann hospitals in Katy, Memorial City, Northeast, Greater Heights, Southeast, Southwest and The Woodlands.

Employees are required to clock in at the beginning of their shifts and clock out at the end, according to the lawsuit. They are not required to clock out for lunch, but Memorial Hermann deducts 30 minutes from their paid workday.

A spokeswoman for the health system, Alex Rodriguez Loessin, said "Memorial Hermann is firmly committed to compliance with all employment laws."

Galvin B. Kennedy, an employment lawyer in Houston who is representing Stewart, said nurses at Memorial Hermann can ask to be paid for their lunch break on a day-by-day basis, but are discouraged from doing so. The nurses earn between $15 and $50 an hour, he said.

Kennedy also represents the nurses at Methodist and North Cypress.
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In a deal with federal regulators, Ikea announced Tuesday that it would recall 29 million chests and dressers after at least six toddlers were crushed to death in tip-over accidents.

The move by the Swedish company, the world's largest furniture seller, represented a crucial victory for consumer advocates in a yearslong effort to hold it accountable for a growing death toll of young children dating to 1989.

The head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a stark warning to owners of furniture included in the recall. "If you have or think you have one of these products, act immediately," said the commission's chairman, Elliot Kaye.

Alan Feldman, a Philadelphia lawyer who is representing three of the families of toddlers in lawsuits against Ikea, said he welcomed the recall, but wished it had been issued much sooner.

Lars Petersson, the president and chief executive of Ikea USA, said the recalled furniture was never intended to be free-standing, but rather secured to walls with provided straps.

"If you are assembling correctly, the product is actually a very safe product," he said Tuesday.

Petersson declined to comment on the lawsuits brought by families, which accuse the company of knowing about the deadly risks and failing to do anything about it.

A child dies, on average, once every two weeks in accidents that involve the toppling of furniture or bulky television sets, according to the safety commission. Every year, about 38,000 people visit emergency rooms for injuries related to tip-over accidents, a majority involving children under 5.

As part of the agreement Tuesday, Ikea agreed to pick up the recalled furniture from customers' homes and issue a refund, or to install an anchor that secures it to the wall.
Harris County commissioners voted Tuesday to grant Amazon a tax break to build a warehouse and fulfillment center that would employ 1,000 people in north Harris County.

The abatement, which passed unanimously after no one spoke out during a public hearing on the matter, would save the online retail giant an estimated $179,073 annually for 10 years while adding millions more than that to local tax coffers, according to a report prepared for Commissioners Court.

The deal is only the fourth tax abatement granted in Harris County since 2012, economic development director Annie Yang said. Earlier this year, commissioners signed off on a tax break for UPS, she said.

"It does not happen very often," she said, adding that the Amazon deal also is more generous than usual.

Under the agreement, Amazon will invest $136 million to build an 855,000-square-foot warehouse in the Pinto Business Park at the southwest corner of Interstate 45 North and Beltway 8. The report for commissioners says the project will increase the property's value by $116 million. In return, the county will waive 65 percent of taxes on $82 million of that increase.

Yang said previous abatements were for just 50 percent, but the companies involved had promised to add far fewer jobs.

The report also estimates Amazon would pay $393,314 in annual taxes on a completed project, compared with the $61,012 the property at Pinto Business Park is earning now.

Still, local economist Bill Gilmer, director of the University of Houston Bauer Institute for Regional Forecasting, expressed skepticism.

"It's called economic development, but it's actually a game that companies and cities play," he said. "It's a way to make sure cities don't act like a monopoly and take advantage of taxing power.

But most logistical facilities are there on the north side of Houston, so I still have to be a little bit skeptical."

Competition to lure the center was another factor in the decision, said Mark Seegers, spokesman for Commissioner Jack Cagle, who represents the precinct where the facility would be built. Amazon claimed, according to county documents, that it had alternative sites with lower tax rates in mind at its facilities in Haslet and San Marcos and an out-of-state site.

A representative for Amazon could not be reached for comment.

The fulfillment center would include warehouse and distribution space meant to serve the region surrounding Harris County.

The report to commissioners estimates the center would have annual economic impact of $172.9 million.
You might be planning a cruise to Mexico this summer -- Cancun, perhaps, or Tulum. You have a vague guilt complex about the fact that your income is probably quite a bit higher than the average Mexican's. And maybe you wonder: Am I actually doing this country any good?

That's been a complicated question over the years. Tourism has been criticized for exploiting developing countries, with most of the profits accruing to multinational corporations rather than local businesses. It's also sometimes seen as a sideshow to powerhouse industries like manufacturing and finance.

But it appears that tourism has actually been an unalloyed boon for our southern neighbor, with far-reaching impacts that benefit both the local economies that play host to visitors as well as the economy overall.

That's the conclusion of a rigorous new study from two researchers at the University of California Berkeley, Ben Faber and Cecile Gaubert. They looked at the holistic impact of tourist destinations along the Mexican coastline, and found that both international and domestic tourism has added 4.4 percent to the average Mexican household's real income.

The news is even better for the immediate areas where tourists play. In those cities, an extra 10 percent in tourism spending leads to a 2.8 percent boost in employment. And that's not just from people working in hotels and restaurants. It also comes from a "spillover effect" onto local manufacturing, which ramps up to produce goods that the tourism industry consumes, and is strengthened by the service industries like banking and consulting that gravitate to tourist activity.

On the national level, the manufacturing part of that impact doesn't amount to much, since much of the local factory activity stimulated by tourism is offset by reductions elsewhere. But the overall influx of tourist dollars remains to circulate through the Mexican economy.

Perhaps for that reason, Mexico has come to increasingly rely on tourism, which supplied 14.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2014, according to the World Tourism and Trade Council. And tourism exports have grown by an average of 11 percent per year over the past few decades in developing countries, far outpacing agriculture and often surpassing manufacturing itself.

But maybe you're going to Belize or Vietnam instead of Mexico. Would the impact there be similar to what Faber and Gaubert found? "The cautious answer has to be that no one really knows," Faber says. "Having said that, the mechanisms that we find to be at play are economic forces that should operate in any market environment."

That's economist-speak for "yeah, probably." So wherever the exotic location you're off to, in a strictly economic sense, let your conscience rest easy.
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A Facebook executive, Nicola Mendelsohn, recently predicted that the social networking site would be all video within five years. Meanwhile, a recent article in The New York Times chronicled the lives of a group of young socialites  the Snap Pack  who plan their nights around snapping photos for their followers. The reporter explained, For them, taking photos and videos from Instagram and Snapchat is not a way to memorialize a night out. Its the nights main event.

These two stories each arrive at the same conclusion: Images are taking over.

Increasingly, images have become a crucial part of communicating with others, receiving affirmation and documenting new experiences. And though it may seem that a barrage of colors and pixels and faces and scenery could only enrich our imaginations and enhance our engagement with the world, the opposite seems to be taking place.

In her article Instagram Is Ruining Vacation, journalist Mary Pilon described how, when visiting a temple in Cambodia, a sea of tourists became so preoccupied with capturing the perfect, shareable picture that, ironically, no one was really present.

The compulsive urge to immediately, electronically exhibit ones self is a phenomenon made uniquely possible by our digital age. Yes, there are benefits to being able to share more images with a greater audience. But the impulse to incessantly document and post has taken precedent over simple focus and direct human connection.

While it can be difficult to neatly measure this shift, researchers across a variety of disciplines are beginning to see and understand its consequences.

Life in a self-reflective bubble

As psychologist Sherry Turkle writes in Alone Together, Life in a media bubble has come to seem natural in the 21st century.

With the aid of our phones and computers, no matter where we are or who we may be near, we are constantly connected to and interacting with others.

Psychology professor John R. Suler interprets constant photographing and photo sharing as a quest for confirmation. He writes:

When we share photographs, we hope others will validate the facets of our identities that we embedded in those images. Knowing others can see the picture gives it more emotional power. Feedback from others makes it feel more real.

Instead of staying present  being (and really observing) where we are  our impulse is to capitalize on all lived experiences as an opportunity to represent and express ourselves visually. Part of whats troubling about this kind of tenacious documentation is the thin line between representation or expression and  as with the Snap Pack  the marketing or commodification of everyday life.

Personal photo collections, publicized through applications like Instagram and Facebook, risk primarily becoming a tool for self-promotion. Every narcissist needs a reflecting pool. Just as Narcissus gazed into the pool to admire his beauty, social networking sites, like Facebook, have become our modern-day pool, wrote Tracy Alloway, a psychology professor at the University of North Florida.

In a 2014 study, she and her team examined the relationship between Facebook use and empathy. They found that, while there are elements of social media that strengthen social connections, the ability to share photos and videos particularly feeds our self-absorption.

But repeatedly pulling away from our real time experiences to take out our smart phones  and then frame, photograph, filter and post  has the adverse effect of interrupting focus. By focus I mean the ability not only to closely observe but also to concentrate, to pay extended attention.

In other words, the kinds of attention that were constantly reinforcing through habitual photo-sharing seem to develop at the expense of those that we need to engage with, say, books. Sven Birkerts, author of Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age, links literature with focus, insisting that Works of art are feats of concentration.

An empathy gap?

In a 2013 study hailed by novelists, researchers from the New School for Social Research reported a correlation between reading novels and increased empathy.

Literary works offer us the opportunity to imaginatively linger on (rather than simply glimpse or swiftly scroll through) others experiences of the world. But we can only seize on this opportunity if were able to pay attention  if we allow ourselves to slow down long enough to absorb what we observe.

Taking the time to engage with prose, poetry and even photography has certainly allowed my students and me to carefully investigate the contours of a range of experiences, and how these experiences matter in relation to current events.

If were too busy snapping and promoting photographs, well miss whats happening around us. And we wont be able to give the world the empathy and attention it requires and deserves.

Rebecca Macmillan is a Ph.D. candidate in English at the University of Texas at Austin. A longer version of this article article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Bookmark Gray Matters. It's the night's main event.


GALVESTON  A Jacinto City man was released from LBJ Hospital on Tuesday, days after his leg was amputated following an infection from "flesh eating" bacteria contracted while swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.

Brian Parrott, 50, spent five nights in the hospital and underwent two surgeries, the first on Thursday to remove his right leg below the knee. A second surgery Friday removed an additional two inches infected with gangrene, said his mother, Donna Dailey.

Doctors told Daily at one point that they could not guarantee that her son would survive. A hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday that Parrott was in good condition.

KNOW YOUR RISK: What you need to know about 'flesh-eating' infections caused by bacteria in Texas waters

"I'm just glad he is well enough to come home," said Dailey, who later confirmed his discharge Tuesday evening.

Doctors told Dailey that her son had suffered from a "flesh eating" bacteria, a name commonly given to an infection caused by the Vibrio bacteria. The bacteria causes an infection known as Vibriosis.

Vibrio lurks off beaches nationwide and thrives in warm weather. The bacteria can be found anywhere there is brackish or salt water.

Parrott is diabetic, a condition that weakens the immune system and made him susceptible to Vibrio. The hook-shaped bacteria can enter through the slightest break in the skin. Officials advise anyone with a wound, no matter how small, to avoid salt water or use a waterproof bandage.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are about 80,000 cases of Vibriosis a year. About 52,000 cases are caused by eating contaminated food, such as uncooked shellfish, the CDC said.
A state panel suspended Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal without pay Tuesday after he was charged with violating Texas' open meetings law while developing a bond measure for new and improved roads.

The move by the State Commission on Judicial Review came four days after a grand jury indicted Doyal, two county commissioners and an adviser, alleging that they circumvented the Texas Open Meetings Act by talking in private about the potential structure of a $280 million proposal before placing it on last November's ballot.

The commission's order strips Doyal of the ability to perform official duties while the misdemeanor case is pending. He has requested a hearing within 30 days to ask for suspension to be lifted.

"I understand the open meetings laws," Doyal said at a news conference at his attorney's office. "I did not violate the open meetings laws, nor did I conspire to violate the open meetings laws."

The indictment accuses Doyal "of meeting in a number less than a quorum for the purpose of secret deliberations" in violation of the law to put together the bond proposal. Violating the open meetings law is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500 or a jail term of up to six months.

Doyal, who is in his first term as judge, earns $170,705 annually to lead the fast-growing county, one of the largest in the state with roughly 540,000 residents. The Republican was previously a county commissioner for more than a decade.

The state commission has authority to discipline county judges under the Texas Constitution. Many of them, particularly in small, rural counties, have judicial duties as well as serving as chief executive. Although Montgomery County's judge no longer has any judicial role, the position remains under the oversight of the state commission.

Seana Willing, the state commission's executive director, said suspensions of county judges are rare, but that Doyal is the second one this month. Smith County Judge Joel Baker also was suspended after allegedly holding private meetings in violation of state law.

Willing said a county judge may be suspended immediately following an indictment under state law. She signed the order Tuesday, at about the same time that Doyal was convening the county commissioners' bimonthly meeting.

Doyal learned of the suspension after nearly completing the agenda. He left the dais for a scheduled closed-door briefing with legal counsel and didn't return.

The longest-serving commissioner, Mike Meador, took the gavel to finish the meeting. Later, he described the judge's suspension as shocking but said the county will function properly.

"It's muddy water," he said, "but we'll work through it for sure."

Interim pick unlikely

County Attorney J.D. Lambright said that the commissioners are not likely to pick an interim judge, considering Doyal's appeal will be heard before July ends. But the state commission might not rule in time for him to be a part of the budget hearings for the fiscal year that begins in October.

"The court still has four commissioners, so I really expect it will be business as usual," Lambright said.

Even before news of the suspension, the indictment of Doyal and Commissioners Jim Clark and Charlie Riley shocked the county's political world. Grand jurors also charged Marc Davenport, an adviser who helped to broker a deal on the bond proposal. He is married to the county's treasurer, Stephanne Davenport.

Tuesday, Justice of the Peace James Metts told Doyal and the others that they were "being persecuted for doing something good. We needed that road bond."

But Houston attorney Chris Downey, the special prosecutor, said it was important to make sure that the open meetings law is being followed.

"It's a very good and very valuable rule because it encourages faith in the political system, and that is what we are trying to uphold," said Downey, who presented the case to grand jurors over six months.

The case centers on the days before Doyal and the commissioners agreed to place the bond measure on the November 2015 ballot. Voters had rejected a $350 million plan in May, and county officials were scrambling to meet the deadline for submitting items for the fall ballot.

They did so after Doyal and Riley reached a last-minute agreement with the Texas Patriots PAC on a bond proposal.

The tea party group, which hadopposed the bond in May, then campaigned for the trimmed-down improvement plan and focused on winning over voters in The Woodlands, where the previous bond failed by a nearly 9-to-1 margin amid strong opposition to one road project.

In the end, traffic-weary voters approved the bond with a 26-point cushion.

Private meetings reported

The criminal investigation began last year after a local newspaper reported about private meetings and emails between the Texas Patriots PAC and some commissioners. While at least three members of the five-person court never met to discuss the bond proposal, communications could have created what officials called a "walking" quorum.

Doyal said last fall that he and Riley had merely reached out to the group because it was among the most vocal opponents of the failed bond measure.

John Choate, Doyal's lawyer, said there is no evidence showing the judge conspired to get around the law. Doyal only agreed with Riley to put the bond measure on the commissioners' agenda before submitting it for the ballot, Choate said.

"The discussion didn't produce legislation," he said. "It was put back on the agenda. Everybody had input, and then it was put to the public."

Clark referred questions to his attorney, who could not be reached Tuesday. Riley hasn't responded to messages, while Davenport's attorney has denied wrongdoing by his client.

While prosecutions for violating the state's open meetings law are rare, complaints about it are not. As recently as 2012, elected officials tried to weaken the law in court, arguing that it violates free-speech rights and prevents them from communicating with one another outside public meetings.

A federal appeals court disagreed, saying that closed meetings prevent transparency, encourage fraud and foster mistrust in government.

"It's hard for some to understand what counts as business that can't be talked about in the hallway or in a conference call or by email," said Matthew Festa, a professor at the Houston College of Law. "But the point is that the public is entitled to know the basis of government decisions."
Three summers ago, thousands of Texans inspired by state Sen. Wendy Davis' pink-shoed filibuster filled the capitol and, with the sheer power of their voices, stopped a bill from becoming law that would have hurt women and violated their constitutional rights.

It was a brief victory and a historic moment, one I was proud to witness. Those protesters were branded by political opponents as an "unruly mob." And, in a way, they were.

This week, the "mob" was vindicated. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down H.B. 2, the bill that eventually became law and led to the shuttering of dozens of clinics and loss of access to abortion services across the state.

The ruling came after years of wasting taxpayer dollars. After years of state officials assuring us that they were motivated not by politics, but because they wanted to protect the health of Texas women.

Even after the nation's highest court called their bluff, people like Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stuck to the false mantra and vowed more of the same legislation.

Who is the unruly mob now?

Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the majority in the 5-3 decision, minced no words:

"We have found nothing in Texas' record evidence," Breyer wrote, that showed requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at local hospitals advanced any "legitimate interest in protecting women's health."

He added:

"When directly asked at oral argument whether Texas knew of a single instance in which the new requirement would have helped even one woman obtain better treatment, Texas admitted that there was no evidence in the record of such a case."

Likewise, the court found no legitimate medical reason to require clinics to meet surgical standards when most abortions don't involve surgery, patients with very rare complications are set to hospitals, and, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted in a concurring opinion, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists maintains that abortion is "one of the safest procedures performed in the United States."

Still, the ideologues who run this state refuse to give up and continue the ruse.

"I'm clearly pro-life," Patrick said in a Houston press conference. "But if someone's going to have an abortion, I want them to have it in the safest possible environment."

He went on to claim that the Supreme Court, by striking down what it found to be onerous, essentially legalized conditions akin to back-alley abortions.

How ludicrous.

How can you be so desperate to thwart reason, law, and even the constitution for a cause?

This other mob is not a collection of frustrated citizens with limited influence. It's a group of powerful officials sworn to uphold the laws of this state who are beating back facts with the blunt objections of ideology.

With this law, and with so many short-sighted policies, Patrick and his ilk are failing Texans. In a way, they're failing their own agenda.

They use the term "pro-life," but it's hard to reconcile the narrow focus on policies affecting the unborn with a neglectful approach to policies affecting children in Texas.

Our foster care system is in shambles. Inequities and funding deficiencies in our public schools abound. 42 percent of Hispanic students are enrolled in high-poverty school districts, compared to 6 percent of white students, according to the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities.

This year, Texas ranked 43rd among the 50 states in overall child well-being, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation's annual Kids Count data book.

Texas has one of the lowest rates of insured children in the country, ranking 49th in the nation. One-fourth of Texas children live in poverty, and the rates for Latinos and blacks are three times higher than those for whites.

Addressing those problems isn't politically expedient. And so, the abortion wars rage on.

The Supreme Court has given Texas women a reprieve, but the assault on our rights and our health care access will continue.

The truth is no deterrence for an unruly mob.
Jay Janner/MBO

Texas' top political leaders have missed few opportunities to denounce local and federal efforts to accommodate the needs of transgender students in public schools. They're still at it.

The latest example was an opinion issued Tuesday by Attorney General Ken Paxton -- responding to a request from like-minded Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick -- on the legality of transgender guidelines adopted in April by the Fort Worth Independent School District. The Texas Tribune reports that Paxton's non-binding opinion found that Kent Scribner, the Fort Worth ISD superintendent, exceeded his authority when he issued the guidelines without explicit school board approval.
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The Saudi-led military coalition launched airstrikes against the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen's southwestern governorate of Taiz on Tuesday, killing about 20 people, local residents told Xinhua.

Missiles from the Saudi-led warplanes mistakenly hit a local fuel-dealing black market in Rahidah district of Taiz, according to the residents.

They said about 15 Houthi fighters and five civilians were killed in the raid.

In addition, a Yemeni security source said a U.S. drone strike killed 10 al-Qaeda militants in the tribal village of Mahfad in the country's southern governorate of Abyanon on Tuesday morning.

The Saudi-backed Yemeni security troops have beefed up security measures near state facilities and deployed armored vehicles in some government-controlled cities against possible terrorist attacks, the source said.

An official statement released by the Hadhramout-based Second Regional Military Command said at least 45 soldiers were killed in a series of suicide attacks that struck Mukalla, the capital of Hadhramout on Monday evening.

The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for these terrorists attacks, saying more than 54 security troops were killed.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been plagued by one of the most active regional al-Qaeda insurgencies in the Middle East.

The Yemen-based al-Qaeda offshoot, known as Ansar al-Sharia, emerged in January 2009. It has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on Yemen's army and government institutions.

The already fragile security situation in Yemen worsened further in March 2015, when a war broke out between the Shiite Houthis, supported by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the Saudi-backed government troops.

The war has killed more than 6,000 people, half of them civilians, and displaced more than 2 million others, according to UN humanitarian agencies.
Three physicians were convicted late Tuesday on federal charges that they aided in a Medicare fraud scheme at three Houston clinics.

After two weeks of testimony and two full days of deliberation, the jury before U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes convicted the three doctors of signing off on bogus exams for elderly and disabled patients who got kickbacks to visit the clinics and report vague symptoms.
Cedric Washington has no real explanation for why he turned onto Teton, a street in south Houston that leads into his grandmother's neighborhood. It doesn't make sense to go that way, the 19-year-old said, because it takes longer and offers no other advantage.

Yet some impulse told him to turn as he headed for her house Monday night, so he yielded to it. Minutes later, an elderly man whom Washington did not know was alive because of it.

"It was just a feeling," Washington said. "That's all I can say. It was God leading me that way."

Night was approaching as he turned into the neighborhood of modest brick homes, between Bellfort and South Loop 610. As soon as he did, he saw smoke and flames coming from a house in the 4700 block. Washington stopped his car, jumped out and ran to the garage door, which neighbors were in the process of knocking down.

"There's somebody in there," one of the neighbors yelled. Washington did not hesitate, dropping to his knees as he entered the burning home through the garage. Black smoke was everywhere. He felt his way along, crawling toward the den. He heard nothing but the sound of burning wood.

Washington wasn't sure who he was looking for or where they might be. But as he reached out, he felt something. He grabbed his phone and used the flashlight feature to see an old man sitting in a chair, apparently asleep.

"I shook him and said, 'We have to get out of there,' " Washington said in an interview Tuesday. "He said OK, and I dragged him to the garage."

The elderly man, 75-year-old Malcolm Mitchell, said that his wife was still in the house. Washington wanted to go back in but was stopped by others. Coughing and choking, his eyes burning, Washington likely would have never reached Helen Mitchell, 74, who was disabled. She died in the blaze

Mitchell was taken to the hospital in critical condition, with smoke inhalation and burns to his head, authorities said. It had not been determined Tuesday what caused the fire.

Despite his efforts to save the home's occupants, Washington said he does not think of himself as a hero.

"I feel like God sent me there to save that man," Washington said. "I just look at it like it's a good deed - something that I hope somebody would do for me some day."

Washington, a recent graduate of Dobie High School in Pasadena, works two full-time jobs, a cashier at Wal-Mart and assistant manager of Jack In The Box. He said he has always felt the urge to help others, which led him to create a website several years ago to encourage young men barely older than himself. He lives in the Cloverland neighborhood of south Houston and said he plans to apply to a local police force when he turns 21.

"That has always been my dream job," he said.

As far as Michael Mitchell is concerned, Washington would be an ideal candidate. The couple's son said that Washington showed little concern for his own welfare as he stepped up to help strangers.

"He risked his life to save my father," Mitchell said. "It's a debt that can't be repaid."

Washington was treated and released from a nearby hospital after treatment for mild smoke inhalation. He returned to the Mitchells' home later that evening to see how their family was coping with the tragedy and to show his respects for the deceased woman.

Recognized by some there as the young man who had saved Malcolm Mitchell, the son thanked him profusely

"Had it not been for him, I would have lost my parents," Mitchell said.

The next day, Washington did not have much time to reflect on his actions. Nor was he too interested in basking in praise. He had to get ready to go to work.
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When Alan Pean woke up at St. Joseph Medical Center last summer after a psychiatric episode, he says he found himself shot through the chest, handcuffed to his bed and facing felony charges for assaulting two officers who responded to his hospital room.

A grand jury found those charges did not hold weight, and police officers failed to convince a judge to hold him on a third charge of reckless driving en route to the emergency room for treatment.

The case became part of a national debate over whether the increasing use of armed guards in hospitals improves security or endangers patients like Pean, who was unarmed.

Now, Pean, 27, has turned the tables on the people he says had him facing charges last August On Tuesday, he sued the city of Houston and four city police officers in state district court for unjustifiably using excessive force and then allegedly fabricating a cover-up. He also filed charges of negligence against St. Joseph; Criterion, the hospital's security company; and Iasis Healthcare Corporation, which owns and operates the medical center.

He is seeking more than $100,000 in damages.

"Not only can you no longer trust the institutions that are supposed to protect you, you aren't even safe in a place like a hospital," said Joseph C. Melugin, Pean's attorney.

Janice Evans, spokeswoman for the city of Houston, said she could not comment on any pending litigation.

The attorney for the hospital and its parent company could not be reached for comment. A call to the executive officer at the security company was not returned.

Pean, now completing his undergraduate degree in New York, said at a briefing at his attorney's Houston office Tuesday that on Aug. 26, 2015, he was home in Houston studying cell biology, when he realized he was having a manic episode. All of a sudden, he felt he had the bionic power to morph into President Barack Obama or an Obama look-alike, he recalled. Pean said he had been diagnosed with anxiety and bipolar disorder, but was not on medication. He said he had not had a manic episode in several years. He phoned his brother and his father, a physician in McAllen, and they all agreed he should go to the hospital and get on medication.

Pean decided he could not wait for the friend who was coming to pick him up, so he said he got in the car alone. He hit some parked cars outside St. Joseph downtown and was admitted and kept for observation after what his attorney said was a minor accident.

The following morning, he was expecting to be released. His parents had gone to get a rental car. Pean said he wandered in and out of the room about three times naked, disoriented and confused. He'd just showered and was looking for a towel, he said.

Someone alerted hospital security. Two off-duty uniformed officers, Oscar Ortega and Roggie Law, entered the room and had a physical confrontation with Pean, who was naked and unarmed, the suit states, and in the midst of a mental health crisis. Officer Law tasered him at close range. Ortega shot him in the chest with his duty weapon, missing his vital organs. While Pean lay bleeding on the floor, an officer handcuffed him and somebody threw a drape over his body, the lawsuit states.

By the time Pean's doctor arrived and convinced police to remove the handcuffs, Pean had lost one-third of his blood, according to his lawsuit. No one had administered aid or treatment, said Pean's lawyer.

Pean contends the officers should have known he was being treated in a portion of the hospital for people with mental illness.

His suit says two other officers, Steven Murdock and Don Egdorf, facilitated the cover-up to shield their colleagues from scrutiny. Murdock filed two charges of aggravated assault on a public official. Egdorf was preparing to file a DWI charge, according to the suit, but toxicology tests did not bear out that allegation. Four months later, Egdorf filed a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving.

Pean's suit says the city defends all police officers against civil liability for excessive force, a custom that "allows officers to shoot with impunity" and leads to "deliberate indifference."

Melugin, Pean's lawyer, said he hoped the suit would shed light on "the lengths the city of Houston will go to cover up" misdeeds.

The hospital is charged with failing to establish clear policies or provide training for security officers. The company's negligence includes "sending uniformed police officers - armed with guns, Tasers, and handcuffs - and not supervised or aided by health care professionals, to deal with an unarmed, peaceful person."

Pean said he is currently in the process of applying to graduate school. He hopes to become an expert in health care administration.
WASHINGTON - Ending one of the longest, costliest and most bitterly partisan congressional investigations in history, the House Select Committee on Benghazi issued its final report Tuesday, finding no new evidence of culpability or wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton in the 2012 attacks in Libya that left four Americans dead.

The 800-page report, however, included some new details about the night of the attacks, and the context in which they occurred, and it delivered a broad rebuke of government agencies like the Defense Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department - and the officials who led them - for failing to grasp the acute security risks in Benghazi, and especially for maintaining outposts in there that they could not protect.

The committee, led by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., also harshly criticized an internal State Department investigation that it said had allowed officials like Clinton, then the secretary of state, to effectively choose who would investigate their actions. In addition, it reiterated Republicans' complaints that the Obama administration had sought to thwart the investigation by withholding witnesses and evidence.

The report, which includes perhaps the most exhaustive chronology to date of the attacks on a U.S. diplomatic compound and their aftermath, did not dispute that U.S. military forces stationed in Europe could not have reached Benghazi in time to rescue the personnel who died.

Still, it issued stinging criticism of the overall delay in response and the lack of preparedness on the part of the government.

"The assets ultimately deployed by the Defense Department in response to the Benghazi attacks were not positioned to arrive before the final lethal attack," the committee wrote. "The fact that this is true does not mitigate the question of why the world's most powerful military was not positioned to respond."

Cost estimated at $7 million

But the lack of any clear-cut finding of professional misconduct or dereliction of duty was certain to fuel further criticism of the length the investigation - more than two years - and the expense, estimated at more than $7 million, in addition to Democrats' allegations that the inquiry was specifically intended to damage Clinton's presidential prospects.

After a campaign stop in Denver on Tuesday, Clinton told reporters that the investigation had uncovered nothing to contradict past findings, arguing that the House committee's work had assumed a "partisan tinge."

"I'll leave it to others to characterize this report," she said, after taking a rare question from the traveling news media, "but I think it's pretty clear, it's time to move on."

In a sign that Gowdy was also facing pressure from the right, two of the committee's conservative members, Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Mike Pompeo of Kansas, wrote a 48-page addendum including somewhat harsher criticism of the Obama administration, its response to the attacks and its subsequent public explanations.

Technically, the report is not final until the full committee formally votes to accept it, which is expected as early as July 8.

By far, the committee's most significant disclosure, even by Republicans' own account, was unintentional and not directly related to Benghazi: that Clinton had exclusively used a private email server during her four years as secretary of state. That revelation has spurred separate investigations into whether classified material was mishandled.

The Democrats on the committee said the Benghazi investigation dragged on longer than far more important congressional inquiries like the ones into the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Democrats also complained that they had been excluded from the development of the panel's conclusions.

House Republicans added, inadvertently at times, to the general sense that the committee was focusing too intently on Clinton. Democrats seized on comments by the House majority leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, who boasted on Fox News in September that the committee's work had put a dent in Clinton's poll numbers.

The previous investigations had concluded that State Department officials had erred in not better securing the diplomatic compound amid reports of a deteriorating security situation. But the inquiries also determined that the attacks had come with little warning and that it would have been difficult to intervene once they had begun.

'Simply was not enough time'

The investigations generally concluded that after the attack, the Obama administration's talking points - a matter of much dispute - were flawed but not deliberately misleading.

The Pentagon had no forces that could be readily sent to Benghazi when the crisis unfolded. The closest AC-130 gunship was in Afghanistan. There are no armed drones within range of Libya. There was no Marine expeditionary unit - a large seaborne force with its own helicopters - in the Mediterranean Sea.

The unclassified version of a 2012 independent report into the attacks, headed by Thomas Pickering, a former diplomat, concluded that "there simply was not enough time given the speed of the attacks for armed U.S. military assets to have made a difference."

But the report did not address whether it would have been prudent to station quick-reaction forces in the region - a step the Pentagon has since taken in the aftermath of the tragedy.

On Sept. 11, 2012, Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and Sean Smith, a State Department information officer, were killed in an attack on the main U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi by a mob of militia fighters who had been incited by an American-made video deriding the Prophet Muhammad. The fighters were apparently further inflamed by news of an assault on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

Two other Americans, Tyrone S. Woods and Glen A. Doherty, who were contractors for the CIA, died later when a separate annex run by the agency came under mortar attack.
WASHINGTON One of Ted Cruz's most popular attack lines as a presidential candidate centered on President Barack Obama's unwillingness to utter the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism."

On Tuesday, in a politically charged hearing, the Texas Republican used his post as chairman of a Senate subcommittee on federal oversight to hammer home the point in a congressional setting, even if it was not directed at any particular legislative initiative.

Stymied by the Obama administration, which declined to make two top Justice Department officials available, Cruz convened a contentious panel discussion on his assertion that the administration has failed to confront what some witnesses described as a global Islamist movement bent on imposing Sharia law in the West.

"The purpose of this subcommittee hearing is to assess the degree to which the administration is willfully turning a blind eye to radical Islamic terrorism, and the consequences for the safety and security of the American people," Cruz said.

In one of the more provocative moments, a witness who had infiltrated a U.S. Muslim group accused two Muslim members of Congress of having attended an event organized by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Chris Gaubatz, identified as a national security consultant from Virginia, testified that the two Democratic congressmen  Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Andre Carson of Indiana  attended a 2008 convention hosted by the Islamic Society of North America, a group he claims is a front for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Neither of the two congressmen was at the hearing, and attempts to reach them for comment afterward were unsuccessful.

Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar, a member of the panel, stood up for Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress. "He is my congressman," Klobuchar said. "He is a man of great patriotism."

The combative hearing came hours after the House Benghazi Committee faulted the administration for responding too slowly to the deadly 2012 terrorist attack in Libya. Both issues are expected to form part of a broader GOP election year offensive in which Cruz  who has held out against backing Donald Trump's presidential campaign  still faces an undefined role.

Some Democrats on the committee objected to the underlying rationale for the subcommittee hearing. "It's very premise suggests that we can either keep America safe, or preserve our fundamental values," said Delaware U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, the ranking Democrat on the committee. "To compromise these principles and blame over a billion Muslims for the twisted actions of a few only serves to divide Americans, to alienate the Muslim world, and legitimate a murderous group who falsely claim to speak for Islam."

The hearing came 16 days after Omar Mateen, a one-time terror suspect, massacred 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, sparking a debate about whether it was a hate crime or a terrorist attack.

Two empty places in the committee room were supposed to have been occupied by John Carlin, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's National Security Division, and Michael Steinbach, executive assistant director of the FBI's National Security Branch.

Justice officials issued a statement saying Carlin and Steinbach had informed Cruz's committee more than a week ago that they were declining his invitation to appear, and that the committee "chose to proceed anyway."

Their statement also said the administration has focused on "terrorist adversaries," and that since 2013 prosecutors have charged more than 90 foreign terrorist fighters and homegrown violent extremists, three-quarters of whom are linked to the Islamic State.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is scheduled to appear before the committee later this week.

Obama has defended his refusal to use the phrase "radical Islam" by saying he does not want to legitimize terrorist claims to waging a religious war.

Following a June 14 counter-terrorism briefing, Obama held a press conference in which he criticized the "yapping" over his choice of terminology, saying, "It's a political talking point. It's not a strategy."

"For a while now, the main contribution of some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have made in the fight against ISIL is to criticize this administration and me for not using the phrase 'radical Islam,'" Obama told reporters. "That's the key, they tell us. We can't beat ISIL unless we call them radical Islamists.

"What exactly would using this label would accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer, is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction."

Cruz and other conservative critics deride it as political correctness run amok  or worse, a deliberate attempt to minimize the avowedly religious motivations of terrorist attackers like Mateen, whose references to the Islamic State and other terrorist groups initially were redacted from the government's 911 call transcripts.

Cruz also cited testimony by Homeland Security whistleblower Philip Haney alleging that he had seen law enforcement and intelligence documents "purged" of references to the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist or terrorist organizations.

Cruz's criticism stems from the early days of Obama's presidency, including the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood near Killeen, Texas, which initially was classified as a case of workplace violence. The debate has intensified since the Orlando shootings, with Trump suggesting that Obama's aversion to the phrase could have a more sinister aspect.

"People cannot believe that President Obama is acting the ways he acts and can't even mention the words 'radical Islamic terrorism,'" Trump said on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" show in the wake of the Orlando attack. "There's something going on. It's inconceivable. There's something going on."

Democratic witnesses before the committee warned of the danger of playing into the hands of terrorist groups such as the Islamic State by inflaming anti-Muslim rhetoric. Farhana Khera, president and executive director of the California-based Muslim Advocates, invoked former President George W. Bush's pronouncements after the 9/11 attacks that the U.S. was not at war with Islam.

Stoking fears of all Muslims, she said, has led to calls for banning non-U.S. Muslims from entering the country, national registries of Muslims, and special patrols of Muslim neighborhoods, an idea Cruz has proposed.

"This rhetoric makes our nation less safe," Khera said. "It makes us less safe because law enforcement's job is to find the needle in the haystack, a task that is made much more difficult when more stacks of hay are added to what the FBI director has called a nationwide search for needles. We are also less safe because ISIS wants this to be a war against Muslims."

One early clash between Cruz and Khera prompted an outcry from Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin that Cruz was "badgering the witness," a charge Cruz forcefully denied.

Cruz said that his criticism of Obama's counter-terrorism efforts is not simply a question of semantics. "No one has suggested that the words 'radical Islamic terrorism' are some magic incantation that saying them out loud will suddenly make it go away," he said. "But you cannot fight an enemy that you do not acknowledge, that you pretend does not exist, that you refuse to confront."
I had the pleasure one day last week of hanging around some horse people during a horsemanship clinic at Golden Hills Trail Rides and Resort near Raymondville.

Headlining the week-long instructional event were Mark and Miranda Lyons, of M&M Horsemanship in Whitesboro, Texas. Having a little bit of horseback riding in my background, I had no trouble appreciating their talents and abilities, and it was easy to tell why they have become well-known in their field and do their thing all over the U.S. (and even outside it).

Yep, the Lyons can definitely help horses learn to be better steeds, and they are gifted in communicating with students in ways that make learning and improving not only feasible, but probable.

But there was something else that struck me about this husband-and-wife team of horsemanship virtuosos: Them. I mean, it was impossible not to notice the way they listened when the other spoke, watched as the other worked and otherwise showed the utmost in caring and respect for each other.

Theyre actions were like the postcard for togetherness and the benchmark for walking in love. As a friend from England would say, just lovely.

In the Bible, its called accord. Thats a noun that Dictionary, com defines as proper relationship or proportion; harmony or consent or concurrence of opinions or wills; agreement.

Basically, accord is a positive byproduct and result of teamwork, togetherness and love. Kind of like you see with the Lyons.

But wow, I couldnt help but think that the very reason I was taking so much notice of their accord is that its simply not the norm in todays society. All you have to do is watch the evening news and its clear that its hard to find on a global scale.

But I believe the situation goes well down the ladder from there, and the same thing is plainly present in places like Houston, Mo.

Yep, Id say in this community and society in general, accord is to a large extent out and division and separation are in.

Seriously, you just dont see much evidence of consenting or concurring of opinions, people for the most part seek their will over anyone elses, relationships are frequently improper and disproportional (whether between individuals, groups or organizations) and theres all too often little or no harmony involved when people deal with other people.

Like when civic organizations representing the same interest tussle with an issue for well over half a year and then split over lack of accord.

Like when new organizations pop up made up of people from a different organization they left because they didnt agree with some sort of rule or doctrine.

I could go on and on with examples, but you get the idea.

I even made up an acronym for the current state of affairs: We live in an EGGO society. Its all about Entitlement, Greed, Glory and Offense.

First, you feel entitled to calling the shots, receiving the bounty without necessarily earning it and basically getting your way.

Next, you get a taste of entitlement and you want it even more.

Then you desire credit  or even fame  for being the mover, shaker, right-thinking and generally wonderful person you are, so you embrace vanity and go for the glory.

Lastly, you realize people really dont see everything your way and that not everyone cares as much about what you want as you thought, and you get offended.

Its a pretty easy progression  at least it must be because its chosen as a path by a whole lot of folks.

I imagine there are one or two people a little hot under the collar at this point in reading this. Thats called conviction.

Anyway, Im happy to have witnessed a small island of accord, and Im sure there are a few others scattered about the societal sea. But Im not going to hold my breath for a revolution of accord. I tend to believe all that stuff in the Bible, and it says that wont happen.

In fact, it says the opposite will take place (and it is). And I cant think of an instance when the best-selling book of all time has been wrong.

Lets face it: People dont want to let go of their EGGO.

Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. His columns are posted online at www.houstonherald.com. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.
The Texas County Genealogical and Historical Society has a library open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at its Grand Avenue building. Its meetings are on the first []
A Missouri hotel chain with nearly three dozen properties in 16 states declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy to help it deal with ongoing legal battles.

John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts filed the action on Sunday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Kansas City, Kansas, less than a month before a trial scheduled in Delaware over whether it must sell its properties.

At a news conference Monday in Springfield, Chief Executive Officer Jacqueline Dowdy said the company was financially stable and able to pay its bills.

No hotels are closing, she said, and customers shouldnt notice anything.

A half dozen entities with John Q. Hammons in the name filed for bankruptcy, and documents pertaining to those filings list more than 70 associated entities seeking relief.

They include various hotels managed by the Springfield-based company and affiliated catering operations, The Springfield News-Leader reported.

The companys website lists its portfolio as 35 hotels in 16 states, including eight in Missouri.

The Revocable Trust of John Q. Hammons, John Q. Hammons Hotels and related companies are scheduled to go to trial July 26 in a dispute stemming from a 2005 agreement in which entities associated with Jonathan Eilian loaned Hammons $300 million.

Dowdy called that deal a complicated transaction in which Hammons agreed to sell the JQHs portfolio of 43 publicly owned hotels, believing that his trust would ultimately receive more than $335 million.

The trust never got that money, said Gregg Groves, JQH senior vice president and general counsel.

Hammons opponents counter in court filings the transaction was one in which a line of credit was extended to Hammons so he could take his publicly traded company private. In earlier lawsuits, Eilian and related companies have claimed Hammons Hotels has failed to comply with terms of the deal.

A Delaware court upheld various aspects of the 2005 agreement between Hammons and Eilian-owned entities, including a requirement the 35 hotels owned by Hammons trust be sold for cash.

John Q. Hammons died in May 2013 at the age of 94.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to have a telephone conversation Wednesday with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a speech in Moscow, Russia, on June 28, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

The decision was made after the Russian side received Erdogan's apologies over the death of the Russian pilot on the Su-24 bomber downed by Ankara in November last year.

"We will need to take more than one step in each other's direction, one shouldn't think that everything can be normalized in a few days, but work on this will continue," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.

"In particular, tomorrow, a phone call between President Putin and President Erdogan will be held at Russia's initiative," Peskov said.

Kremlin said Monday that a letter was sent by Erdogan to Putin containing both an expression of regret and an apology for downing the Russian bomber, voicing readiness to mend ties.

According to Peskov, this was an important step made in the direction of normalizing relations, which have soured after Turkish forces shot down a Russian Su-24 jet near the Turkish-Syrian border on Nov. 24, 2015 for alleged airspace violation.

Denying such accusations by Turkey, Russian leaders have repeatedly said relations between the two countries could be restored only after Ankara apologizes and provides compensation to Russia for the downed aircraft and to the family of the killed pilot Oleg Peshkov.
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Photo taken by a mobile device on June 28, 2016 shows the Ataturk Airport terminal building in Istanbul, Turkey. At least 36 people were killed and 147 others injured in two explosions that hit the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday evening, forcing the suspension of all flights. (Xinhua/Ji Qing)

At least 41 people were killed and 239 others injured in two explosions that hit the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday evening and involved three suicide bombers, forcing the suspension of all flights.

"We're evaluating the possibility of three suicide bombers," Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin told the press at the airport.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said earlier in Ankara that one terrorist opened fire with a Kalashnikov rifle at random and then blew himself up.

A Turkish official was quoted as saying on Twitter that the vast majority of casualties are Turkish citizens, with foreigners among the dead and wounded.

The police have closed the entrances and exits of the airport, and some inbound flights to the airport have been diverted in the aftermath of the attacks, press reports said.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has ordered the formation of a crisis desk and was coming to Istanbul overnight.

Kerem Kinik, the head of Turkish Red Crescent, has appealed for blood donation.

A Chinese national upstairs at the airport said he heard of gunfires and ran for cover. He then heard of one explosion inside, and saw smoke everywhere and the injured being carried away.

"It's really good to be alive," he added.

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated over the past year, with Istanbul, the national capital of Ankara and other cities having already been hit by a number of bombing attacks.

The latest attack that hit Istanbul occurred on June 7, in which a bomb-laden car targeted a riot police shuttle bus, killing 11 people, including six police officers.
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Californias Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (Californias Sick Leave Law) took full effect statewide on July 1, 2015, requiring that most employees may use at least three days (24 hours) of paid sick leave per year, while the total cap on sick leave accrual cannot be less than six days (48 hours). But various cities within California (such as Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, Emeryville and Santa Monica) have gone further and require employers to offer even more paid sick leave than that required statewide. Employers with employees throughout California must be wary of this patchwork of laws and ordinances. This new trend of requiring employers to offer paid sick leave is picking up steam throughout California. Los Angeles, CA The Los Angeles City Council determined that Californias Sick Leave Law did not provide workers in the second-largest US city with enough paid time off, and voted to require employers in Los Angeles to provide more. Effective July 1, 2016, most workers in Los Angeles will accrue and be able to use at least 48 hours of sick leave per year (equivalent to six days)twice the mandatory minimum under California law. Like the statewide law, Los Angeles employers will have discretion to provide the paid sick leave either all up front or at an accrual rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked up to the cap. Employees can use their sick leave for a variety of reasons, includin...
Schools are closing, the sun is shining, and everyones packing up their suitcases with beach gear. Meanwhile, you and your team are in the office daydreaming of how to take advantage of the warmer weather. Staying focused and productive at work can be extremely difficult in the summer months, especially when the office is half empty. If youre one of the few people holding up the fort while your work colleagues are away, dont fret. Here are six ways to keep yourself and your team both productive and inspired during the dog days of summer. 1. Use your Vacation Time Lets be honest: Given the option of taking time off over summer or staying in the office, almost everyone would choose to be relaxing outdoors than typing away at their cubicles. However, just because people choose to be working doesnt mean they shouldnt still find at least a day or two to get out and enjoy the heat. If your coworkers are full-time employees, remind them of their benefits and personal days  particularly if they have amassed a significant number of days off and work is slower over the summer months. If they havent taken their personal days yet, encourage them to do it now. About 40 percent of American workers leave vacation days unused for fear of returning to a mountain of work. However, encouraging people to take time off is an essential part of good time management. Be sure to communicate ...
The old saying my job is killing me may really be true. New studies featured by Harvard Business School in The Relationship Between Workplace Stressors and Mortality and Health Costs in the United States by Joel Goh, show stress at work is responsible for about $190 billion in healthcare costs in the United States.* Every single year, there are at least 450 million days of missed work for full-time workers. The result? Lost revenue, to the tune of billions, and increased stress for workers and business owners, who all suffer under the weight of the sickening side-effects of stress induced illness in the workplace. Issues such as high-blood pressure, mental illness, drug abuse, alcoholism, and other stress created illnesses plague the American workplace. Today, many companies are taking their first steps to solve the health and wellness issues of their employees by jumping onto the fitness and wellness bandwagon. With the cost of sick workers hurting the bottom line of big and small companies alike, its no wonder that new wellness and health programs are popping up like daisies. Unfortunately, in many cases company leadership is not equipped with the tools necessary to encourage their populations to embrace these stress-buster fitness and wellness programs. The management teams in place in many U.S. firms also do something much worse, by heaping on measurement tools and wellness platforms that lack the most important ingredient; en...
professionals may want to reassure workers that their jobs are safe after a recent index revealed employees are growing increasingly worried about job security.The Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index fell 3.3 points in the June quarter with workers blaming New Zealands ever-increasing population for driving up competition and keeping a lid wages.A paltry 5.3 per cent of the 1,555 respondents said they had expected more job security over the coming year, down from 12.8 per cent in the March quarter.Workers were also pessimistic about future opportunities, with a 17.1 per cent indicating it will be harder to get a job in a year's time  up from a net 15.8 per cent in the March quarter.Interestingly, it seems workers uncertainty is actually unfounded as a recent Hays survey revealed a huge 44 per cent of New Zealand employers are actually planning to increase staff numbers in 2016  far higher than the eight per cent that plan to reduce their workforce.In fact, the study even found that 76 per cent of employers would consider employing or sponsoring a qualified overseas candidate  up six per cent from last year  so could this increased interest be the source of employees woes?Not at all, says Jason Walker , MD of Hays New Zealand. Employers are more open to hiring from overseas in response to the local shortage of certain skilled professionals.While employers may be struggling to fill skills gaps, Walker says they shouldnt forget to make employees feel secure in their jobs.To a certain extent, employers do have a responsibility to ensure workers feel secure in their jobs if they want to retain them, he told HRM, pointing to an report on the issue which looked at a range of engagement factors  both intrinsic and extrinsic  and provided advice on how to address each one.
Photos of the panelists at the "inclusivity" -themed event, taken from the Best Of Calgary website. (Photos: Best Of Calgary)

A symposium held Wednesday to honour Calgary's best had what appeared to be only white and mostly male speakers discuss the theme of "inclusivity."

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Calgarians spoke out on social media after Best Of Calgary announced its 2016 "Supposium" panel, which consisted of 11 white panelists  nine of whom were men.

@markchopkins31% of Calgarians are visible minoritiesshould be better representation at an event discussing the 'best' #becausecalgary  Janet Bwititi (@bwiTWEETi) June 29, 2016

Best Of Calgary is an initiative that recognizes the best local people and places in the city.

"I think if you are going to talk about diversity, about inclusiveness within our city, then we actually need to include the people we are talking about," said Iman Bukhari CEO of the Canadian Cultural Mosaic Foundation in an interview with The Huffington Post Alberta.

"This is just another example of the lack of inclusiveness within our city."

Many were also outraged at the high admission prices posted online for the single-day event  ranging between $169 and $369. Some noted high prices to be a factor that would that would limit "inclusivity" to Calgarians who could afford tickets.

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@becausecalgary The ticket prices ($169.84 - $316.84) don't appear to reflect the "Inclusivity" theme :/  horrorshow (@__horrorshow) April 18, 2016

The event invitation promised attendees that they would have the opportunity to "join a diverse, topical flow of conversation around this interesting issue [inclusivity] throughout the day."

"How do you plan to create a day for 'ideas, inspiration, change' when you have such little diversity of perspectives represented? Certainly not the Calgary I live in," wrote one critic of the event on Facebook.

"The definition of inclusiveness is asking everyone to take part... You really honestly cannot have this conversation without including them," Bukhari said.

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Those who reached out to event organizers on social media to question the panel's lack of diversity did not receive responses.

A Best Of Calgary representative spoke with The Huffington Post Alberta on Thursday, and clarified that although it had been advertised as such online, the event was not intended to focus on "inclusivity."

The representative also noted that lower-pried tickets were available, although they were not advertised online.

Best Of Calgary shared a statement to Facebook in response to criticism about the panel.

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Blocks away from the Calgary event on Tuesday afternoon, Bukhari hosted a documentary screening of "YYC Colours," a film she calls a "solution-based" approach to racism in Calgary.

One of those solutions is pretty simple, the diversity activist said.

"It can be as simple as talking to a person of colour and asking them if they've ever experienced racism," Bukhari said.

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Wednesday, June 29 is the last day to send mail before a possible work stoppage, Canada Post is warning its customers.

Service could halt entirely as of July 2, when employees will be in a legal position to strike, and management will be in a position to lock out employees.

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In the event of a labour disruption, Canada Post will not operate. Mail and parcels will not be delivered, and no new items will be accepted, the Crown corporation said in a statement.

Any mail and parcels within the postal system during a work disruption will be secured and delivered as quickly as possible once operations resume."

Craig Dyer, president of Local 126 at the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), told CBC news that "there's no mandate on our side of the table today to go on strike.  But there's a lot of rumours and messages being sent out by the corporation that they are planning on locking out their 50,000 members."

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The work stoppage would come just a few weeks before the July 20 launch of the new Canada Child Benefit. CUPW says it plans to continue sorting and delivering social assistance and pension cheques, regardless of the strike, the Globe and Mail reports.

CUPW on Tuesday asked Canada Post management for a two-week extension to negotiations, without which Canada Post employees contract ends July 2.

Canada Post has been attempting to move the negotiations forward since December with little success.  Canada Post spokesperson Jon Hamilton

But management reportedly rejected the request.

Canada Post has been attempting to move the negotiations forward since December with little success, spokesperson Jon Hamilton told Global News Wednesday.

Hamilton said Canada Post tabled offers on Saturday that are fair to our employees and customers and have yet to receive any formal response from CUPW.

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Were concerned that a labour dispute will taint the outcome of the very important review that the Liberals are conducting.  CUPW National President Mike Palecek

CUPW has said it aims to keep negotiations going regardless of Canada Posts rejection of the extension.

Were concerned that a labour dispute will taint the outcome of the very important review that the Liberals are conducting, CUPW National President Mike Palecek said in a statement. Well do everything we can to avert that.

The federal Liberals recently announced a review of Canada Post services, including the possibility of bringing back door-to-door service  something the Liberals had made a campaign promise  and Canada Post getting back into the banking game.

The government has said privatization is off the table.
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The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged Japan not to "hype up" the South China Sea issue.

Spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks when asked about a comment by Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama on Monday.

Sugiyama said Japan was "closely watching" for the tribunal ruling on the South China Sea arbitration case initiated by the Philippines.

"Some people from the Japanese side have been fanning the flames of tension, and deliberately provoking confrontation among countries in the region," Hong said.

Hong added that Japan has a disgraceful record in terms of the South China Sea, which China hopes will not continue.

"We hope countries in the region will be highly vigilant of Japan's moves," Hong said.
The dust hasn't started settling on Brexit yet, and Europe is already facing its next unity crisis. And this time, it's about a trade deal with Canada.

A war of words has broken out in Europe over the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), as the Canada-Europe deal is officially known.

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It centres around whether or not the European Unions executive leadership in Brussels can force ratification of a trade deal without the consent of the 28 member states (or is it 27 now?).

The EU has never before signed a major overseas trade pact of this sort, and it's become clear no one knows what actually has to happen for it to be ratified.

And because the Canadian trade deal is seen as a test run for a much larger U.S.-EU trade pact, the talks have become a flashpoint in determining just how much independence EU member states retain.

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Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, declared this week that the EU executive alone has the power to ratify the deal.

According to German news network Deutsche Welle, Juncker is worried that allowing 28 different parliaments to vote on the deal would paralyze the process and harm the EUs credibility even more than it has been harmed by Brexit.

His position was met with scorn by parliamentarians in Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere.

To decide that national parliaments have nothing to say on this trade deal is incredibly foolish, said Sigmar Gabriel, economic affairs minister for Germany, the EUs largest economy, echoing criticisms by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The spat stands in stark contrast to what Canadas trade minister, Chrystia Freeland, said earlier this week, when she declared to the CBC that there is not even a whisper of discontent in Europe over the proposed trade deal between the EU and Canada. In the wake of Britain's vote to leave the EU, she said, Europe is more determined than ever to sign a free trade deal with Canada.

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But that sentiment lasted barely a few days.

Gabriel noted that Germany is a a proponent of good free trade agreements but argued that forcing the Canadian deal on all European countries would backfire.

The stupid forcing through of CETA will make conspiracy theories explode about free trade deals, including the proposed larger free trade deal between the EU and the United States, Gabriel said, as quoted at Handelsblatt.

Many legislators in Europe are wary of the free trade deal with Canada, and the one with the U.S., because they contain an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism." It creates a special tribunal where foreign corporations from the free-trade area can sue governments if they feel they havent been treated equally to local corporations.

Critics argue this undermines the power of national governments to legislate on issues such as the environment and labour laws.

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There was some talk earlier this year about removing the ISDS from the Canada-EU trade deal, but it was still in place in the final version of the text released earlier this year. In fact, according to some sources, Canadian negotiators worked to make the ISDS chapter stronger, so that governments would have less leeway to fight back in ISDS lawsuits.

Canada certainly seems to be counting on a forcing-through of the deal without parliamentary ratification in Europe. Freeland said she expects that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will sign CETA officially during a trip to Brussels in October  a timeline that is only possible if national parliaments don't vote on the deal.

If anything it has strengthened [Europe's] resolve about going forward with CETA, she said.

That may be true for the EUs executive leadership in Brussels, but outside of Brussels, the trade deals fate remains anyones guess.

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As one of the leading (and absolutely hilarious) ladies in the highly-anticipated female-led "Ghostbusters" reboot, Leslie Jones is getting ready to take over Hollywood. But it seems like no one is willing to help the actress dress the part.

On Wednesday, Jones tweeted out she was having a difficult time finding designers to dress her for the premiere of her film, which also stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon.

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It's so funny how there are no designers wanting to help me with a premiere dress for movie. Hmmm that will change and I remember everything  Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) June 28, 2016

"Its so funny how there are no designers wanting to help me with a premiere dress for movie," the "Saturday Night Live" actress wrote. "Hmmm that will change and I remember everything."

Ugh, frustrating. Especially when some incredibly rude users responded with tweets attacking the actress' build.

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But in true "Ghostbusters" style, one designer stepped in to save the day.

Who you gonna call? Christian Siriano.

The acclaimed fashion designer immediately replied to the 48-year-old's tweet with a simple hand-waving emoji, which basically translates to "Yo Leslie, I'm here and I want to dress you."

Many praised the "Project Runway" winner for his decision to help Leslie; however, he said no congrats are in order.

It shouldn't be exceptional to work with brilliant people just because they're not sample size. Congrats aren't in order, a change is.  Christian Siriano (@CSiriano) June 29, 2016

"It shouldn't be exceptional to work with brilliant people just because they're not sample size. Congrats aren't in order, a change is," Siriano tweeted.

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In the words Jones, "YAAAAAASSSSSS."

And Jones, who recently posed for the cover of Elle's July 2016 issue, isn't the first "Ghostbusters" star to be turned down by the fashion industry.

Two years ago, co-star Melissa McCarthy revealed she had trouble getting designers to make Oscar dresses for her.

OSCAR DRESSES. Ugh!

"Two Oscars ago, I couldn't find anybody to do a dress for me," Melissa told Redbook in 2014. "I asked five or six designersvery high-level ones who make lots of dresses for peopleand they all said no."

In the end, the actress wore a blush-coloured dress by Marina Rinaldi and she looked gorgeous.

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And we have no doubt Jones will be looking beautiful in her newly designed dress by Christian Siriano.

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DAMIEN MEYER via Getty Images A picture taken on May 19, 2015 at Rennes' courthouse shows a statue of the goddess of Justice balancing the scales. AFP PHOTO / DAMIEN MEYER (Photo credit should read DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images)

An Ontario judge decided to spare a young man jail time and sentenced him to house arrest, citing the overincarceration of black men in Canadian prisons as a factor.

Joel Reid pleaded guilty to three counts of trafficking crack cocaine and one count of possession, court documents released May 25 show. The Crown had asked Superior Court Judge Edward Morgan to sentence Reid to one year in jail.

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Instead, hell spend two years under house arrest and will receive counselling. He will also have the option to go back to school or find a full-time job.

'Flood' of young black men sent to prison

In his sentencing judgment, Morgan cited statistics about the over-incarceration of black men in Canadas prison system. Only 2.9 per cent of the countrys population is black, but nearly 10 per cent of the prison population is.

Reid was caught selling crack to an undercover police officer, but theres no evidence hes a large or even medium size drug dealer, said Morgan.

He began his judgment by asking a question, Does a non-violent, small time drug dealer who is a repeat offender require a custodial sentence?

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Morgan look to the United States, citing the admission made by Congress that there is a flood of young minority men serving draconian sentences for non-violent drug crimes.

Anti-black discrimination undoubtedly contributes to the disproportionate jailing of black men, according to a Supreme Court of Canada decision cited by Morgan.

I do not want to be that 30 year old black man who is a lost cause as I have potential to do something with my life.  Joel Reid's testimony to court

Reids childhood was one punctuated by traumatic events, Morgan noted in his decision. He witnessed a murder when he was in high school, and lost his best friend in a shooting years later.

These killings have taken their toll on Mr. Reid; he dropped out of school, has until recently found it difficult to maintain a steady job, and has experienced difficulty in managing his emotions, the judge wrote.

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Though the drugs he sold were harmful, Reid was only selling to support his own addiction, the judge said.

Morgan acknowledged systemic racism in the justice system and stressed the need to reduce the number of black men in Canada prison yards:

I am impressed by Mr. Reids self-awareness and his desire to improve his lot. In the pre-sentence report, he states, tellingly: I am a young man who has made poor choices for himself but I am making changes to better myself. I do not want to be that 30 year-old black man who is a lost cause as I have potential to do something with my life. He thereby raises not only a point about himself, but about the need to ameliorate the overincarceration of young men in the African Canadian community.

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It can't be easy making small talk with the most powerful person on the planet.

So when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau found himself in that situation Wednesday, he evidently decided to note how Canadians and Americans spell some words differently.

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U.S. President Barack Obama talks to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the North American Leaders' Summit working session at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa on June 29, 2016.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

According to a report from the White House press pool covering a working session at the "Three Amigos Summit" in Ottawa, Trudeau told an anecdote about their name tags.

"A little interesting thing, Barack, I noticed on your name tag, they spell honorable with no 'U' and on mine, they put a U in 'honourable,'" Trudeau said.

From the report:

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Sadly, reporters were ushered out of the room before they could catch Obama's response. Katie Telford, the prime minister's chief of staff, later took to Twitter to say the conversation "didn't stop there."

Of course, it remains a mystery why Trudeau and Obama would need name tags in the first place.

Trudeau and Obama were joined at the session by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, as well as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and other cabinet ministers from all three countries.

A little later, Trudeau pulled off the rare double-handshake with Obama and Pena Nieto during a "family photo" at the National Gallery of Canada.

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That exchange wasn't the only colour that journalists were able to capture Wednesday.

Shortly after Trudeau greeted his U.S. counterpart in the morning with a hug, Obama could be heard complimenting the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

"Its good to see Mounties around," Obama said. "It always make me feel safe."

With a file from The Canadian Press

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As Canada Day approaches, have you ever thought about who has the right to be patriotic? For decades patriotism has been gendered male -- take, for instance, Canada's icon of patriotism, the Mountie (a quick Google image search proves this point).

But on June 15, 2016, the Canadian government approved MP Mauril Belanger's O'Canada amendment act (Bill C-210) and symbolically opened up patriotism to everyone, no matter their gender. Once rubber stamped by the senate later this year, our anthem's "true patriot love" will be "in all of us command," rather than "in all thy sons command."

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I salute this change. But what I find problematic is that the media coverage of our new anthem labels it "gender neutral." The reason the gender neutral brand is problematic is that it drowns out the importance of what "in all of us command" signals: the growing commitment to gender equality in Canada.

You might be wondering if calling our new anthem gender equal versus gender neutral is just a matter of semantics. Here's why it's not: using the gender neutral adjective in place of gender equal forces us to wade into the murky and benign waters of political correctness where gender is inconsequential.

But gender matters, and how we talk about gender matters. Thus, the change in the anthem's lyrics is incredibly significant because it is part of a gender equality movement in Canada and around the world that is transforming power relations across social, economic and political spheres, and is addressing the social and cultural norms that perpetuate inequality in all its forms.

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Sandra is a member of Plan-supported girls economic empowerment group in Zambia (Photo Credit: Plan International).

The hard work of revamping power relations and dismantling the norms that undergird inequalities, both here at home and abroad, is by no means easy. Through the Because I am a Girl initiative, Plan International Canada, is championing a global movement for gender equality.

However, we still face challenges: we know that women and girls are inherently powerful, yet they are excluded from social, political and economic spheres due to the persistence of gender-based discrimination. For example, globally 15 million girls under 18 will be married each year, girls are also twice as likely to suffer from malnutrition as boys, and more than 62 million girls are not attending either primary or secondary school. And here in Canada, a survey commissioned by Plan found that three times as many women as men felt they have been held back in some way because of their gender.

On a daily basis Plan International Canada's work demonstrates why we need to continue to be gender transformative by challenging power structures at all levels where inequalities exist and multiply, including households, communities, schools, and governments.

This is why the move to update Canada's national anthem by making it gender equal is critical: once implemented, our new anthem will be sung by millions of people from coast to coast. Imagine the message this anthem will send to our children who will, for the first time, be equally represented when they sing it in their classrooms every morning.

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Members of Plan International Canada's Because I am a Girl Speakers Bureau at Plan's Girl Empowerment Forum (Photo: Plan International Canada).

There's nothing neutral about each and every person being able to affirm their equality and express something as important as pride in their identity--including being a Canadian. And while it may be the case that part of the Canadian identity is the ideal we are all equals, and that Canada has a feminist Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, at its helm, there's still much work to be done to achieve gender equality in this country: take for instance the fact that on average a full-time working Canadian woman makes 73.5 cents for every dollar a man earns, and indigenous women and girls are disproportionately affected by violence, homicides, and disappearances.

What should give us hope is that with each year Canada grows older, it strives to become more gender equal. Our new anthem symbolizes this and declares that gender equality, just like true patriot love, is in everyone's command. This Canada Day, let's all sing its praises.
MarkRubens via Getty Images Travel the world and visit coutries. Orange suitcase on the map of United Kingdom. The image is toned in orange. Concept: Planning travel destinations or journey planning. Close-up view. Studio shot. Landscape orientation.

Recent data from Google Trends has revealed that, immediately after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, there was a huge increase in the number of "move to Canada" searches originating in that country. This closely parallels the search patterns of United States citizens in light of Donald Trump's success in the Republican presidential primaries.

However, as I previously reported, wanting to move to Canada is not the same thing as actually being allowed to move here.

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In my previous article, I explained that most Trump-dodging U.S. citizens would actually have a difficult time moving to Canada. In terms of permanent residence, the three categories that a foreign national would first consider are the Federal Skilled Worker Class (FWSC), the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and the Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC). This is because the above categories do not require a Canadian employer or Canadian relative who will sponsor the foreign national.

The biggest problem with the FSWC, CEC and FSTC is that they are now subject to the Express Entry Program, which has been in place since Jan. 1, 2015. Under Express Entry, it is no longer possible for foreign nationals to directly apply for permanent residence under the FSW, CEC or FSTC. Instead, they must now submit an Express Entry profile through the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website, indicating their interest in immigrating to Canada.

If the applicant satisfies the eligibility requirements of the FSWC, CEC or FSTC, they will be accepted into the Express Entry pool of potential candidates. However, acceptance into the Express Entry Pool does not guarantee that a particular candidate will ever be selected. Applicants don't know if they will ever receive an invitation to apply and, if they do, when this will occur.

Of course, U.K. citizens may believe that they will have an easier time moving to Canada than the Americans. This is quite understandable since Canada shares so many things with the U.K. For example:

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The Queen of England is technically still Canada's Head of State. The Queen is on our money, too, and our dollar bills are just as colourful as British Pound banknotes. Canada's form of government is clearly based on the British parliamentary system. At least on paper, Canadian English more closely matches to British English than American English.

However, U.K. citizens will be disappointed to learn that none of this makes it any easier for them to move to Canada. In fact, in some ways U.K. citizens are worse off than U.S. citizens.

U.K. citizens seeking permanent residence in Canada must satisfy exactly the same eligibility criteria that will apply to U.S. citizens. In terms of temporary entries, U.K. citizens are visa-exempt for travel to Canada, just as U.S. citizens are. However, they will also be subject to Canada's new Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) requirement once it becomes mandatory this fall; U.S. citizens will actually be exempt from the eTA requirement.

In my previous article, I also discussed the option of U.S. citizens moving to Canada temporarily, perhaps under a work permit or study permit. This discussion was based on the assumption that, even if Donald Trump were to become President of the United States, he might not be re-elected for a second four-year term. In this scenario, a work permit or study permit could potentially address the needs of Trump-dodging U.S. citizens.

Unfortunately, the U.K. has voted to permanently leave the European Union. This means that nothing less than Canadian permanent residence will satisfy the needs of Brexit-weary U.K. citizens. To those U.K. citizens who may become upset after reading this, I can offer only one response, and a very Canadian one at that -- "Sorry."

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Gail Shotlander via Getty Images Knit toy children dolls with many colors of multiculturalism within the faces.

On Monday the 27th of June Canada celebrated national Multiculturalism Day. As a CBC reporter observed, "there were no fanfares, no parades: Canadians coast to coast simply went about their business."

In reality there is little awareness of this annual day as it does not get promoted in the same way as Canada day. Of the 42 local events that were officially posted on the website of the department of Canadian Heritage about half were in the province of Ontario and the others were spread across the country.

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Many of the events listed were celebrations of what multicultural critics like to call the folkloric aspects of multiculturalism. These are celebrations of specific cultural expressions of some of Canada's ethnic communities that are the facets of multiculturalism these critics insist are divisive.

The abundance of ethnic food, song and dance are seen as undercutting newcomer adoption of Canadian culture.

The multiculturalism bashers are generally silent when it comes to Saint-Patrick's day celebrations (perhaps they think Irish cultural expression is not multiethnic), Carifesta in Montreal, Caribana in Toronto, Black History Month, Asian History Month, various ethnic film festivals and other ethnic artistic and cultural displays.

They worry that such expression of minority ethnic cultures often benefits from government support (the corporate sponsorship doesn't bother them). We're fortunate that these 'bashers' don't decry the ethnic show at Montreal's Just for Laughs comedy fest or protest the broadcast of the dangerous multicultural message arising from such CBC productions as Little Mosque on the Prairie (they can take solace in the fact that the show stopped airing in 2012). Thankfully they're also not out there demanding more Canadian food and less ethnic cuisine.

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Critics continue to insist that Canadian multiculturalism sends the wrong message to newcomers and their children by discouraging them from becoming more like the rest of us. The critics may however want to pay more attention to the message that multiculturalism is conveying to many non-immigrant Canadians. A March 2016 survey done by the firm Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation reveals that some 52% of Canadians hold a positive view of Canadian multicultural policy, with 30% holding a negative view and 18% that do not respond.

At 63%, the youngest segment of the population surveyed aged 18-24 is most positive about multicultural policy compared with 46%, of those 65 and over who were the least positive. Those Canadians that are most positive about Canada's multicultural policy are considerably more likely to have favorable views of indigenous peoples, immigrants, Jews and Muslims.

The most pro-multiculturalism were also far more likely to have contact with members of these groups. It is worth noting that some 85% of the most pro-multicultural have a favorable opinion of language duality in contrast with the 20% that share this favorable view amongst those most negative towards multiculturalism.

So the most negative towards multiculturalism are the most hostile to minorities, have the least contact with them and don't like bilingualism. The most favorable value diversity, interact more frequently with diverse groups and appreciate our two principal languages. When it comes to my children, I'll take the more forward looking pro-multiculturalism message in a flash.

On Canadian multiculturalism day the Prime Minister's multicultural message was bang on: "Our roots reach out to every corner of the globe. We are from far and wide, and speak over 200 languages. Our national fabric is vibrant and varied, woven together by many cultures and heritages, and underlined by a core value of respect. Today, let us celebrate multiculturalism as a vital component of our national fabric, and let us express gratitude to Canadians of all backgrounds who have made, and who continue to make, such valuable contributions to our country."

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Chris Wattie / Reuters Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L) walks with Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, June 28, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

I have made no secret of my respect for our new prime minister, especially after the disdain I held for his predecessor.

That's why it can be tough at times to watch -- as good Canadian jobs are lost to Mexico, a place of horrible human rights abuses -- while Justin Trudeau publicly talks about being such good friends with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

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"It's hard to believe that more than six years have passed since we last welcomed a Mexican president on a state visit. I'm sure that everyone in this room will agree when I say that six years is too long to wait for visits between friends," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a state dinner Monday for Pena Nieto.

I have no doubt that he and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, who attended the dinner and met with Pena Nieto earlier in the day, are raising more difficult issues in private, while being the kind of polite Canadian hosts the world has come to respect.

For many Canadians, including those who rallied outside the dinner, we expect no less.

Working people in Canada and the U.S. want to see their leaders stand up to Mexico.

"This is the propaganda campaign of Mexico. It's fabulous. They're really very, very good. I don't know who could be a friend of Pena Nieto," activist Marta Sanchez told the CBC at a rally outside the dinner.

Sanchez, who points to reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others to back up her work to help the families of 120,000 missing migrant workers, said such meetings should be a chance to push Mexico hard on improving its human rights record.

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In the days ahead of the summit, U.S. President Barack Obama's White House was talking up a green energy deal with Mexico and describing North America as a "single unit."

It's that kind of talk that gives politicians like Donald Trump such a boost, with their own anti-Mexico rantings playing into the fears of ordinary people who have seen jobs lost to Mexico along with opportunities for their children. Working people in Canada and the U.S. want to see their leaders stand up to Mexico.

Trudeau and Obama would do well to talk to Sanchez and other activists to get a real sense of what a terrible place Mexico is for working people, and how those conditions make it such an attractive place for big companies to move jobs.

The first job of our leaders must be to create and defend good jobs in Canada. Since the financial crisis, Mexico has eight new auto assembly plants with thousands of jobs, while Canada has closed two.

Good friends don't steal jobs. Good friends don't abuse the rights of their own citizens.

Make no mistake; there is a direct connection between the human rights abuses in Mexico and the jobs moving there. No company will admit that, of course, but when workers must risk their lives to stand up for themselves, it tends to keep costs down -- as do lax environmental laws and a grinding poverty that keeps desperate workers from demanding more.

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Unifor, through its Social Justice Fund, works with many groups across Mexico to improve the lives of working people, including educating workers about their rights and how to defend them, capacity building for union organizers in manufacturing plants and helping to improve the safety of Mexican journalists.

With Mexico, the issue isn't simply about having the right laws in place, but actually implementing those laws and making a true commitment to protect the rights of workers.

In the border town of Tijuana, for instance, some 95 per cent of workers at the area's maquiladora plants are unionized, but stuck in unions with strong ties to their employers. These so-called "ghost unions" collude with employers to thwart the rights of their own members.

These are the kinds of things Trudeau and Obama need to be talking to Pena Nieto about. Good friends don't steal jobs. Good friends don't abuse the rights of their own citizens. And good friends don't allow their own land to be polluted as a way to keep corporate costs down.

That's the message Pena Nieto needs to hear.

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In a recent Huffington Post Canada blog titled "Religiously Inspired Hate Is Still Hate," Dalhousie Law professor Elaine Craig argues that Trinity Western University (TWU) hates gays and lesbians. Professor Craig hopes that TWU will lose its court actions, launched against the Law Societies of British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia over their refusal to accredit TWU's law school.

TWU is a private Christian university in Langley, B.C., which has been graduating teachers, nurses and other professionals for several decades. The University's code of conduct prohibits foul language, viewing pornography, drunkenness, sex outside of the marriage of one man and one woman, and other legal activities.

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In 2001, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected the arguments of the BC College of Teachers, which had claimed that TWU, through its code of conduct, discriminates against gays and lesbians. "TWU is not for everybody," said the Court, upholding the right of TWU students and staff to exercise their Charter freedoms of conscience, religion, expression and association. The Court understood that many people, for many different reasons, would not want to abide by TWU's code of conduct. The Court understood that a free society welcomes diversity, and that diversity means tolerance for universities which are actually different, like TWU.

Arguing that Law Societies should not recognize TWU's law program, Professor Craig invokes the murder of 49 people at a gay bar in Orlando in June. Craig seems to equate these cold-blooded killings in Florida with Christianity's condemnation of sexual activity outside of the marriage of one man and one woman. For Craig, shooting gay people and disagreeing with gay sex are one and the same: both exemplify "hatred" and "homophobia" that must be eradicated.

Applying Craig's logic, if TWU hates gays, then TWU must also hate alcoholics, pornography viewers, the foul-mouthed, and millions of sexually active unmarried straight people. This allegation of "hate" is silly, in light of the sworn affidavits, filed in court, by three LGBT individuals who have themselves attended TWU: Arend Strikwerda, Iain Cook, and Austin Davies. They were welcomed and loved at TWU on the same terms and conditions as everyone else, and now speak publicly about their positive experiences at TWU.

Craig makes no mention of the fact that the Orlando shooter, Omar Mateen, professed allegiance to ISIS and to Islam, not Christianity. In the wake of the Orlando shootings, a Christian code of conduct at a private university, embraced voluntarily by those who agree with it, seems to upset Craig more than Islamic countries which impose the death penalty for gay sex. But, of course, attacking TWU is much easier and safer than publicly criticizing Islam.

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Omar Mateen shot 49 people dead because he had absolutely no respect for Florida's prohibition against murder. Shootings at bars (whether gay bars or straight bars) will continue as long as there are individuals like Omar Mateen who believe themselves entitled to play God and execute judgment on fellow humans by killing them. The distinction between disapproving of a behaviour, and killing people who engage in that behaviour, appears lost on Craig.

TWU's three court actions raise the question of tolerance for those who have different opinions about human sexuality. Some Canadians believe that sexual intimacy is healthy and right only in the context of love, commitment, marriage and procreation. Other Canadians believe all manner and forms of consensual sex are OK. There is no way to reconcile these opposing views. A free society therefore allows both the "traditionalists" and the "progressives" to form and maintain their own groups, clubs, societies and associations.

In a free society, the government does not try to force the "traditionalists" or the "progressives" to abandon their beliefs and practices. A free society allows TWU to form and maintain its own religious community, with its own rules and practices, which no person is compelled to join.

The Law Societies admit, in all three court actions, that TWU's law program meets academic and professional standards. It's TWU's "traditionalist" view of human sexuality that the Law Societies can't stand. Sadly, Professor Craig and three Law Societies want to impose their "progressive" view of human sexuality on TWU. They demand that TWU must change the rules, beliefs and practices of its community, or else its law program will not be recognized, even though this law program fully meets academic standards. This state coercion is the opposite of what a free and tolerant society is all about.

Calgary lawyer John Carpay is president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (www.jccf.ca), which intervened in support of Charter section 2(d) freedom of association in TWU's court actions in BC, Ontario and Nova Scotia.

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The U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi Tuesday faulted the U.S. government for lack of preparedness and slow response in sending help during the attacks in Benghazi, Libya that left four Americans dead.

The U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi released Tuesday its 800-page final report on the 2012 attack which marked the culmination of a two-year investigation.

"Despite President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's clear orders to deploy military assets, nothing was sent to Benghazi, and nothing was en route to Libya at the time the last two Americans were killed almost 8 hours after the attacks began," the report said.

In a statement regarding the findings of the report, Republican Representative Mike Pompeo accused the Obama administration of putting politics ahead of the lives of Americans.

"While the administration had made excuses and blamed the challenges posed by time and distance, the truth is that they did not try," Pompeo said.

Four Americans including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens were killed on Sept. 11, 2012 when the U.S. consulate in Benghazi were attacked by armed militants.

Pompeo and Republican Representative Jim Jordan, in an addendum to the report, also criticized the Obama administration for its public explanations of the attacks.

"With the presidential election just 56 days away, rather than tell the American people the truth and increase the risk of losing an election, the administration told one story privately and a different story publicly," the two representatives wrote.

The Democrats have slammed that the Republican-led investigation, which costs more than 7 million U.S. dollars, was intended to undermine Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

Clinton, now presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has been accused by the Republicans for being responsible for the terror attack as she had denied numerous requests for increased security protection from the U.S. diplomats in Libya.

"The Republicans on the House Benghazi Committee are finishing their work in the same, partisan way that we've seen from them since the beginning," Clinton's spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement in response to the report.

"In refusing to issue its report on a bipartisan basis, the Committee is breaking from the precedent set by other Congressional inquiries into the Benghazi attacks," Fallon said.

The Democrats on the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Monday released their own report to refute accusations by the Republicans against Clinton for her role in the attack.

The House Democrats said they issued the 339-page report because it is "long past time" for the Republican-led select committee investigating the terror attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi to conclude its work.

By releasing the report on Monday, the Democrats aim to counteract the Republicans' attack as the presidential race kicks into high gear ahead of the national conventions by the two parties in July.
Nikolay Mamluke via Getty Images Portrait of a young man in severe pain

Millennials are defined as that generation that came to young adulthood around 2000, thus the term. I wonder if millennials will be the last generation to receive benefits as we know them today.

Based on all the work I have done for and with my PROMOTE! book I keep coming back to the requirement (not just a recommendation or "best practice" anymore) that all workers, at all levels must learn to professionally and appropriately promote themselves on the job as often as is reasonably possible. Hold that thought while I take a 180 here to shape this discussion. I'll be back to this point in a moment.

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Pre-World War II

A bit of history for you. Prior to WWII there was virtually no such thing as benefits. An employee went to work and was paid for his* efforts in cash only. He put money away in a savings account for retirement, paid for his own insurance (if he elected to purchase any) and his family's doctor bills and, like the squirrel preparing for winter, he did the same: He prepared for the time when he would not be able to work. The nuclear family at this time was also much stronger so family as a whole would take up much of the responsibility of caring for their elders.

Post World War II

Immediately following the war, North America saw one of the greatest economic explosions of all time. Levittown, NY happened; every home wanted and acquired washers and refrigerators and-the major miracle of industry at that time-an automobile in every garage. This in turn created a change in how employees were hired and retained. And that change was benefits.

Due to the casualties of war there just weren't enough men available to manufacture things-especially automobiles. So the auto manufacturers raided each others employees and enticed them to make the move with a new 'carrot' known as benefits. And the competition to offer more and better took off. And we all saw 'that it was good.' Right?

The SWING

Well, from my observation working with job seekers I'm seeing more and more and more of them moving into contract work. I know-and clearly understand-why companies are making the benefits-pendulum swing back towards the pre-WWII model. The fact is benefits are expensive. VERY expensive. Once offered and agreed to they are a legal obligation to the employer that linger for a long time-especially as we grow older as a population.

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Not too many years ago the Detroit auto companies managed to move the management of their workers benefits to the unions. I was astonished that the unions would want to take on this responsibility. And I know that the day of the signing of those agreements the companies were overjoyed at NOT having to deal with the day-to-day, year-in/year-out managing of those retirement benefits. This event was a bell weather moment in the beginning of The Swing.

Back to Millennials

What I see happening now is that core employees, that is, those employees who a company cannot operate without, will continue to receive benefits. But note that I said CORE in that last sentence. I see a time when virtually all support positions will be contract (Or worse, replaced by a camera, video and software. Watch to see what happens to your local drive-up bank teller in just a very few years.)

Workers will be paid more per hour and receive little to no benefits meaning that it will be incumbent for them to obtain their own health insurance (or not), their own dental and vision insurance (or not) and plan for their retirement out of their own pocket (or not!) I think Millennials need to think about and prepare for this eventuality now. If I'm wrong and none of this comes to pass just think of the retirement party you will be able to afford!

And Finally, Back to PROMOTE!

So what does all of this have to with my PROMOTE! book? In that book I propose that every individual, no matter their age or position, continue to professionally promote themselves. At the end of the day you want to be a part of that CORE group. The only way this is going to happen is to not only tell them what you are doing but in order to have the impact you seek you have to be able to quantify each and every single accomplishment in dollars saved or dollars earned. THAT is how you become a permanent member of the CORE.

I would really like to get your opinion on benefits and the future of work as we know it. Please join the conversation.

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As always, I wish you great success!
The five things you need to know on Wednesday June 29, 2016

1) IRRESISTIBLE DIVORCE, IMMOVABLE PROJECT

The cold, hard reality of Brexit was more obvious than ever last night as David Cameron bade farewell to his last ever EU summit.

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The PM had two key messages. First, he couldnt resist telling his fellow leaders that it was actually their fault because they failed to give him more concessions on migration and freedom of movement. But second, he told his domestic audience that it was impossible to keep all of the benefits of EU membership and none of the costs.

Of course EU leaders - who had been told by Cameron over dinner in December Ill win this, Im a winner - werent that impressed at being told it was their fault. And back home, much of his own party believes that the conflict between his two messages proves the logic of Brexit. There are real limits to variable geometry, and multi-speed Europes, after all.

The immovable project of being a full EU member has now triggered the UKs irresistible divorce from it. Even Angela Merkel, whose office had flirted with the idea of a rethink, had to send out a clear message that there was no half way house. Mark Rutte, said that the UK had collapsed politically, constitutionally and economically. And he was one of Daves few mates. With their own club at risk of break up, pour encourager les autres never seemed more apt.

Jean-Claude Juncker (along with Martin Schulz) was a Brexiters dream yesterday as he goaded the UK into triggering Article 50 (the device needed to legally start the divorce proceedings proper). If the referendum was a decree nisi, the EU wants the decree absolute, asap.

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Married or divorced, but not something in between, said Luxembourg PM Xavier Bettel, on the nature of the UKs new relationship. We are not on Facebook, with Its complicated as a status.

2) SNAPPY SNAPS

Cameron last night said referred to the next Tory leader as he OR she, and he wasnt just being politically correct. Given the breakneck speed of the Tory leadership race - with nominations opened today and closing at noon tomorrow - Theresa May is looking like the main stop Boris candidate (though Crabb-Javid are trying to make it more interesting).

And the most important signal coming out of Team Bozza and Team Theresa seems to be that a snap general election is now receding. Sources close to Boris have told the Guardian that he believes the result of last weeks EU vote was sufficient for him to begin negotiating terms of exit from the bloc without a fresh mandate.

Mays team were even less keen on a snap election, and given her natural caution (and cynics will say her lack of connection with the public so far) thats no surprise. We report how many Tory MPs from the 2015 intake have urged all the candidates to avoid an Autumn election, to avoid further chaos.

And yet there is still some Tory support for a snap election, not least because of the state of the Labour party and the looming boundary changes worrying some backbenchers. Some Boris fans think he could win a landslide if Corbyn clings on. And even if Corbyn is replaced by a very pro-EU leader, Labour risks losing lots of seats to UKIP in the north, while the Tories clean up everywhere else (and this is the fear of many Labour MPs).

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There is also a danger that a new, unelected Prime Minister risks further dividing a divided and (in some parts) angry nation. And all those Tory attacks on Gordon Brown for bottling the 2007 snap election would be used against them. I still have my Bottler Brown bottle of CCHQ ale on my desk. The Boris v Theresa show is being fought out by proxies in the papers, with the Sun clearly behind Bozza and the Daily Mail appearing to back May. As the Mail points out, Boris has never stood at the despatch box, so a snap election may be needed to legitimise his premiership.

Hopes of a deal between Boris and May have faded too. The Sun reports that the former London Mayor was left in a room on his own for 40 minutes after the Home Secretary snubbed a planned meeting in the Cabinet Office on Monday. The Suns Trevor Kavanagh also depicts Boris holding what looks like The Vow, to implement all his promises.

Boris is building an impressively wide coaltion, from socially liberal MPs like Nicholas Soames, through to other Remainers like Liz Truss (and even Amber Rudd, one rumour claims, but after her attacks thats very difficult) to hardened operators like Sir Lynton Crosby. Sam Coates of the Times had a corker yesterday, revealing that some Leavers wanted to clarify Boriss Telegraph column (that reduced migration wasnt a biggie) because it was written too quickly, when he was tired. That proves he wants to keep the Right on board. But it also proves that Brexit itself sometimes feels like a column that went wrong.

3) EAGLE EYES

Its going to be a very strange PMQs at noon today. Some Labour MPs are calling for a boycott, to have a sea of green benches behind Corbyn that proves his loss of Parliamentary authority. Others think that would be an own goal and prefer to be seen pointedly asking better questions than their leader, while silent when he speaks.

But all eyes will be on Angela Eagle. Will she go for it straight after PMQs, to deliver the coup de grace and tell him shes challenging him for the leadership? The whips are set to quit almost en masse and Tom Watson still has a role here too. Some think he still could stand as interim leader if Corbyn steps aside. Trade union bosses may well give JC one last chance to quit with dignity, but hes in no mood to go. Theres even talk of Andy Burnham being urged to change his mind.

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I can reveal that two former chairs of the PLP - Clive Soley and Dave Watts - have now formally written to Corbyn to urge him to step down for the good of the party.

One critic told me Jeremy doesnt want to go on. But hes now being held hostage by Seumas and McDonnell. Well, so far Corbyn himself seems dug in. As I reported last night, if he wins a second mandate there are plans to radically change Labours rules to strip MPs of their current leadership rights and put members fully in charge of the process. Mandatory re-selection, recall, are all real prospects and its no wonder given how impossible it would be to carry on with the current Parliamentary impasse.

Many Labour MPs are hoping that Corbyns own words - to his strategy and comms chief Seumas Milne during a farcical Shad Cab photocall - may prove president. "Seumas, I'm not sure this is a good idea either

In a sign of the coming battles, we reported how Eagle's own local party wanted her to show confidence in Corbyn. Several CLPs are actually now holding votes on Corbyn and Battersea (once a marginal) voted against him last night. And there's word this morning that Welsh Labour HQ staff have been told to stay at home on Friday because of fears for their safety, after Momentum announced a demo outside.

As I tweeted yesterday, the Ministers of Crown Act 1937 gives the Speaker power to choose the official leader of Opposition if there is uncertainty over who it is. Strangely enough, the SNPs Angus Robertson (who often asks better PMQs than Corbyn) is floating the idea of him becoming LOTO (leader of the opposition) because he has more support with this 56 MPs than Corbyn does with the 40 who backed him on the no confidence motion yesterday.

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BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR

4) CRABB SANDWICH

This isnt about Boris Johnson. This is about Stephen Crabb and how he and his team will implement this Brexit decision. Those were the words of Sajid Javid on the Today prog as he tried to pitch hard for his own candidate for the Tory leadership.

Crabb certainly has an impressive pitch, a genuine working class Tory with a Christian compassion at the heart of his politics, allied to a steely resolve (as seen in his early clashes with George Osborne at the DWP, resisting further cuts in the benefits budget).

The young Work and Pensions Secretary has written a Telegraph piece in which he pledges optimism and pragmatism. And unity. One Nation politics may even catch the public need for healing, a post-EU country that tries to look after its poor while sharing fairly the proceeds of growth from its buccaneering businesses overseas.

His real problem is hes way behind in the rubber chicken circuit stakes (the Tory association meetings up and down the country), where May and even Nicky Morgan have been taking the lead. And Boris hasnt needed any rubber chicken dinners: hes so popular in the grassroots he just has to sneeze and his hanky will be auctioned for thousands of pounds at a fundraiser.

What will further split the Crabb vote is if his close friend Nicky Morgan does indeed run (and on Today she didnt rule it out).

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5) SOUBRY SNACKS

There is a real danger that those who voted in their millions for Leave are now being ignored amid the noise and heat that followed in the angry backlash of the Remainers. If ever there was a silent majority, this is it. The cycle may change soon, not least as the reality sinks in that this is for good.

If both Boris and Theresa (and Crabb?) opt against a snap general election, Remainers can kiss goodbye their distant hopes of overturning the result before Article 50 is triggered.

But the noise of the backlash was felt in Parliament last night as the pro-EU demo moved from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square and then the small patch of grass that is Abingdon Green (below the broadcasters Brexit event tents).

The video above gives a flavour of it. But Anna Soubry turned into the accidental hero of this youth movement. Having been on the broadcasters balcony, she then went down to address the crowd and was tearful herself as she said her elderly mother and twentysomething daughters wept at the result.

Soubry was unclear whether the result could be overturned. And then added this: Im so sorry because I dont know what the solution is to it.I know some of you will think this is pathetic, you should write to your MP tell them how you feel. Yes, thats how little ammo the Remainers have left.

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Reports coming out of Brussels and Washington suggest that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, otherwise known as TTIP, has been crippled, possibly killed, by Brexit. Informed sources suggest that TTIP will be parked until Britain's Article 50 negotiations have been completed and that there is now a possibility that the deal will never be concluded.

Officially, Brussels is denying there is a problem, but a source close to the TTIP negotiations has said that the European Union won't admit anything is wrong to avoid giving the impression that it is in disarray after the Brexit vote. Some members of the European Parliament are concerned that if the EU cannot fulfil its central purpose of concluding trade deals there may be contagion as more member states seek to follow Britain's lead.

Influential Washington figures warn that Britain represents 16% of the EU market and that the deal must be put on hold. Until Britain's relationship with the EU is finalised, there is no way to assess the nature and scale of the reduction in the EU's market, making it impossible to value. Others in the US are worried about the loss of a liberal, free-market EU member, and wonder how difficult it will be to conclude a deal with some of the more protectionist states that remain.

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Officially, the EU Ambassador to the US, David O'Sullivan, has reiterated the intention to complete TTIP by the end of 2016, "The most important thing now is to reach a conclusion between the negotiators this year, and that is how we will go forward, and then it will be for the UK to decide what kind of trade relationship it wants with the United States."

With Article 50 unlikely to be invoked until David Cameron's replacement is chosen, which will happen by September 2nd, there would seem to be insufficient time to conclude the negotiations before the end of the year, and many in Brussels now want to focus on obtaining the right Brexit terms, pushing TTIP down the list of priorities. With next year's elections in France, Germany, and Holland, EU leaders may lack the political capital to ratify TTIP against the rising tide of popular opinion.

Reuters reports that Gary Hufbauer, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics, says the landscape for Americans has now changed, "The 'back of the queue' statement will be forgotten by the next administration, if not sooner. In my view, TTIP is either dormant or dead in the wake of Brexit."

There are some who now believe that the US could negotiate a trade deal with the UK before it completes one with the EU. According to Miriam Sapiro, former deputy US Trade Representative, it may be easier for Washington to negotiate a bilateral trade deal with Britain, a like-minded country that is more open to free trade than the 27 remaining EU members.

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The social implications of this are huge. Anyone who follows me will know that I have long warned about the dangers TTIP poses to democracy. TTIP and its baby sister, CETA, a similar trade deal that the EU has negotiated with Canada, enable corporations to sue governments in secret commercial Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) courts. For some background on TTIP and ISDS courts, visit War on Want. This right of litigation exposes governments to lawsuits for any policy-induced losses suffered by a corporation, effectively curtailing the ability of democratically elected governments to set policy.

If CETA is ratified before Britain's Article 50 exit negotiations are complete, the UK will be exposed to corporate action through ISDS courts for 20 years after its departure. For that reason, I'd suggest joining War on Want's campaign calling on the Prime Minister to guarantee that MPs will have a vote on CETA. You can sign up here.

Before the Brexit vote, ISDS courts posed a risk to every aspect of life in Britain, but my particular concern was the NHS, which could have been compelled to open up to market forces. The EU has not listened to campaign groups, protestors, and members of the public, who have mobilised against TTIP across the continent, but it seems that with one vote the British people have not only protected themselves from the corporatisation of their democracy, they may have also protected the people of Europe.

Economically, if TTIP does get parked, and the signals already coming from the US translate into action, far from being at the back of the queue, Britain will have moved to the front.

We have a great deal in common with the US and there are many similarities in our economies and legal systems. A US-UK trade deal will be far simpler to conclude than TTIP, and I do not have the same democratic concerns about a bilateral UK-US deal that I had about TTIP. The Leave vote has shown that the people of Britain are prepared to walk away from deals if the terms aren't right, and, with an accountable Parliament overseeing all our trade deals, we can ensure that fundamental legal and constitutional principles, and national treasures, such as the NHS, can be properly protected.

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As a Leaver, the last few days haven't been particular encouraging. I've never been vehemently political about anything, other than Britain's membership of the EU, an institution which I've studied in some depth. About a month ago, my Twitter feed transformed from a gentle stream of musings about the creative arts into a torrent of Leave messages, and I know I've lost followers as a result, for which I can only apologise. Within my peer group, I've been in the minority advocating for Leave, but despite my fondness for Europe and the European people, I could not in good conscience accept something as fundamentally contrary to the principles of democracy as the EU and in particular, TTIP. It looks like Brexit has crippled, if not killed, a trade deal that was a profound threat to all of us.
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So where to start with the national catastrophe, which has reduced us to an international joke, that has been unleashed?

Let's start with the thing people are crying out for right now - leadership.

It is easy to understand why the Prime Minister has decided he has to go. But there is a reason for the phrase 'lame duck leadership,' especially when the bullet through the foot that made you lame was fired by yourself. My sympathy for David Cameron having to go to Brussels today and beg for understanding from other leaders, and my respect for the dignity he has shown since Friday morning's political earthquake, is dwarfed by the anger and frustration I feel that he led the country down this road.

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Apologies for banging on for the nth time about this. But the offer of the referendum was a tactical ploy to shut up the Tory right and shut down Ukip at the election. OK, it worked. He won a majority. But it looks like he is going to lose not merely his job, but the standing and status of the entire country; our prosperity; the Union.

He will now do his duty, and try to make the best of a terrible job. And what an irony that we, having made life a misery for other EU leaders, and having wrecked their markets as well as our own, now have to rely on Angela Merkel and co showing the kind of fairness, reasonableness and solidarity that have been sadly lacking from this side of the Channel in recent weeks. But even her patience and understanding will have been pushed to the limit by this act of national self-harm and self-indulgence.

George Osborne is another lame duck, but one with the difficult job of continuing to try to steer the economy through some very dangerous waters. Given he always thought the referendum was a bad idea, and shared my view that Ukip and the Tory right were better seen off in strategic argument rather than tactical pandering, he could be forgiven for a mild dose of 'I told you so.' To his credit, he has done none of that and like Cameron is doing what he can to rescue the situation, steady the markets and the pound. Project Fear was no Project Fear at all. The warnings of economic damage were real, and the people who will first pay the price are those who fell for Project Lies.

An important role was played by our wretched right-wing, lying, anti-Europe, anti-immigrant right-wing newspapers, owned by an Australian-American billionaire who has always used his papers for his own political and economic agenda; a weak tax-dodging billionaire aristo at the Mail (Rothermere) controlled by a strong and sociopathic editor (Dacre); Channel Island tax avoiders at the Telegraph; a pornographer at the Express and Star, which with the Daily Dacre have fanned the anti-immigrant flames more than anyone. These are national and cultural leaders too, and they are disgusting in the extreme, not least the effortlessness with which they glide from stirring the hate to condemning its consequences. And when loathsome creeps like Kelvin Mackenzie talk of having 'buyer's remorse' at the vote; when these papers' money experts now give their guides as to how the result will hit the savings, pensions, holidays, cost of phone calls of their readers, you wonder how those readers can ever buy these rags again, given the damage they have helped create.

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But these papers would not have managed to be on the winning side without the trio of leading politicians who led the Leave campaign. Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, and Nigel Farage.

Of the three, as leaders go, I have more respect for Farage than the other two. He has always been a far right, nationalist, xenophobic, anti-European who has consistently called for Britain to be out of Europe. He has often been a lone voice screaming in the wilderness. He has kept going, and he has won his fight. It is a tragedy for Britain, in my view, but for all the nastiness he has unleashed down the years, you cannot escape the fact that he stuck to his guns and never gave up.

For Johnson and Gove, I am afraid I find it hard to feel anything but contempt right now. They won the campaign, and that did require boldness and nerve, without doubt important leadership qualities. But they did so by, in Gove's case, posing as the intelligent Tory while doing his best to create a post-intelligence, anti-expert, anti-fact debate; and in Johnson's case putting his own ambition to be Prime Minister ahead of what he actually believes to be the national interest. If you haven't read Nick Cohen's piece in the Observer, you should. Here it is.

Since the vote, the lack of leadership they have shown has been stunning. As I said in this piece for the International Business Times on Saturday, they looked sick to their stomachs at having won. Their celebration press conference on Friday was like a funeral. They said nothing about the markets, nothing about Scotland, nothing about Northern Ireland, nothing about the tensions and hatreds that were already kicking off in unpleasant racist behaviour around the country. They looked and spoke like two naughty schoolboys who had been bullying the smallest kid in the class, and finally it had been caught on CCTV behind the bike sheds.

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Then yesterday we had Gove sneaking in and out of the Cabinet meeting he had to attend. Johnson avoiding the Parliamentary session he should have attended, speaking to the nation via the column in the Daily Telegraph that pays him 250,000 a year 'chickenfeed', and giving more bumbling nonsensical clips to the media, saying the pound and the markets had stabilised when they hadn't, saying we could have access to the single market and end free movement of travel when we can't. 'You betcha,' he said when asked if this was possible, as he jumped into a blacked out Range Rover - a sign that he will now have to hide his face from people who saw him as modern, progressive, pro-youth and pro-immigration when he was running for Mayor, and now see him for the opportunistic unprincipled charlatan some of us have long known from his days lying about Europe for the Telegraph in Brussels.

And what a horrible irony that having won this campaign by saying it was all about the country being able to elect its own leaders, the next PM will now be chosen by the tiny and shrinking, old and unrepresentative, Tory Party membership. If there is a stop Johnson campaign, I wish it well. It deserves to win in a way that he and his fellow Vote Leave liars, busy backtracking from every promise they made, on the NHS, on borders, on immigration, did not.

Now to Labour. Another leadership disaster area, at a time a well-led Labour Party has never been needed more.

Nearly everyone who spoke of Jeremy Corbyn as they resigned yesterday said he was a good and decent man. Well, he is certainly a good local MP. But I am beginning to doubt the decency part. The phrase 'do the decent thing' comes to mind.

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Of course this is a subjective view, but it is born of decades of campaigning and of travelling the UK listening to people (the ones who said we wouldn't win with Ed Miliband, the ones who said - and this is not hindsight, I was clear with the Remain campaign from early June - that the referendum was being lost) - but here is as close as a fact as you can have in these unpredictable times. The British public will never elect Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister.

Yes, he was elected leader by a landslide. Yes, he attracted lots of new members. Yes, he is right that division and inequality are massive problems in our country. But he is not going to be asked to solve them and, what's more, for all the fine words, he has given little indication of how he would try.

MPs are of mixed quality. But they are not all daft. The avalanche of resignations of frontbenchers has come not merely because of his half-hearted, ineffectual campaigning in the referendum debate. It has come because they have seen up close that he cannot do the job. And we saw again last night, just as we saw in that car crash VICE documentary, is that he is great when telling the converted what they already think (and by the way large numbers in that crowd last night are dedicated to destroying Labour not saving it) but hopeless at winning over the people we are going to need to prevent an even bigger Tory majority in the coming election, whether it is Johnson, Theresa May or anyone else at the helm from Number 10.

There has always been a section of the Labour Party that cares less about winning power than it does about holding sway within the Party. Corbyn now leads that section. He seemingly couldn't even answer the question if he voted REMAIN. And have you ever seen him say he actually wants to be PM. A sect has taken control of one of the two most important national political organisations. If he was a decent man, he would do the decent thing and go, and let someone who can lead take on the role of leadership. If he remains, fighting harder for this remain than the one he should have fought for, then he will earn his place in history - as the man who split and possibly destroyed the Labour Party in an act of vandalism and vanity. In this, he is the Labour version of Boris Johnson who, out of ego, ambition and vanity, has risked the destruction of the country he claims to love and claims he could be capable of leading.

This, tragically, is the story of British politics and national life today. Johnson - a man who doesn't believe in Brexit, but said he did, may be about to become PM, despite his obvious unsuitability. And Corbyn, who does believe in Brexit, but said he didn't, is clinging on as Leader of the Opposition, despite his obvious unsuitability.

Thank God Merkel is in Germany. Thank heavens too that Scotland has proper political leaders across the board, including three strong women leading the SNP, Labour and the Tories. But God help the rest of us right now.

And if I meet one more person telling me they wished they hadn't voted Leave, they didn't realise these warnings were real, they thought it did mean more money for the NHS, they thought it would mean a drop in immigration, they thought it wouldn't lead to economic harm and job losses and rising prices and and tax rises and spending cuts ... I worry my legendary calm temper might just snap.

We have got what we voted for. We were warned. We have the national crisis many of us said we would. And we have a vacuum in leadership.

A few suggestions.

Do not give up on the idea that the country can rethink this decision. Yes, accept the verdict of the people. But watch and get involved as the people express their regret in growing numbers and in varying ways.

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Do not allow Boris Johnson, chief architect of this disaster, to become the Prime Minister.

Do not allow him, Gove et al, to escape the scrutiny they deserve for the lies they told. At the least, the Electoral Commission and the body for Standards in Public Life must be looking at the claims made, and the retraction of them immediately after winning.

If you think Corbyn has to go, join the Labour Party, and help make that happen so that it can become a proper functioning campaigning party again, not a hard left sect and vanity project, as a general election nears.

And call out and challenge the nastiness and the racism that this campaign has unleashed, further adding to the sense that a campaign won on the slogans 'take back control', 'make Britain great again,' is lurching out of control, and showing the world its worst side, not its best.
Booking a great family break during school holidays can be a tricky task at the best of times. Not only do you need to find something everyone will love, there's high prices (or the risk of a term time fine) and the knowledge the best trips book up well in advance.

So doing all this as a single parent - with the potential financial penalties for travelling as the sole adult - can seem like a huge challenge. But now there are around two million lone parents with dependent children in the UK, more travel companies are waking up to the demand.

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Here are my trips on booking a holiday for single parents, whether it's your first or fifth, and whatever age your kids are.

Which holiday?

Start by researching who the holiday is aimed at, or asking the company for details of families already signed up. A beach break to delight a toddler isn't necessarily going to keep a tween or teen happy and vice versa. And if you're hoping your own kids are going to make friends, there's nothing worse than discovering the only other children are five years older or younger.

If your child has another holiday planned with their other parent, it can be best to book something totally different, to avoid the chance of comparing or temptation to compete.

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How much?

Doublecheck if free child places still apply when there's only one parent travelling or will they be charged as a second adult? And it's worth making sure that there aren't single supplements applied during school holidays - even if they're discounted the rest of the year.

Single parent friendly - or single parent only?

Start with the specialists if you want a trip that's only for single parents, especially if seeing lots of happy nuclear families is likely to leave someone in tears.

Single with Kids, for example, has holidays in the UK as well as Europe, along with an online forum to chat before and after the break. Around three quarters of the group have never met before on holiday so it's a good way to find others in a similar position, plus they offer optional activities to help break the ice.

Solo friendly accommodation

If you don't want an entire holiday aimed at solo parents, how about a hotel which specialises in single parent breaks? Check the facilities on offer - is there babysitting, baby listening or a kids' club if you fancy some me time? How about communal tables if you'd rather not eat alone? After all, it's your holiday too. Somewhere like The Sands Hotel in Cornwall has regular offers for single parents of younger kids.

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What activities are there?

Long lazy days in the sun are probably high on most holiday wishlists - whether it's kids making sandcastles on the beach or parents getting the chance to relax. But will that keep everyone amused after day three? For older kids, a holiday based on an activity can be a fun alternative.

The family working holidays from the National Trust mix countryside conservation with rock pooling, scavenger hunts and survival skills. Or see the country from your bike with family-friendly cycle trips from Saddle Skedaddle. Consider add-on activities as well such as Family Twist guided tours of Paris, London, Rome and Florence, tailored to different ages, or the parent-and-child cookery courses at Lucknam Park.

Looking for adventure?

A family-friendly holiday needn't mean sticking to tried-and-tested locations across the Mediterranean and the UK. G Adventures has small group tours of Thailand for five-year-olds and up, as well as trips to Tanzania and the Galapagos.

All images courtesy Pixabay
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Hi my name's Dougie. I'm not too sure how to start an open letter because I have never written one. Come to think of it, the last letter I wrote was probably to Santa. Anyway, I am a human being from the UK and since the age of three I have been fascinated by the natural world and conservation. On a recent trip to Los Angeles I was introduced to two of the most interesting people I have ever met; Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen, the founders of the charity 5 Gyres. They are a mix of paleontologist, zoologist and environmentalists all rolled into one - the real life Indiana Jones duo.

Ten minutes into our introduction Marcus uncovered a camel gastrolith that he had dug up in Dubai - this was a forty-five pound ball of indigestible plastic found in it's stomach (photo above is me actually holding it)! The camel had been eating plastic bags thinking they were some kind of plant life. It then died of starvation because it couldn't digest the plastic and it's brain was telling him he was full. This blew my mind and made me fully aware of how big the global plastic problem has become. As we continued talking they started telling me about a cause they have been fighting for the past few years, microbeads.

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This is me holding the camel gastrolith

Microbeads are the tiny plastic balls used mainly in personal care products including toothpastes that are marketed as "helping to clean you". After using these products the tiny beads rinsed down the drain and end up in our waterways and oceans affecting fish and other animals (not to mention in your gums and in your mouth)! Small Fish eat these beads thinking they are food. Big fish eat the little fish. We eat the big fish. One in four fish that we eat has consumed a microplastic that can be traced back to face scrubs and toothpaste. You get the point. This is a massive global issue affecting all of us as humans.

This made me realize that I've been using all kinds of products from toothpastes to face scrub for years completely unaware that I am washing and cleaning myself with millions of pieces of plastic! Not cool. As we continued chatting I learned that main reason most of us are not aware of this is that the plastics go by different names such as polyethylene and polypropylene. Manufacturers then take these big words and put them on the bottles but don't tell you the tiny little dots are plastic. So I thought I was buying products that would make my teeth whiter or body feel better when I was contributing to the problem.

Fast-forward to today and what's been keeping me up at night is that most people are unaware of this problem. Yes, a ban on microbeads has passed in the US but won't be in affect until 2018. Here in the UK the government has been talking about a ban for a few years but they are still produced. And in almost every other country around the world they are still legal. Everyday tens of millions of beads are entering our oceans because the beads are too small for the filters in the water treatment plants to catch them and are having a HUGE affect on... well, everything!

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The ocean is responsible for more than half of our oxygen supply. Through plastic pollution, climate change and over fishing we are impacting the balance of nature and in turn shooting ourselves in the foot as a species. If we can be the generation that stops polluting our oceans, the planet will have time to recover. If not then.... well you guys have seen Pixar's Wall-E right? But we have the power to create change and a shift in culture. Each of us has the ability to voice our opinions against this issue and start conversation about plastic pollution to our friends, family and leaders. Every unused bottle matters.
HIV support services are a vital resource for people living with HIV. Research around the world has demonstrated the positive impact these services have on people's health and wellbeing. Despite this, funding for HIV support is rapidly being cut.

Services in the UK have been shrinking in recent years, a result of austerity and the removal of the ring-fence that used to protect funding for HIV support. In response to this, a coalition of charities has launched the campaign Stop HIV Cuts, which Sophia Forum (a charity for which I am a trustee) supports, as I discussed in a previous blog.

The impact of cuts is significant and growing. Support services are vanishing and more cuts are planned. Research by Drew Dalton at the University of Sunderland found that 40% of HIV organisations had faced an overall loss in their income and had to cut paid staff roles. Organisations also anticipated a third of their projects would close in the coming year.

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Across the country, whole organisations such as ABPlus in Birmingham are closing down, while others are facing closure and many organisations are cutting staff and services. Smaller and community-based organisations have particularly suffered.

Sophia Forum, as the only UK organisation focused on women and HIV, has witnessed the impact this loss in services has on women living with HIV. As HIV continues to be a stigmatised condition, HIV-specific services are vital to allow people to access information and support, as well as social support from other people living with HIV.

This is compounded by the wider impact of austerity which has particularly affected women, especially BME women, who might be dealing with changes in benefits, coping with the immigration system and loss of other specific services such as those for women who have experienced violence. Many women living with HIV do experience violence (a study at a London HIV clinic found 52% of women had experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime).

Last week, I was invited onto the Victoria Derbyshire programme on BBC News along with other advocates, to discuss the impact of cuts to HIV funding. You can watch the whole segment here (from 1 hour 25 minutes) or this short clip. We discussed the devastating effect that losing support services has, and the extraordinary and even lifesaving role that HIV support can provide. These services are not expensive to run, and by preventing further health problems and other challenges, can actually save money for the NHS and local authorities. Cutting HIV support is detrimental in every respect.

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In my PhD research at the University of Greenwich I have been speaking to older women living with HIV in London, who have described services closing down or becoming harder to access, and the isolation and loneliness they now experience as a result. One woman living with HIV in her early fifties told me:

"There used to be one [support group] but now, these days, because of the cuts you cannot get funds, funding, and it is putting us down because we don't meet anymore, we are just locked indoors. We don't socialise, there is no way we can meet men, unless if we go in those groups so you just, you know, like we are just waiting to die. No life. Just eating, going to the toilet and that's it. Very, very depressed."
Post-referendum, everyone upset about the result is talking about leadership. How could David Cameron have risked so much just to placate a minority in his party? How could Jeremy Corbyn have not done more to head off such a rebellion? How could Boris Johnston have been so juvenile? Why can't everyone be more like Nicola Sturgeon?

It is normal to focus on individuals in calamitous times. Indeed, it's also normal to focus on individuals in good times. That's what some psychologists have discovered with their experiments - we have an ingrained tendency to praise or blame the boss when things are either better or worse than we think is normal. But focusing on an individual like that means we can miss underlying trends and the importance of whether we ourselves are participating in change.

So with a summer ahead where we will hear politicians and commentators tell us what kind of leadership we need, let us check on what leadership actually means. One widely quoted definition in both community development and politics comes from Marshal Ganz, who is credited with teaching Barack Obama some of his tricks. He defines leadership as "Taking responsibility to enable others to have a common purpose, in the face of uncertainty".

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On first glance, that seems both accurate and uplifting. But it leaves a key question unanswered. Who are the "others" being led? Political heads need to lead at least five groups: their cabinet, political party, supporter base, target voters, and nation state. And for more internationalist minded politicians, it is also important to consider how one leads across borders for humanitarian and planetary goals.

When politicians say we need "strong leadership" they are typically implying resistance to the views of some in cabinet, party or base, in order to deliver for target voters or the nation state. The risk with that view is it can lead to the invention of a mythical "national interest" or "normal person" by politicians to make their case. That view was taken to the extreme when Tony Blair said he needed to transcend the "demonic rabble" when he was PM. Of course strength can come from responsiveness and flexibility, rather than rigidity or imposition. It can come from inspiring and organising participation, rather than being the hero. But Tony didn't think so.

For David Cameron, strength could have involved resisting the Euro-sceptics in his party rather than promising a risky referendum. For Jeremy Corbyn, strength could involve resisting those in the Labour Party who want to cut off the left wing movement that got him elected last year. Many Labour MPs who rebel against their democratically-elected leader hope for someone new who could reassure the public that things are under control. Their hope is that a smooth-talking spokesperson within tabloid-defined notions of what's credible will increase support for the Labour Party. For credible, they really mean "uncontroversial." Which means not challenging either the economic neoliberalism or militarism made normal by the constant punishment of dissent by mass media.

Over the past year Jeremy Corbyn represented a different view. The centre-left movement that propelled him to the top of Labour involves millions who believe in challenging the structures of power in society, not just more compassionate or efficient management of those structures. That means changing the form of financial capitalism that has increased inequality and extinguished the chance for our young to live like their parents' did. Such a perspective invites people to become involved at all levels and play their part in a struggle for change. The challenge is understood as a collective one, requiring collective leadership by us all.

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For people who see the challenge that way, then those with the media megaphone need to focus on changing the discussion in society rather than just appealing to where people are at. It means risking the wrath of journalists looking for the latest opportunity to laugh ignorantly at politicians. That can be a scary approach for professional politicians who seek a near term boost in status from the press and thus the general watching public. It is why so many Labour MPs abandoned Mr Corbyn.

Challenging dominant narratives to enable wider participation in real change is something that, the theory says, typify "transformative leaders." Such leaders lift people's perceptions and sense of community to a wider level, so we co-operate more widely. So before we stay excited by Ms Sturgeon, that theory puts a different complexion on her mobilising people within a group - Scotland - rather than transcending that for a wider shared interest across the UK.

The media invites us to consider the small details of public persona, such as the latitude of a bow or the misdemeanours of youth. This focus on the individual masks how leadership strength is rooted in the less visible processes of networks and organisations. The massive global outpouring of support for the late Jo Cox reflected how she was part of a worldwide community of people and organisations working for global causes. As part of that international community, I was reminded of the power of networks of purpose. Other politicians are part of national networks such as co-operative organisations, business associations and trade unions. Those networks don't just provide strength for a leader, they are a strength in themselves. Some MPs seem to understand that, with Stella Creasy working with co-operatives and Rushanara Ali with the community leadership initiative Uprising.

In the face of political rebelliousness, many career politicians nervously want to restore trust in their profession and think that will be done by avoiding "controversial" views. Yet in a time of rebelliousness, that impulse will continue to concede ground to populists who have less to lose. The stakes are high, as when the better future promised by Leaver politicians fails to materialise, they will likely inflame their supporters to blame more scapegoats.

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But the ripples of political awakening going through Britain need not be feared by politicians. After the Brexit referendum, stronger leadership must be collective. The answer for the Tories and Labour is not in finding a safer pair of hands, but in engaging more of the country in politics. Post referendum, the strength of leadership will be in how it inspires people to become involved, not relax at home. This is a potential upside to the European referendum: more people are realising that if you don't do politics, then politics can do you.
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Unlike other countries, in the UK we do referendums on an ad hoc basis, often to resolve (or try to resolve) internal party rifts. Nowhere was that more clearly seen than with the EU vote.

Last week's referendum raised some serious questions about the nature of the democracy we have - and the type we want to create.

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But given the current post-referendum confusion, now's the time to revisit the purpose and value of this particular type of public decision - and what makes for a 'good' or 'bad' referendum.

So here are three reforms for future referendum campaigns:

First, education and awareness-raising need to be an integral part of every campaign - especially early on (we gave this a good crack with our Better Referendumtool). That means changing the rules and funding plans to creating a commitment to do just this. More money for unbiased public information would equip the public better to evaluate the campaigns' claims. The formal campaigns could also be rewarded for activities that focus on capacity-building and time spent with the public - rather than simply talking at them (for example providing speakers at local debates). Incentives to the campaigns to encourage registration could also help.

Second, accuracy of information should be safeguarded - with tough sanctions for knowingly misleading the public. Referendum campaigners know they can get away with wild exaggerations or offensive visuals; they are extremely unlikely to meet any sanction - something which, alongside other elements of the campaign, University College London's Constitution Unit will be launching an inquiry into in the coming months.

The shock value of the 'No' campaign's baby unit posters in the Alternative Vote referendum, or the Leave campaign's Breaking Point' poster of a long queue of migrants show that, under the current free-for-all, campaigners find that courting controversy is worthwhile if there are votes to be won. New Zealand's Electoral Commission has an important role in monitoring and judging accuracy of campaigns' claims during a referendum, and a comparable role could be handed to Electoral Commission or another regulatory body to fairly govern all sides.

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Third, the timing of when to hold a referendum requires consideration. For Scots, the two year campaign allowed time and space to move through different phases of debate, giving people the chance to digest and get to grips with issues themselves rather than rely solely on the formal campaign mouthpieces.

The EU referendum was much shorter, and whilst journalists may have grown weary of reporting the issues, for most people it was simply not long enough to being to get underneath a complex package of topics - issues such as the implications of the vote for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, for the Union and other aspects of Britain's constitution - now quasi-federal, the Union, the environment and the voices of younger people were eclipsed from debate. Feeling uninformed or confused were common complaints.

And timing was also a cause for complaint in Wales and Scotland, where it was felt that the EU referendum would overshadow national parliamentary elections. Overall, there was a feeling that after an exhausting election period, party activists would struggle to be out in force.

These and every other aspect should form part of a root and branch review of the conduct of a referendum.

Everything from the practice of how the official campaigns are picked, who gets to vote in each referendum (Lords were explicitly permitted to vote in this referendum unlike other referendums or elections, while 16 and 17 year olds were excluded - unlike in Scotland), how each campaign is funded; how to best get information out and to regulate advertising more generally; and the role of the media in each vote - all this should be examined in the light of distinct experiences in the Scottish and EU referendums, and practical changes accepted, before another referendum comes around.

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Referendums evoke strong emotions - encouraged by their division into two binary camps and the insistence that every fact or argument be corralled into one or the other. For some, the particularly nasty and negative aspects of this referendum will invoke a feeling of 'never again'. Others will feel closer than usual to real political debate - and invigorated by it.

Whichever camp you fall in - and most will be on the fence, able to see both benefits and flaws, referendums should be seen for what they are - one means among many for stimulating informed public debate and decision-making on matters of national significance.
I first realised that the odds for Remain were about to plummet when i was campaigning for Labour on council estates in Peckham for Sadiq Khan on the run up to the mayoral election in April. This was a Labour stronghold and when asked how the locals would vote in the EU referendum, about half said 'don't know' and half said they'd 'leave'. Not one said they'd stay. At the same time, other Labour members did not seem so keen on us even asking the question (though it was required) on the EU and focused purely on the Mayoral contest, perhaps as for elected officials it is not a smart question to pose coming from a Pro-EU party, when over half the electorate want out. So this is not a crime, but the closer it got to the EU referendum, I saw how badly the EU campaign had been organised, especially in comparison to the mayoral campaign just seven weeks before.

When I tried to talk about the negative responses on the doorstep, & my general worry over the outcome of the referendum with friends, every conversation started and ended with 'we won't leave the EU' as 'no one would be that stupid'. Even on the night of the referendum itself, I went to an event at my old grad school, the London School of Economics, and the professors and speakers talked of 'if', or 'in the unlikely event' that we leave, predicting a slight win for Remain even amidst the shocking results from Newcastle around midnight when we could quite clearly see that we were not getting the results we needed to win the referendum.

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The following days after the referendum have been a like of wave of the five stages of grief: anger, denial, bargaining, depression but rather than acceptance, further division. Although I think after seven weeks I'm finally coming to the final stage of acceptance (of the outcome of the vote, not of what will actually occur, as that remains to be seen). This is because the main thing to strike me at that event at LSE last Thursday was that regardless of the outcome of the vote, there are seismic and deep seated issues which have been swept under the carpet in British politics, which have finally been given the space to surface. These wouldn't go away if we'd have won. It may above been even more volatile, as the anger from factions of the leave side have been proven to show a much uglier and more violent face compared to the cosmopolitan, liberal elite down in London who largely vote for remain. We've seen this even with the vote to leave winning, with the rise in racist attacks in public on anyone from schools children to second generation news reporters. So it's time to realise that if we don't accept these concerns, there's no way on earth we'll be able to address them.

Denial

So in light of this, what seems most important to me is to confront these divisions and rather than shaming half the population as uneducated fools, we might do well to try and understand what the concerns are of the leave voters were. This is especially poignant for us in the Labour Party, as a party who used to want to represent many of the Brexit voters who later felt disenfranchised and went to UKIP or got disillusioned altogether with British politics and failed to vote. If we carry on being complacent about the status quo and sneering at others with different views, then maybe we deserve this loss. Perhaps we have brought this on ourselves. I mean if we'd just got over ourselves two months ago and realised we might actually leave, perhaps more people would have got out of their metaphorical philosophers armchairs and done something.

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Anger

It may sound disloyal to the group which I am from to undermine my own peers, but that is not my intention. I don't want to leave the EU anymore than the most pro-remain campaigner out there, I actually work for the European Commission. All I know is that the divisions on either side are being perpetuated by a wall coming up across swathes of the population, where the majority of people only know people who voted the same way as them, so it becomes difficult to have a an open and informed debate about the actual issues and persuade anyone of the truth. I, for one, know that there were only 2 leave voters on my Facebook feed of over about 650, and they only posted on the day of the election, as they knew the backlash they'd receive (and they did). Not a great atmosphere for freedom of expression.

Bargaining

Earlier on I mentioned that I'd accepted the vote, but not the outcome. This is because one thing this vote has brought is uncertainty. Anything could and might happen, so now is not the time to be complacent. We have a complete lack of a strategy from the leader of the winning Leave campaign, the same people who are already reneging on promises made in the campaign. Therefore it is fairly likely that the overwhelmingly pro-EU members of the House of Commons might call for a vote of no confidence, if and when we end up with an unelected PM in October as the Tories plan. Clearly this is the expected course of events of the Parliamentary Labour Party who have been resigning by the hour over the last few days.

Depression

The vote of no confidence in Corbyn today is of course not a pleasant experience for Jeremy Corbyn, or the party, as it's not great to air our dirty laundry in public, but unfortunately I hate to say that it really is necessary as this issue goes much deeper than one person, or indeed parliamentary politics if we accept that we've lost touch with core voters who voted for Brexit. The idea that our Labour Party is fit to fight for our right to remain in the EU is not one that even I can buy after the luke warm campaign I saw on the ground. The idea that Corbyn is able to get us out of this situation is also not one I can accept, as unfortunately, as leader of the opposition he had a part to play in getting us here. The Labour leader has done fantastically at engaging the youth vote and is exceptionally popular in his constituency seat and in London having been elected continuously for over 30 years. The problem is that as with most socialists, and I include my self in this to a certain extent, your politics tends to appeal largely to the very same cosmopolitan, liberal elite that are already voting for you, or for remain. You end up in a sort of bubble, unable to engage with those outside, as we saw with the lack of interaction with other parties on the run up to the EU Referendum.

Acceptance

We need a leader who can talk to the other side, engage with older leave voters who may live in northern areas of the country, Wales or any areas which may have lost out to globalisation; and explain to them how it was not the EU who was blame for the issues affecting them, but globalisation. We need someone of the newer generation of Labour politics who might have grown up in a working class background having to accept globalisation, who's now accepted it but also learnt how to restrain it. The message of how best to harness globalisation (preferably through a regional bloc such as the EU which offers an aspect of protection from a race to the bottom and social protection) is key.
When I visited Newcastle recently I met with John Wright, one of the founders of Lyfe Watches. Lyfe is an unusual company as they are tapping into an interesting trend focused on 'caring capitalism'. This is all about companies that want to raise cash by trading, but with the intention of using profits for good causes rather than just handing out dividends to shareholders.

Companies like Lyfe are not charities. They have products and customers and need to market and build their brand, but they have a stated objective that their profits will be invested in good causes.

On the company website I read that Lyfe was inspired by children admiring the watches of the founders on a Brazilian beach. They both gave away their watches to the kids and thought about how a watch company could help children like these. Wright explains: "We regularly discussed starting a project which would enable us to bring together two areas we are passionate about, fashion and charity. The encounter with the two boys in Brazil was the catalyst for this. When we returned to the UK we got to work on the colour/cause concept and what our clear mission was." He added: "After talking with various suppliers around the world, we then discovered how powerful social media can be in terms of launching a product. Lyfe Watches launched in January 2016 and the response from all over the world has been unbelievable."

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I asked Wright about their charitable mission and how they decide where to invest the company profits. He explained: "Our mission is to help as many people as possible. We decided to create strap colours, which donate to serious global causes that we know sales of our watches can support. We didn't want to associate our brand to specific charities as we want to remain flexible in where we donate."

So customers choose the cause, but not the specific charities supported. Customers buying a watch with a green strap are indicating that they want the company to support poverty causes and blue for natural disasters. Wright explained how important it is to give customers feedback on what Lyfe is doing and how purchases are helping good causes: "Our plan is to use social media to keep our followers and customers up to date with the positive impact their support has on so many people globally."

But the watch market is challenged right now. Many people just use their phone to keep time and the Lyfe watch is more of a fashion item rather than a smart watch. Is the desire to do good enough of a reason for people to buy one?

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"We believe the Lyfe watch is a great product which can stand alone in a very competitive market. We have a unique style, which is appealing to both men and women of all ages. Our watch is so versatile given the ease of changing strap and face depending on your outfit or mood," Wright explained to me.

Lyfe clearly want to compete and offer a great watch, but with that added bonus of knowing you just did something to help other people. But I asked Wright why they took this business focused approach, rather than just raising funds for charitable causes. Does caring capitalism really exist?

He said: "We are a fashion business that wants to do more than a typical business. I would say most people enjoy fashion to some degree, but they also like to give back to those less fortunate and we are no different." He added: "We just want people to enjoy our product. Whether you buy a Lyfe watch because you love the simplistic style and flexibility, or you want to support a cause that you're passionate about and be proud to show it. We believe there's nothing wrong with either."

I'm now the proud owner of a Lyfe watch with a green strap and I can honestly say that after years of not wearing a watch I have started using it regularly. It looks good, functions well, and I can see that the Lyfe team are focused on making this a global fashion brand.
Brexit has won. The people have spoken. Sadly, the British people have voted to terminate our historic relationship with the EU. The repercussions are already being felt throughout the world and will resonate for the next century. Today many are asking themselves: Why? and what next?

The reason this could happen - and why the populist right has yielded such an astonishing victory - is because the political establishment has, over the past thirty years, ceased providing solutions to a whole range of working class problems, specifically housing, low wages and job insecurity. It is far easier for them to promote a narrative which scapegoats immigrants than to accept the fair apportion of blame for creating the crises in which working class people now live, and which have provoked them to rebel against the elite in Brussels. The xenophobic populism of the right has been allowed to command the political centre and the result has been a growing mistrust of foreigners and foreign institutions.

Immigration dominated the referendum campaign because it is the prism through which most people filter their perceptions of everyday problems. But instead of being the focal point of a progressive debate, the issue was swamped with negative fear-mongering from euro-sceptic outlets - symbolized most negatively by Leave's "Breaking Point" poster - which, Twitter was quick to notice, had striking similarities to a piece of Nazi propaganda from the 1930s. Leave looked like it never wanted a broad debate about the truth of immigration. Instead it opted for the politics of fear, stoking paranoia, which is apt to create a misinformed, short-sighted electorate, who have elected to cut themselves adrift based on a knee-jerk reaction to propaganda rather than based on a balanced take of the facts.

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Consider their tactics. The official pro-Brexit campaign issued a list of EU nationals who had committed rapes and murders in Britain, inflaming prejudicial beliefs that freedom of movement leaves us exposed to a wave of rampant criminality by foreigners. Moreover they falsely claimed that Turkey is joining the EU, arguing this would expose us to "Turkish criminals". A campaign supposed to be fought on hard facts and reason succumbed to base dog-whistle campaigning.

There were plenty of genuine arguments to make for Leave, but the Brexit campaign mostly whipped up resentment and paranoia. It's disingenuous to scapegoat immigration for our problems without explaining the positive contributions it makes too. The NHS relies heavily on European immigration and our cities thrive off diversity. Without freedom of movement many of our own expats would be required to move back.

How has hatred of immigrants become so socially acceptable? Our newspapers eagerly hunt down horror stories about them and pass the worst offenders off as representative of the whole community. Internet sites thrive with malicious comments directed at them. It seems as though immigrants are the one group in society people are most confident about ripping on.

Brexit is symbolic of a more deep-seated shift to the right, not only in Britain, but across Europe and the West too. From Trump to Le Pen, hard right elements have been deepening the divisions, preying on people's fears and prejudices, blaming our neighbours for problems created by politicians' mistakes.

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It is a problem that migration has become politicised. The fight against it has become one of the right's great crusades, epitomised by the ascendancy of UKIP and its anti-immigrant rhetoric. It is seen as one of the definitive political issues of the day. UKIP have tried to savage the government with their notorious "Breaking Point" poster, which depicts a line of asylum seekers trying to get in to the country.

Because successive governments have manipulated fears about immigration and have tried to play it for electoral success, the terms of debate have been pulled to the right and groups like UKIP get to dictate the conventional wisdom, although research shows real levels of immigration are much lower than people believe. It becomes recast as a public security issue - and specifically about whether a sizeable chunk of immigrants are really genuine.

Working class people don't generally have a voice. They aren't represented in parliament, in the papers, or on the news; they're not the people who really get to influence things. The establishment doesn't even pretend to listen to them. So when they do get a rare opportunity to make their voices heard, they will raise the issues they think matter, and make sure politicians are slapped down. They are fed up of politicians putting the issues that matter to them on the back burner.
Bloomberg via Getty Images

It's a strange and tearful time here in Brussels and I am learning a lot about being a European. I arrived at the Parliament feeling fearful about how our vote to reject the EU might have been received and how I might be treated. I need not have worried. Even before I entered the building I was greeted by a cheery French member of staff who said 'Welcome home!' Since then I can confirm that the #hugabrit campaign has gained momentum since the result!

As MEPs we are in a grieving process and so experiencing a range of emotions. A lot of the time I feel rage about the poor level of debate we have just been through and fear about the consequences of the decision we have taken. I am also trying to see positive Green possibilities of operating outside the single market. And quite often I just feel deeply sad.

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As somebody who has always, like many Greens, had plenty of criticisms of Europe, I am also learning difficult lessons about what being a good European means. It is difficult to realise that European colleagues can accept our decision to reject the European Union largely without rancour. It is painful to realise that others are more affectionate and confident about my homeland than I am able to be myself just now.

It is the nature of European politics that you have to give something up to gain something. Our history of membership has been one of pursuing national interest and trying to have our cake and eat it. We have not been able to rise above our belief that 'An Englishman's home is his castle'. In this sense we have not learned to be good Europeans.

We will now experience life outside the EU. I think we are mistaken to think that we will be insulated from the crises our continent is facing. Being an island does make us different but it does not make secure from the threats of this century. We are in a new world now and I will do what I can to ensure that the affection I have received since my return to Brussels is not undermined in the uncertain days that lie ahead.

Molly Scott Cato is the Green MEP for the South West
Everyone has a routine of some kind in their daily lives. Even those of us living what we might perceive to be lives of pure and unending chaos are still likely to be governed, to some extent, by eating, sleeping and working, not to mention hobbies and other leisure activities that fill space in between.

But our lives and routines are changing all the time, often in ways that happen so slowly that we might not notice day-to-day or even year-to-year. Our data, collected as part of a pan-European Study of Time in conjunction with the University of Oxford, suggests that two big factors are driving these changes - Deregulation and Digitalisation. These trends are challenging traditional associations of place, time and activity and mean our ever changing routines will continue to evolve.

Deregulation refers to an individual's ability to live their lives where, how and when they choose. In the context of time use and daily routines, specific days and specific times of day are no longer tied to certain activities, such as meal times, work or leisure.

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This deregulation is driven in part by our greater use of mobile and connected technology. Digitalisation may come as no surprise, but the sheer extent and pace of the change is staggering. In 2000, at its highest point during the day, around 0.6% of people in the UK were using the internet, making it at best a niche activity. Today, 77% of adults in the UK have their phone on them constantly between 9am and 6pm, and for much of that time, at least 40% of people are actively using a connected device of some kind.

The recent referendum result may be forcing the country to revisit its place in Europe but on this score we will continue to be firmly European. There are important differences across the continent, dictated by cultural preferences, climate and the nature of our economies, however we look at this study, we see evidence of there being a great deal that unites us. Just about anyone across Europe - who is likely to go about their day while carrying a smartphone, laptop, tablet (or all three) - is testament to the remarkable extent of digital technology in our daily lives. The connectivity such devices provide makes them utterly pervasive - we use them at home, at work and everywhere else in between. They are both adjuncts to old activities and creators of new ones - embellishments and additions.

The combination of these factors give us great freedom to live our lives on our own terms, but with this freedom comes greater time pressure and a less solid demarcation between work and life, which takes careful balancing to avoid negative consequences for our wider wellbeing. But balancing these pressures is essential if we are to retain the enormous benefits that social connectivity brings us.

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Greater digitalisation affords us more unconventional and creative use of time, effectively boosting the amount we are able to enjoy the free time we have. It allows us greater opportunity for leisure, the ability to work on our own terms, and enables us to connect with friends and family instantly.
A year ago a news story broke that caused a ripple almost like no other. Outrage spread across the globe like wildfire, the Twittersphere and Facebook went into overdrive and condemnation from all corners of the world played out across all media channels. I myself was called into Sky, the BBC and even the sofa of This Morning to discuss the event in question. That event had a name, and its name was Cecil the Lion.

So one year on from the infamous killing of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe by a trophy hunter, has anything changed? Did the outrage do anything to stop dentists like Walter Palmer from paying big bucks (believed to be $54,000) to go and kill a lion, or an elephant, a buffalo or any other magnificent animal who until that very day wandered wild and free?

The disappointing truth is that not much has changed, particularly in the UK and also in the US, where trophy hunting as it is known is big business. A positive step was the listing of African lions onto the Endangered Species Act which means that permits for importing a trophy can only be issued if the lion has been killed in a country with a scientifically sound management plan for the species in place. In New Jersey, import and trade is now banned for all 'Big Five' species (these are the ones that trophy hunters most like to kill - it is like a macabre badge of honour to have killed one or more of all five of these: rhinoceros, African leopard, African elephant, African lion and Cape buffalo).

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Closer to home too, some progress has been made. In the Netherlands, for example, the Dutch government is advocating for an international ban on trophy hunting and as of April has banned the importation of trophies from 200 species, including lions. But, the Netherlands aren't really a key player in this barbaric industry - an industry that has seen an estimated 1.7 million hunting trophies traded between nations between 2004 and 2014 alone, according to a new report from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) just released.

In the same period at least 200,000 trophies from threatened taxa (categories of species and sub-species), that's an average of 20,000 per year, have been traded between nations. But, the spread is far from even and there are a couple of very big players amongst the list of over 100 countries that have moved these trophies. In fact, the top 20 countries are responsible for 97% of trophy imports, with the United States accounting for 71% of imports, an incredible 15 times more than the next highest nations, Germany and Spain (both 5%).

And it seems that Cecil was far from a one off. Whilst the lion species diminishes (having dropped from an estimated 200,000 to just 30,000 in the last century) it is African lions that have the strongest statistically significant increase of trophy hunting trade since 2004. A staggering, and rather appalling, 11,000 lion trophies have been traded worldwide in the report period.

Whilst it is common knowledge that elephants are at risk, being slaughtered at a rate of one every 15 minutes so that their tusks can adorn someone's mantelpiece, surprisingly it seems ivory isn't the only 'fun' part of an elephant for some - according to the report data, killing them for fun seems to be quite in fashion too. Over 10,000 elephant trophies were traded in the period, and as their numbers go down, their killing for fun has increased since 2004.

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So, how are we doing in the UK? The truth is that we're a lot less keen on killing lions and on trophy hunting overall, ranking around 23rd on the global list, which is significantly low in comparison with other Western European countries. But, we are no saints either, having imported over 150 trophies from lechwes (a type of antelope), over 100 trophies from leopards, 35 from African elephants and 31 from wolves, amongst others. Ironically though, whilst we aren't a big player now, it was arguably the UK that came up with the concept of trophy hunting, invented by the British Empire during Victorian times, following on from a couple of hundred years prior to that starting killing deer and stag and mounting their horns. When taxidermy developed in the late 1700s and early 1800s, mounted animals became much more popular and travelling to kill began.

Whilst we don't tend to go abroad to hunt so much it seems, a small minority do find an outlet for their bloodlust locally, through the use of exemptions in the Hunting Act to avoid prosecution when stag hunting.

Seeing as we invented trophy hunting, the British Government really should take a lead in stopping it. In the wake of the Cecil outcry, the Government has threatened to ban the importation of lion trophies into Britain, but only if there isn't significant improvement in trophy hunting practices. A review has been commissioned, but it is a two-year review. The simple fact is that lions like Cecil can't wait that long. They only have until the next crossbow or bullet from a wealthy trophy hunter penetrates their skin.
Before Thursday's historic referendum result, and the subsequent political fallout, these were already anxious times for many children and young people. The benefits afforded older generations, be that free university education or universal affordable housing, have gone. And the uncertainty created by the referendum result is likely to have intensified children and young people's concerns for their future. As a BBC feature has highlighted 'parents and teachers have been bombarded with queries from interested youngsters and schools have rearranged lessons to discuss the key issues'.

Whatever your political views and visions for the future of the country, we now need to come together in the best interests of our children and young people. Our main objective should be to listen to those under 18, who had no say in the outcome of this referendum but who will inherit its repercussions, and to take necessary steps to safeguard their future.

Specifically, we need to ensure that the necessary social scaffolding is in place to support all children and young people, but particularly the most vulnerable. The proposed Life Chances strategy, alongside existing mental health policy has the potential to bring about the changes needed within services and wider society to provide this social scaffolding. In the political vacuum that has now engulfed Westminster, it is crucial that this isn't put onto the back burner.

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The Prime Minister said that the Life Chances strategy will address big social issues, such as child poverty, and parenting, which we know are some of the key social determinants of mental health difficulties. Services will no doubt carry on doing what they are doing, but things may not move forward, or at least not at national level. This means that we are likely to see continued patchy coverage over the country.

With the world changing rapidly around them, and the old certainties gone, there is now an even greater need to provide the resources to tackle inequalities in child mental health, with a real shift towards prevention. This means that Government should stick to its plan to implement the Future in Mind and Mental Health Task force report, and ensure that the 1.4 billion of increased funding for children's mental health is delivered on the ground. We also need to ensure that parents and teachers have the skills and knowledge to support children's mental health, and recognise early signs of stress and the importance of early intervention.

We also need to think about how the result impacts on the children of EU nationals living in the UK and the children of immigrants more widely. In these times of heightened tensions, there must be a concerted effort to ensure that these children are made to feel welcome in the UK and to let it be known that any form of discrimination will not be tolerated. As well as the legal and moral case, discrimination is another key risk factor for mental health difficulties.
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Three days after the announcement of the EU Referendum result I still feel totally and utterly down. The only other time in my life that I have felt like this was when my dear mum died. However I was prepared for that, I had had time to say goodbye and I knew what to blame; the cigarette industry that had spent many unchallenged decades promoting the glamour (and at one stage the health benefits) of its products.

Leaving the EU feels like a death in the family but one with no sign of closure and one that will have negative impact on generations to come. I need to empty my head in order to start to make sense of it, need to get the blame out of my system and need to get some hope and purpose back into my thinking. So for what it's worth here is my "head emptying"

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The Damage

The damage to the United Kingdom is surely irreversible. I love the Scots and it will be really sad to see them go. But should they prosper outside the UK and in the EU then it maybe a pointer for the countries that remain in the UK to in some way put things right for generations after I am long dead.

A few weeks ago I presented a piece for the BBC about the 20th anniversary of the IRA bomb in Manchester City Centre (in which a shop of my former brand Red or Dead was destroyed) and was convinced that this felt like something that could never happen again .But there has to be a chance of a return to sectarian violence in Northern Ireland as the clamour to be European like their Republic of Ireland neighbours starts to come to the fore over the next weeks and months and years. The Good Friday agreement is surely under threat.

From the sixties onwards we have seen British creativity through music, youth-culture, art, film, TV and design gradually build a new brand identity for Britain, thankfully becoming more important in the eyes of the world than royalty, pomp and circumstance. The creative industries which I am proud to be part of has helped Britain be regarded as an outward thinking, modern, creative, progressive and diverse place. This has been amazing for inward investment and visitor numbers. The UK has just voted itself backwards and the brand damage will have far reaching repercussions. We may just be the most laughed at and hated nation now, taking over that mantle from Trump America. (ISIS will love the division as well)

The collateral damage to our European neighbours could be seismic. The right wing "take back control" cries of Marie le Pen in France, Gert Wilders in the Netherlands and the Polish Law and Justice party is scary indeed. And then there is the very scary Vladimir Putin who must love all this discord and what will be a weaker EU. We had created 70 years of co-operation and peace. Conflict had become co-operation.

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The damage to trust between young and old, between cities dwellers and those small towns and villages, between our wonderfully diverse multi-cultural communities will take a lot of healing. We are more divided than together now.

Who and what is to blame?

The largest blame must lay with the debilitating and growing inequality that British government over the past couple of decades have allowed to happen. When people see the rich getting richer, while their lives get harder, then nihilism sets in and hope is lost, leading to irrational decisions like we have just witnessed. Statistics show that the gap between rich and poor has continued to become even more extreme in the UK and it is no surprise that the millions who have been and are being left behind grasp at straws and start to believe that migration is to blame. We have had a constant stream of "us and them stories" of fat cat / banker pay, to low wage exploitation and the insecurity of short term contracts in retailers' warehouses, to people selling national retail institutions for a 1, pocketing hundreds of millions whilst the pensions of workers are all but destroyed.

We have failed to educate people about politics (witness the largest Google search on the day of the result being "What is the EU?") and about where to find the truth and balanced views rather than believe in what they read from a media trying to save its declining circulations.

Many British people have lost so much of their basic understanding of basic economics. We used to be a nation of shopkeepers (and I can tell you how much you learn from owning a small shop) but unlike countries like Germany we have surrendered this to the likes of Tesco and Asda. Add to that the fact that we don't make and manufacture much anymore, we have become a service economy that has lost so much understanding of how money is earned. This has opened the door for untruths.

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The right wing gutter press have been totally irresponsible reporting on" 350 million a week being redirected to the NHS ", it won't happen. As won't the restoration of North Sea Fisheries or the much heralded Turkish invasion. Lies, lies and damn lies.

Lack of affordable housing, allowing greedy large scale house-builders to call the tune, wrecking the planning system, the right to buy and lack of private landlord rent controls have all led to people being desperate and in desperate situations humans can make wrong decisions. People felt they had nothing to lose.

The lack of investment in regional towns leading to a two speed economy has come home to roost.

The sad thing is that like in the US, where an obscenely rich Donald Trump is appealing to the disenfranchised we have rich old Etonians vying to lead our country on the premise that they are "men of the people". (How ironic that on the day of the result Trump was visiting Scotland) We have to remember that Boris Johnson and Michael Gove were not voted in by the public to be Prime Minister. We have that disgusting man, Nigel Farage, who has failed to be elected seven times, being able to act like the leader of a country and announce that the UK is Independent and that his UK Independence Party has achieved its ultimate goal .It's like a worst nightmare for so many of us, waking up in UKIP Britain, except that it has happened, and we can't turn over and go back to sleep.

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Oh, yes and Cameron and his cronies. What a bloody disaster of a Prime Minister (surely the worst ever?). I have always been taught not to wash your dirty linen in public. The Tory parties' infighting over Europe has led to this and the cocky couple of Cameron and Osborne like many entitled people, felt that they would get their own way.

What Next?

We can't sit and take it. We have to get more political and surely we need a new political party. I like Jeanette Winterson's idea of an Equality Party.

London has been given a bloody nose by towns and rural areas that have been left behind by the financial juggernaut that is the capital city. Lessons must be learnt from this. We must not sneer at those that voted "leave" but rather address their anger and fears.

Martin Luther King said "A riot is the language of the unheard". We have just witnessed a form of a "riot of the unheard" and at the same time as making sure that the unheard are heard we have to make sure that we don't become the new unheard.

Likewise there is no point in sneering at the demographic with lower educational achievements that formed a substantial part of the "Leave" vote. We need to address a failure in education and realise that politics and economics do matter and should be a much stronger part of the curriculum.

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As the reality of this mistake hits those that have voted for it, we must not say "I told you so" but work towards mitigating the damage and trying to claw back some of what we have lost. We must harness "Regrexit" (the tens of thousands that regret voting "Leave"). We can mitigate some of the damage by remaining close to the EU in many ways ( but will have to live with the fact that we will have a much much reduced say in the politics or economics of a continent that we do remain part of.

We must hold this government to account for removing public funds for opposition parties, for demeaning the Trade Unions, for their attack on tax credits, for allowing businesses to get away without paying their tax dues, for being in the pockets of the large house-builders, for closing libraries, for their attacks on the NHS,and their attacks on the climate lobby. What an absolute disaster. Is there a way of forcing a general election? And if so can a "coalition of common sense" (including all the feuding elements of Labour, the Liberals, SNP, The Green Party and Plaid Cymru) work together to heal things, start to address inequality make sense of all of this?

The younger generations must get involved in politics and explain the positives of multi-culturalism. (The leave vote was strongest in places without migrants). Those with a lifetime ahead of them must wrestle back the power from those not long for this world.

And we have to ask ourselves are we happy with our beloved BBC being so PC and so careful to not be seen to be "metropolitan" that they dumb down so much as to not offer the intelligent side of the argument. The BBC seems to giving a disproportioned voice to those that voted "Leave". Did we hear so much from the marginalised that the marginalised view became the mainstream?

Those of us that understand the positive impact of migration to the UK must "hug" the migrants.

We must remember that 48% is a very large proportion. Democracy may have failed us in the short term but we have to find a way to mitigate this disaster.

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On June 18, 1954 the Central Intelligence Agency launched a covert operation to overthrow the left-leaning government in Guatemala. The coup, code-named Operation PBSUCCESS, deposed Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, ended the Guatemalan Revolution, and installed the military dictatorship of Carlos Castillo Armas. Armas would be the first in a series of U.S.-backed strongmen to rule Guatemala.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized Operation PBSUCCESS in response to growing concerns over the spread of Communism in what was considered "America's backyard." Arbenz permitted the Guatemalan Communist Party to operate openly and his land reform program threatened U.S. commercial interests, in particular those of the United Fruit Company.

U.S.-backed invading forces numbered at most in the hundreds, but through psychological warfare operations, the CIA convinced the Guatemalans that a major invasion was underway, broadcasting propaganda messages and jamming Guatemalan radio transmissions. American pilots bombed Guatemala City; the Guatemalan Army refused to fight. Arbenz resigned on June 27, and following negotiations in San Salvador, Carlos Castillo Armas became President on July 7.

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President Eisenhower saw the outcome of PBSUCCESS as a notable achievement and declared the plan a template for overthrowing other communist regimes. Some posit that PBSUCCESS squelched any chance for a stable Guatemalan government, citing the subsequent five regimes as more unstable and repressive than the Arbenz regime. This account was compiled from interviews by ADST with Edwards W. Clark (interviewed beginning in April 1992), Robert F. Woodward (May 1987) and David. Jickling (September 1998).

Read the entire Moment on ADST.org. This account was edited by Jillian N. Johannes.

CLARK: In Guatemala you just had an overthrow of a longtime dictator [July 1, 1944] named Jorge Ubico who had kept the wraps on the situation there. Then you had an election and a fellow by the name of Juan Jose Arevalo became president. He was a very liberal minded fellow.

Of course, anybody at that time began to be considered, thought of, or maybe was, a communist. But I don't think he was. He certainly introduced a lot of progressive reforms there benefiting the people, but often hurting the United Fruit Company, which was the big American interest there.

After him another election was held, and the major perspective winner was going to be a Colonel Arana. He probably would have been a good president. He also was a center-of-the-road fellow who was highly regarded in Guatemala. However, it was arranged that he be assassinated, and he was....Who knows exactly who did it? But I think it was a group in the military itself who wanted Colonel Arbenz to be president. He was a much more leftist-thinking individual than Arana was and probably even than Arevalo was. The election took place and he was elected.

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What [Arbenz] did was allow the Arevalo program to go farther and farther. He was very much in favor of the liberalization of the labor laws, which again hurt the United Fruit Company right away. He encouraged the importation of arms from Czechoslovakia. We didn't like that.

In general he took a very, very liberal path and soon he was being called a communist in the eyes of the Americans, the United Fruit Company in particular. I cannot say that he wasn't a communist. When it was all over he took refuge in Cuba. But there is a body of thinking that he wasn't actually a communist. I am inclined to think that myself.

There wasn't any question about the fact that they were hurting the United Fruit Company and there wasn't any question that some of the things that were being done down there were, even if not communist-inspired, off the wall and the United Fruit Company was going to be driven out of there one way or another. So, certainly you had to be sympathetic to their problem. They were getting screwed. So what to do?

There was no AID [Agency for International Development] program in Guatemala in those days. They had us, the United Fruit, as hostage. The only leverage...there wasn't any real leverage other than the threat of possible intervention which always hung over the area.... This was the first time there had been anything like a possible or real communist government in our hemisphere and that was pretty upsetting at that time. And it was very real regardless whether Arbenz was a communist or not, and it was very shocking to us at that time. After all, you had Senator [Joseph] McCarthy and all of us "communists" in the State Department.

JICKLING: Whether or not it was communist with a big "C," it clearly had these kinds of social goals. The United States and [Secretary of State] John Dulles and the others just wouldn't tolerate it. We set about at a cost of $20 million and one American life to overthrow that government in 1954.

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WOODWARD: Henry Holland became Assistant Secretary [of the Bureau of American Republics, ARA] and was therefore my boss, and an extraordinarily able fellow. He tried to obtain from me explanations of my conception of our policies toward Latin America. I felt as though I was somewhat floundering in my efforts to explain just what we were trying to accomplish, because at that point, I was somewhat baffled by the changes, and attitude, of the outgoing and incoming administrations.

The revolutionary movement was being mounted in Honduras, but it was going to come into Guatemala against Arbenz. I said, "I recommend you should try to handle this in some other way, because if you do this with a military intervention, directly contrary to a whole array of inter-American commitments, our treaty commitments, this is going to destroy the Good Neighbor Policy, the non-intervention policy.

A couple days later he told me that [Secretary of State John Foster] Dulles had given him until the end of that year, of 1954, to try to accomplish the removal, or the danger, of the communist tendencies of the Arbenz administration in Guatemala in some way other than a military intervention. Henry Holland told me that Dulles had said that if he couldn't handle it before the end of the year, they would go ahead with the military movement.

Well, another month or two elapsed -- about another month actually, sometime the end of April or the first of May -- we got a report that there was a ship coming from what had been the German port of Danzig, which was, of course, then part of East Germany....

A Swedish ship, as I recall, was coming with a load of armament from the Skoda factory in Czechoslovakia for the use of the Guatemalan government, which would make a military attempt against the government more difficult, obviously. We didn't know what kinds of arms these were.Well, the ship was very carefully surveyed by whatever intelligence methods were available, and alarm increased about this. There was consideration of intercepting the vessel, but it came to Puerto Barrios, on the Caribbean, and huge crates were unloaded and put on the railroad system that ran up to Guatemala City. This became fairly intolerable to the people who had been plotting the military effort against Arbenz. And one morning in the first week in June, after this process had been continued, and as I recall a train with the crates was just on its way up to Guatemala City (the crates hadn't been unpacked and we didn't have any intelligence information yet as to what was in them), and the invasion took place; this despite the alleged promise of Dulles to Holland that he could have until the end of the year.

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Holland had been calling meetings at odd times with groups of Latin American Ambassadors discussing how they could they could isolate or put pressure on the Guatemalan government.The small military group was moving up into Guatemala territory in a rather isolated, wild region between Honduras and Guatemala, where there were really no roads to speak of at all. Probably less than 100 men, and I heard later that they were a rather motley crew of adventurers, and people who had been hired on for this military effort. I suppose that the strategy was that they expected defection of the Guatemalan forces, or no opposition.

Well, the Guatemalan army had moved on toward the border, and there was no way for this small group of invaders to make any progress. They were stopped. It looked as though the plot was a failure. For a day or two there was a great dismay, both in the State Department and in the CIA, and nobody knew what was going to happen next.

[Nicaraguan] President [Anastacio] Somoza allowed at least the use of his air force, his bases, and I don't know whether they used some World War II fighter planes, two or three fighter planes that he possessed for the purpose, or whether they were from some other source.

I never knew. But they got these planes to fly over Guatemala City, firing off their machine guns, and dropping the empty cartridges on the streets of Guatemala City. Through some stratagem of the CIA they managed to persuade the Catholic Cardinal of Guatemala City to come out with a strong speech condemning the communist tendencies of the Arbenz government.

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And, at least to my complete surprise, the Guatemalan army totally defected against Arbenz. They turned against Arbenz and laid down their arms. Of course, this group from Honduras just walked into Guatemala City, and the leader, who was a man named Colonel Castillo Armas, shortly thereafter moved into the Guatemala government through the efforts of the American Ambassador and the CIA....
Last week, voters in the United Kingdom narrowly voted to leave the European Union. The national referendum, dubbed "Brexit," had an immediate, negative impact on global markets and raised significant doubts about the future of the European Union. But whether or not one supported Brexit (Oceana took no position on the referendum), the exit of Britain from Europe is creating new uncertainties for ocean conservation.

The European Union has a Common Fishery Policy (CFP), meaning that the countries of the EU administer and regulate their fisheries as a cohesive whole. By catch weight (as reported to the FAO from 2005-2014), the 28 country EU ranks as the third largest ocean fishing entity in the world. It's also the single largest global market for fisheries and aquaculture products. The development of the CFP therefore represents one of the world's biggest policy achievements in ocean conservation. European oceans will be scientifically managed because of the CFP, with the EU prioritizing responsible policies focused on the long-term viability of European fisheries.

In the past, the UK's citizens have been constructive allies in the European battle for sustainable fishery policy. "Hugh's Fish Fight" -- a campaign by UK chef, broadcaster and campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, is one example of this. The campaign generated nearly a million (mostly British) signatures on a petition to stop fish discards. Aghast at the extent of wasted catch in European fisheries, "Hugh's Fish Fight" and the citizen activism it inspired helped lead to Europe's ban on discards.

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Domestically, the CFP will no longer apply in the UK after Brexit, and it is unclear what might replace it. The Leave campaign used CFP and fisheries in general as an example of how the EU has been a destructive force for the UK. Nigel Farage, the former commodity broker who leads the UK Independence Party, staged a protest against the EU onboard commercial fishing vessels, sailing up the Thames to be photographed by the Houses of Parliament the week before the vote. At the same time, a very vocal part of the fishing industry supported Leave and will now likely try to weaken ocean protections, rejecting scientific fishing regulations as relics of the despised -- and now rejected -- EU bureaucracy.

Britain's planned departure from the European Union creates uncertainty about the future of shared fish stocks and ocean ecosystems. The UK will have to negotiate new terms for its fisheries with the EU and with other countries in whose waters they are currently fishing.
The Queen Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) is reflected in a puddle as a cyclist rides by in London, on 27 June 2016.Britain began preparations to leave the European Union on Monday but said it would not be rushed into a quick exit, as markets plunged in the wake of a seismic referendum despite attempts to calm jitters. / AFP / Leon NEAL (Photo credit should read LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)

Some commentators have reminded us lately of what originally inspired the nations of Western Europe to move toward unification. The impetus came after two horrific wars, originating in Europe, within the space of thirty years.

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, after tens of millions had been killed and with much of Europe in ruins, some visionary European leaders understood the necessity of weaving the nations of Europe into a more whole order enabling its nations able to live together in peace, and to work together for their common good.

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It is this project of creating such a more whole order -- among nations that for centuries had been struggling against each other for power -- to which last week's "Brexit" vote has dealt a serious blow.

That much is widely recognized.

What is less well recognized is why all humankind has a big stake in the success of that project.

It was possible for the nations of Europe to act on the need for a more ordered system after those two terrible world wars. But waiting for after another catastrophic war to demonstrate -- on the global scale -- the necessity of a better order that can keep the peace among the world's nations may well not work. Not in the world we have now, containing as it does a handful of major nuclear-armed powers among whom there is always the possibility for major-power confrontation to escalate into nuclear war.

Whereas, enough of European civilization survived WW II to rebuild and reorder their part of the world (with American help), it cannot be assumed that enough would remain in the aftermath of an all-out nuclear war to enable humankind to start constructing a more whole global order.

It is not prudent for us to depend on the experience of trauma to motivate us to move toward a desired order for human civilization as a whole. We need to be inspired to create an order that can prevent a catastrophe by the mere knowledge of that such a catastrophe is possible.

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And how can we deny that such a possibility is very real, and perhaps -- unless we work toward the necessary destination, even likely?

We already had one crisis, during the cold war, that came alarmingly close to being such a planetary cataclysm: the Cuban Missile Crisis. We were fortunate, in that crisis, that the two nuclear superpowers succeeded in navigating to a peaceful resolution. But it could have gone otherwise.

Should we not imagine that, in the next century or two, other crises of such gravity would arise? And is it not only reasonable to imagine that, in such a sequence of eyeball-to-eyeball confrontations, at some point our luck would run out?

What is the life-expectancy of someone who plays Russian roulette on a regular basis?

Even in today's world, events spinning out of control into nuclear war cannot be ruled out. At this moment, two areas of military tensions between major nuclear powers roil the international scene: 1) in the region of the Ukraine, between Putin's Russia and the United States (and the West), where the Russians have already seized Crimea by force and 2) in the South China Sea, between the United States and China, over the Chinese assertion of sovereignty over the South China Sea where other, smaller nations also have legitimate claims.

And when one adds to that the possibility that soon the president and commander-in-chief empowered to deal with such tensions might be Donald Trump, the reality that there is no guarantee our civilization can survive its current disordered state indefinitely becomes still clearer.

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(The possibility of war is not the only powerful and urgent reason it is necessary to create a more whole global order. Another is revealed by the growing crisis over climate change. In a better ordered civilization, perhaps the world would have been able to respond a quarter century ago, at the time of the international conference in Rio over climate change, instead of continuing to lose precious ground while various major sovereign powers -- and major consumers of fossil fuels -- dithered. In the larger picture, the long-term viability of human civilization depends upon humankind's ordering its activities to live in harmony with the only planet we've got.)



What this means is that if future generations are to have a decent future -- or perhaps any future at all -- human civilization as a whole will have to meet something of the same challenge as Europe first began to meet nearly 70 years ago.

We should see Europe, then, as having been at the vanguard of one of humankind's most essential tasks. The whole human species -- the descendants of all of us -- have an immense stake in whether the Europeans succeed in showing how nations can move toward that better-ordered world our descendants likely need for us to create.

To the extent that the Europeans fail, humankind as a whole will have to find some better way to blaze the trail; to the extent they succeed, they provide a map that might guide our progress to meet the challenges on the larger scale.

In many ways, the European effort has been an enormous success. In any ranking of "the most decent societies" since civilization first arose millennia ago, the nations of Western Europe, over these past two or three generations, would rank at the very top. In the nations that have been engaged in the unification of Europe, hundreds of millions of people have able to live lives in peace and prosperity and freedom.

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But the British vote to leave the EU (which is the present culmination of generations of European effort to create that better order), combined with strong similar anti-EU sentiment in several other member nations on the continent, give a clear indication that Europe's efforts have also gone awry.

Could so much negative feelings toward the EU exist if all were being done right?

The key question of the moment is, therefore: Will the powers in the EU work honestly to identify and correct the missteps they have made?

In a column published in The New York Times the week before the Brexit vote, Paul Krugman declared that, if he were British, he would vote Remain, but with mixed feelings because of his "full awareness that the E.U. is deeply dysfunctional and shows few signs of reforming."

"The most frustrating thing about the E.U.," Krugman says, is that "nobody ever seems to acknowledge or learn from mistakes."

And perhaps that's a good place for the EU to start. And, though there are other problematic aspects of the EU to examine, perhaps the inquiry into this "most frustrating thing" could begin with the example of the counter-productive policy of "austerity."

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Two questions about the EU's austerity policy need answers: 1) How did an idea like austerity -- the idea of imposing contractionary policies at a time of severe economic downturn, an idea that doesn't pass the Econ 101 test -- ever get adopted (both by the EU in the euro area and by the Cameron government in the UK)? And 2) Why is it that the EU held unwaveringly to that disastrous policy, even as the evidence of its wrong-headedness piled up, and as Krugman and other excellent economists made crystal clear the case against it?

(People point rightly to the issue of immigration in the Brexit vote, but history teaches us that it is at times of economic pain that people are most prone to xenophobia, and the misguided austerity policies inflicted plenty enough economic pain on the less privileged in the UK to account for Brexit's 4 percent margin of victory.)

Building a whole order of civilized societies is a challenge that will take every bit of creativity and intelligence and wisdom that people can muster. How do we create a system that is ordered enough to prevent war, give people a sufficient say in charting their destiny, provide a comfortable life for people, protect the integrity of the biosphere, and give peoples the latitude to express their unique cultural/national identities?

Charting a path to such a destination is a challenge so daunting that the ability to spot wrong choices early and make mid-course corrections will be essential.

The Brexit vote has brought the Europe-scaled version of this civilization-wide challenge to such a fork in the road. From the present juncture, the EU can continue to break down because of its errors and its inability to learn and change. Or, it can revive itself by showing a readiness to reform that, as Krugman says, has so far not been visible.

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It would be welcome news for all of us on this planet if the powers of the EU were to say, soon, before other nations (like the French or Dutch) might hold referenda of their own: "We understand that mistakes need correcting and improvements must be made. We are determined to identify and make those changes as quickly and wisely as we can."
The Innocents is an extraordinary new film from acclaimed French director Anne Fontaine. In Polish and French, it tells the true story of a young French Red Cross doctor, Mathilde (Lou de Laage) in Warsaw after World War II. She is caring for French survivors of the Nazi camps when she agrees, reluctantly, to respond to an emergency at a Benedictine convent. What she finds is shocking.

Soviet soldiers had rampaged through the convent, repeatedly raping scores of the nuns over three days of unspeakable horror. Some of the sisters became pregnant. The Mother Abbess, played with steely self-righteousness by Agata Kulesza, insists the pregnancies be kept secret. She swears the young doctor to secrecy, too.

This intense, gripping and demanding film passes the Bechdel test with flying colors. In addition to its female heroine, it is about women struggling together against incredible odds to hold onto faith in God and humanity. It is about good and evil, means and ends, themes reflected in the choice to film in black, white, blue and all the shades of grey. Mathilde has a love interest in the film, but he is incidental to the plot.

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Events and truths unfold through Mathilde's eyes. She is only beginning her career, yet she will be delivering babies--including by C-section--in the convent, with limited supplies, at night, by herself. And while Mathilde comes without faith, a cynical nonbeliever, she is confronted with cloistered women steeped in faith, committed to modesty and chastity, their trauma intensified by their needing to expose their nakedness to Mathilde to receive care.

Actress Lou de Laage as Mathilde is riveting. She holds the film together much of the time in silence, the firm set of her jaw, the way her eyes slide ever so cautiously, even in the way she moves, so purposefully, into the darkness. She becomes a bulwark against the devastation the sisters have suffered.

Mathilde does what she does at great risk, taking one of the scarce Red Cross vans against direct orders, driving alone in the ice and snow to the convent through the forest. One night she is stopped at a check point by drunken Russian soldiers. They surround her, throw her to the ground, grope her. Only the arrival of their superior saves her. They force her to turn back, so she spends the night in the convent. Until then, she could only imagine how terrible the nuns' trauma had been. On this night, choking on her own tears, she knows it in her bones.

As for the sisters, they keep on with their lives, praying and chanting together, the peace of those moments a respite for them, for Mathilde who looks on, and for us. But faith has been a threatened casualty of the trauma. Most articulate about the struggle to hold on to faith in the face of pure evil is Sister Maria (Agata Buzek), Mother Abbess's right-hand woman and the heart of the film.

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Sister Maria confesses to Mathilde that she is unable to find consolation, that she relives those nights over and over. Still, she doesn't see her faith crisis as unique. "At first you're like a child," she explains, "holding your father's hand, feeling safe. But then the time comes--and it always comes--when your father lets go and you're lost, alone in the dark. You cry out and no one answers. Even if you prepare, it catches you unawares. It hits you right in the heart." Despite her travails, Sister Maria emerges with the strength to get the sisters to the other side. "Faith is 24 hours of doubt and one minute of hope," she says. She's willing to go with the hope.

The film lays bare how ruthlessly women raped in wartime are judged. It is because of the inevitable consequences of those judgments that Mother Abbess and Sister Maria keep the secret. If the new communist government were to learn of the pregnancies, they fear, the convent would be shut down, leaving the nuns rejected by their communities, thrown out their homes, objects of shame. "Many," says Mother Abbess, "would die."

That women so wronged can be looked at with anything but compassion remains a terrible and persistent reality. With a focus similar to the focus in this film, the Remember the Women Institute is bringing to light the sexual violence experienced by Jewish women and girls during the Holocaust; that violence remains, they write, "a secret cloaked in shame." In Cynthia L. Cooper's short play The Spoken and The Unspoken, recently presented at a New York City event hosted by the Remember the Women Institute, the main character, a woman, reports on the aftermath of that sexual abuse. After leaving the camps, she says: "The women couldn't talk about it. Taboo. Damaged goods. Families would toss them out, sit shiva."

Today, we can add the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Nigeria and too many other locales to these sites of horror. Still, not until 2008 did the UN Security Council unanimously adopt Resolution 1820 saying that "rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or an...act of...genocide."

At a time when the church and politicians continually defend forcing women who have been raped to carry those pregnancies to term, this film forces us to viscerally experience the damage of such a callous and unconscionable position. The option of ending a pregnancy is never mentioned, but we are witnesses to the anguish of the alternative.

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The lengths to which the Mother Abbess is willing to go to protect the reputation of the sisters and by extension, the church, become clear near the end of the film, leaving us shaken. Still, the Abbess, suffering from advanced syphilis that she refuses to have treated, emerges as a complex character. "I wanted to spare you shame and dishonor," she tells the sisters. "I damned myself to save you."

The film ends with a photographer taking a picture of all of the nuns, holding some of the babies in their arms, surrounded by the neighborhood orphans. It is an odd and provocative image of love, hate and everything in between.
There has never been a better time for those of us who love cocktails. Consumers are more educated than ever before. Industry professionals are redefining the "drinking" experience with craft cocktails that are more similar to the culinary creations of Michelin-star chefs than to your dad's glass of scotch. From a workforce perspective opportunities abound -- individuals from diverse backgrounds have risen to national prominence, and over the next 10 years bartending as a profession is projected to grow 10 percent (faster than the national 7 percent average). In many ways bartending is a distillation of the American Dream -- with a positive attitude, hard work and a little bit of luck anyone can rise to the top.

But some may have to work a bit harder than others. Research that Tales of the Cocktail just released in anticipation of this summer's festival found that despite major strides made by the industry towards equal opportunity, significant barriers remain. Although women represent almost 60 percent of the industry, they are underrepresented in the most lucrative and highest profile positions. For racial and ethnic minorities, high rates of employment in the restaurant industry as a whole have not translated to front of house positions such as bartending, suggesting systemic barriers to mobility within the industry.

So what can be done? For consumers, considering your own implicit biases and treating workers in the hospitality industry with a base level of respect is a great start. On a policy level, many have written about how minimum wage laws being applied to tipped employees can help reduce the wage gap on top of lowering poverty levels for the industry as a whole. But what about on an individual establishment level? From conversations with industry leaders I have gleaned a few ways that business owners, specifically bar and restaurant owners, can build work environments that provide equal opportunities to workers from diverse backgrounds:

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Proactively build an inclusive hiring processAs mentioned above, people of color are under-represented as bartenders compared to the overall population. This suggests that the largest barrier may not be discrimination of bartenders already working, but rather inequality around who knows about, applies for, and secures those jobs in the first place. For bar owners building a diverse staff may require going outside of the personal networks of current staff or customers and seeking out communities different than your own to promote job openings.

Provide training opportunities and multiple tracks

There are a number of different entry-level positions within the bartending industry, and many have a certain profile. For example, bar-backs are typically male, while cocktail servers tend to be female. Hispanics, for example, are a disproportionately high percentage of dishwashers. Proprietors and owners can work to promote from multiple positions within the bar, rather than exclusively the "bar-back to bartender" pathway that has become customary.

Enforce zero-tolerance policy for harassment from customers

A phrase commonly heard in the hospitality industry is that the "customer is always right." But this courtesy need not be afforded to individuals who violate social contracts around mutual respect. A 2013 study by ROC United found that women in the restaurant industry report sexual harassment at a rate five times that of the general female workforce. Employers must crack down on sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination by sticking up for their employees and establishing clear boundaries. Not only will this lead to a more equitable workplace, but it likely will lead to higher employee retention.

Clearly establish a code of conduct Workplace discrimination can come from many different places, and one of them is from fellow staff members. Draft a code of conduct that clearly outlines standards for how employees should treat one another. Have staff members sign it, and maybe even post it on the wall in the back of house. This will not only set a precedent, but can be referred to later if necessary.

Our research also found that disagreement exists among those within the industry regarding the severity and root of these problems-- approximately 65 percent of women believe that significant gender barriers exist for those starting bartending careers, while only 36 percent of men share the same sentiment. This suggests that more conversations are in order; before we can fully address barriers to access we must gain consensus around whether they exist at all. And when 20,000+ industry professionals and cocktail enthusiasts descend on New Orleans for a week of education, celebration and chances to build lasting connections it is my hope that we will do just that.
[Song Woo-suk (right), advisory committee member of Korea International Trade Association (KITA), explains about transparent boat to Indian PM Narendra Modi (second from right) at the booth of Korean firm Hannam Total Marine ahead of opening ceremony of Maritime Summit held in Mumbai Convention Center in Maharashtra, India, on April 14./ Photographed by Ha Man-joo]

By Ha Man-joo, India correspondent, AsiaToday - Korean King Suro's queen Heo Hwang-ok, also known as Princess Sri Ratna from Ayodhya of India, is frequently mentioned at Korea-related meetings in India. The legend of queen Heo Hwang-ok has become the universal knowledge among Indian government officials since PM Narendra Modi mentioned it ahead of his visit to Korea back in May.

The central government and even local government officials mention the Heritage of the Three States, which tells the story of queen Heo Hwang-ok, in order to highlight the history of the Korea-India relations. As seen, Korea-India relations in public level are close enough that we could say they are in "special strategic partnership". The installation of Korean Plus Desk by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry on June 18 for Korean firms looking for entering Indian market, symbolically shows it well. In this situation, arguments that both countries should benchmark each other are gaining strength.

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[Korean Ambassador to India Cho Hyun (left) introduces Korean Pavilion and Korean firms to PM Narendra Modi (center), who visited Korean Pavilion at Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex during the 'Make in India' weekly expo on February 13./ Photographed by Ha Man-joo]

The pro-Korean diplomats in India and Korean scholars speak with one voice that Korea's modernization model is significant in India. They point out that India should learn from Korea's economic growth model, which starts from light industry to heavy chemical, high-tech, information and communication technology (ICT), and to green industry.

[The Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Joo Hyung-hwan (right) and the Indian Commercial and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (left) head to the office after the opening ceremony of 'Korea Plus' held at Ashok Hotel in New Delhi, India, on June 18./ Photographed by Ha Man-joo]

This is also related to the reality of Korean companies like Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Hyundai that stand out among foreign companies in the Indian market in terms of their awareness and credibility. The India government, which is keenly aware of importance of 'Skill India' which could be the basis of 'Make In India', emphasize the fact that Korea's level of formal vocational training is 96%, which is higher than manufacturing powers Japan (80%), Germany (75%), UK (68%), and US (52%), while only 2.3% of India's labor force has undergone formal vocational training.

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[Sukesh Jain, Vice President of Samsung India Electronics, demonstrates iris recognition of Galaxy Tab Iris at the device's launching event held in a hotel in New Delhi, India, on June 25./ Photographed by Ha Man-joo]

[Kim Ki-wan (center), Managing Director of LG India, takes a picture withIndian experts that introduced 'Friends' of G5 at the press day event incelebration of LG G5 launch in Kingdom of Dream, Gurugram, India, on June 1./Photographed by Ha Man-joo]

[Koo Young-ki (left), head of Hyundai Motor India, and King of Bollywood Shahrukh Khan answer to reporters' questions after attending Hyundai Motor India's Traffic Safety Campaign for children held at New Delhi Habitat Center on November 30, 2015./ Photographed by Ha Man-joo]

Diplomats and scholars pay special attention to Korea's Saemaul Movement, or New Village Movement. The situation of India where 55% of its industrial population is engaged in agriculture is not much different with Korea in the 70s, when it began its New Village Movement. Indian experts take note that the movement was not only regional social movement in rural areas but also urban areas and that the driving force came from Korean residents' spontaneity. According to the experts, the key success factor was that the government played a small part of creating the atmosphere, and the actual improvement of local communities was led by residents themselves.

[Skand Ranjan Tayal (right), former Indian Ambassador, says India should refer to Korea's achievements and experience in order to carry out its social, economic initiatives with success. The picture is taken when he attended a two-day international seminar on "Indo-Korea Relations: Forging a Multidimensional Impact on Asia in 21st Century" held at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Convention Center on April 18./ Photographed by Ha Man-joo]

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["The CSR activities should combine the philosophy of Saemaul Movement," said Sandip Kumar Mishra, a professor at the University of Delhi, at the FICCI CSR Summit and Awards - 2015 held at FICCI, New Delhi, on November 24, 2015./ Photographed by Ha Man-joo]

PM Modi's enforcement of 'Clean India' policy by wielding a broom in a New Delhi slums reminds us of self-help spirit of New Village Movement. Although India's caste system was officially abolished after it became independent from Britain rule in 1947, India has not been completely free from its shadow. Traditionally, cleaning is regarded as something best left to the lowest castes. Therefore, it's very shocking for Indians to see a national leader cleaning the streets by himself.

However, some believe that Korea's modernization model won't be easy to succeed in India due to different conditions. While Korea has developed a single-race nation with single linguistic and cultural consciousness, India has various races, languages, regions and cultures within the country, and its local governments and local communities play a significant role. India can benchmark only some parts of the Korean model when promoting 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' initiatives, but it's difficult to apply the full package of Korea's modernization model.

[Jeetendra Uttam, Professor at Nehru University, talks with Arvind Kumar,Secretary to Industries & Commerce and Energy Department of Telangana Government, at the 'Korea Caravan Forum' hosted by South Korea Embassy in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, on June 8./ Photographed by Ha Man-joo]

As an extension of this perspective, Jeetendra Uttam, Professor at Nehru University, claims that Korea's modernization model is suitable for the Indian state government level. According to prof. Jeetendra, India's state government with population of up to 200 million has high homogeneity in terms of language and culture, and the Korean model is likely to succeed as long as the state government has powerful and rational leadership.

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[The Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Joo Hyung-hwan (right) and the Indian Commercial and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (left) have a conversation in the office after the opening ceremony of 'Korea Plus' held at Ashok Hotel in New Delhi, India, on June 18./ Photographed by Ha Man-joo]

In the midst of such atmosphere, some claim that Korea should learn from India as well. India's software, start-up and IT industries are the benchmark for Korea. The Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Joo Hyung-hwan pointed out, "India has presented a model where latest IT industries such as software and ICT can be export industrialized while being a developing country. Korea should learn from India's service export strategy."

[Yonsei University delegation including Yonsei University President Kim Yong-hak (center), Planning Director Kim Dong-no (second from left), and International Department Head Kim Joon-ki (fourth) visited India to discuss start-up manpower interchange with Indian universities including IIT and had a commemorative photograph in a hotel in New Delhi, India, on June 19./ Photographed by Ha Man-joo]
An Egyptian flag is held above in Cairo's Tahrir Square at a rally two weeks after the resignation of President Mubarak.

The shock everyone felt following the victory of the leave camp in the UK referendum and the regret many felt after their vote led to this rather unbelievable result somehow reminded me of the 2012 presidential elections in Egypt.

The final round in 2012 presidential elections was between Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister under deposed President Hosni Mubarak, and Mohamed Morsi, a member in the Muslim Brotherhood. People didn't want Shafik nor did they want Morsi, but because they did not want a face from Mubarak era, they didn't have a choice but to vote for Morsi. Subsequently, when Morsi won the elections by a narrow margin 51.73%, and he became the first Islamist to head a state in the Arab world, there was this gloomy feeling that this was not supposed to happen, but many of us in Egypt had to accept what the polling stations brought to us. Lots of people regretted abstaining from voting altogether because that led to Morsi's victory.

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But in less than a year, millions of Egyptians decided that they made the wrong choice and that they wanted to change it. Why? Because in no time, Morsi's actions confirmed every black thought and concern many Egyptians had when he won. Morsi started by breaking his promises, he promised to appoint a female vice president, and a Coptic Christian deputy but he didn't. On November 2012, he issued a constitutional declaration that granted him unlimited powers and the power to legislate without judicial review. Under his presidency, Egypt suffered massive electricity outages and fuel shortages. His policies alienated media, police, the army and the liberals. Radical Islam was on the rise in the country and Morsi seemed to encourage. On June 16 2013, in a conference on the Syrian crisis, Morsi sat silently as radical Salafi clerics referred to Shiites as "infidels". Days later, a mob targeted 4 Egyptian Shiite men and killed them. The list of the catastrophes that took place under his presidency was getting long and Egyptians felt that they have had enough. After enduring less than one year with Morsi, 22 million Egyptians signed a petition asking for Morsi's resignation. Massive demonstrations by millions of Egyptians took to the streets on 30 June 2013 and a second revolution started in Egypt, till the miracle happened on the 3rd of July 2013 by ousting Morsi.

As an Egyptian, I feel for the British who want to change their vote to leave "dubbed now as Bregret", who said that they only intended to use a "protest vote" in the belief that the UK was certain to remain in the European Union after they saw what their vote has done so far: their country will REALLY leave the EU, the Pound hit 31-year low, the resignation of David Cameron and the sense of betrayal they felt after Nigel Farage admitted that the pledge to spend 350 million of European Union cash on the NHS after Brexit was a "mistake". People made a choice but then they wanted to change it after they saw the repercussions of their choice. In Egypt when we asked Morsi for early elections and changes in the cabinet, this all fell on deaf ears so protests ignited the streets and people ousted the very person they elected. Millions in the UK signed a petition calling for a second EU referendum. Maybe later on this will change the way democracy is currently working. Who knows? But what's certain to me now is that this referendum should be considered as an important wake up call to all leaders. People might be selecting between 2 obvious choices while in fact they are choosing a third alternative their governments kept ignoring.
by Priya Arora



When you're a little kid, and something bad happens--another kid taunts you on the playground, or you fall and scratch your knee while playing outside--the instinct is to run home. There is a sense of safety within the four walls of the place you and your family sleep every night and an unparalleled comfort in the embrace of your mother.

As an adult, there is nowhere I feel safer than in the arms of my partner. Today, I held her close as she shed tears at a vigil in Jackson Heights in honor of the Orlando victims. That safety, too, has been compromised. Today, I feel unsafe, and there is nowhere to turn.

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I still remember the first time I went to a gay club. I was living in L.A., and though out to friends, was not out to my parents yet. I lied to be able to go out to Hamburger Mary's in Long Beach with a female friend and a few of her friends. Later, a little tipsy, we made out for the first time. It was euphoric, not just because I was finally able to kiss my crush. There was something magical about being in a space where, though I had never been there before and only knew a handful of the hundreds of faces around me, I knew I was safe.

Pride month, too, is sacred. My very first pride parade, also in Long Beach many moons ago, was euphoric--seeing others like me, others who were out and proud, and of all ages, sizes, ethnicities, creeds--it was empowering. I remember buying my first rainbow item, a beaded bracelet, as we awaited the parade's arrival. I was beaming, proud to wear it, and even prouder to be part of a community that finally made me feel like embracing every aspect of who I am was more than okay- it was celebrated.

As marginalized communities, we work endlessly to create safe spaces. We build community centers, places of worship, schools--unspoken rules that dominate social settings are often made more explicit. Don't make assumptions. Don't make generalizations. Don't interrupt others. Treat one another with respect.

For the LGBTQ community, and those who further identify as people of color, creating safe spaces where we are free to be who we are, express ourselves without fear of judgment or ridicule, is sacred practice. We become fluent in the rituals of creating space for one another, often because the real world doesn't have space for us.

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The shooting in Orlando, and it's specific targeting of LGBT individuals, is a sobering reminder that safety is merely a construct. When we let our guards down in our own homes, or around people we love, this safety protects us and our vulnerabilities.

What the Orlando shooter did, and the mainstream media fails to understand, is violate our safety. The spaces we created for ourselves, safe from a crueler, unwelcoming reality, has been encroached upon.

In a city where I should be able to hold my partner's hand as we walk down the street, I am scared.

This time last year, during Pride, we were celebrating the Supreme Court's decision affirming the validity of same-sex marriages. This year, my partner asks me if I feel safe enough to go to Manhattan pride, in the light of Orlando, and knowing that a man with explosives and ammunition was on his way to LA Pride.

I tell her there is no other option. I refuse to live in fear. My whole life, my identity and work, my passion and my calling--is about being out. It's about visibility. It's about having found the courage and freedom to be who we are. It's too late to go back.

The truth is, I don't know where we go from here. I don't want prayers and good wishes. I don't want texts from friends and family telling me to be careful. I don't want it to take tragedies like this to bring us together. I don't want to keep debating which bathrooms human beings should be able to use when trans women are being murdered at an alarming rate. I don't want to keep proving that loving who I love is "normal."

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I don't know how we're supposed to find safety again, rebuilding it from scratch, in the shadows of so much pain and violence. It's not fair.

Maybe tomorrow, my activist self will wake up and take over-marching on, literally, in a fight there seems to be no end to. But yesterday, I held my partner a little closer, no longer able to look her in the eye and say that I promise to keep her safe--that's not something I know to be true anymore. With more questions than answers, I'm simply tired and heartbroken.

Priya Arora is a queer-identified community activist, writer, and student. Born and raised in California, Priya has found a home in New York City, where she is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. Priya's passion and research lies in capturing and fostering the needs and experiences of South Asian American LGBTQ people, with a mental health focus.
The blame-game was in full swing this week in the aftermath of the GMO labeling deal announced by U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts and Debbie Stabenow as embittered organic, consumer and environmentalist groups who want mandatory labeling struggled for a cohesive strategy to oppose the deal many have dubbed a "dream" for the food and biotech agriculture industries but a disaster for consumers.

Though agricultural and food industry interests celebrated the proposed legislation they called a "compromise," dozens of food, farm, environmental and consumer groups penned a letter Monday to members of the Senate decrying what they called "profoundly undemocratic" deal-making. The proposed law, the groups said, cheats consumers and is the product of hidden, back-room bargaining between the senators and industry interest groups.

The groups are outraged that their key demand - on-package language that states clearly if a food contains genetically engineered ingredients - was traded away in favor of codes that consumers must decipher by scanning with smart phones. The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) has been pushing for such codes. Other provisions are almost as onerous, the critics say, and all act to further the interests of food companies and sellers of biotech seeds like Monsanto Co. If passed, the law would nullify the mandatory GMO labeling law that takes effect July 1 in Vermont, which requires on-package statements.



But the ire is not only directed at conventional food companies and big biotech agriculture companies. A large share of the anger is being directed at the influential Organic Trade Association (OTA), which signed off on the deal despite the fact that many leading organic businesses and groups are aligned with consumers in wanting on-package labeling. The new proposed bill contains several provisions favorable for the organic industry, which in many ways benefits from a lack of clear GMO labeling - consumers who want to avoid GMOs know they can do that simply by purchasing organic products.

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As well, some organic industry leaders said they feared if they did not give in, the industry would suffer retribution in the next Farm Bill or through other means.

"Politics is all horse-trading at this point and I was told by Senate staff that 'the organic folks got everything they asked for,'" Dave Murphy, pro-labeling activist and head of Food Democracy Now, wrote in an email to dozens of pro-labeling groups.

The deal has not only divided consumer and environmental groups from leading organic players but it has also blown wide open deep divisions running through the U.S. organic industry itself, spurring calls for some organic players to leave OTA membership. Those involved characterize the organic industry as divided between the "organic elite," which includes companies owned by conventional corporate food giants, and the independently owned "authentic organic" businesses and groups. Large food conglomerates have increasingly been buying up organic companies in recent years, giving many large players a foot in both pro- and anti-GMO labeling camps.

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It was the "organic elite," and leadership at the OTA, that agreed to the new labeling deal, not the 'authentic' side, industry players said this week. They were troubled that OTA has hired a lobbying firm - Podesta Group- that also works for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), which represents the interests of Monsanto and other agrichemical industry players.

The bitterness runs so deep that some players are now pulling out of a two-day summit scheduled for July that is supposed to build consensus around GMO issues, sources said.



"This is a crucial moment," said one leading organic company executive who did not want to be named publicly. "Here we are splitting ourselves in two right at the critical moment. Certain key legislators feel like they are getting mixed messages. It is really disconcerting to see what is happening to our community."

Conflicting press statements issued shortly after the bill's announcement on June 23 marked the fissure between organizations thought to be working together. A statement issued by OTA celebrated "important provisions that are excellent for organic farmers and food makers - and for the millions of consumers who choose organic every day."

That contrasted sharply with the press release issued the same day by the Consumers Union, which called the deal "unacceptable to the nine out of ten Americans who support mandatory GMO labeling" and just another way to allow companies to keep consumers in the dark."

The uproar over the OTA's support for the bill led OTA leaders to offer an explanation to members on Monday. The organization said during the labeling negotiations it saw a "ratcheting up of attacks on organic from Congress" and OTA sources said those including threatened actions related to organic animal welfare standards, appropriations and other matters.

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OTA said it realizes the bill is "not perfect," but it does mandate nationwide labeling, and it does maintain organic as "the gold standard for transparency and non-GMO status." Among other things, the bill would ensure that food certified as organic can clearly inform consumers that organic food is non-GMO. And it would prohibits a company from making a non-GMO claim solely because the food is not subject to labeling under the bill.

"A compromise GMO labeling bill was happening, with or without us." OTA said. "Not protecting the core value of the organic label would have been risky and wrong for an association whose critical mission is to protect the value of organic."

Arran Stephens, founder of the organic Nature's Path Foods, and a founding member of the Non-GMO Project, which seeks to build the non-GMO food supply, said the "mudslinging" was interfering with efforts to effectively lobby against the Stabenow/Roberts deal.

"We believe the Dark Act is a bad deal for consumers and we support clear, on-package labeling," Stephens said. But, "OTA has done a lot of good, so let's not throw the baby out with the bath water, just because they may have made a poor decision."

Nature's Path was one of the nearly 70 organizations that signed onto the June 27 letter to the Senate. The Organic Consumers Association and the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association are also signed on. The OTA is not.

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The letter lays out the key complaints with the proposed bill as follows:

No mandatory standards- The Senate bill prescribes no mandatory standards for GMO labeling even though it preempts the labeling laws of several states including Vermont, Connecticut, Maine and Alaska. Standards are to be set over the next two years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

 Many current and future GMO foods would be exempt from labeling- The novel definition of "bioengineering" in the bill would exclude from labeling a vast number of current foods produced with genetic engineering, and new generations of food made with new "gene-editing" techniques.

Discriminatory for rural, low income and elderly populations- The bill anticipates that GMO labeling will be done primarily through QR codes ("digital" labeling) accessed through smart phones. But more than 50% of rural and low income populations, and more than 65% of the elderly don't have smart phones.

Violates state sovereignty; preempts GMO seed laws- The bill not only preempts state food labeling laws, but also specifically preempts GMO seed labeling laws, such as those in Vermont and Virginia that are designed to help farmers determine what seeds to buy and plant.

Lacking enforcement for violations of mandatory GMO labeling- The bill provides no civil or criminal penalties for failure to comply with GMO labeling requirements.



The legislation is expected to go to the Senate floor for a vote possibly next week, sources said, and both sides are hard at work lobbying lawmakers. The food and agricultural industries oppose mandatory labeling of foods made with genetically engineered ingredients, saying labeling is unnecessary and costly and could scare consumers away, while consumer groups want mandatory labeling because of concerns about health and environmental impacts associated with genetically engineered crops.

Sens. Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy, both from Vermont, are refusing to support the proposed law.

"I remain deeply concerned that it is not going to offer transparency for consumers," Sen. Leahy said in a speech on the senate floor.

Hirshberg said he was not involved in the final deal making, and never had indicated to lawmakers that the QR codes the bill allows for were acceptable. He said attention should be focused now on either amending the bill or blocking it. He said his group's vote-counting in D.C. indicates those who want the bill to pass "probably have enough to get this through."

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The bottom line is that I don't think infighting is at all useful," said Hirshberg. "The differences among the critics are far less than the similarities in our ultimate goals."
Executive Assistant, President's Office, Carnegie Corporation of New York

I was born in Jamaica, West Indies, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1988, the day after I turned 16 years old. My mother, stepfather, and sister were already living in New York, but I chose to stay in Jamaica a couple of extra years so that I could graduate from high school. I became an American citizen in 2003. How did that happen?

I had gone through college and realized by then that, while I loved going back to Jamaica to visit, I was now thinking of New York as my home. I also really wanted to participate in the political process, so I knew that I needed to take the necessary steps to become a citizen. In those days the process was long and arduous. There were a lot of long days and a lot of long lines at the INS offices downtown. The most memorable and enjoyable thing for me was the day I became a citizen. The joy, the diversity, and the positive spirit of the soon-to-be citizens in the room was incredible and unforgettable. For me, the educational opportunities have been amazing. I was the first in my family to graduate from college. I am not sure I would have been able to accomplish that in Jamaica.

To legal permanent residents considering naturalization, I say: DO IT! You live here, you pay taxes, so you should be participating in the process!

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My high school in Jamaica very strategically emphasized the importance of service and volunteerism, and ever since I arrived in the States, I have looked for opportunities to get involved. I have always been a volunteer. I now serve on the boards of two nonprofit organizations, both of which lean heavily toward immigration and education, and in some cases, a combination of the two.

Working at a nonprofit grantmaking organization also fosters a culture of giving. How amazing it was for me to arrive at Carnegie Corporation, and to hear a quote the nuns back at Immaculate Conception High School in Jamaica had said over and over, and in many variations: "To whom much is given, much is expected." And now I know that this was also something Andrew Carnegie said many times over the years. I believe in this wholeheartedly, believe it to be part of my mission, my story to leave with others. Giving has made me a better person, and I have gotten back way more in return than I could have ever imagined.

She Stayed the Course: My Mother's Journey to Citizenship

My mother, Dorothy Steele, was born in Jamaica, and emigrated to the U.S. in June of 1986. She believed that America would provide her children with a better opportunity for higher education. I was 13 years old at the time, and the decision was made that I would remain in Jamaica and finish high school, then join her afterward. I went to live with my aunt and grandmother, where I stayed for two years until I graduated from high school. My sister, who was 17 months old when our mother left for the U.S., lived with another aunt before she was brought to the States shortly before her third birthday.



My mother got caught up in the system. She had a work permit, but due to a clerical error, her application for residency languished in the system for decades. The process was long, arduous, frustrating, and very expensive. The most memorable thing of all happened a few years ago. The judge in Atlanta, who was looking over the case, expressed amazement at how it had dragged on and on, and how simple it actually was to solve. So, the judge told the Immigration and Naturalization Service: "Fix it." A few weeks later, my mother's green card arrived in the mail. No note or explanation, just the card.

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We go to another of Tarns fabulous restaurant choices. Tarn and A have long conversations in Thai. I sit silently with a smile frozen on my face. I don't know how to enter the conversation and I figure if Tarn wanted me to say anything she would include me. But she doesn't so I just continue to grin like I am having the time of my life. We head home, but first drop A off at her hotel. Tomorrow is Christians first birthday and I have brought him clothes and gifts. Tarn and I go buy a garish blue frosted birthday cake, with what looks like Mighty Mouse on it and plan the menu for the grownups. She has invited all the guys from Hot Man Gym, one of her many businesses, and I have been asked to make quinoa with fresh veggies. I am happy to oblige. Adam arrives and even though he and Tarn have separated he is sweet but seems concerned about his health. A arrives 2 hours late. She is sweating profusely. She does not eat with us but takes a piece of cake and sits with the baby. Later we see that she has posted pictures of her and Christian and the cake minus one other person. As if the party and cake were hers and Christians alone. Okay. After everybody leaves and it is just Tarn, A, and myself, Julie and Christian having gone to bed, we stay up drinking sweet wine and talking like 3 girls just chatting and having a good time. And we are speaking English. Tarn orders in some food and at 11:30 A gets ready to leave. She has called a taxi and is saying good -by. She looks down at the baby sleeping , smiles and walks to the door. I beat her out the door, throw my arms around her and tell her I love her. Not one word has been said about Christian coming to the US. Or with her back to Surin City.

The next day is my last day in Bangkok and we are going to Temple to pray for Josh. A could not make it to Temple as her work was terribly important and she could not take any more time off. Hmmmm. It is at this point that Tarn said to A: Why do you not let me(Tarn) take care of Christian? Julie is here and you could save some money and he will be well cared for. "Sure, why not?" replied A . And that was that. A responded with such casualness that I am stunned. What kind of mother.....???Christian would stay with Josh's ex whom A had despised and was jealous of. I am so very happy. Things are falling into a place I didn't know could have existed!

I woke up at 7AM the next morning to prepare for Temple and slip in the shower. My left leg is twisted behind me and I am pretty sure I have done myself some serious harm.

I am coming down with something. I slipped getting out of the car going to see the baby and now this. Is there a message I am refusing to pick up? I hobble and limp through the service, find momentary peace listening to the Monks chanting, and then we leave for Childrens Hospital. Christian awoke with a fever and he has what I call 'the sickly eyes'. Tired little glazed over red eyes kids get when they are sick. The doctor expectorates him and while I am worried for Christian, I am amazed at this Childrens Hospital. We could take a lesson. It is bright and very clean with staff in blue suits, nurses in uniforms, doctors in white lab coats with neckties and everything is run ship shape. And the childrens play house! Huge and brightly colored. There is a car kids can ride in with a giant handle for parents to push as their kids are called in for their appointments. We are in and out in 40 min. I go to pay for the visit and the medicine for Christian; $55.00. Thank you very much.

And for the next four months this is where Christian has been living, with Tarn and nannie Julie in Tarns house in Bangkok. A visits her son not once.
On June 13 Microsoft announced a $26.2 billion deal to acquire professional social platform LinkedIn. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella praised LinkedIn, stating its team grew "a fantastic business centered on connecting the world's professionals."

Later that same day a colleague and I discussed LinkedIn's attempt at connecting the world's professionals, specifically Black millennial women. My colleague is a senior talent management executive for a Fortune 500 company, who explained while his organization embraced employee diversity groups and diverse succession planning, they continually faced challenges recruiting Black millennial women via LinkedIn. He shared his insights:

Lately in hopes of preventing employment discrimination, (they) aren't adding a photo to their LinkedIn profile. But it's only making their profile look incomplete to recruiters. As a result, they don't seem thorough, current, or high performing.

I understood from where he drew these presumptions. To this day Black millennial women report experiencing discrimination based on race and gender at considerably higher rates than most millennial women. The gender wage gap is also even wider for Black women, who on average make 20 cents less than a White woman.

It's also been reported by Fortune that people who fall into ethnic groups likely to experience negative biases have found that downplaying their association can help them sidestep discrimination, a behavior known as "covering". A Deloitte research study found that 8 out of 10 Black people covered in some way to conform to mainstream corporate culture.

Still, I've managed my professional LinkedIn account for 8 years and like me, other Black professionals use LinkedIn at nearly the same rate as White professionals, so his viewpoints made me pose the questions: "Are other professional Black millennial women aware they're leaders in education AND the most active demographic driving our economy? Wouldn't this knowledge make them rush to complete their LinkedIn profile with a photo?"

A little history: As a main strategy back in 2007, LinkedIn encouraged users to adopt profile photos to increase site engagement, because most professionals recognized each other by face rather than by name. Recognition + interaction = engagement. It was also becoming the industry standard, as social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter required profile photos as well. Today LinkedIn considers a profile at its strongest when colleagues, recruiters and other professionals can see a user's profile photo.

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In recent years, LinkedIn adopted a new strategy. Understanding the millennial generation is the demographic with the largest US work force, LinkedIn turned its attention to undergraduate students. Today, the higher education industry (likely comprised of undergraduate students) is the #1 industry represented on LinkedIn. This is a powerful advantage for professional Black millennial women- they are enrolled in college at a higher percentage than any other racial or gender group, including white men, white women, and Asian women. They should leverage their position as today's leaders in education (for the first time in American history) and feel encouraged because they stand out on the professional social platform.

Some professional Black millennial women may argue their profile photo isn't the sole factor discouraging them from completing a LinkedIn profile. They also feel inferior to other millennial women on LinkedIn, believing they have less professional experience in unchallenging roles. They shouldn't believe this inaccurate notion. Black millennial women hold high labor force participation rates compared to other women and last year, Black women held approximately the same percentage of sales and office positions as white women.
Sang Dao and Noah Schultz were both sentenced to years in prison at 17 years old, under mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines. Fortunately for them, both had access to mentors, role models and educational opportunities - and were inspired to turn their life around and make the most of the opportunities many others don't have.

Sentenced to serve time at Oregon Youth Authority Maclaren Youth Correctional Facility, Dao took the opportunities offered by mentors and supportive staff to participate in vocational programs, as well as a research internship focused on youth rehabilitation. He also completed a Bachelor's Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Portland State University. While incarcerated, Dao acted as a mentor, including to Schultz, who was sentenced to the same facility a year later.

Schultz earned not only his high school diploma, but a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Sciences, and a B.S. in Sustainability. Both men are now free after serving their sentences, Dao having been issued clemency because of his many accomplishments, and both are now working toward juvenile justice reform.



Dao has been a program aide and Juvenile Court Counsellor Assistant for the Multnomah County Department of Community Justice Juvenile Services Division, and Schultz has been involved with the Community Peace Collaborative Forum, and is also a spoken word poet, dealing with issues around violence and prison. The Community Peace Collaborative Forum holds biweekly meetings to develop solutions, interventions, and prevention strategies to reduce violence and crime in Oregon's Multnomah County.

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Both Dao and Schultz advocate for justice reform because keeping teens locked up isn't the solution, nor is the branding of teen offenders, which can be detrimental to rehabilitation, and reduction of recidivism. Juvenile offenders need mentors and educational and occupational opportunities inside corrections facilities. Schultz also outlines how juveniles need to be treated as such - not as adult offenders being pushed through the system.

Dao and Schultz are great examples of not only the factors than can lead to youth ending up in the system - difficulties at school, cultural barriers, exposure to gangs and violence - but also of how important rehabilitation and educational opportunities for incarcerated individuals are.

Currently, not all youth have the same opportunities offered to Dao and Schultz - Maclaren Youth Correctional Facility not only offers high school education, workshops, mentorship, vocational programs such as welding and woodcrafting, but also participated in Project Pooch, which sees incarcerated youths paired with a shelter dog, training them and finding them new homes.

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Through such programs the Oregon Youth Authority not only gives opportunities and builds skills, but reduces recidivism and sees a return on investment. For each $1 spent on treatment in life skills training, $25 in returns is seen, and the more education a youth receives, the less likely they are to reoffend. It only makes sense, from all angles, that these programs, and other forms of support, are established. And as Dao and Schultz have shown, give the opportunities, and they will be taken.


When the shooting in Orlando happened, I was down in Alabama helping my Dad at his U-pick blueberry farm.

I saw the news on my phone and ran outside hollering. My dad lumbered up into the house and helped me navigate his TV to CNN. Initial reports and footage made at least one thing clear. "Lord have mercy, somebody did this because of hate," my dad said quietly.

Later that day, alone on an acre of plowed dusty dirt, I drove in wooden stakes alongside cages to protect the tomato plants from wind and rain. But as my skin began to burn under the scorching sun, I began to ponder the awfulness of 49 lives snuffed out, and I stood there and cried. A few days later when I got back to New York, I reached out to a few experts in psychology, history and politics to better understand how both LGBT and straight people, can process the pain and from that place of healing, make common sense changes happen, especially with guns.

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HISTORICAL CONTEXT

"If you look at the long arc of American history, most of the violence against civilians by other civilians has been perpetrated by organized groups or mobs, such as lynching," said Brian Balogh, co-host of Backstory with the American History Guys.

There was a period during the late 19th and early 20th centuries when bombs, allegedly planted by radicals or anarchists, killed large numbers of civilians. The worst act of terrorism before September 11, 2001 was the Wall Street bomb that blew up at noon on September 16, 1920, just outside J.P. Morgan's home. It killed 30 people.

He said the bombings garnered tremendous publicity that helped further fuel the Red Scare.

"From there, you kind of have to jump to the age of the lone gunman, randomly selecting targets, sometimes for no apparent reason, other times a certain racial, ethnic or as in the case of Orlando, possibly a group chosen because of their sexual orientation," said Balogh.

FBI statistics show active-shooter incidents are becoming more frequent in our modern era. FBI statistics show active-shooter incidents are becoming more frequent in our modern era. From 2000 to 2007, the nation averaged 6.4 incidents annually, but from 2008--2013, that increased to 16.4 annually. All totaled, the incidents resulted in 486 deaths. By both 2014 and 2015, the number of incidents reported by the FBI had increased to 20 annually. Over a two year period, 40 active shooter incidents killed 92 people and wounded 139.

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ONGOING RECOVERY IN ORLANDO

Orlando based Dr. David Baker Hargrove, a psychotherapist and CEO of Two Spirit Health Services has been working non-stop in an emergency counseling center there.

When I spoke to him by phone June 20, he told me he had gone grocery shopping at Target the night before.

"It was really the first time I'd been out in public. On one level, it felt very comforting to be in this familiar busy place but on the other, it felt stark because I haven't fully processed the event for myself," said Hargrove.

Every individual's response to Orlando will be different. He says a lot of how one processes what happened at Pulse nightclub has to do with your personal connection to the LGBT community. Some straight people may not fully understand how someone who is gay, but lives on the west coast, might still be deeply impacted by a shooting Orlando.

SOCIETY'S LINGERING HOMOPHOBIA

That made me think back to how I felt that afternoon in Alabama, as I moved from the tomatoes to clearing weeds from blueberry bushes. Orlando is a bleak reminder that homophobia is always lurking in the shadows. It gets sanctioned by inflammatory political rhetoric, policy positions and the doctrines embedded in many of our religions. Homophobia shows up among the truckloads of baggage hauled around daily by people who grew up in households hostile towards anything gay.

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LGBT people are twice as likely to be targeted for hate crimes than any other minority group according to FBI data.

"This statistic creates a mindset of expectation. Possibly, it may not have been of question of it, but rather when. Knowing that one is a member of a group that's hated does intensify the response to the crime," said Melissa Singh MSW, adjunct lecturer, University of Southern California, School of Social Work.

Singh says crimes directed towards stigmatized groups can leave people feeling vulnerable and wondering, "what if I'm next?"

Jim Downs, Professor of History at Connecticut College said despite the landmark significance of marriage equality, LGBT people are still impacted by hate and harassment.

"So much of the discourse of marriage equality has also posited a brand of assimilationist politics. Many LGBT people claim we are just like everyone else. While the spirit of such sentiments make sense, the logic of such claims undermines our urgent need for a sense of community to bind us together, especially in this time of need," said Downs.

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A few days after the Orlando shooting, Downs penned a thought provoking op-ed at the "New York Times" about the Upstairs Lounge on the edge of New Orlean's French Quarter where on June 24, 1973 someone set a fire that murdered 32 mostly LGBT individuals.

He says one big difference between New Orleans and Orlando was the way the Upstairs Lounge fire got covered by the media.

"In the 1970s, mainstream news outlets did not uniformly report on the massacre of gay people in the Upstairs Lounge. When the press did cover the event, their tone was often derogatory and dismissive. News reports did not mention that the people who died in the fire were actually members of the Metropolitan Community Church," said Downs.

Congregants met at a bar because they did not have their own church building and the local churches in New Orleans wouldn't even rent them a room or basement to hold services, Downs says.

That seems unthinkable today, but then there's Orlando.

SELF CARE ESSENTIAL FOR LGBT PEOPLE

Psychotherapist Kristen Martinez says self-care is a real priority for LGBT people, their loved ones, and allies right now. People are hurting, feeling overwhelmed, scared, angry, numb, or various other feelings, said Martinez, who grew up about an hour north of Orlando but is now based in Seattle.

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"Do the things that make you happy - don't let this stop you from enjoying your moments and your life," said Martinez, who works at private practice Pacific NorthWell in Seattle.

She says an important point here is that the racialized telling of the tragedy will try to pin Muslims and Muslim-Americans up against the LGBT community, and that is not the way to deal with this situation.

Martinez says reports hinting the shooter may have been gay, adds a layer of complexity to the narrative.

"Internalized homophobia is incredibly destructive and hurtful for everyone involved. We, as LGBT people and allies, are speaking up about the dangers of internalized hatred, and we need the larger culture to acknowledge these damaging ideas too," said Martinez.

Recent FBI reports say there is no evidence that Mateen had any same sex affairs.

TALKING ABOUT GUN CONTROL REFORMS

Whatever Mateen's motives, we do know that despite having been on government watch list and reports of a troubled past, he was able to acquire a high-powered killing machine almost as easily as buying a quart of milk.

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The afternoon of my last day in Alabama, an old friend stopped by. Our talk turned to Orlando and then weapons, still a sticky topic in the gun-loving South.

"I just hope this doesn't become just a gun thing," she said.

On one level I agree with my friend: an adversarial tone that paints all guns as evil might prove simplistic and probably won't move the needle on sensible background check reforms or even an assault weapons ban.

But a big fear among many gun lovers is that any background check expansion or ban might lead to a slippery slope.

When talking with gun lovers, it's probably better to preface the conversation by first distinguishing between military grade weaponry and hunting rifles.

When I spoke with Brian Balogh he also suggested saying: "I think we have to get rid of the slippery slope and simply try to do something as soon as possible to assure at a minimum that mentally unstable people or people with known contact with terrorists can not get their hands on weapons capable of killing literally dozens of people in less than two minutes."

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One might assume that Orlando and cumulative outrage over past mass shootings would lead to sensible reform. But almost 13,000 people were killed in a gun homicide, unintentional shooting, or murder/suicide in 2015, and if the daily bloodshed and heartbreak hasn't nudged Congress to act what will?

Standing in the way of reform the well-moneyed gun lobby, most notably of course, the National Rifle Association (NRA). NRA has a stealth lobbying infrastructure and pools of cash standing ready to smack down any Republican politician or incumbent who even hints they might step onto the slippery slope.

Take the 2012 Indiana Republican Senate Primary after Richard Dick Lugar who had earlier voted for the Clinton Assault weapon ban. The NRA spent $168,753 against Lugar in the primary and spent $349,327 supporting his Republican opponent Richard Mourdock. Mourdock won the primary but lost the general election according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

NRA took in over $310 million in 2014 according to tax documents.

In addition to grass roots efforts, NRA gets a big chunk of its cash from gun and ammo manufacturers such as the Italian family-owned gun company Beretta, Smith & Wesson, Brownells, Pierce Bullet Seal Target Systems, and Springfield Armory and Midway USA according to a June 27 article in Vanity Fair.

"Unfortunately, if mowing down a classroom full of kindergarteners and shooting a member of Congress in the head execution-style wasn't enough to make Congress move on gun violence, I have a hard time imagining how shooting 100 LGBT individuals would be enough to get them to act now, " said Daniel Penchina, a principal at The Raben Group in an email.

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Penchina, who's been working on LGBT advocacy for more than ten years said that, " Together with gun violence prevention groups such as Everytown, I am certain the LGBT community will help move the needle and force a future Congress to act."

GAGGING THE GUN LOBBY

One new grassroots movement in New York City founded in response to the heartbreak in Orlando, called Gays Against Guns (GAG the NRA), will partner with preexisting gun-control and LGBT groups to leverage community power against the nation's gun lobby. I marched with the group at the annual Gay Pride Parade in New York City on June 26. Judging from the electrified reaction in the crowds that hot summer day, there is little doubt, at least in New York City, people not only support reform, they are hungry for a targeted, loud and vocal effort to expose the underlying infrastructure that supports the gun lobby's fright based messaging and its crippling grip on Congress.

Professor Thomas Keck, the Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics at the Maxwell School said The Supreme Court has made clear that while the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms, it also allows a wide range of reasonable restrictions on that right.

"Proposed legislation banning military-style assault weapons or prohibiting firearms possession by persons on the terrorist watch list would be fully consistent with existing Second Amendment doctrine," said Keck.

Later, I spoke with a criminal defense investigator from Reno named April Higueri. She runs a private firm called ADH Investigations.

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Higueri, who is gay, said it might seem surprising for a criminal defense investigator to support a ban on assault weapons.

"But the manufacturers of assault weapons did not intend for them to be used on our streets. They were built for war," said Higueri.

A BROKEN COMMUNITY

When I asked David Baker Hargrove if Orlando might inspire LGBT activists to action on issues such as gun control reforms, he paused for a moment.

Hargrove, who has extensive experience working in trauma situations has essentially been in emergency response mode since the murders happened He hasn't even had the chance to personally process what has occurred in his home community. He and the rest of the Orlando LGBT community are heartbroken.
The English language, as the British use it at least, is simply not designed for the situation we now find ourselves in. Somehow 'my what a pickle,' is never going to cut it, will never be able to describe a conflict that literally no one saw coming. But then civil wars are always the worst - an outpouring of hate and anger between a people that are more similar than they ever could be different. But make no mistake, that's where my country finds itself - bitter, resentful, argumentative - divided.

It began so simply - a referendum hardly anyone wanted, suffered with truly British stoicism and supported by a rich cast of lacklustre performances and shameful, shocking lies. The result however - unprecedented and confusing as it is, has changed us in a most un-British way. We somehow voted for exclusion, isolation, to walk away from a European community we've been growing ever closer to, and maybe that was part of the problem.

Love it or hate it, and the British do both so well, when you get down to it the EU is a beautiful and inspirational idea, as bureaucratic and perplexing as it can often be - that after two wars that tore the soul out of the continent, it should choose unity over cynicism, hope over destruction. That France and Germany, centre stage for both, could put aside their differences (mostly) and share an organisation, let alone a single currency, is a testament, if not to the power of forgiveness, then to the real world benefits of it.

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The double-edged tragedy behind it all is the inability of both sides to see the other's point - very UnBritish in itself. Leave supporters can't seem to see what they're losing, whilst Remain supporters completely missed the anger that has evidently bubbled beneath the surface for so long. Remain supporters, you suspect at least, never thought anyone could be stupid enough to vote against Europe - to willingly throw themselves off a financial cliff in the hope someone hands them a parachute on the way down. Leave supporters meanwhile, are frustrated that the other half of the country now seems to think of them as racist.

None of this is helped by a new breed of far right politician pouring water in the cracks, and fuel on the bonfire; people with big smiles and a pint in their hand as they gurn at the camera, and who have somehow made racism jolly. Who have taken on the benefits of life in the UK and missed all the lessons, who have now made hatred acceptable, allowing others to spout disease and somehow feel good about it.

In case they are reading, in case they can read - hatred is never acceptable. Bigotry is never acceptable.

Thankfully they may have underestimated the British people, at least I hope they have, and for every bigot raging at a Polish man on a bus, there's an elderly grandmother who's not afraid to tell that opinionated zealot to go f**k himself.

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The tragedy is, in order to save the country from break up and ruin, Politician's must now prove that they are not the duplicitous b******s people on both sides now think they are, and many will have to fall on their own swords in order to do so. When the vote finally comes to ratify this poisonous choice, MP's will have to either choose to back the majority, slim at it may be, or vote down a referendum that should never have happened, to choose the good of the nation, potentially over their own paychecks.

Has so much ever been asked of a public figure? Does such a politician even exist?

There's an expression - cometh the hour, cometh the man. Churchill was that man, perhaps even Thatcher was in her own strange, unforgiving way, and we need one now more than ever.

It will not be Boris Johnson, a man whose lies have torn the very decency of the British people in two. It cannot be Michael Gove, who decried experts for doing exactly what they're supposed to, and who are already being proved true. It will certainly not be Nigel Farage, who should make every person born in my country feel shame that we could produce such a creature.
America's Gulf allies talk a good game against terrorism. They widely condemned this month's tragic attack in Orlando. And all six Gulf monarchies are signatories to the 2014 Jeddah Communique, pledging to crack down on terror groups' finances and "repudiat[e] their hateful ideology."

So how well are they keeping these commitments? Not well at all.

As I wrote earlier this month in the Long War Journal, several members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), particularly Qatar and Kuwait, have failed to take effective action to stop terror finance or convict its top practitioners. Alarmingly, some GCC regimes are also bolstering key parts of the ideology that underpins terrorism rather than consistently fighting against it.

A few Gulf governments, especially Abu Dhabi and Oman, have taken very encouraging steps in this regard. But Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Dubai sponsored or promoted numerous events during this holy month of Ramadan that give a platform to noted hate preachers. Even as these regimes condemn attacks like the one in Orlando, they are fueling the fire by embracing clerics who have dehumanized LGBT people and those of other faiths. Some have even condoned or defended acts of terrorism.

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The tragic murders at the Orlando Pulse nightclub seemed driven by similar hatred. The shooter had spoken often about killing people, and expressed hatred of homosexuals, African-Americans, women and Jews. This hatred is significant regardless of speculation whether he himself may have been gay, or the broader issue of anti-LGBT bigotry within the United States.

It is also worth noting that the Islamic State, to whom he pledged allegiance, demeaned the victims as "the people of Lot," (a slur against gay people) and "impure Crusaders," dehumanizing them and denigrating their presumed Christian faith.

Incitement against LGBT People:

The Dubai government's Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department organized a lecture series this month called the "Ramadan Gathering" under the patronage of the ruler's son. Although Dubai is generally the most cosmopolitan place in the Gulf, this event gave a platform to several intolerant preachers, including two lectures the week of the Orlando attack by Ismail Menk, who has called gay people "worse than... animals" and described their behavior as "filthy."

Meanwhile, Qatar's state news wire promoted a holiday lecture series put on by the Doha-based charity "Raf." The event, which according to the charity's website counts two state-owned firms among its partners, included three speeches by Mohammed Rateb al-Nabulsi, who has ruled that homosexuality should be punished by death.

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As for Saudi Arabia, it allowed Saleh bin Humaid to lead a Ramadan prayer service and later to deliver a sermon from the holiest site in Islam, in which he called for divine intervention against "the usurper, occupier Jews" and "their evils." Bin Humaid has used that pulpit before to proclaim that homosexuality makes a human being "lower than a beast," arguing that it "violates the sanctity of Allah" and conflicts with "normal souls." The Saudi king subsequently handed Bin Humaid an award this year for "service to Islam."



[Saleh bin Humaid being handed an award for "service to Islam" this year by Saudi Arabia's King Salman. Source: YouTube]

Until at least 2014, official Saudi textbooks taught that the most important debate about homosexuality is how to kill gay people: by fire, stoning, or being thrown from great heights. The Islamic State, which circulates images of Saudi textbooks in its schools, has executed dozens of suspected gay, lesbian, or transgender people using such methods.

Dehumanizing Shi'a and Non-Muslims:

As suggested by Bin Humaid's rhetoric about Jews, this intolerance apparently extends to followers of other religions as well.

For example, Omar Abdulkafi, an Egyptian hardline preacher, has reportedly instructed that Muslims should not shake hands or share sidewalks with Christians. He was scheduled to speak three times this month at the Qatari Raf festival and two times as part of the Dubai International Holy Quran Award, which was founded by Dubai's ruler and uses the Dubai government logo on its speaker's table and promotional materials. The event's organizing committee was chaired by Ibrahim Boumelha, the ruler's own adviser for cultural affairs.

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Another speaker at the Dubai Quran Award was Saad bin Ateeq al-Ateeq, who called last year at Qatar's state-controlled Grand Mosque for God to "destroy" the Jews, Christians, Shi'ites, and Alawites. He made similar remarks before, but this time outcry eventually led Qatar to ban him from state TV.

[Segment of sermon delivered by Saad bin Ateeq al-Ateeq at the Grand Mosque in Doha on January 30, 2015. Original footage without translation broadcast on Qatar TV]



[Saad bin Ateeq al-Ateeq on Saudi Arabia's state news channel this month. Source: YouTube]



[Tweet by the UAE's Minister of State for Happiness indicating that she attended Ateeq's lecture this month in Dubai. The logo in red on the table reads "Government of Dubai". Source: Twitter]



By order of King Salman, Saudi Arabia promoted another noted hardliner to the regime's top religious council last month, even though the way that preacher had criticized IS was reportedly by calling it "atheist" and "more infidel than Jews and Christians." Further, the kingdom's pick for the Mecca Grand Mosque's opening prayer leader on the first night of Ramadan this year took to social media earlier in 2016 to peddle his conspiratorial belief that there is an "alliance of Safavids with the Jews and Christians against Muslims."



Condoning Terrorism:



To their credit, Gulf governments regularly condemn terrorism in general and specific public statements. However, many of the Ramadan speakers promoted by these regimes have long advocated ambiguous or incendiary positions on terror, condoning violence and glorifying or defending its practitioners.

Most notably, Zakir Naik is an Indian televangelist who spoke at Dubai's 2016 Ramadan Gathering and received the Dubai Quran Award's person of the year prize in 2013. His work was publicized by Qatar's state news wire last month, and he too was handed an award for "service to Islam" by the Saudi king just last year.



[Zakir Naik addressing Dubai's 2016 Ramadan Gathering. Source: YouTube]

Yet Naik has also proclaimed with regard to Osama bin Laden that "if he is terrorizing America the terrorist, the biggest terrorist, I am with him. Every Muslim should be a terrorist." He has allegedly been a favorite preacher of several notorious terrorist operatives, authorized keeping slaves and having sex with them, called for murdering apostates, declared "Jews and pagans" the "strongest in enmity to the Muslims," and asserted that 9/11 was an "inside job" by George W. Bush himself.

One speaker at the 2016 Raf festival in Qatar recently called 9/11 a "comedy film" in which no Muslims took part, labeling the Charlie Hebdo murders its "sequel." Another is a 9/11 conspiracy theorist who has previously called Jews "devils in human form" and recommended "jihad" against them as the only "solution." A third, the festival's opening speaker, has repeatedly glorified knife attacks against Israelis in the past.

And down the road in Qatar, the country's ruler Emir Tamim hosted a Ramadan banquet at his palace on June 13th for dozens of guests but gave the best seat in the house to the Brotherhood ideologue Yusuf al-Qaradawi. The Emir was even videotaped then planting kisses on Qaradawi, who has memorably called for murdering homosexuals, apostates, Israeli civilians, and Americans in Iraq, both "civilians and soldiers."

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Incitement matters. It's a small step from dehumanizing others to perpetrating violence against those deemed less than human.
The ISIS attack on the Istanbul's Ataturk airport is the result of Turkey's failed policies in the region. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan supported Islamists groups fighting against the Assad regime, thinking he could control them. But instead of acting as proxies projecting Turkey's influence, they turned on their benefactor. Now Turkey finds itself at war with ISIS and, because of its unjustified crackdown on Kurds, at war with itself.

When Syria's violent conflict erupted in 2011, Erdogan tried to persuade President Bashar al-Assad to form a government of national reconciliation with Arab Sunnis. He was rebuffed. Erdogan became Assad's fiercest critic, aligning with Syria's Muslim Brotherhood.

Erdogan criticized President Barack Obama for failing to support Syrian rebels. Obama ran on a platform of disengagement from wars in the Middle East, and did not want to get militarily involved. Even when Syria used chemical weapons in August 2013, Obama refused to intervene. Erdogan stepped up efforts to arm the rebels. According to Cengiz Candar, a well-respected Turkish journalist, Turkey's National Intelligence Agency (MIT) helped "midwife" the Islamic state in Iraq and Syria.

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MIT established an infrastructure for supporting fighters, ranging from military cooperation and weapons transfers to logistical support, financial assistance, and the provision of medical services. The jihadi highway ran from Sanliurfa in Turkey to Raqq in Syria.

Turkey turned a blind eye to ISIS oil trade, failing to seal its border. Turkish smugglers facilitated ISIS oil exports, which generated up to $500 million each year for the Islamic State. Turks profited at stages of the supply chain, undermining US efforts to deprive ISIS of financial support.

Vice President Joe Biden confirmed Turkey's ties with jihadis in October 2014. "The Turks...were so determined to take down Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war...they poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens, thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad...Al Nusra and Al Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world."

Erdogan vehemently denied Turkey's support for Islamist militants. "Biden has to apologize for his statements," said Erdogan. Otherwise, Biden will be "history to me."

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Turkey arrested journalists and closed opposition media. Can Dundar, editor of Cumhuriyet, received a sentence of five years and 10 months, and Erdem Gul, the paper's Ankara bureau chief, was sentenced to five years, for publishing photos of MIT's shipments of weapons to Islamists in Syria. Dundar said the sentence was "not given only to suppress and silence us" but to "intimidate the Turkish media and make us scared of writing."

The Obama administration pressured Turkey to participate in the fight against ISIS. After months of wrangling, Erdogan finally relented and allowed US warplanes to use Incirlik Air Force Base just 100 kilometers from the Turkey-Syria border.

But instead of attacking ISIS, Turkey launched air strikes against the PKK. To Erdogan, counter-terrorism means killing Kurds. Attacking the PKK was a cynical bid by Erdogan to bolster his nationalist base in advance of elections in September 2015.

Erdogan incurred the wrath of former Islamist allies by allowing US access to Incirlik. ISIS called Turkey an "apostate regime" aligned with "crusaders."

In 2016, ISIS also launched a series of attacks in Ankara and bombings in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square and Beyoglu district. The attack at Ataturk Airport was yet another despicable act by ISIS, which is losing ground in Iraq and Syria.

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Erdogan has a Hobbesian view of the world. He believes Turkey is surrounded by terrorists and evil-doers. He uses the label "terrorist" for the Islamic State, Kurds in Syria, the pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, opposition media, and civil society. Critics are prosecuted under Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Act and Article 301 of the Penal Code, which are used to silence dissent.

Today Turkey is isolated and has few friends. Its cooperation with the European Union is imperiled by the refugee and migrant crisis. Its relations with the United States strained by Erdogan's Islamist and anti-democratic rule.

The Ataturk Airport attack is a wake-up call. Turks must rally to defeat ISIS. Instead of vilifying the Kurds, Erdogan should make them partners in Turkey's fight against terrorism. This can be accomplished by resuming talks with the PKK and through cooperation with Kurds in Syria. Finding common cause with Kurds will make Turkey more secure and more democratic.
The 2016 Millennial Impact Report investigates how millennials' cause engagement behaviors may change during an election year, and how these changes may be influenced by important demographics such as their political party affiliation and/or their political ideologies, geographical location, age and race/ethnicity or by the emerging candidates for election. This study also examines millennials' interest and activation in specific causes that may be differentiated by their support of a particular political party.

There are few events in the United States that make social issues and affiliated causes - including those who support and those who oppose them - as public and popular as presidential election cycles. With the changing landscape in the U.S. brought on by a presidential election year, Achieve, the research team behind The Millennial Impact Project, wanted to understand how - or if - this generation's philanthropic interests and involvement changes as well, and how these changes may be influenced by important demographics such as their political ideologies, gender, age and more.

The Millennial Impact Project has consistently shown millennials value cause work - that is, any activities that are philanthropic in nature - and are engaged with causes. But more than simply engaging with causes, Wave 1 (March to May; n= 350 each month and n= 1,050 total for the wave) of the 2016 Millennial Impact Study found that nearly all (90%) of millennial respondents think people like them can have an impact in the U.S. to make it a better place to live.

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This is an aggregate response of those who indicated people like them can have a small impact (23%), a moderate impact (37%) and a big impact (30%). Only 5 percent of respondents do not think people like them can have an impact at all.

However, though most millennials believe they can make an impact in the U.S., respondents on average only somewhat believe they are activists (i.e., a person who behaves intentionally to bring about political or social change).

Respondents were asked to rate on a scale of 0 percent to 100 percent how much they agree with the statement: "I am an activist (a person who behaves intentionally to bring about political or social change)." The average response was just over neutral (54%), while the median response for this question was 60 percent, indicating respondents somewhat believe they are activists.

Personal Impact & Activism by Gender

When looking at personal impact and beliefs by gender, male millennial respondents more than female millennial respondents believe a person can have a big impact in the U.S. About a third (34%) of male millennial respondents believe a person can have a big impact in the U.S., compared to only 27 percent of female millennials. Conversely, 39 percent female respondents believe a person can have a moderate impact, versus 34 percent of male respondents.

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In addition, male respondents more than female believe they are activists. The average response of male millennial respondents indicated they somewhat believe they are activists, with an average of 60 percent and a median response of 67 percent. Female respondents selected more neutral answers to this question, with an average of 49 percent and a median response of 50 percent.

In general, females are found to be more engaged with causes than males. For example, the 2014 Millennial Impact Report showed female millennials were more likely than male millennials to donate to and volunteer for causes they care about. However, previous Millennial Impact Reports did not ask respondents how much impact they believe they can have or to what degree they consider themselves activists, so no real comparisons can be drawn about personal beliefs during a presidential election year versus a non-presidential election year.

Activism by Political Ideology

Millennial respondents who self-identified as having conservative-leaning ideologies believe they are somewhat activists, with an average response of 58 percent and a median of 65 percent. Liberal-leaning respondents responded more neutrally, with an average response of 50 percent and a median of 55 percent. Respondents who identified their political ideology as neutral, however, have a much lower belief that they are activists, with an average response of 43 percent and a median of 44 percent.
In 2014, Jonathan Ortmans, a Senior Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation testified before the U.S. House Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce. This isn't surprising given that the Kauffman Foundation is one of America's most well regarded resources on entrepreneurship, jobs, and economic growth. Mr. Ortmans' testimony though should be a wake-up call for all of us who care about economic prosperity everywhere. He said, "New business creation is crucial to a healthy, vibrant economy for two reasons: job creation and innovation. Contrary to popular rhetoric, it is not small businesses, but rather new and young businesses that drive new job creation. Nearly all net new jobs are created by new and young companies. Similarly, startups are responsible for a disproportionate share of innovative activity, which creates not just wealth for the entrepreneur, but rising standards of living for all." (My emphasis added)

His observations are not only well documented by a slew of folks in the economic development field, but they sync up with my observations as a former corporate executive turned tech entrepreneur in Northwest Montana.

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It's also why a recent Washington Post story set off my alarm bells. According to the story, "Americans in small towns and rural communities are dramatically less likely to start new businesses than they have been in the past, an unprecedented trend that jeopardizes the economic future of vast swaths of the country." As a small town entrepreneur and a passionate supporter of off-the-beaten-path entrepreneurs nationwide, I find this pretty troubling.

Evidently the recession had a pretty dire effect on the willingness of those of us out here in rural and small towns to build a start-up. According to the Post, "In the early 1990s recovery, 125 counties combined to generate half the total new business establishments in the country. In this recovery, just 20 counties have generated half the growth." There are a host of reasons for this; lending regulations that make access to capital tough for rural and small communities and the over-gentrification of a few cities that now control a disproportionate share of U.S. wealth are two that immediately come to mind. But another reason, perhaps even more powerful, is culture.

After raising millions for a tech business in Northwest Montana, I was asked repeatedly by big-city residents as well as folks from rural and small communities, "How did you build a successful tech company in such an out of the way location?" My answer was always the same: "In a coffee shop with Wi-Fi, just like you'd do anywhere else." Notably, I didn't get asked about being a woman tech CEO, or a baby-boomer tech CEO, both pretty rare. Nope, I was asked about location. The implication was clear; there was a strong belief from all corners that successful technology start-ups just didn't happen outside of a few well-known places like Silicon Valley or Boston. Since then I've been on a mission to change that perception.

That's one of the reasons that I'm pleased to be a judge for The Mobileys, a national competition that celebrates entrepreneurs who inspire and make a difference through mobile innovation. Since its inception, The Mobileys has had applicants from across the country, from big cities to remote locations. Winners have included CureSearch's mobile app which helps the families of kids with cancer digitally manage the daunting piles of paper information that cancer treatments entail. Or PageOut, a Heston, KS based company that supports the complicated job of coordinating volunteer emergency responders. The Mobileys finalists not only receive cash prizes (up to $10,000), they also get to travel to Washington, DC to meet with visionary leaders in their industries and hear firsthand about the policies that could affect them. They also get access to the judges and sometimes land some pretty great visibility.

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The Mobileys judges include VC's, angel investors, social-good investors, tech and media professionals, entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurship advocates from across the country. It's an inspiring process and an important one. Why? Because you can't be what you can't see.
The mestizo and the queer exist at this time and point on the evolutionary continuum for a purpose. We are a blending that proves that all blood is intricately woven together and that we are spawned out of similar souls. Gloria Anzaldua, from Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza

I still pay my bills and stay in touch by mail. For this purpose, I "curate" my stamps, and gravitate toward commemorative figures that have impacted my lifeCesar Chavez, Janis Joplin, Celia Cruz, Ray Charles, artist Martin Ramirez, and Harvey Milkfolks like that.

Harvey Milk served as the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, and served nobly and effectively as a San Francisco City-County Supervisor for 11 months before being assassinated in November 1978, together with Mayor George Moscone. His tragic death elevated Milk into iconic and martyr status within the gay community and its support communities, and rightly so.

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But, before Harvey Milk there was Jose Julio Sarria. Born in San Francisco in 1922, Sarria went on to serve as a sergeant in the U.S. Army during WWII. After his discharge in 1945, Sarria became one of the most famous drag queen entertainers in his hometown. After years of activism in the gay community, during which he helped found the League for Civil Education and the Society for Individual Rights, two of the first gay rights organizations in the country, Sarria stepped in to solidify, in 1965, a loose alliance of social groups into the International Court System. The Court supports LGBT communities in the U.S. and internationallyfrom HIV/AIDS awareness programs, to organizing Pride parades and building community centers. In celebrating the organization's 50th anniversary, President Obama noted, "Your organization's pursuit of inclusion reminds us not only of our founding principles, but also of our human ability to connect with others when they need us."

In 1961, Jose Julio Sarria ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the first openly gay man to run for public office in the state, paving the way for Harvey Milk's successful run for the same office years later. Not surprisingly, Sarria actively campaigned for Milk. One could argue that Sarria was equally the seminal, pioneering force as Milk. His legacy is certainly as impactful and lasting, if not more so. At the close of Pride Month, I think it important that we recognize and celebrate the lives and accomplishments of Latino and Latina LGBT leaders who, in different ways, raised our level of awareness and advocated for social, economic, political and cultural justice for their community, for our community.

Recently, President Obama designated a small area surrounding New York City's Stonewall Inn as the newest National Monument, the first to highlight the history of the LGBT community. On June 28, 1969, patrons fought back against what had become a pattern of selective police persecution, leading to a series of riots that gave birth to the LGBT Movement. Among the Stonewall protesters was Sylvia Rivera. Born Ray Rivera in 1951, she went on to co-found the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance, and, later, the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, a group dedicated to helping homeless young drag queens and trans women of color. Rivera passed away in 2002. A photograph of Rivera currently hangs in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. Luis Carle's photo portrays her at New York City's Pride March in 2000, seated next to partner Julia Murray and activist Christina Hayworth.

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The list of Latina and Latino LGBT activists is long and distinguished, one that probably begins with Tony Segura, who founded New York City's Mattachine Society in 1955, and also includes the aforementioned Gloria Anzaldua, writer Cherrie Moraga, and Washington, D.C.'s own Jose Gutierrez.

On Thursday, June 16th, in recognition of LGBT Pride Month, the Smithsonian Latino Center organized Recovering Latinx LGBT History: Dan Guerrero with the Editors of Queer Brown Voices, a public program highlighting the personal narratives of Latinx LGBT activism. The program was moderated by playwright, actor and producer Dan Guerrero and featured Uriel Quesada, Leticia Gomez and Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, activists and editors of Queer Brown Voices. Program participants and audience members did their best in the wake of the horrific massacre at Orlando's Pulse Night Club only five days previous.
Eisenhower Fellowships recently recognized the international medical humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders, with the 2016 Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service.

By, Dr. Deane Marchbein

Thank you for this generous introduction, and for inviting me to speak.

I come here, however, less interested in your praise, and more eager for your help.

The humanitarian community is facing a crisis: an erosion of medical humanitarian space that we cannot reclaim without strong support from governments, military and civil society.

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President Eisenhower said, 'When you put on a uniform, there are certain inhibitions that you accept'.

His respect for a military code of conduct and the rule of law has been conspicuously missing in what can only be described as an epidemic of attacks on hospitals and health care providers.

In 2015, there were 106 attacks on MSF hospitals, including the bombing of our trauma hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan by the US military.

Hospitals and clinics in Yemen, Ukraine, South Sudan, CAR and Syria were also destroyed, killing patients, staff, and denying healthcare to hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of people.

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And the assaults continue, most recently with the bombing of a hospital in Aleppo, Syria. At least 50 people were killed in this latest brutal assault on a Syrian health facility, including one of the last remaining pediatrician's in the city.

Repeated attacks on healthcare suggest a malicious and deliberate effort to inflict maximal pain, to make life intolerable for communities and to destroy all access to health care. Patients and doctors are being punished for seeking and providing healthcare.

Bombing medical facilities appears to have become the new normal in times of war. The perverse is somehow normalized. Yes, even war has rules.

At the U.N. Security Council earlier this month, MSF denounced such attacks. And it's past time that these attacks stop.

The Russians deny responsibility and the Syrians are mum. The Saudis have tried to justify the bombing of hospitals. The world wrings its collective hands but does nothing to demand accountability.

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The U.S. condemns these acts, but I believe that our government missed an opportunity to lead by example when they refused an independent investigation after the Kunduz bombing.

Why should the Syrians, Russians, Saudis or the South Sudanese authorize an independent inquiry, if the US, the putative leader with avowed respect for international humanitarian law, refuses.

The perpetrators of attacks on patients and doctors cannot also be their own investigators, judges and juries.

Until there is full accountability, until there is a political cost, as long as 'a mistake, collateral damage or the fog of war' is an acceptable excuse, I fear we won't see change.

In one town in Syria, the community refused the re-opening of a hospital, fearing it would make the town a target for bombing. When there are no health facilities, mothers die in childbirth, and children die of preventable diseases.

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This is where we are today. Communities in conflict zones are faced with the most impossible of choices, because healthcare has become a death sentence.

I agree with President Eisenhower's sentiments, when he said, "War is mankind's most tragic and stupid folly'.

As a medical humanitarian aid worker, I have seen the results and know that no individual or single organization such as MSF can mitigate the suffering without strong and outspoken support demanding that everyone obeys the rules of war. Because even something as abhorrent as war has rules. And they must be followed.

Thank you.

Dr. Deane Marchbein, President of Doctors Without Borders USA, accepted the Eisenhower Fellowships 2016 Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service. The award is presented annually to a leader of government, business, civil society or other public figure or organization advancing President Eisenhower's vision of a world more peaceful, prosperous and just.
Portrait of female teacher using digital tablet in her class

Empathy may be one of the most important social skills we learn as humans. Without it, not only do we fail to understand how our actions affect others, but we also lack the imagination and creativity needed to design tools and communicate our ideas beyond our own communities of like-minded people. Indeed, without some degree of empathy, we may not be able to communicate at all.

And yet, empathy also happens to be one of the most difficult skills to teach, rife as it is with complexity and emotion. The importance and challenges of teaching empathy have come into renewed focus, thanks in part to bestselling author Dr. Michele Borba's latest book, "UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World." Other recent events - ranging from the mass shooting in Orlando, to the firestorm caused by a letter from a rape victim read out loud to her attacker, to the growing global refugee crisis - all test our ability to imagine what it must be like to live in another person's shoes for a day.

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In her book, Dr. Borba talks about the concept of "emotional literacy" as she takes readers through a 9-step process for engendering empathy in a world where what she calls the Selfie Syndrome is a growing epidemic among our youth. It so happens that this process aligns with many of the media literacy skills taught by organizations like The LAMP, which teaches youth to comprehend, create and challenge media messages through in-school and after-school programs. Here are 3 ways that teaching media literacy can also help teach empathy.

1. Perspective Taking: Decoding a media message often begins with the person or people who created the message to begin with. Why did they create the message, and what do they want you to do or feel as a result? The answer may seem straightforward to adults: The commercial was created by people who manufacture a product, and they want you to go out and buy the product. In teaching this concept to children, you are teaching that media are a construction, created by a specific author or authors for a specific purpose. At the same time, children are challenged to learn that different people have different desires and needs which may be very different from their own. The complexity of this lesson in empathy can shift according to the complexity of the message being decoded, but the fundamentals are the same whether the students in question are six or sixteen. In both cases, they have to consider what motivates another person.



2. Moral Identity: Processing a media message forces you to consider your ethical values and, by extension, your unique identity. In our programs we frequently experience this when we screen a news story or video clip that some students find offensive, while others struggle to see a problem. Take, for example, this Volkswagen commercial created for the 2013 Super Bowl.

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When we showed this in a New York City high school class, just about half of the students laughed but the rest were incredulous, wondering how this ad stereotyping Jamaicans could have gotten made in the first place. One student said that if she had been in the room at Volkswagen, she never would have let something like this continue. Another student said he didn't see the issue; the ad was saying Jamaicans are happy, and isn't that a good thing? Our point as media literacy educators was not that one student was wrong or another was right; rather, our point was that different audiences interpret messages in different ways. The students didn't need to agree on the meaning, but we asked them to respect differing opinions and try to understand alternate perspectives.

3. Teamwork and Collaboration: Teaching media literacy is impossible - and also rather dull - without some kind of hands-on work. That's why making media is a huge part of what we do at The LAMP, and why so many forward-thinking educators are actively integrating media and technology production as part of their everyday teaching. But when students work together to remix a commercial or produce their own Public Service Announcement, they're doing more than clicking buttons. They're also negotiating ideas to create a team project, which means empathizing with other perspectives and making compromises for the good of the group and the task at hand, a practice Dr. Borba extols in chapter seven of her book. In order to be members of a functional group, young people have to think about other perspectives as well as how their own ideas are being received by other members of the group. Learning how to work with others is a vital part of any hands-on media literacy education.
Rear view shot of a young woman relaxing by the pool

Wade in the water

Wade in the water, children,

Wade in the water

God's a-going to trouble the water

This Monday the American Red Cross, the nation's 'first responder' found themselves in need of rescue.

The century old institution was in the news not for its relief efforts on behalf of victims displaced due to the wildfires in California or what has been described as thousand year flooding in West Virginia. Instead this august organization was triaging damage that was self-inflicted as a result of its use of a poster "Be Cool, Follow the Rules" from a 2014 safe-swimming campaign. The White children in the poster are labeled as behaving in a "cool" way while children of color are depicted as defying pool rules and are labeled as "not cool."

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Many, including myself, find the poster insensitive and unenlightened at the very least -- and at worst perpetuating racist stereotypes. When I showed the poster to a White friend who works in media her immediate response was: "What were they thinking?"

The Red Cross apologized in a statement posted online Monday:

"The American Red Cross appreciates and is sensitive to the concerns raised regarding one of the water safety posters we produced. We deeply apologize for any misunderstanding, as it was absolutely not our intent to offend anyone. As one of the nation's oldest and largest humanitarian organizations, we are committed to diversity and inclusion in all that we do, every day. To this end, we have removed the poster from our website and Swim App and have discontinued production. We have notified all of our partner aquatic facilities requesting they take down the poster. Our organization has emphasized to our partners and on social media that it was absolutely not our intent to offend anyone and apologized for this inadvertent action. We are currently in the process of completing a formal agreement with a diversity advocacy organization for their guidance moving forward."(Read the full statement here.)

The larger question is how something so racially insensitive could have ever been deemed 'appropriate' for use in the first place. Was it that the individuals who created and approved the poster were not cognizant of the fact that for generations Black children and their families have faced discrimination at America's public pools and beaches? Were they not aware that Black people had been denied swimming lessons and had been barred from public pools? That those who did want to swim, especially young people, were forced to do so in more dangerous locations? Stories about drownings abound for generations of African Americans, and for many a fear of the water has not subsided.

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It is often difficult to find regulation-size pools for swimming and diving in Black neighborhoods. Many communities have turned to splash parks as a cheaper alternative to maintaining pools, which means children never get a chance to truly swim. As a result, Black children have traditionally been less likely to take up swimming as a recreational activity or sport.

Were they not aware that the intersection of aquatic activities and racism is deeply embedded in our nation's psyche?

In 1964, civil rights demonstrators jumped into a segregated pool at the Monson Motor Lodge because the manager refused to let Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his guests enter the Monson Restaurant. The incident is well detailed in Clennon L. King's documentary "A Passage to St. Augustine". An iconic picture shows the lodge's owner Jimmy Brock, pouring acid into the pool and on the demonstrators.

Just last week a Texas grand jury decided not to indict former police officer Eric Casebolt who was seen on video throwing a bikini-clad Black teenage girl to the ground and pointing his gun at others at a pool party last summer in McKinney Texas, an egregious incident I wrote about at the time.

So to the Red Cross and organizations like it, I say:

While you "deeply apologize for any misunderstanding, as it was absolutely not [your] intent to offend anyone'' you would do well to acknowledge the lessons of history. Then put those to use going forward to combat the implicit bias and systemic racism that are very often at the heart of these matters -- seemingly at the water's edge, and just below the surface.
Man and woman arguing

Yasmin Anwar

If you rage with frustration during a marital spat, watch your blood pressure. If you keep a stiff upper lip, watch your back.

New research from UC Berkeley and Northwestern University, based on how couples behave during conflicts, suggests outbursts of anger predict cardiovascular problems later in life.

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Conversely, "stonewalling" during conflict -- shutting down emotionally or withdrawing from the conversation -- raises the risk of musculoskeletal ailments such as a bad back or stiff muscles.

"Our findings reveal a new level of precision in how emotions are linked to health, and how our behaviors over time can predict the development of negative health outcomes," said UC Berkeley psychologist Robert Levenson, senior author of the study.

The study, published last month in the journal Emotion, is based on 20 years of data. It controlled for such factors as age, education, exercise, smoking, alcohol use, and caffeine consumption.

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Overall, the link between emotions and health outcomes was most pronounced for husbands, but some of the key correlations were also found in wives. It did not take the researchers long to guess which spouses would develop ailments down the road based on how they reacted to disagreements.

"We looked at marital-conflict conversations that lasted just 15 minutes and could predict the development of health problems over 20 years for husbands based on the emotional behaviors that they showed during these 15 minutes," said study lead author Claudia Haase, an assistant professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University.

The findings could spur hotheaded people to consider such interventions as anger management, while people who withdraw during conflict might benefit from resisting the impulse to bottle up their emotions, the researchers said.

"Conflict happens in every marriage, but people deal with it in different ways. Some of us explode with anger; some of us shut down," Haase said. "Our study shows that these different emotional behaviors can predict the development of different health problems in the long run."

The study is one of several led by Levenson, who looks at the inner workings of long-term marriages. Participants are part of a group of 156 middle-aged and older heterosexual couples in the San Francisco Bay Area whose relationships Levenson and fellow researchers have tracked since 1989. The surviving spouses who participated in the study are now in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s.

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Each five years, the couples were videotaped in a laboratory setting as they discussed events in their lives and areas of disagreement and enjoyment. Their interactions were rated by expert behavioral evaluators for a wide range of emotions and behaviors based on facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice. In addition, the spouses completed a battery of questionnaires that included a detailed assessment of specific health problems.

To track displays of anger, the researchers monitored the videotaped conversations for such behaviors as lips pressed together, knitted brows, tight jaws, and voices raised or lowered beyond their normal tone. To identify stonewalling behavior, they looked for what researchers refer to as "away" behavior, which includes facial stiffness, rigid neck muscles, and little or no eye contact. That data was then linked to health symptoms, measured every five years over a 20-year span.

The spouses who were observed during their conversations to fly off the handle more easily were at greater risk of developing chest pain, high blood pressure, and other cardiovascular problems over time. Alternately, those who stonewalled by barely speaking and avoiding eye contact were more likely to develop backaches, stiff necks or joints, and general muscle tension.

The study also looked at sadness and fear as predictors of these health outcomes, but did not find any significant associations.

"For years, we've known that negative emotions are associated with negative health outcomes, but this study dug deeper to find that specific emotions are linked to specific health problems," Levenson said. "This is one of the many ways that our emotions provide a window for glimpsing important qualities of our future lives."

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More fake news daily at The Political Garbage Chute.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Buried in the hundreds of pages of the highly-anticipated House Benghazi Committee report is something that may not have been seen by the mainstream media outlets at first, but it is quickly gathering momentum in the 24-hour news cycle. On page 269 of the report issued by Rep. Trey Gowdy's (R-SC) select committee after roughly two years of investigating is the fact that former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was in fact the infamous "second gunman on the grassy knoll" in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

"This committee has conducted the most thorough and exhaustive investigation in the history of the world," Gowdy told reporters in a press release this morning, "because we weren't going to stop until we got the answers. And if we didn't like those answers we would not stop until we had the answers we wanted, even if we had to make them up ourselves."

According to the report, even though Ms. Clinton was just 16 years old, Clinton was contacted by Saul Alinsky and a young George Soros. This meeting is when Soros and Alinksy convinced Clinton to help them assassinate John F. Kennedy, because they said that he "wasn't nearly liberal enough" and that Kennedy had rebuffed their attempts to get him to "swear allegiance to Communism, Karl Marx, and abortion."

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"Ms. Clinton agreed to help them carry out their dastardly deed," Gowdy's press release says, "and she was issued a rifle. She was also given an invisibility cloak, the Elder Wand, and the Philosopher's Stone, all of which are magical items which she has since used to help obfuscate her role in not only JFK's assassination, but also Vince Foster's death and of course Benghazi."

The JFK assassination wasn't the only high-profile conspiracy theory that was confirmed by Gowdy's Benghazi report. On page 145 it is mentioned that an interview "with a guy who knew a dude who once sold weed to Bill Clinton in college" revealed that Hillary admitted to "starting chemtrails" in 1965 and when the Benghazi investigators finally found and interviewed a talk radio caller who went by the name Chester Cheesecorn they discovered that in 1987 Hillary told friends at a Christmas party she was "working with George Lucas on a character called Jar Jar Binks for a new Star Track film."

"It's unclear whether we can file any charges against Ms. Clinton for any of these high crimes and misdemeanors," Gowdy's release says, "except the Jar Jar one. No one likes Jar Jar. Anyone tangentially related to bringing that dildo to life should spend the rest of their natural born lives behind bars."
A girl's rubber sandal stood out in the beach wrack, that pile of sexily-reeking sargassum and other decaying sea plants, creatures and things heaved up onto the South Florida shoreline by the restless Atlantic Ocean.

The rainbow canvas foot strap with the SAVIOR patch was frayed and twisted.

Rubber is tough for decades. The sandal bristled all along its warped sides with bright white shells like shark's teeth. Or an island woman's shell necklace polished fresh as salon toenails.

Something moved. Aliens! A wet and multi-tentacled mouth slithered out of one of the shells, grabbing, then yanked back in. I tried to focus.

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Gooseneck barnacles. I picked up the sandal. Now from a few shells the mouth-tentacle-grabbing-things slithered in and out.

Out in the open ocean, how had they, as babies, one after the other, chosen this floating rubber sandal as their spaceship and why had they only attached to its sides to colonize and grow?

How long had the sandal been walking across the ocean before finally coming to America and stepping onto land?

Had it circled for years in currents, not yet ready?

So much of the Atlantic story is African.

Now, after all that time, it was a matter of one more night before the beach tractor came raking in the morning. Would the goose barnacles succumb and die overnight, or later in the trash? Some were already still.

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On what shore had the sandal first stepped into the water? Waves grab.

What young girl's life was behind it? She was cute and kind of thick, right? Maybe 11 or 12 years old?

Had she been a young girl running through the Shell oil fields of the Nigerian Delta?

Had she lost her sandal in the Haiti earthquake of January 2010 that killed more than 220,000 people, injured 300,000 and left 1.5 million homeless?

People say Dominicans and Haitians don't like each other but after the quake I saw a "Con Amor Haiti" mural go up quickly in the Dominican hood of Barrio Obrero in south San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Maybe she had come from Gabon, where the beaches are still so wild that hippos swag down to the beach to surf.

I doubt she came from the Bahamas; that's only a day's bike ride away - if you could bike on water - and she'd clearly been out there a long time. Years.

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I wondered about her house. Was her house made of concrete block? Plywood? Did she have a banana tree outside her house with big splaying green leaves?

Maybe her family had been wealthy and lived in a stately house high on a hill with wrought iron and brightly painted walls and a storm had simply caught her sandal.

Did she and her girlfriends have a favorite place to run to and play while giggling and talking about boys? I imagine the footprints their sandals or bare feet left in the dusty or dirt streets.

I think she had a bright white smile and painted toenails and her Ma braided her hair nice.

And how often had she gone down to the beach and looked out over the ocean toward America and pictured herself here? Thoughts of ... What is it like? Would she be safe? Would people love her in America, be nice to her? TV made it seem so much danger, but exciting and full of so much too.

Out in the ocean, on that long journey, those years - what moments?

Taking a break, the sandal surely paused in a patch of floating sargassum, good company, in the legendary Sargasso Sea where yellow, blue and green-lit dolphinfish aka dorado aka mahi mahi hung out, waiting for the next run of flying fish like in The Life of Pi.

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At night, what swam below as it bobbed in black water under the moon, stars and Mars?

What were the attached gooseneck barnacles thinking all those years as they stuck their slithering mouths out to catch and eat passing little sea creatures and grow?

How many open ocean storms had slammed the sandal up and down 2-story high swells, and it wasn't anything to the barnacles?

My ass surely would have puked.

The rainbow-colored foot strap with the SAVIOR patch.

The young girl back then probably had no idea that on these shores those colors symbolized lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride and rights. Where, recently, 223 miles north of the sandal's first contact with America, a man got punctured by evil in the inland city of Orlando and shot 102 people at a gay night club with an easily-purchased military assault rifle, slaughtering 49 of them, wounding the rest.

It was just a pretty sandal.

A week after mass murder in Orlando, the 91-year old Freedom Tower in Downtown Miami stayed lit in rainbow colors for a brief while longer.

Fear & Loving: Where Sea Level Meets the Deep is a funder-supported literary blogstory by writer Jarid Manos chronicling life at sea level and in the oceans before climate change hits hard.
H.R. 5456 deals with Title IV-E funding for foster care, which was established as part of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980. Title IV-E funding reimburses states for children removed into foster care rather than for preventive interventions that support families to avoid removal. Our experience over the past two decades demonstrates that, with the right level of preventive support, most children can remain safely with their families. In those instances where parents are unable or unwilling to care for their children, kinship care, family foster care and adoption, should be the primary option for out-of-home care.

For the subset of children who have experienced severe abuse, mental illness, and other trauma resulting in extensive behavioral health needs, well-funded residential treatment is sometimes still the best option - as long as the objective is to provide efficacious short-term treatment and return them to families as quickly as possible. Nationally, residential treatment, in some cases still driven by the historically antiquated orphanage model, has continued to be a final destination for far too many children in foster care.

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The 2015 Children's Bureau review of foster care found that of the approximately 51,000 children age 13 and older who entered foster care in 2008, about half (25,535) entered residential treatment at some point. And, far too many remain there for far too long.

This bill, a rare bipartisan initiative made possible by the leadership of Senators Hatch (R-UT) and Wyden (D-OR), finally recognizes that children are best served in communities and when families are supported. While not perfect, it allocates $1.5 billion in federal resources for preventive and family support services over the course of ten years beginning in 2020. In two prior articles, Jess Dannhauser and I wrote about the services funded through FFA.

The legislation also creates a critically-needed national standard for residential treatment. In the absence of this, residential care is still a place where some children are unnecessarily placed and often end up languishing until they age out. In most states, the children who languish longest in foster care in general, and residential treatment in particular, are children of color, mostly black.

This national standard calls for Qualified Residential Treatment programs (QRTP). QRTP requires that children are only referred to residential treatment when there is a clearly established risk for harm to self or others. QRTP also requires that residential treatment programs have specially trained clinical and nursing staff physically present onsite during business hours and available 24/7 to address children's health needs. This is an enormous step forward in the treatment of our country's most vulnerable children.

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The QRTP requirement has vigorous opposition by some who fail to understand the bill, choose not to understand it, or simply choose to protect the status quo. Among those who support the intent of the bill but oppose its passage through the Senate are those who point to the increased cost burden to support the national QRTP standard. I agree, it will be costly in some cases, but what is the cost of continuing to support a system that claims to provide residential treatment but refuses to fund the basic levels of clinical and nursing staff required to ensure treatment and safety? Don't children who have suffered so much that they require residential treatment deserve real treatment and safety standards that I would expect for my own children?

Another argument in opposition is that group homes will be financially disadvantaged. As a group home provider, I know that this is true. Our homes probably cannot become QRTP's, but most group homes are most likely not federally funded anyway. The reality is that federal funding for child welfare has been dropping steadily. Child Trends reports that "the federal share of total child welfare expenditures decreased since SFY 2010, while the combined state/local share increased. In SFY 2012, federal funds accounted for 45 percent of all spending (down from 46 percent in SFY 2010), while state dollars accounted for 39 percent, and local dollars 16 percent. Combined, state and local funds comprised more than half of all expenditures (approximately 55 percent) on child welfare in SFY 2012, up from 54 percent in SFY 2010." This means group homes that provide a needed service in any community can still be supported with local dollars because, as the report notes, about 50 percent of our current funding is local and not federal anyway.
At the recent 2016 annual meeting of the American Academy of PAs (AAPA), the AAPA House of Delegates passed two important resolutions related to the treatment of opioid addiction and the safe prescribing of opiates for pain. The first resolution promotes increased patient access to opiate treatment programs, as well as the full utilization of PAs in opiate treatment programs, submitted by my specialty organization, the Society of Physician Assistants in Addiction Medicine (SPAAM). The second resolution offers guidance to PAs for safe opioid prescribing in the context of the nationwide explosion in opiate-prescribing deaths, submitted by the New York State Society of PAs (NYSSPA). The passage of these resolutions reflects the increased attention being paid to these issues, both inside and outside of the Academy.

The AAPA, partnering with Nurse Practitioner (NP) leaders, has played a key role in promoting awareness of opioid addiction and its treatment. The Academy has made incredible headway in promoting federal legislation aiming to provide increased access to care by removing barriers facing both PAs and NPs who practice addiction medicine. The use of buprenorphine/naloxone (commonly branded as Suboxone) as replacement opiates for people with substance use disorders has previously been limited to physicians; this has been the case for almost 15 years, and getting this issue on the radar of federal legislators has taken years of hard work by the AAPA and other organizations.

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It looks like this hard work is going to bear some fruit soon, as the US House of Representatives moved forward a number of bills that would allow PAs to prescribe this medication. This will next go to the US Senate, and hopefully this will lead to actual law sometime in the near future. Here's some information from the AAPA about this development.

At the AAPA 2016 annual meeting, I was interviewed by The Clinical Advisor (click here to see the interview). In the video, I talk about some other recent, important developments for PAs interested in addiction medicine. One such development relates to the historic restriction by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that allows only physicians to write orders in outpatient opiate treatment programs -- historically called "methadone clinics" -- and a new process approved by SAMHSA allowing both PAs and NPs to dispense methadone, buprenorphine/naloxone, and other agents used in opiate treatment program settings. This is an exciting development as well, with the potential to greatly increase access to care by removing obstacles to PAs and NPs to fully participate. Read about the exemption process here.

Finally, another symbolic but very positive development relates to the American Society of Addiction Medicine's (ASAM) decision to finally allow PAs and NPs membership in the association; until recently, membership was restricted to physicians only. Addiction medicine, as evidenced by the issues above, has long been a specialty in which PAs have not been able to fully function. This action by the ASAM is consistent with the nationwide move to increase access to opiate treatment by removing barriers to PA and NP practice.

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For more information about PAs in addiction medicine, check out the web site for the Society of Physician Assistants in Addiction Medicine at www.spaam.org.
The world's greatest risks can't be confined within borders. This is clearly the case with the ongoing refugee crisis, which is unprecedented in scale and affecting people and places far from the scene of civil war, fragility and conflict. The UK vote to leave the European Union showed, in part, the volatility and reach of the impact of forced displacement.

For years, most of the response to this crisis was entirely shouldered by a handful of countries and by humanitarian workers who risked their lives every day -- including in the aerial bombings of hospitals in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen -- to confront an emergency that shows no sign of abating, and could last a generation or more.

Last week, we learned that the number of people fleeing their homes is growing. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that forcibly displaced people around the world now number 65 million, up from 60 million the year before.

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Once again, this underscores the great need to find new solutions to help refugees and people in countries torn apart by conflict. For far too long, humanitarian and development groups have not worked together, but the situation today demands that we do so -- immediately.

In particular, development organizations such as the World Bank Group can bring much greater levels of financing as well as experts who know how to put children in school and create jobs for refugees as well as people living in the host countries.

Working with humanitarian actors and with countries hosting refugees, we are developing financing with long-term, extremely low-interest loans that can support development projects at the appropriate scale.

Last year, the Bank Group developed a financing facility for the Middle East and North Africa. Our goal in the next five years is to raise $1 billion in funding and turn that into $3 to $4 billion in long-term, very low-interest financing. Recently, the European Union joined eight nations pledging more than $1 billion in grants, loans, and guarantees to this fund supporting Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan and Lebanon, as well as recovery and reconstruction across the region.

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We're working to expand this effort with a global crisis response platform, which would provide resources to low- and middle-income countries hosting refugees across the world. We plan to launch this platform in September at the UN General Assembly.

In addition, we are exploring the use of performance-based financing -- a program that is transforming development work -- for protracted humanitarian crises. Under the program, funds would be released to countries and humanitarian organizations when specific results are achieved. I believe performance-based financing could be very effective tool for longer-term humanitarian situations.

And we are starting to gather new data and evidence to find out what works best in specific environments. Such evidence, along with what we've learned from our work in the field, will allow us to better respond to the needs of refugees and host countries.

The World Bank Group and six other multilateral development banks have agreed to collaborate more closely on creating jobs, increasing financing, analyzing the root causes of fragility and violence, and helping the Middle East and North Africa region recover once conflict ends.

These partnerships among development banks, humanitarian organizations, and the countries that host refugees will help us prepare for reconstruction once political agreements bring an end to wars in Syria, Libya, and Yemen. The development banks will also address some of the conditions driving people from the region.

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The world stands with the Turks in the wake of the terrible attacks on the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. But we don't stand with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose obsession with destroying the Kurds politically enabled ISIS to kill Turks over the past few months, as well as last night.

At one time, Erdogan appeared to be a force for peace, deescalating the tensions between Turks and Kurds, until a Kurdish Party (HDP) won enough votes in June of 2015 to derail Erdogan's plan to create a powerful presidential system that would benefit the Turkish leader and his family. In fact, the HDP did well enough to deny Erdogan's party a majority for the first time in more than a decade. Then the gloves came off, and war was waged against the Kurds later that year, with policies receiving international condemnation.

Erdogan never missed a chance to link the HDP to the PKK, a group regarded by many as a terrorist organization, in his bid for a new election later in 2015. He may not have succeeded in destroying the HDP in that election, but his AKP took votes from the nationalistic MHP in order to win that governing coalition.

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Meanwhile, a wave of terrorism struck Turkey. Two blasts even wiped out hundreds of Kurds at a peaceful political rally. But Erdogan's Prime Minister pointed the finger at the Kurds, illogically accusing them of killing their own people. They've arrested scores of domestic dissenters and blasted academics pushing for peace with the Kurds.

At the same time, Turkey was given permission to bomb ISIS in Syria. But that never happened. Instead, Turkey used that NATO base to strike at Syrian Kurd(YPG and the PYD), a group that was actually fighting ISIS on the ground.

As more attacks occurred in Turkey, Erdogan accused the Americans and Russians of helping the Syrian Kurds (YPG and the PYD), claiming they were responsible. He even shot down a Russian plane, and warned Americans about helping Syrian Kurds.

Media censorship on the ground after each bombing inhibited the ability of the press to find the real culprits: ISIS, or maybe some other shadowy element interested in killing Kurds. Even as the finger was pointed at YPG and the PYD, the group denied responsibility for the bombings. Instead, some nebulous group called "the Falcons" (or was it the Eagles or the Seahawks?), accused of being Kurdish, swooped in to "take the credit" for each kill.

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Now there are many dead Turks. Increasingly, it is looking more and more like ISIS did this one, and maybe the other ones. While Erdogan put a bullseye on the Kurds in the past, ISIS came to town, and is poised to turn Turkey into the next Syria, Libya, Yemen, or Iraq, making it the new front in the war on terror. The YPG and PYD attacks on ISIS could have been much better, without Turkish government bombs falling on them.

Some claim that Erdogan is really in league with ISIS, or wouldn't mind if the group, an enemy of his petty rival Bashir al-Assad in Syria, succeeded. At a minimum, Erdogan's guilty of incompetence, letting ISIS get away with murder while he plays party politics. It's no wonder he wanted to change Turkey from a parliamentary system to a powerful presidential system. Because if he was still prime minister, he could be facing a vote of no confidence for how he's allowed ISIS to win in Turkey.
A week after the Pulse shootings in Orlando, I gave the keynote address at the Human Rights Campaign Dinner in Louisiana. It was a very difficult time to address the positive steps we've made in regards to gay rights in America against the backdrop of our mourning and loss. Here is the transcript and link. My hope is that we can glean some hope from the hate.



HRC Louisiana Gala - June 18th, 2016

On June 24th, 1973, right here in New Orleans on the last night of gay pride, on the 4th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, "The Upstairs Lounge," a small gay bar in the French Quarter, was engulfed in flames by an arsonist. Buddy, the bartender, rescued 30 people then ran back in for his boyfriend, Adam. Thirty-two died that night, trapped. The authorities never cared to close the case, no one was charged. Some of the bodies were left in the building for days. Many men, not out the closet, had no families to claim them. They were left without the dignity of a proper burial.

We have come a long way and yet, in some ways, it feels like we've not evolved much at all. In light of the tragedy in Orlando last weekend, I am at a loss for words to describe how I feel... attacked... hurt... angry. It was like Mathew Shepherd and every friend I lost to AIDS fifty times over in one day.

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But today, I choose not fear, but rather, pride. Pride in the generations that came before us; and I choose to stand up and speak up against hate; and yes, I choose to celebrate who we are, who I am; and I take refuge in the family of LGBT brothers and sisters and straight allies and the whole civilized world that has stretched out their arms to embrace us.

Family: that's a word I heard a lot this week as the victims were being mourned. So many young faces, full of life and joy, snuffed out by ignorance and hate - their families grappling with the unimaginable.

Family: it's a word that I've had an on-again/off-again relationship with, I'm sure many of you can relate. As a gay man, I've not always felt included in my own family, sometimes through no fault of their own, sometimes because I chose to withdraw rather than be rejected.

When I was a little boy growing up in Uruguay, being raised by affectionate and loving parents and three siblings, who were as adversarial and loving as you would expect in any family, I was a unique creature highly artistic, highly sensitive, and totally swishy. I loved to play with dolls and often dressed in my mother's dresses - but only the glittery evening gowns made the cut. This was around age six or seven. I was very free and funny. I would put on puppet shows with full impersonations of our neighbors. I had no idea what I was or whom I loved. I was just me, an innocent creative child.

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As I got a little older, 9 or 10, I became HIGHLY aware that whatever I was was a cause of concern for my parents. And when strangers began to question my gender, I felt I was becoming an embarrassment to them, something to be corrected or shut down, get fixed or eliminated.

It began with mom and dad calling out my effeminate behavior in the form of a firm grasp on the arm when I tried to skip down the street, or steering me away from my sisters' dolls, or scolding me to "walk like a boy," to walk like my brother, Lawrence, I guess, who at the time was my best friend and a total jock.

Finally, mom and dad took me to see a shrink. It was one visit. I'm not sure what he told my worried mother, but I remember her scurrying me away from the office. She seemed pissed off. On the bus home, she told me that we would never return there, that made me feel happy and safe. That might have been the first moment my parents made the choice to accept me as I was - And I guess this is the first moment I realize that. And that had to take some courage on their part, because being gay, or trans, or whatever word they were using in those days. Well, the word in Uruguay was "maricon" (faggot), and it covered pretty much all queers. That word flung around carelessly as insults in the playground or amongst adults in casual banter my whole childhood, making those of us who were that word feel unloved and so terribly wrong.

I think at that time, I was probably gender neutral. I had a great love and affinity for women (I still do). I declared myself a feminist at the age of ten! I had my sisters and my mom and all my best friends, all girls. I felt safer with women, so it made sense that I would pick up their gestures and their movements and their emotional freedom, something boys were not allowed to have.

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But as my teen years crept in, I became more closed off and guarded around my family. Home became an unsafe place where my growing secret (my attraction to boys), if exposed, could leave me in a club where many LGBT kids end up disowned, probably not homeless, but definitely without a home. So I became very private, disconnected, and guarded. Then came puberty! We were immigrants in the U.S. now, so by default already second-class citizens, and I was already the target of bullies in the public school system, one of the toughest in New York.

Fortunately, I found family amongst a group of social misfits in the school's drama club, a magnet for girly boys, big girls, geeks, and the occasional jock, who harbored a secret wish to kick his heels in a Broadway musical. In fact, the boy I thought was super straight and was the object of my crush later turned out to be a Broadway chorus boy, which does not automatically make him gay... but in this case, he was and I could have had him. Damn! This was in high school and by then I knew I was gay. I had no confusion whatsoever. I felt happy in my body, but too afraid to explore or share it, for good reason.

That year I had gone to our family doctor and read a medical magazine in the waiting room with the headline "The Gay Cancer." My blood went cold and I thought, "Oh shit, now you can get cancer just for being gay???" This was the beginning of the AIDS crisis and the unfolding of my early adult gay life filled with fear and dread... and sure there were plenty of happy times: getting my first Broadway show; falling in love with my first partner, Eddie; getting our first apartment in the city; our first dog. But there were also some impossibly hard times, Eddie getting sick and dying of AIDS. He was 33 and I was just 23 and yet, there was always family. My mother came to the city and laid in bed with Eddie in his last days. My dad and siblings did the best to console and help, so did my friends. And they all gave me the support to rebuild and to move to LA after he died. But I had a fair share of survivor's guilt. How was it that I was ok? Why was I not infected? Many nights I prayed wishing I were. Then I met Kyle and everything changed. Twenty-four years later we're both still here and happily married.

The last time I spoke at an HRC dinner was in September of 2014. Three weeks later my mother suddenly died, and in the midst of that horror that is losing your last parent, while we cleaned up her apartment and made arrangements for her funeral, my sisters, my brother and I found each other again. We cried a lot and laughed a lot. I found mom's onyx earrings, the one's I used to wear when I was alone and I put them on said, "Hey guys! You should have seen me do Dream Girls in these!" My brother, Lawrence, whom I had had a distant once-a-year phone call relationship, with confessed the reason we were not closer was that he assumed I must "hate him" for calling me fag when I was a kid. I said, "I love you brother and everyone called me fag, you weren't that original, so let's get on with it." In that dark hour of losing our mother, my brother and I became friends again. So, there is hope even in the darkest of times.

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Last Sunday, Kyle and I sat watching a mother on CNN, through tears re-telling what she knew about the carnage while she waited to be told if her son was dead or alive. Yes, a scene too common these days, another mass shooting, but this one, this one was about MY FAMILY. This one was about the echo chamber of anti-LGBT hatred that bounces from pious two-faced preachers to orange faced politicians, who after the attack doubled down on their hate for us, some even suggesting that this was god's response to gay marriage.

This idea that it's OK to target us has been in the public blood stream for generations from the "Up Stairs Lounge" in New Orleans to "Pulse" in Orlando. Like racism, like misogyny, and xenophobia, in fact, they happen to be the current GOP platform. This was a hate crime against us and there are plenty of people with blood on their hands starting with the NRA and the senators that voted against sensible gun control and I'm thrilled that HRC is committed to going after them.

So, Kyle and I spent the better part of Sunday crying. Then, at 5:10 PM, our friends Rob and Greg brought into the world a ray of hope, a baby boy, a new family. And that moment I knew, we would be OK because life had won out, hope had survived, and love had conquered hate.

But don't mistake my emotion here, because I intend to put every bit of my anger, my strength, and grit to make sure the next President is a woman who believes in gun control, who believes in our human rights and who has the strength to look at the bullies in the eye and say, "not while I'm in the oval office!" And yes, I do picture Hillary in my mother's onyx earrings.

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And... I know we're sad right now, but I also know we are tough, resilient, and battle-tested. We have fought for the right to love, we have fought for the right to live, and we will continue to do that until we live in a country that represents the best of us, a real inclusive American Family.

Thank you, HRC for the tireless work you do on all these issues and thank you all for contributing and showing up tonight and for being proud!

As my mom used to say, "I Love you too much."
While blogging recently at my favorite philosophy web site, I mentioned one theory of how thinking (critically or not) evolved out of a nagging desire inherent in the human species to eliminate (or at least minimize) doubt.

In an age that welcomes certainty, doubt is often associated with weakness, or at least the unwillingness to commit to a belief out of fear or uncertainty. But since doubt can be eradicated through poor reasoning, such as giving in to the mob or succumbing to some other form of confirmation bias, might certainty that has you believe in something for the sake of believing it (even if it's not true), represent a much more troubling form of weakness?

Having done some form of critical-thinking exercise during the last two election cycles, I've seen certainty harden right around the time the party conventions take place, at which point everyone organizes themselves into one of two armed camps to celebrate their chosen champion and (more frequently) condemn everything the opposing camp says and does as a dishonest, cynical outrage. But before the parties coalesce around a particular candidate, and even for the short time between that choice is known and the conventions takes place, doubt still nags at a number of primary voters.

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In 2008, for instance, those who championed Hillary Clinton were deeply disappointed that their candidate failed to grab the nomination and spent a few weeks unsure they liked (or even wanted to support) her rival Barack Obama. Once an enemy (the Republican nominee) became concrete, however, all doubt dissipated as partisans readied for war. But for a brief moment, doubt left many a partisan open-minded, at least enough to think about both positives and negatives associated with their preferred candidate.

I suspect we'll see something similar take place among Bernie Sanders voters this year who will end up flocking to the Hillary camp (at first grudgingly, but more and more enthusiastically as the race heats up), even if their nagging doubt about the Democratic standard bearer leaves them more cynical about Candidate (potentially President) Clinton and ready to revolt sometime in the future.

The fact that such a revolt has already broken out within the Republican Party has created a dynamic where doubt is already causing party members to not just question the party's nominee, but the entire philosophy undergirding the institution's conservative identity.

This year's race, after all, was meant to be predictable. Having enjoyed several cycles of political success at the local and state level, the party would nominate one of the able Representatives, Senators or Governors who had thrown their hats into the ring (or maybe a black surgeon or female corporate exec) who would lead a Republican takeover of all three branches of government - a cakewalk, given the perceived weakness of the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.

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But a funny thing happened on the way to this inevitable future, a revolt which left party leaders looking at potential defeat up and down the ticket due to the grassroots embrace of an insurgent who represented none of the values they perceived they shared not just with party members, but with a majority of the public.

This rethink of first principles is on display at Commentary Magazine, a flagship for iconoclastic conservative thought, where a collection of editors and writers have been pondering a new book called The Fractured Republic by Yuval Levin, editor of National Affairs (another conservative-minded journal).

I'm still reading the book and will likely have more to say about it later in the summer, but one of its premises is that both political persuasions, Left and Right, are trapped in nostalgia, each longing for a different era (the '60s for liberals, the '80s for conservatives) that are themselves nostalgic throwbacks to the era after WWII when the nation seemed to be able to have its cake and eat it too.

His arguments are more profound than just that one sentiment, but he is issuing a wake-up call to his own political tribe to perform some radical self-reflection during an election cycle. Had this election been "normal," his book would have likely ended up a remaindered curiosity. But the doubt raised within conservative circles seems to have made people susceptible to his recommendation that they think critically about beliefs they continue to cherish.

In a 2012 interview, Kevin deLaplante from Critical Thinker Academy mentioned that while it's fun to win an argument with someone who disagrees with you, actually changing someone's mind usually involves providing them sensitive guidance when they are vulnerable and thus ready to critically analyze a closely held conviction in light of new information or a situation that challenges their belief system.

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It's no secret that people who speak out to defend the environment do so at great risk. From Chico Mendes, who was killed in 1988 for defending the Brazilian Amazon, to Ken Saro-Wiwa, executed in 1995 by the Nigerian military junta for leading his Ogoni people in protest against Shell's destruction of Ogoniland, human rights and environmental activists -- or earth rights defenders -- have been targeted for years. The list of those killed for protecting the earth and its people is far too long, and yet recent trends indicate a rise in violent tactics, with at least 156 defenders in 25 countries killed in 2015 alone.

When egregious murders like these occur, as in the March assassination of Goldman Environmental Prize winner Berta Caceres in Honduras, we react with outrage and we demand accountability; We talk about justice and strategies for holding the perpetrators legally accountable; we lobby our government to impose sanctions; and here in the US, we feel relatively lucky that we can do our work as environmentalists without having to fear for our lives.

But what happens when those very governments, courts, and legal systems that we turn to are turned against us by the very same powerful elites that we aim to hold accountable? In the U.S. the insidious effort to target earth rights defenders has been more subtle, but the goal is the same: silence the environmentalists, and let the profit continue.

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I'm referring to the new playbook for American corporations, and their perverse adaptation of the old adage: "The best defense is a good offense." Companies are no longer satisfied with evading their liability for human and environmental harms. Of course, they continue their tried and true tactics of denial, cover ups and fraud, but with the additional goal of silencing their critics, they are counter-attacking, mounting a sophisticated and well-funded campaign to target, sue, surveil, and harass the activists, lawyers, and NGOs that expose their harms. They have powerful allies in Congress and in the media that aid them in their efforts to intimidate, distract and sap the resources of organizations that are already out-resourced in what can only be described as David and Goliath struggles.

As a lawyer and director of an international human rights and environmental NGO, I have direct experience with this new reality, and it is a serious threat to my organization's work and the work of our partners. Here is what we see:

Retaliatory litigation: While retaliatory litigation did not start with Chevron its law firm, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, they have made it an art form. The decades-long fight of Ecuadorians affected by Chevron's contamination of the Amazon is infamous and tragic. Although Chevron forced the claims to be litigated in Ecuador, they subsequently lost and were ordered to pay $9 billion to affected communities. After more than a decade, Chevron has not paid a cent. Instead, they sued the affected Ecuadorians and their lawyers back in the United States under the federal anti-racketeering law (known as RICO).

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The basis for Chevron's RICO suit is flimsy. But that may (and in this case did) not matter when you have an unlimited budget to bury your adversary with. We may yet see justice for the Ecuadorian communities victimized by Chevron, but it is hard to say that Chevron's strategy of suing nearly everyone involved was unsuccessful. It distracted everyone from the real issue of Chevron's egregious destruction of the Amazon, and the threat of litigation has alienated and chilled further accountability efforts. For example, Patton Boggs -- a law firm that had represented the affected Ecuadorian communities -- buckled in response to Chevron's litigation press and abandoned their clients.

Greenpeace has just recently been hit with a similar RICO lawsuit. Taking a play from Chevron's playbook, in May, Resolute Forest Products, a Canadian logging company sued Greenpeace for . . . well . . . free speech. The complaint would almost be funny if it weren't for the chilling impact that such action has. It makes outrageous claims that Greenpeace is liable under RICO because they have publicly called Resolute a "forest destroyer." We would laugh at the company's likening this to mafia-like conspiracy, except as with Chevron, we have seen the damage these baseless lawsuits can cause. At the very least, Greenpeace is going to have to spend resources and time defending themselves instead of the environment. That is a victory for Resolute, whatever the outcome of the lawsuit. And it is a loss for the planet and every one of us who now has to deal with such harassment.

Attacks on funding sources, partners and clients: The scope of corporate retaliation is wide. After filing a RICO suit -- or a similar offensive action -- we see corporations try to put pressure on the supporters, allies and funders of their RICO defendants. It should come as no surprise that Chevron is also leading in these scorched-earth tactics. As part of their Ecuador strategy, Chevron harassed activists, like Amazon Watch, and environmental experts, like the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW), with discovery requests, and sued litigation funders to deprive the affected Ecuadorians and their legal team of the ability to mount a defense. Our lawyers at EarthRights International defended Amazon Watch and other activists, and -- thankfully -- Chevron was rebuffed. But defending against these efforts is a huge drain on our resources and those of our clients. Both ERI and our NGO clients had our hands full for the year it took to defeat Chevron's subpoenas. That, of course, was the point and we now realize that we must be ready for the next legal action, no matter how frivolous.

And, in case you might think otherwise, it is not only Chevron. When Dole was sued by Nicaraguan banana farmers suffering sterility because of pesticides Dole used, they sued a Swedish documentary filmmaker for defamation. The filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten, bravely and successfully fought the defamation lawsuit; but the Los Angeles Film Festival, because of pressure from Dole, pulled the film from competition.

Corporate espionage and surveillance: Almost every major multinational company has some internal "security" department . . . fair enough. But some companies now have the equivalent of private intelligence services that are spying on and harassing activists and defenders. These services are populated with former and even current CIA agents. And they are involved in some scary stuff. In November 2013, Gary Ruskin published a report that everyone should read, which highlights some of the tactics corporations are using against activists in the United States, including: hacking, wiretapping, physical surveillance, under-cover spies, and physical property invasions. It is no small cause for concern that what we know about corporate espionage is clearly only the tip of the iceberg.

Using Congress and the media to do their dirty work: As if the world's most well-heeled companies did not have enough of an advantage, they have also used the media and allies in Congress to silence dissent. The Washington Times, for example, has harassed Amazon Watch (and its funders) with misleading questions about Amazon Watch's efforts to hold Chevron accountable for contamination in Ecuador. And Congress has launched investigations into groups seeking information and accountability from Exxon for their lies about climate change.
A month ago, one of the LGBT community's pioneers, William Meezan, passed away at the age of 69 from an infection that became too overwhelming for his body to fight. Bill, as we called him, was revered as a social worker dedicated to child welfare services and LGBT-related causes, dean of the Ohio State University School of Social Work, mentor to countless individuals and beloved husband to his partner of 37 years, Mike Brittenback.

Bill was widely recognized as a national and international expert in child welfare services. His research and writing was highly influential and he was a sought after collaborator. It's hard to condense the effect Bill had on the world into a few short paragraphs so I'll let the numerous awards and accolades he received speak for themselves

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One of Bill's most notable qualities was his dedication to his loved ones, especially those within the LGBT community. He tirelessly fought for queer people as a social worker conducting research on same-sex parenting and AIDS services, and as a husband insisting on visibility for him and his partner within an all-too-rigid academic sphere. He pushed and pulled our community forward.

Bill died just a day before Pride month commenced and two weeks before the tragic Orlando shooting, but his legacy speaks louder now more than ever through those he nurtured and loved. With so much of Pride month being about honoring our pioneers, Bill joins the ranks of those we have to thank for fighting for equal rights.

In his honor, some of Bill's closest family, friends and colleagues want to share words on how he paved the way and encouraged them to live as proud queer activists. And perhaps our words will help inspire you to dedicate yourself to what you believe in, just as Bill did for us.

"I first met Bill about 25 years ago in a professional capacity. He was the lead investigator for a countywide research project and I was the project coordinator for one of the non-profit partners. This was my first opportunity to work with various public and private community leaders including the director of the foundation funding this project. One of my first memories is being at a luncheon with all these project partners, all of whom held higher positions than mine. I was a bit intimidated. At some point in the conversation Bill referred to having done something with Mike. I asked him who Mike was and he said his partner. I was blown away that he was so comfortable being out about this part of his life. At this point in my career I was still in the closet. Bill's nonchalance and comfort about being gay among all these 'important' people had a big impact on me. It was not long afterwards that I came out to my boss and colleagues and I have never looked back."

- Sandy Sladen

Retired social worker



"Dr. Meezan, Bill, was a dear mentor and friend. He made me laugh. He was genuine, forthright, smart and had that Bronx grit that I love. As his student, he welcomed and always answered each of my long-winded questions. He had a deeply generous spirit. I had no idea how close we would become. He was one of the first people in my school that I told about my wife and I having a child. He said 'Mazel tov" when he saw the sonogram pic and shared in our joy. He asked me good questions about parenthood and was so willing to always tell me stories about his life. When he and Michael were hosting me, the love amplified."

- Anna Ortega-Williams

Doctoral candidate, Fordham Graduate School of Social Services

Former student and mentee of Bill Meezan

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"I first meet Bill when he was an instructor of one of my required doctoral research courses at Fordham University. As an instructor he was tough. He knew his stuff and expected his students to know it as well. Having an opinion wasn't enough, you had to be able to be able to support it with facts. His quick, and sometimes burning, sense of humor kept all on our feet. Somehow during a lecture on some statistical procedure, Bill would slip in a subtle gay reference that only he and I got.



His words of wisdom were consistently insightful and would always ring true. When discussing what I was going to do with my life after defending my dissertation, he would share, 'You aren't going to do anything. You are going to take time to breathe and enjoy life.' While I only had a handful of years knowing Bill, his words will be forever in my heart: 'Take time to breathe and enjoy life.'"

- David Vincent, PhD

Deputy executive director, The Door

"Last fall I was asked to give a speech as a student representative of the LGBTQA Center at the University of Vermont. I was told nothing more than that there would be a 'special announcement.' What I would learn that day was that Bill and Mike had named the Center in their will, securing both our future and our ability to continue serving queer students on campus. I still remember the first time I met Bill, right after that fateful announcement filtered out to the reception. With tears in his eyes, he embraced me in the most genuine, wholesome hug and from then on we shared a beautiful bond.



Though the miles drew him further away, Bill and I grew closer. When he visited Vermont again in this past spring, we shared the most incredible meal and talked for hours. I was lucky enough to learn about his life, his love and his history with the queer community. Bill shared that my speech and my transitioning publicly on a college campus inspired him. I wish I had told him more just how much he was the one who inspired me and how much it meant to have someone like him believe in me. I soon dubbed Bill and Mike 'my fairy grandfathers' and was in touch with them about when I would visit the city this summer. When my biological grandfather passed three days after Bill, I took solace knowing that these two strong men would be watching over me together. I am so grateful for the lessons, the love and the laughter that we shared. So long, my friend."

- Benjamin Kennedy

University of Vermont M.Ed. Student

"Throughout his life, Bill was out, he was proud, he was loud, he was strong. Everywhere he worked, and in all his copious research on children and families, he spoke out to make sure that LGBT perspectives were never marginalized or ignored, and when he saw injustice he went to the mat. Above all, though, he was gentle, using humor and wisdom to help countless others find their footing and voices in a world of new possibilities. When I was 25, still trying to be straight but knowing I was gay, he took me by the hand and showed me a world where I could be both gay and normal -- where I could love and be loved. I finally understood who I was when he told me, 'It's not who you have sex with that makes you gay. It's who you love.'

Bill had a luminous career, yet he reached the top of his profession without hesitating to be who he was or to help others make the same choice. By the time he retired, his young students, gay and straight, took equality for granted. Maybe, in a way, that's the greatest tribute. Bill made battling for equality look easy, even though it was so very, very hard."

- Jonathan Rauch

Bill's cousin

Senior fellow, Brookings Institution

"I first learned about Bill because he had insisted UVM add his partner, Mike, to his mailing address. Bill was always a fierce LGBTQ advocate and UVM had not been an affirming place to be gay when he was a student in 1967. He was so excited to hear his alma mater was becoming a welcoming place that he worked to make sure I stayed in touch. He sent me a change of address when he moved to become Social Work Dean at Ohio State, and later an article he co-authored about the well being of children of same sex marriages. Bill was exceptional from the start and I hoped I would have the chance to meet him some day.

One day in 2008 Bill walked into my office. That day I gained a mentor, a champion, and a friend. Bill understood things that were hard about leading an LGBTQA program in higher education. He got how being the first in my family to attend college made certain things harder for me. He checked in regularly, often realizing before I did that I could use his help, and he did help me survive disappointments, navigate challenges, and find my way to victories. When I enrolled in a doctoral program, Bill volunteered the same support for my personal goal as he always had for the success of the LGBTQA Center. Last fall Bill and Mike stunned the whole LGBTQA community at UVM with the announcement of a planned gift to the LGBTQA Center.

The last time Bill visited Vermont he vowed he would be the one to place a doctoral hood on my shoulders when I finally finish my degree next May. Bill has been gone for a few weeks now but he has not left me. I have felt him by my side, as my dissertation has poured onto the page, and as I navigate work in higher education with a new resolve. Bill's belief in my vision will always be with me in my darkest moments of doubt. His voice is clear, telling me, the rest is up to me. His tough, loving support fuels my determination as I work toward a goal that I know would have made him proud. Bill will be at my graduation next May, in my heart. He touched the lives of so many other people just as he did me. I'm only sad for those who had yet to meet him."

- Dot Bauer

Director of the LGBTQA Center, University of Vermont

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"When I moved to New York two and a half years ago from California, Bill reached out to me offering to be my East Coast family. I trusted him as a longtime friend of my dad's but we weren't close until we started having regular dinners in his apartment on the Upper West Side. Whenever we got together, Bill, Mike and I would spend hours talking about all things gay: LGBT history, politics, who I was dating and whether they approved. Bill put things into perspective for me as a young lesbian who was likely getting herself involved with people she shouldn't. He lent me books on queer history he knew I'd never give back. He offered me career advice. He became part of my life here. But even more profoundly, he helped me feel close to my history as a gay person and for that, I am forever grateful."

- Kira Brekke

Editor, HuffPost Video
Close up of male hand putting vote into a balot box

CO-AUTHORED BY KELSEY SUTER

The economic and social implications of Britain's vote to leave the European Union are still playing out, but the political fallout has already begun: David Cameron has announced his resignation, and the Conservatives face a divisive leadership battle. To many, Cameron's election pledge to hold a referendum in order to defeat Labour now looks particularly short-sighted.

Britain's is the latest in a recent uptick in referendums, and may have set the stage for even more to come. Referendums have become a tempting mechanism for politicians like Cameron to let voters vent their frustrations about immigration, globalization and control by powerful elites. But do they provide a safety valve for populist anger, or do they stoke that anger further?

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While referendums may enable politicians to score points with their voters by permitting a measure of direct democracy, these supposed outlets for voter frustration can clearly backfire. We have seen several dynamics from recent referendum campaigns beyond Brexit that may cause leaders to think twice before going this route.

Referendums rarely end up being about the exact issue on the ballot. The irony of a referendum is that while voters are typically deciding on a very specific issue, the campaigns around them tend to wander into other, often tangential issues. Referendums must answer a question other elections do not -- why make this specific change? The way voters answer can be hard for a campaign to control.

While less visible than Brexit, a constitutional referendum on gender equality in The Bahamas earlier this month provides a good example. The June 7th vote included four different questions, which seemed complex to many voters. Rumors that voting "Yes" would lead to same-sex marriage began before the campaign officially launched, and gained momentum despite reassurances from a former Supreme Court justice, religious leaders and politicians from both major parties. The need to clarify the referendum's impact on LGBT rights left little room to talk about gender equality. Ultimately, the confusing legal arguments and fear of same-sex marriage trumped the desire for equality of the sexes. On Election Day, 79 percent voted against the gender nondiscrimination bill.

Low participation can distort true opinion. Referendums are notoriously hard for pollsters like us to predict. A big reason is that many voters often do not tune in until the final days of a campaign, and even then, only the most enthusiastic vote. (There has been speculation that Thursday's rain kept some Remain voters at home.) Despite their resemblance to direct democracy, the results of referendum campaigns often depend less on the balance of public opinion, and more on the question of which side has the more energized grassroots movement. Without wide participation, minority opinion can hijack referendums.

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Some countries require turnout thresholds, and these can be hard to meet. Recently, an April 2016 Italian referendum on offshore drilling and a February 2015 Slovakia referendum on marriage failed to drum up enough voters to pass; analysts will never know how many stayed home out of apathy, and how many out of strategy. Even in countries without such a requirement, low participation looks bad for the leaders who champion referendums, becoming the main story rather than the issue at hand.

Referendums can shine a spotlight on fringe movements. Many smart referendum campaigns unite support across ideological lines, so as not to become a protest vote. The downside is that this can leave room for outsider groups to take up opposition space. The recent referendum in The Netherlands, in which 61 percent voted against ratifying an association agreement with Ukraine, is a good example. Extreme or marginal figures like Geert Wilders, the Socialist Party, and the provocative blog GeenStijl gained a mainstream following and media attention. The Dutch government, who supports the agreement, has been left in the unenviable position of negotiating a ratification deal without popular support.

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None of this is to make the case that referendums are always pernicious. They can unite voters across political lines, and provide leaders a mandate for divisive issues. Ireland's 2015 same-sex marriage referendum -- the first time a country adopted marriage equality by national referendum -- was an inspiring and important milestone in the world's changing attitudes on the issue. Instead of stoking negative rage, it became a showcase of positive emotion. Politicians from all major parties spoke eloquently about their own families and children -- some even coming out themselves -- and young people rang their grannies to discuss the vote.

But the Brexit outcome shows that politicians may want to think twice before turning to referendums as an easy solution for populist frustrations. Direct democracy is often anything but direct.

Lowe and Suter are a Vice President and Senior Associate, respectively, at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a global polling and campaign management consultancy.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a speech during a campaign event at the Trump Soho Hotel in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., June 22, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar

An anonymous Jane Doe filed a federal lawsuit against GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump last week, accusing him of raping her in 1994 when she was thirteen years old. The mainstream media ignored the filing.

If the Bill Cosby case has taught us anything, it is to not disregard rape cases against famous men. Serious journalists have publicly apologized for turning a blind eye to the Cosby accusers for over a decade, notwithstanding the large number of women who had come forward with credible claims. And now history is repeating itself.

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In covering a story, a media outlet is not finding guilt. It is simply reporting the news that a lawsuit has been filed against Mr. Trump, and ideally putting the complaint in context. Unproven allegations are just that - unproven, and should be identified that way. (Mr. Trumps lawyer says the charges are categorically untrue, completely fabricated and politically motivated.) Proof comes later, at trial. But the November election will come well before any trial. And while Mr. Trump is presumed innocent, we are permitted -- no, we are obligated -- to analyze the cases viability now.

No outsider can say whether Mr. Trump is innocent or guilty of these new rape charges. But we can look at his record, analyze the court filings here, and make a determination as to credibility -- whether the allegations are believable enough for us to take them seriously and investigate them, keeping in mind his denial and reporting new facts as they develop.

I have done that. And the answer is a clear "yes." These allegations are credible. They ought not be ignored. Mainstream media, Im looking at you.

1. Consider the context: Mr. Trumps overt, even proud misogyny.

The rape case must be viewed through the lens of Mr. Trumps current, longstanding and well documented contempt for women. Men who objectify women are more likely to become perpetrators of sexual violence, just as one with a long history of overtly racist comments is more likely to commit a hate crime.

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Mr. Trump has relished calling women dogs, slobs and pigs, and cyberstalked and derided journalist Megyn Kelly for having the temerity to ask him to defend his own words. He threw out the most misogynist of attacks, attempting to undermine her professionalism by accusing her of menstruating. Hes cruelly ridiculed the appearance of a female opponent (Carly Fiorina) and an opponents wife (Heidi Cruz). His campaign even openly acknowledged that it disqualified all women for consideration as his vice-president.

Mr. Trump has a long history of debasing women hes worked with, crossing the line on a regular basis. Hes taken lifelong joy in objectifying women, including his proclamation: Women, you have to treat em like shit.

This cannot be ignored. Decades of abusive language does not make him a rapist. But it does show us who the man is: a callous, meanspirited misogynist who no sane person would leave alone with her daughter. As Dr. Maya Angelou said, When someone shows you who they really are, believe them.

2. More context: two prior sexual assault court claims have been made against Mr. Trump.

But Mr. Trump has been accused of worse than just misogynist language. Two prior women have accused Mr. Trump, in court documents, of actual or attempted sexual assault. (Mr. Trump denies all the allegations.)

Under oath, Ivana Trump accused Mr. Trump of a violent rape.

First was Ivana Trump, Donald Trumps first wife, who said under oath in a 1989 deposition that he had violently attacked her, ripped out her hair and forcibly penetrated her without her consent. According to the Daily Beast, she claims he was wildly angry that shed referred him to a cosmetic surgeon who had botched a scalp reduction job (to cover a bald spot) and caused pain in his scalp - hence the vindictive yanking on her hair. At the time Ms. Trump said she felt violated by the alleged rape.

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A few years later, after their divorce was settled, Ms. Trump claimed that she did not mean the word rape in a literal or criminal sense.

Note: virtually every settlement of a case involving a high profile person paying money to a former spouse - or anyone - requires the person receiving the money to agree in writing to ironclad nondisparagement and confidentiality. In plain English: you promise to be quiet and not say anything bad about the party paying you money. This has been the case in hundreds of settlement agreements I have worked on over the years. Ms. Trump was almost certainly contractually prohibited after she signed from saying anything negative about Mr. Trump. And it is also common to attempt to cure prior negative statements with new agreed-to language - like, I didnt mean it literally. (You didnt mean forcible penetration literally?)

A business acquaintance accused Mr. Trump of sexual harassment and attempted rape.

A second woman accused Donald Trump of sexual assault, in 1997. According to The Guardian, then 34-year-old Jill Harth alleged in a federal lawsuit that Trump violated her physical and mental integrity when he touched her intimately without consent after her husband went into business with him, leaving her emotionally devastated [and] distraught. The lawsuit called the multiple acts attempted rape. Shortly thereafter she voluntarily withdrew the case when a parallel suit against Mr. Trump brought by her husband was settled. When The Guardian reached the woman in 2016 to ask whether she stood by her sexual assault allegations, she responded, yes.

In a court filing, according to a report, Ms. Harth alleged that while she and her husband were trying to do a business deal with Mr. Trump regarding a beauty pageant, he repeatedly propositioned her for sex and groped her, culminating in this frightening alleged incident:

Trump forcefully removed (Harth) from public areas of Mar-A-Lago in Florida and forced (her) into a bedroom belonging to defendants daughter Ivanka, wherein (Trump) forcibly kissed, fondled, and restrained (her) from leaving, against (her) will and despite her protests. In the court document, she said that Trump bragged that he would be the best lover you ever have.

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Recently Donald Trump issued a statement that womens claims of sexual harassment, documented in a lengthy New York Times investigation which included Ms. Harths lawsuit, were made up.

Jill Harth responded angrily on Twitter last week: My part was true. I didnt talk. As usual you opened your big mouth.

In other words, she is standing by her story.

3. The new Jane Doe child rape claim against Mr. Trump is consistent with verifiable facts about Mr. Trump and his friend Jeffrey Epstein, and has a powerful witness statement attached to it.

A third woman accused Mr. Trump of rape very recently. According to the Daily Mail, a woman filed an April 2016 lawsuit claiming that when she was thirteen years old she was held as a sex slave to Mr. Trump and his friend Jeffrey Epstein. The woman claimed to have a witness, Tiffany Doe, to the incidents. She filed the case in pro per, that is, without the assistance of a lawyer.

The case was dismissed by the court for technical filing errors. She then obtained a lawyer and the case was modified and refiled in New York federal court, against Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein.

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Ive carefully reviewed this federal complaint. It is now much stronger than the one she filed on her own, which makes sense because she now has an experienced litigator representing her. Jane Doe says that as a 13-year-old, she was enticed to attend parties at the home of Jeffrey Epstein with the promise of money modeling jobs. Mr. Epstein is a notorious billionaire pedophile who is now a Level 3 registered sex offender -- the most dangerous kind, a threat to public safety -- after being convicted of misconduct with another underage girl.

Jane Doe says that Mr. Trump initiated sexual contact with her on four occasions in 1994. Since she was thirteen at the time, consent is not an issue. If Mr. Trump had any type of sexual contact with her in 1994, it was a crime.

On the fourth incident, she says Mr. Trump tied her to a bed and forcibly raped her, in a savage sexual attack, while she pleaded with him to stop. She says Mr. Trump violently struck her in the face. She says that afterward, if she ever revealed what he had done, Mr. Trump threatened that she and her family would be physically harmed if not killed. She says she has been in fear of him ever since.

New Yorks five year statute of limitations on this claim -- the legal deadline for filing -- has long since run. However, Jane Does attorney, Thomas Meagher, argues in his court filing that because she was threatened by Mr. Trump, she has been under duress all this time, and therefore she should be permitted additional time to come forward. Legally, this is calling tolling -- stopping the clock, allowing more time to file the case. As a result, the complaint alleges, Jane Doe did not have freedom of will to institute suit earlier in time. He cites two New York cases which I have read and which do support tolling

Two unusual documents are attached to Jane Does complaints -- sworn declarations attesting to the facts. The first is from Jane Doe herself, telling her horrific story, including the allegation that Jeffrey Epstein also raped her and threatened her into silence, and this stunner:

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Defendant Epstein then attempted to strike me about the head with his closed fists while he angrily screamed at me that he, Defendant Epstein, should have been the one who took my virginity, not Defendant Trump . . .

And this one:

Defendant Trump stated that I shouldnt ever say anything if I didnt want to disappear like Maria, a 12-year-old female that was forced to be involved in the third incident with Defendant Trump and that I had not seen since that third incident, and that he was capable of having my whole family killed.

The second declaration is even more astonishing, because it is signed by Tiffany Doe, Mr. Epsteins party planner from 1991-2000. Tiffany Doe says that her duties were to get attractive adolescent women to attend these parties. (Adolescents are, legally, children.

Tiffany Doe says that she recruited Jane Doe at the Port Authority in New York, persuaded her to attend Mr. Epsteins parties, and actually witnessed the sexual assaults on Jane Doe:

I personally witnessed the Plaintiff being forced to perform various sexual acts with Donald J. Trump and Mr. Epstein. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein were advised that she was 13 years old.

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It is exceedingly rare for a sexual assault victim to have a witness. But Tiffany Doe says:

I personally witnessed four sexual encounters that the Plaintiff was forced to have with Mr. Trump during this period, including the fourth of these encounters where Mr. Trump forcibly raped her despite her pleas to stop.

Tiffany Doe corroborates, based on her own personal observations, just about everything in Jane Does complaint: that 12-year-old Maria was involved in a sex act with Mr. Trump, that Mr. Trump threatened the life of Jane Doe if she ever revealed what happened, and that she would disappear like Maria if she did.

Tiffany Doe herself says that she is in mortal fear of Mr. Trump to this day:

I am coming forward to swear to the truthfulness of the physical and sexual abuse that I personally witnessed of minor females at the hands of Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein . . . I swear to these facts under the penalty for perjury even though I fully understand that the life of myself and my family is now in grave danger.

Given all this, and based on the record thus far, Jane Does claims appear credible. Mr. Epsteins own sexual crimes and parties with underage girls are well documented, as is Mr. Trumps relationship with him two decades ago in New York City. Mr. Trump told a reporter a few years ago: I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it, Jeffrey enjoys his social life."

Powerfully, Jane Doe appears to have an eyewitness to all aspects of her claim, a witness who appears to have put herself in substantial danger by coming forward, because at a minimum Mr. Epstein knows her true identity.

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Jane Doe has not granted any interviews, and we dont know anything about her background, or Tiffany Does, or the details of their stories. Much information needs to be revealed to fully assess this case. Perhaps they will be discredited on cross-examination. Perhaps they will recant. But if were going to speculate in that direction, we should speculate in the other direction as well. Perhaps Jane Doe and her lawyer will have more evidence and witnesses to corroborate her claim. Perhaps witnesses from Mr. Epsteins notorious parties will come forward. We just cant know any of that at this point.

But based on what we do know now, Jane Does claims fall squarely into the long, ugly context of Mr. Trumps life of misogyny, are consistent with prior sexual misconduct claims, are backed up by an eyewitness, and thus should be taken seriously. Her claims merit sober consideration and investigation.

We live in a world where wealthy, powerful men often use and abuse women and girls. While these allegations may shock some, as a lawyer who represents women in sexual abuse cases every day, I can tell you that sadly, they are common, as is an accusers desire to remain anonymous, and her terror in coming forward.

What do you call a nation that refuses to even look at sexual assault claims against a man seeking to lead the free world?

Rape culture.

We ignore the voices of women at our peril.
Olivia McGilchrist, Still of "from many sides". Davidoff Limited Art Edition 2016

During the recent Art Basel Fair in Switzerland the Davidoff Art Initiative unveiled their second Davidoff Limited Art Edition featuring a specially commissioned video piece by Jamaican-French artist, Olivia McGilchrist.

Olivia McGilchrist is a visual artist exploring translocation and issues of Caribbean cultural identity by proxy of her alter-ego whitey's placement in the Jamaican landscape. Through her riveting and inspiring work McGilchrist questions the shifting categories in which she belongs, from the female body in a postmodern space to a visibly white postcolonial creole identity, whitey questions the role of racial, social and gender based categorization, classification and discrimination in the contemporary Caribbean space. Most recently, whitey has not always been present, although the work still focuses on masked figures and the act of masking in Caribbean centered practices. While we appreciate the complexity and intrigue of McGilchrist's mandatory artist's statement, we needed to know more, much more:

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When and how did your alter ego "whitey" first come into existence?

In Jamaica, 'whitey' is short hand for white people, and / or anyone who seems to be a visitor, since most of the time they are white. At the same time, white Jamaicans are called 'whitey' sometimes, but probably less than people who are clearly not from the island-or not living there.

Really, it's just a way to name someone when you don't know their name, and many other terms are used such as 'Ras' for a Rastafarian, 'Browning' for a visibly mixed person or even 'Blacks' for someone with very dark skin.

Since I was called whitey a lot when I first moved back to Kingston, and found this surprising-with my European upbringing-I decided to deal with it head on by attempting to visualize what a female 'whitey' represents in the Jamaican landscape. Previously, I had mostly focused my lens on others, but this time I decided to turn it around, as I first had to acknowledge the new reality I was operating in before touching upon other people's realities, which I had a lot to learn about.

What has been the response not only in the Diaspora but the art world to your alter ego?

The responses have been different depending on the space where the work is presented, however the overall reaction has been positive, albeit the fact that I'm dealing with a series of very contentious issues around race, gender, privilege and the contemporary socio-cultural context within the Caribbean and beyond. I'm hoping to create a platform for more questions and conversations around these topics, and am open to discussions about new readings of the work.

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Do you feel that whitey will be a persona that will expand her presence in your work or how do you see her evolution?

whitey was created in Jamaica and now that I'm based in Montreal, I have been assessing how and when she will feature in future work, but she is still around and I will keep thinking about the relevance of her presence and what she represents in the different environments I am creating in.

from many sides, selected still 31, Davidoff Art Initiative, 2016

Can you share the inspiration behind your most recent work from many sides commissioned by Davidoff?



from many sides highlights intuitive connections to the Caribbean island space; to it's rich hues, strong contrasts, darkness and light. Portraying these sites of memory, blending stories and myths of a complex and hybrid past, the layered sequences allow the figures, trees and water to transform, merging with the surrounding land.

A staged sequence of a contemporary River Mother (or Mermaid) evokes profound connections across the region by referring to the presence of this shared mythical figure embedded within the region's cultural space.

The elemental, cyclical ebb and flow of Caribbean waters sifts through layers of inherited histories, painting the physicality of time through light, colors, textures and sounds from nature. This ephemeral audio-visual blend offers an immersive experience in the liquid and fantasy space of the screen.

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When creating such powerful and stirring work can you give us a little insight into your creative process?

The brief from DAI (Davidoff Art Initiative) was very open, hence I was able to focus on the conversation (or lack thereof) around mythical female Caribbean characters within a new media arts practice.

This is something I have been interested in since moving back to Jamaica, as I was struck by the lack of regional female role models and references for young Jamaican women. This developed into a fascination with a set of particular mythical characters: the Riva Mumma, or Mermaid, the Ol' Higue, or Vampire and the only female National Hero: Queen Nanny of the Maroons.

In the summer of 2013, I was given the space to really push my first project on the Riva Mumma into a four-screen video installation, for the 'new roots' exhibition at the National Gallery of Jamaica, in collaboration with the Gallery's team.

In August 2015, following a troubling series of deportations of 'undocumented' Dominicans of Haitian descent, back to Haiti (see Al Jazeera link) I wanted to evoke the cultural connections between both populations-elements of their shared heritage such as stories around 'Yemaja', 'Mami Wata', 'Oshun', or 'Marta la Dominadora' (multiple names for a female character associated with water) to confront the notion that each group is profoundly different-which is often used to justify the harsh segregation and correlated racism towards Haitians.

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Mostly shot in and around the town of Bahoruco, and it's surrounding area, Barahona (very close to the Haitian border) in the Dominican Republic, I was able to record local residents who appeared to be both Dominican and Haitian, or of Haitian descent, and mostly filmed the latter disappearing into the forest, since many live semi-legally and in very remote communities.

This time, I worked with one screen, focusing all my attention on layering and playing with opacity levels within a single timeline. This version of the Mermaid became the guiding thread between a series of evocative locations that are constantly blending into each other throughout the video. I wanted the viewer to feel both compelled by the lush images yet slightly uneasy or uncomfortable when being immersed in an environment that a mythical female character can call home. You are invited to her world, but within her own terms. She appears within this border zone, maybe to remind the casual by passers about their complex common histories, and also reinforce the dialogue about each of our responsibilities to preserve her natural habitat.



Davidoff Artist Residency, Dominican Republic

How has being a part of the Davidoff Residency Program assisted you in both your sourcing of inspiration as well as bringing new work to fruition?

Firstly by giving me a commission for a video piece about the Caribbean, which was an exciting challenge. Then by giving the work great exposure.

Most of all, the team at Davidoff really care about supporting art-making and thinking about the context for creating within a Caribbean centered world view, which is what I'm most excited about. From the residencies, the dialogues, grants and the editions there is a consistency and a desire to keep asking questions about a Caribbean art platform that stands on it's own in the global context. I look forward to seeing how various Caribbean public and private institutions can continue building links with each other through the support of partners such as the Davidoff Art Initiative.

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Can you share with us any upcoming projects we can look forward to seeing?

One of the many plans is to continue working with Virtual Reality for my own projects, then creating a platform for other Caribbean artists to experiment with the medium.

The main themes I am working with now are: the digital image, both still and moving, it's impact in our screen-centered lives, and the importance of local and global communities, their stories, wisdom and the relevance of creating real and virtual meeting spaces through a visual arts centered practice.

More specifically, I am currently an Artist in residence at the StudioXX in Montreal (an amazing Feminist & Technology studio) where I'm working on integrating the time based work of two other Jamaican New Media artists Oneika Russell and Di-Andre Caprice Davis into a 3D environment which I'm testing out in 'real' reality (as an installation with video mapping in space) before going back into virtual reality. You can see the results of this work in progress by early July of this year.

Since 2014, I've been investigating the possibilities offered by Virtual Reality within my experimental media arts practice at the intersections of research/ technology / education, as a compelling portal to our 'prise de conscience' of Edouard Glissant's notion of 'creolisation', which I see as a pertinent interpretive tool against which to measure the success and limitations of immersive embodied technologies.
Turkey, Istanbul, View of Sultan Ahmed Mosque at Sultanahmet district

In case you haven't heard, the city of Istanbul was bombed this week. Suicide bombers chose the city's main airport -- Turkey's largest -- as its target on Tuesday, killing nearly 50, injuring nearly more than 200.

It's the latest in a series of bombings that has rocked Turkey in the past two years. And it's a big deal -- a very big deal -- that we in the U.S. need to pay attention to.

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When Paris was attacked in recent months, the Western World reacted in ways it should have. It was horrified. Many of us -- hundreds of thousands of us -- changed our Facebook profiles to show images of a black Eiffel Tower. Paris was a friend who'd been hurt in this strange new world of terrorist-driven wars. And we wanted to show our support for our friends in France. If it could happen in Europe, it could happen to us.

Turkey's not getting anywhere near that same level of support. And it needs it. Now more than ever.

Here are just a few reasons why:

1) Turkey is in Europe, too. As a nation, most of us know how important Europe is. We certainly were in agreement about that last week in the wake of the shocking Brexit vote. But most of us think of Europe as Britain, France and Germany. Often forgotten is the fact that Turkey is in Europe, too. Not all of it. But a significant part of it. And it should be given the same level of respect we give to other European nations, especially because of its strategic geographic location, which brings me to my next point:

2) Turkey is where East meets West. Turkey is literally what stands between those European countries we readily identify as our friends -- hi France and Britain and Germany -- and those nations in an ongoing state of turmoil, notably Syria, Iraq and Iran. Fingers have been pointed in recent years at Turkey, suggesting that the nation has helped -- some argue inadvertently while others argue intentionally -- stir the pot of unease in the Middle East. But none of that takes away from the fact that Turkey has long assisted us in NATO campaigns and has been a critical buffer zone separating the West from some of the world's most dangerous "hot spots" that cannot and should not be ignored.

3) Turkey is a Moslem nation. A really impressive Moslem nation. It's no great secret that there's a lot of misinformation out there about what constitutes a Moslem nation. The mere mention of "Moslem nation" conjures up, for many, images of bloodshed and headscarves and angry men. But that's not Turkey. Many scholars have heralded Turkey as a miracle. And for good reason. What Ataturk managed to do a century ago was transform a shattered empire into the first modern Moslem nation -- replete with a modern alphabet, western attire and capable business leaders. What's more, he managed to institute a state of peace. Time and again, Turkey is pointed to as the Moslem country that stands to lead the way in spreading the spirit of peace and democracy to other Moslem nations. Its role as a leader among Moslem nations -- as the gold standard whose example can be emulated -- should not be underestimated.

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4) Turkey is a great, big nation full of young people, paying attention to who has their back (and who doesn't). Let me paint you a more complete picture of Turkey. It's a nation of 75 million people, 14 million of them based in Istanbul alone. It's also a nation in which there are tons (and by tons -- I mean tons!) of young people. It boasts the youngest demographic among European nations -- with the average age of a citizen just 29 years old. These internet- and social media-savvy, increasingly-university-educated Turkish youth are watching closely how the world responds to crises like the one unfolding this week. They know that the world mourned for Paris. They also know that there is a bias against their nation. That bias has been acted out time and again as Turkey tries again and again to be granted a seat at the European Union table. This is a young nation with a ton of potential -- trade and otherwise. It is not a nation to be overlooked. And failing to show this very young nation that the lives of their fellow countrymen matter just as much as the lives in other European countries is critical.

5) Turkey is a nation on the brink. Turkey, long a friend of the U.S. and to the western world, has had five significant bombings in 2016 alone. It's had its fair share of political ups and downs thanks in large part to its current president, Erdogan, and his ongoing efforts to transform Turkey from a democracy into a nation ruled by a firm executive hand (which seeks to strip journalists of their liberties, among other things). The mounting unease created by this week's suicide attack is the last thing the nation needs -- as it tries to maintain a democracy void of the religious conservatives and military officials who wait in the wings, eager to use this moment of vulnerability as an opportunity to seize ever-greater control. If we want Turkey to remain Western-leading, then Turkey -- on both political and personal levels -- needs to be reminded it does not stand alone and that it has the west on its side.

Just as Paris needed our support last fall, so, too, does Turkey now. If anything, it could be argued that Turkey needs the support even more, owing to its geographic location. The West has a great deal to gain by lending the support, and even more to lose if it chooses to turn a blind eye.
Homelessness is many things. It is a symptom of poverty, substance dependency, mental health, sexual abuse, physical trauma, veteran discharge, dysfunctional family, or even an outgrowth of a faulty foster care system that terminates at adulthood with little to offer the new adult but the wide open street.

Still, we see it as a monolithic behemoth from which we are most comfortable looking away. We search for terminology to describe, in one great stroke, they key to ending homelessness. We call for housing, better yet supportive housing; services, better yet wrap around services; shelters, better yet inclusive shelters; funding, better yet hundreds of millions worth. Still, no magic wand seems to address all the ills that go into creating homelessness.

To anyone that looks squarely in the face of homelessness it is clear that people experiencing homelessness get to that point from infinite walks of life, but can only transition out through some very narrow pathways. Some just can't manage the daily routine of a stable life indoors due to long-standing psychological limitations that have developed over a lifetime. Some have been abandoned over and over by loved ones or people they should have been able to trust and have simply grown to be more comfortable alone and unattached. Some have mental health or substance abuse issues that they've developed because of being homeless, and can only sustain if they remain homeless. Some can't find jobs. It's as simple as being unable to find work to rent or own a roof over their head. Some refuse to succumb to a life in an enclave that is affordable but unsafe and unsightly - they would rather eke out a sustenance on the hillsides or on street corners than to suffer the indignity of living where they don't feel they belong. Some have been abused and battered for too long to know how to re-enter a sober life free of harm. Most would rather live differently and if they could choose, they would choose a different lot.

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Such sets the scene for what LA City and County officials have decided to take on, in earnest, with a pledge to end homelessness founded on better planning, more housing, supportive services, effective collaboration and a lot of money. There is even a petition calling on Governor Jerry Brown to declare homelessness a state of emergency, which would reallocate resources and funds to this "emergency". LA has nearly 50,000 homeless people according to the latest Count results from LAHSA, and no real plan for a solution to fit the growing problem. Data shows that where there is focused investment, such as in Veteran housing, the results are often positive. But with the ever climbing numbers of a staggering homeless population in the City, finding the revenue to spend on housing, services and homeless solutions is an ongoing struggle.

The money has been pledged, but not sourced. I asked Councilman Mike Bonin of CD11, with whom I work closely on issues of local homelessness, where he thought the money might come from. "While some of the funding will come from cutting back on other areas of the city budget" he said, "I strongly support going to voters." This month, the LA City Council approved placing a bond measure on the November ballot to make available $1.2 Billion in funding over a 10 year period, if approved. Bonin had suggested proposing a tax on real estate transactions or a fee for demolition or condominium conversions - estimated to net about $90 million per year for homeless housing and services. Recent polls, however, showed that a tax to generate essential dollars for addressing growing city wide homelessness would be less popular than the bond measure. Still others simply want to see government solve homelessness by reallocating resources it already has.



To everyone's dismay, crime tends to rise in areas where homelessness climbs, says West LAPD Captain, Tina Nieto. When police are dispatched to these areas they check for criminal activity and try to offer services. Many homeless individuals are service resistant. Often times homeless people are cited for low level, quality of life, offenses. The LA City attorney, Mike Feuer, has a program in place to parlay those offenses into a bargaining chip for services. His "Heart" program aims to trade misdemeanor forgiveness for the acceptance of services. This is something he says he can do "unilaterally", expressing some frustration with the slow pace of the broader unified response. The offer is simple says the City Attorney, "take responsibility for your actions, do some community service and accept services we have on offer right here and now, and we will work with the court to forgive the legal citations." So far the Heart program has yielded great results, with over 2000 people off the streets. Still, he says, this is just one ingredient. "It must be complemented with an array of other programs", in order to be effective.

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Captain Nieto shares the sentiment. She suggests community mentoring programs. "We need a plan for not just housing but job training and psychological assistance so these people can reintegrate back to the community." With the numbers of LA homelessness on the rise evidenced by LAHSA homeless count results reflecting an increase across the board, agencies are scrambling to find funding, craft strategies and implement programs aimed at helping the homeless out of homelessness. Priorities become key in this planning. For some, a rapid response plan is instrumental in getting out of homeless almost as soon as they find themselves on the street. For others, the quality and breadth of support services will help them out of chronic homelessness and perhaps into supportive housing situations.

Everyone agrees that the answer to homelessness is housing. "Advocates have been saying this for a long time," says County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, "now convincing funding authorities" that housing is the answer is the crucial test for the struggle to curb homelessness. With no skills to speak of and no jobs on the horizon - and no rapid plan rapid plan or support structure to help them transition out - homelessness becomes a long-term reality for most people who experiencing it. "We need a broad range of options to get people connected with the services they need," says Councilman Bonin. But how to deliver those options, and how to identify which homeless individuals are most at risk and need acute help, or alternatively which are most able to transition out of homelessness with quick intervention and targeted support becomes the challenge.

A particular group of homeless people that can be helped with quick intervention and skilled support are single mothers who find themselves homeless wither by virtue of a divorce or the kind of abuse that makes them willing to try the street over staying at home. Their numbers are on the rise, according to the latest LAHSA count. They need safe place to live, child care and some job training. These women often grapple with past abuse and domestic violence which leaves them guarded from strangers, leery of people offering help, and reluctant to trust. There must be a focus on single women, particularly those with children, to be helped immediately off the street.

Another universe of people who can use quick intervention are people who have lost their jobs or are able bodied and willing to work. These are not chronic homeless individuals but people who can be reintegrated without a costly web of long-term services, "just income," says Supervisor Kuehl. She supports a county strategy that includes job training for certain kinds of work, skills retraining for those who need to update their skills, and a push for entry level hiring to focus on skilled homeless people. She is working with California Community Colleges on a program for skills and job training in agriculture and manufacturing, among other sectors.

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Councilman Bonin, who seems wholeheartedly committed to reducing homelessness while often bumping up against constituents in a district that includes some of the wealthiest enclaves in LA and a few of its most dense hotbeds for homelessness notes that "every person who is homeless has a different story." If the response to homelessness could take into account all the different kinds of homeless populations, growing by day, it would be one that accounts not just for the chronically homeless who need wrap-around services with long-term supportive housing - which is the most labor intensive and costly response - but also the rapid intervention solutions that are more straight forward and quickly helpful.

There are no quick solutions but from what I can see from my vantage point as the Chair of the Pacific Palisades task Force on Homelessness for the last two years, all hands are on deck.

Maryam Zar was the founding Chair of the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness (PPTFH), which formed in October 2014, to help address local homelessness with a strategy founded on law enforcement coupled with the offer of available services to homeless people living in the community of Pacific Palisades. The pilot program was a success in many measurable ways and has been touted as an innovative community strategy to address local homelessness. Ms. Zar's term as Chair of the PPTFH ends on June 1st. On July 1st, she will begin her term as President of the Pacific Palisades Community Council (PPCC).
"Instead of doing the hard work of fixing Illinois' broken education funding formula, Bruce Rauner has wasted 18 months of his term holding the entire state hostage in the name of workers' compensation and right to work. After all that time, Bruce Rauner is doubling down on the failed formula that rewards wealthy children who grow up in elite communities and penalizes poor children in Chicago and across the state, and he is standing behind Illinois' ignominious distinction of being 48th in the nation for education funding. That is the real tragedy." Statement from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, June 28, 2016

The video above and the quote below it make perfect bookends in the Bruce Rauner-Rahm Emanuel relationship trajectory.

For those following events in Springfield today but unaware of Chicago city politics four years ago, it might be disorienting to learn that Rauner in 2012 was a close adviser to Emanuel, who at the time was attempting to reshape Chicago Public Schools. In the video clip above from the Sept. 18, 2012, edition of "Chicago Tonight," Rauner voices the criticism of teachers' unions that would become a prominent theme in the gubernatorial campaign he announced the following spring.

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Rauner's "Chicago Tonight" appearance and strong words came at a turbulent time for Emanuel. On the day the program aired, the Chicago Teachers Union was a week into its first strike in 25 years as members protested changes -- including a longer school day -- sought by Emanuel. Appearing alongside Chicago Teachers Union Vice-President Jesse Sharkey, Rauner (identified onscreen as an Emanuel adviser) was in effect the face of the administration on the strike.

In a story published Sept. 19, 2012, the Chicago Tribune described Rauner's influence in the Emanuel administration:

Rauner, a potential Republican candidate for governor, speaks frequently with Emanuel and was placed by the mayor on the board of World Business Chicago, the city's economic development arm. Rauner has met more than a dozen times with Chicago Public Schools officials during the initial nine-month period that new CPS chief Jean-Claude Brizard's team was organizing policy.

Four years later, the story is vastly different. As the state's historic budget crisis moves toward its second year, approval of a state budget for K-12 education has become the single most critical and divisive issue between Rauner and the majority Democrats, led by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton.

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Many school districts statewide, including Chicago Public Schools, have said they won't open on time for the fall semester if they don't receive their state funding in July as scheduled. Public anger from such a debacle would be swift and intense.

Senate Democrats are backing a plan to put $750 million more into K-12 eduction, $286 million of which would go to Chicago Public Schools.

To Rauner and many Republicans, this represents a "bailout" of CPS. Republicans have introduced their own school budget, which increases K-12 funding by $240 million and guarantees no district will see a funding decrease. (Rauner's original budget proposal called for a reduction in state funding to CPS of $73 million.)

In a statement Tuesday morning, Rauner accused Emanuel, a Democrat, of siding with Madigan and Cullerton to block reforms and enable CPS to continue operating as a "broken system:"

I have said it before, and I say it again today: we must not bail out a broken system that refuses to change the way it does business. Forcing Illinois to raise its income tax to bail out CPS is fundamentally unfair to our school children, parents, homeowners, and small business owners across the state. The real tragedy is that we have proposed legislation which would let Chicago fix every one of CPS' problems, allowing city leaders to protect their students and taxpayers while eliminating the need for any bailout - but Speaker Madigan has refused to call the bills for a vote. Granting local control of collective bargaining would allow CPS to remove teachers' pensions pickup from contract negotiations, saving taxpayers from the single biggest threat to CPS' financial health. The Mayor requested the state do this last year.

Applying President Cullerton's pension reform proposal to CPS teachers' pensions would save Chicago taxpayers billions in the long run and give them the resources to hire more teachers.

Allowing CPS to declare bankruptcy if the Mayor or city council deemed it necessary to reorganize school contracts and debts could protect teachers' jobs and prevent the need for massive tax hikes on homeowners in Chicago. And even if the Mayor chose never to exercise the option, it would fundamentally alter the balance in teacher union contract negotiations, making tax hikes no longer the only inevitable option. If Mayor Emanuel would join with his friend, President Cullerton, and lead in the effort for reforms along with Republican legislators, then together we could protect students, teachers, and taxpayers in the city and the state, creating a better future for everyone.

The Emanuel quote at the top of this article was in response to Rauner's statement.
My hometown Hannover in Germany offers a neat feature to the exploring type: A thin red line, which marks streets, public places, and walkways over a distance of 4.2 kilometers (2.6 miles), leading to the 36 main attractions and historic sites of the city. The careful observer will realize (or know) that Hannover's history is closely tied to the English crown. The House of Hanover, a German royal dynasty, succeeded the House of Stuart as monarchs of Great Britain and Ireland in 1741. Hannover is also the capital of Lower Saxony (one of Germany's states) and, sure enough, the name gives away the linkage to the Saxons - tribes that ventured out to form settlements, including the Anglo Saxon territory (today within the territory of Great Britain).

After last week's Brexit vote, we may think history can easily be overturned through a simple, even if democratic, mass opinion; the truth, however, is far from it, and also part of today's cause for many swelling conflicts across the world. Often, overly ambitious politicians will drive those decisions as part of their personal or party's agenda, rather than pursuing a holistic and long-term solution. Events in the United Kingdom (U.K.) are not that different: from overly ambitious Prime Minister David Cameron, who tried to make the anticipated non-departure from the European Union (EU) his re-election agenda, to his archrival, Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and known troublemaker, who only recently discovered an appetite for leading the pro-Brexit cause (most likely during a time of his perceived political insignificance).

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Whereas many observers of recent events focus on the economic impact - citing the numbers of why the U.K.'s split from the EU is "mathematically" advantageous - the truth is different and has far-reaching implications. The slim minority of "winning" voters in favor of Brexit (51.9 percent) was led by a) the 50-and-over age group, and b) less educated voters (I am not passing judgement, but stating the facts). On the other hand is a young Britain left "in the dust" in its aspiration for a freer united world. More problematic, and yet to be understood fully, is the strong "remain" message from Scotland, giving basis to the possibility of a split from the U.K. at a later point. Further, the city of London's vote with 60 percent in favor to remain should weigh heavily, given its 22 percent contribution to the U.K.'s GDP!

I understand and embrace the concept of democracy, but it does not mean that democratic ideas and related votes, especially if falsely informed, are most representative of the collective interest. The regret (#Regrexit) is already settling in among the British, who are now left to wonder what the long-term consequences of the departure from the EU will be. Many of those in favor of Brexit had a simple objective in mind: they wanted to feel part of society again, be able to afford day-to-day life, and have a voice that was heard. The Brexit campaign appeared to provide for this forum, highlighting (conveniently) crippling EU legislation and liberal immigration policies often blamed for economic conditions in the U.K. that seemingly only favored a few over the broader society.

In all fairness, conditions stated are not far-fetched from those of the United States - not only evident in the polarizing rhetoric of some campaign frontrunners leading into the presidential election; a 2014 study by Princeton and Northwestern Universities found that there is overwhelming power held by wealthy individuals and lobbying groups, leaving ordinary Americans with very little influence over government policy. More "in our faces" should be the fact that a near-record-high 45 million Americans (15 percent of the population) live in poverty. To complicate the matter, wages have been in decline over the past decade, with the population participating less and less in the economic power of the U.S. overall.

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Brexit is a reminder that it is time to draw the proverbial line and give way to more broad-based social-market capitalism - a system that benefits most members of a given society, inclusive of an affordable approach to education and healthcare. It is time to venture on a new path away from reckless monetary policy, which has provided some economic relief but overall benefited those who had assets to begin with. On the other side, we are being reminded that the EU, even if noble in its original objectives to secure peace in Europe, continues to be flawed in its design, as it does not allow for a transfer (and appropriate balancing) mechanism. With inadequacies not being addressed properly, the world will continue to witness a rise of nationalistic ideas and values.

With kind regards,

Matthias
*co-authored by Aniqa Raihan

Cluster bombs are some of the cruelest available weapons of war, banned in 119 countries and counting. This June, in a close vote of 204-216, the House of Representatives voted against an amendment to stop the sale of US made cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia, which uses them to commit grievous human rights violations in Yemen. Now, as the bill moves on to the Senate, one of its major opponents is Democratic Senator Jack Reed, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees. While 164 Democrats in the House voted to stop the sale of cluster bombs, Senator Reed opposes the proposal and his colleagues for one simple reason: the cluster bombs are produced in his state.

Textron Systems is the last remaining American producer and the US military's sole supplier of cluster bombs and Jack Reed is the senior Senator from Rhode Island, where Textron's cluster bombs are produced. Coincidentally, he also happens to be the recipient of $11,000 in campaign donations from Textron. In 2011, he refused to cosponsor a proposal to require the US and its allies to minimize civilian casualties of cluster bombs, and now, despite the concerns of international bodies like Oxfam and Human Rights Watch, he is once again siding with cluster bombs instead of human rights.

Cluster bomb munitions hold dozens of bomblets that, once air-dropped, spread over large swaths of land. Bomblets often end up in high population area and can fail to detonate immediately, leaving unexploded ordnances scattered for innocent people to find. The leftover bomblets can detonate at any point afterward, posing a threat to civilians for decades to come. While there are no exact numbers for cluster bomb casualties in Yemen, it is well documented that cluster bombs have already maimed and killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Vietnam, Iraq, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, and beyond. The evidence of human rights abuses is so clear that 119 countries around the world have signed a treaty prohibiting the development, sale, and use of cluster bombs, but the US and Saudi Arabia have continuously refused.

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Saudi Arabia has been known to use US made cluster bombs in its war against Yemen, an action that has been repeatedly condemned by the United Nations, the European Union, and Amnesty International. Saudi-led airstrikes have already led to over 8,000 civilian casualties. The continued use of cluster bombs makes more casualties inevitable, especially children, who are often attracted to the small, shiny remnants of undetonated bomblets.

In 2015, Rhode Island-based Textron raked in over $13.4 billion in profits, of which $1.5 billion came from weapons sales. It sold more than 8,200 cluster bombs, each of which contained dozens of bomblets. It then poured $4.5 million into lobbying efforts, including $350,000 to Republican congresspeople, $11,000 to Senator Jack Reed, and over $30,000 to House Democrats who voted against this year's proposed ban on cluster bomb sales. The devastating reality is that Textron and Senator Reed stand to benefit from increased use of cluster bombs while thousands of innocent Yemeni men, women, and children will pay the price.

There is no excuse to prioritize profit over human rights. Senator Jack Reed and the rest of Congress have made themselves fully complicit in Saudi Arabia's war crimes and the destabilization of Yemen. The continued sale of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia violates the Arms Export Control Act and Presidential Policy Directive 27, both of which dictate that US made weapons should not be used to further human rights violations.

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One of the more interesting tidbits of information to have trickled out of leadership research in recent years tells us that people who are quickest to speak up in a group tend to give the impression that they are leadership material.

Of course, this only works up to a point. There is a line which can be crossed here between appearing knowledgeable and just looking like a know-it-all. If you manage to stay on the right side of that line you can influence people. If you cross it, you can bore them or even turn them against you.

For years I've made a practice of observing the ways people in leadership positions communicate, whether in formal presentations or small groups, not just with what they say, but how they say it, and the ways in which their approach to communication influences those they lead. I'm still unpacking an experience that occurred in San Francisco a few months ago because I'd never witnessed anything quite like it before.

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While in the area for a denominational meeting and some visits with seminary supporters, I had a Saturday morning free, so I took a taxi to the San Francisco Zen Center. The Dharma Talk (think sermon, then forget about anything sermon-like) that day was dedicated to a celebration of the life of the late Mitsu Suzuki, the wife of the founder of the Zen Center, Shunryu Suzuki.* The abbot was giving the talk.

The room was crowded with Buddhist monks, other Buddhist practitioners, and some of the simply curious. All were greeted at the door with the same quiet, warm welcome. Chairs lined the back of the room while the remainder of the floor space was occupied by people on cushions sitting in the classic lotus or half-lotus positions. The abbot also sat in the lotus position, his notes before him. He began to speak. For the next thirty or more minutes, he related what he had learned from Mitsu Suzuki. The stories were wonderful, but it was the abbot's delivery of the talk which stuck with me.

He spoke in a clear, gentle voice, just loud enough to be heard. Each word was weighed, each phrase spoken as though from a center of absolute calm. No word was wasted. No word was rushed, nor did one word crowd another or try to step on the heels of its neighbors. A sentence or two, sometimes three, would be spoken, deliberately, thoughtfully, as though the words were precious grains of rice each of which deserved individual attention. When the abbot came to the end of a thought, he would pause, sometimes for a long time, sometimes closing his eyes in silence, sitting with the moment calmly until he was prepared to speak again.

The rhythm and modulation of the abbot's talk were remarkable. His listeners leaned in to hear him.

He would gather his thoughts in silence, then speak. Speak. And speak. Now pause ... Pause ... Pause ............ And then speak again.

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We all waited together for the words to come. And because we all waited together - speaker and listeners - we were joined in an event of holy conversation, a kind of conversation that was not driven by a compulsion to speak up, to convince or compel, to argue, or persuade, or manipulate others verbally, but by a desire to attune ourselves to the deepest level of hearing. The entire Dharma Talk was a living and communal expression of Suzuki-roshi's admonition: "Moment after moment, completely devote yourself to listening to your inner voice."**

I would say his approach was the very antithesis of our typical Western approach to communication, but that's far too limited an assessment. His approach contrasts with many Eastern approaches as well.

The abbot's approach also runs contrary to that tendency some of us have to talk (and talk and talk and talk) until we figure out what we want to say, or to "hold forth" until someone else has no choice but to interrupt our soliloquy just to get a word in edgewise.

The spareness of the abbot's words magnified their value. His comments never drew attention to himself unnecessarily, never seemed motivated by anything except the goal of honoring his subject. It seemed that the words he spoke proceeded from some center of wholeness, as though spoken from a place of solitude. Listening, I couldn't help but think of the similarities between the abbot's way of talking and the admonitions of the early Christian Desert Fathers to speak only when absolutely necessary and only from inner silence.

Even as I sit here writing these comments this morning, I can conjure up the tangible sense of quiet calm that the abbot gathered around him like his robe, the peace and calm from which he spoke words of calm and peace. I can hear the pace of his words, each one placed with care like a foot upon a forest trail without a hint of haste, without a trace of anxiety. Conscious. Awake. Mindful.

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The abbot's approach to communication impressed me deeply, but it hasn't changed my preaching or public speaking style, not really. I will rely on the classical forms of homiletical rhetoric that brought me to the dance to take me home again. However, the abbot has profoundly affected my approach to communicating in a variety of other groups.

What I have discovered is this: when I try to do what the abbot did, slowing down, listening more mindfully, weighing my words with deliberate care, pausing, not rushing to comment, I become much more aware of the impulses that drive me and the spirit of the group with whom I am in communication. I tend to create mental space to feel the anxiety when and if it rises in a conversation, especially when it is operating inside of me. I sense better when I am taking something personally. I sort through my feelings better, more able and readier to identify my own defensiveness when it arises.

Slowing down the pace of my comments, choosing with greater care the phrases, pausing to gather my thoughts, listening until I am sure I have understood before speaking: all of this can drive some folks in a group a little nuts sometimes, especially if they are pretty anxious. But the good of this approach to communication far outweighs any momentary frustrations.

Breathe. Pause. Listen. Speak, speak. Breathe. P A U S E. Listen. Breathe. Speak: Like steps in a new dance, a dance well worth learning, for leaders who have something to say and who value the relational context of communication.
Industry has followed the lead of the American Legislative Exchange Council by seeking to place citizen ballot initiatives out of reach for all but the wealthy. ALEC advocates making it harder to qualify referendum language, and requiring supermajorities to pass an initiative.

Heavily promoted by Gov. John Hickenlooper and lobbied by the oil and gas industry, with sponsorship by Democrat Rep. Lois Court and Republican House Minority Leader Brian Del Grosso, HB 15-1057 represented long-standing oil and gas industry efforts to require a "fiscal impact statement" on each page of a petition ballot initiative. Such a "fiscal impact" statement is designed to enumerate loss of tax revenue to the state (and not coincidentally, loss of income to industry) if oil and gas activity is curtailed. There is no comparable consideration of social and moral impacts, or even fiscal impacts of industrial activity on people, health environment and communities.

Fracking-restrictive ballot initiatives in various communities in 2012 prompted stepped-up challenges to the citizens ballot initiative process by oil and gas front groups. HB 15-1057 was regarded a preemptive strike against anticipated 2016 ballot measures to moderate or ban oil and gas drilling. Colorado Concern is among oil & gas front groups leading the assault on citizen ballot initiatives, and was the primary force behind two 2014 Colorado pro-oil industry ballot measures - one requiring a fiscal impact statement became the model for HB15-1057.

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Earlier incarnations of these ALEC proposals have been heavily lobbied by industry in Colorado. A 2014 bill also sponsored by Rep. Lois Court called for doubling the number of required voter signatures to place an initiative on the ballot, as well as a percentage of signatures from each of Colorado's seven congressional districts.

Also in 2015, Senators Ellen Roberts (R) and Pat Steadman (D) introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 2, requiring voter approval in two consecutive annual elections for any proposed state constitutional amendment. It also called for public hearings by state officials in each of the state's seven congressional districts prior to the second round of voting.

Industry is advancing a similar initiative to the 2016 ballot under the rubric "Building a Better Colorado." Following ALEC's prescriptions, the measure calls for a 55 percent super-majority vote to pass, and signatures to include two percent of all registered voters in each of 35 senate districts. What is two percent on any particular day? "Sorry, you did not obtain 2 percent of registered voter signatures in four senate districts." The increased cost alone excludes initiative efforts by all but the wealthy.

The citizen ballot initiative is already out of reach for most. Common wisdom holds that the cost of hiring petition gatherers to obtain sufficient signatures is a quarter of a million dollars. Not a problem, say industry high-rollers. President of the Colorado Petroleum Association Stan Dempsey laughed at the notion that anyone would lack money to pay signature gatherers.

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Always invoked as reason to put the Citizens Ballot Initiative out of reach of the people, the Colorado TABOR Amendment is a complex multi-subject initiative passed in 1992, before the single-subject rule for initiatives was adopted. Such a complex mutli-subject initiative is no longer permitted on the state ballot. The various parts of TABOR each deserve to be reformed by a ballot referendum.

The legislature ostensibly is pushing statutory instead of constitutional reform. Nevertheless, statutory law reinforces power of the legislature, as they can easily overturn a statutory initiative and the will of the voters with a simple majority vote - once again, placing the will of the corporate-friendly legislature above the people's will.

The Colorado Community Rights Amendment: Antidote to Corporate Preemption of Local Democracy

The Colorado Supreme Court on May 2 overturned the Longmont ban and the Ft. Collins moratorium on fracking and "storage and disposal of fracking wastes" within city limits. Both decisions were based on preemption by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Act, overriding local laws passed by majorities in both cities.

Article V of the Colorado Constitution declares the citizens sovereigns and the citizen initiative the first power reserved by the people, superior even to the legislature.

If anything belongs in the Constitution it is the ability of the people to govern themselves. The Colorado Community Rights Amendment would prioritize the rights of natural persons over so-called "corporate personhood" rights. The CCRA secures the right of counties and municipalities to govern to protect the health, safety and welfare of their communities without being subject to nullification by federal, state or international law - so long as local laws "do not restrict or weaken existing fundamental rights or legal protections for natural persons."

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The Amendment reinforces the basic right of people to self-government, as stated in the Colorado Constitution, Article II, Bill of Rights:


From left: Joel Anand Samy, Co-Founder, International Leaders Summit, Nigel Farage, Leader, UKIP and Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Natasha Srdoc and Roger Helmer, MEP-UKIP, European Parliament, Brussels

Happy Independence Day, United Kingdom! Scores of UK citizens and followers of the EU referendum in Europe and the US are congratulating Nigel Farage, Roger Helmer and the United Kingdom Independence Party's (UKIP) leadership for upholding the significance of sovereignty, the rule of law, individual liberty and economic freedom. For over twenty-five years, Nigel Farage and UKIP leaders have demonstrated a strong commitment to fanning the flames of liberty!

Nigel Farage speaking to leaders at an event co-organized by the Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe (IDDE), Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE) and International Leaders Summit, Capitol Hill Club, Washington D.C., July 2015

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After all the noise, threats, doomsday scenarios and cataclysmic prognosis by political pundits and elitists, the only relevant argument in the BREXIT victory is the self-determination by the British people. British citizens decided to govern themselves and took pride in affirming the "consent of the governed." How noble and refreshing!

This is not the first time in history that people decided to be sovereign.

Americans fought for their independence from the British Empire 240 years ago. Taxation without representation did not seem right. Americans were threatened by war, there was a risk of civil unrest, and the British Empire's infiltrators did not make it any easier. Yet, Americans decided to sever their ties with the British Empire, no matter the cost. As Benjamin Franklin famously said, "Yes, we must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

It was Americans who prevailed in their desire to be sovereign, and they have prospered since. The founding fathers' 240-year old idea, expressed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," is still valid today. Albeit, various US administrations and legislators have to be reminded of a bottom-up approach to governance - it is people who decide about their well-being through their elected representatives.

Thomas Jefferson who drafted the U.S. Declaration of Independence was inspired by the English Magna Carta, which established that every person, including the king was subject to the law, and was adopted 560 years earlier. The British legacy of liberty and the rule of law dates back 800 years!

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From left: Paul Nuttal, MEP-UKIP, Laure Ferrari, Executive Director, IDDE, Joel Anand Samy, Nigel Farage, Natasha Srdoc, US Senator Jeff Sessions, Daniel Finkenstadt, Sanford M. Saunders, Co-Managing Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, Washington, DC, Roger Helmer, MEP-UKIP, William Dartmouth, MEP-UKIP

The EU is not the first, artificially designed, top-down governing, supranational political entity, which keeps different ethnic groups together through a stick and carrot approach. It has been tried and it utterly failed in the 20th century.

The communist regimes of Soviet Union and Yugoslavia held different ethnic groups together by income and wealth redistribution among the republics, and by force - through a dictatorship. Instilling fear of a common foreign enemy and a risk of local collaborators encouraged submission. These omnipotent governments undermined religious liberty, thus eliminating natural rights to freedom and private property.

The commonality of these command-and-control authoritarian and artificially built regimes is the unaccountable governance, supranational redistribution of income and wealth, subjecting people toward government dependency, lack of freedom and instilling fear. Those on the top of these regimes including their supporters are also enriching themselves through this design. Therefore, the larger the top, the more difficult it becomes to dismantle it from within. UKIP's accomplishment in awakening UK citizens deserves great merit.

The global revolt against establishments and most things "big" stems from common developments and trends. It has nothing to do with nationalism, as some political pundits infer. It has all to do with patriotism and the significance of the "consent of the governed."

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A natural, bottom-up governance by peoples who govern themselves for their own well-being is replaced by the artificial top-down governing by unelected, unaccountable and self-serving bureaucrats. A fear of foreign enemy instilled by communist regimes is replaced by instilling a fear of violent nationalism, financial markets, rating agencies and economic threats today.

Unaccountable governance by fear is thing of the past. The citizens of the UK understood that well and voted against big government, big banks, big businesses, big special interest groups that worked relentlessly to promote a well-funded scheme that became known as "project fear."

Nigel Farage and Gawain Towler, UKIP Spokesman (right) with UKIP supporters in front of the UK Parliament
The following is one in a series of adapted excerpts from "America's Other Army: The U.S. Foreign Service and 21st-Century Diplomacy."

Yuri Kim never thought this would happen. It was a cold February day in 2008, and she was sitting in North Korea's largest concert hall, listening to a performance by the New York Philharmonic -- not far from where she was born in South Korea.

A political officer in the U.S. Foreign Service, Kim had no apparent reason to be accompanying the renowned American orchestra to the world's most isolated country, which would have been more suitable for a public diplomacy officer. But it was precisely her task on that unprecedented trip.

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She was an aide to Christopher Hill, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs at the time, who was leading high-stakes talks with Pyongyang aimed at dismantling its nuclear weapons program. The concert tour was a "carrot," which Washington hoped -- though it didn't admit publicly -- would improve the North's cooperation in the tough talks. Kim had actually negotiated the visit with the communist government, traveling to Pyongyang on two previous occasions with the philharmonic's leadership.

"They didn't want to send Chris, because that would have been too high level, so they sent me," she said. "I helped develop the program and negotiate the terms of the visit."

A naturalized American who moved from South Korea to Guam when she was 3, Kim joined the Foreign Service in 1996, during a period of pitiful resources for diplomacy and minimal hiring of new officers. She chose to go to Beijing on her first tour, followed by Tokyo. Then she returned to Washington for a stint on "the line" -- a State Department term for the group of mid-level officers staffing the secretary of state and advancing his or her travels. At the time, the top U.S. diplomat was Colin Powell. "He would walk into a room or hotel lobby, and people would spontaneously get up and start applauding," Kim said. "They didn't do it for the president, the vice president or anybody else I could see."

After that assignment, Kim went to Seoul. During her tour as chief of the embassy's internal political unit, she met dozens of political and business leaders, journalists and academics. One of those acquaintances was a vice president at Asiana Airlines, South Korea's second-largest carrier. A couple of years later, that connection would pay off big time.

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Kim and the members of the New York Philharmonic had just flown to Beijing on a commercial flight from the United States, on their way to Pyongyang for the 2008 concert tour. But it turned out there was no plane big enough to take the entire party to North Korea. So Kim called her Asiana contact, and a Boeing 747 was promptly dispatched from Seoul -- free of charge. "It was a big PR coup for Asiana," she said.

Having spent the first dozen years of her Foreign Service career in Asia and Washington, and having learned Chinese and Japanese, in addition to her native Korean, Kim decided it was time to gain some experience in another region. "I knew that Iraq would continue to reverberate for a long time" in U.S. foreign policy, she said, and many of her colleagues had already volunteered to serve there since Saddam Hussein's 2003 overthrow, "so it was my turn."

At the time, career diplomats serving in Iraq were allowed so-called linked assignments in any country of their choice after completing their war-zone tours. Not surprisingly, many chose London, Paris, Berlin or other plush posts. But Kim passed on the link and went to Turkey, as the political counselor at the embassy in Ankara. "I didn't want Iraq to be a one-off" assignment in that region, she said. "I wanted it to be the foundation of something more substantive. Turkey was emerging as a significant regional power, and I thought service there would be meaningful."

Throughout her career, Kim added, she has tried to "work on exciting issues that people care about and that have an impact," and to build a diverse skill set, including "achieving operational objectives, learning how to negotiate, managing people and running an embassy."

For decades, diplomacy was an almost exclusive club of mostly white male elites who dealt with foreign countries' elites, mainly their governments. That is no longer the case. The Foreign Service is still very selective, because it naturally wants the most qualified candidates -- to quote Kim, "We aspire to be elite, though not elitist." But today any U.S. citizen between the ages of 21 and 60 who passes written and oral exams can become a diplomat, even without a college degree. While the service still has a long way to go, now it looks more and more like America -- in terms of ethnicity, gender, religion, educational and professional background, and even country of birth.

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Kim advised Foreign Service applicants to think hard about whether the diplomatic lifestyle -- living abroad for extended periods of time while moving to a different country every two or three years -- is for them. In addition, it may be difficult for female officers in particular to find a partner if they join the service single. "I think it's harder for women to find someone who is willing to pick up, leave his life behind and follow you around the world," she said. Ultimately, both single and married officers make sacrifices, she added, pointing out the challenges of raising a family on the go, and away from relatives and friends back home.

Kim, who is currently chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, questioned the widely accepted meaning of the word "diplomatic" as nice and tactful.

"It's not about being nice to people or not saying hurtful things. In fact, in the jobs that I've had to do, we've had difficult and sometimes combative conversations," she said. "In the most acute cases, like North Korea or Iraq, it's about talking to someone so that guns don't get pulled out. It's a way to avoid or end conflict, and to get people to compromise."
According to the American Cancer Society, in 2016 there will be an estimated 1.6 million new cancer cases diagnosed and over half a million cancer deaths in the US. While much has been achieved in the detection and treatment of cancer, it's clear that this disease in all its various forms, will be with us for a long time.

Regardless of who you are, where you live, or your personal circumstances, chances are you've been touched by cancer in some form. And you don't have to have cancer to be affected by it. All illness is the story of one. Speak to anyone who has had to care for a loved one with cancer and you'll quickly know the emotional, physical and financial toll it takes on everyone involved.

Last year, Vice President Joe Biden lost his son Beau Biden, to brain cancer. This bright, enigmatic young man who was the Attorney General for Delaware was only 46. His death was tragic, but if there is a silver lining in all of this, it's the announcement by President Obama during the State of the Union address on January 12, 2016, establishing the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative to accelerate cancer research, led by Vice President Biden. Its goal is to make more therapies available to more patients, improve early detection methods and, ultimately, prevent this insidious disease.

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Make no mistake, finding a cure for all the types of cancer we currently know about will be hard, but sending someone to the moon was a pretty ambitious goal as well. When John F. Kennedy announced on May 25, 1961 America's goal to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, there was no reason to think it couldn't be done. Billions of dollars were invested, and there were plenty of failures along the way, but for anyone who remembers when Neil Armstrong stepped out onto the dusty surface of the moon and said his immortal words "that's one small step..." it was a seminal moment.

Cancer is a global health issue and, as people live longer, one that will continue to grow. From a research standpoint it's also exceptionally cross-discipline covering a broad scope of medical specialties such as neurology, gynecology, pulmonology, gastroenterology and hematology, as well as related factors such as the environment, pharmacology, public health awareness and nutrition. Curing cancer will therefore require intensive collaboration from the scientific community at large.

Economics is another major factor in treating cancer. Most patients will need long-term, on-going care which has enormous implications for family finances as well as the social and psychological impact for the care-givers. Developing treatments, finding cures and, ultimately, preventing cancer, will require the commitment of tremendous resources from government as well as the private and academic sectors. America's moonshot was largely financed by the U.S. government. But in today's economic climate and greater scrutiny of public spending, economic support from the private and philanthropic sectors will be a factor in supporting more cancer research.

Technology, especially the internet, social scientific networks such as Social Science Research Network, an online open-access repository, as well as collaboration platforms such as Mendeley, will allow research teams worldwide easier ways to share knowledge and leverage expertise regardless of location and affiliation.

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There's certainly no shortage of work already accomplished. According to ScienceDirect more than 1.5 million research papers about cancer have been published in the past five years; a huge amount of data. Scopus data reveals Europe leads in overall cancer research output, but there have been significant increases from institutions in North America and Asia Pacific during the same period, most notably by China and the United States.

Thanks to the dedication of millions of anonymous researchers tirelessly engaged in cancer research, there have been tremendous strides made in the past decade. The dreaded "c-word" is no longer an automatic death sentence. People are now better educated about high risk behaviors that should be avoided such as smoking and exposure to certain chemicals, as well as the importance of annual physical tests. Sophisticated diagnostic imaging such as ultrasound, MRI and CT scans as well as blood tests can help with early detection of small growths and masses which means early intervention and better chances for a complete cure.
by Emma Baccellieri



Democrat Hillary Clinton may be wary about a new super PAC ostensibly created to support her presidential bid. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Cary Peterson spent all of May behind bars in New Jersey, arrested for securities fraud and sending handwritten complaints to the district court about the difficulty of using prison phones.

He spent June getting out on bail and creating a new super PAC.

Peterson first made headlines last year as the "chairman" of a hybrid super PAC called Ready for Bernie Sanders 2016. After the organization came under fire from both the Sanders campaign and the Federal Election Commission for misleading voters, Peterson caught even more heat -- this time from the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission: He was arrested in March on multiple counts of fraud related to his business dealings in a trail of deceit that started years before his involvement in presidential politics. Now out on bail and under a judge's orders to remain at his mother's residence in Arizona, Peterson is listed as the "chief coordinator" of a second super PAC, this one in support of Hillary Clinton.

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The new PAC, called Democrats Socially United, registered with the FEC June 16 -- just a week after Peterson posted the $6,000 in bail required for him to be released from Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, N.J. The group set up a website shortly thereafter, with the tagline "Democratic Party United: Socially United We Stand by Hillary Clinton for 2016 Election." Visitors to the site are encouraged to donate via credit card or electronic check, with no mention of where the money is going or what sort of activity it might fund.

The PAC offers a telephone number for an automated hotline, though voicemail messages left by OpenSecrets Blog were not returned. Its website lists the organization's address as a maildrop in Bellingham, Wash., but its FEC filing listed a maildrop in Las Vegas -- the same maildrop that Peterson listed as his personal address in the civil complaint filed against him by the SEC and the same one that served as the address for his Sanders super PAC.

The current financial condition of Peterson's pro-Sanders PAC is unclear, as the organization has not filed any of its required reports with the FEC since September. Established last February as Ready for Bernie Sanders 2016, the PAC was quickly called out for including a candidate's name in its title, which is against FEC rules. Peterson complied by changing the group's name to Americans Socially United, but the Sanders campaign -- which tried to distance itself from outside spending groups -- continued to push back via a cease-and-desist letter.

Still, the PAC was able to pull in nearly $90,000 -- most notably from James Bond actor Daniel Craig, who gave almost $50,000 to the organization while also contributing the maximum $2,700 directly to the Sanders campaign. Several of the donors to Peterson's PAC said they believed they were giving to the Sanders campaign itself and did not realize that Americans Socially United was a separate group, according to reporting by the Center for Public Integrity and as seen in a Reddit discussion.

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As of the PAC's last filing with the FEC, Americans Socially United was almost $50,000 in debt.

Just over a year after establishing Americans Socially United, Peterson was arrested at San Francisco International Airport for wholly separate incidents of fraud. The SEC had traced years of what it says was activity by Peterson in his role as president and CEO of the micro-cap company RVPlus -- including allegedly falsifying multimillion dollar agreements with foreign governments, lying about a relationship with the United Nations and posing as a fake investor to spread incorrect information on finance message boards. He was charged with two counts of false certification and one of securities fraud, with each charge carrying a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison and $5 million in fines.

According to court documents, a judge set bail of $6,000 in Peterson's case on June 6. Peterson posted the amount later that week and was set to be released from prison on the condition that he remain at his mother's home in Arizona under electronic monitoring and obey a curfew from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m.

One week after Peterson's attorney submitted paperwork saying that bail had been posted, Democrats Socially United filed its statement of organization with the FEC. No trial date has been set in Peterson's case.
Tellers count ballot papers for the European Union (EU) referendum at Manchester Central Convention Complex in Manchester, U.K., on Thursday, June 23, 2016. Early results in the U.K. referendum over Britain's membership of the European Union suggested a closer race than initial opinion polls implied. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images

*by Bob Biersack

With less than three weeks left until the Republicans open their convention on July 18, both parties may be thinking more fondly about the good old days of public financing. Each party would have received about $20 million for their nominating powwows this year if the public funding program had continued. Instead, Congress dispensed with it and passed a provision in 2014 allowing each party to receive up to $100,200 per year from individuals and $45,000 per year from PACs with the money dedicated to the conventions.

But both parties seem to be finding the convention funds something of a hard sell for even their loyal donors, judging by the reports filed so far. The Democratic National Committee has brought in a little under $5 million so far for its convention account. Just over $1 million of that was raised in May alone, implying a stepped-up effort; nearly half of the month's total came from five Native American tribes that operate casinos.

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The Republican National Committee has been more successful, with its convention account hauling in a total of $15.7 million through May - though still about $4 million less than the public grant would have been. About $2.3 million of that came in during May, with nearly half of it parceled out from the new joint fundraising effort between the RNC and presumptive nominee Donald Trump's campaign. The older and much larger Hillary Clinton joint fundraising efforts haven't yet included the Dems' convention account as a partner.

The higher contribution limits for these accounts (three times the "normal" limit to a national party) have played a critical role. Nearly 30 percent of the DNC convention funds and 48 percent of the funds in the RNC account have come in slugs of $100,200 -- the maximum permitted donation.

Each convention city (Cleveland for the Republicans and Philadelphia for the Democrats) also has a "host committee" that can raise unlimited funds from individuals, companies and others to pay for a variety of logistical expenses. But this year, reports indicate, those accounts are hurting, especially on the GOP side as some corporations and other potential donors have sought to keep their distance from the Trump campaign. But disclosure of donors' names and the amounts they gave isn't required until 60 days after each convention is over.

The DNC also badly trails its Republican counterpart in fundraising for the other two special party accounts to which donors can give more than $100,000 per year, which were created by Congress at the same time as the convention account. Totals thus far for the "building" funds intended to support physical infrastructure for the parties were only $775,000 for the DNC compared with $13.3 million for the RNC. A third account devoted to legal expenses related to election recounts brought $1.6 million to the DNC through May while the GOP raised $5 million.

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These differences between the parties are clearly shown in the following chart.

While presidential campaign fundraising has so far been dominated by the Clinton campaign, Republicans rule when it comes to large new donations to the national parties -- a little ironic considering that the language creating the accounts, attached as a rider to a budget bill, was drafted by a lawyer for Democratic candidates and party committees.

The different contribution limits for these accounts also are beginning to impact the parties' reliance on the largest donations. The chart below shows, for both the Democratic and Republican national committees, the percentage of total receipts made up of contributions of at least $30,000 for the full 2012 and 2014 election cycles, and through May of 2016. Already we can see that both parties are getting more of their funding in these large denominations, with several months of intense fundraising still to come. The current cycle is the first in which these three additional accounts, with their much higher limits, have been available.

The accounts were created to give the parties increased financial flexibility in three areas theoretically unrelated to actual campaigning. The basic costs of conducting the national convention, maintaining a physical headquarters, and litigating possible election challenges arguably are beyond the normal electoral activities parties traditionally undertake.

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Canadian adventurer Bruce Kirkby decided that his family was in a technology-driven rut, so he set up a grueling journey from British Columbia to Zanskar, a remote region in northern India. The dream was exploration and growth. The reality involved unexpected risks that made him wonder if the whole thing was an epic mistake.



The Kirkby family leaving Zanskar Photo: Bruce Kirkby

The familiar roads of my neighborhood spooled out like black yarn behind the ambulance window; the lights of our family home faded in the distance. Arched atop a stretcher, I coughed up blood between shallow breaths.

Hours earlier I'd been in perfect health, or so I believed. That morning I'd skied 20 miles on nordic trails and lifted weights after that. But around midnight I woke up with searing pain radiating down my left arm. I prodded my wife, who called 911.

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At the hospital, doctors and nurses orbited my bed, running a flurry of tests: blood samples, heart ultrasound, CAT scan. By the next day, a diagnosis began to take shape.

"You have pneumonia," a burly South African doctor said. "And a small pulmonary embolism. That's a clot in your lung. But there is something else going on. Portions of your lung tissue look like ground glass. Have you traveled abroad recently?"

Between halting breaths, I told him about our family journey to the Indian Himalayas. The three months we spent living with a Buddhist lama, sharing an eight-by-eightfoot earthen room. The wet cough the old man developed. And the daily injections of antibiotics I gave him in the rump--required for an illness that had started five years earlier and had stripped his weight.

The doctor's eyes widened. "I'd bet my life you have tuberculosis, son," he said, backing out of the room. "It's very contagious."

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For days I lay there alone, listening to the relentless click of a wall clock. Nurses dressed like Ebola relief workers occasionally appeared to administer blood thinners and antibiotics. During those long hours, I found my thoughts returning to my young sons--Bodi, age seven, and Taj, three--who, together with my wife, Christine, and me, had lived alongside the lama, cuddled in his arms, and called him me-me (grandfather). If I had contracted tuberculosis, it was almost certain that they had as well. The possibility was too painful to contemplate.

Since the day the boys were born, we had been taking them on outdoor adventures. By the time Bodi was 16 months old, he'd spent a quarter of his life in a tent, joining us for sea kayaking in Argentina, climbing in the Bugaboos, surfing on Vancouver Island, and trekking in Patagonia. While Taj was still breast-feeding, we flew to the Republic of Georgia, bought a packhorse, and spent 60 days traversing the length of the Caucasus Mountains.

Now my world was upside down. Had the naysayers been right all along? Had my unshakable confidence that I could manage every risk been misguided? Had I just royally fucked up?



Photo: Robert Harkness

For decades my work as a writer and photographer has taken me on long wilderness journeys. When kids arrived, it seemed natural to pack them along, too, but in doing so, Christine and I were unwittingly choosing sides in a contentious modern debate about how to gauge and manage "child appropriate" risk. In Canada, where I live, the trend toward helicopter parenting has had sobering effects. In the space of a generation, the physical radius of play for the average nine-year-old has declined by 90 percent. Today less than a quarter of our kids walk to school. Only 7 percent meet daily physical-activity recommendations, much less set out on challenging multi-week trips.

While our boys' safety has always been a foremost concern, causing us to ease up on our ambitions, there's no doubt that we've pushed the boundaries. When Bodi was four, he and I packed goats along Utah's Highline Trail: 100 miles, most of it above 10,000 feet. When Taj was two, our family chartered a bush plane and paddled the Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan.

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To those who questioned our choices, I trotted out standard arguments about the character benefits of facing rigorous challenges, the intrinsic value of sleeping under the stars, and even the improved immunity that comes with ingesting a bit of dirt. But in retrospect, the real reason I planned such long, challenging journeys was selfish: I yearned for the wilderness myself.

Whatever the original motive, these trips were good for our family. Unplugging from the distractions of modern life allowed us to connect with our boys in ways we could never replicate at home, where something always needed doing. In particular, the horse-trekking journey across Georgia--sweltering, exhausting, and skirting a war zone--had a profound impact, probably because of its

duration. For a full year after returning home, our family savored a closeness previously unimagined.

But such glories fade, and old habits return. It was during the depths of a British Columbia winter that I sat at our kitchen table shoveling Cheerios into my mouth while mindlessly scrolling through Facebook posts on my phone.

"Dad!" Bodi screamed. "Did you hear what I said?"

I hadn't heard a word of what he'd said, and he was sitting right beside me. A busy life was transforming me into exactly the type of father I swore I'd never be.

For years, Christine and I had discussed the idea of taking the boys to live in a Himalayan monastery. It was one of those pie-in-the-sky dreams, something that might happen "someday."

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She had studied Buddhism in Canada and was eager to learn more. Despite a reflexive resistance to organized spirituality, I was open to the idea. Over the space of a dozen Himalayan journeys--as support staff on an Everest climb, during an attempt to traverse Tibet's Chang Tang Plateau, and as the leader of photography tours in Bhutan and Sikkim--I'd always been drawn to the world of mountain Buddhists.



On the road in western China Photo: Bruce Kirkby

After the Cheerios incident, living in a monastery suddenly seemed like the most anti-modern, anti-distracted thing our family could do. Within days we decided to drop everything and go. "Someday" would be that summer.

Rather than fly to the Himalayas, we elected to go all in and travel to the other side of the planet by surface. To me it feels like cheating to cram into a plane seat, scarf down a quick dinner, doze, then wake up the next morning in Bangkok or Delhi or Kuala Lumpur--fabled cities that, just a century ago, took six weeks or more to reach. Airplanes diminish not only time and distance but everything in between. Blame it on nostalgia, but we had our eyes set on completing a long, slow trip that would take us from Canada to South Korea to China, then on to Tibet, Nepal, and India.

Of course, we faced the inevitable deluge of concern, doubt, and vocal criticism. Within days, attempting to find boat passage across the North Pacific threatened to thwart our plans.

"There is no way you'll get a three-year-old aboard," we were flatly told by a New Zealand freighter agent, part of a little-known cadre of people who specialize in booking passage aboard cargo ships. "Marine insurance covers passengers between the ages of 6 and 79. No one is going to risk millions of dollars of cargo to get your baby across the ocean."

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Eventually, we found a German carrier whose insurance policy covered three-year-olds. We reserved four berths on a 66,000-ton container ship bound for South Korea.

Plenty of other worries seep into the mind of a parent planning a trip to Asia--traffic, pollution, disease--but none kept me awake at night more than altitude. The train carrying us to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa would traverse a dizzying 16,640-foot pass. Later we'd reach even higher elevations on the trek to the monastery. When I contacted a long-established American outfitter operating in Tibet, seeking assistance with permits and logistics, it flatly refused to help.

"Tibet is no place for children," a manager insisted. "We won't take anyone under 12."

I asked why.

"Because they can't acclimatize. Their lungs are not properly developed. Do you know who Peter Hackett is?"

I did. I had met the Telluride, Colorado-based doctor, who specializes in high-altitude illness, at Everest Base Camp during the 1990s. On my desk were two papers, one of them by Hackett, on the effects of altitude on young bodies. Neither said anything about undeveloped lungs or the inability of children to acclimatize.

If I were to boil down the advice contained in those long reports, it would read something like this: Go ahead, but be sure you know what you're doing, make conservative decisions, and always give yourself an out.

To my mind, this was an adage that fairly reflects how all risks should be managed--kids or not.

A few more complications to mention: the first was that a full television crew would follow our family, filming our 100-day, 13,000-mile journey, step by step.

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For years I'd been in touch with a young Australian producer, batting around ideas for an adventure-based TV series. Every six months or so we chatted by phone, but this time there was a pause when I told him I'd be out of the loop while my family traveled to Zanskar, a remote region in northern India, to live in a Buddhist monastery.

"Hold on, mate--that's it!" he said. "The ultimate family relocation!"

TV pitches rarely find traction, so I quickly forgot about the possibility and carried on with planning: clearing our calendars, vaccinating the children against every imaginable malady, packing the lightest gear. Six weeks before departure, the phone rang again. It was the Aussie.

"Better sit down, mate. Travel Channel loves the idea. We got the green light."

Being filmed 24/7 would clearly affect our plans to disconnect, but because I'm a freelancer, I have a hard time turning down work. So I agreed, with one stipulation: we'd be left in peace upon reaching the monastery. I also suggested a single embedded camera operator, arguing that this method would allow us to move quickly and capture authentic moments.

"Sorry, but the network has a different vision," he said. "They want something cinematic. We'll have a crew of 16. There's budget for helicopters."

For the first time, I sensed we might be getting in over our heads. Which brings me to the second complication: Bodi is on the autism spectrum.

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Unless family, friends, or work have exposed you to autism, you likely know as much about it as I did before Bodi was born: nothing. In a nutshell, ASD (autism spectrum disorder) encompasses an extremely broad range of neurodevelopmental conditions, with symptoms ranging from ritualized behaviors and mild social awkwardness to being severely nonverbal. One characteristic is difficulty recognizing the thoughts and feelings of others (empathy), a crucial and reflexive skill for "neurotypical" people. In the U.S., a recent study suggested that one child in fifty is diagnosed as being on the spectrum. It's almost certain that someone in your life is affected by ASD, and there's an equally good chance you don't know it.

Because early intervention can have an enormous positive impact on a child's future, Christine and I decided to disclose Bodi's diagnosis--a high-functioning form, commonly known as Asperger's syndrome--both on television and here. It was another risk, and certainly not everyone agreed with our decision. But at the core of our thinking was a simple belief: we hide the things we're ashamed of, and Bodi has nothing to be ashamed of. With his keen insights, razor-sharp memory, and painful honesty, he has changed how I view the world. As a parent, I learned that ASD is not something to be "cured." Rather, the condition is both a challenge that requires support and an opportunity to encourage unique talents. Our job is to gently stretch Bodi, over and over, helping him integrate into a society that will at times struggle to make sense of his behavior.

The important point here is that Bodi's symptoms--like those of so many kids with a mild diagnosis--include rigidity of thinking, a preference for routine, and avoidance of eye contact. And, after all, what's a camera lens but a giant eye?

The Australian TV crew arrived at our British Columbia home in early May. As they smoked cigarettes in our backyard, Bodi and Taj quickly became interested in these cool new people, with their tattoos and Chuck Taylor sneakers. Christine and I were too busy to pay much attention.

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Two days later, a heavy frost covered the ground as we launched canoes on the headwaters of the nearby Columbia River. Before locking the back door, I turned off my mobile phone and tossed it in a kitchen drawer. Anyone sending an e-mail would receive an automated reply: Back in November. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Paddling north for five days, our family camped each night on sandbars exposed by low water, while a motorboat whisked the crew to a hotel. They would reappear before breakfast, taping microphones to our chests and hoisting heavy cameras. We did our best to pretend they weren't there, but like dogs meeting for the first time in a park, we slowly circled and tested boundaries.

On the third morning, the crew raced ahead to set up a shot, then dropped their bait as our canoe drifted past. "There are storm clouds on the horizon! What are you gonna do?" a producer asked.

"Uh, put on jackets and keep paddling?" Crestfallen looks made it clear that I'd let them down.

Thankfully, Bodi and Taj were mostly immune to the cameras, and the experience was not nearly as intrusive as I'd imagined. In many ways, it felt like we were on a gigantic college road trip--halfway around the world, with kids.

Upon reaching the trans-Canadian rail line, we stashed the canoes and caught a train to Vancouver, where a wobbly gangplank led us aboard the cargo ship. The rigid routine of life at sea suited Bodi perfectly: a family walk around the ship's perimeter at dawn, lunch with the captain at noon, evening meals with the Filipino crew. Seventeen days later, we made landfall at Busan, South Korea. Transitioning to more visually impressive forms of transport--trains and riverboats, tuk-tuks and ferries--we continued westward into China.

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Taj briefly fell ill in Qinghai province, just as we began acclimatizing to higher altitudes. Taking a day's rest, we monitored his oxygen saturation, and he quickly bounced back. By the time our train lumbered over Tanggu La, a pass into Tibet, the boys were racing up and down the aisles, dodging Chinese tourists, who--having been dragged straight from sea level in Beijing--were collapsing in pools of vomit.

The route forward took us down into Nepal, across India's great northern plains, and finally into the foothills of the Himalaya Range, on a narrow-gauge railway that carried us up to misty Shimla. Eighty-eight days after we'd left home, a jeep dropped us at a lonesome police checkpoint north of Darcha, on the Leh-Manali Highway, in northern India. From there we set out by foot toward Zanskar.



Taj in Lama Wangyal's kitchen. Photo: Bruce Kirkby

Sitting in the rain shadow of the Himalayas surrounded by 20,000-foot summits, the Zanskar region is defined by the union of two rivers, the Stod and the Tsarap, whose combined waters--after running through a broad, idyllic valley--carve a near impassable gorge on their journey toward the Indus.

There is no easy way in or out. Historically, reaching Zanskar required navigating high mountain passes during summer or tiptoeing through the frozen gorge in winter. That all changed when the Indian army carved a dirt track in from the north during the 1970s. But the route remains open for just a few months each summer, and rather than suffer a jarring 60-hour bus ride, we chose to walk.

Following ancient footpaths, we crossed the spine of the Himalayas. Both boys raced happily along, brandishing their walking sticks, until they grew tired and climbed into child carriers; Bodi on my back, Taj atop a porter. At night we shoehorned together into a tiny tent. After five days, we entered a maze of dry gorges where even a toe-high sprig of grass was a rarity. Eventually, the valley broadened and villages sprang up, the sturdy mud-bricked homes surrounded by fields of ripening barley sustained by irrigation canals stretching from the glaciers above.

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It was late in the afternoon on our eighth day of trekking that we caught sight of Karsha monastery, a Buddhist compound whose warren of whitewashed temples were plastered on cliffs steeper than any black-diamond ski run. At their base, a tall, craggy man in maroon robes waited silently.

Five years earlier, when two Canadian friends of mine were caught by a freak snowstorm here, the head lama of Karsha monastery had offered them refuge and butter tea in exchange for a week of roof shoveling.

"He'd love your family to visit," they promised after learning of our plans. So we e-mailed the lama's nephew, a student in a south Indian city, asking if we might visit his uncle. Maybe stay a few months? Perhaps teach English?

Three months later came his cryptic reply: "Most generously. Problems are none." Our journey--and the TV documentary's big payoff--rested on that shaky foundation.

Now Lama Wangyal stood before us, arms outstretched, drawing us into a tight hug, whispering the traditional Zanskari greeting: "Julley, julley, julley, julley."

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Clumsily, I placed a silken kata scarf around his neck. With his shaven head and bony features, his age was difficult to guess. Perhaps he was 60? Bushy eyebrows curled downward so dramatically that they touched his cheeks below his eyes, reminding me of ram's horns.

"Today happy day," he said with a gravelly voice. Then, taking our boys' hands firmly in his, he led us toward the monastery.

The next morning, our journey complete, the television crew took off. Tears flowed as we pressed beads of turquoise into their palms--sound technicians, camera operators, and producers who had been with us for 96 days. At the same time, it was a bloody relief to see them go. Bodi more than anyone had been challenged by requests to repeat words and redo scenes.

Christine and I often explain our strategy for dealing with Bodi's ASD by using a balloon analogy: We blow it up, stretching him and inevitably raising anxiety. Then we let some air out and return him to a place of comfort. When this happens over and over, his ability to deal with an uncertain world grows. But three months of filming had been one heck of a stretch, and he needed a break. Which is exactly what our time at the monastery turned out to be.

Days flowed into weeks, then months. We rose at dawn, summoned by brass horns to a darkened hall, where chanting monks sat in long rows and blue juniper smoke swirled in sunlight that cut down from cracks in the mud-and-stick roof. While Christine and I sat cross-legged, our boys played quietly with Legos. "Try closing your eyes and thinking about nothing but your breathing," Christine whispered to me on the first day. My initial attempts proved fruitless.

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Every afternoon, in a barren classroom, we taught English and math to novice monks ranging in age from 7 to 14. Starved of affection, they piled onto our laps at communal meals and visited our bedroom every night, ostensibly to seek medical attention. Sometimes they were sick, but more often the young boys just wanted a warm hand rubbed atop their peach-fuzz heads.

Tentatively, our boys joined this feral pack, sharing their precious Lego figurines, roaming the monastery's paths, and exploring its desiccated cliffs. Set adrift without television or computers, cut off from the junky plastic toys that clogged their bedrooms, Bodi and Taj played with sticks and discarded bottles, silverfish, and dead birds. In the process, they became better friends than they ever would have at home.

It's easy to romanticize such a simple existence--without running water or power--but we encountered depressed lamas and witnessed drunken brawls. One evening, as I brushed Taj's teeth, Lama Wangyal burst from his home with a thin stick and began furiously whipping a young monk hidden in shadows. The sobbing boy pulled robes across his face but stood his ground.

Oblivious to the commotion, Taj ran inside to kiss Christine goodnight before crawling into his sleeping bag. Not me. I felt ill. The boy who suffered the beating was a gentle novice who had skipped class to visit his family in a nearby village. Corporal punishment may be more culturally accepted in parts of Asia, but as I lay watching a yellow moon float up in the east, a line from Peter Matthiessen played over in my head: "The great sins, so the Sherpas say, are to pick wild flowers and to threaten children."



Lama Wangyal. Photo: Bruce Kirkby

Lama Wangyal took sick during the second month of our stay, a rattling cough racking his entire body. Pointing to a faded Polaroid on the wall, where his craggy form appeared skeletal, he explained, "Five years ago, me too sick. Many injections."

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What was the illness? He didn't know or couldn't explain, but the treatments had cost a fortune, forcing Lama Wangyal to sell two of his yaks. He dug out a box of syringes and vials from beneath his altar. "You needle me, OK?" he requested, squatting and pulling aside his robes to present a hairless buttock.

Over the weeks ahead, the cough gradually receded, and in a land where smoldering yak-dung fires heat homes and hacking can be a constant, the fleeting malady went almost unnoticed.

We stayed three months, until the first October storms threatened to close the mountain routes and isolate Zanskar again. Then we set off by foot, crossing 12 high passes in 14 days, encountering no one apart from a scattering of villagers. On the final morning, we entered an eight-mile-long gorge, the vertical walls pressing together until the sky above became a memory.

Then it was over. We rounded a bend and a concrete wall stood before us. Beyond that were cars and a road. Our porters were already on their cell phones.



Bodi at the Karsha monastery.

Four months later, when two small clots lodged themselves in the outer lobe of my left lung and the doctor backed apprehensively out of my room after scribbling "TB?" on my chart, my first thought was of my boys. A shaky feeling washed over me.

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In the study of risk management, there's a well-documented tendency to attribute near misses--events where only blind luck averts disaster--to our own good judgment. This can lead to a false sense of being bulletproof. Which is why experienced backcountry skiers are more likely to trigger a slide on a familiar slope than on unknown terrain. Had years of travel caused me to overestimate my ability to protect Bodi and Taj?

Alone in that sterile room, I replayed our footsteps over and over, plagued by a single question: If I could turn back time, would I set out on the same trip again?

People often ask if I hope Bodi and Taj will grow up to be adventurers, but such an outcome is irrelevant to me. I only want them to be free, to live the life they were meant to live--whether they become carpenters or concert pianists, homebodies or nomads, gay or straight, city slickers or country bumpkins. And the only way I know to teach freedom is to live it myself.

I remembered a gloriously warm afternoon during our return trip, when we were descending from the 15,480-foot Hanuma La. Bodi skipped ahead of me down steep switchbacks, knock-kneed and coltish like a young caribou. Then he paused and cocked his head to one side. As a gust of dry wind lashed his hair, I could see he was staring out over the sea of ice-capped peaks leading toward Tibet.

As I gazed at his freckles and clear eyes, a wave of love swept across me, an immensity of feeling I suspect only a parent knows. Then, on its heels, a fleeting shadow. Fear. I'd felt it before, that inescapable reality that something bad, even tragic, could happen to my boys someday--no matter what I did.

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To love is to risk loss. One cannot exist without the other.

In the hospital, I thought of the impossibility of protecting my boys from lightning strikes and texting drivers and all the other random threats in our world. I thought of Bodi's ASD. I thought of living in fear. And teaching my boys about freedom.

And I realized, yes, I probably would set out on the same trip again.

Three days after I was hospitalized, a rosy ring failed to develop around the tuberculosis antigens injected under my forearm skin. Sputum samples vacuumed from the depths of my lungs confirmed I was TB-free. I was released from quarantine, and the unprovoked pulmonary embolism was written off as a fluke in an otherwise healthy middle-aged male. The prescription: three months of blood thinners, then carry on.
Photo credit: @JeremyJ_Miller

[Reposted from the Eye on the Amazon]

Chevron sending up massive flares in Richmond is not the only sign things are getting hot for the oil giant on the run from a $11 billion verdict.

On June 19th, Chevron's Richmond refinery erupted a torrent of flames and black smoke into the air and terrified local residents. The community remembers all too well when 15,000 people were sent to the hospital when that same refinery exploded in 2012. Unfortunately, since then the public hospital in Richmond has closed. They can't afford another explosion as the closest public emergency room services are now thirty to forty minutes away in Oakland.

But that's not the only thing "on fire" at Chevron lately. Similar to the company's claims that it needs massive flares to burn off excess gas, Chevron claims there's "nothing to see here" as it tries to sell off US $5 billion in assets in its Burnaby oil refinery in British Columbia. But the company's actions and track record tell a different story. Realizing it was going to lose in its legal battle and be forced to accept responsibility for deliberately dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Ecuadorian Amazon, Chevron instead sold off all its assets and fled that country. It's been a corporate criminal on the run ever since, but the law is finally catching up with Chevron  in Canada.

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In September, the Ecuadorian plaintiffs  bolstered by a unanimous decision in their favor by Canada's Supreme Court  will begin their trial to seize Chevron's Canadian assets to cover its US $11 billion debt to the affected communities in Ecuador.

Chevron currently holds approximately US $15 billion of assets in Canada, almost all of which is at risk due to this enforcement action. Chevron refuses to acknowledge its full liability to the SEC and to its shareholders, and this latest move may give a clue as to why. Unable to replicate its customary racist attacks against Ecuador's judiciary and legal system, Chevron has to dream up new methods in Canada.

The Ecuadorians have defeated Chevron in every single legal contest which has considered the evidence of their crimes in Ecuador (Chevron's singular victory  a retaliatory RICO SLAPP suit in the US  notoriously forbade any evidence of contamination in its proceedings and is still under appeal). The writing is on the wall in Canada, and Chevron is trying to slip out quietly and escape justice once again.

To make matters worse for the oil giant, a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on the use of RICO may preemptively doom its defense before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. As respected appellate attorney Deepak Gupta wrote, the Supreme Court decision "further limits private RICO actions by requiring proof of a quantifiable, redressable and domestic injury  something Chevron has steadfastly refuse to identify." The decision also made clear that the RICO statute could not be used to attack a final judgment from a foreign court, as Chevron has tried to do in the Ecuador case. Aaron Page, a U.S. lawyer for the Ecuadorians called it a "nail in the coffin" of Chevron's RICO case. He added, "Now, the Supreme Court has ruled you can't bring a RICO case, even a legitimate one, based on harm that took place abroad. This is another example of why Chevron's RICO case should have been thrown out on day one."

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Antarctica is on the top of everyone's bucket list these days as people spend tens of thousands of dollars to check out the world's southernmost frozen continent (read: bragging rights). But have you ever wondered what it would be like to actually live there?

While there is no native population on Antarctica, there are 40 permanent research stations, with an average of 1,000 people living there year round (around 25 people per station), braving harsh winds and an inhuman cold that once, in July 1983, dipped below 128 degrees Fahrenheit. All in the name of science.

This time of year - our summer, their winter - there is sunlight for only three hours a day and it's like being on the moon, and just as isolated.

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As Antarctica is so difficult to get to, once you arrive, you can't leave - until the next ship/airdrop comes six to eight months later. You are completely isolated from February to October when the cold and the dark make flights too dangerous to attempt.

So what do you do? What happens if you're stuck in a station for a year with really annoying people or a crazy sociopath? What does one do for fun in 21 hours of darkness? And how do you deal with such extreme cold... or boredom?

I've always wondered about these things and I got really excited when I found out my friend Tony Donaldson was doing a one-year stint as a Field Training Officer at the Australian Antarctic Division, Mawson Station, in East Antarctica. I met Tony in 2014 during the Afghan Ski Challenge in Bamyan, Afghanistan (he was a ski instructor and avalanche prevention guide for locals in Bamyan, I was... not).

I got even more excited when he agreed to answer my many and sometimes nonsensical questions to satisfy all of our curiosities. Enjoy!

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[Note: this interview was conducted via email and Facebook over two months during the infrequent times when Tony had his spotty internet available, so it may not flow in a typical conversational way. Some questions were asked multiple times and the answers have been condensed.]



The crew arriving at Mawson. Tony is fourth from the left.



Me: How you doing down there?

Tony: We had a big storm all weekend so I was trapped inside, it made me insane. At least today it's not too windy and a balmy (-1 degree Fahrenheit).

Me: So what's your set up like?

Tony: Well, we have three huts on the glacier and three huts out on islands, which we drive over sea ice to get to on a caravan type thing on skis - that's my favorite because you can take it anywhere.

Me: Who else is there with you? What's your room like?

Tony: I live with 13 others. There are 12 men and two women. Our house looks like a big red apartment block - it is a pretty big building, with a bar pool tables cinema etc. I have my own room just a single bed and a desk room is as wide as the bed is long - maybe 7 by 12 feet.
There's a well-worn saying in the tech world: If you're not paying for the product, then you are the product.

Put differently, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and other web-based services make oodles of cash while paradoxically being "free." (Alright, maybe not Twitter, but you get my point.)

Don't believe me? The tech landscape is littered with recent blockbuster deals that illustrate the cardinal import of user data. Exhibit A: Microsoft agreed to pony up $26.2 billion for professional social network LinkedIn. Looked at one simplistic way, Satya Nadella's company valued each of 400 million users at around $65.50 each. For its part, Facebook paid $1 billion for Instagram and its 30 million users--a move that looks especially prescient today.

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Brass tacks: Free services mean big bucks, but how do you square this circle?

The answer lies in the hugely popular freemium business model, illustrated in Chris Anderson's seminal 2010 book Free: How Today's Smartest Businesses Profit by Giving Something for Nothing. Scores of powerful companies have embraced freemium--at least at their onsets. Many charge for premium services or curtail their free offerings once their products reach critical mass. Evernote is a recent case in point. At a high level, the goal is to convert as many users to paying customers as possible. Make no mistake: those two terms are anything but synonyms.

But there's another, less publicized way that ostensibly free services make mad stacks: by mining--and ultimately monetizing--their vast troves of user data. For instance, Facebook can sell user data to proper data brokers such as Acxiom. Alternatively, Facebook could act as a de facto broker. That is, the social network helps its many advertising partners improve the targeting of their ads. This allows local restaurants, speaking bureaus, and all sorts of businesses to local specific potential customers at the right place and the right time even if those ads don't appear on Facebook.

Despite Privacy Concerns, Business Is Booming

Data brokers would close their doors very quickly if no one wanted to buy what they're selling. Fortunately for them at least, today there's no shortage of demand for user data both from the private and public sectors. For this reason, you're likely to hear another colloquialism these days: "data is the new oil."

For some interesting facts on privacy and free services, see the infographic below courtesy of MBA@UNC, an online executive MBA program:

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As Alexis C. Madrigal writes on The Atlantic, "For buyers, user data is dirt cheap. User profiles--slices of our digital selves--are sold in large chunks, i .e. at least 10,000 in a batch. On the high end, they go for $0.005 per profile, according to advertising-industry sources."

It's simple math, really. When companies amass hundreds of millions of users (or more than 1.6 billion in the case of Facebook), those pennies add up quickly. As a result, the data-broker business is not just alive and well; it's booming.

What to do?

Many people are shocked when they discover that Facebook and other tech behemoths routinely monetize their user data. This is doubly true in the United States where privacy laws differ dramatically compared to European countries. User outrage stemming from privacy-policy changes, however, typically abates within days.
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal," Emma Goldman, one of America's foremost feminists once sardonically remarked. For revolutionaries like her, democratic institutions are programmed to block and frustrate genuine reform at the expense of the ruling establishment.

The Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Zizek has gone so far as claiming that 'democracy is the enemy' of true reform, since "it is the 'democratic illusion', the acceptance of democratic mechanisms as the only legitimate means of change, which prevents a genuine transformation in capitalist relations."

And yet, every year hundreds of millions of people around the world dedicate countless hours of their precious lives to probing and supporting preferred candidates, braving long queues and a plethora of risks to cast their ballots, even if they know their single votes are just a drop in the ocean or may not even get counted in the end.

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This is not, as some Marxists would put it, a product of 'false consciousness' per se, but instead the audacity of hope -- the belief in the promise of peaceful change, for the better, against all odds.

In the case of the Philippines, the past two presidential elections have witnessed historic levels of popular participation and emotionally-charged campaigns, giving birth, most recently, to Rodrigo Duterte, who now enjoys 'super-majority' support in the Philippine Congress and is soon set to appoint the bulk of the country's Supreme Court justices.

Overnight, Duterte has become, as Filipino Sociologist Walden Bello puts it, "the most powerful [president since the fall of] Marcos" dictatorship in 1986. Polls suggest that the outgoing president, Benigno Aquino, is going down in history as the country's most popular and trusted leader yet.

Unlike Duterte, who is yet to gain the trust of the vast majority of the population, Aquino was swept into power on the back of massive outpour of public sympathy and trust. Similar to his successor, however, Aquino promised a new era -- a genuine transformation in the Philippine political landscape.

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Today is Aquino's last day in office. But what is his legacy? Was he a transitional or transformational leader? Was he the best or worst Filipino president ever? Will he be missed by his people?

Moralpolitik

Political scientists tend to categorise Filipino leaders as either reformists or populists. Yet, a careful look at Aquino's legacy and platform suggests that he sought genuine reform by turning an arguably technocratic issue -- stamping out bureaucratic corruption -- into a populist mantle.

He achieved this feat by attaching poverty -- a caliginous and gnawing reality for majority of the population -- to the prevalence of corruption in the country: "If there is no corruption, there is no poverty" (Kung walang kurapt, walang mahirap).

But what is Aquino's legacy? And here opinions tend to be almost schizophrenic. To his legions of global fans, Aquino is a bastion of sobriety, a descendant of one of the country's most prominent political clans, who has sincerely embraced his Noblesse oblige.

Noting the Philippines economic takeoff in recent years, no less than Steve Forbes, the man behind the legendary Forbes Magazine, hasn't been short of flattery, asking Aquino, upon the conclusion of his term, to "come to the US and give us some of the 6-percent growth rate" that the Philippines has generated in the last few years (never mind that America, with a 15 times larger per capita income, is in a whole different stage of development).

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Meanwhile, for some of the local columnists and staunch critics, Aquino is considered as the Philippines' worst president ever, who supposedly "put the Philippines a decade back in building a modern, prosperous nation-state that uplifts the welfare of all its citizens."

For others, he may be a sincere president with integrity, but he has often come off as insensitive (manhid), from his non-attendance at the burial of slain Filipina citizen Jennifer Laude, killed by a visiting American serviceman, to refusal to lead the arrival honors for the slain Special Action Forces (SAF) police forces in Camp Bagong Diwa after the Mamasapano tragedy, which almost ended his career.

Many residents of Metro Manila, who suffer from arguably the world's worst traffic congestion, have also lamented the supposed lack of empathy from a government that has oversaw multiple breakdowns in the capital's public transportation infrastructure and, even more embarrassingly, a blackout in the country's international airport.

He has also been accused of being 'heartless' for vetoing various proposed laws such as income tax cut for low-salary earners as well as the Social Security System (SSS) pension hike, measures that would have placed immense strain on the Philippines' fiscal balance.

A more sober assessment of Aquino suggests that his legacy was far from unbesmirched, yet he should be credited for overseeing the end of the Philippines' reputation as the 'sick man of Asia' and making the Filipino people truly believe in the promise of a better future, even if a growing number of people, especially in the national capital region, have been unsatisfied with his performance.

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Above all, perhaps, Aquino should be credited for making the fight against corruption a centrepiece of Philippine political discourse, so much so that no less than Duterte has made the fight against corruption a key element of his broader war on crime. And this also explains why certain candidates, who faced massive corruption scandals, performed very poorly in the latest elections, even if, not long ago, they were seen as runaway winners.

It is this discursive revolution that should be remembered as Aquino's most enduring legacy, notwithstanding the immense shortcoming of the actual fight against corruption. As they say, change should first happen in mentality before we change our reality. He mainstreamed the fight against what many once considered as too entrenched to confront.

The Record

In his final days in office, Aquino seems confident and self-assured, even uncharacteristically subdued, relishing what he believes to be six years of broadly constructive contribution to national development.

"There is no place in the country that I am afraid to go to because we neglected them," Aquino told Rappler, a local online newspaper, in his final days in office.

To be sure, Aquino should be credited for continuing sound macroeconomic policies of his predecessor (Arroyo), which has allowed the Philippines to enjoy Asia's highest growth rate and the world's fourth fastest. He must also be credited for investing in the country's armed forces, especially in terms of external defense, beyond any of his predecessors in recent memory.

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He has also overseen the completion of big-ticket infrastructure projects such as the Aluling Bridge, which connects Mountain Province and Ilocos Sur. And many more Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects will be completed in coming years, although I won't be surprised if the Duterte administration would take the credit for them once they are inaugurated.

I would dare to argue, however, that Aquino should be, above all, credited for introducing a moral dimension to Philippine politics, a phenomenon I call Moralpolitik. Like no other Filipino leader in recent memory, Aquino staked his political capital in a moral crusade against institutionalized corruption in the country.

One can hardly find any comparable leader in recent memory, who has dedicated so much political capital to take on allegedly corrupt officials from all three branches of the government -- the executive, the judiciary, and the legislative.

He mainstreamed the concept of "good governance" (Daan Matuwid), constantly reiterating the importance of clean, accountable leadership. Almost singlehandedly, Aquino injected morality into the heart of the Philippines' long-cynical politics. He resuscitated pre-Machiavellian political philosophy, emphasising the importance of ethical leadership in pursuit of collective good.

In fact, he has done the same thing in the realm of foreign policy, describing the Philippines' struggle against an expansionist China through the prism of "right vs. might".

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No wonder, the Aquino administration has invested so much in the ongoing legal arbitration at The Hague against China, when other claimant countries have mainly focused on proactive diplomatic engagement, robust military buildup, and consolidation of claims on the ground.

The Next Phase

Obviously, we can have a healthy debate on how successful and impartial Aquino's anti-corruption initiatives have been in practice, keeping the DAP issue and the palpable failure of the government to incarcerate even a single 'big fish' accused of massive corruption in mind, but no one can deny how vigorously Aquino pursued powerful politicians, who were once seen as almost invincible not long ago.

In short, Aquino "moralized" the country's broken politics and reintroduced an ethical discourse on the state of its rotten institutions.

As for his macro-economic legacy, which has been exuberrantly praised the world over, the main problem with Aquino's economic policy was one of omission rather than commission. In absence of more creative, heterodox policies, the government fell short of ensuring that the growing economic pie will become inclusive.

As a result, much of the newly-created wealth in the country has been swallowed by the elite, while poverty and hunger rates as well as un/under employment rates have virtually remained inelastic.Without a major boost in agricultural (land reform is crucial here) and manufacturing sectors (greenfield investments is key), I am doubtful we will be creating inclusive growth anytime soon.

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The unbearable heaviness of traffic in Manila is costing the country P2.4 billion every single day, depriving millions of commuters the opportunity to live a more productive life and greater hours with their loved ones.

From afar, it is easy to criticise the government. Some journalists and commentators have regrettably even resorted to ad hominem attacks against a leader, who was voted into power by millions of people and responsible voters. Aquino's opponents -- many belonging to the corrupt factions, which oppose "good governance" as an existential threat -- have used all sorts of strategies to demean him and undermine his popularity.

But there is a reason why Aquino remains to be a popular leader, especially when compared to his predecessors in their twilight years in office. Many Filipinos, as credible surveys consistently suggest, do credit Aquino for his good intentions, despite his many shortcomings in practice. And as Naim Moises explain in The End of Power (2013), effecting change has become increasingly difficult for people in power, since power itself is decaying: "A world where players have enough power to block everyone else's initiatives but no one has the power to impose its preferred course of action is a world where decisions are not taken, taken too late, or watered down to the point of ineffectiveness."

You don't have to be an expert to realize that with the Philippines' weak state institutions, hobbled by entrenched networks of political patronage, and only a single six-year term in office, there is just so much a well-meaning leader can do to overhaul a broken political system. Genuine reform and lasting change comes on the back of institutions and "effective governance", not personalities. Good governance will not be achieved unless Aquino's reforms and best practices are carried forward by his successors.

Overall, Aquino may have not been a transformational leader -- constantly struggling with controversies and forces of corruption without and within the state apparatus -- but he has arguably served as a pretty defensible transitional leader, who may have laid down the foundation of a better future for the Philippines.

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Kate Manx in Private Property



Warren Oates: You know the name. You'd recognize the face. Rarely the leading man, usually a supporting character, he stole every movie he was ever in. He died too young in 1982, at age 53. Now he finally gets the recognition he deserves in Warren Oates: Hired Hand, which runs from July 1 through July 7 at the Francesca Beale Theater at Lincoln Center. Highlights include:

Private Property (1960). The centerpiece of the festival. Long thought lost, this low budget noir erotic thriller was recently rediscovered in the UCLA Film and Television archive, and lovingly restored by Cinelicious Pics. Moral degenerates Corey Allen (Rebel Without A Cause) and Warren Oates stalk sexually frustrated housewife/blond bombshell Kate Manx. When Allen and Oates first appear on the beach, they seem like missing links that have crawled out of the primordial ooze. Directed by Leslie Stevens (The Outer Limits); Stevens was married to Manx at the time and shot the movie in his own home. Manx tragically committed suicide a few years later, which adds to the disturbing nature of her performance. The film, with its themes of voyeurism, seduction, rape, and repressed homosexuality, was considered so lurid at the time that it was released without an MPA rating, and quickly sank into oblivion.

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Two-Lane Blacktop (1971). The Driver (James Taylor) and the Mechanic (Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys) race GTO (Warren Oates) for "pinks"--car registrations--and the Girl (Laurie Bird) in this existential road trip across America.

The Hired Hand (1971), Race With The Devil (1975), 92 In The Shade (1975). Warren Oates made three films with friend Peter Fonda. No, I haven't seen any of them. But, hey, it's Warren Oates and Peter Fonda! Go!

Bad Lands (1973). Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek play teenage Bonnie and Clyde, going on a cross-country crime spree. But first they have to do something about Spacek's disapproving father, Warren Oates. First film directed by Terrence Malick.

Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). If you missed it during the Film Society's recent Sam Peckinpah festival, here's another chance. Down-and-out piano player Warren Oates decides to collect the bounty on Latin Lothario Alfredo Garcia's head; the only problem is, Garcia is already dead. Rare starring vehicle for Oates, and one of Peckinpah's most over-the-top violent flicks, which is saying something. Oates' character was said to be based on Peckinpah; he even wore the director's sunglasses throughout the shoot.

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The Brink's Job (1978). After mega-hits The French Connection (1971) and The Exorcist (1973), and mega-bomb Sorcerer (1977), director William Friedkin tried to get his career back on track with this comedy/heist caper. Peter Falk (Columbo) assembles a gang of thieves to pull off a daring bank robbery. Oates plays a deranged veteran who proposes opening the safe with a bazooka. Kind of like Rififi (1955), but with more laughs.

Stripes (1981). Warren Oates in a Bill Murray comedy? That's the fact, Jack! Oates's tough drill sergeant plays straight man to Murray's goofball raw recruit. Kind of like Platoon (1986), but with more laughs. Directed by Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters). With an all-star comedy cast, including Harold Ramis and the late, great John Candy.

The Francesca Beale Theater is located at 70 Lincoln Center Plaza in Manhattan.

***

If you can't wait for Warren Oates, the New York Asian Film Festival is already underway at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center (June 23-July 5) and at the SVA Theater (July 6-July 9). Now in its fifteenth year, the festival features dozens of films from China, Japan, Korea and beyond, and enough genre types--zombies, gangsters, kung fu masters, demons, exorcists, prostitutes, crooked cops, corrupt politicians, superheroes, mermaids--to satisfy any film freak.
I've had a gun pointed at my face, and the trigger pulled.

My experience has made me conscious of how gun control advocates like myself are failing America, how gun enthusiasts have good points that need to be understood, and how the only successful approach to reducing gun violence in America needs to involve a hell of a lot more initiatives than regulating the sale of guns.



When that gun was pointed at me, I was a Senate Aide in Washington DC, working for Senator Paul Wellstone and Ted Kennedy as Labor Committee staff. It was after midnight, I was driving home from a party, through Adams Morgan. I saw an altercation in a parking lot, under a single streetlight.

A man was mugging a woman. She resisted him, tried to fight back. He threw her harshly to the ground. He marched toward her, determined. I saw abject fear in her eyes.

I drove over in my Volvo (of course I had a Volvo) and pulled up right between the two. I don't know who was more surprised to see me, the mugger or the victim. I honked my horn again and again, hoping it would scare the mugger away, that he'd scatter, like some frightened bird.

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He didn't. He was entirely unimpressed, let alone scared. If anything, he seemed irritated. Enough so that he took a few steps toward me, and pointed a handgun toward the spot right between my eyes, and pulled the trigger.

Twice.

My brain didn't fully register what was happening. It didn't seem possible that it could be so easy to shoot someone at such close range. My right foot remained on the brake instead of the accelerator. The only part of my body able to move was my right hand, which just kept pounding that horn. The mugger looked at his gun, frustrated. Shook it like it was a can of something that wouldn't open, and tried one more time. No luck.

Then he smiled broadly at me like I was the beneficiary of his bad luck -- and just walked away. I think the woman climbed into my car and we drove to the police station, but it's also possible the police arrived, I don't remember clearly, anymore. Memory is a funny thing. At the time, I could recall a clear visual image of that gun. I couldn't remember anything about the mugger's face. As I understand from Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, a friend and a memory expert, what I experienced was probably "gun blindness." It's common. All you can recall is that bluish metal, that round hole lined up with you, and little else.



As it turns out, the woman who was being mugged was a Republican House staffer. The following day she gave me a box of Kudos candy bars, and a note that read "you deserve Kudos for saving my life." I checked up to see how her boss voted on gun control laws in the future, and he came down against them. There's a reason why I'm not upset with her or with her boss about that, and I'll explain.



We all know the numbers. Nearly 12,000 Americans every year aren't as lucky as I and the Republican staffer were. Five percent of the world's population resides in America, and yet Americans possess nearly half of all privately-owned guns in the world. In part because of the plethora of guns, Americans are twenty-five percent more likely to die by gun than in any other developed nation (according to the Journal of American Medicine). Clearly, this is not just a safety issue, it's a health issue. And whatever efforts have been made to curtail this violence isn't working.



Why aren't the efforts working? Well, let's start with approach. Gun control advocates (like myself) tend to demonize Gun advocates (like the woman who was being mugged that night). Not surprisingly, that approach doesn't work well.



In his article in Big Think, David Ropeik successfully makes the argument that one of the reasons some gun owners might care so deeply about the Second Amendment is because of how affected these people are by the decline of America. These gun owners are disturbed, to their core, by limited opportunities, limited upward mobility. By real and perceived threats against their safety, from individuals and even from the government.



Gun control advocates can argue whether those threats are legitimate, but they can't argue with those feelings. Those feelings are real, they are based on real trends, and gun reform measures are unlikely to succeed unless they are included in a package that addresses these feelings, too.

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A true gun reform package should include clean government regulations, like campaign finance reform and truth-in-government provisions that reduce the amount of lies that infect public discourse and that build public trust in government. A true gun reform package should include mental health provisions so that the almost 21,000 Americans who use guns to kill themselves annually have treatment available when they need it, and not just a gun. A true gun reform package should include alcohol and substance abuse treatment, and measures to reduce domestic violence (related to guns or otherwise).



A true gun reform package should include a jobs opportunity bill, a meaningful investment in our social infrastructure that promises more upward mobility for average Americans. A true gun reform package should make all of us feel safer, not just people who want fewer guns.



And the portion of this bill that addresses guns, has to include ammunition. Especially when 3D printers are capable of creating lethal guns in just minutes, without a waiting period or even the involvement of a gun manufacturer. Philip Bump made this point well in the Atlantic, four years ago. We're rapidly reaching a time when technology might make regulating guns impossible. So it's time to include the regulation of ammunition - which is harder to create from whole cloth - in the equation.



As for how can all this be paid for? Gun violence costs American taxpayers $229 billion a year in health care, lost revenue, legal fees, long-term prison costs, investigations, security, and more. If we transfer some of that money toward preventative measures, we'll not only reduce trauma and increase safety, but we'll save money. A LOT of money.



When I worked for Paul Wellstone, he had a policy: before you suggest I introduce a partially effective bill, at least tell me what a bill would look like that would actually solve the problem. Right now, few of the proposals being introduced in Congress are comprehensive. Most have no chance of passing, and although they might make for effective campaign fundraising on the Left (gun proposals raise money), they also raise money on the right, in almost equal amounts of campaign donations.

Perhaps most upsetting of all, is that gun control proposals tend to increase gun sales.



That's one of the things those who want change must face. When we focus only on reducing guns for some, and not on increasing safety for all, we actually pad the pockets of the NRA and gun manufacturers. Because people who don't feel safe will do what they feel they have to do, to feel safe. That means gun advocates will stockpile more weapons. And, as statistics show, the more guns that are purchased, the less safe we all are. Especially gun purchasers, who are 80% more likely to be wounded by their own gun than by anyone else's.



Please join me in calling upon our legislators, and our community, to demand a public safety bill that addresses the root causes of increased gun ownership, the root causes of gun violence, and that includes sensible and fair gun and ammo regulations that are as respectful as possible to the second amendment.

This is a tall order, I know. But it's the only one I can think of that comes close to matching the problem itself.



I hope, somewhere, the Republican Staffer I encountered in Adams Morgan can agree with me on this. Ultimately, the only way to affect real change is by working with our opponents. Not against them.

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Sources below:
This Post originally appeared on the blog ScreenCraft. ScreenCraft is dedicated to helping screenwriters and filmmakers succeed through educational events, screenwriting competitions and the annual ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship program, connecting screenwriters with agents, managers and Hollywood producers. Follow ScreenCraft on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Screenwriters are a desperate bunch. This isnt meant to be a derogatory statement by any means -- its just the truth.

You face seemingly endless barrages of rejection, disappointment, and despair when it comes to your screenplays and attempts to get them read, optioned, purchased, or showcased as samples for professional writing assignments.

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When you finally do manage to make a Hollywood connection, its tempting to act in desperation because you feel the need to take advantage of such an opportunity quickly, before it disappears.

As in any walk of life, desperation makes people do silly things. And if those things arent outright silly, theyre ill-advised for any number of reasons.

Here we will showcase eleven ways to avoid annoying -- and thus, scaring away -- potential Hollywood contacts that could make or break your dream of becoming a professional screenwriter. These are annoyances that are ever common in the film and television industry when dealing with novice screenwriters, so consider this an ultimate guide into what NOT to do.

1. Avoid Cornering Hollywood Panelists at Writing Conferences, Screenwriting Panels & Seminars, and Film Festivals

We cover this very well in our post How to Network & Pitch at Pitch Fests, Film Festivals, and Industry Events.

When you attend such events, youll often see attendees waiting in the wings after Hollywood insiders finish their presentations or panels. This is one of the most annoying factors of speaking at such events. Its not that they dont want to help people -- theyre often very approachable -- however, after theyve talked for an hour or more and likely answered questions through the Q/A portion of the event, they really need their space to decompress and perhaps grab a bite to eat, talk with their peers, make some calls, answer some emails, and even go to the bathroom.

Try not to be part of the group that corners them like that. Instead, be the one that casually approaches them during the happy hour afterwards. Be the one that offers to buy them a drink to thank them for their time. Be the one that passes by them in the hall and quickly thanks them for their time and information.

You can use such opportunities to get one-on-one time with them and hope that they might instigate some casual conversation. And if they dont, just move on with a smile and await the next opportunity. You can always use that single, brief moment as an in to approach them through email later on.

Put yourself in their position. Theyve come to these places to share their knowledge in organized events, only to be bombarded by people waiting in the wings with business cards, pitches, and sometimes even scripts, after those events. By the end of the night or weekend, do you honestly think that theyll have time to get to each and every one -- if any -- for a follow-up? Theyve already done their good deed by showing up and sharing.

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Its only natural for screenwriters to want to try and take that opportunity to get face time with such insiders, however, it only leads to annoyances.

2. Avoid Cyber-Stalking Hollywood Insiders

Perhaps you met them briefly at an event, or even had a long conversation with them. Perhaps theyve answered your query email. Whatever the situation may be, you have to remember that boundaries are still in place. While you may be excited and thrilled, its just another connection -- minor or major -- for them. Youre not best friends.

First and foremost, DONT FACEBOOK FRIEND REQUEST THEM. This is the most common annoyance that Hollywood insiders are forced to deal with. While big movie stars often have fan pages or profiles on Facebook, most insiders --development executives, managers, agents, producers, etc. -- dont. These are their personal Facebook pages that youve tracked down. They have their friends and families on there. They share personal pictures and moments. When you Friend Request them, youre violating a boundary. If you did have any chance to get your scripts read and considered by them, its likely gone once you Facebook-stalk them.

Twitter is more forgivable, as far as you following them. However, if you make the mistakes that many do by direct messaging them, constantly retweeting their tweets with comments of your own directly addressing them, or post your own tweets with their Twitter handle attached, youre causing major annoyances that will close any door that may have been opened.

Be like the Fonz. Be cool.

3. Avoid Sending Them Multiple Scripts

This is a common mistake that even the best of screenwriters often make.

Youve made a connection. Youve defied the odds and have had someone in the industry actually offer to read your work. So what do you?

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You get excited and send them two, three, and maybe four scripts. You do this because you dont know which is your strongest work. You also do this because you maybe want to showcase that you do have a lot of work to offer. However, it does you no good to push multiple scripts to them and will hurt you in the long run.

One script takes roughly two hours to read how you would like it to be read. Tack on some time to reflect on it, write notes, and now youre talking about three hours per script. Now multiply that by two, three, four or more.

You do have to realize that these people have lives. They likely have busy work schedules, perhaps writing of their own to do if theyre successful screenwriters, and dont forget that they likely also have families.

You, the screenwriter, need to decide which script best embodies your talents, as well as the specific genres that the Hollywood contact would likely be most interested in.

If they want to read more, theyll ask for more. Just know your work and be ready to decide which script is best for any given situation.

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4. Avoid Sending Constant Emails and Requests for Updates

Hollywood may seem fast-paced, but its at a turtles speed.

Once you send that script -- again, one script -- its going to take some time for them to get to it. Unless they have gone ape s*** over your initial pitch or logline, your script will be at the bottom of the stack of other scripts they have to read that week or month.

A majority of the time, two weeks would be a very fast turnaround. Three to four weeks is most likely the benchmark. Sometimes it goes beyond that. So avoid emailing them for updates. If you havent heard from them in three weeks, then you can drop them a quick email.

Hi Steven,

Ken here. Just wondering if you had a chance to take a look at my Goonies 2 script that you requested. Its a great read. No worries if you havent gotten to it yet. I know youre busy. Just checking in. Hope the week is going well.

Best,

Ken Miyamoto

Thats all you need to write. Keep it short, sweet, and polite.

If you have attained a manager or agent and theyve taken your script out to studios and producers, same thing. Dont annoy your new manager or agent with emails every other day, asking if anyone has responded. Once your manager or agent has taken something out, it will takes weeks for studio readers, development executives, and producers to finally get to it amidst the array of other scripts they have to read.

Be patient. Waiting to hear back is often a months long affair.

5. Avoid Making Jokes at Your Own Expense

This is a strange, yet all-too-common practice by novice screenwriters. Whether they do so within a query email, a pitch, or brief face-to-face encounter, novice screenwriters often resort to bad comedy -- much of which is at their own expense.

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They will joke about how newbie they are. They will joke about how theyre not Quentin Tarantino or Diablo Cody. Theyll joke about how bad they are at pitching or writing loglines and theyll apologize for it.

This does nothing for you, the screenwriter.

First of all, they know all of that already without you having to back that observation up.

Secondly, youre making them feel very uncomfortable by putting them into a position where they may feel the need to conjure some nice things to say in order to make you feel better about yourself.

Either way, it comes off as very amateurish. Professional screenwriters are confident in their abilities. These people want to work with someone that can go into a room and exude confidence in their work.

What they dont want is to have their time wasted by bad jokes, pity parties, or having to boost a screenwriters confidence.

6. Avoid Telling Your Sob Stories or Sharing Your Love of Film and Television

Ive wanted to tell stories my whole life

Since I was a kid, Ive loved movies

Ive tried and tried to make this dream come true

If youre trying to pull at their heart strings, its a pretty manipulative move that will do you no good.

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And you know what? They work in the film and television industry. Theyve likely wanted to tell stories their whole life. Theyve loved movies since they were kids. Theyve tried and tried to make their dream come true until they finally caught their break.

Who do you think theyll want to work with most? The dreamer who keeps dreaming of the dream or the screenwriter that is hell bent to just stop talking about it and get to work?

7. Avoid Having an Ego

Confidence is not ego. Many a screenwriter have made that wrong assumption and quickly paid the price. Theyre now sipping cocktails at the bar telling stories about how hard it is in Hollywood.

You have to remember that youre not the second coming of Tarantino, Sorkin, Cody, Meyers, Black, or any other iconic screenwriter. Presenting an egotistical attitude does not make you a great screenwriter. Only great scripts do that.

Even if you have the work to back it up, an ego means nothing more than:

Difficult to work with

Wont accept notes

Probably best to go with the nice and appreciative screenwriter we met with yesterday

8. Avoid Advising Hollywood Contacts About Their Own Industry

Hollywood could use something like this right now.

This genre is really hot.

X movie made X amount of money.

Studios really want

Avoid offering your own assumptions when talking about the needs and the wants of the very industry that your well-connected contacts work in. They know it better than you.

Even if what you are saying is true, youre telling them something that they already know. Furthermore, you likely only know half of the truth of any given topic anyway while they know the big picture -- and your information is likely dated.

They know their own industry. They are living and breathing it sometimes 16 hours a day or more.

9. Avoid Overstaying Your Welcome

Theyve read your script, theyve offered their feedback, and theyve given you some career advice. Too many screenwriters take advantage of that Hollywood contact theyve made and exploit it. They send every screenplay draft their way. They email them constantly, asking for advice on this situation or that.

The first hint that a Hollywood contact has done all they can -- or want -- for you is when they wish you good luck at the end of an email. Any variation of something that denotes they wont be talking to you any time soon is essentially a good-bye. If they thought that what you had -- script or talent -- was worthy of something more in the context of their situation, they would have told you and pursued something more.

Dont keep emailing them if they arent emailing you. Be thankful that they helped you as much or as little as they did and move on. If anything, you can always reconnect with them when you have a new script that they havent heard about from you, as long as some time has passed.

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Hearing from you once every few months is perfectly fine. Hearing from you once every week isnt.

10. Avoid Bringing Up the Past

We covered this well in our post 9 Screenwriting Truths I Learned the Hard Way in Hollywood.

Theres an old saying, Whats done is done.

If your Hollywood contact has read a script and passed, its dead. No matter how many drafts you write. If they loved the concept enough, they would have developed it with you.

If youre trying to get a manager or agent and youre pitching them the success of a script that got you a lot of meetings from a few years back, youre basically saying to them, No one wanted to make that script. Thats not an exciting way to pitch yourself.

Sure, every studio passed on Star Wars initially, but youre missing the point. When a script goes out and fails to garner any deal, that script is still in the system of each and every studio, agency, and management company that it went out to. When they see it come up after you pitch it again, theyll be seeing the constant rejection. Its dead.

Always think about the present and the future -- what great script youve just written and what great script youre currently developing. This portrays you as someone that is working hard at their craft, as opposed to someone that is living in the past and boasting about their glory days.

11. Avoid Showcasing Any Form of Entitlement

Its mind-blowing when some screenwriters -- and there are many -- feel that they are entitled to something from Hollywood insiders.

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Some may feel that they deserve notice because they are friends of a Hollywood contacts friends or family. Others may feel that theyre entitled to a script read because the insiders are from their school, city, or state.

When a novice screenwriter feels this entitlement, it comes off strong in query emails and discussions. Almost as if because of those relationships, no matter how many times removed, the screenwriters should have special treatment and consideration.

In the end, its off-putting to the Hollywood insider. Its uncomfortable. And they are often less likely to help.

No screenwriter is entitled to anything. In fact, no one trying to make any dream come true is entitled to it. You have to do the work. You have to earn considerations. If you pitch to a friend of a friend that works in the industry and they dont respond to the pitch, then you need to learn from it, adapt as necessary, and move on when its clear that the contact is not reciprocating.

Sure, theres truth to the Its Who You Know mantra, however, thats only a piece of the big puzzle. You need to have the skills, the talent, the concepts, and especially the amazing scripts to be entitled to anything.

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We all make mistakes. All screenwriters are guilty of the above annoyances at one time or another. Theres no shame in it. Theres only shame when youve learned the consequences -- or read a list of them like the above -- and still continue to do these things.
After Harjit Sajjan, a fully uniformed (turbaned and bearded) Sikh, was chosen by Justin Trudeau as Canada's defense minister, I came across multiple Facebook posts criticizing Sajjan's involvement in the Canadian military. This came to me by surprise as I expected unanimous Sikh support for Sajjan's appointing to one of the highest governmental positions in Canada; this appointment was a major success for the Sikh struggle to be accepted with full Sikh uniform into the military, specifically the struggle with the U.S. military.

Whilst reading through the criticism, I found that it all stemmed from Canada's disrespectful treatment of its indigenous population and its military operations in the Afghanistan War and that Sajjan being a Sikh should not associate himself with such a controversial, unjust military and government. Similarly, many Sikhs are critical of the Sikhs attempting to join the U.S. military based on the U.S.'s past gratuitous military operations.

I understand where these critics were coming from. Sikhism bases itself in fighting against inequality and injustice anywhere as this is how the faith started when Guru Nanak Dev Ji fought against the unfair caste system that prevailed in India (and that still prevails). Thus, it makes more sense that Sikhs should fight against such unjustness by taking action against the military rather than joining it.

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Nevertheless, I am critical of those criticizing Sikh involvement in the military. What these critics don't realize is that having Sikhs in the armed forces is actually a plus for the world and international relations. Here are two core reasons for why having Sikhs in the military is beneficial:

1. Sikh history speaks for itself. From the tyrannical Mughal Empire to World War II, Sikhs have continuously resonated Sikh values of justice through battle. In fact, in a set of instructions written by the tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji in 1708, one rules states to "practice diplomacy, employ a variety of tactics and exhaust all techniques before engaging in warfare" when dealing with enemies. This rule is followed by "train in the skills of weaponry and horsemanship." These instructions show how Sikhs have always been aware on how to deal with adversaries, and Sikhs have been known for this. Sikhs' warrior culture, diplomatic skills, and simultaneous spirituality are what attracted the British to recruit Sikh soldiers for both the World Wars and these characteristics are what have allowed the entire Sikh population to prosper despite hundreds of years of struggle and attempts at eliminating the entire community (which also continues today). Hence, our history shows what an impact Sikhs can make in international relations; the world needs ambitious leaders and Sikhs have always been fighting injustice and corruption.

2. We have the power to initiate change. No matter how pessimistic some critics may be, I believe that the more Sikhs we have in the military, the higher chance we have to create positive change in the military and policy. When ex-CIA agent John Kiriakou came to speak at my university, he said something that resonated with me. It was along the lines of addressing the fear that students have in working for the U.S. military or Department of State, CIA, etc after hearing of the senseless, corrupt decisions that occur in these organizations. Kiriakou basically stated that if students with ambitious thinking join these organizations, there will be a higher chance for promising change. And this can exactly be attributed to Sikhs in the military and the rules and values that Sikhs abide by. The turban symbolizes justice, standing up for the defenseless, and providing a voice for the voiceless. Sikhism entails viewing everyone and everything as God, and therefore, everyone as equals and one. As Sikhs joining the military bring these values to the armed forces and government, I sense a spark of optimism for the U.S. and Canadian militaries. Sikhs have changed tyrannical empires and prospered in the past, and Sikhs can still change policy and prosper today.

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The anxious mind can latch onto almost any topic:

What if I don't have enough money ?

? What if my kids aren't okay?

aren't okay? What if I don't get pregnant ?

? What if I have cancer ?

? What if I don't love my partner enough and I'm making a terrible mistake?

enough and I'm making a terrible mistake? What if I don't have enough friends ?

? What if I'm gay ?

? What if I'm a pedophile ?

? What if I have an STD ?

? What if there's a terrorist attack ?

? What if I'm in the wrong career ?

? What if the plane crashes?

How many of these thoughts have you struggled with? And have you found that you can resolve one thought only to find that another pops up in its place? That's why anxiety is a game of whack-a-mole: if you whack down one mole (thought) without addressing it from the root, another will quickly appear in its place.

We know now that some people's minds are more prone to anxiety than others. There seems to be a sub-species of humans that easily allows the ups-and-downs of life to roll off their back. I rarely meet one of these people (in fact, I can't think of a single one at the moment), but I do hear that they exist. They're usually the partners of people who find their way to my work, the even-keel shore to the tumultuous ocean of the one suffering from relationship anxiety. But for the people who find me, anxiety - also known as worry - has been a thread in the fabric of their psyche for as far back as they can remember.

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Before I go any further, I need to remind you that there is a positive side to anxiety. The anxious mind is also the sensitive mind. The anxious mind is often the highly creative mind. Anxiety gets a very bad rap in our culture, and there's no question that living with high levels of anxiety creates a state of misery. But once we learn to work with anxiety, it transmutes into something quite beautiful. Remember, in other cultures and other times, the highly sensitives, the ones attuned to the nuances of life, were the scouts, the shamans, the gatekeepers to this and other worlds. We held a very honored place in the culture and were often responsible for the physical and spiritual well-being of the tribe. We still hold that place. Anxiety transmuted into awareness becomes our gift that we share with the world around us.

Now, back to the list. If you pare it down, you'll see that all of these statements share a similar core: the fear of loss. We desperately fear loss because we don't know how to manage loss. We're not taught the tools and language of loss, so it always feels like a death. Loss is death, but again, since we're not taught a framework for walking through death of any kind - literal and metaphoric - imagined loss/death feels like an annihilation of self. In this simplistic sense, anxiety is the fear of loss is the fear of death.

I teach many tools in all of my courses for working with anxiety, but the one that underlies them all is developing an inner anchor point that can help us cut through the fear-mind. The tendency of the fear-mind is to seek reassurance from others when anxiety takes over: to talk, to Google, to research. But we quickly find that reassurance-seeking, while possibly providing temporary relief, doesn't allay the soul's need for deep comfort. Only one thing can offer that: the resting place and the still point of our own Self. Some people call this God. Others call it Soul. Others call it guidance or stillness or wisdom. It doesn't matter what you call it. What matters is that you develop a practice - daily, if possible - for turning toward this place so that you can rely on it when you truly need it.

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Despite significant rallying by Democrats in both chambers just days after the deadliest mass shooting in the nation's history, The United States Congress adjourned last week without any new gun control measures. Even Sen. Christopher Murphy's (D-CT) fifteen-hour filibuster to push a budgetary amendment that would enhance background checks for all gun transactions fell short of legislative success. House Democrats consequently orchestrated a highly publicized sit-in to support the restriction of gun sales for those on the "no-fly" list, a measure that received bipartisan support in the Senate. Yet, as we've seen time after time, common sense gun legislation brought before Congress after a major mass shooting has yet again fallen short.

With most data indicating that mass shootings have been on the rise in the United States, there is very little ground to infer that we will not arrive at a similar point within the next year -- with a new host of families mourning the loss of loved ones, a nation holding vigils, and more calls for gun law reform. This has become a familiar pattern in our country and as has been pointed out by others, if Newtown didn't change the dynamic, it is hard to see what will.

What is frustrating for most people who do not buy into the "good guy with a gun" theory of safety, is that the vast majority of Americans support common sense solutions. Our recent national survey of 1,000 adults found that nine-in-ten Americans (90%) support increased backgrounds checks on individuals attempting to purchase a firearm. Further, over seven-out-of-ten Americans (72%) support a ban on assault rifles. With such unified support by the American public, why are we not enacting sweeping gun reform measures at the federal level?

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The typical answer is to blame the National Rifle Association (the NRA). The NRA's "full support or we'll fund you out of office" mechanism is certainly effective for officials in strong Republican seats, and with the organization's expenditures surpassing $20 million in 2014 alone, they have the resources to do it. There are two main problems with this line of argument. First, most Republican voters do not agree with the NRA's position. Indeed, a vast majority of Republicans (88%) support stricter background checks in gun transactions and a majority (61%) favor the banning of semi-automatic assault rifles. Regardless of geographic location or age breakouts, support for both measures is similar across demographics.

In fact, our research shows that support for either policy does not fall below a majority in even the most loyal Republican demographics, including white men (91% and 71%), self-proclaimed conservatives (85% and 61%), and early supporters of Donald Trump (88% and 54%). Support for tighter background checks in gun transactions did not fall below a majority level of support among any demographic, and the assault weapon bans only fell below 50% support with Ted Cruz (48%) and Ben Carson (45%) supporters. So with such concrete support, why do Democrats consistently fail to enact even moderate gun policy in wake of a national tragedy?

This question brings us to the second problem with the anti-NRA line of argument: it is the wrong argument. Of the Republicans in favor of more rigorous background checks, respondents were remarkably unified on how they reacted to their own Republican Congressman voting against their gun control ideology. The vast majority did not care. Or, at least, such an action would not inhibit them from supporting the Republican for office again over a Democrat. Only 17% of Republicans currently in support of expanding background checks for gun purchases stated that the issue could make-or-break their decision to support a candidate.

A closer look at the minority opinion yields even less exciting news for those trying to enact legislation at the federal level. The Republicans with the highest likelihood to vote out a GOP member over gun policy mostly describes Republicans living in blue districts, yielding virtually no impact at the federal level. Such figures spike particularly among Republicans in New England/the Mid Atlantic, and on the West Coast. These Republicans also tend to identify themselves ideologically as liberal or moderate, possess a college education, and they tended to supported Jeb Bush or John Kasich in the GOP Primary. They currently view Hillary Clinton favorably or Donald Trump unfavorably, and are intending to vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump this November. To put it another way, these are Republican voters that would be the icing on the cake for incumbent Democrats, not voters who will make the difference in districts currently held by Republicans.

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While the NRA might feel like a good foil, and polling shows their position is out-of-step with the vast majority of Americans, attacking them and pointing to how much a specific member has received from the organization is not a winning tactic. It is just speaking to the echo chamber. The data shows that if people want to change the ability to enact sensible gun laws, they will need to focus on shifting the culture around the gun debate. That being said, hope should not be lost for those who see gun control as an urgent and pressing need. While the fight might take longer than some might like, our data found spikes in support among Republicans in demographics that could lay the framework for a significant shift. Millennial Republicans are over twice as likely to boot out their incumbent over gun policy as older cohorts, and Republican voters who have children are also more likely vote against their party based on gun control measures than Republicans without children in their house. This clearly is not a majority of Republicans, but the future is more promising on this issue. If the argument for gun measures shifts away from the NRA and members being in the organization's pocket, it is easy to see how the timeline could be accelerated.
Photo:  Viktor Cvetkovic / Getty Images

But these risks can be subdued by acting on two words: nullify Brexit. Brexit can be stopped by a series of political interventions over the next few months.

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These include calling an early general election in which Brexit gets voted down; a parliamentary vote where Members of Parliament (MPs), as per parliamentary sovereignty, vote against Brexit as an advisory, non-legally binding referendum; a second referendum where Brexit is defeated by popular mandate; MPs delay voting on British laws relating to Brexit; and, critically, the UK not trigger Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU's most recent constitution, which makes provision for countries to leave the EU within a two-year window.

The United Kingdom has never been as ripe for achieving its true Greatness as it is now, by focusing on three opportunities: capitalizing on tremendous vacuums of leadership in political parties; identifying and promoting an emergent generation of on-the-cusp or actual Millennial political leaders; and enhancing the executive role of the British monarchy in politics.

The outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron of the Conservative Party, the architect of the Brexit referendum, announced his resignation on 24 June, for a new Prime Minister to be selected by September. The Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour Party, has within a week of the referendum, witnessed the collapse of his Shadow Cabinet in a show of no-confidence in his leadership.

Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, the Tory leaders of the 'Leave Campaign', are now de facto leads for assuming the mantle of the Conservative Party and therefore the Premiership of the UK. Michael Heseltine, the former British Deputy Prime Minister from the Conservative Party, fears for the death of the party and is calling for cross-party support to fight against Brexit.

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Mobilization has already commenced on thwarting the joint-leadership bid, particularly with the absence of a plan from the 'Leave' campaign. Internally, current leaders within the Conservative Party are planning to challenge the leadership bid through launching their own. Externally, a popular plan has emerged for members of the public to join the Conservative Party to help elect an anti-Brexit leader, mimicking the strategy that led to Corbyn being elected leader of the Labour Party in 2015.

Johnson and Gove also have similar career profiles. Not only did both study at Oxford, but were also both Presidents of the Oxford Union debating society in 1986 and 1988 before embarking on a career in journalism followed by politics.

Amid the current disarray in British politics, a new generation of British Millennial political leaders can emerge. Whilst there may be a natural inclination to focus on the likes of Oxford Union Presidents of the 1990s and 2000s who succeeded Gove and Johnson, other valuable choices for fasted track leadership in the political parties would be those who have worked in the charitable and relief sectors, as assassinated British MP Jo Cox was, and the heroic doctors and nurses, who have been reluctantly become politicized in order to save the British National Health Service.

Recognized as a failure of democracy, those against the Brexit vote are trying to utilise all viable political means to challenge the most representative example of direct democracy in the form of 17 million votes in a popular referendum. They have taken to heart a quote from Sir Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister during World War II who was voted the Greatest Briton in a BBC poll in 2002 - 'The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.'

The final epiphany of the Brexit referendum has been in determining what model of governance the United Kingdom has: it is a constitutional monarchy (without a written constitution) under which (Her Majesty's) government operates based on the (Palace of) Westminster parliamentary system. Plato recognised monarchy as the most desirable form of governance, with democracy only a step away from tyranny. In the UK, the monarchy was abolished in 1649 for a decade of republic government before being restored in 1660. Britain, therefore, has a history in rectifying political mistakes such as Brexit.

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Marrakesh is unfortunately the type of travel destination that - while beautiful and unique - is a place where you need to keep your guard up at all times. Some scams you don't even realize until someone informs you that it was indeed a scam. There are a variety of scams that people try to run on you and I have outlined the most common ones below.

Quick reminder: the conversion of DH to USD is about 10 to 1. So 10 DH is about $1.

The Restaurant Scam



You get to a restaurant and everything is so inexpensive! You order your food, have a great meal and then when the bill arrives the actual food prices are twice or three times what you saw on the menu. You tell the waiter and he calmly explains you must have read the prices wrong and returns with a new menu that has the same prices as the bill. Not good.

Avoid it: This scam is a bit more intense and thankfully I never ran across it, but a couple people in my hostel did. Their suggestion was to take a picture of every menu before you order so that if this happens you can show them the picture with the old prices. Even if you don't do this you can refuse to pay and then leave. They will threaten to call the cops but this is one of the most well-known scams in Marrakesh and the cops will always take the tourist side.

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The Nice Guy Scam

The souk and city center are both very confusing places and this is the number one way unemployed youth in Morocco live off tourists. If you look lost and confused (especially if you are a woman), a young Moroccan will almost certainly jump at the chance to help you find your way. He might act as if he is doing it out of the kindness of his heart and may even say multiple times that he doesn't want anything in return. But be warned, they will ALWAYS ask for around 30-50 DH afterwards in exchange for their help. If you refuse to give it to them they will make a huge scene to attempt to embarrass you into paying them.

Avoid it: Either walk around confidently (even if you are lost), take the help and refuse to pay at the end or go into the "help" knowing you will be paying afterwards.

The Animal Scam

When walking around Jemaa El Fnn Square there are snake charmers and monkey handlers scattered throughout the massive space. They will both walk up to you and immediately put the animal on your back or in your hands. Once you take pictures they will then demand 100-200 DH for the encounter.

Avoid it: Always negotiate the price of any animal encounter before you begin taking pictures. 30-40 DH is more than a fair price to pay for 10 minutes of time and a couple of pictures.

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The Henna Scam

It's a good rule of thumb to be wary of anyone in Jemaa El Fnna Square. A big scam in the square are older women that will literally grab your hand and start drawing a henna tattoo on you. The resulting tattoo is usually extremely poor quality that will barely last a couple of days for a very expensive price (100-200DH).

Avoid it: Don't get Henna in the square; go to Henna Cafe for amazing authentic henna right outside the square.

The Food Stall Scam

Again in Jemaa El Fnna Square every night there are large food stalls with tons of amazing food at low prices. But be very careful, some of the food stalls prey off of unsuspecting tourists and will bring you extra plates of food or food and drink that they say is complimentary. Beware! At the end of the meal they will stick you with a huge bill including all of the 'complimentary food'.

Avoid it: If you receive any food that you didn't order or food that they claim to be free refuse it! And don't let them leave it on the table, make them pick it up and take it away.

The Guilt Trip

When shopping in the souk - especially for rugs and antiques - the shop owners will invite you to sit down and have some tea (or berber whiskey as they call it). Once they show you 10 different rugs if you refuse to buy anything they will get angry and try to make you pay 20-30DH for the tea they offered you.

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Avoid it: Refuse tea when you first arrive or just either walk away if they pester you about paying for the tea.

Bottom Line

Marrakesh (and Morocco in general) is a really interesting and unique place to explore. I hope this list doesn't deter you from going but instead makes your trip a little bit easier. While these scams are annoying and cause many people to pass bad judgement on an amazing country and people, just remember that the scammers are running these because they are trying to get by in very poor conditions. Ignore the scams and enjoy the beauty of Marrakesh.
Some of the most compelling theater being performed globally, starring some of the biggest names in Hollywood, actors such as Paul Giamatti, Jesse Eisenberg, Elizabeth Marvel, Jake Gyllenhaal, Frances McDormand, Amy Ryan, John Turturro, Lily Taylor and David Strathairn, has less to do with entertaining the audience than it does with healing the world.

Bryan Doerries, co-founder and artistic director of the theater company, Outside the Wire, is the Joseph Papp of social impact, deploying ancient Greek dramatists, along with the occasional Shakespeare and O'Neil, to give self-selected audiences the freedom to speak to their pain, and to connect with audiences across time who were also suffering from feelings of loss, betrayal and heartache.

When Doerries puts on a show, a Greek chorus from the heavens sings praise of the scale of his ambition, and well, yes... hubris. He has taken the very same Greek dramatists that have inspired the culture wars and the politics of identity, and redeployed them in the service of public health. In an Outside the Wire production, these ancient Greeks should probably have taken the Hippocratic oath.

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At the end of each performance no Drama Desk or Tony nomination waits in the wing (although a Nobel mighty be appropriate); there's barely time for even a bow. A Doerries directed (and translated from the ancient Greek) production has no final curtain because once the reading is over, a secondary show begins--one of brave and inspirational audience participation.

Unlike the usual TKTS crowd, the audience for these performances do not consist of gays, grays, or tourists, but rather traumatized combat veterans and their spouses, emotionally damaged prison guards, hospice workers, families suffering from domestic violence, others from addiction, and a host of other social ills made more understandable, if not bearable, after a performance of classical Greek theater that confronts the open wounds of the human experience.

Those afflicted with combat-related psychological injury hear the wails and moans of Ajax and Philoctetes, two of Greek drama's most tragic war heroes, in two of Sophocles' plays by the same name; medical professionals and caregivers, and those dealing with end of life questions, hear readings from Sophocles' Women of Trachis and Philoctetes; those working in correction facilities who supervise prisons and hope to rehabilitate prisoners listen to the words of Aeschylus in Prometheus Bound; people afflicted with drug addiction and abuse are treated to readings from Euripides' Bacchae, as well as Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night.

The latest installment of Outside the Wire's mission was launched last week at the Brooklyn Academy of Music ("BAM") with a marvelous new translation and production entitled, Medea & Phaedra: Tragedies of Passion, Betrayal, and Revenge. It starred Marvel, Ryan, Donnetta Lavinia Grays, and Bill Camp.

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In the hands of the always capable and transformative Marvel, Medea's plight as an abandoned wife who loses her husband, Jason, to a beautiful princess, after having sacrificed all for him, including being exiled from her own home where she was once royalty, helps better explain the depth of her feelings of betrayal and the lack of options she is afforded. Camp was convincing as an arrogant, emotionally obtuse Jason who exhibits little remorse and empathy for his wife. Given this degree of scorn, where the cheating husband's behavior is without redemption, the audience is moved to rethink all of their assumptions about just deserts.

Medea may be regarded as Euripides' embodiment of the monster mother, but in this production, revenge, if not sweet, at least comes across as thoughtful. Medea's actions--insane or evil though it may be--were not without reason. Her desperation is palpable, her pain even more so. Doerries manages to tease emotional complexity out of otherwise barbarous criminal acts.

In Seneca's Phaedra, Amy Ryan portrayed the title character superbly, a women with a heedless lust for her stepson, which leads her to manipulate her husband, an unfinished infidelity that produces tragic results.
"Brooklyn, New York City, where they paint murals of Biggie ... "

-Talib Kweli Definition

New York City contains some half-dozen rap ecosystems. Each individually can rival most any other US city for hip-hop supremacy. Rappers from Queens, the home of Run-DMC, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas and 50 Cent, have always had a little more style, a little more flair, while Harlem emcees (Diddy, Big L, Dipset, A$AP Rocky) can be flossy but don't mess around. The Bronx, of course, has the originals DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, and KRS-One, while just outside the city Long Island boasts great rap innovators like Public Enemy, Eric B and Rakim, De La Soul and EPMD. Staten Island, of course, has the Wu-Tang Clan ...

Notwithstanding, Brooklyn emcees' dexterous use of "punishing bars ... over gritty beats, [which ultimately depict] brutal imagery and started-from-the-bottom story lines ... pay homage to their simultaneously dangerous and vibrant home," and laid the foundation for decades of the culture's sound. Yet hip-hop is more than a sound; hip-hop is a culture. Moreover, hip-hop is a cultural phenomenon teeming with a keen ability to reflect many of the internal and external dynamics of the African American experience. As observed by anthropologist Marc D. Perry:

Although hip-hop has undergone radical transformation during this movement from street to international marketplace, it has at the same time retained a critical capacity to convey a signifying blackness of representational force and emotive meaning... [H]ip-hop today has assumed an increasingly significant role in shaping contemporary forms of black diasporic consciousness and subjectivity.



Undoubtedly, the term "hip-hop" itself has become inextricably linked to urban youth culture in America, but hip-hop's explosive growth over the past four decades defies limiting it simply to the confines of the urban American experience. With its undying popularity, few would contest hip-hop's place as the definitive cultural expression for the post-baby boomer generations. Its ubiquitous presence makes it unavoidable.

While hip-hop may seem to be everywhere, Brooklyn is one of places where you will see the vestiges of the culture on full display. Despite its rampant gentrification, hip-hop, in its purest form, still lives in Brooklyn. A walk through its streets on a warm summer day will reveal as much: whether one stumbles across one of the iconic aerosol painted murals of Christopher George Latore Wallace on the brick walls of a bodega, or stroll past the dilapidated highrise apartment buildings immortalized in songs like O.D.B.'s Brooklyn Zoo, or meander past a candle-lit shrine for Brownsville legend Sean Price, or happen past native Brooklyn residents encircled on a street corner cypher; Brooklyn is replete with symbols of hip-hop's indelible mark on New York's beloved borough. Wes and Ebonie Jackson believed this culture, and its corresponding sound, deserved documentation and celebration; so they did something about it.

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"The whole festival sorta started from a trip in New Orleans ... where I make this offhanded comment to Ebonie that we should do this ... " Mr. Jackson recalls. The "this" to which he referred was a hip-hop festival in Brooklyn.

"I never thought we'd be doing this this long," Mrs. Jackson said in discussing how she and her husband have spearheaded the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival for twelve years. "That comment [Wes] made to me was in January, and five months later, we had the first festival," Mrs. Jackson continued. Mrs. Jackson is a seasoned educator and higher education administrator, currently serving as the Director Of The York College Women's Center at York College. Mr. Jackson is a successful entrepreneur who, among a number of other successful ventures, founded promotion companies instrumental in launching the careers of Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Rawkus Records, et al.

For the Jacksons, the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival began as a labor of love. They worked feverishly to assemble the initial festival in 2005, investing their personal finances, calling in favors from their vast network, forgoing sleep many nights, and the like. Mrs. Jackson even recalls nursing their son Miles backstage at the first festival in-between her efforts to "keep the show going." The Jacksons were determined to make it a success. Mr. Jackson estimates 800 people gathered in a parking lot in Brooklyn to convey their fondness for beloved borough, and the cultural phenomenon that defined it. The festival has continued to blossom over the years.

The Jacksons have assembled a small team that helps them curate, develop, and grow the festival: Juels Pierrot who serves as Director of Marketing and Communications, Trenice Foster who serves as the Social Media Coordinator, Gisella Batista who serves as the Public Relations Coordinator, Andreas Zettlmeissl who serves as the Production Manager, Anna Walton who serves as Production Assistant, and Averi Smith who serves as the Sponsor Coordinator. Together, they have grown the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival into a four-day event series that showcases the multi-faceted aspects of hip-hop culture, with Brooklyn's unique flair.

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In the twelve years since 800 people piled into a cramped parking lot in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival has grown into one of the most respected festivals in the nation. Its main stage routinely features marquee performances from luminaries of the culture: Jay-Z, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, J.Cole, Lupe Fiasco, Pusha T, The Roots, Leaders of the New School, Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, A Tribe Called Quest, EPMD, De La Soul, et al. In short, the Brooklyn Hip-Hop festival puts forth pure, unadulterated hip-hop each year. The caliber of the performances the festival sponsors annually is sufficient to draw all those who appreciate hip-hop at its essence; yet the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival does more. It features four days of events and programming that examines the broader impact of hip-hop as a cultural force.
The Brexit vote to separate Britain from the European Union is a disturbing example of Trumpism crossing the sea to American voters. The New York Times called it, "An unnerving reminder that voter anger is deeper and broader than many than many elite politicians and veteran pollsters realize." Most Democrats and mainstream journalists are trained in the ideology and culture of "free trade" or neo-liberalism, a Boston to Beltway orthodoxy, which has prevailed for three decades. The opponents of Brexit even adopted the slogan used by Hillary Clinton, "Stronger together." The very notion suggests a strong kumbaya to most Americans. The Clintons, "have worried for months that she was out of sync with the mood of the electorate," including her politically safe messages.



There has been a different Hillary in the past, and she may need to pivot to her roots. In 1969 at her Wellesley commencement speech, she voiced a generational protest against corporate bureaucracy and envisioned a new, "more immediate, ecstatic, and penetrating mode of living." She went on to defend Black Panthers at a San Francisco law firm, draft legal essays on the rights of children, and Chair the board of Marion Wright Edelman's Children's Defense Fund. Her path to pragmatic power after this early idealism took her into the rough worlds of Arkansas politics and corporate law. The fact that Edelman supports her today, even after a rupture over welfare "reform", suggests a recovery of Democratic liberalism that continues to grow around civil rights, women's work, children's health, Obamacare expansion, and other improvements voiced on the campaign trail.



She has been cautious and hawkish on the campaign trail, but lately has recovered her strong voice on women's and children's issues. Compared to Bernie Sanders' rhetoric, she is cautious in identifying the class divide between Wall Street and Mainstream as the main contributor to our rigged political process.



Consider the 2000 convention speech by Al Gore as the last expression of the basic conflict between progressive populism and its corporate alternative. What Gore said drew considerable pushback from Democratic leaders and strategists who defended the status quo. Others of us appreciated Gore's convention words at that time:



"So often, powerful forces and powerful interests stand in your way, and the odds seemed stacked against you --even as you do what's right for you and your family.



"How and what we do for all of you - the people who pay the taxes, bear the burdens, and live the American dream -- that is the standard by which we should be judged.



"And for all of our good times, I am not satisfied.



"To all the families in America who have to struggle to afford the right education and the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs...I want you to know this: I've taken on the powerful forces. And as President, I'll stand up to them, and I'll stand up for you."
Today's attack on Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey confirms what we learned in Paris, San Bernardino and Brussels. Although they still prefer to hit high-profile targets, terrorists will settle for any venue that nets them a large body count. The perpetrators would have preferred to enter the terminal, but, failing that, they detonated their suicide vests at the entrances.

Terrorism experts call this phenomenon "target displacement." If your intended target is too heavily guarded, hit an alternative one nearby. Aside from the dead and wounded, the Turkish economy is the other victim of the attack. With two millennium of history to display, Istanbul is a popular tourist destination. After several fourth attack on the city in the past year, far fewer visitors will go there.

While there has as yet been no claim of responsibility, the signs point to ISIS. The Islamic State has carried out a wave of attacks in Europe since last fall. The similarities between this airport attack and the one in Brussels are hard to miss. Fortunately, Ataturk is a more secure airport than the on Belgium. Passengers must pass through security before they enter the terminal. Unfortunately, a crowd of people lined up at a check point makes for a high body count, and it frightens travelers just as much.

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People in the U.S. will of course be wondering what more can be done to keep them safe when they travel. Pushing security out to the curb will probably not work. To take a single example, the sidewalk in front of O'Hare International Airport could not even hold all the passengers as they waited to enter its terminals. Even if at-the-door security were possible, those lining up for it might be more vulnerable than they are now.
For Vogue, by Monica Kim.



Photographed by Mario Testino, Vogue, April 2014

Tan lines are all but inevitable in summer--and can even lend your look a carefree surfer vibe. But when a cutout maillot draws awkward stripes across your torso, or a Bond girl halter leaves your neck ghostly pale, it can get a little weird. Yet there are still those It girls who are perennially beach-bound and even-toned--despite their own fashion-forward swimsuits. What, we wondered, is their secret to preventing, or rehabbing, an uneven glow?

For model Cami Morrone, a born-and-bred Californian, it's about making a point to pull down her straps and adjust her bottoms every few minutes without fail. "Even if you feel like you aren't getting color, you most likely are," she says. A slick of coconut oil provides a more subtle sun boost than traditional bronzers, along with a hint of natural SPF--though broad-spectrum sunscreen is nonnegotiable. "Do not let clouds fool you," Morrone adds. "Those guys will burn!" Fellow model and beachside babe Paige Reifler takes an equally practical approach: "Keep your bathing suit simple to avoid looking like a zebra when you get out of the sun, and when no one is looking--or you're on a beach in Europe--take it off!"

If you're loath to give up your avant-garde swimwear, look no further than designer Lisa Marie Fernandez, whose ruffled bandeaus and cutout maillots are favorites among the fashion crowd. When sunning on the beaches of Patmos, Greece, Fernandez makes sure to pack a handful of different styles, which helps to keep tan lines in check. "Do not wear the same suit two days in a row," she says. At night, a creamy self-tanner can "fill in the parts of your body that did not see the sun," she says, and the next day, a bit of Bain de Soleil Gelee SPF 4 in those same sections can help further even tone. Finally, Fernandez adds, a gentle nightly exfoliation will give the skin a lasting glow: "This keeps your tan longer--just the opposite of what one would think!" Who knew?

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Khaled, an incredibly kind and proud Palestinian taxi driver, often drove me wherever I needed to be while I was living in Cairo. He was recommended to me by the landlord who I was renting my "desert abode" from in New Cairo. I call it a desert abode because it was literally in the middle of the desert, with only massive, vacant buildings around it.

I had been living in Maadi, an expat-filled neighborhood with a wonderful roommate, but the noise from late-night traffic had become unbearable. I moved to New Cairo, where I was among one of two people who lived in my building, even though I never saw the other student that lived there. I am quite sure the hallowed out sculptures of buildings around us were empty, with only Bedouin spirits creeping through them in the night.

Except, there was one barren floor across the way, overlooking my window and into my small studio room, which was no longer empty after a few weeks. A homeless family moved in, perhaps thinking that the other buildings were also entirely empty so no one one notice. After I received a huge shock while I was walking around post-shower, it was a miracle that the water was actually running and not ice cold, I noticed wide eyes peering at me from the dilapidated window. Someone quickly shirked back into the shadows and the very next day a piece of worn, old cloth was hung up along the window so I couldn't see in, and so no one else could technically see out.

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When Khaled would pick me up from my desert abode, so I could take an afternoon off from my research and actually experience my beloved Cairo, I would frequently head to two of my favorite neighborhoods, Maadi or Zamalek. He would blare Enrique Iglesias, "I Like It" and would suddenly turn down the music incredibly low, perhaps beneath the vibrations of a whisper, whenever we would pass the Cairo Necropolis. Then Khaled would enthusiastically twist the knob back up to sing along to his favorite music as soon as the tail of the car passed the last wall of the immortal grounds.

Khaled was incredibly animated and always had a huge smile on his face. He would tell me Palestinian tales and how he thought I should never trust someone from Israel, or how I honestly shouldn't trust Egyptians for that matter. He insisted that I resembled a daughter of the pharaoh's, which led me to believe that I should stop wearing so much winged eyeliner, and that I should always be extremely careful.

In fact, Khaled was so concerned with my safety that he frequently tried to talk me into purchasing a taser, and even stopped in front of numerous shops where I could purchase one on several occasions.

I trusted Khaled to a great extent, as he would often drive me home late at night, while the moon was out and the smog would begin to fade as we moved from Old Islamic Cairo to New Cairo. I always sat in the back of his taxi filled with Palestinian stickers and scarves, which is what all women typically do in Cairo, both for safety purposes and because of cultural expectations.

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I generally fell asleep as I do in all modes of transportation, whether it's a motorcycle, tuk-tuk, desert truck, airplane or barely functioning automobile, and would wake up only when Khaled would turn around and tap on the back of the seat in front of me. He would say, "Miss Whitney, you can sleep here but your bed is calling you!" or "Did you dream of Tennessee?"

I always felt like Egyptians constantly want to know what you are thinking, as they are a very interpersonal society and some might even argue that they are perhaps very bad at keeping secrets because they are so engaged in their families and communities. It is often said that even the Egyptian regimes of Mubarak and Morsi were quite bad at letting secrets slip, or they could never get all of their stories entirely straight! Though Khaled was Palestinian he was quite similar to many wonderful Egyptians I knew, regarding his great interest in my contemplative silence.

After Khaled would wake me I would occasionally exclaim, "Ah yes! I always dream of Tennessee, but you know there I cannot find such good Egyptian food", which would leave Khaled laughing until his sides hurt.

He always commented on the fact that I loved food so much and found it hilarious that I had endless snacks in my purse such as bananas, bottles of water or juice, fresh figs and dates, homemade sandwiches, trail mix, Egyptian sweets, and gummi bears. I would always offer some to him and he would take just a small piece or tiny handful while saying, "to keep my energy for when I return to my love, Palestine."

The last time I was in Cairo Khaled's mobile number was not working and I am no longer in contact with my previous landlord in New Cairo, for unfortunate reasons concerning being extremely overcharged for a room I was hoping to rent once again, as I finished my graduate studies at the American University in Cairo.

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It is disheartening to know that I will probably never see his fatherly face again, with his soft brown Palestinian eyes and large contagious smile, nor hear his chortled laughter which he could never contain no matter how hard he tried.
In the tight race between Sanders and Clinton, it is the superdelegates who will decide who the Democratic nominee is. But there's one ultra-superdelegate that hasn't weighed in yet: the Earth.

Sure, the Earth isn't a person, but neither are corporations, yet they are considered people by the U.S. Supreme Court, allowing them to buy politicians and influence elections. So why can't the Earth have its say?

It may seem strange for a Canadian who works in the freight industry to chime in on the Earth's perspective of the U.S. presidential election, but hear me out.

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My husband and I run a technology startup making shipping more efficient while reducing emissions from freight transportation. Last month we were honored to share our vision of a green future for freight in the G7 Summit publication, Climate Change: The New Economy.

On a more personal note, we immigrated to Vancouver, Canada from sunny California in 2003 to get away from ground-level ozone pollution that was causing severe asthma in our son. Some of our friends thought we were "Bush-dodgers", but in fact we were environmental refugees.

The Earth certainly doesn't approve of climate change-denier, Donald Trump. We don't even need to have that discussion. But what about Hillary Clinton?

I believe the Earth was pleased to see Sanders push Hillary Clinton left on environmental issues during the Democratic debates. He caused her to flip-flop on her stances on the TPP and fracking. However, considering she helped promote both around the world, and changed her position on nuclear energy several times, the Earth took her new "stances" with a grain of sea salt.

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And then there was that time last November when Clinton said she'd do away with the coal industry if elected president, only to retract that statement 6 months later. Just wait until she secures the nomination and starts moving further right.

Also, don't forget that Greenpeace has documented "the campaign to elect Hillary Clinton for president in 2016 has received more than $6.9 million from lobbyists, bundlers, and large donors connected to the fossil fuel industry." They surely expect something in return.

To make matters worse, the US military is responsible for the largest and most egregious pollution of the planet. The New York Times would like to remind us, citizens of Earth, that Clinton is the only true war hawk left in the race, outranking Trump.
Indrani Basu

The Shamli administration has done it againthis time, they've included a man in their "Hindu exodus" list as dead. Yogendra Sethi, an erstwhile resident of Kandhla in Shamli, heard from a neighbour that his name is among the four "dead" people in the list released by the government last week. Shocked, Sethi, who had moved to Delhi, rushed to Kandhla on Sunday to prove that I am still alive.

Due to the disturbing situation in Kandhla, I decided to shift to Delhi with my mother Raj Rani about a year ago, he told The Indian Express.

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The Shamli administration had released the list last week after conducting a probe on the alleged "Hindu exodus" from the area. Yet, this is another instance of the district administration's flawed research. What is even worse is the way the 'probe' is conductedwhile acknowledging their mistake, subdivisional magistrate of Kairana, Ram Avtar Gupta, claimed that the neighbours had given his team wrong information.
Dinesh Rathod/Facebook

When Maharashtra police constables Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod claimed in early June this year they have set a record as the first Indian couple and the first from the police force to have scaled the Mount Everest, the entire nation felicitated them for their incredible feat.

"We were committed that we would not give birth to a child until we climb Mt. Everest," Dinesh told journalists at that time. His wife added, With pride now, we want to become parents.

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However, it seems the celebrations broke out a tad early. Fellow mountaineers have allegedly told Pune Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla that the couple faked the summit photos, pointing out several discrepancies.

The Hindu quoted Surendra Shelke, a mountaineer with two decades of experience, as saying that the time factor does not add up in the Rathods' claim of having reached the peak on 23 May.

Shelke said "no one seemed to have seen the Rathods beyond the base camp" and that the couple had not even "reached the first acclimatisation rotation before the main push to the summit -- the Khumbu icefall -- by May 10" thereby making it implausible that they would have reached the peak on 23 May.

The Khumbu icefall is a gruelling stretch, about a half mile or so of shifting glacier that can move even six feet in one day and it can take even an acclimatised climber almost 12 hours to cross. Last year, 19 climbers were killed and 61 injured by an avalanche at the Everest base camp triggered by a massive earthquake. In 2014, 16 Sherpas were killed in an avalanche at the Khumbu Icefall.

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Shelke has also alleged in his email to Shukla that the couple used Photoshop to create their summit photos.

On June 5, Dinesh uploaded several images on Facebook of him making the journey to the top.

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However, another climber, Anjali Kulkarni, pointed out to NDTV that in Dinesh's individual summit photo, he is seen wearing a red and black down jacket. However the colour is a yellow-orange in their ascent photos.

"These are the biggest giveaways. The pictures are clearly morphed. The couple's Himalayan suit colours and even their boots seem to have been changed at the summit.... Both seem to have changed their climbing boots too in separate pictures. Being able to change one's clothes mid-climb and not get frostbitten would be a miracle," Kulkarni told the website.

The complainants -- Kulkarni, Sharad Kulkarni, Surendra Shelke, Anand Bansode, Shrikant Chavan, Rupali Chavan, Manisha Waghmare and Amit Singh -- also claimed that the time stamp on Dinesh's photo does not match the direction of light. The summit photo was apparently at clicked 6:25 am on 23 May, "but the direction of the shadows indicates that the time the photo was taken was between 11 am and noon," they said in their complaint.

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Villagers of Masurdi have to queue for three hours for a water tanker on April 11, 2016 in Latur, Maharashtra.

Water For The People

This first step has to be taken when the monsoons are delayed or have failed, and people are plagued by acute water shortages brought on by a prolonged drought. All trends indicate that these extreme situations are becoming more frequent, and so, the Centre must work with state governments to establish a protocol that ensures that the limited stock of water--both surface and ground--is used first and foremost for the purposes of drinking and other domestic needs of the drought affected.

It really is unforgivable that thousands of litres of water was wasted in preparing helipads for politicians to land their helicopters in parched areas such as Latur and Bhiwandi in Maharashtra, and in Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh.

"Don't waste a drop of water on anything else," said H.M. Desarda, an economist, who has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court, seeking a better response to the drought from the Maharashtra government.

Don't waste a drop of water on anything else.

Food: Ensure Implementation Of The National Food Security Act, 2013

Implement the National Food Security Act, 2013, (NFSA) which provides subsidised food grain to 67 percent of India's population, including rice at 3 per kilogram, wheat at 2 per kilogram, and coarse grains at 1 per kilogram. Every eligible household is entitled to 5 kilograms of food grain per person per month.

In view of desperate food shortages, the Supreme Court has ordered that food grain be released to anyone who can show proof of residence or identity even if they do not have a ration card.

But the Centre is not following through on Supreme Court's directive, according to Yogendra Yadav, former leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, who now heads Swaraj Abhiyan, a non-governmental organisation, which has taken the Modi government to court over the drought.

"Universal access to food-grain in drought-affected areas has not happened anywhere and no state is anywhere close to implementing this critical directive for the mitigation of hunger. The union government is not willing to accept its responsibility in this respect," Yadav told the media, last week.

Universal access to food-grain in drought-affected areas has not happened anywhere.

With the exception of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Nagaland, 33 States and UTs have rolled out NFSA. But even in the states where the law is being implemented, experts point that NFSA is plagued by problems such as identifying eligible households, leakages due to lack of procurement, transport and storage infrastructure, and corruption in Fair Price Shops.

Dipa Sinha, a Right to Food activist, said that making cheap food grain available does not beat hunger and malnutrition, but it is essential to combat starvation. Sinha also suggested expanding the Public Distribution System to include pulses and oil so that people have some source of protein and fat.

"All this needs getting out of routine bureaucracy and treating this like an emergency," she said.
ARUN SANKAR via Getty Images Indian students participate in a yoga demonstration on International Yoga Day in Chennai on June 21, 2016Yoga, which means union in Sanskrit, is a family of ancient spiritual practices and also a school of spiritual thought from the South East Asian continent, where it remains a vibrant living tradition and is seen as a means of enlightenment. / AFP / ARUN SANKAR (Photo credit should read ARUN SANKAR/AFP/Getty Images)

In addition to their classes and assignments, students at IIT Roorkee are facing another challenge. If they didn't show any interest in yoga, they will have to face strict action which includes paying a fine of 700 and not getting a no-dues certificate.

A note to this effect, reportedly sent to the students, has gone viral on social media.

The note was sent to the students of the Radhakrishna Bhawan hostel in IIT Roorkee on 22 June, supposedly by the assistant warden.

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According to a report in the Times Of India, the institute is also planning to take strict action against students who did not turn up for the week-long yoga sessions at the campus from 18 to 24 June, as part of the International Yoga Day celebrations.

However, authorities at IIT Roorkee denied that they were planning to take any action against the defaulters. They told TOI said that student attendance data in the Yoga camp was being compiled "just for record."

"We did not pressure any student to attend the yoga sessions in the institute and there is no plan of taking disciplinary action against non-attending students," said DK Nauriyal, Dean (Students) of the institute said.

There was a similar controversy at the institute last year.

A circular, purportedly issued by the Dean of IIT Roorkee, said: "All the students of IIT Roorkee summer hostels are hereby directed to compulsorily attend one week yoga camp from June 18, 2015 to June 24, 2015. Attendance in the yoga camp is mandatory and will be recorded on the spot every day."

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Sima Kotecha/Twitter

LONDON -- An Indian-origin BBC reporter faced racist abuse on the streets of her hometown in southern England yesterday while she was reporting on Brexit vote.

Sima Kotecha was reporting on the aftermath of the 23 June referendum from the town of Basingstoke when she heard someone saying "Paki", a racist term used for South Asian origin migrants in the UK.

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"In utter shock: just been called 'p..i' in my home town! Haven't heard that word here since the 80s," she later tweeted.

The incident reflects a latest spike in racist incidents around the UK since the country voted for Brexit last week.

The decision to leave the European Union (EU) has led to an estimated 57 per cent increase in reported racist incidents between Thursday and Sunday, compared with the same days four weeks earlier, the UK's National Police Chiefs' Council said.

Outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron had condemned the rise in such attacks in his address to Parliament on Monday.

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"Let's remember these people have come here and made a wonderful contribution to our country. We will not stand for hate crime or these kinds of attacks, they must be stamped out," he said.

Meanwhile, police officers were today also investigating a possible racist attack on a Muslim butcher's shop in the West Midlands region of England.

A worker from the Kashmir Meat and Poultry shop in Walsall was injured when a suspect walked in and hurled a bottle filled with accelerant liquid.

It left the man bruised and the shop badly fire damaged.

While West Midlands Police said the motive was "unclear" at the moment, "one of our lines of investigation is to determine if this is a racially-motivated assault".

"The inquiry is at an early stage and I am keeping an open mind as to the motive. The man was not seriously injured, but it could have been much more serious. I am appealing for anyone with information," a spokesperson said.

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Detectives are examining CCTV from the area in their hunt for the suspect, who was described as white and 6-foot tall.

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"It all started with a Twitter duel between Kamaal R Khan and me after the release of my film Love Games. Then, came his review of the film 1920 London. Though I did not produce the film, direct it, write the dialogue or the screenplay, he decided to do a review of me instead of the film. He made absurd insinuations  called me a fraud, a pimp and other unsavoury names. I couldn't care less  when you have made a business of ranting, then ranting is what you got to do (sic)," Bhatt wrote on his official Facebook page in a post titled, 'KAMAAL R KHAN AND MY IMMINENT MUD WRESTLE'.
"While shooting, during those six hours, thered be so much of lifting and thrusting on the ground involved. That was tough for me because if I was lifting, Id have to lift the same 120-kilo guy 10 times for 10 different angles. And likewise, get thrown that many times on the ground. This act is not repeated that many times in the real fights in the ring. When I used to walk out of the ring, after the shoot, I used to feel like a raped woman. I couldnt walk straight. I would eat and then, head right back to training. That couldnt stop."
Courtesy Pratim D Gupta

Filmmaker Pratim D Gupta's Bengali feature Shaheb Bibi Golaam is all set to arrive in theatres in West Bengal and select parts of the country on August 26  seven months after it was originally supposed to.

The suspense thriller has been through three stages of the film certification process, dealing with the bureaucratic ways of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). On Wednesday, The Telegraph published a first-person account of the ordeal Gupta was put through to get his film  featuring Anjan Dutt, Swastika Mukherjee, and Ritwick Chakraborty as 'Shaheb', 'Bibi', and 'Golaam' respectively  released. While he initially hoped to get a U/A certificate, the film, which was initially denied a certificate, will finally release with an A (adults only) rating.

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In late December 2015, Shaheb Bibi Golaam was screened for the CBFC's first stage: the Examining Committee, comprising two men, one lady, and the regional officer (RO). Gupta describes what happened after he was, along with his producer Firdausul Hasan, were called into the room:

RO: Youve used the word BDSM in a scene. What is this BDSM? Me: Bondage Domination Sadism Masochism. Pin-drop silence as the members look at each other. Me: Its about role-playing in love-making. Theres still no reaction. Finally the RO breaks the awkward silence. We have one lady member short today; so there will have to be another screening next week.

At the second screening, he was told that two of the lady members  neither of which included the woman from the previous committee  were against certifying the film because the found Mukherjee's character "morally degrading", as per the rules stated in the Cinematograph Act of 1952 (which is said to be outdated and far too broad in its purview). The RO told Gupta that he personally "loved the film" and found it "progressive"; however, as per the rule book, he would have to send it to the Revising Committee, a six-member committee of Board members chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament, George Baker.

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"My hands are tied. Finding a sensible member for this committee is like finding a polar bear in Calcutta!" said the RO by way of explanation, according to Gupta.

When he argued that rape was violent, pervasive and that cinema is supposed to mirror what happens in society, Baker replied: "I understand that. You understand that. But will Montu on the streets understand that?"

Several weeks later, on the day they'd intended to release the film (January 22), the RC saw the film (along with the RO, who was watching it for the third time). Baker, a former actor well-known for his work in Bengali and Assamese cinema, congratulated him on the film but asked him to entirely delete a 'savage' rape sequence from the film. When he argued that rape was violent, pervasive and that cinema is supposed to mirror what happens in society, Baker replied: "I understand that. You understand that. But will Montu on the streets understand that?"

In effect, the line of thinking adopted by the RC was that films were supposed to be censored as per to the perceived moralities of the mythical 'man on the streets', not their own. It appears to stem from the idea that the average Indian viewer is not mature enough to separate fiction from reality and needs to be 'protected' from truthful depictions. Once again, as they do week after week, the CBFC took upon the responsibility of mollycoddling audiences rather than just doing their job i.e. certification.

Declaring that he wouldn't cut the scene from the film as it was "pivotal" and not meant to titillate viewers, Gupta took his fight to the next stage: the Film Certificate Appellate Tribunal (FCAT). As the committee had no members who understood Bengali, he took three weeks to add English subtitles to the film and translate the entire script in the same for their benefit. They were granted a screening date nearly two months later, on April 19.

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In its written order, the FCAT concluded: We do not agree that the character in any manner may establish a bad precedent in the society or may have the effect of desensitising or debasing women so as not to merit public exhibition.

Gupta and Hasan travelled to Delhi for the screening, which was in the presence of a retired High Court judge and three other members. "Initially, just like the CBFC, they wanted to take out the entire rape sequence, which also includes a lot of violence," said Gupta, in a conversation with HuffPost India. "Then I explained that the plot wouldn't make sense without it. Also, nothing [in the sequence] is there for titillation because there is zilch skin show."

Anjan Dutt in a still from 'Shaheb Bibi Golaam'

Eventually, the FCAT asked Gupta to delete a part of the scene that implies penetration, following the unwritten norms of censorship that often takes a more lenient stance towards violence than sex. This is a dichotomy that exists even in the United States  renowned film critic Roger Ebert, for example, has written about how Hollywood misuses violence and may be guilty of "perpetuating and reinforcing it". But in India, there are scenes of violence that are passed without problems in films certified U or U/A, while sex automatically earns one an A rating (and nudity, if at all any filmmaker attempts to depict in their film, is usually deleted).

They also asked the makers to mute six cuss words  a tiny, expendable fraction of the actual amount of profanity in the film. A small price to pay, but it begs the question: what aspects of Indian culture and delicate 'public sentiments' will they have saved from harm by deleting even those words?

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In its written order, the FCAT concluded: We do not agree that the character in any manner may establish a bad precedent in the society or may have the effect of desensitising or debasing women so as not to merit public exhibition.

Now, with a little under two months to go for the release of Shaheb Bibi Golaam, Gupta is relieved that the film he made will be shown to audiences relatively intact, its limiting A certification notwithstanding. "Although there is no nudity, a woman having sex outside marriage would have never got a U/A in this country," he opined.

Shaheb Bibi Golaam is being distributed by Drishyam Films and will be released with English subtitles on August 26 in West Bengal as well as Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.

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NEW DELHI -- Amit Kumar Singh, a senior police official in Tamil Nadu, has apologized to the parents of the 21-year-old student, who committed suicide after obscene photographs of her were posted on Facebook.

The Telegraph reported today that Singh, the Superintendent of Police in Salem, stood with folded hands and said sorry to the parents of Vinupriya, a college student, who killed herself after the local police failed to arrest the circulation of the photos online.

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Kumar said that he had apologized in his personal capacity, The Telegraph reported. "I told them I was very sorry for their loss and requested them to understand the police were doing their best and we would definitely nab the culprit," he told the newspaper. " How can I explain to them, who are going through so much trauma, that the very nature of cyber crime takes time to unravel?"

"That is the reason I met them personally, shared their grief and said sorry for any misunderstanding or the laxity of some of my officers," he said.

The family has accused the police of not taking action to block or remove the morphed photo despite their repeated requests. Her father, a weaver, alleges that they were forced to pay a bribe worth Rs.2000 and give mobile phone. "Police inaction is the sole reason for her death," her father told The Telegraph.

A suicide note suggested that her parents did not believe that she had not sent nude pictures of herself to whoever posted them online, NDTV reported. The letter said, "What's the use of living when my father and mother do not trust me?"

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If you struggle with suicidal thoughts or attempts, call any of these helplines: Aasra 91-22-27546669, Sneha 04424640050, Jeevan 0091 6576453841, Pratheeksha 0484 2448830.

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Buhler JV and freshman football will not be defeated

The Buhler JV squad capped its unbeaten season with a 34-22 victory at McPherson Monday night with help from members of the freshman team.
Happy Birthday Officially Enters Public Domain

After a long legal battle, "Happy Birthday To You" has entered the public domain. It's part of a growing list of "moder" songs whose legal status is shifting as copyrights run out and lawyers test their limits. Up next, a battle over Woody Guthrie's iconic "This Land Is Your Land."

________________________________________________

It's official! Sing it loud, sing it proud, and sing it for free, knowing that you won't get hit up for royalties. The world's most famous song, "Happy Birthday to You," is now in the public domain thanks in large part to Donahue Fitzgerald LLP Partners Andrew MacKay and Daniel Schacht.

Judge George H. King of the Central District of California gave final approval today to the settlement in Good Morning to You Productions Corp. et al. v. Warner/Chappell Music Inc., et al. The settlement includes the repayment of $14 million in royalties collected by Warner/Chappell and a court order placing the song in the public domain.

"This is a huge victory for the public, and for the artists who want to use Happy Birthday to You in their videos and music. Everyone who has a birthday can

celebrate!" said Schacht. "Strong copyright protection is important for artists and content creators, but it must have limits. This landmark ruling recognizes the value of the public domain."

Filed as a class action, the lawsuit sought to represent anyone who had paid to license the song, such as musicians, filmmakers, and television producers. Of the four class plaintiffs, which included Good Morning to You Productions Corp., Robert Siegel, and Majar Productions, LLC, Donahue Fitzgerald's client Rupa Marya is the only musician. Marya's involvement in the case stemmed from her performance of "Happy Birthday to You" at a concert on her birthday in 2013. She paid Warner/Chappell $455 to include the live rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" on her album Live at the Independent.

Warner/Chappell alleged that their rights to the "Happy Birthday to You" song came from their 1988 acquisition of the Summy Company and the copyright would not expire until 2030. In Sept. 2015, Judge King granted partial summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs, ruling that Warner/Chappell did not own the copyright to the lyrics of the song. The defendants agreed to settle the matter thereafter.

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Translation: French (pdf)

Geneva - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expressed outrage at last nights attack at Ataturk Airport Istanbul, Turkey.

Once again, innocent travelers have been attacked in a cowardly and murderous act. Our thoughts are with the victims, and their families and friends, said Tony Tyler, IATAs Director General and CEO.

"Air transport brings people together and facilitates both social and economic development. Istanbul has a particularly significant and historical role in connecting East and West. Last night's attack was a broad attack on our shared humanity. But terrorism will never succeed in reversing the interconnectedness of the world. The desire of the human spirit to explore and trade will always triumph over suspicion and fear. That Istanbul airport is operating today is a testament to the resilience and determination of the Turkish people and the aviation industry. We stand together in solidarity--confident that we will emerge stronger and more united in our resolve to keep connecting our world, said Tyler.

The safety and security of passengers are our top priorities. This tragedy in Istanbul and the one in Brussels earlier this year show that there is a growing challenge for governments to keep people safe in the 'landside' parts of the airport. Moving people 'airside' more quickly can help to mitigate risk. The industry has a number of initiatives in place to achieve that aim and we are working with governments and airports to implement them," said Tyler.

+41 22 770 2967

Notes for Editors:

IATA (International Air Transport Association) represents some 265 airlines comprising 83% of global air traffic

You can follow us at http://twitter.com/iata2press for news specially catered for the media

Corporate CommunicationsTel:Email: corpcomms@iata.org
As part of its efforts to recover from allegations of fraud, HR service company Zenefits announced Tuesday that it has launched a cloud-based application that would ensure that only licensed agents can sell insurance products.The app was built on the Salesforce App Cloud, reported GeekWire. Zenefits has been using the app internally since February to ensure that over 250 of the companys brokers and advisors meet licensing standards.Zenefits app works by automatically verifying brokers or advisors licensing status. It also prevents their assignment to an account if they do not have a valid insurance license from the respective state they are operating in. The app receives a feed from the regularly-updated National Insurance Producer Registry producer database to ensure that the licensing information is always up-to-date.Notably, if a broker or advisors license is not renewed in time, the app prevents the user from closing transactions.[The app is] a smart solution, especially for a large organization with many licensed agents, said California Association of Health Underwriters Michael Lujan in a release.The app will be made available this fall at no extra charge to insurance brokerages across the country.In late 2015, Zenefits was exposed for having failed to enforce legal requirements that anyone selling a health-insurance policy should have the requisite state license to do so. On February 2016, BuzzFeed reported that the company helped insurance brokers falsify their mandatory online training. In the same month, CEO Parker Conrad was forced to resign and approximately 12% of the staff left the company or were laid off.Former Yammer CEO and Microsoft executive David Sacks now leads the company as CEO.
Anthem has refuted a report by the New York Post suggesting that it is in talks to end its planned $48 billion merger with Cigna.The Post cited unnamed sources for the claims and reported that Anthems CFO John Gallina had talked to analysts about plans to buy certain assets from Aetna.However, Anthem spokeswoman Jill Becher told Bloomberg that there were no talks regarding ending the deal or payment of a breakup fee. She said that the two companies were still talking with state regulators and the US Department of Justice to get approval for the deal.Uber says it is reviewing the newly-approved ride-sharing insurance policy and other rules in Alberta to decide if it will resume operations in the province.Albertas transportation minister Brian Mason announced Tuesday that an insurance policy for services like Uber will be available from this Friday but insisted that drivers must upgrade their drivers licence to class 1, 2 or 4.CBC News reports that the insurance policy, arranged by Albertas superintendent of insurance together with Intact Insurance, would have to be purchased by Uber on behalf of its drivers. The policy includes $1 million statutory accident coverage and $2 million public liability.A survey by Zurich has found that most Americans do not have sufficient savings to cope in the event of illness or becoming disabled.The insurer discovered that 1 in 4 would run out of money within a month and that a third of respondents had lost income from an illness or disability that lasted more than 6 months.The survey results illustrate what we fearedmost people have inadequate protection against the loss of income caused by illness, disability or the death of the primary wage earner, said John Miskel, head of Corporate Life and Pensions for Zurich North America.Many of those polled were unaware of income protection insurance
Dick Dassatti of the North County Cares Coalition addresses the City Council on Tuesday. The council voted 7-1 to support the resolution after making a couple modifications. PreviousNext

North Adams Council Backs Resolution Calling for Detox Center



Dr. Thomas Hyde said the heroin working group did not have enough data to say whether beds or something else was needed to address the addiction crisis, prompting Michael Chalifoux to call him a backstabber and a snake.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The City Council on Tuesday approved 8-1 a citizens' petition calling on Berkshire Health Systems to open a center for detoxification and substance abuse recovery.



The vote came after more than an hour of discussion and debate and numerous comments from the public, including assertions that the council was dithering over what the community wanted.



"This resolution ... goes right to the point, don't send it back to committee," said Thomas Partenope. "Act. That's what you're here for and do it tonight, please."



The resolution was submitted on behalf of the North County Cares Coalition by Council President Benjamin Lamb back in early May. The Public Safety Committee heard from a range of residents and service providers during a two-hour meeting earlier this month without making a recommendation on the resolution.



Like much of the nation, the city has seen a dramatic increase in opioid abuse. The rate of those seeking treatment in North Adams has jumped from about 42 in 2005 to nearly 200 in 2014. The coalition says the need for opioid treatment in North County is critical.

Berkshire Medical Center was recently approved for a 30-bed Clinical Stabilization Services center in Pittsfield; it also operates the McGee Recovery Center there.



The coalition has been advocating for the reopening of the former North Adams Regional Hospital as a "full-service" medical facility. The hospital was closed two years ago because of bankruptcy and is assets were purchased by the health system's Berkshire Medical Center.



Since then, BMC has restored a range of services; what's not available is in-patient services other than two "observation beds" in the emergency department.



"We also need Berkshire Health Systems to step up and address the drug problem in North Adams while also serving Pittsfield and Great Barrington," said Joanne Bates. "Let's start by treating patients who need to be hospitalized because of their drug problem."



"We desperately need this," said Michael Chalifoux. "We are fighting a war on drugs with no hospital."



The council was split over what the resolution should contain, debating over adding recognition of BHS' efforts in North County, or whether the resolution addressed fully the holistic needs of acute care, recovery and support.



James Lipa, of the NCCC, said the group did not have an issue adding recognition of BHS to the resolution.



Mayor Richard Alcombright, who could not attend the meeting, addressed his concerns "about the demanding tone" of the resolution in a letter read into the record by Council President Benjamin Lamb.



"I do not think that the resolution before you truly identifies or articulates what is needed in our community," wrote the mayor, who has been working on the opiod issue with the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition's Rx/Heroin Abuse Workgroup, as well as through the Massachusetts Municipal Association.



"Should you think it is necessary that BHS/BMC hear the Council as the 'voice of the community,' I think it should be done working with and through the discussions of the Workgroup."

Buddington didn't think the resolution "sounds confrontational" but said he would support language recognizing BMC's efforts. Boucher was ready to vote: "I would like to support this and vote it forward tonight."

Resident Trevor Gilman urged them to vote on the resolution, saying "they're big boys at BHS."

"When did this city lose its balls?" he asked. "We believe in this. This is what we want, and there's nothing wrong with this."



In the end, two minor amendments were made. Blackmer motioned that the term "asserted," used in connection with recommendations by the Stroudwater report (on North County's health care needs), be replaced with the actual language of "showed an existing need" for a dozen in-patient beds for substance abuse and behavioral health and the report's page number. Bona added in the governor and the Berkshire's congressman to the list of officials.



Bullett was the only vote in the negative, saying she could not support a resolution that focused on what she felt were short-term goals that did not fully address the needs for addiction recovery.



In other business, the council swiftly approved Kyle Hanlon to another term on the Redevelopment Authority to end in 2019 and a taxi license for Samuel Day to drive for RJ Taxi.



The classification and compensation plan for fiscal 2017 was passed to a second reading published, as was an ordinance amending rate changes at the transfer station.



Lamb called a five-minute recess and for a police officer at the beginning of the meeting when gadfly Robert Cardimino refused to stop talking when his two minutes were up. Cardimino was complaining about city services and that several city councilors were covered by municipal insurance, as allowed by law. He left on his own shortly after the officer arrived.
MCLA, BCC Offer Summer Program to Aid Transition to College

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Berkshire Community College, in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education and the Berkshire County Regional Employment Board, will offer the first MCLA/BCC Dual Enrollment: Summer 2016 Academy from July 6 through Aug. 5, to provide an intensive college readiness experience to local, newly graduated high school students.



This pilot program, directed toward newly graduated high school students from Pittsfield and northern Berkshire County, will include two Commonwealth Dual Enrollment Program academic courses, which will prepare them to attend MCLA or BCC this fall. In addition, each student will work with the BerkshireWorks Career Centers YouthWorks program in Pittsfield or the North Adams YouthWorks program to secure a paid internship position for the summer.



According to Jake Eberwein, MCLAs dean of Graduate and Continuing Education, the program was organized with dual enrollment funding after the colleges identified an underserved population of high school students who live in Pittsfield and Northern Berkshire County, who needed a boost in confident to continue their education.



MCLA is pleased to partner with BCC, the local schools, the Department of Higher Education, and the Berkshire County Regional Employment Board to offer this innovative summer program, Eberwein said. We are confident this unique program and set of opportunities will equip participating students with the academic and college readiness boost needed to successfully prepare for and transition to college. In doing so, we will advance student aspirations and increase access to college.



The Summer 2016 Academy will be held at the Conte Federal Building, 78 Center St., Pittsfield. It will include a math course, Math 102: Mathematics for Liberal Arts, taught by an MCLA professor, and an English course, English 101: An Introduction to College-Level Composition, taught by a member of the BCC faculty.



Students will earn six college credits  three for each course.



In addition, all participants who would like a summer work experience  who are not already working  will be offered a paid internship in a career area that interests them.



According to BCREB Youth Director Heather Williams, the programs participants will have a range of employment experiences to choose from, from human services to the hospitality and tourism field. Summer job opportunities, she said, provide youth with the necessary exposure to basic and job-specific skills that will pave the way for their career success.
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MONTREAL, 29 June 2016  The leaders of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) today expressed their strong condemnation of yesterdays terrorist bombings at Ataturk Airport, and their deep condolences for the families of the victims of the tragic assault.

The Council President and Secretary General of the UN agency expressed the aviation communitys solidarity with the people and Government of Turkey and the City of Istanbul, and their continued concern over the persistent willingness of terrorist groups to target international civil aviation facilities and operations.

These attacks were an affront to the Turkish people and senseless in their targeting of innocent travellers, remarked ICAO Council President Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu. The civil aviation community works diligently with States to keep our global network and its billions of passengers safe from terrorist threats, and we are deeply saddened in the aftermath of these cowardly assaults.

Our hearts and sympathies today are with the victims and their families, added ICAO Secretary General, Dr. Fang Liu. ICAO is seeking practical and effective solutions for reinforcing landside security measures at airports.

ICAO maintains international security provisions for both airside and landside terminal areas. These are currently undergoing review, and will be subject to final approval and adoption by ICAOs 36-State governing Council.

Resources for editors:

ICAO Security and Facilitation Website

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The head of the U.S. Senate Republicans' campaign arm pinned Sen. Ron Johnson's re-election hopes on his national defense chops, speaking to reporters on a press call Tuesday.

Johnson is locked in a tough race against Democratic former Sen. Russ Feingold, whom he ousted in the conservative wave of 2010. Polls show Feingold with a steady lead over Johnson, but National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director Ward Baker said the committee takes its races one day at a time.

"When election time comes, I feel confident about where we're going to be," Baker said. "When you look at the tragedy that just happened today overseas, the terror attack  you look at what happened in California and Orlando  there's only one person more liberal than Russ Feingold on national defense, and that's Bernie Sanders."

In Johnson's first term, he's been "keeping his head down and getting things done," Baker said, highlighting the senator's role as chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

Baker repeatedly emphasized that Johnson is running a Senate race, not a presidential campaign  but dismissed the idea that he was trying to put daylight between Johnson and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

In a recent Marquette University Law School poll, Trump was viewed unfavorably by 64 percent of registered voters in Wisconsin. About one-third of voters said the same of both Johnson and Feingold, and 58 percent said it of presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

"We have nothing to do with the presidential race," Baker said, arguing the issues being discussed in the two campaigns are "very different."

Baker applauded the "world-class war machine" built by the Republican Party of Wisconsin and showcased in Gov. Scott Walker's three statewide electoral victories.

He opted not to speculate on why the Senate Leadership Fund  a super PAC that shares the NRSC's goal of electing Republicans  hasn't reserved ad time in Wisconsin as it targets other battleground states.

A spokesman for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin accused Johnson of "outsourcing" his campaign to the "political class in Washington."

"He's done everything they want of him in the Senate  from voting to protect corporate tax loopholes that ship jobs overseas, to voting against an increase in the federal minimum wage and policies that would make college more affordable," said DPW spokesman Harry Hartfield. "And when it comes to foreign policy, Sen. Johnson is as reckless as Donald Trump. Both The Ronald and The Donald want to send tens of thousands of American troops into another ground invasion in the Middle East. It's no wonder the GOP is starting to panic."

Baker also knocked Feingold as a "career politician who has become everything people hate about politics," echoing a line used frequently by the Johnson campaign.

"This is the year of the outsider, and Ron Johnson is the outsider," Baker said.
UPDATE: Dr. James Dobson on Donald Trump's Christian Faith



COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., June 29, 2016 /



Dr. Dobson was also invited to participate in an ongoing evangelical advisory committee for exchanging views and information on social conservative issues with the presumptive presidential nominee.



While at this event, Dr. Dobson was asked for a brief interview by Michael Anthony of Godfactor about his impressions of Mr. Trump and the exchange of views that had just occurred with him and members of the committee. That interview has been widely heard and read, and has been the nexus of much discussion in new stories and commentaries, primarily because of Dr. Dobson's brief personal reflections on Mr. Trump's beliefs and positions pertaining to the Christian faith.



In response to significant interest and inquiries Dr. Dobson has received about his observations in that interview, he has issued further comments which can be seen here:



James Dobson's Family Talk, Colorado Springs, CO 80907 Phone: 877.732.6825 website:

Share Tweet Contact: Paul Hetrick, 719-531-9415COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., June 29, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Dr. James C. Dobson, broadcaster, author, family counselor and founder of Family Talk, joined with nearly 1,000 other evangelicals and Christian social conservatives in New York City on June 21 to participate in a conversation with Donald Trump.Dr. Dobson was also invited to participate in an ongoing evangelical advisory committee for exchanging views and information on social conservative issues with the presumptive presidential nominee.While at this event, Dr. Dobson was asked for a brief interview by Michael Anthony of Godfactor about his impressions of Mr. Trump and the exchange of views that had just occurred with him and members of the committee. That interview has been widely heard and read, and has been the nexus of much discussion in new stories and commentaries, primarily because of Dr. Dobson's brief personal reflections on Mr. Trump's beliefs and positions pertaining to the Christian faith.In response to significant interest and inquiries Dr. Dobson has received about his observations in that interview, he has issued further comments which can be seen here:

drjamesdobson.org/news/dr-james-dobson-on-trumps-christian-faith James Dobson's Family Talk, Colorado Springs, CO 80907 Phone: 877.732.6825 website: drjamesdobson.org
Iconic action star Bruce Willis of Die Hard franchise and Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) star in the frenetic heist film Marauders about an untraceable group of elite bank robbers chased by a suicidal FBI Agent who uncovers a deeper purpose behind the robbery-homicides.

FBI Special Agent Jonathan Montgomery (Christopher Meloni) is on the trail of an untraceable group of elite bank robbers who give the stolen loot to charity. As he delves further into the investigation, the lawman discovers a deeper purpose behind the robbery-homicides and a trail of secrets protected by the banks owner (Bruce Willis). Featured alongside Meloni and Willis in the high octane, smoldering thriller are Dave Bautista, Adrian Grenier, Johnathon Schaech, and Lydia Hull.

In Marauders, Willis is once again in the midst of a heist where everybody is a suspect. His role as a bank manager, Jeffrey Hubert, has just guided an aging woman to the Hubert National exit when a shotgun chambers and hes blown through the inside glass door. Four Kevlar clad bank robbers: Tornado, Hurricane, Thunder, and Squall, rush inside and rough up security and customers. Thunder draws a pistol on a teller and activates a creepy order from his smart watch: open the draw, do not hit the alarm or your manager will die. Tornado staunches the managers wound and drags him toward the safe; a key-code is entered revealing three million in cash. While Squall bags the cash, Hurricane places a high-tech device on the floor and a cold audio repeats with crystal clarity over restrained sobs that any attempt to leave or call police will activate the sleek explosive. The well-honed team makes their exit, discretely concealing weapons. Eyeballing a security camera, Squall drags the manager toward the entrance, raises his shotgun, and blows off the mans head. Job finished.

Bruce Willis portrays Jeffrey Hubert, president and owner of Hubert National Bank, and the target of repeated heists. An air of entitlement and authority, he goes ballistic when the local newspaper smells a scandal beyond simple robbery. Theres a lot of power struggle and I think the power of money and control is one of the major themes. Hubert is trying to take from the rest of us. And of course theres tension between the FBI and the on the ground cops, the detectives trying to take control of this investigation and who gets to make the decisions, Grenier reveals.

Marauders opens July 13 in cinemas from OctoArts Films International.

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Imperial Valley News Center

Researchers analyze political views and involvement of Latino immigrants

West Lafayette, Indiana - Latino immigrants in the United States who are not yet citizens will not be voting in the 2016 presidential election, but history shows they are civically involved, says a Purdue University political science professor who followed Latino political engagement through the last presidential election.

"In many instances, the image of immigrants portrayed in the 2016 presidential primary debates was of people who are not really part of the United States, even though they reside in the United States," said James McCann, professor of political science. "But the perception that immigrants are not paying attention or are detached is inaccurate. They are customers, taxpayers, neighbors, co-workers and family members. Even for those who are not part of the electorate, they are a part of the public, and their civic involvement does have an effect. This can be by discussing politics with friends and family members or attending community events."

During the 2012 presidential election, McCann and Cornell University government professor Michael Jones-Correa conducted a nationally representative survey of 1,304 foreign-born Latino adults, approximately 60 percent of whom were not naturalized U.S. citizens. The findings, analyzed by McCann and Jones-Correa as well as more than 20 other scholars, are published in a special issue, "Immigrants Inside Politics/Outside Citizenship" by the Russell Sage Foundation's Journal of the Social Sciences. McCann and Jones-Correa are the journal issue editors.

"There is a risk for any demographic group to be characterized two-dimensionally through social media and headlines," McCann said. "As researchers we believe we have an obligation to present a richer portrait, and get behind the headlines. By conducting these surveys, we were able to understand how immigrants become informed about politics, how they identify with political parties, where they stand on important policy issues, and how involved they are in everyday civic life."

The original data from the 2012 "Latino Immigrant National Election Study" will be archived and available for public use through the Purdue University Research Repository. The 2012 study was supported by the Russell Sage Foundation, the Carnegie Corp. of New York, Cornell University, the Purdue University Global Policy Research Institute, and the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships. This fall, McCann and Jones-Correa will be conducting a comparable national survey of Latino immigrants during the general election campaigns.
Governor Brown Announces Appointments

Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments:

Jeffrey Mason, 53, of Sacramento, has been appointed chief deputy director at the California Department of Consumer Affairs. Mason has been chief deputy commissioner at the California Bureau of Real Estate since 2013. He was chief of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Security and Investigative Services from 2010 to 2013, manager of education, training and client relations at the Lyle Company from 2006 to 2009 and a project manager at InsWeb from 2005 to 2006. Mason was owner and operator of a personal chef service at Jump Shots Coffee from 2003 to 2005, manager of the New Products and Technology Implementation Team at AT&T Wireless Services from 1996 to 2003 and a legislative assistant in the Office of California State Assemblymember Denise Ducheny from 1994 to 1995. He was a legislative advocate at Rees Associates from 1992 to 1994 and served as a legislative clerk in the Office of the California State Assembly Chief Clerk from 1990 to 1992. Mason served as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Navy from 1981 to 1987. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $132,528. Mason is a Democrat.

Ed Perez Reyes, 57, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the Los Angeles Designated Local Authority. He has been a land use consultant at Ed P. Reyes and Associates since 2015. Reyes held several positions at the Los Angeles City Council from 1988 to 2013, including city council member, chief of staff for District 1 and chair of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee. He was resource development director at the Spanish Speaking Unity Council from 1985 to 1987. Reyes is a member of the Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Commission. He earned a Master of Public Policy degree in urban planning from the University of California, Los Angeles. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Reyes is a Democrat.

Nancy Atkinson, 71, of Woodside, has been appointed to the 1a District Agricultural Association, Grand National Rodeo, Cow Palace Fair Board of Directors. Atkinson has been owner at Portola Farms Inc. since 1987. She is a member of Horse Park at Woodside, San Mateo County Horsemens Association, Livestock and the Equestrian Heritage Committee and past chair of the Woodside Livestock Committee. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Atkinson is a Democrat.
2018 farm bill discussions scheduled

Sacramento, California - The California State Board of Food and Agriculture will begin discussions on the 2018 farm bill at its upcoming meeting on July 5th in Sacramento. The meeting will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the California Department of Food and Agriculture  Main Auditorium, 1220 N Sacramento.

Developing Californias priorities for the 2018 farm bill allows us to help frame the discussion as preparations begin at the federal level, said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. This meeting is the beginning of our outreach efforts to stakeholders to gather input and help shape Californias recommendations concerning national farm programs and policy.

The farm bill is omnibus multi-year legislation for major food and farm programs, covering such issues as research, conservation, nutrition, commodities and rural development. The current farm bill will expire in 2018, necessitating action by Congress.

Invited speakers include: Nathan Bowen, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (via Skype); Josh Rolph, California Farm Bureau Federation; Anja Raudabaugh, Western United Dairymen; Cathy Fisher, California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association (CACASA); Glenda Humiston, UC Agricultural and Natural Resources; Eric Holst, Environmental Defense Fund; Jeanne Merrill, California Climate Action Network; and Ed Komski, California State Grange.

Karla Nemeth, deputy secretary for water policy at the California Natural Resources Agency will also be providing an update to the state board on water related issues.

The farm bill provides us the opportunity to expand national programs important to California agriculture and to further develop programs benefiting conservation, healthy soils and renewable energy that are consistent with our states climate change reduction goals,  said Craig McNamara, president of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture.

All meetings are open to the public and attendance is welcome.

The California State Board of Food and Agriculture advises the governor and the CDFA secretary on agricultural issues and consumer needs. The state board conducts forums that bring together local, state and federal government officials, agricultural representatives and citizens to discuss current issues of concern to California agriculture.

This meeting will be streamed online at: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/LiveMediaStream.html
Imperial County Supervisors Support Agreement with City of El Centro for National Youth Project Using Minibikes

El Centro, California - Today, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors approved and authorized the Chairman of the Board to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Imperial County Probation Department and the City of El Centro in regards to the National Youth Project Using Minibikes (NYPUM) program. NYPUM is a program that the Imperial County Probation Department adopted earlier this year as part of their Juvenile Justice Plan to promote positive youth development.

NYPUM has been a successful program for many years and I fully and totally support the huge benefits the program has for the future of our community, stated District 3 Supervisor Michael Kelley. This recreational program does a great job at keeping the youth active and engaged in productive events.

The mission of the NYPUM program is to coordinate off-road highway programs for youth aged ten to sixteen years old in El Centro in order to promote self-esteem, develop values for daily living and create a strong sense of belonging. In turn, the overall goal is to encourage regular school attendance, promote environmental awareness, foster community involvement, divert from the juvenile justice system and develop responsible citizenship. Participation in NYPUM, and the opportunity to ride a minibike, is a direct outcome of following NYPUM rules for safe riding and fulfilling the contract that focuses on characteristics of positive behaviors.

Per the MOU, the program will be implemented by the City of El Centros Community Services Department and funded by the Imperial County Probation Department with California Board of State and Community Corrections Youth Offender Block Grant monies. All participants must be referred by a school counselor, teacher or law enforcement agency.
Consumers Union Applauds Unprecedented Volkswagen Settlement

Washington, DC - Consumers Union, the policy and mobilization arm of Consumer Reports, today applauded the settlement package announced by the Department of Justice (DOJ), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address Volkswagen intentionally installing software to circumvent the emissions control system in nearly 500,000 2.0-liter diesel vehicles sold in the U.S and evade emissions standards.

Today's agreement forces Volkswagen to make consumers whole, after having ripped them off. Were pleased that VW owners and lessees have the option to choose what to do with their faulty cars, and get significant cash compensation regardless of their choice, said William Wallace, policy analyst for Consumers Union. We applaud regulators for their work to ensure that the settlement also addresses the environmental and air quality impacts of these faulty vehicles. This unprecedented settlement  the largest in automotive history  and forthcoming civil and criminal penalties should send a strong message to deter companies who look to boost their bottom lines by conning consumers and lying to the government.

"We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the consent decree. We will be watching closely to make sure that VW follows through on its commitments to both consumers and the environment, that separate settlements are reached for cars that are not part of today's announcement, and that the government's penalties for VW's deceit are substantial," said Wallace.
Mountain Goats and Bighorn Sheep Are in a Merciless War Over Salt in Montana, Here's Why
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Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu may have won three Oscars for The Revenant and Birdman, as well as critical acclaim for films such as 21 Grams and Amores Perros, but he has admitted that he is a chronically unsatisfied guy and mediates heavily every day.

The 52-year-old director revealed that seeking perfection is what drives him in his work, though in his personal life he is constantly aware of his own mortality, which in turn makes him feel more alive.

Speaking at the Cannes Lions advertising festival, he said: In my work I think what drives me is perfection. I'm a chronically unsatisfied guy, he said.

When I'm working I'm insufferable because I get stuck with myself and suddenly I become obsessive, thinking about how to make something better, he said, but added that the moment when everything comes together it hits me that suddenly that every sacrifice makes sense.

Before making his debut film, Amores Perros, Mr Inarritu had his own production studio in Mexico and ran his own advertising agency, winning numerous Cannes Lions awards for his work in advertising. He said his career in this industry helped him develop as a storyteller as he had to learn to deliver a plot in less than a minute. As a storyteller it was a great exercise to communicate an idea in 30-seconds. Every second counts in those 30 seconds, he said.

Responding to a question about the spiritual connections within his work - he has previously referred to The Revenant as a spiritual drama, while the title of film 21 Grams references the theory of how much a person's soul weighs - Mr Inarritu said that while he considers himself to be a spiritual person, he is not necessarily a religious one: I have always considered myself to be spiritual in a way that has less to do with religion and more with an awareness that you have, and the consciousness you have of being alive and the consciousness that you will be dead.

The Babel director explained that existentialist writers had a huge impact on me when I was 16 years old, and that he has been aware of his own mortality ever since. He said: I have always been very wary of what would happen when I die, I feel I would die every day, and that thought sometimes made me more aware that I am alive.

Mr Inarritu said he has been meditating heavily for the past five years, which has brought him to a deeper state of awareness.
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Despite being an animated film, Seth Rogans Sausage Party isnt a kids film; its actually an adult comedy featuring the likes of Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, James Franco and Michael Cera as highly sexualised food.

Unfortunately for families attending a showing of the kid-orientated Pixar film Finding Dory at The Brenden Concord cinema in California, a trailer for the R-Rated comedy was shown before the film was shown, leaving many parents in shock and disgust.

The news soon went viral online, leading to the companys vice-president of operations, Walter Eichinger, issuing an apologetic statement.

It reads: "Playing that trailer was a one-time, honest mistake by a theatre manager moving screens around in an effort to accommodate several large, last-minute groups wanting to see Dory. The wrong movie was started by mistake.

"We regret it, apologise for it and we are not happy that it happened. We fully realise that this trailer is not appropriate for Dory and we would never schedule something like that."

Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did Show all 14 1 /14 Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 1. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Kicking us off is Phil Lord and Christopher Milles bizarre animated film about a scientist who creates a machine that transforms water into food. So far, not too crazy, but then the machine gets stuck in the sky and it starts raining food. Everything goes wrong and Flint Lockwood must save the day by flying up to the machine and kicking fried chicken butt. Yeah, a pretty crazy premise, but a fantastic film. Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 2. Frank Michael Fassbender may be one of the most bankable stars of the moment - having starred in the likes of Steve Jobs, X-Men and Macbeth - but in 2014, instead of flaunting his face, producers decided to make him wear a weird papier-mache mask for the films near entirety. The plot sees Fassbenders titular character front a rock band, play SXSW and make likeable music. Its all just a bit strange. Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 3. Groundhog Day Almost anything with Bill Murray in it is a win in my book, but when you say the premise of Ground Hog day out loud - a weatherman who must relive the same day over and over again - it sounds quite boring. What transpired was one of Murrays funniest films. Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 4. Star Wars With Star Wars being so prevalent in pop-culture, its hard to imagine a time when no-one except George Lucas knew what a Lightsaber was. Producers must have been shocked when this young director came into the office trying to sell a script about Luke Skywalker, R2D2, Darth Vader, Chewbacca and Stormtroopers. Thankfully, they believed in his vision and now we have one of the best sci-fi sagas of all time. Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 5. Incepetion A dream, within a dream, within a dream. Even those who watched Inception were left confused, let alone those who only heard what the film was about. Christopher Nolans final flick, however, was a masterclass in storytelling and one of the best films of the last ten years. Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 6. Speed The high-concept Speed is quite ridiculous really. Keanu Reeves cant let a bus go below 50 miles per hour or it will blow up. Its quite amazing how Jan de Bont managed to make his debut 116 minutes long in the first place, let alone making it a decent film in the process. Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 7. Edward Scissorhands Tim Burton is a director who could fill this entire list up. While he may have chosen to reboot numerous films in the past few years (Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the upcoming Dumbo 2) it was his original concepts that set him apart from everyone else. In Burtons head, the love story of a man with scissors for hands and a young woman made complete sense, while for everyone else - from just the premise - it seemed entirely weird. Luckily, he was given the opportunity to make the film and a cult classic was born, all while Johnny Depps ability to play the outsider was solidified. Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 8. Mrs Doubtfire Post-Hook and Aladdin, Robin Williams was on a role. One of his standout performances was as Mrs. Doubtfire, the father-turned-drag-housekeeper. As a premise, dressing your lead male as a woman wasnt exactly new (see Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie), so the filmmakers ran the risk of it all seeming like an overdone joke. Luckily, Chris Columbus managed to pull off the ridiculous plot (how wouldnt the kids know its their father, really?) leading to one of the funniest films of the 90s. Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 9. The Lobster Like Burton, most of Yorgos Lanthimoss films could probably feature on this page, but weve gone with The Lobster. The film tells of a hotel where residents must find a suitable partner within 45 days otherwise they will be turned into an animal. Try to run away and the other residents will hunt you down with tranquillisers. The result was one of the best love stories of 2015. Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 10. Ant-Man Some comic book superheroes should not be adapted to the big screen (*cough* Howard the Duck *cough*). Ant-Man is not one of them. Against all the odds, Paul Rudd and Peyton Reed managed to make a compelling film about a man who could shrink down in size and control ants. Whats incredible is that - somehow - the film quickly became one of Marvels most beloved films. Of course, everyone knew Marvel could pull off weird, having knocked it out of the park with Guardians of the Galaxy the year before. Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 11. Beetlejuice Two ghosts living in their old home want to scare away the alive people who now live there. Unfortunately, the new home-owners cant see them and so the ghosts have to call upon a deranged Michael Keaton to help them out. Add one of the strangest afterlife scenes in film history and youve got a brilliant film. Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 12. Forrest Gump While not an obvious contender like Star Wars or Beetlejuice, when you think about it, Forrest Gump is a weird idea. A below-average intelligent man, sitting on a bench, waiting for a bus, telling strangers about all the famous moments in history where he observed/effected. Thanks to Tom Hanks, Gump was a magical film of love and hope, winning over the hearts of thousands and becoming an instant classic. Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 13. The Lego Movie Another film from Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, The Lego Movie shouldnt have worked. Making a beloved toy into a film; it was all just a bit silly. Thankfully, Chris Pratts turn as Emmett (and a catchy song in Everything is Awesome) the film was a huge hit with critics and fans alike, and now we have a cinematic universe of Lego movies to come. Awesome? Film premises that shouldnt have worked but did 14. Im Not There Lets get Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw to all play Bob Dylan in a single film, Todd Haynes said. While you would think that would be overkill, the result was stunning, with Dylan himself eventually praising the film in 2012.

The official synopses for Sausage Party clearly says it is an R-Rated theatrical animated movie about one sausages quest to discover the truth about his existence. The film hits cinemas 12 August.
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You might be forgiven for thinking the UK had hit peak festival: every weekend from May to September offers a chance to lose yourself in a field. All summer long, train carriages are stuffed with damp tents, and newspapers stuffed pictures of girls in wellies.

So saturated is the market, that recent years have seen many weekend festivals cancelled or calling it a day, from Temples in Bristol to the Bloc weekenders to struggling newcomers such Forgotten Fields and Down to the Wood.

But theres one type on the rise this summer: city-based day festivals. And sorry, Britain  while there are established city fests up and down the country, this new batch are decidedly a London-centric trend, almost an extension of the citys nightlife for people who love festivals but cant be bothered to leave their ends.

Joining established events such as Field Day, Lovebox and Wireless are a raft of newcomers, across every musical genre. Nile Rodgers just brought his Fold festival to west London, with Beck, John Newman and Labrinth. Junction 2, a dance music festival in Boston Manor Park last month, was such a success that loyalty pre-sale tickets have already been launched for next years event. Not that all new fests go off so smoothly: there were complaints over the organisation of Gala in south London after time spent queuing for the loos outweighed time spent dancing to the likes of Nightmares on Wax and Norman Jay.

Still to come this summer are all-new events such as Sunfall in Brockwell Park in July, featuring Jamie xx, Goldie and Ben Klock; Caught by the River Thames, bringing Super Furry Animals, Low and Beth Orton to Fulham Palace in August, and Hospitality in the Park, a multi-staged celebration of all things drumnbass in Finsbury Park in September.

Meanwhile, the East London Fringe Festival takes place across five weekends from 9 July, and includes tempting mini-festivals organised by the likes of Bestival-founder Rob Da Bank, club promoters The Hydra, and indie venue The Old Blue Last. All of which is great news for our capital.

I am a fan of pretty much every kind of festival, and genuinely love decamping to remote fields and wallowing in filth for a few days. But Ive also been to ones where the weather, the waiting for shuttle buses, and the terrible toilets have made me question why I was putting myself through it.

By contrast, its easy to see the appeal of a day-time festival (which actually often go into the night, or have dedicated after-parties for those still standing). You can end the night cosy in your own bed instead of in a grotty sleeping bag in a tent that, you fear, may not be waterproof enough to survive the British summer weather/a stranger pissing on it. Theres no lugging a heavy rucksack halfway across the country, or trudging miles to find a spot to squeeze your tent into. And if you do overdo it ... well, a hangover is better eased with a duvet and Netflix than another day hitting 5-a-can Red Stripe in the drizzle.

Then theres the cash factor: tickets to weekend events, with their massive infrastructure overhead costs, are understandably pricey. City fests, less so. With many coming in at around 50, you could go to four for the same price as a big weekend away  with a mere tap of the Oyster card rather than an eye-watering train ticket too.

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The reduced financial risk also makes them appealing to promoters. Day fests may be growing in popularity, but starting any kind of new festival is still a risk in the current climate, where theres arguably more supply than demand.

Andy Peyton, owner of London clubs Phonox, XOYO and the Nest, is launching Sunfall this summer, a dance music event run with the folks behind Dimensions and Outlook festivals in Croatia. Hed looked at doing a weekender in a field, but felt a London park-based event played to our strengths  we have many thousands of people a week come to our clubs. Also, its walk before you can run: if you do a camping thing, its very labour intensive.

But he also gave considerable thought about how to offer something unique and hit on the idea of including entry to a range of after-parties in different clubs, thus offering both a festival and clubbing experience in one tidy package. Sunfall tickets holders can choose to carry on their nights in south London clubs such as Corsica Studios, the Bussey Building, Phonox and Fire.

We dont want to be just another city festival, he said. We thought this would make us stand out, and showed that we were for proper clubbers. Weve got so much love for it: we see all the conversations on social media, which after-party shall we go to, people really debating it with their friends.

Look again at the new crop of festivals, and they often have a new angle or canny selling point. With a stage right under a M4 motorway junction, there was a lot of Instagram love for Junction 2; with stage organiser and DJ Adam Beyer afterwards deemed it something very special for London  it really exceeded all of our expectations. The East London Fringe Festival spreads itself wide in musical tastes  and boasts tickets for all-dayers as low as 5, which is as good a gimmick as any.

Caught by the River are a website-cum-publishers-cum-music label with an interest in the nature  so its no wonder their festival isnt just dudes with guitars (although they do feature). Dubbed part gig, part literary gathering, part nature symposium, over two days its main stages host talks with the likes of Kate Tempest, Iain Sinclair and Will Self as well as bands.

Its always nice to sit in the pub and pontificate about your dream festival line-up  but this is us having a crack at it, says co-founder Robin Turner. CBTR may have a focus on nature, but theyre all Londoners, so when they found a beautiful green space just off the main road in Fulham, it seemed the perfect home. It also, he sensibly points out, makes it easier to attract acts if they can pop down for the afternoon, rather than having to commit to a whole weekend in Cornwall.

Many of these festivals are new ventures from promoters, venues or organisations who already run events  and who see a gap for something bigger, but fresher, in the crowded summer season. CBTR have previously hosted stages at festivals such as Port Eliot and Festival No 6, which is all very well. But, as Turner, tells me, its nice to finally be the main thing rather than a quirky offering off to the side.

Putting Chris Packham and Super Furry Animals on the same stage might sound a bit daft, but it makes perfect sense to us. Hopefully, it will make sense for other people too.

Sunfall is at Brockwell Park, Herne Hill, on 9 July; Caught by the River Thames is at Fulham Palace on 6 and 7 August
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Mark Ronson may have produced one of the UK's best selling singles of all time when he brought out Uptown Funk featuring Bruno Mars, but he still suffers from imposter syndrome.

The DJ and producer told an audience at the Cannes Lions advertising festival that despite his success, he feels terrified before working with a new artist.

Every time, the night before I'm about to start a new record with a new person its the most terrifying  I can't go to sleep, I'm like, 'this is the one where they're going to find out I'm a fraud and I've been making it up the whole time', he admitted. It's like this horrible mix of a blind date and the first day at school and something else times a million.

But his feeling of terror and trepidation come from having no idea what he's going to make before he gets into the studio, he said, though this inevitably disappears due to the trust and musical rapport that develops between himself and the artist he's working with.

Asked whether he knows when something is going to be a hit, the Back to Black producer said he's always surprised when one of his records is a big success, and that he doubts any of his heroes know when they've created a hit either: I don't picture Radiohead all high-fiving when they wrote Creep, he said.

You make it and it feels good, and then if its a hit or not is really up for everybody else to decide, he said.

Mr Ronson, who has been working on Lady GaGa's upcoming album, said that as a producer, his role is to bring out the best in the artist he's working with in whatever way he can. You're like a part therapist, part school teacher, you're a cheerleader, you're there to make that person feel that they have super-human powers and a lot of the time I think that if you've got a voice like Adele or Amy Winehouse, there is something that makes them almost supernaturally special, he said.

But there's a fine line between bringing out a person's confidence and pushing them too far, he said, referencing stories of producers such as Ross Robinson who allegedly pushed members of the band Korn to the point of tears in the recording studio. The aim is not to shatter their confidence, he said, but to use whatever it takes just to make that person feel like they can do anything, is what you want.
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Metronomy, Summer 08, 3/5

Download this: Miami Logic; Old Skool; Night Owl

Having indulged his musical dreams through the acclaimed The English Riviera and Love Letters albums, with Summer 08 Metronomys Joe Mount winds the clock back to the earlier point at which the Nights Out album first hoisted him into a life of tour buses, taxicabs and promo duties. Entirely self-played save for a vocal by Robyn and some scratching by Mixmaster Mike, it carries on where Nights Out left off, with bounding synth bangers anchored with striding funk bass, marching to the sweet 16 beat of an early drum-machine that makes my dreams sing. Except that this time, Mount sounds chastened and wary, a yearning, lovelorn soul adrift in late-night disco delirium in Night Owl, and worried in Back Together about old friends left behind. Its a weird one, mysterious and mildly menacing, but eerily engaging nonetheless.

CW Stoneking, Gon Boogaloo, 4/5

Download this: The Zombie; The Thing I Done; The Jungle Swing; On A Desert Isle

Australian blues throwback CW Stoneking puts his faith in primitivism on this latest album, which finds him tackling electric guitar for the first time, albeit using the kind of charity-shop set-up even Seasick Steve might find lacking in sophistication. Recorded in one take, with drums, bass, guitar and backing vocalists huddled around two microphones, the results have a rustic charm akin to a more grizzled Leon Redbone, with rolling rumba-rock and reggae grooves driving the likes of The Thing I Done and the aptly orang-utan gait of The Jungle Swing. Best of all is The Zombie, a slinky, sensuous dance number in drag-step time, to which the girls backing vocals lend the swampy mood of Dr Johns Gris-Gris.

Beyond The Wizards Sleeve, The Soft Bounce, 3/5

Download this: Delicious Light; Iron Age; Door To Tomorrow; Black Crow

The production/remix duo of Richard Norris and Erol Alkan here offer a retro-psychedelic throwback to a more imaginative time, one where the Krautrock grooves of Neu! and Can collide with spacey Ibizan house synth washes and the whimsical acid fairytales of classic Sixties Brit psychedelia. The latter aspect is aided on Door To Tomorrow by the naive charm of Euros Childss vocal about a girl called Emily, that most evocative of psych-rock names, whilst sawing strings swirl miasmically about him. Elsewhere, Black Crow offers dream-pop with Gothic overtones, Iron Age grafts together passages of heavily riffing guitar and sylvan vocal harmonies, and Tomorrow, Forever and Finally First soar into space on exultantly whooshing synthesiser lines. An utterly cosmic concoction.

Jacob Collier, In My Room, 3/5

Download this: In My Room; Down The Line; You And I

Garlanded with praise from the likes of Quincy Jones (I have never in my life seen a talent like this), jazz prodigy Jacob Collier is a hugely talented multi-instrumentalist whose solo debut, while impressive, suffers in places from the absence of an outside tempering influence. Woke Up Today, for instance, features so many overdubbed twists and turns it becomes a polyrhythmic digital soup, as Collier strives to demonstrate the extent of his abilities on every instrument devised by mankind. And save for where hes restrained by anothers melody, as on Brian Wilsons In My Room and Stevie Wonders You And I, his multi-tracked vocal harmonies, too, can be indulgently over-ornamented. But such influences hint at the genius level Colliers measuring himself against, not without merit.

Frank Zappa, The Lumpy Money Project/Object, 5/5

Download this: Lumpy Gravy 1 & 2; Who Needs The Peace Corps?; Mom & Dad; Whats The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?; Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance

In 1967, flush with the underground success of the first two Mothers Of Invention albums, Frank Zappa did what any sane artist would and made Lumpy Gravy, a carefully scored classical work performed by an orchestra of more than 50 session musicians, painstakingly edited by him into a heavily percussive musique concrete collage. At the same time, he recorded with the Mothers the extraordinary Were Only In It For The Money, a savage satirical blast at American society and flower-power mores whose eclectic musical modes ranged from pop and R&B to parodic rock and avant-garde, yet somehow coalesced into a brilliant whole. This 3CD set includes several mixes of both landmark albums, along with a host of outtakes: taken en masse, the sheer ambition and diversity shames most musicians meagre aims.

Blood Orange, Freetown Sound, 3/5

Download this: Augustine; EVP; But You; Hands Up

Devonte Hyness latest outing as Blood Orange takes the soft-soul stylings of 2013s Cupid Deluxe and mashes them together with African voices and percussion, saxophones and vox populi samples to create a sonic collage that seeks to marry the vision of Marvin Gaye with the methods of Frank Zappa. Thats a considerable ambition, and unsurprisingly it falls well short much of the time. Opening with the street noise, saxophone and angry feminist rap of By Ourselves, it proceeds via abrupt edits into the more soothingly soulful territory of tracks like Augustine, But You and Hands Up, where the cajoling sensuality of Hyness tremulous voice wields an urgent intimacy akin to Michael Jackson. Elsewhere, chattering balofon and glistening electric piano illuminate Best To You, while the choogling clavinet funk of EVP approximates Daft Punk doing Stevie Wonder.
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Looks like Coldplay have a new member; temporarily, at least.

Hot off their headline slot at Glastonbury 2016, the band was joined by Prince Harry to sing their track "Up&Up" at a special charity concert held at Kensington Palace, organised by the Prince's charity Sentebale in an effort to raise money to fight HIV/Aids (via The Telegraph). The spectacular finale also saw the stage graced with Sentebale co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho; alongside a 12-strong choir from the kingdom.

The Prince had earlier introduced Coldplay to the stage; jokingly apologising for the fact a statue of Queen Victoria on the Palace's lawn had her back turned to the stage. He remarked that she was, "surely the only person who has ever had their back to Coldplay"; while adding, "I'm sure she would have been a massive Coldplay fan".

The concert follows an earlier announcement that the Prince will be intensifying his efforts with the charitable organisation through a new series of engagement and meetings; in July, he will travel as Sentebale Patron to Durban in South Africa for the 2016 International Aids Conference, in order to meet experts in the field and deliver a speech to delegates.

Though progress has been made in reducing the number of new HIV infections globally; a lack of education and cultural stigma still leads HIV to be the number one cause of death in individuals aged 10-19.



"Lesotho faces profound challenges  and its children, one in three of whom are orphaned, suffer deeply as a result," Prince Seeiso stated. "Since my own childhood, our small nation has been ravaged by the HIV/Aids pandemic. Now 21,000 young people between the ages of 10 and 19 are living with HIV. Only 30 percent of those have access to any treatment."

Sentebale offers psychological supports to adolescents living with HIV in Lesotho, alongside providing care and education to orphans, children living with disabilities, and young shepherds known as "herd boys".

"The world has committed to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030, but ignorance and misunderstanding continues to undermine those efforts," stated chief executive of Sentebale, Cathy Ferrier. "Together we have an opportunity to end an epidemic that has defined public health for a generation but it wont go away unless we act now."

The great Glastonbury clean-up Show all 10 1 /10 The great Glastonbury clean-up The great Glastonbury clean-up PA The great Glastonbury clean-up PA The great Glastonbury clean-up PA The great Glastonbury clean-up PA The great Glastonbury clean-up PA The great Glastonbury clean-up PA The great Glastonbury clean-up PA The great Glastonbury clean-up PA The great Glastonbury clean-up PA The great Glastonbury clean-up PA



The concert was the very first to be held on Kensington Palace's famous East Lawn.
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Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd has challenged Boris Johnson to make clear he is not a global warming denier, saying the issue would be absolutely central to her decision about who to back as the next Prime Minister.

Speaking at the Business & Climate Summit in London, Ms Rudd sought to allay fears that the UK will abandon policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after it leaves the European Union.

The prominent Remain campaigner also stressed that Britain would leave the EU as the decision of the British people was clear in last Thursdays referendum.

Mr Johnson is one of the leading candidates to succeed David Cameron and Ms Rudd was asked whether voters should be concerned that the next Prime Minister might be someone who has previously questioned whether climate change is real.

She paused, smiled and bowed her head as some in the audience laughed and applauded the question.

But Ms Rudd, who had earlier "exclusively revealed" she would not be standing for Tory leader, then said: When I consider who to back as leader of the Conservative party and future Prime Minister, knowing where they stand on this issue, which is so important to me and I think is so important to the whole country and to everyone here, will be absolutely central to who I support.

And I will be very, very clear about that and very vocal in holding anybody to account on that the getting the sort of commitment that will reassure all of us.

She also said the EU referendum had a lesson for those seeking to persuade people to act to address climate change.

I felt that with the EU referendum last week that those of us campaigning on one side were very clear about the economic risks, but ultimately the decision was to leave and it was quite, to a large extent, an emotional one, Ms Rudd said.

It is incredibly important to have the right financial structures, the green investment banks, to consider how many millions or trillions need to be invested.

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But its also incredibly important to make the emotional argument and there is an emotional argument to be made here.

Its about protecting our planet, protecting our environment and making it clear, above all, we want to bequeath a planet  that we as the generation now have looked after.

In January 2013, Mr Johnson wrote in his Telegraph column that the cold winter in Britain made him doubt climate change.

He said he was all for theories about climate change, and would not for a moment dispute the wisdom or good intentions of the vast majority of scientists.

But I am also an empiricist; and I observe that something appears to be up with our winter weather, and to call it warming is obviously to strain the language, Mr Johnson added.

He cited Piers Corbyn, the brother of Labour leader Jeremy, as a scientist who believes the world is on the brink of a mini ice age.

Now I am not for a second saying that I am convinced Piers is right; and to all those scientists and environmentalists who will go wild with indignation on the publication of this article, I say, relax. I certainly support reducing CO2 by retrofitting homes and offices  not least since that reduces fuel bills. I want cleaner vehicles, Mr Johnson said.

I am speaking only as a layman who observes that there is plenty of snow in our winters these days, and who wonders whether it might be time for government to start taking seriously the possibility  however remote  that Corbyn is right.

If he is, that will have big implications for agriculture, tourism, transport, aviation policy and the economy as a whole. Of course it still seems a bit nuts to talk of the encroachment of a mini ice age.

But it doesn't seem as nuts as it did five years ago. I look at the snowy waste outside, and I have an open mind.

On Monday, Lord Greg Barker, a former Conservative climate minister who has advised Mr Johnson, insisted: He is not a denier.

If you look at his pedigree, his dad, his brother [Jo Johnson, science minister]  the opposition, if he starts to unstitch environmental legislation  he will be kebabbed with a steak knife over the dining room rable.

John Sauven, director of Greenpeace, welcomed the much needed reassurance from Ms Rudd and also Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom, who spoke at an Energy and Climate Committee hearing on investor confidence, that the UK was still committed to taking a lead in the fight against climate change.

But soothing words are not good enough, he said. Green investor confidence in the UK was shaky before Brexit because of the governments ever changing and incoherent policies, which neither minister seem willing to get to grips with even now.

Both ministers are willing to reassure Chinese and French investors in Hinkley and other new nuclear power stations, but renewables businesses are simply not receiving a fraction of the political or financial support as EDF and the Chinese state-owned companies.

If the government intends to cut such a sweet deal for other new nuclear investors, there will be little cash left for any other renewable technologies and bills are likely to rise in the future.


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Black Girls Code, the non-profit helping to change the face of computer scientists, has moved into Googles New York City building.

The organization has received a $2.8 million, 3,000-square-foot space in the search engine giants headquarters in Googles push to diversify the tech industry.

"We need a tech sector that looks like the society it serves, and groups like Black Girls Code are ensuring that we can cultivate and access talent in communities of color, William Floyd. Googles Head of External Affairs, told CNET.

Kimberly Bryant founded the nonprofit back in 2011 with the goal of training one million young girls by 2040. Shes hosted several workshops in Googles New York offices and said that the students will now have the chance to interact directly with Google staffers on a regular basis.

"They can also learn from us," Bryant, told Fast Company, "seeing the work that were doing right under their roof, so to speak, in engaging these younger communities of color.
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The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned three adverts from budget supermarket Aldi for misleading customers.

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Two TV adverts compared a weekly shop at Aldi with the likes of Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons. It claimed that a weekly 70 Aldi shop would cost 98 at the big four grocers, an increase of nearly 40 per cent.

The second TV advert compared a 33.04 Aldi basket with a competitors equivalent, which it claimed would cost 53.35.

A separate press advert read: Other supermarkets go up, down, all over the place. But Aldi have everyday low prices, so you know where you stand, the commercial said.

The small print at the bottom of the page included text that stated: Comparison of Aldi products vs products shown. Morrisons may sell own brand products at different prices.

Morrisons and two members of the public said the price comparison was misleading as Aldis did not make clear it compared its own-brand products and branded products as opposed to the supermarkets own-brand products that are likely to be cheaper.

Aldi disagreed saying that consumers who saw the commercials were likely to interpret the comparison as intended. The supermarket added that it had demonstrated this with small print shown on screen and at the bottom of the printed adverts.

But the watchdog ruled that the commercial was misleading as consumers would understand that by swapping from shopping at their usual big supermarket to shopping at Aldi they could make significant savings.

ASA also added that price-conscious shoppers were more likely to buy a combination of branded and own-brand goods, which is why the savings suggested by the ads were not accurate.

The ads implied that by swapping from their usual big supermarket to shopping at Aldi, consumers could make savings of the levels highlighted in the ads rather than presenting the comparison as a representation of the savings which could be made by switching from a largely branded shop to shopping in Aldi, ASA said.

We had not seen evidence to demonstrate that was the case we concluded that the ads were misleading. The ads must not appear again in the form complained of," the watchdog concluded.

Matthew Barnes, Aldis UK and Ireland chief executive said the grocer was extremely disappointed by the decision.

"The use of comparative advertising is a well-established principle and is firmly in the interests of consumers and encourages competition between retailers.

"We will work within this new guidance from the ASA and continue to promote the significant price gap between Aldi's quality, award winning products and their higher priced brand equivalents."

The weaker value of the pound, caused by UKs decision to leave the EU, could signal the end of cheaper grocery prices for UK consumers, as DEFRA figures estimate that 40 per cent of the food we consumer is now from overseas.

Historically, higher prices have led to consumers looking for less expensive alternatives such as own-label products, seeking out brands on promotion or visiting cheaper retailers, said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel.

The combined share of discount retailers Lidl and Aldi has hit a record high of 10.5 per cent, with each holding 4.4 per cent and 6.1 per cent of the market respectively
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Two ex- PricewaterhouseCoopers staffers were found guilty in Luxembourg of stealing confidential tax files that helped unleash a global scandal over generous fiscal deals for hundreds of international companies.

Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet face suspended sentences of 12 months and 9 months and were ordered to pay fines of 1,500 (1,230) and 1,000 (822) for their role in the so-called LuxLeaks scandal. Despite the minimal sentences, the ruling was described by Deltours lawyer as shocking and a terrible anomaly.

The ruling puts on guard future whistle-blowers, Deltour told reporters.

It sends out a message that if you see billions of euros handled in a doubtful fiscal manner, the court invites you to close your eyes and above all, not to talk to anyone.

While global attention has now switched to the mass leak of documents known as the Panama Papers, Luxembourg is still picking up the pieces after LuxLeaks hit the country like a tsunami in 2014. The same group of investigative journalists who revealed the Panama Papers, also published the LuxLeaks data with thousands of pages of data showing sweetheart tax deals for companies including Walt Disney, Microsofts Skype and PepsiCo.

Thousands of Pages

Deltour, 30, was the main source behind LuxLeaks. During the trial, he said he wasnt fully aware of what he had discovered when he copied a folder of about 45,000 pages detailing confidential tax agreements on the eve of his departure from PwC in 2010.

Deltour and Halet were also ordered to pay a symbolic 1 euro of compensation to their former employer. Their lawyers said they would appeal the convictions.

Journalist Edouard Perrin, another French national, was cleared after being accused of urging on Halet in his search for secret files at PwC.

Deltour was charged in 2014 with domestic theft, violation of professional secrecy, violation of business secrets, laundering and fraudulent access to a system of automatic data treatment.

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Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Rogue trader A French court cut the damages owed by rogue trader Jerome Kerviel from 4.9bn (4.2bn) to just 1m (860,000). The court ruled on that Kerviel was partly responsible for massive losses suffered in 2008 by his former employer Societe Generale through his reckless trades. Kerviel has consistently maintained that bosses at the French bank knew what he was doing all along. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Barclays CEO under investigation for trying to identify whistleblower - Monday Paril 10 Authorities have launched an investigation into Barclays chief executive officer Jes Staley for trying to identify a whistleblower, the bank said on Monday. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are both investigating Mr Staley after the bank notified them that Mr Staley had tried to identify the author of two anonymous letters, which were sent to the board and a senior executive in June 2016. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures UK to crack down on bank money laundering after reports of 65bn Russian scam, City minister says - March 2017 The Economic Secretary to the Treasury has vowed that the Government will crack down on money laundering practices, after several of the UK's biggest banks were accused of processing money from a Russian scam, believed to involve up to $80bn (65bn). Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former HBOS bankers convicted of bribery and fraud over 245m loan scam - February 2017 Two former HBOS bankers were among six people found guilty of bribery and fraud that cost customers and shareholders hundreds of millions of pounds, the BBC reports. Lynden Scourfield, 54, a manager at HBOS, forced struggling clients to use the services of his friends David Mills, 60, and Michael Bancroft, 73. In return, the two businessmen arranged sex parties, cash and lavish gifts. On Monday, the three were convicted at Southwark Crown Court on accounts including bribery, fraud and money laundering. Mark Dobson, another manager at HBOS, Alison Mills, and John Cartwright were also convicted. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Lloyds chief apologises for damage caused by affair allegations - August 2016 Antonio Horta-Osorio, the chief executive of Lloyds Bank, has broken his silence over allegations about his private life admitting he regrets any "damage done to the group's reputation". In a message sent to the bank's 75,000 employees, the banker said that anyone can make mistakes while insisting that staff had to maintain the highest professional standards. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Christine Lagarde faces court over 340m Bernard Tapie payment - July 2016 The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, must stand trial in France over a payment of 403 million (now 340m, then 290m) to tycoon Bernard Tapie, a France's highest appeals court has ruled. The court rejected Ms Lagarde's appeal against a judge's order in December for her to stand trial over allegations of negligence in her handling of the affair. Ms Lagarde could risk a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros if convicted. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures HSBC senior manager arrested in FX rigging investigation at JFK airport in New York - July 2016 A senior executive at HSBC has been arrested at New York's JFK airport for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to rig currency benchmarks, according to reports. 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The ruling puts on guard future whistle-blowers, Deltour told reporters.The LuxLeaks revelations sped beyond Luxembourg, causing European Union regulators to expand a tax-subsidy probe and propose new laws to fight corporate tax dodging, while EU lawmakers created a special committee to probe fiscal deals across the 28-nation bloc. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Goldman Sachs dealmakers lavished Libyan officials with prostitutes to win contract - June 2016 A former Goldman Sachs dealmaker trying to persuade Gadaffi-era Libya to invest $1 billion with the investment bank procured prostitutes and invited Libyan officials to lavish parties in the hope of winning the business, the High Court heard on Monday June 13.The Libyan Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund is suing Goldman Sachs for inappropriately coercing its naive staff into giving its sovereign wealth fund cash to the bank to invest in products they did not understand. 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The company founder said that workers were paid less than the statutory minimum because of bottlenecks at security in an admission that could result in sanctions from HMRC. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Mitsubishi admits improper fuel tests - April 2016 Mitsubishi has admitted to using false fuel methods dating back to 1991. The scale of the scandal is only just coming to light after it was revealed in April that data was falsified in the testing of four types of cars, including two Nissan cars. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Quindell, the scandal-ridden insurance firm Quindell was once a darling of AIM but its share price fell in April 2014 when its accounting practices were attacked in a stinging research note by US short seller Gotham City. In August the group was forced to disclose that the 107 million pre-tax profit it had reported for 2013 was incorrect, and it had in fact suffered a 64million loss. 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Halet was charged on the same counts in January 2015. Perrin was charged in April 2015 over his role as co-author, if not an accomplice, in the infractions committed by a former employee of PwC, which prosecutors later clarified was Halet.

The sentences imposed on these men are a complete disgrace and an indictment of the system that has condemned them, said Tove Ryding, tax justice coordinator at the European Network on Debt and Development in Brussels.

They acted in the public interest and deserve thanks and protection from prosecution.

The LuxLeaks revelations sped beyond Luxembourg, causing European Union regulators to expand a tax-subsidy probe and propose new laws to fight corporate tax dodging, while EU lawmakers created a special committee to probe fiscal deals across the 28-nation bloc.

 2016 Bloomberg
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Vodafone, one of the biggest companies in the UK, is reconsidering keeping its global headquarters in London after the shock decision for the UK to leave the EU, the company said in a statement.

The referendum result has cast doubt on whether Vodafone will continue to keep its group headquarters in Paddington if it will no longer have access to the single market. The company said its Vodafone UK headquarters in Newbury were not affected.

"It remains unclear at this point how many of those positive attributes will remain in place once the process of the UK's exit from the European Union has been completed," a spokesman said.

He added that the company would monitor the situation closely in the coming months and bolster Vodafone's regulatory and public policy activities in Brussels to make sure Vodafone's interests are protected inside Europe.

Vodafone is the seventh biggest company listed on the FTSE 100 index, with a stock market value of 55bn. It said the UK's membership of the EU has been an important factor in its growth, allowing freedom of movement of people, capital and goods, as well as the single legal framework.

 Juncker and Farage spar in heated Brexit debate

Access to a growing digital single market had represented an opportunity for Vodafone, it said, the future of which was now unclear.

The huge majority of Vodafone's 462m customers, 108,000 employees and 15,000 suppliers are based outside the UK. More than half of the company earnings were attributed to European businesses in this financial year, while Vodafone in the UK accounted for just 11 per cent of earnings.

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

Vodafone gave the warning as Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the Confederation of British Industry, called for the Government to demonstrate to UK businesses that their interests were protected in the UK.

A visible commitment to openness must be at the heart of our new relationship with the EU. In practice this means tariff- and barrier-free access to the single market; maintaining trade deals around the world; attracting and keeping skills; and working out the trade-offs between these three," she said.
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Rupert Murdoch has declared the Brexit result of the EU referendum wonderful and compared the decision to withdraw from the European Union as like a prison break.were out.

The Eurosceptic media mogul and News Corp boss is known for airing his views on Twitter, but kept uncharacteristically quiet about his views in the run-up to the referendum.

But his newspaper The Sun, one of Britain's most-read papers, urged its readers to vote for a Brexit in a front page anti-EU editorial 10 days before the EU referendum, while The Times took an opposing pro-EU stance.

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

He finally gave his verdict on Brexit at a Times CEO summit on Tuesday evening. In comments reported by The Times, Murdoch told the invite-only audience of business leaders a momentous decision was made last week, adding: [Brexit] was a bit like prison breakwere out.

Recommended Read more The famous figures celebrating the EU referendum result

Murdoch, 85, also had a warning for leadership contender Boris Johnson in the wake of anger after Nigel Farage disowned a Leave pledge to spend 350 million of European Union cash on the NHS after Brexit: If he backtracks on serious things there could be another bloody revolt.

Other high-profile figures celebrating the result include Liz Hurley, Katie Hopkins, Joan Collins and Donald Trump. Mr Trump made his feelings clear on Brexit almost immediately after the result while in Scotland, where he claimed voters took back control of their country and promised strong ties between an independent Britain and a Trump Administration.
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The former director of Law and Order has escaped a prison sentence after pleading guilty to possessing an image of child abuse.

Jason 'Jace' Alexander, 52, has been sentenced to 10 years probation by a New York court after admitting to promoting a sexual performance by a child and possessing an obscene performance by a child.

Alexander was arrested and charged in July when an investigator from the Westchester County District Attorney discovered digital files of children aged under 16 at his New York residence.

People news in pictures Show all 18 1 /18 People news in pictures People news in pictures 7 October 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in an ice hockey match between former NHL stars and officials at the Shayba Arena in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Vladimir Putin spent his 63rd birthday on the ice, playing hockey with NHL stars against Russian officials and tycoons EPA People news in pictures 6 October 2015 German designer Karl Lagerfeld (R) and model Cara Delevingne (C) appear at the end of his Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection for fashion house Chanel at the Grand Palais which is transformed into a Chanel airport during the Fashion Week in Paris, France Reuters People news in pictures 5 October 2015 Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne addresses the Conservative party conference in Manchester. The Chancellor argued that reducing the payments to people in low paid jobs would give them economic security by reducing the Governments spending deficit Getty Images People news in pictures 4 October 2015 Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston takes a moment in the centre of the field with his daughter Frankie Thurston, holding dark-skinned doll, after winning the 2015 NRL Grand Final match between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The image quickly became the talking point of Australias National Rugby League Final and provoked a strong reaction on social media, with many praising Thurston for giving his child a toy that promotes inclusiveness and diversity Getty Images People news in pictures 3 October 2015 Pope Francis gives a thumbs-up as he greets people at the end of an audience to the participants of a meeting organized by the "Food Bank" at the Paul VI audience hall in Vatican Getty Images People news in pictures 2 October 2015 Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne (L) throws an American football as he meets with former American football players Dan Marino (2nd R) and Curtis Martin (not pictured) at 11 Downing Street in London, ahead of the New York Jets playing against the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium on 4 October Getty Images People news in pictures 1 October 2015 An honor guard opens the door as Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a hall to attend a meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia People news in pictures 30 September 2015 Former Mrs America Lisa Christie, who alleges misconduct by Bill Cosby, holds up photos of her younger self during a news conference at the law office of attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Matt Damon has defended himself against claims that he instructed gay actors to remain in the closet. He had said I think youre a better actor the less people know about you and sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether youre straight or gay, people shouldnt know anything about your sexuality but an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show said, I was just trying to say actors are more effective when theyre a mystery. Right? Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Marion Cotillard has said that there is no place for feminism in Hollywood. Speaking to Porter magazine, she saidFilm-making is not about gender/ You cannot ask a president in a festival like Cannes to have, like, five movies directed by women and five by men. For me it doesnt create equality, it creates separation. I mean, I dont qualify myself as a feminist." Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Paul Walkers daughter, Meadow, is suing Porsche over her fathers death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt. The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames. AP People news in pictures 28 September 2015 Robert Mugabe waits to address the United Nations General Assembly. The leader of Zimbabwe reportedly exclaimed 'We are not gay!' as he criticised Western nation's "double standards and attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions and beliefs. In 2013 he described homosexuals as worse than pigs, goats and birds. Reuters People news in pictures 28 September 2015 South African comedian Trevor Noah hosts the first 'Daily Show' since taking over from Jon Stewart as host. Stewart had presented the US satirical news show since 1999 and was described by Noah during the show as a 'Political father' 2015 Getty Images People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Sir Elton John may have received a phone call from the real Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin's spokesman announced he had made contact weeks after the singer was duped by pranksters pretending to be the Russian President. Getty People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was mistakenly declared as the artist who produced the Mona Lisa by Fox News anchor Shepard Smith. It was in fact Leonardo da Vinci. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 A new biography claims Donald Trump expected to be dead by 40 and never marry. The Guardian says the a new book also claims that in 1980, Mr Trump manufactured a fake vice-president of his real estate conglomerate, whom he called John Baron. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 The Dalai Lama has said that Britain's policy towards China is just about 'Money, money, money.' And asked 'Where is morality?' People news in pictures 24 September 2015 Puff Daddy secured the number-one spot on the Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings list, with the publication calculating he made an estimated $60million (39m) between June 2014 and June 2015.

He will be expected to register as a sex offender in New York as part of the terms of his probation. He faced a maximum prison sentence of seven years.

Alexander has also directed episodes of the US drama Rescue Me, according to IMBD.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press
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Johnny Depp has given his first public interview since news of his divorce from Amber Heard emerged.

The actor, 53, appeared on Jonesys Jukebox radio talk show on Sunday with his fellow Hollywood Vampires bandmates Matt Sorum, Robert DeLeo and Bruce Witkin.

Depp discussed his career during the 50-minute interview but was not asked one question about his highly publicised ongoing legal battle.

Heard, 30, filed for divorce from Depp in May. She accused Depp of abusing her physically and emotionally during their 15-month marriage and was granted a temporary restraining order by a Los Angeles judge. The restraining order was extended for a further two months in June.

Johnny Depp on screen Show all 16 1 /16 Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Preening: Johnny Depp in 'Mortdecai' Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp in 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End' AP Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen With Helena Bonham-Carter in 2007's 'Sweeney Todd' AP Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Depp in Richard Burton's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' AP Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp with Winona Ryder in Edward Scissorhands back in 1990 Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Depp with short hair in 2009 film 'Public Enemies' AP Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen In 2012's 'Dark Shadows' AP Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen The actor in 'Finding Neverland', 2004 AP Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp stars in 2014 sci-fi thriller 'Transcendence' Alcon Entertainment, LLC. Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp in 2006 film 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' AP Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp as Tonto in 2013 movie 'The Lone Ranger' Disney Enterprises, Inc Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp and Amber Heard star in 2011 movie 'The Rum Diary' AP Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz in 2011 film 'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides' AP Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp stars with Angelina Jolie in 2010 movie 'The Tourist' Rex Feature Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter in a scene from 2010 film 'Alice in Wonderland' AP Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp on screen Johnny Depp stars in Michael Mann's 2009 movie 'Public Enemies'

Depp has denied Heards allegation of abuse via his lawyer who claimed Heard applied for a restraining order in response to the negative media coverage she received and in order to secure a premature financial resolution.

Speaking to his host, the former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, Depp said while he enjoyed the process of acting and preparing for roles, he did not like the press attention which followed.

The drag is all the hoopla that happens when a film opens, thats the part I hate. I dont watch the movies so for me all I have is the experience. So when you show up at one of those things youve got to pedal your arse for a film I dont know what [happens].

Recommended Read more Winona Ryder comments on Johnny Depp abuse allegations

Ive seen only a couple Ive had to see, just to check for the cut, to make sure that the cut was cool. But only twice in so many films".

In a surprising admission, Depp said he has played music since he was a young teenager and later embarked on an acting career "by accident".

I've [been a musician] since I was little - since I was 12 I've played. I started playing clubs when I was like 13 in Miami.

I needed to pay rent, Depp added. Somebody said, 'Why don't you go meet an agent. My agent is with Nick Cage,' so she sent me on an audition for something and I got it.

Depp also claimed he doesn't watch himself on screen because it makes him feel self-conscious.

A Los Angeles court hearing has been scheduled for 15 and 16 August where Heard will request a permanent restraining order against Depp.

Representatives for Depp and Heard did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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Piers Morgan has branded a campaign asking people to wear a safety pin as a show of solidarity with immigrants living in the UK utterly absurd and suggested the display is more about people having to prove they are not racist.

The shock vote for a Brexit in the EU referendum has been followed by a sharp rise in reported hate crimes. The National Police Chiefs Council said reports made to an online hate crime reporting site were up by 57 per cent compared to a month ago.

A number of disturbing accounts of racist and xenophobic incidents have emerged in recent days.

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

In one incident, video footage captured in Manchester showed a verbal attack on a passenger in a tram, during which a teenager was filmed telling the victim: Don't chat s**t when you're not even from England, you little f**king immigrant. Get off the f**king tram now. Get back to Africa.

Allison, a US citizen living in London, has reacted to the racist abuse by launching a simple initiative to help other concerned members of the public show immigrants living in Britain they stand with them.

She is asking people to wear an empty safety pin to express their solidarity against racism and xenophobia, telling Indy100: It's just a little signal that shows people facing hate crimes that they're not alone and their right to be in the UK is supported.

The concept has gained traction overnight and people are sharing safety-pin selfies on Twitter to encourage others to follow suit.

But while the focus of campaign is about helping those at risk of being targeted by racism or xenophobia feel safer, Morgan has dismissed it, claiming he doesnt need to wear a safety pin to prove I'm not a half-wit.

The Good Morning Britain presenter was accused of missing the point of the campaign by exasperated Twitter users.

It's not about you, read one reply. Its about making others feel safer in an increasingly unfriendly environment."

We're not halfwits, said another. Were wearing a #safetypin to show solidarity with the UK's immigrant population and against halfwit racists.

User Tom Moorfield added: #safetypin is obviously not about proving you're not a racist. It's about showing that you disapprove of the people who are.
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A boy, thought to be as young as 11, is being hunted by police after sexually assaulting a woman in a railway station.

Police say the attacker laughed as he left the scene at Stockport station and later returned and spat at rail staff.

British Transport Police are appealing for witnesses to the attack, which happned around 3.45pm on Friday, 24 June.

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City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. 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Pc Rebecca Swift said: "The victim was waiting with her boyfriend in the booking hall of the station when she was inappropriately touched by a young boy who then left the station laughing.

"He returned a short while later and began messing around by the ticket barriers at the Edgeley side of the station. Station staff asked him to leave and he responded by spitting at them.

"The victim of the sexual assault was left feeling humiliated and shocked by what happened. A saliva sample was collected following the incident, and officers are now working to try to identify the boy.

She added: "If you witnessed what happened it is vital we hear from you as any information could be crucial to our investigation.

"We take all reports of this nature very seriously and our Report It to Stop It campaign, which aims to combat unwanted sexual behaviour on the railway by encouraging members of the public to report it, is proving very successful in supporting victims and bringing perpetrators of these crimes to justice."

The boy is described as white, about 11-years-old, with short dark hair, and was wearing a black bubble jacket with a hood, black trousers and black trainers.

Anyone with information should contact British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40.
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Police are investigating after a man threw a molotov cocktail at a halal butchers.

Kashmir Meat & Poultry in Wednesbury Road, Walsall, West Midlands, was left badly damaged after the man threw a lit bottle of "accelerant" at a staff member around 5.25pm on Monday.

The victim was bruised after the bottle hit him and then ignited.

Detectives said they were "keeping an open mind" about the motive behind the firebombing.

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

They are tracing a man, described as white, 6ft tall and wearing a blue jacket. CCTV footage is being studied as part of the investigation.

Detective Inspector Greg Evans said: "The inquiry is at an early stage and I am keeping an open mind as to the motive.

"The man was not seriously injured, but it could have been much more serious."

The leader of Walsall Council expressed concern at a "notable increase in tension" in the borough over the last few days.

Councillor Sean Coughlan said: "Walsall has a long and proud history of harmony between communities and this has served us well and will continue to do so.

"I call upon all political and religious community leaders and the residents of Walsall to use their influence to maintain our high values of understanding, unity and harmony that we all hold dear."

The National Police Chiefs' Council reported a 57 per cent rise in hate crime complaints in the four days following the EU referendum vote, compared to the same period in May.

Anyone who saw what happened is urged to call police on 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111
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Police investigating extreme right-wing, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic postings on social media have arrested a man in north London.

The 41-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred and is being held at a north London police station.

The man was arrested at 6.30am on Wednesday morning, as part of a co-ordinated effort by officers from the Crime Disruption Unit within Scotland Yards Counter Terrorism Command.

A Met Police spokesman said: Detectives executed search warrants at two addresses, both in north London, as part of this investigation, which relates to social media postings of an extreme right wing, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic nature.

Searches at one of the addresses are ongoing. A number of digital items have been seized at one of the properties.

The mans arrest follows a surge in racist attacks following the UKs vote to leave the European Union.

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

In addition to a growing body of anecdotal evidence, the National Police Chiefs Council said reports of hate crime increased 57 per cent on Thursday-Sunday last week, compared with the same period four weeks earlier, the FT reports.
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The 20th century's worst dictator, future British politicians and a father later send to a concentration camp by the country he fought for were among those who served during the Battle of the Somme.

Here are some of those who fought one of the world's bloodiest battles and lived on to become famous or infamous.

Adolf Hitler: The megalomaniac Nazi dictator was injured fighting for the German Empire on the Somme. Over the years there has been speculation that he suffered a wound to his genitals as well as the leg wound suffered while serving with a Bavarian unit, which gave rise to the legend that he only had one testicle. In a postcard unearthed in 2012 the then 27-year-old soldier wrote of his intention to "report voluntarily for the field immediately" from the hospital in Munich where he was recovering.

Battle of the Somme - in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Battle of the Somme - in pictures Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 British troops go over the top of the trenches during the Battle of the Somme Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 The 39th Siege Battery artillery in action in the Fricourt-Mametz Valley Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 Gas-masked men of the British Machine Gun Corps with a Vickers machine gun during the battle of the Somme Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 German troops outside their dug outs on the Somme Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 French soldiers pass through a bombed out area as they advance on the Somme Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 A French 75cm gun mounted for aircraft use on the Somme during World War I Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 Canadian troops prepare for the charge over the top at the Battle of the Somme Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 A heavy shell exploding during the Battle of the Somme Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 A dug-out at the battlefront on the Somme Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 Situated in the town of Albert, France, is the famous 'Golden Virgin' leaning over the spire of the church in the centre of the town, where most of the British troops were based prior to the Battle of the Somme Getty Images

Ralph Vaughan Williams: The composer whose work The Lark Ascending is frequently voted Britain's most popular piece of classical music. He enlisted as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps on New Year's Eve, 1914, the same year he produced the work. He was aged 42. His friend, fellow composer George Butterworth, was killed on the Somme on August 5 1916.

Ralph Vaughan Williams, the composer who wrote "The Lark Ascending" (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Otto Frank: Anne Frank's father was the only member of the family to survive the Holocaust. Born in Frankfurt he was drafted into the German Army in 1915 served on the Western Front for the rest of the war, earning promotion to Lieutenant. He moved the family from Germany to Amsterdam in 1933 after Hitler's rise to power and increasing violence and discrimination against Jews, even those who had put their lives on the line for their country.

Somme selfies: long-lost photographs of British soldiers involved in the battle

Harold Macmillan: The British Conservative Prime Minister from 1957 to 1963 was an officer in the Grenadier Guards who was wounded twice during the Somme. He spent the rest of the war recovering and was left permanently affected.

JRR Tolkien: The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings author was an officer in the 11th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers. Serving in the difficult northern sector of the Somme battlefield, Tolkien's health eventually suffered. He contracted trench fever at the end of October 1916 and was then sent back to hospital in Birmingham. He was unfit for service for the rest of the war.

Siegfried Sassoon: As a second lieutenant with the 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, war poet Sassoon witnessed the carnage of July 1 weeks after earning a Military Cross in a daring operation to rescue a soldier in No Man's Land.

The war poet Siegfried Sassoon (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Robert Graves: A friend of Sassoon and a fellow war poet who served in the same unit, Graves was wounded in eight places on July 20 in a shell explosion. He was so badly hurt that his family were told he was dead and it was announced in the Times. He described his wartime experiences in Farewell To All That in 1929 and eventually died in 1985, aged 90.

Edmund Blunden: A poet contemprary of Sassoon and Graves, Blunden was physically uninjured by his war service but suffered from "shell shock", now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for the rest of his life. He described the Somme in works including Thiepval Wood.

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Here is a timeline of events related to the Battle of the Somme:

1914

June 28 - Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is assassinated in Sarajevo, setting in train a chain of events which lead to a general European war.

August 4 - Britain declares war after Germany invades neutral Belgium.

August 5 - Lord Kitchener becomes Secretary of State for War and launches mass recruitment campaign. A 100,000-strong British Expeditionary Force begins crossing Channel.

August 28 - Lord Derby coins the phrase "Pals" to describe new battalions of like-minded men at a meeting in Liverpool.

August 28-29 - Fighting on Somme during French retreat.

September 22-27 - Fighting near the town of Albert during the "race to the sea" which defined what was to be the frontline during the next 18 months of stalemate.

In pictures: First World War Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: First World War In pictures: First World War Victoria station, London 1914: A soldier saying goodbye to a loved one in the rain at Victoria station, London, as he leaves for the front In pictures: First World War Trafalgar Square, London 1914: In Trafalgar Square, London street urchins dressed as soldiers with paper hats and canes as guns stand to attention watched by a small crowd. Behind them is a notice declaring ' The Need for Fighting Men is Urgent' In pictures: First World War Marylebone Grammar School, London 1914: Two men conscripted to the British Army undergoing a medical check-up at Marylebone Grammar School, London In pictures: First World War Victoria station, London 1914: Two soldiers on the concourse at Victoria station, London, about to leave for the front line. They are carrying parcels full of food and other provisions In pictures: First World War British Army 1914: A group of new recruits in training for service in the British Army during World War I In pictures: First World War Aisne, France 1914: A lone soldier with a bicycle stands amid the remains of a German motor convoy which lines a country lane after an attack by French field guns in the battle of the Aisne in France Topical Press Agency/Getty Images In pictures: First World War Aisne River, France 1914: German sharpshooters move to a position near the front line, during the fighting near the Aisne River In pictures: First World War German naval zeppelin 1914: The L2, a German naval zeppelin during World War I In pictures: First World War France 1914: French officers dining in style in a trench near the front line In pictures: First World War Anzac Cove in the Dardanelles 1915: Troops landing at Anzac Cove in the Dardanelles during the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War Getty Images In pictures: First World War London 1915: Soldiers arriving at a station in London to travel home for Christmas In pictures: First World War German Army 1915: A wounded German soldier In pictures: First World War British Army 1915: A wounded British soldier is stretchered back to camp past a carnage-strewn trench, during the World War I In pictures: First World War Brighton Pavilion 1915: Injured Indian soldiers of the British Army at the Brighton Pavilion, converted into a military hospital In pictures: First World War Fort Vaux, France 1916: A German rifleman beside the corpse of a French soldier in a trench at Fort Vaux, France In pictures: First World War England 1916: Private F.E Henningham leaves for service in the British Army during World War I In pictures: First World War England 1916: The British soldier, Drummer Bent, wearing his Victoria Cross In pictures: First World War Somme, France 1916: Gas-masked men of the British Machine Gun Corps with a Vickers machine gun during the first battle of the Somme In pictures: First World War British Army 1916: British soldiers sitting around a lamp in their trench In pictures: First World War Austrian Army 1916: Austrian soldiers in the trenches demonstrating their gas masks In pictures: First World War German Army 1916: Three German soldiers display rats killed in their trench the previous night In pictures: First World War German Army 1916: A German officer leads his men through a cloud of phosphene gas set off by themselves for cover, as they run toward the British trenches In pictures: First World War Austria 1916: A dog finds a wounded soldier lying under a tree in Austria during World War I In pictures: First World War Royal Air Force 1916: Pilots from the Royal Air Force ready to drop bombs by hand over Germany from their aeroplane, a development as in the first stages of the war planes were thought of only as reconnaissance machines In pictures: First World War WWI aircraft 1916: A group of World War I aircraft flying in formation In pictures: First World War French and British troops 1916: French and British troops in a trench on the Western Front during World War I In pictures: First World War Cross Farm, Shackleton, Surrey 1917: Women war workers, at Cross Farm, Shackleton, Surrey In pictures: First World War American Army in London 1918: American soldiers sightseeing in London from the top of an open-decked omnibus at the end of WW I In pictures: First World War American Army 1918: A US Army cinematographer filming a US Nieuport 28 biplane taking off during the summer counter-offensive In pictures: First World War American Army 1918: An American cinematographer sets up his camera in a water-filled trench

1915

February 19 - British naval attack in the Dardanelles, Turkey, begins.

April 25 - Start of the Gallipoli campaign. Ottoman Empire was to lose 300,000 men and the Allies around 214,000 before troops were eventually evacuated in December 1915 and January 1916.

Somme selfies: long-lost photographs of British soldiers involved in the battle

Late 1915 - General Sir Douglas Haig becomes commander-in-chief of British Expeditionary Force.

December - Allied conference at which an offensive on the Somme is agreed.

1916

February 21 - German bombardment of the town of Verdun further along the line begins.

May 19 - German attack on Verdun forces French to divert troops from Somme.

May 31 - Battle of Jutland inflicts major damage on German navy which was to spend the rest of the war in its home ports giving British fleet effective control of seas and meaning imperial troops and supplies could reach Europe with much greater ease.

June 24 - Allied bombardment at the Somme begins.

June 29 - Heavy rain forces postponement of attack.

July 1 - Battle of the Somme begins. French troops advance, but British forces suffer almost 20,000 men dead in one day.

Troops of the British XIV Corps, advancing near Ginchy, during the Battle of Morval, part of the Somme Offensive (PA WIRE)

July 14 - Renewed British assault along shorter front line. South African troops begin important attack on Delville Wood.

July 23 - British and Commonwealth attack on key Guillemont-Pozieres area begins. Australians finally capture Pozieres two days later.

September 3 - Renewed British attack in northern section of Somme battlefield.

September 15 - Tanks used in battle for first time in history.

September 26 - Joint Franco-British offensive. Thiepval finally taken.

October 7 - Rain delays further Allied advances, leading to a renewed war of attrition.

November 18 - End of Somme offensive.

1917

March 16 - Germans withdraw from the Somme to the Hindenburg Line.

1918

March 21 - Beginning of new German offensive which is to lead to renewed fighting on the Somme.

August 8 - Allied counter-offensive, later referred to as the "Black day of the German Army".

November 11 - Armistice.

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The British National Party (BNP) has denied sending out a leaflet blaming the killed Labour MP Jo Cox for her misguided actions supporting refugees.

The leaflet, which was condemned as horrendous in the House of Commons after being distributed in Dewsbury, claimed that Mrs Coxs campaigning for Britain to welcome more asylum seekers was tantamount to supporting future Isis militants and terrorists.

How many (Muslim refugees) will make and explode bombs in this country, it asked. How many will attack and kill Christians and Jews simply because they are non-Muslims.

Mrs Cox was shot and stabbed in Birstall, West Yorkshire, a week before the EU referendum.

The plain white and black leaflet carried the address, telephone number of the BNPs head office but none of the usual branding that usually accompanies its publications.

Paula Sherriff, the Labour MP for Dewsbury and Mirfield, told a special parliamentary debate on hate crime it was posted through letterboxes in her constituency on Tuesday.

Condemning the horrendous allegations, she said received several complaints as well as reports of hate crimes following the EU referendum including a seven-year-old Muslim girl and her family being told: Best day evergo home all of you.

Karen Bradley, the Home Office minister, said she would meet Ms Sherriff over the utterly unacceptable incidents to ensure hate crimes are reported.

Clive Jefferson, the BNPs national treasurer, told The Independent the far-right group had nothing to do with the leaflet.

Its obviously a fake  its ridiculous, he added. We have never produced or distributed a leaflet mentioning Jo Cox and its absolutely disgraceful.

The BNPs recent leaflets include one claiming immigrant hordes heading to Britain, warning of terrorists on our streets and Islamic colonisation.

 Silence held for Jo Cox

Another entitled Islamist Timebomb calls for a ban on the niqab and bears the slogan no more mosques.

When asked whether a supporter of the BNP may have taken it upon themselves to produce the pamphlet, Mr Jefferson said he believed it was a black ops effort to smear the group.

Its obviously somebody malicious  cruel towards to family and cruel to us, he said.

We are the victims of hate crime as wellour literature is glossy, its got its own letterhead, you could just print those (leaflets).

Anybody can get our phone number and address from the website.

The BNP is demanding an apology from Ms Sherriff and the Home Office minister, as well as considering a formal complaint against media outlets that attributed the leaflet to the group without seeking comment.

A statement said the killing of Ms Cox was abhorrent, adding: Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jo Cox's family as this recent outrage must be adding significantly to the already terrible pain.

Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes and candles are placed by a picture of slain Labour MP Jo Cox at a vigil in Parliament square in London AFP Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes to Labour Party MP Jo Cox are placed on her houseboat in Wapping in London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures The Union flag at half-mast on top of Portcullis House in London after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (2R) and deputy leader Tom Watson (L) light candles as they attend a vigil to slain Labour MP Jo Cox in Parliament square in London AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and deputy leader Tom Watson (rear) arrive to leave tributes at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People leave St Peter's Church after a vigil in memory of Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flowers left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminste, following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People react as they look at tributes left for Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A man writes a message at Parliament Square PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People stop to look at tributes left at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman arrives to lay flowers at a statue to Joseph Priestly in Birstall near to the scene where Labour MP Jo Cox was shot AFP/Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Tributes at Parliament Square opposite the Palace of Westminster PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A woman places candles in tribute to Labour Party MP Jo Cox REUTERS Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A member of the public signs a memorial for British MP Jo Cox in Parliament Square, London EPA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People sign messages of condolence for MP Jo Cox during a vigil in Parliament Square in London Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Flags at half mast outside Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in the street outside her constituency advice surgery in Birstall PA Jo Cox tributes - in pictures People arrive in Market Square with floral tributes after the death of Jo Co Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are placed in Market Square next to the statue of Joseph Priestley following the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures Floral tributes are brought to the scene after the death of Jo Cox Getty Images Jo Cox tributes - in pictures A police officer carries bunches of flowers at the scene of the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox in Birstall REUTERS

Former BNP member Jack Buckby is to contest the by-election in the Batley and Spen constituency Mrs Cox represented, despite commitments from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Ukip not to field a candidate.

Jeremy Corbyn raised reports of rising racist, xenophobic and Islamophobic incidents since the EU referendum at Prime Ministers question time on Wednesday.

David Cameron said he had spoken to the Prime Ministers of Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic after they raised concern and promised a new action plan on tackling hate crime.

Whatever we can do we will do to drive those appalling hate crimes out of our country, he added.

Incidents in recent days have included the verbal abuse of a Polish shopkeeper in Leeds and the firebombing of a Halal butchers in Walsall.

The National Police Chiefs' Council reported a 57 per cent rise in hate crime complaints in the four days following the EU referendum vote, compared to the same period in May.
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For the French it's Verdun, the Australians and New Zealanders it's Gallipoli.

For the British, however, the single battle that defines the bloody attritional nature of the First World War is the Somme.

Friday 1 July will mark 100 years since the battle began in north west France.

More than one million soldiers were killed, missing, or wounded on both sides by the time it finished on 18 November 1916.

What happened?

As part of co-ordinated attack on German forces on the Western, Eastern and Italian Fronts - 13 British army divisions and six French divisions launched an attack on six German divisions.

Before the first infantry advance, the British army fired 1,738,000 shells in the hope of destroying German trenches and defences.

A British soldier covers a dead German on the firestep of a trench near the Somme (Hulton/Getty Images)

The previously unprecedented bombardment did not have the hoped for impact leaving many well-built German defences intact including barbed wire.

By the end of the first day of the British infantry offensive, 19,240 soldiers had been killed with a further 38,230 reported injured or missing.

Battle of the Somme - in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Battle of the Somme - in pictures Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 British troops go over the top of the trenches during the Battle of the Somme Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 The 39th Siege Battery artillery in action in the Fricourt-Mametz Valley Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 Gas-masked men of the British Machine Gun Corps with a Vickers machine gun during the battle of the Somme Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 German troops outside their dug outs on the Somme Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 French soldiers pass through a bombed out area as they advance on the Somme Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 A French 75cm gun mounted for aircraft use on the Somme during World War I Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 Canadian troops prepare for the charge over the top at the Battle of the Somme Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 A heavy shell exploding during the Battle of the Somme Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 A dug-out at the battlefront on the Somme Getty Images Battle of the Somme - in pictures 1916 Situated in the town of Albert, France, is the famous 'Golden Virgin' leaning over the spire of the church in the centre of the town, where most of the British troops were based prior to the Battle of the Somme Getty Images

By its conclusion , 310,486 British soldiers had been killed at the Somme with a more than a million casualties on both sides.

Wet winter weather finally put an end after 140 days of fighting between poorly equipped and ill-prepared troops on both sides.

Soldiers marching across No-man's land with fixed bayonets (Getty)

Over the course of the battle, the British took territory six miles deep and 20 miles long from the Germans.

Why is it so important?

It was the first major engagement involving the men who volunteered to fight in 1914 and 1915.

This included the Pals battalions which allowed friends, relatives and work mates from the same communities fight together.

The tragedy of such units was that communities across the country and the British Empire could lose a whole generation of men in one day.

The huge death toll brought the war home for many people in Britain in a way the battles of Mons and Ypres had not.

The Somme was filmed for the feature-length documentary to record soldiers in action. When the film was brought to cinemas on 21 August 1916, an estimated 20 million people went to see it.

Wiepval monument to British, French and Commonwealth troops where more than 72,205 names of missing soldiers of the First World War, are engraved in the stone pillars (Reuters)

Strategically, the battle was able to relieve the pressure on the besieged French forces at nearby Verdun.

As the first great British engagement of the war, the Somme proved to be an effective if very costly learning experience for both British troops and the newly minted commander of the British Expeditionary Force, General Douglas Haig.

British commanders were able to hone new artillery and infantry movement tactics.

New technology was also introduced at the Somme including the British Mark I tank.

The German forces, however, lost much of its remaining pre-war army without the ability to replace men with equally experience reserves.

For the British public, the Somme over time has became a symbol of the futility of the First World War, uncaring inept generals and horrific trench warfare.
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The British Government's austerity policies are a breach of international human rights, a new report by the UN has warned.

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has expressed serious concerns about growing inequality in the UK following six years of austerity policies under the current Conservative Government and the Coalition which preceded it.

Based on evidence provided by charities and campaign groups, the body concluded that the regressive nature of policies such as universal credit and the bedroom tax meant they breached the UKs international human rights obligations.

The review is the first of UK policy since 2009, making it the first time Conservative policy has come under scrutiny.

The reports authors said they were deeply concerned about the various changes in the entitlements to, and cuts in, social benefits which it says disproportionately affect women, young people, ethnic minorities and disabled people.

The study found the new living wage of 7.20 per hour still did not provide an adequate standard of living - especially for people living in London - and that the Government was not doing enough to stop people having to rely on foodbanks.

The Government should take steps to reduce the number of people in part time work and relying on zero hours contracts, it suggested.

The UK Government is not doing enough to stop people relying on foodbanks (2014 Getty Images)

The report also highlighted a rise in VAT coinciding with a fall in inheritance and corporation tax, meaning the poor are paying comparatively more tax and the rich less.

The Committee recommended the UK adopts a socially equitable tax policy and clamps down further on tax avoidance.

It also voiced concerns about persistent discrimination against migrant workers.

In pictures: Anti-austerity protest outside Downing Street Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: Anti-austerity protest outside Downing Street In pictures: Anti-austerity protest outside Downing Street London Anti-austerity protesters shout slogans outside Downing Street as the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne left 11 Downing Street In pictures: Anti-austerity protest outside Downing Street London Anti-austerity protesters gather outside Downing Street as the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne left 11 Downing Street in London In pictures: Anti-austerity protest outside Downing Street London Anti-austerity protester spekas outside Downing Street as the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne presents his summer budget to Parliament and is expected to announce 12 billion in welfare cuts In pictures: Anti-austerity protest outside Downing Street London Anti-austerity protesters prepare to throw balls towards Downing Street In pictures: Anti-austerity protest outside Downing Street London Anti-austerity protester outside Downing Street In pictures: Anti-austerity protest outside Downing Street London Police clear up balloons left at the entrance to Downing Street In pictures: Anti-austerity protest outside Downing Street London Anti-austerity protesters throw balls towards Downing Street

The report was completed before the UK voted to leave the European Union last week.

Since the vote there has been a 57 per cent spike in the number of reported incidents of hate crime against migrants and ethnic minorities, according to the National Police Chiefs Council.

Several people have reported being ordered to go back where they come and taunted with shouts of Out! Out! Out! following the vote.

 Rich getting richer

In Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, there were reports of leaflets saying Leave the EU, no more Polish vermin posted the letter boxes of Polish families on the day of the vote.

Simon Duffy, the director of the Centre for Welfare Reform, which contributed to the report, said: "The past six years of austerity have seen the UK Government intentionally diminish the rights of its own citizens.

"The Centre for Welfare Reform welcomes the news that the United Nations has strongly criticised the UK Government for these policies - policies that have harmed immigrants, asylum seekers, disabled people and those living in poverty.

"There is no good reason for these ongoing attacks; instead it seems likely that these groups have been targeted simply because they are convenient scapegoats for problems they did not cause."

Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth and Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, said: The Committee is right to be deeply concerned about the various changes in the entitlements to, and cuts in, social security support, introduced in the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and the Welfare Reform and Work Act of 2016 and they call upon the Government to reverse the cuts to social security introduced in it."

She added: It should concern us all that the UN is having to publish a report saying that Government policies are contravening the publics human rights. The Government must now listen and carry out the basic requirements of comprehensive impact assessments on such important policies.

The conclusions of the report are deeply worrying and indicate the Government has got some serious work to do.
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David Cameron was unable to make proper reassurances to British people living in mainland Europe, in his first Prime Minister's Questions since the vote to leave the EU.

During the wide ranging session, Mr Cameron was asked by Sir Roger Gale, MP for North Thanet, about the future status of British migrants in Europe.

Estimates have placed the number of British nationals living in mainland Europe at more than one million and their status has now been thrown into uncertainty by the vote to leave.

There are hundreds of thousands of expat, United Kingdom citizens, living around Europe, who did not vote in the referendum, Sir Gale said in the chamber.

Many of them are elderly and frail. They live on UK pensions and UK benefits. Will my right honourable friend [the PM] ensure that his successor defends their interest?

Mr Cameron replied: On this issue of British citizens living overseas, I think we should reassure people that until Britain leaves the EU, theres absolutely no change in their status.

However, he stopped short of saying what would happen after Britain had left, instead shifting attention to the work of a newly created Whitehall unit, established to deal with withdrawal of Britain from the EU.

(Statista)

The Prime Minister said: One of the things that this unit at the heart of Whitehall can do through the coming weeks is to go through these issues [concerning British expats] very methodically and work out what might need to change in all the different scenarios, to give these people a certainty about their futures. And its obviously very important that we do that.

This policy unit will be responsible for a wide range of complex and far-reaching decisions in international affairs. No guarantees were made by Mr Cameron as to how much time it would spend looking at the issue of elderly British migrants living in Europe.

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

Estimates on how many British migrants live in which country vary, but Spain has consistently topped surveys. The Mediterranean country is thought to be home to between 300,000 and 700,000 Britons. Many of these people are poorly integrated into Spanish society and live in English-speaking communities isolated from the rest of the country.

This has led to concerns over what would happen to their legal status and healthcare provisions in the event of Brexit, when the government formally invokes Article 50.
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David Cameron has warned his successor as prime minister cannot guarantee Wales' EU funding will continue following the Brexit vote.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, he said they did "not know exactly what will happen to our economy in the event of a leave vote" so it was "difficult for anyone to give guarantees".

"As I said throughout the campaign, if the vote was a No vote, I would want to do everything I could to make sure that we continued to help disadvantaged regions and our farmers.

"But it will be a matter for my successor as we leave the EU to make good on what they said at the time".

He was responding to a question from Torfaen MP Nick Thomas-Symonds who asked if the Prime Minister agreed that if his constituency "loses a penny piece of its funding under his successor, that would be a gross betrayal".

52.5 per cent of Welsh voters backed leaving the EU during the referendum last week despite the region enjoying an annual net benefit of 245m from the UK's membership, according to a study by Cardiff University.

Boris Johnson was one of several signatories to an open letter promising to protect Wales' funding in the event of a Leave vote (Getty)

Senior figures in the official Vote Leave campaign, including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Chris Grayling, said there would be "more than enough money" to finance the projects currently run by the EU.

In an open letter earlier this month, they stated that all programmes were funded at their current levels up until 2020, and that they could then run them "much more effectively" and free up extra money to spend on "other priorities".

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

The leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew RT Davies, told the BBC at the time: "Despite the First Minister's fantasy claims, we now know that funding for each and every part of the UK, including Wales, would be safe if we vote to leave.

"The real danger therefore lies in voting to remain, where EU leaders have imposed stringent cuts to regions across the European Union."

Wales' First Minister Carwyn Jones has called for the Welsh government to be involved in negotiations over the terms of Brexit.

Speaking to his cabinet in Cardiff Bay on Monday, he said the final deal must be approved by all four UK parliaments, but the Welsh government ultimately had to respect the vote to leave.

He said his government would use "every lever at our disposal" to protect Welsh communities.
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US Secretary of State John Kerry has reportedly said that Brexit might never happen.

According to Agence France-Press (AFP), Mr Kerry told the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado that there were a number of ways in which the UK could walk back from Brexit.

Speaking a day after meeting David Cameron in Downing Street, Mr Kerry reportedly said the Prime Minister was very reluctant to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, which would trigger a two-year timetable for departure from the European Union.

"This is a very complicated divorce," he was quoted as saying.

According to AFP, Mr Kerry said that he thought Mr Cameron "feels powerless -- and I think this is a fair conclusion - to go out and start negotiating a thing that he doesn't believe in, and he has no idea how he would do it.

"And by the way nor do most of the people who voted to do it," Mr Kerry reportedly said, possibly referring to "Leave" campaigners such as former London mayor Boris Johnson.

In the immediate aftermath of the Brexit victory in the EU referendum, Mr Johnson, now considered by many to be the favourite to replace Mr Cameron as Prime Minister, had said there was no need for haste in triggering 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

Mr Kerry, when asked by the panel moderator if a Brexit decision could be "walked back", reportedly told the ideas festival audience it could be done, although he didnt at this stage want to say how.

"I think there are a number of ways," he was quoted as saying. "I don't as Secretary of State I want to throw them out [publicise them] today. I think that would be a mistake. But there are a number of ways.

Mr Kerrys suggestion that Brexit might not happen comes after demonstrations in the UK against Britain leaving the EU and after thousands signed petitions for a second referendum.

UK constitutional lawyers have also said that MPs still had the legal right to vote down any move to trigger Brexit, with Geoffrey Robertson QC telling The Independent the referendum had been purely advisory.

EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, however, has made clear his view that it is not an amicable divorce and Britain should start negotiating exit terms immediately

The Obama Administration has long been clear in its opposition to Brexit. In April, while visiting the UK, Barack Obama said Britain would be at the back of the queue in any trade deal with the US if it left the EU.

However, on Tuesday Mr Obama sought to calm diplomatic and financial market fears about Brexit by telling American National Public Radio: I would not overstate it. There's been a little bit of hysteria post-Brexit vote, as if somehow Natos gone, the trans-Atlantic alliance is dissolving, and every country is rushing off to its own corner. That's not what's happening.

I think the best way to think about this is that a pause button has been pressed on the project of full European integration.
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Stephen Crabb has been forced to deny he is homophobic as he launches his bid for Conservative leadership.

The Work and Pensions Secretary is hoping to be the countrys future Prime Minister following David Camerons announcement that he is stepping down in light of the EU referendum result. However, his campaign has already come under criticism as his previous links to gay cure advocates and his vote against marriage equality have been raised again.

In 2013, Mr Crabb voted against extending marriage equality to same-sex couples. He has also been linked to an organisation which has advocated that homosexuality and bisexuality can be cured.

 Crabb launches leadership bid

Mr Crabb has employed interns in his parliamentary office through a scheme organised and funded by Christian Action Research and Education (Care). Care has previously sponsored events that refer to gay and bisexual people as sexually broken and advocating that they can become ex-gay.

The organisation has funded internship places for young people to be placed with MPs as researchers or interns and it has been reported that Mr Crabb was himself involved in such a scheme when he was young.

Addressing the concerns in 2012, Mr Crabb confirmed that he had received interns from the scheme while an MP. However, despite criticism of Care, he refused to distance himself from the group when asked.

Speaking at a press conference today, Mr Crabb strongly denied suggestions that he was prejudiced. He told reporters: No, absolutely not. We had that debate in the last parliament about gay marriage. I voted that way I did, but Im very happy with the outcome.

That issue is now settled and we move on from it and Im absolutely committed to doing my bit to create a tolerant, decent society for everyone, regardless of their background, regardless of their sexuality.

A spokesperson for LGBT rights group Stonewall told The Independent: We hope that any candidate that runs for Prime Minister is able to demonstrate their commitment to equality for and inclusion of all lesbian, gay, bi and trans people.

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

The bid for Number 10 is now underway, with a number of candidates emerging for the Conservative leadership race. Education Secretary Nicky Morgan is expected to declare soon as well, while former London Mayor Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Theresa May are also thought to be strong candidates with considerable support among MPs.
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David Cameron has said Britain will not "turn its back on Europe" even though it has voted to leave the European Union.

The outgoing Prime Minister addressed reporters in Brussels at ahead of an EU summit for what he said was "likely to be the final time".

He said Britain and Europe should "seek the closest possible relations over trade, over cooperation, over security".

"While Britain is leaving the European Union, it will not, it should not, and in my view it wont, turn its back on Europe".

Mr Cameron said there was "universal respect" for the decision during his dinner with the other 27 EU leaders.

"This decision will be carried through in Britain and will be carried through here in the European Union.

"But of course the tone of the meeting was one of sadness and regret. Our partners in the European Union are genuinely sad that we are planning to leave this organisation", he explained.

He also moved to reassure people in the UK that the country will remain a "full, paying member until the point at which we leave".

Leaving the stage: Mr Cameron says it is likely that this is his final attendance at the European Council (EPA)

Mr Cameron said he was "personally sad" that Britain had opted to leave after he "poured his heart and soul into making sure Britain remained inside a reformed European Union." But he stressed it is "impossible to have all the benefits of membership without all the costs of membership and that is something the next British Government is going to have to think through very carefully".

"I am a democrat and I do regret the outcome, but I don't regret holding the referendum," he added.

Answering questions from journalists, he said many people in the EU regarded the single market as the freedom movement of "goods, service, people and capital," but people in Britain tended to view them separately.

He said: I think people recognised the strength of the economic case for staying, but there was a very great concern about the movement of people and immigration, and I think that is coupled with a concern about the issues of sovereignty and the absence of control there has been.

Mr Cameron revealed there was "no clamour" during the dinner for Britain to immediately trigger the Article 50 clause to begin formal negotiations within the EU. Whatever you may have read or seen about a clamour for Britain to trigger Article 50 without delay that was absolutely not the mood of the meeting. That was not what a clear majority of my colleagues and partners want to happen. Everyone wants to see a clear model for what is going to happen.

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

"That is work that I can start as prime minister today with the new unit we are setting up in Whitehall.

"We are examining all the different options and possibilities in a neutral way but it will be for the next British prime minister, the next British Cabinet to decide the right approach to take and the right outcome to negotiate."

Mr Cameron announced his intention to stand down as prime minister after a Conservative leadership contest in the autumn following the shock result which saw the Leave camp win 51.9 per cent of the vote.

He said the Brexit negotiations would be carried out under his successor - widely tipped to be either former Mayor of London Boris Johnson or Home Secretary Theresa May.
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Billionaire Donald Trump appears to have asked a British MP for money for his American Presidential campaign  and got a stinging rebuke in return.

Glasgow East MP Natalie McGarry was amazed to receive an email apparently from Trumps son mentioning an earlier message from his dad, accusing Crooked Hillary of fraud and lies and asking: Please donate right now to help my father Make America Great Again.

So she emailed back to say she would not be donating to Make America Great Again but would instead be sending her warm hope that Mr Trumps repugnant campaign failed. Then she published both emails on Twitter for the enjoyment of her 16,000 followers.

Recommended Read more How Brexit could stop the rise of Donald Trump

In her email, addressed to Trumps 38-year-old son Donald J Trump Jr, Ms McGarry wrote: Quite why you think it appropriate to write emails to UK parliamentarians with a begging bowl for your fathers repugnant campaign is beyond me.

Given his rhetoric on migrants, refugees and immigration, it seems quite extraordinary that he would be asking foreign nationals for money; especially people who view his dangerous divisiveness with horror.

People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Show all 8 1 /8 People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Miley Cyrus 'God he thinks he is the f***ing chosen one or some shit!  Honestly f*** this sh*t I am moving if this is my president! I dont say things I dont mean!' Jemal Countess/Getty Images People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Whoopi Goldberg 'I dont think thats America. I dont want it to be America. Maybe its time for me to move you know' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Samuel L. Jackson 'If that mother**er becomes president, Im moving my black ass to South Africa' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Raven Symone 'My confession for this election is, if any Republican gets nominated, Im gonna move to Canada with my entire family. Is that bad? I already have my ticket. I literally bought my ticket, I swear' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Cher 'If he were to be elected, I'm moving to Jupiter' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Neve Campbell 'Im terrified. Its really scary. My biggest fear is that Trump will triumph. I cannot believe that he is still in the game ... [I'll] move back to Canada' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Jon Stewart 'I would consider getting in a rocket and going to another planet, because clearly this planets gone bonkers' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Randy Blythe 'He could just be a clown. If he is the president, though, I am leaving America 'till he's gone'

The US elections are a matter for the American people, but I do send my warm hope that they reject your father fundamentally at the ballot box, not just to protect and improve the cohesion in society, to stop his corrosive othering of immigrants and for the protection of hard fought womens rights in the US, but also, selfishly, for world security and international relations.

The thought of his reactionary type of politics and apparent ignorance of world affairs having access to a seat at the world table is both surreal and terrifying.

In case Donald J Trump Jr hadnt got the message, Ms McGarry, a former SNP MP who now sits as an independent, explained: The above is a long way to say NO, and do not contact me again.

It remains unclear whether the Trump email was real or fake. Although Ms McGarry thought it was genuine, some Twitter users have suggested it could have been just spam sent by someone pretending to be from the Trump family.

Other MPs have certainly received similar emails  because on Tuesday the Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale raised a point of order about them in the House of Commons.

Complaining to Commons Speaker John Bercow, Sir Roger said: Members of Parliament are being bombarded with electronic communications from Team Trump on behalf of somebody called Donald Trump.

I am all in favour of free speech, but I do not see why colleagues on either side of the House should be subjected to intemperate spam.

Efforts to have them deleted have failed. Would you be kind enough to intercede with the Parliamentary Digital Service to see if they might be blocked?

 Donald Trump: What are his actual policies?

A sympathetic Mr Bercow replied: May I commiserate with the honourable Gentleman who, as far as I can tell, has undergone an irritating andsome might thinkexceptionally tedious experience? I am grateful to him for notice of his point of order.

I do not think it acceptable that Members should be bombarded with emails the content of which is offensive. I will ensure that members of the Parliamentary Digital Service, who have the facility to block certain types of email, are made aware of this issue.

It is not thought that any British MPs have donated to Mr Trump to help him Make America Great Again.
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Hundreds of people across the UK attended pro-European Union rallies in protest at last weeks historic referendum  despite events being officially called off over safety fears.

Directing their anger towards two of the leading Leave campaigners in the referendum  former London mayor Boris Johnson and Ukip leader Nigel Farage  demonstrators in London chanted Down with Boris and F*** Farage

Thousands of people were expected to attend events in cities across the UK as dissatisfaction with the decision to leave the bloc manifested itself in plans for public demonstrations. But organisers have been forced to abandon several gatherings over fears about crowd sizes.

Recommended Read more Tens of thousands expected to protest Brexit in Trafalgar Square

The rally in Trafalgar Square had officially been abandoned after 50,000 people declared an interest in attending on social media  but many turned out regardless before moving down Whitehall to continue their protest outside the Houses of Parliament.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, who has vowed to campaign to take the UK back into the EU, addressed the crowd in Trafalgar Square insisting that the Brexit vote is reversible.

In politics, as in life, two things are always the case for me: One, if you lose, you have the grace to accept the defeat, but you never, ever, ever give up, Mr Farron added.

Protesters have called for independence for London if Britain leaves (PA)

We as a community must stand together, this is reversible. The people of Britain are decent, outward-looking people. We will carry on direct campaigning.

Hundreds of people also turned out in Cardiff for an event celebrating the European Union. It included speeches from Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood and racial equality activist Shazia Awan as well as a performance by Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys  who performed a song called I Love EU.

The event had already proved controversial after those behind it changed the name to apparently embrace Leave voters. It had initially been called London stays but was then altered to stand together.

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

Organiser Jessica Rodgers said that the event had only started with a plan to bring 20 friends together and wasnt prepared for over 50,000 people who want to stand together in London.

Weve tried all we can to ensure this could go ahead. However logistically its not possible to ensure a safe event, wrote Ms Rodgers. Trafalgar Square can hold 10,000 people - and thats with security barriers, stewards, road closures, and a full contingency plan. Considering the speed with which this event has picked up, arranging everything required in time is simply not possible.

Given this, with a heavy heart, it's too dangerous for the attendees for the event to go ahead.

She urged supporters not to turn up to Trafalgar Square in the hope that the event would go ahead. The logistics are not in place to ensure the safety of everybody planning to attend, and we do want the media attention around this to remain positive, Ms Rodgers wrote.
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Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of European Commission, has agreed to "listen" to the case for Scotland to be allowed to remain in the European Union despite the Brexit referendum vote.

Nicola Sturgeon has said she faces a challenge to keep Scotland in the EU as European Council president Donald Tusk has said it would not be "appropriate" to discuss the country's future at this time.

The Scottish First Minister met with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday evening after meeting with the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.

Mr Juncker held talks with Ms Sturgeon about her idea for Scotland to remain, a plan based on current arrangements for Denmark.

Continental Denmark is in the EU, but the country also includes the Faroe Islands and Greenland, which are not.

Ms Sturgeon has vowed to keep Scotland, which voted Remain during the referendum last week, in the European Union and has called for a second referendum on Scottish independence.

Speaking to reporters following her meeting with Mr Schulz, she said they were at an early stage of this process.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, left, and European Council President Donald Tusk (Reuters)

She said: I have set out Scotlands desire to protect our relationship with the European Union, I dont underestimate the challenges that lie ahead for us in seeking to find a path.

This is very much an initial meeting and a series of meetings in Brussels today.

She said she wanted to make clear that Scotland, unlike other parts of the United Kingdom, doesnt want to leave the European Union.

Meanwhile, Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said he would oppose any EU talks with Scotland.

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 said: "I want to be very clear. Scotland does not have the competence to negotiate with the European Union. Spain opposes any negotiation by anyone other than the government of the United Kingdom.

"I am extremely against it, the treaties are extremely against it and I everyone is against it. If the United Kingdom leaves....Scotland leaves".

Individual EU countries have the right to veto the membership of any new country - so Spain could block the entry of an independent Scotland.

Catalonia and the Basque country in northern Spain have separatist movements which Madrid is keen to suppress.

Recommended Read more Sturgeon says Scottish Parliament could veto Brexit

As a result, Spain has moved to block recognition of any other regions in Europe which have attempted to break away from their countries - most notable it did not recognise Kosovo as an independent state when it broke from Serbia in 2008.

Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the UK but England and Wales, which have a larger combined population, voted to leave.

Outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron has said the "last thing Scotland needs" is a second referendum at this current time and urged the 48 per cent of people who voted to remain to respect the vote.

Speaking to reporters ahead of last night's EU summit in Brussels, he said he there was "universal respect" for the British decision among the other 27 leaders.
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Support for the Scottish Greens has surged by five per cent in a poll of voters north of the border.

The party, which increased its representation from two to six MSPs in Mays elections, is now vying with Labour for third place.

A Survation poll commissioned by the Scottish Daily Mail found the Greens on 12 per cent, up five points, with Labour still ahead on 16 per cent in third place. Labour were down three on their Scottish Parlaiment election share.

Recommended Read more Watch Green MP Caroline Lucas defend the benefits of immigration

The SNP were found to be in first place on 41 per cent in the regional list vote, with the Conservatives in second on 20 per cent, down three points on their May vote. The Liberal Democrats are on 7 per cent.

The Scottish Green Party is a seprate institution from the Green Party of England and Wales. Its co-convener, Patrick Harvie has been an MSP since 2003.

The Greens' English sister party is set to hold a leadership election later this summer, with former leader Caroline Lucas the favourite to win. She is contesting the position as part of a job-share with South London campaigner Jonathan Bartley.

The finding comes as Labour struggles nationally with coup by its MPs at Westminster to oust leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was elected on a landslide by members in September.

Patrick Harvie, co-convener of the Scottish Green Party (PA Images)

Labour suffered a historically poor result in the recent Scottish Parliament elections, winning just 24 seats under leader Kezia Dugdale, down from 37.

The party suffered a practical wipeout north of the border at Westminster last year under former leader Jim Murphy, losing all but one of its seats in what was once its heartland.

Ms Dugdale has added her voice to critics of Mr Corbyn this week, saying someone with such low confidence of their parliamentary party would not be able to do their job.

Mr Corbyn subsequently lost a confidence vote among his MPs, with just 40 backing him against 176 who did not.

The Scottish Conservatives surged to second place in the Scottish Parliament elections, overtaking Labour for the first time since the creation of the devolved legislature.

The SNP increased the number of votes they won at the elections, but lost their majority due to quirks of the electoral system. They are now operating a minority government.
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David Cameron has stepped off the European stage with an admission that public fears over immigration cost him last week's referendum and his job.

A clearly emotional Prime Minister said that there was sadness and regret among the 28 leaders around the table at the European Council that the UK was leaving the EU after 43 years, coupled with an acceptance that the decision of voters must be respected.

And he explained how he used his final appearance at the Brussels gathering to warn fellow leaders that intransigence over freedom of movement could scupper any chance of a UK-EU trade deal with the new prime minister who takes over from him in September.

Getting the right solution on immigration would be a major test for the next PM - widely tipped to be Boris Johnson.

 Brexit - Some Leave voters are regretting their vote

Mr Cameron was speaking after German chancellor Angela Merkel warned the UK must accept free movement if it wanted to retain access to the single market after withdrawal, as some non-members like Norway did.

Assuring the German parliament that she would not allow the UK to cherry-pick favoured elements of the EU package, she said: If you wish to have free access to the single market then you have to accept the fundamental European rights as well as obligations that come from it. This is as true for Great Britain as for anybody else.

Over dinner with fellow leaders in Brussels at his final European Council summit as Prime Minister, Mr Cameron set out his assessment of the reasons behind Thursday's shock referendum vote for Brexit.

And he told reporters later: I think people recognised the strength of the economic case for staying, but there was a very great concern about the movement of people and immigration, and I think that is coupled with a concern about the issues of sovereignty and the absence of control there has been.

I think we need to think about that, Europe need to think about that and I think that is going to be one of the major tests for the next prime minister.

It's a difficult challenge because the European Union sees the single market as one of goods, services, capital and people. These things go together, where in Britain we see them as separate options.

It's a huge challenge to get that right for the future, a challenge for Europe, a challenge for Britain. I certainly explained what I thought the debate had been about in the UK.

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

Asked if he now regretted calling the historic referendum, a sombre-faced Mr Cameron said: It's a sad night for me - I didn't want to be in this position. I wanted Britain to stay in a reformed European Union.

At the end of the day I'm a democrat. I fought very hard for what I believed in. I didn't stand back. I threw myself in head, heart and soul to keep Britain in the European Union and I didn't succeed.

And in politics you have to recognise that you fight, and when you win you carry on the programme, and when you lose sometimes you have to say I've lost that argument, I've lost that debate, and it's right to hand over to someone else who can take the country forward.

Now of course I'm sad about that but I'm more concerned about Britain getting its relationship right with Europe.

That is a far bigger thing than whether I'm Prime Minister for six years or seven years or what have you.

PA
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Isis has welcomed Britains vote to leave the European Union in its Arabic language propaganda newspaper, hailing a political crisis and the prospect of referendums in other nations.

The article in al-Naba claimed the Brexit threatens the unity of Crusader Europe, according to a translation by Shiraz Maher, the deputy director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation.

Its clear they want a weakened Europe and they see this as helping, he wrote on Twitter.

An article in Isis' Al-Naba magazine on the vote for a Brexit, published on Tuesday 28 June

The article, written by propagandists inside the so-called Islamic State, jubilantly noted shock in political and economic circles after Fridays results and the ensuing drop in the value of the pound and market volatility.

It also latched on to the separatist ambitions in some areas of the UK and prospect of second independence referendum in Scotland, as well as calls by nationalist parties elsewhere in Europe for similar votes on EU membership threatening the disintegration of the union as a whole.

The article was buried on page 15 of the newsletter, alongside Isis commentary on the new accord between Turkey and Israel restoring diplomatic relations following a six-year rift.

Al-Nabas main story praised a suicide car bomb attack that killed seven Jordanian troops near the Syrian border on 21 June, sparking a crackdown in the country including border closures and the arrest of scores of Syrian refugees.

Isis' Al-Naba newsletter published on Tuesday 28 June

It also contained propaganda updates on Isis battles to hold territory in Manbij in Syria, Fallujah in Iraq, and Sirte in Libya, claiming that fighters were inflicting losses on the ranks of the apostates and Crusaders despite a series of heavy defeats.

The newspaper, released on Tuesday, came days after a channel used by jihadists on the messaging app Telegram expressed joy over the immediate economic impact and fracturing of the EU, calling for terror attacks in Berlin and Brussels to paralyse Europe.

David Cameron warned last month that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis, would be pleased by a Brexit.

Answering questions at the World Economic Forum, he said: It is worth asking the question: Who would be happy if we left? Putin might be happy, I suspect al-Baghdadi might be happy.

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

Vladimir Putin later dismissed the claims, saying they had no basis and were an attempt to influence British voters ahead of the referendum.


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Ken Livingstone has urged Jeremy Corbyn to allow party members and activists to deselect dissenting MPs in the wake of a bruising no-confidence vote that has destabilised the partys leadership.

The former London mayor, who is one of Mr Corbyn's closest friends in politics, made the claim after the embattled Labour leader shrugged off a blistering defeat in a vote of no confidence.

Labour MPs voted by a margin of 172 to 40 to pass the motion, making a leadership challenge highly likely. It is unclear, however, whether Mr Corbyn will automatically receive a place on the ballot.

Recommended Read more Ed Miliband calls for Jeremy Corbyn to resign

All theyve done is stab him in the back and now they are stabbing him in the front, Mr Livingstone told The Independent as he accused the ghastly Blairities in the parliamentary Labour party of betraying their leader.

Mr Livingstone, who is currently suspended from the party pending an internal investigation into anti-semitism claims, added that Mr Corbyn should bring back automatic reselection.

Up until Blair got in local parties could choose their candidate before each general election, so that kept MPs focused on keeping their party membership behind them. Party members must have the right to get rid of their MP, continued Mr Livingstone.

 Dennis Skinner appears to flick the V at former Labour front benchers

It shouldnt be jobs for life if youve got a safe Labour seat, so I think there will be huge pressure from activists to replace some of these MPs that have been stabbing Jeremy in the back. Its too late if theres going to be a snap election but there will be time to do it if the election is going to be 2020.

Jeremy went out of his way to say were not going to do automatic reselection because that will alienate a lot of the MPs but I think hes most probably going to think, given their betrayal, its a good way to go.

Asked whether he thought Mr Corbyn should introduce such a policy, he replied: Oh yeah, definitely.

Youve had smear after smear against Jeremy the anti-semitism stuff certainly damaged us with the local elections but not enough to trigger a leadership challenge then. So then they started saying if we dont win the referendum itll be Jeremys fault. Its not bloody Jeremys fault at all, its the Tory press that blamed immigrants for everything thats wrong, basically.

Responding to speculation in Westminster that Angela Eagle, the former shadow Business Secretary, will run against Mr Corbyn in a potential leadership challenge, the veteran left-wing politician said: Well, theyve been clever about that because she is genuinely Labour. Not like some of the old Blairites  trade union background and so on.

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said Show all 14 1 /14 Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Israel and Palestine The simple fact in all of this is that Naz made these comments at a time when there was another brutal Israeli attack on the Palestinians; and theres one stark fact that virtually no one in the British media ever reports, in almost all these conflicts the death toll is usually between 60 and 100 Palestinians killed for every Israeli. Now, any other country doing that would be accused of war crimes but its like we have a double standard about the policies of the Israeli government Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Antisemitism in the Labour Party As Ive said, Ive never heard anybody say anything antisemitism-Semitic, but theres been a very well-orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticises Israeli policy as antisemitic. I had to put up with 35 years of this Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Naz Shah Its completely over-the-top and rude, but who am I to denounce anyone with all of that. It was wrong. I dont think she is antisemitic, it was incredibly rude but I dont believe she is an antisemite. When the NEC investigation is finished they'll say it was rude and over the top but they wont find any evidence that she actually hates Jews. Weve got to investigate all these charges and the context in which they are made. If she is antisemitic like the other three or four members weve found who are antisemitic, shell be expelled Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On other alleged antisemites in Labour That is part of the classic antisemitic thing about an international Jewish conspiracy  that is the reason we need to have an investigation. Ive got an open mind. Ive seen nothing to suggest to me that she is antisemitic. I wouldnt have supported her if I [thought] she was antisemitic Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On whether what Hitler did was legal, as stated by Naz Shah Thats a statement of fact  Hitler, Im sure, passed all those laws that allowed him to do that  its history  literally, Hitler was completely mad, he killed six million Jews. Shes not saying its legal to kill six million Jews: what they were doing in that country allowed them not just to kill six million Jews, kill all the communists, kill all the leftists like me, my father almost died when a Nazi sub sank his boat. I have no sympathy with Hitler Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On another alleged antisemite in Labour No, that is, and thats why shes been suspended or expelled. What Ive said is that in 47 years of the party in all the meetings Ive been in Ive never heard anyone say anything antisemitic. There are bound to be in a party of half a million people youll have a handful of antisemites, youll have a handful of racists. Youve managed to dig out virtually every antisemitic comment that Labour members have made out of half a million people. Ive never met any of these people. Theres not a problem. Youre talking about a handful of people in a party of half a million people. Jeremy Corbyn has moved rapidly to deal with them Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Jeremy Corbyns response to the allegations He met with Naz and she agreed she would stand down while the investigation is going on. He called her in to see her. Theres been a huge investigation of virtually everything that anybody put on the internet  many of these people are quite new and recent members of the party that joined in the big influx. 300,000 new people came in Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On his meeting a man accused of antisemitism in London This is the man who called for Muslims around the world to donate blood after the attacks of 9/11 when he came to London I went with him to the Regents Park mosque where he said no man should hit a woman and you should not discriminate against homosexuals. So I cant equate what I heard him say he made no antisemitic statement while he was here in London. I dont investigate people. Ive simply said what I believe to be true which is that Naz was not antisemitic. She was completely over the top, very rude, but that does not make her an antisemite Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On John Manns comments He went completely over the top. I was actually doing a radio interview at the time that he was bellowing that Im a racist antisemite in my ear. Ive had that with John Mann before a few weeks ago screaming that I was a bigot down the phone. Im not an apologist for anyone who makes antisemitic statements. What Im saying is dont confuse antisemitism with criticism of the Israeli government policy Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On calling a Jewish journalist a concentration camp guard whilst Mayor of London I cant tell if a journalist is Jewish or Catholic or anything. If a journalist is chasing you down the street at nine of clock at night you might be rude to them. Some people might have hit him! He said he was just doing his job. We went all the way to the High Court and the judge opened his judgement by saying I hope no one here is going to suggest that Mr Livingstone is antisemitic. We won the case Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On claims about Hitler and Zionism I cant tell if a journalist is Jewish or Catholic or anything. If a journalist is chasing you down the street at nine of clock at night you might be rude to them. Some people might have hit him! He said he was just doing his job. We went all the way to the High Court and the judge opened his judgement by saying I hope no one here is going to suggest that Mr Livingstone is antisemitic. We won the case Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On John Mann Id simply say to John Mann go back and check. Is what I say true, or is it not? The BBC, youve got a huge team of researchers, it will take just an hour or two to go back and confirm. I was asked a question, I answered it. I have never in 45 years since I won my first election, I have never lied. I have always answered the question Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On raising the issue if Hitler It lays you open to people smearing and lying about you. Ive always answered the questions put to me and that simple fact is weve had a handful of people saying antisemitic things in the Labour Party, theyve been suspended, some of them are on their way to being expelled, some of them have been expelled already Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On people calling for him to be suspended All my usual critics  but the simple fact is I agree with them; there is no place for antisemitism in the Labour party. For them to suggest I am antisemitic is a bit bizarre considering we worked with Jewish groups and put on exhibitions about the scale of the holocaust, we worked with Jewish groups to tackling the scale of antisemitism back in the 1970s. Ive always opposed every form of racism whether its against black people or Jews. Im going to stay in the Labour party and continue to fight against all forms of racism and discrimination as I have my entire life

The only chance theyve got is running someone who is genuinely Labour. But even then I think the majority of the membership will re-elect Jeremy, he added, claiming that a contest between Ms Eagle and Mr Corbyn will be closer than if it was between the Labour leader and some ghastly old Blairite.

I dont think there is anyone likely to do better than Angela. If they were to run Dan Jarvis wed just go on about how he takes money from the hedge funds. The idea that a hedge fund manager has an interest in electing a genuine Labour government is inconceivable, isnt it?

Asked about Mr Corbyn's performance in the EU referendum, Mr Livingstone responded: What do you want him [Jeremy] to do, sing and dance or something? He made speeches in which he was absolutely telling the truth  it will be worse if we leave but it will need substantial reform. If hed been running around saying this is the greatest thing on Earth no one would have paid any attention.

"Jeremy tells the truth, hes not looking for some sort of celebrity crap about what he does.
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Jeremy Corbyn has given a defiant speech vowing to carry on as leader of the Labour Party as calls mount for his resignation.

Speaking to supporters from the Momentum supporters in London on Wednesday evening, he insisted he had a people's mandate to remain.

We're in the midst of a very interesting political time in this country, I was very honoured to be elected to lead the Labour Party last year, Mr Corbyn said.

 Watson on Corbyn

I have done my best over this year to develop the policy changes we want and to reach out to people and to recognise that there are many people in the party who don't completely agree with the direction I want to take it.

But I also recognise that the mandate was given by hundreds of thousands of ordinary people joining in a political process, just as is happening across Europe, just as is happening across the United States, because they want to see a politics that is more reflective of them, their lives, their community and aspirations rather than the economic orthodoxy of the retreat of the wealth to the wealthiest that the poor may get poorer. It is simply immoral and wrong.

On Tuesday he lost a confidence vote from Labour MPs by 172 to 40 following the Brexit.

Dozens of MPs, including several members of the shadow cabinet, have resigned since Mr Corbyn sacked shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn in the early hours of Sunday morning, after Mr Benn told him MPs did not believe he was able to win an election.

In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Show all 11 1 /11 In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Jonathan Reynolds,Shadow Railways Minister: RESIGNED He resigned as shadow railways minister in protest at the reasons for sacking Pat McFadden In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Kevan Jones, Shadow Defence Minister: RESIGNED He resigned as a shadow defence minister who strongly supports renewal of Trident. Has spoken out against Jeremy Corbyns leadership before and was also the centre of a row with Ken Livingstone after he said Jones might need some psychiatric help (Jones has previously spoken about his struggle with depression) In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Stephen Doughty, Shadow Foreign Minister: RESIGNED He quit as a shadow foreign minister in protest at the sacking of his colleague Pat McFadden as shadow Europe minister. He said he had looked at his own conscience and decided to step down In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Pat McFadden, Shadow Europe Minister: SACKED He was sacked as shadow Europe minister for "disloyalty" to leader Jeremy Corbyn In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Pat Glass, Shadow Europe Minister: SAFE Former junior shadow education minister Pat Glass replaced Pat McFadden as shadow Europe minister In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Emily Thornberry, Shadow Defence Secretary: SAFE She was promoted to shadow defence secretary. She is anti-Trident and therefore more in tune with Corbyns stance and replaces Maria Eagle, who was pro-Trident Getty In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Emma Lewell-Buck, Shadow Minister for Devolution and Local Government: SAFE Emma Lewell-Buck was promoted to shadow minister for devolution and local government In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Michael Dugher, Shadow Culture Secretary: SACKED Outspoken critic of Jeremy Corbyns leadership, has been sacked as shadow culture secretary for his "incompetence and disloyalty" In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Hilary Benn, Shadow Foreign Secretary: SAFE Hilary Benn remains as shadow foreign secretary, but Corbyns team has insisted his role now comes with new conditions that he must agree with Corbyn over foreign policy. Benn insists there are no new conditions attached to his job and insisted: "I haven't been muzzled. I'm going to be carrying on doing my job exactly as before In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Maria Eagle, Shadow Culture Secretary: SAFE Maria Eagle, moved from shadow defence to shadow culture secretary as part of Corbyns move to make his defence team match his anti-Trident views In pictures: Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle Andy Burnham, Shadow Home Secretary: SAFE Reports linked him to foreign secretary brief, but Corbyn appears to have backed down on sacking Hilary Benn. He does not see eye-to-eye with Corbyn on home affairs such as the Snoopers charter, but removing your shadow home secretary so soon after starting would have been a dangerous move by Corbyn

He was interrupted by a heckler as he spoke outside the London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), who shouted: What about Europe Jeremy? Where were you when we needed you?

The man was drowned out by shouts of f*** off and shut up as the crowd booed and started chanting Jeremy! Jeremy! Jeremy!.

It wasnt my wish, it wasnt the wish, I suspect of many people here and we now have a difficult economic situation to deal with, Mr Corbyn responded.

He said he would work to gain protection for workers rights, environment and sustainability regulations guaranteed by the EU, as well as fighting xenophobia and racism, and challenging austerity.

"The vote last week was a vote of anger, it was a vote of desperation in many places around the country, Mr Corbyn added.

Labour's deputy leader, Tom Watson (left), says Jeremy Corbyn isn't willing to discuss quitting as party leader (PA)

He hailed his achievements of increasing the Labour Party membership to more than 400,000 people and said he wanted to change the way we did our politics.

"Surely together we have strength. Surely together we can harness the technology we've got and not be afraid of press barons who attack us, he said.

"That's why we contested the leadership of this party a year ago, that's why I'm very proud to be carrying on with that work."

At the same event, shadow Chancellor John McDonnell compared the Parliamentary Labour Party to a lynch mob without the rope.

Mr Corbyn is expected to face a challenge from shadow business secretary Angela Eagle will announce her intentions on Thursday amid reports she is preparing to run as a unity candidate.

Labours deputy leader, Tom Watson, said he believed an impending leadership election was inevitable following calls from prominent figures including Ed Miliband, Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman.

David Cameron, who resigned as Prime Minister on Friday, told him in the House of Commons: For heaven's sake man, go.

Additional reporting by PA
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Jeremy Corbyn is refusing to listen to anyone except his hard core of allies - and the cheering supporters who gathered in their hundreds to hear him speak today.

Inside Parliament, the Labour leaders isolation is almost total. His deputy, Tom Watson  who, like Mr Corbyn, was elected by party members and signed up supporters  tried to persuade his leader to quit because he has lost the support of his MPs. But Mr Watson told the BBC: Im afraid Jeremy isnt willing to discuss that with me so I assume he remains in office.

The two leaders visited a Polish centre during the afternoon. Mr Watson tried to raise the subject Mr Corbyn's vanishing support among Labour MPs, but the embattled party leader refused to discuss it.

But later he spoke in front of a huge crowd of supporters from outside Parliament, who came together at short notice for a rally in support of him. The grass roots organisation, Momentum, had originally planned to hold the rally at TUC headquarters, but had to cancel when they realised that the hall was not going to be big enough to fit the huge numbers wanting to come. They reorganised at short notice after finding a bigger venue.

Mr Corbyn's refusal to stand down, after Labour MPs had voted by 172 to 40 that they had no confidence in his leadership, makes it almost inevitable that a rival will force another leadership election. Mr Watson, who had already said in private that he would not stand, publicly ruled himself out.

Angela Eagle, the former shadow Business Secretary  who is seen by many as Mr Corbyns most likely successor  is expected to make an announcement on Thursday afternoon, which could be the start of one of the most divisve leadership contests in Labour's history.

It will then be for Labours national executive to rule whether Mr Corbyn has an automatic right to be on the ballot paper, or whether  like any other candidate  he must find gather nominations from 50 Labour MPs or MEPs  a target he may not have enough support to achieve.

In another extraordinary day in Labours seeming journey into self-destruction, four previous leader of the party, and David Cameron, appealed in vain to Mr Corbyn to resign. Westminster was thick with rumours that the embattled leader was on the point of quitting, but was being told the shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, and his Communications Director Seumas Milne that he must fight on. Mr Watson told the BBC: He has obviously been told to stay by his close ally, John McDonnell.

The Commons has very often heard opposition leaders call upon prime ministers to resign, but the tables were turned at Prime Ministers Questions when Mr Cameron exclaimed: It might be in my party's interest for him to sit there, it's not in the national interest and I would say, for heaven's sake man, go!

Ed Miliband, whose politics were closer to Mr Corbyns than any other recent party leaders, told the BBC: Ive supported Jeremy Corbyn all the way along from the moment he was elected but I have reluctantly reached the conclusion that his position is untenable.

Even long-time Corbyn supporter Ed Miliband (left) believes the Labour leader's position has become untenable (PA)

The former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said in a speech in Edinburgh that Labour had to choose between being electable or being a party of protest. He added: I don't think Jeremy Corbyn is going to stay. I think he is going to go

Harriet Harman, who was twice Labours interim leader, issued a statement saying: It is with great regret that I call on Jeremy Corbyn to stand down as leader of the Labour Party. Jeremy has many great qualities but he is not a leader.

Margaret Beckett, who led the party for three months in 1994, also called for Mr Corbyn to go. The 20 Labour members of the European Parliament issued a statement criticising the way Mr Corbyns staff had reacted to last Thursdays Brexit voted, adding: We find it hard to see how any Labour leader can continue in that role if they do not have the support of their MPs.

The leaders of Britains four biggest unions met and put out a statement saying that they recognised the case for a leadership election, but continued their support for Mr Corbyn.

There were yet more resignations from Mr Corbyns front bench team, including Pat Glass, whom he promoted to the shadow Cabinet only two days ago. According to one insider, at least three people who told Mr Corbyn to his face that he risked splitting the party unless he resigned were given the same answer - that he had a mandate from the party members and supporters who elected him last year. Mr Corbyn believes that he would be letting those supporters down if he gave in to parliamentary pressure to quit.


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A leaked email from Michael Gove's wife, Sarah Vine, has provided a rare insight to the internal politics at play in the Conservative leadership contest.

The message, which was mistakenly sent to a member of the public, appears to raise concerns over Boris Johnson as new Tory party leader.

The correspondence also references two powerful media figures and talked of how to manipulate their support.

Read the leaked email in full:

"Very important that we focus on the individual obstacles and thoroughly overcome them before moving to the next. I really think Michael needs to have a Henry or a Beth [Mr Gove's media advisers] with him for this morning's crucial meetings.

"One simple message: You MUST have SPECIFIC assurances from Boris OTHERWISE you cannot guarantee your support. The details can be worked out later on, but without that you have no leverage.

"Crucially, the membership will not have the necessary reassurance to back Boris, neither will [Daily Mail editor Paul] Dacre/[Rupert] Murdoch, who instinctively dislike Boris but trust your ability enough to support a Boris Gove ticket.

"Do not concede any ground. Be your stubborn best.

"GOOD LUCK."

The favourites in the Tory leadership race Show all 5 1 /5 The favourites in the Tory leadership race The favourites in the Tory leadership race Theresa May The longest-serving Home Secretary in 100 years took a back seat in the referendum campaign. While backing Remain, she did not hit the campaign trail and delivered only a handful of speeches and interviews, and was critical of many aspects of the EU, particularly the European Convention on Human Rights. Hedging her bets allows her to now emerge as a unity candidate, and she is said to have been building up her back-room staff in preparation for a leadership bid. She has the significant advantage of having served in one of the great offices of state, in a steady and competent manner that has won her many admirers within party and the civil service. At a time of great instability, it may be that she is viewed as steady hand on the tiller. Mrs May does however, lack the star quality of a Boris Johnson and party members may doubt her ability to connect with ordinary voters PA The favourites in the Tory leadership race Michael Gove The Justice Secretary may be able to set himself up as the thinking Torys Brexit candidate. Made an enormous political and personal decision to back Leave, taking on his old friend David Cameron. He performed well during the TV debates, and will be an admired figure among Eurosceptic Conservatives. Along with Johnson, he will be hindered by the fact that he led a very divisive campaign, characterised by blue-on-blue action. MPs may also judge that he lacks Boris Johnsons wider appeal with the electorate. Possibly more likely that he will settle for being his new bosom buddy Boriss Chancellor Getty The favourites in the Tory leadership race Stephen Crabb Highly-rated Work and Pensions Secretary, raised on a council estate, so could reach out to non-traditional working class Tory voters Getty Images The favourites in the Tory leadership race Andrea Leadsom Minister of State for Energy at the Department of Energy and Climate Change is one of the most prominent figures in the Leave campaign, seen to have performed well in TV debates Rex Features The favourites in the Tory leadership race Liam Fox British Conservative MP and former Secretary of State for Defence, as sources said he will stand for the leadership of the Conservative Party AFP/Getty

Former Mayor of London Boris Johnson is widely tipped to be the next leader of the Conservative party. Michael Gove, justice secretary, was a loyal sidekick to him throughout the referendum campaign, and is now in a crucial position as a result.

But the path to Number 10 is far from clear.

Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb and former defence secretary Liam Fox have both launched their own party leadersahip campaigns.

However, Home Secretary Theresa May is widely thought of as the main challenger to Mr Johnson.
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Scottish people now favour a second independence referendum, a poll on the subject after the EU referendum result has found.

Britain voted to leave the European Union by 52 per cent to 48 per cent  but Scotland overwhelmingly voted to stay by 62 per cent, with a majority in favour in every single council area.

The Scottish National Party, which runs the Scottish Government, has said that Scotland being dragged out of the European Union without its consent might be cause for a second independence referendum.

Now a poll by Survation conducted on behalf of the Scottish Daily Mail has found that 47 per cent per cent of voters back an independence referendum just two years after the first one was held.

Only 42 per cent do not want to hold another referendum.

A majority of Scots also believed it would be democratically unacceptable for their country to be forced to leave the European Union by the rest of Britain.

52 per cent supported that statement compared to just 33 per cent who disagreed.

The news comes amid reports that the Spanish government would block any attempt at Scottish re-accession to the EU.

Scotland goes to the polls Show all 20 1 /20 Scotland goes to the polls Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Piper Ryan Randall leads a pro-Scottish independence rally in the suburbs of Edinburgh Getty Images Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides A "No" campaigner bursts into song as the BBC's Nick Robinson walks past Getty Images Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Chris McAleese holds a Saltire flag as he speaks with Gerrard Corrigan, left, and Robbie Devine outside Bannockburn Polling Station in Scotland AP Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides George Mackay and his daughter Anne Mackay run a polling station from their caravan at Coulags near Lochcarron PA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Voters arrive at the polling station in the village hall in the remote Highland area of Lochcarron, Scotland PA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides A No campaign supporter and Yes campaign supporter debate with each outside the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh, Scotland AP Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Martin Greenhouse arrived at Partick polling station wearing a Scottish football jersey with the number 14 - for 2014 - on the back. Martin said that he'd lived in Scotland for years and would be remaining north of border regardless of the outcome tonight. "Westminster does London very well. But not the rest of Britain. Devolution works, independence will work better and the regions of England will take note. That's why my wife and I are voting YES." James Cusick/The Independent Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides A supporter of the 'Yes' campaign stands outside a polling station Reuters Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides A yes supporter talks with a man and a woman with a Union flag in George Square, just a few hours before polling stations will close in the Scottish independence referendum Getty Images Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Chris McAleese at Bannockburn Polling Station, as voters go to the polls in the Scottish Referendum PA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Ryan Randall plays the bagpipes outside a polling station in Edinburgh, Scotland Reuters Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Fashion makes a point on voting day in the Scottish Independence referendum in Stirling EPA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Voters come to Notre Dame Primary School polling station as the people of Scotland take to the polls to decide their country's fate Getty Images Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Voters come to Notre Dame Primary School polling station as the people of Scotland take to the poles to decide their country's fate in a historic vote Getty Images Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond chats to school children at Strichen Primary School in Strichen PA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown with No campaigners outside the polling station at North Queensferry Community Centre as polls open PA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond gives the thumbs up after voting in the Scottish referendum in Aberdeenshire, Scotland EPA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Residents take part in a "short walk to freedom" march in Edinburgh Reuters Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Young voters leave a polling station in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh Reuters Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides David Aguilar, left, and Aleix Sarri from Catalonia, who are visiting Scotland to support the Scottish independence referendum, gesture and hold up a placard supporting a Yes vote at passing motorists in Edinburgh, Scotland AP

Spain has separatist movements in Catalonia and the Basque country and the countrys government has long worried Scottish independence might embolden pro-independence forces in those regions.

Another poll carried out by the same firm in the wake of the Brexit vote found that 53.7 per cent of Scots now want independence compared to just 46.3 who do not.

If replicated on polling day the result would be a turnaround from that in 2014, where 55 per cent of Scots voted to remain a part of the UK compared to 45 per cent who voted for independence.
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As Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon begins setting out plans for a second independence referendum amid economic uncertainty following the UKs Brexit vote, official statistics show wealth disparity in Scotland is widening.

Scotlands richest 10 per cent saw the largest increases in income over 2014/15, while the proportion of working households entering into poverty levels has increased, according to the latest figures from the Scottish Government.

The top 10 per cent saw incomes rise by 15 per cent more than the bottom 40 per cent combined, the report says. In 2013/14, the same group saw incomes rise by 12 per cent more.

The report says a move into part-time work has seen those in lower income brackets fall behind the trend for wage rises in the middle and the richest households.

The proportion of people in absolute poverty  lacking basic human needs like food and shelter  remained unchanged, though decreased slightly if housing costs were factored in.

Poverty Alliance director Peter Kelly told the Press Association: This will be made worse following the UKs decision to leave the EU and the economic uncertainty that this will create.

All of those who care about the protection of rights and social justice must work together to ensure that impact of the vote to leave the European Union does not fall most heavily on those already living in difficult circumstances.

The report says: The proportion of people in poverty in working households increased in the latest year.

Recommended Read more Scottish MEP receives standing ovation in European Parliament

The move into employment was largely into part-time work, especially for women, meaning that while people were in employment, they remained in poverty.

In 2014/15, income inequality increased. The top 10 per cent of households saw the largest increases in income while the bottom 10 per cent saw no real change."

The report added: This has stretched the income distribution, resulting in low-income households falling behind those in the middle and even further behind those at the top.

Jamie Livingstone, head of Oxfam Scotland, told The Independent: It is clear that not enough progress is being made on tackling poverty in Scotland. There are still over 940,000 people living in relative poverty after housing costs (AHC), the same number as 2013/14.

Worryingly, the proportion of people experiencing in-work poverty is on the rise. In 2014/15, 58 per cent of working age adults in poverty (AHC) were living in working households, as were 66 per cent of children.

These figures show that we must redouble efforts to tackle poverty and inequality in Scotland.

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: The SNP manifesto included the commitment to establishing a Poverty and Inequality Commission. This body should be established as soon as possible and must be allowed to move beyond statements of concern to recommending and securing specific changes in policy.
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The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has said he will oppose any attempts to hold talks with Scotland over its EU membership in the wake of Brexit.

Speaking as Nicola Sturgeon arrived on the second day of an emergency summit in Brussels, Mr Rajoy said that "if the UK goes, Scotland goes too".

Mr Rajoy, who is the acting prime minister after Spain's inconclusive election results at the weekend, said he was "extremely against" the idea of taking Scotland as an independent party.

 Nicola Sturgeon says MPs at Holyrood could veto Brexit

Recommended Read more Sturgeon says Scottish Parliament could veto Brexit

Spain has its own concerns with independence movements, with people in both the Basque and Catalonia regions holding long-running claims to be separate countries.

"I want to be very clear," Mr Rajoy said. "Scotland does not have the competence to negotiate with the European Union. Spain opposes any negotiation by anyone other than the government of the United Kingdom.

"I am extremely against it, the treaties are extremely against it and I everyone is against it. If the United Kingdom leaves....Scotland leaves."

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

Earlier, the European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he had agreed to "listen" to the case for Scotland after its voters chose to remain by a majority of 62 per cent.

Ms Sturgeon was due to meet Mr Juncker on Wednesday evening after conversations with the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.

And after that meeting Mr Schulz told reporters she was "at an early stage of this process".

"I have set out Scotlands desire to protect our relationship with the European Union, I dont underestimate the challenges that lie ahead for us in seeking to find a path," she said.

She said she wanted to make clear that Scotland, unlike other parts of the United Kingdom, doesnt want to leave the European Union.
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Thomas Piketty, one of the most influential left-wing intellectuals, has stood down as an economic advisor to Jeremy Corbyn and said he is deeply concerned with the European Union referendum result.

Mr Piketty, who is a professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics and the author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, told The Independent he made the decision to resign a couple of weeks ago  long before Britons voted to leave the EU in last weeks historic referendum.

Confirming he had stood down from the Labour leaders economic advisory council  which was announced by shadow Chancellor John McDonnell after Mr Corbyns victory in the leadership contest last summer  Mr Piketty added the decision was not because of political disagreement but simply because I was never able to find the time to be properly involved in this council.

But, he added: That being said, I am of course deeply concerned with the Brexit vote, and with the weak campaign of Labour (even though Corbyn is obviously not the primary [person] responsible for this disaster).

Upon joining the council in September 2015 the French economist, who advocated a redistributive wealth tax, said I am very happy to take part in this economic advisory committee and assist the Labour Party in constructing an economic policy that helps tackle some of the biggest issues facing people in the UK.

There is now a brilliant opportunity for the Labour party to construct a fresh and new political economy which will expose austerity for the failure it has been in the UK and Europe.

News of Mr Pikettys departure comes after Danny Blanchflower, who also had a place on the economic council, announced yesterday that he had resigned. He said: In light of recent development I have decided to resign from the economic advisory council and wind up the review of the Bank of England.

Jeremy Corbyn: Sharpening up his style Show all 6 1 /6 Jeremy Corbyn: Sharpening up his style Jeremy Corbyn: Sharpening up his style Fashion tips for the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been described as too untidy, too scruffy for the tastes of many voters Rex Jeremy Corbyn: Sharpening up his style Fashion tips for the Labour leader One of Mr Corbyn's appealing qualities is that people believe he is truthful. He should keep that central to his image and dress to suit his personality Rex Jeremy Corbyn: Sharpening up his style Fashion tips for the Labour leader Beige is not the colour to choose when trying to come across as the most powerful, assertive person in the world Rex Jeremy Corbyn: Sharpening up his style Fashion tips for the Labour leader There's no need for Jeremy Corbyn to go to Savile Row for a pinstriped suit. All thats required is a little sharpening up  from geography teacher to headteacher perhaps Rex Jeremy Corbyn: Sharpening up his style Fashion tips for the Labour leader Mr Corbyn has been described by one of his own activists as the only man who buys his clothes at the Dalston Co-Op Rex Jeremy Corbyn: Sharpening up his style Fashion tips for the Labour leader By wearing a tie Jeremy Corbyn shows he knows how to conduct himself in business meetings or dealing with foreign leaders AFP

It will come as a blow to the embattled Labour leader who, on Tuesday, shrugged off a blistering defeat in a vote of no confidence. In the parliamentary Labour party, Labour MPs passed the motion by a margin of 172 votes to 40. A leadership contest is expected to be announced shortly by the party  though, it is unclear whether Mr Corbyn will automatically receive a place on the ballot.

Just last week Richard Murphy, a professor of practice in international political economy at City University and director of Tax Research UK, wrote in the Guardian: Now his leadership is in crisis. I will make myself unpopular for saying this, but I think that those demanding change are right to do so, even if I will not agree with much of their reasoning.

Mr Murphy added that the Labour leader had not provided a vision of what his leadership will deliver, adding that on economics we have so far heard almost nothing that really progresses the ideas outlined last summer. He is often referred to as one of Mr Corbyns economic gurus.
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Boris Johnson and Theresa May will battle it out to prove to the Conservative Party that they are the leader to reunite the country in the wake of the Brexit vote, as the race to become the next Prime Minister starts in earnest.

Both candidates have spent a frantic 48 hours in Westminster mustering support, with nominations to succeed David Cameron as Conservative leader opening on Wednesday and closing on Thursday. Mr Johnson is understood to be counting on around 100 nominations, and Mrs May around 70 to 80.

The two frontrunners will be joined in the leadership ballot by Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb, who will formally announce his candidacy on Wednesday, backed by Business Secretary Sajid Javid. Former Defence Secretary and Brexit campaigner Liam Fox is also expected to announce a leadership bid, while Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is also considering running.

 Crabb launches leadership bid

Recommended Read more Theresa May narrowly beats Boris Johnson in poll for next PM

Mr Johnson, whose campaign will be spearheaded by Vote Leave ally Michael Gove, is understood to have secured the support of election strategist Lynton Crosby. He has courted senior Conservatives in the Remain camp, in a bid to outflank Home Secretary Theresa May, who will present herself as the unity candidate when she announces her bid.

Dr Dan Poulter, the former health minister who confirmed his support for Mr Johnson, told The Independent: I was on the other side of the referendum debate but I think it is important that we recognise as a party that the country chose to leave the EU and we recognise that in our choice of leader.

More than that, I have been impressed with the way Boris has been able to reach out beyond the Tory membership and beyond traditional supporters. He is unique in that ability.

It is understood that Mr Johnson does not plan to announce a snap election if he becomes Prime Minister, with sources within his campaign arguing that the stability of the country should be paramount. Labour could also have a new leader by the autumn, after a vote of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn triggered a contest.

Mr Johnson can rely on support among Brexit-backing MPs, but his campaign will also seek to present him as a one nation Conservative who can appeal to voters beyond the partys traditional support base.

However, the divisions wrought by the referendum campaign have lost him the support of many MPs. Mrs May, who backed a Remain vote, but kept a low profile during the referendum campaign, will present herself as a unity candidate, and has won the support of a number of senior MPs, including Health Committee chair Dr Sarah Wollaston.

The new Prime Minister will be tasked with leading negotiations over Britains new relationship with the European Union. At a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels, Mr Cameron resisted pressure to invoke Article 50, the formal procedure for leaving the EU, which he has said should be the responsibility of his successor.

Britains access to the European single market is set to be a key battleground in the Conservative leadership race. Mr Johnson has indicated that he wants the UK to have access, but is also understood to be determined to extricate the UK from EU freedom of movement rules in order to curb immigration. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that any such arrangement would not be possible  insisting that Britain could not expect to keep the privileges of EU membership without abiding by the obligations.

A new Conservative leader will be in place by 9 September, the partys board confirmed.
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Investigators are a step closer to establishing the cause of the EgyptAir crash after successfully extracting data from one of the plane's black boxes.

Egypt's Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee said the flight data recorder confirmed previous reports of smoke on board flight MS804.

Preliminary information shows that the entire flight is recorded on the FDR, from when it took off from Charles de Gaulle airport to when the recording stopped at the place of the accident at 37,000ft, a statement said.

 EgyptAir Flight 804: Sisi says 'all scenarios possible'

The recorded data corresponds with Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages referring to smoke in the lavatory and electronics room of the avionics bay.

Recovered wreckage from the jet's front section showed signs of heat damage and thick black smoke, the committee added.

As one of two black boxes recovered from the wreckage, the recorder contains detailed technical information on the flight including its altitude and engine information.

Seven minutes before contact was lost with the plane as it flew from Paris to Cairo, a sequence of messages indicated multiple threats on board - possibly including fire in a lavatory and the main electronics bay.

They were transmitted automatically to EgyptAirs using ACARS.

In pictures: Wreckage from EgyptAir flight 804 Show all 5 1 /5 In pictures: Wreckage from EgyptAir flight 804 In pictures: Wreckage from EgyptAir flight 804 EgyptAir wreckage The Egyptian army published photos showing wreckage and debris from EgyptAir flight 804 on 21 May Egyptian army In pictures: Wreckage from EgyptAir flight 804 EgyptAir wreckage The Egyptian army published photos showing wreckage and debris from EgyptAir flight 804 on 21 May Egyptian army In pictures: Wreckage from EgyptAir flight 804 EgyptAir wreckage The Egyptian army published photos showing wreckage and debris from EgyptAir flight 804 on 21 May Egyptian army In pictures: Wreckage from EgyptAir flight 804 EgyptAir wreckage The Egyptian army published photos showing wreckage and debris from EgyptAir flight 804 on 21 May In pictures: Wreckage from EgyptAir flight 804 EgyptAir wreckage The Egyptian army published photos showing wreckage and debris from EgyptAir flight 804 on 21 May

The first message, sent at 2.26am Cairo time, read: ANTI ICE R WINDOW, indicating a problem with the heater for the co-pilots window. Six more messages followed in the next three minutes  two over window sensors and two mentioning smoke.

One detector was in a toilet behind the flight deck and the second in the avionics bay beneath the cockpit.

While the smoke detectors are intended to indicate fire, they can also be triggered by condensation of the kind that occurs in the event of sudden decompression.

The final two messages, sent within seconds of each other at 2.29am, read AUTO FLT FCU 2 FAULT and F/CTL SEC 3 FAULT, indicating problems with the autopilot and the flight control system respectively.

Four minutes later, the aircrafts transponder made its last broadcast, relaying details of the aircraft and its location before it crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on 19 May, killing all 66 people on board.

The two black boxes from the Egyptair plane that crashed in the Mediterranean Sea (EPA)

The Airbus A320s damaged cockpit voice recorder was being repaired in France after initial attempts to download information from it and the flight data recorder failed because of damage.

French and American investigators have overseen attempts to extract data from the black boxes as they were produced by US company Honeywell, while the plane was manufactured in France.

Radar data showed the aircraft had made sudden turns after cruising normally in clear skies, plummeting from 38,000ft to 15,000ft and disappearing at around 10,000ft.

The Paris prosecutor opened a manslaughter investigation into the crash on Monday, when a spokesperson said it would begin as an accident inquiry because there was no evidence so far to link it to terrorism.

Egypts civil aviation minister initially said he believed terrorism was a more likely explanation than equipment failure but so far no hard evidence has emerged and no group has claimed responsibility.

Candles are lit during a vigil for the victims of the crash, in Cairo (AP)

A forensics official said body parts retrieved were small and pointed to a possible explosion on board, but the head of Egypts forensics authority dismissed it as mere assumptions.

Phil Giles, a former air safety investigator who worked on the Lockerbie Bombing case, told The Independent that images of wreckage added to mounting indications the plane broke up mid-air.

All the evidence so far, including the pictures, indicates that the aircraft broke up at altitude rather than when it impacted the sea, he said.

Aircraft do infrequently break up as a function of severe weather; however, this wasn't a factor in this accident.

Modern aircraft such as the A320 don't have a habit of suffering major structural failure unless there is some external factor like a BUK missile as in the case of MH17, or an internal device.

Among the victims was Richard Osman, a father-of-two from Wales, and a Frenchman who almost missed the fated flight after losing his passport.

EgyptAir said 30 Egyptians, 15 French passengers, two Iraqis, and one passenger from Britain, Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Algeria, Canada, Belgium, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were on board.
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More than 8,000 vacant apartments that could be rented in New York City are taken off the market by Airbnb hosts, a new report claims.

The study, commissioned by affordable housing nonprofits Housing Conservation Coordinators MFY Legal Services, focused intently on what they called impact listings  units run by hosts who have multiple properties available to rent for at least three months per year, as well as hosts who run single listings for at least six months per year.

Recommended Read more New York could ban Airbnb users hiring out apartments

If these 8,058 listings were put back on the rental market, according to the report, then vacant units in the city would increase by 10 per cent and the vacancy rate would rise by 4 per cent.

Impact listings generate $302.9m (225.1m) annually, it adds.

The biggest takeaway for me is the validation that at least 8,000 listings could be used for people to live in; instead they are used for hotel rooms, New York City Council member Helen Rosenthal, who serves on the Committee on Housing and Buildings, told The Independent. Thats astounding.

She added: When we think about it  even if not all those listings are affordable  every time you take an apartment off the market, you increase the value of the ones that are left on the market. Thats basic macroeconomics.

Ms Rosenthal suggested if Airbnb users were to follow the law, then 8,000 housing units would open up for renters.

New York states multiple dwelling law prohibits hosts from renting full units for less than 30 days, unless they are on the premises. Data in the report says that more than 55 per cent of units listed on Airbnb are illegal by the current legal standards.

The study found that the vast majority of Airbnbs impact listings are in Manhattan and Brooklyn boroughs; gentrifying areas like Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, East Village, Lower East Side, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick were most affected.

Researchers compiled their data using the third-party analytics tool, Airdna, that tracks occupancy of Airbnbs listings based on the information available on the platform.

Roughly 17 per cent of Airbnb listings in the Lower East Side are 'impact listings', according to the report (Mario Tama/Getty)

Airbnb spokesperson Peter Schottenfels dismissed the findings of the report, suggesting that the housing organisations were in the pocket of New Yorks hotel industry.

All of the data in this report is fundamentally flawed, he said.

In an emailed statement, Mr Schottenfels added: If the hotel lobby that funded this misleading study was serious about affordable housing, they would have urged politicians to act on real solutions like restarting the 421-a tax credit, a 10-year tax exemption for multi-unit developers that expired earlier this year.

We need to work together to find solutions that actually benefit middle class New Yorkers, including how to protect responsible home sharers, rather than protecting the interests of the hotel industry.

Airbnb says New York politicians make 'targeting the middle class their top priority' (Andrew Burton/Getty)

Sarah Desmond, executive director of Housing Conservation Coordinators who co-commissioned the report, said the claim that the report was intended for anything other than preserving affordable housing in New York was ridiculous.

Weve fought this issue since 2004, she said. Since before Airbnb was even in the picture, we were fighting against illegal hotels.

For their part, Airbnb has said they regularly remove illegal users from their site and say that 95 per cent of their hosts offer a single listing.

However, the company has been criticised for a "lack of transparency" after the data analysis group, Inside Airbnb, found that the company dropped more than 1,000 illegal listings before releasing their data to city officials in December 2015.

Airbnb subsequently admitted the dump and told legislators in February that the listings were controlled by commercial operators and did not reflect Airbnbs vision for our community.

Still, Ms Rosenthal questioned whether or not the company is removing illegal users as regularly they suggested in the February letter to legislators.

Its so interesting to see that the number is so high, even after Airbnb dumped a bunch of listings last year when they wanted to show us that they were clean. Obviously these listings came back, she said.

So even with that three-month [period] of having lower illegal listings, were still at 8,000 - at least.
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President Barack Obama has ducked a question on the future state of US-UK trade, suggesting the UK has more important priorities as it negotiates its exit from the European Union.

Frankly, we will be the least of their problems right now, he said at a press conference alongside the Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto and the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Europe is their first priority, where they trade half their goods, said Mr Obama. I emphasized throughout that the special relationship with Great Britain does not change.

 Obama on Brexit

"I think there are some general longer-term concerns about global growth if in fact Brexit goes through and that freezes the possibilities of investment in Great Britain, or in Europe as a whole."

Before the UK public voted to leave the union on 23 June, they had been warned by the president that trade with the US would move to the back of the queue.

His comments were criticsed by both former London mayor and Leave campaigner Boris Johnson and Republican Donald Trump.

Mr Obama said at the press conference this week that the Brexit vote does not help global growth rates which were already low.

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

After prime minister David Cameron said he will step down by October and Labour politicians passed a vote of no confidence in their leader Jeremy Corbyn, Mr Obama stressed that leadership issues need to be resolved for the negotiations process with the EU to move efficiently.

The UK has yet to trigger Article 50, signaling their formal intention to leave the European Union, a move that close to 52 per cent of the UK population voted for. Many countries in the EU have refused to even hold informal talks with Mr Cameron until that Article has been put in place.

My main message to Cameron, [German chancellor Angela] Merkel and others is that everybody should catch their breath, come up with a plan and a process thats orderly, transparent and that people understand, and then proceed with the understanding that both sides have a stake in getting this right, he said.

And I think that will be a difficult, challenging process but it does not need to be a panicky process."

Mr Obama added that he had spoken to Ms Merkel about the UK leaving the union.

Her interest is not in retribution. Her interest is [] in making the process work."

He said he had confidence in his European counterparts to come up with an exit plan and added that the US will help in any way we can.
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Several years ago, Robb Nash received an urgent phone call from a high school principal. One of the schools students had killed herself and in her suicide note revealed that she and a friend had a suicide pact. She didnt say who.

Nash, a Canadian musician was already becoming a popular motivational speaker for teens. He visited schools and performed his songs and shared stories about overcoming adversity. But now, the school asked if he could address suicide directly.

It was a subject Nash knew all too well.

Standing in front of that room of teenagers who were still reeling from the loss of their peer, he opened up about when he was suicidal. How, in his darkest moments, he had no longer wanted to live.

I know someone in this room is having these feelings, he said he told them, Youre not alone.

A girl approached him after and handed him a folded piece of paper. It was her suicide note. She told him through tears that shed planned to kill herself that weekend, he recalled.

In that moment he said that he realized that in every school he visited there could be a kid in the room with a similar note, waiting for someone to reach out and give them a reason to live. Now suicide awareness is a cornerstone of his presentations. He shares his story and that of the other kids hes met who once wanted to take their own lives. Hundreds of them have come to him afterward and reached into backpacks or pockets or wallets and handed him the suicide note theyd been carrying.

Its their way of saying: I wont be needing this anymore.

So earlier this month, Nash picked 120 names from those notes and had their signatures tattooed down his right arm. Now, when he gives presentations, he can hold up his arm and say, Look, here are 120 kids who have those thoughts just like you and theyre still here. Your life isnt over. There is still a purpose for your life.

One of those kids is Taylor Bowman, who was 15 years old when Nash came to her school. Bowman kept a suicide note under her pillow for months. She had a bracelet shed always worn that she planned to leave with the note for her mom. She said she was just waiting for the moment that would push her to take her life.

But listening to Nash, and all his stories of survival, she felt like she could survive too. She waited for all the other students to leave and she approached Nash. She slipped off her bracelet and handed it to him. I dont plan on leaving it for anybody, anymore, she said she told him.

Because of Bowman, now 19, Nash had bracelets made up with a lyric  just for today  from one of his songs and gives it to students who hand over their notes, or the razors they use to self harm, or to those who are emotional after the show. The bracelet becomes a symbol of their breakthrough. Nash said hes given out 20,000 of them.

Weve all got a story, he said he tells the students. I had voices in my head trying to take me out. There is someone out there who needs your story. You are going to meet a kid someday going through the same thing and youre going to recognize it and you get to be that kids hero.

Nash, a popular athlete in his senior year, almost died when he was 17 years old. He was driving his friends one night, speeding down an icy road feeling invincible as teenagers often do. He pulled around a car not seeing a semi-truck coming straight for them. He slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. He hit it head on. His friends somehow walked away, but he was unconscious, bleeding from his head. The paramedics on the scene pronounced him dead on arrival.

But in the hospital, doctors worked to save him. They rebuilt the left side of his skull, his right shoulder and his clavicle with steel bolts. When he woke up, he couldnt remember what happened, just that he was in so much pain. The near-death experience didnt provide him enlightenment. He just felt bitter and angry.

He couldnt get a manual-labor job because of his injuries, and he couldnt get an office job because he didnt have the schooling. Once a jock, he could no longer play sports.

Every option I thought I had was gone, he said. I had a lot of dark thoughts. I didnt want to be alive.

Canadian musician Robb Nash shares his experience of how young people started approaching him to share their suicide notes. (Robb Nash)

People were always telling him that everything happens for a reason to try to console him. But that only made him feel worse, like he was being punished for something. Then, about a year or so after his accident, his brother-in-law said the thing he needed to hear: I think I know the reason you were hit by a semi truck, Nash recalled him saying. Because you were going too fast on an icy road.

Thats when Nash realized he had control over what direction his life took. He began writing music and formed a band called, Live on Arrival. His band started to have commercial success; they were touring with bigger bands and had songs on the radio, he said. But he walked away from it all when given an opportunity to start performing his songs and telling his story in schools and prisons. So, he ripped up his record deal, he said, and embarked on what is now his lifes purpose: To encourage kids to discover theirs.

This is now what Nash does, traveling across Canada  where suicides are the second leading cause of death between the ages of 10 and 24  doing on average 150 shows a year to talk to kids about issues often too painful to face. He speaks openly and vulnerably about his own experience. This bold, confident rocker shows them that having emotions doesnt make you weak. Those feelings can be a gift, hell tell them, if you channel them toward expressing creativity and compassion.

Hes created a community. Kids write to him openly on social media, and if one mentions they are struggling then the other kids who follow Nashs pages will see it and bombard that kid with messages of hope.

During his presentations he shows videos and tells stories of the kids hes met who once struggled too, and are now thriving. His main message is for the kids to know they are not alone.

And he now has his tattooed arm to prove it.
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Parts of southern Mexico are running out of critical supplies, including food, medicines and petrol, the latest development in the increasingly bitter and sometimes violent confrontation between the Mexican government and teachers in the state of Oaxaca.

The shortages appeared to be especially acute in neighbouring Chiapas, however, where roughly 90 per cent of all filling stations were expected to be without fuel by Wednesday, according to statements from government officials and local businesses.

Recommended Read more Selena to be honoured posthumously on Hollywood Walk of Fame

As part of their strategy to overturn the reforms introduced by the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto, striking teachers have brought distribution of goods by road in large areas of southern Mexico to a standstill by erecting road blocks. While private cars are generally let through, all commercial vehicles and lorries are forced to turn around.

The long-simmering dispute is centred in and around the city of Oaxaca, a popular tourist spot. Peace was shattered ten days ago, when clashes between security forces and the teachers exploded into chaotic violence in the nearby town of Nochixtlan. By the time it was over, nine people, including one local journalist, had been killed and one hundred others were injured.

In one of the poorest regions of the country, Oaxaca relies on tourism, including from overseas, to boost its fortunes. But the city has an infamous tradition of teacher activism. In 2006, the picturesque city found itself in virtual lock-down for six months as a series of street protests demanding better pay similarly spun out into violence, leading to dozens of deaths.

Last week, the US embassy in Mexico City issued a warning to all US goverment employees to avoid travel to the city of Oaxaca, known for its colonial buildings and rich cuisine. Government officials headed to resorts where the state meets the Pacific Ocean, including Huatulco, were told to fly directly only and not pass through other parts of the state.

It is estimated, meanwhile, that many private businesses in the region are now losing about 80 per cent of their sales because of the blockades. The National Human Rights Commission in Mexico City issued an urgent appeal for them to be lifted before the crisis deepens.

The legitimate right to peaceful protest cannot override the rights of others to free movement, nor can the daily life and survival of Oaxaca be held hostage to political demands, the commission wrote in a statement.

The protests are meanwhile wreaking huge damage on tourism, which should be picking up as Americans and Europeans take summer breaks and the city gets ready for next month's annual Guelaguetza folklore festival, which usually draws hundreds of thousands of tourists.

The Interior Ministry reported that only about 5 per cent of hotel rooms in the city of Oaxaca were occupied as of Wednesday, a disastrous figure.

President Pena Nietos reforms are an attempt to raise the sometimes dismal standards of education, especially in rural Mexico. It means that teachers, who are represented by the still powerful National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) union, will for the first time have to submit to regular testing. Any teacher who fails to reach pre-set standards three times in a row will automatically be fired, which ends for ever the assumption that teachers jobs were for life.

The Oaxaca chapter of the union, known as Seccion 22, has been especially visceral in resisting change, reprising some of the strike action that convulsed the city ten years ago. The rioting of 19 June erupted after the authorities arrested two of the chapters leaders on money-laundering charges. Among those injured in the conflagration were 55 police officers.

Bordering Guatemala, Chiapas has recently also come to the notice of foreign tourists in spite of its relative remoteness. As well as dramatic topography and deep jungle habitats, the state also boasts some of the finest Mayan ruins in the country. Meanwhile its main city in its central highlands, San Cristobal de las Casas, offers some of the same colonial treasures as Oaxaca.

The striking teachers in Oaxaca have been drawing support from leftist sympathisers from across the region. This week the National Assembly in Ecuador overwhelmingly passed a resolution voicing support for the teachers and deploring what they said was state repression by the Mexican government.

Maria Augusta Calle, head of the assembly's international relations committee, said it was important that the assembly make a statement against events that cause revulsion around the world.
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Jamaica is planning to install marijuana-dispensing kiosks for tourists in order to regulate a growing drug market and to bring in more government revenue.

The new Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) is drawing up plans for the kiosks just two months after small amounts of the drug were finally legalized in a country where marijuana has long been part of the culture.

We've had our first meeting, and my thinking is that we'd need a few weeks to turn out an appropriate policy document, said Winston De La Haye, chairman of the medical committee of the CLA, as reported by the Jamaica Gleaner.

The dispensers would be situated at airports and seaports, manned by a person with medical training.

That staff member would grant tourists who have a prescription for medical marijuana from abroad to purchase a permit to use or carry up to two ounces of marijuana whilst in the country.

Marijuana licenses could also bring in revenue for the government, and CLA members pointed to cannabis tax benefitting countries like Canada and US states like Colorado.

In pictures: Uruguay's Senate creates world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Uruguay's Senate creates world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana In pictures: Uruguay's Senate creates world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana Uruguay-5.jpg EPA In pictures: Uruguay's Senate creates world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana Uruguay-9.jpg EPA In pictures: Uruguay's Senate creates world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana Uruguay-8.jpg AP In pictures: Uruguay's Senate creates world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana Uruguay-1.jpg AP In pictures: Uruguay's Senate creates world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana Uruguay-2.jpg AP In pictures: Uruguay's Senate creates world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana Uruguay-3.jpg AP In pictures: Uruguay's Senate creates world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana Uruguay-4.jpg AP In pictures: Uruguay's Senate creates world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana Uruguay-6.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Uruguay's Senate creates world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana Uruguay-7.jpg AP In pictures: Uruguay's Senate creates world's first national marketplace for legal marijuana Uruguay-10.jpg Reuters

Mr De La Haye added that the CLA needs to move quickly to plug any legal loopholes within the burgeoning ganja market.

The kiosks would also be an easy way to maintain control in a place that is popular among tourists to ingest genuine Jamaican marijuana.

 A year on: Marijuana in Colorado

CLA chairman Hyacinth Lightbourne said the proposed dispensers would be essential in the therapeutic use of the drug.

It would primarily be for people who have a prescription and, in effect, you're doing it for medicinal purposes with a permit from the Ministry of Health. If they don't have a prescription, then they can do what we call 'self-declare', and this will allow them to have the two ounces while they are here, Mr Lightbourne said.

On the Caribbean island, cultivation of five or fewer cannabis plants by any household is allowed.

Rastafarian adults can now use the drug for sacramental purposes for the first time since the movement was founded in the 1930s, as reported by the Cannabist.
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California will vote on whether to legalise marijuana for recreational purposes on 8 November, after an initiative backing the measure secured the 402,000 valid signatures needed to qualify for the ballot. The California Secretary of States office announced on Tuesday that voters could now decide whether to approve the creation of the worlds largest legal marijuana market.

If passed, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) would permit California adults aged 21 or over to possess and carry up to an ounce of marijuana, and to grow up to six cannabis plants for personal use. It would create the framework for a distribution and retail market, managed by a new Bureau of Marijuana Control, with a 15 per cent tax on all cannabis product sales.

Jason Kinney, a spokesman for the initiative, said the news marked a fresh start for California, adding that AUMA would replace the costly, harmful and ineffective system of prohibition with a safe, legal and responsible adult-use marijuana system that gets it right and completely pays for itself.

California voted down a measure to legalise recreational weed in 2010, but polls show public opinion has shifted in favour of such a measure since then. Colorado and Washington became the first states to pass such a law in 2012, followed by Alaska and Oregon. Eight further states are expected to vote on marijuana legalisation this year.

California was the first state to legalise the drug for medical purposes in 1996; medical marijuana is now legal in 22 states and the District of Columbia, despite remaining illegal under US federal law. A coalition of health and law enforcement groups has vowed to fight the new measure, saying legalisation would threaten children and lead to an increase in drugged driving.

But AUMA supporters have already raised more than $3.7m (2.75m) for a campaign on behalf of the measure, led by California Lieutenant Gavin Newsom and controversial Silicon Valley investor Sean Parker. The Napster co-founder and former Facebook president has donated more than $1m to the initiative, which is frequently referred to as the Parker measure.
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A new global poll shows that Donald Trump is not exactly inspiring confidence among voters in other countries whereas the reviews for Hillary Clinton are entirely more favourable.

The survey, conducted by the Pew Research Centre in 15 different nations, shows that only in China are people at least half way convinced that Mr Trump would be a sensible steward of foreign affairs in the event that he is elected President of the United States in November.

In nearly half of the countries, however, his foreign policy approval numbers are only in the single digits. And in 11 countries very large majorities considered him a poor choice to lead the worlds greatest superpower.

Domestically, by contrast, a new poll from Quinnipiac University released on Wednesday, saw Mr Trump running roughly neck and neck with Ms Clinton nationally. The poll, which offers far more encouraging news for the Republican compared to others released in recent days, shows him taking 40 per cent of the vote compared to 42 per cent for Ms Clinton.

In the Pew survey, views of him were most harsh in Sweden, where 92 per cent of respondents viewed him negatively, while in Germany and Japan the numbers were 89 per cent and 82 per cent respectively.

The dismal view of Mr Trump was also in evidence in Britain and France, each suggesting that 85 per cent of its citizenry does not view him as a leader capable of leading the world.

Political affiliation made a difference in how people viewed the presumptive nominee. The survey, taken before the EU referendum, found that 30 percent of Britons who identified with the United Kingdom Independence Party, UKIP, said they had at least some confidence in him, compared with 12 percent of the British population as a whole.

(Pew Research Center (Pew Research Center)

The poll was released one day after Mr Trump laid out a startlingly protectionist platform on trade policy that would see him tear up the Trans-Pacific Partnership that promises to lower trade barriers between the US and 11 other nations in the Americas and Asia and withdraw from Nafta, which ties the US with Canada and Mexico, unless its terms are radically renegotiated.

His stance represents a jarring break from the free-trading orthodoxy that has been pursued for decades by the Republican Party, which is preparing formally to nominate him as their presidential candidate at their convention in Cleveland in just three weeks.

Mr Trump has drawn global opprobrium for his responses to recent terror attacks, notably his pledge to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, even though there have been signs in recent days that he may have backed off that plan in favour of blocking immigration from countries that support terrorism. He hasnt said which countries he has in mind.

Across the European countries surveyed, Ms Clinton won a 59 per cent approval rating for her ability to conduct world affairs - the figure for President Barack Obama was even higher at 77 per cent - compared to just 9 per cent for Mr Trump. She achieved similarly high marks in Canada, Australia and Japan.

If China seems more open Mr Trump, the support even there isnt overwhelming. The Chinese who answered the survey were split between 40 percent who had no confidence in the New York mogul and 39 percent who had no opinion. As for Ms Clinton, 37 percent in China said they have confidence in her while 35 percent said they did not.

The countries surveyed by Pew were Canada, the US, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, France, Britain, Spain, Greece, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Australia, Japan, China and India.
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US presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have responded to the suicide bombings at Turkeys largest airport.

Two explosions took the lives of at least 41 people and wounded 239 others. A senior Turkish official told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the death count is expected to reach 50 victims.

While details emerged in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, both presumptive nominees offered different perspectives of the attack in Istanbul.

Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Show all 20 1 /20 Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A mother of victims reacts outside a forensic medicine building close to Istanbul's airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Broken windows are pictured at the attacks and explosions site in Ataturk airport's international arrivals terminal AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Bullet impacts are pictured at Ataturk airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Police officers patrol at Istanbul Ataturk airport Reuters Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Workers clean the debris from the blasts at Istanbul Ataturk airport Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A wounded girl from the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack is transported to the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers embrace outside Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Medics carry wounded people to a hospital after a suicide bomb attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul EPA Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Relatives of the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack victims wait outside Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Saudi tourist who survived the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack waits for his wounded mother outside the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Turkish riot police officer patrols Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers wait at Ataturk airport`s main enterance in Istanbu, after two explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkey's largest airport Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Forensic police work the explosion site at Ataturk airport Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security man escorts people from a car park at Istanbul Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security walks at Istanbul Ataturk airport Murad Sezer/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Ambulance cars arrive at Istanbul Ataturk airport Osman Orsal/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul An ambulance arrives at the Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul The weapons used in the attack REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty

Terrorists have struck again in the heart of one of our NATO allies, Clinton said in a statement. Todays attack in Istanbul only strengthens our resolve to defeat the forces of terrorism and radical jihadism around the world. And it reminds us that the United States cannot retreat. We must deepen our cooperation with our allies and partners in the Middle East and Europe to take on this threat.

She continued by offering her thoughts and prayers with the victims and families involved as well as all Turkish people.

Trump offered his own statement to reporters offering his prayers with the families and victims involved in the attack. The whole world is stunned and horrified, he began.

The terrorist threat has never been greater. Our enemies are brutal and ruthless and will do anything to murder those who do not bend to their will. We must take steps now to protect America from terrorists, and do everything in our power to improve our security to keep America safe.
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The Chinese government continues to illegally harvest organs from millions of its innocent prisoners despite saying it had ended the practice two years ago, a decade-long study has alleged.

Experts estimate between 60,000 and 100,000 organs are transplanted annually, and the majority of the hearts, livers and other organs are obtained by executing prisoners of conscience.

In all, approximately 1.5 million transplants have taken place at 712 liver and kidney transplant centres across China since 2000, with over 300,000 of those taking place at unregulated centres.

The report also found many surgeons had simply lost count of the quantity of transplants they had been asked to perform on a daily basis, with some having undertaken as many as six liver removals in one day.

The findings were published in an update to the 2009 book 'Bloody Harvest' and the 2014 book 'The Slaughter'.

Falun Gong is a unique form of meditative practice established in 1992 and the Chinese government has fought to eradicate it for decades.

Where most executions were carried out in 2014 Show all 10 1 /10 Where most executions were carried out in 2014 Where most executions were carried out in 2014 1. China (1000+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 2. Iran (289+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 3. Saudi Arabia (90+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 4. Iraq (61+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 5. USA (35+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 6. Sudan (23+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 7. Yemen (22+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 8. Egypt (15+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 9. Somalia (14+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 10. Jordan (11+) Getty

It has long been believed Falun Gong practitioners are being executed on demand by the Chinese government, to compensate for the countrys shortage of organ donors.

The report was researched and authored by former Canadian secretary of state David Kilgour, human rights lawyer David Matas and journalist Ethan Gutmann to expose widespread medical wrong-doing in the Asian country.

 China's cultural revolution 50 years later

The Chinese Communist Party has engaged the state in the mass killings of innocents <p>David Matas</p>

The Chinese government officially state that 10,000 organ transplants take place in the country each year, but the trio believe this figure is far lower than the real quantity.

In a statement, Matas said: We can easily surpass the official Chinese figure just by looking at the two or three biggest hospitals.

That increased discrepancy leads us to conclude that there has been a far larger slaughter of practitioners of Falun Gong for their organs than we had originally estimated.

The ultimate conclusion is that the Chinese Communist Party has engaged the state in the mass killings of innocents.

Falun Gong practitioners were forced to undergo medical tests before their results were put on a database of living organ sources so quick organ matches could be made, the authors claim.

In response to the report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a press conference: I want to say that such stories about forced organ harvesting in China are imaginary and baseless  they dont have any factual foundation.

In 2014, China announced that it would end the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners and move to a voluntary donation-based system.

Last year Amnesty International confirmed China remains the worlds largest executioner of prisoners in the charitys annual report.
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An Indian policeman is in critical condition after accidentally hanging himself as he tried to show his wife how criminals are hanged.

Govind Balaji Devde's wife asked him to set up a string clothes line in their living room, prompting the Mumbai officer's decision to stage the demonstration.

Using a sari and a clothes line, he stepped on to a stool to perform the display.

But after placing the noose around his neck, the stool beneath the police officer slipped and he began to hang.

His wife shouted for help but it was "some time" before neigbours could cut the noose and take him down, according to the Times of India.

Officer Govind, who serves in the Local Arms unit, was rushed to hospital where he is in a critical condition and is undergoing treatment

A police spokesman told reporters: "After coming home, his wife told him that due to incessant rains the washed clothes were not drying up.

"She asked him to tie a string inside the house in order to dry the clothes. After fixing a clothesline, Govind took a sari and began to prepare the noose."

Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Show all 32 1 /32 Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, paint an elephant statue at Kaziranga Discovery Park in Panbari village, in Kaziranga, some 250 km from Guwahati, the capital of the north-eastern state of Assam Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, feeds a baby elephant at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Panbari reserve forest in Kaziranga in the northeastern state of Assam, during the royal visit in India Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge, meet a rhino calf at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Panbari reserve forest in Kaziranga in the northeastern state of Assam Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Catherine and Prince William take a Game drive at Kaziranga National Park at Kaziranga National Park in Guwahati Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William visit a contact centre run by the charity Salaam Baalak, which provides emergency help and long term support to homeless children at New Delhi railway station Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge meet a young dancer as they watch dancing by the fireside during a Bihu Festival Celebration at Diphlu River Lodge Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meet Prime Minister of India Narenda Mod in New Delhi's Hyderabad House during day three of the royal tour to India and Bhutan Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Catherine and William visited the Banganga Water Tank. They were given a traditional welcome at Bangana Water Tank and met representatives from SMILE, an organisation working in an economically deprived urban area to support local enterprise Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Duchess Of Cambridge enjoys a game of cricket during a visit to meet children from Magic Bus, Childline and Doorstep, at Mumbai's iconic recreation ground, the Oval Maidan Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Prince William and Catherine Duchess of Cambridge at India Gate in New Delhi Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Prince William and his wife Catherine take part in an event at the Gandhi Smriti, a museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, in New Delhi Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge meet young entrepreneurs during a visit to Mumbai Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge prepare to lay a wreath at the Inida Gate in New Delhi Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge remove their shoes at Gandhi Smriti in New Dehli, India before paying their respects at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India The Duke and Duchess toured the museum housed in the Old Birla House and paid their respects at the place where Mahatma Gandhi's life ended on 30 January 1948 Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William pose for a picture at India Gate Memorial Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Prince William and Catherine pay their respects at the place where Mahatma Gandhi's life ended on 30 January 1948, at Gandhi Smriti, the Old Birla House museum Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge poses with local school children as they tour Old Birla Hous in Gandhi Smriti in New Dehli Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India The Duke Duchess of Cambridge meet children from local charities Magic Bus, Childline and Doorstep, and join game of cricketwith boys from the Dilip Vengsarkar Academyat the Oval Maidan recreation ground Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are garlanded as they arrive at the Banganga Water Tank in Mumbai Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Catherine, Duchess Of Cambridge plays football during a visit to meet children from Magic Bus, Childline and Doorstep Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge react after playing football during a visit to the Banganga Water Tank in Mumbai Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William play football games during a visit to the Banganga Water tank, where they met representatives of SMILE Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive at a Bollywood Charity Gala hosted by the British High Commission and the British Asian Trust at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge arrives for a Bollywood Inspired Charity Gala at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge speak with Boman Kohinoor during a meeting in Mumbai Prince William and Kate Middletons visit to India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge stand after laying a wreath on the martyrs memorial at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai

The officer continued: "In order to demonstrate to his wife how a person is hanged, Govind put the noose around his neck.

"It was at that time the stool on which he was standing slipped and he started struggling for life. He remained in suspended position for some time."

A police investigation into the incident is ongoing.
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Japan's Supreme Court has upheld the government's blanket surveillance of the country's Muslim community.

The court struck down the second appeal by Japanese Muslim plaintiffs against what they perceive as an unconstitutional invasion of their privacy and freedom of religion, reports Al Jazeera.

A 2010 leak of 114 police files revealed nationwide surveillance of Japanese Muslims. The files revealed that Muslim places of worship, halal restaurants and Islam-related organisations across the capital, Tokyo, were being monitored.

Within a few weeks of the leak, the data had been downloaded 10,000 times in 20 different countries from a file-sharing website.

A group of 17 Japanese Muslims, mostly from Middle Eastern and North African countries, decided to sue the Japanese government for infringing on their constitutional rights.

Mohamed Fujita, whose name has been changed, is a native of Japan who converted to Islam over 20 years ago and is one of the 17 plaintiffs fighting the surveillance.

He told Al Jazeera: "They made us terrorist suspects, we never did anything wrong - on the contrary."

 Japans deadly festival

The Supreme Court finally dismissed the case after two appeals on 31 May.

The plaintiffs were awarded 90 million ($880,000) as compensation due to violation of their privacy by the leak.

However, the presiding judges did not make a judgment on police profiling and surveillance tactics which a lower court had upheld as "necessary and inevitable" to guard against international terrorism.

Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade Show all 12 1 /12 Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade Edward Snowden NSA leak Articles in The Guardian revealed that the US and the UK spied on foreign leaders and diplomats at the 2009 G20 summit. Reuters Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade WikiLeaks' US diplomatic cables leak In 2009, former US soldier Chelsea Manning, downloaded hundreds of thousands of classified US Government documents, and passed them on to Jullian Assange's whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. Among the documents were 250,000 State Department diplomatic cables. One disclosed the close relationship between Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the Guardian reported. Allegations included "lavish gifts", lucrative energy contracts and the use by Berlusconi of a "shadowy" Russian-speaking Italiango-between. Getty Images Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade WikiLeaks' US diplomatic cables leak WikiLeaks' US diplomatic cables leak: In a revelation which bruised the UK's 'special relationship' with the US, WikiLeaks published conversations by US commanders criticising Britain's military operations in Afghanistan. Getty Images Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade WikiLeaks' US diplomatic cables leak WikiLeaks' US diplomatic cables leak: One document disclosed startling levels of corruption in Afghanistan, including an incident involving the then vice-president, Ahmad Zia Massoud, who was reportedly stopped and questioned in Dubai when he flew into the emirate with $52m in cash. Getty Images Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade WikiLeaks' US diplomatic cables leak Another cable documented fears in Washington over Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, in a volatile country with a strategic position in the Middle East. PA Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade WikiLeaks' US diplomatic cables leak Day four of the gradual drip of leaks exposed allegations that Russia and its intelligence agencies are using mafia bosses to carry out criminal operations, with one cable reporting that the relationship is so close that the country has become a "virtual mafia state". Getty Images Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade Edward Snowden NSA leak In 2013, The Guardian published classified US National Security Agency (NSA) documents, from a then anonymous whistleblower. Four days later he was exposed as former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. A month after the initial leak, the New York Times allegeded that the NSA received emails, video clips, photos, voice and video calls, social networking details, logins and other data held by a range of US internet firms. Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade Edward Snowden NSA leak Since Snowden revealed that the US had eavesdropped on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone, German-US relations have been strained. In May 2014, Mrs Merkel said still had significant differences with the United States over surveillance practices and that it was too soon to return to business as usual," according to the New York Times. Getty Images Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade Edward Snowden NSA leak On 7 June, The Guardian published the Presidential Policy Directive 20, whcih included a list of potential targets for cyber-attacks by the US Government. Rex Features Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade Samy Kamkar iPhone and Android expose In April 2014, hacker and researcher Samy Kamkar revealed that Android phones collect user location data every few seconds. Files are then transited to Google several times an hour. Getty Images Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade Samy Kamkar iPhone and Android expose It is believed Apple and Google are using the data to better target adverts to smartphone users, according to The Guardian. Getty Images Whistleblowing controversies of the last decade Samy Kamkar iPhone and Android expose The two companies have since justified the collection of data. In a letter to the US congress Apple confirmed it collected the data and said that, in order to be useful, "the databases [of tower and network locations] must be updated continuously". A Google spokesman told the Guardian Android phones explicitly asked to collect anonymous location data when users turned them on. Getty Images

A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Junko Hayashi said: "We were told we don't have a constitutional case, we're still trying to figure out how it is not constitutional."

Speaking at a Tokyo symposium on government surveillance via weblink, NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden said: "People of the Islamic faith are more likely to be targeted... despite not having any criminal activities or associations or anything like that in their background, simply because people are afraid."
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A group of over 50 Muslim clerics in Pakistan have issued a fatwa, or religious decree, saying transgender men and women have the right to marry under Islamic law, and have urged the state to provide protection and ensure equal rights for them.

The move has been cautiously welcomed in Pakistan, though activists say aspects of the law need to change in order to protect the countrys shunned transgender community known as hijra, or khawaja sara.

The fatwa was issued by the group Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ummat Pakistan from the eastern city of Lahore, whose leaders said any action intended to humiliate, insult or tease transgender people should be considered a crime under Islam.

The groups chairman, Zia-ul-Haq Naqshbandi, said the decree was designed to prevent discrimination.

He said: We need to accept them as Gods creation too. Whoever treats them badly - society, the government, their own parents - are sinners.

Despite Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ummat Pakistan not being among the countrys most senior religious groups, the fatwa was discussed on national television, with senior clerics saying the rights were already outlined in Islam.

But the details of the fatwa have led critics to call for greater protection for transgender people.

Recommended Read more Denmark to no longer class being trans as a mental illness

The decree says that people with visible signs of being male, or visible signs of being female, may marry members of the opposite sex, but those with visible signs of both genders may not marry.

I dont quite understand it. Theyve said trans men can marry women, and trans women can marry men. The transgender identity is nowhere, Bindiya Rana, a transgender rights activist from Karachi, told the Wall Street Journal.

Almas Bobby, a transgender rights activist, told BBC Urdu: We are glad that somebody's talked about us.

By Sharia we already had the right [to marry], but unless measures are taken to remove the misconceptions about us in society, the condition of our community will not be changed.

Transgender people face severe prejudice in Pakistan. More than 45 transgender people have been killed in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province over the past two years, according to local rights group Trans Action.

In pictures: Pride in London 2016 Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Pride in London 2016 In pictures: Pride in London 2016 Pride in London Participants on motor cycles during the Pride in London parade, as it makes its way through the streets of central, London. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Pride in London 2016 Pride in London Daphne, a miniture schnouzer, wears a rainbow tie at a march as the LGBT community celebrates Pride in London on June 25, 2016 Getty Images In pictures: Pride in London 2016 Pride in London Jennifer Saunders (right) and Joanna Lumley (left) pose in character along with performers in front of the Absolutely Fabulous/Stolli (vodka) Pride in London float PA In pictures: Pride in London 2016 Pride in London 'Pet Play' enthusiasts dress and behave as dogs during a march as the LGBT community celebrates Pride in London on June 25, 2016 Getty Images In pictures: Pride in London 2016 Pride in London 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 In pictures: Pride in London 2016 Pride in London Participants show their support for victims of the Orlando shooting during the annual Pride Parade in London on June 25, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Pride in London 2016 Pride in London United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom Matthew Barzun (left) and Major of London Sadiq Khan attending the Pride in London parade PA In pictures: Pride in London 2016 Pride in London Participants take part in the annual Pride Parade in London on June 25, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Pride in London 2016 Pride in London Participants take part in the annual Pride Parade in London on June 25, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Pride in London 2016 Pride in London Participants show their support for victims of the Orlando shooting during the annual Pride Parade in London on June 25, 2016. AFP/Getty Images

Qamar Naseem, the co-founder of the group, said the fatwa now needs to be tested legally.

He said: Theyve opened a window, and other windows will open because of this, because the religious community has started a conversation.

Now we need to take this forward and get a legal interpretation from the courts.
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Angela Merkel has said there is no way to reverse the UKs decision to vote for Brexit, calling it wishful thinking to suggest there is any way Britain can stay in the EU.

The German Chancellor was speaking ahead of the second day of an EU summit, which will continue without David Cameron on Wednesday.

Ms Merkel held what will be her last ever meeting with the UK Prime Minister at a Brussels summit on Tuesday, but insisted it was not a time for either sadness or anger.

 Pro-EU rally held in London

Describing the talks as serious but friendly, she called on the rest of Europe to take the opportunity in the coming days to move on with the situation it finds itself in.

Asked if she saw any possibility for Britain to U-turn on its EU decision, Ms Merkel said: I want to say very clearly tonight that I see no way to reverse this.

We all need to look at the reality of the situation. It is not the hour for wishful thinking.

Early indications suggest many EU leaders appear keen to get Brexit over and done with now the UK has decided to leave.

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

Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka said: "The EU must now demonstrate unity and stability - calmly and objectively dispense with the UK, focus on growth, employment, social solidarity and security."

Lithuania's president Dalia Grybauskaite said Brexit was "sad, (and a) challenge to all - no choice but to overcome".

Also on the agenda will be a meeting between SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels as she attempts to keep Scotland in the European Union.

The First Minister is also expected to meet European Parliament president Martin Schulz and Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister and leader of the Liberal group at the European Parliament.

It is understood European Council president Donald Tusk has no plans to meet Ms Sturgeon because he does not consider it to be the right time.

The meeting with Mr Schulz is expected to be the most high profile of the First Minster's meetings but Margaritis Schinas, chief spokesman for Mr Juncker, tweeted:

The First Minister's visit comes after MSPs voted to give her a "mandate" to hold discussions with EU institutions, as well as the UK Government and other devolved nations.

On Tuesday Mr Cameron sat at the oval EU summit table and called for the UK to be given the best possible conditions for its exit in the coming months.

But Ms Merkel said it was not up to Mr Cameron to cherry-pick the terms of the negotiations and agreed with other EU leaders that there would be no informal talks before Article 50 was triggered.

Earlier in the day, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker told a plenary session of the European Parliament that he banned any talks between EU officials and the UK government until that condition was met.

EU Council President Donald Tusk said: Europe is ready to start the divorce process, even today.
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The personal details of more than 100,000 French police officers have been leaked online, just two weeks after an officer and his partner were murdered in their home by a jihadist.

Mutuelle Generale de la Police (MGP), an organisation that looks after the health and other insurance benefits for the French police force, has confirmed that the personal details of 112,000 serving and retired officers were uploaded to Google Drive by a disgruntled employee on 2 June. The information included their postal addresses.

MGP said the files were password-protected and there is no reason to suspect the data had been breached.

It told FranceTV Info that the attack was a malicious act on the part of an employee.

It comes just two weeks after a police commander and his partner were stabbed to death in their home near Paris by a man who pledged his allegiance to Isis.

Larossi Abballa broke into the home of Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Jessica Schneider because he believed he was acting on a call from Isis to kill infidels.

Larossi Abballa was shot dead by police following his attack on the couple (Facebook)

He shouted Allahu Akbar as he broadcast the attack live on Facebook, stabbing Mr Salvaing, 42, nine times in the stomach.

In the video he said he was responding to a call by Isis spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani to target civilians in Europe and the US during Ramadan.

Police shot the jihadi dead but found the body of Ms Schneider, 36, at the scene.

Victims of the Paris attacks Show all 33 1 /33 Victims of the Paris attacks Victims of the Paris attacks Nick Alexander Victims of the Paris attacks Mathias Dymarski and Maria Lausch Victims of the Paris attacks Anne Cornet Guyomard and Pierre Yves Guyomard Victims of the Paris attacks Guillaume Decherf Victims of the Paris attacks Ciprian Calciu Victims of the Paris attacks Nohemi Gonzalez Victims of the Paris attacks Elodie Breuil Victims of the Paris attacks Asta Diakite Victims of the Paris attacks Romain Didier Victims of the Paris attacks Victims of the Paris attacks Victims of the Paris attacks Halima Saadi Victims of the Paris attacks Ludovic Boumbas Victims of the Paris attacks Thomas Duperron Victims of the Paris attacks Germain Ferey Victims of the Paris attacks Marie Mosser Victims of the Paris attacks Fabrice Dubois Victims of the Paris attacks Thomas Ayad Victims of the Paris attacks Victims of the Paris attacks Djamila-Houd Victims of the Paris attacks Mathieu Hoche Victims of the Paris attacks Justine Moulin Victims of the Paris attacks Anne Guyomard Victims of the Paris attacks Anna Lieffrig-Petard Victims of the Paris attacks Victims of the Paris attacks Lacramioara Pop Victims of the Paris attacks Alberto Gonzalez Garrido Victims of the Paris attacks Mohamed Amine Ibnolmobarak Victims of the Paris attacks Cedric Mauduit Victims of the Paris attacks Matthieu Giroud Victims of the Paris attacks Michelli Gil Jaimez Victims of the Paris attacks Pierro Innocenti and Stephane Albertini Victims of the Paris attacks Nicolas Classeau

The couples three-year-old son escaped unharmed.

The murders are the first terrorist attack on French soil since November last year, when 130 people were killed in a string of shootings and bombings across Paris.

Under the rules of the current state of emergency, which was declared following the Paris attacks, police officers can take their guns home with them.

This measure will be extended beyond the formal state of emergency on 26 July following Abballas attack, the BBC reports.
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The French foie gras industry is reportedly struggling with the ban on production after a bird flu scare, with warnings of soaring prices that could continue into next year.

Jean-Jacques Caspari of foie gras industry association CIFOG, said there was an expected 10-20 per cent price increase for 2016, The Local reported.

He added that this year will also see a 25 per cent production drop from the 18,820 tonnes that were produced in 2015.

Recommended Read more France bans foie gras for three months over bird flu scare

The ban on foie gras production was prompted by an avian influenza scare that broke out in November last year at a chicken farm in the Dordogne region.

Breeders in 18 departments of south west France were banned from having ducks or geese in their slaughterhouses until August.

The French minister of agriculture said the government would compensate the breeders for their estimated $150,000 loss, but CIFOG estimates a loss of 270 million euros ($300 million) for the industry.

Peta protesting against foie gras production in Paris in 2012 (Getty Images)

France usually produces 75 per cent of the worlds supply of foie gras.

The traditional delicacy is highly controversial due to the way it is made  which involves force-feeding ducks and geese until the liver bursts  and the practise, known as gavage', has been banned in several countries including Italy, Germany, and the UK.

In December a video made by protest group L214 sparked controversy by showing the alleged mutilation and killing of ducklings purportedly from a farm in Pays-de-la-Loire.

Since only male livers are used to make foie gras, female ducklings are often killed when they are born.

Rival foie gras producers in Hungary and Bulgaria are expected to fill the three month production gap.
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The murderous attack on Istanbul airport, killing 41 people, came hours after Recep Tayyip Erdogan had arranged a telephone call with Vladimir Putin. It was going to be their first conversation since the shooting down by the Turks of a Russian jet seven months ago. It was also a crucial part of a concerted diplomatic campaign by Ankara to repair badly damaged relations with countries in the region.

Turkey has just re-established diplomatic relations with Israel, six years after 10 Turkish citizens were killed when their aid ship bound for Gaza was stormed by Israeli forces. Moves are under way for rapprochement with Egypt whose president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, had been repeatedly attacked by Mr Erdogan over the coup which overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood government backed by Ankara.

The Turkish president has been increasingly isolated abroad while facing rising protests at home over his authoritarian policies as well as an increasingly bloody conflict with the Kurdish PKK and the Islamist terrorists of Isis.

President Erdogan had only this week apologised to Russia over the shooting down of a jet last year (Reuters)

On foreign relations, Mr Erdogan has had to climb down in his confrontation with Russia, sending a letter expressing deep sorrow over the downing of the Su-24 plane, after adamantly refusing to countenance anything approximating an apology in the past. He has made an agreement with Israel for some Turkish aid to get through to Gaza, although he has failed in his pledge to ensure that the blockade of the Strip by Israel and Egypt is lifted.

Binali Yildirim, who became the Turkish prime minister after Ahmet Davotoglu, the previous holder of the post was forced to resign by Mr Erdogan, wanted to stress. We aim to improve our relations not only with Russia and Egypt but also with all countries around the Black Sea and Mediterranean. As Turkey, our basic principle is to want for others what we want for ourselves.

Ankara had faced criticism for carrying out few air strikes against Isis, focusing instead on the PKK and has also, on occasions, bombed the Syrian Kurdish group, YPG, a key ally of the Americans against Isis.

Recommended Read more CCTV footage captures moment travellers flee Istanbul airport blasts

The Turks have not scaled down their military action against the Kurds. But they have agreed to allow their Nato allies to run more flights along the border with Syria in operations against Isis. The Erdogan government also claims that it is now cracking down on Isis, pointing to the fact that 36 suspects are facing a total of 11,750 years in prison for a bomb attack in Ankara last year which killed 103 people and injured 250 others.

But Turkey has been, at best, ambivalent towards Islamist groups, including Isis, fighting the forces of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Evidence has emerged that the countrys intelligence service, MIT, had facilitated arms supplies to Islamists. Turkish journalists, meanwhile, have been charged by the government for exposing the scandal.

Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Show all 20 1 /20 Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A mother of victims reacts outside a forensic medicine building close to Istanbul's airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Broken windows are pictured at the attacks and explosions site in Ataturk airport's international arrivals terminal AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Bullet impacts are pictured at Ataturk airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Police officers patrol at Istanbul Ataturk airport Reuters Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Workers clean the debris from the blasts at Istanbul Ataturk airport Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A wounded girl from the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack is transported to the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers embrace outside Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Medics carry wounded people to a hospital after a suicide bomb attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul EPA Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Relatives of the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack victims wait outside Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Saudi tourist who survived the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack waits for his wounded mother outside the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Turkish riot police officer patrols Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers wait at Ataturk airport`s main enterance in Istanbu, after two explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkey's largest airport Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Forensic police work the explosion site at Ataturk airport Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security man escorts people from a car park at Istanbul Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security walks at Istanbul Ataturk airport Murad Sezer/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Ambulance cars arrive at Istanbul Ataturk airport Osman Orsal/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul An ambulance arrives at the Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul The weapons used in the attack REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty

The question is whether Ankara would be able to combat Isis even if it went after it with full energy. A large number of Turks are among the foreign fighters which have been fighting with the group in Syria and some of them are now slipping back across the frontier and finding shelter with sympathisers.

The threat is not just from Isis, but a group calling itself Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, an offshoot of the PKK. Less than a month ago it carried out a suicide bombing in the Istanbul district of Vezneciler, killing 12 people. It had previously claimed responsibility for two car bombings in Ankara in April, taking 29 lives.

A man looks at the damaged explosions site in Ataturk airport's international arrivals terminal (AFP/Getty)

One reason for the Turkish attempts to mollify the Kremlin  with Mr Erdogan saying he was ready for any initiatives to relieve the pain and severity of the damage done over the aircraft  was the severe impact on his countrys economy from sanctions imposed by a furious Mr Putin, in particular a ban on visits by Russian tourists.

The assault on Ataturk Airport, the third largest in Europe, and a rapidly expanding transport hub, will further damage the tourist trade, something Isis has threatened to do. And, after the Vezneciler bombing TAK warned foreign visitors to keep away, saying: Turkey is no longer safe for them.

The foreign and domestic policies of President Erdogan have both ended up having highly damaging effects on one of the key planks of the countrys economy.
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Turkish officials say initial investigations point to Isis being behind a triple suicide bombing and gun attack on Istanbuls Ataturk international airport which killed at least 41 people.

Another 239 people were injured, many seriously, after three gunmen armed with AK-47s opened fire on passengers. Officials say the death toll could rise to 50.

CCTV footage shared on social media showed two of the detonations, at least one of which came after police officers fired on and wounded an attacker. The third gunman was reported to have blown himself up in the car park outside.

 Video shows moment Istanbul airport bomber brought down by police

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said so far all indications pointed to the Isis group being behind the attack. He said the attackers arrived at the airport in a taxi, and they were able to launch the attack without going through security checks.

Some of the victims include foreigners, he said. Asked about Turkish media reports of a fourth gunman who escaped, he said they had no evidence of that but were not ruling anything out at this stage.

"This (attack) has shown once again that terrorism is a global threat," he said. "This is a heinous planned attack that targeted innocent people."

"The findings of our security forces point at the Daesh organisation as the perpetrators of this terror attack," Mr Yildirim told reporters at the airport, using another name for Isis.

Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Show all 20 1 /20 Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A mother of victims reacts outside a forensic medicine building close to Istanbul's airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Broken windows are pictured at the attacks and explosions site in Ataturk airport's international arrivals terminal AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Bullet impacts are pictured at Ataturk airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Police officers patrol at Istanbul Ataturk airport Reuters Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Workers clean the debris from the blasts at Istanbul Ataturk airport Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A wounded girl from the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack is transported to the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers embrace outside Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Medics carry wounded people to a hospital after a suicide bomb attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul EPA Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Relatives of the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack victims wait outside Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Saudi tourist who survived the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack waits for his wounded mother outside the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Turkish riot police officer patrols Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers wait at Ataturk airport`s main enterance in Istanbu, after two explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkey's largest airport Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Forensic police work the explosion site at Ataturk airport Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security man escorts people from a car park at Istanbul Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security walks at Istanbul Ataturk airport Murad Sezer/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Ambulance cars arrive at Istanbul Ataturk airport Osman Orsal/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul An ambulance arrives at the Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul The weapons used in the attack REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty

"Even though the indications suggest Daesh, our investigations are continuing.

"What is noteworthy is that this attack came at a time when our country is putting up a merciless fight against separatist terrorism and recording significant success, Mr Yildirim said.

Some flights have now resumed at the airport, including the lifting of a blanket ban on all flights to and from the US. The Turkish news agency Dogan reported that the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, was landing at the airport for an official visit when the attack took place. He was taken away to an official residence.

Details are still emerging about the nationalities of those killed and injured. Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Turkey says at least seven Saudis were injured and all are in a stable condition.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the "terrorist attack" at Istanbu's Ataturkl airport and is calling for the perpetrators to be identified and brought to justice.

The Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, has also condemned the bombing. He wrote on Twitter: Our thoughts are with the victims of the attacks at Istanbul's airport. We condemn these atrocious acts of violence.

Recommended Read more Dozens killed after suicide bombers attack airport in Istanbul

And the attack was commented on by both the candidates in the US presidential race, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

The Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also condemned the attacks and urged Western countries to take a stronger stance against terrorism.

The bombs that went off in Istanbul today could have gone off in any city in the world, in any airport, he said. I want everyone to understand that, to the terrorists, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago.

Unless we come together as all countries and as all people, and fight against the terrorists together, all possibilities that we cant even dare think of right now will come true.
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Turkish officials have confirmed there were international passengers among those killed in the terror attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport.

An official said the death toll consisted of 23 Turkish and 13 foreign nationals, according to the AFP news agency, including one Iranian and one Ukrainian.

Shortly beforehand, the Iranian embassy had said it understood one of its countrymen had died, as well as a further five injured.

 Video shows moment Istanbul airport bomber brought down by police

Recommended Read more Isis behind attack on Istanbul Ataturk airport says Turkish PM

The death toll for Tuesday's attack on the airport stands at 41, though with almost 239 wounded officials said it could rise. Three suicide bombers carried out what appears to be a coordinateed attack, opening fire with automatic weapons before blowing themselves up.

Dozens of anxious friends and relatives waited early Wednesday outside Istanbul's Bakirkoy Hospital, where victims were taken.

Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Turkey said at least seven Saudis were injured in the attack and all are in stable condition.

Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, were at the airport and due to fly home at the time of the explosions.

"We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off," Paul Roos said. "There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a hand gun."

The independent Dogan news agency reported that a plane carrying Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was arriving on an official visit at the airport when the attack occurred. The prime minister and his entourage were safely taken to an official residence.

The Turkish prime minister, Binali Yildirim, said early indications point to Isis being behind the "heinous" attack. He said in a statement early on Wednesday

Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Show all 20 1 /20 Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A mother of victims reacts outside a forensic medicine building close to Istanbul's airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Broken windows are pictured at the attacks and explosions site in Ataturk airport's international arrivals terminal AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Bullet impacts are pictured at Ataturk airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Police officers patrol at Istanbul Ataturk airport Reuters Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Workers clean the debris from the blasts at Istanbul Ataturk airport Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A wounded girl from the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack is transported to the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers embrace outside Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Medics carry wounded people to a hospital after a suicide bomb attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul EPA Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Relatives of the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack victims wait outside Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Saudi tourist who survived the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack waits for his wounded mother outside the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Turkish riot police officer patrols Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers wait at Ataturk airport`s main enterance in Istanbu, after two explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkey's largest airport Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Forensic police work the explosion site at Ataturk airport Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security man escorts people from a car park at Istanbul Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security walks at Istanbul Ataturk airport Murad Sezer/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Ambulance cars arrive at Istanbul Ataturk airport Osman Orsal/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul An ambulance arrives at the Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul The weapons used in the attack REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty

A Turkish official said authorities are going through CCTV footage and witness statements to establish a preliminary timeline and details of the attack. "It is a jigsaw puzzle" said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.
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A man returning from his honeymoon with his wife has described the moment he came face to face with one of the gunmen involved in the bomb attack in Istanbul that has left 41 people dead and more than 230 injured.

American-Iraqi journalist Steven Nabil and his wife were returning to New York when the attack at Ataturk airport began.

Three men arrived in a taxi and began firing at the terminal building late on Tuesday. All three detonated suicide belts after exchanging fire with police.

Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim said the co-ordinated attack pointed to Isis, though no group has come forward to claim the attack.

Mr Nabils wife was among those injured in the attack and the couple ran from a cafe to take cover inside a cupboard in a shop in the airport.

Writing on Twitter, freelance journalist Mr Nabil said he broke into a hair salon in the airport after the attack began, where he and his wife stayed for 45 minutes, saying they were sitting ducks waiting to find out who would open the door.

When the bullets were closer I hugged and kissed her, Mr Nabil said.

Recommended Read more Turkey questions international reaction to Istanbul terror attack

He said his wife had been in Cafe Nero while he had gone upstairs to pizza restaurant Sabbaro when the attack began.

When he heard gunshots, he said he ran back towards his wife and came down the stairs to see the court empty and the terrorist firing toward us".

At one point the couple were face to face with the gunman while he sprayed bullets, Mr Nabil wrote.

I ran back, got my wife pulled her [into the] store, broke in and waited in terror while he was shooting outside the store. We barely made it.

While the attack continued, Mr Nabil said he begged his wife to keep calm because the noise might draw any attackers, and says he looked around the cupboard for potential weapons he might use if the attackers tried to get in.

Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Show all 20 1 /20 Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A mother of victims reacts outside a forensic medicine building close to Istanbul's airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Broken windows are pictured at the attacks and explosions site in Ataturk airport's international arrivals terminal AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Bullet impacts are pictured at Ataturk airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Police officers patrol at Istanbul Ataturk airport Reuters Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Workers clean the debris from the blasts at Istanbul Ataturk airport Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A wounded girl from the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack is transported to the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers embrace outside Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Medics carry wounded people to a hospital after a suicide bomb attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul EPA Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Relatives of the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack victims wait outside Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Saudi tourist who survived the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack waits for his wounded mother outside the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Turkish riot police officer patrols Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers wait at Ataturk airport`s main enterance in Istanbu, after two explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkey's largest airport Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Forensic police work the explosion site at Ataturk airport Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security man escorts people from a car park at Istanbul Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security walks at Istanbul Ataturk airport Murad Sezer/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Ambulance cars arrive at Istanbul Ataturk airport Osman Orsal/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul An ambulance arrives at the Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul The weapons used in the attack REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack must be a turning point in tackling extremists.

The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world, he said.
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The Turkish president has urged the world to take a stronger stance in response to terrorism after a triple suicide bombing killed dozens of people at the Ataturk international airport in Istanbul.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the rest of the world to see the target could have been London, Berlin, Chicago, amid suggestions the international response had been muted.

World leaders have written to condemn the attacks on Twitter, and the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the perpetrators of the terrorist attack must be brought to justice.

 Video shows moment Istanbul airport bomber brought down by police

But others suggested the reaction would have been far greater if the incident had taken place in a similarly bustling transport hub in western Europe.

In a written statement in the aftermath of the attack, which killed at least 41 people and injured 239 more, President Erdogan said the world needed to unite to fight the terrorists together.

He said: The bombs that went off in Istanbul today could have gone off in any city in the world, in any airport, he said. I want everyone to understand that, to the terrorists, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago.

Recommended Read more CCTV footage shows moment police officer tackles suicide bomber

Unless we come together as all countries and as all people, and fight against the terrorists together, all possibilities that we cant even dare think of right now will come true.

David Cameron wrote that he was appalled by [the] attack in #Istanbul tonight. Thoughts and prayers with all those affected, he said.

The UK Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, said his ministry stands ready to help, adding he was shocked by the attack in Istanbul.

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, said: This is a cowardly and horrific attack on Istanbul - my thoughts are with all those affected.

Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Show all 20 1 /20 Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A mother of victims reacts outside a forensic medicine building close to Istanbul's airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Broken windows are pictured at the attacks and explosions site in Ataturk airport's international arrivals terminal AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Bullet impacts are pictured at Ataturk airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Police officers patrol at Istanbul Ataturk airport Reuters Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Workers clean the debris from the blasts at Istanbul Ataturk airport Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A wounded girl from the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack is transported to the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers embrace outside Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Medics carry wounded people to a hospital after a suicide bomb attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul EPA Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Relatives of the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack victims wait outside Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Saudi tourist who survived the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack waits for his wounded mother outside the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Turkish riot police officer patrols Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers wait at Ataturk airport`s main enterance in Istanbu, after two explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkey's largest airport Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Forensic police work the explosion site at Ataturk airport Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security man escorts people from a car park at Istanbul Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security walks at Istanbul Ataturk airport Murad Sezer/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Ambulance cars arrive at Istanbul Ataturk airport Osman Orsal/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul An ambulance arrives at the Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul The weapons used in the attack REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty

In the US, both presidential candidates issued statements on the attack. Hillary Clinton said it only strengthens our resolve to defeat the forces of terrorism and radical jihadism around the world, while Donald Trump said it shows the US do everything in our power to improve our security to keep America safe.
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A Syrian refugee has attracted praise after he discovered a large stash of money in a second-hand wardrobe and turned it into German police.

Muhannad M. found 150,000 shortly after moving into his new flat in Minden, north Rhine-Westphalia, police reported.

Mr Muhannad, 25, had been able to furnish his flat largely due to contributions from charities, and the wardrobe was included among the donations.

While he was cleaning it, he discovered a hidden compartment where two sheets of wood had been screwed together,

Inside the compartment he found savings books that were worth 100,000, plus 50,000 in cash.

"They were all new 500 notes. I thought it was fake money," he told German national newspaper Bild.

He looked online for clues as to how to tell if the notes were fake, and came to the conclusion that they were in fact real.

The money discovered in the wardrobe (Minden Police)

He informed migration authorities who then told the police, explaining that his religion prohibited him from keeping the money for himself.

"Allah would never allow me to finance my own interests with someone elses wealth," he said.

Police are now trying to track down whoever put the money in the wardrobe.

"This young man has acted in an exemplary way and deserves great respect," a police spokesperson said.

"It sometimes happens that smaller amounts of money are handed in. But this kind of money is the absolute exception."

Mr Muhannad arrived in Germany in October 2015. The rest of his family are still in Syria, where a civil war has destroyed large parts of the country since it broke out in 2011.

He will receive a finders fee of three percent of the value of the money.


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Four bomb attacks have killed 43 people at security checkpoints in a southern Yemeni city, in an atrocity claimed by Isis.

The militants struck at sunset as Yemeni soldiers broke their fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

At least 38 of those killed in the attack in the south-eastern coastal city of Mukalla were soldiers.

According to news agency Mukalla Now, another 24 people including children were injured in the blasts.

As a result of the attacks, the city's Ibn Sina Hospital was forced to appeal for urgent blood donations.

A local journalist told Al Jazeera anonymously that the attackers posed as distributors for Iftar, the meal that breaks the daily fast.

The same source said one of the attackers blew himself up at security checkpoint in the western part of the city while the other three attacks took place in downtown Mukalla.

 Yemenis facing severe food insecurity

A security official told AFP the killed soldiers were from Hadhrami Elite units, a local force recently formed which helped take back the city from Al Qaeda in April.

In pictures: The rise of Isis Show all 74 1 /74 In pictures: The rise of Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters of the Islamic State wave the group's flag from a damaged display of a government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from Islamic State group sit on their tank during a parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from the Islamic State group pray at the Tabqa air base after capturing it from the Syrian government in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from extremist Islamic State group parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping A video uploaded to social networks shows men in underwear being marched barefoot along a desert road before being allegedly executed by Isis Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Haruna Yukawa after his capture by Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Khalinda Sharaf Ajour, a Yazidi, says two of her daughters were captured by Isis militants Washington Post In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Spokesperson for Isis Vice News via Youtube In pictures: The rise of Isis A pro-Isis leaflet A pro-Isis leaflet handed out on Oxford Street In London Ghaffar Hussain In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Isis Jihadists burn their passports In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A man collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A woman collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid Local civilians queue for aid administered by Isis. Since it declared a caliphate the group has increasingly been delivering services such as healthcare, and distributing aid and free fuel In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces detain men suspected of being militants of the Isis group in Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Mourners carry the coffin of a Shi'ite volunteer from the brigades of peace, who joined the Iraqi army and was killed during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Samarra, during his funeral in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Shiite Turkmen family fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, arrives at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi A photograph made from a video by the jihadist affiliated group Furqan Media via their twitter account allegedly showing Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivering a sermon during Friday prayers at a mosque in Mosul. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamist caliphate in the territory under the group's control in Iraq and Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Smoke and debris go up in the air as Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul. Images posted online show that Islamic extremists have destroyed at least 10 ancient shrines and Shiite mosques in territory - the city of Mosul and the town of Tal Afar - they have seized in northern Iraq in recent weeks In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq A bulldozer destroys Sunni's Ahmed al-Rifai shrine and tomb in Mahlabiya district outside of Tal Afar In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces celebrate after clashes with followers of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi, in front of his home in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi at his home after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A vehicle burns in front of a home of a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman holds her exhausted son as over 1000 Iraqis who have fled fighting in and around the city of Mosul and Tal Afar wait at a Kurdish checkpoint in the hopes of entering a temporary displacement camp in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees Displaced Iraqi women hold pots as they queue to receive food during the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, at an encampment for displaced Iraqis who fled from Mosul and other towns, in the Khazer area outside Irbil, north Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A militant Islamist fighter waving a flag, cheers as he takes part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters wave flags as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters travel in a vehicle as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade with a missile in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from an al-Qaida splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from the splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters hold a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A member loyal to the Isis waves an Isis flag in Raqqa In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi anti-government gunmen from Sunni tribes in the western Anbar province march during a protest in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The United Nations warned that Iraq is at a "crossroads" and appealed for restraint, as a bloody four-day wave of violence killed 195 people. The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that broke out in Sunni areas of the Shiite-majority country more than four months ago, raising fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces hold up a flag of the Isis group they captured during an operation to regain control of Dallah Abbas north of Baqouba, the capital of Iraq's Diyala province, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Isis fighters parade in the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, demonstrate their skills during a graduation ceremony after completing their field training in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Kurdish Peshmerga troops fire a cannon during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Jalawla, Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference Iraqi Prime Minister's security spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference about the latest military development in Iraq, in the capital Baghdad. Iraqi forces pressed a campaign to retake militant-held Tikrit, clashing with jihadist-led Sunni militants nearby and pounding positions inside the city with air strikes in their biggest counter-offensive so far In pictures: The rise of Isis A police station building destroyed by Isis fighters An exterior view of a police station building destroyed by gunmen in Mosul city, northern Iraq. Iraq's new parliament is expected to convene to start the process of setting up a new government, despite deepening political rifts and an ongoing Islamist-led insurgency. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani issued a decree inviting the new House of Representatives to meet and form a new government In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Smoke billows from an area controlled by the Isis between the Iraqi towns of Naojul and Tuz Khurmatu, both located north of the capital Baghdad, as Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces take part in an operation to repel the Sunni militants In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An elderly Iraqi woman is helped into a temporary displacement camp for Iraqis caught-up in the fighting in and around the city of Mosul in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Christian woman fleeing the violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kms east of the northern province of Nineveh, cries upon her arrival at a community center in the Kurdish city of Arbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman, who fled with her family from the northern city of Mosul, prays with a copy of the Quran AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq The body of an Isis militant killed during clashes with Iraqi security forces on the outskirts of the city of Samarra Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi civilians inspect the damage at a market after an air strike by the Iraqi army in central Mosul EPA In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Members of the Al-Abbas brigades, who volunteered to protect the Shiite Muslim holy sites in Karbala against Sunni militants fighting the Baghdad government, parade in the streets of the city AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Shia tribesmen gather in Baghdad to take up arms against Sunni insurgents marching on the capital. Thousands have volunteered to bolster defences AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A van carrying volunteers joining Iraqi security forces against Jihadist militants. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteered to fight AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters of the Isis group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An Islamist fighter, identified as Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni from Britain (R), speaks in this still image taken undated video shot at an unknown location and uploaded to a social media website. Five Islamist fighters identified as Australian and British nationals have called on Muslims to join the wars in Syria and Iraq, in the new video released by the Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Al-Qaida inspired militants stand with captured Iraqi Army Humvee at a checkpoint belonging to Iraqi Army outside Beiji refinery some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad. The fighting at Beiji comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes targeting the militants from the Isis group. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground, officials said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants attacked Iraq's main oil refinein Baiji as they pressed an offensive that has seen them capture swathes of territory, a manager and a refinery employee said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants from the Isis group parading with their weapons in the northern city of Baiji in the in Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A smoke rises after an attack by Isis militants on the country's largest oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and said they regained partial control of a city near the Syrian border, trying to blunt an offensive by Sunni militants who diplomats fear may have also seized some 100 foreign workers In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group stand next to captured vehicles left behind by Iraqi security forces at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province. For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An injured fighter (C) from the Isis group after a battle with Iraqi soldiers at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis aiming at advancing Iraqi troops at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group taking position at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group inspecting vehicles of the Iraqi army after they were seized at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq One Iraqi captive, a corporal, is reluctant to say the slogan, and has to be shouted at repeatedly before he obeys Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group force captured Iraqi security forces members to the transport In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group transporting dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A major offensive spearheaded by Isis but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three others In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants taking position at a Iraqi border post on the Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis rebels show their flag after seizing an army post AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants waving an Islamist flag after the seizure of an Iraqi army checkpoint in Salahuddin Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Demonstrators chant slogans as they carry al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. In the week since it captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, a Muslim extremist group has tried to win over residents and has stopped short of widely enforcing its strict brand of Islamic law, residents say. Churches remain unharmed and street cleaners are back at work

As a result of the Yemeni Civil War between the Houthi insurgents in Northern Yemen and the Saudi Arabia-backed government - Isis and Al Qaeda have increased operations in the country including bomb attacks on Mukalla and the southern port of Aden.
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Q Ive heard reports of people in Greece on holiday unable to exchange their pounds for euros, and ATMs not working with British cards. Is that likely to become common elsewhere in the Mediterranean? Im going to Spain.

Dennis W

A While the collapse in the pound will make the summer painfully expensive for British travellers, the banks will be as happy as ever to take your pounds. However low sterling sinks, pounds  and British bank cards  will still be valid abroad.

The reports that you heard seem to comprise a story that took on a life of its own in social media. At the root of it, as far as I can tell, is that on Friday morning on the island of Kos, two unrelated things happened.

First, a hotel on the island put a sign on reception saying: Were not changing English or Scottish pounds just yet while we wait to find out what the rate will be, which was a perfectly reasonable and rational decision. They might have been charging too much or too little, and after a couple of hours they were told the rate and went ahead. One report that the hold-up was because the European Central Bank had not yet set an official exchange rate shows what tosh the story was; the ECB does many things, but does not set exchange rates, the market does.

Second, an ATM in Kos was temporarily out of order. As regular visitors to the Greek islands will know, this is not exactly a rare event. There is no reason why ATMs in Spain or anywhere else will reject British bank cards. The banking system converts at the prevailing rate, transactions go through and you discover some time later how puny is the pound. All you can do is seek to minimise the amount you pay them for the privilege. One route is to apply for a Halifax Clarity credit card, which has no foreign-exchange loading; another could be the new Travelex Supercard  which looks promising but which I have not yet had a chance to test.

Every day, our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a readers question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder
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Q. What security precautions were in place at the airport?

Unlike most European airports, Turkeys main airport has several layers of security. At the airport perimeter, theres a check of vehicles entering - though up until yesterday it tended to be cursory.

In common with other Turkish airports, the second check is at the airport door. No-one is allowed into the check-in area without passing through a checkpoint where papers, people and baggage are screened. That applies equally to passengers arriving at the airport on the Metro.

 Video shows moment Istanbul airport bomber brought down by police

Q. I am booked to fly to, through or via Istanbul. Can I change?

Turkish Airlines has announced two options for anyone booked to travel up to and including 5 July. It covers flights to, from or via either Istanbul airport - Ataturk, where the attack took place, or Sabiha Gokcen. The trip can be postponed up to the end of July or refunded in full without penalty (though if you booked through an agent they may charge a fee). Abta, the travel association, says: People due to travel should speak to their travel company or airline for information about travel to and from Istanbul."

BA, which has cancelled some flights between Heathrow and Istanbul on Thursday, says: Any customer due to fly on a British Airways operated flight to or from Istanbul up to and including Sunday 3 July can rebook to a later date or use the money they have spent towards an alternative destination.

Q. What about people in other locations in Turkey?

There should be no change to normal plans; easyJet, which flies to Antalya, Dalaman, Bodrum and Izmir in Turkey, says: "We always follow the advice of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Their advice for travel to these destinations remains unchanged and that it is safe to fly to our Turkish destinations. As a result, booking conditions remain unchanged."

Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Show all 20 1 /20 Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A mother of victims reacts outside a forensic medicine building close to Istanbul's airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Broken windows are pictured at the attacks and explosions site in Ataturk airport's international arrivals terminal AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Bullet impacts are pictured at Ataturk airport AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Police officers patrol at Istanbul Ataturk airport Reuters Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Workers clean the debris from the blasts at Istanbul Ataturk airport Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A wounded girl from the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack is transported to the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers embrace outside Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Medics carry wounded people to a hospital after a suicide bomb attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul EPA Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Relatives of the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack victims wait outside Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Saudi tourist who survived the Ataturk Airport suicide bomb attack waits for his wounded mother outside the Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Hospital Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul A Turkish riot police officer patrols Ataturk airport`s main entrance in Istanbul Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers wait at Ataturk airport`s main enterance in Istanbu, after two explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkey's largest airport Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Forensic police work the explosion site at Ataturk airport Ozane Kose/AFP/Getty Images Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security man escorts people from a car park at Istanbul Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Armed security walks at Istanbul Ataturk airport Murad Sezer/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Ambulance cars arrive at Istanbul Ataturk airport Osman Orsal/REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul An ambulance arrives at the Ataturk airport REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul The weapons used in the attack REUTERS Attack at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul Passengers leave Istanbul Ataturk, after a suicide bomb attack Getty

Q. How significant is Istanbuls main airport?

It is one of Europes big five, along with Heathrow, Paris CDG, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Last year it overtook Frankfurt in passenger numbers, and was on course to do the same this year to Paris. In an average hour, 7,000 passengers pass through the airport. The intention is for Istanbul to grow rapidly to become a hub to rival Dubai, with Turkish Airlines already flying to more destinations worldwide than any other carrier - and the most important airline in Africa.

Q. Three months ago, Brussels airport was attacked; why are airports such key targets for terrorists?

It is very difficult these days to hijack a plane, but as the attack in the Belgian capital showed, the public areas of airports are vulnerable to suicidal terrorists.

Attacks on airports have a global impact in every sense - as we saw from the atrocity at Brussels airport in March, and at Moscows Domodedovo airport five years ago. Many different nationalities are in the line of fire, and the effects on normal international travel can be immense.

Q. How big are the risks for travellers to Turkey?

The Foreign Office says there is a high threat from terrorism, with Kurdish groups, so-called Islamic State and far left organisations planning and carrying out attacks. Further attacks are likely. Terrorist groups have publicly threatened to attack tourist sites in Turkey.

In the past year Turkey has seen a significant number of terrorist atrocities committed on its soil, in which around 250 people have died. The majority of attacks are against local people. But in some attacks tourists have been specifically targeted. One attack in Sultanahmet Square in the heart of Istanbul in January killed 10 members of a German tour group.

Abta says: "Following incidents earlier this year, Istanbuls popularity as a city-break destination has declined and there will be small numbers of British nationals in the city at this time.

Q. What options are there for people with holidays booked to Turkey?

If your flight is cancelled, then you can get a full refund. But if it is going ahead, and you want to cancel your holiday, the position is very different. With no official warning against travel to tourist areas in Turkey - and no likelihood of the Foreign Office issuing one - if you decide not to travel, you are likely to lose some or all of the money you have paid. You will not be able to claim on insurance for what is known as disinclination to travel. This applies equally to people planning to visit Istanbul or to travel to other areas.

Abta says: "The vast majority of British holidaymakers will visit the beach resorts on Turkeys south coast which are hundreds of miles away from Istanbul."
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Welcome to the summer of hate. Theres blood on the streets, and now its time for the most brutal war of them all: echo chamber war.

In the blue echo chamber, The Sun tells the red echo chamber not to listen to its echo chamber that goads them to pour bile on the dispossessed working class they once claimed to care about.

Half the rest of the Leave camp write lengthy op-eds about how Remain must accept the verdict of the British people, must be magnanimous in defeat, its called democracy.

Now, Thursday was a long night. Strange things happened, but Im still close to 100 per cent confident that just before midnight I was standing two yards away from Nigel Farage when, having thought himself defeated, he turned to the throng of cameras and said: The Eurosceptic genie is out of the bottle. Win or lose this battle tonight, we will win this war. We will get our country back. We will get our independence back and we will get our borders back.

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

It has been the most potent example of the tyranny of the majority ever thrust upon a liberal democracy. Liberal democracies are meant to guard against such things. It has been, very clearly, a failure of democracy, yet another failure from which there will be consequences.

Anyway, in the red echo chamber, the hand wringing has begun. Hug a Brexiteer, writes one. We must come together to defeat racism, says another, before throwing her hands up in the air about her half-trashed future and quietly going back to life as was before.

Somewhere, wandering dazed and angry around No Mans Land, is a third, small army, which I might call Remainers From The Real World. We are the ones who dont know how to execute the instructions we are being given from both sides.

We are the ones who saw with blinding clarity, because it was so searingly obvious, that this would be a referendum won and lost on racism, because it was allowed to be fought on immigration. We dont know how to answer these pleas for unity now that the racist genie is out the bottle, his prejudices vindicated by a man who seeks to be Prime Minister and who studiously turned a blind eye to racism in the long months in which it was to his advantage to do so.

It is said that those who voted Leave were mainly driven by anxieties about immigration, wrote Boris Johnson earlier this week, finally. I do not believe that is so.

Well, Arron Banks, the millionaire businessman who funded the Farage side of the campaign and was the only man whose private polling got the result exactly right, doesnt agree. We analysed this to death, he said. Labour voters number one concern was immigration.

Now, you dont have to be racist to be concerned about immigration, pledge four on the Edstone was meant to tell you that, but it certainly helps.

I, an apparent member of both the Remain echo chamber and the Westminster bubble, also grew up in Havering, the east London borough that voted 70 per cent Leave. I have seen people I know personally absolutely invigorated by this referendum. Seen their passing interest in the Britain First Facebook page transform into a near obsession. Seen them sharing every 15 minutes, the latest Islamophobic video, the latest crazy propaganda, its logic twisted beyond a breaking point that they cant see.

I am hearing dozens of stories of 30- and 40-somethings, incandescent with rage at their elderly parents on behalf of their junior school children. My mum voted out because of the way the Afrikaners behave in her hospital, said one. My dad, King Brexiteer, who would just like to have an English waiter for once, now telling me I should apply for an Irish passport, says another.

Another one, lifelong family friends, the dad got his country back, Yesss!  but his son, who works in financial services in Canary Wharf and is dependent on processing transactions made in euros using the EU passporting system, already expects to lose his job. The dad is now semi-permanently in tears. He was warned.

Yes, for a tiny cabal of neurotic Tories whose lifes work was to inflict this misery upon us, it was about something different. They will tell you that it was about such matters as the Maastricht Treaty, the primacy of European Court of Justice, the transferral of sovereignty to the European Commission. But merely because they are the proud dwellers of the very tiniest bubble of all, not so much a bubble as an underground bunker with no entry or exit hatch other than a dumb waiter to bring down the sherry, they are not absolved of the entirely eminently foreseeable consequences of their actions.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, one of the most strongly afflicted by Brussels neurosis, is a thoroughly decent human being. Last year I went canvassing with him in his Somerset constituency before the general election, when a man walking his dog waved the picture of migrants drowning in the Mediterranean on the front page of the newspaper under his nose and proudly announced: Im glad theyre drowning. Im glad theyre drowning. Otherwise theyd be coming over here. Rees-Mogg, of course, told him it was an appalling thing to say, but these are the forces now unleashed with full validation.

These were the conflicting values incumbent upon everyone to consider before making their binary choice. This is precisely the reason a number of undecideds claimed finally to have had their minds made up by the now infamous Breaking Point poster. Clearly, it should have been more.

Recommended Read more Jeremy Corbyn and sorry Brexiteers have forgotten how democracy works

How many people quite rightly queued up to condemn the Labour Party and its anti-Semitism problem earlier this year, quite rightly dismissing out of hand the defence that these were a handful of people on its lunatic fringes, and yet did not pause for a second to think in this case whether it was worth lining up on the same side as Britain First, the BNP and, yes, Ukip, just to indulge their own luxurious grievances with the perceived erosion of sovereignty.

Last month, Chris Grayling, a Cabinet minister no less, stood on a stage in Stoke-on-Trent chanting, We want our country back! We want our country back! A member of the cabinet! You do not get to do that and wander away from its results.

Unity then? But how. There is one echo chamber now that has never been louder, and thats the far right one. Go and have a look at it. You can do it in three clicks. And these are people that dont just talk, they act. Their rage is already ten times what it was a week ago. And it will grow yet further.

Of all the inconceivably vast prices that were not worth paying for all this, this is right up there with the biggest, tough though it is to calibrate in such unprecedentedly dreadful times. Youve got the best part of a week to write your next column, Boris. You should use it to take some responsibility. Surprise us.
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We spoke to left and right wing parties, both nativist and internationalist. One thing they all have in common is this: they want change in Europe. After us, other northern European countries will leave, starting with Denmark, Nigel Farage told an Italian newspaper recently.

This is the start of the Copernican revolution the EU needs to fill the democratic gap in its institutions, said Tom van Grieken, chair of the Belgian populist party, Vlaams Belang, after the Dutch no in the Ukraine referendum.

Change is upon us, with new and old anti-establishment parties growing in influence across the European Union. Some of them now believe that a break up of the EU is already well underway. In a report published today, members and leaders of 45 parties who are influencing and shaping foreign policy across Europe are asked about the future of Europe. Of that 45, more than half (25) think Brexit could trigger the disintegration of the EU.

The parties we spoke to are both left and right wing, some nativist and some internationalist, some in opposition, some in coalition or single party governments. Others have not yet made political gains but have an influence on the media and political debate in their country.

 Juncker and Farage spar in heated Brexit debate

One thing they all have in common is this: they want change in Europe. However, apart from the straightforward Brexit support from far-right parties such as Front National and the Dutch PVV, the vision of most of the other parties is more nuanced, and more telling about the direction in which Europe is going.

Nigel Farage is right when he says that some parties are interested in copying the referendum. Of the parties covered in our research, eight have a referendum on the membership of their country as an immediate goal  in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden.

There are more parties where an exit is under discussion, but they are aware that the current political climate doesnt always align perfectly with the will of the party. The Finns Party in Finland would like a renegotiation and referendum but is aware that a clear majority of Finns are not interested in this. Dealing with the opposite problem, a representative Czech party KSCM, told us that the party is aware that 90 per cent of its supporters and voters would like to withdraw from the EU  but that they are trying to explain to them that this would not be a solution.

This idea is common to many of the challenger and insurgent parties: the British referendum is an inspiration not for its possible final outcome, but in its function as a tool for direct democracy.

Fidesz in Hungary is calling for a referendum on relocation quotas, an idea that is also coveted by parties in Belgium, Estonia, Germany, and Poland. Other issues that challenger parties would like to put to a popular vote included treaty changes, trade agreements, EU enlargement (especially concerning Turkey), NATO membership, and Eurozone obligations.

David Camerons manoeuvring in Brussels ahead of the referendum has also shown member states that it is possible to question the status quo without facing immediate difficult consequences. The French Communist Party, Hungarys Jobbik and the Sweden Democrats want their country to start a similar kind of renegotiation, followed by a referendum.

However Camerons renegotiations have not attracted universal praise: Podemos in Spain called on the Spanish Prime Minister to veto the EU-UK renegotiation deal. Cave in today to Cameron, cave in to his blackmail. Well see what we do next year when the blackmail comes from Marine Le Pen, a Podemos representative told Bloomberg.

In Croatia, Vlaho Orepic, a minister from the recently formed MOST party is even more optimistic. It seems that the individual member states need these crises to unite, to overcome partial interests, and to accept a common European solution. Let us learn from these adversities and let us rediscover our faith in the European Union, he stated recently.

So what will Brexit really mean for Europe. Our interviews show that  bar some exceptions  even the most anti-establishment of the EUs political parties are not ready for a disintegration of the EU. Of the parties mentioned above that do expect an eventual disintegration, many see this as a negative development.

A more likely effect for these parties is an attempt to change the way the EU works, by attempting to use more direct democracy. Still, the EU will not come out of Brexit unscathed. The brutal referendum debate in the UK should act as a warning message to governments around the EU of the growing power of challenger parties, and that the first step to meeting this challenge is to understand what it is that they really think.

Dina Pardijs is Programme Coordinator at the European Council on Foreign Relations and author of 'The world according to Europes insurgent parties: Putin, migration and people power'
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Delegates from the 29 countries that make up the African Elephant Coalition (AEC), gathered together in Montreux, Switzerland, last weekend, to work on measures to fight the poaching crisis.

The AEC launched a social media campaign  using the hashtags #WorthMoreAlive, #EndIvoryTrade, #Vote4Elephants  to gain support for their Montreux Manifesto, which aims to put an end to the ivory trade and allow elephants better protection under international law.

The manifesto consists of five proposals that will be presented to the 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP17) of CITES this autumn in Johannesburg. Together these proposals would ban the international trade in ivory by listing all elephants in CITES Appendix I, close domestic ivory markets around the world, encourage better management of ivory stockpiles and where possible their destruction, end further debate in CITES on a mechanism to legalize ivory trade, and limit exports of live African elephants to conservation projects in their natural habitat.

The Montreux Manifesto shows that our message is clear, said Bourama Niagate from Mali, a member of the Council of the Elders for the Coalition. We need to all pull together for the sake of Africas elephants.

CITES saved African elephants from certain extinction 27 years ago by listing them on Appendix I, said Vera Weber, president of the Swiss-based Fondation Franz Weber, a partner organisation of the AEC which facilitated the meeting. Since then the protection of elephants has been weakened, and poaching has escalated. The AEC has charted a path to relist elephants on Appendix I and ban the ivory trade once and for all.

The Manifesto appeals to governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations for their support, and calls on citizens around the world to ask their respective governments and CITES representatives to support the five proposals and to help the Coalition in its mission to list all elephants in Appendix I.
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The latest murderous terror attack by so-called Islamic state on Ataturk Airport in Istanbul is a stark reminder that there are some even bigger crises in international affairs than Britain ending its membership of the European Union. It is now all but academic to consider where Turkey might now be if it had, at some point since its application for membership of the European Community in 1961, been granted some kind of membership status. What we do know is that Turkey remains at a dangerous pass.

Dangerous, that is, because it finds its security assailed by terrorism and separatism, while its hard fought secularism and, by regional standards, democratic and liberal society is itself under threat from an increasingly authoritarian government prone to appeasing militant Islamists. Its tourist industry, like that of other states struggling to survive, such as Egypt and Tunisia, is being crippled by the terror threat. Things were not helped by Turkeys assertive reaction to incursions on its sovereign airspace by ancient rival Russia. Once a playground for Russians of every class, Turkeys beaches and ancient ruins are in effect out-of-bounds for the citizens of Putins reborn Russian Empire. Indeed, not since the days of Tsars and Sultans have relations between these two powers been colder. A recent rapprochement between Turkey and Israel hardly makes up for the dysfunctionality of wider Turkish foreign and diplomatic policy.

Turkey has never come to terms with its Kurdish minority, and shows even less inclination to do so now. Sometimes portraying himself and his Justice and Development party as The New Ottomans, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is even less willing than his predecessors to settle the Kurdish national question for good. And so the cycle of terror and repression continues, adding unnecessarily to Turkeys struggles with Isis. Although a military regional superpower, Turkey's armed forces are ill-equipped to deal with the kind of asymmetric war that is waged by Isis.

It may be the case that Isis has seen some significant defeats in Syria and Iraq recently, but it has not collapsed and shows little sign of doing so. If the claims often made by his enemies at home and in the west are remotely true, that Mr Erdogan in some way abetted Isis for the sake of some geopolitical strategy to assert Turkish influence, than it has failed all too miserably. Not only are Isis forces lapping at Turkey's southern frontier with Syria, the sounds of the shelling clearly audible from Turkish territory, but, as we see with this attack on Istanbul, groups and individuals self-declared in affiliation with Isis can take their fight to the heart of Turkey itself.

Turkey, then, is under strain, and is following policies of repression and Islamism that are not only a betrayal of its past but are making its survival as an independent viable nation state under increasing doubt for the longer term. A minor riot at a record shop launching a new Radiohead album the other day was a small but powerfully symbolic moment when Islamists and intolerance rained violence upon peaceful, secularist fellow citizens, simply because they wished to listen to music and drink beer during Ramadan. Insensitive the Radiohead fans may well have been, but those ugly scenes showed how the cultural climate in Turkey is shifting in the wrong direction.

Turks today are fearful. For decades this has been a nation at peace with itself and its neighbours (with the notable exception of Greece and the intervention and occupation of part of Cyprus), and a valuable and loyal Nato ally. It has recently concentrated on economic and industrial development. It has enjoyed rising prosperity, a free press, democracy and jobs for its young people, in stark contrast to so many places around it. Now all of that is at risk, and some aspects of its free society will go into retreat. Turkey is in danger because it has a government that in many ways is making its predicament worse. We should all be fearful of what may lie in the future for Turkey.
Nicola Sturgeon meets President of Ireland Michael D Higgins on the first day of his visit to Scotland

Ireland and Scotland have been urged to play a key role in providing the " ethical leadership that is so needed at this moment in our history".

Irish President Michael Higgins highlighted the importance of immigration to the two nations as he addressed MSPs at the Scottish Parliament.

His speech comes at a time when the UK is still coming to terms with last week's vote to leave the European Union (EU), which Ireland remains a member of.

Meanwhile, continental Europe has been dealing with a stream of refugees fleeing from the conflict that has engulfed Syria and the Middle East.

President Higgins described Scotland and Ireland as being countries of "intermixed migrants whose shared existence owes more to the transience of our migrations than to the sedentary experience of possessions or property".

He told MSPs: " If we imagine ourselves in the position of those currently fleeing war-torn Syria, or trapped in an unending cycle of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or in the position of future generations living in toxic and hostile environments, we could not acquiesce to inaction.

"For a long time, the Irish and the Scots found that our own people were forced to seek sustenance abroad.

"The strength and vitality of our diasporas today can be attributed to the bravery and indomitable spirit that motivated our ancestors to seek not only better lives for themselves and their families, but also to recognise the value of community and to appreciate the welcome they received on foreign shores.

"Perhaps, then, with our traditions and values, we might both be expected to play leading parts in showing the ethical leadership that is so needed at this moment in our history."

He stressed that elected politicians " must be unafraid to challenge outdated policies" and speak out against "inequalities which have ceased to shock us by how widespread and familiar they have become".

A failure to do this could " leave a vacuum that will be exploited, usually by dangerous populisms in the street", the President warned.

He added: "W e are challenged to do democracy better rather than resile to old and divisive myths based on exclusion and often what is thinly-veiled hate or racism."

President Higgins recalled the death of Labour MP Jo Cox, saying she " exemplified the very best of principled public representative politics".

He added: "All of us who share her fearless commitment to principled and respectful political debate owe it to her memory to work harder than ever at this crucial moment to strengthen our democratic system and make it work to meet the needs of our people, and not to surrender to fear or bend before the politics of fear."

President Higgins also used his speech to highlight the " enormous potential for partnership and co-operation" between Scotland and Ireland, saying this was "grounded in the values that we share".

He continued: " As two small, in population terms, yet highly-skilled countries with highly-skilled workers on the periphery of Europe, we share a belief that our combined resources, expertise and experiences can create a dynamism that is greater than the sum of our two separate economies.

"Today we see great progress in trade and co-operation in areas such as the creative industries and information technology, as well as in areas such as renewable energies and, of course, in the agri-food sector and in tourism.

"We are both committed to deepening this bond. In the past year alone, Ireland has grown its diplomatic representation in Edinburgh and the Scottish Government has established a representative office in Dublin.

"The potential for growing our work together is, I believe, endless - in culture, in economic and social development, and in promoting the peace, stability and prosperity that have marked the transformative recent decades between these two islands."
Taoiseach Enda Kenny is banking on the support of Europe's most powerful politician, Angela Merkel, as Ireland battles to survive the collateral damage from Brexit.

Here are the six things Ireland are looking for as part of the deal:

1. Prevent hard borders being reintroduced

The Irish government and the Northern Ireland Executive agree that the return of border posts would have a negative impact on the economy, could stoke tensions and damage the peace process, and would be a massive drain on Garda and PSNI resources.

2. Protect 1bn of weekly trade across the Irish Sea

Any deal done on trade will have to be agreed at an EU level, meaning Ireland will be very much siding with Britain on this issue.

Some countries may seek to lock the UK out of the free market but Ireland would like it to get a tariff-free deal that continues the free movement of goods and services.

3. Preservation of the Common Travel Area

People travelling from Ireland to the UK are subject to minimal checks but questions have been raised about how this arrangement will exist post- Brexit given focus on immigration in the referendum debates.

4. Work rights for Irish citizens in the UK

Under EU rules, Irish people can easily live and work in Britain but this is now under threat. Ireland wants a special deal on this issue given our shared history.

5. Recognition of Irelands relationship with Britain

We are neighbours who after years of conflict recently became good friends.

Neither London nor Dublin wants the referendum fallout to set back relations.

The key argument here will be that both governments are custodians of the Good Friday Agreement and must therefore work closely together, despite Britains absence from the EU.

6. Keep Europe as united as possible

There is a political consensus among the main parties that Ireland should remain in the EU. The Taoiseach has said this is profoundly in our national interest. But that value will diminish if other countries follow Britain out.
Ireland's Prime minister Enda Kenny arrives before an EU summit meeting in Brussels last night. Getty Images

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is banking on the support of Europe's most powerful politician, Angela Merkel, as Ireland battles to survive the collateral damage from Brexit.

The Government believes that it has an ally in the German chancellor as it seeks special consideration in Europe.

Mr Kenny met with key allies in the EU, including leaders from the European People's Party (EPP), ahead of last night's crunch European Council meeting with British prime minister David Cameron.

Ms Merkel is the most influential politician in a grouping that also includes 14 of EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's team.

Arriving at the EU Council meeting, Mr Kenny said his EPP colleagues were "well aware of Ireland's position".

He will be relying on their support as Ireland fights to be protected amid a clamour to punish Britain among certain sections of Europe.

Key Irish concerns include the future of the Common Travel Area, especially in terms of the peace process and the border with Northern Ireland.

Read more: Taoiseach vows to 'make the case for Ireland's national interest' as he arrives at crunch European Council meeting on Brexit

"I will articulate, and our people will articulate very strongly, what our vital national interests here are," Mr Kenny said as he headed into the meeting, which was expected to last late into the night.

He pledged that Ireland would be "central" to the talks on the relationship between Britain and the EU.

During last night's meeting, Mr Cameron gave a presentation on the background to the referendum. He indicated that a new prime minister would be in place by September 9.

A spokesman for the Taoiseach said Mr Kenny spoke at the meeting and "emphasised the Irish relationship with UK is at its strongest".

Co-operation

Europe Minister Dara Murphy said Mr Kenny and Ms Merkel were both "strongly of the view" that the British should be given time to replace Mr Cameron before Brexit is initiated under Article 50.

Asked if he believed that the German leader was an ally for ensuring that Ireland gets special consideration in any deal, he replied: "I think she is but I don't think she's unique.

"I think there has been a very strong sense that the political and economic (aspects of a deal) are issues for everybody but the (issues of the) Common Travel Area and Northern Ireland are unique to the people of these islands and specifically to the people of Ireland."

Mr Murphy said Ms Merkel "has been a vociferous supporter" of some of the principles that Ireland holds dear amid the chaos sparked by Brexit.

Read more: Angela Merkel vows to use 'all her strength' to keep EU united

He cited agreement on the principle that all 27 member states will negotiate a Brexit deal collectively and that it will be heads of government, rather than the European Commission, that engages in the talks.

German MEP David McAllister, a member of Ms Merkel's party, said the EPP "very much know of the special situation in Ireland".

He added: "Ireland is the only country which has a land border with the United Kingdom and so all the consequences that means will have to be judged and be analysed very carefully."

Mr McAllister said that while all remaining EU states must sign off on any deal with the UK, "of course the Irish Government plays a special role because no other country is so connected to the United Kingdom like Ireland".

Mr Murphy predicted a "very significant role" for Mr Kenny in the talks, pointing out that he is "one of the more experienced prime ministers".

But he conceded that there was no formal promise of support from Fine Gael's EPP allies, adding: "All we can do at the moment is to continue to make the case."

Yesterday began with bitter European Parliament exchanges as Ukip leader Nigel Farage was booed and accused of lying during the referendum campaign.

When Mr Farage began clapping after Mr Juncker said the will of British voters would be respected, the Commission president addressed him, saying: "You were fighting for the exit - why are you here?"

The EU Council adopted conclusions on migration, jobs, growth and investment and on external relations, but it was Brexit that dominated discussions late last night.

Mr Cameron attended a crucial dinner with the 27 other EU member states. However, he will not take part in the continuing EU Council meeting today.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, he said that Britain would seek a "constructive" deal with Europe to build "the closest possible relationship in terms of trade and co-operation and security".

Mr Kenny last night welcomed an indication that the Conservative Party's leadership issue could be resolved as early as the start of September.

He said: "I note that they're bringing that forward by a month. I think that's good."
Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan TD: 'The referendum was in the UK. The main effects are in the UK, it voted to leave.' Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

Budget 2017 will proceed as planned on this side of the Irish Sea, regardless of the British vote, the Cabinet's two most senior spending ministers insisted yesterday.

While that might smack of denial, given the links between the two economies, the point of the ministers' comments appeared to be aimed at stressing that Ireland is removed from the direct effects of the UK vote.

"The referendum was in the UK. The main effects are in the UK, it voted to leave," Michael Noonan said.

Mr Noonan also repeatedly refused to outline any immediate actions to shore up the State's finances in the wake of the surprise British referendum result.

There will be no immediate tax hikes or spending cuts here and Budget plans for 2017 won't change after the Brexit vote, he insisted.

Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Paschal Donohoe explained that thinking and the value of maintaining policies in a situation increasingly characterised by uncertainty.

"One reason we want to confirm that our spending plans and our fiscal space for next year are unchanged, is to tell people that the plan that we have for how we want to manage our domestic economy, and spending within our domestic economy, is not going to change," he said.

The fiscal space, or spending leeway, for next year is unchanged at just under 1bn, he insisted.

That was in sharp contrast to the UK, where Chancellor George Osborne warned yesterday that his country will now be worse off, and will need higher taxes and lower spending within months, after last week's vote. However Mr Osborne's counterpart in Dublin said it was too early even to assess the implications of the vote, and stressed than any financial challenges for the Exchequer won't come until 2018.

"If there are adverse consequences for Ireland, and there well may be, it's medium term but the extent of them will depend on what kind of settlement succeeds British membership and how the negotiations between the UK and EU progress," said Mr Noonan.

He added that he was "quietly hopeful" this country won't suffer a big shock from whatever settlement Britain and the EU reach in the wake of last week's vote.

His comments, and those of Mr Donohoe, provided an early insight into the Government's strategy for responding to the crisis.

In tandem to downplaying the immediate consequences of the UK vote, Mr Noonan set out the preferred outcome for this country's government, from negations now beginning between the UK and Europe.

It is for a deal that hands favourable terms to Britain, that keeps the country in the single market and maintains free travel, even outside the EU.

That will help maintain the huge 1.2bn of trade that flows between Britain and Ireland each week, Mr Noonan said, expressing a welcome clarity of purpose about the basis of our interests.

"Our strategic interests are to work with the UK," Mr Noonan said.

Until a deal on British exit terms is struck, the effects cannot be calculated, he warned. "It is not possible to measure what the effects would be on Ireland until we see what the settlement will be, because if the single market is fully maintained and the free travel is fully maintained, the effects on Ireland won't be great," he said.

"On the other hand if there is a very tough agreement negotiated with the UK we would have to run a different set of numbers.."

Markets paused yesterday, recovering some modest ground after a record breaking two-day crash that wiped out $3 trillion in global wealth and spooked investors.

But, despite the modest recovery, the UK vote is now without doubt a major global financial as well as political event. The market collapse puts the UK at the centre of that global storm, and George Osborne outlined tough measures to address the new situation.

But Ireland, whatever gloss ministers want to put on it, is also in the firing line.

The Iseq index of Irish shares fell even harder that Britain's FTSE 100, after the vote.

Rating agency Fitch said the vote to leave the European Union is negative for Ireland, "raising risks to growth and creating uncertainty around future relations with Northern Ireland".

While there are no immediate implications for Ireland's sovereign debt rating, the eventual outcome will depend on the severity of the economic dislocation of Brexit, Fitch said.

In the near term, its analysts think the most important impact will be through reduced domestic confidence, an explanation perhaps of why otherwise cautious ministers are so keen to play things down.

In the longer term, the prospect of gaining from a shift in foreign direct investment away from the UK and towards Ireland is "highly uncertain", while a real economic hit will mean lower growth, reducing the tax intake, and ultimately that all important medium-term fiscal, Fitch analysts warned.
Norway is not in the EU but has passport-free travel in the Schengen area and access to the single market. Photo: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images

The Norwegian prime minister has said the open border between her country and Sweden has worked for more than 50 years, but she can't offer advice on how it could be copied in Ireland.

The Revenue Commissioners have been examining what border controls may be needed with the North as part of the Government's contingency planning for Britain leaving the EU.

Read more: Why Ireland is demanding package from EU to beat Brexit fallout

The example of the border between Norway and Sweden is one model being explored. Both countries are part of a free travel area, with random checks by customs officers of documentation and goods.

Norway is not in the EU but has passport-free travel in the Schengen area and access to the single market. Prime Minister Erna Solberg said it was "up to the Brits to decide" if they would seek a similar relationship with the EU.

"I have a feeling that was not what the Leave movement was about," she added.

Asked if the border arrangements in Norway could be replicated in Ireland, Ms Solberg told the Irish Independent: "I think it's difficult to give advice because it depends on how your rules and regulations are."

Passports

However, she added: "Nordic co-operation has been there for more than 50 years. We've had free movement of people, (with) no passports between all the five Nordic countries, since 1965.

"One of the reasons why we are members of Schengen is of course we would have to re-establish border controls when the other countries became members of the EU and Schengen and that would disrupt the very good co-operation we have had."

She said that in the Scandinavian case, "you pay tariffs and you have no free trade over the border. That's regulated by the EU."

Ms Solberg made the remarks as she arrived at a meeting of the European People's Party in Brussels, which was also attended by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

She said: "I think it's important now to stabilise Europe", but that Brexit has left a "very turbulent situation".

She said there was still a need to address issues such as migration, the economy and lowering unemployment, despite the ongoing debate on the future of the EU without Britain.
The UNCERTAINTY over the Brexit move has seen up to 10c/kg wiped off cattle prices at the factories - and over 100/hd ringside - with concerns raised over Ireland's 2bn meat exports to the UK.

Rabobank's analyst Justin Sherrard warned the key risk was the "uncertainty" that will dominate over the months ahead.

"There is so much uncertainty around, and questions around that it might mean the UK looking for alternative supplies of beef," he said.

Some two million tonnes of meat were imported into the UK last year, with over 80pc from the EU including the main suppliers of Netherlands, Ireland, Germany and Denmark.

"I think the priority for the UK will be shoring up what they have at the moment rather than saying that now is the time to explore other supplies," he said. "If sterling settles at a value that is materially lower, it does spell bad news for the Irish beef industry."

Teagasc economist Kevin Hanrahan has warned the Brexit is likely to impact on all produce including cattle, and may also hit sheep exports to France due to increased competition.

Bord Bia described it as a significant challenge for Ireland's valuable agri-food industry, with the beef trade valued at 1.1bn.

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said it was important to bear in mind that the EU Treaty provides a two year period for negotiation of exit arrangements.

He stressed within that two-year period existing arrangements will continue to apply.

Mr Creed said a dedicated unit had been established with stakeholders to ensure all vital information was exchanged.

Currency

In addition to future concerns over potential loss of market share if the UK strikes deals with countries such as Brazil, the processors' body Meat Industry Ireland (MII) warned the key immediate issues of concern are the fall in value of sterling.

It also pinpointed weaker consumer spending in the UK.

"MII has consistently highlighted that the biggest immediate concern is the market uncertainty that a Brexit decision generates," said Mr Healy.

"That uncertainty has already led to a substantial weakening of sterling over recent months," he said, highlighting the further falls in recent days.

"This reduces euro returns and greatly challenges the competitiveness of our exports. The other concerning factor is the impact on consumer spending behaviour in the UK and its implications for meat sales," he said.

"The UK economy looks set for a very rocky period and weaker consumer sentiment will likely negatively impact all grocery sales including meat."

Meanwhile, factory quotes for bulls and cows are down 10c/kg, with steers and heifers down 5c/kg.

While farm leaders and some mart managers claim that numbers of finished cattle are tight, prices at the marts are also down 6-7c/kg, with some categories back by over 100/hd.

Sixmilebridge manager Sean Ryan described the trade last Saturday as "sticky", with forward stores back by up to 100-120/hd.

The week-on-week fall over the last fortnight has slashed 57/hd off bullock prices, and 32/hd off heifer prices.
Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan has given farm ministers assurances that he will bring in a second emergency scheme for dairy farmers by July.

"Despite the extensive range of measures taken over the last year or so, the market remains weak and income for producers is severely affected," Mr Hogan said on Monday when farm ministers convened to discuss the dairy sector crisis.

"The Commission is working on a support package for the dairy sector, with financial resources if necessary."

He ruled out a private storage scheme for pig meat, and said that member states had only used up 42pc of the aid they had requested under the fruit and vegetable support scheme.

Since last year there have been several emergency measures put in place for the dairy sector, including the lion's share of last September's 500m financial package, and a more than tripling (from 109,000 to 350,000 tonnes) of the limit for public intervention to shore up skimmed milk powder prices.

However, earlier this month, French, Polish and German agriculture ministers signed a paper calling for new measures to support the dairy, pork and fruit and vegetable sectors.

They want more EU money to fund a cut in milk production, a revival of the private storage aid scheme for pork and an expansion of the fruit and vegetables support scheme put in place following the Russian embargo.

French agriculture minister Stephane Le Foll said there were now "around 15 countries" that support the joint position, including Italy and Spain, who have signed their own joint text.

He also announced that France is to host an informal gathering of EU agriculture ministers at the end of August to discuss the various crises and the future of the Common Agriculture Policy in the wake of the vote for a British exit, or Brexit.

"We are in the middle of an agricultural crisis and a political crisis at European level," he said. "Brexit changes the European order, it shifts the balance," he added. "We need to look at the situation lucidly and reflect together to come up with answers to the questions it raises."

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed called for "maximum flexibility" for countries facing a dairy crisis, and argued for an aid scheme similar to last September's package, which gave flexibility to Member States to pick responses that suited the individual country.
THE Government has been encouraged to appoint consumer representatives to fill two positions on the board of the Central Bank.

The positions pay almost 15,000 a year and there are at least 11 meetings.

A leading consumer body has criticised the advert for the positions which puts heavy emphasis on the need for those appointed to have accountancy skills.

More consumer representation is needed at the Central Bank, rather than accountancy expertise, the Consumers' Association said.

Appointments are made by Finance Minister Michael Noonan, after a panel of candidates is forwarded to his office by the State boards division of the Public Appointments Service.

Known as the Central Bank Commission, the body acts as the board of the regulator overseeing its activities.

It currently has six appointed members, but legislation allows it to have up to eight.

Although the advert seeking commission candidates makes reference to a need to have "relevant knowledge" of consumer interests, much of it references accountancy, risk management and corporate governance under the section listing skills candidates should possess.

Deputy chairman of the Consumers Association Michael Kilcoyne said experts were of little use when the financial system crashed in 2008.

"What we do not need is more financial experts. We need people to represent ordinary consumers. Most consumer representatives do not have expertise in risk management or accountancy," he said.

Existing appointed members of the commission include academics John FitzGerald, Alan Ahearne and Blanaid Clarke, banker Mike Soden, union official Des Geraghty, and Patricia Byron of the Society of Chartered Surveyors.
Facebook has denied that it uses location data when suggesting people that its users should add as friends.

The company was forced to deny that it is using the tracking tool to feed its "People you may know" feature after reports that users were being recommended people they had never spoken to, but may have passed at an event or in a coffee shop.

Facebook originally said that location data, such as places visited and city lived in, was among a number of things that informed the recommended friends feature. Other factors include mutual friends, workplace, education and networks that you're associated with.

But the company later denied that location wasn't actually a factor used to suggest people you may know.

"Were not using location data, such as device location and location information you add to your profile, to suggest people you may know," said a spokesman for Facebook. "We may show you people based on mutual friends, work and education information, networks you are part of, contacts youve imported and other factors."

This isn't the first time that users have questioned whether Facebook is exploiting the permissions users give it to invade their privacy. It recently denied that it is listening to users' phone calls to target adverts after fears were sparked that the network was using microphones to track its users.

How to stop Facebook using location to suggest friends

Facebook uses location permissions for a number of features, including tagging the place a photo or status was posted, and for "Nearby Friends", an opt-in feature that lets users see if any of their friends are in the vicinity.

You can stop Facebook tracking your location in settings, by changing the app's permissions.

On Android go to Settings -> Application Manager -> Facebook -> Permissions -> turn Location off.

For iOS go to Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services -> Facebook. If you want to stop Facebook tracking your location altogether select Never. To keep the ability to tag a location for posts, but to stop it from following you when the app isn't open select "While using it".

You can also stop Facebook from suggesting your contacts as friends by removing its permission to access contacts, and deleting your phone number from your Facebook account.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
A garda and qualified skydiving instructor has been awarded almost 100,000 in compensation by the High Court after suffering a career-threatening wrist injury while making an arrest.

The court found Martina Brant (37) was likely to be confined to desk duties should she return to work as a garda.

The injuries, sustained while arresting a former soldier in Dublin city centre, have also meant it is unlikely she will ever be able to work as a skydiving instructor again.

Mr Justice Bernard J Barton found Ms Brant, who is currently working for a UK law firm while on a career break from An Garda Siochana, had suffered an unusual injury, which she would have to bear for the rest of her life. As well as suffering a loss of power and restriction of the movement of the wrist, there was a 20pc-30pc risk of developing painful wrist arthritis in the long term.

The garda suffered the injuries during a struggle as she and a colleague attempted to arrest former Defence Forces signalman Eric Boylan (31) for criminal damage to a garda car on July 2, 2011.

Boylan was subsequently jailed for four years for violently resisting arrest.

Ms Brants wrist was injured when Boylan rolled on to her as she tried to pull his arm from under his body to handcuff him.

In a ruling on a claim by Ms Brant against the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Mr Justice Barton said it was a matter of probability that, due to her injury, she would be certified not fit for full policing duties when her career break ends next year.

He said it was likely she would be confined to light and generally office-based administrative duties.

The court heard Ms Brant felt this would limit her career in the force and, as a result, she would in all probability pursue an administrative career elsewhere.

The court heard that prior to the injury, she was performing around 250 skydiving jumps a year. Now she is limited to around 50 and is no longer able to act as a parachute jump instructor.

Surgery

Tests in February 2013 found she had most likely sustained a tear of the scapho-lunate ligament in her wrist. She underwent reconstructive surgery and was required to wear a cast for six weeks.

A lot of the painful symptoms later abated, but she still had a significant reduction in her wrist movement.

The court heard the range of motion of the right wrist was to 40 degrees of flexion compared with 80 degrees on the left.

The injury had also resulted in a significant loss of power in the wrist. Ms Brant explained how the wrist injury also limited her ability to manoeuvre a student in the air during freefall.
TWO mothers pleaded with motorists to drive safely after hearing that the drunk man who killed their two sons was driving "like a bat out of hell" on the wrong side of the road.

Anthony Long (29) sobbed as he was jailed for five years for dangerous driving causing the deaths of Brendan Donnelly (24) and Lee Salkeld (26) on October 26, 2009.

Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard the father of two had been drinking since 3pm the previous day before attending a pub fancy-dress party -- and had consumed 11 cans and bottles of beer, seven pints of beer, two vodkas, three shots of After Shock and a line of cocaine before attempting to drive home after a row with his wife.

He then drove his Ford Mondeo head-on into the Volkswagen Polo carrying the victims and their two partners, Laura Connolly and Kate Flynn, on the main Waterford-Cork road.

Long, of Leadington, Leamlara, Co Cork, then walked away from the scene, leaving the two men dying in their car. He travelled on foot for seven miles along a back road towards his home before being located by gardai.

He initially told officers another man was driving. After being told the two men had died, he admitted he was behind the wheel.

The mothers of the two victims yesterday said their entire lives were destroyed by the reckless actions of Long, who had previous convictions for drink driving and speeding.

Mr Donnelly's mother, Christina, said she now wore a lock of her son's hair around her neck -- and carried a pair of his old socks in her handbag as a memento.

"When I sit by Brendan's final resting place, I ring up his old (mobile) number knowing that it won't be answered but I listen to his voice telling me to leave a message," she said.

"We would appeal to anyone thinking of getting behind the wheel of a car to think if they are capable of doing so -- life is so fragile."

Mr Salkeld's mother, Sandra Purcell, said she attempted to commit suicide after her son's death -- and would never recover from the loss of her only son.

"He (Long) may as well have loaded a gun and killed Lee," she told the court. "Lee's death has nearly destroyed me -- this man's cruel act has caused us such terrible heartache. I have scars that will last a lifetime."

Ms Flynn said in a statement read out by gardai that she "lost her soulmate" and her daughter, Sasha, who was five months old at the time of the crash, would grow up without getting to know her dad. "I have to look into Sasha's eyes and know that she will never get to know her daddy," she said.

"What hurts the most -- physical injuries and emotional pain aside -- is that the man who is responsible for killing Lee and Brendan . . . left us all on the side of the road for dead.

"He did not try to help us once. That could have made a difference between life and death for us. He walked away like he had just hit a dog," she said.

Ms Flynn described Long as "a coward" for his actions that morning. Mr Salkeld had asked her to marry him -- but she was instead forced to place a ring on his finger as he lay in his coffin.

Ms Connolly said she felt "cheated and robbed" by the deaths. "To be trapped in a car with your partner dead beside you is not something you can ever (forget) about."

Sobbed

Long sobbed as he told the court he wished he could turn the clock back.

"I will never forgive myself for what I have done. The guilt and self-loathing will never describe how I feel about myself every day. I am truly sorry for all the suffering I have caused," he said.

Mr Donnelly and Mr Salkeld, who were both from Co Waterford, were with their partners and en route to catch a flight from Cork Airport for a city break in Amsterdam in the Netherlands when the tragedy occurred.

The break was to celebrate the birth of Mr Salkeld's first child, Sasha, and Mr Donnelly's purchase of a new house just a few weeks beforehand.

Judge Patrick Moran jailed Long for five years and disqualified him from driving for 15 years.

The court heard Long's wife, Mary, now faces having to sell the family home as a result of his actions.
A BANK of Ireland employee whose girlfriend was among three people held hostage during a 7.6m Tiger kidnapping has sued over alleged "gross" defamation in a newspaper article.

The exclusive Sunday World article amounted to an assassination job on Shane Travers, it is claimed.

It wrongly implied he was involved in, and benefitted from, the largest bank heist in the history of the State at the Bank of Ireland cash centre, College Green, his counsel Paul OHiggins told the High Court.

The article was headlined "7.6m Tiger Raid 'had nothing to do with me" while a sub-headline stated: "But Gardai are still convinced kidnap gang had inside info on bank stash", counsel said.

While the words "had nothing to do with me" were in quotes, the Sunday World never contacted Mr Travers before the article was published on January 31, 2010, counsel said.

That publication was within hours of his being released without charge, having been arrested some 48 hours earlier under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

It seemed some gardai must have been in touch with the Sunday World concerning that detention, counsel said.

Mr Travers still does not know why he was arrested as he had already told gardai all he knew about the Tiger incident which began on the night of February 26, 2009, counsel said.

During that, his girlfriend at the time, Stephanie Smith, her mother Joan, and a young nephew were kidnapped at gunpoint from her home in Kilteel, Co Kildare, by a masked and armed gang, counsel outlined.

Mr Travers, who was watching TV in the house at the time, was threatened the others would be killed if he did not do as instructed and was forced to drive to the cash centre the following morning, followed by gang members in another car.

Counsel said a terrified Mr Travers, who had been working at the centre for some two years, was given a phone with no credit by the gang which featured photos of the hostages being held at gunpoint, along with photos of other BOI employees, which he showed to other staff in BOI.

It was decided he should obey gang instructions to fill four bags with cash, which totalled some 7.6m, which he was then instructed to leave at Clontarf Road Dart Station where he was told the hostages would be.

Counsel said a person who appeared to be a "junkie" met him there and fled in his car with the phone and money.

There were no hostages at the Dart station and he went to Clontarf Garda Station, where his father was a Garda, and told gardai all he knew. The hostages were later released, the court heard.

Mr Travers was traumatised by these events but the plain intent of the dishonest article was to suggest he was likely to have been responsible for what happened in a guilty way.

The article also featured photos of Mr Travers standing alongside a Ferrari and Bentley in Spain, clearly implying he was Mr Gangland associated with major criminals on the Costa del Sol, counsel said.

Those photos originated from his girlfriend's Facebook page and were taken two years earlier in 2008 before the heist during Mr Travers only ever holiday in Spain.

They were taken during the cheapest of cheap holidays to her parents Spanish apartment and during a day trip when, like any 24 year old, Mr Travers posed beside a Ferrari and Bentley, things he would likely never have.

It seemed the photos must have been given to the Sunday World by a Facebook friend who was no friend at all.

Counsel was opening the action by Mr Travers (31), Ardilaun Park, Portmarnock, Co Dublin, against the Sunday World which denies defamation and denies the article contains the meanings alleged by Mr Travers.

It also denies the publication was false or malicious and pleads the article was true in substance and fact.

The case continues before Mr Justice Colm MacEochaidh and a jury.
The scene of the incident in which three people were hurt. Photo: Arthur Carron

Shocking assault on the group of 'completely innocent' young campers at the Hell Fire Club

A 26-YEAR-OLD man felt there was a weird air about the place when he picked up a knife and stabbed a young camper in the throat at Dublin's Hell Fire Club, a court has heard.

Michael Corbett was refused bail by Dublin District Court after he was charged with assault causing harm to three teenagers, two males and a young woman, on Monday afternoon.

The incident took place at the Hell Fire Club, otherwise known as Montpelier Hill, a popular south Co. Dublin site for hikers surrounded by lands owned by the State forestry company Coillte.

Judge Michael Walsh acceded to a request from defence solicitor Tracy Horan to order an urgent psychiatric assessment of her client who has an address at Woodbine Close in Raheny in north Dublin.

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Garda Pauline Glennon told Judge Walsh on Wednesday that Mr Corbett made no reply when the charges were put to him at Tallaght Garda station.

She objected to bail citing the seriousness of the offence.

She said three campers, an 18-year-old woman, a male aged 18 and a 17-year-old boy, were at the Hell Fire Club, at Killakee Road. The defendant, who was not known to them beforehand, travelled there by taxi and remained with them for a couple of hours. They also went picking logs.

Gda Glennon said it was alleged the 18-year-old youth was stabbed across his throat, in to his chest and was assaulted with a log of wood. She added that the young woman and the second youth were also assaulted with the log and punched in the face by a male they later identified as the accused.

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Mr Corbett was arrested at the scene a few hours later and made certain admissions when interviewed. The three teens were rushed to Tallaght hospital and were treated for a number of hours but were not kept overnight.

Gda Glennon agreed with defence solicitor Treacy Horan that Mr Corbett did not bring the knife and that it belonged to the campers.

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Ms Horan asked the judge to note that her client was not familiar with the courts and has no prior criminal convictions.

She said Mr Corbett felt he was going to be attacked and there was a weird air about the place. She told the court he had serious underlying psychiatric problems and he claimed he was restraining the victim; there was a scuffle and this was something he did not want to happen.

Gda Glennon agreed the injured party brought the knife there but for camping purposes. She said Mr Corbett told gardai that he saw it on the ground and picked it up and put it to the youth's chest and the knife sprung off him.

Ms Horan also said he her client was entirely co-operative at Tallaght Garda station, would abide by strict bail conditions and was supported in court by family members. He is not currently working and is out of work on long-term sick. However he had worked for many years, she said.

Judge Walsh refused bail and remanded him in custody to appear at Cloverhill District Court on July 6. Dressed in grey tracksuit the accused sat silently throughout the hearing. He has not yet entered a plea to the charges.

Following submissions from Ms Horan, the judge agreed to order an immediate psychiatric assessment of Mr Corbett in custody and for the findings to be furnished to his legal team.
A TEACHER at a private fee-paying school in south Dublin has brought a legal challenge over how it dealt with a complaint alleging he called a male student a little b**ch.

Pierce Dillon (55) denies using such language and has challenged the formal procedure adopted by Catholic University School in dealing with a complaint made by the teenagers parents over events on May 8/9, 2014.

In his High Court action, Mr Dillon alleges there was no basis under which an allegation of name calling morphed into a claim of inappropriate behaviour.

He claims a February 2015 finding of "inappropriate behaviour and language" against him was unjustified and unfair.

As a result of that finding, Mr Dillon received a final written warning in April 2015 under a disciplinary procedure.

Mr Dillon was told this was a Marist Catholic school known for the kindness and humanity with which it treats pupils and his behaviour fell short of its expectations, the court heard.

He was told it was expected he would follow school procedures and the final warning would be active for 12 months after which, subject to his satisfactory performance, it would expire.

The warning has so expired, the court was told.

Mr Dillon's case, outlined by his counsel Mark Connaughton SC, centres on claims the school applied the incorrect procedure for dealing with the complaint.

Feichin McDonagh SC, for the school, said it implemented the appropriate procedure and the entire case rested on a "misconception".

In correspondence read to the court, Mr Dillon accused the school of adopting a "Thatcherite" solution to industrial relations and a procedure with "all the hallmarks of a kangaroo court" which "reflects badly on the Marist ethos".

The school described that language as "unhelpful and inappropriate", rejected Mr Dillon's claims he was not given an opportunity to engage with the procedures and maintained it acted in accordance with the Marist ethos.

The case opened before Mr Justice Michael Twomey on Tuesday and will resume later on a date to be fixed.

The court heard the teenage student claimed, after he was late on May 8, 2014, for Mr Dillon's class due to talking to another teacher, Mr Dillon told him he was continually disrupting the class, always moaning and was a little b**ch.

The student also claimed, after he told Mr Dillon the following day he could not attend class due to a school sports commitment, he was told he would be kicked out of class for three weeks.

The boy alleged he told Mr Dillon he was not allowed call him a little b**ch and Mr Dillon had denied doing so. The student claimed he told Mr Dillon he was a coward and the teacher shut the door in his face.

Another student made corroborating statements in relation to those events but the school said those were not relied on in the decision on the complaint.

The students father separately complained to Mr Dillon at a parent

teacher meeting the teacher called his son a stupid twot, the court heard. Mr Dillon denied that but had said he would sometimes call students twits.

Mr Dillon claims the handling of the complaint was unfair, in breach of his rights and the schools own procedures, and has caused him hurt and distress after 34 years service as a teacher.

Mr Connaughton said a formal complaint was made in June 2014 after the students parents were unhappy with an informal process. Even before the school moved to a formal disciplinary procedure, Mr Dillon raised concerns about how the matter was being dealt with, counsel said.

This matter was dealt with under a 2009 revised disciplinary procedure and the finding of inappropriate behaviour did not flow from what was initially put to Mr Dillon, counsel argued.

The school then proceeded to address sanction, "brushing aside" the protections that should be available, and allowing no appeal, he said.
A TRIAL date has been set in the case against two sons of the late billionaire hotel boss Jim Mansfield who are accused of possession of ammunition at their homes.

Jim Mansfield Jr (48) and Patrick James (PJ) Mansfield (38) are both pleading not guilty to the charges against them.

Judge Marie Keane adjourned their cases to November 21 for hearing at Dublin District Court.

She also ordered disclosure by the prosecution of additional garda statements within 21 days.

Jim Mansfield Jr is charged with having 180 rounds of .22 Walther ammunition without a firearms licence at his home at Tassaggart House in Saggart on January 29, 2015.

Two further charges of possession of a Fabarm pump action shotgun and 19 rounds of 12" gauge shotgun cartridges with a certificate were previously struck out.

His brother PJ Mansfield is accused of possession of 1,252 rounds of Walther ammunition without a firearms licence at his former home at Coldwater Lake in Saggart.

The accused are sons of Jim Mansfield Snr, who passed away in January 2014.

He was the businessman behind the popular Citywest hotel and Weston Airport as well as a number of high profile ventures. Several of these other businesses collapsed in the recession.

Today, defence barrister Tony McGillicuddy said the trial before the non-jury district court would take up to two days.

He asked the judge to set a date for mention of the case to confirm it was going ahead and deal with any ancillary matters that may arise.

He said after examining disclosure documents, it appeared there were further statements made by a garda.

Judge Keane adjourned the cases to November 21, for hearing. She set a mention date of October 7 and excused the defendants from attending on that date.

The accused, both wearing grey suits, did not address the court during todays brief proceedings.

When they appeared before Blanchardstown District Court last week, it was alleged that during a search of PJ's home gardai found a licensed Walther pistol and 1,552 rounds of ammunition, which was 1,252 more than the 300 rounds he was licensed to hold.

In relation to Jim Mansfield, Judge David McHugh had refused jurisdiction to deal with his case at district court level. However, he was asked by a State solicitor to re-consider the allegations after two of the charges were struck out.

Detective Garda Ian Pemberton alleged that gardai searched Mr Mansfield's home under warrant and located a legally-held Walther pistol as well as 480 rounds of ammunition, which was 180 rounds of ammunition in excess of the licence.

Judge McHugh accepted jurisdiction to deal with that charge. He had also ordered disclosure of information received by gardai to obtain a search warrant.
A woman is forcibly removed by a large number of Gardai at the CCJ Dublin. Pic: Justin Farrelly.

UP to 15 gardai had to remove a woman from the Criminal Courts of Justice when she caused a disturbance after a judge told her to leave.

The woman began shouting and resisting attempts by officers to escort her out of the buildings main hall in the middle of the day.

She was then arrested, put in a patrol van and driven away.

The incident unfolded during a recent sitting of Dublin District Court.

At around midday, the woman started to talk and mutter loudly while the court was in session before judge Michael Walsh.

She had been sitting in the public gallery with a number of bags of belongings since the courtroom opened and began to speak loudly as the day progressed.

No case involving her had been called at that point.

Judge Walsh asked for silence before gardai tried to escort the woman out.

REFUSED

She refused to stand up or leave her seat and began to shout as two to three gardai lifted her up and brought her out into the hall.

While there, she continued to shout and resisted attempts to move her on.

Eventually, assistance was called for and a large number of gardai, many wearing stab-proof vests, lifted and walked the woman to the front door of the complex on Parkgate Street.
he upsurge in visitors in June is particularly welcome, because by then the tourism season is not yet in full swing. Stock image

The renewed upsurge in the number of students will be welcomed by Gaeltacht communities in Co Waterford and across the western seaboard.

During the Celtic Tiger years, the summer colleges 'industry' was said to be worth over 50m a year.

Each family that accommodates a student receives a government subsidy of 9.50 per night, as well as payments from the colleges.

Depending on how many students she accommodates in her home, a bean an ti can earn up to 15,000 per year in income from the summer colleges.

The sudden summer influx also brings in income for local food suppliers, student supervisors, shops, transport providers and teachers.

Ciara Ni Ghairbhi, of Colaisti Chorca Dhuibhne, estimates the language colleges are worth over 7m to the economy of west Kerry every year.

The upsurge in visitors in June is particularly welcome, because by then the tourism season is not yet in full swing.

Many parents visit their teenage children on a Sunday during the course, frequently taking them out to local restaurants or nearby attractions. This also adds substantially to local tourism revenue.Between managers, principals, teachers and third-level student assistants, there are believed up to 2,000 people employed nationally in the industry.

In addition, there are the 670 'Mna Ti', 200 bus drivers and an unknown number of others whose livelihoods depend on the summer college business.

Liam Suipeal, chairman of the colleges' umbrella body CONCOS, says: "The colleges not only bring economic benefits to the Gaeltacht. They also help to keep the language alive."
Missing woman Karen Skott is welcomed home by her mother Kathleen and neighbours at their home in Finglas . Photo: Tony Gavin

Missing woman Karen Scott is welcomed home in Finglas by members of her search party. Photo: Tony Gavin

TEARS of joy and relief flowed freely as missing Down Syndrome woman Karen Scott was re-united with her mother today.

After six days of deepening anxiety, exhausted Kathleen Scott kissed and hugged her daughter and sighed "I'll be able to sleep tonight and I mightn't wake up for a month."

Karen (44), who has special needs, went missing from her home in Barnmore Grove in Finglas last Friday. A huge search operation involving gardai and more then 100 local people came to a joyful end when she was reportedly found on a bus in O'Connell Street in Dublin.

"I got a call from the gardai in Store Street who told me 'We have her!'

"I told them 'Don't let her go!'" said Kathleen.

Gardai drove her home where a relieved Kathleen was waiting.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Missing Dublin woman Karen Scott Next-door neighbour Robert Burke holds a Missing flyer for Karen Scott, missing since Friday 24th June. Barnamore Grove, Finglas, Dublin. Picture: Caroline Quinn Next-door neighbour Robert Burke with a Missing flyer for Karen Scott, missing since Friday 24th June, outside Karen's house on Barnamore Grove, Finglas, Dublin. Picture: Caroline Quinn / Facebook

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"I gave her a big hug and a kiss. Then she asked for a big cup of tea and I thought 'That's my baby.'" said the relieved mother.

"I thought I'd never see her again," said Kathleen, sitting beside a smiling Karen on the family sofa.

"I prayed every night for her....I'm over the moon," she said.

"I'm going to have a rest for a month. I want to thank everybody who helped to look for her. I can't get over that there were so many good people helping to look for her. I'm so grateful to them all," she said.

Volunteer search coordinator Robert Burke (35) said: "Everyone is very very relieved. Karen is back home. There's plenty of tears of relief. We were told she was found on a bus in O'Connell Street.

"It was a great effort by the community, and by the Dublin Missing Persons Group, the gardai, and the Civil Defence.

"Everyone's exhausted but it's a good result. She back. She didn't have her suitcase but she's back," he said.

Beverley Gannon, who managed the volunteers at the search base in the local youth club, said "We're so happy, we're in Disneyland and it's like riding the tea-cups and we're spinning, absolutely spinning."
Patrick Wright (39) has been missing since Monday.

Gardai have appealed for the public's help in the search for missing Patrick Wright (39).

Mr Wright was last seen in the Dublin area of Blanchardstown on Monday at around 10.30am.

He failed to return to his home in Portmarnock County Dublin.

Patrick is described as being 5'5" in height, of slight build with grey receding hair.

When last seen he was wearing a grey jumper with wine sleeves, 'Stihl' work wear trousers and black coloured 'Stihl' boots.

He may be driving a silver coloured Toyota Carolla hatchback, registration number 04WD2519.

A garda spokesperson said: "Investigating Gardai are concerned for Patricks welfare and are appealing to anyone with information to contact them at Coolock Garda Station on 01 6664200, The Garda Confidential Line, 1800 666111 or any Garda Station."
A search party of friends and neighbours with Missing flyers for Karen Scott, missing since Friday 24th June, outside Karen's house on Barnamore Grove, Finglas, Dublin. Picture: Caroline Quinn

An entire community has rallied to help search for missing woman Karen Scott, who has Down Syndrome.

Karens friendly nature and enthusiasm for meeting people ensured she was one of the best-known residents of the Barnamore area of Finglas.

The Den Youth Centre on Saint Helenas Road has a large room dedicated to the search, where a co-ordinating team of local people carefully file each possible sighting, dispatch volunteers, follow up on information and keep gardai informed.

streets

Teams of volunteers have been travelling into the city centre late at night to search the streets, said search co-ordinator Robert Burke (35), a next-door neighbour of the Scott family.

Karens disappearance on Friday has spurred neighbours, friends and acquaintances to join the search teams determined to find her.

During a visit by the Herald to The Den, Robert was getting ready to travel to Dun Laoghaire Shopping Centre to follow up on a claim that Karen had been seen there.

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The report said the woman who was seen had flowery trousers, said Robert, who liaises with the gardai on behalf of the volunteers.

Many of those involved in the search grew up with 44-year-old Karen, who has lived with her mother Kathleen and brother Eddie all her life.

Beverley Gannon, a base manager for the volunteers, said the careful recording of every possible sighting and the organisation of search teams owes a lot to experience  valuable lessons were learned from searches carried out for a missing woman and a missing man in recent years.

Neat piles of incident sheets and team allocation records are placed beside maps of urban areas.

We had 72 volunteers signing in yesterday to take part in searches. Were encouraging people to sign up instead of doing their own thing. That way, we can avoid overlapping our efforts, said Beverley.

All the volunteers wear high-visibility vests with photos of Karen attached to them.

Another possible sighting only minutes before the arrival of the Herald caused hopes to soar.

Some volunteers going into town to put up posters at Luas stops were on a bus on Whitworth Road when they thought they saw Karen going into a house, said volunteer Joe Lynch.

They got off the bus and called the guards. Were waiting for the guards to check it out.

Half-an-hour later, word arrives that gardai entered the house and confirmed the woman was not Karen.

Ive known Karen all my life. Shes very sociable. She loves ballad music and loves dogs and would talk to anyone, said local resident Caroline Aaron.

Tom Carey (67) said: Ive known her for years and years. Karen has been like a daughter to me.

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I would be bringing my own grandson to the zoo or the cinema and Karen would ask to come along. Id bring her along and she would be great company. She could be quite humorous.

She also came on outings to Dun Laoghaire and Wexford.

I perform at cabarets in Dublin, and Karen would often travel to the Red Cow Inn to see me sing. Everyone is worried. My grandson is devastated.

Several local people said Karen would sometimes cause concern when she would not be seen for hours, but for her to be gone overnight was completely against the grain.

She is so well-known in Finglas. Everyone knows her, said a volunteer.

Local businesses have been helping out by supplying food and refreshments for volunteers. The teams are also grateful to Crosscare and the centres management for the use of the room.

Karens mother, Kathleen, made a television appeal for help, speaking movingly about how her family were sick with worry.

Karen is very independent and knows her bus routes and everything and she has gone out before on her own, but she has always come back that night. This time its different, said Kathleen.

Were very concerned for her. There have been no sightings since Friday.

I had been up in Finglas village with her doing some shopping earlier, and when we got home she said she was going upstairs for a lie down.

I dozed off on the couch myself for a while and when I woke up she was gone.
TANAISTE and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said she is willing and available to engage with gardai who have yet to sign up to the recent public sector pay deal.

Ms Fitzgeralds comments came as Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin warned of industrial action from gardai who are facing financial penalties for not signing up to the Lansdowne Road pay deal.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has complained that they when the signed up to the previous pay deal  the Haddington Road Agreement - they were promised a pay review which did not take place.

The GRA is insisting it should not face increment freezes for not signing up to the Lansdowne Road pay deal as they believe the previous agreement was not fully implemented.

Lansdowne Road is officially implemented in two days on July 1.

Qualified gardai are paid around 23,000 a year and Mr Martin said it is impossible for them to afford rent or mortgages.

Mr Martin said the issue has the potential to sap morale, hamper recruitment efforts and perpetuate inequality in the treatment of public servants in the context of pay and also result in industrial action.

Members of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) are also facing penalties over breaches of the Lansdowne Road Agreement.

Responding to Mr Martin during Leaders Questions, Ms Fitzgerald encouraged both the GRA and ASTI to reconsider signing up to the Lansdowne Road Agreement.

We remain willing and open to continue engagement, she said.

The Tanaiste said an individual has been appointed to oversee the outstanding issues from the Haddington Road Agreement raised by the GRA.
TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has intervened on behalf of the Scottish government in their bid to stay in the European Union.

Mr Kenny said that Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon asked him to raise the Scottish referendum result - which saw people vote to remain in the EU by 62pc to 38pc- at last night's European Council meeting.

He said that he met Ms Sturgeon at the recent British Irish Council meeting in Glasgow and that she asked him in the case of an overall leave vote in the United Kingdom to raise her country's "very strong belief that they should not be dragged out of the European Union having voted to stay".

Mr Kenny said he spoke to her again yesterday and that "she wanted that repeated which I said on her behalf last evening".

He was meeting with the 27 other EU leaders, including British Prime Minister David Cameron who was there to officialy explain the Brexit vote to other EU member states.

Ms Sturgeon is in Brussels today where she met European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

She said she is there to "make sure Scotland's voice is being heard".

She said she welcomed Mr Kenny's intervention on behalf of Scotland and that she is "very grateful" to him.

"Ireland is a great friend to Scotland," she added.

Meanwhile Mr Kenny said he emphasised the important of the Common Travel area between Ireland and the United Kingdom in his meetings with other European leaders and said the best outcome would be if Britain remained in the single market.

He said: "Members around the table are well aware both of our relationship with Britain, the Common Travel area and the fact that the peace process has been so important for Northern Ireland  for our relations north and south and between Ireland and the UK. I reminded them of that last night and again this morning."

And Mr Kenny added:

"Obviously from our point over view the best [outcome] would be to have Britain have access to the single market because that would deal with our trading position but that means that the acceptance of the four principles which includes movement of people.

"The leave campaign as you know were vehemently in favour of reducing migration numbers. Thats matter for them to sort out," he said.
THERE has been political interference at the highest level into the management of Namas Ireland loan book, the Dail heard today.

Fianna Fail TD Marc MacSharry said there are allegations flying around about senior politicians seeking to influence the States asset recovery agency on behalf of borrowers.

Mr MacSharry warned that it is illegal for any politician to interfere in the work of the so called bad bank.

There are allegations flying around about political interference at the highest level in favour of borrower with connections in Nama.perhaps to the detriment of others, perhaps none of this is true but the fact that allegations have been made is a concern, he said.

The Sligo-Leitrim TD was speaking during a Dail motion calling for a Commission of Investigation to be established into the sale of Namas 1.6bn Project Eagle loan book.

The motion was lodged by former property developer and now Independent4Change TD Mick Wallace.

Mr Wallace said he is going to set up a website called NamaLeaks.ie with the assistance of some of those involved in leaking information from CIA whistleblowers Edward Snowden.

The former builder said he will invite people with information on Namas work to leak information confidentially to his website.

A vote will be held tomorrow on the motion.
Risks to economic recovery and the Northern Ireland peace process will be Taoiseach Enda Kennys trump cards when he seeks to make us a special case in the Brexit negotiations. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

Risks to economic recovery and the Northern Ireland peace process will be Taoiseach Enda Kenny's trump cards when he seeks to make us a 'special case' in the Brexit negotiations.

The leaders of the 28 EU countries, including David Cameron, meet in Brussels today, where Mr Kenny will attempt to outline how the result of the referendum impacts on Ireland more than anybody else.

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"The stakes have always been higher on this issue for Ireland than for any other EU member state," he told the Dail, while promising his primary goal will be "Ireland's national interests".

Part of the Irish strategy is to 'bat for Britain' because their punishment for voting 'out' will have a ripple affect on trade here and ultimately Anglo-Irish relations.

"It is in nobody's interests for the UK and the EU to have anything but the best possible future relations," Mr Kenny said.

"The closer the UK is to the EU, the better for all of us, and above all for Ireland," he added, in what is a direct challenge to some EU leaders who have indicated they want a scorched earth policy in relation to Britain.

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On one hand Mr Kenny called for calm - but on the other said people needed to understand that there has been "a political earthquake".

The aftershocks will take time to settle and EU leaders need to use that space to look at the long-term impact.

Our 'special case' appeal will be based on:

 The economy and the relative importance of each other's markets for trade.

 Northern Ireland, the Peace Process and British-Irish Relations.

 The Common Travel Area and our shared land border.

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 The role of the UK within the EU and its strategic value to Ireland in that context.

Around 1bn of trade crosses the Irish Sea every week, and hundreds of thousands of jobs rely on it.

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"Ireland's starting point will be straightforward. A stable, prosperous, and outward-looking UK is clearly in our own interests and those of the EU as a whole," Mr Kenny said.

On Northern Ireland, the Taoiseach said that urgent and intensive engagement with the British Government and Belfast Executive is needed. We must "see how collectively we can ensure that the gains of the last two decades are fully protected in whatever arrangements are negotiated."

"All three administrations share the common objective of wanting to preserve the Common Travel Area and an open border on the island of Ireland," he said.

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Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald spoke with the British Immigration Minister yesterday as a first step in figuring out how this can be pushed with other EU states.

"I fully understand why many people in Northern Ireland are deeply concerned that Northern Ireland will be outside of a project that has delivered so much for political stability, reconciliation and economic prosperity," Mr Kenny said.

And where once we turned to Britain for help in fending off the demands of Germany and France, particularly in the face of pressure for tax harmonisation, Mr Kenny is now offering to be the UK's strongest advocate.

"Ireland is in an important position given the strength of our relationship with the UK on one hand and our connectedness to the EU on the other."

However, with speculation mounting that Boris Johnson is on course to be the next British prime minister, Mr Kenny said that whoever replaces Mr Cameron should "set realistic and achievable objectives and to build confidence in the UK's good faith".

Ministers have been told to avoid any suggestion that there is a need for panic and will discuss the fallout again at a Cabinet meeting this morning. During a series of Dail statements yesterday, minister after minister express "regret" at the decision of the UK electorate but said they were prepared for the impact.

Minister for Jobs Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell O'Connor is to do the heavy lifting in relation to "future trading relationships".

China and India are among the countries being targeted for new business but there is also some potential to poach companies who might normally locate in London.

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"Of course, Ireland remains a strong, competitive and open economy," Mr Kenny said.

"Our talent pool, competitive and consistent tax regime and long track record of working with foreign companies is something that companies are interested in.

"The fact that Ireland is English-speaking and a member of the EU and eurozone is also attractive," he added.

Mr Kenny will stay in Brussels overnight for a second meeting of EU leaders tomorrow - which will exclude Mr Cameron.

All the while, the minority Fine Gael-led government can expect almost unconditional support from Fianna Fail.

Its leader Micheal Martin also travels to Brussels today to meet with EU leaders.

"The first thing we need is to make sure we fully define our objectives and have an inclusive national approach to the negotiations. We all need to be wearing the same jersey," he said.
Housing Minister Simon Coveney has said he is not surprised by the European Commission's assertion that Ireland has no exemption on water charges.

Mr Coveney said he was due to travel to Brussels next week to discuss Ireland's plan to suspend charges for a nine-month period while the issue is examined by an independent commission.

The issue of water charges is back under the spotlight after Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella said Ireland's earlier exemption ended in July 2010 when the Fianna Fail-Green Party coalition told Brussels it was introducing water charges.

The claim has been disputed by Sinn Fein and by Fianna Fail, which says it has legal advice that contradicts the commission's position.

But speaking to reporters at Dublin Castle yesterday, Mr Coveney said he accepted the position of the commission and said he was not surprised by its assessment.

"I'm going to meet the commissioner next week in Brussels to actually outline our approach towards why we are suspending water charges for nine months to create a window of opportunity for a real and informed discussion around how we take this issue forward," Mr Coveney said.

"Water has become so political in Ireland in terms of party politics.

"I think the way to deal with this is to try and take the party politics out of this debate to deal with this, for the moment anyway, to allow an expert commission to do its work for the next five months."

Former Independent senator Joe O'Toole has been appointed chair of the expert commission that will recommend how water services should be funded. Other members will be announced today.

Legislation

The European Commission's statement was discussed during Leaders' Questions in the Dail yesterday.

Labour leader Brendan Howlin said legislation going through the Dail breached EU law and that EU law takes precedence over the Irish Constitution and legislation: "The Oireachtas has never before knowingly been asked to contravene European law," he said.

However, Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald said the Government was acting in line with the law and the Constitution, adding that the water legislation would proceed.

She said the issue had been fully debated by the Cabinet and a meeting with Mr Vella was now scheduled.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin rejected the EU Commissioner's view that Ireland had committed to water charges and therefore lost its derogation.

"We have our legal opinion [with] which we challenge the commission's opinion," he said in Brussels.

Asked if he would be fighting the commission on the issue, Mr Martin replied: "We have a clear position on this. If they want to take action, that's their ultimate decision, but we're not seeking permission from the European Commission."

However, he rejected the suggestion that Ireland should consider leaving the EU if it ruled that water charges must stay.

The suggestion was made by trade unionist Brendan Ogle during an interview on RTE's 'Today with Sean O'Rourke'.

However Mr Martin warned against any knee-jerk reaction. "No. I mean for God's sake... we know from Brexit we need to pull back from making simple statements - 'Oh, we'll pull out' - as if nothing's going to happen the next day. We've enormous interests in terms of access to the European market, in terms of agriculture and food, in terms of workers' rights and right across the board."
'Do you know what you're doing?" asked Ben Farrell cheekily, when a consultant at Crumlin Hospital didn't stick to his regular routine of first "sleepy medication" and then anti-sickness tablets.

Little Ben, who's only five, is being treated at the Dublin children's hospital for a rare form of cancer.

His mum Valerie Farrell says her little boy is facing a battle no child should ever have to face, but despite it all, he's still smiling - and he's still wearing his beloved Batman mask, keeping everyone at the hospital entertained with his antics.

"He does it all while remaining happy and singing and cracking up the nurses. He is full of life and full of character," Valerie says. "He's a really happy little boy and we want to do everything we can to keep him that way."

Ben, from Finglas in north Dublin, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer on Christmas Eve 2015. He has a stage IV Wilms tumour, which doctors here are struggling to treat, despite 19 rounds of radiotherapy.

"We are in the devastating position where our options are limited and have all but run out in Ireland," says Valerie.

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"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."

Ben is suffering from a form of cancer where the cells in his body are making his tumour particularly hard to treat.

And his family say that because his doctors here are stumped, they are now exploring every alternative option to do whatever they can to save little Ben's life.

"None of the consultants in Ireland has seen these cells before," says Valerie. "They've contacted America and Europe for treatments but nothing so far has been proven to work."

"There are clinical trials for Ben's cancer in the US that have shown promising results in the labs.

"They'll do testing on Ben's tumour and they'll see what's unusual about it and see if a particular treatment will work," she says. "It's a trial so the results haven't been proven, but we've few options left."

The treatment, which would take place in the Children's Hospital in Washington, costs an estimated 260,000, and the family have launched a Go Fund Me page to help raise the potentially life-saving cash.

"We'll have extra expenses too to get to Washington but if we can fund the treatment we'll find a way to cover the other costs," says Valerie.

The family's ordeal 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 mum recalls. "His pain wasn't excruciating, and it would come and go."

Valerie brought Ben to a doctor who told her he had acid reflux. But something told her that it wasn't that simple.

"Being a mother, I knew it wasn't acid reflux. My mammy instincts kicked in and I brought him straight to the hospital," says Valerie.

The day before Christmas Eve, Valerie got the news that is every parent's worst nightmare.

Doctors told her that she was right - it wasn't reflux. In fact, Ben had a tumour, and more than likely it would turn out to be cancerous.

"Never in a million years could I have imagined they would say that," she recalls. "It was the most devastating news. We were in shock. It couldn't be real. It didn't 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. Ben went into surgery and started chemotherapy on Christmas Day. There was no Christmas in our house that year. We're blessed that Ben's two-year-old brother Jack is so young, so he doesn't understand what's happening - but he cries every time Ben leaves to go to the hospital."

On March 4 ,a lump was removed from Ben's kidney. It was the largest cancerous lump in his body, but the cancer has spread to other places.

And the progress of his illness was leaving doctors fighting a losing battle.

"After 19 rounds of radiotherapy, our consultant looked at us and said he didn't think he could cure Ben," Valerie says.

But the Farrells were not going to give up. They are now spearheading a campaign to fight as hard as they can for Ben, and exhaust every available avenue in pursuit of a potential cure. When Valerie heard about the trials in America, she knew immediately that the family had no choice but to try and get Ben on the programme.

"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 mightn't stay open much longer."

The Children's Hospital in Washington, she says, must receive the funds before Ben can start his treatment there. But the deadline has just added urgency to their campaign.

"Faced with many uncertainties, one thing is clear to us," says Valerie. "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."

Meanwhile, the Farrells are trying to keep life as normal as they can for the little boy. Valerie says that Ben was annoyed he missed Ireland play France in the Euros 2016 on Sunday, as he was in Crumlin for teatment. "He gets so excited at the national anthem and at the shouting when people score. He loves the Ireland team."

Valerie praised Ben's school, St Margaret's National School in Dublin, and his teacher Ms Keegan for being so "encouraging, inclusive and for making him feel so special" on the days he's 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.

"I've been overwhelmed by their support. People have even brought over food and these small gestures have blown me away."

You can donate money to help Ben's treatment in the US at www.gofundme.com/batmanben
Jack and Emily were the most popular baby names bestowed on Irish babies in 2015

Jack and Emily were the most popular baby names bestowed on Irish babies last year on average but the most recent figures released by the CSO show just how much taste differs county by county.

While Jacks still the lad in the majority of counties, Charlie comes out on top in Co. Kilkenny while Adam was the most popular baby name bestowed on baby boys in Galway City last year.

Year on year, Emily has topped the nationwide list when it comes to Irelands most popular baby girls name since 2011, but in Tipperary Grace topped the list in 2015 as the name most preferred by parents in the region. In Galway City, more Laurens were christened than any other moniker last year, while in Cavan, Molly was the most popular name in the county in 2015.

Meanwhile, according to the most recent data from the CSO Jack, James, Daniel, Conor and Sean remain the five most popular baby boy names in Ireland where they have placed since 2007.

Expand Close 1 August 1999: Two year old Cormac Maguuire from Slane is lifted in the Leinster Football Championship Trophy by the Meath captain Graham Geraghty. Meath v Dublin, Leinster Football Final, Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit; Brendan Moran/SPORTSFILE / Facebook

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Whatsapp 1 August 1999: Two year old Cormac Maguuire from Slane is lifted in the Leinster Football Championship Trophy by the Meath captain Graham Geraghty. Meath v Dublin, Leinster Football Final, Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit; Brendan Moran/SPORTSFILE

Emily, Emma, Ava, Sophie and Amelia were the most frequently chosen names for baby girls last year.

The figures revealed that the name George entered the top 100 list of most popular names for the first time last year, rising 13 places over the course of 12 months, perhaps inspired by the growing Prince across the water.

Annabelle, Mila and Rosie were also first time entrants in the list of the top 100 female names registered in Ireland in 2015.

The figures compiled by the CSO also displayed that Irish parents may be becoming more influenced by celebrity culture when it comes to naming their little one as babies named Mila, Zayn, Kim, Dakota and Romeo were registered in Ireland in 2015.

Some of the more unusual baby names registered last year included Paris, Nelly, Pixie, Barra, Gus and Otis.

Most Popular Baby Names by County in 2015

Leinster

Carlow

Emily

Jack

Dublin City

Emily

James

South Dublin

Emily

Jack

Fingal

Emily

Daniel

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown

Sophie

Daniel

Kildare

Emma

Jack

Kilkenny

Emma

Charlie

Laois

Emily

Michael

Longford

Emily

Patrick

Louth

Jack

Grace

Meath

Emily

Jack

Offaly

Emily

Jack

Westmeath

Ava

Jack

Wexford

Ava/Sophie

Charlie

Wicklow

Emily

Daniel

Munster

Clare

Ava

Conor

Cork City

Emily

Jack

Cork County

Emily

James

Kerry

Amelia

Jack

Limerick City

Amelia

Jack

Limerick County

Anna/Emily/Grace/Mia

Jack

North Tipperary

Ava

Jack/James

South Tipperary

Grace

Darragh/Harry/Jack

Waterford City

Leah

Jack

Waterford County

Emma

James

Connacht

Galway City

Lauren

Adam

Galway County

Emily

Conor

Leitrim

Emily

Jack

Mayo

Emily

James

Roscommon

Ella

Jack/Thomas

Sligo

Emily

Jack

Ulster

Cavan

Molly

Sean

Donegal

Emily

Jack

Monaghan

Emily

Daniel
An innovative New York bar owner has gone a step further in a bid to bring a taste of his native Ireland to his renowned dinner menus, by giving international fare a quirky and traditional Irish twist.

Introducing the Jameson Spring Rolls, Bubble and Squeak Dumplings and the Irish Breakfast Flatbread.

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Locals and tourists are flocking to Michael Mansfields Queens based gastro bars in order to get a taste of these eats, which have all been given an Irish revamp.

The Co Waterford native- who is one half of the team which operates Banter in Forest Hills, The Cuckoos Nest in Woodside and Passage in Astoria- said the idea to give these dishes an Irish revamp came to him after he saw the need to do something different.

Irish food seemed to have stagnated and needed a bit of a new twist, he said.

Mansfield and his team in the kitchen have taken the Asian spring roll and substituted its filings with Sirloin steak marinated in Jameson Irish Whiskey paired with plum tomatoes and sauteed onions.

The hugely popular Bubble and Squeak Dumplings are stuffed with corned beef, cabbage and carrots, while the Irish Breakfast Flatbread is layered with Irish sausage, white pudding, black pudding, Irish bacon, beans, brown sauce and topped off with two fried eggs.

Customers at the bars, which have a traditional Irish decor, have been giving great feedback and the restaurateur said: The Flatbread seems a bit intimidating at first look but people are loving it.'

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The Jameson Spring Rolls have been a staple here and is one of our top sellers (and staff favorites).

Sometimes it is difficult to get people to branch out and try new food. So we take simple Irish comfort food and are presenting them in cool and unusual ways. It's a lot easier to be adventurous when you know all the ingredients.

Mansfield- who has been living in New York for several years- opened Passage Irish Bar and Kitchen in Astoria, Queens, earlier this year.

Last week the bar launched their new weekly traditional Irish Sunday Roast menu. Roasts with all the trimmings are not common in the city but the new menu has been warmly welcomed by many of the hundreds of Irish expats living in the surrounding areas.

The Sunday Roast debuted with roast beef; complete with roasted potatoes, mashed turnip and parsnips, Yorkshire puddings and Irish style gravy.

Over the coming weeks, bacon and cabbage, chicken, lamb and pork will all feature on the menu.

The other links in the young businessmans mini empire- The Cuckoos Nest and Banter- are both well established popular local premises and have been in business for more than ten and three years respectively.

The latter is also home to New Yorks biggest whiskey collection and there are currently 88 different varieties behind the bar.
Passengers wait in front of a screen during an air traffic control dispute at Paris' Orly airport. Photo: BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images

Demonstrators take part in a protest and hold a placard reading "Labour reform, muzzled freedom" against the French government's planned labour law reforms, on May 19, 2016 in Strasbourg. Photo: FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP/Getty Images

French Air Traffic Controllers have staged over 50 strikes since 2009. Why are they so aggrieved, and what happens next?

Why are French ATC unions striking?

Broadly speaking, the most recent strikes have been down to a long-running dispute between the French government and a variety of ATC unions over staffing and pay.

The unions say that a reduction in the number of employees risks putting the public in danger. The rate of replacement of staff has fallen from 80pc to 65, they claim, adding that out-dated equipment is affecting their ability to meet performance targets.

However, two of the unions, the SNCTA and UNSA, seem to have agreed a deal with the government on pay and hours (hence a strike earlier this month was called off).

The most recent strike was part of overall French union opposition to labour reforms being forced upon French workers by Prime Minster Manuel Valls.

French strike particularly affecting the north of the country https://t.co/QUuh9cZUXV pic.twitter.com/2tBEZX01ka  EUROCONTROL (@eurocontrol) June 23, 2016

Oil and other workers have also protested against reforms designed to bring flexibility to the French labour market by making it easier for bosses to lay off staff as well as enforce overtime and lower pay in times of trouble.

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What effects do the strikes have?

It varies according to where in France they are held, and whether any Irish or UK airlines fly there. Ryanair and Aer Lingus services as varied as Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Nice, Nantes and Bordeaux have all been cancelled in recent weeks.

The DNSA (direction des Services de la Navigation aerienne) usually tells airlines what percentage of flights they need to cancel ahead of each strike period, with past occasions averaging around 20pc. This means that the likes of Ryanair, British Airways, EasyJet and Monarch are regularly forced to cancel scores of flights that affect thousands of passengers.

How do airlines feel about the strikes?

Expand Close Demonstrators take part in a protest and hold a placard reading "Labour reform, muzzled freedom" against the French government's planned labour law reforms, on May 19, 2016 in Strasbourg. Photo: FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Demonstrators take part in a protest and hold a placard reading "Labour reform, muzzled freedom" against the French government's planned labour law reforms, on May 19, 2016 in Strasbourg. Photo: FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP/Getty Images

Miffed doesnt even begin to cover it.

Ryanair has repeatedly called on the EU to intervene. It says the unions are holding European skies to ransom, and it wants other nationalities of ATC to be allowed to operate flights during times of strike. It wants French ATC unions to engage in binding arbitration instead of strikes to resolve their problems.

Thomas Reynaert, managing director of A4E (Airlines for Europe), which represents, among others, KLM, EasyJet and Ryanair, has called the industrial action "disproportionate".

Willie Walsh, chief executive of IAG, the holding company of British Airways, has previously called the unions' targeting of the Easter holidays "cynical" and urged the British Government to work with the French to minimise the impact of strike action.

The Irish Travel Agents' Association (ITAA) has also expressed its support for Ryanair's KeepEuropesSkiesopen.com petition, which is seeking one million signatures to persuade the EC to take action against the ongoing disruption.

Is a resolution in sight?

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Whatsapp Passengers wait in front of a screen during an air traffic control dispute at Paris' Orly airport. Photo: BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images

Perhaps; with the aforementioned two unions having reached a deal and the labour reforms likely to be pushed through soon, now that they have the backing of more moderate unions.

The menace of ATC strikes will disappear once the general anti-labour law reform mobilisation disappears, says The Daily Telegraph Travels France expert, Anthony Peregrine.

Strangely, Id say that could be pretty soon  for France has an honourable tradition that almost all political and industrial-strife life goes on hold for the summer months of July and August.

Potential strikers dont want to jeopardise their holiday, or holiday pay. Id wager, then, that this might be the last ATC strike well see for a couple of months, at least. A couple of months which, Id also wager, the French government is hoping will be long enough to take the steam out of social unrest, get the law in place and then move on.

"Its a classic French political tactic  turn out something heavily controversial just before the hols  and I wouldnt bet against it working this time.

Am I covered by my travel insurance?

Your policy may pay out a small amount for very long delays (usually over 12 hours), but not usually enough to pay for more than a meal or two.

A few policies have cover for a consequential loss, such as a hotel booking made independently. You will need to check the terms and conditions which apply to your policy directly with your insurer.

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John Downing Opinion New British prime minister Rishi Sunaks succession proves an important milestone in British political inclusivity

There is an old saying in British politics that goes: The right looks for converts while the left seeks out traitors. It comes to mind when one reflects upon the election of Rishi Sunak as the UKs first non-white prime minister in a party traditionally seen as most opposed to mass immigration and the dilution of national identity via multiculturalism.
Council chairman Tony Dempsey aims to make a point at the launch of the GLT gum litter education campaign last week.

WEXFORD has tightened its grip on a sticky issue with the launch of the 2016 Gum Litter Taskforce (GLT) gum litter education campaign by county council chairman Tony Dempsey.

The campaign has seen huge success so far with the National Litter Pollution Monitoring System results showing an overall decrease in people dropping gum from 26% when the campaign started in 2007, to 11% in the latest results.

The results of the attitudinal research carried out by Millward Brown on behalf of the GLT during the 2015 campaign saw the highest numbers to date reporting they never drop gum.

This is the second year of the latest campaign, the result of a new agreement between the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government and Food and Drink Industry Ireland (FDII) representing the gum industry, to fund a national gum litter awareness programme from 2015-2017.

'It's wonderful to see everyone in the community coming together to get behind this campaign, both here in Wexford and in so many towns around the country.'

'The GLT campaign brings together the community and local authorities with a common goal to fight gum litter,' said Cllr Dempsey.

Paul Kelly, Chairman of the GLT said the main goal of the campaign had always been to reduce the amount of gum litter and change people's behaviour towards littering. The GLT includes representatives of the chewing gum industry, the Department of the Environment, civic society and local authorities.
We spoke to Kate Lawlor, the chef behind the signature dish on the Campo Viejo Tapas trail, and she shared her recipe and inspiration with us.

For our signature dish weve actually created something a little different. Its sort of an Irish version of a Crema Catalan. Were in the summer season and strawberries are at the height of their season so their flavour complements the Carageen moss beautifully, says Lawlor, Head Chef of Fenns Quay Restaurant in Cork.

We try to highlight the best of Irish produce, seaweed is considered a superfood these days and not many people realise you can make a desert out of it.

We kind of forget that Ireland and Spain have a strong connection with each other food-wise. Of course we enjoy their wine, but we have a similar food ethos, an emphasis on high-quality, local produce. The Spanish have loads of strawberries the dish has complementary flavours to the fruity Rioja. If you go to any Spanish town they do exactly as we do here, its local people enjoying each others company around good food and wine and its all very relaxed. Its all about the local restaurant, where people come to get together and talk. We have the same relaxed attitude here, its a local restaurant, where you can dress up or dress down, but youll always be welcome and the food and wine will always be good.

We have a lot in common with northern Spain, the Basque region and the hundreds of fishing villages all along their Atlantic coast. The Carrageen moss grows in the Atlantic, so its a beautiful way to connect the two cultures.

In the north of Spain, if you go to San Sebastian you can find rain or you can find sunshine, thats very familiar to us here in Cork.

We believe that the menu should be a talking point, whether youre on a date or youre in with the family. Thats where the Carrageen moss comes in. It surprises people, not only the idea, but their palates too.

Carrageen moss with strawberry & mint salsa

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 20 minutes plus 30 minutes setting time

Ingredients

75g castor sugar

10g Carrageen moss

200ml milk

300ml cream

 tsp vanilla extract

Salsa:

200g strawberries (diced)

2 sprigs of mint

1 tablespoon cassis

Instructions - Moss

1. Place all the ingredients in a pot on a medium heat and bring to the boil

2. Then turn down the heat to low and simmer for 10-12 minutes

3. Pass through a sieve and pour mix into 4 martini glasses.

4. Place in a fridge and leave to set for 30 minutes to 1 hour

Instructions  Salsa

1. Dice the strawberries and mix with the cassis and chopped mint

2. Serve on top of the Carrageen moss

3. Enjoy!

No. 5 Fenns Quay Restaurant, nestled in an historic terraced building on Sheares Street in Cork City, offers cosy dining for breakfast, lunch and dinner in a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere. The menu offers fresh, simple, and creative dishes from the regions of Ireland with global inspiration. Fenns Quays wine list offers selections from Italy and New World tastes from California, Australia and emerging wine regions. The dining room ambiance combines stark simplicity with casual contemporary elegance and showcases paintings and metalwork sculptures.

Chef Bio: Head Chef Kate Lawlor

To quote McKennas Guide "Her menus are a tribute to her city and country, expressed in dishes that showcase her own skills and those of the artisans she treasures". On taking over the running of Fenns Quay Restaurant in 2008, the theme "Cork on a fork with a few spoons from over the border" became the inspiration to begin the next chapter on the Quay. It has been a wonderful journey that really only feels it is still in its early days. Situated behind the Courthouse in Cork's oldest terrace on Sheares Street, their menus are inspired by family, friends and neighbours that also happen to be their customers, suppliers and the wonderful crew that make Fenns Quay.

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The trial of Ibrahim Halawa in Egypt has been adjourned for the 14th time today as a court in Cairo ordered a review of video evidence.

The news was greeted with concern by the Dubliners family and Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan.

There had been indications that a verdict was to be delivered in the case today, but this did not transpire.

Instead a review of technical evidence, involving video footage, was ordered by the court. This is to be delivered by October 2.

Mr Halawa, the son of Muslim cleric Sheikh Hussein Halawa, was 17 when he was arrested during a protest against the ousting of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

He has been in custody ever since.

Expand Close Local campaigners, including Cllr Deirdre Wadding and Cllr Johny Mythen, attended the Amnesty International petition signing calling on the release of Dubliner Ibrahim Halawa, who is currently imprisoned in Egypt. / Facebook

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Whatsapp Local campaigners, including Cllr Deirdre Wadding and Cllr Johny Mythen, attended the Amnesty International petition signing calling on the release of Dubliner Ibrahim Halawa, who is currently imprisoned in Egypt.

There has been contradictory information about the charges he faces, but they are understood to include attempted murder and traveling to take part in a banned event.

He is among almost 500 people who have been put on mass trial, but the proceedings have been repeatedly delayed and adjourned.

Human rights groups have complained his legal team has had difficulties representing him in court and has not been able to submit a defense on his behalf.

Concerns have also been raised about his treatment in prison.

Expand Close Nosayba (left) and Somaia Halawa, sisters of Ibrahim Halawa, in Dublins city centre, where family members and supporters held an awareness day yesterday. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Nosayba (left) and Somaia Halawa, sisters of Ibrahim Halawa, in Dublins city centre, where family members and supporters held an awareness day yesterday. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA

In a statement, Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan said: I am extremely disappointed at the news of a further delay in the trial of Mr Halawa.

This latest delay is a particular source of concern and frustration for Mr Halawa and his family.

I fully share their sense of frustration.

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Mr Flanagan said he would be conveying his concerns about the latest delay to the Egyptian government and would be seeking more information on the review of technical evidence ordered by the court and its likely impact on this trial.

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Mr Halawas sister Somaia said the family was devastated by the adjournment, describing it as deeply troubling.

It was confirmed on the previous occasion, and reaffirmed in the interim, that judgment would be passed in Ibrahims case today, she said.

It now appears that a decision has been taken by the judiciary to reopen the case, and to reassess video evidence that has always been available.

This decision comes as a surprise to our family, and the Irish Government, in circumstances where we all understood the proceedings would come to a conclusion today.

This sparks a further delay, in what appears to be an indication that the trial will now start afresh in October.

The Halawa familys solicitor, human rights lawyer Darragh Macken, said they would be meeting the Department of Foreign Affairs in the coming days to discuss the development.

For the trial to be re-opened, and adjourned to October is entirely insupportable, he said.

It is no secret that we have serious concerns and reservations about the criminal justice process in Egypt. These concerns have manifested themselves in todays decision.

Power does not appear to listen to reason.

We must now, in tandem with the Irish Government, reassess our options in light of todays development.
SCOTTISH leader Nicola Sturgeon pleaded her case in Brussels today for Scots to stay in the EU, showing how Britain's vote to leave the bloc could splinter the United Kingdom.

But she drew a rebuff from Spain and a mixed response from European officials.

EU leaders met for the first time without Britain. Outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron flew home after briefing his 27 peers on Tuesday evening on last week's referendum defeat.

Sturgeon has said that Scotland, where voters backed staying in the EU by a near 2-1 majority, must not be dragged out of the EU against its will. She wants to negotiate directly with Brussels to protect the membership rights of Scots.

But Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, struggling to prevent the autonomous region of Catalonia from breaking away, said Madrid would oppose any EU negotiation with Scotland.

"If the United Kingdom leaves, Scotland leaves," he said after the first meeting of the 27 EU partners without a British representative.

The 27 EU leaders sent a firm message to London that there would be "no negotiations of any kind" on future trade relations until the UK officially triggers the EU treaty's exit clause.

"This should be done as quickly as possible," they said in a joint statement.

In a clear warning to Britain's Leave campaigners, added at the last minute, the 27 also said that access to Europe's prized single market "requires acceptance of all four freedoms" of movement for goods, capital, persons and services.

Leave campaigners such as former London Mayor Boris Johnson, a favourite to succeed Cameron as Conservative Party leader and prime minister, have said they want free access to the EU common market, but would retain the right to control migration.

Cameron, who campaigned to stay in the EU and announced he would step down by October after he lost last week's referendum, said on Tuesday that Britain's future relations with the bloc could hinge on its willingness to rethink free movement of workers, which he blamed for the referendum result.

There has been a surge in sympathy in many parts of Europe for the 5.5 million Scots, whose strong vote to stay in the EU was overridden by the English, who outnumber them 10 to one. Britain as a whole voted 52-48 percent to leave.

But countries like Spain that have dealt with regional separatism are strongly opposed to any direct EU talks with Scotland. Back in London, Cameron told Parliament negotiations had to be carried out by the United Kingdom as a whole.

European Council President Donald Tusk, the chairman of the summit of EU leaders, pointedly declined Sturgeon's request for a meeting. But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the bloc's executive, did agree to meet her.

Some EU countries called Juncker's decision to meet Sturgeon a provocation designed to raise pressure on London to give formal notice to quit. He rejected such suggestions.

"Scotland has won the right to be heard in Brussels, so I will listen carefully to what the first minister will tell me," Juncker told a news conference.

The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, met Sturgeon earlier on Wednesday. She sounded a cautious note.

"This is very much an initial meeting, a series of meetings in Brussels today, so that people understand that Scotland, unlike other parts, of the United Kingdom does not want to leave the European Union," Sturgeon said.

Officials briefed on the meeting said Sturgeon had discussed whether there was any legal way that a breakaway Scotland might somehow remain in the EU once the United Kingdom completed its so-called Brexit.

"I don't want to underestimate the challenges that lie ahead," she said. Schulz said he had "listened and learned".

EU officials stressed, as they did before Scots voted against independence in a 2014 referendum, that Scotland could not apply to join the Union until it was a sovereign state. Senior officials dismissed the notion that Scotland could take over the empty British chair at the European Council table.

Sturgeon has raised the prospect of the Scottish parliament trying to block Brexit legislation to keep the entire United Kingdom in the EU, but has also said she believes a new referendum on Scottish independence is now highly likely.

With the EU facing years of uncertainty in negotiating the withdrawal of its second-biggest economy, the Scottish factor is a complication most governments would rather avoid.

One senior EU official played down Juncker's invitation to Sturgeon, noting drily that "the president likes the regions of Europe", comparing Scotland to federal states in Germany. But some diplomats saw Juncker's move as deliberate ploy to add pressure on Cameron and his successors to speed divorce talks.

"This is a way of putting pressure on London to trigger the exit clause," a senior official in one EU government said of EU efforts to bounce London to the negotiating table, while Cameron has insisted only his successor will set the clock ticking on a two-year deadline to withdrawal.

The leaders launched a period of political reflection, with their next informal meeting set for September in Bratislava, culminating in a set of reform proposals to get a better grip on migration, bolstering security and creating jobs and growth.

Calling the EU a historic achievement of peace, prosperity and security, the 27 leaders acknowledged that "many people express dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, be it at the European or national level.

"Europeans expect us to do better when it comes to providing security, prosperity as well as hope for a better future. We need to deliver on this, in a way that unites us, not least in the interest of the young," the statement said.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called the British vote a wake-up call for Europe and said: "It's important to have this meeting of 27 because it will show the unity of the 27."

But officials said that facade of unity was punctured in the meeting by calls from Poland and the Czech Republic for the EU to do less and return more powers to national capitals. Both countries' foreign ministers have called for Juncker to step aside after the Brexit vote - a suggestion he brushed aside at his news conference.

Juncker earlier challenged Cameron's explanation of the referendum defeat, saying successive British leaders had engaged in "Brussels bashing" and should not be surprised if their citizens had believed them.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel doused any hopes that Britain might yet reverse its decision, warning after the dinner with Cameron against "wishful thinking".

While she persuaded fellow leaders to give London more time to hand in its formal notice to quit, Merkel said Britain could not drag out the process endlessly. She made clear that a new government would not be allowed to "cherry-pick" the parts of EU membership benefits that it liked.
The Italian navy has recovered a migrant ship that sank off Sicily last year with an estimated 700 people on board in one of the worst known tragedies of the Mediterranean migrant crisis.

The navy said it raised the boat from a depth of 1,214ft, and it will now be kept in a refrigerated transport structure for the trip to port in Sicily, where forensic experts will begin trying to identify the victims.

The sinking on April 18, 2015 remains one of the deadliest on record, though the real number of drownings will never be known. On that night, the boat carrying between 700 and 800 migrants, most of them African, capsized as a civilian freighter approached.

Most passengers were locked below decks and only 28 survived.

The sinking sparked renewed outrage and soul-searching in European capitals, which then agreed to send in EU naval reinforcements to cast a wider safety net to try to rescue the waves of migrants leaving Libya on smugglers' boats.

While tens of thousands have been rescued, thousands of others have drowned. During one particularly deadly three-day period last month, an estimated 700 migrants died, including those aboard a huge, overcrowded fishing ship that capsized as rescuers filmed the horror.

Most of the migrant boats that sink are never recovered, and the dead are never exhumed or identified.

But soon after the 2015 tragedy, Italy pledged to recover the wreck and is hoping that the exercise will help create a European network to identify victims by cross-checking data.

The navy launched the complicated recovery operation this past spring; navy divers over the previous months had already recovered some 169 bodies found near the wreckage, located some 85 miles off Libya's coast.

The navy used a specially designed robotic apparatus to raise the boat, which was being towed to port in Sicily by the navy barge Ievoli Ivory.

Meanwhile, Serbian police have arrested five suspected people smugglers and found 170 migrants as part of an international effort to curb the illegal transfer of migrants towards Western Europe.

The 36-hour operation spread over several European and Balkan countries resulted in a total of 39 arrests and the discovery of 580 migrants.

Countries dealing with Europe's migrant crisis have increased co-operation to stop the flow of migrants after more than a million people entered Europe in 2015. People smuggling has been on the rise since Balkan countries closed their borders to migrants in March.

Serbian police say the joint action included police from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Europol.

AP
These 5 players could be the Anderson-area football player of the year
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Democrats sat-in on the House floor overnight last week to support gun-control legislation. But one of the bills biggest boosters was AWOL.

Democrat Chaka Fattah, the 11-term Pennsylvania congressman, had been convicted that day on all 22 ethics charges that he faced. His Philadelphia corruption case involved racketeering, illegal use of taxpayer and nonprofit funds and a plethora of other offenses. Named vice chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force just a week earlier, Fattah was home pondering his future in prison as his colleagues sought change.

Fattahs fall from respectability illustrates how the lure of power can corrupt even a veteran congressman with a history of solid work.

Philadelphias Overbrook High School honored Fattah, 59, earlier in June for building futures and transforming lives.

Unfortunately, one thing like this will wipe out all the good he did, Rep. Bob Brady (DPa.) said, and he did a tremendous amount of good.

Fattahs 2nd Congressional District, which is 61-per-cent black, feels the impact of his conviction and resignation. He will be sentenced in October and could serve more than 15 years behind bars, according to criminal attorneys.

Its disturbing. I cant lie, said Lisa Turner-Thompson, who said she has lived in Fattahs former district for 14 years. Heres a man who has been working for our cause for all these years . . . And now this? Its shameful and it is disappointing. Weve seen it before, and because I like him and what he has done, I have to be honest and say I expected more. I dont care that it has happened to others.

Richard Jackson, the Philadelphia Inquirers editorial page editor, shared his reflections with his readers: I have also known white politicians who were convicted of crimes, and Im disappointed in them too. But its not the same, Jackson wrote. I dont have the same emotional attachment that I feel for Fattah. Their convictions didnt have the impact that Fattahs is going to have on a community that for years has proudly told children to use him as a role model.

The charges and subsequent convictions also contradicted critics who have insisted that Obamas Justice Department would avoid prosecuting African-American leaders.

What are they supposed to do? Turner-Thompson said. You do corrupt things, you get yourself in trouble. I dont care whos in the White House.

Fattahs fall started when he accepted an illegal $1-million contribution to his failed campaign for mayor of Philadelphia in 2007. Prosecutors said that he used government funds and nonprofit contributions to pay back the loan. Since then, things have grown worse for Fattah and his family.

Two weeks before his trial began in April, Fattah lost his re-election primary to Democratic State Rep. Dwight Evans. Then, Fattahs wife, a long-time local television news anchor, Renee Chenalt-Fattah, was fired after she was tied to a fraudulent sale in 2012 of her Porsche convertible. Although she was not charged in her husbands case, the former journalist was named as an affiliate of the Fattah enterprise. Prosecutors said the sale was an effort to mask a bribe paid to her husband.

Meanwhile, Chakas son, Chip, was convicted last November of bank and tax fraud and sentenced to five years in prison  all unrelated to his fathers woes.

Heres the deal, Francys Johnson, president of the Georgia NAACP, said about the role of civic leaders. Everyone has to be held accountable for their actions. We work at the NAACP for righteousness. Thats what we believe in.

On his Twitter page, Fattah routinely referred to Fattah Moments or items that he deemed important news. Those occasions highlighting his good work are finished. He abandoned his page the day of his verdict and has not posted a word since. Fattah, however, abandoned his pledge to stay in Congress until a few days before being sentenced. Rather, he resigned and didnt want to be a distraction, he said.

I feel sorry for the Fattah family, said Jackson, the Inquirer editorial page editor. I feel sorry for Philadelphia, which once again must watch a Democratic elected official prepare to be carted off to prison. But I feel most sorry for the citys children, black and white, who by now must think the words integrity and politics are antonyms.
Tourists generally visit South Australia and head to the same popular places that they have read about in travel blogs and books. However, a few lucky, or should I say, smart tourists decide to visit the pristine and unusually attractive Kangaroo Island. The unspoiled beauty of this divine island is sure to captivate your senses. Here is my list of 6 reasons to visit this mesmerizing place at least once in your lifetime.

1. You can stay at a luxurious resort by the sea where you can fall asleep to the sound of waves.

Pinterest

If you stay at one of the luxurious resorts, you get to enjoy a great view of the Southern Ocean and the wilderness of the island. For a nature lover, this is truly a great start to an exhilarating trip.

2. Rediscover nature's beauty all over again while hiking at Snake Lagoon.

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Imagine discovering hidden trails amidst lush green forests and spending some time on the pristine beaches. Want to experience something unique? You can actually stay in a tent and get as close to nature as possible.

3. Get lost the in the tranquil environment near Remarkable Rocks.

Pinterest

Visit this place to witness the most beautiful sunset of South Australia. This is one experience that you will not forget anytime soon.

4. Every picture taken at Seal Bay speak a thousand words.

South Australian Tourism

There's some magic in this place that makes you fall in love with the beauty of nature. If you are here with your partner, you would never want to go back from this place?

5. Try out various varieties of superior homemade wines while relaxing at a beach.

Pinterest

If you enjoy a glass of wine, then this is the place for you to be. Home to around 12 wineries, this island is a complete wine lovers paradise. Oh, and don't forget to take a bottle or two for your friends back home.

6. Experience the beauty of simple yet scrumptious food.

Pinterest

People here love their food and they take it very seriously. Each meal is a feast in itself and will leave you asking for more. Don't forget to end your meal with a scoop of delectable ice-cream.

So guys, does this make you feel like taking a trip to the island? If so, simply visit South Australia Tourism and start packing!
Gone are the days when "The End" actually meant the end; when "happily ever after" was a perfect closure to a storyline. As Bollywood gets experimental by the day, so does its climaxes. Sometimes they end up being so complex that watching the film once is just not enough. You need a second watch. Sometimes, movies end on a cliffhanger, leaving the rest to your imagination. It seems the excitement and thrill that comes with open-ended plots are intriguing both filmmakers and audience alike, who are prefering ambiguity in movies. And yes, it is working most of the times!

Check out some of the films which had the best "no end" yet, the perfect end, if you know what I mean!

1. Lunchbox

variety

Most of the people thought Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur would meet in the end, either in Mumbai or Bhutan. But nothing of that sort happened. The film rather ended on a cliffhanger, but the afterglow it leaves is pure magic. Not every film requires an obvious love story. Lunchbox ends with Ila leaving behind her cheating husband and moving ahead in life, and Mr. Fernandes discovering the origin of that tiffin box. Other speculations also suggest whether or not Ila's last letter reached Mr. Fernandes because it isn't clear if she ended up posting it or not. So did he reach Ila's house before she left? Doesn't matter. Ultimately both of them found the joy of life once again. Somethings become irrelevant after that. Infact, this was the perfect end!

2. Badlapur

mangojoos

The film changed the course of Varun Dhawan's career. It also showed why every dark film doesn't need to end with a streak of light! After all the revenge and bloodshed, Raghu gets a second chance but given by Liak. Raghu's last scene with Jhilmil is one of the highest points of the film. After Liak succumbs to cancer in jail, Jhimli meets Raghu and tells him that he got the second chance, which rarely people get in life. She questions Raghu what good was all the revenge for, now that it's over and all the guilty are dead. Raghu stays silent. Jhimli leaves, but Raghu is still silent, standing under the rains getting drenched, retrospecting about what is left in his life after revenge. No words spoken. No tears shed. Perfect!

3. Go Goa Gone

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The five avengers counter the drugs on an island and manage to flee until they arrive on the shore of Goa. But they realise even that has just been stung with the same virus and the entire settlement has been damaged! They don't shout. They don't speak. They just pass glances at each other, pick up their guns, and head towards the land which is now burning! The movie ends with the note: "The end is near". Wait for its sequel!

4. Piku

aryahurts

Life moves on. And so does Piku! After she delivers a very emotional yet humorous speech for her deceased father, she smiles and continues with life. In the very last scene, she is playing badminton with Rana, when he asks her if she could live alone all by herself now. To this Piku replies "My father has prepared me for this", leaving rest for imagination whether she actually stayed single, or the vulnerable bond between her and Rana saw a new dawn after this. It allowed the audience to draw their own conclusion of what happens with the lead pair. Yes, Piku reminded us of the unpredictability Satyajit Ray's films offered. Yet, it is a real and simple film. Indeed an award-winning film in every freaking manner!

5. Dil Dhadakne Do

bollyone

The family unites but on a lifeboat! Just before that Ayesha asks Sunny if he would wait for her to which he replies "forever", indicating of an expected reunion later in the plot. The family picks up Kabir and head towards the shore while being chased by the ship's crew. The Mehra family is seen happy in each other's presence for the first time. Is it the end to the film or the start to their happier times ahead? Does Kabir get arrested for breaching the ship's rules? Does Ayesha end up with Sunny? So many questions unanswered, but we aren't complaining.

6. Dev.D

santabanta

It was a modern-day take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic Bengali novel Devdas. But its ending was way different from the earlier films based on the novel. This time, we had Dev dumping Paro and moving ahead with Chanda, so unlike Dev babu dying in the original story leaving behind both the women yearning. Anurag Kashyap is different in his approach, and so was his film. It was surely a surprise for the audience who kept thinking what exactly happened with the three main characters. But all said and done, this end was far more convincing to the modern generation, who would prefer to move on in life, than cribbing about a certain heartbreak!

7. Waiting

trendinfo.in

Kalki Koechlin and Naseeruddin Shah end up waiting, but what exactly, nobody knows. Either they waited for their spouses to recover, or die. Because they knew if they came out of coma their crippled life won't be the same anymore. The film ends on this note, leaving the plot to the imagination of the viewers. Guess this was the end the film deserved because some emotions cannot be expressed.

8. Rockstar

The beautiful movie goes back to where it began with Jordan, singing "Nadaan Parindey" in Italy. As he performs, he sees a vision of Heer walking on the stage towards him, smiling lovingly. As he watches her with desperate tears, the audience cheers on, oblivious to his anguish. The film finishes as the two speak under the sheet, recapping all of the happy times the couple spent together. While we struggled to cope with the sinking feeling, we wished the two had a happy ending. But all we were left to guess was what happened to Jordan after that. Did he remain the star or fell prey into the hands of destiny. And Rumi's poem did the rest of the talking just before the end credits. *goosebumps*

9. Talvar

masala

Agreed the film was based on the Arushi Talwar case and the true facts around it, but the way it ended rose many questions. It presented three sides to the controversial high profile murder case leaving the viewers to make their own interpretation of the truth. Whether or not Arushi's parents were the main culprits, or were they convicted falsely. Some really deep thinking went into leaving the film at such a cliffhanger despite whatever happened to the case in real. And guess this was the best such a film could end on.

10. Ra.One

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Shah Rukh Khan returns as G.One in the end, sitting on the rooftop, saving the family from any evil force. Prateek managed to restore the robot to the real world. But what happens after that, and how their lives change? Does G.One hang around with them or its powers get disabled again? And like it tried to walk away from the Bollywood tradition of typical sci-fi films, its "keep guessing" end suited well.

11. Udta Punjab

Diljit Dosanjh watches his brother weeping, symbolic of desperation and an appalling state of affairs in Punjab, which is struggling against the menace of drug abuse. Shahid calls Alia from the jail, addressing her as "meri Jane" or was her name "Mary Jane". Did Shahid and Alia end up together? Was Diljit able to continue with his fight against the issue? The hard-hitting film chose to have an open-end so that the message it conveys travels deep inside the hearts and mind of the audience, forcing them to think hard about where our generation is headed!

Have we missed out on any film which you would like to add? Let us know in the comments below.
No matter how hard Shirish Kunder tries, his films dont work and the ones that do run into some serious kind of troubles. While his psychological short film Kriti released a few days ago wasnt just winning the internet but he was receiving a lot of praises but all of this fizzled out too soon after a legal spat between him and a Nepali director Aneel Neupane.

According to Aneel, Kunder lifted his entire story. In an open letter that was in a form of a FB post, Neupane claimed that Kunders Kriti was lifted off his Nepali short film titled BOB. Responding to Aneels legal notice, Kunder too responded to Neupanes allegations with a legal notice on Monday.

According to Kunders notice, he claimed that since the script of Kriti was with several people, Neupane could have come across it and could have made into his short film. The notice also claimed that:

Assuming your position is correct that the two films are so similar, then it is you who has infringed our clients copyright.

The latest development to this case is that Shirish Kunders Kriti has been taken down from YouTube and the message that shows on YouTube is:

YouTube Screengrab

The video is no longer available due to copyright claim by Aneel Neupane.
Tired of the same boring workout? Going to the gym can get tedious and repeating the same set of exercises stops having an impact on the body. To liven up your workout routine, why don't you try some of these new and some old school workouts instead. It'll be a nice break and give you something to look forward to.

1. Bodhi suspension system

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Want strength training equipment at home but don't have enough room? Try the Bodhi Suspension System! Developed by Khita Whyatt and Kirsten Sell, this is one hell of a workout that includes two ropes suspended from the top creating four suspension points. So while you suspend your body on these ropes, it allows for greater strength, flexibility and balance, leaving you fitter, stronger and bursting with endorphins! This workout works on your balance, strengthening your arms, lower back and core!

2. Jukari fit to fly

facebook.com/Kasandre Dullses

This is the latest workout to have hit the gym circuit, and it will make your workouts feel like fun! This is a partnership between Reebok and Cirque de Soleil and will have you flying through the air and sweating like a pig!

How do you do it? Attach a 4 lb weighted trapeze bar comprising a series of loops to your gym's ceiling. Attach your arms and legs into the loops of the bar and stretch, push, climb your way to fitness. Your moves will be trapeze like, being suspended in air defying gravity.

This workout is effective because a person's core muscles work extra hard in the suspended position. This workout includes signature moves like "the Swing to Straddle jump", "lunge with kick" and "hanging carousel to straddle" which are fun to try out.

3. Trampolines

facebook.com/livelovelift4christ

If you always thought trampolines were for children, you'll be happy to know they're perfect for adults too. This latest workout to hit the block that is said to be more effective than jogging, is rebounding on the trampolines.

Bouncing up and down trampolines is a great cardio exercise and helps burn calories, build heart and lung fitness and improve your balance. A mere 10 minutes on the trampoline is equivalent to 30 minutes on the treadmill.

4. Kalariyapattu

facebook.com/Kumar Viay

If you're a sucker for martial arts, Kalariyapattu should be your best bet.

Kalaripayattu is a martial art which originated in Kerala in 1362 AD. These exercises require a lot of coordination of mind and body and are rigorous exercises for hands, legs and other body parts. Practiced by a lot of celebrities these days, if you need any help with how rigorous and effective Kalariyapattu is, go watch Baaghi and see how Tiger Shroff fights the villains. You'll be convinced.

5. Anti-gravity or aerial yoga

facebook.com/scottsdalepilatesandyoga

If you thought your regular yoga was old school it's time you switched to aerial yoga!

This yoga offers you an authentic way of fitness with the support of a soft, aerial, fabric hammock - to help you do asanas in the air. This form of yoga is inspired by dance, pilates, calisthenics and aerial acrobats that will leave you with a complete body workout. Touted to be the next big thing, aerial yoga will take your fitness to the next level by allowing you to stretch and strengthen the body without over-stressing the joints or compressing the vertebrae.

The best part? Yoga postures that you found difficult to do on the ground may be easier in mid-air using a hammock.

So which one are you going to try out? Let us know in the comments!
It's called 'Solar Roadways', an idea that sounds so easy we wonder why someone didn't think of it sooner.

An American startup run by husband-and-wife team Scott and Julie Brusaw has figured out how to create roads, yes entire roads, with embedded durable solar panels

Working with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), they're installing their durable solar panels at a rest stop in Conway, Missouri, along the famous road. Famed for their Indiegogo campaign and video (which got millions in views and endorsements)

The 70 pound panels are made of tempered glass

it can withstand cars and trucks, with a surface that offers the kind of traction asphalt dos. And most importantly, LED lights to create lines and signage without paint heating elements to prevent snow and ice accumulation, in addition to producing clean energy.

A similar bike path project the SolaRoad, debuted in Netherlands in 2014, with great results.
What comes to your mind when you think of your next flight? Strolling your luggage in on a glossy marble floor, a posh cup of coffee, the possibility of stretching out your legs in the lounge area, and then being politely ushered into your seat.

it's enjoyable. It's clean. It's classy. Wi-fi.

Your next train journey? None of the above apply

If Indian Railway Ministry sources can be believed, the government will spend nearly Rs 100 crore to develop 400 railway stations that were announced in the Railway Budget. India's railway stations, defined by surly staff, cheap railway station cutting chai, and filth carefully hidden in corners are set to become glossy, clean, and well...like airports. Airports as inspiration doesn't end at cleanliness - stations will have their own helipads, executive lounges, terminals for arrivals and departures.

11 Haunted Railway Stations In The World That'll Spook The Pants Off You

Foreign consultants

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SNCF, the French national railway company is helping develop stations at Ambala and Ludhiana, and also "inspecting" the New Delhi railway station. Japan, South Korea, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria might also pitch in, with their expertise.

Stations

Uttar Pradesh reportedly might get 12 world-class stations - the most across India.

Work has already begun at the Habibganj railway station. The station will have dedicated pick-up and drop-off parking facilities, and parking for 1000 plus vehicles. The world-class stations will be designed as a multi modal transit hub. The stations will have adequate seating and waiting apace so as to reduce congestion. Also, these stations will have multiple entry/exits for better crowd management, said railway spokesperson Anil Saxena.

Indian Railways is consulting with foreign experts and finalising bids for other pilot makeover projects in Gujarat (Surat and Gandhinagar), Delhi (Anand Vihar and Bijwasan railway stations), Chandigarh, Pune (Shivaji Nagar), Mohali (SAS Nagar). Delhi's Anand Vihar terminal overhaul will see it integrated with Anand Vihar station of Delhi Metro and the interstate bus terminal (ISBT). "...there will be ample space for a hotel, restaurants, coffee shops, multiplex, retail outlets and offices..."officials said.

Additional space will be procured to set up malls, multiplexes, restaurants, and offices.

The proposed world-class stations will have three levels. The top level will be used by outbound passengers, while those arriving from trains will use subways in the basement to exit from the station building. There will be minimum passenger movement on the platforms, a senior official associated with the project told Mail Today. Commercial development is budgeted at an additional 350 crore.

Here's The Government's Plan To Make Rail Stations As Clean As Airports
Haryana cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, approved in-principle the proposal of Medical Education and Research Department to set up the Kalpana Chawla University of Health Sciences at village Kutail in district Karnal.

BCCL

The university will have nursing and paramedical courses, undergraduate, post graduate, post doctoral courses, specialists and super specialists in the medical field. A 300 bedded super specialty hospital will also be attached with the University. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been earmarked to establish the university in the current financial year.

AFP

The village panchayat Kutail has offered over 178 acres of panchayat land on a long term lease for a period of 99 years at the rate of rupee one per acre per year to the Medical Education and Research Department for establishing the University.

AFP

The Council of Ministers also approved taking out of Group C and D posts from the purview of Haryana Staff Selection Commission in Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College, Karnal, Bhagat Phool Singh Government Medical College for Women, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat and Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Government Medical College, Nalhar, Mewat.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited Goa for three days on Tuesday to gather support for his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the 2017 elections. On the occasion, he was welcomed to the state by local fishermen, who presented him with a floral offering - um, this!

Indiatimes

As soon as the photos came on social media, Kejriwal became oh-so-popular in his new avatar. While maniacal laughter erupted, people clapped, and social media lost its plot, we decided to show you how the Delhi Chief Minister would look if he went to a couple of other places.

Just take a look, because I promise you will not be disappointed.

Dal Baati Kejru

Indiatimes



Kejru as Naga CM. Muffler missing, headgear, a little more elaborate. Iska matlab samjhe Daya?

Indiatimes



Jiya ho Bihar ke lala

Indiatimes

Bhishon bepok Kejru

Indiatimes

Kashmir ki kali part 2

Indiatimes

Arvind Sheikriwal

Indiatimes

When Kejru ends up in space looking for the scam.

Indiatimes

Yehi toh scam hai. Iski jaanch honi chahiye.
A 12-year-old boy, who was kidnapped 6 years ago from Delhi, has been located in Bangladesh and will soon be returning home, said the Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj.

Reuters

Swaraj, in a series of tweets, said that the Indian High Commission in Dhaka had taken custody of the boy who will be returning to India on June 30.

Sonu - who was kidnapped from Delhi was found in a shelter home in Bangladesh. We matched the DNA with his mother. The test is positive./1  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 28, 2016

Indian High Commission in Dhaka has obtained Sonu's custody. He will reach Delhi on 30th June. /2  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 28, 2016

I thank all those who looked after our young citizen in Bangladesh./3  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 28, 2016

Sonu was kidnapped in 2010. Recently, a man from Jessore contacted his family in Delhi to inform them of his whereabouts. Soon thereafter, they got in touch with the MEA, seeking her help to find their son.
If Taj Mahal is a souvenir of medieval India, then Varanasi, the sanctum sanctorum of Hinduism is one of the oldest cities in the world. Since Ramayana and Mahabharata to the time of Mahajanpadas, Mughals and lastly the British, Uttar Pradesh has its name stamped on everything that India loves to call history.

AFP

But despite being the cradle of civilization, and land of dawn in every era, today's UP is poor, hungry, unemployed, illiterate and is one of most prominent members of 'sick' states.

In six and half decades of independence, India has grown manifold both in population and infrastructure; but some states have grown faster than others and that's where UP has lagged behind. Despite substantial growth taking place in the state, it's still miles behind others like Kerala, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana.

So what went wrong especially after independence and where did UP drop the ball? Why the pace of growth in UP is slower than other states despite being highly resourceful and capable?

UP was one of India's most prosperous states of Independent India, it kept growing till '80s

From steady growth in the beginning of first Five Year Plan in 1951 till the 1980s, UPs growth rate was more less competitive or even better than India's.

Although in 1960s, UP's annual growth rate came down to zero; in first half of 1980s, UP left India behind and recorded highest annual growth of 9 percent. But in 1990, it again fell to 3 percent!

Then something really drastic happened in UP

During the period of 1999-2000 and 2005-06 the annual growth of net income of Uttar Pradesh at constant prices was only 4.1 percent against the national average of 6.3 percent. The growth rate of per capita income during this period was 2.1 and 4.6 percent for UP and India respectively. It may be observed that Uttar Pradeshs contribution in net national income has declined from 9.5 percent to 8.4 percent during this period. The high growth rate of population of Uttar Pradesh along with the deceleration in the State Domestic Product growth rate since the Eighth Plan period has led to a fairly low growth rate of States per capita income. Consequently, the general standard of living as exhibited in per capita income levels continues to be low.

India's income grew very very quickly, UP's crawled

In terms of per capita income, UP is among the low income category states along with Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. Moreover, due to sluggish economic growth in UP, the gap in per capita income of the State and that of the country has been increasing. Per capita income in UP, which was almost equal to the national average in the beginning of the planning period, is now half of the national average.

In 1999-2000, India's per capita income was Rs 15,839 whereas UP's was Rs 9,405 which was almost 60 percent of India's. But ever since the slow growth in per capita income has marred UP which is subsequently got reflected in the living standard of the people. In fact in terms of Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR), the per capita income of UP grew in the negative in 1960s and late 1990s where India's growth rate was far better than that of UP's. In the year 2014-15, UP's per capita income was Rs 40,373.

UP refused to spend money on development

One of the reasons for the relatively slow economic growth in UP is the low level of plan expenditure in the state as compared to the national average and that of the more developed states.

Low plan investments in UP have been due to the fact that being a poor state it is not able to generate public savings on the required scale. Plan assistance received by UP from the centre has also been relatively low especially in the earlier plans.

Other reasons for economic fallout

Higher population growth

Sluggish and poor quality of economic growth

Excessive dependence on agriculture

High degree of inequality in the distribution of income and asset and widespread landlessness

Low level of investment in the economic and social infrastructure

Low literacy level

Social deprivation

UP is now India's worst sate to be born in

UP is one of the worst states to be born in, in India along with Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in the state is 61 per 1000 births which is the second highest in country after MP.

reuters

Although development of health infrastructure has taken place and over the years, IMR has reduced in UP too, like in most other parts of the country. But the pace at which UP is growing its health infrastructure is too slow and so are the results. For example till 2007, IMR rate in UP was 71 per 1000 births and now at 61. Some states like Goa (10) and Kerala (13) have done wonders in this field.

In 1961, the IMR in UP was a mammoth 130 deaths per 1000 live births which reduced to 99 in 1981 and 85 in 2001. Whereas in the same period of time national rate of IMR decreased from 115 in 1961 to 77 and 71 in 1981 and 2001 respectively.

Similarly UP is one of the worst states when it comes to number of PHCs, CHCs and district hospitals in ratio of the population. UP has a shortfall of 33 and 40 percent when it comes to availability of PHCs and CHCs.

UP is very behind India when it comes to reducing poverty

Poverty levels are relatively high in Uttar Pradesh though have gone down over time, declining from 57.4 per cent in 1973-74 to 32.8 per cent in 200405. During the corresponding period poverty at the national level declined from 54.9 percent to 27.5 per cent. Despite the substantial decline in the poverty ratio, the absolute number of poor has remained high in the state. Almost 6 million people in UP were living below the poverty line in 2004-05 constituting over one-fifth of the total poor in the country.

AFP

According to the annual report of Reserve Bank of India published in 2013, UP still has 29.43 percent of its population living Below Poverty Line (BPL) against the national average of 21.92 percent.

UP's population grows at a faster rate than India's population!

Population is its biggest bane, as the state houses more than 200 million people in its territories and is India's most populated state. Over the years, this is one area where UP has grown at a faster pace than others. The decadal increase in population during the past two decades was almost identical at 26 percent. As against this, the national population shows a declining trend from 25 percent in 197181 to 23.8 percent in 198191 and further to 21.5 percent in 19912001. The annual growth rate of population in UP stood at 2.33 during 19912001 well above the national average of 1.94 percent. Uttar Pradeshs dismal performance on population front stands in sharp contrast with the performance of states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu where population growth rate has come down to around one percent.

AFP

Among major states, birth rate is highest in the state (Figure 1.3). The decline in birth rate has also been slow here. Birth rate stood at 38.6 in 1951, at 35.7 in 1991 and at 30.1 in 2005-06. Total fertility rate in the year 2005-06 was 3.82 in Uttar Pradesh as against 2.68 in India.

UP spends less on health and education than even Bihar

Successive governments over the years haven't spent much when it come to health and education. If we see per capita real expenditure by the state government over the years on health, education and other social services, UP's spending is too low.

reuters

For example the state government's spending per capita between 1990-91 to 2000-01 on education, health and other social services is 2201, 593, and 870 respectively and it's lower than most of the states in the country. It also means that amount spent on the infrastructure created for health, education and other welfare schemes hasn't been adequate. For the same period even a poor state like Bihar has spent more. Bihar's per capita spending on health, education and other social services is Rs 2698, Rs 601, Rs 1019 respectively.

UP leads India when it comes to communal violence cases

UP records maximum number communal incident across the country. According to the data tabled in Lok Sabha in 2015, as many as 703 religious conflicts were reported in Uttar Pradesh (UP) during period of 2010-15, leading to 176 deaths and 2007 injuries, the highest in India. In 2013 alone when Muzzafarnagar riots took place a total of 247 riot incidents took place in which 59 people died and more than 50,000 people became homeless.

UP along with MP and Maharashtra are the state where crime rates are higher than other. Communal clashes are also one of the major banes for UP's law and order.

AFP

Massive population results in massive poverty which subsequently leads to rise in crime. According to National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) statistics 2014, a total 240,475 cognizable crimes took place in UP in 2014 which accounted for 8.4 percent of total crimes registered across India.

There's not just one reason for the state of affairs in India's most populous state. It is as if every successive government has been hell bent on ruining the state. But if the state has to play a role in India's growth, it will have to mend it's ways.
Even as daring attacks on the security forces are on the rise in Jammu and Kashmir, latest reports of infiltration of at least 60 terrorists from across the border are keeping agencies and forces on the edge.

AFP

Link to previous attacks

Sources told TOI that these suicide attackers have recently entered the valley and they have been specifically asked to target security forces, including the army, BSF, CRPF, SSB and J&K police. The input comes even as agencies have launched a hunt for Lashkar-e-Taiba divisional commander Abu Dujana, responsible for last week's ambush on the CRPF convoy. He is the common link between last year's attack on BSF personnel in Udhampur and on CRPF men in Pampore on Saturday.

bccl

Sources say that Dujana is based in the valley and is helping highly-trained militants coming from Pakistan with information on the movements of forces, logistics, and stay and arranging drop-offs at attack sites. TOI first reported on Tuesday that 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed's son-in-law Khalid Waleed is behind the attack on CRPF convoy and Dujana assisted in the attack.

Reuters

Pakistani hand

After the recovery of credible evidence indicating a clear Pakistani hand in the June 25 attack, CRPF will push for a NIA probe in the case, officials said. J&K Police is already probing the matter. DGP J&K K Rajendra Kumar had told TOI on Monday over phone that "they have crucial leads in the case". Speaking to TOI, director general of CRPF, K Durga Prasad, said, "Some of our jawans were wearing vests while some were not. "Wearing bulletproof vests alone won't solve the problem. We need to do more and we are working on it".

Prasad visited the CRPF jawans admitted in hospital there and the spot where the attack happened. He also interacted with senior CRPF officers in the Valley and discussed the plan for further securing the civilians and troops during the upcoming Amarnath Yatra. Prasad is also expected to meet Jammu and Kashmir police top brass on Wednesday morning to discuss security. He had said on Monday that forces will enhance vehicle checks in the valley in coordination with J&K police to identify terrorists travelling under cover.

Also Read:Pompore Attack: Terrorists Ambush CRPF Convoy, 8 Brave Jawans Martyred
The triple suicide bomb blast in Istanbul which claimed the lives of 36 people and injured over 140 others was a horrible incident - just like any other terror attacks happened anywhere in the world before it.

Reuters

Moments after the news broke out social media was flooded with messages condemning the attack. Many used #PrayForIstanbul to express their solidarity with the victims of the blast.

Even though it was widely condemned, the attacks failed to create the same kind of condemnation evoked by terror attacks in Brussels and Paris a couple of months ago.

Unlike the previous two times, nobody changed their DPs with a Turkish flag mask on it. Many are now questioning the double standards.

Unfortunately this picture doesn't require a caption....but list of dates keep on growing #PrayForTurkey  pic.twitter.com/BNfuKvnHCN  Rav Billan (@ravbillan) June 29, 2016

I have noticed a significant difference in reaction. Paris/Brussels/Orlando huge outpouring world over. Istanbul reaction seems much smaller  Kara Tracey (@kara87) June 29, 2016
Not that I am a member of the dog lovers club, but when I came across this piece of news I couldnt help but swoon. So would you! I mean, look at all that fur.

omlet.co.uk

The latest breed of dogs could melt even the coldest of hearts. Named Pumi (pronounced as POOM-EE), the recognition of this cute new breed has been the result of the hard work of breeders in the USA, who have been working tirelessly over the past two decades to get it officially noticed.

Pa promenad mellan skurarna #pumisofinstagram #pumi #pumisofsweden #minapumiflickor A photo posted by Carina Jangbrand (@pumiflickorna) on Jun 18, 2016 at 7:23am PDT

To gain official recognition by the American Kennel Club (AKC), the fluffy canine had to meet a population quota among a host of other criteria.

Now that all that hard work has finally paid off, this high energy breed can compete for awards at the Westminster Kennel Club in February, a leading competition noticing the best breeds.

Tror minsann att tio dagar i skargarden tog lite pa konditionen... #pumi #agility #rc #hundraprocenttraffidag #lovthisdog A photo posted by Anna Wiesner (@annawiesner) on Jun 27, 2016 at 2:33am PDT

Originally from Hungary, Pumis have been around for a while now, but have started to capture American hearts and minds just recently. However, going by what the experts say, the cute furballs are not for lazy bums. All thanks to their unbeatable energy!

Chris Levy, president of the Hungarian Pumi Club of America, said: They're not for somebody who's going to sit and watch TV all day long.

The pumi has become the 190th breed to join the roster of the US's oldest purebred registry.

These highly energetic dogs, who are considered quick learners, are used in the US to chase chickens, rabbits and goats.
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Gaddafi Loyalists Rescued Americans In Benghazi By Alex Pfeiffer June 29, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Daily Caller" - Americans rescued from the facility in Benghazi were saved by Gaddafi loyalists  not the Libyan government or the militia group contractually obligated to provide security, the final report from the House Select Committee on Benghazi reveals. After lethal mortar attacks, a special operator in Benghazi testified that: We decided that the situation we had was untenable to stay at the compound. We didnt have enough shooters and there were too many wounded, and we were definitely going to lose our State Department wounded if we had stayed there much longer. The Americans in the annex, though, did not have the security vehicles and gun trucks necessary to evacuate to the airport in Benghazi. Help would eventually arrive. The forces that arrived at the Annex shortly after the mortar attacks were able to transport all State Department and CIA personnel safely to the airport. The forces, known as Libyan Military Intelligence, arrived with 50 heavily-armed security vehicles, the select committees report says. The Libyan Military Intelligence was not part of the Libyan Government that the Obama administration supported. Neither was it a component of the February 17 Martyrs Brigade, recommended by the Libyan Government and contractually obligated to provide security to the Mission Compound. The report also states that the February 17 Martyrs Brigade militia, which provided interior armed security at the Benghazi Mission compound, informed the Diplomatic Security Agents two days before the Ambassador was scheduled to arrive it would no longer provide off-compound security. Instead, Libya Military Intelligencewhom the CIA did not even know existed until the night of the attackswere comprised of former military officers under the Qadhafi regime who had gone into hiding in fear of being assassinated, and wanted to keep their presence in Benghazi as quiet as possible so as to not attract attention from the militias in control of Benghazi, the report later notes. It continues to say, In other words, some of the very individuals the United States had helped remove from power during the Libyan revolution were the only Libyans that came to the assistance of the United States on the night of the Benghazi attacks.  American operatives on the ground only found out about the Libyan Military Intelligence group after a National Police officer described his capabilities as next to helpless. It was also this group, not groups previously given credit by previous investigations, that came to the rescue of the Americans in those early morning hours likely saving dozens of lives as a result, the select committee concluded.  Copyright 2010 - 2016 | The Daily Caller The 7 must-read passages in the Benghazi report: From the video conference that was convened as the attack was underway to the unlikely assistance the Americans received that night.
Home Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter Mexico is Massacring its Citizens and Nobody Seems to Have Noticed



Three Amigos Summit the perfect time to hold President Enrique Pena Nieto accountable for human rights violations



By John M. Ackerman June 29, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " The Star "- This time it is impossible to look the other way. The Mexican government is normally adept at managing public opinion so the responsibility for the violence and human rights violations ripping apart the country falls on the shoulders of local officials or organized crime groups. But on June 19th that narrative was broken under the heavy weight of the facts. The press originally reported a clash between teachers and police in the town of Nochixtlan in the southern state of Oaxaca. The authorities claimed their agents were unarmed and the protesters had fired on them first. The new U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Roberta Jacobson, was carefully neutral in her first public evaluation of the incident, stating simply that she lamented the loss of human lives. But during the ensuing days the awful truth has trickled out. Thanks to the reports of journalists on the scene, the Mexican government has been forced to accept that the police were in fact heavily armed. And the evidence now points to the commission of a brutal massacre by federal forces against peaceful protesters. These forces are under the command of Mexicos President Enrique Pena Nieto and receive significant funding from the United States government under the Merida Initiative. It all began when a group of rural, elementary school teachers closed a highway that runs through the small, mostly indigenous town of Nochixtlan. They were protesting the governments neo-liberal education reforms and in favour of the release of two top teacher union activists, who had been taken as political prisoners a week earlier. Instead of negotiating with the protesters, or using limited force to liberate the highway, the federal government decided to violently quash the uprising. Pena Nieto sent hundreds of masked police officers armed with high-powered automatic rifles and tear gas to run off the protesters. In response, the surrounding communities called for reinforcements. Church bells ran, a form of SOS call to the surrounding villages, and hundreds of residents appeared on the scene in support of the peaceful teachers. Although some of the reinforcements did throw rocks and launch fire crackers at the riot police, none of the protesters were armed nor were the lives of law enforcement officials put at risk. The police acted with desperate vengeance. According to eyewitness accounts, plain clothes police first set fire to buses and cars in order to create the impression of chaos and thereby justify the upcoming brutal attack. The uniformed agents then opened fire on the innocent crowd. Nine protesters were killed, dozens wounded and many others arbitrarily arrested by law enforcement, who grabbed anyone they could get their hands on. Amid the chaos, the police even interrupted a family funeral taking place in the town cemetery to haul off to jail dozens of the attendees who had no connection to the protests. The federal police also indiscriminately launched dozens of tear gas canisters from land and air during the assault. One of them landed in the patio of a health clinic, which was attending to the wounded, forcing it to close down and thereby putting numerous lives at risk. Such attacks by Mexicos highly militarized federal police on the civilian population are not rare. Excessive use of force has become commonplace in recent years, especially since the beginning of the Pena Nieto administration in December of 2012. Civilian deaths are normally presented as the result of frontal combat with narcotraffickers or criminals. In fact, local and international government and non-governmental organizations have unveiled the systematic abuse of human rights by security forces in Mexico. But this time the violation of human rights is particularly glaring. The victims cannot be presented as criminals even by the most creative imagination. They were all peaceful protesters, teachers and community members, standing up for their rights. In response, the government turned a sleepy, rural town into a war zone. Mexico has erupted in protest. Teachers have taken to the streets throughout the country, even in regions such as Monterrey where such activism is rare. Tens of thousands of students and doctors have also mobilized in solidarity. The indigenous communities of Oaxaca have taken action and highways remain blocked throughout the state. This Sunday there was an enormous protest march in Mexico City organized by the principal opposition party, Morena. The international solidarity movement, in Argentina, Spain, France, England, Canada and the United States has also jumped into action. Both the National Human Rights Commission and the United Nations Human Rights Commission have initiated investigations of the attack. Meanwhile, official diplomatic circles in the United States and Canada have remained silent, pretending as if nothing has happened. This is particularly worrisome given the fact that this Wednesday Barack Obama, Justin Trudeau and Enrique Pena Nieto will meet in Ottawa for their first Three Amigos Summit. Obama has been an adamant defender of the Mexican President and has not dared to call him out once for the grave human rights violations and corruption scandals, which have marked Penas presidency from day one. Trudeau has made the positive step of offering to remove the visa requirement for Mexican visitors to Canada imposed by Stephen Harper in 2009, but also seems to be disconnected from what is actually happening on the ground in Mexico. In the face of the silent complicity of the U.S. and Canadian governments, civil society in all three countries should use the opportunity of this weeks summit to make their voices heard. They should forcefully condemn the violent repression and democratic breakdown taking place in Mexico and reach out a helping hand to their brothers and sisters south of the Rio Grande. John M. Ackerman is a professor at the Institute for Legal Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), editor-in-chief of The Mexican Law Review and a columnist at Proceso magazine and La Jornada newspaper. www.johnackerman.blogspot.com , Twitter: @JohnMAckerman Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. What's your response? - Scroll down to add / read comments Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter For Email Marketing you can trust Donate



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Washington Fears Brexit Will Unravel its anti-Russia Policy By Finian Cunningham June 29, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " RT "- Britains stunning referendum vote to leave the European Union has thrown a cat among the pigeons, not least in Washington, where it is feared that the Brexit could scupper its anti-Russian policy. That tacit policy is a foundation of the postwar international order whereby Washington  thanks to its trusty British acolyte  has been able to exert hegemony over Europe. Nearly seven decades of American transatlantic domination are at risk of crumbling. The unscheduled, hasty visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry to Brussels followed by London on Monday is a sure sign that Washington is alarmed at the historic decision by the British electorate to quit the EU  after 43-year membership of the bloc. Kerry urges Britain, EU to manage their divorce responsibly, was how American news outlet ABC reported the diplomats detour. The outlet went on to say with a pretense of chivalry that Kerrys concern was for the sake of global markets and citizens. More to the point, Washingtons perplexity is specific and self-serving. In particular, the loss of British influence inside the EU will impact on Washingtons carefully constructed policy of trying to isolate Russia. American objectives to isolate Russia go much further back than the past two years over Ukraine. Indeed, one can trace the anti-Russia policy to immediately after the Second World War, a policy that was intimately shared by the British establishment, as expressed by Winston Churchill in his famous 1946 Iron Curtain speech, marking the onset of the Cold War against the Wests erstwhile wartime Soviet ally. Former US ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, gave full expression to these fears in an opinion piece in the Washington Post at the weekend. The headline read: How Brexit is a win for Putin. The tone is almost panic-stricken. McFaul alludes to Russias growing economic and political influence with China and Eurasian integration: Europe is now weakening as Russia, its allies and its multilateral organizations are consolidating, even adding new members. Putin, of course, did not cause the Brexit vote, but he and his foreign policy objectives stand to gain enormously from it. The former US envoy, who also served as national security adviser to the Obama administration, laments how Britain as Washingtons closest ally will have less leverage for American interests over the rest of Europe. With regard to Russia, this means that the EUs economic sanctions against Moscow and the build-up of NATO military forces are put into serious doubt. Both aspects have been led by Washington, with Britain as a strident advocate of sanctions and NATO militarism. Now that London does not have a vote in Brussels, Americas policy of hostility towards Russia is blunted. Britains exiting of the EU puts Washingtons in a geopolitical dilemma. As the New York Times headlined: With Brexit, Washingtons direct line to the continent suddenly frays. The NY Times reports: American officials struggling to reimagine their strategy after Britains decision to divorce the European Union say the most urgent challenge will be to find a way to replace their most reliable, sympathetic partner in the hallways of European capitals. It will not be easy. When Britain first joined the early European Economic Community in 1973, it was following a policy directed by Washington. With its special relationship, as coined by Churchill, Britain would ensure that Washingtons geopolitical interests prevailed on the continental Europeans, in particular the Germans and French, who were always suspected of being inclined towards socialism and rapprochement with Russia. It is arguable that the EU was a political project engineered by the American Central Intelligence Agency, for which Britain served a crucial steering role. Britain would thus bring a strong NATO perspective to the emerging EU. The US-led military alliances unofficial objective from its postwar inception in 1949 was, according to British Lord Ismay, the first secretary-general, to keep the Americans in, the Germans down and the Russians out. And Britains presence within the EU  as the second biggest economy after Germany  ensured that this anti-Russian ideology always remained a potent force, even 25 years after the Cold War supposedly ended. Today, the 28-member EU bloc is barely distinguishable from the 28-member NATO military alliance in terms of adopting US-led policies, and in particular its anti-Russia policy. The renewal of European economic sanctions against Moscow has only served to inflict huge damage on EU nations. It is self-defeating and absurdly based on scant evidence of Russian aggression. But the policy prevails in large part due to Washingtons and Britains NATO-ization of the EU. This is why the loss of Britain from the EU is so disconcerting to Washington and its Atlanticist advocate in London. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has been most vocal since the referendum, warning that the Kremlin will be happy with the result. Unlike Washingtons admonitions against a Brexit in the run up to the referendum, Moscow refrained from making any such pronouncements, saying that it was an internal British political matter. Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed comments by British and American politicians who inferred Kremlin rejoicing over the Brexit as a manifestation of low political culture. The snide, anti-Russian invective is really a reflection of the malign purpose with which Washington and London have been working for decades in order to impale a wedge between Europe and Russia. Washington has much to lose as a hegemonic world power if Europe and Russia were to move closer together politically, economically and in terms of mutual security. The US and its transatlantic British cipher  being closely aligned in global finance capital  must do all in their power to make sure that Europe and Russia do not converge as natural partners. With Britain now reverting to Little England as American media are mocking, there are moves ahead for Washington to recruit a new surrogate within the EU for its hegemonic ambitions. Germany is top of the list as the replacement for Britain. France is seen as too unreliable, while Poland and the Baltic states are too lightweight, from Washingtons viewpoint. However, the Brexit has unleashed a Europe-wide public revolt of anti-EU sentiment. Part of that antipathy stems from the kind of oligarchic politics, financial oppression and NATO militarism that people associate with Washingtons influence on Europe. Washington will not find an automatic, easy substitute for its British surrogate. No European state could ever replace Britain as the most loyal and fervent servant of American interests. Russia is entitled to feel relief, if not rejoicing, over the Brexit result. And not just Russia, but many other countries and people who long for more peaceful international relations, free from Washingtons and NATOs warmongering machinations. Britains diminished influence over European policies means Washington is also curbed. Nothing can be taken for granted, but there is a fair chance that Europe might be freer henceforth to develop normal, more harmonious relations with Russia. Germany, whose postwar reconciliation with Russia was once a source of immense hope during the 1960s, 70s and 80s under its Ostpolitik, might now be able to resume that trajectory. And no wonder Washington is panicked. Finian Cunningham (born 1963) has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, he is a Masters graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. For over 20 years he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organizations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent. Now a freelance journalist based in East Africa, his columns appear on RT, Sputnik, Strategic Culture Foundation and Press TV.
Firing the Elites By Dmitry Orlov



June 29, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Club Orlov "- Given whats happening right now with the EU redux, its hard not to write a little something about it, so I wont even try to resist the temptation. Stock markets are crashing, banks are on the verge of failure, gold is spiking and City of London and Wall Street financial types are running around with their hair on fire. But beyond such financial superficialities, what is really happening is that class warfare is back with a vengeance, so far in the UK with the Brexit referendum, but likely to spread.



In that referendum, the older generations who know which class they belong to voted to fire their malign overlords in Brussels and London, while the younger generations, brainwashed by EU propaganda, did not. Some experts claimed that there is some sort of generational divide, but I think that older generations did a smart thing, and that this is adequately explained by the fact that they are smarter. You see, fools tend to die young, and the mere act of surviving is a sign of intelligence. But thats just a minor side-point.



The main point is that the malign elites very much need to be fired, both in Europe and in the US. There are several problems with them, which I would like to briefly enumerate:



 They tend to be neoliberal, and espouse all of the faulty ideas that come with that failed ideology. The results are plain to see: retirees robbed, young people deprived of meaningful employment; fabulous riches for a tiny elite and austerity for everyone else; more of everything for Germany, less of everything for everyone else. A financial scheme that is fundamentally a Ponzi scheme, is guaranteed to blow up, and may be blowing up as I write this.



 They tend to be under the sway of the neoconservatives in Washington, and together with them they lurch from one disaster to another. The results are again plain to see: an entire list of countries destroyed (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria, the Ukraine), a flood of migrants flooding out of these countries and into Europe in what is the biggest refugee crisis since World War II, and extremely dangerous, and entirely unnecessary provocations against Russia.



 They espouse an ideology that seeks to erase all ethnic and cultural distinctions and that forces a repulsive political correctness on everyone except the Moslems (who are, curiously, considered exempt). Having eliminated most significant human freedoms (including, most significantly, freedom of the press, which in Europe is a captive of corporate interests), the two remaining freedoms that are now championed in Europe are the freedom to rootlessly drift about the continent, and the freedom to engage in any sexual perversion you like, including bestiality and pedophilia.



 But the biggest problem with these transatlantic elites is this: they cannot be fired. The more they fail, the more entrenched they become. Obviously, this has nothing to do with education, or merit, or popularity; it is simply a matter of class. The elites consider themselves to be Ubermenschen, elevated far above mere mortals. Democracy is a plaything for them. Most of the time they have been able to manipulate the politics to their advantage. When that fails, the little people get to vote over and over again until they get it right. But this political fix is now failing, on both sides of the Atlantic, because it would appear that the little people have finally had enough.



The automatic recourse is to start insulting the little people in an attempt to browbeat them into submission. If they dont want to see their country overrun by illegal migrants (note that having had you country destroyed by NATO does not qualify you for political asylum) then they are called racist and bigoted. If they fail to grasp some of the finer points of EUs bureaucratic governance (because, frankly, who would want to waste time on all that nonsense?) then they are called ignorant and misguided. And, most importantly, if there is a financial crash (which was inevitable in any case; see Ponzi scheme above) then that is blamed on their bad choices at the polls.



Perhaps most importantly of all, every effort is being made to equate patriotism with nationalism and fascism. Now, this bears explaining, because these concepts are perfectly distinct:



 Patriotism is ones love of ones native land and people. It is a natural, organic result of growing up in a certain place among a certain people, who have also grown up there, and who pass along a cultural and linguistic legacy that they all love and cherish. This does not imply that those not of ones family, neighborhood or region are in any way inferior, but they are not ones own, and one loves them less.



 Nationalism is a synthetic product generated using public education and is centered around certain hollow symbols: a flag, an anthem, some yellowed pieces of paper, a few creation myths and so on. It is supported by certain rituals (parades, speeches, handing out of medals) that comprise a civic cult. The purpose of nationalism is to support the nation-state. Where nationalism serves the needs of ones native land and people, nationalism and patriotism become aligned; when it destroys them, nationalism becomes the enemy and patriots form partisan movements, rise up and destroy the nation-state.



 Fascism is the perfect melding of the nation-state and corporations, in the course of which the distinction between public and private interests becomes erased and corporations come to dictate public policy. An almost perfect expression of fascism is the recent transatlantic and transpacific trade agreements negotiated in secret by the Obama administration, which at the moment, to everyones great relief, seem to be dead in the water.



It should be obvious that fascism has to be defeated, and if we were to pick just one perfectly good reason to fire the transatlantic elites then it is to thwart this corporate power grab. But it does not stop there, because nationalism and patriotism are also in play. Patriotism is a natural, core human value without which all you have is a rootless population shifting about opportunistically. Nationalism is a relatively recent innovation (nation-states are a 17th century invention) and as such a dangerous one, but in the case of some of the older and more successful nation-states it does provide significant benefits: a cherished cultural tradition anchored to a national language and literature, the ability to keep the peace and to repel outside aggression. And then there is the European Union, with its flag depicting a constellation of stars that are obviously orbiting somethingsomething that could only be a black hole, since it is invisible. The United States is a similarly artificial, synthetic entity of very recent derivation, with its flag obviously depicting a tray of star-shaped cookies which are, most unfortunately, no longer for the little people to eat because the elites have decided that they want all the cookies for themselves.



And so they need to be fired. If this is to be done by voting (as opposed to, say, from a cannon) then the object of voting is to elect somebody who is, first and foremost, capable of firing these elites. The British seem to have done this; now it is the Americans turn. A somewhat thoughtful question that is sometimes asked (after people are done making spurious claims that Donald Trump is insane, a misogynist, a racist, a fascist, a bad businessman, generally not very nice or whatever else) is whether he is qualified to govern. To my mind, this question reduces to a much simpler question: Is he qualified to fire people? And the answer is, Yes, he most certainly is qualified to fire people. In fact Youre fired! is one of his trademark utterances. In fact, he just recently fired his very own campaign manager. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, heads up the entire cohort of people that need to be fired. And that is why I think there is a good chance that the little people will finally rise up and vote for somebody who will do just that. Dmitry Orlov was born in Leningrad and immigrated to the United States in the 1970s. He is the author of Reinventing Collapse, Hold Your Applause! and Absolutely Positive, and publishes weekly at the phenomenally popular blog www.ClubOrlov.com
Many Nigerians including former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar have been of the opinion that President Buhari should restructure the country and also implement of the 2014 National confab convened by the immediate-past President Goodluck Jonathan. Also accenting to the call is Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial district, Sen. Shehu Sani. Mr Shehu on Wednesday, said the President Muhammadu Buharis led administration could do these five things with the report.

(1)To implement it in full.

(2)To implement some of it.

(3)To Donate it to libraries.

(4)To keep it in Govt Shelves.

(5)To shred and recycle the hard copies to tissue paper and keep the soft copies in the National archives.
The embattled deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has written to the United Nations, European Union, the United States Congress, the EU Parliament, Governments of United States, United Kingdom and other foreign missions, over his trial for alleged forgery of the Senate standing rule.

The deputy Senate president raised the alarm over what he described as an attempt to truncate Nigerias hard-earned democracy and silence me as the leader and highest ranking member of the opposition in the country, all in the name of prosecuting an alleged forgery case.

The two-page document, entitled: Re: Trumped Up Charges Against the Presiding Officers of the 8th Senate: Nigerian Democracy is in Grave Danger, Mr. Ekweremadu urged the international community, to after perusing the facts before them, decide whether or not the trial was justified, or one purely borne out of political vendetta.

He attached copies of the court summons and other documents relating to the matter to his letter.

He also claimed that the South-east and South-south geo-political zones were being marginalized under the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The letter reads in part: You may further wish to judge for yourself whether this unfolding scenario, coupled with the clampdown on the opposition, such as targeted arrests and indefinite detention of opposition figures and dissenting voices in spite of court pronouncements and in clear violation of the Nigerian constitution, as well as the sustained marginalization of the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones of Nigeria, does not constitute a grave danger to the nations hard-won democracy.

Moreover, the rules and principles of fair hearing have not been adhered to because the police have not interacted with me or the President of the Senate as at the time of writing this letter.

You may also wish to judge for yourself whether this trial orchestrated against me is not a political trial, calculated witch-hunt, barefaced intimidation, and a clear attempt to emasculate the parliament and silence me as the leader and highest ranking member of the opposition in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, it could also be recalled that an attempt was made on my life on November 17, 2015. The Nigerian security agencies did nothing, even though the incident was duly reported.
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has commended the enthusiasm displayed by local entrepreneurs and foreign investors in locating their investments in the State.

Speaking on Thursday at the Lagos State Business Districts (CBD) Stakeholders Forum, the Governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Tunji Bello at the City Hall, Lagos, said the presence of the investors would be boosted with the emerging opportunities in the socio-economic landscape of the State.

According to him, the present administration is also providing more opportunities in the Lagos Mega City in various sectors of real estate development, marine transportation, commercial and business activities.

Our administration is focused on providing more opportunities to investors and entrepreneurs in the emerging economic profile of Lagos Mega City in the various sectors of real estate development, marine transportation, commercial and business activities to create job opportunities and generate wealth for investors in a conducive and secure environment, he said.

Governor Ambode said the focus of his administration since inception has been to put necessary structures in place that would sustain a 24/7 economy in the New Lagos, adding that despite the global economic challenges, we have ensured that the business districts function effectively to move the wheel of economic growth in the Lagos Mega City.

He gave an assurance that in some months, the business districts will witness tremendous transformation with the completion of the Blue Line rail system and the on-going reconstruction of the Marina axis.

The Governor said the gathering is about ways to identify the gaps in the operation of the districts and what can be done individually and collectively to uplift the status of the CBDs to global standards.

It is also about maximizing the investment opportunities in this axis through government policies, incentives and direct intervention in terms of infrastructure provision and upgrade towards actualizing the vision of the present administration of making Lagos safer, cleaner and more prosperous Lagos Island, he said.

He urged the stakeholders to share experiences, ideas and evolve new strategies that will enhance the effectiveness of the Central Business District administration and management for the benefit of all.

Speaking earlier, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Central Business Districts, Mr. Agboola Dabiri reiterated the readiness of government to return the lost glory of Lagos Island by bringing back corporate organizations and private companies to the Business District just as it was in the eighties.

He added that the State Government has committed enormous resources in rebranding, painting, beautification and general upliftment of the axis to ensure it is conducive for businesses to thrive.
The police on Tuesday arraigned a 13-year-old boy before an Ikeja Chief Magistrates Court for allegedly defiling the six-year-old daughter of his neighbour.

The accused is a student who lives with his parents at Iju Ishaga Area of Lagos.

The prosecutor, Rafael Donny, a police sergeant, told the court that the offence was committed on June 6 at his parents residence.

Sgt. Donny said the accused called the victim to his room and defiled her.

The offence, the police prosecutor pointed out, contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The accused, whose identity was protected because he is a minor, however, pleaded not guilty.

The Chief Magistrate, Tajudeen Elias, subsequently granted him bail in the sum of N250, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

The case was also adjourned till July 20 for mention.

(NAN)
One of the longest running congressional investigations in American history has ended with the former U.S secretary of State, Hillary Clinton cleared of any wrong doing in relation with the Benghazi attack.

On September 2012, an attack by a Libyan militia on an American diplomatic compound in Benghazi left four Americans dead. The Benghazi attack quickly became a contentious point between both parties and a congressional committee of inquiry began rounds of hearings to try to determine where to place culpability.

Quite a few people pointed fingers at Hillary Clinton even as she claimed that the allegations were intended to damage her Presidential ambition. Mrs. Clinton was found to have used a private email server during her reign as secretary of state- a crucial mistake which she has accepted responsibility for.

A separate investigation into whether classified information was leaked or mishandled as a result of her use of private servers is ongoing.

The 800 page report by the committee headed by Representative Trey Gowdy (South Carolina) stated that despite orders from President Barack Obama, no troops were deployed to Benghazi on the day of the incident as it shed light on the disappointing lack of preparedness on the path of the Government.

Most importantly, the report failed to show evidence of any professional misconduct on the paths of the people involved.
Some legal practitioners, including a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, have condemned the federal government for clearing Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, on his alleged acquisition of choice properties in Dubai.

The Minister of Defence, Brig.-Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali (retd.) in a statement by his Principal General Staff Officer, PGSO, Brigadier General Mohammed Ahmed, cleared the Army chief of any wrongdoing.

The minister further described reports that Buratai and his wives bought properties in the commercial nerve centre of the United Arab Emirates, UAE, at the cost of $1.5million as an attempt by some unpatriotic and disgruntled elements to distract the leadership of the Nigerian Armed Forces from the successes in the war against terror.

Speaking on the purported clearance of the COAS, a lawyer and activist, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa said the clean bill of health handed Buratai cast a slur on President Muhammadu Buharis administration.

I believe it has exposed the hypocrisy of the Buhari administration as not fighting the war against corruption on a clean slate. They should have allowed the agencies of government such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to properly investigate (the matter). The Minister of Defence and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation have no statutory authority to undertake criminal investigation.

On his part, former chairman of the Ikeja Branch of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Monday Ubani said the clearance was laughable.

He, however, said Buratais clearance did not represent the position of government.

How can they be the ones to clear him? Are they security agencies? If somebody is alleged to have committed a crime, can another agency that has no constitutional powers clear him? On what basis did they clear him? They should have allowed the EFCC to investigate the man. It sounds ridiculous. That cannot be clearance.

Falana, in his own reaction, slammed government for defending Buratai.

The human rights lawyer said it was not the business of the army to speak on the allegations against Buratai, adding that since public office requires public trust, the COAS should submit himself to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the anti-graft agencies to clear his name.

Buratai should willingly invite the CCB, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and ICPC to look into the matter. If Buratai was alleged to have unjustly purchased the houses, he has to come out to defend himself. He must show how the money used to purchase the houses was transferred, the SAN said.
Civil servants in Ekiti State have accused labour leaders of betraying them by agreeing to a one month pay out of the six months owed them by the state government.

Recall that the Ekiti councils of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress and Joint Negotiation Council last May, ordered workers to stay at home following governments inability to pay five months salary arrears and for failing to refund deductions made from their December 2015 salaries.

They described the failure of the union leaders decision to convince the state government to pay at least three months, as a coup against the long-suffering workers who had endured misery, hunger and hardship in the last six months.

The workers expressed their disappointment in a bulletin released Tuesday by an interest group known as the Enlightened Workers Forum (EWF) and signed by its Coordinator, Mike Bamidele.

The workers also claimed to be in possession of evidence that the labour leaders received N10million bribe from the state government to call of the strike.

The EWF also faulted the decision of the labour leaders to suspend the strike and agree to monthly payment of N10 million to pensioners, which it described as grossly inadequate just as it expressed doubts over the governments capacity to access another bailout funds owing to the stringent conditions attached.

The bulletin said it was a mark of failure for the leaders of the state councils of the NLC, TUC and JNC to hurriedly suspend the strike after being promised only one month pay by the government.

It described as very irresponsible, the directive issued to workers by one of the labour chiefs to resume work and await the payment of one month salary seven days after suspending the strike.

The EWF boss revealed that the untold story of the whole saga was that the labour leaders only succeeded in negotiating their own welfare as we have evidence that six of them collected N10 million which eventually led to the sell-out which is already causing ripples among other leaders who were left out.

Bamidele said: One wonders what gave Labour the impression that the Federal Government would again be willing to release another bailout to Fayose when the first one had not been accounted for.

This is a mark of failure on the part of the Organized Labour and we in the EWF are not surprised about the development as we had anticipated this failure right from the onset.

Against this background, therefore, it will be wrong and illegal for any Labour to attempt to coerce the workers back to work through the back doors without achieving anything. Negotiating one month salary on their behalf after about five weeks strike is not only anti-worker but also criminal.

Reacting to the allegation, the Ekiti NLC Chairman, Comrade Ade Adesanmi, denied the allegation that the labour leaders in the state collected bribe, challenging anyone with evidences to the contrary, to step forward.

Adesanmi: I didnt sign the pact with government culminating in this resumption because I compromised, I signed because of the fear that this allocation may be spent without the payment of worker salaries.

The same workers we were fighting for were coming to work during the strike to assist government in spending monies that could have been kept and added to the current allocation to pay workers. This is highest level of wickedness and posterity will judge all of us.
The immediate past Chief of Air Force, Adesola Amosu, who was arrested and detained a few days ago by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has now been brought before a Lagos high court, INFORMATION NIGERIA has learned.

Mr. Amosu, an air vice marshal, who was retired last year, alongside other military chiefs, is facing trial over allegations of corruption in an arms procurement deal during his tenure.

President Muhammadu Buhari had recently directed the EFCC to investigate the former air chief and other serving and retired military officers over alleged misconduct established against them.

Among those to be investigated include the embattled former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, former Chief of Defence Staff, Marshal Alex Badeh and another former Chief of Air Staff, Mohammed Umar.
Former Nigerian military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida is a happy man at the moment.

Thats because, one of his grand children, Maryam has just won the best Fine arts student award at her school, El-Amin International School in Minna, Niger state.

She won the award at the Schools graduation ceremony holding today June 29th.

Maryam is the daughter of IBBs first son, Mohammed Babangida.
Nigerias Minister of state for Petroleum Resources disclosed that a potential investment worth $8.5 billion has been agreed with the China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO).

The investment is geared towards building and upgrading infrastructure in Nigerias oil and gas sector as Dr. Kachikwu Ibe is in China in an attempt to woo investors.

Dr. Kachikwu told Bloomberg on Tuesday, A lot of the companies are responding positively. We just came out of signing a global $8.5 billion potential investment by one of the companies, NORINCO, in the upstream business in Nigeria,

We are beginning the major roadshow this afternoon (yesterday). We are looking to raise about $40 to $50 billion which covers the infrastructural gap that we see in Nigeria, so the interest has been enormous.

The minister, while justifying Nigerias decision to turn to China for such huge investment, stated that: The reality is that countries like Nigeria havent really overtime invested in covering the infrastructural gap in the oil sector, whether it is in the downstream where the pipelines are issues or the refining facilities where the refineries are a challenge, or the gas and power area where there is need for a lot more massive investment to carry the gas to the point of power and get them to export potential.

The need for new resources is very key and we do not have those resources. Going to places like China with a huge capacity to put in the oil sector is very helpful.

He said Nigeria, even with drop in global oil prices, still offers investors from China and other countries huge returns on investment.

According to him, As much as I do agree that the price of oil has fallen, obviously and created a lot of challenges for investors, but the reality is that for countries like Nigeria, and most OPEC countries, you will still find out that per cost per barrel of oil still provides enough incentives and what we need to continue to do is to continue to drive down our costs; create policies that are encouraging and obviously focus governments attention to the long and short term gains and encourage investors both from the point of view of investing in Nigeria and how Nigeria impacts on the rest of Africa as this continues to be an attractive region to put money.

He also touched on the volume of oil production following a spate of militant attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta region.

All the way from January right through to April of this year, we were producing about 1.9 to 2.2 million barrels per day which is still within the threshold that we budgeted for the year.

In May and June, we suffered a lot of militant attacks which took us all the way down from 2.2 million barrels to about 1.3 million.

We have managed to begin to lead conversations with the militants. We have been able to get production back to about 1.9 million barrels a day, we are continuing those conversations and by the time the Forcados pipeline is repaired in July, we should be able to come back to expected to the production ceiling for this year of 2.2 million and begin to look whether we can increase a bit to enable us recover the two to three months hiatus that we had.

And so, things are looking up, engagements are going on well, we have been able to make inroads into those conversations but what is important is the need to continue that momentum and to look to long term solutions to the Niger Delta crisis that creates the militancy that we have, Kachikwu stated.
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, during his remark at the opening of second quarterly meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners in Abuja on Wednesday, revealed the plans of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in the coming weeks. INFORMATION NIGERIA brings them to you here.

1.That it would fix dates for suspended rerun elections in Rivers, Imo, Kogi and Kano States on Thursday.

2.That the commission was consulting with those he described as critical stakeholders, including leaders of political parties and security agencies, in the affected states.

3.That the commission was also expected to have a meeting with leaders of political parties in Abuja on Thursday before arriving at the dates for the rerun elections.

4.That rerun elections were ordered by the courts, but were suspended by the commission due to outbreak of violence and the rerun elections in the four states would be conducted before July 31.
A housewife, Gloria Okore and her triplets have been detained by the management of a private hospital in Lagos over her inability to settle outstanding medical bills of N35,000 out of N120,000 incurred at the hospital.



The woman, who delivered two girls and a boy on May 10 in Bessylva Hospital and Maternity Home, located at 60, Surulere Street, Dopemu-Agege, Lagos State, has been begging for help to raise the balance and cater for the children, but no succour has come her way.

It was gathered that the babies were delivered preterm (seven months), and one of the triplets, a female, died two weeks ago as there was no incubator to use for the babies.

Gloria Okore told Vanguard that due to the hash economic situation in the country, the family needed the goodwill of Nigerians to take care of the babies.

According to the 27-year-old Gloria, I had the triplets through normal delivery, but the babies were born prematurely. We were charged N120,000. My husband hawks fairly-used clothes (okrika). It took him time to raise N85,000, which he paid in installments.

I am from Owerri in Imo State, while my husband is from Abia State. We got married three years ago. Before I had these triplets, I had twins who died immediately after birth. When I was pregnant for the triplets, I was very sick; I could not walk long distance because my belly was very big.

I want government to help pay the balance of the hospital bills and also help us with basic necessities for the babies. Right now, I cannot work because the babies are still young.

Source: Dailypost
The Niger State Government says it will no longer borrow money to pay salaries of its workforce.

The State Governor, Mr Abubakar Bello, made the declaration at a stakeholders meeting held at the Government House in Minna.

He further stated that some issues in the state were crucial and needed to be treated and explained that one of the major sources of revenue for the state is the monthly allocation from the Federation Account and the Internally Generated Revenue.

Governor Bello noted that the Federal Government has reduced the monthly statutory allocations to the state drastically. He explained that in the past seven years, the state was receiving between N5 billion to N11 billion allocation, but noted that recently, the state was receiving far below N2 billion monthly due to the reduction of crude oil price at the international market.

The government also urged the state civil servants to be prudent in resource management.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu appeared before a Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday for the commencement of their trial after being charged with forgery.

Senator Ekweremadu had appeared sporting an Igbo attire, which sparked an argument among social media users. Some were of the opinion that Ekweremadu was only trying to whip up ethnic sentiment and solicit the pity of Igbos. However, others were of the opinion that it was just an outfit and nothing more. INFORMATION NIGERIA brings you some of the things they had to say.



One Twitter user by the name Afrispheric said anyone who thinks Ekweremadu was wrong to have worn an Igbo attire should also have a problem with Buhari speaking Hausa in Asorock. Others wrote off as foolish, suggestions that they Ekweremadu was out to solicit pity from the Igbos by wearing what he wore.

Some ppl have no issues with Buhari speaking Hausa constantly in Asorock Yet same ppl have issues with Ekweremadus Igbo attire to court  afrispheric (@afrispheric) June 29, 2016

1. Ekweremadu committed the crime of dressing as Igbo to stoke ethnic sentiments.Buhari commited the same crime pic.twitter.com/nJHdOGzmMs  Onye Nkuzi (@cchukudebelu) June 29, 2016

Ike Ekweremadu is an Igbo man and can wear an Igbo outfit if he likes Live with it  afrispheric (@afrispheric) June 29, 2016

Ekweremadu has wore a lot of clothes but the same people talking about him wearing Igbo atire never see him wear Hausa clothes.Nonsense  JESUS IS D REASON (@onyeka60) June 29, 2016

Ike Ekweremadu wearing his native attire is a problem to who exactly? Because it is an Igbo attire? I have to start treating this madness  Nnayelugo (@Eloka51) June 29, 2016

This idea that Sen. Ike Ekweremadu wore Igbo attire to appeal to certain ethnic sentiment is proof of further unnecessary ethnic divisions.  Demola Olarewaju (@DemolaRewaju) June 29, 2016

However, a few are of the opinion that Sen Ekweremadu was just trying to whip up ethnic sentiment and had this to say.

Ekweremadu shamelessly stoked embers of ethnicity by dressing to court like the Igbo nation and not him is on trial for forgery  D.O (@DOlusegun) June 28, 2016

Ekweremadu wore Igbo attire to court, Saraki wore Northern attire to court. Ekweramadu is whipping up Igbo sentiments by his attire   Sheik Chidi Ajuzie (@chidiajuzie) June 28, 2016

What do you think?
Serial governorship election contender in Delta State, Chief Great Ogboru, and former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Victor Ochei, have formally defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Ogboru was the Labour Party candidate in the 2015 governorship election while Ochei was a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The defection of the political heavy weights ended months of speculations about their political future.

Ogboru and Ochei, along with their supporters and members in the LP and Accord Party as well as some leaders of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Delta State, were yesterday, formally presented to the national leadership of the APC by the partys candidate in the last governorship polls, Olorogun Otega Emehor and the states Chairman, Prophet Jones Erue.

Receiving the defectors, the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, noted that with their entry into the party, it was sure to win in Delta State come 2019.

Mr. Odigie-Oyegun was elated by the unity among the partys leadership in the state.

Earlier, Mr. Ogboru pledged to ensure the success of the Muhammadu Buhari administration and transform Delta state.

Blaming the 16 years reign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the rot in Nigeria and Delta State, Odigie-Oyegun expressed optimism that APC would upstage the Ifeanyi Okowa administration in Delta State come 2019.

He said: I am not here because I want to be with any government in power. My mission is similar to that of Mr President. We have always had a lot in common. We have always been agents of change. Mr President is the kind of person we want to identity with and that is why I joined the APC.

I am in full support of his resolve to reorient our values for the better. I am in support of his anti-corruption posture. We shall not tolerate corruption in Delta State. The 16 years of PDP were a waste at the state and at the centre.

The national chairman, who described the development as one of the happiest moments of his life, said Ogboru was a member of the APC who chose to take his time to join the league of progressives in the country.

Speaking in the same vein, the Deputy National Chairman of APC, Engr. Segun Oni, said democracy would not thrive without an overwhelming membership.

He said the partys leadership would work with all stakeholders to ensure a successful membership drive in Delta and other states.

Emehor said APCs challenges in the state would have reduced, if it had won the last governorship election.

But the governorship candidate said the good news was that with the entrance of Ogboru and others, APC was well positioned for the next governorship election in Delta State.

In his remarks, Ochei said he was glad to join the APC, adding that there was no trick the PDP could play to rob the APC of victory in Delta State.

The former speaker also sought members cooperation to ensure the partys progress.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lodged an appeal against the judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja, which ordered Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State to immediately vacate office for presenting false tax receipts.

Justice Okon Abang, who delivered ruling in a case of alleged falsification of tax returns brought against the governor by his rival in the December 2014 governorship primary of the PDP, Uche Ogah, found Ikpeazu guilty and immediately ordered him to vacate his office.

Justice Abang also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to immediately issue a certificate of return to Ogah.

However, in a notice of appeal dated June 28, the PDP expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling.

The appeal, which was filed by defence counsels Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) and Val Offia, lists Obasi Uba Ukeagbara, Chukwuemeka Mbah, INEC and Gov. Ikpeazu as first to fourth respondents.

The honourable trial court misdirected itself when it construed the provisions of the PDP Constitution to the detriment of the appellant without giving the appellant a chance to be heard and thereby occasioned miscarriage of justice, the PDP said.

In the particulars of the error, the appellant said Ukeagbara and Mba being the 1st and 2nd respondents in the appeal did not pray the trial court to construe the provisions of the PDP constitution.

No evidence was led that the said Uche Sampson Ogah participated in the 2015 Abia State gubernatorial elections, yet, the trial court declared him as winner of the said elections contrary to the express provisions of section 141 of the Electoral Act, the party added.

Consequently, the appellant urged the Court of Appeal for an order setting aside the judgment of the Federal High Court of Nigeria in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/10862014 delivered on the 27th day of June, 2016.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) youths in Edo State have called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to prosecute governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, over the N700million allegedly disbursed for the 2015 presidential campaign in the state.

This is just as the youths challenged the state chapter of the PDP in the state to come up with evidence linking the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Godwin Obaseki to the alleged N5.5billion shares misappropriation deal presently being investigated by the House of Representatives.

In a statement issued in Benin City yesterday, the APC youth leader, Comrade Osakpanwa Eriyo said that the delay in prosecuting him is suspicious, and it is not in the interest of the anti-corruption war of the Federal Government. We are also going to compile Ize-Iyamus activities during the Igbinediona administration to the EFCC because all those who destroyed the economy of Edo state for ten years that PDP was in power must pay dearly for it.

In defending the APC guber candidate against involvement in the shares misappropriation allegation, Eriyo said: we also read an attempt to malign the name of our governorship candidate Godwin Obaseki; we are calling on the PDP to come up with evidence against him, and if it is true we will equally call on the EFCC to prosecute him. But we are aware that Obaseki has been in the public sector and has worked hard for all he owns today.
The House of Representatives has called for the installation of closed circuit cameras at strategic areas in Nigerian prisons.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Interior, Representative Adams Jagaba, made the call after members of the committee were taken round the Kuje Prison on Wednesday.

Two inmates of the Kuje Prison were said to have escaped four days ago following a jail break.

Jagaba also said there was an urgent need to recruit more personnel into the Nigeria Prison Service (NPS) in order to enhance security.

He said that the National Assembly has made appropriate budgetary provision for more vehicles and arms for the service.

Responding, the Deputy Comptroller-General (Operations) of NPS, Mr Emmanuel Ogundele, said an investigation was on-going on the jail break.
The Rivers State Government has told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, that it lacks the constitutional powers to look into its books.

The Attorney General of the state and Commissioner of Justice, Mr Emma Aguma, who made this known in a letter to the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, said there were judgments barring the anti-graft agency from investigating the state.

Mr. Aguma also described as untrue, a newspaper report that a staff of the state government withdrew N11billion for the state.

He said: I write as the Chief Law Officer of Rivers State and at the instruction of the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Nyesom Wike, and the Government of Rivers State. My instruction and direction is to state as follows.

The totality of the allegations made in the said publication is untrue and unfounded. It is a salacious publication aimed at both scintillating the reading public and scandalizing the Government of Rivers State by the usual methods of trial on the pages of newspapers devoid of verifiable facts.

The wild allegations contained in the said publication would be appropriately addressed and their falsity shown when they are raised by due process of law at the appropriate forum.

There are two subsisting judgments of the High Court of Rivers State and the Federal High Court that bar the EFCC from investigating the finances of Rivers State. The first of these judgments is the judgment of the High Court of Rivers State in suit Number PHC/114/2007: Attorney General of Rivers State Vs the Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly and 36 others.

The judgment was delivered by Justice P. Agumagu on February 16, 2007. This judgment enunciated the following principles of law which till date have not been set-aside by the EFCC in any appellate court. The principles of law are:

By the combined effects of section 125 subsections (2), (5) and (6) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (the 1999 Constitution), it is the House of Assembly of a state, Rivers State inclusive, that has the final say on matters pertaining to the funds of the state as laid before it by the Auditor-Generals Audit Report of all public accounts and the Accountant-Generals financial statements and published annual accounts.
A final year student of Niger Delta University in Bayelsa state, Obele Wilson, was shot and killed by armed robbers during an attack on banks along the Sani Abacha Expressway, Yenagoa, the state capital yesterday June 28th.

The robbers somehow gained access into one of the banks were the deceased was doing a transaction, where he and other bank customers were ordered to bring out all their cash and other valuables

An eye-witness claimed Wilson argued with the robbers after which he was shot at close range. He died before medical help could get to him. His remains has been deposited at the state owned morgue. May his soul rest in peace, amen!

Source: Report Naija
The trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu for forgery of the Senate standing rulers, is not a trial for the Senate or the National Assembly as a body, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal has said.

He, therefore, advised the Senate leadership to stop dragging the legislature as an institution in their ongoing trial.

Messrs. Saraki and Ekweremadu were released on bail following their first appearance before a Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Abuja on Monday over two-count charge bordering on forgery and conspiracy.

The duo were charged alongside the immediate past Clerk to the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa and his deputy, Ben Efeturi.

In a statement he personally signed on Wednesday and issued to journalists in Abuja, Lawal said that a case of forgery is usually preferred against individuals, pointing out that such case of certificate forgery led to the resignation of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Salisu Buhari.

Noting that bringing the National Assembly as a body into the new court case is unwarranted, the SGF said that such action can only be for other purposes and reasons outside the investigation and legal proceedings.

He said: Since the arraignment of the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki and, his Deputy Senator Ike Ekweremadu before the Federal High Court on Monday, June 27, 2016, the two leaders of the Senate, have issued two separate press statements conveying messages that are far from being complementary to the person and government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Senator Saraki in his statement clearly insinuated that Mr. President is not in control of his administration and that a cabal now runs the federal administration. On the part of Senator Ekweremadu, he insists that President Buhari is exhibiting dictatorial tendencies that can derail our democracy.

From their statements, the two leaders of the Senate also gave this erroneous impression that by their arraignment, it is the entire Senate and indeed, the Legislative Arm of Government that is on trial.

They want the public to believe that their prosecution is utter disregard by the Executive Arm of government for the constitutional provisions of separation of powers and that preferring the forgery case against them is a vendetta exercise.

Since the case is in court, Mr. Lawal said that the Judiciary should be allowed to do its job, adding that the case only involves the four accused persons and should not be presented to the unsuspecting public as involving the entire Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The complaint leading to the forgery investigation was reported to the Police by some aggrieved Senators who specifically accused certain persons.

It is not the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that is involved and definitely not the House of Representatives. To bring the National Assembly as a body into this court case is totally unwarranted. It can only be for other purposes and reasons outside the investigation and legal proceedings.

A case of forgery is usually preferred against individuals. This is not different. As was the case with a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, who was accused of certificate forgery, what he did was to resign, honorably. The matter did not even go to court.

In that particular case, it was never orchestrated as a matter for the National Assembly. The individual involved did not drag the entire Legislature into the matter, he said

Mr. Lawal maintained that the separate statements by Messrs. Saraki and Ekweremadu were contradictory.

He said: While Senator Saraki believes Mr. President has abdicated his powers and that a cabal is in charge of Federal Administration, Senator Ekweremadu says President Buhari has become a dictator.

Our democracy is still evolving and being deepened. The provisions of the separation of powers are entrenched in our Constitution and should guide everyone in our conduct. The rule of law is indeed supreme.

This particular case is before the judiciary and is not being decided by the Executive Arm of Government. All that has transpired is still within the confines of our laws. These are the rights to accuse, to be investigated and be arraigned before the court.

To impute other considerations to the process is unfortunate. We should allow the process to take its course, in consonance with the dictates of the law and total obeisance to the cardinal democratic principle of the separation of powers, he stated.
The Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has said that the Centenary City project conceived in 2014 by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, will stimulate $18billion foreign and domestic investment and also create 250,000 jobs.

The project has been bogged down by allegations and counter-allegations of non-adherence to due process in the allocation of 1,264.78 hectares to the developer of the Centenary City project, Centenary City Plc.

Following the uproar, the Committee on FCT, convened a public hearing where the various parties involved, including the FCT Administration and developer, testified.

In its final report, the Committee, which probed the legality or otherwise of the project, said due process was followed in the allocation of land for the project as well as other sundry issues.

The report, which was signed by the Committees Chairman, Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West), indicated there had been a lot of misinformation, misunderstanding and misconception about the project.

There is no gain saying the economic benefits are huge, the social benefits immeasurable, and the political benefits cannot be imagined.

We make bold to say that agencies of government should endeavor to come to terms with the fact that governments do not supervise private sector projects; government only regulates them. To discourage a project of this nature for any reason is a great disservice to the nation, a part of the report said.
Factional National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has appointed the immediate past vice chairman (South-South) of the party, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh as the factions Deputy National Chairman.

Ojougboh was one of the partys mainstream national officials that were sacked during the May 21 national convention of the party in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Ojougbohs letter of appointment was jointly signed by Sheriff and the factions National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo.

The letter reads, Please, be informed that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party in a meeting held on the 28th of June 2016, and having received nomination from the Concerned PDP stakeholders (Abuja Convention Group) and major stakeholders in the South-south has appointed you as the Acting Deputy National Chairman of the party pending the conduct of election to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of the erstwhile Deputy National Chairman. This appointment takes immediate effect.

Sheriff and Oladipo, through the letter, urged Ojougboh to discharge his functions with dedication to ensure the progress of the party.

Meanwhile, another set of chairmen of state chapters of the PDP yesterday endorsed Sheriff as the partys authentic National Chairman.

The endorsement of Mr. Sheriff came on the heels of Mondays pledge of loyalty by 23 state chairmen of the party to the Chairman of the Caretaker committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi.

While the pro-Makarfi state chairmen based their pledge to the caretaker committee on the decision of the botched May 21 convention, the pro-Sheriff set hinged their position on a ruling of a Lagos High Court, which restrained the party from electing a replacement for Sheriff.

Expressing appreciation for the visit by the state chairmen, Sheriff declared that the set of state chairmen that pledged loyalty to Makarfi were not the authentic chairmen.

He claimed that the party had yet to elect chairmen in 23 of the 36 states of the federation, adding that his mission was not to destroy the party but to rebuild it.

Sheriff, who declared readiness to step down as chairman if the court ruled against him, however, vowed never to succumb to pressure by the partys governors to quit.

The state chairmen, who declared support for Sheriff as national chairman were those of Ondo, Imo, Ogun, Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

The delegation later passed a vote of confidence in Sheriff.
The Kaduna State Police Command has arrested 10 suspected Boko Haram members, who reportedly fled Sambisa Forest in Borno State, in Dogarawa, the headquarters of Sabon Gari local government area of the state.

The suspected terrorists were arrested based on a tip-off by good Samaritans.

Some good Samaritans volunteered information to us on the activities of the suspects. We immediately mobilised with about 100 mobile police and we successfully surrounded the house the suspects were living in. We were able to apprehend them and they are in our custody at our headquarters, said the Area Police Commander in Charge of Zaria, Muhammad D. Shehu.

According to Shehu, preliminary interrogation had shown that the suspects were formerly at Darul Islam in Niger state, but moved to Sambisa forest to join Boko Haram when the settlement was sacked by the then state government.

The area commander said the heat brought upon insurgents in the Northeast by the Nigerian military had forced insurgents to flee to other areas, including Zaria.

Only God knows their mission here in Zaria, but my chat with them revealed that the guys were notorious. There was no sign of remorse with them. They were insisting that what they were doing was the right thing to do. This is why we are urging Nigerians to be wary of the people they live within their communities and report any suspicious movement to security agencies, Shehu said.
On this day in 2014, Gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram Islamic sect, attacked some communities in Chibok and Biu local government areas of Borno State, killing no fewer than 51 people.

Those killed were mostly Christian worshippers. Five churches including Cocin, EYN and Deeper Life Bible Church in Kwada village, about 10 kilometres from Chibok were also burnt down when the gunmen laid ambush on them during church service. The attacks were carried out on a day the Federal Government said last weeks bomb attack on Abuja was meant to intimidate the government and that it is a struggle for power.

Boko Haram had two weeks earlier written to Chibok communities threatening to carry out further attacks. The attackers, according to report from locals in Chibok, made good their threat at a time the people were all in Church for the Sunday worship.
Right on the heels of the successful street thriller Out of Luck, Inkblot Productions and Niyi Akinmolayan head back to the corporate world as they join forces again for the romantic legal drama The Arbitration.

This intriguing and scintillating story, stars O.C Ukeje, Adesua Etomi, Ireti Doyle, Beverly Naya, Sola Fosudo & more.

The Arbitration tells the story of Gbenga (O.C Ukeje) and his employee Dara (Adesua Etomi) who had an affair. After the affair ended and Dara left the company, she sued Gbenga and accused him of rape. An Arbitration panel was constituted to find out the truth.

The movie will hit the cinemas across Nigeria on August 12th 2016.
Governor Nyesom Wike has directed the immediate demolition of property acquired through proceeds from crimes in accordance with the state anti-kidnapping and cultism law.

This is just as he reiterated the state governments offer of amnesty to cultists and kidnappers who submit their arms to the state security agencies and commit themselves to honest living.

Speaking in a statement signed by Simeon Nwakaudu, his Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Governor Wike, in a company of the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state, Felix Obuah, soldiers and policemen, supervised the demolition of the home and hide out of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area notorious suspected cultist and kidnapper, Munachim Ihunwo in Rumuolumini community.

He restated administrations zero tolerance for cultism and kidnapping, warning that any suspect arrested will face the full weight of the law.

Wike noted that the arrested suspect and his boys have terrorised Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, creating insecurity in the commercial zone of the state.

He said: The Rivers State Government has taken over the criminal hideout of these arrested cultists. After the ongoing demolition of their hideout, we will build a police station and mini barrack in this location. We have also taken over the home of the kingpin that we have also demolished.

This is to let members of the public know that this administration is serious. We will not allow anyone to cause insecurity in this state. We will chase criminals to their hideout and recover crime.

Speaking further, Wike said: Let them submit their arms and we will give them amnesty.

The governor declared that his administration will continue to demolish the homes and hideouts of confirmed cultists and kidnappers to serve as a deterrent to would-be cultists and kidnappers.

While hailing the combined team of soldiers and policemen for effectively fighting criminals in the state, the governor appealed to the people of the state to continue to cooperate with security agencies by providing relevant information that will lead to the arrest of hardened criminals.

Earlier, Lieutenant Colonel AC Unaogu briefed Gov. Wike on the operation that led to the arrest of the suspected notorious cult kingpin, disclosing that Ihunwo runs a camp with 200 armed criminals.

He said that the security agencies are working round the clock to locate the said camp.

Unaogu said that the cult kingpin and his boys were captured in their hideouts, which has a shrine with human skulls.

It was learnt that the demolished home of the cult kingpin also has a tunnel and shrine with human skulls.

Wike also directed his Special Adviser on Lands, Anugbum Onuoha to begin the process for the government to acquire the lands hitherto owned by the suspected cultists.
Red Wednesday for Cotton Market Barchart - Wed Oct 26, 4:50PM CDT The cotton weakness continued through the midweek session, as futures ended the day another 35 to 65 points lower. The @USD fell again on Wednesday and is now 5,193 points (5 handles) below the 9/28 high... CTZ22 : 78.07 (+0.32%) CTH23 : 77.64 (+0.34%) CTK23 : 76.69 (-0.08%)

Hogs Close Off their Highs but Still In Black Barchart - Wed Oct 26, 4:50PM CDT Lean hog prices went home a nickel to 45 cents higher in the front month futures. For the Dec contract, that was a $1.05 drop from the days high. The USDA National Average Base Hog Price for Wednesday... HEZ22 : 88.500s (+0.06%) HEJ23 : 94.175s (+0.24%) KMZ22 : 96.725s (-0.82%)

Cattle Futures Firm Up on Wednesday Barchart - Wed Oct 26, 4:50PM CDT Live cattle resumed their upward momentum following the turnaround Tuesday. Futures went home 17 to 32 cents higher at the close. October was the outlier with another 22 cent drop by the bell. Feeder cattle... LEV22 : 151.450s (-0.15%) LEZ22 : 153.575s (+0.18%) LEG23 : 157.025s (+0.21%) GFV22 : 176.425s (-0.10%) GFX22 : 178.825s (+0.51%)

Midweek Loss for Corn Market Barchart - Wed Oct 26, 4:50PM CDT Corn futures ended the midweek session with 1 1/4 to 2 1/4 cent givebacks. December stayed in a tighter 6 1/2 cent range on the day. EIA reported ethanol production averaged 1.033 million barrels per... ZCZ22 : 685-0 (unch) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.7615 (-0.03%) ZCH23 : 690-2 (unch) ZCK23 : 690-0 (unch)

Soy Futures Close Mixed with Beans Fractionally Mixed Barchart - Wed Oct 26, 4:50PM CDT Soybean meal prices dropped 0.95% to 1.66% and soybean oil prices strengthened by 0.97% to 1.58% on the day leaving little room for beans through product values. That left soybean futures fractionally... ZSX22 : 1387-6 (+0.43%) ZSPAUS.CM : 13.3751 (+0.12%) ZSF23 : 1399-2 (+0.45%) ZSH23 : 1407-2 (+0.39%)

Livestock Report Walsh Trading - Wed Oct 26, 4:02PM CDT Cattle markets bounce back
OpenTech Alliance Inc., a Phoenix-based provider of self-storage kiosks, call-center services and other technology, has hired access-control expert Jon Loftin as vice president and product owner, reporting directly to company CEO Robert Chiti. In his role, Loftin will be responsible for the development of OpenTech's new IoE Solutions Platform, the details of which will be announced later in the year.

"We are proud that Jon has decided to join our management team. His values align nicely with OpenTech's, said Chiti. He puts customers first and will do whatever he can to make them happy  Jon's experience and knowledge with access-control systems, business, and people makes him the perfect person to lead our IoE initiative."

Loftin has held senior management roles in the self-storage industry for more than 25 years, according to an OpenTech press release. He previously worked for security companies The Chamberlain Group Inc. and Digitech International LLC. For the past five years, he has been leading sales, technical support, customer service and marketing for PTI Security Systems Inc., a provider of self-storage access-control and security solutions that was recently sold to Source Capital LLC. Loftin managed the dealer/installer networks for Chamberlain, Digitech and PTI.

"I have worked with the team at OpenTech for many years, and I have watched them continue to grow their company by developing innovative solutions and happy customers. I am excited about getting the opportunity to design, develop and launch an entirely new solution for the self-storage industry, built from ground-up on the latest technology available," Loftin said.

Loftin, who is based in Asheville, N.C., will travel regularly to OpenTech's headquarters in Phoenix, the release stated.

OpenTech provides several models of INSOMNIAC self-serve kiosks as well as a range of self-storage rental solutions including the INSOMNIAC Live! Call Center, INSOMNIAC Online Web and mobile applications, LiveAgent! software products, and the INSOMNIAC ILock Security System, all available through the company's self-storage cloud.
PTI Security Systems, a provider of access-control and security solutions to the self-storage industry, has been acquired by private equity firm Source Capital LLC. PTI founder Lance Comstock will assume the position of chairman and continue to provide strategic guidance to the company, according to a press release. Franklin Young will join the company as CEO, and Jeff Flowers will join as chief operating officer.

"The resources and strategic guidance provided by Source Capital will allow PTI to accelerate our current growth trajectory and capitalize on new opportunities," Comstock said.

PTI manufactures technology-enabled access-control and security solutions. Its product line includes access-control hardware and software, wired and wireless door alarms, individual unit overlock devices, and mobile access solutions. The company, which has more than 25,000 customers across 30-plus countries, operates through two U.S. locations as well as distributors in Asia, Australia and Europe.

"PTI has established itself as the clear market leader in the self-storage industry by providing innovative and high-quality solutions to its customers. We look forward to working closely with PTI, Franklin, Jeff and Lance to continue growing the company and expanding its suite of products, said Ben Emmons, managing director at Source Capital.

Founded in 2002, Source Capital makes control equity investments and mezzanine debt investments in mature, lower-middle-market U.S. companies across a range of industries. With offices in Atlanta and San Francisco, the company has completed acquisitions and invested across a range of verticals including business services, light manufacturing, consumer products and services, healthcare, and value-added distribution.
The European Union summit yesterday took on a somber tone as European Union leaders expressed their regret over the U.K.s decision to depart the EU, while urging outgoing U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron to begin the process as soon as possible to remove uncertainty from the markets. In a statement to reporters, German Chancellor Angela Merkel again reiterated her doubts that the situation was salvageable. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who has called for the U.K. to exit within weeks of the ascension of a new prime minister, will meet today with Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to discuss a referendum that would allow the semi-autonomous region of the U.K. to remain within the euro zone. The market reaction for U.S. investors has been swift: a rapid divergence between defensive sectors and a slumping broad equity market, combined with interest-rate derivatives markets that now imply no rate hike from the Federal Reserve for years to come.

Suicide bombers attack Istanbul airport. Multiple suicide bombers attacked Istanbuls international airport yesterday, with 40 bystanders reported killed and more than 200 injured. In a televised response, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim stated that Islamic State forces were likely responsible and promised a swift military response. The attack is likely to further depress tourism for Turkey, which has suffered after a series of terrorist attacks in recent months.

Energy Transfer Equity walks away from Williams deal. Today Energy Transfer Equity announced a termination of its agreement to merge with Williams Cos. At the time the deal was announced last year, the total value of the combined firms, both pipeline companies, was more than $33 billion. The move came days after a Delaware court ruled that the initial merger agreement could be broken after Energy Transfer was unable to secure desired tax treatment for the new entity.

New technology IPO filing. Data management company Talend filed for an initial public offering in the U.S. yesterday, with an initial target of $86 million. The French-headquartered firm is a portfolio company of tech private-equity sponsor Silver Lake. The book runners for the deal include Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan.

Confidence indicators slip in Europe. The European Union released Euro zone economic confidence survey readings for June today. The headline Economic Sentiment Index registered at 104.4, lower than both the prior month and consensus forecasts. Sector-specific readings were mixed with declines in both business climate and services sentiment, but manufacturing executives registered an improvement in the mood.

Alcoa releases plan for split. In a filing made today, Alcoa provided details regarding the structure of the two separate entities into which it will split. In a move to help the credit rating of the manufacturing company, to be named Arconic, the core metals business, which will retain the Alcoa name, will borrow up to $1 billion that will then pass through to its sibling firm. Arconic will own approximately 20 percent of the new Alcoa.

Nike results spark concerns about growth prospects. Footwear and apparel giant Nike released fiscal fourth-quarter results yesterday. While the firm beat consensus analyst estimates for profits during the period at $0.49 per share, future orders were weaker than forecast, growing 11 percent versus the same period last year. This slowdown in retail order growth has contributed to inventories rising some 12 percent year-over-year.
Wells Fargo Asset Management has a new boss, who seems to have followed her own advice that women should rise to the top. On June 1, Kristi Mitchem took over as president and CEO of Wells Fargo & Co.s $481 billion asset management arm in San Francisco, which includes the banks Wells Capital Management and its mutual fund business.

Mitchem succeeds Michael Niedermeyer, who retired in March after 28 years with the firm. She previously headed the Americas institutional client group at State Street Global Advisors, Boston-based State Street Corp.s asset management division, where her other roles included leading the global defined contribution group and assisting with leadership development.

Mitchem has recently been pushing to get more women into senior corporate positions, arguing that gender diversity is a powerful differentiator for companies. This year she put her muscle behind the SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity Index ETF, an exchange-traded fund that invests in businesses where females are well represented throughout senior leadership and on the board.

Mitchem helped to create the index for the $272 million ETF, which launched in March, by drawing on proprietary SSGA research identifying women-powered companies. The firm expects these corporations to outperform, and exhibit lower volatility than, their less gender-diverse peers. The SSGA fund, whose ticker symbol is SHE, was seeded with $250 million from the California State Teachers Retirement System, which may allocate as much as $500 million. Its holdings include Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway, Home Depot and software giant Oracle Corp.

Balanced teams of women and men making decisions together breaks groupthink, Mitchem told Institutional Investor in March. In her view, having a female chief executive or directors isnt enough: You cant judge a company based on having a woman CEO. Thats one person. And boards dont run companies.

Before joining SSGA in 2010, Mitchem briefly led BlackRocks U.S. defined contribution group and ran U.S. transition services for Barclays Global Investors, which New Yorkbased BlackRock had acquired in 2009. In her new role Mitchem, who holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is a former Fulbright Scholar, has taken the reins of an asset manager with a storied history.

In 1971, Wells Fargo created one of the first institutional index funds; 23 years later it launched one of the first target date fund lineups. Target date funds are now the most popular investments for 401(k) participants, gathering the majority of new fund flows. As part of a bank, Wells Fargo Asset Management has seen its share of upheaval. When its parent firm bought troubled Wachovia Bank during the 200809 financial crisis, the asset manager doubled in size by integrating Wachovias Evergreen Investments, which managed about $246 billion in 2008.

Mitchem has inherited one of Wells Fargos most promising groups, particularly as banks continue to retrench in traditional businesses in the wake of the financial crisis. The bank has said that it will keep committing resources to grow asset management, which requires less capital than other banking services and provides much steadier revenue.

Still, Mitchem will need to devise a strategy to confront challenges such as investors love affair with lower-cost, and less profitable, passive funds. In the first quarter of 2016, her firms assets were down 2 percent year-over-year, partly because of redemptions from equity funds and lower market valuations on its remaining holdings.

Follow Julie Segal on Twitter at @julie_segal.
CBL Corporation has announced that non-Brexit European insurers stand to benefit from the uncertainty and complexity of Britains exit from the EU  itself included.According to the ASX-listed insurer, it has already been approached over the weekend by European brokers seeking to bring their business to CBLs European insurance business, which is licensed in Ireland and already passported in most EU countries.Peter Harris, CBL managing director, said that the business is open to all opportunties afforded by Brexit.CBL is not a Brexit Insurer, and so we plan to be receptive and responsive to these opportunities, but we wont be dropping our underwriting standards of long term sustainable profit just to take an advantage of an unprecedented opportunity. Brexit is an excellent outcome for CBL.We also have capital available to increase CBL Insurance Europes capital base if this is required in the long term to take on a lot of profitable insurance business, said Harris.Harris explained that CBL has already added people to its underwriting and claims management in Europe over the past few months, and has recently secured the business of SFS  CBLs largest producer globally  in France, the timing of which acquisition, Harris said, could not have come at a better time.Harris is also of the opinion that insurers based in Europe but outside the UK and Gibraltar could benefit from the opportunities of Brexit.The UK and Gibraltar insurers are now having to deal with Brexit  on top of getting to grips with the complexity and solvency capital issues around Solvency II which took effect in Europe on 1January 2016.Harris also noted that unlike the UK which had a local domestic insurance market to sustain its operations, Gibraltar had none, which means most Gibraltar insurers would have to completely shift their entire domicile.Shifting an Insurers domicile is difficult and complicated because of the requirements around solvency capital, prudential management, and supervision. Satisfying some of those requirements, (some of which are still evolving), will take time in new jurisdictions  especially the jurisdictions which UK and Gibraltar insurers are going to consider shifting to or establishing a new subsidiary in.Setting up in a new domicile and getting licensed there as an insurer could take up to a year or more to satisfy all the requirements around policies, procedures, process, qualified senior executives and directors, let alone the higher levels of capital now required under Solvency II.According to a CBL statement, considering a new jurisdiction entails considering whether that new destination might also choose to pull out of the EU in the foreseeable future. Harris believes that the preferred jurisdictions for most Brexit insurers would be Ireland and Luxembourg. Other likely jurisdictions insurers would consider shifting to are Spain and Holland.I am sure that there is almost no likelihood of Ireland ever pulling out of the EU, and so our European Insurer is already in a good position to take advantage of Brexit, said Harris.Whatever strategy a Brexit insurer adopts, they are going to have to give clarity and certainty to their European markets, producers, and clients. If they dont already have their plans together, they are going to have problems retaining their business, and some European producers and clients are looking elsewhere  as CBL is already seeing.All our European clients want is clarity and certainty and that is where we are able to give them, said Harris.
There has been an increase of 2,300 roles across financial and insurance services between March 2016 to May 2016, according to the latest data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).The increase in financial services roles represents a slight improvement for the sector in the second quarter of 2016; and a 10 per cent increase in finance employment  or an additional 41, 000 roles  compared to 12 months ago, said recruitment specialist Robert Half.David Jones, senior managing director at Robert Half, Asia-Pacific, said: Employment trends in the financial services sector are in line with current volatility being experienced in the broader market.Noted Jones, the slight growth in financial services roles in the 2quarter of 2016 is in contrast to the downward trend experienced in the last quarter.This instability, Jones explained, reflects the underlying behaviour of the current labour market, which as the ABS trend data shows, is seeing a rise in part-time work.This [rise in part-time work] is not surprising given the overall easing in employment growth in Australia for the first half of 2016. The rise in part-time work is usually a sign of employers uncertainty about the strength of current demand, or worried about a softening demand in the future, said Jones.This, Jones continued, is where interim employment or a flexible hiring policy becomes an effective tool for employers.Recent research from Robert Half revealed that 85 per cent of Aussie CFOs, both in SMEs and large companies, plan to work with interim managers in 2016.82% of Australian CFOs say working with experienced interim managers is cost-effective and 81% say it is efficient. Companies who hire interim managers can gain strategic advantages on a cost reduced basis with greater flexibility, explained Jones.
Specialist insurance law firm Wotton + Kearney has announced one new partner and six new special counsels.Richard Johnson, an insurance law specialist with over 13 years of industry experience, has been promoted to partner in the firms Melbourne office.Johnson joined Wotton + Kearney in February 2015 as senior associate, and has since then, made significant contributions to the firm and the broader insurance industry. His areas of expertise include Public & Products Liability, Property Damage, and Subrogated Recoveries.Johnson has recently assisted insurer-clients in a number of complicated indemnity issues and has produced exceptional claims results across both liability and damage claims.Wotton + Kearney has also promoted senior lawyers Katie Shanks, Maryan Lee, Suzanne Craig, Andrew Brennan, Allison Hunt, and Jonathan Maher to special counsel. David Kearney , Wotton + Kearney chief executive partner, commented on the promotions: Our new senior promotions will strengthen the firms national offering and ensures that Wotton + Kearney has the capability to continue providing true partnering relationships to the insurance industry.
A new gunshot detection system developed and donated by a University of Connecticut alumnus is now in place at the school as part of a pilot program.

UConns police department over the past month installed the computer technology, which includes acoustic sensors that resemble smoke detectors, said Robert Hotaling, who developed the system for his New Haven-based security company, Verbi Inc.

Those are programmed to listen and identify the particular acoustic wave form of a gunshot, he said.

It differs from other more widely used shot detection systems, which record suspected gunfire, and then send those audio files over the internet to a human, who listens to determine whether shots were fired, Hotaling said.

Our system will do an algorithm to apply confidence and based on the confidence will automatically notify, he said. That means campus police can know if and where a shot was fired within seconds rather than minutes.

The system can send out notifications to a wider campus audience automatically via email, text message or text-to-voice phone calls, he said.

Hotaling, who graduated from UConn with an engineering degree in 2001, donated about $175,000 in equipment and support for the pilot program.

The system has so far been installed in just one high-traffic area of the campus, which UConn has declined to identify.

The school says it has not had a gunshot reported on campus in at least 20 years.

Were using it to be very proactive, Hans Rhynhart, UConns interim police chief, said in a statement. This is a great opportunity to test a brand-new system that has the potential to be really useful to our community.

The system will be integrated with the schools existing video surveillance systems and will activate the closest video camera to give authorities a real-time look at what is going on, Hotaling said.

Hotaling said the technology has been used by the military for about two decades but is only now being converted for civilian use.

He said he began working on the system following the December 2012 shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

Verbi entered the market about a year ago and so far has just one other client, he said.

We think that its really going to start rolling, he said. There is definitely a focus on this type of technology for schools and businesses across America.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Workers compensation insurer The MEMIC Group has appointed Gus Gonnella to the position of vice president of Claims for the Atlantic and Northeast regions.

In his more than 23 years of experience in the insurance claims industry, Gonnella has been vice president of workers compensation claims at XL Catlin (March 2015-June 2016) and assistant vice president of workers compensation claims at ACE Group, now Chubb (December 2012-March 2015) prior to joining MEMIC.

Portland, Maine-based The MEMIC Group includes MEMIC Indemnity Co., MEMIC Casualty Co. and parent company, Maine Employers Mutual Insurance Co. The MEMIC Group wrote more than $300 million in workers compensation premium in 2015.

Topics Claims Workers' Compensation AXA XL
A lack of adequate liability insurance has put an end to a project honoring military veterans by flying American flags on utility poles in Maines smallest town.

The Kennebec Journal reports Randolph Fire Association fundraised for about a year before buying and mounting 20 flags along the towns traffic corridors. But because Randolph technically rents the poles from the utility and its insurance doesnt meet a $5 million coverage threshold, the flags came down.

To keep the flags up, town officials would have to purchase an insurance rider for the additional coverage. Although the rider would only cost about $500, theres no more money budgeted for the project.

Fire association member Jim Kimball says he cant fathom why its so expensive to mount the flags for three months.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics USA Maine
Coordinated suicide attacks at Istanbuls international airport killed at least 40 people, tearing through the terminal at one of the busiest travel times of the year as Turkey struggles to contain the spillover from Syrias civil war.

Islamic State is likely responsible for the killings, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in televised remarks. Once an affiliate of al-Qaeda, Islamic State carried out beheadings and crucifixions as it took parts of Syria and northern Iraq. While losing ground in recent months, it is striking abroad more frequently and claimed responsibility for similar airport attacks in Brussels in March.

Thirteen foreigners are thought be among the dead, the Istanbul governors office said, as the attack promised to further worsen Turkeys already deep tourism crisis.

AbduRahman Hussein, a filmmaker from Sanaa, Yemen, was about to eat at one of the terminals second-floor restaurants when he heard shots and explosions.

I saw the smoke, he said in a direct message on Facebook. Then I started running away. He posted pictures of shattered glass and people running.

Assessing Damage

Three suicide bombers opened fire and then blew themselves up in rapid succession at the airport around 9:20 p.m., Yildirim said from the Istanbul airport, where he assessed the damage and met with emergency personnel. The attacks left more than 200 people wounded, the governors office in Istanbul said by phone on Wednesday. Many of Turkeys children ended school terms this month, which coincides with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Once again, it has been understood that terrorism is a global threat to all countries and nations and must be fought through mutual cooperation, Yildirim said. Our country has the necessary power and determination to overcome over these heinous attacks.

The assaults took place near security checkpoints at the entrance to the airports arrivals hall. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told lawmakers in parliament earlier that at least one attacker had sprayed gunfire from a Kalashnikov automatic assault rifle. None of the assailants got past security controls, according to a Turkish official who asked not to be identified because hes not authorized to talk to the press. He said two of them detonated their vests at the arrival hall, and a third in a nearby parking lot.

Normal air traffic resumed at the airport as of 2:20 a.m. local time, according to Yildirim. Turkish Airlines, the national carrier, and TAV Havalimanlari, which operates the Ataturk airport, fell as much as 3.5 percent and 6.7 percent respectively in early trading in Istanbul on Wednesday. The attacks forced Turkish Airlines to cancel 340 flights, CNN-Turk television said on its website. The lira tracked gains across emerging currencies and was trading at 2.8950 against per dollar at 11:06 a.m. in Istanbul.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Both Islamist, leftist and Kurdish militants have carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in recent months, hammering the nations vital tourism. Tourist arrivals to Turkey fell almost 35 percent in May from a year earlier, the fastest drop in at least a decade and following a 28 percent decline in April.

Erdogan said in an e-mailed statement that the Istanbul airport attack was an effort to hurt Turkeys image. For the terrorist organizations, theres no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, he said, urging all countries to join forces against terrorism.

Spread of Violence

Turkey is likely to step up its border security and counter-terrorism cooperation with the U.S., according to Gonul Tol, a Turkey analyst at the Middle East Institute, a Washington research center. With Turkish-backed rebels in Syria on the defensive against Syrian government forces aided by Russia, the attacks put a spotlight on the governments unpopular Syria policy, he added.

The government will do its best to control the way the media frames the attack and divert attention from the governments Syria policy to external factors contributing to the growth of ISIS threat, he said, using another acronym for Islamic State.

The attack is also the latest to target airports and the aviation industry in the Middle East and Europe, coming three months after suicide bombers struck Brussels airport. It serves as reminder of the vulnerability of airport lobbies and other public places where large numbers of people congregate, said Hans Weber, an aviation consultant in San Diego.

The probability of copycat attacks goes way up high after one of those attacks, said Weber, who advised the U.S. federal government on airport security issues following the Sept. 11 attacks. From a terrorist perspective, Brussels was a success. You can see how they would be motivated to copy that.

Ending Rifts

Last year, a Russian passenger jet was brought down over the Sinai Peninsula after taking off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. Islamic States affiliate in Egypt claimed responsibility.

The U.S. is still collecting information and trying to ascertain who carried out the Istanbul blast, Secretary of State John Kerry said at a conference in Aspen, Colorado. He said such attacks have become daily fare at a time when the world needs to counter violence by non-state actors.

The White House condemned the attack and expressed support for Turkey, a NATO ally. Both the main candidates to take over from President Barack Obama also weighed in. The presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, said the U.S. must deepen our cooperation with our allies and partners in the Middle East and Europe, and her likely Republican opponent, Donald Trump, said the U.S. must take steps now to protect America from terrorists.

Earlier this week, Erdogan ended a six-year rift with Israel and unexpectedly moved to mend ties with Russia, as he attempts to draw a line under diplomatic confrontations that had sapped the economy and left him increasingly isolated in the region.

This only affirms how it makes sense for Turkey to find more allies and narrow the battlefields, Nail Olpak, head of the Musiad business group said in a statement. The business group is allied with Erdogan. People have been massacred at a time of increasing hope, Olpak said.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters USA Russia Aviation
Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked Republicans plan to partially fund President Barack Obamas request for funding to tackle the Zika virus and attach it to other items Democrats dismissed as partisan, setting off a bitter round of sniping ahead of the July 4th recess.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas called Democrats sore losers and said they, not Republicans, will pay a political price for blocking the $1.1 billion Zika funding package, which was to be attached to a funding bill for veterans and military construction.

Here we are in an utterly absurd position, playing political games as this public health crisis mounts here in our country, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said after the vote. Pregnant women all across America are looking at this with dismay, utter dismay.

The measure was blocked on a 52-48 vote, short of the 60-vote threshold needed to advance it. Democratic leaders called for a new round of negotiations to produce a bipartisan bill.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats have been trying for months to pass President Barack Obamas request for $1.9 billion to fund Zika control efforts. The Republican measure blocked Tuesday would take away funding from birth control, veterans and combating Ebola, he said.

It is unbelievable that somebody would have the audacity to come to the floor and say its Democrats fault, said Reid of Nevada. A significant amount of American women, especially young women, go to Planned Parenthood, he said. The Republicans said you cant do that.

First Case

Shortly before the vote, the Florida Department of Health announced the first Zika-linked case in the state of a baby born with microcephaly, to a Haitian woman who contracted the virus abroad.

McConnell said the measure was senators last chance to provide Zika funding for weeks because the chamber will be off next week for the July 4 holiday. But Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the third-ranking Democrat, said the package was a bill designed to fail.

Democrats say the package is filled with poison pills, forcing them to vote against the Republican-written plan.

Among the items Democrats objected to were limits on family-planning services, which Democrats called a back door cut to Planned Parenthood; a suspension of Clean Water Act rules on use of some pesticides without EPA approval; funding for veterans that was $500 million below what the Senate passed; and the deletion of a provision sought by Democrats to stop flying the Confederate battle flag at veterans cemeteries.

Veto Threat

The White House has said Obama would veto the measure, H.R. 2577, if it reached his desk.

Reid also said it would set a bad precedent to require funding for emergencies to be offset by cutting federal spending elsewhere. Typically, emergency spending is paid for by borrowing.

Cornyn said Monday that Democrats want to spend $1.9 billion in emergency spending with no offsets. He added, Busting the budget caps is more important to them than the public health and women who might suffer from birth defects.

Cornyn didnt sound open to renegotiating the bill.

This is their shot. I think there is going to be a heavy price to pay when this virus hits our shore and women start having babies with terrible birth defects, Cornyn said. I wouldnt want to be in their position.

Obama requested $1.9 billion to fight the virus in February, but Republicans didnt act for months and ultimately balked at the price tag. A $1.1 billion emergency plan passed the Senate as an amendment to a spending bill last month on a 68-30 vote, with most Republicans, including Cornyn, voting against it because it would add to the deficit.

Florida Focus

Democrats have been pounding Republicans for failing to act for months, particularly in the key battleground state of Florida.

Senator Marco Rubio, who changed his mind and decided to seek re-election this year, has been the most visible Republican pushing for Congress to act. He now faces the unwelcome prospect of going home for another recess and explaining why his party was unable to enact any funding yet again.

Im frustrated that we havent dealt with this, quickly, effectively, weeks ago, before the middle of the summer, middle of mosquito season, Rubio told reporters Monday.

Rubio said he had hoped the measure would be the full $1.9 billion on its own, as the president requested.

I wish it didnt have all these strings attached, because it would have been easier to pass a long time ago, but not doing anything is no longer an option, he said.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Florida Pollution Politics
MarketScout, an insurance distribution and underwriting company headquartered in Dallas, announced that McGowan Program Administrators (MPA) has joined the MarketScout Exchange as a certified market specialist for community associations, hospitality and real estate.

The MarketScout Exchange specializes in connecting thousands of retail agents with pre-qualified best of class third party MGAs, carriers and program managers. Companies posted on the MarketScout Exchange have passed the criteria to be affirmed as a certified market specialist.

McGowan Program Administrators is an insurance operation of The McGowan Companies. Others include McGowan Excess & Casualty (MEC), McGowan, Donnelly & Oberheu, LLC (MDO), McGowan Governmental Underwriters (MGU), and McGowan Risk Specialists (MRS).

Source: MarketScout
Former Gov. Bobby Jindals privatization of claims processing and loss prevention services for Louisianas self-insurance program saved the state money, though less than projected, according to an audit released on June 27.

The Jindal administration privatized the Office of Risk Management work in June 2010, awarding the $75 million contract to Mandeville-based F.A. Richard and Associates Inc., or FARA.

Legislative Auditor Daryl Purperas office said FARA  which held the privatization deal through June 2015  saved the state $9.8 million over five years, rather than the $22 million projected by the Jindal administration.

Also, FARA fell short of a contractual savings obligation.

The company only reached $44 million of the $50 million in guaranteed claims and litigation payment savings required under the contract, according to Purperas office.

The audit says FARA owed the state $185,288 for not reaching the savings target, but the state only billed for $59,252 of that. The Office of Risk Management used a different calculation to determine how much was owed for falling short of the savings target.

The risk management office is Louisianas self-insurer, with agencies paying premiums for lines of insurance covering items such as medical malpractice, workers compensation cases, property damage and road hazards.

A different company now holds the risk management contract with the state.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Louisiana Risk Management
Police are looking for two Lexington, Ky., men charged with stealing guitars from music stores.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports arrest warrants have been issued for 37-year-old Jeremiah Hager and 35-year-old Jerason L. Banks. Police say Hager was charged with several counts of felony shoplifting and receiving stolen property. Banks is charged with one count of receiving stolen property.

Police say the men allegedly stole nine guitars from four music stores and pawned them earlier this month. Six of the stolen guitars have been recovered.

Police are seeking tips on the mens whereabouts.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Fraud Law Enforcement Kentucky
Tennessee state workplace safety investigators are looking into the death of a contract employee at the M&M Mars plant in southeastern Tennessee.

Multiple media outlets report that the worker for Cleveland-based Custom Mechanical Contractors died at the plant on June 23.

A Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigator was sent to the plant after the death was reported, and returned again the following day. The agency does not release information about its investigations until a final report is issued.

Mars in 2013 completed a $67 million expansion of the 650,000-square-foot Cleveland plant. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported at the time that the plant could make up to 330 million M&Ms per day, and 72 tons of Twix in 12 hours.

The factory opened in 1979.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Tennessee
Pillar two will change the international tax system forever. Here Christian Kaeser, global head of tax at Siemens, looks at how businesses and tax administrations can simplify pillar two compliance.
La Russia era ed e ancora pronta a risolvere il problema ucraino attraverso la diplomazia, ma alle sue condizioni. Lo ha ribadito il portavoce del Cremlino, Dmitry Peskov.

E opportuno ricordare ancora una volta che tali termini sono stati concordati a Istanbul da entrambe le parti, russa e ucraina, ha aggiunto Peskov, citato dallagenzia Tass. Successivamente, ha insistito il portavoce, Kiev ha abbandonato quellaccordo, ma Mosca rimane pronta a negoziati su quelle basi, che prevedevano in sostanza una separazione delle trattative riguardanti la neutralita di Kiev da quelle sul futuro della Crimea e del Donbass.

Schroeder: Putin vuole una soluzione negoziata

Lex cancelliere tedesco Gerhard Schroeder, amico di Vladimir Putin, ha affermato che il presidente russo vuole una soluzione negoziata della guerra in Ucraina e che laccordo di luglio sulle spedizioni del grano ucraino potrebbe offrire una possibile via di uscita dalla crisi.

La buona notizia e che il Cremlino vuole una soluzione negoziata, ha detto Schroeder al settimanale Stern e alle emittenti RTL/Ntv, aggiungendo di aver incontrato Putin a Mosca la scorsa settimana. Un primo successo e laccordo sul grano, che forse puo essere lentamente esteso a un cessate il fuoco, ha aggiunto.

GdF Brescia sequestra 141 milioni di euro allarchitetto di Putin

La guerra si gioca anche sul piano economico. La Guardia di Finanza di Brescia ha effettuato stamani un sequestro da 141 milioni di euro tra beni mobili e immobili eseguito nei confronti di Lanfranco Cirillo, imprenditore, 63 anni. Cirillo (conosciuto come larchitetto di Vladimir Putin e di altri 44 oligarchi) e accusato di reati fiscali e tributari. Tra i beni sequestrati ci sono abitazioni di lusso, conti correnti, denaro contante, gioielli, opere di arte moderna e contemporanea di autori famosi e persino un elicottero.

Aiea: A Zaporizhzhia situazione fuori controllo

Rafael Grossi, direttore generale dellAgenzia internazionale per lenergia atomica (AIEA), ha dichiarato che la situazione relativa alla centrale nucleare di Zaporizhzhia, sequestrata allinizio di marzo dalle truppe russe, sta diventando ogni giorno piu pericolosa. Ogni principio di sicurezza nucleare e stato violato nellimpianto, ha detto Grossi. La posta in gioco e estremamente grave e pericolosa, ha aggiunto, spiegando che lintegrita fisica dellimpianto non e stata rispettata.
Si parla della sua presenza alla 76 mostra del cinema di Venezia, in programma dal 28 agosto al 7 settembre. L'attesissimo film The Pope di Fernando Meirelles con Jonathan Pryce nel ruolo di Bergoglio e Anthony Hopkins in quello di Ratzinger scandaglia una delle pagine piu sorprendenti e inedite di duemila anni di storia della Chiesa: la coabitazione in Vaticano di due pontefici. Storia e cronaca si incrociano, nella memoria di vaticanista. Per far luce su quanto accaduto nel crepuscolo del proprio pontificato, Benedetto XVI ha affidato la relazione sullo scandalo Vatileaks a tre cardinali ultra-ottantenni, quindi non piu elettori in conclave e fuori dalle logiche di unelezione pontificia. Cio significava consentire di indagare al massimo livello sulle responsabilita interne al Vaticano senza che le verita scoperte potessero entrare nella Cappella Sistina camminando sulle gambe di porporati inquisitori. A Julian Herranz, Jozef Tomko e Salvatore De Giorgi, Benedetto XVI assegno lincarico di venire a capo della fuga di documenti riservati e il compito venne svolto in profondita. Subito dopo la rinuncia al pontificato, Joseph Ratzinger crollo fisicamente e si temette addirittura per la vita: era molto fragile, pur conservando una strepitosa lucidita mentale. Ma poi, dopo un paio di settimane, si riprese e torno a essere il formidabile maestro di dottrina, lo stesso che aiuto Karol Wojtyla in un quarto di secolo di pontificato. E che, abdicando, desacralizzo e demitizzo la figura del Papa, distinguendo in modo radicale e rivoluzionario la funzione dalla persona. Un gesto che probabilmente avrebbe potuto compiere solo un rigoroso teologo proveniente dalla terra di Lutero, grande accusatore dei mali del papato e della corte vaticana.

Armonia e ammirazione

Un gesto modernissimo che lascio in quel momento la Chiesa, e il mondo, spiazzati e senza parole - osserva il vescovo Giancarlo Vecerrica -. La motivazione fu certamente l'impossibilita di procedere nella guida della Chiesa per il venir meno delle forze con l'eta che avanzava. Decise cosi che, in futuro, avrebbe vissuto una vita da monaco, in contemplazione, e che avrebbe servito la Chiesa in altro modo, cioe pregando. Da qui la scelta di vivere nel monastero Mater Ecclesiae all'interno del Vaticano, immerso nei giardini dove spesso va a pregare. Riceve visite e continua a informarsi, a leggere. Prega e ascolta musica. Fortissimo il legame con il suo successore Francesco. Si sentono telefonicamente e si incontrano. In alcune occasioni pubbliche Bergoglio lo ha voluto accanto a se. Come all'apertura del Giubileo della Misericordia l'8 dicembre 2015, dove Ratzinger ha varcato la soglia, dopo Francesco, come primo pellegrino dell'Anno Santo. Francesco, sente molto vicino a se Benedetto e spesso si confronta con lui per alcune scelte importanti. Afferma padre Federico Lombardi, ex portavoce della Santa Sede e presidente della Fondazione Ratzinger: Il modo in cui il Papa emerito vive gli anni successivi alla rinuncia al pontificato corrisponde a quello che ci aveva detto, cioe vivere nella preghiera, nel ritiro spirituale e con estrema discrezione, fornendo il suo servizio di accompagnamento nella preghiera della vita della Chiesa e di solidarieta anche con il suo successore, proprio nella sua responsabilita e, tutto cio, in piena serenita. Francesco ha sempre detto di sentire molto il sostegno di questa presenza e di questa preghiera e, racconta padre Lombardi, di aver coltivato questo rapporto, a volte con delle visite, a volte con delle chiamate telefoniche, certamente con molti segni di familiarita, di rispetto e di attesa del sostegno spirituale.

Realta bella e inedita

La coabitazione di due papi, aggiunge Lombardi, e una realta inedita ma bella e consolante: tutte le volte che vediamo delle immagini di Francesco e il suo predecessore insieme e una grande gioia per tutti e un bell'esempio di unione nella Chiesa, nella varieta delle condizioni. Unarmonia e un'ammirazione testimoniate dal pensiero rivolto da Francesco al suo predecessore in occasione del suo 65 anniversario di sacerdozio. Santita, oggi festeggiamo la storia di una chiamata iniziata 65 anni fa con la sua Ordinazione sacerdotale, avvenuta nella Cattedrale di Freising il 29 giugno 1951  disse Jorge Mario Bergoglio -. Ma qual e la nota di fondo che percorre questa lunga storia e che da quel primo inizio sino a oggi la domina sempre piu? In una delle tante belle pagine che Lei dedica al sacerdozio sottolinea come, nellora della chiamata definitiva di Simone, Gesu, guardandolo, in fondo gli chiede una cosa sola: Mi ami?. Quanto e bello e vero questo! Perche e qui, Lei ci dice, in quel mi ami? che il Signore fonda il pascere, perche solo se ce lamore per il Signore Lui puo pascere attraverso di noi: Signore, tu sai tutto, tu sai che ti amo. E laugurio con il quale desidero concludere e percio un augurio che rivolgo a Lei e insieme a tutti noi e alla Chiesa intera: che Lei, Santita, possa continuare a sentire la mano del Dio misericordioso che La sorregge, che possa sperimentare e testimoniarci l'amore di Dio; che, con Pietro e Paolo, possa continuare a esultare di grande gioia mentre cammina verso la meta della fede!. Altrettanto suggestiva la risposta di Benedetto XVI: Santo Padre, cari fratelli, 65 anni fa, un fratello ordinato con me ha deciso di scrivere sulla immaginetta di ricordo della prima Messa soltanto, eccetto il nome e le date, una parola, in greco: 'Eucharistomen', convinto che, con questa parola, nelle sue tante dimensioni, e gia detto tutto quanto si possa dire in questo momento. 'Eucharistomen': un grazie umano, grazie a tutti. Grazie soprattutto a Lei, Santo Padre! La Sua bonta, dal primo momento dellelezione, in ogni momento della mia vita qui, mi colpisce, mi porta realmente, interiormente. Piu che nei Giardini Vaticani, con la loro bellezza, la Sua bonta e il luogo dove abito: mi sento protetto. Grazie anche della parola di ringraziamento, di tutto. E speriamo che Lei potra andare avanti con noi tutti su questa via della Misericordia Divina, mostrando la strada di Gesu, verso Gesu, verso Dio. 'Eucharistomen' ci rimanda a quella realta di ringraziamento, a quella nuova dimensione che Cristo ha dato. Lui ha trasformato in ringraziamento, e cosi in benedizione, la croce, la sofferenza, tutto il male del mondo. E cosi, fondamentalmente, ha traslato la vita e il mondo e ci ha dato e ci da ogni giorno il Pane della vera vita, che supera il mondo grazie alla forza del Suo amore. Alla fine, vogliamo inserirci in questo 'grazie' del Signore, e cosi ricevere realmente la novita della vita e aiutare per la transustanziazione del mondo: che sia un mondo non di morte, ma di vita; un mondo nel quale lamore ha vinto la morte. Grazie a tutti voi. Il Signore ci benedica tutti. Grazie, Santo Padre.
The U.K. is the highest net exporter of financial services and London, with its convenient time zone, use of English and feather-light regulations, is the worlds financial capital. Various cities, including Venice and Amsterdam, have held and lost the title throughout history.

Brexit and the possible loss of passporting rights of firms in Britain have raised questions about whether the city can keep its position at the heart of international monetary system. But how did it get there? We briefly trace the history.

The City of London

Londons primary financial district is actually a city in itself. Known as The City of London, it was established a few years after the Roman invasion in AD 50 on the north bank of the river Thames and even has its own mayor and governing body called City of London Corporation.

Like other ports, commerce flourished in the City and it drew merchants and entrepreneurs from all over. Historian Peter Borsay says London's population went from 50,000-60,000 in the 1520s to a million by the end of the 18th century. Between 1650 and 1750, it saw the arrival of 8,000 immigrants a year, according to historical demographer Tony Wrigley. These merchants established guilds and wielded great influence and power. They were able to secure autonomy and special freedoms and rights for the residents that businesses in the area enjoy to this day.

The merchants also went into banking and developed the sector. The Bank of England, which stands in the middle of the City, was a private corporation started by merchants in 1694 during the Nine Year War to fund the governments military efforts. It received various long-term privileges and became a monopoly.

Coffee houses, numerous within the Citys walls around this time, were used as makeshift offices that would become financial institutions. The London Stock Exchange was started by stockbrokers who conducted business in Jonathans Coffee House in Change Alley. Similarly, the insurance market Lloyds of London was named after a coffee house on Tower Street that was used by marine underwriters.

Map drawn of the City by Robert Walton in 1676 displays the various guild halls. Harvard Library

There was hardly any question as to which city in the U.K. financial activities would concentrate in. An ancient banking tradition, a major port, the capital seat, the hub of the railroad network built after 1830, all forces were brought to bear on the single locality, itself with a minor ambivalence between the City and the West End. The Irish and Scottish different banking systems reached across their boundaries and linked up with London, wrote economic historian Charles P. Kindleberger in The Formation of Financial Centers.

International Competition

London borrowed and improved upon financial innovations from Amsterdam, the worlds trading and financial center in the 17th century. It developed a market-centered system as opposed to the bank-centered one in the Dutch city and grew more dominant in the 18th century as the Netherlands witnessed an economic and political decline.

London then competed with Paris to be the biggest global financial hub until the mid-19thcentury. Paris lost out in 1848 when the Bank of France suspended specie payments after France lost a war with Prussia.

Since the suspension of specie payments by the Bank of France, its use as a reservoir of specie is at an end. No one can draw a cheque on it and be sure of getting gold or silver for that cheque. Accordingly the whole liability for such international payments in cash is thrown on the Bank of England, wrote Walter Bagehot in his famous 1873 book Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market. "London has become the sole great settling-house of exchange transactions in Europe, instead of being formerly one of two. And this pre-eminence London will probably maintain, for it is a natural pre-eminence. The number of mercantile bills drawn upon London incalculably surpasses those drawn on any other European city; London is the place which receives more than any other place, and pays more than any other place, and therefore it is the natural clearing house. The pre-eminence of Paris partly arose from a distribution of political power, which is already disturbed.

London held supreme until the start of the First World War, when Kindleberger says it began to have difficulty in maintaining its role as a center for foreign reserves and a source of short- and long-term credit.

This period saw the U.S. gain importance as a financier and the New York Stock Exchange overtook the London Stock Exchange. New York was briefly the financial center of the world after the Second World War until the Eurodollar market developed in the 1950s and London took a lions share of it, according to Kindleberger. English common law meant the Bank of England could allow the lightly regulated, offshore market to flourish, and hundreds of foreign banks set up branches in London.

The U.S. had its own version of common law and could have adopted and developed the parallel market in New York, but its government chose not to and stuck to strict financial regulations.

Economist Ronen Palan explained that this was because while the U.S. was a rising hegemonic power focused on developing its manufacturing and commercial sector, the British Empire was a declining hegemonic state with a weak manufacturing and commercial sector and a relatively powerful financial sector.

The City of London developed at the heart of the British Empire, somewhat divorced from the U.K.s mainland economic needs, to finance trading and manufacturing throughout the formal and informal British Empire, he wrote. Although nationalized in 1948, the Bank of England remained effectively under the control of the Citys commercial banks. The Bank of England consistently pursued policies that favored the Citys position as a world financial center, even when such policies were seen as harmful to the UKs mainland manufacturing needs. The pound was consistently overvalued, interest rates relatively high, in a country that saw a declining manufacturing sector.

But the Square Mile hadnt definitively beaten Wall Street yet.

The Big Bang to Brexit

In October 1979, Britain removed controls on foreign exchange placed during the Second World War. Nicholas Goodison, chair of the London Stock Exchange at the time, told the New York Times the restrictions had done a lot of harm to London as one of the leading financial centers.

Seven years later, the citys financial markets were deregulated in a move so tremendous that it was dubbed the "Big Bang. The removal of fixed rate commissions, entry of foreign companies and switch to electronic trading helped kick off a financial revolution that would cement Londons place as the global financial capital. The average daily turnover of the London Stock Exchange rose from 500 million pounds in 1986 to over $2 billion in 1995. Small British firms were bought off by international players and the culture of the country's financial sector changed forever. The city also became a hub for the multitrillion-dollar global derivatives market in the '90s.

London has enjoyed a good run since, but Brexit is a cloud that hangs over its skyscrapers.

Consultancy firm EY said assets worth nearly 800 billion pounds were being moved from Britain to other European financial centers in the run up to the March 29 exit date.

Brexit also threatens the city's access to foreign talent, which it has relied on for centuries. In 2017, 18% of the workforce in the City was born in Europe, versus 7% for the whole country.

Vying for London's position in Europe are Dublin, Luxembourg, Frankfurt and Paris. After being toppled from the top spot in the eighteenth century, Amsterdam may regain some of its former glory, too. In September, Reuters reported that 20 financial firms are applying for licenses to operate in the city.

New York has already replaced London as the financial center of the world, according to a survey by London-based think-tank Z/Yen. A new chapter begins.
The annual impact of leaving the EU on the UK after 15 years (difference from being in the EU) EEA Negotiated bilateral agreement WTO GDP level  central -3.8% -6.2% -7.5% GDP level -3.4% to -4.3% -4.6% to -7.8% -5.4% to -9.5% GDP per capita  central* -1,100 -1,800 -2,100 GDP per capita* -1,000 to -1,200 -1,300 to -2,200 -1,500 to -2,700 GPD per household  central* -2,600 -4,300 -5,200 GDP per household* -2,400 to -2,900 -3,200 to -5,400 -3,700 to -6,600 Net impact on receipts -20 billion -36 billion -45 billion

*Expressed in terms of 2015 GDP in 2015 prices, rounded to the nearest 100

Adapted from HM Treasury analysis: the long-term economic impact of EU membership and the alternatives, April 2016.

Leave supporters discounted such economic projections under the label "Project Fear." A pro-Brexit outfit associated with the U.K. Independence Party, which was founded to oppose EU membership, responded by saying that the Treasury's "worst-case scenario of 4,300 per household is a bargain-basement price for the restoration of national independence and safe, secure borders."

Although Leavers stressed issues of national pride, safety, and sovereignty, they also mustered economic arguments. For example, Boris Johnson said on the eve of the vote, "EU politicians would be banging down the door for a trade deal" the day after the vote, in light of their "commercial interests." Labor Leave, the pro-Brexit Labour group, co-authored a report with a group of economists in September 2017 that forecasted a 7% boost to annual GDP, with the largest gains going to the lowest earners.

Vote Leave, the official pro-Brexit campaign, topped the "Why Vote Leave" page on its website with the claim that the U.K. could save 350 million per week: "We can spend our money on our priorities like the NHS [National Health Service], schools, and housing."

In May 2016, the U.K. Statistics Authority, an independent public body, said the figure was gross rather than net, which was "misleading and undermines trust in official statistics." A mid-June poll by Ipsos MORI, however, found that 47% of the country believed the claim. The day after the referendum, Nigel Farage, who co-founded UKIP and led it until that November, disavowed the figure and said that he was not closely associated with Vote Leave. May also declined to confirm Vote Leave's NHS promises since taking office.

Brexit Economic Response

Though Britain officially left the EU, 2020 was a transition and implementation period. Trade and customs continued during that time, so there wasn't much on a day-to-day basis that seemed different to U.K. residents. Even so, the decision to leave the EU had an effect on Britain's economy.

The country's GDP growth slowed down to around 1.4% in 2018 from 1.9% in both 2017 and 2016 as business investment slumped. The IMF predicted that the country's economy would grow at 1.3% in 2019 and 1.4% in 2020. The Bank of England cut its growth forecast for 2019 to 1.2%, the lowest since the financial crisis.

The U.K. unemployment rate hit a 44-year low at 3.9% in the three months to January 2019. Experts attribute this to employers preferring to retain workers instead of investing in new major projects.

In 2018, the pound clawed back the losses it suffered after the Brexit vote but reacted negatively as the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit increased. The currency could rally if a soft Brexit deal is passed or Brexit is delayed.

While the fall in the value of the pound helped exporters, the higher price of imports was passed onto consumers and had a significant impact on the annual inflation rate. CPI inflation hit 3.1% in the 12 months leading up to November 2017, a near six-year high that well exceeded the Bank of England's 2% target. Inflation eventually began to fall in 2018 with the decline in oil and gas prices and was at 1.8% in January 2019.

A July 2017 report by the House of Lords cited evidence that U.K. businesses would have to raise wages to attract native-born workers following Brexit, which is "likely to lead to higher prices for consumers."

International trade was expected to fall due to Brexit, even with the possibility of a raft of free trade deals. Dr. Monique Ebell, former associate research director at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, forecasted a -22% reduction in total U.K. goods and services trade if EU membership was replaced by a free trade agreement.

Other free trade agreements were not predicted to pick up the slack. In fact, Ebell saw a pact with the BRIICS (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China, and South Africa) boosting total trade by 2.2% while a pact with the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand was expected to do slightly better, at 2.6%.

"The single market is a very deep and comprehensive trade agreement aimed at reducing non-tariff barriers," Ebell wrote in January 2017, "while most non-EU [free trade agreements] seem to be quite ineffective at reducing the non-tariff barriers that are important for services trade."

June 2017 General Election

On April 18, May called for a snap election to be held on June 8, despite previous promises not to hold one until 2020. Polling at the time suggested May would expand on her slim Parliamentary majority of 330 seats (there are 650 seats in the Commons). Labor gained rapidly in the polls, however, aided by an embarrassing Tory flip-flop on a proposal for estates to fund end-of-life care.

The Conservatives lost their majority, winning 318 seats to Labor's 262. The Scottish National Party won 35, with other parties taking 35. The resulting hung Parliament cast doubts on May's mandate to negotiate Brexit and led the leaders of Labor and the Liberal Democrats to call on May to resign.

Speaking in front of the prime minister's residence at 10 Downing Street, May batted away calls for her to leave her post, saying, "It is clear that only the Conservative and Unionist Party"the Tories' official name"has the legitimacy and ability to provide that certainty by commanding a majority in the House of Commons." The Conservatives struck a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, which won 10 seats, to form a coalition. The party is little known outside of Northern Ireland, judging by a wave of curious Google searches that caused the DUP's site to crash.

May presented the election as a chance for the Conservatives to solidify their mandate and strengthen their negotiating position with Brussels. But this backfired.

"The election served to diffuse, not concentrate political power, especially with regards to Brexit," wrote Sky News political correspondent Lewis Goodall. "Ever since election night, Brussels hasn't just been dealing with Number 10 but in effect, the House of Commons too."

In the wake of the election, many expected the government's Brexit position to soften, and they were right. May released a Brexit white paper in July 2018 that mentioned an "association agreement" and a free-trade area for goods with the EU. David Davis resigned as Brexit secretary and Boris Johnson resigned as Foreign Secretary in protest.

But the election also increased the possibility of a no-deal Brexit. The Financial Times predicted that the result made May more vulnerable to pressure from Euroskeptics and her coalition partners. We saw this play out with the Irish backstop tussle.

With her position weakened, May struggled to unite her party behind her deal and keep control of Brexit.

Scotland's Independence Referendum

Politicians in Scotland pushed for a second independence referendum in the wake of the Brexit vote, but the results of the June 8, 2017 election cast a pall over their efforts. The Scottish National Party lost 21 seats in the Westminster Parliament, and on June 27, 2017, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said her government at Holyrood would "reset" its timetable on independence to focus on delivering a "soft Brexit."

Not one Scottish local area voted to leave the EU, according to the U.K.'s Electoral Commission, though Moray came close at 49.9%. The country as a whole rejected the referendum by 62.0% to 38.0%. But because Scotland only contains 8.4% of the U.K.'s population, its vote to Remain (along with that of Northern Ireland, which accounts for just 2.9% of the U.K.'s population) was vastly outweighed by support for Brexit in England and Wales.

Scotland joined England and Wales to form Great Britain in 1707, and the relationship has been tumultuous at times. The SNP, which was founded in the 1930s, had just six of 650 seats in Westminster in 2010. The following year, however, it formed a majority government in the devolved Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, partly owing to its promise to hold a referendum on Scottish independence.

2014 Scottish Independence Referendum

That referendum, held in 2014, saw the pro-independence side lose with 44.7% of the vote; turnout was 84.6%. Far from putting the independence issue to rest, though, the vote fired up nationalist support. The SNP won 56 of 59 Scottish seats at Westminster the following year, overtaking the Lib Dems to become the third-largest party in the U.K. overall. Britain's electoral map suddenly showed a glaring divide between England and Wales, which was dominated by Tory blue with the occasional patch of Labour red, and all-yellow Scotland.

When Britain voted to leave the EU, Scotland fulminated. A combination of rising nationalism and strong support for Europe led almost immediately to calls for a new independence referendum. When the Supreme Court ruled on Nov. 3, 2017, that devolved national assemblies such as Scotland's parliament cannot veto Brexit, the demands grew louder.

On March 13 that year, Sturgeon called for a second referendum to be held in the autumn of 2018 or spring of 2019. Holyrood backed her by a vote of 69 to 59 on March 28, the day before May's government triggered Article 50.

Sturgeon's preferred timing was significant since the two-year countdown initiated by Article 50 ended in the spring of 2019 when the politics surrounding Brexit could be particularly volatile.

What Would Independence Look Like?

Scotland's economic situation also raised questions about its hypothetical future as an independent country. The crash in the oil price has dealt a blow to government finances. In May 2014, it forecast 20152016 tax receipts from North Sea drilling of 3.4 billion to 9 billion but collected 60 million, less than 1% of the forecasts' midpoint.

In reality, these figures were hypothetical, since Scotland's finances are not fully devolved, but the estimates were based on the country's geographical share of North Sea drilling, so they illustrate what it might expect as an independent nation.

The debate over what currency an independent Scotland would use was revived. Former SNP leader Alex Salmond, who was Scotland's First Minister until Nov. 2014, told The Financial Times that the country could abandon the pound and introduce its own currency, allowing it to float freely or pegging it to sterling. He ruled out joining the euro, but others contended that it would be required for Scotland to join the EU. Another possibility would be to use the pound, which would mean forfeiting control over monetary policy.

Upsides for Some

On the other hand, a weak currency that floats on global markets can be a boon to U.K. producers who export goods. Industries that rely heavily on exports could actually see some benefit.

In 2015, the top 10 exports from the U.K. were (in USD):

Machines, engines, pumps: US$63.9 billion (13.9% of total exports) Gems, precious metals: $53 billion (11.5%) Vehicles: $50.7 billion (11%) Pharmaceuticals: $36 billion (7.8%) Oil: $33.2 billion (7.2%) Electronic equipment: $29 billion (6.3%) Aircraft, spacecraft: $18.9 billion (4.1%) Medical and technical equipment: $18.4 billion (4%) Organic chemicals: $14 billion (3%) Plastics: $11.8 billion (2.6%)

Some sectors were prepared to benefit from the exit. Multinationals listed on the FTSE 100 saw earnings rise as a result of a soft pound. A weak currency was also a boon to the tourism, energy, and service industries.

In May 2016, the State Bank of India (SBIN.NS), India's largest commercial bank, suggested that Brexit would benefit India economically. While leaving the Eurozone meant that the U.K. no longer had unfettered access to Europe's single market, it would allow for more focus on trade with India. India would also have more wiggle room if the U.K. was no longer under European trade rules and regulations.

UK-EU Trade After Brexit

May advocated a "hard" Brexit. By that, she meant that Britain should leave the EU's single market and customs union, then negotiate a trade deal to govern their future relationship. These negotiations would have been conducted during a transition period once a divorce deal was ratified.

The Conservatives' poor showing in the June 2017 snap election called popular support for a hard Brexit into question. Many in the press speculated that the government could take a softer line. The Brexit White Paper released in July 2018 revealed plans for a softer Brexit. It was too soft for many MPs belonging to her party and too audacious for the EU.

The White Paper said the government planned to leave the EU single market and customs union. However, it proposed the creation of a free trade area for goods which would "avoid the need for customs and regulatory checks at the border and mean that businesses would not need to complete costly customs declarations. And it would enable products to only undergo one set of approvals and authorizations in either market, before being sold in both." This meant the U.K. would follow EU single market rules when it comes to goods.

The White Paper acknowledged that a borderless customs arrangement with the EUone that allowed the U.K. to negotiate free trade agreements with third countrieswas "broader in scope than any other that exists between the EU and a third country."

The government was correct that there was no example of this kind of relationship in Europe today. The four broad precedents that existed were the EU's relationship with Norway, Switzerland, Canada, and WTO members.

The Norway Model: Join the EEA

The first option was for the U.K. to join Norway, Iceland, and Lichtenstein in the European Economic Area (EEA), which provides access to the EU's single market for most goods and services (agriculture and fisheries are excluded). At the same time, the EEA is outside the customs union, so Britain could have entered into trade deals with non-EU countries.

But the arrangement was hardly a win-win. The U.K. would be bound by some EU laws while losing its ability to influence those laws through the country's European Council and European Parliament voting rights. In September 2017, May called this arrangement an unacceptable "loss of democratic control."

David Davis expressed interest in the Norway model in response to a question he received at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington. "It's something we've thought about but it's not at the top of our list." He was referring specifically to the European Free Trade Association, which like the EEA offers access to the single market, but not the customs union.

EFTA was once a large organization, but most of its members left to join the EU. Today, it comprises Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein, and Switzerland; all but Switzerland are also members of the EEA.

The Switzerland Model

Switzerland's relationship with the EU, which is governed by around 20 major bilateral pacts with the bloc, is broadly similar to the EEA arrangement. Along with these three, Switzerland is a member of the European Free Trade Association. Switzerland helped set up the EEA, but its people rejected membership in a 1992 referendum.

The country allows the free movement of people and is a member of the passport-free Schengen Area. It is subject to many single market rules, without having much say in making them. It is outside the customs union, allowing it to negotiate free trade agreements with third countries; usually, but not always, it has negotiated alongside the EEA countries. Switzerland has access to the single market for goods (with the exception of agriculture), but not services (with the exception of insurance). It pays a modest amount into the EU's budget.

Brexit supporters who wanted to "take back control" wouldn't have embraced the concessions the Swiss made on immigration, budget payments, and single market rules. The EU would probably not have wanted a relationship modeled on the Swiss example, either: Switzerland's membership in EFTA but not the EEA, Schengen but not the EU, is a messy product of the complex history of European integration andwhat elsea referendum.

The Canada Model: A Free Trade Agreement

A third option was to negotiate a free trade agreement with the EU along the lines of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, a pact the EU finalized but didn't fully ratify with Canada. The most obvious problem with this approach is that the U.K. had only two years from the triggering of Article 50 to negotiate such a deal. The EU refused to discuss a future trading relationship until December of that year at the earliest.

To give a sense of how tight that timetable is, CETA negotiations began in 2009 and concluded in 2014. But just over half of the EU's 28 national parliaments actually ratified the deal. Persuading the rest could take years. Even subnational legislatures can stand in the way of a deal: the Walloon regional parliament, which represents fewer than four million mainly French-speaking Belgians, single-handedly blocked CETA for a few days in 2016.

In order to extend the two-year deadline for leaving the EU, Britain needed unanimous approval from the EU. Several U.K. politicians, including Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, stressed the need for a transitional deal of a few years so that (among other reasons) Britain could negotiate EU and third-country trade deals. But this notion was met with resistance from hard-line Brexiteers.

Problems with a CETA-Style Agreement

In some ways, comparing Britain's situation to Canada's is misleading. Canada already enjoys free trade with the U.S. through the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which was built on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This means that a trade deal with the EU was not as crucial as it is for the U.K. Canada's and Britain's economies are also very different: CETA does not include financial services, one of Britain's biggest exports to the EU.

Speaking in Florence in Sept. 2017, May said the U.K. and EU "can do so much better" than a CETA-style trade agreement, since they were beginning from the "unprecedented position" of sharing a body of rules and regulations. She did not elaborate on what "much better" looked like, besides calling on both parties to be "creative as well as practical."

Monique Ebell, formerly of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research stressed that even with an agreement in place, non-tariff barriers were likely to be a significant drag on Britain's trade with the EU. She expected total U.K. foreign tradenot just flows to and from the EUunder an EU-U.K. trade pact. She reasoned that free-trade deals do not generally handle services trade well. Services are a major component of Britain's international trade; the country enjoys a trade surplus in that segment, which is not the case for goods.

Free trade deals also struggle to rein in non-tariff barriers. Admittedly Britain and the EU started from a unified regulatory scheme, but divergences would only multiply post-Brexit.

WTO: Go It Alone

You want out? You're out. If Britain and the EU weren't able to come to an agreement about their relationship, they would have had to revert to WTO terms. But this default solution wouldn't have been straightforward either. Since Britain is currently a WTO member through the EU, it will have to split tariff schedules with the bloc and divvy out liabilities arising from ongoing trade disputes. This work has already begun.

Trading with the EU on WTO terms was the "no-deal" scenario the Conservative government presented as an acceptable fallback, though most observers see this as a negotiating tactic. In July 2017, U.K. Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox said, "People talk about the WTO as if it would be the end of the world. But they forget that is how they currently trade with the United States, with China, with Japan, with India, with the Gulf, and our trading relationship is strong and healthy."

But for certain industries, the EU's external tariff would have hit hard: Britain exports 77% of the cars it manufactures, and 58% of these go to Europe. The EU levies 10% tariffs on imported cars. Monique Ebell of the NIESR estimated that leaving the EU single market would reduce overall U.K. goods and services tradenot just that with the EUby 2230%.

Nor would the U.K. only be giving up its trade arrangements with the EU: under any of the scenarios above, it would probably have lost the trade agreements the bloc struck with 63 third countries, as well as progress in negotiating other deals. Replacing these and adding new ones would have been an uncertain prospect. In a September 2017 interview with Politico, Trade Secretary Liam Fox said his office, which was formed in July 2016, turned away some third countries looking to negotiate free trade deals because it lacked the capacity to negotiate.

Fox wanted to roll the terms of existing EU trade deals over into new agreements, but some countries were unwilling to give Britain (66 million people, $2.6 trillion GDP) the same terms as the EU (excluding Britain, around 440 million people, $13.9 trillion GDP).

Negotiations with third countries are technically not allowed while Britain remains an EU member, but even so informal talks have begun, particularly with the U.S.

Impact on the U.S.

Companies in the U.S. across a wide variety of sectors have made large investments in the U.K. over many years. In fact, American corporations have derived 9% of global foreign affiliate profit from the United Kingdom since 2000. In 2014 alone, U.S. companies invested a total of $588 billion into Britain. The U.S. also hires a lot of Brits, making U.S. companies one of the U.K.'s largest job markets. The output of U.S. affiliates in the United Kingdom was $153 billion in 2013. The United Kingdom plays a vital role in corporate America's global infrastructure from assets under management (AUM), international sales, and research and development (R&D) advancements.

American companies have viewed Britain as a strategic gateway to other countries in the European Union. Brexit will jeopardize the affiliate earnings and stock prices of many companies strategically aligned with the United Kingdom, which may see them reconsider their operations with U.K. and European Union members.

American companies and investors that have exposure to European banks and credit markets may be affected by credit risk. European banks may have to replace $123 billion in securities depending on how the exit unfolds. Furthermore, U.K. debt may not be included in European banks' emergency cash reserves, creating liquidity problems. European asset-backed securities have been in decline since 2007. This decline is likely to intensify now that Britain has chosen to leave.

Who's Next to Leave the EU?

Political wrangling over Europe is not limited to Britain. Most EU members have strong euroskeptic movements that, while they have so far struggled to win power at the national level, heavily influence the tenor of national politics. In a few countries, there is a chance that such movements could secure referendums on EU membership.

In May 2016, global research firm IPSOS released a report showing that a majority of respondents in Italy and France believe their countries should hold a referendum on EU membership.

Italy

The fragile Italian banking sector has driven a wedge between the EU and the Italian government, which provided bailout funds to save mom-and-pop bondholders from being "bailed-in," as EU rules stipulate. The government abandoned its 2019 budget when the EU threatened it with sanctions. It lowered its planned budget deficit from 2.5% of GDP to 2.04%.

Matteo Salvini, the far-right head of Italy's Northern League and the country's deputy prime minister, called for a referendum on EU membership hours after the Brexit vote, saying, "This vote was a slap in the face for all those who say that Europe is their own business and Italians don't have to meddle with that."

The Northern League has an ally in the populist Five Star Movement, whose founder, former comedian Beppe Grillo, called for a referendum on Italy's membership in the eurothough not the EU. The two parties formed a coalition government in 2018 and made Giuseppe Conte prime minister. Conte ruled out the possibility of "Italexit" in 2018 during the budget standoff.

France

Marine Le Pen, the leader of France's euroskeptic National Front, hailed the Brexit vote as a win for nationalism and sovereignty across Europe: "Like a lot of French people, I'm very happy that the U.K. people held on and made the right choice. What we thought was impossible yesterday has now become possible." She lost the French presidential election to Emmanuel Macron in May 2017, gaining just 33.9% of votes.

Macron has warned that the demand for "Frexit" will grow if the EU does not see reforms. According to a February 2019 IFOP poll, 40% of French citizens want the country to leave the EU. Frexit is also one of the demands of the yellow vest protesters.

When Did Britain Officially Leave the European Union? Britain officially left the EU on Jan. 31, 2020, at 11 p.m. GMT. The move came after a referendum voted in favor of Brexit on June 23, 2016.

What Were the Reasons Behind Brexit? There were many reasons why Britain voted to leave the European Union. But some of the main issues behind Brexit included a rise in nationalism, immigration, political autonomy, and the economy. The Leave side garnered almost 52% of the votes while the Remain side received about 48% of the vote.

How Many Countries Are Part of the EU Post-Brexit? Britain's departure from the European Union left 27 member states. They are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden,

The Bottom Line

The European Union was established in November 1993 with the Maastricht Treaty. The original members included Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Fifteen other countries would gain membership in the union. Rising nationalist sentiment, coupled with concerns over the economy and British sovereignty led the majority of voters in the U.K. to leave the EU. Britain left the union at the end of January 2020 in what is commonly called Brexit. But the move didn't come without challenges. It required two years of negotiating a deal and a year-long transition period before everything became final.
Facebook has more than 2.8 billion monthly active users worldwide, but virtually no footprint in China. Thats because the service, the parent company of which is now known as Meta (META), is banned in that country, along with many other global social media providers. The Chinese government controls internet content and restricts, deletes, or bans content it deems is not in the interest of the state. That roster has grown into a long list of companies.

Key Takeaways The 'Great Firewall' in China prevents Internet users from viewing or posting socially or politically sensitive content.

The Great Firewall targets many foreign internet companies, sites, and services in particular.

Facebook is blocked in China, and the parent company Meta's efforts to court China have been rebuffed.

Meanwhile, homegrown services such as TikTok, WeChat, Sina Weibo, and Tencent QQ flourish under the watchful eye of government censors.

Despite the ban, there are a few ways to access Facebook and other blocked sites in China, like VPNs and proxy websites.

Timeline of Actions

Chinese authorities blocked Facebookalong with Twitter and Google servicesin July 2009 following riots in Xinjiang, a special autonomous region in western China. The crackdown was aimed at curtailing communications among independence activists.

China is considered to have one of the most extensive and sophisticated censorship regimes in the world. Dubbed the "Great Firewall," a number of methods are employed to control online expression, including website blocking and keyword filtering, censoring social media, and arresting content posters who broach sensitive or political issues. A host of government agencies wield authority over the internet in China, such as the Central Propaganda Department and the Ministry of Public Security. In 2014, the government established the Cyberspace Administration of China as the main body for Internet censorship in China.

The Great Firewall prevents users from accessing foreign news sites such as the BBC, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. Foreign web services that are blocked include Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Yahoo, Slack, and YouTube.

In 2018, Facebook attempted to set up a $30 million subsidiary in Hangzhou to incubate start-ups and give advice to local businesses. Permission to run the start-up was quickly withdrawn.

Despite not being able to operate in China, Meta derives significant revenue from the country. In its 2020 annual report, the company said it generated "meaningful revenue from a limited number of resellers representing advertisers based in China." Pivotal Research Group estimated that number to be $5 billion. Meet Social, a Shenzhen-based advertising reseller, said it would place between $1 billion and $2 billion in advertising on Facebook and Instagram in 2019.

Macau and Hong Kong, China's special administrative regions, do have access to Facebook, as they operate under the Chinese mantra of "One Country, Two Systems."

Who Is Successful in Chinese Social Media?

While the Great Firewall has kept foreign internet companies at bay, homegrown companies have been allowed to flourish. Some of the larger players include e-commerce retailers Alibaba (BABA) and JD.com (JD), search engine Baidu (BIDU), and micro-blogging service Sina Weibo (WB). Tencent QQ and WeChat are popular messaging apps similar to WhatsApp, while Tudou and Youku are China's version of YouTube.

Some Chinese Internet companies have enjoyed considerable success abroad. Beijing-based ByteDance runs the short-form video app TikTok, estimated to have 600 million daily users worldwide.

In addition to being banned in China, Facebook is also blocked in North Korea and Iran.

How to Access Facebook in China

Despite the ban, there are a few ways to access Facebook and other blocked sites in China. Below are three options:

Virtual private networks (VPN) are indispensable to travelers and foreigners living in China. Though VPNs are sometimes blocked and difficult to use, foreigners report they remain available. It is suggested you secure several VPN subscriptions before entering China, and always assume traffic is being monitored.

A proxy website is another option, though these can also be monitored.

Tor helps users to surf the internet anonymously. However, hackers in China have found ways to prevent users from accessing the network.

The Future of Facebook in China

The Great Firewall prevents U.S. internet companies from establishing a foothold in China. Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer of Meta, has made several high-profile visits to China, with little progress. The site has been blocked since 2009, though Facebook still manages to earn some revenue via advertising reseller networks. As long as strict controls remain in place, it appears Facebook and others will remain on the sidelines.
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) goes against the grain. In todays world of shopping via smartphone and next-day delivery, Costco remains the largest warehouse retailer in the United States. Its secret is simple: Instead of trying to compete on margins alone, the company sells membership cards. And it sells a lot of them.

Costco counted roughly 111.6 million membership households in eight countries in 2021. That brought in roughly $3.8 billion a year in membership fees alone. The company boasts a membership renewal rate of over 89%, so even when sales are depressed it has a decent and predictable cushion of revenue.

That's good for investors who have already bought in, but it means that Costco's shares are never really priced low.

Key Takeaways Costco is a popular alternative to traditional retailers because it offers consumer goods at wholesale prices.

Membership sales are key to Costco's business model. In 2021, the company made $3.8 billion in membership fees alone.

Costco has a unique and highly profitable business model but it was late to adapt to the e-commerce world.

The company is now seeking to develop its online presence through e-commerce, same-day or two-day deliveries.

28% of Costco's U.S. net sales are in California, exposing the company to any potential economic downturns in that state.



Getting in at the Right Price

Investors are willing to pay more per share relative to the company's earnings because they believe the company will be able to continue to grow going forward. As of Oct. 29, 2021, Costco's shares were trading at $491.54, a growth of over 20% from the previous year.

A Premium Price

Costco had a trailing twelve months price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 40.02, and that is fairly high for its industry. In comparison, the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has a P/E ratio of 11.7.

Costco has a dividend yield of 0.71%, which could help make up for the high prices, but some other companies are priced lower and pay a higher dividend. For instance, Wal-Mart is priced at $139 and has a dividend yield of 1.58%.

Costco is expanding its in-store pickup option, an advantage over pure online retail competitors.

Those high share prices are good news for current investors, but prospective buyers might be cautious about investing in a stock that has already reached consistently high prices. Future gains will depend on the company's ability to continue growing its offerings and customer base.



The E-Commerce Issue

While getting in at the right price is good advice for any investment, the risk is particularly pronounced in Costco stock. There's still a question of whether the company will be able to keep up with its customers' changing habits. Online shopping and e-commerce represent potential threats to Costco's business model, allowing customers to find the lowest prices from their own homes.

Although Costco still commands significant customer loyalty, many shoppers are steadily shifting to online shopping via smartphones or laptops.

That Was Then

Back in late 2014, Costco, in a 10-K filing, acknowledged that a multichannel experience is critical to remaining competitive in the modern economy. The company identified the need to keep pace with its members' expectations as well as new developments in the retail space.

Costco said that it was making technology investments in its website and mobile apps, but it cautioned, "If we are unable to make, improve or develop relevant member-facing technology in a timely manner, our ability to compete and our results of operations could be adversely affected."

Initially, it didn't look like Costco's business model adapted well to that hyper-connected reality. "We're not going to be the company that delivers two different kinds of cereal to your doorstep at 7 a.m. as long as you order by 10 p.m. the night before," said chief financial officer (CFO) Richard Galanti in a conference call back in 2015.

111 million The number of households with Costco memberships in FY 2021.

A Strategic Recalculation

Galanti may have revised his thoughts since then, as the e-commerce juggernaut rolls on.

By 2021, Costco had launched e-commerce websites in eight countries, with same-day grocery delivery at most of its locations in the mainland U.S. E-commerce comparable sales were up 44% over the prior year, driven largely by an 80% increase in the first half of the year.

The company also expanded its in-store pickup option, one of the rare instances for which brick-and-mortar retail has an edge on Amazon (for now).

When Galanti made that comment about delivering groceries overnight, e-commerce accounted for just 3% of Costco's net sales. By 2021, the figure had reached 7%. That's good growth, though perhaps not enough to keep Amazon's Jeff Bezos awake at night.

The Business Model

Costco's brick-and-mortar business model is still the heart of the operation. Everything is in a warehouse setting, and the selection is limited. Pricing is unique to each store or area, and it is based as much on local' shopping habits as it is on whatever deals Costco can negotiate.

The value of being a member comes from customers purchasing staples and other necessities in bulk, and perhaps filling up their tanks on pantry-stocking trips. The margins on those items are low, but Costco makes it work through high-volume selling and the membership system.

Supply Chain Fragility

As a global retailer with operations in many countries, Costco is particularly vulnerable to supply-chain disruptions, particularly of perishable goods. This fragility became evident at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the company had to limit purchases of basic goods like toilet paper and bottled water.

Although supplies later returned to pre-pandemic levels, the company still considers it a potential threat to Costco's business operations. Although the company does not rely on any one supplier or product, any major disruption to the global supply chains could affect the company as well.

As the company explained in their latest SEC filing, the pandemic "is continuing to impact the global supply chain, with restrictions and limitations on business activities causing disruption and delay, which have strained certain domestic and international supply chains, and could continue to negatively affect the flow or availability of certain products."



Customer Loyalty Is Key

Investors should understand Costco's business model before investing in the company's stock because it is a very real risk given current trends.

If Costco's members end up deciding that membership is not worth itfor example, if they find that they can find similar deals at Amazon or Walmart without ever having to leave the house, or if they decide they can buy better-quality goods for a similar pricethe company loses out.

There is the issue of membership fees, which are essential to the company's business model. Another factor to watch is Kirkland Signature, Costco's private label. Because Costco owns the brand, it earns a higher margin on its products. If there is a quality issue, and the company is no longer able to command loyalty to the Kirkland Signature brand, Costco's profits will suffer.

All Roads Lead to California

Then there is the issue of geography. While Costco had roughly 815 warehouses around the world in mid-2021, the bulk of its income still comes from the U.S. As such, its sales are vulnerable to the domestic economy, which is not an unusual risk.

However, 28% of Costco's domestic sales come from a single state, California. The state's economy is strong right now, but if that changes, Costco's sales could take a hit. The company is also a defendant in several California lawsuits, many of them class actions by former employees. Unfavorable judgments in these litigations could damage Costco's profitability and business operations.


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A massive survey on the political leanings of Catholic ethnic groups in the United States has revealed a great divide between the beliefs of two of the largest demographics: white (non-Hispanic) Catholics, and Latino Catholics.

The survey of 2,600 individuals, carried out by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution, both in Washington, DC, reveals that the two groups are profoundly split on a number of issues that will be of great importance to the 2016 election.

The Catholic News Service reports that 38 percent of those in the Catholic Church self-identify as Hispanic and 54 percent of the national Catholic population self-identifies as white, non-Hispanic, making them the two largest ethnic and racial groups in the U.S. Catholic Church.

Robert P. Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, told the CNS that the two groups are in different universes. They form a fairly clear political divide between liberal and conservative values. Furthermore, as Dan Cox, PRRIs research director, noted, when it comes to views about immigrants and certain immigration policies, the views of white Catholics are much more closely aligned with white evangelical Protestants than Latino Catholics.

As reported by the CNS:

More than three-quarters, or 77 percent, of Hispanic Catholics favor allowing immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally an opportunity to become citizens, compared to 55 percent of white Catholics.

A majority of white Catholics (64 percent) said American culture and way of life has changed for the worse since 1950s, while 62 percent of Latino Catholics say American culture has changed for the better since the 1950s.

A majority of white Catholics (68 percent) said they are bothered when they come into contact with immigrants who speak little or no English, compared to 17 percent of Latino Catholics who answered the same question.

A majority (51 percent) of white Catholics favor construction of a wall between the United States and Mexico, while 26 percent of Latino Catholics favor the same.

A majority (52 percent) of white Catholics support a temporary ban on Muslims from other countries from entering the United States, while 25 percent of Latino Catholics support such a ban.

No religious group expresses more apprehension about terrorism than Hispanic Catholics, with 70 percent, or 7 in 10 of Hispanic Catholics, saying they feel at least somewhat worried about terrorism affecting them or their family, compared to 54 percent of white Catholics.

The article also noted that the majority beliefs among white Catholics regarding the construction of a wall between the US and Mexico and a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants were largely contrary to the views publically expressed by Pope Francis, U.S. bishops and members of the clergy.
Vice President Joe Bidens historic visit to Ireland last week is remembered in a video narrated by the VP himself who has Mayo and Louth roots.

The first part of the video shows Biden and family at the 5,000-year-old Newgrange historic site and the extraordinary passageway where the winter solstice light shines through from one end of the passageway to the other.

Biden is next pictured in the Cooley, County Louth, graveyard where his great-great-grandfather is buried. The graveyard has been there since the 11th century.

He then visits Finnegans Pub in the village where his Finnegan relatives are related to the current owners.

Biden says at the end how proud he is of his Irish heritage and how the Irish gave so much to America.

Biden was in Ireland for six days and also was a special guest at the Ireland Fund dinner, in Trinity College Dublin.

In his poetry, my great-grandfather Edward Francis Blewitt spoke of both continents -- how his heart and soul drew from the old and the new. You can hear in his poems how quietly proud he was. Proud of his ancestors. Proud of his blood. Proud of his city. Most of all, he was proud of his family. The Irish families who left for America during the famine and since then brought their traditions, their values, and their heart with them. They have made our country better. As have so many immigrant families from around the world. They are America. And so, with the words of my great-grandfather in mind, I reflect on this trip with an immense pride in my heritage -- but with an even greater pride in the country I call home. Here's a parting look at our trip to Ireland. Posted by Vice President Biden 44 on Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Read more: Joe Biden says Brexit vote not a good outcome in Dublin speech
In 1971 I returned to Dublin for the first time since my family immigrated to New York in 1954. On my to-do list was to visit the matriarch of the McEvoy family, my Aunt Kathleen, who lived in Great Western Square in Phibsborough in Dublin.

Kathleen was legend in the family. She was born Catherine McEvoy in Clogher Head in County Louth (not too far from Termonfeckin, the dirtiest sounding town in all of Ireland!) in 1897. She was to be the first of 14 children born to my grandparents, John McEvoy and Katie Dillon. She was famous for her kindnesses to her brothers and sisters, many of whom she helped immigrate to America. She was a devout Catholic and would become a mother to a priest and a nun. She knew the hardness of life for a young girl on a farm. Although never stated, there was always disappointment when a female child was born because she could not physically work the farm. Thus, by 1916 she found herself working as a servant girl in Dublin.

Since 1966, the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising, Id developed a keen interest in Irish revolutionary history. My father was given the gift of a book, "The Irish Uprising 1916-1922," which had many photos and a great deal of text related to the insurrection. There was also a record narrated by CBS correspondent Charles Kuralt, with music supplied by the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. Many of the old rebels told their stories on the record. The first time I saw a photo of Michael Collins and read of Bloody Sunday, I was hooked.

Being the suspicious, cynical New Yorker I am, I asked Aunt Kathleen if the revolution was as bad as it seemed. She looked me straight in the eye and told me that in 1916 she had seen British soldiers shoot innocent men and it had marked her for life. After the Easter Rising, she had gone out and joined the Cumann na mBan, the womens auxiliary of the IRA. The British had turned this country girl with strong religious convictions into an urban revolutionary.

Aunt Kathleens story stuck in my head, but I didnt know the specific details of what, exactly, she had been involved in. In Dublin, my cousin Terry ONeill, Kathleens grandson, began to fill in the pieces. He learned that Kathleen had been at the Louth Dairy at 27 North King Street during Easter Week. In fact, when she married Dick Bartley at Halston Street (St. Michans) Church in 1918, she put that address down as her home. (I am told by another cousin, Kathleens son Monsignor Vincent Bartley, that Kathleen became life-long friends with Mrs. May Lawless and I now believe that she probably went to work at the Louth Dairy after the Rising and also resided on the premises.)

For years now, Ive suspected that Kathleen, because she lived on North King Street, was talking about the North King Street Massacre when she spoke to me in 1971. Terrys legwork brought verification of this belief in the form of witness statements that the survivors made before the Coroners Court in May 1916.

Daly and Heuston Make the British See Red

The murders of fifteen innocent civilian men on North King Street were the direct result of the military brilliance of Commandant Ned Daly at the Four Courts and Captain Sean Heuston directly across the Liffey at the Mendicity Institute. (Both of them were executed in May 1916.) Heuston, with few men, held the British off for 50 hours as they tried to advance across the Liffey from the Royal (now Collins) Barracks to reinforce Dublin Castle. At the Four Courts Dalys men advanced down Church Street, just to the left of the Courts, and reached North King Street where they bloodily met the British. (Church and North King is also the same street where Kevin Barry would be unluckily captured by the British four years later.)

The British officer in charge of the area said, This whole neighborhood was strongly held by the rebels, who had elaborately prepared and fortified it against the military with barricades across the street, and by taking out house windows and sandbagging them, etc.

Apparently, the beating that Daly and Heuston put on the British did not go down well. To put it mildly, the men of Daly and Heuston out-soldiered their British opponents. In the North King Street area the British suffered losses of 16 dead and 31 wounded. Their frustration with the rebels guerrilla street warfare might have been the reason they turned vicious against the local innocent civilians andas General Sir John Grenfell Maxwell, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., C.V.O., D.S.O., the man now in charge of Dublin, was to say latersaw red.

Possibly unfortunate incidents, stated Maxwell after the rebellion, which we should regret now, may have occurred. It did not, perhaps, always follow where shots were fired from a particular house the inmates were always necessarily aware of it or guilty, but how were the soldiers to discriminate? They saw their comrades killed beside them by hidden and treacherous assailants, and it is even possible that under the horrors of this peculiar attack some of them saw red.  Translated into English: its okay to shoot first and ask questions later.

The rebels played fair in the dirty game of warand the British couldnt stomach it. Maxwell was obviously looking for an excuse for his mens immoral actions. Captain R.K. Bereton, J.P., who was a prisoner of the Volunteers in the Four Courts the whole of Easter Week defended his captors: What impressed me most was the international tone adopted by the Sinn Fein officers. They were not out for massacre, for burning or for loot. They were out for war, observing all the rules of civilized warfare and fighting clean. So far as I saw they fought like gentlemen. They had possession of the restaurant in the [Four] Courts, stocked with spirits and champagne and other wines, yet there were no signs of drinking. I was informed that they were all total abstainers. They treated their prisoners with the utmost courtesy and consideration, in fact they proved by their conduct that they were men of education incapable of acts of brutality.

Herbert Henry Asquith, the British Prime Minister, also disagreed with Maxwell, the man he sent to Dublin to put down the Rising and who would hurriedly shoot 15 rebel leaders in nine days: So far as the great body of insurgents are concerned, I have no hesitation in saying in public they conducted themselves with a humanity which contrasted very much to their advantage with some of the so-called civilized enemies which we are fighting in Europe. That admission I gladly make, and the House will gladly hear it, they were young men, often lads. They were misled almost unconsciously I believe, into this terrible business. They fought very bravely and did not resort to outrage.

The British Advance on North King Street

The British came down Bolton Street to advance a rearguard action on the Four Courts. Bolton Street swings into North King Street and this is where the rebels made their stand. The British were held off by Volunteer snipers. It soon became a matter of house-to-house combat.

Acting more like Nazi SS-Einsatzgruppen slaughtering Jews in Eastern Europe in 1941 than regular army soldiers, the British forced their way into buildings where terrified civilians were hiding in fear of their lives. In each instance they separated the men from the women and brought the men to a different part of the house to be executed. Here are two eyewitness accounts of the atrocities perpetrated at 27 North King Street by His Majestys Army as revealed at the Coroners Inquest in May 1916:

27 North King Street (Louth Dairy). Victims: Peter (Peadar) Joseph Lawless (age 21), James McCartney (age 36), James Finnigan (age 40), Patrick Hoey (age 25)

This is the powerful eyewitness statement of Mrs. Mary McCartney, widow of James McCartney. Mrs. McCartney was the employer of my Aunt Kathleen, the maid servant, Catherine McEvoy, and reveals the key role Kathleen plays in this declaration:

Myself, Mr. McCartney, and our baby only a few weeks old went over to Mrs. Lawlesss, 27 North King Street, in Easter Week. We were accompanied by a maid servant, Catherine McEvoy. The Lawlesss were very old friends of ours and I thought we might be safer there. I had been only twenty months married.

On Saturday morning when the military came about 8 oclock things were very quiet and we thought the fighting was nearly all over. The military, who rushed in, were a savage brutal crew, a disgrace to mankind. An ignorant sergeant, who seemed to be in command, seemed particularly cruel and would listen to no explanation.

As we stood lined up in the top room, the sergeant accused the men of firing from the top of the house. Mrs. Lawless spoke up to them, and asked, How could the men fire when they had no arms or ammunition? His only reply was a brutal laugh, and Where have you hid them? He was also asked how could the men get back when the military surrounded the house and where there was no fanlight or skylight. Pointing to a bullet rip in his hat he said How did I get that?

Mr. McCartney said, I could certify that I have nothing to do with the organization, and gave the name of a friend of his, a Captain Irwin of the Recruiting Office in Brunswick Street as a reference. Poor Mr. Finnigan said, I have never carried arms in my life. I was terrified, screamed, and was almost fainting with terror. Poor young Lawless, who had known me for years, said, Dont cry, Mary, and tried to comfort me. He would say, Cant you stop crying, the men will do you no harm. But the soldiers forced us away from them.

It was, although we could not believe it, a last parting on this earth. As we went downstairs I sat for a moment in the room below, sick with terror. I thought of the keys, and asked the maid to go back upstairs to Mr. McCartney to get them. When she went up the soldier savagely snapped the keys from my husbands hands, gave them to the maid and hurriedly thrust her away.

The men had now become terrified at the foul demeanor of the soldiers. Evidently they were now intent on their bloody purpose and were determined to show no mercy, for the girl heard one of the men in the room say, O my God! What are they going to do with us?

I can never for one moment believe that any of those soldiers really thought that the men had fired on them. My poor husbands watch was stolen, also a safety razor which he carried with him. He had marked a sovereign which he kept as a keepsake to be given to his infant child in later years. It also was stolen. A diamond pin only, a present which his employers wife, Lady Gallagher, had made him when he was appointed manager, was found upon his body.

As his lifes blood had trickled over it doubtless it escaped the covetous eyes of his executioners. One of the soldiers was afterwards heard to say The little man made a great struggle for his life and tried to throw himself out of the window, but we got him.

The following statement from Mrs. May Lawless also mentions my Aunt Kathleen and basically substantiates Mrs. McCartneys statement, but adds more savage details:

My son. Peter Lawless, was 21 years of age, and was born in New York, and was consequently a citizen of the United States. During Easter Week I occupied the house No. 27 North King Street, known as the Louth Dairy. My son assisted me in the business.

The military came to our house the latest in the streetbetween 8 and 9 a.m. Saturday morning. At that time they must have had already slaughtered the nine poor unoffending people in the houses opposite my house.

On the Saturday the shop was closed and the following people were in the house: Two old friends of mine, Mr. James McCartney, who was manager of Gallagher's tobacco store in Dame Street, and his wife with her baby three weeks old, and accompanied by their maid, a girl named Catherine McEvoy. My son Peter Lawless was there also, and two tenants of mine who lived in the house, bread car drivers, employed in Brennan's of Dorset Street; James Finnigan, and Patrick Hoey. Mr. and Mrs. McCartney had come over from their place in Exchange Street, thinking they would be safer in my house.

We had been sitting on the stairs for safety during the night, and when the morning of Saturday came the firing seemed to have ceased and we went upstairs thinking of going to bed. Just then, about 8 a.m. (Saturday) we heard a great hammering and knocking at the door and the soldiers shouting outside. Soon a bayonet was thrust through the panel of the hall door. At length I heard my son below opening the door which was followed by the inrush of the soldiers. I heard my son saying, Mother, you all go upstairs to the top room, these men are only doing their duty, you need not be frightened.

The four men were then driven up after us with their hands above their heads by the soldiers. The soldiers then lined us all around the walls of the room with hands up. They then proceeded to search the men. I asked them What are we here for? What have we done? The man in charge replied, We must take these men prisoners. I said, Where are you going to take them? To the nearest barracks, I suppose, he replied. Someone then said, That is all right, the police will then tell you who we are. I remember poor McCartney mentioned the name of some military captain of his acquaintance who could identify him.

We women, who were in great terror, were then ordered out in charge of some soldiers. As I passed out my poor son, who stood near the door, came out on the landing to try and reassure me, and said, Mother, it will be all right. You go to Britain Street. Ill find you there.

It was the last I saw of my poor son alive. It was then about 8.30 a.m. The soldiers then brought us down to a cottage in Linenhall Street a few doors off, where we stayed during the day. As I left the house I heard shots, for I remarked at the time, Are you going to put us out in the street in that shooting? But I cannot be certain whether the sounds came from the house.

In the evening, about half-past seven, I returned to our house accompanied by a soldier. A sentry was on guard at my door (No. 27), and as I attempted to go in he said, You cant go in there. I said, Why cannot I go in there? Cant I go into my own house? Well, he said, there are four dead men in there. Terrified, I said, Four dead men! Are they soldiers or Volunteers? He replied, Neither, civilians.

I then said, I left four men there, and Im going in to see. If you [shot] them, you may shoot me too. I then shoved past him, and the soldier who came with me from Linenhall Street accompanied me to the top landing. And then a scene of horror met my eyes. My son lay dead in the same spot I had left himon the landing of the top-back room, his body half in and half out the doorway. Poor Mr. McCartney lay dead against the wall in a sitting position. Their brains had bespattered the curtains. Poor Finnigan was in the same relative position, but had fallen dead across the bed. Patrick Hoey was out of his old place where I had left him, but he must have received fearful treatment as his head was burst open and macerated.

I was overcome with horror. I went to Ann Street Presbytery where the priests kept us all night. On Sunday morning the soldiers refused admission to the clergy as no doubt they feared that their foul deed might see the light of day. The soldiers buried the four bodies in the yard of the house, and replaced the tiles over the grave. They then burned the clothes of the bed, as well as the curtains, in the yard. They were seen burning and smouldering by several of the neighbours. The remains of all were discovered on Monday morning and buried by us.

**For more North King Street witness statements before the Coroners Court click HERE.

The leader of these soldiers was Lieutenant-Colonel H. Taylor, commanding 2nd/6th South Staffords. He couldnt be bothered to show up to the inquests. Instead he sent along a self-serving statement about how badly hurt his men had been by the rebel snipers. According to him his men had murdered no one. In conclusion he said, I am satisfied that during these operations the troops under my command showed great moderation and restraint under exceptionally difficult and trying circumstances.

Fifteen dead innocent Dublin men and no one to blame. It was British Law and Disorder at its best. It would continue in Ireland until 1922 and return again to the North 50 years later in the form of Bloody Sunday 1972 when 13 more innocents were slaughtered by the British army. It took almost 40 years, but at least this time the British admitted to their crimes, courtesy of the Saville Inquiry. To this day, as my Aunt Kathleen knew, the presence of British troops in Ireland, is a recipe for disasterespecially for the Irish.

Dermot McEvoy is the author of the The 13th Apostle: A Novel of a Dublin Family, Michael Collins, and the Irish Uprising and Irish Miscellany (Skyhorse Publishing). He may be reached at dermotmcevoy50@gmail.com. Follow him at www.dermotmcevoy.com. Follow The 13th Apostle on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/13thApostleMcEvoy/.
Update 12.50pm: The Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan has said he is deeply disappointed and concerned at the latest delay in the Egyptian trial of Dublin man Ibrahim Halawa.

Minister Flanagan said he would be asking for more information on the review of technical evidence cited as the reason for delay today.

The Irish Ambassador to Egypt was in court for today's trial, which has now been put off until October 2.

It is the 14th time the Dubliner's court date has been deferred. Ibrahim was 17 when he was arrested for taking part in a protest in Cairo in August 2013.

Amnesty International Ireland's Colm O'Gorman said the latest delay indicates the evidence has not been scrutinised before now.

He said: "The judge staggeringly said he wants to instruct a committee of experts to examine video evidence in the trial...which seems to mean the system hasn't even properly assessed the evidence in the case."

11.50am:The trial of Ibrahim Halawa in Egypt has been postponed again, its 14th postponement. It had been hoped a decision would be made today.

Earlier:

Ibrahim Halawa is due to go on trial in Egypt today following 13 postponements already.

The 20-year-old Dubliner has been in jail for almost three years awaiting the mass trial. He was arrested for taking part in a protest in Cairo in August 2013.

Colm O'Gorman of Amnesty International said a decision could be made today.

"We learned a couple of months ago at the last hearing that the judge expects to be able to make a decision in the case, which in some ways is troubling because no proper trial has taken place," he said.

"Nonetheless, we very much hope that when the trial concludes, Ibrahim will be acquitted. We can't see any grounds on which he could be convicted."
Gardai tracking a Lithuanian criminal gang across two counties later shot one of the suspected gang members in the early hours of this morning writes David Raleigh.

The man, aged 36, was shot with a 9mm round from gun discharged by a member of the Cork-based armed garda wing - the Regional Support Unit (RSU).

Cork gardai had the gang under surveillance for weeks after they were suspected of carrying out robberies across Munster.

The gang's movements were been tracked by gardai following a robbery in north Cork last night.

Officers were conducting a "planned operation", stated the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC).

The suspected gang members were eventually stopped by gardai in West Limerick in around 2.30am this morning.

Cork gardai had contacted their colleagues in Limerick and requested a checkpoint be set up along the gang's route, at Jobbers Cross, situated on the isolated Shanagolden to Foynes Road.

When officers moved in to arrest two men in a silver coloured Toyota Corolla a shot was fired from a garda's gun, hitting the driver in the face.

The man, from Eastern Europe, was rushed from the scene to University Hospital Limerick, where he is said to be in a serious but stable condition.

A male passenger, also aged in his 30s, who was travelling in the car, was arrested and taken to Limerick city for questioning by Cork detectives.

He was been held under Section 50 of the Offences Against the State Act.

Gardai can hold him for up to seven days without charge.

"It was very hairy. We didn't expect this would happen. It looks like the lad might pull through," said a Garda source.

"Details are very sketchy," they added.

Gardai have not made any official comment.

The matter was referred to GSOC, who will carry out an independent investigation into the circumstances of the shooting.

"They will want to talk to the guard who shot the guy and ask him and his colleagues what exactly happened," the source said.

There are unconfirmed reports that the RSU officer's gun fired accidentally as gardai moved in to arrest the men.

A silver-coloured 151 registered Toyota saloon car was removed from the scene for a forensic examination.

The drivers window was smashed, and a pool of blood and shards of glass were visible at the scene.

A GSOC statement said: "The Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission this morning opened an investigation to establish the circumstances of a shooting, which occurred near Foynes, Co. Limerick, at about 2:30 this morning."

"The man, in his 30s, was shot in the face by a Garda member during a planned Garda operation."

"He was transferred to hospital and his condition is reported this morning as stable."

"The incident was referred by the Garda Siochana to GSOC under section 102 of the Garda Siochana Act 2005, which provides for independent investigation of any matter that appears to indicate that the conduct of a member of the Garda Siochana may have resulted in the death of, or serious harm to, a person."

"GSOC investigators have been deployed to the scene and an investigation is ongoing."
UK banks will be hurt the most as the UK vote to leave the EU erases 10bn of potential net income, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note to clients yesterday.

Banks in the Benelux and Nordic countries will suffer the least, they said. We forecast a weaker outlook owing to lower volumes, margins and fees, as well as higher credit risks, the group of analysts, led by Jernej Omahen, said in the note.

We also expect lower activity levels for capital markets and wholesale businesses, as well as lower asset values and flows in the asset-gathering business, the analysts said.

Financial markets convulsed as the UK vote to exit the EU last week sparked turmoil across financial markets, and prompted analysts to downgrade European banks.

Investors dumped sterling and equities and piled into safe-haven assets including gold and German bunds.

In the eurozone, German banks will be the most affected due to their low-cost efficiency, the Goldman Sachs analysts said.

The Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index  which measures the vale of banks across Europe  rose 3% yesterday after a two-day plunge of more than 20%.

In the UK, the Goldman Sachs analysts cut Barclays to neutral from buy, citing heightened operational risk due to pass-porting, the system that lets banks in EU member states service clients in all the trading blocs countries.

British challenger banks will be particularly affected due to fast growth and operating leverage, the analysts said, downgrading Shawbrook Group to neutral.

Shawbrook fell 8%, the most among UK lenders, yesterday after saying it would probably take a 9m (10.85m) charge this quarter because of improper lending.

Bank of Ireland shares rose 2c to 19c yesterday following its sharp slump since Thursdays Brexit vote.

The banks value has slumped in the past year by 50% to 5.95bn, valuing the Governments 14% stake at 833m.

Additional reporting by Irish Examiner staff
Shares in insurers were among the hardest hit after the referendum result. Legal & General said its solvency II capital ratio  a measure of how much extra money it has to act as a cushion should markets fall  was 156% at the close on Monday, down just 3 percentage points due to the market volatility.

Shares in L&G climbed 8.3%, among the top gainers in the Ftse 100, albeit still some 33% below their level at the satar of the year.
However, the collapse of sterling in the wake of the Brexit vote could hurt further growth, according to Tourism Ireland.

There was an almost 14% rise in the number of tourists arriving in Ireland between January and May  with the number of visitors from North America rising by over 18%.

Tourism Ireland has welcomed figures released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office which show strong growth in the number of people visiting Ireland in the three months from March to May.

However, it also warned that the fallout from the Brexit referendum has the capacity to dampen growth in the future.

The CSO said there were just under 2.4m trips to Ireland in the period, an increase of 10.3% on the same period a year earlier.

Trips from North America to Ireland jumped by 19.3%, while trips from Britain rose by 9.3% and visits from the rest of Europe increased by 9.2%.

Irish people were also travelling more, with trips abroad up 8.4% to just over 1.7m in the three-month period.

For the first five months of the year, visitor numbers to Ireland are 13.7% ahead of the same period last year at 3.46 million.

Tourism Ireland chief Niall Gibbons said there had been exceptional results from North America for the first five months of the year  up over 18% on the same five-month period in 2015.

He also welcomed the strong increase in British visitors, but added that Tourism Ireland was monitoring developments following the United Kingdoms vote to leave the EU.

Tourism Ireland chief Niall Gibbons

The outcome of the recent EU referendum in the UK has given rise to economic uncertainty and currency movements, which have the capacity to hamper growth, he said.

Tourism Ireland is liaising with our key stakeholders and monitoring developments.

Todays figures represent an excellent performance for overseas tourism to date.

We have seen exceptional results from North America for the five-month period of January to May  up over 18% on the same five-month period in 2015.

I also welcome the strong increase in British visitors (up almost 16%).

Mainland Europe has also turned in a superb performance (+11.5%), with important markets like Italy, Spain and the Benelux countries all showing really good growth.

Mr Gibbons said that despite the fact that the outcome of the recent EU referendum in the UK has given rise to economic uncertainty and currency movements, Tourism Ireland is determined to get the message out that it is business as usual.

Britain remains an extremely important market for Irish tourism, and Tourism Ireland is undertaking an extensive programme of promotions in Britain, and elsewhere around the world, to ensure this strong performance continues. Our aim is to ensure that 2016 is another record-breaking year for Irish tourism.

Almost 4.5m British tourists visited Ireland last year and spent almost 1bn here.
The audit notes there were inadequate governance structures during the period examined. Console was controlled and dominated by Paul Kelly. He was responsible for the full running of the charity, it said.

It found he continued to operate as a shadow director even after he resigned as a director in 2013.

The report states that auditors encountered significant difficulties obtaining information and explanations, and explanations, when received, were inconsistent and vague.

For example, the report found that Mr Kelly and his wife Patricia were/are directors of at least 12 companies.

Inconsistencies in names, signatures, and dates of birth were identified by the audit on statutory documents with the [Companies Registration Office] in relation to these 12 companies, it states.

Information contained in some statutory declarations filed with the [Companies Registration Office] was incorrect. For example the number of directorships held by the CEOs wife.

Ms Kelly also signed using her maiden name of Dowling when filing details of her directorships of some of the companies.

According to the draft report, Mr Kelly was and is a director, company secretary, chair, and cheque signatory of Console.

However, throughout the audit Mr Kelly described his wifes role as a volunteer and not employed by the organisation, when in fact she was a key officer of the company.

Other financial issues raised by the report include whether the issue of expense claims not being signed had been approved.

Controls around receipting donations and fundraising were lax and non- existent. Console did not maintain a receipts book, there was no record listing all amounts received, and money received was not lodged intact into Consoles bank account, states the report stated.

In relation to Consoles helplines, between 2012 and 2014 Console reduced the number of helplines from six to two. The report states that Console informed the audit team that the cost of running its two helplines in 2014 was 346,560, of which the HSE provided 294,000.

During the audit no documentation was provided to the audit team to support this costing.

In May 2012 Mr Kelly and and his wife established a separate company in England to operate Console UK.

Significant issues were identified in relation to Console Ireland and Console UK.

Console Ireland incurred expenditure in excess of 140,000 in relation to Console UK between 2012 and 2014. This was not disclosed in either Console Irelands audited financial statements or in Console UKs accounts.

In essence Irish funders and donors are funding a UK charity.

As director of services [at Console UK], Tim Kelly [their son] is paid a salary of stg31,300. This is paid by Console Ireland directly to him at a rate of 600 per week and it is not taxed, states the report.

It found that between 2012 and 2014, Paul Kelly received consultancy payments totalling 218,586, Ms Kelly received salary payments of 67,149, while Tim Kelly received 93,924.
There is expected to be a second cabinet meeting this week, after the Government failed to agree a common position on Independent TD Mick Wallaces bill seeking to allow abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape, and incest.

All five Independent Alliance members in the Government have decided to back two of their senior ministers  Shane Ross and Finian McGrath  who want a free vote on the bill, even if it is deemed unconstitutional by the attorney general.

Several government sources confirmed there was a big ding dong, forcing the meeting to be adjourned. It began at 7.30am and went on until 10am. A substantial amount of time was spent debating the Wallace bill.

It is understood Health Minister Simon Harris presented the Governments position which was to oppose the bill on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.

Mr Harris told his cabinet colleagues he did not want to give women false hope in supporting a bill that will not achieve what it proclaims to.

Health Minister Simon Harris

The alliance ministers were then asked to agree to it but stoutly refused, sources said.

It is believed Mr Ross and Mr McGrath pushed to allow members of the Government a free vote on the bill, which led to the heated exchanges.

A source said the heavy guys were coming down on the alliance ministers at the meeting with regards to the attorney generals advice.

It was McGrath and Ross verses the rest. There was sympathy from [Michael] Noonan, Leo [Varadkar] and Frances [Fitzgerald] about some sort of compromise on this, a source said.

The two Independent ministers then met their three other alliance counterparts, including junior minister John Halligan, TD Kevin Boxer Moran, and junior minister Sean Canney.

All five agreed that they would back the two cabinet members desire to have a free vote.

Frances Fitzgerald and Leo Varadkar

Speaking to the Irish Examiner yesterday evening, super junior minister Mr McGrath said: There was very broad debate on the issue. I always listen to the attorney general concerns, but we also have our core principles and want to support families affected by fatal foetal abnormalities.

The other issue is the right to have a free vote is very important, the principle of it, explained the minister for disabilities.

There could be a second weekly cabinet meeting called later this week, possibly tomorrow morning, ahead of the Wallace bill being debated to attempt to agree a government position.
In any proposed arrangements post-Brexit, it is important to ensure coherence of protections of human rights and equality north and south of the border, said chief commissioner, Emily Logan.

Speaking in advance of the publication of the IHRECs first annual report today, Ms Logan said any future legislative proposals should not undermine human right commitments in the Good Friday Agreement.
Councillor Des Cahill (FG) spoke last night as he revealed plans to meet with Cork Chamber and IDA Ireland, over the coming days, to ensure the region was poised to benefit from Brexit.

Mr Cahill said securing the proposed Cork-to-Boston flights and the deepening of Irish-US links were now more important than ever, given the UKs decision, last week, to leave the EU.

The Open Skies Agreement between the US and Europe must be honoured, now more than ever, he said. The agreement between the two continents is clear. The permission by the Americans is not only required, it is part of US/Europe policy.

Two months after the US department of transportation flagged its intention to give a foreign-carrier permit to Norwegians Irish subsidiary, NAI, a final decision is still awaited.

Mr Cahill said that while Brexit was bad for Europe, it was an opportunity for Cork City to attract companies leaving the UK.

Cork City has large sites, with planning permission, and developers ready-to-go, at Andersons Quay, South Terrace, Sullivans Quay, and in the docklands, along with some recently completed, premium-quality office blocks, he said.

Some of the worlds leading companies are already located in Cork, because they recognise the fantastic blend of talent coming out of our third-level institutions and the blend of lifestyle available on our doorstep.

He said he would discuss with chamber representatives how they could, with the help of IDA Ireland, capitalise on the opportunities provided by Brexit.

There have been reports that several international banks, and large financial-services companies, based in the City of London have considered relocating to EU countries, including Ireland and Germany, in the wake of Brexit.

Mr Cahill said Cork should be prepared to capitalise. We have a global reputation as a base for pharmaceuticals, biotech, tech and software industries, he said.

We have a strong financial-services presence here, too, with companies like Citco and Clearstream based here.

So, it would not be a leap of faith for other big players to relocate here.
Gardai renewed their appeal for the publics help in locating Karen Scott, 44, who went missing from her home in Finglas, Dublin, last Friday.

Our greatest concern is the fact that Karen has Down syndrome and obviously, she has special needs. She left her home last Friday at 3.30pm (in Finglas) and the last confirmed sighting of her is on Friday evening on Berkley Road in Phibsboro, Inspector John Burke said yesterday.

There was a reported sighting of Ms Scott in Penneys on St Patricks Street in Cork but it has not been confirmed.

We are working on that [the Cork sighting] at the moment. We got calls right from throughout the country about people fitting her description, said Insp Burke.

Shes described as approximately 5ft4in tall, medium build, blue eyes, and short blonde hair. When she was last seen she was wearing white runners, a peach-coloured hoodie and black jeans.

In the last confirmed sighting of her in Phibsboro, which was captured on CCTV, Karen was seen wheeling a small red suitcase behind her. Gardai believe she was carrying a change of clothes.

The clothing she had with her included a couple of brightly-coloured tops, yellows, greens and blues. She also had a mini skirt and shorts in the case, said Insp Burke.

Aside from the suitcase, there is no evidence to suggest that she was intending to travel.

We are aware that she could have had some money with her, thats all. As far as we know she did not have a passport with her. She did not have a mobile phone with her, she was not overly familiar with technology, said the inspector.

When asked if she might have gone to meet someone she may have met online, the inspector said such a scenario was unlikely.

As regards technology she has no ability in that area, he said.

However, Karen was reasonably independent and would leave home alone, but never travelling further than Dublin city centre.

She has left home [before], shes fairly independent. Shes a very personable individual and shes well-known around the Finglas area, but it would only be for a few hours. Theres been nothing like this before. Shes very friendly and open, said Insp Burke.

There was another report of Karen asking people for money; however, this has not been confirmed.

It has been said that that is a feature of her personality that when she is out and stuck, she would ask for money. It has happened in the past that she would ask people for money, he said.

Gardai have had a reasonably good response to their appeal last weekend and are following a few lines of enquiry as a result.

Insp Burke said that Karen was well known in the area of Finglas and that the local community has rallied around to search for her.

A group of approximately 50 people has come together to look for her, as well as the Civil Defence.

Obviously, her family is very, very concerned about her, as is the community in Finglas, said Inspector Burke.

Anyone who has seen Karen or who can assist in locating her is asked to contact Finglas Garda Station on 01 6667500 or any Garda station.
The call was made following the publication of the Data Protection Commissioners Report for 2015 which confirmed retailers sharing footage of alleged shoplifters are breaking the law.

RGDATA director general Tara Buckley said the use of data protection legislation to prevent retailers from using CCTV to protect their business was alarming.

She said many retailers were effectively under siege as a consequence of repeated thefts from their shops and need to be able to employ technology effectively to help prevent crime.

The capacity for retailers within a town centre or shopping centre to share images of suspected shoplifters, including shoplifters captured on CCTV, was a key support for shopkeepers in protecting their businesses.

In her report, Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon said that audit teams from her office had targeted shopping centres and advised retailers on the use of CCTV cameras and the requirement for a CCTV policy to be in place, including the appointment of a data controller to oversee the use of monitoring equipment.

Regarding initiatives being proposed by the retail sector to tackle shoplifting, the audit team referred to guidance published by the Office that sets out how sensitive personal data in relation to the commission, or alleged commission, of an offence may only be processed by a data controller [each retail outlet] for the purpose of pursuing legal action.

In the audit reports, retailers were also advised that the sharing of information and photos of individuals by data controllers with other shops would be a breach of the Data Protection Acts.

In response, Ms Buckley said the Government had to look at the issue urgently.

The report from the Data Protection Commissioner confirms that the balance of the law in this area has now tilted distinctly in favour of those that seek to commit crime by shoplifting.

If the law stands as it is retailers will be inhibited in their capacity to adequately defend their businesses. Not only will they suffer the loss of stock if their shop is robbed, but they will also potentially face prosecution by the Data Protection Commissioner if they take measures to protect their businesses through the use of CCTV.

Ms Buckley said that RGDATA would be seeking a meeting with the minister with responsibility for data protection, Dara Murphy, to see if there is national discretion to amend data protection law to facilitate the use of CCTV for crime prevention in retail premises.

We need to get the balance right here. Clearly people have a right to privacy. But equally business people have an entitlement to protect their livelihoods from theft and should be able to use modern technology to achieve this aim.

It is also important that retailers should be able to work together to prevent crime and sharing CCTV images and information with each other about alleged perpetrators is a critical element to stopping retail crime.
Though the language from European capitals has been tempered since the weekend, Mr Kenny has a big task to calm leaders anxious to make an example of Britain.

Ireland wants to ensure some special arrangement can be kept with Britain. The Government thinks this can be achieved by a slow, methodical Brexit, with beneficial terms for the UK.

A spokesman for Mr Kenny said he had the respect of those at this weeks EU summit due to Irelands successful exit from the bailout, our border with Britain, and also because Mr Kenny is one of the longest-serving leaders at the summit.

Will these matter if leaders want Britain to trigger article 50 quickly? Things could easily go wrong for us, especially if a special deal cannot be done with Britain.

Certainly, there was concern about remarks by European Commission vice-president Jyrki Katainen this week that the commission had no policy on providing concessions between Ireland and Britain.

European Commission vice-president Jyrki Katainen

Officials in Dublin and London are set to begin discussions about any changes to the North. Talk of a border poll is being played down.

There are questions around reinstating border posts, of increased movement of people, and of potential security gaps. The 1bn in weekly trade that crosses the Irish Sea is also of huge importance.

But there is a two-way process in play with Britain. German chancellor Angela Merkel calmed tensions by saying there would be no Brexit talks until article 50 is invoked. In other words, Britain will decide when it will formally request an exit.

Government officials privately admit parallel talks will take place about terms Britain wants with other countries and the EU, especially on issues like trade and immigration. The key message from Mr Kennys side is that Ireland will protect its own interests.
The Government agreed at its weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday to the appointment and members of the commission.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney is expected to announce further details, possibly as early as today, on the role of the commission.

Government sources confirmed last night that former Irish Congress of Trade Unions president Mr OToole has been appointed chairman of the commission.

Mr OToole is a former senator and was previously a teacher and principal in Dublin.

Comprising eight members, as well as expert advisers, it is expected to start work immediately. Its remit will include examining a future sustainable funding model for provision of water services and methods to improve the quality of water.

Expert advice will be provided on complex areas, including on funding and financing large-scale infrastructure projects as well as on environmental law and water service management.

One of its terms will be to consider how Irish Water, if it remains in State ownership, could borrow money for services.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney

The Government wants the commission to take the heat out of the debate around water charges.

The commission has five months to report and its recommendations will then be considered by an Oireachtas committee for a further three months. These final recommendations will then be considered and voted upon by the Dail within a further month.

Water charges have been suspended, and water bills will officially stop arriving at households from next week, for a period of nine months.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has said his party will fight the European Commission on water charges.

It comes after the environment commissioner Karmenu Vella said Ireland cannot abolish water charges without breaking European law.

Mr Martin said his party has received a different legal opinion which challenges that of the commission.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin

Speaking in Brussels yesterday, where he met with members of the ALDE group of leaders to discuss Brexit, Mr Martin said: First of all we have our legal opinion which we challenge that commissions opinion. Ireland got a derogation and established practice at the time was we didnt have charges.

Ireland could be hit with daily fines which could reach millions of euro if the EU maintains that it is breaking EU law by not imposing water charges.

Mr Martin said: We have a clear position on this. If they want to take action, thats their ultimate decision but were not seeking permission from the European Commission.

Theres going to be toing and froing but were of a view that in terms of the water charges issue, we have to go back to the drawing board.

Weve made commitments before the election. It had to be dealt with before the formation of the government. In terms of what was to happen that is going to happen and we have to proceed on that basis.
The Government has agreed guidelines for the Garda Commissioner to open six stations around the country, the success of which will be reviewed and could lead to further stations re-opening.

The criteria was agreed after the process to start the re-openings was proposed by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald yesterday and agreed at the weekly cabinet meeting.

Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan will decide which six stations should re-open. Stations will need to be in a mix of urban and rural areas, those chosen will depend on local population and crime statistics, and preference will be given to those still in state ownership which can be operational with the least amount of delay, according to a memo presented by Ms Fitzgerald.

Government sources are insisting the decision on the six will solely be a matter for Garda management.

The process and success of those re-openings will then be reviewed by the Policing Authority.

The authority yesterday said it had yet to receive any instruction from the minister about its role. The ministers spokesman said she was expected to contact the authority this week.

The authoritys review of the six stations is also expected to feed into a larger boundary policing review being carried out by the organisation, and could ultimately result in other stations being identified for re-opening.

However, the process of re-opening the first six stations and ultimately reviewing their success could take many months.

It also remains unclear whether members of the public, local community groups or organisations will get to make submissions to the policing authority about re-openings. Government sources said last night that the public would not have an input into the six openings, which is part of a pilot project and was originally signalled in the programme for government.

Some 139 Garda stations have closed since 2011. Many local communities claim their closures has resulted in increased criminal activity.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors has specifically linked the upsurge in crime to the human impact of Garda station closures.

The last government said Garda management had concluded, in relation to certain stations, that resources could be better deployed and more effectively used on the frontline if those stations no longer had to be staffed and maintained.
The agreement, which comes into force on Friday, has been rejected by the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI), the Garda Representative Association and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI).

This means that around 30,000 teachers and gardai could lose thousands of euro if the Government enforces financial sanctions as part of the so-called Fempi legislation which can be brought to bear on members of organisations that have rejected the Lansdowne Road Agreement.

These sanctions include a freeze on increments for ASTI members and the loss of almost 800 which teachers are entitled from September for substitution and supervision duties.

The ASTI has instructed its members to cease working the 33 unpaid hours introduced under the Croke Park Agreement on public sector pay.

ASTI president Maire G Ni Chiarba said teachers have experienced a significant deterioration in their working conditions in recent years.

Young and newly qualified teachers have been disproportionately affected due to the introduction of new pay scales and new pension arrangements. Many of these teachers are unable to obtain secure employment and do not earn a full salary, she said.

However, the union has said it has accepted an invitation from the Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton to discuss issues of concern to the union and the minister.

On Monday, the GRA said it will not re-enter talks on the LRA. It said a pay review was promised under the previous national deal  the Haddington Road Agreement  but this was never carried out.

President of the GRA, Ciaran ONeill, said if financial penalties were imposed on gardai then he would expect industrial action to be taken.

If the Government imposes penalties upon our membership, I am expecting action will be taken  that we will be into industrial dispute.

A decision has not been made in respect of that just yet, as to what the actions our members will take, but as I say, nothing is ruled in and nothing is ruled out, he said.

The AGSI is due to meet to today to consider its position.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe has said he has a duty to respect the decision of 280,000 public servants who have signed up to the Lansdowne Road Agreement.

The Government does want to engage with them but in the time that is available to us, but we have to follow the law in this area and the law lays out a process in relation to what will happen if unions decide they dont want to be part of the Lansdowne Road Agreement, he said.
The unique bronze medal awarded to the Royal Naval Reserve able seaman for the epic 1,290km journey across the sub-Antarctic Ocean is expected to make between 18,000 and 24,000 at Dix Noonan Webb, the international coin, medal and jewellery specialists.

McCarthy sailed with Ernest Shackleton in the 6m-long boat James Caird from Elephant Island to South Georgia in 1916. The 16-day journey to get help for their shipmates from the Polar exploration ship Endurance became one of the greatest maritime stories in history.

Shackleton and the crew of five put their own lives in danger to save their comrades. Shackleton paid tribute to his shipmate: McCarthy, the best and most efficient of sailors, always cheerful under the most trying circumstances and who for these reasons I choose to accompany me on the boat journey to South Georgia.

The Kinsale man was one of just 26 selected to crew Endurance, whose aim was to cross the Antarctic, a journey of 2,900km.

They set sail in August 1914. The following January, Endurance was held up by pack ice in the Weddell Sea and later that year, damaged by the pressure of ice, was abandoned and it later sank.

The crew established base camp on an iceflow but as supplies dwindled it was clear that help would have to be sought. Six men set out on the James Caird for South Georgia, where there were whaling stations.

After their rescue McCarthy was sent back to Britain with Shackletons warm gratitude. He was almost immediately thrust into service aboard the armed oil tanker SS Narrangansett.

Polar medal awarded to Timothy McCarthy

This ship was torpedoed and sunk off the south west coast of Ireland on March 16, 1917, and McCarthy was one of 46 sailors who died. McCarthy never lived to see his polar medal and his First World War medals were never claimed or issued.

He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.

A joint bust of McCarthy and his brother Morty, also an Antarctic explorer, was unveiled in Kinsale in September 2000. The polar medal was in the possession of a now deceased Irish collector and has never been on the open market before.
Eanna Heavey, aged 27 , of 24, Deerpark Manor in Virginia, Co Cavan, had been on the island off the West Cork coast as part of a third-level programme. Mr Heavey, a student in Dublin, entered two premises on the island on two dates after going on what his solicitor described as a bender that he hugely regrets.

Skibbereen District Court heard that on May 3 last at 4.30am he entered a property in which the householder, was sitting in her front room. Supt Ger OMahony, prosecuting, said she heard a noise and shouted to ask who was there, with the court told the woman felt afraid.
Maximum rent limits under the scheme will now increase in every part of Ireland, with an average rise of 29% being given to tenants in Dublin.

The new limits come while rents are frozen until next year and after recent sharp rises which have put rates in some areas right back to their peak levels during the boom.

The Cabinet yesterday agreed the new limits will come into effect next week and will cost 15m this year.

Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar said the increased top-up payments would be above 2007 levels for rent supplement but not as much as to be in line with current market rates.

Rent supplement is generally paid to people who cannot afford their accommodation, including those on social welfare.

Mr Varadkar said the new limits would be applicable when tenants saw rent increases or for new applications. A two-year rent freeze is in place to ensure rates were not hiked up, he said.

Rent limits will increase by 25% in Laois and Roscommon, 21% in Cork City and Galway City, 19% in Westmeath, Kildare, and Louth, while Cavan and Donegal will get an average 15% rise in capped rates. The rent limit increase of 29% in Dublin is outside the Fingal area.

Increases will be on a county-by-county basis. Housing assistance payments, a support for those with long-term housing needs, will also rise under the changes.

Mr Varadkar conceded that rent rates were likely to increase in the next year or two when the current freeze is lifted.

These new rent limits reflect the fact that rents are rising right across Ireland and are back to their peak levels in some places.

Some housing support groups expressed concern that increased supplements were too little, too late. Furthermore, there are worries that landlords may use the extra rent aid as an excuse to bump up rates.

The Dublin Simon Community welcomed the increase in rent supplements, but the agencys Sam McGuinness said: People have lost their homes because of rent supplement being so low in the past.

He said rents generally had increased by 32% since spring 2012 and that tenants need long-term security and for rent rates in future to be linked to the consumer price index.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney said the new top-up levels would help prevent more people becoming homeless. A long-term plan on the housing crisis will be completed by Mr Coveney next month.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney

Mr Varadkar said that discretion among local authorities could still be exercised where rent supplement rates can be increased at an individual level.

It is also hoped that the new top levels will stop those people on low incomes in affordable accommodation using extra cash to meet their rents.

Fianna Fail yesterday pointed to the fact that the supply and confidence deal with Fine Gael in power has included an agreement to increase rent supplement.

Ministers denied they were trying to shut the door after the horse had bolted, even though the Simon Community pointed out that the majority of rental properties were in fact out of peoples reach and that aid payments need to be increased in line with market rates.

The Peter McVerry Trust welcomed the rate changes, saying: Prevention, which in this case means keeping people in their existing rental accommodation, is a critical measure in combating homelessness.
That is according to researchers at University College Cork (UCC) whose survey of 1,786 pregnant women attending Cork University Maternity Hospital found 17% had a vitamin D deficiency.

The study, designed to explore whether there was a connection between vitamin D status in early pregnancy and any major pregnancy complications, found 17% of the pregnant women were at high risk of vitamin D deficiency, compared with 12% of non-pregnant women of the same age. It reported a lower risk of pregnancy complications among women with high vitamin D status.

Professor Mairead Kiely, co-director of the Cork Centre for Vitamin D and Nutrition Research at UCC, said they are already talking with food producers about finding ways to increase vitamin D intake through food.

We are trying to see how best to develop strategies to increase vitamin D intake taking a food-first approach, rather than necessarily relying on supplements, said Prof Kiely.

The results of the study, published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, follow an analysis of vitamin D status using blood samples taken at 15 weeks gestation. Because the participants are part of the wider SCOPE (screening for pregnancy endpoints) study, researchers could compare their vitamin D data with the womens pregnancy outcomes.

Researchers reported that having a high amount of vitamin D is associated with lower risk of pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia and small-for-gestational age birth.

Prof Kiely, who leads the Maternal and Child Nutrition research programme at INFANT, a perinatal research centre, said the next step is to establish optimal vitamin D intake for pregnant women, work which is already under way and due for completion in October.

The data from that study would provide the evidence to make pregnancy-specific recommendations for vitamin D to prevent deficiency and protect mothers and their babies, she said.

Prof Kiely is co-ordinating the European Commission-funded ODIN project which is working to develop solutions to prevent vitamin D deficiency and improve vitamin D-related health outcomes using a food-first approach.

Prof Kiely said vitamin D intakes in Ireland are roughly half of what is recommended internationally. She said this is due to a number of reasons, including that naturally occurring sources are few and far between and that the Government had never taken a strategic look at how to fortify food with vitamin D, as had been done in Finland.
The dreadful kidnapping incident, which happened in June 2011 when Tom Kelleher was in Spain with his wife, had life-changing implications for Mr Kelleher and his family, the Court of Appeal said.

Mr Kellehers son Tom Jr, driving his fathers car, had just arrived at the rear of the post office at Newcastlewest on June 28, 2011, when he was kidnapped at gunpoint and held hostage, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan said.

Mr Kelleher had left another son, Ronan, and two employees in charge of the post office. The staff, who obviously feared for Tom Jrs life, agreed to hand over 105,000 ransom demand at a specified location to the kidnappers. Tom Jr was released unhurt but the incident lead to a disciplinary process which lead to Mr Kellehers employment as postmaster being terminated and a finding by the company that he was contractually liable to repay half of the missing money.

This all came as a terrible blow to Mr Kelleher, who had served as postmaster for 19 years, had built and owned the post office premises, and whose wife and son were employed there.

His salary was stopped on June 30, 2011, when he was suspended and he has been dependent on social security since. After the High Court dismissed Mr Kellehers challenge to An Posts actions, he appealed to the Court of Appeal.

The three-judge court yesterday unanimously ruled An Post was entitled to terminate Mr Kellehers employment for reasons including his failure to follow its security procedures.

However, An Post was not entitled to unilaterally decide he must repay to it some half of the 105,000 his staff had handed over to the kidnappers, the court found. After gardai recovered some of the money, An Post sought repayment of 31,250.

Mr Kelleher disputed An Posts claim his contractual terms required he pay that sum and the correct approach was for An Post to have sued him for that sum as unliquidated damages for alleged breach of contract, Mr Justice Hogan said.

Earlier in the judgment, the judge noted, after the kidnapping incident, An Post very properly expressed sympathy to Mr Kelleher but also outlined a number of issues of concern.

While Mr Kelleher initially disputed various claims by the company, he accepted the substance of the case alleged against him by An Post in an October 2011 letter, the judge said.

He could not dispute the post office staff in June 2011 were not properly instructed as to basic security precautions and he had failed to give them the relevant security number to contact in the event of a hostage taking. He also could not dispute he had improperly accessed 12,000 just prior to going on holiday in June 2011, the judge said.

While having immense sympathy for Mr Kelleher over this tragic outcome as a result of terrible misfortune, there was no breach of fair procedures, or bias or prejudgment, by An Post which was entitled to terminate Mr Kellehers contract, he ruled.
Locals of the Hollywood Estate, on the northside of the city, claim cars have been burnt-out, windows broken, shots fired, and arrests made in the area.

Their comments come just days after a violent assault led to a house fire in the estate. Early Saturday morning, homeowners awoke to the sound of fire engines, Garda car sirens, and an ambulance, as they rushed to the scene at No 23, Hollywood Estate, to battle an inferno.

While nobody was injured, the house was gutted and adjoining houses were severely damaged.

Gardai say they suspect the fire was started maliciously, possibly in connection with an assault earlier that night.

Another resident said locals did not feel they could share their concerns with the gardai, or with local politicians, for fear of being targeted.

People have spoken out in the past and they have had their cars burned-out, car windows smashed, and windows of their houses smashed. Thats what were living with. Residents cant speak out, for fear of retribution.

If we ring and complain, the council or the gardai, they want us to give our names and we have to sign a statement, and effectively put targets on our backs and then its our houses and our cars that will get burned out. Our lives will be in danger, if we complain, so we have to live with it.

The same resident claimed a number of local TDs had been contacted, but nothing is happening.

It has been going on for the last few years, but it has definitely gotten worse lately. People are being terrorised in their own homes, he said.

There are a lot of upstanding citizens in the area and law-abiding, tax-paying parents, like myself, and we have no protection. We feel 100% unprotected. He claims local are being terrorised on an ongoing basis.

We are living in fear. We really are. There have been times where I felt I couldnt leave my home, where others living around here were afraid to step out their front doors, for fear of what was going on outside. Its giving the place a terrible name.

Another resident said there was also a problem with people selling drugs in the area.
Speaking in Brussels yesterday, Mr McAllister said this country has a very special situation and the Irish Government will play a special role in Britains exit given the close ties between both countries.

His comments are in contrast to others in Europe who believe it could be legally difficult to carve out a special deal for Ireland in Brexit talks.

Mr McAllister, who was born in Germany to a Scottish father and German mother, said: We of course very much know of the special situation in Ireland, because Ireland is the only country which has a land border with the United Kingdom and so all the consequences that means will have to be judged and be analysed very carefully.

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Shane Ross said Ireland is probably in the worst position of any country, as a result of Britains vote to leave the EU. He added that a special case must be made for Ireland in relation to the Brexit vote.

Mr McAllister said that all 27 member states will have involvement in hammering out an exit deal with Britain but said the Irish Government plays a special role because no other country is so connected to the United Kingdom like Ireland.

Transport Minister Shane Ross

He said it is now up to the UK to decide whether they want to adopt a Norwegian- style arrangement or adopt another system. We will just have to wait and see what they will present, two years is quite a short period of time, its quite ambitious.

Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg said Britain would have to come up with a strategy quite fast because we now have a very turbulent situation.

She said the Norway and Sweden border  a model which Ireland is considering to adopt between north and south here  had worked well over the last 50 years. We have free movement of people, no passports between all the five Nordic countries since 1965, she said.
While Nama has denied any wrongdoing on its part, the Government has resisted repeated calls to establish a commission of inquiry into Project Eagle, and is again set to do so when the matter comes before the Dail this week.

Independents 4 Change, which consists of TDs Mick Wallace, Clare Daly, Thomas Pringle, Catherine Connolly, and Joan Collins, has tabled a private members motion calling for the transaction to be examined by a judge.

Mr Wallace in particular has used the Dail to raise serious allegations in relation to the transactions which totalled 1.3bn.

The proposal is to receive the backing of Sinn Fein, which has called for an investigation.

Having previously tabled a motion calling for a commission, Fianna Fail last night said it was to table an amendment to the motion saying now was not the time for an investigation to proceed.

Sinn Fein said the amendment was a watering down of Fianna Fails position which has resulted of the deal with Fine Gael to support the Government.

Fianna Fail rejected this saying it was right to allow the C&AGs report to be concluded first.

We feel the C&AG should be allowed conclude its work and then take the motion in the autumn and things have changed namely people have been arrested, said a Fianna Fail adviser.

Given the matter is now under consideration by the C&AG, it will in turn be examined by the new Public Accounts Committee.

The Government has consistently resisted calls for an inquiry, and could lose a vote in the Dail this week.

The Cabinet agreed yesterday to formally oppose the Independents Motion.

The Department of Finance said last night that, for its part, it was satisfied that Nama has performed its task of selling off its loan book as required. It also insisted it had fully co-operated with the Northern Irish finance committees investigation.

The total loan book of Northern Ireland borrowers involved about 850 properties across Ireland and Britain and was sold for just over 1bn (1.3bn), on a nominal value of 4.5bn. Allegations then emerged that 7.5m was held in an offshore account for fixer fees for the sale.

The Independents4Change motion calls for a commission which would be mandated to conduct a full and proper investigation into the sale and all the facts surrounding it.

It also requests a deadline to be enforced to ensure it is not a lengthy inquiry and the report to be published in full.

The motion is to be debated later today.

Meanwhile, after much delay, the full line up of the PAC was revealed yesterday.

Former environment minister Alan Kelly and former health minister Roisin Shortall are among those appointed to the Dails most powerful committee, which will be chaired by Fianna Fails Sean Fleming.

Others appointed to the committee include outgoing Sinn Fein member, Mary Lou McDonald and Fianna Fails Marc MacSharry, who sat on the Oireachtas banking inquiry.

Fine Gael has appointed TDs Peter Burke, Alan Farrell, Josepha Madigan and Noel Rock while Fianna Fail members include Bobby Aylward and Shane Cassells.
Arriving at the European Council summit in Brussels yesterday afternoon, Mr Kenny appeared to soften his line when he said he is not in favour of Britain pushing negotiations too far out into the future and warned that you cant have a drift into uncertainty here.

The 28 EU leaders gathered to discuss the fallout from Fridays Brexit vote. The crunch meeting, which included British prime minister David Cameron, continued into the early hours of this morning.

The leaders will meet again over breakfast, though without Mr Cameron, as the 27 wish to thrash out the consequences of Brexit.

Mr Kenny said: I am going to attend this meeting as Taoiseach and I am going to make the case for Irelands national interest here in terms of our economy, in terms of our common travel area, in terms of the peace process, and an open border with Northern Ireland.

Obviously the discussions that will take place eventually in relation to the relationship between the EU and the UK will be central to that and obviously we want to be party to those discussions and those negotiations.

Mr Kenny said he is not in favour of pushing Brexit negotiations down the line, but is happy that Mr Cameron said it will be his successor as prime minister who will trigger article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which begins the exit process.

I agree that there should be some little time given to the Conservative Party to elect a new prime minister, that has been brought forward by a month and I think thats good, that is going to give a sense of stability before the triggering of article 50, said Mr Kenny.

And that new prime minister, whoever that may be, he or she will have to determine what their views are.

He said the new prime minister may need some time, but you cant have a drift into uncertainty here.

Mr Kenny attended the European Peoples Party (EPP) summit yesterday morning, where members including Angela Merkel, Jean-Claude Juncker, and Nicolas Sarkozy discussed their position on Brexit.

Mr Kenny added: EPP countries are well aware of Irelands position but I will articulate and our people will articulate very strongly what our vital national interests are here.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, who was also in Brussels yesterday, said there must be a reasonable timeframe to starting negotiations.

He ruled out the possibility of Brexit triggering another general election here. That would only further add to the instability, he said.

I think we need to keep our focus now on organising the country so that its ready for the negotiations, that its well prepared, and that all contacts across Europe are used to advance the Irish position in the negotiations.
It will be in schools and homes and shops, changing how we watch movies, learn, work and play. And it could also help with personal therapy. The folks at Samsung are looking into helping people to face their fears through VR.

And, naturally, they're starting with spiders... (subs are available in the options)
Im not aware of any legal precedent for that, said Newaygo County Prosecutor Robert Springstead.

Certainly, as we work our way through the case, that may be something to look at, but I highly doubt there is any precedent for that.

Also, Springstead said, when a judge asks a witness to raise his or her right hand, to a parrot, are you raising a wing, a foot?

Martin Duram, 45, was shot five times in his home in Ensley Township in May 2015.

Then-wife Glenna Duram had a head wound, but survived. Durams ex-wife, Christina Keller, now owns Bud, an African grey parrot that has repeated dont fucking shoot in Martin Durams voice, she told WOOD-TV.

His parents agree with her. Mr Durams father told local media: I personally think he was there, and he remembers it and he was saying it.

But Springstead said he hasnt heard it. I tried to on my smartphone and online. I couldnt get the audio feed to work, he said.

No charges have been filed in the case and Martin Durams death remains under investigation.

As soon as I receive the investigation, I will make a charging decision, said Springstead. I expect that to happen in the next few weeks.
The Labour leader said the vote by the parliamentary Labour Party had no constitutional legitimacy under party rules.

Although there was no official announcement of the voting figures, sources said it was 172 to 40 in support of the motion, with four spoilt papers.

In a statement, Mr Corbyn said: I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60% of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning. Todays vote by MPs has no constitutional legitimacy.

We are a democratic party, with a clear constitution. Our people need Labour party members, trade unionists and MPs to unite behind my leadership at a critical time for our country.

His determination to fight on  despite the vote and the walk-out of dozens of shadow ministers  means Labour rebels will have to mount a formal leadership challenge if they want to oust him.

Speculation has been rife that deputy leader Tom Watson or former shadow business secretary Angela Eagle  who quit the shadow cabinet on Monday  could run as a unity candidate.

Mr Corbyns supporters are confident he will win out in a ballot of grassroots activists who swept him to the leadership last year and who will decide the outcome of any contest.

His team insist that if there is a challenge, he will automatically be on the ballot paper as the incumbent party leader.

But some in the party have argued that under party rules he will need the nominations of 50 MPs and MEPs in which case he could struggle to get the necessary support.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: The extraordinary behaviour of Labour MPs has achieved nothing beyond diverting attention from a Tory government in crisis.

If anyone wants to change the Labour leadership, they must do it openly and democratically through an election, not through resignations and pointless posturing. If there has to be such an election, Jeremy Corbyns supporters throughout the movement will be ready for it.

A Labour source loyal to Mr Corbyn insisted our support is still strong and any attempt to oust the leader would amount to shoving two fingers up to democracy.

Rebels who refused to accept Mr Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell were compared to people who still believed the Earth was flat.

There are a lot of flat earthers out there who have got to come to terms with the fact the world is not as they like it, the source said.

The source poured scorn on the prospect of a challenge from Ms Eagle, saying she would be the ideal candidate for us because of her voting record on issues such as the air strikes against Syria.
She addressed the Scottish parliament in an emergency debate following the UKs referendum vote to leave the EU against the wishes of 62% of Scots who voted to remain.

She is seeking a mandate from Holyrood to defend Scotlands interests, and is due to travel to Brussels today to meet European Parliament president Martin Schulz.

Ms Sturgeon said: Scotland spoke clearly for Remain and I am determined that Scotlands voice will be heard. I want to be clear to parliament that whilst I believe that independence is the best option for Scotland  I dont think that will come as a surprise to anyone  it is not my starting point in these discussions. My starting point is to protect our relationship with the EU.

She said Brexit was a very real and material change to Scotlands circumstances.

She said: During the (Scottish) independence referendum, we were told that staying in the UK meant we could benefit from having guaranteed access to the EU - that was a driving factor in many peoples votes. That is no longer true.

Help secure Scotlands place in Europe. Join the SNP today. https://t.co/AsAP8mxXMkhttps://t.co/z0HNlwQIm4  The SNP (@theSNP) June 28, 2016

Removing Scotland from the EU against the will of its citizens would be democratically unacceptable, she said.

Everything must be on the table to protect our place in Europe  including a second independence referendum, she said.
The Ukip leader accused them of being in denial about the Euro crisis, immigration, and the imposition by stealth, by deception, without ever telling the truth, of a political union.

Offering a tongue-in-cheek thank you for the warm welcome, he told them: When I came here, 17 years ago, and said I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the European Union, you all laughed at me. Well, I have to say, youre not laughing now, are you?
The UN childrens agency has warned that 69m children under the age of five will die from preventable causes between now and 2030.

The aid agency has called on all countries to rapidly improve health and education for the most disadvantaged.

Unicef said that based on trends and projected population growth, 167 million children would live in extreme poverty, 60m wouldnt attend primary school, and 750m underage girls would have been married by 2030, unless inequality was tackled now.

Unicefs deputy executive director, Justin Forsyth, said, at its annual reports launch, that the agency was broadcasting our message into a world that is more hostile, especially to migrants and refugees, including millions of children.

Many people are fleeing because of poverty and inequality, he said, and these root causes must be addressed, if youre going to stop some of these forces overwhelming particular countries and polarising the political debate.

Our job, in Unicef, is to be there on the ground and helping children survive, Mr Forsyth said, but the agency also wants a factually fuelled debate about these tough issues of our times, to impart the message that focusing on the most disadvantaged is crucial.

Unicef programme director, Ted Chaiban, said that in addition to youngsters fleeing poverty and inequality, more children lived in conflict areas  250m, with 30m displaced.

Inequality exists in every country, he said, and children in the poorest 20% of the population are twice as likely to die before age five as children in the richest 20%.

Mr Chaiban said that 80% of preventable deaths now occur in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, with almost half occurring in India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Congo, and Ethiopia.

UNICEF called on all 193 UN member states to develop national plans that put the most disadvantaged children first and set specific goals to close gaps between the richest and poorest.

Forsyth said 147m children between one and five-years-old could be saved from preventable death just with a 2% increase in expenditure in 74 countries.

Unicef also has evidence that every dollar spent on vaccinations for the most disadvantaged children can generate $16 in terms of economic returns, he said.

According to The State of the Worlds Children Report, 2016, cash transfers have helped children stay in school longer  and, on average, each additional year of education a child receives increases his or her adult earnings by about 10%.

Without a shift, 750m girls will have been married as children by 2030, the deadline set by the United Nations for achieving its new global goals for sustainable development.
Billy the Boa had coiled itself so tightly into the mechanism that a crew from Gainsborough in Lincolnshire had to dismantle the machine.

Crew manager Dave Brierley said colleagues had already joked it would go down in hiss-tory as the brigades most unusual animal rescue.

Test of time

USA: In a glass box in a private school in Maine sits a 40-year-old chemistry experiment still going strong: A decades-old Twinkie.

ABC News reports the experiment started in 1976 when Roger Bennatti was teaching a lesson to his high school chemistry class on food additives and shelf life.

After a student wondered about the shelf life of the snack, Bennatti sent the students to the store with some money. When they returned with the treat, Bennatti ate one and placed the still-surviving Twinkie on the blackboard.

Bennatti has since retired, but the snack now resides in the office of George Stevens Academys Dean of Students Libby Rosemeier.

Rosemeier told ABC News she isnt sure who will inherit the Twinkie when she retires, but joked the Smithsonian hasnt called yet.

Search for love

USA: The father of a Salt Lake City businessman who placed an Idaho newspaper ad seeking women interested in marrying his 48-year-old son has received about a dozen inquiries.

Arthur Brooks had planned to meet potential candidates at a Coeur dAlene resort, but son Baron Brooks told the Spokesman-Review that its managers asked his father not to conduct interviews there after getting barraged with media requests.

The younger Brooks previously called the $900 (814) ad in the Coeur dAlene Press embarrassing but said hed let his 78-year-old father go forward.

He says about 12 women expressed interest in the ad. Arthur Brooks will interview them in the coming weeks. Baron Brooks says his father wants a grandchild to carry on the family name.

Lone rider

USA: Traffic came to a near halt on a bridge connecting Staten Island and New Jersey as a man on horseback wearing a cowboy hat led another horse behind him cross the span.

A spokesman for the Port Authority police said a police car escorted the man over the bridge as cars trailed behind. A video showed the rider sporting a brown vest and red kerchief galloping toward Staten Island.

It is believed the man is Doc Mishler, a cancer survivor, raising money for childhood hunger.

Shakespeare at Selfridges

ENGLAND: Selfridges is launching a commercial theatre within its flagship London store as part of celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeares death.

The theatre, which the retailer believes is a world first for a department store, is part of its Shakespeare Refashioned event, which is fusing fashion and drama in homage to the playwright.

The Oxford Street stores display windows have also been bedecked with designers interpretations of Shakespeare plays, while more than 120 product collaborations continue the theme for shoppers.

Sleepy judge

GERMANY: A court had to restart the trial of two men suspected of robbing a shop because a judge kept nodding off during the proceedings.

A Muenster state court official said the presiding judge decided it was better to start things over from scratch than provide immediate grounds for an appeal.
Justin Welby condemned hate-filled attacks and said those involved were using division as an excuse of prejudice.

Since Thursdays vote, a number of race and hate- related incidents have been investigated by police and the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) said there had been a sharp increase in reports to an online crime reporting site.
The disgraced celebrity publicist, aged 73, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of indecently assaulting her in his London office in the 1980s, which he denies.

He was jailed for eight years in May 2014 after being convicted of a number of charges under Operation Yewtree, the Met Police investigation set up after the Jimmy Savile scandal.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: He unzipped his trousers and came towards me. He said, lets have some fun, or something along those lines, lets have a bit of fun.

I said, I dont want to. He took my hand and put it on him.

She added: I was worried he was either going to rape me or kill me. I didnt know what would happen next. It was something I had never experienced before and was worried what was coming next.

She said she did not report the incident earlier because she was ashamed, adding: I didnt think I would be believed or that anyone would do anything. He was so powerful... Im nobody.

Clifford is accused of assaulting the girl at his Mayfair offices in New Bond St between October 1981 and May 1982.

She said he also made smutty jokes about her with late comedian Lennie Bennett. They were like schoolboys, she told the jury. He would say things like, we will get you to take your top off by the end of the day.

She was accused of making up the allegation after apparently reading in the news Cliffords victims could be entitled to up to 200,000 (240,000) compensation.

Sarah Forshaw, defending, asked: What was it that made you report something that had happened 34 years ago? Was it the money?

No, it wasnt the money, the woman replied. I would say Im a victim of Max Clifford because he did what he did  thats why, she added.

She was also quizzed about the size of Cliffords penis. Ms Forshaw said: In the last trial the size of Mr Cliffords penis became the source of much hilarity because of conflicting accounts  it was called a micro penis and absolutely massive. It was reported on the news.

She added: It was measured and was actually an average-sized penis. What size are you going to tell the jury his penis was? The woman answered: Im not aware  I wasnt looking and didnt have anything to compare it to. I saw it when he came towards me... it was just... not big but it wasnt erect.
Asia Smiles and Selfies as Cambodia PM Tells Foreign Powers to Stop Interfering

With a close fight between PM Hun Sens ruling party and the opposition on the horizon, Cambodias leader plays down tensions with opponents in hiding and exile.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia  International powers should keep out of Cambodian domestic politics, Prime Minister Hun Sen warned on Tuesday, as he posed for selfies with supporters and played down tension between his ruling party and the opposition.

An opposition win in an election due in 2018 could tip the country back into civil war, the quixotic Cambodian strongman has warned. Foreign governments have accused him of intimidating his political opponents ahead of the vote.

Those who portrayed the country as experiencing a political crisis were guilty of a dishonest trick to deceive public opinion, Hun Sen said in the capital, Phnom Penh.

They must not misconstrue individual mistakes as political issues and put pressure on the courts, he added, in a reference to foreign governments and international institutions.

That is an insult to people, state institutions and a dangerous adventure for the nation.

Last month, the European parliament threatened to review nearly half a billion dollars of aid to Cambodia if Hun Sens government continued to harass political opponents. The United Nations and the United States have called for dialogue between the two sides.

Tension has risen in Cambodia as opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha face legal charges they say have been trumped up by a judiciary in thrall to Hun Sen.

The Cambodian prime minister says if they have committed crimes, they must face the legal consequences.

The opposition says the prime minister has started a campaign against it early, to weaken its campaigning ahead of the election.

At the last vote in 2013, a strong performance by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) nearly cost Hun Sen the premiership.

Sokha has spent one month in hiding inside the CNRP headquarters as he seeks to evade arrest, while Rainsy is in self-imposed exile to avoid arrest on charges for which he had previously received a royal pardon.
Burma Burma Army Chief Backs Panglong Conference: Source

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing says that he hopes for a successful Panglong Conference, and claims to be open to all ethnic armed groups.

RANGOON  The Burma Army commander-in-chief, has reportedly told a delegation of ethnic armed organizations that he hopes the countrys Union Peace Conference, also known as the 21st Century Panglong Conference, will be successful.

Khun Myint Tun, chairman of the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), attended a meeting in Naypyidaw on Wednesday with Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing. He told The Irrawaddy that, during this time, the army chief spent about two hours with the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST), a delegation made up of representatives from the eight armed groups which acted as signatories to the 2015 nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA).

[Min Aung Hlaing] said he wanted the 21st Century Panglong Conference to be successful. His desire is to move forward [with the peace process] in accordance with the NCA. He said the Panglong Conference must be successful so that there will be peace and stability in the country. Then the country will be able to develop, said Khun Myint Tun.

According to Khun Myint Tun, Min Aung Hlaing also said he is open to talks with the ethnic armed organizations who have not signed the NCA.

The PPST that met the Snr-Gen was made up of members of the Karen National Union (KNU), the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), the Chin National Front (CNF), the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) as well as the armed Burmese dissident organization, the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF).

Min Aung Hlaing did not specifically address the inclusion of the Arakan Army, the Taang National Liberation Army or the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Armythree groups that have drawn the ire of the Burma Army recentlybut Khun Myint Tun said the Snr-Gen claimed he would welcome all NCA non-signatories.

The army chief also said he was not opposed to the upcoming summit of ethnic armed organizations which is planned to be held in Mai Ja Yang, a conflict-torn region in Kachin State in mid-July. All ethnic armed groups will reportedly be invited to attend the pre-Panglong summit.

Burmese army representatives including Vice Snr-Gen Soe Win and Lt-Gen Myat Htun Oo and top-ranked military officials also attended the meeting with the PPST.

The PPST delegation submitted a plan on the Kachin State summit to State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi when they met her in Naypyidaw on Tuesday. Suu Kyi also said she did not oppose the summit, but asked the ethnic delegation to submit details of the agenda for the meeting.

During the meeting with Suu Kyi on Tuesday, the NCA signatories delegation also agreed to hold the 21st Century Panglong Conference by the last week in August.
Burma Burmese Court Lays New Charges Against Saffron Revolution Leader

Gambira, a former monk and activist, is being moved around the country and charged with minor offenses, a sign reforms have not yet completely taken hold.

RANGOON  A Burmese court laid additional charges against a former monk and leader of the 2007 Saffron Revolution anti-junta uprising on Tuesday, accusing him of trespass and mischief committed four years ago.

Nyi Nyi Lwin, better known as Gambira, was arrested in January for illegally entering Burma from neighboring Thailand.

The new charges relate to the reopening of monasteries that were sealed off after the monk-led protests. The alleged violations took place in 2012, after Gambiras release from prison where he had served time for his involvement in the demonstrations.

Gambira force-opened the gates of three monasteries in Rangoon, which were sealed off by the military in the crackdown on the protests, since the activist monks couldnt find anywhere to live after their release in the amnesty in 2012, said Gambiras lawyer, Robert San Aung.

The charges were laid days before he was about to be released from prison, where he has been serving time for allegedly crossing the Thai-Burma border without an official visa.

He has now been moved to Rangoons notorious Insein Prison from Mandalay to face the new charges.

The fact that a high-profile political prisoner is moved around the country and charged for seemingly minor offences committed years ago shows democratic reforms in Burma under Aung San Suu Kyis leadership are still in their early stages, as many junta-era institutions, mechanisms and laws remain unchanged.

He was due to be freed on July 1, but the authorities seem afraid of him and dont want to let him out, said Robert San Aung.

The government cracked down harshly on the 2007 demonstrations, opening fire on protesters and sweeping up those who took part. At least 31 people were killed by security forces and thousands arrested, according to the United Nations.

Gambira was freed from prison during a 2012 general amnesty, a year after the junta handed power to a semi-civilian government, following 49 years of direct rule of the Southeast Asian nation.

Since his release, he has divided his time between Burma and Thailand, but Burmese authorities have re-arrested him several times in what rights groups have described as continued harassment for his criticism of the previous military-backed government.

It just shows things still remain as bad as they were under the former regime, political analyst Yan Myo Thein told Reuters. They always find some pretext whenever they dont want to free a prominent politician or an activist.
Burma Rights Group Pushes for Freedom of Speech in Burma

Human Rights Watch releases a report warning that despite progress since 2012, laws on the books can be used to oppress activists, protesters and journalists.

RANGOON  Burma has undergone political reforms, but the government still needs to provide for more freedom of expression in order to bring true democracy and to protect human rights, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), which held a press conference on Wednesday in Rangoon.

HRW recommended that the National League for Democracy (NLD) government amend, repeal and abolish laws restricting freedom of expression.

The rights group issued a report on Wednesday entitled They Can Arrest You at Any Time: The Criminalization of Peaceful Expression in Burma, referring to the countrys laws that are still used to punish activists or journalists who try to exercise their freedom of speech.

Those laws need be further amended in order to meet international standards, said Linda Lakhdhir, a legal advisor at the Asia Division of HRW and a co-author of the new report.

The report revealed that 150 people were facing charges under Article 505(b) of Burmas penal codewhich allows for the arrest of those who cause or intend to cause fear or alarm to the publicwhen the countrys newly-elected lawmakers first took their oaths in Parliament in February of this year.

Lakhdhir emphasized that while some charges have since been dropped and the government has granted amnesty to certain political prisoners, the oppressive laws still remain on the books.

She added that since 505(b) has been used against students calling for the amendment of a controversial national education law, as well as to punish activists and journalists, HRW was recommending its repeal.

The report also documented the use and abuse of other vaguely worded laws that criminalize peaceful expression, and includes debates on matters of public interest, as well as specific recommendations to revoke or amend the laws in question. HRW draws on interviews with individuals prosecuted under these laws, as well as journalists, civil society activists and lawyers.

We must recognize the previous government of U Thein Sein, and he did make some improvements in human rights conditions, like the open space for this meeting today, said David Mathieson, HRWs senior researcher on Burma. The new government led by President U Htin Kyaw and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has further opened space for the promotion of human rights and has discussed freedom of expression in Myanmar. But, major problems and challenges remain throughout Myanmar. There are very serious human rights challenges.

HRW called on the government to listen to the people of Burma and recommended that the authorities maintain transparency during the process of changing legal mechanisms.

Freedom of speech is important in a democracy because it leads to the protection of other rights, said Linda Lakhdhir. We advise the government to protect the rights of people to speak freely, and criticize the government where that criticism is warranted, and do these things without fear of punishment.

Correction: A previous version of this story reported that 150 people were charged under Article 505(b) since the new government took power. That has been changed to reflect the fact that the 150 people were already facing charges under the law when the National League for Democracy took over.
Burma Seizure of Large Quantities of Illegal Timber Continues

With a nationwide ban on logging looming, seizures of illegally cut logs reached 12,844 tons between April and June, highlighting the challenges ahead.

RANGOON  With a crackdown announced on the illegal timber tradeand a proposed nationwide logging ban by the end of the fiscal year in March 2017seizures of illegally cut logs have exceeded 10,000 tons in the first quarter from April to June.

Myo Min, director of the Forestry Department in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, maintains, however, that trends are continuing to move in a positive direction. Based on the current figures, he expects seizure quantities for this fiscal year to be lower than the 46,153 tons seized during the 2015-16 fiscal year.

From the beginning of April until June 23, 12,844 tons of timber were seized, according to the ministrys figures. The most commonly seized log varieties were teak, followed by other hardwoods. The largest hauls were in Sagaing Division, at nearly 3,450 tons, followed by over 2,178 tons in Karenni State and 1,406 tons in Pegu Division.

Along the Irrawaddy River, we have inspection teams checking for illegally cut logs and detaining culprits, and we are conducting ambushes in different states and divisions in cooperation with the forestry police. Were providing more security for every forest in the country, Myo Min said.

The ministry said it has filed 614 criminal cases related to 2,545 interventions during this three-month period. During the entire 2015-16 fiscal year, 2,246 cases were filed out of 13,003 interventions.

Burma lost an average of 1.7 percent of its forests annually from 2010-15, leaving total forest cover at 45 percent (around 29 million hectares), according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Fifteen years before, this stood at 65 percent, the agency said.

Government data for the fiscal year ending in March 2013, reported by Reuters, put Burmas total timber exports past 1.24 million cubic tons, generating more than US$1 billion, of which teak comprised $359 million. However, it is generally thought that this was far below the actual quantity of timber tradedand money madeon the black market.

Since 2014, the legal logging sectorwhose methods, under the state-owned Myanmar Timber Enterprise, have received a large part of the blame for Burmas deforestationhas been restricted according to an annual quota. Log exports were then suspended from April the same year.

After the formation of the new government in April, Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation Ohn Win declared that a nationwide ban on logging would be imposed by the end of the current fiscal year in March 2017.

This followed initial media reports in April that the ban would be be imposed immediately, due largely to a statement from Saw John Shwe Ba, managing director at the ministry, that the government had decided to stop logging completely.

Environmental groups blamed the uncertainty this caused for spurring a temporary flurry of logging activity in different parts of the country.

Baba Cho, a consultant to the Myanmar Timber Merchants Association, said the government needed to enhance law enforcement to prevent illegal logging, which continues at significant rates across the country.

Last year, some forest police were murdered in this country. If law enforcement remains weak in certain areas, mafia-type logging networks will only go stronger, he said.

Some have blamed cronies [for deforestation] but, as can be easily seen, villagers around [logging] areas also participate because of poverty. We have to consider such things when trying to enforce a stop, he said.

Baba Cho added that, for logging to be successfully curbed, the government cannot work alone but must also collaborate with locals and stakeholder organizations.
Burma Thailand and Burma Restart Border Demarcation Talks

Thailand and Burma agree to renew negotiations over disputed border demarcations, which had stalled under Burmas previous government.

RANGOON  Thailand and Burma have agreed to renew negotiations over disputed border demarcations, which had stalled under Burmas previous government.

The agreement was reached during State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyis recent visit to Thailand, according to Burmas Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday stated that Burma would host a joint boundary committee to negotiate the renewal of the demarcation process.

Burma shares its eastern and southeastern borders with Thailand, some of which territory is under the control of Burmas ethnic armed organizations. Ethnic Wa, Shan, Karen, Karenni and Mon each control land to which the Thai government has also staked its claims.

Observers say that Thailand wants to solve the border disputes for business interests and security concerns.

In early June, Thai authorities had proposed building a trading post and upgrading the border gate at Three Pagodas Pass in Thailands Sangkhlaburi Province to stimulate trade and development. However, the Burmese government rejected the proposal, according to the state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar.

Non-state armed organizationsthe Karen National Union (KNU) and the New Mon State Party (NMSP)previously controlled areas around Three Pagodas Pass, but it is now partially controlled by the Burma Army. However, Thailand had already constructed buildings and a highway in what the Burmese government firmly considers its own territory.



In late May, during a bilateral meeting on border security, Thai military officials asked their Burma Army counterparts to help convince the powerful ethnic Wa armed group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), to withdraw its military bases on the Thai-Burma border in Thailands northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Song, according to Thai military officials. More than a dozen UWSA bases are in southern Shan State, on or over the Thai border.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, Burma currently has 16 border trading posts, four of which border Thailand.
Business Premier Coffee Sued for Breaking Labor Laws

The Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population files a lawsuit against local brand Premier Coffee for breaking labor laws and regulations.

RANGOON  The Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Premier Coffee for breaking labor laws and regulations.

Nyunt Win, one of ministrys spokespersons and deputy director of the Factories and General Labor Laws Inspection Department under the ministry, told The Irrawaddy that they received complaints from about 300 workers from the Premier Coffee factory in Rangoons Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone who claimed that the company failed to give days off or provide full payment for overtime hours worked.

He said that under Burmas 1951 Leave and Holiday Act, employers must allow for at least one day off each week without cutting salaries. But, the company failed to provide time off or full payment for overtime in accordance with the law, which also states that overtime is to be paid at twice the standard rate.

As we found the complaints to be true, we filed the case against the company owner and HR manager of the factory at Hlaing Tharyar Township Court on Tuesday and the court accepted the case, the deputy director said.

The popular local coffee is a brand of the Capital Diamond Star Group, a conglomerate owned by Burmese businessman Ko Ko Gyi. The firm runs many businesses including Grab and Go convenience stores, Capital Hypermarket and import and export businesses.

Nyunt Win said that the Factories and General Labor Laws Inspection Department filed the suit because the company violated labor laws directly related to the department.

He said that they receive the most complaints against garment factories; this is the first time they have heard complaints about Premier coffee.

If the company is found guilty, the minimum punishment is three months imprisonment and a 2 million kyat fine (over US$1,600) under the 1951 Factories Act.
Wednesday, June 29th, 2016 (1:01 pm) - Score 305

The Broadband East Riding project in Yorkshire (England) has announced the successful completion of their original contract with BT. In other words, an additional 42,000 premises in the area can now access a superfast broadband (24Mbps+) service and work is now underway to reach 95% of the region.

Apparently the first contract (worth 14m, including 4m from BT) has delivered 240 new street cabinets via Openreach (BTs) up to 80Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) network, which is supported by around 180 miles of underground fibre optic duct.

On top of that some 28% of those in the related Broadband Delivery UK intervention area have signed up, which means that BT will need to return a slice of the public investment through clawback; this can then be used to further improve coverage.

A second 5.4m extension contract has already been signed that should expand the coverage to another 4,500 premises by the end of 2017.

Derek Richardson, Openreachs Local Programme Director, said: This is a significant milestone that has been achieved right on schedule thanks to the dedication of the hundreds of engineers who have worked tirelessly on this project. Superfast broadband opens the doors to countless business, leisure and online education opportunities in the county, boosting the rural economy and supporting thriving local communities. However, there is still more to do. Work is already underway on the second phase of delivery  with more than 1,000 more homes and businesses in locations such as Wetwang, North Cave and Burton Pidsea already able to access to fibre as a result.

Mind you its not all good news and earlier this month we noted how the local authority would require another 10m in order to deliver 95% coverage of superfast broadband, although theres no accounting for how much influence the incumbent operator for Hull, KCOM, may have in all this.

Similarly BTs official press release doesnt say what % of East Riding can receive superfast speeds, but a quick check via Thinkbroadbands independent database suggests that the figure is only 70% (well below other parts of the United Kingdom). Sadly the official East Riding project website is pretty useless and doesnt offer a lot of data.
Considerations for Maintaining Critical Business Continuity

When natural disasters strike, news stories frequently cover damage to homes and consumers, but businesses often experience greater losses, ranging from physical destruction to downtime. A key element for firms to survive in a disaster scenario is the development and deployment of a strong business continuity (BC) plan.

Evolve IP, a cloud services company based in Wayne, Pennsylvania, warns that now is not the time for businesses to become complacent about their business continuity plans because of the historical patterns of two related events: El Nino and La Nina. Both of these conditions occur when the Pacific Ocean and the atmosphere sustain significant temperature changes.

The most recent El Nino season was the worst in two decades, causing billions of dollars in damages and losses. But now comes La Nina. The last significant La Nina was tied to record winter U.S. snowfall, spring flooding across the country, and drought conditions in the south and Midwest. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says there is a 75 percent chance that La Nina will be in place by the fall and potentially last up to three years. This one could result in larger hurricanes making U.S. landfall; that would have a significant impact on hundreds of thousands of businesses.

If La Nina does hit the U.S. hard, what could it do to small businesses that likely dont have the resources needed to support business continuity in this type of situation? Evolve IP offers some essentials to start developing a comprehensive BC plan. Here are the steps the company recommends:

Build a team charged with developing the BC strategy. The team should be composed of mission-critical leaders from major departments (IT, finance, HR, operations, PR and legal), with a back-up for each. Once the team is assembled, categorize key risks by geographic location and identify the impact and interdependencies of each scenario to critical business systems and personnel. Determine the services, information and systems most vital to continuing business operation at acceptable levels.

While your BC plan should address your communication systems, HR operations and crisis communications, these are Evolves recommendations specifically for the data center and IT systems.

Data Center and IT Systems

For cloud-based data centers and applications, Evolve IP says, ensure that the IT deployment can properly meet disaster recovery Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) timelines. Validate your suppliers SLA quarterly (the goal should be 99.999 percent on core applications). Ensure that employees can access the hosted environment (both from within the business confines and remotely) during fail-over mode from the designated locations. Schedule and test your plan at least once per year.

For premise-based data centers, create a written recovery plan and store it remotely. If you havent addressed safeguards from water and fire in the initial design of the room, retrofits may be necessary. According to Evolve IP, critical elements include

adequate cooling and ventilation

housing the data center above street level with servers as high as possible in the rack

installing a non-water based re-suppression system

employing a VESDA smoke detection system and thermal detectors

If you find that your data center is at risk due to poor availability of adequate power, purchase uninterrupted power supplies (UPS) and provide for generator access where necessary.

Lastly, Evolve IP cautions, dont forget the importance of data backups. Tape backups should be removed daily and stored in a secure, easily accessed location. Since during a disaster, physical travel can be limited or stopped altogether, its a good idea to back up data and applications to a geographically distant location, and make sure that they can be transmitted in a time conducive with your RTO/RPO.

All of this might seem at first like a daunting task. Evolve IP offers a comprehensive checklist of these BC planning goals. It can help you eliminate most liabilities.
Pinterest announced on Tuesday, June 28, new features aimed at encouraging users to use the social media network for shopping.

According to the Los Angeles Times, smartphone cameras will soon turn into a tool that helps users discover and buy products. Pinterest revealed strategies aimed to transform its social media network into a shopping hub.

The San Francisco company provides a digital scrapbook service that allows people to save links and images from around the web. Instead of requiring users to search with words as other platforms, Pinterest will offer new visual search tools. The company hopes that this way it will become more attractive to shoppers.

According to PCMag, Pinterest's blog post explains in detail that the new features are based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. A new visual search icon will appear in the upper corner of the screen. When tapping on the new icon, a series of displayed dots will mark the products users might like to buy.

Pinterest is using AI algorithms to make the purchasing suggestions. For instance, if the pin is a scene of a bedroom the bedspread and the lamp might be identified with dots that users can tap in order to see similar pins.

Users of the social media network can add any buyable Pin, thanks to a redesigned shopping bag. When users are logged into the Pinterest social media network, their potential purchases will pop up on the Android app.

Pinterest developer, engineer Dmitry Kislyuk, wrote in a blog post that their team wanted to simplify user discovery experience from the dozens of objects contained in an image. Automatic object detection enhances visual search in the same way as the auto-complete feature in Google improves the text search experience.

Pinterest has announced that the ability to search using offline photos users have taken themselves is coming soon, along with iOS support. Pinterest also added over 10 million unique products to the site and more than 20,000 new merchants.
According to reviews, the 2-in-1 Windows hybrid Huawei MateBook fits a full PC into an iPad-sized tablet chassis.

According to BetaNews, the well-known Chinese company Huawei competes with Microsoft in the field of the Windows world. The company is looking to make a name for itself in the U.S. with its all-new affordable MateBook Windows 10 tablet/laptop hybrid that rivals Microsoft's Surface.

CNet's review on the Huawei MateBook appreciates its excellent speakers and screen as well as the fast fingerprint sensor. However, in order to use the device like a PC, users have to pay extra for the dock, stylus and keyboard.

Huawei's latest device is a 12-inch Windows tablet as slim as an iPad Pro. The hybrid is one of the first full Windows 10 computers that can fit inside an iPad Pro-sized chassis.

The hybrid 2-in-1 is powered by Intel's new Core M processors. However, Intel Core M-powered computers aren't all the same. In a thin tablet like this one, a Core M is notably weaker than one in a laptop-sized chassis. The MateBook isn't as fast as a thicker Core M machine. There is a delay before web pages would load or applications would launch.

The hybrid 2-in-1 comes with a sleek design and, like an iPad Pro, users can attach a keyboard to turn the tablet into a PC. The Matebook's leather-bound backlit keyboard has a modern design. The built-in touchpad comes with an extremely fine surface.

In the basic configuration, coming with Core M3, 128 GB SSD and 4 GB RAM, the MateBook costs $699. The top configuration, coming with Core m5, 512 GB SSD and 8 GB RAM, has a price tag of $1,199.

The 12-inch TFT LCD display provides 2160 x 1440 resolution. In terms of connectivity, the device comes with Wi-Fi: 802.11ac 2.4/5 GHz and Bluetooth 4.1. The MateBook also features a front-facing camera at 5 MP.

Huawei's 2-in-1 weights 640 g and measures 278.8 x 194.1 x 6.9 mm. The hybrid comes in grey and gold color options. The keyboard case color options are beige, orange, brown and black.
Researchers were able to find large quantities of helium within the Tanzanian East African Rift Valley, by employing a new exploration approach.

According to geologists from Durham and Oxford universities, with world supplies running out, the large helium gas field discovered by scientists in Tanzania is a "game-changer." BBC News reports that helium is used in radiation monitors, telescopes, spacecraft, as well as in hospitals with MRI scanners.

Until now, the precious gas has been discovered only in small quantities, during oil and gas drilling. However, the new resources discovered in the Rift valley are enough to fill over a million medical MRI scanners.

University of Oxford's Department of Earth Sciences Prof Chris Ballentine said that the newly discovered deposit is crucial for the future security of society's helium needs. The professor added that in the future, similar finds "may not be far away." Colleague Dr Pete Barry added that in order to find new helium resources, the same strategy can be applied to other parts of the world that have a similar geological history.

Helium gas forms by the terrestrial rocks' slow and steady radioactive decay. However, in the long term there are warnings that helium supplies can't be guaranteed. Helium global supplies are already running low.

Over the last 15 years, the price of helium has gone up by 500 percent, according to Prof Jon Gluyas of the Department of Earth Sciences at Durham University. He added that helium is exceedingly rare on Earth even if it is the second most abundant element in the Universe.

Helium is used in the space industry to clean out rocket engines and keep satellite instruments cool. The gas is also used as a cooling medium for the superconducting magnets in medical MRI scanners and for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Because of its low density, the gas is also used to fill airships, weather balloons and party balloons.

According to Nature World News, the discovery of the massive helium field in Tanzania may mark the end of the world helium shortage. The amount of helium found is estimated at over 54 billion cubic feet. Its exploitation could meet global demand for several years.
NASA is trying to bring the ease of communication found within the Earth to the entire Solar System. To do this, the science agency is studying the movements within Space and making necessary changes to current systems. The experiments and studies will hopefully allow NASA and its astronauts to easily and efficiently communicate with each other, whether they are in space or on the ground.

As UPI explains, NASA has installed new software that makes communication much faster on the International Space Station (ISS). The communications protocol, which is called Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN), was added earlier this month.

DTN works using delay and disruption tolerant networks in order to send messages from ISS to the ground and vice versa. The delay in messages should be more reliable, especially because movements in space often interrupt signals and messages. The delay, in a way, will save these messages for when it is more stable to relay them.

The DTN is also NASA's first step towards having technology as advanced as internet up in Space. In fact as RCR Wireless News recalls, NASA has actually been conceptualizing the idea for a while. DTN was described as a "step toward building a reliable and interplanetary internet" in early 2015.

Disruption Tolerant Networking has been applied most recently to the Telescience Resource Kit. This is a software designed to perform much like Wi-Fi at home. It will receive and send data by packing and unpacking data values. It will transfer files and manage DTN nodes.

According to Vint Cerf, Google's chief internet evangelist and a regular visiting scientist at NASA, "Our experience with DTN on the space station leads to additional terrestrial applications, especially for mobile communications." This could mean that, once NASA perfects DTN and its connection to an interplanetary Internet system, that speaking and communicating with someone in space could be as easy as calling someone from another country or state.


Queensland-based financial compliance and collaboration software company MyWorkpapers has finished its latest integration with Intuits QuickBooks.

This adds to its integration with some of the most popular small business accoutring products like MYOB, KashFlow and Xero  not to forget the de facto accounting system, Excel. It also has intelligent CSV imports from more than 20 leading accounting systems including SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Netsuite and more.

MyWorkpapers Connect is a cloud workpaper solution for financial collaboration, document management, workflows, and queries.

Combining MyWorkpapers Connect with QuickBooks Online, one of the worlds leading cloud accounting solution, creates a solution that enhances both productivity and revenue for small business.

The recently launched MyWorkpapers Connect application enables accountants to manage their monthly client work and build up a year-end file, or use the application specifically for year-end compliance and minimise risk. It further helps business owners focus on systemising their business to improve profitability, with collaboration and support from their advisor.

Connect complements MyWorkpapers flagship Audit solution, MyWorkpapers Audit, a highly automated paperless cloud-based audit system for performing and managing different types of audits.

The release of MyWorkpapers Connect also allows accountants to adopt a consistent, integrated cloud approach to both compliance and audit workpapers across their practice.

Anton Donde, executive director, MyWorkpapers, said, This new offering that integrates with QuickBooks Online supports the promise of running multiple applications from one cloud subscription as a high-value service. At the same time, it reinforces our strategy to drive innovation for our customers and provide accounting firms and their clients with technology to improve productivity, simplify accounting and compliance and, most importantly, boost collaboration.

Brad Paterson, vice-president, and managing director, Asia Pacific, Intuit, said, Intuit continues to attract leading cloud-based systems and tools that integrate seamlessly with QuickBooks Online. Using powerful apps from our growing ecosystem gives small businesses greater flexibility in managing their business. Were delighted that MyWorkpapers has leveraged Intuits open API and is now integrated with our platform.
There is a new app industry growing out of FinTech  it is called RegTech and as you might have guessed it is aimed at apps to help ensure compliance with government, financial, information technology, and even ethical regulations and expectations under which companies operate.

According to Deloitte, Regtech is the new FinTech, and it helps organisations better understand and manage risks.

While FinTech is revolutionising the delivery of financial services via highly specialised and agile apps, Deloitte says Regulation is one of many services to receive the disruptive Tech treatment in recent times.

It means different things to different people, but it is the marriage of technology and regulation to address regulatory challenges. Increasing levels of regulation and a greater focus on data and reporting has brought the RegTech offering into greater focus creating more value for the firms that invest in these solutions.

For example, iTWire recently reported on the highly successful OnSide health and safety application for farmers, making compliance with the new Health and Safety at Work Act easier. Australia, like many other countries, has been tightening OH&S rules. making some breaches a criminal act rather than a civil one.

Then there is the growing movement to ensure quality and safe delivery of services through business process mapping. Another highly successful Kiwi company Promapp has seen massive global expansion in its cloud-based BPM software that helps ensure rules and regulations are followed as part of the normal business process.

RegTech uses the same underlying tools as FinTech, including the use of big data and analytics, machine learning (to predict and identify non-compliance issues), modelling, and marries this with a database of regulations and compliance rules. It will succeed, because instead of replacing legacy systems and software it runs separately to verify information produced and can elicit clean, accurate, secure and timely data which can be sliced, diced and scrutinised in any format the regulator or other stakeholders require.

Barry McMackin from TradeFlow explains that RegTech companies need to show themselves as having expert knowledge of a specific problem and an ability to solve it. On one side, technology will assist firms in complying with regulation and on the other, regulators will require new technology to make better use of the information provided by the industry.

Sean Duca, APAC chief security officer, Palo Alto Networks said that there are cybersecurity implications of any new technology. RegTech ultimately helps firms automate the more mundane compliance tasks and reduce operational risks associated with meeting compliance and reporting obligations.

RegTech will be an attractive target for cybercriminals because it provides the technology to pull, consolidate, and manipulate existing [legacy] systems and data, and produce and report regulatory data in a more cost-effective, flexible, and timely manner. This means security will need to become as dynamic as the processes it is protecting. Businesses must consistently consider the value of their data, where the data resides, [smartphones for example] how well is it protected, who is protecting it, and who has access.

As the systems increase in speed and the nature of the data becomes more dynamic, businesses will need to visualise all this in real time. Differentiation will be driven by how much more effective an organisation is at managing the risks of a cyber attack.

Businesses should take advantage of the significant benefits on offer from RegTech while, at the same time, ensuring their security can protect this information.

To understand protection of data within RegTech systems, six key questions must be considered:

What is the value of your data to your business and your competitors?

Who is protecting your business? Is it a third-party business? Businesses should understand who amongst your employees has access to sensitive data. Just knowing who has access stops short of understanding what they have access to  its important to understand both.

Where is the data stored? This could prevent resources such as security controls being used broadly across the entire organisation, resulting in increased cost to acquire and utilise.

How likely is the data to be leaked, if the business was hacked? Measuring the risk associated with keeping sensitive data lets you implement technologies and processes that will reduce both the risk and the cost associated with protecting sensitive data.

How well is it protected? Businesses should know the nature of the information that makes it sensitive and whether it is protected because of its value.

When was your last audit done, and was it done for obsolescence, necessity, access control, and governance? Not all information needs to be kept indefinitely, and for information that does, you should ask if you are auditing its use and access? Shrinking the sensitive data footprint reduces cost.

Disruptive technology helps businesses grow, become more innovative and makes processes more efficient. However, as businesses adopt more disruptive technology measures, such as RegTech, it is important business leaders recognise the sensitivity of their data and the importance of cybersecurity protection.

Comment

I recommend all chief executives, HR Managers, chief financial officers, chief security officers, chief information officers and anyone who works under the scrutiny of any regulation read the Deloitte report and ask whether their legacy systems  usually an Excel spreadsheet  are adequate to meet regulatory requirements.
As business and consumer Wi-Fi becomes ubiquitous, the need for more efficient multi-antenna and multi-user solutions becomes a necessity, especially with increased demand for guest access, end-point access, and IoT device bandwidth.

Xirrus, a leading provider of next generation, cloud-enabled, Wi-Fi networks, has announced new four- and eight-radio, high-density, 802.11AC, Wave 2, Wi-Fi access points (APs), providing the broadest Wave 2 portfolio in the Wi-Fi industry. Its software-defined Wi-Fi solution enables an all Wave 2 solution, which delivers up to eight times the Wave 2 capacity per AP compared to competitive solutions.

The new four-radio XD and eight-radio XR high-density Wave 2 solutions were built specifically to address the connectivity challenges that enterprises, educational institutions, and public venues face. Xirrus says these will deliver the highest performance, and most adaptive cloud-managed Wi-Fi solutions available.

As new Wave 2 devices emerge, Wi-Fi networks must support these new technologies without requiring a complete network overhaul. According to a recent report, 802.11AC, Wave 2 Wi-Fi solutions will become the most common shipping Wi-Fi standard soon.

With Wi-Fi user experience and connectivity expectations at an all-time high, organisations cannot ignore new technology standards when upgrading network infrastructure, said Matthias Machowinski, senior research director, IHS. The Xirrus Wave 2 portfolio includes features to address todays requirements for fast, reliable and flexible Wi-Fi across a broad range of environments, including high-density deployments.

Xirrus XD and XR Wave 2 solutions provide:

Superior Wi-Fi experience  Full suite of Wave 2 Wi-Fi features on all AP radios, each capable of up to 3.47 Gbps (faster than other solutions) and four-stream multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO).

Adaptive architecture  Software-defined solution works with existing infrastructure and allows one-click migration to a 100% Wave 2 network when needed.

Flexible management  Cloud-based or on-premise Xirrus Management System (XMS) offers zero-touch provisioning and integrated EasyPass access control at no additional charge.

Darrin Hunter, director, Red 29, said With new devices and technologies emerging every day, our customers constantly face the challenge of delivering fast, flexible Wi-Fi to their users. Xirrus Wi-Fi allows us to address those customer needs.

"We have already experienced rapid uptake and success with the Xirrus XD2, Wave 2 solution. With the introduction of the four- and eight-radio Wave 2 solutions, Xirrus empowers us to offer a complete set of Wave 2 solutions, unlike any other offer in the market that allows our customers to easily upgrade capacity as their needs continue to grow. No other competitive solution delivers the flexibility, performance, reliability and security that Xirrus does.
Intel does not support the US government's position that encrypted devices need to have backdoors so that they can be accessed by law enforcement.

In an official statement that laid out its position on encryption in the wake of the recent debate over the use of the technology, Intel senior vice-president and general counsel Steven Rodgers said the company believed that governments should not weaken the security of technology.

He said that when it came to the current talk over whether governments should be able to access encrypted communications, Intel believed that encryption was fundamental to the global economy.

And, he added, the company firmly believed that the law should never dictate that companies should include backdoors in their encryption software.

Rodgers said Intel also believed that encryption should not be designed with backdoors. He added that the company inclined to the view that any government mandate on technology design would hinder innovation.

"Finding a path forward requires collaboration between industry and law enforcement," Rodgers wrote.

The debate over the use of encryption has been front and centre ever since NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed three years ago that Americans were being subjected to mass surveillance. More recently, a public tussle between the FBI and Apple over an encrypted iPhone which had been used by a terrorist involved in the San Bernardino killings kept the debate going.

That stoush ended with the FBI finally finding its own means to gain access to the phone in question. Thereafter there has been a push by law enforcement for legislation to mandate that encryption software should always include a backdoor.

Expanding on Intel's fundamental positions, Rodgers said the company had always supported the use of encryption, going back to the 1990s when the cryptography policy debate was at its height.

"Intel has long had a policy that we do not participate in any efforts to decrease security in technology and do not design backdoors for access into our products. That approach is still the best public policy option. Governments should pursue strengthening the security of technology, while looking for other methods to combat terrorism and prosecute crime," he wrote.

Rodgers said all sectors of the economy depended on good encryption technology to guard against unauthorised access. He said that as new wearable products and connected home technologies became popular, encryption would become even more important.

"Every backdoor created is another weakness for hackers to exploit. Likewise, a requirement that PCs, mobile phones, or other computing devices contain built-in vulnerabilities is an open invitation for bad actors around the world to target our digital infrastructure," he wrote.

He pointed out that questions over law enforcements access to encrypted communications were not new. "In 1994 Congress weighed in on the issue when it passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA).

"Acknowledging law enforcements legitimate interest in accessing certain digital telephone conversations, CALEA requires certain private sector service providers to build in surveillance capabilities that can be used by law enforcement to intercept encrypted communications. Importantly, however, Congress stopped short of requiring that these providers decrypt or otherwise undermine the security measures on their customers personal devices."

The FBI has used the All Writs Act, an 18th century law, to try and get its way in many cases. But Rodgers said this act was meant as a judicial catch-all to force certain actions where no existing law or statute applied. "While such 'gap-filling' jurisdictional authority is properly reserved for those rare instances where Congress has not yet engaged, it is entirely inappropriate to invoke this authority when Congress has clearly spoken on an issue, as it did in CALEA," he said.

On government moves to dictate the design of technology, Rodgers was clear that such interference would, in the long run, have a negative impact. "The technology industry is fast-moving and depends on rapid innovation to meet customer requirements and address constantly evolving cybersecurity risks," he wrote.

"Further, US government attempts to mandate the design of technology will decrease the ability of US companies to resist similar attempts by other governments, potentially decreasing US company access to certain markets and thereby hurting the US economy."
Microsoft has been around for 41 years and has more cash lying around than most, but it still retains the mean-spiritedness that has been a part of its corporate culture from the start.

Only that accounts for the churlishness it displayed before paying out a user who had genuine problems with an upgrade to Windows 10.

As iTWire reported, a small business owner in California received US$10,000 in damages from Microsoft after a forced upgrade to Windows 10 went tits-up.

Microsoft initially fought the case that Teri Goldstein filed in a small claims court, after she had tried to resolve the issue by contacting the company's support people.

After she was awarded US$10,000, Microsoft actually wanted to appeal the verdict!

If anything, this shows that the company knows nothing about image; it still has the same spirit that drove its co-founder Bill Gates to accept 50 US cents from a gentleman in an all-night convenience store queue to pay for a carton of ice cream  at a time when he was worth more than US$3 billion!

This tale comes from the veteran tech journalist Robert Cringely and is in his book Accidental Empires, the best history of the US computer industry that one can find.

According to Cringely, when Gates reached the cashier, he began to fish in his pockets, searching for something. It was about midnight and the other people behind him became restive, with one finally asking him what was going on. Gates responded that he was looking for a 50-cents-off coupon.

Finally, the next shopper in line got fed up and threw down two quarters which Gates took and used to pay for his butter pecan ice cream. As he left the store, his benefactor shouted out "pay me back when you earn your first million."

Other shoppers shook their heads; they all knew it was Gates who at that time, in 1990, was worth in excess of US$3 billion.

That is the prevalent culture at Microsoft and it is doubtful whether it will ever change. It is a culture that puts money above everything else, even when the company's image is at stake.

The amount of bad publicity that Microsoft has received over the California payout cannot be nullified, not for a million dollars.

But then this type of behaviour is part of its genetic make-up. Gates, it must be remembered, also exploited his own partner, the other co-founder Paul Allen, when they started out in business.

Once again, this comes from an unimpeachable source: Allen. In his book Idea Man, Allen wrote that after Gates had quit Harvard, he called Allen out for a stroll one day. After walking one block, Gates came to the point. "I've done most of the work on BASIC and I gave up a lot to leave Harvard," he is quoted as telling Allen. "I deserve more than 60 per cent."

When Allen asked "how much more?", pat came the reply: "I was thinking 64-36." Allen, a logical person to the core, had some misgivings, wondering what his ideas were worth - the idea of mating a high-level language to a microprocessor, the development tools he had coded, his stewardship of the product line or his day-to-day meetings with the other programmers at the fledgling company.

But he was not one to haggle and shrugged his shoulders and accepted it. Years later, in 2006, when asked about this deal he told Cringely, "I made out okay."

Wait, there's more.

In 1982, Allen was again exposed to his business partner's impersonal nature and obsession with money. At this time, a rewrite of DOS was in the works and Allen had been diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease; the treatment left him weak and he was unable to put in as much work as he normally had been doing.

One night, he overheard Gates and Steve Ballmer discussing how they could get back Allen's shares if he died. He confronted the pair and although both apologised and tried to play down the episode, the idea of his leaving the company crystallised then and there.

So, when Microsoft refuses to admit wrongdoing and tries to resist paying people whose computing experience it has screwed up, don't shake your head in amazement and wonder whether the company will ever enter the 21st century.

Be it Satya Nadella or Ballmer or even the Dalai Lama at the head, the culture is all Gates. And it will be ever so.
A new purpose-built mobile captioning app which turns any iPad or iPhone into an accessible phone for people who are deaf and blind or have low vision, has been developed by the Brisbane-based Conexu Foundation.

The new app, called OpenAccess Captions, directly connects callers via a live captioner so that phone conversations can be read as they happen.

The app was launched during Deafblind Awareness Week which ends today, and has been described by Conexu chief executive Rachel McKay as a game changer for hundreds of thousands of Australians who find it difficult or impossible to use a phone in the way most take for granted.

The app is in trial stage and participation is open to people who are deafblind. To register to take part in the trial, the app can be downloaded from the Apple store or by emailing Conexu.

Conexu cites new statistics showing 45% of Australian smartphone owners believe they cant live without their mobiles and 63% need their phone to juggle work and personal life, but McKay says not all Australians have equal access to mobile technology.

As the population ages, we know more people are losing their hearing and vision but that doesnt mean they should be denied mobile communication.

The app provides a quick, direct connection that makes the most of the iPad or iPhones accessibility settings and integrates with the users contacts.

Were trialling this as an extension of our at-home caption-to-braille trial which was a world-first when it started last year.

McKay said the new app could also connect through Bluetooth to a braille display so the captions can be read by people who are deafblind.

Brisbane mum Lee Scott lost her sight and hearing due to cryptoccocal meningitis and has been taking part in Conexus caption to braille trial.

Being able to use the phone again has changed my life, she said.

Im busy, so the convenience of being mobile again will help me run my business and keep track of family.

Technology is making it easier for everyone to stay in touch, do business and manage their lives, and developments like this app help to make sure no one gets left behind.
Gaming and couch potatoes dont seem congruous but with more games being played on the big screen it means a rethink of gaming accessories.

Enter ROCCAT Studios Sova  the first couch keyboard that doubles as a stable table, sorry, very large mousepad.

For decades the living room has been the near exclusive domain of console gaming. Millions have enjoyed playing on the couch, experiencing the casual ease of plug-and-play fun that comes with it. While smaller PCs and various streaming technologies have cracked the door slightly over the years, Sova kicks it wide open.

It bridges the gap between desk-and-chair PC gaming and living room play. It provides the vital key ingredient missed by every PC gamer who wants to experience their favourite games from the comfort of a couch or chair via PC, Steam machine, or streaming device.

It is a USB keyboard with a four-metre break-away cable  perhaps not as convenient as Bluetooth, but a lot faster when every microsecond counts. The specs include:

275mm  240mm mousepad, replaceable

Replaceable wrist rest and lap cushions

Easy-Shift[+] with 28-key EasyZone

2  USB 2.0 ports (to attach a mouse and headset)

ROCCAT Talk

Multimedia functions

Configurable key backlighting

4m break-away cable

512kB memory + 32-bit Arm IC

1000Hz polling rate

Advanced anti-ghosting with N-key rollover

Membrane keys (Sova)

TTC mechanical key switches (Sova MK)  near infinite durability

Dimensions / Weight: Width 64.6 cm, Height 28.0 cm , Length 3.7 cm , Weight 2350 g

ROCCAT Sova Membrane is available for 299.95 AUD/NZD on pre-order in Australia from EB Games and Mighty Ape in New Zealand. All pre-orders come with a free ROCCAT Kova gaming mouse.
Sorry Frodo, but we dont need many rings  sorry, keyboards  to rule them all. Windows, macOS, iOS, Chrome, and Android (and Linux et al.) will all work the Logitech K780 .

While the Logitech K780 could be taken to be a portable device, it has a full-sized keyboard, numeric keypad, dual function and number keys, and pretty good "PerfectStroke" concave keys. It works over a 10m Bluetooth range or via the unifying receiver. It will even act as a tablet or smartphone stand.

Battery life from the two AAA batteries is rated at 24 months, and it has auto on/off. Because it is 100% HID (Human interface device) compatible, it will work with any reasonably modern device as long as it has USB drivers.

Art O Gnimh, global director of keyboards at Logitech, said, When it comes to typing we can create a document quickly and comfortably on the computer, but when answering a text message on the phone were limited to what our two thumbs can do. Now with the K780 Multi-Device, you can type comfortably at desktop speed on all the devices that you use at your desk, seamlessly switching between them with the touch of a button.

An integrated rubber slot securely cradles a variety of mobile devices at a perfect reading angle, from smartphones to the 12 tablet (iPad, Samsung, Surface). These will not tip over. The keyboard is slim and solidly built, designed to look good in a modern home or office environment.

Specifications

Height x width x depth: 158 mm x 380 mm x 8 mm at front, 22 mm at back

Weight: 875 g

Connection: Bluetooth or Logitech unifying receiver

Three Bluetooth channel LEDs

Battery indicator light

Battery: 2 x AAA  nominally 24 months life

Special Keys: Hotkeys (e.g. home, search, back, app-switch and contextual menu), easy-switch

Connect/power: On/Off switch

Tablet cover and stand: Supports most smartphones and tablets with thickness up to 11.3mm, in portrait or landscape mode. iPad Pro (12.9") in landscape mode only.

The K780 Multi-Device Wireless Keyboard costs $149.95.
A key specification for exchanging sensor data between vehicles has found a new sponsor, in a move that may help future drivers avoid dangers before they see them.

New vehicles are increasingly laden with sensors -- accelerometers, thermometers, radar and lidar (light detection and range) -- and the best of them can use the streams of incoming data to warn of or even avoid hazards such as ice or obstacles.

But what if they could share information about changes to a road since the map was last updated or even warn one another of a stopped vehicle hidden by a blind curve? Vehicles might then be able to choose more efficient routes or avoid the need for sudden braking.

That was the plan of digital mapping company Here when it published its specification for Sensoris (Sensor Ingestion Interface Specification) a year ago. Sensoris defines how vehicles pass information about the road conditions they have encountered to servers in the cloud, which can then share useful information with other vehicles that report they are in the same area.

Sensoris messages contain two mandatory components: an envelope tagged with the essential characteristics of the vehicle, and a path composed of a list of timestamped position estimates. Messages can also contain path events, either discrete or continuous in nature, describing input from vehicle sensors. These might indicate the slope of the road, or whether the wheels are slipping.

To be useful, a platform needs to gather input from as many vehicles as possible, not just those made by the same manufacturer, owned by the same rental fleet, or subscribed to the same mobile operator or webmail service.

That's why Here has sought out the help of Ertico-ITS Europe, a European transport industry body, to further develop the specification as one of Ertico's "innovation platforms." The new neutral home for Sensoris makes it more likely that more auto makers -- and even mapping and navigation device makers -- will adopt it.

Ertico's other innovation platforms include the linking of maps to Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADASIS) to improve navigation and fuel economy and the creation of better traffic management systems.

The Sensoris platform has already drawn participation from auto maker Daimler (a Here shareholder), LG Electronics, infotainment system maker Pioneer, and navigation device maker TomTom, among others, Here said Wednesday.
ether its off running errs around town or exploring a new city, your route probably takes you more than one place.

But planning that in Maps is kind of a pain, since there isnt the capability to add in a multi-stop trip. This is finally getting fixed, however, according to screenshots that popped up on Android lice.

The idea is you can plan out different stops along your route, which will definitely come in hy if youre in unfamiliar terrain.

Android lice anning out your next trip with multiple stops could soon get much easier.

Unfortunately it looks like a server-side switch, as I grabbed the A for version 9.31.2 tried it on multiple devices but had no luck in triggering the feature. So it looks like youll just have to wait, but its worth ensuring you have the latest version from the ay Store.

The impact on you: Maps offers a lot of tools to help in your local out-of-town adventures, but this is surely one that will be a real breakthrough for power users. Since the actual rollout is stuck in server purgatory, youll just need to keep trying see when it actually materializes.
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New York  They're not household names like McDonald's or The UPS Store, but small franchises beyond the usual restaurant groups and retailers are attracting buyers who want something new or different and see greater challenges and opportunities with lesser-known businesses.

Franchise buyers are taking chances on ideas such as a nursing service, a personal assistant company and a used clothing retailer  companies that are tiny or growing, but don't yet have the name recognition of thousands of locations.

"I like the feeling of family and a team and I don't feel you can get that with a big corporate franchise," says Tom Wicklow, who's buying a franchise of Let Mommy Sleep, which provides baby nurses and other help to new parents. "A service business, especially one that helps new families grow closer and live happier, offers something that money can't buy."

Wicklow, a former Marine who recently got his MBA, had considered a Domino's Pizza franchise, but didn't believe it would be fulfilling. He's getting involved instead with Let Mommy Sleep, which is based in Bristow, Va., and has one franchise open so far in Philadelphia. Wicklow, who lives in Stanhope, N.J., plans his franchise to cover the northern part of the state and hopes for 10 employees in the first year.

But to be sure that a smaller franchise like Let Mommy Sleep would be a good deal for him, Wicklow had asked a mentor from SCORE, the organization that gives free advice to small business owners, to evaluate the franchise agreement papers first.

About 4,000 different franchises exist in the United States. Fast-food restaurants and hotel chains have the most outlets, along with a smattering of retailers and service providers like auto repair companies. Many of these businesses have thousands of locations  Subway has nearly 27,000 in the U.S., while The UPS Store has more than 4,500.

But 80% of the 1,200 franchise parent companies who belong to the International Franchise Association have fewer than 200 locations, and of that subset, 80% have fewer than 100, says Scott Lehr, a senior vice president of the trade group.

While the economy was more uncertain, parent companies, known as franchisors, had held off creating new franchises. Loans for people to buy franchise locations were also harder to come by. But Lehr says new franchises have been created as the economy recovers from recession.

"There are opportunities for people to get on board with these younger, smaller, less-established companies. And they're going to get bigger," he says.

Buying a franchise can be appealing for people who want to own a business because they don't have to come up with an idea from scratch. Some of the hard parts are already taken care of  there's a logo and marketing campaign, and if it's a restaurant, there's a menu and decor. In some franchises, the corporate parent provides food items or other inventory. But the franchise owner must bring in customers and make the business a success like any other company.

Charmaine Hunt, who used to work for a startup that sold medical devices and liked the job, didn't want a well-known company with a long track record when she began her franchise search. She turned down opportunities like hair salons and massage spas that already had plenty of franchisees.

"I wanted to go away from that direction. I wanted something that's brand-new and that has the ability to grow," says Hunt, who lives in Nashville, Tenn. She's now about to become the second franchisee for Lifesquire, which provides personal assistants who run errands and take care of chores for clients.

Hunt wasn't daunted by the fact that a Lifesquire franchise hadn't yet been proved a long-term success; the first franchise, in San Diego, is a year old. Opening any business, even a well-established franchise, carries risks, Hunt says.

"I never thought about (Lifesquire) being any more difficult than opening a Subway," she says.

Adam Scott looked at several relatively small companies before deciding on Clothes Mentor, which has nearly 140 shops in about two dozen states that sell women's used clothing. Scott, who previously owned a franchise that shipped packages, was looking for a team atmosphere that he felt huge franchises with thousands of locations didn't offer.

"I wanted a certain culture," says Scott, who lives in Knoxville, Tenn. "I could tell they really have an interest in the success of their franchisees."

Scott asked other franchise owners about their experience with Clothes Mentor, something that's recommended anyone do before buying a franchise. What he heard persuaded him that even though Clothes Mentor isn't on the tip of consumers' tongues, it was a good fit for him.

"I have to feel that I'm going to like who I'm in business with," he says.
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Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce plans to buy Chicago-based PrivateBancorp Inc., the parent company of The PrivateBank, for about $3.8 billion.

The cash-and-stock deal will give CIBC, Canada's fifth-largest lender, a presence in 11 U.S. markets beyond Chicago  including southeastern Wisconsin  and leverage its existing wealth-management platform in the country, the Toronto-based bank said Wednesday in a statement.

PrivateBancorp, with about $17.7 billion in assets, serves largely middle-market companies, business owners and high-net-worth families.

The PrivateBank opened a Milwaukee office in 2005, recruiting local leadership and lenders.

The PrivateBank moved into a classic downtown Milwaukee building, the former First National Bank Building at 743 N. Water St., and restored the space to its 1914 look.

Records show that the Milwaukee office had $209.6 million in deposits during an annual survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. last year.

It will be the second bank with a Milwaukee presence to be taken over by a Canadian bank in the past five years.

In 2011, Toronto's BMO Financial Group bought Milwaukee's Marshall & Ilsley Corp., the parent company of M&I Bank.

Canadian banks have turned to U.S. acquisitions as earnings growth from domestic lending slows amid a sluggish economy. Last year, Royal Bank of Canada bought California-based City National Bank for $5 billion to bolster its wealth-management operations. BMO acquired a U.S.-based finance business from General Electric Co., while Toronto-Dominion Bank, which spent $17 billion building a U.S. retail banking network, has shifted in the past three years to buying U.S. credit-card portfolios.

"PrivateBancorp will allow CIBC to expand our U.S. commercial and private banking business and give us the deposit-taking capability we need south of the border," CIBC Chief Executive Officer Victor Dodig said on a conference call. "We will also extend our U.S. wealth-management footprint in new markets."

CIBC agreed to pay $18.80 in cash and 0.3657 of a CIBC common share for each PrivateBancorp share, according to a statement.

The offer is worth about $47 a share for PrivateBancorp, a 31% premium based on the Tuesday closing prices of each bank.

PrivateBancorp, founded in 1989 and led by Larry Richman, has 35 commercial offices and 24 branches across the United States with $9.6 billion in assets under administration, CIBC said in a presentation on its website.

The Chicago bank, with about 1,200 employees, had net income of $185 million in 2015, according to the presentation. Richman, who called the deal "a great cultural and strategic fit," will continue as CEO.

"With the strength of a broad North American operation behind our U.S. growth strategy, we will be in a great position to expand relationships with our existing clients and to win new client business," Richman said on the conference call.

Paul Gores of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Kevin Conroy, president and chief executive officer of Exact Sciences. Credit: Journal Sentinel files

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At the end of the day, it was the sheer volume of ideas for combating one of the most insidious killers of human beings that impressed Kevin Conroy, top executive at Madison-based Exact Sciences Corp.

Conroy was among more than 350 business people, researchers, oncologists, patient advocates and others at the Cancer Moonshot Summit at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. The goal: to come up with ideas to help double the rate of progress against the intractable disease.

Vice President Joe Biden talked personally and energetically about beating cancer and mentioned his son Beau, who died a little more than a year ago of brain cancer, said Conroy, who sat next to National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins during Biden's speech.

But for Conroy, the highlight was the opportunity to participate in discussion sessions aimed at gathering ideas for combating cancer.

"My main point in the prevention session was if we're going to win the war against cancer, it is going to start with early detection," Conroy said. "And we need to break down the barriers preventing new tests from reaching patients."

Summit organizers are collecting ideas for a report that the Cancer Moonshot Task Force will present to President Barack Obama before the end of the year, Greg Simon, executive director of the task force said during a call with reporters.

"I was blown away by the number of quality, actionable items that will be on the president's desk," Conroy said. "We're not going to solve the cancer problem overnight, but this bringing all the disparate people together is highly unusual and it's a great start."

Obama announced during his State of the Union address in January the start of a new Cancer Moonshot program to accelerate cancer research. Biden, whom Obama chose to head the effort, has said that both political parties back the Moonshot initiative's goals but funding for it has been bogged down in Congress.

Conroy said he was asked by the White House to participate in the summit. His company, Exact Sciences, in 2014 brought to market a new, DNA-based, non-invasive colon cancer test.

Exact had a setback last fall, when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said Exact's flagship colon cancer screening test was an "alternative." But the task force earlier this month reversed that view, putting the test on equal standing with all other such tests, including colonoscopies. Since the task force decision was made public, Exact's shares have risen by about 60%, closing Wednesday at $11.29.

Medicare covers the Cologuard test, but the task force decision means private insurers will have to begin covering the test, said James T. Evans, chief investment officer at Thompson Investment Management Inc. in Madison.

"It basically brings right back the bold thesis that was out there back in October that all the insurance companies are going to be forced to cover this test," Evans said.

There is a "fair amount of confusion" about whether the task force's recent decision truly mandates coverage, but Exact has been very clear that it does, Evans said.

Exact is working to bring other diagnostic tests to market as well, including a screening test for pancreatic cancer and a blood-based test for lung cancer nodules, Conroy said.

Conroy, who in 2009 considered a candidacy for Wisconsin governor, said Wednesday that he has chosen to stay focused on the diagnostic test business that he and his team are building at Exact.

"I am not considering running for governor," he said. "I'm dedicated to Exact Sciences and the mission that we're on."
Marcus Corp. is considering conceptual plans for a mixed-use project that includes a 20-story office and housing tower, as well as an eight-screen cinema, on a site north of E. Knapp St. and west of N. Water St. Credit: Marcus Corp. and InPlace Design

SHARE This Edison St. parking lot, looking downriver from E. Cherry St., would be part of a site for Marcus Corp.'s possible mixed-use development. The site would include a vacated block of N. Edison St., between E. Knapp and E. Cherry streets, and a vacant lot between N. Edison and N. Water streets. TOM DAYKIN

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Marcus Corp. is considering preliminary conceptual plans for a large mixed-use development that would feature a downtown Marcus Theatres cinema, as well as housing, offices and restaurants.

The project, called Edison Place, would be developed on 2.25 acres overlooking the Milwaukee River, north of E. Knapp St.

Katie Falvey, Marcus Corp. vice president of real estate, declined to provide details about the plans, which could change.

Falvey called the site "extraordinary," with frontage on N. Water St. and potential for a 650-foot RiverWalk segment "in an area of downtown that has obviously matured and still has unlimited, untapped potential."

In a Wednesday statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Falvey said, "A landmark building at this site will create world-class vista terminations from every direction, and beautiful views of the city."

Baltimore-based InPlace Design is working with Marcus on the plans, which can be found at the design firm's website.

The 20-story, 780,000-square-foot development would include commercial space on the ground floor extending to the riverfront.

That street level could feature two restaurants, with 11,000 and 10,400 square feet, a 4,500-square-foot cafe and a health club.

That would be topped by a six-level parking structure on the building's northern portion, and an eight-screen cinema at its southern end, according to the conceptual plans.

The cinema's screens would be divided between two levels, with that portion of the project rising to the equivalent of five stories above the ground.

There would be five floors of offices above the parking structure, topped by eight floors of residential space. The office and residential portions, along with the cinema, would have street-level lobbies.

Edison Place would be set back from N. Water St., with a curved private drive and landscaped green space in front of the building. That area could include a 1,500-square-foot restaurant.

The project also would have a RiverWalk, an eighth-floor terrace on top of the parking structure and one level of underground parking.

The plans don't specify whether the residential space would be apartments or condos. However, demand remains strong for downtown area apartments, which are typically rented by either people in their 20s and early 30s or older "empty nesters."

The conceptual plans also do not provide details on the number of housing units or the amount of proposed office space. One source indicated the offices could total 300,000 square feet, although that would depend on how much space an anchor tenant would lease.

Edison Place would combine the various uses "to create an authentic urban community," according to the narrative at inplace-design.com. InPlace Design is an architectural, planning and design firm primarily focused on the retail industry.

InPlace Design was launched in 2015 by Dustin Watson, who was previously a partner at Baltimore-based Development Design Group Inc.

At DDG, Watson's portfolio included The Corners, a retail and apartment development under construction at I-94 and Barker Road in the Town of Brookfield. Marcus is co-developing The Corners with Chicago-based Bradford Real Estate and London-based IM Properties PLC.

Watson, who also worked on Glendale's Bayshore Town Center mixed-use development, declined to discuss Edison Place.

"The uses are kind of fluctuating a bit," he said. "It's really preliminary."

The project site includes a 1.2-acre parcel at 1301-1357 N. Edison St., which a Marcus affiliate bought in November for $3.1 million.

That property, mainly a parking lot, would be combined with one block of Edison St., between E. Knapp and E. Cherry streets, which would be vacated.

The development site also would use an empty parcel north of E. Knapp St. and west of N. Water St., which Marcus would buy from Milwaukee County. That lot is part of the Park East strip.

The county is evaluating development proposals for the 0.37-acre vacant lot, said Melissa Baldauff, spokeswoman for County Executive Chris Abele. Baldauff didn't respond to a request for additional information, other than saying an update will be provided "when one is available."

City Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux said he wasn't aware of any specific mixed-use development plans for the Edison St. site.

Other developments under construction near the site include the conversion of the former Laacke & Joys building, 1433 N. Water St., into an office building anchored by Bader Rutter & Associates, and the latest phase of The North End apartment community, just upriver from the Laacke & Joys project.

Meanwhile, developer Jon Hammes continues to work on plans for a possible office project on a 1.5-acre parcel, 210 E. Knapp St. Hammes' investment group last year bought that vacant lot, bordered by E. Knapp, N. Water and N. Market streets, from BMO Harris Bank for $1 million.

Hammes initially planned to develop offices on the Edison Place site.

But that development site would have environmental cleanup and utility relocation costs estimated at $6.5 million to $7.2 million, according to a 2014 county report.

The estimated cleanup costs just for the county-owned lot, which has contaminated soils and buried freeway support piers, are $450,000 to $475,000.

Edison Place's tentative plans to use the county-owned lot primarily as green space, and part of the vacated block of Edison St. as a private drive between Water and Knapp streets, could reduce those cleanup and utility relocation costs.

Marcus Corp., which operates hotels and movie theaters, in 2008 first proposed developing a cinema at the Edison St. site. It would have been combined with other buildings, such as offices and restaurants.

However, that project did not proceed, despite the company's commitment, because of a lack of interest from office tenants. Those plans were dropped in 2014 by a group led by real estate broker Bruce Westling and developer Gary Grunau.

Marcus Theatres President and Chief Executive Officer Rolando Rodriguez told the Journal Sentinel in 2014 that the company still wanted to operate a downtown cinema.

Milwaukee's last downtown theater was the two-screen Grand Cinemas, 214 W. Wisconsin Ave., which Marcus Theatres closed in 1995. The Grand was hurt by several years of declining business, with patrons drawn to the growing number of larger cinemas operated by Marcus and other circuits in suburban locations.

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Ben Caya (left), owner of Spike Brewing, and operations manager Irene Sustar show some of the companys products. Credit: Michael Sears

SHARE Spike Brewing operations manager Irene Sustar inspects some of the companys stainless steel brew kettles that are ready to ship. Sustar handles shipping, receiving, quality control and customer service. Michael Sears The stainless steel brewing kettles range from 10 to 50 gallons and cost $180 to $600. Michael Sears Search Wisconsin Breweries Beer Near , a guide to the state's breweries and brewpubs, will help you navigate Wisconsin's beer legacy. Click on the map to find breweries by region. Click on an icon to find brewery hours; see if they offer tours; or even if they serve food.

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Spike Brewing LLC, a company that sells kettles for homebrewing, would not exist were it not for some empty beer kegs in a basement  and for the ability of Ben Caya, the company's 28-year-old founder, to recognize a potential market.

The company, founded about five years ago while Caya was earning a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is on track to have revenue of more than $850,000 this year.

But its origins stem from those kegs that Caya came upon while renting a house with some friends.

Caya figured the kegs had some value and put them on craigslist.org.

"I've always been business-minded  how do you make a dollar," he said.

The kegs sold immediately. Caya found some others. They also were sold quickly. He began buying and selling used beer kegs  he could fit six in his Mustang, including one on the passenger's seat  and started asking people what they were using them for.

"Usually, if something sells that quickly, there is a need," Caya said.

He learned that homebrewers were buying the kegs to use as brew kettles, cutting off the top and drilling holes to install valves and a thermometer.

Caya knew nothing about homebrewing. But he did have an entrepreneurial bent.

He found a company in China that could supply kettles, contracted with a shop to modify them for homebrewing, set up a website and joined an online homebrewing forum.

Spike Brewing  the company was named after a childhood dog  was born.

In 2012, its first full year in business, Spike Brewing had revenue of about $125,000  and briefly took over Caya's parents' garage.

Within two years, the company was renting a shop at 728 Nash St. in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood.

"I consider the first time we had a business is when we moved into this shop," Caya said.

The financing initially came from a credit card and cash flow and later a line of credit from a bank, Caya said.

Spike Brewing hired its first full-time employee, Irene Sustar, as operations manager about a year ago. Sustar handles shipping and receiving, quality control and customer service. She also is learning some basic welding.

The company also employs two part-time welders and one other part-time employee.

The firm has since outgrown the shop  "a good problem to have," Caya acknowledged  and is looking for a new home.

Spike Brewing has had the advantage of a growing market: The United States has an estimated 1.2 million homebrewers, and two-thirds of them began brewing in 2005 or later, according to the American Homebrewers Association in Boulder, Colo.

The company sells kettles in five sizes, ranging from 10 to 50 gallons and in price from $180 to $600. The basic kettles are made in China. The company's welders then convert them into kettles for homebrewing.

The fittings have sanitary welds, which are more difficult to do but lessen the risk of contamination.

"I've never seen welds that look this good. I've never seen kettles that look this good, on systems this small," said Micheal Coons, head brewer for the Morrisville State College Brewing Institute in Morrisville N.Y.

Spike's most recent version of kettles includes features such as rubber handles, volume measurements etched inside and a "false bottom" that makes the kettle easier to drain. It also is taller and narrower, which lessens evaporation.

The company also sells heating elements, heat exchangers, valves, temperature gauges  and, starting this year, T-shirts with the company's logo.

The company's core market is homebrewers who would be considered serious hobbyists and who are willing to invest in their equipment.

"The high-end equipment is what's hot now," said Gary Glass, director of the American Homebrewers Association. "The hobbyist has matured over time."

The average homebrewer is 40 years old.

Spike Brewing sells about 15 complete systems  basically three kettles  a month.

Dana Scott, an engineer who lives in Las Vegas and who has been homebrewing for two years, also praises the quality and craftsmanship of the Spike kettles. Scott asked Caya a lot of questions and was impressed by his integrity.

"He gave me honest answers," Scott said. "He didn't try to upsell me."

Later this year, Spike Brewing will begin selling stainless-steel conical fermenters that Caya designed.

"That's the product that is going to get us to $1 million," he said.

About 300 people have asked to be notified when the fermenters, which will sell for $450 to $650, are available.

Coons plans to buy them. So, too, does Scott.

"They will fly off the shelf," Scott said. "People are looking for quality gear at a good price."

Caya believes that Spike Brewing's sales eventually could reach $3 million. And long-term, he sees the company expanding into equipment for brew pubs and small craft brewers.

"It's been a fun journey," he said, "and it's only going to get bigger and better."
A crowd jams the sidewalks and street outside St. Marys Catholic Church in Appleton on May 7, 1957, where funeral services were being held for U.S. Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy. This photo was published in the May 8, 1957, Milwaukee Journal. Credit: Fred L. Tonne / Milwaukee Journal files

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Disciples came in flocks that sun-baked May afternoon in 1957, packing the pews at St. Mary's Catholic Church and spilling onto the streets outside the Irish parish in Appleton, where Joseph Raymond McCarthy had been baptized and now, just 48 years later, he was being eulogized.

It was the last of three memorials to the fallen senator, and the first in the state that had elected him in landslides. Twenty-five thousand admirers from Green Bay, Neenah and his native Grand Chute had paid their respects at his open casket. Others were keeping vigil outside the church alongside honor guards of military police and Boy Scouts.

Flying in to join them were 19 senators, seven congressmen, and other luminaries, most of whom had supported Joe McCarthy in his relentless assault on communism. The dignitaries were whisked in a motorcade from the airport in Green Bay to the funeral in Appleton.

But one man faltered on the runway. Robert Francis Kennedy had worked as an aide to McCarthy for seven months before political and personal calculations made him step aside. Now he sat anxiously by himself on the military jet, reluctant to be seen with the conservative lawmakers and conflicted even about being in Wisconsin.

His own brother, Jack, had sternly warned him to stay away.

When the crowd was gone, Kennedy slipped down the exit ramp unnoticed. Nobody was waiting because no one knew he was coming. He rode into town not with the pack of senators and congressmen but in the front seat of a Cadillac convertible driven by reporter Edwin Bayley, who was covering McCarthy's funeral for The Milwaukee Journal.

At the church, Bobby sat in the choir loft, distracted and alone, and at the graveside he stood apart from the rest of the officials from Washington. When the service was over, Kennedy asked Bayley and other journalists not to write about his being there. The reporters, already in the Kennedy thrall, did as he asked.

The relationship between Robert Kennedy and Joseph McCarthy is one of the most implausible in U.S. political history. In the lexicon of American politics, the Kennedy name is shorthand for left-leaning Democratic politics, and it is a tenet of Kennedy scholarship that the first and archetypal family liberal was Bobby.

The historical cliche, nourished by his family and friends, posits that Kennedy's going to work for McCarthy was a footnote or an aberration when it was neither. The truth is that the early Bobby Kennedy embraced the overheated anticommunism of the 1950s and openly disdained liberals.

(Americans might have been misled about Bobby's politics, but not the Soviets. "Kennedy is an ultra, an apostle of anti-Communism, who pursues the laurels of McCarthy and Dulles," according to Za Rubezhom, a Soviet magazine covering political news.)

His job with the Republican senator from Wisconsin not only launched Bobby's career but injected into his life passion and direction that had been glaringly absent. McCarthy's zeal, extreme though it was, fired Kennedy's ambition for years to come.

He quit McCarthy not because he rejected McCarthyism, but because his advancement was stymied by conflict with fellow staffers. While he did work for the senator for just seven and a half months in 1953, their ties went back a number of years, and they lasted until Bobby made his last visit to McCarthy shortly before the senator died.

His link to McCarthy became a crucible Kennedy couldn't escape, serving for some as a testament to his loyalty and patriotism, for others as a measure of his youthful misdirection and overreaching.

Both were right.

Bobby was so enamored of the senator that he failed to see the fanaticism that, by the time he signed on, had already made McCarthy's name a synonym for witch hunt and crowned "Low-Blow Joe" the most divisive man in America.

Nor did he ever fully sever those bonds or entirely break the bad habits he learned from the senator from Grand Chute.

Yet if Bobby was guilty of embracing or tolerating the Red Scare, so, too, was much of the nation in the 1950s. In the end, this McCarthy phase of his life would be a baseline from which to measure Bobby's  and America's  political transformation and growth.

Larry Tye is the author of seven books, including "Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon," due out July 5 from Random House. This is an excerpt from the book, provided by the author.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett speaks during the unveiling of the Milwaukee Police Departments 2016 summer policing plan. Credit: Calvin Mattheis

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Milwaukee residents will see more officers on foot and bicycles patrolling in more locations this summer as city officials work to continue early year-to-year declines in homicides and nonfatal shootings.

"There are going to be very few eight-hour beats," Police Chief Edward Flynn said Tuesday. "Our goal is to move those foot officers and bicycle officers around clusters of beats so that more people will see them in more public spaces."

Flynn detailed the department's summer strategy at one of those public spaces  Triangle Square at S. 13th St., W. Mitchell St. and Forest Home Ave.  with Mayor Tom Barrett, Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton and south side Aldermen Bob Donovan and Jose Perez.

So far this year, 53 people have been victims of homicide, down 23% from the 69 victims at this time last year. Nonfatal shootings have declined 10% to 261 this year. Although overall robberies have declined 9% year-to-year, carjackings have risen 5% with 221 reported so far this year.

"I think we all would agree that the level of crime is still too high," Barrett said. "I want people who live here and visit here to feel safe, and more importantly, to be safe."

The Police Department's summer deployment will put officers in locations that are likely to see spikes in crime and in places where it's important to "reduce the levels of fear," Flynn said.

The foot and bicycle beats will rotate based on district-level commanders' use of data and feedback from the community, and the effort will complement already-planned traffic patrols, he said.

Hamilton said as police focus on immediate steps to stop crime, the Common Council continues searching for longer-term solutions to what he described as a "complicated situation."

He pointed to a series of special meetings that Donovan scheduled this summer for government agencies to address violence in the city. The end goal, Donovan said, is to make an "action plan."

So far, representatives for the Milwaukee Police Department, Milwaukee County district attorney's office, Wisconsin attorney general's office and Milwaukee County Circuit Court judges have attended the at-times-contentious sessions.

"One of the major things that almost all of those departments brought forward as a problem is funding," Hamilton said. "We've already identified a number of ways that collaboration and communication could be just as helpful and just as beneficial as resources."
Samy Mohamed Hamzeh (right) is accused of plotting a mass shooting inside the Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Center in Milwaukee. Credit: Journal Sentinel files

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A man suspected of plotting to attack a Masonic center in Milwaukee remains locked up as the FBI transcribes secretly recorded conversations between him and informants.

In federal court this week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Kanter said the FBI still has months of recordings of Samy Mohamed Hamzeh that need to be translated from Arabic to English. Hamzeh was not in court Tuesday. His next hearing was set for Aug. 26.

Hamzeh, 23, is charged with five counts of illegally possessing two machine guns and a silencer, which he bought from undercover FBI agents. He is not facing terrorism-related counts, which experts said is not usual.

The criminal complaint says Hamzeh plotted to launch the attack on a Masonic center in downtown Milwaukee. In preparation, Hamzeh toured the Masonic center, practiced shooting at a range and spoke extensively about how the attack would unfold.

He said the attack was to defend Islam by going after Masons, "who are the ones who need to be killed," and he hoped to kill at least 30 people.

The FBI has finished transcripts and summaries of conversations between Hamzeh and informants over roughly a week in January, shortly before he was arrested.

Agents said they are about halfway done with translating the 106 CDs of conversations.

Hamzeh's attorney, Craig Albee, said in court Tuesday that he wanted to see information on all the conversations before he can make pretrial motions. Albee has held off on making possible arguments for Hamzeh's release until hearing the conversations.

Friends of Hamzeh said he was a pot-smoking screw-up, not a radical. His supporters took to social media to proclaim his innocence earlier this year, and they and his mother have said he was set up by the FBI.
Demond Means, superintendent of the Mequon-Thiensville School District, is resiging his post as commissioner of the state-mandated Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program in Milwaukee. He is shown in front of his alma mater, Riverside University High School in Milwaukee last year after being appointed to the position. Credit: Mike De Sisti

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Demond Means, the Mequon-Thiensville superintendent tapped by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele to lead a state-mandated school turnaround district in Milwaukee, resigned that post Wednesday, saying the adversarial climate surrounding the program "is the last thing our children need."

Means' departure as Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program commissioner comes a week after Milwaukee Public Schools rejected an invitation to partner with him and Abele on a plan to turn around some of its poorest performing schools. Instead, it floated a counterproposal that would have allowed Abele and Means to open an independent early childhood program in one of its underused buildings.

With no compromise in sight  and a not-so-veiled threat of a lawsuit issued Tuesday by a conservative public interest law firm  Means appears to have abandoned the post rather than take control of select MPS schools and turn those over to outside operators as the state law requires.

"I made a promise when I volunteered for this position that I would not impose anything on Milwaukee Public Schools," Means said in a statement Wednesday.

"It is now clear to me that as implementation of the law moves forward, the environment is not conducive to collaborative partnerships  something essential for positive things to happen in Milwaukee."

Efforts to reach Means were not immediately successful.

Abele issued a statement saying he accepted Means' resignation "with regret."

"I chose Dr. Means for this role because he shares my commitment to strong public schools and to improving outcomes for Milwaukee's kids, families, and communities," Abele said. "I appreciate Demond's service over the past six months and know he will remain an advocate for helping kids succeed in our public schools."

MPS issued a statement saying it recognizes Means' "service to education and children in our area" and that it remains "focused on the needs of students of the city of Milwaukee."

Former School Board President Michael Bonds, the lone board member to publicly support the Abele-Means proposal, said he was disappointed.

"It's a sad day for education in Milwaukee," Bonds said. He called the Abele-Means proposal, under which Means would have run select MPS schools under a contract with the school district, "a golden opportunity."

"And we missed it," Bonds said.

State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), co-author of the OSPP statute, said Wednesday that she spoke with Means in the days following MPS' counterproposal, telling him it would not comply with the law and that he would now have to move forward to implement it as written.

And on Tuesday, the conservative public interest law firm the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty issued a statement saying the MPS proposal would not satisfy the law and that failure to turn over schools to outside providers would expose Means to litigation.

It was not clear Wednesday whether that played a role in Means' decision to resign.

Darling's co-author, Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield), blamed Means' departure on MPS, calling it a failed opportunity to improve educational outcomes for thousands of Milwaukee students.

"The status quo establishment of Milwaukee Public Schools chewed him up and spit him out, and was not willing to partner with him to try some new ideas," Kooyenga said. "It's a shame."

The Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association called Means' resignation "a victory for parents, students, and community members who have been fighting to keep Milwaukee Public Schools in the hands of a democratically elected school board."

New leader by fall

Abele now has until the fall to select a new commissioner. State law requires the governor and Milwaukee mayor to provide a list of candidates, after which Abele would have 120 days to make the appointment.

A Milwaukee native and graduate of MPS' Riverside High School, Means was tapped to lead the Opportunity Schools program in November, months after it passed as part of the 2015-'17 state budget. Means had worked without pay, but was expected to be compensated once funding for the schools materialized  either from the state or donors.

The statute calls for the commissioner to take control of up to five schools a year and turn those over to outside operators.

Means and Abele had said from the beginning that they would not mount a takeover of MPS schools. Instead, they proposed what they described as a partnership in which Means would operate the schools under a contract with MPS.

Under their plan, teachers would have retained their jobs and MPS would have kept at least a portion of its current per-pupil funding. But the School Board would have lost at least some of its governing authority.

Abele and Means had spent weeks trying to muster support among religious and civic groups, but it was widely derided as a takeover by the Milwaukee teachers union, the NAACP and others.

MPS rejected the proposal last week as vague and in conflict with state law. It proposed an alternative that would have allowed Abele and Means to operate an independent charter school offering an early childhood program in the former 35th Street School, without any support from MPS.

That proposal  whether it complied with state law or not  would have been virtually impossible for Abele and Means to implement because the state provided no school start-up funds as part of the law, and Abele has yet to secure philanthropic dollars to support the OSPP efforts.
Patrons workout at the downtown branch of the YMCA in Milwaukee. A public-private consortium will provide $1 million to invest in the organizations urban mission. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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The YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee announced Wednesday a public-private consortium will provide $1 million to invest in the organization's urban mission.

The Milwaukee Y also named Jack Takerian as interim chief executive officer while the board identifies a permanent replacement for Julie Tolan, who previously announced she was stepping down at the end of June.

In recent years, the Milwaukee Y has suffered financially. It emerged from a Chapter 11 reorganization in early 2015. After fundraising fell short, the Milwaukee Y announced this year that it was cutting $1.7 million in operating costs, resulting in a loss of 15 full-time and five part-time positions. Takerian and Tolan also took voluntary salary cuts.

The investment by the consortium of funders from some of Milwaukee's more prominent philanthropic organizations is separate from the Y's annual campaign. And it puts the organization back on the road to financial recovery.

"They bought us time because we really do believe in this plan and it is working," Tolan said.

For 2016, the Milwaukee Y had a $15.9 million budget, which included a projected deficit of $980,000, Tolan said. Through efficiencies such as not filling vacancies and improved revenue, the projected deficit was lowered by a half-million dollars, Tolan said, and funders responded.

The private funders include Bader Philanthropies' Isabel and Alfred Bader Fund, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Herb Kohl Philanthropies, the Northwestern Mutual Foundation and the Zilber Family Foundation.

Those groups have committed $1million, with $725,000 already earmarked for the coming year. There is a possibility of increased funding in the future.

"The Zilber Family Foundation's board of directors has followed the Y's story over the years and has been impressed with its willingness to face its challenges head-on while never forgetting its mission and purpose," Susan Lloyd, executive director of the Zilber Family Foundation, said in a statement. "We and other funders considered what the partnership means, not only for the Northside Y and the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee as a whole, but also for residents throughout the city."

In addition, the City of Milwaukee will provide a community block grant over five years starting in 2017. The amount of city funding has not yet been determined.

"The Y has had a long, vibrant history in Milwaukee," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said. "We are proud to continue to stand by them as they work with us and others to help build strong, healthy, safe communities throughout Milwaukee."

Ald. Ashanti Hamilton, president of the Milwaukee Common Council, said he was impressed by the public-private partnership to respond to critical needs.

"And they're doing this by going beyond their four walls to meet Milwaukee's kids and families in our communities, right where they live, work and play," Hamilton said.

In a news release, the Milwaukee Y said earned revenue and fundraising is "pacing ahead of 2016 targets and 2015 results."

The Milwaukee Y said enrollment in its school programing and registration for its summer day camps are also running ahead of 2015's full-year totals.

After a long career in Milwaukee County government, Takerian joined the Milwaukee Y in November 2012 and became chief operating officer. Tolan will serve as a consultant until the end of the year.

"We will begin a search for a CEO at the appropriate time," said Richard Canter, Milwaukee Y board chairman. "We don't want to create any disruption by focusing on a search. We want everyone to stay focused on operations. The confidence we have in the leadership team allows us to do that."
Texas Jays, a strip club at 813 S. 1st St., begins a 90-day suspension of its license to operate starting July 8. Credit: Michael Sears

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A judge has denied a Walker's Point strip club's request to block its closure while it appeals a 90-day license suspension imposed by the city earlier this month.

That means that unless Texas Jay's, 813 S. 1st St., can get the Court of Appeals to reverse that decision, it will have to close no later than midnight July 8.

Even though some city officials originally wanted to revoke the club's license, a rare sanction for a business without a history of violence or numerous other violations, others acknowledged that even a 90-day suspension might force the club out of business.

Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz issued a written order this week. Although he had initially granted a temporary restraining order to block the club's suspension June 14, after hearing from lawyers on both sides and studying more records, he declined to extend it.

He also denied the club's request for a stay of that decision while it appeals.

The club can still pursue an injunction, but that won't happen until more thorough hearings later in the summer, after the case transfers to a different judge in August. In the meantime, unless it does prevail on an appeal, the club will have to begin the 90-day suspension next month.

Patrons knocked out

The punishment followed an incident at the club in April, when two patrons knocked two other patrons unconscious. The club didn't call police or an ambulance. One of the victims was later hospitalized 11 days.

The city sought to revoke the club's license, claiming that it also didn't cooperate with a follow-up investigation. Club staff said they didn't see punches and the victim's friends asked them not to call authorities.

The club argued that a revocation was uncalled for because the club had a good record for decades. It also challenged the legality of a search done at the club pursuant to a warrant, during which police took security video from the club.

At an hourslong May 31 hearing, the Licensing Committee heard from club staff, the victim and police and watched the graphic video of the sucker punch that knocked the victim out for about eight minutes. On June 14, the Common Council adopted the committee's recommendation of a 90-day suspension.
Patti Guerrero (at center in gray sweater) worked for 33 years at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Credit: Family photo

SHARE Patti Guerrero after her kidney transplant in June, 2016, with her cousin Juan Guerrero. Family photo Patti Guerrero (front row, wearing black and white stripes) with her family in 2016. Family photo

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When Patti Guerrero was diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago, she joked with two breast cancer survivor co-workers that they were "contagious."

During seven years of kidney dialysis that followed, Guerrero somehow found the time to regularly take family members to northern Wisconsin for outdoor fun.

Just days after her hospital release from heart valve replacement surgery in 2015, she cooked enchiladas for her office buddies at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

And when one of those buddies picked her up to drive her to the hospital for her kidney transplant this month, Guerrero walked out of her house with the kale plant her colleague had been looking for.

"Even though she had health issues, you would never know," said credit manager Sandy Sokolowski.

"She didn't complain, she always had a smile and wanted to help everyone else around her."

A funeral service will be held Wednesday for Guerrero, 54, operations supervisor of the credit and collection department for the Journal Sentinel, who died June 20 just days after finally receiving the kidney donation that medical setbacks had delayed for years.

Guerrero found solace from health crises in both the birth family she adored and her friends at work who became her second family.

"She was the glue at home and at work," said Guerrero's cousin Rachel Herrera, who works in advertising and accounting.

"She listened openly, spoke kind words and hugged you when needed."

She was born Patricia Ann Guerrero to Francisco Gonzalez and Rosemary Guerrero-Martinez March 2, 1962.

She graduated from St. Joan Antida High School, working for the newspaper part-time as a junior and senior.

She was eventually hired permanently, first as a file clerk before working her way up to credit department supervisor and later supervisor in retail advertising and billing, then supervisor in credit and collections, her colleague Donna Laird said.

"Patti was constantly giving," Laird said.

Guerrero's co-workers looked forward to the dozen homemade tamales she'd give them every Christmas, and her salsa that Laird called "the breakfast of champions because I could have eaten it 24/7."

Through more than 33 years at the Journal Sentinel, Guerrero's even-tempered, selfless exuberance made work-life fun for her colleagues, both in and out of the office, whether it was during drinks after work, Green Bay Packers parties or other occasions, said former co-worker and Julie Rector.

"She found joy in life itself," co-worker Janet Kasinski said.

That life included Guerrero's immediate and extended family, whom she'd lead on camping trips to St. Germain and Eagle River in Vilas County during years of medical battles that included kidney dialysis, a double mastectomy, heart failure and heart valve replacement.

"She was always upbeat and so resilient," Guerrero's uncle Paul Guerrero said.

"She just showed love, and found happiness by surrounding herself with the ones she loved."

Along with her parents, Guerrero is survived by her sister Isabelle Padja.

Patti Guerrero

Public visitation for Guerrero will be held Wednesday from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., followed immediately by a prayer service at Max A. Sass & Sons Funeral Home, 1515 W. Oklahoma Ave., Milwaukee.
Roy Lukes keeps an eye to the sky as he walks on a trail near Baileys Harbor in 2001. Credit: Journal Sentinel files

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When Roy Lukes walked into classrooms at the Southern Door schools, the kids would cheer, because it meant they were going outside.

Lukes was a beloved science teacher, renowned nature writer and passionate environmental advocate who dedicated his life to educating people of all ages about wildlife.

"I'm convinced he informed more people about the natural world than anyone else in Wisconsin," said his friend and colleague Carl Scholz.

Lukes died at his home Sunday after a long battle with metastatic cancer. He was 86.

A lifelong Wisconsinite, Lukes was born in Kewaunee in 1929 and graduated from the district's high school. It was during his childhood that he developed his love for nature, taking after his parents, who were also naturalists.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Lukes served two years in the Army at Fort Sill, Okla. He then earned a master's degree in education at UW-Madison in 1959 and later designed environmental science classes for the Gibraltar, Sevastopol and Southern Door schools, where he also taught.

His wife, Charlotte, whom Lukes married in 1972, remembered how he used to enthrall his students by showing them the birds he caught and released with his birding nets.

"He was a very gentle soul, very considerate of others, always so observant," Charlotte Lukes said of her husband. "He was constantly teaching."

In 1976, Lukes resigned from his teaching job to be the resident manager at the Ridges Sanctuary in Baileys Harbor.

At the Ridges, he devoted himself to every project, big or small. He created educational programs and expanded the trail system but also cleaned the bathrooms, even when he later served as the sanctuary's president for nine years.

Lukes continued to advocate for the environment after he retired from his position at the Ridges in 1990 and helped found the Friends of Toft Point, which works to preserve the state natural area around UW-Green Bay.

Throughout his career, Lukes was also an accomplished writer, authoring five books and more than 3,000 nature articles for publications such as the Door County Advocate and the Peninsula Pulse. His nature photography, which often accompanied his writing, has been exhibited throughout northeast Wisconsin.

Lukes received countless awards for his literary and conservationist achievements from the likes of UW-Oshkosh and the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology.

"He certainly was a great naturalist and influenced thousands of people to love and respect nature," Scholz said.

In addition to his wife, Lukes is survived by his sister, Linda Neumann, and his brothers, Leo and Richard.

Roy Lukes

Roy Lukes' life will be celebrated at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 7 at the Door Community Auditorium, 3926 Highway 42, Fish Creek.
Columnist Christian Schneider argues that Senate candidate Russ Feingold (seen here speaking in Washington in 2011) is using the Orlando shooting tragedy as a political opportunity to bludgeon his opponent Sen. Ron Johnson. Credit: Associated Press

In September of 1998, legislative attorneys for the U.S. House of Representatives began reviewing 18 boxes of documents supporting the recently released "Starr Report." The report, written by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, charged President Bill Clinton with, among other transgressions, lying to a grand jury about his sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

House attorneys immediately began reading the supporting evidence and suggesting items for redaction before they were made public (Social Security numbers, phone numbers, even information about Lewinsky's weight problems). Yet after Democrats and Republicans had agreed to dozens of proposed redactions, Democratic lawyers began to pick up on a problem: Democrats and Republicans were agreeing on too much.

Democrats needed to use the process politically, to cast Republicans as creepy, sex-obsessed partisans. So a decision was made to bring up motions related only to the most lurid details of the report, knowing GOP members would object. Then Democrats could portray Republicans as only interested in peddling smut to the public  a strategy that ultimately bore fruit in the 1998 elections, when Republicans lost five House seats in a midterm election.

In fact, using agreement as a political cudgel is a strategy that persists. Last week, Democratic Senate candidate Russ Feingold slammed his opponent, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, as having a "shameful" approach on gun control. Earlier in the week, Johnson helped block a Senate proposal that would have barred individuals on federal terrorist watch lists from purchasing firearms  a measure that Johnson argued would deprive individuals of a constitutional right without due process.

Yet in any typical year, Johnson's largest backer on that front would be... Russ Feingold. For years, Feingold has been a critic of banning gun sales to people on government no-fly lists. Previously, the former senator has said that before government tinkers with terrorist watch lists, "it must make sure it's not restricting the fundamental rights of American citizens without due process." Feingold wrote an entire book arguing against the infringement of individual rights in the age of international terror.

But the Orlando shooting tragedy a few weeks ago provided a political opportunity simply too delicious for Feingold to resist  he had to find something with which to bludgeon Johnson, so he began cherry-picking the gun control greatest hits list, including regulating gun magazine sizes and expanding background checks.

Yet this recent hard line stance doesn't square with the Second Amendment cloak in which Feingold has wrapped himself for decades.

For instance, Feingold staunchly argues the right to bear arms is an individual right  a point of much contention on the left, where many believe the right to own arms is vested only with "well-regulated militias." While Feingold decries the influence of the National Rifle Association, his overriding philosophy on guns could be featured in a Soldier of Fortune subscription video.

Normally, a liberal Democrat like Feingold would get credit for breaking with his party and standing up for the right to bear arms. But given his recent criticism of Johnson, he's trying to have it both ways.

Despite his efforts to convince voters otherwise, Feingold was in the Senate between 2008 and 2010, when Democrats controlled the Senate, House and presidency  with a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, to boot. Feingold may now decry inadequate background checks and gun magazine sizes, but his party had 18 years to do something about it and demurred.

Most important, Feingold has to paint Johnson as a pro-gun zealot  despite sharing many of his views. In this sense, by politicizing the events of the past few weeks, Feingold is hoping to use agreement as his most effective weapon.

Christian Schneider is a Journal Sentinel columnist and blogger. Email cschneider@jrn.com. Twitter: @Schneider_CM
Brooks guilty on all 76 counts in Waukesha Christmas Parade rampage

A jury has convicted Darrell Brooks Jr. of killing six people and injuring dozens of others by driving through the 2021 Christmas parade.
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Todd Dyer, the Lake Geneva felon who challenged federal prosecutors to "bring it on," got his wish for the third time in a year this week when he was indicted on 13 fraud-related counts.

The latest federal grand jury indictment, posted online by the federal court Wednesday, contends Dyer, 52, scammed an Illinois family out of nearly $1 million after telling them his father, a well-known Lake Geneva insurance agent, had stolen the family's life insurance policy and made himself the beneficiary.

The money was paid to Dyer after he claimed to have the connections to help the family collect up to $10 million from his father's errors and omissions insurance policy, the indictment charged. In fact, according to the indictment, Dyer's father had not stolen the policy and Dyer's claimed connections were fictitious.

This is not the first time that Dyer's father, James Dyer, has had his name come up in a federal prosecution of his son.

In 1999, Todd Dyer was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to running a $2.5 million Ponzi scheme. Many of the victims in that scheme were clients or former clients of James Dyer, court records show. The senior Dyer did not play any role in the scheme, records state.

Though his own name has been tarnished, the senior Dyer supported his son throughout the 1999 prosecution and has attended several of Todd Dyer's recent court hearings.

The Journal Sentinel first disclosed that Todd Dyer was under investigation again in 2013 in a story about his numerous run-ins with law enforcement and securities regulators. At the time, Dyer denied wrongdoing, challenging the U.S. attorney's office to "Bring it on! Bring. It. On."

More than two years later, prosecutors did just that. In June 2015, Todd Dyer was indicted by a federal grand jury in Milwaukee on charges that he helped launch and run a $1.5 million investment scheme that conned investors into pouring money into firms created to buy farmland. Dyer denied any wrongdoing, but he acknowledged to the Journal Sentinel that not a single dime of the money collected went toward buying any farmland.

The following month he was indicted again  this time on charges that he defrauded an individual out of $250,000. He has said he was innocent in that case as well.

Dyer, who is representing himself, said Wednesday that he was indicted again this week because prosecutors know that "the other two cases are toast."

The new indictment charges that Dyer told members of the Joan Bakley family, who live in northern Illinois, that over the years his father had stolen insurance policies from several families. The indictment does not identify James Dyer or the Bakleys by name, though they have been identified by sources and in earlier court hearings.

"In fact, and as (Todd) Dyer well knew, (James Dyer) had not stolen any life insurance policies that he has written for others," the indictment states.

Regardless, the indictment charges that Todd Dyer collected $937,000 from the Bakley family after telling them that he had contacts who "for a fee" would help them collect up to $10 million from his father's errors and omissions insurance. The insurance covers professionals if they are sued for various miscues such as negligence or making mistakes that harm a client.

Charges issued against Todd Dyer include money laundering, wire fraud and witness tampering. The indictment said Dyer contacted members of the Bakley family after a federal judge ordered him not to. In addition, the indictment charged, he told one of the Bakleys that the "FBI was building a fraud case" against the Bakleys.

To con the Bakleys, the indictment charges, Todd Dyer posed as a man named Robert who called a family member, disguised his voice and said they "had to pay him, through Dyer, for the work that he was doing on their behalf."

Posing as Robert, Todd Dyer told the Bakleys that some of the money they paid went to "a Pennsylvania attorney named 'Herschel,'" the indictment states.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Todd Dyer denied making the comments.

Todd Dyer explained that his father has paid premiums on policies in past years when a family fell behind on the payments. Later, he said, his father would offer to split the proceeds from the policy with the family, Todd Dyer said.

In the Bakley case, "it appeared that he took over the... policy when it lapsed or just prior to it lapsing," Todd Dyer said, adding later it was the Bakley family who 'set up' his father."

Michael Steinle, attorney for the senior Dyer, said his client "has absolutely no criminal involvement in this case."

Dyer is free on a personal recognizance bond. A federal magistrate judge recently rejected his request to travel to California for business. Conditions of Dyer's bail ban him from leaving Wisconsin without court permission.

In a separate filing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Wall said Dyer has traveled to California using the alias "Cyril Greene"  though Wall's filing did not accuse Dyer of doing so since the ban was issued.

Dyer on Wednesday acknowledged using the alias on emails, saying he did so in order to prevent federal authorities from reading his correspondence. He said he has not left Wisconsin without court permission since he was ordered not to.
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By Ramzy Baroud | (Maan News Agency) |  

After months of anticipation, the United Kingdom has decided to leave the European Union (EU). Although, the results were fairly close  51.9 percent voted to Leave vs. 48.1 percent elected to Remain  the consequences of the decision will be far-reaching. Not only will the Brits negotiate their exit from the EU (thus, the term Brexit) within the next two years, but the decision is likely to usher in an upheaval unwitnessed before in EU history.

But is it good for Palestine?

In the shadow of the so-called Brexit debate, a whole different discussion has been taking place: is Brexit good for Israel, or as an Israeli commentator, Carlo Strenger, phrased it in Israeli daily Haaretz: What does (Brexit) mean for the Jews?

In a last minute pandering for votes, British Prime Minister, David Cameron  who, to his credit, had the dignity to resign after the vote  made a passionate appeal before a Jewish audience on Monday, June 20. He told the Israel supporters in the charity Jewish Care that staying in the EU is actually good for Israel.

He presented his country as the safeguard of Israeli interests at the Union. The gist of his message was: Britain has kept a watchful eye on Brussels and has thwarted any discussion that may be seen as hostile towards the Jewish state.

When Europe is discussing its attitude towards Israel, do you want Britain  Israels greatest friend  in there opposing boycotts, opposing the campaign for divestment and sanctions, or do you want us outside the room, powerless to affect the discussion that takes place? he told the largely Jewish audience.

Predictably, Cameron brought Iran into his reasoning, vowing that, if Britain remained in the EU, his country would be in a stronger position to stop Iran (from) getting nuclear weapons.

While the Leave campaign was strongly censured for unethically using fear-mongering to dissuade voters, Camerons comments before Jewish Care  which were an extreme and barefaced example of fear-mongering and manipulation of Israels so-called existentialist threats  received little coverage in the media.

Indeed, Britain has played that dreadful role for decades, muting any serious discussion on Israel and Palestine, and ensuring more courageous voices like that of Sweden, for example, are offset by the ardently and unconditionally pro-Israel sentiment constantly radiating from Westminster. Who can forget Camerons impassionate defense of Israels last war on Gaza in 2014, which killed over 2,200 mostly Palestinian civilians?

Unequivocally, Cameron, along with his Conservative Party, has been a staunch ally of (Israeli) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as described by Israeli commentator Raphael Ahren, writing in the Times of Israel. His love for Israel can also be more appreciated when compared to, also according to Ahren, current head of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn  who is a harsh critic of Israel and has called Israels arch-foes Hamas and Hezbollah our friends.

Since Corbyn was elected to the helm of the Labour Party with a landslide victory in September of last year, an apparently manufactured controversy alleging rampant anti-Semitism within Labour has taken away from the partys attempt to refocus its energies on challenging the Conservatives neoliberal policies and slowing down the momentum of the ultra-right Independence Party of Nigel Farage.

That contrived crisis was largely the work of the Israel lobby in the UK, per the assessment of investigative journalist Asa Winstanley. It was a witch-hunt that reached an unprecedented degree of incongruity. It has reached such an absurd volume that any usage of the word Zionist is deemed to be anti-Semitic, he wrote, although, tellingly, not when used by self-described Zionists.

Indeed, many members of Labour were either themselves involved in that witch-hunt or succumbed to its pressure, taking outrageous steps to defend against the unwarranted accusations. As a result, the embattled and disorganized Labour, too, urged its supporters to stay in the EU and they, too, lost the vote.

As for Israel, Brexit meant uncertainty and also opportunity.

The EU is Israels largest trade partner, and an economically weaker Union is destined to translate to less trade with Israel, thus financial losses. But Israel has also been sharply critical of the EU, with Israeli leaders making all sorts of accusations against supposed European anti-Semitism, and with Netanyahu himself calling for mass emigration of European Jewry to Israel.

Part of the reason why Tel Aviv has been fuming at the EU is the nuclear agreement with Iran, in which the EU is a co-signatory. The other reason is a decision last November by the EU to impose new regulations on products made in Jewish settlements built illegally on Palestinian land. According to the new guidelines, goods produced in these settlements must be labeled made in settlements, a decision that further strengthened calls throughout Europe for boycotting Israel altogether.

That decision, and others, increasingly made the EU appear as an untrustworthy ally to Israel; and precisely because of that, David Cameron desperately tried to sell himself at the last minute before the vote as the vanguard against other allegedly unruly EU members who refuse to play by the well-established rules.

Yet, interestingly, one of the loudest, and also fear-mongering groups that campaigned for Britain to exit the EU is Regavim, a right-wing NGO that advocates on behalf of the illegal Jewish settlements in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Unsurprisingly, Regavim used scare tactics by pushing a Palestinian bogeyman into the midst of Britains historical debate. Its campaign included a mock video of a masked Palestinian fighter purportedly from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, urging UK citizens to remain in the European Union because it supports the Palestinians, reported Al-Monitor.

According to Regavims Meir Deutsch, the organizations aim was to harm the EU over its intervention in the internal conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Now that, according to Deutschs ruthless logic, the EU is duly harmed, Israel is seeking another bulwark in the European Union to defend its interests.

Israeli analyst Sharon Pardo while regretting the loss of a friend in the Union, asserted that such a loss is not a catastrophe, for the likes of Germany and the Czech Republic are even friendlier than Britain.

Israel is particularly concerned about its status within the EUs Foreign Affairs Council, now that the UK is leaving. Germany has good chances of taking the lead here and the fact that Germany is a close ally of Israel will clearly have implications, according to Pardo, who added, Germany is the responsible adult here.

While Israel is likely to move fast to ensure its interests, both financial and political, are protected following Brexit, the Palestinian Authority is likely to move much slower and without a decisive, centralized strategy.

The UKs departure from the EU might not have an immediate impact on the conflict in Palestine, especially during the coming months of projected upheaval, negotiations and transition; however, it could still offer Palestinians an opportunity for the future.

While pressure must continue to be applied on Westminster to end its unconditional backing of Israel, a possibly friendlier EU without the staunchly pro-Israel Britain, may emerge. The UKs support for Israel in the Union, and the backing of all American steps in the same direction, has seriously hampered the EUs chances of being anything but a rubberstamp to US-UK policies not only in Palestine but also throughout the Middle East.

While it is too early to make any significant political forecast following Brexit, one can only hope that the efforts of pro-peace countries such as Ireland and Sweden will be strengthened, and that more such friendly nations will join to rein in Israel for its military occupation and demand justice for Palestine.

Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist, author and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gazas Untold Story.

The views expressed in this article are the authors and do not necessarily reflect Maan News Agencys editorial policy.

The views expressed in this article are the authors and do not necessarily reflect Informed Comments editorial policy.

Via Maan News Agency



Related video added by Juan Cole:

AFP:  Mahmud Abbas inaugurates new Palestinian mission in Brussels
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By Patrick Cockburn | ( Tomdispatch.com) |  

We live in an age of disintegration. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Greater Middle East and Africa. Across the vast swath of territory between Pakistan and Nigeria, there are at least seven ongoing wars  in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and South Sudan. These conflicts are extraordinarily destructive. They are tearing apart the countries in which they are taking place in ways that make it doubtful they will ever recover. Cities like Aleppo in Syria, Ramadi in Iraq, Taiz in Yemen, and Benghazi in Libya have been partly or entirely reduced to ruins. There are also at least three other serious insurgencies: in southeast Turkey, where Kurdish guerrillas are fighting the Turkish army, in Egypts Sinai Peninsula where a little-reported but ferocious guerrilla conflict is underway, and in northeast Nigeria and neighboring countries where Boko Haram continues to launch murderous attacks.

All of these have a number of things in common: they are endless and seem never to produce definitive winners or losers. (Afghanistan has effectively been at war since 1979, Somalia since 1991.) They involve the destruction or dismemberment of unified nations, their de facto partition amid mass population movements and upheavals  well publicized in the case of Syria and Iraq, less so in places like South Sudan where more than 2.4 million people have been displaced in recent years.

Add in one more similarity, no less crucial for being obvious: in most of these countries, where Islam is the dominant religion, extreme Salafi-Jihadi movements, including the Islamic State (IS), al-Qaeda, and the Taliban are essentially the only available vehicles for protest and rebellion. By now, they have completely replaced the socialist and nationalist movements that predominated in the twentieth century; these years have, that is, seen a remarkable reversion to religious, ethnic, and tribal identity, to movements that seek to establish their own exclusive territory by the persecution and expulsion of minorities.

In the process and under the pressure of outside military intervention, a vast region of the planet seems to be cracking open. Yet there is very little understanding of these processes in Washington. This was recently well illustrated by the protest of 51 State Department diplomats against President Obamas Syrian policy and their suggestion that air strikes be launched targeting Syrian regime forces in the belief that President Bashar al-Assad would then abide by a ceasefire. The diplomats approach remains typically simpleminded in this most complex of conflicts, assuming as it does that the Syrian governments barrel-bombing of civilians and other grim acts are the root cause of the instability that continues to grip Syria and the broader region.

It is as if the minds of these diplomats were still in the Cold War era, as if they were still fighting the Soviet Union and its allies. Against all the evidence of the last five years, there is an assumption that a barely extant moderate Syrian opposition would benefit from the fall of Assad, and a lack of understanding that the armed opposition in Syria is entirely dominated by the Islamic State and al-Qaeda clones.

Though the invasion of Iraq in 2003 is now widely admitted to have been a mistake (even by those who supported it at the time), no real lessons have been learned about why direct or indirect military interventions by the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East over the last quarter century have all only exacerbated violence and accelerated state failure.

A Mass Extinction of Independent States

The Islamic State, just celebrating its second anniversary, is the grotesque outcome of this era of chaos and conflict. That such a monstrous cult exists at all is a symptom of the deep dislocation societies throughout that region, ruled by corrupt and discredited elites, have suffered. Its rise  and that of various Taliban and al-Qaeda-style clones  is a measure of the weakness of its opponents.

The Iraqi army and security forces, for example, had 350,000 soldiers and 660,000 police on the books in June 2014 when a few thousand Islamic State fighters captured Mosul, the countrys second largest city, which they still hold. Today the Iraqi army, security services, and about 20,000 Shia paramilitaries backed by the massive firepower of the United States and allied air forces have fought their way into the city of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, against the resistance of IS fighters who may have numbered as few as 900. In Afghanistan, the resurgence of the Taliban, supposedly decisively defeated in 2001, came about less because of the popularity of that movement than the contempt with which Afghans came to regard their corrupt government in Kabul.

Everywhere nation states are enfeebled or collapsing, as authoritarian leaders battle for survival in the face of mounting external and internal pressures. This is hardly the way the region was expected to develop. Countries that had escaped from colonial rule in the second half of the twentieth century were supposed to become more, not less, unified as time passed.

Between 1950 and 1975, nationalist leaders came to power in much of the previously colonized world. They promised to achieve national self-determination by creating powerful independent states through the concentration of whatever political, military, and economic resources were at hand. Instead, over the decades, many of these regimes transmuted into police states controlled by small numbers of staggeringly wealthy families and a coterie of businessmen dependent on their connections to such leaders as Hosni Mubarak in Egypt or Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

In recent years, such countries were also opened up to the economic whirlwind of neoliberalism, which destroyed any crude social contract that existed between rulers and ruled. Take Syria. There, rural towns and villages that had once supported the Baathist regime of the al-Assad family because it provided jobs and kept the prices of necessities low were, after 2000, abandoned to market forces skewed in favor of those in power. These places would become the backbone of the post-2011 uprising. At the same time, institutions like the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that had done so much to enhance the wealth and power of regional oil producers in the 1970s have lost their capacity for united action.

The question for our moment: Why is a mass extinction of independent states taking place in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond? Western politicians and media often refer to such countries as failed states. The implication embedded in that term is that the process is a self-destructive one. But several of the states now labeled failed like Libya only became so after Western-backed opposition movements seized power with the support and military intervention of Washington and NATO, and proved too weak to impose their own central governments and so a monopoly of violence within the national territory.

In many ways, this process began with the intervention of a U.S.-led coalition in Iraq in 2003 leading to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the shutting down of his Baathist Party, and the disbanding of his military. Whatever their faults, Saddam and Libyas autocratic ruler Muammar Gaddafi were clearly demonized and blamed for all ethnic, sectarian, and regional differences in the countries they ruled, forces that were, in fact, set loose in grim ways upon their deaths.

A question remains, however: Why did the opposition to autocracy and to Western intervention take on an Islamic form and why were the Islamic movements that came to dominate the armed resistance in Iraq and Syria in particular so violent, regressive, and sectarian? Put another way, how could such groups find so many people willing to die for their causes, while their opponents found so few? When IS battle groups were sweeping through northern Iraq in the summer of 2014, soldiers who had thrown aside their uniforms and weapons and deserted that countrys northern cities would justify their flight by saying derisively: Die for [then-Prime Minister Nouri] al-Maliki? Never!

A common explanation for the rise of Islamic resistance movements is that the socialist, secularist, and nationalist opposition had been crushed by the old regimes security forces, while the Islamists were not. In countries like Libya and Syria, however, Islamists were savagely persecuted, too, and they still came to dominate the opposition. And yet, while these religious movements were strong enough to oppose governments, they generally have not proven strong enough to replace them.

Too Weak to Win, But Too Strong to Lose

Though there are clearly many reasons for the present disintegration of states and they differ somewhat from place to place, one thing is beyond question: the phenomenon itself is becoming the norm across vast reaches of the planet.

If youre looking for the causes of state failure in our time, the place to start is undoubtedly with the end of the Cold War a quarter-century ago. Once it was over, neither the U.S. nor the new Russia that emerged from the Soviet Unions implosion had a significant interest in continuing to prop up failed states, as each had for so long, fearing that the rival superpower and its local proxies would otherwise take over. Previously, national leaders in places like the Greater Middle East had been able to maintain a degree of independence for their countries by balancing between Moscow and Washington. With the break-up of the Soviet Union, this was no longer feasible.

In addition, the triumph of neoliberal free-market economics in the wake of the Soviet Unions collapse added a critical element to the mix. It would prove far more destabilizing than it looked at the time.

Again, consider Syria. The expansion of the free market in a country where there was neither democratic accountability nor the rule of law meant one thing above all: plutocrats linked to the nations ruling family took anything that seemed potentially profitable. In the process, they grew staggeringly wealthy, while the denizens of Syrias impoverished villages, country towns, and city slums, who had once looked to the state for jobs and cheap food, suffered. It should have surprised no one that those places became the strongholds of the Syrian uprising after 2011. In the capital, Damascus, as the reign of neoliberalism spread, even the lesser members of the mukhabarat, or secret police, found themselves living on only $200 to $300 a month, while the state became a machine for thievery.

This sort of thievery and the auctioning off of the nations patrimony spread across the region in these years. The new Egyptian ruler, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, merciless toward any sign of domestic dissent, was typical. In a country that once had been a standard bearer for nationalist regimes the world over, he didnt hesitate this April to try to hand over two islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia on whose funding and aid his regime is dependent. (To the surprise of everyone, an Egyptian court recently overruled Sisis decision.)

That gesture, deeply unpopular among increasingly impoverished Egyptians, was symbolic of a larger change in the balance of power in the Middle East: once the most powerful states in the region  Egypt, Syria, and Iraq  had been secular nationalists and a genuine counterbalance to Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf monarchies. As those secular autocracies weakened, however, the power and influence of the Sunni fundamentalist monarchies only increased. If 2011 saw rebellion and revolution spread across the Greater Middle East as the Arab Spring briefly blossomed, it also saw counterrevolution spread, funded by those oil-rich absolute Gulf monarchies, which were never going to tolerate democratic secular regime change in Syria or Libya.

Add in one more process at work making such states ever more fragile: the production and sale of natural resources  oil, gas, and minerals  and the kleptomania that goes with it. Such countries often suffer from what has become known as the resources curse: states increasingly dependent for revenues on the sale of their natural resources  enough to theoretically provide the whole population with a reasonably decent standard of living  turn instead into grotesquely corrupt dictatorships. In them, the yachts of local billionaires with crucial connections to the regime of the moment bob in harbors surrounded by slums running with raw sewage. In such nations, politics tends to focus on elites battling and maneuvering to steal state revenues and transfer them as rapidly as possible out of the country.

This has been the pattern of economic and political life in much of sub-Saharan Africa from Angola to Nigeria. In the Middle East and North Africa, however, a somewhat different system exists, one usually misunderstood by the outside world. There is similarly great inequality in Iraq or Saudi Arabia with similarly kleptocratic elites. They have, however, ruled over patronage states in which a significant part of the population is offered jobs in the public sector in return for political passivity or support for the kleptocrats.

In Iraq with a population of 33 million people, for instance, no less than seven million of them are on the government payroll, thanks to salaries or pensions that cost the government $4 billion a month. This crude way of distributing oil revenues to the people has often been denounced by Western commentators and economists as corruption. They, in turn, generally recommend cutting the number of these jobs, but this would mean that all, rather than just part, of the states resource revenues would be stolen by the elite. This, in fact, is increasingly the case in such lands as oil prices bottom out and even the Saudi royals begin to cut back on state support for the populace.

Neoliberalism was once believed to be the path to secular democracy and free-market economies. In practice, it has been anything but. Instead, in conjunction with the resource curse, as well as repeated military interventions by Washington and its allies, free-market economics has profoundly destabilized the Greater Middle East. Encouraged by Washington and Brussels, twenty-first-century neoliberalism has made unequal societies ever more unequal and helped transform already corrupt regimes into looting machines. This is also, of course, a formula for the success of the Islamic State or any other radical alternative to the status quo. Such movements are bound to find support in impoverished or neglected regions like eastern Syria or eastern Libya.

Note, however, that this process of destabilization is by no means confined to the Greater Middle East and North Africa. We are indeed in the age of destabilization, a phenomenon that is on the rise globally and at present spreading into the Balkans and Eastern Europe (with the European Union ever less able to influence events there). People no longer speak of European integration, but of how to prevent the complete break-up of the European Union in the wake of the British vote to leave.

The reasons why a narrow majority of Britons voted for Brexit have parallels with the Middle East: the free-market economic policies pursued by governments since Margaret Thatcher was prime minister have widened the gap between rich and poor and between wealthy cities and much of the rest of the country. Britain might be doing well, but millions of Britons did not share in the prosperity. The referendum about continued membership in the European Union, the option almost universally advocated by the British establishment, became the catalyst for protest against the status quo. The anger of the Leave voters has much in common with that of Donald Trump supporters in the United States.

The U.S. remains a superpower, but is no longer as powerful as it once was. It, too, is feeling the strains of this global moment, in which it and its local allies are powerful enough to imagine they can get rid of regimes they do not like, but either they do not quite succeed, as in Syria, or succeed but cannot replace what they have destroyed, as in Libya. An Iraqi politician once said that the problem in his country was that parties and movements were too weak to win, but too strong to lose. This is increasingly the pattern for the whole region and is spreading elsewhere. It carries with it the possibility of an endless cycle of indecisive wars and an era of instability that has already begun.

Patrick Cockburn is a Middle East correspondent for the Independent of London and the author of five books on the Middle East, the latest of which is Chaos and Caliphate: Jihadis and the West in the Struggle for the Middle East (OR Books).

Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead, and Tom Engelhardts latest book, Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World.

Copyright 2016 Patrick Cockburn

[Note to TomDispatch Readers: Patrick Cockburn has arguably been our premier journalist of the Middle East in these last years. For the Independent, hes produced a body of journalism about our wars in the Greater Middle East and their consequences that is simply superb. His latest book (just out in paperback), Chaos & Caliphate: Jihadis and the West in the Struggle for the Middle East, offers a panoramic look at his on-the-ground reportage from the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 to Iraq in 2015. I recommend it highly. You can buy it directly from his publisher, OR Books, by clicking here.

In addition, let me remind all of you that, in return for a donation to this website of $100 or more ($125 if you live outside the United States), you can get a signed, personalized copy of any one of 14 books, from an impressive range of authors, including Nick Turse and me, at the TomDispatch donation page and help keep this operation rolling. Tom]

Via Tomdispatch.com



Related video added by Juan Cole:

RT: Battle finally over: Iraqi city of Fallujah liberated from ISIS  senior commander
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

The terrorist attack on Ataturk Airport in Istanbul Tuesday immediately drew a crass barb from Donald Trump implying that it supported his notion of banning Muslims from the US. Trump probably doesnt know that the Turks are mostly Muslim, so he is threatening reprisals against the victims .

Cenk Uygur hits the nail on the head:

The Young Turks: Trump: Istanbul Bombing Proves Me Right About Muslim Ban

If it was Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) that attacked Istanbul Airport on Tuesday, killing 36 and wounding many others, the question is, why?

Despite the frequent allegations at conspiracy sites that Turkey is somehow involved with Daesh, in actual fact the Turkish government has repeatedly attacked it and is in a low intensity war against it. Turkey may back some militant groups in Syria, such as the Freemen of Syria, but the Freemen (Ahrar al-Sham) are themselves deadly enemies of Daesh.

Here are some recent news items about Turkish government clashes with Daesh:

On June 15, Yeni Safak reported that the Turkish military had shelled Daesh targets in northern Syria and had killed 10 of the radicals. It said that Turkish army howitzers had demolished 17 Daesh weapons caches, hiding places and missile emplacements that had been planning to hit Turkey with missiles. The shelling came in response to Daesh rocket attacks on Turkeys Kilis province since January, which has killed 28 and wounded some 70 other Turks.

The same source on the same day noted that a Turkish court had handed down multiple life sentences to 3 convicted Daesh terrorists. They had stolen a truck and wounded Turkish security forces in the central province of Nigde in 2014.

The report claimed that Turkey has killed 2000 Daesh militants in the past year.

On June 20, Yeni Safak reported that the Turkish army deployed cross-border artillery fire against Daesh positions across the border in Turkey and, in conjunction with coalition air strikes, killed 23 Daesh terrorists. Some 33 targets were destroyed such as weapons caches, etc.

On June 28, Hurriyet reported that 10 alleged Daesh members arrested after last years deadly bombing in Ankara, and 26 others still at large, were facing an indictment that could lead to 100 aggravated life sentences. The trial is expected to open in Ankara in the next few days. The bombing, on October 10 of last fall, killed 103 persons near the capitals principal train station.

Terrorist groups often lash out when members are captured, held in prison, and sentenced, and Turkey has several ongoing trials against Daesh operatives. Likewise, terrorist groups hit back if they are hit, as with Turkeys shelling of Daesh position in northern Syria near the Turkish border.

Hitting Istanbuls Ataturk airport is classic terrorism, aimed at harming the Turkish economy. The airport accommodates 50 million passengers a year, between tourists and transit passengers.

In 2014, 37 million foreign visitors came to Turkey, accounting for nearly 5% of the countrys GDP.

But in 2015 and the first half of this year, tourism is way off. Turkeys decision to shoot down a Russian plane last fall to protect militant Salafi Turkmen in Syrias north led to the end of the 4 million annual visits from Russian tourists. A string of Daesh attacks, as at Istiqlal St. in Istanbul, has also had tourists cancelling their bookings. Japanese tourism was off 40% in 2015, and Italian visits were down 27%.

The attacks by semi-automatic weapons and suicide vest belts on Tuesday is certain to further harm the Turkish tourism industry, which is the aim of Daesh. These terrorist groups believe that if they can harm the local economy and create discontent, they might be able to take over.

Despite the low-intensity conflicts Turkey is fighting against Daesh and the PKK, its economy has so far escaped the worst effects of them. That period of being teflon may be coming to an end.
VANCOUVER, June 29, 2016 /CNW/ - Lithium X Energy Corp. ("Lithium X", or the "Company") (TSX-V: LIX) (OTCQB: LIXXF) is pleased to announce that Mr. Eduardo Morales has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Company, effective June 28, 2016.

Mr. Morales is a chemical engineer with 36 years of experience who formerly built and operated one of the world's largest lithium brine operations. As President of Rockwood Lithium Latin America, he successfully led the development, commissioning and operation of Rockwood's Salar de Atacama project. His tenure with Rockwood Lithium ended with the company's sale to Albemarle Corporation for US$6.2 billion in 2014.

Mr. Morales previously served as General Manager overseeing construction and operations of both the ponding facilities at Salar de Atacama and lithium carbonate and lithium chloride plants in Antofagasta, Chile. He holds a Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Santiago, Chile.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Mr. Morales as Chief Operating Officer," commented Brian Paes-Braga, Lithium X CEO. "His proven track record in building and successfully operating large scale lithium brine operations is a tremendous asset to our Company as we grow towards our goal of becoming a leading lithium producer."

"I am excited about the challenge of joining Lithium X and leading development of the Sal de los Angeles project at a time when lithium has emerged as such a crucial element for electricity storage," stated Mr. Morales. "The high quality of the brines found at Sal de los Angeles means Lithium X has the opportunity to bring this important battery-grade product to market quickly and at competitive costs."

The Company is also pleased to announce Andres Barrientos has been appointed Project General Manager of South American operations. Mr. Barrientos, a chemical engineer, was the Engineering & Research Superintendent of Rockwood Lithium in Chile until 2012 when he moved to BHP's Escondida, the world's largest copper mine. He also helped develop expansion and improvement projects including operational plants for lithium carbonate, lithium chloride and the study of new technologies for the production of lithium hydroxide.

"Eduardo and Andres join us at a pivotal time in the evolution of our principal project, with a clear focus on developing Sal de los Angeles into a world-class lithium brine operation," said Paul Matysek, Lithium X Executive Chairman. "Eduardo's decades of experience building and managing lithium operations dovetail admirably with our company-building mission."

Mr. Morales and Mr. Barrientos will also help Lithium X evaluate other new business opportunities as the company moves towards its goal of becoming a leading global lithium producer.

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Lithium X's Vice-President of Project Development, William Randall, P.Geo, who is a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101.

Lithium X granted a total of 1,570,000 options at an exercise price of $1.62 for a period of five years to Mr. Morales and other directors, officers and consultants of the Company.

The Company further reports that by mutual consent, the Binding Letter of Intent entered into between Lithium X and North South Petroleum Corp. ("North South") dated May 12, 2016 relating to the acquisition by North South of the CVL South Property from Lithium X has been terminated. Lithium X received $100,000 USD in this transaction.

About Lithium X Energy Corp.

Lithium X Energy Corp. is a lithium exploration and development company with a goal of becoming a low-cost supplier for the burgeoning lithium battery industry. Lithium X owns 50%, and has the option to acquire up to 80% of the Sal de los Angeles lithium brine project in the prolific "Lithium Triangle" in mining-friendly Salta province, Argentina. Sal de los Angeles is a well-known salar with positive historical economics, grade and size. Lithium X is also exploring a large land package in Nevada's Clayton Valley, contiguous to the only producing lithium operation in North America  Silver Peak, owned and operated by Albemarle, the world's largest lithium producer. Lithium X is listed on the TSXV under the trading symbol LIX.

For additional information about Lithium X Energy Corp., please visit the Company's website at www.lithium-x.com or review the Company's documents filed on www.sedar.com. Join the Company's email list at http://lithium-x.com/subscribe.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Paul Matysek"

Paul Matysek

Executive Chairman

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively "forward-looking statements"). Certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects", "believes", "aims to", "plans to" or "intends to" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including the business of the Company and the commencement of trading in the Company's shares. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Lithium X Energy Corp.
JURIST Guest Columnist David Christensen of Christensen Law discusses recent developments in Michigan auto law that affect third-party benefits

For the past 40 years, plaintiffs attorneys seeking no-fault benefits for their clients have relied on the innocent third-party rule. This rule protected uninsured drivers, passengers and other claimants from fraud by the policy holder. But a recent published case from the Michigan Court of Appeals has stripped plaintiffs of this protection and left them vulnerable to dismissal based on no fault of their own.

Bazzi v Sentinel Insurance Company [PDF] asks one question: whether the innocent third-party rule survives the 2012 Michigan Supreme Court decision, Titan Ins Co v Hyten[PDF]. Titan in turn addressed easily ascertainable rule, first created in State Farm Mut Auto Ins Co v Kurylowicz in 1976.

Kurylowicz and the Easily Ascertainable Rule

Kurylowicz interpreted the then newly created Michigan No-Fault Act to seek to protect Michigan motorists. It prevented auto insurance companies from avoiding the claims of innocent third-party plaintiffs by canceling or rescinding the policy on which the claim was based. In essence, it kept insurers from pulling the rug out from under innocent motorists feet. According to Kurylowicz:

It is the policy of this state that persons who suffer loss due to the tragedy of automobile accidents in this state shall have a source and a means of recovery.

Because of this, the court of appeals ruled that an insurance company couldnt declare a policy void at inception because of fraud when that fraud was easily ascertainable and the plaintiff is a third party not involved in the fraud. Those third parties would continue to be entitled to no-fault benefits, even if the policy holders own recovery was cut off. The case required insurance companies to comply with the Michigan No-Fault Statutes 55 day limit on canceling a contract because of risk.

Titan Changes the Rules

This was the law in Michigan for nearly 40 years. Then in 2012, in Titan, the Michigan Supreme Court overturned Kurylowicz. The court ruled that there was no public policy protection built into the No-Fault Act that wasnt explicitly included in its terms. The court struck down the easily ascertainable rule and gave insurance companies access to traditional legal and equitable remedies including cancellation, rescission, and reformation, except as expressly limited by the statute.

But even after the easily ascertainable rule fell, plaintiffs attorneys were able to protect some of their clients using the innocent third-party rule. Because occasional drivers, passengers, and other claimants had no knowledge or participation in the fraud, it was thought they would still be covered. That is, until Bazzi was published on June 14, 2016.

Bazzi Eliminates the Innocent Third-Party Rule

In Bazzi, the plaintiff was seeking PIP benefits for injuries resulting from his use of his mothers car. That car was insured through a commercial automobile policy held by his mother and his aunt. Sentinel Insurance Company had successfully rescinded the commercial policy in a separate third-party complaint against the plaintiffs mother and aunt based on fraud in the way that commercial policy was obtained= specifically that there was no business entity connected with the policy and that the plaintiff was not named as a regular driver of the vehicle. Sentinel then used that rescission as a basis for summary disposition in the plaintiffs case. The trial court denied the request based on the innocent third party rule.

The court of appeals ruled that the easily ascertainable rule and the innocent third-party rule were one and the same. In doing so, it relied on the Titan summary of the rule stated in Kurylowicz:

The principal question presented in this case is whether an insurer may avail itself of traditional legal and equitable remedies to avoid liability under an insurance policy on the ground of fraud in the application for insurance, when the fraud was easily ascertainable and the claimant is a third party.

Since both conditions were required for the easily ascertainable rule to apply, it didnt make sense, the court wrote, for insurance companies to be on the hook to third parties for easily ascertainable fraud, but not those cases more difficult to prove.

Nor was the court convinced that any statutory provision prevented the insurance company from rescinding mandatory no-fault benefits. The court ignored the limitations on cancellation outlined in Kurylowicz entirely, instead stating, what coverages are required by law are simply irrelevant where the insurer is entitled to declare the policy void ab initio. For there to be any protection, the court held that the legislature would have needed to expressly limit the availability of fraud defenses. Because it did not, the insurance company was allowed to rescind the policy and cut off benefits to the innocent third party.

Litigating Third-Party Claims Post-Bazzi

Bazzi lands a major blow to plaintiffs attorneys trying to protect third parties. Insurance companies now have no obligation to investigate possible fraud until they are faced with a claim. By the time a defendant company goes through its investigation and gets its summary disposition on the basis of fraud, it may be too late for third-party plaintiffs to refile against a different insurance company or the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan[PDF]. This could leave injured motorists in the undesirable position of needing to bring their claims against the policy holders directly, many of whom will be simply uncollectible.

To defend against these devastating summary disposition motions, trial attorneys should consider filing claims against every insurance company with a policy related to the accident. The Michigan No-Fault Act provides insurance companies a process to address priority among themselves while still protecting the injured motorists claims, and ensuring his or her relief isnt delayed by industry jockeying. If the insurance company with first priority is able to rescind its plan based on fraud, the case will already be underway as to the next insurer, and no benefits will be lost due to untimely filing.

At the same time, plaintiffs lawyers should closely examine the cancellation terms of the underlying policy. Scrutinize whether the appropriate notices went out according to the statute. Look for differences in the way the policy defines legal terms of art like cancellation and rescission. This may allow protections contained elsewhere in the Michigan No-Fault Act to preserve a clients claim.

Bazzi undoubtedly made it harder to be a plaintiffs auto accident attorney in Michigan. It canceled out an important protection for innocent third-party motorists, and eliminated the insurance companies duty to investigate their own policies. But that will not stop high-quality lawyers from going to bat for their clients and their families. It simply means trial attorneys will need to become more meticulous in how they do their work.

David Christensen is the founder of Christensen Law. He has over 25 years of experience dealing with auto accident and brain injury cases. He testifies before the Michigan legislature, and his expertise has led to appointments to key positions that affect the development of Michigans no-fault law.

Suggested citation: David Chrsitensen, Undisclosed Fraud Sinks Third-Party benefits Lawsuit, JURIST  Professional Commentary, June 26, 2016, http://jurist.org/professional/2016/06/David-Christensen-Third-Party.php.
A judge for the for the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi [official website] on Monday extended a permanent injunction [order] prohibiting clerks in Mississippi from recusing themselves from issuing mariage licences to same-sex couples for religious reasons. Judge Carlton Reeves [official profile] prevented portions of HB 1523 [text, PDF] dealing with grounds for recusal from going into effect. HB 1523 is a religious freedom law signed by Governor Phil Bryant [official website] and portions are set to take effect Friday. In explicitly extending an existing injunction against the Circuit Cllerk of Hinds County to all other counties in the state, Reeves held that notice must be provided to the remaining clerks of their obligation to treat same-sex and opposite-sex couples equally.

Last week Reeves refused [JURIST report] to block the bill in its entirety and chose instead to hear challenges relating to the bill. Mississippis governor signed this bill into law in April, just days after a federal judge struck down [JURIST reports] Mississippis ban on adoption by same-sex partners. In November the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that same-sex divorce is legal [JURIST report] within the state. In a 5-4 decision, the high court granted the divorce order citing to the recent US Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges [JURIST report] as the main legal authority.
The Supreme Court of the Maldives [official website] on Monday upheld [decision, in Dhivehi] the 13-year prison sentence of former President Mohamed Nasheed [JURIST news archive] on terrorism-related charges. Nasheed was originally sentenced [JURIST report] in March 2015 after he was found guilty of unilaterally arresting [JURIST report] then-Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed on corruption charges. Facing international pressure, the government appealed Nasheeds sentence, arguing that he was not afforded sufficient time to prepare a defense. Mondays ruling by the Supreme Court rejected that argument and upheld the sentence. Nasheeds Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) [party website] called the ruling unsurprising [press release] and emblematic of democratic backsliding in the country. Nasheeds sentence had been commuted to house arrest last July due to concerns for his health, but the original custodial sentence was reinstated [JURIST report] a month later.

The Maldivian judiciary has generated significant controversy in recent years. In May 2015, a senior official at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] said [press release] that Nasheeds trial and conviction of former was vastly unfair, arbitrary, and disproportionate [JURIST report] and urged action to resolve the deepening political crisis. In October 2014, the OHCHR expressed concern [JURIST report] over the Supreme Courts prosecution of five members of the Maldives Human Rights Commission [official website]. In March 2014, the Supreme Court dismissed [JURIST report] the countrys four top election commissioners, giving each a six-month jail sentence and three-year suspension for disobeying orders. In November 2013 the Supreme Court suspended [JURIST report] the nations presidential election for the third time.
Volkswagen AG [corporate website] has agreed to spend up to $14.7 billion to settle [consent decree, PDF] allegations of cheating emissions tests and deceiving customers in a settlement with US regulators announced Tuesday. The company will either to buy back or to terminate existing leases on model year 2009 to 2015 vehicles equipped with the companys 2.0 liter diesel and held by US consumers. Under this program the company is prepared to spend almost $10.03 billion compensating consumers. Furthermore, the company will spend over $4.7 billion to mitigate pollution from these cars in response to cheating emissions tests. The settlement comes after allegations [complaint, PDF] from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Attorney Generals Office and the California Air Resources Board [official websites] relating to Volkswagens use of devices meant to cheat emission tests by using illegal software to alter engine functions when testing equipment was present. The settlements also resolve [FTC proposed order] claims [complaint, PDF] by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [official website] that Volkswagens advertising of the affected vehicles as clean diesel and low emission was deceptive and unfair. In all, these settlements require Volkswagen to offer a buyback program and meet an 85% recall rate, provide EPA-approved modification to their vehicle emissions systems, fund Emission Reduction programs, finance improvements to Zero Emissions Technology, and provide injunctive relief and compensation to those who they deceived with their advertising practices.

VW is facing legal difficulty around the world over the emissions scandal. A law firm in Germany filed a class action lawsuit [JURIST report] last month against VW on behalf of investors alleging a breach of duty to the capital market. Last year the Braunschweig public prosecutors office opened a criminal investigation [JURIST report] of former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn, following accusations that the company cheated on government emissions tests by manipulating exhaust valves. The investigation followed several criminal complaints, including one filed by VW, and came less than a week after Winterkorn stepped down as CEO of the company. In his statement he accepted responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines and said that he was clearing the way for this fresh start with [his] resignation.
Toyota is recalling 2,867,816 vehicles worldwide for a potential problem with the fuel system charcoal canister evaporative emissions control unit and a further 1,433,988 vehicles to check a side curtain airbag inflator. The inflator is not a Takata product, the supplier has not been named. Some models will be recalled for both fixes.

The carbon canister issue affects Toyota Corolla/Auris, Prius, Prius PHV, SAI and Lexus CT200h and HS205h models made between 2006 and 2015.

The vehicles are being recalled due to the possibility that the canister fixed to the fuel tank could develop a crack. If the crack is present, it has the potential to expand and cause a minor fuel leak when the vehicle has a full tank of fuel.

Toyota UK said 72,885 of its Prius, Auris and Lexus CT 200h models are affected with 34,135 requiring both actions.

"Worldwide, there have been no reports of any accidents or injuries relating to these issues," the NSC said in a statement.

It said cracks could develop in the coating of the emissions channel due to improper shaping of portions of the channel. The cracks could expand over time and cause leaks if the petrol tank is full.

Dealers will install a new canister in a process taking two to three hours.

Curtain shield air bags (CSA) in the driver and passenger side roof rails have air bag inflators composed of two chambers welded together. Some inflators could have a small crack in the weld area joining the chambers, which could grow over time, and lead to the separation of the inflator chambers. This has been observed when the vehicle is parked and unoccupied for a period of time. If an inflator separates, the CSA could partially inflate, and, in limited circumstances, one or both sections of the inflator could enter the interior of the vehicle. If an occupant is present in the vehicle, there is an increased risk of injury.

Dealers will install retention brackets on the inflators designed to prevent the inflator chambers from entering the vehicle interior if separation occurs.

Vehicles subject to this recall were made October 2008 to August 2012. The repair will take approximately two to four hours.

Toyota Australia said its recall included 4,560 previous generation Prius vehicles built between April 2009 and April 2012.

Toyota New Zealand's airbag recall is just 1,162 'New Zealand new' models  308 CT200h and 851 Prius) with investigation into used import numbers (imported both by the NSC's own 'Signature' used car unit and by independent parallel importers) "in progress".
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Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or not? On June 23rd, just shy of one week, the British people will come forth and seal the fate of their country and, perhaps, of Europe as a whole.

During several months of national debate, pro-EU campaigners have supported the idea that the UK will have greater political influence and economic benefits by remaining in the Union. On the other hand, pro-Brexit campaigners have insisted that the ability to operate with looser ties with the rest of Europe will entail both wider political and economic advantages. But how did we get here in the first place?

In January 2013, the British prime minister, David Cameron, promised that, if the Conservative party had been re-elected in May 2015, he would have renegotiated Britains membership and would have held an in-out referendum by the end of 2017. The Tories won the election and they now have a mandate to carry out those promises.

Britain has always had its opt-outs.

One might say that David Cameron was forced to march towards a referendum caving to pressure from the right-wing elements of his Conservative Party and from the UK Independence Party (UKIP). The truth is, however, that Great Britain has always been an exception within Europe. Britain has always had its opt-outs; it is not a member of the Eurozone, it is not in the Schengen free circulation zone, it never ratified the EUs fundamental charter of rights and it also has a flexible opt-out on EU legislation in the area of freedom, security and justice.

On top of that, David Cameron changed the terms of Britains EU membership before the referendum following intense negotiations in Brussels on 18th and 19th of February 2016, during which EU leaders achieved a deal which strengthens Britains special status in the EU by granting an explicit exemption from the founding goal of an ever-closer union, among other concessions; it is a deal which will take effect immediately if the UK votes to remain in the EU.

Part of the deal is to boost the sovereignty of the national parliaments within the EU, so that they could work together to block any EU legislation that they do not want to ratify, to strengthen safeguards for the city of London and other financial centres outside the Eurozone, to improve trade relationships with growing economies and to better protect the rights of non-Eurozone economies and concessions on the welfare rights of migrant workers.

Despite the fact that David Cameron now stresses the benefits of continued EU membership in a reformed EU, his phenomenally victorious deal in Brussels didnt have strong impact back home. A handful of high-profile political figures, such as the justice secretary, Michael Gove, and Londons mayor Boris Johnson, as well as Nigel Farage, Member of the European Parliament and leader of the UKIP, fanatically support Great Britains exodus from the EU camp.

The net contributor

The thorniest issues among the in and out campaigners include inter alia the issues of financial cost of being a member of the EU, immigration, security, trade and the economy.

The UK is a net contributor to the EU budget, with its contribution reaching 17.8bn in 2015, but the UK rebate, negotiated by Margaret Thatcher, amounts to 4.9bn and, if we include 4.4bn more which is paid back to the UK in the form of farm subsidies and other programmes, the total amount is 8.5bn. The argument of the out campaigners, that the UK puts much more money into the EU than it gets back, is outweighed by the benefits to the economy by staying in the EU, as the in campaigners proclaim.

The leave group also claims that it is impossible to control immigration as a member of the EU and that, in turn, harms UK-born workers in terms of jobs, wages and access to public services, which are under strain because of the huge influx of migrants. There are three million EU nationals living in the UK currently. In 2015 alone, more than a quarter of a million arrived to the UK.

On the other hand, the stay group argues that immigrants, especially those from the EU, pay more in taxes than they take out, and they emphasize the two measures of the UK-EU deal related to 1) the amount of child benefits that EU workers can send to their home countries, which will be adjusted according to the living standards of the recipient country and 2) the fact that the UK can pull an emergency brake to cut in-work benefits from EU migrants for up to four years.

Exiting the EU would automatically mean that Britain will not have access to the shared intelligence services provided by Europol.

As far as security is concerned, the refugee crisis and the recent terrorist attacks in Brussels last March and in Paris in November 2015 gave ammunition to the exit-backers to label the policies of the EU as inadequate to effectively tackle these issues, leaving the member states exposed to criminal and terrorist activities. It would be useful to recall, however, that the UK is not part of the Schengen Area, thus it does not have open borders. At the same time, exiting the EU would automatically mean that Britain will not have access to the shared intelligence services provided by Europol, thus deteriorating the UKs position against organised cross-border crime.

Being part of the EU, in terms of trade and economy, means that it is part of a single market which allows for the free movement of goods and services. At the same time, it is the bloc that leads trade negotiations with other countries around the world, not individual member states.

Neglecting the no-tariff policy within the EU as well as the fact that about half of the UKs overseas trade is conducted with the EU, the out campaigners strongly support the idea that leaving the economic bloc will give the UK the opportunity to negotiate trade agreements with non-EU countries or other economic blocs on its own terms, while avoiding costly EU regulations regarding consumer protection, product specifications, and health and safety.

The truth is that whether or not Britain is part of the EU, its companies would have to comply with these regulations in order to access to the EUs single market.

The stay group also argues that only through the EU will the UK be able to benefit from future free trade agreements such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently being negotiated with the United States.

Top economists argue that Brexit will harm the British economy.

According to the biggest survey conducted by Ipsos MORI, nine out of ten of the countrys top economists believe that a Brexit will harm the British economy. The results show that 88% out of the more than 600 economists think that an exit from the EU and the single market would most likely damage Britains growth prospects over the next five years. Finally, a Brexit would reduce the attractiveness of the UK for foreign direct investments, as a consequence of losing favourable access to a market made up of 500 million consumers.

Whether a Brexit is coming or not, the polling day has come, and I hope that Britons will vote for the UK to remain in the EUs fold so as to avoid, as many experts indicate, an unpleasant divorce for both sides.
President Barack Obama comments to members of the media on the recent suicide attacks at Istanbul's airport during a bilateral meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Neito at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Canada, Wednesday, June 29, 2016.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
This photograph released by the Israel Antiquities Authority made on Wednesday, June 22, 2016, shows preparation for Electric Resistivity Tomography scan of the pit used to hold the victims before their execution at Ponar massacre site near the town of Vilnius, Lithuania. An international research team has discovered a legendary tunnel that Jewish prisoners secretly dug out with spoons to try to escape their Nazi captors during World War II, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday. The 34-meter (112-foot) long tunnel is located in the Ponar forest, known today as Paneriai, outside of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. It is the site where some 100,000 people, including 70,000 Jews, were killed and thrown into pits during Nazi occupation. ( Ezra Wolfinger/Israel Antiquities Authority via AP)
Halloween customs from around the world Halloween is derived from some of the oldest customs in the world. The culture of these traditions are 2000 years old  during an age...

Spindle Items ..FUN WITH WORDS  Have you heard of the saying, to appear smart, be silent. It means if you dont open your mouth, people may...

Out of the Past 25 Years AgoOct. 29, 1997 A light industrial park is planned for the site of the abandoned grain mills on Military Road after their expected...

Make a plan to vote this November Election Day is less than two weeks away. Have you made a plan to vote yet? Midterm elections are often overlooked, but I urge everyone...
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One day into our medical centers newly announced colleague appearance policy, nobody has yet approached my office with a steel wool soap pad to make any of the docs or medical assistants shine. My active white coat went into the laundry bin the day before, having inserted my left sleeve into a puddle of spilled coffee. The other two lab coats with hospital logo remain in their plastic protective coating, suitable for asphyxia if your face gets too close, where they have languished on a wire hanger for months following their last encounter with laundry detergent.

There is some legitimately divided opinion on whether doctors should wear neckties that serve as fomites, but mine typically have an inoffensive paisley or striped pattern that either coordinates visually with everything or with nothing. I have not seen an employee sporting a tattoo with a swastika or something offensive to the Prophet Muhammad so if they exist here at all, the skin artist complied with instructions to place them in normally clothed areas.

Now the medical center could have determined that my professional image as a representative of the hospital would be enhanced if I were taller. Our citys world famous art museum has a medieval section which most likely has a room with instruments of torture. Their rack can be borrowed to enhance height. The hospitals quality image might also be better if I carried a more impressive pen than the Bic Crystal obtained as a 10-pack at last summers back to school clearance. I think I still have a Levitra pen somewhere from the days when pharmaceutical representative generosity with company assets had less restraint than now. Push the button, release the spring, and the folded over pen goes boing, releasing the business end that is gripped for writing. Probably not the image that our medical center wants to convey, though probably not expressly prohibited either. Keep that tchotchke in storage a while longer until the antique road show comes to town, maybe.

So do we and other medical institutions really need a formal policy, one composed by a representative committee, the memo said, to assure that we appear professional and competent to our patients? When John C. Molloys Dress for Success reached the New York Times Bestseller list in the mid-1970s he included a chapter on optimal appearance for medical professionals, revised a little for the womens edition that followed, and repeated verbatim in the revised edition ten or so years later.

Based on his research, restricted mostly to wardrobe, medical professionals conveyed maximum authority with a white coat and otherwise standard business attire. Remember at the time, my fellow medical students and residents included hippies and yippies. There was more of a gender divide with older men as physicians and older women as nurses while that dimorphism was rapidly disappearing among the younger physicians. He presented this sartorial advice for the purpose of economic benefit. Peace loving but eccentric appearing flower children later gave way to more menacing appearing iconoclasts in the form of bikers with tattoos and visible weapons who seemed perfectly OK as trauma patients but as an employee, it projects an appearance that would make some patients paranoid even if assigned someplace other than the psychiatric unit.

The formality of work attire and expectations of visitors who view us has changed considerably since Dress for Success moved from the bookstores to more obscure library shelves. High-tech millionaires come to their work campuses in T-shirts, casual Friday has relaxed formality in many traditional offices, doctors wear V-neck scrub tops daily, and running shoes have become part of the standard nursing uniform. But it fails to answer the question of whether we really need an appearance code, let alone a considerable investment on the part of the hospital which had to pay employee salaries while some of them met in committee to assess and articulate the final policy.

In the years that I have been at my hospital, not a lot but enough, I cannot say Ive encountered any staff member who struck me as memorably offensive in their appearance, though perhaps offensive in their political views and demeanor. As any school teacher can attest, the day the photographer visits to take class pictures, the number of student fights in the hall goes down. If you look dignified, you are likely to act dignified. You can still be a crook like Bernie Madoff who always presented himself as polished while swindling but the facade of a competent professional remains what people see. And in a pageant as large as the medical center with its doctors, nurses, clerks, phlebotomists, the relative handful of people that our patients meet really does imprint their experience. So while individuals who detract from this are probably too few for me to have noticed, the head nurses in all likelihood have a more significant number of lapses of appearance and demeanor brought to their attention.

So not having a real big problem to correct but a small one to tweak, the guidelines are rather modest. If your function has an identifying uniform like navy blue scrubs for nurses, wear that. Dont smoke in front of the hospital while you wear one of the hospital uniforms. Go easy on the cosmetics. Its OK to look like one of the Hasidim if you are one of the Hasidim but otherwise, a beard is intended to accent a face rather than replace it. And enough people find tattoos objectionable that they should stay covered irrespective of whether the image is a pretty flower or a Rubenesque voluptuous nude. And make sure people can read your name badge or ID tag.

Clothes make the man sometimes, but usually not the doctor, who tends to be more dependent on the caliber of medical assessment and its perception of credibility. Thoroughness, undivided attention during each patient encounter and pleasantness probably matter a lot more than presence or absence of a white coat or tie, though people probably will notice mismatched socks and link it negatively to attention to detail. There are also the components of a doctor that are hidden from sight but not from awareness, things like promptness in returning phone calls, willingness to answer questions, explaining lab results in way that makes them understood. No formal policies forthcoming on those items.

Richard M. Plotzker is an endocrinologist.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
The United States Department of Agriculture is expanding their efforts to warn people of the Mexican Fruit Fly.

In a series of public service announcements, the USDA is warning residents of Webb and Zapata counties.

They are asking people to cooperate with survey teams who need to inspect trees, hang traps and remove fruit.

Mexican Fruit Flies do not harm humans or animals, but they threaten the citrus industry.

They are asking people to double-bag unused or fallen fruit, and to throw them away.
A car crash is not the only trouble a woman gets into, as police discover she left eight children home alone.

Police say they were called out to a hit-and-run last Sunday, near San Bernardo Avenue.

This is where they found Lydia Alvarado, 30, under the influence. Police say Alvarado had left her eight kids home alone.

When they went to the home, they found the children - ranging from 13 years of age to eight months old.

Child Protective Services has taken custody of the children, and Alvarado was arrested and charged with abandonment and endangerment of a child.
Border Patrol agents outdid themselves last weekend by seizing more than $600,000 worth of crystal meth.

During a routine exam at the Laredo Port of Entry last Saturday, Border Patrol officers referred a driver for secondary inspection.

The victim, an unidentified 25-year-old male U.S. citizen, drove a 2015 Honda.

Utilizing all available resources, officers conducted an intense examination and discovered 52 packages containing a total of 34 pounds of crystal meth.

Border Patrol officers seized the vehicle and narcotics, and the driver was arrested while the case was turned over to Homeland Security.
Police are called to a home in West Laredo after a man allegedly sexual assaulted a woman.

Police say they were called to a home, and noticed a group of men attacking Benito Delgado Munguia.

The men told police Delgado had sexually assaulted a woman known to them.

After talking to the victim, she told police she was sexually molested during a massage therapy session being given by Munguia.

Delgado was arrested and charged for the incident.
They may not have been expecting it, but the choir of the Presentation Secondary School have been called upon to give one more rousing performance to make Kilkenny proud  help secure our bid for the European Capital of Culture.

The surprise announcement came from Kilkenny senior hurling manager Brian Cody, who was a special guest at last Thursday's launch. Mr Cody has been a bid ambassador for the Three Sisters bid from the outset.

Congratulations everyone on your committment and success, he said.

The Three Sisters judges are coming down to visit the region on July 13 as part of their assessment of the joint bid between Kilkenny, Waterford, and Wexford.

Mr Cody said th=he Three Sisters committee feel that they want to finish up with a taste of the excellence of our youth.

You haven't been told yet, he said, but the wish is that the girls would perform as a choir as a 'final act'.

It will have huge benefits for the whole region if we get the Capital of Cultre, he said.
Almost 40 Glanbia cyclists endured a seven-hour cycle from Glanbia in Ballyragget to Limerick City in a bid to raise much-needed funds for the Irish Heart Foundation.

The cycle took place earlier in the month, finishing at the Ballyragget plant, when the cyclists returned after another seven-hour day in the saddle. The group raised a sum of 25,000 for the charity.

All cyclists had been in training for the big event for several months and everyone that set off on the cycle completed the course and returned safe and sound the next day.

Two groups undertook 150km and 100km each day respectively with two different routes set out for each pack.

With the assistance of 14 volunteers coordinating the event on motorcycles, and in cars and vans, cyclists were well taken care of with first aid and food stops and any other requirements throughout the journey.

All the money raised from the event will go directly to the Irish Heart Foundation.
Sarah Jones, left, feeds a treat to the elephant as her grandfather Ron Jones, joins her in a ride.

SHARE Gig Harbor resident Sarah Jones, 12, left, made friends with a member of the Thailand's Long Neck Tribe during the YMCA's cultural exchange trip to Thailand this spring. Pierce/Kitsap County YMCA dancers made friends with children in an orphanage during their spring break cultural exchange trip to Thailand. Elephants were a common sight on a river rafting trip that took place during a YMCA cultural exchange trip to Thailand this spring. Three Gig Harbor dancers participated in the trip. Sarah Jones, 12, got to help "pole" the river on the YMCA dancers' visit to Thailand this spring.

By CHARLEE GLOCK-JACKSONFOR GIG HARBOR LIFEEarlier this year over spring break, a group of 16 teens, including three from Gig Harbor, made the trip of a lifetime  a two-week cultural exchange visit to Thailand, complete with elephant rides, river rafting, visits to a floating market and the kings palace and lots of dancing.The teens are members of dance groups sponsored by the YMCAs Cultural Arts Program.Gig Harbor was represented by Sarah Jones, 12; Molly Ng, 15 and Moira Cummings, 14.Sarahs grandfather Ron Jones, a member of the Gig Harbor Ys advisory board, went along as a chaperone and photographer.The Cultural Arts Program has been in place for more than a decade, according to Lynn Wilmot-Stenehjem, associate executive director of the Pierce/Kitsap YMCA Center for Community Impact.As part of the program, every two years a group of Y teens visits a foreign country in a cultural exchange. In the past, dancers have traveled to London, China, Vietnam and Cambodia.Im so passionate about giving our youngsters a global perspective, Wilmot-Stenehjem said. I think its very important for kids to have a broad cultural awareness. When they come home theyre so much more confident in other parts of their lives.And it reinforces the idea that dance and music and other arts are a way of communication, even when people speak different languages, she added.In Thailand we focused on American dances like tap and hip hop and the Thai dancers shared their own dances with us, she said.When all the kids were dancing together there was a wonderful, wordless connection between them.The American dancers performed at two orphanages: the YMCA Happy House Aids Orphanage in Nakorn Pathom and the Baan Kingkaew Orphanage in Chang Mai.The Aids orphanage is for teenagers whose parents have AIDS. The Chang Mai orphanage is for younger children without responsible parents, Ron Jones said.Sarah Jones, who attends Kopachuck Middle School, has been studying ballet and contemporary dance at the Gig Harbor Y for several years said that, in addition to dancing, her favorite parts of the trip were riding an elephant and visiting the temples and castles.We got to go to the kings summer palace. It was very fancy and very pretty, she said. We had to take off our shoes before we went in and the girls couldnt wear slacks. We had to wear sarongs and long sleeve shirts.Sarah also enjoyed watching the kids in the YMCA orphanage dance. They did an improv dance to the song YMCA and we all got to dance with them.The rafting trip down the river was especially memorable. It was a bamboo raft and I got to use one of the poles to make it go. And one of the elephants that was on the bank of the river sprayed me. It surprised me, but it was OK because it was really hot and the spray cooled me off.For Molly Ng, who will be a sophomore at Gig Harbor High School this fall, one of the best aspects of the trip was the opportunity to experience a new culture and meet new people. And when we visited the orphanages it made me realize how lucky I am to live in America and have all the things I have.The river trip made a big impression on her as well. There were so many different homes along the river bank. It was good to see, but also very sad because some of the homes were so worn down, and then there would be a temple right next door.But the temples themselves were wonderful, she said. Theyre so amazingly put together and colorful and every one is so unique.My favorite was the White Temple. It was so pretty and pure and there were so many interesting little details and everything was white. And there were lots of monks there.Like Sarah, she was surprised at how hot the weather was and, also like Sarah, she didnt much care for the food.We go to Thai restaurants here, but real Thai food is so much more than pad Thai. There was lots of fish, but Im a pretty picky eater, so I didnt really enjoy it very much.But, both girls agreed, the best part of the trip was the dancing. We did some contemporary dances that have lovely flowing motions and some tap and some hip hop, Molly said.I really thought the whole trip was so good. Id love to go back again some day. It was like being in my happy place.
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Watching Hillary Clinton beaming sidewise on stage as Elizabeth Warren took her text on Donald Trump brought the Wrigley twin ditty to mind: Double your pleasure, double your fun, with double good, double good, Doublemint gum.

Instead of two happy twins riding a tandem bicycle to celebrate chewing gum, the Clinton-Warren sixties sister-clones  wearing blond bobs and shades of blue  rode Trump with a gobsmacking double-punch.

Railed the petite senator from Massachusetts: "Now, Donald Trump says he'll make America great again. ... It's stamped on the front of his goofy hat. You want to see goofy? Look at him in that hat."

This was her way of topping Trump's repeated use of "goofy" to insult her.

And: "When Donald Trump says 'great,' I ask: 'great for who, exactly?'" she said. "When Donald says he'll make America great, he means make it even greater for rich guys just like Donald Trump. ... That's who Donald Trump is. ... And watch out, because he will crush you into the dirt."

And so the Twitter wars between a noncandidate and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will likely continue. Doesn't Trump realize that he's the one running for president?

Clinton's rally, the first to feature Warren, was followed by a sisterhood hug that only women can exchange. That simple embrace signified a new benchmark in women's and American history and changed the political narrative for all time. Not only can a woman win a major party's nomination but also it's possible that two women can team up as running mates.

The idea that Warren might become Clinton's vice-presidential pick has been floating around for a while and is appealing if only for the prospect that two women could fill an entire presidential ticket.

Warren certainly is as qualified as many men who have filled the role. She obviously doesn't mind serving as the attack dog for Clinton. And Warren may be the one grinding Trump into the dirt, invective for invective. In a word, she's fearless to his careless.

Warren and Clinton haven't always been so cozy but, for the eternal record, women differ from one another in as many ways as men do. Warren is further to the left than Clinton ever meant to be. And she comes far more naturally to a populist message. While Clinton was being forced leftward by Bernie Sanders, Warren was continuing her yearslong, progressive crusade.

Her endorsement of Clinton and her new role as a rowdy, crowd-warming act constitute a bridge between Sanders supporters and the presumptive nominee they never wanted. Warren captures the anger and anti-1 percent angst of the liberal left and lays it like a wreath at the feet of the woman who would become the first female president.

Warren is a peace offering who aims to wage war on Trump. And she's on to his greatest weakness. He can't take a ribbing and he can't stand being challenged by a woman. It gets under his skin like nothing else. Thus, when Warren says he looks goofy in a hat, he calls her Pocahontas (for her having said she has Native American blood.)

Really, who cares?

What's clear is that Warren won't back down no matter what Trump tosses her way.

Speaking strictly as an observer, it seems that Trump may be losing his ranking as top draw in the political circus. If Warren stays on the stage, it's nearly assured that all eyes will be on her  which might cause Clintonites some concern.

Like Trump, Warren has that certain something that fills arenas and draws people to their feet. That's where the similarities end. A Harvard law professor before she ran for the U.S. Senate, Warren is smart, eloquent on consumer protection issues, and passionately committed to well-defined principles. One needn't agree with her to appreciate her vigor, as well as a steely-eyed softness that comes across in person.

Unlike Trump, she's in possession of an agreeable personality. Even when yelling across a surging crowd, she manages to avoid sounding strident. Close up, she's warm, engaging and nonthreatening.

Most important, she allows Clinton to step back from the fray and gives everyone a chance to imagine what a two-woman ticket could look like. Too much the same? Too soon for two? For whom?

It may be true, as someone wrote me, that Clinton's greatest virtue is her opponent. But it's also plain that Warren is her greatest asset.

Talk about a twofer.

Kathleen Parker's email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com. She writes for The Washington Post Writers Group.
NBR reports:

Party unity will keep US Democrats from opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), despite both of the partys leading presidential nominees saying they are against the deal. Members of the Democratic National Convention platform committee have decided to move against including a specific opposition to the TPP to the partys platform (essentially, its manifesto for the November election). The attempt failed because both members appointed by Hillary Clinton and DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz say it is inappropriate to oppose the TPP when US President Barack Obama is supportive of the deal.

Clintons opposition to TPP is insincere. Her husband did the same  campaigned against NAFTA, but then endorsed it.

If Clinton wins, Id say there is a reasonable chance it will pass in the lame duck session of Congress with support from mainly Republicans but also some Democrats.

If Trump wins, then far harder for Republicans to vote for it, when the President-Elect has campaigned so vigorously against it.

So the best chances for Jane Kelsey and co of stopping TPP, is for Trump to win.

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Stuff reports:

A New Zealander that was kidnapped and released in Nigeria has sustained injuries that werent life-threatening, says Prime Minister John Key.

Kiwi Jamal Khan and three Australians were kidnapped in a deadly attack in Nigeria and were rescued four days after being taken hostage by gunmen.

I have some information about Mr Khans health and well-being, Key said on Monday, having been informed on Sunday night.

For privacy reasons, Key couldnt share much about Khans injuries except to say: None of the injuries he sustained are life-threatening.
The Herald reports:

Police are frustrated at the number of licensed premises in Aucklands suburbs selling alcohol to minors.

In a sting operation over the weekend, four of the six on-licence premises Auckland police targeted served alcohol to under-18s.

Auckland City Police Prevention Manager Inspector Gary Davey called the result hugely disappointing.

These premises are ignoring their responsibilities under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.

The six bars were all in Aucklands central suburbs, with several in Onehunga and Epsom.

One of the premises served alcohol to a 15-year-old who presented ID clearly showing their age, Inspector Davey said.

The result is similar to other recent sting operations in the Auckland City Police District.

One operation in March saw five out of seven bars serve alcohol to 16 and 17-year-olds.
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By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

If a $2 million civil-rights lawsuit is any indication, police body cameras are not a panacea for resolving claims of brutality.

Annisa Colson, a 36-year-old mother and college graduate with no arrest history, contends in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court last week that Alcoa Police Department Officer Arik Wilson struck her in the knee with such force it fractured her kneecap and caused torn ligaments.

PDF: Colson v. City of Alcoa, et al.

Wilson and fellow Officer Dustin Cook were outfitted with body cameras, but the lawsuit alleges Wilson's device inexplicably "malfunctioned" during the June 2015 incident and that Cook's device captured audio of the knee "popping" but no video of the struggle between the two officers and Colson.

The lawsuit also alleges Cook's body camera suddenly stopped recording during a fracas at the Blount County jail in which Colson says she was forced into a restraint chair, slapped in the face, a helmet placed on her head and left in her urine for five hours. Cook managed to capture the slap and comments by jailers using a handheld camera, however, according to the lawsuit. Colson's attorney, Lance Baker, stated in the lawsuit the Blount County Sheriff's Office has not offered up any video of the restraint chair incident.

The BCSO and the Alcoa Police Department declined to comment Monday, citing the pending legal battle. Alcoa Police Chief Philip Potter said his agency has not yet been served with notice of the lawsuit.

Amid a rash of controversial police killings of suspects  largely young black men  and excessive force claims across the nation in the past two years, law enforcement agencies have turned to body cameras as a means to quell public controversy and to promise transparency. Alcoa is among the agencies in East Tennessee that now employ the devices.

But Colson's lawsuit shows the same complaints about in-cruiser police video cameras  that the devices stop recording at crucial times or are pointed away from the action at hand  are now arising with body cameras.

According to the lawsuit, Colson was under investigation for drunken driving after she drove her vehicle into a ditch on Springbrook Road in Alcoa last June. She refused field sobriety tests, so Wilson and Cook took her to Blount Memorial Hospital to have her blood drawn.

Once at the hospital, Colson changed her mind about consenting to a blood test just after the officers removed her from the cruiser, so the pair told her to get back inside the vehicle while they sought a search warrant for her blood.

At this point, the accounts diverge. Baker says in the lawsuit Colson began suffering a severe panic attack, evidenced by audio on Cook's body camera in which she says she cannot breathe.

The officers wrote in reports Colson began fighting them. The lawsuit alleges Wilson kicked Colson in the knee. A sound described as "popping" can be heard on Cook's recording, and both officers acknowledged Colson claimed knee pain.

Cook later asked a supervisor if he should take Colson inside the hospital to be checked but was told to take her to the Blount County jail. Once at the jail, the lawsuit alleges Colson was strapped into a restraint chair.

A handheld video recording by Cook showed BCSO Jailer Mandy England slapped Colson in the face as jail nurses sought to draw Colson's blood, according to the lawsuit. England later contended Colson tried to bite her.

"England said, 'Here's what's going to happen: we're going to withdraw that (expletive) blood whether you like it or not,' " the lawsuit stated, quoting audio from Cook's recording.

According to the lawsuit, England also can be heard on the recording saying, "When I signed up for this job, I decided to become a (expletive)."

A helmet was placed on Colson's head. The lawsuit alleges jail staff acknowledged on the recording Colson had urinated on herself but they did nothing, leaving her in the restraint chair for five hours.

The lawsuit names the Alcoa Police Department and the BCSO as defendants, as well as their respective leaders, and employees from both agencies, including Cook, Wilson and England.
SHARE Danielle Rikki Jacobsen (FACEBOOK.COM) Dominic Davis (COURTESY) Steven Presley (COURTESY) Jonathan Lajeunesse

By Bob Fowler of the Knoxville News Sentinel

CROSSVILLE  The man accused of killing three teens and a young mother during a botched pot deal on remote Renegade Mountain pleaded guilty Wednesday afternoon to four counts of felony murder and received four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Relatives of the victims quietly sobbed in the Cumberland County courtroom during the proceedings.

Jacob Allen Bennett, 29, entered his pleas before Criminal Court Judge David Patterson. The agreement keeps the Crab Orchard, Tenn., man off death row, a sentence that prosecutors had initially sought. Bennett also pleaded guilty to two attempted aggravated robbery charges.

Bryant C. Dunaway, 13th Judicial District attorney general, said the decision not to seek the death penalty came after discussions with members of the victims' families.

Bennett admitted shooting Cumberland County residents Danielle Rikki Jacobsen, 22, her nephew Domonic Davis, 17, Steven Presley, 17, and Jonathan Lajeunesse, 16. The shootings occurred either late Sept. 11 or early Sept. 12, 2013.

Shackled and wearing a white prison jumpsuit, Bennett quietly replied "guilty" after the judge asked him his plea in each killing. Relatives of each victim made tearful statements while standing at a podium in front of the judge. They called Bennett a monster, an "unworthy loser," and "weak, cowardly and sickening."

"You're going to rot in hell one of these days, and that's still better than you deserve," Steven Presley's uncle, Derek Brown, said as he glared at Bennett.

The victims were seated inside a Dodge Neon parked on graveled Eagles Nest road off Renegade Mountain Parkway. All of them had been shot in their upper bodies, and all had been shot in the head or face as they sat in the car, authorities said. Jacobsen, a young mother, was behind the wheel.

An estimated quarter-pound of marijuana was recovered from the compact car, parked on the side road leading into a 100-acre undeveloped area about one-third of the way up Renegade Mountain Parkway.

Renegade Mountain, which towers over the tiny city of Crab Orchard where Bennett once lived, was a planned resort community that never took off, but several people still live there, including Bennett's grandparents. Bennett had earlier been living with them but had moved in with his girlfriend in Dayton, Tenn.

The suspected murder weapon  a .40-caliber Glock handgun that can hold 15 rounds  was later found at the girlfriend's house.

Authorities said the girlfriend, Brittany Lina Yvonn Moser, 27, was with Bennett during the killings. She remains in the Cumberland County jail in lieu of $1 million bond., indicted on four counts of felony murder and two counts of attempted aggravated robbery.

No trial date for Moser has been set.

Bennett's criminal history began at age 12. He had been arrested on suspicion of crimes in Florida ranging from burglary and theft to escape and assaulting a jailer.

He also had pleaded guilty in March 2010 in Fentress County Criminal Court to two counts of theft, being a violent felon in possession of a firearm and attempted theft.

Combined with his Cumberland County convictions for a Jeep theft and a forgery charge, he received an effective six-year prison sentence at the time.

Bennett was released on parole from Hardeman County Correctional Facility in West Tennessee on March 4, 2013.
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By News Sentinel Staff

The Sevierville Police Department is investigating a shooting at a home on Riverdale Road on Tuesday that left a woman with a gunshot wound to her abdomen and her husband dead.

Bob Stahlke, a spokesman for the department, said that authorities received a call about 4:25 p.m. from the woman saying that her husband had just shot her. The man then went into another room and she heard another gun shot,Stahlke he said.

"We responded  and she stayed on the phone with dispatchers the entire time, so she was conscious and alert," Stahlke said. "When officers arrived they found her inside the residence and she had what appeared to be one gunshot wound to her abdominal, hip region."

She was flown to University of Tennessee Medical Center where her condition Tuesday evening was not immediately available.

Stahlke said officers found a man, who they believe is the woman's husband, dead in another room with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gun shot wound.

"It's still very early. Our detectives are still at the house," he said. "But from the appearances right now, it looks like he shot her and then went in another room and shot himself. But the investigation will continue until we can either verify that or determine something else."

More details as they develop online and in Wednesday's News Sentinel.
Anna M. King

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By Don Jacobs of the Knoxville News Sentinel

A 67-year-old Sevierville woman who said her husband shot her in the abdominal area before killing himself with a handgun was listed Wednesday in serious condition at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.

Cheri P. Reeves called authorities about 4:25 p.m. Tuesday on a cellphone to report her husband had shot her, according to Bob Stahlke, spokesman for Sevierville.

When Sevierville police arrived at the two-story home in a cul-de-sac on Riverdale Drive, they found Reeves conscious and alert. Her husband, Dixon F. Reeves, 74, was found dead in another room of the couple's home, Stahlke said.

Dixon Reeves used a .44-caliber magnum revolver in both shootings. He shot himself in the head, according to Stahlke.

Cheri Reeves was flown by Lifestar helicopter to the UT Medical Center.

Stahlke said authorities have not disclosed what occurred before the shooting. He said there were no orders of protection sought by either Reeves.

In addition to the .44-caliber revolver, Stahlke said there were "several long guns and pistols in the home."

The investigation is continuing.

More details as they develop online and in Thursday's News Sentinel.
June 22, 2016 - St. Francis Hospital in Bartlett. (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal)

By Mike Reicher, Holly Fletcher and Kevin Mckenzie, USA TODAY NETWORK  Tennessee

A small for-profit hospital on the outskirts of Memphis has the highest rate of doctors who took payments from the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, out of more than 2,000 hospitals across the nation.

Federal disclosures show 59 out of 62 doctors at St. Francis Hospital in Bartlett, Tenn.  or 95 percent  received payments for speaking engagements, meals, gifts, travel, consulting or other interactions with the industry in 2014, the most recent year for which information was available.

While there's nothing illegal about taking such compensation, doctors with financial ties to pharmaceutical and device companies are more likely to prescribe expensive brand-name medications than those without relationships, studies have found. Even doctors who received just one meal from an industry representative prescribed a higher proportion of brand names, according to a study published this month in JAMA Internal Medicine.

"I think there has absolutely been this idea or fear from the consumer perspective that part of the reason physicians prescribe certain drugs is because of payments made by pharmaceutical manufacturers," said Deborah Farringer, assistant professor of law at Belmont University College of Law in Nashville.

Limiting that influence was one goal of Vanderbilt University Medical Center's revised conflict of interest policies, which in 2014 yielded the lowest share of doctors taking industry payments statewide.

Still, interaction between the industry and clinicians remains necessary for innovation as well as understanding the effects of treatments, experts said. Hospital administrators should develop policies that improve care while keeping physicians unbiased in their prescribing habits, Farringer said.

Two doctors receiving payments at the 196-bed Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett said paid meals, travel and other industry compensation does not influence medical decisions.

Dr. Kashif Latif, an endocrinologist, had 235 payments in 2014 that totaled $14,132, the second highest among doctors who see patients at the hospital. Latif said drug company representatives provide food for his staff when they visit him during lunch hours, the only time he can squeeze in meetings. The lunches "don't sway anything that we do," he said.

Under the Sunshine Act, which mandates financial disclosures as part of the Affordable Care Act, pharmaceutical and medical device companies report their payments to physicians. Doctors then have a chance to dispute the records. The data is available on public websites such as Dollars for Docs, a project by the nonprofit investigative news organization ProPublica.

Another doctor at Saint Francis, Dr. John S. Gardner, a cardiologist, questioned the accuracy of the data reported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. He planned to dispute a roughly $10,000 grant listed under his name from Boston Scientific Corp.

Saint Francis administrators had no comment, other than a statement expressing support of the Sunshine Act. With the financial disclosure, they said, patients "can discuss that information directly with their physician."

Greater disclosure, less influence?

Some hospitals have restricted industry interactions  from receiving free trips and frequent flier miles to using company tchotchkes such as branded pens and notepads. Requirements are more stringent for academic medical institutions and other hospitals that take federal grant money from agencies including the National Institutes of Health.

Reporters at ProPublica recently matched doctors to Medicare hospital records to provide a glimpse into each hospital's industry relationships. ProPublica released the analysis and an online lookup tool Wednesday.

In the data, doctors are assigned to a primary hospital  either through their own designation, or by the volume of their Medicare claims associated with that hospital. Many of the doctors see patients at the facilities but are self-employed or work for third parties.

The share of doctors taking industry payments varies widely among medical centers, depending on their region and ownership type. In Tennessee, the average hospital had 71 percent of doctors accepting some form of payments, compared with a national average of 66 percent. For-profit hospitals had the highest share nationally.

In Nashville, three for-profit hospitals owned by TriStar Health, a subsidiary of Hospital Corporation of America, had the highest proportion of doctors receiving payments from the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. TriStar's Southern Hills Medical Center, Centennial Medical Center and Skyline Medical Center all topped 79 percent.

"Many of our physicians are among the top specialists in their areas, and their experience, expertise and perspective can play a significant role in the refinement of therapies and devices," said a written statement attributed to TriStar Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jeffrey Guy.

TriStar requires doctors to disclose their industry relationships, according to Guy. Then, administrators check the disclosures against the ProPublica website or other public tools.

At Saint Francis-Bartlett, which is owned by industry giant Tenet Healthcare, administrators did not respond to questions about its conflict of interest policies.

Stricter policy

Drug or device representatives are barred from giving doctors promotional items with company logos at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said Dr. David Raiford, chief of clinical staff and senior associate dean for faculty affairs. Vanderbilt revised its conflict of interest policy in 2014, and that year it had the lowest share of doctors receiving payments in the state  among the lowest in the nation at 38 percent.

Raiford said Vanderbilt takes a "principled partnership" approach to the industry as it tries to manage the competing interests of manufacturers and vendors  who are trying to make money  and health-care professionals who have committed to unbiased and effective patient care.

"We want to recognize their priorities are necessarily and appropriately different from our own priorities," Raiford said.

In Memphis, where medical device companies generate nearly 17,000 jobs in advance manufacturing and other well-paying occupations, industry players are especially sensitive to perceived conflicts of interest.

When companies including Smith & Nephew and Medtronic Spine joined to launch the Greater Memphis Medical Device Council in 2014, the bylaws made clear the group's discussions would address only workforce issues. The discussions wouldn't stray into anything "that has any hint of impropriety," including marketing or pricing, said John Threadgill, president of the Bartlett Area Chamber of Commerce.

RELATED:

Drug and device makers find receptive audience at for-profit, Southern hospitals

How we compiled the 'Dollars for docs' hospital data
By Holly Fletcher, USA TODAY NETWORK  Tennessee

The conflict of interest policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a "living document" the medical center continually updates as it tries to limit outsize influence from pharmaceutical and device manufacturers without hindering research, said Dr. David Raiford, chief of clinical staff and senior associate dean for faculty affairs

In 2014, the health system had the lowest share of doctors receiving payments  38 percent of its 960 doctors  from third-party companies in the state. The average hospital in Tennessee saw 72 percent of physicians accepting a payment, such as meals, gifts, travel and consulting from the industry, according to Medicare data analyzed by the nonprofit news organization ProPublica.

The national average was 66 percent. Tenet Healthcare-owned Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett in the suburbs of Memphis led the nation with 95 percent of its 62 doctors accepting payments.

When Vanderbilt updated its conflict of interest policy around 2010, the hospital launched an orchestrated effort to educate its staff, including running stories in internal newspapers, holding townhall meetings and handing out frequently-asked-question sheets. The hospital also trained people in each department or division to be "knowledge ambassadors" who could help answer questions, Raiford said.

Cultivating working relationships with outside companies is essential to the academic medical institution's research and innovation, but so is making sure its staff are aware of policies.

Academic institutions and hospitals that accept federal funding through organizations such as the National Institutes of Health have more reporting requirements. Once the policy is in line with federal guidelines, the onus of monitoring and enforcing the policies rests on the university, experts said.

The hospital has been "in the vanguard of working with institutions around the country" in recent years, sitting on national committees and talking with peers about policies, Raiford said. Crafting and implementing policies doesn't have to be started from scratch at each hospital. When it comes to revisions or large overhauls of policies it's best to take the educational approach rather than sanctioning.

"Not every institution is blazing its own trail," Raiford said.

The medical center does not allow branded posters or other materials, such as pens or notepads, to be used. Staff members are also instructed to pay for their own meals when they go to a talk hosted by a company at a restaurant, Raiford said.

Perception is important to patients, who often want to know they are receiving the treatment based on their needs rather than due to an outside influence, said Deborah Farringer, assistant professor of law at Belmont University College of Law in Nashville.

Raiford said he's also heard from patients who like to know the medical center has relationships and is using cutting-edge technology.

"Part of what is so challenging about health care is that there is a lack of transparency in the system  that we don't know a lot of information about the choices we make because they are dictated by other people," Farringer said. "It's opaque. We don't have a lot of information about providers."
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"Closing gaps in achievement, discipline vital" proclaimed a recent editorial. Really? Is this only an achievement myth that those in power are perpetrating upon Tennesseans? Is it a conspiracy theory?

The word "close" means to shut or bring to an end. Therefore, I argue to reduce the size of this gap is the more appropriate word to use in this context. It is not within the power of public education to close IQ, cognitive or aptitude gaps  anything that has a hereditary component. However, we can reduce the environmental gap. The research on this is clear, but it costs money.

Why is the word "IQ" not present in this debate? The "aim to reduce disparities in discipline and education that might be connected to race, income, disability, language or gender" is a worthwhile objective for reducing the achievement gap associated with environment, but it will not close the achievement gap.

This blunt truth may not sound like an all-American, Judeo-Christian concept, but it's a fact.

Historically, we Americans have rejected the hereditary concept of the British in favor of an egalitarianism that is more commensurate with the equality so prominent in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, but when it comes to IQ, there is nothing so unequal as equals.

Finally, is equality a commitment or an ideal? It surely seems that outside of public education (and a couple of other areas), there is little hue and cry for such. Why is that?

I've been working in this area for 59 years, and I've been involved with projects ranging from Ford, where I taught an experimental group of eighth-graders science, to teaching School Mathematics Study Group math, to the National Science Foundation. I've worked in Europe, India and China, and I know that time marches on after the smoke clears, exposing the political overreach.

B.J. Paschal, Pigeon Forge
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On June 24, Mark Harmon wrote about Republicans exploiting the term "politically correct." He claimed that among all the problems facing the country like terrorism, climate change, nuclear proliferation and Middle East wars, Donald Trump and others believed political correctness was the greatest threat. The irony of his claiming that anyone else is exploiting political correctness obviously escaped his notice.

I would like to suggest an even greater threat lies in the kind of journalism that Harmon practices and probably teaches. Thomas Jefferson believed that a free press "informing" the people was an essential ingredient for the Republic's survival. Harmon's hackneyed brand is the function of a shill in the crowd at the phony snake oil salesman's sideshow. He dismisses the carefully constructed arguments of Alan Bloom in "The Closing of the American Mind" as a "longing" for a traditional curriculum when Bloom was arguing for a broader range of ideas. No less a writer than Saul Bellow states in the foreword that "whether or not one agrees with the conclusions, it is an indispensable guide for discussion." He further states that "what makes it formidably serious is the accurate historical background accompanying the argument." Harmon's column in a bit of misfortune was juxtaposed with a "Dilbert" comic where Wally has created a device with human intelligence and human emotions that to Dilbert looks like a block of wood. Wally's punchline requires only a slight modification to sum up Harmon's work when Wally says, "I was only trying to copy [Harmon's] mind. No need to over-engineer it."

D.B. "Chic" Stinson, Knoxville
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Charlie Daniel's cartoon featuring a current likely presidential nominee visiting the remains of a 1940s internment camp brought back the fresh memory of the visit my wife and I made to the Manzanar National Historic Site (https://www.nps.gov/manz/index.htm) just two weeks ago during an extended vacation in California. Despite growing up in California and having a childhood friend whose parents were likely internees in one of those camps (though they never mentioned it), I came to learn of these camps' existence only when I took Advanced Placement U.S. history in high school.

When it came time to plan to take my wife to see places in California she had never seen in our previous visits (she never visited California until we were engaged to be married), Manzanar, on the back side of the Sierra Nevada, was the first place that I wanted to see for myself. And although not green like in the cartoon (Manzanar is in the high desert), outside of the main building (restored as the museum), a couple of replica barracks and the cemetery obelisk, the Manzanar site is largely an archeological site, demolished shortly after the war, leaving only foundations and little else. For people who find the museum in Oak Ridge fascinating, Manzanar will provide a similar experience from the perspective of those whose experiences were not as well preserved. Let's hope America doesn't let the memory of those mistakes be destroyed like the Manzanar internment camp.

Gerald Derthick, Knoxville
By Jhoo Dong-chan



Lotte Duty Free has expanded its main branch in downtown Seoul, vowing to rake in trillions of won in sales this year. However, it remains to be seen whether it will achieve its sales target as Shin Young-ja, the head of Lotte Foundation and daughter of group founder Shin Kyuk-ho, faces questioning by the prosecution tomorrow.



According to a Lotte Duty Free official, Wednesday, the 12th floor food court of its main branch located in the Lotte Department Store in Myeong-dong has been renovated into duty-free space to accommodate more brands, reopening on June 18.



An official said the company aims to see 2.78 trillion won ($2.38 billion) in sales this year with the expansion of its main branch, which now stocks more cosmetic and perfume brands including Darphin, Tom Ford, Urban Decay, Son & Park, Clio and Age 20's.



In a bid to maintain its competitiveness against rival Shinsegae Duty Free, the nation's largest duty-free operator is believed to have carried out the expansion to attract more Chinese tourists.



Another reason for the expansion is that its second branch at Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul, failed to receive approval from the government and shut down its sales operations for Korean nationals last November.



Lotte Duty Free has applied for re-approval for its Jamsil branch, but it remains unclear if the government will give the company a business license due to a series of unfavorable factors involving Lotte Group's owner family.



According to Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office, Wednesday, it will call in Shin Young-ja, who also helms Lotte Hotel, for questioning on suspicion of bribery, Friday.



Prosecutors are investigating allegations that Shin received bribes from disgraced former Nature Republic CEO Jung Woon-ho, in exchange for space in the Lotte Duty Free store. The total kickbacks reportedly were 1 billion won, which was delivered via a company owned by Shin's son.



Prosecutors reportedly secured statements from company officials alleging that Shin issued orders to provide not only floor space but various favors to Nature Republic at its duty-free store.



Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin is currently in Japan for a group shareholders' meeting and may also face prosecution questioning upon his return to Korea.




By Jhoo Dong-chan



Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) is gearing up for a smooth return in its sales operations as it enters the last phase of its restructuring process.



According to an HMM official, Wednesday, the embattled transport company is carrying out a series of executive meetings to discuss its global sales strategy for the American, European and Asian markets for the second half of this year.



In the meetings, HMM differentiates short- and long-term strategies for strengthening its sales in each global market. In the short term, the company focuses on establishing a revenue improvement plan, while seeking to restore itself as a profit-making shipping company in the long term.



As part of its efforts to normalize management, HMM is expected to hold a series of operational briefing sessions for shippers in each region starting next month.



The events are expected to take place in the U.S., Europe, China, Hong Kong and Australia where HMM will express its thanks to shippers for their support and trust during the restructuring process, an official said.



Earlier this month, the Korean shipper reached an agreement with owners of the ships it leases to cut lease costs, the key condition set by its creditors for debt rescheduling and its rehabilitation program. HMM and five international container ship owners have agreed to a 20 to 21 percent cut in charter fees, while 17 bulk carrier owners have consented to a 25 percent cut in the charter rate.



The agreement enabled HMM to save some 530 billion won. Among the 2.5 trillion won the company was set to pay over the next three and a half years, the 530 billion won will be paid to ship owners through new shares and long-term bonds.



Plus, HMM is expected to join the 2M shipping alliance early next year, another boost for the Korean shipper in normalizing its operations.



A company official said last week that HMM is in negotiations with Denmark's Maersk and MSC to join the 2M container alliance. HMM will more easily be able to get much-needed help from creditors if it joins the world's largest shipping alliance.



"A series of restructuring plans, including disposing of assets, renegotiating charter fees and joining the global shipping alliance, have been carried out smoothly," said an HMM official.



"Now, business marketing is the most important agenda for HMM's smooth return. We will put our utmost efforts into strengthening our sales capacity in the second half of this year."




A group of workers at Samsung Heavy Industries, a financially troubled South Korean shipbuilder, voted Tuesday to go on a strike in protest of the management's restructuring plan.

Among a total of 5,396 members of the "labor council," 4,768 participated in the ballot and 4,382, or 91.9 percent, voted for a strike, the group said. Formally, the company doesn't allow a labor union.

But the council has yet to decide when to start the collective action.

"The vote does not mean we will immediately go on a strike," Byun Sung-joon, head of the council, told Yonhap News Agency. "What's needed now is to establish a communication channel joined by the management, creditors and the labor."

He added around 150 members of the council will head to Seoul on Wednesday as planned for a rally in front of the Samsung Group's headquarters.

They will then visit the Korea Development Bank (KDB), a main creditor of the firm, to deliver the union's opposition to the restructuring scheme intended to cut some 1,500 jobs at the shipyard this year alone and sell non-core assets.

Samsung Heavy, one of South Korea's three major shipyards, has been struggling to stay afloat amid financial troubles attributable to an industry-wide crisis and fierce competition.

In early June, the KDB accepted Samsung's self-restructuring plan, giving it some time to try to ride out the crisis on its own. (Yonhap)
By Nam Hyun-woo





Hong Ky-ttack

AIIB Vice President

The government said Wednesday that a Korean should succeed Hong Ky-ttack, vice president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), who government officials say is stepping down from the post.

Hong, a former chief of the Korea Development Bank (KDB), didn't attend an AIIB meeting in Beijing, June 25, and two days later took long-term leave from his post as chief risk officer.

Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said that the government will make sure that another Korean would replace Hong if he resigns.

"We cannot exclude the possibility that the AIIB will name a new vice president," Yoo said during a meeting of the National Assembly Strategy and Finance Committee. "If the AIIB decides to do so, we will make efforts to ensure a Korean gets the job."

Hong has come under criticism over KDB's negligence in giving repeated loans to Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) during his tenure at the state-run bank.

Yoo said the AIIB will decide whether to keep Hong's position vacant or replace him.

The question over whether Hong will remain at the AIIB has drawn keen interest after the Board of Audit and Inspection named Hong as the key figure responsible for the DSME debacle. Following the criticism, Hong did not attend the AIIB's inaugural annual meeting in Beijing, Monday.

Though Minister Yoo said Hong took the leave citing "personal issues," there is speculation that he has been under pressure to step down due to controversy stemming from his interview with a local newspaper.

In the interview, he claimed KDB's 4.2 trillion won in loans to DSME was decided at in a "closed-door" meeting between ministers, and the bank was sidelined in the decision making.

DSME allegedly engaged in false accounting and is being investigated by the prosecution.

Yoo said: "I believe Hong was pressured by various reports about DSME. ... During the meeting, ministers had a discussion about DSME but did not give any orders."

With the possibility of Hong resigning, concerns are growing as to whether Korea will be able to promote another Korean for the post at the bank in which the country has a 3.81 percent stake as the fifth largest shareholder.

The China-led AIIB was launched earlier this year as a counterbalance to U.S.-led multilateral lenders including the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. In joining the AIIB as a founding member, Korea was under pressure amid a simmering row between Washington and Beijing over the international financial order.
Artist Lee U-fan appears at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Wednesday, holding his workbook to confirm the National Forensic Service's decision earlier this month that some of his paintings had been counterfeited. / Yonhap



By Kwon Mee-yoo

Artist Lee U-fan said the 13 paintings scientists earlier concluded as being forged are genuine after examining the artwork, Wednesday.



Lee, 80, has been at the center of a forgery scandal revolving around 13 of his works since last year.



The artist was summoned by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Monday and visited the Intellectual Crime Investigation Squad to authenticate the artworks. It was the first time the artist saw the allegedly forged copies of his works in person.

However, he deferred a final decision on the authenticity of the artwork in question until reexamination. He returned to police Wednesday afternoon with catalogues of his works and a magnifier for examination.



"I found nothing wrong in all the 13 pieces. The use of color, rhythm and breathing are all mine," Lee said. "I was being discreet on the issue because I didn't see the paintings personally."



He also confirmed that he wrote the confirmation document attached to some of the questioned works, declared counterfeits by other professionals.



The police said they respect Lee's opinion, but will continue their investigation.



Regardless of Lee's decision, Hyeon, the gallery owner, who was indicted for distributing "forged" Lee paintings, admitted during questioning that he faked Lee's works, Tuesday. Lee refused to comment on this.



Lee's works are among the most expensive created by a living artist in Korea. Known for his conceptual art, he is one of the artists who pursed "dansaekhwa" (monochrome painting) and the Japanese Mono-ha (School of Things) trend.



His "From Point" and "From Line" painting series are highly sought after at auctions both domestic and abroad.



Rumors of forged Lee paintings started around 2012, but Lee consistently denied the possibility of his work being counterfeited, citing that the paintings are highly abstract. In October 2015, police raided a gallery in Insa-dong on suspicion it was selling a forged Lee painting. In January, the certificate of authenticity for a Lee painting  sold for 490 million won at a K Auction in December 2015  was found to be forged.



In general, the artist's opinion is valued in distinguishing forgeries, but Lee has been contradicting other appraisers including the National Forensic Service, which judged the paintings fake based on scientific tests.
From left, Son Ho-jun, Cha Seung-won, Yoo Hae-jin and Nam Joo-hyuk are seen in a scene from a "Three Meals a Day" episode in Gochang, North Jeolla Province, which is set to premier this Friday. / Courtesy of CJ E&M



By Kim Jae-heun

"Three Meals a Day," tvN's popular reality cooking show, begins a new season  this time in Gochang County, North Jeolla Province  to promote healthy cooking and the slow lifestyle. Last season was shot in Jeongseon County, Gangwon Province last year from May to September.

"Many vegetables and fruits grown in Gochang will appear in our new episode," said the show's producer Lee Jin-ju during a press conference at Standford Hotel in Mapo-gu, Seoul. "If you find yourself interested in the show please try cooking at home with the ingredients. Our show is successful if people start to use organic ingredients after watching our series.

The reality cooking show invites popular actors Cha Seung-won, Yoo Hae-jin, Son Ho-jun and Nam Joo-hyuk to stay in the countryside and cook using only ingredients they find on the local farms. The show aims to deliver a message on the importance of preparing meals and eating together as a family, which is often ignored in fast-moving modern cities.

"We are trying to focus on the process of preparing the meals you would find in the countryside, which we believe is another fun part of watching the show. Meanwhile, the members of the cast will build a stronger fellowship among themselves through working together," Lee said.

Actors Lee Seo-jin, Ok Taec-yeon and Kim Kwang-kyu appeared in the previous season's episodes in a fishing village to show off the picturesque scenery of Manjaedo Island in South Jeolla Province. For the Gochang series, the production crew plans on showing both the seaside and mountains of the town.

Actor Cha's cooking skills are another interesting feature to watch as his unique seafood cooking style grabbed audiences in the episodes shot in the fishing village. This time the actor has to use ingredients grown in the fields and mountains.

"When I told my wife I would do this show again, the first question she asked me was what kind of dishes will you make?' I think it will be the audience's common question as well," Cha said.

"In the episodes at Gochang, the actors cooked food they wanted to eat at that time," said script writer Kim Dae-joo.

"What Cha cooks in the episode is not commonly seen in ordinary life. They are his own recipes. However, if Cha has 100 different dishes he can cook, he can only make half of them in countryside because of the limitation of using available ingredients. So we decided to provide him some tools," said producer Na Young-seok.

Na also added that not all the necessary ingredients are available to cook different dishes in Gochang although there are small fields near where they are shooting. Na allowed the actors to work part-time for local residents and earn money to shop for the necessary ingredients in nearby towns.

"Of course we had the actors farm the crops for their part-time jobs as part of the entertaining segments of the show. But we used a documentary filming technique when shooting the actors working in the rice paddies, because rice is the main source of food for Koreans and it is important to show how rice is farmed," said Na.

Three Meals a Day will premier at 9:45 p.m. this Friday.
Korea's trade minister called on the country's ailing shipbuilders Wednesday to capitalize on their current crisis as an opportunity to strengthen the industry's constitution and make a new leap forward.

Stung by mounting losses stemming from a global economic slump and stiffer competition, the nation's three major shipyards -- Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and Samsung Heavy Industries -- are in the midst of a sweeping restructuring.

"The local shipbuilding industry should take the current crisis as an opportunity to boost their competitiveness and make another leap," Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Joo Hyung-hwan said in a meeting with CEOs of shipbuilders and experts. "We need to make a cool-headed analysis of the competitiveness of the local shipbuilding industry."

The meeting was held to hear the industry's difficulties and seek ways to tide over the crisis.

According to the ministry, participants exchanged views on bolstering the industry's competitive edge by focusing on high value-added divisions such as eco-friendly vessels and localizing key parts and components.

They called on the government to step up efforts to create demand in the short term and come up with a measure to prevent a brain drain in the course of restructuring.

The ministry said it will put forward a package of steps to support the local shipbuilding industry, based on the opinions and the outcome of a private study due out in August.

South Korean shipbuilders have been under severe financial strain since the 2008 global economic crisis, which sent new orders tumbling amid a glut of vessels and tougher competition from Chinese rivals.

The top three shipyards suffered a combined operating loss of 8.5 trillion won last year due largely to increased costs stemming from a delay in the construction of offshore facilities and an industry-wide slump, with DSME alone posting a 5.5 trillion won loss.

The shipbuilders have recently drawn up sweeping self-rescue programs worth 10.35 trillion won in their desperate bid to overcome a protracted slump and mounting losses. (Yonhap)
The CEO of app-based ride-sharing service provider Uber, Travis Cordell Kalanick, has again requested a Seoul court to postpone a trial slated for Wednesday over operating an illegal taxi service here, legal sources said.

The American entrepreneur was expected to appear at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul, one and a half years after he was indicted on the charges. His legal representatives had asked the court to designate a hearing date earlier this month.

The court, however, said the representatives have again filed a petition, seeking adjustment of the date on Wednesday morning, citing personal reasons.

When the hearing will take place has not been decided at the moment, the court said, adding it will review ways to proceed.

In December 2014, Kalanick was indicted on charges of violating the Passenger Transport Service Act. Uber entered the South Korean market in 2013 and launched the smartphone-based UberX service in partnership with MK Korea, a rental-car service operator.

It was designed to connect customers with private drivers without a commercial taxi license.

The Seoul city government had filed a series of complaints with prosecutors, citing the domestic law prohibiting rental-car service operators from offering taxi services. Violators can face imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of 20 million won ($17,000).

Repeated calls to the company seeking comment went unanswered. (Yonhap)
/Courtesy of Twitter



By Lee Han-soo

Twenty-two men in their 20s have been arrested for the alleged gang rape of two girls five years ago, police said Tuesday.

Four have been indicted in pre-trial detention and six indicted without detention, investigators said. Twelve others are under investigation.

The accused are suspected of raping two middle-school students in September 2011 when they were high school students.

The alleged ring leader is suspected of plotting the rape after he saw the two victims drinking alcohol. Threatening to report them to their school, he and his friends called the girls to a cabin in the hills a few days later, police alleged. In the cabin, the students forced the girls to drink and four boys raped one after she passed out, police said. Days later, another six boys raped the girls. Then, 12 others unsuccessfully tried to assault the girls, police said.

The incident was buried until August 2012, when one of the suspects spoke about the case while being investigated for his alleged involvement in another sexual assault. But the two victims were so traumatized that they refused to testify, investigators said. They said it took nearly four years for the girls to overcome their trauma and testify.

"The victims filed a complaint against the suspects in March 2016," said an investigator. Of the 22, 12 are serving in the military and the others are either college students or office workers.

Some suspects' parents have questioned the credibility of the alleged victims' testimony.
By Kim Da-hee

A honeymooning Korean woman in her 20s has been found dead on a beach on the Thai resort island of Phuket.

The Korean Embassy in Thailand said the woman's husband is missing.

The woman was found lying face down on Patong Beach at 1 a.m Wednesday (local time). There was no sign of foul play, the embassy said.

"The woman is believed to have drowned," a Korean Embassy official said. "But it's still too early to conclude the cause of her death."

The embassy said it is cooperating with police to ensure the case is thoroughly investigated.
By Jun Ji-hye



The Ministry of National Defense plans to introduce an anonymous corruption report system next month aimed at better protecting whistleblowers.



The ministry has been operating a corruption report center since 2002 but not many reports have been made, apparently because the center has used only an internal computer network, which means whistleblowers could be easily identified.



The center received only four reports between 2012 and 2016, according to the ministry.



"We decided to use the network system of a private institution to guarantee anonymity and strengthen security," the ministry said in a press release. "The measure is to encourage anonymous tip-offs of corruption and prevent potential corruption."



Once the new system is in operation, all soldiers and civilian employees serving at the ministry, the Army, the Air Force and the Navy as well as affiliated organizations will be able to make reports about corruption by using their own computers or mobile phones, the ministry said.



Informants do not need to worry about possible exposure of their identifications under the new system, the ministry added.



Corruption includes acceptance of bribes, embezzlement or misappropriation of public money, illegal solicitation and other unlawful acts related to managing personnel and signing contracts.



"We will not take action on groundless slander intended to disrupt somebody's promotion," a ministry official said on condition of anonymity. "We expect the new system to enhance the ministry's integrity and credibility."



The measure comes as the ministry has suffered from rampant defense corruption since 2014, which President Park Geun-hye called an act harming national security and benefiting the enemy.



The prosecution carried out a large-scale investigation for about a year into a variety of corruption cases since November 2014, which resulted in 70 people being indicted, including retired Adm. Choi Yoon-hee, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.



Choi was indicted over the allegations of accepting bribes and forging public documents to help facilitate an arms deal.



According to the prosecution, Choi ordered his staff to forge documents about the operational capability of the Anglo-Italian AW159 Wildcat, a search-and-rescue and surface warfare helicopter that Korea decided to buy for the Navy in 2013. He was chief of naval operations at the time of the evaluation in 2012.



Choi was the highest-ranking military officer to be indicted for corruption since 1996 when former Defense Minister Lee Yong-ho was arrested.



Others indicted included former Agency for Defense Development President Jung Hong-yong, a retired Army lieutenant-general. Jung was accused of taking bribes from an arms dealer.



In order to root out corruption in the defense industry, the government has been taking various measures including appointing a senior prosecutor as a defense project supervisor directly under the head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.




A group of Korean Air pilots stage a street protest demanding a wage hike and ethical management, in front of the company headquarters in Seosomun, central Seoul, Tuesday. / Yonhap



By Lee Kyung-min

More than 100 pilots from the nation's largest carrier Korean Air rallied in front of its headquarters in central Seoul, demanding a wage hike and more ethical management, Tuesday.

The collective action, the first in 16 years after the pilots' union was set up in 1999, was supported by more than 1,100 unionized pilots who have been in a dispute with management over wages since late February.

"We demand that management share profits with workers in a more proportional way," the group said.

While the company is not budging from the initially proposed 1.9 percent wage increase, the union is calling for 37 percent, or 50 million won in annual salary, requesting a fair share of profits.

"The company refuses to come to the negotiating table citing its operating losses, but the company's claim is baseless given the group owner family receives a huge amount of dividends through Hanjin Kal, the mother company of the carrier," the pilots said.

"We demand that an audit of the company be conducted to determine whether management is carrying out business through corrupt means," the group added.

Meanwhile, the labor action was joined by the carrier's other union representing some 10,500 non-pilot workers, one of whom held a solo protest next to the pilots.

"The spreading of negative allegations by the unionized pilots that is delivered to the public without verification is inviting unnecessary media attention," a manger said.

"Such an irresponsible move is a direct threat to job security of other union members in the company, and their families. We demand that pilots, whose work environment is far better than non-pilot union members, cease their selfish behavior that could jeopardize the rest of us," he added.

In response, the carrier said it will continue to hold dialogues with pilots to address the dispute.

Hours after the street rally, the carrier said a special disciplinary committee demoted Lee Kyu-nam, the pilot union leader, to a vice-captain from captain for deliberately refusing to fly an aircraft bound for Frankfurt, Germany, for 20 minutes, resulting in a 45-minute delay on April 1.

Lee claimed that his deferral was part of the labor protest within legal limits against the firm's refusal to accept the wage hike demand.

However, the company said the arbitrary action caused not only inconvenience and confusion to passengers but also brought damage to the carrier.

The union said it would appeal the decision.
By Jun Ji-hye

Park Sung-choon

Patriots and Veterans Affairs Minister Park Sung-choon is facing mounting calls to resign after he defended the ministry's earlier decision to confer a posthumous decoration on a relative of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung during a National Assembly session, Tuesday.

Amid escalating public criticism,the ministry said Wednesday it will find a way to cancel the award. Critics said the minister does not know how to conduct policies, and his flip-flop attitude only causes social unrest and division.

During the session, Park said that there was no problem in the ministry's 2012 conferment of the decoration on Kang Jin-sok, brother of Kim's mother, Kang Pan-sok, as Kang had died in 1942 before Kim founded the North's ruling Workers' Party in 1945.

The decoration was conferred for Kang's contributions to the nation's independence movement against the Japanese occupation (1910-1945), according to the ministry.

"Kang died before 1945 so he was not related to the North Korean regime," Minister Park answered as Rep. Park Yong-jin of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) called the decoration into question.

The lawmaker said the ministry did not cancel the decoration even after it recently confirmed the relation between Kim and Kang.

When other opposition lawmakers asked the minister whether the ministry can then confer decorations on Kim's parents, he answered, "I will give consideration to it," causing further controversy.

Park was already embroiled in a number of controversies for what opposition lawmakers claimed was damaging political neutrality in handling issues related to veterans and victims of state violence.

The latest in a series of controversies was his recent request for a budget increase for an ongoing project to educate children and teenagers as well as civil servants about "national security."

Opposition lawmakers say that through the project,the ministry has been promoting an ideologically biased view toward conservatives about historical events.

Three opposition parties submitted a joint resolution to the Assembly on June 23, calling on President Park Geun-hye to dismiss Minister Park, claiming that he did not fulfill the basic duties of a government official as he "severely damaged the political neutrality of civil servants."

They cited that the minister, a retired Army lieutenant-general, "insulted the spirit of the May 18 democratic uprising held in Gwangju in 1980" by planning to hold a controversial military parade in the city to commemorate the 1950-53 Korean War.

At the time, the minister included the Army's 11th Airborne Special Forces Brigade in the parade, despite its role in suppressing the pro-democracy movement, during which hundreds of civilians were killed and wounded by the military.

Earlier controversies involved the ministry's decision last month not to accept the symbolic pro-democracy song, "Nimeul Wihan Haengjingok" (March for the Beloved), as the official song for a government-led memorial service for the pro-democracy movement in Gwangju.

Because of the decision, Minister Park was barred from taking part in the ceremony by the relatives of those killed by soldiers.
By Lee Jin-a

Most Koreans are aware of the importance of organ donation, but the number who donate is small.

Only 2.5 percent of the nation's 50 million population, or 1.28 million people, have promised to donate when they die, according to the Korean Organ Donor Program (KODP). This is far lower than other advanced countries such as Britain, where nearly 32 percent of the people have promised to donate, KODP officials said.

The significantly low ratio could largely be blamed on a lack of public campaigns to encourage organ donation, they said. Another reason is a deep-seated negative perception of organ donation that has survived for hundreds of years under Confucian thinking, they said.

In Britain, people are asked whether they want to be donors when their driver's licenses are issued. People over 16 also are allowed to donate.

Spain, which has the highest organ donation rate, considers all citizens donors unless they opt out.

In contrast, Seoul still has no policy to encourage organ donation.

"The Korean government has tried to introduce the driver's license policy but to no avail, because involved bodies have failed to reach an agreement on the issue," a KODP official said. "Compared to other advanced countries, we have a significantly low number of organ donors. Since pledges do not carry legal binding force in the nation, we want citizens to actively participate in donation to help those in need."
By Kim Hyo-jin





Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, co-leader of the People's Party, keeps his eyes closed during a party meeting at the National Assembly, Wednesday.

/ Korea Times photo by Ko Young-kwon

The co-leaders of the minor opposition People's Party  Reps. Ahn Cheol-soo and Chun Jung-bae  resigned, Wednesday, over a high-profile corruption scandal involving three party members.



Their surprise resignations, announced at a party meeting to discuss the fate of the three, came as public confidence in the center-left party has been rapidly eroding since the scandal was made public.



The scandal is the biggest challenge yet for Ahn, a presidential hopeful, since the party founded by him in January showed a surprising performance in the April 13 general election, winning 38 of 300 seats up for grabs.



The party said later that party floor leader Rep. Park Jie-won will act as interim head until a new leader is elected at a party caucus, scheduled for February next year.



"Politics is about taking responsibility. I believe I should take all political responsibility for the case," Ahn told reporters after the meeting at the National Assembly.



The party has been reeling from the scandal since early June when the National Election Commission (NEC) accused the three  Reps. Park Sun-sook and Kim Su-min, and party official Wang Ju-hyeon  of accepting kickbacks from the party's PR agencies in the lead-up to the April 13 general election.













Ahn already expressed his intention to step down at a party meeting Tuesday when Wang was arrested on charges of violating the Political Fund Law, according to Rep. Park Jie-won.



Other party members asked him not to do so, but Ahn rejected their appeal, Park said.



"Ahn has taken a stringent stance over the scandal, demanding their expulsion from the party and offering his resignation," Park said during a press briefing. "Despite pleas from senior party members, Ahn remained resolute, and Chun, who empathized with Ahn on the need to take responsibility for the scandal, followed suit."



The move was viewed as Ahn seeking a turnaround amid deepening public criticism.



The scandal has been a major setback for the leader, who launched a third party with the slogan of "new politics," differentiating itself from existing politicians. It has also cast a cloud over Ahn's political future as a potential presidential contender.



In the face of increasing public criticism, the party decided Tuesday to suspend the membership of the three if they are prosecuted.



But critics still argued that the party leadership should be held accountable for mismanaging the campaign process and failing to adequately respond to the scandal.



Wang, the party's ex-deputy secretary-general, is accused of demanding a total of 216 million won ($181,000) as "rebates" from two advertising companies during the election campaign early this year, and of getting reimbursed more money than the party spent from the NEC by reporting them as election expenses.



Rep. Park Sun-sook, the party's former secretary-general, is suspected of being involved in her deputy's wrongdoing. Rep. Kim, then head of the publicity unit for the party's election campaign, allegedly signed a bogus contract and received the rebates through bank accounts of her design company, Brand Hotel.



They are being questioned by the prosecution on allegations that they broke the Political Fund Law.
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump strongly criticized the free trade agreement with South Korea on Tuesday, accusing it of enlarging U.S. trade deficits and costing a number of American jobs.

Trump made the argument in an economic policy speech in Pennsylvania, expressing deeply negative views of free trade and accusing his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of supporting what he called "one terrible trade deal after another."

"It was also Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, who shoved us into a job-killing deal with South Korea in 2012," Trump said. "As reported by the Economic Policy Institute in May, this deal doubled our trade deficit with South Korea and destroyed nearly 100,000 American jobs."

Trump also said that Clinton "unleashed a trade war against the American worker when she supported one terrible trade deal after another -- from NAFTA to China to South Korea."

Trump vowed to pull out of the 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) if elected president. He also said he would immediately renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to get a better deal, and withdraw from the deal unless NAFTA partners agree to a renegotiation.

Trump made no direct mention of renegotiation with the deal with Korea in Tuesday's speech.












Korea on Wednesday condemned the terror attacks that happened in Turkey, vowing that it will keep working with the international community in eradicating terrorism.

On Tuesday (local time) suicide bombers attacked Istanbul's Ataturk airport leaving more than 30 people dead and nearly 150 injured. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

"Our government cannot but express our shock and worry that a number of innocent people lost their lives to the terror attacks at Istanbul's Ataturk airport," the foreign ministry said in a spokesperson's statement.

While delivering its condolences to the victims, their families and the Turkish people and government, the ministry reaffirmed its stance that terror attacks cannot be justified no matter what and vowed to keep working with the international community to eradicate terrorism.

Meanwhile, a ministry official said that the consulate general in Istanbul is currently working on confirming whether any Korean nationals were killed or injured by reaching its people through the emergency contact network.












By Chung Hyun-chae



The nation's international medical aid to Laos has come to fruition, the Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management (KDI School) said Wednesday.



The KDI School held a seminar on Wednesday at Fraser Place Namdaemun in central Seoul to evaluate the results of the past five years of the official development assistance (ODA) program named Dr. Lee Jong-wook Seoul Project in Lao PDR.



According to the KDI School's evaluation report, the faculty members of the Lao University of Health Science (UHS), who were trained through the program, have improved their teaching capacity, while their students have shown higher academic achievements.



Nonetheless, the KDI School noted that it remains to be seen whether the improved academic performance of the medical school's graduates has directly led to the improvement of healthcare in Laos.



The Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare and the Seoul National University (SNU) College of Medicine initiated the aid program in 2011 with the aim of improving the health of Laotians.



The program, named after Dr. Lee Jong-wook, the late director-general of the World Health Organization, was benchmarked on the Minnesota Plan, a seven-year U.S. assistance program that educated 226 SNU medical professors beginning in 1955 and supplied medical equipment.



Through the Dr. Lee Jong-wook Seoul Project, 10 UHS professors participate in the one-year training course at the SNU College of Medicine every year. During the training, the participants take various medical courses and are also provided with equipment for their own research and education.




By Arthur I. Cyr



Disputes and confrontations over portions of the Pacific Ocean continue to grow. Indonesia's government seized a Chinese fishing vessel on June 17 off the Natuna Islands, administered by Jakarta. That nation's Vice President Jusuf Kalla accompanied the move with tough talk directed to Beijing.



On June 15, a China reconnaissance ship violated Japan's waters. Six days earlier, another China vessel came near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. These tiny islands are under the jurisdiction of Japan.



In April 2014, Beijing authorities impounded the Baosteel Emotion, a freighter of Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines. The move was part of commercial claims resulting from World War II. The seizure was related to claims of both nations to the Senkaku Islands.



Last June, Vietnam news sources reported that fishing boats from the nation were attacked by China in disputed waters. In the first incident, water cannon flooded a ship, and a fisherman's leg was broken. In the second, a fishing boat was boarded and robbed.



This occurred near the Paracel Islands, claimed by both nations. In January 1974, China and South Vietnam fought a naval battle there, which underscored Beijing's aggressive long-term efforts to control the islands.



More widely, China is constructing permanent artificial islands in the South China Sea, including putting military and civilian facilities on them. As indicated, this enormous effort aggravates already strained relations with other nations in addition to Vietnam.



A range of governments are engaged in contemporary maritime disputes in and near the Pacific, including Argentina, Britain, Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. China steadily expands militarily, including strategic naval capacities. Traditionally, the nation has been cautious in using military force for aggressive moves, but that may be changing.



President Barack Obama's recent visits to Japan and Vietnam took place in the context of these continuing disputes. The Obama administration has formally announced that greater strategic priority would be devoted to the Pacific.



Actually, since World War II the greatest concentration of U.S. Navy ships has been committed to this vast region. American forces have fought major wars in Korea and Vietnam. Washington has been sending military ships and aircraft into and near some disputed areas in the Pacific.



Great Britain before World War II was the paramount maritime power in the world, and remains important. London is a global insurance industry center, populated by firms rooted initially in maritime salvage as well as shipping operations.



The Falkland Islands in the far southwest Atlantic was the site of a brief but extremely harsh war in 1982. Argentina's military regime seized the islands in a surprise move. The British recaptured the islands, demonstrating exceptional military effectiveness, with vital U.S. logistical support.



Ocean commerce has generated deeply rooted and durable international law, which continues to be extremely important today. Maritime law indicates the practical utility as well as moral imperative of the rule of law.



Britain and the U.S. have an opportunity to collaborate, and also to build a coalition of Asia nations regarding maritime conflicts. A case brought by the Philippines against Beijing's South China Sea aggression will soon be decided by the international court in The Hague, Netherlands. The related Law of the Sea Treaty, completed in 1982, has been approved by much of the world, but not the U.S. government. This is an ideal time for members of the U.S. Senate to provide long-overdue bipartisan ratification of this important treaty.



Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of After the Cold War' (Macmillan and NYU Press). Contact acyr@carthage.edu.




The United States, South Korea and Japan conducted their first joint missile-tracking exercise off Hawaii on Tuesday in an effort to better defend against threats from North Korea, officials said.



The "Pacific Dragon" exercise came as the North has been carrying out a series of test-firings of the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile. Last week, Pyongyang claimed success in its sixth test of the missile believed to be capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam.



It was the first anti-missile drills between the three countries.



"Pacific Dragon not only allows participants the opportunity to exercise ballistic missile defense but it enhances the already strong relationship of all three nations participating," said Vice Adm. Nora Tyson, commander of U.S. 3rd Fleet, in a statement.



The exercise featured a coordinated live ballistic target tracking event where each nation's Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System capabilities were tested and improved, the statement said. All participants shared tactical data link information in accordance with a trilateral information sharing agreement, it said.



Though no missiles were fired during the exercise, "all participants strengthened interoperability, communication channels, data collection, and capabilities assessments," the statement said.



"This trilateral exercise strengthens relationships with participating allies and partners while further developing maritime regional BMD capability and capacity," it said. "The ability to work together at sea, especially on aspects such as BMD, humanitarian relief as well as search and rescue operations, benefits the shared security interests of all three nations."



North Korea reacted angrily to the exercise, vowing to further bolster its nuclear arsenal.



"The drill staged in the Pacific Ocean was another military provocation against the DPRK and a revelation of their hegemonic scenario for disturbing regional peace and security," said a spokesman for the Disarmament and Peace Institute of the North's Foreign Ministry, according to the Korean Central News Agency.



"Now that the U.S. and other hostile forces are posing constant threat to the security of the DPRK and the region by frequently staging joint military exercises, the army and people of the DPRK will bolster in a sustainable manner the capabilities for preemptive nuclear attack to pose a constant threat to the enemies, and put spurs to research and development of diverse strategic attack weapons," the spokesman said. (Yonhap)




North Korea is set to convene its key parliamentary meeting Wednesday, where the North's leader Kim Jong-un may be bestowed with a new state title to reassert his control over the country, experts said.



The Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) plans to hold the fourth session of the 13th assembly later in the day in a move widely seen as a follow-up to the party congress held in May.



The SPA, the legislative body of the reclusive country, rubber-stamps decisions by more powerful organizations, such as the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and the National Defense Commission (NDC).



Experts said that Kim is expected to reaffirm his one-man leadership through the SPA meeting as he may be given a new state title.



At the first party congress in 36 years, Kim was elected as the chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), replacing his previous title of the WPK's first secretary.



His two other titles are the first chairman of the NDC, which was bestowed at the SPA session in 2012, and the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army.



Some analysts said that the communist country is likely to restore the state apparatus named the Central People's Committee (CPC) and confer the title of the committee's chairman on him, replacing his title of the NDC head.



The constitution, which was revised in 1972, created the CPC, the highest organ controlling the executive, legislative and judicial branches. At that time, the NDC served as the subcommittee of the CPC.



Kim Il-sung, the country's late founder and the grandfather of the current leader, served as the head of the CPC. The committee was abolished in 1998 under the Kim Jong-il regime, which strengthened the NDC's role and advocated a military first, or "songun," policy.



"With a new state title, the North's current leader will likely cement one-man rule at a similar level to the absolute power enjoyed by his late father and grandfather," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute.



Seoul's unification ministry said that the North is likely to conduct an overhaul of Cabinet organs and reshuffle government officials in a bid to back the main decisions made at the WPK's congress.



Experts also said that at the SPA meeting, Pyongyang may announce details to flesh out the five-year strategy to boost the economy, which the North's leader unveiled at the party congress.



The assembly usually convenes in April, attended by hundreds of deputies, to finalize the country's budget spending and overhaul Cabinet organs. But the North held a smaller meeting in late March ahead of the party congress.



The parliamentary meeting comes as the U.N. Security Council slapped tougher sanctions on North Korea in March for its fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch in the following month.



The North's leader has made it clear that he will "permanently" defend his signature policy of developing nuclear weapons in tandem with boosting the country's moribund economy, commonly known as the "byeongjin" policy. Seoul and Washington have warned that the dual-track policy is a dead end. (Yonhap)




North Korea is likely to resume military provocations at any time, South Korea's defense ministry said Wednesday after the communist country successfully test-launched a mid-range missile that may be able to reach the U.S. territory of Guam.

"There's a constant possibility that North Korea, depending on its political needs, will launch strategic and tactical provocations at any time if the (political) conditions the country wants to achieve are not created," the Ministry of National Defense said in a report to the National Assembly's defense committee session.

Since the North's rare party congress in early May, the country has been juggling military provocations and contrary dialogue offers to Seoul, the ministry said, referring to Pyongyang's recent series of proposals for military talks.

"Externally, North Korea is being engrossed in breaking out of international sanctions and isolation," the ministry said, adding that the country is seeking ways to circumvent the sanctions while tightening relations with its traditionally close countries.

Commenting on the May party congress, the ministry also said the country is now focusing on solidifying Kim Jong-un's power as the sole leader through the congress and other measures taken following the event.

"(Kim) set the base for his one-man dictatorship by overhauling the party into a Kim Jong-un-centered system and bringing in his loyalists," according to the ministry. (Yonhap)
By Yi Whan-woo



The North Korean economy has become more reliant on China than ever as a result of U.N. Security Council (UNSC) latest that have cut off Pyongyang's trade routes with other countries, analysts said Wednesday.



Some, however, said the greater reliance reflects Pyongyang's effort to open and expand business channels with Beijing, its biggest ally, which does not necessarily mean that trade volume is increasing.



Citing anonymous sources, analysts said "official" trading activities between the two countries have rather diminished after the international community pressed China to carry out UNSC Resolution 2270 imposed March 2.



"With no other trading partners to interact with, China has virtually become the only country from which North Korea can still earn hard currency," said Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong University.



"The decrease in trade further pushes North Korea to become more desperate in diversifying its businesses in China, both legal and illegal, as much as it can. This is helping Beijing strengthen its power concerning the fate of the cash-strapped regime."



An Chan-il, head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies, agreed.



He said that certain business operations under the Kim Jong-un regime were closed recently in line with the global efforts to prevent North Korea's use of money earned abroad for its nuclear weapons program.



The suspended programs include the shutdown of the inter-Korean industrial park in Gaeseong, North Korea, the suspension of the Rajin-Khasan logistics project involving the two Koreas and Russia, closures of North Korea's state-run restaurants overseas, and Poland's ban on issuing visas for North Korea's "slave workers."



"I heard a number of North Korean factory workers, manual laborers and other laborers formerly involved in those programs are moving to China to find jobs," An said.



The Kim regime reportedly proposed to the authorities of Liaoning Province, a region bordering North Korea, to jointly build a highway linking Dandong, China and Gaeseong, as one of its new businesses.



It also has allowed Chinese fishing boats to work in its territorial waters in return for money or a portion of their catch.



"Expanding businesses will not supplement the decrease in trade volume with China but it will deepen North Koreans' psychological dependence on China," said Shin Sung-won, director-general at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy's Department of International Economy and Trade Studies.



The analysts were divided over whether Beijing will have more leverage on Pyongyang.



"China now theoretically owns the whole North Korean market and it will capitalize on the UNSC sanctions to fully control the internationally-isolated state," An said.



Shin disagreed by saying, "China is perplexed."



"The North Korean dependence on China is not helpful because Pyongyang-Beijing trade is going nowhere," he said.



Park speculated that China is in a dilemma to balance its level of pressure on North Korea to fulfill two tasks: Implement the UNSC Resolution 2270 faithfully, while ensuring that the Kim Jong-un regime does not collapse to keep refugees from flocking to the Chinese border.



Concerning security on the Korean Peninsula, An said North Korea will "be more negligent" in resuming the six party talks aimed at ending its nuclear program.



"It is likely North Korea will cling to China more, and turn hostile toward South Korea and the United States to continue to heighten tension on the peninsula for the time being," he said.




North Korea's parliament on Wednesday bestowed a new state title upon the North's leader Kim Jong-un, Pyongyang's state media said, in a move aimed at helping bolster his one-man rule.

The Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), the country's rubber-stamp parliament, decided to appoint the North's leader as the chairman of a newly-created state apparatus, tentatively named the commission on state affairs, according to the North's state TV broadcaster.

The assembly was held in a follow-up to the congress by the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in May, a venue which analysts say served as a coronation for the North's leader who took power in late 2011 following the sudden death of his father Kim Jong-il.

At the first party congress in 36 years, Kim was elected as the WPK's chairman, replacing his previous title of the party's first secretary.

Wearing a Mao-style suit, Kim attended the parliamentary meeting where the communist country revised its Constitution and renamed the National Defense Commission (NDC) as the commission on state affairs, according to the state media. Previously, Kim was the first chairman of the NDC.












By Choe Chong-dae

The mission of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) is to provide trained and ready forces to the United Nations Command (UNC) and the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) for the defense of the Republic of Korea and the Asia-Pacific region. Their humanitarian contributions have paved the way for Korea to grow into a prosperous, peaceful and democratic nation.

One only has to look at the UNC's recent enforcement role in the fishing rights restriction of Chinese fishing vessels. It is a UNC operation with the Korean military acting as part of the UNC and commanded by the UNC commander, U.S. Army General Vincent Brooks. By chasing away and apprehending Chinese fishing vessels that entered the Han River estuary, the UNC is effectively ensuring the economic security and prosperity of Korea.

On June 1, I had the opportunity to visit Camp Humphreys, Pyeongtaek and Osan Air Base as part of the Executive Orientation Program of the Korean-American Association and People-to-People International-Korea. With the U.S. military's plan to relocate U.S. Forces Korea and 8th Army to new headquarters at Camp Humphreys by 2017, there were many new facilities and ongoing construction projects at Camp Humphreys for me to see.

While at Osan Air Base, we were welcomed by Brigadier General Kyle Robinson, Deputy Commander of the 7th Air Force. The orientation raised my awareness of how the 7th Air Force's air and space power helps the USFK and CFC defend Korea. Being the most forward deployed permanently based wing in the U.S. Air Force, and equipped with A-10 Thunderbolts, F-16 Fighting Falcons and other military aircraft, the 7th Air Force has a long history of thwarting and deterring external acts of aggression.

What impressed me the most was the collaboration between the 607th Air Operations Center and the Korean Air and Space Operations Center. The two organizations embody the spirit of "Katchi Kapshida," (let's go together). Working closely together, they satisfy the full spectrum of C4  command, control, communications and computers  capabilities for military and humanitarian operations. With the current upgrade of their facilities, both air operations centers will have an even closer information sharing system.

Strolling around the premises of the 7th Air Force, what came to mind are the words inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C: "Freedom is Not Free" and "Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met." The participants of the orientation included the Korean War Veterans who emphasized that Korea would have been communized by North Korea were it not for the philanthropic sacrifice of the U.S. and U.N. soldiers and other military heroes.

With that thought in mind, I look forward to seeing a greater role played by the UNC's member states. One of those is the Philippines, which along with 15 other countries, sent combat troops during the Korean War. According to the Filipino defense attach to Korea, Colonel Francis Lardizabal, last year the Philippines signed an information sharing agreement with Korea to exchange and protect information that is of interest to both countries, and Korea can sell or donate defense assets to the Philippines under a logistics agreement. The Filipino military members stationed in Korea can now participate in meetings that in the past were reserved for other nations with an information sharing agreement with Korea.

The tour of Camp Humphreys and Osan Air Base, and the recent Han River estuary UNC operation, has filled my heart with pride in being Korean and an appreciation of the military forces of our allies.

Choe Chong-dae is a guest columnist of The Korea Times. He is president of Dae-kwang International Co., and director of the Korean-Swedish Association. He can be reached at dkic98@chol.com.
The government adopted the school police system in 2012 to combat school violence after a student in Daegu who had been bullied committed suicide. It is shocking in this regard that police officers in Busan were found to have had sex with the high school students they were supposed to protect, and then quit without any consequences.



The shameful two cases came to light on Friday when a retired police officer raised suspicions about two officers having had sex with teenage girls through a Facebook post.



After a brief investigation, the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency (BMPA) announced Monday that the two had admitted to having sex with high school students they were dispatched to protect.



In one case, a 33-year-old officer sent to a school from Saha Police Station had sex with a high school girl, aged 17, inside a car after school in early June. The student soon reported this to a health teacher at her school, who then alerted a female officer. The female officer reported the case to the police station.



Earlier, an officer at Yeonje Police Station also had sex with a high school student he was supervising. The student reported this to a youth protection agency, which then informed the police station of the case in early May.



The two officers' misconduct may not be illegal, given the Criminal Act stating that it is legal for a person aged 14 or older to have consensual sex with an adult. Nonetheless, they deserve harsh criticism for having sex with minors who might have been in trouble because of violence in school. Considering that one of the two students reportedly attempted suicide, law enforcement authorities should fully investigate whether coercion or money was involved in the two cases so that the former officers could face criminal punishment.



What angers people most is that the two police stations knew about the cases but covered them up until they were made known Friday. Police should have carried out thorough investigations right after they knew of the cases. Instead, they hurriedly wrapped them up by allowing the two officers to quit quietly so that they could avoid punishment. It defies our understanding that police would deliberately cover up cases and then repeatedly lie as if they were members of a criminal syndicate.



Police should get to the bottom of the two cases to bring the former officers to justice. Those involved in the cover-ups and false reporting must also be penalized. Once again we feel the urgent need to reinvent our police force.




Yun's remarks about British FTA untimely, ill-thought



Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se's remarks about a possible free trade agreement (FTA) with Britain is ill-timed and poorly thought-out, and doesn't fit his usual measured pattern of response.



During an appearance at the National Assembly following the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union (EU) or Brexit, Yun told lawmakers, "An FTA with Britain and other related agreements with the EU will be considered comprehensively."



The next day, the Wall Street Journal quoted Yun to push the U.S. to speed up its trade deal with Britain as soon as possible. Being in the news in this case is not something to welcome. It is noteworthy that the U.S. effort to cut a trade deal has been stalling, while the Korea-EU FTA has been in effect for five years.



Yun was the first person in an important government position from any significant trading nation to talk about an FTA with the post-Brexit U.K. Others had reason not to broach the subject. Yun's remarks may have given the wrong impression  an eagerness to cut an FTA deal with Britain, while ignoring the interests of the rest of Europe.



Following the EU referendum vote Friday, turmoil has reigned in Britain and the EU.



In England, there is a rising call for a second referendum on leaving the EU, while Scotland is also gearing up for a second referendum on independence. Both the Conservative Party and Labor Party are set for leadership changes.



On the continent, the feeling is ambivalent  antipathy toward Britain is mixed with a sense of unease over which country may be the next to leave. The result is that the two sides are very sensitive on any related development, jockeying for their now different interests  trade being at the top of the list.



Britain has a few options going forward.



First, if Britain ends up like Norway as a member of the European Economic Area, it would be treated as it is now and would likely be subject to the same Korea-EU FTA. In this case, Yun's remarks would be unnecessary.



If Britain is out and goes for an individual trade deal, Yun's show of eagerness could compromise the nation's deal-making advantage with Britain. For the past 40 years, key deals that affect Europe and therefore Britain have been by and large handled by Brussels, having weakened the U.K.'s deal-making ability  both in terms of experience and personnel.



Conversely, Yun's position could also raise eyebrows in Germany or France, which are now competing against Britain. Britain is the world's fifth largest economy, but the EU is the world's second largest with the former included. National interests often come down to opting for a better return. In this case, the EU would likely be the better of the two



Finally, trade deals don't fall under the foreign ministry's jurisdiction  this is dealt with by the ministry of trade, industry and energy. The compartmentalization of the government by portfolio is to ensure the pertinent ministry or agency maintains expertise. The remarks would have been better left to the trade minister.



At one of those times when silence could be golden, Yun apparently opted to speak out. Britain, suffering from the Brexit backlash, is delaying its invocation of Article 50 in the Lisbon Treaty for the start of the exit process, likely causing it to take more than the designated two years. Now is the time, as always, for those in senior government positions to use their heads more than their mouths. Critical national interests may be at stake.




By John Burton

"Stop the World  I Want to Get Off" was the name of a 1960s Broadway musical. It also sums my feelings in this year of Trump and Brexit.

What the world  at least the developed part of it  is witnessing is a populist backlash against three global trends that have accelerated since the early 1980s.

The first is globalization. The introduction of economic reforms in China in 1979 followed by the downfall of the Soviet empire a decade later created favorable conditions for the growth of free trade agreements and increased manufacturing offshoring to developing countries, particularly in Asia. Jobs disappeared in the industrial centers of the northern Midwest states of the U.S. and the engineering belts of the English Midlands. Factory workers there were left scrambling for low-paid service jobs.

The second is the growth of automation, with the rise of the digital economy in the 1980s. Many tasks are now being increasinglyperformed by computers or factory robots. Displaced factory workers will soon find that even getting a low-paid service job at a fast food outlet difficult. Pizza Hut, for example, recently announced that robots, nicknamed Pepper, will start serving customers at some of its restaurants in Asia by the end of the year. Self-driving vehicles will soon eliminate jobs for taxi and truck drivers.

Even formerly safe jobs are under threat by technology. Software and algorithms will eventually be able to perform many of the routine services now provided by bankers and lawyers, while medical robots may one day replace surgeons.

Wendell Wallach, a professor at Yale University, recently estimated that 47% of existing jobs in the U.S. could be replaced by automation. "When the World Bank used similar methodology, it came up with 69% for India and 77% for China. If that's truly the case, we are talking about tremendous job losses," he said.

The third global trend under fire is the spread of the neo-liberal ideology of free markets and distrust of government that was promoted by the Reagan and Thatcher administrations in the 1980s. The result has been the fraying of a social safety net for those who have lost well-paying jobs, while the rich have grown richer.

Richard Rorty, an American philosopher, warned nearly 20 years ago that something like this would happen in "old industrialized democracies" as "members of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers  themselves desperately afraid of being downsize  are not going to let themselves to be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else. At that point, something will crack. The non-suburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking around for a strongman to vote for."

The deepening resentment among working-class and middle-class voters explains the rise of Trump in the U.S. and the rejection of British membership in the EU, fueled by racism and nativism, with the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis providing a crucial trigger for protests.

Korea is not immune to these destabilizing developments. What would happen to the country's export-dependent economy if free trade agreements start to unravel and its key overseas markets, such as the U.S., raise tariffs to protect their domestic industries?

This is not fanciful. Marcus Noland with the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington has identified at least six U.S. laws that Trump could at least temporarily invoke to suspend trade agreements.

Korea would find it difficult to rely on domestic demand for future growth as manufacturing exports dwindle since households are already burden by high debts related to mortgages and borrowings for education.

There is also growing polarization between the rich and poor in Korea as more workers are forced to accept "contract' jobs rather than full-salaried positions. Automation, ironically, may prove partially beneficial for Korea in solving the economic challenges posed by a rapidly aging population and a shrinking workforce.

But Korea would still need to deal with the social service costs of caring for the elderly when its welfare and pension systems are underdeveloped compared with the U.S. and Europe.

Korea so far has been one of the beneficiaries of globalization. But it will soon need to address many of the same issues that confront the U.S. and Europe. Korea enjoys one advantage in that it possesses a greater degree of social solidarity than many Western countries due to a variety of factors ranging from the cohesive influence of neo-Confucianism to a deep-seated us-versus-them view of the outside world.

But even this sense of unity may not last if accelerating economic and technology changes increase income inequality and undermine traditional institutions.

John Burton, a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is now a Seoul-based independent journalist and media consultant. He can be reached at johnburtonft@yahoo.com.atimes.co.kr
Kwon Sang-woo

Top actor Kwon Sang-woo will meet his Japanese fans on a three-day tour through Japan, reports say.

Kwon, 39, will meet his fans first in Nagoya on June 30, then travel to Tokyo on July 1 and then onto Kobe on July 2. At the fan meetings, Kwon will sing a total of five songs, take questions from fans and engage in games. He has been holding fan meetings for 11 years. Reports said that all of the 8,800-tickets to the three-city event have been sold out and there have been requests for additional tickets.

Kwon has starred in numerous hit dramas and films, notably his 2004 film "Once Upon a Time in High School" and the TV drama "Stairway to Heaven" in which he starred with top actress Choi Ji-woo. The two reunited in the 2014 drama "Temptation."
An aerial view of Samsung Electronics' chip plant in Xian, China, is seen in this file photo. / Korea Times file



Conflict arises over electricity in Samsung chip plant



By Kim Yoo-chul



Samsung Electronics' ambitious plan to build the world's largest memory chip plant worth hundreds of billions of dollars in the industrial city of Pyeongtaek is facing difficulties due to a "not-in-my-backyard" attitude.



Samsung Electronics said it will invest up to 15.6 trillion won by 2017 for the construction of some of its new chip plants in the Gyeonggi Province city south of Seoul.



Samsung said it has yet to decide what type of memory chips will be produced at the new plant. But market watchers say Samsung, a leader in the memory chip segment, may fabricate NAND flash chips given the tight supply and the growth of NAND chip-embedded consumer products.



But it seems uncertain whether Samsung's plans to operate its new fabrication lines based on its schedule will proceed, as cities near Pyeongtaek are reluctant to cooperate with Samsung and Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) to provide a stable power supply for the Samsung plant.



Even a brief power outage would directly disrupt the operation of a chip plant, generating heavy costs for a chip manufacturer.



As Samsung is the industry's global leader, any power outage at its factories will affect the supply and demand chain system of the entire global industry.



Securing a stable power supply is the most-crucial requirement for setting up a new plant.



Because the Samsung project is huge by any measure, and sure to boost the regional economy, the state-run KEPCO has been in talks with several cities to address the power supply issue.



Dangjin, a South Chungcheong Province city by the sea which also borders Pyeongtaek, refused to approve plans to build power stations in its city limits as its leaders said having additional power stations will hurt the best interests of city residents.



A local court recently ordered Dangjin to withdraw its earlier decision not to approve the power stations and cooperate with KEPCO. However, the city said it will appeal to a higher court.



Anseong has also yet to approve a plan to construct electric power transmission lines linking the city's power grid to the Samsung Pyeongtaek plant.



"In Anseong, there are more than 340 transmission towers. We have no reason to let parties build new transmission towers as they aren't environmentally friendly and detract from the beauty of the city. The Pyeongtaek project will be beneficial to Samsung but not to us," said an Anseong city official wishing not to be identified.



KEPCO planned to help Samsung secure up to 10 million megawatts (MW) of backup power for the Pyeongtaek plant to prevent the chip manufacturer from suffering disruptions to its power supply.



City officials also teamed up to ask KEPCO to come up with plans benefiting non-Pyeongtaek residents in return for their cooperation in the business project.



Samsung said it will cut its investment in DRAMs this year, as the company plans to increase production of NAND chips on its major fabrication lines.



In 2007, Samsung suffered a brief power outage at its chip plant in Yongin, southeast of Seoul. Samsung at that time said the outage had been caused by a switchboard malfunction that disrupted chip production lines, costing it some 40 billion won.



More recently, Samsung Electronics suffered a short power outage at the company's NAND-chip fabrication line in Xian, China. The losses were negligible as some of the plant's capacity was restored the same day following emergency repairs and a damage assessment.
Samsung SDS CEO Chung Yoo-sung, left, with SAP senior executive Bernd Leukert after the two agreed to promote enterprise computing systems. They signed an agreement at Samsung SDS's headquarters in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul, late Tuesday. / Courtesy of Samsung SDS



By Kim Yoo-chul



Samsung SDS, the information technology unit of Samsung, said Wednesday that it is seeking to find new business opportunities focusing on the enterprise cloud computing system segment with SAP of Germany.



SAP is a long-time business partner of Samsung SDS, and has been letting it manage some of its qualified software content at data centers in Korea.



In a statement, Samsung SDS said it has agreed with SAP to offer cloud computing systems based on SAP software, which could be applied to finance, sales and procurement at lower costs.



A Samsung spokesman said the company was expecting the partnership to win new corporate customers in Asia that want to use low cost cloud computing systems.



"We are proud to announce our partnership with Samsung SDS in the enterprise cloud, one of SAP's core services," said Bernd Leukert, a member of the executive board for SAP's Products & Innovation. "Through diverse solutions designed for various lines of business, we will further support our customers and partners in establishing a solid foundation for the cloud environment."



Samsung Group's technology affiliates are using modified SAP-developed enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems under authorization of SAP. In return for letting Samsung modify SAP's ERP systems in accordance with "Samsung Ways," SAP has won lucrative contracts with Samsung affiliates.



"The collaboration with SAP will help Samsung SDS find new business opportunities in an area of the corporate cloud systems segment and expand business in relevant areas," Samsung SDS CEO Chung Yoo-sung said.



Samsung SDS earlier said it will spin off the company's key businesses in what officials say is a move to make the firm lighter before some of its segments are acquired by Samsung Electronics amid the ongoing moves by Samsung headquarters to streamline its business divisions.
A representative of the labor council at Samsung Heavy Industries delivers an official letter to a senior security guard at Seocho Samsung Tower in southern Seoul, Wednesday, to protest the company's massive restructuring plan. / Yonhap



By Kim Yoo-chul



The CEO at Samsung Heavy urged employees not to join with workers registered at the "labor council" in a strike, because company management plans to hold discussions with representatives of employees to revise restructuring plans.



"If the labor council initiates a full-scale strike, then Samsung Heavy may fall under complete control of its creditors. Samsung Heavy's management will meet with representatives of the council to find solutions which will be beneficial to all interested parties," Samsung Heavy CEO Park Dae-young told reporters, Wednesday.



The remarks came on the sidelines of his participation in a forum with CEOs of the country's leading shipbuilders organized by the trade ministry at the InterContinental Hotel, southern Seoul.



Earlier, the labor council approved a plan to go on strike by opposing the massive restructuring plans announced by Samsung Heavy. The strike plans were approved by 91.9 percent of the 5,396 members. Samsung affiliates don't allow labor unions.



Amid the struggles, Samsung Heavy said it plans to cut the number of employees, sell non-core assets and scrap all employee benefit programs.



"I believe a full-scale strike will hurt common interests of all Samsung Heavy employees. Now is the time to hold open and sincere discussions to address numerous challenges," said CEO Park.



Park said he was sorry for not making the effort to hold talks about restructuring plans. "I apologize. This is a time when Samsung Heavy has been pressured to submit self-rescue plans to leading creditor banks."



But the CEO declined to comment on whether or not Samsung Electronics will participate in massive capital-increase plans.



"Details about the scale of a capital-increase plan have yet to be fixed. I think it's too early to talk about the role of Samsung Electronics in the upcoming campaign."



Samsung Heavy plans to hold its board meeting on August 19 to approve a proposal to sell new shares to prevent it from complete fallout. Samsung Heavy is allowed to float up to 240 million shares and it has already issued 231 million.



Some workers at the labor council held street demonstrations in front Seocho Samsung Tower, southern Seoul, asking Samsung Heavy's management to revise the company-submitted restructuring plans.



Representatives at the labor council said the restructuring plans are unilateral without discussions with the council and insisted that the current difficulties are because of management's decision to win ship orders below market price.



The labor council delivered its protest letter to Samsung Vice Chairman Choi Gee-sung, who is also the chief of the conglomerate's corporate strategy office, via a senior security guard.



Samsung Heavy was one of the "top three" global shipbuilders; however, it was hit by weak global demand, tougher competition and order cancellations from ship owners in Europe.



The Korea Development Bank (KDB), the main creditor of Samsung Heavy, ordered the company to submit massive restructuring plans in return for winning approval to extend the maturity of the corporate bonds.
LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo, left, holds a globe with Yemeni student Akram Al-Jadi, right, and Yonsei University undergraduate Kwon Yoo-jung during the opening ceremony of this year's LG Global Challenger program at the company's headquarters on Yeouido, Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of LG



By Yoon Sung-won



LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo underlined the importance of education for the long-term growth of business and the country, Wednesday.



The chairman met with professors, undergraduates and graduate students and pledged further support for universities to foster competent human resources.



"LG has sponsored overseas study and training programs for the last 28 years under the belief that universities are the root of national competitiveness," Koo said during the meeting, Tuesday. "I expect universities to continue boosting academic achievement and fostering talented human resources while helping businesses excel in the highly competitive global market."



Koo participated in the opening ceremony, Wednesday, for this year's LG Global Challenger, the nation's oldest program that supports overseas travel for undergrads.



The program provides university students with opportunities to visit government agencies, research centers, universities and companies overseas and learn from them for two weeks between semesters.



Established in 1995 when Koo took office as chairman, the initiative has supported a total of 2,760 undergrads over the last 21 years, LG said.



"Low growth and global climate change are not confined to certain countries but what the entire world faces," Koo said to the undergraduates. "Your creative and innovative challenges will bring what we have dreamed into reality."



Separately, LG Group has also supported foreign students studying in Korea. This year, it has chosen 20 students from 14 countries to visit traditional markets and produce hanji (traditional Korean paper).



On Tuesday, LG Yonam Culture Foundation named 30 professors of natural science, social science, economics, business administration and humanities and gave them $36,000 to support their overseas studies.



Among the 30 professors chosen this year were Lee Nam-ki, an associate professor of interdisciplinary bioscience and bioengineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), and Park Jin-hong, an associate professor of electronics and electrical engineering at Sungkyunkwan University. Lee became the first in the world to observe the cerebral nerve transmission process and Park has developed the world's first semiconductor device operable at minus 90 degrees Celsius.



The foundation said it has run the support program since the late 1980s in hope that experts studying at advanced overseas academic institutions return to Korea and contribute to the fostering of younger scholars.



The foundation has offered a total of about 24 billion won for 777 professors so far this year. It stressed that the program has not stopped even amid the foreign exchange crisis in the late 1990s.
By Yoon Sung-won



Korea Communications Commission Chairman Choi Sung-joon denied the allegation that the government will abolish the upper limit of a subsidy, which can be provided to customers, before its expiration, Wednesday.



"As it is a sunset regulation, we will try to maintain the upper limit fully for three years until September next year," Choi said. He made the remark during the general meeting of the National Assembly's committee of science, ICT, future planning, broadcasting and communications.



"I cannot say for sure. But for now, we do not plan to adjust the upper limit of the subsidy provision," he said.



The limitation was introduced as part of the Telecommunications Act to encourage fair competition by prohibiting handset makers and mobile carriers from providing excessive subsidies to attract subscribers. The upper limit was set at 330,000 won per handset.



When the cap was introduced in 2014, the government made it time-limited and consented to automatically abolish it after three years under the belief that it would succeed in stabilizing the market.



Choi also said senior members of the committee have agreed that the market has been stabilized.



"Our senior committee members discussed the issue for the first time Monday as news reports alleged that the upper limit would be abolished before the agency even talked about it," Choi said. "After the discussion, we reached an agreement that the market is stabilized and does not need extra adjustment."




By Park Si-soo



At least 36 people have been killed and 147 wounded in a terror attack on Istanbul Ataturk Airport in Turkey, said Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin early Wednesday (local time).

Three bombers were also killed, the governor said. Another report, from semi-official news agency Anadolu, said six of the wounded are in critical condition.

According to AP, "a terrorist at the international terminal entrance first opened fire with a Kalashnikov and then blew himself up."

Citing Turkish officials, it said two attackers detonated explosives at the entrance of the international terminal after police fired at them.












By Kim Da-hee

English could lose official European Union (EU) language status after Brexit, according to reports Wednesday.

The EU has 24 official languages and Britain's membership has been a key reason for the organization to keep English. Therefore U.K.'s departure from the EU means English's loss of ground for survival.

"If we don't have the U.K., we don't have English," Danuta Hubner, chairwoman of the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee, said at a press conference Monday. She said English was an official language only because Britain had nominated it.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker hinted at his support for the move by using only French and German in his Tuesday speech to the European Parliament.

But not everybody seems to support the idea. Many EU officials consider it as no more than a "symbolic" move to protest Britain's vote to leave the EU.
By State Director Maxine Moul, USDA Rural Development and State Executive Director Dan Steinkruger, USDA Farm Service Agency in Nebraska

If youre looking for a growth industry, check out Nebraskas food and agricultural exports. The number of jobs supported by agricultural exports has been trending upward since the 1990s. More than 1 million American jobs are supported by agricultural exports, including 54,600 jobs in Nebraska. Thats a substantial part of the estimated 11.5 million jobs supported by exports all across the country. Agricultural exports help support rural communities across the country, with each dollar of exports stimulating another $1.27 in business activity. Our states agricultural exports support jobs in transportation, processing, packaging and many more areas; roughly 80 percent of these jobs are in non-farm sectors. So while the benefits of trade for Nebraskas rural farmers and ranchers are clear, there are also positive impacts rippling throughout the entire job market stimulating our national economy.

Here in Nebraska, were accustomed to producing the best agricultural goods. Our producers keep Americans fed and clothed while contributing to the food security for nations across the globe. Their hard work is a symbol of where we come from, a reflection of our shared values, and an economic driver for our states economy.

For the U.S. economy as a whole, agricultural exports represent a consistent success story through good times and challenges. Agricultural exports have grown much faster over the past decade than even manufacturing exports. In fact, over the past seven years, U.S. farmers and ranchers are responsible for exporting $1 trillion in food and agricultural goods to countries around the world. At USDA, were working aggressively to maintain this historic momentum by expanding foreign markets to help drive demand for American-grown goods. Were leading more trade missions and generating more sales as a result than ever before. We have saved U.S. businesses billions of dollars by removing unfair barriers to trade. In 2015 alone, USDA resolved more than 150 trade-related issues involving U.S. agricultural exports valued at $2.4 billion. And weve worked to expand trade relations with many of the worlds fastest-growing nations.

More simply, as the rest of the world continues to become more developed and populations grow, so does the demand for American agricultural exports.

That is why the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement is so important to Nebraska. The TPP is a 21st century trade agreement that helps to level the playing field for American businesses while ensuring the highest labor and environmental standards. U.S. trade with the 11 TPP countries accounted for 42 percent of U.S. agricultural exports in 2014, contributing $63 billion to the U.S. economy. Easier access to these markets with fewer taxes on our goods allows for even the smallest-scale producers to expand their reach.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, ratifying the TPP will boost annual net farm income in the United States by $4.4 billion. The TPP also removes 3,900 taxes on U.S. agricultural goods, such as soybeans, corn, beef and veal, and pork grown right here. Failure by Congress to pass the agreement, however, costs the U.S. economy a permanent loss of $94 billion each year.

With TPP, local products are able to compete on a more level playing field, reaching high-demand markets both at home and abroad. And, most important, TPP provides the United States an opportunity to help write the global rules on trade rather than nations like China. While China moves forward with its own trade deals that dont reflect our interests and our values, TPP promises to make a lasting contribution to the American economy by giving more Americans a fair shot, more higher-paying jobs, and households with paychecks that go further.

Strong trade deals like TPP that meet our standards, reduce taxes and level the playing field for our businesses can power Nebraskas economy for decades to come. Lets hope Congress gets the message.

Maxine Moul is the Nebraska State Director of USDA Rural Development.

Dan Steinkruger is State Executive Director of USDA Farm Service Agency in Nebraska
The price of LITRO gas cylinders would be further reduced in the first week of November in accordance with the

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The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

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When Congress created the Communications Decency Act 20 years ago, it was meant to help make the web economy possible by shielding Internet companies from the actions of their users.

It meant if someone tried to sell a counterfeit purse on eBay, eBay wouldnt owe Louis Vuitton anything. If someone posted a hateful message on a Geocities website, Geocities wouldnt be on the hook for a defamation lawsuit.

As long as these Internet companies behaved as intermediaries that simply hosted user content  with the exception of certain criminal claims, such as child pornography  they were protected.

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Now Airbnb Inc. says it should be protected, too.

The company filed a lawsuit on Monday against its home city of San Francisco, alleging a new ordinance that would fine short-term rental firms for not proactively removing unregistered property listings from their websites and apps violates the Communications Decency Act, the Stored Communications Act and the 1st Amendment.

Though it might seem strange for Internet companies to get a free pass when their users break the law en masse, legal experts have described Airbnbs invocation of the Communications Decency Act, or CDA, as a slam dunk because the act is so expansive.

Its the reason web forums, review sites and social media companies can exist without fear of being sued for what their users post, according to Gautam Hans, director of the Center for Democracy & Technology, and its a defense frequently used by companies such as Google and Facebook.

Someone might file a defamation lawsuit against them for something a user wrote, and the company counters with Section 230 of the CDA, Hans said. Many private individuals dont know about its existence.

In Airbnbs case, the short-term rental giant is arguing that although some people might be breaking the law by listing property on Airbnb without first registering with the city, Airbnb isnt responsible  and cant be held accountable  for what people decide to list on its platform.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

And its odds of winning are high, said Daphne Keller, director of intermediary liability at Stanford Universitys Center for Internet and Society, who said many companies have successfully used the CDA as a defense.

One of the first high-profile cases came in the late 90s  Zeran vs. American Online, Inc.  in which Kenneth Zeran sued AOL for negligence after the Internet company did not immediately remove messages anonymously posted to its bulletin board that made it look like Zeran was a supporter of the Oklahoma City bombing.

The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of AOL.

In 2009, Yahoo Inc. was sued by Cecilia Barnes, alleging the company failed to remove fake accounts created by Barnes ex-boyfriend that purported to be hers.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Yahoo.

But although the examples of companies successfully using the CDA are many, the act doesnt give Internet firms carte blanche.

One of the best-known cases in which an Internet company failed using the act in a defense was the Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley vs. Roommates.com. The council sued the roommate-matching website for violating the Fair Housing Act, alleging it allowed users to discriminate through the websites questionnaires.

In this case, the company was on the hook not because its users had posted discriminatory content, but because the site itself made it mandatory for users to submit information about their gender, sexual orientation and parental status  information that could have facilitated discrimination on the platform. As such, the court determined that the company was fair game.

Though Roommates.com eventually prevailed in the lawsuit, it did so without CDA immunity.

Airbnbs circumstances are different from Roommates.coms, because the latter was accused of facilitating discrimination through a mandatory feature, and Airbnb is under pressure from the city to police its listings and remove any that have not been registered with the city.

Under city ordinance, Airbnb hosts are expected to provide their short-term rental permit number on their listing. Airbnb argues that that is the users responsibility, not Airbnbs.

Airbnbs invocations of the Stored Communications Act and the 1st Amendment are smaller claims, but their use by tech companies is not unheard of, either.

Google, for example, has invoked its 1st Amendment rights  which protects freedom of speech  in search-ranking cases in which plaintiffs have accused the search giant of demoting their ranking.

Numerous tech firms have refused to hand over user data unless cities and state agencies first obtain a subpoena or go through an established legal process.

I suspect part of the reason Airbnb is doing this is because San Francisco is a prominent city for them, Hans said of the lawsuit. They want to make sure other cities dont do the same thing.

tracey.lien@latimes.com

Twitter: @traceylien

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The Rauschenberg Foundation has named 10 winners of its annual Artist as Activist Fellowship, providing a total of $775,000 over two years so recipients can explore issues relating to incarceration.

Among this years recipients is the Los Angeles Poverty Department, a performance art group dedicated to homeless people and located in downtown L.A.s skid row.

The group will use the grant to devise informal community policing vehicles that maintain respect for the well-being of skid row neighbors, the foundation said.

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The foundation said that Oakland artist Favianna Rodriguez will explore the intersections between mass incarceration and immigrant detention with the goal of devising a cultural strategy that envisions a world free of prisons.

Chicago-based artist Maria Gaspar will use the grant to produce radio broadcasts and visual projections at Chicagos Cook County Jail.

Other recipients are in cities including Baltimore, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia and Seattle. The artists and artist collectives were selected from a pool of 228. Each grantee will receive $50,000 to $100,000 during the two-year span.

The New York-based foundation was created by the late American abstract artist Robert Rauschenberg and is his headed by his son, Christopher. The organization oversees charitable projects as well as the late artists body of work.

Earlier this year, the foundation agreed to relax copyright restrictions on art belonging to the artist in an effort to make them more accessible to the public.

david.ng@latimes.com
Is there a fate worse for a painter than being remembered primarily as a precursor to a later, very major development in the history of Western art?

Take Theodore Rousseau (1812-1867), the subject of a fine, newly opened survey exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Once he had been celebrated for textured landscape paintings of the French countryside, especially the fabled forest of Fontainebleau 40 miles southeast of Paris. Now he is mostly extolled for a leading role in opening the door on Impressionism, which blossomed after his death.

Precursor to Monet! And Cezanne!

More than Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, more than Charles-Francois Daubigny, both of whom also worked in Fontainebleau, Rousseau ranks as perhaps Western art historys Precursor in Chief. The title doesnt merely damn with faint praise, it misrepresents his achievement.

Yes, the implication is that the extravagantly talented painter was forward-looking  on to something fresh that escaped most of his colleagues. Better than being retrograde.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

But it also says that, in Rousseaus own work, he (and the precursor business is always a he) didnt quite make it to deep significance. Rather than bother looking hard at the paintings on which he labored, best to give them a once-over and move on to the watershed that he heralded.

Being a precursor might be better than not being remembered at all, but its also vexed. Unruly Nature: The Landscapes of Theodore Rousseau, co-organized by Getty curator Scott Allan and Edouard Kopp, drawings curator at Harvard Art Museums, does a good job of un-vexing it. The show refocuses on the artists own work.

There hasnt been a Rousseau survey since the Louvre Museum marked the centennial of his death in 1967. These 71 paintings and works on paper constitute the first retrospective ever in North America. (The shows only other stop will be in October at its co-sponsor, Copenhagens Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.) Its engrossing, even if Rousseau doesnt emerge as a painter of the first rank.

Rousseau was just 55 when he died, weakened by lung disease. Three tight galleries follow a loose chronology, while an anteroom assembles 13 small works on paper and canvas for a thumbnail overview of his career.

An agitated drawing in pen and ink of a rocky woodland, executed as a teenager, represents landscape as sense impression, a torrent of quick marks. Five or so short years later, Alley of Chestnut Trees shows an orderly, organized march through a deep, lush sequence of arching limbs.

Theodore Rousseaus Entrance to the Old Forest of the Reine-Blanche, about 1860, ink on paper. (Getty Museum) (Test)

His effortless skill as a draftsman is impressive. What he would do with that talent is revealing. From the first drawing to the second, Rousseau transformed the landscape of France from rowdy natural tumult to luminous, measured cathedral.

France was something of a mess in the decades after the revolution. The country ricocheted from monarchy to republic to empire. Europe (like North America) was busily birthing nation-states. For painters, the subject of the landscape, once minor, began to gain major traction.

John Constable in Britain, Jose Maria Velasco in Mexico, Albert Bierstadt in the United States, Caspar David Friedrich in Germany and many, many more  including Rousseau  invented a problematical vision of the homeland. The naturalism and specificity of the local landscape, whether monumental volcanoes in Mesoamerica or misty mountain tops in Central Europe, were infused with portentous meaning.

The old idea of the landscape as a historic place of grand events and literary myths gave way to a more objective chronicle of rocks, trees and light. Naturalism met nationalism, and identity fused with the land.

Rousseau did it in two principal ways, each implied in those two early drawings of a rocky woodland and a chestnut alley.

First, the forest primeval was his great subject. The chestnuts and ancient oaks of Fontainebleau replaced the elders of church and state as cultural symbols of enduring power, mystery and beauty.

And second, the showy, painterly mark of the artists vigorous brush identified Rousseaus presence in the particular time and place recorded in the chosen landscape. Paint carried his distinctive, recognizable artistic fingerprint.

Luxurious painterly qualities always favor the surface of a canvas. Space flattens out. Depth is physically shallow. Looking out over distant fields or into dense forests punctured by clearings is suggested through a marvelous layering of light.

Theodore Rousseaus A Swamp in Les Landes, about 1846, oil on canvas. (Getty Museum) (Test)

A Swamp in Les Landes is a cloud-covered, atmospheric view of marshland in the heaths of southwestern France. It is stabbed with bright white pigment at the bottom foreground, as well as in what appears to be a middle-ground coastal edge and, through backlighted clouds at the top, in the far distance. Darker sky and earth recede as Rousseaus daubed light breathes air into the clotted, gloomy swampland.

Its a landscape of hope and possibility.

These paintings are of course fabrications. After sketching trips into the Fontainebleau forest and elsewhere, most were painted in the artists studio in Paris or the rustic little town of Barbizon. None is more exemplary than the histrionic thunderstorm that roils Mont Blanc Seen From La Faucille, Storm Effect, his largest canvas and one of his most famous.

The vista was inspired by a youthful visit to the Jura Mountains in a high alpine pass near the Swiss border, but it unfurled in Rousseaus studio. Landscape becomes spectacle, a painted drama of snowy peaks beneath flashing white lights and angry black clouds, the fields below interrupted by rocky outcroppings and dense brambles of vegetation.

Theodore Rousseaus Mont Blanc Seen From La Faucille, Storm Effect, begun 1834, oil on canvas. (Getty Museum) (Test)

The artist kept the big painting in his studio for three decades, presumably adjusting its effects over time. This masterpiece of Romantic bravura pointedly tangles up artistic conception with natural creation.

Mont Blanc embodies Rousseaus powers of invention, even though it is finally unlike anything else he ever did. He returned to the subject at the end of his life, producing a painfully awful picture  an acutely detailed, this time sunny panorama of inert, airless little color patches. (Think mosaic tabletop from a tourist gift shop.) Its in the shows last room, a gallery that ends his relatively short career with more of a whimper than a bang.

The chief exception is the magnificent The Rock Oak (circa 1860-67), painted with a thick, dark impasto that infuses its benign forest-subject with a fearsome quality. The canvas shows a gnarled oak rising up from a craggy terrain. (Fontainebleau is noted for its rock formations.) A taut pinwheel arrangement of branches crowns the tree.

The closer one gets to the opaque, densely painted picture, the more abstract and illegible it becomes. The concentrated greens and burnt umber of its edge-to-edge woods approach a fossilized carbon-black, peppered here and there with flecks of light. The deep forest is a wondrous place, vaguely threatening yet capable of igniting astonishment.

Its worth remembering that city folks were the chief audience for Rousseaus rural landscape musings. The narrow, medieval streets of Paris were teeming with people, the citys population having doubled between 1815 and 1850. Rousseau was showing France whence it had come.

Soon, grand boulevards would cut a swath through the civic fabric, as the Paris we know today was built. Impressionism was handmaiden to this vibrant new city. Rather than a precursor, Rousseaus landscapes, often melancholic, represent something marvelous, remote and slowly disappearing from consciousness.

------------

Unruly Nature: The Landscapes of Theodore Rousseau, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2000 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, through Sept. 11. Closed Monday. www.getty.edu

christopher.knight@latimes.com

Twitter: @KnightLAT
Sumner Redstones investment vehicle stepped up its campaign against Viacom board members who contend that the ailing 93-year-old mogul lacks the capacity to make decisions about his familys media empire.

With a major court hearing looming, National Amusements directors, including Redstone, on Tuesday chastised Viacom board members for supporting a highly unusual lawsuit that challenges the mental capacity of the companys controlling shareholder.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Viacom board members, National Amusements lambasted them for alleging that Shari Redstone was behind the move to oust Viacom Chairman Philippe Dauman and another longtime Viacom director from the familys investment vehicle.

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These highly personal and vicious attacks on Sumners capacity and Sharis honesty and integrity are offensive and unacceptable, the letter reads. More importantly, however, those allegations, even if they could somehow be proven, would have no impact on the legitimacy of Nationals actions with respect to Viacom.

Even if Viacoms efforts are successful  or if Redstone was determined to be mentally incompetent, the legal tactics wont change the outcome of the drama for control of the $40-billion media empire that includes CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc., according to a letter sent by National Amusements directors.

The war of words comes on the eve of a key court hearing Thursday in Massachusetts. Dauman and another Viacom director, George Abrams, have asked a probate judge to order an immediate examination of Redstone by an independent doctor to determine whether the mogul, who struggles to speak coherently, is mentally competent.

Redstone has asked for the Massachusetts case to be dismissed  or moved to Los Angeles, where Redstone resides.

The Redstone family, through National Amusements, controls nearly 80% of the voting stock of Viacom, which owns such properties as Paramount Pictures, MTV, Comedy Central, BET and Nickelodeon.

The sniping flared up after Redstones lawyer on May 20 sent a letter to Dauman and Abrams, announcing that they had been bounced from the board of National Amusements. Dauman and Abrams also were removed from the seven-member trust that will eventually oversee Redstones controlling shares in the two media companies.

Tuesdays letter noted that a majority of the trustees voted to oust Dauman and Abrams. And even if the two men had participated in the vote  they would have been out-voted, the letter said.

The missive also said that even if Redstone was determined to be incapacitated, the other trustees still would have voted to remove Dauman and Abrams from their influential positions.

The supposed directors of National Amusements have claimed that Sumner Redstones incapacity or undue influence does not matter, " a Viacom spokesman said in a statement. It matters a great deal to Viacoms shareholders and Viacoms board if Sumner Redstone lacked capacity or was unduly influenced in the making of recent and dramatic governance changes.

Earlier this month, National Amusements voted to shake up the Viacom board with five new directors to replace Dauman, Abrams and others, including Frederic Salerno.

Salerno brought a separate suit in Delaware courts to challenge the shake-up of the Viacom board.

Viacom argued that if a judge determines that Sumner Redstones decisions came because of the undue influence of his daughter, then any vote made under these circumstances would be meaningless, Viacom said. Individuals who have taken part in such a scheme could and should be ruled unfit to serve as trustees or board members.

National Amusements said the legal squabbling was a waste of resources, and that the stock markets reaction appeared to endorse its moves. Viacom stock has rallied since news May 20 on a potential change in management. Shares closed Tuesday at $40.03, up $1.15, or 3%.

As one of Viacoms largest shareholders, National is deeply concerned with the time and resources being devoted to malicious and ultimately pointless attacks on Sumner and his family, the letter said.

meg.james@latimes.com

@MegJamesLAT
Dancing With The Stars pros and engaged couple Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy are happily expecting their first child together.

I cant wait to provide this baby with the tools to become a beautiful, kind person, Chmerkovskiy, 36, told People. And theyll have the best sneaker collection.

Murgatroyd, 29, regularly appears on the ABC series as part of the professional group of dancers. Rather than taking some time off to rest, the Australian dancer spent her first months of pregnancy competing together with model and deaf activist Nyle DiMarco during Season 22, which they ended up winning.

The dancer planned to keep her pregnancy a private matter until her second trimester, but DiMarco began to catch on to her secret in the rehearsal studio.

I was so sick, Murgatroyd told People. Nyle would see me falling asleep on the couches and on the floor of the rehearsal studio. Hed look at me like, Whats going on? And Id go, Oh, Im just tired. 

She added: Nyle actually came up to me and wrote me a text that said, I know. I just lost it laughing because he had known for about two weeks and didnt say anything to me.

https://twitter.com/PetaMurgatroyd/status/748183309939671046

While the gender of the child has not yet been determined, the hardworking dancer sounds prepared to raise her first child alongside her Ukrainian fiance.

Im looking forward to nurturing something and just having the baby be the center of our world, she shared with the magazine.

Last year, Chmerkovskiy  a former Dancing With the Stars professional and guest judge  proposed to Murgatroyd in front of a live audience during a performance in Miami. The dynamic ballroom duo will be dancing down the aisle next summer, and the couple is excited about the timing of their pregnancy.

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Dennis Quaid and his wife, Kimberly Buffington-Quaid, are calling it quits again.

On Tuesday, Buffington-Quaid filed for dissolution of marriage at Los Angeles Superior Court, according to documents obtained by The Times.

The pair have a history of calling it quits then shying away, with Buffington-Quaid originally filing for divorce in March 2012 before her attorney withdrew the papers the next month.

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In October 2012, the couple again decided to separate, this time leading to Quaid filing for divorce in November. They reconciled and the divorce filing was dismissed in spring 2013.

Quaid and his wife married in 2004 and went through nightmarish circumstances in 2007 when their newborn twins, Thomas and Zoe, were each mistakenly given near fatal doses of Heparin at Cedars-Sinai.

After careful consideration, we have decided to end our 12 year marriage. The decision was made amicably and with mutual respect toward one another, the couple said in a joint statement to TMZ. We will always remain great friends and devoted partners in raising our children.

Quaid had been married twice before his relationship with Buffington. The star of Crackles The Art of More was married to P.J. Soles from 1978 to 1983 before marrying Meg Ryan in 1991. His marriage to Ryan lasted 10 years and they share one son, Jack.

Representatives for Quaid did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.

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libby.hill@latimes.com

Twitter: @midwestspitfire
5 burning questions raised by the largest academy invitee class

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences added 683 new members Wednesday, more than doubling last years record number of invitees. The dramatic action spurred many questions. Here are answers to five of them.

How does the academy notify invitees? I saw a bunch of people say that they found out on Twitter.

That was indeed the case with producer Mynette Louie and documentary filmmaker Dawn Porter.

The academy emailed the 683 prospective members prior to Wednesdays announcement, using the contact information provided on the application. Sometimes that info isnt a personal account, but an email address for an agent, manager or publicist. Sometimes people dont check their email. Call it one of lifes better surprises.

Some of these invitees have pretty thin resumes. Dont you need more credits to get into the academy?

Each of the academys 17 branches has specific requirements to become a member. Oscar nominees receive prime consideration, though they arent automatically admitted. (We still have no idea why Babel nominee Rinko Kikuchi hasnt been invited to the party yet.)

Beyond the minimum requirements, most branches have a provision that allows them to invite anyone they damn well please. If they have achieved unique distinction, earned special merit or made an outstanding contribution in their field, in the opinion of the branchs executive committee, theyre in.

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Last weeks triple-digit heat wreaked havoc on Southern California avocado farms, leaving some growers with burnt trees and unsellable fruit just two weeks before the Fourth of July holiday, when avocado sales generally spike.

Growers in Fallbrook, De Luz and Temecula reported record temperatures between 110 and 117 degrees, as well as 30-mile per hour winds  a potentially devastating combination for avocado groves planted in sandy soil where the fierce winds can wick away moisture faster than the trees can absorb it.

Tom Bellamore, president of the California Avocado Commission, was in the groves last week, where he saw shriveled leaves, branches that were badly sunburned and some fruit drop, particularly on younger trees. As for the long-term consequences, he explains, After the heat, it takes a while for the effects to manifest themselves, so at this point, were uncertain if there is a loss or not to next years crop.

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The heat blast is yet another setback to California avocado growers, who are battling water woes, labor shortages and increased competition from Mexican avocados, which now command more than 80% of the U.S. market. Bellamore says the California avocado industry as a whole remains strong  three out of the last six years have seen a crop value of more than $400 million, the best the industry has ever seen  but small growers, especially those dependent on municipal water, are ill-equipped to withstand a series of blows.

Garcia Organic Farm in Fallbrook lost five of its 29 avocado trees in the heat wave, which means an early end to its avocado season at the Santa Monica Farmers Markets. The familys finger lime trees, which Leticia Garcia described as like gold for their $50 per pound price tag, were left withered beyond repair, and their entire Persian mulberry crop was decimated.

Bob Polito, another longtime seller at the Santa Monica Farmers Market, says this Wednesdays market truckload will include a lot of dropped fruit, or seconds, which he salvaged for market shoppers looking to make guacamole this holiday weekend.

For growers who depend on packinghouses, dropped fruit does not command the premium that farmers can get for picked fruit. As of Monday this week, packinghouses were paying growers $1.56 a pound for size 48 avocados (those that weigh 7.5 to 9.5 ounces), up from $1.18 last month.

Heath Shoup of West Pak Avocado, a packinghouse in Murrieta, says Mexican growers overestimated and underperformed this year. There are not enough avocados in the industry right now to supply the demand, he says. With supply low, California farmers could be reaping the benefits, but the damage from last weeks scorching temperatures will prevent some growers from taking advantage of higher prices.

The biggest effect of last weeks heat storm may be on next years crop. Jeanne Davis of Coyote Growers was nearing the end of her Hass season when temperatures climbed up to 113 degrees on her 6-acre Fallbrook orchard. While the blast may not affect this years farmers market sales, she is concerned about next year.

Weve been here for 25 years, and this has never happened before, she says. There will probably be a minimal amount of avocados for next year because we think that some of the flowers didnt make it.

As for what she plans to do next, she says: Itll be a little bit of a wait and see. What else can you do really?

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You are not supposed to put ice in your Champagne. It dilutes the wine. At least thats the thinking among most wine experts. But that rule doesnt apply to the winemakers at Moet Chandon, who are hoping youll sip their new Moet Ice Imperial Rose on ice, on a 95-degree sunlit rooftop deck in Los Angeles.

The wine, which will start showing up in select Los Angeles bars in mid July, was made specifically to be sipped on ice in Los Angeles or Miami.

L.A. and Miami are trendsetters,said Elise Losfelt, who has been a winemaker at Moet Chandon since 2012. There are so many rooftops here and you can sip it by the pool.

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This new rose Champagne is the companys second Ice Imperial. The first, Moet Ice Imperial, a brut Champagne, was released a couple of years ago, and was the first Champagne created to be served on ice.

Its really a Champagne that breaks the rules  its disruptive, said Losfelt of the two Ice Imperial wines. Champagne is a region thats really quite traditional. When we were making it, people said What are you doing, are you super crazy?

Moet Ice Imperial Rose is made with mostly Pinot Noir (45% to 55 %), some Pinot Meunier (35% to 45%) and Chardonnay (5% to 10%). And Losfelt, who is a sixth-generation winemaker in France, said it respects all the rules of making Champagne.

Its a soft pink color in the glass with a bouquet of cranberries, cherries and raspberries. The wine starts on the sweet side but mellows as the ice melts.

Its a wine that has a super intense aroma, super rich texture on the palate, and has acidity and bitterness, said Losfelt. So when its blended with ice, it balances it.

The Moet Chandon team hand-picked the Los Angeles bars, hotels and restaurants that will carry the Champagne. Youll be able to find the Champagne by mid-July at the following venues: the Montage Beverly HIlls (served by the pool), the Beverly Hills Hotel, Terrenea Resort, the Beverly Wilshire, the Four Seasons Los Angeles, Bagatelle, W Hollywood, Geoffreys Malibu, Chateau Marmont (served by the pool), and at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills.

Its important that its served properly, said Losfelt, who added you should not drink the Champagne without ice. I think it will probably take around 10 years for people to get used to it.

The Champagne should be served in a large wine glass with around three ice cubes. And youre supposed to finish the Champagne before the ice completely melts (as if thats going to be a problem).

So what do you eat while you sip Champagne on ice by the pool?

Whatever you can eat with your fingers will go well with it, said Losfelt. Think light canapes and a cheese board.

Losfelt is also encouraging people to garnish the Champagne with a couple of berries  also something generally discouraged in the wine world.

You can finally put a strawberry in your Champagne, said Losfelt.

The Champagne is expected to be available in a couple more yet-to-be-announced cities later this year.

Bubbly tastes better on a rooftop. Seriously. Follow me on Twitter & Instagram @Jenn_Harris_

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A retired CIA officer may become the first American to go to prison for her role in one of the most controversial counterterrorism practices of the post-Sept. 11 period.

Sabrina De Sousa was one of 23 Americans convicted in absentia in an Italian court in 2009 for kidnapping a radical Muslim cleric in Milan, Italy, in 2003 and spiriting him to Egypt, where he later said he was tortured.

De Sousa, now 60, has been fighting extradition to Italy since she was detained on a warrant last October at an airport in Portugal. She has lost her legal appeals and said in an interview that she expects to be sent to Italy, where she faces four years in prison.

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During the George W. Bush administration, CIA teams secretly captured terror suspects around the globe and handed them to other countries for interrogation and imprisonment. The practice was known as extraordinary rendition.

The trial in Italy opened a rare window into the CIA trade craft and revealed a network of clandestine activities by U.S. spy agencies in Italy and elsewhere. It also exposed a pattern of embarrassing CIA foul-ups.

Two senior CIA officers convicted in the case, including the former CIA station chief, received pardons from Italian President Sergio Mattarella last year before a scheduled meeting with President Obama. The pardons followed long negotiations with the U.S. Embassy in Italy.

De Sousa, who retired in 2009, said she had expected to be pardoned as well because she had worked undercover as a U.S. diplomat in Italy and contends she had a minor role in the case. She believes the CIA is punishing her for speaking out and criticizing the rendition policy.

I felt abandoned by the agency awhile ago, De Sousa said in a telephone interview from Lisbon, Portugals capital. I and others were left holding the bag for decisions made by senior officials in Washington.

None of the 23 Americans convicted in Italy has gone to jail. Most were using aliases during the rendition, and their identities remain uncertain.

The CIA declined to confirm or deny De Sousas former employment.

Thanks for your query. We have no comment for you, Dean Boyd, a CIA spokesman, wrote in response to questions about what the CIA is doing to assist her.

Evidence presented at trial showed that a joint operation between the CIA and Italys intelligence service, known as SISMI, snatched an Egyptian-born cleric known as Abu Omar as he walked to a mosque in Milan on Feb. 17, 2003. He had been granted political asylum in Italy in 2001.

The cleric was bundled into a van, whisked to a joint U.S.-Italian air base in northern Italy and flown by Learjet to Cairo, where he was imprisoned until 2007.

De Sousa says she was involved marginally in the planning but did not participate in the kidnapping.

The investigation and trial drew headlines not just because it exposed a government-sanctioned abduction without due process, but because the CIA officers were so sloppy.

Some left credit card receipts and airline mileage card numbers at hotels where they stayed, and discussed the case on traceable cellular telephones.

It was a huge mess-up, said De Sousa.

She said the operation was especially reckless because Abu Omar, whose full name is Hassan Osama Nasr, could supply little actionable information. She insists that she had argued against targeting him.

Abu Omar never met the threshold of rendition, she said. He was low-hanging fruit.

Italian prosecutors handed down indictments against 26 Americans in early 2007. Aware of the investigation, they all had left the country.

The trial featured 26 empty chairs for the absent Americans. A judge issued guilty verdicts for 23 of the 26 in 2009.

The judgments meant that the convicted no longer could travel to Europe without risk of arrest.

In April 2015, however, De Sousa traveled to Portugal to visit family. Last October, when she attempted to fly from Lisbon to Goa, in India, to see her 90-year-old mother, she was intercepted by Portuguese police.

She was barred from traveling but was not jailed while she sought to appeal her conviction or secure a pardon.

Her Italian lawyer, Dario Bolognesi, has petitioned Italys president for a pardon and is trying to fight the extradition on a technicality. On July 8, an Italian judge will hear arguments on the validity of the extradition request, Bolognesi said.

De Sousas U.S. attorney, Abbe Lowell, said he was in contact with U.S. officials to put together evidence for a new trial.

Her role, whatever that role was, was not sufficient to have supported her conviction in absentia or otherwise, Lowell said. Her role should have merited a pardon, given the other pardons that were granted. To single her out is extraordinary and unfair.

Born in India, De Sousa is a naturalized U.S. citizen who says she was recruited into the CIA in the mid-1990s and was stationed in Italy from 1998 until 2004.

The State Department, in response to a query from The Times, did not address why De Sousa had not received a pardon, but said: Its fair to say that this is a matter that U.S. officials have raised with our European counterparts, but we are not in a position to detail those discussions.

Peter Hoekstra, a former Republican member of Congress who served on the House Intelligence Committee from 2004 to 2011, called the De Sousa case a black eye for the CIA.

By definition, spying requires breaking other countries laws, Hoekstra said.

If you are going to ask people to do that and  they do exactly what you ask, you need to back them up as fully as you can, he said.

The Obama administration should be working feverishly to reach some kind of accommodation with the Italians to leave this person alone, Hoekstra said.

Hoekstra was reached last week during a vacation in Italy  the country that wants to put De Sousa behind bars.

Special correspondent Tom Kington contributed to this report from Rome.

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Police have increased security at a Bay Area school after an email threatened retaliation for a teachers participation in a violent clash involving neo-Nazis at the state Capitol this weekend.

The email was sent to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, in Berkeley and threatened that if certain actions were not taken against the teacher within the week, someone would come to King with the intent to harm students, according to the Berkeley Unified School District.

The district also received emails and calls from parents and community members asking that the teacher be fired, the website Berkeleyside reported.

The FBI reviewed the email and determined it was a low-level threat, school officials said. But the Berkeley Police Department took the threat seriously and has deployed additional patrols to monitor the campus. The department also assigned an officer to the middle school.

School is out for the summer, but the campus was being used by outside groups renting space there. The groups were moved to other locations, officials said.

The safety and well-being of our students and staff is our primary concern, and we will do whatever is necessary to protect them, and we will continue to work closely with law enforcement to monitor this situation, district Supt. Donald Evans said.

Although the district did not describe the threats, Yvette Felarca, the teacher identified in the email, spoke out about the incident on Facebook. She said the email contained racist and misogynistic threats coming from Nazi/KKK supporters.

Thank you to everyone for your proud support, she wrote. I am disgusted and condemn these attacks on myself and the children, the faculty and staff at my school. I hold Donald Trump responsible for this. His politics of racist demagoguery and hate is inciting these vile threats of violence, even against children.

Felarca, who is the national organizer for the civil rights group By Any Means Necessary, or BAMN, was among a group of counter-protesters who clashed with neo-Nazis during a rally Sunday on the Capitol grounds. According to the California Highway Patrol, the Traditionalist Worker Party had a permit to hold the rally, but the counter-protesters were waiting for them.

The violence erupted when the two groups met around 11:45 a.m. Counter-protesters swarmed party members and a fight immediately broke out, said CHP Officer George Granada.

Seven people were stabbed and nine were hospitalized. All the injuries were sustained by white nationalists or counter-protesters, the CHP said.

At one point, Felarca, who appeared in news videos with blood and bandages on her head, was seen pushing and punching a neo-Nazi sympathizer in the stomach several times while screaming Get the  off our street.

Video shows law enforcement officers tackling Felarca after she confronted the man.

(Warning: The video below contains explicit language.)

YouTube video shows middle-school teacher Yvette Felarca clashing with neo-Nazi protesters.

District spokesman Mark Coplan said the district supports free speech and the right of peaceful protest, but does not condone the violence like the world witnessed in Sacramento last weekend.

The anarchist group known as BAMN has a history of disruption and violence, usually to the detriment of the causes they claim to support, he said.

Coplan said the district was confident that the threat would be resolved before school starts at the end of August.

As for Felarca, Coplan said her actions in Sacramento had no relation to her employment.

For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.
Two bodies thought to be those of a couple who lived on a Potrero property destroyed in the Border fire last week were found Wednesday by local residents who searched the grounds out of concern for the missing pair, residents said.

The two are believed to be Jim Keefe, known locally as Barefoot Jim, and his girlfriend, Kyrie, said Iris Gardner of Potrero. She did not know Kyries last name.

She and other residents said theyd been asking the Sheriffs Department for a week to look for the pair, but they met with resistance. Gardner said that she and others were told to stay off the property and that deputies couldnt do a welfare check because they werent invited.

Resident Leann Mitsui created a Facebook page seeking volunteers to go out Wednesday and search anyway, Gardner said.

The volunteers went to Keefes home and found sheriffs deputies there. They went around the deputies, hiking across a neighboring property to reach a hillside behind the Keefe home and found the bodies lying facedown amid rocks, Gardner said.

Its really unfortunate, she said. I kept hoping theyd turn up somewhere. It has been tremendously frustrating at law enforcements lack of interest.

A Sheriffs Department spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday morning. A watch commander in the departments communications center said he had no word about bodies found in Potrero.

She described Keefe and his girlfriend as hippie-types with long hair, who led reclusive lives on the property along state Route 94, east of a palm tree nursery also charred by the blaze.

The Border fire started near Potrero on June 19 and burned 7,609 acres. Five homes and 11 outbuildings were destroyed, and until Wednesday, the only injuries had been reported as minor, heat-related ailments to firefighters. The cause of the blaze, which prompted evacuations and threatened Lake Morena Village and Campo, remains under investigation.

Husband appeared to be shielding his wife as wildfire reached their home. Both died 

On the Facebook site for the search volunteers, Cheryl Reinhardt posted word about finding the bodies, saying:

Last night I saw your post about the search for these people. I felt STRONGLY compelled to be a participant in this search. I didn't really want to go, frankly, and even showed up late. But something kept pushing me. I know now it was to find them. I am not looking for recognition but more to put in to words this experience and perhaps some comfort for your community.

Gardner said she and others had taken food and water to several dogs that had remained on the burned-out property where the couple lived. The county Department of Animal Services captured one loose dog, but others had eluded them. Gardner said county officers also brought some food out and a cage in which one dog was trapped as of Wednesday morning.

Animal Services Deputy Director Dan DeSousa said that traps were set out Tuesday and that officers would continue trying to capture the animals and bring them to a shelter for care. He said his office would work with the Medical Examiners Office to determine what the couples next of kin wants to do with the dogs.

Repard writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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A series of deadly brush fires that hit Southern California this month claimed two more victims, as authorities Wednesday confirmed the discovery of two bodies in a rural area scorched by the Border fire in San Diego County.

That brings the number to four people killed by the fires, which together burned more than 60,000 acres and destroyed more than 100 homes, the vast majority in communities near Lake Isabella in Kern County.

As of Wednesday, 4,000 firefighters are battling 12 large wildfires throughout California, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant.

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It marks a destructive start to what officials have warned could be a grim fire season as California enters a fifth year of drought and some forests are filled with dead or dying trees stricken by the bark beetle.

Residents near the U.S.-Mexico border said Wednesday that they had found two bodies believed to be those of a couple who had been missing since the 7,609-acre Border fire erupted near Potrero last week.

The San Diego County Sheriffs Department confirmed the discovery later that afternoon, saying the remains of what appeared to be two bodies were found behind a large boulder in a ravine. The medical examiner removed the bodies and will make the final identification on the cause and manner of death, said Jan Caldwell, a sheriffs spokeswoman.

Deputies had searched the area Monday and Tuesday but had found nothing.

We searched the property, which is rather large and difficult terrain, Caldwell said. We did not have success  its a very difficult property to search.

Although authorities have yet to identify the remains, Potrero resident Iris Gardner said that searchers believe they are those of Jim Keefe, known locally as Barefoot Jim, and his girlfriend, Kyrie. Gardner said she did not know the girlfriends last name. The pair had been missing for roughly a week.

The Border fire, which is now 95% contained, is just one of many large fires crews have been battling in extremely hot, dry conditions.

On Tuesday, authorities in Kern County announced the lifting of evacuation orders in the deadly Erskine fire  the worst wildfire to erupt in California so far this year. The blaze has raced across 46,000 acres and killed Byron McKaig, 81, and his 90-year-old wife, Gladys.

See the most-read stories this hour 

A neighbor who found the bodies of the couple outside the ruins of their Squirrel Mountain Valley home on Friday said it appeared that Byron had died trying to protect his wife.

He was like on top of her, and they were together, like he was blocking her from the fire, Bill Johnson said Tuesday. It made me sick because immediately I saw and knew exactly what had happened  that they were alive and ran out of this burning inferno and got stuck, and thats where they ended. I thought it was terrible for those people to go like that. Just horrible. They didnt deserve it.

Officials say the fire is now 60% contained and evacuees can return to South Lake, although there was no power or water. Evacuation orders in other areas were lifted earlier in the week.

Other large Southern California fires, including the Sherpa fire and San Gabriel Complex fire, are mostly contained.

The Sherpa fire burned 7,474 acres, and the San Gabriel Complex fire  which is actually two separate fires, the Reservoir fire and the Fish fire  burned 5,399 acres.

In Northern California, fire crews are working to contain the Trailhead fire, which has forced mandatory evacuations for parts of Placer and El Dorado counties.

The fire, which is 5% contained, has burned 650 acres since it began Tuesday afternoon and is threatening 2,444 structures, according to Cal Fire.

Mejia reported from Los Angeles, Repard from San Diego.

Follow me @brittny_mejia

Repard writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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A hang glider died Wednesday when he crashed into a tree in the San Bernardino National Forest shortly after taking off, fire officials said.

Details about the crash were limited, but it happened just after 1:30 p.m. at the Crestline Soaring Society Glider Launch site within the forest, said Capt. Daniel Nelson of the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

He was killed instantly, Nelson said.

Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >>

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Reports indicated the hang glider was found hanging from a tree, apparently on the mountainside just below the launch site, he said. It appeared as though the hang glider had just launched from the site and became entangled with the tree.

Firefighters planned to work with coroners investigators to recover the mans body from the hang glider.

The cause of the crash was unknown, Nelson said.

For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.

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A Hollywood apartment building is on its way to becoming a hotel after Los Angeles lawmakers rejected the arguments of tenant activists who warned that it would worsen the citys housing crisis.

Property owner David Lesser plans to renovate the vacant building on Cherokee Avenue, a short walk from the bustle of Hollywood Boulevard, and turn it into a boutique hotel with two dozen rooms.

The City Council paved the way for the project to move forward Wednesday, the day after one of its committees rejected an appeal by Sylvie Shain, a Hollywood resident who said the city had not properly weighed the effects of losing the apartments.

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The decision to deny the appeal and approve the environmental review for the project comes as Los Angeles politicians face mounting criticism over soaring rents  and are planning to ask voters to pay higher taxes to address the homelessness crisis.

During heated hearings at City Hall this month, Shain and other Hollywood residents argued that it was paradoxical for city leaders to publicly proclaim the need to save and build housing for working Angelenos, then allow real estate developers to wipe away apartments covered by rent stabilization rules.

Loss of homes, separation of families, people living in cars and on sofas  good God, what does it take for you to wake up?  Annie Gagen, Hollywood resident

Loss of homes, separation of families, people living in cars and on sofas  good God, what does it take for you to wake up? Hollywood resident Annie Gagen asked at a Tuesday meeting.

Renters were removed from the Cherokee Avenue building roughly three years ago under the Ellis Act, a state law that allows landlords to evict tenants from buildings that fall under rent control if they plan to take the property off the rental market.

In the aftermath, some of the former tenants  many of whom paid $650 per month or less for their apartments  say they have struggled to find housing they can afford.

Ive been homeless ever since, said Albert McCowen, a disabled military veteran who said he now sofa surfs with friends and relies on a food bank. When I was living there, I could make my bills. I could help my kids. When they took that building off the market, thats when all my problems started financially.

Shain, who lives in another Hollywood building that is being turned into a hotel, argued that the city needed to do a more exhaustive review of how the hotel plan would affect the neighborhood  including traffic, safety and the displacement of apartment residents. Failing to do so, she said, would set a dangerous precedent that would lead to more housing being eliminated.

But city planners said the hotel conversion would not have a significant effect on the area. California law doesnt allow the city to consider purely economic and social effects when weighing the environmental consequences of a project, attorneys representing Lesser argued. And Lesser and his representatives said he had complied with city and state laws during and after the evictions.

Harry Alexandro lives across the street from the planned boutique hotel and fears a similar conversion could happen to his building. (Christina House / For The Times )

The owner has gone above and beyond as a matter of both good faith, letter of the law, and just frankly human decency, said Dana Sayles, one of his representatives.

Two members of a council committee initially balked at the hotel plan, raising concerns about what had happened to tenants.

Among those concerns: Half of the tenants had not received money to help them relocate because of a city exemption tied to the fact that the owner was planning to build condominiums. But those condos were never built.

Lesser and his representatives said he didnt move forward with the planned condos because of the economic downturn and had not acted in bad faith. But Councilman Gil Cedillo said he was troubled that a building owner could avoid paying crucial fees to tenants by making  then changing  his plans.

I dont want to say its a bait and switch, but  the final product is that the tenants arent receiving the remedies that were due them, Cedillo said Tuesday. He later called it a miscarriage of justice.

Other lawmakers on the council committee agreed that the nonpayments were troubling. But Councilman Felipe Fuentes said the solution was to rewrite city regulations about when building owners could avoid paying relocation money, not to turn down the planned project.

Los Angeles council members also tend to fall in line with the lawmaker who represents the neighborhood where a development project is planned. Councilman Mitch OFarrell, who represents that part of Hollywood, does not back the hotel plans but saw no legal basis for granting the appeal, his planning director, Chris Robertson, told lawmakers last week.

That angered residents such as Luis Saldivar, a member of the Hollywood United Neighborhood Council. At the Tuesday committee meeting, he warned OFarrell that he was on notice.

If you want to get reelected next year, Saldivar said, youd better start representing the people who elected you.

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The hectic heart of Hollywood Boulevard has long been a mecca for an eclectic cast of street performers and hustlers: knock-off superheroes mugging for photos, break dancers wowing the crowds, aspiring musicians hawking CDs to throngs of passing tourists.

But police complain that the colorful antics on an especially busy stretch of the Walk of Fame have sometimes become a menace, clogging up the starry sidewalks outside its iconic theaters and pushing pedestrians into the street.

At a City Hall hearing earlier this year, business advocates lamented that the famed block near Highland Avenue had become a chaotic hunting ground for aggressive hawkers preying on out-of-towners.

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Kerry Morrison, executive director of the Hollywood Property Owners Alliance, told local lawmakers it was an absolute embarrassment to our city.

Its like running a gauntlet, Morrison said.

Things are out of control. Sometimes you need rules and regulations to stop people from being too crazy.  Omar Budhoo, zombie on Hollywood Boulevard

 The Los Angeles City Council voted to start drafting new rules that would require peope to get daily passes to perform, ask for money, play amplified music or engage in other expressive activity along a congested stretch of Hollywood Boulevard bet

Now, Los Angeles is considering a crackdown. The City Council voted Wednesday to start drafting new rules that would require people to get daily passes to perform, ask for money, play amplified music or engage in other expressive activity along a congested stretch of Hollywood Boulevard between Orange Drive and Highland Avenue.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce applauded the idea, saying the city needs tools to stop harassment and hazards. The plan was also welcome news Tuesday to Hard Rock Cafe manager Enrique Ramirez, who said he had recently asked police to usher two scantily clad performers away from the restaurant door.

Imagine if this was your business and your clientele was families, Ramirez said. We dont want to be associated with that  People just come here to enjoy Hollywood as it is, not get pestered.

But the budding plan has also spurred concerns about free speech and alarmed some performers who say it will destroy the animated street life that draws both tourists and locals to gawk and shop in Hollywood. Under the proposal, only 20 passes would be handed out daily on a first-come, first-served basis  a number that galled seasoned performers.

It would kill the street scene, said Matthias Balke, who entertains tourists as Batman and once sued the city for arresting costumed characters.

Dominique Lambert takes a picture with a group of characters on Hollywood Blvd. while on vacation from Manchester, England. (Dillon Deaton / Los Angeles Times )

Nearly six years ago, the city was ordered to stop threatening to arrest Balke and fellow Hollywood Boulevard performers unless they were illegally blocking the sidewalk. Balke said that police need to stop aggressive solicitors in the area, but theyre throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Its a one-size-fits-all solution that punishes the good people for the wrongdoing of the bad people, Balke complained.

Civil rights attorney Stephen Rohde also warned that the plan raised serious 1st Amendment issues, arguing that requiring people to obtain a daily pass could hamper political protests that pop up quickly. Restricting the number of such passes could be an unreasonable limitation on the right of assembly and the right of free speech, Rohde added.

At a hearing in April, City Councilman Mitch OFarrell said Los Angeles takes free speech seriously, but that the courts have also given cities guidelines on how and when they could restrict it. The recommendations from police and other city departments will lead to a safer environment for residents and visitors on Hollywood Boulevard, his spokesman Tony Arranaga said in a statement Tuesday.

Under the proposed restrictions, people who repeatedly flout the rules could lose the right to get daily passes for three months. The regulations would also bar people from performing, seeking donations or using amplified sound within 5 feet of crosswalks and building entrances or exits. And the city would also curb how much space they could take up on the sidewalk.

The council backed the plan Wednesday without discussion. City lawyers are now tasked with drafting a law that will be presented to the council for final approval.

Other cities have also sought to rein in street life, including Santa Monica and Las Vegas, a city attorney told lawmakers in April. New York City, for instance, now confines costumed characters and other people seeking tips in Times Square to painted zones of pavement.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has recommended the restrictions, arguing they would better control the flow of tourists along Hollywood sidewalks.

In a June report, Beck also listed a string of notable arrests involving Hollywood performers: a fistfight between a costumed Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck outside the Dolby Theatre, a faux Mr. Incredible punching a costumed Batgirl, and a woman in pirate garb trying to fleece a Chinese tourist by refusing to give him change for a $100 bill.

More than 50 people have been ordered to stay away from the area in the last three years, the report said.

Its anarchy  and its dangerous, Mike Harkins, executive director of security at the Hollywood & Highland complex, told lawmakers at the April hearing.

Christopher Loomis performs at the Hollywood and Highland subway stop in 2013. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times )

Roughly a fifth of Hollywood visitors who were approached by performers or hawkers said they had an unpleasant experience with solicitors trying to grab their attention, including people hawking CDs, posing in costume or panhandling, according to a study commissioned by the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board.

On a hot and overcast Tuesday afternoon, a few musicians promoting their CDs and half a dozen costumed characters roamed the sidewalks in front of the historic Graumans Chinese Theatre, now known as TCL Chinese Theatres. Among them was a towering Chewbacca character who approached a couple visiting from Mexico with their three young sons.

I offered him $2, but he said it cost $5, so I gave him $5, Erica Flores said after the encounter. He should have told us the cost up front.

Omar Budhoo, who was dressed as a green zombie character, said Tuesday that he asked only for donations and never forced people to fork over money. But he said that mounting competition for boulevard territory and the prospect of making $200 to $300 a day had made some characters overly aggressive.

Things are out of control, Budhoo said. Sometimes you need rules and regulations to stop people from being too crazy.

Budhoo fretted, however, about what would happen if he couldnt snag one of the proposed passes.

I love entertaining people, he said. They take that away from me  its like pulling out your heart.

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emily.alpert@latimes.com | Twitter: @LATimesEmily

nina.agrawal@latimes.com | Twitter: @agrawalnina

UPDATES:

11:02 a.m.: This post was updated with the results of Wednesdays City Council vote.

This article was originally published at 4 a.m.
The rookie Los Angeles police officer screamed, her body shaking, as the 38-year-old man zapped a Taser against her thigh.

Hes tasing me! she yelled to her partner. Hes tasing me!

Officer Stephan Shuff grabbed his pistol. Afraid the man would try to grab his partners holstered gun, Shuff opened fire. The man, Neil Peter White, was struck in the back of the neck and killed.

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I honestly thought he was going to go for a gun, the officer later told investigators.

Shuffs reasoning for firing his gun during the July 2015 struggle was rejected recently by the citys Police Commission, which sided with Chief Charlie Beck and determined the officer violated LAPD policy for using deadly force.

In his recommendation to the commission, Beck cited the minority opinion of an internal LAPD board that also reviewed the shooting. Two members of the board noted that Shuff couldnt see Whites hands and there were no additional factors suggesting White was in fact going for the rookie officers holstered gun.

Simply believing White was going to gain control of [the] service pistol  did not constitute an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury, the two board members concluded.

The Police Commission also faulted the tactics used by Shuff and his partner leading up to the deadly encounter, saying some of their actions unnecessarily compromised the safety of the officers.

Shuffs attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.

The case marks one of a handful of shootings by on-duty LAPD officers last year in which police commissioners have determined the officers violated department rules for using deadly force. This year, the board faulted the officers who opened fire in two deadly shootings of unarmed men, one near the Venice boardwalk, another in Burbank.

See the most-read stories this hour 

The union that represents rank-and-file officers has criticized commissioners for some of those rulings, particularly their decision to fault an officer in the deadly 2014 shooting of Ezell Ford, a mentally ill black man who was killed as he walked near his home in South L.A.

Although the LAPD found that Ford struggled with the officer over his department-issued gun, the commission decided that the officer did not have a reason to stop and detain Ford in the first place. His handling of the encounter, the panel concluded, was so flawed that it led to the fatal confrontation.

The commissions ruling was welcomed by Fords family and others who had protested the shooting. But police union officials warned that the decision had roiled officers, prompting concerns that they would be unfairly judged for proactive policing.

Two reports  one from Beck, another summarizing the commissions decision  provided new details about last years shooting of White, which occurred in the Mid-Wilshire area.

Both officers names were redacted from the reports. The LAPD previously identified Shuff as the officer who opened fire.

The events leading up to the shooting unfolded the morning of July 9, when the officers responded to a report of a man smashing windows with a skateboard near Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue.

When the officers arrived, they spotted White  who matched the description of the person breaking windows, according to the reports. The rookie officer yelled at White to get on the ground, the reports said, but he ignored the commands and got on his skateboard.

The officers radioed for backup and drove down Sycamore Avenue in their patrol car, trailing White as he rode away, according to Becks report.

At one point, the reports said, White stumbled off the skateboard and Shuff told his partner to get out of their car to try and grab it. The rookie cop ran for the skateboard. So did White.

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Fearing White would get to the skateboard first and attack his partner with it, Shuff got out of the car and tackled White from behind, according to the reports. The officers struggled to handcuff him, prompting the rookie officer to draw her Taser.

She pressed the stun gun against White at least twice, the reports said, but the struggle continued. The officer set the Taser on a nearby step. She later told investigators she believed the device was out of Whites reach but close enough for her to grab if she needed it again.

Instead, White snatched the Taser and pressed it against the officers leg, the reports said. As she screamed, Shuff drew his gun and fired.

White collapsed on the steps, the Taser still in his hand.

White was one of 36 people shot by on-duty LAPD officers last year. Twenty-one were killed.

Both Beck and the police commissioners faulted the officers tactics, specifically the rookie cops failure to secure her Taser and Shuffs decision to tell his partner to go for the skateboard instead of waiting for help from other officers.

Shuff, who has worked for the LAPD since 2007, has returned to field duties, a department spokesman said this week.

It is now up to Beck to decide what discipline, if any, to hand down to the officer. Under state law that gives police officers sweeping privacy rights, that decision will not be made public.

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kate.mather@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter: @katemather
An Oceanside woman was charged Wednesday with gross vehicular manslaughter while drunk after she plowed into a pedestrian and then drove a mile with his body lodged in the passenger seat, according to prosecutors.

Along with manslaughter, Esteysi Sanchez also faces charges for hit and run resulting in death, driving under the influence and driving without a license, according to a San Diego County criminal complaint. The complaint alleges Sanchezs blood alcohol level was .15% or higher  nearly twice the legal limit.

Sanchez, 29, is being held in lieu of $1.5 million bail. On Wednesday, she was ordered to wear an alcohol and location monitoring bracelet if she is released on bail.

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The victim, Jack Ray Tenhulzen, was walking along a sidewalk before 6:30 a.m. Monday when he was struck, authorities said.

After the crash, Sanchez drove about a mile down the road, parked haphazardly in a residential neighborhood in Oceanside and walked home. Her boyfriend called police and Sanchez was arrested about an hour later, officials said.

According to police, the force of the collision caused the victim to smash through the windshield and come to a rest in the front passenger seat.

Sanchez, an Oceanside resident, does not have a drivers license, according to DMV records. She applied for one in March 2015 but the process was not completed.

Witnesses told KNSD that the man was on the sidewalk and the car jumped the curb and hit him. They told the station that one of his legs was ripped from his body and landed on the trunk of her car.

See the most-read stories this hour 

Theres no words to really describe it. I mean, just seeing that up close and personal, its kind of traumatizing in a way, witness Edwin Esparza told KNSD.

The victim was described as a known transient in his 60s, whose listed address was a local soup kitchen, officials said.

His shoes, wallet, keys and ID  as well as parts of the shattered windshield  were found where he was hit. Paramedics pronounced him dead where the car was found.

If convicted of the charges, Sanchez faces up to 15 years and six months in prison.

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

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Officers are grieving over the loss of a Long Beach police dog killed by friendly fire Tuesday during a manhunt for a 2014 shooting suspect that also left the suspect dead.

Credo, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, is Long Beach police Officer Mike Parcells second canine partner to die in the line of duty in nearly 11 years.

Parcells, a 23-year Long Beach police veteran and a dog handler for 16 years, had been partnered with Credo for two years. Skilled in patrol and narcotics operations, the dog was involved in more than 30 apprehensions, according to the Long Beach Police Department.

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In October 2005, Parcells partner Ranger, also a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, was shot in the chest during a SWAT call in the 1200 block of Loma Vista Avenue, police said. Ranger died during surgery. The dog had served with the department for two years.

Please keep Ofc. Parcells and his family in your thoughts as they deal with this tragic loss, the department said.

Members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force had been searching for a man who was wanted in connection with a shooting that injured multiple people in December 2014, according to a police statement.

The task force observed the suspect near 16th Street and Temple Avenue, but he ran to a friends apartment in the 2800 block of East 15th Street. Police set up a perimeter around the apartment complex and closed surrounding streets.

The man eventually left the apartment, but did not obey officers orders to surrender, instead charging toward the officers, according to the police statement. Police responded by firing rubber bullets and sending in Credo the police dog.

As Credo fought with the suspect, the suspect produced a knife while continuing to advance toward officers, police said.

One officer opened fire with live ammunition, striking the man and Credo.

The man was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead later Tuesday, according to a police spokeswoman.

Credo was taken to a veterinary hospital and later died.

No officers were injured during the shooting. A serrated knife with a black handle was found at the scene.

For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.

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Homicide investigators were looking for answers after two women and a teenage girl were found dead in an upscale home in Rancho Santa Fe on Tuesday.

The names of the dead were not released, but the man who sold the house to Michael Ayra about 18 months ago said Ayra recently died, and his girlfriend was worried about being turned out of the house in the community north of San Diego .

James Zolin of Rancho Santa Fe said Ayras teenage daughter and sister may have been at the house, along with his girlfriend.

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Autopsies were being conducted Tuesday. San Diego County sheriffs investigators have not said how the three died. Zolin said Ayra once mentioned owning a handgun.

Zolin said he and Ayra, who was of Iranian descent, struck up a friendship through the process of the house sale. Zolin said he visited him often, and saw how the girlfriend, Marina Ryzhkova, 29, from Russia, tended to Ayra, who contracted lung cancer.

She took good care of him, Zolin said. He never mentioned to me that hed made any provision for her.

Zolin said Ayra, 59, passed away in April. At a memorial service for him at the Rancho Santa Fe Country Club, Ryzhkova talked to Zolin and his sister, Jo Zolin.

She said she was distraught. She said, I dont know what Im going to do, they want me out of the house, Zolin recalled. I asked if she was going to go back to Russia and she said, Maybe.

He said Ayra had a teenage daughter from a previous marriage, but he had never seen the girl at Ayras home. Zolin said he met the girl and Ayras sister at the memorial service.

Ayra was a real estate broker and Ryzhkova sold real estate, Jo Zolin said. He was such a nice man, easy to talk to. He was really big in real estate. ... He made deals, renovated homes and sold them. She helped him in that respect.

Jo Zolin said when her brother sold his house to Ayra, Ryzhkova oversaw the remodeling, including taking down walls.

I got to know her better, she said. I dont think she and the daughter had much of a relationship. At the memorial, Marina seemed all alone.

The homicide investigation began with a phone call to the Sheriffs Department shortly before noon on Monday from a friend of one of the victims reporting possible child abuse, homicide Lt. Kenn Nelson said.

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No one answered the door, but a deputy looked into a kitchen window and saw a woman lying on the floor. Deputies forced open a door and found that woman dead, and two other bodies in other parts of the house. Nelson has said no suspects had been identified.

Detectives and crime scene technicians spent nearly 15 hours at the house, collecting evidence, taking photos and video, making measurements and interviewing neighbors, Nelson said.

He said they wrapped up about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday. Autopsies were begun, but might not be completed until Wednesday. The names of the deceased would likely be released after that, he said.

We are still trying to confirm relationships and motives, Nelson said.

One neighbor said she and her husband were entertaining guests outside until about 9 p.m. Sunday, but they heard nothing from the Ayra house. She said investigators questioned them but revealed nothing about the case.

Repard writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Police have made an arrest in connection with a string of burglaries and sexual assaults in South Pasadena that led to a lockdown of schools Wednesday morning.

South Pasadena police tweeted that they had made one arrest in connection with the earlier incidents. Those incidents included five residential burglaries and three sexual assaults that began at about 7:40 a.m., police said in a press statement.

Police previously reported that a suspect, possibly involved in several of the cases, was seen armed with a knife in one of the burglaries.

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Out of an abundance of caution police said they had requested lockdowns of South Pasadena Middle and High schools during the investigation because of their proximity to some of the incident locations.

A knife was found at the scene of one of the burglaries, according to police. The school lockdowns were lifted shortly afterward.

Police will hold a press conference regarding the incidents at 4 p.m. in the courtyard of South Pasadena City Hall.

Twitter: @brittny_mejia

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UPDATES:

3:28 p.m.: This article was updated with details of the arrest.

This article was originally published at 1:45 p.m.
An openly gay YouTube star who said he was brutally assaulted by three men in West Hollywood was charged Wednesday with filing a false police report.

Los Angeles County prosecutors allege that Calum McSwiggan, known by thousands of fans for his YouTube channel on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, lied when he told sheriffs deputies that he was beaten early Monday.

McSwiggan, a resident of London who was visiting Southern California, appeared in Los Angeles County Superior Court and pleaded not guilty to the charge. If convicted, he faces up to 364 days in county jail.

The charge marks the latest chapter in a drama that has played out on the online stars social media platforms, which was followed by the L.A. County Sheriffs Department publicly releasing a statement and photo that rebutted McSwiggans allegations.

McSwiggan wrote in an Instagram post that after he visited a gay club, three men attacked him. He said he suffered three broken teeth and required six stitches in his forehead.

The authorities should have been there to help and protect me but instead they treated me like a second class citizen, McSwiggan wrote in his post, which showed him in a hospital with bandages affixed to his forehead.

Ive never felt so terrified to be a gay man in the public eye.

The Sheriffs Department confirmed that deputies responded early Monday to McSwiggans report of assault after leaving a West Hollywood nightclub. But deputies at the scene were unable to substantiate the assault, according to a statement.

Deputies then placed McSwiggan, 26, under arrest about 2:30 a.m. Monday on suspicion of vandalism of a car along Santa Monica Boulevard near Robertson Boulevard, in the heart of the citys LGBT nightlife district, authorities said.

McSwiggan was booked on a count of vandalism with property damage greater than $400 and held in lieu of $20,000 bail, according to jail records.

Before being placed in his jail cell, deputies had McSwiggan stand for a booking photo, which appears to show no obvious injuries.

Once inside a solo jail cell, McSwiggan was then observed injuring himself with the handle and receiver to a payphone, sheriffs officials said in a statement.

He was taken to the hospital for treatment. McSwiggan was released from custody just before 9:15 p.m. Monday with a citation to appear in court.

In a statement posted Wednesday to his Facebook page, McSwiggan provided more details about the alleged attack, saying that it occurred in a parking lot after he had left the Abbey. A man punched him, and he was later kicked; after regaining consciousness, he realized his teeth were broken.

In a moment of devastation, anger and blind rage, I kicked the wing mirror of the attackers car until it broke and then ripped it off with my hands, McSwiggan wrote. He later returned to the Abbey, reunited with his friends and contacted police.

McSwiggan said he told deputies about the attack and acknowledged vandalizing the car. A deputy told him that she did not believe his story of being attacked since he had no physical injuries on his face, he wrote.

Just because there were no visible marks on my face does not mean I was not attacked, McSwiggan said.

Inside the jail cell, he wrote, he hit himself in order to be transferred to the hospital.

It was the only solution I could find to get myself out of there, he wrote. This is incredibly out of character for me and is testament to how upset I was in that moment.

McSwiggans next court appearance is scheduled for July 19.

For more news in California, follow @MattHjourno on Twitter.

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UPDATES:

June 29, 6:46 p.m.: This article was updated with details from McSwiggans arraignment and additional comments from an online statement.

June 29, 3:02 p.m.: This article was updated to add that prosecutors have filed a misdemeanor charge against Calum McSwiggan.

This article was originally published June 28 at 10:38 p.m.
Alvin Toffler, author of the influential 1970 futurist bestseller Future Shock, died Monday in his sleep at his home in Bel-Air, according to Yvonne Merkel, a spokeswoman for his Reston, Va.-based consulting firm, Toffler Associates. He was 87.

Tofflers description of a nation bewildered by the rapid changes sweeping the globe made him a household name. He derived the term future shock from culture shock and asserted that technology would usher in a new era  a Third Wave  in which the explosion of choice and ease of communication would transform commercial, public and private life.

Toffler was dubbed the Buck Rogers of predictive sociology by the Washington Post. His books were described as survival manuals for the future.

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While some critics derided them as glossily packaged over-simplifications, Toffler got many things right, predicting, for example, increased use of renewable energy, a shift away from traditional nuclear families, and the advent of a computer-driven information age.

With typical foresight, he questioned the wisdom of the European Union in an interview with The Guardian newspaper in the late 1990s. The problem was that the European Union still believes bigger is better, he said. Toffler said this was a mistake: flexibility, diversity and micro-markets would rule the future, he said.

But Toffler also offered arguments that seem to run counter to our present world of tech giants, propaganda and internet censorship around the world. He said society and commercial life were being de-massified, that the future would favor small enterprise, and that the information revolution would probably erode government control, not enhance it.

Toffler was born Oct. 4, 1928, to Polish Jewish immigrants in New York, and raised in Brooklyn. He graduated from New York University and married his longtime collaborator, Adelaide Elizabeth Farrell, known as Heidi.

He worked for five years in the Midwest as a welder to study assembly lines and mass production, according to Toffler Associates. He would later say the impulse was the same as the one that drove John Steinbeck to pick grapes and Jack London to go to sea.

He covered labor issues as a newspaper journalist, then moved into business management.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

He began work on Future Shock in the 1960s, focusing on what he called techno-social changes looming on the horizon. Informed by his experience as a factory worker, he saw a progression in which laborers were first replaced by machines, then by lower-paid overseas workers.

Future Shock was a giant bestseller. It explored the disorientation created by a fast-changing world  too much change in too short a time, he said  and was a popular staple of management bookshelves of the 1970s.

Toffler, with his wife, became a noted prognosticator. Two other books, The Third Wave and Powershift, formed a trilogy with Future Shock. The couple also wrote several other works, lectured, and advised business and political leaders. They were close to former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, for instance, though Toffler had been drawn to Marx as a young man, and both Tofflers fell to the left of Gingrich on some social issues.

With consultant Tom Johnson, the Tofflers established Toffler Associates in 1996.

Toffler was generally optimistic, and urged embrace of ethnic diversity and of globalizing trends. The Tofflers became synonymous with futurism, warning the world that, as the Los Angeles Times John Balzar put it in 1993, were about to be late for tomorrow.

They cautioned against getting stuck in an obsolete industrial past and predicted a wave of changes in family formation and business organization.

Politics  like economics and information, is going transnational, the couple asserted in a 1997 piece for The Times.

Toffler said he sought not to be a fortuneteller, but to clarify the present. He readily acknowledged that some critics found his ideas far-fetched, even crazy. But he and his wife deliberately sought to occupy the fringe of public thought, he told The Guardian.

We want people to think outside the conventional frame, he said.

His wife survives him.

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Stanley Meisler, a longtime foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and author of several books on foreign affairs and art  including a well-regarded history of the Peace Corps  died Sunday of cardiac arrest in Washington, D.C., said his wife, Elizabeth Fox. He was 85.

Meisler retired from the Times in 1998 but never stopped working: his last freelance piece for the paper  on the artist William Merritt Chase  was published the day of his death.

Over three decades as a foreign and diplomatic correspondent for the Times, Meislers assignments included Nairobi, Barcelona, Paris, Mexico City and Toronto. He covered the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.s 1963 March on Washington, the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall and terrorist bombings in France in the 1980s.

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Meisler was a self-taught expert on art, the subject of much of his freelance work, and a 2015 book: Shocking Paris: Soutine, Chagall and the Outsiders of Montparnasse.

Meisler was so well-traveled that he served as a kind of living travel guide for friends, advising them on restaurants and landmarks wherever they happened to be going, said friend and colleague Bob Rosenblatt. The United Nations was his longtime beat, and the subject of his 1996 history of the institution. Meisler also wrote a biography of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

He was enthusiastically cynical, Rosenblatt said. He liked his stories, and he enjoyed it all, but he had appropriate skepticism.

Stanley Meisler was born May 14, 1931, in the Bronx, N.Y., to Jean Wolf and Meyer Meisler, a Polish immigrant who hung wallpaper for a living. He went to James Monroe High and City College New York where he earned a degree in English. He did graduate work at UC Berkeley but did not complete a degree.

His first journalism job was at a small paper in a small town: Middletown, Ohio. He worked for the Associated Press from 1954 to 1964 in New Orleans and Washington and then for the Peace Corps, where he became deputy director of the Office of Evaluation and Research. In 2011 he wrote a book on the Peace Corps, When the World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years.

In 1967, he was sent to Nairobi by The Times. After many foreign assignments, he went to New York to cover the United Nations in the 1990s, and at his retirement in 1998 was covering foreign affairs in Washington.

He went straight back to work after retirement.

He did numerous freelance articles for The Times and Smithsonian, and also contributed to other publications, including the Atlantic, the Nation and Foreign Affairs.

Although he had no formal training in art, his expertise was such that he helped give tours of the National Gallery for a college alumni group, Rosenblatt said. He seemed to know all this the way a professor did, Rosenblatt said.

He wrote about art, not as a critic, but as a storyteller  reporting it, just as he had previously reported diplomatic news and international tragedies. He also pursued his interests in fine cooking and fine restaurants, and organized a regular social gathering of retired journalists.

He was a sensational writer, said another former Times colleague, Ronald Ostrow. He had a sharp sense of humor. He seemed resistant to authority in the form of editors and such, but it wasnt just, editors do no right. He was sure of what he was doing.

He loved clear writing  and he loved, loved stories. He went after stories you wouldnt think of, said his wife, who directs the Office of Health, Infectious Diseases and Nutrition for U.S. Agency for International Development.

They met in Argentina around the time of the Falklands War. She was a source for a story. They married in 1984.

In a 1986 article about the French reconciling with the legacy of the Dreyfus affair, Meisler wrote: France has divided often in the 20th Century in titanic, bitter struggles.

He provided a brief list  left versus right, De Gaulle versus Vichy, French Algeria versus reality, etc.  then concluded: The Dreyfus case has always seemed to set the pattern for these conflicts.

Besides his wife, he is survived by two sons and eight grandchildren.

jill.leovy@latimes.com
The Supreme Court ended its term this week with two liberal victories  on abortion and affirmative action  that reflect in part a deepening center-left alliance between Justices Anthony M. Kennedy and Stephen G. Breyer.

Breyer is the most moderate of the courts four Democratic appointees, and Kennedy is easily the most moderate of the four Republican appointees. Both share an interest in deciding cases based on a practical assessment of the facts, and not rigid doctrines or legal ideology.

Kennedy and Breyer  the courts only two California natives  voted together more than 91% of the time this term, among the highest rates of agreement of any two justices this term, according to the Scotusblog website.

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And history has shown when the court is closely split between liberals and conservatives  as it has been since the February death of Justice Antonin Scalia  its often the moderates who take on a more prominent role.

Because court proceedings are private, its difficult to know whether the agreement between Kennedy and Breyer is merely coincidence, a reflection of caseloads or the result of mutual influence.

But in recent years, clerks have noted that Breyer and Kennedy are often seen around the court building talking about cases.

Heres how a divided Supreme Court ruled (or didnt rule) on big issues this session >>

Their agreement is also apparent in decisions. Kennedy provided the key fifth vote in the abortion and affirmative action decisions. Breyer, meanwhile, joined Kennedy and other conservatives in recent rulings on criminal justice and search warrants.

Perhaps the clearest sign of their bond was when Kennedy chose Breyer to write the opinion in the abortion case. As the senior justice in the majority, Kennedy could have written the decision or assigned the important case to one of the female justices. But Kennedy appears to have had more confidence that the like-minded Breyer would craft an opinion he could sign.

Neal Katyal, a Washington lawyer and former acting U.S. solicitor general, said Breyer has the right demeanor for building friendships over time. After Justice Sandra Day OConnor retired in 2006, Breyer said he was in mourning because she was so reasonable and open-minded, and he greatly missed discussing cases with her.

Since the time I clerked for him, I have always been struck by the way he approaches controversy. He doesnt get angry or tart, even when one of his colleagues pens something that is harsh, Katyal said. This isnt strategic. He genuinely respects people who think differently and values the differences. So its not surprising to me that he has forged alliances in important cases with Justice Kennedy.

Breyer, 77, grew up in San Francisco, graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Law School. The lifelong Democrat lived and worked in Boston before he was appointed to the high court.

Kennedy, 79, was raised in Sacramento and, like Breyer, has degrees from Stanford and Harvard Law School. The lifelong Republican joined the high court in 1988, the last appointee of President Reagan.

Whereas Kennedy is known for his sweeping rhetoric, Breyer rarely writes strong opinions or bold dissents.

He takes an evidence-driven approach. He wants to understand how the world works and how the law operates given the realities on the ground, said Brianne Gorod, counsel for the Constitutional Accountability Center and former law clerk for Breyer.

When this term began in the fall, the court faced a lineup of cases that appeared to favor conservatives on issues that included unions, immigration, abortion and voting districts. But Scalias death changed those calculations.

Instead, for the second year in a row, the court tilted to the left in its major decisions. Last year, the justices ended their term with historical rulings that legalized same-sex marriages nationwide and upheld President Obamas healthcare plan for a second time.

The Supreme Court term that ended Monday was more liberal than many had predicted and stranger than anyone could have anticipated, said Steven Shapiro, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The rulings on abortion and affirmative action are likely to have the most lasting impact.

The Supreme Court term that ended Monday was more liberal than many had predicted and stranger than anyone could have anticipated.  Steven Shapiro, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union

Breyer spoke for a 5-3 majority to reject a Texas law and similar ones in the South and Midwest that set special medical standards for abortion clinics. Although lawmakers said they sought to protect the health and safety of women, Breyer said a careful look at the evidence showed the measures would mostly make it harder for women to obtain a legal abortion.

Throughout his career, Kennedy has remained uncomfortable with the issue of abortion. He is Catholic and personally opposed to abortion. In 1992, he cast the crucial fifth vote with some reluctance to affirm the right to abortion. But in 2007, he wrote an opinion upholding a ban on so-called partial-birth abortions that take place late in a pregnancy.

There is reason to think Kennedy changed his mind on the Texas abortion law. In the fall of 2013, the Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote allowed Texas to enforce a provision that required all abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. At the time, Breyer wrote a dissent saying the law would shut down about half of the clinics and leave rural women with few options.

But this spring when justices made their initial vote in the abortion case, Kennedy sided with Breyer and the three female justices to strike down the law entirely.

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Kennedy also appears to have moderated his views on affirmative action. In the past, he had been skeptical of race-based affirmative action policies. He surprised many with his opinion last week concluding a University of Texas policy could be upheld because it was limited in its scope.

This suggests that in areas where Justice Kennedy has conflicting impulses  whether to allow consideration of race, whether to allow restrictions on abortion  he can sometimes be persuaded by evidence about how the laws or programs actually operate and the effects that they can have, Gorod said.

In criminal cases, Breyer has often voted with Kennedy in support of law enforcement. Last week, he cast a key vote in a 5-3 opinion that upheld the admissibility of drug evidence found on a man who was questioned outside a suspected drug house and found to have an outstanding warrant. The decision draw a fiery dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who said it could encourage the police to stop and question even more young black and Latino men.

Three years ago, Breyer also cast a fifth vote with Kennedy in a crucial DNA case that prompted an angry dissent from Scalia. At issue was whether police could take a mouth swab for DNA from anyone arrested for a serious crime. These DNA tests have been crucial for identifying serial rapists, but Scalia and the three liberal justices argued this mouth swab was a search that required a warrant.

I doubt that the proud men who wrote the charter of our liberties would have been so eager to open their mouths for royal inspection, Scalia wrote in dissent.

Kennedy and Breyer thought this made no sense. Police can fingerprint people who are arrested, and those fingerprints can be used to charge people with other crimes. DNA samples are at most a minor intrusion on the privacy of someone who has been arrested, Kennedy said in Maryland vs. King, which upheld laws in California and across the nation.

Kennedy and Breyer are likely to continue to play key roles when the court returns in the fall with its future direction uncertain and dependent on the presidential election. Senate Republicans have refused to consider Obamas nomination of federal Judge Merrick Garland to replace Scalia, meaning the court may operate with eight justices until at least early 2017.

However, a surprise confirmation of Merrick Garland or a victory by presumed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton could lead the way to a liberal majority on the Supreme Court for the first time since the Nixon administration, said the ACLUs Shapiro, who is stepping down this summer. We may have witnessed not just the end of the term, but the end of an era.

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In 911 calls the night of the Pulse shooting, some of the patrons trapped inside the Orlando, Fla., nightclub described seeing the shooter. Others said they could only hear him getting closer.

One whispered: Please help.

Another spoke with a dispatcher only briefly.

My caller is no longer responding, a dispatcher said at 2:09 a.m. Just an open line with moaning.

In one of the most descriptive official reports released in the June 12 nightclub shooting, made public by the city on Tuesday, 911 callers described their own wounds and the injuries of those around them: Gunshot to the stomach. Gunshot to the chest. Shots to the leg and knee. Shots to the arm.

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The city did not release audio recordings or full transcripts of the 911 calls or of shooter Omar Mateens communications with a police negotiator, only the computer-assisted dispatch logs that laid out radio communication among first responders. Callers are not named in the logs.

Mourners gather at Lake Eola Park in Orlando to honor the Pulse shooting victims. (John Raoux / Associated Press )

By the time police broke through a club wall just after 5 a.m. and killed Mateen, 49 people were dead and more than 50 others injured.

In the call logs, dispatchers reported the accounts of a mother who said her son was on the floor of the VIP lounge and of an injured man who said he was in the bathroom with about 15 others  two of whom were dead.

My caller is no longer responding. Just an open line with moaning.  911 dispatcher

At 2:06 a.m., a caller said she thought the shooter was out of bullets. But a minute and a half later, those inside heard shots starting up again and people screaming for help.

Fire crews brought the first victim to a nearby hospital at 2:13 a.m. as Orlando police officers started transporting victims to Orlando Regional Medical Center.

The police SWAT team was paged at 2:18 a.m.

The incident narratives from the police and fire departments show that no callers reported gun shots from inside the club after 2:18, which matches statements made by Orlando Police Chief John Mina. Other witnesses who were inside the club have disputed those statements.

At 2:20 a.m., a caller said the shooter was loading up. The caller was in a bathroom; so was the shooter.

Mateen talked with a dispatcher at 2:40 a.m. and pledged allegiance to the terrorist group Islamic State. A caller said Mateen was in the womens restroom at the time.

A memorial at Lake Eola in Orlando honors the 49 people killed at Pulse nightclub. (Joe Burbank / Orlando Sentinel )

At 2:51 a.m., Mateen told a dispatcher he was a terrorist and there were possible explosives in the parking lot. Another caller said Mateen was still in the womens bathroom and had bombs strapped to his body.

Police officials requested a bomb truck two minutes before 3 a.m., about the same time the citys emergency manager was contacted and updated on the situation.

Fire records show the bomb truck and crew arrived at 4:08 a.m.

But bomb-sniffing dogs from Seminole County and the University of Central Floridas law enforcement departments arrived earlier and started searching the area outside the club.

An Orlando police chaplain, part of a group of volunteer clerics who work with the department, called the dispatch center at 3:16 a.m. He was sent to Orlando Regional Medical Center to offer support there.

At 4:09 a.m., Mateen was in a mens restroom, reloading his guns, said a caller whose sister was sending text messages from the club.

Others said that people in the bathrooms were bleeding and that Mateen looked like he was about to start shooting again.

Twenty minutes later, word spread to police officers that Mateen was saying he would attach explosive vests to four people in the club in 15 minutes, records show. That, Mina has said, is what prompted officers to move in.

Dispatchers could hear explosions near a 911 caller on the line at 5:07 a.m. Police later said these were controlled explosions by officers. They did not find any bombs in the club.

At 5:14 a.m., dispatchers reported shots fired in a bathroom.

The official call came at 5:17 a.m.: Bad guy down strapped.

When morning came, police dogs swept other gay clubs in Orlando to check for explosives. No hazards were found.

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Tziperman Lotan and Allen write for the Orlando Sentinel.
President Obama challenged the contention Wednesday that Donald Trump is a populist and got an assist from Mexicos president, who warned darkly that Hitler and Mussolini used rhetoric similar to Trumps with tragic results.

In a screed that he himself described as a rant, the president said that a populist must fight for the working class and ordinary people, which he charged Trump has never done, and not simply criticize the downside of the global economy or denigrate immigrants.

Thats not the measure of populism, Obama said. Thats nativism. Or xenophobia. Or worse.

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Without naming Trump, Obama said people dont suddenly become a populist because they say something controversial in order to win votes.

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Obama insisted that he himself has earned the label, though, citing his work as a community organizer early in his career up through the decision he made to bail out the failing auto industry during the heart of the financial crisis at the beginning of his presidency.

It wasnt a popular decision for him to push for the bailout in 2009, Obama recalled. Now, though, union members and workers see it differently, he said, because the policy saved their jobs and their communities.

The last time I visited an auto plant, he said, they were pretty happy.

Obama was assisted in his dress-down of Trump by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who, during a news conference alongside Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa, criticized leaders who use demagoguery to impede progress  name-checking Mussolini and Hitler.

Some leaders want to go back to problems of the past by destroying what has been built.

Hitler and Mussolini did that, Pena Nieto said, leading to a tragedy for mankind.

Pena Nieto acknowledged that the North American leaders talked about Trump and his policies, especially on immigration, during their closed-door sessions.

As the trio emerged to discuss their day of meetings, they focused on the importance of trade and integration among their countries and with the rest of the world, implicitly arguing against some of the doctrines Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton are preaching on the campaign trail. Though Trump has come out much more harshly against globalization and existing pacts like the North American Free Trade Agreement, Clinton, too, has said shes against the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership deal being negotiated among a dozen nations, including the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Unions and others in her base are deeply concerned about its implications for U.S. workers.

Trump has blasted Obamas pending Asia trade deal and threatened to renegotiate NAFTA.

Obama, Trudeau and Pena Nieto all argued the merits of trade and of embracing the opportunities of the global economy.

Always, there will be people trying to get us to turn inwards, Trudeau said. It is much better that we engage.

Failure to do so leads to isolation and destruction, Pena Nieto said.

The Mexican and Canadian leaders both said they would respect the U.S. political process and try to work with whoever is elected to succeed Obama.

When a reporter asked the Mexican and Canadian leaders to weigh in further on the election, Obama stepped in to give them an out. He said that he wouldnt answer such a question about domestic politics if he were asked while abroad.

But almost as an afterthought, he then veered off into his mini-lecture on the meaning of the word populism, which many political analysts have used to describe Trump.

Im not prepared to concede the notion that some of the rhetoric thats been popping up is populist, he said.

Follow @cparsons for news about the White House.

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Congress delivered relief to debt-stricken Puerto Rico on Wednesday, sending President Barack Obama a last-minute financial rescue package to help the U.S. territory of 3.5 million Americans.

The Senate passed the bill on a bipartisan 68-30 vote, three weeks after the House overwhelmingly backed the measure. The vote came two days before the island is supposed to make a $2 billion payment to creditors. Obama is expected to move quickly and sign the legislation.

Puerto Rico is in a decade-long recession and has $70 billion in debt. Thousands have fled the territory for the U.S. mainland. Businesses on the island have closed, schools have struggled with limited electricity and hospitals have asked for cash payment in advance for some medication.

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The White House and Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress have warned that without help from Washington, the island could descend into economic chaos, with signs already pointing to a humanitarian crisis. In a rare feat of election-year unity, all four Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress supported the bill.

The legislation would create a control board to oversee the U.S. territorys finances and supervise some debt restructuring. It would not provide any direct financial aid to the territory, but leaders warned that a bailout could eventually become necessary if Congress doesnt take this step.

If we dont act before the island misses a critical debt payment deadline this Friday, matters will only get worse  for Puerto Rico and for taxpayers, warned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

The control board would be similar to one that oversaw the District of Columbia in the late 1990s. Its seven members would oversee negotiations with creditors and the courts over reducing some debt. In addition to creating the board, the bill would require the territory to create a fiscal plan and fund public pensions, which the Puerto Rico government has shorted by more than $40 billion.

Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla has warned the U.S. territory would face multiple lawsuits if the bill is not approved, especially following Fridays anticipated default on $1 billion in general obligation bonds. The legislation would temporarily block creditor lawsuits from being filed until February 2017.

The general obligation bonds are backed by the islands constitution, but Garcia has said the government has no money to honor that debt despite the implementation of new taxes and recent increases in utility rates. Garcia hasnt said if the island will default on the other $1 billion that is due.

Puerto Rico cannot endure any more austerity, Garcia said in an editorial published Wednesday.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday in a bid to persuade some reluctant Democrats concerned that the board would be too powerful. Democrats have also opposed a provision that would allow the islands government to lower the minimum wage for some younger workers.

Lew urged senators to vote for the bill even though it isnt perfect, saying that if the island defaults, the government may be forced to shut public transit, close a hospital or send police officers home.

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey was staunchly opposed to the bill, monopolizing the Senate floor for more than four hours Tuesday evening, arguing that the bill adopts a colonial approach.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also opposed it.

In my view we need austerity not for the people of Puerto Rico, but for the billionaire Wall Street hedge fund managers who have exacerbated the crisis on the island, Sanders said on the floor.

In the days before the vote, some bondholder groups worked to turn senators against the bill, arguing it doesnt sufficiently protect creditors and is tantamount to a bailout for the territory. Several labor unions also lobbied against the measure, arguing that a lower minimum wage could take money out of the Puerto Rican economy.

The legislation is needed because Puerto Rico cannot declare bankruptcy under federal law. Mainland municipalities and their utilities can, while municipalities and utilities in Puerto Rico cannot.

Some Republicans who opposed the bill said the bill could set a bad precedent for financially strapped states.

Theyll say, if a territory can receive unprecedented authority from Congress, then why shouldnt a state? said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican.

UPDATES:

4:37 p.m.: This article was updated with news of the bill passing in the Senate.

This article was originally published at 8:42 a.m.
It took a deadly gas pipe explosion and the largest methane leak in U.S. history, but Sacramento has finally agreed to make major changes to the state Public Utilities Commission. The goal is to rebuild Californians confidence that the regulatory agency is working for them, and not for the energy companies it is supposed to oversee.

While not as far-reaching as some would like, the reforms worked out by Gov. Jerry Brown and legislators this week will go a long way toward addressing the persistent complaints that the PUC is too cozy with utility executives  and that consumers have paid the price in higher rates and compromised safety. Specifically, the deal puts more limits on private meetings between regulators and those who are trying to influence them, shifts the regulation of transportation companies to more appropriate agencies and makes PUC documents and meetings more accessible to the public.

The reform package represents an agreement between legislators, who have been trying to change the commission for years, and the governor who has, up to now, stood in the way.

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Legislators began trying to reform the agency in earnest after a gas line in San Bruno exploded and killed eight people in 2010. Later revelations that the commissioners  former Commission President Michael Peevey in particular  were overly tight with utilities executives cast doubt on decisions in the aftermath of the explosion and also on decisions about the 2013 closing of San Onofre nuclear power plant. Earlier this year, commissioners acknowledged that the $3.3 billion bill for the plant shutdown had been tainted by a meeting in Poland between Peevey and an executive for Southern California Edison, which owns 78% of San Onofre. They reopened the settlement agreement.

The PUC is unusual because it regulates a smorgasbord of industries. Formed about 100 years ago to regulate the monopoly that Southern Pacific Railroad Company had over the states rail and transportation, it was later extended to transportation companies (taxis, buses and, most recently, Uber and Lyft), as well as water, power and telecommunication providers.

What also makes the PUC unusual is the extent of ex parte communication employed in decision making. These are private meetings, calls, emails or texts between commissioners and those who are trying to influence the decisions they make. That wont completely end with this deal, but it will be significantly curtailed; it will also be easier to bring criminal charges against those who violate the new restrictions. Incidentally, ex parte communication has also come under fire recently at the Coastal Commission, and legislation to ban that is pending at the moment.

Last year, Brown vetoed a package of PUC reforms, telling legislators he supported the intent but not some of the details. The current compromise may have been expedited by the leak at an underground natural gas storage facility in Aliso Canyon.

Adding fuel to the reform fire was a proposal by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) to break up the commission and reassign its various responsibilities to other state agencies. As part of the current deal, Gatto will drop his bill and support the reform package. Thats a relief. Although the PUC has become a bit of a monster, it doesnt merit the death sentence that Gatto was proposing.

One of Gattos gripes with the PUC  that it oversees too many incongruous industries and lacks the resources to do so properly  is a key part of the reform deal: Transportation-related responsibilities would be delegated to other state departments. For example, licensing and registration of ride-sharing vehicles would be moved to the Department of Motor Vehicles. That makes sense. Another notable change is the creation of a new executive-level position at the commission known as deputy director for safety. That person will have the authority (and, we hope, the clear responsibility) to red tag utility facilities and activities that are unsafe.

Nothing can ensure that California wont experience another gas line explosion or gas leak, or that every rate will be unerringly fair to ratepayers. But these reforms will make Californians more likely to believe that PUC regulators have the publics best interests in mind.

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Within living memory, the Los Angeles River has been pretty much a sump, a dump and a joke, its long life as a real river deep-sixed and paved over. The new master plan for reimagining the river just began its slow-mo rollout, with architect Frank Gehry as its marquee name, and with a website laying the groundwork for decisions by marshaling a lot of data. Matthew Gandy is a Cambridge professor who lives closer to the Thames than to the L.A. River, but hes studied it for more than a dozen years, written about it in his book The Fabric of Space, and here, he sizes up the rivers comeback chances, and the daunting conflicts along the way.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS INTERVIEW ON THE PATT MORRISON ASKS PODCAST

How do you see the role of the renowned architect Frank Gehry as leading, as changing, as raising the profile of anything that happens to change the profile of the Los Angeles River?

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I think that Los Angeles is not so different from a number of other cities and urban redevelopment projects where a high-profile, if you like, star architect has been chosen to play a role as perhaps a figurehead or some kind of a design leader of a particular project.

Urban rivers have become trendy, that theres more interest or attention placed on urban rivers. I think weve seen many examples of urban development projects where a high-profile architect takes a pivotal role in the new project, but I think its an ambiguous strategy because I think potentially it can ignore the grassroots perspective and all of the rich knowledge of places, of local communities, if you bring in somebody from outside who doesnt have such a deep knowledge and connection to the place thats being redeveloped.

Every great city grows up in some fashion or another around a river, and Los Angeles is no exception. But thats pretty much where the resemblance ends. Whats different about Los Angeles and its relationship with our river?

Maybe the first thing to say is that the river for Los Angeles has performed specific functional task to take storm water as safely and quickly as possible out to the ocean. Its only relatively recently that the river has been effectively rediscovered as part of the city in a similar way lets say to other world cities, like London or Paris.

Why do you think it was so easy for Angelenos to forget  generations of Angelenos, from the 1920s and 30s  to forget that there is even such a thing as the Los Angeles River?

Probably the critical turning point was when the Olmsted Bartholomew plan for the river back in the early decades of the 20th century, when that plan was abandoned, in other words, the idea that the river could be some kind of flood plain stroke nature park, a kind of large public space in the city was basically given up. And so the attention turned to engineering solution for the city. And inevitably, for structural reasons, that meant that the river was no longer a river in the sense of an ecological landscape that people would respond to.

It became a functional landscape that was actually cut off from the rest of the city. I think thats perhaps a key turning point, if you like: when real estate interests basically were dominant, over alternative conceptions of regional urban planning.

That was the fundamental tension which we see, incidentally, in other cities now. For example, in London, the fundamental tension is, can we give over large areas of land to create some kind of a floodplain park, or be forced to go through these large-scale engineering solutions to flood risks?

One of the features of London since the 1980s is that the post-industrial riverside landscape has been redeveloped for a variety of different purposes such as parks, new housing projects and so on. Theres certainly a sense of an industrial river becoming a post-industrial or abandoned space, and then redeveloped, particularly to the east of the city. So I think that in some ways London and Los Angeles have both been playing with similar dilemmas on what to do about these abandoned spaces in the vicinity of their rivers.

I was surprised when I was working on my book about the river to find it was treated more as a nuisance than an asset for its recent life.

I think that you could even say that many people have even feared the river at certain points in its history, because its seen as a marginal or even dangerous space.

The river may be better known to most people  even if they dont recognize it  as the setting for car-chase and racing scenes in movies like Grease, and Terminator 2, and Repo Man. At least the Hollywood part of Los Angeles has looked at the river and said, We can do something with this!

I think that the way the river has been portrayed cinematically has been very much to represent, if you will, the dystopian side to the city, or the hidden side to the city. So there are certain cultural motifs that have played out through the use of the river.

When it was converted into a concrete drainage channel by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the strange concrete landscapes were over time a source of inspiration for artists, filmmakers and so on. I think one of the tensions now is this particular cultural interpretation of the concrete river will be forgotten or displaced by this new phase in terms of the cultural appropriation of the river.

There are many more governments than the city of Los Angeles that have a hand on the tiller when it comes to deciding the rivers future.

Yes, I think one of the basic tensions is the government structure of the Los Angeles metropolitan region, because you have a very complicated set of different local authorities and jurisdictions, and there isnt a strategic planning authority that can very easily bring together all these interests or allow different communities to effectively engage with each other in relation to the future of the river.

I think if there was a truly integrated plan for the future of the river, that could actually imply a change in the way Los Angeles itself is governed. That would be the critical point, whether all of these different bits and pieces, if you like, are actually brought together to create a sum thats larger than the individual parts in terms of re-envisioning the river.

What are the biggest obstacles to bringing the river back to a vital part of the literal and cultural landscape?

One thing is making sure what happens to the river is connected to local communities and public culture, so that theres genuine participation and discussion about what happens. Will local communities be consulted? Will their voices be heard? Will existing environmental groups, such as Friends of the Los Angeles River  will they have a strong voice in terms of talking about the rivers future?

I think the other challenge obviously is the cost of modifying or developing the Los Angeles River. Its a major fiscal challenge.

And I think that the third main challenge or barrier, we should say, is this fragmentary nature of regional government for Los Angeles, whether that could be changed in some way to accommodate a more ambitious set of plans for the river.

Given those obstacles, what odds do you give us for getting it done, for getting done even close to right with the Los Angeles River?

In one sense, Im optimistic, in that the period in which Ive got to know the river over about 12, 15 years I have seen these small scale initiatives and changes which are really fascinating. I think the more difficult question is when the river becomes effectively integrated into more large-scale land and real estate speculation and at that point.

Were almost going back to the dilemmas of the early 20th century and what happens when urban planners encounter real estate interests, and the raw politics of urban development begins to come into the fray.

I think that a sense of concern about the potential secrecy of large-scale environmental planning and urban development projects; another possible point of tension is the question about the underlying motives for some of these large-scale plans.

The real estate interests, just as Olmsted and Bartholomew had to contend with these real estate interests in the early 20th century, these real estate interests are very much still there, theyre very present. And the question is how clear these conflicting interests [are] in the public imagination and what role the public can actually play directly in the discussions about the future of the river.

Do you think its any different now?

I would be very surprised if its changed that much. I mean, I think that fundamentally a lot of these tensions that were there in the early decades of the 20th century could very easily resurface in relation to an ambitious plan for the river that balances ecological needs, cultural needs, flood risk dimensions.

When the river paving began, the point was to get rid of the water quickly. Now, in the midst of drought, were wondering why we are wasting the water that does get flushed through the river. Can the master plan for the river make saving water a priority?

Theres no question that enormous quantities of water are simply lost because of the hard surfaces of the city, the very high proportion of space for parking spaces, roads, highways. The hydrological potential of Los Angeles has been under-utilized or under-explored. So ultimately its not just a question of the river but the whole hydrological imagination for Los Angeles.

What is your favorite part of the river, exploring it as you have done?

I like the Dominguez wetlands site, an area which I looked at very carefully about 15 years ago, and then I came back again and saw how this small part of the river  not the river itself but some of the adjacent drainage channels  had been changed in a dramatic way to create an extremely interesting kind of ecological park.

And in fact, the first thing that I noticed when I revisited that site, coming away from the highway, was the birdsong, like a wall of birdsong, a kind of acoustic transition moving from the highway to these remodeled ecological landscapes adjacent to the river -- a dramatic transition I think.

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After 45 years with a conservative majority, the Supreme Court appears to be entering a very different era.

The major rulings of this just-completed Supreme Court term show there are no longer five votes for a conservative result  a historic shift. From the time President Nixons fourth court nominee was confirmed in 1971 until Justice Antonin Scalias death in February, there have always been five ideologically conservative Republican appointees on the bench. No longer. Indeed, if Hillary Clinton is elected president in November, a liberal majority may dominate the court for decades to come.

The decisions over this term might have looked like a mixed bag of liberal and conservative outcomes. But a clear pattern was at work. When Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joined with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, they formed a liberal majority. When Kennedy voted with the conservative bloc  Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.  the court almost always split 4-4.

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When there is a deadlock, the lower court ruling is affirmed, but without setting any Supreme Court precedent. So some ties upheld a liberal result and others a conservative one. For example, the 4-4 tie in Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Assn. means that the government can continue to require employees to pay the share of the union dues that support collective bargaining  an enormously important win for unions and their role in the political process. By contrast, the tie in United States vs. Texas means that President Obamas program to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation remains shut down while it goes back before the lower courts.

Still, the conservative justices only rarely gained a fifth vote for their position.

After 45 years of a conservative majority, weve just gotten a glimpse of what the next era on the court could look like.

In key cases, Kennedy joined the liberals. As a result, the court, 5-3, declared unconstitutional a Texas law that imposed such onerous restrictions on abortion providers that 75% of facilities would have had to close. The decision strongly indicates that many other state laws restricting abortion are likely to be declared unconstitutional. In Fisher vs. University of Texas, Austin, Kennedy wrote the majority opinion upholding the universitys ability to consider race and ethnicity in admissions. Indeed, the tone of Kennedys opinion signaled newfound willingness on the court to allow affirmative action programs: Considerable deference is owed to a university in defining those intangible characteristics, like student body diversity, that are central to its identity and educational mission.

The only major case in which the conservatives prevailed was Utah vs. Strieff, which held that evidence obtained after an illegal police stop is admissible in court if the police discover an outstanding warrant for the persons arrest. Breyer joined Thomas, Roberts, Kennedy and Alito to create the majority. Make no mistake  this is a significant and troubling decision, one that gives the police an incentive to stop people without any probable cause, in violation of the 4th Amendment.

But Utah vs. Strieff was the exception in a term in which conservatives time and again could not secure a fifth vote. This could be the dynamic for years to come. In addition to Scalias seat, the next president likely will fill several vacancies. Since 1960, Supreme Court justices have left the bench at an average age of 79. There will be three justices 79 or older in 2017: Ginsburg, Kennedy and Breyer. The next president, especially if he or she is a two-term president, likely will have several picks for the high court.

After 45 years of a conservative majority, weve just gotten a glimpse of what the next era on the court could look like. No longer are there five conservative votes on abortion and affirmative action. By next year there may be five liberal votes on issues such as campaign finance, the death penalty and gun control.

Erwin Chemerinsky is dean of the UC Irvine School of Law.

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As the Middle East devours itself, leaving behind the worst human devastation since World War II, an international movement seeks to delegitimize Israel, the regions only intact society. Israel alone in the Mideast has an independent judiciary, a free press, universal healthcare and religious freedom. Yet the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, or BDS, has singled out the Jewish state as the worlds most pressing problem in the early 21st century.

BDS is at once immoral and a threat to peace. Immoral, because it perpetuates the lie that Israel is solely or even primarily to blame for the absence of a Palestinian state  rather than the repeated rejection by Palestinian leaders of peace plans presented over the decades. Immoral, too, because it ignores the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate education on which generations of Palestinians have been raised, an education that denies any place for a Jewish state in any borders.

The BDS movement not only places the entire onus for the conflict on Israel, it is counter-productive. The primary beneficiary of the attempt to turn Israel into a pariah state is the Israeli hard right. Far-right politicians have long argued that the world hates the Jewish state not because of what it does but because of what it is  and therefore Israel should dispense with the niceties of democratic norms in its war against Palestinian terrorism, end the illusion of a negotiated agreement and stake its maximalist claim to the entirety of its ancient homeland. In intensifying the Israeli publics sense of siege and despair, while encouraging Palestinian intransigence, the international movement to isolate and punish Israel undermines a two-state solution.

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Like a majority of Israelis, I recognize that the ongoing occupation of the Palestinian people is a long-term threat to my countrys well-being. The occupation challenges the integrity of Israeli democracy and threatens its Jewish majority, which is demographically essential for maintaining the only corner of the planet where Jews are sovereign. For these reasons, a majority of Israelis, according to polls, supports a two-state solution.

But that same majority of moderate Israelis is deeply wary of the ultimate goal of the Palestinian leadership  both the nationalist Fatah party and the Islamist militant group Hamas. As the Palestinian media broadcast on a daily basis, the goal isnt two states living in peace but a single Arab-majority state in which Jews would be at best a tolerated minority. And given the fate of minorities throughout the Middle East today, the likely scenario is far more nightmarish.

A majority of Israels Jews dont come from Europe, but from the Arab world... Israelis call them the forgotten refugees.

The Palestinian national movement as a whole intends to destroy Jewish sovereignty through the right of return, the demand that descendants of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war  a war of aggression initiated by Arab states against Israels creation  move to the Jewish state, rather than to a future Palestinian state. That would create an Arab majority in Israel, undermining the states Jewish identity from within. Israel would collapse.

Israelis across the political spectrum well understand the chilling implications of the right of return, even if much of the international community does not. The BDS movement  whose website endorses the right of return as one of its three core goals  promotes that vision of a world without Israel. BDS dupes those of its supporters who genuinely seek a two-state solution into believing that they are working for peace. Indeed the BDS website doesnt even mention two states for two peoples among its goals. Even if Israel were to uproot every settlement, redivide Jerusalem, forfeit its claim to the holy places and return to the eight-mile-wide borders of the pre-1967 war, the BDS movement presumably would press on until Israel was erased from the map.

BDS activists brand Israel as an illegitimate colonialist state, a European transplant in the Middle East. This historical distortion erases 4,000 years of intimate connection between the Jewish people and the land. It ignores another factor of demography: A majority of Israels Jews dont come from Europe, but from the Arab world, descendants of the nearly 1 million Jews effectively expelled from Arab countries where Jews lived for millenniums. Israelis call them the forgotten refugees.

As a means of applying economic pressure on Israel, BDS has failed. Despite the boycott, investments in Israel havent diminished. Israel is far too integrated into the global economy and the high-tech sector to be isolated.

The attempt to turn Israel into a version of the old, apartheid South Africa will also fail because there are too many people around the world who admire Israel. Israel-lovers are no less passionate in defending the Jewish state than Israel-haters are in seeking to harm it.

The real threat of BDS, though, is more subtle than economic pressure. BDS creates an atmosphere in which Israel is solely to blame for the failure of peace between Jews and Arabs, and it negates the very idea of a nation-state for the Jewish people. BDS takes one of the worlds most complex and heartbreaking conflicts  between two traumatized peoples  and turns it into a morality play between darkness and light. The movement to criminalize Israel is itself a crime. Rather than Israel, it is the BDS movement that must be exposed and ostracized for its bigotry and hatred.

Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. His book Like Dreamers won the Jewish Book Councils 2013 Book of the Year award. He is working on a book about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook.

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To the editor: Millions of Californians rejected affirmative action when they passed Proposition 209 in 1996, which after enactment was deemed constitutional by the state Supreme Court. (Re SCOTUS opens the affirmative action window, Opinion, June 26) Now, thanks to a single deciding vote by a U.S. Supreme Court justice, race is an acceptable element of admissions to the University of Texas.

California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris filed legal papers in the Supreme Court case supporting affirmative action at the University of Texas. She also filed papers in 2013 supporting race as an admissions factor at the University of Michigan. In both court cases, this course of action undermined Proposition 209.

The role of the state attorney general requires enforcement of California law, not opposition. Support of affirmative action in the Supreme Court and Michigan courts by Harris disregards California law and defies its voters.

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Lawrence Waddington, Los Angeles

The writer is a retired Los Angeles County Superior Court judge.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To the editor: While reading your editorial about the Los Angeles City Councils failed boycott of the state of Arizona, I came across a glaring editing mistake. (Outrage over Arizonas immigration law was justified, but L.A.'s boycott proved to be a farce, editorial, June 27)

You wrote that Arizona adopted anti-immigration legislation in 2010. Of course, you surely meant to say anti-illegal immigration.

As a writer and former newspaper editor myself, Im sensitive to the precision and nuance of language. Just thought Id bring that to your attention. No charge.

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Ken Grow, Newbury Park

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To the editor: No observant person working in the public school system should be surprised by the lowering of the standards as a way to boost graduation rates. The goal has always been to improve the reputation of the school or district. (In the search for better graduation rates, schools are fudging the numbers, editorial, June 25)

I taught English as a second language for some 20 years. I saw frequent changes in the standards, which were always lowered and never raised.

Things happened like lowering the standard for redesignation, from fluency in speaking, reading and writing to fluency in speaking but limited proficiency in reading and writing. Students were no longer required to do minimally acceptable work (all Cs) in their content area classes. It was never to the students advantage to be removed from the support system and placed in regular classes when their English proficiency was too low to handle the work  but it made the district look good to redesignate so many students.

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Some things never change. The school system still works for the adults, not the students.

Elizabeth Kerr, Ontario

..

To the editor: Many decades ago when I was a young man in the Navy, a wise old master chief told me, Figures dont lie, but liars figure.

It seems as true today as it was then.

Kevin McGill, Chula Vista

..

To the editor: Everyone wants our kids learning better to best equip them for participating in society. That requires higher educational standards and graduation rates, not fudging the numbers to make those rates appear higher.

Algebra is more than just another math course; it teaches kids to analyze and solve problems, skills that are important throughout their lives. In my experience tutoring kids in algebra, it became apparent why the failure rate was so high: The kids had not learned the basics, and as they fell further behind, they gave up on learning.

Some years ago, a group of retired aerospace engineers (including myself) volunteered to help kids in the Los Angeles Unified School District master algebra. I contacted a highly regarded Board of Education member, who liked the idea. Later, the administration rejected the idea without providing a reason.

Ours is still a good idea.

George Epstein, Los Angeles

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
For Hillary Clinton, the driving imperative of the presidential campaign is to focus voters on the future, the candidacy of Donald Trump and her myriad policy plans -- and away from the controversies of the past.

But on Tuesday, the past and the future collided in a big way as Clinton campaigned in Denver and Los Angeles, discussing technology proposals meant to spur entrepreneurial activity and increase the nations Internet savvy.

The first collision came with the release of the Republican report on the killings of four U.S. citizens in Benghazi, Libya, one of the low points of Clintons tenure as secretary of State. The second arrived via Trump, denouncing in Pennsylvania trade policies backed by Hillary Clinton in the 1990s.

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Clinton stayed relentlessly focused forward in Hollywood, where she answered questions Tuesday evening from a mostly millennial audience of Web entrepreneurs, and but for a brief comment on the Benghazi report, in Denver as well.

For more on politics 

The young voters in Hollywood asked nothing about trade or Benghazi but did delve into other aspects of her past -- her 2002 vote for the Iraq war and her support for a 1990s crime bill seen by some in the African American community as overly punitive.

In a slightly tart response to questioner Whitney White, who asked in a reference to the crime bill how Clinton would win back the trust of the black community, Clinton described at length her service dating back decades to organizations helping blacks and Latino Americans.

She said that while she wanted to be accountable for her positions, I also do respectfully ask that people know a little more about what I have done.

Aiming at the future has been a recurring theme for Clinton, underscoring her argument that Trump is headed backward. As she put it in Hollywood, We are a future-oriented society. America has always been about the future.

Looking forward also serves to distance Clinton from controversies past and present, such as the dispute over her use of a private email server as secretary of State and her speeches to Wall Street executives after she left the Obama administration.

In Hollywood and earlier in Denver, Clinton laid out a technology plan that, among other components, called for a three-year moratorium on college loan repayments, and student loan refinancing, for those seeking to build a business.

If you get that enterprise up and going, we want to forgive a portion of that debt because youve become a job creator, she said in Denver.

She also repeated earlier proposals for high-speed Internet in every American household and business within the decade, and for technology and computer education in every school.

Republicans, meantime, sought in multiple ways Tuesday to remind voters of the past.

The Benghazi report by Republicans in Congress accused the Obama administration, including Clintons State Department, of neglecting to properly protect U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other men. The report did not identify any new wrongdoing by Clinton; the committees lasting damage to her may be its discovery that Clinton used a private email system while in the Cabinet, a matter still under investigation.

Clinton, asked about the report in Denver, said that important changes to U.S. security procedures had been made in the years since the 2012 attack.

So, Ill leave it to others to characterize this report, but I think its pretty clear that its time to move on, she said.

Trumps assault during a visit to an aluminum factory in Monessen, Pa., was, if anything, more lancing, aiming as it did on a potent issue in the industrial Midwest: the impact of trade policies put into effect during Bill Clintons administration.

Trump said the loss of manufacturing jobs -- this catastrophe -- rested on the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and Chinas entry into the World Trade Organization.

NAFTA was the worst trade deal in the history, like the history of this country, and Chinas entrance into the World Trade Organization has enabled the greatest jobs theft in the history of our country, he said, declaring that the Clintons left behind havoc.

Clinton returned the criticism in Hollywood on Tuesday evening, after one questioner at the millennial gathering asked what she would say to a Trump supporter.

Clinton said that she understood -- and had sympathy for -- Americans fearful because jobs that gave you a good living were gone.

I am not sympathetic to the xenophobia, the misogyny, the homophobia, the Islamophobia and all the other sort of dog whistles that Trump uses to create that fervor among a lot of his supporters, she said.

Trump, she repeated, was fixed on the past.

I understand why people are frustrated and even fearful, but dont look for easy answers and misleading promises that cannot deliver what youre hoping for, she said. The whole slogan Make America Great Again is code for go back to a time when a lot of people were not included.

cathleen.decker@latimes.com

Twitter: @cathleendecker

MORE POLITICAL COVERAGE

Updates on California politics

Live coverage from the campaign trail

Initiative to legalize recreational use of pot in California qualifies for November ballot

Donald Trump vows to punish China and end major trade deals
Donald Trump in 2013: Leave borders behind and go for global unity

Donald Trump bolted into the Rust Belt on Tuesday to deliver his most full-throated attack on globalization to date, railing against trade pacts and threatening to impose tariffs against countries he said were exploiting open trade policies.

But Trump, who also backed Great Britains vote last week to withdraw from the European Union, acknowledged that he used to be among those financial elites who benefited from the system.

Indeed, just three years ago, Trump promoted a near-opposite view, using the global village-type of language he now deplores.

Weve all become aware of the fact that our cultures and economics are intertwined, he wrote in a CNN column, published as part of the television networks coverage of the gathering of world elites for the annual economic forum in Davos, Switzerland. We will have to leave borders behind and go for global unity when it comes to financial stability.

In the column, unearthed by Mother Jones, Trump seemed to acknowledge, and even celebrate, that our economic health depended on dependence on each other to do the right thing during the financial crisis.

We are now closer to having an economic community in the best sense of the term  we work with each other for the benefit of all, he continued.

Not quite the same as his recent assertion that Brits have declared their independence by voting to leave the European Union.

The future of Europe, as well as the United States, depends on a cohesive global economy. All of us must work toward together toward that very significant common goal, he wrote at the time.

Contrast that happy talk with his assessment Tuesday of the global economy.

This wave of globalization has wiped out our middle class.... The people who rigged the system for their benefit will do anything  and say anything  to keep things exactly as they are.

As he put it himself: I hate to say it, but I used to be one of them.
An initiative that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in California officially took its place on the Nov. 8 ballot on Tuesday as its campaign took a commanding lead in fundraising to battle the measures opponents.

The Secretary of States Office certified that a random sample showed sufficient signatures among the 600,000 turned in to qualify the measure. The initiative is backed by a coalition that includes former Facebook President Sean Parker and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Today marks a fresh start for California as we prepare to replace the costly, harmful and ineffective system of prohibition with a safe, legal and responsible adult-use marijuana system that gets it right and completely pays for itself, said Jason Kinney, a spokesman for Californias Adult Use of Marijuana Act.

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The initiative would allow adults ages 21 and older to possess, transport and use up to an ounce of cannabis for recreational purposes and would allow individuals to grow as many as six plants.

California would join Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon as states that allow recreational use of marijuana. Eight other states also have marijuana measures on their ballots this year.

More than $3.7 million has been raised so far by the leading campaign for the initiative, Californians to Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana While Protecting Children. Leading contributors so far have included former Facebook president Sean Parker, legalization advocacy group Drug Policy Action and a committee funded by the firm Weedmaps, a firm that helps consumers locate pot shops.

Opposition is led by the Coalition for Responsible Drug Policies, made up of law enforcement and health groups including the California Police Chiefs Assn., the California Hospital Assn. and the California State Sheriffs Assn. The groups warn legalization will lead to more drugged-driving and allow dealers of harder drugs to have a role in the new industry.

The coalition has raised about $125,000 so far from groups including the Assn. of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs State PAC and the Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Assn.

A similar coalition helped defeat the last legalization measure in California, Proposition 19, in 2010.

This campaign will be very similar to that of Proposition 19. They have the money and we have the facts, said Tim Rosales, a spokesman for the opposition coalition.

Rosales noted that under current law, convicted methamphetamine and heroin dealers are banned from being involved in the medical marijuana industry, but the initiative overturns that ban and lets those felons obtain licenses to sell recreational marijuana.

The proponents were specifically advised by numerous law enforcement groups during the comment period about this huge flaw, but they deliberately chose to keep it in, and you have to ask Why? Rosales said. Who is that provision for? They got it wrong. Again.

At a conference last week hosted by the National Cannabis Industry Assn. in Oakland, business people and activists were upbeat about the chances of the initiative passing, even though a similar measure in 2010 was defeated, with 53% of voters casting no ballots.

Advocates say the new measure has a better chance because it adds more regulation at the state level rather than letting locals dictate what happens, and comes after the state has approved a regulatory system for medical marijuana growing, transportation and sales.

In addition, the presidential election is expected to draw more young, progressive voters than the 2010 midterm election, according to Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Assn.

It also helps that recreational use has already been approved in other states, she said.

This is six years later. Weve already seen legalization pass and be successful in other states. So its a different world in talking about his issue than it was, said West, an activist who helped host the Oakland conference.

West said there needs to be real funding behind [the measure] and there needs to be a lot of work to overcome opposition from law enforcement groups.

We think voters in California are ready to end marijuana prohibition and replace it with a more sensible system, said Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, which has about 200,000 supporters nationwide.

Tvert is confident this years measure will do better than past attempts.

He expects activists from all over the country will get involved in the California campaign, either through campaign contributions or working phone banks to get out the vote.

We are moving to mobilize our supporters, Tvert said. There are folks throughout the country who recognize the importance of making marijuana legal in the largest state in the nation. There are a lot of folks who recognize that passage of these laws in other states will make it easier for their state to move forward.

Updates from Sacramento 

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

@mcgreevy99

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Even in the face of a very long and complex set of statewide propositions this November, odds are one will stand out above all others: the question of whether to legalize marijuana.

And now, its officially earned a place on the ballot.

Good morning from the the state capital. Im Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers, and the news came late on Tuesday that a marijuana measure gathered almost 424,000 valid voter signatures, more than enough to qualify for the Nov. 8 ballot.

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Championed by Napster and Facebook impresario Sean Parker and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the proposal seeks success where past efforts have failed  most notably, Proposition 19 in 2010.

But as Patrick McGreevy reports, backers of this effort claim things will be different in 2016, now that other states have surged ahead of California and the details of the legalization effort have been improved.

Add the national attention to the big-name backers and the issues at hand, and it seems a sure bet that legalizing pot will be a marquee moment on the fall ballot.

TERROR NOW, TERROR THEN

Tuesdays deadly airport attack in Istanbul served as another reminder of how terrorism continues to recalibrate the race for the White House.

Donald Trump re-upped his call for waterboarding in speaking to a crowd in Ohio on Tuesday night. Hillary Clinton issued a statement about the attack, but didnt discuss it during an event in Los Angeles.

Meantime, the final chapter in the 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi played out just a few hours earlier.

For the better part of a year, its seemed as though House Republicans were aiming for Clinton in their exhaustive investigation into the events surrounding the event. But the final 800-page report, released Tuesday, was more broadly targeted at the administration of President Obama, not his secretary of State.

As Evan Halper reports, thats not to say the Benghazi investigation found no signs of errors in the wake of chaotic events in the Libyan city. But clearly the assumed hit it would make on Clinton didnt pan out, a point that Democrats crowed about throughout the day on Tuesday.

CLINTON GOES DIGITAL IN HOLLYWOOD

As noted, Clinton was in Los Angeles on Tuesday. In addition to two fundraising events, the presumptive Democratic nominee held an event focused on technology. A similar event was held earlier in the day in Denver.

Cathleen Decker reports that Clinton worked hard during the Tinseltown gathering to look forward with one of her patented wonky proposals, while Trump and Republicans try to pull her back into the past.

TRUMP TALKS TRADE

It wasnt the kind of trash talk for which Trump has been criticized. (Thats a nod to the social media buzz about Trumps Tuesday backdrop.)

The presumptive GOP nominee was in Pennsylvania to talk about trade, and he suggested that he would reverse course on some of the most well-known U.S. trade agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership and NAFTA.

A Trump administration will change our failed trade policies, and I mean quickly, he said.

HEADED BACK TO CALI, CALI

Trump has sharply increased his fundraising schedule, and is headed back to California on July 13 to get some of the states wealthiest donors to write more checks.

Tickets range from $25,000 to $449,400 per person for the reception and dinner in Rancho Santa Fe, according to an invitation obtained by The Times.

LEGISLATURE STILL FLUMMOXED BY POLICE BODY CAMERAS

A state Senate committee on Tuesday killed two bills that would have set statewide policies for police review of body camera footage, leaving the broad debates of privacy and transparency unsettled for another year, Liam Dillon reports.

The death of the two bills combined with other failed efforts this year to boost transparency of police information largely leaves intact the status quo of limited public access to law enforcement records in California.

TODAYS ESSENTIALS

 A state Senate committee voted Tuesday to tighten Californias rape laws after public outcry over the sentence given to a former Stanford University student.

 With the Republican National Convention less than three weeks away, anti-Trump forces are making their rallying cry, Free the delegates!

 State legislation requiring tobacco-only stores for cigarette sales was snuffed out in an Assembly committee hearing as it failed to win a single vote.

 Responding to questions about her absence from the House Democrats sit-in over gun control last week, Rep. Loretta Sanchez said her extended trip to Spain following a trade mission was on my own dime. She spoke to reporters after a roundtable she hosted to talk about higher education policy. At the event, she invoked her own reliance on government grants to get through college, and said the $30,000 in debt many students graduate with today is a heck of a lot of money.

 Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento) and some of her fellow Democrats drowned out the acting speaker Tuesday afternoon during a brief, routine House meeting as they demanded a vote on gun legislation.

 Rep. Janice Hahn (D-Los Angeles) brought a slice of last weeks Capitol Hill sit-in over gun violence to her district on Monday night.

 A heated political battle between healthcare workers and hospitals has been called off for November, as the workers union canceled its ballot measure that would cap the salaries of hospital CEOs.

LOGISTICS

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Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com.
California lawmakers have reached a stalemate over how much the public should know about the official activities of police officers.

All but one of the major pieces of legislation introduced this year to either increase access to police disciplinary records and body camera footage or further restrict disclosure are now dead after a state Senate committee killed two bills Tuesday that would have given officers greater control over the handling of body camera videos.

The result is that little has changed in terms of public access to police information in California in the nearly two years since the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., unfurled a wave of protests and counterefforts across the country. Numerous policy and procedural questions remain for state lawmakers to address as police departments, including Los Angeles, outfit officers with body-worn cameras.

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No matter where you are on body camera policy, no matter which side you fall on, this doesnt help anybody, said Assemblyman Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove), whose bill to allow officers to review camera footage before writing their reports was voted down in the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.

The Senate committee also killed a measure from Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) that would have given officers three days to formally protest the release of any audio or video recording if they believed their safety was at risk. A bill from Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), which would limit the release of footage showing a police officers death, did advance out of the committee.

But in the debate on all three bills, committee members said efforts to further restrict access to police information made little sense at a time of increased mistrust between law enforcement and communities.

Unfortunately, I cannot vote for less transparency, said Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) during discussion of Lows bill.

Leno said the recent failure of his own police transparency bill drove his decision. Last month, a Senate committee halted Lenos effort to make public internal disciplinary investigations of cases in which departments found officers who committed sexual assault, racially profiled, lied on the job or engaged in other serious cases of misconduct.

Similarly, a bill that would have allowed the public to request police body camera footage of incidents in which officers were accused of excessive force, including police-involved shootings, died on the Assembly floor last month.

Law enforcement groups argued strongly against the efforts to increase transparency, calling them counterproductive measures that would invade officer privacy without improving community trust. Leno has said the groups influence is so powerful at the Capitol that a statewide ballot measure might be the only way to loosen police disclosure laws.

But law enforcement groups, including the 66,000-member Peace Officers Research Assn. of California, could not get enough support to move all of their body camera bills through the Legislature. The association, which represents the largest number of rank-and-file officers in the state, was the key backer of all three bills that were heard Tuesday.

The failure of the bills, along with the advancement of Lows measure, leaves the states status quo intact  one that limits public access to police records.

California has some of the strictest laws in the nation against releasing information related to police misconduct. Roughly half of the states prohibit the disclosure of internal officer records, but California is one of just three that gives law enforcement officers specific protections.

On body cameras, the Los Angeles Police Department officials have said the department will not release any footage absent a court order as it prepares to outfit 7,000 officers with the cameras by the end of next year. Police departments in Oakland and San Diego have been making some footage public in recent months, but theres no legal requirement for any department to do so.

Certainly this is not a case of you win some, you lose some, said Peter Bibring, the director of police practices at the American Civil Liberties Union of California, which was a key backer of Lenos effort and opposed the three police-sponsored body camera bills. After this legislative session, the governing principle is still nearly total secrecy on police records.

Santiago said he and his colleagues are still working through the deep privacy and transparency concerns raised by body cameras and other issues surrounding police accountability. He expected similar legislation to return next year.

These issues are not going to go away because theyre not solved, Santiago said.

liam.dillon@latimes.com

Follow me at @dillonliam on Twitter

ALSO:

City Council vote resumes $57.6-million rollout of LAPD body cameras

California police misconduct records will remain secret after bill dies in committee

Who gets to see police body camera footage? State lawmakers may decide this year

Updates on California politics
Against a grim backdrop of rising suicide rates among American women, new research has revealed a blinding shaft of light: One group of women  practicing Catholics  appears to have bucked the national trend toward despair and self-harm.

Compared with women who never participated in religious services, women who attended any religious service once a week or more were five times less likely to commit suicide between 1996 and 2010, says a study published Wednesday by JAMA Psychiatry.

Its not clear how widely the findings can be applied to a diverse population of American women. In a study population made up of nurses and dominated by women who identified themselves as either Catholic or Protestant, the suicide rate observed was about half that for U.S. women as a whole. Of 89,708 participants aged 30 to 55, 36 committed suicide at some point over 15 years.

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The womens church attendance was not the only factor; which church they attended mattered as well. Protestant women who worshiped weekly at church were far less likely to take their own lives than were women who seldom or never attended services. But these same Protestant women were still seven times more likely to die by their own hand than were their devout Catholic sisters.

Among especially devout Catholic women  those in the pews more than once a week  suicides were a vanishing phenomenon. Among the 6,999 Catholic women who said they attended mass more than once a week, there was not a single suicide.

The suicide-prevention effect of religion was clearly not a simple matter of group identity: Self-identified Catholics who never attended mass committed suicide nearly as often as did women of any religion who were not active worshipers.

Instead, the authors suggested that attendance at religious services is a form of meaningful social participation that buffers women against loneliness and isolation  both factors that are strongly implicated in depression and suicide. Religion and spirituality may be an underappreciated resource that psychiatrists and clinicians could explore with their patients, as appropriate, wrote a team of researchers led by Tyler J. VanderWeele of Harvards T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The new study comes just two months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documented a steep rise in suicides in the United States between 1994 and 2014. Suicide rates climbed among men and women and in all age groups between 10 and 74. Although women remain much less likely than men to commit suicide, the CDC found that gap closing. Among women between 45 and 64  the ages at which women are most likely to kill themselves  the rate of suicide in 2014 vaulted 80% over 1999s rates.

The Catholic Church teaches that suicide is a mortal sin. It has long warned that those who killed themselves would go to hell, and denied those who killed themselves a Catholic burial.

In recent decades, however, the churchs pronouncements have softened. Catholic teaching now asserts that a suicide victims responsibility can be diminished by grave psychological disturbances, anguish or grave fear of hardship, suffering or torture. And it cautions that families should not despair of the eternal salvation of a loved one who has taken his or her own life.

Though stern prohibitions against suicide might have led to its under-reporting by Catholic next-of-kin, the authors of the new research say that such misrepresentation would have had to be perpetrated on a massive scale to erase the stark difference they found between church-going women  and Catholic church-goers in particular  and their nonreligious peers.

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychiatry, denounced religious belief as the universal obsessional neurosis of humanity. Much current research, however, has focused not only on the deep biological underpinnings of religiosity, but its potential benefits as well.

Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, associate professor of psychiatry at UC Irvine, said the new studys design and its findings strengthen a link between religious practice and mental health that was first explored by the sociologist Emile Durkheim in 1897.

The lengthy duration of the current study  women were asked about their religious attendance every two years starting in 1996 and then followed until 2010  suggests a causal relationship between religious practice and a significantly lower risk of suicide, especially among Catholics, said Kheriaty, who was not involved with the new research.

Kheriaty, who is co-author of The Catholic Guide to Depression, acknowledged the power of strong religious proscriptions against suicide. But, he added, religion may protect against despair as well.

Religious convictions and practices can help people foster a sense of hope, even in the midst of major crises or adversities, said Kheriaty. Religious faith can help people find a sense of meaning and purpose even in suffering, he added.

Its not our role to prescribe religion or proselytize to our patients, said Kheriaty. It is safe to assume that religious conviction and faith must be genuine and sincere if they are to provide the mental and physical health benefits that several studies have suggested.

But if patients are inclined to explore religion or spirituality, said Kheriaty, doctors can encourage patients to explore such activities confident that religious practices will likely not harm, and may indeed, help, their patients mental health.

melissa.healy@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter @LATMelissaHealy and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.

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Staffing shortages, fewer opportunities for job growth and a perception of bias in promotions and policy enforcement are hampering morale at the Burbank Police Department, according to the results of a police-union-administered survey.

The Burbank Police Officers Assn. last month invited 135 members, including officers of all ranks, as well as seven recent retirees, to take the survey. They answered 11 questions, some with multiple parts, and were given space to write comments.

Roughly half of the 118 participants indicated that theyd considered leaving the department sometime during the last year, while 60% indicated they were unlikely or extremely unlikely to recommend a career with the agency to their children, relatives or friends.

A Burbank police vehicle exits the underground parking garage at police headquarters, in Burbank on Friday, April 8, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

About 75% indicated that morale was low, or extremely low, with one member calling the department a depressing place to work, while another wrote that pretty much everyone dreads going to work.

Meanwhile, 73% of participants disagreed or strongly disagreed that the agency has improved its level of service to the community over the last five years.

The goal of the survey, union leaders said, was to identify problems and work with management to improve working conditions.

Burbank Police Chief Scott LaChasse said in emails Tuesday it would be premature to comment on the survey without first engaging in good faith discussions with the union, but pointed to the departments 2011 strategic plan, which focused on changes to ensure officer safety, reduce liability issues and guarantee ethical behavior.

The process of cultural change is proceeding and the objectives are being achieved, LaChasse wrote.

What motivation is there for me to go out there and place myself in a situation that could jeopardize mine and my (familys) future.  Participant in Burbank police survey

To boost morale, dozens of members who completed the survey advocated that the agency hire more officers, increase specialty assignments, improve leadership at the top and rely less on predictive policing technology, which analyzes crime reports to predict potential problem areas.

Patrol officers are required to spend 15 minutes each in up to three areas during their 12-hour-and-20-minute shifts.

Critics of the system say that the algorithm sometimes zeroes in on obvious areas, like the Empire Center, where officers already know theres retail crime, or silly ones, like the police station, where people often show up to report crimes.

But top cops say police visibility in the areas helps deter crime.

When its adhered to, it shows efficacy in terms of lowering crime, said Capt. Denis Cremins. Our No. 1 functional objective is to prevent crime; its not to arrest people. You try to prevent it or deter it  this is just a sophisticated way of doing it.

In terms of hiring, the agency has made progress filling vacancies and recruiting diverse candidates to join the force.

Several months into a two-year recruitment plan that involves offering more testing cycles, attending more recruiting events and targeting military personnel, the agency has hired five recruits and two police officers, raising the number of filled sworn positions to 152 of 160.

Within that group, one recruit is Armenian, another is Latino and a third is black, according to Lt. Eric Deroian, who oversees recruitment. One of them is also female.

But itll be awhile before officers feel the additional manpower on the street. Two of the recruits will graduate the academy in November, the other three in January. Meanwhile, about a couple dozen officers are eligible to retire.

When you have low morale, if people arent happy, that could accelerate, could affect the retention level, said Sgt. Sean Kelley, a union board member. The hiring happening now may not keep up with the people that are leaving in the future.

Less than a quarter of survey respondents felt that promotions, special assignment appointments and personnel investigations were handled fairly, while just 11% felt that department policies were enforced fairly to all ranks.

We are now in a society that doesnt support police and have a command staff that will be quick to crush us for any mistake, one participant wrote. What motivation is there for me to go out there and place myself in a situation that could jeopardize mine and my (familys) future.

Police sources supportive of changes made by the current administration disputed concerns over perceived fairness, while noting that officers are paid well  a new contract approved earlier this year involved salary increases  have access to working equipment and are supported by the community.

If I was being investigated now, I would feel comfortable with the investigation, said one sworn employee, who asked not to be named. If I was being investigated with the prior administration, I would be scared to death.

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Some in the agency feel handcuffed by what they called overly restrictive policies, including those involving use of force, as well as foot and vehicle pursuits, but others say those policies are based on best practices in a changing law enforcement culture.

Very few agencies now are allowing you to go on a wild pursuit over something as minimal as a red light violation, said the officer who asked for anonymity. There is a probability that someone will crash at a high rate of speed, and someone  suspect, officer, bystander  may be hurt or killed over a traffic violation that if its their first time, they can go to traffic school. Is that really worth it?

The survey results were critical of the agencys leadership, which consists mostly of Los Angeles Police Department veterans brought to the helm in 2010 to reform a department reeling from allegations of police brutality as well as racism and sexual harassment within its ranks.

Tensions flared recently after the Burbank Leader published emails forwarded in 2012 and 2013 by a key member of LaChasses reform team that contained stereotypes of Muslims, blacks, Latinos, women and others.

Former Burbank Deputy Chief Tom Angel in Feb. 2015. (Roger Wilson / Staff Photographer)

Former Deputy Chief Tom Angel left the Burbank force last year to return to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, where hed previously spent 33 years. In May, he resigned his post as Sheriff Jim McDonnells chief of staff in the wake of the email scandal after numerous civil rights advocates called on him to step down.

Union leaders criticized how LaChasse handled the discovery of the emails in 2014, which was part of what prompted the survey. Concerns over staffing shortages, morale and policies also played a role.

The survey results echoed concerns raised in a smaller-scale survey conducted early last year by the Center for Public Safety Management, which drew responses from 82 officers.

According to the 2015 report, sworn employees complained about staffing deficiencies, low morale and poor communication by higher ups.

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Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @atchek

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Laguna Beach officials are reminding residents who wish to trim trees to be on the lookout for bird nests.

Most types of birds in Southern California nest between February and August, according to a news release, thus the city suggests residents hire certified arborists to assess their trees and shrubs to determine if and when it is safe to trim.

Severely cutting, trimming and topping trees and other greenery in spring and summer could not only destroy nests and valuable nest sites, but it could lead to the intrusion of pests which is detrimental to the health of trees, the release said.

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The City Council designated the city as a bird sanctuary in 1978.

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It is illegal in Laguna Beach to kill or harm birds, or damage their nests and eggs. In addition, federal and state laws protect birds, their nests, eggs and young from being removed, destroyed or harassed.

Violators could be fined or imprisoned.

The city suggests residents trim trees and shrubs between September and February, in non-nesting season.

To report bird harassment, killing and/or destruction of bird nests, call the California Department of Fish and Wildlife at (888) 334-2258.

To report nest disturbances, contact the Laguna Beach Police Department at (949) 497-0701, and press 0.

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Bryce Alderton, bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce
The Harvesters gathered, some 400 strong, for the annual fashion show and luncheon Oct. 7 at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa.

Sponsored by South Coast Plaza, the runway fashion event, in its 23rd year on the Orange Coast, is arguably the definitive exhibition of fall and winter ready-to-wear in the O.C. It is also a financial windfall for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, recipient of $675,000 in proceeds this year alone.

Melissa Knode, chairwoman of the 2015 extravaganza, commented, With the goal of a hunger-free Orange County, the Harvesters have tapped into a success model of fashion shows and intimate shopping experiences.

Knode worked the magic with co-chairwoman Susan Croul and the Harvesters committee to raise the bar on funding Second Harvest. Including the 2015 take, the Harvesters have raised and donated more than $6 million to Second Harvest over more than two decades of fashionable fundraising.

That translates into 1.6 million meals form just this years event alone, Knode said.

The question then must be raised: How much hunger exists in one of the nations most affluent regions? And if the need is so great in Orange County, whats the situation in less vibrant regions where the economic engine falters?

Clearly, the problem is serious. In the O.C., where hundreds of successful women dress to kill and converge on the chic Samueli Theatre to witness a parade of exquisite fall fashion from the likes of international designers Barbara Bui, Fendi, Lanvin, Marni, Max Mara, Moncler, Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren, Cavalli, Feragamo, Valentino and Versace, there is a very dramatic disconnect between the glamour of the occasion and the reality of the cause and the beneficiary.

How many women roll up their sleeves and serve on food distribution lines, volunteer to serve meals on Thanksgiving and Christmas, go out with vans on midweek nights to distribute ham sandwiches and potato chips to lines of homeless families in Santa Ana?

The answer is some, but few. That is the reality, and it is actually OK, because the money raised is so vital. Without it, the situation would be far worse.

In American society, individuals who are financially able often do make a discernible difference with contributions to worthwhile endeavors. Part of the equation is simply showing up. Giving attracts giving. This is why nonprofits reach out to community stars in an effort to broaden their base. Its not unlike any social theory of evolution and migration. Darwin would be proud.

Lets face the truth: $6 million for a hunger charity is not raised with the snap of a finger or a simple call to action. Its not even raised by witnessing the actual hardships of those in need. It is raised by putting on a major show and attracting the crowd.

And that is what the Harvesters have done year in and year out with enormous support from tony South Coast Plaza and other commercial enterprises over the years.

The day of fashion meeting compassion began with a morning champagne reception and silent auction sponsored by Jaeger-Le Coultre. Fabulous auction donations tempted the crowd to bid generously for jewels by Robert Procop and the Angelina Jolie Collection, handbags by Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, pearls by Mikimoto, and dining experiences by the celebrated Marche Moderne, among other expensive treats.

The best-dressed crowd was then ushered into the Samueli Theatre for the fall/winter 2015 collections. Music pulsated and the lights dimmed as the models hit the catwalk, pure New York fashion glam in the O.C.

Major support for the event came from very generous donors including Lily and Paul Merage, Jacquie and Michael Casey, Michelle and Paul Jonavs, Roxanne and Bill Comrie, JoAnn and Anthony Fanticola, Mara and Keith Murray, Sheila and Ygal Sonenshine, Nancy and Arn Youngman, Kylie Schuyler, Glenys Slavik, and Keido Sakamoto and Bill Witte, among others.

The very fashionable sponsors spotted in the chic crowd counted among the Harvesters assemblage were Jill Johnson-Tucker, one of the Harvesters co-founders with Jennifer Van Bergh, Heather Madden, Valaree Wahler, Maralou Harrington, Susan Etchandy, Stephanie Argyros, Patti Edwards, Jeri McKenna, Carol Primm, Eve Ruffatto, Iris Frankel, Stephanie Grody, Nadine Hall and Sandy Fainbarg.

Luncheon followed in the stunning lobby of the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall as the 400 guests were seated and served by Patina a fall salad of burrata agnolotti with pan-roasted chicken. Lemon meringue pie and chocolate bonbons topped off the dining celebration.

So the question remains. With one in five children in the O.C. going to bed hungry, included in an estimated 349,000 local residents unable to afford decent meals on a daily basis, how does the community work together to end this unacceptable circumstance?

For 23 years, the Harvesters have helped to bridge the gap with essential resources. There is so much more to be done.

THE CROWD runs Fridays. B.W. Cook is editor of the Bay Window, the official publication of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.
Agora Churrascaria is a Brazilian restaurant in Irvine that features 16 kinds of meat on giant skewers that servers carry around the room, watching for guests to summon them over to their table. The diners then select how much they want of that particular offering.

Also available is a hot buffet and a huge selection from the salad bar.

The restaurant is large and quite beautiful, with several walls of lovely river rock, a 25-foot-high cathedral ceiling, giant cedar beams, skylights, an Italian slate floor and lots of windows. In the rear is a charcoal grill that fires up all the delicious meats.

Across from the salad bar are big silver domes covering an array of hot foods including black bean stew, chicken stroganoff, garlic rice, salmon, mussels, sauteed collard greens, and mashed and baby potatoes.

The salad bar offerings include Caesar salad, eggplant salad, artichokes, shrimp cocktail, gravlax, hearts of palm, salsa, pickles, hot peppers, salami, coleslaw, sauteed mushrooms, tuna salad, yogurt, tabouleh, marinated peppers, and a selection of cold cuts and fine cheeses.

With dinner you get rolls, Brazilian cheese bread and tomato vinaigrette, as well as a fried banana to clear your palate. Just slice off a bit to refresh the taste buds.

Agora Churrascaria serves rodizio style  the all-you-can-eat approach found in Brazilian restaurants. I would define it as continuous, since the food keeps coming until you put a small disc on the table showing the red side. Green means more please, and red means I am stuffed.

When ready to proceed with the piece de resistance, the meat, a diner will again have lots to choose from. I was not able to eat more than a few of the meat offerings since I was already quite full from the salad bar. Take my word for it, pace yourself.

The restaurant has top sirloin, tri tip skirt steak, beef wrapped in bacon, baked salmon, beef ribs, beef tenderloin, filet mignon, lamb chops, leg of lamb, chicken drumsticks, Brazilian pork sausage, chicken hearts and more.

My dining companion and I began with Brazilian pork sausage, which was very tasty  juicy with a bit of heat. Next was skirt steak, which was sliced thinly off the skewer, followed by small pieces of filet mignon, tender and juicy, and my favorite of the evening, the baby lamb chops skewered off whole and very flavorful.

We did notice that the meat on the skewers that was thinly sliced was less tasty because it was too small to hold up to the char.

The two desserts that we chose were both quite good, but we only managed a few bites since we were quite full. The tiramisu was my favorite, but the chocolate mousse was also very good.

This is a lovely space with a separate bar area in the front and several other dining spaces, as well as rooms for larger parties.

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Location: 1830 Main St., Irvine

Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 5 to 10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays

Prices: $52 for adults and half price for children, with desserts costing $7 to $8 more; wine: $24 to $285 (bottles), $6 to $10 (by the glass), $20 (corkage)

Information: (949) 222-9910

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TERRY MARKOWITZ was in the gourmet food and catering business for 20 years. She can be reached for comments or questions at themarkos755@gmail.com.
Students from Sage Hill School in Newport Coast and 65 other high schools from California, Hawaii and Chile brought their robots to the 24th regional FIRST competition last weekend.

The robotics competition  its name is an acronym for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology  was held at the Long Beach Arena. The object for student teams was to use their robots to weaken and capture their opponents tower.

More than 1,000 students participated.

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UCI programs make it to top 50 of national grad school rankings

UC Irvine schools earned spots in the top 50 of U.S. News & World Reports annual ranking of the nations graduate school programs.

UCIs School of Education ranked 25th on the magazines 2017 list of schools of education released Tuesday.

The Paul Merage School of Business placed 48th in business school rankings, jumping five spots from 53rd.

UCIs law school moved up from 30th to 28th in its category.

Other graduate school rankings for UCI programs include the Claire Trevor School of the Arts (33rd), the Henry Samueli School of Engineering (37th) and the School of Medicine research program (44th) in their areas of study.

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Mariners Christian receives grant from Pacific Life Foundation

Pacific Life Foundation has presented a 3 Ts for Education grant of $3,000 to Mariners Christian School in Costa Mesa.

The grant will go toward enhancing the private schools writing program with a focus on teaching writing within genre studies. Students will learn about narratives, research-based arguments and informational text.

Pacific Life Foundation, based in Newport Beach, offers 3 Ts of Education grants to K-12 schools attended by children or grandchildren of Pacific Life employees.

Mariners Christian students Camryn and Grace Porcos father, Mike, and student Peter Thompsons mother, Patricia, are employees of Pacific Life.

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Registration open for summer programs in Irvine

Registration is open for the Irvine Public Schools Foundations 2016 summer classes in engineering, art, SAT and ACT preparation and a new music course.

The foundation will hold its first Young Americans Camp for students in grades 3-12 from July 5 to 9 at Northwood High School. The class will include vocal performance, dancing, improvisational acting and songwriting.

The foundations Summer Enrichment Academy for kindergartners through eighth-graders will offer courses in science, technology, math, language arts, performing arts and sports.

The High School Academic Camps will provide classes such as test preparation and public speaking. Camps will be held June 13 through July 22 at Northwood and Woodbridge high schools.

For more information or to register, visit ipsfacademy.org.
The city of Newport Beach may have been overbilled by $1.2 million for its Civic Center project, according to preliminary audit results presented to the City Council on Tuesday.

The council hired R.W. Block Consulting and Harris & Associates in 2015 to comb through a sample of about 800 change orders and to review construction practices on the project to find out how the price tag on the new City Hall grew to $140.2 million from about $105 million between the start of construction in 2010 and the Civic Centers opening in May 2013.

The draft audit identified roughly $1.2 million in payments made to project manager and lead contractor C.W. Driver without substantiating documents, said Allyson Gipson, vice president of Harris & Associates, which managed the audit process.

The final draft of the audit could be completed as early as August.

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The City Council on Tuesday voted 4-3 to file the preliminary audit and direct City Attorney Aaron Harp to approach Pasadena-based C.W. Driver to seek reimbursement for the payments. Council members Keith Curry, Tony Petros and Ed Selich dissented.

Gipson said incomplete financial documents and missing monthly reports for the project may have caused the possible overbilling.

C.W. Driver told the auditing firm it had provided all the documentation for the Civic Center project that it had on file.

The lack of clear financial record-keeping on the part of the city and the project manager [C.W. Driver] made the review that much more difficult, the draft audit states.

A representative of C.W. Driver declined to comment Wednesday.

Curry said the $1.2 million is a very small portion of the entire cost and that the council should give C.W. Driver time to respond to the audit and perhaps produce documentation that would justify the billings.

Before we send our lawyers off, lets let staff and C.W. Driver react and answer questions, Curry said.

The draft audit identified some positive aspects about the project, including that all contracts appear to comply with legal and industry expectations and that the city received good value for the Civic Center parking structure, with costs within industry standards for the time period.

However, the draft points out a lack of detail in processing change orders, missing documentation from invoices, inconsistencies in project reports and a lack of budget clarity throughout the project.

The auditors were critical of city staff for not establishing a process to track the project through design and construction, which led to inadequate oversight and budget and time overruns, according to the report.

The draft audit concluded that city staff provided little guidance to the architect, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, and to C.W. Driver for approving changes to the projects scope and costs.

Record keeping on the nature of changes and the approval process is sparse at best, the report states.

The draft also indicates that a less-than-comprehensive set of architectural design documents, which led to the need to correct errors throughout construction, may have contributed to the increased cost.

The audit also criticizes the citys decision to hire C.W. Driver as the program and construction manager. Typically, the program manager would act as the citys representative on a project to protect its interests, while the construction manager generally focuses on its own financial results.

In this case, the [program manager] failed to adequately document, manage, address and control cost-related issues, the report states. This failure is further exacerbated by the inherent conflict of interests when one firm serves as both the program manager and construction manager at risk.

When the Civic Center project originated in 2005, city officials planned to redevelop the existing City Hall site at the entrance to the Balboa Peninsula at a projected cost of about $49 million.

But the project eventually moved to the more upscale area of Newport Center, where construction on the new complex began in 2010 off Avocado Avenue at 100 Civic Center Drive.

Costs swelled as the scope of the project expanded, eventually including a 17,000-square-foot expansion of the Central Library, a 14-acre park, a pedestrian bridge over San Miguel Drive and a 450-space parking structure.

At a cost of $140.2 million, some residents had a case of sticker shock.

Mayor Diane Dixon, Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Muldoon and council members Scott Peotter and Marshall Duffy Duffield were elected in 2014, running on a platform of fiscal responsibility as some of the projects harshest critics.

When they took their seats in January 2015, city staff provided a look into the construction project and posted change orders and other documents on the city website.

Dixon and Muldoon called for a deeper review of the project by an outside firm, saying it is common for large projects to undergo audits after they have been finished.

The audit request followed a city inquiry into whether former Assistant City Manager Steve Badum failed to report gifts from companies doing business with the city, including C.W. Driver.

The Orange County district attorneys office announced in August that it had found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Badum.

Dixon said the purpose of the audit was not to play the blame game but to look for ways to improve the citys oversight and procedures for future projects.

The report has identified clear problems with the citys oversight, she said. All of this is ripe for opportunity for improvement.

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Hannah Fry, hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
A judge has suspended work on a proposal to redevelop the Costa Mesa Motor Inn into luxury apartments, saying more needs to be done to help relocate long-term residents of the motel.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert OBrien issued a preliminary injunction last week against the plan to replace the 236-room Motor Inn at 2277 Harbor Blvd. with 224 high-end apartments.

The injunction will remain in place, OBrien wrote, until Costa Mesa adopts and implements a valid replacement housing and relocation assistance program in accord with state law.

Among the rules he cited are Title 25 of the California Code of Regulations, part of which states, A public entity shall not participate in or undertake a project that will displace individuals from their homes unless comparable replacement dwellings will be available within a reasonable period of time prior to displacement.

The Costa Mesa City Council approved the redevelopment proposal in November, with supporters saying it would rid the city of a blighted motel that has been a hotbed for illegal activity.

Timothy Dadey, a long-term Motor Inn resident and one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the project in January, said the judges ruling provides much-needed hope.

Many residents have not been able to find housing that is affordable in Costa Mesa, Dadey said in a statement provided by the Legal Aid Society of Orange County. People have been under a great deal of stress trying to figure out where to go, or wondering if their children would become homeless.

But Ellia Thompson, a lawyer who represents motel owner Miracle Mile Properties, said Tuesday that she plans to seek clarity on the judges ruling, saying this would be entirely new law.

This is not a public project; it is not a public program; theres no partnership between the city and the private developer, she said. There is nothing that would trigger a relocation assistance program.

Miracle Mile previously agreed to provide relocation assistance packages worth about $5,500 to long-term residents of the motel. The company also has set aside an additional $200,000 that nonprofits can use to assist motel tenants, Thompson said.

Were continuing to work with nonprofits to help the remaining guests repair their credit, get their security deposits in order and find permanent housing, said Thompson, who works with the firm Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP. We continue to do that, and theres nothing in the order that keeps us from doing that.

The Kennedy Commission, an affordable-housing advocacy group based in Irvine, and some residents of the Motor Inn challenged the redevelopment project in court, alleging the city had OKd it without providing a relocation plan or appropriate assistance for low-income motel residents who would be displaced.

The lawsuit also claims the apartment plan violates state law because it doesnt include low-income units.

One of our concerns is that residents dont have the opportunity to find appropriate housing, Cesar Covarrubias, executive director of the Kennedy Commission, said Monday. There needs to be a relocation plan developed, and thats what we hope the city and developer will do.

That plan, Covarrubias said, should include an analysis of whats available out there and what the housing costs are and what each resident can spend.

The Motor Inn is not the only motel in Costa Mesa that has drawn the attention of affordable-housing advocates in recent months.

Some, including the Kennedy Commission, also have taken issue with a city program aimed at enticing owners of some oft-criticized motels along Harbor and Newport boulevards to redevelop their properties into housing projects by providing them with a development incentive that would allow up to 40 units per acre.

Proponents say such incentives could help address problems at motels that are considered havens of drug use and other criminal activity.

Critics, though, say the program would displace many tenants and could run afoul of state law since residential projects that use the incentive wont be required to make any of their units affordable for lower-income households.

The program was approved this month as part of an update to the citys general plan.
Recently, we honored the fine men and women of the Police Department who work so hard to keep us safe from drug addicts and criminals who prey on our citizens.

They do a great job, and I commend them. But they do a great job in spite of one major obstacle  the liberal-led state government in Sacramento.

In 2011, Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 109 into law. Also known as realignment, AB 109 lessened the punishment for those who commit property crimes or nonviolent crimes, basically sending them back on the street to wreak more havoc instead of being in prison where they belong.

The net effect of AB 109 is not prisoner reform, but instead more and more drug users on our streets shooting up heroin, using meth and roaming like zombies. While I have libertarian leanings, inheriting the cost of someone hooked on heroin is out of bounds.

Mix that with Proposition 47, which California voters passed in 2014, and we now have a toxic cocktail of bad laws that are allowing criminals to roam freely on our streets with few repercussions.

Ask any of our Costa Mesa police officers who have to deal with this on a daily basis if they think this was a great idea.

I can tell you the answer right now: Its a resounding no.

So once again, the residents, local government and law enforcement are forced to absorb the costs of Sacramentos follies. The governor and his Democratic cronies in the state Legislature have a zest for unloading prisons to save money and pushing their costs down to us.

Its time they stop.

But apparently, they arent done with their shenanigans.

Now the governor and the fringe majority are proposing to raise the gas tax, even though we are already paying the highest in the nation, and attach an additional user fee.

The reason, they say, is that they need the extra money to repair our roads, but dont they already take enough from us to repair them?

Actually, that is really the whole Sacramento scam. The governor and the Legislature take a big chunk of our money and we get nothing in return.

Lets use South Coast Plaza as an example. We get 1% of the gross sales tax; the rest goes to Sacramento or the county. So for $1.8 billion in annual sales at South Coast Plaza, we collect only $18 million.

Think about it: That is one penny out of every dollar that you pay to shop at South Coast Plaza that comes back to us.

The money you pay each year in property taxes isnt much better. For every dollar sent to Sacramento in property taxes, we get 18 cents in return.

Here in Costa Mesa, we are doing the best we can with the money we have. But Sacramento continues not to pay for the policies it creates, whether its early release or new gas taxes.

So every time you see someone strung out on drugs on our streets, think of the governor and the state Legislature.

Every time you cant take your child to the playground because the homeless have taken over our community parks, think of the governor and the state Legislature.

Every time you hear about a neighbor whose car was burglarized or home was ransacked, think of the governor and state Legislature.

Every time you fill up your car and now dont have money for basic necessities, think of the governor and the state Legislature.

As a leader of the local government, I have to think of ways to fix the mess the governor and state Legislature make. Im fed up with it.

The community is tired of the governor and Sacramento making our lives harder and taking more of our money. I want them to give us more local control and stop taxing us. I want them to listen to the people.

As the mayor, I have a Meet the Mayor event once a month where I listen to the concerns and issues that our residents face, most of them largely caused by Sacramento.

Wouldnt it be nice to have a Meet the Governor so we can tell him to stop taking our money and making policies that increase our crime or make our daily living less affordable?

We need more politicians who fly at low altitudes and understand the problems we face so they wont create more problems with bills like AB 109. We need politicians who walk the walk and meet the community on a regular basis and know that we are already taxed too much.

Instead, we have the opposite. Its time for all of us to work together to change that.

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STEVE MENSINGER is the mayor of Costa Mesa.
Hannibal Lecter was hardly films first cannibal; he was just the first one in a movie classy enough to win some Oscars. For my money, you can keep Jonathan Demmes look at the muteness of the mutton. Now Five Came Back (1939) ... theres a cannibal movie. (Directed by John Farrow! Co-written by Nathanael West! Lucille Ball as the fallen woman!) Until the last 90 seconds, the tribe stays off camera  which is pretty much where I want my cannibals to be.

Eli Roths The Green Inferno offers us no such consideration. The cannibals show up about 40 minutes in, and they fill the remainder of the movie with frequent dismembering, disemboweling, optical enucleation, decapitation and threats of female genital mutilation  all lovingly photographed and involving characters weve come to know and occasionally like.

Ill wait in the car.

Our heroine is Justine (Lorenza Izzo), a freshman at what appears to be Columbia. Justines father is a big deal at the U.N., and she expresses her rebellion by signing on for a demonstration against rapacious corporations bulldozing the Peruvian jungle and allegedly murdering whatever pockets of indigenous types are left. Under the dubious leadership of Alejandro (Ariel Levy), a dozen or so amateur crusaders hop on a plane, hug a few trees, and head back for the U.S. Unfortunately, the plane crashes, and they are taken prisoner by a stone-age-y, loincloth-clad tribe, whose culinary tastes are just as old school as their fashion sense.

The tribe has the students, one by one, for dinner. Will rescuers ever find them? Will Justine escape? Will Roth run out of stunt viscera?

Theres a certain air of smugness about The Green Inferno. The attitude of the story is reminiscent of a joke that went around during the 70s: Whatever happened to those counterculture idealists who took off to aid the oppressed? They all got mugged by the people they went to help.

The movie is dedicated to Ruggero, presumably Ruggero Deodato, the genres best-known auteur. Ruggeros 1980 Cannibal Holocaust became notorious for its genuine animal killings and supposed human killings. If Ive ever seen it, Ive blocked the experience out. (I am, you might say, a Cannibal Holocaust denier.)

There were gore films in the 60s, but their blood-and-viscera effects tended to be unconvincing enough that the effect was humorously icky rather than genuinely disgusting. Deodato and Umberto Lenzi, among others, made the gore look real enough  in part by slaughtering real animals  that the results didnt generally tickle the funny bone. (Insert your own joke here.)

Roth cant be faulted on a technical level, but there isnt a lot of pleasure to be gleaned. Maybe Im getting old  well, I am getting old and so are the rest of you  but I had to cover my eyes frequently during the second half.

The Green Inferno is rated R. I cant imagine how much violence it takes to get an NC-17.

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ANDY KLEIN is the film critic for Marquee. He can also be heard on FilmWeek on KPCC-FM (89.3).
Actor and musician Jared Drake Bell pleaded not guilty Wednesday to one count of driving under the influence in Glendale within 10 years of committing the same offense, officials said.

The 30-year-old, who has been attending Alcoholics Anonymous classes, was arrested around 2:20 a.m. on Dec. 21 after police reported he was swerving and speeding after abruptly stopping at a red light, authorities said at the time.

During the traffic stop at West Doran Street and San Fernando Road, the officer noticed the odor of alcohol coming from the car, after which Bell reportedly failed a field sobriety test, police said.

According to the Los Angeles County Superior Court complaint, Bell refused to take a chemical test and is therefore subject to additional punishment.

In May 2010, Bell was convicted  six months after the incident  of driving under the influence in San Diego.

If convicted in this latest offense, he faces a year in county jail. He is due back in court in August.

The actor is best known for his starring role on Nickelodeons Drake & Josh, which followed the lives of two teens who become stepbrothers.

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Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @atchek

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Two Northern California gunmen accused of fatally shooting a 25-year-old man after a weekend party in Glendale pleaded not guilty to murder and multiple other charges, officials said Tuesday.

Laquan Dontae Parker, 24, of Stockton, and Brandon Jamal Perkins, 26, of Suisun City, were each charged with one count of murder, possession of a firearm by a felon with prior convictions and carrying a loaded stolen firearm, according to the Los Angeles County district attorneys office.

No charges were filed against 18-year-old Napa resident Dezerea Lyons, who police said had called the attackers after feeling insulted by comments made by the victim.

Lyons, who had been arrested, was released from custody Tuesday after police were satisfied that there were insufficient grounds for making a criminal complaint, according to the district attorneys office.

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On Friday night, the victim, Phillip Niles Jr., was out with friends at the Argyle in Hollywood, where he met Lyons and her friend. Videos posted on social media show Lyons and another woman singing and dancing, with drinks in hand, at the nightclub.

Eventually, the group moved the party to an apartment in the 1700 block of North Verdugo Road, according to Glendale Police Sgt. Robert William.

There, Lyons reportedly felt insulted by comments made by Niles, a recent Los Angeles transplant from Daytona Beach, Fla. Police declined to reveal the nature of the insults.

You dont know me, she told Niles, according to police. You dont know what Im capable of.

After Lyons texted and called the suspects, they showed up to pick her up, reportedly armed with handguns, police said. At that point, the two women left the apartment, and Niles walked them out.

Lyons and her friend got into the car, where Perkins and Parker reportedly confronted Niles.

Just before 4 a.m., neighbors heard the gunfire.

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.

When police arrived, he was dead.

The two men jumped in the car and fled to a Comfort Inn in Monrovia, where they had rented a room. Thats where the two men, along with Lyons, were arrested, after police spotted the trio leaving the hotel later that day.

If convicted, Parker and Perkins face a maximum sentence of 50 years to life in state prison. Prosecutors will ask for bail to be set at $3 million for each suspect.

--

Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @atchek

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A crackdown on Japans pornography industry may be changing practices that prompted complaints of human rights violations.

Earlier this month, Tokyo Metro Police arrested executives of a well-known talent agency on suspicion of coercing an actress to engage in sex on camera. A human rights group had charged that such coercion was common in the industry.

Since then, the Intellectual Property Promotion Assn., which represents 80% of Japans adult film industry, has formally apologized. In a news release about the arrests, the association acknowledged the existence of coercion in the industry and added, We deeply reflect upon not doing anything to address the problems on our own. We are very sorry.

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The organization pledged to work with human rights groups to improve working conditions and bring an end to forced labor and other human rights violations.

Human Rights Now, a nonprofit organization based in Tokyo, issued a report on the problem in March, with an English translation now available.

Kazuko Ito, a lawyer and secretary general of Human Rights Now, said Tuesday: The IPPA statement is a positive move, although right now it is still just words. We really hope that they will seriously take into account the criticism, the existence of human rights violations, and strive to improve the industry.

Adelstein is a special correspondent.

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The videotaped hanging of a dog on a Taiwanese military base has incited widespread outrage around the island and prompted vows to prosecute the killers.

Three people from a the marine base in Taiwans major southern city of Kaohsiung hung a mid-sized white dog on a chain Friday, taunted it before it died from strangulation and threw its body into the sea, according to news reports and a Ministry of National Defense statement.

The incident touched off outrage in a society that has become fonder of pets over the last decade and better connected through Internet media. The law calls animal abuse a crime often punishable by fines, for civilians and troops alike.

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I didnt know before that this sort of incident would happen on military bases and now I hear theyre killing dogs for some sense of achievement, said Judy Hsu, 29, an animal rescue worker in New Taipei City. Now I wonder how I can trust them with our countrys safety. I hope the [defense ministry] can assure us this kind of thing wont happen again.

Thousands of incensed comments have flooded social media and Taiwanese news websites since Sunday, when a city council member in the southern city of Kaohsiung posted the 40-second video of the killing online. Some commentators demanded that the people involved be fired or abused themselves.

Animal abuse has occurred before on military bases, Defense Ministry spokesman Lo Shao-he said, prompting the ministry to step up education, including awareness that Taiwans laws protect animal rights.

The base in question had raised the dog, named Little White, Lo said.

Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan thanked Taiwans public for supervising the military after the incident and ordered that the marines involved be severely punished. The ministry has identified nine suspects, including the perpetrators and their commanders. Feng ordered that within a week, every military unit double its education on animal protection laws.

It seems like this is institutionalized animal torture.  Sean McCormack, cofounder of PACK Sanctuary

The incident regarding Little White has prompted us to do a self-review and demand that all in the military care about life and allow no more acts of criminal abuse, Feng said in a statement.

Taiwanese troops have killed dogs on bases at least since 2005, said Sean McCormack, cofounder of PACK Sanctuary, an animal shelter near Taipei with 325 dogs. He recalled receiving a video that year of a dog beaten to death on a base.

Ive talked to people and they say it happens a lot, McCormack said. It seems like this is institutionalized animal torture. It makes you think they have low self-esteem, that theyre cowardly and perverted.

Taiwans military has 300,000 active troops. All men between ages 18 and 36 are subject to compulsory service.

See the most-read stories in World News this hour 

Various reports put the number of marines involved in the incident at three, four and five. Four marines put out a video of themselves, in uniform, bowing in apology and calling the dogs death a mistake. The video had received more than 1.7 million views as of Wednesday and a raft of comments questioning the apologys sincerity.

Too much nonsense, one comment reads. If you abuse a doggy like that, its best that the same kind of abuse should be used to prosecute you.

Another dog lives on the same marine base, the defense spokesman said, and military officials will follow up with supportive care for it.

Jennings is a special correspondent.

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In Britain he is simply known as Boris, an eccentric and gaffe-prone politician who spent eight years as Londons mayor.

But Boris Johnsons success spearheading the Brexit campaign has profoundly altered his career trajectory, suddenly casting him as a front-runner to succeed David Cameron as prime minister.

It would be a meteoric rise for a politician who took a calculated risk by joining the Leave campaign. And it could yet lead to his undoing.

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He somehow managed to be on the right side of chaos. The challenge now is whether he has the strength to unite the fractured Conservative Party and country, said Matthew Flinders, politics professor at the University of Sheffield.

You have to be a team player, understand the need to build alliances, compromise. The art of politics at the very highest level is a very difficult art to pull off. Camp Boris is about Boris and Im not sure yet if hes got the skills.

Along with his political appeal and ability to deliver rousing speeches, Johnson has long radiated a certain buffoonery. He famously got stranded on a zip wire over Londons Victoria Park during the citys Olympics while mayor and is relentlessly disheveled. He uses words like jolly and chap and bikes around the capital with his blonde locks flopping in his face.

Boris Johnson outside his home in London earlier this week. (Jack Taylor/Getty Images )

Yet behind his bumbling persona, Johnson is a deeply driven, ambitious and shrewd man who many believe has long aspired to be the countrys leader.

His whole life has been designed, created, positioned for that post, said Sonia Purnell, author of the biography Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition. He was never going to be satisfied with being an ordinary politician.

When Johnson announced he was joining the Leave campaign, commentators and colleagues alike felt it was a decision based more on political ambition than genuine belief. Prior to the referendum, Johnson was never known as a die-hard Eurosceptic. Ive never been an Outer, he said.

Before becoming a member of parliament, Johnson was a journalist and spent time as the Telegraph newspapers Brussels correspondent. Purnell who worked in the Brussels bureau with Johnson, said while he had reservations about the EU, he would get angry in private when anyone disparaged the institution.

Over the years hes been massively in favor of the EU except for when its been in his advantage not to be, Purnell said.

And when the referendum movement built steam, he announced his allegiance to Brexit, leaving the prime minister  who had sought his support  twisting in the wind. He told friends the decision had been difficult and had left him veering all over the place like a shopping trolley.

A Leave poster in the northeast English city of Redcar. (Scott Heppell/Getty Images )

But Johnson has long been a bundle of contradictions and once his decision was made, the gloves came off. He launched a no-holds-barred campaign for Britain to take back control. It was a major scoop for the Leave campaign .

In the final live television debate before Britain headed to the polls, he delivered a rousing closing statement that drew a standing ovation fro the audience at Wembley Arena.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

There is a very clear choice between those on the Remain side who speak of nothing but fear  and those of us who offer hope, he said. They say we cant do it, we say we can. They say we have no choice but to bow down to Brussels. We say they are woefully underestimating this country.

If we vote Leave, we can take back control of our borders, of huge sums of money, of our trade policy and of our whole law-making system.

The day after the vote, as world markets plummeted and the nation convulsed with shock, Camerons resignation instantly kicked Johnson into the spotlight.

He likely hadnt expected so much attention so soon. My chances of being prime minister are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive, he once said.

The highest office the 52-year-old, Eton-educated journalist-turned-politician had held was as Londons Mayor, where some accused him of surrounding himself with an intelligent, efficient team that did the bulk of the hard work, leaving him to take the credit and pose for the photos

Sadakat Kadri, a lawyer and author who knows Johnsons family, believes he is skilled at saying what needs to be said to meet his personal objectives.

I dont for a moment think that Boris himself is a bigot, Kadri said. The problem is the reckless and miscalculated opportunism he has displayed. As far as I am concerned, any promise or statement he might now make is fundamentally incredible.

After June 23 vote, Johnson appears to quickly backpedal on his hard line anti-EU stance, perhaps in an effort to unite the country and galvanize support.

In a column in the Telegraph newspaper Sunday, he was less than celebratory.

I cannot stress too much that Britain is part of Europe, and always will be, he wrote.

But it might not be enough to placate those who hold Johnson responsible for Brexit.

The day after the referendum, he was loudly booed and heckled as he exited his London home, a city that voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU.

The problem is that although everybody knew he was ambitious and strategic, people never thought that Boris the clown would be able to handle it at the top, Flinders said. I think they still dont, but the problem is that fate or fortune seem to have created a situation where he might well get a crack at it.

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To hear European Union officials talk, the freedom of workers to move wherever they wish within the 28-member union is a fundamental principleone they wont alter even though discontent with free immigration was a major issue in Britains vote last week to leave the EU.

But it wasnt always like that. Just over a decade ago, Britain threw open its doors to immigrants from Poland, the Czech Republic, and six other Central and Eastern European countries newly admitted to the EUwhile most other EU members took stringent steps to keep them out.

Immigration must be brought to manageable levels, so we can provide for these people and make sure they integrate with society.  Alp Mehmet, vice chairman, Migration Watch UK

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The consequences of those actions are still being felt in Britain today. Poles, who represent the largest group of nonnative workers in the country, have become the target of anti-immigrant sentiment stirred up by the recent Brexit campaign, which culminated in Thursdays vote.

The reversal of approaches to the movement of labor is one of the ironies of the immigration debate in Britain and its contentious relationship with its 27 European neighbors. It also hints at how deeply misinformation and misunderstandings infect discussions about immigration here, and how they can be exploited to drive public opinion.

Britons have been rattled by a sharp rise in net immigration over the last 20 years, particularly from EU countries. In 1997, EU immigrants numbered 18,000, about a third of all net immigration; in 2015, the EU accounted for nearly half of the net immigration total of about 333,000.

Of greater concern to policy-makers is that the EU newcomers tend to crowd out better-skilled immigrants from other countries.

In the immediate aftermath of the landmark referendum, leaders of the Brexit campaign tried to downplay the role of anti-immigrant sentiment.

Writing in Sundays Telegraph, former London Mayor Boris Johnson, the leader of the ruling Conservative Partys Brexit movement, flatly denied that the Leave voters were motivated by anxieties about immigration.

Instead, he argued, the paramount issue was controla more nebulous public discontent with bureaucratic rule-making from EU headquarters in Brussels.

Yet British Prime Minister David Cameron, an EU supporter who announced plans to resign the day after the vote, said just the opposite Tuesday during his final summit with other EU leaders. Fear of mass immigration was a driving factor behind the vote, he acknowledged.

An anti-immigrant tone was an inescapable feature of the Leave campaign. At one point, right-wing politician Nigel Farage, one of its leaders, introduced a poster depicting a crowd of Middle Eastern refugees. Even though the refugees arent a major issue in Britain, the poster bore the legend: Breaking Point: The EU has failed us all and established a certain exploitative tone in the campaign.

As is often the case, the greatest anti-immigrant sentiment, as represented by the Brexit vote, tended to show up in regions with smaller actual immigrant populations, and vice versa. In the northwest of England, where immigrants account for 2.8% of the population, 58% of voters chose to leave the EU. In London, where more than a third of residents are immigrants, 60% of voters opted to stay. That could partly be a result of the voting power of immigrants-turned-citizens, but immigration advocates say it also reflects locals greater familiarity with the work their neighbors dothey are less susceptible to immigrant-bashing.

EU immigration has been a hot topic in Britain at least since 2004. Many Britons assume that immigrants strain government programs; in fact a higher percentage are employed than are native Britons, and the vast majority claim no public assistance.

A widely cited study by University College London found that EU immigrants have brought a net fiscal benefitpaying as much as much as $26 billion more into public coffers than they consume in services. Moreover, the study asserted, they have endowed the country with productive human capital that would have cost the UK 6.8bn [$9.5 billion] in spending on education.

Yet immigration critics maintain that Britain simply doesnt have room for continued immigration at its current rate, especially of low-income workers.

Immigration must be brought to manageable levels, so we can provide for these people and make sure they integrate with society, says Alp Mehmet, vice chairman of Migration Watch UK. His organization places a sustainable level of properly managed immigration at about 60,000-70,000 a year.

The Cameron government has set an annual target of 100,000 immigrantsless than a third of the current levelbut there doesnt seem to be a clear rationale for picking that figure.

Theres no logic to it other than its a round number, says Carlos Vargas-Silva, senior researcher at Oxford Universitys Migration Observatory.

Whats more important is that the mandate to accept unlimited EU immigration interferes with efforts to weight total inflows more heavily toward high-skilled workers.

British industrialists complain about the mismatch between low-skilled EU immigrants, who can come at will, and skilled non-EU citizens they cant employ, even if theyve been educated in Britain.

James Dyson, the entrepreneurial inventor of Dyson vacuum cleaners and other appliances, observed during the Brexit campaign that 60% of engineering graduates at British universities were from outside the EU, but were not allowed to employ them..And we chuck them out!

A 2015 Bank of England survey showed that while immigrants generally are well-represented in high-paying professions, EU immigrants resemble the stereotypical low-wage immigrant in the U.S. In Britain, more than 30% of doctors and dentists are immigrants, and about 20% are among professionals such as engineers.

EU nationals, however, cluster in unskilled occupations. Their influx since 2004 has changed the patternand the imageof the British immigrant.

The immigration issue had little political weight here through the mid-1990s, when net immigration was low, and sometimes negative. There was little economic rationale for EU citizens to move to Britain, because the economic disparities between their home countries and Britain were not very great.

But a change occurred in 2004. The EU admitted eight new members, including Poland, but instituted a tight lid on their citizens right of movement for up to seven years. Only Britain, Ireland, and Sweden welcomed the new members. Basing its expectations on previous patterns of EU immigration, the Labor government of Tony Blair complacently assumed EU immigration would remain at historical levels.

Instead, tens of thousands of workers from Eastern and Central Europe showed up. Poland unseated India, Pakistan and Ireland as the leading national source of immigration, totaling almost 1 million over the next 10 years.

To have low-income countries join the EU was unprecedented, says Vargas-Silva. With per capita incomes in Britain roughly twice that of Poland, and workers purchasing power three times as high, the prospect of working in Britain had become irresistible.

British government officials say they dont want to cut off all EU immigration, merely apply the same standards faced by applicants from elsewhere.

Those applicants must qualify for visas through a point system awarding credit for various desirable qualities, such as education, English aptitude, and work experience. Non-EU citizens also face caps on the number of workers admitted even for high-skilled work. Incoming workers must have a job offer in hand, and rules have been tightened on students and family members with non-EU citizenshipeven spouses of British citizens arent automatically admitted.

Theres little doubt that such rules would shut down the flow of EU citizens into Britain. As much as 90% of the existing EU immigrant workforce, Vargas-Silva estimates, would fail to qualify if the rules were applied to them.

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European Union leaders Wednesday put a brave face on Britains decision to leave the common market, insisting that the 27 nations remaining in the bloc can succeed despite the departure of its second-largest economy.

The presidents and prime ministers at the second day of an EU summit in Brussels pointedly left Britains seat at the meeting table empty -- a potent symbol of change as they cobbled together common policies on dealing with the aftermath of countrys announced plans to leave the group.

The 27 leaders said they would take a firm line with Britain in separation negotiations and under no circumstances accept any free-trade deals that fail to allow for the free movement of people  a major stumbling block. They also said there would be no talks until Britain formally requests to leave the EU.

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The victory by British voters in favor of leaving the EU in last weeks referendum stunned Europe. The EU has for decades been growing in numbers and influence as it attempted to forge an ever-closer union to prevent wars, increase security and create economic prosperity.

The prospect of losing of about one-sixth of the EUs economic output represents a major setback and risks galvanizing leave movements in other member countries.

But the EU has been battle-tested through a series of crises in recent years, from the financial meltdown of 2008 to terror attacks to the sovereign debt turmoil that threatened to destroy the single-currency union. EU leaders seemed doubly determined to show they are ready, willing and able to deal with Britains departure from the common market in an orderly fashion.

The remaining leaders made clear after their meeting that Britain will not get any kind of special treatment once it is outside the EU. Britain would like to maintain close economic ties yet the continued insistence that it be allowed to put limits on the free movement of people from the rest of Europe appears to be an almost insurmountable hurdle to those ambitions.

Some EU leaders expressed an eagerness to see Britain punished with harsh separation terms to frighten off backers of other nascent anti-EU movements in countries such as the Netherlands, France and Denmark.

Others, aware that Britain has already been pelted by powerful forces on financial markets that have wiped out more than $2 trillion of its wealth and cost it its AAA rating, would like to take the opportunity to push for even greater integration now that Britain, long an obstacle to a more socialist EU super-state, is on the way out.

But at the end of the day the consensus centered around the cautious, middle-of-the-road course outlined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the leader of the EUs largest economy.

Britains departure is a very serious situation, Merkel told reporters Wednesday, a day after she had warned Britain not to delude itself thinking it could cherry-pick the parts of the EU it finds agreeable while rejecting the rest.The faster that any uncertainty is eliminated, the better that is, obviously. This definitely wont increase economic growth. But its difficult to predict right now what the exact economic consequences will be for Europe.

She reiterated that it is up to Britain to apply to leave by invoking Article 50 of the EUs Lisbon Treaty and added she hoped that happens as quickly as possible. She said other EU leaders agreed that going forward the EU needs to be more nimble and more determined.

The exact timing of the Brexit remained murky. British Prime Minister David Cameron has already reneged on a promise made during the referendum campaign to initiate the procedures for Britain to leave the EU right away  a process that could take two years.

After losing the vote last week, he resigned and said he would leave that decision on when to invoke Article 50 to his successor  who is not expected to be in place until sometime in September.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

Cameron, who was at the summit Tuesday, blamed the EUs rules allowing free movement of workers for his defeat in the referendum. That claim was quickly rejected by the EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who said the Brexit vote was instead caused by years of Brussels bashing by Cameron and other British leaders.

If, over the years if not decades, you tell citizens that something is wrong with the EU, that the EU is too technocratic, too bureaucratic, you cant be taken by surprise if voters believe you, Juncker said.

Cameron, who was not invited to Wednesdays informal meeting of the EU leaders, returned to London and jumped into what promises to be an ugly succession battle at home  both for his job as leader of the Conservative party as well as the leadership of the main opposition Labor Party.

For heavens sake, man, go! Cameron told lawmakers in a debate in Parliament, referring to Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, who lost a confidence vote in his party on Tuesday for his lukewarm support of the campaign to keep Britain in the EU but refused to resign.

EU leaders in Brussels made abundantly clear that there is no chance of Britain obtaining access to the common market of some 440 million consumers without allowing the free movement of people as well as goods.

If they dont want free movement, they wont have access to the single market, French President Francois Hollande said.

The arrival in Brussels of Scotlands leader Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday added another element of drama. Sturgeon, Scotlands first minister and advocate of Scottish independence, met with some EU leaders such as Juncker and Martin Schulz, the president of the EU parliament.

But EU Council President Donald Tusk and other EU leaders opted not to meet her because they did not want to expose themselves to criticism from the British government that they were trying to encourage Scotlands secession from Britain.

It would have to become a sovereign state before it could join the EU  something that Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy expressed strong doubts about Wednesday over fears it could encourage separatist movements in Spain.

Scotland is determined to stay in the EU, Sturgeon said after meeting Schulz. Its my responsibility to ensure that Scotlands voice is heard in Europe and I intend to do so.

She added that the British government needed to get a grip and deal with the fallout of Brexit. She urged both the Remain and Leave leaders to be clear and honest about their plans.

Kirschbaum is a special correspondent.

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Fifty clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwa, or religious decree, saying that transgender people can marry under Islamic law  but only if they do not have visible signs of both genders.

The clerics, affiliated with the Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ummat religious law organization based in Lahore, said that a transgender person with visible signs of being a male can marry a nontransgender woman, or a transgender woman with visible signs of being a female. But a transgender person with visible signs of both genders cannot marry anyone, the fatwa stipulated.

The decree also said that transgender people must not be deprived their share of inheritance, and said it was sinful to humiliate, insult or tease people for being transgender.

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The two-page decree, which is in no way legally binding, ended by saying that all funeral rituals for a transgender person would be the same as for any other Muslim man or woman.

Transgender people are among the most marginalized groups in Pakistan. Being transgender is treated as taboo subject, and in many cases, transgender individuals are deprived of their legal rights to marriage, inheritance and a normal burial.

Last month, a young transgender woman named Alisha was shot eight times, and died after hospital staff took an hour to decide whether to put her in male or female ward.

Pakistans transgender community and activists cautiously welcomed the decree, saying it was a breath of fresh air, but that it would hardly change their day-to-day reality.

This decree is not legally binding and will hardly make a difference. But we are happy that somebody talked about us, too.  Farzana Naz, the Peshawar-based president of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter of Trans Action Alliance

This decree is not legally binding and will hardly make a difference. But we are happy that somebody talked about us, too, said Farzana Naz, the Peshawar-based president of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter of Trans Action Alliance, a transgender advocacy group. The real issue is the marriage of the transgender person carrying visible signs of both genders, and the decree disapproving of their marriage.

She said that attitudes still needed to change. There have been decrees in favor of transgender people for centuries, but torture and humiliation have not been ended. We want the state to treat us normal citizens.

In 2012, Pakistans Supreme Court also declared equal rights for transgender citizens, including the right to inherit property and assets.

Zia Naqshbandi, head of the organization that issued the fatwa, said that there was only one section in the decree about transgender marriage, while the rest dealt with their rights generally. We issued the decree after the increase in violence against them in society, he said.

Naqshbandi said that the clerics issued the decree in order to help convince the state, society and the families of transgender people to accept them. They should have the right to health, education, a job and inheritance, he said. They should be registered by the state and a job quota should be fixed for them. We have been asking the state and society to mainstream them.

But he said it would still be wrong for a transgender person with visible signs of both genders to marry. It is hiram (sinful), but they can enjoy all other rights. Pakistans law forbids same-sex marriages, and gay men are charged under anti-sodomy laws.

Qamar Nasim, a Peshawar-based transgender rights activist who also works with Trans Action, said that at least 46 transgender people had been killed and 300 were raped or tortured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the past two years. His group has collected data on these crimes from 15 districts in the province.

But police routinely undercount the violence against transgender people, he said. The police in the province have registered cases of not more than 22 murders of the transgender in the province, while rape and torture cases are hardly reported, he said.

He said that the decree had opened a window of opportunity for the community.

But will this decree change the attitude of the state and of society toward them? he asked. I doubt it.

Sahi is a special correspondent.

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Emre Karacali was finishing up his evening meal on the ground floor of Istanbuls Ataturk Airport on Tuesday night, the first food hed had after a 17-hour Ramadan fast. He runs a shop selling mobile-phone accessories in the airport, housed just outside the baggage claim, where tens of millions of passengers a year enter Turkey.

There were a lot of people there, a lot of noise. ... They were breaking their fast, or praying in the mosque, Karacali said. I probably missed the gunfire when it started.

Three male attackers had taken a taxi to the airport, arriving around 10 p.m. local time, armed with at least one AK-47 assault rifle, a Glock handgun, hand grenades and suicide vests. CCTV cameras captured images of two attackers: clean-shaven men, both wearing black winter jackets, one in blue jeans and the other in black pants.

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Survivors accounts pointed to a sophisticated operation behind the attack that killed 42 people and injured more than 230. Officials said the bombings bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State.

We can be certain this attack was the result of extensive surveillance, and it looks like [the attackers] had a plan in place, said Istanbul security analyst Gareth Jenkins, who works with the Silk Road Institute. They had seen where metal detectors and everything else was.

Outside, at least one attacker had opened fire with an AK-47. A handful of people began running away from the giant glass windows that look out onto the curb. Karacali looked up to see a giant fireball rip through the entrance. One attacker had blown himself up, followed by another explosion moments later.

Bomba! Bomba!, yelled police, one of the few Turkish words likely to be understood by all in the confusion.

Amina, an Iranian American who declined to give a last name, was waiting with her family, including her young daughter, to board a flight back to the U.S. They told us to run into the rooms, away from the entrance, she said, still shaken hours after the attack. She and thousands of other passengers waiting outside the airport were trying to find hotel rooms.

Many of those caught in the attack fled for safety in the airports mosque, where some passengers were offering evening prayers. They huddled in room after room for hours, waiting for authorities to evacuate them. We couldnt just leave ourselves, Amina said. The exit itself was being attacked.

Whoever did this is trying to put Turkey down. ... We are trying to get closer to the world. [The attackers] saw this, and they want to stop us.  Emre Karacali, airport vendor

The explosions outside left dozens of bodies on the pavement in pools of blood, limbs scattered. The din Karacali had been used to, he said, was replaced by silence.

The victims of the attacks represent a cross-section of the world. Among the wounded are scores from North America and Europe, but most of the dead are from largely Muslim countries, likely traveling home for the Eid holiday that is to come in a weeks time. Thirteen dead foreigners have been identified: four dual Turkey-Saudi Arabia nationals, along with two citizens of Iraq and one national each from Iran, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Jordan and Iraq. They were traveling through an airport that serves 61 million passengers annually, in a city that has been hailed for millennia as the place where East and West meet.

But the attack killed mostly Turks who worked with foreign visitors.

There has been a shift from perceived opponents of the Turkish state, to an effort to directly target foreigners and tourism. And now with this attack to the Turkish state itself and the Turkish people, they were trying to kill as many ordinary Turks as they could, Jenkins said.

Among them was Yusuf Haznedaroglu, an airport worker who was waiting for a shuttle home after a day of work, according to local media reports. He was to be married in 10 days. Ertan An, a tour guide, was killed at the entrance as he was seeing off a group of tourists, leaving behind a child and a wife who was six months pregnant. Mahmut Cizmecioglu and his wife of two years, Zeynep, who both worked as ground staff at the airport, also were killed.

Two attackers made their way up an escalator to the second floor, where passengers were lining up for security checks before boarding international flights. A video from one passenger, crouched on the ground behind luggage, shows one of the attackers running back and forth with a handgun. For more than a minute, the man runs to and fro, until a police officer shoots him as he rounded a corner. The man collapsed on the ground, his weapon sliding away on the smooth floor. The officer approaches the man to check on him, then quickly runs away, seconds before the wounded attacker detonates a suicide vest.

On the ground floor, Karacali tried looking for friends who worked in the airport, but it was too chaotic, and he settled on hiding in the back room of a restaurant. Half an hour later, he ran outside the airport.

Dozens of members of the Turkish special forces in camouflage joined police to secure the airport, amid rumors that one attacker had escaped. Scores of flights approaching the airport were diverted, and those that had landed were kept on the tarmac until authorities could ensure no more attackers were in the area.

Authorities reopened the airport five hours after the attack. On Wednesday morning, a giant Turkish flag was draped over the airports entrance as travelers returned, trying to resume their travel plans.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim arrived with other government officials in sleek cars. There is no security gap at the airport, he told reporters at the scene.

In December, an offshoot of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, claimed responsibility for an explosion on a Pegasus Airlines passenger plane on the tarmac at Istanbuls Sabiha Gokcen airport. That explosion killed a female maintenance worker and damaged several other empty planes nearby, but officials initially denied the explosion was a terror attack. Yildirim, who served as minister of transportation at the time, told reporters: [A] weakness in the airports security is out of the question.

Turkey has seen increasingly frequent attacks in the past year, both from Islamic State and from the left-wing PKK. The fact that multiple groups have carried out recent terror attacks on Turkish soil has fueled speculation as to who might be behind Tuesdays bombing.

Islamic States first attacks in Turkey, in 2015, were against pro-Kurdish targets, including a community office in Suruc and a rally for peace in Ankara. This years attacks targeted foreigners, like those at the iconic Sultanahmet mosque in Istanbul, or on Istiklal Avenue near Taksim Square. But Islamic State fighters also attacked a police station in Gaziantep in May, the first such case in which the Turkish government was directly targeted.

The Ataturk airport attack came on the second anniversary of Islamic States declaration of its caliphate. The groups spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, earlier called on followers to make Ramadan a month of calamity everywhere for the nonbelievers  especially for the fighters and supporters of the caliph in Europe and America.

Hours after the attack, Karacali stood at the entrance to the airport, where Turkish police toting automatic weapons formed a security perimeter.

Whoever did this is trying to put Turkey down, Karacali said. We are trying to get closer to the world.  [The attackers] saw this, and they want to stop us.

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UPDATES:

2:31 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with more witness accounts and new information about how the attack unfolded.

12:54 p.m.: This article was updated with the most recent death toll.

This article was originally published at 8:44 a.m.
Rows of beach chairs in pastel blue and white stripes sit unused by the hundreds, the sun-umbrellas next to many closed tight.

A lone jet ski rider skims across the water. Signs advertise paragliding excursions and white-water rafting adventures.

Yet, barely anyone is there to see any of it.

Along Turkeys western tourism trail  secluded inlets tucked into mountain ranges, sprawling white beaches, late-night discos and restaurants and bars  one thing is noticeably absent: tourists.

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The countrys important tourism sector is reeling, with the numbers of visitors plummeting as the governments foreign policy alienates important allies and terrorist attacks assail the countrys touristic infrastructure.

In Alanya, a hot spot that would normally bustle in the summer months, the crunch is keenly felt.

Eren Ergul was sitting Wednesday at a deserted booth where hes supposed to hawk scuba diving and canyoning packages to tourists. His company is lucky to get 10 customers daily, he said.

We used to sell packages to 80 or 90 people  sometimes more than 100  per day, said Ergul, 26, who blamed the loss of business on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans approach to international affairs.

He needs to be friendlier to other countries and not attack everyone all the time, said Ergul.

Many observers say the country, a U.S. ally, has been largely in international isolation.

In May, the countrys tourism sector slumped 35% compared with the same month the previous year. Tourist arrivals have fallen for 10 months straight, with each month revealing a steeper plunge. About 5.8 million tourists visited the country during the years first four months, a drop of 16%, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute.

Losses are expected to exceed some $15 billion this year, said Murat Ersoy, head of the Tourism Investors Association (TYD), said during a news conference this month.

Over the last five years, Turkish foreign policy has strayed far beyond its traditional parameters. Erdogan has sought to cast himself as a global Islamic leader and regain Turkish primacy in former Ottoman lands.

Relations suffered with several countries and Erdogan agitated for government change in Syria, tolerating a mounting Salafi jihadist presence on Turkeys southern flanks. Those insurgents have taken the opportunity to establish potent cells throughout Turkey and have staged numerous attacks on Turkish soil.

On Tuesday, three attackers sprayed gunfire at Istanbul Ataturk Airport and detonated their suicide vests, killing at least 42 people and injuring more than 230.

1 / 31 Workers clean the debris from Tuesdays attack at Turkeys largest airport on Wednesday. (Defne Karadeniz / Getty Images) 2 / 31 Travelers walk around damaged areas of the international terminal at Ataturk Airport on Wednesday after Tuesdays attack in Istanbul, Turkey. (Defne Karadeniz / Getty Images) 3 / 31 A window cracked by a bullet in Tuesdays attack at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport. (Gokhan Tan / Getty Images) 4 / 31 A worker cleans blood stains on the ceiling of the international departure terminal at the countrys largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, following Tuesdays attack in Istanbul, Turkey. (Gokhan Tan / Getty Images) 5 / 31 Taxi driver Mustafa Biyikli, who died in Tuesdays airport attack, is buried on Wednesday in Istanbul, Turkey. (Defne Karadeniz / Getty Images) 6 / 31 A woman assists a mother who lost a relative, outside a forensic medicine building close to Istanbuls airport on June 29. (Bulent Kilic / AFP/Getty Images) 7 / 31 Passengers embrace outside Istanbuls Ataturk airport after being evacuated following a blast. (Emrah Gurel / Associated Press) 8 / 31 Children and their relatives embrace as they leave Ataturk airport in Istanbul. (Ozan Kose / AFP/Getty Images) 9 / 31 Forensic police work at the site of an explosion at Ataturk airport in Istanbul. (Ozan Kose / AFP/Getty Images) 10 / 31 One of the many wounded is taken to a hospital after the attack at Ataturk airport. (Deniz Toprak / EPA) 11 / 31 Forensic police work at the scene of a blast outside Istanbuls Ataturk airport. (Emrah Gurel / Associated Press) 12 / 31 Forensic police work at the Ataturk airport explosion site. (Ozan Kose / AFP / Getty Images) 13 / 31 The injured lie on the ground next to a terminal at Ataturk airport. (Ilhas News Agency / AFP/Getty Images) 14 / 31 Forensic police work the explosion site at Ataturk airport. (Ozan Kose / AFP/Getty Images) 15 / 31 Travelers wait outside the airport after the deadly attack. (Ozan Kose / AFP/Getty Images) 16 / 31 Travelers who survived from the suicide bomb attack cry as they leave the Turkeys largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, on Tuesday. (Gokhan Tan / Getty Images) 17 / 31 Travelers cry as they leave Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. (Gokhan Tan / Getty Images) 18 / 31 Ambulances line up as police set up a perimeter after two explosions rocked Istanbuls Ataturk Airport. (AFP/Getty Images) 19 / 31 Crime scene investigators go to work after an attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. (Sedat Suna / EPA) 20 / 31 Police investigators look for evidence at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. (Sedat Suna / EPA) 21 / 31 Crime scene investigators work next to a victim killed in the boming at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. (Sedat Suna / EPA) 22 / 31 An injured person sits in an ambulance outside Istanbuls Ataturk Airport. (Emrah Gurel / Associated Press) 23 / 31 Ambulances parked outside Istanbuls Ataturk Airport on Tuesday. (Emrah Gurel / Associated Press) 24 / 31 Turkish special forces troops help secure the area after a bombing at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. (Sedat Suna / EPA) 25 / 31 Passengers wait outside Ataturk Airport in Istanbul after Tuesdays attack. (Ozan Kose / AFP/Getty Images) 26 / 31 Turkish special forces troops help secure the area after a bombing at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. (Sedat Suna / EPA) 27 / 31 Security officials secure Ataturk Airport in Istanbul after the suicide bomb attacks. (Gokhan Tan / Getty Images) 28 / 31 Security officers and ambulances outside Ataturk Airport in Istanbul after it was hit by a suicide bomb attack on Tuesday. (Getty Images / Getty Images) 29 / 31 Passengers leave Ataturk Airport in Istanbul after the attack. (OZAN KOSE / AFP/Getty Images) 30 / 31 A man carries his daughter as passengers leave Ataturk Airport. (Ozan Kose / AFP/Getty Images) 31 / 31 Passengers were moved outside and vehicle traffic blocked after a bomb attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. (Sedat Suna / EPA)

This week, Turkey and Israel unveiled a deal to normalize diplomatic relations after years of dispute over Israels blockade of Gaza and Erdogans support for the militant group Hamas.

Turkey and Russia said they had also reached a reconciliation over Ankaras downing of a Russian jet last year. Russian arrivals plummeted 98% after that incident, with Moscow imposing a ban on charter flights to Turkey.

Erdogans foreign policy has been an unmitigated disaster for Turkey, but his autocratic domestic tendencies at home have also led to alienation, said Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.

Once one of President Obamas favorite world leaders, Erdogan is now getting the cold shoulder from Obama because of his deliberate decisions to erode Turkeys democratic institutions, his strongman tactics in quelling domestic dissent, and the disastrous series of decisions he has made in dealing with Syria. Schanzer said.

Analysts and residents said the impressions left at home and abroad are bound to influence tourism.

In one restaurant just off Alanyas main beach, 10 wait staff attended to two tourists at peak time, one recent evening. The rest of the restaurant was empty.

The manager, Aziz Yilmaz, who has worked in tourism for 23 years, said he had never seen the sector hurting this much.

The country breathes because of tourists, we cant lose them, Aziz said.

Cigdem Selam, who manages the beachfront Xperia Saray Beach Hotel in Alanya, lamented plunging prices as hoteliers seek to lure the few tourists still visiting.

We have closed one of our three hotels this season, Selam said. Our occupancy is down to around 50%.

She said that they would have to rely on bumper domestic tourism following the month of Ramadan to limit the damage this season.

Schanzer said Turkey needs to mend fences around the region and the world to help many problems, including the hurting tourism industry.

It needs more friends, he said, not more enemies.

Johnson is a special correspondent.

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Turkish president apologizes for downing Russian jet

Islamic State claims it killed American working at air base in Turkey
Faced with the worst yellow fever outbreak in parts of Africa in decades and running low on vaccine, the World Health Organization plans to use only fractional doses of the vaccine in some areas when it launches an emergency immunization campaign in July.

Health experts hope that by using smaller doses they can stretch the limited vaccine supply and slow the spread of the virus.

Even in smaller doses  1/5th the normal dose, in the upcoming campaign  the vaccine still provides full immunity for at least 12 months, health officials say.

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WHO spokeswoman Sarah Cumberland said in an email that fractional dosing is being considered at this stage only for Kinshasa, the Congolese capital that is home to more than 10 million people.

A woman and her children wait for medical attention in Luberizi, Congo. (Federico Scoppa / Getty Images )

The outbreak is still in early stages and it could be an effective way of containing spread with the vaccine doses available, Cumberland said. Logistical considerations, such as obtaining suitable syringes and training health workers in this method, mean that dose-fractioning may be easier to implement in an urban setting.

The other areas targeted are a 47- to 62-mile belt spanning the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, where the disease first emerged in December, and high-risk inland areas associated with local mining areas and big markets that attract large migrant populations and movement of people to and from Angola, the WHO said.

If we dont respond fast, this has the potential to be a big outbreak with the risk of international spread, Cumberland said. The focus is on getting this under control as fast as possible.

The use of fractional dosing is significant because such a tactic should only be used in response to an emergency situation in which current vaccine supply is insufficient, Cumberland said. This would mark the first time that fractional dosing has been used to combat yellow fever, she said.

Daniel Lucey, an immunologist at the Georgetown Universitys ONeill Institute for National and Global Health Law, said the move underscores the severity of the situation  and it doesnt bode well for what is a potentially worse situation that were going to be in, in future.

Angola reported 3,294 suspected cases and 347 deaths from the virus, according to the WHOs latest statistics, while Congo had 1,106 suspected cases and 75 deaths.

Distribution of the vaccine would focus on districts where there is high movement of people and intense trade activities, particularly the northern border districts of Angola and targeted border districts in neighboring countries, the WHO said in a recent statement. The aim is to create an immunity wall.

Already yellow fever cases linked to the Angola outbreak have been reported in China, Kenya and Congo, the WHO said.

The disease is transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which also carry dengue fever and the Zika virus, and causes high temperatures, jaundice, bleeding and eventually shock and multiple organ-failure in patients with severe infection. It can be fatal.

There is no cure for yellow fever, making prevention critical. But providing treatment for those in areas currently affected by the disease has been challenging because of the lack of the vaccine.

The global stockpile of 6 million doses has been depleted three times since the start of the outbreak in December, Cumberland said. Angola has received 15 million vaccines, 3 million doses have gone to Congo and 800,000 to Uganda, which is experiencing a bout of yellow fever unrelated to the cases in Angola.

Although the stockpile has been replenished to 5 million doses, demand could quickly outstrip supply, Cumberland said.

She said yellow fever has the potential to spread fast in urban settings, particularly when breeding conditions are favorable for the mosquito.

A woman crosses a street in the Matonge district of Kinshasa, the Congolese capital that is home to more than 10 million people, in March 2015. (Federico Scoppa / AFP/Getty Images )

Lucey, the Georgetown immunologist, said the yellow fever threat to Kinshasa should have been anticipated.

Now Im worried about the virus spreading to the Republic of Congo and Brazzaville, Lucey said. Mosquitoes dont know where to stop.

Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, can be seen across the Congo River from Kinshasa.

Lucey also warned of the possible spread of yellow fever to Asia, where there has never been an outbreak but where Aedes mosquitoes are common in places such as India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and southern China. An Aedes mosquito that bites a person infected with yellow fever can transmit the virus to someone else, Lucey said.

Several humanitarian organizations have mobilized to try to contain the virus in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said this month that given the limited supply of the vaccine  which is the first and best line of defense  it would be best to conduct community outreach to help curb the spread of the disease.

Local Red Cross staff and volunteers were conducting door-to-door visits instructing people on how to reduce their risk of falling ill with yellow fever, such as eliminating sites where mosquitoes can breed, the organization said. Teams were also assessing how to improve community surveillance and vector control, and addressing rumors that are spreading about the disease and vaccinations, the Red Cross said.

Meanwhile, the medical humanitarian group Doctors without Borders has been undertaking mass vaccination and mosquito control efforts in certain affected areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo and providing diagnoses and treatment of patients in Angola.

ann.simmons@latimes.com

For more on global development news follow me @AMSimmons1 on Twitter

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The United States trained the rebel New Syrian Army in hopes that it would be a formidable opponent to Islamic State jihadists.

But in its first serious test  an offensive near the Syrian border town of Bukamal  the rebels appear to have failed.

Islamic State took much of the oil-rich desert region straddling the border between Iraq and Syria in 2014.

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On Tuesday, the New Syrian Army announced an operation to wrest control of territory near Bukamal. The group said on its Facebook page that the campaign was launched in conjunction with Iraqi pro-government forces storming the Iraqi town of Qaim just across the border.

The two towns are a crucial link in Islamic States self-proclaimed caliphate.

The next day, Aamaq, a news agency affiliated with Islamic State, said the jihadists had killed 40 members of the New Syrian Army and captured 15 in a counterattack on the defunct Hamdan air base northwest of Bukamal.

See the most-read stories in World News this hour >>

Video posted by the news agency showed jubilant Islamic State fighters parading in trucks sporting the New Syrian Armys insignia and fawning over heavy weapons and ammunition belts apparently captured in the fighting.

One militant is shown mutilating the corpse of a rebel fighter and cutting off the head.

The New Syrian Army withdrew from the area, marking the latest setback for U.S. plans to train and equip Syrian rebels capable of battling Islamic State militants.

Previous iterations of the program were widely ridiculed for producing minuscule numbers of capable fighters who were easily overwhelmed by Islamist factions wary of U.S. intervention.

Many rebels were also reluctant to enroll in any U.S. effort, because of a stringent vetting process meant to detect any Islamist sympathies and because of U.S. insistence that trained fighters concentrate on attacking only Islamic State.

The New Syrian Army, however, had promised to be different.

It first appeared in November 2015 with the stated goal of pushing Islamic State out of the eastern Syrian desert. Since then, its fighters have shown up in slickly produced videos uploaded to social media that depict uniformed men training with U.S. weapons.

Analysts say the group  which is headquartered near Tanf, a southern town close to where the borders of Jordan, Iraq and Syria converge  has also received support from Jordanian special forces units.

Wednesdays defeat, however, may have cost the group a full fifth of its cadres.

Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the pro-opposition monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, estimated that the rebel group had comprised about 125 fighters, but that after Islamic States counteroffensive they are probably less than a hundred.

They did nothing, he said. They went to the border and came back. This was more a media show than anything else.

The New Syrian Army tried to put the best possible spin on the defeat.

On Wednesday, the group alleged that it had killed 20 Islamic State fighters and wrested control of the border crossing as well as territory in the southern and eastern approaches to Bukamal, and that it had set up a radio station in the area to give directions and warnings to residents.

A spokesman for the group, Mozahem Saloum, said in an interview on social media that helicopters had deployed additional rebels behind enemy lines near the air base  a claim that was confirmed by the observatory group but denied by Pentagon officials.

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Although Saloum acknowledged that the rebel fighters had later withdrawn from the area after heavy resistance by Islamic State, he insisted it was a tactical retreat that had marked the end of what he described as a deep penetration raid.

He said that only three of the groups fighters were killed and that the group still controlled desert areas near Bukamal and maintained the freedom of military maneuverability.

Meanwhile, coalition warplanes conducted eight airstrikes that wiped out bridges, a training camp and militant fighting positions, according to the Pentagon. Five additional strikes in Qaim hit two weapons caches and communications facilities.

We are looking to inflict damage on Daesh in that location inside Syria, said Col. Christopher Garver, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Baghdad. Daesh is the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

Cutting these supply lines will impact the flow of foreign fighters and supplies between the upper and lower Euphrates Valley, Garver said.

Bulos is a special correspondent. Staff writer W.J. Hennigan in Washington contributed to this report.

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A new Center for Constitutional Rights and Detention Watch Network report finds Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have made assurances to private prison companies guaranteeing that a quota of detainees largely made up of mothers and their children will forever be offered up for lock up.

The so-called "guaranteed minimums" assure that a specific number of detainees will be held in captivity at all times at the for-profit ran institutions.

"Guaranteed minimums, which appear mostly in ICE contracts with private contractors (though some exist with local governments), guarantee that ICE will pay for a minimum number of people to be detained at any given time," states the report, whose lead authors are Dawy Rkasnuam and Conchita Garcia of Detention Watch Network.

Researchers added, "Because the government seeks to avoid paying for detention space that isn't being used, guaranteed minimums are essentially local 'lockup' quotas that influence ICE's decision-making about immigration enforcement, whether or not people will be released, where people will be detained, and ultimately, who will profit or benefit from their detention."

A 2009 congressional mandate already requires that ICE keep a minimum of 34,000 people locked away at all of their facilities at any given time.

Compliants of Abuse Well Documented

In recent times, several human rights organizations have condemned the treatment of families and individuals at many of those camps, going as far as to compare them to Japanese internment camps.

The Karnes County Residential Center in Texas has consistently attracted negative attention based on the number of hunger strikes held there by detainees complaining of inhumane conditions. Among the most persistent complaints voiced by those being held there are cries of no legal representation, allegations of being forced to drink contaminated water and screams of female prisoners being sexually assaulted by prison guards.

"Almost all guaranteed minimums are found in facilities that contract with private prison companies, and ICE actively collaborates with these companies to keep details of their contracts secret," said Ghita Schwarz, Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, in a press statement about the new findings. "The public should have a full understanding of how ICE rewards and incentivizes profiteering off the detention of immigrants."

ICE Accused of Operating in Secret

Given ICE's purported habit of operating with little transparency when it comes to such matters, researchers add it's unknown what percentage of facilities actually function under the guaranteed minimums system or the cost it all comes at.

What is known is profits are reported to be soaring at GEO Group and CCA, the two largest private prison companies in the country. Recent reports are execs from both companies gleefully shared with shareholders that revenues are dramatically on the rise.
Hillary Clinton has raced out to a commanding eight point lead over Donald Trump in the latest 2016 presidential poll pitting the two presumptive nominees head to head.

A new NBC/Survey Monkey Weekly poll taken during the week of June 20 to June 26 now finds Clinton leading Trump 49 to 41 percent among registered voters, up two points over the six point advantage she held just a week earlier.

Clinton's latest lead over Trump remains at six percent when Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill stein are added to the mix.

Republican Voters Standing Behind Trump

Despite his overall downward spiral, Trump still appears to be running strong among GOP voters. Two out of every three voters who identify as Republican or leaning that way insist that delegates should officially brand him as the face of the party at next month's national convention in Cleveland.

Meanwhile, seemingly bolstered by democratic rival Bernie Sanders' public admission that he more than likely will vote for her, Clinton has jumped to an 8-point lead over Trump among 18-24 years-olds. Overall, she now registers 68 percent support among younger voters, up from 56 percent last week.

Clinton Picking off Sanders' Voters?

Throughout his campaign, Sanders' strongest base has been among young, millennial voters, all of whom are now considered a key demographic for Clinton.

Clinton also shows signs of making inroads with white voters, cutting Trump's one-time 12-point lead among that demographic to just eight points at 49 percent to 41 percent.

Pollsters added the next couple weeks figure to be critical junctures for both candidates and their campaigns, as they make preparations for their respective conventions and publicly reveal who they have chosen as vice presidential running mates.
While one North American government is looking to limit undocumented immigrant arrivals, another is welcoming them with open arms.

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday that Mexicans travelling up north will not require a visa, beginning Dec. 1, 2016. In exchange, Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto agreed to open a projected $250 million per year beef market to Canadians exporters.

Mexican nationals who want to work or study in Canada will need two things: a passport and an Electronic Travel Authorization, which can be purchased online for CAD $7. The eTA will be valid for five years, or until the passport expires.

"The Government of Canada has made it a top priority to re-establish and strengthen our relationship with one of our most important partners, Mexico," read a press release from the prime minister's office. "Lifting the visa requirement will deepen ties between Canada and Mexico will increase the flow of travelers, ideas, and businesses between both countries."

Canada's Conservative Party implemented visa restrictions in response to skyrocketing asylum claims between 2005 and 2008, of which about one-quarter came from Mexicans. Asylum claims reached 9,511 in 2009, but dropped by nearly 8,000 a year later with more stringent requirements.

Trudeau and Trump's Contrasting Immigration Views

Trudeau shocked outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper by campaigning on liberal ideals; a few being that parliament could resettle refugees and lift visa restrictions on Mexican visitors.

Conversely, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is not planning on loosening border policies. The real estate magnate has proposed strengthening the U.S.-Mexico border, denying Syrian refugees seeking asylum, and banning all Muslims from entering the country.

Trump has softened his rhetoric since becoming the presumptive GOP nominee - as it stands, he would only ban immigrants linked to terrorist countries - but a year-long campaign has alienated Muslim and Latino voters.

Trudeau has been careful not to cite Trump's immigration policy, or even mentioning Trump by name.

"I'm not going to pick a fight with Donald Trump right now. I'm not going to support him either, obviously," Trump said last March, adding that he would work with whoever wins in November, regardless.

North American Trade Relations Under Trump

Speaking in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Trump threatened to eliminate international trade deals and withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In 2008, then-Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton said they would consider renegotiating NAFTA, but neither followed through. Trump has gone a step further on the campaign trail, proposing stiff penalties on American companies moving south of the border.

"Our politicians have aggressively pursued a policy of globalization - moving our jobs, our wealth and our factories to Mexico and overseas," Trump said. "Globalization has made the financial elite who donate to politicians very, very wealth. I used to be one of them. Hate to say it, but I used to be one of them."
Some Bethlehem area residents are having trouble swallowing the fact that they're paying much more than their neighbors for the same water.

Community Utilities of Pennsylvania Inc. delivers City of Bethlehem water to about 960 customers in Hanover Township, Northampton County, through its private infrastructure. Its customers pay a higher rate than Bethlehem customers.

A group of more than 200 Community Utilities customers that live in the Bridle Path Traditions of America development say they're fed up with paying a premium for their water.

The residents of the 55-and-up active adult community in Hanover Township want the state to deny a water rate increase by Community Utilities, formerly known as Utilities Inc.-Westgate.

On April 6, Community Utilities asked the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to approve its request to increase its annual water water revenue by $427,817.

It would mean a 15.5 increase for a residential customer using 4,000 gallons a month or a 6.46 percent increase for a commercial customer using 20,000 gallons a month.

.A public input hearing is scheduled for Friday, July 8, at 6 p.m. at the Hanover Township Community Center.

Residents of the Bridle Path development plan to present a petition signed by more than 200 residents that oppose the increase, according to a news release.

Bridle Path residents say they make up almost 25 percent of the utility's affected customers.

"Community Utilities is purchasing water from the city of Bethlehem at one rate and then our community, among its other customers, pays a much higher rate to the utility than do other customers who receive water from the same source," said Dominick Coppola, a Bridle Path resident organizing the petition.

Community Utilities is a privately-held company that pays an administrative surcharge to Bethlehem to pump the city's water to residents in its service area. That surcharge is passed onto users and the utility is also asking to increase that rate.

Currently, Community Utilities customers pay 46 percent more than their Bethlehem neighbors. If the rate increase were approved, they would pay 78 percent more, Coppola said.

"And it is precisely the same water," he said.

Bethlehem resident pay about $355 annually for 60,000 gallons of water, less than the statewide average of $382, the Bridle Path residents report.

Community Utilities customers pay an average of $520 annually for the same amount of water, which would increase by 16 percent if the rate hike is approved, the residents say.

"Community Utilities does not add any value," Coppola said. "The company simply extracts a lot more money from its customers. How is that a reasonable situation, particularly for our community of senior citizens, many of whom live on fixed incomes?"

Bridle Path residents contend in a press release that the utility's infrastructure is aging and it is unclear whether it has been updated in recent years.

"Community Utilities is raising rates on the backs of senior citizens to update its aged infrastructure," said Ann McEnery, a Bridle Path resident.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and on Facebook.. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.

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UPDATE: 1 shot, 3 sought in 2nd night of Easton gunfire

The 23-year-old Easton man shot Tuesday night on Easton's South Side was charged earlier this year in a forged check scheme.

Shaquille Burke, of the 500 block of Valley Street, was wounded just before 10 p.m. Tuesday, Northampton County First Deputy District Attorney Terry Houck said.

Shaquille Burke (Courtesy photo)

Several shots were fired at Burke as he stood outside the yellow apartment building, city police said. One round was found Wednesday morning in a nearby window frame. Burke was seriously wounded but was expected to survive, police said.

He has not been fully cooperative with police investigating the shooting -- the third this year in the city in which a person was hit, police Lt. Matthew Gerould said.

In an update to earlier statements, Gerould said police "believe the victim probably knew the assailant." No one was in custody by mid-morning Wednesday, and police said it was too early in the investigation to identify a motive or pinpoint if the earlier charges played a role.

Burke was arraigned April 28 in Bethlehem on charges of conspiracy to commit forgery, possession of an instrument of crime and possession with intent to deliver drugs, according to court records. He also has a possession of marijuana case from April 28 pending in county court, records show.

District Judge Douglas Schlegel set bail at $20,000. Bail was posted May 2 and Burke was freed from Northampton County Prison, according to court records.

Easton police early Wednesday morning searched Burke's apartment, but due to department policy wouldn't confirm Burke was the victim. They recovered two cellphones and some suspected marijuana, according to the returned warrant in District Judge Daniel Corpora's South Side court.

Sophia Johnson, 45, of the same address, was arraigned May 26 before Senior District Judge Anthony Rapp on charges of conspiracy to commit forgery and possession of an instrument of crime, court papers say. She was released on $7,500 unsecured bail, court papers say.

Shaquille Burke was shot the night of June 28, 2016, outside 519 Valley St. in Easton. (Tony Rhodin | For lehighvalleylive.com)

In a case that involves nine suspects, Bethlehem police on Feb. 2 discovered forged or fraudulent McDonald's paychecks for $481.64 and $663.84 were cashed by Brittany Bodajlo and Amira Thornton at Figueroa's Market at 1227 Pembroke Road in the city, court records say.

Two days later, there was another report of forged payroll checks being passed Feb. 3 at the market, Bethlehem police said. Market staff told police that Thornton and Tottiana Ramsey arrived at the business in grey or silver vehicles being driven by men, police said. One of the vehicles was registered to Johnson, police said.

On March 24, Bodajlo surrendered to authorities and said she got the check from a man she knew on Facebook as "Outcheaa LoCain," police said. She received $180 for cashing the check, police said. She reported she was driven from Easton to the market by "Outcheaa LoCain" in a silver-grey sedan, police said.

As the investigation continued, a man named Nevilon Fung cashed two forged Tic Toc Diner payroll checks and a forged UPS payroll check, police said. The Stefko Mini Mart lost $1,472 in those March transactions, police said.

Fung was arrested April 4 when he tried to cash another fraudulent check at the mini mart, police said. Fung told police that "Outcheaa LoCain" produced the fake checks at the Valley Street apartment where a man he knew as "Streets" and his mother, Johnson, lived, police said.

A search warrant was served April 5 at the apartment and two laptop computers, a printer, check stock paper, more than 20 forged checks in various names and court paperwork featuring the name Jerry Onuaguluchi were recovered, police said. Shaquille Burke was there and confirmed he was "Streets," police said. Burke and his mother identified "Outcheaa LoCain" from Facebook photos as the man who often was in their apartment, police said.

During the search, investigators also found a plastic bag with 10 corner-tie bags of marijuana as well as another bag of marijuana and $256 in cash in Burke's bedroom, police said. A grinder and digital scale were on the kitchen table, police said.

"Outcheaa LoCain" and Jerry Onuaguluchi, of Rosedale, New York, were found to be the same person, police said. He is awaiting trail in Luzerne County on charges of check forgery, police said.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Easton's mayor has called it the city's biggest transportation issue, while motorists driving in the area have often called it names that can't be repeated.

For years, talk of reconfiguring the 13

th

Street interchange with

hasn't yielded much in the way of action. Last August, a group of elected officials including Easton's congressman,

, gathered at the interchange to

It now appears the fix is on the way, but don't expect the frequent bottlenecks to disappear anytime soon.

The Lehigh Valley Transportation Study, which is charged with recommending federal funding for transportation projects in Lehigh and Northampton counties, has included a plan to replace the interchange in its latest four-year Transportation Improvement Program.

The program, known as the TIP, looks at funding into 2020. Right now, the transportation study has only put out a draft of the projects it wants included. It will consider adopting the draft in late July following public hearings and a public comment period.

The 13

th

Street interchange is among about two dozen highway projects the transportation study backs in the TIP draft. Altogether, the projects represent an investment of about $131.3 million.

The TIP draft calls for about $4.3 million to be spent on preliminary engineering for the reconfigured interchange in 2020. It is unclear when construction would actually begin.

Ron Young, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, said he couldn't speak specifically about the project because it doesn't become a PennDOT project until after the TIP is adopted.

But documents from the transportation study call for an interchange design that currently does not exist anywhere else in Pennsylvania.

The design is called a "diverging diamond interchange." Although they've been built in other states, this type of interchange is only starting to catch on in Pennsylvania. One is under construction in western Pennsylvania and another is planned for Interstate 83 in central Pennsylvania, near the state's border with Maryland.

Young said the design represents a major change in innovation for interchanges and how they operate.

"It's being looked at more and more for efficiency reasons and it uses less of a footprint than a typical (interchange) would use," he said.

PennDOT, in documents on the diverging diamond interchange proposed for I-83, describes the design as follows:

"Side road traffic crosses over to the left side of the road at a signalized intersection prior to the (highway overpass). This allows direct left turns from the off-ramps to merge and allows for a direct left turn on to the on-ramp. The side road traffic crosses back to the right side of the road at a signal beyond the (overpass)."

Sound confusing?

Young acknowledges it's difficult to describe in words. To illustrate how traffic flow would work on interchanges designed this way, PennDOT produced a simulation video ahead of construction of the state's first diverging diamond interchange in western Pennsylvania. Cue up the following video to 0:50 to get to the simulation:

In the case of the 13

th

Street interchange, transportation study documents show, the reconfiguration would include replacing both the span of Route 22 that runs over 13

th

Street and the Wood Avenue span that runs over Route 22.

It is unclear whether Wood Avenue would remain the road used to access Route 22 or if the ramps under the new configuration would link directly to 13

th

Street.

Such details would be worked out upon further study of the traffic patterns in the area, Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said.

He noted that PennDOT is advocating the design, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be the design that's ultimately built. There are a number of different designs that are being reviewed, he said.

What's certain is that something needs to be done quickly at the interchange and the 13

th

Street corridor, according to the mayor.

"That interchange hasn't been upgraded since it was built," Panto said. "It's a very dangerous situation."

Improvements to the 13

th

Street corridor, which would be part of the overall project, also are in dire need, he said. It's the gateway to the city's West Ward and it needs to be both safe to traffic and pedestrians as well as aesthetically pleasing, he said.

Traffic already overwhelms the corridor, and the redevelopment of the nearby Simon Silk Mill only adds to the urgency of the project, the mayor said.

Two public hearings aimed at soliciting comments on the TIP draft are scheduled for July 12. The first is at noon at the PennDOT District 5 offices, 1002 Hamilton St., Allentown. The second is at 6 p.m. at the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission offices, 961 Marcon Blvd., Suite 310, Hanover Township, Lehigh County.

The transportation study's coordinating committee will consider adopting the TIP at a 9 a.m. July 25 meeting at the LVPC offices.

Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Trump in Pa. blasts trade deals, departing from GOP orthodoxy

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop Tuesday, June 28, 2016, at Alumisource, a metals recycling facility in Monessen, Pennsylvania. (AP | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Donald Trump called for a new era of economic "Americanism" Tuesday, promising to restore millions of lost factory jobs by backing away from decades of U.S. policy that encouraged trade with other nations -- a move that could undermine the country's place as the dominant player in the global economy.

The speech marked a significant break from years of Republican Party advocacy for unencumbered trade between nations, and drew immediate condemnation from GOP business leaders.

In his 35-minute speech, Trump blamed former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs.

He threatened to exit the more than two-decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement and vowed to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations that has yet to take effect.

He pointed to China as a source of many of America's economic woes, promising to label that country a currency manipulator and slap new tariffs on America's leading source of imports, a decision with the potential to dramatically increase the cost of consumer goods.

"This wave of globalization has wiped out totally, totally our middle class," Trump said, standing in front of pallets of recycled aluminum cans on a factory floor. "It doesn't have to be this way. We can turn it around, and we can turn it around fast."

Delivered in a hard-hit Pennsylvania steel town, the speech underscored the central message of Trump's campaign: that policies aimed at boosting international trade -- and America's intervention in wars and disputes abroad -- have weakened the country.

It's an argument that found support among Republican primary voters, especially white, working class Americans whose wages have stagnated in recent years. Trump hopes it will yield similar success among the wider electorate that will decide the general election.

"I promise you, if I become president, we're going to be working again. We're going to have great jobs again," he said. "You're going to be so happy."

But he drew a quick and scathing response from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a traditional Republican ally and leading business lobby.

"Under Trump's trade plans, we would see higher prices, fewer jobs, a weaker economy," the Chamber said on its Twitter feed, directing readers to a blog post that said Trump's policies would lead to millions of job losses and a recession.

The 2013 Trump was a lot better on trade than the 2016 Version https://t.co/xRZ7Uc3HvI  U.S. Chamber (@USChamber) June 28, 2016

Many economists have dismissed Trump's promise to immediately restore manufacturing jobs as dubious at best, given the impact of automation and the many years it typically takes to negotiate trade agreements.

While renegotiating tougher deals with America's foreign trading partners might help some businesses, manufacturing as a share of total U.S. jobs has been slipping for several decades. The number of such jobs has risen slightly since the end of the Great Recession, but the introduction of robotics and access to cheaper foreign markets has reduced U.S. factory employment to a total last seen around 1941.

Indeed, the National Association of Manufacturers slammed Trump's logic on Tuesday, with the organization's president, Jay Timmons, writing on Twitter: "@realDonaldTrump you have it backward. Trade is GOOD for #mfg workers & #jobs. Let's #MakeAmericaTradeAgain."

In making his case for a new approach to trade, Trump recounted economic policies in place at the founding of the country -- a time when goods traveled by horseback and schooner, the invention of the telegraph was still decades away and the advances of the Internet and broadband communication hardly imaginable.

The billionaire real estate mogul then skipped ahead to the 1990s, blaming the Clinton administration for negative impacts of globalization. He cited Bill Clinton's support of NAFTA, which aimed to reduce barriers to trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and China's entry into the World Trade Organization.

He challenged reporters to ask Hillary Clinton if she would be willing to denounce the Trans-Pacific Partnership on her first day in office and unconditionally rule out its passage in any form.

"Throughout her career -- her whole career -- she has betrayed the American worker. Never forget that," Trump said.

Clinton's positon on trade has been a frequent attack line for Trump. She has supported some agreements, opposed others and flipped on both NAFTA and TPP, which she promoted dozens of times as secretary of state.

She now says she will back trade deals only if they fulfill a three-pronged test of creating "good jobs," raising wages and improving national security.

Trump's speaking about outsourcing right now.



Heres one of his shirtsmade in Bangladesh: https://t.co/GBx8oJhE6W pic.twitter.com/2jeNO3NDbq  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 28, 2016

The speech came as Trump, facing sliding poll numbers and a far larger Clinton campaign operation, is working to re-tool his message for the general election. In addition to a slew of new hires, he has been delivering prepared speeches aimed at calming the nerves of GOP donors and others concerned about his often combative style.

Democrats didn't wait for Trump to start talking before they jumped in to slam his ideas, detailing all the products his companies make overseas in a conference call with reporters.

"I'll give Donald Trump this. On trade, with all of his personal experience profiting from making products overseas, he's the perfect expert to talk about outsourcing," said Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Clinton supporter. "Trump doesn't make things in America."

Fact check

The economic future laid out Tuesday by Trump is one that improbably resembles the past, declaring "it will be American steel" that once again builds gleaming skyscrapers and fortifies the bridges and American factories that broadly revive a manufacturing economy long gone.

In Trump's nostalgia-tinted vision, the complex and diverse U.S. economy can be fixed by tariffs, factory jobs and forcing foreign partners back to the bargaining table.

But to achieve it, he would have to reverse not only globalization, but automation, a changing workforce and other seismic shifts of a U.S. economy that has become more dependent on educated workers and the low prices made possible by international trade.

A look at his arguments and how they compare with the facts:

TRUMP: "Our Founding Fathers understood trade much better than our current politicians, believe me."

THE FACTS: Global trade looks radically different now compared with the 18th century. Goods are transported by tankers and jets, instead of frigates and clippers. Money flows electronically over computer connections, instead of the barter-heavy system common in colonial America.

Tariffs were used in America's early years to protect an emerging industrial economy, instead of the mature one that exists today, where automation is as much a threat to factory jobs as foreign trade. Tariffs raised the price of goods for the middle class while enabling robber barons and tycoons to live with few tax burdens, prompting U.S. voters in 1912 to back a more equitable tax structure while relying less on protecting the nation's industries. Their fix: the income tax.

The federal government collects just $35 billion in tariffs-- a sum that would need to increase roughly a hundredfold if Trump aims to finance the government in a manner similar to the Founding Fathers.

___

TRUMP: "When subsidized foreign steel is dumped into our markets, threatening our factories, the politicians have proven, folks, have proven they do nothing."

THE FACTS: Not exactly nothing.

The Obama administration slapped Chinese steelmakers with a combined 522 percent penalty this year.

Buttressed by government subsidies, Chinese mills churned out too much of the cold-rolled steel used for autos and other products. So the Chinese firms slashed steel prices and dumped their steel on U.S. shores. This prompted a complaint by five U.S. steelmakers in 2015, which the Commerce Department investigated as required before announcing the first of the new duties in March.

If Trump has any bone to pick, it might be that the required investigation took too long to protect U.S. mills fully from the Chinese dumping.

___

TRUMP: "This wave of globalization has wiped out our middle class."

THE FACTS: He's right that some of the blame for setbacks suffered by the blue-collar middle class belongs with outsourcing and offshoring to countries with cheaper wages. But the global economy does not deserve all of the blame.

Trump's explanation ignores other fundamental changes in the U.S. economy.

Millions of routine jobs have disappeared due to automation, among them assembly line work and office jobs, such as executive secretaries replaced by email and voicemail. Research by economists Henry Siu and Nir Jaimovich found that jobs have been prone to elimination because of automation since recessions in the 1990s.

Employers have also placed a greater value on higher education, leaving in the lurch those who have only high school degrees. The unemployment rate for college graduates is a low 2.4 percent, while 5.1 percent for high school graduates and 7.1 percent for high school dropouts.

___

TRUMP: "We tax and regulate and restrict our companies to death, then we allow foreign countries that cheat to export their goods to us tax-free. As a result, we have become more dependent on foreign countries than ever before."

THE FACTS: Dependence cuts both ways.

Those same foreign factories depend on U.S. customers for their products. So the same argument could be made that China has grown more dependent on the United States.

This includes Wal-Mart shoppers who prefer lower prices, rather than products made domestically. The Associated Press confirmed this preference in a survey this year that found roughly two-thirds of Americans would rather buy $50 pants sewn in Asia than $85 pants sewn in the United States. If prices rise too high, Americans will spend less and economic growth will slow.

Nor are foreign and U.S. factories necessarily in direct competition. Roughly half of imported goods are used by U.S. companies to put together finished products, according to the American Action Forum, a center-right advocacy organization.

___

TRUMP: "Today, we import nearly $800 billion more in goods than we export. This is not some natural disaster. It is a politician-made disaster."

THE FACTS: That's in the ballpark, but not the whole trade story.

The trade deficit on goods was $762.6 billion in 2015. But he neglects to include the valuable services that foreigners buy from U.S. firms. Those services reduced the total trade deficit to roughly $500 billion, according to the Census Bureau.

It's hard to see the problem as the sole fault of politicians. Many businesses chose to relocate their factories abroad in order to increase their profits, while others kept their production in the United States. Trump himself outsourced the stitching of his neckties and branded clothing to China, among other countries.

___

TRUMP: "We are one of the highest taxed nations in the world."

THE FACTS: This repeated claim by Trump is wrong. The U.S. tax burden is actually one of the lowest among the 34 developed and large emerging-market economies that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Taxes made up 26 percent of the total U.S. economy in 2014, according to the OECD. That's far below Sweden's tax burden of 42.7 percent, Britain's 32.6 percent or Germany's 36.1 percent. Only three OECD members had a lower figure: Chile, South Korea and Mexico.

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A Northampton County man was arraigned on additional charges Tuesday following a fugitive task force raid in May at a motel in Bushkill Township.

Mark A. Nichols, 34, of the 200 block of Long Alley in Walnutport, was arrested with two other people when authorities stormed the Red Carpet Inn, 1395 Jacobsburg Road in Bushkill Township, about 2:55 p.m. Friday, May 27.

Local police on the U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force were there to serve a felony arrest warrant on Nichols. Investigators had information he was not alone and that he had stated "he was not going back upstate without bodies," according to court records.

Police blocked in vehicles outside the room, 117, and a marshal knocked two times before the door was opened from the inside, records say. Officers ordered everyone to the floor and took Nichols into custody, finding on him an illegal spring-loaded switchblade, according to police.

Police also found three handguns, including American Tactical Model 92 9mm and Desert Eagle .357 semiautomatics that had loaded magazines but no round chambered, records say; an unloaded Beretta Tomcat .32-caliber semiautomatic was seized, as well, along with various ammunition. Nichols is prohibited from possessing firearms due to a previous conviction, records say.

Police found numerous amounts of crystal methamphetamine, in addition to marijuana and drug paraphernalia, records say.

Nichols was arraigned before District Judge Douglas Schlegel on charges filed by Bushkill Township police of prohibited possession of a firearm (two counts), drug possession with intent to deliver, drug possession (two counts), possession of drug paraphernalia (eight counts), prohibited offensive weapon and carrying firearms without a license.

He was ordered held in Northampton County Prison in lieu of $75,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled July 13 before Schlegel.

Nichols was previously arraigned, May 27 before District Judge Nancy Matos Gonzalez, on drug and related charges filed by Moore Township police following the raid in Bushkill Township. Those charges remain pending, and bail in that case is also $75,000.

Charges also remain pending against the two others in the motel room, both of whom were arraigned in May before Matos Gonzalez: Jeffrey C. Roberts, 56, and Shannon M. Harrington, 19, both of Sciota, Pennsylvania.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
UPDATE: 2d suspect arrested in oxycodone scheme, authorities say

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office on Tuesday charged a 19-year-old woman in an alleged scheme to obtain 2,160 doses of the powerful opioid painkiller oxycodone from Lehigh Valley pharmacies.

A 19-year-old woman is accused of conspiring to use fraudulent prescriptions to obtain 2,160 doses of the powerful opioid painkiller oxycodone, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office said Tuesday, June 28, 2016. (Business Wire file photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Amber E. Faden, no fixed address, was arraigned on three felonies and related charges and sent to Northampton County Prison, court records say.

The Attorney General's Office has an arrest warrant on similar charges in the case for Adam R. Longenbach, 29, of Bethlehem, court records say.

Faden is accused of conspiring with Longenbach and three other men -- none of whom were charged in the case as of Tuesday -- to pass 14 fraudulent prescriptions at the pharmacies in Bucks, Lehigh and Northampton counties, records say.

Faden was previously charged for allegedly trying to pass a forged prescription April 27 at Walgreens, 2240 Schoenersville Road in Hanover Township, Northampton County. Those charges have been dropped, records say.

The fraudulent prescriptions for 15-mg or 30-mg oxycodones were filled beginning Feb. 24 and continuing through June 20, authorities say.

Longenbach told an investigator June 3 he and Faden would use most of the oxycodones they obtained and he would sell some for $30 a pill, court records say.

Oxycodone, sold under numerous brand names, has been linked to serious or life-threatening breathing problems and may be habit-forming, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Authorities have linked use of this and similar opioids to heroin use in a deadly trend seen across Pennsylvania.

Faden was arraigned before District Judge James Narlesky on three felony counts of acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation, in addition to a misdemeanor drug charge and two misdemeanor counts of identity theft.

She was sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of 10 percent of $15,000 bail and ordered, subject to the recommendation of county Pretrial Services, to undergo random drug testing if released.

Faden was arraigned on similar charges Sunday before on-call District Judge Richard Yetter III on similar charges filed by Bethlehem Township police for an incident Sunday, court records say.

She faces preliminary hearings tentatively scheduled July 6 before District Judge Patricia Broscius in the Bethlehem Township case and July 12 before Narlesky in the Attorney General's Office case.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Two young girls were hurt, one potentially seriously, when the SUV in which they were riding crashed over the side of a bridge Friday night in Northampton County, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

The crash occurred about 10:45 p.m. as Jennette D. Lopez, 29, of Breinigsville in Upper Macungie Township, was driving south on Indian Trail Road in Allen Township, police said Tuesday.

Lopez lost control of the Hyundai Santa Fe on a lefthand curve near Kohls Road and went off the right side of the road, striking a cement bridge, according to state police at Bethlehem.

The SUV overturned and traveled over the side of the bridge, coming to rest on its roof beside the Hokendauqua Creek, about 10 to 15 feet below the bridge, Trooper David Tretter said in a news release.

One of the girls, age 9, suffered a suspected serious injury, while an 8-year-old girl suffered a suspected minor injury, police said. Both were taken along with Lopez by Northampton Regional EMS to Lehigh Valley Hospital, Salisbury Township.

Lopez could not be reached for comment Tuesday night; no number could be found for her.

A woman by that name indicated via Facebook she was at the Lehigh Valley Hospital Children's ER in Salisbury Township early Saturday morning, and later posted a photo of a girl with multiple injuries. As of Monday night, the girl was "getting better and surely will be back on her daily routine soon enough," Lopez wrote.

Police said Lopez faces a traffic citation in the crash.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Pohatcong Township police are warning residents to be leery when receiving communications from strangers over Facebook.

Slate Belt Regional police earlier this month said at least two resident were targeted in the new social media scam. Pohatcong Township police now are reporting township residents also being targeted in the scam.

The scam begins with a "friend request" over Facebook from someone the person does not know, Slate Belt Regional police Chief David Mettin said. The scam typically involves a woman becoming "friends" with a man, he said.

Once the "friend request" is accepted, the woman begins communication via Facebook Messenger and ultimately asks the male to video chat on Skype, police said.

In the scam, the woman then sends nude photos of herself and asks the male to reciprocate; often asking for a video of a sex act. Once the photos and videos are received from the victim, the scammer then attempts to extort money from the victim and threatens to upload the images to the male's Facebook page for all his family and friends to view.

Police said a link to a Western Union account is then sent to the victim with instructions on how to send money to the scammer.

In the cases encountered by Slate Belt Regional police, the transaction is being sent overseas, Mettin said.

Pohatcong Township police said when residents didn't send money, scammers sent over photographs. The department last week took to Facebook to alert the public.

***Please be aware. We have had reports of this happening within the township. The victims state that the scammers DO... Posted by Pohatcong Township Police Department on Thursday, June 23, 2016

"Be suspicious of friend requests from people you don't know," Pohatcong Township police said.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
In the Dail Monday night Leitrim Sinn Fein Deputy Martin Kenny called on the Taoiseach to seek the establishment of special EU fund to support cross border bodies following Brexit.

He said a special EU funs should be set up to support agriculture and small exporting businesses, badly affected by the currency changes triggered by the Brexit.

During the special debate on the British vote to leave, Deputy Kenny said, The Brexit vote in Britain signifies great negativity toward the EU among people all across Europe and this should send a message to all governments about how they operate and conduct EU affairs. Economically Brexit has the potential to be a disaster, but we are where are and now our responsibility is to ensure that this decision by the British electorate does not adversely affect Ireland, North or South.

I would suggest that the Agriculture Minister should urgently call together the Beef Forum to access the uncertainly this development will have on our beef trade, of which huge quantities go across the Irish Sea. Farmers and our food industry are very concerned about the immediate impact of sterling fluctuations and in the longer term, tariffs, animal health issues and competition from other food producers outside the EU, all negatively affecting our industry.

Our small exporting businesses are also in turmoil as the prospect of border controls and tariffs on trade coming down the line. Currency fluctuations may move profitable export businesses scattered across Ireland into the loss making bracket. Many may require temporary financial support to survive and continue to employ staff and export product.

 In his meeting this with the EU the Taoiseach should seek the establishment of a special EU fund to be used to support our agriculture and small exporting businesses, as Ireland is in a uniquely difficult place due to this British exit.

Martin Kenny's party leader Gerry Adams has called for a Border Poll to be conducted in the wake of BREXIT.

Locally people living along the border on both sides are nervous about the future and impact of the British vote on security measures, trade and movement between North and South.
The three days following the UKs decision to leave the European Union saw Britains political landscape descend into chaos. Whilst both the Conservatives and Labour have been damaged both by intra-party division, the Liberal Democrats have remained unscathed, benefitting considerably from the turmoil the vote to leave has incited.

Division is rife within the Conservatives, with the likelihood of a leader attractive to both pro-and anti-Brexiteers in serious doubt. The 16 million that voted to Remain are unlikely to heed Boris Johnsons call to build bridges with a man many perceive has just chosen isolationism over unity and progress. Likewise, 17 million Leavers are unlikely to vote for Theresa May, whos second favourite to command the leadership, as David Camerons resignation is symbolic of the incompatibility of a Remain captain commanding a Leave ship. Whilst it is arguable that many Leavers have switched allegiances due to the perception that they voted on the basis of intangible promises (emphasised by Nigel Farage and Iain Duncan Smiths abandoning of the Leave campaigns promise that 350m would be injected into the NHS), it is likely that many are disillusioned with the Conservative Party as it has become synonymous with fear mongering, fragmentation and mistrust.

The situation among the Labour ranks is no better. The coup against Jeremy Corbyn has resulted in resignations from much of his shadow cabinet. Corbyns distinct quietness during Referendum campaigning encouraged frustration at his lack of leadership and will to unite the party. Whilst Labour voters are, on average, pro-Remain, many join the shadow cabinet in feeling neglected by their so-called leader, rebelling against Corbyns Labour.

The Liberal Democrats have been well placed to pick up the pieces of the shattered parties. On Friday 24th June the party registered 1,000 new members, emphasising the electorates frustration at the disunity marring the two main parties. Tim Farrons commanding speech on Friday morning represents another attraction for the disillusioned electorate. Farron has created a party with a positive vision, a more attractive tenet than fear mongering and misinformation associated with the Conservatives or leadership apathy represented in Corbyns Labour. It is no coincidence that the Liberal Democrats are the single party unscathed by disunity, as the party is based on fundamental values of cooperation, progressiveness and collectivism. Thus the Liberal Democrats represents a haven for all pro-European voices, promising to run for the next election on a pro-EU stance. It is no surprise that Labour MPs such as David Lammy have pledged their support for Farrons ideals, as should there be a General Election come October, the Liberal Democrats may once again command a decisive position; the possibility of another coalition government has become a realistic idea thanks to the political turmoil created by the Referendum result. Whilst it may be idealistic to perceive that a Liberal government means another referendum on Proportional Representation, the feeling of voicelessness among the 48% and mistrust among much of the 52% has increased the desire for a more representative democracy.

* Scott Partridge is a Lib Dem member and activist in Guildford.
Tim Farron has rightly pledged we should campaign to take Britain back into the EU in the next general election. Should the election take place earlier than expected, we may still be an EU member, and should propose to withdraw from the Article 50 process.

In either case, it would not be politically credible to advocate reinstating or maintaining EU membership without proposing major domestic initiatives on immigration. The overall Remain campaign failed to a considerable degree because it did not factor in concerns, whether real or imagined, about immigration. The voices of the, largely, English hinterland must be heeded. Any Lib Dem call to rejoin or remain in the EU should therefore be accompanied by proposals to alleviate the perceived and in many cases, real, impact of immigration.

Pressures on housing, education, health and other social services can only be attributed in part to immigration. Ageing, internal migration, austerity and underinvestment together are often the more salient causes. Free movement from the EU accounts for just under half of all net migration and is the price of access to the Single EU market. Ending free movement within the EU (including from Ireland and returning UK nationals) will therefore not substantially reduce immigration, a point of mine which Dan Hannan MEP agreed during a referendum debate. If the diagnosis of our problems is wrong, then the prescription of leaving the EU will not cure them.

Even though immigration benefits our economy in aggregate, measures to curb its differential impact are needed. High immigrant concentrations in parts of the country (e.g. Boston, Castle Point and Thurrock) or areas and sectors which have been affected by EU policies (e.g. fishing, construction) can place disproportionately high pressure on local employment, social services, and housing. Rather than being ignored by politicians, most affected areas should qualify for increased funding for local services. They too should share in the benefits of EU membership  that they havent means none of us now will.

A fund modelled on the 50 million Migrants Impact Fund, scrapped in 2010, should be reinstated and funding should be substantially increased. I therefore propose that if we advocate rejoining or remaining in the EU, this should be accompanied by a pledge to create an EU Impact Fund to match our net EU Budget contribution of 8.5 billion, effectively adding a penny or two in the pound of higher rate tax payers. Additional funds from the EU Social Fund might be available. More investment in education, health, and housing could stimulate left behind local economies, reduce unemployment and help reduce fears about immigrants taking away British jobs. Those who benefit from the EU should demonstrate solidarity with those who perceive they dont.

Other measures which might be undertaken include reviving proposals for making contributions mandatory in order to qualify for benefits as in some other EU member states. A law could be introduced to prevent the advertising of UK-based jobs only outside the UK. Border management could be made more effective by counting people both entering and leaving the UK. Lastly, the 125,000 foreign students who generate 2.27 billion per annum for the UK economy and 19,000 jobs, should be taken out of net immigration statistics as most are temporary residents. It is only through implementing such policy measures at Westminster that we can start to delink the immigration threat from the vastly greater macro-economic benefits of EU membership which we are now set to lose.

* Nick Hopkinson is chair of the Liberal Democrat European Group (LDEG) and former Director, Wilton Park, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
THERE was good news for city families yesterday with confirmation the rent supplement cap is to rise by up to 35% in Limerick.

Figures obtained by Senator Kieran ODonnell reveal big jumps in the support to be offered by the government to those renting and on social welfare. But he has warned landlords they should not abuse the increase by hiking rents.

The measures  agreed yesterday by the cabinet to help with soaring rents  will see someone in single shared accommodation get support of up to 270, an increase of 70 per month.

A couple in shared accommodation will now be entitled to receive up to 300, while someone living alone in single accommodation will see their support increase 12% from 375 to 420.

A couple with no children on rent allowance can secure support up to 450, while a family with one child can receive support up to 650 monthly.

A couple or single parent looking after two children will see their rent allowance go up by 27.2% to a limit of 700 monthly, with three child family able to claim a maximum of 750.

Mr ODonnell has welcomed the increases, which come into force this Friday, July 1.

This will provide more stability for tenants in Limerick, and reduce the danger of families becoming homeless, he said.

The new senator advised anyone who has an informal arrangement with their landlord to contact their Community Welfare Service for assistance.

Around 5,000 people across Limerick City and County are reliant on rent supplement to pay their landlords.

Anti-Austerity Alliance councillor Cian Prendiville, who sits on the housing committee of Limerick City and County Council, welcomed the rent allowance increase.

But he added: The bigger problem still exists as rents are rising rapidly. The solution to this isnt just to keep subsidising landlords more and more. The solution is to introduce real rent controls to actually bring rents down.

The average increase of rent supplement in Limerick is 20%.

The measures are expected to cost the government 16m in 2016.
Jun 29, 2016, 12 PM

To mark the beginning of night airmail flights, two denominations using the same design were issued on May 9, 1930. The design depicts a Junkers F13 airplane over Stockholm.

Major and minor varieties resulted from the overprinting process for the new airmail stamps. One variety has a period after the LUFT in LUFTPOST, as seen on the top left stamp in this block of Sweden Scott C1.

A 20-krona ultramarine stamp issued May 4, 1942, is listed as an airmail issue in the Scott catalog, but could be used as postage on any mail. Two mute swans in flight form the design.

Swedens withdrawn Official stamps were overprinted for use as the countrys first airmail stamps in September 1920. The 20-ore stamp is the second of three denominations.

By Christer Brunstrom

More than 100 years ago, the first experimental flights took place in Sweden. The early airplanes were rather primitive machines, and far from reliable.

In 1912, mail was carried by airplane for the very first time in Sweden.

Gradually the aircraft became more dependable, and the Swedish Post Office decided to offer airmail service between Malmo, in the very south of Sweden, and Berlin, via Warnemunde on Germanys Baltic coast. It all started on Aug. 11, 1920, when a plane left Berlin for Malmo. The return flight took place the following day.

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According to the agreement between Sweden and Germany, this mail flight was to be a daily service, thus considerably speeding up communications between the two countries. Most classes of mail (including regular and registered letters, postcards and printed matter) could be forwarded by air by paying a special airmail fee in addition to the regular postal rate.

The airmail fee was 10 ore for postcards, and 20o or 50o for letters and printed matter. The sender was required to clearly write the word Luftpost (airmail) in the upper left corner of the cover. The post office staff then added an airmail label.

When the service started in August 1920, no specific airmail stamps were available and regular postage stamps were used.

On Sept. 19, 1920, a new connection linking Malmo with Copenhagen, Hamburg, Bremen, Amsterdam and, finally, London was opened. To coincide with this important development, the Swedish Post Office issued a set of three airmail stamps on Sept. 18, 1920 (Scott C1-C3, and watermark varieties C4-C5).

The Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue states that the new stamps were issued Sept. 17. They were, in fact, distributed to the post offices on Sept. 17, but went on sale the following day.

Swedens postal authority had large remainders of service stamps (Officials) because their usage had ceased on July 1, 1920. The 2o, 3o and 4o Official stamps of the 1910-19 series were used to produce the new airmail stamps.

The former Officials were overprinted with the word LUFTPOST and the new ore denominations of 10, 20 or 50. The quantities overprinted ranged from 570,000 to 604,000 for the various denominations.

As is often the case when it comes to adding overprinting to stamps, interesting errors might occur. This certainly happened in the instance of the new Swedish airmails; for example, all denominations exist with inverted overprints. The 10o exists with a double surcharge. All these major varieties are scarce, and examples also have been forged.

There are also minor overprint varieties, including a dot after LUFT, as illustrated here on the top-left stamp of a block of six of Scott C1, the 10o-on-3o stamp. Examples of the overprints with damaged letters also exist. It can be quite fun seeking out these varieties.

The first Swedish airmail services were discontinued Oct. 17, 1920, and thus the three overprinted issues served as airmail stamps for only about a month. The stamps could be used for other categories of mail until they were demonetized on Feb. 1, 1922, meaning that Sweden had no specific airmail stamps when airmail services were resumed on that very same day.

The next set of airmail stamps (Scott C6-C7) was issued May 9, 1930, marking the inauguration of the night route between Stockholm and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The design features a Junkers F13 transport airplane flying through a starry night sky over Stockholm. The denominations are 10o and 50o. These are still very common stamps in both mint and used condition.

The Scott Standard catalog lists an additional Swedish airmail issue, a 20-krona stamp perforated on all sides (Scott C8c) that was released May 4, 1942. In mint, never-hinged condition this stamp is fairly valuable, with a Scott catalog value of $140.

Laila Prytz-Wik, the wife of a Swedish postal official, was the artist for the stamp design, which features two flying mute swans. The stamp proved to be quite popular, and there were additional printings. Scott C8 was issued on July 7, 1953, perforated on three sides, and also in 1953 in handmade booklets of 20 stamps (C8a). A complete booklet in very fine condition is something of a rarity, with a Scott catalog value of $725.

In 1942, 20kr was quite a lot of money (nearly U.S. $5), and the new stamp was used primarily to pay the fee for larger parcels sent by air. Unlike its predecessors, the Scott C8 design does not include any reference indicating that it is an airmail stamp. In fact, the stamp could be used for all classes of mail and is no more a specific airmail stamp than are all other Swedish regular postage stamps, which can be freely used for both surface and airmail letters and parcels.

Keep reading about airmail:

Messages on airmail covers promote the use of special delivery service: U.S. Stamp Notes

Airmail collecting can take you anywhere

Airmail stamps of Australia affordable and fun
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The Mechanicsburg Area School District has a new business manager and an additional assistant principal at the high school for the upcoming school year.

On Tuesday night, the Mechanicsburg Area School Board unanimously approved the appointment of Gregory Longwell as district business manager effective on July 1 or when he is released from his current position at another school district.

Until now, Longwell has worked as business manager for the Newport School District in Perry County.

As Mechanicsburgs business manager, Longwell will assume the duties of Jeremy Freeland, who has served as Mechanicsburgs supervisor of administrative services for the past two years. District officials have changed the jobs title with the change in staff.

Beginning in August, Longwell also assumes the non-voting position of school board secretary, replacing Freeland in that capacity.

Freeland has been re-appointed as a third assistant principal at Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School, joining existing assistant principals Jocelyn Valentine and Tim Bianchi. The high school needs a third assistant principal, Freeland said, due to an increase in student enrollment and program needs.

The job really isnt all that new to Freeland because he previously was an assistant principal at the high school for nine years before becoming the districts supervisor of administrative services, he said.

Freeland will also serve as the districts director of public safety, much of what he already did while supervisor of administrative services, he said. His duties as public safety director involves, everything from school safety drills to emergency preparedness, making sure our facilities are safe and sounds, doing annual safety inspections, and providing the safest environment for our students and staff to teach and learn, Freeland explained.

Also on Tuesday, the school board renewed an affiliation agreement with Wilkes University regarding student teachers from the university interning at the school district. The district has several similar agreements in place with other colleges and universities, Freeland said.

The school board next meets on Aug. 9. The board currently has no plans to meet in July.
Lower Allen Township Police are investigating a distraction burglary that occurred Wednesday morning.

Police said an elderly woman was mowing her lawn at 8:41 a.m. June 29 in the 5200 block of Windsor Boulevard when a Hispanic man approached her saying he worked for the water company and needed to check the water pressure in her basement because of a nearby water main break.

The woman led the man to her basement, and he tested the pressure, made a phone call, walked around the basement and then said he needed to check the computer in his car, police said. When the woman went outside to check on him, he was nowhere to be seen.

She then noticed that her jewelry and money had been stolen, police said.

The man was described as being 5-foot-8 and about 175 pounds.

Pennsylvania American Water told police that its employees always wear a company uniform, drive a company truck and also wear an identification badge.

Police said residents should be aware for the potential for these types of distraction burglaries, especially in the summer and particularly when residents are outside doing lawn care. Non-verified utility workers should not be admitted into the home and should be reported to police immediately.

Police ask anyone with information to contact them at 717-238-9676.
The U.S. Department of Agricultures Food Safety and Inspection Service is urging residents to take extra food safety precautions when planning their menu this Fourth of July weekend.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in six Americansabout 48 million peoplesuffer from foodborne illnesses each year, resulting in about 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.

Because foodborne bacteria thrive and multiply more quickly in warmer temperatures, foodborne illness can spike during summer, said Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety Al Almanza. This is likely because people are spending more time outside  away from the sink and equipment in the kitchen that help consumers keep food safe.

Foodborne bacteria can grow rapidly in temperatures between 40 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the USDA.

The USDA provided some recommendations on how to steer clear of the danger zone temperature range for foods this holiday weekend.

Without refrigeration or heat source, perishables should not be left out for more than two hours if the temperature is at or below 90 degrees, and only one hour if the temperature is higher than that. If youre unsure of how long it has been sitting out, throw it out immediately.

Always keep cold food cold, at or below 40 degrees, in coolers or in containers with a cold source, such as frozen ice packs. Hot food should be kept at or above 140 degrees on the grill or in insulated containers, heated chafing dishes, warming trays and/or slow cookers. Food should be reheated to 165 degrees.

Pack an appliance thermometer in the cooler to ensure food stays below 40 degrees. Divide large amounts of food into shallow containers for fast chilling and easier use.

Pack drinks in a separate cooler so the food cooler isnt opened frequently. Also keep the cooler in the shade and try to cover it up with a blanket or tarp.

Use the food thermometer to check the internal temperature of meat, poultry and seafood.

if you plan to marinate meat for several hours or overnight prior to the event, make sure to marinate them in the refrigerator and not the kitchen counter. If you plan to use the marinade from raw meat, make sure to boil it first to destroy any harmful bacteria.

Leftovers must be put in shallow containers for quick cooling and refrigerated to 40 degrees or below within two hours.
For the first time, pieces of living bone have been grown from the cells of patients  in this case, miniature pigs  and sculpted to replace missing anatomical structures.

The custom-engineered bone was used to successfully repair a pig's lower jaw, one of the strongest and most complex jaws in the face, paving the way for bone repairs that could be carried out elsewhere in the body, the researchers said.

Bones often come in complex shapes, making it difficult to find matching natural replacements for them in patients suffering from injuries, diseases or birth defects. Although surgeons can replace missing bone with titanium, such artificial implants lack bone marrow, which plays many important roles in the body, such as generating red blood cells and immune cells. [The 9 Most Interesting Transplants]

Patients could receive donated bones, but doing so raises other issues, such as increasing the risk of tissue rejection. Alternatively, doctors can harvest bone from another part of a patient's body and carve it to fit where it needs to go, but damage at the harvest site is typically major and can lead to extreme pain.

Instead, scientists now hope to grow living bone in the lab. The researchers focused on the ramus-condyle unit, the part of the lower jaw that meets the skull near the ear, and the main weight-bearing bone in the face. They experimented on Yucatan minipigs, because the animals' jaw anatomy and mechanics closely mimic those of humans.

The researchers first took chunks of cow thighbones and stripped them of all their cells using detergents and enzymes. They next carved these "decellularized" chunks into perfect anatomical fits for the ramus-condyle units that were surgically removed from the minipigs.

The scientists then seeded these bone scaffolds with stem cells derived from the fat of the minipigs that were to receive these grafts. The implants were then placed in "bioreactors" that supplied the stem cells with oxygen and nutrients.

A diagram of the personalized bone tissue engineering process. In the study, bone scaffolds were seeded with stem cells derived from the fat of minipigs. (Image credit: S. Bhumiratana et al., Science Translational Medicine (2016))

After three weeks, the stem cells developed into immature living bone. "The bone is formed by the recipient's own cells," study senior author Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, a bioengineer at Columbia University, told Live Science.

But, if these living bone grafts ever make it to the clinic, they may be grown far away from where they are eventually implanted. To see how their grafts might fare under such conditions, Vunjak-Novakovic and her colleagues manufactured and implanted the grafts, "at two locations that were more than 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) apart, New York City and Baton Rouge (Louisiana)," Vunjak-Novakovic said. Fat cells were shipped from the pigs to the researchers, and the grafts were shipped in their bioreactors to the pigs.

Six months after implantation, these grafts successfully incorporated themselves into their host bodies and regenerated bone without any complications, while also helping the minipigs use their jaws again, the researchers said. Moreover, "unexpectedly, the lab-grown bone, when implanted, was gradually replaced by new bone formed by the body," Vunjak-Novakovic said. "This feature is what makes this implant your own bone that will become an integral part of the native bone." [7 Cool Uses of 3D Printing in Medicine]

Vunjak-Novakovic noted that the quality of the regenerated tissue exceeded that of previous approaches. Moreover, the scaffold they developed enabled bone formation without the use of expensive chemicals known as growth factors that other approaches typically rely on.

"This is a very exciting step forward in improving regenerative medicine options for patients with craniofacial defects, and we hope to start clinical trials within a few years," Vunjak-Novakovic said in a statement.

The clinical trials with living bone grafts would be conducted through Vunjak-Novakovic's company epiBone.

"Having a chance to work on innovative research that may be part of our future is intriguing, energizing, and really inspiring," said study lead author Sarindr Bhumiratana, a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University, who is also the chief scientific officer at epiBone.

The scientists are now also experimenting with including a cartilage layer on their living bone grafts to more closely mimic natural bone. "Cartilage is a thin and resilient tissue that lines the ends of most of our bones, to enable frictionless motion," Vunjak-Novakovic said.

The scientists detailed their findings online June 15 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Original article on Live Science.
The skull of <em>Homo naledi</em>, which was discovered within the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star cave system, in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa.

The most recently discovered extinct human species may have lived less than 1 million years ago, researchers have discovered.

This finding suggests that a diverse range of human species might have lived at the same time in Africa, just as they might have in Asia, researchers said.

In 2015, scientists reported South African fossils of a hitherto-unknown relative of modern humans that possessed an unusual mix of features, such as feet adapted for a life on the ground but hands suited for a life in the trees. The fossil's discoverers named the species Homo naledi, and noted that although the early human had a brain about the size of an orange, these humans may have performed ritual burials of their dead. [See Images of Homo Naledi Discoveries]

Frustratingly, the age of H. naledi remains unknown. "This has been one of the biggest points of consternation for other researchers," said study co-author Mark Collard, a biological anthropologist at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.

Since scientists don't know when H. naledi lived, it's difficult to determine how exactly the species fits into the family tree of hominins, those species composed of humans and their close relatives. Given some of H. naledi's primitive, ape-like features, some researchers argued that the species might not be a member of the human lineage Homo, but might have belonged to Australopithecus, the most likely ancestors of humans.

Dating H. naledi fossils

To deduce the age of H. naledi and the species' relationships to other hominins, Collard and his colleagues developed a computer model analyzing skull, jaw and tooth features of both early and late hominins. For instance, the model includes Homo erectus, the most likely ancestor of modern humans, Homo sapiens.

The new model suggests "that the new species, H. naledi, is most closely related to the existing species of genus Homo and the recently discovered South African australopith species Australopithecus sediba, but the data do not allow us to determine which of the species within that group H. naledi is most closely related to," Collard said.

The new model also suggests that H. naledi fossils were about 912,000 years old. For comparison, prior work suggested that modern humans arose on Earth about 200,000 years ago.

"The date is surprising, because it's relatively young. Given the small brain size and other primitive characteristics of H. naledi, I think most researchers have assumed that it is considerably older than 900,000 years old," Collard said.

This age estimate suggests that H. naledi was a member of Homo and not Australopithecus, the scientists said. The timing also suggests H. naledi fossils were not just unusual specimens of H. erectus, but their own species, the researchers added.

Hominin diversity

Collard said he expected this new age estimate would draw a lot of skepticism from other scientists. "Their skepticism will be entirely understandable," he said. "Even now, I remain a bit skeptical about it. I think it's well-enough supported to put it out there, but I'm not about to bet my house on it. That said, I think it's worth the field pondering the implications for our understanding of human evolution if the age estimate is about right and H. naledi is around a million years old."

For instance, these findings suggest that small-brained human species such as H. naledi may have lived at the same time as larger-brained human species in Africa such as H. erectus. Similarly, recent studies have suggested that small-brained human species such as the "hobbit" Homo. floresiensis and larger-brained human species such as H. erectus and H. sapiens lived contemporaneously in Asia.

"One of the questions the possibility of such diversity raises is, 'Who made the stone tools we find in those parts of the Old World where we've got evidence for multiple species of Homo?'" Collard said. "I don't think we can assume that it was just the large-brained Homo species necessarily."

In the future, the researchers hope to extend their model to more than just the skulls of hominins, Collard said. This may help better pinpoint which hominin species H. naledi is most closely related to.

The scientists detailed their findings in the August issue of the Journal of Human Evolution.

Original article on Live Science.
Archaeologists used an electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) to find a tunnel that Jewish prisoners hand-dug, beginning at "Pit 6," shown here in a photo taken by a drone.

A 115-foot-long escape tunnel hand-dug by Jewish prisoners has been discovered at a Nazi execution site in Lithuania, a team of archaeologists and geoscientists announced today.

It's been estimated that up to 100,000 people most of them Lithuanian and Polish Jews were massacred at the infamous killing site in the Ponar forest, just outside the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, between 1941 and 1944.

Using a remote-sensing technique, a group of researchers was able to relocate the narrow tunnel at Ponar without ever breaking ground. [See Photos of the Jewish Escape Tunnel at Ponar]

Spoon-dug tunnel

German forces took control of Vilnius in the summer of 1941. Soon afterward, the military established Jewish ghettos in the city and began periodic killings at Ponar. In the three years that followed, 95 percent of Lithuanian Jews were killed.

By 1943, Soviet forces were closing in on the region, and the German military formed a special unit of 80 Jewish prisoners from the Stutthof concentration camp who were tasked with covering up the evidence of genocide at Ponar, the researchers said. Known as the "burning brigade," these prisoners were kept in a former execution pit at night, and forced to open the mass graves and burn the corpses during the day.

Some members of the unit plotted an escape, and over the course of three months they dug a tunnel about 115 feet (35 meters) long, using spoons and their hands. On April 15, 1944, the last night of Passover that year, about 40 of the prisoners attempted to escape through the tunnel. Many were caught and shot by their Nazi guards, the researchers said. Only 11 reached the Jewish resistance forces and survived the war; the survivors gave testimonies about what happened at Ponar.

Looking underground

Researchers from Israel, Lithuania, the United States and Canada recently set out to find the exact location of the lost tunnel. The team used a technique called electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), which detects changes in electrical properties underground. Often used in the oil and gas industry, ERT can help find buried archaeological features. (For example, limestone foundation blocks and porous soil could be distinguished by their different levels of electrical resistivity, the reciprocal of conductivity.)

Only the entrance of the tunnel (from inside the prisoners' pit) had been known, but earlier this month, the researchers detected the rest of the passage. The team also detected previously unknown mass grave pits in the surrounding forest, which could hold more Ponar victims.

"As an Israeli whose family originated in Lithuania, I was reduced to tears on the discovery of the escape tunnel at Ponar," Jon Seligman, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority who worked on the project, said in a statement. "The exposure of the tunnel enables us to present, not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the yearning for life."

Uncovering Holocaust accounts

In recent years, archaeologists have used their skills to uncover evidence of atrocities at several other World War II sites. For example, the first excavations at the Treblinka death camp a few years ago revealed new mass graves and the first physical proof of gas chambers at the site.

"Geoscience will allow testimonies of survivors  like the account of the escape through the tunnel  and many events of the Holocaust to be researched and understood in new ways for generations to come," another investigator on the project, Richard Freund, a professor of Jewish history at the University of Hartford in Connecticut, said in the statement.

The findings at Ponar will be documented in a film set to air on the PBS science series NOVA in 2017.

Original article on Live Science.
Sharks are iconic creatures, but researchers know remarkably little about them. For instance, although scientists know of more than 400 shark species, many of these big fish fare poorly in captivity, making it difficult to observe their mating, navigational, learning and social (or anti-social) behavior. Here are seven mysteries that scientists have yet to solve about sharks.

1. How do sharks navigate?

A great white shark. (Image credit: Getty Images/Stephen Frink)

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The open ocean has few visual cues, so how do sharks know where they're going? Some sharks travel great distances, such as the great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) that swim across the Indian Ocean, from the west coast of Australia to South Africa, said Andrew Nosal, a marine biologist and shark scientist at University of San Diego.

"It is an enduring mystery how sharks find their way through the ocean, which environmental cues they use, and how exactly those cues are detected and integrated," Nosal told Live Science.

Some sharks may use Earth's magnetic field to help them generate a mental map and compass, a May 2021 study published in the journal Current Biology suggested. In that study, researchers found that wild bonnetheads (Sphyrna tiburo) were able to orient themselves to that applied magnetic field, suggesting they use such fields to navigate.

Olfaction (smell) may be another navigational tool that some sharks use, according to a 2016 study by Nosal and colleagues on leopard sharks (Triakis semifasciata). But perhaps other factors  such as water temperature, sound and even vision (to some extent)  may help sharks navigate the deep, Nosal said.

2. How many species exist?

The newfound species of walking shark, Hemiscyllium Halmahera, grows up to 27 inches (70 centimeters) long and is harmless to humans. (Image credit:  Conservation International / Mark Erdmann)

Researchers are still discovering new species of shark, especially from the deep ocean.

"The deep ocean is so vast and we've spent so little time studying it, that it feels like every time a scientist goes out and does some fishing or trolling or even goes to a fish market in a little known place, they find a new species of shark," Christopher Lowe, a professor of marine biology and director of the Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach, told Live Science.

Moreover, sharks can range greatly in size, from as small as a cigar (like the American pocket shark) to as large as a school bus (such as the whale shark, a plankton feeder). They also live in diverse habitats, so a newfound species could be uncovered anywhere, Nosal said.

Related: Biggest sharks in the world

3. Why do sharks migrate?

After placing an acoustic tracker on each of the 26 leopard sharks, the researchers dropped the sharks off at a location 6 miles from shore. (Image credit: Kyle McBurnie)

It's clear that many sharks migrate seasonally, different tracking studies show. In other cases, as with the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), species have "partial migration, where some individuals have a propensity to be homebodies and others have a propensity to migrate," Lowe said. "And we don't know why."

Related: Why 10,000-plus sharks are hanging out in Florida waters

For the critically endangered school shark (Galeorhinus galeus), females have a three-year migration, returning to their reproductive spot every third year, likely to ovulate and gestate, a March 2021 tracking study led by Nosal in the Journal of Applied Ecology found.

However, why the majority of these migrations happen is still a mystery. Do sharks migrate for food, mating, temperature or perhaps a mixture of all three? It's hard to say. Only by studying vast numbers of a single species of shark can researchers find overall trends and perhaps tease out the reasons behind each migration, Nosal said.

4. What are they doing underwater?

A white shark tagged with both acoustic (front) and pop-up satellite (rear) tags. (Image credit: TOPP)

It's anyone's guess what sharks are doing deep in the ocean, said Gregory Skomal, a fisheries biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. Trackers can tell scientists where the sharks are swimming, but once the fish dive deep into the water, it's hard to follow them without disrupting their behavior, he said.

"We have plenty of data on white sharks that shows that some of them go out to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, wander around and dive down to depths as great as 3,000 feet (900 meters) every day," Skomal told Live Science. "But we don't have any clue what they're actually doing there."

Once, Skomal and his colleagues sent down an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to spy on great white sharks at night. The footage suggested that the sharks were resting. "I dare not say 'sleep' because it's hard for us to determine if and when these sharks sleep," Skomal said.

In another case, researchers found that grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) surf on updrafts of water, likely to save energy, according to a June 2021 study in the Journal of Animal Ecology.

5. What role do sharks play in the ecosystem?

A lemon shark in the Bahamas looking for a meal. (Image credit: Fiona Ayerst / Shutterstock.com)

Most people say that sharks are apex predators and are essential for maintaining balance in the food web. But not all sharks are at the top of that web, Nosal said.

"It's still a mystery exactly how sharks fit in," he said. "Surely they are important, and many species are indeed apex predators. But food webs are very complicated."

Many shark habitats are so damaged, it's hard to know how they functioned before disruptions, such as overfishing and habitat destruction, Lowe said. However, a few places around the world, including Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands (whose inhabitants were relocated due to the effects of nuclear bomb testing) give a hint as to how shark habitats should look, Lowe said. Because people essentially abandoned the islands, the ecosystems have recovered.

Lowe visited the Bikini Islands recently. Without downplaying the terrible effects of nuclear testing, "for me, it was this amazing experience because people hadn't been there, really, for 50 years. Even foreign fishermen would avoid that place because of their fear of the radiation," he said. "For me it was like Jurassic Park."

How smart are sharks?

6. How smart are sharks?

Testing a shark's response to odor plumes in the water. (Image credit: Jelle Atema)

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Studies on shark brains suggest the fish are complex beings, but in what ways are they smart?

Sharks don't have many folds in their forebrains (an area associated with decision making and reasoning in people), but they do have lots of folds in their cerebellum (a region associated with coordinating body movements), said Jelle Atema, a professor of biology at Boston University Marine Program. And shark brains may have unique abilities when it comes to smell. Atema has studied sharks' two well-developed olfactory bulbs, he said.

In a 2010 study in the journal Current Biology, Atema and his colleagues found that dusky smooth-hound sharks (Mustelus canis) turned toward odors stimulated first in their nares (nose), even if the second smell stimulation offered to them was higher in concentration. This trick may help the sharks stay connected to an odor plume, even if another smell in the busy ocean is of higher concentration, he said.

Anecdotally, Lowe has annually tracked tiger sharks to French Frigate Shoal in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, where the sharks chow down on blackfoot albatross chicks learning to fly. "We found that literally a week before the birds start to fledge, the sharks start showing up," Lowe said. "We observed some individuals eating four to six albatross chicks a morning." As soon as the last chicks fledge, the sharks leave, he said. That suggests sharks' "smarts" include detailed memories about the time and location of events, at least when it comes to food.

7. Are sharks social animals?

Underwater silhouetted view of silky sharks gathering in spring for mating rituals, Roca Partida, Revillagigedo, Mexico. (Image credit: Getty Images)

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Some sharks swim in schools of various sizes, and others gather in groups of hundreds to thousands. But it's unclear whether sharks are attracted to one another or whether they're simply in the same spot because it's a nice location with good temperatures and food availability, Nosal said.

"Almost certainly, it's going to be a combination of the two," he said. "But we don't really know the extent to which sharks are social animals. There's more and more evidence that they are, but the details are forthcoming."

Related: Surprise! Sharks have social lives.

This story was originally published on June 29, 2016 and updated on July 16, 2021 to include additional studies and comments from Chris Lowe.

Originally published on Live Science.
Donald Trump likes to brag hes not a politician. And hes not; hes a hustler, a scam artist, a grifter, a modern day P.T. Barnum who deserves congratulations for running the ultimate con on the American people. Hes a carnie with a glob of inedible cotton candy on his head.

Financial reports filed with the Federal Election Commission reveal someone focused on the best interests of Trump Inc. rather than the country. To him, we are the designated losers in this years rigged edition of Presidential Apprentice.

In 2000 Trump told Fortune Magazine, Its very possible I could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money off of it. And thats obviously the goal. Hes got four and a half months to make as much money as possible and is full speed ahead pursuing his windfall like a kid on Halloween a half hour before curfew.

For the New York businessman, it is now, has been and always shall be, all about the Benjamins. His wife and kids are on the payroll. So is an ex- wife and a couple of contestants from The Apprentice. And probably John Miller, the name he used when masquerading as his own publicist.

Almost a fifth of the money he spent in the month of May went to his companies, subsidiaries and properties. He billed his campaign over $400,000 for an event at the Florida resort, Mar-A-Lago, where Trump lives. He undoubtedly did that thing hospitals do by charging a hundred bucks for each ply of toilet paper. Trump branded toilet paper of course. Got to get me some of that.

Another half million went to Trump Tower, the other place he lives. Hes charging himself to sleep in his own bed. Wonder if Melania charges as well. Trump even paid himself $3,000. Which works out to $750 a week. An attempt to find out how the other 99 percent lives? Not likely.

Trump paid out $4.5 million to TAG Air for private jets. And guess who the CEO of TAG Air is? Thats right. Don the Con. Some other products the campaign purchased are Trump Wine, Trump Steaks, Trump Water and we shouldnt be surprised to discover an itemized expense for Trump luggage to carry around the Trump ego.

All that talk about self-funding was just more snake oil sold to us rubes. Another bogus plea from the Nigerian Prince of politics. He didnt give money to his campaign, he lent it $37 million and expects to be paid back by the Republican National Committee. The man is the Florence of malfeasance.

He loans money to the Trump Campaign which spends money on his properties, then solicits contributions from wealthy donors to pay himself back the money he loaned his campaign to buy stuff from himself.

This has to be straight out of a course at Trump University. Double Dipping 101. His campaign is nothing but a shell game with the GOP as the mark. Paul Ryan has a big old X on his back that can only be seen under infrared light.

Its the classic vulture capitalist scenario. Swoop in, grab the money, then leave everyone else to clean up the mess. A Presidential Ponzi Scheme. Or in this case... a Donzi Scheme. Bernie Madoff would be proud.

Will Durst is an award-winning, nationally acclaimed columnist, comedian and former Pizza Hut assistant manager. His columns are distributed by the Cagle Cartoons Inc. syndicate.
Elections matter.But what do people really want?

As the host of a radio show, I get to talk to people for a living. I talk with policy wonks, politicians and, most important, real people with real concerns and real needs.

The Verizon worker leaning a 25-foot ladder up against a tree in 20 mph winds hoping to retire in a couple of years without worrying that his pension and medical insurance could vanish.

Yeah, hes one of the few U.S. employees with a defined benefit pension and he likes it.He also knows full well that defined benefit pensions are not sustainable with a smaller population of workers coming up behind him. These people are not stupid.

He likes his union and wants it to be strong while his kid gets a degree in nursing.

Let the next generation figure it out.

He doesnt believe a thing Hillary says and laughs at the mention of Trumps name.

Hes been around long enough to know better than to trust either one.

He casually says hell probably vote straight ticket Democrat because thats what he always does.

His eyes freeze in a thoughtful glaze and admits, ...or maybe not.

Theres the guy who learned he had a knack for painting cars as a teenager.Now hes in his fifties and owns a shop that had to lay off one of his employees because a new regulation is costing him thousands of dollars in compliance.

He even got an EPA inspector to confess the regulation does nothing to improve any environmental conditions.It just makes money for the government.He works weekends to get the jobs done himself because the cost of making money for the government means he cannot afford the extra employee he needs.

No way any Democrat gets his vote.

Theres the woman whose counseling helped her finally realize that her drug and alcohol problems actually stem from her inability to cope with being sexually abused as a child.She was seeing a therapeutic counselor briefly until she couldnt afford it because her Obamacare policy has a $3,000 deductible.

She has insurance, but cant afford to use it.

Vodka is cheaper.

She doesnt talk about voting.

Listen to the guy whos been cutting trees, driving snowplows and doing every task thrown his way working for the states Department of Transportation. He likes his benefits, but its tough to feed a family when your starting salary is just under twelve dollars an hour.

He listens to the longtime worker loading the truck next to him who wonders how hes going to buy new steel toe boots, a good used truck and the first year of college for his really smart kid.

With overtime, both mandatory and voluntary, he figures he can bring home about $40,000 this year.

He has a sleeping bag in the rusty F-150 for sleeping overnight on the job.Sometimes he sleeps in a shack. Sometimes the rustbucket.

The new used truck will wait.

They talk about the guy who left to work for a private company for a lot more money and wonder.

What if?

They see Democrats fighting about paying McDonalds burger-flippers $15 an hour, shake their heads and wonder.

What if?

If the person youre talking to believes Hillary Clinton will push for policies that will make his or her life better, they dont even care if she is convicted of the crimes for which she is being investigated.

If the person youre talking to believes Donald Trump will push for policies that will make his or her life better, they dont care if some paunchy, six-figure salaried pundit calls his statements controversial.

They care about their families and their future.

They dont trust either one of the candidates.

Still, theyll grimace and vote for one of them.

Rick Jensen is Delawares award-winning conservative talk show host on WDEL. Email Rick at rick@wdel.com.
Masonite Ireland has announced the creation of an additional 30 jobs over the next six months at its facility in Carrick-on-Shannon.

The company currently employs 143 staff at its Co Leitrim plant.

Speaking to the Leader, Dromod local area representative Cllr Sean McGowan (FF) said it was a very positive step forward for the company.

Thirty additional jobs is positive news at Masonite, he added.

The company has been a great employer locally and while they had lay offs in the bad times, the situation is looking very bright again there, so it is great to see more employment opportunities coming on stream.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the company said the facility was continuing to experience solid growth in the business as the global recovery takes hold in many of their key markets.

Masonite manufactures interior and exterior doors for the residential and non-residential building construction markets and exports the product around the world.

The new jobs will mainly be in the production area, with some jobs also in the support functions. Masonite began operating in Ireland in July 1997 and will celebrate its 20th anniversary in Carrick-on-Shannon next year.
Local News, Press Releases

By Allison Gayne Published: June 29 2016

LI water commissioners review air stripping tower emissions during a recent NSWCA meeting.

Left to right: NSWCA Secretary and Oyster Bay Water District Commissioner Michael F. Rich, NSWCA Treasurer and Hicksville Water District Commissioner William Schuckmann; Guest Speaker Michael Alarcon of Nassau County DOH, NSWCA President and Massapequa Water District Commissioner Raymond J. Averna, and NSWCA 1st Vice President and Plainview Water District Commissioner Andrew N. Bader.

Farmingdale, NY - June 27, 2016 - At a recent Nassau Suffolk Water Commissioners Association (NSWCA) meeting Guest Speaker Mr. Michael J. Alarcon, P.E., from Nassau County Department of Health presented a program to Long Island water commissioners entitled Air Stripping Tower Emissions Evaluation & Protection Program. The presentation discussed Nassau County Department of Healths policy and program to evaluate and control emissions from public water supply well air stripping towers as well as it assuring compliance with New York State guideline concentrations. The meeting was hosted by Bethpage Water District, which was established in 1923, and its Water Commissioners, William J. Ellinger, John R. Sullivan and John F. Coumatos.

It is important to protect the quality of the public water supply and the air in the vicinity of air stripping towers, said Mr. Alarcon. The Nassau County Department of Health has strict guidelines in place that must be followed during the design and operation of air stripping towers to protect the public health.

Long Island uses air stripping to remove volatile carbon contaminants (VOCs) from our drinking water, commented NSWCA President and Massapequa Water District Commissioner Raymond Averna. Our goal is to provide residents on Long Island with the highest quality drinking water every day. You can see complete information on whats in the water of our 21 commissioner-run NSWCA member Districts in each respective Districts annual Drinking Water Quality Report.

Organized and chartered in 1981, Nassau Suffolk Water Commissioners Association (NSWCA) is comprised of water commissioners from 21 Nassau and Suffolk County water districts. The NSWCA is dedicated to promoting environmental excellence and best practices as well as maintaining the highest standards of water quality and supply. NSWCA sponsors regular educational meetings on topics that include the environment, security, economics, rules and regulations, among other related issues.
Family & Parenting, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: June 29 2016

Six Colombian orphans (ages 10-14) are arriving on June 30, 2016 in New York for a five-week summer visit through Kidsaves Summer Miracles program.

Each year Kidsave works with communities across the country to implement the Summer Miracles program. Pictured are orphans: on the right is Joaquin who was 10 years old when he came to the US for a visit. He was one of the lucky ones who was adopted.

Southampton, NY - June 27, 2016 - Summer Miracles program is seeking adoptive families for hard-to-place older orphans.

What: Six Colombian orphans (ages 10-14) are arriving on June 30, 2016 at 10:00 PM at John F Kennedy Airport for a five-week summer visit to enjoy life with a family, summer camps, and meeting new people through Kidsaves Summer Miracles program. They will be staying with local host families in the New York Metro Area while attending weekly events where families interested in adoption can meet them. The host families together with Kidsave coordinators and volunteers will be advocating to find adoptive families for the kids while they are here and are available for comments and interviews.



When/Where:

06/30, 10:00 PM  JFK Terminal 4

07/02, 1:00-3:00 PM  Ruth Elizabeth Dance, 115 A North Main Street, Port Chester, NY 10573

07/09, 1:00-3:00 PM  36 Kennedy Drive, Southampton, New York, NY 11968

Who:

Local families who are interested in adoption or interested in advocating for the adoption of an older orphan.

Kidsave is a volunteer-driven effort to help older, orphan children find families. This program is the only chance for many children to have a permanent family. Kidsave will provide training and support to the participating families. We collaborate with social workers, home study agencies, child welfare advocates, health professionals and government officials to find safe, appropriate families for these children.

About Kidsaves Summer Miracles

Kidsave Summer Miracles brings Colombian orphans to the United States for a four to five-week summer visit. While they are here the children attend summer camp, learn about U.S. culture, and most importantly, meet prospective adoptive families. These are older children, ages 11 through 14, who have little or no chance of finding adoptive parents in their own country. During the summer visit, Kidsave staff, dedicated volunteers and host families work diligently to find adoptive families for these children. Since 1999, more than 1,750 children have traveled to the U.S. as part of the program, and 80% have found adoptive families.



Each year Kidsave works with communities across the country to implement the Summer Miracles program. These communities consist of local families and volunteers who together commit to building and supporting the program. Community volunteers host, help to raise funds, organize events, advocate for each host childs adoption through community and media outreach, and secure support services for the children, including medical, translation, and more.



Kidsave provides training and support to participating host families. We collaborate with social workers, adoption agencies, child welfare advocates, health professionals and government officials to find safe, appropriate families for each child who participates in the Summer Miracles program.



For more information, please visit here.
Local News, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: June 29 2016

A Hauppauge, New York native was one of 37 civilian employers from across the nation honored by the Chief of Navy Reserve for their exceptional support of Americas Navy Reserve Sailors.

Hauppauge, NY - June 28, 2016 - A Hauppauge, New York native was one of 37 civilian employers from across the nation honored by the Chief of Navy Reserve for their exceptional support of Americas Navy Reserve Sailors during a ceremony in Norfolk, Virginia, June 24.



Gregg E. Bauer, Vice President, Operations at Advanced Acoustic Concepts, LLC received a Certificate of Appreciation during the Chief of Navy Reserve Navy Employer Recognition Event (NERE) for his dedication and support of employees who serve in the Navy Reserve, ensuring that their Sailors are Always Ready. Anytime, Anywhere.



Employer support is absolutely critical to the Navy Reserves mission, said Vice Adm. Robin R. Braun, chief of Navy Reserve. We currently have 2,100 Reserve Sailors deployed around the world. Making sure those Reserve Sailors have a job when they come back from that year-long mobilization is critical, and thats why this event is wonderful. Were recognizing employers who have given outstanding support to their Navy Reserve Sailor. In fact, many of the employers here have Sailors who are deployed right now overseas. So this is a great opportunity for us to recognize them for the outstanding support they give.



NERE is a Navy familiarization day sponsored by the Chief of Navy Reserve to recognize employers who provide their Reserve Sailors with superior support, and provide them an opportunity to see first-hand what Reserve Sailors do every day. Selected employers are chosen from nominations submitted by their Reserve Sailor employees.



Throughout the one-day recognition event, [LastName] and the other employers had the opportunity to get an up-close and personal look at the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, tour the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) at Naval Station Norfolk, view a static display of aircraft from Naval Air Force Reserve, and witness a demonstration by Reserve SEAL Team 18.



Our hope is that the employers gain a better understanding of what their Navy Reserve Sailors are doing when they leave to support Navy missions around the world, said Braun. In many cases, their Sailors are deploying and leaving their company for a year at a time to mobilize, so today gives them a better picture of the capabilities the Navy brings to our nation, and also the type of support our Reserve Sailors provide to the Navy.



Companies invited to this years event were nominated by their employees who are also Navy Reserve Sailors. Guests included CEOs, company owners and senior executives from small, medium and large companies.



Its important that we recognize these employers from across our nation who have given their Navy Reserve Sailors the time they need to fulfill their military duties, said Braun. These employers have gone above and beyond to support their Sailors. In many cases, theyre also helping out families while their Sailor is deployed. We appreciate the outstanding support thats being provided; not only to individual Sailors and families, but to the Navy and the nation.
Local News, Crime, Business & Finance, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: June 29 2016

Partial settlement enables over 21,500 New York car owners to sell their cars back to companies at pre-scandal, fair market value, plus receive cash payment of at least $5,100.

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced New York States participation in an interrelated series of partial settlements with Volkswagen AG and its Audi and Porsche affiliates arising from Volkswagens violations of emissions standards and state consumer protection laws.

New York, NY - June 18, 2016 - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced New York States participation in an interrelated series of partial settlements with Volkswagen AG and its Audi and Porsche affiliates arising from Volkswagens violations of emissions standards and state consumer protection laws.

As part of the settlements, some of which are still subject to court approval, all owners of 2.0 liter, 4-cylinder engine VW and Audi diesel cars in New York will be entitled to be paid full, pre-scandal fair market value for their vehicle, in addition to a cash payment of at least $5,100. Under the deal, car owners may also choose to keep their vehicle and wait to see if VW and Audi develop acceptable emissions fixes; car owners who exercise this option will also receive a cash payment of at least $5,100.

The settlements will also direct to New York over $115 million for environmental projects to improve New Yorks air quality, as well as over $30 million in additional monetary recoveries for the states general fund.

New York State will continue its investigation into the scope of Volkswagen, Audi and Porsches illegal conduct and their liability for environmental penalties.

The evidence reviewed so far concerning Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche points to a culture of corporate arrogance and conscious disregard for the rule of law and the rights of consumers, Attorney General Schneiderman said. These partial settlements announced today exact a stiff price from Volkswagen for its deception of consumers and the environmental damage it has caused in New York and across the country. But make no mistake: we will continue to investigate and pursue Volkswagen for its violation of our environmental laws, and we will seek the imposition of additional penalties in amounts sufficient to ensure that Volkswagen and any other car manufacturer complies with the standards required of them.

These partial settlements are a positive step towards addressing Volkswagens deliberate so-called clean diesel fraud of consumers, and state and federal regulators, said Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos. New York will continue to hold Volkswagen accountable for its violations of our states environmentally protective vehicle emissions regulations.

Todays sweeping agreements are unprecedented. The principal components of the settlements include:

Volkswagen is required to repurchase or modify all of the more than 487,000 2.0 liter engine diesel vehicles that Volkswagen and Audi falsely marketed in the United States as compliant with federal and state emissions standards, when in fact they emitted harmful NOx pollutants at rates many times higher than the law permitted. As part of the settlement, a VW and Audi 2.0 liter engine diesel car owner can sell the car back to VW at the pre-scandal fair market value, or wait to see if VW and Audi develop acceptable emissions fixes; whether cars are sold back to Volkswagen or fixed, the car owner will also receive a cash payment of at least $5,100 over and above the market value of the car. Under this agreement, which is subject to the approval of the federal court presiding over the class action litigation and the FTC and EPAs lawsuits, Volkswagen is to set aside up to $10 billion to address car owner claims. The current settlement does not address the relief to be received by owners of the 6-cylinder, 3.0 liter engine diesel SUVs and luxury sedans sold in the U.S. by VW, Audi and Porsche; the resolution of those claims awaits further engineering studies and negotiations with Volkswagen.

Volkswagen will pay about $1,100 per car directly to the states for the companies repeated violations of the states and other jurisdictions laws prohibiting unfair and deceptive marketing and trade practices. This agreement, which Attorney General Schneidermans office secured together with the attorneys general of five other states on behalf of a coalition in which over 40 states participated, will generate over $500 million in nationwide payments by Volkswagen, including over $30 million in penalties going to the State of New York.

Volkswagen will fund of a $2.7 billion Mitigation Fund. This Fund, which also is subject to court approval, is to be used by all states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to address the harm caused to the environment by Volkswagens unlawful diesel vehicles. States will be able to spend money from the Mitigation Fund to pay for diesel engine replacement and retrofit projects and other measures that will reduce NOx and other harmful emissions from numerous different sources. Approximately $117 million of these monies will be administered by New Yorks Department of Environmental Conservation for air quality improvement programs in New York.

Volkswagens commitment to invest $2 billion in the United States over the next 10 years for the development of Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV, that is, electric) and supporting infrastructure. $800 million of these monies are to be spent in California and the balance, or $1.2 billion, for ZEVs and ZEV infrastructure in the rest of the country.

Volkswagen also will pay $20 million to the states for their costs in investigating this matter and to establish a fund that state attorneys general can draw from in future consumer fraud investigations, including of possible violations by automobile manufacturers.

Significantly, this broad settlement does not waive or limit the ability of state and federal authorities to seek additional penalties from Volkswagen for its violations of environmental laws and regulations.

The settlements are embodied in separate agreements, some of which are subject to court approval, among Volkswagen, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), car owners in private class action suits, and over 40 states who have joined together in a coalition headed by six state Attorneys General, in which Attorney General Schneidermans office played a leading role.

The New York Attorney Generals office is continuing its investigation and, working with the Department of Environmental Conservation and its partners in other states and the federal government, intends to hold Volkswagen and its affiliated companies to account for those violations and ensure that willful violations of New Yorks environmental laws are appropriately punished.

This investigation is being handled by Senior Enforcement Counsel David Nachman; Assistant Attorney General Noah Popp of the Consumer Protection Bureau; Deputy Bureau Chief Lisa Burianek, Affirmative Litigation Section Chief Michael Myers and Assistant Attorneys General John Turrettini, and Brian Lusignan of the Environmental Protection Bureau; and Senior Trial Counsel David Ellenhorn, with the assistance of Laura Sarli of the Attorney Generals Investor Protection Bureau. The Consumer Protection Bureau is led by Bureau Chief Jane Azia and the Environmental Protection Bureau is led by Bureau Chief Lemuel Srolovic. Manisha Sheth heads the Attorney Generals Division of Economic Justice and Alvin Bragg the Division of Social Justice.

For additional information on the settlement, please visit www.VWCourtSettlement.com.
Food, Wine, & Dining, Family & Parenting, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases, Seasonal & Current Events

By Don Miller Published: June 29 2016

Approximately 150,000 meals to be served to 4,500 children in Nassau and Suffolk counties this summer.

Hauppauge, NY - June 29, 2016 - Child food insecurity remains a national problem, with almost 16 million children in the United States at risk of hunger, states Feeding America, a leading nationwide anti-hunger organization. According to Island Harvest Food Bank, there are more than 118,000 Long Island schoolchildren who rely on free breakfast and lunch programs during the school year, but lack access to sufficient, nutritious food during the summer, when school is out. Island Harvest Food Banks Summer Food Service Program, administered by the Food and Nutrition Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), provides an essential source of nourishment when school lets out for the summer recess.

Hunger is a year-round issue nationally and on Long Island, and, while food may be plentiful for most of us during the summer, thats not the case for many Long Islanders, especially children, who face a continued daily struggle to get enough food to maintain a healthy life, explains Randi Shubin Dresner, president and CEO of Island Harvest Food Bank. For children who depend on school programs to feed them during the school year, the Summer Food Service Program enables us to provide them with breakfasts, lunches and snacks during the summer months.

This summer, Island Harvest Food Banks Summer Food Service Program expects to serve approximately 150,000 meals to 4,500 children at 65 sites throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties. Island Harvest Food Bank will deliver a mix of breakfasts, lunches and snacks, Monday through Friday, to programs operated by government agencies, summer camps, day camps, churches and community organizations. Last year, Island Harvest Food Bank served approximately 113,000 meals to more than 3,000 children at 59 Long Island sites through the Summer Food Service Program, which runs from June 27 through September 2.

Meals will be provided at the sites, without charge, to all children 18 years and younger. Acceptance and participation requirements for the program and all activities are the same for all, regardless of race, color, national origin, gender, age or disability, and there will be no discrimination in the course of the meal service. For a complete list of Summer Food Service Program sites on Long Island, visit islandharvest.org. For more information, please call Anthony Brites at Island Harvest Food Bank at 631-873-4775, or email him.

Any person who believes he or she has been discriminated against in any USDA-related activity should immediately write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call 800-795-3272 (voice) or 202-720-6382 (TTY). The USDA is an equal-opportunity provider and employer.

About Hunger on Long Island

Hunger is a state in which people do not get enough food to provide the nutrients for active and healthy lives. It can result from the recurrent lack of access to food. More than 316,000 Long Islanders face the risk of hunger every day, according to Island Harvest Food Bank and Feeding America, a national hunger-relief organization. Those facing hunger include adults (often working two jobs), seniors and veterans. Unable to make ends meet, they (and their children) are often forced to go without food. Approximately 70,000 individuals seek food assistance in Nassau and Suffolk counties each week through soup kitchens, food pantries and other feeding programs served by Island Harvest Food Bank.

About Island Harvest Food Bank

Island Harvest Food Bank is a leading hunger-relief organization that provides food and other resources to people in need. Always treating those it helps with dignity and respect, its goal is to end hunger and reduce food waste on Long Island through efficient food collection and distribution; enhanced hunger-awareness and nutrition-education programs; job training; and direct services targeted at children, senior citizens, veterans and others at risk. Approximately 96 cents of every dollar donated to Island Harvest Food Bank goes to programs that support more than 316,000 Long Islanders. Island Harvest Food Bank is a lead agency in the regions emergency-response preparedness for food and product distribution, and is a member of Feeding America, the nations leading domestic hunger-relief organization. More information can be found at www.islandharvest.org.
Assams Majuli becomes Indias first island district

Published: June 29, 2016

The Assam Government has granted district status to Majuli, a 400 square kilometres island in the Brahmaputra River. With this it becomes Indias first island district.

Decision in this regard was taken by the state cabinet meeting presided by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Guwahati.

With this erosion-troubled Majuli island will become the 35th district of Assam. Earlier it was sub-division of Jorhat district.

About Majuli island

Geographical occurrence: The fluvial riverine island is formed by the Brahmaputra river system. It is the worlds largest mid river delta (island) system.

The fluvial riverine island is formed by the Brahmaputra river system. It is the worlds largest mid river delta (island) system. The island is surrounded by Subanisri River in the North, main Brahmaputra River on the South and kherkatia Suli, split channel of Brahmaputra River in northeast.

People and Culture: Majuli island is mostly inhabited by Mishing tribal people .

Majuli island is mostly inhabited by . It has been the hub of Assamese neo-Vaishnavite culture initiated by saint-reformer Srimanta Sankardeva in 15th century.

in 15th century. The island had some 65 satras (monasteries adhering) to Vaishnavism. But large numbers of them were relocated to the mainland after being washed away.

The main surviving satras include Garamurh, Dakhinpat, Kamalabari, Auniati and Bengenaati.

Flora and Fauna: Majuli island is a rich environmental hotspot harbouring. It is home of many rare and endangered avifauna species including migratory birds.

Majuli island is a rich environmental hotspot harbouring. It is home of many rare and endangered avifauna species including migratory birds. Erosion: Due to erosion of river-bank of the island it has shrunk from about 1250 sq km in 1891 to about 515 sq km.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2016

Topics: Assam  Majuli  Places in News  Sarbananda Sonowal  States

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CSIR-CIMFR, Coal supplying companies ink MoU for coal quality analysis

Published: June 29, 2016

The CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CSIR-CIMFR) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with coal supplying companies and power utilities for quality analysis of coal supplied.

The MoU was signed in presence of Uniin Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal at a function in New Delhi.

As per the MoU

The CSIR-CIMFR would make use of its knowledgebase support in maintaining the quality of coal at national level for the entire power sector.

About 300 million metric tons of estimated coal samples will be analyzed for quality per year. The contract value of the project is around 250 crore rupees per annum at minimum.

This quality analysis project will result in improvement in performance of power plants besides help to leverage benefits to the consumer in particular and society as a whole. T

It will also help nation to endeavour in sustainable energy supply and security planning for future as it may reduce import of thermal coal.

About Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR)

CIMFR is a constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Indias largest research and development (R&D) organisation.

It aims to provide R&D inputs for the entire coal-energy chain from mining to Consumption. It is based in Dhanbad, Jharkand.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2016

Topics: CIMFR  CSIR  Mining  Power Sector

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Afghanistans Ministry of Interior reported yesterday nine districts are under Taliban control, including four in the southern province of Helmand, and more than 40 others are heavily contested. The statement is an admission of the worsening security situation in Afghanistan since the last time the government disclosed such information one year ago.

The districts are in the northeastern, southern and also other parts of Afghanistan. The enemy has increased its activities in those areas, Ministry of Interior spokesman Sidiq Siddiqi said, according to TOLONews.

One year ago, in June 2015, Afghan officials told The New York Times that only four districts were under Taliban control (Nawa in Ghazni, Khak-i Afghan in Zabul, and Dishu and Musa Qala in Helmand).

No other area except those four districts is under the enemy control now, Major General Mohammad Afzal Aman, the chief of operations for the Ministry of Defense told The New York Times then.

However, multiple districts other than the four mentioned by Aman were known to be under Taliban rule at the time. A study by The Long War Journal at this time last year recorded all nine of these districts as being under Taliban command.

The nine districts controlled by the Taliban were identified this week as Now Zad, Musa Qala, Bagran, and Dishu in Helmand in the south; Nawa district in Ghazni and Khak Afghan district in Zabul provinces in the southeast; Warduj and Yamgan districts in Badakhshan in the northeast; and Kohistanat district in Sar-i-Pul in the north. The number contested districts, which were described by TOLONews as districts facing serious security threats, were not identified.

The Afghan government is likely still underestimating the extent of Taliban control throughout Afghanistan. For instance, the Taliban is known to have seized Char Chino district in Uruzgan on June 16 and there is no indication that Afghan forced ejected the Taliban.

The Taliban currently control 39 districts in Afghanistan and contest another 43, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal (see map above). Districts under Taliban command are being administered by the group, or the group controls the district center. Typically the Taliban dominates all of the areas of a district except the administrative center in contested districts. The Taliban likely controls or contests more districts displayed on the map above, however the districts listed on the map are ones that can be confirmed via independent sources such as Taliban claims, government reports, and news reports.

Al Qaeda has taken advantage of the deteriorating security situation to establish training camps in areas out of the governments jurisdiction. For instance, al Qaeda ran two training camps, including a large facility, in the Shorabak district in Kandahar for more than a year before they were discovered by US forces. The US military only discovered the location of the two camps in Shorabak after raiding another in Paktika province in July 2015. Abu Khalil al Sudani, one of al Qaedas most senior figures, is thought to have been killed during that raid. Al Qaeda clearly assessed the situation in Paktika as being safe enough to place one of their top leaders there.

In October 2015, a large US military strike force took four days to clear the two al Qaeda camps in Shorabak. One camp covered over 30 square miles, and included large caches of weapons, ammunition, and other supplies. An al Qaeda media cell was also based there. More than 150 al Qaeda operatives are reported to have been killed in the raid. [See LWJ reports, US military strikes large al Qaeda training camps in southern Afghanistan, Al Qaedas Kandahar training camp probably the largest in Afghan War., and State notes severely degraded al Qaeda operated large training camp in Afghanistan].

After the Shorabak raid, General John Campbell, then the commander of Resolute Support, noted that US military and intelligence officials were surprised that the camp even existed. And the Shorabak raids forced the US military to revised its long-held estimate of 50 to 100 al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan upwards to 300 in country. For more than six years, The Long War Journal has warned that official estimate of al Qaedas presence in Afghanistan is erroneous, and the jihadist group remains a significant threat to this day. [See LWJ report, US military admits al Qaeda is stronger in Afghanistan than previously estimated.]

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
The jihadist-led Jaysh al Fateh (Army of Conquest) coalition and its allies launched a new assault on Syrian regime positions in the coastal province of Latakia on June 27. The offensive, named the Battle of Yarmouk, involves a mix of jihadists and fighters affiliated with the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

Al Nusrah Front and Ahrar al Sham, the two most important constituents in Jaysh al Fateh, are both participating in the fighting. Al Nusrah is al Qaedas official branch in Syria. Ahrar al Sham models itself after the Taliban and has its own connections to al Qaeda.

Another al Qaeda-linked organization, the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), has released images from the battle on its social media sites. Other Jaysh al Fateh member groups, such as Ajnad al Sham and Faylaq al Sham, have as well.

The 1st Coastal Division, 2nd Coastal Division, Jaysh al Izzah, Jaysh al Tahrir and Jaysh al Nasr are among the FSA-affiliated groups fighting alongside the Jaysh al Fateh coalition.

Some of these organizations have been armed with American-made TOW missiles. A video posted on YouTube purportedly shows the 1st Coastal Division targeting Syrian regime forces with a TOW missile near the town of Kinsabba. In another video, a Jaysh al Izzah member fires a TOW at what appears to be tank.

Much of the fighting has centered on strategically important areas in Latakia such as Mount Turkmen and Mount Akrad, both of which have witnessed numerous battles since the beginning of Syrian war. Russian airstrikes have also repeatedly targeted fighters in the area.

The jihadists and other rebels claimed gains during the early fighting, reportedly seizing several villages. The current status of the fighting is unclear, however, as some accounts say the rebels fell back from their forward positions before regrouping for a another push.

Sources close to Bashar al Assads regime were quick to portray the offensive as a failure. According to Al Masdar News, the insurgents retreated as Russian warplanes bombed the area. One of the airstrikes reportedly struck a vehicle owned by the TIP.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), which is the Assad regimes propaganda arm, claimed that the offensive was thwarted. Syrian army units in cooperation with popular defense groups repelled an assault by terrorist groups on a number of military posts in the northern countryside Latakia, SANA reported on June 28. SANA also claimed that an Al Nusrah Front field commander and a military official for Ajnad al Kavkaz (Soldiers of the Caucasus) were killed in the clashes. (The latter claim may be mistaken, as jihadists on social media disputed it immediately.) Ajnad al Kavkaz, a predominately Chechen jihadist group, is based in Latakia.

The fighting in Latakia is further evidence that jihadist groups, such as al Qaedas official arm, are commingled with other organizations in the anti-Assad insurgency.

The Jaysh al Fateh coalition has fought in several areas of Syria, but Al Nusrah and Ahrar are always the leading parties. Their local partners change from battle to battle and sometimes those groups do not advertise their participation in the alliance for one reason or another. For example, Faylaq al Sham (or Sham Legion) often does not include Jaysh al Fatehs logo on its propaganda even though its members are undoubtedly fighting alongside the coalitions members.

The Jaysh al Fateh-led offensive in Latakia is the second to be launched by the joint venture this month. Jaysh al Fateh seized several villages in the southern part of Aleppo province in first three weeks of June.

Several groups released similar maps depicting the locations of key battles in Latakia.

Ahrar al Sham tweeted this map on June 28:

Faylaq al Shams (Sham Legions) map:

Ajnad al Sham, another group that belongs to Jaysh al Fateh, produced a short video in which one of its members described the battle plan in Latakia. A screen shot from the video, with the Ajnad al Sham member pointing to key locations, can be seen below:

Jaysh al Tahrir, which is affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, tweeted this map on June 27:

Jaysh al Izzah launched a new website to commemorate the Battle of Yarmouk. The group has posted a series of images from the fighting, including this map:

The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), which is part of al Qaedas international network, posted this simplified map of the key battle sites in Latakia:

Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
Irans new Armed Forces General Staff chief, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, was appointed on Tuesday. Defa Press, Irans official armed forces media outlet, reprinted on the following day a 2014 interview with Bagheri, in which he reiterated Tehrans security red lines and priorities, warning that Iran would directly intervene in Iraq if Baghdad were threatened.

Baghdad, the sacred shrines, and the burial places of the pure Imams in Iraq are all the Islamic Republics red lines, he proclaimed, if these are endangered, the Islamic Republic will enter action directly and will annihilate the wicked with diligent and strong defense.

Reassuring Tehrans allies, Bagheri vowed to support them until victory. If the interests of our friends and allies are endangered, he said, [then] per the directives of the commander in chief we will support the companions of the Iranian nation in any way possible and will provide them with the necessary training to confront any threats.

Per the directives of the supreme leader and the Supreme National Security Council, we will undertake actions specific to that place, announced the senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander.

Bagheri then sought to reassure Iranians that the security situations in northwestern and southeastern Iran, where armed forces have been fighting low-level Kurdish and Baluchi separatists, are under control. The armed forces have neutralized kinetic threats despite the investment of some enemies in neighboring countries in the past three years, he said, taking a swipe at Saudi Arabia.

We have given most of the responsibility of providing security to the indigenous population, meaning our Baluchi brothers in the southeast and our Kurdish brothers in the northwest, claimed Bagheri.

The armed forces have complete control over anti-revolutionary groups that operate from the soil of neighboring countries, said the armed forces chief. In addition, Iran has held several meetings with neighboring governments to reach an appropriate security situation.

The government, armed forces, and the private sector are investing in the development of border areas to create jobs, claimed the senior commander.

Responding to a reporters question about plans to arm the West Bank, Bagheri stated, everything that the supreme leader has ordered has been implementedcertainly this important event will be operationalized soon.

Bagheris appointment to General Staff chief was announced yesterday. The General Staff coordinates between Irans unique bifurcate armed forces, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the regular Army. The Guard produces most of the senior officers in the General Staff. IRGC Major General Bagheri replaced Hassan Firouzabadi, a close confidant of the supreme leader who has held the post since 1989 and who was appointed to the supreme leaders senior military adviser.

Bagheris appointment is a shake up in the General Staff and follows a series of deputy appointments and reappointments that were announced last week. Bagheris prior post was General Staff headquarters and joint affairs deputy, and before that he was deputy of operations and intelligence, his area of expertise.

Since 2007-2008, Bagheri has served as coordination deputy to the Khatam ol Anbia Central Base, considered the highest operations command center that oversees Iranian combat units (formed during a major battle in the Iran-Iraq War to coordinate between the IRGC and Army operations command centers, and later commanded all combat units including revolutionary committee and law enforcement. It has continued to function in the post-war era and appears to fall under the General Staff).

His older brother, Hassan, was an important commander during the Iran-Iraq war who was killed in combat in 1983. Hassan founded the IRGCs intelligence and operations division, and Mohammad served at his assistant. A decorated veteran, Mohammad commanded his own units during the war and has had a distinguished career in the Guard.

Mohammad Bagheri is part of the IRGC Command Network, referred to Guard commanders who served together in the Iran-Iraq War and have risen to occupy important posts and dominate the Islamic Republics security and military apparatus.

Bagheri has also said that he was part of the second layer of students who took over the US Embassy in November 1979.

Update (July 2): It was reported that Bagheri held a senior post in the Khatam ol Anbia Construction Base, the Guards engineering arm. He has served in the Khatam ol Anbia Central Base, a distinct unit.

Amir Toumaj is a independent analyst and contributor to FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
Luton is a large town, borough and unitary authority area of Bedfordshire. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 258,000. Luton is home to Championship team Luton Town Football Club, London Luton Airport and The University of Bedfordshire. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter. For all the latest news from Luton sign up to our newsletter here.
Cool Carmel-by-the-Sea is a 'Hot' Summer Destination

Sure, the village  celebrating its Centennial year  is still as popular as ever, but through Labor Day weekend innkeepers are doing their part to help visitors find accommodations even if their inn is full.Speaking on behalf of all the innkeepers in town, it's hard to explain just how appreciative visitors are for this hosting service, said Carrie Theis, president of the Carmel Innkeepers Association. You can just see the relief come over their faces comforted that they won't have to keep driving around town looking for vacancy signs. All the inns in Carmel work together so we know what the availability is in town so we can point our visitors quickly to another inn that has a vacancy.Through Labor Day weekend, Carmel-by-the Sea is an especially popular retreat for visitors looking to beat the summer heat. With average daytime temperatures in the low 70s, combined with comfortable evening ocean breezes, the California Central Coast town is the ideal escape to cool down. Add in a visit to the famous white-sand beach, world-class restaurants (many featuring outdoor dining), abundant recreational options, and attractive midweek lodging rates, and Carmel-by-the-Sea is a hot summer destination.Plus, our Outdoor Forest Theater has re-opened since closing in 2013 for renovations, so our performing arts scene is bustling as ever, Theis noted. As outdoor performance venues go, it's hard to top the Forest Theater.Founded in 1910 by Herbert Heron, Mary Austin and the early Carmel Bohemians, the Outdoor Forest Theater has returned with a musical, The Borrowers, through July 17. Included in the summer lineup also is The Wizard of Oz, which begins a five-week run in August.Visitors seeking midweek rate discounts should visit www.CarmelCalifornia.com and click on Exclusive Offers. The site also has extensive listings of things-to-do, including suggested itineraries, ideal for first-time visitors or those who have limited time. Those looking for family friendly accommodations, including those with kitchens, should visit www.StayInCarmel.org and click on Inn Amenities.Beyond many of the new offerings in town, this is a particularly special year to visit Carmel-by-the-Sea with the town's ongoing celebration of its Centennial . And it's never been easier to get to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Monterey Regional Airport (MRY) is just a 10-minute drive away and served by direct flights to and from San Francisco (SFO, United Express), Los Angeles (LAX, American Eagle/United Express), Las Vegas (LAS, Allegiant Air), Phoenix (PHX, U.S. Airways), and San Diego (SAN, Alaska Airlines). Alaska Airlines recently began daily non-stop service to and from Los Angeles (LAX). San Jose International Airport (SJC) is 75 miles north.For more information, visit CarmelCalifornia.com
Virtuoso's 10th Annual Best Of The Best Reveals What's Trending in Luxury Travel

Hollywood

August 10, 2016

Las Vegas

Best Achievement in Design



Faena Hotel Miami Beach (pictured), Florida , United States

Grand Hyatt Rio de Janeiro , Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Mandarin Oriental, Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco

The Langham , Sydney , Sydney, Australia

The Temple House, Chengdu , China



Best Culinary Experience



The Farmhouse Restaurant, Farmhouse Inn, California , United States

IGNIV, Grand Hotel Quellenhof & Spa Suites, Bad Ragaz, Switzerland

Michel Guerard, Les Pres d'Eugenie-Michel Guerard, Eugenie-les-Bains, France

Shang Palace, Shangri-La Bosphorus, Istanbul , Istanbul, Turkey

The Colony Grill Room, The Beaumont , London, United Kingdom



Best Bar



J.K. Lounge, J.K. Place Firenze , Florence, Italy

Prohibition, Rosewood Hotel Georgia, Vancouver, Canada

Polo Bar, Taj Rambagh Palace, Jaipur, India

Gold Bar, The New York EDITION, New York , United States

Off the Record, The Hay Adams, Washington., D.C. , United States



Best Family Program



Hotel Le K2, Courchevel, France

Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort Fiji, Savusavu, Fiji

Rosewood San Miguel de Allende , San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico

The Peninsula Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan



Best Spa



Grand Hotel Tremezzo, Lake Como , Italy

La Reserve de Geneve, Geneva, Switzerland

Mandapa, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Bali, Indonesia

Six Senses Laamu Hotel, Laamu Atoll, Maldives

The Mayflower Grace, Connecticut , United States



Most Innovative Guest Experience



Belmond Hotel das Cataratas, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil

Carmel Valley Ranch, California , United States

Estancia La Bamba de Areco, San Antonio de Areco, Argentina

Saffire Freycinet , Coles Bay, Australia

Schloss Elmau, Elmau, Germany



Sustainable Tourism Leadership



andBeyond Phinda Private Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Blancaneaux Lodge, Central Farm, Belize

Cavallo Point  The Lodge at Golden Gate, California , United States

Tswalu Kalahari, Tswalu Kalahari, South Africa

UXUA Casa Hotel & Spa, Trancoso , Brazil



One to Watch



D Hotel Maris, Marmaris, Turkey

Four Seasons Hotel Casa Medina Bogota, Bogota, Colombia

Hotel Eden Rome , Dorchester Collection, Rome, Italy

Il Sereno, Lake Como , Italy

Park Hyatt St. Kitts , St. Kitts, Saint Kitts and Nevis



Hotelier of the Year



Deborah Yager Fleming , Acqualina Resort & Spa on the Beach, Florida , United States

Nikheel Advani , Grace Bay Club, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos

Philip Barnes , Fairmont Pacific Rim , Vancouver, Canada

Jose Silva, Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris , Paris, France

Roberto Payer , Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam , Amsterdam, Netherlands



Hotel of the Year



Amanpulo, Pamalican Island, Philippines

Borgo Egnazia, Savelletri Di Fasano, Italy

Burj Al Arab, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Mandarin Oriental, Milan , Milan, Italy

Ritz Paris , Paris, France



Celebrating its 10year, theawards recognize the industry's top properties and hoteliers. The 50 nominees represent the highest standard in their given category and illustrate what is trending in the industry.: Legendary hotels, some of which may even be spotted in black-and-whiteclassics, continue to endure amongst luxury travelers. While there is an undeniable expectation of upgraded rooms and modernized amenities, it is impossible to put a price tag on the timeless essence left by eclectic guests who once walked through the doors.With seven continents, 195 independent countries, and nearly 7,000 different languages in the world, discerning travelers want to see, hear, taste and feel the authentic attributes of the location they have chosen to visit. Properties that establish this level of cultural immersion and tell a story with every element down to the smallest detail have the deepest resonance with upscale hotel enthusiasts.: In a world where social media has transformed the way we live and travel technologies are rapidly evolving, the desire for careful curation prevails. From high style and haute cuisine to groundbreaking designs that transform a property, guests are seeking out hotels that deliver a certain "feel" that represents their own lifestyle. Their quest to collect "likes" ultimately leads them to a more personalized experience.: Can a hotel change the way a guest sees the world? The Virtuoso community says "yes." Luxury travelers are looking to broaden their "Journey to Global Citizenship," using travel as a means of educating their children while simultaneously giving back to a local community in a meaningful, engaging way.The below Virtuosohotel award nominees embody these trends. The winners will be the result of a weeks-long vote held amongst Virtuoso's travel agency members, the most experienced travel advisors in the industry. Their final selections will be revealed during Virtuoso Travel Week's Hotels & Resorts Dinner taking place, at Bellagio Resort & Casino inFor more information, visit www.virtuoso.com
ROLLA - Just over 1,200 candidates received degrees during Commencement ceremonies held Saturday, May 14, 2016, at Missouri University of Science and Technology. The university awards bachelor of science, bachelor of arts, master of science and doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees.

Missouri S&T has traditionally recognized graduates earning a bachelor's degree with honors by placing the designation "summa cum laude," "magna cum laude" or "cum laude" on their diplomas. The highest honor, summa cum laude, is awarded to students who have earned a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.8 or above on a 4.0 scale for all courses counting toward the degree. Magna cum laude is the designation for a GPA of 3.5 to 3.79, and cum laude indicates a GPA of 3.2-3.49.

From Fredericktown, Ethan Ray Pinkley received a bachelor of science in geological engineering, summa cum laude.

Founded in 1870 as the University of Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, Missouri S&T is a public research university of 8,135 students and is part of the four-campus University of Missouri System.
Last year, my partner and I took a camping trip to Port Renfrew: A gorgeous, tree, mist and beauty-packed locale located on Vancouver Island, Canada. It was our first trip to the coast in months. We were stoked.

So, of course, it stormed the whole time we were there. On the first night, the weather was so fierce that we ended up sleeping in the back of our car. Unable to light a fire to cook over in the driving rain, taking shelter under a tarp, I attempted to make a meal of sausages for us over a backpacking stove that Id brought along.

Hunched over, I swore as ice cold water poured off the tarp and down my butt-crack, while fighting to keep the stove standing upright as I turned our sausages in their pan to keep them from burning over a high, difficult-to-regulate flame. The misery of it all brought me back to my childhood, where my parents would argue almost to the point of murder as they fought to cook a meal on a Coleman kerosene stove that made everything I shoveled into my mouth smell like a tire fire.

What Im getting at here is that being able to easily cook a hot, delicious meal when youre camping is a game changer. It can make a miserable night a little more comfortable and replace hostility with contentment. Its taken me some time, but having discovered Jetboils Genesis Base Camp System, my quest to find the perfect car camping stove has come to an end.

Almost everything you need to set up a camp kitchen, stove included, in one package.

Designed to be an all-in-one cooking system, the Genesis Base Camp System consists of a number of components that nest together like a set of culinary babushka dolls. The Base Camp Systems rugged nylon carry case hugs the contours of the systems 5-liter pot, which in turn contains a fuel regulator, a 10-inch ceramic-coated frypan, a strainer lid that fits both the pot and the fry pan, a dual burner Genesis camp stove, and a flexible plastic windscreen.

Stowed away in its carrying case, the Genesis Base Camp System measures 8.5 inches tall by 10.75 inches widemaking it small enough to be tucked under an economy airline seat. Its total weight is around 10 pounds. Thats more weight than youd want to deal with if you and your friends are planning an overnight backpacking trip (well talk about cooking gear suited to that another time.) But compared to the Coleman stoveplus pots and pans that many people still use on car camping tripsthe Genesis Base Camp System is a light-weight, compact dream.

The Genesis Base Camp System can be setup and ready to cook in under five minutes.

When youre ready to cook, setting the stove up is a breeze. Simply unzip the bag, remove the fry pan and lid from the top of the pot, and lift out the stove. Then, after removing a pair of rubber stays, unfold the stove, screw on the fuel regulator, attach your fuel to said regulator and youre in business. I was able to have the Genesis stove unpacked and ready to cook in under five minutes.

Unlike many modern camp stoves, which can run off of multiple fuel sources, the Genesis is a propane-only affair. The Base Camp Systems fuel regulator is designed to be attached to a 1-pound propane canisterthe same sort thats used with a portable gas grill. That said, for $20, its also possible to pick up an adaptor thatll let you pair the stove with a 20-pound tank. Chances are, however, that you wont need it. With a fresh 1-pound tank, I found that I was able to cook three square meals a day for a whole weekend, and still had enough propane left over to barbecue a number of meals on my grill once I got home.

Easy to light and control, the Genesis Stove is a joy to cook on.

Lighting the stove was just as easy as unpacking it is. For each burner, turn the gas to high and push its lever igniter. Boom, youre in business. Regulating the amount of heat put out by the burners on most of the camp stoves Ive used in the past has traditionally proved to be a challenge: You either cook over a high flame, or adjust the flow of fuel with the same care as you would use to dismantle a bomb for fear of accidentally extinguishing your burner.

This wasnt the case with the Genesis. The stoves burner control knobs provided me with a wide range of flame control, making the stove a pleasure to cook on. For one of the meals I cooked on the stovecorn on the cob with ham steaksI found that with the Genesis burners on high, I was able to boil three liters of water in less than eight minutes. Meanwhile, the ham browned up beautifully in the non-stick ceramic fry pan.

Cleaning up after the dinner was easy, too. Despite having used no butter or oil, the pan was a cinch to wash. While most people will find that the Genesis Base Camp System provides all of the basics theyll need to cook away from home, through the use of an adapter, its possible to connect one of Jetboils Luna Satellite burners or even a second Genesis stove, making for a culinary setup that can go toe-to-toe with your kitchen at home.

Sadly, all this outdoor cooking awesome doesnt come cheap. A Genesis Base Camp System will set you back $350, or if you prefer to buy the stove without the pan, pot and carry bag, $240. (The stove is currently available for $191.96 on Amazon.) In either case, if youre an avid car camper, love taking road trips, or even just dig cooking in your backyard on a regular basis, I think youll find that your purchase will quickly pay you back dividends with how much pleasure it brings.

Next Time: Well explore rugged, compact external drives thatll let you backup your MacBook, iPad and iPhone, no matter where you go.
Whats up with the headphone jack obsession about the upcoming iPhone 7 models? Host Glenn Fleishman and Macworlds associate managing editor Leah Yamshon discuss how much virtual ink has been spilled for how long, and yet nobody outside Apple still knows whats coming.

Leah and Glenn also ponder other iPhone 7 rumors, the end of Apples sales of the Thunderbolt Display, whether new AirPort base stations are coming, and if MacBook Pros will be updated later this summer. We talk about iOS 10 and macOS Sierra, due out in July as public betas, and new features coming from Dropbox for free and paid users.

Joining Glenn at the end of the podcast is Fraser Speirs, head of secondary at Cedars School of Excellence in Scotland to talk about Swift Playgrounds, a new app from Apple to teach kids (and adults) programming.

Fraser and the school are in the middle of raising 10,000 to buy out the leases on iPads used in the school for three years, in order to donate them to The Barefoot College, which will use the devices to help train women in rural India to build solar energy projects in their community.

Show notes

Our constantly updated iPhone 7 rumors update.

You can subscribe to the Macworld Podcastor leave us a review! right here in iTunes. Or you can point your favorite podcast-savvy RSS reader at: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/58576458-macworld/tracks

To find previous episodes, visit Macworlds podcast page or our home on Soundcloud.
The Caledonia Fire Department lost an important piece of extrication equipment Thursday morning after a vehicle failed to yield to them on Route C right before Route BB, causing the pumper truck to run off the road.

Caledonia Fire Protection District Chief Chuck Hampton said thankfully the equipment has been returned.

I got a phone call from Sally Phelps from Belgrade and she found our Ram while she was mowing grass, said Hampton. It was in the ditch line on her side of the road and then I got a call from Laura West from Belgrade. She actually found our Jaws (of Life) laying in the middle of the road not long after it happened.

Hampton said she was waiting to see a post or something saying someone was missing that because she wanted to make sure the right person got it back.

I called both of them and went to pick up the equipment, said Hampton. I thanked them and also put a post out on Facebook thanking everybody for the responses we received and all the departments that called wanting to loan us stuff.

Hampton said Belgrade Fire Department is loaning them their spare set of Jaws of Life until they get their set repaired and in working order.

The power unit took the biggest hit of damage from falling from the truck, said Hampton. The Ram had road rash on it and the actual Jaws of Life, the control lever was off, but we were able to get it back on. We just have to find the correct fastener to put it back together with.

Hampton said it was a big relief to get it back and everyone really helped out with it. He added it's an awesome feeling to know how much everyone cares.
At least 36 people were killed in a triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport, in the latest deadly strike to rock Turkey's biggest city. The attackers began spraying bullets at airport guards at the terminal entrance and a shootout erupted yesterday before they blew themselves up one by one at around 10:00 pm (local time), Turkish authorities said. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged an international "joint fight" against terror after the attack, the fourth deadly bombing in Istanbul this year alone.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which prompted the suspension of all flights in and out of the the airport, Turkey's busiest. Police set up a security cordon around the site, while a dozen ambulances rushed to the scene. Turkey has been hit by a string of deadly attacks in the past year, blamed on both Kurdish rebels and the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group. The Turkish airport attack also follows coordinated suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a city metro station in March that left 32 people dead. Security expert Abdullah Agar told CNN the attack bore the hallmarks of a jihadist attack.

Located just outside Turkey's biggest city, Ataturk airport served more than 60 million passengers in 2015, making it one of the busiest in the world. Turkey has been hit by at least five attacks blamed on IS jihadists, including a blast in Ankara in October 2015 that left over 100 dead, though the group has never formally claimed responsibility for an attack in Turkey. Turkey was long accused by its Western partners of

turning a blind eye to the dangers posed by IS but has in recent months

PTI
The Relay For Life of St. Francois County is asking individuals, businesses and organizations to help the American Cancer Society to Finish the Fight!

There is still time to be a sponsor for Relay for Life, said Glenda Straughn, Relay board member. We will be holding our annual Relay For Life at North County High School on July 22, but need sponsorships turned in by Tuesday.

There are several levels of sponsorship: $2,000 Regional Sponsor; $1,000 Fight Back Sponsor; $500 Remember Sponsor and $250 Celebrate Sponsor. Track signs can also be purchased for $100.

To become a sponsor or for more information, call Straughn at 573-631-0229.
Abu Dhabi Ports and Agthia Group PJSC have signed a lease agreement aimed at expanding the groups existing Grand Mills Flour and Animal Feed facilities at Zayed Port.

The new agreement was signed by Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi Ports and Iqbal Hamzah, Chief Executive Officer of Agthia Group at Abu Dhabi Ports headquarters.

The contract between the two parties incorporates a 25-year agreement for a 85,700m2 plot of land, which when fully developed by Agthia will include dedicated bulk grain silos, logistics warehousing and onsite bagging facilities.

The expansion in capacity will allow the Agthia Group to increase their current capacity of 930,000 metric tons per annum to 1.5 million metric tons when fully developed.

Commenting on the agreement, Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi Ports, said, This agreement is an important addition to our list of partnerships that will contribute towards driving the investment, growth and development of the trade and maritime sectors. This expansion undertaken by Grand Mills, a subsidiary of Agthia, is an important economic boost that will support the growth and progress of the food and beverage sector, which will cater to the needs of the local consumers.

Al Shamisi added, Abu Dhabi Ports is very pleased to be part of this expansion of Agthia Group. Since the very beginning, our top priority has been to support our customers and the development of their business. Therefore, we are keen to work with various institutions on an ongoing basis to ensure meeting their operational needs by investing in the equipment available at Zayed Port, which will in turn be beneficial to the Abu Dhabi economy.

Iqbal Hamzah, Chief Executive Officer of Agthia Group, said, Our current production capacity utilization rate at Grand Mills is at around 90 percent levels. When combined with our business growth projections, this necessitates an expansion in both our milling and storage capacity beyond 2017. In this regard, Agthia has already started undergoing the construction of an additional 50,000-ton capacity grain silos on Abu Dhabi Ports existing plot. This agreement will secure supplementary land essential for future expansion right adjacent to Agthias current facilities.

Established as Flour Mills and Animal Feed Company in 1978 by the late HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Grand Mills is one of the few true heritage companies of the UAE. As a subsidiary of Agthia Group since 2004, Grand Mills manufactures and supplies its Grand Mills Flour and Agrivita Animal Feed products to UAE and beyond.
Foreign trade and energy have boosted economies throughout the Americas. From the USA, to Argentina, Ecuador and the Bahamas, Maersk is helping unleash the regions potential by facilitating the flow of goods around the globe.

With modern infrastructure and improved access to international trade, Latin Americas economic growth can be significantly improved.

Investments to secure access for larger vessels in US East Coast ports are underway and required to make it viable for the New Panamax vessels to be deployed on Maersk Lines AsiaUS East Coast services.

Central and South America remain under-represented in global shipping, in part due to inadequate infrastructure; APM Terminals is directly addressing this deficiency, building up an intermodal terminal in Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico, and a container port project in Moin, Costa Rica.

Both terminals will be able to accommodate the larger vessels entering into Latin America trade lanes with the widening of the Panama Canal.

Across Latin America there are several challenges to be tackled such as the lack of highway capacity between the Port of Callao in Peru and the capital Lima.

The congestion in the port of Santos in Brazil is a barrier to growth in one of the biggest markets in the region. Colombia is another country where connectivity between the coast and the larger cities like Bogota and Medellin is still not optimal.
A ceremony was hosted to celebrate the keel authentication of the U.S. Navy's future USS Charleston (LCS 18), the ninth Independence variant littoral combat ship, June 28.

Charlotte Riley, wife of former Charleston mayor Joseph Riley, serves as the ship's sponsor and honorary member and advocate for the crew. U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne served as the honorary keel authenticator during the ceremony and was present to weld his initials into the keel plate.

The future USS Charleston stands as a testament to the strong and resilient spirit of her namesake city, said Capt. Tom Anderson, LCS program manager. Once complete, this highly versatile warship will sail the world's seas, carrying with her the backing of a city steeped in naval history.

Built by an industry team led by Austal USA, Charleston will be approximately 421 feet in length and have a width of nearly 104 feet.

LCS is a modular, reconfigurable ship, with three types of mission packages including surface warfare, mine countermeasures and antisubmarine warfare. The LCS class consists of the Freedom variant and Independence variant, designed and built by two industry teams. The Freedom variant team is led by Lockheed Martin  for LCS 1 and follow-on odd-numbered hulls. The Independence variant team is led by Austal USA  for LCS 6 and follow-on even-numbered hulls.
An international court said on Wednesday it would deliver a hotly anticipated ruling in the Philippines' case against China over the South China Sea on July 12, drawing an immediate rebuke from Beijing, which rejects the tribunal's jurisdiction.

The United States, which is a close ally of the Philippines and is concerned about China's expansive South China Sea claims, reiterated its backing for The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration and urged a peaceful resolution of the dispute.

Manila is contesting China's historical claim to about 90 percent of the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Several Southeast Asian states have overlapping claims in the sea and the dispute has sparked concerns of a military confrontation that could disrupt global trade.

In a lengthy statement after the court's announcement of the July 12 ruling date, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Manila's approach flouted international law.

"I again stress that the arbitration court has no jurisdiction in the case and on the relevant matter, and should not hold hearings or make a ruling," he said.

"The Philippines' unilateral lodging of the South China Sea arbitration case is contrary to international law."

He said: "On the issue of territory and disputes over maritime delineation, China does not accept any dispute resolution from a third party and does not accept any dispute resolution forced on China."

In Manila, presidential communications secretary Herminio Coloma Jr said the Philippines "expects a just and fair ruling that will promote peace and stability in the region".

U.S. state department spokeswoman Anna Richey-Allen reiterated U.S. backing for the court. "We support the peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea, including the use of international legal mechanisms such as arbitration."

China's official Xinhua news agency said the court was a "law-abusing tribunal" that had "widely contested jurisdiction." It said the case would only worsen the dispute.

"Manila fails to see that such an arbitration will only stir up more trouble in the South China Sea, which doesn't serve the interests of the concerned parties in the least," it said.

The case "even threatens to further complicate the issue by giving certain parties in the disputes the false impression they could profit by deliberately creating chaos", Xinhua added.

China's bases its South China Sea claim on a so-called "Nine Dash line" stretching deep into the maritime heart of southeast Asia and covering hundreds of disputed islands and reefs, rich fishing grounds and oil and gas deposits.

The Philippines argues that China's claim violates the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and restricts its rights to exploit resources and fishing areas within its exclusive economic zone.

U.S. officials are worried China may respond to what is widely expected to be a negative ruling for Beijing by declaring an air defense identification zone in the South China Sea, as it did in the East China Sea in 2013, and by stepping up its building and fortification of artificial islands.

U.S. officials say that beyond diplomatic pressure, the U.S. response to such moves could include accelerated "freedom-of-navigation" patrols by U.S. warships and overflights by U.S. aircraft as well as increased defense aid to southeast Asian countries.

China has accused the United States of "hyping" the issue and warned in May that international complaints about its actions in the South China Sea would snap back on its critics. But it has largely avoided specific threats of how it might respond to the arbitration ruling.





(By Ben Blanchard and Anthony Deutsch; Additional reporting by Manny Mogato and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
On June 27, the expanded Panama Canal opened for commercial transit, and Lycaste Peace, a very large liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrier operated by NYK, was the first vessel to complete a commercial passage through the new locks.

On June 26, the Panama Canal Authority held an inauguration ceremony for the expanded canal. The maximum dimensions of a vessel transiting the canal have been expanded to 366 meters in overall length, 49 meters in breadth, and 15.2 meters of draft.

In 1914, the NYK-operated Tokushima Maru was the first Japanese-flagged vessel to pass through the canal, and over the 100-plus years since then, NYK and the Republic of Panama have maintained an important partnership.

Lycaste Peace transports LPG procured in the U.S. by the Astomos Energy Corporation (head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; president: Osamu Masuda) to Japan. Astomos Energy is one of the worlds largest players in the LPG business, and NYK has maintained a close business relationship with the company for many years.

Astomos Energy plans to increase its LPG handling volume from the current 10 million tons/year to 12 million tons/year by 2017. Furthermore, the company is expecting growth in its LPG business in the coming years, including LPG procurement associated with new LNG projects in the Middle East, the U.S., and Australia.

The expanded Panama Canal is expected to shorten transportation days to Japan from the U.S. East Coast and allow for further diversification of LPG supply sources.
Radio Holland Canada has won two major contracts to support the Canadian Coast Guard. Public Works and Government Services Canada, which is responsible for government procurement, has awarded Radio Holland Canada a multimillion dollar contract to supply Furuno ECDIS and radars for the Canadian Coast Guard fleet over the next five years.

In a separate agreement Hike Metal Products of Wheatley, Ontario has contracted Radio Holland to supply the Navigation & Communication equipment for six new Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue Lifeboats.

The Canadian Coast Guard is in the process of a multi-year renewal program and has a large fleet of nearly 120 vessels located in six time zones, including several ice breakers stationed in the Canadian Arctic. Radio Holland is preparing to deliver systems to the first vessels in July.

Dean Kurutz, Furuno USA Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Product Planning, commented Furuno and Radio Holland have enjoyed a close working relationship for decades. This exceptional contract for Furuno ECDIS and FAR3000 series Chart Radars is an outstanding example of our commitment to working closely with valued dealers to pursue highly customized solutions for our mutual customers.



Stewart Furness, Regional Manager of Radio Holland Canada stresses: Hike Metal, a specialized custom boat and ship builder, saw that our proposal matched up very well with the requirements of the Canadian Coast Guard. We have worked with Hike for many years. The shipyard has contracted Radio Holland to supply all of the Navigation & Communication equipment including Furuno radars & electronic chart systems, Hatteland displays and Raytheon Anschutz Horizon MF gyro compasses. The first delivery of the equipment to the yard will take place in August and the project will be complete in 2020. Radio Holland and Hike Metal will also assist the Canadian Coast Guard with any training needs it has regarding the new equipment.
Hybrid RoPax ferry Texelstroom has been delivered to Koninklijke N.V. Texels Eigen Stoomboot Onderneming (Royal TESO).

This latest generation symmetrical ferry is powered by efficient, medium speed dual fuel engines of Anglo Belgian Corporation (ABC). Texelstroom will be responsible for transporting up to 1,750 passengers and 350 vehicles between the port of Den Helder and the island of Texel.

Royal TESO announced on May 8, 2014 that it had signed an agreement with the northern Spanish shipyard LaNaval for the construction of a new ferry. More than two years and 600,000 man hours later, the Texelstroom has been delivered.

Anglo Belgian Corporation supplied the four main engines, including two dual fuel (CNG + diesel) generator sets that provide 2 MW each at 1000 rpm and 2 diesel generator sets that develop each 2 MW at 750 rpm. For the dual fuel engines, an air/gas mixture is injected in the cylinders, which is then compressed. A small pilot injection of diesel ensures the ignition. Natural gas (CNG) is more environmentally friendly and has as one of the main advantages that hardly any soot or sulfur dioxide is released during the combustion.

An important advantage of ABC's dual fuel engines is its very flexible fuel system which is considerably increasing efficiency. The powerful ignition makes it possible to work with different gases of low calorific value and fluctuating ignition quality. In addition, the operator has the ability, through rapid fuel conversion, to sail either on natural gas or diesel. ABC's dual fuel engines are also characterized by their fast response providing a familiar and reassuring feeling to the user.

The 135.4-meter-long ferry will generally sail using its dual fuel engines every hour between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. These dual fuel engines were fitted to have sufficient power in this tidal region for the approximately 20 minute crossing between the mainland and the largest Dutch Wadden Sea Island Texel. In normal weather conditions, Texelstroom will use only one dual fuel generating set during the majority of the crossing wherein the engine cooperates with the battery packs on board.

Redundancy was taken into account from the concept stage of the ferry. In cases of extreme urgency, the hybrid ferry will have to make the crossing from Texel to the mainland (and vice versa) at lightning speed. Therefore, two back-up diesel generating sets were also provided.

In addition to the two storage tanks for the compressed natural gas, a 700-square-meter solar photovoltaic panel field is also installed on the roof of the ferry. The energy is hereby stored in electric batteries with high capacity that are part of the advanced energy management system. This energy can then be used at peak times for the propulsion or electricity consumption on board of the ferry.

Cees de Waal, Director of TESO, stated, With Texelstroom, TESO wanted to achieve its ambition where environmental benefits, cost control and quality improvement go together. The ship embodies the latest technologies for reducing emissions. This next-generation ferry will sail our passengers in a comfortable and efficient way across the Marsdiep. With regards to the propulsion, it was very important to choose environmentally friendly and reliable engines.
Gener8 Maritime, Inc., a U.S.-based provider of international seaborne crude oil transportation services, has taken delivery of the ECO VLCC the Gener8 Constantine on June 27, 2016 from Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co. Ltd.

The Gener8 Constantine represents the 11th of 21 ECO VLCCs expected to be delivered into Gener8 Maritime's fleet.

Upon delivery, the Gener8 Constantine entered Navig8 Group's VL8 Pool.
1860 - The steamer USS Mystic, commanded by William E. LeRoy, captures the slaver, Thomas Achorn at Kabenda, Africa and send her to New York.

1862 - During the Civil War, the steam sloop USS Susquehanna, commanded by Cmdr. R.B. Hitchcock, captures the blockade-running British steamer HMS Anna near Mobile, Ala.

1871 - Capt. Charles F. Halls arctic expedition sails from New York on USS Polaris. Aiming for the North Pole, USS Polaris reaches 82X 11 N, 61X W. latitude, then the furthest point north reached by a vessel.

1944 - USS Darter (SS 227) sinks the Japanese minelayer Tsugaru in the Dutch East Indies.

1950 - USS Juneau (CLAA 119) and USS De Haven (DD 727) fire the first naval shore bombardment of the Korean War in the vicinity of Samchock, Korea.



(Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication and Outreach Division)
COSCO Greece objected on Wednesday to terms submitted to parliament for the sale of Piraeus Port to China COSCO Shipping, saying they were inconsistent with those previously agreed with the Greek privatisation agency.

Greece sealed the sale of Piraeus Port Authority to China COSCO Shipping Corporation in April, a major step for the bailed-out country in meeting the demands of international creditors that it step up privatisations.

Under the 368.5 million euro (298 million) deal, COSCO will buy 51 percent of Piraeus for 280.5 million euros and the remaining 16 percent for 88 million after five years and once it completes investments of 350 million euros over the next decade.

The terms of the deal were submitted by the country's shipping ministry to parliament for approval on Tuesday. But, COSCO Greece said in a letter to lawmakers seen by Reuters that key elements of the deal appeared to have been altered.

"The content of the specific plan is a complete reverse of what was agreed between COSCO HK and TAIPED (HRADF)," an email sent by COSCO Greece said, referring to the country's privatisation agency.

It said that 'key terms' on which COSCO's offer was based, had been erased. It included an obligation by the state to approve project licensing within a specific timeframe.

A lack of such guarantees, the COSCO note said, would have materially affected the amount it bid for the project, and possibly affected the submission of a bid altogether.

Shipping Minister Theodoris Dritsas acknowledged that there were differences, but said the government had the right to make changes and the ministry was willing to make improvements.

"The government will look into it, it will look into the objections and will probably consider making improvements," Dritsas told lawmakers.

The port, a gateway to Asia, eastern Europe and north Africa, handled 16.8 million passengers and 3.6 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers in 2014. COSCO has been operating one of its container terminals since 2009.

Lawmakers had been expected to endorse the deal on Thursday, before Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's state visit to China which starts on July 1.





(Writing by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Alexander Smith)
Exploration begins by BHP Billiton using the Deepwater Invictus rig and supported by Lloyds Registers rig integrity team.



Lloyds Register (LR) announced it has extended rig integrity support for the Deepwater Invictus drilling rig. The companys expertise in blow-out preventers (BOPs) and rig integrity will be used to provide confidence in how risk is managed for deepwater drilling and well exploration.



Kevin Comeau, Dynamic Positioning / Power Management & Marine Safety Systems Manager at LR, said, We have had a team supporting the Gulf Of Mexico (GOM) drilling program on board Deepwater Invictus and it is this same team that has been requested for BHP Billitons drilling program in Trinidad. Although the core part of our work is on BOP operation, rig integrity and compliance, we will also provide expertise in performing inspections, risk assessments and training for personnel working on the rig.



The BOP is often the final line of defense for protecting life and the environment and so there is high demand for a transparent and well-structured risk assessment approach that helps rig owners and operators to monitor the BOPs safety performance.



A subsea BOP is a special system which is highly regulated and among one of the few pieces of equipment that combines multiple functions such as drilling and operations control, a tool for preventing risk and supporting emergency response procedures. BOPs were developed to cope with extreme erratic pressures and uncontrolled flows emanating from well reservoirs during drilling. These factors mean that simple component failures can cause drilling operators to be exposed to severe risk.



Before the market downturn, LR was reviewing more than 350 drilling rigs each year. The company has unmatched expertise in the provision of maintenance and asset management services, specifically designed to meet the needs of the drilling industry.



As the industry looks to implement new, best-in-class offshore drilling operations, we believe we have a great deal to contribute to the conversation, highlighted Comeau. Developments in BOP underline that new technology is not a barrier. It is seen as the catalyst for better performing oil and gas sector and a competitive necessity among the key operators.



Our work with BHP Billiton is a great example of how synergies between companies can lead to innovative risk and reliability work that help make the industry more reliable, better performing and safer.



Deepwater Invictus was delivered in 2014 and is IMO registered vessel 9620592 with a gross tonnage of 68034. It has a rated drill depth of 40,000 ft. The continuation of support for the Trinidad drilling campaign with BHP started in May 2016.
Lerwick Harbours record-breaking cruise season will hit the first of several milestones this season on Thursday (30 June) with the arrival of Azura, the largest cruise ship yet to enter the Shetland port.



The P&O Cruises vessel will arrive from Akureyri, in north Iceland, en route for Kirkwall, Orkney, with around 3,100 passengers on a 14 nights round-trip voyage from Southampton.



On her maiden visit, the 115,055 gross tonne Azura will break the port record set by Costa Pacifica, at 114,288 gross tonnes, in June 2011.



The 290-metre vessel is scheduled to anchor at around 8am with passengers transferred by tender to Albert Dock where they will be welcomed by the volunteer Meet-and-Greet team. Supported by Lerwick Port Authority, the team provides information, assistance and Shetland music.



Victor Sandison, Senior Commercial Executive, Lerwick Port Authority, said: The visit of Azura will be a highlight of a fantastic summer which is demonstrating the popularity of Lerwick as a port-of-call and of Shetlands many visitor attractions.



The record for the largest cruise ship into the harbour is due to be broken again on 14 August when Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Silhouette (122,210 gross tonnes) arrives during a season expected to attract a record 79 cruise ships.



Azura will depart at 6pm, to be followed in by National Geographic Orion which is expected to berth at Victoria Pier at 7pm, leaving the following day. With capacity for 102 passengers, the vessel operates around the world, with this expedition sailing from Dublin via Scotlands west coast and Northern Isles to Norway.


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The Polar Research Institute of China has ordered a new 14,300gt polar research vessel. Designed by Aker Arctic Finland, it will be the first vessel of its type to be built in China, though a shipyard has yet to be named.

The 122.5-meter multifunctional icebreaker will be able to handle ice up to 1.5 meters thick, achieving a continuous icebreaking speed of two to three knots. It will have an endurance of 20,000 nautical miles and with a full 90-person crew, it will be able to cruise for 60 days without resupply.

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, said it has won an order to supply MacGregor offshore cranes and a Triplex handling system for the new vessel.

The vessel will feature two MacGregor offshore cranes: a 50-metric-ton SWL telescopic crane with a 15-meter outreach and a 24-metric-ton SWL knuckle jib crane with a 12-meter outreach. It will also be fitted with a MacGregor Triplex six-metric-ton SWL telescopic/knuckle jib crane with a 17-meter outreach and a handling system specifically designed for research equipment. The handling system comprises: a 30-metric-ton SWL stern-mounted A-frame; a five-metric-ton SWL multifunctional launch-and-recovery overhead crane for conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) oceanographic instrumentation; and a piston coring system that includes an eight-tonne SWL corer pipe handler, a 23-meter corer pipe cradle and a 25-metric-ton SWL side-mounted A-frame.

With the exception of the cranes, all MacGregor equipment will be served by a common central hydraulic system driven by one hydraulic power unit. MacGregor deliveries are scheduled for completion by the end of 2017.

According to William Storvik, Shiptype Group Sales Manager, MacGregor Offshore Deck Machinery, the companys ability to deliver tailor-made equipment packages with good performance in low temperature operations was key to winning this contract. MacGregor products have a proven track record of performance in extreme environments, which makes them ideal for this type of vessel, Storvik said.

Terry Onn, Senior Shiptype Sales Manager, MacGregor Offshore Deck Machinery, added that the owner is keen to work with MacGregor on global lifecycle support for the new vessel.

Yuan Shao Hong, Director of Engineering and Secretary of the Polar Research Institute of China's party committee said at the contract signing, We are delighted to work together with a world-leading equipment manufacturer like MacGregor to build and deliver one of the best 'green' polar research icebreakers, providing the Chinese, as well as global scientists, a good polar research platform and contributing to the world polar research development.

The Polar Research Institute of China, established in 1989, is a public welfare institution reporting to China's State Oceanic Administration. The new vessel will join its existing 1993-delivered icebreaker, Xue Long, which operates in research stations in the Arctic and Antarctic.
The 127,500dwt Solitaire has completed some of the most challenging projects in which heavy pipe has been laid in very deep waters.

Originally built in Japan as a mini-Capesize bulk carrier, the Lloyds Register-classed vessel was converted to lay pipe in 1998. She has full dynamic positioning and can carry a pipe payload of 22,000 metric tons.

Recently, however, the vessels operator Allseas decided to repair parts of the 550m2 tank top in hold number 6 which had corroded. After a detailed assessment was carried out, Allseas opted for SPS technology instead of steel renewal.

Such a project undertaken in steel was neither practically nor economically feasible, explains IEs Nash. It would have taken too long and would probably have proved too expensive. However, using SPS technology, we were able to complete the tank-top upgrade successfully in just 15 days, far less time than an equivalent steel repair would have taken. Off-hire was significantly reduced.

The project, undertaken with LR class approval at United Stevedores in Amsterdam, involved blasting the existing tank top, attaching and welding bars and adding an additional layer of steel plate to create a cavity. This was then injected with Intelligent Engineerings super-strong polymer which has a range of properties offering superior performance to mild and high-tensile steels.

Allseas Manager Technical Department, Quirien Grul, commented that the company was very pleased with the outcome and the professional and efficient execution of the work undertaken by IE personnel.
The American Waterways Operators (AWO) and ClassNK have signed an agreement under which ClassNK will be authorized to conduct audits of AWO's Responsible Carrier Program, a safety management system for towing vessels with which all AWO members must comply as a condition of association membership.



The agreement with ClassNK, an international classification society, expands the options for AWO member companies to obtain RCP audits following publication of the U.S. Coast Guard regulations establishing an inspection regime for towing vessels at 46 CFR Subchapter M. The rule was published in the Federal Register on June 20.



AWO's goal is to provide members with a large, geographically dispersed pool of well trained, well qualified auditors to conduct RCP/Towing Safety Management System audits to facilitate implementation of Subchapter M, said Tom Allegretti, AWO President & CEO. We are very pleased to enter into this agreement with ClassNK and expand the options available to AWO members as we take this historic step in our industry's safety journey.



This agreement positions the technical resources of ClassNK in support of the AWO Responsible Carrier Program, stated Ed McCain, Manager, Client Relations  ClassNK America. With over 700 towing vessels included in ClassNK's Register of Ships, the vision of this organization is to provide reliable and experienced people as well as proven resources in support of the U.S. towing industry.



Subchapter M establishes two paths to compliance for towing vessel operators: either annual Coast Guard inspections or the implementation of a Coast Guard-accepted Towing Safety Management System (TSMS). The TSMS option is not only the best way to promote continuous regulatory compliance and prevent accidents, but also provides vessel operators with maximum operational flexibility under the new requirements.



Last June, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed its intent to accept the Responsible Carrier Program as a TSMS based on its assessment that the RCP is substantively equivalent to the ISM Code and achieves the audit frequency required by Subchapter M. AWO is now working with the Coast Guard to take the final steps needed to submit the RCP for acceptance as a TSMS.
Fugro has deployed multi-purpose offshore survey vessel Fugro Gauss to join the Fugro Brasilis offshore Mexico, to help complete the worlds largest seep-hunting survey for multiclient geoscience data company, TGS.



Both Fugro vessels are using hull-mounted multibeam echosounders (12 kHz on Fugro Gauss and 30 kHz on Fugro Brasilis) and sub-bottom profiler systems to map an area of approximately 625,000 square kilometres in the deep waters of Mexico. The data acquired will assist in identifying sites where deep hydrocarbon-rich fluids are escaping to the seafloor and will be used to target hundreds of sites for coring and geochemical analysis.



Fugro has a dedicated centre of excellence in Houston for seep-hunting, explained Jim Gharib, Fugros Global Product Line Manager for Seep Studies. The team includes several of the worlds leading geoscience experts responsible for bringing seep-hunting to the offshore industry. Our recent successes include nine seep data collection and geochemical analysis projects in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia.



The survey is being conducted for TGS as part of its industry-funded, multiclient Gigante Survey which also includes a regional 2D seismic survey of approximately 186,000 kilometres, gravity and magnetic data and a regional seismic structural interpretation. TGS aims for this project to be the most comprehensive and modern offshore Mexico dataset which ties into its existing U.S. Gulf of Mexico regional 2D grid. The survey is designed to assist exploration and production companies in their evaluation of prospectivity offshore Mexico during forthcoming licence rounds. Interest in this area is high following the denationalisation of Mexicos oil and gas market after seven decades of government control.


United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) said its six shareholding states backed a merger deal with German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd AG at a meeting on Wednesday.

UASC, majority-held by the government of Qatar, said in a statement that "...all six of UASC's shareholding states voted unanimously to approve the proposed merger with Hapag-Lloyd AG (Hapag-Lloyd) with a relative valuation of the two businesses at 72 percent for Hapag-Lloyd's shareholders and 28 percent for UASC's shareholders."

"Several legal and administrative tasks need to be completed before the binding agreement can be formally signed," it added.





(Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Alexander Smith)
MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has won an order to supply MacGregor offshore cranes and a Triplex handling system for a 14,300gt polar research vessel being built for the Polar Research Institute of China. Designed by Aker Arctic Finland, it will be the first vessel of its type to be built in China; the shipyard has yet to be named.



"Our ability to deliver tailor-made packages of equipment and a reputation for successful low temperature operations were key factors in winning this contract," says William Storvik, Shiptype Group Sales Manager, MacGregor Offshore Deck Machinery. "MacGregor products have a proven track record of performance in extreme environments, which makes them ideal for this type of vessel. Our combined expertise also ensures good value and performance for the customer and smoothes operations by reducing the number of suppliers that the shipyard and the owner have to deal with."



"MacGregor is also able to support its products with a strong worldwide service network and the owner is keen to work closely with us on global lifecycle support for the new vessel," adds Terry Onn, Senior Shiptype Sales Manager, MacGregor Offshore Deck Machinery.



The 122.5m multi-functional icebreaker will be able to handle ice up to 1.5m thick, achieving a continuous icebreaking speed of two to three knots. It will have an endurance of 20,000 nautical miles and with a full 90-person crew, it will be able to cruise for 60 days without re-supply.



The vessel will feature two MacGregor offshore cranes: a 50-tonne SWL telescopic crane with a 15m outreach and a 24-tonne SWL knuckle jib crane with a 12m outreach.



It will also be fitted with a MacGregor Triplex six-tonne SWL telescopic/knuckle jib crane with a 17m outreach and a handling system specifically designed for research equipment. The handling system comprises: a 30-tonne SWL stern-mounted A-frame; a five-tonne SWL multi-functional launch-and-recovery overhead crane for conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) oceanographic instrumentation; and a piston coring system that includes an eight-tonne SWL corer pipe handler, a 23m corer pipe cradle and a 25-tonne SWL side-mounted A-frame.



With the exception of the cranes, all MacGregor equipment will be served by a common central hydraulic system driven by one hydraulic power unit. MacGregor deliveries are scheduled for completion by the end of 2017.



Yuan Shao Hong, Director of Engineering and Secretary of the Polar Research Institute of China's party committee said at the contract signing: "We are delighted to work together with a world-leading equipment manufacturer like MacGregor to build and deliver one of the best 'green' polar research icebreakers, providing the Chinese, as well as global scientists, a good polar research platform and contributing to the world polar research development."



The Polar Research Institute of China was established in 1989. It is a public welfare institution reporting to China's State Oceanic Administration. The new vessel will join its existing 1993-delivered icebreaker, Xue Long, which operates in research stations in the Arctic and Antarctic.
A joint industry project run by DNV GL has replicated stresses measured in an umbilical subjected to tension and bending in full-scale tests, further validating the accuracy of the analysis software Helica. DNV GLs Helica can analyse thousands of simulations in a matter of minutes, improving engineering efficiency and significantly reducing design cost.



Helica software for analysis of umbilicals and flexible pipes

Subsea engineers calculate stresses in umbilicals and flexible pipes using software to ensure that individual components will not fail. Such failures could lead to costly production shut-downs or hydrocarbon leaks. DNV GLs Helica software, which calculates stresses in umbilical and flexible pipe components, has now been proven to deliver highly accurate results through a joint industry project (JIP). Helica has previously been verified against publicly available data. The JIP compared stresses calculated using Helica with measured stresses in a full-scale umbilical sample subjected to tension and bending, and the analysis results correlated remarkably well with the test data.



As far as we know, this is the first time anyone has been able to demonstrate such a remarkably strong correlation between analysis results and such high quality stress measurements in full-scale subsea umbilicals, says Nils Sdahl, Vice President, Riser Technology, DNV GL  Oil & Gas. The JIP, which included Ultra Deep LCC, ExxonMobil, Oceaneering, Shell, Technip and ABB, based its research on data provided by ExxonMobil. We are very grateful to ExxonMobil for contributing stress measurements to the JIP and giving us this opportunity, says Sdahl.



Helica is a highly efficient cross-section analysis tool that calculates mechanical properties, capacities, and fatigue of umbilicals and flexible pipes. Based on these analyses, engineers can optimize design and save cost not only in the design stage, but throughout the lifecycle of the subsea system. Helica can perform thousands of simulations in a matter of minutes, whereas subsea engineers relying on the industrys most commonly used finite element analysis (FEA) tools today may spend hours to build a model and perform a simulation of a single load case.



New industry standard for stress and fatigue analysis

We strongly believe that Helica will be the new industry standard for stress and fatigue analysis of flexible pipes and umbilicals, says Are Fllesdal Tjnn, CEO DNV GL  Software.



The JIP validation results were presented at the ISOPE (International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers) annual International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference in Rhodos, Greece on 27 June.



DNV GL simultaneously launched Helica 2.5, featuring a new module for extreme capacity checks and a new interface to commonly used global analysis software, such as Orcaflex, Riflex and Flexcom.




Britain's BP Plc this month received a Venezuelan crude cargo from state-run PDVSA, according to Thomson Reuters trade flows data, the first since the companies agreed on a swap arrangement to settle pending payments for U.S. oil shipments.

BP and China Oil won a tender launched by PDVSA in March to be supplied with U.S. and African light oil during the second quarter of this year. The light oil is needed to dilute Venezuela's extra heavy output and for processing at Caribbean refineries.

After cash-strapped PDVSA did not make payments on time, BP in May halted further discharges of cargoes of U.S. crude at the port of Curacao.

Then a swap agreement was reached involving deliveries of Venezuelan oil to BP as payment for the U.S. crude, a source close to the talks said earlier in June.

Aframax tanker Grimstad, chartered by BP and carrying some 500,000 barrels of Venezuelan Merey crude, arrived in Pascagoula Anchorage and Lightering Area in the U.S. Gulf Coast on June 11. It has been waiting to discharge since then.

BP has not had access to Venezuelan crude since 2013, when its unit TNK-BP sold its stake in a crude upgrader at the Orinoco belt to Russia's Rosneft.

BP still needs to receive more cargoes from PDVSA to cover all payments it is owed and this is why several BP tankers have still yet to unload in Curacao, according to traders.

As of June 29, 2.05 million barrels of U.S. crude in three tankers are still waiting to unload, while a fourth cargo entered PDVSA's Bullenbay terminal in Curacao this week to start delivering.

A unit of Russia's oil company Lukoil has also been importing cargoes of Venezuelan crude in the United States since late 2015 under a similar swap agreement with PDVSA.





(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Terry Wade and Chizu Nomiyama)
Donjon-Smit, LLC, an OPA-90 Alliance, announced that after a recent Board of Directors meeting Tim Williamson has been promoted to General Manager of Donjon-Smit, replacing Raymond Lord who recently retired.



Williamson has been with Donjon-Smit from its inception and has served in several roles, including IT/Operations Manager, Assistant Salvage Master, Salvage Master and Project Manager in support of Donjon-Smit. Most recently, Williamson has led Donjon-Smits revised and updated OPA-90 support program in response to the new PREP requirements of OPA-90 which came into effect on June 10 of this year.
The Brexit: No One Said Breaking Up is Easy

British Prime Minister David Cameron must be frustrated with Brexit. He has long pushed for Britain to remain in the European Union (EU), but the vote is turning against him. Like a parent responding to a child who just realized that adults really cant force him to do anything, Camerons struggling to persuade the population to see things his way.



He tried telling people about the wonderful, harmonic world they now enjoy as a pan-European group, but that didnt fly. He waved white papers estimating that British GDP would fall 3% to 4% per year, but still no dice. So now, he has thrown down the fear card.





If Britain leaves the EU, trade will suffer, GDP will fall, tax revenue will take a hit, and the government will have fewer resources to pay for healthcare and retirement benefits.If you vote for a Brexit, Cameron tells Brits, then youre risking your health and your pension!Britons arent taking the bait.The latest polls show the British Exit (Brexit) crowd ahead of the British Remain (Bremain) crowd by more than 5 points. As the June 23 vote gets closer, the Brexit group is gaining ground.Cameron and his Bremain sympathizers cannot figure it out. Life in the EU is pretty good, with a free flow of trade and capital, and easy travel for citizens.And its not like the burdens of EU membership are terrible. Just a handful of regulations on production, commodities, pricing, and various other aspects of trade, but nothing draconian.Curbing the free flow of people from the EU, where immigration recently became a hot button, is an issue, but England will remain a destination from its previous colonies.

Manchester Town Hall is the venue where the result of the referendum will be declared.



If they leave, Britain will need to negotiate new trade agreements with the EU, develop new border controls, and figure out what to do about capital flows. Its all doable, but it will be a negotiating nightmare.



This is Camerons dilemma. Even though sticking with the EU makes sense on paper, theres something about it driving his population away. It seems obvious, but he still fails to understand the changing mindset sweeping through the Western world.



After the financial crisis, things are different.



In the late 1990s and mid 2000s, we had a tough time convincing people that the U.S. markets would suffer a dramatic downturn. People couldnt understand how baby boomers would slow their spending and become risk averse. It was all part of our demographic research on predictable consumer spending, but still, many had to see it to believe it.



When asked how the world would look in the years after a downturn, we often talked about financial markets and economic factors (lower returns, lower interest rates, slow GDP growth), but we also hit on social issues.



Harry Dent told audiences that social unrest would be the order of the day. Citizens who had never voted would demand change as they saw their standard of living erode, and violence would be common in city centers.



We werent talking about mass immigration like they have in Europe, but instead widespread discontent. The problem is that the Average Joe wont see opportunity like he did before, and hell want someone to blame.



Thats where we are today. Whether its right or wrong, this point of view is showing up in politics, immigration, education, finance, and even international economic cooperatives.



People are frustrated and plagued by the sense that were on the wrong track, and need to make a course adjustment. But no one knows what the new course should be, which leaves us with anything but what weve got right now.



The mood wont change until people see their opportunities improve.



That wont happen until the current down cycle of consumer spending finally bottoms, which should be in the early 2020s. Prime Minister Cameron, and the status quo in general, dont have a chance. People have their pitchforks ready, just itching to join a mob, demanding change.



The sad part is that even if the Brexit crowd wins the day, it wont give them what they want. Theyll have greater control over some trade issues, and can thumb their noses at Belgian regulations on migration and immigration, but simply leaving the EU wont make Western European populations, among Britains biggest trading partners, any younger.



What we all need are more clients for the goods and services that we provide. Greater sales, both at home and abroad, would mean more jobs, higher wages, and rising standards of living.



On this front, at least Brits and Americans can see some light at the end of the tunnel. Our young millennial generation is bigger than the boomers, though spread over more years. Countries like Japan, Germany, Spain, and Italy arent so lucky.



While most of the conversation regarding the possible Brexit centers on economics and regulations, the Brits should at least consider one of the main reasons for economic cooperation in the first place.



If your financial future is tied to your neighbors financial future, youre much less likely to start a war. A Brexit wont lead to war specifically, but a wave of isolationism across the globe would make armed conflict that much more likely.

Rodney

Follow me on Twitter ;@RJHSDent

By Rodney Johnson, Senior Editor of Economy & Markets

http://economyandmarkets.com

Copyright  2016 Rodney Johnson - 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.

Rodney Johnson Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




As students in the City of Hope are relaxing during their mid-year school break, they are seeing the foundation of their new high school being started.

The City of Hope is an orphanage, school and medical center in Tanzania, Africa, founded and run by Teamwork Ministries International of Martinsville. The school goes up to seventh grade, and those students who continue their education must walk either an hour to a neighboring village or board in another city, said Teamwork co-founder Regina Chacha.

Groundbreaking was done for the secondary school on April 23, within a week of the first anniversary of the passing of John Chacha, the schools other co-founder and Regina Chachas husband.

As well as the convenience, another reason to build the school is to increase the quality of education, Regina Chacha said.

"Schools arent at the same standard" as City of Hope has, she said. "Weve been very good with our testing (at Destiny Primary School), in the top three percent of the nation." She added that the test normally is given in Swahili, Tanzanias national language, but at Destiny Primary the students take the test in English, their second language.

The school will be named The Dr. John Chacha Secondary School and Institute of Leadership. Building a high school was her husbands vision, Chacha said.

"The whole thing is in his memory," she said. "He had been talking about it before he passed." He died in a car accident on April 16, 2015. The family announced the plans for the secondary school at Chachas memorial service.

"Institute of Leadership" is in the schools name because "even in the primary school, we have that emphasis with children," she said. "They help with the work and raising food in the compound." They also helped organize the event that celebrated the groundbreaking.

Chacha said the estimated cost to construct the school is $400,000, and so far $110,000 has been raised. The $400,000 would allow for classroom and administration space. After that, the next goal would be to build housing for teachers, "and wed love to have a bus," Chacha said.

The goal is to have at least one or two grades at the school open by January, Chacha said. The school year in Tanzania runs from January to November. The students are on their yearly one-month mid-term break. They will return to class in July.

The primary school has 400 students, and the secondary school would have about 200, she said.

About 100 orphans live in the City of Hope. Sixty to 70 are paid boarders  their tuition and boarding fees help support the orphans  and the rest are day students from within the community, Chacha said.

At the groundbreaking, the City of Hope band performed  wearing band uniforms and playing instruments donated a few years ago by the Martinsville High School band department. The band performs "at several big events they have been invited to, including Kenya," Chacha said.

The band is made of percussion and brass instruments. Sometimes they perform together with the choir, she said.

Three years ago, the primary school hired two band teachers. "I dont think our band leaders know how to read music, but they really do a good job," she said.

Kevin Lewis, the former band director at Martinsville High School, said that the Chachas children, Mwita, Imani and Tenzi, were in the band program at MHS. Since two of them were drummers, they initiated some drumming with children at City of Hope during their visits. "Donating the old drum equipment and eventually uniforms (was) the next step."

John Chacha grew up in the village of Ntagacha, Tanzania. In 1979, he received a sponsorship to go to the United States to attend a Bible school and college. In 1986, John and Regina Chacha were married and founded Teamwork Ministries.

Over the past 25 years, Teamwork has established hundreds of Bible Schools, created cutting-edge curriculum and published and distributed 20 of Dr. Chachas books. He began work on the City of Hope in 2007. It now includes a childrens home serving 110 orphans, a primary school and a medical center.

Regina Chacha said she spends about half the year in Martinsville and half in Tanzania. She left Tanzania at the end of May, and she is returning this week.

She said that her husband "would be grateful that were moving forward" with the secondary school. "He would say, and this is one thing I quoted at his memorial: Just because your parents died doesnt mean your dreams have to die."

She said that she is "grateful for the strength and support" the City of Hope has received.

"Everything can look overwhelming sometimes, but its Gods vision.  Our faith and our common vision are what brought us together, and that is what is continuing to sustain me now."
AAA Mid-Atlantic forecasts that a record 1,181,377 Virginians  up 1.4 percent from 2015  are planning a Fourth of July trip.

Nationally, a record 42,879,000 Americans  up 1.3 percent in 2015  are planning an Independence Day trip of 50 miles or more from home, the AAA forecasts.

Low gasoline prices, more confident consumers and rising economic activity are spurring the increase in Fourth of July auto travel. Despite recent seasonal increases, gasoline prices remain lower than recent years, according to AAA.

On Friday, the national average price for a gallon of gasoline was $2.32, or 46 cents less than a year ago. Virginias average price Friday was $2.14, or 45 cents less than a year ago. AAA expects most U.S. drivers will pay the lowest Independence Day gas prices since 2005. The Virginia average for unleaded gas on Independence Day was $2.57 in 2015, $3.47 in 2014, $3.33 in 2013, $3.15 in 2012 and $3.43 in 2011, according to AAA.

AAA estimates that 86.6 percent of Virginians taking Independence Day trips will travel by automobile, 7.6 percent by air and 5.8 percent by other modes of travel. Nationally, AAA estimates that 84.6 percent of Americans taking trips will travel by automobile, 7.8 percent by air and 7.6 percent by other modes of travel.

GasBuddy also predicts that gas prices will be the cheapest for Fourth of July since 2005. It predicts the national average will be $2.27 per gallon on July 4, compared with $3.66 in 2014. Since 2006, the average price of gas has declined seven out of 10 times for the holiday.

According to AAAs Fuel Price Finder, on Tuesday the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline for the Martinsville area was $1.993, compared with $2.071 last week, $2.104 last month, $1.746 six months ago and $2.425 last year. The average prices Tuesday were $1.997 for the Bassett area, $1.982 for the Ridgeway area, and $1.989 for the Collinsville area. There was some duplication in the stations listed for the various areas.

Jennifer Doss, director of tourism for the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp., said, "Of course summer travel season is a great time to explore."

She added that tourism is up this year in Virginia.

Locally, she said, there are plenty of opportunities for families to enjoy during this holiday.

There are more than two dozen activities listed for Friday through Monday (July 1-4) on the Visit Martinsville community calendar (http://www.visitmartinsville.com/events/calendar).

A few of them are:

Improv at BlackBox Theatre, July 1, 7 p.m. 44 Franklin St., Martinsville;

Dan River Basin Association First Saturday Outing (will float the Smith River from The Great Road Access in Fieldale to Doe Run Access in Martinsville; meet at 10 a.m. at the Great Road Access across the road from Solutia/Eastman Chemical Co., 4210 The Great Road, Fieldale);

Martinsville Mustangs Fireworks Night, July 2, Hooker Field, 450 Commonwealth Blvd.;

Billys Flea Market Music Jamboree, July 3, 2-5 p.m., 6766 Fairystone Park Hwy., Bassett;

Celebration at Martinsville Speedway, with music, food, games, carnival rides and fireworks. (Celebration 2016 kicks off at 3 p.m. at the speedway at 340 Speedway Road, Ridgeway, with carnival rides opening at 3 p.m., and music beginning at 6:30 p.m.).

Doss said the area also offers several museums, trails, Philpott Lake and other attractions and natural resources.
HARTLEY COSBY

Bill Cosby, right, and University of Connecticut President Harry Hartley wave as they enter Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn., on May 18, 1996, during commencement ceremonies. Cosby, the keynote speaker, received an honorary doctor of fine arts degree.

(AP file photo)

The University of Connecticut Board of Trustees voted on Wednesday to revoke the honorary doctor of fine arts degree that UConn conferred upon comedian Bill Cosby two decades ago.

The vote referenced conduct that Cosby admitted to in sworn depositions. He acknowledged giving drugs to women before extramarital relations.

According to the board's by-laws, honorary degrees are conferred upon individuals who represent the "highest intellectual and moral values; (the award) should reflect the very character and quality of the University itself."

It is the first time that UConn has revoked an honorary degree.

The 78-year-old comedian has seen his career derailed by allegations of drugging and sexual assaulting more than 50 women.

Cosby faces civil action from a dozen accusers, as well as a criminal charge in suburban Philadelphia. He has denied wrongdoing.

"The University would not have awarded an honorary degree to Mr. Cosby if the full breadth of his past actions were known at the time," the Board of Trustees noted. Cosby received the honorary degree on May 18, 1996 and was the keynote speaker at commencement.

UConn joins a growing number of universities who have distanced themselves from Cosby.

Boston University, Springfield College, Swarthmore College, Tufts University, Fordham, Brown and Marquette are among the universities to have revoked honors given to Cosby.

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst formally severed its ties with Cosby in 2014. Cosby earned a master's degree and doctorate of education from UMass.
The Declaration of Independence was signed 240 years ago paving the way for the United States of America.

The actions of July 4 have been celebrated since the first anniversary of the signing.

In 1777, 13 gunshots  one for each former British colony  were fired in salute, once at morning and again at evening, in Bristol, Rhode Island.

The Massachusetts General Court became the first state legislature to recognize the Fourth of July as a statewide celebration in 1781.

Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal workers in 1870 and it was designated a federal holiday 38 years later.

Fourth of July has traditionally been marked by parade,picnics, concerts and fireworks.
Martin Walsh

In this Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014 file photo, Mayor Martin Walsh speaks to reporters in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

(AP File photo)

Timothy Sullivan, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh's chief of staff of intergovernmental affairs, on Wednesday became the second person in Walsh's administration indicted by federal prosecutors on union-related extortion charges.



Kenneth Brissette, Walsh's tourism chief, was the first. He was charged and arrested in May, and has pleaded not guilty. He is on paid administrative leave.



The indictment of Brissette mentioned one other City Hall employee, but it did not name him or her.



On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz's office released a new indictment, this one superseding the original Brissette indictment and including Sullivan's name. Sullivan was arrested on Wednesday morning.



Grand jury indicts second official in Boston Mayor Marty Walsh's administration

Both Brissette and Sullivan were involved in Walsh's 2013 campaign for City Hall before taking jobs inside the building in 2014.



The federal charges mainly revolve around the Boston Calling music festival. The company behind the festival, which recently announced it's re-locating from Boston City Hall Plaza to the Allston neighborhood, had been seeking permits for the September 2014 show.



Prosecutors allege Brissette and Sullivan demanded the company hire union hands when it was unnecessary. The company eventually agreed to a union contract that included eight laborers and a foreman, and then received permits from the city.



The document is below.

Sullivan, Timothy Superseding Indictment by Gintautas Dumcius
NORTHAMPTON -- A 28-year-old Amherst man was sentenced to a jail term he has already served after he admitted Wednesday that he assaulted his girlfriend, causing her to fall while she was seven months pregnant and carrying a toddler.

Christopher E. Santana pleaded guilty in Hampshire Superior Court to charges of assault and battery on a pregnant victim, assault and battery on a family and household member, resisting arrest and vandalizing property.

Judge John Ferrara sentenced Santana to serve 210 days direct of a 2 1/2-year house of correction sentence, with the remaining time to be suspended for five years. He already served the jail time while awaiting trial and is now out.

He will now be on probation for five years, during which time he will have to undergo counseling, refrain from drug and alcohol use and submit to random testing.

"It's going to address all the major concerns the commonwealth has in this case," Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Matthew J. Russo said of the sentence. "Namely, the safety of the victim and her family, and the substance abuse issues the defendant has been struggling with."

The victim and Santana are now married and raising four children. She was pregnant with the youngest at the time of the assault.

Santana admitted that on June 12, 2015 he was very intoxicated when he went to his then girlfriend's home at Mill Valley Apartments and got into a fight with her. After he broke a light at the home, she decided to leave and took her three children, ages 2, 5 and 9, out of the apartment and towards her vehicle.

Russo said in the court that they continued arguing outside and Santana put his hand over his girlfriend's mouth. When she walked toward her vehicle, carrying the 2-year-old, he grabbed her arm and caused her and the child to fall to the ground. She advised the 9-year-old to call 911 and they were able to leave.

Santana then locked himself in the apartment and smashed items until police arrived. They overheard him saying that he had "armed himself with a knife," Russo said, and that he would stab police when they entered. They heard the sound of a knife being sharpened and when the broke down the apartment door, saw the knife sharpener.

Santana did not threaten officers with a knife, but did refuse to comply with orders, resisted arrest and had to be pepper-sprayed, Russo said.

Judge John Ferrara told Santana that he was imposing the sentence recommended in the plea deal "somewhat reluctantly because of your past history." Santana has previously served county and state prison time for violent offenses, including a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

His attorney, Joe A. Smith III, persuaded Ferrara that Santana recognizes now that his alcoholism - which began at age 15 when he was depressed after his father left their family - is the reason for the bad behavior that has repeatedly landed him in handcuffs.

He said Santana has sought out counseling and therapy and is doing well in his recovery. "He wants to be the father to his kids that he never had," Smith said.

Russo said the victim's "primary objective in this case is to get him treatment."

As part of a plea deal, the prosecution dismissed two additional abuse charges.
dan morin.jpg

Barb Govoni poses with her son, Dan Morin, whom she said enjoyed working in a sheltered workshop.

(Submitted photo)

The state's June 30 deadline to close all the sheltered workshops has already been delayed by a year, but it still feels too soon for some people.

The facilities have for decades provided locations where workers with developmental disabilities can do piece work, often for under minimum wage. Now, the numbers of workers has gone from nearly 2,000 two years ago to fewer than 15 this week, and they will all either be in day programs or have outside employment by Thursday.

Opponents of the facilities have likened them to sweatshops. They argue that the facilities violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and that it is better to find the employment in the community instead of segregating them in workplaces where they are paid subminimum wages.

But for people like Dan Morin, 35, of Hampden, the workshop gave him a way to get a paycheck and a sense of accomplishment. He was part of a community of workers he felt safe with and was not pressured to work at a certain pace, his mother, Barbara Govoni, said in a recent interview.

He has Down syndrome as well as obsessive compulsive disorder, so the routine there helped him feel comfortable, she said.

"They had no voice in this, in shutting down these workshops," Govoni said of Morin and his coworkers at the Work Opportunity Center in Agawam. "He loved the structure and the social aspects of the workshop ... His choice was the workshop."

Now, like the majority of those who used to work in sheltered workshops in the state, he has transitioned from the workshop to a day program where he will stay until staff can find a suitable job for him in the community.

Govoni said her son has been at the program, which meets at a Feeding Hills church, since May. She has heard he may have a new job soon, but doing what, she doesn't know.

It's not too long of a stay at the program, where his mother said he does activities, art projects, watches movies and takes field trips.

Victor Hernandez, a spokesman for the Department of Developmental Services, said there is no goal or guideline for how long former workshop employees will be in day programs before they get outside employment. Hernandez called it a "stepping stone." Some went right from a workshop to a new job, but that's not the case for most.

"We want to do it thoughtfully and carefully," he said, to find the best position for a candidate. They do so on a case-by-case basis. "We don't want to set anybody up."

The department's 2013 Blueprint for Success document, which outlines their plan to close the workshops and create other opportunities, lays out a rough timeline. It states that the department will still be working to get those participants into new jobs through fiscal 2018. That document was also drafted before the June 30, 2015 deadline to close the workshops was delayed by a year.

Hernandez said the department expects that some former employees at the workshops will not be able to find suitable work and will remain in day programs.

Hernandez said that the department currently cannot provide specific numbers of how many have found work or are in day programs, partly because the situation is so "fluid" with individuals moving in and out of programs and into jobs every day.

The most recent numbers are from August 2015, when 747 were still working at the sheltered workshops. That was compared to 1,913 who had been employed in those centers in August 2014.

Some will have part-time and others full-time employment. "It doesn't have to be employment. It could be a volunteer position or an internship," Hernandez said.

Of the people who left workshops during the time period from January 2014 to August 2015, 973 went to day programs, 266 went to group employment opportunities, and 87 went to individual positions.

A national issue

This issue is not unique to Massachusetts. It's been 15 years since the Supreme Court ruled that it was discrimination to keep workers with disabilities segregated. In the last few years, the federal government has put pressure on state governments to phase out the sheltered workshops that keep workers separate. It made clear that such facilities would no longer be eligible for Medicaid funding. Lawsuits against the workshops pushed the process along, Hernandez said.

States have been shutting down the workshops, some with more push-back than others.

Govoni said she is still objecting to the closure of the facilities, even though it is almost complete, because she is still hoping the state will realize it's made an error. She is hoping some compromise can be reached that will allow people with disabilities to work in an environment where they can thrive instead of being in a competitive workplace.

An award that Dan Morin, 35, received at the Work Opportunity Center in Agawam.

"It was a platform for them to work at their own pace amongst their peers, giving them a sense of accomplishment," she said. "It's feeling accomplished, feeling his self-worth."

Hernandez said that the department started holding forums to hear from workers and their parents and answer questions two years ago.

"These are people who are very protective of their children and we try to be sensitive to that," he said.

The resistance from some people with disabilities and their parents is not unlike when institutions closed decades ago, fearing they would have nowhere to go.

"People pushed back, but we found they can live in the community," he said.

And when the institutions were closing, sheltered workshops were opening. "Forty years ago, this was the program," he said of the workshops. Now, the state and federal government and many across the country feel that the workshops make people with disabilities "second class citizens" by separating them from others and paying them a lower wage.

Govoni can't stand when some critics of the workshops liken them to sweatshops -- there's no sweat, she said.

"Why would I put my kid in a program that I thought was detrimental?" she said.

Hernandez said many of the parents who initially resisted the plan are among its supporters now since their children have found jobs and fit in well at businesses including an Amazon Fulfillment Center and Wegman's.

In order to find more businesses willing to employ people with disabilities, the department has created what they call employment collaboratives.

"They go out and speak to a business and see what they're looking for and how to get the into the program," he said. "We try to match them up."

Govoni said it's unrealistic to think that there will be enough businesses willing to employ all the people who used to work in workshops around the state.

Over the last few years, she has talked to representatives, senators and other politicians, trying to get them to see what they were losing in closing the workshops.

Govoni said her son was happy there, and so were his friends. If she was there for a meeting, he would want to wrap it up and get back to work. "He basically couldn't wait to get rid of me," she said.

Now, she said, he enjoys the day program but is looking forward to getting a job. Govoni said staff told her his new position may be two or three days a week, compared to his previous full-time job.

Govoni is hopeful that he will excel at whatever job he gets, but she thinks he and many of his friends would rather be back at the workshop.

"I think they disrupted a program that was working," she said.
Country

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08.02.2015 | OLD SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A private security guard sits in front of a closed down business in the colonial district of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Congress edged closer to delivering relief to debt-stricken Puerto Rico as the Senate on Wednesday cleared the way for passage of a last-minute financial rescue package for the territory of 3.5 million Americans.

(Ricardo Arduengo / Associated Press file)

By MARY CLARE JALONICK

WASHINGTON -- Congress edged closer to delivering relief to debt-stricken Puerto Rico as the Senate on Wednesday cleared the way for passage of a last-minute financial rescue package for the territory of 3.5 million Americans.

Puerto Rico is in a decade-long recession and has $70 billion in debt. A $2 billion payment to creditors is due Friday. Thousands have fled the island and moved to the U.S. mainland as businesses have closed, schools have struggled with limited electricity and hospitals have asked for cash payment in advance for some medication.

The White House and Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress have warned that without help from Washington, Puerto Rico will descend into economic chaos, with signs already pointing to a humanitarian crisis.

On Wednesday, the Senate voted 68-32 to move forward on a rescue package that would create a control board to oversee the U.S. territory's finances and supervise some debt restructuring. The legislation would not provide any direct financial aid to the territory, but leaders warned that a bailout could eventually become necessary if Congress doesn't take this step.

"If we don't act before the island misses a critical debt payment deadline this Friday, matters will only get worse -- for Puerto Rico and for taxpayers," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

A final vote could come as soon as Wednesday, if opponents of the measure agree to allow a vote quickly. The House passed the bill earlier this month, so Senate passage would send the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature.

The control board would be similar to one that oversaw the District of Columbia in the late 1990s. Its seven members would oversee negotiations with creditors and the courts over reducing some debt.

In addition to creating the board, the bill would require the territory to create a fiscal plan and fund public pensions, which the Puerto Rico government has shorted by more than $40 billion.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday in a bid to persuade some reluctant Democrats concerned that the board would be too powerful. Democrats have also opposed a provision that would allow the island's government to lower the minimum wage for some younger workers.

Lew urged senators to vote for the bill even though it isn't perfect, saying that if the island defaults, the government may be forced to shut public transit, close a hospital or send police officers home.

He and other supporters warned that if the measure fails to pass before the July 1 payment deadline, the island will face multiple lawsuits from unpaid creditors and could be forced to cut essential services further. The legislation would block creditor lawsuits.

In a rare case of bipartisanship in an election year, the package had the support of Obama and top Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate.

"This economic crisis is a humanitarian disaster," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who backed the bill despite frustration that Democrats were blocked from making changes. "Medical services have diminished. Hospitals are unable to pay their bills. Puerto Rico's largest hospital has closed two of its wings, reduced the number of beds by nearly 25 percent, and cut pay for all employees."

Some Democrats backed the bill unenthusiastically.

"I'm not going to let the adequate be the enemy of the barely sufficient," said Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.

Others voted against it. Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey monopolized the Senate floor for more than four hours Tuesday evening, arguing that the bill adopts a colonial approach over the territory's 3.5 million U.S. citizens. He said ordinary Puerto Ricans would have little say over the control board and the package favors hedge-fund creditors over island pensioners.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., opposed the legislation for similar reasons, calling it "disastrous."

Republicans were split. Some said the control board wouldn't be powerful enough. Others said it was the best path forward.

"We're not going to let Puerto Rico go off a cliff here, it's too important," said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

The legislation is needed because Puerto Rico cannot declare bankruptcy under federal law. Mainland municipalities and their utilities can, while municipalities and utilities in Puerto Rico cannot.

In the days before the vote, some bondholder groups worked to turn senators against the bill, arguing it doesn't sufficiently protect creditors and is tantamount to a bailout for the territory. Several labor unions also lobbied against the measure, arguing that a lower minimum wage could take money out of the Puerto Rican economy.

Like Lew, Puerto Rican Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla made an 11th-hour visit to Capitol Hill to lobby for votes.

"It's not perfect, but we need it," Garcia said Tuesday.
Tesla is in talks with a major gas station and convenience store chain that could vastly expand the EV-makers network of charging stations  and reduce the likelihood of its customers getting stranded someplace on an hours-long drive.

By Brian Fung

Full Story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/06/28/teslas-quiet-talks-with-this-company-could-help-redefine-the-gas-station-as-we-know-it/?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-technology%3Ahomepage%2Fcard
"Follow your passion."

Its a mantra that bright kids heading off to college will likely hear over and over again. The nations top schools are passionate about "passion." Harvard, for instance, touts its students and faculty members passion for, among other things, service, justice, learning, food, Harvard, jogging, dancing, motocross, flowering plants, astronomical instrumentation, banjo and wood turtles.

By Christopher Ingraham

Full Story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/28/why-harvards-career-advice-for-its-students-is-totally-wrong/?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-business%3Ahomepage%2Fcard
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Finalists to compete for the top prize and could be inducted into the coveted Ecobank Fintech Fellowship to pursue commercial partnerships with the Ecobank Group (www.Ecobank.com), with access to 33 presence markets across Africa; opportunity to pursue integration with Ecobank and potentially launch products with the Group; mentoring and networking forums leveraging the Groups partners; Priority Access to Ecobanks Venture Capital partners for funding opportunities.

Ecobank Group has announced the finalists of the 2021 Ecobank Fintech Challenge. The challenge, in its fourth edition, is designed to help Fintechs with Africa focused products join forces with the leading pan-African Group to provide Africans with groundbreaking financial services. This years final saw five finalists selected from various African countries.

The finalists, who emerged from a competitive pool of nearly 900 Fintechs that entered the 2021 Fintech Challenge will participate in a virtual Finale to be held next month.

The 2021 Finalists are:

Anadata Limited from Nigeria  developed Chota, an automated Address Verification System that uses Big Data Analysis to accelerate the process while improving accuracy.

Motito from Ghana  promotes financial inclusion in Africa through their buy now pay later platform which allows small businesses to offer interest-free credit at point of sale.

OKO FINANCE from Mali  offers new-generation index insurance to small holder farmers, that are mobile-based and include access to affordable loans, weather alerts and farming tips.

Fourthline Limited from Kenya  developed Pollen which is designed to be a USSD ecosystem for conducting cross-telecom payments and savings for the unbanked.

Trove Finance, from Nigeria  built software (APIs & Tools) that allows African Individuals and financial Institutions (Banks, Brokers and Fund Managers) access and trade US & Global stocks

The Finalists will pitch their products to a jury which will select the top three most promising products. The top three finalists will receive cash prizes of US$15,000, US$12,000 and US$10,000 respectively.

All the finalists will be enrolled into Ecobanks Fintech Fellowship where they will spend six months exploring partnership opportunities, including:

Multinational Product Roll Out: An opportunity for eligible Fintechs to pursue collaboration with Ecobank and possibly launch products in Ecobanks 33 African markets.

Service Provider Partnerships: A chance to partner with Ecobank on pan-African products and services roll out and undertake other joint ventures.

Mentoring and Networking Support: Access to networking and mentoring opportunities within the Ecobank Group and its vast network of global and African partners.

Digital Offering integration: An opportunity for Fintechs to potentially integrate with Ecobanks existing digital offerings.

Tomisin Fashina, Group Executive, Operations & Technology, Ecobank Group, said: The five finalists in this years edition have shown impressive products from a competitive group of nearly 900 applicants. I would like to personally congratulate them and express my excitement at the opportunity to work with them to bring their innovative ideas to fruition.

The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is designed in partnership with the advisory firm Konfidants and is supported by partners across Africa and the globe.

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The Maxwell Air Force Base Office of Special Investigations, Detachment 405, will soon be sending one of its own to receive a unique award. Special Agent Russell Taylor learned recently he is the 2016 recipient of the American Legion Spirit of Service award.



The award is given annually to only one member of each branch of the DoD for outstanding volunteer service performed within the local community.



According to his commander, out of the many Airmen who submitted a package within the Air Force, SA Taylor, represented what the American Legion Spirit of Service Award stands for.



Special Agent Taylor exemplified the spirit of this award, which focused on public service, said SA Helen Stewart, Detachment 405 Commander. Not only does Special Agent Taylor excel at his job, he dedicates so much of his free time in service to the community and others. In that spirit he was also awarded the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal this year, based on more than 400 hours of community service.



My commander heard about the award and felt I was a good fit, said SA Taylor.



The first time SA Taylor knew of his selection was when he won the award at the regional level.



At that point I knew I would be competing at the Air Force Office of Special Investigations level, but I never imagined I would win at the Air Force level, Taylor said.



SA Taylor has been volunteering since he was stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. He volunteered for the Susan G. Komen foundation and Special Olympics. He currently volunteers for many organizations such as the Capitol Area Adult Literacy Council, the Montgomery Dragon Boat Festival and Child Protect.



I enjoy unique volunteer opportunities that benefit multiple non-profit organizations, SA Taylor said.



His passion to begin volunteering was to meet new and amazing people, he said.



I enjoy having military friends, but I think its important to have a strong group of civilian friends connected to the community, SA Taylor said. I have been lucky enough to have some great friends that help me get involved, and my leadership has consistently supported a strong work and community relationship.



Taylor is set to travel to Cleveland, Ohio in late August to receive his award.



The first Spirit of Service Award was first presented to active duty service members in 2000.


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Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank.
Avitus Orthopaedics, a company out of Farmington, Connecticut, received FDA clearance and has begun sales of its Avitus Bone Harvester device for gathering autologous bone graft and bone marrow. The device allows physicians to gather autografts in a minimally invasive fashion, which serves as probably the best material for orthopedic procedures. The firm is now working on winning European regulatory approval later on this year.

We are excited for the feedback and enthusiasm we have received from surgeons piloting our technology, said Neil Shah, CEO of Avitus. This validates the need for a streamlined way to obtain significant volumes of cancellous autograft and bone marrow. Autograft is regarded as the gold standard bone graft material; our technology has the potential to mitigate the harvesting challenges associated with autograft and provide a cost effective solution for surgeons using this bone graft option.

Product page: Avitus Bone Harvester

Via: Avitus Orthopaedics
by Chase Martin , June 29, 2016

Smart lights can communicate with each other, potentially opening a new door to marketing.

Thats the essence of smart light innovations Disney Research just showed at an international conference on sensors and networks in London.

The new method of connecting devices in the Internet of Things uses LED lights and doesnt require a traditional signal, like from Wi-Fi or cellular service.

I think theres a huge opportunity in the unknown for us, Dave Meeker, vice president of Isobar North America, told the IoT Daily.

It provides a whole new pathway for innovation for people to think of how we can use it, said Meeker, who also heads Isobars NowLab.

Smart LED lights can send and receive data to any device with an LED, as long as they can see each other.

"LED light bulbs mounted on the ceiling or in free-standing floor lamps easily cover a room, serving as illumination while at the same time creating a room-area network that allows data exchange between light-emitting devices," Markus Gross, vice president of Disney Research, said in the presentation.

EnLighting, as Disney calls it, is a network and communication system based on Visible Light Communication (VLC). The idea behind VLC is that LED lights are equipped with technology that controls the frequency and intensity of the light emitted, which is then received as data by any device that can see that light.

Disney is experimenting with adding the lighting capabilities to any existing LED light source.

One example they created is a princess dress with embedded LEDs that light up when an LED-tipped magic wand is pointed at them.

When the wand moves away, the communication between the LEDs stops, causing the lights on the dress to turn off, which can be seen in a video that Disney created.

The variance in light is undetectable to the human eye, according to Disney Research. The idea is that LED lighting systems remain functional, but now become communication devices on top of that.

I like the idea of leveraging RGB LEDs, which are now in pretty much all of our electronics, said Isobars Meeker. In some markets, Uber has a colored light in the dashboard. So when I pick my Uber, I pick my color. There could be an opportunity there. Even shopping carts could be read by the lighting system.

In retail, Philips Lighting has created smart bulbs that dont require any additional components and can be used to replace existing bulbs. Marketers and advertisers see opportunity in this new communication channel, but how they will use it is still a work in progress.

Beacons also have been used in retail to trigger location-specific messaging and collect various levels of behavioral data. However, adding beacons to retail at scale has been a challenge and VLC lights might be a more practical route, according to Meeker.

Your phones already connected to the network, he said. The lights can tell the phone where it is so then the phone can act on that. You still need an app. There are still barriers, but I think its an alternative because the technology is a replacement, not an addition. I have to replace the lights anyway, so I can just replace them with smart bulbs.

Meeker says commercializing wont be immediate, though.

There are tons of non-commercial uses that well see first. Well see two to three years of experiments and then, once the IP is in a good place, an explosion across all sorts of products and services.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, June 28, 2016

Airbnb is asking a federal judge to prohibit San Francisco from enforcing a measure that would require the company to police the listings on its site.

Since February of 2015, San Francisco has required people who rent their homes on a short-term basis to register with the city. Two weeks ago, the city passed a new measure that requires companies like Airbnb to verify that users who post ads have valid registration numbers. Airbnb says the verification procedure requires it to disclose to the city the names and addresses of everyone who is advertising apartments. The law also imposes civil and criminal penalties on companies that fail to monitor their sites for violations.

Airbnb argues that the new measure -- which effectively requires the company to police its listings -- violates the Communications Decency Act. That law immunizes Web platforms from liability for users' activity.

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"A fundamental purpose of Congress in passing the CDA was to shield website operators from compulsory obligations to screen user content upon pain of liability, and instead to provide them with the incentive to build innovative platforms while having the flexibility to experiment with and develop tools to address undesirable content without fear of legal retribution," the company argues in a motion filed this week in federal court in San Francisco.

Airbnb also says the verification provisions violate the federal Stored Communications Act, which requires the government to obtain subpoenas or warrants before demanding information about users from Web sites.

The company argues in its legal papers that federal courts throughout the country have invalidated laws that would have required online classifieds site Backpage.com to police its listings. For instance, in 2013 a federal judge in Tennessee permanently barred the state from enforcing a law regulating online ads. That law, aimed at curbing the sex-trafficking of teens, prohibited Web site operators from selling ads that appear to offer a "commercial sex act" with a minor.

The city is expected to respond to Airbnb's motion by July 14. The matter is pending in front of U.S. District Court Judge James Donato.
by Thom Forbes @tforbes, June 29, 2016

With Pinterest capturing more than 100 million visits to its pages each month, it wants to make it easier for gawkers to buy the more than 10 million items available for sale in its space. Yesterday, it unveiled several new features that will make e-commerce easier and more seamless not only on apps but also on its Web site.

Noting that people switch back and forth from shopping on their smartphones and on a desktop, Pinterest said that it is introducing buyable pins for the Web, a shopping bag and improving a mobile tool so it automatically detects products in images posted to the site, Queenie Wong writes for the San Jose Mercury News.

Many of us could (and probably do) spend hours on the site exploring the latest clothing, accessories, and home good trends. But Pinterest just made a change that will take you from admiring to buying faster than ever before, writes Olivia Harrison for Refinery29.

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The updates are part of Pinterests attempt to distance itself from comparisons to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Pinterest wants to be known as a network for inspiration in topics like travel, cooking and crafts, as well as for shopping both on and offline, Mike Isaac writes for the New York Times. At bottom, the site sees itself more as a competitor to Google  a way to search, discover and, ultimately, buy.

Or, as the subhed on Rachel Metzs piece for MIT Technology Reviewputs it: The idea-sharing network is reinventing itself as an online shopping destination, and now it wants to help you find things to buy in the world around you.

Pinterest president Tim Kendall talked up a feature that will launch in a few months that allows users to take a photo of an object and find it, or similar objects, within the app.

When you are in that moment  that magical moment of inspiration  you can find out where to get that T-shirt, Kendall told the media at an event in San Francisco announcing the new features, Sarah Frier reports for Bloomberg. And it doesnt have to be a product you spot on Pinterest  or even in cyberspace.

In an interview on Bloomberg TV, Kendall talks about a two-seat stroller he spied at a local park last weekend that he thought would be perfect for his own kids. With this technology, I could take a picture of that stroller and immediately results would render that would show similar, or the exact stroller, and allow me to buy it within Pinterest without leaving, he says.

Pinterest is also ridding itself of the Buy It button and created Add to Bag so users can buy more than one item at one time and will have a shopping bag across all their platforms, writes Alexandra Mosher for USA Today. The shopping bag tells users the shipping deals that are available to them from that retailer.

The new features come a year after Pinterest launched buyable pins, a feature that let users buy certain products they find on Pinterest directly through the mobile app, writes Tracey Lien for the Los Angeles Times. While Pinterest was slow to get its buyable pins feature off the ground, marketers believe its new features could be a game-changer  so long as the company understands it needs to market the hell out of them.

Pinterest has a focus on product planning, discovery, and purchase, and theres no one else  not Google, Facebook, or Snapchat  that has as much focus on it right now, Bob Gilbreath, CEO of Ahalogy, which specializes in marketing on Pinterest, tells Lien.

If Pinterest does have ambitions of becoming more of an e-commerce destination, it makes sense for Pinterest to start emulating moves made early on by e-commerce giant Amazon, such as personalization and recommended items, writes Leena Rao for Fortune. The key to personalization for Amazon has been the trove of data it has accumulated in order to recommend more products to its users. Pinterest said that its users are currently pinning four million items per day, and this data could be key to providing users with more personalized recommendations.

For its part, Facebook yesterday said it has launched a Chrome extension that adds a Save to Facebook button to Googles browser, Blair Hanley Frank reports on PCWorld, as well as a a Share on Facebook extension that allows users to share Web pages with their friends by clicking another button inside Chrome. Both are direct strikes at Pinterest, Frank writes.

Stay pinned for developments as they happen.
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, June 29, 2016

Google will officially stop accepting Flash file uploads from advertisers on Thursday across its display ad network in favor of HTML5 ads.

The change will set the bar for rich-media, dynamic and interactive experiences that have been shown to generate a 29.5% higher brand lift than their static ad counterparts, according to an Interactive Advertising Bureau 2015 Rising Star study.

Earlier this year Google wrote in a post that on June 30, 2016, advertisers will no longer have the ability to upload Flash ads into DoubleClick Campaign Manager, DoubleClick Bid Manager, or AdWords. Then on Jan. 2, 2017, Google will stop all Flash ads from running through its platforms.

Google moved to HTML5 partly as a way to improve Web site page encryption, but it seems that Israeli researchers have already found a "significant security vulnerability" in Google's technology.

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Similarly, Microsoft announced that it would automatically pause Flash content in the Windows 10 Edge browser that is not central to the page, such as in games in an effort to force the adoption of HTML5 in animation.

Brett Zucker, Monotype SVP of product management and marketing, said "this is a positive move because it gives advertisers the ability to keep rich media ads without being beholden to a particular technology known to be insecure."

"Security, standards and user experience on mobile devices are the most important points," Zucker said. One report, however, suggests that HTML5 will not stop malvertising because the primary root "lies with the advertising standards (VAST and VPAID) developed in 2012." Kevin Townsend points to a report from GeoEdge that explains since these standards allow advertisers to receive data about the user, they allow for third-party codes to be inserted inside the ad. The third-party code opens door for bad actors to perpetrate malicious activities, i.e. insert malicious code.

JavaScript is the base language for HTML5, per the report, so malicious code can be packaged in HTLM5 with little difficulty.
by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, June 29, 2016

In its ongoing effort to leave its frumpy white-bread roots back in Wisconsin, Lands End is introducing the world to its new Canvas collection with a campaign it hopes is both chic and urban.

Lands End, which is in the midst of a turnaround engineered by new CEO Federica Marchionni, hired The Sartorialist s Scott Schumann to shoot the new campaign, called "Portraits on Canvas." An open casting call gathered stylish New York women, who mix their own clothes with items from the Canvas collection. In addition to print images, theres also a video, which the company plans to feature on its own Web site and promote through social media channels, using the #CanvasPortraits hashtag.

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And it plans to continue the effort with the launch of new clothing each season.

The new campaign is just the latest in a series of moves designed to pump new energy into the struggling brand since spinning off from Sears in 2014, still best known to most Americans for ugly sweaters, school uniforms for kids, and really good customer service. So far, not so good: In its latest quarterly results, revenues dropped to $273.4 million from $299.2 million, and it posted a loss of $5.8 million, compared with net income of $1.7 million in the same period of the previous year.

Marchionni, whose resume includes stints at Dolce & Gabbana as well as Ferrari and who is said to spend just one week a month at the companys Dodgeville, Wisconsin-based headquarters, said at that time that besides focusing on core business, it was also launching additional collections that we believe will drive future profitable growth, including Canvas. We also enhanced our brand image, including elevated marketing initiatives, the newly launched multi brand e-commerce Web site and refinements to our catalog strategy, she said in the earnings announcement.

The company has high hopes that reviving Canvas, first introduced back in 2010, can help it earn fashion cred, even while other middle-of-the-road apparel companies, such as the Gap, are struggling. It launched back in April, with the company describing it as influenced by the freedom of artistic expression, including a white label meant to symbolize being able to personally create one's own canvas.

Earlier this month, it announced another effort to woo younger, hipper customers, with the introduction of Lands End Sport, a collection of activewear that includes surf, performance and athleisure clothing for both men and women, much of it keying off the brands nautical roots.

Last week it promoted Becky Gebhardt to EVP/CMO; she had been SVP/chief creative officer. And it hired Mike Zhang as VP/E-commerce, digital marketing and innovation.
by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, June 29, 2016

Rapp CEO Alexei Orlov has resigned in the wake of a lawsuit by a former agency executive that accused him of discrimination, retaliation and wrong termination.

Orlov is the second CEO this year to depart under the cloud of a discrimination law suit. In March Gustavo Martinez, CEO of WPPs J. Walter Thompson left within a week of being sued by Chief Communications Officer Erin Johnson for sex harassment and retaliation.

A third CEO, Jim Palmer, who ran Interpublic Groups Campbell Ewald, was dismissed after he failed to adequately address racist conduct by an employee at the agencys San Antonio office, which resulted in the departure of clients including USAA.

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In both the Rapp and JWT cases, the companies are vigorously defending the suits, despite the departure of the CEOs. Earlier this week Rapp said that the suit, filed in May by former Rapp US President Greg Andersen was full of outrageous allegations. JWT and WPP have asked a New York Court to dismiss the suit against them and Martinez.

Andersen detailed allegations of sexism, anti-Semitism and a hostile work environment in his suit, alleging that Orlov threatened employees at one meeting that if they mess with my brand or my direction I will break off your finger and shove it up your ass.

Dale Adams, CEO of Omnicoms Diversified Agency Services unit, which oversees Rapp Worldwide, praised Orlovs work as CEO in a statement, asserting that the agency has become a united global brand with a defining strategy and a point of differentiation in the marketplace, under his leadership. No mention of the law suit, however.

Orlov joined the agency in 2014 after a stint as a marketing executive at Volkswagen.

At Rapp Orlov is being replaced, at least for the interim by Marco Scognamiglio, who is head of the agencys EMEA and APAC regions.
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, June 29, 2016

A new security setting in Google lets users opt-in to allow its tools to use all the information associated with their account  search, YouTube, Gmail, Chrome, Maps, Home  to inform the ads seen across the Web.

While Google already does this within its own services, the new service pools data from across the Web and mobile devices.

Chrome and Gmail users began seeing notifications Tuesday about privacy updates that will allow them to turn on "relevant" personalized ads.

The opt-in option is part of a set of features offered in a new service that Google calls My Activity, an extension of My Account, which lets users "rediscover the things you've searched for, visited, and watched on Google services."

The My Activity dashboard provides the user with information on sites visited, time and day, searches, and even detailed directions requested on Maps. The platform aggregates the data from voice searches on mobile and desktop devices that are tied to the Google account. A delete button makes the data Google stores vanish in a two-step option.

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All this detailed data collected from Google's services across the Web on desktop and mobile devices creates a powerful ad-targeting platform because it not only considers historic information when serving ads, but it will predict future behavior through artificial intelligence and machine learning to offer recommendations.

Providing data on historic searches is not new. Google launched a service called My Account last year as a hub where users could go to monitor privacy settings and security controls. Voice search tracking was added later.
by P.J. Bednarski , Staff Writer @pjbtweet, June 29, 2016

The cold hard facts of the Brexit results in Great Britain wont be apparent for a while but it would seem some content providers and helpers might have a tougher time of it than others.

For others in general content provider biz, or advertiser offshoots, its just good old uncertainty.

Right after the vote, MoffettNathansonLLC wrote, the most tangible short-term risk is on the translation impact of U.S.-owned enterprises that are based in the U.K.

For broadcasters and cable companies, that doesnt look too bad. For example, MoffettNathanson says, CBS reports that only 2% of its revenue comes from the United Kingdom.It gets worse for CBS and other TV-related media groups when calculating how much of their revenue comes from Europe--CBS is just in the mid-teens but Discovery counts 35% of its revenue exposure in EUville.

Among Web-centered businesses, Netflixs percentage of revenue from Europe is in the mid-teens, but Netflix counts on increasing its presence worldwide now that it appears it U.S. biz is slowing down.

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The report says, If the economic uncertainty in the U.K. impacts economic growth in the Eurozone, the most impacted companies across our coverage universe would be Priceline with 43% Euro exposure, Discovery at 30%, Twitter at 29%, Alphabet at 28%, and TripAdvisor at 26%. The list is heavily skewed to Internet names.

MoffettNathanson sees two big potential downsides--lower advertising because of an expected economic slowdown, and a big reduction in discretionary spending, most pointedly travel.

But on the bright side, movies and pay TV might not get hit bad because those two segments hung tough through other economic shocks.

In London Martha Lane Fox, a well-known Internet entrepreneur whos been at it since before the dotcom bust, blogged:

As you would expect from a sector peppered with entrepreneurs, there is a level of optimism and belief that there is opportunity even in turbulence, that I find inspiring.

"One in five tech companies in this country is started by an immigrant. There are lots of suggestions about what the sector should be doing to keep talent motivated as well as being able to find the best people. It seems that access to skills as well as, unsurprisingly, access to the single market are key concerns for the start up community. Its vital to help UK tech businesses continue to grow  its not rocket science  the Internet economy is the future and we must support it.

At Unruly, the British-based media company now owned by News Corp. (whose Rupert Murdoch has cheered the Brexit results), COO and co-founder Sarah Wood admitted in an email to me that the Brexit outcome wasnt our first choice. But she quickly regained her stiff upper lip, too.

There's a long way to go with regards to how Brexit plays out politically and economically; there'll be no shortage of noise, no lack of sound and fury over at Westminster in the coming months. While that's going on, we'll be doubling down on innovation and doubling down on international expansion.

But before the vote, she wrote a cogent analysis of a potential Brexit victory on LinkedIn, with dimmer analysis, pointing out doing business in the EU right now is expedient, right down to avoiding passports and visas. Plus, she said London is now ranked right behind San Francisco as an attractive place for investors, and Brexit would endanger that.

More eloquently, (but then again, apparently not) she wrote, From an ad technology perspective, coming out of the EU feels completely countercultural. The digital opportunity is so exciting precisely because its a global one - our clients think globally, they use Unruly to amplify global video conversations and when theyre not thinking globally theyre thinking regionally.

pj@mediapost.com
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, June 29, 2016

Earlier this year, federal judge in Illinois ruled that Yahoo must face a class-action lawsuit for allegedly sending unsolicited SMS messages to some Sprint customers.

Yahoo is now asking U.S. District Court Judge Manish Shah to rethink that ruling in light of the Supreme Court's recent decision in a lawsuit brought by a consumer against the online data broker Spokeo.

The battle centers on a Yahoo Messenger feature that converts instant messages into text messages. Two consumers -- Rachel Johnson and Zenaida Calderin -- alleged in court papers that they received at least two messages through that feature. They said one of the messages came from other users, while the other -- a "Welcome" message from Yahoo -- explained the first one. The lawsuit deals only with the "Welcome" messages.

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Johnson and Calderin alleged that Yahoo violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits companies from using automated dialers to text people without their consent.

Calderin sought to serve as class representative for T-Mobile users who received messages from Yahoo in April of 2014, while Johnson sought to serve as representative for Sprint users in March of 2013.

The judge rejected Calderin's request because she allegedly consented to Yahoo's terms of service, which provided that the company might send SMS messages to people. But Shah found that Johnson, who did not agree to Yahoo's terms of service, was typical of other Sprint customers and could serve as their class representative.

Yahoo now says the case should be dismissed based on the Supreme Court's recent decision in a lawsuit against Spokeo. The court ruled in that case that an Illinois resident could only sue Spokeo for allegedly displaying incorrect information about him if he could prove the errors caused a "concrete" injury.

"A plaintiff must demonstrate that a purported statutory violation caused her to suffer an injury in fact -- specifically, an injury that is both concrete and particularized," Yahoo writes. "Johnson has suffered neither."

Yahoo argues that Johnson wasn't harmed by the messages, given that the phone belonged to her employer, who was on an unlimited data plan.

"There was no incremental charge for the receipt of any text, including the Welcome Message -- neither the subscriber nor Johnson was charged for Johnsons receipt of the Welcome Message," Yahoo writes in court papers filed on Tuesday.

Johnson counters that the Yahoo injured her in several ways. Among others, Yahoo allegedly "caused a nuisance and wasted plaintiffs time," and also "occupied the memory of plaintiffs cellular device."

Shah will hold a hearing about the matter on July 22.
Electronic cigarettes are perceived by many as an effective smoking cessation aid, and numerous studies suggest they are significantly less harmful to health than conventional cigarettes. A new study, however, claims the devices are not without risk  they could raise the risk of oral disease.

Share on Pinterest E-cigarette use might raise the risk of oral disease, say researchers.

Published in the journal PLOS One, the study reveals that the vapor of e-cigarettes (electronic cigarettes) contains toxic compounds and nanoparticles that destroy the outer later of skin cells in the mouth.

The researchers  led by Dr. Shen Hu, an associate professor of oral biology at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA)  came to their conclusion by analyzing the effects of e-cigarette vapor on cell cultures in laboratory tests.

The team gathered cell cultures from the top layer of the oral cavity  specifically, the area of the mouth behind the teeth and gums.

Using a machine that generates e-cigarette vapor, effectively simulating human e-cigarette use, the researchers assessed the substances present in the vapor and measured the particle concentration of these substances.

Additionally, the team exposed the cell cultures to two brands of e-cigarette vapor for 24 hours and monitored the effects.
A University of Adelaide analysis of genetic mutations which cause early-onset Alzheimer's disease suggests a new focus for research into the causes of the disease.

Previous research has revolved around the idea that accumulation in the brain of a small, sticky protein fragment - amyloid beta - causes Alzheimer's disease.

However, there is growing concern among researchers that this idea is not rapidly advancing global understanding of the disease or leading to successful treatments.

The University of Adelaide scientists, in collaboration with researchers from a number of other Australian universities, say their analysis points to a new theory about how mutations of a particular gene, PSEN1, can trigger early onset Alzheimer's disease.

"Most of the mutations that cause Alzheimer's disease before retirement age are found in the PSEN1 gene," says study leader, Associate Professor Michael Lardelli, School of Biological Sciences. "Fortunately, this early onset form of Alzheimer's disease accounts for only about 1% of all disease cases. Nevertheless, a huge research effort has focused on these mutations in the hope that advanced genetics analysis techniques might shed light on the still mysterious origins of both early and late onset Alzheimer's disease."

Published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, the researchers examined past research on PSEN1 and noted a particular correlation between the types of mutations affecting this gene and whether or not they caused Alzheimer's disease.

"The protein normally produced by the PSEN1 gene is remarkable since it plays so many different roles in cells," says Associate Professor Lardelli. "Almost everyone has been looking at how mutated PSEN1 protein affects production of amyloid beta. However, we think a broader, more holistic view of the mutation data not focused on amyloid beta may be telling a different story."

"There are two pathways that PSEN1 protein can take when it functions in cells. One pathway leads to production of amyloid beta while the second, less-studied pathway controls many other important activities including how cells recycle their components and respond to restricted oxygen availability.

"We suggest that changes in this second pathway are better correlated with how mutations affect the structure of PSEN1 protein and the other proteins it interacts with. By taking our focus away from amyloid beta the mutation data seem to make more sense."

"An exciting possibility is that the fundamentals of our idea may be extended to understanding the much more common late onset form of Alzheimer's disease. That is something we are currently investigating with our animal models of the disease," says Associate Professor Lardelli.

Article: Evidence For and Against a Pathogenic Role of Reduced -Secretase Activity in Familial Alzheimer's Disease, Jayne, Tanya; Newman, Morgan; Verdile, Giuseppe; Sutherland, Greg; Munch, Gerald; Musgrave, Ian; Moussavi Nik; Seyyed Hani; Lardelli, Michael; Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, doi: 10.3233/JAD-151186, published 23 May 2016.
Sending text messages on a smartphone can change the rhythm of brain waves, according to a new study published in Epilepsy & Behavior.

People communicate increasingly via text messaging, though little is known on the neurological effects of smartphone use. To find out more about how our brains work during textual communication using smartphones, a team led by Mayo Clinic researcher William Tatum analyzed data from 129 patients. Their brain waves were monitored over a period of 16 months through electroencephalograms (EEGs) combined with video footage.

Dr. Tatum, professor of neurology and director of the epilepsy monitoring unit and epilepsy center at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida found a unique 'texting rhythm' in approximately 1 in 5 patients who were using their smartphone to text message while having their brain waves monitored.

Share on Pinterest The blue boxes show the texting rhythm present in a 22-year old patient who is texting with her right hand

Image Copyright: Elsevier

The researchers asked patients to perform activities such as message texting, finger tapping and audio cellular telephone use in addition to tests of attention and cognitive function. Only text messaging produced the newly observed brain rhythm, which was different than any previously described brain rhythm.

The blue boxes show the texting rhythm present in a 22-year old patient who is texting with her right hand.

The unicity of the texting rhythm compared to other forms of mental stimulation could be caused by the combination of mental activity with motor and auditory-verbal neurological activity.

No correlation was between the presence of a texting rhythm and the patients' demographic information, including age, gender, epilepsy type, presence of a brain lesion on MRI, or ictal EEG.

"We believe this new rhythm is an objective metric of the brain's ability to process non-verbal information during use of electronic devices and that it is heavily connected to a widely distributed network augmented by attention or emotion," Dr. Tatum commented.

Next to smartphones, the texting rhythm was also found in iPad users. The researchers hypothesized that the presence of a different brain wave rhythm while using mobile, handheld devices might be caused by their smaller screens, which require more concentration.

This finding could have significant implications for brain-computer interfacing, gaming, and, perhaps most importantly, driving, Dr. Tatum noted: "There is now a biological reason why people shouldn't text and drive - texting can change brain waves," he said. While "there is still a lot more research needed, we have begun to unravel the responses generated by the brain when it interfaces with computerized devices."

Article: Cortical processing during smartphone text messaging, William O. Tatum, Benedetto DiCiaccio and Kirsten H. Yelvington, Epilepsy & Behavior, doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2016.03.018, published online 28 April 2016.
Patients and clinicians need greater regulatory transparency to make informed decisions about treatment.

Medical devices approved first in the European Union (EU) are associated with a greater rate of safety issues, finds a study published by The BMJ.

Clinical trial results for many new medical devices that could guide treatment decisions also remain unpublished or unavailable up to five years after approval, the findings show.

As such, the researchers call for greater regulatory transparency to enable patients and clinicians to make informed decisions about treatment.

Medical devices play an important role in patient care, but their approval and regulation are handled differently in the EU and US.

In the EU, devices can be marketed if they perform "as intended" and are likely to be safe, but clinical testing may only be required for some high-risk devices. In the US, however, high-risk devices must demonstrate reasonable safety and effectiveness in clinical trials before they can be used by patients.

As a result, many high-risk devices are approved faster in the EU than in the US. This has led to controversy over their safety and calls for regulatory reforms in both the EU and US.

So a team of UK and US researchers decided to evaluate safety issues related to high-profile medical devices introduced in the EU and subsequent approvals in the US.

They searched public and commercial databases for announcements about new medical devices approved in the EU between 2005 and 2010.

They identified a total of 309 devices (245 cardiovascular, 36 orthopedic, and 28 neurologic devices). Nearly a quarter (75 of 309, 24%) were classified as major interventions.

The majority (206 of 309) of devices identified were approved in both the US and EU, of which 63% (129 of 206) were approved first in the EU.

Overall, roughly a quarter (24%) of the devices were associated with safety issues after they reached the market. Devices approved first in the EU were also associated with a nearly three-fold greater rate of safety alerts and recalls.

Among the 75 devices classified as major interventions, pivotal trial results were published for 37 (49%), with an overall publication rate of 37% five years after approval.

The authors point to some study limitations, but say this study "provides an important empirical measure of the trade-offs associated with the US and EU frameworks for regulating medical devices."

"Patients and clinicians need access to, and balanced presentation of, the available evidence of the safety and effectiveness of novel devices, as well as clear communication about the evidentiary gaps," they write.

"Our findings suggest that products introduced earlier in their development cycle are also more likely to increase the risk of harms, underscoring the urgent need for transparency to make truly informed decisions," they conclude.
Developing campaigns that are relevant to different cultures is vital to make sure more people from all ethnic groups across England get cancer symptoms checked out early, according to research published in the British Journal of Cancer.

This is the largest study looking at ethnic differences in public awareness of cancer symptoms and barriers to seeking medical help in England, and the first study to address this using all large ethnic groups living in the country.

Data from 18 surveys showed that overall, recognition of potential cancer symptoms was lower among minority ethnic groups. Bangladeshis and Black Africans recognised the smallest number of potential cancer symptoms. Barriers to seeing the doctor were also higher in general among minority groups.

South Asians, especially Indian and Pakistani people, were more likely than White British people to report emotional and practical barriers to seeing their doctor, such as lacking confidence speaking to their doctor, feeling embarrassed, or being worried about many other things.

White British people were more likely than any other ethnic group to say that feeling worried about wasting the doctor's time would stop them from seeking medical help even if they had noticed a symptom that they think might be serious.

Black people, especially those who regarded themselves as Black Africans, were least likely to report barriers to seeking medical advice.

Maja Niksic, lead author at King's College London, said: "Our research highlights important differences in cancer symptom awareness between the white people and ethnic minorities, as well as between different ethnic minority groups, in England. Acknowledging these differences could encourage more people to get potential cancer symptoms checked early.

"The large size of this study meant that we were able to look at very specific ethnic groups. For example, instead of grouping all South Asians together we were able to separate Indians from Pakistanis and Bangladeshi people, and Black Africans from Black Caribbeans as these groups have very different needs, which should be addressed when developing campaigns."

Jessica Kirby, Cancer Research UK's senior health information manager, said: "We know that people from some ethnic minority groups are less likely to be aware of cancer symptoms and less likely to report symptoms to their GP. This research highlights the need for better campaigns that are tailored to address the differences in awareness between ethnic groups in England.

"It's important that everyone knows what's normal for their body and can see a doctor if they notice anything unusual. Recognising and reporting potential cancer symptoms early could help spot the disease at an early stage giving a better chance of survival."


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The levels of copper and zinc concentrations were increased in the muscle and in the spinal cord of mice with motor neuron disease.

There were small changes in copper isotope concentration in the blood of mice with motor neuron disease compared with healthy mice.

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http://media.uow.edu.au/releases/UOW217437.html Pilot study tests possible diagnostic tools for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-06/gc-pst062616.php http://media.uow.edu.au/releases/UOW212419.html

The results of this study showed thatThe significance of these findings is that the trace element concentrations that were found to differ between mice with motor neuron disease and healthy mice is that they were detected even before symptoms set in.It is unknown at this stage of the trial if the changes in concentration of the trace elements were what lead to the disease or were caused due to the onset of the disease. However, since the differences in concentration of the trace elements are detected even before the onset of symptoms, they would be ideal markers for early detection of the disease, providing a better chance at therapy.Dr. Anthony Dosseto will be detailing this landmark study at the Goldschmidt conference being held in Japan.Dr. Dosseto says " While this work is only preliminary and applies to a specific mouse model of MND, it is the first of its kind on this pathology and brings hope that one day we could use isotopic measurement in blood samples as an early detection tool of the disease."University of Wollongong has been carrying out pioneering research on motor neuron disease. Earlier this year, researchers from the University found that a gene called CCNF was dysfunctional among people with motor neuron disease. Improper functioning of this gene leads to a build up of 'junk'protein which can be detected and used as a marker of the disease.Such studies aid in improving diagnosis and treatment of motor neuron disease, providing hope for many.Source: Medindia
The electrical activity of the heart keeps the heart beating constantly at a regular rhythm. A disturbance in this rhythm is called an arrhythmia.

In patients with arrhythmias arising from the lower heart chambers, the heart cannot pump the blood adequately, which makes the patient pass out or even die if not intervened immediately. In such patients, the procedure used to stun the heart to get it back to a normal rhythm is called defibrillation.

An implantable device which tracks the heart rhythm delivers electrical impulses and shocks the heart when it skips out of the rhythm is called an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator.

Defibrillation can also be carried out with an external device, an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED), which helps to deliver the shock in case of Sudden Cardiac Arrest. But in patients with risk of the sudden cardiac death, the implantable defibrillators are required.

The ICD has a pulse generator and wires/leads. The pulse generator which has a battery and a small computer is placed in a small box underneath the skin in the chest. It also has wires called leads that have electrodes at the tips and are passed to the heart through a vein.

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Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA): The implantation of an ICD is essential in patients with the history or the risk of the Sudden Cardiac Arrest. But in patients with SCA with reversible causes of arrest like electrolyte disturbance or myocardial ischemia (decreased blood to the heart muscle), ICD is not essential if the associated rhythm disturbances are corrected with the treatment for the particular condition.

ICD is also essential in the life-threatening arrhythmias like ventricular tachycardia (the ventricles beat fast) and ventricular fibrillation (the ventricles quiver) associated with the conditions like:

Coronary Artery Disease (Disease with block in the blood vessels that provide blood to the heart)

Non-ischemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy (Condition where the muscle layer of the heart is dilated)

Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (A genetic heart disease involving the right ventricle)

Genetic heart diseases due to ion channel disorders like long QT syndrome, short QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome, and catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia

Idiopathic Ventricular Fibrillation. (Heart rhythm disorder with quivering of the ventricles due to unknown cause)

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (Condition where the heart muscle layer is thickened)

Severe Heart Failure: In patients with severe heart failure, Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) is essential. CRT involves implanting a biventricular pacemaker which helps to synchronize the function of the two ventricles in these patients. CRT used along with a defibrillator is referred to as CRT-D.

Before the Procedure:

The diagnostic tests which are required to diagnose the arrhythmias and to confirm the need for the implantation are:

Electrocardiogram: Electrocardiogram is an investigation by which the electrical heart rate and rhythm of the heart are recorded.. It records only for a short duration, which is sometimes not sufficient to detect the life-threatening arrhythmias which are intermittent, and appear only sometimes during the day.

is an investigation by which the electrical heart rate and rhythm of the heart are recorded.. It records only for a short duration, which is sometimes not sufficient to detect the life-threatening arrhythmias which are intermittent, and appear only sometimes during the day.

Event Monitor: An event monitor is used to record the abnormal events in the hearts electrical activity. It is used for months or until the problem is identified.

An event monitor is used to record the abnormal events in the hearts electrical activity. It is used for months or until the problem is identified.

Echocardiogram: An echocardiogram is used to view the structure and function of the heart on a screen. It helps to see the chambers of the heart, valves and the movement of the heart.

An echocardiogram is used to view the structure and function of the heart on a screen. It helps to see the chambers of the heart, valves and the movement of the heart.

Electrophysiology Study: An electrophysiological study done in an Electrophysiology lab, helps to find the origin of the abnormal electrical impulses.

An electrophysiological study done in an Electrophysiology lab, helps to find the origin of the abnormal electrical impulses.

Holter Monitor: Holter monitor is used to record the heart electrical activity continuously. The patient has to wear the recording device for a day or two.

Inform your doctor regarding the health ailments like diabetes, bleeding disorders, kidney problems and the medications that you take before you undergo the procedure.

It is required to fast before the procedure; you will be notified about it.

Some investigations like blood work will be ordered by your doctor. You will be informed regarding the medications to be taken on the day of the procedure.

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During the Procedure:

The procedure is usually performed under sedation and aseptic precautions. The nurse puts the intravenous line prior to the procedure. An electrocardiogram is connected and also the large electrode pads are placed on the chest and the upper back. The area on the chest below the collar bone is cleaned and draped. Local anesthesia is given in this area and then an incision is made. A tube called the sheath is inserted into a blood vessel. One or more leads are inserted through the sheath into the blood vessel and advanced till the heart. The leads are checked to make sure they are properly inserted. The sheath is then removed. Then ICD generator is placed in a pocket under the skin and attached to the leads. Your doctor will run few tests to ensure that the ICD is functioning properly. Then the skin is sutured and dressed.

After the Procedure:

The nurse monitors parameters like the heart rate and blood pressure. After a few hours, you will be allowed out of the bed. Discharge can be on the same day or the next day. You will be prescribed the necessary medications before the discharge.

Once you are at home you can get back to routine activity in a few days. It is suggested not to lift the heavy weights for a few weeks.

If you receive a shock through the ICD, approach your doctor. Inform your doctor if you have chest pain, swelling in the chest, dizziness, breathlessness or palpitations.

Precautions:

Certain devices interfere with the ICD and can impair its function. Microwaves at home, electric generators, welding machines, metal detector in airports, electrocautery (used to stop bleeding during surgery), shock wave lithotripsy (used for crushing kidney stones) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging test may interfere with the ICD function. So you may have to avoid them or maintain a particular disturbance. Inform the concerned people about the ICD and show them a Medical ID card which states about your ICD to prevent exposure. Cell phones are safe but avoid carrying them in the shirt pocket. Tell your doctor about the ICD before any test, procedure or when you are in doubt.

ICD has four main functions:

Anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP): The device delivers the rapid and regular impulses to maintain the normal heart rhythm by overtaking the irregular heart impulses.

Cardioversion: It delivers the low energy shock to correct arrhythmias.

Defibrillation: The high energy shock is delivered in the case of an episode of a life-threatening arrhythmias. The patient feels like a kick in the chest. This property is absent in a pacemaker, which only delivers low energy shock.

Backup pacing: After the shock, the heart rate may drop to very low rate then the device stimulates heart until it reaches the normal rate.

It is a safe and an effective method to prevent sudden cardiac death in patients with life-threatening arrhythmias.

It can be used for an indefinite period once in place unless there is any damage like a lead fracture or an infection.

It just needs a small procedure for the generator change when the battery exhausts.

Pocket Infection: Infection in the area below the skin where ICD generator is placed.

Bleeding and infection of the incision site

Injury to the blood vessel at the insertion site

Lung Collapse: Injury to the lung during the surgery can cause the air entrapment between the lung and the chest wall and later can lead to lung collapse.

Lead misplacement

Inappropriate Shocks: Sometimes the shocks are delivered when not required.

Injury to the heart

Conclusion

Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator is the effective way to prevent sudden cardiac death in the risk group. It is the safe procedure with minimal complications. Patients with ICD should be conscious about electronic devices which interfere with the ICD function. The patients should notify their health care provider regarding the presence of an ICD before any procedure or test.
On June 18, 2016, following a trial lasting almost three years,[1] an Egyptian court in Cairo sentenced former Egyptian president Muhammad Mursi to 40 years in prison on several charges, including leaking secret documents and information to Qatar and conspiring to harm Egypt's national interests as part of what has become known as the "spying for Qatar" affair. The court, under Judge Mohamed Shirin Fahmy, sentenced six other defendants to death in the same affair, including two Al-Jazeera journalists.[2]

The sentence sparked furious responses from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and the countries that sponsor it. The two MB factions in Egypt[3] issued statements condemning it, claiming that the entire affair had been fabricated by the Al-Sisi's security apparatuses in order to take revenge upon Mursi, who is considered an emblem of purity, patriotism and sacrifice for the sake of the homeland.[4]

Turkey, which is considered an ally of the Egyptian MB and shelters many of its members, likewise issued a condemnation, which said: "We voice our deep concern over the sentence... [handed down] to President Mursi, who was elected democratically in Egypt and has been imprisoned since 2013. We condemn this and believe that the decision will not help bring peace and stability to Egypt..."[5]

Qatar, likewise considered to be a sponsor of the MB, responded with anger as well. Its foreign ministry firmly condemned the sentences, calling the charges untrue. Foreign ministry official Ahmad Al-Rumaihi said: "The sentences are hardly surprising, considering the death sentences and life imprisonment sentences that Egyptian courts have handed down in recent years to over 1,000 people, only to revoke them later..." He added that the punishments had been imposed for reasons that had nothing to do with the law and constituted a dangerous precedent in relations among Arab countries. He noted further that Qatar had headed the countries that stood beside the Egyptian people since the January 25, 2011 revolution.[6]

The Qatari response to Mursi's sentence sparked a counter-reaction from Egypt. Responding to Qatar's condemnation, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Ahmad Abu Zaid said that the Qatari position was not surprising, considering that Qatar had recruited its media against Egypt's people and institutions. History and the Egyptian people will not forget this injustice, he said.[7]

Egyptian MPs and media figures also slammed the condemnation issued by Qatar's foreign ministry. Talk show host Ahmad Moussa said, "Qatar is not a state, it knows neither law nor justice..."[8] Dr. 'Amr Hashem Rabi', vice president of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that Qatar has played a destructive role in the region since the days of Hosni Mubarak.[9]

Reactions to the sentence appeared also in Egyptian and Qatari press articles, which reflected the dispute and the tension between the two countries over this affair. Egyptian articles condemned what they called Qatar's blunt interference in Egypt's internal affairs. Conversely, editors of Qatari dailies slammed the Al-Sisi administration and the Egyptian court system, questioning their integrity and their motives.



Mursi during the trial (Al-Ahram, Egypt, June 19, 2016)

The following are excerpts from Egyptian articles and from responses by the editors of Qatari dailies.

Egyptian Papers: Qatar Has Become An Enemy State, Must Understand There Will Be No Reconciliation With Traitors

Following the issuance of the sentences, Egyptian papers leveled harsh criticism at Qatar for "interfering" in matters of Egypt's security. The articles ridiculed Qatar and wondered if Egypt would sever its diplomatic ties with it over this affair.

Egyptian Daily Editor: The Sentence Sends A Message To Qatar's Emir - "Stay Away!"

Muhammad Amin, editor of the Egyptian daily Al-Masri Al-Yawm, wrote: "The sentence in the case of the spying [for Qatar] sends a message no only to the MB but also a special message [meant] to reach the Qatari Emir. The message to the MB is that the [Egyptian] state will not stop pursuing the movement and is not interested in holding talks [with it] or reassessing its attitude towards 'the state of the [MB] General Guide.'

"The sentence also sends a loud and clear message to the Qatari Emir, [namely], 'Stay Away!'

"Now that the sentence has been handed down, some major questions linger: Has the little Emir [of Qatar] gotten the message? How did he take it to begin with? What is the meaning of Qatar wanting to hold Egyptian documents relating to [Egypt's] national security?...

"The sentence was handed down by the criminal court on behalf of the [Egyptian] people two years after [Mursi's] gang was banished from power. Before that, the people [itself] handed down their sentence by toppling the General Guide's state in an unprecedented revolution by millions. The current sentence is the answer to the grand lie [recently circulated by the MB] that Mursi would be acquitted and restored to the presidential throne - he is not innocent and will never return!... This is all empty talk; lies spread by the MB mechanisms, including the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel. I believe that the Emir of Qatar got the message and received this sentence [while dressed] in black and as a slap in the face.

"I do not know what the Emir of Qatar was betting on, and I do not know why he contacted President Al-Sisi at every opportunity. Does he hope to ease [the tension with Egypt], like his friend, [Turkish President] Erdogan? Does he wish to set things straight after first sabotaging [the relations]? Is it conceivable that [Egypt's] political leadership should reach out to him after he spied against us and harmed our national security?

"I believe this affair means Qatar has become an 'enemy state' and can no longer be a sister country, [since] siblings do not spy on each other. I am speaking of the rash [Qatari] leadership. This leadership managed to deceive a foolish president [Mursi] in order to receive [from him] documents [pertaining to] national security. He who sells out his homeland sells out his good name and his honor, as Judge [Mohamed] Shirin Fahmy [who sentenced Mursi] said.

"The question now, [after] the crime of espionage has been proven, is will Egypt decide to sever relations with Doha? Will Egypt do this? Will it shout into the ear of the reckless Emir? Or will it back down due to Saudi Arabia and the UAE? Will it make do with the sentence [against Mursi]...? And will the criminal remain in jail for the rest of his life?

"It makes sense for Qatar to say [bad things] about the Egyptian justice system... [But] they will remain empty words, since despite all its efforts, Qatar failed to change Egypt's position in the espionage case. The justice system does not await orders and is not influenced by political instructions. Qatar's empty words are [just] bad propaganda that it has continued to spread since the fall of the [MB] gang...

"The sentence has been determined, and it conveys several messages - local, regional, and international: There is no reassessment of the attitude towards the terrorists and there will never be a reconciliation with traitors!"[10]



Judge Mohamed Shirin Fahmy at the trial (image: Jasarat.org, June 18, 2016)

Egyptian Writer: "Isn't There One Sensible Person Among 300,000 Qataris Who Would Carry Out A Coup Against The Regime?"

Al-Watan columnist Mahmoud Al-Kardousi wrote: "...The sentence of imprisonment handed down to the traitor Muhammad Mursi and his terrorist gang in the espionage case displeased Qatar. By God! Qatar, with its gas, its Al-Jazeera channel, and the American base in its territory is not worth the sash adorning [the breast of] the honorable Judge Mohamed Shirin. It has a 'foreign ministry' that insults Egypt's justice system and condemns the mentioning of its name [in the espionage affair]... By God, Qatar - which, clenched in Al-Sisi's fist would have immediately died and become a corpse - speaks of reasons that do not contribute to the fraternal ties [between the countries]. By God! Isn't there one sensible person among 300,000 Qataris who would carry out a coup against the regime and yell at the eunuchs of its royal palace: stop [interfering in Egypt's affairs]?!..." [11]

Qatari Daily Editors: The Sentence Is A Farce And A Mark Of Shame Upon Egypt's History, Court System

On the Qatari side, editors of government dailies harshly attacked Mursi's sentence and the allegations made against Qatar. They called the affair a blatant lie and a farce, and further proof that the Al-Sisi regime is a dictatorship that oppresses its people and controls its judiciary.

Al-Raya Editor: Tying Qatar To The Affair Is A "Ramadan Lie"; The Coup Regime has Turned Egypt Into A Giant Prison

Saleh Al-Kawari, editor-in-chief of the Qatari daily Al-Raya, wrote: "...Tying Qatar's name to the sentence in this baseless lawsuit is a fabricated allegation and a blatant lie, [coming] during Ramadan, [of all times]. At the very least, this can be called 'the Ramadan lie.' This is because Qatar, at which this lie was directed, is [actually] known for its help and its support for the Egyptian people and for the January 25 revolution from its first day until its victory. [Qatar] is also known [for supporting] the various administrations that came after [the revolution in Egypt], until the revolution was sadly eliminated in a military coup that banished and arrested its leaders and youths despite the will of the people and despite the results of the democratic elections that had led to the first ever elected Egyptian president and regime in [Egypt's] history.

"The sentence handed down yesterday sadly proved that the Egyptian justice system has lost its prestige, relinquished its professional honor and become a mouthpiece for the ruler in issuing or canceling sentences. In the age of the coup, the Egyptian justice system has lost all attributes of a fair justice system, which has caused a great outcry and led to the conclusion that this is an invalid, corrupt, and oppressive justice system...

"Sadly, during the coup era, and due to this totalitarian conduct and these arbitrary sentences, Egypt has become a large prison for its people. Many [members of] this suffering and helpless people, including politicians, lawyers, judges, activists, and journalists, have been sent to prison on charges that exist solely in the mind of the regime and of its worn, corrupt justice system, or [charges] manufactured and inflated to eliminate [all dissidents]...

"Everyone knows that Qatar has no connection to this unclear lawsuit... This is a purely political plot, disgraceful, explicit, and baseless...

"We do not rule out the possibility that the [Al-Sisi] coup regime will concoct further allegations against Qatar, even though we do not yet understand why Al-Sisi hates Qatar and resents it...

"Instead of obsessing over Qatar and harassing its citizens... the coup regime should have worked to reconcile with itself, admit its mistakes and the [falsity of] allegations it levels at others based purely on assumptions and without a shred of proof, and understand the danger that its policy brings upon its country. Furthermore, the regime should reconcile with its poor suffering people and work to mend the social fabric with national unity that does not distinguish between elements of society or prefer one over the other...

"We are nearing the day when this regime admits its false claims against Qatar, requests its friendship, and begs for relations with it..."[12]

Al-Sharq Editor: When This Theater Of The Absurd Reaches The Egyptian Justice System - It Is A Disaster

Jaber Al-Harmi, editor of the Qatari daily Al-Sharq, wrote: "Last night, former president Muhammad Mursi was sentenced [to prison] in a false affair known as 'spying for Qatar.' [Mursi was] Egypt's first elected civilian president. The army carried out a coup against him in 2013, one year after he took office, in a plot whose machinations are exposed daily...

"[This] is a despicable farce and a predetermined scenario, with actors called 'judges' who were recruited from elementary schools and placed on the stage - not in the judge's chair, since these chairs are too big for them, and it would be a disgrace for such 'dwarves' to sit in them.

"It is shameful for Egypt that those who rule it today besmirch it and its history with this superficial attitude towards all [other] countries... Shame on those who accuse an elected president who ascended via the ballot boxes of spying for a sister country that stood by the Egyptian people from the first day of the revolution in January 2011...

"[The allegation] of spying for Qatar is a mark of shame upon the brow of the current ruler of Egypt... [This ruler] recruits his mercenary media day and night to deceive the Egyptian people, who suffer greatly in their daily lives, and make them think that this [spying affair] is the most important affair and thus distract them from fateful matters related to the economy, water, corruption, the security that depends on the enemy, and Egypt's declining ratings, especially in the field of education, which place this county at the 139th place out of 140...

"Today, after the military coup led by Al-Sisi - who claimed that he did not want the job, the regime, or even a promotion in rank - Egypt is [not just] entirely dependent on other [countries], but has also been hijacked [from its citizens]. Egypt deserves better than this. If the situation persists, there will be a swift decline in many fields.

"Today Al-Sisi coordinates with Israel [before carrying out] all his military activity against the people of Sinai and using every method of oppression and murder against them... He conspires against Gaza in open coordination with the Israelis and welcomes Israeli delegations 365 days a year. Israeli officials frequently announce that their ties with Egypt have never been better, thanks to President Al-Sisi. And I wonder - who should be on trial? And who is a risk to Egyptian and Arab national security?!

"The first elected president in Egypt's history stands trial on charges of spying for Qatar - how absurd! This is a mark of shame that will continue to haunt the regime, the executive branch, the judicial branch, and those who applaud and the hired mouthpieces.

"Qatar has not been known to conspire against anyone ever, and its past is white as snow, while it is others who besiege Gaza and starve women, children, and elderly to death..."[13]

Endnotes:

[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 5507, Anticipation In Egypt On The Eve Of The Trial Of Ousted President Muhammad Mursi, November 3, 2013.
On June 23, Britain voted in a referendum to leave the EU. Prior to the vote, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said that ISIS and Russian President Vladimir Putin "might be happy" with Brexit.[1] The comment was evocative of old rivalries between Russia and Britain. In the nineteenth century, the British and Russian Empires fiercely contended over Central Asia, in what was known as the "Great Game."[2] The two powers sought political and territorial hegemony there to expand their sphere of influence. Today, a new form of animosity can be observed. Inside the EU, it was the UK that most aggressively pushed to apply sanctions on Russia, following the latter's annexation of Crimea in 2014.

On June 21, just 48 hours before the Brexit referendum, the EU's Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) met and agreed to extend the sanctions against Russia until January 31, 2017.[3] The decision must be formally approved by the bloc's foreign ministers. However, the British position on sanctions is clear.[4] On June 21, British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said the following:"The Russians are playing a game. Frankly, a game of divide and rule. Targeting those who are temperamentally inclined to talk about sanctions relaxation: pressuring them, cajoling them...Any sign of reviewing will be seen as a sign of weakness."[5]

Russian reactions to Brexit were not monolithic. Official Russia from President Vladimir Putin and downward attempted to display strict neutrality. Nonofficial comments and analyses focused on Brexit's impact in several areas including sanctions, the Russian economy, and EU-US relations. Most commentators identified the migration crisis as the main reason for the British vote.

Below are reactions to Brexit by pro-Kremlin politicians and commentators:

Putin And Lavrov Deny Accusations That Russia Sought Brexit, Proclaim Their Neutrality Or Indifference

During an official visit to Uzbekistan to attend the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Heads of State Council, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to a question on Brexit and to comments that Britain's departure from the EU "plays into Russia's hands". Putin said that Russia did not interfere and will not interfere in Britain's internal policy. He also added that Russia will consider the effect that Brexit will have on the Russian and global economy.

Putin said: "...I'd like to say a few words about statements made before the voting in Britain and after it. Naturally, we closely followed the voting but never interfered or sought to influence it. Therefore, British Prime Minister David Cameron's statements on Russia's position before the referendum had no grounds whatsoever [referring to Cameron's comment that ISIS and Putin would be happy about Brexit]. I think it was an inappropriate attempt to influence public opinion at home. As we can see, it did not work. In my opinion, it is all the more inappropriate to speak about Russia's supposed position after the voting. This is truly a low level of political discourse.

"Now, to address the core issue. Of course, this will have consequences for both Britain and Europe as a whole. The referendum campaign and subsequent results point to the British Government's self-assuredness and supercilious attitude to life-changing decisions in their own country and Europe in general. It will have global effects. Again, they are inevitable - both positive and negative. Needless to say, everything will settle back to normal in the mid-term. Time will tell whether there will be more pluses or minuses.

"It seems to me that ordinary British citizens understand why this happened. First, nobody wants to feed and subsidize weaker economies and pay to support other states and entire nations. This is an obvious fact. Apparently, people are displeased about security, which is being eroded by powerful migration waves. People want to be more independent.

"One of the EU leaders - a former leader-told me that the ratio of binding decisions adopted by the European Parliament is higher than that made by the USSR Supreme Soviet in relation to Soviet republics. This means that the concentration of power at the top there is very high. Some like it and want to continue down this road of erasing national borders, whereas others do not like it. Judging by everything, by the results of the voting, the overwhelming majority of British subjects do not like it. It does not suit them.

"However, I would like to reiterate what I said recently at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. This is the choice made by British subjects. We did not interfere, are not interfering and will not interfere in this in any way. From all indications, certain formal procedures will follow, related to the British people's decision to leave the EU.

"We will closely watch and analyze this, seeking to minimize whatever negative fallout this decision might have for our economy, because considering the blow it dealt to markets and currencies, it is bound to impact and is already impacting stock exchange indices and therefore the prices of our traditional goods, but I am sure that everything will fall into place in the very near future..."[6]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also attended the SCO meeting and fielded media questions on Brexit. Asked to comment on the referendum's results, Lavrov remained neutral, saying that "It's the British people's business". Lavrov disparaged a British Foreign and Commonwealth Office claim that Brexit was "a victory" for Putin, by answering: "I never studied medicine. Therefore, I do not comment on medical cases."[7]



Britain cuts off its own arm, to be free from the EU. (Source: Twitter.com/sharzhipero; June 28, 2016)

Putin: If Anyone Is To Blame For The Referendum It Is Cameron

Before the Brexit referendum took place Putin discussed Brexit with international news agency heads at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).He speculated on Cameron's reason for initiating the referendum on Brexit.

Putin said: "As for the British Prime Minister: Brexit is now a very big issue, but why did he initiate this referendum, why did he do it? To intimidate Europe, or to threaten someone? What is the point of this if he himself opposes the idea? I should say that this is absolutely none of our business. This is the choice of the British people."[8]



Vk.com/13studiya, June 23, 2016.

Queen Elizabeth II: Bye- Bye!

The EU leaders are drowning and French President Francois Hollande asks the Queen: And what about us?

Refugees portrayed as ISIS Terrorists: And us?

Russia-EU Relations After Brexit - Putin Prefers A Strong Europe As A Partner, FM Lavrov: 'I Do Not Know What A Weak Or Strong Europe Is'

During a joint news conference with Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi at the SPIEF, Putin said that Russia prefers to interact with a strong Europe, rather than with a weak one. He then added that it is still unclear how Brexit can impact Europe: "Russia wants to interact with a strong Europe, because a dialogue with a weak partner is more trouble than it is worth: they can always be pressured by a third party, and all agreements and cooperation plans go down the drain. A strong partner would never allow this.

"But what would we call a strong Europe? This problem is waiting for a painstaking researcher, and I would rather it is you, not us. Will Europe be stronger if Britain votes to leave or to stay?"[9]

Lavrov at his SCO meeting with reporters addressed the question of whether a weak Europe is bad for Russia and good for the U.S. Lavrov replied: "I do not know what a weak or strong Europe is, and whether the decision made by the British people weakens or strengthens Europe. We will have to see."Lavrov was also asked if Russia expects that Brexit will spark a "wave of referendums". He answered: "We expect nothing. We are not a member of this organization. That after the British referendum, political forces in various EU countries say they also want to organize a similar referendum is a purely internal affair of these countries and of the EU."[10]

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova was less diplomatic and posted on her Facebook account a sarcastic comment insinuating that the EU countries will all decide to leave the EU in the near future: "In general, I would not be surprised if instead of terms connected to a specific country, such as Grexit and Brexit, in the near future there will be a more universal concept as "Whoexit?"[11]

Brexit And EU Sanctions On Russia-Putin: 'I Do Not Think That [Brexit] Will... Impact Our Relations With The EU'; Moscow Mayor: 'With Britain Out, No One Will Stand So Firmly In Favor Of Sanctions'

Several Russian public figures, including Putin, also discussed the consequences of Brexit on EU sanctions policy towards Russia, as Britain had been a major proponent within the EU. During his official visit to Uzbekistan for the SCO Putin denied a connection between the two issues: "Regarding the sanctions policy, I do not think that this will in any way impact our relations with the EU... We were not the ones who initiated these sanction restrictions on both sides. We only responded to the restrictions that were imposed on our country."[12]

First Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexei Likhachev also denied a direct connection between Brexit and sanctions on Russia. He qualified this by saying: "If the United Kingdom does not apply sanctions against Russia after the exit from the EU, a reasonable situation will emerge to cancel restrictive measures with respect to agricultural goods from the United Kingdom."[13]

Moscow's mayor Sergey Sobyanin was more outspokenly positive about Brexit and wrote on his Twitter account: "With Britain out, no one in the EU will stand so firmly in favor of sanctions against us [Russia]."[14]



Source: Twitter.com/MosSobyanin, June 24, 2016.

The State Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Aleksey Pushkov gloated on his Twitter account: "Yesterday, the EU was thinking about how to help Ukraine, and how to 'punish' Russia. Today, instead, the EU thinks about how to get a divorce from Britain and help itself. Zigzag history ..."[15]



Source: Twitter.com/Alexey_Pushkov, June 25, 2016.



Source: Vk.com/13studiya, June 25, 2016.

A Ukrainian painter is changing the colors of the Union Jack into the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

On the wall: "Ukraine is Britain." The cartoon mocks the Euromaidan slogan: "Ukraine is Europe".



Source: Twitter.com/sharzhipero, June 26, 2016

The pro-Kremlin media outlet Sharzh I Pero publishes a cartoon predicting the future demise of the EU won't exist anymore. The only country claiming to be a EU member is Ukraine. The cartoonist implies that the Ukrainians are the last people who believe the EU is worth joining.

Economic Perspectives - Former Minister Of Finance Kudrin: Brexit Has No Significant Impact On Russia; Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Kosachev Rejects Oversimplification 'Whatever Is Bad For Them Is Good For Us'

Russia's former minister of finance, Alexei Kudrin, who has recently joined the president's economic council, wrote on his Twitter account: "Brexit has no significant impact on Russia. We have our own problems, which are more sensitive."[16]



Source: Twitter.com/Aleksei_Kudrin, June 24, 2016.

Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Konstantin Kosachev said that Brexit could seriously damage Russia's established trade. Kosachev said: "I don't share the simplified point of view stating that whatever is bad for them is good for us. If the EU gets submerged in its own problems and steps into another crisis period this would affect our trade relations as well."[17]

The pro-Kremlin think tank Valdai Club published an article, titled "How Will Brexit Affect Russia?" by the Director of the Valdai Club programs and Associate Professor at the Moscow State Institute Of International Relation (MGIMO), Andrey Sushentsov(See also MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6460, "Director Of Russian Think Tank Valdai Club Programs: Moscow Has Much To Lose From Brexit," June 7, 2016). In the article, Sushentsov asserted that Brexit will negatively impact Russia's economy and foreign policy. Sushentsov explained that Brexit will economically damage Russia in several areas. First of all, Brexit could spark a "trade war" between the UK and the EU, which can jeopardize Russian investments not only in Britain, but also in the Netherlands and Cyprus, Russia's leading partners. Furthermore, Sushentsov mentioned that Brexit may influence the safety of Russia's third-largest gold and currency reserves, as "EU Brexit-related economic problems" may cause the devaluation of these reserves.

The Role Of Germany -Valdai Club Scholar Assesses That Brexit Could Transform The EU Into A Germany-Dominated Bloc; Notable Orthodox Theologian Kuraev: 'The Fourth Reich is being born in Europe'

In the same article, Sushentsov wrote that Russia fears the implication that Brexit could transform the EU into a bloc dominated by Germany - a scenario that could have negative repercussions for Moscow. After Brexit, Britain may draw closer to the U.S., to form a new "Anglo-Saxon alliance", whose policy inclinations may prove more hostile to Russia.[18]

This opinion was shared in harsher terms by the notable Orthodox theologian and missionary, Protodeacon Andrey Kuraev, who warned:"The Fourth Reich is being born in Europe, since the united Europe without Britain means German hegemony. The EU is helpless in front of Washington's demands, and those demands will be reinforced by 100% solidarity of the former Great Britain, which relinquishes its status as a world power and becomes just a small island country."[19]

Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Pushkov: '[Brexit] Is...A Personal Failure For [U.S. President] Barack Obama'

If the western media stresses that Brexit is Putin's victory, Aleksei Pushkov argues that Brexit marks the failure of U.S. President Barack Obama, who pleaded with the British people to vote Remain while visiting London in April, 2016.[20] Pushkov wrote: "No need to blame the innocents. Russia has nothing to do with this. It's the defeat of Brexit's opponents. And a personal failure for [U.S. President] Barack Obama."[21]



Source: Twitter.com/Alexey_Pushkov, June 24, 2016.

In another post on his Twitter account, Pushkov wrote: "The attempts to label the Brexit results a Putin victory are nothing but propaganda fantasies, electroshock's symptoms after Obama's and Brussels' loss."[22]

Russian Federation Commissioner for Entrepreneurs' Rights: 'Brexit Will Tear Europe From The Anglo-Saxons'

Russian Federation Commissioner for Entrepreneurs' Rights Boris Titov wrote on his Facebook account that with Britain out of the EU, the EU will be less dependent on the U.S. Titov wrote: "It seems that it happened -The UK is out!!! I think that the main longstanding consequence is that Brexit will tear Europe from the Anglo-Saxons, i.e. from the US. It's not about Britain's dependence on the EU, it's about the EU dependence on the US. From here and until we will get a united Eurasia-it won't be too far. May be in 10 years."[23]



Source: Facebook.com/boris.titov.92, June 23, 2016.

Editor-In-Chief Of English-Language RT Gloats Over Brexit: 'The Fun Times Are Beginning. #Wherearemypopcorns?'

Another take on Brexit was provided by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a senior Russian politician, and the founder and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) .Controversial statements are a Zhirinovsky trademark and he was true to form: "We will send a congratulatory telegram to Prime Minister Cameron, which says: Dear Cameron, our great friend, we are glad that Britain made a right choice despite your positions. You have to resign immediately." He then added: "Rural, provincial, working Britain said no to the European Union, which was established by the financial mafia, globalists and all the rest."[24]

Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the English-language service of the Russian-government funded television news network RT, appeared bemused by Brexit. Simonyan wrote on her Twitter account: "As we remember from our personal biographies, the centrifugal euphoria never arrives in single fashion. The fun times are beginning.#Wherearemypopcorns?"[25]



Twitter.com/m_simonyan, June 23, 2016



Source: Twitter.com/sharzhipero, June 26, 2016 .

Putin is watching the Brexit developments as if they were part of a movie.

Caption: "Last week Scotland and Northern Ireland declared that they would exit the Great Britain in case the latter exits the EU"

Explaining Brexit - Pushvov: Britain Could Not Submit To The EU's 'Anonymous Bureaucracy'; Zhirinovsky: Remove The Migrants And Britain Could Have Stayed

Pushkov commented that Brexit is a consequence of Cameron's foreign policy decisions, which the electorate did not support. Pushkov wrote on his Twitter account:"That's the price that Cameron pays for all the adventures in the Middle East: the joint occupation of Iraq with the U.S., the attempts to oust [Syrian president Bashar] Al-Assad and the 'victorious' war in Libya."[26]

Pushkov also said that the British vote can be viewed as an "uprising" by Western voters against the ruling system and traditional politicians and is comparable to American voter support for U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. He also said that Great Britain as a former empire could not be subjected to Brussels' "anonymous bureaucracy."[27]



Source: VitalyPodvitsky, Ria.ru, June 26, 2016.

Britain said no to Europe. In Europe only several migrants remained. The cartoonist drew several hijab attired women left behind in Europe.

Zhirinovsky also weighs in on why British citizens decided to leave the EU. He said: "I think the Europeans just don't want to live in a kolkhoz [the collective farm system established in the Soviet Union when Stalin abolished private agriculture]. They have criticized the USSR...but they were forced into a much worse [form of governing]. Brussels decides everything: quotas, democracy style. The main impetus [to vote for Brexit] was of course the migrants [crisis]. Europe is tired of Asians. They come from all over. They invaded the whole of Europe. Europe is not for Europeans anymore - it's for Asians. I've been to London - only Pakistanis and Hindis around. I have not seen native British inhabitants. That's the main thing. If all the migrants were removed - all of them, [Britain] could have stayed with the EU. But for them it is not worth it, because they want their national currency, their national states, to speak their own languages and take decisions in their own capitals. It's only natural that the EU is falling apart. NATO will [fall apart] as well."[28]



Source: Vitaly, Vk.com/13studiya, June 26, 2016.

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whom Russia's current leaders blame for the breakup of the USSR: "David, my dear lad, now you will have to carry burden of breaking the Union." The term "Union"is a double entendre referring both to the Soviet Union and the European Union.

The pro-Kremlin philosopher Aleksander Dugin said that if the British citizens decided to leave Europe it is either due to "disappointment" or because the country is adopting another strategy. "Anyway, it's just about chaos," he said. According to Dugin, chaos prevails in the Middle East and the Arab world in general. "And now it's Europe turn. Everything is ready for that," Dugin stated "To some extent the Britons are escaping the [EU] sinking ship. But it won't help them. Masses of migrants, crossing the Mediterranean, will successfully cross the English channel in just a matter of hours...For quite some time European democracy is not predicated on the authority of the majority, but on that of the minorities. That's why people never decide on anything. This is a 'theater society'. But anyway - any democracy is just a leaflet to paper over the power of the elites. Today it's just obvious to everyone."[29]



Source: Twitter.com/sharzhipero, June 29, 2016

Caption on top: [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel: A country which leaves the EU should not count on keeping its privileges.

Caption in the image: Oh Gosh, England won't be able to receive more refugees and pay others' debts.

Endnotes:
Judicial Watch cites in its complaint 18 USC  202  209; Executive Order 12674 on Principles of Ethical Conduct as amended by EO 12731; Uniform Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, 5 CFR Part 2635; Department of Justice regulations, 5 CFR Part 3801; Department of Justice regulations, 28 CFR Part 45; Executive branch standards of conduct, 5 USC  735; and, United States Department of Justice Ethics Handbook for On and Off-Duty Conduct, 14 Principles for Ethical Conduct:

14. Employees shall endeavor to avoid any actions creating the appearance that they are violating the law or the ethical standards set forth in this part. Whether particular circumstances create an appearance that the law or these standards have been violated shall be determined from the perspective of a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts.



5 C.F.R 2635.101 (b)



An employee shall endeavor to avoid any actions creating the appearance that the employee is violating the law or the ethical standards set forth in this part.



5 CFR 2635.101(b)(14)

Attorney General Loretta Lynchs meeting with Bill Clinton severely undermined the already low public confidence in her agencys criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton, stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. In addition to this IG investigation, Judicial Watch has already sent Freedom of Information Act requests about this scandalous meeting.
MENLO PARK  Facebook on Wednesday said it was tweaking its News Feed so people who use the social media site will see more posts from friends and family.

Since Facebook first launched News Feed in 2006, the sites users have seen a range of posts every day not only from their friends and family, but from businesses, nonprofits and news outlets, too.

Thats why stories in News Feed are ranked  so that people can see what they care about first, and dont miss important stuff from their friends wrote Adam Mosseri, vice president of product management for Facebooks News Feed, in a blog post. If the ranking is off, people dont engage, and leave dissatisfied. So one of our most important jobs is getting this ranking right.

The tech firm will have to strike a delicate balance between keeping people engaged on the site but not driving away businesses and publishers who rely on Facebook to drive more sales or traffic to their websites, some analysts say.

When you look at peoples sharing behavior and whats in peoples feeds, the perception is that its tilting more to the content side and away from personal posts, said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst with eMarketer.

Still, showing posts from friends and family higher up in the News Feed could drive away traffic from some Facebook pages. Businesses and nonprofits may not see advertising on the site as worthwhile and Facebook makes most of its money from ads, raking in $5.3 billion in revenue from January to March.

Businesses are already having a tougher time getting their posts seen by people who follow their pages, unless they spend more money on ads. In 2015, the company made changes to the News Feed to eliminate many of the unpaid status updates users receive from businesses theyve liked. But that change didnt put a major dent in Facebooks ad sales, which has been growing every year.

With about 62 percent of U.S. adults getting news on social media, according to a 2016 survey by the Pew Research Center, the change could also drive traffic away from news sites.

At the end of day, weve seen several examples of how Facebook has changed the rules to benefit itself and I think this is one of those examples, Williamson said.

The company has also been trying to give users more control over what they see. In 2015, Facebook started allowing users to select friends and pages they would like to see first in their stream of posts, photos and videos.

But as Facebook competes with other social media companies such as popular messaging app Snapchat, its 1.6 billion users are also reportedly sharing less personal content about themselves, according to an April report by The Information.

Changes to the News Feed will happen in the coming weeks, Facebook said.

Weve heard from our community that people are still worried about missing important updates from the friends they care about, Lars Backstrom, an engineering director for the company, said in a blog post on Wednesday. For people with many connections this is particularly important, as there are a lot of stories for them to see each day,

Contact Queenie Wong at 408-920-2706. Follow her at Twitter.com/QwongSJ.
Greater Albany Public Schools will soon have new information to help it track students past graduation day.

The school district is purchasing a program called StudentTracker, part of the National Student Clearinghouse, and plans to use it to collect data on graduates from South Albany, West Albany and Albany Options schools.

Members of the Albany School Board heard a report on the program as part of Monday's board meeting.

In other business, they voted to adopt the 2016-17 budget and heard an update on the current balance and possible uses for the district's construction excise tax fund.

The StudentTracker program provides eight years' worth of data for more than two dozen reports, including which educational institutions most students choose their first year out of high school, the percent that come back for a second year and the length of time it takes them to graduate.

Assistant Superintendent Tonja Everest told board members the district plans to pay for results for the eight-year period starting in 2008, at a cost of $425 per school, and should have the data after about five weeks.

The program uses enrollment and degree information from more than 3,300 collegiate institutions, covering more than 93 percent of all U.S. students.

The results should help the school district learn more about how it's preparing students for their future, Everest said, especially when it comes to describing what the options are and giving them the tools to stick with their choices.

Next school year's budget, which board members approved unanimously, includes a general fund of $101,437,983. That's up slightly from what was approved by the budget committee because of an increase in beginning net working capital: carryover funds from 2015-16 and settlement money from a dispute over repairs to windows and portions of the roof at Timber Ridge School.

Business Director Russell Allen said the expenditure authority also needed to increase to cover the needs of the new cafeteria building at South Albany High School and a four-classroom modular at Periwinkle Elementary School, and to make up for increases in property insurance costs.

The district has suggested using construction excise tax funds, which may be used only for capital improvements, to pay for Periwinkle's modular and the new cafeteria.

No decisions have been made so far, but in response to board requests, Allen gave an update Monday on what's been spent out of the fund to date and what requests have been received.

Authorized by Senate Bill 1036 in 2007, the construction excise tax allows school districts to impose taxes on most kinds of new construction. The idea was to make new growth help pay for school expansions.

Albany has spent $997,897 of its CET funds since 2008 and should have $2.34 million as part of its beginning fund balance this fall, Allen said.

So far, money has been spent on modular classrooms for Oak Grove, North Albany and Clover Ridge, remodeling work at Fir Grove and a wetlands study for possible relocation of the district's bus garage.

Although more money will flow into the fund as developments are approved, the district could choose to spend all of the current CET balance on South Albany's new cafeteria alone, Allen said.

Other potential projects include the Periwinkle modular; completion of a remodeling project on a former chiropractic building on 24th Avenue, which the district plans to use for high school Life Skills classes; and land acquisition for future use in northeast Albany.
Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias talked by telephone a short while ago with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, to whom he expressed his condolences regarding the abominable terrorist attacks that took place yesterday at Istanbuls airport.



Mr. Kotzias expressed to Mr. Cavusoglu his firm conviction that terrorism can have nothing to do with Islam and nor can it be linked with religious faith and the values of charity and tolerance that such faith professes.



The two Foreign Ministers agreed to meet within the framework of the proceedings of the NATO Summit Meeting on 8 and 9 July, in Warsaw, where they will proceed to a review of bilateral relations and schedule an exchange of visits for the coming time.


Many anti-abortion leaders were openly disappointed, bracing for the demise of restrictions that they had worked vigorously to enact over the past few years.

The Supreme Court has decided "the abortion industry will continue to reign unchecked as mothers are subjected to subpar conditions," said Heather Weininger, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life.

On the other side of the debate, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards hailed the ruling as "an enormous victory for women," and joined her abortion-rights allies in vowing to quickly seek gains beyond Texas.

"Far too many women still face insurmountable barriers, which is why we are taking this fight state by state," she said. "It's time to pass state laws to protect a woman's constitutional right to abortion, and repeal ones that block it."

The Texas rules struck down Monday by the Supreme Court required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and forced clinics to meet hospital-like standards for outpatient surgery. Supporters of the Texas law, and similar laws enacted in other states, said both provisions were necessary to ensure safe, high-quality care for women. Opponents of the laws said abortion already is a very safe procedure, and contended the real motive of the laws was to reduce women's access to abortion.

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which led the legal challenge, similar admitting-privilege requirements are in effect in Missouri, North Dakota and Tennessee, and are on hold in Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. The hospital-like outpatient surgery standards are in place in Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and are on hold in Tennessee, according to the center.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court followed up its Texas ruling by rejecting appeals from Mississippi and Wisconsin seeking to put in place admitting-privilege restrictions that were struck down by lower courts.

Mississippi's law would have closed the lone abortion clinic in the state. It required doctors who perform abortions to be able to admit patients to a hospital within 30 miles of their clinics; providers at the clinic in Jackson had been unable to obtain such privileges.

"It's very disappointing, said the sponsor of the Mississippi law, state Rep, Sam Mims. "It seems like these five justices are more concerned about access to abortion than health care to the women."

In Alabama, Attorney General Luther Strange said his office is ending the legal fight over its law requiring abortion doctors to have hospital-admitting privileges. The state had been appealing a judge's 2014 decision finding Alabama's law unconstitutional.

If the admitting privilege requirement was enforced, as many as four of the state's five abortion clinics could close.

The legislative director of Louisiana Right to Life, Deanna Wallace, said the Supreme Court decision doesn't automatically invalidate Louisiana's Texas-style law, but it "does not predict a favorable forecast for its future."

In several states, including Oklahoma, Kansas, Michigan and Missouri, state officials said they were reviewing the status of their abortion restrictions in light of the high court ruling

In Pennsylvania, a Democratic state senator, Daylin Leach, said he would introduce legislation seeking to repeal a 2011 law that tightened requirements at abortion clinics. The law requires such clinics to comply with the same safety standards as outpatient surgery centers, including requirements for wider hallways and doorways, bigger operating rooms, and full-time nurses.

The law was signed by then-Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, in the aftermath of a Philadelphia criminal case in which an abortion provider, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, was convicted of killing newborn babies during illegal, late-term abortion procedures performed in filthy surroundings.

An abortion-rights lawyer, Sue Frietsche, said the law inflicted heavy financial burdens on abortion clinics throughout Pennsylvania and contributed to the closure of several of them.

Looking ahead, a key question for both sides in the abortion debate is to what extent Monday's ruling will affect other types of abortion restrictions, beyond the two provisions at stake in the Texas law.

For example, more than a dozen states have passed laws banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, on the disputed premise that a fetus can feel pain at that stage. Several states have recently banned dilation-and-extraction, a common second-trimester abortion technique which opponents have depicted as "dismemberment abortion." Some states now require a 72-hour waiting period before a woman can have an abortion.

Nancy Northup, CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said her legal team will be reviewing these and other laws to determine if they are now vulnerable in the aftermath of Monday's high court ruling.

In the ruling, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that the Texas requirements provided few, if any, health benefits for women, while placing "an undue burden" on their constitutional right to seek an abortion.

The question ahead, Northup said, is whether other types of state restrictions also pose such a burden.

"It's going to be interesting to see if responsible lawmakers realize they need to start upholding women's rights or continue with this game of Whack-a-Mole that's been going on," said Northup, referring to states that launched new anti-abortion legislation even as earlier measures were blocked by litigation.
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.
Soldiers just got a welcome break from summer heat with a recent uniform change that allows them to roll-up the sleeves on their Army Combat Uniforms.

Gen. James McConville, the Army G1, on Tuesday signed a memo that authorizes the uniform change.

"Effective immediately, Commanders may authorize Soldiers to roll-up the sleeves on the universal camouflage pattern (UCP) ACU, operational camouflage pattern (OCP) ACU or operation enduring freedom camouflage pattern (OEF-CP) ACU," according to the memo.

The decision follows a 10-day pilot with soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas.

"We're going sleeves up, camo out," Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel Dailey said in an Army press release.

Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning, the service's newest top civilian official, was asked about the new policy at a public event on the day it was approved, but he decided to sidestep the issue.

"I think for any number of reasons, I'm going to stay away from uniform issues," Fanning told an audience at an Association of the United States Army breakfast.

"But I'm watching closely, and if successful, I think we need a pilot on the civilian side as well," he said.

When soldiers wear the sleeves of the ACU coat rolled up, the camouflage pattern will remain exposed, the memo states. Personnel will roll sleeves neatly above the elbow but no more than three inches above the elbow.

"Most senior NCOs today should remember how they used to roll their BDU sleeves and teach their soldiers," said Hank Minitrez, an Army spokesman.

In addition to the exposed camouflage roll, soldiers may cuff their sleeves above the wrist on the forearm during field training exercises or operations with their commanders approval, Daily said.

"It's often referred to as a Delta roll or SF roll," Dailey said.

There will be no time restrictions on the new policy, Dailey said.

"For instance, company commanders in Hawaii can make the decision to go sleeves up any time of year," he said.

The Army also posted a website with an instruction video on how to roll up the sleeves, along with several common questions about the new policy.

For example, the first question asked about whether the policy still applies to soldiers with arm tattoos.

"As long as the Soldier's tattoos are already in compliance with regulatory guidance, there is no issue with tattoos being displayed when sleeves are rolled up," the answer states.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.

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Scott Stump had the idea for a Persian Gulf War memorial years ago. But it wasn't until the 25th anniversary of the 1991 cease-fire arrived -- and the Pentagon chose not to hold a single official event marking the day -- that he truly realized how important it was.

Their war, it seemed, was at risk of being forgotten.

"This was one of the pivotal events in the nation's history. While the war ended very quickly, we cannot forget the nearly 400 servicemen who did not come home," Stump, president and founder of the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association, told FoxNews.com. "We owe it to their families and to all of those who fought to remember."

Stump's group recently obtained congressional approval for the project, and is now working to make that idea -- a memorial nestled in the heart of Washington near the iconic memorials for Vietnam, World War II and other wars -- a reality.

Designers and planners still have a long road ahead, and the process could take years. The group estimates they need to raise between $25 million and $40 million before the memorial can be built. The funds are being raised entirely from private sources.

Stump, a Marine infantryman who deployed to the Gulf on Dec. 31, 1990, understands that the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dominate the national consciousness.

Those wars lasted far longer and involved significantly more casualties, and in a sense still have not ended. But Stump and fellow veterans of Desert Shield and Desert Storm worry about their contribution fading into a historical footnote -- and they see this memorial as a way to preserve that in the solemn stretch of enduring monuments across the nation's capital.

"There is a tendency to downplay the war because it only lasted about 100 hours," he said. "We had a mission to liberate Kuwait. We completed that mission. But it certainly was not easy. The relatively low casualty rate should not determine the worth of this memorial."

By post-9/11 standards, the Gulf War was a paragon of efficiency and overwhelming force.

In August 1990, more than 120,000 Iraqi troops led the invasion of Kuwait and within a week President George H.W. Bush launched Desert Shield. Over the next four months, more than 600,000 U.S. service members were deployed to Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf region. It was the largest overseas deployment of American forces since the Vietnam War.

After Saddam Hussein refused to comply with multiple United Nations resolutions to leave Kuwait, a declaration of war was made on Jan. 17, 1991; weeks later, seven Army divisions, two Marine divisions, and units from allied forces crossed the border into Kuwait to eject Iraqi forces from the tiny country.

Stump said the swift victory helped reestablish a positive relationship between the American public and the military.

In a sign that the bond remains strong, Rep. Steven Palazzo, one of three members of Congress who served in Desert Storm, said those working on the memorial are getting "very positive feedback."

"I believe people recognize that we faced a determined enemy and tough terrain. We were asked to liberate Kuwait and we did just that. It was a historic victory that involved an unprecedented coalition. The men and women who fought in the Gulf deserve recognition and thanks for their sacrifice," Palazzo told FoxNews.com.

A 20-year old lance corporal at the time, the Mississippi Republican spent six months in the Gulf with the Third Force Reconnaissance Company providing support for the 1st and 2nd Marine divisions as they liberated Kuwait. Mike Coffman of Colorado and Jeff Denham of California, both Republicans, are the other two Persian Gulf veterans.

Tennessee Republican Rep. Phil Roe had introduced the memorial bill itself in 2013, after an earlier failed attempt. Language approving the memorial was included in a broad 2014 defense budget measure.

The memorial will honor all Gulf War veterans and their families, and the members of the 34-nation coalition. A total of 383 U.S. service members were killed in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The memorial's proposed design incorporates that coalition and the maneuver credited with breaking the back of the Iraqi forces.

The primary focus is a curved, massive, Kuwaiti limestone wall, which both encloses and envelopes an inner memorial space. The curved wall is reflective of the "left hook" maneuver that was critical to ending the war and also serves the purpose, according to the foundation, of shielding visitors both visually and acoustically from the noise of the city.

The memorial space will include a 150-foot long sculpture that will feature the flags of the 34 nations in the coalition. The names of the fallen will be etched on the "inner sanctum" of the memorial.

There are several locations under consideration, including a site directly adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery.

Planners are coming up on a busy next phase for the project. This includes site selection, conducting environmental impact studies, and, most importantly, raising awareness and funds. Fred Wellman, chairman of the group's Public Relations Committee, said the goal is to raise $25 million. The group has several fundraising events planned for this summer.

Wellman said they took a somewhat unconventional approach, by focusing first on getting congressional approval, seeking feedback on the design and ensuring it would be built near the other major war memorials on the National Mall.

As a start, the group received a much-needed $300,000 grant over five years from the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Organization in August 2015.

"We went about this with the same efficiency as we fought the war itself," Wellman said.

The funding would be the next step.

But they received the biggest endorsement they could hope for in January, when former President George H.W. Bush joined the organization as honorary chairman of the Board of Directors.

"During Operation Desert Storm, our troops served with valor and honor to defend what was right and just. Some lost their lives; others still live today with the wounds suffered in battle. Their sacrifices must not be forgotten," Bush said in a statement.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House and Senate are sponsoring legislation aimed at closing a loophole that they and veterans groups say let employers fire employees who temporarily leave their jobs to serve on active duty.

The new bill, called the Justice for Servicemembers Act, would make it clear that Congress never intended that the old one, Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, or USERRA, which dates to 1994, was voluntary -- or something an employer coguarduld challenge in the courts, lawmakers and veterans groups said during a press conference on Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, neither Congress nor organizations like Military Officers Association of America, which has supported USERRA from the beginning, could anticipate the lengths that some employers would go through to continue to treat these patriots unfairly," Aniela Szymanski, director of Veterans and Survivor Services at MOAA, told lawmakers on Wednesday.

Szymanski is a Marine Reserve lieutenant colonel select who served in Afghanistan.

MOAA is one of several veterans groups lending support to the bills, designatedS-3402 andHR-5426, respectively. Others include the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the Reserve Officer Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans of America and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. The Commissioned Officers of the U.S. Public Health Service also back the legislation.

So far the Senate version has only Democrat sponsors, while the House bill has support from three Democrats and three Republicans.

"We will be soliciting Republicans and I'm very hopeful it will have bipartisan support," Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said.

Co-sponsor Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota said Congress has previously passed bills strengthening USERRA with bipartisan support and expects this measure will see the same success.

At least two federal district courts have previously ruled that Congress was not clear in whether employers may demand returning soldiers go to arbitration in order to return to their jobs or receive benefits added during a deployment or active-duty service.

This legislation intends "to reverse this troubling trend once and for all," Franken said.

It was scheduled to be debated during a Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing on health and benefits legislation on Wednesday.

Navy Reserve Lt. Kevin Ziober said he experienced one of the most egregious violations of the legislation.

"On my last day of work [before deploying] they hosted a farewell party for me," he said, "with cake, balloons, camouflage netting [decorations] and cards and gifts. It was a great feeling."

Four hours later, he was summoned to the human resources office, where he was fired.

When he returned and tried to get his job back, the company went to court, which said Ziober would have to submit to arbitration -- an agreement he was directed to sign shortly after taking the job.

He is continuing to fight the termination that the company said was due to poor performance.

The new law, Blumenthal said, would give any employee who believes they were terminated or denied pay or benefits because of military service the ability to go to court without incurring filing costs or the possibility of being burdened by the employer's fees and costs.

Szymanski, who is also a visiting professor at the College of William and Mary Law School, said she also knows from personal experience as well as that of other veterans that such actions by employers cause enormous strain on the ability of members to stay in the reserves and Guard.

"There should never be a circumstance where a reservist is forced to choose between a civilian career and their country," she said. "[But] this becomes a very real choice ... And more often than not they're forced to choose their civilian career because of family."

An estimated 900,000 National Guard members and Reservists have been called on to deploy over the past 15 years of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, officials said.

Given the critical role the reserve components play, anything that would prompt someone not to or reenlist in the Guard and Reserve is a threat to readiness, they said.

In addition to Blumenthal and Franken, other Senate sponsors include Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Dick Durbin of Illinois.

House backers include Democrats David Cicilline of Rhode Island and Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania, as well as Republicans Walter Jones of North Carolina, Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Jackie Walorski of Indiana.

-- Bryant Jordan can be reached at Bryant.jordan@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at@BryantJordan.
The U.S. military has no immediate reports that any service member or their family members were among the casualties in the Istanbul airport terror attacks that killed at least 41 and injured an estimated 239, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.

U.S. European Command, which has responsibility for Turkey, said it has full accountability for American military personnel and their families in the region, according to preliminary reports, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.

There also were no immediate reports from the State Department that any U.S. citizens were killed or injured in the Tuesday attacks at Istanbul's busy Ataturk airport by at least three terrorists wielding small arms and suicide vests.

The U.S. profile in Turkey was significantly lowered in March following the Brussels airport and Metro terror attacks when about 600 military families were evacuated from Turkey "out of an abundance of caution," Pentagon officials said at the time.

Although there has been no immediate claim of responsibility, Turkish officials said the Istanbul attacks appeared to be the work of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. President Barack Obama issued similar remarks Wednesday in Ottawa, where he was meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

After extending "my deepest condolences to the people of Turkey," Obama condemned the attacks in statements clearly attributing responsibility to ISIS.

"It's an indication of how little these vicious organizations have to offer beyond killing innocents," Obama said. "They're continually losing ground, unable to govern those areas that they have taken over. They're going to be defeated in Syria, they're going to be defeated in Iraq."

The president added, "We will not rest until we have dismantled these networks of hate that have had an impact on the entire civilized world. We stand with the people of Turkey."

Despite Obama's remarks, the U.S. military initially stopped short of blaming the Istanbul attacks on ISIS.

In a briefing to the Pentagon from Baghdad, Army Col. Chris Garver, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, said the military could not immediately attribute blame to ISIS but said that the Istanbul attacks fit the image of what ISIS wants to project.

"We certainly know they want to do that," Garver said of attacks intended to cause global chaos and fear of the terror group. "We know Daesh wants to project power" beyond Iraq and Syria, he said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
School lunch prices will go up for military kids stationed overseas who attend Defense Department schools, officials announced Wednesday.

The lunches will increase $0.10 a meal for elementary students to $2.50, and $0.20 a meal for secondary students to $2.75 for the 2016-17 school year, officials with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) said in a release.

Families who are part of the free and reduced price meal program aren't affected by the price increase. The price of reduced meals will remain at $0.40.

Meals at Defense Department schools are provided by the Navy Exchange (NEX), AAFES, Marine Corps Community services or a contractor, depending on the base.

The Exchanges provide the meals at-cost, and are required by law to raise their rates to a level comparable with the US Department Agriculture's (USDA) school lunch reimbursement rates, AAFES officials said. Although the USDA rates typically rise slightly each year, DoDEA schools have not raised the OCONUS school lunch rates since 2012.

3 Things to Know: School Lunch Price Bump

The change impacts all overseas locations except Guam, officials said

The increase, which totals about $20 for elementary and $35 for secondary students per school year, has been received by some parents as excessive. The quality and quantity of food their children receive through the program, they said, makes it not worth it with or without the price bump.

"I don't really care about the price increase," said Leigh Wanczowski, an Army wife stationed in Germany with two elementary school students. "But it will motivate me to disregard convenience. It was already an issue for our family last year when my kids complained about being hungry or not being able to stomach a 'fish' stick."

Wanczowski said the portions are small, her children don't like the food and she has been dissatisfied with the ingredients. She said she can pack them a healthy lunch with larger portions for about the same amount as it would cost her to buy them school lunches every day.

"Some days I saw the main entree in their lunch to be bread, a transparently slim slice of poor-quality lunch meat, and a packet of mustard," she said. "Certainly I can provide that for the same price, and maybe even add lettuce and cheese."

About 45,000 students were enrolled in OCONUS DoDEA schools as of late this month. Base commanders both OCONUS and stateside choose with to contract for the school lunches, officials said.

In the 2014 to 2015 school year, AAFES served about 19,000 school lunches per day in 75 cafeterias, while the Navy Exchange served 500,881 school lunches in 16 locations during the 2015 to 2016 school year. Marine Corps Community Services supplies lunches only at Iwakuni, Japan, and did not have statistics available.

-- Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @amybushatz.
Vietnam has risen to 11th place on the A.T. Kearny 2016 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), which indentifies the top 30 emerging retail markets worldwide.

Two years ago, Vietnam ranked 28th on the index, which analyzes 25 macroeconomic variables to help retailers devise successful global strategies to identify potential retail investment opportunities. With increasing disposable incomes, rapid urbanization and rising living standards, Vietnam is one of the most dynamic emerging economies in Southeast Asia.

Vietnams retail market has witnessed healthy growth rates of approximately 10 percent annually in recent years, with sales growing by about 90 percent from 2009 to 2015. The market is forecast to reach $109 billion in 2017, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Retailers, in particular, have seen the countrys relatively young population as the main driver of robust retail market growth.

Official statistics show Vietnam has roughly 600,000 retail outlets nationwide, and it is estimated that figure will jump by 45 percent in the next four years. Photo by Vietnam News Agency.

Global management consulting firm A.T. Kearny said Vietnams gross domestic product has grown 5.2 percent annually since 2013, the highest among its Southeast Asian peers ranked in the GRDI.

Convenience stores are a phenomenon in Vietnam, with estimated growth in store numbers of more than 260 percent since 2012, the consulting firm estimated.

Companies seeking to tap into these trends include domestic giant Vingroup, which opened 93 stores last year and plans to open twice as many in 2016; Japans Family Mart, which will open more than 100 stores in 2016, and 7-Eleven, which is entering the market through a franchise agreement with Seven System Vietnam.

Some global heavyweights have also entered the scene.

Apple opened a Vietnam subsidiary that allows it to import and distribute cell phones directly to a market that now has more than 150 million mobile phone subscribers with an increasing desire for smart phones.

South Korean hypermarket operator E-mart has launched its first Vietnamese store in Ho Chi Minh City and announced further plans to expand its network to 52 stores before 2020.

Japans AEON introduced Topvalu to Vietnam in late 2015, tapping into the popularity of Japanese culture to offer authentic Japanese ingredients and home cooking kits.

Such prospects have spurred significant acquisition activities, particularly by local and regional players.

Conglomerate Vingroup purchased Maximark, a local retailer, rebranding it under the VinMart+ brandname. Thailands TCC and Central Group have acquired Germany's Metros Cash and Carry and France's Big C grocery chain, respectively, earlier this year.

As Vietnam has concluded a variety of free trade agreements, including the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the country is expected to experience an influx of foreign retailers such as Japans AEON, South Koreas CJ Group and Thailands Central Group, which have expressed great interest and gradually expanded their presence with long-term plans for the market.

Local retailers are faced with increasingly fierce competition from foreign rivals, said Dinh Thi My Loan, chairwoman of the Vietnam Association of Retailers.

Therefore, the government should beef up its support for local retailers, laying out a roadmap so the domestic retail sector is not dominated by international companies, said Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, head of the World Trade Organization Center under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Dwelling Place Inc. is proposing to build 50 to 75 affordable rental units aimed at families living in the Harrison Park neighborhood on Grand Rapids' lower West Side.

The $10 million housing initiative is aimed at improving housing conditions for lower income residents who are being squeezed out by higher rents and redevelopment, said Chris Bennett, director of housing and community development for Dwelling Place.

"These aren't aimed at new people coming into the neighborhood," Bennett said. "These are for people who are living on the West Side who are looking for better housing."

Unlike many new market-rate rental properties featuring mostly one and two-bedroom units, the Dwelling Place units will include mostly three-bedroom flats and townhouses aimed at families, Bennett said.

The project is aimed at families whose children are enrolled in the "Challenge Scholarship" program at Harrison Park Elementary School and Westwood Middle School, Bennett said

Similar to the Kalamazoo Promise, the Challenge Scholarship program was created to pay college expenses for neighborhood children who meet attendance and scholarship criteria through high school.

RELATED: How a $2M grant is helping teachers, principals improve student outcomes

"There's a lot of incentive for people to live in that neighborhood, but at the same time, there's a big crunch in the cost of housing," said Bennett, noting some parents are working extra jobs to keep up with rising rental rates in the neighborhood.

A recent survey by the Kent County Land Bank of 67 families has shown most residents can afford no more than $600 to $700 a month for housing expenses. The Dwelling Place project would be aimed at families whose income is less than 60 percent of the area median income.

The project would be spread over three sites within walking distance of Harrison Park Elementary School. Dwelling Place will start the process by seeking zoning changes and special use permits at the July 14 meeting of the City Planning Commission.

One site, at 1138 Pine Ave. NW, would involve demolishing Pine Academy, a vacant school building owned by Grand Rapids Public Schools. Last used as an alternative high school, the 58-year-old building on a 1.1-acre site has been vacant since 2010.

Dwelling Place is proposing to build 20 three-bedroom flats and six three-bedroom townhouses on the Pine Avenue site.

Another site, on the northwest corner of Alpine Avenue and Myrtle Street NW, would replace an auto repair shop, a used car lot and two homes with two buildings that would include 23 three-bedroom apartments and 12 two-bedroom apartments.

The 3.25-acre site on Alpine Avenue was assembled with the help of the Kent County Land Bank.

A third site on a vacant lot at 1421 Muskegon Ave. NW would include four or five single family homes with two or three bedrooms each, Bennett said.

Construction costs probably will be about $6 million while site preparation costs will be close to $4 million, Bennett said.

Bennett said they have met with neighbors several times and have gained the endorsement of the West Grand Neighborhood Association and the West Side Collaborative, a group of business and neighborhood leaders.

Dwelling Place also has begun the process of applying for Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, Bennett said. The tax credits will be used to help finance the project, which he estimated will cost about $5.5 million.

If they are able to win approval of the tax credits this fall, Bennett said they hope to start construction next April, with completion 12 months later.

Dwelling Place, a 30-year-old non-profit housing developer that has developed 1,300 housing units in four Michigan counties, has participated in several West Side housing projects in the past, Bennett said. But this project is the largest and the first one in which it has taken the lead, he said.

RELATED: West Side 'super block' development will include affordable housing

Jim Harger covers business for Mlive Media Group. Email him at jharger@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook or Google+.
Kellogg

Kellogg cereal will be available by the bowl in a Times Square restaurant. (MLive file art)

BATTLE CREEK, MI - Kellogg is giving Tony the Tiger a hip new address, rolling out an all-day cereal bar in New York's Times Square.

The move comes as the Battle Creek-based company is trying to reinvent its cereal's soggy image and boost slumping U.S. sales, according to the Associated Press.

The new cereal cafe will open July 4 on Broadway, between 48th and 49th streets.

A bowl at the new cereal cafe will cost $6.50 to $7.50. Customers will be allowed to mix cereals like Special K and Frosted Flakes with ingredients like pistachios and lemon zest, according to the AP.

Future plans include a delivery service.

Here's a look at the planned menu:
UM bike snatching 6-29.png

ANN ARBOR, MI -- A man snatched a purse from a bicyclist on the University of Michigan's campus early Wednesday, June 29, police say.

The U-M Division of Public Safety and Security reports the bicyclist was riding at 2:50 a.m. in the 900 block of South University between Tappan and State streets, near the U-M Law Quadrangle.

An unknown male approached the bicyclist, and they talked briefly. The man then grabbed a purse from the bicycle and fled as a passenger in a dark-colored car, according to U-M police.

A detailed suspect description was not available.

Anyone with information about the incident can contact the U-M Division of Public Safety and Security at 734-763-1131 or dial 911.

Lindsay Knake is a cops and courts reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Follow her on twitter or contact her at 989-372-2498 or lknake@mlive.com.
Vietnam recorded an eight-fold jump in imports of oil products from South Korea in the first five months of this year following a tariff cut.

Vietnam halved import tariffs on gasoline from South Korea to 10 percent from 20 percent last December under a free trade agreement between the two countries. The new import tax is expected to remain in place until 2018.

"South Korean gasoline exports to Vietnam are expected to keep rising, driven by the lowered tariffs," energy newswire Platts quoted an official at the Korea Petroleum Association as saying.

South Korean oil refiners are seeking to increase exports to Vietnam as they plan to diversify their export markets, which currently rely heavily on China and Singapore, according to the official.



During the first five months of this year, South Korea's overall oil product exports to Vietnam soared nearly eight times to 6.96 million barrels, compared with 884,000 barrels in the same period last year, according to data released last week by the Korea National Oil Corp.



In May, South Korea exported 2.51 million barrels of oil products to Vietnam, of which gasoline accounted for 72.1 percent of total shipments.

South Korea did not export any gasoline to Vietnam in May last year.

Over the January-May period, South Korea exported 6.03 million barrels of gasoline.

Vietnam has imported 5.4 million tons of oil products in the first five months of 2016, up 27.6 percent on-year, according to customs data.
Vietnamese-Singaporean Dr. Phan Toan Thang discovered the method of using stem cells from the umbilical cord to cure burns, injuries and many others diseases.

Thang is now one of the owners of a $700 million company - Cellresearch Corp - regarded as the founding father of the umbilical cord stem cell research program, according to Singapores The Straits Times.

The use of umbilical cord stem cells to cure disease will be tested on humans next year in Denver under the surveillance of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This new technology may be able to heal scars and make skin transplants cheaper.

In 2002, in the same year that Cellresearch Corp was founded, Dr. Phan attended the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University to study the method of using stem cells from the placenta to repair livers.

After his two years there, he returned to Singapore to conduct stem cell extraction experiments with both the placenta and umbilical cord. After his failure to extract stem cells from the placenta, he came up with the idea of using the umbilical cord, which used to be considered medical waste. His idea turned out to be a huge success because it can provide six billion stem cells that can be developed into skin and turned into bone and other body parts. His discovery has the potential to cure wounds, burns and other diseases.

Dr. Phan graduated from the Military Medical University in 1991 and then went to Oxford University in 1995 under a scholarship program. He then worked at Singapore General Hospital in 1997 in the burns unit, specialized in healing wounds and creating skin cells, before attending Stanford University. In the hospital, he met his colleague, Dr. Ivor Lim, who formed Cellresearch Corp with him in 2002.
The United Nations pledges to work with the Vietnamese government to provide care and protection for the countrys at-risk children - a message delivered by Marta Santos Pais, special representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children during her recent three-day visit to Vietnam.

Pais met with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam on her first day and also attended the fourth installment of the ASEAN Children Forum in Hanoi as she worked on the promotion of preventing and eliminating all forms of violence against children.

Children in Vietnam are particularly vulnerable to many forms of violence, both physically and via the internet, namely the persistence of cross-border trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation and child labor, as well as the overuse of detention of child offenders, said Pais at a press conference held on June 22.

Pais said violence against children has high financial costs for society through its long-lasting impacts on child development, and for the budgets of the health, social welfare and criminal justice systems. "By investing in prevention we can strengthen Vietnams human and social capital, she said.

According to the UN, there are an estimated 3.3 million children in need of special protection and particularly vulnerable to violence, which accounts for about 12 percent of the total child population in Vietnam. Countless numbers of children are vulnerable to neglect, abuse, trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Children with disabilities remain particularly vulnerable and are three to four times more likely to be victims of violence, neglect and sexual abuse than their peers. Over 1.7 million are child workers, 172,500 are without parental care, 21,000 live on the street, 12,000 children are involved with the justice system, 2,381 are living with HIV/AIDS and 1,067 use drugs.

Children are increasingly exposed to the danger of being sexually abused or taken advantage of online. A recent poll in Vietnam shows that 41 percent of young people aged under 18 have witnessed their friends participate in risky behavior online, the UN reported.

Meanwhile, the number of child sex abuse cases in Vietnam has been increasing at an alarming rate in recent years. According to reports delivered at a conference to summarize the five-year Child Protection Program from 2011-2015 in Vietnam, there were over 8,200 child abuse cases with 9,920 victims, up by 258 children compared to the previous five years.

On May 12, the Bangkok-based NGO End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT) released a study on child sexual abuse, naming Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam as new child sex tourism destinations. It said sex tourism has spread around the world to countries that were previously inaccessible as tourism has boomed over the past 20 years and travel has become cheaper.

Disagreeing with the statement, Ngo Hoai Chung, a senior official of Vietnams Administration of Tourism, stated firmly that child sex tourism does not exist in Vietnam, mentioning that Vietnam has detected only a few cases of child abuse by foreign tourists and expats. Notable cases include Gary Glitter, a pedophile who was sentenced last year in Britain to 16 years in jail and a Canadian man named Vadim Scott Benderman who was jailed for four years last Janurary in Vietnam for sexually abusing homeless teenage boys.
I like Hanoi for the same reasons some people hate it.

For the cracks, the dirty walls, the noises, the smells; for the chaotic complexity of the streets, the bumpy sidewalks, the electric wires growing around buildings like ivy.

I like the yellow paint peeling off colonial buildings, the 'xe om' drivers sleeping on their motorbikes, the painted phone numbers tattooed all over the citys walls, the aroma of coffee floating over the Old Quarter.

I like the busy streets packed with dozens of shops, all selling exactly the same thing. I like the Vietnamese women shouting all day under my balcony, masking the sounds of car horns down the alley.

I like Hanoi because it forces me to stay awake, to stay alert, to keep my eyes open.

I like Hanoi even when its trying to kill me. Every single day.

I like Hanoi because it doesnt sell itself cheap; like the rest Vietnam it doesnt hand itself over on a silver plate.

After two months in town Ive mastered the sidewalk dance, the traffic choreography, and I know when to stop breathing to avoid peppery smoke or the smell of garbage, but Im still a beginner and every day the city pulls some new stunts and tricks sometimes it gets me, sometimes not. It doesnt matter anyway: I like Hanoi because it keeps surprising me.

"I was young when I left France, and I never found my way back home. So Im circling the globe taking pictures, writing stories and making my publisher happy!

In these pages I hope to share some of my experiences, a little bit of my adventures and I hope to inspire you to embark on a journey or to keep traveling if you have left already.

The answer is not at the end of the road; the road is the answer."

Gaspard

For more pieces like this, go to ilefthome.com, he pours his heart there.

Related news:

> 'Sommelier' pairs up Hanoi's classic locations

> Hanoi, the city of lakes

> The stinky Hanoi smell that you either love or hate

> Hanoi's 'banh mi': an unexpected evolution
Yangon International Airports shiny new terminal has been almost empty since it opened in March  hosting only the countrys flag carrier Myanmar National Airlines. But space and facilities are becoming increasingly important for the raft of foreign firms aiming to add Myanmar routes, and the first international airlines are starting to move in.





The new terminal, built by Asia World subsidiary Yangon Aerodrome Company Limited (YACL) in less than two years, opened in March after a ceremony attended by then-president U Thein Sein.

Myanmar National Airlines started flights from the terminal  known as T1  that same month, but until this week the local carrier has had the US$660 million facility to itself. As of yesterday, MNA has a new neighbour in the form of Malaysian carrier AirAsia, which has moved its Malaysia AirAsia and Thai AirAsia flights to T1.

An AirAsia spokesperson said the airline had opted to move because of the additional space and more modern facilities, which would help its plans to offer customers more flights and destinations in Myanmar. The carrier started offering direct flights from Yangon to Penang in March.

More space and better facilities are likely to become increasingly attractive as more foreign firms try to expand their business in Myanmar.

Twenty-eight international carriers were flying to Yangon as of March and several more have confirmed new routes  Emirates Airlines will begin daily flights to Dubai in August and Hong Kong Express will launch flights later this year.

Bangkok Airways is looking at adding Bagan and Myeik to its roster, although this would require a specific agreement with the Myanmar government.





Yangon Airport is likely to become more crowded still, with the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) signing new international air services agreements that pave way for other foreign carriers to visit Myanmar.

An agreement with Bhutan signed last month will allow flights between Bhutan and any of Myanmars three international airports. Bhutanese airlines are conducting a feasibility study into Myanmar, a DCA official said.

The DCA signed an agreement with the Netherlands earlier this week that will allow carriers in both countries to operate seven weekly flights between the two destinations. An air services agreement with Mongolia is scheduled for later this year.

YACL, which manages both terminals at Yangon International Airport, did not respond to comment. But a DCA official said that firm had invited all international airlines to shift operations to the new terminal.

They can move when they are ready, he said. Or if they want they can remain at Terminal 2.

Airlines planning to move to T1 first discuss the process with YACL, and then inform the DCA, the official said. The DCA has not received any notification from a third airline planning to move, but it was possible another carrier would make the switch in the next one or two months, he added.
Melon exports are booming this year, according to the Ministry of Commerce, with nearly 350,000 tonnes of watermelon and honeydew melons shipped out to China, India and other Asian destinations since April.





Farmers have reaped more than US$42 million from the trade, though some complain much of that profit has gone to non-Myanmar growers.

Commerce officials say Myanmar is the biggest exporter in ASEAN of melons and cucumbers.

As of June 17 this fiscal year, 152,757 tonnes of watermelon and honeydew melon worth about $18.5 million, 171,483 tonnes of watermelon valued at $18.4 million, and 26,380 tonnes of honeydew at $5.3 million were exported to China, India, Thailand, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.

Watermelon is the largest export by price, followed by mango and honeydew, said commerce ministry director U Myo Thu on June 25. Trade procedures have been simplified in terms of registering for an export licence and tax liberalisation.

But he added, Farmers use too much insecticide. If we want to expand our fruit exports, we must cut down on insecticide use.

Most of the trade goes cross-border to Myanmars immediate neighbours, via the 20 border posts. Of the 10 ASEAN countries, Myanmar sends its fruit products to all except Laos.

Commerce ministry figures show a steady increase in fruit exports, from 421,707 tonnes worth $75.267 in 2012-13, 612,242 tonnes worth $96.053 million in 2013-14, 698,752 tonnes costing $107.141 million in 2014-15 and 717,984 tonnes worth $93.798 million last year.





So far this year, the total volume of fruit exported is 180.334 tonnes worth $27.465 million.

The melon season runs from November to April.

We hope exports will improve this year because farmers are working hard to raise the quality, said Sagaing Region watermelon and honeydew sales group deputy chair Ko Thitsar.

But farmers receive only 20 percent of the profit, while 80pc goes to foreigners in our country because of exports to China. There are negotiations going on with the government to look into the question of foreigners cultivating Myanmar farms. This will take cooperation, he said.

Translation by Khant Lin Oo
Developers desperate to restart suspended high-rise projects in Yangon remain in limbo as a government review drags on. Members of the Yangon Region government committee tasked with conducting a final inspection on 64 buildings say they are still awaiting reports on the first 12, and will not continue inspections until those reports are in.





The construction industry received a brief ray of hope on June 16, when Yangon Regions Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein told a parliament session that the review would be finished within a week.

The recently formed inspection committee sent four teams to conduct on-site inspections of the first 12 buildings on June 21.

But since then progress has slowed to halt. Although those 12 building have been inspected, the teams have not submitted all their reports, said Daw Hlaing Maw Oo, a member of the inspection committee and secretary of Yangon City Development Committee.

Construction sector officials have complained that the suspension is damaging the industry. Local workers have seen wages cut or replaced by oil and rice, developers are concerned about whether they can keep paying expat experts, and some have voiced concerns about whether the review could scare away foreign investors.

But the committee will only proceed with more inspections once the first 12 reports have been finished, and only once all 64 buildings have been inspected will the committee start re-issuing permits to the developers, said Daw Hlaing Maw Oo.

Each team must submit a report for each building it inspects. Daw Hlaing Maw Oo said it was likely  but not guaranteed  that the first 12 reports would be received before the end of this week.





The reports cover many aspects of construction, from regulatory compliance to the opinion of local residents. This could be one reason why the reports are taking a long time, Daw Hlaing Maw Oo added.

A spokesperson for YCDCs Department of Engineering said that there were no further inspections scheduled, that scheduling was up to the committee and that it was important for the review to continue.

U Aung Myint, chair of the Myanmar Engineering Society (MES) and also a member of the inspection committee, said he had not received any information from the committee leader about a second set of inspections.

Theres no information, he told The Myanmar Times. But I think the committee will inspect the remaining projects as soon as possible because the chief minister instructed [the committee] to finish soon.

The inspection committee is chaired by Daw Nilar Kyaw, Yangon Region minister for electricity, industry and transportation, who could not be reached for comment.

Construction on high-rise buildings taller than nine storeys was suspended across Yangon Region on May 15 while the incoming regional government examined whether the projects complied with Yangon development plans.

The 64 now inspected by the committee are those that had already received an official construction permit, while some 120 other projects that had not received an official permit area also under suspension.
A month after the first site visits to inspect idle industrial plots in Yangon, officials are warning there will be no progress in freeing up unused land without a special committee that has the power and resolve to revoke the leases of absentee owners.





Yangon Region government announced in late May that it was turning its attention once again to the issue of vacant industrial-zone plots. Data on the extent of the problem is hard to come by, but estimates classify roughly 40 percent of Yangons industrial park land as idle.

Much of that is held by speculators taking a bet on real estate prices, which for industrial land have reached levels that make purchasing plots for genuine economic activity very difficult.

A newly formed regional government inspection team conducted field studies in nine industrial zones between May 19 and May 24, but industrial zone officials said there had been limited success in tracking down owners of vacant plots.

Regional Minister for Industry, Electricity and Transportation, Daw Nilar Kyaw previously stated that the inspection teams would visit all 29 of Yangons industrial zones before submitting findings to the government.

Daw Nilar Kyaw could not be reached for comment, but industrial zone officials said many owners in the first nine zones had not been found.

We have surveyed the list of vacant industrial zone plots and a few are under construction at a slow pace, said U Myat Thin Aung, chair of Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone management committee. But there are still many [vacant] plots where we have been unable to find the owners.

The government has not given officials power to revoke ownership of idle land by a certain date, which meant that owners had no incentive to approach the zone management committee, U Myat Thin Aung added.





Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone has nine zones, of which U Myat Thin Aung oversees six. Those six zones house over 700 plots, of which more than 20 are vacant and held by difficult-to-reach owners.

Other industrial zones face similar problems.

Weve warned that land will be taken away, but owners [of vacant plots] dont contact us, said U Aye Thaung, chair of Shwe Lin Pan Industrial Zone management committee.

Attempts to tackle the issue would only be successful with the formation of a special Yangon Region committee tasked with examining industrial zone ownership, he said.

Chairs of several Yangon industrial zones have proposed such a committee, which would include Yangon Region government officials, chairs of industrial zone management committees and local businesspeople.

Nothing will happen unless we do something, said U Aye Thaung.

Industrial plots sold under the previous government came with regulations requiring a business to start operating no longer than six months after the lease was given and banning the construction of residential housing.

But people have often bought land without understanding the rules, and some buy two of three plots or land and dont do anything with them, said U Aye Thaung.

Previous policies were also adjusted to allow the sale of plots before construction work had begun. When Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone was founded by the Ministry of Constructions Rural and Housing Development Department in 1996, there was a policy that a 1 acre lease  which then cost K4.5 million  would be given only after a factory was built.

A series of policy changes meant that from 2010 leases were given before work had started, opening the door for people to buy plots in order to rent them out as landlords or simply speculate on land values.

The price for 1 acre of industrial land is now K400 million to K500 million, making it very difficult for people to purchase land for genuine industrial operations, said U Aye Thaung.

He wants to see a return to the old system where leaseholds are given to people who can establish factories, an approach that other countries also take.
Ever think you could write a hit movie script?





Starting July 1, the Myanmar Script Fund will open online applications to Myanmar filmmakers developing their first or second feature fiction film. Hosted by the Myanmar Film Heritage Project, the Script Fund will select up to eight finalists to present their projects during a pitch session in front of a jury of international film experts.

Severine Wemaere, co-founder of Yangons Memory! International Film Heritage Festival, said the fund is an effort to develop filmmaking in Myanmar.

I think its important that we focus on education for the young talents that never thought of making films, she said. This is how you grow. They will be the next generation.

The application requires a 15- to 20-page treatment, with or without some dialogue sequences, and a producer signed onto the project. The scriptwriter can team up with a separate director or list themselves as director, as long as he or she has directed at least one short film.





The eight finalists will have a chance to pitch their movies during this years Memory! film festival from November 5 to 8 in Yangon. One-on-one sessions with script doctors and script readers will provide international-standard film critiques that can be hard to come by in Myanmar.

Wemaere and Gilles Duval, who co-manages the festival and heritage project, believe that access to culture for every citizen is as vital as access to healthcare and nutrition. They moved the Memory! film festival to Yangon from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 2014 after visiting Yangon and observing the deep roots of film appreciation.

Cinema is part of the DNA for Myanmar people, Wemaere said in an interview with The Myanmar Times. Theres something special here.

Their project, which also provides funding and lab access for the restoration of heritage films, attempts to nurture the cinema culture here by bringing international films and figures to Yangon for the annual festival. Their restoration project has already begun with work on Mya Ganaing, a 1934 film directed by Maung Tin Maung, one of Myanmars early film pioneers. Gilles said the organisation found the film reels buried in the state archives.

The restoration is under progress at the world-renowned LImmagine Ritrovata Laboratory in Italy. Screenings are planned during the Memory! festival in November.

In the same way that their restoration work focuses on the past, the Script Fund is an effort to invest in the future. After decades of military rule, a once-storied tradition of film excellence has deteriorated. They believe the Script Fund can help improve Myanmars reputation for international-quality films, and said the local film community harbours a real strong desire to catch up.

The filmmaker of Myanmar today plays a key role, Wemaere said. He will tell a lot about their stories, the transition, who [Myanmar people] are.

I think we are lucky that we arrived at the right time, she added.
Local Buddhist residents of Rakhine State are preparing to launch a statewide protest campaign on July 3 in rejection of the governments terminology for those self-identifying as Rohingya, demanding that they be called Bengalis instead of the administrations preferred Muslims from Rakhine State.





The issue of nomenclature for the group has been hotly debated in recent weeks. In addition to its proclamation on the Rohingya, the National League for Democracy government has said the states predominantly Buddhist ethnic Rakhine majority should be referred to as Buddhists from Rakhine State.

Both are unacceptable for us. Rakhine is Rakhine and Bengalis are Bengalis, said U Soe Naing from Sittwe town, a member of the committee organising the protest campaign. We will continue to use the term Bengalis instead of Muslim community in Rakhine State. We, the ethnic Rakhine, are originating in this state, so no one can change our identity. Thats why we have planned to hold a protest campaign letting everyone know our stance.

State residents including monks held a meeting on June 24 at Pyi Lone Chan Thar Pagoda in Sittwe to discuss how to respond to the governments stance on terminology, deciding a statewide campaign of dissent was the best option and forming a committee of 30 representatives from monasteries and civil society groups.

All Rakhine ethnics will be involved in this big campaign  all are concerned about the issue because its a national issue, said U Soe Naing.

Organisers could not confirm the number of people who will participate, but five townships  Sittwe, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Myebon and Kyauktaw  confirmed that local coordinators had sent letters to authorities seeking permission for the campaign.

We have submitted to officials for permission this afternoon, so I dont know yet whether they will allow or not, said U Win Thein, head of the campaigns Maungdaw township committee. On our side, we are ready for this event. In Maungdaw, around 500 people will participate in this campaign. We already have pamphlets, vinyl and posters that are going to be used in the protest campaign.

Participants are adamant that they will not allow the government in Nay Pyi Taw to dictate the terms of the terminology debate in western Rakhine State.





We cant stand for changing our identity without letting us know, said U Soe Naing.

The government is elected by the people, so they must respect the peoples desire. They [the government] should know that just changing the terms is not the right way to solve the problems of Rakhine State. They can negotiate with us on how to tackle those issues. We would welcome that, but we wont allow them to do whatever they want.

In addition to the campaign, committee members say they intend to submit a letter to the government voicing their rejection of the terms.

I hope they will consider our stance because they always say they are the peoples government, said Ko Than Naing, a Sittwe resident.

Last week, the Arakan National Party released a statement similarly saying the Rakhine nationalist party would accept no word other than Bengali to describe the mostly stateless Muslim minority identifying as Rohingya.

The connotation of the term Bengali is that the group are interlopers from Bangladesh, despite many tracing roots in Rakhine State back generations.

State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has asked several visiting dignitaries to refrain from using either term, including most recently the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee.

Ms Lee was reportedly asked to avoid controversial terms during her first official visit to the country under the new government.

The Ministry of Information also instructed state media on June 16 to use Muslims in Rakhine State instead of Rohingya or Bengali, and also said it should be Buddhists of Rakhine State instead of ethnic Rakhine or Arakanese.

On June 27, the Burma Human Rights Network released a statement also criticising the governments effort to remove the word Rohingya from the conversation.

While it is highly debatable that the roots of the conflict in Rakhine State lie in a mere semantic controversy, there is little doubt that the attempts to erase the word Rohingya constitute in themselves a denial of the right of self-identification, the statement read. BHRN believes that the attempts to banish the term Rohingya from public discourse amount to a denial of collective identity and, as such, constitute a breach of fundamental human rights norms.

Furthermore, We believe that the term Muslims from Rakhine state is inadequate because Islam is a religion, not an ethnic group, and because it ignores the identity of the people of Kaman ethnicity who have been living in the state for centuries.

It added that Kaman communities have shared much of the Rohingyas woes since 2012  when violence between Buddhists and Muslims tore through the state  and said that an all-encompassing term like Muslims from Rakhine State is as potentially harmful to their identity as it is for the Rohingya.

While the new US ambassador to Myanmar has said the United States will continue to use the word Rohingya despite Daw Aung San Suu Kyi asking the international community to refrain, the UNs position has not been clear since she made the request earlier this month.

The world bodys position is likely to be made more apparent later this week, when Ms Lee holds a press conference in Yangon at the conclusion of her 12-day trip to Myanmar on July 1.
One week after a violent mob ransacked a Muslim villagers home, destroyed a mosque and physically assaulted a man, police have made no arrests and identified no suspects. Officials in Waw township, Bago Region, where the attack occurred, admitted to The Myanmar Times that an investigation has not yet been launched, the inaction seemingly a direct order from higher-level authorities.





If we take action at the moment, the problem wont be stopped and the situation might get worse, said Bago Region Chief Minister U Win Thein.

Everyone in Thaye Thamain village seems to agree on the origins of the outburst  an antagonistic Facebook post deemed derogatory by members of the Muslim community  yet they differ over the significance of the flashpoint and what it should mean for their rural village.

Fear of retributive attacks, and rumours of more violence, has already driven most of the Muslim residents to seek refuge elsewhere.

The village of over 1500 is home to 268 Muslims. Among them, 200 left to stay with their relatives in other villages as they are afraid of being attacked, and there is no longer a place for them to pray for the remainder of Ramadan, the local imam said.

But some of their Buddhist neighbours dont understand why the attack was so disruptive or has been internationally perceived as another explosive rift between the countrys Buddhist and Muslim communities.

We [Buddhists and Muslims] have stayed together here for many years. We are friends. This case affects [Abdul] Rashid only, not other Muslim villagers, said U Tun Lwin, a Buddhist resident of Thaye Thamain.





He added that he believes Abdul Rashid got what he bargained for.

By most accounts, the quarrel began on June 21 with a social media flame war. One local posted a photo of a building being erected, called it another mosque and demanded to know why authorities were not intervening to stop the project.

Abdul Rashid, the Muslim villager building the site in question, swore at his neighbours for writing the post. Two days later, the mob struck, tearing at Abdul Rashids home, flattening the local mosque, destroying the Muslim cemetery and wrecking the new building, which was slated to be a storehouse. Abdul Rashid was hospitalised with injuries to his waist and the left side of his head.

As he was swearing at people a lot, the villagers couldnt stand it any more and at last they got angry. They destroyed his house, his warehouse and the mosque. I dont think it was wrong, U Tun Lwin said.

In the wake of the violence, more than 50 police have been deployed to maintain security in the village, according to U Ohn Lwin, head of Waw township police, who added that any further conflict could ruin the reputation of Thaye Thamain village.

Two officers are posted outside Adul Rashids house, while he remains in police custody for his own protection, according to local officers. The village police office told The Myanmar Times that reporters could not currently meet with him. His family has said they have also not seen him since the mob attack.

Police are posted just for security. They have not asked us anything. We are not worried about them taking action as we did not do anything wrong, said Daw Khin Myo Aye, a Buddhist villager.

She added that if anyone is to face consequences over the incident, it should be the person who incited the problem by swearing at the villagers.

Who can be blamed for destroying the mosque? Villagers are all angry that they did so, Daw Khin Myo Aye said.

Abdul Rashids father, U Ibrahim, told The Myanmar Times he feels terrible that the dispute came to such violence between Buddhists and Muslims instead of being settled through appropriate channels.

They could have reported the case to police if they were upset he said swear words. They should have sought recourse through legal channels. Instead, they destroyed our house. They took our money and our jewellery. I think this is bullying, he said.

He added that the consequences have already extended far beyond his family, as Muslims in the village felt afraid for their lives, and so left their homes behind.

And yet the whole incident was started by an incorrect assumption, he said. The site that Abdul Rashid was building was intended to store materials for the familys construction business.

The number of people who come to pray at the mosque is less than 10. Why would we want to build one more mosque? he said.

U Doo, the imam at the local mosque, said he hopes the displacement of his community is only temporary.

They went to stay at their relatives home for the rest of Ramadan, he said.

They were afraid, and after the conflict they had to sleep at a police station for two days, he said.

Chief Minister U Win Thein has said the region government will help repair the destroyed mosque, and advised that for now, villagers pray at the home of a Muslim villager.

While daily life in Thaye Thamain has seemingly returned to normal for most of the residents, tensions continue to simmer just below the surface, and many remain displaced. The region government established a collaboration team headed by six Buddhists and four Muslim villagers on June 27. The committee has been tasked with building trust between the two communities with the hope that they can resume coexisting when all, including Abdul Rashid, return to their homes.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun
State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi promised ethnic armed groups yesterday that her government has no hidden agenda for the peace process.





Yesterdays talks had been requested by leaders of the eight armed groups that signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement in October. The groups had expressed concerns about the incumbent governments peace plans, and the 21st-century Panglong Conference, fearing theyd be ignored in the peace process.

Ethnic leaders, including the chair of the Restoration Council of Shan State, said that a second Panglong conference could inherit the unpredictable consequences of the first Panglong Conference, held between Daw Aung San Suu Kyis father, Bogyoke Aung San, and ethnic leaders of Kachin, Shan and Chin states in 1947. After that first Panglong Conference, the then-ruling regimes ignored their agreements with the ethnic leaders, resulting in decades-long civil war.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi tried to reassure the armed groups leaders, saying her government will seek to foster cooperation.

I would like to tell you that our government has no hidden agenda, she said. We only have a vision to build a nation of federal Union, where citizens of the Union can live in peace and prosperity.

Without all, we cannot succeed, as the peace conference will be a place where the ethnic nationals can disclose their concerns and problems, she said.

She also told leaders of the signatory groups not to fear change, and urged them to overcome their fears by having confidence and trust in her government.





Colonel Khun Okkar of the Pa-O National Liberation Organisation said the essence of Panglong was in the spirit of working together toward the goal of building the Union. The government, he said, should be committed to achieving that goal.

If there are guarantees and commitments for building the union, then we dont need to talk about secession, he said.

The signatory armed ethnic groups are concerned about inclusion, fearing that the government will leave out certain groups, as the former government, headed by then-president U Thein Sein, did, said Daw Saw Mra Razar Lin, of the Arakan Liberation Party.

They said theyre engaged in talks with the non-signatory groups, including the ones in northern parts of Myanmar, said Daw Saw Mra Razar Lin, who is also a member of the Peace Process Steering Team, formed by eight leaders from the signatory groups.

The signatory groups are considering appointees for the Panglong Conferences supervisory committee, she said.

U Zaw Htay, deputy director general of the Presidents Office, said yesterdays meeting had focused on the goals of the upcoming Panglong summit.

The main point of Daw Aung San Suu Kyis speech today was in the Panglong spirit of unity for building our nation, not the unity for secession, he said. She also explained what Bogyoke Aung Sans perspective on secession was [at the time of the first conference, when some ethnic minorities were pushing for independence].

During the meeting, Col Khun Okkar said the signatory groups proposed ways to cooperate with the government during the peace process.

Though we could not have a two-way interaction in the meeting, he said, we could discuss some topics concerning resettlement and rehabilitation programs, development agendas, and the implementation of state-level and Union-level ceasefire agreements that had been created under the previous government.

The state counsellor said stakeholders in the peace process should not pursue just their own self-interest, warning that this would lead to long-term failure.

The legacy of the peace process, and the responsibilities to preserve that peace, will be inherited by the next generation, she said.

Government peace negotiators formed a preparation committee for the 21st-century Panglong Conference on May 31, and then went about meeting with both the groups that did sign the October ceasefire agreement and those that didnt.

U Khin Zaw Oo, a government peace negotiator, said the timeline for the conference, which was originally set to be held in July, has been rearranged. The conference is now scheduled for before the end of August.

We cannot obtain peace overnight or in just one day, said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. However, it needs to be done fast because our country gained independence nearly 70 years ago.

Meanwhile, at Yangons National Reconciliation and Peace Center, the government this week is holding a meeting of the ceasefires Joint Monitoring Committee. The JMC discussed a wide range of issues, including the formation of a state-level joint monitoring committee in Kayin and Mon states and Bago Region. The JMC members also started to develop work action plans for public participation in monitoring the ceasefire process.

The government is also meeting with the Delegation for Political Negotiation, a group representing a number of non-signatory groups inside the ethnic armed bloc of United Nationalities Federal Council, this week.

U Twan Zaw, general secretary of the UNFC, said yesterday that the DPN may meet with the governments peace negotiators in Yangon this week for a preliminary meeting.

The DPN will followup on the talks we had with government negotiators in Chiang Mai on June 3, he said. Theres a possibility of a meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and leaders [from non-signatory groups] on matters related to the legitimate political talks.

U Hla Maung Shwe, a government peace negotiator, confirmed to The Myanmar Times that the meeting would take place on July 1.

The armed ethnic groups are also preparing to have an ethnic armed groups summit in Mai Ja Yang, a rebel stronghold located in the Kachin Independence Armys area of control, during the second week of July.

After meeting with the state counsellor yesterday, signatory armed ethnic groups are meeting with the Tatmadaws Senior General Min Aung Hlaing today in Nay Pyi Taw.
The International Labour Organization will conduct research into the experiences that Myanmar migrant workers have faced abroad and how the country benefits after they return home, according to the UN agency.





The research will start next month in locations that send the most labourers abroad  Meiktila andMyingyan townships in Mandalay Region, as well as Kayin and Shan states  in conjunction with the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Populations Labour Department, Jacqueline Pollock, a chief technical adviser for the ILO, told media on June 27. The study is expected to take about one month.

Researchers will examine the experiences of both male and female migrant workers, she added, noting that last year nearly 4 percent of Myanmar nationals were estimated to be working abroad.

Meanwhile, the ILO is also working in partnership with the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population to offer training on migration labourer management in Mandalay Region. The aim of the collaboration and research is to develop better policies and more services for migrant workers.

Myanmar sends its people to 16 countries. Moreover, there are also migrant workers in the country moving from one region to another. So, people need to widely know about migration management to provide the required services to migrant workers. In Mandalay, centres for providing assistance to migrant workers have been opened in Kyaukse, Myingyan and Meiktila, said U Myo Thit, Mandalay Regions labour affairs minister.

Millions of Myanmar nationals have pursued work overseas, seeking better employment prospects than they face at home, where decades of economic mismanagement by the former military regime has only in recent years given way to reforms propelling the country to economic growth that is expected to be the fastest in Asia this year.

Last week Myanmar labour groups called for the ILO to open a full country office, hoping to upgrade its presence here, which at the moment consists only of a liaison office.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun
Three suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up in the main international airport in Istanbul on Tuesday, killing 36 people and wounding close to 150, officials said.

Police fired shots to try to stop two of the attackers just before they reached a security checkpoint at the arrivals hall at Ataturk airport, Europe's third-busiest, but they detonated their explosives, one of the officials said.

Findings point to Islamic State responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on the airport, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

"According to assessments so far, 36 people have lost their lives and there were also many wounded," Yildirim told reporters at the site of the attack on Europe's third-busiest airport.

He also said that a small number of the wounded were seriously injured.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said 147 people were wounded, according to Turkish broadcasters. Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said authorities believed there were three suicide bombers, an account corroborated by witnesses.

A Turkish official said the vast majority of those killed were Turkish nationals but foreigners were also among the dead.

"There was a huge explosion, extremely loud. The roof came down. Inside the airport it is terrible, you can't recognise it, the damage is big," said Ali Tekin, who was at the arrivals hall waiting for a guest when the attack took place.

Officials walk inside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following a blast June 28, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Osman Orsal

Police guard the entrance to Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following a blast June 28, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Osman Orsal

People leave Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following a blast June 28, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Osman Orsal

People leave Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following a blast June 28, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Osman Orsal

Forensic experts work outside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following a blast, June 28, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Murad Sezer

Forensic experts work outside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following a blast, June 28, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Murad Sezer

Forensic experts work outside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following a blast, June 28, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Murad Sezer

Security blocks the road towards Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, June 28, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Osman Orsal

A woman named Duygu, who was at passport control having just arrived from Germany, said she threw herself onto the floor with the sound of the explosion. Several witnesses also reported hearing gunfire shortly before the attacks.

"Everyone started running away. Everywhere was covered with blood and body parts. I saw bullet holes on the doors," she said outside the airport.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest in a string of suicide bombings in Turkey this year, but the Dogan news agency said initial indications suggested Islamic State may have been responsible, citing police sources.

A Turkish official said it was too soon to assign blame.

The attack bore some similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March which killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital.

Paul Roos, 77, described seeing one of the attackers "randomly shooting" on the departures floor of the terminal.

"He was just firing at anyone coming in front of him. He was wearing all black. His face was not masked. I was 50 metres (55 yards) away from him," said Roos, a South African on his way back to Cape Town with his wife after a holiday in southern Turkey.

"We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Roos told Reuters.

"He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over."

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim speaks to the press at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul, Turkey, following a multiple suicide bombing, June 29, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Murad Sezer

"Could have been anywhere"

President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against militant groups.

"The attack, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorism strikes with no regard for faith and values," he said in a statement.

"The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world," he said, urging all governments to join forces against terrorism.

Suicide bombs kill 36, wound close to 150 at Istanbul airport, Islamic State suspected behind Witness describes "big blast" inside Istanbul airport

Speaking in parliament earlier, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said initial reports suggested one attacker had initially opened fire with a Kalashnikov then detonated explosives.

Ataturk is Turkey's largest airport and a major transport hub for international travellers. Pictures posted on social media from the site showed wounded people lying on the ground inside and outside one of the terminal buildings.

A helicopter buzzed overhead as police evacuated the building. Dozens of passengers walked back down access roads with their luggage, trying to hail cabs. The U.S. embassy urged U.S citizens to avoid the area.

Flights halted

Authorities halted the takeoff of scheduled flights from the airport and passengers were transferred to hotels, a Turkish Airlines official said. Earlier an airport official said some flights to the airport had been diverted.

A weapon is seen on the floor at Ataturk airport after suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up at the entrance, in Istanbul, Turkey June 28, 2016. Courtesy of 140journo/via Reuters.

Paramedics help casualties outside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following a blast, June 28, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Ismail Coskun/IHLAS News Agency.

The airport will be closed for up to 48 hours, Turkey told one foreign government.

In the United States, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reacted to the explosions by putting armed, high-visibility patrols at the three main airports in the New York metropolitan region.

Turkey has suffered a spate of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State, and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group.

In the most recent attack, a car bomb ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul during the morning rush hour, killing 11 people and wounding 36 near the main tourist district, a major university and the mayor's office.

Turkey, which is part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, is also fighting Kurdish militants in its largely Kurdish southeast.

One person was killed on Dec. 23, 2015, when an explosion hit Istanbul's second airport, Sabiha Gokcen, located on the Asian side of the city. That attack was claimed by a Kurdish militant group.
A group of seven gathered on the Yangon-Mandalay highway with signs yesterday, protesting projects that are blocking lakes, ponds, rivers and creeks in Amarapura township, Mandalay Region.





The protesters, led by resident U Chit Khine, made a broad range of demands, including a request that the rivers be used to responsibly harness electricity and provide water for agriculture.

We must generate electricity by using the water power supplied by nature, he told The Myanmar Times. Our country is using very little water power. It needs to distribute water for agriculture by building dams and irrigation systems on rivers and creeks. The government is blocking Latkhote Pin Creek, Payan Taw Creek and Zaw Gyi Creek for reckless projects.

River-pumping projects and farms were allowed to be built on Taungthaman Lake in Amarapura township despite concerns from residents that the development would destroy the body of water, he said. Original farm owners near the lake were not given ownership documents.

If the protesters demands are not met, U Chit Khine said they would continue to protest.

They also asked for an investigation into alleged corruption in the local farm management unit.

The Amarapura township farmland management unit is changing land-use permits without considering any facts, U Chit Khine said. We are planning to sue them.

The protesters are asking that neighbours be alerted when the government grants new land-use permits.





The previous government granted land-use permits for new projects, he said. If the current government inspects these lands, they need to let the locals know.

The seven demonstrators are also asking for tents, occupied by squatters, to be removed.

There are different kinds of squatters, U Chit Khine said. Its easy to remove those who squat because they have nowhere to stay. But its hard to remove the ones who squat because theyre greedy and taking advantage of the law. We want the latter kind of squatter removed.

Mandalay Region Chief Minister U Zaw Myint Maung has said he will inspect projects approved by the previous government to see if they are negatively impacting locals livelihoods.

Translation by Khant Lin Oo
Land seized to build a road in Nay Pyi Taws Pyinmana township was retroactively purchased from farmers by the Ministry of Construction yesterday.





About 172 acres were confiscated from 284 farmers in 2003 to construct Myo Shaung Road. The government paid out just over K325 million (US$275,000) to those farmers by the General Administrative Office of Pyinmana after village administrators, the township general administrator and the land management committee reviewed land lists.

Farmland under my parents name was grabbed at Keeinn village, said U Myo Tint from Payetsate Gone village in Pyinmana township. Its 0.77 acres. Were taking the money whether its convenient for us or not. If we dont take it, we wont get anything. I dont know how they calculated it.

U Htay Aung, assistant director of Dekkhinathiris Road Department, said the land prices were determined by a land committee management group.

They cooperated with associations and fixed the price three years ago, but just got money to offer the compensation now, he said.

During yesterdays reimbursement event, paddy fields brought in K1.5 million per acre while all other farmland was purchased for K500,000 per acre.

Myo Shaung Road is 16 miles (26 kilometres) long and all confiscated farmland within 10 miles of the road was compensated.





U Myo Tint called for authorities to discuss the deals with the farmers because some of the acreage was miscalculated or listed under the wrong name. Some people got more than they should have and others got less, he told the media.

Residents of the area told The Myanmar Times that at the time the land was confiscated, it was worth K300,000 per acre, but now it is worth between K15 million and K20 million per acre.

This [compensation] is not like the law specifies. But the farmers dont get a consolation prize, said Ko Thet Htoo from Payetsate Gone village. If you like what you got, take it. Dont be choosey.

Translation by Khine Thazin Han
After a report suggested a lawsuit against a local news outlet has been retracted, Yangon police told The Myanmar Times that the case would have to proceed to court as a matter of procedure.





On June 25, Lieutenant Colonel Lin Tun of the Yangon Cantonment Area filed a case against 7Day Daily, accusing the paper of provoking mutiny with an article. The story in question had quoted former Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann and accused the military of not cooperating with, or not showing loyalty to, the new government, according to the complaint.

A BBC Burmese report quoted an editor at 7Day saying that after mediation, the Tatmadaw had agreed to withdraw the case.

But a police officer from Kamaryut township, where the case was filed, said a retraction was not possible on his offices end.

The court will have to decide whether to close the case or hold a trial. That is not something police can do, the officer who asked not to be named said.

The Myanmar Press Council yesterday also said the BBC Burmese report was not entirely true, and that negotiations between the media outlet and the Tatmadaw are ongoing.

The two sides have not settled yet, according to U Thiha Saw, vice chair of the Myanmar Press Council.

They just had a chance to discuss with the military but they didnt get any resolution, he said, referring to a phone discussion mediated by the council.





7Day newspaper released a statement yesterday saying they are very sorry for any misunderstanding, and added that the organisation had no intention of castigating the Tatmadaw.

The Myanmar Times could not contact the Ministry of Defence spokesperson yesterday. Staff members at 7Day declined to provide comment.
In a legal move that could lead to the reopening of a tangled lawsuit involving a high-profile monk, Yangon Region Court is now reviewing the case against London Sayadaw. Trespassing charges against the monk, also known as U Ottara, were thrown out last December after the persistent failure of the plaintiff to appear in court.





U Ottara and four other monks were charged following a dramatic night raid by police on the Mahasantisukha Monastery in Tarmwe township, Yangon, in June 2014. The case was seen as a trial of strength between the local religious authority, the State Sangha Nayaka, and clerics they considered too independent or outspoken.

In last Decembers hearing, at Thaketa Township District Court, Eastern District Court co-judge U Nyaing Myint ruled that the plaintiff, U Sein Maw, had been absent without the leave of the court. U Sein Maw was the head of the religious affairs department of Yangon Region.

However, an application made last December by U Sein Maw to resume the case is now being heard by the regional court.

On June 27, the township court that had heard the original case granted permission to U Ottara and his four co-defendants to absent themselves from hearings during the three-month Buddhist Lenten period beginning in the month of Waso, said defence lawyer U Kyaw Kyaw Soe.

The case files were sent to the higher court for review, so the lower court no longer has jurisdiction, but just notifies the defendants of the court dates. The lower court has granted the exemption from attending until the case comes back to court, he said.

The monks were accused of violating a 1990 law on Sangha organisation. Following the collapse of the case against him, U Ottara filed suit in Yangon Region Court in January for the amendment of the 1990 law. He also seeks the formal dismissal of the case against him.

Yangon Region Court is expected to hear applications on July 6, following a preliminary hearing on July 1.





U Ottara, who acquired the name London Sayadaw because he is a British citizen, said, The hearing of applications in each court will take more than a month before the case is handed back to the lower court. During that time, we will be represented in court by our attorneys.

He thanked judge U Tin Tun Oo for granting him permission not to appear in person. Last year, hearings were scheduled every week [in Lent]. Now the judge has kindly agreed that we can pursue our devotions.
What do gender equality advocates in Myanmar want from a nationwide ceasefire and does the existing nationwide ceasefire agreement deliver this? A new publication by UN Women, The Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement in Myanmar: A Gender Equality and Womens Rights Analysis, explores this.





Drawing on the perspectives of women in conflict-affected areas, the publication highlights the different impacts of conflict on women, men, girls and boys, with women and children bearing a heavy burden. Women have nevertheless demonstrated resilience and made rich contributions to peace. However, they constituted only two out of 32 (6 percent) of the government and ethnic armed organisation teams and two out of 15 (16pc) of the senior delegation charged with negotiating the NCA. This represents a shortfall of eight and three women, respectively, to meet the 30pc minimum standard for womens participation as set out by the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, but signals progress from a pre-reform baseline of zero.

Gender stereotypes that construct men in public sphere roles as leaders, strategists and combatants, while women are domesticised; a perception of women as lacking understanding of military strategy and conflict and thus as marginal contributors to peace; and a perception of ceasefire negotiations as combatant-to-combatant talks that include only conflicting parties who are predominantly male, all contribute to marginalising women.

With few examples worldwide, Myanmars NCA stands out globally as an illustration of gender inclusivity in a ceasefire agreement. It has three provisions promoting womens rights. The basic principles guarantee that in implementing the ceasefire agreement, no citizen will be discriminated against, including on the basis of gender. It provides that sexual assault on women must be avoided as a civilian protection measure. Finally, the NCA ensures womens inclusion in the political dialogue. These guarantees provide concrete commitments to protecting womens rights in progressive compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and Myanmars National Strategic Plan for Womens Advancement.

But the UN Womens report also analyses the NCAs limitations from a gender perspective. The NCA does not regulate military activities  including troop movements, positioning and conduct  in a way that considers a range of socioeconomic, physical and sexual impacts on women. These include the appropriation or destruction of womens property; hostile acts or defamatory speech against women; troop presences in spaces that women frequent; the impact of military confrontations on civilians, including the safety and security of women and girls; and prosecuting perpetrators of all forms of violence against women.

Womens NCA protections as civilians is limited to specific types of sexual violence. It excludes physical, psychological or economic violence such as forced marriage, human trafficking, forced labour, and appropriation or destruction of womens socioeconomic assets and livelihoods. There is no express prohibition on amnesty for the conflicting parties and entities they control if they have violated women prior to or after the agreement was signed. There are no provisions for redress, reparations and accountability for discrimination and violence against women and girls, although there is opportunity to incorporate accountability provisions into the terms of reference for the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee.

Provisions on improving livelihoods for people and avoiding impeding an individuals right to health use gender-neutral language and do not refer to men, women, boys and girls separately. This may adversely impact womens and girls rights. For example, without clearly mentioning womens right to health, issues like sexual and reproductive health or violence-related injuries that only apply to women and girls could be overlooked.





Humanitarian assistance provisions do not consider the distinct needs of women and girls, as refugees or internally displaced persons, in ensuring their safety, security, resettlement needs, access to employment and land rights. The verification processes for internally displaced persons and refugees must also consider the special circumstances of women, including those heading households and with no identity documents. Women are not guaranteed participation in ceasefire monitoring mechanisms and womens involvement in the political dialogue does not assure their representation in leadership roles?

These challenges must be overcome to ensure womens full involvement in Myanmars peace process. The report recommends womens inclusion in all structures of the JCMC. The committee should monitor NCA implementation to ensure gender-based non-discrimination and address sexual violence as a ceasefire breach, investigating and prosecuting perpetrators speedily under national law. Reports from womens organisations monitoring aspects of ceasefire implementation should inform the JCMCs work.

Other provisions that can advance womens rights include rights to land, education, healthcare services and humanitarian assistance. Women should be included in all structures, at all levels of the political dialogue, and constitute at least 50pc of community consultations. Ceasefire provisions and civilian protections should be strengthened when the ceasefire is made permanent. All thematic issues in the political dialogue must be addressed from a gender equality perspective.

A comprehensive, gender-sensitive peace accord would enhance the inclusiveness and sustainability of peace and development in Myanmar.

Carla Silbert is a UN Womens peace and security consultant and Jean DCunha is head of UN Women in Myanmar. UN Women is the gender entity in the United Nations system, mandated to promote gender equality and womens empowerment.
The old idea of recasting the welfare state by instituting an unconditional, universal basic income has lately been capturing imaginations across the political spectrum. On the left, it is regarded as a simple and potentially comprehensive antidote to poverty. On the right, it is viewed as a means to demolish complex welfare bureaucracies while recognising the need for some social transfer obligations in a way that doesnt weaken incentives significantly. It also provides some assurance for the dreaded future when robots may replace workers in many sectors. But could it actually work?





So far, the question has been addressed primarily in advanced countries  and the figures do not look promising. Though Canada, Finland and the Netherlands are reportedly now considering the idea of a basic income, some prominent advanced-country economists warn that it is blatantly unaffordable. In the United States, for example, an annual handout of US$10,000 to every adult  less than the official poverty threshold for a single person  would exhaust almost all federal tax revenue under the current system. Perhaps it was that kind of arithmetic that spurred Swiss voters to reject the idea overwhelmingly in a referendum earlier this month.

But what about low- or middle-income countries? In fact, a basic income may very well be fiscally feasible  not to mention socially desirable  in places where the poverty threshold is low and existing social safety nets are both threadbare and expensive to administer.

Consider India, where about one-fifth of the population lives below the official poverty line, which is itself very low. While citizens with so-called below poverty-line cards are eligible for government relief, surveys show that about half of the poor do not have the card  while about one-third of the non-poor do.

Many other developing countries face similar problems, with benefits intended for the poor accruing to better-off people, while many of the intended recipients miss out, owing to a combination of political and administrative collusion and genuine structural challenges. Means-testing can be very difficult in an environment where jobs are concentrated in the informal sector, primarily in self-employment, without any formal account-keeping or income data. Under those circumstances, identifying the poor can be costly, corrupt, complicated and controversial.

An unconditional basic income could eliminate much of this mess. The question is whether governments can afford it, without increasing the burden on taxpayers and undermining economic incentives.

In India, the answer could be yes. If each of Indias 1.25 billion citizens received an annual basic income of 10,000 rupees ($149)  about three-quarters of the official poverty line  the total payout would come to about 10 percent of GDP. The National Institute of Public Finance and Policy in Delhi estimates that every year the Indian government doles out significantly more than that in implicit or explicit subsidies to better-off sections of the population, not to mention tax exemptions to the corporate sector. By discontinuing some or all of these subsidies  which, of course, do not include expenditures in areas like health, education, nutrition, rural and urban development programs, and environmental protection  the government could secure the funds to offer everyone, rich and poor, a reasonable basic income.

If the government lacks the political courage to eliminate enough subsidies, two options remain. Either it could take steps to boost tax revenues, such as by improving property-tax collections (currently extremely low), or it could reduce the level of any basic income it introduces.





What governments should not do is fund a basic-income scheme with the money from other key social-welfare programs. While a basic income can replace some egregiously dysfunctional welfare spending, it cannot substitute for, say, public education and healthcare, preschool nutrition programs or employment guarantees in public works. After all, the basic income would still be severely limited and there is no way to ensure that individuals would allocate enough of it to achieve socially desirable education, health or nutrition levels.

If these limitations are taken into account, there is little reason to think that a basic-income program could not work in developing countries. Indeed, the most frequently heard arguments against such schemes are far from convincing.

The main drawback, according to critics, is that a basic income would weaken the motivation to work, particularly among the poor. Given that the value of work extends beyond income, the logic goes, this could pose a serious problem. European social democrats, for example, worry that a basic income could undermine the worker solidarity that underpins current social-insurance programs.

But, in developing countries, workers in the dominant informal sector are already excluded from social-insurance programs. And no feasible basic income would be large enough, at least for now, to enable people simply to leave work behind.

In fact, among the poorest groups, basic incomes would enhance the dignity- and solidarity-enhancing effects of work, by easing some of the pressure on people  particularly women  who are now vastly overworked. Instead of constantly fearing for their livelihoods, self-employed people, such as small-scale producers and vendors, could engage in more strategic decision-making, taking advantage of their enhanced bargaining power against traders, middlemen, creditors and landlords.

The final argument against basic income is that the poor will use the money to fund personally or socially detrimental activities, such as gambling and alcohol consumption. But experiences with direct cash transfers in a range of countries, including Ecuador, India, Mexico and Uganda, have not provided much evidence of such misuse; in general, the cash is spent on worthwhile goods and services.

Proposals for a universal basic income, fancied by utopian socialists and libertarians, may be premature in the advanced countries. But such schemes should not be dismissed in the developing world, where conditions are such that they could offer an affordable alternative to administratively unwieldy and ineffective welfare programs. Basic incomes are no panacea, but for overworked developing-country citizens living in extreme poverty, they would certainly be a relief.

 Project Syndicate

Pranab Bardhan is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His most recent books are Globalization, Democracy and Corruption: An Indian Perspective and Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay: Assessing the Economic Rise of China and India.
[June 28, 2016] Asia Pacific to Add 600 Million New Mobile Subscribers by 2020, Finds Latest GSMA Mobile Economy Study

The number of mobile subscribers in the Asia Pacific region reached 2.5 billion at the end of last year and will grow to 3.1 billion by 2020, according to a new GSMA study published at GSMA Mobile World Congress (News - Alert) Shanghai this week. The new report, 'The Mobile Economy: Asia Pacific 2016', finds that 62 per cent of the Asia Pacific population was subscribed to a mobile service in 2015, forecast to rise to almost three-quarters of the population by 2020 as a further 600 million new subscribers are added over the period. It is calculated that mobile technologies and services made up 5.4 per cent of Asia Pacific's GDP last year, equivalent to $1.3 trillion in economic value; this economic contribution is set to increase to $1.7 trillion by 2020. "More than half the world's mobile subscribers are based in Asia Pacific and the region will be the main engine of global subscriber growth for the remainder of the decade," said Mats Granryd, GSMA (News - Alert) Director General. "Rising subscriber penetration, alongside accelerating migration to faster networks and more advanced services, continues to fuel innovation and digitisation across both advanced and emerging markets in this highly diverse region. Mobile is helping Asia build digital societies that allow its citizens to access services, anytime and anywhere - and these mobile-powered digital societies are becoming major drivers of social and economic development." Growth in Subscribers, Mobile Broadband and Smartphones Across Asia Asia Pacific will account for 60 per cent of the one billion unique mobile subscribers1 that will be added to the global total by 2020, with the region continuing to add subscribers at a faster rate than the global average2. The four largest markets in the region - China, India, Indonesia and Japan - together accounted for more than three-quarters of the region's total subscriber base. India alone is expected to add nearly 250 million new subscribers by 2020 but smaller countries in the region such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar and Pakistan will also make major contributions to subscriber growth. Mobile broadband (3G/4G) accounted for 45 per cent of total mobile connections3 in Asia Pacific last year, forecast to rise to 70 per cent by 2020 as operators continue to invest in 4G network build-outs and subscribers migrate to higher-speed networks. 4G is on track to account for more than a third of total connections in Asia Pacific by 2020. At the end of 2015, the region had 76 live 4G-LTE (News - Alert) networks and 20 live VoLTE networks. According to the report, 4G migration is now gathering pace in markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Meanwhile, the region's 4G pioneers - such as South Korea, Japan and China - are driving the development of 5G mobile technologies in readiness for deployments before the end of the decade.



accounting for 45 per cent of regional connections. China, India and Indonesia have been the main drivers of smartphone growth, helping the region double its overall smartphone base over the last two years. The region will add a further 1.3 billion smartphone connections by 2020, reaching 3 billion, or two-thirds of the region's total connections base by that point.

Mobile Ecosystem (News - Alert) a Rising Contributor to the Asian Economy The $1.3 trillion in economic value generated by the Asia Pacific mobile industry last year (5.4 per cent of Asia Pacific GDP4) is expected to rise to $1.7 billion by 2020 as the region continues to benefit from the improvements in productivity and efficiency made possible by increased take-up of mobile services and the adoption of new technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M). The mobile ecosystem in Asia also supported 15 million jobs in 2015. This includes workers directly employed in the ecosystem and jobs that are indirectly supported by the economic activity generated by the sector. In addition to the mobile sector's impact on the economy and labour market, it makes a substantial contribution to public sector funding; approximately $111 billion was raised in the region last year via general taxation. Asia's mobile industry is also playing a leading role in delivering digital inclusion and addressing the digital divide. According to the report, there were 1.8 billion citizens across Asia Pacific accessing the internet over mobile devices at the end of last year, equivalent to 45 per cent of the region's population. It is predicted that a further 800 million people in Asia will connect to the mobile internet by 2020 (63 per cent of expected population). As a result, mobile has become a platform that enables digital identity, financial inclusion, and a range of social and developmental services that are helping to deliver the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)5. "Mobile is the primary tool for extending connectivity and internet access to all corners of Asia, delivering a myriad of economic and social benefits," added Granryd. "But there is still work to be done. The mobile industry must work with regulators and ecosystem players to address the key barriers to digital inclusion in Asia Pacific, such as lack of locally relevant content, affordability and a lack of digital skills." The new report 'The Mobile Economy: Asia Pacific 2016' is authored by GSMA Intelligence, the research arm of the GSMA. To access the full report and related infographics please visit: http://www.gsma.com/mobileeconomy/asiapacific/ -ENDS- About the GSMA The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with almost 300 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai and the Mobile 360 Series conferences. For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter (News - Alert): @GSMA. 1 A unique mobile subscriber represents an individual that can account for multiple mobile connections (SIM cards) 2 Subscriber growth rates, 2015-2020. Asia Pacific: 4.5% CAGR; global: 3.9 per cent CAGR 3 A mobile connection refers to an active SIM card registered with a mobile network, including M2M connections. The total number of mobile connections in Asia Pacific reached 3.9 billion in 2015 and is forecast to rise to 5 billion by 2020 4 GDP total includes contribution from mobile operators (1.1%); related industries such as devices and infrastructure players (0.7%); indirect impact (0.6%); and productivity impact (3.0%) 5 In September 2015, the UN introduced a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 17-point plan aims to end poverty, combat climate change and fight injustice and inequality. The GSMA is supporting the SDGs as part of its #betterfuture campaign. http://www.gsma.com/betterfuture/ View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160628005116/en/

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Vietnam is accelerating works to prepare for the year-long hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in the country next year, according to a statement from the government portal on Tuesday.

The National Committee for APEC 2017, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, convened its fifth plenary session in Hanoi to review preparations across sectors.

Peru, which is the host of APEC 2016, will hand over the mission to Vietnam in less than six months, the Vietnamese statement said.

Around 200 activities will take place in the country during the APEC year in 2017.

The National Committee for APEC 2017, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, convened its fifth plenary session in Hanoi on June 28. Photo by VGP/Hai Minh

APEC is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim member economies that supports economic cooperation throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The forum was established in 1989 in response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies and the advent of regional trade blocs in other parts of the world.

The location of the annual APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting rotates annually among the member economies, and a famous tradition, followed by most summits, involves the attending leaders dressing in the national costume of the host country.

Vietnam last host the APEC in 2006.

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> Vietnamese legislators approve two deputy prime ministers and several ministers to step down
28.06.2016 LISTEN

From Desmond Davies, London Bureau Chief

London, June 28, GNA - The English Court of Appeal has refused to allow the government of Djibouti to proceed with its appeal against a High Court judgement in favour of Djiboutian businessman Abdourahman Boreh, thus bringing to an end a costly four-year legal battle between the regime of President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Mr Boreh.

In all, the government spent almost eight years and some $90 million in legal fees pursuing Mr Boreh, once a close friend and confidant of President Guelleh.

In March, following a 10-week hearing, Mr Justice Julian Flaux, sitting in the Commercial Court, dismissed claims of fraud, bribery and corruption levelled against Mr Boreh by the government of Djibouti.

All along, Mr Boreh had argued that the claims, relating to projects at the Port of Djibouti, were politically motivated and that he had in fact being instrumental in bringing investors and putting his own money into the project that changed the fortunes of Djibouti.

Mr Justice Flaux described Mr Boreh as 'a patriot'.

He added: 'He has a strong desire to improve his country and is justly proud of what has been achieved at Doraleh [container terminal] through his and the Republic's cooperation with Dubai.

'He is not a man who would take bribes to sell his country short.'

The judge then ordered the government of Djibouti to pay 9.3 million towards Mr Boreh's legal costs, later adding 3 million to this figure.

Mr Justice Flaux was critical of the Djiboutian government's long campaign against Mr Boreh, which began with a false conviction of treason against the businessman in 2009 but which was shown to be false in the High Court in London last year.

The corruption case was the second attempt by the government to destroy Mr Boreh financially and politically.

During a hearing last month on the additional costs, it was revealed that the Djiboutian government had taken the extraordinary step of bypassing the appeal process by applying directly to the Court of Appeal to challenge Mr Justice Flaux's March judgement.

The judge, who was not given a copy of the appeal document, remarked that it was normal practice to seek permission from the trial judge first instead of going directly to the Court of Appeal but this was something Djibouti would have to explain to the Court.

Djibouti's lawyers assured the judge that no disrespect was intended and argued that they did this to save costs.

Mr Boreh, now eager for justice finally to be done, instructed his legal team, Byrne and Partners, to request the Court of Appeal to speed up hearing of the Djibouti application.

This took take place before Lord Justice Longmore on June 17.

The Lord Justice of Appeal listened to submissions from the parties' lawyers, after which he refused Djibouti's request.

Djibouti was also ordered to pay Mr Boreh's costs of the hearing, in addition to Mr Boreh's costs of successfully defending the main claim.

Djibouti can no longer appeal against this decision, meaning that President Guelleh's long-running campaign against Mr Boreh in the English High Court has finally come to an end.

After the hearing Mr Boreh said: 'The politically motivated campaign pursued against me has caused my family and me immense distress, severely damaged my reputation and robbed me of the opportunity to conduct business freely.

'It is ironic that such serious allegations of bribery and corruption were levelled against me by a regime that is ranked as one of the worst countries in the world for corruption by independent NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and whose corruption has been remarked upon in US State Department and IMF publications.

'I was persecuted simply because I dared to question the president's arbitrary decision to change the constitution so that he could remain in power.

'It is also regrettable that the personal vendetta pursued against me by the president has led to the waste of millions of dollars that could have been used to alleviate poverty in Djibouti.'

Mr Boreh went on: 'I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Court of Appeal for its decision.

'The English legal system richly deserves its reputation for delivering justice to all, no matter the identity of one's opponent or the fact that they have far greater resources at their disposal, as was true in this case.

'I am pleased and relieved that this matter is now at an end and my family and I can move on with our lives.'

Yvonne Jefferies or Byrne and Partners said the Court of Appeal's decision 'represented the epilogue to this long-running and acrimonious dispute'.

She added: 'Mr Boreh was naturally delighted that his name had finally been cleared and he had the opportunity to put this unsavoury affair behind him.

'For Byrne and Partners, there was a tremendous amount of satisfaction that its many years of hard work, in the face of a much better-resourced opponent, had paid off.

'The decision reinforces the English Courts' reputation as bastions of justice who will decide a case on its merits, even where this involves ruling against a friendly sovereign nation.'

GNA
Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Folks, we have restrained ourselves from diving into the public discourse on Kennedy Agyapongs denigration of Mrs. Charlotte Osei, Chair of the EC, for a good reason. As is characteristic of us, we wanted to go beyond the mere implications of that denigration to explore the real issues behind it. We are convinced that what Agyapong said fits into the grand agenda of the NPP, which is what we want to examine now.

The nub of Agyapongs drivel against Mrs. Osei is known. What is not known is its nitty-gritty, the fact that it is a calculated attempt at helping the NPP prosecute its grand agenda even as it recognizes that it has no substantial campaign message to outdo the incumbent. Thus, focusing attention on the EC and its Chair has become an attractive weapon of demonization so that doubts could be raised about Election 2016 and its outcome.

As a known hatchet man in the NPP camp, Kennedy Agyapong thinks that he has enough clout to cut Mrs. Osei to the size that the NPP has carved for her. So, why not go for the bulls eye as far as her moral self is concerned? Attack her as a loose woman so her credibility will plunge in the public sphere. Then, anything done by her or coming from her will be read against that script of immorality. Once regarded as immoral, nothing from her will be credible. Pronto, Kennedy Agyapong went to town on that score!! And he represents Central Assin in the Central region!!

I dont know whether what he is in the news for is what the Assin Central voters sent him to Parliament to do; or whether the Assin people will be proud of him as such; or whether by investing him with electoral power, they are proud that he is in the news for the wrong reason and purposes. But I know that what he is doing fits into the grand agenda of the NPP to construct Mrs. Osei as a dog (or a bitch, as Agyapong will be wont to characterize her) to be given a bad name and hanged for the NPPs electoral woes.

This grand agenda is multi-faceted. Based on the foundational posturing of militancy, street demonstrations, open confrontations with the state institutions charged with law enforcement, campaigns of calumny against President Mahama and the NDC, recourse to quasi-military training of their followers grouped into all kinds of vigilantes, and acerbic political rhetoric, the NPP aims at causing and sustaining tension in the country in pursuit of its political objectives.

It is known for all that it does in compliance with Akufo-Addos call-to-arms, couched as All-die-be-die. That is why it is fixated on the kind of rhetoric that highlights doom, gloom, and chaos, not peace and tranquility. A cursory analysis of such rhetoric shouldnt leave anybody in doubt about the NPPs choice of weapon to fight its cause at Election 2016.

The persistent use of media and journalists and other elements (including traditional rulers) sympathetic to their cause to undermine the incumbent and to heighten their scare-mongering politics is a well-orchestrated move to push forward that agenda of making the country ungovernable for President Mahama. That is why the Kojo Yanksons and Co. are running head-over-heels to bad-mouth President Mahama. That is why the shoddy cub-journalistic trash released by Manasseh Azure Awuni has become their fodder to chew on and vomit out as if it would fetch them any political capital.

But beyond all that vile move is the real stuff, which is to target the reputation of the EC Chair at this time to tear into shreds so that the main aspects of the grand agenda to cause chaos in the country could be nurtured and implemented when they lose the elections. It was in this sense that Kennedy Agyapong had earlier warned that Ghana would burn if President Mahama wins Election 2016. The main text is that the NPP should be the winner at all costs, regardless of what the voters decide. That explains why Peter Mac Manu could say that the NPP would collate and announce the election results on its own without recourse to the EC. With this mentality misguiding them, these NPP people are burning energy to sustain their campaign of patapaa.

An intelligent analysis of the situation tells me that after losing Election 2012, the NPP leaders realized that they could have taken the matter to a different level if they had fingered Dr. Afari-Gyan (former EC Chair) as the cause of their woes long before polling day. They did so through many fabrications and knee-jerk operations that ended up in smoke. That was why after the results had been declared, they launched a persistent campaign of calumny against him, calling him all sorts of names and wishing him dead. When they lost the petition hearing, they went into overdrive and cursed Dr. Gyan. He is still alive.

Realizing that they had lost the bid, probably because they hadnt been proactive enough to tarnish Dr. Gyans image before Elections 2008 and 2012 to make anything coming from him unbelievable and unacceptable, they have chosen to do so this time, seeing Mrs. Osei as a sitting duck to be picked up for denigration. Why? Because once they dent her public image at the level of morality, she would come across as incompetent, discredited, and unbelievable. In that sense, anything done by the EC under her will itself be regarded as such. That is the sticky point in this Kennedy Agyapong-led personal attack.

They have already created the impression that the EC isnt qualified as a neutral body to conduct the elections; or that it is ill-prepared to do so just because their call for the compilation of a new voters register has been rebuffed. What the Supreme Court has set in motion is just a step toward complicating matters. If care is not taken, the situation could end up being manipulated by those already convinced that they have already won Election 2016 in advance and are just waiting for the date of the polls to confirm their self-worth. It wont happen, which explains why the NPPs agenda is a major threat to the country.

We note here that Agyapongs personal attack on Mrs. Osei at this time is a calculated move to test the pulse of Ghanaians. So far, the quick negative reaction to his inanity may alarm him and those pushing that button, even if they wont openly acknowledge it or budge to pressure for Agyapong to apologize. As Agyapong has countered, he will strip Mrs. Osei naked if anybody dares him. Crass stupidity!!

What he implies here is that once the NPP has settled on Mrs. Oseis reputation to tear into ugly ribbons, it wont set her free or relent until its mission to decimate her is accomplished. This is a kind of psychological warfare to intimidate her beyond control so she will lose her mojo. In other words, the main purpose for denigrating her is to weaken her morally in the eyes of the public and to render her untrustworthy such that whatever comes from the EC that she chairs will be equally dismissed as discredited. The NPPs agenda on this score is clear. It aims at tarnishing the EC Chairs reputation so she cant have the moral courage to do her work, torn apart as she is likely to be in the face of the public humiliation.

But this move is childish. Unless Mrs. Osei truly sold her conscience and offered her body to secure the appointment, she has nothing to fear from this personal attack. And if she can muster up enough courage to proceed to court, she should do so. And if she has nothing to fear, she should pursue litigation on this serious allegation to its logical conclusion. Sane minds will support her to the full.

The nagging question is: What did Kennedy Agyapong say when she was appointed to head the NCCE at the death of Larry Bimi? Did she offer her body for that one too? If not, why not? Or is she now being dismissed as a whore because she is the EC Chair whose role in Election 2016 and others is what the NPP fears, even after endorsing her when appointed by President Mahama? And why the paranoia, anyway?

In reinforcing his inanity, Agyapong is reported to have said that the only reason for his taking on Mrs. Osei is that she is in bed with the NDC to retain President Mahama in office, which explains his personal attacks on her. So, why choose to base everything on her offering her body when he cannot substantiate it? Just read his pronouncements here ( http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Dare-me-and-I-will-strip-Charlotte-Osei-naked-Ken-Agyapong-451376 ) and tell me whether Agyapong is not being fuelled more by political mischief than any fact about Mrs. Oseis immorality. Boasting to strip her but turning to say why he will do so and not giving us any evidence of her immorality smacks of mental retardation.

And what do Agyapong and the NPP fear? Simple, as explained by Agyapong himself: (a) to expose all the 'diabolic plans' of the EC boss; (b) The womans posture and attitude is enough to let people know who she is. If you like dare me, and I will you show why Charlotte Osei is doing that.

His claim that but for the intervention of some people he respects in the NPP, he would have said even worse things about the EC boss wraps up everything about him as a madcap politician, leading to doom the NPPs armada of rogue politics in our time.

Folks, are you surprised that so far, nothing has come from the NPP Establishment to either support or condemn Agyapong? You shouldnt. After all, what Agyapong is doing has the blessing of Akufo-Addo and his cabal. Anthony Karbos statement that the NPP wont react to it sums it all up. What will the NPP say differently, anyway, knowing very well that Agyapong is the man doing their hatchet job? The bitter truth is that what Agyapong has begun doing it forms part of the NPP's grand agenda to cause disaffection for Mrs. Osei and to prepare minds to reject the outcome of Election 2016 if it doesn't favour the NPP. Too bad for Ghanaian politics.

I shall return
The Majority in Ghanas legislature has initiated a process to lobby the minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) legislators to back the instrument seeking to amend the 1992 Constitution to change the election date to November.

Vice Chairman of Parliaments Legal and Constitutional Committee, George Loh, said the NPP legislators have thus far not opposed the proposed November 7 date.

Thankfully I havent heard from the minority saying that they dont like the November 7, he said.

The Attorney-General laid the act seeking to amend the December 7 date in the 1992 Constitution to first Monday in November before Parliament on Tuesday, June 28.

This was a prelude to processes leading to the change in date for the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections in the country.

Conforming to Article 291 (2) of the Constitution, the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Edward Doe Adjaho referred the Bill to the Council of State for its advise.

Article 291(2) states: the Speaker shall, after the first reading of the bill in Parliament; refer it to the Council of State for consideration and advice and the Council of State shall render advice on the bill within (30) thirty days after receiving it.

Reacting to a question about the preparedness of the NPP legislators to back the date, Mr Loh explained he could not tell if the NPP MPs have their reservations but added: if the posture is anything to go by then I think that we will get the number.

Even though he acknowledged the unpredictability of the NPP MPs, the MP for North Dayi said the legislature is a house of consensus and I am sure when it becomes extremely necessary in the interest of Ghana, we will build the consensus.

He was confident the amendment process will go through without hiccups, noting, it may come with some hurdle to cross because the minority may want to drag their feet.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brakopowers | Email: [email protected]
Esinam Afi Seade, Legon SRC President

29.06.2016 LISTEN

The University of Ghana SRC has asserted that students are in no position to pay utility bills. The President of the SRC, Esinam Afi Seade , made this known at a press conference on Tuesday, 28th June 2016, in the SRC Union Building, Legon campus. This comes on the heels of a proposal by the University management to bill students for utilities effective 2016/2017 academic year.

She stated that the university Management believes that government has developed cold feet with regards to the payment of utility bills which could compel them to push forward the burden to students following the directive from the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to the utility companies notably the Electricity Company of Ghana and the Ghana Water Company Limited that public tertiary institutions are responsible for the payment of utility bills from January 2014.

According to her, the University had planned to include utility charges in the fees of students in the 2015/2016 academic year but an intervention by government through a letter from the Ministry of Education led to the reversal of that decision. Per the letter, all educational and health institutions were mandated to be exempted from the ongoing disconnection exercise...the ministry also reiterated that Government had not taken any decision for students in some Public Tertiary Institutions to pay utility bills for that academic year.

But following the inaction [inability] of government to make payment for the utility charges as promised, the SRC has taken notice of the decision of the University management to bill students for utilities for the 2016/2017 academic year pegged at GHC 2326.00 and GHC 922.00 for residential and non-residential students respectively in order to forestall any disconnection.

The SRC therefore appealed to government to intervene and ensure that students are not charged. They also called on parents, civil society and the general public to solidarize with the University of Ghana SRC to vehemently avert these unwarranted charges on students.

Meanwhile all students have been called upon to remain calm as the SRC will not succumb to any policy decision at the detriment of students welfare.
A PRESSURE Group, Concerned Citizens of Kumasi(CCK), has given the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly(KMA) up until July ending to elect a Presiding Member(PM) to steer affairs at the Assembly or face legal action.

The group has threatened to resort to court action to restrain the KMA and its agents from collecting tolls from traders if the assembly did not put its houses in order and ensure commencement of business.

According to the CCK, it does not see why traders and residents should continue to pay revenues to an Assembly that has since October last year failed to organize one single General Assembly to discuss developmental issues affecting the metropolis.

The KMA has been without a presiding member for almost a year now after members failed on four occasions to elect one of the two candidates vying for the position namely Hon. Kofi Senyah and Adumhene, Nana Adjei Kesse.

The situation has therefore crippled members of the house from organising meetings to deliberate on issues affecting the development of the city, leaving things at the discretion of the MCE, Mr. Kojo Bonsu.

But according to the Convener and Chairman of the CCK, Hon. Kwabena Nsenkyire, the situation must be allowed to continue since it is having negative effects on the social-economic development of the citizenry.

At a press conference organized yesterday, Hon. Nsenkyire pointed accusing fingers at the KMA Boss for taking an entrenched position against one of the candidates, Hon. Kofi Senyah, vowing to ensure that he does not secure the nod.

"The CCK has observed over the months, entrenched positions taking by supporters of the two candidates and we feel that it is not in the interest of the development of the metropolis hence our threats to go to court if the right thing was not done. We cannot continue to suffer as residents as a result of the whims and caprices of few individuals," Hon. Nsenkyire asserted.

He further pointed out that the group will not also rule out staging massive demonstration against the Assembly to register its displeasure.

On how the group intends to mobilise residents and traders in the metropolis against the KMA, Hon. Nsenkyire, who is also a former assemblyman for Dichemso and still contesting the seat which is yet to be decided, said the group had already started engaging traders to educate them on the crusade.
Government has indicated it is releasing almost GHa200million immediately as part payment to ECG following a massive disconnection exercise at various government agencies.

The payment is to cut an estimated GHa1.5billion debt government owes the power distribution company for power consumed by public institutions and government agencies.

The ECG since last week has embarked on a massive disconnection exercise to demonstrate its resolve to recover debts owed it by Metropolitan, Municipal and. District Assemblies ( MMDAs ), businesses and individuals.

In what has been described as a special revenue mobilisation exercise, ECG cut power to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, the Cape Coast Polytechnic and the newly constructed Cape Coast Stadium.

But government has stopped the company in its tracks referring to a Cabinet decision that bars the ECG from disconnecting power to critical state agencies such as in education, military and health institutions.

The Power Ministry explained that the premises of these agencies are exempt from pre-paid metering because they need constant power to provide critical services.

With these exceptions, John Jinapor said government welcomes the ECGs initiative to collect its debts.

But Deputy General Secretary of the Public Utilities Workers Union (PUWU) Michael Nyatakyi expressed disappointment with governments attempt to halt the exercise.

He confessed that ECG, which is up for privatization, is in quite a difficult time financially.

The ECG is struggling to pay for needed supplies and has resorted to borrowing, he revealed. The disconnect exercise is a response to a critical time in the company, the trade unionist explained.

Something has to be done before the whole system grinds to a haltany amount that will come in [from the disconnection exercise] is significant as far as we are concerned, he lamented.

As a demonstration of ECGs seriousness, he said staff of the company who ordinarily are not part of disconnection teams, have been drafted in to accelerate the revenue collection exercise.

Government agencies and organisations are the worst culprits when it comes to non-payment of bills.

They continue to use the power, you cant disconnect them, they are adding to the bills, every month the bills are going up, Michael Nyantakyi observed.

The governments reactionary move to defray portions of its debt is not the solution to the companys revenue challenges, he said.

Government agencies should pay for power just like other organizations are expected to do, he suggested.

It takes about a year before government comes in with some lump payment, in the interim, it puts so much pressure on ECG. Either the company has to resort to suppliers credit or you have to borrow.these arrangement creates a lot of problems for the company his lament continued.

But Deputy Power minister John Jinapor has explained that the ECG can expect more payments in the near future.

By the end of the second quarter, the Finance ministry would be making so much payment it may outstrip whatever these institutions owe ECG, he assured.

Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|[email protected]
President John Dramani and his National Democratic Congress government have been accused of using GYEEDA as a conduit to siphon state funds to prosecute their 2012 electioneering campaign.

The Daily Statesman can state on authority that another scheme is in progress to enable them repeat the obvious criminal act of siphoning more state funds, through the Youth Employment Agency and other state institutions, for this years campaign.

The last three months to the 2012 election witnessed an unusually shocking disbursement of state funds under very bizarre circumstances, through the use of phantom schemes and companies that sprung up overnight, for the purposes of vote buying.

A chunk of the money was disbursed in November from the Ministry of Finance for unbudgeted expenditure, including payments to rlg for distribution of laptops embossed with President Mahamas campaign pictures. The other organisations that were used for this unprecedented vote-buying spree included LESDEP, SADA, NADMO, Zoomlion and GYEEDA.

The reckless manner in which huge sums of monies were siphoned through GYEEDA has been confirmed by revelations from the ongoing sittings of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.

According to the Auditor-Generals Report, GYEEDA in 2012 spent close to GHC200million, even though it had budgeted to spend only GHC20 million. Most of the expenditures were done without proper documentation covering them.

The payments that accounted for the chunk of the reckless spending went to four companies: Zeera Group, Asontagba Cottage Industries, Better Ghana Management Services and Craft Pro.

According to Member of Parliament for Obuasi West, Kwaku Kwarteng, the reckless spending at GYEEDA, recorded in the last quarter of 2012 leading to the general election, was deliberately fashioned out to make money available for the campaign of President Mahama and the governing NDC.

Mr Kwarteng told the Daily Statesman yesterday that the overspending could have been forgiven if it constituted a useful expenditure.

But it is completely scandalous when those over expenditures are coming from corruption and plain thievery. It is evident that the GYEEDA over expenditures in the last quarter of 2012, when we were going into an election, and many other such expenditures, were incurred for the purposes of giving the ruling NDC illegitimate advantage in the election. Put in another way, public money was siphoned and used to run a campaign for the ruling party, he bluntly stated.

On the ongoing prosecution of some officials of GYEEDA, the MP insisted that the Mahama government decided to take some of the alleged culprits to court to give the impression they were also disturbed by the stealing that took place.

Now, government itself has come out to cite clear cases of corruption and has taken people to the court to give the impression that they are also disturbed by the stealing that happened and that they are doing something. That government is refusing to pursue these cases suggests that they have no heart to correct the wrong and the reason is that some people in government are implicated, and they know it was a clear strategy and clear calculation by government to siphon money for their elections. That is why they are unable to bring the people they themselves have cited for being responsible to book, he explained.

The Obuasi West MP says indications are clear that the reckless over-spending of 2012 will be repeated in this election year by President Mahama and his government.

I see the GHC100 million set aside for youth employment generation through the Youth Employment Agency as an attempt to siphon money for their campaign as they did with the GYEEDA overspending. I am worried and I wonder why President Mahama and his functionaries cant be mindful of the damage they doing to the economy, he stated.

The MP cautioned Ghanaians to be vigilant in the upcoming election and resist any form of vote buying by President Mahama and the NDC government, cautioning that their woes would be made worse if they should get another term to mismanage the affairs of the country.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, Samuel Atta Akyea, has lambasted the Mahama-led administration for its appetite for corruption.

According to him, the administration is not a good custodian of the public purse, hence the need for him to step aside for a Nana Addo-led administration to take over the management.

Speaking in an interview with Rainbow Radio's Kwame Tutu on the GYEEDA report, the legislator supported the view that the various scheme under the programme were conduits used by the government to syphon money from the state for their campaign.

"This is an election year; let's create, loot and share; they have used GYEEDA as a conduit to siphon these monies for their campaign purposes; it is so clear. It doesn't accord with common sense to spend money on a venture which was not budgeted for. What reason will you place on this? Let's use these companies as conduits to syphon funds for our political campaign. You don't need a magician to tell you this," he lamented.

The Mahama-led administration, he stated, has lost the conscience in delivering to Ghanaians good governance.

"Ghana is descending low in terms of good governance and accountability. This is disgusting. President Mahama should go for Nana Addo to take over the management of this country," he maintained.

He revealed that PAC would invite all the companies at the centre of the GYEEDA scandal to answer questions regarding the payment made to them.

"The embezzlement is embarrassing. The NDC is mismanaging our resources. The more money they get, the more they waste it. The wastage at GYEEDA and SADA alone is serious and calls for a serious probe," he stated.
The Document is a first step to launch national and European debates about how to better connect the scientific and policymaking communities.
Chairman of the National Peace Council, Rev. Professor Emmanuel Asante, says Ghanas youth are disappointed in the political process of the country.

According to him, politicians have contributed to the situation because rather than solving the many challenges of the country, they end up making more promises without fulfilling them.

To be honest with you when you talk to a lot of the young people, they are disappointed because we are talking too much when they have no jobs, he said.

Head of Ghanas Peace Council disclosed this when he addressed a Peace Summit organised by the Rotary Club in Accra.

We are creating tension and fear which shouldnt be the case, he said, noting this has compelled many of the youth to lose confidence in the electoral process.

Recounting his interaction with some of the youth, Rev. Prof Asante said: I have come into contact with some young people who said they will not even vote for the simple reason that all of them [politicians] are the same.

This, he believes should not have happened in the first place had politicians been cautious of the promises made to Ghanaians.

But I think politicians should do something to salvage that image, he said, adding, they have to do a lot of explanation in order to change that impression.

You need to explain things clearly to the people and the challenges and what efforts are being made to address the challenges, he added.

As the only flagbearer who honored the invitation to sign the Peace deal, Presidential Candidate of Peoples National Convention (PNC), Dr Edward Mahama used the opportunity to call on the youth to let peace prevail in the country.

He explained young people are like atoms. They have a lot of potentials, they have a lot of energy and if you dont channel that energy productively, and you leave that energy it will be destructive.

He cautioned them to desist from acts that will incite violence in the country, adding just go and let your thumb do the talking.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | Email: [email protected]
29.06.2016 LISTEN

By Maxwell Ofori, Parliament House

Two account clerks at the Accra West Office of the Ghana Water Company, have allegedly embezzled GH64,076.88 belonging to the company.

The clerks, whose names were given as Messrs Richard Asendoh and Richard Amoako allegedly embezzled the money, but are no more in the employment of the company.

The crime was brought to light when the officials of the GWCL appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament yesterday, to answer questions about some irregularities revealed by the Auditor General in its 2013 and 2014 report.

According to the officials, the case was immediately reported to the police, when the internal auditors at GWC unearthed the rot, but its still in court, the Managing Director of GWC, Fred Lokko told the Committee.

However, Chairman of the PAC, Kweku Agyemang Manu, could not fathom why a case of that nature had been in court for about eleven (11) years without judgment, blaming the management of GWC for not doing much to ensure the case was heard.

If a case is in court and you dont show active interest, the court may be relaxed to sit on it, but the MD swiftly responded that we have been following it.

The representatives from the GWC told the Committee, when asked how much of the money has been retrieved that, only GH4100 had so far been recovered. Meanwhile, the Committee has promised to prompt EOCO, which is handling the issue to facilitate processes in dealing with the case.

Another irregularity cited by the Auditor General in its report was an accounts payable suspense. This in effect meant that, there were unidentified credits to the revenue account to the tune of GH80,507.18 but it has since been investigated and corrected through the subsequent bank reconciliation.

There was an issue where some items had been procured and used immediately but for which stock issue vouchers were not raised and this summed up to GH487,450.

Also, no reconciliation between the commercial department and accounts department on all balances caused the GWC GH5, 700, 482.02. The officials commenting on the irregularity said, a reconciliation committee has been formed and they meet regularly to eliminate the discrepancies.

Members of PAC were worried as almost all the infractions cited by the Auditor General had to do with reconciliation and, therefore, advised GWC to put measures in place to ensure they were not summoned for the same reason next time.
29.06.2016 LISTEN

The government of Ghana is indebted to Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) to the tune of GH2,547,677.01

Government should have reimbursed the GWC projects it financed on her behalf ten years ago, but efforts made by management of GWC for the reimbursement yielded no positive results as government has not shown any interest in paying the money.

The audited accounts of the GWC in 2013, confirms that the government indeed owes GWC that colossal amount.At the meeting with the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday to interrogate officials of GWCL on the 2013, 2014 report of the Auditor General, Managing Director of GWC, Fred Lokko, indicated that the government owed the company for ten years now.

According to him, We are unable to pay for power because of the debt, which has not been paid and it is affecting our operations.

Explaining the circumstances that led to the government owing the company, Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Sampson Ahi said, the government was supposed to finance some projects but could not do so.

GWC, therefore, came in to finance the projects with the hope that the government would reimburse them.

The company pre-financed government projects like; Burma Camp water supply, Crop compensation to farmers at project sites, Land compensation to landlords whose lands were acquired for projects and Counterpart funding on the Urban water project with the expectation that government would pay back the cost but did not.

We incurred this because government of Ghana was supposed to finance but since it was not coming, the Ghana Water Company had to come in but we are in talks with the Finance Ministry for the reimbursement, he noted.

According to the officials of the GWC, they had pursued the money for a very long time but government is not making any move to pay, however, we hope to pursue to retrieve it.

The development compelled the chairman of the PAC, Kweku Agyemang Manu to make an emotional statement that: State institutions pamper government and the government turns round to blast the management of poor performance. We have to be bold to go to the government for monies it owes us.

Meanwhile, the officials of the GWC have said they are unable to operate effectively, as a result of the huge debt.
The Founder of the International Central Gospel Church, (ICGC) in Ghana Dr Mensah Otabil once said urinating in public is sub-animal behaviour.

The person who urinates by the wall cant aspire to greatness..because he has reduced himself to animal level, the ICGC man said in his Living Word Series Friday September 19, 2014 on private FM station, Joy.

Ghanas population is said to be around 26 million. So I guess more than 13 million of us, I am a Ghanaian, are sub-animals because we wee-wee rough around every day.

Indeed I just got down from the second floor offices of a state-owned media organization, pushed against the fence-wall of an adjacent office block and splashed it there, just like that. I will return.

Ho is a municipality, indeed the capital of the Volta Region. Resident Population is 177,281. It off-course a transient population.

Imagine, Kwaku Nugodo, is on a medicine that stimulates urination. He is walking some 600 meters from the offices of the Volta Regional Administration to the main public transport terminus in Ho.

Nugodo, will have to do it against the wall somewhere, somehow, because there is no public urinal on the way, even if it is as stinky as one I entered at the Abor lorry station some time ago.

Indeed this article is not about open urination but open defecation. But just as urination is a precursor to defecation, I could not resist devoting the prelude of this piece to it, urination. After all the two are bedfellows.

Urine is liquid human waste, faeces is solid and a real, real bother in Ghana.

Plenty mounds of it are dropped haphazardly across the country, from the sandy beaches through the shrubs to the forests and to the northern savannahs.

It is dropped in corners along street alleys, river banks or parceled as ordinary garbage, and put into community garbage containers.

Nineteen percent of Ghanaians, according to David Duncan, Chief Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Officer at United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), is in the business of open defecation.

I think that is on the low side considering the other statistics that says 85.1 per cent of Ghanaians dont have access to toilets.

Dr Afia Zakiya, Country Director, WaterAid, Ghana, in a speech during 2015 World Toilet Day Celebration in Ghana gave some breakdown.

60 per cent of the people (Ghanaians) are without toilets and shared toilets, while six per cent resort to unimproved toilets with 19 per cent engaging in open defecation, she stated.

Dr Zakiya, touching on the world scene said, out of the estimated 2.3 billion people across the world who do not have access to safe and private toilets, 1 billion have no choice but to defecate in the open..

Nii Lante Vanderpuye, when he was Deputy Minister of Local Government, revealed that about 45 per cent of the population of Ghanas capital Accra engage in open defecation.

He was speaking at the handing over ceremony of a 12-seater biofilm toilet facility, donated by Fidelity Bank to the Maurice R/C JHS in La, someday in 2015.

I was travelling to Hohoe. In the minibus was a white lady, an American I guess. Some 45 minutes drive more to get to Hohoe, the lady complained of bubbling in the stomach and wanted a place to defecate.

The driver parked at the outskirts of a town and asked her to enter the shrubs and do it there.

She got down alright, confused and blushing, got back into the bus. There were murmurs.

One woman quipped, she probably isnt really feeling like it, translated from vernacular.

I believe in her culture you just dont squat and do it anywhere in the bushes along the highways.

This coming narration is an irony incomparable. It happened in Ho, Volta Regional capital.

As part of the project to stop open defecation, a bus pulled up at the frontage of offices of the Ghana News Agency to pick up a group of journalists for a programmed visit to two communities. One was said to be open defecation free and the other had abundance of it.

As they were set for the journey, I saw a female passer-by put a piece of broad leaves on the ground for her about 3 year old son to do it there.

No pretense! I have done it (defecated) in the open before. Years ago under the hills around OLA Senior High School and in Accra.

In Accra, I had trekked through Asylum Down, where I ate supper-roadside rice mixed with beans, going with a lot of really hot sauce, on the way to Accra Newtown

When my stomach rumbled and it was obvious I could not reach home, where else in Accra Newtown could l have dropped it.

I entered a public toilet and shrank, as there were hundred or more mounds of it. I did it there, not all, and left.

There is yet another irony. In an attempt to improve the situation government, yes I meant government, wrote letters to tenants residing in government quarters still using pan latrines to convert or be prosecuted.

Some of them have offloaded the stuff themselves into shallow dugouts for years, so that now, eight years and more on, effusions radiate in those areas after light rains and hand about for hours.

Strange but it is true. Some few tenants by some weird tenancy agreements, do not use the toilet in the house, it is reserved for the landlord.

The few happenings and realities have been replayed to tell how dismal the situation is, so that as a nation, we get to work to tackle it and not relax when the projects tackling open defecation elapse.

Yes indeed, take it or leave it, projects in Ghana attract people like vultures to carcasses, many drawn by the cash available to spend and not project objectives.

I dare say, therefore, that tackling open defecation in Ghana will have to go beyond transient projects, because the problem is deep seated, perhaps cultural.

Low incomes, poor planning, unbridled population growth, weak local governance and indiscipline combine to keep the problem raging.

What is the situation in some other countries?

I commissioned Mawuli, a brother to give some insight into defecation practices in other countries and I found his report interesting.

Singapore

The best public sanitation I have ever seen. Toilets are all over and nicely cleaned. People are disciplined and just do not even drop litter anywhere. Generally the place is clean.

Namibia

Windhoek is the best city I have ever been to in Africa in terms of hygiene and sanitation. There are no open drains but there is also no piece of paper or plastic destroying the beauty of the place. Even their supposed shanty towns are well organized.

Swaziland

The streets are clean in Mbabane, Manzini, Nhlangano and Siteki. Even in the small towns no one urinates anywhere. There are neat public toilets.

London & Vienna

There is some discipline but not like Singapore. In Melbourne also, there is discipline. All train stations have functioning toilets.

Accra

Very poor sanitation! I entered an Accra Mall, went in to find out the state of the toilet and I was not impressed. It did not have litter on the floor but the smell in the toilet was not pleasant.

Our problem is our cities and towns do not have toilets worth the name so you cannot go there. The last time I was in Accra, any time I wanted to pee while in town, I had to look for a decent hotel or a restaurant, buy something, and ask to use the toilet. The only time I went into a public toilet was at the Kaneshie station. It caused me nightmares for days! I was shocked.

In Swaziland the Ministry of Health closes down any premises without proper toilets -even whole Ministries and government schools. You cannot establish an office or a shop when there is no PROPER toilet in the building or arcade. The inspectors come and inspect before you obtain a license to operate.

Mawulis narration has ended.

In Ghana, you dont need to have a toilet adjoined to the now in vogue container shop to operate. And there are millions of them. A Container Shop is metal crafted into a chamber, sometimes with ventilation.

We have as many open markets in Ghana as there are towns, and they dont have toilets.

I bet you, even churches, some with long hours of worship, dont have toilets.

If open defecation is deemed the riskiest of all poor sanitation practices, posing the greatest danger to human health and potentially having fatal consequences particularly for the most vulnerable, children, then the battle is crucial and must be won and quickly too.

And the opponent has a fearsome arsenal as experts say, one gramme of human faeces contains over 10 million germs, and once faeces is exposed, coming into contact with it is very easy.

Can you imagine how many of the pieces of papers, leaves, polythene bags and corn husks flying around in gusty storms, had been used by perpetrators of open defecation, to clean their anuses?

I believe by now the reader will accept that open defecation is widespread and ingrained, needing comprehensive ways of tackling it.

I suggest kids right from kindergartens are taught about open defecation and its dangers. Indeed this should run through the curricula from the beginning classes to the tertiary level until victory is won over the canker.

Local governance must improve and fast too. The bylaws governing the building of houses, shops, markets, churches, mosques, transport terminals must be in tandem with eradicating the practice of tucking a coarse paper in your armpit and going into the bush to do it there.

Tackling open defecation I believe is intertwined with the economic fortunes of the state, especially personal incomes.

In the situation where many working class Ghanaians hang dangerously at the hems of the supposed increasing national prosperity, poorly accommodated, feeding dangerously below recommended daily nutritional and calorie levels and generally living without luster, they are unable to be the change agents.

Many of these agents, themselves, including environmental health officers, could be perpetrators of open defecation.

So when the change agents are trapped by economic, socio-cultural circumstances, they can hardly join with their traditional leaders and relatives, morally and materially, to tackle open defecation left, right and center.

But the war against the canker, must be won not in 500 years, as pronounced by David Duncan, Chief of WASH, during a two-day capacity building workshop organized by the Parliamentary Press Corps. Venue was Cape-Coast and theme, Open Defecation-A menace in Ghana.

The battle must be led by local government agencies, working in collaboration with chiefs.

Indeed in that battle, formation should be, all Ghana on one side and Open Defecation on the other side and the armour, commitment, battle cry, now!






29.06.2016 LISTEN

By Mohammed Awal [[email protected]]

The New Patriotic Party [NPP] Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong has courted the ire of Ghanaians, following his unguarded vituperations against the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei.

The maverick legislator during the weekend went crackers, disgorging scathing attack on the EC chairperson, insinuating that she was appointed in exchange for sex.

Addressing NPP supporters at Asokwa, a suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, he alleged that some powerful people in the John Dramani Mahama government told Mrs Osei -bring your buttocks in exchange of EC chair position, according Kumasi-based Ultimate FM.

If indeed Nana Addo (the party's presidential candidate) wins according to the pink sheets and Charlotte Osei dares to rig the elections by twisting our arms in favour of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), we will not allow it to happen in Ghana, he added.

Slamming Ken Agyapong for his misogynistic comment, the founding President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Franklin Cudjoe said Mrs Osei wasn't the type to trade her body for a mere appointment.

He said: Mrs. Charlotte Osei, the current EC boss is not lazy and she is not dumb and she definitely won't trade her body for excellence. He said it was to disagree with the performance of the Mrs Osei at the EC, but insinuating she was appointment to chair the commission in exchange for sex was inappropriate.

It is regrettable, if true, the derogatory comments allegedly made by a sitting MP about her womanhood. Some of us do in fact believe Charlotte is not doing well as current EC boss and I am very surprised given her stellar performance as the recent boss of the NCCE, he stated in a statement issued Tuesday.

Nana Oye Lithur, Minister for Gender and Social Protection in a Facebook post demanded Ken Agyapong to apologise to the Ghanaian public and Mrs Osei.

According to her, his comments were chauvinistically insulting and regrettable, thus the need for him to be apologetic, urging him to, per the office he holds, be seen promoting non-discrimination, respect for human dignity and gender equality by his comments and conduct.

What you said was very wrong, Said Oye Lithur, adding do the honourable thing and apologise. Be man enough to apologise. Be true to our Ghanaian values and respect our women. Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hanna Serwa Tetteh, described Ken Agyapong's attacks on Mrs. Osei as a vicious personal attack [and] is most unfortunate.

She said on Monday in a Facebook Post that: The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission is a qualified lawyer who has worked as a competent professional throughout her legal career and who also is the immediate past Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic education.

To suggest that she had no competence to be appointed Electoral Commissioner and to subject her to a vicious personal attack is most unfortunate.

Any citizen can complain about the Electoral Commission, the way they are executing their mandate and preparing towards the upcoming elections. Those are the benefits of living in a democracy, but the personal attacks on the EC Chairperson are uncalled for, and are designed to undermine her credibility and her leadership of the organization.

No political party is contesting elections against the electoral commission, we should not undermine the integrity of the organization or the Chairperson on the back of allegations that have not, and most likely cannot be substantiated, Mrs Tetteh added.

Despite the unpleasant nature of Ken Agyapong's comment, the NPP said it wasn't going to condemn it. The party's Deputy Communications Director, Anthony Karbo, told Accra-based Kasapa FM that Ken Agyapong's comments didn't reflect the party's position, saying I don't think the party needs to come into this matter and I don't think the party will go into this matter.

I don't have evidence of what Ken is alleging, maybe he has. The media must call him and demand of him the evidence he has to his allegation. He may be able to produce it. Mr. Karbo's explanation, however, did little to stop him from accusing those calling for the NPP to sanction the Assin Central MP of hypocrisy.

When the NDC's Halidu Haruna said unmarried women above 30 years are prostitutes, the party was out there supporting him. When Ursula Owusu suffered verbal attacks, no highly placed woman in government, such as Gender Minister, Nana Oye Lithur said a word about that he said.

Charlotte Osei is the country's first female chair of the Electoral Commission, taking over from its long-serving chairman, Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan. She had previously worked as the head of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE). She was appointed by President Mahama and sworn in on June 30, 2015.
Luanda (AFP) - An Angolan court on Wednesday ordered the conditional release of 17 young activists, including a well-known rapper, three months after they were jailed for rebellion against President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

"Release warrants under house arrest were issued on behalf of 17 applicants to be executed from the present day," the Supreme Court in Luanda said in statement.
The Abu Ramadan Case went before the Supreme Court for the third time last Thursday, 23rd June, 2016. In its latest pronouncement on the matter (Abu Ramadan III), the Court has ordered the Electoral Commission to clearly set out in writing, the steps and modalities that the Commission intends to take in order to ensure full compliance with the Courts order made on 5th May, 2016. That order, as the Court recalled, commanded the Commission to take steps immediately to delete or clean the current register of voters to comply with the provisions of the 1992 Constitution and applicable laws of Ghana and also afford such affected persons the opportunity to re-register. The Commission is also ordered to submit in writing to the Court the full list of all the persons on the register of voters who were registered as voters by the Commission on the basis of their possession of a National Health Insurance identification card. The Commission is to comply with these latest orders by 29th June, 2016.

Abu Ramadan III apparently became necessary as a result of the public confusion and misunderstanding, divided largely along party lines, caused by the vastly contradictory readings and interpretations proffered by various legal and opinion commentators to the judgment and orders of the Supreme Court delivered on 5th May, 2015 (Abu Ramadan II). The ensuing confusion caused one of the Justices who had sat on the case to take the unusual step of offering, in an extrajudicial context, a clarification of the judgment in response to a question from the press, a move that generated collateral controversy of its own. Even the Electoral Commission, the primary defendant in the case and the party to which the Courts orders were directed, was reportedly unable to determine what, if anything, the judgment and orders of the Court in Abu Ramadan II required of it.

The Abu Ramadan trilogy began with the decision of the Supreme Court delivered on 30th July 2014 in two consolidated suits, J/11/2014 and J/9/2014, brought by Plaintiffs Abu Ramadan and Evans Nimako and by Plaintiff Kwasi Danso Acheampong, respectively (Abu Ramadan I). The plaintiffs in Abu Ramadan I had sought, among others, a declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 42 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992 (hereinafter, the Constitution) the use of the National Health Insurance Card (hereinafter, the Health ID card) as proof of qualification to register as a voter pursuant to the Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulation 2012 (Constitutional Instrument 72) is unconstitutional, void and of no effect. The Plaintiffs case was based on the fact that while article 42 of the Constitution restricts the right to vote and to be registered as a voter to a citizen of Ghana, the National Health Insurance (NHI) card is available and may be issued to any resident of Ghana, without regard to nationality.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court granted the relief sought by the plaintiffs in Abu Ramadan I, declaring that the use of the NHI card to register a voter pursuant to Regulation 1(3)(d) of the Public Election (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2012 (C.I. 72) is inconsistent with the said article 42. The Court further granted an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Electoral Commission from using the National Health Insurance Card for the purpose of registering a voter under article 42 of the Constitution.

It appears that the Electoral Commission, while ceasing to accept NHI cards for future voter registration following the decision in Abu Ramadan I, did not read Abu Ramadan I as requiring it to remove or exclude from the current register of voters those persons who had previously been registered on the basis of a NHI card. The Plaintiffs, therefore, returned to the Supreme Court two years after Abu Ramadan I had been delivered, contending, among other things, that following the declaration of the unconstitutionality of the use of said cards, names of persons who used it in the registration process conducted under CI 72 cannot continue to remain on the register of voters. It is in response to this claim that the Supreme Court in Abu Ramadan II ordered the Electoral Commission to delete from the current register of voters the names of those persons who were registered as voters on the basis of a NHI card and offer the affected persons a fresh opportunity to register using a constitutionally-compliant form of identification.

Rather than end matters, Abu Ramadan II generated a new storm of controversy as to the meaning and implications of the Courts judgement and accompanying orders. Indeed, despite Abu Ramadan III, it appears that the debate sparked by Abu Ramadan II is far from over. The issues at stake in the Abu Ramadan trilogy, but especially in Abu Ramadan II, are far from academic; they are weighty and urgent. The Courts judgment in Abu Ramadan II touches on very important and fundamental constitutional questions, notably the Supremacy of the Constitution, the role of the Supreme Court in enforcing fidelity to the Constitution, and what the independence of the Electoral Commission means within our constitutional system. Moreover, the specific questions presented to and answered by the Court in the Abu Ramadan trilogy bear directly on the content and integrity of the voters register that is to be used in this years presidential and parliamentary elections--which elections are only a few short months away. In light of this, and because certain propositions contained in the Abu Ramadan II judgement written for a unanimous court by Justice Gbadegbe, remain deeply troubling and were not taken up again in Abu Ramadan III, we have decided to enter this debate, primarily to return to Abu Ramadan II and subject to close scrutiny the controversial propositions in that case as well as the meaning placed on those words and the orders of the Court by certain legal commentators.

For the purposes of this article, we have divided into two parts our analysis of Justice Gbadegbes judgment for the Court in Abu Ramadan II. The first part deals with certain general propositions and questions of constitutional law that are contained in the discussion portions of the judgement and whose meaning and implications are far-reaching and extend beyond the specific issues presented in the case. There are two main issues here: (a) the effect of a declaration by the Court that a certain law or provision of a law is unconstitutional; and (b) the meaning of the Independence of the Electoral Commission as it relates to the power of the Supreme Court to enforce the Constitution. The second part deals with the specific orders of the Court; specifically, what action, if any, is required of the Electoral Commission under Abu Ramadan II in order to bring the voters register in compliance with the applicable provisions of the Constitution, as interpreted by the Court. We shall deal with these issues one after the other.

(A) Is an Unconstitutional Law Void or Not?

The first broad or general question of constitutional law that arises from the judgement in Abu Ramadan II may be framed as follows: What is the effect of a Supreme Court declaration that a law or provision of a law is unconstitutional? More specifically, can a law or an act continue to have validity as law despite a determination and declaration by the Supreme Court that the law or act in question is inconsistent with the Constitution?

Language in the judgment of the Court in Abu Ramadan I appears to suggest that this last question can be answered in the affirmative. That language is the genesis of some of the confusion that this case has generated. The relevant portion of the judgment written by Justice Gbadegbe reads as follows: As the registrations were made under a law that was then in force, they were made in good faith and the subsequent declaration of the unconstitutionality of the use of the [NHI] cards should not automatically render them void.

In essence, the Abu Ramadan II Court wishes to say that, an act that has been found and declared by the Court to be unconstitutional may nonetheless retain current and prospective legal validity. The theory or reason the Court gives for this proposition is that, at the time the act was done the law under which it was done was a valid law as it had not yet been declared to be unconstitutional.

This is a profoundly extraordinary and deeply troubling proposition as a matter of constitutional jurisprudence. Since every act, until it is found and declared to be unconstitutional, can be said to have been done in good faith compliance with existing law, the upshot and implication of the Courts statement, even if unintended, is to allow an unconstitutional law or act to continue to be applied despite having been found and authoritatively declared to be unconstitutional.

Unfortunately but understandably, no authority or citation either to a provision of the Constitution or an established constitutional precedent is provided by the Court in support of this novel proposition. The absence of supporting authority or citation is not surprising, because one will have to search but in vain in our constitutional jurisprudence, and in the jurisprudence of every other constitutional system analogous to ours, for an authoritative support for the proposition that a law declared by the apex court to be unconstitutional is not void and thus can continue to be enforced or applied.

It would be easy to disregard the above proposition as mere dictum were it not for the fact that these words come from a unanimous seven-member panel of the Supreme Court and touch on arguably the most important and fundamental question in our constitutional system, namely the meaning of the Supremacy of the Constitution. So fundamental is the doctrine of the Supremacy of the Constitution, and of the related question of the effect of a judicial declaration of unconstitutionality, that the Framers of the Constitution gave it pride of place as the very first article of the 1992 Constitution. And it is to that provision that one must have recourse in seeking an authoritative and clear resolution of this matter.

Article 1, clause 2, of the Constitution states: This Constitution shall be the supreme law of Ghana and any other law found to be inconsistent with any provision of this Constitution shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void . Article 2 of the Constitution then proceeds to lodge exclusively in the Supreme Court the power to determine and declare authoritatively whether a challenged law is unconstitutional.

The combined effect of these two preeminent provisions of the Constitution is clear and straightforward: If the Constitution is the supreme law of Ghana; and if it lies within the exclusive province of the Supreme Court to declare that a law is unconstitutional; then, a law declared to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, is definitively void and, therefore, of no legal effect. To say otherwise, that is to say, to suggest that a law found and declared by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional is nonetheless not void and, thus, retains continuing validity for any reason whatsoever is to negate the notion of the Constitution being the supreme law of Ghana.

It is, of course, possible to find jurisdictions or constitutional systems in which a law declared as unconstitutional by a final court is still not automatically void. But what distinguishes those jurisdictions, such as the Netherlands and Switzerland, from ours is that, in those constitutional systems, the Court does not have the final authority to decide the fate of a law it has found to be unconstitutional. In those systems, it is usually the Legislature or Parliament that retains the final say as to what to do about a law declared by a court to be unconstitutional. The Legislature may choose, in those jurisdictions, to retain the law despite the judicial declaration of unconstitutionality. In other words, those jurisdictions follow the doctrine of parliamentary supremacy. That, however, is not the kind of constitutional system in force in Ghana. Under Ghanas constitutional system, dating, at least, as far back as the 1969 Constitution, it is for the Supreme Court to declare a law unconstitutional and, the 1992 Constitution, like its predecessor constitutions, is emphatic that, once such a declaration has been made by the Court, the affected law is automatically void.

The view has been propounded in some quarters that an unconstitutional law may be voidable, but not necessarily void. This is a rather fanciful proposition. The concept of voidability is a concept known to contract law but completely unknown to constitutional law. In contract law, where the parties are deemed autonomous and self-interested and, therefore, best suited to protect their own interest, a party may, under certain circumstances, choose to be bound by a contract although the contract may contain a legal defect that would otherwise render it void and give the party the right to walk away from the contract. In those circumstances, contract law doctrine leaves it to the affected party to decide for himself or herself whether to proceed with the contract or not.

It is obvious why such a doctrine or concept has absolutely no place in constitutional lawcertainly not under the constitutional system and jurisprudence that operates in Ghana and in every other known common law jurisdiction. Not every concept recognized in one branch of the law may be transferred or imported into other branches of the law. The concept of a voidable contract is one such concept that is limited in its application to the realm of contract law. At any rate, Article 1 of the Constitution speaks only of an unconstitutional law being void, not voidable. And it is for good reason that the term voidable is not the term used in the Constitutionthe contract law concept of voidability simply does not make sense in the constitutional context, definitely not in a constitutional system where the Constitution is the supreme law of the land.

The question remains as to when or at what point in time a law is deemed to be void once it has been declared unconstitutional. There are two possibilities. The first view, which is the settled view under Ghanaian constitutional jurisprudence, is that when a law is void for unconstitutionality it is void ab initiothat is to say, it is deemed to be void from the moment of its enactment, even before it is formally declared unconstitutional. The second possibility is that, a law declared unconstitutional, though void, is void only from the moment it is declared unconstitutional. There is no third way. Thus, whether one applies the first or the second position, which is to say, whether an unconstitutional law is void ab initio or void with effect from the time it is declared unconstitutional, once it has been declared unconstitutional, it ceases, at the minimum, to have legal validity immediately and prospectively.

The proposition put forth by the Court in Abu Ramadan II, however, appears not to embrace either of these two possibilities. Instead, the Court appears to suggest that a law that has been found and declared unconstitutional may nonetheless continue, in some way, to have current and prospective validityin other words, that such a law may still not be void. That position is clearly erroneous and completely at odds with the doctrine of the Supremacy of the Constitution enshrined in Article 1 of the Constitution. If the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and the Supreme Court has the final authority to declare a law unconstitutional, then no law that has been so declared by the Court can co-exist with or under the Constitution. This much is trite law.

The Supreme Court in Abu Ramadan II appears to have been led to its untenable proposition by a concern that to rule that the NHI card, having been declared unconstitutional, ceases to be useable immediately (currently) would amount to a retroactive application of the declaration of unconstitutionality. This is bizarre reasoning. In fact, whenever a court holds that an unconstitutional law is void ab initio, it is essentially applying the ruling of unconstitutionality back to the time the law was enacted. To say that, this amounts to a retroactive application of its ruling and is thus improper amounts to saying, in effect, that the very idea of an unconstitutional law being void ab initio is problematic. But since when did this well-worn doctrine of void ab initio, which is deeply embedded in our constitutional jurisprudence, become problematic? To the contrary, to throw the doctrine of void ab initio into doubt, as the Courts language does, creates real absurdity. Are we going to continue to hold a person in prison after finding and declaring unconstitutional the law under which he was charged, prosecuted and convicted, on the theory that to apply the unconstitutional ruling retroactivelywhich is to say to hold that the law is void ab initio--is untenable because that persons conviction was done in good faith under a law that had not been declared unconstitutional at the time?

The Court also appears to have been concerned that, saying that the unconstitutional law is void ab initio might raise doubts about the legality or constitutionality of past elections conducted and concluded on the basis of a voter register containing NHI registered voters or that it might cause manifest injustice to the affected voters. But this concern, too, is totally unfounded. The doctrine of void ab initio has never been applied and is never applied to undo acts that have already been legally and practically concluded and which, therefore, no longer present a live legal controversy. Thus, for example, there is no danger to the validity of any past election in which NHI cards were used by holding now that the use of NHI cards is unconstitutional and, therefore, void. Elections that have been held and conclusively decided and settled, and pursuant to which a government has been lawfully and irreversibly installed, cannot legally or practically be undone by a subsequent finding or declaration that certain voters who may have voted in those elections were registered as voters using an unconstitutional form of identification. That matter simply does not arise after the fact.

The notion that applying the void ab initio doctrine in these circumstances might cause a nuclear meltdown (to borrow a phrase from another one of the Courts past decisions infected with the same fallacy) is simply a red herring. For example, when the Supreme Court ruled that prisoners were entitled under the Constitution to be registered as voters and, thus, proceeded to declare as unconstitutional and void the existing law that denied prisoners the right to be registered to vote, no one could be heard to argue that such a declaration would call into question past elections that had wrongfully excluded prisoners from voting. That point was legally moot. Prisoners would be duly entitled to be registered in voter registrations that were conducted after the ruling. Similarly, any question or doubt as to the validity of past elections arising out of a subsequent declaration that use of the NHI card is unconstitutional is simply moot as a matter of law. Indeed that question was never before the Court in the Abu Ramadan Case, because it simply would have had no legal legs to stand on. The Courts jurisdiction is properly reserved for deciding live and present legal controversies; not moot or dead issues. In any case, the Constitution is clear as to the timeframe or window within which presidential or parliamentary elections may be challenged in court, and that window had long closed irreversibly as of the time of Abu Ramadan I. The impact on past elections of applying the void ab initio doctrine is, therefore, not a concern that should have detained the Courts attention for even one moment.

At any rate, if the Court felt any unease, for whatever reason, in saying that the use of NHI cards was void ab initio, it could simply have resorted to the alternative doctrine of voidness by saying that the unconstitutionality ruling applied only to the contents of the voters register as from the time of the decision, including those that would be compiled and used (and thus to elections that would be held) after the declaration of unconstitutionality. In other words, the unfounded fear or concern that seems to have detained the Courts attention needlessly in Abu Ramadan II, causing it to make the untenable proposition it made, is easily and correctly addressed by saying that the declaration of the NHI cards unconstitutionality would take effect from the date of the declaration of unconstitutionality.

In fact, that, in essence, is what the Court did when it offered those who had been previously registered using the NHI card the equitable remedy of a fresh opportunity to get registered currently using a constitutionally-compliant form of identification. Having offered all affected NHI-card registrants that just and sufficient remedial opportunity, there was no longer any manifest injustice that might be visited on such persons for the Court to be concerned with. There was, therefore, absolutely no need for the Court to turn the Constitution and well-established constitutional doctrine on its head by suggesting that an unconstitutional law is not necessarily or automatically void.

Instructively, the question as to whether a declaration of unconstitutionality made the unconstitutional act automatically void or not did not arise in Abu Ramadan I. Perhaps the Court there assumed, reasonably, that the answer was obvious or else was clearly implied from its judgement written (again for a unanimous panel) by the Chief Justice. After all, Plaintiffs in Abu Ramadan I had prayed the Court specifically for a declaration that, having regard to article 42 of the Constitution, use of the NHI card as proof of qualification to register under CI 72 is unconstitutional, void, and of no effect. Having granted that relief by declaring the use of the NHI card for voter registration purposes as unconstitutional, the Court arguably deemed it obvious (and thus unnecessary for it to repeat the point) that, the use of the card for voter registration purposes became instantly and prospectively void. In fact, the judgment of the Chief Justice in Abu Ramadan I begins with a citation to Article 1(2) and a statement by the Court that, by virtue of the doctrine of constitutional supremacy embodied in article 2(1) (as well as article 130(1)), it is the Courts duty to determine the constitutionality of legislation and to declare as void any law which is found to be inconsistent or in conflict with any of its provisions.

In light of these constitutionally incontestable statements in Abu Ramadan I, it is hard to understand why the Court in Abu Ramadan II strayed into uncharted waters with its needless and insupportable suggestion that an unconstitutional law or act may not be automatically void. Having rightfully devised an appropriate equitable remedy for those voters affected by the unconstitutionality ruling, there was no further need or warrant for the Court to, in effect, jettison Article 1 of the Constitution and thereby shake the very foundation of the Constitution by disturbing the fundamental doctrine of the Supremacy of the Constitution. The damage to the doctrine of the Supremacy of the Constitution as well as to the Courts own authority under Article 2 and to the integrity of Ghanaian constitutional law and jurisprudence that would arise from the Courts erroneous pronouncement to the effect that an unconstitutional law is not automatically void is so grave and untenable that that proposition cannot be allowed to stand.

(B) Is the Electoral Commission subject to Judicial Oversight and Orders in the Performance of Its Functions?

The second general issue of broader constitutional import that arises from the Abu Ramadan II judgement concerns the meaning of the independence of the Electoral Commission vis-a-vis the power of the Supreme Court (and of the superior courts generally) to enforce compliance with the Constitution and applicable laws. In this portion of the judgment, too, the Abu Ramadan II Court speaks with equivocation. In one breath the Supreme Court flatly and rightfully rejects the contention of the Electoral Commission that the Constitution forbids any control or direction of the 1st Defendant as to how to accomplish its work. The Court rightfully points out that as a creature of Article 43, the Electoral Commission is subject to the Constitution; to deny that it is so subject is to misconstrue the nature of the independence bestowed on it in relation to our exclusive jurisdiction, which is critical to effectuating the supremacy of the law. The Court continues: The correct position is that the courts as constituted under the 1992 Constitution may intervene in acts of the First Defendant to ensure that it keeps it within the boundaries of the law and also give effect to the provision of the Constitution.

This indeed is a correct statement of the constitutional position as it pertains to the meaning of the independence of the Electoral Commission. Yet, the Court appears, in another breath, to undercut the authority of this position. Specifically, in relation to the function of the Electoral Commission under article 45(a) to compile the register of voters and revise it at such periods as may be determined by law, the Court states that the Commissions function under article 45(a) is not subject to any other provision, therefore in performing that said function, we cannot make an order compelling the Commission to act in a particular manner.

This last pronouncement is puzzling, because immediately following the listing of the Electoral Commissions functions in article 45 is article 46, titled the Independence of the Commission, which states: Except as provided in this Constitution or in any other law not inconsistent with this Constitution, in the performance of its functions, the Electoral Commission shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority.

How does this provision of article 46 square with assertion by the Abu Ramadan II Court that the Commissions function under article 45(a) is not subject to any other provision, therefore in performing that said function, we cannot make an order compelling the Commission to act in a particular manner? It is clear, pursuant to the provision of article 46 reproduced above, that while the Commission shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority in the performance of its function, that independence does not limit or disable the Supreme Court from exercising in relation to the Commission its foundational enforcement powers under article 2 of the Constitution.

Article 2 of the Constitution, titled Enforcement of the Constitution, opens the doors of the Supreme Court to any person who alleges that, an enactment or anything contained in or done under the authority of any enactment or any act or omission of any person is inconsistent with or in contravention of a provision of this Constitution. If the Supreme Court, upon determining the matter, upholds the allegation of unconstitutionality, it is empowered under article 2 (2) to make a declaration to that effect and, further, to make such orders and give such directions as it may consider appropriate for giving effect, or enabling effect to be given, to the declaration so made.

It is clear from this provision of article 2(2) that the Constitution gives the Supreme Court a wide remit and scope to determine what kind of orders and directions may be appropriate to enforce a declaration of unconstitutionality. No part of the provisions pertaining to the Electoral Commission in the performance of its functions can be read to mean or suggest that the Commission is exempt from this broad enforcement mandate of the Supreme Court. Once the Supreme Court has properly asserted jurisdiction over a matter involving alleged unconstitutionality on the part of the Electoral Commission and proceeded to declare the offending act or enactment of the Electoral Commission unconstitutional, it is for the Court, pursuant to article 2(2), to determine, in its own judgment, what orders or directions it considers appropriate to give effect to the declaration of unconstitutionality. Indeed, the broad reach of the Supreme Courts remedial powers under article 2(2) is reaffirmed and extended to all the Superior Courts by article 126(4).

Read in light of articles 2(2) and 126(4), then, it is clear that the independence bestowed on the Electoral Commission under article 46 is subject to the power of the Supreme Courtand of the Superior Courts generallyto enforce compliance with the Constitution and with the courts orders. This indeed is as it should be. To hold to the contrary would, again, upset the Supremacy of the Constitution and defeat the courts unique role in ensuring that all authorities established by law exercise their powers and perform their functions in obedience to and in compliance with the Constitution.

Where the Court in Abu Ramadan II appears to have misled itself is to have turned to article 45(a), expecting to find there a specific statement to the effect that, in the compilation of the voters register, the Electoral Commission would be subject to the authority of the courts. No such function-specific subject to language could be found in article 45(a) because such language is simply unnecessary. What the Court was looking to find but could not find in article 45(a) is right there in article 46. Article 46, which covers all of the functions of the Electoral Commission at once, makes it clear that the Commission, in performing any one of those functions, is not subject to the control or direction of any other person or authority except as provided for in this Constitution and in any other law not inconsistent with the Constitution.

The above proviso or exception clause in article 46 means that, notwithstanding the independence bestowed on the Electoral Commission, the Commission may be subject to the direction of an authority as long as that authority derives its powers to do so from the Constitution or a constitutionally-compliant law. Article 2(2) of the Constitution, which empowers the Supreme Court to make such orders and give such directions as it may consider appropriate to enforce a constitutional ruling, is the clearest example of the kind of provision that represents an exception to the independence bestowed on the Electoral Commission under article 46. As noted already, article 126(4) of the Constitution is to the same effectand extends similar power to all of the Superior Courts.

Thus, for example, if the Supreme Court makes a declaration that the exclusion of prisoners from the voters roll is unconstitutional, the Court can, without offense to the independence of the Electoral Commission, make an order directing the Commission to make appropriate arrangements to register prisoners. Similarly, where the Court has declared that the use of NHI cards for voter registration is unconstitutional, nothing in article 46 stops the Court from making an order or giving a direction compelling the Electoral Commission to take such steps as the Court deems appropriate in order to bring the voters register into compliance with the Constitution, such as by deleting or removing the names of NHI card registrants from the register. Indeed, the Court itself, in rejecting as plainly erroneous the First Defendants contention that the Constitution forbids any control or direction of the defendant as to how to accomplish its work, notes that article 46 itself recognizes that its [the Commissions] independence may be derogated from either in the constitution or by any other law including but not limited to the instances referred to in regard to articles 48(1) and 49(1). The Court, however, seemed to have forgotten that, pursuant to article 46, it is its general, all-encompassing power under articles 2(2) and 126(4) that enables it to enforce fidelity to the Constitution on the part of all authorities and persons, including the independent bodies set up under the Constitution.

It is important to add that, exercising its powers in this manner, does not turn the Supreme Court or any other competent court into a supra or super Electoral Commission. The functions and powers bestowed on the Electoral Commission are solely for the Commission to perform and exercise; the courts may not take over those functions, as the Constitution has not appointed the courts to perform those functions. Thus, for example, it is not for the Supreme Court or any court to arrogate to itself the task of compiling the voters register or demarcating constituencies. Those functions are exclusively for the Electoral Commission to undertake or perform. However, where a competent court finds, in a given case, that the Electoral Commission, in performing any one of its functions or in exercising any of its powers, has acted inconsistently with or in contravention of the Constitution, that Court may order or direct the Commission to undo the unconstitutionality and bring its conduct in compliance with the Constitution. That does not amount to judicial usurpation of the functions or powers of the Electoral Commission. If a court, and in the final analysis the Supreme Court, did not have the power to order or compel the Electoral Commission to take such action as the court deemed appropriate to correct a violation of law, the Electoral Commission would become a law unto itself. Nothing in the notion of the independence of the Electoral Commission contemplates such an outcome. Indeed, it would be inconsistent with the notion of the Supremacy of the Constitution and offensive to the principles of rule of law and legality to have an Electoral Commission that could not be ordered by a competent court to do what was necessary to correct a constitutional (or statutory) violation.

The Reliefs and Orders in Abu Ramadan II

In contrast to the portions of the judgment in Abu Ramadan II where the Court discusses the issues of voidness and the independence of the Electoral Commission, the portion of the Abu Ramadan II judgment dealing with the reliefs and orders of the Court is reasonably clear and unproblematic. The Court concludes that, upon a true and proper interpretation of the article 45(a) of the Constitution, the mandate of the Electoral Commission to compile a register of voters implies a duty to compile a reasonably accurate and credible register.

Immediately prior to making this ruling, the Court had stated, that The continued presence [on the register of voters] of such names being derived from a constitutionally declared wrong offers sufficient proof of the extent of the inaccuracy of the current register of voters and can therefore be said to be unreasonable. Simply put, the voters register cannot be said to be constitutionally compliant, as it is not reasonably accurate and credible, insofar as it continues to contain or include the names of persons who were registered using NHI cards. The Court affirms this conclusion in its reliefs (2) and (3) for the Plaintiff.

Following on these findings and conclusions of law, the Court proceeds to make two very specific orders: (a) That the Electoral Commission takes steps immediately to delete or as is popularly known clean the current register of voters to comply with the provisions of the 1992 Constitution and applicable laws of Ghana; and (b) That any person whose name is deleted from the register of voters by the Electoral Commission pursuant to this order (a) above be given the opportunity to register under the law.

Wherein lies the confusion?

Rather than accept the specific reliefs granted and orders issued by the Court in Abu Ramadan II as finally settling the matter, some commentators have sought to read the specific reliefs and orders against the backdrop of the controversial general propositions that the Court had made in the discussion portions of its judgment and, in so doing, have arrived at a conclusion that essentially renders the granted reliefs and orders nugatory. In effect, the argument goes, since the Court suggested generally, first, that an unconstitutional law may not be necessarily void and, second, that it cannot make an order compelling the Electoral Commission to act in a certain manner in compiling the register of voters, its final orders specifically instructing the Commission to take steps immediately to delete the offending names from the voters register to comply with the Constitution and applicable laws of Ghana and to give affected persons the opportunity to register under the law amount to nothing.

This is a bizarre argument. When Plaintiffs go to court with a case, they ask for or seek certain particular reliefs and orders from the court, the denial of which dooms their case and the grant of which upholds their claim. On the way to making the final orders, the Court may say a whole host of things, not all of which are necessary to decide the case or can be said to constitute the law or holding of the case. Where certain general propositions or statements made by the Court in the discussion portion of the judgment seem inconsistent or at variance with the specific reliefs it grants and the orders it makes in the concluding reliefs and orders portion of the judgment, it is bizarre to read the opinions expressed in the discussion as trumping or negating the reliefs and orders the Court specifically grants and makes. After all, it is through the reliefs it grants (or dismisses) and the orders it makes that the Court finally decides and settles the case before it. Furthermore, it is through the Orders that the Court addresses and directs the parties as to what their obligations are under the judgment. And it is a subsequent failure or refusal of a party to carry out or comply with an order addressed to it that could give rise to a citation for contempt.

In short, notwithstanding some of the statements made by the Supreme Court in its discussion in Abu Ramadan II, statements to which we have taken serious exception here as to their cogency and correctness as a matter of constitutional law, it is, ultimately, the reliefs granted and the orders made by the Court that conclusively resolved the matters presented before the Court in Abu Ramadan II. And it is clear from those reliefs and orders that (i) the current voters register, insofar as it continues to include the names of persons who were registered using NHIS cards, is not reasonably credible or accurate and, thus, not constitutionally compliant; (ii) the Electoral Commission is duty bound to remove those names from the voters register in order to bring the register into compliance with the Constitution, and (iii) affected registered voters are entitled to, and must be allowed, a fresh opportunity to register using a constitutionally compliant form of ID.

One argument that has been proffered by those who suggest that the Courts orders in Abu Ramadan II do not change the status quo is that, since the Court required the Electoral Commission to clean the register of voters to comply with the provisions of the 1992 Constitution and applicable laws of Ghana, the Commission cannot clean the register as ordered by the Court because there is no mechanism for it to do so under any existing law. It is difficult to understand the import of this argument. The order of the Court commands the Commission to delete the offending names so that the resulting register would comply with the Constitution and applicable laws of Ghana. The order does not dictate a process or mechanism by which the Commission must proceed to do so. But there is no reason or need for the order to do so. The order says, simply, that the Commission must take steps immediately to carry out the order.

The notion that no current or existing law gives the Commission the authority to delete names and, therefore, the Commission is disabled from carrying out the order, simply disregards the fact that the order of the Court, issued pursuant to the Courts article 2 powers, needs no new or additional implementing legislation or legal instrument in order to be effective. As an order made to enforce a constitutional ruling, it carries with it the authority of the Constitution. Thus if any existing law presumably prevents the Commission from giving effect to the order, then, that law, insofar as it frustrates obedience to the Constitution and the orders of the Court under its article 2 powers, simply cannot stand. Deletion of the constitutionally offending names by the Commission, once done pursuant to the order of the Supreme Court (or any other competent superior court), is deletion in accordance with due process of law.

Another variation of the applicable laws argument says that, under the existing law, the only legally competent way for the Commission to clean the register--and, for that matter, the only lawful avenue opened to it to remove NHI registrants from the register of voters, notwithstanding the Court order--is through the process specified in Regulation 16 of CI 72, pursuant to which a member of the public may challenge or object to the inclusion of unqualified individualsthe so-called exhibition or challenge mechanism. Interestingly, this argument was first made by the Commission in Abu Ramadan I when it sought to defeat judicial intervention on behalf the Plaintiffs by contending that there is an avenue open to the public for challenging registration.

In Abu Ramadan I, the Court flatly rejected this argument, describing it as dangerous. The Court explained that, the challenge mechanism is the final window of opportunity for removing the names of those unscrupulous individuals who, in spite of the necessary due diligence, all possible human care and attention, have nonetheless managed to slip through the net, beat the system, so to speak, and fraudulently managed to have their names included as qualified individuals. In short, the challenge or exhibition mechanism laid out in CI 72 is not the only legally competent way to delete the offending names from the register of voters. This likely explains why the Court in Abu Ramadan III has asked the Commission to clearly set out in writing, the steps and modalities that the Commission intends to take in order to ensure full compliance with the Courts order issued in Abu Ramadan II. In effect, whatever steps and modalities the Commission adopts that effectuate the order of the Supreme Court and do not meet with disapproval from the Court are legally competent.

It has also been suggested that, the Electoral Commission may not be able to delete or remove the names of those persons who were registered using NHI cards because, it is alleged, the Commission has no mechanism, in the current register, for tracking and identifying the affected persons or names. If true, this would represent a curious and serious administrative lapse or omission on the part of the Electoral Commission. What, then, would the remedy be for such an administrative problem? Is an administrative lapse that renders compliance with a constitutional ruling administratively impracticable under the current internal processes of a body grounds for that body to evade its constitutional obligation, when doing so would mean the retention of an unconstitutional status quo?

To countenance such a proposition, and thus answer the above question in the affirmative, would be to countenance a subversion of the Supremacy of the Constitution in the name of administrative convenience. If the Electoral Commission asserts that it is unable under its internal processes to carry out the order of the Supreme Court directing it to remove from the register of voters the offending names that render the register currently non-compliant with the Constitution, then the only constitutionally valid recourse left is for the Commission to compile a new register of voters that satisfies and comports with the Constitution. Anything short of that would place the Electoral Commission above the Constitution and the Supreme Court.

Akoto Ampaw is a legal practitioner based in Accra.

H. Kwasi Prempeh is a legal policy and rule of law and governance consultant based in Tema. He was, until recently, a Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law, New Jersey, USA, where he taught constitutional law and comparative constitutional law, among other courses.
Luanda (AFP) - An Angolan court on Wednesday ordered the conditional release of 17 young activists, including a well-known rapper, three months after they were jailed for rebellion against President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

Most of group were arrested during a book club meeting in June last year where one of the books on the line-up was about non-violent resistance to repressive regimes.

The activists maintained throughout their trial they were peaceful campaigners for the departure of dos Santos, who has been in power since September, 1979 and rules the oil-rich country with an iron fist.

"Release warrants under house arrest were issued on behalf of 17 applicants to be executed from the present day," the Supreme Court in Luanda said in a statement.

The ruling overturns sentences ranging from two to eight years in prison, which were handed down at the end of a lengthy trial in March amid complaints about political repression.

One of the accused, rapper Luaty Beirao, went on hunger strike for over a month last year to protest against his detention.

Defence lawyer Francisco Miguel Michel said Wednesday he was "very happy".

"Any court concerned with the application of justice would have ruled the same," he said, insisting his clients "committed no crime".

Human Rights Watch researcher Zenaida Machado told AFP the ruling was "long overdue".

"The order should have been given immediately after the verdict in March... I am satisfied that the Supreme Court is upholding the law of the country," she said.
Introduction

Winning the DV lottery is just the first step in the process for a DV visa. It does not mean that you will be issued a visa. To be eligible you must demonstrate to the Consular Officer (CO) that you meet the requirements of the DV Rules. The US Code of Federal Regulations provides that though COs are authorized to grant to a beneficiary the status accorded in an approved petition, the approval of a petition does not relieve the person of the burden of establishing to the satisfaction of the CO that he or she is eligible in all respects to receive a visa. This means that despite being selected for further processing, you still bear the burden to satisfy the CO that you meet the requirements for the visa.

Education Requirements and Evaluation

The DV lottery program requires that you have completed a high school education or its equivalent. You need not prove that you meet this requirement at the time of filing your entry. You must, however, meet this requirement by the end of the fiscal year in which you were selected and present evidence of completion to be found eligible for a visa. If you are unable to do so at the time of your interview, your visa will be refused.

The phrase at least a high school education or its equivalent is interpreted to apply only to formal courses of study. Equivalency certificates (such as the G.E.D.) are not acceptable. To qualify, you must have completed a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education in the United States or a comparable course of study in another country. Evidence might consist of a certificate of completion equivalent to a United States diploma, school transcripts, or other evidence issued by the person or organization responsible for maintaining such records, which specify the completed course of study.

In assessing whether you meet the education requirement, the CO is not required to administer an exam, either oral or written, to test your basic knowledge in order to determine whether you have the equivalent of a U.S. high school education. Again the CO may not refuse your DV application solely on the basis of his or her analysis of your basic knowledge. If the CO has any doubts about your claimed education level raised by your interview, this may lead him or her to investigate the authenticity of the educational credentials provided by you; however they cannot refuse you solely on the basis of his analysis of your basic knowledge.

Work Experience Requirements and Evaluation

If you do not meet the education requirement, you may present evidence that you meet the work experience requirement of two years of experience in an occupation which requires at least two years training or experience within the five-year period immediately prior to application. Whether the type of work youve been doing for two years qualifies will be determined based on a U.S. Department of Labor database at www.onecenter.org . If you are unable to meet this requirement at the time of the interview, your visa will be refused.

What if you fail to show that you qualify at the time of your interview?

For both the education and work experience qualification, you must show that you meet the requirement at the time of the interview. If you fail to do so, your visa will be refused. However, you are allowed to provide further evidence to disprove the basis of your refusal.

The U.S. Code of Federal Regulations provide that you may within one year of the refusal of an immigrant visa provide further evidence tending to overcome the ground of refusal. If you failed to prove that you possessed the required education or work qualification at the time of your interview, you may within one year from the time of your refusal file a request for reconsideration at the consulate with further evidence to prove your qualification. However, unlike other immigrant visa categories, this is subject to the fiscal year in which you were selected having not ended, and visas being still available for your region.

To be continued

Emmanuel Opoku Acheampong

Disclaimer: This article only provides general information and guidance on U.S. immigration law. The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. The writer will not accept any liability for any claims or inconvenience as a result of the use of this information. The writer is an immigration law consultant and a practicing law attorney in Ghana. He advises on U.S., UK, and Schengen immigration law. He works part-time for Acheampong & Associates Ltd, an immigration law firm in Accra. He may be contacted at [email protected]
The Kwakwaduam Association of New York has donated twelve Electronic Fetal Doppler Stethoscopes worth over 3,600 USD to the Nsawam Health District, Obo and Atibie Health Centers

The Institutions in the Nsawam Health Directorate receiving the Fetal Doppler Stethoscopes included Nsawam, Adoagyiri, Obregyema, Zongo, Djankrom, and New Life. The donations to the Nsawam area was initiated by Hon Nana Obeng Dompreh MP for Nsawam/Adoagyiri who indicated the need to the Kwakwaduam Association during his trip to New York, on his desire to improve the quality of health care delivered to women of his constituency.

Nana Obarima Wiredu of Obo made the application on behalf of the Atibie and Obo Health Centers.

Making the presentations on behalf of the Association, Dr. Kwame Aniapam Boafo a Gynecologist at the Montefiore Hospital/Albert Einstein Medical School, New York and a Consultant to the Organization said that the Association recognizes the need to enhance the work done by our midwives who are at the fore front of maternal care and the need to improve the quality of work done by them. He said the stillbirth rate in Ghana is on the average about 25 per 1000 and that of the developed nation is about 3 to 5. He said there was need to bridge this gap and the provision of the electronic Doppler stethoscopes will go a long way in making it easier to avoid fresh stillbirths and enhance antepartum care.

Dr. Boafo relayed greetings from Mr. Mark Saforo President of Kwakwaduam Association Inc. who indicated that Kwakwaduam is an organization whose mission includes a global health component and the supply of the stethoscopes was consistent with this mission. He said the funds for this project were raised at the last Dinner Dance and implored the public to support the efforts of Kwakwaduam Association Inc

It will be recalled that in the past Kwakwaduam had provided computers for the Presbyterian University at Akropong, provided water for the School for the Blind in Ghana, provided water for Akropong East, and provided medical supplies to several maternal health clinics in villages in the Akwapim district among others and made similar presentations to Prampram and Mampong health Directorates.

Visit Kwakwaduam on the Web at WWW.Akropong Kwakwaduam.Org

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Dakar (AFP) - "Catastrophic" levels of illegal fishing in west Africa are costing the region millions in lost revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs, a development think tank said Wednesday.

Countries such as Senegal, Sierra Leone and Mauritania are missing out on vital income because of the masses of fish taken from their waters by trawlers from as far afield as South Korea, according to research by Britain's Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

Senegal lost $300 million, or 2.0 percent of its GDP, to the practice in 2012, while Sierra Leone -- one of the region's poorest nations -- missed out on $29 million, said the report, entitled "Western Africa's Missing Fish".

A lack of government transparency in the region, limited capacity to patrol the seas and legal loopholes once west Africa's fish arrive in Europe, its biggest market, were all contributing to the situation, report author Alfonso Daniels told AFP.

"It's a huge problem and it's only getting worse," he said.

West Africa's "illegal" fish are transported in giant refrigerated containers mixed with other cargo to escape scrutiny at port, Daniels explained.

"Four-fifths are coming through container ships and (they) are not considered at all by the anti-illegal fishing legislation of the European Union, which is the largest market for fish in the world," Daniels said.

Europe is the destination for 44 percent of all west Africa's fish exports.

Despite this loophole, the EU remains a leader in sanctioning producers of illegal fish.

Meanwhile, a series of opaque agreements between West African nations and the likes of Russia, China and South Korea mean that the scale of the region's "missing fish" could be much larger.

"Fisheries agreements... should be public and openly available as they are with the European Union," Daniels said.

And if Africa fished its own waters rather than striking shady deals with other countries, more money would flow into the governments' coffers.

The sale of fishing rights to foreign operatives netted Africa $400 million in 2014, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, but could in theory generate $3.3 billion if the continents own fleets caught and exported the fish.

Another practical step towards combating the problem would be creating a blacklist of illegal vessels.

The ODI report estimated more than 300,000 new jobs could be created if measures such as a global tracking system for fishing vessels were instituted, loopholes were closed and a blacklist created.

"Further development benefits would derive from increased export revenue. Sustainable management of fisheries resources would also strengthen food security," the report said.

Achieving "marine environmental sustainability" would stop permanently depleting endangered stocks and would provide a long-term income, it said.
29.06.2016 LISTEN

This is a follow up article to Are You Sharing Poverty. It has thoughts and insights that can transform your views on caring for your relatives and loved ones.

Very close family relationships can either build you financially or drive you broke, because our relationship bonds tend to cloud our judgement on financial decisions. It takes great wisdom, discernment and discipline to resist the temptation to over spend on those who are closer to our hearts. However if one has to be successful economically you have to apply wisdom and care.

Three Categories of needs

There are three classes of general needs; 1) Basic needs, that is, food, shelter and security. 2) Luxury needs which one can do without, and 3) Empowerment needs, that is, ones at the end make the person more productive or self-reliant. Our expenses fall into these classes.

The way we treat the people under our care revolve around two ideologies. The first ones says, I grew up in poor environment. We suffered a lot. My brothers and sisters (or children) must not suffer as well. So I will continue to help them no matter what, and they do not have to work hard because I did it for them. I will make sure they live the life that I wish I lived.

On the other hand one might say I grew up in poor environment. We suffered a lot. My brothers and sisters (or children) must be empowered and work hard so that they will not suffer as well. So I will empower them so that they become self-reliant. I have to work hard and live the life that I wish I lived.

Relative Economics humour

Here is some humour to make it easier to understand;

Economic Out Patient (EOP) is a term used in the Millionaire Next Door. It is a situation where by an adult person in the working age group is constantly financial supported by another person. The person or persons have no disability but require support for food, clothing entertainment and other consumables. In most cases the individuals do not work or have low income.

is a term used in the Millionaire Next Door. It is a situation where by an adult person in the working age group is constantly financial supported by another person. The person or persons have no disability but require support for food, clothing entertainment and other consumables. In most cases the individuals do not work or have low income.  A star  is a self-motivated resourceful individual who has the ability to multiply economic resources. For example if you send him/her to find a job, not only will he/she come with the job, he/she will also report that he is already in friendship with the manager and knows where he stay etc. These individual always make life better for themselves and others.

 is a self-motivated resourceful individual who has the ability to multiply economic resources. For example if you send him/her to find a job, not only will he/she come with the job, he/she will also report that he is already in friendship with the manager and knows where he stay etc. These individual always make life better for themselves and others. A  dead horse  is a person who no matter how much motivation or resources you put, he/she will not produce much. They always find a reason why each attempt failed. In most cases they behave like clever character. Many of the reasons seem to be reasonable, and they normally blame the environment and not him/herself.

 is a person who no matter how much motivation or resources you put, he/she will not produce much. They always find a reason why each attempt failed. In most cases they behave like clever character. Many of the reasons seem to be reasonable, and they normally blame the environment and not him/herself.  Deep hole  is a situation created by a dead horse after draining all the financial resources from others.

 is a situation created by a dead horse after draining all the financial resources from others. Sharing poverty (vs empowering) is a situation where economic productive individual consistently share their earnings with unproductive adult individuals (in working age group) on consumables to the point that the productive persons standard of living is compromised. Often the productive persons use resource meant to improve him/herself to meet the needs of the unproductive person. At the end both are worse off than before.

The idea is not to stop supporting a dead horse but rather be aware of the status. Perhaps you may decide not to continue giving the dead horse premium stock feed but instead give to low grade so as to save resources. It is true that no matter how much economic resource that you put into certain persons, they may not achieve as you expect. The quicker you accept this fact, the earlier you will realise the need for a change of approach. In life our levels of gifting, intelligence and wisdom varies in different areas.

Family is Part of Your Calling

You can choose friends, jobs, teams etc, but not family. God appointed them for you. Hence your family is part of your calling. As you accept this, God will give you the grace to be a blessing to them. Seek peace with extended family. As you do it, do not lose you peace. Your personal peace is priceless.

For couples; put up economic and social systems to handle your family as well as extend family. And be mature enough to be consistent in your approach to different relatives. The systems should reflect your values, goals and environment, and be fair. Adjust the system with time. Accept your limitation. With time the systems will define your culture and identity. As a couple if everyone does as they want, or through force, economic success is surely not coming your way. At times compromise, maturity and enlightenment are needed to put up fair and effective systems in a family.

When Its Party Time

As far as friends and relatives are concerned, know that they have a right to have a big party without inviting you. Know that when they win lotto, they may not share a cent with you. Even if you share your heart and lungs with them, remember that each individual is independent. These days blood is getting thinner than water.

On this sobering thought, we end here today.

If you enjoyed this article, share it with your most favourite friends!

Please share your thoughts, ideas and comments below!

 Copyright 2015 by Its My Footprint, www.itsmyfootprint.com/ .

About Taka Sande:

Taka Sande is an author, an entrepreneur and development activist. He has a passion for making a difference by influencing and adding value to peoples lives. He is the founder of the blog Its My Footprint, http://www.itsmyfootprint.com /. You can also follow him on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn .
The parliamentary candidate for the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) for the Efutu constituency in the Central Region has urged government not to sell power distribution company, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

According to Nana Ofori Owusu, plans to sell ECG are aimed at serving only the personal interests of those pushing for its sale.

He said Ghana's current retarded economic growth has been caused by the same motivation that is calling for privatisation of ECG.

Mr Owusu said this when he joined a demonstration against the sale of ECG at Winneba on Wednesday.

President John Mahama recently indicated that improving power distribution in the country could mean privatisation.

According to him, the current structure of ECG is the cause of poor service delivery and its inability to collect debts. The President said these reasons make private involvement in power distribtion a viable option for the country.

However, governemnt has been criticised for considering privatisation as a solution to ECG's problems. Critics say huge debts governent owes the Company can improve service delivery.

The Efutu constituency demonstrators on registered their lack of support for the sale of the power company when they roamed the towns and communities in the Central Region, holding placards with inscriptions of disapproval.

Some of the placards read, Efutu against sale of ECG and Chop chop go kill Ghana.

Meanwhile, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Effutu, Francis Tagoe, said the concerns of the demonstrators have been noted.

Story by Esther Sampong | Intern | Myjoyonline.com
Luanda (AFP) - An Angolan court on Wednesday freed 16 young activists, including a well-known rapper, three months after they were jailed for rebellion against long-serving President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

Most of the group were arrested during a book club meeting in June last year where one of the books on the line-up was about non-violent resistance to repressive regimes.

The activists maintained throughout their trial they were peaceful campaigners for the departure of dos Santos, who has been in power since 1979 and rules the oil-rich country with an iron fist.

"Release warrants under house arrest were issued on behalf of 17 applicants to be executed from the present day," the Supreme Court in Luanda said in a statement.

Sixteen of the activists were freed immediately while one remained in prison Wednesday serving out a four-month sentence for a contempt of court offence imposed during the trial.

"They sentenced innocent people. Justice has been done. The struggle continues," the activists chanted as they left prison late Wednesday.

The ruling overturns sentences ranging from two to eight years in prison, which were handed down at the end of a lengthy trial in March amid complaints about political repression.

One of the accused, rapper Luaty Beirao, went on hunger strike for over a month last year to protest against his detention.

Beirao, who holds dual Portuguese and Angolan nationality, has a loyal fan base in Portugal, Angola's former colonial ruler.

As supporters waited for the activists to leave prison, defence lawyer Francisco Miguel Michel said he was "very happy".

"Any court concerned with the application of justice would have ruled the same," he said, insisting his clients "committed no crime".

- 'Public pressure' -

Human Rights Watch researcher Zenaida Machado told AFP the ruling was "long overdue".

"The order should have been given immediately after the verdict in March... I am satisfied that the Supreme Court is upholding the law of the country," she said.

The 17 had been charged with "preparatory acts of rebellion" and "criminal conspiracy".

Earlier this month, rallies were held in several foreign cities to mark one year since their detention.

Prominent independent journalist and campaigner Rafael Marques said the group should never have been arrested.

"Their release was a political decision as a result of public pressure," he added.

In March, a Portuguese branch of the Anonymous hacking collective said it had shut down about 20 Angolan government websites in retaliation for the jailing, while at the sentencing about 30 protesters chanted for the arrest of the president.

Dos Santos said earlier this year he would stand down in 2018, but there was scepticism over whether he would do so after similar pledges in the past.

His current mandate ends at the end of next year.

Rights groups say activists in Angola, Africa's second-largest oil producer, are being increasingly targeted by the government.
When the record of Ghanas history in the 4th Republic is being written, we can point to the establishment of the District Assembly concept, which sought to deepen popular participation in governance, as originating from former President Rawlings. The establishment of the National Health Insurance Scheme, which delivered affordable, quality healthcare to Ghanaians, bears the name of President Kufuor. President Mills was not with us for long. In the 5 years of President Mahama, what can we say is his legacy? What has he done to ensure Ghana moves forward? Perhaps it is the dumsor.

These were the words of the 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Wednesday, June 29, at Fotobi, in the Nsawam/Adoagyiri constituency, at the commencement of his 5-day tour of the Eastern Region.

Addressing a durbar held in his honor by Nana Kofi Osae Ababio, Chief of Fotobi, Nana Akufo-Addo noted that President Mahamas tenure of office has been marked by the wanton theft of state resources, widespread cases of corruption and a broken economy.

Our economy is in tatters and the President has no clue as to how to fix it. That is why the cost of basic necessities has become so expensive. Whether it is electricity, petrol, food, everything has become so expensive. The theft and corruption in Mahamas government have become rampant and widespread, he stated.

An Akufo-Addo government, he explained, is coming to fix our monetary system, root out the theft of public resources and corruption, create an enabling environment for the private sector to flourish, and modernize our agriculture.

To this end, Nana Akufo-Addo reiterated his commitment of setting up one factory in each of the 216 districts, and urged Ghanaians not to pay heed to the sceptics who continually say it cannot be done.

When I said I was going to implement the Free SHS policy, Mahama said it cannot be done. But, later he turned around and tried to implement it, he said.

Again, the NPP flagbearer noted that the same way I proposed the Northern Development Authority to help the three Northern Regions, so as to help bridge the developmental gap between the North and South, there was the usual talk of it cannot be done, he cant do it. Again, he (President Mahama) tried, through the creation of SADA, to implement my idea. He failed woefully at it.

Nana Akufo-Addo, therefore, urged Ghanaians not to be hoodwinked by this propaganda, stating that those who have no vision are always the ones who say it cannot be done. We are coming to rebuild Ghana and bring jobs to all Ghanaians.

Disregard politics of division

The NPP flagbearer also urged the people of Fotobi and the Eastern Region not to entertain the politics of tribalism and ethnicity, which will be waged by opponents of the NPP, but should rather vote based on the competence and the track-record of the various political parties and their respective candidates, and their ability to deliver decent standards of living for the citizenry.

The various tribes in the Eastern Region always live in harmony. However, when the time for election is due, there are some who will come with their messages of division, trying to set tribes against each other. Please, do not pay heed to such people. We are all Ghanaians. That is what is important, he stated

Continuing, he explained that hardship does not know any tribe. It is affecting all of us. The carriers of division do not want what is best for this country. We want a leader who is coming to unite Ghanaians, and who is coming to work for the benefit of us all. It is those who have no message who will trumpet the politics of division. We in the NPP have a message. We are coming to solve Ghanas problems and eliminate the poverty and hardship that are affecting all Ghanaians.

Be wary of Mahamas goodies

The NPP flagbearer also cautioned Ghanaians to be wary of the goodies-for-votes campaign which is being waged by President Mahama, just as was done in the run-up to the 2012 campaign, leading to the mess the Ghanaian economy is in at the moment.

In 2012, they shared so many items. It was our taxpayers money that was used for this. That is why we are suffering today. It has started again. This year, they are distributing (Toyota Landcruiser) Prados. They will starve you for 4 years and only show up to bring you goodies a few months to elections so you vote for them. After taking the goodies, and voting for them, the hunger returns and will be worse than what you experienced in the past, he said.

Nana Akufo-Addo, thus, urged the electorate not to entertain such this year, and urged them to support the NPP in this years elections.

Ghanaians have suffered too much. God did not put us on this rich land for us to be poor. It is bad leadership that makes us poor. We are coming to change the circumstances of our country. We will institute measures to bring relief to the Ghanaian. I am not into politics to steal the monies of poor Ghanaians or to be at the receiving end of bribes. I came to put the little wisdom and knowledge Ghana has given to me to help develop Ghana. So this year, everyone should ride on the back of the Elephant, so we can bring development to every part of the country, he concluded.

Nana Akufo-Addo also visited Otu Kwadwo, a community in the constituency, where he interacted with its residents.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com
Four years ago, determined to end preventable child deaths within a generation, the United States, Ethiopia and India joined UNICEF to rally the world behind the Child Survival Call to Action: a sustained, global effort to save the lives of children under the age of 5. The goal was to lower child mortality rates in the hardest-hit countries to 20 deaths per 1,000 live births by the year 2035, and to continue progress in those nations already below that rate.

Out of this grew Acting on the Call: Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths, a USAID-led initiative that identified 24 high-priority countries which together accounted for 70 percent of all child and maternal deaths, and developed for them results-oriented plans to meet these targets. And as a result, children are surviving at a rate never seen before, while fewer mothers are dying due to complications from pregnancy and childbirth. Since 2008, USAIDs efforts in the 24 priority countries have helped save the lives of 4.6 million children and 200,000 women.

Last year saw some particularly impressive results. So for example, newborn deaths dropped by 13 percent in target facilities in India. 95 percent of Tanzanias previously unprotected children living in areas where immunization rates have been lowest, have been vaccinated. And for the first time ever, all of the Democratic Republic of the Congo received malaria program coverage.

And we are hoping to do even better. USAIDs drive to end preventable child and maternal deaths focuses on the poorest 40 percent of the population in priority countries, in hopes of saving the lives of 8 million mothers and children from this segment of the population by 2020. And the program will expand to another priority countryBurma.

Weve taken a challenge that was once too big to tackle and turned it into a solvable problem, said USAID Administrator Gayle Smith.We can measure our progress against achievable targets. We can apply interventions where the evidence tells us they will have the greatest impact. Were building momentum that Im confident will carry us over the finish line, a world where preventable maternal and child deaths are actually prevented.
business DLF's rental biz weak, sell-off plan needs clarity: Elara Cap DLF Group CEO KP Singh will look to retire a part of the company's debt by infusing Rs 10,000 crore via a preferential issue of shares. Adhidev Chattopadhyay of Elara Capital maintained that Rs 10000 crore valuation still remains a question mark as some had earlier said that the sum would be around Rs 6000-7000 crore.
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current-affairs-trends 2016's Space Odyssey: ISRO scripts a success story One of the 20 satellites launched last week by ISRO, built at a private university in Chennai, is currently in orbit, gathering data that could be used in the fight against global warming.


Central Americas Northern Triangle countries are taking important steps in their long effort to rein in corruption and criminal enterprise, and to establish rule of law.

Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, the countries of the Northern Triangle, have for decades been plagued by high levels of violence, transnational crime, criminal gang activity, and corruption. As a result, the three countries have suffered years of social and economic stagnation, lack of economic opportunity for vast segments of society, and deep-seated issues of social and economic inequity.

And one of the greatest obstacles standing in the way of effective reform has always been impunity that allows criminals to continue operating beyond the reach of justice.

Working in partnership with the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the United States is investing in the U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America, which seeks to improve prosperity, security, and governance across the Northern Triangle.

The U.S. is employing a three-pronged approach to reach the security goal, said Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs William Brownfield. First, we support local programs that impact people who live in affected communities.

Second, we help to reform institutions, offer training and capacity-building to create better performing law enforcement, criminal prosecution, courts, and corrections; and finally, we boost those organizations that provide law enforcement, management, control, and protection of ports and borders on a daily basis.

And weve seen some excellent results over the past 12 months, said Assistant Secretary Brownfield. In Guatemala, a wide array of government officials, including the President and Vice President, have been removed and arrested on allegations of corruption, thanks to a long investigation by the UN International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, commonly known by its Spanish acronym, CICIG.

In Honduras, a civil society-led commission is reviewing members of the national police, and has terminated a significant percentage of the highest-ranking officers it has reviewed to date.

More positively, over 50 new model police precincts in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador will serve as the core for a community-based security strategy. Additionally, some 60,000 youths from all three countries have undergone a Gang Resistance Education and Training program, to help them resist recruitment by gangs.

The governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have embarked on a path of transformation that will improve their peoples economic opportunity, governance, and public safety. The United States is proud to aid them in their efforts.
European banks were hit the hardest, some dropping as much as 30% two days after the vote. Investors rushed to gold, sparking a 6.4% rally in the spot gold price, to US$1,336.66 an ounce. But right now the carnage seems to be settling.

When the British people voted to leave the EU, some people painted it out to be the next coming of the apocalypse. And as much as economic nihilists might have wished that to be true, it wasnt. The only thing thats happened is a vote  thats it. Britain is still part of the European Union (EU). And they will continue to abide by the laws of the EU.

The process for Britain to actually leave the EU might take a number of years. Why so long? This sort of thing has never happened before. And this was exactly the reason why share markets around the globe fell by so much. It was because of uncertainty.

European banks were hit the hardest, some dropping as much as 30% two days after the vote. Investors rushed to gold, sparking a 6.4% rally in the spot gold price, to US$1,336.66 an ounce. But right now the carnage seems to be settling.

Have the clouds parted already? Is the Brexit storm over?

Overnight rally

Overnight, stocks worldwide rose. Bargain hunters flooded into the market to buy up the oversold equity markets. European shares were up 2.4%. And while this isnt a complete recovery, theyre climbing their way back from a 10% loss. US markets also rallied, with banking shares recovering some of what they had lost.

And now all eyes are on Australias share market. Will our market be up at the end of trade today? Can we create a three peat? Even the pound enjoyed gains overnight. The GBP rose 0.7% against the US dollar; each pound is exchanging hands for US$1.3122.

Even gold is starting to show signs that the Brexit storm is over. Spot gold fell 0.8%, to US$1,314.21 an ounce, last night.

But back to the original question, will Aussie markets close higher today? I believe they will. However, whether it does or doesnt is trivial. The daily fluctuations of the market should be ignored by most investors.

I say this because the more you fixate on the volatility of your position, the more likely youll make dumb decisions. This, of course, isnt a hard and fast rule. But if youre in the market for the medium/long term, daily fluctuations shouldnt faze you.

The only thing you should be worried about is your initial decisions to invest in companies. It sounds obvious, but you want to pick profitable companies who have the potential to grow for years to come.

And right now is one of the best times to invest. Share markets are still down from their pre-vote levels, which means you can pick up great companies for cheap. But be careful not to have the mindset that every company is cheap. You still need to research and fact check all potential companies you wish to invest in.

Too many times bargain hunters fall into the trap of buying shares that have dropped the most. Once they buy in, shares climb slightly. However, before long, traders with enormous capital at their disposal start to sell down the same shares. Theyve seen an opportunity  many small orders have flooded into the stock  and, with their influence, they can force many small investors out of the stock simply by selling. This is sometimes referred to as a second push.

I dont want to scare you out of the market. Its potentially a great time to get into the market. But beware of bargain traps. Again, it all comes back to researching the stocks you are thinking of investing in.

Harje Ronngard,

Junior Analyst, Money Morning

PS: Investing in the stock market can be easy. Some may tell you that its hard, throwing complicated examples at you. But thats because theyre interested in your money sitting in their back pocket!

Money Mornings Publisher Kris Sayce has written a report all about how to make investing simple and easy. Instead of taking your money, Kris wants to help you invest for yourself.

In Kris report, The Ultimate Starters Guide for Buying and Selling Shares, hell show you all the ins and outs of investing. Whats more, Kris will reveal the one type of stockbroker you should never use. And theres also a secret you need to know about investing correctly.

To find out what that secret is, and more, pick up your free copy of Kris report by clicking here.
Media freedom has taken a further step back in Zambia, as government authorities ordered the closure of the publishing company, Post Newspapers Limited, on 21 June, demanding $6.1 Million tax in arrears. This closure occurred after The Post accused Zambian authorities of selectively applying the law to target the publication for its news coverage.

The United States Embassy in Lusaka expressed U.S. concern over the closure in a press statement issued June 23rd: The timing of the closure of The Post Newspaper by the Zambian Revenue Authority, only weeks before important elections in Zambia, is of deep concern.The closure of The Post is the loss of an independent voice during the campaign period and election cycle.

The Zambian government action drew criticism from independent human rights monitors. "The closure of The Post newspaper is a disturbing development clearly designed to silence critical media voices. The shutting down of one of Zambias main independent newspapers in the run up to an election is an affront to media freedom and the authorities should immediately reverse their decision, said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for Southern Africa.

"If the newspaper owes taxes, necessary arrangements should be made to settle the dispute. Shutting down the newspaper threatens the right to freedom of expression," he said.

In its Human Rights report for 2015, the U.S. State Department noted: On December 21, the Zambia Media Liaison Committee, characterized the year as one of worst, in terms of violations of press freedom and harassment of journalists. Information Minister and chief government spokesperson Chishimba Kambwili frequently threatened The Post for its criticism of the president, stating the newspaper must be balanced in its reporting.

On April 23, Kambwili dissolved the government Zambia Daily Mail and The Times of Zambia boards and dismissed their managing directors, ostensibly because their terms had ended. Critics, however, alleged Kambwili removed the board members and managing directors for failing to defend the president and ruling party from criticism.

The U.S. Embassys statement continues: The United States Government urges the Government of the Republic of Zambia to work with the Zambian Revenue Authority and The Post to find a way forward that allows The Post to reopen immediately.The free flow of information to the Zambian people is an essential element of a free, fair, credible and peaceful election.
MAJ 23/12 : Microsoft est desormais disponible pour tous en version 5.1 !





Le Microsoft Launcher pour Android que jaffectionne tout particulierement a recu une belle mise a jour. Pour linstant, seuls les beta-testeurs peuvent la recevoir, mais la mise a jour sera egalement proposee au grand public dans les semaines a venir. Alors, quoi de neuf avec cette nouvelle version 5.1 ?



Si vous utilisez la Beta de Microsoft Launcher, une nouvelle mise a jour devrait etre des a present disponible sur Google Play. La nouvelle version numerotee 5.1 apporte des changements majeurs au lanceur alternatif de Microsoft pour Android. Parmi les nouveautes interessantes, on note lintegration de Sticky Note et de Microsoft To-Do mais pas seulement. Voici le changelog publie par Microsoft :

Surveillez le temps passe devant votre ecran et la frequence de deverrouillage du telephone. Vous pouvez meme afficher cette info sur lecran daccueil.

Une nouvelle carte To-Do affiche desormais sur lecran daccueil les taches a faire a partir d'applications telles que Microsoft To-Do, Outlook ou Skype.

Une nouvelle carte Notes affiche maintenant les notes depuis Sticky Notes sous Windows, Outlook, Cortana et OneNote Mobile.

Cortana se dote aussi de nouveautes. Pour le marche US : arrivee de la fonctionnalite Hey Cortana en beta et integration des informations routieres. De plus,s support de Cortana pour lEspagne. Esperons que cela arrive un jour en francais.

Les suggestions de Bing donnent maintenant des indications rapides sur le marche boursier et les devises. Il est meme possible de faire des conversions directement sur lecran daccueil.

Merci Remi pour l'info !
June 29, 2016

Another U.S. Proxy Force Defeated By IS - Incompetent Training or Intent?

The U.S. military has again failed in one of the training programs it runs in support of fighting the Islamic State. Earlier training missions had failed to create competent and willing forces. Supplies for U.S. supported forces ended on the black markets or directly in the hands of the Islamic State. Is all this really incapability or is there some intent behind this?

Yesterday the U.S. created and supported New Syrian Army, a large gang of Salafists from Deir Ezzur, proudly announced that it was attacking the Islamic State at the Syrian-Iraqi border:

ISIS has gone on alert as US-backed rebels aim to advance toward the border town of Al-Boukamal in a bid to cut the jihadist groups supply lines between Iraq and Syria. On Tuesday, the New Syrian Army announced the start of its campaign to gain control of Al-Boukamal, which lies across from the Iraqi border town of Al-Qaim deep behind ISISs main frontlines in eastern Syria. Hours after the start of the offensive, the shadowy group active in remote stretches of the eastern Syrian desert seized the defunct Al-Hamdan airbase five-kilometers northwest of Al-Boukamal while fighting also raged overnight southwest of the border town, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The attacked town is 250 desert kilometers away from the only other New Syrian Army position at the Tanf border crossing. The forces were dropped by helicopters and had U.S. air support. These New Syrian Army fighters were trained In Jordan and newly equipped by U.S. and British special forces and are said to be led by "foreign airborne fighters", likely Jordanian specialists.

Three coalition helicopters landed New Syrian Army troops approximately four-kilometers west of Al-Boukamal on Tuesday, according to the SOHR, as coalition airstrikes in the meantime targeted ISIS north of the town. The New Syrian Army also claimed its forces were airdropped, saying their troops landed behind enemy lines after which they took the Al-Hamdan airport and nearby village, which are located northwest of Al-Boukamal. According to a statement issued Wednesday morning by the group, its fighters also seized the Al-Husaybah area and border crossing [outside the town] as well and the southern southern desert and the whole eastern regions in the vicinity of Abu Kamal. The US-backed force further claimed that sleeper cells of rebel clans in the Al-Boukamal countryside facilitated the advance of our troops.

Reuters reports that the U.S. supported this attack in a way it usually ascribes to the Russians:

U.S.-led coalition jets fired missiles at the town's Aisha hospital used by Islamic State ..

We are waiting for Human Rights Watch's urgent condemnation of this outrageous war-crime ...

One assumes that such a large operation is well prepared with thought out fire-plans, good intelligence and extensive logistic support. Fresh, well trained troops with the best available equipment, and with surprise on their side, should have had no real trouble to prevail in such an attack.

But the whole operation failed terribly within just a few hours A total fiasco.

The Islamic State killed five "spies" in Al-Boukamal who were allegedly working for the New Syrian Army. It killed some 40 NSA troops during fighting and wounded some 15. It seized 6 brand new U.S. supplied trucks with miniguns and another 6 trucks with ammunition as well as satellite telephones. The rest of the New Syrian Army retreated to the defunct airbase they had started at and are waiting for exfiltration.

If this was a mission to resupply the Islamic State it indeed had some success. Otherwise it was another very embarrassing failure, not only for the New Syrian Army but of the professional militaries that trained and supported it.

One wonders what the highly paid U.S. military has been doing here. How can such an attack, with all advantages on the side of the U.S. proxies, fail? The British government orders its air force to bomb the Islamic State only when such "success" is need for some (inner-)political event. Is the U.S. way to "fight" similar? Is this intentional failure or sheer incompetence? Does the U.S. really want to fight the Islamic State? Or is this all just obfuscation?

Posted by b on June 29, 2016 at 17:59 UTC | Permalink

Comments
Zimbabwean communities in Nyanga District will be able to construct facilities to dramatically improve their health and sanitation thanks to assistance from the United States Agency for International Development and USAIDs Community Water Supply, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Natural Resources Management or C-WASH program.

On June 9th, at the Ruwangwe District Development Fund Rest Camp, Robert Chawatama, the Provincial Water and Sanitation Sub-Committee Chairperson for Manicaland, officially handed over to the people of Nyanga District $40,000 in materials to construct or rehabilitate 83 boreholes, 45 pumps to extract water, 105 drinking troughs for animals, and 102 latrines.

Chairperson Chawatama also presided over the graduation of 18 community latrine and water pan builders and 16 village pump mechanics, who had been trained by Development Aid from People to People Zimbabwe with funding from USAID. With guidance from the District Development Fund, these builders and mechanics will assist the communities in constructing and repairing their water infrastructure and ensure long-term sustainability.

In total, USAIDs C-WASH activities will provide safe and clean water to 2,400 households and six schools in the district.

The communities of Nyanga North have long grappled with access to safe and clean water due to frequent breakdowns of boreholes. Some families travel for 10 kilometers to access safe water while others sleep queuing for water at the boreholes. Many boreholes in the district are being chained and locked as communities try to safeguard limited water resources. Others have introduced strict water rationing with households only allowed to collect two 20 liter buckets per day regardless of the household size.

USAID is proud to support Nyanga District to improve access to safe, potable water, said USAID Zimbabwe Acting Mission Director Bruce Abrams. With this newly acquired technical expertise and building materials, these communities are now able to protect themselves against water-borne diseases.
New Products; Free Training; FHLBs Enlist in MPF for Ginnies

Huh? People burned while walking across fire at a Tony Robbins event in Texas? Imagine that! Speaking of incendiary activities, an amendment passed the Senate Appropriations Committee would bar federal banking regulators from preventing or penalizing banks for providing financial services to state approved marijuana businesses. This will now head to the Senate floor for a vote. I am sure that the alcohol lobbies are dead-set against it, but using income from such businesses for loans bound for F&F or the big banks could make things less complicated for underwriters.

New products

BOK Financial Correspondent Mortgage Services would like to remind banks and credit unions it purchases construction to permanent mortgage loans utilizing a single closing that meets Fannie Mae guidelines. Borrower benefits include time and cost savings, eliminating multiple loan applications, fees and closing costs. We offer extended rate lock options for up to 360 days, with a 90-day float down, allowing the lock in rate on permanent financing when construction begins. Single-closing transactions may be used for both the construction loan and the permanent financing of a home if the borrower wants to close on both the loan and financing at the same time. For more program information, contact clientrelations@bokf.com or call 855.890.1485.

LoanCraft can turn a pile of tax returns and K1s into a clean, uniform analysis, typically in less than four hours. Typically, you get a full analysis of tax returns for personal and business for $25. It's especially helpful given the recent changes around K1 distributions. They also don't have a minimum monthly commitment. Contact Ron George for more information.

In 2013, LendingQB first released an interface to MCT's HALO-Link, which automatically transferred loan pricing and pipeline data from the LendingQB LOS to MCT in order to improve the accuracy of hedge positions. Today, the two companies completed an enhancement to the HALO-Link interface that adds the capability for MCT to update the LendingQB LOS in real-time with key investor information, such as confirmation number, confirmation price and expiration date. The result is a comprehensive and efficient secondary marketing process that provides pricing and hedge risk transparency throughout the mortgage loan life cycle. This joint effort demonstrates how collaboration between an LOS and a risk management firm produces tangible operational benefits to mortgage lenders.

Franklin American Mortgage Company announced it is now offering Fannie Mae HomeReady Fixed Rate Product.

Overture Technologies has integrated trended credit data into its automated underwriting system, a move that enables lenders and investors to gain new insight into the credit risk of their non-agency loans. The enhancement to the industry's leading independent automated loan underwriting system (AUS) follows Fannie Mae's recent announcement regarding use of expanded credit data in its Desktop Underwriter AUS. Trended credit data records a consumer's use and repayment of revolving credit over time and provides important insight into consumers' evolving ability and willingness to repay a new debt obligation. Lenders, particularly those specializing in loans to borrowers with previous bankruptcy or housing defaults, can leverage this data to understand how consumers have managed their use of credit as they re-establish their credit history.

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), has introduced a new proprietary Settlement Agent Portal, which enables settlement agents to submit their closing changes electronically to UWM. The new portal will streamline the closing process and speed up the response time for UWM clients and their settlement agents. The portal will enable settlement agents to review the preliminary closing documents and submit their changes electronically, placing the file directly into the closing queue. This process eliminates the need for multiple emails and waiting for a Closing Specialist to reply to an email. UWM produced a tutorial video to highlight the increased efficiencies the portal makes possible.

On the flip side, effective 6/30/16, Mountain West Financial, Inc. (MWF) will discontinue the 203K Standard and Limited Wholesale Programs. MWF will accept registrations up to 6/30/16 and all loans must fund by 8/31/16.

And recently the IRS notified vendors who provide tax transcripts (such as IVES vendors) that they would need to implement new requirements in order to continue providing tax transcript services.These new requirements are intended to better protect taxpayer information. The updated requirements include certain new assessments and certifications for vendors and lender clients. The MBA's president Dave Stevens sent out a note saying that, "While the IRS has not made their new certification requirements available to the public, we have learned they will include items such as a requirement that lenders provide their vendors with the Social Security numbers of any individual authorized to use the tax transcript process. Some of the new requirements must be implemented by July 1 and thus demand your immediate attention. Other requirements must be implemented within 45 days.

"The MBA has asked the IRS to delay the implementation date and is working for further clarity around the requirements. The IRS, however, as of this writing has refused to delay the implementation. I strongly recommend that you reach out to your vendor today to obtain the requirements and complete the necessary certifications and assess the impacts on your business operations. According to the IRS, vendors will be required to suspend access to the transcript service for any lender that fails to complete the required certification by midnight, Friday, July 1. If you have any questions, please contact Rick Hill, Vice President, Industry Technology at (202) 557-2718.

In better news, The Mortgage Collaborative, the industry's only privately held cooperative, has surpassed $100 billion in estimated originations in 2016 with the addition of its 59th preferred member, Movement Mortgage. "This is an extraordinary milestone for us" said David G. Kittle, CMB the Collaborative's Vice Chairman. "As we move into the second half of 2016 and towards our August Summer Conference in Denver, we'll be discussing how TMC will monetize this production in 2017. are member companies estimated to do that volume in 2016?

For some training and events coming up, some as soon as today...

The new Summer 2016 edition of Arch MI's Housing and Mortgage Market Review (HaMMR) will be released next week. Following its release, author Ralph DeFranco, Arch Capital's Global Chief Economist, will present two complimentary webinars on HaMMR and the latest findings of the Arch MI Risk Index (the probability of regional home prices being lower in two years). Register now for either Wednesday June 29thwebinar or Thursday June 30th webinar.

Learn how to minimizing risk exposure & liability with a free recorded webinar from Bilzin Sumberg. Join a panel of experts as they discuss data security and privacy concerns in the private sector, as well as best practices for minimizing exposure and liability. If you would like to register, email Philip R. Stein, attorney at law.

Essent invites you to register now for one of its July training webinars. "There are so many vital topics being addressed by Essent's training team, that you may have a difficult time choosing which one to take first."

On July 19th in New Orleans, the FHA is providing a free one-day training course covering FHA underwriting procedures.

Valuation Expo, the largest conference for real estate appraisers, is rapidly approaching. It will be held at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, July 11-13. "We will hear from industry who's who such as Joe Tracy from the NY Federal Reserve; Jim Park, Director of the Appraisal Subcommittee; Zach Dawson, Chief Valuation Officer at Fannie Mae, and a panel of bank regulators from OCC, FDIC, NCUA, and FRB. In addition to 14 hours of continuing education available there will be a trade show with software companies, E&O providers and lots of AMCs and lenders."

In security news, American Banker reports that the Federal Home Loan banks of Topeka and San Francisco have signed up to participate in a Mortgage Partnership Finance program that pools and securitizes government-backed loans via Ginnie Mae. "We now have a new option for selling your government mortgage loans into the Mortgage Partnership Finance program...MPF Government MBS product is geared to make you successful with competitive pricing in both servicing retained and released options," a memo told members.

"The Chicago Home Loan Bank created and continues to run the MPF program. The Chicago and Atlanta FHLBs have sold the most loans through the program, which is also used by the Boston bank. The San Francisco bank has also joined. The MPF program allows for the sale and securitization of Federal Housing Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs and Rural Housing Service loans." Although the program is less than a year old, so far the MPF Government MBS program has securitized $271 million in single-family loans through May.

Keeping on with the security markets, Tuesday was a bit of a yawner although the treasury market recouped earlier declines despite the bounce in risk assets. As ThomsonReuters put it, "By the close, retail MBS volumes were near recent averages and biased to better buying." But we were close to unchanged.

For rates we closed the 10-year with a yield of 1.46%. Today we've already had the MBA's weekly update on mortgage applications for the week ending June 24 (-2.6%). We've also had May personal income and spending (+.4%, +.2%). The Pending Home Sales Index will be released at 4AM Hawai'i time. In the early going the 10-year's yield is hovering around 1.48% with agency MBS prices worse a shade.



Jobs and Announcements

In job news, Ohio's myCUmortgage, a wholly-owned mortgage subsidiary of Wright-Patt Credit Union, has an immediate need for a Director of CUSO Operations. "Our operation provides mortgage solutions to 200 credit unions across the United States and The Director of Operations will develop and implement the strategy for managers involved in processing, underwriting and closing of all types of mortgage loans to ensure accurate, compliant, responsive and timely review of processing, underwriting and loan closing. This position is located at our corporate headquarters in Beavercreek, Ohio. Please visit our website for a detailed job description. You may apply online or send your resume directly to Tracy McMullen." Wright-Patt Credit Union is an equal opportunity employer. Women & minority candidates are encouraged to apply.

Also in that area of the nation but on the production side, Impac Mortgage Corp. is actively seeking a Regional Manager to head the Central Region sales effort for the company's Wholesale Division. "This is a high-profile position ideally suited for a dynamic, entrepreneurial leader with an exceptional ability to build and lead a sales team. Ideally, candidates are based in the central US. 'This position offers huge growth potential as we continue our expansion. The ability to offer a full product line, including competitive non-QM products is very attractive in hiring LOs.'" For a confidential conversation, contact Todd Kesterson.

American Interbanc Mortgage is a Southern California-based mortgage lender with an 18+ year track record of consumer direct lending. AIM is looking to hire licensed Call Center Loan Officers and Loan Processors to work out of their beautiful office in Irvine, CA. Loan Officer candidates should have at least one year of Loan Officer experience, an active NMLS license and active state licensing in CA (additional states a plus). Call Center Loan Officers are provided with the highest quality leads from extremely motivated mortgage shoppers! Interested candidates should please send their resume to: careers@americaninterbanc.com.

"We could go on and on about our 'Track Record, Best in Breed this, and industry leading that...' but as the popular internet meme says 'Ain't nobody got time for that.' Here at Mason-McDuffie Mortgage, we are all about being different. We are growing and with our vision of reimagining the entire mortgage experience, we need some more creative people to join our family. We are not looking for people to punch a clock or just do their jobs. That's boring. These are exciting times in our industry and we want exciting thinkers who have ideas that want to contribute to what we are building here. We are looking to add people in every department at every level (Operations/Production/Compliance/etc..). But in the interest of time we would like to point out that we need a Licensed Call Center/Consumer Direct Loan Officer to join the training/on-boarding team of our Prime Services Group. We are also looking for quality people for our Closing/Funding department. If this sounds interesting to you, please email us at BeCreative@mmcdcorp.com and we will set up a time to chat."
. . .
Odessa police arrested Gary Mitchell Newell, 45, at approximately 12:04 a.m. on June 25 on a charge of prohibited weapon, a third-degree felony.

Odessa police arrested Corey Salter, 17, at approximately 6:30 p.m. on June 25 on a charge of burglary of a building, a state jail felony.

Odessa police arrested Cristian Pacheco, 18, at approximately 6:30 p.m. on June 25 on a charge of burglary of a building, a state jail felony.

Odessa police arrested Eddie Sanchez Jr., 27, approximately 3:30 p.m. on June 27 on a charge of possession of a controlled substance -- probation violation (warrant), a state jail felony.

Odessa police arrested Ismael Melendez, 19, at approximately 4 a.m. on June 26 for evading arrest with a motor vehicle, a state jail felony.

Odessa police arrested Damian Andres Villalobos, 26, at approximately 4:30 p.m. on June 26 on a charge of assault on a security officer (warrant), a third-degree felony.

Odessa police arrested Steve Anthony Gonzales, 19, at approximately 1 p.m. on June 26 on a charge of prohibited substance in a correctional facility, a third-degree felony.

Odessa police arrested Keller Price, 24, at approximately 2:20 a.m. on June 26 on charges of tampering with physical evidence, a third-degree felony and possession of cocaine, a state jail felony.

Odessa police arrested Joseph Anthony Bone, 52, at approximately 6:30 p.m. on June 25 on charges of possession of methamphetamine, a third-degree felony and possession of heroin, a third-degree felony.

Odessa police arrested Caitlin Sky Smith, 27, at approximately 9:30 a.m. on June 27 on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (family violence), a first-degree felony.

Note: Only felony arrests were reported, and no places of residence were listed.

---

Source: Odessa Police Department
Photo: Billy Calzada, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

SAN ANTONIO (AP)  A San Antonio woman has been sentenced to 99 years in prison for her role in the 2012 death of her neglected 5-year-old stepson.

Crystal Williams showed no emotion as a state district judge read the jury's decision Tuesday. The 31-year-old pleaded guilty last week to injury to a child, admitting she denied medical attention to her stepson. She was the first of three adults to face trial in the case.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  State Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued a non-binding opinion suggesting Fort Worth schools are violating Texas law with restroom guidelines for transgender students.

Paxton wrote Tuesday that policies announced last month by Texas' sixth-largest school district relegated "parents to a subordinate status" since they were created without their proper input or consent.

A Republican, Paxton has previously said he thought the guidelines violated state education code. His written opinions aren't legally binding, but this one reinforces his past statements.

It was sought by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has unsuccessfully demanded the resignation of Fort Worth Superintendent Kent Scribner.

Scribner didn't go through the school board when announcing the guidelines.

They allow transgender students access to single-stall restrooms. Alternatively, they can use restrooms when other students aren't around.
ELKO -- One hundred thousand minors in America are the victims of human trafficking, according to a presentation given by Senior Chaplain Barry Mainardi recently at Calvary Baptist Church.

Sex trafficking occurs when a person is forced to perform a commercial sex act through the use of force, fraud or coercion, and the person can be any age, he said.

The chaplain said the average age of a minor being trafficked is 12 to 14 years old. Even children younger than 10 years old can be victims.

My main job is to inculcate to people that these girls arent bad, theyre not criminals, theyre not prostitutes, theyre victims. Once we get that mindset that this persons a victim you automatically will deal with them differently than if it were a hardened criminal, said Mainardi.

I try to say once every hour these girls are victims, he said.

The females working in the sex industry have experienced abuse at some point and some are being trafficked, he said.

We dont need to go in there and quote scripture. We need to go in there and tell them how much we love them, and help them, said Mainardi.

An open door is created when the individual being helped asks where faith comes from, he said, discussing how this allows for an exchange of information and, depending on the background of the person, a conversation concerning God.

Its a difficult job only because it is very frustrating  you have a lot of people in denial, he said.

Some parents are against their children learning about human trafficking from an outside source as they feel they should teach them, even if they do not have the expertise, sometimes creating an obstacle that must be overcome when speaking to groups.

His trip to Elko has proven rather rewarding in that there are possibly four individuals hoping to be trained, one woman being from Australia.

In order to provide the proper statistics, Mainardi will work in conjunction with this individual to make her presentations Australia-specific.

In addition, through a participant at Thursdays seminar, Mainardi may come back to Elko to present to law enforcement on the subject.

The Male Role

There are three facets to sex trafficking: the victim, the pimp and the demand.

I want to start emphasizing, maybe more than I have in the past, the demand to get men to take responsibility for who they are, to make them understand that just being a father or a sperm donor aint going to do it  kids need a male role model, said Mainardi, discussing another aspect of his teachings and his disappointment in his own gender.

In the majority of cases, vulnerability can start with those who do not have a strong male presence in their lives.

Mainardi used his personal experience of having an extended family, which looks up to him through his actions and words to learn, as an example of the influence of a male role model.

There has to be a dual influence in a kids life, mother and male role model, he said.

When asked about the mothers role, Mainardi said it is constant, pointing to the matriarchal structure of many ethnic groups, but she needs help.

The effects of porn are so traumatic not only on how pimps use porn to train their girls how to have sex with men, but the fact that men, some men, will look at porn and they like to see young girls -- theyre adults but they look young -- for some reason its a control thing, Mainardi said.

If the porn is not enough, the chaplain said these men continuously accelerate to the next level until the addiction becomes reality. He called this a weakness men have focusing on the visual.

There is a difference between looking and admiring, and looking and lusting, he said.

Through meetings with a project in Southern Nevada, Mainardi said a goal is to create a slowdown to watching porn, because all that does is have a negative effect on your relationship with women.

Women become inhuman objects and desensitized through the use of porn, according to Mainardi, calling this a serious problem.

Porn statistics include 65 percent of porn stars being victimized, porn increasing marital infidelity by 300 percent, and child porn is a $3 billion industry, according to statistics presented.

Mainardi works with various organizations including 10,000 Kids, which produced Trafficked-No-More, as a project coordinator for Nevada Sex Trafficking Awareness Campaign and METRO in Las Vegas.

His support isnt simply from organizations he works with or his belief in God, but people as well. The information he presents is a collaboration of minds between himself, Pastor Troy Martinez of 10,000 Kids, and others who gather information on subjects such as demand, pimps and current legislation.

Participants

Mainardi hopes to not only heighten the importance of being aware, keeping your eyes and ears open, when you see something report it, and promote prevention of trafficking, but to also expand himself and his message through training others.

The seminar drew participants from Las Vegas to other members of the church learning about ways to help.

One of the teachings was the victims of human trafficking are demoralized and sometimes feel hopeless through force, fear and coercion.

I am a member of this church but in the past I was into BDSM (bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism). I was very sexually active and I was told that I could never get out of that lifestyle and I wanted to, said a participant whose name is being withheld for her safety.

She has since left the lifestyle and became a Christian. She discussed how she personally dealt with depression, manipulation and head games.

The seminar was her second meeting concerning the subject. She wants to learn what she can do to help women, because while she wasn't paid, she can tell her story.

I want to help others become stronger and be able to stand on their own two feet, she said.

Trafficking

There are two common types of human trafficking found within our society; sex trafficking and labor trafficking, according to the Nevada Sex Trafficking Awareness Campaign.

There is not one factor to trafficking or in detecting it. Some indicators include changes in behavior; a new, older boyfriend who shows dominant tendencies; and absences from home and school.

In addition, pimps can be found at the mall, the grocery store, even a local high or middle school.

If red flags are noticed, options include contacting law enforcement at 911 or 311, or the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at 1-888-373-7888

More information can be found at traffickednomore.org including Nevada specific laws.
For decades Michigan Technological University's Women in Engineering has given outstanding high school students a glimpse of college life and exposure to a variety careers in engineering. Because of a unique program, two girls from Lower Michigan have been given an incredible opportunity.

Ive never been in a place with so many girls who have interests similar to mine, says Rebecca Stover, soon to be a junior at Muskegon High School in Muskegon, Michigan. I love it here, and I dont want it to end.

Stover is among 140 young women in grades 9-11, from 10 states, who attended Women in Engineering at Michigan Technological University. The highly competitive scholarship program provides a chance for young women to investigate careers in engineering and science.

If Stover, a self-described nerd, realizes her career goals, she wont become an engineer or scientist, but sees those areas as important to her future profession.

My goal is to study forensic law at Yale. But I want a foundation of math and physics before I go to law school.

WIE, which kicked off Michigan Techs world-renowned Summer Youth Programs, recruits and attracts outstanding young women who excel both in and out of the classroom. The program also attracts, as Stover found out, student leaders.

We do a lot of group activities. I have always been a leader, but here all the girls are leaders. It took a bit of adjustment to work with so many who are just like me. But everyone enjoys working with others so were just trying to figure it out.

Olivia Smith, of Mancelona, Michigan, also had some adjusting to do when it came to working in a group.

In school and other activities, I tend do everything myself, she explains. Here, I found that I can trust everyone.

The two girls come from vastly different backgroundsStover has more than 250 students in her class whereas there are less than 45 students total in Alba High School, where Smith will be a sophomore this fall.

But they do share something in common, in addition to their love of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Both have come to Michigan Tech and the WIE program by virtue of their academic meritand by chance.

Rebecca Stover of Muskegon, Michigan, participates in a Destination Imagination activity, June 23, during Women In Engineering at Michigan Tech.

Earlier this year at industry outreach events in Grand Rapids and Traverse City, Amanda McConnon, assistant director of the Center for Educational Outreach, the department which conducts the SYP at Tech, came up with an idea.

In a variation of the door prize concept, businesses attending the two events were entered into a drawing. But instead of a gift basket, the winners had the chance to change the life of a young woman from their community by giving her a scholarship to Women in Engineering at Michigan Tech.

Wolverine Power Cooperative of Cadillac, Michigan and TGW Systems of Spring Lake, Michigan were the winners of these unique prizes.

"I can see myself coming here." Rebecca Stover



McConnon says shes pleased with how things have worked out so far. She says the idea is to get companies who recruit Michigan Tech graduates to become involved in recruiting students to come to Tech for college.

They know they want Michigan Tech grads, McConnon says. This program shows them we want high school students from their back yards to experience Michigan Tech.

Already the program is paying dividends. Heather McClure, human resources administrator for Wolverine Power Cooperative, says shes beyond thankful for the scholarship partnership with Michigan Tech.

As a cooperative, we lead our business practices by following seven core principles and one of those is being involved in the community and giving back, she explains.

Within a week, McClure spread information about the scholarship to schools in Northern Lower Michigan, reviewed the applications and selected a candidate, with the help of the local ISD and Chamber of Commerce. The invitation was also extended to Wolverine Power employees.

We have 135 employees on staff located all throughout the state of Michigan, McClure says.

One of those employees is Olivia Smiths father, but McClure is quick to point out it wasnt nepotism that brought Olivia to Michigan Tech.

I reviewed all the applications equally, and Olivia was selected for having the highest rank in her class and the highest GPA of the candidates who applied.

Even before Olivias week up north was over, McClure says her company is climbing on board with WIE.

This opportunity was given to Wolverine from Michigan Tech, but this is a practice and opportunity that we will continue to offer each year to local students.

Calling Michigan Tech her go to college for recruiting engineers, McClure has an affinity for the University. I have had the most luck recruiting Huskies, she says. Promoting Michigan Tech while giving this outstanding opportunity to a deserving individual is a win-win for all.

The scholarships werent the only new twists this year. It so happens that this years WIE coincided with the National Week of Making. Building off President Obamas 2014 Nation of Makers Initiative, the week was dedicated to events for citizen makers to take action and highlight new innovations.

The Center for Pre-college outreach worked with the National Science Foundation-funded University Innovation Fellows to provide some maker opportunities during Women in Engineering. An interactive map hung in a hallway, and students were given four pipe cleaners to make something that represents their home town to hang on the map.

There was also a makers night when students had the opportunity to make either a paper weight with clip displays or a wire art project. Students also had the opportunity to explore making during one of the Destination Imagination challenges on Thursday, June 23.

The variety of activities certainly had an impact on Stover and Smith. The activities were challenging, but it was so exciting to be around people who understand me, Stover says.

Smith concurs. I expected to experience new things and develop new relationships. It has exceeding those expectations.

One of the goals of Summer Youth Programs is to give high school-aged students a glimpse of college lifeattending classes, working in labs, living in residence halls and eating in the cafeteria.

I am very, very excited to be a part of all this, Smith says.

Both girls say Michigan Tech could very well factor in their futures.

Im definitely looking into biomedical engineering, and definitely interested in Michigan Tech, Smith says.

Stover feels an undergraduate education in Houghton would fit in well before heading to New Haven. I can see myself coming here, she says.

Upcoming competitive scholarship programs in the SYP include National Summer Transportation Institute, Rail and Intermodal Transportation, Women in Computer Science, Junior Women in Engineering and Women in Automotive Engineering.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigans flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
June 28

Aaron B. Atchison, 23, of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, was arrested on Lamoille Highway and Tonka Lane for speeding 11 to 15 miles over the limit, proof of insurance required, a resident with a non-Nevada drivers license, second offense DUI. and an open container of alcohol in the vehicle. Bail: $3,060



Thomas E. Hallett, 34, of Elko was arrested at 2001 Errecart Blvd. for contempt of court. No bail listed.



Alycia J. Hegy, 26, of Elko was arrested at the Elko County Jail on a warrant for possession of a controlled substance, conspiracy to commit grand larceny and grand larceny. Bail: $5,000



Clinton J. Leishman, 28, of Spring Creek was arrested at 462 Spring Valley Parkway for violation of probation or condition of suspension. No bail listed.



Braden L. Licko, 53, of Elko was arrested at 340 Commercial St. for trespassing. Bail: $192



Francesca R. Newman, 32, of Elko was arrested at 3920 Idaho St. for violation of probation or condition of suspension. No bail listed.



David E. Owens, 30, of Elko was arrested at 1015 Fifth St. for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor, possession of a controlled substance and use or possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail: $6,295



Amanda A. Roundtree, 29, of Elko was arrested at 259 Spring Valley Parkway for DUI and use or possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail: $1,780



Leland R. Schmid, 29, of Winnemucca was arrested at 1082 Lamoille Highway for failure to give appropriate signal when required; driving with a suspended, revoked or canceled drivers license; displaying bogus vehicle registration, plates or title; and no proof of insurance. Bail: $1,565
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.

In 1973, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act (ESA), intending to protect the likes of eagles and grizzlies and bison. Instead it has been used by federal bureaucrats to label as endangered or threatened all manner of bugs, weeds, reptiles and minnows  jeopardizing economic activity from fishing to logging to mining to livestock grazing.

Since 1973, 2,000 species have been listed under the ESA as endangered or threatened. Of those, only 20 species  1 percent  have sufficiently recovered to warrant delisting.

Meanwhile, federal and state government spending on protecting listed species has approached $2 billion a year in recent years.

The Interior Department continues to list species under the ESA and issue land use restrictions that it claims will prevent the need for future listings of such species as greater sage grouse and other species, despite the departments spectacular and expensive failure to conserve species already on its extensive list.

Perhaps the most telling example of the departments actions not only failing to accomplish its goals but likely to have harmed a species is the desert tortoise, listed as threatened in 1990.

Even though desert tortoises thrived in the new housing and business developments in Southern Nevada, where tender grasses and water were suddenly more abundant, developers were charged a mitigation fee of $550 per acre so a Desert Tortoise Conservation Center could be created. The center was closed in 2014 due to a budget shortfall.

According to a Clark County spokesman, that county alone has collected almost $43 million in tortoise mitigation fees since 2001. During that same timeframe almost $130 million has been spent on conserving the 78 species covered in the countys Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan.

Ruby Valley rancher Cliff Gardner has been studying the way the federal land agencies have been handling the desert tortoise conservation effort and has found several flaws, including the presumption that human development is leading to a decline in the beasts habitat and therefore their total population.

Gardner notes that scholars who have pored over the diaries and letters of explorers of Nevada and the region  such as Francisco Garces, Jedadiah Smith, Kit Carson, Peter Skeen Ogden, Antonio Armijo and John C. Fremont  found almost no mention of edible game such as grouse or tortoises. It was not until the settlers started grazing livestock and improving water sources and shooting predators that these began to flourish.

Range ecologist and former Forest Service employee Vernon Bostick, one of the experts cited by Gardner, has been quoted for decades in newspapers and magazines as arguing that the very practices advocated by the federal land bureaucracy is actually causing any perceived decline in tortoise population.

Writing in Rangelands magazine in 1990, Bostick noted, The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 ended the free-for-all, get-all-you-can-while-you-can, uncontrolled grazing which had destroyed the range resource on the public domain. Every decade since the original reduction of roughly 50 percent in grazing use, the Bureau of Land Management has made reductions in the amount of livestock use permitted.

Permitted use today is only about ten percent of the livestock use that occurred during the free range days. If the conservative grazing management that is being practiced today has such a detrimental impact on desert tortoise populations, how could the species have survived through all those years of uncontrolled livestock grazing?

But BLM managers argue cattle are a danger to tortoises, especially in the spring when hatchlings emerge, and have denied grazing permits during that time when cattle can gain the most weight.

In another essay, Bostick observed that cattle grazing crops foliage closer to the ground and causes new shoots to appear for the low-to-the-ground toothless, gizzardless tortoise to eat.

A favorite food of desert tortoises is fresh cow dung  Bostick adds. The more cows on the range, the more watering places there will be for tortoises, and the more likely it will be that a tortoise will find a life sustaining cow-pie  Dung also contains nutrients. Fewer tortoises are found where grazing has been prohibited, such as the Nevada Test Site.

Gardner also notes that in the 1950s predator control bounties were ended and the use of poisons prohibited. This led to a boom in the population of ravens, fox, skunks, badgers and coyotes  all of which feed on tortoises. Dozens of hollow tortoise shells are often found beneath perches of ravens.

The feds never seem to learn from their failures.
Elkos Basque community is getting national attention this week as the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival opens in Washington, D.C.

The event, which happens to overlap the annual National Basque Festival here in Elko, celebrates this small but proud ethnic groups culture through its music, arts, food, and crafts. Local dancers have spent countless hours practicing for their performances July 7-9 on the National Mall.

Elko natives have always been familiar with the Basque culture, and newcomers soon learn about them. Thats because northern Nevada is one of the places in the western U.S. where these immigrants came in the 19th century to herd sheep.

The Smithsonian event is an outstanding opportunity for the rest of the country to learn about the Basques  and for locals to broaden their knowledge.

Most people know that the Basque Country straddles the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain, and that they have a unique language that developed independently from its Latin neighbors.

The culture goes much deeper than that, of course, and we have been getting more of the story thanks to the efforts of Elko native Vince Juaristi. His five-part series published over the past few months in the Elko Daily Free Press offers a depth of knowledge and a historical perspective ranging from John Adams to Eleanor Roosevelt.

Juaristi earned literary acclaim with the 2011 publication of Back to Bizkaia: A Basque-American Memoir. It tells the touching story of a trip he organized to take his father Joe back to the Basque Country for a visit, 60 years after he emigrated to America.

Now, Vince is publishing another book titled Basque Firsts: People Who Changed the World. Available for pre-order at amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, this fascinating and often surprising look at Basque historical figures adds an entirely new dimension to our understanding of the culture.

As Ive done in the past, all my proceeds from the book will be donated to scholarships for kids, Vince told the Free Press. Indeed, this year he awarded his 75th such scholarship based on proceeds from Back to Bizkaia.

For those who cant wait until October to learn more about Basque history, check out Vinces Intertwined series at elkodaily.com.

The Smithsonian event begins today and continues through July 10, with a pause from July 5-6.

Local participation has been aided by the Elko Euzkaldunak Basque Club and Great Basin College, through Angie de Braga, director of continuing education and community outreach. Donations can be made through the college at http://www.campusce.net/gbcnv/course/course.aspx?c=246.

More information on the Smithsonian event is available at http://www.festival.si.edu.
Speaker is totally wrong in his ...
Editor:

U.S. immigration is record high and the effect on such a large scale does not have a good impact on workers or on Western culture.

Many representatives, the Obama administration, Hillary, Bernie, McCain, Paul Ryan and our own Sens. Heller and Reid, have voted for policies that would dissolve U.S. borders, supporting implementation of an immigration system similar to the E.U.s open border policy. These politicians see borders as an obstacle to commerce, believing that any willing employer should be able to hire any willing worker regardless of origin, legal or illegal.

The Omnibus bill (voted for by Heller and Reid), funded U.S. visas for nearly 300,000 Muslim immigrants in a single year. They rule out cuts, stating thats not who we are and such actions are not reflective of our principles. What isnt mentioned is that these migrants hold anti-gay, anti-women, anti-religious tolerance, and anti-American sentiments; our government insists we accommodate their practices and values which encourages non-assimilation; if we do not, we are labeled bigots or Islamophobic.

Our values have been subjected to honor violence, forced marriages, the recruiting of Islamic terrorists, the importation of anti-Western ideology from foreign nations, and terrorism within our walls. Between 2001-2014 the U.S. permanently resettled 675,000 migrants from nations that execute gays and treat women as chattel, 40,000 Afghans on green cards; plus, a total of 1.7million permanently resettled from Muslim countries, a population three times larger than Wisconsin, Paul Ryans home turf.

Brexit is a warning for America and to politicians who have not served us, have neglected our safety and our "pursuit of happiness," have been complicit in voting for policies that damage our independence and erode our ability to control our lives.

The U.S. Congress must curb immigration and decrease, if not stop at least temporarily, all migration rates and visa distributions. We do not want the TransPacificPartnership which mirrors the E.U. and which Hillary called the gold standard for a trade deal. Her presidency would make amnesty virtually certain and Muslims will continue explaining their atrocities by citing supremist Islamic scripture.

Thelma Homer

Elko
Sacramento, CA  Californias Secretary of State on Tuesday officially announced that a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana will go before voters in November.

It would designate state agencies to license and regulate recreational marijuana. It would also impose a state sales tax of 15% on marijuana and a state cultivation tax of $9.25 per ounce of flowers and $2.75 per ounce of leaves. In addition, it would establish marketing standards related to packaging, advertising and labeling. Local jurisdictions would be able to establish additional taxes and regulations.

Specifically, users could possess up to an ounce of marijuana for private use and permit personal cultivation of up to six plants. Users would need to be 21 years of age.

If approved, California would join multiple other states on the West Coast allowing recreational marijuana use. The list includes Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.
Harrison Ford in Toledo. www.cuentametoledo.com

Despite his long white beard and casual clothes, US actor Harrison Ford was spotted by fans on the streets of Toledo last weekend as he attempted to blend in with other tourists.

Once his identity had been revealed, the actor and his wife, actress Calista Flockhart, greeted fans and consented to having their picture taken.

After visiting several landmark buildings in the historical Spanish city, the couple had lunch at a restaurant run by Adolfo Munoz, who proudly posted a message to social media signaling the event.

Comparto con vosotros la inolvidable visita que ayer recibimos en Restaurante Adolfo. Nada menos que el grande entre los... Posted by Adolfo Munoz Martin on Sunday, June 26, 2016

[Let me share with you the unforgettable visit we had yesterday at Restaurante Adolfo. None other than the great among greats, Harrison Ford, and his lovely wife Calista Flockhart. A pleasure to receive both of you in this house!]

Ford, 73, is about to shoot the fifth film in the Indiana Jones franchise.

Its great fun to play this character, it's great fun to work with Steven [Spielberg]. Im looking forward to it, he told The Hollywood Reporter.

Over a year ago, the actor sustained injuries after being forced to crash-land a vintage aircraft in Los Angeles.

English version by Susana Urra.
Update at 1:35 p.m.: Columbia air resources are headed back to base after assisting in containing a half acre fire in Stanislaus County. The flames broke out on Lake Road near Yosemite Boulevard by the Tuolumne River Resort in the Waterford area. Ground crews will remain on scene mopping up for the next couple of hours. The fire was extinguished in about a half hour.

Original post at 12:47 p.m.: Waterford, CA  If you heard Columbia aircraft flying overhead they are enroute to assist firefighters in battling a blaze in the Waterford area in Stanislaus County.

Cal Fire reports the flames broke out on Lake Road near Yosemite Boulevard by the Tuolumne River Resort. There is no word on the size of the fire, its rate of spread or whether any structures are threatened at this time. We will keep you updated as more details come into the news center.
Mariano Rajoy at the European Council meeting in Brussels. OLIVIER HOSLET (EFE)

Three days after Spain held a repeat national election, negotiations to form a new government have yet to start.

There is talk in political circles that acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who reinforced his December victory with an even bigger lead over his rivals this past Sunday, may delay these negotiations until next week.

In a complicated scenario where the winning Popular Party (PP) still lacks a parliamentary majority, having secured 137 seats in the 350-deputy chamber, not even party leaders are certain of what will happen in the coming weeks.

Very few alternatives Luis R. Aizpeolea / El Pais Even if the PP managed to secure additional support from smaller groups such as the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV)  mirroring a governing deal that took place in 1996  the sum of PP, Ciudadanos and PNV would still fall two seats short of 176, requiring somebody elses abstention in the second round of the investiture vote. And this time around, bad relations between Rajoy and Basque premier Inigo Urkullu make such a deal unlikely. PNV president Andoni Ortuzar has announced his willingness to talk to the PP; bu warned that he sees an agreement with Rajoy as very, very, very difficult. As for other congressional groups, Rajoy neither hopes nor desires any help from the Unidos Podemos leftist alliance, which he has repeatedly described as radical and extreme. And his soured relations with Catalan nationalists rule out any help from groups such as Convergencia or Catalan Republican Left (ERC).

But Rajoys inner circle has already extracted a few conclusions from the candidates own statements following Sundays victory.

Rajoy is now willing to lead a minority government if he fails to secure support for a grand coalition with the Socialist Party (PSOE), unlike what happened after December 20, because now there is no other alternative, said one of the acting prime ministers closest aides.

Privately, Rajoy is apparently conveying the sense that he believes the Socialists will abstain at the congressional vote to name the next prime minister, thereby offering passive support.

But his first choice would be a coalition with the Socialists, who earned 85 seats at the election, managing to hold on to second spot despite all the surveys that predicted they would get bumped down by the leftist Unidos Podemos alliance.

This in itself would be a historical first, as the PP and PSOE have been rivals throughout Spains democratic history. But so far, the Socialists have underscored their unwillingness to enter such a deal, citing the PPs long corruption record.

Plan B

The second option would involve Rajoy officially standing for prime minister at an investiture vote in Congress, getting voted down by the PSOE in the first round, then securing a Socialist abstention in the run-off, thereby allowing the conservative candidate to take office.

For now, the only thing Rajoy has revealed is that he plans to call Socialist nominee Pedro Sanchez first, to get a sense of his intentions for the coming weeks.

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As for the small upstart party Ciudadanos, which has repeatedly attempted to bridge the gap between the conservatives and the Socialists with cross-party proposals, its poor results on Sunday (32 seats, down from 40 in December) mean that its support is not enough for a PP government.

Before walking into a European summit on Brexit held in Brussels on Tuesday, Rajoy asked for some calm, and reiterated his right to lead Spains new government. He also warned against the absurdity of heading for third elections because of someones close-mindedness, alluding to the Socialists unwillingness to lend their support to a Rajoy-led administration.

Rajoy added that he hopes others will at least let the winner govern, even if he has to do so in a difficult situation.

English version by Susana Urra.
A rescue package for debt-stricken Puerto Rico was approved in the U.S. Senate Wednesday, just two days before the island is expected to default on a $2 billion debt payment.

Puerto Rico expected to default on $2B debt payment

Board would oversee Puerto Rico's finances, debt restructuring

Package passed 68-30 in the Senate



The White House-backed measure would create a control board that would oversee the U.S. territory's finances and supervise some debt restructuring. The bill passed the package, 68-30.



Leaders of both parties urged their colleagues to support the legislation, saying that Congress needs to step in and prevent financial and humanitarian chaos on the island.

"We must act now to prevent matters from getting worse," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Puerto Rico is in a decade-long recession and has $70 billion in debt. In addition to the control board, the bill would require the territory to create a fiscal plan and fund public pensions, which the government has shorted by more than $40 billion. The bill would also lower the minimum wage on the island.



The bill now goes to President Obama, who is expected to sign it. The White House issued this statement Wednesday:

"I commend Democrats and Republicans in the Senate for voting to address the economic crisis in Puerto Rico, providing the support it needs to restructure its debt, safeguard vital public services, and provide protection to public pensions. This bill is not perfect, but it is a critical first step toward economic recovery and restored hope for millions of Americans who call Puerto Rico home. I look forward to signing the bill into law, and remain committed to working with Congress and the people of Puerto Rico to return to lasting economic growth and opportunity."

The control board would be similar to one that oversaw the District of Columbia in the late 1990s. Its seven members would oversee negotiations with creditors and the courts over reducing some debt. In addition to creating the board, the bill would require the territory to create a fiscal plan and fund public pensions, which the Puerto Rico government has shorted by more than $40 billion.

Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla has warned the U.S. territory would face multiple lawsuits if the bill is not approved, especially following Friday's anticipated default on $1 billion in general obligation bonds. The legislation would temporarily block creditor lawsuits from being filed until February 2017.

The general obligation bonds are backed by the island's constitution, but Garcia has said the government has no money to honor that debt despite the implementation of new taxes and recent increases in utility rates. Garcia hasn't said if the island will default on the other $1 billion that is due.

"Puerto Rico cannot endure any more austerity," Garcia said in an editorial published Wednesday.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday in a bid to persuade some reluctant Democrats concerned that the board would be too powerful. Democrats have also opposed a provision that would allow the island's government to lower the minimum wage for some younger workers.

Lew urged senators to vote for the bill even though it isn't perfect, saying that if the island defaults, the government may be forced to shut public transit, close a hospital or send police officers home.

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey was staunchly opposed to the bill, monopolizing the Senate floor for more than four hours Tuesday evening, arguing that the bill adopts a colonial approach.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also opposed it.

"In my view we need austerity not for the people of Puerto Rico, but for the billionaire Wall Street hedge fund managers who have exacerbated the crisis on the island," Sanders said on the floor.

In the days before the vote, some bondholder groups worked to turn senators against the bill, arguing it doesn't sufficiently protect creditors and is tantamount to a bailout for the territory. Several labor unions also lobbied against the measure, arguing that a lower minimum wage could take money out of the Puerto Rican economy.

The legislation is needed because Puerto Rico cannot declare bankruptcy under federal law. Mainland municipalities and their utilities can, while municipalities and utilities in Puerto Rico cannot.

Some Republicans who opposed the bill said the bill could set a bad precedent for financially strapped states.

"They'll say, 'if a territory can receive unprecedented authority from Congress, then why shouldn't a state?'" said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
Bull getting lanced at Toro de la Vega 2006.

The regional government of Castilla y Leon has refused to issue an authorization for the celebration of the Toro de la Vega fiesta, an open-air bull hunt with spears that takes place every month of September in the town of Tordesillas.

Following widespread protests across Spain over the way the animal is hunted down and speared to death, regional authorities passed a decree on June 19 stipulating that the bull may no longer be killed.

But the citizens of Tordesillas, who have been holding the hunt for hundreds of years, fiercely oppose this legal change. On June 20, the town filed a request to celebrate Toro de la Vega on September 13 in the traditional way.

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Local authorities now say they will appeal the regional decision denying their request. At the national elections last Sunday, many residents cast blank ballots as a form of protest.

Tordesillas is entitled to file a new request to hold Toro de la Vega, as long as the ban on killing the bull is respected. But local enthusiasts claim that this would void the entire celebration.

In recent years, the town has witnessed growing clashes between locals and animal right activists over the event.

English version by Susana Urra.
Back in 2015, the Washington Post reported that if you considered the death of at least four victims as a mass shooting, then in 336 days of last year, there were approximately 355 mass shootings in America. And that's not counting 2016 numbers like the recent shooting at an Orlando nightclub which saw the deaths of 49 people.

"It's almost every day we are seeing these types of situations," said Plainview police captain Manuel Balderas, addressing a crowded room at the Hale County Senior Center Wednesday.

Along with Lt. Jamie Salinas, the two Plainview police detectives held an active shooter program at the monthly Hale County Resource Network meeting.

The training was designed to give citizens a plan to survive a mass shooting incident during the critical moments when help is on the way but has not yet arrived.

"The purpose of this is for you not to lay down and become a victim. You can do something," Balderas said.

The detectives said they have been teaching the program for Plainview businesses and organizations since 2012. By contacting the police department, Balderas said they are willing to travel anywhere to teach the program.

In the hour-long presentation, the detective gave facts and tips on how to survive if a shooter enters a location with the intention of killing anybody they can.

"An active shooter is one or more subjects who participate in a random or systematic shooting spree demonstrating their intent to continuously harm or kill others," Balderas said. "These situations are dynamic and evolve rapidly, demanding immediate deployment of law enforcement resources to stop the shooting and limit harm."

One of the first steps the officers suggested was to come up with a plan in the case of an active shooter situation and perform mental rehearsals on how you would escape or defend yourself.

"Every situation is different," Salinas said.

Salinas said this included knowing how many exits or windows are in a building.

Once an active shooter situation is recognized, the detectives promoted the A.D.D campaign.

"Avoid, Deny and Defend," Balderas said.

When an active shooter is in the vicinity, the detectives said to first Avoid. This included if there is an escape path and an attempt to evacuate.

Evacuate whether others agree to or not; leave your belongings behind; help others escape if possible; prevent others from entering the area and call 911 when you are safe.

When making the call or communicating with officers, Salinas also said to provide as many details as you can.

If evacuations is not possible, find a place to hide.

In the Deny part of the plan, the detectives said lock and/or blockade the door; silence your cell phone; hide behind large objects and remain quiet.

As a last resort, and only if your life is endanger, the officers said to Defend. This included attempting to incapacitate the shooter; act with physical aggression; improvise weapons and commit to your actions.

Some tactics explained by the detectives included when a shooter is entering a room, throwing items at the shooter while others attempt to tackle the shooter from the side.

The Plainview Police Department offers the program free of charge to any office or organization. To schedule a program call the police department at 806-296-1182.
A ridge of high pressure over the Northeast has been responsible for a lack of rainfall in the area, causing abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions in the area, according to Gary Lessor, a meteorologist at Western Connecticut State University.



Lessor said Southington is in a moderate drought, and Meriden and Wallingford are classified as abnormally dry.



You have got to assume Meriden, Wallingford are in a drought as well, Lessor said. Its just a matter of borders right now.



Rainfall totals this year are about six inches below normal, Lessor said, and that there are no projections for heavy rainfall in the near future.



We basically need a good 24 hour soaking, 2 to 3 inch rainfall, he said. That does not appear to be in the cards anytime soon.



The same ridge of high pressure has also been causing floods in West Virginia, Lessor noted.



On Monday, Southington Water Superintendent Frederick Rogers issued a statement asking town residents to limit non-essential water usage. He recommended residents follow an odd/even system, which asks that homeowners with odd street numbers use water on odd days of the month and homeowners with even street numbers on even days of the month. Non-essential water usage includes washing cars, as well as watering lawns and flowers.



Meriden Public Utilities Director Dennis Waz said the city refers to guidance from the state Department of Public Health, metrics and reservoir levels when deciding whether to enact water conservation measures.



Reservoir levels are currently at about 85 percent capacity. Action would be taken if levels fell below 70 percent, according to Waz.



Its something were watching, but its not a major concern right now, Waz said of the current conditions.



On Monday, the state Department of Public Heath issued a drought guidance notice. The agency recommends reducing water usage by taking shorter showers and not letting water run while we wash.



blipiner@record-journal.com 203-317-2444 Twitter: @BryanLipiner






Security officials patrol outside Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Wednesday. AP

Spains Felipe VI has sent a telegram to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressing his condolences over the terrorist attack that killed at least 36 people and injured 147 at Istanbuls Ataturk airport on Wednesday.

The Spanish monarch extended his deepest regrets over the brutal attack, and expressed the firmest condemnation of this execrable terrorist violence, sources at the Royal Palace told the Efe news agency.

The Queen and I, Mr President, would like to extend all our support and solidarity to the families of the victims, and our wish for a speedy recovery of the wounded, reads the telegram, which was sent on Thursday. We all feel very close to the dear people of Turkey.

Spain itself remains on terror alert level four, the second highest there is and defined by the Interior Ministry as high

Acting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Wednesday that there were no reports of Spanish victims in the attacks. However, the Spanish government has opened two hotlines for Spaniards who may have been affected by the attack in some way. The numbers connect callers with the Spanish Consulate (00 90 532 547 49 43) and the Spanish Embassy (00 90 533 397 69 07) in Istanbul.

In January of this year, a blast at one of Turkeys top tourist sites killed 10 people and injured 15 others. Since then, there have been four other attacks in the country, attributed variously to the Islamic State and Kurdish separatists.

Spain itself remains on terror alert level four, the second highest there is and defined by the Interior Ministry as high.
U.S. technology businesses like Alphabet and Facebook toil to make the real world as borderless and global as the digital worlds they create. The physical version just got a lot messier in Europe, the second-largest market for these giant companies.

Britain voted on Thursday to leave the European Union, fracturing what was slowly becoming a single digital market into potentially two  or possibly more  jurisdictions for issues ranging from data privacy, competition, tax and recruiting.

After the vote in the U.K., we are obviously entering a moment of some uncertainty and concern, Facebook public policy executive Joel Kaplan said at an industry event in Washington on Monday.

Exhibit one in the new European reality for U.S. tech giants is data privacy, an area where Facebook has already sparred with regulators. These companies worked hard to get a single set of rules for data protection and privacy across the region. After the United Kingdom leaves, the country will probably have to create its own set of privacy regulations.

That could influence consumer data collection used in advertising on Alphabets Google search engine and Facebooks social media pages, the shipment of a book ordered from a retailer on Amazon.coms site in Germany to a shopper in the United Kingdom, or the management of data centers that power Microsofts cloud computing services.

Take the EUs new General Data Protection Regulation, a sweeping legal framework approved in April and set to take effect in May 2018. When the United Kingdom leaves, GDPR will no longer apply to the country. Experts expect the United Kingdom to adopt similar rules to GDPR in its stead, though a separate set of rules  no matter how similar  will cause headaches for U.S. tech companies seeking simplicity as they operate across Europe.

They want one law, one framework, one consistent approach, said Eduardo Ustaran, a London lawyer at Hogan Lovells LLP specializing in privacy law. The lack of harmonization makes more cost than regulation itself.

Ustaran said hes been trying to calm business clients down since the vote. There is very much a sense of panic or at least concern, he said.

If the United Kingdom wants to take part in the free flow of data across European borders after leaving the Union, it will have to adopt data-protection standards that the EU deems adequate in meeting the same standards as GDPR. The United Kingdom Information Commissioners Office, which oversees the countrys data processing, said Friday that international consistency around data protection laws and rights is crucial, both to businesses and organisations, and to consumers and citizens.

Cloud computing is particularly vulnerable to the complications of a split regulatory region. Cloud companies like Microsoft and Amazon function more efficiently when they can easily shift loads from one data center to another. Restricting the types of data that can be stored in specific locations hampers that flexibility.

A lot of companies are saying, Help. We dont know what to do. Were completely dependent on free flow of data, said Todd Ruback, chief privacy officer at Ghostery, which helps companies navigate privacy laws.

Google declined to comment on the impact of Brexit, as did Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon.

Ellen Huet amd Alex Webb are Bloomberg writers. Email: ehuet4@bloomberg.net, awebb25@bloomberg.net
The downturn in Texas oil and gas industry and ensuing drop in gas prices negatively affected the states retail and service sectors during the first half of 2016, business executives told the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Customers in oil-dependent markets like Houston arent spending as much on real estate, cars and intangible goods like medical and legal services as layoffs persist and oil production stagnates, said Amy Jordan, an economist at the Dallas Fed, while residents in cities like San Antonio and Dallas with fewer oil and gas ties are taking advantage of low fuel prices to travel rather than shop.

Nearly 48 percent of executives surveyed by the Dallas Fed for its monthly service sector outlook said lower energy prices created a negative impact on their business in the first six months of this year, up from 37.5 percent in 2015, according to survey results released Tuesday. Oil prices have lately hovered around $50 per barrel, down from $60 in June 2015 and $107 in June 2014.

The percentage of executives reporting negative impacts from lower gas prices is a little bit troublesome, Jordan said. The service sector is one of three major components of the U.S. economy and includes businesses that produce intangible goods, like healthcare, legal advice, transportation and financial services.

Forty-one percent of those surveyed said falling gas prices contributed to decreased demand from customers compared with 28.5 percent in 2015, survey results said. That percentage grew to 53.2 percent when only retail executives were questioned, an increase from 31 percent last year.

In the retail sector, 60.5 percent of executives said their businesses were negatively impacted in some way by lower gas prices.

But, energy prices werent the foremost concern of executives in the Texas service sector. About 73.5 percent of those surveyed cited government regulations  including the Affordable Care Act and the U.S. Department of Labors new rules regarding overtime pay  among their top concerns affecting their companies outlook, according to the survey. Thats up from 61.4 percent in June 2015.

And, service sector revenue in Texas is stagnant. Survey results showed 50.4 percent of responding businesses saw no change in revenue in June. Almost one-third of responding businesses in the service sector reported revenue increases while 17 percent saw decreases, according to the survey. But, 46.3 percent of respondents said they anticipate revenue increases within the next six months.

Wages also remained in place in June: 76.5 percent of responding businesses said they gave no wage and benefits increases in June.

Roughly 44 percent of Texas employers plan to increase wages within the next six months and almost 28 percent plan to hire new employees, survey results showed.

A separate Dallas Fed outlook survey covering retail showed that 30 percent of Texas retailers reported more sales in May while 27 percent said sales fell. More than 36 percent told the Dallas Fed they anticipate sales will grow within the next six months and about 32 percent will increase wages and benefits to its employees.

Almost 18 percent of retailers surveyed plan to hire full-time employees within the next six months, according to the survey.

The Dallas Fed collected its data June 14-22 from 285 business executives in Texas.

jfechter@express-news.net

Twitter: @JFreports
The sexually exploited teenager at the center of a Bay Area police scandal said she told investigators that four officers had sex with her when she was 16 and 17 years old, including an Oakland cop she considered her boyfriend and a Contra Costa County sheriffs deputy who would pick her up and drive her to a rural road near the Caldecott Tunnel.

Id say about 10 times in mid-2015, the teenager said, referring to the number of occasions they had sex in the deputys private vehicle. It was consistent for about a month, six weeks, then we stopped for the month of August, then we did it again one more time in September.

The Richmond teenager, who turned 18 in August, works as a prostitute and asked to be identified by her online alias of Celeste Guap. She spoke in a lengthy interview about events that have cast the Oakland police force into disarray and prompted investigations in other law enforcement agencies. She expressed ambivalence about the officers behavior  and whether they should be punished.

I dont want them to get in trouble, said Guap, who says she was first paid for sex at age 12, was first trafficked on the streets of Richmond and Oakland at 14, and now works on a corner of International Boulevard in Oakland. I guess they did take advantage, but I guess it was harmless.

Asked if she feels she was abused, she said, Yeah, in a way. I do feel taken advantage of.

Guap, whose mother is an Oakland police dispatcher, said she had sex with 29 officers from several police agencies in the past two years, including more than a dozen from Oakland and three from San Francisco. The officers told each other about her, and an additional 15 engaged in sex-related online chatting with her, she said.

Payments and perks

A few of the officers paid her, she said, while some of the others abused their authority, tipping her to antiprostitution stings or running names of people she was curious about through confidential databases. One Oakland officer, she said, had sex with her at a hotel near the Oakland airport in February, then texted her later in the morning to warn of an undercover sting.

Their perks become your perks, Guap said. They have resources. They can run things for you. They can find out s about anybody. If they can find out s about anybody, I can find out s about anybody.

Authorities are looking into the actions of all of the officers. The episode has raised concern about the Oakland Police Department and its ability to complete reforms ordered by the federal courts more than a decade ago after a brutality scandal.

One area of immediate interest to criminal investigators is the four officers who Guap said had sex with her while she was underage. They include Oakland police Officer Brendan OBrien, who left a note referring to Guap when he committed suicide in September.

Guap said OBrien was the second officer to have sex with her. The first, she said, was an Oakland officer who was my boyfriend when I was 16, and was initially hesitant about having sex with her. When we first started talking, she said, he said, Hurry up and turn 18. I was like, Its OK.

Guap said she had not revealed the officers name to investigators, adding, Im not snitching him out.

She said the other Oakland officer contacted her through social media and that they had sex on multiple occasions before she turned 18. He knew she was underage, she said, and broke up with her after telling her to stop contacting other officers. She said investigators know the identity of this officer.

Oakland police officials did not immediately respond Wednesday to questions about the two officers and the departments broader investigation. The Alameda County district attorneys office is conducting an independent probe, and several other agencies are looking into the conduct of their officers.

Affair with deputy

Guap said she met the Contra Costa County sheriffs deputy a little more than a year ago, sending him a Facebook message after he added her as a friend on the social network.

The deputy would pick her up while off duty and drive up Fish Ranch Road, off Highway 24 near the Caldecott Tunnel. She said no money was exchanged. Asked if the deputy knew she was under 18, Guap said, I dont think he asked.

The deputys attorney did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for the Contra Costa County Sheriffs Office declined to identify the deputy, who has been placed on paid leave. The Sheriffs Office is conducting a disciplinary investigation, while Oakland police are handling the criminal investigation.

Sgt. Shawn Welch, president of the Contra Costa County deputies union, said he couldnt comment on the case but called the larger scandal horrific.

The amount of training officers go through in California now, I dont see how these officers think what they did was close to justified, he said. It brings discredit to your agency, yourself and your profession.

Civil rights attorney John Burris, whose police-abuse lawsuit spurred the court-ordered reforms in Oakland, said all the officers who had sex with Guap after she turned 18 should be aggressively pursued, not just those who exploited her while she was underage.

That is participating in the sex trade of young women, he said. The officers become the pimp.

Burris said the state attorney generals office should take the criminal investigation out of the hands of police and prosecutors and should look at it from a sexual abuse and human trafficking point of view. In addition, he said, police departments must discipline or fire any officers who were aware of this conduct but chose to stay silent.

In the interview, Guap addressed questions about whether her interactions with officers had come to the attention of former Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent, even before OBriens suicide in September. Whent resigned this month.

Guap said she was Facebook friends with Whents wife, Julie Whent. About a year ago, she said, they had a friendly chat on the social network, and Guap mentioned she was dating OBrien. She was 17 at the time, she said, but added that she doesnt know if Julie Whent knew she was underage.

Guap said she had no contact with Sean Whent, who could not be reached for comment.

Considering lawsuit

Guap said she was considering suing police officers and their departments, but added, I dont want to be all dramatic about it. Honestly, I just want it all to go away. Dont get me wrong, I know what they did was wrong, but I dont have a lot of fight left in me.

Guap said her mother found out less than two months ago that she was a prostitute, after a frightening night in Oakland. A man who had hired her for an overnight visit proposed to her.

I said no. That set him off, she said. He locked me in the house and wouldnt let me leave. The windows were barred, but I was able to call for help through a window, and a neighbor helped me break a lock and then jump the fence.

A police officer who responded, she said, recognized her as a dispatchers daughter  and called her mom.

Demian Bulwa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbulwa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @demianbulwa

More: KGO-TVs interview with Celeste Guap.
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The race to replace Congressman Chris Gibson will be fought between two candidates who have contended for the governor's office.

In the Democratic primary in the sprawling district, which stretches from the Vermont border to the lower Hudson Valley and west to the outskirts of Binghamton, law professor and author Zephyr Teachout bested farmer Will Yandik, according to unofficial results.

In the Republican contest, John Faso defeated businessman Andrew Heaney.

By 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night, Teachout and Faso were leading their respective opponents by wide margins in partial returns  Teachout over Yandik by roughly 3-to-1, Faso over Heaney by 2-to-1.

Teachout, appearing with supporters in Kingston, emerged first to denounce Faso, a former state lawmaker and attorney, as "a creature of Albany" and "the ultimate insider."

She promised to "break down the doors of power in Washington, D.C. ... To move forward in America, we first need to get our democracy back."

Just minutes later in Hudson, Faso addressed a crowd at American Glory, a barbecue restaurant, and told him that his general election campaign will be a battle against the liberal left, who he said "want more domination, they want more control over our lives and our economy. We are here to stop them tonight."

Striking a theme that has dogged previous Democratic candidates in the district, Faso cast Teachout as a carpetbagger newly arrived from Brooklyn.

"I look forward to finally bringing America back and changing course for our country," he said.

The unofficial results Tuesday night were not much of a shock. Both Faso and Teachout led by significant amounts in June polls, including a Time Warner Cable News/Siena College poll released on Monday that showed Teachout up by 39 points and Faso up by 30 points.

A Faso-Teachout matchup going into the fall is not just a head-to-head of solid candidates. Both have political chops, though Faso is the only one of the two to actually have held elected office.

Faso served in the state Assembly for 15 years, including five years as GOP minority leader. He made failed attempts to become state comptroller and win the governor's office in 2002 and 2006, respectively.

Teachout embarked on a quixotic campaign for governor in 2014, challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary. The academic and author of "Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United" lost by nearly 170,000 votes, though her 33 percent finish was considered impressive, even in a low-turnout election.

More impactful was that her challenge  and the deal-making Cuomo had to do to keep the progressive Working Families Party from endorsing Teachout  helped move the governor to the left to start his second term, a trend that has continued.

Gibson, a Kinderhook Republican who first won election to the House in 2010, declined to seek re-election. Although he flirted with the idea of running for governor in 2018, Gibson decided months ago to set that aside in order to take a teaching post at Williams College in western Massachusetts.

While both Faso and Teachout appeared to cruise to victory, voting in some parts of the district did not go smoothly earlier in the day. In Faso and Yandik's home, Columbia County, some ballots featured the name of Delaware County Republican Bob Bishop, who dropped out of the race in May and endorsed Faso. Heaney's campaign cried foul as officials scrambled to remedy the issue.

Faso himself voted at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Kinderhook, using a ballot that included Bishop; the glitch forced him and others to submit their votes manually. Faso said he was not concerned the issue would affect the results, but said the situation was "annoying, certainly."

Before 5 p.m., Heaney called for ballots to be impounded, meaning they would be kept under lock and key until a judge rules whether they should be opened. Heaney also called for the state Board of Elections to investigate why the local board printed ballots featuring three candidates.

"It's a disgrace that with only one race on the entire ballot, the Columbia County Board of Elections has so grossly failed the voters," Heaney said in a statement. "Every vote matters."

The county board later issued a statement that said approximately 800 of the incorrect ballots were voted  an average of 15 to 20 ballots per election district.

Michaela Kilgallen contributed.
WASHINGTON  The Senate on Wednesday night approved a debt-relief package for Puerto Rico less than 48 hours before the island territory of 3.5 million faced default on its $70 million debt.

Without congressional action, Puerto Rico would have failed to make a $2 billion payment on Friday, sending its debt-ridden economy into an uncertain tailspin.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., whose Fairfield County district has a significant Hispanic and Puerto Rican population, said the package wasnt perfect but would get the job done.

Its not necessarily the deal I would have written, but it is a strong bipartisan compromise that arrives in time, he said.

There are 140,284 Hispanics in Himes district, according to Census estimates. Thats 19 percent of the districts total population of 740,215. Of those, 50,631 are listed as Puerto Rican.

Earlier Wednesday, the Senate overcame a filibuster by voting 68-32 to proceed to a vote on the measure, which would empower a federal control board to oversee the U.S. territory's finances and debt restructuring. It would also permit lowering the minimum wage for some younger workers.

More Information Rep. Jim Himes' Fairfield County district 140,284 Hispanics 19% of total district population 50,631 Puerto Ricans 7% of total district population See More Collapse

An unlikely alliance of congressional leaders from both parties and the White House feared that without the measure  which they avoided describing as a bailout  Puerto Rico would have faced a catastrophic economic and humanitarian crisis.

The House passed a similar relief proposal earlier this month, so Senate approval Wednesday guarantees the bill arrives on President Barack Obamas desk in enough time to avoid financial disaster.

The Senate vote was 68-30 for the package. Obama is expected to sign the bill Thursday.

Connecticuts two Democratic senators both supported the legislation and hailed the results.

The crisis in Puerto Rico isnt abstract  hospitals are running out of supplies, vital human services are being severely curtailed, said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. Ive heard directly from the people of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican community in Connecticut about the need to pass this legislation now, in order to begin the process of financial reform.

The people of Puerto Rico are Americans, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. `I am proud that today the Senate voted to offer a remedy to avoid disaster for the islands deserving Americans, but it is only a beginning.

Opposition came from an array of senators. Among them was Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., whose parents were Cuban immigrants.

Menendez said the package fostered what he termed neocolonialism.

Its a power play, leaving the people of Puerto Rico unable to make their own government, make their own decisions, do what they believe is right, he said.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., technically still a contender for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, said it favors hedge-fund creditors.

From a moral prospective, Sanders said, should the United States be supporting legislation which allows vulture capitalists, some of whom are billionaires, to make huge profits while at the same time nutrition programs and educational programs for low-income children in Puerto Rico are cut?

dan@hearstdc.com
A exhibitor at the MWC in Barcelona this February. Albert Gea (REUTERS)

More information San Francisco tendra su Congreso Mundial de Moviles

Barcelonas annual Mobile World Congress (MWC), the global mobile industrys largest exhibition, has just created further competition for itself. Not content with setting up a cellular telephony event last year in Shanghai, its organizer, the GSMA, has just announced it is to create a new mobile industry event in San Francisco from September next year.

The GSMA Mobile World Congress Americas will take place between September 12 and 14, a few days after the expected announcement of the new iPhone by Apple, which never attends industry events.

Microsofts purchase of Nokia was negotiated during the WMC at Barcelonas Juan Carlos I hotel

GSMA is hosting the San Francisco event in partnership with CTIA, the body whose primary objective is to lobby the US government on behalf of the wireless industries. CTIA will host its Super Mobility event in Las Vegas in September, but beginning in 2017, says the company, the new joint Mobile World Congress Americas aims to create a global community of companies, the media, mobile-related services, content providers and applications that will remain in contact throughout the year. It will also be a way, say the organizers, to create a new presentation cycle for devices and agreements outside Barcelona. Some 30,000 industry professionals are expected to attend, with around 1,000 exhibitors.

The North American mobile industry has been the strongest performing of any developed region globally, leading innovation in hardware, access technologies, operating systems and new apps and services that are scaling rapidly and changing how individuals live and work, said John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA, in a press statement, adding: Mobile World Congress Americas will put a spotlight on this innovation and will support the continued growth of the mobile ecosystem in the region.

The CTIA and the GSMA are aiming to create what they call the first truly global wireless event in the United States and the Americas, said Meredith Attwell Baker, President and CEO of CTIA in a statement. Each fall, this unique collaboration will bring the worlds attention to mobile innovation and opportunities from 5G to the Internet of Things and beyond, she added.

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Around 100,000 people attend the Barcelona event, usually held in late February or early March since 2005. Industry experts say Shanghai and San Francisco will inevitably reduce turnout at Barcelona, at least in the longer term. But Barcelona remains the worlds biggest such event, with major deals taking place in the city during its four days. Microsofts purchase of Nokia was negotiated in part at the citys Juan Carlos I hotel.

Sources close to the organizers say that a transport strike in Barcelona that coincided with this years event angered many delegates. The GSMA has agreed to continue holding the event in Barcelona until at least 2023, although it includes specific provisions for transport. The GSMA says the event is estimated to bring in some 436 million in revenue for the city, as well as generating 12,000 jobs.

English version by Nick Lyne.
Two Bay Area mothers and their four children burned to death early Tuesday as the hysterical fathers tried to pull them from the flames after their van was hit by a semitrailer 65 miles north of Los Angeles, authorities said.

The Toyota Sienna minivan carrying the two families had been in an accident with another car at 3:28 a.m. and was partially blocking the right lane of Interstate 5 near the community of Gorman.

It wasnt clear whether the Sienna was disabled or just stopped, but a semitrailer going about 55 mph slammed into the van from behind, knocking it down an embankment, where it burst into flames, said California Highway Patrol Officer Ron Pomeroy.

Pomeroy said the minivan driver, 34-year-old Aaron Hon Wing Ng of San Francisco, and the front passenger, 45-year-old Wei Xiong Li of Daly City, managed to escape.

The big rig driver and two CHP officers who arrived shortly after the crash scrambled to help the men save their families, but the fire was too hot, Pomeroy said.

The vehicle was fully engulfed immediately after the collision, Pomeroy said. Those two gentlemen along with our CHP officers attempted to extinguish the flames and pull the other occupants out of the vehicle, but they were unable. They were overcome by flames.

CHP Officer Dan Williams told reporters that he arrived at the scene with his partner, Officer Jeff Burdick, just as the van caught fire. He attempted to put the flames out using a fire extinguisher while Burdick tried to reach into the van through the door, but the flames came at him  he had to back out.

As the situation became hopeless, Williams and Burdick had to hold Li and Ng back as they desperately attempted to get to their wives and children.

Words cant describe it, Williams told the Associated Press. It was very horrific seeing them try to get their families out, us trying to help get their families out.

Pomeroy said the two men were hysterical and that the whole scene was chaotic. The men were both airlifted to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Santa Clarita, where they were treated for burns and moderate injuries. Burdick was also treated for burns, Pomeroy said.

The names and ages of the victims were not released, and their relatives were too distraught Tuesday to talk. A female relative of Ngs teared up after answering the front door of his apartment unit on Clay Street in San Franciscos Chinatown.

This is a very difficult time for us, she said.

Both the accidents are under investigation, Pomeroy said, and Williams and Burdick are being offered counseling to help them through the ordeal.

Jenna Lyons and Peter Fimrite are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com, pfimrite@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @JennaJourno @pfimrite
Donald Trump in Ohio on Tuesday. Patrick Semansky (AP)

More information Trump amenaza el pacto comercial con Mexico y Canada si es presidente

The Three Amigos- the United States, Mexico and Canada  met today for the first North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) summit since 2014. This conference, which will be President Barack Obamas last, and one held under the long shadow cast by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. On Tuesday, Trump said he will make drastic changes or withdraw from the agreement if he is elected president.

Addressing supporters in Pennsylvania, Trump described NAFTA as the worst trade deal in history and promised to renegotiate the terms to get a better deal for our workers or withdraw from the agreement inked by Bill Clinton in 1993. Mexico is acting unfairly by promoting its own products, Trump said, adding: It removed its tariffs in order to become a NAFTA member but imposed a value-added tax on imports to keep being competitive.

The sentiment Trump is stirring up is as real as the thousands of manufacturing jobs that have been lost due to globalization

Trump hailed last weeks UK vote to leave the European Union, arguing that the United States should declare independence in trade and block the new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

US presidents have traditionally had to work around restrictions to make or break commercial agreements. But a year ago, Senate ratified a law granting the commander-in-chief the authority to fast-track negotiations that Congress can later ratify without making changes, or reject.

Obama persuaded Congress to pass the TPP despite the opposition of some Democrats and thanks to the support of Republicans who favor an unfettered market. Now, it is the Republican candidate who is railing against those agreements.

Trump may not win the November elections, as the latest polls predict, but the sentiment he is stirring up is real, as real as the thousands of manufacturing jobs that have been lost due to globalization.The business mogul likes to remind voters of the Carrier plant that plans to move its production of air-conditioning units from Indianapolis to Mexico in 2019 in order to reduce costs.

Almost five millions jobs destroyed

Fear of this kind of news has motivated the working class to vote for Trump on the right and Bernie Sanders on the left. Though Sanders has no possibility of becoming the Democratic nominee, he has attracted much more support than expected. Sanders has attributed Brexit to the damage globalization has caused the middle classes. That increasingly globalized economy, established and maintained by the worlds economic elite, is failing people everywhere, he wrote in an article published in The New York Times on Tuesday. Over the last 15 years, more than 60,000 factories have closed and 4.8 million well-paid manufacturing jobs have disappeared, he added.

In the wake of Brexit and at a time when large sections of the electorate are calling on their governments to stop signing free trade agreements, Canada has just passed lifted visa restrictions on Mexicans.

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Meanwhile, the Obama administration has called for initiatives to address the gap between rich and poor that widens with each new free trade deal. Trumps proposals may be unrealistic, such as the wall along the Mexican border, but the problems he is highlighting are very real. Thats the puzzle the Three Amigos need to solve.

English version by Dyane Jean-Francois
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Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

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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

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The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

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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
Two Bexar County deputies who fatally shot Gilbert Flores last year failed to tell investigators that Flores had raised his hands in apparent surrender moments before they opened fire, according to sworn statements that explain, for the first time, their version of events of the controversial shooting.

Deputies Robert Sanchez and Greg Vasquez both gave statements to Bexar County investigators after the Aug. 28 shooting that described a tense altercation with Flores, who was armed with a knife and yelling at deputies to kill him. Flores had already tried unsuccessfully to stab one of them outside his parents home on the far Northwest Side.
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After about an hour and a half of trial testimony and a three hour recess, Navy Seaman James Tyler George, 23, cut his trial short, pleading guilty Tuesday to nine federal child pornography charges.

In addition to possessing hundreds of pictures, said prosecutor Sarah Wannarka, he searched for it, found it and received it, then used it to trade on the internet.

George was stationed at Lackland AFB in 2014 when he was charged. He could get up to 30 years in prison on some of the charges. Sentencing was set for Oct. 11.

In an opening statement, Wannarka said all six of the minors George sent and received images from using the phone application Kik, who ranged in age from 13 to 16 at the time, would testify. George pleaded guilty before they appeared.

To be clear, the evidence will show my client possessed child porn, defense lawyer Jonathan Crisp said in his opening statement. What we are talking about is, did he coerce them in a behavior they were not otherwise predisposed to behave in?

The mother of one of the six victims reported her daughters interaction with George to an online Navy tip hotline, bringing the case to the attention of the Naval Criminal Investigative Services. A broken SD card, a data card and three phones were seized from his barrack on Aug. 19, 2014.

I felt disgusted, the mother testified Tuesday. This is my 15-year-old little girl  I felt hurt and anger that someone would actually send these (obscene images) to her.

Testimony included a video of NCIS Special Agent Steve McMains interview with George, in which George explained how he gained access to child pornography through Kik and how he contacted and manipulated the six minors into sending him obscene pictures of themselves.

McMains, who flew from Japan to testify, said he recognized several images on Georges phone as common child porn he has seen in similar cases over the years.

Images of child pornography are not easy to come by, theyre sought after, McMains said. The particular image I was speaking of is in almost every case Ive ever worked on and found in one of (Georges) phones.
SAN ANTONIO  Several teens told police that they were playing with a gun at a party on Tuesday night before a 14-year-old girl was shot in the head and killed on the West Side.

San Antonio Police Department officers were called to a residence in at Star Creek and Shallow Creek after receiving reports of the shooting around 11:48 p.m.
Pope listens to his heart, not handlers, on Genocide during Armenia pilgrimage - Harut Sassounian

By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com While Armenians throughout the world were overjoyed with the landmark pilgrimage of His Holiness Pope Francis to the first Christian state, most people were unaware of the behind the scenes deliberations on the Armenian Genocide issue in the Vatican prior to his visit. The Popes dual roles as Pontiff of the Catholic Church and head of the Vatican State occasionally create problems within and outside the walls of the Holy See, which is what happened during the Popes visit to Armenia last week. After lengthy preparations and internal discussions, the Pope arrived in Armenia on June 24 ready to deliver a series of sermons and remarks over the course of his three-day visit. Surprisingly, none of his prepared speeches contained the words Armenian Genocide, but there were plenty of references to tragedy, slaughter, terrible trial, and immense suffering. His homilies repeatedly used the Armenian term Meds Yeghern (Great Crime) which was wrongly translated by the Vatican as Great Evil. The first indication of a change in terminology came prior to the Popes pastoral visit in a video address to the Armenian people, which did not mention the Armenian Genocide. Later on, during his visit to the Armenian Genocide Monument, the Pontiff did not write the words Armenian Genocide in the guest book, copying the text from a pre-prepared note card! There may have been two reasons why the words Armenian Genocide had been avoided: 1) Since Pope Francis had already gone on record using the term Armenian Genocide during last Aprils Mass in St. Peters Basilica, Vatican officials had decided to deliver a new message of peace and reconciliation. 2) The Pontiffs foreign policy advisors may have been reluctant to raise the Armenian Genocide issue once again after the Turkish governments harsh reaction last year and withdrawal of its ambassador from the Vatican for 10 months. Pope Francis, however, surprised everyone, when he departed from the text of his prepared remarks that had been already distributed to the media, by adding the word genocide to his address at the Presidential Palace in Yerevan on June 24. Here is what Pope Francis actually said while recalling his earlier sermon of April 12, 2015: 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. 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. Later that day, Father Federico Lombardi, Director of the Holy Sees Press Office, explained why Pope Francis deviated from his prepared text: The Pope says what he finds appropriate, and no one decides what the Pontiff should say. The Pope had no reason to avoid the word genocide during his trip to Armenia. The reality is clear and we never denied what the reality is. The Pontiffs use of that single word in one speech did not escape the attention of Turkish authorities. Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli responded by accusing the Pope of having a Crusader mentality. Canikli went on to repeat the usual Turkish lies about the Armenian Genocide. Lombardi, the Pontiffs spokesman, dismissed the Deputy Prime Ministers criticism, stating that the Pope is not doing Crusades. He has said no words against the Turkish people. Refusing to buckle under Turkish pressure, Pope Francis went on to sign a Joint Declaration with Catholicos Karekin II on June 26, 2016, which referenced the Vaticans earlier acknowledgments of the Armenian Genocide: Pope Franciss April 12, 2015 sermon and the Joint Declaration signed on Sept. 27, 2001 by Pope John Paul II and Catholicos Karekin II. Another Joint Communique acknowledging the Armenian Genocide was signed on Nov. 29, 2000, by John Paul II and Karekin II. During his return flight to Rome on June 26, an AFP journalist asked Pope Francis why he added the word genocide to his speech in Yerevan. The Pope explained in detail that genocide is the only word he has grown up with to describe the mass killings of Armenians. The Pope also mentioned his upcoming trip to Azerbaijan and Georgia from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2. Pope Francis approached his pilgrimage to Armenia with utmost honesty and spoke from his heart about the Armenian Genocide, ignoring the political calculations of his advisers and speechwriters. He preferred to conduct himself as a true man of God rather than a crafty politician!
Always close to her children and grandchildren, Jeannette Imogene Collins Graham took even more comfort in them after becoming a widow at 59.

Continuing to visit Las Vegas regularly, a destination she and her husband had enjoyed for many years, Graham won $10,000 playing the slot machines, a windfall she promptly used to have an in-ground pool installed in her backyard.

She came right home and called up Gary Pools, a local swimming pool company, her daughter Nancy York recalled. Everything about that pool represented fun for the family, and thats what she wanted, the family around her.

Graham, 95, died Sunday.

The middle daughter of three, Graham and her sisters were raised by their grandparents, who lived in San Antonio, after their parents split up in about 1930.

They were living in Seguin  during the Depression, York said. It was a bit of a challenge to have their lives changed; but my mother always made the best of every situation.

More Information Jeannette Imogene Collins Graham Born: Nov. 15, 1920, Bayside Died: June 26, 2016, San Antonio Preceded by: Husband James Graham; infant twins David and Dorothy Graham; parents Henrietta Sammons and David Collins; two sisters. Survived by: Daughter Nancy York and son-in-law Vic; son Jim Graham; four grandchildren, and a great-grandson. Services: Visitation from 5-7 p.m., followed by prayer service, Friday at Porter Loring Chapel, 1101 McCullough Ave. See More Collapse

A member of the first class to attend the new Burbank High School, Graham was 17 when she met her future husband, a railroad engineer who was a year older.

Her desire was to go to beauty school, to become a beautician, her daughter said. But the family couldnt afford it.

Marrying the same year, Graham dropped of our high school, eventually following her husband to Wyoming when he was drafted into a Railway Operating Battalion during World War II.

Returning to San Antonio after he was sent overseas, Graham found a good deal on a home on the Southwest Side.

Although her in-laws advised her against making such a decision without her husband, Graham was determined.

She went ahead and bought the house, York said. That was my mother.

Staying at home with her children until they were older, Graham later became a cook with the San Antonio Independent School District in the early 1960s, working her way up to cafeteria manager. Many of those years were spent at Horace Mann Middle School.

Her food was awesome, York said. Her enchilada recipe  was the best, attracting more than the usual crowd on Wednesdays.

At home, her children looked forward to fall, when Graham would start a pot of beef vegetable soup with handmade noodles.

As soon as it got cold, Id have to get the soup bone, York said.

Winning another $10,000 in Vegas a few years after the first, Graham once again spent it with her family.

She was the most unselfish person, York said. If she had a dollar and you needed it, shed give it to you.

mheidbrink@express-news.net
What part of illegal did this particular Supreme Court majority not understand?

In a 5-3 ruling last week, the court ruled that evidence seized in searches from illegal stops by police can still be used if officers did the search after discovering outstanding warrants. Justice Stephen Breyer joined the conservative bloc on this one.

This means that an officer, suspicious but with no probable cause, can demand identification and check for warrants, and if one shows up unconnected to his or her suspicion, can search you  even if that warrant is for a minor traffic infraction.

Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, wrote that as long as the warrant is valid, the search does not violate the Fourth Amendment on search and seizure.

Make no mistake: Being black or brown while driving, walking  or just being  just became more fraught.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a blistering dissent, got this right. Though the suspect in this case is white, people of color are disproportionately affected by such random stops.

By rewarding an illegal search, the high court just gave police incentive to manufacture stops in the mere hope of finding incriminating evidence.

This case tells everyone  white and black, guilty and innocent  that an officer can verify your legal status at any time, Sotomayor wrote. It says that your body is subject to invasion while courts excuse the violation of your rights.

She added, This case allows the police to stop you on the street, demand your identification and check it for outstanding traffic warrants  even if you are doing nothing wrong.

This case  Utah vs. Strieff  came about after police surveillance of a suspected drug house, under suspicion because of an anonymous tip.

Based on what the state later conceded were insufficient grounds, an officer stopped Edward Strieff after he left the house. He demanded identification, discovered a warrant for a minor traffic violation, searched and found a bag of methamphetamines and paraphernalia.

Sotomayor noted that there are more than 7.8 million outstanding warrants in the country, most for minor offenses.

And just as a for-instance, she noted that 16,000 of the 21,000 residents of Ferguson, Missouri  the site of racial disturbances after the police shooting death of an unarmed black man  are subject to arrest warrants.

We must not pretend that the countless people who are routinely targeted by police are isolated, she wrote. They are the canaries in the coal mine whose deaths, civil and literal, warn us that no one can breathe in this atmosphere.

This was a bad day for civil rights in America.
Kerry speaks about harassment of US diplomats during his meeting with Putin (video)

Russian harassment and surveillance of U.S. diplomats in Moscow has increased significantly and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry raised the issue recently with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the State Department said on Monday. Secretary of State John Kerry last discussed the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 24, according to State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau. "We see an increase and we take it seriously," she told reporters at a press briefing. Trudeau said harassment by Russian security agents and traffic police had been an issue over the past two years, but did not give details of incidents nor why it was raised with Putin. Other Western embassies had reported the same behavior toward their diplomats stationed in Moscow, Trudeau added. Trudeau would not discuss specific incidents first reported by The Washington Post on Monday, including breaking into the homes of embassy personnel and moving around contents. Washington stripped five of the six Russian honorary consuls of credentials in January to retaliate for harassment of its diplomats in Moscow. Honorary consuls are typically U.S. citizens or green card holders who perform consular services outside Washington on behalf of a foreign government. In response, Russia's Foreign Ministry accused the United States of provoking Russian diplomats in the United States and elsewhere. Last week the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow has "felt a significant increase in pressure on the Russian Embassy and consulates general of our country in the United States." According to Zakharova, staff members of Russia's consulate missions abroad "regularly become the objects of provocations by the American secret services, face obstacles in making official contacts and other restrictions," including travel. Trudeau dismissed Russia's claims of U.S. harassment of its diplomats as "without foundation" and said American diplomats are faced with same restrictions as Russian diplomats under the terms of a reciprocal agreement. Trudeau couldn't rule out similar harassment by Russians of U.S. diplomats in other countries, but she said that she didn't have specifics of such cases occurring.
ALEXANDRIA, Va.  NACS has released the NACS State of the Industry Report of 2015 Data, the convenience and fuel retailing industrys premier benchmarking tool and most comprehensive collection of data and trends. Published since 1972, the NACS State of the Industry Report provides valuable information to help industry stakeholders maximize their companys growth and profitability.

This years 203-page report examines economic conditions and their potential impact on the industry. The report includes a comprehensive selection of charts and tables that focus on every area of the industrys 2015 performance, including financials, store operations, merchandising, foodservice, fuels sales and quartile analysis.

According to the report, U.S. convenience stores reached record in-store sales of $225.8 billion in 2015, higher than overall industry sales in 1998. Overall industry sales for 2015 reached $574.8 billion, evidence that the value of convenience continues to resonate with consumers.

The comprehensive NACS State of the Industry Report of 2015 Data is a compelling testament to retailers desire to move the convenience industry forward. Future profitability means using the best tools available and thanks to our retail survey participants, the new and more visual report provides the best possible industry benchmarks and insights. Furthermore, sharing data means that the convenience store industry has the best information available to support our positions legislatively both at the grassroots and national levels, said NACS Director of Research and Statistics Bob Swanson.

Purchasers of the NACS State of the Industry Report of 2015 Data will also receive the Fact Book as a downloadable, self-extracting file. Now in its 29th edition, the Fact Book provides a detailed statistical account of industry data over the past several yearsor in some cases, decadesas well as a historical recap of the industry and key definitions and events that have shaped it. The Fact Book will be available in late July.

The NACS State of the Industry Report of 2015 Data (hard copy, with the Fact Book download link) is available for purchase online to NACS member companies (order number 40022077) for $249 ($749 regular price). Additional hard copies of the report (order number 40022081) are available for $40 but must be ordered by telephone. The report/Fact Book package also is available for purchase online in electronic PDF (order number 40222078) to NACS members for $599 ($1,199 regular price)please note that the PDF version is locked to disable printing and to prevent unlawful duplication.

Orders can be placed online at nacsonline.com/soi or by calling NACS Customer Service at (800) 966-6227. Hard copies usually ship the next business day, and electronic formats usually fulfill within two business days.
This Twitterstorm helps explain why US policy has been so keen to promote free trade and make the world safe for multinationals.

(1) The basic dynamic re: #Brexit and #TPP is that post-WWII we stretched multinationals around the globe to keep nation-states from warring  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(2) National industries and nationalism were seen as causal factors in two recent wars that killed tens of millions.  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(3) Some, like George Ball, were explicit. Here: https://t.co/XNwo2ixMOO  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(4) "to fulfill its full potential the multinational corporation must be able to operate with little regard for national boundaries"  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(5) "  or, in other words, for restrictions imposed by individual national governments"." Ball helped create the post-war trade agenda.  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(6) Ball was a huge proponent of the EU. Opposed Vietnam War, seen as very liberal. Supported multinationals over national sovereignty.  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(7) By late 60s Nixon opposed free trade. Maurice Stans negotiated textile controls w/Japan/Taiwan/Hong Kong, was called racist for doing so  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(8) The Ball generation sought to prevent war, understood the multinational as a responsible actor constrained by antitrust and regulation.  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(9) Lifting of restrictions on multinationals in the 1980s/1990s led to monopolies, financial disasters, w/no sovereign capacity to govern.  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(10) Sovereign state power to make war originally would be checked by corporate supply chains, free trade, orgs like IMF  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(11) But the cure for nationalist warfare  multinationals  mutated. And multinationals unfettered do not meet human needs.  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(12) So people are crying out for some sovereign aside from the corporation (which is a grant of sovereign power). And nationalism is back!  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(13) But this is not a right-wing phenomenon. Many on the left, though not socialists, want localism. Nation-state is more local than IMF.  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(15) For globalizing elites, it literally is unthinkable to stop stretching corporations around the world. They cannot imagine it  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016

(16)  because they see it as restarting World War II. They think they are peaceniks.  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 25, 2016
By Patrick Cockburn, a Middle East correspondent for the Independent of London and the author of five books on the Middle East, the latest of which is Chaos and Caliphate: Jihadis and the West in the Struggle for the Middle East (OR Books). Originally published at TomDispatch

We live in an age of disintegration. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Greater Middle East and Africa. Across the vast swath of territory between Pakistan and Nigeria, there are at least seven ongoing wars  in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and South Sudan. These conflicts are extraordinarily destructive. They are tearing apart the countries in which they are taking place in ways that make it doubtful they will ever recover. Cities like Aleppo in Syria, Ramadi in Iraq, Taiz in Yemen, and Benghazi in Libya have been partly or entirely reduced to ruins. There are also at least three other serious insurgencies: in southeast Turkey, where Kurdish guerrillas are fighting the Turkish army, in Egypts Sinai Peninsula where a little-reported but ferocious guerrilla conflict is underway, and in northeast Nigeria and neighboring countries where Boko Haram continues to launch murderous attacks.

All of these have a number of things in common: they are endless and seem never to produce definitive winners or losers. (Afghanistan has effectively been at war since 1979, Somalia since 1991.) They involve the destruction or dismemberment of unified nations, their de facto partition amid mass population movements and upheavals  well publicized in the case of Syria and Iraq, less so in places like South Sudan where more than 2.4 million people have been displaced in recent years.

Add in one more similarity, no less crucial for being obvious: in most of these countries, where Islam is the dominant religion, extreme Salafi-Jihadi movements, including the Islamic State (IS), al-Qaeda, and the Taliban are essentially the only available vehicles for protest and rebellion. By now, they have completely replaced the socialist and nationalist movements that predominated in the twentieth century; these years have, that is, seen a remarkable reversion to religious, ethnic, and tribal identity, to movements that seek to establish their own exclusive territory by the persecution and expulsion of minorities.

In the process and under the pressure of outside military intervention, a vast region of the planet seems to be cracking open. Yet there is very little understanding of these processes in Washington. This was recently well illustrated by the protest of 51 State Department diplomats against President Obamas Syrian policy and their suggestion that air strikes be launched targeting Syrian regime forces in the belief that President Bashar al-Assad would then abide by a ceasefire. The diplomats approach remains typically simpleminded in this most complex of conflicts, assuming as it does that the Syrian governments barrel-bombing of civilians and other grim acts are the root cause of the instability that continues to grip Syria and the broader region.

It is as if the minds of these diplomats were still in the Cold War era, as if they were still fighting the Soviet Union and its allies. Against all the evidence of the last five years, there is an assumption that a barely extant moderate Syrian opposition would benefit from the fall of Assad, and a lack of understanding that the armed opposition in Syria is entirely dominated by the Islamic State and al-Qaeda clones.

Though the invasion of Iraq in 2003 is now widely admitted to have been a mistake (even by those who supported it at the time), no real lessons have been learned about why direct or indirect military interventions by the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East over the last quarter century have all only exacerbated violence and accelerated state failure.

A Mass Extinction of Independent States

The Islamic State, just celebrating its second anniversary, is the grotesque outcome of this era of chaos and conflict. That such a monstrous cult exists at all is a symptom of the deep dislocation societies throughout that region, ruled by corrupt and discredited elites, have suffered. Its rise  and that of various Taliban and al-Qaeda-style clones  is a measure of the weakness of its opponents.

The Iraqi army and security forces, for example, had 350,000 soldiers and 660,000 police on the books in June 2014 when a few thousand Islamic State fighters captured Mosul, the countrys second largest city, which they still hold. Today the Iraqi army, security services, and about 20,000 Shia paramilitaries backed by the massive firepower of the United States and allied air forces have fought their way into the city of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, against the resistance of IS fighters who may have numbered as few as 900. In Afghanistan, the resurgence of the Taliban, supposedly decisively defeated in 2001, came about less because of the popularity of that movement than the contempt with which Afghans came to regard their corrupt government in Kabul.

Everywhere nation states are enfeebled or collapsing, as authoritarian leaders battle for survival in the face of mounting external and internal pressures. This is hardly the way the region was expected to develop. Countries that had escaped from colonial rule in the second half of the twentieth century were supposed to become more, not less, unified as time passed.

Between 1950 and 1975, nationalist leaders came to power in much of the previously colonized world. They promised to achieve national self-determination by creating powerful independent states through the concentration of whatever political, military, and economic resources were at hand. Instead, over the decades, many of these regimes transmuted into police states controlled by small numbers of staggeringly wealthy families and a coterie of businessmen dependent on their connections to such leaders as Hosni Mubarak in Egypt or Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

In recent years, such countries were also opened up to the economic whirlwind of neoliberalism, which destroyed any crude social contract that existed between rulers and ruled. Take Syria. There, rural towns and villages that had once supported the Baathist regime of the al-Assad family because it provided jobs and kept the prices of necessities low were, after 2000, abandoned to market forces skewed in favor of those in power. These places would become the backbone of the post-2011 uprising. At the same time, institutions like the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that had done so much to enhance the wealth and power of regional oil producers in the 1970s have lost their capacity for united action.

The question for our moment: Why is a mass extinction of independent states taking place in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond? Western politicians and media often refer to such countries as failed states. The implication embedded in that term is that the process is a self-destructive one. But several of the states now labeled failed like Libya only became so after Western-backed opposition movements seized power with the support and military intervention of Washington and NATO, and proved too weak to impose their own central governments and so a monopoly of violence within the national territory.

In many ways, this process began with the intervention of a U.S.-led coalition in Iraq in 2003 leading to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the shutting down of his Baathist Party, and the disbanding of his military. Whatever their faults, Saddam and Libyas autocratic ruler Muammar Gaddafi were clearly demonized and blamed for all ethnic, sectarian, and regional differences in the countries they ruled, forces that were, in fact, set loose in grim ways upon their deaths.

A question remains, however: Why did the opposition to autocracy and to Western intervention take on an Islamic form and why were the Islamic movements that came to dominate the armed resistance in Iraq and Syria in particular so violent, regressive, and sectarian? Put another way, how could such groups find so many people willing to die for their causes, while their opponents found so few? When IS battle groups were sweeping through northern Iraq in the summer of 2014, soldiers who had thrown aside their uniforms and weapons and deserted that countrys northern cities would justify their flight by saying derisively: Die for [then-Prime Minister Nouri] al-Maliki? Never!

A common explanation for the rise of Islamic resistance movements is that the socialist, secularist, and nationalist opposition had been crushed by the old regimes security forces, while the Islamists were not. In countries like Libya and Syria, however, Islamists were savagely persecuted, too, and they still came to dominate the opposition. And yet, while these religious movements were strong enough to oppose governments, they generally have not proven strong enough to replace them.

Too Weak to Win, But Too Strong to Lose

Though there are clearly many reasons for the present disintegration of states and they differ somewhat from place to place, one thing is beyond question: the phenomenon itself is becoming the norm across vast reaches of the planet.

If youre looking for the causes of state failure in our time, the place to start is undoubtedly with the end of the Cold War a quarter-century ago. Once it was over, neither the U.S. nor the new Russia that emerged from the Soviet Unions implosion had a significant interest in continuing to prop up failed states, as each had for so long, fearing that the rival superpower and its local proxies would otherwise take over. Previously, national leaders in places like the Greater Middle East had been able to maintain a degree of independence for their countries by balancing between Moscow and Washington. With the break-up of the Soviet Union, this was no longer feasible.

In addition, the triumph of neoliberal free-market economics in the wake of the Soviet Unions collapse added a critical element to the mix. It would prove far more destabilizing than it looked at the time.

Again, consider Syria. The expansion of the free market in a country where there was neither democratic accountability nor the rule of law meant one thing above all: plutocrats linked to the nations ruling family took anything that seemed potentially profitable. In the process, they grew staggeringly wealthy, while the denizens of Syrias impoverished villages, country towns, and city slums, who had once looked to the state for jobs and cheap food, suffered. It should have surprised no one that those places became the strongholds of the Syrian uprising after 2011. In the capital, Damascus, as the reign of neoliberalism spread, even the lesser members of the mukhabarat, or secret police, found themselves living on only $200 to $300 a month, while the state became a machine for thievery.

This sort of thievery and the auctioning off of the nations patrimony spread across the region in these years. The new Egyptian ruler, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, merciless toward any sign of domestic dissent, was typical. In a country that once had been a standard bearer for nationalist regimes the world over, he didnt hesitate this April to try to hand over two islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia on whose funding and aid his regime is dependent. (To the surprise of everyone, an Egyptian court recently overruled Sisis decision.)

That gesture, deeply unpopular among increasingly impoverished Egyptians, was symbolic of a larger change in the balance of power in the Middle East: once the most powerful states in the region  Egypt, Syria, and Iraq  had been secular nationalists and a genuine counterbalance to Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf monarchies. As those secular autocracies weakened, however, the power and influence of the Sunni fundamentalist monarchies only increased. If 2011 saw rebellion and revolution spread across the Greater Middle East as the Arab Spring briefly blossomed, it also saw counterrevolution spread, funded by those oil-rich absolute Gulf monarchies, which were never going to tolerate democratic secular regime change in Syria or Libya.

Add in one more process at work making such states ever more fragile: the production and sale of natural resources  oil, gas, and minerals  and the kleptomania that goes with it. Such countries often suffer from what has become known as the resources curse: states increasingly dependent for revenues on the sale of their natural resources  enough to theoretically provide the whole population with a reasonably decent standard of living  turn instead into grotesquely corrupt dictatorships. In them, the yachts of local billionaires with crucial connections to the regime of the moment bob in harbors surrounded by slums running with raw sewage. In such nations, politics tends to focus on elites battling and maneuvering to steal state revenues and transfer them as rapidly as possible out of the country.

This has been the pattern of economic and political life in much of sub-Saharan Africa from Angola to Nigeria. In the Middle East and North Africa, however, a somewhat different system exists, one usually misunderstood by the outside world. There is similarly great inequality in Iraq or Saudi Arabia with similarly kleptocratic elites. They have, however, ruled over patronage states in which a significant part of the population is offered jobs in the public sector in return for political passivity or support for the kleptocrats.

In Iraq with a population of 33 million people, for instance, no less than seven million of them are on the government payroll, thanks to salaries or pensions that cost the government $4 billion a month. This crude way of distributing oil revenues to the people has often been denounced by Western commentators and economists as corruption. They, in turn, generally recommend cutting the number of these jobs, but this would mean that all, rather than just part, of the states resource revenues would be stolen by the elite. This, in fact, is increasingly the case in such lands as oil prices bottom out and even the Saudi royals begin to cut back on state support for the populace.

Neoliberalism was once believed to be the path to secular democracy and free-market economies. In practice, it has been anything but. Instead, in conjunction with the resource curse, as well as repeated military interventions by Washington and its allies, free-market economics has profoundly destabilized the Greater Middle East. Encouraged by Washington and Brussels, twenty-first-century neoliberalism has made unequal societies ever more unequal and helped transform already corrupt regimes into looting machines. This is also, of course, a formula for the success of the Islamic State or any other radical alternative to the status quo. Such movements are bound to find support in impoverished or neglected regions like eastern Syria or eastern Libya.

Note, however, that this process of destabilization is by no means confined to the Greater Middle East and North Africa. We are indeed in the age of destabilization, a phenomenon that is on the rise globally and at present spreading into the Balkans and Eastern Europe (with the European Union ever less able to influence events there). People no longer speak of European integration, but of how to prevent the complete break-up of the European Union in the wake of the British vote to leave.

The reasons why a narrow majority of Britons voted for Brexit have parallels with the Middle East: the free-market economic policies pursued by governments since Margaret Thatcher was prime minister have widened the gap between rich and poor and between wealthy cities and much of the rest of the country. Britain might be doing well, but millions of Britons did not share in the prosperity. The referendum about continued membership in the European Union, the option almost universally advocated by the British establishment, became the catalyst for protest against the status quo. The anger of the Leave voters has much in common with that of Donald Trump supporters in the United States.

The U.S. remains a superpower, but is no longer as powerful as it once was. It, too, is feeling the strains of this global moment, in which it and its local allies are powerful enough to imagine they can get rid of regimes they do not like, but either they do not quite succeed, as in Syria, or succeed but cannot replace what they have destroyed, as in Libya. An Iraqi politician once said that the problem in his country was that parties and movements were too weak to win, but too strong to lose. This is increasingly the pattern for the whole region and is spreading elsewhere. It carries with it the possibility of an endless cycle of indecisive wars and an era of instability that has already begun.
Flow of Russian tourists to Turkey will not increase after Turkey airport attack (video)

Turkeys formal apology to Russia for the downing of a Russian warplane in November will be remembered in the world history and the main event of the year, Andranik Ispiryan, an expert in Turkish studies, said on June 29. He says the apology and the cooperation agreement signed with Israel showed the disgraceful defeat of Turkeys foreign policy. Only several days ago, Erdogan ruled out any apology and compensation but today we are witnessing the opposite, Andranik Ispiryan said. He says Russia agreed to reconciliation deal with Turkey to be able to counteract Israel - its opponent in the energy sector. Turkey is trying to reduce its energy dependence on Russia, but today Turkey has appeared in such a situation that both Russia and Israel are equally important for the country, he said. Speaking about Tuesdays terrorist attack on Ataturk airport attack in Istanbul, the specialist said he was not inclined to think that it was an accident. He added that the flow of Russian tourists to Turkey, which is viewed as a prerequisites for reconciliation, will not increase as a result of the terrorist attack.
A drop of water as a model for the interplay of adhesion and stiction (Nanowerk News) How can a gecko move across a ceiling upside down? Two mechanisms are responsible: Adhesion via billions of extremely fine hairs on its feet, which enable it to stick to ceilings and walls. And as soon as the gecko moves, it relies on stiction. However, any change of adhesion and stiction at macroscopic level is expressed on the nanometer scale through the change in the forces exerted between atoms and molecules.

How a drop of water touches a honeycomb structure

An international team of researchers headed by Thomas Greber from the University of Zurich's Physik-Institut succeeded in changing the manner in which a drop of liquid adheres to a surface by altering the electric voltage applied to a water drop. The surface upon which the drop lies consists of a material known as nanomesh, a single boron nitride layer on metallic rhodium. The structure is shaped like honeycomb with a comb depth of 0.1 nanometers and comb-comb distance of 3.2 nanometers.

Electrochemistry in a drop: superposition of seven dynamic contact angle measurements of a drop of water on a surface; diameter of vertical tube capillary 0.85 mm. (Image: University of Zurich)

Macroscopically, the change in electrical voltage is expressed in the change of the contact angle between the drop and the nanomesh surface. The contact or wetting angle refers to the angle that a drop of liquid assumes with respect to the surface of a solid. This angle can be measured with the aid of backlit photographs.

Change in the surface structure alters the contact angle of the drop

On the nanometer scale, the change in voltage causes the following: The nitrogen bonds with the rhodium are replaced by hydrogen-rhodium bonds, which flattens the nanomesh structure. How strongly the boron nitride's nitrogen binds to the surface of the rhodium depends on its distance from and direction to the next rhodium atom. And this determines the honeycomb structure and depth of the boron nitride layer. If the voltage changes, hydrogen accumulates between the boron nitride and the rhodium layer, which causes the honeycomb boron nitride layer to become flat. Tunneling microscopy can be used to detect this nanoscopic effect - the change in the surface properties of the nanomesh - in the liquid.

The boron nitride nanomesh superhoneycomb: nitrogen (green), boron (orange), rhodium (grey); distance between honeycombs 3.2 nm. (Image: Marcella Iannuzzi, UZH & Ari Seitsonen, ENS Paris)

"To understand and control the interplay between the macro and the nano-world is the real challenge in nanoscience," stresses Greber. After all, six orders of magnitude need to be bridged - from millimeters in length (10-3 m) to nanometers (10-9 m); that's a factor of one million. "Our model system of the electrically switchable nanomesh and a drop's observable contact angle enables us to access the fundamental phenomenon of the friction of liquids on surfaces more precisely. This should help us solve problems that crop up during lubrication more effectively, for instance." The research project actually appears on the cover of the latest issue of the renowned journal Nature ("Switching stiction and adhesion of a liquid on a solid").
Surprising qualities of insulator ring surfaces (Nanowerk News) Topological insulators behave like insulators at their core and allow good conductivity on their surface. They owe their characteristics to a new quantum state within the material discovered in 2007 and 2009 for 2D and 3D materials, respectively. Scientists studying the surface of ring-shaped, or toric, topological insulators, have just discovered some characteristics that had only previously been confirmed in spheres.

Jakson Fonseca from the University Federal of Vicosa, Brazil, and colleagues describe their findings in a paper published in EPJ B ("Berry phases and zero-modes in toroidal topological insulators").

These results could hold considerable potential for applications in electronics. Indeed, this discovery means that the curved surface induces internal fields, called gauge fields, in the electrons carrying the electric charge located at the surface. By contrast, in graphene, similar fiels have been induced by mechanical tensions or defects in the way the carbon atoms are arranged in the one-atom-thick honeycomb lattice.

The authors have investigated whether the particles that carry an electric charge at the surface have characteristics, known as a relativistic massless linear spectrum, in ring-shaped surface geometries. In 2012 a Japanese group provided a partial answer to this question by working on a sphere. To understand what takes place on the surface of the insulator, they used a mathematical approach, based on a method called differential geometry.

In this work, the authors show that the relativistic spectrum remains the same in ring-shaped materials as in spherical ones. Specifically, the authors show that there is a zero energy state on the surface of a ring-shaped topological insulator. They also found that the effect of the curvature leads to a coupling between charge carriers and the variable Gaussian curvature similar to a coupling with a gauge field. This coupling is responsible for two distinct types of quantum mechanical behaviour of the electron spin, called the Berry phase, and a string of magnetic monopoles, induced in the centre of the torus.
Chico's headquarters in Fort Myers. (Jakob Schiller/File photo)

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By Laura Layden of the Naples Daily News

A proxy fight between Chico's FAS Inc. and an activist investor continues to gain steam  on both sides.

In a company statement Wednesday, the Fort Myers-based retailer said it was "correcting another round of inaccurate assertions" made by Barington Capital Group LP, the New York-based hedge fund that's making a grab for two seats on its board.

The three-page statement by Chico's followed yet another letter Barington sent to fellow shareholders Tuesday, stressing the reasons they should vote for the hedge fund's "experienced, independent, stockholder-focused" nominees.

Barington is fighting to get its CEO James Mitarotonda and former Macy's executive Janet Grove elected to the Chico's board at its annual meeting July 21.

In its statement, Chico's described Barington's nominees as "not as well positioned to represent shareholders' interests" and took its criticisms further, pointing out what it sees as their flaws.

Chico's emphasized that Mitarotonda has served on "only one" board of directors for an apparel retailer and that after he joined the board that company sold "for a less than 10 percent premium."

"We don't believe that a quick-sale, low premium transaction represents a 'meaningful improvement in shareholder value' as Barington claims," Chico's said.

As for Grove, Barington's other director candidate, Chico's said she is "similarly lacking in relevant skills and expertise."

Elaborating on its criticisms of Grove, Chico's stated, "Indeed, her retail and merchandising experience is so outdated that she lacks current experience in digital, which is a primary growth avenue for Chico's FAS and almost every retailer today."

In an email response to the Chico's statement, Barington said: "We are deeply disappointed that the Chico's board is spending almost $6 million of the company's resources to disseminate false and diversionary statements about us and our nominees in an apparent attempt to obfuscate the very real concerns we have outlined regarding the company's declining financial and share price performance. We believe this is an irresponsible waste of shareholder resources and indicative of a lack of fiscal discipline at the board."

In its statement, Chico's said it tried to meet with Barington to hear its ideas, but Mitarotonda failed to respond.

"Given its dismissal of our invitation and its demand instead for personal board representation, we believe Barington has been predisposed to launching its self-serving proxy contest in an attempt to secure Mr. Mitarotonda's election regardless of the progress we are making or the actions we are taking," Chico's said.

Chico's said that while it would prefer not to be spending so much on a proxy campaign it believes the costs are "justified by the substantial risk to shareholder value posed by Barington's unwarranted, self-serving campaign."

Barington argues that its nominees would help ensure the Chico's board "thoughtfully considers all options to improve long-term value and that stockholder interests are protected in the boardroom."

Chico's has nominated two independent candidates to its board, Bonnie Brooks and Bill Simon, saying they were chosen for their skills and expertise.

Simon is a former president and CEO of Walmart U.S., where he was responsible for more than $280 billion in revenue and 1.2 million associates.

Brooks, a vice chairman of luxury retailer Hudson's Bay Co., has more than 30 years of global executive leadership experience in retail and merchandising.

Barington has criticized the Chico's nominees, especially Brooks, saying that if she served on the retailer's board she would have "a material conflict of interest" because of her ties to Hudson's Bay, whose stores include Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor.

Chico's disagrees, saying its customers "overwhelmingly do not shop at Hudson's Bay's stores.

Barington said that while Chico's makes it appear the proxy fight is a referendum on the retailer's CEO, Shelley Broader, it isn't. She will continue to lead the company and sit on its board no matter the outcome of the proxy fight.

Over the next few days, Barington expects to release a detailed presentation on its plan to unlock the retailer's long-term value potential, which it believes could more than double earnings in three years.

Barington  with a more than 1.5 percent stake in Chico's  has invested in the retailer since December 2013.

Chico's operates more than 1,500 stores in the U.S. and Canada and sells its merchandise through franchises in Mexico. It has three brands: its namesake Chico's, White House Black/Market and Soma.
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By June Fletcher of the Naples Daily News

Canadians have long bought homes in Naples, but now Canada's largest privately held homebuilder will be creating them, too.

Mattamy Homes, an Oakville, Ontario-based firm, said it will open a sales office with three furnished model homes in August for Compass Landing, a gated community at 3725 Helmsman Drive in North Naples, 1.5 miles south of the intersection of Immokalee Road and Collier Boulevard.

The company will build 273 homes with prices starting in the $300,000s.

The Coastal/West Indies-style single-family homes will range from about 2,000 square feet to 3,700 square feet. Ten new plans with 30 elevations will be offered

Designs were based on local focus groups in the Naples area, the company said.

The project also will have a 2,600-square-foot clubhouse with fitness room, pool and tot lot.

Mark Strain, chairman of the Collier County Planning Commission and the county's chief hearing examiner, said the property that will become Compass Landing underwent several zoning changes over the years, from a community facility to residential.

Although many builders put plans on hold during the recession, Strain said that since then activity along the northern end of the Collier Boulevard corridor has been "pretty busy."

Compass Landing isn't the only project Mattamy will be building in the Naples area.

The company is also working with the county and the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle Community Redevelopment Agency to finalize plans for a 37.5-acre property it bought earlier this summer for $8.7 million at 4580 Bayshore Drive in East Naples.

Mattamy Homes, which bills itself as the largest privately held homebuilder in North America, was founded in 1978 by Peter Gilgan, who named the company after his two eldest children, Matt and Amy.

It has sold more than 70,000 homes in 160 communities in Canada and the United States.

Jim Leiferman, president of Mattamy's U.S. Group, said that the company has made significant investments in people and land in Tampa and Sarasota.

He noted Southwest Florida is generally pro-business and that the housing growth in the region supports the company's plans for continued growth in Florida.

"Naples is a natural extension of our expansion down the west coast of Florida," he said in an email.
No self-respecting Fourth of July celebration is complete without all-American baked beans. They are inexpensive, delicious and so easy to serve.

Doris Reynolds Let's Talk Food Doris Reynolds is the author of When Peacocks Were Roasted and Mullet was Fried and a four-part DVD, A Walk Down Memory Lane with Doris Reynolds. They are for sale in the lobby of the Naples Daily News. SHARE

Independence Day approaches, as does time for boating, fishing, beaching, barbecuing, picnicking and savoring all those great comfort food that make the holiday so special.

No self-respecting Fourth of July celebration is complete without those all-American baked beans. They are inexpensive, delicious and so easy to serve. This is one food product that has been successfully canned without losing its flavor, leaving the creative cook to enhance them.

Little wonder that Boston is known as "Bean Town" although the Saturday night tradition of consuming the legumes has long given way to sirloin steaks, veal piccata and more prestigious viands.

Yet there are those fervent New Englanders who have not given up on their traditional Saturday night special. Even Paul Revere would be horrified that peace in Boston has been threatened, not by the Red Coats, but a food war that spread throughout Massachusetts and all the way to Tennessee.

This conflict got underway at the Statehouse in Boston, when a delegation of elementary schoolchildren from Dover, Massachusetts, stormed the capital. They demanded that baked beans be named the official state dish. Not satisfied to allow the baked beans to reign supreme over the state's culinary offerings, members of the Legislature suggested that Massachusetts scrap a health regulation strictly defining what constitutes a pot of authentic baked beans: no tomatoes.

Enter a Tennessee baked bean company that jumped into the fray by calling the rule discriminatory and prompting the governor to propose that the definition of a baked bean allow tomato sauce. I leave it to you to decide whether your baked beans are tomato-less or spiced up with those juicy cylinders of flavor.

So far, none of the traditional Bostonians have been heard from concerning which recipe for the dish is authentic. Perhaps that's because there are hundreds of recipes and the fact that baked beans are way down the list of favorites, even in Boston. Recently, Chef Jack Chiaro put his two-cents worth into the controversy by commenting on baked beans from his office as chef-instructor at Johnson and Wales College of Culinary Arts in Providence.

"The ingredients are somewhat similar in all regions of New England," Chiaro said. "It is individual families that alter the recipes either because of taste preferences or ethnic backgrounds."

There are several theories regarding the origin of baked beans. In "The Dictionary of American Food and Drink," John Mariani writes that Native Americans introduced the dish to the American colonists.

The novelist Kenneth Roberts wrote an essay for a book called "Foods of Old New England" in which he states that baked beans had long been a traditional Sabbath dish among the North African and Spanish Jews, who called it "skanah."

Yet another culinary historian, James Riley, supposes that New England sea captains carried the idea home with them from Africa. Wherever the truth may lie it is for sure that Puritan women baked their beans on Saturday and served them that evening. On Sunday they served the leftovers with cod cakes and Boston brown bread for breakfast. In those days cooking was forbidden on Sunday, so the now-tired beans were often served at lunch as well.

In 1927, baked beans took a leap into the 20th century when Burnham and Morrill (B&M) began canning New England-style baked beans for the American public. Much to their credit, the bean entrepreneurs baked the beans the old-fashioned way and this method continues in their kitchens in Portland, Maine. After two washings of the pea beans, which come mostly from Michigan, the beans are dumped into huge pots along with molasses, mustard, salt, and salt pork, and baked in brick ovens set at 500 to 600 degrees. They are then placed in jars and cans; about a million of them every week.

Marion Cunningham was selected by Knopf to update "The Fannie Farmer Cookbook." Here is its official recipe:

BOSTON BAKED BEANS

Ingredients

2 cups navy beans, small white beans or Great Northern beans

Water for soaking

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

 pound salt pork

2 teaspoons dry mustard

5 tablespoons dark brown sugar

4 tablespoons molasses

Directions

1 Wash the beans and soak overnight.

2 Add salt, stir and drain, reserving the liquid.

3 Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

4 Cut off a third of the salt pork and place in the bottom of a bean pot. Add the beans to the pot.

5 Blend the mustard, brown sugar and molasses with the reserved bean liquid and pour over the beans.

6 Cut several gashes in the remaining piece of salt pork and place on top of the beans.

7 Cover and bake for about 6 hours, adding water as needed.

8 Uncover for the final hour of cooking so the pork will become brown and crisp. Taste and correct seasoning. Serves 8.

DOCTORED BAKED BEANS

Ingredients

1 16-ounce can B&M Baked Beans

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

2 tablespoons chili sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 slices bacon, cooked and cut into -inch pieces

Directions

1 Combine canned baked beans with mustard, chili sauce and brown sugar in a saucepan.

2 Stir bacon into bean mixture.

3 Simmer slowly for 30 minutes, stirring often. Beans may also be baked in a pot for 1 hour in a 350-degree oven. Serves 4.

Doris Reynolds is the author of "When Peacocks Were Roasted and Mullet was Fried" and a four-part DVD "A Walk Down Memory Lane with Doris Reynolds. They are for sale in the lobby of the Naples Daily News. All proceeds of these sales go to the Doris Reynolds-Naples Daily News Scholarship Fund. Contact Doris Reynolds at foodlvr235@aol.com.
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By of the Citizen Contributor

Previously I have provided readers with lots of general information and operational tips about the Collier County Public Library's website, www.collier-library.org, items that will help you get more from your library experience.

Last month, I urged you to register online for one or more of the adult or children summer programs. In April, I mentioned using OverDrive to download e-books. In February, I highlighted New Arrivals, Tools for Schools and the Florida Electronic Library.

Today, I have another website to talk about, that of the Friends of the Library of Collier County, a nonprofit organization that raises money to enhance the basic library services covered by your taxes.

The redesigned website is www.collier-friends.org, but full disclosure prompts me to mention that a very few pieces of information are still incomplete and in the works, but may be 100 percent by the time you check.

Starting with the home page, at the top left there is the familiar Facebook link for those of you who do that, even just to look at the photos. Across the bottom, are the names of the primary business Friends: Arthrex, First Florida Integrity Bank, Publix Super Market Charities, Naples Daily News, IberiaBank and Cohen & Grigsby. They have been the major sponsors for the Nick Linn Lecture Series (NLLS), which we will cover next.

The four NLLS 2017 dates were announced earlier this spring. Two authors have been booked: Chris Bohjalian for Jan. 9 and Jonathan Hayes for March 10. The other two fiction authors for February 3 and March 3 will appear on the home page when confirmed.

All is set for the nonfiction author series. Here are the dates and authors: David E. Hoffman for January 23, Lawrence Goldstone for February 20 and Ellen Prager for March 20. You can securely purchase tickets from the website for either or both series, with Friends members getting a reduced price.

Now, may I draw your attention to some other interesting sections of the new website?

One can find lots of options about "Ways to financially supports the Friends," including donating real estate. This is not that far-fetched. Did you know that in 1963, a Mrs. Lee donated the block where the Naples Regional Library is located to the Friends and the Friends lease it to Collier County for $1 per year?

For the curious (nosy?) among you, click on "Donor board"to find the names of your friends/neighbors or your own on the list of people whose cumulative donations to the Friends total $100,000-plus, $15,000-$99,999, $10,000-$14,999, $5,000-$9,999, or $1,000-$4,999.

If you are an artist, review West Wing Gallery under events and services to discover an opportunity to show your works at the Naples Regional Library. June featured the DPI-SIG Naples Digital Photography Club. It was amazing.

I make it a point to go to the Naples library at least once a month to see what's on the walls of the West Wing Gallery.

Many of you are due-paying members of the Friends, but it saddens me to say that most are not. The annual Friends dues of $30 for an individual ($40 for a family membership) seems like a small amount, especially for someone who uses the library frequently and can afford what amounts to less than $1 per week. Be a Friend!

Carla Grieve is the District Two representative on the county's Library Advisory Board.
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By T.R. Kerth, Citizen Contributor

This morning, as I packed for my annual fishing trip to Ontario with my buddy Jim, I had a tough choice to make  the same tough choice I have to make every year around this time:

Should I bring along that old rucksack?

It's an old, worn, olive green canvas daypack that has been around the house all my life. Printed on the inside of the top flap are the letters: USMC. Beneath that is the date: 1941.

On top of the flap, faded by weather but still legible, are initials: W.P.K.

They are my father's initials, inked by his hand, because this was the rucksack my father carried on his back through the jungles of New Caledonia during World War II. It was one of the few artifacts he brought home with him when the war ended  other than a long scar of stitches in his knee, and a circulatory system ravaged by tropical diseases.

He didn't treat the pack as a trophy, or a shrine or a reminder of his service to his country. A practical man, he continued to use it for its intended purpose, because it was perfectly suited for rough treatment on a fishing or hunting trip.

It impressed me that he could treat such a historical treasure so casually, but as I got older, one detail about the rucksack bothered me: the USMC stamp.

"Are you sure this is the same pack you used?" I asked him. "You were in the Army, not the Marines."

He nodded. "It's the same pack. Near the end of the war, as we moved from place to place, it got harder for supplies to get to us. If you lost something like your trenching tool or a daypack, you just had to do without it unless you bumped into somebody with two of them, and then you could trade for something he needed that you had two of."

"Ormaybe you could find one that somebody didn't need any more."

I didn't ask him what he meant by equipment that "somebody didn't need any more," because by then I was old enough to read between the lines. It was war, and an uncomfortable fact about war is that materiel often outlived men.

He never explained whether he came upon the rucksack through swap or grim salvage. I never asked, because Dad rarely offered details of his service.

The pack keeps silent, too.

In any case, Dad survived the war by nearly 50 years, and for all those years that rucksack was his casual co-survivor on fishing or hunting trips.

And when Dad died, the worn little daypack was passed on to me.

Though it is mine now, I can't treat Dad's old rucksack as casually as he did. After all, it is a genuine historical artifact, a 75-year-old survivor from the most devastating war of all human history.

And more than that, it belonged to the man I love more than any other man in history. It has been drenched in his sweat and his fear. It has been anointed in his courage.

So it's hard to treat a genuine 75-year-old historical war artifact that your father slung over his shoulders through mud-and-blood drenched jungles as if you just picked it up at Cabela's.

If Dad saw my packing dilemma this morning, he would simply smile and shake his head. "You've got a fishing trip coming up, don't you?" he would say. "You can't find a better pack. Use it!"

Well, I have used the pack on other fishing trips, and once I almost lost it.

About 20 years ago my canoe overturned in Canadian wilderness waters at least 30 feet deep. Fortunately, I was near shore, so it was an easy matter to pull the boat onto dry land and spill the water from it. But I was heartbroken that Dad's pack must surely have sunk to the bottom.

But when I righted the canoe, I was overjoyed to see that the pack was still there, its straps snagged on one of the seats  just one more tale of survival that the pack will never tell.

Which is why I have decided to take the rucksack with me to Canada again this year, because my yearly trip with Jim has become, in its own way, a symbol of survival.

Jim and his wife had been our next-door neighbors for 27 years before they moved to Phoenix, but they insisted that our friendship would survive. He still flies in to meet me every summer so we can go fishing to Canada and catch up on old times.

Jim himself is a survivor, having recently beaten diabetes that threatened to take his legs from him. He had to lose more than a hundred pounds to do it, along with other necessary surgeries, but he's still here to tell the tale.

And then there's my wife's stroke six years ago, which nearly killed her. She now needs a caregiver every hour of the day and night  but our daughter takes one week off from work each summer to give me a caregiving break so my fishing trip with Jim can live on.

And so, as I sit in the boat with that old rucksack next week, I'll think of Dad every time I open it up to get something. I'll miss Dad when I do, because that old pack will remind me of people and things I have lost in my life.

But it will also remind me of all the near-losses that still survive despite the odds.

One day it will be my turn to pass it on to one of my kids or grandkids. And then it will be their turn to make the hard decision about what to do with it.

I hope they use it and add more tales it might tell with its worn and willful silence.

- - -

The author splits his time between Southwest Florida and Chicago. Not every day, though. Contact him at trkerth@yahoo.com. Why wait a whole week for your next visit to Planet Kerth? Get T.R.'s book, "Revenge of the Sardines," available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other fine online book distributors. His column appears every Saturday.
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By Terri Schlichenmeyer

"Famous Nathan"

By Lloyd Handwerker with Gil Reavill

c. 2016, Flatiron Books

$26.99, $37.99 Canada; 320 pages

Mom always loved you best. I can beat you at that. You got more than me, more from Santa and a bigger birthday cake. I was dad's favorite; I'm better than you and sibling rivalry can linger long past childhood. It's not pretty and, as you'll see in "Famous Nathan" by Lloyd Handwerker (with Gil Reavill), it can bring down an empire.

Born in 1892 in Austria-occupied Poland, Nathan Handwerker was a go-getter, even as a boy: his family was poor and had many small mouths to feed so he, as the third-oldest son, begged his father to let him leave home to work. Eleven-year-old Handwerker found a series of jobs that paid little but he settled on one in a bakery, reasoning that he would never go hungry there.

Living in Poland at the turn of the last century could be dangerous for a young Jewish man  gangs and military recruiters were on the hunt  so Handwerker began saving to move to America. He left the Netherlands in March, 1912, and upon his arrival in New York a month later, he quickly found a job, then another, and another. Remembering his life back home, he found employment in restaurants and worked his way up, toiling seven days a week while he learned English.

While at his part-time job in Coney Island, Handwerker noticed a counter location that would make a perfect place to start a business. It took awhile for Nathan's (later, Nathan's Famous) to be successful; Handwerker was initially charging too much for his hot dogs but once he settled on a nickel apiece, two cents for a drink, "the store" started to take off. Coney Island was the place to be, for New Yorkers escaping the city; Nathan's was open year 'round and became famous for speed and spectacle of service. Handwerker was at the store every day, sometimes for 20 hours a day but he still managed to marry and have three children  the younger two, both sons he hoped would someday take over the family business.

As they say, though, all good things must end. Coney Island changed quite a bit in 1966, thanks to a man named Trump; and Nathan's began to struggle, partly because of "small-is-beautiful versus big-is-better debate" and good old-fashioned sibling rivalry.

As business biographies go, I thought "Famous Nathan" was one of the tastier.

Author Lloyd Handwerker, grandson of Nathan, starts his sweeping story with a Coney Island tradition, then moves in directions that truly couldn't be more opposite. We travel from a competitive eating stage to the sleeping-pallet of an illiterate, dirt-poor immigrant who stumbled into his life's work to avoid starvation, the irony of which is never allowed to be lost on readers. Handwerker's storytelling (with Gil Reavill) is clear, lively, and filled with such twists. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

From the first page, this is an easy book to like: it's interesting, has a smooth timeline, and sometimes reads like a novel. If you're hungry for that, "Famous Nathan" is a wiener.

"Dinner with Edward: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship"

By Isabel Vincent

c. 2016, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

$23.95, $29.95 Canada; 213 pages

Dinner will be served at seven. You'll be ready by then. Hungry, for sure, and eager to sample things you've never eaten, prepared by a cook whose reputation is stellar. Of course, you've had good meals before, but this one is special. And as you'll see in "Dinner with Edward" by Isabel Vincent, good company is half the feast.

One of the last things Paula did before she died was to sing. Music had been an important connection for her and her husband, Edward, so Paula sang  and 24 hours later, she was gone. Knowing he'd be bereft, she'd made Edward promise that he'd go on living but, just in his 90s and without the love of his life, he had no more zest. His daughter worried, so she asked her friend, Isabel, to check in on him.

Isabel Vincent agreed. She needed a distraction from her "unhappiness," her failing marriage, and her recent move from Toronto to Manhattan for a new job. She agreed, and found Edward enthusiastic for company. Thus began a wonderful friendship.

He was tall and courtly, an excellent listener, and a careful adviser who spoke eloquently when storytelling, which Edward loved to do. Years before, he'd assumed kitchen duties for himself and Paula; as a result, he was a first-rate cook and bartender, which Vincent noted several times a week as she joined him in his home for fine dining and even better conversation.

Through the months, they discussed poetry and history. He regaled her with tales of old New York and theater life, and his days as a young husband. When she confided in him about her crumbling marriage, he told Vincent about love, and urged her to never stop studying it. He said she needed lipstick, and he took her shopping for a special dress. She cried with him, checked on him, and was sometimes completely surprised by him.

And when Edward took ill, Vincent made sure he knew what he meant to her 

I thought long and hard about "Dinner with Edward" after I finished it. I came to the conclusion that this is not a book for everybody.

Some readers may be thoroughly charmed by this sweet story of a strictly platonic friendship between an older man and a younger woman. Author Isabel Vincent made Edward, in my mind, somewhat of a bon vivant, the kind of man you only see in highbrow French films; indeed, her descriptions of dinner parties and of Edward himself seemed like a delightful 1940s movie.

And yet, I felt sort of squirmy about the books' "Henry Higgins" bit, in which Edward instructed Vincent on being "a proper lady." Vincent even says later that Edward's daughter "seemed appalled" by some of it, and I rather concurred.

I think that this book will take a specific reader to enjoy: one who loves the elegance of a bygone era, in particular, or who can appreciate a May, December friendship. Only if you're that kind of reader will "Dinner with Edward" serve you well.

The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. She has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book. Terri lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books.
Zinfandel grapes are grown at this winery and vineyard in Southern Oregon. (Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

As we fire up the barbecue heading into the Fourth of July weekend, many an American will crack open a beer; but those among us who'd rather toast our patriotism with wine need look no further than "our" grape: zinfandel.

OK, it's not really from America. None of the vitis vinifera grapes are. If you want to go for an American native, find a member of the vitis aestevalis or labrusca species, which were not imported from Europe. I'd suggest a hearty variety called "norton" from Missouri.

But back to zinfandel: I submit it's probably the most "American" of the European grape varieties. A vigorous pioneer, it populated California vineyards early on, and there are still century-old vines out there producing. It responds quickly to market changes by boosting quantity, sweetness, or color as fashion demands. An assertive variety, its unmistakable flavor characteristics border on brash but retain an earnestness to please the palate.

Brought over in 1829 by George Gibbs from the Austrian imperial nursery, the grape quickly became known "zinfindal" among New England greenhouse table-grape growers.

No one is 100 percent sure where the name came from, but some think is a mislabeling of the unrelated Austrian grape called "zierfandler," which is white.

Zinfandel is a black grape variety and was shipped in 1852 to the West Coast, where it graduated from table grape to wine grape in Northern California. By 1859, zinfandel settled in quite nicely to Sonoma and Napa counties, where many gold diggers turned to digging dirt working in agriculture after the gold rush.

It can be coaxed into producing a huge amount of wine, so it became the favorite beverage of miners, '49ers and anyone else lured by California's promise of prosperity. Because of our early love for zinfandel, it's the varietal that accounts for some of the oldest vines in America, with roots that run deep.

It even persevered through Prohibition. Zinfandel grapes were transported by rail across the country and delivered to private basements where home winemakers tried their hand with this forgiving variety. It was also most similar to the homemade wines southern Italian immigrants remember from back home- and there's a reason for that.

With no French connection, few paid much attention to the heritage of this populist grape. But when DNA profiling came along in the early 1990's it was discovered that our adopted grape was originally from Croatia where it goes by tribidrag and crljenak kastelanski. It's also the same as the primitivo grape from southern Italy's Puglia region, which explains why it was Grandpa Consiglio's favorite.

Curiously, this dark grape became a household staple for '80s housewives when it turned pink. Bob Trinchero at Sutter Home was making a dry rose from zinfandel grapes when the fermentation accidentally stopped; it's called a "stuck fermentation." Rather than throw more yeast in to get it going again, he bottled it in it's slightly sweeter state and by 1987 it was the top selling wine in the US. It took a pre-hipster throwback movement in the '90's to remind people that zinfandel was, in fact, a red wine grape that expresses itself through a spectrum of styles from feminine and floral to rugged and spicy. Wineries like Ridge, T-Vine, Turley, and Robert Biale showed the world how powerful zinfandel can be. And now with the popularity of dry rose, some are boldly shaking off the negativity of the sweet white-zin tsunami and creating elegant dry white zinfandel for a new, more sophisticated wine drinker.

Here are a few interesting zins for your 4th of July weekend:

Turley White Zinfandel, Central Coast, CA ($20-23) While many roses are crisp and light with a bit of the red characteristics hinted at, this zin is juicier, but certainly not sweet. More like Tavel than a rose of Pinot Noir, Turley's white zinfandel is a trailblazer in the movement to re-introduce a new generation to the lighter side of zin.

Dashe Cellars "Les Enfants Terribles" 2015, Mendocino County, CA ($29-33) This is a very light incarnation of a big grape. Made using carbonic masceration, in which whole clusters are allowed to ferment before being crushed, the wine takes on the bright cherry flavors this process tends to pull from grapes. It tastes like the best Cru Beaujolais from Fleurie which, with a light chill, will fit perfectly in my right hand as I flip burgers with my left. Did I mention this is also made with no additives, unfiltered, unfined, and delicious? It is.

H. Mynors Old Vine Cuvee 2013, Sonoma, Amador, Lodi, CA ($23-26) From the Sean Minor group of wines comes this homage to Mr. Minor's ninth great-grandfather. With 15 percent alcohol (zinfandel is known for packing a powerful alcohol punch) this little powerhouse brings all the flavor for which zin is loved. Ripe red fruit and spices including black pepper and a bit of oak make this the bff of my Kansas City style ribs.

I welcome comments and questions at juliewriteswine@gmail.com. You can see more of my writing at www.julieglenn.com, and can connect with me on Facebook and on Twitter @juliewriteswine.
Three important messages by Pope Francis (video)

Vardan Voskanyan, an expert in Iranian studies, singles out three important things in the latest visit of Pope Francis. Talking to reporters on June 29, the expert said the Pontiffs visit to Armenia raised the country to a new level. The first important thing was that the Pope used the words Mets Eghern and Genocide in his speech to describe the mass killings of 1915. He used them as synonyms. In fact, he announced the start of a process which will make it impossible to avoid giving a legal assessment of the genocide through word games. Secondly, the visit puts the Armenian Apostolic Church on the same level with a powerful clerical body which is the Roman Catholic Church. Finally, Armenia is seen not only as a political and state unit and an ordinary country in the South Caucasus, but also a place of pilgrimage as it was called by the Pope, Mr Voskanyan said. The specialist says the Popes visit to Armenia was also widely covered by the Iranian media which especially highlighted the use of the word "genocide" and Serzh Sargsyan's statement. Armenia somehow bettered its position in the eyes of Iran which means Armenia can become a major platform in an attempt to weaken the knee-jerk demonizing of Iran, he said in conclusion.
Blue Water Bistro, the locally owned seafood and steak restaurant in Coconut Point mall in Estero, has named Ashely Budz as general manager.

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Holiday specials

Ristorante Ciao will be open for dinner on Sunday, July 3, closed Monday, July 4. Ciao will be celebrating Independence Day all weekend with a special patriotic dessert  "Red, White and Blueberry," cheesecake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, sliced strawberries and blueberries. Reservations: 239-263-3889

Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar locations in Florida will celebrate with a kids-eat-free special, hand-cut wood fired steaks and the perfect summer sipper dressed in red, white and blue. On Monday, July 4, families who dine-in will receive up to two kids' meals with each adult entree purchase. Children ages 12 and under can choose any entree on the Applebee's kids' menu, accompanied by their choice of a side dish, and juice, milk or chocolate milk.

Summer hours and menu

Joe's Diner, 9331 U.S. 41 N., Naples Park, will be open Tuesday through Saturday evenings until 8:30 p.m. featuring their new summer dinner menu. New items include baconized veal liver, half citrus roasted chicken, honey fried chicken, grilled barbecue fresh salmon and half slabs of ribs. Joe's will continue serving seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. for breakfast and lunch. 239-254-7929. joesdiners.com

Wine dinner

Sea Salt is bringing Tenuta dell'Ornellaia's prestigious labels as one of the most important wineries in the world on Wednesday, July 6, at 7 p.m., with special guest, Allessandro Lunardi, director of Tenuta dell'Ornellaia. Seats are limited. Reservations required. $150 per person includes four-course dinner and a glass of each wine. 1186 Third St., S., Naples. 239-434-7258

French luncheon

The next event of the Alliance Francaise de Naples, "French Speaking Table" and luncheon, conducted by Madame Denyse Jenkins, will be at Cafe Normandie, 3756 U.S. 41 N., Naples. Thursday, June 30, at noon. 239-261-0977. The cost of the event is your meal only.

Craft Social Club

On June 30, from 7 p.m. to close, the Miami-based hot spot Craft Social Club, will be taking over Bar Tulia. CSC is founded by two Naples natives who will bring a taste of their popular bar and lounge to the Naples nightlife scene. 462 Fifth Ave., S., Naples. 239-228-7606

New manager

Blue Water Bistro, the locally owned seafood and steak restaurant in Coconut Point mall in Estero, has named Ashely Budz as general manager. Budz has been with the company since April 2015, and previously worked last season as the lunch manager at Yabba Island Grill in Naples.

Budz received her degree in accounting finance and business from Northern Kentucky University and has spent 12 years working in the restaurant industry both in casual and upscale casual restaurants in Kentucky, her home state, as well as various restaurants in Naples, as well.

"I'm looking forward to an exciting summer and invite everyone to stop in at Blue Water to meet me, and see how Blue Water Bistro's team works to make this restaurant enjoyable and a delicious dining experience," she said.

For more information, visit www.bluewaterbistro.net or call 239-435-0990.

Compiled by Sebastian.Gonzalez@ Naplesnews.com, 239-435-3432
A portrait of unity: The lost and found treasures of Hurricane Ian

Strangers and Southwest Florida residents alike bond through effort to help people find belongings lost to Ian - and to return found items to owners
FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2009, file photo, women are concealed from view by Planned Parenthood volunteers as they enter the Planned Parenthood of Collier County in Naples. (David Albers/Staff)

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By Arek Sarkissian of the Naples Daily News

TALLAHASSEE  A federal judge wasted no time Wednesday questioning a Florida law that cuts funding to Planned Parenthood clinics, but he would not promise an emergency injunction to block the law before it takes effect.

Denise Harle, deputy solicitor general for state Attorney General Pam Bondi, told U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle the Legislature passed the law that halted $500,000 in federal funding for Planned Parenthood clinics because they offer abortion services.

"Can the Legislature decide not to provide funding to something they deem a controversial issue? Yes," Harle said.

But Hinkle disagreed, saying state lawmakers could not deny money to an organization when it uses the funds for other services protected by the U.S. Constitution.

"You may have a CEO of a company who may support another party or another candidate," Hinkle said. "But the state can't stop a contract with them because they don't like who he supports."

Attorneys with Planned Parenthood are seeking a temporary injunction on the Florida law, scheduled to take effect Friday. Hinkle may rule by then. But he said in court that the issue over the funding, which provides money toward programs that promote STD education, dropout prevention and birth control, was not a pressing matter.

"I'll do my best but right now, my pattern is full," Hinkle said before adjourning the hourlong hearing.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America attorney Carrie Flaxman still hoped Hinkle would provide a ruling on the injunction before the law takes effect.

"We are still anticipating a ruling sometime this week," Flaxman said. "We expect a decision before July 1."

Planned Parenthood offices across Florida are challenging the state law that halts the federal money and allows the state Agency for Healthcare Administration to review 50 percent of the files generated by patients who went through abortions.

Hinkle questioned how the Legislature determined that AHCA should review exactly half of the files. Harle said the state agency already reviews them for compliance of state law and lawmakers had decided this year to set a benchmark.

"I'm still not clear how they came up with 50 percent," Hinkle said.

Flaxman said the requirement provided no benefit toward assuring the compliance of state law or patient safety.

"It's a gross violation of privacy for women seeking abortions in this state and it's wholly unnecessary," Flaxman said.

The Legislature passed the law months after unfounded allegations that Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue. Gov. Rick Scott, who signed the state's abortion law on March 25, ordered inspections for 16 Florida clinics last summer but they turned up nothing.

Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida CEO Lillian A. Tamayo said the group's programs affected by the funding cuts are due to close Thursday. Florida Department of Health spokeswoman Maria Gambineri said the health services provided by Planned Parenthood will be provided by other entities, including some of her agency's offices, so that there is no interruption in service.

The law also requires doctors who perform abortions to receive admitting privileges within a reasonable proximity from the clinic. That provision is similar to one in a Texas law that was struck down Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court. In that case, the high court ruled the 2013 Texas law, which required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges within 30 miles of the clinics where they perform the procedures, closed roughly half of the abortion clinics in the state, according to the ruling.

However, there was no mention of that case in Thursday's federal court hearing, and officials with Planned Parenthood of Florida said they were still reviewing the high court decision.
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Steve Donovan, Naples

Citizens Alliance

I would like to applaud the Southwest Florida Citizens Alliance for holding candidate forums for local public offices. They have held forums for Florida Senate and House, Collier Commission, Collier Clerk of Courts and Collier School Board.

Many of these forums have attracted more than 100 voters who have had the opportunity to hear the candidates' positions on a variety of issues facing Collier County. To date, every candidate running for public office has appeared before the voters at these forums, except two.

Unfortunately, School Board candidates Erick Carter and Stephanie Lucarelli have opted not to participate in these forums. When asked why he decided to forego the Florida Citizens Alliance's forums, Erick Carter stated that he would only be attending the "major forums." He later changed his stance and claimed the Alliance was "biased" against him.

I find it ironic that every other candidate running for public office in Collier County eagerly participated in these forums. Besides Carter and Lucarelli, no other local candidate for any public office declined the Alliance's invitation to answer the voters' questions. Carter and Lucarelli not only abandoned the voters at two forums, they also refused to answer the Alliance's constitutional questionnaire.

Why would these candidates refuse to answer questions like, "Do you support the Ninth and Tenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution?" and "Where do your individual rights come from?"

The voters expect more of candidates seeking public office. You can run, but you cannot hide. Vote Lee Dixon for Collier School Board on Aug. 30.
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Cindy Grossman, Naples

Transgender letters

Many letters about transgender bathroom use have been extreme, and inaccurate, due to speaking from fear of the unknown; alleging for example, that a boy could change his mind daily as to which bathroom to use.

PBS has aired a documentary about transgender children, focusing on the lives of several boys and girls and their families. "Growing Up Trans" was fascinating and enlightening.

I believe that everyone should watch this show, and that, after doing so, no one would question the legitimacy of feeling like someone is in the wrong body.

One trans-girl especially remains in my mind; about 13 years old and so, so "girly" in every respect; if you didn't know she had a penis, you wouldn't know. Then there was the incredibly sweet scene about biological boys telling a trans-boy how to act cool to get girls.

These children and families show remarkable courage to allow themselves to be filmed to educate the public.

People need to have more empathy. This situation could happen to anyone's family. No one volunteers for something so difficult and so controversial. Being transgender is not a choice.

Gays and transgenders are no more a threat than anyone else. Abusers and pedophiles come from any population, including unfortunately, the clergy.

And once someone is inside a bathroom stall, no one knows what their body looks like.

Unfortunately, the North Carolina bathroom law, which started the current controversy, not only addresses bathroom use but also allows discrimination against gays and transgender people.

The White House sought to respond to that, and may not have done so in the best way, but their intention/heart was in the right place.
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Aaron Knott, Naples

Weapons ban

Gov. Rick Scott and many Republicans insist that guns had nothing to do with the Orlando massacre.

He said, "The Second Amendment didn't kill anybody. This is ISIS. This is evil. This is radical Islam."

However, a semi-automatic rifle did kill nearly 50 individuals and wound another 50. A bystander reported about 24 shots were fired in nine seconds.

While this massacre is related to an Islamic terrorist, other massacres were not related to Islamic terrorists. For example, in March, Pablo Serrano-Vitorino was arrested in the killing of four men in the Kansas City, Missouri, area, with a semi-automatic rifle. In February, Cedric Ford killed three and wounded 14 in Newton, Kansas, with an assault rifle and handgun.

In November, Robert Dear killed three, including a policeman, and wounded nine, including five police officers, outside a Planned Parenthood facility, with a semi-automatic rifle.

Is there any reason why a civilian would need a semi-automatic rifle or a semi-automatic handgun? Are we worried we might be attacked by a horde of barbarians? Would we need multiple shots to kill a deer? What is the rationale?

Automatic and semi-automatic weapons should only be sold to law enforcement agencies, and not to civilians. They are not needed for self-defense or sport. Banning them would not violate the Second Amendment, as many other guns would be legal.

The NRA claims that "bad guys" wouldn't obey the law and would acquire them anyway. However, banning them would make it that much harder on any would-be mass murderer, and over time the number of such weapons would be reduced, and we would all be much safer.
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The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear a case regarding a clause in Fannie Mae's corporate charter that awards jurisdiction over every case involving the government-sponsored enterprise to federal courts.

The case, Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortgage Corp., addresses a specific clause in Fannie Mae's charter, which says that the GSE can "sue and be sued, and to complain and defend, in any court of competent jurisdiction, state or federal." The case was initially brought forth by two California women, Beverly Ann Hollis-Arrington and Crystal Monique Lightfoot, after Fannie Mae initiated foreclosure proceedings against Hollis-Arrington's home.

The plaintiffs in the case had originally filed their complaint in California state court, but the case was then shifted to federal court by Fannie Mae. The district court then dismissed all claims.

A divided Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision from October 2014 came down in Fannie Mae's favor, saying that Fannie Mae's charter did grant jurisdiction to federal district courts by citing the decision made in the 1992 case of American Red Cross v. S.G.

The plaintiff's lawyers argue that the appeals court judges have misinterpreted the ruling in the Red Cross case.

"The cert grant suggests skepticism of the Ninth Circuit's standard," said Josh Rosenkranz, a partner at Orrick, the law firm representing Lightfoot and Hollis-Arrington in the case, in a news release. Rosenkranz is leading the firm's appellate team along with Orrick partner Robert Loeb.

"The Ninth Circuit reasoning was that if you hold the statute sideways, put it under certain lighting and squint your eyes a little, then maybe it looks like it confers jurisdiction," Rosenkranz said.

"But this sue-and-be-sued clause is straightforward. Far from conferring jurisdiction, it refers to courts 'of competent jurisdiction,' which means that there must be some outside basis of jurisdictional authority to begin with."

Fannie Mae did not immediately return a request for comment. The Supreme Court will be briefed on the case through the fall, with arguments likely to come either later this year or in early 2017.
Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, right, talks to Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, before a Senate Banking Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, July 15, 2014. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told lawmakers the central bank must press on with monetary stimulus as "significant slack" remains in labor markets and inflation is still below the Fed's goal. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Jack Reed; Sherrod Brown Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

In the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis, the federal government wants mortgage companies to be proactive in reaching out to delinquent borrowers. At the same time, the Obama administration is also trying to protect U.S. consumers from unwanted calls to their cellphones.

Now those two goals are coming into conflict.

In a largely overlooked regulatory filing, the Federal Housing Finance Agency recently asked the Federal Communications Commission to carve out an exemption for the mortgage industry from strict rules on robo-calls.

The FCC prohibits auto-dialed calls to mobile phones except in cases where the call's recipient has given permission. But the FHFA says that those rules hamper the ability of mortgage servicers to assist homeowners who have fallen behind on their monthly payments.

"Avoiding foreclosure requires mortgage servicers to work directly with individual loan borrowers, typically through telephone contact," FHFA General Counsel Alfred Pollard wrote in a June 6 letter to the FCC. "The efficient and early resolution of a delinquency to avoid foreclosure is the key to ensuring a borrower does not lose his or her home."

The FHFA is seeking an exemption that would apply to residential mortgage servicers that are calling delinquent borrowers. It would cover not only the servicers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-backed loans  the FHFA oversees the two government-sponsored mortgage giants  but other mortgage servicers as well.

The idea is being panned by a coalition of consumer advocacy groups; they say it would give a free pass to mortgage servicers that have a record of consumer-protection violations and would create a huge loophole in the federal law that shields Americans from unwanted phone calls.

"This is an alarming and fairly absurd proposal," the National Consumer Law Center wrote in a comment letter on behalf of various other consumer and legal aid organizations.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, also questioned the FHFA's proposal in a statement: "I'm concerned that the FHFA is pushing to subject Americans to more computer generated phone calls and texts rather than ensuring servicers offer foreclosure alternatives."

But for industry groups that so far have been frustrated in their efforts to get carve-outs from the FCC's rules, the FHFA's recommendation provides a new opening.

Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, violators are liable to pay $500 to $1,500 for each unsolicited call. Those tough standards have led to a slew of class-action lawsuits, with banks paying more than $200 million to settle such cases in recent years.

Last July, the FCC issued strong new rules that mostly rejected the entreaties of financial firms and other corporations. Banks were not granted a break with respect to debt-collection calls.

But then in December, Congress passed a law that provides an exemption for the collection of government-owned debt. The new law states that when seeking to collect debt owed to or guaranteed by the U.S. government  such as federally backed student loans  the caller does not have to obtain the consumer's consent.

That change in federal law set the stage for the FHFA's recent recommendation to the FCC. In its letter, the housing finance agency acknowledged that the congressionally mandated carve-out does not appear to cover Fannie and Freddie mortgages. Nonetheless, the FHFA argued that the FCC should grant a broad exemption to servicers of delinquent residential mortgages.

In subsequent filings with the FCC, mortgage industry groups noted that various federal agencies require loan servicers to make specified efforts to contact delinquent borrowers. For example, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's servicing rules require telephone or in-person contact by the 36th day of delinquency.

"The sort of timely, real-time interaction that occurs on a telephone call is particularly important," the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a petition filed with the FCC. "Time is of the essence in loss mitigation efforts, and discouraging telephone contact creates obstacles to a borrower getting a modification or keeping his or her home."

But consumer advocates maintain that phone calls to delinquent homeowners do not have to be made with auto-dialing technology. "There's no right to make robo-calls," said Margot Saunders, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center.

Saunders also argued that the FCC lacks the legal authority to grant the FHFA's request.

At a May 18 congressional hearing, senators staked out diverging positions on the FCC's robo-calling rules. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., questioned whether the agency has struck the appropriate balance between the interests of consumers and businesses.

But Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., made clear that she will oppose any efforts to loosen existing restrictions on robo-calls. "This is the biggest consumer problem in the country," she said.

The Federal Trade Commission fields more than 170,000 complaints per month about robo-calls. And last year, the agency received more than 900,000 complaints about debt collection, which was more than any other industry.

The FCC declined to comment on the FHFA's proposal.
Seyran Ohanyan on Sefilyan's arrest: Ask those who arrested him (video)

Although the Ministry of Defense does not possess any information about the missing soldiers, it is doing everything to keep their memory alive, Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said at Yerablur Military Pantheon after a remembrance and commemoration ceremony in connection with the Day of Perished for Motherland and Missing in Action. Each of us wants these families to open their doors one day and see them back in their homes, the Minister told reporters. The National Assembly is discussing these days an agreement between Russia and Armenia on establishing a unified air-defense system. Many in Armenia fear that the deal will make Armenia dependent of Russia as Armenia will lose an important component of military independence. Seyran Ohanyan does not see anything alarming here. The formation of a new air-defense system allows us to include in the in the Caucasus region and in our air defense aerospace forces and multifunctional fighters of the 4th generation of Russia's 102nd base. Speaking about the purchase of Russian weapons and their supply of the Republic of Armenia, Seyran Ohanyan said, We should not forget that this deal is different from cash purchases, because it is done according to its procedures. We have already signed 80 percent of contracts. The remaining 20 percent will be signed in the near future. When asked about the arrest of Karabakh war veteran and commander of the Shushi special battalion Jitrayr Sefilyan, the defense minister gave a brief reply, You had better ask the question to those who arrested him. Minister Ohanyan also spoke about the numerous dismissals that occurred in the Ministry during his tenure of office. "Around 140 people have been dismissed from their offices in the past 8 years, he said.
Union of Informed Citizens: Risks related to Air Defense Agreement

These days the RA National Assembly is discussing the clamorous agreement on the Creation of a United Regional Air Defense System in the Caucasus Region of Collective Security between the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation. Let us try to summarize the risks and concerns related to the agreement. Under the Command of the Russian Federation The agreement stipulates that during threat of war or aggravation of the military-political situation, the Armenian and Russian air defense forces located in the territory of Armenia should act together and cannot perform independent actions. Moreover, in order to prevent one of the sides from unsanctioned use of anti-aircraft weapons, the appendix of the agreement envisages organization of actions to obviate such cases. Article 6 of the agreement stipulates the hierarchy of management of joint actions of Armenian and Russian air defense forces deployed in the territory of Armenia. According to the hierarchy, the overall coordination of joint actions will be implemented by the commander of the aerospace defense forces of the Russian Federation. The overall management of the actions will be carried out by the commander of the Southern Military District of Russia. And it is only the direct management of operations that will be done by the Armenian side, namely, by the commander of air defense forces of the RA Armed Forces. This means that the high command (overall coordination and leadership) of the Armenian air defense forces is passed to the Russian Federation. In other words, during war or, as the agreement stipulates, during aggravation of military-political situation, Russia will take over Armenias air defense leadership. Danger of Regional Escalation As it is known, Russia has quite tense relations with our neighbor Georgia. Military conflict between Russia and Georgia is not likely, but neither can we rule it out. And if Russia decides to fire at the Georgian Air Force in case of conflict escalation with Georgia by using the joint air defense weapons deployed in Armenia, the Armenian  Georgian relations will suffer respectively. Moreover, taking into account the 2008 Russo-Georgian war experience (when Russia was discontent with Armenias neutral position), we cannot exclude that Russia may intentionally open fire at the Georgian aircraft for deliberately worsening relations between Armenia and Georgia. Daniel Ioannisyan Union of Informed Citizens
What is Doctor Google's real purpose?

Why is Google not to be trusted?

(NaturalNews) In its continuing efforts to serve the status quo medical establishment through controlling and censoring information , Google is now launching a medical search engine called Doctor Google.In keeping with Google's practice of suppressing alternative medicine and natural health , the new "symptom search" feature is likely to limit access to anything other than mainstream medical sources.From"Google claims that around one per cent of the one trillion searches carried out using its algorithms each year are symptom related."The technology firm has announced that when users type in symptoms from now on it will show a list of related conditions."It will also provide information on self-treatment and whether you might need to visit a doctor."'By doing this, our goal is to help you to navigate and explore health conditions related to your symptoms and quickly get the point where you can do more in-depth research,' Google said in a blog post."It all sounds innocent enough at first glance, but given Google's history of actively censoring alternative health information, there's no reason to believe that Doctor Google will be any more fair or balanced than it has been in the past.In fact, there's plenty of reason to suspect that Google's Big Pharma backers see this as an even bigger opportunity to steer people away from natural health methods and products."Google said it has worked with experts at Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to help ensure the related conditions it suggests are as accurate as possible."It has also checked their list of symptoms for health conditions against high-quality medical information collected from doctors."In other words, Doctor Google was essentially created under the auspices of the medical establishment. There's no mention of natural remedies or alternatives; it's all based on "high-quality medical information collected from doctors."Google has been found guilty of censoring everything from political discourse , to information about nutritional supplements. In essence, Google is a giant propaganda machine doing the bidding of its corporate masters.Want more proof?From an August 2015 article in"If you have ever done any sort of comparison shopping online, chances are you have probably used Google's Shopping portal to pull up product information and compare prices. But if you live in the U.S. and try to use Google Shopping to buy vitamins, supplements, personal care products, and even many health foods, your search queries will now turn up blank, as Google has apparently"Right around June 28 of this year, Google Shopping users first began noticing that search queries for many common health products like 'vitamin C' and 'fish oil' began turning up zero results, whereas before they would generate a copious list of vendors that offered these products, as well as corresponding price information. In the days and weeks that followed, these same users learned thatwere no longer showing up in Google Shopping."That's just one example of the role Google has played in suppressing alternative medicine.In 2012, Mike Adams, founder/editor of Natural News , exposed Google's censorship of Google Adwords accounts that advertised nutritional supplements and detox formulas.Google allowed the FDA to influence its policies:"This secret war against nutritional supplement companies is being waged entirely outside the law, as the FDA gives no notice to affected companies and does not give them any opportunity to respond in their defense. No judge, no jury, no notice, no due process. The FDA simply bypasses legal notice requirements and goes straight to Google, which complies by disabling Adwords accounts, shutting off an important source of revenue for nutritional supplement companies."Considering Google's track record, can we expect Doctor Google to be any different?
Not actually 'inert'

Flawed law forces judge's hand

(NaturalNews) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA ) is not required to force pesticide companies to disclose "inert" ingredients in their products , even when those products are known to be toxic, carcinogenic or otherwise dangerous, a federal judge recently  and reluctantly  ruled.The Center for Environmental Health, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Beyond Pesticides had sued the EPA, claiming that it was violating its responsibilities as mandated by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).The EPA requires pesticide labels to state the names and percentages of "active ingredients," the ingredients believed to be responsible for pesticides' toxic effects. But the agency does not require companies to disclose "inactive" or "inert" ingredients , except to avoid "unreasonable risk to humans or the environment."The plaintiffs submitted a list of 370 separate "inert" pesticide ingredients that are classified by pesticide manufacturers or the EPA itself as known or suspected of causing cancer, reproductive harm or neurological disorders. They also submitted another 96 ingredients that the EPA has classified as "high priority for testing.""What we're challenging is EPA's inaction despite a body of evidence," plaintiffs' attorney Yana Garcia toldwhen the lawsuit was filed. "Chemicals listed as inert are not inert. Consumers think the inert ingredients are water or other benign substances used to mix the chemicals, but many are carcinogenic and others have acute impacts and still others have impacts that are currently unknown."Many of the ingredients on the plaintiffs' list have been shown to enhance the absorption or inhalation rates of active ingredients , make pesticides more difficult to remove from clothing, and even make active ingredients more likely to pass through protective clothing, such as gloves.Concealing the presence of chemicals known to be hazardous denies pesticide users the ability to make informed choices, the plaintiffs argued. It also makes it harder for doctors to effectively treat people who have been exposed to pesticides.The presence of these chemicals doesn't just affect those who use pesticides, either."We are also concerned about pesticide drift, and the effects on bees and other pollinators ," Garcia said.The issue dates back to 1984, when the EPA first began drafting a rule about labeling hazardous ingredients in pesticides. But in 1987, the agency tossed that draft rule out and replaced it with a three tiered list. Only ingredients on the first, most hazardous list, were required to be listed. Notably, none of the ingredients on that list are used in pesticides anymore.But the list has seen no additions since 1989. So in 2006, the plaintiffs, along with the attorneys general of 14 states, asked the EPA to start drafting a new disclosure rule. The agency took no action, and was later sued over the issue."[The EPA] reinitiated rulemaking in 2009 but didn't complete it, so we filed another lawsuit," Garcia said. "At that time the EPA reversed course and claimed that people don't read the labels and don't care what is in pesticides, so why bother labeling?"Other absurd arguments made by the EPA  and its lawyers from the Department of Justice  in defense of its position, are that the EPA needs to take into account other "policy considerations outside" FIFRA, and that FIFRA requires the EPA to protect pesticide makers' trade secrets."It remains clear that FIFRA doesn't let trade secrets trump health. But the EPA is kind of hiding behind this provision in the statute to shirk its responsibility to protect people and the environment [from pesticides]," Garcia said.When asked by the judge why the EPA's policy is better for the environment than simply labeling the hazardous ingredients, Department of Justice attorney Debra Carfora said, "I wouldn't say it's better. I would say this is a very complex issue."U.S. District Judge William Orrick said that he found the plaintiffs' arguments very convincing from a policy perspective, but that unfortunately FIFRA gives the EPA very wide discretion. Thus, Orrick found himself with no choice but to uphold the legality of the EPA's decisions."The EPA is given discretion unless I can find that mandatory duty," Orrick said.
Regulators claim the food is safe, but is it?

Today the UK ... tomorrow the USA

(NaturalNews) Rice grown in the zone surrounding the still-radioactive Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will now be sold in London grocery stores, the European Union (EU) announced in late June.In March 2011, the Fukushima plant suffered multiple meltdowns after being struck by a massive earthquake and tsunami. It was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986, and only the second nuclear accident to receive the highest possible rating on the International Nuclear Event Scale.The explosions scattered radioactive material across the area surrounding the plant, an area of Japan formerly famous for its agricultural production of crops from rice to peaches.Following the disaster, the EU and many other countries banned food imports from the Fukushima area, due to concerns about radioactive contamination of food . The primary concern, as far as regulators are concerned, is the presence of radioactive isotopes such as Cesium-137 (Cs-137), which likely contaminated the soil following the disaster, and could later have been taken up by growing plants.Cs-137 has a half life of 30 years, and takes centuries to decay to non-detectable levels. If ingested, it remains in the body, where it continues its radioactive decay and continually exposes the body to internal radiation.In recent months, the EU has begun lightening its restrictions on foods from Fukushima , with the first fruit imports allowed as of January. The United Kingdom will become the first EU country to import rice from Fukushima.Despite its recent popular vote to exit the EU, the United Kingdom is likely to remain part of the union for several more years.EU rules will require all rice from Fukushima to be tested before import, to make sure that they do not contain any radioactive isotopes. According to conventional regulatory wisdom, this is enough to guarantee the safety of food, even if it has previously been exposed to radiation.But, organic food advocates have raised concerns that irradiation may modify the nutrient content of foods, possibly creating dangerous free radicals that can themselves cause cell and DNA damage.Under the terms of the recent agreement, 1.9 tons of a Fukushima rice variety called Ten no Tsubu will be imported into the United Kingdom for sale by London retailers, wholesalers and restaurants, including high-end Bond Street restaurant, Tokimeite. This will make the United Kingdom the third country to import Fukushima rice commercially, after Singapore and Malaysia.The opening of London markets to Fukushima rice came after a long campaign by Fukushima farmers, who are seeking to change the global perception of their products as being tainted by radioactivity."It's bright news for Fukushima, which has been struggling with the import restrictions. We will make further efforts so the restrictions will be lifted entirely," said a spokesperson for an office in the Fukushima government.Fukushima farmers announced their intention to seek more markets for their products."With the UK as a foothold, we hope to expand the sale of prefecture-produced rice to other EU member countries," said Nobuo Ohashi of the farmers group Zen-Noh."We would like to expand Japanese rice exports not only to the UK but also to the world, by enabling Japanese rice to be tasted in the UK," the group's PR manager, Seiichi Niizuma, said.The decision is part of a larger trend of officials seeking to change the public perception of Fukushima. In March, the US National Academy of Sciences said that most seafood caught off the coast of Japan can safely be eaten."The overall contamination risk for aquatic food items is very low," the academy said in a report.It remains to be seen whether consumers will trust such official assurances. Acceptance may be hampered by a recent admission that Fukushima operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), actively covered up the fact that the plant was in meltdown for a full two months after the disaster."I would say it was a cover-up," TEPCO president Naomi Hirose said. "It's extremely regrettable."
'We should have the right to know'

'Smart labels' are not a solution

(NaturalNews) Sometimes it takes an average person with direct experience of a situation to put things in perspective in such a way that anyone can understand  without a lot of industry jargon or double-talk  by simply speaking the truth in plain, commonsense terms.Such is the case with Iowa farmer George Naylor, who wrote an op-ed piece for, in which he discussed the concept of "smart labels" for GMO foods , and the reasons why he has chosen not to grow GM crops on his own farm Like most Iowa farmers, Naylor grows mostly corn and soybeans but, unlike the majority of his peers, he has decided to avoid the use of GM farming techniques.His views on GM agriculture are backed by experience, and he argues eloquently and convincingly on the subject:"I have ... made the choice not to raise genetically engineered corn and soybeans. Why? Well, rather than boosting rural economies, genetically engineered crops have drained billions of dollars from them  the temporary ease of weed control has led to even more farm consolidation; and the unbelievable power of the herbicide glyphosate to kill both annual and perennial weeds has destroyed food and nesting resources for many of our important insects and birds. Farmers have spent billions of dollars on genetically engineered seeds only to see weeds become resistant to the glyphosate on Roundup Ready crops. Corn rootworms, too, have become resistant to the most common insecticidal proteins included in many GMO corn varieties. These resistance problems require even more application of herbicides and pesticides that threaten the health of rural Americans  glyphosate was recently recognized by the World Health Organization as a 'probable carcinogen'  and add to chemical residues in food products ."In one paragraph, Naylor summed up the problems with the entire GM agriculture industry. Contrary to the assurances and claims initially made by Monsanto and other biotech firms regarding how GM farming would be beneficial for everyone, the industry has instead destroyed livelihoods and systematically poisoned the environment.The recent downsizing of Monsanto and the growing anti-GMO movement are testaments to the fact that GM farming has turned out to be a disastrous failure, and the public is now waking up to that fact.Farmers like Naylor who have witnessed the effects of GM agriculture firsthand are probably in the best position to judge and make observations regarding the industry, and Naylor has obviously given the subject a lot of thought:"Altering the genetic building blocks of plants and animals, which in turn alters the building blocks of our ecosystem, rightly concerns many Americans. National polls consistently show that 90 to 95 percent of Americans support mandatory labeling of genetically engineered food, because they want to know what is in the food they eat and feed their families."And we should have the right to know when a food product contains genetically engineered (GE) ingredients, especially as they carry greater and greater residues of this probable cancer causing chemical. Some states such as Vermont, Connecticut and Maine have voted to mandate this labeling . But Congress is trying to preempt these states from giving their citizens what they have asked for."Naylor dismissed the notion that so-called "smart labels" will help consumers, and wrote that such technology is "deeply discriminatory," because it requires owning a smartphone to access the labeling information:"Instead of a simple declaration in plain language on the product, a smart label will require scanning each item with a smart phone. Besides the unbelievable time and inconvenience involved, many Americans don't have smart phones and can't afford them. More than half of rural Americans don't have smart phones, let alone the network coverage required to access the information."In closing, Naylor urges the populace to take action. "Voters and consumers have enough to keep us awake at night; we don't need to be worrying about what's really contained in the food we put on our tables," he wrote. "Tell our elected officials that we have a right to know what is in our food and to make informed choices about the products we purchase."Thank you George Naylor, for sharing the unvarnished truth about GMOs in such a compelling manner.
Colin Macilwain talks to the curators of the National Museum of Scotland on the eve of a grand expansion.

National Museum of Scotland gallery opening

8 July 2016. Edinburgh, UK.

The afterlife of Dolly the sheep will take an exciting turn next month: the clone is the first attraction of a new, permanent exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland (NMS). Dolly, who died in 2003 and survives in taxidermied splendour, will greet visitors at the entrance to a grand atrium housing ten refurbished science, technology and design galleries in the Victorian building, which sits beside the University of Edinburgh. Part of CERN's Large ElectronPositron Collider, on display at the National Museum of Scotland. Credit: Phil Wilkinson

Since Dolly's leap to fame (see go.nature.com/1ujdd4k), the anticipated commercial bonanza in cloning has not occurred. Nevertheless, the bovid is part of a rip-roaring story of how a nation of 5 million people helped to forge the modern age.

Scotland was the workshop of the world, explains Klaus Staubermann, a science historian and principal curator of technology at the NMS. He alludes to the turn of the last century, when Glasgow's Clydeside hosted as much as one-quarter of global shipbuilding and locomotive production. But he brushes off any suggestion that the transformation from powerhouse to tourist attraction is a metaphor for Scotland's recent history that runs too close to the bone. The Scots have always had this ability to reinvent themselves, Staubermann says, noting the 'Silicon Glen' of the 1980s. Here, much of Europe's computer hardware was assembled. More recent, if scattered, successes have emerged in computer gaming (Grand Theft Auto originated here) and biomedical science.

The range of exhibits being installed does justice to Staubermann's grand narrative. There is an accelerating ring from the disused Large ElectronPositron Collider at CERN (Peter Higgs, namesake of the boson, is at the University of Edinburgh). There's the story of Glasgow pharmacologist and Nobel laureate James Black, who had a central role in developing beta blockers. And there will be a stunning array of electrical and mechanical engineering, from the world's oldest Stirling engine to the tip of a modern wind-turbine blade. A model of a heat engine made by Robert Stirling in 1816. Credit: Natl Mus. Scotland

The unifying theme of the six new science and technology galleries is to follow scientific concepts through to technology and production. The museum's wider collection reflects diligent hoarding of bits and pieces from the Industrial Revolution. Many Scots have held on to their working machinery, says Staubermann. His research includes the history of the machine-tool industry, due to feature in a manufacturing hall. (Europe's first numerically controlled machine tool was built by electronics firm Ferranti in Edinburgh in the 1960s.)

The NMS is Britain's most popular museum outside London, with 1.6 million visitors last year. It has enjoyed steady public and private support, while many museums globally are suffering from cuts. The 14-million (US$20-million) refurbishment is supported by the UK national lottery, biomedical charity the Wellcome Trust, the Scottish government and private donors. It is part of a 80-million, 15-year 'masterplan' to transform the premises, built in 1866.

Touring the exhibition areas last month, surrounded by workers assembling displays, I saw how technology is transforming the craft of exhibiting itself. For example, layers of interactivity allow visitors to delve as deep as they like. But there will also be older-school approaches on display. Whenever I tell a taxi driver what I'm doing, the first thing they want to know is if there'll be plenty of buttons to push, says Staubermann.

The museum's first director, George Wilson, was a professor of technology at the University of Edinburgh, and the institutions remain closely linked. Most museum curators teach at the university, and many are involved in joint research projects.

Right now, the priority is the logistics of installing some 3,000 objects  three-quarters on public display for the first time  in time for the 8 July opening. Elsa Cox, curator of the energy hall, Energise, has just collected a control console from the decommissioned Murchison oil platform in the North Sea. One of the challenges, she says, is getting industrial contributors to take her deadlines seriously.

Energise exhibits will include an early prototype of Salter's duck  a key device in the history of wave power  and the switch that connected the now-defunct Dounreay fast breeder reactor in Caithness to the grid. Visitors will get the chance to power a city for a day, Cox says, learning about the trade-offs between different sources of energy.
Gravitational waves were first detected hundreds of years ago, and today it is out there to provide answers to significant questions posed by scientists and astronomers.

A recent study suggests that the seeds of black holes can be discovered and observed through the use of gravitational waves caused by colliding black holes.

Scientists from Durham University's Institute for Computational Cosmology performed a study and ran a cosmological simulation that can predict which rate gravitational waves due to collisions between monster black holes might be detected.

According to the study presented at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting on last June 27, the amplitude and frequency of the gravitational waves can potentially reveal the mass of seeds where monster black holes came from, from the time they were formed 13 billions years ago. This study will provide knowledge about the formation of black holes that scientists know today.

The EAGLE project that aims to mimic the universe from a computer was used and was combined with a model that is capable of calculation gravitational wave signals. The study suggests that it is possible to detect gravitational waves caused by collisions of supermassive black holes each year using innovative space-based equipment such as the Evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (eLISA) detector; an instrument set to launch in 2034. The potential detections by eLISA will greatly help the researchers in identifying the mechanisms involved in the formation of supermassive black holes, according to a report.

"Understanding more about gravitational waves means that we can study the Universe in an entirely different way," lead author Jaime Salcido, said in a statement. "By combining the detection of gravitational waves with simulations we could ultimately work out when and how the first seeds of supermassive black holes formed," Salcido added.

Gravitational waves were detected using LIGO and VIRGO for the first time followed by a second detection this month. The instruments capable of detecting gravitational waves are integral to the success of measure black hole seeds. The authors said black holes are fundamental to galaxy formation and are visible in the Milky Way galaxy.

"Discovering how they came to be where they are is one of the unsolved problems of cosmology and astronomy," co-author Professor Richard Bower said in a statement published by Daily Mail. "Our research has shown how space based detectors will provide new insights into the nature of supermassive black holes," Bower added.

With the help of future innovative technology, scientists can further explain the behavior, formation and composition of supermassive black holes through reading and detection of gravitational waves. These gravitational waves were first recognized 100 years ago by Albert Einstein.
Is Mars keeping more secrets from mankind? After tons of astounding discoveries about the red planet, NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover still continue to unearth evidence to prove that life may have thrived on the planet's ancient days.

The most recent discovery of the rover is chemicals embedded in Martian rocks, manganese oxide; it suggests that Mars had ample amount of oxygen before compared to its state today. This strongly supports the idea that the planet is more Earth-like than it is today.

Based on the Martian rocks, the findings suggest that there was a point in time where Mars' atmosphere contains enough oxygen much like the Earth. This adds to older discoveries of water and ancient lakes on the planet that are considered pre-requisites of life. The new discovery will aid scientists in further studying the atmospheric nature of Mars.

Manganese oxides were discovered in mineral veins. The rover placed this in the timeline of ancient environmental conditions and the higher oxygen proliferation can be linked to the time where there was groundwater present on the surface.

"The only ways on Earth that we know how to make these manganese materials involve atmospheric oxygen or microbes," Nina Lanza, a planetary scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico said in an interview published by Science Daily. "Now we're seeing manganese oxides on Mars, and we're wondering how the heck these could have formed?" Lanza added.

The researchers said that the scenario of Mars containing abundant levels of oxygen is entirely possible due to the fact that for manganese materials to form it needed an ample amount of liquid water and strong oxidizing conditions. Lanza compared this to Earth where manganese oxides didn't manifest until such time when the oxygen levels in the atmosphere rose.

"One potential way that oxygen could have gotten into the Martian atmosphere is from the breakdown of water when Mars was losing its magnetic field," Lanza said in an interview with NASA. "It's thought that at this time in Mars' history, water was much more abundant," Lanza added.

But Lanza said it is still hard to confirm if the atmospheric oxygen indeed occurred on Mars. But their findings may present a new understanding of how planetary atmospheres become oxygenated.
Scientists discovered another unknown binary star system with its own low-mass star and a black hole lurking in the universe.

Astronomers combined data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope and the National Science Foundation's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to find out that there is a peculiar source of radio waves originally thought to be a distant galaxy.

As it turns out, the source is a nearby binary star system with its low-mass star and a black hole. This discovery led the astronomers to believe that there are vast numbers of galaxies that remain undiscovered until today.

Clandestine black hole may suggest a vast number more have gone unnoticed in our galaxy: https://t.co/xLLsZozB1i pic.twitter.com/DGzZbDTGTQ  NASA (@NASA) June 27, 2016

Astronomers already knew about the VLA J2130+12 for decades, but they thought it is just and empty galaxy. But recent measurements prove that the initial theory was wrong. To come up with the findings various instruments were used including the EVN (European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network) telescopes and the NSF's Green Bank Telescope and Arecibo Observatory.

VLA J2130+12 is 7,200 light years away and is still within the Milky Way Galaxy. Chandra revealed that it emits small x-rays while the latest data states that the source remains bright in radio waves. A supermassive black hole, few times the mass of the Sun, is also slowly pulling in materials from a star. Because of the partial feeding, it wasn't originally considered as a black hole.

"Usually, we find black holes when they are pulling in lots of material. Before falling into the black hole this material gets very hot and emits brightly in X-rays," Bailey Tetarenko of the University of Alberta, Canada said in an interview with NASA. "This one is so quiet that it's practically a stealth black hole," Tetarenko added.

The only limit to the study is that it only covers a very small patch of the sky, that is why astronomers believe that there's more clandestine black hole population in and out of the Milky Way galaxy waiting to be discovered. There could be tens of thousands to millions of these supermassive black holes in the Galaxy, three to thousands of times bigger as what studies suggested before.

"Unless we were incredibly lucky to find one source like this in a small patch of the sky, there must be many more of these black hole binaries in our Galaxy than we used to think," co-author Arash Bahramian said in a statement. Some of these clandestine black holes can even be closer to Earth.

To find out if there are indeed other similar undiscovered black holes, a larger survey of the sky using the employed technique should be performed.
Sweepee Rambo, a 17-year-old female dog, was recently hailed as the ugliest dog in the world.

On June 27, Sweepee, along with 16 other dogs, gathered at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds to compete for the most unconventional pet title.

According to the Press Democrat, this is the third time for Sweepee to join the competition which has been going on for 28 years.

The pets are judged based on bad appearance, including stench, poor complexion and a host of other inherited and acquired maladies, the report added.

Sweepee--who had her whole family to support her--is a Chinese Crested Chihuahua mix weighing only 4 pounds. Her hair was styled in a mohawk and her ears are as big as bat ears.

Sweepee has an eye condition, making the other one yellow and the other blue. But what made her win is her ooze.

People said Sweepee has managed to escape several dog pounds before ultimately ending up with her current owner, Jason Wurtz.

In an interview, Wurtz told TIME that the chihuahua was originally a gift to his ex-wife. Wurtz took possession af the dog after they split.

"I've had girlfriends over the years and they were jealous of her and like I told them, she was here when you came and she'll be here when you leave, that's the best friend I have," he told TIME.

Most pet owners would not want their pet to be called the "ugliest," but according to Erin Post, CEO of the Sonoma-Marin Fair, the event does not aim to belittle or mock theappearances of the dogs but to celebrate them.

"We're proud to celebrate all dogs and pets by showing that no matter their imperfections, they are adoptable, lovable and a great add to any family," Post told ABC News.

Chief judge Brian Sobel told BBC that judging the dogs was not easy as many people they think. "Scoring was tough with so many uniquely qualified dogs but we're confident that Sweepee will be a magnificent champion!"

Sweepee's owner won $1,500 and a six-foot trophy.
Stephen Hawking has warned that Artificial Intelligence could evolve faster than humans and possibly cause a robot rebellion. The renowned physicist also said that humans are the greatest threat to the planet.

Robot Upsurge in the Making?

In an interview with Larry King, Hawking discussed his fears on the future of human race with the growing trend of using robots to ease everyday life.

"I don't think advances in artificial intelligence will necessarily be benign," said Hawking via Daily Mail. "Once machines reach a critical stage of being able to evolve themselves we cannot predict whether their goals will be the same as ours."

At present, robots are used as digital assistants and self-driving vehicles. However, Hawking said that artificial intelligence evolves faster than humans do, and just like in movies, could end mankind if they are powerful enough.

This is not the first time that Hawking has warned the world about the potential danger of artificial intelligence. He previously said that technology could adapt to its environment and gain the ability to think independently.

"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race," Hawking told BBC. He further said that to avoid a future robot uprising, artificial intelligence should be designed by following ethical and safety standards.

Humans Still Not Cleaning Up Their Act

Hawking also stressed on how the human race has not changed its behavior towards the environment in the past six years, USA Today reports.

We certainly have not become less greedy or less stupid. The population has grown by half a billion since our last meeting, with no end in sight. At this rate, it will be eleven billion by 2100," he said.

He noted that the biggest problem that the world is facing today is climate change. Air pollution, according to Hawking, has worsen in the past years with 80 percent of residents in urban areas exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution. Hawking also wonders if it's already too late for the world to curb the dangers of global warming.
Scientists unearthed an ancient gateway to a sanctuary sacred to the Greek god Pan in the city of Hippos.

The archaeologists from the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa have uncovered the monumental Roman gateway, which may have led to a compound dedicated to the worship of the half-man, half-goat Pan, who was also the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks in ancient Greek mythology.

According to scientists, the discovery of the compound might be able to explain previous discoveries in the ancient city.

Last year, archaeologists have discovered in the same site a bronze mask of Pan, which they found was unusually bigger than the other bronze masks of the Greek god that date from the same period.

"Now that the whole gate has been exposed, we not only have better information for dating the mask, but also a clue to its function," Michael Eisenberg, head of the research team, said in a press release.

"Are we looking at a gate that led to the sanctuary of the god Pan or one of the rustic gods?"

The mask was discovered among the remains of a large stone building, and the archaeologists hope that uncovering the rest of the supposed ancient sanctuary could provide more details about the mask's origin.

According to the researchers, the original gateway could have been 20-feet tall, and the entire building could even be taller. They also dated the building to the time of the Roman emperor Hadrian who reigned from 117 AD to 138 AD.

The mask was believed to have been fixed on a wall or an altar at the compound as evidenced by the remnants of lead discovered on the mask's rear side.

"The mask, and now the gate in which it was embedded, are continuing to fire our imaginations," Eisenberg said.

"The worship of Pan sometimes included ceremonies involving drinking, sacrifices and ecstatic rituals, including nudity and sex. This worship usually took place outside the city walls, in caves and other natural settings," he added.

Hippos is located within Sussita National Park, which is being managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

The next excavation will happen in July 2016, which will be participated by dozens of researchers and volunteers from Israel and around the world.
Berkeley police have stepped up patrols around a middle school after a teacher there received anonymous threats that she be fired after she protested against white supremacists - and was seen screaming and punching a neo-Nazi - at rally in Sacramento over the weekend.

If the teacher isn't fired, the threats indicated, students might be harmed.

In an interview Wednesday, the target of the threat - Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School teacher Yvette Felarca - said she blames Donald Trump for the "vile and racist" atmosphere burgeoning in the United States. And she defended any "militant" action taken to stop it, despite concerns from the American Civil Liberties Union that all people - even Trump and white supremacists - are allowed the right to speak their minds.

Felarca was one of the 10 people injured at the rally on Sunday outside the Capitol building held by the Traditionalist Worker Party. Felarca helped organize a protest against the white supremacist group, and was attacked in the process. She suffered a bloody wound on her head, but said on Wednesday that she was OK.

After the melee, she told Sacramento sister-station KCRA with a bandage wrapped around her head, that she supported starting a "militant, integrated movement" to try to stop Nazis and the KKK."

When she's not teaching, Felarca, who works in the city that gave birth to the free speech movement, is a member of the activist group, By Any Means Necessary, which states on its website that fascists should not be allowed free speech.

But everyone has a right to speak their minds, according to the ACLU, which has a long history of protecting groups its members despite philisophically.

"While the ACLU denounces the message of racism and white supremacy at the rally, the state and federal constitutions protect everyones right to free speech, whether we agree with their opinions or not," senior San Francisco staff attorney Linda Lye said Wednesday in an email. "But the Constitution does not protect violent acts, and thats true regardless of who commits them and what their views are."

That said, Lye added: "Unfortunately, the racist messages espoused at Sundays rally are a stark reminder that we still have much work to do in achieving a racially just society."

But Felarca, who teaches 7th and 8th graders English and Social Studies, defended her actions. In an interview, she said that those who bash immigrants and espouse hate must be shut down. She said that neo-Nazis aren't just speaking, they're stabbing people, bullying them and intimidating them.

But Felarca herself can also be seen getting physical at the rally.

At least two videos show her yelling "Get the f--- off our streets," at a man who came to support the neo-Nazi movement, and punching him in the stomach.

Felarca wouldn't discuss specifically what she did, even after being sent the video, adding that she does "a lot of demonstrating and I yell a lot of things."

It's not clear at this point just exactly who threatened her.

But a group called Pioneer Little Europe USA posted a blog post about Felarca that describes her as a "left-wing terrorist cult leader," and calls for her arrest and termination. Jared Wyand, who shot video of her and lists himself as an "AmericaFirst Crusader," wrote a sympathetic tweet about the man getting punched by Felarca, describing her and her allies as the antagonists and fascists.

In a statement, Berkeley Unified School District spokesman Mark Coplan said that school officials learned on Monday that indeed, a King teacher was involved in the Sacramento protest, and since then, the school and principal received calls and emails from parents and community members.

One anonymous email in particular threatened that if certain actions were not taken against the teacher within the week, someone would come to King with the intent to harm students, Coplan said.

School is not in session, but there are two summer camps on campus, which have since been moved off-site.

Coplan added that the FBI considers the email in question a low-level threat, even though Berkeley police said they are taking this threat seriously.

Felarca said she is on summer break, and didn't ask permission on whether she could attend the rally.
If anything was going to put on an exclamation mark on San Francisco's homeless crisis, it was the giant tent city rising on Division Street. The morphing, amoeba-like rainbow of camping equipment was impossible to miss - grocery carts spilling-over with belongings parked alongside piles of debris amassed around cooking stoves.

At the time, few realized the camp would spark a city-wide discussion of homelessness, and a collective soul-searching that hadn't been experienced in the city in years. In other words, it was a catalyst.

Last February, the city was busy sprucing-up its waterfront to host Super Bowl City. At the same time the urban campground not far away was exposing the harsh underside of San Francisco's storied streets in grand fashion.

"We all made that area our home," said Tamara Hoffner, one of an estimated 300 campers who took refuge in the encampment. "It was just like we were all to ourselves."

But on the first day of March in the wee hours of the morning, police and public works crews descended on the encampment forcing its residents to move-on. The city waited to remove the camp until a new shelter at Pier 80 could open. With the shelter now open, Mayor Ed Lee ordered the camp removed.

Joe Rosato/NBC Bay Area

"They woke us up at five in the morning," recalled Hoffner. "'Get up, move your stuff off the sidewalk so DPW can come spray down the sidewalk.'"

City crews hauled away mounds of trash. The sidewalks were hosed down and barriers set-up in place of tents. Hoffner and the other residents scattered to find new places to set-up camps. A smattering of tents immediately began to re-appear along Folsom Street, beneath underpasses on Cesar Chavez Street, near Mission Bay and behind the Best Buy on Harrison Street. The splinters of the Division Street camp were now visible across South of Market and beyond.

Joe Rosato/NBC Bay Area

Some campers, like Debra Lujan moved just a block from the Division Street site, setting up a campsite behind a Food Co. grocery store, but with the expectation she would soon have to move again and again.

"I usually move on average of a couple times a week, anywhere from a couple blocks to a couple miles," Lujan said frying a cheese sandwich on a camping stove. "It happens so frequently that you become slightly numb to it."

Joe Rosato/NBC Bay Area

A couple miles from Division Street, former Division Street camper Ryan Palmer sat amid a row of tents beneath the 280 overpass near Mission Bay, just thirty feet from the rumbling trains along the Caltrain tracks. Palmer found himself caught up in the clearing of the Division Street camp, but now took the upheaval in stride.

"The thing about life is being able to adapt to what you need to do next," Palmer said.

Hoffner ended-up in a camp near the Dogpatch Neighborhood  though months after the closure of the Division camp she still felt a tinge of sadness.

Joe Rosato/NBC Bay Area

"Yeah it was crowded, Hoffner said, "but it was home."

The camp and its dense forest of humanity upset neighbors and business owners. No longer were there hints of desperation in wake of the city's tech boom and affordability crisis. The desperation was now all there in one place to see.

Jennifer Friedenbach of the Coalition on Homelessness said the clearing of the Division encampment merely spread its glaring issues to other parts of the city.

"As a result people got all their property confiscated," Friedenbach said. "They were basically moved to other people's doorsteps  the complaints to the city about homeless people skyrocketed."

Joe Rosato/NBC Bay Area

Still some believe the short-lived Division camp thrust the homeless issue to the headlines in a way it hadn't before, revealing the public's boiling point and renewing calls for more solutions from the city.

Since the camp's closure, city leaders have made a bigger push to open more "navigation centers," one-stop-shops where homeless can get housing and social services all under one roof.

The Division Street camp and its dismantling still sit among Hoffner's thoughts  a makeshift family dispersed from its makeshift home.

"That day man," Hoffner said, "that was one crazy morning."
One week after fallen San Jose police Officer Michael Katherman was buried, the outpouring of community support for the family continued Tuesday during an all-day fundraiser at Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que in San Jose.

The "deliberately upbeat" event featured food, friendly conversation and an auction, with proceeds going to a Katherman family trust. It is the second fundraiser held by the restaurant at The Plant on Curtner Avenue.

Katherman's parents told NBC Bay Area all the support has been touching and comforting.

"To do this for our son is such an honor," said Tom Katherman. "And we're so appreciative of it. The support from the community has been wonderful. We had officers sitting on our house, and our neighbors were coming over and feeding them. It was very cool."

Michael Katherman, 34, was killed June 14 when a minivan collided with his motorcycle on 10th Street in San Jose. He was an 11-year veteran of the force. He was laid to rest June 21 after a full dress memorial attended by more than 3,500 people, including more than 1,000 law enforcement officers from throughout the Bay Area.

On Tuesday, business at Famous Dave's was virtually nonstop. Much of the money raised will go to the group Police and Fire: The Fallen Heroes for a Katherman family trust fund.

"I want to thank the police officers, the command staff. They have embraced us," Tom Katherman said. "The POA has embraced us. That means so much to us. ... So I just want to say thank you to everyone and again to all the officers out there, we thank you for your service and what you do for our community to keep us safe."
Families of people arriving in the Bay Area from Turkey on Tuesday night waited anxiously at San Francisco International Airport, praying their loved ones were not in the middle of a deadly terrorist attack earlier in the day at Istanbul Ataturk Airport.

Jose Gonzalez was reunited with his two sons after their flight departed Istanbul just hours before suicide bombers and gunmen killed at least 36 people in the airport.

"Nervous, I mean I just started panicking," Gonzalez said when asked what he was feeling after hearing news of the attack.

His son Estaban was a bit shaken, too, as he arrived at SFO, realizing how close he had been in time and proximity to the attack.

"I was actually at one of the spots where a suicide bomber blew up, so that was trippy for me," said Esteban, who got news of the attack on his flight.

Ivan Paunovic called the airline to ensure his son made his flight out before the attack happened. But he was still concerned.

"Even though they were already over Canada, I was still worried," he said. "What if somebody's on the plane? What if it's not over?"

Despite the attack, there were passengers at SFO ready to take their late-night flight to Turkey. They checked in but initially weren't sure if they would be leaving.

"We tried to contact the airlines, we tried to contact the offices, but we just couldn't go through the telephones," said Seema Mundhra. "So we decided let's come to the airport."

Their flight eventually did take off.

Officials at SFO said security at the aiport has been increased in the wake of the attack.
Among San Francisco's many single-room occupancy hotels, SROs as they're known, the Civic Center Hotel at 12th and Market streets was among its most notorious.

It was known as a haven for violence and drugs  long-time residents recalled stabbings and even recalled a time when people would climb into the building via the adjacent travel lodge. It got so bad San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera sued the former managers over the squalid conditions.

"It was one of the worst hotels around," said Cash, a current resident of the hotel who didn't want to reveal his last name. "This used to be the crank hotel. This used to be, all the speed used to come through here."

Joe Rosato/NBC Bay Area

Still, the hotel was viewed as a step-up from the streets for many of the city's homeless denizens. It was at the very least, a roof. But now the hotel has undergone a transformation turning it into a valuable resource in the city's efforts to provide a leg-up for homeless trying to transition into stable lives.

The city contracted with the Community Housing Partnership to take over management of the hotel. CHP group changed janitorial services and upgraded bathrooms. But the most profound change was to remodel old downstairs storage rooms to accommodate new on-site centers offering 24-7 social services, meals and laundry to the roughly 100 residents who will occupy the building.

"The folks who have been living on the streets, predictably in encampments, need a period where they really stabilize," said Gail Gilman, CHP's executive director.

Joe Rosato/NBC Bay Area

The services offered in the hotel will mirror those available in the city's nearby "navigation center," an all-in-one service center that combines temporary housing with on-site social services. City leaders have touted the navigation program as an effective and popular tool toward transitioning people off the streets.

Nicole Johnson, who estimates she's been homeless for 25 years, was looking forward to the new version of the Civic Center Hotel.

"They'll keep a roof over my head, they're putting in a kitchen," Johnson said. "I think it'll help get a lot more people off the streets."

Joe Rosato/NBC Bay Area

The city said the new facility will create more spaces for people trying to get into the city's one current navigation center. The waits have frustrated homeless who are trying to transition off the streets.

"Every time I try to get in it's booked," said Ryan Palmer, a homeless man living in an encampment near Mission Bay.

Joe Rosato/NBC Bay Area

Though the hotel's future will be an improvement over its past, it will be a somewhat temporary one. The building is slated for demolition in a couple years as part of a swath of new development in the pipeline west from Van Ness Avenue. But CHP plans to replace the hotel with a new building that will house 100 formerly-homeless. The current residents of the Civic Center Hotel will relocate to the new building once it's built.

The city is pushing to open six more navigation centers to help people seeking an avenue off the streets. Cash, the current Civic Center Hotel resident gave a conditional thumbs-up to the new role for the formerly-dodgy building.

"That might be ok if they can direct us to where we can get services," Cash said, "instead of just putting us up in a hotel until we get ready to go back on the streets."
A bombshell hit the PG&E trial Tuesday with the revelation that the utility may actually have the very gas pipeline test records that federal prosecutors allege the company lacks.

The company stands accused of a dozen pipeline safety violations for allegedly failing to keep required reports showing it had conducted high pressure water tests for five of its gas transmission lines.

If convicted, the company could face fines of more than a half-billion dollars.

After testimony ended Tuesday, prosecutors complained that the company divulged some 3,000 documents related its purported testing efforts to vouch for some or all of the five lines. It is not clear what those records might show, prosecutors aid.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Hallie Hoffman told Judge Thelton Henderson that the documents were disclosed so late that they would be very hard for the government to respond to.

Hoffman then expressed concern about being sandbagged, saying prosecutors are very concerned about the defendants recollection of events now in dispute, noting that records were subpoenaed by regulators on June 26, 2014.

You have had from that time to now and the missing records were not provided, she told the company lawyers. If PG&E was in possession of them, they were not given to us,

Henderson argued that the late disclosure should bar PG&E from using the documents in its defense challenge of a government witness.

PG&E lawyer Kate Dyer explained that PG&E had done its best to provide what documents it could, given its uncertainty about what test reports the government it supposedly lacked.

Dyer said that once the company learned what the government was referring to, its team went about producing the documents the government says we dont have.

What happens next is unclear. All Judge Henderson told both sides was: Ill get back to you.

Earlier, a former PG&E manager turned consultant recounted how the company engineers attempted to reconcile parts of the code related to pipes were regulations appeared to call for costly inspections in the event pressure exceeded specified levels under government regulations.

I think all operators were struggling with that, Chris Warner told the jury. He said that while the federal agencys guidance to operators specified any pressure exceed dictated inspections, most operators did not feel that was technically correct and did not mesh with other parts of the regulations.

We were all wrestling with how much is too much, Warner told the jury.

In the end, prosecutors say, PG&E ignored the specified inspections. It based its decision to not test lines in another part of the code that allows operators to exceed maximum pressure levels by ten percent during unexpected events.

Warner is set to return to the stand Wednesday. Judge Henderson expressed clear frustration at the pace of the case, telling PG&E lawyer Robert Sims: We need to move on. Were on our third witness in our third week (of trial), counsel.
Saying it was time for tech companies to "pay their fair share," San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar today introduced a ballot measure that would impose a new tax on the biggest tech firms to pay for affordable housing and homeless services.

The measure, which would tax tech companies with gross receipts and payroll of more than $1 million at 1.5 percent of their annual payroll, is expected to generate around $120 million a year, Mar said today. The

companies would be identified as technology firms according to the tax codes they submit to the city.

"After five years of rapid tech boom in San Francisco we are putting forward what we call a housing and homeless services impact tech tax to require big tech companies to pay their fair share for their impacts on housing and homeless services in this city," Mar said at a press conference today.

Mar announced the measure, which is co-sponsored by Supervisors Aaron Peskin and David Campos, today with the backing of community groups including San Francisco Rising, Jobs with Justice and the Coalition on

Homelessness.

The measure targets the perception that an influx of well-paid tech workers has fueled rising housing costs and increased evictions in the city.

"All of our folks are facing displacement, and this is due in large part to the tech boom," said Kung Feng, lead organizer for Jobs for Justice.

Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, said that evictions and high housing costs are a leading cause of homelessness in the city.

"Tech workers driving up the rent, that's not the fault of tech workers, it is the fault of city governments for not capturing those funds coming in," Friedenbach said. "In order to truly address homelessness in San

Francisco we need a sustainable revenue source, we need to get serious about it and in order to do that we need funding."

The measure also contains a provision cutting the business registration fee for small businesses in half, a move that is expected to benefit around 75,000 companies with less than $1 million in revenue.

The measure will require six votes from members of the Board of Supervisors to get on to the November ballot and two-thirds majority support by voters to win approval.
A parking control officer was injured when an SUV exiting the freeway struck her vehicle in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood Wednesday morning, police and San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency officials said.

The collision was reported at about 8:40 a.m. at Eighth and Bryant streets, police spokesman Officer Carlos Manfredi said.

The parking control officer's narrow vehicle tipped over when it was hit by the SUV, trapping the officer inside, Manfredi said. Firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to get her out.

The officer suffered minor injuries, according to Muni spokesman Paul Rose.

The SUV driver stayed and cooperated with the investigation, Manfredi said.
San Francisco on Tuesday adopted the nations most extensive ban on Styrofoam, according to the supervisors who sponsored the legislation.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to outlaw polystyrene foam, better known by its brand name, as it relates from everything from egg cartons to buoys as of Jan. 1, 2017. The old legislation, enacted in 2007, banned the product as it related to food packaging.

Now most every product made of Styrofoam  down to the beach coolers sold at the grocery store  are now forbidden in San Francisco. Penalties range from $100 for the first violation to $500 for the third and each subsequent violation, according to the board. The hope, city leaders say, is that more companies will begin using organic and compostable packaging materials.

The reaction was swift on both sides. "Awesome!," wrote Kassondra Grayson. "If only the rest of the state would follow." On the other side, came this rhetorical question from Mariah Smith: "What can you do in San Francisco?"

More than 100 U.S. cities and many states have ordinances restricting polystyrene food service ware and packaging materials.

But San Francisco now has the "most expansive Styrofoam prohibitions in the country," said Board of Supervisor President London Breed, who introduced the legislation on Earth Day in April along with Supervisor Aaron Peskin.

"The science is clear," Breed said in a statement at the time. "This stuff is an environmental and public health pollutant, and we have to reduce its use. There are ample cost effective alternatives to Styrofoam on the market."

Some industry groups have criticized the crackdown on polystyrene foam, saying it's still the most reliable form of packaging, and that environmental efforts aren't as great as supporters contend.

"Im appalled," said Betsy Steiner, spokeswoman for EPS Alliance in Maryland, which represents manufacturers who make packaging materials out of Styrofoam and polystyrene. "Were opposed to the plan. There are serious errors in their statistical representation."

She said her group is considering whether to take any legal action against San Francisco, and is worried it will inspire similar legislation in other areas.

Steiner said such a sweeping ban is unprecedented, noting that the city of San Francisco did not take into account any of her groups written statements or counterarguments to its scientific data. Spokeswoman Lisa Dry said the American Chemistry Council is also adamantly against San Francisco's ban, and disputes the supervisor's data, saying that polystyrene foodservice packaging is quite safe.

The California Grocers Association has also been wary of the ban, with members pushing for more time to switch from Styrofoam to eco-friendly alternatives, according to Guillermo Rodriguez, spokesman for San Francisco's Department of the Environment. As a result, the law won't take effect until next year.

Polystyrene foam never biodegrades, pollutes the bay and contains harmful chemicals, according to information released by Breeds office.

Rodriguez said he expects most businesses to comply, as they did with the state's ban on plastic bags.

"This ordinance is one of the strongest in the country protecting both the environment and public health," he said. "The ordinance is a good model for other local governments to follow."
SAN FRANCISCO - Jocelyn Roses dog, Tuco, is the inspiration behind Boo Boos Best, her dog treat company. Rose counts on her e-commerce website to drive business.

"Anyone I approach, they always use the website for reference. Its the first place they go to learn about the product, to learn about the company, Rose said.

But recently, Rose's website was taken down. A message on the site read "temporarily unavailable." She didnt know how or why it happened, but she did know it would hurt business.

"It means we dont get sales, so I dont make money," Rose said.

Scrambling to get her site back up, Rose called Bluehost, her hosting site, and was connected to SiteLock, a website security company.

Rose said SiteLock referenced an email it had sent her - that it detected malware on her site. Rose recalled the email, but had dismissed it as spam. After all, she didnt do business with SiteLock; shed never even heard of the company.

Still, Rose said SiteLock told her she had to pay upwards of $120 a month to fix the malware and get her site up and running again.

"Thats a lot of money," Rose said. "Especially for someone like me. Im a small business, Im just starting and trying. Thats a big chunk of money."

Confused and frustrated, Rose asked NBC Bay Area Responds to help.

Bluehost explained that SiteLock is a security partner, and it did in fact find malware on Roses site. So it took down the site so the malware wouldnt spread to other websites hosted by Bluehost.

Bluehost acknowledged that the SiteLock email could be perceived as spam, so its working to evolve its email communications.

And eager to help out Rose, Bluehost jumped in and fixed her site for free. Boo Boos Best is back in business.

"I must say it was very fast," Rose said. "Its fantastic. Im thrilled!"

In a statement, Bluehost said its "priority is to offer premier web services that protect both our customers and network."

SiteLock said its already modified its email so its relationship to Bluehost is clear.

And both companies recommend that all small business owners, including Rose, invest in security to protect their sites.
Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the shooting of a 28-year-old man, who was killed outside a family celebration in San Leandro in May, police said.

San Leandro police, with the assistance of 100-plus law enforcement officials from Hayward, Union City and elsewhere, served search warrants at multiple Bay Area locations Monday. Officers were able to nab a trio, who, they said, targeted Dariel Arreola on May 15.

One of the suspects has been identified as Daniel Norberto Villareal, while the other two are minors  14 and 16 years old respectively  and so have not been named, police said. The victim and suspects are affiliated with rival gangs.

"Two suspects came from behind him and shot him from behind, killing him nearly instantly," Lt. Robert McManus said.

Police received multiple reports of a shooting on the 13900 block of East 14th Street around 7:35 p.m. May 15. Responding officers found that a white minivan had rammed into a light pole near the intersection of 138th Avenue and also collided with an SUV as the suspects tried to get away.

Officers were directed to San Leandros Senior Community Center, where a private event was underway.

Officers found Arreola, suffering from gunshot wounds, on the walkway outside the buildings main entrance. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

According to police, Arreola had close ties to numerous East Bay cities, including Hayward, although the nature of those ties remains unknown.

Villareal, who was arrested in a San Jose apartment, is facing a murder charge, police said. One minor was taken into custody in Union City while the other surrendered to the San Leandro Police Department, police said.

"All members arrested in this case have gang enhancement charges that will be filed against them," McManus said.

An investigation is ongoing and the Alameda County District Attorneys office is slated to review the case Wednesday and hand down official charges against the suspects.

When asked about why such a large number of police personnel helped with homicide investigation, McManus said: "We needed to be prepared to do this safely. We needed to be prepared to arrest the suspects and at the same time make sure our community was safe."
An Indiana couple was arrested Tuesday  two years after police removed their "extremely emaciated" 12-year-old from their home, NBC News Reported.

The child weighed just 23 pounds at the time and was disabled, said Sheriff Terry Risner of the Jasper County Sheriff's Office.

"This was their child," Risner told NBC News. "We're staying gender neutral for the sake of the victim. This is a small community."

Jay Rupert, 50, and his wife Tabitha, 41, were each charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent, Risner said.

The state Department of Children and Family Services removed the child in June 2014 from the couple's residence in Rensselaer, Indiana.

According to Risner the child was diagnosed with a non-curable brain disorder that requires constant care. The child also never received formal schooling by enrollment or home school, Risner said.
Illinois lawmakers returned to Springfield Wednesday for a special legislative session that could have big impacts on the state's ongoing budget crisis.

Lawmakers will likely vote on funding for education and a stopgap for essential government services, like higher education and social services, which could be in trouble as the state approaches its second fiscal year with no budget. If a deal isn't reached, schools may not open and services could shut down after July 1.

Both Republicans and Democrats are introducing proposals while party leaders continue to meet with the governor about a potential compromise.

Here are five things to know heading into the special legislative session:

1. Party leaders are working on a compromise with the governor

Party leaders have been working with Gov. Bruce Rauner to devise a compromise to fund K-12 education and other essential government services.

On Tuesday, lawmakers met for three hours in a meeting that House Speaker Mike Madigan called productive.

House Minority Leader Jim Durkin said it was a good discussion, but caution is always in order.

Lawmakers met again on Wednesday morning for less than an hour. Senate President John Cullerton was also cautiously optimistic about the outlook during a break.

Were continuing to negotiate with the governor, Cullerton said outside of the governors office. People are making offers and counter offers and we look forward to continuing this morning to try to come up with a solution.

Cullerton noted that this was the first time this sort of negotiation had taken place. The meeting is ongoing.

2. Republicans are set to introduce funding bills Wednesday

Rauner released details about his revamped funding plan for K-12 education and other essential government services Tuesday. The governor shifted his attention to stopgap funding after lawmakers failed to pass a budget before the end of the spring legislative session last month.

Durkin and Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno filed the measures Tuesday. The identical bills will be introduced the the House and Senate simultaneously.

The plan would fund K-12 for the full year with a funding increase of $240 million. All told, schools would receive $7 billion.

A hold harmless clause, which gives all school districts as much money as they received the previous year, is included in the education funding bill.

This means that, under Rauners plan, CPS would see neither an increase or decrease in its funding -- a stark contrast to the increase Democrats have proposed.

Rauner has repeatedly spoken out against a bailout of CPS."

I have said it before, and I say it again today: we must not bail out a broken system that refuses to change the way it does business, Rauner said in a statement Tuesday. Forcing Illinois to raise its income tax to bail out CPS is fundamentally unfair to our school children, parents, homeowners and small business owners across the state.

The Republican plan also includes a bill to fund the states essential services through the end of the year. This includes health and human services, higher education and state-operate facilities, like prisons.

Under the plan, higher education would receive $1 billion, critical state government operations would receive $454 million and human services would receive $650 million.

In total, the package includes $50.3 billion in funding for fiscal year 2017, as well as $25 billion to shore up fiscal year 2016.

3. Democrats plan to introduce their own bills.

An alternate proposal drafted by Democrats will also introduce bills to fund education and state services.

The plan is broken up into five separate bills. The bills would individually fund: P-12 education, state operations, higher education, human services and highway construction.

The education bill would increase funding for schools by $760 million. It would increase CPS funding by $286 million and give the district $112 million for pension payments.

However, the plan notes that there is no Chicago bailout included."

The plan would also appropriate $680 million for state operational costs, $1 billion for higher education funding and $650 million to health and human services providers who are not being paid by consent decrees while the state operates without a budget.

4. Theres still no official, balanced budget in sight

Lawmakers left Springfield at the end of May without passing a budget for the state. Rauner said the session ended in a stunning failure and faulted Democrats, who hold a majority in both houses of the General Assembly, for not passing a budget before the deadline.

Rauner claimed lawmakers were holding out on voting on reforms until after Novembers general election.

This is the second year in a row that the legislature has adjourned without passing a budget before the end of the spring session.

Last June, Rauner vetoed a Democratic budget proposal, claiming it was $4 billion out of balance, but signed off on a portion of the measure that dealt with funding education.

5. The one year mark for the states budget impasse is Friday

The nearly year-long impasse has adversely affected health and social services, as well as public colleges and universities.

The state has relied on court orders and consent decrees for funding over the course of the impasse and has failed to make payments for certain schools and services because money was not appropriated in a budget.

As a result, a group of Illinois-based human and social service agencies and companies filed a lawsuit against Rauner and members of his administration in May seeking payment of over $100 million. An early childhood education nonprofit led the the governors wife, Diana Rauner, joined the lawsuit later in the month.

Additionally, Chicago State University was forced to lay off more than 300 employees in April after cutting the semester short to save critical funds.

The impasse has hinged on Rauners Turnaround Agena, which is focused on pension reform, term limits, weakening unions, freezing propoerty taxes and redistricting workers.

However, the governors new stopgap funding plan has little trace of his pro-business, union-weakening agenda.
A host of Illinois newspapers printed front page editorial urging lawmakers to pass a budget Wednesday.

The State Journal Register, Peoria Journal Star, Pekin Daily Times and The Pantagraph all claimed Illinoisans have had enough of the political standoff in separate editorials that called on the governor and the General Assembly to push beyond stopgap funding measures to pass a full budget.

The Illinois General Assembly reconvened in Springfield Wednesday. Both Democrats and Republicans are expected to introduce stopgap measures to fund K-12 education and other essential government services, like higher education and social services. Meanwhile, Gov. Bruce Rauner is reportedly working on a compromise with party leaders.

If a deal isnt made, the states ongoing budget impasse will likely stretch into its second year Friday. This means schools may not open and state services could shut down after July 1.

The Pantagraph Editorial Board called for immediate action.

The state needs a budget, they wrote. Now. The state needs your leadership over partisanship, beginning today when you return to the state capital for the first time in a month."

The Peoria Journal Star questioned the leadership in Springfield.

Its fair to ask, with but hours to go before beginning a new budget year with, as of now, no authority to spend money: What other legitimate business would behave this way? What other workplace would tolerate this without heads rolling, the papers editorial said.

The Pekin Times Editorial Board claimed Illinois most vulnerable citizens have been hung out to dry.

To no apparent concern to Gov. Rauner or Speaker Madigan, one million of the most vulnerable Illinoisans have been left to fend for themselves. the editorial board wrote. "And its only getting worse."

The State Journal-Register Editorial Board claimed politicians viewed the fallout as collateral damage.

Perhaps the most damaging long-term effect is the toxic cynicism and frustration this crisis has created among its residents, who have to wonder at this point if Rauner, Madigan and Cullerton simply view the toll on Illinois people as mere collateral damage, the editorial board wrote.

The Chicago Sun-Times, The Southern Illinoisan, The Register Mall, The Rock Island Argus, Daily Herald, News-Gazette, Journal Gazette and Times-Courier, Daily Journal, Daily Review Atlas, The Carroll County Review and Herald & Review also printed similar front page editorials Wednesday.

Meanwhile, party leaders met with the governor for 3 hours last night in a meeting House Speaker Mike Madigan called "productive." Rauner, Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton, House Minority Leader and Senate Minority Leader reconvened Wednesday morning and are still ironing out a deal in the governor's office.

During a break from the meeting Wednesday, Senate President John Cullerton was cautiously optimistic about the compromise, noting that this was the first time this sort of negotiation had taken place.

Were continuing to negotiate with the governor, Cullerton said. People are making offers and counter offers and we look forward to continuing this morning to try to come up with a solution.
Chicago police are searching for suspects after a young boy was shot in the face in the citys Woodlawn neighborhood Wednesday night.

Police say it was around 9 p.m. when bullets came flying from a dark-colored vehicle towards a crowd standing in a courtyard of an apartment at West 64th Street and King Drive, striking 4-year-old Kavan Collins in the jaw.

A 28-year-old woman also suffered a graze wound to her temple, according to police.

Thursday morning the boy was being treated at Comer Childrens Hospital and is expected to be okay, authorities said. The woman was taken to Cook Countys Stroger Hospital and is said to be in stable condition.

Chicago police say they have no suspects in custody.

Community activists told NBC 5 neighbors have indicated they know who was behind the shooting, and hope a $10,000 reward being offered by Project HOOD will encourage someone to speak up.

We cannot continue to allow children to be shot when they are just outside with their mom trying to play and have a good day, said Pastor Corey Brooks. So were going to make sure when you shoot someone in Woodlawn, from this point on, were going to do everything we can to make sure that youre arrested and that everything is thrown at you that can possibly be thrown at you."

About a half hour after Kavan's shooting, gunshots rang out again in the city, hitting multiple victims over six miles north in the Lawndale neighborhood at West 15th Street and South Christiana Avenue. This time, four men in their early 20s were shot after a fight broke out between two groups. Police suspect all the victims are gang members.

Wednesday has been deemed a National Day of Action to Stop Gun Violence, with demonstrations planned across the country and at Chicagos Federal Plaza.
Bond was set at $1 million for one of two men who were shot by an off-duty Cook County sheriffs deputy who witnessed them shooting at a vehicle Sunday night in the Southwest Side Marquette Park neighborhood.

Eleazar Ramirez, 18, was charged with aggravated assault of a police officer with a weapon, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and discharge of a firearm at an armed vehicle, all felonies, according to Chicago Police. David Alvarez, 23, was charged with one misdemeanor count of aggravated assault to a protected public employee.

The deputy was eating in his car about 8:40 p.m. Sunday in the 7000 block of South Kanst Drive when he saw two men arguing with people inside a nearby car, police said. He then saw the two pull out weapons and fire at the vehicle.

The deputy got out and identified himself as a police officer. The two turned around and pointed their guns at the deputy, who pulled out his own weapon and shot them, police said.

One suffered a gunshot wound to the leg, and the other was shot in the ankle, police said. They were both taken in good condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

No one else was injured in the shooting.

A police source said both men are documented gang members.

Bond for Ramirez was set at $1 million Tuesday, according to the sheriffs office. His next court date is scheduled for July 5.

Court information for Alvarez was not immediately available.
Illinois Democrats from the U.S. House of Representatives will join a "national day of action Wednesday in Chicago to demonstrate for gun control.

"Every day in America, 297 people are shot and 89 people are killed by guns, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly said in a release. "In Chicago, someone is shot every 2.8 hours. Mass shootings from Sandy Hook to Colorado Springs, from San Bernardino to Orlando and the daily violence all contribute to the need for action  to stop the violence, to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, and to disarm hate."

Kelly will be joined by Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Danny Davis, Bill Foster, and Mike Quigley at the demonstration, which is slated to take place at Federal Plaza downtown.

Everyone in the group participated in last weeks 26-hour sit-in on the House floor, demanding a vote on gun control legislation.

Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, of New York, and Rev. Michael Pfleger will also be attending Wednesday's event.

The renewed push for gun control legislation comes in the wake of the deadly mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando earlier this month.

A gunman opened fire early Sunday morning at Pulse Orlando, a popular gay dance club, killing 49 people and leaving 53 more wounded, police said. The shooting is being called the worst mass shooting in the countrys modern history.

Additionally, Chicago is facing a particularly violent year. This past weekend alone saw more than 50 people shot, 7 fatally.
Plans for a surf park at Montrose Beach have been wiped out.

Chicago Surf proposed an on-land surf park as part several renovations to the Wilson Avenue beach house on the citys North Side, according to the companys founder K.C. Hoos.

But public feedback, including a campaign organized by birders concerned about proximity to a bird sanctuary, has tabled the proposal, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The habitat is very fragile, Chicago Audubon Society President Dave Willard told the Sun-Times. The surf-park would draw large numbers of people oblivious to the precious nature of this sanctuary.

The Chicago Park District does plan to renovate the beach's bathrooms and concession next year, a spokesperson told the Sun-Times.

But Hoos' surfing simulation park will no longer be a part of the renovations.

46th Ward Alderman James Cappleman has hosted at least one open meeting in May to discuss the potential project, which Hoos said depended on community support. The meeting reportedly was lively, with both supporters and opponents strongly voicing their opinion, according to the Sun-Times.
It was an attack that echoed the carnage earlier this year at the Brussels airport, down to the taxi that carried the men to their target: Inciting panic and then taking lethal advantage, three suicide attackers unleashed a deadly tide of bullets and bombs at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, leaving 42 dead.

Authorities blamed the Islamic State for the blood bath late Tuesday, a coordinated assault on one of the world's busiest airports and on a key NATO ally that plays a crucial role in the fight against the extremist group.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility by the militant group.

Although the attack took a heavy toll, the assailants were initially thwarted by the extensive security on the airport's perimeter, Turkish officials said.

"When the terrorists couldn't pass the regular security system, when they couldn't pass the scanners, police and security controls, they returned and took their weapons out of their suitcases and opened fire at random at the security check," Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

One attacker detonated his explosives downstairs at the arrivals terminal, one went upstairs and blew himself up in the departure hall, and the third waited outside for the fleeing crowd and caused the final lethal blast, two Turkish officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak about the investigation publicly. None of the attackers were Turks, a third official said.

As the chaos unfolded, terrified travelers were sent running first from one explosion and then another. Airport surveillance video showed a panicked crowd of people, some rolling suitcases behind them, stampeding down a corridor, looking fearfully over their shoulders.

Other surveillance footage posted on social media showed one explosion, a ball of fire that sent terrified passengers racing for cover. Another showed an attacker, felled by a gunshot from a security officer, blowing himself up seconds later.

Cihan Tunctas had just disembarked from a flight from Azerbaijan when he heard the sound of gunfire.

"Then the bomb exploded. We were at the exit and ... the roof collapsed on our heads," Tunctas said. The group tried to escape, but their path was blocked by the arrival of a second attacker.

"Two of the security guards noticed him. They walked toward him. Just as they were walking toward him, I turned that way. They just caught him and at that moment he detonated the bomb."

Investigators later found a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a handgun and two grenades on the bodies, according to the state-run Anadolu news service. Raids at two addresses also uncovered encrypted organizational documents and computer files, the news agency said.

Although the government quickly blamed the Islamic State, there was no immediate claim of responsibility by the extremist group, which did not mention the bloodshed on its social media sites Wednesday. However, an infographic released to celebrate the second anniversary of its self-proclaimed caliphate claimed to have "covert units" in Turkey and other countries.

Islamic State, however, rarely claims attacks in Turkey. One possible reason is a reluctance to be seen as killing fellow Muslims, said Anthony Skinner, director of the analyst group Verisk Maplecroft. Another is its desire to exploit the violent rift between Turkey and Kurdish rebels, he said.

"It very clearly meets Islamic State's strategic objectives to leave this ambiguity," Skinner said.

Yildirim, the Turkish prime minister, also suggested the attack could be linked to steps Ankara took Monday toward mending strained ties with Israel and Russia. Late Wednesday, he told the Turkish public the authorities were increasingly convinced that the Islamic State group, also known as Daesh, was responsible for the ghastly attack.

"Our thought that it is Daesh, continues to gain weight," Yildirim said.

A key partner in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group, Turkey faces an array of security threats from other groups as well, including ultra-left radicals and Kurdish rebels demanding greater autonomy in the restive southeast.

The country shares long, porous borders with both Syria and Iraq, where IS controls large pockets of territory, and the government has blamed IS for several major bombings over the past year, including in the capital Ankara, and on tourists in Istanbul.

"The reality is that Turkey is situated in a very vulnerable situation, geographically speaking," Skinner said.

Victims in Tuesday's attack included at least 13 foreigners and several people remained unidentified Wednesday. The Istanbul governor's office said more than 230 people were wounded and dozens remained in critical condition.

Among the dead was Muhammed Eymen Demirci, who had just landed a job on the airport's ground services crew after more than a year of unemployment: "I got the job bro!" the 25-year-old texted a friend in May.

He died while waiting for a bus after his shift. A childhood friend who had helped Demirci get the job was devastated. "He was such a friendly person, a man who fought for his ideals," Deniz Dogan told The Associated Press. "Now I wish he hadn't gotten the job."

"So, what can we think? We cannot think anything," said Ali Batur, whose brother also died. "A terror attack might happen everywhere, it does happen everywhere."

Dozens of anxious friends and relatives waited Wednesday outside Istanbul's Bakirkoy Hospital.

"You can hear that people are wailing here," said Serdar Tatlisu, a relative of a victim. "We cannot cope anymore, we can't just stay still. We need some kind of solution for whatever problem there is."

Funerals for some of the victims began Wednesday as Turkish authorities sought to put together an attack timeline, going through surveillance footage and interviewing witnesses. A Turkish court imposed a media ban on any information not officially released by the government.

The devastation at Istanbul's airport was a reminder of the March 22 attack on the Brussels airport, where two suicide bombings ripped through check-in counters, killing 16 people. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack, as well as an explosion the same day at a Brussels subway station that killed 16 more people.

As dawn broke Wednesday, workers were removing debris from the Istanbul airport and mere hours after the terminal erupted into chaos, it reopened to flights. It took 12 days for flights to resume in Brussels, and more than two months for the terminal building to fully reopen.

Turkey has suffered a series of attacks that have frightened away visitors and devastated its economy, which relies heavily on tourism.

The government has stepped up controls at airports and land borders and deported thousands of foreign fighters, but has struggled to tackle the extremist threat while also conducting security operations against Kurdish rebels. Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrances to terminal buildings and before the entrances to departure gates.

This year alone, a Jan. 12 attack that Turkish authorities blamed on IS claimed the lives of a dozen German tourists visiting Istanbul's historic sites. On March 19, a suicide bombing rocked Istanbul's main pedestrian street, killing five people, including the bomber, whom the authorities identified as a Turkish national linked to IS.

Last October, twin suicide bombings hit a peace rally outside Ankara's train station, killing 103 people. There was no claim of responsibility but Turkish authorities blamed it on an Islamic State cell.
One firefighter was brought to the burn unit after battling a fire at an apartment building on Gillett Street in Hartford on Wednesday morning that displaced 12 families.

The fire likely started at the bottom of the 9 Gillett St. in Hartford, a 12-unit apartment building built in 1915, according to online assessor's records.

When I stepped outside and saw all of the fire coming out of the apartment, it really hit me how big of a fire it was, Jeniffer Perez Caraballo, of Hartford, said. But at least were all safe.

Firefighters responded to the house at 8:02 a.m. and the fire was raging when they arrived.

One firefighter's hand was burned during the fire and he was brought to Saint Francis Hospital, but then transferred to the Bridgeport Burn Unit.

The fire was out as of 8:32 a.m. and no residents were injured.

Fifteen adults and five children have been displaced.
Vernon, Connecticut, Police arrested two 17-year-old Manchester boys after they crashed a stolen car early Wednesday morning, according to police.

The car was stolen from Manchester and the two teens had been taking turns driving throughout the night until hitting a guardrail on Windsor Avenue, near Union Street, police said.

The teens werent hurt, but the vehicle sustained heavy damage.

The boys were issued juvenile summons and released to guardians. Two girls who were in the car with them have not been charged.

Vernon Police said they are investigating several overnight car burglaries and thefts in June.

The burglaries happened in several neighborhoods and almost all have involved unlocked vehicles in which the keys were left inside, police said.

Police urge residents to be diligent, lock car doors and refrain from leaving keys to the vehicle inside the car.

Anyone with information about the vehicle thefts should call Vernon Police at 860-872-9126.
A merchant vessel that pulled into New Haven, Connecticut, this week is being honored by the U.S. Coast Guard for rescuing 19 fishermen from a boat that caught fire in the Atlantic Ocean, 900 miles southeast of Bermuda.

The ship, K. Coral, spotted a plume of black smoke one day last week and when it pulled closer, the crew found the boat engulfed in flames and the sailors in the water.

Seventeen fishermen were hoisted aboard the vessel. Two others drifted away while clinging to wreckage. Lookouts searched for several hours through nightfall and heavy wind and rain before the crew pulled them both to safety.

Park Hyog Soo, the South Korean captain of the Panama-flagged K. Coral, provided a minute-by-minute account of the rescue effort in dispatches to the Coast Guard and Bermuda authorities.
The remains of two crew members who'd been missing since a head-on freight train collision in the Texas Panhandle were found Wednesday, officials said, and the third missing worker is presumed dead.[[384709471,R]]

The bodies were found in the wreckage of the two trains near the town of Panhandle, BNSF Railway spokesman Joe Faust said. One crew member is still missing, and a fourth jumped from one of the trains just before impact Tuesday; he is hospitalized with injuries that are not life-threatening, Faust said.

Work crews continued to pick through the tangled and smoldering wreckage of the smashed locomotives, rail cars and shipping containers near the town of Panhandle, about 40 miles northwest of Amarillo, he said.

The BNSF Railway freight trains were on the same track when they collided, triggering a fireball and causing containers and cars to tumble onto one another in a pileup.

[DFW] Photos Show Massive Fiery Train Collision in Panhandle

One train had earlier stopped in Amarillo to refuel for its trip to Chicago, and that diesel fuel contributed to a fire that burned into the night, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Dan Buesing said.

"You have two engines on each train with fuel and the eastbound train had stopped in the Amarillo yard and may have had extra fuel added for the trip out east," he said. The westbound train was headed to Los Angeles.

Freight cars and containers were derailed and strewn about 400 yards from the collision site just outside the town of Panhandle, Buesing said. Floodlights were brought in overnight to aid emergency workers trying to quell the flames and start the search for the three crew members, he said.

Both trains carried stacked containers of consumer goods, such as paper products, clothing, television sets and computers.

It's not clear how fast the trains were traveling when they collided, but the speed limit in that area is 70 mph and BNSF spokesman Joe Faust said they were "traveling at less than track speed." It also wasn't clear why the trains were on the same track.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said the NTSB has opened an investigation, and the Federal Railroad Administration said it has investigators on site.

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More

BNSF has pledged to meet a 2018 federal deadline to adopt technology, called positive train control or PTC, that relies on GPS, wireless radio and computers to monitor train positions and automatically slow or stop trains that are in danger of colliding, derailing due to excessive speed or about to enter track where crews are working or that is otherwise off limits. At least three freight railroads have said they'll need an extension to 2020.

Faust said the collision is the type of accident PTC can prevent and that BNSF is "aggressively" pursuing it "across our network."

"While sections of the track operated by the eastbound train involved in this accident have PTC installed and are being tested, the section of track where the incident occurred will be installed later this year," he said in a statement released Tuesday.

It's not unusual to have an accident in the Panhandle involving a truck that's struck by a freight train, Buesing said, but the magnitude of Tuesday's accident was startling.

Tuesday's accident is at least the second in recent years involving BNSF trains striking one another. In September 2013, three were involved in a wreck near Amarillo that injured five crew members, according to an NTSB report. The federal agency in that incident faulted the crew in one train for improperly proceeding past a signal and striking the rear of a stationary train, and cars that derailed were then struck by a train passing in the opposite direction.
As drivers prepare for the July Fourth holiday, the average price of retail gas across Texas remains steady.

AAA Texas said Wednesday that the statewide average for a gallon of regular unleaded gas is at $2.12 this week. That price is the same as last week and 46 cents less per gallon than last year.

Drivers in Dallas are paying the most on average at $2.19 per gallon. Drivers in Amarillo are paying the least at $1.98 per gallon.

AAA Texas says the national average is $2.29 per gallon. That's three cents less than last week, 48 cents less than last year.

AAA Texas forecasts that of Texans traveling during the holiday weekend, 2.6 million will drive -- a 1.6 percent increase in auto travel compared to last year.
Texas beachgoers are on alert after two people recently became infected by a flesh-eating bacteria in the water.

The vibrio bacteria is found in warm salt water, and it can be deadly.

Updated numbers from the Texas Department of State Health Services show that as of Wednesday, June 29, there have been 28 confirmed cases of vibrio infections so far this year.

Forty-three percent of infected patients contracted the bacteria in the water, according to the state health department.

State officials said the most recent case was confirmed in Harris County on Tuesday.

However, state health officials could not immediately say whether the number includes the two cases out of Galveston because the cases are reported to the state by the health departments in the county where the patient resides, not where he or she was infected.

They also say there could be more cases that are under investigation at a local level but have not been reported yet to the state level.

One person in Texas has died from vibrio infection this year, though state officials declined to say where the person lived or how he or she became infected.

Vibrio lives in certain coastal waters and is present in higher concentrations between May and October when water temperatures are warmer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Certain vibrio species can cause a skin infection when an open wound is exposed to brackish or salt water. The bacteria can enter the body through minor cuts, insect bites or scrapes and produce a toxin that kills the soft tissue at the site of entry.

Kaitlyn Sachs, 26, of Plano, was infected by a flesh-eating bacteria, likely vibrio vulnificus, during a trip to Cancun in 2014.

She traveled to Mexico for a friend's wedding and went swimming in the hotel pool and in the ocean the day before the ceremony and reception.

"It was the morning of the wedding. We were all getting ready and I started to notice that I was having some fever and chills. I just kind of shook it off and said, 'OK, I'll be fine. I can make it through the wedding,' and during the actual ceremony is when it started to get a lot worse," said Sachs.

She described the pain in her leg as excruciating and over the next 24 hours, her symptoms  including, a fever of 104 degrees, chills and soreness  worsened.

Her mother picker her up from the airport the next day and immediately drove her to the hospital.

"The minute that she saw me when I got off the plane, she knew something was really wrong because my leg was at least three times its normal size," said Sachs.

Doctors don't know how the bacteria got into her body but said it can enter through a cut as small as a nick from a razor.

"That's why it's very important when you have a cut or scrape, immediately use a topical ointment so that way the cuts can heal," said Dr. Nikhil Bhayani, an infectious disease physician at North Hills Hospital.

He also stressed the importance of seeking medical attention if you notice symptoms of infection such as fever, chills, localized redness or swelling of the affected area.

"We're seeing an increase in this. It's becoming more prevalent, which means people have to be more vigilant," said Bhayani.

Doctors were able to remove all the infected tissue from Sachs' leg.

"My main concern was, 'Am I going to have a leg when I come out of surgery?' And I kept asking the doctors that and they kept promising that I would," said Sachs.

After a two-week hospital stay, plus eight weeks at home recovering, Sachs is grateful to be at full strength an entire year later.

"I realized how lucky and fortunate I am because the other outcomes are a lot worst," she said.

Doctors urge beachgoers to inspect the sand for shells or sharp objects that may puncture your skin.

Also, research the area where you're vacationing to see if it has a recent history of infection from flesh-eating bacteria, and clean your body after swimming in the ocean.

2015 had one of the highest Vibrio cases, totaling 102, the highest number in the last decade, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

45 percent involved water contact.

Four people died from Vibrio infection in 2015.

Of those, three were exposed the bacteria by consuming tainted shellfish.

The fourth person was exposed to the bacteria while outside of the state, but died upon returning to Texas.

According to health officials, people dont typically become exposed to the bacteria by swallowing ocean water.

Exposure through consumption usually happens when someone eats raw shellfish, particularly oysters.
A Fort Worth police captain was arrested after being involved in a crash in Hurst early Wednesday morning, authorities say. [[384869111,C]]

Hurst police said officers responded to a crash involving two vehicles on the eastbound TexExpress lanes of Texas 121 near Norwood Drive at 2:01 a.m.

Investigators said Capt. Daniel Humphries was intoxicated and had stopped his police Tahoe along the highway when the driver of a sedan crashed into him.

Humphries was arrested for intoxication assault and taken to the Euless jail. He was not injured.

The driver of the sedan, 52-year-old Mark Holley, had to be extricated and was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital with injuries that were not life threatening.

A Fort Worth police captain was arrested after being involved in a crash in Hurst early Wednesday morning, authorities say.

A police report said officers found a controlled substance in Holley's car.

Humphries was arraigned Thursday morning and his bond was set at $15,000.

Fort Worth police stated the Humphries was placed on restricted duty while an Internal Affairs unit investigates. The department's statement also said:

"The Fort Worth Police Department believes that citizens should expect our officers to adhere to the law and set an example for others to follow. When we fail, however, we also believe that our officers, as with any citizen accused of violating the law, deserve and should receive due process before judgments are made."

Humphries has been with the department since July 1992 and was the commander over the Traffic Division.

Holley was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital. His father said he broke his sternum and injured his hand in the accident.

NBC 5's Ken Kalthoff and Scott Gordon contributed to this report.
Officers from several agencies were searching late Tuesday for a man who they believe fled into a secure area at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport following a vehicle pursuit.

Grand Prairie police began chasing the man after he drove away from an attempted stop for a traffic violation on northbound Texas Highway 360. Eventually the man pulled over and left his car, which caught fire, along the frontage road for Texas 183, near Texas 360, at the southwest corner of D/FW Airport.

Police lost track of the man and called for firefighters, who then cut a section of the airport perimeter fence so officers could pass through and continue their search.

Other agencies assisted Grand Prairie police in the search, including Fort Worth and the Texas Department of Public Safety, which used a helicopter to search from the air.

The man was not located, and by 11 p.m., the ground search on D/FW Airport property had ended.

A description of the man has not been released.

The passenger terminals at D/FW Airport, located more than a mile from the search location, were not placed on lockdown.
Explosions rocked Turkey's largest airport Tuesday night, killing at least three dozen people and wounding scores more in what appeared to be a coordinated terror attack, officials said.

The gunmen opened fire around 10:30 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. ET) at the entrance of the international arrivals area at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, where fiery explosives sent people running for their lives, witnesses and officials said.

The number of dead and injured fluctuated steadily overnight amid the confusion; Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on television that at least 36 people were killed. The Turkish Red Crescent counted "over a hundred" injured.

The White House condemned the blasts as a "heinous terrorist attack," and the U.S. State Department said it was determining if any victims were American.

Initial indications are that ISIS carried out the killings, Yildirim said, "but we are still working on determining the cause."

Get More at NBC News.
President Barack Obama and the leaders of Mexico and Canada pushed back forcefully on Wednesday against the isolationist and anti-immigrant sentiments that have roiled Britain and been championed by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. The leaders warned against easy solutions peddled by "demagogues" who feed on economic anxiety.

With tensions growing over terrorism and fallout from Britain's exit from the European Union, Obama acknowledged that Americans and others have reason to be concerned about their own future in a rapidly globalizing economy. He said concerns about immigrants had been exploited by politicians in the past, but he insisted he wasn't worried Americans will follow that path.

"We should take some of this seriously and answer it boldly and clearly," Obama said, without naming the Republican presidential candidate. "But you shouldn't think that is representative of how the American people think."

Gathering in the Canadian capital, the leaders defended their calls for freer trade within the continent and beyond. They argued that instead of withdrawing from the world, advanced countries should focus on higher standards, wages and legal protections that would ensure the benefits of globalization are widely felt.

"The integration of national economies into a global economy, that's here. That's done," Obama said.

Obama's comments at a joint news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto came as the leaders sought a show of unity amid growing nationalist movements in Europe and elsewhere, epitomized by Britain's move to leave the 28-member EU. Obama also planned to address the Canadian Parliament during his visit, becoming the ninth American leader to do so.

Though Britain's decision has rattled the global financial system, Obama said he believed the markets were starting to settle down. Still, he acknowledged there would be "genuine longer-term concerns" about global economic growth "if, in fact, Brexit goes through."

"This doesn't help," he said.

Obama said his primary message to British Prime Minister David Cameron and to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is largely spearheading Europe's response, was that "everybody should catch their breath." Though Merkel and other European leaders have urged Britain to start its withdrawal quickly, Obama called for a thought-out process that would be transparent and clearly understandable to all of Europe's citizens.

"I think that will be a difficult, challenging process, but it does not need to be a panicky process," the president said.

The Canadian and Mexican leaders largely echoed Obama's calls for staying focused on closer economic ties. Pena Nieto said Mexico sees opportunity for growth and investment by broadening its relationship with the rest of the continent.

"We are competitors, yes, but we have complimentary economies, and that will give more development to our society," he said.

And Trudeau said the three leaders' strategy for combatting protectionist views was to "highlight how much trade and positive agreement among our nations are good not only for the economy of the world and the economy of our countries, but it's also good for our citizens."

Yet it was Trump and his insistence that Americans are better served by reasserting independence that shadowed the leaders' meetings at the annual North American Leaders' Summit. Even as the three took the podium in Ottawa, Trump was threatening to pull the U.S. out of the North American Free Trade Agreement, chanting at a rally, "No more NAFTA."

When a reporter asked the leaders to weigh in on Trump, Obama intervened before Trudeau could answer, suggesting he should be careful what he says in case Trump ends up winning.

"I'm not saying they shouldn't answer. I'm just  I'm helping him out a little bit," Obama said.

He appeared personally insulted by Trump's claims to represent the public's best interests, accusing the presumptive Republican nominee of wrongly purporting to be a populist. He said people like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders rightly deserve label of "populist" but that Trump is merely resorting to "nativism," ''xenophobia" and "cynicism."

The attack on a Turkish airport in which dozens died on Tuesday added to the urgency of discussions about how the three countries can work together to enhance security. Sitting down earlier with Pena Nieto, Obama said the gun-and-bomb attacks show how little these "vicious organizations" have to offer.

"We will not rest until we have dismantled these networks of hate that have an impact on the entire civilized world," Obama said.

Ahead of the summit, Trudeau and Pena Nieto announced measures to reduce barriers during the Mexican leader's state visit to Canada. Trudeau said Canada will lift visa requirements for Mexican visitors as of December 2016. Pena Nieto agreed to open Mexican markets to Canadian beef.

Efforts to curb global warming were a big part of the summit. The leaders pledged to rely on renewable energy to generate 50 percent of North America's electrical power by 2025. Mexico also committed to joining the United States and Canada in tackling methane emissions.

Associated Press writers Josh Lederman, Kathleen Hennessey and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump weighed in on the Istanbul terror attacks Tuesday, underscoring the candidates' very different approaches to foreign policy, NBC News reported.

The presumptive GOP nominee suggested fighting "fire with fire," telling a crowd in Ohio "we have to fight so viciously and violently" against terrorists. The comments echoed Trump's tweets after the attack.

"We must do everything possible to keep this horrible terrorism outside the United States," he wrote.

Clinton's statement, meanwhile, emphasized Turkey's status as a U.S. ally and the need to cooperate with other countries in the region.

"Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence," she said.

The death toll of Tuesday's coordinated assault on Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport rose to 41 Wednesday. There has been no formal claim of responsibility, but officials have pointed to ISIS.
The Texas legislative session is still six months away, but lawmakers are already at work on bills about issues that have already surfaced.

NBC 5 has learned that several lawmakers are already thinking about bills regarding abortion, one day after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned H.B. 2.

State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said he is looking into ways to fully defund Planned Parenthood.

"Our aim in filing and drafting and considering legislation in the Texas House and Senate will be to protect human life in the womb, and, yes, and regulate and restrict abortion clinics all across the state," Leach said.

State Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, said he is looking to the Supreme Court decision to see where to go when writing a bill for the next session.

"The fight always moves on," Krause said.

Both lawmakers were co-sponsors of H.B. 2 and expect several bills to be introduced next session. State Rep. Chris Turner, D-Arlington, hopes the legislature focuses on other issues.

"I hope next session the Republican legislators will concentrate on the real priorities of this state, will stop trying to interfere in private medical decisions, and instead focus on our public school system, which is underfunded, our child protective services, which is underfunded and dysfunctional, and a variety of other things we should be focusing on in a very short window we have to address the needs of the state every two years," Turner said.

But Turner knows in a Republican-controlled House and Senate the bills are likely to come up. So he says they prepare like they have in the past.

"In those special sessions we were able to drag it out, get a lot of things on the record that proved to be useful in the court proceedings, and, of course, culminating in former Sen. Wendy Davis' filibuster, which brought national attention to this issue. All of those things were instrumental in the ultimate rejection of this law," Turner added.

There will also likely be a focus on so-called bathroom bills this session. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick became a national voice he opposed guidelines issued by the Fort Worth Independent School District on bathroom accommodations for transgender students. Turner feels with so much attention on social issues, others like education and health care go to the wayside.

"Absolutely it does. We have 140 days every two years to address all the needs of this state, so every day we spend wasted talking about social issues, just to satisfy the Tea Party base, that's one less day we have to focus on the issues that really matter," Turner said.

But Leach thinks everything can get done.

"Absolutely, the people of Texas should be assured that their representatives are representing them in the capital. That includes all areas of concern to constituents: building roads, investing in public education, tax reform, the pro-life cause, protecting the fundamental rights of Texans across the state. We can and we will do all of these things just as we've done over these past few legislative sessions," Leach said.
A San Marcos resident has been arrested and charged with first degree murder in connection with the death of his girlfriend, found with a single bullet through her head in her car, Escondido Police said.

Elizabeth Antoinette Perez was found dead in a car parked along the northbound Interstate 15 near El Norte Parkway on June 13 around 1:10 p.m., Escondido Police Department (EPD) officers said.

At a press conference Tuesday, Lt. Justin Murphy said Perez's boyfriend, Edward Long, 38, was arrested in Las Vegas and charged in connection with her death. He is awaiting extradition.

Perez's death began as a suspicious death investigation after she was found with an apparent head injury, Murphy said. Her death was later determined to be a homicide.

"It was a gunshot wound to the head," Murphy said. "At this point one single shot, yes."

Police are unclear if Perez was killed in her car, though the front driver and passenger windows were shattered, and what the circumstances of the death are.

Long initially became a person-of-interest after police served a search warrant at his house. he was later arrested when police performed a traffic stop in Las Vegas.

"At this point were not exactly sure where he (Long) was at the time all of this occurred," Murphy said.

He was arrested a little more than a week after from the start of the investigation. Long has a criminal record, police say. Murphy said police believe the killing was premeditated.

Murphy said at this point in the investigation, police will not be revealing any information they have on motives, possible statements made or evidence uncovered as the investigation is ongoing.

Monday, Long waived extradition and will be returned to San Diego to be arraigned.
The largest pop culture convention in this quadrant of the galaxy is prepping to open in San Diego in a couple of weeks, true.

But ahead of Comic-Con International, over the first weekend in July, Los Angeles shall play host to the "largest anime and manga convention in North America," a large-scale celebration of characters, cosplay, writers, artists, and the ideas that fuel the fantastical worlds behind oodles of popular properties.

Japanese comics and creations are the heart of Anime Expo, which'll keep a brimming-to-full schedule from Friday, July 1 through Monday, July 4. When not shopping for the latest manga releases, fans will have a bevy of choices from the what-to-do calendar.

Gaming? Look for competitions to jump into, from tabletop to arcade. Contests? If you have an amazing idea for an anime series, professionals will be on hand to listen, while industry panels give guests a behind-the-scenes look at how a story comes together.

Karaoke, too, plays a major role in the festival, too, as attendees celebrate a veritable cornucopia of beloved art forms that originated, and then flowered, in Japan.

Cosplay, though, wins much of the spotlight, and for compelling reason: Anime aficionados work for weeks, and even months, to pay homage to their favorite characters in a sartorial sense. A number of intimate gatherings, the Cosplay Sensai, and the centerpiece Masquerade give fans the chance to show off their best Kakashi Hatake or Motoko Kusanagi.

Jump into your costume, find when your favorite creator or artist is chatting, and make for the Los Angeles Convention Center for a celebration of anime and manga, both, in all of their rich, riveting, and prismatic forms.
The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday directed city attorneys to draw up regulations that would limit the number of costumed street performers allowed along a touristy block of Hollywood Boulevard.

Police and city officials say they are concerned about overly aggressive sales tactics and activities that take up too much space along a lively stretch of the street between Highland Boulevard and Orange Drive.

The block, which attracts millions of tourists and visitors a year, includes the Walk of Fame, TCL Chinese Theatres and Madame Tussaud's Hollywood wax museum.

The council asked the City Attorney's Office to write rules that would require street performers to obtain one of a limited number of permits that would be given out each day, with Los Angeles Police Department officials recommending that number be set at 20: 10 for the sidewalk on each side of Hollywood Boulevard, between Highland Avenue and Orange Drive.

Performers often request donations for posing for photographs.

Police officials say that one-fifth of visitors to the area reported "unsatisfactory" experiences with performers and those who distribute music compact discs or other products along the street, with many pointing to "aggressive and rude" behavior.

Recent altercations between street performers along Hollywood Boulevard have also raised concerns about public safety for the area.

Last year, performers dressed as "Mickey Mouse" and "Donald Duck" engaged in a fistfight outside the Dolby Theatre, and in another incident, a performer in a "Mr. Incredible" costume was caught on a cellphone video punching a "Batgirl" performer near TCL Chinese Theatres.

"There are some bad apples who are actually exhibiting predatory behavior,'' said Kerry Morrison, executive director of the Hollywood Property Owners Alliance, an advocate for steps "to restore some kind of order."

LAPD also expressed concern about incidents in which some character performers alleged demanded "donations" of up to $20 from tourists after posing with them for photographs.

Los Angeles City law makes no provision for street vending in Hollywood. Buskers, CD music distributors and others are allowed to accept donations, but cannot set a price or charge a specific fee, though some do.

Some character performers said the permit restriction will unfairly penalize all for the misdeeds of a few.

"If they shut this down and regulate this, it's going to be hard for me," said Omar Badhoo, wearing the costume of a character he calls "the Green Machine."

Others asserted there is an unspoken agenda to get rid of all the street performers.

"It's never been about 'good' and 'bad' characters," said Christopher Mitchell, who calls himself Hollywood Darth Vader. "It's just about corporate greed."

Morrison rejected that and said increasing "civility" will benefit all, including the performers themselves.

"I think any character who really has an appreciation for how we're trying to improve Hollywood's image would understand that there's a logic to what's being contemplated here," Morrison said.

Some attorneys, including Stephen Rohde, have expressed concerns that the city action not intrude on the first amendment rights of buskers and others who want to express themselves on Hollywood Boulevard.

The city councilman who represents Hollywood, Mitch O'Farrell, introduced the motion calling on several city departments to report back with "recommendations on policies and procedures that could be adopted to address public safety challenges in the area." That could take a month or two, O'Farrell's aide Tony Arranaga said. Then council would need to vote again on proceeding with specific recommendations.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey is urging the governor to deny parole for former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, who was convicted of the 1969 killings of grocers Leno and Rosemary La Bianca at their Los Feliz home.

"Despite overwhelming evidence of her involvement in these two horrible murders, inmate Van Houten has consistently minimized her conduct during current and past hearings," the county's top prosecutor wrote in a five-page letter to Gov. Jerry Brown that includes a photo of the victims with their daughter three years before they were killed.

"In reality, she clearly lacks insight, genuine remorse and an understanding of the magnitude of her crimes. The viciousness of the murders, the relationship of those murders to the effort to incite the "Helter Skelter" race war and Van Houten's attempts to minimize her criminal responsibility make her an unreasonable risk of danger to society,'' Lacey wrote in the letter dated June 24 and made public Tuesday.

A state parole board panel ruled on April 14 that Van Houten, now 66, was suitable for parole. She had previously been denied parole 19 times between 1979 and 2013. Van Houten was convicted of murder and conspiracy for participating with fellow Manson family members Charles "Tex" Watson and Patricia Krenwinkel in the Aug. 9, 1969, killings of Leno La Bianca, 44, and his 38-year-old wife, Rosemary, who were each stabbed multiple times.

Van Houten was sentenced to death, but re-sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that the death penalty was unconstitutional. The former Monrovia High School cheerleader and homecoming princess did not participate in the Manson family's killings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others in a Benedict Canyon mansion the night before.

Manson and many of his other former followers have repeatedly been denied parole. In January, the governor rejected a state parole board panel's August 2015 finding that another former Manson follower, Bruce Davis, was suitable for release. Davis was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy for the July 25, 1969, stabbing death of musician Gary Hinsman in his Topanga Canyon home and the killing of Donald "Shorty" Shea, who was last seen alive on Aug. 27, 1969. Onetime Manson family member Susan Atkins died in September 2009, about three weeks after a state parole board panel rejected her plea for a "compassionate release" from prison because of brain cancer.
If you think DNA sequence analysis is merely for solving homicides, pathogen evolution or archaeological mysteries, then perhaps you don't know dog doo.

It's true. DNA analysis of dog waste is a growing industry, being marketed to multi-unit property managers and homeowners associations which have struggled to get all their residents with dogs to pick up after them.

Launched eight years ago, Tennessee-based Poo Prints claims to serve 200 clients in California and 1,700 nationwide, according to Distributor Kevin Sharpton, who said its presence in the Golden state has doubled the past year.

Also seeking business is upstart MrDogPoop's Crime Lab, which asserts it can provide better service at a lower cost.

The way Poo Prints works: Property managers require all dogs on the property to have their mouths swabbed for DNA, and Poo Prints assembles a data base.

Then when dog waste isn't picked up, a sample can be sent to the lab, and the offender's identity discovered, Sharpton explained.

A decision to implement a Poo Prints program at a property is not always welcomed by all residents, especially when the specter of fines is raised.

At Lakewood's Whispering Fountains Senior Living Complex, residents with dogs were notified their pets would need to be swabbed for DNA, and that when matches are made to poo left behind, the resident could be fined $150 or more.

NBC4 reached out to residents, but was told by property management to leave.

Debbie Atilano, director of property management at Whispering Fountains, spoke to NBC4 via a phone interview. She said the goal is not to collect fines, but to encourage compliance with the rules against leaving dog waste. Management paid the $40 swabbing and registration fee for every dog, so there was no cost to residents, she said.

Poo Prints programs have a deterrent effect, said Sharpton, citing a study finding that the level of dog waste drops 75-95 percent. That also has the effect of minimizing the number of samples that might be analyzed.



Raising the issue at the dog park on Barrington Avenue in Brentwood triggered animated discussion.

"I think it's a good idea," said Ronnie Schell, a veteran actor who appeared on

"The Golden Girls" and voiced cartoons, who takes his dog Maddie to the park. "There's too much poop around," Schell observed.

"Hopefully it will make people more responsible," Nancy Gancos of Burbank said.

Others expressed concern that using DNA to trace dog waste seemed a bit overbearing. "I think it's going a little far," Laurie Crossman of Santa Monica said.

Sharpton rejects the notion of dog doo DNA analysis as overkill, and instead sees broader applications for Poo Prints, envisioning its use by regulatory bodies to reduce the adverse effects of dog waste, including spread of disease and pollution of runoff waters.
The family of a Los Angeles Unified School District special needs student who drowned while on a school field trip said the district is playing dirty and trying to move the upcoming trial out of LA County.



If the judge decides to allow the case to be heard somewhere other than LA, they worry they could lose witnesses to the miles.

The case stems from the June 2014 drowning of 16-year-old Erick Ortiz, who was on a field trip with classmates from Garfield High at Atlantic Avenue Park. Ortiz, who his family said could not swim, ended up in the pool and didn't surface.

Cesar Ortiz, the victim's brother, said he wants the LAUSD to admit what they've done.



Ortiz said he'll never forget that phone call two years ago to tell him his little brother was dead.



"My dad calls me frantically, tells me something bad happened to my brother," he said. "So many levels failed to protect my brother and we seek justice. That's all we want is justice."



In a lawsuit filed against the school district, the family points the finger at a specific teachers' aid assigned to solely stay with Ortiz, a special needs student. That day at the park, they say that didn't happen.



"That guy was assigned to my brother to take care of him and he failed him," his brother said.



In a statement, district officials said they couldn't comment but the case will be heard in Southern California.



Luis Carrillo, the Ortiz family attorney, said that could be anywhere, worrying that distances such as Kern County, Ventura and San Diego would be too much of a burden for the family and for potential witnesses.



"Many witnesses are Garfield High School students who would have to be taken by their parents to a faraway courthouse," Carrillo said.



Carrillo, who also represented students in the Miramonte sex abuse scandal, said attorneys representing LAUSD aren't playing fair in court.



"What they do is after failing to protect the kids, they make the lives miserable for the people suing the school district," he said.



According to a court filing, LAUSD attorneys cite a 1974 case giving them the right to change locations. The family believes it to be an attempt at a delay in getting justice.



"After this we want kids to be safer," said Cesar Ortiz. "Parents should know their kids are in safe hands. We gotta hold them accountable."



The case goes before the judge in downtown LA Wednesday morning. It'll be up to her to decide whether the case remains in LA County.
One of the Natural History Museum's sweetest annual festivals celebrates the critters living among us, from the coyotes of the canyons to the squirrels that skitter around our suburban streets.

Of course, if the Urban Nature Festival had been held 66 million years ago, we would have been celebrating not squirrels or coyotes but, very likely, pterosaurs, those flying reptiles of way, way, way back.

We humans weren't here 66,000,000 years ago, which is absolutely fine, for many reasons, principally that reptiles the size of cars were flying around (spoiler alert: cars also were not around).

But the Natural History Museum is bringing those long-ago winged beasties to us, today, through a brand-new exhibit ready to debut on Sunday, July 3.

"Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs" was organized by the American Museum of Natural History, so count on a caboodle of informative displays and interactive experiences, the kind of stuff that'll whisk you right back to the day when these stupendous sky soarers cast shadows on the land far below.

Nope, they weren't dinosaurs, so don't say they were (but, yes, dinos and pteros are "closely related"). The pterosaurs were, though, "the first vertebrate animals to evolve powered flight, diversifying into more than 150 species of all shapes and sizes spreading across the planet over a period of 150 million years."

And we think the microwave takes too long to warm our cup of cocoa.

Prepare to enjoy cool fossils at the exhibit, as well as interactive apps and other museum-neat to-dos, the kind of pursuits that shall lead you into "the mysterious world of the pterosaurs."

Fascinating questions regarding flight, food, and different types of pterosaurs will be answered.

So when will these prehistoric superstars fly away? Oct. 2 is the final day of the show.

Will knowing that you are walking beneath the same skies where pterodaustro and pteranodon once flew make you view our modern urban critters with new eyes? Surely, right?

Nature, you do bewitch, whether you're all about a giant reptile with wings or a wee Monarch butterfly alighting upon the lavender in our contemporary Southern California yard.
After a manhunt in South Pasadena in connection with a series of sexual assaults and home burglaries that began in the morning, police said a man was arrested Wednesday afternoon.

The suspect has been identified by police as 22-year-old Michael David Brownlee who resides in Los Angeles, according to South Pasadena police.

Three sexual assaults and five home burglaries began about 7:40 a.m. on the south side of the city, the South Pasadena Police Department said.

A girl was walking to South Pasadena High School in the 1400 block of Diamond Avenue when a man came up to her acting aggressively and allegedly assaulted her, Captain Brian Solinsky said at a news conference.

After the first assault, he stayed in the area and allegedly assaulted another girl who was walking to school, Solinsky said.

The man took off and then approached a woman who was alone in the 1500 block of Rollin Street, which is a block away from the high school. He was accused pf exposing himself to the woman, Solinsky said.

Police responded to the area and put South Pasadena High School on lock down.

As police investigated the series of assaults, home burglary calls came in to the police department.

A man awoke in his home in the 1200 block of Lyndon Street to find the man allegedly armed with a knife demanding cash, but by the time police arrived, the man had fled.

Police located the man nearby, and when they tried to question him he jumped into a car and attempted to flee, Solinsky said.

He was stopped near Olympic Boulevard and Soto Street in Los Angeles, and after an investigation, police discovered his car was stolen, Solinsky said. The car was full of items linking the man to the burglaries and assaults in the South Pasadena area, police said.

South Pasadena Middle schools, which were holding summer session, were also put on lock down out of an abundance of caution, police said. The lock down was lifted just before 11 a.m. The school district said Marengo Elementary School had also been locked down.

Police believe the man acted alone by climbing into windows of homes he allegedly burglarized. Solinsky said the man was on parole for a burglary charge from 2013.

He was booked on suspicion of robbery, residential burglary, motor vehicle theft, indecent exposure, and annoying or molesting a minor.

The three assault victims are OK, police said.

Anyone with information on the crimes was asked to call South Pasadena police at 626-403-7297.
Holding signs reading "Torrance is Killing Coyote Pups" and "Shame on Torrance," animal rights activists and others picketed outside a Southern California preserve on Tuesday, calling on city officials to stop trapping coyotes.

A coalition of wildlife activist groups picketed at the Madrona Marshland Wildlife Habitat as city officials put into place snares that bite around the neck of a coyote as the number coyote killings of pets and other wildlife spike.

"There are more humane ways of dealing with the coyote population," said Angelique Gettle, of the Union Members for the Preservation of Wildlife. "They were here before we were here."

Randal Massaro, who is also a part of the group, said coyotes were considered sacred animals to Native Americans and are an important part of their spirituality.

"We are playing God, Judge Judy, and executioner, and it has got to stop," Massaro said. "We are going into reserves and killing the wildlife."

Torrance animal services officials have recorded an uptick in coyote sightings and attacks this year. In the past six months, there were 153 coyote sightings and 74 attacks on animals, 60 of which were fatal, police said. The biggest month was April when there were 84 such sightings. There were 11 coyote bites on humans in 2015 in Southern California, state officials said.

Most are during the cooler hours at dawn and dusk. Officials said they are seeing an increased presence on the streets and in yards at night. Coyotes approach adults and have taken pets at night.

Torrance officials have put out snares and bulletins to let the public know what to do when they encounter a coyote. Officials advise people to make loud noises, throw rocks, but don't run away, said Lt. Robert Watts, of the Torrance Police Department. They also advise to keep pets and food inside and trash cans clean.

Traps have been set in areas where there have been a number of sightings and animal killings.

So far, no coyotes have been caught in the traps, city officials said.

Massaro said that one of the best ways to keep the numbers of attacks down is to educate the public.

He said if snaring becomes the norm, the coyote could have the same fate as the California grizzly, who now can only be found on the state flag.

"We should do this for our children. Are we going to be known as the generation that killed all the wildlife?" said Massaro.
Police in Central California said two family dogs killed a 3-day-old baby after her mother left her on a couch and walked away for a few seconds.

Fresno Police Sgt. Dan Macias told the Fresno Bee the girl's mother had left the door open because it was hot and she thought the dogs were tied up in the backyard.

The baby died at a local hospital shortly after the attack Monday.

Macias said the two male dogs, which are believed to be a mix of Shar-Pei and pit bull, are owned by the 33-year-old woman's brother. He surrendered the dogs to the Central California Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

SPCA spokesman Walter Salvari said the dogs will be euthanized.

Police are continuing to investigate and that charges have not been ruled out, Macias said.
What to Know Travelers at Miami International Airports who are planning on boarding a flight to Istanbul, Turkey will be able to after Tuesday's attack.

Travelers at Miami International Airports who are planning on boarding a flight to Istanbul, Turkey will be able to after a terror attack killed a reported 41 people Tuesday.

Because of the time difference, no flights are set to touch down this morning but the ground stop has been lifted by the FAA allowing for flights to take off and depart, with officials anticipating all flights making it to Istanbul whether directly from Miami or with stops in other cities.

Those at MIA worried about their flights last night after they heard the shocking news of what happened, while others traveling both to and from Istanbul were nervous about what to expect.

Some Turkish natives leaving Miami still said they were hoping for the best

Im really worried and I don't know what this is happening, traveler Ceylan Duru Can said. I don't know when this is all going to end. I just hope it will end very soon.

Even with the flights still taking place, there may be some delays with flights headed from Miami to Istanbul, so be prepared for changes and arrive early.
What to Know A former central Florida police officer has been sentenced to five years in prison for having sex with a teenage girl.

A former central Florida police officer has been sentenced to five years in prison for having sex with a teenage girl.

The Ledger reports that a Polk County judge sentenced 38-year-old Aaron Barnes on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

Police say the former Lake Wales officer had three sexual encounters with the girl, starting at her home in May 2014 when she was 16 years old. A report says the second encounter happened on her 17th birthday. The girl told authorities that Barnes once let her drink wine at his home.

Barnes was arrested while on duty in February 2015 and resigned less than a week later. Police say Barnes initially denied having sex with the girl but admitted to sending her inappropriate text messages.
What to Know A federal judge is being asked to block a new law that places restrictions on abortion clinics in Florida.

The measure signed earlier this year by Gov. Rick Scott is similar to legislation in other states that has triggered legal challenges.

The measure signed earlier this year by Gov. Rick Scott is similar to legislation in other states that has triggered legal challenges.

A federal judge is considering whether to block a new law that places restrictions on abortion clinics in Florida.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said at an hour-long hearing Wednesday that he may rule before the law takes effect Friday.

Hinkle sharply questioned attorneys representing both Planned Parenthood and the state. But Hinkle also questioned whether the new law was a way to stop Planned Parenthood from doing something that is currently legal in Florida.

State and federal laws already prohibit public money for abortion. The new law goes a step further by preventing any state funds going to any service provided by an organization that also provides abortions.

Florida's new law also includes provision modeled on a Texas law struck down Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Passengers aboard a Turkish Airways flight from Istanbul to Miami described the moments of shock once they realized the airport they departed from was the scene of yet another deadly attack Tuesday.

"We had live TV on the flight so I was able to watch CNN and BBC," Turkish traveler Corey Erman said. "So really the last three hours of the flight we were just watching to see what was going on. It's terrible."

At least three dozen people were killed in explosions at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, in what officials said appeared to be a coordinated terror attack.

"Seeing it and realizing we just left that airport eight hours ago, it was a little unnerving," Harry Rogge said.

Travelers say when they landed at Miami International Airport, security was tight before even stepping off of the aircraft.

"Just to get off the plane onto the ramp we had to show passports and they must of had about 8 or 10 officers, a bomb sniffing dog, they were checking everybody," Rogge said.

At the departures terminal, people waited in line hoping for an answer to make it safely to their final destination. Others, however, changed their travel plans altogether.

"We were meant to visit family members in Istanbul, but we have changed our plans. I have family in Hungary so we'll just head on over to Budapest," traveler Shari Little said.

"It does make me very nervous, very nervous," David Williams said. "I'm not sure if I want to travel today."

"I'm really speechless, I'm really worried, and I don't know why anything is happening and I don't know when it's all going to end," Ceylan Duru Can said.
Nestor Fernandez always wanted a family car so when he found a minivan at a good price on Craigslist he was hooked.

"I called him, and we set up a meeting," Fernandez told NBC 6 in Spanish.

Concerned about the vehicles history, he checked that it didnt have a rebuilt title. He asked the seller if the title was clean. He was told it was.

Fernandez said he felt reassured by the answer, so he paid $8,700 in cash and drove away.

But a short time later, he took the van to a dealer for a recall and was told it wasnt covered because the vehicle had been declared a total loss two years ago.

"Definitely it looks like a rebuilt car that shouldve been branded as a rebuilt in the title and for one reason or another it wasnt, said Tony Fernandez, a supervisor with the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) in Southeast Florida.

Fernandez looked at the vehicles history and found it was auctioned off following a bad crash in Virginia.

"The insurance company sold it in auction so somewhere along the line there shouldve been a rebuilt paperwork done in that vehicle. But how it got to Florida and how the paperwork got to Florida I dont know," said Fernandez.

If the vehicle was repaired legally, the title should have the word "rebuilt" on it. The side panel door should also have a sticker branding it rebuilt.

NBC 6 took the minivan to mechanic Julio Martinez with All Import Tech.

"The impact on this car was so severe that it took off the majority of everything that you see here," said Martinez showing the front end of the minivan. He explained ways he felt the vehicle hadnt been repaired correctly.

"A lot of these things were probably salvaged from another car and they put it back together, basically like a transformer, to make it work," said Martinez. "I can guarantee you that there is no airbag in here."

We wanted to know how a vehicle in this condition ended up in South Florida. NBC 6 asked the state agency that issued the clean title.

"The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) relies on the Department of Justices National Motor Vehicle Titling and Insurance System to verify information on titles for motor vehicles that cross state lines, said Alexis Bakofsky, a spokesperson for FLHSMV. "Thats not to say that fraud cannot occur."

NBC 6 ran a search using that same system and paid $3.71. The report showed the crash in Virginia but indicated the vehicle was never re-branded as rebuilt. A spokesperson with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) says thats because it shouldnt have been rebuilt.

"That vehicle with that VIN number was given a non-repairable certificate for Virginia," said Virginia DMV spokesperson Brandy Brubaker.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles says their system just checks the box labeled brand before issuing the new title. Since it was blank, the van was registered as a clean vehicle here in Florida.

NBC 6 Responds reached the man who sold Nestor Fernandez the van. By phone, he denied doing anything wrong but couldnt explain how he got the vehicle.

He agreed to talk to Fernandez about reimbursing his money but that never happened. So, Fernandez filed a report with the Florida Highway Patrol and the agency is investigating. It can be a crime if someone sells a car without telling them its rebuilt, but it can be difficult to prove.

Youve got to show that he knew the vehicle had been rebuilt, said Tony Fernandez with the NICB.

To avoid these situations, never buy a car from an unknown source, have it checked by your mechanic before you buy it and get a car history report like the one we got from the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System or using Carfax. The National Insurance Crime Bureau also provides a free VIN check.
A congressman and city councilor joined dozens of protesters outside a Boston hotel where presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is holding a fundraiser.

The closed event, organized by the Republican National Committee at the Langham Hotel, was set to charge $2,700 a head, the Boston Herald reports.

An RNC delegate tells necn that Trump spoke to the crowd about "his plan to bring jobs back to the U.S., the unfair trade agreements with China and Japa, how NAFTA wiped out the manufacturing jobs in [Massachusetts] and New England which was from the Clinton era ... Trump also talked about the horrific Turkey bombing."

A group of protesters congregated Wednesday morning in One Post Office Square, chanting and hoisting signs that read "Giving to Trump: Like investing in a slot machine" and "Trump is a bigot."

"Keep your wall, keep your hate, the USA is already great," they shouted, referencing Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

"Donald Trump needs to know that his disastrous message on the economy and is bigoted hate speech is not welcome in Boston, it's not welcome in Massachusetts and that's what people here want to let him know," said Dan Hoffer of the Service Employees International Union Local 888.

U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano was among those protesting the real estate mogul outside the Langham.

"This is his welcome to Boston," the Democrat said of Trump.

City Councilor Ayanna Pressley also attended Wednesday's protest.

Security was heavy in the neighborhood, and police reported no unrest or arrests.

After the fundraiser, Trump is slated to attend an afternoon rally in Bangor, Maine. He'll speak at the Cross Insurance Center, where he will be joined by Maine's Republican Gov. Paul LePage.
The lineup for 106.7 LITE FM's annual "Broadway in Bryant Park" program has been set.

The summer series brings the best of Broadway and off-Broadway to the Bryant Park Stage, for weekly outdoor concerts co-hosted the radio station's popular on-air personalities and musical theater stars, when available.

Currently, 25 shows are scheduled to perform at this year's event, which will run weekly on Thursdays from July 7 through Aug. 11. Lawn seating is first come, first serve.

July 7

Co-Hosts: Cady Huffman ("Shear Madness") and LITE FM's Delilah

Participating Shows: "Wicked," "Stomp," "The Color Purple" "Matilda," and the Radio City Rockettes.

July 14

Co-Hosts: Catherine Russell ("Perfect Crime") and LITE FM's Christine Nagy

Participating Shows: "Chicago," "The Fantasticks," "Motown" and "Finding Neverland."

July 21

Co-Hosts: Alex Brightman and Sierra Boggess ("School of Rock") with LITE FM's Helen Little

Participating Shows: "Fiddler on the Roof," "Les Miserables," "Fuerza Bruta" and "The Marvelous Wonderettes."

July 28

Host: LITE FM's Bob Bronson

Participating Shows: "Waitress," "Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812," "Kinky Boots," "Fun Home" and "Himself & Nora."

August 4

Co-Host: Dena Blizzard ("One Funny Mother") and LITE FM's Rich Kaminski

Participating Shows: "Beautiful," "An American in Paris," "Avenue Q," and "Holiday Inn."

August 11

Host: LITE FM's Victor Sosa

Participating Shows: "Phantom of the Opera," "Something Rotten!," "Cagney," and "Ruthless."

In addition to 106.7 LITE FM, this years concert is presented by New York-Presbyterian for Kids and the TKTS Discount Ticketing Booth.
A car slammed into a father and a daughter riding their bicycles on Long Island, killing one of them, then crashed into the front porch of a home, causing the porch to collapse, police say.

A 57-year-old woman was driving a 2002 Ford Explorer on New South Road in Hicksville at about 3 p.m. Wednesday when it crashed into the cyclists, police said. It then hit a two-story brick home, causing the front porch to completely collapse.

The daughter on her bicycle, identified as 43-year-old Cari Widmyer of Hicksville, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her 72-year-old father was taken to a local hospital with a knee injury.

The driver and the passenger of the car, a 65-year-old man, were also taken to a local hospital, where they're listed in serious condition.

Resident Diana Romero said she was in an upstairs living room of the house watching television when she felt the impact.

"I looked outside the window and saw a puff of smoke, like a cloud," said Romero.

"Neighbors came and helped, and workers from over there, that company, they came and helped us out of the house," she said.

The cause of the crash is under investigation. Police say the Ford Explorer has been impounded for brake and safety checks.
The former University of Connecticut student from Long Island who was arrested last year after a profanity-laced tirade over jalapeno-bacon macaroni-and-cheese has been accused of assaulting a police officer at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility in Florida.

Police said 20-year-old Luke Gatti was going through treatment for alcohol and drugs and struck an officer who was trying to take him into custody for his own safety.

Police responded to Wellness Resources Center in Boca Raton, Florida, around 4:15 p.m. on May 27 and staff members told them Gatti was going through withdrawals when he arrived from the Sunrise Detox Center.

When doctors denied him medication for the withdrawals, Gatti said he wanted to leave the facility. He was agitated and said he couldnt handle the pain anymore, police said.

Gatti walked out of the facility without shoes, leaving his belongings behind.

When he returned nearly two hours later, he was angry and agitated and screamed at staff members to give him his property back, according to the police report.

Gatti also told authorities he didnt care if he got hurt or hurt himself and wanted to be left alone, according to police.

When he walked away, police decide to take him into custody because of the condition he was in. At that point, Gatti struggled, hit an officer tried to break free of the officers grip, according to police.

After police threatened to use a stun gun, Gatti stopped struggling and police placed handcuffs on him.

Police charged Gatti with resisting an officer and battery on a police officer for allegedly pulling away from and hitting the officer who was trying to take him into custody.

When he was in the back of the police car, Gatti made suicidal statements and said "I just want to die," according to the police report.

He allegedly said he needs drugs and alcohol to feel better, always has suicidal thought and dreams of people hurting him, police said. He then asked the officer to do him a favor and shoot him, the police report says.

Gatti made national news after video surfaced on YouTube last fall that showed him confronting the market manager because he wanted bacon-jalapeno mac and cheese, then shoving the man several times as apparent students tried to intervene.

It went on to show a staff member at the market eventually wrestle Gatti to the ground and detain him and police arrived.

Gatti, who is no longer enrolled at UConn, issued a public apology after the incident in Storrs and was granted accelerated rehabilitation, a form of probation that means the case will be expunged from Gatti's record if he avoids any legal trouble and complies with random drug tests.

Gatti was originally charged with misdemeanor breach of peace and trespassing.
What to Know JFK's Terminal 5 was closed after a police dog sat down to an unattended bag, denoting something suspicious

Passengers were forced out into the street and the roadways to the terminal were shut down for about an hour.

Terminal 5 services flights on JetBlue, Hawaiian Airlines and Aer Lingus.

A terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport was briefly evacuated Wednesday morning after a police dog flagged an unattended bag.

The Department of Homeland Security K-9 was doing rounds at the airport's Terminal 5 and sat down next to a bag at about 8:30 a.m., according to Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo. The dogs are trained to sit down next to items they deem suspicious.

The airport's police force then closed down all roads in and out of the terminal and made all travelers go out into the street with their luggage. An "all-clear" was given about an hour later, and passengers were allowed back into the terminal, which services JetBlue, Hawaiian Airlines and Aer Lingus.

Photos on social media showed people walking in the road with their bags as emergency personnel secured the entrance to the terminal.

Passengers were seen lugging their bags up a ramp to get back inside the terminal once it reopened.

The scare came a day after 41 people were killed in suicide bombings at an airport in Turkey. The attack injured hundreds of others.

On Tuesday, the Port Authority said it added high-visibility patrol officers equipped with tactical weapons at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports as a precautionary measure following the suicide attacks at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

Authorities said after the Istanbul attack there was no threat to New York City.
What to Know Shawn Custis will have to serve at least 63 years and nine months of the 75-year term before he is eligible for parole in the 2013 attack

The assault was captured on a nanny cam

Custis' attorney argued during the trial that his client was framed by racist cops. Prosecutors said bias played no part

A man caught on home security video beating a mother in front of her 3-year-old daughter during a 2013 break-in was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.

Shawn Custis will have to serve at least 63 years and nine months of the 75-year term before he is eligible for parole in the attack in Millburn, New Jersey, on Aug. 16, 2013.

Custis was charged with attempted murder in the case; he was later found guilty of aggravated assault, child endangerment, burglary, criminal restraint and theft but was acquitted of the top charge.

The harsh sentence was levied in part because of Custis' prior criminal convictions. He sobbed openly in court as the sentence was announced.

The assault was captured on a nanny cam. The video shows a burly man pushing his way into a suburban home where a mother and her 3-year-old daughter are watching television. He then punches and kicks the woman for several minutes, at one point throwing her down a flight of stairs.

Prosecutors showed the video to jurors at the beginning of the trial; when Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Jamel Semper showed it again later in the trial, two female jurors held their hands over their eyes.

Custis' attorney, John McMahon, argued during the trial that his client was framed by racist cops. Prosecutors contended that bias didn't play a part and that they were led to Custis by several people who identified him after seeing the video on television.

Custis was arrested about a week after the crime in New York City, after police say they received calls from several women saying they recognized him. Prosecutors also presented evidence that blood on jeans found in his apartment came from the victim, who testified but whose name has not been released.

McMahon argued that the investigation was tainted by racial animus and that police ignored evidence that could have pointed to other suspects. He also said the video quality wasn't good enough for a positive identification of Custis.
What to Know Men staying in a Bronx homeless shelter said they heard the intersection was the best place to find K2 in the city

Police have issued hundreds of summonses to store owners

It's illegal to sell or possess the drug K2 in New York

A street corner in Brooklyn is one of the worst spots in the city for synthetic marijuana use, with users lighting up in broad daylight, passing out on sidewalks and stumbling out into traffic, according to reports.

Even longtime residents of Bed-Stuy and Bushwick say drug use at the intersection of Broadway and Myrtle Avenue has reached epidemic levels. One man said: Ive lived here for more than 20 years, and its terrible now.

Synthetic marijuana, also known as K2, is illegal to sell in New York City under legislation passed last fall amid a spike in use. But stores near Broadway and Myrtle are still dealing it  police have reportedly issued hundreds of summonses to store owners, according to a report in DNAinfo New York.

Men staying in a Bronx homeless shelter said they heard the intersection was the best place to find K2 in the city. Lately, locals have been complaining about quality-of-life issues associated with the drug.

Its always been a busy area, but this is a persistent, daily occurrence that has only appeared within the past year or so, longtime resident Lindsay Foehrenbach, 38, told DNAinfo.

Foehrenbach said she had to pull one man to safety after he walked into a semi-truck.

New York City health officials issued warnings last spring after synthetic marijuana sent 160 people to hospitals in a little over a week. Thousands more were hospitalized statewide. Mayor de Blasio signed a bill banning the sale of the drug in October. At that time, the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street was considered the epicenter of the K2 problem.

Now it appears the drug has taken hold in Brooklyn. Residents told DNAinfo that K2 packages litter the sidewalks and a burning chemical odor fills the air near the Broadway-Myrtle intersection.

Its an epidemic, every borough, every hood. Just look at the people on the corner, they look like zombies, Trevor Tyrrell told DNAinfo.

Last month a man with a dagger was shot and wounded by police in Bergen Beach, Brooklyn. Investigators said he may have been under the influence of K2.

An I-Team investigation in December found that the drug was becoming increasingly common among teens across the tri-state area.

One teen who was at a rehab center at the time described the drug as a big blackout.

You dont even know whats happening. All you know is your heart is beating very fast, he said.

Police have busted several K2 rings. In November, four men were arrested in connection with a plot to make synthetic pot  a scheme that would have amounted to $27 million of K2 on the street, authorities said. That month, two alleged ringleaders of the largest synthetic marijuana ring in New York City history were arrested in Dubai. Police said a related raid uncovered warehouses full of K2 and dozens of stores selling the drug to teens and others. In September, 80 locations were raided and four people were arrested in a federal investigation.

It is illegal to possess, sell or manufacture synthetic marijuana in New York state.
Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport reopened on Wednesday morning, hours after a coordinated terror attack left dozens dead and scores wounded in the international arrivals hall, NBC News reported.

Istanbul's governor said Wednesday that the death toll had climbed to 41  including at least 10 foreigners and 3 dual nationals. More than 230 people were injured, the governor added.

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said three terrorists had arrived in a cab, opening fire and setting off at least two explosions.

"People were wounded, people fell down in front of me ... They were torn to pieces," airport worker Hacer Peksen told The Associated Press.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Yildirim said it appeared ISIS was to blame.

There were no immediate details on what if any additional security measures were in place Wednesday as the airport reopened.
It's the type of scenario security experts dread: attackers blending in with the crowd at public places to carry out acts of mass murder.

That scenario appears to have played out again Tuesday, this time at an Istanbul airport.

The ability to defend "soft targets"  places where it's relatively easy for a small group of terrorists to cause widespread and deadly devastation  remains elusive.

In the U.S., security officials and experts have long worried that these types of places are extremely vulnerable.

"If you have a determined terrorist who is willing to give up their life  it's almost impossible to prevent that across the board," John Pistole, a former administrator with the Transportation Security Administration, told NBC News in March.
More than 600 delegates pledged to Bernie Sanders have taken to online crowdfunding to help pay for their expensive trips to the Democratic National Convention to be held in Philadelphia this July.

They have raised some $570,000 through this week on sites like GoFundMe. That is out of a collective $1.6 million they are asking for, according to a tally by Fund Bernie Delegates, an umbrella site started by a Tennessee woman to promote delegates' efforts.

For weeks, many supporters quietly wondered if the Sanders campaign would help his delegates, who are coming from all 50 states to the convention. It runs July 25-28, and delegates have been asked to book at least four nights in hotels across the Philadelphia region.

Finally, it appears, the cavalry has arrived. Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver wrote Tuesday in an email to supporters that new contributions to the presidential candidate will go toward helping delegates get to Philadelphia.

"Our delegates are not wealthy campaign contributors. They're not party insiders or establishment elites. They're working folks, and it's not easy for many of them to fly to Philly and stay in hotels for a week," Weaver wrote. "We really need to have all of our delegates at the Democratic convention because we expect there could be critical votes for the party platform and electoral process."

Sanders received 1,831 pledged delegates in the primaries. Hillary Clinton received 2,220, plus the support of 591 party officials known as superdelegates, and has been deemed the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party. Sanders has acknowledged he will likely lose the nomination to Clinton but intends to continue as a candidate to the convention.

In May, NBC10.com first reported on the GoFundMe efforts of numerous Sanders delegates, most who are in their 20s and don't have the financial means to spend $4,000 to $6,000 to come from far-flung states like Minnesota or Colorado.

"Ive got a few fundraisers in my hometown," said 27-year-old diesel mechanic Dylan Parker, who will represent Illinois 17th Congressional District as a Sanders delegate. "Otherwise, its going to come out of me and my familys pockets."

Parker is nearing his $5,000 GoFundMe goal, with $3,675 as of June 29. But many others remain below $1,000.

Many have been forced to use credit cards to expense their flights and hotel stays while waiting for donations, according to Katie Tillman, a mother of two from Tennessee who started the website Fund Bernie Delegates a month ago with the help of a Kansas man named Michael Doyle.

"A problem is not all states can wait until the convention date to pay for their hotels. We have those states on there. [Monday] was South Carolina's deadline for paying," Tillman said of some state delegations' deadlines to pay for the trip. "We dont want them in debt."

Messages sent to the Sanders campaign were not immediately returned.

In the email, Weaver wrote that donations should be made before the campaign files its monthly finance report with the Federal Election Commission.

Delegates may receive donations from candidates, but not from corporations, labor organizations, foreign nationals or federal government contractors, according to FEC regulations.

Delegates may also raise their own funds, as many have said they planned to do through hometown fundraisers and parties. State political parties are allowed to give to delegates. But with more than 4,000 delegates in Democratic primaries this year, some state organizations said supporting so many people wasn't possible.

Sanders' presidential political action committee, Bernie 2016, had $9.2 million on hand of a total $220 million raised, according to the PAC's May 31 report filed with the FEC.
What to Know Cabdriver Juan Fortuna picked up a passenger who hailed his taxi at a 7-Eleven in East Camden about midnight.

The passenger asked to be driven to a public-housing complex, then demanded money from Fortuna and stabbed him seven times.

As bystanders helped Fortuna, police say his attacker jumped out of the back of the taxi and ran. He's still on the loose.

Bystanders rushed to help a cabdriver stabbed seven times by a passenger in north Camden overnight, saving the man's life.

Police are searching for a man who they say was caught on surveillance video stabbing a cab driver in Camden.

Witnesses told NBC10's Katy Zachry that it was just after midnight Wednesday when they saw a taxi careen into the parking lot of their public housing complex, at State and Front streets, and heard screams coming from inside the cab. They went to help, and said they saw a man get out of the back of the cab and run away and found the driver, identified by relatives as Juan Fortuna, in the front seat, bleeding from stab wounds to his shoulder and chest. Surveillance video also shows the suspect jumping out of the front passenger window of the taxi and fleeing the scene moments after he stabbed Fortuna, police say.



A woman put Fortuna in her own SUV and drove him to nearby Cooper University Hospital. Authorities said he was in surgery at Cooper about 4 a.m., and relatives said doctors later upgraded his condition to stable.

Cab driving in Camden has gotten so dangerous that the Police Chief wants to put cameras in taxis to keep those drivers safer. NBC10s Monique Braxton has more on the latest attack on a cabbie who was stabbed seven times during an attempted robbery Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday morning, Fortuna's brother, Jose Fortuna, who also drives a cab for the same company, 5 Star Cab, told NBC10 that he's grateful for the woman and others who helped save him. Jose Fortuna said his brother gave the robber the money, but the robber attacked him anyway.

"He was giving him the money, but he didn't pay attention to the money. He just all of a sudden started stabbing my brother," Jose Fortuna said. "And from that point forward, my brother crashed into another car, and the neighbors started coming out and trying to help."

Police said the ordeal unfolded after the passenger flagged down Juan Fortuna's taxi at a 7-Eleven in East Camden. The passenger asked to be taken to the public housing complex at Front and State streets, and there, authorities said, the passenger robbed and stabbed Fortuna.

Jose Fortuna said that 5 Star Cab drivers try to avoid picking up random fares overnight in order to stay safe and avoid dangerous incidents like the one his brother faced. Instead, they stick to fares who call dispatch and request a taxi as much as they can.

Police continued to search for the driver's attacker Wednesday morning.
Authorities say five people were arrested after an immigration protest that blocked an interstate off-ramp in Philadelphia.

Police said about 50 to 60 people were taking part in Tuesday's demonstration to protest the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision blocking presidential efforts to shield millions from deportation.

A police spokeswoman said four adults and a juvenile were taken into custody after protesters linked themselves together and blocked the westbound exit ramp of I-676.
A garbage truck crashed into a light pole and flipped in Philadelphia's Juniata Park section Wednesday morning, leaving several people injured.

The crash happened shortly before 10 a.m. at L Street and Hunting Park Avenue. Initial reports indicated that people became trapped in the crash, and Philadelphia fire officials said that medics took two victims to Temple University Hospital from the scene of the crash and a third to Hahnemann University Hospital.

SkyForce10 video showed the truck on its side on the sidewalk as crews worked to clear the scene. Hunting Park Avenue remained shut down between K Street and Dungan Street after 10 a.m.

The victims' conditions were not immediately known.
Republican Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday touted an anti-tax crusader's endorsement of his 23 cent per gallon gasoline tax hike along with a sales tax cut, and all but dared lawmakers not to act on his plan.

Christie spoke Wednesday during a statehouse news conference after the Assembly early Tuesday passed the plan to pay for a $2 billion a year transportation trust fund for eight years.

The fund runs out of borrowing authority on July 1, and Christie's last-minute proposal resulted in the Democrat-led Assembly scrapping a vote on their own plan.

Christie said lawmakers have been complaining for months that he wasn't engaged enough on the issue, but now he is and they don't like his proposal. He called on them to approve his plan during Thursday's session.

The increase would send New Jersey's current gas tax of 14.5 cents per gallon from second-lowest in the country behind Alaska to roughly equal that of Connecticut, which has the sixth-highest at 37.51 cents, according to the Tax Foundation, an independent tax policy research organization

Christie, who ran a failed presidential campaign and now supports Donald Trump, signed a pledge not to raise taxes sponsored by Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform group. The organization endorsed Christie's proposal on Wednesday in a statement released just as Christie's news conference began.

Christie said the group backed the Assembly bill ``saying that it represented tax fairness as well.''

He said the sales tax cut from 7 percent to 6 percent and phased in over 2017 and 2018 will cost about $1.3 billion, while the gas tax hike is estimated to bring in roughly the same amount, thus resulting in a net neutral tax on residents. Legislative estimates, however, suggest the state could lose up to nearly $2 billion a year.

The state Senate is expected take up the issue Thursday. But Democratic State Senate President Steve Sweeny said he was in the dark about it and other senators are speaking out against the plan.
San Diego sex crimes detectives are looking for a man accused of trying to sexually assault a woman at the entrance of her home in Mountain View last month.

The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) released two photos of the suspect and details of the alleged crime for the first time Wednesday.

According to investigators, on May 27, just before 5 a.m., Alejandro Avila Ibarra forced his way into the victims home in the 3900 block of T Street. Ibarra allegedly grabbed the woman at the front entrance of her home and attempted to sexually assault her, police said.

The pair struggled. In the fight, police believe Ibarra suffered a severe injury to the fingers of one of his hands  likely his left hand.

Ibarra then fled the home.

One month later, the suspect remains at large and is being sought by police for the attempted sex crime. The SDPD described Ibarra as a 47-year-old Hispanic man with a medium build who stands at 5-foot-8 and weighs about 180 pounds. At the time of the alleged attempted assault, Ibarra was wearing a white T-shirt, black pants and a sweater.

Anyone with information on this case or details on the suspects whereabouts can call the SDPDs Sex Crimes Unit at (619) 531-2210 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile are offering free calls and text messages from the U.S. to Turkey after deadly explosions rocked the Istanbul airport, killing dozens and injuring scores more.

Officials have called Tuesday's assault a coordinated terror attack, and Turkey's prime minister said ISIS is likely to blame.

All four major U.S. phone carriers are waiving fees for customers who are trying to reach loved ones in Turkey.

AT&T

Charges for any calls made to Turkey from the U.S. by landline or wireless customers between Tuesday, June 28 to Thursday, June 30 will be waived or credited, the company announced. Text messages are also free.

"Our thoughts are with the people of Istanbul and our customers who have friends and family there," AT&T said in a statement following the attacks.

Verizon

Verizon will not charge customers for international calls and texts made from the U.S. to Turkey on Tuesday, June 28 and Wednesday, June 29, according to the company.

"More than 170,000 Verizon employees worldwide extend condolences to all our friends and family in Turkey," the company said in a statement posted on its website Tuesday.

The exemption applies to both landline and wireless calls.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile is also waiving fees for calls and texts to Turkey, the company said. The offer extends from Tuesday, June 28 through Tuesday, July 5 and applies to prepaid and postpaid customers of T-Mobile Simple Choice, along with customers of MetroPCS, GoSmart Mobile and Wal-Mart Family Mobile.

"Todays attack in Istanbul is both tragic and horrifying," said T-Mobile President and CEO John Legere, in a statement. "Our hearts are with everyone affected by this senseless act."

Sprint

Customers of Sprint, Boost and Virgin Mobile will receive free international calls and text messages to Turkey from Tuesday, June 28 through Tuesday, July 5, the company said.

All international long distance, roaming and SMS charges will be waived.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those personally affected during this difficult time," Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said in a statement. "We want to do everything we can to show our support and heartfelt sympathy to all Sprint, Boost Mobile, and Virgin Mobile customers with family and friends in the region."
A soon-to-be lifeguard kayaking in San Diegos La Jolla Cove acted swiftly when she noticed a snorkeler in distress in the water  using everything shes learned in an effort to save the mans life.

Becca Trosch, 29, never thought she would experience that kind of real-life training this soon in her career. On Monday at around 6 p.m., as Trosch was kayaking near La Jolla Cove, she spotted snorkeler Paul Rooney in trouble and fighting for his life in the water a few hundred yards from the shoreline.

Rooney  a 49-year-old New York resident visiting San Diego with his family  was suffering from cardiac issues.

I see hes pale and hes having difficulty breathing. Signs hes having cardiac issues, Trosch recounted in an exclusive interview with NBC 7 Tuesday. At this point, we knew we were in a blind spot and the lifeguard couldnt see us.

Trosch said she paddled to where lifeguards could see them.

Another kayaker came over and together they waved their paddles indicating to lifeguards they needed help. Trosch also called 911 from her phone that she kept in her dry case.

I just went through EMT school, she explained.

Trosch said her training kicked in. She was able to keep calm and do what needed to be done before lifeguards arrived.

We got him on the paddleboard and started doing chest compressions until the jet ski got there, she said.

Trosch, whos currently working for Everyday California in La Jolla, said she will soon be hired as a local lifeguard.

I couldnt have imagined this happening in my career ever, she told NBC 7, still in shock over the rescue.

As scary as the incident was, Trosch said shes as passionate as ever about being a lifeguard.

Whether its a life or death situation or getting someone thats scared out of a rip current, she added.

Sadly, Rooney did not survive. After being pulled from the water, he was rushed to Scripps Memorial Hospital where he later died. His cause of death was determined to be drowning, and the San Diego County Medical Examiners Office said cardiac issues contributed to his death.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors has approved relief efforts to help victims of the Border Fire clean and rebuild their properties impacted by the devastating 7,609-acre blaze.

At a board meeting Tuesday morning, leaders unanimously approved assistance programs for victims of the wildfire, including the waiving of permit fees to rebuild and free distribution of bins to collect and clean up debris.

The support efforts were spearheaded by District 2 Supervisor Dianne Jacob, as the Border Fire affected residents in her district. She said this is something the county has done in the past for fire victims and its the right thing to do.

Its the least that we could do as a government agency, is to waive the building permit fees and also help with debris removal and hazardous materials, Jacob explained. And thats our job  to step up for people in need.

Fueled by relentless heat and winds, the Border Fire first sparked on June 19 around 11 a.m. near the border city of Potrero in southeast San Diego County, located approximately 42 miles from downtown San Diego.

As of 7 a.m. Tuesday, Cal Fire officials said the fire  now in its 10th day  was 92 percent contained and holding at 7,609 acres.

A total of 377 personnel remained at the Border Fire, plus 20 engines, eight water tenders and one bulldozer. Cal Fire said firefighters were continuing to strengthen containment lines and mop up hot spots. Last week, as it raged on, nearly 2,000 firefighters worked the frontlines to fight the blaze.

At its peak, the Border Fire destroyed five homes and 11 outbuildings and damaged a sixth home. It forced evacuations of approximately 700 residents in the area, as well as removal of livestock including horses, donkeys and emus, and many road closures.

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 the evening of 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.

Per the boards decision, the county will waive permit fees for Potrero residents to rebuild any homes and structures lost in the fire, as long as the new structures are similar in size to what once stood. Those who want to rebuild with larger homes will receive a proportional waiver of fees, the board said.

At Tuesdays meeting, Jacob warned this could be one of the worst fire seasons that San Diego County has experienced in recent years. She said residents in fire-prone areas should prepare for the worst by stocking up on food, water and emergency supplies for at least three days for their families and animals.

According to Cal Fire, the Border Fire has proven especially challenging due to the steep, rugged terrain in which it sparked. The area is difficult to access and is plagued by extremely dry vegetation created by years of historic drought in California. Cal Fire described the conditions as fueling erratic fire behavior.
A 23-year-old San Diego man was shot and killed by an unknown suspect in downtown San Diegos East Village early Wednesday, homicide detectives confirmed.

San Diego Police Department (SDPD) acting Lt. Manny Del Toro, head of the Homicide Unit, said shots were fired around 12:10 a.m. in the 1700 block of Island Avenue and 17th Street.

When officers arrived, they found victim Derion Elias White unconscious, suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper body. White was not able to survive his injuries and died at the scene, police said.

According to Del Toro, detectives learned White was entering a car occupied by his girlfriend and a friend when an unknown man walked up to him and fired two gunshots, hitting White at least once.

The shooting suspect quickly fled and was last seen running southbound in the 400 block of 17th Street.

The SDPD said, at this point, the suspects identity is unknown. Hes described as approximately 6 feet tall, with a thin build. He may have worn his hair in dreadlocks, one witness told police. He was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and dark pants at the time of the deadly shooting.

As of 6:45 a.m. Wednesday, the suspect remained at large. Anyone with information on this case can contact the SDPDs Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
Almost two years after the day Navy SEAL Bradley Cavner was killed in a training exercise, the design of his parachute is the basis for a federal lawsuit against the manufacturer.

Thousands of those serving in the armed forces were issued that piece of gear.

The Cavner family's attorney says they are asking the southern district court for a ruling on reasonable compensation for the death of a decorated hero.

But more importantly to the Chief Petty Officer's parents is that no other son or daughter suffers a similar fate.

SEAL Team 3 member Bradley Cavner died at 1300-feet in the doorway of a C-130 after his reserve parachute prematurely deployed slamming him against the plane.

Navy SEAL Brad Cavner, 31, was killed in a parachuting training accident in El Centro, Calif., on June 23, 2014. Cavner trained in Coronado, and spent much of his life there. NBC 7s Omari Fleming speaks with friends of the SEAL, who remember him as determined and hard-working.

It cracked his helmet, it broke his neck. He hit pretty hard, attorney Scott Cummins said.

Cummins is one of two attorney's representing Cavner's parents in a wrongful death lawsuit against the parachute manufacturer Airborne Systems of North America.

The case is pending in San Diego's federal court.

The suit claims the reserve chute in the MC-6 parachute system blew open on its own during Cavner's Jump Master Qualifying over El Centro.

As his mother said, I used to worry about him in Afghanistan and Iraq. I didn't really think he would get hurt here, Cummins said.

NBC 7s Liberty Zabala shares the unique way the Coronado community is remembering Navy SEAL Bradley Cavner, who died during a parachute training accident last week.

Airborne Systems has not yet responded to NBC 7's interview request. A Navy spokesperson responded to our inquiry through email.

"While Chief Cavner's death was a tragedy, it brought about important changes to our training programs that will hopefully prevent these types of incidents in the future," Lt. Junior Grade Zach Keating wrote.

Cummins says since Cavner's death, the Navy changed its procedure around airplane doors and the manufacturer has added stability to the reserve chute system, but the MC-6 is still in use.

You have to make it as safe as you can. If it is unavoidably unsafe then you have to design something better, Cummins said.

The attoney says their research indicates there have been four other documented instances in which the parachutes prematurely deployed but none of them such tragic results.
Abby Lee Miller, the head honcho on 'Dance Moms,' doesn't always call the shots.

Abby Lee Miller, the head honcho on 'Dance Moms,' doesn't always call the shots.

On Monday, the reality TV star pleaded guilty to the charge of concealing bankruptcy assets the court confirmed to E! News. Miller also pleaded guilty for one count of not reporting an international monetary transaction.

Miller could have faced up to a $5 million fine and five years imprisonment on the initial bankruptcy fraud charges from her 2015 indictment, but per Deadline, her attorneys have been working with the court to strike a plea deal. Miller's lawyers are now asking for a maximum of six months imprisonment. She will be sentenced Oct. 11.

Dance Moms Star Abby Lee Miller Indicted on Fraud Charges Over Concealing Income

"Sentencing in this case will occur after the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit resolves United States v. Free, a similar case addressing the issue of sentencing in a 'zero loss' bankruptcy," said Miller's attorneys in a statement obtained by Deadline.

[NATL] Top Entertainment Photos: Best of the American Music Awards, and More

"Throughout this case, Miss Miller has taken both the allegations and the proceedings very seriously. This has been a challenging time for Miss Miller. She appreciates the words of encouragement and support from around the world."

"Events over the past several months have been extremely challenging for me, my family, my friends and most important, my students. Because of this I made the very difficult decision to close the door on this chapter of my life by accepting responsibility for mistakes I have made along the way," Miller said in a statement Monday via Gossip Cop.

Mug Shot Mania
The federal education department launched an investigation this week into how American University handled a report of a sexual assault by a student.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is evaluating how the university dealt with a female student's report that a fellow student assaulted her off-campus.

Federal investigators will determine whether AU administrators violated Title IX, a law that sets policies on how schools deal with sexual violence and report it to U.S. officials.

"The issue under investigation is whether the university promptly and equitably responded to a report of sexual violence," a Department of Education (DOE) spokesman said by email about the probe opened June 21.

The 21-year-old woman who reported the alleged assault said she was happy to receive a letter last week confirming the federal office would look into her claim. She said she filed a complaint with OCR on March 8.

"Just to get it in the mail, and have something tangible that says, 'AU is under investigation,' was really cool," she said.

NBC Washington, which interviewed the woman by phone, typically does not name victims of alleged sexual assaults.

The woman said the fellow student sexually assaulted her off-campus in February 2015. She told the campus newspaper, The Eagle that she reported the incident to university officials in April 2015.

The woman told the paper that AU held a student-conduct hearing in October 2015 that she and her alleged assailant both were required to attend. She says that this hearing should have taken place earlier.

Title IX requires that schools respond to reports of sexual violence promptly. A typical investigation takes about 60 days after a complaint is received, OCR says in guidance to universities. But the time lines of the probes are allowed to vary depending on "the complexity of the investigation and the severity and extent of the alleged conduct," a question-and-answer document from OCR says.

The woman said an AU administrator told her the hearing was postponed so it did not conflict with final exams. That administrator would not address her case specifically, but told The Eagle that final exams can create scheduling conflicts for hearings.

In addition to objecting to the timing of the hearing, the woman argues she was made to sign a confidentiality agreement in violation of Title IX.

The DOE spokesman said he could not confirm which allegations OCR would investigate, since the case is ongoing.

AU lawyer and Title IX program officer Heather Pratt said in a campus-wide email sent Monday that the school will cooperate with the investigation.

"We anticipate that OCRs assessment of our work will provide an opportunity to further enhance our Title IX-related policies and related activities," she wrote.

Pratt did not provide a response immediately to the woman's specific claims.

The student who reported the assault said federal officials told her they soon will gather evidence in the case. She said she expects the investigation to be lengthy.

Of the 296 Title IX investigations OCR has opened since April 4, 2011, 83 percent are still pending, according to data collected by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Title IX investigations take an average of 1.3 years to complete, the Chronicle reported.

A separate investigation into AU's handling of a reported sexual assault began last year and has yet to be resolved, the DOE spokesman said.

Ellie Hartleb was one of two reporters who covered this case for The Eagle at American University. She is now an intern for NBC Washington.
Tamika Huston vanished in 2004, one year before Natalee Holloway.

Both women disappeared under mysterious circumstances: Holloway, 18, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba; Huston, 24, from her home in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

But only Holloway became a household name. Her story dominated national headlines and was even turned into a television movie.

Huston's family, meanwhile, begged media organizations to cover her case. And while local media outlets in Spartanburg picked up her story, Huston's family could not get her case the widespread attention they knew it deserved.

AP/NBCNews

"I couldn't understand why I wasn't even getting, you know, 'Thank you very much, but we're not interested in this story at this time,'" Huston's aunt, Rebkah Howard, told NBC News in 2005.

Huston's body was eventually found and an acquaintance was charged with her murder, but two women living miles away in the Washington, D.C., area never forgot the lack of coverage her case received.

"We realized there were so many more Hustons in the world, who just didn't have a voice," said Derrica Wilson.

In 2008, three years after Huston's death, Wilson and her sister-in-law, Natalie Wilson, founded the Black and Missing Foundation in Landover Hills, Maryland.

Giving a Voice to the Voiceless

Last year, 634,908 people were reported missing in the United States.

That's one person every minute.

Over 40 percent of those cases involve people of color, according to the FBI.

While that's a staggering statistic, many of these cases don't get the media coverage they need.

According to a 2010 report, African-American children made up 33.2 percent of missing persons cases that year, but they were significantly underrepresented in the media. African-American children received 19.5 percent of media coverage while non-African American children received over 80 percent.

The Wilsons have worked to cover that gap.

"We're not trying to dishonor any community. We're trying to even the playing field," Derrica Wilson said in a short film featured on the foundation's website.

Both women work full-time, but devote countless hours to find missing people of color from across the country. And while some of those stories don't have happy endings, the Black and Missing Foundation has helped many families find their missing loved one.

One tool the sisters-in-law use to help spread the stories of missing people is social media. Each day, the foundation's Twitter and Facebook pages are plastered with the faces of the missing.

"Arianna Fitts, 2, has been missing since early April. Her mother's body was found in a shallow grave in a San Francisco city park April 8. Have you seen her? #HelpUsFindArianna," said a Facebook post featuring three photos of a grinning little girl with big cheeks and brown eyes.

"We just need them to hit the share button," Derrica Wilson said.

The post on Arianna Fitts has been shared 1,382 times.

"We ask people to come forward if they know something," said Natalie Wilson. "They may hold the key and can bring someone home."

"You never know who you've come across," Derrica Wilson added.

What Needs to Change

Relisha Rudd's disappearance could signal a slight turning point in the coverage of missing African Americans.

The 8-year-old disappeared more than two years ago from a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C. Her case has sparked interest -- sometimes nationally -- every time investigators announce a new search for the little girl.

The search of the National Arboretum in April 2016 was covered by local news outlets, CNN, USA Today and other national media.

But the Wilsons say there's still more to be done in the coverage of missing people of color.

"In cases like Relisha Rudd, she did get a lot of media coverage, but there's so many others," Natalie Wilson said. "We have come a long way, but we do have a long way to go."

Natalie Wilson, who has 10 years of experience in media and public relations, said paying less attention to some individuals could allow for more diversity.

"Less is more," she said. "I just saw a story about Chandra Levy yesterday. She's still dominating the news cycle while cases like Relisha Rudd fade."

In addition to the media, the Wilsons say law enforcement agencies across the country need enhanced training in how missing persons cases are handled.

Derrica Wilson has firsthand experience in how some law enforcement agencies handle missing persons cases. She began her career in law enforcement in 2000 in Arlington County and later joined the City of Falls Church Police Department.

"When I was in the academy, two hours were dedicated to missing persons because it wasn't considered a crime," she said. News4 asked the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy for its current practices; the academy has not yet responded.

Police in other cities have been criticized for the way they handle some missing-persons cases, particularly when the victims are vulnerable.

In 2009, Cleveland's police force was heavily criticized following the discovery of 11 women's bodies in the home and backyard of Anthony Sowell.

The families of Sowell's victims accused police of failing to properly investigate the disappearances because most of the women were addicted to drugs and poor.

"The families were reaching out to file missing person's reports, and they were told things like, 'Your loved one will be home when the drugs wear off,'" Derrica Wilson said.

In the D.C. area, some police departments are making changes. Several have partnered with Project Lifesaver, a national program that helps find some missing people by outfitting people with conditions that may cause them to wander away with personal locator units.

"If a person outfitted with the wristband goes missing, the police department can use a receiver set to a specific frequency to help locate the missing individual," said Ashley Savage, spokeswoman for the Arlington County Police Department.

Savage said the average recovery time is less than 30 minutes.

The Wilsons also believe more services need to be provided to victims of domestic violence.

"There's a correlation between missing persons and domestic violence," Derrica Wilson said.

Until changes are made, the Wilsons will continue to advocate for those who others ignore.

"Let's continue to keep these missing persons cases in the forefront," Natalie Wilson said.
What to Know Henderson's last day will be Sept. 30.

The move does not come as a surprise; Henderson has said she planned to leave DCPS.

D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson will step down this fall, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Wednesday.

Her last day will be Sept. 30.

The move does not come as a surprise; Henderson has said she planned to leave DCPS, although she had previously said she would remain until 2017.

She has been with DCPS for nine years, taking over as chancellor in 2010 after serving as deputy chancellor under Michelle Rhee.

"I am incredibly grateful to Kaya for her nine years of service to our students, our schools, and our city," Bowser said in a statement.

Bowser praised Henderson's tenure Wednesday, saying DCPS has become the most quickly improving urban school district in the nation.

"Without a doubt, DCPS is a very different place today than it was when Kaya joined our school system in 2007. After decades of decline, DCPS has also seen consistent, annual enrollment growth since Kaya became Chancellor -- growing from 45,000 students in 2010 to nearly 49,000 students this year," Bowser said in the statement.

Officials will launch a nationwide search for a new chancellor in the fall. John Davis will serve as interim chancellor; he most recently held the role of DCPS' Chief of Schools, Bowser said.
What to Know A federal judge said the lawsuit brought by three former fraternity members cited comments that were offered as speculation, not fact.

Former frat members brought the lawsuit, claiming they were defamed by an article describing a student's account of rape.

An investigation by police found no evidence to back up the claims of the woman.

A defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone magazine over the magazine's debunked article about a University of Virginia gang rape was tossed out by a judge Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan said the lawsuit brought by three former fraternity members cited comments that were offered as speculation and hypothesis rather than fact.

He noted that none of the three members of Phi Kappa Psi were identified by name or physically described in the November 2014 article that described in chilling detail a student's account of being raped by seven men at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house in September 2012. The men  George Elias IV, Stephen Hadford and Ross Fowler  were members of the fraternity at the time but have since graduated.

"Their defamation claims are directed toward a report about events that simply did not happen," Castel wrote.

An investigation by Charlottesville, Virginia, police found no evidence to back up the claims of the woman identified in the article as "Jackie." Rolling Stone retracted the article and the magazine's managing editor and the article's author both apologized.

Castel said claims that the article made it seem that rape was an initiation ritual had to be dismissed because interpreting comments in the article to mean "all aspiring members were required to commit an act of rape stretches the language beyond its plausible meaning and surrounding context."

"Viewed in the overall context of the article, the quotes cannot reasonably be construed to state or imply that the fraternity enforced a rape requirement as part of an initiation ritual or a pre-condition for membership," he said.

The Phi Kappa Psi members brought the lawsuit last year, claiming the article caused them humiliation and emotional distress.

Alan L. Frank, a lawyer for the men, said they will consider their options, including an appeal.

Lawyers for defendants Rolling Stone, Wenner Media LLC and Sabrina Ruben Erdely, author of the article, "A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA," did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
What to Know A grand jury indicted Deonte Carraway on 270 counts of sex abuse of a minor, sex offenses and child pornography charges Tuesday.

The indictment covers 23 victims.

Carraway faces multiple life sentences if convicted.

A former Maryland school aide has been indicted on hundreds of charges following allegations he sexually abused students at a Prince George's County elementary school.

A grand jury indicted Deonte Carraway on 270 counts of sex abuse of a minor, sex offenses and child pornography charges Tuesday. The indictment covers 23 victims.

"Mr. Carraway is facing multiple life sentences if he is found guilty of these offenses," Prince George's County State's Attorney Angela Alsobrooks said.

Carraway had served as an aide at Judge Sylvania Woods Elementary School in Prince George's County, first as a paid teacher's assistant and then as a volunteer.

Prosecutors say Carraway made videos of children having sex with him and each other at the school, at a church and at other locations in Maryland. The videos allegedly produced include videos showing Carraway having sex with a 9-year-old boy and an 11-year-old boy. He "threatened, pressured, enticed, and/or coerced children" to engage in the acts, the indictment said.

The alleged victims included children between the ages of 9 and 12, according to court documents.

The more than 50 videos he allegedly produced will be used as evidence, and the victims will not be put on the stand, Alsobrooks said.

Among the hundreds of charges Carraway is now facing: 23 counts of sex abuse of a minor; 125 counts of first-, second- and third-degree sex offenses; 66 counts of creating child pornography; and 56 counts of possessing child pornography. Some of the charges stem from acts depicted in cellphone videos taken on various dates, according to the indictment.

The alleged abuse occurred between August 2015 and February of this year, the indictment said.

All of the charges stem from Carraway's interactions with students at the school, the state's attorney's office said.

Carraway has pleaded not guilty. In March, a judge ordered him to remain in jail as the case proceeds.

"He needs to not ever be around children again, as far as I'm concerned," said the mother of a 10-year-old victim. "He's where he needs to be right now."

In April, Carraway's public defenders argued that the court should suppress some of Carraway's statements because some of those statements might have been "involuntary." The attorneys also sought to suppress evidence taken from Carraway's cellphones.

His defense attorneys said Carraway "exhibited significant cognitive deficits, with a full scale IQ of 63, which placed his overall intellectual functioning in the deficient range."

Carraway was arrested Feb. 5 after the uncle of a 9-year-old boy saw a nude image on the child's phone, according to police. Police also said Carraway waived his rights and admitted his role in producing child pornography.

The state's attorney's office is conducting an investigation into whether anyone else should be held accountable.
Have you seen them?

Thousands of people are reported missing in the United States each year.

Below are some of their stories profiled on the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and the Black and Missing Foundation's website. If you believe you have information on any of the people profiled on the Black and Missing Foundation's website, you can send in an anonymous tip here.

Unique Harris

Unique Harris never went anywhere without her eyeglasses. She couldn't.

At the time of her disappearance in 2010, Harris' eyesight was so bad she couldn't see five feet in front of her without them, her mother, Valencia Harris, once told News4.

But on Oct. 10, 2010, her eyeglasses were found folded on her pillow in her Southeast Washington apartment, according to The Washington Post.

Her two young sons and niece were left alone in the apartment. The night before, Unique Harris and the children had enjoyed a movie night.

Black and Missing Foundation

When they woke up the next morning, Harris was gone. But the devoted mother was not the type to leave the world behind.

"I think someone took my daughter out of there. I think she was abducted," Valencia Harris said in an interview with News4 a few months after her daughter's disappearance.

Police have said it was possible she was taken. Her purse and ID were found inside the apartment, and her cellphone hasn't been used since she disappeared.

In a 2014 interview with Lisa Ling, Valencia Harris said her daughter witnessed a murder outside her apartment.

"She called me just emotional about what was unfolding and when she told me that she was looking out of the window, my immediate response to her was, Get away from the window! Get away from the window!, she recalled.

Valencia Harris has searched for her daughter ferociously in the years since her disappearance. She's done countless interviews, passed out flyers, organized prayer vigils and often shares posts about her daughter's case on Facebook.

"Missing for 5 yrs., 8 months, & 3 days...to long for her two children to be without their mother. Have you shared Unique's information?," a post published on June 13 read.

She has yet to receive a lead that will lead her to her eldest child.

Christopher Bailey

The pavement was hot. Typical of a hazy August day in Montgomery County, Maryland.

But Christopher Bailey, 40, was walking down Route 270 in Gaithersburg shoeless, a family friend told police. That was the last time he was seen.

Bailey suffered from an undiagnosed mental disorder, according to a profile on the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

NAMUS

Police did not know what Bailey was wearing when he disappeared on Aug. 25, 2006. In fact, not many details about Bailey's case are available.

At the time of his disappearance, Bailey was 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed 170 pounds. He had black hair and brown eyes.

Yuan Xia Wang

Yuan Xia Wang had only been in the United States for six weeks when she disappeared on Oct. 21, 1998. Two months earlier, she was smuggled into Dulles International Airport from China.

Klaharn Chaichana, the man who smuggled Wang into the country, told authorities she was his niece. Wang had a real Thai passport, but when Thai translators tried to talk to her, she could not communicate with them, The Washington Post reported.

Wang eventually told authorities that her parents paid Chaichana to bring her to America. investigators never found out why she was smuggled into the country.

"It doesn't look like a slavery case or an extortion case," a law enforcement official told The Post at the time.

Chaichana was arrested, and Wang was sent to live with a foster family in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County.

Wang's foster parents believed she was adjusting well to her new life despite being the only student at Holmes Middle School that spoke Mandarin. But they were never sure because of the language barrier.

At 5 feet 6 inches tall, they also doubted she was the age she claimed. Wang told police she was 12, but her foster parents believed she may have been as old as 15.

NAMUS

Wang was last seen on Oct. 22, 1998 getting off a school bus at her home at 3:10 p.m. A cab arrived 20 minutes later to take her to a doctor's appointment. But when it arrived, she was gone.

While Wang may have left out of fear of deportation, investigators also looked into the possibility she was abducted by someone connected to her entry into the country, according to the Charley Project.

Ten years after her disappearance, there were reports Wang may have been in the Kansas City, Missouri area. But that was never confirmed.

Sherry Walker

It was six weeks before anyone reported Sherry Walker missing.

Walker, 40, suffered from schizophrenia and had a habit of dropping out of sight from time to time. So when she left her Alexandria, Virginia, home on Oct. 22, 2003, no one thought anything of it.

Walker's neighbors thought she was checking into a hospital for mental health treatment, but no record of her was found at any area hospitals, according to the Black and Missing Foundation.

As fall turned to winter, Walker's family became increasingly worried. She had never lost contact with them for this long.

Black and Missing Foundation

In December, her sister called police, The Connection Newspapers reported.

Several police officers saw Walker in the Arlandria section of the city in December 2003 and January 2004. But those sightings soon stopped.

Walker, who was last seen wearing a brown coat and white sneakers, hasn't been seen or heard from since.

Christian Muse

Michael Muse hasn't seen his son Christian Muse in four years.

The 19 year old was last seen on July 15, 2012 in the Glass Manor area of Oxon Hill, according to the Black and Missing Foundation.

At the time of his disappearance, Michael Muse, who used to play in the Go-Go band Rare Essence, thought that maybe his son was suffering from memory loss.

But in an interview with Examiner.com in 2015, he mentioned that a D.C. police detective contacted him, looking for Christian.

Black and Missing Foundation

"He was looking for Christian for information regarding a child pornography ring that had exploited him and other under aged boys," Michael Muse said.

Michael Muse said he passed the information along to the detective in charge of his son's case, but nothing came of it.

"I thought that certainly it would have blown the lid off the entire case, Michael Muse told Examiner.com.

Christian was spotted three times after his initial disappearance, but in the years since his disappearance, his bank account hasn't been touched, and he hasn't called.
Bicyclists and pedestrians who are injured on city streets will have to wait longer to come out of the legal shadows.

The D.C. Council was set to vote Tuesday on a bill that would give cyclists and pedestrians more power to sue for damages should they be in a wreck with motorized vehicles. But Ward 5 Council member Kenyan McDuffie successfully won enough support among his colleagues to postpone a vote on the bill until July 12, after his move to withdraw the bill was overturned.

Currently, a pedestrian or cyclist cannot claim damages if they are partially at fault for a collision. Its called contributory negligence. If you are a pedestrian standing just off the curb and are hit by a vehicle, you cannot successfully sue, even if the vehicle driver was drunk and speeding. If a cyclist happens to be turning left improperly and is hit by a driver running a red light, the cyclist cant sue because of contributory negligence.

If a cyclist or pedestrian is even a little bit at fault, Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh told NBC4, they cannot recover against the [automobiles] that really cause the injury. Thats it. Theyre out.

Under the Cheh measure, such cases would be more evenly decided. Plaintiffs (cyclists and pedestrians) would not be barred from seeking damages unless it is clear that the cyclist or pedestrian is the true cause of the wreck/injury.

Greg Billing of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association told NBC4 that the current law allows the insurance industry to completely deny coverage to an injured person, and we think that should change. Billing said, This is a big change. This recognizes that when people who are walking and biking, if they get injured, they should be fairly compensated for their injuries. He also said 46 states have the more-fair system of assigning blame.

Some representatives of auto insurance companies say the new law could raise insurance premiums for drivers by as much as 23 percent. Wrecks no longer would be slam dunk cases for drivers.

There are more bicycles and more pedestrians in our rapidly growing city. The supremacy of the automobile and other vehicles has to be more measured with the growing population. Cars are no longer king. Adjusting laws affecting responsibility is just a start in changing city laws to recognize all forms of transportation.

 Statistical note. The District has about 1,600 incidents of pedestrians or cyclists being injured or killed each year. The new bill redefining contributory negligence still must be passed by the council, signed by the mayor and be passively approved by Congress.

 Fun. Well be heading to the Republican National Convention in mid-July. Beyond the fact that many establishment Republicans are not going (were looking at you, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan), theres fear of massive anti-Donald Trump demonstrations and even disruption of the convention floor.

 Stamping your feet? Montgomery County Council President Nancy Floreen is trying to upend how labor disputes are settled by the county government.

Under current law, a mediator and arbitrator  often the same person  is empowered to make sweeping decisions about compensation and work rules. The county has lost about 75 percent of recent cases.

Floreen wants to change the system. She has proposed a bill that establishes a three-person panel to review labor disputes with county employees. Unions representing county workers say the proposal is an attempt to gut labor unions.

Asked about the union opposition during an appearance on the WAMU Kojo Nnamdi Politics Hour last week, Floreen dismissed the union leaders criticism, saying, Their job is to stamp their feet.

Not the most conciliatory description to bring about change.

 Trump and Virginia. Also appearing on the Politics Hour was Prince William County Chairman Corey Stewart, the Virginia state leader of the Trump campaign. Stewart, who also is running for governor next year, says despite Trumps sometimes controversial remarks, the presumptive nominee has tapped into a real disquiet among American voters.

Stewart supports Trump but is not without a few misgivings and disagreements. For example, Stewart thinks the Trump proposal to ban Muslims temporarily is too sweeping. About 7 percent of Prince William residents are Muslim; Stewart said they are valued members of the countys communities, and any sweeping ban of Muslims is just not realistic or fair.

 A kinda final word. The Notebook was pleased to emcee a recent celebration honoring Richard Bradley of the Downtown Business Improvement District. In the late 1990s, Bradley, in his friendly but determined manner, helped create and run the first BID in the city in an area that desperately needed it. The watch words back then? The downtown area was dirty, desolate and dangerous.

Now, its the polar opposite. There is life day and night, seven days a week. The Verizon Center hosts 220 events a year. The Downtown BIDs staff of hardy workers patrol the streets picking up trash, directing lost tourists and generally being alert to any mischief they see.

Bradley and Joe Sternlieb, who now runs the Georgetown BID, were early partners in the turnaround that the city enjoys today.

Our congratulations to Bradley, who is officially stepping down from the BID but says, Im not going anywhere. He said hell still work on a variety of projects to make the Districts downtown even better than it is.

Maybe hell do something about the choking traffic that is becoming more of a threat downtown to the very success thats causing that traffic.

Tom Sherwood, a Southwest resident, is a political reporter for News 4.
A Virginia high school student's bold request to use the school's 3-D printer soon became a life-changing milestone for his little brother in need of a prosthetic hand.

Gabriel Fillippini, a junior at Park View High School in Loudoun County, Virginia, was inspired to help his 6-year-old brother, Lucas, who was born with no left hand, as soon as he discovered the school had obtained a 3-D printer for its career and technical education classroom.

"Gabriel came to me and kind of asked if we could print out a prosthetic hand, and I was kind of taken aback by it," said Kurt O'Connor, a teacher at Park View. "I said, 'I don't know, I guess we could try.'"

Fillippini, 16, and his teacher gathered help from the community in their pursuit to print a new hand for Lucas. An organization called Enabling the Future, which supports "3-D printable, open-source prosthetics," gave them free designs for the hand. A group of local hobbyists helped them perfect the knuckle joints.

But even with this assistance, the first hand they printed was a little bit too big, so they had to scale down the design and try again.

On his 6th birthday, earlier this month, Lucas received an unforgettable present  a new hand that fit him perfectly.

"It's nice to do things with my both hands," Lucas said, adding that he is grateful that kids can no longer ask about his "little hand."

"It makes me think my brother loves me a lot," he said.

Fillippini said this success makes him want to continue making prosthetics for kids in need.

"I know there are other kids who would love to have another hand," Fillippini said.

The boys' mother, Romina Barrera, credits Fillippini's teacher for inspiring and encouraging his selfless idea.

"This planet needs more people like Mr. O'Connor," Barrera said. "He's willing to help a stranger even though he didn't know us."

O'Connor said he, too, is interested in using the school's printer to continue to change lives. He said he plans to incorporate new projects, such as the one he and Fillippini took on this year, into his engineering classes.

"This is what we do as educators," O'Connor said. "I was just fortunate enough to have a tool and end up using it for something spectacular."
What to Know Kyler Schmitz is accused of sending tweets threatening to shoot senators.

The judge ordered Schmitz undergo mental health evaluations, stay away from Washington entirely and submit himself to GPS monitoring.

He is not allowed to tweet at all or play any video games with internet capability.

A judge released a Virginia man accused of tweeting threats to shoot at least two U.S. senators under the condition that he doesn't tweet at all for any reason pending his next court appearance, according to prosecutors.

The judge ordered Kyler Schmitz undergo mental health evaluations, stay away from Washington entirely and submit himself to GPS monitoring. He is allowed only limited internet access and is not allowed to play any video games with internet capability. He also is forbidden from drinking alcohol.

Schmitz must also reside with a third-party custodian chosen by the court, according to the order.

Schmitz is charged with making the threats earlier this month. Hes accused of tweeting Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) with a message that hed shoot Blunt in the head. In other Twitter posts, Schmitz wrote to Members of Congress with a message that hed shoot them in the face, according to prosecutors.

U.S. Capitol Police investigated and questioned Schmitz, who lives with his fiance in Alexandria. He has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest last week.

According to testimony at a court hearing, a license plate reader detected Schmitzs car within two blocks of the U.S. Capitol shortly after the tweets were posted.

Schmitzs fiance told News4 the tweets were parodies and satire and not genuine threats against any members of Congress. The messages were "inartful political discourse" on the issue of gun control, Schmitzs defense attorney said Monday.

Schmitz does not own a gun, according to testimony at Monday's court hearing.

Schmitz works as an Uber driver, prosecutors said.
A second Boston official has been arrested in connection with the extortion of production companies involved with the "Boston Calling" music festival in the city.

Timothy Sullivan, Boston's Chief of Staff of Intergovernmental Affairs, was indicted in a two-count federal indictment, according to U.S. District Attorney Carmen Ortiz's Office.

Sullivan, who was charged with conspiracy to extort a company and extortion, is expected to face a federal judge at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Associated Press reports his attorney, Thomas Kiley, declined to comment.

In May, Kenneth Brissette, Boston's top tourism official, was indicted on extortion of the same company.

They are accused of pressuring organizers of the Boston Calling music festival to hire union workers and refusing to issue permits until eight laborers and a foreman were hired between July and September 2014.

Brissette pleaded not guilty and was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond. He is currently on paid administrative leave.

Mayor Marty Walsh released a statement Wednesday morning that read in part, "I am deeply concerned about these allegations. It is a great privilege to serve in City Hall and I will not allow anyone to squander that privilege. I expect everyone to perform at the highest ethical standards. There is no room in my Administration for the type of behavior that is alleged here."

The statement added the mayor is calling for an ethics training program for all city department heads.
A New Hampshire woman is under arrest for allegedly hitting a Nashua police cruiser with her car and then taking off.

Rosy De La Cruz is accused of hitting the cruiser on last month.

Police tracked her after they followed up on a tip from the public.

De La Cruz faces several charges, including not obeying the "Move Over" law.
Turkish Air passengers arrived at Boston Logan International Airport, missing a deadly terrorist attack that occurred in the Istanbul Ataturk airport.

Many had no idea about the attack.

Ersel Gumus, who was visiting Boston from Turkey, said, "We had set off in the afternoon but the bombing occurred at night, Turkish time."

Families and friends of passengers had been following the attacks.

"I didn't really know what was going on and that's what stressed me out the most they said a lot of people were dead and a lot of people were injured, you never know what was going to happen," said Kostas Kondylas of Boston.

The fear for their ones continued right up until they landed.

Kostas added, "There was no way I could communicate with her so thank God I came here and I asked. So I'm kind of calm now."

The Massachusetts State Police said they are monitoring the situation, with visible security.

Gumus said, "we were discussing with my family it's not easy to say we are lucky to have survived because lots of people were killed but these kind of terrorist attacks have been all through Europe, it's becoming common unfortunately."

The FAA has cancelled all flights to and from Turkey until further notice. The earliest the airport could reopen is tomorrow morning.
A Stoneham, Massachusetts, firefighter was killed in a house shooting Tuesday night and a suspect has been arrested, according to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.

The shooting at the home on Congress Street happened shortly after 11 p.m.

The victim, 23-year-old David Atherton, a Stoneham firefighter, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Patrick Riccardi-O'Connor, 23, was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and discharging a firearm.

Initial investigation suggests the two were drinking and passing a gun back and forth, pointing it at each other. Officials believe the shooting was a result of this behavior.

In court, where he was described as a childhood friend of Atherton's, Riccardi-O'Connor posted his $25,000 bail. He was ordered to wear a GPS bracelet, to obey a curfew and to stay away from alcohol and dangerous weapons as conditions of his bail.

Stoneham Fire Chief Matthew Grafton says the department is mourning the loss of Atherton, who became a full-time firefighter in February this year and had previously served in the Massachusetts Army National Guard.

"Firefighter Atherton always wanted to help people. He was selfless and dedicated, and he overcame great tragedy as he lost both of his parents at a young age," he said. "I cannot help but feel that the best was yet to come for this young man, and we in the Stoneham Fire Department are still coming to terms with his loss."

Grafton said Atherton will be buried with full military and fire department honors.

Bob Markel, Stoneham's interim town administrator, said the community is reeling from the tragic loss.

"On behalf of the entire community, I offer my most sincere condolences to Firefighter Atherton's family and friends and his fire department family during this difficult time. I was very proud and moved by the fire department's response overnight, as firefighters lined the roadway in a show of respect to their brother firefighter," he said in a statement.

Atherton's brother told necn he was a "kind soul" and "the hole he left in this world will never be filled."

Riccardi-O'Connor is due back in court on Aug. 3 for a probable cause hearing. It's unclear if he has an attorney.
A former UConn student who was taken into custody after a profanity-laced tirade over jalapeno-bacon macaroni-and-cheese at a dining hall last fall has been arrested again, accused of assaulting a police officer at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility in Florida.

Police said 20-year-old Luke Gatti was going through treatment for alcohol and drugs and struck an officer who was trying to take him into custody for his own safety.

Police responded to Wellness Resources Center in Boca Raton, Florida around 4:15 p.m. on May 27 and staff members told them Gatti was going through withdrawals when he arrived from the Sunrise Detox Center. When doctors denied him medication for the withdrawals, Gatti said he wanted to leave the facility. He was agitated and said he couldnt handle the pain anymore, police said.

Gatti walked out of the facility without shoes, leaving his belongings behind.

When he returned nearly two hours later, he was angry and agitated and screamed at staff members to give him his property back, according to the police report.

Gatti also told authorities he didnt care if he got hurt or hurt himself and wanted to be left alone, according to police.

When he walked away, police decide to take him into custody because of the condition he was in. At that point, Gatti struggled, hit an officer tried to break free of the officers grip, according to police.

After police threatened to use a stun gun, Gatti stopped struggling and police placed handcuffs on him.

Police charged Gatti with resisting an officer and battery on a police officer for pulling away from and hitting the officer who was trying to take him into custody.

When he was in the back of the police car, Gatti made suicidal statements and said. I just want to die, according to the police report.

He said he needs drugs and alcohol to feel better, always has suicidal thought and dreams of people hurting him, police said. Then asked the officer to do him a favor and shoot him, the police report says.

Gatti made national news after video surfaced on YouTube last fall that appeared to show him confronting the market manager because he wanted bacon-jalapeno mac and cheese, then shoving the man several times as apparent students tried to intervene.

It went on to show a staff member at the market eventually wrestle Gatti to the ground and detain him and police arrived.

Gatti, who is no longer enrolled at UConn, issued a public apology after the incident in Storrs and was granted accelerated rehabilitation, a form of probation that means the case will be expunged from Gatti's record if he avoids any legal trouble and complies with random drug tests.

Gatti was originally charged with misdemeanor breach of peace and trespassing.
Boston, known for its elaborate Fourth of July parties, faces uncertainty regarding the future of the city's fireworks show.

The magnificient fireworks show is accompanied by the world renowned Boston Pops orchestra, all along the banks of the scenic Charles River.

Considering many who grew up in greater Boston have been to the fireworks show at least once, it is not surprising people were unhappy to hear that the event is without a sponsor next year, and therefore may not happen.

Darren Simpson of Cambridge said, "Oh that would be a tragedy. It's a real gem of the city."

That is because 77-year-old Star Market heir David Mugar is retiring after his 43rd celebration next week.

Mugar has donated about $20-million to the event since he first convinced legendary Pops Conductor Arthur Fieldler to end the July 4 concert with cannons and fire works and of course, the 1812 Overture.

None of the reported 1,000 corporations contacted has stepped up to take over the CBS nationally televised event.

Simpson said, "Some things are worth more than just the bottom line. I don't know what kind of a return on investment you get other than it's something that the community looks forward to and it's a real hallmark of the community."

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said the city has some work to do to make sure it all happens again next year, but until the 4th, he wants to focus on celebrating the contributions of David Mugar.

Ed McCarthy of Medway said, "I doubt that will ever happen...Somehow there will be a grassroots movement, I'm sure. People pull together here as Boston Strong."
Enhanced security is being maintained at Boston's Logan Airport after dozens were killed in a terror attack at Turkey's largest airport Tuesday night.

The gunmen opened fire at the entrance of the international arrivals area at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul. More than 100 people have been injured.

Massachusetts State Police say they are monitoring the situation and are maintaining the enhanced security measures they already have in place.

Some Turkish airline passengers we spoke to who were already on their way to Boston when the attack was carried out said they had no idea they had just missed it.

Ersel Gumus said, "We were discussing with my family it's not easy to say we are lucky to have survived because lots of people were killed. But these kind of terrorist attacks have been all through Europe. It's becoming common unfortunately."

The FAA has cancelled all flights to and from Turkey until further notice.

The earliest the airport could reopen is Wednesday morning.
A Quincy, Massachusetts, couple says the sitter they hired to watch their elderly dog abused him, robbed them and then left the dog alone for days.

They found their beloved 13-year-old dog had several injuries that prevented him from being able to walk.

Their vet believes he was left laying on his side in his own waste for days, causing sores, a bladder and kidney infection.

The couple booked Katie Barker of Lynn to care for Sullivan at their home while they celebrated their anniversary in Mexico.

They used a website called DogVacay.

Toward the middle of the week, neighbor's began hearing Sullivan howling and called the couple in Mexico.

Joe Hingston says Barker told him everything was fine, she only left a few times to take care of car and family issues.

Hingston told his neighbor to use a spare key to check on Sullivan and found him injured and alone.

When Hingston returned home he also found about $5,000 in coins he had been saving since childhood were gone. He also says money was missing from an envelope with about $200 that was part of a fundraiser to help pay for firefighter funerals he runs.

Drug paraphernalia was also allegedly found in their home.

DogVacay issued a statement saying, "Upon learning of the incident, the host was immediately removed from our platform. This is a deeply heartbreaking event as we think of our dogs as our own family. We're continuing to investigate this matter and are working closely with the authorities and Joe to support them in every way we can."

DogVacay also told necn that Barker passed a background check and completed a rigorous approval process.

Hingston filed a police report but hasn't heard from Barker.

Sullivan is recovering, but may lose part of one of his hind legs because of nerve damage. It's unclear what caused some of his injuries, but Hingston says his vet said it appears he was dropped or kicked.

Quincy police are investigating.
Firefighters are often heading toward the danger, but sometimes it comes to them. For York Beach Fire Chief David Bridges, danger landed right on his roof.

"I pulled up and saw something hanging off the corner of my roof," he said, remembering his drive home Sunday. "I knew instantly what it was."

It was a sky lantern, also known as a Chinese lantern  floating paper globes with burning candles inside that are often released at weddings, holiday parties, vigils and memorials. They may be beautiful, but they are illegal in Maine.

"These things have a mind of their own and they go where the winds take them to go," Chief Bridges said.

For years, he has been trying to educate the public about the lantern law and the fire dangers they pose. Bridges believes it is a common misconception that Maine legalized the lanterns after legalizing fireworks in 2012.

But according to state statutes mentioned by the York Beach Fire Department on its Facebook page, there are many restrictions that ban the possession, use, sale and purchase of the sky lanterns.

Bridges said they have been known to land on roofs and in trees, causing fires.

"It's just ironic that one landed on my roof," he said. "Of all places for it to land."
A vigil will be held for a 27-year-old nursing student who died in a bicycle crash in Cambridge, Massachusetts, last week.

The Boston Cyclists Union is putting on Wednesday's vigil at 7 p.m. in Inman Square.

Amanda Phillips was on her bicycle in Inman Square when she collided with two vehicles.

Massachusetts State Police say she entered the roadway from the sidewalk. As she went in the roadway the driver of a parked Jeep opened the door.

She died from her injuries at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Neither of the drivers are facing charges.

City records show there have been close to 30 accidents in the intersection over the past few years.

A city traffic official tells us there have been no fatalities.

A study is underway to look at how to make the intersection safer.
A 46-year-old man says he first noticed a pain in his back on Sunday night, but did not seek medical treatment for what turned out to be a gunshot wound until Tuesday morning, according to police.

Police in Worcester, Massachusetts, say they responded to a city hospital to investigate the incident and doctors informed police that the victim is in serious but stable condition.

The male victim informed police that he was walking home on Sunday night from a Thai restaurant located at 545 Southwest Cutoff when he heard a pop, sound and then felt a pain in his back. The victim stated that he continued walking home, ate his food, and went to sleep. When he woke up on Monday morning, the victim stated that he was in pain and found it difficult to move.

The victim informed police that he slept most of Monday and when he woke up Tuesday morning, the victim was still in pain and noticed a large amount of blood on his clothing and his bed. At this point the victim drove himself to the hospital.

Worcester police detectives went to the hospital where the victim informed them that he was unsure from which direction the shot came. Staff at the hospital confirmed that the victim was suffering from a through and through gunshot wound to the left chest area.

The police investigation is ongoing and anyone with information about this incident can anonymously send a text 274637 TIPWD, email worcesterma.gov/police, or call (508) 799-8651.
Bowdoin Colleges Wi-Fi network boasts 550 Cisco access points and handles the wireless needs of up to several thousand people depending on how busy things are on the Brunswick, Maine campus. But CIO Mitchel Davis says this WLAN still has plenty of room to grow.

The college over the past couple of weeks has been testing new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy access points and accompanying cloud-based management tools from a Mountain View startup called Mist, formed by ex-Cisco WLAN big shots, as a possible way to expand its wireless services in exciting new ways.

MORE: Hottest enterprise networking & IT startups of 2016

One possible scenario that could play out at an upcoming art show on campus is using the technology to allow visitors to hold up their smartphones as they roam around to see whats available at each location of the exhibit. Unbeknownst to the mobile device users, virtual beacons and cloud-based algorithms would provide Bowdoin and the users with useful information based on location, mapping and other data.

Were trying to incorporate the augmented reality experience with the actual show, says Davis, who adds that the Mist gear can pick up on the fact he enters a room wearing his Bluetooth-enabled Apple Watch. Were not sure we can do it, but its a cool project we can try because of Mist.

Mist attracted Davis as well with its less glamorous, but potentially very useful, management capabilities. His organization has been using a hodgepodge of wireless management tools, from Cisco and others.

Bowdoin Mitchel Davis, CIO, Bowdoin College: His staff has been on the prowl for more efficient WLAN management

The big deal for my networking staff is seeing how it flows, where people are actually going, what kind of bandwidth they are using, when are they there (you can look at history), he says. You can go into their systems and look at the performance of their machine in our network, such as if they are having a lag in their https access, so we can be proactive in responding to that users environment.

Mist a Mystery No More

To back up for a moment, you should know that Mist came out of stealth mode earlier this month, backed by $14.4M in Series A venture funding and boasting of being able to deliver amazing experiences to customers. The company has impressive pedigree: It's led by Co-founder and CEO Sujai Hajela, whose jobs at Cisco included overseeing its multi-billion wireless network business. Mist Co-founder and CTO Bob Friday, along with Co-founder and Chairman Brett Galloway, also hail from Cisco, having joined when it bought WLAN switch maker Airespace for $450 million in 2005. (Business Insider recently posted a good backgrounder on Mist's origins.)

Mist Mist Co-founder and CTO Bob Friday, formerly with Cisco by way of acquisition Airespace: "The explosive growth of mobile users, apps, and connected devices presents big challenges for legacy wireless networks."

This week, Mist followed up its funding news by anointing itself a pioneer in cutting-edge wireless technologies, and formally announcing its offerings. These include access points (listed at roughly $1,400 apiece) powered by cloud-based subscription services for enabling sophisticated enterprise network management and location-based apps (subscriptions go for $150 per access point per year, or $225 per AP per year for both services). Mist utilizes Amazon Web Services for its cloud offerings, and touts a micro-services architecture that lets the company roll out and fix software piece by piece  an alternative to what the startup refers to as monolithic WLAN controller architectures of the past.

Mist The Mist AP41 is a 4x4, 802.11ac Wave 2 Gigabit Wi-Fi access point that includes 3 radios and a 16-element vBLE antenna array controlled from the Mist Cloud.

To get a little more specific about Mists offerings, the Business Critical Wi-Fi service boasts proactive network monitoring via predictive analytics and correlation (PACE). Think of PACE as an intelligent virtual assistant for networking, like IBM Watson for Healthcare, the company says. Additionally, dynamic packet capture is designed to cut down on the need to send engineers on site to conduct packet capture and debugging procedures.

The second service, virtual Bluetooth Low Energy (vBLE), allows for developers to build iPhone, etc., apps that interact with both virtual beacons via the Mist access point and Mist cloud services. This is where location-based services come in, determining where the mobile device is located at any time and what data might be useful to the device owner. Using Mists SDK and APIs, an organization like Bowdoin could create or enhance an app like the one it envisions for the upcoming art show Davis cited.

Mist Mist vBLE in action

Mist has built its platform using open source cloud technologies such as Kafka, Storm, Spark and Cassandra, which are known for their scalability. Using these technologies, Mist claims its products and services can support millions of end points.

Cisco connections

Bowdoins Davis became acquainted with Mist as a result of the school being a longtime Cisco customer and becoming familiar with Mist founders Hajela and Friday, and vice-versa. When those execs headed off on their new venture, their team asked Davis about the kinds of things he would be interested in seeing a startup tackle, and he mentioned improved geofencing controls to keep outsiders from accessing internal Wi-Fi networks and the need for more efficient WLAN management, including the ability to better monitor traffic patterns.

Bowdoin is no stranger to working with startups, and Davis says his staff has the engineering talent to help new companies fine-tune and extend their offerings. While Davis says he could envision Bowdoin populating new buildings with Mist gear, if the technology pans out, the more immediate need might be for Mist modules designed for Cisco access points.

One big surprise for Davis, when he got his hands on the Mist access points, was to find an internet of things port on the devices. Bowdoin has as many as 100,000 sensors on campus, tracking everything from heat to water to fire, so further integrating such sensors  along with those for lights  into the wireless network would be a goal.

[Mist is] thinking about a future thats coming, but undefined as of yet, he says.
The ancient Chinese military strategy guide The Art of War says that if you want to have a chance of prevailing in battle, you need to know your enemy. Its good advice for the battlefield, and it's also good advice if you want to beat hackers in their constant attempts to take over your network.

But in order to know these hackers you need to understand their motivations, and in many cases those motivations may not be what you expect. That's according to Dan Kaminski, the security expert who discovered a fundamental flaw in the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) protocol in 2008 and who discovered flaws in the widely used SSL protocol a year later. Kaminski is a frequent speaker at Black Hat Briefings, and now works as Chief Scientist at White Ops, a security firm specializing in detecting bot and malware fraud.

[ Also on CIO.com: 13 hot security startups to watch ]

White Ops "If you are a CIO and your job is to protect the network, click fraud is the cause of a major class of threat that you have to deal with," says Dan Kaminsky, Chief Scientist, White Ops

Cashing out compromised machines

"If you are a CIO you must ask why people are breaking in to your network. The answer is to get your data  eventually. But initially it is to defraud advertisers," Kaminsky says. "The major motivator for hackers is to commit click fraud as it provides a way to cash out a compromised machine. Only once they have done that will they look at what else they can do with the machine."

As companies catch on that a given machine is responsible for click fraud, that machines ability to generate cash for the fraudsters drops dramatically until it has no further use to them. It's at that point that access to the compromised machine will be sold off to someone else to exploit, with servers in large enterprises commanding far higher prices than compromised run-of-the-mill consumer machines.

"There is a whole ecosystem out there," says Kaminski. "One guy finds vulnerabilities, one guy deploys them, and then there are the guys who buy (compromised machines) afterwards and do all kinds of things with them." This, Kaminski says, includes corporate data theft and the full gamut of other crimes.

No obvious victims

That leads to an interesting question about who the victims of click fraud really are, and Kaminski says that it's not immediately obvious. "When you rob a bank, people are angry. But when you rob an advertiser, their numbers are up, so they are happy," he says. Many direct marketers also take the attitude that a certain amount of click fraud is factored into the price that they pay, so they may not be unduly worried or feel they are victims. In fact, on the advertising side very few people get angry, Kaminsky says.

But aside from the advertisers that have been defrauded, the other victims are the CIOs of large companies, says Kaminski. "They are the victims as they are the people whose machines are taken over," he says. "If you are a CIO and your job is to protect the network, click fraud is the cause of a major class of threat that you have to deal with."

How click fraud works

Hackers can carry out click fraud in two ways. The first is to set up a website that is never intended to be viewed by humans and populating it with "word salad," meaningless content made up of random words. These sites are filled with ads that are placed through automated ad exchanges, and the hackers then point their botnets at the site to generate clicks and "earn" advertising revenue.

The second way is simply to wait for a real site owner to contact them and pay to send a certain amount of bot traffic to their site. "A site owner may have sold a million hits to advertisers but only got a quarter of that. Do they give the money back? Never!," says Kaminski. "They will call someone with a botnet and the site will get those extra three quarters of a million hits," he explains.

[ Also on CIO.com: Malvertising campaigns are becoming harder to detect ]

Click fraud fuels malvertising

To build botnets to carry out ad fraud, hackers need to compromise a steady stream of new machines to replace those that are no longer effective. To do this they are increasingly turning to malvertising: placing advertisements containing malware that infects viewers onto well known, reputable web sites, according to Kelley Mak, an analyst at Forrester Research.

"Malvertising will either deliver ransomware or compromise the machine and recruit it to a botnet," Mak says. "Malvertising is fuelled by click fraud because a malicious ad can recruit the new bots hackers need, and malvertising is cheap if all you are trying to do is infect people, not actually sell them something.

Hackers are more likely to use malvertising to recruit bots for click fraud rather than to deposit ransomware on a machine, Mak believes. One reason is that it's easier to generate money from click fraud, but, more importantly, there's also much less risk involved for the hackers. "People hit by click fraud will probably not try and enlist the help of a government agency  they are more likely just to try and block bots, so the risk is substantially lower," he explains.

Threat to the Internet

There's little doubt that click fraud represents a major headache for CIOs and their security teams, but Kaminsky believes that this type of hacker activity harms businesses in a more fundamental way: it plunges the economics of the Internet as a business tool into doubt.

"The entire ecosystem is threatened by click fraud," he says. "Why? Because it costs money to build the web, and if money is being siphoned off by people who aren't building it, then legitimate businesses have to work harder and harder for less and less."

$7.2 billion problem

In terms of the scale of the click fraud problem, evidence suggests it's a multi-billion dollar business. The 2015 Bot Baseline Study into fraud in digital advertising carried out by the Association of National Advertisers and White Ops found that click fraud will likely cost companies around the world a total of $7.2 billion in 2016, with advertisers unwittingly paying out an average of $10 million to fraudsters during the year. When it comes to the proportion of the clicks that are fraudulent, the study says advertisers were defrauded between 3 percent and 37 percent of the time.

So what can CIOs do to minimize the risk that an infected machine committing click fraud may be lurking on their networks? Kaminsky recommends keeping a close eye on the traffic generated by machines on the corporate network, and in particular monitoring DNS traffic. "No-one monitors DNS enough, but there are identifiable C&C (command and control) domains," he says. "The benefit of monitoring DNS is that the info flow is relatively small, so the relative value of any data you analyze is high."

He also recommends encouraging marketing departments to use specialist click fraud protection software, such as that sold by his employer White Ops as well as competitors PPCSecure and Distil Networks.

Next read this: A ray of hope in the fight against malvertising

This story, "Why CIOs should care about click fraud " was originally published by CIO .
The lovefest between Microsoft and Salesforce.com continues, this time with a new connector for Outlook that links Salesforce connections to the Outlook contact and calendar manager.

Microsoft made the announcement via the Office blog, noting that sales reps rely on two primary tools Customer Relational Management (CRM) and email. "Yet, CRM and email have traditionally been disconnected tools, and sales reps have had to spend valuable time toggling between these apps," the company noted.

Manually adding contacts or calendar events from email to CRM or having to move back and forth between the two waste a lot of time.

Enter Lightning for Outlook, an add-in that bridges the gap by allowing users to search, view and update Salesforce CRM entries connected with their email accounts within Outlook itself.

If there is a caveat it's the restrictions on supported versions of Outlook. The Lightning for Outlook add-in works only on Outlook 2013 for Windows, Outlook 2016 for Windows, Outlook 2016 for Mac or Outlook on the web with either Office 365, Exchange 2013 or Exchange 2016 mailboxes. Anyone using Outlook 2010 or older is out of luck.

Eventually you will also be able to add custom sales apps directly into Outlook, creating permanent shortcuts for tasks such as updating a price quote using SteelBrick. Microsoft hasn't given a release date for that feature.

The new add-in is now available from the Office Store for Sales Cloud users. Lightning Sync is available at no additional cost for those with Sales Cloud Lightning Enterprise Edition or higher.

Microsoft is sure putting Outlook to some interesting uses. At the Build conference earlier this year it announced a Starbucks for Outlook add-in. The add-in adds a "Meet at Starbucks" button to the Outlook ribbon, making it easy to schedule a meeting at a nearby coffee house.
"I believe serious times call for a serious candidate," Alok Sharma says

THE MP for Reading West, Alok Sharma, is backing Home Secretary Theresa May to be the next Prime Minister.

In a turbulent week for British politics sparked by the UK voting to leave the European Union, Prime Minister David Cameron announced he would be stepping down from the premiership.

Mr Cameron said that a new leader should be in place before the Conservative Party conference in October.

Mrs May, the MP for Maidenhead, has been Home Secretary for six years and came out in support of Remain in the EU Referendum.

Mr Sharma, whose constituency includes Calcot; Pangbourne; Purley-on-Thames; Theale and Tilehurst, announced his support for Mrs May at the Confederation of British Industry's annual India banquet in London last night (Wednesday).

Mr Sharma said: "I believe serious times call for a serious candidate. Someone who is very experienced at the highest levels. Someone who is highly competent. Someone who will command respect on the international stage.

"Of course we have very many fine and able people in the Conservative Party whom will be putting themselves forward for the highest office. In my party people want to get onto the front bench, not get off it.

"I believe the candidate with the most experience, most able to unite our country and steer us through some very choppy waters is Theresa May, our Home Secretary.

"Theresa has very real experience from the private sector and fantastic experience at the very top of government. She will command respect from Delhi to Dublin, from Brussels to Beijing. And Theresa May will work tirelessly for our country, as she has done every day over the past six years as Home Secretary."

Mrs May announced that she would enter the leadership contest in today's .

Conservative MPs will stake their claim before the party's 1922 committee before going to a party vote.

Also contesting the leadership are Leave campaigner and Justice Secretary Micheal Gove, Department for Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb, former Defence Secretary Liam Fox and Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom.
Vigil and concert to be held to mark centenary

THATCHAM will pay tribute to the men who fell at the Battle of the Somme, when it falls silent to commemorate the centenary of the battle, which began on July 1, 1916.

The attack, devised as a way to relieve pressure on French forces at Verdun, was preceded by an eight-day artillery barrage, which was intended to completely destroy German defences.

Instead, it warned the Germans that an assault was coming and failed in its aim of removing the defences.

The battle remains the worst day in the history of the British Army when it suffered 57,470 causalities, around 20,000 of whom were killed.

After a series of attacks and counter attacks, including the first use of tanks on September 15, poor weather stopped the Somme Offensive on November 18, 1916. The British and French had gained 12km of ground.

Thatchams Royal British Legion will join Thatcham Town Council members at the towns war memorial at 10.45am on Friday, July 1. All are welcome.

A concert will also be held in memory of Thatcham residents who died in the First World War, 100 years and two days after the start of the battle.

One hundred and five names are listed on the Thatcham War Memorial for the First World War and around 30 per cent of the men of military age in Thatcham and district gave their lives for their country.

Baritone Peter West will sing songs from the era and these will be interspersed with readings of young poets works, many of whom also died.

A special history of the Thatcham War Memorial has been compiled and will be included in the price of a ticket.

Organisers are expecting the Old Bluecoat School to be packed out, so residents should buy their tickets early. They are available from Newbury Building Society in High Street.

A limited number of tickets may be available on the door.

The concert begins at 4pm on Sunday, July 3. Arrive early for refreshments from 3.30pm.

Tickets cost 10 for adults and 5 for school aged children.

Call 07914 321 681, or email enquiries.bluecoatschool@gmail.com or visit www.oldbluecoatschool.org.uk
Spooky events, stomp grapes and the return of the Kings this weekend

Its the spookiest time of the year, and there are a few events happening this weekend in Newport County to mark the occasion.
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Goiter is a health condition with a long-standing history, due to its visible symptoms and high prevalence in historical times. The following account is intended to give a brief overview of the history of the condition.

Ancient History

There have been references to goiter in historical Chinese texts as far back as 2700 BC. The high prevalence of the condition, with relatively little knowledge of its pathogenesis and of preventative techniques, led to its early recognition. Burnt sponges and seaweeds were used to treat the condition as far back as 1600 BC.

In 85 AD, a Chinese physician, Tshui Chin-thi, differentiated between fixed, malignant tumors and mobile, benign tumors in the neck. The benign type was thought to be curable, although it is unclear if he understood the pathology of the organ responsible for the condition.

In Indian Ayurvedic medicine, goiters were referred to as galaganda, and were classified into three categories to refer to hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism and thyroidal cysts. A physician named Charaka noted that goiters could be prevented by the consumption of certain foods, such as milk, rice, barley and cucumber.

In ancient Greek medicine, Hippocrates and Plato both made references to the thyroid gland, which they believed was responsible for lubricating the respiratory passageways. However, another Greek physician named Galen believed that the spongy consistency of the gland was more likely to be involved in absorption than secretion. He suggested that body heat traveled through vascular networks in the body and was converted into nerve impulses that affect the thyroid gland.

Early Centuries

Aetius mentioned the use of surgery to treat goiter in the 6th century, believing that it was a hernia of the larynx. In fact, the term goiter is likely to have originated from the Latin term guttur, meaning larynx of the bronchus. In the 7th century, Paulus Aegineta categorized goiter as either steatomatous or hyperplastic. In the 8th century it was associated with nervous symptoms, and in the 12th century the link with eye disease, increased appetite was noted.

The first record of a successful thyroid surgery was in the 10th century, performed by Albucasis, who removed a large goiter from a man under opium sedation.

In 1511, Leonardo da Vinci drew a representation of the thyroid gland, as he was familiar with its anatomical structure. However, he did not understand its function, and believed that it helped to maintain the structure of the neck, and keep the trachea and sternum separated.

17th-19th Century

In 1656, a famous anatomist named Thomas Wharton discovered the exact anatomical structure of the endocrine glands, including the thyroid gland, and explained that these glands were responsible for secreting substances into the body for certain functions.

Throughout the 18th century, many people noticed that the supply of blood to the thyroid was excessive in comparison to other areas of the body. The German surgeon, Heister, noted variations in the occurrence of thyroid enlargement and advised its treatment with ointments or surgery, warning of some hemorrhage risk.

Iodine deficiency was a common cause of goiter in earlier times. It was common to treat goiters with seaweed and the shells of marine organisms, due to their rich iodine content. In the 19th century, Eugen Baumann discovered a high level of iodine present in the thyroid glands of sheep, suggesting the importance of this specific compound in the function of the gland.

20th Century and Beyond

Robert Graves and Carl von Basedow are known for their accurate description of goiters and other abnormalities of the thyroid gland. This was the origin of the Merseburg Triad of exophthalmos, goiter and palpitations, described by von Basedow, in 1840.

In 1909, Emil Theodor Kocher won a Nobel Prize for his work in thyroidology, including his innovative techniques for thyroid surgery, and other endocrine conditions.

In this time period, thyroid extract was commonly used in medical practice, starting with Horsley and Murray. Thyroxine crystals were isolated in 1914 by Kendall. Some time later, in 1952, triiodothyronine was discovered, which helped to advance the study of thyroidology significantly.

References

Further Reading
By Keynote Contributor Louise Hart Senior Audiologist at Action on Hearing Loss

By Louise Hart, Senior Audiologist at Action on Hearing Loss

Having been an audiologist for many years now, often the first comment made by members of the public when discussing tinnitus is I know there is nothing you can do about it and I just have to learn to live with it.

It is so frustrating to hear this time after time, because  contrary to public opinion - its not true. Although our knowledge and understanding of tinnitus still has a long way to go, in the last few years research has improved its grasp on tinnitus, and as such we are heading in a more positive direction for sufferers.

There are also interventions that we know work, and because of this increased knowledge we are starting to understand why.

What is tinnitus?

Tinnitus is a medical term to describe the perception of noise either in one ear, both ears or in the head, when there is no corresponding external sound. In the UK there are approximately 600,000 people whose tinnitus has a significant negative impact on their quality of life and health.

When we suffer from a malady, it is normal for us to want to know what the cause is. Like many other health issues the answer to this is never simple. There are many different trigger factors for tinnitus other than the obvious age and noise exposure, for instance ear disease, head and neck disorders, circulation issues, certain medications, and even stress can trigger the onset of tinnitus.

What causes tinnitus?

So what exactly happens in the ear or the brain? At the moment there are several different theories as to where tinnitus may start, how it may start and what processes or parts of the brain may be involved in its maintenance.

As an organization we are funding research at the University of Newcastle to try and delve into the possible different strata of states that we presently think tinnitus may have.

Robert Sweetow (PhD) gives a great explanation of the present theories of tinnitus origin:

Disruption of auditory input (e.g., hearing loss) and resultant increased gain (activity) within the central auditory system.

Decrease in inhibitory (efferent) function.

Over-representation of edge-frequencies (cortical plasticity).

Other somatosensory influences (Cervical disturbances, TMJ, etc.).

Extralemniscal neurons, particularly in dorsal cochlear nucleus and AII area, receiving input from somatosensory system.

Association with fear and threat (limbic system-emotional brain) and increased attention related to limbic system involvement.

Widely distributed gamma network.

Dysfunctional gating in basal ganglia or thalamic reticular nucleus.

One of the newest theories is that our brain has lost its normal ability to block or tune out a negative sensory signal. There is a linked network of brain structures that is involved in emotion, behavior, and long-term memory acts as a gatekeeper to keep the tinnitus signal from reaching the auditory cortex. Robert Sweetow once again gives a good technical explanation:

Sensory information then enters both the auditory and the limbic systems through the medial geniculate nucleus (MGN) and before the signal is processed, it travels through the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), which evaluates whether or not it should be passed on." "There is a significant loss of volume in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in people with tinnitus/ and or chronic pain. This structure projects into and activates the TRN. If the volume loss creates a loss of neurons, the mPFC and TRN will malfunction.

Put simply, damage to this system probably affects the perception of sensory signals in such a way that either tinnitus or chronic pain can develop and carry on in a self-perpetuating loop. Its no surprise that stress may have big impact on these loops and could possibly be one of the factors involved in the transition from mild to severe tinnitus.

Tinnitus interventions

As there are so many possible factors engaged in the emergence and maintenance of tinnitus, it is no surprise that the interventions that work best are multimodal. To help a patient with persistent distressing tinnitus, a tinnitus therapist and/or team will use the following methods, some of which are related to sound enrichment and others to how to change our perceptions.

Where there is a hearing loss then we know that hearing aids often help. The reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, less stress is being put on the auditory pathway as the individual is then not straining to hear. Secondly, the contrast between the internal sounds and external sounds is diminished.

The second useful method is sound enrichment. This can be done in many ways, from the use of environmental sounds, such as water lapping to music. Having these sounds consistently in ones normal environment helps mask the tinnitus, but also reduces the contrast between the tinnitus and quiet.

For some sufferers it may be necessary to also wear a device that gives either a white noise, or another noise, that they find helps divert their brain from the tinnitus. This white noise can be switched on by the audiologist in many hearing aids, NHS or private, or a device can just have the white noise only.

However, with any sound enrichment the sound must be set just below the level of the tinnitus. It is very important to get the brain to actively choose the sound it listens to rather than just mask out the distressing tinnitus.

Lastly as discussed in our explanation of tinnitus origin our brain chooses what it listens to and gives sounds emotional meanings, in this case strongly negative feelings to the tinnitus sound. Factors like stress decrease our ability to cope with these feelings.

Many individuals with tinnitus have found that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness have been instrumental in giving them back some quality of life. CBT addresses these negative perceptions and tries to get the individual to understand how these thoughts affect their emotional and physical states.

Many sufferers question whether CBT actually works when it comes to tinnitus, but research has shown that it definitely improves how people cope with the condition. CBT has long been used in pain management and there is research there to indicate its effectiveness, as both pain and tinnitus use the same neural pathways in the brain it is no surprise that it works for both..

Mindfulness, like CBT, is increasingly being used to help improve health outcomes, and like CBT research is accumulating on its benefit, so much so that some prestigious universities now have it as part of their syllabus.

Mindfulness is the practice of bringing one's attention to the internal and external experiences occurring in the present moment, which can be developed through the practice of meditation. Although this can initially be disturbing for the tinnitus sufferer, over time it can be effective in reducing the effects of stress on tinnitus and vice versa.

Tinnitus research

At Action on Hearing Loss we also fund biomedical research into how tinnitus is generated and into possible new treatments. There are already drug treatments for some types of tinnitus being tested in clinical trials.

However as tinnitus is so complex in its origin and system involvement, it is unlikely that we will find a single drug cure. Researchers are also looking at breaking the neural network by stimulating the vagus nerve which is involved in the transmission of efferent information in our body.

With all this in mind, please, if you are dealing with a tinnitus sufferer dont say nothing can be done because thats just not true. All that does is make the journey back for the tinnitus sufferer more difficult and longer; instead, reassure them that help and advice is out there, and that in time they can learn to live with their condition.

About Louise Hart

Louise has worked in audiology for the last 23 years. She trained in Australia and worked for Australian Hearing, specializing in dealing with those with tinnitus and complex hearing loss.

After moving to the UK, Louise spent the next 10 years at Brighton working with complex adults and BAHA patients, along with being involved with Southampton University on its BSc supervision program and being an external assessor for BSc students.

At present Louise works in two roles, working for both for Action On Hearing Loss and Sussex Healthcare Audiology, which provides AQP services mainly in Sussex and Surrey.

Action on Hearing Loss is a patient representative body and her role there is public, health policy and information facing. Her role in Sussex Healthcare Audiology is to ensure that even a small provider can provide good quality care, and with this in mind she has been involved in the IQIPS accreditation of her service.

Both these roles fit in with her belief that good quality care should be provided to all and that both the patient/client and audiologist can work together to get the best outcome.

About Action on Hearing Loss

Action on Hearing Loss helps people to confront deafness, tinnitus and hearing loss to live the life they choose. Action on Hearing Loss enables them to take control of their lives and remove the barriers in their way. Action on Hearing Loss gives people support and care, develop technology and treatments, and campaign for equality.

Further Reading

Disclaimer: This article has not been subjected to peer review and is presented as the personal views of a qualified expert in the subject in accordance with the general terms and condition of use of the News-Medical.Net website.
A University of Miami math professor has developed a scientific model to address the various ways the Zika virus proliferates. The study, published June 17, 2016 in Scientific Reports, reveals that mosquito control should remain the most important mitigation method to control the virus. However, the study reveals that Zika is a complicated virus and sexual transmission increases the risk of infection and prolongs the outbreak.

Before British long jumper Greg Rutherford departs for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this summer, he'll leave an important part of himself behind: a sample of his frozen sperm.

Rutherford, whose wife has expressed the desire to have more children, is preserving his sperm as a precautionary measure against Zika, which has swept across more than 30 Latin American and Caribbean countries, with Brazil being hardest hit. Transmitted primarily by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the virus can also be spread from an infected man to a woman during sex and can cause the severe birth defect known as microcephaly in which infants are born with abnormally small heads and damaged brains.

Few would probably criticize Rutherford for his actions, but what remains unclear is how much of a role sexual transmission plays on the spread and control of Zika.

Now, in a first-of-its-kind study, a University of Miami researcher and others have created a mathematical model in an attempt to answer that very question.

By itself, Shigui Ruan's model is not intended to measure the rates of Zika transmission but to delineate the virus's possible pathways and to help determine which of those transmission routes -- either mosquito-borne or sexual transmission--is most important in investigating the spread and control of the virus.

"Zika is a complicated virus," said Ruan, a professor of mathematics in UM's College of Arts and Sciences. "It's not as simple as passing a cold back and forth."

To build his model, he and his team combined the two modes of transmission into a set of equations, and then calibrated their model to Zika epidemic rates -- obtained through the Pan American Health Organization -- in Brazil, Colombia, and El Salvador. Using factors such as the biting and mortality rates of the Aedes aegypti and how partners protect themselves during a sexual encounter, the researchers then produced what is called a "basic reproduction number," essentially the number of infections resulting from one initial infection in a population.

The team found that the average number of new infections that can be traced directly back to a single case of Zika comes out to 2, and that sexual transmission accounts for only 3 percent of new cases.

"Our analyses indicate that the basic reproduction number of Zika is most sensitive to the biting rate and mortality rate of mosquitoes," said Ruan, "while sexual transmission increases the risk of infection and epidemic size and prolongs the outbreak."

Their results are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The model can give epidemiologists and others a good idea of where they should target management efforts, and in this case, mosquito-control measures should remain the most important mitigation strategy to control the virus, said Ruan.

Not that safe sex isn't important. "It's a reason to be concerned because on top of mosquito transmission, we now have sexual transmission of the virus," he explained, noting cases of sexually transmitted Zika in Argentina, Chile, France, Peru, the United States, and other countries.

Zika can stay in semen longer than in blood, though it is not known for how long, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports on its website.

"You could conceivably have somebody who was infected, and didn't even necessarily know they were infected, carrying the disease around for a while, have some sexual encounter, and infect somebody else," said Chris Cosner, a University of Miami mathematics professor who has collaborated with Ruan on other studies. "I don't think it's been documented. But possibly, in theory, that could result in a source for an outbreak that seems to come from nowhere. So for this particular disease, because of the complexity of the transmission routes and the fact that some people can stay in the infected phase for a long time, it's more complicated than your average disease."
Two studies in mice from Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, reveal new insights into neurons that mediate symptoms typical of the postnatal neurological disorder Rett syndrome.

Rett syndrome is a childhood disorder that typically manifests after the first birthday. Early symptoms include delayed development and poor coordination while, during the second stage, a child will gradually or suddenly develop severe problems with communication, language, learning, co-ordination and other brain functions. It can cause seizures, breathing difficulties and sometimes premature death.

Rett syndrome is caused by mutations in the MECP2 gene which makes a protein with a similar name, MeCP2, that is essential for proper function of neurons in the brain. When MeCP2 is missing from all cells, mice develop symptoms similar to those seen in Rett syndrome and male mice die prematurely.

The two major types of neurons in the brain are excitatory neurons, which send signals to other neurons telling them to be active, and inhibitory neurons, which stop or dampen the activity of other neurons to control the timing and rate of incoming information. These neurons must act in balance with each other for the brain to work correctly, otherwise disruptions can lead to the onset of neurological disorders.

One study in mice, published in the journal eLife, shows that expressing MeCP2 only in inhibitory neurons increases lifespan and rescues most but not all behavioral deficits.

A second study, published at the same time in eLife, shows that removing MeCP2 only from excitatory neurons in mice contributed to the onset of several Rett-like symptoms, some of which are distinct and complementary to those mediated by inhibitory neurons.

"Together, our findings show that rescuing the activity of MeCP2 in certain cell types can have a profound effect on improving symptoms," says Huda Zoghbi, senior author of both papers and a recent winner of the Shaw Prize for her research leading to the discovery of the gene causing Rett syndrome.

Approximately one in every 10-12,000 females are affected by the disorder, while it is much rarer in males who have more severe symptoms and die early in life. The two studies showed that MeCP2 is important for both inhibitory and excitatory neurons in terms of motor function and survival, but also revealed that each type of neuron is key for distinct neuropsychiatric features.

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For the first study, the team asked if expressing MeCP2 in inhibitory neurons, while the gene remains missing from the rest of the body, would be enough to prevent some or all of the symptoms seen in the Rett syndrome mouse model.

"Our data suggest that when a brain is missing MeCP2 everywhere, turning on the gene in inhibitory neurons can make the brain network nearly normal and prevent most Rett-like symptoms," says Kerstin Ure, Postdoctoral Fellow and lead author of the study.

"However, when both normal cells and cells with mutated MeCP2 are present in the same brain, as seen in female mutant mice, the abnormalities caused by this mixture cannot be overcome just by rescuing the function of inhibitory neurons. This highlights the importance of doing future studies in female mice to better understand how Rett syndrome develops."

Taking these new insights into account, the authors of the second paper set out to learn what aspects of the syndrome would appear or recover if MeCP2 was removed or re-expressed in excitatory neurons.

"We showed that mice lacking the gene from these neurons develop tremor and anxiety-like behaviors, abnormal seizure-like brain activity, severe obesity, and early death, which is surprisingly different from mice missing MeCP2 in inhibitory neurons," says Xiangling Meng, a neuroscience graduate student at Baylor College of Medicine, and lead author of the second study.

"When the gene was re-expressed in excitatory neurons, the female mice were almost completely recovered. In the case of more severe males, their anxiety and tremors were rescued, suggesting that impairment of excitatory neurons by removing MeCP2 contributes to the onset of specific symptoms such as these."

The team believes the next steps will be to investigate if drugs that improve the function of both inhibitory and excitatory neuron activity can be used for treating patients with Rett syndrome. Further studies will be focused on improving the function of these neurons in the hope of restoring the balance between them.

Zoghbi adds: "For now, we are looking at different ways of activating inhibitory neurons in the female mouse brain, including testing drugs and special channels that can activate a cell when a specific chemical is given to the mice. We hope these methods will help us refine a path forward for potential new therapies for patients."

Source: eLife
Engineers and neuroscientists at the University of Sheffield have demonstrated for the first time that the cells in the retina carry out key processing tasks. This could pave the way for improving retinal implants and therefore the sight of thousands of people suffering from retinal disorders.

Up to now, it was thought that the function of these retinal cells, or photoreceptors, was mainly to convert light into electrical signals, from which the brain can interpret images.

However, the new research from Sheffield, published in the journal PLOS One, shows that in fruit flies, the photoreceptors believed to be involved in motion detection play a key role in providing visual information about the world around us.

The similarities that exist between responses of human cone photoreceptors and fly photoreceptors suggest that the human eye processes visual signals in a similar way.

If this were true, the research could have significant implications for those developing retinal implants for patients with retinal disorders such as macular degeneration. Age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of sight loss in the developed world and currently affects more than 600,000 people in the UK.

Retinal implants replace damaged or dead cells by converting light into electrical signals that are sent to the brain. The implants do not restore vision completely but can help patients to detect patterns and shapes.

Daniel Coca, lead researcher from Sheffield's Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, said: "We think that implementing the processing tasks performed by photoreceptors into retinal implants could help the brain accomplish key tasks such as object recognition and motion detection. This could significantly improve the performance of artificial retinas and therefore the sight of thousands of people suffering from macular degeneration."
Team of researchers elaborated a computational method to track the progress of the colorectal cancer. It is a scientific advance that can bring new perspectives to discover the factors that push this pathology and the selection of efficient therapies.

In this new international study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), there is the participation of the experts Victor Moreno, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona, the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), and Rebeca Sanz-Pamplona (IDIBELL-ICO), among other researchers.

What conditions provoke "tumour growth"?

Colon cancer has a similar frequency in both men and women, whereas rectal cancer is more common among men. Globally, cases of this cancer are around a 1.4M per year and 700.000 deaths. In Spain, there are 32.000 new cases per year and 14.000 deaths, while in Catalonia around 13.000 men and 14.000 women are living with a diagnose of colorectal cancer.

According to Professor Victor Moreno, from the Department of Clinical Sciences of the UB "like in most tumours, the colorectal is characterized by big chromosomal alterations (deletion, amplification) and specific mutations. These factors regarding the DNA create important alterations in the RNA and the metabolism of the tumour cells". Professor Giulio Caravagna, from the University of Edinburgh, says that the research "proposes a bioinformatics protocol to detect uncommon regularities in the origins and course of the tumour". This protocol could be a key progress to understand a disease which is characterized by a "low number of common genome alterations in different patients", says the expert. Bud Mishra, researcher of the New York University, added that "the model helps us to predict how the tumour genome will change over time".

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Traditionally, it was thought that cancer was begun with a rebel cell, and it spread due to a combination of cell-autonomous genetic interactions: mutations in oncogenes, with the potential ability to cause the cancer, and the failure of the tumour suppressor genes that controlled it. However, the techniques of advanced sequencing have made a more complex profile of the cancer progression. In a more specific way, everything points to the interaction between cells in a tumour population to be more relevant than what it was before, since tumours are more heterogeneous in cells than what it was thought.

PiCnIc: a new tool to track cancer progression

The scientific team got these interactions with a model that allows creating the cell image of the colorectal cancer propagation. That is why they developed a modelling system -Pipeline for Cancer Inference, or PiCnIc- which uses genetic sequencing data to predict the causes.

PiCnIc considers the function of the driver mutations, which boost cancer progression, apart from other factors such as alteration in number of copies (deletions and amplifications) and the tandem influence and alterations on drivers. To test the viability of the models, the scientific team has compared the predictions to the available knowledge on the growth dynamics of colorectal cancer. With their results, they prove that PiCnIc is a useful tool to reflect on the knowledge of biomedical research on the disease progression. "This new methodology is innovative because it involves a probability model which infers the order of the events (mutations and alteration in number of copies)", says Professor Victor Moreno.

Source: http://www.ub.edu
Oxford University researchers are closer to solving a decade-old mystery after discovering that a set of genes they are studying play a key role in early human development.

Evolutionary biologist Professor Peter Holland and graduate student Anne Booth identified and named the genes, known as Argfx, Leutx, Dprx and Tprx, in data published by the Human Genome Project in 2002. The genes belong to the homeobox group, and it was known that other homeobox genes direct the formation of tissues and organs during development. However, when they tried to find out exactly what the newly discovered genes did, they hit a problem.

Professor Holland explained: 'To find a gene's function, you first look to see where it is switched on or expressed. But wherever we looked for these genes we could not see them expressed, making their function more and more of a mystery. That is, until researchers in China sequenced all the genes active in the very earliest stages of human development, and that's where we found our genes switched on. This gave us an important clue.'

Researchers Dr Ignacio Maeso and Dr Thomas Dunwell, members of the Oxford research group, analysed the data carefully and discovered the genes are activated for an astonishingly brief period, when the embryo is a tiny ball of 8 to 16-cells. This stage marks the point just before cells make the decision whether to form part of the placenta or grow into the embryo itself. The genes are then simply switched off.

Ignacio Maeso said: 'It was really shocking to find these genes are only read for a pulse of a few hours in our entire lifetime.'

To find out what they do, Thomas Dunwell took each gene in turn and expressed them in normal adult cells grown in culture. He explained: 'We found our genes act to switch on or off dozens of other genes, including a set that may prepare the embryo for the cell decisions it is about to make.'

Peter Holland commented: 'If fertilization is the ignition key for human development, then these genes control the change into first gear.'

There is also an evolutionary twist to the story. The team discovered that the genes are only found in placental mammals, those that carry their embryos internally, like humans.

Ignacio Maeso explained: 'They are found on chromosome 19, known to be an unstable part of our genome. Think of it as a bubbling cauldron of DNA, with individual bits of DNA being added and taken away, occasionally forming whole new genes. At the dawn of placental mammals, 70 million years ago, these genes emerged and were grabbed by evolution to perform a new task, acting to control what cells do in the earliest stages of development'.

Source: University of Oxford
Like countless other patients, Ann Johnson, a retired veterinarian, has been willing to travel long distances and devote an entire day to be treated by a specialist at Rush University Medical Center. But a recent appointment lasted less than 30 minutes, and the only travel was to her living room.

Diagnosed nine years ago with Parkinson's disease, Johnson and a family member would drive regularly more than 130 miles from Champaign to be treated by Christopher Goetz, MD, a leading expert on movement disorders and director of the Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center at Rush. Then earlier this year, she began participating in a telemedicine pilot project that, if fully developed, would allow about every other of her visits to be conducted via secure, live-streaming video from her home.

"As a medical professional, I know the importance of developing innovative approaches," Johnson says. "When you see your vital signs right on the screen, it's really quite neat."

The potential of telemedicine  the delivery of health services using communication technologies such as telephone or the Internet  has been discussed for years, but improved technology and lower broadband costs are making that promise very real for patients like Johnson.

Being seen from far away

Diagnosing and monitoring the progression of Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders is based almost entirely on visual observation, because there are no blood tests or brain scans to confirm the diagnosis. Rush helped establish and test the visual criteria used to diagnose Parkinson's and similar movement disorders decades ago and has been using video technology for many years during patient visits to track progression of the disease.

Likewise, treatment choices and decisions are largely based on visual information about the patient's function. Goetz was eager to try to demonstrate that the same subtle clues of Parkinson's disease progression or improvement that he assesses in the office  a distinct tremor, a specific change in gait, a change in fine finger movements also can be assessed by video communication from a patient's home in real time.

Since the project began last October, more than 20 patients in the pilot program have used their own computers to link to Rush for virtual face-to-face meetings with their neurologist. So far, Goetz and neurologist Katie Kompoliti, MD, have been using this approach. Other Rush neurologists will soon adopt it as well.

To date, patients have provided consistently positive feedback. Instead of signing in when they arrive at the neurology department lobby, they log into MyChart, Rush's online health record system, and use it to open a secure video feed using a standard webcam. Goetz or Kompoliti then asks them to perform the same movements and answer the same questions they would have in a typical appointment

'It's not like they are here, they are here'

"Ninety-five percent of the information I gather is visual. Thus, with telemedicine visits where I can see and hear my patient right in front of me on the computer screen, there is no decline in the quality of information I gather," Goetz says.

Goetz discourages the term "virtual visit", often used in the reference to telemedicine. When he examines patients via video and has a full conversation with them "it's not like they are here, they are here  just in two dimensions," he says. "We have our interaction right here in my office, but they have not had to travel."

That latter consideration is receiving increasing attention. Some policy experts are pointing out that the true costs of health care need to include patient's time, not just what is paid to doctors in hospitals. In a 2015 American Journal of Managed Care article, researchers reported that the time expended on a visit is worth more than the financial amount patients spend on a visit.

The average total visit time for a person seeking care (for themselves, a child or another adult) was 121 minutes, the researchers found. By comparison, they wrote, "people spent only 20 minutes with physicians; they spent the rest of the time waiting, interacting with non-physician staff, or completing paperwork or billing." While the average out-of-pocket cost per patient visit is $32, economists cited in the study calculate that the value of those 121 minutes  known as opportunity costs  was $43.

Because patients with advanced movement disorders typically cannot drive, the time commitment is doubled because someone else must bring them. Alan Lundin figures that his visits to Goetz total about 13 hours for him and his wife, who often has to take the day off work. Their round trip drive from Rockford, Illinois, for his appointment takes well over four hours, plus additional time spent at Rush apart from the appointment itself.

"That's pretty much the whole day spent on something that now takes half an hour" in his home, Ludin says.

Preparing for tomorrow's telemedicine today

Another difference between an in-person and video visit is that Rush does not charge patients for these appointments, because insurance currently doesn't cover them. Some health care organizations are waiting to develop telehealth capabilities until Illinois joins approximately half of the states that currently require private insurers to cover telehealth the same as in-person services.

Rush instead has chosen instead to absorb the cost of these appointments and pilot telemedicine services now.

"In order to prepare ourselves for the future, we are perfecting the system," Goetz says. "Rush had the vision to set up the infrastructure and have everything in place so that when the day comes that we can be reimbursed for providing these services on a wider scale , we'll be able to launch immediately."

Brian Patty, MD, Rush's chief medical information office and chairman of Rush's Telemedicine Steering Committee, adds that Rush has several telemedicine pilot projects underway "in areas like neurology where telemedicine can likely have the most patient impact.

"When the laws catch up with the technology," Patty says, "Rush will be ready. "
New Delhi: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on sought to downplay the recent spurt in violence in Jammu and Kashmir, saying "encounters" have increased in that state and not the attacks by terrorists.



"There is an increase in encounters," he said when asked about the spurt in the number of terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.



Eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 injured when terrorists ambushed a CRPF convoy in Pampore in Kashmir on June 25. Two terrorists were also killed by security forces.



Parrikar had termed the killing of CRPF personnel at Pampore as an act of "frustration" on the part of Pakistani terrorists, several of whom were killed by Indian forces in the past one year.



On Tuesday, an unidentified terrorist was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Lolab area of north Kashmir's Kupwara district.



Downplaying the recent spurt in violence in Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said "encounters" have increased and not attacks by the terrorists.
Hyderabad: The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday detained 11 people with suspected links to terror outfit Islamic State from Hyderabad.



The action was taken based on inputs from the Intelligence Bureau.



"Raids are going on at three to four places in the old city. The local police is assisting them. Searches are being conducted over some suspected terror activities that were planned to be carried out in the city," a senior intelligence officer said.



High alert has been sounded at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. The Central Industrial Security Force and Rapid Action Force personnel have also been ordered to be on alert.



As per sources, 10 people were under the radar of the NIA for a month for conspiring attacks on VIPs and vital installations. Explosives and ammunition has been recovered in the raids.



Reacting to the detention, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the Telangana government of allowing the creation of safe havens for terrorists in pursuit of votebank politics.



"CM K Chandrashekar Rao's soft approach and minority vote bank politics is taking a toll on the image of Hyderabad City," BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao said.






Islamabad: India was "shying away" from peace talks with Pakistan to avoid discussions on Kashmir and other issues, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said.



He said Pakistan was not shying away from talks. "It is actually India which is shying away as it knows that it has to discuss Kashmir and other issues on the dialogue table," Aziz said, commenting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks.



"Prime Minister Modi's logic is beyond perception," he said.



"We have a format of comprehensive and composite dialogue with India that includes issues like people-to-people contact, visa and fishermen issue, trade and economic cooperation, Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek," Aziz was quoted as saying by Radio Pakistan.



He said that the Indian army had stakes in Siachen and when last time both the governments reached an agreement, the Indian army rejected it.



In the interview on Monday, Modi had said that due to his diplomatic efforts, the world had seen India was not reluctant to engage with Pakistan.



"Our approach has created difficulties for Pakistan, and they find it hard to respond on the matter in the international community," said Modi.



The relations between the two sides deteriorated after Pathankot attack earlier this year and all efforts have failed to revive the peace talks.
Indian Army soldiers posted on the icy peaks of Siachen Glacier were allegedly given inferior quality clothing procured from a Sri Lankan company in 2012, and no action was taken despite subsequent tip-offs, documents accessed by CNN-News18 show.



The documents suggest that the Lankan company, Rain Wear Pvt Ltd, cheated the Government of India to the tune of 28,0000 US dollars over the procurement of these inferior quality snow suits.



The trail of emails, letters and reports exposed by a whistleblower highlight the discrepancies in the clothing provided to the soldiers.



A letter dated August 24, 2015 written by a former employee of Rain Wear, which is part of a larger group called Ardmel, reveals that the company got the contract to supply three-layer snow suits in 2012.



The letter which was sent to the entire top brass of the defence ministry also clearly states the fraud of 28000 US dollars committed by the Lankan company.



In the 5th paragraph of the letter, the employee states that the second layer green fabric supplied to the Indian army jawans are no longer windproof and waterproof.



The employee specifically mentions that wind and water can easily seep in through the inferior quality jackets and pants and can trouble soldiers in the freezing cold.



What is worse, the fabric that is used in the snow suits can withstand temperatures only up to -15 degrees in Europe. The company has a subdivision in Europe where it supplies the same equipment by a different name.



The letter also alleges that there was a clear difference in the quality of material used during sampling, and at the time of bidding. The actual material sent to the Indian Army post the contract too was way different.



The allegation was, "Rain Wear pvt ltd changed to inferior quality material in all its shipments."



Over the last 10 years the Indian army has lost at least 869 of its men while protecting the icy glaciers which are considered to the most dangerous and difficult terrains.



Extreme weather conditions where temperatures could touch -40 degree celsius is one of the main reasons why it becomes all the more difficult to guard the Siachen Glacier.



NO ACTION



After the issue came to light, the whistleblower wrote a letter to the new government at the Centre requesting a probe and subsequent action against the culprits. Surprisingly, no action was taken.



The whistleblower then wrote another letter on December 28, 2015, where he even spoke of the threat to his life in Colombo after he chose to spill the beans.



He also states that an Indian High Commission Officer contacted him and promised to enquire, but never got back.







Frustrated by the lack of interest shown by bureaucrats and embassy officials, the whistleblower wrote to the PMO on January 23, 2016 requesting a probe into the supplies taking help from an international lab.



Five months later, the PMO responded and flatly rejected the allegations levelled by the whistleblower. It claimed that all due processes were followed while procuring the snow suits.



But then, another note on Rain Wear seems to challenge the all-clear signal given by the PMO.



TWO REPORTS



Two reports dated August 21, 2012, dealing with various sampling parameters of the snow suit, suggest major inconsistencies. For example, the minimum bursting strength sought by the Indian government was 600 KPA. Bursting strength refers to the seams and fastenings that ensures that the textile material doesn't split.



But the mean result in the test, when it was first conducted, was a lowly 562 KPA. Although this report isnt signed, the figure of 600 KPA is clearly hand-written.



In another report based on two more parameters - colour fastness and tape weldability - the mean result shows 745 KPA.



what is surprising though is the fact that while one test fails the eligibility criterion, the other mysteriously exceeds expectations. The question that remains unanswered is how can there be two results for one test conducted on the same day on the same sample.



Also, was this test report fudged by the Sri Lankan company on its own so that it could procure the tender and simply show that the shipment it was sending to Indian army met required standards? And did the Indian defence establishment know about the existence of this report?



SOLDIERS LET DOWN?



It is not known how the allegedly inferior material may have got through the checks and balances of defence equipment acquisition.



There are two different stages of testing. One is the pre-dispatch inspection, which is done by a lab of choice of the vendor. And the joint receipt inspection which is done when the clothes arrive in India. There is no lab testing at the second stage.



On June 22, 2015, a letter written by the Department of Defence production to the Master General Ordinance office states: "Issues raised by the vendor seem to be based on high moisture and moderately cold to cold conditions which are not prevalent in Siachen. It is also pertinent to mention here that in one of the empowered committee meetings held in 2012-2013, it was brought out for the information of all members that the three layered snow suit supplied by Rainwear, presumably didnt perform up to the desired levels of satisfaction in some parts of Siachen glacier."



Yet the Defence Ministry, the Prime Minister's Office and all others were in were in consensus that all was well in the purchases. Was the Indian Army let down by the bureaucracy and elected representatives of the country?
Jaipur: A selfie clicked by the member of Rajasthan State Commission for Women with a rape survivor courted controversy prompting the chairperson of the commission to seek a written explanation.



Interestingly, the Chairperson Suman Sharma is also in the selfie along with the member Somya Gurjar.



The selfie was clicked by Gurjar on Tuesday when she along with chairperson had gone to meet the rape survivor in Mahila police station (Jaipur North).



"I was talking to the survivor when the member of the commission clicked these selfies. I am not aware when she (Somya Gurjar) clicked. I do not favour such act and has sought a written explanation from her. She has been asked to submit the explanation by Thursday," Sharma told PTI.



Interestingly, two pictures, in which Gurjar is seen clicking the selfie, got viral on WhatsApp.



Both Gurjar and Sharma are in the frame of the selfie and the pictures of the act were clicked by someone standing near them in the chamber of the police officer.



In the pictures, Gurjar is seen holding the mobile device and the Chairperson is also looking in the frame (of the selfie).



In a shocking incident in Alwar district, a 30-year-old woman was allegedly raped by her husband and his two brothers who tattooed expletives on her forehead and hand for not giving Rs 51,000 as the dowry.



On Monday, an FIR was registered under sections of 498-A (Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act), 376 (punishment for rape)and 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) of IPC and an investigation in the case has been initiated.
Los Angeles: Daniel Radcliffe hasn't ruled out the option of playing Harry Potter in the future. The actor says he is open to reprising his role but the circumstances would have to be pretty extraordinary.



It would depend on the script. The circumstances would have to be pretty extraordinary. But then I am sure Harrison Ford said that with Han Solo and look what happened there! So I am saying, 'No,' for now but leaving room to backtrack in the future, Daniel told Radio Times magazine, reports aceshowbiz.com.



Radcliffe also discussed the connections drawn by fans between his Harry Potter role and his new movie Now You See Me 2.



I actually didn't consider the connection to magic until somebody pointed it out to me. They were like, 'You are going to get loads of questions about magic again,' and I went, 'Oh, damn, I guess I am'," he said.


Mumbai: Urvashi Rautela, the lead actress of Great Grand Masti, says it's a family film and is devoid of vulgarity.



On the sidelines of a photoshoot for the Exhibit magazine, Urvashi spoke about "Great Grand Masti" and said: "It is a family film, not at all vulgar. It's more inspired by 'Masti' (the first film in the series). The audiences can come in with their families and enjoy."



Urvashi says that she plays the girlfriend of characters essayed by Riteish Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi and Aftab Shivdasani in the film, the story of which is about how she turns into a virgin ghost.



"It is my first comedy film. It is a very interesting story and the character I play forms the main crux of the story, the soul of the film. I am very excited," she said.



Urvashi started her film career by playing a homely wife wearing saris in Sunny Deol's Singh Saab The Great, but in Great Grand Masti, she will be wearing revealing outfits.



About the transformation, Urvashi said: "As an actor, it is very important that there should be a character which is slightly 'hatke'. For example, Kajol did a negative character in Gupt. Of course, my character is the solo heroine of the film, but this is a very different, very challenging and very demanding character.



"As a creative person, I got the opportunity to do comedy, action and also romance, to live and feel so many emotions and as an actor to showcase yourself to the fullest. To be able to portray such a significant character, I'm thankful to have that level of belief from my producers, my directors and my actors."



Great Grand Masti, directed by Indra Kumar, is releasing on July 22.


Chennai: National Award-winning actor-filmmaker Samuthirakani says he wishes to make forthcoming Tamil directorial Appa, about bringing up children from the perspective of three different fathers, in 12 Indian languages as he feels the subject has the potential to travel to every nook and corner of the country.



"It's a subject that should reach everyone. It addresses several important issues and I wish it gets made in 12 languages. In Kannada, I'm already in talks with actor Shivrajkumar.



"For the Telugu remake, I'm in touch with actor Venkatesh and Nagarjuna. Director Priyadarshan will be watching the film soon and if he likes it, he said he will produce the Hindi version," Samuthirakani, who has directed as well as produced Appa, told IANS.



It was while working on Anbazhagan-directed 2012 Tamil film Sattai that Samuthirakani had penned the story of Appa.



"I wanted Anbu (Anbazhagan) to direct Appa too, and I had paid him advance even before the release of 'Sattai'. However, when everything had fallen in place and we were set to start working on 'Appa', Anbu had to assist his mentor Prabhu Solomon on another project unfortunately around the same time," he said.



Unable to sit idle with a completed story, Samuthirakani decided to go ahead and direct Appa.



"When I told Anbu that I'll direct the film, he was happy with my decision. Instead of hunting for a producer, I decided to fund the film. It was easy to pen the story; however, it took me eleven drafts to lock the final script," he said.



It wasn't a smooth ride for the Visaaranai actor as he had to overcome a set of challenges while shooting.



"When we landed in Neyveli to shoot, we learnt about the storm which had just started in the state. My friends and well-wishers asked me to return to Chennai, but I didn't want to leave without completing the project. Despite initial hindrances, we managed to complete the film in 34 days, he said.



The film, according to Samuthirakani, is inspired by his own relationship with his son and some real-life incidents.



"The story is about these three fathers and their sons. The first father is the kind of man who identifies his son's hidden talent and nurtures it. The second father chalks out the life of his son even before he is born. The third father tells his son to always lay low and live life without expectations and complications," he said.



"Several scenes are inspired from moments with my son. Since I play one of the fathers, I wrote scenes that have been part of my life. I have also addressed issues we face with our education system and how parents feel high scores are the be all and end all of a successful career," he added.



Samuthirakani enjoyed working with children in the film, which releases in cinemas on Friday.



"Working with children was very easy. They understood what I really want. The challenge was to act alongside them because most of them are so natural, they can give a seasoned actor a tough time in front of the screen," he said.



Although Samuthirakani doesn't expect his film to bring about change in the society, he hopes it at least inspires a few parents.






New Delhi: The government is hopeful of passing the Goods and Services Tax Bill (GST) in the upcoming session of Parliament.



Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said there is a lot of consensus over the issue among political parties.



"There is a lot of consensus on the issue. There are some concerns as well. Both myself and the Finance Minister (Arun Jaitley) will speak to political parties. The PM has already said he is himself ready to talk to political leaders," the minister said after the meeting. We feel this is a very important bill and we do hope it will be passed in the monsoon session," Naidu said.



The Monsoon Session will be held between July 18 and August 12.



"We held a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs. The PM presided over the meeting. We were all in favour of bringing the GST bill in the monsoon session of parliament," Naidu said.



PM Narendra Modi had recently said that the stalling of the GST bill was a loss for the poor people of India, and hoped the changing party arithmetic in parliament would pave the way for its enactment.



"There is just one group which has made it the issue of prestige," Modi said, referring to the Congress party's opposition to the GST Bill. "Now the kind of arithmetic which is working out, I hope that this decision is passed in favour of the poor."




Seoul: South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating "some matters" relating to tech giant Apple Inc, the head of the anti-competition body said during a parliamentary hearing, without disclosing further details.



Speaking at the hearing on Tuesday, FTC Chairman Jeong Jae-chan declined to comment on the specifics of the regulator's investigation when asked to do so by a South Korean lawmaker.



Domestic media reports said earlier this month the FTC was reviewing details of the US firm's contracts with South Korean mobile telecoms carriers.



Apple didn't immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Washington: Indian-origin Google CEO Sunder Pichai and three other Indian-Americans are among the 42 US nationals honoured with prestigious "Great Immigrants: The Pride of America" award for 2016.



The other three Indian-Americans are Hari Sreenivasan, anchor and senior correspondent, Public Broadcasting Service News Hour, Vikram Malhotra Chairman of the Americas, McKinsey & Company and Bharati Mukherjee National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author.



The annual award of the Carnegie Corporation would be presented to them at an event in New York on June 30, a statement said on Tuesday.



For 2016, the Corporation named 42 honorees, who represent some 30 different countries of origin, a wide range of personal immigration stories, and inspiring professional accomplishments.



"These accomplished Americans are immigrants like our forefathers, who founded this nation of nations," said Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York.



"They are representative of the millions of immigrants who have come to the United States for economic opportunity, education, political or religious asylum, security, orre unification with families and relatives.



They, like all Americans, share a common faith in this country," he said.



Pakistani American Shaiza Rizavi partner, Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co is also among the list of awardees.
After years of uncertainty, an agreement between the city of Lynchburg and Centra Health, Inc. provides clarity on the tax status of properties owned by the nonprofit health system.

Property owned and used by not-for-profit hospitals are among certain types of property classified as exempt from local real estate taxes under Virginia code.

Centra Health, Inc. currently owns 81 properties in Lynchburg, according to online city records.

In an earlier interview, City Manager Kimball Payne said the tax status of certain Centra properties has been a point of discussion between the city and Centra leadership for more than 10 years.

Payne said Tuesday the city has been concerned with the tax status of non-provider-based physician treatment facilities Centra has purchased or established outright. The city has maintained those properties should be taxed and Centra has felt otherwise, Payne said. Centra, likewise, has expressed concern regarding the tax status of The Summit nursing home on Enterprise Drive in the Wyndhurst development.

By law, the nursing home would be tax exempt, Payne said, but the city has been taxing the property under the terms of an agreement related to the establishment of the Wyndhurst development.

An agreement approved by City Council on Tuesday establishes a number of guidelines to determine the tax status of Centra properties. No Centra representatives commented.

According to the agreement, Centra-owned properties that would not be tax-exempt include vacant and unused land; facilities that offer non-provider-based services; as well as those that produce significant income for Centra.

Tax-exempt properties would include parking lots that support Centra facilities and provider-based facilities that are operated as branches of Lynchburg General Hospital or Virginia Baptist Hospital.

The tax status of properties leased to entities other than Centra Health would be decided on a case-by-case nature.

According to meeting documents, the tax status of fourteen properties was questioned and has been deemed either taxable or exempt beginning the July 1, 2016 tax year.

Such properties that were taxed and will be deemed exempt include a parking lot at 1800 Hillsdale Road and Centras IT department at 2310 Langhorne Road.

Certain properties whose tax status was questioned currently show delinquent taxes on the citys online geographic information system, such as 1300 Enterprise Drive, which shows Centra owing a total of $138,528.27 in taxes, penalties and interest.

That property has been deemed exempt per the agreement. The citys GIS shows annual taxes on The Summit to be $121,803.63.

Two of 14 properties whose tax status was questioned are deemed taxable including 800 5th Street, a proposed location for a clinic that would serve low-income clients, and 125 Nationwide Drive, a property in which online records show Centra owing a total of $110,092.43 in taxes, penalties and interest.

The citys GIS shows annual taxes on the Nationwide Drive property, Centras Lynchburg Medical Center, total $96,800.

Under the agreement, Centra will pay real estate taxes for properties that have been deemed taxable; penalties and interest would be waived for properties whose tax status was under discussion prior to July 1.

The resolution authorizing the city manager to sign the agreement was approved 6-0 with Mayor Michael Gillette abstaining.

According to meeting documents, the fiscal impact coming from the agreement would be neutral to positive.

In other news:

Following a closed session, City Council appointed three new members to the Lynchburg City School Board.

Susan Morrison, a retired E.C. Glass High School principal, will represent District 1; Charleta Mason, who serves as director of Pauline F. Maloney STEP with Links Program for middle school students, will represent District 2; and incumbent Michael Nilles will represent District 3.

Council also appointed Georgeann Snead and Gerry Swienton to the Lynchburg Economic Development Authority.
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Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus in the Marvel Universe ... and he's a mutant!

No, really. Is starting the holiday season sooner and sooner every year Santa's Marvel mutant power?
Lets eat lionfish

In 2012, the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) embarked on an education and outreach campaign under the Green Fund Project, which was designed to sensitise the public to identify, capture/ hunt, measure and prepare this invasive species for consumption.

The IMA continues to host lionfish derbies in Tobago and have successfully removed over 400 lionfish at these derbies alone over the past two years.

In an effort to promote the lionfish as a viable and appetising food source, the IMA in conjunction with the Trinidad Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism Association (THRTA ) hosted a Lionfish Culinary Experience at Jaffa at the Oval in St Clair, last Saturday.

Jaffa Chef, Joe Brown prepared 11 different dishes using lionfish in a variety of ways to illustrate its broad scope for commercial use.

This is preaching to the choir with me, he explained, because I personally caught my first lionfish in 1977 on a reef in the Red Sea and ever since then Ive found that once you get rid of the spines, its a fantastic fish! Its diverse, it takes any flavour you decide to give it; it cooks perfectly on its own with a bit of salt and butter and so what weve got here is a bit of a win-win situation... We have a problem - we have too many lionfish and we need to get rid of them, so lets find a way to market it and use them commercially. We in the restaurant business definitely can use them.

I prepared 11 dishes myself and deliberately kept some raw lionfish back for when my national culinary team arrived and as I expected, they came up with one more! So we have lionfish done 12 different ways and if you look at the variety of dishes, weve done the flavours of Europe, Africa, Asia, Trinidad... And it works with all of them! CEO of the THRTA Brian Frontin also expressed great confidence in the potential of lionfish to impact positively on the industry and the palates of local citizens and tourists. Over 19 restaurants in South Florida alone serve lionfish, added to another six in states such as North Carolina, Washington DC and New York. Outside of the US, a further 49 restaurants within the Caribbean and Central America serve lionfish on their menus, from as north as Bahamas to as south and as close as Barbados. This geographical dispersion appears to be in keeping with the concentration of the lionfish and is a clear response by these nations to the population mandate, Frontin said.

Coupled with these culinary applications there are also emerging opportunities for sport fishing, spear fishing and packaging for the export market. In fact, in May of this year, Florida Whole Food Stores began selling lionfish at US$8.99 per pound and that price increased as of June 1 to $9.99 per pound. So we see that the commercial opportunities are increasing already in the US market. MIT professor Renee Richardson- Gosline applauded the efforts of the IMA in tackling the lionfish problem head on and for hosting, consulting with and taking the advice of scholars such as herself in formulating proactive approaches to dealing with the issue. Acting director of the IMA, Toylan Arneaud shared her organisations perspective on the lionfish problem and the potential solutions which are being explored, while deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Planning and Development, Beverly Khan, also commended the efforts of all the individuals and organisations involved in this process.

Roger Jackson delivered welcome and closing remarks on behalf of Jaffa at the Oval and the gathering enjoyed the many sumptuous dishes made using lionfish.
Trinis in England unhappy after Brexit

The number of racist/ xenophobic incidents against immigrants in Britain has risen since last Fridays vote compared to the previous month, according to Huffington Post (among others) which cited the social media page Post Ref Racism.

This site in turn cited the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) which yesterday showed a 57 percent rise in reports of racist incidents to their website, True Vision.

Some 85 reports were received from Thursday to Sunday, compared to 54 the corresponding four days a month before, although the NPCC said this hike does not reflect a 57 percent rise nationwide.

Eastern Europeans, especially Poles, plus Africans and Pakistanis have also been prime targets of racist jibes.

Former TT journalist David Nanton, now living in London, told Newsday how upset he and several over TT friends were over the Brexit vote. The mood among Trinis I know  along with a lot of Britain (including the Brexiteers it would seem)  was one of utter shock and bewilderment followed by depression, said Nanton.

I know of at least two Trinis who were in tears. Its not so much that any of us are worried about our status as residents here (those who arent already naturalised citizens, that is) but a sense that the country we adopted as our second home, however many years ago, seemed to change irrevocably overnight for the worst, and for the worst possible reasons.

Its all Ive talked and ranted about with fellow Trinis since Friday because its hard not to take it personally being immigrants ourselves and knowing that there was a strong xenophobic, anti-immigrant, even racist tone to the whole Leave campaign. Fortunately, Nanton has not personally encountered any negative incidents nor heard of any fellow Trinis who had.

Nanton revealed two Brexit issues now making the rounds. Firstly, that many in the Leave camp had not expected nor wanted to win and so now have no plan.
Thanks to FDA, Women Will

Be Told of Their Breast Density
(Newser)  On its own, the suspicious death of Kurt Sonnenfeld's wife would be worthy of a magazine article. On Jan. 1, 2002, his 36-year-old spouse was found shot to death in their upscale Denver home. Sonnenfeld insisted she killed herself, but prosecutors filed murder charges against himonly to drop them five months later. Then they charged him again in 2003, before discovering that he had moved to Argentina. The case involves the intricacies of forensics, theories about gun angles, a possible suicide note, and now international borders. But as a lengthy piece in GQ explains, that's only the half of it. It was only in Argentina that Sonnenfeld's work as an official videographer at Ground Zero for the federal government entered the picture. Sonnenfeld, with the help of his new wife in Argentina, has over the years become a media superstar in the country by championing the idea that the US knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance.

Among other things, he argues that he was summoned by FEMA suspiciously fast, and he speculates about why a vault found in the wreckage was emptyFEMA must have emptied it in advance. So, sure, he sounds like a crackpot. But his advocates say that the US government wants to have him extradited on the murder charges so he can be silenced through execution. If the truther-ism is a ploy, it seems to be working: The Argentine government refuses to extradite him, even though Denver authorities say they're not interested in the death penalty. "One camp in this affair portrays Sonnenfeld as a devious murderer, while the other paints him as a persecuted whistle-blower," writes Evan Hughes at GQ. "But it is possible that neither is true: Even if you believe that Sonnenfeld made up a lunatic story in a desperate plea for Argentine protection, you can still believe that he's innocent of the crime." Click for the full story. (Read more Argentina stories.)
(Newser)  A former University of Connecticut student who went on a drunken, obscenity-laced tirade about jalapeno-bacon macaroni and cheese has been arrested in Florida after an altercation with a police officer, the AP reports. Luke Gatti was charged May 28 in Boca Raton with battery on an officer and resisting an officer with violence. According to the Hartford Courant, the incident took place at a treatment facility for people dealing with drug addiction and mental illness.

Last year, the 20-year-old was arrested over his Oct. 4, 2015, outburst in the Student Union. He ranted at and shoved a university food service supervisor for refusing to sell him the macaroni and cheese. The altercation was caught on video and was widely viewed online. Gatti was put on probation and released his own video in which he apologized for his actions. (Read more Florida stories.)
(Newser)  The Los Angeles district attorney is urging Gov. Jerry Brown to reject parole for a follower of mass murderer Charles Manson, the AP reports. District Attorney Jackie Lacey released a letter Tuesday she sent to Brown saying that Leslie Van Houten should stay in prison for her role in the brutal 1969 killings. Van Houten is serving life for the first-degree murders of wealthy grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary. The couple were fatally stabbed a day after other "Manson family" members killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others. "[Van Houten] poses an unreasonable risk to public safety and is unsuitable for parole at this time," Lacey's letter notes, adding that she believes Van Houten is "manipulative," has a "disturbingly distorted view of Charles Manson," and "clearly lacks insight, genuine remorse, and an understanding of the magnitude of her crimes."

The 66-year-old Van Houten has been denied parole 19 times, per the Los Angeles Times, but a parole board recommended in April that she be freed. Van Houten's lawyer, meanwhile, tells the Times that Lacey took comments Van Houten made at her parole hearingincluding that Manson was a "myth of a person" and a "caricature of horror"out of context, and he notes that 17 doctors had concluded that Van Houten poses "low" or "extremely low" risk to society if she's given parole. Brown has until mid-September to block her release. In addition to Lacey's letter, Tate's sister and LaBianca relatives turned in signatures of 140,000 people opposing Van Houten's release. (Read more Charles Manson stories.)
(Newser)  A mother of a diabetic girl in Mississippi asked a state lawmaker for help getting through Medicaid red tape and was stunned by his insulting response. "I am sorry for your problem. Have you thought about buying the supplies with money that you earn?" wrote Rep. Jeffrey Guice. Nicole Nichols' 8-year-old daughter, Bella, has Type 1 diabetes. Medicaid has covered supplies for her insulin pump for most of the last three years, but she has been having problems getting coverage since the supply firm outsourced products six months ago, the Clarion-Ledger reports. Nicholswho runs a Facebook support group for parents of kids with Type 1 diabetessays she was "flabbergasted" by the response from Guice. She says she contacted every state representative and Guice, a Republican from Ocean Springs, was the only one who gave her a negative response.

Nichols says her husband works two jobs and that she's not happy with Guice's implication that she's a deadbeat. "I wasn't asking for a handout. I wasn't asking for something to be given to us. These children are already eligible for these benefits based on our family's financial situation," she tells the Sun Herald. "I needed assistance navigating the red tape that surrounds Medicaid." Guice issued a statement Tuesday night apologizing for his "completely insensitive" remarks. "I am sorry and deeply regret my reply," he wrote. "I know nothing about her and her family and replied in knee-jerk fashion." But his rudeness may end up helping: Nichols says she heard from Mississippi Medicaid soon after her story started to spread and it promised to investigate her case. (This Florida woman gave Gov. Rick Scott a public telling-off for cutting Medicaid.)
(Newser)  Facebook isn't always used for good, but a Connecticut woman whose puppy fell overboard is now giving the social media site a giant "like" after what happened over the weekend. Clare Shaw and her family were out on their boat Sunday outside of Noank when Ryder, their 8-month-old Shiba Inu, somehow broke free of his harness and plunged into the water, per Fox 61. The panicked family, which was under the impression Ryder couldn't swim, called the Coast Guard and backtracked for hours looking for their pup, to no avail. "We felt defeated," Shaw says. "We packed up his things and lit a candle in his cage and assumed our boy lost his life drowning." But Shaw obviously didn't give up hope completely, because she decided to put up a now-deleted post on her Facebook page asking if anyone had seen her precious pup, the Epoch Times reportsand it was after 100 shares or so of that post that the best news ever came her way.

A horse vet saw her post, as well as a post in a local lost-and-found group, and put two and two together. Phil Bigelow and Patrick Jullarine, friends since they were 9 years old, had been out boating themselves on Sunday and spotted a "shaking and scared" Ryder in the sea, scooped him out, and nicknamed him Nemo. Bigelow says once he got home, he and his girlfriend picked up some snacks, a collar, and toys for their newfound furry friend "to make him feel loved" until his owners could be tracked down. Shaw calls Ryder's save a "true miracle" and expressed her gratitude on Facebook, via People. "The power of social media is out of this world," she says. (A mom found her long-lost son thanks to Facebook.)
(Newser)  The British aren't the only ones who want to rip up trade deals. Donald Trump, speaking at an aluminum scrap company in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, slammed the NAFTA pact with Canada and Mexico and warned that as president, he will either seek a better deal or scrap the deal entirely, reports Reuters. "I'm going tell our NAFTA partners that I intend to immediately renegotiate the terms of that agreement to get a better deal for our workers. And I don't mean just a little bit better, I mean a lot better," Trump said, describing the 1993 pact as one of the "worst legacies" of Bill Clinton's administration.

"They're so used to having their own way," Trump said of Canada and Mexico, warning that he will be prepared to trigger the pact's Article 2205, which gives six months' notice of withdrawal. Trump's "Declaring American Economic Independence" speechdelivered the day before the "Three Amigos" NAFTA summit in Ottawa was his most detailed talk on trade yet, and highlighted his firmly protectionist policies, CTV reports. Trump praised Britain's vote to leave the European Union and strongly criticized both the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and China's 2001 entry to the World Trade Organization. (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
(Newser)  It's eight inches long with a painful bite, long legs, and "a horrible dark, greenish-black color." It's also bound to make you avoid all lakes and streams for the near future. Gregory Edgecombe of London's Natural History Museum says he's discovered a new species of centipede belonging to the giant centipede family Scolopendra that's not only horrible, but the first amphibious centipede species ever found. Edgecombe found two specimens of Scolopendra cataractanamed after the Latin word for "waterfall"in Laos and a DNA test proved they were unique. However, the "horrific-looking" species, described in journal ZooKeys, had also been found by Edgecombe's colleague while on his honeymoon in Thailand back in 2001, reports National Geographic. George Beccaloni explains he was searching for bugs when he found a centipede hiding under a rock. Upon discovery, it escaped into a stream instead of onto land, as a normal centipede would.

When Beccaloni finally captured the centipede, he noted it was a powerful swimmer with a body impervious to water, per Nature World News. But as no centipedes were known to be amphibious, he simply left the centipede in the Natural History Museum's collection. Unbeknownst to scientists, another S. cataracta was therecollected from Vietnam in 1928but wrongly classified. Edgecombe notes S. cataracta is only found in Southeast Asia, is carnivorous, and "can deliver a painful bite," but it wouldn't kill a human. It's more likely to come in handy if the species "goes into the water at night to hunt aquatic or amphibious invertebrates," Beccaloni says. "People tend to study streams in the tropics during the day, but there is probably a whole other range of interesting amphibious things that come out at night," he adds ominously. (Meet this "centipede from hell.")
(Newser)  Three suicide bombers killed at least 36 people and injured more than 140 others in a Tuesday attack that could result in an escalation of the fight against ISIS. The blasts struck Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, which is the base of Turkish Airlines and a target certain to draw a strong response from the Turkish government. "This is a symbolic attack against the heart of Turkey," Soner Cagaptay from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy tells the Washington Post. He says that if the attack was indeed the work of ISIS, as authorities believe, it represents a major escalation and fighting the group will "now be unavoidable" for Turkey. In other coverage:



Reuters reports that officials say the three attackers arrived by taxi and blew themselves up in the airport's arrival hall. At least one opened fire in the departures hall. Security footage shows another being shot and falling to the ground before detonating his explosives.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack will be a "turning point" in the global fight against terrorism, the BBC reports. "The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world," he said.

Most of the victims are believed to be Turkish, but an Iranian and a Ukrainian were also killed, the AP reports.

The airport, Europe's third-busiest after London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle, reopened to flights early Wednesday.

ISIS hasn't claimed responsibility, but authorities are focusing on the group instead of Turkish militants, the New York Times reports. Some analysts suspect the attack is a response to a recent thaw in relations with Israel.

The Guardian reports that the attack will be a serious blow to Turkey's tourism industry, which was already struggling. China has now warned its citizens against travel there.

The attack was condemned by the US presidential candidates, the Washington Post reports. "All Americans stand united with the people of Turkey against this campaign of hatred and violence," Hillary Clinton said in a statement. Donald Trump told a rally in Ohio that "theres something going on thats really, really bad," and we must "do everything in our power to improve our security to keep America safe."

(Read more Turkey stories.)
(Newser)  A 100-foot escape tunnel dug by Jewish prisoners using only their hands and spoons has been unearthed in Lithuania, a research team announced Wednesday. From 1941 to 1944, about 100,000 people (70,000 of them Jews from nearby Vilnius) were slaughtered by the Nazis, then dumped into burial pits in Lithuania's Ponar forestsystemic murder that started even before the gas chambers in what archaeologist Richard Freund tells the New York Times was "ground zero for the Holocaust." To cover up the massacre, the Nazis forced 80 Jews from the nearby Stutthof concentration camp to exhume the bodies, burn them, and hide the ashes, Ynetnews reports. These "corpse unit" members were kept in a deep pit during the night, and some spent those hours digging an escape tunnel. On the night of April 15, 1944, 40 of them made a break for it. Guards shot many on sight, but 11 escaped and survived the war to tell the story of the legendary tunnel.

The research team led by Freund used a special geophysical process to locate the tunnel, combining radar and electrical resistivity tomography, which uses electricity to examine natural objects in the ground and soil disturbances that may have been caused by digging. These nonintrusive search methods allow scientists to explore sites that previously were off-limits, notes PBS, which will air a Nova documentary on the discovery in 2017. It also puts to bed the belief that stories told through the years about the tunnel were only a myth. "As an Israeli whose family originated in Lithuania, I was reduced to tears on the discovery of the escape tunnel," an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority tells Ynetnews. "[It] enables us to present not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the yearning for life." (Evidence of an escape tunnel was found under the Sobibor concentration camp.)
(Newser)  An Arizona couple has gone from reporting the news to becoming the news after their 4-month-old baby tested positive for cocaine. Oro Valley police say former Tucson TV reporters Krystin and Somchai Lisaius took their baby to a hospital on May 15 as she was "unable to wake up" and her "eyes were rolling," per Tucson Weekly. The couple refused a blood test, then left against medical advice, according to a police report. They later agreed to take the child to another hospital, where they again denied a blood test, police say. A urine test, however, tested positive for cocaine, reports People. Police say Krystin, 26, later admitted to breastfeeding the child 12 hours after using cocaine but said she didn't believe the child would be affected. Somchai, 42, also admitted to using cocaine about once every six weeks, police say.

A search of the couple's home turned up drug paraphernalia and cocaine, police say. Both parents were indicted June 9 on felony charges of child abuse and drug possession and pleaded not guilty on Monday, per KVOA. The child was released into the care of a grandmother after a few days in the hospital. Krystin is allowed unlimited access while Somchai can visit for up to 12 hours a day, reports Tucson News Now. "The facts are that these are excellent parents, the child was well taken care of, the child was never harmed and is responding beautifully," the couple's lawyer says. "It would be a gross, gross injustice [with] even the mention of prison time," he adds. "I anticipate they will demonstrate that they have learned a very hard, embarrassing lesson and that this will become a footnote in their life, not a chapter." (Read more Arizona stories.)
(Newser)  One of the biggest political ads for Donald Trump yet is being released, and none other than the National Rifle Association is behind it, USA Today reports. The NRA's Political Victory Fund PAC put up $2 million to back the 30-second spot, the association's first ad campaign of Election 2016, and it's going right for one of Hillary Clinton's weak spots: Benghazi. The "Stop Clinton, Vote Trump" ad, which will air in six battleground states, puts security contractor and Marine Corps veteran Mark "Oz" Geist front and center to blast Clinton based on his own experiences fighting the attack on the US mission in 2012, which killed four Americans. As he strolls through a cemetery, Geist says, "A lot of people say they're not going to vote this November because their candidate didn't win. Well, I know some other people who won't be voting this year, either. Hillary as President? No thanks. I served in Benghazi. My friends didn't make it. They did their part. Do yours."

A Trump aide tweeted a picture Tuesday that said Clinton "murdered" Ambassador Chris Stevens, and Trump himself used Benghazi to lay into Clinton last week, tweeting, "If you want to know about Hillary Clinton's honesty & judgment, ask the family of Ambassador Stevens." But in an interview Tuesday in the New Yorker, Dr. Anne Stevens, the ambassador's sister, concedes that the Libyan facility wasn't adequately protectedbut she notes that wasn't Clinton's fault. "The Benghazi Mission was understaffed.  But, again, Chris knew that. He decided to take the risk to go there. It is not something they did to him. It is something he took on himself." She adds that both the GOP and Democrat Benghazi reports that came out this week didn't seem to offer "anything new," her brother's death has been "politicized," and "I don't see any usefulness in continuing to criticize [Clinton]. It is very unjust." (What does this ad mean for Trump's relationship with the NRA?)
(Newser)  Gay men in Ivory Coast are being attacked by angry mobs and forced from their homes, and they blame the US embassy. The AP reports the US embassy recently published on its website a photo of six men signing a "condolence book" at the embassy in Abidjan for victims of the massacre at Orlando gay club Pulse. The photo's caption identifies the men as members of the "LGBTI community." The men say when the photo was shared around social media, it destroyed their lives. "I don't have a life anymore," one of them tells the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "I can't go out. I don't know who might recognize me. He says he was confronted by a mob while walking near his home. They beat him and stole his phone and wallet.

Two of the six men say they were attacked by mobs yelling anti-gay slurs. Four say they were forced out of their homes by friends and family who didn't know they were gay before the photo was published. All six have left their homes. A press officer for the US embassy, which hasn't removed the photo, says it "deeply regrets that any individuals were attacked based on any kind of orientation they might have." The embassy was given permission to publish the photo by the director of an Ivory Coast gay rights group. He now says he wouldn't have given permission if he was aware the men would be outed in the caption. Homosexuality isn't illegal in Ivory Coast, but violence against the gay community is common despite the country's reputation for relative tolerance of sexual minorities. (Read more Ivory Coast stories.)
(Newser)  A judge was apparently none too impressed by the alleged criminal exploits of a couple German ne'er-do-wells as he repeatedly fell asleep during the trial, the AP reports. The sleepy judge was part of a five-judge panel presiding over the trial of two men suspected of robbing a grocery store. As the judge was presumably napping through important information, the head judge decided to restart the trialluckily still in its first dayfrom the beginning rather than open it up to an appeal. The judge was replaced with an alternate, freeing him to find a more exciting case or a nice comfy bed. (Read more weird crimes stories.)
(Newser)  A man shot and killed the mother of his grandchildren in front of horrified family members following a custody hearing involving the kids in rural Arizona, authorities said Wednesday. Salomon Diaz is accused of opening fire Tuesday evening outside a courthouse in the town of Holbrook, also killing the woman's mother and injuring the children's aunt, the AP reports. The 47-year-old man was booked on charges of second-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Diaz had been taking care of his grandchildren for an extended time, authorities said. His son is the children's father. Authorities declined to describe the relationship between the suspect's son and the children's mother.

The children's mother, 25-year-old Ashley Utley, and their grandmother, 45-year-old Sherry Quintero-Davenport, were killed after encountering Diaz near the entrance of Navajo County Superior Court. Many of the victims' family members were present when the shooting happened, Navajo County Attorney Brad Carlyon said in a statement. The family and county employees were visibly shaken by what happened, he said. The gunfire prompted authorities to briefly lock down the courthouse as officers swept the building to ensure the safety of the public and workers. A check of Arizona court records showed Diaz was cited for various traffic violations over the years but didn't appear to have any arrests for violent crimes. (Read more shooting stories.)
(Newser)  Authorities say a Houston-area mother who fatally shot her two daughters did not target her estranged husband because she "wanted him to suffer" the memory of their deaths, the AP reports. Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls said during a news conference Wednesday that Christy Sheats "had ample time" Friday to shoot Jason Sheats after she called a family meeting at their home west of Houston. Nehls says Jason Sheats thought his wife meant to announce their divorce to the couple's daughters. Instead, she drew a handgun and shot 17-year-old Madison Sheats and 22-year-old Taylor Sheats.

The daughters were able to flee the home with their father, but Christy Sheats followed them out and shot her eldest daughter again. A responding officer later shot and killed her. Jason Sheats was not injured. The murders occurred on his birthday, and just days before Taylor's planned wedding; Christy Sheats reportedly told her husband she was killing their daughters to punish him. Police have released the heart-wrenching 911 calls, in which Madison and Taylor can be heard begging their mom not to shoot. (Read more murder stories.)
Istanbul:

Three suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbuls Ataturk airport, killing at least 36 people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said.



Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 36 were dead and Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said 147 were wounded.



Another senior government official told The Associated Press the death toll could climb much higher.



The senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol, at first said close to 50 people had already died, but later said that the figure was expected to rise to close to 50.



Yildirim said three suicide bombers were responsible for the attack and all initial indications suggest the Islamic State group was behind it.



He said the attackers arrived at the airport in a taxi and blew themselves up after opening fire. Asked whether a fourth attacker might have escaped, he said authorities have no such assessment but are considering every possibility.



The victims included some foreigners, he said, adding that many of the wounded have minor injuries but others are more badly hurt.



Another Turkish official said two of the attackers detonated explosives at the entrance of the international arrivals terminal after police fired at them, while the third blew himself up in the parking lot.



The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol and cited interior ministry information, said none of the attackers managed to get past security checks at the terminals entrance.



Turkish airports have security checks at both the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.



Roads around the airport were sealed off for regular traffic after the attack and several ambulances could be seen driving back and forth. Hundreds of passengers were flooding out of the airport and others were sitting on the grass. Hevin Zini, 12, had just arrived from Duesseldorf, Germany, with her family and was in tears from the shock.



There was blood on the ground, she told The Associated Press. Everything was blown up to bits... if we had arrived two minutes earlier, it could have been us.



South African Judy Favish, who spent two days in Istanbul as a layover on her way home from Dublin, had just checked in when she heard an explosion followed by gunfire and a loud bang.



She says she hid under the counter for some time.



Favish says passengers were ushered to a cafeteria at the basement level where they were kept for more than an hour before being allowed outside.



The private DHA news agency said the wounded, among them police officers, were being transferred to Bakirkoy State Hospital.



Turkey has suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or Islamic State group militants.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday condemned the suicide bombing in Istanbul, terming it as inhuman and horrific.



"Attack in Istanbul is inhuman & horrific. I condemn it strongly. My thoughts are with bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly," he said in a tweet.



"There has been no report of Indian casualties in the terror attack," confirmed MEA.



External Affairs Ministry also said that the Indian Consulate has been in touch been touch with Istanbul governorate and has given emergency contact numbers for Indians requiring assistance.



On Tuesday late night suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing at least 36 people and wounding many others.

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Mumbai :

Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan was stuck at the Istanbuls Ataturk airport, few hours before the terrorist attack that has killed at least 36 people.



The 42-year-old Bang Bang! star, who was vacationing in Africa with sons Hrehaan and Hridhaan, was on his way back to India when he missed his connecting flight at the Istanbuls airport.



Missed connecting flight at Istanbul and were stuck at airport next flight was next day, but took economy and flew out earlier. #Prayers4istanbul, Hrithik tweeted.



The actor thanked the airport staff for the assistance and also asked his fans to come together in the fight against terrorism.



Was helped by the kindest staff at Istanbul airport hours ago. Shocking news. Innocents killed for religion. We must stand united against terrorism, he added.



Three suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbuls Ataturk airport, killing at least 36 people and wounding many others.

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New Delhi:

Horrendous incident took place in the city yesterday as a minor girl was brutally raped by her friend inside a private schools building. A 17-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by a friend and a security guard inside the premises of a private school in east Delhis Jagatpuri area, police said today.



The accused were arrested from their homes and slapped with charges under IPC and POCSO Acts.



In her complaint, the girl told police that her friend took her to the school on the pretext of job yesterday.



They went to an office room inside the school premises where her friend, who is a scrap dealer, and the private schools security guard raped her, a senior police official said.



The prime accused, who was known to the girl for at least a year, met the girl at a local market yesterday and told her that he had set an appointment with someone at the private school.



The accused fled the spot after the incident. The girl went back home and narrated her ordeal to her mother and the matter was later reported to the police, the official said.

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New Delhi:

In a latest tweet, Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor has targeted one of the major fashion brands in India, which failed to please the star while he was on shopping spree.



This is not the first time he has tweeted something like this which became a trend on social networking site.

At a time when oil prices were troubling Indians too much, Rishi Kapoor had this to say.

Radhe Maa was also on his radar once.

Rishi Kapoor is unstoppable with his words. In one of his tweets, he also joked about fashion sense of a model.

It's not just about criticizing others, sometime he gets humorous too.
New Delhi:

The long pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill will be taken up in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament, said Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today. The GST bill is likely to be passed in this session stated the minister.



We have a wider support and we have enough numbers for GST but we would like to have all parties on board because it will have an effect on states, said Naidu.



He said that the government wants to get the bill passed by consensus and is making efforts in that direction but asserted that even if consensus is not there, we must get it approved in this session. Besides, he said that voting on the bill will be the last option, suggesting that the government would like to avoid any trial of strength on this issue and will strive to take all parties along.



However, since it is a Constitutional Amendment Bill, voting will have to take place. Replying to questions on whether Government will step up efforts to bring Congress on board, which has been opposing the bill on some conditions, Naidu said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is ready to hold further discussions with all parties including Congress.



Naidu also referred to the recent interview of the Prime Minister in which he sought the cooperation of Opposition parties for passing GST. After a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh that recommended the schedule for the session, Naidu said that the session could also be extended or curtailed by two-three days depending on requirement.



The session will commence from 18 July and will have 20 working days for now.

Rajnath Singh, who chaired the meet, pushed for early passage of Lokpal and Lokayukta (Amendment)Bill while Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said there was a need for an early passage of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill. Both are pending in Parliament.



Naidu said besides GST, the government will push for passage of three bills replacing ordinances on Combined Entrance Exam for medical and dental colleges as well as the one seeking amendments to the Enemy Property Act.



Moreover, he said while 56 bills are pending --11 in Lok Sabha and 45 in Rajya Sabha, he has also asked ministries to come up with at least 25 new bills. The ministries will have to give notice for bringing the new bills by July 3.

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Ottawa:

President Barack Obama today offered US security assistance to Turkey after 41 people were killed in a suicide assault on Istanbul airport, the latest in a string of attacks to rock the US ally.

Obama telephoned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to express his deep condolences on behalf of the American people, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters traveling with the US leader to a summit in Ottawa.

In the context of that call, he will offer any support that the Turks can benefit from as they conduct this investigation and take steps to further strengthen the security situation in their country.

Any information that we obtain that could be useful to the Turkish investigation, we will certainly share that information, he added. Earnest did not indicate whether Turkey had officially sought US assistance following the latest attack.

The United States earlier condemned as heinous Tuesdays bombing and gun assault on Istanbuls Ataturk Airport and pledged steadfast support for its NATO ally.

The assault, which comes at the start of Turkeys crucial tourist season, was the latest in a wave of attacks in Istanbul and the capital Ankara blamed it on Islamic State (IS) jihadists or Kurdish rebels.

Earnest, like Turkey, pointed the finger of blame at IS for the newest atrocity.

Weve made important progress in Iraq and in Syria against ISIL, he said using an alternate acronym for the group. But we continue to be concerned by the ability that ISIL has to carry out these kind of terrorist attacks, not just in Iraq and Syria but in other places.

Earnest said Obama would have a chance to meet with Erdogan in some setting when he travels to Warsaw for the upcoming NATO summit on July 8-9.

He said the attacks were certain to be raised Wednesday in Ottawa, where Obama joins Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto for a so-called Three Amigos summit. This is something that will certainly be on the minds of all three North American leaders, Earnest said.

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Istanbul:

Turkey pointed the finger of blame at Islamic State jihadists today after suicide bombers armed with automatic rifles attacked Istanbuls main international airport, killing 41 people, including foreigners.

Witnesses described scenes of terror and panic last evening as the attackers began shooting indiscriminately and then blew themselves up at the entrance to Ataturk airport, one of Europes busiest hubs.

The assault, which comes at the start of Turkeys crucial tourist season, was the latest in a wave of attacks in Istanbul and the capital Ankara blamed either on Islamic State (IS) jihadists or Kurdish rebels.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the evidence points to Daesh, using another name for IS.

The citys governor said 41 people were killed, including 13 foreigners, and 239 wounded. The dead include several Saudis, a Chinese national, a Tunisian and a Ukrainian.

The carnage sparked global condemnation, with US President Barack Obama speaking by phone with his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to express his condolences, according to Turkish presidential sources.

Erdogan declared today a national day of mourning after urging an international joint fight against terror.

Security camera footage widely circulated on social media appeared to capture two of the blasts. In one clip a huge ball of flame erupts at an entrance to the terminal building, scattering terrified passengers.

Another video shows a black-clad attacker running inside the building before collapsing to the groundapparently felled by a police bulletand blowing himself up.

The attack came just as Turkey, which had found itself increasingly friendless on the international stage, begins rebuilding relations with Israel and Russia.

It also follows coordinated IS suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a city metro station in March that left 32 people dead.

Women sobbed outside a local morgue, while families were desperately waiting for news of loved ones outside several Istanbul hospitals.

Let me see him, I beg you, a woman screamed outside one hospital. No ones told me whats happened to my child. I raised him. Theyre not telling me anything. The airport itself was back up and running by early today, with workers clearing up the shattered glass and

nervous passengers filing in as flights resumed. I felt very anxious coming to the airport, Irish tourist Steven Parkinson told AFP.

You hope obviously that something like that, it wont happen two days in a row again, that there is a lot of securitybut obviously it affects you. Otfah Mohamed Abdullah was checking in her luggage when she saw one of the attackers pull out a hidden gun.

Hes shooting up, two times, and hes beginning to shoot people like that, like he was walking like a prophet, she told AFP. South African university administrator Judy Favish said she had hidden under a counter as the attackers opened fire.

She and other travellers were ushered to the basement before emerging about two hours later. We walked through the airport and saw debris and blood.

It was just chaos, she told South African TV network eNCA. Tourism, a key source of income in Turkey, has been badly hit by a spate of deadly recent bombings.

The government will be hoping to recoup some of the losses after Russia on Wednesday lifted punishing sanctions imposed over a diplomatic spat, including a ban on package holidays.

But Ege Seckin, an analyst at IHS Country risk, said the attack was most likely conducted by the Islamic State to undermine the Turkish economy by attacking the airport ahead of the summer months, when tourism peaks. A bombing in the heart of Istanbuls tourist district in January, blamed on IS, killed a dozen German visitors.

Two months later, three Israelis and an Iranian were killed in another bomb attack blamed on IS that hit the citys main Istiklal shopping street.

Turkey has been hit by at least five attacks blamed on IS jihadists, including a blast in Ankara in October 2015 that left over 100 dead, the worst in the countrys modern history.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) -- seen as a splinter group of the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) -- also claimed a car bombing in Istanbul in June that killed 11, and warned foreign tourists they were not safe.

The group said it was avenging Ankaras sustained offensive against the outlawed PKK in southeastern Turkey following the collapse of a ceasefire last year. Hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces have since been killed in PKK attacks.

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Mumbai:

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut never shies away from speaking her heart out and the Queen star feels it is something which is extremely important for her. Kangana says it means a lot to her to just be herself and not live for any materialistic goals in life.



There are all kinds of people out there. Few live for admiration, few live for money, few just for the sake of living. I live for my freedom. And its very important to me, Kangana told reporters here.



It means a lot to me to be able to say what I feel is the right thing to say and bring able to do what I want to do basically. Just being my own person means a lot to me. Thats the only thing I live for, nothing else, she added.



The 29-year-old Tanu Weds Manu Returns actress was speaking at the launch of Grazia magazine.



Recently, Kangana was mired in a controversy with actor Hrithik Roshan. The two actors have been at loggerheads since the Queen star called Hrithik her silly ex.



The feud between Hrithik and his Krrish 3 co-star turned nasty after they slapped legal notices on each other.



When asked how she used her superpower to defeat a superhero, Kangana said, Please ask a decent question if you want to. You are toh completely into scandals.



The actress last week unveiled Bollywood Director Shirish Kunders short film Kriti, which has been accused of being a copy of another short film Bob, made by a Nepali filmmaker. Asked about this, Kangana said, I dont know anything about that.
Washington:

US President Barack Obama will make his 2016 campaigning debut for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in North Carolina next week, where they will jointly appear for an election rally.

The July 5 Clinton rally in Charlotte, North Carolina would be the first time that Obama would campaign for his former secretary of state since she announced her run for the White House and who aspires to replace him at the White House.

Obama endorsed Clinton for president earlier this month. In Charlotte, President Obama and Hillary Clinton will discuss building on the progress weve made and their vision for an America that is stronger together, the Clinton Campaign said in a statement.

Obama narrowly won North Carolina in 2008, but lost the state in 2012 to Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Democrats held their national convention in Charlotte in 2012.

In his video endorsement of Clinton, Obama had said, Ive seen her determination to give every American a fair shot at opportunity, no matter how tough the fight - thats whats always driven her, and still does.

Obama is likely to enter into a full-fledged election mode in support of Clinton in the coming weeks. They were likley to begin their joint campaign appearance for the 2016 election on June 15 in Wisconsin, but that was postponed due to a massacre in Orlando, Florida - the worst mass shooting in US history.

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HARTFORD  Nine protesters arrested at an immigration rally on Monday were offered community service on Wednesday in exchange for the dismissal of disorderly conduct charges.

The nine were arrested after they refused to clear a road while protesting last weeks U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning elements of President Obamas immigration programs, including the expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which sought to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.

The event, which was held in front of the Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office, was co-sponsored by Connecticut Students for a Dream.

Camila Bortolleto, a undocumented immigrant living in Brookfield and co-founder of the students group, was one of about 20 protesters carrying a large orange banner across Main Street, blocking traffic late Monday afternoon.

We were just tired of waiting for the Supreme Court do something, for the government to do something, said Bortolleto, 28. It was the time to take matters into our own hands and to do something.

Bortolleto and eight others remained in the road after police warned the group to leave. The nine were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

All appeared in court on Wednesday morning and were offered three days of community service in exchange for the dismissal of their charges, she said.

Bortolleto was granted a work permit and temporary relief from deportation in 2013 under the DACA program. She said she has no regrets about taking part in the demonstration, although she worries it could affect her reapplication for DACA next year, which is one reason she decided to take the community service.

Lucas Codognolla, an undocumented immigrant from Stamford who has DACA status, was also arrested. He too agreed to the prosecutors offer.

We blocked the street as an act of civil disobedience to demonstrate that the issue we are dealing with is very serious, said Codognolla, 25, lead coordinator for Connecticut Students for a Dream. With the situations right now with deportations, raids, families being torn apart, and even police brutality and the criminalization of people of colorI thought it was my duty to put my body on the line for my community.

Police said the others arrested were Gabriela Rodriguez, 19, of Bridgeport; Joseph Foran, 29, of Tolland; Mark Colville, 54, of New Haven; John Lugo, 50, of New Haven; Renato Muguerza, 24, of Cheshire; Erik Munoz-Onofre, 19, of New Haven; and Alok Bhatt, 29, of Harford.
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DANBURY  An attorney for former high school teacher Kayla Mooney said Wednesday that her client made a mistake in befriending a student, but never had sex with the teenager.

Attorney Audrey Felsen, co-counsel for Mooney, made the assertion during opening statements in the trial against her client in Danbury Superior Court. Mooney, who was a first-year science teacher at the school, is charged with three counts of second-degree sexual assault for having sex with a 17-year-old boy in her class, police said.

Kayla made the mistake of befriending a student, Felsen said. Students are students, not friends, and Kayla should have known better. This is not one of those salacious teacher sex cases.

States Attorney Stephen Sedensky painted a much different picture: of a friendly relationship that began to turn sexual during the fall of 2014. Sedensky said Mooney had sex with the student twice and then complained to him that all you use me for is sex, As and alcohol.

The student himself was the first witness to take the stand.

He said he and Mooney became friendly in the first few weeks of the new school year and that she went out of her way to help him prepare for a test.

She was nice to all the students, but I had a feeling she was extra nice to me, the youth said.

He and Mooney began corresponding by email, he said, but he suggested they switch to text messaging, even though he admitted it was weird.

I dont think its weird, Mooney responded, using her school-based email, but its probably 100 percent not allowed.

The student testified that he had sex with Mooney for the first time on Nov. 1, 2014.

The student said he had invited her to a Kid Ink concert at Tuxedo Junction in Danbury, but later told her that going to the show together and being seen in public would be a bad idea. Mooney did not go to the concert, he said, but picked him up later that evening after a party at a friends house.

They drove to a quiet street and made small talk in the car before having sex, he said.

She kept saying this is not allowed, the student said. I thought it was a weird fantasy kind of thing for her that it wasnt allowed.

The student said he had sex with Mooney a second time a few weeks later at East Lake Reservoir. But when he later became involved with a girl at school he really liked, and tried to distance himself from the teacher, things began to sour.

I wanted to move on from it, he said. She said if anyone found out I would be the one in trouble and my life would be destroyed.

The student is expected to continue his testimony on Thursday.

dperrefort@newstimes.com;
NEWTOWN - Monte Frank, a Sandy Hook resident and an attorney with the Bridgeport firm Cohen and Wolf, has been elected president of the Connecticut Bar Association, according to a release.

Frank, who also serves as the president of the New England Bar Association, is a founding member of Team 26, a group of bicycle riders who travel from Sandy Hook to Washington, D.C. each year to advocate for gun control.
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The antithesis of a popularity contest is Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump.

Both presumptive nominees for president suffer from high negative ratings in a new Quinnipiac University poll that shows a divided electorate.

The public opinion snapshot released Wednesday by the Hamden-based polling service gave Clinton a 42 percent to 40 percent edge over Trump  too close to call.

Clintons unfavorable rating was at 50 percent, while 48 percent of registered voters surveyed had a strongly unfavorable opinion of Trump.

More News Donald Trump's daughter Tiffany is having the best time ever by the looks of her Instagram

It would be difficult to imagine a less flattering from-the-gut reaction to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. Voters find themselves in the middle of a mean-spirited, scorched-earth campaign between two candidates they don't like. And they don't think either candidate would be a good president.

The poll, which was conducted June 21-27 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points, would seem to be a welcome sign for Trump and his supporters.

Recent national polls have shown Clintons lead widening over the presumptive GOP nominee, with a June 24-28 Reuters/Ipsos poll staking the Democratic former secretary of state to an 11-point advantage over Trump.

Battleground state polling, which some pundits say is a better barometer of the presidential race, shows a tighter contest, with Clinton leading in bellwethers such as Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio.

When third-party candidates were factored into the latest Quinnipiac poll, Clinton led Trump 39 percent to 37 percent. Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson garnered 8 percent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein mustered 4 percent.

American voters are deeply divided along gender, racial, age and party lines, Quinnipiac pollsters say. Women backed Clinton 50 to 33 percent, while men backed Trump 47 to 34 percent.

White voters back Trump 47 to 34 percent. Black voters back Clinton 91 to 1 percent and Hispanic voters back Clinton 50 to 33 percent.

Voters 18 to 34 years old broke for Clinton 48 to 23 percent, while voters over 65 years old broke for Trump 51 to 35 percent.
OTTAWA, June 28, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Perry Bellegarde responded to today's announcement that the governments of Canada and Mexico have agreed to an accord on Indigenous peoples.

"Any initiatives aimed at Indigenous peoples must respect Indigenous rights, Treaties, human rights and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples," said AFN National Chief Bellegarde. "We are concerned that First Nations have not had the opportunity to provide input on the Accord announced today. We fully expect to get more details immediately so we can assess the accord and consider the next steps. We are pushing for sustained action to close the gap and ensure respect for Indigenous rights and it is essential that First Nations be directly involved in any agreement of this kind from the beginning."

While details are limited, the federal government announced today that Canada and Mexico have agreed to an accord that is focused on social and economic development of Indigenous peoples in the two countries. There are commitments to include First Nations and Indigenous peoples in the work that will take place under the accord. AFN National Chief Bellegarde said the AFN is studying the announcement and will be seeking more information to share with First Nations as it becomes available.

The Assembly of First Nations is the national organization representing First Nation citizens in Canada. Follow AFN on Twitter @AFN_Comms, @AFN_Updates.

SOURCE Assembly of First Nations

For further information: Alain Garon, AFN Bilingual Communications Officer, 613-241-6789 ext. 382, 613-292-0857 (cell), [email protected]; Jenn Jefferys, AFN Communications Officer, 613-241-6789 ext. 110, 613-222-9656 (cell), [email protected]
CALGARY, June 29, 2016 /CNW/ - Today, WestJet becomes the only Canadian carrier to serve Halifax non-stop from Vancouver and Winnipeg. The inaugural flight from Vancouver to Halifax launches today and flights from Winnipeg to Halifax begin July 2, 2016. Both of these seasonal, direct flights have been timed to connect conveniently to WestJet's Halifax and Vancouver hubs from its extensive domestic network.

"We're proud to be the only carrier in Canada offering travellers in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Halifax these convenient options for travel this summer," said Bob Cummings, WestJet Executive Vice-President, Commercial. "The Vancouver to Halifax flights as well as the additional capacity we bring out of Winnipeg will benefit both our business and our leisure guests. Just ahead of Canada Day, WestJet is extremely proud to once again offer our low-fare, high-care service to connect communities and economies across the country."

"We are delighted WestJet has added new non-stop seasonal service to Winnipeg and Vancouver," said Joyce Carter, Halifax International Airport Authority President and CEO. "We are confident business and leisure travellers in all three cities will welcome this convenient access. The Halifax-Vancouver service is currently the longest non-stop domestic route in Canada. We congratulate WestJet once again for increasing service here at Halifax Stanfield and demonstrating their confidence in our region."

WestJet now offers 23 daily flights on 13 routes from Halifax Stanfield International Airport. Since 2005, the airline has accounted for almost 90 per cent of the capacity growth out of Halifax.

Overall, WestJet's guests in Atlantic Canada have a total of 34 non-stop routes and 24 different WestJet destinations to choose from. WestJet has tripled its capacity out of this region in the last 10 years and now accounts for 75 per cent of the capacity growth of all of the airlines that serve the Atlantic provinces.

"We're thrilled to welcome this new, non-stop service between Vancouver and Halifax  the only flight between these two great summer destinations," said Craig Richmond, President and CEO, Vancouver Airport Authority. "In addition to local traffic, WestJet travellers can connect to or from the airline's extensive west coast network or onto flights operated by 14 of WestJet's codeshare partners  all under the same terminal roof. With this new WestJet flight, YVR instantly becomes the most convenient connecting hub between Halifax and the Asia-Pacific region."

WestJet now offers 65 daily flights on 35 non-stop routes from Vancouver International Airport to 100 WestJet destinations. Overall, WestJet has increased its capacity in the region by more than 80 per cent in the last 10 years and now accounts for 26 per cent of the capacity growth of all airlines that service the Vancouver International Airport.

"Providing our community with convenient travel across a range of desired destinations serves their needs and is an ongoing priority for us," said Pascal Belanger, Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer of Winnipeg Airports Authority. "Not only will Haligonians be able to explore our culture-rich community because of this direct non-stop route, but travellers from our region will also have a relaxing journey to one of Canada's most beautiful cities."

By mid-summer, WestJet will offer 30 daily flights on 21 non-stop routes from Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport.

Details of new service:

Route Frequency Departs Arrives Effective Vancouver  Halifax Four times weekly 9:00 p.m. 6:34 a.m. +1 June 29  September 3, 2016 Halifax  Vancouver Four times weekly 7:25 a.m. 9:46 a.m. June 30  September 4, 2016 Winnipeg  Halifax Four times weekly 12:30 a.m. 6:00 a.m. July 2  September 6, 2016 Halifax  Winnipeg Four times weekly 9:30 p.m. 11:26 p.m. July 1  September 5, 2016

About WestJet

We are proud to be Canada's highest-rated airline for customer service, powered by an award-winning culture of care and recognized as one of the country's top employers. We offer scheduled service to 100 destinations in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Europe. Through our regional airline, WestJet Encore, and with partnerships with airlines representing every major region of the world, we offer our guests more than 150 destinations in more than 20 countries. Leveraging WestJet's extensive network, flight schedule and remarkable guest experience, WestJet Vacations delivers affordable, flexible travel experiences with a variety of accommodation options for every guest. Members of our WestJet Rewards program earn WestJet dollars on flights, vacation packages and more. Our members use WestJet dollars towards the purchase of WestJet flights and vacations packages on any day, at any time, to any WestJet destination with no blackout periods  even on seat sales. For more information about everything WestJet, please visit westjet.com.

Recent recognition includes:

2015/2011/2010/2008/2007/2006/2005 Canada's Most Admired Corporate Culture (Waterstone Human Capital)

2015 Best Employers in Canada (Aon Hewitt)

2015/2014/2013 WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard ranked #1 in Canada (MoneySense magazine)

2014/2013 WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard ranked #1 in the Canada's Choice ranking (RewardsCanada.ca)

2014 Interbrand Canada's Best Canadian Brands (Rank #20)

2014 Brands of the Year (Strategy magazine)

2014 Canada's Most Preferred Airline (Ipsos)

2014 Value Airline of the Year (Air Transport World magazine)

2014/2013/2012 Canada's Most Attractive Employer (Randstad)

2014/2013/2012/2011 Highest equity score: airline, vacation package supplier brands (Harris/Decima EquiTrend Study)

Connect with WestJet on Facebook at facebook.com/westjet

Follow WestJet on Twitter at twitter.com/westjet

Subscribe to WestJet on YouTube at youtube.com/westjet

Read the WestJet blog at blog.westjet.com

SOURCE WestJet

For further information: Media contacts: To contact WestJet media relations, please email [email protected]
Not less than 14 commercial banks yesterday, suspended services to customers as a form of protest over harsh policy of the state governme...





Not less than 14 commercial banks yesterday, suspended services to customers as a form of protest over harsh policy of the state government.According to reports, the affected commercial banks took the decision in protest against the state governments decision to open unsolicited salary accounts for civil servants in Zenith and Access Banks.The action, it was gathered has put the affected banks in difficult situation, who lamented that the decision would make it difficult for them to recover their facilities from civil servants who hitherto banked with them.Many customers were stranded when they came to do business at their various banks yesterday, as they were turned back, leaving only Access and Zenith Banks attending to civil servants.According to source, GuarantyTrust, UBA, Sterling, Fidelity, First Bank, EcoBank, Union, WEMA, Skye Banks, Diamond, FCMB, Unity and Stambic IBTC were all under lock and key at the state capital.Customers with their ATM cards queued up to try withdrawing from the machines that were bogged down by network issues. The combined strike of labour and the commercial banks has practically grounded both government and commercial activities in the state.
Samuel Umtiti looks set to join Barcelona from Lyon after the French clubs president confirmed he has agreed a deal for the defender to move to La Liga.The 22-year-old, who is expected to replace the suspended Adil Rami when France face Iceland in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 on Sunday, has been tracked by Luis Enriques side for some time after they were frustrated in their attempts to sign Paris Saint-Germains Marquinhos.Negotiations between the two clubs have been ongoing for some time and Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has confirmed reports that a fee of 30m (24.6m) has been agreed.We anticipate the eventual departure of Umtiti. Samuel has an exclusive agreement for him to join Barcelona, he told RMC Sport.We made a promise that if he could play for the club of his heart, he would leave. Its part of the commitment which we have made, as was done for Karim Benzema when he went to Real Madrid. Right now, Samuel is with Les Bleus and is focused on the Euros and the fact that he can play Sunday against Iceland. If the three parties agree, it is possible that he will leave us.
Chelsea target Michy Batshuayi may have inadvertently confirmed his move to the Stamford Bridge via his social media activity.The Blues have agreed a 33million deal with Marseille for the Belgium frontman after gazumping Crystal Palace and West Ham to land the 22-year-old.And now Batshuayi has just taken to Twitter and Instagram where he has followed Chelseas official account, plus the Premier League and FAs accounts.He noticeably hasnt followed any other of his English suitors, so is confirmation of his move imminent?Juventus had also been linked with the frontman who scored 17 goals in Ligue 1 last season, but now looks set to be confirmed as Antonio Conte's first signing at Stamford Bridge.Batshuayi has been granted special permission to leave the Belgium squad for a medical.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai on Wednesday, said that the involvement of the army in operations to check insurgency, pip...

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai on Wednesday, said that the involvement of the army in operations to check insurgency, pipeline vandalism, cattle rustling, among others is stretching the force close to its limits.Speaking at the inauguration of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, in Abuja, Buratai said the need to optimise the capability of the army to meet emerging security challenges could not be overemphasised. He added that in conjunction with sister agencies, the military would rid the country of criminal elements operating in the guise of militants, terrorists.The Nigerian Army Resource Centre is a vision that is anchored on the need to ensure that the army does not only participate in the ground battle, but indeed under all terrain to ensure that our adversaries are defeated wherever they are, he said. As you are aware, Nigeria faces sundry security challenges, but our main focus has been in counter-insurgency operations in the north-east.The Nigerian army has been involved in operations to check militancy, pipeline vandalism, armed robbery, cattle rustling and inter-ethnic clashes among others. These myriad of security challenges have stretched us close to our limits. The Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali commended the efforts of the armed forces in containing the security challenges, saying security remained top on the agenda of the current administration. Ali urged them to sustain the tempo in the ongoing campaigns against contemporary threats across the country.I want to emphatically state that one of the top priorities of this administration is the enhancement of the armed forces to discharge their duties, he said. We will continue to provide the much needed support to the armed forces of Nigeria to deliver efficient services and to effectively discharge their duties.I commend the commitment and zeal of the present leadership of the armed forces in tackling security issues across the country. I also appreciate the successes of the Armed Forces of Nigeria in the counter-insurgency operation in the north-east and urge you to sustain the tempo.
Voting has begun in the ongoing primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party, organised by the Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction of the par...

Voting has begun in the ongoing primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party, organised by the Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction of the party, for the forthcoming governorship polls in Edo State.Voting commenced at 4:24pm, with 677 accredited delegates casting their ballot papers, according to their respective local government areas.Two aspirants  Johnson Agbonayima and Matthew Iduoriyekemwen  were cleared by the Sheriff group to contest the primary election.But prior to voting, Agbonayima, who represents Egor and Ikpoba-Okha constituency in the Federal House of Representatives, announced his decision to step down for Iduoriyekemwen.The lawmaker explained that he decision was in the interest of the party and the people of the state.Meanwhile, a high court today in Abuja sacked Modu Sheriff as chair of the Peoples Democratic Party.
An Abuja High Court has declared as null and void the process that produced a former Borno State governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, as chairm...

An Abuja High Court has declared as null and void the process that produced a former Borno State governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, as chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.The judge, Valentine Ashi, faulted the amended PDP Constitution in 2014, which led to the emergence of Mr. Sheriff as the partys chairman, after the resignation of former Bauchi State governor, Adamu Muazu.The amendment had zoned the office of the national chairman of the party to the North-East.In his ruling on Wednesday, Mr. Ashi said the amendment was a violation of the Electoral Act and described the actions of the PDP leaders who partook in the amendment as illegal.Mr. Sheriff has been locked in a battle with Ahmed Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna State, for the chairmanship position of the party.Mr. Makarfi was appointed chairman of a caretaker committee, backed by state governors and national lawmakers.Mr. Sheriff had won more support in recent days, and had rejected Edo State governorship election primaries conducted by the Makarfi-faction.
Lawmakers of state House of Assembly on Wednesday staged a protest on the highway against the freezing of the account of Governor Ayodele ...

Lawmakers of state House of Assembly on Wednesday staged a protest on the highway against the freezing of the account of Governor Ayodele Fayose at the Zenith by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).The lawmakers, who sat under a canopy armed with several placards with different inscriptions such as "we are ready for arrest", "harassing Ekiti lawmakers/government won't give you 2018," "No matter your media trial and blackmail, on Fayose we stand" and leave Fayose alone" among others to denounce the federal government's alleged intimidation and harassment of the governor.Policemen in 11 Hilux pick-up vans provided security to the protesters. Six of the vans were used to block one side of the Okesa highway forcing motorists coming from Fajuyi road to divert to the other side of the road.The lawmakers, who came to the scene with travelling bags containing their personal effects, said they were ready for the EFCC's arrest.The Speaker of the assembly, Hon. Kola Oluwawole, while addressing journalists said the sit-out assignment was meant to pass a note of warning to the APC-led federal government that they were solidly behind Fayose and that nobody can use them to impeach the governor.He said: "No amount of intimidation, harassment, arrest will push us to do any dirty job. We have had enough of intimidation. They should leave Governor Fayose alone; he was duly elected by the people of Ekiti state.
Separatist group, the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, has accused the Federal Government of working w...

Separatist group, the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, has accused the Federal Government of working with Norwegian authorities to deport a Biafra activist, Lotachukwu Okolie.In a statement issued yesterday by the factional leader of the group, Uchenna Madu, MASSOB alleged that both governments were working to deport Okolie, a resident of Oslo against his will.According to the group, the action puts Norway in direct violation of every known international convention and law, especially with regards to human rights.The systematic annihilation plot by the government of Norway in diplomatic partnership with Nigeria against the Biafrans as in case of Lotachukwu Okolie whom they are planning to deport to Nigeria is turning out to put Norway in direct violation of every known international convention and law, especially with regards to human rights, Madu said.
Due to the foregoing, Nigerians calling for structural change should have a re-think and use the mechanism in place (provisions of the 1999 Constitution) to achieve their aim. The potential of the 1999 Constitution have not been fully explored at all. The best means of achieving decentralization and devolution is to elect enlightened and visionary parliamentarians, future candidates must be ready to undertake that he/she will pursue devolution by sponsoring radical and extensive bills that will go a long way in changing the structure of governments and their institutions. The key to achieving devolution is hidden in the National Assembly, Nigerians must push this institution to come up with Acts that will allow the federal to surrender powers to the states. It is important to note that the mode of distribution of powers by the 1999 Constitution to the two top tiers of government has been via legislative competences. Thus, the structure of the federal and state governments can be modified by legislation and exercise of legislative powers. Section 4(3) of the 1999 Constitution has been used by the National Assembly to confer powers on the federal government (executive and judiciary) it can also be used to confer powers on state governments as long as it in the interest of peace, order and good government of the federation and is not inconsistent with the express provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
Chief of Army Staff Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai has described those accusing him of corrupt enrichment as cyberspace terrorists. He said he w...

Chief of Army Staff Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai has described those accusing him of corrupt enrichment as cyberspace terrorists.He said he would defeat them like Boko Haram terrorists.He spoke with reporters in Abuja yesterday.Gen. Buratai said: I am not supposed to comment on this, but for clarity sake, my take on the issue is that we have already defeated the terrorists on the land, and they have migrated to the cyberspace and internet, but I want to assure the Boko Harams that have migrated to the cyberspace, that we would follow them to the cyberspace and defeat them.He said that he was not deterred by the campaign of calumny against him and his office. He advised the media to always put national interest above personnal issues.On the Chibok Girls, the COAS said: You have been told that two of the Chibok girls have been rescued. The most important thing is that those who have been rescued were all abducted from Chibok, either in school or not. I know as it is now, the issue of the Chibok girls has been politicised, and we are not deterred by this politicisation of this issue. Our own task is professional, and we are working very hard to ensure that we rescue the girls whereever they may be. Anybody who we rescued is as important as the Chibok girls. We are gathering more information on where these girls are; they may have been scattered, or are in one place. Our aim is to ensure they are rescued, and every other person that is held hostage is rescued. We are still searching for them, and if they are alive, we would rescue them.The Army chief added that no territory of the country is under the control of the terrorists.When we say that the terrorists have been defeated and they are not holding any territory, have they come out to say that they holding any territory? None of them will claim that they are holding any territory. Secondly, if you see the land scape of the Northeast, it is very large.Very many people are scattered in many communities, and they prefer to stay in their communities. Some of them are being terrorised in their locations because they prefer to stay in their communities. These terrorists would come at night to terrorise them, and go away later.They will ensure that the people dont give out such information to our troops that patrol the areas on regular basis. Until information gets to us, and we decide to liberate them from the hands of these terrorists. It is not that these people were held up in an organised areas. We have blocked all the roads of the terrorists, and they are no longer getting to these people in their communities.We have information that they are moving out of these areas to other neighboring countries, and we are following them until they are routed away.The Federal Governments position is that no territory is under the seige of the terrorists. We conduct patrol daily and the Air force is always there to conduct air surveillance on all the areas. Though the people are still feeling unsafe, and that is where they need the government to re-assure them, and make sure they go back to their communities and establish themselves.Gen. Buratai said due process was followed in the retirement of officers of the Army. He hailed the courage of some of them that have decided to go to court, and said the Army would be ready at anytime to meet them in court.He said the military would remain apolitical, and not allowing the recent statement on coup lie low, as anyone trying to destablise the democracy would be making a great mistake.
Police have cordoned off the entrance to stadium road by Akenzua junction with vehicles and the gates to the stadium locked.

Police have cordoned off the entrance to stadium road by Akenzua junction with vehicles and the gates to the stadium locked.The Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium is the scheduled venue for the planned governorship primary of Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benin. Mathew Iduoriyekemwen and Rep.Johnson Agbonayinma are the two aspirants for the governorship ticket. Commissioner of Police in the State, Mr Chris Eziken said, I am not INEC. It is too early to find out if the primary will hold or not. You can call me back in the afternoon to find out.Asked if INEC would witness the exercise, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Mr Sam Olumekun, said only the national headquarters could comment on the matter.A member of the Caretaker Committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the primary would be held as scheduled but that they were looking for another venue.The Ahmed Markafi-led PDP faction held its primary on June 20 at the same venue which produced Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu as its candidate.Ize-Iyamu defeated Iduoriyekemwen and Chief Solomon Edebiri at the primary, but Iduoriyekemwen later joined the Modu Sheriff faction after he faulted the process of the primary.
The Acting Inspector-General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris has ordered the immediate deployment of a Special Strike Force to Kogi State to ...

The Acting Inspector-General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris has ordered the immediate deployment of a Special Strike Force to Kogi State to combat the menace of kidnapping and other lurid crimes within the State and its environs.According to a statement released by the Police Spokesperson, Don Awunah, the deployment of the Special Strike Force becomes imperative as the Nigeria Police Force can no longer watch innocent citizens suffer in the hands of dreaded criminals rampaging within Kogi State and its environs.He further said that with the presence of the Strike Force, Kogi State and its environs will enjoy peace and tranquillity, but however advised those deployed on the assignment never to turn themselves as demi-gods, but servants to the people.IGP Ibrahim Idris urged members of the public to avail the Special Strike Force with desired cooperation and assistance.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday charged Islamic clerics to intensify prayers for a better and progressive Nigeria. He made the c...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday charged Islamic clerics to intensify prayers for a better and progressive Nigeria.He made the call during breaking of Ramadan fast with religious leaders at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.Recalling his last meeting with the scholars during the last Ramadan period in 2015 and similar meetings with Christian clerics before the Ramadan period, the President said the meetings were useful and meaningful as various developmental ideas were offered on how best to move the nation forward.He said: Im very pleased we have actually met. Before the Ramadan I met our Christians brothers, from all over the country and exchange ideas with them.Im very pleased, we realized that this is our problem, the countrys problem is our problem. Nobody will solve it for us. We pray very hard to God. We work very hard and let us continue that way.I believe the riches God endows unto Nigeria, we will realize, our children will realize and our great-grandchildren will realize.If we have problems, this is the only country we have. I said it more 30 years ago. We quickly go out, we go to pray in Saudi Arabia, we go maybe to other developed countries, but this is home.This is where God put us and we have to stay here and pray many times per day for God to guide us so that we can leave a better country to the next generation.He urged the religious leaders to continue to preach the virtues of peace, tolerance and understanding among their followers to ensure speedy transformation of the country.The Chief Imam of Zone 3 Jumaat Mosque, Imam Tajudeen Mohammad, who spoke on behalf of the Islamic clerics, reiterated the determination of the clerics to continue to pray for peace and rapid development of the country.
The presidency could not be reached to confirm the arrest of a Body Guard to President Mohammadu Buhari Coporal Hassan Aminu who is alle...

The presidency could not be reached to confirm the arrest of a Body Guard to President Mohammadu Buhari Coporal Hassan Aminu who is alleged to have a link with Boko Haram sect.There are reports that Aminu had been taken into custody by security operatives for interrogation. Several calls and SMS sent to the presidential media Aide, Mr. Femi Adesina and Mallam Garba Shehu were not answered or replied even as at 8:35 pm.
Babachir Lawal, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), says the senate is not on trial for forgery but that only the actors ...

Babachir Lawal, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), says the senate is not on trial for forgery but that only the actors in the alleged act  Bukola Saraki, senate president, and Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president  are.Lawal said this in a statement on Wednesday in reaction to the allegation of Saraki that a cabal had hijacked the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.He was also reacting to the statement of Ekweremadu that Buhari was exhibiting dictatorial tendencies.The SGF described the statements as unfortunate, stating that the federal government was not deciding the trial of the duo.Saraki and Ekweremadu are being tried before an Abuja high court for allegedly forging the senate standing order, 2015.The charge against them was instituted by the federal government.Since the arraignment of the president of the senate, Senator Bukola Saraki and, his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu before the federal high court on Monday, June 27, 2016, the two leaders of the senate, have issued two separate press statements conveying messages that are far from being complementary to the person and government of President Muhammadu Buhari, Lawal said.Senator Saraki in his statement clearly insinuated that Mr President is not in control of his administration and that a cabal now runs the federal administration. On the part of Senator Ekweremadu, he insists that President Buhari is exhibiting dictatorial tendencies that can derail our democracy.From their statements, the two leaders of the senate also gave this erroneous impression that by their arraignment, it is the entire senate and indeed, the legislative arm of government that is on trial. They want the public to believe that their prosecution is utter disregard by the executive arm of government for the constitutional provisions of separation of powers and that preferring the forgery case against them is a vendetta exercise.Since this case is in court, the judiciary should be allowed to do its job. However, it is important to emphasise that this case involves only the four accused persons and should not be presented to the unsuspecting public as involving the entire senate of the federal republic of Nigeria.The complaint leading to the forgery investigation was reported to the police by some aggrieved senators who specifically accused certain persons. It is not the senate of the federal republic of Nigeria that is involved and definitely not the house of representatives. To bring the national assembly as a body into this court case is totally unwarranted. It can only be for other purposes and reasons outside the investigation and legal proceedings.A case of forgery is usually preferred against individuals. This is not different. As was the case with a former speaker of the house of representatives, who was accused of certificate forgery, what he did was to resign, honourably. The matter did not even go to court. In that particular case, it was never orchestrated as a matter for the national assembly. The individual involved did not drag the entire legislature into the matter.Meanwhile the separate statements by the senate president and his deputy are indeed contradictory. While Senator Saraki believes Mr President has abdicated his powers and that a cabal is in charge of federal administration, Senator Ekweremadu says President Buhari has become a dictator.Our democracy is still evolving and being deepened. The provisions of the separation of powers are entrenched in our constitution and should guide everyone in our conduct. The rule of law is indeed supreme. This particular case is before the judiciary and is not being decided by the executive arm of government. All that has transpired is still within the confines of our laws. These are the rights to accuse, to be investigated and be arraigned before the court. To impute other considerations to the process is unfortunate. We should allow the process to take its course, in consonance with the dictates of the law and total obeisance to the cardinal democratic principle of the separation of powers.
Former Transport Minister, Chief Ebenezer Babatope on Tuesday weighed in on Senate President Bukola Saraki's many troubles.

Former Transport Minister, Chief Ebenezer Babatope on Tuesday weighed in on Senate President Bukola Saraki's many troubles.Babatope, a member of the Board of Trustees of the PDP in a chat with newsmen said Saraki is already receiving his reward for leading members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Yes, he is reaping what he has sown. He was the person that led the group that left the PDP for APC (New PDP). He was not mature enough to know that those he joined will not protect his interest. That notwithstanding, I believe that those fighting him have overblown their chances he said.''Saraki is reaping what he has sown but I support him in this fight because the people who are fighting him dont have any good grounds to offer the public on why they are fighting him. However, I believe Saraki will eventually triumph over them in this battle.Many of us are supporting Saraki now because we believe Nigerians will sympathise with him over his ordeal. I will tell Saraki to maintain a very sober reflection while the trial lasted. All the pro- Buhari forces opposed to him will soon crumble .
Waving European Union flags and chanting no Brexit, thousands gathered under pouring rain in central London on Tuesday to express their ...

Waving European Union flags and chanting no Brexit, thousands gathered under pouring rain in central London on Tuesday to express their anger and opposition to Britains vote to leave the EU.There was a sense of anger as the crowds gathered in Trafalgar Square before marching towards parliament, urging lawmakers to block the 52 percent vote in favour of Brexit with chants of do your job, vote it down!Britain has been pitched into uncertainty by the June 23 referendum result, with the economy suffering a string of shocks and Scotland raising the prospect of breaking away to become independent.Carolyn Berry, a 53-year-old teacher, said she was rattled by the political chaos, which saw Prime Minister David Cameron resign and a revolt in the opposition Labour party to oust its leader Jeremy Corbyn. Im very sad about the result and wanted to express my sadness and anger, Berry said. Its like one disaster after another.There is no government, the opposition is imploding, its scary. The crowd held signs including We are Europe, Stay and Stand together, stop Brexit. The protesters also made their anger at pro-Brexit politicians clear, after some Leave campaigners appeared to row back on promises made during the campaign to cut immigration and spend more on health.Liars, liars! the booing crowds shouted outside parliament. Other demonstrators expressed fears of a rise in racist incidents since the vote. Im born and raised in England but because of how I look I have been told on Monday to go home, said 28-year-old teacher Clare Johnson, who has Mediterranean features.As a British person to experience that is scary. A string of rallies had been organised in cities around Britain but many were cancelled after too many people indicated they would attend, leading to fears over crowd safety.The London protest was cancelled by its organisers, but the crowds turned up regardless. UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage was targeted with chants of Fromage (cheese), not Farage! The crowd also chanted curses about former London mayor Boris Johnson, tipped as a possible successor to Cameron as prime minister. The vote to leave the EU was deeply split, with Scotland, Northern Ireland, university cities and the capital London voting to remain. But the vote to leave the EU was carried by deep opposition to the European bloc in less affluent areas of England and Wales. The result went against polling data and betting markets and deeply shocked many in favour of remaining one of the blocs 28 member states.An online petition to hold a second referendum on the result has gathered four million signatures.(AFP)
A member of the House of Representatives, Bede Eke, has said that the President Muhammadu Buharis All Progressives Congress, APC-led gove...

A member of the House of Representatives, Bede Eke, has said that the President Muhammadu Buharis All Progressives Congress, APC-led government should stop harassing members of the opposition party and that the recent closure of the bank account belonging to governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state, was uncalled for.Eke who represents Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency of Imo State in an interview in Abuja also advised President Buhari to immediately investigate how the ruling APC generated and expended money for its campaigns in the 2015 general elections, saying that was the only way to give credibility to the fight against corruption.The lawmaker also condemned the recent arraignment of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu over the alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Rules, describing the matter as an internal affairs of the senate.According to the Ngor Okpala-born politician, freezing the bank account of governor Fayose was a complete witch-hunt because the governor has been expressing his dissatisfaction on the policies of the government of the day. He said, I can tell you without sounding immodest, that is witch-hunt.You dont witch-hunt a man that says his mind all the time, he is not attacking Mr President, he is attacking his policies and the constitution protects him. He has that freedom of expression, he has to express his mind, he is a Nigerian, not just a Nigerian, he is a senior citizen of this country and cannot because he is always talking on the issues and policies of the government and now he is a target.I am not against the EFCC (Economic and Financial Finance Commission) doing its job, but as far as I am concerned, it is witch-haunting. This thing is targeted at the opposition party, PDP, not just the opposition parties but the PDP members.If you even look at the arrests made so far, at a time, they were instructed not to allow a governor to travel, a sitting governor not to travel out of the country, by the time that one was raised, they moved out of the area and now they have gone into freezing the account of the governor of Ekiti State.How can you do that, he has immunity covering him, you can investigate it and keep your records, once the investigation is concluded, you keep your records until when the man leaves office, you can clamp on him and his account, please you people should help us, are we going forward or are we moving backward.On the allegation that campaign fund was traced to governor Fayoses account, he said, Let them come and justify where they (President Buhari and APC) got their money to run their campaigns, they funded it, from where did they get the money from?He also frowned at the arraignment of the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President over the alleged forgery of the senate Rules, saying that nothing concerned the executive arm of government in the internal workings of the legislature.He said, This is an internal affair of the National Assembly, it has to do with the proceedings of the National Assembly, it has to do with rules of the National Assembly. It is not the duty of the executive to arraign or charge any member to court.If it feels that the rules of the house has been doctored, we have the Ethics and Privileges Committee if it is anything that borders on any member, the ethics and privileges committee is there to take on the matter, do their work and submit to the house, for the house to take a decision.So, I think it is quite unfair that what we are passing through now does not guarantee the separation of powers as is enshrined in our constitution.The court has said once it is something that has to do with the rules, it is an internal matter and no other superior court has set that judgement aside.
Kinsmen of former commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo under th...

Kinsmen of former commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo under the auspices of Gbaramatu Community Chairmen Forum have appealed to resurgent militant group, Niger Delta Avengers and other agitating group to sheathe their swords and toll the path of dialogue in a bid to bringing lasting peace to the region.Recall that the resurgent militant group, Niger Delta Avengers had on several occasions denied claims that it was ready to negotiate with the Federal Government despite reports claiming otherwise.In a letter sent to President Muhammadu Buhari and signed by Demebi Johnbull, the forum stressed that no meaningful progress can be achieved under an atmosphere of rancour.The community also urged the President to direct oil companies in the region to carry out their social corporate responsibilities and adopt practices that are environmental friendly.The letter reads in part, The President should direct the multinational Oil Companies to carry out their Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, adopt environmental best practice, comply with the Local Content Policy of the Federal Government and give employment to people from the host communities, as our people have been shortchanged for too long in the scheme of things.The Niger Delta Avengers and other agitating groups should sheathe their swords to engender the peaceful resolution of the logjam as no development can be achieved in a rancorous environment.We affirm that we are ready and willing to cooperate and collaborate with the federal government to bring an enduring solution to the incessant pipelines vandalism an insurgency in the kingdom.The community also lamented that despite that over 700 oil wells produce about 500,000 barrels per day, Gbaramatu kingdom is an eyesore in terms of underdevelopment and environmental degradation.Gbaramatu kingdom is deliberately deprived and neglected, and we urge you to link us to the national grid.The forum also appealed to President Buhari to engage the traditional institution of Gbaramatu kingdom on issues concerning peace and development, and also kindly direct the Military High Command to respect our traditional institution by returning the items looted during the recent military invasion of Gbaramatu kingdom.
PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Swedish Ambassador Camilla Mellander (Source: VNA)



At a reception for Swedish Ambassador Camilla Mellander, the PM affirmed that Sweden is Vietnam s important partner, expressing his hope for enhanced trade and investment ties between the two countries.

Vietnam is making all-out efforts to improve its investment climate, he said, calling on Swedish investors to increase their presence in the Southeast Asian nation.

The host highly appreciated Swedens assistance to Vietnam in poverty reduction, health care, energy, justice and rural development, among others.

The PM said he hopes that the ambassador, in any position, will contribute to bolstering the Vietnam-Sweden relationship.

For her part, Camilla Mellander said many multinational Swedish companies like Volvo, Ikea and Comvik are interested in the Vietnamese market.

She noted her belief that bilateral trade and investment ties will thrive in the time ahead, especially after the EU-Vietnam trade agreement officially comes into force.

At a meeting with Ambassador Win HLaing, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc reassured that Vietnam always attaches importance to and wishes to develop the friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with Myanmar, for the sake of the two countries people, for cooperation and solidarity within ASEAN, and for peace, stability and cooperation in the region and the world at large.

Vietnamese businesses are keen to cooperate with their Myanmar partners, he said, calling on Myanmar to facilitate their operation in the country.

The ambassador pledged that he will make more contributions to strengthening the collaboration between the two countries./.
Turkish officials have said 41 people were killed and 239 others were injured in Tuesday nights triple suicide bombing at Ataturk Airport...

Turkish officials have said 41 people were killed and 239 others were injured in Tuesday nights triple suicide bombing at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul.Among the dead were 23 Turkish and 13 foreign nationals.An Iranian and a Ukrainian have been confirmed as the first foreign victims in the Istanbul airport suicide attack, a Turkish official said Wednesday.I confirm one Iranian and one Ukrainian national have been killed in yesterdays terror attack, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.Prime Minister Binali Yildrim had said early Wednesday that 36 people were killed, but the figure has now risen according to officials.Irans Tasnim news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi as saying five Iranian nationals had been injured in addition to the person killed.Turkey has blamed Islamic State jihadists for the suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbuls main international airport.Witnesses described scenes of terror and panic as the attackers opened fire and then blew themselves up at the entrance to the international arrivals terminal at the Ataturk airport, one of Europes busiest hubs.The assault, at the start of Turkeys crucial summer tourist season, was the deadliest of four attacks to rock the countrys biggest city this year.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesdays carnage but Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the evidence points to Daesh, using another name for the jihadist group.Yildirim told reporters at the scene that the dead included foreigners.The attack prompted the suspension of all flights at the airport, but operations were resuming on Wednesday with some delays.I cant find my sisterAn AFP photographer saw bodies covered with sheets at the terminal, which suffered considerable damage but was being repaired on Wednesday.Bullet holes peppered the windows and shattered glass lay on the floor, while abandoned luggage was scattered everywhere.Hundreds of police and firefighters including forensic officers were at the scene.Somebody came and shot at us and then my sister ran, Otfah Mohamed Abdullah told AFP.I dont know which way she ran and after that I fell down. I was on the ground till he (the gunman) stopped I cant find my sister.Everybody started running in different directions when the shooting started. I hid under the counter where I was standing and a couple of the ground staff did the same, South African university administrator Judy Favish told eNCA television in her home country.Favish said she and other travellers were ushered to the basement before emerging about two hours later.We walked through the airport and saw debris and blood. It was just chaos. It was horrible.There was chaos at the nearest hospital in Istanbuls Bakirkoy district, which was inundated with relatives desperate for news of loved ones.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said yesterday that Nigeria would start exporting refined petroleum prod...

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said yesterday that Nigeria would start exporting refined petroleum products in three years.Kachikwu, who is also the Group Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, disclosed this on the sidelines of an ongoing NNPC Roadshow for investors in the countrys oil and gas sector in China. Nigerias daily oil production which surged back to 1.9 million barrels after dipping to about 1.4 million per day between May and June, would meet up to about 2.2 million barrels per day by July, after the Forcados terminal must have been repaired.In the next three years, Nigeria will start exporting refined petroleum products again, after all the refineries and the one being built by Dangote Group come on full steam, he told cable news network, CNN, in an interview.He said for petroleum products to be in proper speculation, producers must understand the rules of production discipline, engagement and unity. Kachikwu said after signing a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, for investment of about $8 billion with Chinese investors, the deals waiting to be executed would not be less than $40 billion. Nigeria currently imports virtually all the premium motor spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol, consumed by Nigerians daily.This led to a subsidy regime that became a policy rooted in deep-seated corruption , which culminated in acute fuel scarcity, that eventually gave rise to liberalisation of prices by the present government.
A peace move has been initiated in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government area of Rivers State as known notorious cultists have embraced amnes...

A peace move has been initiated in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government area of Rivers State as known notorious cultists have embraced amnesty for the sake of peace.ONELGA is one of the Local government areas in Rivers state bedevilled with criminal activities; killings, daylight robberies, kidnappings, cult clashes, vandalism, and other heinous crimes.The Local government was also desolate with political killings since 2013 leading to the 2015 general elections where hundreds of families were left mourning their deaths.Meanwhile, in a bid to restore peace in the area, the militant group known as ONELGA Militant Group dropped their arms.The group led by the notorious Don Wanny signed a peace agreement in the presence of the Chairman of ONELGA, Isaac Umejuru and ONELGA Peace Development Group headed by Bright Abali.In a display of sportsmanship, Don Wanny and Bright encouraged their peers to end all criminal vices in the Local government.According to reports, large cache of arms including hundreds of AK-47 rifles, Pump action guns, British pistols, thousands of magazines, locally made guns and more were surrendered by the youths.The Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike had reiterated his offer of amnesty to cultists and kidnappers, who would submit their arms to the state security agencies and commit themselves to honest living.The governor stated that his administration had zero tolerance for cultism and kidnapping, adding that any suspect arrested will face the full weight of the law.
Bill Gates, the worlds richest man, and Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, have lost $3.4 billion to the decision of the UK voters ...

Bill Gates, the worlds richest man, and Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, have lost $3.4 billion to the decision of the UK voters to leave the European Union.According to Bloomberg Billionaires ranking, both men were the worst-hit billionaires in the United States, losing $1.8 billion and $1.6 billion respectively.In context, the amount lost by Gates is more than the entire wealth of Nigerias richest woman, Folorunsho Alakija, who  according to Forbes  is worth $1.73 billion.Global markets erased another $69.2 billion from the combined net worth of the worlds 400 richest people on the first trading day of the week after the Brexit vote, bringing total loss to $196.2 billion in 48 hours.The pain on Monday was felt most by Europes wealthiest, as 92 billionaires lost $29.4 billion, bringing their two-day decline to $81.7 billion.These 150 billionaires from the US and Canada lost $26.7 billion on Monday, and recorded a two-day total of $62.5 billion.Chinas 26 billionaires lost $1 billion Monday, bringing their two-day total loss to $5 billion, with a 7.4 percent ($18.7 billion) decline in 2016.Georg Schaeffler, Germanys third-richest person, fared the worst on the index Monday with $1.9 billion trimmed from his net worth.Amancio Ortega, a Spanish retailer, who is Europes richest person, lost $1.5 billion.While others lost, there were 69 billionaires on the index who added to their fortunes after the Brexit vote.Takemitsu Takizaki, founder of Osaka-based Keyence, a maker of electronic sensors, led the gainers with an increase of $579.3 million.Tadashi Yanai, Japanese retailer and chairman of Tokyo-based Fast Retailing Co., was behind him with a $552 million rise. Nineteen billionaires on the index added more than $100 million Monday.
NEWARK -- The law firm representing Gov. Chris Christie's office in the Bridgegate case says in a court filing that it returned the governor's cell phone to him, contradicting what Christie has said about the phone that defense lawyers are seeking.

In a brief filed late Tuesday, the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, representing the Office of the Governor of New Jersey, said lawyers took custody of the cell phone Christie used during the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closures and subsequent investigations.

Gibson Dunn lawyers took the governor's phone, as well as the phones and other electronic devices of other potentially involved employees, when federal prosecutors sought to investigate communications Christie and his staff had during that period.

Gibson Dunn's brief says it "preserved" the contents of Christie's phone as it did with the other employees' devices.

"After preserving the Governor's phone contents, GDC searched for responsive material and, once the search was completed, returned the phone and non-responsive data," the brief says. "GDC has not destroyed the Governor's personal mobile phone, and neither GDC nor anyone else is concealing it or its contents from legally valid inquiry (which defendants' demand is not.)"

Defense attorneys are seeking the phone because they say deleted texts between the governor and ex-aide Regina Egea could be helpful to their clients as they prepare to go to trial. The texts were exchanged in December 2013 while other Christie administration officials testified before a state legislative panel.

But in a press conference last month, Christie said his cell phone was "in the hands of the government... I don't know exactly who has it. But I turned it over in response to a request from the government, as I said I would."

Brian Murray, a spokesman for the governor, declined to comment.

Federal prosecutors have said they never been in possession of Christie's cell phone.

Attorneys for Bridgegate defendants Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly said the question over the cell phone and its contents is significant because they claim they have been denied all the evidence they need to prepare for trial.

Baronies attorney, Michael Baldassarre, called it "suspicious and outrageous" that neither the governor, nor Gibson Dunn, nor prosecutors claim possession of the cell phone.

The latest Gibson Dunn brief was written in support of its motion to quash at least part of Baroni's and Kelly's subpoena of materials from the governor's office. The brief says the defense demands go far beyond what it told U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton it would seek.

The defense subpoena, it says, seeks the "entire contents of every mobile phone, laptop, hard drive and personal computer from which Gibson Dunn reviewed records... This demand encompasses millions of electronic documents -- likely to include medical forms, family videos and friends' vacation pictures -- that are completely irrelevant to this criminal prosecution."

Gibson Dunn also shot down defense questions about the deleted text messages between Christie and Egea, Christie's former director of authorities. The texts were routinely deleted for benign reasons, well before officials were asked to preserve documents for prosecutors' investigation, it said.

The brief says the law firm collected hard copy documents and electronic records, including emails and text messages, from senior staffers. Among them was Egea, it said.

Kelly's attorney Michael Critchley said his team would like to examine Egea's phone from that time as well to determine if the text messages can be recovered.

NJ Advance Media left a telephone message seeking comment from Egea, who left the Christie administration in April.

Gibson Dunn said it also investigated employees' personal devices if they used them for official business. Gibson Dunn said it copied records relevant to the investigation and returned the devices to the employees or their counsel.

Baroni, the ex-deputy chief of staff for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Kelly, Christie's ex-deputy chief of staff, are charged with plotting to cause massive traffic jams in Fort Lee in 2013 by closing off lanes to the George Washington Bridge as retribution for Mayor Mark Sokolich's decision not to endorse Christie's re-election.

Tim Darragh may be reached at tdarragh@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @timdarragh. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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Apollo H. Cardenas, left, in a current prison photo and his wife, Youngsook Lee, right in a 1996 photo.

MAPLE SHADE -- A man who killed his wife in 1996 after flying into a rage over suspicions she was having an affair lost an appeal Wednesday that argued he did not receive a fair trial in 2014.

Apollo H. Cardenas was 45 years old when he killed his wife, Youngsook Lee, 29, in November 1996.

Cardenas fled to Ecuador shortly after the crime, but Burlington County investigators built a case against him and charged him in early 1997, not long after Lee's bloody, decomposing body was found in their Maple Shade apartment.

Detectives found ax stained with blood and matted hair in a closet.

Cardenas remained a fugitive for about 16 years, until he stepped off a plane from Ecuador in Miami in 2013 and a federal officer apprehended him plane-side after finding the New Jersey homicide warrant for his arrest.

Cardenas was convicted of murder at trial in 2014 and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.

He testified on the stand that he suspected his wife, who worked as a waitress, was having an affair, and when she muttered another name while she slept, he awoke to leave their apartment.

Then his wife awoke and he went into a "hard rage" as she screamed/ Cardenas testified he wanted to intimidate his wife with the ax, but lost control and snapped.

Lee suffered a massive head trauma and one of the blows cut her jugular vein.

In an appeal, Cardenas' lawyers argued three points they say tainted his trial.

They include that the trial court's exclusion of Cardenas' pre-killing statements he made to his sister about his wife infidelities, and the inclusion of testimony about Lee's fear of her husband both denied him a fair trial.

He also argued the court improperly denied his request - at the trial's outset - to dismiss his public defender and hire a private attorney.

The court examined the arguments against case law and found no plain error and dismissed each point.

Cardenas, now 64, is incarcerated in New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. His parole eligibility date is in April 2043.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
CAMDEN -- Two former captains who served on the city's police force saw their claims of "illegal retaliation" following an investigation into current metro department brass fail in state Superior Court.

Harry Leon, who had been a captain and supervisor within the investigation bureau, and Robert Frett, a former acting captain in the same unit, challenged a 2014 appellate court ruling that was again shot down in a decision rendered Tuesday.

Further, county officials said Wednesday that the supposed "whistle blower" investigation by the Camden County Prosecutor's Office (CCPO) -- which was triggered by the duo's claims -- was "patently false."

Both Leon and Frett served under then-Inspector Orlando Cuevas, who is now assistant chief of the Camden County Police Department (CCPD). The two claimed in court documents that they cooperated with the CCPO during an investigation into Cuevas "inflating his reported hours" while assigned to events at what's now the BB&T Pavilion.

"Cuevas was not observed to be consistently present on site," court documents read, adding that he allegedly reported his hours via text message to an officer administering a program that provided policing at the waterfront music venue.

"Competing evidence" showed that Cuevas, who "has spent his entire 25 years in law enforcement in Camden," was working off-site in a supervisory role during events at the venue.

After an independent investigation by a firm hired by Camden, Cuevas was ultimately ordered to reimburse the city for hours we has overpaid and no disciplinary actions were taken.

"It is the policy of the Camden County Prosecutor's Office not to comment on whether or not criminal investigations are conducted when criminal charges are not filed," spokesman Kevin Callahan said Wednesday.

"The judge's decision is clear that the claim by the plaintiffs in this case was patently false and dismissed in its entirety," county spokesman Dan Keashen said. "The investigation by the prosecutor's office and an independent audit by a third party also support the judge's decision in this case."



Keashen added that any repayment of money associated with the outcome of the probe "is not connected or corresponding to this case." What's more, he said that inconsistencies were identified by Cuevas himself "working directly with the city payroll department."

Mount Holly-based attorney Mark Catanzaro, who represented both Leon and Frett, did not return a request for comment.

Once the dust settled and Cuevas was cleared, the former captains claimed the retaliation began.

Leon was assigned to the records unit for more than a year, given a damaged police cruiser lacking seats in the back and lost out on pay and seniority. Court documents add that he turned down an offer to join the CCPD when it was launched.

Frett would later be fired by the force for lying to superiors regarding his brother -- also a Camden city cop who shot himself in the leg "in order to obtain disability benefits," the decision reads.

In his ruling, Judge Robert G. Millenky found that while the duo were indeed covered by New Jersey's Conscientious Employee Protection Act, Frett lied about his brother and Leon's transfer to the Records Bureau was "high profile" and required both "fundamental standing within the department and credibility."

"Although we are mindful of stereotypes from popular culture that may portray 'records room' position within a police department as an undesirable assignment, the particular context here shows that Leon was placed there for legitimate, short-term business reasons, in part due to his own skill and experience," Tuesday's decision by state Superior Court judges Jack Sabatino, Allison Accurso and Karen Suter reads.

Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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Traumatized sisters try to keep a convent going in 'The Innocents'

(MUSIC BOX)

It is a true story, and not simply because it is too unbelievably horrible for fiction.

It seems there was a small secluded convent on the outskirts of wartime Warsaw, first occupied by the invading Germans, then ravaged by the conquering Soviets. Nuns were beaten, brutalized, violated.

Seven of them became pregnant, and now added to the lingering trauma of those assaults is the shame they feel -- and the consequences they fear once a new and angrily anti-clerical regime finds out.

The nuns are determined to tell no one. But how can you keep a secret that grows more visible every day?

This is the problem facing the characters in "The Innocents," a new drama from French filmmaker Anne Fontaine, told with a calm eye, a steady pace, and a color palette made of many shades of grey. And while it is set more than 70 years ago, its themes - of military atrocities, of violence against women, of misplaced guilt - feel depressingly modern.

The film takes a while to find its bearings - a beginning title card or two would have been helpful - but we soon realize we're in a war-weary country that's yet to fully stumble into peacetime.

Old enmities persist, but a team of French Red Cross doctors manage to care for their fellow, albeit displaced citizens -- recently released prisoners of war, shattered survivors of the camps. And then one day a nun, too afraid to go to a Polish doctor, approaches a French one.

Could she, would she come to the convent? And tell no one?

The doctor is called Mathilde Beaulieu here; in real life she was Madeleine Pauliac, and it was the most fortuitous choice the nun could have made. Fearless, independent, the young doctor had already served with the Resistance, been under fire. She knew her duty.

Yet, as an atheist, she knew nothing of these sisters, nor the nearly medieval strictures they observed. (At first, they refuse her exams; to be naked before even a female doctor they still see as horribly immodest.) Every new patient Beaulieu takes on requires another set of negotiations.

The mother superior is played by Agata Julesza, the hard-drinking judge of "Ida"; Mathilde is played by Lou de Laage, the fresh-faced star of "Breathe." Two tremendous actresses, they give equally fine performances in very different roles; Julesza is guarded, reserved, closed; de Laage is curious, friendly, open.

Their struggle is the heart of the film, but its soul is perhaps Agata Buzek, who plays the sister with the most compassion and the most common sense, trying hard to navigate a path that protects the mothers, the other sisters - and these poor, unwanted children.

If the film has a real flaw, it's that it shows little of the nuns' spiritual life, and the strength they draw from that; you yearn for the richness that a film like "Of Gods and Men," another story of the clergy under siege, gave its characters.

And yet there is beauty here. And innocence.

The title given this film is new; the original was "Agnus Dei," for "lamb of God," and it's a more evocative one than this (as well as avoiding any confusion with the great ghost film, "The Innocents"). And it applies, not to Mathilde or even the nuns, but these suddenly arriving babies - so trusting, so helpless, so at risk of sacrifice.

Quietly compelling, with strong cinematography by Caroline Champetier, "The Innocents" is starkly reminiscent of "Ida" - the Polish setting, the war-time background, the muted look, the Catholic themes and, of course, the appearance of Kulesza. And it also has a shocking onscreen act (although it manages to reach a slightly more hopeful conclusion). It would make a good doublefeature with that 2013 film.

But you'd have to be made of sterner stuff than me to sit through both dry-eyed.

Ratings note: The film contains violence, sexual situations and a sexual assault.

'The Innocents' (Unrated) Music Box (115 min.) Directed by Anne Fontaine. With Lou de Laage, Agata Kulesza, Agata Buzek. In French and Polish, with English subtitles. Now playing in New York;opens July 8 in New Jersey. 1/2

Stephen Whitty may be reached at stephenjwhitty@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwhitty. Find him on Facebook.


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It's trick-or-treat with a lethal edge in 'The Purge: Election Year"

(UNIVERSAL)

Imagine an America where economic problems provide an easy platform for demagogues, where high insurance premiums hold vulnerable people ransom, where gun manufacturers see tragedies as marketing opportunities, where politics are a sick, slick sideshow.

Imagine

That familiar, ugly scenario is the core story of "The Purge" franchise, a low-budget high-profit series focused on a future America that has commercialized catharsis, legalizing an annual 12-hour-festival when anything, even murder, is allowed.

It's a story that owes more than a little to the original "Star Trek" series, specifically "The Return of the Archons" - and if the great Landru ever hears of it, he will not be pleased.

But the hyper-violent, intensely gory films have found an audience - even as they've lost some of their original stripped-down drama.

Most of the first "The Purge," back in 2013, was cannily set inside a single house; it got its mood from the claustrophobic confines of a suddenly invaded McMansion, and its drama from the idea of a family facing ugly life-or-death decisions.

But the second movie opened things up too much, by forcing various characters to traverse a city in chaos. And now the third continues that while pushing things in a more political direction.

The only returning major character from the last film is Frank Grillo, then playing a police officer, now serving as head of security for a liberal presidential candidate. He provides continuity but not much more; there's always been something a little sleazy about Grillo onscreen, and he's a poor choice to play any kind of hero.

Better, though, is a decision to populate the film with African-American characters. The movie is set in Washington D.C.; it would be dishonest, albeit not unusual, to whitewash that. But the characters - particularly Mykelti Williamson's macho shopkeeper and Betty Gabriel's stern avenger - provide a warm retro vibe. They're like walking tributes to Fred Williamson and Pam Grier.

Less successful is Elizabeth Mitchell as a liberal presidential candidate with buttery blonde hair and oversized "serious" glasses. In fact, her whole part of the plot is a bit flimsy; if the government is as firmly totalitarian as it seems, why even risk having an election? Or allowing a candidate like this to get so far?

The film is better when it doesn't try to "say" anything and contents itself with simply showing all the festive violence - adults in bloody clown masks, death cars decorated in Christmas lights, a murderous Uncle Sam. The scenes are over-the-top (private citizens setting up guillotines and razor-sharp pendulums in alleys?) but provide most of the film's genuinely nightmarish atmosphere.

Still, effective as it all is - even with an over-reliance on jump scares - "The Purge: Election Year" is, like the rest of the films in a series, an ugly one, reliant on scenes of sadism and depravity.

A hypocritical one, too. Because even as it loudly decries the fascist government that's put this law in place, it basically agrees with them: Most people are savages, kept in check only by the fear of arrest. You're better off if you stay inside. Lock your doors. And don't go out to the movies - unless it's ours.

Ratings note: The film contains gory violence and strong language.

'The Purge: Election Year' (R) Universal (105 min.) Directed by James DeMonaco. With Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mykelti Williamson. Now playing in New Jersey. 1/2

Stephen Whitty may be reached at stephenjwhitty@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwhitty. Find him on Facebook.


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Lenny Kravitz and Lady Gaga are among the artists scheduled to perform at a free concert for people attending the Democratic National Convention in July. (Getty Images)

On the day Hillary Clinton is expected to accept her party's nomination for president in Philadelphia, the former secretary of state will have several high-profile opening acts warming up Democrats on the other side of the Delaware River.

Lady Gaga, Lenny Kravitz and DJ Jazzy Jeff will be performing at a bash at the BB&T Pavilion in Camden on July 28. The concert -- dubbed "Camden Rising" -- will be open to delegates attending the Democratic National Convention and invited guests.

The details of the event were announced this week by George E. Norcross III, an insurance executive and powerful New Jersey Democrat who is hosting the event along with Susan McCue, president of General Majority PAC, and Philly Voice, a news website managed by Norcross' daughter, Lexie.

The concert is set to begin in the early afternoon, with Philadelphia native DJ Jazzy Jeff spinning before the show begins and during intermission.

Norcross said in statement that "we wanted to say thank you to the hard working women and men who have made the Democratic Party truly representative of America."

Also, he said: "With the Philadelphia skyline in the background, it is a perfect time to bring Camden out of the shadows for the country to see what can be done to rebuild even the most troubled of our cities."

The Democratic National Convention is being held from July 25 to July 28 at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia and is expected to draw roughly 50,000 attendees. Norcross and his brother, U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, are both superdelegates who plan to cast their votes for Clinton at the convention.

The concert, according to the release from Norcross, is being funded by Convention 2016, an account of General Majority PAC, which is a national group dedicated to helping Democrats win state offices.

Tickets for the show will be made available to all convention delegates and thousands of invited guests, including Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, the release said.

Erin O'Neill may be reached at eoneill@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LedgerErin. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the
-- Authorities on Wednesday asked for the public's help to identify several potential witnesses to a

a longtime Verona resident near his business in the township.

Matthew BeneduceMcGrath, 59, was crossing from the south to north side of Bloomfield Avenue, near Hillcrest Terrace, when he was struck by a vehicle around 9:30 p.m. last Friday, according to Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and Verona Police Chief Mitchell Stern. The 29-year resident of Verona died about a half hour later at University Hospital in Newark.

The Essex County Prosecutor's Office released several still images taken from a police car dashboard camera at the scene in the hopes of identifying any possible witnesses.

The people in the pictures should contact investigators, said prosecutor's office spokeswoman Katherine Carter.

BeneduceMcGrath owned Benegrathic Sign Design on Bloomfield Avenue, where he created handcrafted signs for Essex County parks, businesses and towns around the area.

In a 2011 interview with New Jersey Monthly, BeneduceMcGrath described his distinctive signs as "the voice of the building, the mission, the space."

Some of BeneduceMcGrath's work was also used at Verona fire stations, the department said on its Facebook page.

"Each of our fire stations has a beautiful Maltese cross created by him," the town department's post said. "He will be missed."

BeneduceMcGrath was married for 32-years, according to his obituary. The Logansport, Indiana-native was also active with the American Sign Museum and supporter of For Lee's VFW Post 2342.

The prosecutor's office said an investigation into the hit-and-run was ongoing. Anyone with information was asked to the agency's Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force tips line at 1-877-TIPS-4EC or 1-877-847-7432.

The Verona Fire Department is saddened by the loss of local resident Mathew McGrath. Each of our fire stations has a beautiful Maltese cross created by him. He will be missed. Posted by Verona Fire Department on Sunday, June 26, 2016

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NEWARK -- A Newark man was sentenced to life in prison, plus five years, in connection with the beating and robbery of a Millburn woman inside her home that was recorded on a "nanny-cam."

Superior Court Judge Ronald D. Wigler ordered the extended sentence for Shawn Custis, 45, of Newark.

Wigler, in announcing the sentence, noted Custis' long criminal history and prison sentences that had failed to stop him from breaking the law.

"There is no deterring Mr. Custis," Wigler said. He said Custis had been convicted of crimes in one-third of New Jersey's 21 counties.

Wigler imposed the life sentence for a robbery charge, and ordered that Custis serve at least 85 percent of that term before being eligible for parole. Under New Jersey law, a life sentence is 75 years. Custis would have to serve at least 63 years and 9 months, or 85 percent, before he could be paroled on that charge.

However, Wigler also imposed a separate five-year sentence for a charge of endangering the welfare of a child, and ordered the five-year term to run consecutive to the life sentence.

During the attack, the victim's 3-year-old daughter sat on a couch just feet away from where her mother was beaten. The woman's 18-month-old son was asleep on the second floor of the home.

When Wigler announced the life sentence, the victim of the crime, who was sitting in the courtroom, broke down in sobs.

She had spoken before the sentence was announced, and had asked the judge to impose the longest possible sentence.

The woman, whose name has been withheld at the request of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, said she suffered a broken bone in her back, broken teeth and a strained knee. She said she still has no feeling on the right side of her body as a result of the beating.

However, she said the emotional effects have been worse. She was forced to move and has been unable to work. She carries a security alarm device at all times, and she becomes anxious each time her door bell rings.

"He (Custis) has taken my sense of security. I spend more time in therapy when I should be spending it with my family," she said.

Both Wigler and Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Jamel Semper commended the victim for her courage to confront Custis and testify during the trial.

Semper had asked for the extended prison sentence, noting that Custis had been arrested 38 times and has a criminal record dating back to the 1980s.

"This defendant has almost as many arrests as birthdays," Semper said.

He noted Custis was arrested in 1992 for breaking into a home that was strikingly similar to the Millburn attack. In that prior case, Custis beat a woman who had an 18-month-old child in her arms, and threw her down a set of stairs, Semper said. The Millburn victim was thrown down her basement stairs, authorities have said.

Semper said Custis has shown no contrition for this attack.

During the sentencing, Custis sat with his hands cuffed, holding a folder against the right side of his head to prevent news cameras from taking his picture. He declined to make any statement before being sentenced.

However, his attorney, John McMahon for the Public Defender's Office, said Custis has maintained his innocence and plans to appeal the conviction.

Authorities say that on June 13, 2013, Custis broke into the woman's Millburn home, discovered she was there, punched and kicked her, and then threw her down the basement stairs, all while her 3-year-old daughter sat on the couch and the son was upstairs.

The attack was captured on a home security camera, a so-called "nanny-cam."

On June 1, a jury found Custis guilty of aggravated assault, robbery, endangering the welfare of a child, burglary, and criminal restraint. He was found not guilty of the more serious charge of attempted murder.

Wigler also imposed 10-year sentences for the aggravated assault and burglary charges and five-year terms for the restraint charge, but ordered those sentenced run concurrent with the life sentence.

Prosecutors had said the robbery charged carried a 20-year maximum sentence, and that Custis, because of his prior criminal record, could receive the extended sentence.

During the trial, four women, two of them former girlfriends of Custis, testified and identified him as the man in the video.

Prosecutors had to deal with claims that police were biased because the first police detective to arrive at the house after the attack was recorded on the nanny-cam as referring to the then unknown assailant using racial slurs.

Authorities said Custis broke into the home and discovered the woman, then beat her until she fell to the floor. He then went upstairs, but quickly came down and attacked the woman again as she was trying to get up and reach for a phone.

Days after the attack, police released the video of the attack and received tips from more than 20 people.

Custis was arrested one week after the attack in an apartment in New York City.

Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NEWARK -- The longest-running film festival featuring African American movies kicks off its 42nd season Wednesday night.

The Newark Museum plays host to the "Newark Black Film Festival," which organizers say is the longest-running event of its kind in the country.

"What Happened, Miss Simone?" a documentary about pianist Nina Simone, will kick off the five-week festival at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

According to the Newark Museum's website, an RSVP-required opening ceremony at 5:30 p.m. will feature addresses by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, and Leopoldo Fleming, Simone's percussionist.

"Screening in the summer months, the films that are shown reflect the full diversity of the black experience in America, both past and present," the post explains.

"Each film selection encompasses a wide range of cinematic forms and formulas, from documentary to the avant-garde, for youth and adults."

The rest of the grant-funded festival schedule includes:

June 29 - What Happened, Miss Simone?

July 6 - The Watsons Go To Birmingham

July 13 - A Ballerina's Tale

July 20 - Celebrating Newark's Own

July 27 - Ayanda

August 3 - Paul Robeson Awards (a biennial competition happening this year)

The film screenings are free, but space is limited. To RSVP to Wednesday's opening, contact 973-596-6550 or rsvp@newarkmuseum.org.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NEWARK -- In September of 2013, Dawan Ingram, then 18, had an electronic bracelet strapped tight around his ankle, monitoring his movements while he was on probation for a crime committed as a juvenile, authorities say.

Prosecutors say the bracelet sent out alerts when Ingram left his home in Newark, and on the evening of Sept. 21, went out, shot, and killed a man in front a city grocery store.

On Wednesday, a jury found Ingram guilty of the murder of Najee Montague, 21, also of Newark, acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray said in a statement.

Authorities said Montague was shot seven times, including being wounded five times in the back.

"We are pleased with the jury's just verdict in this case," said Assistant Prosecutor Adam Salzer, who tried the case with Assistant Prosecutor Roger Imhof.

"Mr. Montague was killed in a senseless, cold-blooded attack by this defendant. We hope this verdict brings some level of closure to the victim's family," Salzer said.

During the trial, Murray said, a defense attorney argued that Ingram was home at the time of the shooting, and even presented family members testified that they saw him at home.

Salzer presented testimony from Ingram's juvenile parole officer, who said records from the electronic bracelet showed the defendant was not at home when the shooting occurred, Murray said.

Authorities said the shooting occurred about 7:35 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2013, in front of a grocery store at 1006 South Orange Avenue, near Salem Street, where Montague was talking with friends.

The jury also convicted Ingram of unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, Murray said.

She said Ingram faces of penalty of 30 years to life in prison when he is sentenced before Superior Court Judge Siobhan Teare on Aug. 5.

Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NEWARK -- On June 21, 2013, a man broke into a Millburn home and beat and kicked a woman, then threw her down the basement stairs, all while her daughter sat just feet away.

On Wednesday, three years after the attack, the victim will get her chance to confront the convicted attacker, Shawn Custis, when he appears before Superior Court Judge Ronald Wigler to be sentenced for the attack.

The beating of the woman was recorded on a home security camera, a so-called "nanny cam."

Earlier this month, a jury on found Custis, 45, guilty of aggravated assault, robbery, endangering the welfare of a child, burglary, criminal restraint and theft. Custis was found not guilty of the more serious charge of attempted murder.

However, prosecutors say the robbery charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and that with his prior criminal record, Custis could receive an extended term of up to life in prison.

During the trial, the victim, whose name has been withheld at the request of the prosecutor's office, testified that she endured the beating to protect her children, including who 3-year-old daughter who was on a couch and her 18-month-old son who was sleeping upstairs.

The woman said the attack left her with no feeling on the right side of her face and with injuries to her knee that continue to limit her movement.

During the trial, the prosecutors dealt with allegations that police officers were biased, because the first police detective to arrive at the house after the attack was recorded on the same nanny cam referring to the then unknown attacker with obscenities and racial slurs.

Custis' attorney, John McMahon, contended his client was arrested because of that bias.

However, Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Jamel Semper called four women to testify, including two of Custis' former girlfriends, and all four identified him as the man in the nanny cam video.

Authorities said Custis broke into the home and discovered the woman, then beat her until she fell to the floor. He then went upstairs, but quickly came down and attacked the woman again as she was trying to get up and reach for a phone.

Days after the attack, police released the video of the attack and received tips from more than 20 people.

Custis was arrested one week after the attack in an apartment in New York City.

Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
What happened at Istanbul's main international airport?

Three suicide bombers struck different points at Istanbul's major international airport, killing 36 people and injuring about 150, in an attack being blamed on Islamic State, as the Turkish city reels from the latest act of terrorism.

GALLERY

Turkish police block the entrance after an suicide bomb attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, 28 June 2016.

Turkish special forces members secure the area.

Istanbul (dpa) - The attacks started at 9:22 pm (1822 GMT), Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, adding that the assailants arrived at the airport in a regular yellow taxi.The justice minister, Bekir Bozdag, confirmed at least one of the attackers had an assault rifle, which was used in the attack. It appeared to be a well coordinated mission.There was an exchange of gunfire between the attackers and the police near a security checkpoint by the arrivals terminal at the international section of the airport.One of the attackers then detonated explosives inside the terminal next to the entrance to the building by a security check, while another blew himself up outside the terminal and the third in a parking area, Turkish officials said.Videos posted to social media, which cannot be confirmed, showed an attacker inside the airport building and panic among passengers. Eye witnesses also reported explosions and gunshots in several areas, saying the attacks appeared to be on two separate floors.All three attackers were killed during the incident, which caused massive flight disruptions. The airport was shut for a number of hours and has only partially reopened, with many cancellations. Some flights are being rerouted through other airports.Ataturk airport is a major international transit hub, handling some 60 million passengers a year, making it one of the busiest in the region.There are foreign nationals among the dead and injured, though the nationalities have not yet been revealed. The nationality of the attackers is not yet known.
Deputy Prime Minister, Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Minister Hennadiy Zubko has said that $15 billion would require for the restoration of infrastructure damaged by hostilities.

"Unfortunately, the eastern part of Donbas was hit by the war. The approximate cost of restoring infrastructure, companies and houses would be up to $15 billion," Zubko said in an interview with KyivPost publication.

The minister said that the investment interest is shifting to the country's east, to Kharkiv and Kramatorsk. The most attractive for investors are western regions of Ukraine.

Zubko said that Japan's Fujikura producing automotive parts in Ternopil region and Kromberg and Schubert producing wiring systems for the automotive industry in Zhytomyr are developing.

"Recently 17 U.S. companies producing spare parts also showed the interest to operation in Ukraine," he said.
Brexit (UK's leaving the European Union) will not significantly affect the Ukrainian economy, but it should be taken into account in forming Ukraine's foreign trade policy for the EU zone, First Deputy Prime Minister and Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv said at a briefing in Kyiv last week.

"The formation of breaches in the European zone is more likely linked to the social and political character than economic stability. This fact could influence growth of the economy in the European zone, and this should be taken into consideration when we form the relevant budget principles in the budget policy for foreign trade in the EU zone," he said.

Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska said at the briefing that the government is waiting for the decision of the European Commission on the concrete mechanism for Brexit. Ukraine will then decide what, if any, measures it should take.

"We are waiting for the formal position of the European Commission, how they see the process so that we can help Ukrainian business and our economy to balance the aftermath [of Brexit]. Understanding that the European Union is our key partner, any decline of their economy a priori could have negative impact on our economy. The large dependence on any trade partner always brings risks for the economy, and the task of the government is to expand [Ukraine's] presence on markets and enter new markets," she said.

First Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Yulia Kovaliv said at the briefing that Brexit would not directly affect the hryvnia exchange rate.

"We do not expect any [financial] destabilization. We have seen the hryvnia strengthening in the past several months," she said.
Paul Berg Biographical

I was born in New York on June 30, 1926 and my formative years were spent in a small, gated community named Sea Gate, at the southernmost tip of Brooklyn. By the time I reached Jr. high school I had already formed a strong ambition to be a scientist, in part stimulated by my readings about medical scientists: Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis and Microbe Hunters by Paul DeKruif. An inspiring high school teacher, Sophie Wolfe, whose job was to supervise the stockroom that supplied the classes in chemistry, physics and biology, nurtured that ambition. Her love of young people and interest in science led her to start an after school program of science clubs. Rather than answering questions we asked, she encouraged us to seek solutions for ourselves, which most often turned into mini research projects. Sometimes that involved experiments in the small lab she kept but sometimes it meant going to the library to find the answers. The satisfaction derived from solving a problem with an experiment was a very heady experience, almost addicting. Looking back, I realize that nurturing curiosity and the instinct to seek solutions are perhaps the most important contributions education can make. With time, many of the facts I learned were forgotten but I never lost the excitement of discovery.

I graduated from high school (1943) just a year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and enrolled at New Yorks City College to study chemical engineering. But the prospects of designing chemical plants for industrial scale chemical processes seemed far less interesting than the chemical events that occur in biological systems. But I felt it necessary to be part of the war effort and I enlisted in the Navy to be a flyer. While waiting to be called to pre-flight training, I enrolled at the Pennsylvania State University to study biochemistry. After a few months I was called to active duty but allowed to remain at Penn State for pre-flight training. After a year at Penn State and six months training at sea I served on a submarine chaser through the end of the war. I returned to the university in the fall of 1946 and completed my undergraduate degree in biochemistry two years later.

As a project during the senior year, I studied a group of papers that dealt with the application of newly available radioisotopes as tracers for the study of intermediary metabolism. Particularly fascinating were a succession of papers from Western Reserve University that showed how compounds labeled with isotopic carbon and/or heavy nitrogen atoms could be tracked during their conversion from foodstuffs to cellular materials. That seemed exciting and although I had never heard of Western Reserve University it was my next destination.

That was a fortunate choice; in fact, it changed the course of my career. Because of its pioneering work in this new field, the department had by the late 1940s become one of the important biochemistry centers in the country. Harland Wood, the department head, was an inspiring scientist and teacher but he was also devoted to his students and colleagues. My doctoral thesis concerned what is today referred to as C1 metabolism, more specifically the conversion of formic acid, formaldehyde and methanol to the fully reduced state of methyl groups in methionine. I was among the first to demonstrate, in vitro, that folic acid and vitamin B12 cofactors participated in these processes. (1952). By that time I was hooked on a career in academic research instead of one in the pharmaceutical industry that I had originally considered in deciding to get a PhD.

Seeking more experience with enzymes, I studied for a year in Copenhagen with Herman Kalckar at the Institute of Cytophysiology and for a second year with Arthur Kornberg at Washington University in St. Louis. Both were very productive and enjoyable experiences. In Copenhagen, Wolfgang Joklik and I discovered a new enzyme that created the nucleoside triphospates for nucleic acid assembly and the next year in Kornbergs lab, I discovered a previously unknown class of biological compounds  acyl adenylates  intermediates in the formation of fatty acyl-CoAs from fatty acids, ATP and CoA. This type of reaction, I discovered, was also central to the way amino acids are activated as amino-acyl adenylates prior to being linked to tRNAs. By then, I was making the slow transition from classical biochemistry to molecular biology and becoming increasingly preoccupied with how genes act and how proteins are made.

After 6 years in St. Louis, I moved to Stanford Universitys Medical Center (1959) to help Kornberg set up the new department of biochemistry. In time, my interests shifted from studies with microorganisms to mammalian cells and I spent a year experimenting with Polyoma and SV40 tumor viruses in mammalian cell culture with Renato Dulbecco at the Salk Institute. Soon after I returned to Stanford, I conceived of using SV40 as a means for introducing new genes into mammalian cells much in the way that bacteriophage transduce cellular DNA among infected cells. My colleagues and I succeeded in developing a general way to join two DNAs together in vitro; in this case, a set of three genes responsible for metabolizing galactose in the bacterium E. coli was inserted into the SV40 DNA genome. That work led to the emergence of the recombinant DNA technology thereby providing a major tool for analyzing mammalian gene structure and function and formed the basis for me receiving the 1980 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

* This autobiography was provided by the Laureate in March 2004.

Copyright  The Nobel Foundation 2004

To cite this section

MLA style: Paul Berg  Biographical. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022. Thu. 27 Oct 2022. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1980/berg/biographical/>
The business court in Sumy region on June 22 prolonged the rehabilitation procedure for public joint-stock company Sumykhimprom for six months and obliged Ukraine's State Property Fund (SPF) to consider the plant's draft rehabilitation plan approved at a meeting of creditors held in 2014, the press service of Ilyashev & Partners law firm has reported.

"Consideration of the draft rehabilitation plan by the State Property Fund is a prerequisite before its approval by the court," said Roman Marchenko, the asset manager of Sumykhimprom and Senior Partner at Ilyashev & Partners.

The rehabilitation plan of Sumykhimprom provides for the continuation of the enterprise as an integral property complex, saving jobs, continued payment of taxes and fees and increasing production. However, the document does not envisage participation of an external investor, and the enterprise will remain in state ownership.

SPF Head Ihor Bilous several times said that Sumykhimprom will be put up for sale in 2016. The fund held a tender to select the appraiser of the company's shares. The privatization tender could be announced in November 2016.

Sumykhimprom produces about many kinds of chemical products, the main of which are complex chemical fertilizers and titanium dioxide.
A table is set at Herbsaint in New Orleans on Friday, October 16, 2015 (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
Germany is Ukraine's key partner for introducing principles of integrated urban development in line with the Leipzig Charter, Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Minister of Ukraine Hennadiy Zubko has said at a meeting with Governing Mayor of Berlin Michael Muller.

"Energy efficiency, transport infrastructure and mobility are priorities. The German government is already providing Ukraine with financial and technical assistance in these areas. We hope the geography of such projects will grow," the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine quoted Zubko as saying.

The minister said following the meeting that Germany was successfully fulfilling an agreement on the implementation of an international project, entitled "Integrated Development of Cities in Ukraine," as part of a statement on mutual intentions of cooperation between the Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry of Ukraine and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety.

"Four projects on integrated development of four Ukrainian cities have been launched together with the German Corporation for International Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GIZ). Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Poltava and Chernivtsi will follow European development concepts within three years. The budget of the project, which is estimated at EUR 5.85 million, will be provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany and the State Secretariat for Economy Affairs of Switzerland," Zubko said.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all.
Ukraine should accelerate the creation of the national procurement system to have an opportunity to conduct medicine procurement itself, including vaccines, after 2019, a representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Kateryna Bulavinova said at a roundtable in Kyiv last week.

She said that Ukraine should quickly settle the problem.

"International procurement were approved a temporary phenomenon so that Ukraine could reform itself as a procurer, could become the more modern procurer and could explore the market, trade and sign long-term contracts. There is not a lot of time left to conduct the procurement reform before 2019," she said.

Bulavinova said that the registration of medicines by foreign manufacturers for participation in international procurement does not mean that after the procurement procedure these medicines will enter the market.

"This is not the registration that permits manufacturers to enter private market. Maybe, the fact that manufacturers enter the Ukrainian market with our registration would push them to register medicines for commercial turnover," she said.

The expert said that at present, Ukraine should consider multiple scenarios for all procurement options.

"What will happen [with procurement in Ukraine] after we stop procurement and the country starts procuring itself? For example, what can be done with orphan medicines, diphtheria serum or anti-snake venom serum? We should not resolve these problems as the moment arises. A strategy should be drafted, taking into account the high price of these products in the world and the small amounts produced," she said.

A representative of UNICEF in Ukraine Dragoslav Popovic said that the UNICEF is trying to attract as many manufacturers and suppliers to Ukraine as possible in the vaccine procurement.

He believes that procurement in 2016 would be quicker and more manufacturers would take part in it.

"In coming six months there would be more options for procurement than a year ago. The next procurement [in 2016] will be simpler compared to 2015 as all medicines will be registered in Ukraine," Popovic said.

Orphan medicines are pharmaceutical agents that have been developed specifically to treat a rare medical condition for a small number of patients (up to 200,000 people). Their batch production is not profit-making, and pharmaceutical companies that make them have privileges.
Gas stocks in Ukraine's inventories 1.2 bcm up after completion of heating season

Natural gas stocks at Ukraine's underground storage facilities after the completion of the 2015/2016 heating season have increased by 14.1% or 1.189 billion cubic meters.

Public joint-stock company Ukrtransgaz reported that if on April 6 8.438 billion cubic meters of gas were in the underground storage facilities, then on June 27 gas stocks amounted to 9.626 billion cubic meters (18.5% down year-over-year).

The company said that June 27, 2016, gas was pumped to the underground storage facilities with the daily pace of 17 million cubic meters and on June 27, 2015  55.7 million cubic meters.

In addition, imports of natural gas since early June came only from the EU in the smallest volumes 837,000 cubic meters, including 480,000 cubic meters from Slovakia and 357,000 cubic meters in Hungary. No gas was imported from Poland and Russia.
Accounts of National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom arrested in March 2016 have been unblocked, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalyk has said.

"Finally we have managed to unblock accounts of Energoatom (thanks to the prime minister), which will help to stabilize operations," he wrote in comments to a post on his Facebook page.

In March 2016, the State Enforcement Service of Ukraine arrested accounts and assets of Energoatom worth UAH 200 billion and blocked financial and economic operations of the largest electricity generating company in Ukraine. The accounts were arrested to collect a debt of UAH 127.3 million to JV Ukrelectrovat, which Energoatom considers doubtful. The sum appeared after indexation of a debt of UAH 2.5 million under a unanimous decision of a court expert.

Energoatom is the operator of all four Ukrainian-based operating nuclear power plants, which have 15 VVER reactors with an overall generating capacity of 13.835 gigawatts.
Head of PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia Wojciech Balczun estimates the shortage of freight cars at 10,000 units, according to an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent.

Balczun said this during a meeting at the American Chamber of Commerce in Kyiv.

He noted the need for the development of a freight rolling stock segment, its efficiency.

"We need to abolish several depots, simplify a large amount of technical documentation," he said.

According to the company head, this work also requires the development of appropriate policy on the part of the Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine.

"If we create a new business model - we will be able to enter the international level," he added.

As reported, in March 2016 Ukrzaliznytsia board member Yevhen Kravtsov (now the First Deputy Minister of Infrastructure) noted about 50% of freight cars from the Ukrzaliznytsia rolling stock are to be written off the inventory in the next three or four years.
An auto parts supplier is going to hire 22 workers in Hobart at a wage of around $20 an hour.

Lansing-based NB Coatings North America plans to build a new warehouse in Hobart so it can expand its manufacturing operations in Illinois, Vice President of Manufacturing Jack Wickham said.

The Tier 3 auto supplier, which is owned by Nippon Paint in Japan, ran out of space at its current location at 2701 E. 170th St. in Lansing, where it has been consolidating regional warehouses and trying to keep up with booming demand in the automotive sector, which posted record sales in the United States last year.

The company will invest $4.7 million to build a 124,800-square-foot warehouse in NorthWind Crossings Industrial Park in Hobart, where Indiana Secretary of Commerce Victor Smith attended a ground-breaking ceremony Tuesday.

Wickham said the new distribution facility would be used to store raw materials headed to its Lansing manufacturing plant and the final product before it was shipped out to automakers like Toyota and Honda.

NB Coatings North America also counts the Big Three automakers among its customers, and ships to plants throughout the Midwest.

"Since we service the automotive industry and tier suppliers, most of our customers are either north in Michigan and into Canada, or south in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama," Wickham said.

"The U.S. growth of the industry is in the southeast. We quickly narrowed our search to an area that was close to our manufacturing plant in Lansing, Illinois, and also had very good access to the main north-south corridor of I-65 and the Michigan corridor of I-94."

Founded in 1971, the company currently employs about 400 workers in Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Canada and Mexico. It joins Team Furmanite, Teleperformance, Hanson Logistics and ITR America at the industrial park Becknell Industrial developed just off Interstate 65.

"We put it up in 2005. It's been 11 years, and we have 1.2 million square feet, which seems like a big number to me," Becknell Executive Vice President J. Mark Shapland said. "We're seeing some good momentum."

The Indiana Economic Development Corp., the state's commerce agency, offered NB Coatings $176,000 in tax breaks, or about $8,000 per job, not including a tax break it got from Hobart.

"I have to say it's been extremely exciting in the last few years," Hobart Mayor Brian Snedecor said.

"There's a lot of excitement about Northwest Indiana as a place to expand. Beyond a strategic transportation avenue, Hobart has a strong workforce, favorable tax rates and superior infrastructure, and another company is recognizing that fact."

NB Coatings plans to start hiring in Hobart in the fall. For more information, visit nbcoatings.com.
Constitutional amendments on justice to be published on June 29 - Poroshenko

The amendments to the Ukrainian Constitution pertaining to justice will be published on June 29, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.

"The law introducing the amendments to the Constitution pertaining to justice will be published tomorrow," he said at a formal meeting in the Verkhovna Rada in honor of the Ukrainian Constitution Day.

He said that he has already signed the law.

"The amendments, for which the Verkhovna Rada voted in early June, are not extensive, but have fundamental significance. Because today it is very difficult for us, Ukrainians, to achieve truth in courts," he said.

He added that this reform is a precondition for all further reforms.

"The main part of the justice reform is, firstly, thorough and comprehensive renewal of the corps of judges; secondly, strict control, including public, for judges' integrity, incomes and expenses; thirdly, abolition of judges' immunity; fourthly, elimination of political influence and establishment of the independence of the judicial branch," he said.

The country is on the threshold of fundamental amendments to the justice system, but it will take several years to introduce this reform, he said.

"The new Supreme Court of Ukraine will already be created on contest grounds by the end of this year," he said.
CROWN POINT  A man accused of killing Gary Patrolman Jeffrey Westerfield was additionally charged Wednesday in a domestic violence incident that happened just before the homicide.

Carl L. Blount, 27, of Gary and Portage, faces charges of intimidation, carrying a handgun without a license and battery. The charges are in addition to the murder charge Blount already faces in Westerfields shooting death. The Lake County prosecutors office is seeking the death penalty.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Urbanski said during a hearing Wednesday that the amended charging information filed in the case is tied to the domestic violence incident Blount was suspected of being involved before the homicide on July 6, 2014.

Its all relative to the states timeline, he said.

Prosecutors believe Westerfield was searching for Blount, who was accused of firing a shot during the incident on McKinley Street in Gary. Urbanski said Blounts name was transmitted on police radio as a suspect.

Westerfield was responding to the 911 call made about the incident when he was shot to death. Westerfield, 47, was found dead inside his patrol car in the 2600 block of Van Buren Place in Gary.

Defense attorneys Richard Wolter and Robert Varga waived the reading of the new charges and asked Lake Criminal Judge Samuel Cappas to enter not guilty pleas on their clients behalf. Blount previously pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.

Blount is scheduled to stand trial in the case Feb. 6, 2017. Jury selection is expected to begin Jan. 9, 2017.

Wolter told Cappas they were finishing putting together a questionnaire that will be sent to potential jurors. He said the defense and the state plan to finish the questionnaire by July 13.

Cappas also set a deadline of July 20 for the state to turn over evidence related to ballistic testing done in the case. Wolter said there is still some information missing that the defenses expert needs to review in preparation for the trial.

Blounts next court hearing is scheduled for July 20.
CROWN POINT  A 51-year-old man is expected to be sentenced to 18 years in prison after he admitted to driving drunk and causing a crash that killed two men, according to court records.

Clarence Triplett, of Hammond and East Chicago, appeared Tuesday in front of Lake Criminal Judge Diane Boswell. He pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death when operating a motor vehicle with an alcohol-blood level of more than 0.15.

The plea agreement calls for Triplett to be sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Triplett admitted that on Aug. 10, 2014, he was driving his 2004 Trailblazer at a speed of about 80 mph in a 55 mph zone on Cline Avenue near the Michigan Street exit.

He crashed into the rear of a 2002 Ford Focus that was parked on the shoulder with its hazard lights on, according to the plea agreement. Dominique Timmons, 25, of Gary, was a passenger in the car and died at the scene.

Devin Hunter, 22, was critically injured in the crash and later died from his injuries. Hunter was a native of Gary, but he had moved to the Atlanta area where he was studying to become a fashion designer. His family previously said he had been in town visiting friends when the crash happened.

Triplett fled the crash, but he left behind his car. Officers tracked him down by searching the registration information for the vehicle.

His blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash was 0.19, according to court records. The legal limit in Indiana is 0.08.

His driver's license could be suspended for two to 12 years because of the convictions.

Triplett was previously scheduled to stand trial next month, but the trial date was vacated during Tuesday's hearing. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 24.
GARY  The man found shot to death Tuesday afternoon in the 300 block of West Mount Street has been identified.

Clarence Thornton, 25, of Gary, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, according to a news release from the Lake County coroner's office.

At about 5:15 p.m., Gary police responded to the area after receiving reports of a gunshot wound victim. Thornton was declared dead on scene.

Police said Tuesday night they are not releasing any other information at this time.

Anyone with information on this incident is urged to contact Detective Sergeant Shauna Poirier-Peter of the Lake County/Gary Metro Homicide Unit at (219) 755-3855 or the Crime Tip Line at 866-CRIME-GP.
GARY  Police said Wednesday the shooting death of a 24-year-old man Tuesday night in the city's Brunswick neighborhood likely is connected to a shooting that wounded a 33-year-old man.

Within minutes, police were dispatched to West Third Avenue between Mount Street and Matthews Street for two gunshot victims.

Officers arrived at Third and Mount about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday and found Clarence Thornton III, 24, of Gary, in the street with a gunshot wound to the head, police said. Lake County coroner's office investigators pronounced Thornton dead at the scene about 6:15 p.m.

A 33-year-old Gary man who called police to the 300 block of Matthews Street also had been shot  possibly twice, Lt. Dawn Westerfield said. He was taken to a local hospital, where he remained Wednesday.

Westerfield said the shootings are believed to be connected, but she declined to release further details. The shootings remain under investigation, she said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Sgt. Shauna Poirier-Peter of the Lake County/Gary Metro Homicide Unit at (219) 755-3855. To remain anonymous, call (866) CRIME-GP.
GARY  A 35-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the back flagged down a police officer Tuesday and asked to be taken to a hospital, an official said.

The Gary man walked into the McDonald's at 1527 W. Fifth Ave. in Gary about 9 a.m. and approached the officer.

Lt. Dawn Westerfield said the man initially said he'd been shot on Fifth Avenue but later told police he was shot in the area of 21st Avenue and McKinley Street.

It was unclear exactly how much time passed between when the man was shot and when he approached the officer. He was treated at a local hospital, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Sgt. Michael Barnes at (219) 881-1210. To remain anonymous call (866) CRIME-GP.
MICHIGAN CITY  Police have secured charges against a suspected heroin dealer for his alleged involvement in a drug trafficking operation in the city.

Jimmy Thomas Jr., 22, of Michigan City, was arrested Friday at the Knights Inn, 201 W. Keiffer Road, on an unrelated warrant, according to a Michigan City Police Department news release.

Michigan City Police Departments Street Crimes Unit in May infiltrated the operation and made several controlled buys of drugs through the operation.

Police were able to establish probable cause following an investigation, leading to formal charged being filed Monday, according to the release.

Thomas Jr. faces one count of dealing in cocaine or narcotics, a level 4 felony, and four counts of dealing in cocaine or narcotics, a level 5 felony.

In May, Michigan Citys Fugitive Apprehension Street Team and SCU executed a search at his home in the 200 block of North Woodland Avenue for an unrelated warrant. Thomas Jr. was not there at the time, but police seized suspected heroin, drug paraphernalia and other items.
HAMMOND  A federal judge sentenced a Schererville woman Tuesday to one year home detention for her involvement in two cases relating to a mortgage fraud scheme.

Sheila Chandler, 56, initially pleaded guilty in March 2011 to 11 combined counts of conspiracy and wire fraud in two cases against her, which could have landed her up to 4 1/2 years in prison, according to court documents.

However, Chandlers cooperation as a witness led to several co-defendants indictments which led to a reduction in sentencing Tuesday. In 2012, Chandler testified in a Gary man's trial relating to the fraud cases.

In 2005 and 2006, Chandler was involved in a campaign of mortgage fraud in which lenders were given false information and buyers were recruited for homes sold at inflated prices. She admitted to processing false loan applications for about 25 homes at that time.

As part of Tuesday's sentencing, Chandler also received three years probation.

Chandlers attorney, Stephen E. Scheele, cited his clients advancement in education and maintained employment as reasons for a reduced sentence, according to a sentencing memorandum.
MUNSTER  Officers at the scene of a shooting in the parking lot of Jewel-Osco found three types of spent shell casings, according to court records.

Markdaniel Martinez, 18, of Hammond, faces two counts of criminal recklessness. He was released Wednesday from Lake County Jail after posting a $4,000 bond, according to court records.

The shooting happened about 10 p.m. Sunday in the 700 block of Ridge Road in Munster.

A woman told police she and her husband had just left the St. Thomas More Parish Festival and stopped at the grocery store to grab something to drink, according to an affidavit filed Wednesday in Lake Criminal Court.

When they walked out of the store, gunfire erupted in the parking lot. Witnesses estimated that at least 20 gunshots were fired during the incident, according to the affidavit.

One of the bullets grazed the woman's head as she tried to run back into the store for cover, according to the affidavit. She also had injuries to her knees after she landed on broken glass.

One of the store's windows was shot out during the shooting. Surveillance video showed there was a large group of adults and children in the area during the shooting, according to the affidavit. The festival was taking place across the street from Jewel-Osco.

Witnesses told police several men fled the area in three vehicles after the shooting.

Officers found at the scene numerous spent shell casings that were 9mm, 40-caliber and 45-caliber, according to the affidavit.

Detectives tracked down Martinez after a Chevrolet Monte Carlo seen on traffic cameras leaving the area was traced to him. In Martinez's home, police found a 45-caliber gun along with ammunition.

According to the affidavit, Martinez told police he fired his gun six times into the air to scare everyone away.

His initial court hearing is scheduled for July 11.
CROWN POINT  A woman told jurors that it felt like someone was holding a lighter to her face when she was attacked last year inside a Hobart home.

The woman detailed Tuesday what happened to her during the trial of Kenneth S. Manley, who is accused of attacking her on July 12, 2015, inside a home in the 1000 block of High Street in Hobart.

Manley, 53, of Michigan City, faces two counts of criminal confinement, battery resulting in serious bodily injury and strangulation.

The woman arranged to meet Manley after he responded to her advertisement on Backpage.com. She said Manley had agreed to pay her $300 in exchange for sex.

She traveled by herself about an hour from her home to Hobart to meet Manley who originally gave her an address across the street from where he was waiting for her. Once she was inside the bedroom, Manley pointed a gun at her and demanded she take off her clothes, the woman testified. She knocked the gun out of his hand, but Manley then began choking her.

She testified she then lost consciousness. When she regained consciousness, she was naked and Manley was on top of her.

The attack continued after the woman said she tried to reach for one of her cell phones. She said Manley threw a substance at her that felt 10 times worse than being pepper sprayed and caused her to have problems breathing.

She managed to open a window and the front door, but each time Manley dragged her back inside. She said he at one point punched her in the eye and later tried to put a zip tie around her head.

After he received a phone call, the woman and Manley surrendered to officers who had arrived at the home. The woman was taken to an area hospital for treatment.

Defense attorney Matthew Fech told jurors during opening statements Tuesday that the state's case against Manley is only partially accurate. He pointed out how the woman didn't use her real name on Backpage.com and had previously passed other people's photos as her own.

He told jurors they also will hear from a neighbor who saw the silhouettes of three people inside the home. He argued it was possible there was an alternative explanation for what happened such as the woman setting up a robbery.

This is the second time Manley is standing trial in the case. The first trial in March ended in a mistrial.

Fech motioned Tuesday for Lake Criminal Judge Diane Boswell to issue a mistrial in the case, because his client believed a juror saw the bailiff handcuffing him on Monday after the jury was picked. The bailiff told the court there weren't any jurors in the courtroom when he placed Manley into custody.

Boswell denied Fech's motion, but she agreed to dismiss the alternate juror who potentially could have seen the bailiff holding handcuffs as he walked toward Manley.
CROWN POINT  Highland attorney Thomas O'Donnell is answering the Democratic Party's call for another round with state Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville.

Indiana Democratic Chairman John Zody recently conducted a caucus of Democratic precinct committeemen in the 15th House District who nominated O'Donnell, 53, a Dyer resident.

He will run in the Nov. 8 general election for the legislative seat representing Dyer, Schererville and part of Griffith, St. John and unincorporated St. John Township.

No Democrat ran in the district during the May 3 primary, but O'Donnell put his name forward recently to complete the party's fall ballot.

Democrats and Republicans have until Thursday to fill any further ballot vacancies. Dan Dernulc, the Lake County Republican chairman, said he doesn't expect any new GOP candidate to be added.

O'Donnell, who has been in law practice since 1987 and who served 12 years on the Lake County Council, is making his second bid for a seat in the Indiana General Assembly.

O'Donnell and Slager first ran against each other in 2012 after the Republican-controlled Indiana General Assembly redrew the boundaries of the 15th District to center on the Tri-Town area, following population shifts over the previous decade. Slager won with 51 percent of the vote.

Slager won again in 2014 against Democrat Jim Wieser with 59 percent of the vote.

Lake County Sheriff John Buncich, the county Democratic chairman, has called a caucus of Merrillville and Ross Township precinct committeemen to meet at 5 p.m. July 11 at American Legion Post 430, 7430 Broadway, Merrillville, to fill a vacancy in the Ross Township Board left by the death June 14 of Ron Widing, who had served there nearly six years.

Candidates have until July 8 to apply for the vacancy.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble met on Tuesday, June 28, to discuss the support that Germany can possibly give to the reforms planned by the Ukrainian government in such areas as customs, energy saving, and privatization.

"We are committed to carry on with reform," Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers press service quoted Groysman as saying at the onset of the meeting.

Groysman noted that the new Ukrainian government started privatizing state-owned businesses and, in particular, resolved to privatize one of the largest Ukrainian enterprises, Odesa Port-Side Plant. Besides, the government has deregulated prices in the markets for gas, pharmaceuticals and started reforming customs, he said.

Groysman emphasized the Cabinet of Minister's desire to attract the German investment in the Ukrainian economy. The prime minister remarked that on Monday, June 27, he met with German business representatives who noted some improvements in the investment climate and showed readiness to intensify their activities in Ukraine.

Groysman and Schauble also discussed issues related to the cooperation in the area of energy efficiency, including the German support to the efforts on creation and operation of the state-sponsored Energy Efficiency Fund, maintenance of its transparent and efficient work.

The interlocutors also discussed the support that Germany can offer in relation to Ukraine's Customs Service reforming and technical re-equipment.

Schauble expressed readiness to offer consultative support to the privatization process in Ukraine.

"We are ready to assist, advise, share our experience in privatization," he said.

The Ukrainian government will designate persons in charge of its interaction with the German side in such cooperation areas as energy efficiency, the customs reform and the Ukrainian privatization, Groysman said.

Schauble, in turn, said that Germany is ready to support Ukraine and Ukrainian government on the march toward reform.

"You face an enormous challenge and we will give you support," Schauble said.

The Ukrainian government delegation led by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman held a working visit to Germany on June 27-28, 2016.
INDIANAPOLIS  The Indiana Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the law license of former Secretary of State Charlie White for two years, without automatic reinstatement.

According to court records, the Valparaiso University School of Law graduate admitted to engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation and committing criminal acts that reflected adversely on his honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer.

The high court said the disciplinary penalty for such conduct by a public official usually would be stiffer, but White's law license already has been under interim suspension for four years and he's unlikely to immediately regain the right to practice law in 2018.

"A petition for reinstatement would be granted only if he is able to prove by clear and convincing evidence his fitness to resume the practice of law, a burden that likely will be particularly steep given the seriousness of (White's) misconduct," the justices said.

White, a Republican, was elected Indiana secretary of state in 2010.

He automatically was removed from office Feb. 4, 2012, after a Hamilton County jury found him guilty of six felonies; three of which survived appeals  voter fraud, theft and perjury.

White served one year house arrest for his crimes.
CROWN POINT  In a combination of tradition and common sense, the Crown Point Fire Rescue welcomed a new truck to its firefighting arsenal Tuesday.

The 2016 Pierce 100-foot aerial truck cost the city $1.1 million, which will be paid off over 10 years. Fire Chief Greg DeLor said the truck has a 2,000-gallon-per-minute pumper with a 300-gallon water tank. It's also equipped with a 10 kilowatt generator.

It is replacing a 1993 aerial truck that was officially retired during the ceremony to welcome the new truck. The old truck is headed to a second career with the Plattsburg, Missouri, Fire Protection Territory.

Fire Department tradition calls for the new truck to undergo a "wetting," its first bath with its new department, and then be pushed into its bay by the firefighters. A quick hosing satisfied the "wetting" part of the tradition, but DeLor said a lot more manpower would be needed to push the 80,000-pound truck into the station.

DeLor said the tradition began when fire equipment was powered by horses, not engines, and the firefighters would push the equipment into the station because the horses had difficulty backing up. With the size of today's equipment, the new truck's engine was started and slowly backed into the berth while several firefighters "pushed" it.

The ceremony included a blessing of the new truck by the Rev. Patrick Kalich of St. Mary's Catholic Church. Kalich confessed it was the first time he'd ever blessed a firetruck. He said he blessed a house earlier in the day and gives a blessing to a motorcycle every fall for a man who makes an annual trip.

For the occasion, Kalich brought a book of blessings for a wide variety of occasions. It didn't have one specifically for a firetruck, but Kalich said it had a general one for vehicles he could adapt for the truck. In addition to asking heavenly guidance for those who drive it, Kalich asked that they arrive safely at their destinations and accomplish their task.

Mayor David Uran said the truck is "another investment in our public safety division."

"You can't put a price on safety," Uran said. "This is very important to the men and women of the department."

DeLor said the truck is ready for service, taking over the No. 1521 of the retiring vehicle, but the department will spend another couple of weeks mounting some of the equipment on it.

"It's fully functional now, but we're going to make it pretty," he said.
First lady Karen Pence hosted the seventh award reception for grant recipients of the Indiana First Ladys Charitable Foundation at the Governors Residence \where she awarded $52,500 to 57 organizations and charities that serve Hoosier families and children across the state.

Pink Ribbon Society was represented by Ann Peters, its founder-president.

When Mike was elected governor, I was overwhelmed with requests from so many worthy organizations to get involved in their efforts. However, it quickly became clear that I couldnt be at every event, nor could I champion every cause. That is why I, along with a team of dedicated board members, started the Indiana First Ladys Charitable Foundation as a way to shine a light on the organizations across Indiana who lift up our communities and make our state strong, Karen Pence said.

The Pink Ribbon Society is one of those organizations that is doing great work for our Hoosier children and families, and it is an honor to recognize them today, she said.

Karen Pence started the Indiana First Ladys Charitable Foundation in August of 2013 as a way to recognize organizations and charities across the state. At the inaugural First Ladys Luncheon in April 2014, the foundation awarded its first major grant of $100,000 to the Art Therapy Program at Riley Hospital for Children. Throughout the year, the foundation will award smaller grants to organizations across the state.

Whether helping a child develop a love for reading or supporting families in need or encouraging a child to go further in the arts, these organizations are the backbone and the heart of our communities. They represent the very best of what it means to be a Hoosier, and we thank them for their service, Karen Pence said.
Declaring their independence from high fuel prices, more people will travel this long Fourth of July weekend than in past years and set new records in the process.

Nearly 43 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home during the five-day holiday period that begins Thursday and ends Monday, according to AAA.

Thats the highest Fourth of July travel volume on record and 5 million more people traveling compared to the 2016 Memorial Day weekend.

The great American road trip remains the most popular means of getting to a destination with more than 36 million people taking to the highways. Thats an increase of 1.2 percent from 2015.

Air travel also is expected to increase 2.2 percent over last year, with 3.3 million Americans flying to domestic or overseas destinations this Independence Day.

Other modes of transportation, including cruises, trains and buses will increase 2 percent to 3.3 million travelers, with most expected to fill cruise cabins.

Independence Day is always the most-traveled holiday of the summer, but this year it will be bigger than ever, primarily because of low gas prices, said Joseph J. Richardson Jr., president and CEO of AAA  The Auto Club Group.

Airports will be just as crowded as the roads, because low fuel prices are making it more affordable to fly, Richardson said.

If fundamentals remain the same, this could be a record-breaking year for summertime travel.

One million Hoosiers are expected to travel, a 1.3 percent increase from 2015, including 890,000 expected to travel by auto and about 45,000 by air.

In Illinois, 2.3 million people will travel for this holiday weekend, a 1 percent increase from 2015. Of those, 2 million will be driving, and 104,000 will be flying to their destinations.

AAA expects most U.S. drivers will pay the lowest Independence Day gas prices since 2005.

As of Monday, the average price nationally for gas was $2.33, compared with $2.77 in 2015. Gas prices across Illinois average $2.55, down substantially from $3 per gallon for regular in 2015. In Indiana, motorists are paying on average $2.38 per gallon, down from $2.79 this time last year.

According to AAAs Leisure Travel Index, average airfares for the top 40 domestic flight routes will be 9 percent less this Independence Day, with an average roundtrip ticket costing $207. Hotel costs have fallen slightly compared to last Independence Day. Daily car rental rates will average $75, 6 percent more than last year.

Demand for travel to Europe, especially Rome and London, remains strong despite terrorist threats, Richardson said.

Europe remains very popular with American travelers despite recent terrorism concerns. In fact, some of the most popular European destinations moved higher on the list this year, Richardson said.

Increased security, a strong dollar and discounted pricing are motivating millions of Americans to venture across the pond for their summer vacations, he said.

Americans also are flocking to warm-weather destinations in the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean, and increasingly traveling to Canada to take advantage of favorable exchange rates, AAA Travel reported.

Road construction

Closer to home, road construction and lane restrictions will create some challenges for motorists, said Doug Moats, spokesman for INDOT Northwest District based in LaPorte.

State Road 49 is still restricted between U.S. 12 and the Indiana Toll Road. This is a major headache in our area, Moats said.

Other projects that could affect travel in Northwest Indiana during Independence Day weekend include the following:

Sections of Interstate 94 in LaPorte County are reduced to two lanes in each direction for rehabilitation from U.S. 421 (Exit 40) near Michigan City to the Michigan State Line.

Some U.S. 20/35 ramps are closed for posted detours.

One U.S. 421 ramp is currently closed, but should open by Friday.

Additional road construction will affect traffic in other sections of Northern Indiana, Moats said, including the following:

U.S. 31 is reduced to one lane in each direction for road construction between U.S. 30 and 4A Road near Plymouth.

Interstate 69 lanes are shifted between Union Chapel Road (Exit 317) near Fort Wayne and Ind. 8 (Exit 329) near Auburn for two bridge replacement projects.

Interstate 469 near Fort Wayne is reduced to one lane in each direction between Ind. 1 (Exit 6) and U.S. 27/33 (Exit 11) for road construction.
MUNSTER  Bishop Noll's oldest known alum  Ida Polito, class of 1935  relived high school graduation on June 21 with a special party hosted at her residence at Hartsfield Village.

Ida walked into the room to applause and the piano playing the graduation march. She wore a cap and gown, provided by Bishop Noll to match the ones the graduating seniors wore this year, and enjoyed some graduation cake for dessert.

Polito commented that her days at Noll are many of the best memories of her life.
Thefts from vehicles  at gas stations, in parking lots, at cemeteries, even in private driveways  seem rampant throughout the area.

Since the beginning of the year, police departments throughout the Calumet Region have issued reports about items stolen from vehicles including purses, backpacks, cellphones, cash, even firearms. With the many Independence Day celebrations attracting crowds, this criminal activity may experience an uptick.

In one of the latest incidents, a Florida man was apprehended Sunday following a police pursuit from Munster into Highland.

About 5:30 p.m. Sunday a couple walking in Munsters Centennial Park noticed a white Nissan pull beside their car, said Lt. Ed Strbjak. A side window was broken and a purse taken from inside the locked vehicle.

The couple began following the suspects car, flagging down a Munster police officer who took up the pursuit, going east on Fisher Street, then north on Columbia Avenue, Strbjak said. During that pursuit, a purse was flung out of the car window along Ridge Road, he said.

The suspects vehicle struck several vehicles near the corner of Indianapolis Boulevard and Ridge Road and the two occupants fled on foot. With the assistance of Highland police, 33-year-old Christopher James Smith of Fort Lauderdale was apprehended nearby, Strbjak said.

The man has been charged with two Level 6 felonies including felony theft and fleeing law enforcement. He is also charged with Class A misdemeanor theft, the Munster police officer said. The vehicle the suspects were driving was a rental.

Another prevalent and disturbing trend occurs at gas stations all along the Interstate 80/94 corridor from Illinois through Indiana involving lone female drivers, Strbjak said.

The females are filling the gas tank and not paying attention to whats going on around them. Vehicles pull alongside their cars and someone steals purses from the passenger side, he said.

The latest such theft occurred just before noon Sunday at the Speedway gas station at 444 Ridge Road in Munster. The victims back was turned while she obtained a receipt at the gas pump, according to the police report.

These are crimes of opportunity and because people are not taking steps to protect themselves, Strbjak said. (The perpetrators) prey on people.

Crown Point Assistant Police Chief James Janda agreed.

So far this year since Jan. 1, weve had 54 calls for thefts from cars. Those are just the ones that get reported, Janda said. I always tell everyone to lock your car and dont leave anything of value in the car.

The Crown Point police have received reports of thefts from vehicles ranging from loose change to firearms, the assistant chief said. Many victims of these thefts indicate they didnt lock their cars to avoid the windows from being broken, he added.
VALPARAISO  The Porter County Council approved $2.25 million Tuesday night for a new animal shelter in what amounted to the deepest dip yet into the principal from the 2007 sale of the county hospital.

Council President Dan Whitten, D-at large, called the move a "tremendous step forward for the county" and the first of many capital projects that will be made possible by the investment of the hospital proceeds.

"I think this county is going to be very proud," he said.

The money, in addition to a $1 million donation from Valparaiso resident Jacki Stutzman, will be used to replace the county's undersized and aging shelter with a new facility along Ind. 49 near the Porter County Expo Center.

The plans for the new building, as presented last month before some tweaking, call for a 14,500-square-foot building.

"This is about fixing what's broke," said Councilman Jim Biggs, R-1st.

The council's action Tuesday night generated a round of applause from a group of shelter employees and supporters.

The Porter County Board of Commissioners approved the $2.25 million for the new shelter a couple of weeks ago. Unanimous approval from both the council and commissioners is necessary before dipping into the principal from the hospital sale proceeds.

Commissioner Jeff Good, R-Center, said the new facility will pave the way for new revenue from dog adoptions.

It will also attract new volunteers and additional donors, he said.

"I think looking forward there will be a lot of tremendous opportunities," Good said.

Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, who is Stutzman's niece, said, "This is what can be done when we all put aside our differences and find common ground for the good of the community."
VALPARAISO  For the first time in at least the last two years, the Porter County Council agreed without a challenge that Porter Regional Hospital is complying with its obligations for 10 years of tax breaks.

The council voted 7-0 Tuesday night during an annual review of the tax abatement that the hospital has created the number of jobs and exceeded other investment goals at its site at the northwest corner of Ind. 49 and U.S. 6.

Councilman Jim Biggs, R-1st, who has been especially critical of the hospital on this and other tax issues, said he was lending his support this year.

Biggs credited the efforts of Porter Regional CEO Stephen Lunn and other changes that he characterized as encouraging.

When the council approved the tax abatement in 2009, the savings to the hospital was estimated at $12.4 million.

The council at the time cited the need for more jobs, a quality health care facility and a general boost to the local economy. But critics said the tax breaks were unnecessary since Community Health Systems of Tennessee already agreed to build the new hospital when it purchased the existing facility from the county two years earlier.

The hospital reported on this years compliance form that it has 1,800 employee with salaries of nearly $144 million, which exceeds the initial estimate of 1,500 employees and salaries of nearly $100 million.

The hospital also exceeded its estimated $130 million investment in the site, according to compliance report. The hospital reported investing $162.6 million, which has an assessed value of $117.3 million.

When some confusion arose Tuesday night as to how many years the abatement has been in place, Porter County Auditor Vicki Urbanik stepped in and said the hospital is in its fourth of 10 years.

The abatement began when the construction of the new hospital was completed. The taxes waived are growing incrementally each year until they are fully restored at the end of the 10-year period.
VALPARAISO  Prescription drug and ecstasy use are on the rise among young people in Porter County, who are smoking less marijuana and cigarettes than years past.

Those were some of the findings of a countywide substance abuse study detailed Wednesday at a presentation at the Porter County Community Foundation.

The major risk factors for youth drug abuse in Porter County are the community, schools and peers, the survey found. The majority of students reported that their peers are not aware of the negative impacts of substance use and there is a lack of rewards for positive social involvement, both trends that are increasing.

"More kids feel like there aren't things to do in the community," said Eric Goodcase, a recent graduate of Purdue University Northwest who helped prepare reports on the data. "And as kids get older, they're more likely to be higher in the risk factors and lower in the preventive factors."

Poor mental health also is a major risk factor for drug use, and a quarter of Porter County students reported feeling sad or hopeless for two or more weeks in a row, a sign of depression. Fifteen percent said they considered committing suicide, while 1 in 10 actually attempted it.

Argus Swachman, another recent graduate of Purdue University Northwest, said solving the youth substance abuse crisis is a way to truly "make America great again."

While Porter County students are using less heroin, cocaine and inhalants compared to prior years, they are abusing more prescription pills, hallucinogens and ecstasy, the research found.

About a third of Porter County 12th-graders reported trying cigarettes or marijuana, numbers that are on the decline, though e-cigarette use is rising. Forty percent of 12th-graders said they had consumed alcohol in the past month, despite a majority of students knowing the risks.

Half of high-school seniors say obtaining marijuana is not at all difficult. "It's getting easier to get marijuana around Porter County," Swachman said.

Four Ivy Tech Community College students and several Porter County high-schoolers held focus groups with middle-school students to gauge the barriers to participating in positive extracurricular activities.

The biggest obstacles to being more active were transportation, location, money and time.

"The teens are seeking a safe place to hang out. The teens are aware of the issues in the community and wish to avoid them," said Sara Reed, a recent graduate of Ivy Tech who helped conduct the focus groups. They just need close, inexpensive activities to participate in, she said.

The findings came from the 2015 Indiana Youth Survey, which asked questions of about 5,500 sixth- through 12th-graders in Porter County.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the prospects for further promoting cooperation between their countries during a phone call on June 27.

"Prior to that, I had a telephone conversation with Recep Erdogan at the Turkish president's initiative. We agreed that all of our existing projects would be continued and would be broadened," the Ukrainian leader told reporters in Brussels.

Turkey is a strategic partner for Ukraine, and Ukraine, for its part, is a strategic partner for Turkey, he said.

When commenting on reports that the Turkish president apologized to the Russian leadership for the shooting down of a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 plane, Poroshenko said "as far as I read this report, it said about sympathy for the family of the killed [pilot], and I think that it is an absolutely understandable position of Turkey's president."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Erdogan had expressed regret and had offered an apology for the shooting down of a Russian plane last fall.
OTTAWA, Ontario  The leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico convened a summit Wednesday intended to reaffirm their close cooperation on security, the environment and trade at a time of rising extremist threats around the globe and isolationist calls in the American presidential campaign.

President Barack Obama met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at the North American Leaders' Summit. Obama planned to address the Canadian Parliament  the ninth American leader to do so and the first since Bill Clinton in 1995.

The fallout from Britain's decision to leave the European Union also was expected to be on the agenda.

The attack on a Turkish airport in which 41 people died on Tuesday added to the urgency of discussions about how the three countries can work together to enhance security. Obama said he spoke with Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and called the images from the scene heartbreaking.

"We will not rest until we have dismantled these networks of hate that have an impact on the entire civilized world," Obama said.

Cooperation on a range of issues was a summit theme less than a week after Britain's vote to leave the EU highlighted public fears about globalization.

The meeting came as Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. president, blamed globalization for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs and threatened to extricate the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement, in effect since 1994. Trump on Tuesday also pledged that as president, he would withdraw from an agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations that has yet to take effect. And it was only last week that Britain voted to leave the European Union. Trump also has advocated building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Obama, before meeting with Pena Nieto, emphasized America's ties with Mexico.

"At a time when we all too often are hearing rhetoric that ignores the enormous contributions that have been made by Mexicans-Americans and the enormous strengths that we draw from in the relationship with our good neighbor's to the south, it's been useful for us to reaffirm all the issues we've been working on together," Obama said.

Pena Nieto stressed the need for economic co-operation among countries.

"We must acknowledge that isolationism cannot bring prosperity to a society," he said. "It is from a collective effort between the countries that are located in one same region."

Earlier, Trudeau pointed to the North American example of economic integration and warned of the risks of protectionism and nationalism.

"Better collaboration, better partnerships are a path to prosperity," Trudeau said Tuesday. "And that's a compelling example that we want to showcase at a time where, unfortunately, people are prone to turning inwards which will unfortunately be at the cost of economic growth and their own success."

Trudeau and Pena Nieto announced measures to reduce barriers during the Mexican leader's state visit to Canada before the summit. Trudeau said Canada will lift visa requirements for Mexican visitors as of December 2016. Pena Nieto agreed to open Mexican markets to Canadian beef.

Efforts to curb global warming were a big part of the summit. The leaders pledged to rely on renewable energy to generate 50 percent of North America's electrical power by 2025 and Mexico would commit to joining the United States and Canada in tackling methane emissions.

Obama adviser Brian Deese said it was an unprecedented effort to develop a continentwide strategy on climate change and that the U.S. has the tools it needs, including tax credits for renewables, to reach the target.
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to referee a dispute about an odd piece of U.S. citizenship law that treats men and women differently.

The justices said they will hear a case about a law that applies only to children born outside the U.S. to one parent who is an American and one who is not. The law makes it easier for children whose mother is a citizen to become citizens themselves. Even after reform legislation in 1986, children of American fathers face higher hurdles claiming citizenship for themselves.

The federal appeals court in New York struck down the law in the case of Luis Ramon Morales-Santana. He challenged the law and asserted he is a U.S. citizen after U.S. authorities sought to deport him after convictions for robbery and attempted murder.

Morales-Santana is the son a of a Dominican mother and an American father, who left Puerto Rico for the Dominican Republic 20 days before his 19th birthday. For people born before 1986 to parents who are not married, their U.S. citizen fathers had to have lived in the U.S. for 10 years, at least five of them after the age of 14. Morales-Santana's father missed meeting the second part of that requirement by 20 days.

American mothers need only have lived in the U.S. continuously for a year before the birth of a child.

Changes to immigration law made in 1986 reduced the total residency time for fathers to five years, only two of which had to be after the age of 14.

By contrast, a child born in the United States, regardless of the parents' nationality, is a U.S. citizen, as is a child born abroad to two American citizens if one of them has ever lived in the United States.

The justices attempted to answer this question in 2011, but divided 4-4 with Justice Elena Kagan out of the case because she worked on while serving in the Justice Department. This time around, the case will again be heard by eight justices, but with Kagan taking part.

The case, Lynch v. Morales-Santana, 15-1191, will be argued in the fall.
Today Im saying goodbye to a member of what Tom Brokaw called the Greatest Generation. He was my father-in-law, Nick Polite.

Nick, 91, passed away last week. His generation is fading fast.

Together, they lived through the Great Depression. That era was a brutal time, one I was fortunate to avoid.

Nick told of his father, shoemaker Frank Polite, working six days a week at his shop in Hebron. He would walk home to his house on Greenwich Street in Valparaiso after work on Saturdays, then attend Mass on Sunday morning, eat Sunday dinner with his family, then walk back to Hebron. One time, he stayed an extra day with his family. That was the day the building burned. Franks shoe repair business moved to his home in Valparaiso after that.

Nick also told of serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II. He was a radar mechanic, working on the B-26 Marauders. The crews working on the planes often did so at night, working without the benefit of strong lighting. It was dangerous work.

The planes were arranged in pods, circled around for the convenience of the men working on them. But you had to listen carefully, because the propellers could chop up a careless man. Now, more than 70 years later, severe hearing loss is common among men like Nick.

At the Porter County Museum, theres a good World War II exhibit. Volunteer Eunice Slagle knows all about it. Her husband, Frank Slagle, was taken prisoner by the Germans. He was skin and bones when the war finally ended, and he was one of the lucky ones. He made it home.

Theres a parachute dress in that exhibit  a testament to the hard times the folks back home endured. Silk was scarce back home because of the war effort, so some of the men returning home had their brides make wedding dresses out of grooms silk parachutes.

When they came back home, many of these men wouldnt talk about what they endured. They havent wanted to talk about the horrors of war. In interviewing veterans, Im often told by family members that some of the stories their loved ones are telling me have never before been heard by the wives and children.

As my wife and I lay her father to rest today, Im well aware Ill never hear his stories again. Im fortunate to have captured some of them for future generations.

Take time to listen to the stories of aging veterans at nwi.com/history. See the video of Eunice Slagle telling about the Porter County Museum exhibit.

And if you have a veteran of World War II or Korea in your family, get them to talk about the experience. Get it on video or on a voice recorder. Capture that valuable history while you still can. You and the people you share it with will be glad you did.
The $20 billion in revenue and $1.7 billion in tax payments to Region local government proves the gaming industry was a key component to Northwest Indiana's economy in its first two decades.

The Times' Andrew Steele and Dan Carden took an extensive look at the two-decade history of casinos in Northwest Indiana in their in-depth reports Sunday and Monday.

The hundreds of jobs generated by casino boats docked in Gary, East Chicago, Hammond and Michigan City would be sorely missed without this economic juggernaut.

But even with the casino windfall enjoyed by the Region, we can't forget the continuing need to diversify our local economy  and for some local government units to identify new revenue sources for the years in which attendance and gaming revenue at the Region casinos declines.

The gaming industry's contribution also should remind Region planners and developers of the opportunity to seek more tourism-based businesses and assets that could be built around casinos.

It's been easy for Northwest Indiana municipal and county governments to grow accustomed to  or even dependent on  tax revenue provided by casinos during the past 20 years.

Casinos pay a $3 admission tax to host communities each time someone walks through their turnstiles.

That fact alone has generated nearly $2 billion for street repaving, a Hammond college tuition program for residents' children, core funding for the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, nonprofit community development foundations in East Chicago and scores of other community development and infrastructure projects.

But some municipalities have become dependent on the casino revenues for routine, everyday expenses  something for which the funds were never intended.

That's a bad precedent considering Region casino revenues  and thus the municipal taxes they provide  have been on a downward slope since 2007.

Region casinos brought in a little less than $1.3 billion that year. After a series of gradual declines, 2015 revenues were about $977 million  a 24 percent decline over eight years, according to the Indiana Gaming Commission.

Even with the declines, casinos remain an important part of our economic base. But the numbers also show us a need to look to other opportunities for our financial future.

And how well does our Region complement this industry with other businesses? A push must continue to provide other businesses and assets that keep people spending money in the Region before and after they venture into the casinos. There is a whole tourism industry yet to be fully realized around casinos.

The gaming industry and its associated revenue is a Region asset, not a lifeline. We must continue to diversify.
ISTANBUL  It was an attack that echoed the carnage earlier this year at the Brussels airport, down to the taxi that carried the men to their target: Inciting panic and then taking lethal advantage, three suicide attackers unleashed a deadly tide of bullets and bombs at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport, leaving 42 dead.

Authorities blamed the Islamic State for the blood bath late Tuesday, a coordinated assault on one of the worlds busiest airports and on a key NATO ally that plays a crucial role in the fight against the extremist group.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility by the militant group.

Although the attack took a heavy toll, the assailants were initially thwarted by the extensive security on the airports perimeter, Turkish officials said.

When the terrorists couldnt pass the regular security system, when they couldnt pass the scanners, police and security controls, they returned and took their weapons out of their suitcases and opened fire at random at the security check, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

One attacker detonated his explosives downstairs at the arrivals terminal, one went upstairs and blew himself up in the departure hall, and the third waited outside for the fleeing crowd and caused the final lethal blast, two Turkish officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to speak about the investigation publicly. None of the attackers were Turks, a third official said.

As the chaos unfolded, terrified travelers were sent running first from one explosion and then another. Airport surveillance video showed a panicked crowd of people, some rolling suitcases behind them, stampeding down a corridor, looking fearfully over their shoulders.

Other surveillance footage posted on social media showed one explosion, a ball of fire that sent terrified passengers racing for cover. Another showed an attacker, felled by a gunshot from a security officer, blowing himself up seconds later.

Cihan Tunctas had just disembarked from a flight from Azerbaijan when he heard the sound of gunfire.

Then the bomb exploded. We were at the exit and ... the roof collapsed on our heads, Tunctas said. The group tried to escape, but their path was blocked by the arrival of a second attacker.

Two of the security guards noticed him. They walked toward him. Just as they were walking toward him, I turned that way. They just caught him and at that moment he detonated the bomb.

Investigators later found a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a handgun and two grenades on the bodies, according to the state-run Anadolu news service. Raids at two addresses also uncovered encrypted organizational documents and computer files, the news agency said.

Although the government quickly blamed the Islamic State, there was no immediate claim of responsibility by the extremist group, which did not mention the bloodshed on its social media sites Wednesday. However, an infographic released to celebrate the second anniversary of its self-proclaimed caliphate claimed to have covert units in Turkey and other countries.

Islamic State, however, rarely claims attacks in Turkey. One possible reason is a reluctance to be seen as killing fellow Muslims, said Anthony Skinner, director of the analyst group Verisk Maplecroft. Another is its desire to exploit the violent rift between Turkey and Kurdish rebels, he said.

It very clearly meets Islamic States strategic objectives to leave this ambiguity, Skinner said.

Yildirim, the Turkish prime minister, also suggested the attack could be linked to steps Ankara took Monday toward mending strained ties with Israel and Russia. Late Wednesday, he told the Turkish public the authorities were increasingly convinced that the Islamic State group, also known as Daesh, was responsible for the ghastly attack.

Our thought that it is Daesh, continues to gain weight, Yildirim said.

A key partner in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group, Turkey faces an array of security threats from other groups as well. including ultra-left radicals and Kurdish rebels demanding greater autonomy in the restive southeast.

The country shares long, porous borders with both Syria and Iraq, where IS controls large pockets of territory, and the government has blamed IS for several major bombings over the past year, including in the capital Ankara, and on tourists in Istanbul.

The reality is that Turkey is situated in a very vulnerable situation, geographically speaking, Skinner said.

Victims in Tuesdays attack included at least 13 foreigners and several people remained unidentified Wednesday. The Istanbul governors office said more than 230 people were wounded and dozens remained in critical condition.

Funerals for some of the victims began Wednesday as Turkish authorities sought to put together an attack timeline, going through surveillance footage and interviewing witnesses. A Turkish court imposed a media ban on any information not officially released by the government.

The devastation at Istanbuls airport was a reminder of the March 22 attack on the Brussels airport, where two suicide bombings ripped through check-in counters, killing 16 people. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack, as well as an explosion the same day at a Brussels subway station that killed 16 more people.

As dawn broke Wednesday, workers were removing debris from the Istanbul airport and mere hours after the terminal erupted into chaos, it reopened to flights. It took 12 days for flights to resume in Brussels, and more than two months for the terminal building to fully reopen.
An officer convicted of an assault that was caught on cellphone video is speaking out for the first time. In an exclusive interview with NY1's Criminal Justice Reporter Dean Meminger, the officer says he doesn't deserve to be fired.



Officer Joel Edouard was captured on a video stomping on a suspect.

After being convicted of assault and sentenced, he's speaking exclusively to NY1.

"Being portrayed as a thug, that is everything I've worked for in my life not to be," Edouard said.

The altercation happened two years ago in Brooklyn as police tried to arrest a man smoking marijuana and drinking in public. The judge said Edouard stomped on the suspect's head. He called it unnecessary, an act of police brutality. The officer disputes that.

"He punched the handcuff out of my hand. And the video we have, the video doesn't tell you the full story in terms of how long we were there fighting with him, for us to get him under control," Edouard said.

Meminger: Are you sorry?

Edouard: Yes I am.

A judge last week sentenced Edouard for misdemeanor assault, giving him two years probation and ordering the officer to resign if he wasn't fired in 24 hours.

Edouard's lawyer has filed an appeal.

"The public service law doesn't permit the police commissioner to fire someone in 24 hours," said defense attorney Anthony Ricco. "And what the judge did was really create a condition of probation that's against New York State law."

His lawyer says Edouard is being scapegoated for cases of police brutality. The stomping occurred a week after Eric Garner died from an illegal police chokehold. The officer involved, Daniel Pantaleo, was not indicted and is still working on modified duty.

"So many other cases where people in our community we have have been victimized and murdered, where no action was taken at all, charges, not even departmental charges were brought. How do we reconcile that?" Ricco said.

Meminger: Do you still want to be an officer?

Edouard: Certainly. I still have a lot of service in me, sir.

Edouard was suspended without pay following his conviction. The police commissioner has said he wants Edouard fired.

The officer will now face a police department judge. A departmental trial has been scheduled against him. That will take place in two weeks inside of police headquarters.
As you head out for fun in the sun this holiday weekend, the City Comptroller's office is reminding New Yorkers to keep their skin protected.

Excess exposure to UV rays from the sun or from tanning beds can cause skin cancer, including melanoma.

City Comptroller Scott Stringer is releasing a report Wednesday on the threat of skin cancer in the five boroughs.

He's also proposing that free sunscreen be distributed at city beaches, pools, parks and playgrounds during the summer.

"It helps us protect our skin from the ozone layer, and getting skin cancer and stuff like that, other things that could damage your skin," said one New Yorker.

"I would definitely utilize that if it was out there for me," said another new Yorker. "Yeah, I mean you're out a lot, especially when its this nice. And you might put it on in the morning and then not again until the next day."

For the best protection, the New York State Health Department recommends using broad spectrum sunscreens with an SPF rating of 15 or higher.

It says sunscreen should be applied 15 to 30 minutes before going out, and reapplied every two hours thereafter.

At least an ounce of sunscreen, or the size of a shot glass should be used.
Two more alleged gang members have been arrested on murder charges in the killing of an aide to Governor Cuomo. NY1's Rocco Vertuccio has the story.

"If so much as a sneeze comes out of one of these gang members in the weeks running up we will be there," Police Commissioner Bill Bratton warned after officials announced the arrest of two alleged rival gang members in the murder of a former aide to Governor Cuomo.

They face murder charges  along with another man  24-year-old Micah Alleyne whose arrest was announced a month ago.

Investigators say early in the morning on September 7, the suspects got into a shootout near the Ebbets Field public housing development in Crown Heights.

43-year-old Carey Gabay was caught in the crossfire while enjoying a celebration known as J'Ouvert before the annual West Indian Day Parade. He was hit the head.

"When they see each other there's no talking just shooting that's exactly what happened the night Carey was shot," said Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson.

Investigators say the shooting erupted over a turf war at Ebbets Field between the gangs, one a faction of the Crips. Two to three dozen shots were fired, from at least eight guns .

Surveillance video captured two of the suspects with their guns. The gunfire sent hundreds of people running.

"I've never seen an event in which so many individuals and so many weapons with such depravity committed a crime particularity a crime that resulted in the death of this young man," Bratton said.

Gabay grew up in public housing, graduated from Harvard Law School and, ironically, worked with Cuomo to toughen state gun laws.

Investigators say they believe a bullet from Alleyne's gun struck him down. But, prosecutors say all three men charged are equally responsible because they all took part in that gunfight.

"Carey's murder cannot go in vain," said Alphonso David, counsel to Governor Cuomo. "It has to remind us to fight to stand up to all those that seek to have guns on our streets ."

A fourth suspected gang member has been arrested on charges of carrying a machine gun. The search for others involved in the deadly gun battle continues.
Security has been stepped up at local airports in response to the attack in Turkey. Our Lori Chung spoke to travelers at JFK Airport and has their reaction.

Passengers arriving at JFK expressed disbelief after the deadly suicide bombing at Istanbul's Ataturk airport, giving way to renewed fears about traveling and terrorism.

"It's making travel very, very uncomfortable now," said one tourist from Dublin.

"My daughter's flying to Africa, and obviously I'm scared about that," one father told NY1. "Though she's not going to a place where there's much terrorism but you're always concerned about these things."

Port Authority officials say they stepped up security at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports as a precaution after the bombings. Some travelers are glad officials are being proactive.

"If there is a lapse in security, your life is threatened as well as mine is threatened but if we know we are being protected everybody goes about freely," said one visitor from Ghana.

The Turkish airport was a scene of mayhem, chaos and death. The latest of several recent bombings in the country linked to Kurdish or Islamic State militants, which has become a growing concern in Turkish-American communities in the city.

"Since last year these attacks increased a lot," said Selim Ozcicek with the Turkish Cultural Center in Queens.

At the cultural center, the main worry Tuesday night is about loved ones back at home. As officials there continue to assess the damage.

"Everybody is cautious about their move, they don't really feel safe in public areas," Ozcicek said.

the added security here comes in addition to terror patrols that were implemented after a gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando killing 49 people in a terror attack there so a lot of security measures in place to address concerns about safety.
Two Ukrainians among 200 victims of Istanbul blasts

One Ukrainian woman was killed and one Ukrainian man was wounded in leg during a terror act in Istanbul airport, the Department of the Consular Service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine wrote on Facebook on Wednesday morning.

Employees of Ukraine's Consulate General are checking local hospitals in search for Ukrainian citizens.

According to the latest updates, 36 people were killed and 147 injured in a terror act in Istanbul airport.

In case of emergency please call Ukraine's Consulate General in Istanbul: +905306125577 or the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine: +380442381777, +380442381657.
MARIA GUGGING, Austria  By choice or by chance, the visionary autodidacts whose works fall into the related categories of Art Brut and outsider art find themselves on the margins of conventional culture and society, even if their creations sometimes draw on ideas from the popular mainstream.

Unlike their academically trained counterparts, these artists, often employing found or castoff materials, tend to work primarily for themselves, unconcerned with the canon or the latest critical positions. The term Art Brut was first coined by the French artist Jean Dubuffet in the 1940s, and since then an alternative world of specialized publications, galleries, museums and fairs has developed to support the genre.

In recent years, the establishment has begun to embrace outsider art, with its unusual aesthetic and spirit of authenticity. The British artist Grayson Perry has found inspiration in collages by the American outsider Henry Darger; the gallerist David Zwirner has shown the works of self-taught artists; and at the 2013 Venice Biennale such works were displayed alongside those of contemporary luminaries.

At the same time, the field of self-taught art has developed significant outposts of its own. One of them is Art Brut Center Gugging, a cultural complex in this village north of Vienna that focuses on the intersection of art and psychiatric treatment. The centers Museum Gugging is commemorating its 10th anniversary with the recently opened exhibition johann hauser im the artist! (on view through Jan. 8), which showcases the work of the Austrian Art Brut master Johann Hauser (1926-1996), a longtime resident of the facility.
SAN FRANCISCO  Pinterest announced on Tuesday new shopping-focused features that will make it easier for users to buy things they find on the site.

The updates are part of Pinterests attempt to distance itself from comparisons to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Pinterest wants to be known as a network for inspiration in topics like travel, cooking and crafts, as well as for shopping both on and offline.

At bottom, the site sees itself more as a competitor to Google  a way to search, discover and ultimately buy.

Shopping with Pinterest is meant to be that bridge between getting inspiration and actually making it a part of your life, Ben Silbermann, the chief executive, said at an event at the companys San Francisco headquarters on Tuesday.
In this episode of Modern Love: The Podcast, the actor and producer Lance Reddick (Fringe, The Wire) reads the essay In the Waiting Room of Estranged Spouses, about a former soldier rocked by infidelity who finds hope in a chance meeting with a mother and her young son.

You can also hear the episode on iTunes and Google Play Music.

The essay, from March 2016, was written by Benjamin Hertwig, a writer and poet who lives in Western Canada. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

Afterward, hear a conversation between Modern Love editor Dan Jones and Mr. Hertwig.

Mr. Reddick is on Twitter. The Baltimore native is best known for playing Lt. Cedric Daniels on The Wire. He also appeared on the Fox drama Fringe as Phillip Broyles and in the movie White House Down as General Caulfield. Mr. Reddick is currently in the Amazon original series Bosch.
Bud Spencer, a burly comic actor known as the good giant for punching out bad guys on the screen in a series of spaghetti westerns, died on Monday in Italy. He was 86.

His son, Giuseppe Pedersoli, confirmed his death to the Italian news agency ANSA, but did not say where he died or specify the cause.

Born in Naples on Oct. 31, 1929, Carlo Pedersoli adopted the screen name Bud Spencer  the first name inspired by a beer and the last to honor his favorite star, Spencer Tracy.

In his youth, Mr. Spencer was an athlete, becoming the first Italian to swim the 100-meter freestyle in under a minute.
Two reputed members of the Latin Kings gang in the Bronx have pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges for gunning down a 17-year-old boy who was singled out by former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg as a victim of too many guns on our streets.

One of the gang members, Raul Pacheco, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in State Supreme Court in the Bronx to first-degree manslaughter, prosecutors said, and the other, Eric Landron, pleaded guilty to the same charge last week.

Mr. Pacheco, 25, faces up to 18 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision, and Mr. Landron, 26, could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision, prosecutors said. Both men will be sentenced in July. Information on their lawyers was not immediately available.

On the night of April 22, 2013, the authorities said, the teenager, Alphonza Bryant III, was hanging out with friends on Fox Street in the Morrisania neighborhood when Mr. Pacheco and Mr. Landron fired 10 shots at Alphonza, hitting him in the chest. The shooting was meant to send a message to rival gang members on the block, prosecutors said, but Alphonza was targeted by mistake.
In China, practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual movement have long complained of propaganda campaigns, imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Chinese government.

In Flushing, Queens, which has perhaps the largest Falun Gong following in the United States, members say their adversaries are a handful of spirited Chinese immigrants who tend a small folding table set up every day in front of a Chinese restaurant on a stretch of Main Street that is bustling with Chinese immigrants.

The opposition group distributes materials denouncing Falun Gong as an evil cult, an epithet that the organization incorporates into its name, the Chinese Anti-Cult World Alliance.

Having staked out their turf in Flushing, the two factions have long waged a bitter ideological battle.
A New Haven woman who was mauled by two dogs last week died on Monday, according to the police in Connecticut, who said the dogs would be euthanized.

The woman, Jocelyn G. Winfrey, 53, was attacked by the dogs in a fenced-in area after walking onto the property of an acquaintance, Hamilton H. Hicks, on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard on June 20, according to a news release issued on Tuesday by the New Haven Police Department.

Ms. Winfrey lost an arm, a leg and her eyesight as a result of the attack, according to local reports, which described the dogs as bulldog mixes.

A neighbor told The Hartford Courant that Mr. Hicks, who the police said was bitten by the dogs several times, had tried to help Ms. Winfrey by lying on top of her.
VIENNA, Va.  Paul Simon says he is ready to give up making and playing music, 61 years after he started as a 13-year-old. Youre coming towards the end, he said in an interview this week, discussing the mysterious epiphanies that delivered some of his greatest songs, the toxic qualities of fame, and his yearning to explore questions of spirituality and neuroscience.

Showbiz doesnt hold any interest for me, Mr. Simon said. None.

Here is why you might consider believing him.

At 74, he often needs 15 hours of sleep at a stretch. The other day, performing in Philadelphia, he looked out from the stage and was surprised to see four mountains on the horizon. When he put on his glasses, he realized the mountains were actually big white tents. His voice has held up far longer than he had any right to expect but needs frequent days of rest.

While most stars of his generation, unsurprisingly, are playing greatest hits concerts, if anything, Mr. Simons new album is competing with those of Drake and Beyonce on pop music charts, and with Radiohead and Deerhoof for college radio airtime.
Phil Parker, the son of a Baptist preacher, said he had never tasted liquor until his Harvard graduate school classmates lured him into a smoky cocktail lounge for the first time.

This night in the bar was like no other time in my life, he wrote years later. Not only was I completely at ease, but I actually loved all the strangers around me and they loved me in return, I thought, all because of this magic potion, alcohol.

After that, he wrote, he lived only to drink. He graduated, but was fired from one teaching job after another, wound up in an asylum and finally landed homeless on the then-squalid Bowery in Manhattan in the mid-1960s. There, he met a social worker, a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, who told him how she had sobered up.

I had been preached to, analyzed, cursed, and counseled, Mr. Parker wrote, but no one had ever said, I identify with whats going on with you. It happened to me, and this is what I did about it. She got me to my first A.A. meeting that same evening.
To average Americans, the relationship between Bob McDonnell, the former Virginia governor, and Jonnie Williams, a businessman who wanted political favors and gave him loans, vacation trips and luxury goods worth more than $175,000, certainly looked corrupt.

Thats how a federal jury saw it in 2014, when it convicted Mr. McDonnell and his wife on bribery charges. Mr. McDonnell was sentenced to two years in prison. A federal appeals court upheld the convictions and sentences.

On Monday, however, the Supreme Court voted unanimously to overturn Mr. McDonnells conviction largely because the instructions to the jury in Mr. McDonnells trial had been far too vague.

Many people are concerned that the decision will be broadly interpreted to make future prosecutions of crooked politicians harder. But the courts analysis was specific to the facts of this case. Indeed, the justices sent the suit back to the lower court, allowing for the possibility that Mr. McDonnell could be retried using clearer jury instructions.
Countries of the Carpathian region should strengthen cooperation for the development of infrastructure and improvement of the economic situation in the region, and Ukraine, in particular, should increase the number of checkpoints on the border with its EU neighbors, Marshal of the Polish Sejm (lower house of the Polish parliament) Marek Kuchcinski has said.

"At the moment, such cooperation is very feeble. We need to put ourselves to the task to increase the number of border crossing points, to improve the infrastructure between Ukraine and Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania, Ukraine and Poland," Kuchcinski said on the sidelines of the forum on local development in Truskavets, Lviv region, on June 26.

The head of the lower chamber of the Polish parliament said that at the Economic Forum in Krynica (Poland) they plan to offer to form an inter-parliamentary assembly in the format of the Visegrad Four (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) and two neighboring countries of the Carpathian region  Romania and Ukraine. "We want to offer our counterparts from the Czech Republic and Hungary to set up a joint assembly with Ukraine, Romania, not only in the format of the four countries," he said.

Kuchcinski said that such an issue may be discussed even before the start of the forum, in July this year.

Head of the Polish Sejm recalled that on July 1, 2016, Poland will take over the presidency of the Visegrad Group.

Kuchcinski also stressed that such cooperation between the parliaments should become a powerful tool for influencing Russia so that it should stop its aggression against Ukraine.

The 25th Economic Forum in Krynica-Zdroj (Poland) will be held on September 8-10, 2016. More than 3,000 guests from Europe, Central Asia, and the United States are expected to attend the forum.

The Economic Forum in Krynica-Zdroj has been held annually since 1990. The forum is attended by presidents, prime ministers, finance ministers, governors of Central and Eastern European banks, EU leaders, heads of major companies and banks in Europe, representatives of non-governmental organizations, banking experts, international finance experts, international relations experts, known publicists, writers and musicians from around the world.
The fiscal crisis in Puerto Rico is also a humanitarian crisis. The Senate now has an opportunity  and the obligation  to address both. It is scheduled to vote on Wednesday on a bill already approved by the House that would restructure the islands debts and could create the conditions for recovery.

If the bill loses, Puerto Rico will default on Friday on a $2 billion debt payment, creditors will keep suing for full repayment and essential services on the island, including health, sanitation, education, electricity, public transportation and public safety, will continue to decline.

Even so, the bills passage is in doubt. Senators in both parties have objected to the yes-or-no nature of the vote, saying they want to amend the bill. But amendments would likely kill the bill, in part because it passed the House only after negotiations and compromise among both parties and the White House. Even if the House were inclined to pass an amended bill, it could not do so before the July 1 default date because it is not in session.

The bill is bitter medicine. In exchange for letting Puerto Rico restructure its debt in a federal process similar to bankruptcy, it requires the islands government to submit to the decisions and oversight of a financial control board that would manage the restructuring. The bill also exempts Puerto Rico from having to obey labor law on overtime pay and grants the islands governor the power to authorize sub-minimum wages for workers younger than 25.
The British vote by a narrow majority to leave the European Union is not the end of the world  but it does show us how we can get there.

A major European power, a longtime defender of liberal democracy, pluralism and free markets, falls under the sway of a few cynical politicians who see a chance to exploit public fears of immigration to advance their careers. They create a stark binary choice on an incredibly complex issue, of which few people understand the full scope  stay in or quit the E.U.

These politicians assume that the dog will never catch the car and they will have the best of all worlds  opposing something unpopular but not having to deal with the implications of the public actually voting to get rid of it. But they so dumb down the debate with lies, fear-mongering and misdirection, and with only a simple majority required to win, that the leave-the-E.U. crowd carries the day by a small margin. Presto: the dog catches the car. And, of course, it has no idea now what to do with this car. There is no plan. There is just barking.

Like I said, not the end of the world yet, but if a few more E.U. countries try this trick well have quite a little mess on our hands. Attention Donald Trump voters: this is what happens to a country that falls for hucksters who think that life can just imitate Twitter  that there are simple answers to hard questions  and that small men can rearrange big complex systems by just erecting a wall and everything will be peachy.
A team of archaeologists and mapmakers say they have uncovered a forgotten tunnel that 80 Jews dug largely by hand as they tried to escape from a Nazi extermination site in Lithuania about 70 years ago.

The Lithuanian site, Ponar, holds mass burial pits and graves where up to 100,000 people were killed and their bodies dumped or burned during the Holocaust.

Using radar and radio waves to scan beneath the ground, the researchers found the tunnel, a 100-foot passageway between five and nine feet below the surface, the team announced on Wednesday.

A previous attempt made by a different team in 2004 to find the underground structure had only located its mouth, which was subsequently left unmarked. The new finding traces the tunnel from entrance to exit and provides evidence to support survivor accounts of the harrowing effort to escape the holding pit.
A suicide attack Tuesday night at Istanbul Ataturk Airport killed dozens of people and wounded more than 200. Heres what travelers should know about the terrorist threat in Turkey, including updates on flights and areas to avoid.

Is the Threat Ongoing?

Yes. The United States Department of State updated its existing travel warning regarding Turkey on June 27, one day before the attack, warning tourists of increased threats throughout the country, and that many attacks have taken place in recent months.

Foreign and U.S. tourists have been explicitly targeted by international and indigenous terrorist organizations, the State Department stated.

On June 7, Kurdish militants set off a car bomb near a central tourist district in Istanbul that killed 11 people.
WASHINGTON  The House Select Committee on Benghazi released its report on Tuesday detailing the attacks in Libya on Sept. 11, 2012, that resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. The Republican-led committee found no evidence of culpability or wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton, then the secretary of state. Here is a selection of summarized findings in the report, with fact checks:

Military

Finding: Despite President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panettas clear orders to deploy military assets, nothing was sent to Benghazi, and nothing was en route to Libya at the time the last two Americans were killed almost eight hours after the attacks began.  Part 1, Pages 106, 141

This criticism is not particularly new. Senior Pentagon officials have consistently said that they were constrained by the tyranny of time and distance  that is, that the military could not have sent troops or planes in time to have made a difference. The report and Republican critics have always countered that had the White House and Pentagon acted more swiftly, they might have mitigated the later attack on the compounds C.I.A. annex. But it is unclear what forces might have made a difference there.

_____

Finding: A Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team sat on a plane in Rota, Spain, for three hours, and its members changed in and out of their uniforms four times.  Part 1, Page 154

This sounds like dithering that might have cost American lives. But the uniform swaps reflect the chaos and confusion in sorting out what was going on in Benghazi, and whether American forces should arrive identifiable as United States military personnel or be less noticeable in civilian clothes. Even the report acknowledges the challenges facing the so-called FAST teams: These troops did not have their own planes, which meant delays waiting for flights; did not travel with their own vehicles (they would need to find some in Benghazi when they landed); and were designed to deploy before a crisis hit, not during hostilities.

_____

Finding: The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff typically would have participated in the White House meeting, but did not attend because he went home to host a dinner party for foreign dignitaries.  Part 1, Page 107

This suggests that the Obama administration was not treating the crisis seriously. But the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr., was not a critical player in the drama. He was only one of many senior officials involved in managing the crisis, and was briefed after his dinner. There were many other senior White House, State Department and Pentagon officials, both in Washington and overseas, dealing with the crisis throughout the night.

State Department

Finding: The State Department failed to protect United States diplomats in Libya. In August 2012, roughly a month before the Benghazi attacks, security on the ground worsened significantly. Mr. Stevens initially planned to travel to Benghazi in early August, but canceled the trip primarily for Ramadan/security reasons.  Part 3, Page 99

An independent inquiry in December 2012, among others, came to a similar conclusion. That report faulted State Department officials in Washington for ignoring requests from the American Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, for more guards at the Benghazi mission and for failing to make sufficient safety upgrades. As security in Libya worsened in the summer of 2012, the State Department remained committed to a security strategy to deploy a modest American security force and then increasingly rely on trained Libyan personnel to protect American diplomats. That strategy, which had been set a year earlier after the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafis government, failed.
WASHINGTON  The federal government has proposed adding a line to forms filled out by visitors to the United States that would ask them to voluntarily disclose their social media accounts, a step that it said would help in screening for ties to terrorism.

Visitors entering the country under the Visa Waiver Program, which allows citizens of some countries to visit up to 90 days without a visa, would not be required to list their social media accounts, and the forms would not ask for passwords. But Customs and Border Protection, which announced the proposal last week in the Federal Register, said the social media information would give it extra investigative tools.

Collecting social media data will enhance the existing investigative process and provide D.H.S. greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity, the border agency said, referring to the Department of Homeland Security, its parent organization.

The proposal comes after Congress passed legislation last year to add restrictions to the Visa Waiver Program. The legislation was a response to the November terrorist attacks in Paris, which led to fears that European-born or naturalized citizens with terrorist ties could enter the United States without being properly vetted.
MIDWEST

Kansas: Court Approves School Funding Plan

The State Supreme Court has signed off on a new education funding law that increases state aid to poor school districts. The justices issued a brief order Tuesday saying that the Legislature has currently satisfied the courts orders on education funding by approving the measure last week. The decision ends a threat that public schools would be shut down after Thursday. Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, signed the school finance measure into law on Monday. Lawyers for the state and lawyers for four school districts that had sued the state submitted a joint statement saying that the measure complied with the courts dictates. The justices ruled last month that the funding system remained unfair to poor school districts. (AP)

ROCKIES

Colorado: Adultery Ban Called Discriminatory

Lawyers for an Air Force officer charged with rape, adultery and other crimes are making the novel argument that the military ban on extramarital sex discriminates against heterosexuals because it does not specifically include same-sex couples. Lawyers for Col. Eugene Caughey of the Air Force challenged the adultery provision Monday in a military court at Peterson Air Force Base. They argued that the half-dozen adultery charges against Colonel Caughey should be thrown out because they violate his constitutional rights. Military prosecutors argued the adultery ban does apply to same-sex couples. The judge has not ruled on the argument. Colonel Caughey is charged with raping a woman at Schriever Air Force Base, also in Colorado, in late 2014 or early 2015. He is also accused of committing adultery several times, photographing his exposed genitals while in uniform and groping women. His court-martial is scheduled in August. He is a 24-year Air Force veteran and was formerly second in charge of the 50th Space Wing at Schriever. (AP)

WEST

California: Marijuana Measure Will Be on Ballot

Voters will decide in November whether to legalize recreational marijuana in California. Secretary of State Alex Padilla said Tuesday that proponents of the initiative had turned in more than the 366,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot. The measure asks voters to approve allowing people 21 and older to buy an ounce of marijuana and marijuana-infused products at licensed retail outlets and grow up to six marijuana plants for personal recreational use. (AP)
The test is to be conducted under a section of the Affordable Care Act that allows the secretary of health and human services to waive requirements of the Medicare law when trying out new payment models for a specific defined population.

The administration plan goes far beyond such a demonstration project, Mr. Toomey said.

Under the proposal, Medicare might set a standard payment rate for a group of therapeutically similar drug products, or pay less for an expensive drug where a less costly alternative was available.

However, cancer specialists say that for some treatments, no low-cost alternatives are available.

The administration could address some of the concerns by reducing the scope of its test, or by making it easier for doctors and patients to obtain exceptions to Medicares value-pricing policy.

While Dr. Conway said the administration would make adjustments in the final rule, he refused to be pinned down on specifics. When asked by a Democrat why the administration had proposed such a large, expansive demonstration, Dr. Conway said, You have to have a sufficiently large sample so that you can evaluate the model.

Part B drugs are often administered in doctors offices or hospital outpatient departments.

Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah and chairman of the Finance Committee, said that many doctors, especially those in rural areas and small medical groups, could lose money buying drugs under the administrations proposal. If they no longer provide the drugs, he said, patients might have to travel to hospital clinics to get the infusions and injections.

In a separate action, the Obama administration on Tuesday unveiled a pilot program to speed the review of patent applications for drugs that mobilize the bodys immune system to fight cancer. Such immunotherapies are among the most expensive medicines approved for sale in recent years, with annual costs exceeding $100,000 in some cases, but they have also shown great promise, scientists say.

In a notice to be published Wednesday in the Federal Register, Michelle K. Lee, the director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, said her agency would expedite the review of immunotherapies that destroy cancerous cells or prevent their growth. To qualify for this special status, drug makers must be conducting clinical trials of the new treatments.
AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY Washington DC - 28 June 2016 1. Various of members entering press conference 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Trey Gowdy, (R) South Carolina: After more than 100 witness interviews including more than 80 with witnesses no other committee in Congress talked to, and tens of thousands of pages of documents that is the single greatest impression that we are left with, that there are men and women who love this country enough and what it stands for and how it can inspire others to serve in dangerous places under dangerous circumstances, so I will respectfully ask my citizens to simply do this, read the report. Read the report and if you do read the report I think what will become manifest to you is what has become manifest to us which are two different images, the image on the one hand of what was happening in Benghazi during the relevant time period, and the image on the other hand of the decisions made and not made in Washington during that same time period. 3. Cutaway 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Trey Gowdy, (R) South Carolina: Nothing could have reached Benghazi because nothing was ever headed to Benghazi. No US military asset was ever deployed to Benghazi despite the order of the Secretary of Defense at 7:00 that night. So Washington had access to real time information but yet somehow they thought the fighting had subsided. Washington had access to real time information but somehow they thought these fighters were going to evacuate, even without the remains of the ambassador and without asking how was that evacuation supposed to be effectuated, how were you supposed to get from the annex to the Benghazi airport because it took you almost 3 hours to get you from the airport to the annex, who was supposed to take you? So those are the decisions being contemplated and discussed in Washington, and this mistaken belief that there was an evacuation that was eminent without asking the pretty fundamental questions, how do you expect us to effectuate this evacuation 5. Cutaway 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Mike Pompeo, (R) Kansas: You cant begin to exercise the leadership you need to exercise if you dont understand whats happening on the ground and if you choose to put political expediency and politics ahead of the men and women on the ground and for that youll have to answer for yourself, I find it morally reprehensible and behavior that if it were your son or your daughter or one of your family members or friends who were on that ground that night and you will watch the actions in Washington, D.C., youd have every right to be disgusted with the response from the senior American leaders. This was a failure at the most senior level of government and one that I hope the recommendations that this committee presents will help making sure that something like this never happens again.
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court on Tuesday let stand appeals court decisions that had blocked abortion restrictions in Mississippi and Wisconsin.

The orders, part of a final set from the court before the justices left for their summer break, underscored the sweeping nature of Mondays abortion rights decision striking down similar restrictions in Texas.

In the Mississippi case, Currier v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, No. 14-997, a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, had said the challenged law would have shut down the states only abortion clinic.

Officials in Mississippi said women could obtain abortions in neighboring states. But Judge E. Grady Jolly, writing for the majority, said, Mississippi may not shift its obligation to respect the established constitutional rights of its citizens to another state.
Turkey appreciates solidarity expressed by the Ukrainian people following Istanbul airport attack on June 28.

"We highly appreciate all statements on solidarity. This morning I saw flowers near the embassy entrance  Ukrainian citizens brought them. We really highly appreciate solidarity expressed by our neighbors and strategic partners and of course our Ukrainian friends," temporary charge d'affaires of the Embassy of Turkey in Ukraine Ozgun Talu told journalists on Wednesday.
Less than a year since he stepped down as the chairman of Carnegie Hall after clashing with its staff, Ronald O. Perelman, the billionaire businessman, announced Wednesday that he was donating $75 million to revive plans to build a performing arts center at the World Trade Center site.

His donation immediately catapulted the long-stalled performing arts center, one of the last major pieces of unfinished business at the World Trade Center site, from aspirational to achievable and places him among a new generation of power brokers and billionaires who are reshaping  and renaming  the cultural infrastructure of New York. In recognition of his gift, the new theater complex, which will sit on one of the most emotionally resonant and most visited spots in the city, will be named for Mr. Perelman.

I think that this is a project that must happen, Mr. Perelman said in an interview, adding that he had been drawn to it by the vision of the role that art could play at the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and in the continuing rebuilding of the area. It is more than just a pure artistic center to serve a community. It is that, but at the same time its much more than that.

In the last few years, the citys wealthy elite have chiseled their names into some of the citys most iconic cultural institutions  or sought to build their own. The New York Public Librarys main branch on Fifth Avenue has been renamed for Stephen A. Schwarzman, the old New York State Theater for David H. Koch and Avery Fisher (nee Philharmonic) Hall at Lincoln Center for David Geffen.
When Glasslands Gallery, the influential independent club on the Williamsburg waterfront in Brooklyn, closed at the end of 2014, its owners had already been thinking about what was next.

The partners  Rami Haykal, 28, and Jake Rosenthal, 29  had booked shows and worked at the ragtag D.I.Y. space since college, taking over the lease in 2011. Along with their friend Dhruv Chopra, 29, who had advised at Glasslands, they were plotting an expansion to a larger room with the same grass-roots ethos when Glasslands fell victim to the Williamsburg real estate trends it helped catalyze: Vice Media, which outgrew the same punk spirit, took over the building.

So the young events entrepreneurs broadened their ambitions and embarked on a much more daring project: a new music and arts space measuring 24,000 square feet. It will include two performance rooms of different sizes, an art gallery, a loft bar and cafe with daytime service, and an open rooftop for D.J. sets and film screenings.

Dubbed Elsewhere  It sounds like what we want the place to be: an alternative, Mr. Rosenthal said of the name  the arts compound is in industrial Bushwick, deeper into Brooklyn on the L train, and is largely being built from the ground up in a converted warehouse at a cost of $3 million. (Its opening is planned for the fall.)
Alvin Toffler, the celebrated author of Future Shock, the first in a trilogy of best-selling books that presciently forecast how people and institutions of the late 20th century would contend with the immense strains and soaring opportunities of accelerating change, died on Monday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 87.

His death was confirmed by his consulting firm, Toffler Associates, based in Reston, Va.

Mr. Toffler was a self-trained social science scholar and successful freelance magazine writer in the mid-1960s when he decided to spend five years studying the underlying causes of a cultural upheaval that he saw overtaking the United States and other developed countries.

The fruit of his research, Future Shock (1970), sold millions of copies and was translated into dozens of languages, catapulting Mr. Toffler to international fame. It is still in print.

In the book, in which he synthesized disparate facts from every corner of the globe, he concluded that the convergence of science, capital and communications was producing such swift change that it was creating an entirely new kind of society.
Bilgewater

By Jane Gardam

227 pages. Europa Editions. $17.

Now back in print, Jane Gardams 1976 novel features an awkward teenage girl, Marigold Green, living with her widower father, a housemaster at a boys school in the north of England. Though Marigold considers herself hideous and introverted, she is drawn to certain boys at the school  notably Jack Rose, whose romantic interests may lie elsewhere. (She notes, perhaps wisely, that the derangement love seems to cause has actually made me value isolation more as term has followed term.) Marigold is discomfited by the arrival of the headmasters beautiful daughter, Grace Gathering, who returns to the seaside town oddly triumphant after being expelled from two boarding schools. Shes terribly romantic looking though, Marigold says casually to Jack. Sort of pre-Raphaelite, dont you think? She seeks Graces friendship and approval  Like a dog I found myself trotting up  even if it isnt in her best interest. Readers will recognize signature Gardam-esque qualities of later works: psychological acuity, endearingly peculiar characters, and sly, understated prose. The 87-year-old author is famous for writing about late-in-life characters (as in Old Filth, her masterpiece), yet she proves just as sharp-witted in examining the comic and ignominious difficulties of growing up.

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Among Strange Victims

By Daniel Saldana Paris, translated by Christina MacSweeney

240 pages. Coffee House Press. $16.95.

For the 27-year-old Rodrigo Saldivar, ambition doesnt mean trying to change the world but hoping it will leave him alone. Passing his days with insuperable slothfulness, he lives in Mexico City in a damp apartment overlooking a vacant lot and works a dead-end job at a museum. His inertia is such that he is incapable of making a plan, but it generally happens that he masturbates twice on Saturdays. After a colossal misunderstanding that Rodrigo cant bother to investigate, he finds himself engaged to Cecilia  a co-worker who perpetually has a slight look of disgust. When he loses his job and is forced to move back home, his misery hits a nadir: Now all my hours are idle hours, he says, and ideas have time to grow inside me until they become monstrous. He stumbles into an unlikely friendship with Marcelo, his mothers eccentric boyfriend and is startled to discover that communion with others was possible. The novel takes some bizarre turns as Marcelo leads Rodrigo into experiments involving drugs, tequila, hypnosis and more, all in the name of transformation. If the young mans notion of radical change is to take part in his life rather than observe it from afar, hes off to a good start.
United Airlines and leaders of its flight attendants union have agreed to a new labor contract that will unify the cabin crews for the first time since Uniteds merger with Continental Airlines more than five years ago.

The deal, which still requires a vote by the unions full membership, would also raise United flight attendants pay to a level that the union claims is the highest in the industry.

With the increase, for example, United flight attendants entering their 13th year of service would earn a base rate of $62 an hour. That would be slightly above the current comparable levels for attendants at Delta Air Lines and American Airlines.

Uniteds elected leaders of the Association of Flight Attendants unanimously approved the agreement on Tuesday and will submit the contract in July to the unions full membership for final approval.
LONDON  European competition regulators will closely review a potential takeover of Monsanto by the German chemical maker Bayer if a deal were to be consummated, according to a letter released on Wednesday.

The chief executive of Monsanto said on Wednesday that he had been personally in discussions with Bayers management over the last several weeks.

Bayer offered to pay $122 a share in cash, or about $62 billion, for Monsanto in May to create a new titan in the world of farming. Monsanto, the top producer of genetically modified crop seeds, rejected that offer as too low, but has said it is open to continuing talks about a potential deal.

The developments on Wednesday indicate that a merger remains a possibility.

In a letter to two German members of European Parliament, Margrethe Vestager, the commissioner in charge of European competition policy, said that the European Commission would consider concerns they had raised about the potential impact that a merger between Bayer and Monsanto might have on prices, on the availability of seed products and on research and innovation.
General Electrics lending arm is no longer too big to fail.

The conglomerate said on Wednesday that its GE Capital unit had shed a government designation for the countrys biggest finance companies, one that imposes additional regulations and capital constraints.

With the declaration that GE Capital was no longer a threat to the nations financial stability  or, what regulators call a systemically important financial institution  G.E. has completed a roughly yearlong quest to sell nearly $200 billion of assets and shrink what had been the engine of its profit for decades.

Beginning under General Electrics former chief executive John F. Welch Jr., GE Capital swelled into one of the countrys biggest lenders, becoming as big a business as G.E.s traditional divisions such as jet engines and medical equipment.

But the 2008 financial crisis laid bare the burdens of GE Capital, and by last year G.E. announced it would get out of most of its finance activities and refocus on industry, becoming one of dozens of companies that had concluded being smaller is better for shareholders.
In speeches at home and abroad, he publicly lectured American internet companies and politicians alike. During visits to the United States, he was celebrated by some of its best-known technology executives, including Tim Cook of Apple and Jeff Bezos of Amazon. In welcoming him to Facebooks campus, Mark Zuckerberg showed off his copy of the speeches of Chinas president, Xi Jinping.

Mr. Lus public appearances and travels made him stand out at home in a political scene dominated by muted bureaucrats. His frequent flamboyance also made him controversial. Since he was put in charge of the government internet information department in 2013, rumors about his fall from power have occasionally swirled, even amid what other observers pointed to as signs that he was a rising star.

One indication of his influence is that he has been the director of a powerful Chinese Communist Party committee set up to form internet policy. He has also headed the Cyberspace Administration of China since it was created by Mr. Xi in 2014.

Mr. Lu will hand over his position as head of the Cyberspace Administration to its deputy director, Xu Lin, who worked directly under Mr. Xi when the president was made the Shanghai party secretary in 2007 after a corruption scandal. A number of officials who worked with Mr. Xi during his seven months in Shanghai have been promoted in recent years.

At that time, Xinhua called Mr. Xu a political star. In the same report, Mr. Xi praised Mr. Xu, pointing out that he was the youngest member of the citys standing committee and also had experience working in Tibet.
HONG KONG  For Asia, the bad news this week was not that Donald J. Trump detailed a seven-point plan to toughen American trade policy, especially toward China. It was that Hillary Clintons campaign accused Mr. Trump a few hours later of purloining her ideas, noting that she favored similar action on those issues.

A strong dose of economic populism, with an occasional sprinkling of geopolitics, has suffused the trade plans of the leading American presidential candidates this year. Vying for votes, Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton are each promising to do more to preserve American jobs at a time of slowing global economic growth. And China  with its vast trade, rising international influence and authoritarian government  is a natural target.

Presidential candidates vow every four years to do more to help American workers facing competition from abroad. After taking office, they have consistently pursued more conciliatory trade policies toward China, seeing a strategic benefit to warm relations with Beijing.

But broad political distress this year over the loss of well-paid working class jobs to global competition, coupled with mounting concern about Chinas increasingly assertive military posture, suggest that the next president could actually follow through on the pledges. If they do, the policies could pose a real predicament for China, and for other Asian countries that depend on its economy.
Autoliv, based in Stockholm, provides airbags to most of the major auto companies and is supplying many of the replacement inflaters being fitted in cars affected by the Takata recalls. Autoliv and Takata, together with the American supplier TRW and the Japanese maker Daicel, provide four-fifths of the global supply of airbag inflaters.

Inflaters are one of the most complex automotive components to manufacture, said Scott Upham, chief executive of the automotive consulting firm Valient Market Research. Airbag makers need to have extensive experience in chemistry, explosives, as well as quality control, he said.

This is the reason why there are so few inflater suppliers in the industry, he said.

Autolivs problem also underscored the challenges of overseeing the work of subcontractors in the making of crucial auto safety equipment. The company on Wednesday said substandard welds on inflaters made by a subcontractor from 2010 to 2012 were responsible for the problems leading to Toyotas recall on Wednesday.

The recall covered two models of Toyota hybrid vehicles, the Prius and the Lexus CT200h, from 2010 to 2012. They were equipped with Autoliv side-curtain airbags, which are fitted in the cars side roof rails and meant to protect occupants in side-impact crashes.

Toyota did not name the airbag supplier when it announced the recall in Tokyo on Wednesday, but Autoliv later identified itself and said it was cooperating with the recall.
During a working visit of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to Brussels an agreement of cooperation was signed by Ukraine and the European Organization for Justice (Eurojust).

An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko and Eurojust President Michael Michele Coninsx signed the document on June 27.

The conclusion of the agreement is a criterion of the Action Plan on liberalization of the visa regime by the EU. The negotiations on the document had been held since 2006.

The entry into force of the agreement will create a legal framework for the use of Eurojust capabilities by Ukraine and provides real efficiency for competent authorities of Ukraine and the EU in the investigation and prosecution of serious crimes of transnational character, such as terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, corruption, cybercrime, money laundering, fraud and other crimes involving cross-border criminal organizations.

Ukraine and the EU will be able to create joint investigation groups, quickly exchange information, coordinate their actions, help to collect evidences and provide legal assistance.

The agreement will take force after the sides implement internal procedures. The Ukrainian parliament is to ratify the agreement.
Jerome Fisher, who helped found Nine West, a womens shoe company that imitated designer styles at affordable prices, and turned it into an industry juggernaut, died on June 23 in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 85.

His son Marc, who confirmed the death, said Mr. Fisher had had a brain hemorrhage.

Mr. Fisher and Vince Camuto began building the company that became Nine West in the 1970s. Globalization was the companys raison detre; on a trip to Brazil, Mr. Fisher realized that he could produce shoes inexpensively there, then ship them to the United States, where they could be sold for considerably less than competitors shoes. Their first office in Manhattan was at 9 West 57th Street, from which they derived the companys name in 1977.

Providing fashionable shoes at reasonable prices proved profitable, and Nine West expanded considerably over the next decade. It released shoes under brand names like Enzo Angiolini and Easy Spirit as well as its own, opened stores around the world and began selling accessories.

Nine West went public in 1993. Later in the 1990s, it paid nearly $600 million to buy the shoe division of the United States Shoe Corporation, its main competitor. Forbes reported in 1995 that in the previous year, Nine West sold more than $630 million worth of womens shoes and earned $60 million. It said that footwear made for the company accounted for 25 percent of Brazils shoe exports.
WASHINGTON  Just two days before Puerto Rico plans to default on a large debt payment, the Senate on Wednesday passed and sent to the White House a relief measure to help the financially desperate island surmount its fiscal crisis, ending a grueling, monthslong effort to rescue the commonwealth.

The Senate, eager to follow the House out of town for a long Fourth of July weekend, voted 68 to 30 for the legislation on Wednesday evening after a test vote that morning showed by a wide margin that critics in both parties did not have the numbers to block passage. President Obama will sign the measure, which his Treasury secretary, Jacob J. Lew, had negotiated and lobbied for since December.

I could write a bill that I think would be a better bill, but I dont know that anyone could write a better bill that would pass the Congress that also solves the problem, Mr. Lew said in an interview.

The rescue package will not prevent Puerto Rico from missing the payment due on Friday on a $2 billion debt, and Republican congressional leaders labored to the end to reassure conservatives that the bill is not a bailout. Instead, the legislation would allow the islands government to restructure its $72 billion total debt so it can manage payments, and create a bipartisan oversight board mostly of outsiders to guide what is sure to be a painful recovery process.
The force that gives one couture house, or one fashion designer, the power to shape the tastes of women has always verged on the magical  sometimes literally.

When the French couturier Christian Dior was a teenager in Normandy, a fortuneteller told him, You will be poor, but you will achieve success through women.

He was, apparently, mystified by the prediction, or so it is revealed in Couture Confessions, a collection of posthumous conversations between the author, Pamela Golbin, the chief curator of fashion and textiles at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, and 11 fashion eminences of the 20th century, including Paul Poiret, Jeanne Lanvin, Madeleine Vionnet, Dior, Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen.

But Ms. Golbin did not need to consult a fortuneteller (or a Ouija board) to channel her subjects. The couturiers may no longer be living, but each left behind hundreds of opinionated, character-filled interviews (and, in some cases, autobiographies), making it possible for her to invent tailor-made questions about their challenges and creative processes and then provide answers in their recorded words.
In rare cases, the virus has been associated with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder in which the bodys immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system, which can lead to paralysis, usually temporary. In New York City, two people who tested positive for Zika had Guillain-Barre. They have both since recovered, Dr. Bassett said.

There is also a growing concern about the risk of sexual transmission. While all the cases in the city are believed to be travel-related, at least two other cases in New York State are thought to be the result of sexual transmission, health officials said.

Under guidelines issued in February, all women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant and who have also traveled to Zika-affected countries should be tested, even those with no symptoms.

During the first few months after the guidelines changed, however, many of the women considered most at risk were not being tested. Dr. Bassett said that once the city recognized the problem, health officials moved aggressively to inform communities with close ties to the affected areas.

We are seeing the disparity close, she said on Wednesday.

Several explanations have been offered for why such a large percentage of positive tests involve travel to the Dominican Republic, health officials said.

In recent years, Dominicans have overtaken Puerto Ricans as the largest Latino community in the city, with 747,473 Dominicans living in the five boroughs in 2013, compared with 719,444 Puerto Ricans, according to the most recent census data.

And as recent immigrants, Dominicans have a greater inclination to travel between their home country and New York than other immigrant groups do.
To the Editor:

Re New Yorkers, Youre the Best (letter, June 21):

A tourist asks city residents, Do you really need to be in such a hurry? Tourists do complain a lot about how fast we walk, and we complain about how slow they are, blocking our sidewalks.

The truth is that we New Yorkers are going places! We are not strolling and looking at the sights, in a vacation mode, but trying to get from place to place.

Most people visiting our city come from places where they use cars to get to their destination; we use our feet, and like those visitors, we dont like traffic jams!

BETSY KAUFMAN

New York
To the Editor:

Zika Testing Lags for a Group Both Vulnerable and Hard to Track (front page, June 18) highlighted the need for improved education and outreach, expanded research and development of new tests, and an adequately resourced public health work force to confront the spread of the virus here and abroad.

As infectious disease physicians, we see the vulnerabilities the article notes in New York, posing challenges in effectively confronting Zika across the country. The onset of mosquito season will greatly add to those challenges, particularly if we dont act now.

As of mid-June, Zika had spread to 60 countries, resulting in rising rates of microcephaly in newborns, other neurological effects including Guillain-Barre syndrome, and increased miscarriages and stillbirths. With no mosquito-borne transmission of Zika in the continental United States yet, we have already seen 819 travel-associated cases.

The article makes clear that we are not prepared for the inevitable escalation of cases this summer. Last February, President Obama sent Congress an emergency request for funding to combat Zika. Public health demands leadership in a time of such crisis. Congress must act.
ISTANBUL  ON Tuesday night, just as millions of Muslims here were breaking their Ramadan fasts, three terrorists attacked the citys busy airport. They fired randomly at passengers with automatic weapons before blowing themselves up. They killed 41 innocent people, most of them Muslims, supposedly in the name of Islam.

The assault on the airport is the latest in a series of horrible traumas in Turkey. In the past year, the country has endured almost a dozen major terrorist attacks. Some were the work of the Islamic State, which kills in the name of God; others were the work of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or P.K.K., which kills in the name of the people.

This country was much more peaceful a year ago. It was only last summer that a two-year-old peace process between the government and the P.K.K. fell apart. Meanwhile, the Islamic State, which initially benefited from Turkeys lax control of the Syrian border, began to carry its violence inside Turkey. Islamic State suicide bombers first aimed at secular Kurds, then Western tourists and finally random people at the airport.

Since last summer, the Islamic State has been condemning Ankara as the capital of an apostate regime that allies itself with Crusaders. The groups Turkish-language magazine proclaimed: O Istanbul, you have allowed disbelief in your avenues. You have filled your streets with sins, but surely you will be conquered.
As Earth rotates in the summer, fireflies whisper sweet nothings to each other in the most beautiful language never heard. For millions of years the insects have called to one another secretly, using flashes of light like a romantic morse code. With some rather simple technology  a light and a battery  scientists have been decoding their love notes for years. But recently I learned that you dont have to be an entomologist to try to talk to fireflies.

About 2,000 known species of fireflies inhabit temperate and tropical forests around the world. All of them, as larvae, produce bioluminescent light through a chemical reaction inside their abdomens. But only some continue to flash as grown-up beetles that we know as fireflies. Most species developed their own flash pattern, or language, that they use to attract potential mates, warn predators about their toxicity, advertise a nutritious dowry, or, for some cannibalistic fireflies called femme fatales, mimic other firefly species and lure them in for dinner. A couple of species even flash in synchrony.

Two weeks ago, I took a new gadget with me to North Carolina and attempted a heart-to-heart with a firefly. I wanted to test out the Firefly Communicator, which was developed by Joey Stein, a nature enthusiast and technologist. The device is a hand-held, battery-operated, plastic thing-a-ma-jig with two buttons that control an LED light. By design, it looks a lot like a lightning bug. Scientists have been using contraptions of their own making to attract fireflies, identify their sex and species, and learn about their flash patterns for years. But this one, and the app that allows you to program it with your smartphone, requires far less background knowledge.
DENVER  File this under how not to roll out a high-profile digital education platform.

One day after Amazon announced that it would introduce Amazon Inspire, a free instructional resources site where teachers could share lesson plans, the company said it had removed three items from the site after educators complained that the products were copyrighted materials.

In a related blunder, Amazon had included two of the items it has since taken down in a screen shot of the site that was sent to journalists and published in news outlets, including The New York Times.

More embarrassing still: Two items  a collection of first-grade math lessons and English literature activity lessons  in the Amazon screen shot were created by authors on teacherspayteachers.com, a rival instructional resources site where educators offer lesson plans they have created.

Although the complaints about the Amazon site have been few, the copyright issue that emerged on Tuesday suggested that Amazon Inspire did not have an effective procedure to independently vet the copyright status of materials that teachers uploaded and shared. By contrast, established sites like YouTube have sophisticated processes to monitor user-generated content.
European officials are expected to approve a new agreement with the United States aimed at helping companies like General Electric and Google, among others, move online data between the two regions despite concerns about how the digital information of Europeans may be retrieved by the American government.

The decision, according to a draft of the agreement obtained by The New York Times, is based on renewed assurances by United States officials that Europeans data will be sufficiently protected when it is transferred outside the 28-member bloc.

Many of Europes national privacy regulators had raised concerns that the new agreement, known as the E.U.-U.S. Privacy Shield, did not go far enough to protect Europeans fundamental rights. They said the bulk collection of Europeans data by United States and European intelligence agencies failed to comply with the regions data protection rules

But in the lengthy document, with several letters from American officials, including new explanations of United States privacy safeguards by Robert Litt, general counsel of the United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the European Commission said it was satisfied that Europeans data would not be unfairly used or retrieved by American intelligence agencies.
Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Onyschenko of the People's Will party, as a beneficiary of operator companies of public joint-stock company Ukrgazvydobuvannia, organized a criminal group with the aim of taking hold of funds belonging to Ukrgazvydobuvannia, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said.

Speaking at a meeting of the procedural committee of the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv on Wednesday, Lutsenko said that Onyschenko while being a member of parliament had full control over the three operators of Ukrgazvydobuvannia  Nadra Geocenter LLC, Khas LLC, and Karpatnadrainvest LLC.

"The formation and management of a criminal organization by Onyschenko is evidenced by the fact of Oleksandr Romanovych Onyschenko's participation in a criminal organization made of the founders of Nadrageocentre LLC, Khas LLC, Karpatnadrainvest LLC, where he was the main beneficiary, as stated in their registration documents. The examination of all the evidence as a whole confirms that Oleksandr Romanovych Onyschenko created and then was managing a criminal organization," the prosecutor general said.

Lutsenko said that Onyschenko created the criminal group with the participation of a number of other people, including representatives of Ukrgazvydobuvannia in order to gain possession of the company's funds. The group illegally took hold of UAH 1.613 billion, he said.

"The total cost of natural gas was deliberately understated by UAH 1,613,224,251 as a result of joint activities of the criminal organization," the prosecutor general said.

Lutsenko said that Onyschenko's actions fall under Article 191 (misappropriation, embezzlement of property through abuse of office), Article 205 (creation of sham companies) and Article 255 (creation of a criminal organization) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

"Please consider this request and give your consent to the prosecution of Onyschenko," the prosecutor general said.

Lutsenko also asked parliament to authorize the detention and the arrest of the lawmaker.

As reported, Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Bureau Director Artem Sytnyk said on June 15 that criminal group members had been identified as part of an investigation into abuses committed by a number of MPs and high-ranking officials when selling gas extracted jointly with PJSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia. MP Oleksandr Onyschenko is implicated in this case. Sytnyk also said that ten out of the criminal group's 20 members had been detained and investigators were working with them.

At present, Onyschenko is not a suspect in the Ukrgazvydobuvannia case as he possesses parliamentary immunity from prosecution.
YOUR household Wi-Fi router has a hidden power: It is also a cellphone service provider. In fact, most mobile data traffic travels through smaller networks like Wi-Fi routers, not those hulking cell towers outside.

The internet companies Google and Bandwidth.com have turned that little-known fact into a business opportunity. Their mobile phone services rely on cell networks that they lease from traditional carriers, but if a Wi-Fi network has a better connection, they shift phone calls and data over to Wi-Fi instead.

More often, your Wi-Fi is going to have a stronger data connection, so in tech industry parlance, these phone services are sometimes called Wi-Fi first.

Less work on cell towers leads to lower costs for consumers, so Google and Bandwidth offer service prices that are less than half of what a traditional carrier would charge. Bandwidths phone service, called Republic Wireless, offers a range of plans, including one for $25 a month for unlimited minutes and messages and 1 gigabyte of cellular data. Googles service, Project Fi, costs at least $30 a month for the same package, and you are reimbursed for the cellular data you dont use.
Have you ever been hit? a man named John asks his caregiver in Cost of Living, a new play by Martyna Majok. Thats what its like, he continues. Like people hitting me from beneath my skin.

John, a Ph.D. candidate in political science, has cerebral palsy. So does Gregg Mozgala, who portrays him in this Williamstown Theater Festival production running through July 10. Ani, another character, is played by Katy Sullivan, a professional actress who is a Paralympic medalist. Their casting  in a high-profile production that will end up at the Manhattan Theater Club  is a visible sign of change when it comes to performers with disabilities, who rarely appear onstage, even as stories of disability offer rich and, yes, prize-generating material for actors.

Ms. Sullivan, who was born without lower legs, doesnt believe that able-bodied performers should be prevented from playing the disabled. She sees acting as putting on someone elses soul, putting on someone elses life experiences and trying to be truthful about them, whether youre disabled or not. Still, she noted, Using performers with disabilities brings a layer of authenticity that you dont have to go searching for.

The Deaf West Theater production of Spring Awakening, which earned enthusiastic reviews when it played on Broadway last season, may have excited new interest in casting actors with disabilities. The recently announced Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie will co-star Madison Ferris, an actress who uses a wheelchair, as Laura Wingfield. I Was Most Alive With You, which just ran at the Huntington Theater Company in Boston, was written by Craig Lucas expressly for the deaf actor Russell Harvard.
A comedic drama about a young gay man yearning for love is the first new American play planned for the current Broadway season.

The producer Jeffrey Richards said he would bring the play, Significant Other by Joshua Harmon, to Broadway next winter, at a Shubert theater to be announced. He said the production, scheduled to begin performances in February and to open in March, would be directed by Trip Cullman, making his Broadway debut, and that it is the intention of the producers to assemble the original cast, which included Gideon Glick, Barbara Barrie and Lindsay Mendez.

The play had its premiere Off Broadway, under Mr. Cullmans direction, at the Roundabout Theater Company in spring 2015, when The New York Times critic Charles Isherwood called it entirely delightful.

Mr. Harmon, 33, is also the author of Bad Jews, which, after premiering at Roundabout Underground and then transferring to Roundabouts larger Off Broadway stage, rapidly became one of the most-produced plays in the country. And Roundabout has been workshopping a third play it has commissioned from Mr. Harmon.
Its always been clear that Shakespeare of Stratford and Shakespeare the player were one and the same, Mr. Shapiro said. But if you hold the documents Heather has discovered together, that is the smoking gun.

Ms. Wolfes discoveries began in the archives of the College of Arms in London, home to 10 heralds who are still charged with researching and granting coats of arms  arcane territory where many literary scholars might fear to tread.

Looking through the minutiae of the College of Arms is, even for Shakespeare scholars, almost unbearable, Mr. Shapiro said. We really owe Heather a debt of gratitude for wading in.

Ms. Wolfe said she began wondering if there wasnt fresh material to find there when she looked through a book edited by Nigel Ramsay, a historian at University College London, with whom she curated an exhibition on heraldry at the Folger in 2014. On one page, she was startled by something she had never seen before: a sketch of the arms with the words Shakespeare the player, or actor, dated to around 1600.

A similar image with the same text  a copy dating from around 1700  has long been known to Shakespeare scholars (as well as to authorship skeptics, who generally dismiss as unreliable any evidence dated after 1616, the year of Shakespeares death). But this earlier one, from the College of Arms, seemed to have gone unremarked on.

Ms. Wolfe started digging there and in other archives, and so far has gathered a dozen unknown or forgotten depictions of the arms in heraldic reference works called alphabets and ordinaries. I just started finding them everywhere, she said.
Around 40 percent of white Democrats without a college degree agree that free trade has done more harm than good (exit polls showed the same thing in the Democratic primary), or think the United States should get tougher with China on economic issues. Similar numbers agree with Mr. Trump on guns and immigration. All of Mr. Trumps stances are more popular than traditional Republican views on the welfare state or culture war issues like abortion or same-sex marriage.

The potential for Mr. Trump to break through among white working-class voters isnt merely theoretical. Recent public opinion surveys  even those showing Mr. Trump trailing Mrs. Clinton by a wide margin  all show him leading Mrs. Clinton by a wider margin among white voters without a college degree than the margin by which Mitt Romney led President Obama in 2012. Over all, Mr. Trump leads among white voters without a college degree by a 57-to-31 margin in the last six national polls. Mr. Romney led by a 55-to-37 percent margin with those voters in a compilation of the final polls in 2012.
Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight gave an example on Twitter: I see 3 Florida polls taken since Clinton won the nomination: Clinton +3 (YouGov), Clinton +13 (St Leo), Clinton +8 (Q-Pac), and if Clinton won Florida/Virginia, she could lose OH, PA, NH, 1 electoral vote in Maine, Iowa, and Colorado, so long as she won Nevada/NM.

Nate Before getting into Florida, I just want to note that the battleground state polls have generally been of fairly low quality. A lot of the better ones are from YouGov, which also shows a fairly close race nationally. The one live interview survey that is fairly comparable to the national polls is from Marquette, and it shows Clinton up nine points in Wisconsin.

That said, Im not surprised that Florida looks so bad for the Republicans. Theres been a lot of demographic change there over the last decade, and the only reason it stayed close is because Obama did particularly poorly with white voters in Florida. It was a bad fit for him: a mix of older voters, Southern voters, Jewish voters.

Now the G.O.P. nominates Trump, who has alienated Latino voters in the state where the Republicans are most dependent on them, and the Democrats nominate Clinton, who is relatively strong among older, Jewish and Southern white voters. You can imagine this getting out of hand pretty quickly.

Toni I would think Clinton would do better with Jewish voters. She was a senator from New York, for one thing, and has worked to earn their support there. She knows them; they know her.

Nate Well, she definitely beat Obama in the 08 primary among Jewish voters.

Clinton basically swept everywhere in South Florida in the 2016 primary, including relatively Jewish areas. It was really one of her best regions of the entire country. She won 70 percent of the vote in all of the major counties there along Floridas Gold Coast.

Toni I encourage readers to play with this interactive website to see how hard it is for the G.O.P. to win without Florida. But theres another terrifying map for Republicans.
Flip-flops on issues can be kryptonite to presidential candidates. In 2004, President George W. Bush tagged the Democratic nominee, Senator John Kerry, as an equivocator with no core principles after Mr. Kerry inexplicably (but accurately) noted that he had actually voted for an Iraq war appropriation before I voted against it. One particularly devastating ad showed Mr. Kerry windsurfing, reversing course with the breeze. He never recovered.

Donald J. Trumps own proposals have often been vague, his prepared statements often contradicted by his own off-the-cuff remarks in speeches and interviews. Yet he has so far avoided much harm, despite reversing himself  sometimes within hours  on hot-button campaign issues like immigration, abortion and economic policy.

Here, we count some of the ways Mr. Trump has vacillated.

The Muslim Ban

Mr. Trump said in September that he was willing to let some Syrian refugees enter the United States despite the security risks. Something has to be done, he said. Its an unbelievable humanitarian problem.

In December, after the Islamic State-inspired attack in San Bernardino, Calif., Mr. Trump shocked even many Republicans by proposing a religious test. Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our countrys representatives can figure out what the hell is going on, he read aloud from a written statement. A day later, he elaborated, saying that customs agents would be directed to ask incoming travelers if they are Muslim, and that those who said yes would be turned away.
BANGOR, Me.  Pressing his staunch opposition to trade deals, Donald J. Trump escalated his attacks on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, saying it was totally controlled by the special interest groups.

Theyre a special interest that wants to have the deals that they want to have, he told a packed arena at a rally here, to whoops and cheers. They want to have T.P.P., the Trans-Pacific Partnership, one of the worst deals, and itll be the worst deal since Nafta.

The remarks criticizing the Chamber were yet another manifestation of the divide between the Republican economic orthodoxy that embraces all trade, and the nationalistic anti-trade policies Mr. Trump laid out in a major speech Tuesday in a Pittsburgh suburb.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is often a strong ally of Republican candidates, spending more than $35 million in the 2014 midterms in support of them. But it has also been sharply critical of Mr. Trumps views on trade, and has frequently posted articles critical of him on its blog, including one Tuesday night on its website titled, The 2013 Trump Was a Lot Better on Trade Than the 2016 Version.
WASHINGTON  A widely publicized sit-in by House Democrats. A bipartisan compromise proposal in the Senate. Neither is very likely to lead to any legislative action in Congress on gun safety this year. Election Day is too close, and most of the Republican opposition is too dug in.

But the fact that a legislative response remains elusive does not mean there has been no movement on the issue. Members of both parties say they sensed a shift in the gun debate after the mass killing in Orlando, Fla., a notable difference in attitude from the reaction on Capitol Hill after previous horrific shootings.

Eight Senate Republicans joined with 44 Democrats on a Republican-proposed compromise that would deny people on two different federal watch lists the ability to buy weapons unless they could successfully appeal that decision. Several other Republican senators showed some willingness to accept new restrictions on gun purchases if they could be structured in an acceptable way. A bipartisan companion measure also was introduced in the House.
Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump are deadlocked less than a month before the Democratic and Republican presidential conventions, according to a new national poll of registered voters that shows the American electorate feeling disappointed in each candidate.

A Quinnipiac University survey released on Wednesday found that 42 percent supported Mrs. Clinton while 40 percent backed Mr. Trump. The poll represents a slight improvement for Mr. Trump, who trailed by four points at the beginning of the month, and has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.

The numbers come as Mr. Trump has rebooted his campaign after a series of missteps, appointing a new campaign manager and sharpening his rapid-response operation. Mrs. Clinton has been aggressively taking on Mr. Trump with a series of speeches questioning his temperament and picking apart his policies.

But the contentious tenor of the campaign is turning off voters, and most of them blame Mr. Trump. Quinnipiacs poll found that 61 percent think that the campaign is increasing hatred and prejudice in the United States, and 67 percent of those who think that attribute it to the presumptive Republican nominee.
Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleksandr Onyschenko, a member of the People's Will deputy group, may exert influence on his subordinates and destroy documents and evidence. These are the arguments made by Head of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) Yuriy Lutsenko and Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Nazar Kholodnytsky for parliament deputies to support a measure that would strip him of immunity from prosecution and permit his arrest.

During a discussion held on Wednesday in Kyiv at a meeting of the parliament's rules committee about parliament granting permission to indict Onyschenko and remand him to pre-trial confinement. Kholodnytsky said Onyschenko could attempt to hamper the investigation if he remains at large. According to him, Onyschenko may use his deputy status to weigh in on the case, destroy documentary evidence and influence witnesses in the case.

"According to investigatory measures taken, including undercover work, and taking into consideration that several witnesses have been threatened, as well as Onyschenko's financial resources and experience with other parliament deputies who were indicted, we understand the likelihood that he will attempt to avoid criminal liability," Kholodnytsky said.

PGO Head Lutsenko said, "I would ask the Verkhovna Rada only to authorize us to bring him to justice."

Lutsenko said that inasmuch as Onyschenko is charged under Article 255 of Ukraine Criminal Code (creating a criminal organization), he "as the leader and organizer of this group" may try to influence his subordinates." Lutsenko said isolating Onyschenko will help facilitate the effective investigation of the criminal activities alleged to have been committed.
HOUSTON  Brexit, meet Texit.

The stunning vote by Britain to exit the European Union has inspired a flurry of chatter on social media about what it might mean for Texas, that former nation where a devoted fringe element has long advocated for secession from the United States.

Many of the states residents may have flirted with the idea, but the news out of Britain revived the debate, inspired a Texit hashtag and raised the hopes of the Texas secession movement.

On Twitter, there were Texas-less maps of America, videos of head-shaking Jedis and calls for Gov. Greg Abbott to take action. Oddly, the Texan who staked his name on the cause  the former Larry Scott Kilgore, who legally changed his name to Larry Secede Kilgore and plans to run for governor in 2018  has not tweeted a word.
Parents and other residents who supported the anatomy-centered policy urged the board to set aside gender-neutral restrooms. Some said that the needs of a tiny minority of students  experts estimate that 0.3 percent of the population is transgender  should not reshape policy for the entire district. Others wondered why the issue was commanding so much attention.

I feel like the school board has a lot more important issues than where people are going to the bathroom, said Heather Larson, the mother of four boys and two girls. We tell kids no all the time: No you cant spit on the lockers, no you cant use your phones. Kids are used to following rules in a school, and I dont think telling people where they have to go to the bathroom is heartbreaking.

The school districts decision to punt on the issue disappointed students and parents who had been pushing for equal protections to become a written policy. Ms. Kelver, the recent high school graduate, has announced she is running for school board and said she would make gender issues a central focus of her campaign.

Its a tough situation, she said. People want to say were the aggressors, that were the ones who want to do harm unto people, that were just pushing our agenda. Its just me wanting to survive.
Angry over a six-year cholera epidemic in Haiti traced to infected United Nations peacekeepers, 158 members of Congress asked Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday to pressure the United Nations for a more effective response, including reparations to victims.

By official estimates, the epidemic has killed roughly 10,000 people and sickened more than 800,000 in Haiti, the Western Hemispheres poorest country. Some research has suggested that the death toll could be far higher.

In a letter sent to Mr. Kerry by Representative John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat who is the longest-serving House member, and Representative Mia Love, a Utah Republican, the lawmakers expressed exasperation with what they described as the United Nations failure to comply with its legal and moral obligations to provide cholera victims with access to an effective remedy.

The letter also chided the Obama administration for the State Departments failure to take more leadership in the diplomatic realm, saying this could be perceived as a limited American commitment to an accountable and credible U.N.
BEIJING  The trouble with committing political suicide is that you live to regret it, Christopher F. Patten, the last British colonial governor of Hong Kong, wrote about Britains vote to leave the European Union, attributing the aphorism to Winston Churchill.

To continue the motif: Like any suicide, a Brexit would hurt others, too. There may be special meaning for Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997, after 156 years of rule from London.

Attention in Hong Kong has mostly focused on the economic impact on the territory. Hong Kongs richest man, Li Ka-shing, has substantial investments in Britain, and HSBC, the bank that was founded in Hong Kong in 1865, is headquartered in London.

Yet, could a shrunken economy and greater political isolation, possible outcomes if Britain withdrew from the European Union, also cause Britains voice in Hong Kong affairs to slip?
HONG KONG  The Film Directors Guild of China raised concerns on Wednesday about the health of a prominent Tibetan director who was hospitalized this week after he was detained by the police in northwestern China.

The director, Pema Tseden, whose work includes the film Tharlo, was detained by the police on Saturday at the airport in Xining, where he had flown from Beijing. During his detention, Mr. Tseden displayed health problems that required hospitalization on Monday, the guild said in a statement.

Sonam, a producer who works with Mr. Tseden, said that security officers had used force in detaining the director but did not think that he was beaten in custody. They grabbed him by the hair, handcuffed him behind his back and dragged him to the station, he said.

Mr. Tseden had returned to the baggage claim area to retrieve a forgotten bag when he was confronted by airport employees, who said he should not have re-entered, said Mr. Sonam, who like some Tibetans uses one name. The staff called the police, who later ordered Mr. Tseden to serve five days of administrative detention for disturbing public order.
SEOUL, South Korea  North Koreas leader, Kim Jong-un, put himself in charge of a new governing agency created during a meeting of his countrys rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme Peoples Assembly, on Wednesday.

The Assembly revised North Koreas Constitution to create what the state media called a Commission on State Affairs, with Mr. Kim as its chairman. It replaces the National Defense Commission, the most powerful governing organ under Mr. Kims father, Kim Jong-il, who ruled North Korea until his death in 2011.

Mr. Kims new title was the latest in a series of top leadership roles in the military, party and government that he has acquired to establish his one-man rule.

Image North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was appointed as chairman of the newly created Commission on State Affairs on Tuesday. Credit... Wong Maye-E/Associated Press

Before his death, Kim Jong-il ruled North Korea as chairman of the National Defense Commission. Although the commission was originally created to oversee military affairs, he used it as his primary governing agency under his military first policy, which focused on the development of nuclear weapons and promoted the priorities of the Korean Peoples Army in economic and other policy decisions.
Another minor party, the Liberal Democrats, is fielding 47 candidates who believe in more guns and less government. There is a tendency, worldwide, for a plague on both their houses, or all their houses, and a tendency to look for an alternative, looking for somebody else, the Liberal Democrats one member of Parliament, David Leyonhjelm, told ABC Radio National on Tuesday.

Senator Bob Day of the Family First party, speaking on the same program, said, There is no doubt the electorate has lost faith in basically the political classes ability to address the nations and the worlds problems, like we have seen in Europe. Family First is a conservative party rooted in Christian evangelical movements.

The smaller parties are predicted to gain seats, but their platforms are so diverse that the major parties cannot easily absorb them. And the major parties have little hope of winning over voters whose support for a minor party stems from their dissatisfaction with mainstream politicians.

At the same time, the major parties are losing a grip on their core constituencies.

In the past, voters could identify with elements of a partys policies based around their own education, wealth, occupation, even where they live, said Rodney Smith, a professor of political science at the University of Sydney. But people now have a whole range of identities that are important to them. It is a very tricky time to try to win seats if you are part of a major party.

These trends have left the major-party candidates flailing and, as the vote nears, resorting to more desperate attacks.

Mr. Turnbull recently accused the Labor Party of lacking the willpower to turn back boats of asylum seekers. Imagine the chaos, he warned, if Labor were elected.

Mr. Shorten accused the Turnbull government of having secret plans to privatize Australias universal health care. A vote for the conservatives, he said, will send Australia down the path of an Americanized health care system, where how much you earn will determine the quality of your health care.
The spokesman said the approval process for mining projects was extensive and transparent. It includes public consultation, environmental impact studies and strict conditions to protect the environment. Mine lease applications must also meet public interest requirements.

The mines minister for Queensland, Anthony Lynham, was on vacation and was not available for comment. Adnani officials did not respond to a request for comment.

The Adani case was just one example cited in the report.

Two oil companies, Beach Energy and Linc Energy, and the mining companies Karreman Quarries and New Hope Coal also made donations, according to the report, which says the companies received favorable treatment in return. Another company, Sibelco, spent money campaigning to support its sand mining operations ahead of the state election.

A spokeswoman for Sibelco, Helen Stanley, said the company had made no direct donations to political parties but had funded an electorate campaign in support of its sand mining operations on North Stradbroke Island. She said the campaign was run in 2013. In 2015, the Palaszczuk government said it would end sand mining on the island by 2019.

Beach Energy, Karreman Quarries and New Hope Coal did not respond to questions. Linc Energy is in receivership, a company spokeswoman said, adding she could not answer questions about the companys political donations policy.

Over all, the report said, the Queensland Liberal National Party received more than $700,000 in donations from mining companies from 2011 to 2015. The mining industry also donated nearly $2.2 million to the federal Liberal Party of Australia, which now leads the national government, in the five years since July 2011. The Queensland Liberal National Party and the Liberal Party of Australia are not one and the same.
European leaders met in Brussels on Wednesday, but Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain was sent home early.

Heres what is happening today in Brexit news:

Europe Wakes Up to Smell the Coffee

 The leaders of 27 European Union countries are meeting in Brussels to discuss the British exit. Mr. Cameron showed up only briefly for a somber dinner on Tuesday, at which he told his fellow leaders that immigration was the main reason his compatriots had decided to leave the bloc.

European leaders expressed alarm: Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said there would be economic consequences to an exit; Dalia Grybauskaite, the president of Lithuania, said we all need to wake up and smell the coffee; and Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium called Britains vote to withdraw a wake-up alarm.

Britain will have to negotiate the terms of its divorce, but only after it formally files the separation papers  a task Mr. Cameron has left to his successor.
Image Contenders are lining up to replace Prime Minister David Cameron, who said on Friday that he planned to step down. Credit... Ben Stansall/Agence France-Presse  Getty Images

Others are likely to declare, including Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary.

Under the British system, the naming of a new prime minister from the governing party does not require a new general election. The prime minister, after all, is just the first among equals, a legislator chosen by colleagues to lead them. Parliaments sovereignty is supreme.

But in practice, the British system has become a great deal more presidential and personality driven, so individual mandates have come to seem more important. Nearly four years without one would be a long time, especially given all the uncertainties attached to leaving the European Union and the hard choices ahead.

Some say they believe that no new leader would enjoy legitimacy without an early election.

It surely cannot be right, as a matter of democratic principle, that only members of the Conservative Party, constituting 0.003 percent of the total electorate, should have a say in electing a new prime minister, said Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats, who served as deputy prime minister to Mr. Cameron in a coalition government until last years general election.

Others argue that Britain is in a special situation, having voted against membership of the European Union yet having little notion of what would replace it. Before any new election, they say, the new prime minister should first negotiate a deal extracting Britain from the bloc, and then seek endorsement of it from the voters.

Graham Brady, chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of Conservative lawmakers, said that these are difficult judgments to make, but he added: We have a big and complicated task to accomplish. I think that its entirely reasonable to expect that we, the government, should embark on that, get on with it, seek to negotiate as good an outcome as we can before the people are asked then to approve or reject that at a general election.
The security subgroup of the Trilateral Group on Ukraine has agreed on separating forces and means on the dividing line in two areas of the Donbas region, Martin Sajdik, Special Representative of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), told reporters in Minsk on Wednesday.

The security subgroup continued discussing the issues that were touched upon during a video conference on June 24, namely, the separation of forces and means on the dividing line, and have agreed, in particular, to separate the forces and means in two locations: Zolote and Petrovske, Sajdik said.

This work will continue, he added.
BRUSSELS  With Britains prime minister omitted for the first time, European Union leaders at a summit meeting wrestled on Wednesday with an existential question: how to salvage a venture that has provided peace and relative prosperity to 500 million people but has lost public support.

We all need to wake up and smell the coffee, President Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania said at the start of private talks in Brussels on how to relaunch the European Union after the shock of Britains vote last week to leave.

In the absence of Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, who was already back in London after attending an initial day of talks, the groups remaining 27 leaders all agreed that the European Union needs to change the way it works if it is to curb a rising tide of populism driven in large part by hostility toward Brussels.

Presenting the leaders with his own analysis of why 52 percent of Britons had voted to withdraw from the European Union, Mr. Cameron, at a somber dinner late Tuesday, said the main reason was immigration. Polls in other countries show deep opposition to an influx of foreigners.
ISTANBUL  One man worked as a Turkish translator and was escorting tourists back to the airport. One woman, an airport worker, was looking forward to her wedding in 10 days. There were taxi drivers and a customs officer. And there was a Turkish couple who worked together, and died together, in the suicide attack Tuesday night at Istanbul Ataturk Airport that killed dozens of people and wounded more than 200.

As officials said on Wednesday that the death toll from the attack had risen to 41, details about the victims began trickling out. At least 23 of them were from Turkey, according to a Turkish official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the attack publicly.

The victims reflected the cosmopolitan and international character of Istanbul, whose airport is among the worlds busiest, a hub for tens of millions of passengers connecting to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and beyond each year. Among the victims were five Saudis, two Iraqis and one citizen each from China, Iran, Jordan, Tunisia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, the Turkish official said.

Hours after the attack  which has not been claimed by any group, although Turkish officials said they suspected it was the work of the Islamic State  a limited number of flights resumed, and workers continued clearing debris and replacing shattered windows at the airport.
OSLO  A Norwegian court on Wednesday cleared the way for the extradition of an Iraqi Kurdish imam to Italy to face terrorism-related charges.

The cleric, Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, commonly known as Mullah Krekar, arrived in Norway as a refugee in 1991, but is not a citizen. He has been imprisoned for making death threats against numerous people, including Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

Mr. Ahmad has also praised the militants who attacked the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo last year, killing 12 people, and in November the Italian authorities named him in a multinational terrorism investigation.

Fifteen people in four countries were arrested as part of that investigation, which focused on Rawti Shax, a group that Mr. Ahmad is accused of leading and that grew out of Ansar al-Islam, a terrorist network with ties to Al Qaeda. Rawti Shax plotted to overthrow the Kurdish government in northern Iraq and to recruit militants to fight in Iraq and Syria, officials said.
UNITED NATIONS  Saudi Arabia should be ousted from the United Nations Human Rights Council for its unlawful killings of civilians in Yemen, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said jointly on Wednesday, an unusual demand meant to draw attention to one of the worlds most powerful countries, embroiled in one of the worlds most brutal wars.

The chances of that happening are slim to none. The suspension of any country from an elected body of the United Nations is extraordinary, and it would be all the more so for a country with powerful friends like the United States. The proposal would need a two-thirds majority vote in the 193-member General Assembly.

Libya was the last country suspended from the Council, which is responsible for promoting and protecting human rights. The General Assembly approved its ouster in 2011, after protesters were met with violent reprisals by the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

Saudi Arabia is another matter. It was elected to the 47-member Human Rights Council in 2013. Since then, it has beat back efforts at the Council to create an independent commission of inquiry to look into human rights abuses in Yemen.
When three suicide bombers attacked Istanbuls main airport on Tuesday, killing at least 41 people, Turkey began a ritual that it has refined with so many recent bombings: looking for hints as to which of the countrys two major terrorism threats was responsible.

Over the past year, Turkey has endured at least 14 major terrorist attacks, killing more than 200 people. The Turkish government blamed the Islamic State for Tuesdays, an assessment many analysts share. But while that group, also called ISIS and ISIL, has been accused in some of the attacks, others have been attributed to Kurdish groups.

These two threats are different in many important ways, and the Islamic State and the Kurds are themselves enemies. Even if their beginnings were separate, their violence has become part of a larger and overlapping set of problems, sharing roots in Syrias civil war. What follows is a guide to these two threats, what they have to do with each other and what they dont.

The Kurdish Crisis

This conflict began in the 1980s, when a group called the Kurdistan Workers Party, or P.K.K., started an insurgency. Turkey had long oppressed its minority Kurds, even banning their language. The P.K.K. sought Kurdish independence, a goal later softened to political autonomy.
The original Danish version of the fairy tale The Little Mermaid is hardly the stuff of Hollywood: It ends bitterly with the mermaid unable to bear life as a human. But once the tale was massaged by Walt Disney, who gets a pass despite the periodic French skepticism of imports from America, the animated version became a runaway hit in France.

Now, a French synchronized swimmer is trying to translate another aspect of the American mermaid obsession: mermaiding schools. It turns out that preadolescent and adolescent girls on both sides of the Atlantic dream of being mermaids.

Julia Sardella, who spent four years in Las Vegas performing in a show that combines water ballet and aerial gymnastics, teaches the girls, and some of their mothers, how to swim gracefully after pulling on colorful leggings that end in a monofin. The classes appeal to the French love of fashion, with students donning elegant tops and tails, and are a good workout.

Its great for your abdominals, said Ms. Sardella, who also practices Pilates. One of the first things I teach is a mermaids movements, how it feels to swim with a tail.
Since 2010, the organization Elastic City has hosted free, artist-led walking tours that move through urban spaces in unconventional ways. Whether taking tiny steps through Stuyvesant Town or using plastic bags as pillows on the pavement in Union Square, participants are invited to be curious, playful pedestrians.

Calling these excursions dances might be a stretch, but theyre often guided by choreographers concerned with ideas of seeing and being seen. The seventh and final Elastic City festival, the Last Walks, begins on Thursday, July 7, with Their Shoes, a tour of Tompkins Square Park in the East Village devised by the dance and sculpture artist Aki Sasamoto. Ms. Sasamoto is interested not just in people-watching, which offers some of New Yorks finest theater, but in empathizing with the people being watched. Her walk, which repeats on July 12 and 14, promises to employ what she calls peripheral viewing and nonconfrontational mimicking exercises in relation to passers-by, as she promotes observing without disrupting. (elastic-city.org.)
And its difficult to imagine much good will between those behind the two projects since Mr. Wilder, who served as mayor before Mr. Jones, publicly lambasted his successor and his administration earlier this year. Mr. Jones did not answer directly when asked if Mr. Wilders criticism made cooperation more difficult, saying only, We have the money, we have the site, and what were doing is going to happen.

The citys plans for the jail site are underway. Architectural and engineering contracts will be awarded soon, and the groundbreaking is projected for next year.

Mr. Jones controls $10 million committed by the state and another $8 million from the city for the project. Its unclear how much money Mr. Wilders museum organization has at this point. The museum was able to sell the land in Fredericksburg last year for $400,000.

The math and the politics do not look promising for Mr. Wilder.

The citys project seems to be on a firmer financial footing, and that will be decisive in all likelihood, said Mr. Farnsworth, the professor. And Im not sure that two separate visions for the same project can both be constructed.

Still, Mr. Farnsworth doesnt count out the tenacious Mr. Wilder from securing a role in whatever slavery museum does get built in Richmond.

A rambunctious mayoral election is underway. The incumbent, Mr. Jones, is bumping up against term limits. Eight candidates are vying to succeed him. At least one is considered an ally of Mr. Wilder, who recently helped organize and moderate a mayoral forum.

Yes, L. Douglas Wilders embrace may not carry as much weight as it did when he was governor or Richmond mayor. But he is still L. Douglas Wilder, still a Virginia institution, and he does not go down easy.
THE EXTRA

By A. B. Yehoshua

Translated by Stuart Schoffman

249 pp. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $24.

Noga, a 42-year-old professional harpist and the headstrong, elliptical heroine of A. B. Yehoshuas new novel, The Extra, doesnt want children. Nine years earlier that refusal led to her divorce, and since then she has left Israel for a job with a Dutch orchestra and drifted into an amiable affair with a colleague. But after her father dies she returns to Jerusalem and faces the questions that loved ones and strangers just wont stop asking. Is her childlessness a quirk, a stigma or an affliction  or does it perhaps offer her an opportunity to reset the course of her life?

Yehoshua is one of Israels pre-eminent novelists and, with his fellow writers Amos Oz and David Grossman, among the countrys most insistent voices pleading for engagement and peace with the Palestinians. Yehoshua often uses his fictional characters as test cases for political issues, and Noga is no exception. After all, fertility is a subject of political anxiety and religious injunctions in Israel. The first divine commandment voiced in Genesis instructs man to be fruitful and multiply; its the reason for both the prodigious numbers of children in ultra-Orthodox families and for Israels liberal fertility laws. The memory of a million Jewish children murdered during the Holocaust also weighs heavily on many couples planning a family. Add to that fears of a demographic imbalance fed by the high birthrate among Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, and its no wonder that women like Noga are on the defensive.

The Extra is an engaging, slack and sometimes frustrating novel, translated in dignified but stilted prose by Stuart Schoffman, that reflects both Yehoshuas gift for surreal comedy and his penchant for schoolmasterly expositions. (Few writers are quite so fond of explaining their own metaphors.) The books title refers to the work Noga finds upon her return to Israel as an extra on film and television sets. Her music has been put on hold for three months, the duration of the experiment, as her brother, Honi, calls it, during which their mother agrees to try out assisted living in Tel Aviv while Noga house-sits her apartment in Jerusalem. Oddly for a professional musician  or perhaps emblematic of a certain self-sabotaging streak  Noga makes no arrangements to secure a harp on which to practice while she is in Israel, even though the orchestra has promised her a rare solo in Mozarts Concerto for Flute and Harp upon her return to the Netherlands. Instead, she drifts into occasional jobs in a succession of comically absurd and sharply drawn vignettes.
It was his role overseeing BTCC Pool that got Mr. Lee invited to the meeting with the American delegation in Beijing. The head of operations at F2Pool, Wang Chun, was also there.

Perhaps the most important player in the Chinese Bitcoin world is Jihan Wu, 30, a former investment analyst who founded what is often described in China as the worlds most valuable Bitcoin company. That company, Bitmain, began to build computers in 2013 using chips specially designed to do mining computations.

Bitmain, which has 250 employees, manufactures and sells Bitcoin mining computers. It also operates a pool that other miners can join, called Antpool, and keeps a significant number of mining machines for itself, which it maintains in Iceland and the United States, as well as in China. The machines that Bitmain retains for itself account for 10 percent of the computing power on the global Bitcoin network and are enough to produce new coins worth about $230,000 each day, at the exchange rate last week.

Mr. Wu and the other mining pool operators in China have often seemed somewhat surprised, and even unhappy, that their investments have given them decision-making power within the Bitcoin network. Miners are the hardware guys. Why are you asking us about software? is the line that Mr. Ng said he often hears from miners.

This attitude initially led most Chinese miners to align themselves with old-line Bitcoin coders, known as the core programmers, who have resisted changing the software. The miners wanted to take no risks with the money they were minting.

But lately, Mr. Wu has grown increasingly vocal in his belief that the network is going to have to expand, and soon, if it wants to keep its followers. He said in an email last week that if the core programmers did not increase the number of transactions going through the network by July, he would begin looking for alternatives to expand the network.

However the software debate goes, there are fears that Chinas government could decide, at some point, to pressure miners in the country to use their influence to alter the rules of the Bitcoin network. The governments intervention in 2013 suggests that Bitcoin is not too small to escape notice.
The Ukrainian side in the Trilateral Contact Group for the settlement of the situation in Donbas has said that the release of hostages held in separate areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions has been stalled.

"The release of hostages has been locked. Over the past week we received alarming signals that the situation with the release of people has changed for the worse," Darka Olifer, spokeswoman for Leonid Kuchma who represents Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group, wrote on her Facebook page after the group's meeting in Minsk on Wednesday.

She said that families of the hostages received reports that their relatives were moved from the SBU building in Donetsk to pre-trial detention centers. "Ukraine demands separate areas of Donetsk and Luhansk region should disclose the whereabouts of our citizens," Olifer stressed.

She also recalled that Kyiv proposed earlier holding a "family day" and let relatives on both sides to visit their loved ones, but received no response.
It didnt, or probably not in the way that the art historians and the citys tourism bureau might hope I would. But standing there for a while longer, I began to ponder how long it took Vermeer to capture the detailed worn masonry of the medieval buildings with such exquisite precision. Unlike with his intimate interiors, which he could inhabit for months, if necessary, to capture his languorous scenes of domesticity, here he would have been exposed to the ever-changing Dutch weather  often dark, rainy and blustery. Who passed him on the canal side as he painted? Who stopped by to say hello? Who brought him a beer to quench his thirst?

I thought: What if he painted this picture simply because he loved to be here? Or as an excuse to visit his former neighborhood, to be closer to his aunt and near his mother and sister, who also lived on the Vlamingstraat? Perhaps after converting to another religion, moving across town and living in a fancy mansion left him with a sense of longing.

After saying goodbye to Ms. Jansen and heading back toward the train station, I realized that having been able to situate Vermeer in a real place in Delft, and standing in that place for a little while, did raise new interesting questions, and far more personal questions, for me, about his process. What motivated Vermeer to paint a domestic scene from afar? And what did it feel like, for this painter of intimate interiors, to be the outsider looking in?

IF YOU GO

What to Do

Museum Prinsenhof Delft.A museum with about five rooms (Sint Agathaplein 1, Delft; 31-15-260-23-58; prinsenhof-delft.nl/en) showing until July 17, Vermeer Is Coming Home | The Little Street Returns to Delft, an exhibition on the search to identify the place that inspired Vermeer to paint his masterpiece.

Vermeer Centrum Delft.This volunteer-run organization (Voldersgracht 21, Delft; 31-15-213-85-88; vermeerdelft.nl/en) provides information about Vermeer, demonstrates his painting techniques and exhibits reproductions of his works. It also has a shop that sells Vermeer-related trinkets.

Royal Delft.Delfts famous blue and white ceramic tiles are produced here atKoninklijke Porceleyne Fles, (Rotterdamseweg 196, Delft; 31-15-251-20-30;royaldelft.com/home_en), where a visit to the factory and museum includes a replica of Vermeers kitchen. There are workshops and a brasserie.

Where to Eat

Beestenmarkt.Just a short walk from the Grand Market Square in the center of Delft is the Beestenmarkt, a quieter, smaller square with nice cafes and bars.

Brasseriet Crabbetje.A sustainable seafood restaurant (Verwersdijk 14, Delft; 31-15-213-88-50; crabbetjedelft.nl) offering Mediterranean-style dishes.
There are 8,200 RFAs and AFAs in New Zealand. Of those, 3,700 advisers sold at least one life insurance policy that was active in 2014. Among the 3,700 with at least one active policy, 1,100 had more than 100 active life policies on their books. Of the 1,100 with more than 100 active life policies, 200 met the FMAs criteria for a high estimated rate of replacement business. In June 2014, those 200 advisers: had 65,000 active policies between them, involving about $110m in annual premiums

and earned almost 50% more from commissions on life insurance than other high-volume advisers. On average, RFAs had higher rates of replacement business than AFAs. About two-thirds of the high-volume advisers, and 86% of the high-replacement advisers, were RFAs. Some RFAs replaced more than 35% of their life policies in one year.

You can read a full copy of the report here

The regulator said it is calling for cooperation from the life insurance industry and financial advisers to address the potential harms to consumers from the relatively high levels of switching of existing insurance policies.The FMA this morning released its first report into sales practices within the life insurance industry and the date reveals that of the $1.7bn New Zealanders spent on annual life insurance premiums in the year to 30 June 2014, a significant number of existing policyholders were switched between providers, known as replacement business.Data in the report was gathered from 12 life insurance providers and analysed over the past year. It focuses on replacement business sold through either authorised or registered financial advisers (AFAs and RFAs, respectively). The review focused on this distribution channel because advisers sold over 40% of the policies in force in June 2014; and because there is a higher risk of churn in this group, because they generally sell policies from more than one provider.Replacement activity carries the highest risk of potential so-called churn, where the switch is primarily done to benefit the adviser and not the consumer.Although the FMA acknowledged there are many reasons for advisers to consider it is beneficial to their clients to recommend a change in life insurance policy, it pointed out the high proportion of replacement business compared to new business in NZ means the impacts on consumers need to be examined.The FMA is highlighting the risks associated with replacement business, both to ensure that providers and advisers properly consider the risks of potential conflicts of interest and to enable consumers to make more informed decisions when they are considering a recommendation from their adviser to replace their existing policy.The FMAs director of regulation Liam Mason, said, We saw that the majority of advisers do not have high levels of replacement business, regardless of the way they are paid for their services.However, there is a clear link between high rates of replacement business in certain areas and high up-front commissions, or incentives for high sales volumes, such as overseas trips laid on by providers.The reports findings include:Following our report, FMA staff will be taking a closer look at the conduct of those advisers with the highest volumes of replacement business as the next stage of this work, Mr Mason said. We will be examining the basis on which policies have been switched or replaced and the drivers for that activity  with a particular reference to incentives (of whatever form) provided by insurance providers.As a conduct regulator, our focus across the entire financial services industry is to ensure that customers interests are always at the centre of a business operation. So we will be paying particularly close attention to the behaviour of insurance advisers where it is unclear that the appropriate care, diligence and skill are being provided to their customers, Mason said.The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has received the findings from the report to be considered as part of its review of the Financial Advisers Act.
Contact Group on Ukraine to hold next meeting in Minsk on July 13

Another meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine is due to be held in Minsk on July 13, Martin Sajdik, special representative of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, told reporters on Wednesday.

Three of its four working subgroups this week held meetings in Minsk as an exception, he added.

In particular, the political and security groups meet today and yesterday. The humanitarian one will meet on July 4, Sajdik said.
Social problems in the breakaway areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions must be urgently resolved, according to Martin Sajdik, special representative of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The Contact Group on Ukraine's economic subgroup in Minsk discussed the restructuring of railway services and social payouts, highlighting the need to urgently resolve these and other social issues, he told reporters in Minsk on Wednesday.

At today's talks negotiators were told that coal supplies in the breakaway areas of Donbas failed to resume in full, Sajdik said.

A steady mechanism must be devised for carrying out cargo transportation services, the OSCE representative said.

The political subgroup this week discussed in Minsk the amnesty and local elections in Donbas, he also said.
Toyota Motor said Wednesday it was recalling 1.43 million vehicles worldwide over a possible air bag fault. But it said the components in question had not been manufactured by Takata, the air bag supplier at the heart of the largest safety recall in the history of the car industry.

Toyota, based in Japan, did not name the supplier of the air bags that were subject to the recall announcement. Keeping suppliers names private is a common practice among automakers; Takata was named only after the scale and severity of its problems drew intense public scrutiny. In a separate announcement, Toyota also said it was recalling 2.87 million vehicles worldwide over fuel tank issues.

Toyotas latest recall accompanies heightened consumer anxiety over the safety of air bags.

Automakers have recalled 60 million vehicles in the U.S. and tens of millions more worldwide to fix the problem with air bags made by Takata, also a Japanese company, whose faulty equipment has been linked to 14 deaths and more than 100 injuries. Takatas president said Tuesday that he planned to step down.

The problem with Takata air bags involves their inflaters  metal capsules loaded with propellant that force air bags to deploy nearly instantly in a crash. Takatas inflaters can rupture violently, sending shrapnel flying toward drivers or passengers.

One of the recalls Wednesday also involved air bag inflaters. It covers two models of hybrid vehicles, the Prius and the Lexus CT200h, made between 2010 and 2012. The inflaters in their air bags may have a small crack in a weld, Toyota said. The fault could cause the air bags to inflate unexpectedly, sending pieces of the inflater into the cabin.

Toyota said the risk of problems was highest when the inflaters were exposed to high humidity  a factor that has also been implicated in the Takata defect.

Toyota said a manufacturing error was to blame, rather than a design problem. The company said it was not aware of any injuries or deaths related to the latest issues.

The second recall covered a possible fault with a mechanism in vehicles fuel tanks that releases evaporated fuel. Toyota said cracks in the mechanism, known as the evaporative fuel emissions control unit, could cause small amounts of fuel to leak when drivers fill up their tanks. The recall covers several models, including Prius hybrids and Corolla compacts produced between 2006 and 2015, Toyota said.

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No political endorsement ever seemed more innocuous and expected than Gov. Jerry Browns backing of state Attorney General Kamala Harris for the U.S. Senate seat now held by the retiring Barbara Boxer.

Like Boxer, both are Democrats. Harris was Browns successor as head of the states Justice Department. Each is part of the Northern California Democratic group that now controls most major statewide offices, including both California seats in the Senate, plus the governors office, the lieutenant governors slot and the attorney generals seat. Rarely has one region held so much power so firmly in California.

But there may have been more to the Brown endorsement than met the eye.

Harris department is currently conducting a criminal investigation of the state Public Utilities Commissions conduct of major cases stemming from the failure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and the multi-fatal 2010 explosion of a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. natural gas pipeline in San Bruno. Not only are PUC commissioners the most powerful of Browns appointees outside the judiciary, but he cannot remove them once theyve been sworn in, as he can every other person he appoints, except judges.

Brown has maintained steady contact with his PUC appointees, mostly via email and telephone.

Public records requests caused more than 100,000 PUC emails to be disclosed, now available on the website www.PUCpapers.org, created by the Consumer Watchdog advocacy group.

Conspicuously absent from these now-readable documents are more than 60 emails between the PUC and Brown, or his office, exchanged around the time of the PUCs decision to dun Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. customers for about 70 percent of the $4.7 billion it will eventually cost to close down San Onofre.

Hand-written notes found in a Justice Department search of the La Canada-Flintridge home of former PUC President Michael Peevey showed the San Onofre settlement closely matched a deal hatched in a secret meeting between Peevey and former Edison executives during a conference in Poland.

Former San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre, now a consumer advocate, first demanded the Brown emails in an early April public records request, but Harris stepped in, saying she would rule on whether Brown is entitled to some kind of executive privilege. This simple yes-or-no decision is still in the works.

So, Brown was endorsing the very official who had already waited months to decide whether he needs to make emails public. Until the emails can be widely read, the public cannot know if they demonstrate some sort of untoward conduct.

Now, Brown enthusiastically endorses an official who might possibly stand between him and embarrassment. She happily accepted his backing. At the very least, this looked like a conflict of interest.

Meanwhile, Harris office maintains it has a hermetic seal between her departments investigation of the PUC and anyone involved in deciding the emails issue.

The attorney general  has more than 1,100 attorneys who represent state agencies on a wide array of matters, said her spokesman, David Beltran. No government agency, and no public utilities company, is above the law, which means all investigations go where the evidence takes us.

But by law and common practice, the attorney general represents the governor in any criminal case relating to his official activity. So the official determining whether the public can see whether the governor has done something wrong is also his attorney. Does that pass the smell test?

So far, none of this has become a major issue in the Senate campaign.

But it would be unwise for Harris to believe that will continue; not with millions of Californians paying billions of dollars as a result of the San Onofre settlement, as it now stands.

Nor should the so far-Teflon-coated Brown expect to be untouched by all this, if the emails eventually become public and show him favoring utilities over consumers.
IRVINE  Imam Atef Mahgoub said theres a reason God didnt create humans to look and think the same way.

God created people differently to test you, how they put up with one another, Mahgoub, the religious director at the Islamic Center of Irvine, said. And the winner is the one who opens up to everybody and gets to know everyone.

Mahgoub talked about verses in the Quran addressing the beauty of diversity the evening of June 23 during the centers annual interfaith iftar  a meal held after sunset each day to break fast during Ramadan. The center invited city officials and religious leaders from other local faith groups to strengthen relationships and understanding of one another.

About 70 attendees held a moment of silence for the victims of the Orlando shooting and played trivia about Islam until they broke the fast at sunset. They then observed or participated in a prayer at the mosque and enjoyed a meal with hundreds of local Muslims who flocked there for iftar.

Having so many people here, it means people want to learn about Islam and connect with our members despite negative news reports we hear, Ahmed Elmalky, chairman of the centers board of directors, said.

Ramadan is observed in the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. This year, it began June 5 and ends in the evening of July 5.

For the entire month, Muslims all over the world fast during the day, refraining from food and water. At sunset each day, they break their fast with a prayer. Hundreds show up every day at the Islamic Center of Irvine for iftar and to socialize.

The focus during Ramadan is to purify the soul, strengthen family ties and help the needy. Every Muslim is required to give 2.5 percent of his or her income to charity during this month.

Sondos Kholaki, a member of the centers outreach committee, said Ramadan is the most wonderful time for Muslims that carries different meanings for everyone.

For some, Ramadan is just fasting or having parties with families and friends after sunset. For others, its an opportunity to learn about Quran, she said.

Phyllis Leshowitz from the University Synagogue in Irvine was among those who attended the interfaith iftar.

To me, this is the way people should be getting together, breaking bread, talking to each other, learning about each other, the Corona del Mar resident said. And well realize people have more in common than they think. People are afraid of each other because we dont know who the other is.

Contact the writer: 949-445-6397 or tshimura@ocregister.com
People who live in the most heavily Latino part of San Juan Capistrano and in the southeastern corner of the town will decide this fall who will occupy two of the five seats on the City Council.

Thats the result of a 3-2 City Council vote, taken June 21 as the council called the first election in San Juans history to be conducted by voting district instead of citywide.

The city is switching to voting districts this year after deciding not to contest a lawsuit filed against the city in January. A Latino advocacy group known as the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project asserted that San Juans practice of at-large voting violated the California Voting Rights Act.

Council seats currently held by Sam Allevato and John Perry are due to expire this fall. Under terms of a lawsuit settlement agreement, the most heavily Latino district, now known as District 1, will automatically be on the Nov. 8 ballot. It is in the most northwestern part of town.

Selection of a second district to participate in this years elections grew contentious June 21 as council members Derek Reeve and Allevato proposed deciding which district with a random drawing between Districts 2 and 5. Both are east of I-5.

Mayor Pam Patterson and Council members Kerry Ferguson and Perry voted down the proposal, then voted 3-2 to select District 5. Ferguson said District 5 would be a better balance with District 1, since southeast is the opposite of northwest.

Allevato said that a blind draw between Districts 2 and 5 would be the fairest way to select, as picking District 5 would raise questions about the council majoritys motives.

Perry lives in District 5 and could decide to seek another term on the council, Allevato said, while Allevato lives in District 2 and the councils decision precludes him from seeking reelection in 2016.

Perry, 80, who once mounted a recall attempt against Allevato, was appointed to the council in 2015 when Councilman Roy Byrnes retired mid-term, at age 90. The councils vote to appoint Perry to fill Byrnes unexpired term was 3-1, with Patterson, Ferguson and Reeve voting yes and Allevato voting no.

Perry said Friday that he doesnt intend to seek another term on the council. I got a two-year appointment and that will do it, he said. Im not a politician. Im just an old guy getting a job done.

Allevato called the councils 3-2 vote to select District 5 a travesty. While saying that he hadnt planned to seek reelection, he said Friday that the three who voted to pick District 5 all live within a quarter-mile of each other on the west side and if they really wanted to spread out the representation, they could have all offered to resign this year, putting all five council seats up for election Nov. 8.

Contact the writer: fswegles@ocregister.com or 949-492-5127
Interim Orange County Public Defender Sharon Petrosino has won the job on a permanent basis, signaling to some that the departments investigation of the illegal use of jailhouse informants will continue full steam.

The Board of Supervisors named Petrosino on Tuesday to permanently oversee the 185 defense lawyers who last year handled 77,661 cases on behalf of those who cannot afford private attorneys. Petrosino now heads the offices of the public defender, alternate defender and associate defender.

Petrosino has been with the department since 1985, joining the year after she passed the California bar exam. She went to Rutgers for her undergraduate studies and received her law degree from Southwestern School of Law.

Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, who for three years has rocked the countys justice system with evidence that police and prosecutors cultivated jailhouse informants to illegally approach inmates, was happy with the decision.

Sharon has been a fighter her whole career. I have complete faith were not going to relent one bit in protecting defendants rights to a fair trial, Sanders said.

County supervisors said during the search that they would not allow the position to become politicized and were looking for the best person they could find to run one of the largest law firms in the county.

The previous public defender, Frank Ospino, who left to become a family court judge, afforded Sanders the budget and the time to comb through dozens of cases, looking for evidence that jailhouse informants were misused and that evidence was withheld from defense attorneys.

What Sanders found has unraveled six murder and attempted murder cases, with new trials being awarded, sentences reduced and charges dropped.

State Attorney General Kamala Harris office is conducting an investigation into the informant controversy, at the request of Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.

Contact the writer: tsaavedra@ocregister.com
BELLFLOWER  Prosecutors have charged a man with attempting to murder 10 Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies during a running gunbattle while fleeing a DUI checkpoint in Bellflower last week.

Prosecutors on Tuesday also charged Juan Manuel Martinez with holding a hostage during a nearly eight-hour standoff.

Martinez is accused of shooting and wounding a motorcycle deputy who pulled him over, wounding one of four other deputies who arrived, and then firing at another set of deputies.

Prosecutors plan to ask that the 39-year-old Burbank man be held on $11 million bail when he is arraigned Tuesday.

He faces 10 counts of attempted murder of a peace officer and one felony count each of false imprisonment of a hostage; dissuading a witness by threat of force; possession of a firearm by a felon.
MEXICO CITY  Lawyers for Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman said Tuesday they have filed two appeals against his extradition to the United States.

Lawyer Jose Refugio Rodriguez said the appeals argue the statute of limitations has run out on some crimes Guzman is accused of in the United States. The defense also argues that some of the accusations against Guzman are based on hearsay, not direct evidence.

Rodriguez said the appeals were filed late Monday in courts in Mexico City. He predicted it could take as long as three years to resolve the appeals.

In all, Guzman faces drug trafficking and other charges from seven U.S. federal prosecutors, including in Chicago, New York, Miami and San Diego.

Mexicos Foreign Relations Department ruled in May that the extradition can go forward, in part because the United States has guaranteed that Guzman would not face the death penalty. Mexico has abolished capital punishment and does not extradite its citizens if they face possible execution.

Guzman faces an extradition request from a Texas federal court related to charges of conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and marijuana, money-laundering, arms possession and murder, and another extradition request from a federal court in California related to drug trafficking.

Guzman was arrested in January after almost six months on the run following his escape from a maximum-security prison through a mile-long tunnel that opened to the floor of his shower.

He had already escaped once before in 2001 and spent more than a decade as one of the worlds most wanted fugitives until he was recaptured in 2014.
It took Elizabeth Townsend a good two years before she knew Diamond Apartment Homes truly was home.

Up until then, Townsend, an alcoholic trying to stay sober, felt the insecurity of years of being homeless and unstable.

I figured it would go away, she says. I didnt have enough faith in the people and in myself.

Shes not talking just about her apartment.

On-site social services are readily available to the residents of the 25-unit complex in Anaheim. And that makes all the difference in keeping them off the streets.

Approaching five years of sobriety in July, Townsend is one of a growing number of people in Orange County to benefit from a shift in funding and philosophy on how to best serve the chronically homeless.

Its a blessing, says the 52-year-old Townsend, who has spent four years at Diamond. Its actually kept me sober.

A PERMANENT APPROACH

Diamond, which opened in 2009, is one of Orange Countys earliest examples of what is called permanent supportive housing  subsidized apartments that provide not only a place to live but the support to help the chronically homeless remain stable.

The main criteria to qualify: a disabling condition coupled with having been homeless for at least a year or experiencing multiple episodes of homelessness.

The three-story complex, with cheery landscaping, a tot lot and a barbecue area with picnic tables, is the rare site built specifically for the homeless.

More often, permanent supportive housing involves renting an apartment or two at so-called scattered sites, where roving case managers maintain contact.

It has been only in the past 10 years or so that the federal government, through funds provided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, has focused hundreds of millions of dollars on permanent supportive housing.

Until recently, homeless advocates say, Orange County largely has been behind the trend.

New outreach is speeding up efforts to reach the most vulnerable people on the streets and in temporary shelters. Theres more money to do it, but also a crisis-level sense of urgency.

If we dont, theyll die, said Larry Haynes, the executive director of Mercy House, the nonprofit that operates the winter shelter program at the armories.

Last year, almost half as many more homeless people  181  died in Orange County than did in 2014, according to the Orange County Coroner Division. Some advocates fear this year might be even deadlier.

At the start of 2015, Orange County had 580 chronically homeless residents, according to the federally mandated Point-in-Time count conducted over a single night.

Thats a small slice of the 4,452 homeless people counted that night; advocates consider homeless numbers much higher than the snapshot recorded.

Mercy House took the lead in 2015 on behalf of six nonprofits that joined together to secure $2.5 million in HUD funding for permanent supportive housing.

Since September, that money has provided homes and services to 106 people. Vouchers provided by the city of Santa Ana will allow 50 more to be placed, Haynes said.

Separately, Mercy House has worked with the city and Community Development Partners out of Newport Beach since December to move 59 people into permanent supportive housing at Guest House, a converted motel on First Street near I-5.

Mercy House, the countys largest provider of homeless services, has been criticized by the homeless and other advocates for being too slow in delivering on some county contracts awarded the organization.

This is a game changer, Haynes said at a May gathering to tout the collective effort. I think for the first time in Orange County, (nonprofits) are saying, Were willing to give up some control for the greater good.

The collaborative includes nonprofits in all areas of the county: Colettes Childrens Home; Friendship Shelter; Jamboree Housing Corp.; Mercy House; Orangewood Foundation; and Share Our Selves.

Along with renewal of the $2.5 million award, this year HUD gave the group an additional $1.5 million to house 60 more homeless people. New partners were added: American Family Housing; Family Assistance Ministries; Pathways of Hope; Human Options; and Step Up on Second.

A second group of four other local nonprofits  Illumination Foundation, Strength in Support (a veteran-focused group), City Net and Latino Health Access  also was granted $1.4 million in HUD funds for permanent supportive housing.

Their focus is Santa Anas Civic Center homeless population of about 500. The so-called Street2Home outreach aims to provide permanent housing to either 95 individuals, 50 families or some combination.

Things have moved faster these last two years than in the whole 10 years that we have been working with this population, said Paul Leon, president of Illumination Foundation, the lead agency for Street2Home.

A lot of that has to do with federal funds being shifted from temporary transitional shelter programs that typically require an individual to work a program and meet certain goals or requirements  taking their medication or maintaining sobriety  before qualifying for placement in housing or a voucher to find their own.

Permanent supportive housing has been shown to have better outcomes for the chronically homeless and save money.

No figures are available yet in Orange County, but a recent study by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority found an average monthly public cost of $605 for people in supportive housing versus $2,897 for a similar homeless person.

Dawn Price, executive director at Friendship Shelter in Laguna Beach, said permanent supportive housing should be an easy sell on all accounts  even for those who bristle at the idea of giving a longtime addict a home.

It makes sense if you want to save money, if you want to be compassionate, if you want your parks and streets and beaches back, she said. Because its taking people off the streets.

CHANGING LIVES

But there was skepticism about the wisdom of giving people who suffer from severe mental illness, deep substance abuse, or both, an apartment of their own.

Even with a host of services provided directly to them, what was the guarantee they would stay? Would they use the services? Could they get better?

It was a hard transition for even our case managers, said Leon, a former county public health nurse who left to form Illumination Foundation and adopted the housing first approach in 2007.

They were like, I dont know. I just dont feel comfortable putting an addict into an apartment, Leon continued. They were worried that it wouldnt work and that it would cause more harm to the individuals you put in there.

Those who provide permanent supportive housing cite 80 percent to 90 percent retention. For living proof, there are residents of communities such as Diamond.

Townsend rested on a loveseat in the lobby next to her longtime boyfriend Greg Apodaca, also a recovering alcoholic. They live together. Neighbors Rhonda Polite and John Kingsmore sat nearby. The atmosphere was cool, calm and comfortable.

Polite, 51, and Kingsmore, 63, once lived on the street and, before coming to Diamond, had rooms next to each other in a board-and-care home where Polite said residents were often agitated.

People respect one another here, said Polite, a gentle woman whose body shakes from tremors caused by a stroke. She lives with her therapy dog, Rusty.

Kingsmore, who suffers from hallucinations, said he spent a decade sheltering under bridges along the riverbed in Anaheim. He likes the outings at Diamond to the mall, the farmers market, the movies: Honestly, I just go for the company.

Polite, diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression, spent months sleeping at a bus stop across from the Kaiser hospital in Riverside. She somehow made her way to Orange County and was wandering the streets before getting help.

Both take multiple medications for their mental illness. Polite, who spent six years in the U.S. Navy as a young adult, now drives and attends a night school where she studies court reporting. Its taking her years, but she has a goal.

If there were more places like this, Polite said, it would help other people. They would see how much their lives would change.

For those permanent supportive housing recipients who reside in regular apartment buildings, case managers make regular visits and phone calls. Assistance can range from transportation to a doctors appointment to help washing dishes piled in the sink.

Troy Phillips, 38, moved into his own place in south Orange County two days before Thanksgiving. Phillips, who grew up in Mission Viejo, abused both drugs and alcohol. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2014, after spending about 10 years off and on behind bars.

Phillips failed in transitional programs at Friendship Shelter. He scored 15 of 17 on a vulnerability index used to assess eligibility for permanent supportive housing. He had been sleeping on cardboard behind a trash bin.

So happy to move in to his furnished one-bedroom, Phillips took a selfie sitting on his couch. He pays 30 percent of his income from disability toward his rent.

God was looking out for me, I guess, he said. Thats the only way I can see it. It was hard for me to understand that they just gave me an apartment.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7793 or twalker@ocregister.com
OTTAWA, Ontario  The leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico pushed back Wednesday on calls for walling off their nations from free trade, arguing that more commerce with the outside world is inevitable and will deliver measurable benefits for their citizens.

President Barack Obamas meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto come at a time of growing isolationist sentiments, not only in North America. Britains decision to exit the 28-member European Union has brought to the forefront concerns in many nations that the forces of globalization are having negative effects on their local economies and lifestyles.

The integration of national economies into a global economy, thats here. Thats done, Obama said. He argued that instead of withdrawing from the rest of the world, advanced countries needed to focus on higher standards, wages and legal protections that would ensure the benefits of globalization are widely felt.

We cant disengage, we ought to engage more, he added.

The leaders spoke at a joint news conference in the Canadian capital during an annual North American Leaders Summit. Obama also planned to address the Canadian Parliament during his visit, becoming the ninth American leader to do so and the first since Bill Clinton in 1995.

Though Britains exit from the EU, or Brexit, has rattled the global financial system, Obama said he believed the markets were starting to settle down. Still, he acknowledged there would be genuine longer-term concerns about global economic growth if, in fact, Brexit goes through.

This doesnt help, he said.

Obama said his primary message to British Prime Minister David Cameron and to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is largely spearheading Europes response, was that everybody should catch their breath. Though Merkel and other European leaders have urged Britain to start its withdrawal quickly, Obama called for a thought-out process that would be transparent and clearly understandable to all of Europes citizens.

I think that will be a difficult, challenging process, but it does not need to be a panicky process, the president said.

The Canadian and Mexican leaders largely echoed Obamas calls for staying focused on closer economic ties. Pena Nieto said Mexico sees opportunity for growth and investment by broadening its relationship with the rest of the continent.

We are competitors, yes, but we have complimentary economies, and that will give more development to our society, he said.

And Trudeau said the three leaders strategy for combatting protectionist views was to highlight how much trade and positive agreement among our nations are good not only for the economy of the world and the economy of our countries, but its also good for our citizens.

In the U.S., the global concerns about the effects of globalization have coincided with the rise of Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Trump has lambasted Obamas free trade negotiations and pledged to withdraw from a major free trade deal with Asia. This week, he also blamed globalization for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs and threatened to extricate the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement, in effect since 1994.

Trump also has blamed many of Americas challenges on an influx of immigrants and threatened to build a wall on the Mexican border, in a sharp rebuke of Obamas calls for allowing millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally to stay.

Obama said anti-immigrant sentiments had emerged in the U.S. before, but didnt stop immigrants from seeking out the opportunities the U.S. provides. He suggested he wasnt concerned that Americans by and large would follow Trump down a path of xenophobia.

You shouldnt think that is representative of how the American people think, he said.

Ahead of the summit, Trudeau and Pena Nieto announced measures to reduce barriers during the Mexican leaders state visit to Canada. Trudeau said Canada will lift visa requirements for Mexican visitors as of December 2016. Pena Nieto agreed to open Mexican markets to Canadian beef.

Efforts to curb global warming were a big part of the summit. The leaders pledged to rely on renewable energy to generate 50 percent of North Americas electrical power by 2025. Mexico also committed to joining the United States and Canada in tackling methane emissions.
The military has always played a prominent role in the Huntington Beach Fourth of July Parade and in the hearts of residents. The loudest applause along the parade route on Main Street is often for veterans and veteran groups.

This year, an often overlooked group of Orange Countys military heroes will be commemorated. Although re-enactors have portrayed members of this legendary fighting group in past parades, three or four Japanese American soldiers from World War IIs renowned 442nd Regiment of the U.S. Army will be honored.

Comprised almost entirely of second-generation Japanese Americans, or Nisei, incarcerated by the United States at the start of World War II, the 442nd was the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in the history of American warfare.

Don Miyada, 91, of Westminster; Waturu Wattie Tanita, 91, of Los Alamitos; Sieji Larry Oshiro of Huntington Beach and Fumio Steve Shimizu, 96, of Laguna Woods were invited to ride in the Huntington Beach parade.

About 14,000 men served in the 442nd unit and its 100th battalion, earning 9,486 Purple Hearts and 21 Medals of Honor. The Nisei unit fought in campaigns in Italy, France and Germany and were noted for valor and discipline.

Shimizu is one of the elder statesmen in the group and one of its original members. He went through some of the units toughest and bloodiest battles.

A native of Hawaii, he was at work as a civilian welder when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

I had a birds eye view, recalled Shimizu, who was on a hill overlooking the harbor and remembers seeing the USS Arizona and Oklahoma being hit.

Because he was in Hawaii at the start of the war and not the mainland, Shimizu was not incarcerated.

They couldnt confine us, everything would have collapsed, he said. We were a majority of the population.

Shimizu, who was filmed in the 2010 documentary 442: Live with Dignity, Die with Honor, said he volunteered for the Army as soon as he was able.

It was a natural instinct, he said.

Shimizu was part of one of the wars most famous rescues, when the 442nd saved the Lost Battalion, a Texas unit surrounded by the Germans in the Vosges Mountains in October, 1944.

After two failed attemps by other units, the 442nd, suffering horrendous losses, punched through the German defense to save the 141st Infantry. It was in that campaign that Shimizus fighting career ended. His right arm was badly injured and nearly lost to injuries from shrapnel.

Although this is his first parade in Huntington, Shimizu said he was part of a parade in Little Tokyo.

Its always an honor to be asked, he said.

This is actually Miyadas second go-around in the parade. He was a performer 76 or 77 years ago, hes not exactly sure. He was part of the Aoki Dojo and performed on stage in a swordfighting exhibition.

I was young, in the seventh or eighth grade, said Miyada, a retired UC Irvine professor. That was my first and last time in the parade. Im not the type to parade and wave my arms.

Miyada also gained attention in 2014, when he was part of the graduation ceremony at Newport Harbor High School 72 years after he was forced to leave the school before his graduation and sent to confinement in Poston, Ariz.

However, when recruited to be in the parade, much like when he was drafted into the military, Miyada said he responded to duty.

Its an obligation to represent the unit and all who served in the war, he said.

Miyada was drafted into the Army in April 1944 after being released from incarceration. He was working in a factory in Detroit at the time.

Although not enthused to join the military, Miyada did not resist.

I would have preferred to stay working in the war industry, he said.

Miyada asked to join the Navy but was assigned to the 100th battalion of the 442nd.

Although he fought in campaigns in Europe, he downplays his personal involvement.

We got the usual, Miyada said of citations. We got the Presidential Unit Citation and Bronze Star. Thats about it.

Oshiro is a native of Waipahu, Hawaii and now lives in Huntington Beach. He served in the 442nd Anti-Tank Company and was involved in the invasion of Southern France, flying a glider out of Italy.

He earned a Purple Heart, Bronze Star and was part of five campaigns.

Tanita, who lives in Los Alamitos and served in Company D with the 81 mm mortar company, said he is unsure whether he will be able to attend.

Tanita was scratching out a living farming in Arizona when he was drafted into the 442nd near the end of the war. Although he completed training and shipped to Italy, Tanita said, We were sitting in the harbor when the war ended.

Despite the treatment of Nisei, the Tanita family sent nine boys into the military, five who served in World War II and two who were in Korea.

Pat Stier, co-director of the parade, said adding World War II veterans to the parade in recent years and the Japanese Americans this year has added a special feel.

They have added such a nice ambiance, she said. They get saluted all the way down the parade route. Im so glad theyre a part of it.
More than 300 VN-4s have been sold overseas. [Photo: Xinhua]

For countries facing unrest or terrorist threats, China's largest land armaments maker is offering a deterrentthe VN-4 armored vehicle.

More than 300 of them have been sold to five nations in Asia, South America and Africa since 2011, when the armored vehicle was exported to its first user, an Asian country.

This is according to a publicity officer at China North Industries Group Corp, known as Norinco, who spoke to China Daily in an exclusive interview.

Han Xiaoxin, publicity head at Chongqing Tiema Industries Group Co, a Norinco subsidiary that specializes in armored vehicles, said these contracts earned nearly 330 million yuan ($50.3 million) for the State-owned defense company.

"Since the beginning of this year, we have signed contracts with foreign clients for VN-4 deals with a total value of 4.7 million yuan.

"We have also reached cooperation agreements on the VN-4 with several countries in Asia and Africa," he said, adding that Chongqing Tiema is helping an Asian nation to build an assembly line for the vehicle, which will soon start operating.

The VN-4, which weighs 9 metric tons, is suitable for quick-response deployment and can travel in all types of terrain.

A wide variety of weapons can be installed on the vehicle at the buyer's request. It can be used to control riots, rescue hostages, for armed escorts, border patrols, and for counterterrorism and peacekeeping operations, Han said.

According to Chongqing Tiema, the VN-4 can carry 10 people, can conduct amphibious operations and is able to resist 7.62-mm bullets fired from assault rifles.

Han said, "The capability and performance of the VN-4 has been recognized by our clients. One of them, a South American country that has faced social unrest in recent years, bought a large number of VN-4s for its National Guard, which used them for many security tasks.

"Another buyer in Africa uses VN-4s to patrol and guard important outposts. It also wants to buy more of the vehicles."

He declined to identify the buyers, citing Norinco's confidentiality policy.

According to IHS Jane's Defense Weekly, the latest VN-4 buyer is Kenya, which commissioned 30 of the vehicles in February for its police force. The report also said Venezuela bought 141 VN-4s in early 2013.
LONG BEACH  A barricade led to an officer-involved shooting in Long Beach on Tuesday, leaving both the male suspect and a 4-year-old police dog dead, authorities said.

Police originally went to the 2800 block of East 15th Street at about 9 a.m. to look for a man wanted in connection with multiple shootings, according to the Long Beach Police Department. The suspect was considered armed and dangerous.

Police say the suspect, who has not yet been named by authorities, was wanted in connection with a December 2014 shooting in Long Beach with multiple victims.

Once police located the suspect, officers said the man aggressively charged at the officers, the officers used a 40mm rubber baton round and a police service dog attached to a special weapons team.

The service dog, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois named Credo, tried to stop the mans advance toward officers, Long Beach police said. As Credo fought with the suspect, the suspect produced a knife and one officer discharged his weapon to protect himself and the other officers from the suspect.

Both the suspect and Credo were struck by that officers gunfire at about 11:15 a.m., police said.

The knife was recovered at the scene.

Following the shooting, an officer was seen carrying Credos limp body from the scene and placing the canine on a sidewalk. Officer Mike Parcells, Credos handler, was visibly angry and shaken, ripping off his helmet and hurling it away before burying his head in his hand.

The dog was then placed into a patrol car and driven to a nearby animal hospital, where it was pronounced dead.

It is with heartfelt sadness that we announce our K9 Credo succumbed to his injuries, the LBPD tweeted.

The suspect was treated by paramedics at the scene and was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The suspects name was not immediately released.

Parcells, who has been with the department for more than 20 years, also lost a police dog partner in 2005. Ranger, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, was fatally shot Oct. 2, 2005, while police tried to flush an armed parolee from a hiding spot under a porch.

About 750 people attended the funeral for Ranger and Drago, another Long Beach police K9 who died when the air conditioning inside his patrol car failed.

Tuesday afternoon, dozens of officers stood in line outside the animal hospital and saluted as Credos flag-draped body was carried out of the building and placed inside a police K-9 unit SUV.

Long Beach police Deputy Chief Richard Conant said Credo had been with the department for two years.

This is going to be a substantial loss to our K-9 corps, to our K-9 handler who has worked with Credo the past two years and to the Long Beach police family, Conant said.

These K-9s are not just dogs. These are police officers. This dog was injured in the performance of his duty and thats going to weigh heavily on the Long Beach police family.

Police said Credo worked patrol and narcotics operations primarily, and was involved in more than 30 apprehensions in his police career.

No other injuries were reported, police said.

Neighbors described the man killed in Tuesdays police shooting as mellow and a father who seemed to lead a normal life.

The suspect lived with his longtime partner and their two young daughters, said neighbor Bobby Delouth, 52, who described the suspect as a mild-mannered dude.

Every day he took his kids to school, Delouth said. I didnt think he was into nothing.

Delouth said he heard police pleading with the suspect to surrender, to which the suspect responded, Im not turning myself in today.

Staff Writers Greg Yee, Andrew Edwards and City News Service contributed to this report.
A rainy winter in Northern California may have strengthened the states water supply, but San Juan Capistrano is keeping conservation tools in place in case Southern Californias drought continues.

The City Council voted 5-0 at its June 21 meeting to keep in place the citys Stage 2 water alert, which limits lawn watering and irrigation to two days a week, bans all non-essential use of potable water and bans use of automatic sprinklers from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and sets other restrictions. The city also submitted a request to the state Water Resources Control Board to relax the states order that San Juan reduce local water consumption 27 percent compared to 2013.

That request is in response to Gov. Jerry Browns recent executive order letting local communities certify their own local water restrictions based on local supply and needs.

City Manager Ben Siegel said if the state responds favorably, city staff will present the City Council later this summer with a recommended 10-percent conservation level to be consistent with the regional goals and with our need to maintain a water conservation policy and culture.

Councilman John Perry said local residents have done a magnificent job curtailing water use in response to the 27-percent mandate imposed on the city. Major reservoirs now are full in Northern California as a result of strong El Nino rains that didnt spread to Southern California, Perry said. But continuing drought is forecast for Southern California.

At the council meeting, Perry urged residents to continue conserving water  for example, replacing grass with drought-tolerant materials where feasible and replacing spray nozzles with drip irrigation.

For more information about the citys water restrictions, visit sanjuancapistrano.org. Select Departments, Utilities and Stage 2 Drought Regulations. Questions? Call the city at 949-487-4304

Contact the writer: fswegles@ocregister.com or 949-492-5127
Re: Retired cop gets 7 years in prison [News, May 21]: While many things in your article were accurate, there was one glaring error. It included a quote that characterized my brother, Randolph Adair, as the son of a violent alcoholic and this is not true. My father, Leland Buck Adair, was an alcoholic but was never violent or abusive. To portray him in this way is an injustice to his memory.

He was kind and gentle and had embraced sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous for more than 40 years prior to his death. He regretted his addiction and the distress it caused his family and he spent the last half of his 90 years helping other alcoholics gain and maintain sobriety. He gave himself to help others afflicted with this disease, my brother included.

After speaking with a journalist at the paper, I now know that the errant quote was taken from the pre-sentencing report. But I still feel more care should have been taken in checking for accuracy. A simple call to me or one of my sisters would have shed a different light. My father does not deserve to have his memory smeared.

Roberta Smith

Fallbrook

Cannabis helps

Re: To legalize pot or not [Letters, June 26]: I am 66 years old and disabled from fractured hip and cancer surgery. I fully agree with Jean M. Adams that cannabis is preferable to the pain medication I am now prescribed. If cannabis helps, leave people alone. I want it legal, without government interference. But, whenever it comes up on a ballot I vote yes and nothing happens  just more mumbo jumbo. Live in my body and see how quick people change their positions.

Charles Solomon

Fullerton

Happy to be alive

Re: Supreme Court strikes down Texas abortion clinic regulations [News, June 27]: I have a very personal relationship to the abortion controversy. I was born at an establishment in eastern Missouri called The Willows. It was where unwed women, mostly from the upper Midwest, could go to give birth until the mid-1950s, when the family that ran it closed it.

At one month of age I was adopted by a loving family from Illinois. I will be forever thankful that there was not abortion on demand back in those days, as I have enjoyed a fruitful life, and a very active retirement.

Robert W. Grebner

Brea
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SHANGHAI, June 28 -- The Shanghai building where the Communist Party of China (CPC) held its first national congress has undergone a major refurbishment and expansion for its reopening on July 1, the 95th anniversary of the Party's founding.

On July 23, 1921, the first National Congress of the Communist Party of China was convened at now the 76 Xingye Road, Shanghai, which was attended by 13 people from across China.

The development of the two-story building, turned into a memorial in 1952, has expanded its exhibiting space from 450 square meters to 1,000 square meters. It has also added multimedia facilities and 120 new exhibits, according to curator Zhang Liming.

There are materials related to Russian intelligence agent Vladimir Abramovich Neiman, a representative of the Communist International, who was among two foreigners at the CPC national congress.

An ink slab that belonged to the other foreigner, a Dutch member of the Communist International who went by the alias Maring, will also be put on show.

Zhang said the slab was donated by the daughter of Maring, whose real name was Hendricus Joseph Franeiseus Mavie.

He said the expansion of the memorial allowed enough space to include boards profiling each of the 13 Chinese attendees of the meeting.
Spending about 6 million yuan ($902.400), a 86-year-old woman from eastern Chinas Jiangxi province completed a museum with the purpose of collecting porcelain ware, china.com.cn reported. The project took her five years.

The woman named Yu Ermei is a businesswoman running a porcelain factory in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, also known as the "porcelain capital". She started to learn pottery art when she was 12 and had worked in the industry prior to starting her own business.

Her products are even sold to Russia and Thailand. As a collector, Yu also possesses a collection of more than 6,000 pieces of porcelain wares.

Yu first came up with the idea of building a museum collecting porcelain ware produced by herself in her fifties, and began to implement her plan at the age of 80.

The "Porcelain Palace", named by the old lady, was all designed by herself. Yu even had spent 4 Spring Festivals alone at the construction site.

With 5 years of endeavor, the "Porcelain Palace" has now taken shape. According to Yu, the palace is not only a realization of her dream, but also a contribution to the "porcelain capital".
The California Department of Insurance said Wednesday that Applied Underwriters, a division of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. with about 650 employees in Omaha, and an affiliated company must cease and desist sales and renewals of certain workers compensation policies in California.

Applied Underwriters and California Insurance Co., both Berkshire companies, were the subjects of a ruling last week by Commissioner Dave Jones, who said they used a complex insurance scheme to circumvent state regulation in coverage they sold to a 60-employee company, Shasta Linen Supply Inc. of Sacramento.

Wednesdays order extends Jones ruling to all similar policies that the companies issue in California, although theres a 30-day period to hold a hearing and a legal appeal process available.

Applied Underwriters referred a call seeking comment to an attorney who did not return a call. The attorney had said last week that the company did not agree with Jones finding and would appeal. Berkshires office in Omaha also did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Jones summary of the dispute, California Insurance had argued that the agreement between Applied Underwriters and Shasta was not an insurance policy and wasnt subject to state regulators review.

Similar orders regarding Applied Underwriters have been issued by state regulators in Wisconsin and Vermont.

The California order covers workers compensation insurance policies that offer guaranteed limits on clients costs but are tied to reinsurance participation agreements.

The clients are required to purchase the agreements, known as EquityComp or SolutionOne, from an Applied Underwriters affiliate called Applied Underwriters Captive Risk Assurance Co. Inc., the order said.

Jones said the policies and the agreements seem to offer lower costs to the business clients but actually result in much higher costs because they shift risk of claims to the clients.

He ruled that those arrangements are illegal because they werent submitted to state regulators, a step he said is aimed at protecting businesses from unfair practices. He ordered the Shasta Linen agreement voided and excess costs refunded.

Jones said Wednesday that his Shasta Linen ruling sets a precedent for finding the other policies and agreements to be in violation of state law as well. Jones said insurance brokers in California who continue selling the policies would be violating their responsibility to their clients and are not in compliance with state insurance regulations.

The California Insurance Department said the Berkshire companies can present information at the hearing and can seek to put the order on hold, and also could seek a court review of the agencys order.

California Insurance is the seventh-largest workers compensation insurer in California, with 3.1 percent of the that market, the department said.

The Omaha World-Herald is owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
ConAgra Foods is scheduled to report its fiscal fourth-quarter 2016 results Thursday morning  amid a year of big changes for the packaged-food company, its stock could continue to rise, Wall Street analysts say.

It faces still-falling sales of products in some of its core brands. Yet analysts say big changes on the horizon could right the ship.

ConAgra shares have an average overweight rating among 16 analysts polled by FactSet, meaning analysts expect the stock to have a better return than competitors in the packaged goods industry. Those analysts gave the stock an average target price of $49.54. Shares closed Wednesday up 0.3 percent at $47.10, but having fallen with the broader market from a record high of $47.94 on Thursday after the United Kingdoms Brexit vote.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect earnings of 52 cents per share for the quarter, down from 59 cents a year ago; ConAgra beat the FactSet consensus in each of its last three quarters.

The fourth-quarter report closes out a year that saw rapid-fire changes ordered by new chief executive Sean Connolly, steering the ship under pressure from activist investors Jana Partners.

A number of top executives were replaced or left the company, while ConAgra announced that it would relocate its headquarters to Chicago from Omaha, lay off 1,500 office workers companywide to cut costs, sell its beleaguered Ralcorp private label unit, and spin off its better-performing Lamb Weston frozen potato business.

More changes came since its last earnings report in April. ConAgra said it would sell two of its smaller business units: Spicetec Flavors & Seasonings for $340 million, and food ingredient distributor JM Swank for an undisclosed amount. The moves are part of the companys push to slim down and focus on its core consumer products business.

Analysts will be looking Thursday for any tidbit of an update about managements plans for Lamb Weston. The question of whether ConAgra will spin off the business as announced, or shift gears and sell it, is a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the stock, Credit Suisse analyst Robert Moskow told clients in May.

Dont expect answers Thursday  management commentary will probably be limited, Deutsche Bank analyst Mario Contreras wrote last week.

Company management has insisted that a spinoff is in the works for this fall, despite nagging analyst and investor questions about whether a sale would be more valuable.

A Wall Street Journal report last week that ConAgra held talks about selling the unit to St. Louis conglomerate Post Holdings reignited speculation. The companies didnt comment.

The report led J.P. Morgan analyst Ken Goldman to raise his price target on ConAgra, telling clients in a June 23 note that such a deal would be more valuable than a spinoff.

More change could be on the horizon. Goldman said ConAgra has room to take further steps to cut costs and add value, including more layoffs, cutting other annual expenses, consolidating manufacturing plants, selling its stake in the Ardent Mills joint venture and even the sale of ConAgras legacy grocery-store brands, which include names like Chef Boyardee, Pam cooking spray and Peter Pan peanut butter.

Would a competitor be interested? That could depend on the strength of those brands, which in several categories are seen as second- or third-tier. ConAgra has lately reformulated some products, launched new advertising and reversed deep discounts to turn around weak performance.

Contreras will be looking for signs that its working.

It remains to be seen if brands such as Banquet can sustainably compete on factors other than price, he said.

Contact the reporter: 402-444-1336, barbara.soderlin@owh.com
The patriotic exhibit Remembering Our Fallen is traveling throughout the state of Nebraska and will be on display at Cabelas Club in Lincoln on Thursday.

The photo exhibit, which honors 97 Nebraskans who will killed while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces in the War on Terror since 2001, includes military and personal photos of each of Nebraskas fallen.

An opening ceremony for the Remembering Our Fallen exhibit will take place at Cabelas Club, 4800 NW 1st St., at 9 a.m., and include special guests, the honor guard and a singing of the nation anthem. The display will be open to the public immediately following the opening ceremony until 1 p.m., and again from 4 to 8 p.m. Bellevue University is sponsoring the exhibits display.

We must remember these American heroes and speak their names when we see their family members. We can never forget those who sacrificed everything for our freedom, said Dr. Mary Hawkins, president of Bellevue University. This exhibit is created so it can travel throughout Nebraska, offering more people an opportunity to remember Nebraskas fallen.

The Remembering Our Fallen exhibit was created by Patriotic Productions, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Omaha. The company has created exhibits for 17 other states and its goal is to complete one for every state.

We are honored Cabelas has been given the opportunity to host the Remembering Our Fallen exhibit within our Lincoln facility, said Sean Baker, Cabelas Club President and Chief Executive Officer. This is the second consecutive year we have been privileged to host the tribute and make it available to the public. We encourage the community to visit the exhibit and join us in honoring and remembering all Nebraskans who have given their lives over the past 15 years to protect our freedoms.

For more information regarding the exhibit, visit RememberingOurFallen.org.
Their faces and names cant be published, and the location of the summer camp they attend cant be revealed, but behind those state-enforced rules lies one of Bellevues newest attempts to inject a little privilege into the lives of underprivileged children.

Bellevues Royal Family Kids Camp is in its fourth year, one of a network of similarly named camps across the nation that affiliate with churches and work with state agencies to ensure that children aged 7 through 11 in foster care systems get a summer camp experience.

Bellevues Royal Family Kids Camp is operated by the Bellevue Christian Center. In particular, its managed by Amy Stanley, who saw the program as something that would fit well with the BCCs commitment to community involvement and the nurturing of youth.

The kids we work with have been tossed around from home to home, or been in abusive situations  places where they havent been loved  and so havent had the same opportunities as other kids, she said. There are kids who have never had a birthday party. Just last week we had a kid who said shed never had one.

So, at the 2016 camp, which took place the week of June 6, that girl had a birthday party.

Birthday parties are routinely held at the camp, Stanley said, for they can be rare events in the lives of children who have not known stable families.

Stanley, childrens director at Bellevue Christian Center, came across the camp concept while attending a childrens ministry training program and saw how well its Christian orientation would fit with her church.

The rules and the model for the camps come from Royal Family Kids Camps Inc., a California-based company founded by the husband and wife team of Wayne and Diane Tesch, who launched the program in 1990. Since then, approximately 100,000 children have attended camps throughout the United States.

Churches that partner with RFKC Inc. are responsible for recruiting camp counselors and volunteers, locating a camp site and raising the money to fund the camp. Children are enrolled from state foster care systems and other child welfare agencies such as Court Appointed Special Advocates.

The cost of a camp runs between $20,000 and $22,000, Stanley said, an amount that is raised by the camps volunteer counselors (each of whom is asked to raise $400), other fundraising, and, in the case of the Bellevue camp, through the annual OmahaGives! online fundraising campaign.

The foster care kids who attend the camps are those who have demonstrated an inability, either because of behavior issues or a complicated medical regimen, to attend regular camps. In other words, they need close attention.

Counselors are responsible for no more than two children each, must accompany them everywhere, and must always have another adult present.

Once thats accomplished, the kids go about the normal joys of summer camp  swimming, rock climbing, ziplines, bounce houses, parties and singalongs.

Given the Christian orientation of the camp program there is a religious component that involves nondenominational chapel time, Bible stories and hymns, but state rules forbid such denominational practices as communion and baptism, or calling upon the children to pray.

Shelby Jordan, 23, was one of the counselors at his years camp, having been introduced to the program by her younger brother.

Ive been a counselor at other church camps and this is a lot more challenging, she said. You have two kids that youre responsible for at all times, and the rules are different. You must have another adult with you at all times. If one kid has to go to the bathroom, you must take all four with you.

You dont just put them in time out if theyre misbehaving, you have to talk it through. It was the hardest and most fun week of my life.

Deb VanOrnam, a camp organizer who has since adopted a child who attended the Bellevue camp, said the Bellevue Christian Center does not attempt to maintain a church relationship with the children once camp ends.

For that to happen, she said, the foster parent or other guardian, would have to approach the church directly.

On the other hand, she said, so far as the camp goes, once a child has been judicially separated from his or her primary caregiver for whatever reason, he or she is always eligible to attend the camp.

We try to give them a really good time, she said.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump boils down his foreign policy agenda to two words: America First.

For students of U.S. history, that slogan harkens back to the tumultuous presidential election of 1940, when hundreds of thousands of Americans joined the anti-war America First Committee. That isolationist groups primary goal was to keep the United States from joining Britain in the fight against Nazi Germany, which by then had overrun nearly all of Europe. But the committee is also remembered for the unvarnished anti-Semitism of some of its most prominent members and praise for the economic policies of Adolf Hitler.

AMERICA FIRST FORMED

The America First Committee was founded in spring 1940 at Yale University by students that included future U.S. president Gerald Ford and future Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart. Future President John F. Kennedy contributed $100. Within months, France had capitulated to the Germans and England appeared on the verge of collapse. The committee was soon the largest anti-war organization in U.S. history, with more than 800,000 dues-paying members.

As the committee grew, it attracted celebrities, politicians and business leaders opposed President Franklin Roosevelts lend-lease aid to the British. Among them was the admired aviator Charles Lindbergh, who was the first man to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean more than a decade earlier.

FRIENDS IN BERLIN

Lindbergh, whose family was of Germanic heritage, made multiple high-profile visits to the Fatherland, including to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as a special guest of Field Marshal Hermann Goering, head of the German air force. Lindbergh grew to admire Hitlers revitalization of the German economy at a time the United States was still mired in the Great Depression. He also marveled at the advanced fighters and bombers of the Luftwaffe.

Upon his return to the United States, Lindbergh spoke favorably of the Nazis and published widely read opinion pieces saying the German military conquest of Europe was inevitable and that America should stay out of the war. He joined the executive committee of America First and became the public face of the group, traveling the country to speak at massive anti-war rallies.

ISOLATIONISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM

America First championed the belief that two vast oceans would insulate the United States from foreign invasion. The group also opposed the acceptance of shiploads of Jewish refugees then-fleeing Nazi persecution. In addition to Lindbergh, the executive committee of America First included the automaker Henry Ford, who had paid to publish a series of anti-Semitic pamphlets called The International Jew, and Avery Brundage, the former U.S. Olympic Committee chairman who had barred two American Jewish runners from competing at the Berlin Olympics.

Lindbergh espoused anti-Semitic views in his speeches, including a September 1941 America First rally in Des Moines, Iowa.

The British and the Jewish races, for reasons which are not American, wish to involve us in the war, he said. Their greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government.

Within days of the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany declared war on the United States. America First quickly disbanded.

TRUMPS AMERICA FIRST

During his first major foreign policy speech in April, Trump said America First will be the major and overriding theme of my administration.

He has repeatedly used the slogan on the campaign trail, including in a speech this week.

We are going to put America First, and we are going to Make America Great Again, Trump said last week in another speech. We need to reform our economic system so that, once again, we can all succeed together, and America can become rich again. Thats what we mean by America First.

Trump has proposed building a big, beautiful wall along the U.S. border with Mexico to keep out Latino immigrants and opposes the admittance of Muslim war refugees from Syria. He has also called for tearing up international trade deals.

ECHOES OF THE PAST

Historians told The Associated Press there are some ideological parallels between Trumps rhetoric on the campaign trail and the positions taken 75 years ago by members of the American First Committee. Then as now, an economic downturn fanned popular resentment toward immigration, especially by those who were not perceived as traditional Americans.

Building a wall is about the illusion that there can be a physical safeguard to prevent intrusion from alien forces, said Bruce Miroff, a professor who teaches on American politics and the presidency at the State University of New York at Albany. America First was tapping into suspicion of an ominous other who threatened the American way of life. At that time, it was about Jews. With Trump, its Muslims and fear of terrorism.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not respond to messages this week seeking comment about the America First slogan.

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, sent Trump a letter two months ago urging him to refrain from using America First. The group also took $56,000 that Trump and his family foundation had donated to it over the years and redirected the money to new anti-bias and anti-bullying education programs.

For many Americans, the term America First will always be associated with and tainted by this history, said Jonathan Greenblatt, the groups chief executive. In a political season that already has prompted a national conversation about civility and tolerance, choosing a call to action historically associated with incivility and intolerance seems ill-advised.

The group received no response to its letter, but Trump has continued to use the slogan, including in a new speech Tuesday.

Copyright 2016, the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
ISIS vs Kurds vs Turkey govt: What is the conflict all about

Feature

oi-Vicky

Turkey has come under attack yet again. Five attacks in Istanbul and three in Ankara in recent times has sent across a clear message that the entire country is no longer immune to terror strikes. Turkey has primarily faced a problem from the Kurdish militants.

However today the ISIS too has joined in and today's attack at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul in which 36 people have been killed is being blamed on the outfit.

Bombings in the past by the Kurdish groups have largely focused on the military. However the attack in March in Ankara by the Kurdish groups had been targeted on the civilians. However it is the ISIS which has targeted civilians the most.

Turkish PM says first signs in Istanbul attack point to IS

Why has the situation worsened in Turkey?

There are two battles that are on in Turkey. One battle is within Turkey with the Kurds while the other is on the Syrian border. The government has been at war with the Kurdistan Workers' Party for nearly 4 decades. With the intervention of the West, there was a cease fire called for.

However that came to an end in July 2015 with the bombing at Suruc in which 32 Kurdish activits were killed and the strike was blamed on an ISIS bomber.

The reason behind the attack by the ISIS was because some of the Kurdish activists were heading to Kobane a town destroyed by the ISIS. It was said that they wanted to help rebuild the town.

The Kurds accused the government while stating that they were helping the ISIS. There were a spate of attacks and the Kurds stated that the government was using the ISIS to stop the Kurds from gaining territory in Iraq and Syria. This marked the end of the cease fire.

2 explosions hit Istanbul's Ataturk airport, 36 dead

No longer an attractive destination:



With the ISIS joining the race to stage attacks in Turkey, the destination is no longer safe. For several years, tourists from across the world had considered Turkey to be a safe destination. However in recent times both France and the UK have warned that the ISIS will look to target foreign tourists in Turkey.

The situation in the past two years has turned so bad that several citizens of Turkey too had complained while stating that they fear going to crowded markets.

Experts had warned in the past that the war was coming to Turkey. They were right and statistics show that Turkey has been hit over and over again in the recent past.

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 9:28 [IST]
Know Constituencies of UP Assembly polls 2017: JHANSI NAGAR

Feature

oi-Pallavi Sengupta

Uttar Pradesh will go to Assembly elections early in 2017. The state has an Assembly comprising 403 seats and a party/alliance has to win 202 seats to form the government. In 2012, when the last state election was held in UP, the Samajwadi Party had won 224 seats to get a decisive majority.

Oneindia will take one Assembly constituency a day and have a look at electoral information related to it:

Constituency Name: JHANSI NAGAR

[Jhansi (MB + OG) of 5-Jhansi Tehsil.]

Constituency Number: 223

Winner: Ravi Sharma

Winning Party: BJP

Winning Votes: 67,043

Runner Up: Sita Ram Kuswaha

Runner Up Party: BSP

Runner Up Votes: 58,963

Total Votes: 2,13,818

Margin: 8,080

Margin Percent: 3.78%

Turnout: 57.03%

Electors: 3,74,928

Total Votes Polled: 2,13,818 (57.0%)

Total Valid Votes: 2,13,784 (57.0%)

About JHANSI NAGAR

Male: 1,057,436

Female: 941,167

Area Sq. Km: 5,024

According to a legend the Raja of Orchha was sitting on the roof of his palace with his friend, the Raja of Jaitpur, and asked the latter whether he could discern this new fort that he had built on Bangara hill, and he replied that he could see it 'jhainsi' (meaning rather indistinct).

This name 'Jhainsi' in course of time became corrupted to 'Jhansi'. It was one of the most strategically situated forts of central India being built on an elevated rock rising out of the plain and commanding the city and the surrounding country.

In the 18th century the town of Jhansi served as the capital of a Maratha province and later the Princely State of Jhansi from 1804 till 1853, when the territory became a part of British India. It is a major tourist destination.

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 15:43 [IST]
A seminar on the South China Sea Arbitration and International Rule of Law was held on Sunday in the Hague, the location of the Permanent Court of Arbitration's arbitral tribunal. At the seminar hosted by both Chinese and Dutch academic institutions, experts from various countries warned that the unilateral filing of the South China Sea arbitration case by the Aquino administration of the Philippines and the arbitral tribunals overreach and abuse of power is a desecration of the spirit of the rule of law and pose a threat to current international order.

With this move, the Philippines is just adorning itself with borrowed plumes. First of all, estoppel is a basic principle of international law. As is known to all, China and ASEAN countries, including the Philippines, signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in 2002, in which all sides agreed to settle disputes over the South China Sea through friendly negotiation and consultation by parties directly concerned.

In 2011, the Philippines and China issued a joint statement, reiterating their respect and observation of the DOC. However, just two years later, the Aquino administration unilaterally submitted the South China Sea case for arbitration in spite of its previous commitments.

Secondly, the Philippines ignores basic historical facts by presumptuously claiming that the Chinese people never lived or conducted activities in the South China Sea region, thus bearing no sovereignty over the islands in the region.

Yet no one can deny the historical fact that those islands have been part of Chinas territory since ancient times. Successive Chinese governments have continued to govern the islands through multiple approaches including setting administrative divisions, military patrols and conducting salvages at sea.

Respecting historical fact is an important principle of international law. Through its lack of respect for the facts, the South China Sea case violates this principle.

Moreover, the Philippines interpretation of the legal status of the islands and reefs in the South China Sea is not in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS) and other international laws.

The Southeast Asian nation claims that the Huangyan Island and the Nansha islands cannot be considered islands as such no one can establish exclusive economic zones or claim the continental shelves there. Such an argument flies in the face of objective reality.

The Philippines deliberately misrepresented factual information about the islands and reefs in the South China Sea during the trial and carelessly negated the integrity of the Nansha islands as well as the island status of Taiping Island and other large islands in area. However, its claims are not only inconsistent with reality, but also incompatible with UNCLOS and other international laws.

The legal representatives of the Philippines also withheld necessary information concerning other islands in the South China Sea (not included in its arbitration request) on purpose, and refused to present them to the court. It is safe to say that the Philippines argument concerning the South China Sea islands and reefs lacks basic credibility.

Taking this into consideration, the arbitral tribunal has clearly violated UNCLOS, abused the UNCLOS settlement procedure and exceeded its jurisdiction by accepting the unilateral request of the Philippines and even trying to deliver a verdict on the South China Sea issue. Its self-proclaimed jurisprudence and normative power demonstrate great irony.

The core of the South China Sea issue between China and the Philippines are territorial and maritime delimitation disputes. Territorial issues do not fall within the scope of UNCLOS authority. Additionally, as early as 2006, China has excluded compulsory settlement procedures from maritime delimitation disputes in accordance with Article 298 of UNCLOS.

As a temporary institution founded on UNCLOS, the tribunal has zero jurisdiction over this case. Arbitration and other international judicial methods to resolve disputes means resorting to third-party settlement. However, this option has already been excluded by internationally binding bilateral agreements between China and the Philippines.

The tribunal chose to ignore these binding documents and breached the premises, exclusions and exceptions for compulsory settlement procedure stipulated in UNCLOS to establish jurisdiction on its own.

The tribunals blatant disregard for the agreement China and the Philippines made concerning settling disputes has irresponsibly broken the consensus reached between the two states and has seriously violated Chinas right as a sovereign state and UNCLOS signatory to choose its own dispute settlement method.

Whats more, by repeatedly referencing UNCLOS and extending the conventions coverage to all maritime issues, the tribunal has in fact turned a blind eye to conventional international law.

Any practitioner of international law is aware that articles in UNCLOS are a summary of the historical maritime practices and common will of all countries. UNCLOS shows nothing but respect to conventional international law. However, the tribunal today has discredited all previous practices, contradicting the basic purpose and spirit of UNCLOS.

International law has played a significant role in maintaining a relatively stable international order after World War II. In the decades after the war, hundreds of international treaties were drafted to regulate the conduct of states and peoples lives.

From the planet where we live to outer space, from security to arms control, from economic development to environmental protection, from human rights to judicial cooperation and other areas, these international laws are ubiquitous. The diplomatic actions of every county call for international law. In other words, it is a commonly recognized standard for the international community. The world would fall into chaos without it, and the law of the jungle would once again dominate.

Therefore, the abuse of international law by the Philippines and the tribunal has undermined the authority of the law, which will in turn greatly impact the stability of international order.

It is worth mentioning that the US, a country outside the region, has been eager to play a hand in the issue. Those who are familiar with the America-style of dealing with international affairs know that safeguarding the integrity of international law is a catchphrase for the country when it comes to international dealings.

However, as a country that attaches such importance to the protection of international law, why has the US supported the illegal acts of the Philippines and the tribunal? The answer is simple: The US only protects those international laws that benefit itself. In the eyes of the US, any illegal act can be considered an act that protects international law so long as it benefits its own strategic interests.

A scholar at the seminar pointed out that what the Philippines has done to China today could happen to other countries in the future. If the tribunal comes to a conclusion that does not conform to the facts and the law, then the same twisted logic could be misapplied to other countries with territorial disputes.

Such apprehension is not without merit. If the irresponsible actions of the Philippines, the US and the arbitral tribunal are not faced head on, they will severely affect the authority of international law. From this perspective, China's fight against the abuse of international law is not only the country safeguarding its territorial sovereignty, but also a contribution to lasting peace and stability in the world.
This UP village lights up on Diwali, for the first time ever!

Know Constituencies of UP Assembly polls 2017: KALPI

Feature

oi-Pallavi Sengupta

Uttar Pradesh will go to Assembly elections early in 2017. The state has an Assembly comprising 403 seats and a party/alliance has to win 202 seats to form the government. In 2012, when the last state election was held in UP, the Samajwadi Party had won 224 seats to get a decisive majority.

Oneindia will take one Assembly constituency a day and have a look at electoral information related to it:

--------------->KNOW NEXT CONSTITUENCY: ORAI

Constituency Name: KALPI

[3-Kalpi Tehsil; KCs 1-Kuthaund & 2-Hadrukh of 2-Jalaun Tehsil.]

Constituency Number: 220

AC Name : Kalpi (220) (SC)

Winner: Umakanti

Winning Party: INC

Winning Votes: 64,289

Runner Up: Sanjay Singh

Runner Up Party: BSP

Runner Up Votes: 57,639

Total Votes: 2,22,562

Margin: 6,650

Margin Percent: 2.99%

Turnout: 62.76%

Electors: 3,54,615

Total Votes Polled: 2,22,562 (62.8%)

Total Valid Votes: 2,22,419 (62.7%)

District: JALAUN

Area Sq. Km: 4,565

Actual Population: 1,689,974

Men: 906,092

Women: 783,882

About JALAUN

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Jalaun one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the 34 districts in Uttar Pradesh currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme.
Watch: Car in flames after it rams into gate of Russian embassy

Russia hosts Indian Warships

Feature

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

In a demonstration of India's commitment to longstanding India-Russia Strategic Partnership and Indian Navy's increasing footprint and operational reach, Indian Naval Ships Sahyadri, Shakti and Kirch have arrived at Vladivostok on a four-day visit (27 Jun - 01 Jul 2016). This is as a part of deployment of the Eastern Fleet to the South China Sea.

The current visit seeks to enhance maritime cooperation between the Indian Navy and the Russian Navy. It will further bolster the strong bonds of friendship between India and Russia and contribute to security and stability in this vital part of the world.

#OSD EF RAdm SV Bokhare FOCEF calling on Chief of Staff, Russian Pacific Fleet pic.twitter.com/bQYCjZ8n8v  SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) June 27, 2016

Programme for the IN ships:

During the visit, the INDRA NAVY (IN) ships will have professional interactions with the Russian Navy aimed at enhancing co-operation between the two forces.

#OSD EF Few glimpses of our ships entering Vladivostok Russia on a goodwill visit + ceremonial GoH @SpokespersonMoD pic.twitter.com/DNRSz15noc June 27, 2016

In addition, between the two navies programmes are planned where in the Indian ships will call on senior Government and military authorities, have sporting and cultural interactions and share best practices to strengthen ties and mutual understanding.

#OSD EF 'Breaking the Bread' ceremony with RAdm SV Bokhare FOCEF. Our relations go a long way. @SpokespersonMoD pic.twitter.com/oAA2HTDFG3  SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) June 27, 2016

The visiting IN ships will conduct exercises with the Russian Navy, aimed at enhancing interoperability in communication as well as Search and Rescue procedures, post departure from Vladivostok.

India and Russia collaborations:

The relation between India and Russia is time tested and both the countries have shared friendly ties in the field of culture, trade and economy, science and technology and most important field amongst all has been defence. Both the countries keep interacting and cooperate in all areas.

#OSD EF Ambassador of India to Russia Sh Pankaj Saran visits INS Sahyadri, meets offrs & men. @SpokespersonMoD pic.twitter.com/XS8bEgu0ev  SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) June 28, 2016

The other areas where India and Russia cooperate are space technology, hydro carbon exploration and peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Both the countries have evolved from just being a buyer and seller of arms to being two nations which conduct joint research in military and also try to develop and produce advanced defence technologies and systems.

The various proofs of the evolving strategic partnership between Russia and India are: BrahMos missile system, Joint design and development of Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft, licensed production of SU-30 aircraft and T-90 tanks and induction of Aircraft Carrier Vikramditya into the Indian Navy.

On the similar lines the Indian Navy and Russian Navy have also forged enduring linkages with each other, beyond commonality of weapon systems and equipment, overcoming barriers of distance and language. The navies of both the countries engage with each other annually through the IN series of maritime exercise in addition to reciprocal visits by training teams, high-level delegations and ships.

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 13:04 [IST]
What drives ISIS's terror attacks- strength or desperation?

Feature

oi-Pallavi Sengupta

Probably both, believe experts and provide valid reasons for their inference. ISIS has been striking random targets in Paris, USA, Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey, but there is one thing is common between all the places- the air strikes.

Incidentally, ISIS is having a bad time in the home ground. It has lost an important oil refinery in Iraq and a strategically important base in Syria. Moreover, the US ans Kurdish forces have seized control of the Iraqi town of Sinjar from the terror group.

The loss of 2,000 ISIS fighters at Kobani airstrike took a heavy toll on recruitment as the number of foreign fighters dropped from 3,000 to just 50 or 60. Adding to it, the execution of Mohammed Emwazi or "Jihadi John" and Abu Nabil, aka Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, the leader of ISIS in Libya weakened the foundation of the ISIS in a major way.

Compensation for the losses

For the ISIS, losing a check post is a lot on stake- reputation wise. Now to make the world understand that they are still alive and throbbing with life is a temptation that they cannot resist. The suicide bombers and their dramatic entry into a designated venue, in fact, show the very idea behind the attacks. It is basically a terror tactic to grab the world's attention and instill fear.

[Read: Busted Hyderabad ISIS module first in India which was ready to strike ]

In some cases, as experts in the IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center reveal, the attacks are made to bolster recruitment. Increasing number of attacks means Islamophobia and that means aversion of common man toward the Islamic people.

ISIS thrives on this aversion, as it gives rise to hatred and insecurity as the people think that there can be no other place where they will be respected apart from the ISIS's den. This way, more people will go to Syria and fewer people will leave.

[Read: Istanbul terror attack: Will it dash fresh hopes of Turkey's struggling tourism sector? ]

Similarly, the Paris attack would feed the "clash of civilization" narrative. Intensification of military operation against the ISIS will show them in the sympathetic light. Six of the seven attackers who died in the Nov 13 Paris attack detonated their suicide vests, while one was killed by the police. Confusion prevailed among general public, some even considering the encounter 'inhuman', thus gaining ISIS the sympathy.

Local groups, if not ISIS

The role of local groups in expanding the horizon of terror is also commendable. In order to make their presence felt, these groups indulge in a proxy war where they create terror in the name of ISIS to show how useful they are to them.

"They would push the envelope, doing things that the core of al Qaeda wasn't yet doing. For example, using women, going after [chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear] weapons. That's where we saw a lot of the innovation," said one of the experts.

[Read: Istanbul terror strike happened when Turkey was mending ties with Israel, Russia ]

Mia Bloom, a terrorism expert at Georgia State University says, "They would push the envelope, doing things that the core of al Qaeda wasn't yet doing. For example, using women, going after [chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear] weapons. That's where we saw a lot of the innovation."

She further addes,"Historical research also indicates that suicide bombings can be used "to project power in a way that masks an underlying weakness."

Certainly, the weakness comes from the fact it has received tactical defeat in Iraq and Syria.

Role of social media

Social media has played a very important role in the recruitment of ISIS members. The reach is wider and the propagation intricate. Just a click away, anyone can access the 'teachings' and the 'ideas' behind the formation of ISIS. The brainwashing is done online, without any trail. In fact, once the candidate is trained, the arrangements for travelling is also made online.

The success of the online campaign is evident in the reach of ISIS in various areas of the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and the West.

Jihad is the sole driving force for the ISIS, but more than that it is the inability to cope with failures in the face of increasing applicants to the group. Clearly, the desparation of building up an image has taken over the idea of Jihad.

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 13:49 [IST]
96 per cent of newly-elected Rajya Sabha MPs are crorepatis

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi,June 29: 96 per cent newly elected MPs to the Rajya Sabha are crorepatis.The affidavits analysed by the National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has also found that of the 57 MPs, 13 (23%) MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves.

The top three richest MPs in the Rajya Sabha are Praful Patel, Kapil Sibal and Satish Chandra Mishra with assets worth Rs 252 crore, 212 crore and 193 crore respectively.

The MPs will the lowest assets Anil Madhav, Ram Kumar and Pradeep Tamta with assets worth Rs 60 lakh, 86 lakh and Rs 1 crore respectively.

Pending criminal cases:

7 (12%) MPs have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to attempt to murder, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, theft etc.

Party wise MPs with criminal cases: 3 (18%) out of 17 MPs from BJP, 2 (29%) out of 7 MPs from SP, and 1 MP each from INC (11%), BJD (33%), BSP (50%), RJD (50%), DMK (50%), SHS (100%), YSRCP (100%) have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

State wise MPs with criminal cases: 4 out of 11 (36%) MPs from Uttar Pradesh, 2 out of 5 (40%) MPs from Bihar, 1 out of 6 (17%) MPs from Maharashtra, 1 out of 6 (17%) MPs from Tamil Nadu, 1 out of 4 (25%) Karnataka MPs, 1 out of 4 (25%) MPs from Andhra Pradesh, 1 out of 3 (33%) MPs from Madhya Pradesh, 1 out of 3 (33%) MPs from Odisha and 1 out of 2 (50%) MPs from Haryana have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Financial background

Out of the 57 newly elected MPs, 55 (96%) are crorepatis.Party wise crorepati MPs: 15 (88%) out of 17 MPs from BJP, 9 (100%) out of 9 MPs from INC, 7 (100%) out of 7 MPs from SP, 4 (100%) out of 4 MPs from AIADMK, 3 (100%) out of 3 MPs from BJD, 2 (100%) out of 2 MPs from JD(U), 2 (100%) out of 2 MPs from RJD, 2 (100%) out of 2 MPs from DMK, 2 (100%) out of 2 MPs from BSP, 2 (100%) out of 2 MPs from TDP , 1 MP (100%) each from SAD, NCP, SHS, YSRCP and 1 Independent MP have declared assets worth more than Rs. 1 crore.

Average assets:

The average assets value of the newly elected MPs to the Rajya Sabha, 2016 is Rs. 35.84 crores

Party wise average assets:

Among major parties, the average assets for 17 BJP MPs is Rs 17.95 crores, 9 INC MPs is Rs 65.47 crores, 7 SP MPs is Rs 38.09 crores, 4 AIADMK MPs is Rs.6.79 crores and 3 BJD MPs is Rs. 14.98 crores.

OneIndia News
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AAP legislator Mohaniya gets bail

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, June 29: A court here on Wednesday,June 29 granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi legislator Dinesh Mohaniya, who was arrested on the charge of "sexual harassment".

Earlier, his bail plea was dismissed by the court and he was remanded in judicial custody till July 11.

In his bail plea, Mohaniya said he is a sitting legislator and would not flee from justice. He also said that he has been falsely implicated.

Delhi Police has booked him on charges of misbehaviour, manhandling and touching a woman inappropriately.

Mohaniya was arrested on Saturday following a complaint filed by a woman who visited his office-cum-residence with others to complain about irregular water supply.

IANS


PM Modi to interact with participants of Smart India Hackathon finale on August 25: MoE

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UK PM Liz Truss resigns after 45 days in office, successor to be elected next week

Attack on Istanbul airport inhuman: PM

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, June 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today condemned the terror attack in Istanbul, terming it as inhuman and horrific.

"Attack in Istanbul is inhuman & horrific. I condemn it strongly. My thoughts are with bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly," he said in a tweet.

Suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing at least 36 people and wounding many others.

Attack in Istanbul is inhuman & horrific. I condemn it strongly. My thoughts are with bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 29, 2016

PTI
Bollywood condemns Istanbul airport terror attack

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai, June 29: Bollywood stars Hrithik Roshan, Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher and Shekhar Kapur among others have mourned the loss of lives in the terror attack at the Istanbul airport.

Three suspected Islamic State group suicide bombers targeted the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, leaving 41 people dead and wounding many others. "Shocked to hear about the heinous #Istanbulairportattack! Sending my prayers to the victims & their families.. What has this world come to?" posted Kapoor.

Hrithik, who was vacationing in Africa with sons Hrehaan and Hridhaan, was on his way back to India when he missed his connecting flight at the Istanbul's airport and got stuck there hours before the attack. After landing in India, the "Bang Bang!" star tweeted, "Missed connecting flight at Istanbul and were stuck at airport next flight was next day, but took economy and flew out earlier. #Prayers4istanbul."

The actor thanked the airport staff for the assistance and also asked his fans to come together in the fight against terrorism. "Was helped by the kindest staff at Istanbul airport hours ago. Shocking news. Innocents killed for religion. We must stand united against terrorism," he added. Actor Ayushmann Khurana tweeted, "#Istanbul attack is again a recurring reminder that we need to do a lot to change this world.

Reconciliation from local to global level." "Once again. Violence and Tears. And now just prayers. Tragic. How can killing innocents be part of any religion," tweeted Kapur. Abhishek Bachchan posted, "Stay strong Istanbul. Thoughts and prayers with you." "#IstanbulAttack is again an act of cowardice by terrorists. My heart goes out to the innocent victims & their families. I pray for the injured," Kher wrote.

"Feel so sad about the Istanbul airport attacks... wonderful city wonderful people may God give them strength... what's the world coming to," tweeted Arjun Kapoor. Shraddha Kapoor wrote, "Praying for innocent lives lost... These attacks are so disturbing and heart breaking. #IstanbulAttack."

PTI
Man booked for tweets against Maha CM; has a history of such posts against leaders

Cleanse BJP first instead of 'Swachh Bharat': NCP tells PM

India

oi-PTI

Yavatmal, Jun 29: In a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the cleanliness drive, senior NCP leader Praful Patel today said he should first set the BJP's house in order.

"It would be appropriate on the part of Prime Minister to cleanse the BJP first instead of making a propaganda about 'Swachh Bharat'," the former Union minister told reporters here.

His comments came in an apparent reference to allegations of corruption against senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse who resigned recently as Revenue Minister. Patel claimed that no section of society is satisfied with the performance of the state and Central governments.

"It is unfortunate that BJP leaders like chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari have not brought any development to Vidarbha," Patel said.

He said the NCP would contest the forthcoming elections to the local bodies and municipal councils in the state on its own strength. Patel alleged that no development in real terms came to Vidarbha despite the CM signing MoUs worth thousands of crores at various forums.

"Gadkari has performed 'bhoomipujan' (groundbreaking ceremony) for road development projects but not a single tender has been passed so far," the former Civil Aviation Minister said.

He replied in negative when asked if NCP would extend its support to BJP in case Shiv Sena walks out of the coalition government. When asked whether NCP is avoiding playing an aggressive opposition out of fear of action against its leaders facing the graft charge, Patel said, "Who has stopped government from launching probe or taking legal action against us. They are free to do so. We are ready to face any eventuality".

He said NCP would go with people's choice on granting statehood to Vidarbha.

PTI
We cannot wait longer now: SC to hear Vijay Mallyas contempt case in January for final disposal

Vijay Mallya can be evicted from London home over unpaid loan, UK court orders

Mallyas London home to be held on by family

Court seeks Mallya's presence on July 29

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Mumbai, June 29: A Mumbai Special Court on Wednesday issued an order seeking the presence of Vijay Mallya, head of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines, in connection with money laundering cases filed against him.

Special Judge P.R. Bhavake ordered Mallya to appear before him on July 29 at 11 a.m. Earlier this month, the court had declared him a "proclaimed offender".

Mallya, 60, owes over Rs 9,000 crore to various banks. He left India on a business trip on March 2 using a diplomatic passport and is in the UK.

The Enforcement Directorate is also seeking to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to extradite Mallya.

IANS


Chhath Puja fasting rules: What one must keep in mind during the 4-day festival

Delhi: Girl rang raped on pretext of job in school, accused arrested

India

oi-Jagriti

New Delhi, June 29: At least two people have been arrested in connection with an alleged gang rape of a 17 year old girl in Delhi's Jagatpuri area.

The teenage girl, who works as domestic, was allegedly raped by them on pretext of job in a school on Sunday.

One of the accused a scrap dealer was known to the victim for more than a year.

"The accused, who owns a scrap shop in the market, saw the girl and told her that he can get her a job in a school. He then took her to the school," a senior police officer was quoted as saying by Times of India.

Their entry inside the school was facilitated by the school's security guard, who was known to the scrap dealer, the officer added.

Baby girl raped by neighbour in UP

Duo fled when victim tried to raise an alarm. The victim narrated ordeal to her mother after returning home.

Later a complaint was filed in Jagatpuri police station and the victim was sent for medical examination. A case under IPC Section 376D and other sections of POCSO was registered.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 13:17 [IST]
The aerial photo taken on June 29, 2016 shows the construction site of the main bridge parts of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the world's longest cross-sea bridge, in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province. Two main bridge sections of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge joined together on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)

The world's longest cross-sea bridge HK-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge was successfully joined early Thursday morning, according to authorities of the bridge.

Starting from the Lantau Island in Hong Kong, the Y-shaped bridge will have a total length of about 55 km, including a 6.7 km underwater tunnel and a 23-km bridge over the sea, making it the longest cross-sea bridge in the world.

The bridge will serve as an important channel linking Hong Kong, Macao, Zhuhai and the western part of the Pearl River Delta, one of the most economically-developed areas in the Chinese mainland.

Construction of the bridge started in 2009 at a cost of some 10 billion yuan or 1.5 billion US dollars. Once in operation, the bridge will shorten the four-hour drive from Hong Kong to Zhuhai in Guangdong to half an hour.

The aerial photo taken on June 29, 2016 shows the construction site of the main bridge parts of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the world's longest cross-sea bridge, in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province. Two main bridge sections of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge joined together on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)

Photo taken on Sep. 6 shows construction of all piers holding up the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge have been completed, which means the construction work has entered the final stage. It is scheduled to be finished in late 2016. (Xinhua Photo)

Design sketch of the bridge/ File Photo
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Dr. Harsh Vardhan visits Salt and Chemicals Research Institute in Gujarat

News

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan was recently on a visit of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) - Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI). It is situated in Bhavnagar Gujarat.

Visited CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute Bhavnagar - Lab works in applied research domains. pic.twitter.com/Ft8bj4IEti  Dr. Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) June 27, 2016

Dr. Harsh Vardhan was accompanied by Mrs. Bhartiben Shiyal, Member of Parliament from Bhavnagar constituency and Shri Rajendra Singh Rana, Former Member of Parliament.

The Minister who is also the Vice President of CSIR after the visit said that, "Research is not always about generating big money but about ideas that can bring big changes in the life of common man."

Research is not always abt generating big money but abt ideas that can bring big changes in the life of common man. pic.twitter.com/q5xBU3rYYB  Dr. Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) June 27, 2016

When Dr. Harsh Vardhan visited CSIR-CSMCRI, the institute's Director made a presentation on the institute's activities. The minister also inspected the Mobile Water Purification Unit and Jatropha biodiesel based vehicle of the Institute.

Post which he visited the Reverse Osmosis Division, Marine Biotechnology & Ecology Division and Centralised Instrumentation Facility of the Institute.

The minister was highly impresses by the institute and he appreciated the work done by all the laboratories of the CSIR.

CSIR - the only Indian institution in the first hundred out of 4851 of the whole world Congratulations my scientists pic.twitter.com/GqklMCPVEl

 Dr. Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) June 24, 2016

Dr. Harsh Vardhan in Gujarat:

While in Gujarat Dr. Harsh Vardhan also presided over the signing of technology transfer agreement for making liquid seaweed fertiliser from Sargassum algae by a Ramanthapuram (Tamil Nadu) based start-up company M/s Seaferte Industries which procured the license for the technology.

The Minister also interacted with representatives of Gujarat Credo Mineral Industries Ltd. (GCMIL), Ahmedabad to which the technology for the production of Zeolite from low grade bauxite of the Kutch region has been transferred by CSIR-CSMCRI.

About CSIR-CSMCRI:

The institute engages in the applied research domains in the fields like drinking water, clean and renewable energy, wealth from waste, cultivation and processing of commercially important algae and harnessing ocean resources. It works not only for edible and industrial grade salt, but also for other very valuable products like potash and magnesia.

Research at CSIR-CSMCRI includes drinking water, clean & ren-energy, wealth from waste, harnessing ocean resources. pic.twitter.com/arH3aZ4gTc  Dr. Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) June 27, 2016

Inspection of high purity salt manufacturing process:

Dr. Harsh Vardhan also carried out an inspection of CSIR-CSMCRI's Experimental Salt Farm in Khumbharwada. At Khumbharwada he assessed the high purity salt manufacturing process and value addition in solar salt works.

Lab tech for prod of Zeolite A frm low grade Bauxite in Kutch has had successful trial at GCMI ltd- me at salt farm. pic.twitter.com/x8px5vhFuw  Dr. Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) June 27, 2016

The research being carried out in this institute is unique as CSMCRI is the only laboratory in the country that is addressing research on salt.

The Minister stressed that the research on salt must aim towards improving economic conditions and ensure livelihood security of the small scale salt manufacturers.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan also visited the Institute's Halophyte Park and 0.75 TPD Sulphate of Potash test bed.

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 9:55 [IST]
Chhath Puja fasting rules: What one must keep in mind during the 4-day festival

Encounters have increased in J&K: Manohar Parikkar

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, June 29: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday sought to downplay the recent spurt in violence in Jammu and Kashmir, saying "encounters" have increased in that state and not the attacks by militants.

"There is an increase in encounters," he said when asked about the spurt in the number of terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

Eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 injured when militants ambushed a CRPF convoy in Pampore in Kashmir on June 25. Two terrorists were also killed by security forces.

Parrikar had termed the killing of CRPF personnel at Pampore as an act of "frustration" on the part of Pakistani terrorists, several of whom were killed by Indian forces in the past one year.

Yesterday, an unidentified militant was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Lolab area of north Kashmir's Kupwara district.

PTI
Enough is enough says centre on terror in Kashmir, plans all out offensive

News

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

A meeting of the internal security top brass has decided to go on an all out offensive in Kashmir following the surge in the number of terrorist incidents in recent times. The meeting attended by Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, Intelligence Bureau Director, Dineshwar Sharma and Research and Analysis Wing Chief, Rajinder Khanna took stock of the situation in Kashmir following the Pampore incident in which 8 CRPF personnel were killed.

The first step would be to give more teeth to the security forces who have come under attack on numerous occasions in the recent past. It was also decided that the Border Security Force would replace the CRPF in various places in the state. This was decided as the BSF is a more specialised force to tackle terrorists when compared to the CRPF.

All out offensive:

The directive from the top brass handling internal security was to go on an all out offensive against terrorists. The intelligence sharing mechanism was also reviewed during the meeting. In the Pampore attack there was intelligence about an attack on the security forces, but the same was not specific.

The forces have been told to flush out the militants and also target their hideouts and camps. Rajnath Singh had said in the aftermath of the Pampore attack India will not hesitate to fire if its forces come under attack.

Further the security of the security convoys was also discussed during the meeting. The convoys had become sitting ducks and terrorists launched surprise attacks especially on isolated highways. It was decided that the convoys would be covered by armoured vehicles. This was one of the major flaws in the Pampore attack where the convoy was moving without an escort. Further it was also decided that the areas around where the convoys would be moving will be sanitised by the Road Opening Party.

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 15:28 [IST]
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Gangster Kumar Pillai in police custody till July 7

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai, Jun 29: Wanted gangster Kumar Pillai, who was held in Singapore in February and brought here yesterday, was sent to police custody till July 7 by a special court today, police said.

He was produced before MCOCA court that remanded him in police custody, a police statement said.

The 48-year-old Pillai, who heads an organised crime syndicate, was detained by Singapore early this year after Red Corner Notice was issued against him by Interpol in 2012, police said.

Efforts were made to extradite Pillai from Singapore by city's crime branch through proper correspondence and submission of papers.

"Pillai was extradited from Singapore after proper follow-ups at international level by the government of India. The extradition proposal was submitted through India's central agencies," Joint CP (Crime) Sanjay Saxena said.

Though he had left India in 1997, Pillai was operating his organised syndicate from foreign land through his men in the country, police said.

"Pillai had stepped into the organised crime world to take the revenge of his father's death and is believed to have considerable influence in eastern suburbs of Vikhroli and Bhandup, where he used to extort money from builders," another senior official said.

In 2009, Pillai had demanded Rs 50 lakh extortion from a builder in Vikhroli. But when the builder refused to relent, Pillai's associates opened fire to kill him, although the builder escaped, the official said.

Five accused were arrested and three of them got convicted by MCOCA court in 2015 in this case, police said.

Cases of attempt to murder and extortion have been registered against Pillai in Vikhroli and Kanjurmarg police stations, police said. Crime Branch officials said Pillai, an engineer, used to procure weapons from Sri Lanka's LTTE.

PTI
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News Flash: NIA arrest 5 people for suspected terror activities

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, June 29: Security has been tightened at Mumbai airport in view of attack at international airport in Istanbul.

Get all the latest national and international news updates of Wednesday, June 29 here:

11.20 pm: Turkish PM says 1 suicide bomber blew himself up outside Istanbul airport; 2 others used panic to get inside.

11.05 pm: ICC World T20 2018 to be a 12-team affair, confirms global governing body.

10.30 pm: Going by the report, richer get higher salary, whereas middle & lower class get lower salary: Congress on 7th Pay Commission.

9.10 pm: Britain's FTSE 100 index recovers all losses from Brexit: Reuters.

8.45pm: Security tightened at all airports across the country following Istanbul attack.

8.05 pm: There's no hostile environment. We're neighbours. If we've to talk, we'll talk, ANI quotes Pak High commissioner Abdul Basit.

7.45 pm: Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Nitish Kumar attend iftar party organised by Sharad Yadav

Delhi: Cong Pres. Sonia Gandhi, Vice Pres. Hamid Ansari, Nitish Kumar attend iftar party organised by Sharad Yadav pic.twitter.com/qi4YeO5HuV  ANI (@ANI_news) June 29, 2016

7.30 pm: We hope to finalise our first draft on further action by tomorrow, says NCW Chairperson, Lalitha Kumaramangalam.

7.25 pm: NIA arrest 5 people (of the 11 detained today in Hyderabad) for suspected terror activities, says NIA IG Sanjeev Kumar.

7.21 pm: Comments are very personal, if Ravi Shastri thinks that I'm responsible for him not being coach of India,he is living in a fool's world, says Ganguly.

7.00 pm: Rishi Kumar Shukla to be the new Director General of Police (DGP) of Madhya Pradesh.

6.45 pm: Extremely saddened after hearing Ravi Shastri express his view (related to controversy over head coach selection), says Sourav Ganguly.

6.35 pm: 4 hardcore NDFB (S) linkmen apprehended by Indian Army and Assam police in Kokrajhar. 1 rifle,pistol and few live rounds also recovered from them.

6.34 pm: Madhya Pradesh cabinet expansion to take place tomorrow.

6.12 pm: High alert issued at Raja Bhoj Airport (Bhopal) in wake of Istanbul Attack visitors' entry barred for a week.

6.04 pm: Minimum pay of Govt employees increased to Rs 18000 from existing Rs 7000, says Arun Jaitley.

5.56 pm: Recommendations of 7th Pay Commission to be implemented from 1st January, 2016, says Arun Jaitley.

5.42 pm: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addresses media in Delhi.

5.30 pm: CCEA approves 4-laning of 80 km long Phagwara-Rupnagar Section of NH-344A in Punjab at a cost of Rs.1444 crore in Hybrid Annuity Mode.

5.00 pm: We also recommended that Govt employees should be covered with health insurance for everybody, says Ashok K Mathur (Chairman 7th Pay Commission.

4.45 pm: Have done away the great pay and given an open metric system, which will be very transparent & people will know where they stand, says AK Mathur.

4.38 pm: Rainfall in Vizag (Andhra Pradesh), very heavy rainfall expected in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for coming 2-3 days.

4.07 pm: 23 Turkish citizens, 13 foreign nationals among dead in Istanbul airport attack, says officials

4.00 pm: President has given his nod to sack VC of Pondicherry, says Sources MHRD.

3.40 pm: SC issues notice to Centre over a PIL seeking monitoring of radiation levels emitted by telecom towers,asks Centre to respond within 4 weeks

3.15 pm: FLASH: Saket Court grants bail to AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya, who was arrested by Delhi police for allegedly assaulting a woman.

3.09 pm: SC allows Delhi Govt to get 110 new ambulances registered, also relaxes imposition of pollution cess on these ambulances.

3.00 pm: Today the case over Salman Khan's rape remark was heard, Neither Salman Khan now his lawyer were present: Vijaya Rahatkar, MSCW

There is experience & there is youth. Its nice to come back with such a set up: Anil Kumble,Head coach of Team India pic.twitter.com/BEoTJdKULl  ANI (@ANI_news) June 29, 2016

2.20 pm: NIA also seized few training materials during searches. Search operation underway: NIA Sources

Reporter: Do you think theres rise in terrorist attacks?

Parrikar: I think theres an increased number of encounters. pic.twitter.com/Ugy6OKFilv  ANI (@ANI_news) June 29, 2016

2.15 pm: Searches were conducted at 10 locations, Rs 15 Lakh cash, 9 mm pistol, air gun & chemical of high explosives devices recovered: NIA Sources

2.12 pm: Had info that 5 ppl (of 11 detained today) are involved in terrorist activities, FIR was registered against them on June 22: NIA Sources

2.03 pm: Supreme Court adjourns hearing till September 6 in Triple Talaq matter.

1.30 pm: I have given my recommendations, some have been accepted. Rest Finance Minister will see, says Manohar Parrikar on 7th Pay Commission.

1.15 pm: I won't comment on what he (CRPF DG) said, let the enquiry happen, says Manohar Parrikar on Standard Operating Procedure issue.

1.00 pm: Detained 11 people today, public places and religious places were their targets,they were communicating with a person in Syria, says NIA Sources.

12.57 pm: We have a lot of support, but voting will be the last option, says Venkaiah Naidu.

12.50 pm: If GST is passed, Indian economy will grow further. We have wide support, but we will like every party to be part of consensus, says Naidu.

12.45 pm: I have spoken to MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli at length about the future roadmap, says Anil Kumble.

12.30 pm: Being again back in the Indian dressing room is something special, says Anil Kumble.

12.20 pm: "Tamil Nadu police is worried about protecting only those who are in power,they should protect the common man", says DMK chief M Karunanidhi.

12 noon: Plea seekiing ban on Whatsapp rejected by Supreme Court.



11.55 am: BJP Chief Amit Shah at the inauguration of an exhibition on Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukhrejee- A Selfless Patriot, in Delhi.

Delhi: BJP Chief Amit Shah at the inauguration of an exhibition on Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukhrejee- A Selfless Patriot pic.twitter.com/9U937RifwU  ANI (@ANI_news) June 29, 2016

11.50 am: Cabinet clears 7th Pay Commission recommendations.

11.45 am: Arvind Kejriwal's upcoming Gujarat visit cancelled after State Government did not give permission for program at the chosen venue.

11.30 am: High Alert at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad; Central Industrial Security Force and Rapid Action Force personnel on alert.

11.15 am: Uproar in J&K assembly, independent MLA Engineer Rashid walks out of assembly over Beef Bill.

We have a fundamental right to eat, pray etc. I will try to utilise the legal options available: Engineer Rashid pic.twitter.com/tzDnp46tNh  ANI (@ANI_news) June 29, 2016

Kanhaiya Kumar & JNUSU members met jailed students of Patna Art College (Bihar) at Beur Jail pic.twitter.com/Sle3v1VxCD  ANI (@ANI_news) June 29, 2016

11.00 am: "Some Mumbai BJP leaders have compared Uddhav ji with a character from 'Sholay', Shiv Sena will not tolerate such statements", says Shiv Sena.

10.45 am: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pays homage to great educationist Ashutosh Mukherjee on his 152nd birth anniversary.

10.35 am: Hindu Mahasabha chief Swami Chakrapani gets Z-category.

10.30 am: Ministers arrive for Cabinet meeting, to take up 7th pay commission committee's report.

Ministers arrive for Cabinet meeting, Cabinet to take up 7th pay commission committees report pic.twitter.com/BSubhbzVn9  ANI (@ANI_news) June 29, 2016

10.20 am: First swine fever case confirmed in South Korea since 2013.

10.10 am: Former hockey captain Mohammed Shahid hospitalised in Varanasi.

10.00 am: Arun Jaitley condemns Istanbul attack.

Killing of people in the Istanbul airport blasts is a highly condemnable act of violence.My prayers are with injured & the bereaved families  Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) June 29, 2016

9.49 am: The ISIS suspects were allegedly planning attacks in Hyderabad, NIA officials tell OneIndia.

9.45 am: A total of 11 people detained for suspected terror links

9.40 am: The NIA has recovered explosives, arms and cash from people who were arrested for allegedly being part of the ISIS module in Hyderabad

9.35 am: Raids going on in Hyderabad. Four arrested.

9.30 am: Salem Police arrested man for uploading morphed pictures of a woman, who committed suicide, on Facebook.

9.25 am: Istanbul attack is another desperate attack on humanity by coward criminal forces: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

#IstanbulAttack is another desperate attack on humanity by coward criminal forces..World must unite to destroy such barbaric evil forces..  Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (@naqvimukhtar) June 29, 2016

9.15 am: Raid conducted in Hyderabad on a suspected terror module.

9.07 am: Many flights are reported to have been diverted to Sabiha Gokcen International Airport,delays are expected there as well: MEA

9.00 am: Gold found in urine of Gir Cow, says Junagadh Agricultural University scientists

8.55 am: Ataturk Airport operations at Istanbul have resumed but long delays are likely:MEA

8.50 am: No report so far of any Indian among casualties: MEA

8.45 am: PM Modi condemns Istanbul attack.

Attack in Istanbul is inhuman & horrific. I condemn it strongly. My thoughts are with bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 29, 2016

8.40 am: Three Naxals killed in encounter with Police in Sukma, Chhattisgarh; three guns and a tiffin bomb seized

8.35 am: Hyderabad: Fire broke out at a chemical godown.

8.30 am: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi condemns Istanbul attack.

Shocked &deeply saddened by news of yet another terror attack in Istanbul.Strongly condemn this cowardly attack on innocents: Rahul Gandhi  ANI (@ANI_news) June 29, 2016

8.20 am: Istanbul explosion likely to be carried by ISIS:Binali Yildirim,Turkey PM

8.15 am:Sairam, a Mahatma Gandhi lookalike promotes Swachh Bharat campaign in Bhubaneswar.

Odisha: Sairam, a Mahatma Gandhi lookalike promotes #SwachhBharat campaign in Bhubaneswar pic.twitter.com/L0NHQgbZxY  ANI (@ANI_news) June 29, 2016

8.10 am: Security tightened at Mumbai airport.

8.00 am: At least 36 people were killed in explosions at airport in Istanbul.

OneIndia News
When is Eid ul Fitr 2022? When Shawwal moon will be sighted in India?

Government organises E-greetings design contest for Eid

India

oi-Pallavi Sengupta

New Delhi, June 29: In the first of its kind, the Government of India has organised an e-greeting design contest to mark and celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr. It has also been declared that the top designs would be awarded with cash prizes.

MyGov.in is an interactive portal launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The portal said, "MyGov.in is hosting an e-greetings design contest to mark this day and celebrate the spirit of Eid-Ul-Fitr by creating intriguing designs."

The top three winners will be awarded cash prizes of Rs 10,000, Rs 7,500 and Rs 5,000 respectively. A standing committee will select the designs to be awarded. While the top design will remain on the Prime Minister's web portal from July 4 to 20. The top five designs would remain in the portal beyond the given time.

The statement further added, "The submissions should be in the portrait layout with the size 10x12cm and should not be copied."

Eid-Ul-Fitr will be observed in India on July 6 or 7, depending on the sighting of the moon. The submissions should be done till July 3, 11 am.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 9:58 [IST]
Kejriwal's Gujarat visit cancelled; AAP alleges BJP pressure

India

oi-PTI

Ahmedabad, Jun 29: AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal's scheduled visit to Gujarat next week has been cancelled after a trade body which had invited him to Surat withdrew the invitation due to pressure from the state government, the party alleged on Wednesday.

"Surat Vehapari Mahamandal had invited Arvind Kejriwalji for felicitation and speech on July 10. Kejriwalji was to start his 2017 election campaign for Gujarat by visiting Somnath temple on July 9 and Surat the next day," AAP state chief Kanu Kalsaria told PTI.

"The trade body had booked a hall of (Veer Narmad) South Gujarat University for the function after proper written invitation, to which Kejriwalji had given a date of July 10," Kalsaria said.

Kejriwal, whose party had earlier announced that it will fight all 182 Assembly seats in Gujarat in the 2017 polls, was to kickstart his campaign in the state by seeking blessings of Lord Somnath, and addressing a gathering in Surat city.

"However, when the state government came to know about it, it exerted pressure on the trade body and the university. The body comprising of small traders of Surat buckled under pressure and has withdrawn the invitation. The hall booking has also been cancelled by the South Gujarat University," Kalsaria alleged.

"We tried to convince the trade body but they told us that it was hard to sustain the pressure exerted by the state government," he said, adding that they were small traders and feared the government could disrupt their businesses.

"The South Gujarat University told us that they have withdrawn the permission to hold the function in their premises on July 10 as they have another function on the same day. We don't know how true is that," Kalsaria said.

However, not being disheartened by the developments, the state AAP unit has decided to hold Kejriwal's mega rally in the state in next two months when the party will kickstart its campaign for the state elections.

"We will hold a mega rally in Gujarat to kickstart our campaign for the state polls in which Kejriwal will remain present. He has decided not to visit Somnath also as Surat visit has been cancelled," he said.

The Assembly election in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is due in later half of 2017.

PTI
Chhath Puja fasting rules: What one must keep in mind during the 4-day festival

SC says 'No' to ban on WhatsApp; Petitioner told to approach government

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, June 29: A petition seeking a ban on WhatsApp was today rejected by the Supreme Court of India.

A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, T S Thakur rejected the petition filed by Haryana based RTI activist, Sudhir Yadav. The Bench directed the petitioner to approach the government of India instead.

The petitioner had contended that the messaging platform's end to end encryption gives terrorist a mean to communicate and the same is impossible to intercept.

The petitioner stated that every message with its 256 bit encryption is impossible to break into and this gives terrorists the advantage to communicate without being detected.

The petitioner also pointed out to a startling number which would be needed to decrypt messages on WhatsApp.

He said one would need 115,792,089,237,316,195,423,570,985,008,687,907,853,269,984,665,640,564,039,457,584,007,913,129,639,935 key combinations in order to decrypt a message.

OneIndia News
Delhi LG and CM greet people on Diwali, ask people to be mindful of pollution

Poll manifesto is our holy book: Arvind Kejriwal

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Panaji, June 29: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday,June 29 accused the BJP and its President Amit Shah of betraying promises made in the election manifesto.

Kejriwal claimed that for the Aam Aadmi Party, a poll manifesto document has the same sanctity as a holy book like the Bible, Quran or the Gita.

Addressing a group of small hoteliers in the beach village of Calangute in North Goa as part of his Goa Dialogues, Kejriwal also said that he keeps the party's manifesto for the 2014 Delhi assembly elections saved on his mobile phone and reviews it with his team every day.

"In an interview, BJP President Amit Shah said the promise of black money worth Rs 15 lakh deposited in everyone's account was a pre-poll 'jumla'. For some parties it can be a 'jumla', but for Aam Aadmi Party our manifesto is Bible, Quran and Gita," Kejriwal said.

"One way to put together a manifesto is by hiring some experts. They can give you a good-looking manifesto. There are many symptoms of high command culture. When manifestos are made in the air-conditioned rooms, then that is also high command culture. Today the people of Goa are preparing a manifesto, not Kejriwal," the AAP national convener said.

"I keep our manifesto saved in my mobile phone. We check (it) every morning, ticking everything which is done. What we promised, what we delivered," Kejriwal added.

IANS


Chhath Puja fasting rules: What one must keep in mind during the 4-day festival

Practitioner Courses and Live Register for Nurses

News

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda, inaugurated Indian Nursing Council Office Complex in New Delhi recently. On the occasion he underscored the importance of upgrading of skills of nurses across the country.

He stated that the NDA Government is committed to providing accessible, affordable and quality training to them.

Sh @JPNadda inaugurates office of Indian Nursing Council, at New Delhi today. pic.twitter.com/Q4Jjn6qQcN  Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) June 27, 2016

On the occasion Mr. Nadda launched two new Nurse Practitioner Courses, one in Critical Care and the other in Primary Healthcare. He also launched a web-based 'Live Register' for nurses.

Sh @JPNadda underscores importance of accessible & affordable quality training for skill upgradation of nurses. pic.twitter.com/TRWtiaZKdj  Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) June 27, 2016

The Health Minister further said that there is an urgent need to make training course contextual to country's needs. The Health Minister also suggested that the Nursing courses can be blended with skill India training Courses for countering the shortage of Nursing Staff.

J P Nadda on importance of skill enhancement:

Laying stress on importance of adequate skill enhancement through appropriate training, Mr. Nadda stated that the training course for the nurses should be contextualised, so that they are imparted education and knowledge of the Indian healthcare landscape.

He also underscored the importance of informal education in addition to formal education, as it shall provide a holistic and rounded understanding of the various issues the nursed are required to deal with in their profession.

He also stated that the need for sensitisation towards laid down protocols in treatment should be made part of the curriculum.

The Health Minister also stated that in harmony with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "Skill India", his ministry also need to ponder on how the courses for skilling the nurses can be synced with the Skill India program.

Minister on 'Live Register':

Mr. Nadda termed the newly launched "Live Register" as path-breaking as through the Live Register accurate data of active and registered nurses will be made available online.

He also added that this will help the Government in better manpower planning and for making policy level decisions for the nursing professionals in India. He stated that this will help in rationalisation and optimum utilisation of manpower.

Mr. Nadda on Government's efforts for nursing:

Mr. Nadda informed that the government has given high priority for improving the Nursing and Midwifery cadre through skill development and continued professional development.

He said that the Government has undertaken major expansion of nursing and technical education leading to a three-fold increase in the numbers of nursing institutions and in the number of students passing out of these institutions.

Some of the initiatives undertaken by the NDA Government for strengthening of nursing cadre are:

1. Establishment of ANM/GNM schools,

2. Up-gradation of institutions from School of Nursing to College of Nursing for training of Nurses,

3. Development of 11 one year specialisation courses,

4. Revision of curriculum for all nursing programs,

5. Establishment of national PhD consortium for Nursing Research.

Minister on importance of nursing staff:

The Nursing Staff occupies important position in healthcare delivery and without them the desired results cannot be achieved.

The role of the nursing staff can be compared equally to that of the doctors when we think of achieving the SDGs.

About the programme:

The Nurse Practitioner in Critical Care Program will be a two-year residential M.Sc. degree in Nurse Practitioner in Critical care.

On completion of the program Nurses will be qualified to assume responsibility and accountability for the care of critically ill patients.

Whereas, the Nurse Practitioner in Primary Healthcare Program will be a one-year residential Post Graduate diploma program.

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 8:53 [IST]
A Chinese publishing house apologized after a series of its illustrated handbooks fell under widespread criticism for hilarious printing mistakes, such as using the head of an elephant with tusks to represent a walrus.

After investigation, the Illustrated Handbook of Common Animals published by our publishing house was confirmed to have quality issues. Based on an attitude of being responsible for our readers, we hereby express our sincere apologies, the Post & Telecom Press said on Tuesday on its official Sina Weibo.

The handbook was brought under wide attention and under readers attack on June 24 when Beijing-based high school teacher Xu Liang called the book an insult on readers that has defaced knowledge with several photos attached to its post on his Sina Weibo. Xu's post has been reposted over 1,200 times as of press time.

One photo posted by Xu received the most laughter and criticism, as the illustration for a walrus showed an elephant head, with tusks, on what looked like a dolphin's body under water.

Many netizens joked that the illustrated handbook should be renamed into Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which is a sequel to J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter series.

Xu told the People's Daily Online on Wednesday that the photos on his Weibo showed the book using incorrect illustrations of birds and some introductions about some birds were also found with errors. Xu noted that the page on sparrow used a picture of a plover and the introduction of Eurasian golden oriole went with pictures of a Hawfinch and a wood-warbler.

Xu said he was also contacted by the publishing house after his posts and received an apology.

It has been our pursuit to improve the quality of our books and we always feel a great responsibility, noted the publishing house on its Weibo, adding that readers who have bought the book can get a refund.

The editing office for the illustrated handbook series has published over 100 books, most of which aim to teach popular science, covering knowledge on ocean, animals and plants, natural disasters and architecture, according to news site guancha.cn.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh case- Court says ownership of motor cycle cannot be ignored

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, June 29: Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur cannot avoid the connection with her motorcycle, the Special National Investigation Agency court said. The court had rejected the bail plea filed by Sadhvi Pragya, an accused in the Malegaon blasts case.

During the course of the arguments, the NIA had pointed out that it did not oppose her bail plea. The agency submitted that it had found no evidence against her.

The bone of contention was a motor cycle registered in her name which was used in the blasts. However the NIA had pointed out that she had sold it long before the blast, but the buyer had not transferred the documents.

Ownership cannot be ignored:

The court took a serious view of the NIA's submissions and stated that at this stage her ownership of the motor cycle cannot be ignored. The court cited the statement of the witness who had said that she had inquired as to why the casualties were less through her vehicle had been used in the blast.

The court also observed that it had reasonable reason to believe that the charges against her were true, prima facie. The court said that bail cannot be granted merely on the ground that the NIA had said it had no objection to the same.

Syed Nisar Ahmed a resident of Malegaon who lost his son Bilal in the blast had moved the court challenging the clean chit being given to her had also opposed her bail plea. His advocate had argued that bail cannot be granted if the investigating agency is not opposing the same. He also argued that it was for the court to take a final call on the issue.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 14:02 [IST]
This is 21st century, where have we reached in name of religion: SC on hate speeches

SC notice to Centre on plea against supply of electoral roll to candidates

Special anti-corruption courts in every district: SC to take up plea next week

SC to examine Muslim personal law

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, June 29: The Supreme Court will examine to what extent courts can look into Muslim personal laws if they violate the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.

An apex court bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said on Wednesday that it was an important issue concerning the lives of a large number of people and there were divergent views.

"We have to hear all of them and take a call to what extent courts can interfere in the Muslim personal laws if courts find they are in violation of the fundamental rights," the bench said.

It directed the next hearing on September 6.

IANS


After UK, is English set to exit EU?

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Brussels, June 29: The European Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO) said on Monday (June 27) that English wouldn't not be one of the European Union's (EU) official language once the UK exits it, said this Politico report.

Read more Brexit stories here

English is one of the 28-member (27 after the UK's exit) union's 24 official languages since the UK identified it as its own official language, AFCO head Danuta Hubner said, adding that as soon as the country wraps up the procedure to leave the EU, English could lose its status.

Other English-speaking countries like Ireland and Malta have notified Gaelic and Maltese, respectively, and that leaves only the UK which notified English. If there is no UK, there will be no English, Hubner said. Ireland and Malta sought addition of Gaelic and Maltese since English was already an official language of the EU at the time of their joining.

English though is one of the working languages in the European institutions and also a dominant one used by the EU's bureaucrats, the regulation listing the official languages of the EU would have to be changed by the remaining members of the body if they want English to remain as an official language, Hubner added.

The EU has already begun using French and German more in its external talks---something many are considering a step symbolising the post-Brexit EU, as a report in the Wall Street Journal has said.

The French have already voiced their demand to remove English from the EU once the UK formally wthdraws---bringing to the fore their age-old rivalry with the Englishmen over language and other cultural matters.

Is the June 23 Brexit pushing Europe back to the days of confrontation? Or at least suggesting such a transition?

Oneindia News
Even if not contesting 2020 polls, Hillary Clinton will not be entirely out of scene

Hillary Clinton says Julian Assange must 'answer for what he has done'

Clinton plans to 'staple' green cards on STEM grads' diplomas

International

oi-PTI

Washington, Jun 29: In an effort to attract the best talented persons from across the globe, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has said that if elected she will launch a "start-up" visa and staple Green card with masters and PhD degrees in science and technology category.

Unveiling a comprehensive technology and innovation agenda to build an economy that works for everyone, Clinton outlined several innovative and path breaking ideas including deploying 5G Wireless and Next generation wireless systems.

In her major policy speech in Denver, Clinton said her administration would help young people become entrepreneurs by letting them defer their federal student loans for up to three years; provide every student in America access to computer science education before graduation; and connect every household in the US to high-speed internet service by 2020.

Releasing a comprehensive plan to keep America on the cutting edge of technology and innovation, 68-year-old Clinton said it is one of biggest assets of the US and she wants it to be democratised. "I want more people in more places to feel that their future lies in STEM, in technology, in helping to create the jobs that were going to attract," she said.

As part of the comprehensive immigration solution, she would "staple" a green card to STEM masters and PhDs from accredited institutions  enabling foreign students who complete degrees in these fields to move to green card status.

Given that more than 100,000 Indian students come to the various US universities every year and they constitute largest number of STEM field, Indian students are likely to benefit the most from this.

"Hillary will support 'start-up' visas that allow top entrepreneurs from abroad to come to the US, build companies in technology-oriented globally traded sectors, and create more jobs and opportunities for Americans," the plan said.

US elections: Bernie Sanders backs Hillary Clinton

Immigrant entrepreneurs would have to obtain a commitment of financial support from US investors before obtaining the visa, and would have to create a certain number of jobs and reach performance benchmarks in order to pursue a green card, it said.

Aimed at investing in world class digital infrastructure, Clinton announced her intent to create a USD 25 billion Infrastructure Bank that will create a new competitive grant program to give cities, regions, and states incentives to create a "model digital community." Clinton will "help foster the evolution to 5G, small cell solutions, and other next-generation systems that can deliver faster wireless connections," it said.

PTI
Florida reports first baby born with Zika virus defects

International

oi-PTI

Miami, Jun 29: Florida on Wednesday reported its first case of a baby born with the birth defect microcephaly after the child's mother, a Haitian citizen, was infected with the Zika virus while pregnant, officials said.

The mother contracted Zika in Haiti and came to Florida to deliver the baby, said a statement from Governor Rick Scott's office. The Florida Department of Health confirmed the case. Zika is primarily transmitted by mosquitoes but can also be spread by sexual contact.

"It is heartbreaking to learn that a baby has been born with Zika-related microcephaly in our state and my thoughts and prayers are with the mother and child," Scott said in a statement.

The Florida governor said he has allocated USD 26.2 million in state funds for Zika preparedness, prevention and response, as federal funding has stalled in Washington.

"The Olympics will begin in less than 40 days and millions of Americans will travel through our state to and from Brazil, a country where the Zika virus is rapidly spreading, and we must be prepared," said Scott.

Zika can cause microcephaly, an irreversible condition in which babies are born with unusually small heads and deformed brains. Four infants have been born with birth defects related to the Zika virus in the United States, including in Hawaii and New Jersey, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, the CDC declined to give a state-by-state breakdown. There have been four US pregnancy losses involving Zika, and one in the US territory of Puerto Rico, the agency said, without offering details on whether the cases involved miscarriage or abortion. So far this year, Florida has reported 223 cases of Zika infection, including 40 involving pregnant women.

AFP
Istanbul & Brussels terror attacks: A lot of similarities

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Ankara, June 29: Thirty-six people were killed in a deadly terror attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport late on Tuesday (June 28). The tragedy bears a lot of similarities with the attacks that occurred at the Zaventem Airport in Belgian capital Brussels on March 22, leading to the death of 35 people. [Istanbul terror attacks took place when Turkey was mending ties with Israel & Russia]

In case of Brussels, the attacks also included one at Maalbeek metro station. Over 270 people were injured in that attack which was carried out by three Daesh terorists, while 147 were injured in the latest attack in Istanbul.

Three militants were also behind the Istanbul attack and they blew themselves when taken on by the security forces. Daesh's role in the incident was not ruled out. [Turkey terror attacks: what is the conflict about?]

In case of the Brussels attack, two terrorists attacked the airport and while the other carried out the explosion at the metro station; in case of Istanbul, two terrorists attacked the airport terminals while the other carried out an explosion in the parking lot.

Oneindia News
We talked enough of Istanbul, Dhaka attacks; did we think much about Baghdad?

Istanbul terror attack: Will it dash fresh hopes of Turkey's struggling tourism sector?

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Ankara, June 29: The deadly terror strike at the Istanbul airport late on Tuesday could deal a blow to Turkey's tourism industry which is already struggling because of the ongoing trouble.

Though the country has taken steps of late to improve ties with Israel and Russia, giving hope to the tour operators, but the latest attack could dash the renewed hopes in no time. [Istanbul terror attack happened when Turkey was mending ties with Israel, Russia]

Turkey sinks airbus to boost tourism

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yldrm said during a parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday that tourism figures have plummeted in recent times because of regional and global crises and bilateral problems with some countries and that his country was expecting a significant rise in the tourist footfalls during Eid-al-Fitr. He was hopeful that renewed efforts to improve ties with Israel and Russia could see an improvement in the scenario.

May saw tourist footfalls in Turkey plummeting alarmingly

May saw the number of foreign tourists in Turkey declining by nearly 35 per cent compared to the same moth last year, marking the steepest decline since the 1990s. [Terror strikes Turkey cities: A timeline]

The arrivals from Russia reduced by a whopping 92 per cent during this time, thanks to the diplomatic row between Ankara and Moscow besides the security concerns, while those from Germany and Great Britain also slumped by 31.5 and 29.4 per cent, respectively. [Turkey: What is the conflict all about]

The United States also warned its citizens against travelling to the southeastern provinces of Turkey amid increased threats from terror groups.

The first five months of 2016 saw the tourist footfalls in Turkey getting reduced by almost 23 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The country is expecting a loss of revenue of around $15 billion this year because of this slump.

Oneindia News
We talked enough of Istanbul, Dhaka attacks; did we think much about Baghdad?

Istanbul terror strike happened when Turkey was mending ties with Israel, Russia

International

oi-Staff

By Staff

Ankara, June 29: Thirty-six people were killed were dozens were injured in a terror strike in Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on Tuesday (June 28) just when Turkey launched a diplomatic mission to better its broken ties with Israel and Russia in the wake of major disputes.

Will the attack dash fresh hopes of Turkey's tourism sector?

The attack in the country's biggest airport was carried out by three militants who later blew themselves up.

It was earlier on Tuesday that Ankara signed a pact with Tel Aviv to normalise their ties after a low phase of six years. Their ties took a nosedive after Israeli commandoes killed 10 Turkish pro-Palestinian activists on the Mavi Marmara aid flotilla in May 2010 after the latter tried to breach the Gaza blockade by Israel.

IS vs Kurds vs Turkey govt: What is the conflict all about

It was also a day before (June 27) that Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin expressing sorrow over the shooting down a Russian warplane last year for violating his country's airspace while conducting operations in Syria. The Russians responded positively, boosting the morale of the tour operators in both countries as Turkey has been witnessing a steep decline in its tourism industry in the wake of the problems.

No Indian casualty in Turkey terror attack

The Turkish authorities were also considering betterment of relations with Egypt that declined following a military coup by the latter's president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi three years ago. Turkey had reacted to the ouster of President Mohammad Morsi then.

Why has terror come to the cities in Turkey- A timeline

Eight months ago, Ankara witnessed the deadliest terror attack and it was one among the many strikes that Turkey experienced in 2015. The Ankara bombings that left over 100 civilians dead and several more injured were carried out by the Islamic State.

Experts believe that the latest attack at the Istanbul airport is related in some way with Turkey's efforts to mend diplomatic ties with other powers in the region but also other moves made against the IS, which is considered a major threat to the country's borders.

Thirty-six suspects in the Ankara bombings of October 2015 are facing up to 11,750 years of jail time, according to the indictment by the Ankara Public Prosecutor's Office and it included IS militant Yunus Emre Alagoz along with an unnamed Syrian militant as the suicide bombers who were behind the attack. Alagoz's brother, Abdurrahman Alagoz, has also committed an attack in Suruc in southeast Turkey in July 2015 killing 33 young activists.

Turkey also altered rules to allow the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) forces to conduct more patrol flights along with border with norther Syria against the IS militants, as Reuters quoted a Turkish official as saying on Tuesday.

The attack could also be orchestrated by the Kurdistan Workers' Party as a retaliation against the military campaign against it in the southeastern provinces of Turkey.

Oneindia News
Islamic State bomber detained in Russia for attempting attack in India was recruited through Telegram

Why India should get access to Islamic State bomber detained in Russia

Prosecutions story may be attractive but should be backed by evidence

Kerry says Iran helpful in fighting IS

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Washington, June 29: Despite strained US-Iranian ties, US Secretary of State John Kerry has praised Tehran for being "helpful" in the mission to stamp out the Islamic State terror group in Iraq.

Asked if Iran's influence in Iraq was "more helpful or more harmful" at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, Kerry gave an unexpected response.

"Look, we have challenges with Iran as everybody knows and we are working on those challenges," RT online quoted Kerry as saying.

"But I can tell you that Iran in Iraq has been in certain ways helpful, and they clearly are focused on IS, and so we have a common interest, actually."

Islamic State's power has been on the wane in Iraq, particularly in the volatile Anbar province, where a coordinated effort by Iraqi ground forces and American air power has weakened it.

The Americans believe that cooperation between Tehran and Washington can only go as far as fighting the IS, each for its own ends.

The US has also accused Iran of helping the Americans in Iraq in order to quietly secure a route to its allies in Syria.

The Obama Administration is currently split on some key issues regarding Tehran. The US Treasury and State departments are at odds over just how much financial support Iran should be entitled to following the recent landmark nuclear deal.

IANS


Post Brexit, both big parties of UK have become faceless

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

London, June 29: The politics of the UK is in doldrums. After the country showed a polarised verdict in favour of exiting the European Union (EU) in a referendum on June 23, a vacuum has been created with nobody having a clear-cut idea about where they are heading. In fact, in a unique situation which has evolved, both the main partes---the ruling Conservative and opposition Labour---have become rudderless.

Read more Brexit stories here

The vacuum became evident in Brussels on Tuesday when Prime Minister David Cameron was unable to focus any light on his country's post-Brexit route in a meeting with the 27 other European leaders. The EU, on the other hand, was creating more pressure on the UK to speed up the process to complete the divorce.

Cameron has lost the moral authority to rule and left everything to his successor

The scenario has been complicated by the fact that Cameron has left it to his successor to finish off the formality. With the head of government turning into a caretaker, the real responsibility now rests with the pro-exit leaders.

But the picture is not very bright on that front either. Ever since the Brexit happened last week, the Leave campaign leaders are mostly silent, avoiding the media and expressing little over their plans to steer the country out of the messy state of affairs.

Some of the prominent pro-exit voices have even seemed to have moved back on their promises that the post-Brexit UK would enjoy all the benefits of the EU membership minus the burdens. European leaders have said that position is not permissible.

The UK wants to begin negotiations once it has a new PM in place but that process is going to be a long affair. Cameron's successor will not be elected by the people but will be picked through a two-stage process. The Tory MPs will first bring down the number of candidates to two and then the winner will be decided.

The probable successor to Cameron---Boris Johnson---has a lot of hurdles to overcome

Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London who spearheaded the Leave campaign, leads the race to become the next resident of 10 Downing but neither he has declared his plans till now and could face a more serious challenge ahead.

Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, too, has lost his face in party

The Opposition Labour Party also faced an implosion after 172 members of the parliamentary delegation expressed their no-confidence in Jeremy Corbyn, their leader.

Corbyn, who had the backing of just 40 members, however remained adamant and pledged not to step down. He said he was democratically elected leader of the party and he would not betray those who backed him and said Tuesday's voting had no constitutional legitimacy.

However, the polling could lead to a new leadership crisis in the Labour Party which is already hit by factional feuds.

Corbyn's critics in the party said he did not do a serious job in keeping the UK in the EU and that many Labour members were not aware of their party's official position.

Oneindia News
VIENNA, June 28 -- An Austrian expert has said that arbitration cannot solve the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines.

"It is a principle of international law that all sides must agree on the arbitration," Padraig Lysaght said in a recent interview with Xinhua. "Otherwise, the result of the arbitration is not binding."

The Philippines unilaterally filed in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, the Netherlands, an arbitration case against China over South China Sea disputes in January 2013.

China maintains that the tribunal has no jurisdiction over the case, which is in essence about territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation.

"It is perfectly legal to simply not accept this award. I don't think the award can solve the problem," Lysaght said, adding that modern international law cannot provide a suitable solution to every problem.

Meanwhile, Lysaght, a historian who wrote his dissertation about the South China Sea, said historical arguments should not be completely discarded in the South China Sea dispute.

"Many arguments in the dispute over the South China Sea islands are based on historical events," Lysaght told Xinhua.

In the Ming Dynasty, China was an influential power in the South China Sea, he said. "Not in a military way, but culturally. All neighboring countries have been culturally influenced by China."

"Old cartography mapping these islands does exist. The oldest of these maps are clearly Chinese. Even Vietnam or the Philippines uses ancient Chinese maps for their arguments," he said.

Currently, one of the problems is that not only the littoral states but also the United States are involved in the dispute, according to Lysaght.

"The United States sees their hegemonical claims in this area challenged," Lysaght said.

Lysaght said military actions in the area could be interpreted as provocative, adding, "It is not necessary to provoke each other."

What is positive in the dispute is that all littoral states have agreed on a code of conduct, Lysaght said, referring to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea signed between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2002.

In addition, there is an exemplary agreement between China and Vietnam on the development of the Beibu Gulf, a half-closed bay surrounded by Chinese and Vietnamese territory and a traditional fishing area for the two countries. "This is a model solution for this region," the expert said.

In 2000, both countries signed agreements on the demarcation of the Beibu Gulf and fishing cooperation in the area.

In 2012, they established expert working groups, which specialize in maritime cooperation on less sensitive issues.

Since then, China and Vietnam have signed cooperation agreements on two programs, which have helped strengthen bilateral maritime cooperation.
Why has terror come to the cities in Turkey- A timeline

International

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, June 29: Tuesday's attack at Istanbul airport which is being blamed on the ISIS appears to be an attempt to scare the foreign tourists. There are a host of issues which have led to conflicts in Turkey which also includes a battle between Kurdish groups and the government.

The ISIS too has joined the race. While on one hand the ISIS wants to prevent the Kurds from gaining territory in Syria and Iraq on the other hand they also want to spread panic among the foreign tourists who had once termed Turkey a safe destination.

Terror in the cities:

In the recent months Turkey has witnessed several attacks in the cities. Most of the attacks were restricted to the south eastern part of the country where the Kurdish groups would target the military.

However it is a hardline group called the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks or the TAK who brought the fight to the cities and focused primarily on Ankara and Istanbul.

The government had entered into a cease fire with the Kurdistan Workers Party. However following an attack on the Kurds by the ISIS, the cease fire came to an end. The Kurds had blamed the government for protecting the ISIS. The TAK which is a hardline outfit took advantage of the failed cease fire and brought the fight to the cities.

The ISIS which is also battling the Kurdish groups has also raised objections to Turkey being part of a coalition with the US. The ISIS primarily has been targeting civilians. While the foreign tourists are the main targets, they also want to ensure that Turkey no longer is a preferred destination for travellers.

A time line of attacks:

June 29, 2016- Attack at Ataturk Airport in which 36 have died. ISIS blamed.

June 7, Istanbul: Car bomb kills seven police officers and four civilians. TAK blamed.

March 19, Istanbul: Suicide bomb kills four people. ISIS blamed.

March 13, Ankara: 34 die in car bomb. TAK blamed.

February 17, Ankara: Attack on military van kills 29. TAK blamed.

January 12, Istanbul: 11 Germans killed in bomb attack. ISIS blamed.

Attacks in 2015:

December 23, Istanbul: Bomb kills one at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport. TAK blamed.

October 10, Ankara: 100 killed at peace rally outside railway station. ISIS blamed.

July 20, Suruc: 34 people killed in bombing. ISIS blamed

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 8:53 [IST]
Will not rest until ISIS is defeated: Barack Obama

International

oi-PTI

Washington, June 29: President Barack Obama on Wednesday reaffirmed US' "strong commitment" to partner with ally Turkey to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group, saying he would "not rest until we have dismantled these networks of hate."

In a call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from his Air Force One, Obama expressed his condolences over death of 41 people in the suicide terror attack at the country's largest airport, which has been blamed on the Islamic State (IS).

Barack Obama offers US help after Istanbul attacks: White House

"We will not rest until we have dismantled these networks of hate that have had an impact on the entire civilised world. We stand with the people of Turkey," Obama said after meeting his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto on the sidelines of the North American Summit.

"I had a chance to speak to President Erdogan earlier today to discuss with him not only how heartbroken we have been by the images of the injured and those killed, but also to reaffirm our strong commitment to partner with Turkey, with NATO, with the broad-based alliance that we have structured around the world to fight ISIL."

"It's an indication of how little vicious these vicious organizations have to offer beyond killing innocents," he added.

"They're continually losing ground, unable to govern those areas that they have taken over. They're going to be defeated in Syria, they're going to be defeated in Iraq," he asserted.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Obama placed that phone call to express his deep condolences on behalf of the American people to the Turkish people for the lives that were lost in yesterday's terror attack at the Istanbul airport.

"In the context of that call, the President will, in addition to expressing his condolences, offer any support that the Turks could benefit from as they conduct this investigation and take steps to further strengthen the security situation in that country," Earnest said.

As of now there is no change in plans of Obama's travel to Europe next week. In the context of that travel to Warsaw, the President will have an opportunity to meet with our NATO allies, including Turkey, he said.

Earnest says the President will have an opportunity "in some setting" to meet with the Turkish president and he expects that the attacks will be discussed at today's summit as well.

"This is something that will certainly be on the minds of all three North American leaders," he said. "We've made important progress in Iraq and in Syria against ISIL," Earnest said adding that there's been "notable progress" in Iraq recently, pointing to the recapture of Fallujah.

"This was obviously a significant gain by Iraqi forces and we obviously were pleased by that progress. But we continue to be concerned by the ability that ISIL has to carry out these kind of terrorist attacks, not just in Iraq and Syria but in other places," he said.

PTI
NIA officer's murder: Cops say it was grudge while ruling out terror

Lucknow

oi-Vicky

Lucknow, June 29: With the arrest of Muneer, the prime accused in the murder of NIA officer, Tenzil Ahmed, the police have learnt that the motive was not related to terrorism, but it was grudge and fear.

The NIA officer who was shot dead in Bijnor was part of several terror related probes which included outfits such as the Indian Mujahideen.

Muneer a noted criminal who had a bounty of Rs 2 lakh on his head was nabbed by the Uttar Pradesh police following a two month chase.

He had changed his locations several times. The police had learnt that he had stayed in Nepal, Lucknow, Azamgarh and Ghaziabad. However last week when his location was found, he had attempted fleeing to Mumbai, when the police cornered him.

Terror ruled out:

Muneer a noted criminal was wanted in several cases relating to murder, robbery and extortion. During the interrogation, Muneer told the police that he nurtured a grudge against the officer. The officer had outed him on several occasions which had led to him going into hiding.

Muneer further said that Rehan who is related to the officer too nurtured a grudge against Ahmed due to personal reasons.

This is why the murder was carried out, Muneer also told the police. Based on his confession, the police have prima facie concluded that the murder was not related to any of the terror probes being carried out by the officer.

Muneer also said that there were attempts made in the past as well to murder the officer.

He however, added that they had no intention of killing his wife. His wife who was in the car at the time of the incident was accidentally hit by bullets and she succumbed to injuries at a hospital 15 days after the incident.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 15:08 [IST]
Chhath Puja fasting rules: What one must keep in mind during the 4-day festival

Was PM Modi's interview to Arnab Goswami staged? Well, this report says so

New Delhi

oi-Shubham Ghosh

New Delhi, June 29: Was the one-to-one interview that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave to Times Now's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami a staged one?

According to a report published in Khabar-Bar, it was so! It said a senior journalist of the news channel, who knew about the discussions that took place within the special team which was formed by Goswami to prepare for the interview, revealed this on the condition of anonymity.

Khabar-Bar said as per the source, Goswami had received confirmation about the interview around two weeks ago. The journalist said that around five days before the interview, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had sent a bunch of topics on which questions were to be asked. The papers were reviewed by the channel's special team and it was returned to the PMO.

The PMO then reviewed the questions, made revisions and gave the channel the prime minister's answers. It was also decided beforehand where the interviewer could intervene while speaking to Modi, the source said, as per the Khabar-Bar article.

Oneindia News